Prologue Part 7
Part 1 Part 8
Part 2 Part 9
Part 3 Part 10
Part 4 Part 11
Part 5 Part 12
Part 6
Part 13
Lara opened her eyes and discovered that what she had thought were unpleasant restraints had finally met their match. Her current predicament was worse than any of the previous as far as the visceral element, and while she'd found herself in many a difficult spot over the years, she still had the slightest sensation of terror pass through her.
It wasn't from the tickling, although she wasn't too crazy about that. After the long weeks it had started to take the edge off her willpower and left her struggling to maintain her normally rock-hard resolve in the face of her situation. But still, it hadn't broken her yet, or even reached the point where she awaited it with terror. As far as she was concerned, such a day would never come.
But what did manage to shake her resolve was the position she found herself in. For starters, her head was locked tight by a ring that wrapped around her forehead. As they say, it was a vise-like grip: tight, unyielding, inescapable. Likewise there was a brace for her chin like patients with neck injuries might sometimes wear. Between the two of them, her head was completely immobile.
Her arms were behind her back, palms together, and lashed flush with one another, pulling her shoulders back and forcing her to arch her back a bit. Her legs were lashed together as well, her toes locked in small grooves that held her tip-toe off the floor.
The neckbrace itself was unusual, unlike any she’d ever seen. It was padded, of course, but minimally. Rather than being made of cheap mass-produced materials, it was clearly made of metals chosen for maximum strength per weight, meaning that while the device was able to resist all of Lara's will, it had very little actual weight or volume to it, so that it was mostly just a couple braces at each shoulder and some bars. They were also connected to the ring on her head, based upon what she could deduce from her surroundings. It stretched her neck out too; leaving her with no room to even slightly move her head, neck, or shoulders. Coming off the contraption was a cable running straight up, supporting most of her weight. Likewise, a cable coming off the lashings held her legs down, stretching her out.
Lara's eyes swiveled about. This was a lot of trouble to go to, and that probably meant that these people had decided to take things to the next level with her. She swallowed. That was what was most uncomfortable part of all this; what did they have in mind? Of course, she had a general suspicion, but obviously this wasn't the usual fun and games. This made the Block look downright jolly.
The door opened, and a woman entered, and when she spoke, Lara recognized the voice. "Hello, Lara," she said. "I'm Ms. Danoob, the head of this facility. I thought it was time I spoke with you face-to-face."
"Let me out of this contraption," Lara said with a voice like liquid nitrogen.
"Not going to happen," she said plainly. "You've been here for some time, and yet you refuse to cooperate with us."
"That's right," Lara said darkly.
Ms. Danoob smiled, but it wasn't very pleasant. "I get the feeling you're not taking me seriously. That's part of the reason for this. I want to make sure that I have your undivided attention."
"Oh you do," Lara said. "And believe me when I say that if you're very, very lucky you'll only live to regret it."
"See, this is what I mean," Ms. Danoob said. "All the bravado and hostility rather than simply accepting the reality of the situation."
"This isn't the first dungeon I've found myself in," Lara said, "and you can rest assured that it won't be the first I won't find a way out of."
Ms. Danoob offered another smile, this one filled with condescension. "As I said, I don't think you're taking me seriously here, Lara. None of your contingency plans have prepared you for Crossroads Facility, unless you've developed some kind of interdimensional technology we're unfamiliar with." Lara wore a poker face, so Ms. Danoob pressed on. "You're not in your own reality, Lara. None of your preparations are in place here to deal with your capture. We have also relieved you of any carefully hidden means of trying to escape yourself. The facility is not inescapable, but for all intents and purposes, you will not be leaving it unless I allow it."
"We'll see," Lara said coldly.
"Yes, we will." Ms. Danoob walked up and run a fingernail up Lara’s belly; Lara didn’t react, but it was only by sheer force of will. It was a mistake, though, not to allow herself to tense, because when the finger traced back down a single laugh forced itself through her teeth. “You’re so ticklish, Lara,” Ms. Danoob said. “But you fight me, as if somehow that fact can change. It can’t; being a ticklish girl is part of who you are, and the sooner you recognize that, the sooner you’ll accept that your surrender is inevitable. Your resistance serves no purpose, Lara. You’re not going to escape, your will is going to be broken eventually; the only thing your fighting does is draw out how long you must suffer our ministrations.” She started scratching lightly at Lara’s belly, and despite herself Lara was chuckling. “See what I mean?”
“Bugger off,” Lara growled.
“I’ve had you bound this way to teach you a little lesson about vulnerability,” Ms. Danoob said. “Your armpits, your inner thighs, your knees are all very ticklish spots, and yet I’ve positioned you so that access to them is impossible; this is by design.” She ran the nails of both hands up over Lara’s rear, and she trembled and laughed. “Oh, of course, I can get at some of your other prized spots.” She lightly scratched the undersides of Lara’s breasts, and her eyes screwed shut as the laughter forced itself past her teeth. “But I’m not going to,” she said as she relented.
“I’m going to make you pay for this,” Lara said with restrained rage.
Ms. Danoob looked Lara over. “That may be true.” She looked into her eyes, and just the faintest hint of a smirk reached her lips. “But it won’t be today.” She interlaced her fingers and twisted them out, cracking the knuckles loudly. “Now... let’s start small, shall we?”
Lara was surprised when she reached for her head, and for a moment she wondered if Ms. Danoob was removing the restraint. Instead she felt the nails on the sides of her ears. They stroked very gently, and despite herself Lara was giggling at the touch. It became chuckling, and she tried in vain to move away, but her head couldn’t budge in the slightest. The hairs were rising on the back of her neck, and Lara closed her eyes and fought hard to try and resist; her damn ears?! What next?! She found out, because with simple movements she slipped from the ear to just behind it, and now Lara was laughing. “Stop it!” she protested, and her laughter turned to wailing as gradually she began running down from behind the ears all along her stretched neck. Oh God! she thought. Is there any place I’m not ticklish?! “No! NO! HAHAHAHA!!!”
“You are a ticklish girl, Lara,” Ms. Danoob said, never pausing in her movement from under the jaw all the way down to the shoulder. “Accept it.” Lara shook with laughter. “Better yet, embrace it.” Her fingernails danced all along the sides of the neck, and Lara wanted to somehow launch her head away from her body to escape it. “It’s okay to be ticklish, Lara,” Ms. Danoob said. “It’s not weakness... on the contrary, you’ve already seen what it can give you.”
“Fuck off! BWA-HAHAHAHA!”
Ms. Danoob sighed. “You are such a stubborn girl.” And this time when the hands reached the shoulders, they didn’t stop, and ran right onto Lara’s collarbones.
Lara’s eyes sprung open and the air emptied from her body like she’d just been kicked in the gut. It lasted only a second, and then she began bellowing with laughter. “OH GOD! NO! STO-HAHAHAHAHA!!!!”
“Stop?” Ms. Danoob asked, tickling the collarbones without mercy. “Why should I do that? Are you a ticklish girl, is that why I need to stop?”
“YES!” Lara cried. Anything to make it end!
“Good,” Ms. Danoob said, though she did nothing to relent. “You’re taking your first step, but you need to learn and remember. It’s all too easy for you to say it now, with the sensations so fresh. But later, when you lie in your bed and remember the touch, I want you to look back and admit to yourself that what you said wasn’t under duress, but a confession of truth.”
Lara’s shoulders being pulled like they were, the collarbones were all too exposed, and she could do nothing to even slightly resist the efforts. “I ADMIT IT!” she cried. “I’M TICKLISH! I’M VERY TICKLISH! JUST STOP! STOP!!!”
“Excellent,” Ms. Danoob said. “You’re being a very good girl, Lara.” She ran back up the neck, and while it still was torture, it was practically a break by comparison. “Do you like this?”
“NO!”
Ms. Danoob sighed. “But still you are stubborn.” She stopped tickling altogether, and Lara was left gasping for air. “I knew of all the girls you would be the worst, but honestly, Lara, someone as smart as you shouldn’t be so foolish.” Lara said nothing, she just gave her a look that could have set wet mud on fire. “Tell me you loved it.”
Lara sneered. “Go to hell.”
Ms. Danoob shook her head, as if Lara were a puppy that had just wet on the kitchen floor. “You have climaxed from tickling many times, and not just when you are being tickled on an erogenous zone. What other explanation is there than the fact that deep down beneath the crusty Croft exterior a secret part of you loves being tickled?” Lara continued to give her the look of death. “Your protests are lies you tell yourself because of your pride, but there is no shame in this. Embrace the ticklish girl you are, Lara, and you will discover delights beyond your wildest dreams.”
Lara breathed through her teeth, chest rising and falling with the anger. “One day, very soon, I will kill you.”
Ms. Danoob shook her head. “No, you won’t. Your aggression is expected, and the fact that it is becoming as severe as it is tells me that you are finally approaching the point of transformation, when you’ll leave your arrogance behind and accept all that you are.” She spoke in an almost pleading way. “Lara, you will lose nothing! You will still be the brave, fearless adventurer you’ve always been, but you will also have opened yourself up to so much more. You’ve seen the others; well I’ve watched them as well. One of them is a hand-to-hand master that even you don’t have a chance of beating, and another can pick you up and toss you across the room if she wished, yet they both have embraced this aspect of themselves. You can too, Lara.”
“If they have,” Lara said, “it just means they’re weak.”
“Weakness is a point of view,” Ms. Danoob said. “Is it weakness to resist solely because we fear what we will become?”
“What I fear becoming is someone’s willing plaything,” Lara said bitterly.
“Lara, Lara, Lara,” Ms. Danoob said. “You remain so very stubborn. I’ve given you a sampling of just how ticklish you are, even in places you no doubt never considered. Yet still you deny your nature.” She shook her head and walked away, and as she did, panels opened around the room, and Lara knew what was coming. She swallowed and tried to remain strong, but she knew it was pointless.
They struck, quickly and without warning. First were the feathers on the soles of her feet, quickly followed by the ones on her belly. After that, they went for her ears and the sides of her neck. Claws worked over her behind while others descended on her collarbones. There was stroking behind her knees, and feathering across her breasts, and Lara couldn’t even find the breath to plead for mercy. They tickled her until she blacked out, and when she awoke, they went right back at it. But she fought on, because she wouldn’t let them beat her, wouldn’t let them prove they were right about her. Yet, though she hated to admit it, there was a little feeling down in the pit of her tummy that was... It didn’t matter; she was Lara Croft, and no one beat her, ever!
Part 1 Part 8
Part 2 Part 9
Part 3 Part 10
Part 4 Part 11
Part 5 Part 12
Part 6
Part 13
Lara opened her eyes and discovered that what she had thought were unpleasant restraints had finally met their match. Her current predicament was worse than any of the previous as far as the visceral element, and while she'd found herself in many a difficult spot over the years, she still had the slightest sensation of terror pass through her.
It wasn't from the tickling, although she wasn't too crazy about that. After the long weeks it had started to take the edge off her willpower and left her struggling to maintain her normally rock-hard resolve in the face of her situation. But still, it hadn't broken her yet, or even reached the point where she awaited it with terror. As far as she was concerned, such a day would never come.
But what did manage to shake her resolve was the position she found herself in. For starters, her head was locked tight by a ring that wrapped around her forehead. As they say, it was a vise-like grip: tight, unyielding, inescapable. Likewise there was a brace for her chin like patients with neck injuries might sometimes wear. Between the two of them, her head was completely immobile.
Her arms were behind her back, palms together, and lashed flush with one another, pulling her shoulders back and forcing her to arch her back a bit. Her legs were lashed together as well, her toes locked in small grooves that held her tip-toe off the floor.
The neckbrace itself was unusual, unlike any she’d ever seen. It was padded, of course, but minimally. Rather than being made of cheap mass-produced materials, it was clearly made of metals chosen for maximum strength per weight, meaning that while the device was able to resist all of Lara's will, it had very little actual weight or volume to it, so that it was mostly just a couple braces at each shoulder and some bars. They were also connected to the ring on her head, based upon what she could deduce from her surroundings. It stretched her neck out too; leaving her with no room to even slightly move her head, neck, or shoulders. Coming off the contraption was a cable running straight up, supporting most of her weight. Likewise, a cable coming off the lashings held her legs down, stretching her out.
Lara's eyes swiveled about. This was a lot of trouble to go to, and that probably meant that these people had decided to take things to the next level with her. She swallowed. That was what was most uncomfortable part of all this; what did they have in mind? Of course, she had a general suspicion, but obviously this wasn't the usual fun and games. This made the Block look downright jolly.
The door opened, and a woman entered, and when she spoke, Lara recognized the voice. "Hello, Lara," she said. "I'm Ms. Danoob, the head of this facility. I thought it was time I spoke with you face-to-face."
"Let me out of this contraption," Lara said with a voice like liquid nitrogen.
"Not going to happen," she said plainly. "You've been here for some time, and yet you refuse to cooperate with us."
"That's right," Lara said darkly.
Ms. Danoob smiled, but it wasn't very pleasant. "I get the feeling you're not taking me seriously. That's part of the reason for this. I want to make sure that I have your undivided attention."
"Oh you do," Lara said. "And believe me when I say that if you're very, very lucky you'll only live to regret it."
"See, this is what I mean," Ms. Danoob said. "All the bravado and hostility rather than simply accepting the reality of the situation."
"This isn't the first dungeon I've found myself in," Lara said, "and you can rest assured that it won't be the first I won't find a way out of."
Ms. Danoob offered another smile, this one filled with condescension. "As I said, I don't think you're taking me seriously here, Lara. None of your contingency plans have prepared you for Crossroads Facility, unless you've developed some kind of interdimensional technology we're unfamiliar with." Lara wore a poker face, so Ms. Danoob pressed on. "You're not in your own reality, Lara. None of your preparations are in place here to deal with your capture. We have also relieved you of any carefully hidden means of trying to escape yourself. The facility is not inescapable, but for all intents and purposes, you will not be leaving it unless I allow it."
"We'll see," Lara said coldly.
"Yes, we will." Ms. Danoob walked up and run a fingernail up Lara’s belly; Lara didn’t react, but it was only by sheer force of will. It was a mistake, though, not to allow herself to tense, because when the finger traced back down a single laugh forced itself through her teeth. “You’re so ticklish, Lara,” Ms. Danoob said. “But you fight me, as if somehow that fact can change. It can’t; being a ticklish girl is part of who you are, and the sooner you recognize that, the sooner you’ll accept that your surrender is inevitable. Your resistance serves no purpose, Lara. You’re not going to escape, your will is going to be broken eventually; the only thing your fighting does is draw out how long you must suffer our ministrations.” She started scratching lightly at Lara’s belly, and despite herself Lara was chuckling. “See what I mean?”
“Bugger off,” Lara growled.
“I’ve had you bound this way to teach you a little lesson about vulnerability,” Ms. Danoob said. “Your armpits, your inner thighs, your knees are all very ticklish spots, and yet I’ve positioned you so that access to them is impossible; this is by design.” She ran the nails of both hands up over Lara’s rear, and she trembled and laughed. “Oh, of course, I can get at some of your other prized spots.” She lightly scratched the undersides of Lara’s breasts, and her eyes screwed shut as the laughter forced itself past her teeth. “But I’m not going to,” she said as she relented.
“I’m going to make you pay for this,” Lara said with restrained rage.
Ms. Danoob looked Lara over. “That may be true.” She looked into her eyes, and just the faintest hint of a smirk reached her lips. “But it won’t be today.” She interlaced her fingers and twisted them out, cracking the knuckles loudly. “Now... let’s start small, shall we?”
Lara was surprised when she reached for her head, and for a moment she wondered if Ms. Danoob was removing the restraint. Instead she felt the nails on the sides of her ears. They stroked very gently, and despite herself Lara was giggling at the touch. It became chuckling, and she tried in vain to move away, but her head couldn’t budge in the slightest. The hairs were rising on the back of her neck, and Lara closed her eyes and fought hard to try and resist; her damn ears?! What next?! She found out, because with simple movements she slipped from the ear to just behind it, and now Lara was laughing. “Stop it!” she protested, and her laughter turned to wailing as gradually she began running down from behind the ears all along her stretched neck. Oh God! she thought. Is there any place I’m not ticklish?! “No! NO! HAHAHAHA!!!”
“You are a ticklish girl, Lara,” Ms. Danoob said, never pausing in her movement from under the jaw all the way down to the shoulder. “Accept it.” Lara shook with laughter. “Better yet, embrace it.” Her fingernails danced all along the sides of the neck, and Lara wanted to somehow launch her head away from her body to escape it. “It’s okay to be ticklish, Lara,” Ms. Danoob said. “It’s not weakness... on the contrary, you’ve already seen what it can give you.”
“Fuck off! BWA-HAHAHAHA!”
Ms. Danoob sighed. “You are such a stubborn girl.” And this time when the hands reached the shoulders, they didn’t stop, and ran right onto Lara’s collarbones.
Lara’s eyes sprung open and the air emptied from her body like she’d just been kicked in the gut. It lasted only a second, and then she began bellowing with laughter. “OH GOD! NO! STO-HAHAHAHAHA!!!!”
“Stop?” Ms. Danoob asked, tickling the collarbones without mercy. “Why should I do that? Are you a ticklish girl, is that why I need to stop?”
“YES!” Lara cried. Anything to make it end!
“Good,” Ms. Danoob said, though she did nothing to relent. “You’re taking your first step, but you need to learn and remember. It’s all too easy for you to say it now, with the sensations so fresh. But later, when you lie in your bed and remember the touch, I want you to look back and admit to yourself that what you said wasn’t under duress, but a confession of truth.”
Lara’s shoulders being pulled like they were, the collarbones were all too exposed, and she could do nothing to even slightly resist the efforts. “I ADMIT IT!” she cried. “I’M TICKLISH! I’M VERY TICKLISH! JUST STOP! STOP!!!”
“Excellent,” Ms. Danoob said. “You’re being a very good girl, Lara.” She ran back up the neck, and while it still was torture, it was practically a break by comparison. “Do you like this?”
“NO!”
Ms. Danoob sighed. “But still you are stubborn.” She stopped tickling altogether, and Lara was left gasping for air. “I knew of all the girls you would be the worst, but honestly, Lara, someone as smart as you shouldn’t be so foolish.” Lara said nothing, she just gave her a look that could have set wet mud on fire. “Tell me you loved it.”
Lara sneered. “Go to hell.”
Ms. Danoob shook her head, as if Lara were a puppy that had just wet on the kitchen floor. “You have climaxed from tickling many times, and not just when you are being tickled on an erogenous zone. What other explanation is there than the fact that deep down beneath the crusty Croft exterior a secret part of you loves being tickled?” Lara continued to give her the look of death. “Your protests are lies you tell yourself because of your pride, but there is no shame in this. Embrace the ticklish girl you are, Lara, and you will discover delights beyond your wildest dreams.”
Lara breathed through her teeth, chest rising and falling with the anger. “One day, very soon, I will kill you.”
Ms. Danoob shook her head. “No, you won’t. Your aggression is expected, and the fact that it is becoming as severe as it is tells me that you are finally approaching the point of transformation, when you’ll leave your arrogance behind and accept all that you are.” She spoke in an almost pleading way. “Lara, you will lose nothing! You will still be the brave, fearless adventurer you’ve always been, but you will also have opened yourself up to so much more. You’ve seen the others; well I’ve watched them as well. One of them is a hand-to-hand master that even you don’t have a chance of beating, and another can pick you up and toss you across the room if she wished, yet they both have embraced this aspect of themselves. You can too, Lara.”
“If they have,” Lara said, “it just means they’re weak.”
“Weakness is a point of view,” Ms. Danoob said. “Is it weakness to resist solely because we fear what we will become?”
“What I fear becoming is someone’s willing plaything,” Lara said bitterly.
“Lara, Lara, Lara,” Ms. Danoob said. “You remain so very stubborn. I’ve given you a sampling of just how ticklish you are, even in places you no doubt never considered. Yet still you deny your nature.” She shook her head and walked away, and as she did, panels opened around the room, and Lara knew what was coming. She swallowed and tried to remain strong, but she knew it was pointless.
They struck, quickly and without warning. First were the feathers on the soles of her feet, quickly followed by the ones on her belly. After that, they went for her ears and the sides of her neck. Claws worked over her behind while others descended on her collarbones. There was stroking behind her knees, and feathering across her breasts, and Lara couldn’t even find the breath to plead for mercy. They tickled her until she blacked out, and when she awoke, they went right back at it. But she fought on, because she wouldn’t let them beat her, wouldn’t let them prove they were right about her. Yet, though she hated to admit it, there was a little feeling down in the pit of her tummy that was... It didn’t matter; she was Lara Croft, and no one beat her, ever!
