At last the Temple awaits.

The guardians at the entrance stood rigid, staring into the distance, their faces void of emotion. Painted tribal markings decorated their bodies, each of them held a long golden spear in one hand and had the other resting on a dagger, ready to strike.

Just as Lara's group was about to enter, they were approached by a group of men that carried firearms and were in a hurry. Ortega immediately recognized them as the guards from his own village, and it was with troubled look on his face that he addressed them.

''What are you doing here? You were not to leave your posts!'' He said in a disappointed tone.

One of the men approached Ortega and spoke to him in a lowered voice, as if he didn't want Lara and the others to hear it.

''The village is safe, there are guards on every outpost and we will accompany you if you'd have us, it's much safer to have some familiar faces along with you'' The guard said to Ortega.

Ortega couldn't argue with that but his senses kept warning him of some bad omen. It wasn't the temple's story that worried him though, it was simply something unexplainable, something that didn't feel right about the whole thing.

He decided to let the men from his village accompany the crew. It had been a long journey and they had lost much precious time already, now he just wanted to get this over with. The sooner they were done, the sooner he'd be rid of those mercenary filth.

After the crew had been granted passage without any difficulty, Ortega was the last to enter, his men dispersed amongst the mercenaries. He would rather have the mercenaries in front of him rather than behind him, despite him hating the fact this left Lara all by herself up in front.

The temple floor was riddled with holes big enough to fall through, forcing them to thread carefully as each step could prove fatal and each tile they stepped on a potential trap. Uneasiness was readily apparent on the mercenaries faces , accompanied by cold sweat running down their foreheads.

Their luck was having Lara with them, her expertise proved more than a welcome addition. She guided them past numerous traps, but even she wasn't without fear despite the confidence and professionalism she projected.

Soon they came upon an unstable looking stone bridge covered in moss. Lara and Ortega decided that the best way in which to cross it was to move in groups of no more than 5 people. This would prevent the possibility of the bridge collapsing under the weight of too many people.

Lara was first to cross, bringing the 4 guards from Ortega's village with her. Next, several groups of five mercenaries followed after her while Ortega, still distrustful of them, waited patiently for them to cross and keeping an eye on them at all times. .
Crackling sounds filled the large room and their attention was drawn towards the crumbling bridge, and the five men that were on the bridge now ran to the other side as fast as they could.

Ortega hurried towards the bridge, hoping to cross it before it collapsed, as the last thing he wanted was to leave Lara alone with the mercenaries. some of his men were there to protect her but deep down inside he knew that they would be no match for so many mercenaries.

But before he could reach the bridge he was cut off by a group of mercenaries that still remained with him. All eight of them attempted to rush across the bridge until it crumbled beneath their feet about halfway through.
The mercenaries fell into the river far below the bridge and disappeared off into the darkness, swept away by the strong current.

Now stuck with four guards and about twenty mercenaries, Lara wasn't worried, as they were more than enough to help her with moving debris . She knew the four men from her stay at Ortega's village. They were good men with families and a sense of honor.

Meanwhile Ortega remained on the other side of the crumbled bridge, among with the two mercenaries who had been the only ones with the common sense not to rush to their imminent deaths.
They were also two of the few that hadn't gotten themselves involved in the little riot and assault on Lara back at the camp.
Now, Ortega just gave them a cold stare to which they replied by smirking at him.

''Stay put Lara, I'll find a way around, I'll meet up with you soon if all goes well!'' Ortega shouted, knowing that the current was too strong to pass on foot and they had to find another way around the river.

''I can't wait, we need to move on, the ground is very unstable!'' Lara shouted back, as the tiny bits of rock crumbled beneath her feet and rolled into the river.

''Alright, go ahead, I'll catch up eventually, here's something to keep in touch!'' Ortega answered as he threw a walkie talkie to her before motioning the two men to follow him.

After watching the trio disappear behind some pillars, Lara wasted no time commanding the mercenaries to follow after her. As they started moving again, Lara could hear some whispering behind her. Some of it she couldn't make out, some of it she could, picking up on comments like ''I’ll follow that sweet ass anywhere.'' and ''Why don't you get naked again? Might give us more initiative to follow you.''.
Ignoring the obvious sexual remarks, Lara moved on, warning everyone to watch their step and follow her lead.

Lara was somewhat shocked but not all that surprised by how little effect the deaths of their comrades had had on the mercenaries. As for herself, while she hadn't know them all that well, she’d still been disheartened by seeing them swallowed up by the current.

Eventually Lara's group arrived in a room filled with gold and various jewels, a room that Lara concluded must be the treasury. Most of the mercenaries stared in awe at the riches that people of ancient times had left to honor their god, but some of them had already begun grabbing the gold and filling their pockets with it.

While Ortega's men were not pleased by this savage behavior and the blatant defiling of their holy temple, they didn't protest, they waited for Lara to say something to try to stop it.

However, Lara was distracted by a golden dagger resting on a pedestal. The dagger was made of pure gold, with numerous finely crafted decorations and the hilt made out of emerald with diamonds carved into it with artistic precision.
It was impractical for combat but without a doubt it was a ceremonial tool, and as an explorer and long time archaeologist simply holding it made her heart beat faster.

Lara was quickly brought to the present when one of Ortega's guards gently grabbed her arm.

''These men are desecrating our sacred temple. Will you do something about it?'' He asked her in heavily accented English and with a pleading tone in as he pointed to the mercenaries filling their bags with gold.

''Stop that at once! We are here for a specific relic and I've made a promise that that will be the only thing we are taking!'' Lara said in a demanding voice, but to little effect. Ignoring her, the mercenaries continued greedily grabbing as much gold as they could.

Not all of them shared the same train of though as three of the mercenaries remained with Lara and the guards, resisting the temptation of the treasure.

''I swear I'll blow your bloody heads off if you don't drop that gold, whoever continues will risk losing his pay!'' Lara shouted.

The mercenaries stopped stuffing the gold and jewels into their bags and instead turned their attention towards Lara, prompting her to ask herself if her words had had the effect that she’d been aiming for, and ending up uncertain of what the answer to that question would be.

''There is more gold in here than what you can offer us! Even that sweet cunt of yours won't cover it, though we are willing to take it anyway'' A mercenary, the same one that she’d had an encounter with in her tent, now said to her, with a cruel grin on his face and a lustful look in his eyes.

''Ortega, come in... Ortega...krshhhhhh'' Lara pressed the button on her walkie-talkie and spoke into it.

''Lara are...okay?'' A muffled voice answered.

''Ortega get your ass over here pronto, we've got a mutiny'' Lara said somewhat panicked and increasingly enraged.

''Where...a....you?'' Ortega asked.

''Treasury, hurry!'' Lara answered.

''Ok hold on...be...ri...there!'' Ortega replied before the walkie-talkie went silent.

'' Do you want me to kick your ass like last time?'' Lara asked the mercenary trying to sound confident, although deep down inside she was still frightened. She knew all too well that back then in the tent she got lucky, she was only able to overpower him because she managed to distract him by offering to give in to his demands.

The three mercenaries who had resisted the temptation of the treasure now joined the guards from Ortega's village, forming a ring around Lara to shield her from the others. It gave her a sense of safety, albeit probably a false one as she knew that they were outnumbered seventeen to eight.

Some of the mercenaries were still sore from what happened back at the camp and would gladly finish what they started. Now that she was no longer their employer she had become a spoil of war that they would try to take to use as they saw fit.

Suddenly, Ortega came rushing through the door with the two mercenaries that had stayed behind with him, and all three of them joined the others around Lara. At eleven against seventeen, their numbers were improved, but would it be enough to allow them to win?

''Don't fire you fools, one shot would bury us inside this very treasure room!'' Ortega warned the mutineers. But his warning went unheeded as a gun was fired, the shot echoing like thunder through the temple, the truly deafening and terrifying sound causing dust to come falling down from the ceiling. A loud groan came from Ortega's left side as the loyal mercenary standing there collapsed while holding his shoulder.

''Son of a bitch, that hurts like hell'' The man groaned trying to stop the bleeding by pressing his hand against the wound.

As the ceiling was falling apart rapidly, the men on Lara's side readied their guns.

Then, in an act that filled Lara with dread, the mutineer that had fired the first shot, now collapsed to his knees while holding his head and screaming in pain as though he was succumbing to some sort of seizure. The scream consisted of a shrieking noise as though the man was being boiled alive, and soon others followed him in falling to their knees and screaming in pain.

One of them got to his feet, grabbed a rifle equipped with a bayonet, and stabbed it through his nearest comrade’s throat. Another one picked up his gun from where he’d dropped it on the floor, possessed by madness he started frantically shooting at the others. Soon, the chaotic carnage was complete as the mutineers turned on each other as though they’d all been possessed by demons.

Ortega was quick to act, ordering the men around him to retreat towards the opening from which they’d come. They all rushed towards it while avoiding the falling debris. Two of Ortega's guards carried the wounded man as they swiftly followed after Ortega and the others, as fast as their legs would take them.

But Lara just couldn't let such a rare and marvelous relic like the dagger be lost forever. She had to take it with her and so she quickly rushed back to take it, managing to grab it in time but not before a pile of debris fell down to block her path out of the treasury and leave her stuck with the mercenaries that were going berserk all around her.

Ortega desperately called out to Lara from behind the debris, but the cave in would take a few hours if not a whole day to clear and they both knew they didn't have that kind of time.

''I'm ok, I'll have to find another way out!''Lara shouted.

Hearing Lara's voice and knowing that she was still alive alleviated Ortega’s worst fears, but he knew there was no time to lose. He had to find her before those animals started tearing at her.

Seeing a crack in the wall Lara quickly made her way to it past the mercenaries, who seemed to have all their attention on each other. It was just big enough for her to squeeze through it, her breasts pressed tight against the rock.

''Good thing I'm not claustrophobic.'' She thought to herself as she tried to squeeze through, glad that her top wasn't any shorter then this, or else her bare breasts would really feel sore when she managed to squeeze through to the other side, had they popped out.

Her sturdy top was not just designed to keep her big breasts in place but also to protect her torso against damage and allow agile movement. However, despite it's many qualities, it wouldn't be able to stop a bullet and that was something that worried Lara far more at the moment, than having a few bruises on her breasts.

As she looked back into the treasury just one last time, Lara could see a black cloud appearing to wrap itself around the men, snatching them one by one as the others continued to shoot indiscriminately at whomever happened to be in their line of sight.
Lara closed her eyes and gulped hard as she was overcome with fear at what she had just seen. She couldn't quite describe it but she wasn't gonna stick around to find out what the black cloud was.

With a deep breath she finally squeezed her way through the crack, slipping out onto the other side of it.

Stopping to dust off her knees and catch her breath, Lara looked in front of her at a flight of stairs located just a short distance away from her. The sound of gunfire still echoed behind her, mixing with screams that were physically painful to listen to as she pressed on towards the stairs.

Lara climbed her way up the stairs and eventually reached a raised platform from which she could observe her surroundings and think of her next move, she gazed into the distance one more time and readied her guns...