Lara Croft vs. Jungle Girl

"Who the fuck are you?" Lara Croft demanded, with both her guns in the girl's face.

"I am the protector of this place," the girl replied, serenely, "My name is Jace."

"How did you get here? How long have you been watching me?"

"Only a short time. I would appreciate it if you would lower your weapons."

"I'll take that under advisement. First, where the fuck did you pop up from? The caves? But you're not wet." She didn't look sweaty, either. Not like Lara herself was, greasy and glistening from top to toe and dripping all over the place.

"No, I didn't swim," the girl said, "I didn't have to come that way. I used the door."

"What door? Where is there a door?"

"The next chamber, that direction. But you won't be able to see it, Lara Croft, or make use of it. It's not for you. I'm sorry. I know this will confuse you. It's only made for me."

"How do you know my name? Who sent you?"

"They have no names. Or if they do, they've never told them to me. But they are great and potent powers, I promise you that. I don't expect you will take my word for it, though. They are not the sort of beings a person like you is prepared to believe in, Tomb Raider. You would not dare to raid tombs, if you did."

"Bullshit," Lara said. "Bullshit and buggery. Hey now, quit picking at my suit like that. You'll get holes in it. You're gonna ruin it."

"It doesn't cut easily. What manner of cloth is this?"

Strictly speaking, it probably wasn't cloth at all. Lara had long ago ripped out the tag, but she doubted reading it would have made either of them any wiser. Bunch of gobbledegook made from petroleum products, no doubt. "It's synthetic," she said.

"I do not know what that means."

"Are you kidding me?"

She shrugged. "I am not of your time."

Lara didn't take this seriously, not for one second. Her idea was, the girl was some spoiled American rich kid screwing around during her summer vacation, playing dress up. Possibly she had mental problems; more likely she was only fucking around. She looked too clean and, slim as she was, much too well fed, even so. Sleek and svelte, not emaciated. And toned, like an athlete. A runner's body, maybe, or a gymnast.

"You're supposed to be some kind of... what? Like Tarzan-ette? A Jungle Girl?"

Jace nodded. "I am the Jungle Girl."

Lara snorted, although in a funny way she found it admirable that the girl could spout a cheesedick line like that with such complete conviction. "Explain something to me. If you're a Jungle Girl - meaning I assume you live all the time in a jungle, like an animal - then how come your legs are perfectly shaved? Your armpits too, I noticed."

Jace shrugged. "Because I shave them, of course."

"With your stone knife? Truly? Well, you must have one hell of a steady hand. I wonder why you go to the trouble, though. If you're by yourself in the jungle. I don't know if I would bother, if it was me in your shoes. Not that you wear shoes... Who are you doing it for? I mean, who taught you that you were supposed to do that, if you were raised by animals or primitive natives of some sort?"

"I was not. I was taken up and trained in my childhood, by the powers I spoke of before. They chose me and shaped me for this duty, as they thought fit. Taught me all I know. It was a great honor."

"Uh huh. All right. It's just this is the thing about you Jungle Girls that always bothered me. Doesn't make sense. And don't you have trouble with bug bites and rashes and things like that? How do you stay so clean? I think I'd get pretty grubby and stinky pretty quick, if I became a Jungle Girl. I get pretty grubby and smelly in the course of just one ordinary day. The hardest part for me about having to live in the wild would be trying to wash my hair and keep it nice without shampoo and conditioner every morning. I guess you just get used to the greasy feeling, after a while, and it stops bothering you. But maybe you don't have that trouble. Your hair doesn't look bad at all. It looks great, in fact. How do you manage it? What's your secret?"

Jace frowned, but she didn't get upset. She only looked puzzled. "Why are you attempting to ridicule me?" she asked. "Why did you come to this place?"

"Exploration."

She seemed to not recognize the word. Lara tried again, simplifying. "Discovery. Science. To learn."

"Ah," said the Jungle Girl, although Lara suspected she still wasn't getting the idea. Or if she was, she didn't believe it. "This is a sacred place. You must have realized. One such as you is not welcome here, Lara Croft. You are trespassing."

"What about you?"

"I was summoned."

"Were you? By who, might I ask?"

"Who else? The spirits in this temple."

"Ah, of course. Silly of me."

"I owe them a debt. For they gave me aid, in a time of great peril."

"These are the great and potent powers that chose you and trained you and stuff?"

"No. The spirits of this place are different. Different kinds of beings. But they are closely allied to the powers I serve. And, in turn, to me."

"You live here, alone? Guarding this place? Is that what you're claiming?"

"No, not at all. There is no jungle on this island. I live in a great forest, very far away. But this is my calling. I go where I am needed. Today you brought me here. I am charged with the protection of this place, and many other sacred places."

"Like where? Give me some other examples."

"You would not know the names. They remain secure, as yet, and secret. Safely hidden across this world, and many others."

"Many other worlds, did you just say?"

"I did."

"All right. If you say so. Are they all places like this one? Related? From the same civilization, I mean. If that term make any sense to you."

"No. You misunderstand. Many different peoples - many different kinds of places. But all lost to time. Almost forgotten. I am their only link now. There's no one else to look after them. No one else knows or even cares."

"Gosh. That's an interesting story, Miss Jace. I'll give you that."

"Just Jace. Just call me Jace."

"Why did you steal my swimsuit, Jace?"

"I did not intend to steal this garment from you. It seemed you had discarded it. I picked it up because I was curious, because it is so strangely shiny in the sunlight."

"I only took it off and set is aside temporarily because it got too hot here to keep wearing it."

"It was the proper thing for you to do, even if you did not do so knowingly. But yes, it is always very warm in this place. They constructed it to be so. To gather the light and the heat of the day, as much as they could. The bright sun and the heat were essential for their rituals."

"Fascinating. Give my suit back now, if you please."

"As you wish." Jace handed it over, and Lara began to pull it back on. It was bone dry, at this point, and stiffened with salt and sand, making it as much a crummy ordeal to clamber into it as it had been to remove. No help for that, under the circumstances.

"Why are you doing that?" the girl asked, "You said the costume was too hot. And did I not just inform you, it is not respectful. For you to be garbed in this place."

"That particular consideration means nothing to me, Jungle Girl."

"Regardless if it does not, will the garment not make you too hot again?"

"I imagine it will, admittedly. And that's a shame."

"You don't want to wear it, yet now you feel you must. Because of my presence? Yes, I see now. The nudity taboo of your era. You are ashamed to have been discovered and observed here without clothing on. And also because you had become aroused, undoubtedly. That heightens your shame." And then the Jungle Girl threw back her head and laughed.

It was rather laughable, wasn't it? When one put it plain like that. The funniest part - and the painfulest - being that it was absolutely true.

"It is the magic of this place, Tomb Raider," pronounced the Jungle Girl, "You are surprised that it affected you? You were unprepared? You feel the feelings this place was expressly built to initiate."

"You're making more of it than there is," Lara replied, "It's a simple question of personal privacy, more than anything else. That's why I chose to put this damn suit back on. That reason alone." Lara was rather pleased with the offhand conviction in her voice when she delivered these statements. "I suppose it's unfair to expect a Jungle Girl to have any appreciation of such a view. A woman's body is her own. I decide how much of it others are permitted to see. No one else. It was unseemly for you to come upon me unawares, whether or not you realized it - let alone touching any of my things, without announcing your presence and asking permission. It was disrespectful and outright offensive. You should apologize."

Jace's mocking, playful grin was replaced with a stern frown. "You are quick to take umbrage, yet refuse to acknowledge your own wrongdoing? It's not your state of undress or passion that should have embarrassed you - as I keep trying to make clear to you, both those things are appropriate for entering this place. But all the same, you were not invited and you are not welcome, Lara Croft. This place is kept hidden because that was the will of its inhabitants. You have violated their sanctum. It is the fact you have committed that act of trespass that you should feel ashamed of. Your crime shall not be overlooked. Recompense must be made. I've been summoned to ensure it is paid in full."

"I have no reason at all to feel embarrassment on that score. I don't consider coming here on a scientific survey to be an act of trespass. It's both unjust and patently absurd for you to call it that."

"Not for you to say, Tomb Raider. That is for the builders to judge. And they have."

"The builders are long dead, Miss Jace. My visit doesn't trouble them."

"I do not dispute the first point. You are entirely wrong about the second."

"So you're saying I've angered a bunch of ghosts?"

"Exactly, Lara Croft. Now they must be appeased. Or you will not be permitted to leave this place alive."

"Who do you imagine is going to stop me from doing that, Miss Jace?"

"I have already said. I was summoned here to confront you for that very purpose."

"Of course you were. Pardon me, though - I have to say, they should have sent me somebody a bit bigger. I don't believe you're up to this job."

"You will discover yourself mistaken in that assertion, should the pair of us put the question to test."

"I'm game, if you insist on it. But just allow me to make sure of one last point - did you happen to notice I've got these two guns here in my hands? While all you seem to have on you are some knives."

"Knives are all I need. In fact for the task of subduing you, perhaps I might not even need them."

"Look, do you actually know what guns are? Do you understand how they work? Before you said that shit about this not being your time period. Maybe you've never had to deal with guns until now."

"I know about guns. I don't like them, but I know about them."

"I don't care for them much myself." (Except, in fairness, for the times when she did.)

"You must make a choice, Lara Croft. You have two alternatives, to set things right."

"Besides just shooting you right now where you stand? Or were you already including that among my options?"

"I was not. I do not deny the option exists... It will not exonerate you, however. You cannot appease the spirits by doing that."

"And I should give half a shit what they think because...?"

"Because it would not be wise to ignore them and anger them any further than you already have. Your guns give you a chance of slaying me, I admit. They won't do you any good at all against the likes of them, should they decide to take direct action."

"Why bother sending you then, if they're so fucking mighty and unstoppable all by themselves?"

"An act of charity. To give you a fair chance at earning a reprieve. They can strike you down, but they can't speak to you. Can't tell you what they want. I must speak for them. Will you listen to your alternatives now?"

Lara shrugged. "I suppose at this stage I don't mind hearing you out further, just for the interest of the thing. Frankly, you've managed to fire up my curiosity almost as much as you've fired up my temper. So go on. Lay out my other options, Jungle Girl, as you see them. This should be rich. I'm all ears."

Jace nodded and then made a funny gesture over her shoulder. The wall behind her swung smoothly away, revealing yet another chamber Lara hadn't seen before, larger than all the others in the complex. And as far as she'd thought she understood the layout of the temple, there shouldn't have been room for that room - other chambers should have occupied that space. They had been replaced, or else slid out of the way somehow. Extraordinary engineering... unless it was all done with magic. Lara couldn't quite decide if the use of actual working magic would make the feat more impressive, or less.

In the center of this new chamber, a great white statue of a human hand, palm up to the sky. Big as a dining room table. Or, well, a bed. Big enough for a figure to lay down on, in any case. A sacrifice, perhaps. The first image that popped into one's mind, inevitably. Some virgin in a white robe, tied down and spread-eagle for the high priest's knife... and so forth. At least the hand showed no bloodstains.

"An altar?" Lara demanded.

"Of a kind," said Jace.

"I'm guessing you expect me to climb up on there."

"That is what you must do, to satisfy the spirits of this temple. First you must divest yourself once again of your shiny garment."

"Funny, you don't surprise me in the least. Then what?"

"Nothing very difficult. All that is required is that you pleasure yourself."

"Jerk off, you mean."

"You must bring yourself to a climax. Take as long as you need, there is no hurry. Use whatever techniques you prefer. You must complete the act, however. Do not attempt to deceive the spirits."

"No faking."

"No faking," echoed Jace, with a nod. "Your offering must be genuine."

"Your pervert spirits want to watch me orgasm. That's supposed to earn me atonement?"

"Exactly."

"I thought I committed some great sacrilege. Frigging myself off hardly seems like much of a religious punishment. What's the catch?"

"No catch. The spirits have little desire to see you suffer. This temple was built in celebration of pleasure."

"Celebration of fucking, more like. Let's call a spade a spade."

"If you prefer. Sexual pleasure is what they treasure. It embodies them, and feeds them. All who enter this place must pay their fair share. You must make an offering of your body's greatest delight."

"Greatest in their eyes, perhaps. Don't know if I can say the same. Fucking is nice, don't get me wrong. But there's much more to life, you know. There are significantly deeper satisfactions to be achieved. One just has to get off one's arse and go looking for them. Be amazed what you might discover."

Jace shrugged. "The builders do not see things that way."

"No, they wouldn't, I suppose."

"Will you do this, then? Will you agree?"

There was a moment she almost semi-seriously considered going along with it. Like, what the heck, why not? Wouldn't take long... She was horny, anyhow, if we're gonna be perfectly honest... She'd probably enjoy herself... Well, in fact she would have to, wouldn't she? To complete the arrangement properly. Then again, could she actually manage to reach an orgasm, in circumstances like these? A bit too much pressure, no matter how turned on she might already be. Especially with this crazy girl watching her the whole time, let alone a bunch of mysterious spirits, if they even existed outside the Jungle Girl's fevered imagination. Jace was probably just some mad lesbian. Concocted this whole business to get herself off. Most likely, this was all a sicko power game she'd dreamed up, to see how many humiliating hoops she could trick or bully Lara into jumping through.

And say after all she shrugged and went ahead and did this, and it worked out all right. Imagine she got herself off just fine, no trouble along the way... Could she really live with that, afterwards? Not without feeling deeply guilty and exploited and ashamed of herself. Whether Jace's vengeful spirits were real or imaginary, it almost didn't matter. It would be equally degrading, either way. Letting herself be bossed around like this, and made a fool of. Forced to perform in this sex temple like a savage heathen primitive, or a circus animal. Or, to be blunt, like a prostitute. They wanted to humiliate her, for their entertainment and satisfaction. Expected her to make a twisted holy offering of her nudity and her pleasure - but those things were hers, by God. Private personal sacred treasures. She wasn't offering them up willingly to any fucking pervert sex-spirits or a lesbo Jungle Bitch. Not today. Certainly not just 'cause they thought they could force her to.

"What if I won't do it?" said Lara, "And setting aside killing you and walking away... What's my last option, then?"

"You will be whipped," Jace answered.

"Oh yeah? Just like that? And who is gonna handle that?"

"I shall, if need be." And now she was holding a long, slightly bent wooden rod in her hands. It had just appeared in her hands, it seemed. If she'd picked it up from somewhere, the girl had moved too fast for Lara to notice. Perhaps in that moment while Lara had been distracted - and slightly overawed, in spite of herself - by the revelation of the altar, and the massive room containing it that shouldn't exist.

"You just told me the spirits didn't want to make me suffer. Not interested in that sort of thing."

"They are not. But if you will not offer them submission, I will have to take it from you. If you will not make a gift of your pleasure, they will have your pain in its place. And your shame, as well. Your shame will give it spice, I think."

Lara realized she was blushing. The girl, dammit, had made her blush, when she said that last bit... and with what she said next...

"Either way, I suspect," Jace continued, "the spirits will have your shame. Is that not so? It will shame you as much to yield up your pleasure for them with your own hand as it would to be beaten, by my hand. Perhaps more. Yet this is as it should be. Whichever you choose, remember, it is meant to be a punishment. Attrition."

Lara felt a chill and shuddered, a little. Then took a breath and cleared her throat, reasserting her stance. "Silly girl. This conversation has been terribly diverting. But there will be no punishment of any sort today," said the bold and infamous Tomb Raider, brandishing her pistols. "Not while I've got these bad boys. Not for me, anyhow. Now listen carefully - I'm only going to give you this one chance, then I dare say I'll have to blow off one of your kneecaps, at the very least. Don't test my resolve, all right? You won't enjoy the results. First off, put down that stick of yours, very slowly and gently, and then when that's done, be so good as remove all your fun little knives and set them down on the floor as well."

"You have made your choice, then," said Jace, as she bent to obey.

"So I have," said Lara Croft.

Then Jace leapt at her, like a panther.

Lara thought she was good and ready for a trick like that. Fired off four or five shots. Didn't seem to hit anything. Fucking girl was just too damn fast. Pulled off some crazy ludicrous midair flipping kick thing. Struck both Lara's guns out of her hands, and knocked her flat on her arse. Not a proud moment.

They had themselves quite a throwdown. Tumbled each other back and forth all around the chamber, literally bouncing off the goddamn walls. There wasn't much art to it. No grace or technique. It got dirty, pretty quick, too. Hair-pulling, knees in crotches, nipple twists. Somehow Jace's knives never came into it. Lara never knew if the Jungle Girl decided not to use them, thinking it unfair, or if she just happened to unluckily lose them all from their sheaths in the early moments of their combat, from all the rolling around and jostling they did.