Worlds Collide

It was a cold, dreary Sunday afternoon in the county of Surrey as a steady rain fell from the grey skies.  Inside the large stately mansion, the halls were unusually quiet for such a day unfit to be outside.  The footsteps of the white-haired butler echoed down the corridor as he approached the chamber that housed the elaborate indoor pool.  In his hands, he carried a polished silver tray holding a tall glass and a cordless phone.

The elegant room was deafly quiet as the reliable servant marched inside.   The architecture of the hall was magnificent, the floor and walls constructed out of stone.  With the thirty-foot ceiling and giant statues positioned around the border of the pool, the area designated for swimming seemed more like a museum.  Stepping over to the tranquil water, the humble gentleman could see a silhouette underneath the shimmering surface.  Sighing deeply, he waited patiently for his charge to emerge for air.

Seconds later, the silence that had filled the room was shattered as the Countess of Abbingdon popped her head out of the water, gasping for breath.  Looking up at her trusted butler, she gave him a delightful smile.  “Ahh, Winston.  Would you care to join me?  The water is spectacular!”

“I’m afraid not, Miss Croft.  Mister Fletcher is on the line, he insists that it is urgent.”

The beautiful archaeologist waded towards her butler and hoisted her radiant figure out of the pool, her white bikini leaving little to the imagination.  Beads of water ran down her supple, tanned skin as she wrenched some of the moisture from her braided ponytail.  “As he does with everything!” smiled Lara as she took both the phone and her protein smoothie.  Walking over to one of the many lounge chairs scattered about the room, the woman greeted her research partner.  “Alright, Alister, what’s all the fuss about?”

“Lara, are you sitting down?  Because you might want to be sitting down when you hear this.”

“Just,” replied the busty Brit as she plopped down in the chair.  “And this better be important, you’re intruding into my work-out routine!”

“The stone dais, the one you’ve been searching for since you were nine years old…I think we found one.”

Lara’s heart skipped a beat as she heard the news.  The sound of shattering glass echoed off the stone walls as her beverage hit the floor.  She had waited for over two decades to find a stone dais that matched the description of the one she had seen her mother vanish through all those years ago.  In a rare loss for words, the witty explorer stammered into the phone.  “You’re…you’re sure?”

“Well, it’s the closest thing that we’ve found so far.  From what your friend Anaya has told me over the phone, it could possibly be located near the ruins of Tiwanaku in Bolivia.  On the other hand, it could be nothing.  Either way, I thought I should share this information with you.”

“If there’s even a remote chance that it’s there then I’m going!”  Lara hopped to her feet, avoiding the shards of glass littering the floor and started towards her room.  “Find Zip and head back to the manor.  I’ll be on the next flight to South America.”

The elderly servant was out of breath as he came barreling through the door, startled by the sound of shattering glass.  “Miss Croft, is everything alright?!”  

“Winston, go fetch my suitcase,” replied Lara, handing the phone back to her trusty butler.  “I have a flight to catch!”

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Elsewhere…

The full moon illuminated the waters of the Amazon River as it quickly rushed towards the east.  Along the banks of the winding body of water, a handful of large canvas tents had been pitched by a small party of archeologists traveling through the lush rainforest.  They were well into the second week of their expedition, combing the ancient ruins along their journey for artifacts and treasure.

Inside one of the tents closest to the river, secluded from those that rested further up the bank, the most notable members of the expedition had began to settle in for the evening.  The two of them had been late, but welcome additions to the group.  They were well-respected among their peers after their historic find on the Pacific Ocean inside of the Dragon’s Triangle.  This casual excursion was just the change of pace the girls needed after their arduous experience on the island of Yamatai just months ago.   However, both of them had grown tired of answering questions and telling stories of their adventures.

“I swear!” began the beautiful archeologist, crashing down onto her cot in exhaustion, “if I have to tell another story about that wretched island on this trip, I’m going to throw myself in the Amazon!”

“Hey, at least you have better stories to tell than I do!” argued Samantha, as she reloaded the film in her camera.  “All the good stories I have are about being tied up and playing the damsel in distress!”

“You don’t think it was rude of us to move our campsite away from the others, do you?” asked Lara, pulling her feet up to her chest as she removed her boots.  “I feel terrible about being unsociable, but the reason I signed up for this expedition was to get away from the spotlight.”

“Excuse me, Miss Croft?”

The two girls turned towards the entrance of their tent, surprised as two men stuck their heads inside.  “Can we help you?” asked Sam, walking over to greet the strangers.

“Oh, you must be Samantha Nishimura.  It’s a pleasure to meet you!  My name is Greg and this is my colleague, Zachery.”  The two Americans exchanged handshakes with the raven-haired celebrity.  They were both dressed in similar outfits comprised of dark-colored pants and collared shirts.  Both of them were also well-groomed, clean shaven with short haircuts.

“Nice to meet you both!  I don’t recognize either of you, though.  Are you two with our expedition?”

“We were supposed to be, but we got held up in customs when we landed in Brazil,” explained Greg.  “We had to charter a private boat just to catch up with the group.  It’s been hell trying to find you guys!”

“Wow, that sucks!  So are you both archeologists?” inquired Samantha.  On the other side of the room, Lara had discreetly picked up a book and buried her nose in it, trying to keep to herself to avoid having to recount her tales of adventure for the newcomers.

“Actually, we’re reporters here to document the exploration,” answered Zachary, adjusting the black-framed glasses on his face.  He was a few inches taller than his partner, though both gentleman were still quite larger than the average male.

“Oh bloody hell!” whispered Lara under her breath.

“Really!  Well I understand why you stopped at our tent now!” chuckled the American girl.

“Indeed!  We hate to impose, but is there any chance we could get a brief interview with Miss Croft?” asked Greg, cutting his eyes over at the attractive brunette curled up on her cot.

“I’m sure she’d love to!” replied Samantha, grinning as she spoke up for her friend.  “I was about to walk over to the other camp for a bit, so now you three will have the entire tent to yourselves.”

“That sounds great!  Are you sure you don’t mind, Miss Croft?”

The young explorer sighed as she dog-eared the page she was studying and looked up at the two reporters.  “I suppose not.”

“See, I told ya!  I’ll be back in a little while.  You three have fun!”  Samantha giggled as she scurried out of the tent and headed for main camp about a hundred meters up the bank of the river.

“We can talk over here at the table if you’d like,” offered Lara as she climbed off her bed.  Thankfully she had not changed into her sleepwear yet, the British babe still outfitted in her dark brown cargo pants and grey tank top.  Adjusting her silky, auburn-brown hair in its ponytail, she sat down as the two middle-aged men took a seat across the table from her.

“I’m sorry for the bother, Miss Croft,” started Greg, “but our editor would have our heads if we came this close to such a celebrity like yourself and didn’t bring back at least a few quotes.”

“I see…” replied the cunning archaeologist as she studied the two journalists sitting across from her, waiting for her to start.  “So were you going to memorize these quotes or actually write them down?”

“Oh, right!”  Zachery shared a nervous chuckle with his partner.  “I guess I was so excited to meet a legend that I forgot my pen and paper.  You wouldn’t have any lying around by chance, would you?”

“I think I have a few spare pieces over in my trunk.  Wait right here.”  Lara walked back to the edge of her cot and unlocked the lid to her personal container.  Not finding any writing material on the top, the girl stuck her head deeper inside the case.  She heard one of the guests call out from behind her.

“Any luck?”

“Not yet.  Don’t worry, I think there’s some at the bottemmpphfffff!”  Lara’s heart skipped a beat as a large hand clamped against her mouth.  An arm wrapped tightly around her bosom, pulling the unsuspecting explorer up from her trunk.  As the assailant spun her around, she saw one of the reporters walking up to her pouring something from a brown vial onto a white cloth.  “Hmmmmmppphhh?!”

“Easy there, Miss Croft!  This will all be a lot easier if you just cooperate.”

“Gemmpph mmfff mmehhh!”  The young heroine tried desperately to break free from the tight grip holding her as the menace inched the damp cloth towards her face.  In the blink of an eye, the calloused hand was replaced by the rag as the man pressed it tightly across her mouth and nose.  The fumes were intoxicating as she had no choice but to inhale them.  Trying to kick at her captors with her bare feet, she could already feel her body starting to lose strength.

“Keep struggling, gorgeous!” chuckled Zachary, tightening his grip around the woman’s lean body as his partner continued to administer the chloroform.  “It’ll just make this go even quicker!”

“Mmmmmm…”  Lara started to panic as she felt her eyelids getting heavier, the image of the grinning face in front of her starting to blur.  Her moans quickly diminished to pathetic whimpers as her body started to crumple into the arms of the one behind her.  Finally, everything went black.

“Okay, I think she’s out.”  Greg pulled the cloth away from the girl’s face and pulled a handful of plastic zip-ties from his pocket.  “Put her on the bed so we can get her secured.  I’m not sure how long this stuff will keep her unconscious.”

The man dragged the lifeless body over to the cot and laid her face down.  Taking one of the black ties from his partner, he tightly cinched the victim’s wrist behind her back.  “I can’t believe they bought that bologna about us being reporters!  I thought for sure they’d see right through us.”

“I think this one was starting to get a little suspicious,” replied Greg as he secured the captive’s ankles and thighs together, snipping the excess plastic off with a pair of pliers.  “Did you bring anything to gag her with?”

“I have this.”  Zachary pulled off the black bandanna that he had tied around his neck.  “But I’m not sure that’ll be enough if she wakes up.”

“Don’t worry, give it here.  I have an idea.”  The brute smiled as he reached down into one of the explorer’s boots and pulled out the dirty sock she had worn all day.  Rolling the girl onto her back, he forcefully stuffed the smelly garment into her mouth and secured it there tightly with his colleague’s bandanna.  “That should keep her quiet!”

“Actually, I have another idea.”  Walking back over to prisoner’s trunk, Zachary quickly started to empty the contents onto the floor.

“What are you doing?!”

“We can use this to smuggle her out of the camp.  No one will ever suspect a thing!  Come on, bring her over here.”

“Very clever!”  The strong kidnapper hoisted Lara off the bed and gently sat her down inside the bare case.  Shutting the lid and reapplying the lock that the girl had taken off earlier, the two each took a handle and started for the exit.  “This is going smoother than I thought it would!”

“I know!  At this rate, we’ll have her out of the country before the others even know she’s missing.”  Stepping out of the tent, the pair of imposters began their getaway.

“You two already finished?”

The imposters froze as they heard the familiar voice behind them.  Turning around, they saw the American girl walking up to the tent.  She had returned earlier than expected.  Trying to break the awkward silence, one them spoke up.  “Uhhh…yeah!”

“Hey, isn’t that Lara’s trunk?” asked Samantha, furrowing her brow.

“Oh, yeah!  We uhhhh…”  The taller grunt panicked as he tried to think of a rational explanation.

“We were talking when this humongous boa slithered inside the tent,” interrupted Greg, thinking quickly on his feet.  “Lara brilliantly emptied out her trunk and we were able to corral it inside before it bit anyone.”

“Oh, wow!  But wait, boas aren’t poisonous, are they?”

“Oh no, of course not,” continued the stammering deceiver, “but...Zach here is terrified of snakes, so he wanted to get rid of it.  So we’re gonna take it further down the river and let it go so maybe it won’t find its way back.”

“Oh, okay…”  Samantha thought the two’s story was a little strange, but she was too tired to question it any further.

Meanwhile, the constant chatter between the three had caused the occupant inside of the trunk to stir.  Lara groaned as she started to gain consciousness slowly, trying to remember what had happened.  She was certain her eyes were open, but there was nothing but darkness in front of her.  Trying to move, she noticed that her legs were stuck to one another and her arms were locked behind her back.  She also realized that something foul tasting was filling her mouth.

“Well, we better dispose of this creature.  I promise we’ll bring Miss Croft’s trunk back right after we finish!”

As Lara heard the male’s garbled voice from outside, it suddenly all came back to her.  The two reporters she had been entertaining had overpowered and drugged her inside the tent.  They had apparently bound and gagged her and were now trying to sneak the helpless girl out of the camp in a cramped box.  Panic filled the captive’s mind as she began to struggle inside her confined prison.

“Whoa!”  The filmmaker jumped as the trunk started to move.  “That must be one humongous snake!”

Lara’s brown eyes grew wide as she heard the familiar voice.  Her friend must have been conversing with the kidnappers, completely unaware that she was inside the container.  Inhaling deeply through her nose the prisoner unleashed a fierce scream, though it was muffled considerably by her gag.  “Hemmmmpppffff!”

“Yeah, just listen to it hissing in there!  It could probably swallow you whole!” teased Zach as he chuckled nervously, motioning his partner to start walking.  Even with her mouth stuffed, he was certain the British woman could make enough noise to alert her companion.  The two men slowly started to edge away from the dark-haired girl, further down the bank of the river.  “We’ll be back in a sec!”

“Alright.”  Samantha shook her head as she stepped inside the tent, still somewhat suspicious of the two men.

“Quick, let’s go!” whispered Greg.  The two briskly made their way down the edge of the water as they could feel their alert captive bucking furiously between them.  They were relieved that the trunk had concealed her cries for help nicely, the pathetic moans almost inaudible even though they were right next to the girl.

“Hey, wait guys!  Where’d Lara go?”

The brutes froze in horror as they heard the American girl calling after them.  Turning around slowly, they saw her standing at the door of the canvas shelter.  Thinking quickly on his feet once again, Greg came up with another convincing lie.  “Oh, she said she was going into the forest to…take care of some business.”

Lara grunted in frustration as she desperately tried to warn her colleague of the creeps’ deception.  Positioning her back on the floor of the trunk, she kicked the lid of the container with her bare feet as hard as she could, trying to force it open.  As a result, the box started to jar even more violently.  Unfortunately, the prisoner and her escorts were too far away for the naïve girl to notice.

“Oh, okay.”

The kidnappers sighed with relieve as they watched the filmmaker disappear back inside.  Readjusting their grip on the trunk, they both made a mad dash for the brush downstream.  “Damn, that was close!  Let’s get to the boat before she finds out what really happened.”

“Semmmmmhhhh!”  The two could make out the faint attempts of the girl calling for her friend.

“Settle down in there, sweetheart,” chuckled one of the imposters.  “No one’s gonna find you now!”

Lara moaned pitifully into her thick gag as she realized the man was right.  With her body tightly trussed and locked inside of her own trunk, she could do nothing but pray that the other members of her expedition realized that someone had infiltrated their camp and manage to track them down.  She tossed and turned for several minutes in the darkness as she waited for something to happen.

Finally, she felt the case stabilize.  The thugs had apparently sat her down.  A few seconds later, the lid of the trunk swung open.  Though it was dark outside, the bright light of the moon blinded Lara as her eyes had grown accustomed to the dark confines of her box-like prison.  Squinting, she could make out one of the wicked faces who had tricked her earlier.

“I bet you’re wonderin’ what this is all about, huh?”

The beautiful brunette, still lying on her back, tried to swing her bound feet at the fiend.  Her attacks were blocked with ease, however, as the man grabbed her legs and locked them in his grasp.

“Well, you’ll find out soon enough!  Are we ready to go, Greg?”

Lara panicked as she heard the roar of a motor from outside the crate.  Knowing there were no traversable roads near their camp, the cretins had obviously loaded her onto a motorboat.  Where they intended on taking her was a complete mystery to the captive.  She was still clueless as to what the kidnappers’ objectives were.  The powerless explorer growled as the man stuffed her legs back inside the box.

“I hope you’re comfy in that trunk, Miss Croft.  It’s gonna be quite a long journey!”  Laughing, the brute slammed the lid shut, sealing the British dame inside.

“Grmmmpemmempphhmmhhhh!”  Lara screamed hysterically as she thrashed inside her trunk, both infuriated and frightened as the boat ushered her up the Amazon.

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Meanwhile…

“Wow, these ruins are magnificent!”  The tomb raider had worked up quite a sweat making her way through the ruins, beads of perspiration running down her supple thighs.  Now inside of the dark temple that was filled with countless dangers, she had the gall to stop and admire the majestic detail of her surroundings.  She was outfitted in her normal attire for adventure: a light blue tank top, khaki shorts that revealed a generous portion of her toned legs, knee-high boots and of course a USP strapped to each thigh.  “Are you two getting a good look at this?”

“Yes, Lara.  The swinging guillotines, the bottomless pits, the blood-thirsty predators!  We’re getting quite our share of entertainment on this end!” replied Allister, sarcastically.  The recluse colleague of the tomb raider wasn’t as much of an adrenaline junkie as she was.  He could barely stand to look at the camera feed as she navigated the booby-trapped ruins.

“Just ignore Allister, Lara.  He’s just crabby ‘cause he isn’t barricaded inside of a library.  Have you seen any sign of the stone dais yet?”

“Not yet, Zip, but I have a feeling that I’m getting close,” replied Lara as she spotted a light at the far end of the corridor.  Making her way cautiously to the end, she found a doorway that led outside.  Across a wood-plank bridge, the woman gasped in awe as she spotted the ancient device that she had devoted her entire life to finding.  “I don’t believe it…it looks exactly the same.”

Lara quickly traversed across the dilapidated bridge and came face to face with the ornate stone dais which was identical to the one her mother had disappeared through two decades ago.

“So…what now?” asked Zip on the other end of the communications line.

“I have to arrange these statues surrounding the platform in the proper alignment.  And then…”  Lara hesitated to finish her next statement.

“And then what?” asked Allister, a hint of concern in his voice.

“And then I go through to see what’s on the other side.”

“Lara, are you daft?!  You have no idea what’s on the other side and even if you manage to survive, there’s no guarantee you can get back!”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”  Taking a moment to inspect the mystical device closer, the archaeologist was startled as the center started to glow.  “That’s odd.”

“What?”

“It appears that the stone dais was just activated.  But I didn’t touch anything.”  Lara jumped as a stone ring rose out of the ground, spinning behind the stone dais as the center started to glow even brighter.  It was just as she remembered it.

“Lara, I’ve got a bad feeling about this!” said Allister, his voice now trembling.  “I think you should get out of there and wait until we can gather more information on this contraption.”

“I’ve searched decades for this.  I’m not going to turn around now!”  Lara crept towards the center of the platform.  As she got closer, she could make out the faint trace of someone inside the light as the stone ring started to spin faster and faster, the groaning of the ancient relic foreboding that something was about to happen.  Still not certain as to who was standing in front of her, the Brit called out to the shadow.  “Mother?”

Suddenly, a brilliant flash of light blinded the awestruck archeologist.  In an instant, the woman had vanished into thin air without a trace.  Her two colleagues sat speechless in their seats as they heard nothing but static on their communications feed.  The tomb raider was out of their reach now.

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Elsewhere…

“WHHOOOAAAA!”  Lara screamed as she hurled through a vortex of blinding light, loud shrieking echoes drowning her out.  She had no idea where she was or even if she was still alive.  After what seemed like an eternity, her body finally came to a rest as she hit solid ground.  The woman groaned as she tried to compose herself.

Pushing her sore body off the hard ground, she gasped as she noticed her surroundings.  She was still in the ruins of Tiwanaku, the stone dais resting right in front of her.  “It didn’t work, I’m still here!”

“On the contrary, Miss Croft, you aren’t anywhere near where you just came from.”

Lara’s heart skipped a beat as she recognized the familiar voice.  Turning around to confirm her suspicions, she shook her head in disbelief.  “No…it can’t be…Natla?!”

The tall blonde sauntered slowly up to the bewildered traveler, smiling as she looked upon her old foe.  “What’s the matter, Lara?  Aren’t you happy to see an old friend?”

“You died back on that island!  I watched you die!”

“You of all people should know that it’s not that easy to kill me!”

“We’ll see about that!”  The gunslinger whipped her USP’s from their holsters and aimed them at the evil woman.  Lara never saw the bolas coming from behind a nearby statue as they tightly wrapped around her wrists, causing her to drop her weapons.  Before she could react another one latched onto her ankles, cinching them together as well.  Losing her balance, the woman hit the ground as two of Natla’s minions approached.

Reaching up to her ear, Lara tried to call her friends back at the manor for assistance.  “Zip, Allister, are you there?  I need help!”

“It’s no use, Lara,” interrupted Natla, walking over to the captive.  “They’re well out of reach.  They probably don’t even exist in this world!”

The tomb raider furrowed her brow as the two brutes stood her up.  “What are you talking about?!  Where are we?”

“Oh, you’ll find out soon enough.  I’ve got someone I’d like you to meet!”

“Whammmmpffff?!”  Lara was cut off as a damp cloth clamped tightly across her face.  The pungent fumes slowly lulled her to sleep as she watched a transport helicopter land nearby.  Seconds later, the busty explorer finally passed out, one of the grunts throwing the damsel over his shoulder and loading her on the chopper.

As the golden-haired boss climbed inside the aircraft, the co-pilot turned around to address her.  “Miss Natla, we just received word that Miss Croft has been delivered.  That is, the other one of course!”

“Excellent, take us there now!”  Natla grinned as she looked down at the busty brunette lying on the floor of the helicopter.  Soon, she would have two worlds at her fingertips.

--------------------

“Hmmmmm…”  The provocatively dressed tomb raider started to come to as the effects of her chloroform began to wear off.  Opening her eyes slowly, she could hardly see anything in the distance for the darkness.  Trying to move, she realized her body was not responding.  She gasped as she looked down, realizing that it had been tightly trussed.  The brown cords had been tightly wrapped around her legs and chest, pinning her to a wooden stake.  Her arms were box-tied securely behind her, rendering her hands useless along with the rest of her body.

“Grmmmphhhh!”  To make matters worse, the people who had captured her had also seen fit to gag her with a black rag.  She couldn’t tell for sure, but it felt like something had been stuffed behind the cleave gag, silencing her even further.  With the ropes wrapped tightly above and below her D-cup breasts, they were even more pronounced than usual as they swelled from underneath her blue top.  The proud woman had never been so humiliated in her life.

“Finally awake, I see.”

Lara growled as she watched the evil woman walk out from the darkness so that she could see her.  Yanking against her tethers, Lara confirmed that she was helplessly stuck.

“How do those socks taste?”

“Whammpppffff?!”  Looking down at her feet, the explorer suddenly realized what was stuffed inside her mouth as she stared at her bare feet.

“Well, I’m on a bit of a timetable so we better go ahead and get started.”  Looking behind her, Natla called into the darkness.  “Bring in the other one!”

Lara could hear footsteps from across the cavernous room get closer as she watched three figures approaching.  As they got closer, she could tell that one of them was a female, bound and gagged like her.  Other than being slightly smaller than herself, Lara was astounded by how familiar the fellow captive looked.  She watched curiously as the two goons tied her tightly to a wooden stake opposite of her own.

The smaller girl moaned furiously as it appeared she had been gagged exactly like the first prisoner, a black cleave gag and some sort of stuffing.  In addition to being bound and gagged, she was also blindfolded.  Outfitted in cargo pants and a grey tank top, this captive was dressed a little more conservatively compared to her counterpart.

After securing the second hostage, the two minions nodded to their employer then disappeared again into the darkness.  Natla smiled as she gently stroked the smaller girl’s brown hair.  “Finally, alone at last!”

“Gemppffff mmfffff meehhhhh!”

“So, Miss Croft,” began Natla, turning back to the bustier female.  “Allow me to introduce you to…Miss Croft!”

“Hmmmmppfff?!”  Both of the captives simultaneously gasped as they heard the unbelievable news.

“That’s right, the same person, but from completely separate realities.  Now with the only two people who can stop me out of the way, it’s time for me to destroy both of your worlds.  You two just stand here and enjoy each other’s company while you still can!”  Natla chuckled as she pulled off the smaller girl’s blindfold then disappeared into the darkness.

The larger woman thrashed in her bindings as she tried desperately to escape, not paying any attention to the other Lara across from her.  However, the survivor of Yamatai was entranced by the older woman in front of her.  The smaller version of the famous tomb raider blushed deeply as she stared at her counterpart’s chest.  Oh my God!  Those things are huge!

“Heemmff!”  Looking up, the bustier Lady Croft growled as she caught the woman staring at her breasts, her face as red as a tomato.  What does this noob think she’s staring at?!  It looks like she still needs a training bra!

The two Crofts struggled helplessly in the darkness, looking for a way to free themselves and stop their greatest rival from destroying both of their worlds.  But with their bonds holding tight and their cries muffled by their soiled socks, their fate seemed nothing short of bleak.