Lara's Shadow Story

The story begins with a scene from Tomb Raider Underworld; Lara and the Doppelgänger are fighting in Helheim just after Jacqueline Natla left to raise the Midgard Serpent. After getting the better hand, the Doppelgänger is about to kill Lara until Amanda Evert intervenes and hurls the Doppelgänger over the cliff with her powers from her Wraith Stone. Having assumed that the Doppelgänger fell into the pool of Eitr, we learn she didn't touch Jormungandr's poison, but instead hit the ground just next to the pool. She awakens after Lara and Amanda escape and head into the main room to find a severely injured Natla, her skin peeled and deteriorating, her wings ripped and messed up.

"I like your new look," the Doppelgänger grins.

Natla doesn't find her statement at all humorous. "There's too much Lara in you for your own good, slave," she remarks, emphasis on the word. She realizes the Doppelgänger is still laughing about it and gets angry. "Ohk Eshivar!" The Doppelgänger's smile fades and she stands straight, listening to Natla's commands. "Take me to your birthplace, now."

The Doppelgänger helps Natla up and carries her to where she was created by Amanda and the Atlantean Queen. The room looks like a throne room with a seat in a pod in the center of the room. The Doppelgänger helps Natla into it, who then realizes the power is down. "Amanda cut the power. Go reactivate it, but be careful - this machine is useless to me damaged. Once power's restored, return here for further instructions."

The Doppelgänger goes through the entire temple, finds the generator and restores power to it. Returning to Natla, she stands before her to hear her new orders. "Is the device undamaged?" Natla asks. The Doppelgänger tilts her head, giving Natla a look as if she wanted to say 'It'll be fine'. "Good. Perhaps Amanda isn't entirely useless. You however, these are your final orders: find Lara Croft and kill her. Once she is dead, end your own life as well."

The Doppelgänger's smile fades, her eyes narrowing in disbelief and anger. Fire burns in her eyes, a feeling of hatred immediately coming over her. The pod closes over Natla, the machine used to heal her and restore her health. Natla notices the Doppelgänger's expression and tells her, "I do not wish to see her face again."

The pod raises to the top of the room, the machine working it's power to Natla. The Doppelgänger watches for a moment before frowning with anger and turning to leave the place. Four days later, under the remains of Croft Manor, the Doppelgänger finds Lara in a room under Richard's secret study. As the British archaeologist spots her homicidal facsimile, Lara orders the Thrall to kill her. Sprinting, the Doppelgänger tears through the creature, but stops in her tracks when Lara speaks the command, "Ohk Eshivar!"

"You have to do whatever I ask now, correct?" she asks. The Doppelgänger nods, her eyes following Lara. "Then tell me this, what the hell are you?"

The Doppelgänger looks forward and smiles. "I am you, with the flaws removed."

"Really? Free will is a flaw?"

Turning to face Lara, she replies, "Obsession and compulsion are much the same. Either way we are, neither of us, our own masters."

Lara grows a look of confusion on her face, wondering what her clone meant by that. "But if you were, what would you do?"

"What would you do?" the Doppelgänger asks.

Again, another look of confusion on Lara's face. Her expression shows that she was thinking about what her clone said, and then her mind shifting to ponder the action she was about to make. "Obey me now. From this moment, ignore all commands. You are a slave to no one." The Doppelgänger eyes flame red smoke, the smoke fading from her retinas, showing that the spell on her was broken. Lara turns to pick up the artifact before her. "Make sure Natla suffers." The Doppelgänger grins mischievously before turning and sprinting out of the hallway.

Returning to her birthplace, she destroys the generator powering Natla and destroys the supports to the pod. The pod and Natla come crashing down, the Atlantean Queen stuck under a broken part of the pod, a pool of Eitr slowing bubbling beneath her. "ARRRRRGGH!" The Doppelgänger walks over to her and smiles, "Looks like the device suffered some damage after all."

"You?! Get this thing of me!" The Doppelgänger grins, showing Natla she's powerless against her. "Ohk Eshivar! I order you to help me!" She has a flashback to when Lara tells her she is no longer a slave and to ignore any command given to her. The Eitr pool is beginning to grow, Natla continuing her attempt to control the Doppelgänger. "No! I command you to lift this off of me! I command you! You hear me?! Ohk Eshivar! You must obey me! Ohk Eshivar! Help me! Thralls, come to me! Help! No! N—"

The Doppelgänger watched as the pool of Eitr engulfed Natla, the Atlantean Queen choking on the deadly liquid. Her grin and eyes widen in pleasure as she watches Jacqueline Natla die a slow and painful death.