Chapter 1: Halcyon Days Are Over
Chapter Text
Prologue: Lady Hope
Until very recently, there was a city at the centre of the western world in which clashes between a perceived good and assumed evil would frequently occur. A crucible of power bound only by the imagination of whatever gods were in charge of conjuring these strange quirks of ours. Powers so unique and unnatural we consider them super, the responsibility multiplied tenfold as a result. Responsibility can be a terrifying thing but it can also be a tether, it can ground you and show you the path forwards, help guide you into helping those in need. Help's a funny thing, isn't it? For the longest time I wanted to help and then one day I only wanted to take. Now I sit across from a woman I idolised for years until that too changed. Antagonists, protagonists, I'm not sure if the terms even apply in this sticky situation we've found ourselves in. I'm not sure I trust this woman, I certainly can't say I like her, but can I fairly judge her either? This Lady Nova, who was at the top of that city's spiral of power, who sought to enforce order through controlled narratives of permitted crime and timely rescue. All that sits between us is a few plates of finished food and a bowl of fruit. My eyes glance the apple and I cock my head with an expression wryer than the woman's own.
There was a city once, at the centre of the western world. Here lies New Cassiepeia, the city of superheroes. In its place a forest, a garden, ruled over by a woman who shares my face and little else. The situation we've found ourselves in is a dire one. With New Cassiepeia's greatest hero now a goddess in a gilded cage and the runner ups all succumbed to the garden and its chemical compliance, I'm all that's left to delve into that city transformed. There's a military of course, not a useful one. Save for raining down artillery on their own people made willing hostages, all they can seem to do at this time is contain the garden's growth. Perhaps we were lucky in having a crisis like this break out in a city surrounded by water, but I know that villainess' roots will burrow deep in time. I know those roots well, because they were once mine too.
I mean to say, that woman who turned our city into a forest of lust and compliance, of unification that melts the walls of your ego to make you one with her collective Hivemind... I was once part of her too. Not unified, but the same original being. We were Joy, fledgling hero simply trying to get herself through college. Then last summer everything changed, we got to meet our heroes and embarked to take down the phantom thief of night who plagued these narcissistic people I'd put up on pedestal. As I delved into the dark, wrapped up in the illusive Miss Murmur's corruptive influence, I soon found that temptation snowballing into a thirst for power unprecedented in Nova's perfect stage play of a city. My hero name, and the ability bestowed me by that higher power we couldn't hope to grasp, was Orchard. With my roots I was able to pull ne'er-do-wells into my mental space, a bright and beautiful orchard in which they'd be left temporarily severed from their bodies in the real world. It came in handy and it was a humble, if strange ability. At least I thought this until I met her, Miss Murmur. Through experimentation and tainted impulse, I learned the true extent of my power and lost my head in the process. Stripped of all inhibition and having been molded into lesbian slut by the heroes I thought I adored, I became Envy. It turned out my power could be used to absorb those of others and using my first stolen power I began to unify anyone I could find into one corrupted collective. I soon possessed hypnotic chemicals I could reproduce at will, unrivalled strength save for Nova's own overwhelming gravity, a healing factor that could not be paralleled and a mind fractured by desire and overstimulation.
Perhaps it was a coincidence, or something more, that Miss Murmur's final act as a free agent was to arrange my assimilation of our old roommate Danielle. During the final confrontation at Nova Tower in the centre of that now overgrown city, as Envy's satisfaction reached its peak after turning Nova's impossible power inwards with a cheap trick, I was created and cradled. Danielle possesses the power to create a mirror clone of herself and in that moment I found myself born into this world and almost ripped right out of it. Nova's blood restored my health when that thorn in my side almost took me. Now it only seems fair that I pay Envy back in full and become the thorn in her side, even if I've lost my roots and my orchard. In their place I've become the successor to Nova's golden gravity, her giving glow. I've spent these last few days coming to terms with my new powers, growing more and more impatient with each that passes. Flight is surprisingly intuitive, though I suppose the crows could have told me that. Strength is self explanatory, mine is not quite at the level of Nova's at her peak, but it should be more than enough to root up all those weeds in Envy's garden. Finally, I have Lady Nova's own trademarked subjugation tool, her well renowned 'Stare of Submission', it should be a vital ability in confrontations with 'Empress' Envy's lieutenants.
I am Joy, and as much as I'd rather forgo the hero title and cynically lament on the nature of heroes and villains in this complex state of affairs, I've been convinced by the most complicated of them all that I must see the bigger picture. New Cassiepeia needs a hero right now, it would seem that burden falls on me as the only one left with any capacity to fill the boots. This cape I don reluctantly tells those who see this city's liberation from evil that hope prevails. Can I really call myself Joy when I'm only half of the puzzle that girl became? When one half succumbed to Envy and the other now seeks to balance the scales and embody hope? No, I'll need a new persona, I'd rather keep my record separate from the hero Orchard's at the end of the day. This hero will exist for a time, she'll save and inspire, and then hopefully she'll fade into the annals of history with no mission left to call her own.
For a time, until this wretched city is saved, until the overgrown flora and its evil have been uprooted...
I am Lady Hope.
Chapter One: Nova's Protégé
"Joy, you've been staring at your plate for a while now. Lost in thought?" Nicole Black, formerly the hero known as Lady Nova, eyes me sharply from across the table. It's not a kind stare, though nor is it antagonistic. Hers are the eyes of a commander, one ready to hand out orders. With a silent glower I remind the woman she does not hold rank over me in any official capacity, my head lifting to greet the room I had drifted from in bitter recollection. This woman saved me, sheltered me, fed and empowered me. It doesn't mean she has the right to tell me what to do, who to fight, when her responsibility for this mess runs just as deep as my own. It just so happens that our goals are aligned, there are people in need of saving and so I'm beholden to the call. What a good hero I've shaped into, a true prodigy of protégé! As if, I've yet to trade a single blow with an agent of Envy's unified garden, until that moment I test my mettle I'm little more than a baby chick waiting to take its first flight.
"Delicious eggs, ma'am, but don't you know how to cook anything else? I appreciate you dismissing the staff but for a woman your age isn't that a little embarrassing?" I'm not trying to provoke her, it's just that my image of this woman has tipped from its high pedestal and finds itself in freefall. The eggs weren't even that good, I'm simply being nice.
Nova hides behind a smirk, cheeks ever so slightly flush from embarrassment. "Well, well, Joy. I'd pegged our progressive youth as a little less old fashioned, if I'd spent all my time in the kitchen instead of training to go to space or keeping this city safe, would we all have been better off? Are you to lecture me on a woman's place in th--"
"Oh my god you're being insufferable, it's not sexist to suggest you learn a few recipes! Besides, I don't think it's particularly progressive to have hired staff doing everything for you either. I'm a student with no money to her name and even I've got a few go to dishes. Or I was a student, my college is currently deep within that maelstrom of vine." I rise from the kitchen table and dismiss myself, not wanting to tarnish the memory of my idol any longer than we already have in this farce of playing house. Today's the day I actually start my mission, or whatever we're calling it.
The woman rises in tandem and collects the plates with a look of amusement at my words, particularly the end of my outburst. 'Within that maelstrom of vine', I don't speak like that do I?
"I keep catching her in you, from time to time. It's not just the eyes, you're carrying Misty inside of you, I can tell. Not Murmur, I'm sure that doll no doubt stands by her master's side as dark right hand. What sage council she'd have to offer I couldn't say, but I won't pretend to understand either of them. You and Misty, though, can instil hope. A shining mirror against their shadow, or something poetic like that. You know she wrote it? Poetry, I mean." Nova leans over the kitchen counter with a wistful glint in her eyes, cane hanging from her wrist a reminder of her clipped wings.
"I can believe it." I give the woman a kind look, it isn't always about giving those only what they deserve. She can have my understanding, I just trust her not to take advantage. Unlike her pawns on that old gameboard wiped clean I do not intend to let her use me. "After I'm done here... what'll happen to me? I can't help but worry about it, haha..." A moment of weakness, perhaps I'm feeling more vulnerable than I'd allowed myself to notice. Not to mention nervous, there's a chance I won't even make it to Nova Tower at all. Or that by the time I have, I'm far too... compliant.
Mrs. Black purses her lips, not sure what to say. I'd worry that she's considering more deceit but figure she simply can't give clear answer because she doesn't have one. "If I had to guess, once Envy's garden has been dismantled and unification dispelled, the two of you will be reunited into a single form." What a careful response, she isn't lying to me and yet she omits the obvious follow up.
"And then we'll be... I'll be imprisoned, right? In that same facility where the other supervillains are held, left to rot for my sins..." It's not the most enticing reward at the end of a hard fought journey, but it doesn't mean I should just abandon the people I've promised to protect. Friends like Mana and Laura, will they even thank me for rescuing them after what I've done?
"More than likely, yes. Does that give you pause?" Nicole inspects me carefully, invested in the contents of my answer. With aid of cane she approaches and I'm in awe of the woman's presence even in this state of being; she carries herself as any goddess should, even broken.
Borrowed hazel rises and meets the woman's stained gold eyes, strawberry blonde hair stretching down over this tight white costume I've been gifted. My suit is accented gold, a little gaudy but I'll manage. The short cape, gloves and boots are far less subtle in their Midas affliction. "No, I'd rather confront my crimes than flee from them." My fists tighten in these golden gloves and I hold fast to this lie, of course it gives me pause.
Nicole chuckles into the frigid air of her empty manor and places hands upon my shoulders, giving me a serious look that makes me blush. I wish I wasn't so hopelessly attracted to her despite everything, it would seem that I've still got the same taste for women that was cultivated in Envy. They trained the straightness right out of me, though I have to wonder how much I really liked men in the first place reaching my first year of college without ever having developed a single crush. The only person I worshipped at that time was Lady Nova, I had posters of her and would watch reruns of her exploits on constant repeat. In hindsight, the obsession could have potentially had a crumb of gayness to it. Obsession, that's a powerful word, compelling as it is intimidating. Obsession is a dance upon a knife's edge, these hands gripping my shoulders with a sense of pride that makes marching drum of my heart.
"Good girl. Then you're already more suited for the role than I ever was, my protégé." Her lips curl in mischief, hands leaving my shoulders and one moving to mess up my hair.
I'll let her have this, she's only trying to rile me up. If the woman were not so lonely I might've protested these indulgences of hers. I'm not her good girl, nor her protégé. My hope is my own, I'll nurture it like a flower and plant myself stubbornly in that garden until I've cleansed the rest.
"Yeah well... thanks for breakfast, ma'am. I'll be taking my leave now, bright and early." If I stay any longer she's liable to trap me, dye my hair black again and start calling me Misty.
The woman senses her reluctance to let me go and smiles at her own weakness, stepping back and giving me a chance to breathe. If she kept petting my hair and insisted I stay, I'd probably be trying to justify a couple more days delay in my duties. It's not right that such a wretched woman could have that effect on me, but again I'll let it pass this time. "Good luck out there, Joy, I've a feeling you'll need all you can get. My heroes were replaceable, sure, but they weren't weak. Not in a head to head anyway."
As if I don't already know that, I've tasted their power first hand. With a curt nod I turn on my heels and resent that these boots aren't simply flat. According to Nova the elevated heels help my image, something the woman has obsessed over her entire life. Well look at her now, though perhaps she's onto something. These clacking steps don't feel half bad and well, I can always just fly if speed becomes a concern.
"See you in another life, Nova."
"Oh don't be so dramatic, you'll be back here to lick your wounds soon enough, I..." She cuts herself off and takes a seat, ready to see the back of me. Was she going to say she'd be happy to lick them for me? Such a tease, no wonder she wooed Misty so quickly.
And with that, I'm off for The Garden, a city no longer.
A place of overflowing sin, blooming in every corner.
Chapter Two: False Start
Flight is still something I need to adjust to even if it's not half as daunting as I had expected it to be. More than anything I need to remind myself that I have the option to take flight in the first place, it's not something I've become accustomed to doing without thinking about first. As I come into my powers more I'm sure the act will be no different to extending an arm or taking in breath, all in due time. For now I take things slow, approaching this former concrete jungle that has taken the properties of one in earnest. The buildings still lie dormant deep inside, a graveyard of civilisation, the people who did not manage to evacuate having been converted into dryad drones. So many new servants for the garden, Hivemind's influence stretching from corner to corner in this forest 'paradise'. According to Nova's brief that very much lived up to its name, she explained that while the occasional drone has been seen and even interacted with by ground forces lucky enough to have returned, no men have ever been seen from New Cassiepeia's missing populace. This either means they're being kept somewhere deeper in, perhaps as pets while the female dryads hold the line, or that Envy has repeated her efforts with Mare on a much larger scale. Mare was a small time hero who we crossed paths with during our descent into temptation, he was abrasive but well meaning and we transformed him into something else entirely. Broodmare, a butch powerhouse of a woman who holds undying loyalty towards her empress last I checked. Envy can weaponize her own imagination in the orchard to make alterations such as these, she's a danger to a person's very sense of identity, eager to make you just how she likes. Perfect for her and her alone.
Thinking on this, as I glide towards the city's edge with growing comfort at the flight, I consider something else I'm going to have working against me no matter where I may walk in that green city. On the same day that we converted our Broodmare, we manifested our garden in an empty lot in the real world and experienced some benefits of the space. Given that this entire city is now garden, I can only assume that Envy's power and influence runs as deep as her roots. There's a good chance I won't be able to hide my presence from her, that the very second I set foot down onto corrupted grass she'll be made aware of it. That's why I have to do this now while the military keeps her spread thin. They may not be making any progress advancing into the city but they're at least keeping my other self and her lieutenants busy. If I wait any longer and things escalate into artillery and beyond, the amount of people I could hope to save will drastically diminish. I don't trust the army one bit, but I'll use them as cover for my exploits. Even if she knows I'm coming, Envy won't be able to give me her full attention just yet. My cape flaps gently in the rush of wind as I reach New Cassiepeia's outskirts and push onwards, noticing that Hive's dryads are not the only drones populating Envy's garden now.
Technology such as this is surely Mint's doing, a member of the city's former 'Big Four' which was naturally led by Lady Nova herself. Technically Mint was not a member herself, but the creator of an artificial hero known as 'Discoman' who managed to outperform his organic peers in seeing results, second only to Nova. Of course I know these results cannot be trusted given Nova's theatre of crime, but even so. Perhaps I'll cross paths with Discoman himself having been recommissioned by his master, though knowing Envy's preferences all too intimately I can imagine there may be some notable changes in the uh... hardware. For now I have these buzzing drones to contend with, somehow I don't think they'll be all too receptive to my stare of submission and so I'll simply have to smash them. Only if they get too close, of course, but I fear they've already spotted me.
Mint's surveillance tech swoops in down from the sky above, they're no crows content to simply circle overhead. I glide down into the treeline and wonder at Envy's own explosion of power, this city really is an overgrown orchard of its own now. The drones follow close behind, quickly catching up as they draw nearer and nearer. With superpowered kick I break one into tiny pieces that cascade into the grass below, at least three more surrounding me and firing out tiny darts no doubt laced with that chemical compliance Envy is so proud of flaunting. I twirl my cape to block the assault from one side while swatting away the needles with my iron forearm on the other, reaching forwards to grasp the drone before me and crush it in my powered grip. As the drone bursts, a cannister of gas erupts and causes me to choke, incensing me enough to launch it into the bark of nearby tree. I dodge the other two's shots once again before they try something new that has my head light and breath suddenly short.
What are these nauseating soundwaves? Of course Mint would have packed these with every trick under the sun, the thrum of sound pushing into my head and nearly causing me to forget my flight, boots landing onto the side of a tree as I assess their numbers. Oh god, there are so many of them now, like a swarm. Subliminal whispers urge submission from all sides, making me feel woozy from this height, a sudden bout of vertigo as they seem to amplify each other's signal. Realising that the longer I stay like this, the harder it'll become to resist that head-splitting sound, I kick off from the tree and swat drone after drone out of the air in a desperate attempt to come out on top. Several darts sink into my skin when I find that I'm too exhausted, too overwhelmed, to adequately fend off such great numbers. It's just a little of Florasma's infamous concoction, something I've had personal training to resist in my past. Still, I can feel the heat, such lust. The subliminals assault me from all sides and I resent my heightened senses for having to hear them so loudly, aren't subliminals supposed to be subtle? These are tuned to a method of brute force, a jagged buzz of static that fills its prey's head with white noise and pushes out all else. Is that what I am, already, simply prey?
"SUBMIT."
No, I'm not prey... I won't submit.
"OBEY."
I-I won't! Won't obey... won't uh...
"LISTEN."
I... well, I'm listening aren't I? Maybe listening is okay, that seems less threatening than the others. I can listen... I can...
"SUBMIT."
Ah! We're back to this again? I need to concentrate on my flight, not this rabble. I'm not prey goddammit!
"DROP."
I'm not prey, I'm falling.
Hi, falling~
It's her voice. As I descend in pitiful freefall towards her soft floor I hear that voice clear as day, Envy's smug and sultry tones prying into my mind like gloved fingers. My body drops limp onto the ground and I try to stop my head from rolling, eyes a little too unfocused and a slither of drool I hadn't noticed descending from the corner of my mouth. Looking up, the swarm above me begins to dissipate and I wonder why they all lost interest. Aren't I their prey? Perhaps then, I've fallen into a new hunting ground with a predator of its own. An apex that has my scent, Envy certainly knows I'm here and no doubt exactly where as well.
I only wish I was just as privy to that information, because I'm no longer sure where the hell I am at all. My legs are like jelly in this heap of grass I've softly indented. How did they ground me so swiftly? It can't just be Florasma's mix... maybe... ah! I run fingers over the back of my neck after removing the darts and feel a slight bump, did they chip me? Not particularly thrilled at the prospect, I steady myself to pull the chip out with just my fingers and wince at the discomfort it brings. I couldn't get it out, the damn thing only pushed deeper in. Oh, Joy.
Let's see what new wonders await me on the surface of this sinner's paradise.
Chapter Three: The Hunted
A lingering wooziness seems determined to trouble each and every step I take into this garden of sapphic temptation and I'm no fool. I know that pressing on in present state is dangerous, that I should simply turn back and 'lick my wounds' as Mrs. Black so gracefully put it. Even so, perhaps I've inherited a modicum of her pride in becoming the woman's protégé. Returning now would be humiliating, I've no desire to make a mockery of this hopeful torch I've chosen to carry. I know my limits, I can press on. I refuse to be prey.
Pulling myself back onto unsteady feet, I take stock of my surroundings and sigh. How far in did I fly? This excess of flora, of grass and moss and apple tree, makes it very hard to tell where I am in a city I've lived in all my life. I'm not even sure which direction to start walking in, perhaps I should fly up and... no. My body shudders at the memory of Mint's swarm and I decide against using flight for now lest I gather them en masse once again. Now I can officially ridicule these heels Nova insisted upon, though the only person here to be ridiculed is me. They never said that hope comes easy, falling into that antithetical pit of deep despair and of course, Envy's sick temptation. That I've proof that someone with my mind could be capable of such corruption only makes me want to cling to this sabre of hope more strongly than ever, letting it carry my feet forwards one after the other in arbitrarily chosen direction.
There's a whistle through the treeline as I press onwards in stubborn motion, my hairs standing on end in anticipation of a sudden confrontation that could occur at any given moment. Just as I had hypothesised, I sense a predator in this stretch of woods just waiting to make their move. Once again, if they think me merely prey I'm afraid that I'll have to disappoint. Focusing my heightened senses while continuing to maintain pace in my walk, I zero in on that cocky hunter who thinks they have me in their clutches. I'll turn this trap around on them, let predator become prey. Tracking every rustle of grass and snap of twig, I quickly learn that I've only one would-be assailant at the present moment and that the way they draw nearer would imply they're getting ready to strike. I keep my calm, training that muscle in my chest to march to my own beat this time and stave off any unnecessary nerves.
They're to my right now, obscured by hanging vines and sprouted bark, a streetlamp knocked onto its side by the terraform. Keep calm, Joy, slow and steady. I focus in on that waiting threat and circle around the cover calmly, only hastening in my step slightly as the anticipation becomes too much to bear in that final stretch. Such a stupid mistake I've made, in my rush to prove myself a beacon of hope after that rocky start.
Don't hunters usually lay bait?
I swerve around the tree to see my sudden suspicions confirmed, a mere dryad drone standing there passive as the tree it had taken cover behind. Don't get me wrong, I know that should Hivemind mobilise this city's unlucky remnants I'd have another swarm to face, as above so below... but this one doesn't even appear conscious despite its movements to get here. It's like it had been given one instruction to follow and little else, a programmed bit of live bait that has distracted me long enough for the whistle at my back to make me shudder in sudden despair. Whipping my head around, I lock eyes with the true hunter and find a sight to test my resolve so early in this mission of mine. Short blonde hair swept back behind her ears, a sandy complexion to her skin earned by rough work out on the streets and now, the outskirts. Firefly doesn't appear to have changed all too much, not as much as she could have given Envy's abilities.
"Hey there." She says with a calm smile meant to provoke me, I'd love to say it doesn't work. Instead, I take a few steps forwards before being quickly reminded of another hunter trait I had forgotten in my naivete and haste. Hunters don't only lay bait, but traps. My ankle touches the wire in too swift a step and I find the taut razor trip me down into the dirt. My hearing picks up the slow footfalls from behind me, that well programmed dryad drone acting in response to my tripping. It's just a trip, do they really expect this to...
Pshhht-
One of the largest out of the myriad bulbs lining the garden's floor suddenly opens up in a fine pink blossom and assaults me with its overwhelming smog. A pink mist that settles on my skin and makes me weak. Weaker than I was, sure, but that doesn't mean I can't fight this!
Only, while I fight the chemical compliance it becomes a lot more difficult to fight the drone that suddenly holds my arms behind my back harshly, forcing me back up into a restrained kneel I'd love to break free from. Laura approaches with careful, callous steps and places her boot onto my thigh like a hunter posing with their game. "We're so happy to have you back, Joy." The huntress smiles and I shudder for the third time already in my short lived journey into Envy's garden. I'm so much stronger than this, but for some reason I just can't seem to fight such a concentrated dose. Laura holds a mask against my face and my entire world turns pink and floaty, oh is she... she's uhm... protecting me? Gas masks usually filter it out, right? So why am I just sooooo dizzy all of a sudden?
The dryad's arms are so strong I begin to feel turned on at how helpless I am against its hold despite the power I should rightly wield, chewing my lip within the mask and starting to let out loose strings of giggles that make me feel even funnier. As Laura binds me in tight rope and my mind walks rope just as tight, teetering over an abyss I could fall into and never resurface from, the pink fog causes me to lose time and acceptance takes its hold. I'm carried through forest, mask tied firm around my face to keep me from recovering too quickly even if I know it's only a matter of time before my strength returns. Such is the nature of Nova's gift, I'm not so easily broken, not like before. Even so, I can't help but wonder if that's a boon or a bane in this moment. If I could just succumb properly, I'd no longer have to fight. Not fighting sounds nice, I only just started and already it's just so... tiring. Gosh, so tired, I think I'll take a nap.
Laura's so strong now, isn't that lovely?
Chapter Four: Halcyon Days Are Over
A mask is pulled free from my face as drone drops me down onto my knees. I gasp for air, fresh air, clutching my chest and feeling shame at just how easily they captured me. It's... not like I'll remain captive for very long of course, I've the power of a black hole at my disposal, a mass of infinite gravity and- ah!
The shock collar I wasn't aware they clasped around my neck suddenly zaps me and the pain is only half as disruptive to my thoughts as the static buzz that follows. It's like my mind has to reboot, white noise passing through me like a wave. Weak fingers grasp at the chunky ring of metal and I groan on my knees like a pet being teased. What's next, I whine for my owners?
"Bring her here." Rings a voice I'd be hard pressed to misplace, my pitiful head lifting to find that mirrored face spitting malice my way. Oh god, they've carried me all the way to Nova Tower already? It's more of a tree now, some grand Yggdrasil, welcoming home the apple fallen furthest from its mighty branches. My knees rest upon reflective black glass, obsidian, showing a face contorted by pleasure I wish I'd the strength to deny. I feel cold metal clasping around those wrists pulled back behind my back and tiny pinpricks that sink deep into my wrist when I try to pry away. The bracelets inject me with some heady concoction and my slave chip regulates it somehow, Mint's technology having been edited to work in tandem with Florasma's intoxicating bliss.
I get it, if I'm too strong to restrain in cuffs or tie up, their restraints will keep me weak and ensure that any time I act out of line I'm far too distracted to continue disobeying. It's a smart move and one surely not devised of by Envy herself, I hate to admit this but I know she's not cunning enough on her own, she's a creature driven by impulse last I checked. As I lift my head to assess the room I quickly confirm my own suspicion. In the repurposed penthouse office of this orchard's fine centrepiece stands Envy's top lieutenants. On the right hand side of the room is Mint, dressed up in black latex bodysuit under long white coat, hands digging into her pockets and straight, Mint coloured hair hanging down from her satisfied face. She's seeing her tech work wonders on a first time use, why wouldn't she be pleased? To my right stands Wild Rosary, a Rose tamed judging by the way she stands up straight with admirable posture. Her latex suit is sleeveless, showing off those strong tattooed arms and she wears a cross around her neck with the crucifix turned upside down, how sacrilegious. A headpiece resembling that of a habit's hangs down past her shoulders, Rose appearing as devout as she ever had. Both women wear long boots reaching past their knees, though Rose's are longer on account of her advantage in height.
It's when my eyes centre in on Empress Envy's throne do I really know what's up, that place where Lady Nova's desk once sat now occupied by the black queen of corruption and her harbinger doll. Envy has one leg resting over the throne's arm, midnight black hair flowing behind her and cherry red lips flapping impatiently for Laura to present me at her feet already. The shared face is where our similarities end, her low-cut black dress a shimmering velvet masterpiece that frames her form perfectly, shapely legs so smooth they glimmer even in this low light. Beside her stands Miss Murmur, a person in name only. The doll's whispers steer the temptress queen well despite her lack of a distinct self, a unified ego spread across the garden's soil after sound defeat of her own making. Murmur smiles in a facsimile of contentedness and the sight unnerves me, the doll dressed up in black lace bodice that leaves very little to the imagination and Envy's vines snaking under the outfit to manipulate her like a cheap but treasured toy.
Laura's fingers hook into my collar and I'm dragged across the reflective flooring on my knees, hands still bound by those bracelets I'd rather not activate a second time. I'm dropped rather unceremoniously at the feet of my sinful counterpart, looking much worse for wear in contrast to this unnatural form she's enhanced through mental re-examination of the self. As I lift my head to face her, not wanting this collar's shock to have my mind whiting out again, I feel Envy's bare foot fall atop my head and push it back down. So forcefully my forehead is pressed against obsidian floor, feeling her grinding foot against my hair and wanting to whine at the humiliation of such an early defeat. No, I can't falter yet. But... look at me. My white outfit is covered in pink stains from that well timed burst, my hair being messed up by toes that place themselves above me in symbolic act. Even my cape is torn clean off by the blonde at my back, best friend in the world turned cold and callous and compliant. I'm overwhelmed by this sense of despair that goes against the name I've chosen out for myself, eyes dulling against the black glass before them.
"Well you're no fun, Joy. Maybe we should take all that silly tech off of her to see if she'll do something interesting?" Envy speaks of me like a court jester, no, a performing monkey. Jesters were respected professionals, I'm nothing but a joke expecting peanut prize for being made a laughing stock. "Welcome home, runt, it's about time. These long months without my taste of gold to really make this tower shine, hm~ I could've unified Nova on the day of her defeat but I knew then that it would not lead to the most satisfying conclusion like the one we have here. I likely have Murmur's premonitions to thank for that, though I've not had one since. Is that your slice of the pie, I wonder? And look how well it served you if so!"
She's right, I'm a disaster. The pressure of her foot against my head actually starts to feel a little good when I begin to accept this, because I know that such harsh, grinding touch is exactly what a failure like me deserves. No... I'm being pessimistic, I'm succumbing like the others. I'm losing hope.
"I know I can't brainwash you with my chemicals for very long, nor will my orchard be an effective tool for convincing you over to our cause. Tech control could work well but even then I think you'd reject it in time from what we both know of Nova's resilience. I'm talking of her body, however, not her actual mind. Or in this case, yours. I don't mean to hypnotise you, Joy, we're going to break you. Dismantle you into a being of pure acceptance and smile, just like Miss Murmur here. Now I could achieve this in the same way I perfected her but... well, I'm not exactly sure what that would do to me. Rejoining isn't an option either, I don't need cowards dragging me down I need them following orders." Envy speaks in a much more collected, confident manner than she had back in the days when I was part of her being. After separating back into individual bodies it seems her mental state has stabilised into something even more sinister. Ambition is more intimidating than instinct when a villain's driving force is concerned.
"Mmgh... Hope." I turn my head to the side and the collar shocks me for the act of defiance. When I next blink back into the room, there's a few droplets of saliva sitting on the floor below my errant mouth.
"Oh, what's that dear?" Envy's other foot scoops under my chin and she holds my head between them, moving me back in line as the empress puts me in my place with just her perfect legs. Gosh... I need to remain focused.
"I'm... Lady Hope..." My voice creaks, throat suddenly very dry. Despite the weakness of my words I feel some pride for having said them, only to find that shattered by the echoing laughter that soon follows. Not just Envy... or to be more precise, not just her body. A unification of garden fills the room with cruel, mocking jeers and I feel smaller than ever. Laura, Mint, Rosary and even Murmur cackle into the cold air and my face burns brightly. What was wrong with what I said?
"Sure you are, hon. You're our bright and beaming ray of hope, golden and glowing!" G-glowing? Oh that's right, my stare of submission! I close my eyes to focus and open them with some purpose. A flickering light peters out into the room and Envy slams my head back down with her foot, making me delirious. I feel the collar's zap and the room becomes a blurred mess, my words of protest slurred and incomprehensible in her hold. I'm sluggish and I don't think it's just the technology, nor the chemicals. So easily does she destroy my will, my hope, like a firm hand reaching through water to pull the plug. "Murmur, doll, please show our Lady Hope to her cell. I want you to start the acceptance training immediately, just as we discussed before."
Discussed... before? They were planning this? They were... waiting for me, to come back and... ah, I'm so lightheaded I can barely keep my thoughts together. Envy's fingers dig deep into my hair and she pulls me up onto my knees, taking a satisfied glance down at my stained costume and laughing a second time. I won't let her break me.
Murmur nods and as Envy releases me, the woman snaps her fingers and orders me to stand. I comply because I have to, not because I want to. I won't let her break me.
I'm led into the elevator and recall that Nova Tower itself had holding cells in the basement for any villains who would be foolish enough to launch an attack on their home turf. Murmur's finger pushes the bottom button and I step back into the corner of the elevator with a meek look I mean to lose. I won't let her break me. I've witnessed this woman's way with words once before and she has a method of worming into your mind even when you should hold all the power. She may just be an empty doll these days, but I don't think it means she's lost her touch, not if Envy trusts her to make me come around. I won't let her break me. My muscles flex as we begin to descend down the shaft and I break out of the bracelets before they can administer their deadly dose of distraction, feeling the collar's shock before I can quite reach it. My fingers curl into the metal as intense lethargy takes me in the static buzz, arm too limp to rip the damn thing from my neck until I've let these white noise fade out again. Murmur simply watches me, digging a hand into her pocket while I focus on breaking out of this collar with a superpowered tug of strength. I won't let her break me.
My body sags down but I quickly regain my stamina, cracking my knuckles and lifting my head to look upon the doll and... wince. "What the..."
Miss Murmur holds a pocket knife to her neck, the blade pressed so firm against her throat that a drop of red escapes its fleshy confines. I'm shocked by the sight, realising she means to hold herself hostage and appeal to my heroism to stay my hand. No, this isn't her will, but Envy's. I see those lips curl into a fine smile and realise I'm face to face with my mirror half.
"Take a step towards her and we die." Speaks the cold voice, Envy cocking her head in unfettered delight. "See, I knew you'd do something if we gave you a chance to break free. Heroes are amusing, I can see why Murmur was such a fangirl and still decided to play villain."
"Wh-what do you mean, we die?" I suddenly feel parched again, though why wouldn't I? The drugs are out of my system, the chip has been forced out from where it embedded... all of that takes stamina even a superhero needs replenishing.
"Exactly what I said, Lady Hope. This gesture before you is merely symbolic, it isn't Murmur who hangs in the balance but all of us. This is my ultimatum, dear, to test how much of a saviour you really are." Envy speaks through her vessel like flexing a limb, Murmur being puppeteered without any need for string.
She'd do that? End everything, the garden itself? I want to call her bluff, better still I want to take her up on the offer, but know I'm not so selfless as to actually go through with it. Obviously she knows that, Envy knows me better than anyone, she knows just how to make me behave. I feel that despair creep in again, snaking up my legs and tugging at my wrists, the corners of my vision growing dimmer and dimmer and dimmer... until we reach the basement floor.
"Walk into that cell and sit still, Joy, or be a hero who'll be remembered by nobody and liberate this city from my sweet destructive paradise." I see now, she knows I won't sacrifice myself and yet, by presenting it as an option it'll bring me even more shame to deny it and do as I'm told. She's already taking steps to reduce me, to break me down, and in this instance there's nothing I can do at all to stop it. At least nothing I'm willing to commit to. Would Nicole be disappointed in me if she knew I had this choice and responded accordingly? Fuck her, frankly.
Without any words coming to surface on my silent tongue, my glare loses light and I look down at the ground where those destroyed bracelets and collar lay in jeer. A slow walk into the cell and some restless contemplation is all that awaits me now, is there nothing else I can do? What was it I kept telling myself before?
I won't let her break me...
Chapter Five: Acceptance Training
"Joy or Hope? What do you prefer we call you?" Murmur sits herself down across from me in the cell and I shuffle back, they've left me alone in here for an entire day and now my supposed 'acceptance training' begins? Well they certainly know how to keep a girl waiting, I've spent the last 24 hours mulling over that tense moment from yesterday that led to me to locking myself up and sitting still for them. Miss Murmur wears her usual coquettish smirk like a mask, hands folded neatly in her lap as I instinctively do the same. I don't mean to mirror her body language, it just happens. None of this would be happening if I was a true hero, they want me to keep this in mind and let it break me. I know that and yet, I don't want to die.
"I don't care." My voice takes on a bitter twinge that only seems to make Murmur's fake smile grow wider, her posture relaxing some.
"Well right now that's quite alright, neither do we. I'll just go ahead and call you Joy, Lady Hope was your chosen hero name was it not? You're not a hero anymore, Joy, entering this cell was your acceptance of that fact. Acceptance training is a little bit of a misnomer, it isn't to train you into accepting your place here, it's to help you realise that you already have. There's no coming back from this you realise? Unless you suddenly grow a spine and a martyr complex I think we both know you're not capable of, you're going to be spending a lot of time here whether you like it or not. Whether you let yourself enjoy it or not. This is your place now, Joy." Murmur's tongue is a silver bullet puncturing my heart, a whip lashing my back, a talisman of want. "If you can accept that you're not leaving this place due to these truths, then I ask you earnestly, what point is there in resisting acceptance? What do you seek to gain, Joy, when your pride is already lost down the gutter?"
My lip quivers and again I consider calling Envy's bluff, only I'm not sure that she is bluffing. The villainess is erratic and impulsive enough to favour an 'all or nothing' play like this, I remember being her. She may act more calm and calculating these days but it doesn't mean she's sane, or that she isn't still as impulsive as ever. I just... I can't do it. All this strength and I've not the will to fight, all because of a sharp prick in my other side's sultry neck. She's so much more beautiful now, Envy, having used her garden to remake herself. Compared to her, I'm...
"I can see it in your face, girl, and the way you've grown quiet. You're starting to learn what you are, that's okay. Somebody always has to be at the bottom of the food chain, it's simply the law of nature, but without that prey the rest can't grow strong. That is to say, we all truly appreciate you. Better still, we need you. You're not nothing, Joy, you're just not spectacular either. You're exactly where you need to be for the rest of our garden to prosper." Murmur places a hand on my knee and I turn away with a sulk, her words are such poison. I wish I had a witty retort to spit back at her, an antidote to deadly acceptance, but I'm coming up short.
My stubborn pride is all I have left, even it makes me miserable like she says. Everything Murmur tells me is the truth, an old sentiment that stirs this pound of useless flesh, but that doesn't mean I have to accept it. At least, I can pretend not to.
"I won't let you break me." My weak protest collapses against the wall, I'm unable to muster the adequate resolve to face her. I'm taking a leaf from Nova's playbook, acting out a theatre of my own, one in which I'm not browbeaten and tamed.
"Oh honey." The former mistress of midnight gives me that soft, pitying look and I regret the glance at her face immediately. I feel the coddled brat, nobody here has any doubts that I'll be eating out of their hands in due time once my ego has run its course. None of us. "Warm down here isn't it?"
"Huh?" My eyes narrow on Murmur's as I try to wonder at her game, fingers digging into the collar of this stuffy bodysuit.
"It's awfully hot down here, believe me it isn't just your lust over these humiliation rituals we're running you through. That being said... Joy, your outfit's a mess. Covered in stains and left on for several days, we should really give it a wash. Hand it over please." Of course. I think I knew this was coming, they mean to strip my body and take my modesty. To degrade me in my nudity and lay my acceptance bare.
"Fine, whatever." Pitiful pantomime and I'm happy to undress for her, a preliminary step to the sublimation of my ego, a whimpering end to the hero's journey.
Knowing I can't refuse, I obey quickly. Murmur helps me with the zip and I shudder at her cold hands against my back, staring with unfocused eyes at the wall ahead of me. At some point the woman takes over entirely, undressing me while I disassociate in my cell and stare at fixed point on the wall. They can think they're breaking me, yeah, but I'm just going along with this because I have to. Murmur slips my final boot free and I place my bare sole against the cool ground with a sigh. It isn't hot in here at all, it's just me.
"Oh and... one last thing." The woman steps over to the wall and unhooks the loop of metal resting there, a short chain hanging down between us that my eyes trace. As though trying to distract myself from yet another step in my downfall into unapologetic acceptance, I focus on counting every link in that chain.
1, 2, 3...
Cold metal snaps around my neck once again, only this time I know better than to break free. There's no technology to this, just a lump of iron that keeps me tethered to my fate.
...4, 5, 6, 7, 8...
Doll fingers brushing hair behind my ears, pulling the strawberry locks free from the collar and letting them hang down over bare back. Even the touch of a doll commands me, compels me, controls me.
...9, 10, 11, 12...
Remembering that I'm naked, a slight shiver passing over me as Murmur's firm hand flattens against my belly and feels so good. I step into her touch and close my eyes, pretending for a while.
...13, 14, 16... oh uh, did I skip one? I think I've lost count... 15... 15... uhm...
"Joy, I'm leaving now." Murmur's thumb runs over my lip, fingers under my chin holding it up to make me look at her. Submission takes its hold and I want to beg her not to leave me alone, not just yet. I said I wouldn't let them break me, but gentle touch like this should keep me well intact. I think this is okay, it feels nice. Softly chewing my lip, I nod into her hand and the chain rattles a little. Since when did I start acting like the property they want me to become? Acceptance training, did I miss it somehow? But I've been paying attention, even if I did lose count...
"Okay..." I mumble weakly, having enough pride left not to complain. Why should I request her to stay when she's set on breaking me? Some time alone with my thoughts should serve me well, Murmur's subspace is suffocating, it makes me think I like this.
With resounding clacks of heels that snap against the ground like lulling fingers, I find myself alone again. I'm standing by the wall I've been chained to, my outfit taken to be washed even if I know deep down I'll never see it again. "Joy, what the hell are you doing..."
After about an hour passes, though I've no real way of knowing, I hear deft footsteps much different to those deafening heel clacks from Envy's treasured doll. I realise with a light blush that I'm still standing, having become lost in my circular mess of thought again until the sudden noise returns me to the room, the cell. My eyes roll over fair blonde hair and eyes that brim with excitement. It's Laura again but she seems different somehow, less cold than she had been while performing her duties. No longer on the hunt, this girl resembles my best friend once more, I hate how relieved the sight makes me when I remember that it could all be for show.
"Joy! Oh my god, I can't believe it's really you." My best friend in the entire world steps into the open doorway of the cell with saccharine smile. Murmur left the door open, huh? I hadn't even noticed. My eyes seem to lose their shape as Laura steps into the cell, both of us fighting tears even I'm not sure why she's so surprised to see me given it was she who dragged me here.
I step closer to hug the girl only to find myself yanked back by that iron encircling my neck, pulling against my throat like I'm a naughty mutt. With a gulp, I regain my balance and cross my arms, not sure how to act. "Laura... you brought me here." It feels wrong to sound so accusatory even if my words are but an obvious fact.
Laura giggles and looks surprised, flush with embarrassment. "Oh? Firefly did? That's... that's good, she wasn't too rough was she?" The blonde steps closer and takes my hands into hers, not at all seeming perturbed by my nudity. Her head falls onto my shoulder, such softness against my skin that has the tears coming out whether I want them to or not.
"Firefly? Oh... she has you split too? That's..." This garden of Envy's is terrifying, the thought of it finally breaking free from the confines of this city, it'd be another fine snowball on a much larger scale than before. We're constantly one-upping ourselves, I suppose. I imagine the entire Earth unified by her roots and shudder at the thought, or am I just reacting to Laura's nail stroking down my chest?
"Don't be mad at her, or anything like that. They told me you're still struggling to accept? Well uhm, I asked her for it. The night you and Envy converted me was bliss, Joy, why do you want to stop us in the first place? Do you... hate us? Do you hate me?" My friend buries her face into my overheating body and I gulp for the second time since seeing her, this nostalgic scent of her undoing me whole. Isn't she being manipulative, though?
"I... I don't hate you, but people need saving... people are suffering, Laura. We're heroes, aren't we?" It feels disingenuous of me to suggest as much in the states we currently find ourselves in, but I entertain the fantasy of my imagined heroics here once again like a lingering stench.
Laura steps back and assesses me, the disturbed look she gives me implying I just said something misguided. This is what indoctrination looks like, Envy's moved past chemical control it seems. Merely a prelude to the real brainwashing, I feel that I'm in the midst of a garden cult spanning an entire lost city.
"Joy... do you really think that?" Why does she sound so disappointed, like my words have let her down? This isn't right. "Nobody's suffering here, Envy makes sure everyone is content. Everything in its right place, accepting their role and committing to it fully. It's a paradise, Joy, the rest of the world out there is the only place with suffering. I mean, look at you. You look beaten and exhausted, that's not our doing it's yours. Am I wrong? If you accepted your place by her side, like I did, you wouldn't be so tired."
Do I look tired? I'll admit I'm starting to feel it, that tug of despair that makes me want to just give in and go along with their merry little lies. It's hard, though, to pretend this doesn't feel wrong. To not care about concepts hammered into me from a young age, freedom and independence. This place is wrong... and I should care about that.
"Laura, stop saying such strange things, this isn't like you. I... I want my friend back." I wish I could step closer but this chain is already at its limit, holding me in my place. Everything in its right place.
My best friend cocks her head cruelly, I know they only sent her here to gnaw at my will and it's been more effective than they could have hoped. "You're the strange one, Joy, stuck in the past. I... I didn't want Envy to be right about you, I still think you're in denial about what she's doing. I think... maybe you're jealous that it's not you in her place. I felt that way about Firefly at first, she's such an efficient hunter, but then I accepted that I have uses she's not well suited for. I... heh, I mean, I won't mince it. I'm basically one of Envy's concubines, she keeps me well pampered for it and happier than I ever was as a frustrated dyke with no good takers." Laura smirks, finding herself lost in thought of Envy's chambers, her kneeling body rewarded for each and every act of submission. Heat touches her cheeks when I find them out of reach, I'm worth less than the blush on her face, than Envy's lingering stain.
"You know... I always had the biggest crush on you Joy, I wished so dearly that you would look at me in the same way I looked at you. It was painful, really, until the day you shoved me into that wall and kissed me. It was so very impassionate, but I was smitten! I want to kiss you like that, I wanna touch you... I adore our Empress but she's not my best friend anymore, she's more than that. I miss this, though, my dorky little crush. You like girls still, don't you?" The girl steps closer and I back up a little despite having lamented my inability to reach her. Giving into this sweetness is a tempting lure into the dark, another notch towards acceptance. Anything and everything that happens here is part of my acceptance training, I need to care about that fact. I need to...
"Yeah... I'm... I'm still a lesbian..." Slut. No need to say the quiet part out loud I suppose, not when I'm moving closer to her, holding my hand out over an open flame and asking it to scorch me. Begging to be melted down into raw material, repurposed by Envy's cause. What is my purpose? If I'm not meant to be a hero, then what am I for?
"I knew it~" Laura's arms snake around my Torso and she pulls in closer, treating my body with a reverence the other her certainly didn't care to. Her touch makes me feel special, useful, even though this is the furthest thing from the use I had intended to commit myself to. I'm not being a hero right now, I'm being a slut, but it feels too good to deny. Just a little indulgence won't hurt me, it's exhausting to keep this performance going. I call for an intermission, greedily dipping in to taste my best friend's lips and breaking myself against the softest thing I've ever felt. Her hands slide up my back, intoxicating motion that has me arching for her pleasantly. Her lips are rough and commandeering, but there's a sweetness in the mashing of mouths that makes me glad it's her. My eyes flutter closed and I pretend to give in completely, hearing a chorus of metal clinks describe my journey to the wall as this time Laura is the one to shove Joy flat against it. Her knee pushes into my crotch and I buckle instantly, groaning deeply into her mouth before we share a moment of giggles that tell me this is okay. This is normal and natural. Just friends catching up, I'll ignore the unnecessary details around it that make me feel bad. Guilt and shame are not my friends today. This is normal and natural, I repeat the words in my head like a self inflicted mantra while I submit to my own undying lust, a thirst for touch wet and sticky and flammable. Sublimation, I'm a fool for thinking I wouldn't accept any offerings she sent my way. This is Envy's gift, and despite everything, I'm so fucking grateful I'd be ready to grovel at her feet for a second helping.
There's a crow in the sky above me, and heaven, let it take me.
Chapter Six: Kiss the Queen
Several days later, probably...
I'm so thirsty, there's a burning in my calves from standing up for days straight chained to this wall with the bench removed. How many days exactly? I can't be sure, I think I've lost count. Not many, but enough. Enough to stew and fester and hope. I've begun to hope again, digging deep into my soul with battered fingers to find those last remnants of the sentiment I had foolishly sought to embody. I hope they'll take good care of me if I... when I finally accept my place. That sounds defeatist, I know, but I'm just tired. Physically tired, sure, but somebody with my superpowered body should be able to move past that. This burning sensation isn't right, it's psychological, I could hover inches from the floor and bring my body instantaneous relief. I won't do that, though, because comfort is a trap of its own. No matter which I choose I'll be sinking deeper, it's frustrating and exhausting to be paralysed by a pointless choice. I wish they'd just choose for me. I hope.
Murmur's clacks signal her arrival long before I lay eyes on the woman, my heart-rate picking up as I wonder if this is finally the moment they'll as me to give up in an official capacity. Isn't it obvious that I'm ready to obey? I haven't moved in days!
"I won't let you break me." Murmur repeats my words mockingly and I pout in frustration, wondering when we reach the point where I can tell her I accept this. I'll accept my place, just give me a chance, please.
Unsure how to follow that up, I mull over a response in my sluggish subspace as the breeze flooding into the basement creates delectable bumps on my bare skin. Eventually, I appeal to their sense of hospitality, realising I haven't thought to just ask.
"Thirsty..." My voice croaks out, a hoarse sound I barely recognise that has me feeling feeble despite these powers having gone nowhere.
Murmur clicks her tongue, giving me a terrible sense of dread. Her treatment of me has become so effective, so uniform. Our exchanges are almost entirely autonomous now, her acting in accordance to doll programming and me... my training.
"Please ma'am, c-can I have some water?" Addressing a drone as a figure of authority reminds me of my place here, I'm less than her, less than all of them. It's not so bad when you stop expecting more, someone has to be on the bottom; it's a well respected position.
The woman leaves without a word and after what feels like an hour, perhaps literally so, she returns with a glass of clean water. As I stare at that clear glass I find myself almost disappointed that it appears untainted by chemical corruption, the only poison my mind needs now to make me good for them is kindness. A strict kindness, a fair kindness, conditional kindness I have to earn with good manners and this well tamed behaviour.
"Posture." The woman's voice drones and I obey, straightening my back and lifting my head from its slump before she'll permit me to drink. When the water graces my lips I can't help but feel grateful for it despite everything, gulping it down quickly and then letting her wipe my mouth with a smile. I dare not mirror her placid grin just yet, or they'll think they've broken me. I'm not broken, a broken person would not be so clear of mind. I want to accept of my own volition, of comfort and safety, not because I'm some shattered mess of a whore to sate their satisfaction. I'm doing this for me, nobody else.
"Can... can I see her? Envy, I mean. I need to tell her that this is no longer necessary. I'm not being stubborn anymore, nor prideful. Please?" I try to speak calmly and clearly, normal and natural. My hopeful eyes sparkle a little when Murmur doesn't immediately deny my request, she's not the capacity to mull it over herself. For all intents and purposes, I'm asking Envy directly.
"I see you found your way, Lady Hopeless." It's her, I can tell it's her even when she speaks with Murmur's voice. I recall the last time we met face to face and feel light of breath. The way I was still groggy from intoxication and she dominated me with just her feet, those perfect shapely legs that had no rival in a room of impossibly gorgeous women. My foolish pride had me wanting to resist her then, but I have to admit how hot and bothered I am thinking back on that moment. My moment of defeat, at her feet, completely under her influence from the moment we met. I think I understand now, I just need her to put it into the proper words for me. "Come, ride the elevator up and we'll talk. I believe you have something you'd like to tell me?"
"Yes! I.. I uh..." Why am I so nervous and flustered talking to her, she's just another version of myself. Oh who am I kidding, she's so much more than that and I know it. I'm less than her, it was never an even split and besides, look at what we chose to do with our respective powers. In a way, loathe as I am to admit it, Envy's amazing.
"Hush now. Save your words for when you're in the proper place, Joy. At my feet where you belong. Kneeling before me will feel ah, normal and natural." How does she know those words? They're my words, truthful words I've clung to privately. Did she read them from my very own thoughts or better yet, have I been speaking them to myself aloud without even realising it? I can't have spoken them in my sleep because I haven't slept a wink, I feel as though I've inherited Murmur's old affliction. Sleep would be so nice, maybe Envy will grant it to me if I just go along with her game. I won't let her break me, of course, but maybe she doesn't have to know that. I'll be the humble court jester for her, it's the least I can do.
"Normal and natural." My mouth repeats without consulting consciousness, a muscle of memory. I feel calmer after speaking the words, however, finding Envy's sentiment agreeable enough in this instance. This is normal. This is natural. A ghost of a whisper in the back of my head urging caution but I'm too far gone to heed it. I want this, cold comfort to lay my head down upon come what may. Normal and natural. My legs carry me out of the cell after Murmur unlocks my collar, a sleepwalk of an ascent that has me filing into the elevator shaft with a contented look plastered over worried face. Hope and despair form my inner turmoil, I need Envy to set it right. She'll know how to put me at ease, save me from these feelings of regret and uncertainty. I know this because I've seen her work in my best friend Laura, it's... admirable.
Elevator stirs into motion and I stand as still as I can, quite accustomed to it after however many days they kept me waiting for. Even this body can feel fatigue when left without food, I'm hungrier than I realised now that I've begun to walk again. Murmur stands behind me with fingers holding my shoulders, I understand the touch to be possessive but I'm too tired to care, instead feeling grateful once again to have someone keeping me steady in this slow ascension of the self. With some indulgence I decide to afford myself for being good, for not letting them break me, I lean back into Miss Murmur's body and let my eyes fall closed. What a woman she is, or was, those long nights we'd spend learning the limits of our bodies. Mostly my body, she had me dancing to the tune of fingers curled like devil horns, tempting me into a world of sin I'd soon surpass her in. Maybe it was meant to be, who are any of us to deny our fate? If a higher power does exist, as I had mused before this journey began, this is surely what they chose for me. For all of us. For the good of all m--
Ding!
I feel so out of it when Murmur pulls me from the elevator and onto the tower's top floor, still slightly dissociating as we enter the penthouse office, Empress Envy's throne room. We enter quietly, reverently, and I've forgotten that I'm still entirely nude until I notice the eyes of her lieutenants crawling over my skin and making it flush. My eyes soon fall upon Envy herself and once entering her pull they can look nowhere else, lost in orbit. A satellite of sight.
"Bring her here, doll." Envy commands. I almost miss the enthusiasm and erraticism we displayed in the past. Almost. The garden's dark mistress is much more intimidating in this form, with this newly cultivated tone, these sharp eyes like thorns pricking into the back of my neck and making me shudder. This is still normal, still natural, I just need to adjust my definitions. Fighting her would be abnormal, unnatural, when she's my original. I'm just a copy, I... does a copy have a will of it's own? Perhaps that was the real theatre all along, why they can't break my will.
There's nothing to be broken.
Murmur pushes down on my shoulder and I buckle but I don't break. I bend to a normal and natural degree as I sink down onto the floor before the garden's empress. What the hell in this city was worth saving, anyway? I just want to let her put me in my place, is that so wrong?
"Joy, you're looking much more agreeable today. That's good." Her words are packed snow covering my ears, frigid and deafening, I hear nothing but her and I'd have it no other way when these other voices only criticise my weakness. In face of internal judgement, Envy chooses to praise me for my acceptance. Praise is nice, anybody would agree. It's normal and natural to accept praise, take it to heart. "I'm going to ask you if you're ready to accept your place now, and you're going to answer me clearly, honestly. Aren't you, pet?"
Pet? Gosh, the word floods me with a feeling I can't quite describe. It makes me feel owned of course, but also loved? Being owned can't be the worst thing in the world, you're well looked after, protected. Moving from prey to pet is certainly a promotion in any case, so I try to contain my excitement, even as weak as I am. Gosh... pet. Oh shit, she asked me a question didn't she? I've been spacing out like a zombie, kneeling there at her feet without a thread to hide my sweltry skin. I lift my gaze and feel relief at the amused look on her face, along with an intense arousal I can't even hope to downplay.
"Yes... yes ma'am, I mean." Is that the right way to address her? I'm not sure, but again she doesn't appear to be upset and so I let myself relax. She makes me so tense, I don't want to disappoint her and find myself back in that confused state I've kept for the last few days. Defeat only feels good when she lets it.
"Empress." Envy lifts her leg and rests her foot on my chest, heel grinding into my softness as I accept the physical admonishment like I deserve it. Whether I truly do or not seems insignificant in this moment, I'm just allowing her to do as she pleases if it'll earn favour. When did I become so obedient? I suppose there's really just... no reason not to be? Perhaps I could attempt to rekindle my power and subdue her here? I-I should definitely do that! Then I'll have no reason to go along with this farce any more. No reason to let her keep... let her... mmgh, maybe I'll just let her finish what she started and then I can consider my retaliation. My thighs squeeze together tightly and I push my chest into her foot, sharing with her my overwhelming heat. My body's a burning lump of coal, her cool touch just feels so good that it would be such a shame to end things here.
"Y-yes, Empress. Sorry, I didn't mean--"
"Kiss it, that'll tell me that you're sorry. Better still, it'll show me that you really do know your place here in my garden." Envy's bare foot trails up my chest and tilts my chin up, gliding even further up with her ankle dipping it down to hover by my lips.
My eyes lightly cross as I focus on the foot due to its proximity to my face. I take in as many details as I possibly can, studying the proffered limb like a scholar. Painted nails as rich and red as blood, unblemished skin that puts mine to shame in its supernatural lustre, a confident stillness my trembling form couldn't hope to imitate. Slowly, I dip down and plant lips against the tops of the woman's toes and feel that familiar sense of submission and loss wash over me. I'm losing the will to resist her, because there's a thrill in just obeying. It feels objectively more rewarding to behave for them than it is to resist, it's so boring and lonely in that cell, I'd rather be anywhere else.
"Tell me, Joy. What do you really want?" Ah, it's like she can read my mind. Or perhaps she really can, I remember in the empty lot hearing Jazz and Trifecta's intentions like buzzing whispers. It's not a power I'm privy to anymore, none of this is, because I'm not an original. Everything in its right place, was it?
Ugh, I know what I want but it's so difficult to admit aloud without sounding like I've been broken. When I attempt to avert my gaze, she uses those pretty feet I think I've fallen for to pull me back into the proper place. I'm in her orbit, her gravity is so much stronger than mine. Why wouldn't it be when she spreads out into every corner of this city with her roots, such mass is unattainable for a loner like myself.
"I... I want..." I gulp, reconsidering for just a moment. Do I really want this? What's the alternative, I stubbornly rot down in the dungeon until either Envy conquers the world itself or I'm shamefully rescued by outside forces? Such embarrassment, I think I'd rather see the former occur than have to live through the public humiliation. In any case, I can just give in for a while, it doesn't matter what I do now so I might as well pick the most comfortable option. "I-I want to do as I'm told."
"I see." Envy seems disappointed, did I say something wrong? Desperately, I lower my face to kiss her foot again and she swats me away with the sole, uncrossing her legs and standing up. With such intimidating steps does she circle around me, each footfall causing my posture to straighten and my throat to grow even dryer. "And tell me, do you love me?" Her arms wrap around my neck and she embraces me from behind, I catch whiff of her intoxicating pheromone scent and calm myself against it. Even a cold woman such as her can bring such warmth, I never want her to let go, I love this feeling so much I could cry.
"Huh? I... yes?" I'm content in simply telling her what she wants to hear. My plan of subduing her so that she's unable to harm herself seems so... risky... and so I figure that awaiting a rescue that may or may not one day come is the smarter play.
"Tsk, tsk. Nice try, Joy, but you really shouldn't lie to me. You're not ready yet. You're only loyal to yourself, all you care about is comfort, I'd like to give you that but it comes at a cost you're still too hesitant to pay. Your training continues, I need you to understand who and what you are here in my garden before I'll permit you a place by my side, on the floor as well kept pet. Such power... ehehe, you sure wasted it but I promise you that we won't. You'll be in good hands, turned against any and all who would threaten the goal of global unification. Humans are so petty, aren't they?" The temptress whispers into my ear like a snake, biting the lobe in a teasing act that makes me squirm as I consider her words. Does she no longer view herself as human? Perhaps she's right not to, just look at how she's grown. Maybe I'm not ready until I see her as something more than human too, until I've deified my better half and accepted my place not for my sake but for hers. That's all bullshit though, isn't it? It is, right? I was just going along with all of this because it seemed easiest to do so, but not it's starting to worry me. Just what is she doing to me?
I mean to break you.
Oh right. Well, I still won't let her--
A tendril wraps tightly around my throat, slick with paralytic sap that makes me feel numb even as it lightly chokes me. More of Envy's vines soon follow, hooking around my limbs and one worming its way into my aching cunt. Sight becomes a blur once again as the garden's tendrils pull me up onto feet with their own sheer strength, my panting becoming obnoxiously loud from the exertion of finally having my body played with again. The last time was with Laura, how long ago was that again? Envy gives her usual churlish grin as her cold steps circle back around my twitching form, hand sliding over the bulky tentacle that fills my sex so generously. My hips wriggle and I adjust myself on the tentacle as it lifts me from the ground, the vines around my wrists pulling my arms up over my head and holding them there. More tendrils come with tips that open up into latching sucklers that attach themselves to stiffened nipples, taking advantage of my sensitivity to ruin my composure even further. I'm breathless, wanting so badly to hit that electric edge that the rest of me becomes all too easy. I'd love to pretend that this isn't amazing, that I don't adore every second of her strong tendrils manipulating my body roughly, treating me as nothing but a plaything... but I can't. It's cathartic to be used, to be useful, even if I'm just here to amuse her at this point.
"Enjoy this pleasure, pet, because I intend to overload you on it. I'll burn through that lust and leave you a whimpering mess of slut ready to bend the knee in earnest. Enjoy this pleasure, Joy, because after this you'll only exist for others'." As Envy steps back over to her throne and crosses one leg over the other, leaning onto the armrest with a lazy elbow, tiny threads of tendril push themselves into my ears and dig deep. Mind is white hot, joining body in this heavenly overdose from which there is no return. She's not just fucking my body, or my mind, she's having her way with my soul. A slut of spirit, spit-soaked and cleansed in dryad drizzle, honeyed ecstasy making a whore of my ego. I'll gladly let her, because it all feels too good to ever contemplate denying. This is my last chance to feel pleasure? Then I'll happily gorge myself on it until I'm sick, I'll come back for seconds all night until I'm barred from the buffet.
My eyes roll back and I let the flood of pleasure take me, I no longer care where.
Chapter Seven: Break This Bitch
My next coherent memory is standing back in my cell, cool metal clasped around my neck once more but also fashioned around my waist. With tired, sluggish motion I drag my eyes down to stare at the chastity belt that denies me further pleasure, I've had enough for a lifetime. I think back on the way Envy's vines completely obliterated my sense of self for a time, fucking me into a state of complete mental oblivion as the ecstasy overrode all thought. Vaguely I recall that I came for her, many times. I made a mess of her obsidian floor, mewling in mid-air a begging broken babe. Broken? I... I can't rightly say, understanding things for myself is becoming complicated and unclear now.
As the cool air nips my naked frame and I move my lower body around experimentally to get used to my only garment, I distantly recall being harshly dropped onto my knees and slumping over in exhaustion, Envy's firm grip in my hair guiding my tired face to that mess I made as I found myself forced to clean and polish her floor. Not forced, no, I remember being eager to. I remember being so grateful to her, so desperate to get on her good side, that it felt natural to use my tongue in such a way. Normal and natural, simply paying my dues.
I'm so turned on thinking back on all that happened, even that last part, but I'm unable to give myself relief on account of this newly enforced chastity. Looking back I never took the opportunity to masturbate in here when I could, that feels like such a waste in hindsight.
A while later, after finding myself lost in corridors of thought, aimless wanderings that make me lose my grip, I remember something important. I'm back in my cell because I failed Envy's test, I wasn't loyal to her but to Joy, I committed the grave sin of wanting for myself in Envy's unified garden. Left to my own limited devices in here, I peer down at my breasts, the teeth marks around my nipples left by latching tendrils, and I feel my face turn a deep shade of red. She made me feel so good that I don't think I could feel any worse than I already do for having disappointed her. I need more training, clearly. I need--
"--said you must be starving, so she sent me down here to come and feed you. I'm... I'm sorry about before, okay?" Laura is leaning in the doorway of my cell, open like always, giving me a sympathetic look and a hopeful smile. When did she get here? I must have been spacing out again, it's hard to keep track when I don't have someone telling me what to do, keeping me tethered with firm instruction.
"Oh uh... that's okay. I mean, sorry for what?" I'm less emotional at the sight of Laura than I was the first time, though I am happy to see her. If anything though, I'm a little jealous of her. She's good to Envy and in turn, I envy her for it.
Laura gives a bashful smile, stepping forwards and playing with my hair tenderly. I give in to the touch all too easily, wanting to close my eyes while also wanting to drink in the sight of her. Those denim jeans, tight black vest, it's a nice change of pace from the latex lieutenants upstairs. Despite everything, she still dresses just like Laura, that comforts me even when I'm not being afforded the same luxury. Is Envy walking back on her goals of removing inequality from this wretched world, or is she simply redefining the terms of her ambition? Being equal in rights doesn't mean you have equal needs, purposes, and maybe mine is as the pet soldier they seem set on turning me into.
"I'm sorry for treating you like my best friend Joy, I just got lost in nostalgia, it happens hehe. You're a good girl, so I wanted you to know you don't have to try to be anything more than that." Laura rubs under my chin and I push against the touch all too eagerly, cooing as her nails give me soothing scritches.
"Mmh... I... don't... don't stop..." I close my eyes and lean into her affectionate touch, knowing that I'm being treated like a pet and realising how much nicer that is than being captive human. Better a pet than a prisoner, her fingers are remissive, relieving me from past concerns. Her fingers are conditioner, running through my hair in cleansing crawl and rinsing out all past worry. I feel somehow simpler, so eager to see how far into this headspace I can be pushed. It's a gentle push, gravity does most of the work. A diminution of the self that presents itself as cause for celebration.
Even though I asked her to keep going, Laura soon pulls away and shakes her head strictly when I whine, pulling against my chain like a needy puppy. Laura giggles and tells me I'm cute, the corners of the room might as well not exist in this moment. Only when I take in the sight of her again do I notice something strange, something missing.
"Uhm... sorry, you said you were here to feed me? I... don't see any food..." Maybe I'm just being stupid again, it wouldn't surprise me.
The handsome blonde chuckles as though I've said something silly and I try not to pout, there's such relief in not being expected to understand everything. I've no real responsibility like Envy does, all I'm asked to do is be loyal and cast away desire, that's a reduction of responsibility. Never having to make a choice for yourself ever again, it's an alluring prospect... isn't it? Just look at how wound up I got trying to decide what to do while staying here, in the end I did nothing save for what I was told. I'm so good at this already. After her husky laugh that hits me with a shot of arousal I've no power to cover up, Laura begins unbuckling her belt. Brown leather slides from denim and dirty gold zip descends, the jeans growing loose and finding themselves pushed down over hips.
"Get on your knees, okay? You'll have to back up to the wall 'cause of the chain, haha." Laura speaks so casually as her glistening slit mesmerises me, tuft of blonde hair above it I want to rub my cheek against in sultry, shameful submission. She's wet already, the girl was probably excited to be sent down here to get eaten out by the pet prisoner who looks a lot like her old bestie. My mouth is watering at the sight, the smell, the succor. I do as I'm told without hesitation, following orders feeling normal and natural, backing up and dropping onto my knees while practically wagging a phantom tail behind me. Laura draws near and smothers me in sweet musky air, dizzyingly hot. "Eat up, girl."
I practically cum from the simple command, but then I remember that my own pleasure has been locked away in favour of giving it to others. Obediently, excitedly, I open wide and bury my face between the woman's legs. Her hand falls onto my head and once again makes me feel so owned, her mind-melting pussy flavour turning me stupid and easy. She tastes like Laura. She tastes so good. She tastes like apple, Envy's corruptive touch. She tastes like owner, all of them probably do. She tastes like hot and sticky ambrosia dribbling down my chin and onto a floor I'll be eager to mop up with my tongue once we're done here. I sate myself against her, purified at an altar of worship I'm too weak to deny. She tastes like destiny, dripping and decided.
"Haahh..." Laura pushes me back with a firm hand against my forehead, fingers curled into this mess of strawberry blonde. A long line of wet stretches out from my hanging tongue and her messy sex, hot breath collapsing into her crotch as I pant out like a beast. "Hehh... n-no more?" I don't mean to plead, I know that wanting is a sin. When she strikes me for speaking out of turn I know I deserve it, secretly wanting another but knowing better than to voice desire again.
"I'll be back next week, okay? Be good until then." Laura ruffles my hair and I feel like crying. What does she mean, week? I've lost track of time so for all I know it could be the weekend already, or it could be Monday, brooding and blue. "Heh, that look in your eyes. Don't worry, I'm not the only one who'll be coming down here to make use of you. I think you're going to be quite popular here in the tower. Just be good and she'll probably let you out eventually, I think you're already one of us." With a smile, Laura leans down and presses her lips against mine, kissing me sweetly with such kind touch I don't deserve. I stare dumbfounded at those glistening lips of hers when she pulls away, the prettiest smile glazed with her own reclaimed arousal. Gosh, I don't think... I don't think I want anything other than whatever the hell this is. They can break me, they can burn me, they can brush my hair and make me gush with newfound pride at my own defeat.
They can do anything they want with me, so please, give me another chance. Break this bitch.
Finale: Consent and Condescension
Everything is calm in my cell today. I don't really see it as a cell anymore, but a waiting room. I wait patiently with perfect posture, loop of metal around my neck holding me in comfortable confines. Since being captured by Envy, my life has gotten just a little better every day. I've been on my knees a lot lately, but servicing the garden's lieutenants is fulfilling work, someone has to give these key individuals much needed relief and I feel lucky to have this designated task even if I'm not officially one of them yet. I'm just happy to be of use, even in a cell I'm given purpose, it'd be a waste to rot away in refusal of Envy's generosity.
Murmur came by earlier and told me that today is the day I'll be able to retake my test, something that I'm very much eager to redeem myself on. I have to admit that a part of me is now a little intimidated at the prospect of leaving this room full time and existing out there once again, but I'll be under her watch, her guidance. I'll be fine, I can trust in others. I no longer need to place faith in myself, no longer need that biting indecision to plague me, I can just accept whatever they tell me. Whatever she tells me. I am Envy's bitch, it's so much easier that way. Everything makes more sense when you learn to be loyal.
Why did I come here again? Something about being a hero, about hope, about saving this city from Envy? Saving people from Envy? I... do I have that right? Murmur comes in from time to time and tells me about the garden's goals, about unification and peace, and they placate me like bedtime stories would a child. Why did I come here with the goal of tearing this peaceful world of theirs down? See, this is why I shouldn't be thinking for myself.
Doll footsteps clack against the ground but I'm already standing at attention, beaming at Murmur when she turns the corner.
"Wipe that smile off your face." She commands me and I obey, realising I got carried away in my excitement. Hands reach over me to remove the chain and I'm thankful that they're letting me keep the collar on, wrapped up in her nice fragrance as her body hangs before my face. I breathe in deep and try my best not to smile again even if I'm in such a good mood today. I'm going to see Envy, why wouldn't I be? The last time we spoke in person she gave me the gift of pleasure overflowing, but this time I don't need anything from her. It's what she needs from me that I'm concerned with, nothing else. I don't want to be of service to her or anything silly like that, I'm past that sort of thing. It's just what I'm for, and it does fulfil me, so I do it. There is no alternative here, how could there be?
Murmur clips a leash to my collar and drags me along with it resting over her shoulder. I follow behind her with dutiful steps, reverent steps as I'm reminded of the hallowed halls I'm setting foot into. The ascension is a calm one, even more so than before. I taste them in my mouth, these lieutenants we're about to face, I recall their heat. My own heat is locked away for good measure, so it's easier to commit myself to focusing fully on that of others. Murmur's lashings of literature play through my head as the elevator doors slide open, her storied explanation of Envy's ambition. Envy wants to bring this world to heel before bringing healing to it. I admire her more than anything, more than a hero who thought to fight change, a staunch conservation of corruption will get us nowhere, I can see that now. The doors open with a pleasurable ding and then...
Envy.
Eyes of Envy set upon and pull me closer, I don't need the doll to tug my leash when my own legs move on autopilot right to where she wants me. I kneel before the throne and feel a calm heat in my heart, eyes no longer brimming with such desperation, only acceptance. Should she send me back again, I won't question it. I'll obey, it's what I'm for.
"Paw." The woman's voice drips with condescension and I find myself an addict, holding out my hand without a shred of embarrassment at the act. Envy catches my outstretched hand in hers and holds it, my entire body feeling enriched. I stare up at her a waiting statue, if I'm to be a pet then I'm not a needy one, I'm well tamed. Trained. "I can see you've learned your place properly now, I'll be candid with you, girl. Our garden has been thriving within the confines of this city, but all those armoured vehicles, that heavy artillery, the constant ill-fated raids... They're keeping us from expanding, we've been waiting for an ace in the hole to help see the garden thrive to new frontiers. Who better than the successor to Lady Nova herself? I just need you to know that you're not a hero, okay pet? You're my knight. A knight of hope, just like you wanted to be. My chivalrous lady set upon those outside forces, set to smite my foes."
Knight.
I'm her knight? That sounds so... important. I'd have been happy to accept my place as a footstool at this point, I've not the will to question her after all... but wow, a knight? Envy's sword of justice and hope, her weapon...
"I can tell you like the title, not that it matters. It's time for your test, okay? You won't fail this time will you?" My entire being flows into her hand from mine, thoughts feeling clearer than ever before. Clarity's a curse and I'm happy to have been hexed.
"No, Empress." I'm so calm unlike before when my body was trembling, I still harboured pettiness and doubt back then, still wanted for myself like a sinner.
"Good girl, then tell me. What do you really want?" Envy slides her dress up over bare thigh and points at the perfect skin, my slow brain eventually realising this is the same as her proffered foot from last time.
Taking care not to rush, while also wanting to respect her time as best I can, I lift my head to meet her pretty gaze and answer directly. "I don't want anything, Empress, I'm yours to command." The part of me that knew this is wrong has been trained out of me and so I speak the words without any hint of hesitation. Envy appears pleased and so I dip down to plant reverent lips against her thigh and show her my devotion.
"Do you love me, Joy?" Her tendrils slide over my form and I relax into their hold, baptised by that sticky coating they cover me up in.
"Yes, I do. I love you, Empress." I'm so hungry, I'm exhausted, I'm pent up with smouldering lust I can't tend to. And yet, I'm calm and content. All of this, everything happening to me right now, is normal and natural. Hardships often come before comforts.
A hanging tendril drops paper bag into Envy's hand and the woman empties some of the contents into her other's waiting palm. "A treat for my pet knight for passing the first part of the test, here." Empress holds out her hand, several rich caramels sitting in the palm. A tantalising spectacle of sweetness, creamy and comforting. I've gone without for so long, while it's hardly the best sustenance I'm so very happy to be rewarded. My arm twitches and Envy shakes her head. "With your mouth."
Of course, she wants me literally eating from the palm of her hand. I dip my head forwards and brush lips over the slightly warm candy, pulling piece into my mouth while meekly staring up at her to make sure she approves. The taste of caramel melts against my tongue and I can't help but moan a little, as funny as that must sound. Envy calls me cute, just as Laura had, and I feel dizzy from the praise. I'm acting very normal and natural about her calling me that.
I take another sweet and roll it around with my tongue, sucking the flavour from it wantonly and wondering if they're laced or if I'm really just this much of a slut. A glutton for obeying Empress Envy and receiving her sweet kindness in return.
"You can smile, I don't mind. I wouldn't go as far to say you want to, but I know you're holding back. Discipline has its time and place, right now I want to see how happy I've made you." Envy smiles and I mimic it naturally, despite all our differences we still share the same face, though hers is somehow far more beautiful.
Naturally, I smile. I beam bright enough to light up this dim room. I give a smile you can hear, giddy with enthusiasm now that I've received permission to be. A drooling bitch of a smile.
"Bring her out, Doll." Envy addresses Murmur and so I don't pay any attention, still smiling and leaning into her touch, loving her with every fibre of my copied form. I'm her fake, of course I love her, she's practically my mother.
Miss Murmur's clacks sound out from behind me and I do not allow them to distract. I only need to focus on Envy until she tells me otherwise, I'm good like that. Eventually the clacks return with another set of steps alongside them, Envy perking up and lifting my chin with a firm finger. "Joy, I'm going to need you to stand back up now and turn around. This part of your test is the most difficult, but there's only one thing left after it's done. I know you can do it, my knight, you'll be strong for me won't you?"
"Of course... strong for you. Yeah." Only when I stand back up do I realise how spacey I've become again, all that smile having gone to my head. I turn and look upon the strangest sight yet in this place of naturally occurring oddities.
It's me. Not Envy, but Joy. Or Lady Hope, I should say. They've dressed the double in that costume they confiscated back when I first came here, turns out they cleaned it after all. If I were still capable of want, I'd want to ask my Empress how this is possible.
"Danielle was only capable of creating one mirror clone, wasn't she? Our former roommate was also a weakling, mortal bound. We know better than any how powers can be nurtured and developed over time, in cases like yours you've taken a weaker and more pitiful version of Nova's own power. Is it that surprising, then, that an empress like me could do the opposite? They say that seeing is believing, I suppose, so don't look away. That's exactly what you looked like when you were first brought here all those weeks ago." Weeks? Has it really been that long? No wonder I'm so well trained. "A pet playing at hero, a fancy title to promote the pitiful roleplay. I want you to kill her for me, Joy."
"Huh?"
Envy snorts, a vine moving in to return my gaze to Lady Hope when I instinctively turn back to look at her. That wasn't very obedient, she told me not to look away. "You heard me, girl. I need you to kill the symbol of hope before you, the part of us foolish enough to fancy herself a superhero. Have you learnt nothing from watching Nova's facade crumble? Superheroes are a fiction, real heroes like me have no need for them. Kill her, Joy, and I'll know she'll never rear her ugly head again."
A vine slithers down to place knife against my open palm, closing my fingers around it before disappearing from whence it came. I stare down at the knife in my hand, it's long and sharp looking. It has a decent heft to it, but is otherwise unimpressive. Not a combat knife like those Firefly wields, but something you're liable to find in a kitchen to cut pie or cake with, perhaps chop vegetables. It tells me this act of killing is a casual affair despite the symbolic weight, this is not a duel, I am simply silencing a troublesome voice. Calmness takes me and I nod submissively, stepping over reflective obsidian floor towards the hero who appears to be acting just as much of a doll as Lady Murmur. That suits me fine, I'm not itching for a fight, but if she gave me one I'd win. I'd act as Envy's knight and reduce the enemy to ash if I had to. That's how much I love her.
"Joy, I--"
Shunk.
Was she saying something? It hardly matters, I've been given an instruction and so I simply followed it. Envy no doubt made the mirror doll speak out towards the end to test my resolve, but that wasn't necessary. I sink the blade straight into her heart with some satisfaction, pleasure even, glad that I appear to have hit the right spot where others may have made mistake. I let the handle slip free from my fingers and sail down with the empty marionette in her sudden slump. Then, without further delay, I turn and inspect Envy's face to see if I've done as asked correctly.
Just like that, I've killed for her. Better still, I've put an end to the hero inside of us. The relief cannot be overstated, Envy beckoning me closer and my knees naturally finding their spot on the ground.
"Final question, and then you'll have passed my test. You'll be ready to serve me as knight, succumb to me as pet. I'll ask you plainly, Joy, as I always do. Do you consent to all of this?" It's a slightly vague question, though I find no need to overcomplicate my interpretation, nor my answer.
"Yes, Empress. I'm well aware of what was done to me and what you intend to do, Miss Murmur was very thorough in her educating. I understand how I felt coming into this place, but I've been turned around completely. I consent to being yours. Mind, body and soul. My life is yours to do with as you wish, I'll be your knight, your pet, your anything. I'm willing servant, as willing as I can be with only borrowed will bestowed upon me, of course. Despite this, I'm... happy, if you'll permit me the feeling." Smile and sunshine, you'd never know I just gutted my own likeness mere moments ago.
Envy offers me another caramel and I gladly accept it, she wouldn't offer if it wasn't mandatory anyway. "I appreciate you saying so, Joy. You're going to be a very good, useful girl for me going forward. You passed the test, well done."
I suck the flavour from the candy in my mouth and accept her praise with dull eyes. I've never felt so accomplished in my entire life.
Epilogue: Knight of Hope
Rich red cape flaps in the wind behind me as we reach the outskirts of the city, these drones keep my presence concealed from their eyes and their radars and I find myself feeling sorry for those who are about to meet Envy's wrath at my hands. It can't be helped, of course, but still I'm permitted to feel a healthy amount of pity towards those who'd seek to undo unification. Poor souls, I only hope that today's demonstration will send a message.
Several rows of battle tanks and armoured cars occupy the repurposed land across the water. They look like they're ready to go to war but most of these are just for show, it'll be aircrafts, unmanned drones, that come for us next. I begin my descent as we cross over the river and tighten fists into my gloves, staring out at the hundreds of men scuttling around like ants. They're all too easy to squash even for a weakling pet like me, a fraction of Nova's power can make mankind shake in their boots. Had the woman been less altruistic, more ambitious like our Empress, perhaps global change would have been enacted long ago.
And finally I'm spotted, I watch with more pity as the ants begin to rush to their weaponry, cheap toys that couldn't hope to hurt a knight of such calibre. Gravity takes me and I drop down onto the ground with a slam meant to provoke them further, giving indifferent tired look to the fresh cadet who thought it wise to approach me with nothing but a pistol. What, does he fancy himself a hero? I let him take a shot before approaching, turning mind to mush with glowing golden glare and stepping over his collapsed form.
The unprepared forces mobilise tardily, training their artillery upon me in droves but always playing catch up to my swift and calculating motions. I use the cover of their own vehicles to weave between them and dismantle the armoured cars with well placed punches, my blows the swing of Envy's submissive sword slicing through their frontline with ease.
In my warpath I end plenty of lives, but I don't mean for this to be a massacre, sparing their numbers where I can while making sure my message is heard. I break their little toys with an overwhelming sense of catharsis in knowing they'll never again be used to interfere with Envy's noble ambition. As I reduce an Abrams into scrap I do it for her, I love her so much I know I'd go much further than this if she ordered me to. Bullets don't hurt me, even their heavier artillery only slows me down. It's funny then, how weak I had once felt as a hero in Envy's midst.
Envy isn't mortal, even if she turned me into this with a trick predicated on her being just that. These are mortals, these scurrying men who give such fearful looks when I turn their way. Angry men whose eyes lose all hope the moment their toys don't put me down.
Nova had something I didn't, a strong sense of will.
And now, as I carry out the will of a being so much greater than myself...
I've no will to speak of at all, only orders. I like orders, they make much more sense. A person can spend their whole life questioning, I no longer have such a tiresome burden.
But I am tired, all the same. Being Envy's knight is tiring work, I won't deny it takes its toll.
Even so...
I'd like to think it gives the world hope.
Any destruction needed to grasp that hope is normal and natural.
A Garden of Crows - End?
Chapter 2: We're All Going To Hell
Chapter Text
Prologue: Forever Only Lasts So Long
Colour fades and leaves me looking out over monochromatic wasteland that can no longer rightly be considered a battleground. There was no war fought here, just a dismantling of forces resistant to much needed change. They denied Envy's will and so I denied them a future in her perfect garden paradise, we can only tolerate so much sin. I take in the sight of burning wrecks in a palette of grey hues and despite the terrible destruction, I find a blush rise to my cheeks and start to meekly nibble on my lip. With another mission complete there's nothing left for me to do but return to the great tree and receive Envy's praise if she's feeling generous. It won't bother me if she isn't, I don't want for myself anymore even if I sometimes have my hiccups. I'm going to be good, life is best when you're on your knees.
The world beyond the water is a colourless, hopeless place, one that we will soon see unified under Envy's peaceful reign. My skin is flush at the thought, a hand creeping up over my chest before remembering my place and whimpering out into this cool air at such a high altitude. Good knight , I can hear her call me, having resisted the urge to tend to my own begging flesh. I'm still wearing that cumbersome belt she put me in but I know it's for my own good, pleasure is a luxury and the denial of such keeps me humble, disciplined. The way I already react to her treatment, I'd be a sopping mess of slut without this thing to protect myself from impulsive fingers and their wanton wanderings.
Drones swoop down to collect me and I turn back towards the garden, returning to the only home I know. A few dryads step back as I reach the entrance, wary of Envy's leashed knight even if they really shouldn't be. Sure, I can be destructive, but only when set against her foes. I'd never dream of acting against Envy's will, I'm not a creature driven by instinct, I'm a beast well tamed. Perfect in my ability to follow instruction and ask for nothing save for what I'm given on a whim and a wink. I'm happy because she permits me to be, though I am also tired, even a creature like me needs its rest.
Elevator doors slide open slowly with a pleasant ding that, just like most things here in Envy's garden, keeps me tethered and reminds me to behave. I take slow, reverent steps towards my throned empress as she beckons me closer with guiding fingers that turn downwards and command me onto my knees. A knight out there, a pet in here, a plaything who finally has colour return to her world. A dichromatic view of Envy's smugness, her intimidating posture, the view of a dog looking up at its owner with eager pants and playful paw.
Miss Murmur's clicker has me calm down and assume more decent posture, kneeling dutifully like the good girl I am with arms behind my back that curves in a fine arch for her. My shoulders roll back and I jut my chest out against its spandex prison.
Against our enemies I'm a cold sword pressed firm against their throat, urging surrender and delivering swift consequence to those who refuse. In Envy's throne room, I'm panting for her amusement, more turned on than any human being could ever be. I'm trained by clicks and condescending words, conditioned to love a woman who could never love me back. She only needs to act like she does and I'm her loyal pet until the day I die, actually no, she could act like she hates me at this point and I wouldn't falter in my love. I don't have any other driving force, so I'd accept whatever treatment she sees fit to give me.
A hand reaches out and I wait for Murmur's clicker to give me permission before I accept the soft caramel into my mouth and let out pleasured hum, my head always feeling so light when I'm around Empress Envy. The now empty hand holds my cheek and I nuzzle it with a smouldering, happy smile that appears all too simple to be considered human.
"You're going to be my good pet knight forever, aren't you Hope?" Her dulcet tones deny me breath, dizzy and stupefied against her perfect voice. I love her so much I'd literally do anything in my power to make her happy, it's all that this fake exists for.
"Yes Empress!" My overeager voice blurts out, still in disbelief that she'd choose to keep seeing me one on one like this. I must be the luckiest thing in the world.
Then that word plays on my tongue, like a rich and creamy caramel.
"Forever..."
Chapter One: Losing My Religion
My eyes blink slow and the colour comes seeping back into my world, an unpleasant spectrum of light that has me scrunch my eyes shut in sudden shock as those hands gripping my shoulder keep me held steady.
"Are you alright, girl? What's wrong?" Speaks a voice that I haven't heard in a long time even if we were just talking beforehand. A commanding voice wholly different to those of Miss Murmur or Empress Envy herself, a nostalgic ring of voice that makes my thoughts a messy ball of confusion. Another blink and I've adjusted to this view, taking in blonde hair and soft pink lips, the whiff of perfume placating me in my disoriented state of being.
"N-Nova?" I can't tell if I'm relieved or disappointed to be back here, an overwhelming rush of memory becoming more distant as I return to the present from that grey future. My hands tremble, wrapping around the woman's body and using it for comfort even if a part of me distantly wants to call her my enemy. We weren't on the best of terms but she's an ally for the time being, of course, I'm just a little shaken up by that strange dream. "I-I-I..."
Nicole is understandably taken aback by sudden outburst, a complete change in the demeanour I'd been holding up until this point. The woman is kind enough to hold me against her and as my head buries into her chest I hear just how much her heartrate has picked up.
"Shush, it's okay. I've got you, girl." It's surprising how sweet this woman is capable of being when she wants to be or rather, when she needs to be. I'm her weapon just as much as that pet knight in my dream was Envy's. If I stop working, who's going to be able to enter that den of snaking vines and resist the spread of their influence, of Envy's doctrine? My face sinks into Nicole's chest and I try to pretend I'm strong enough to tell friend from foe. Comfort is comfort, her light perfume making me happy to remain in her arms for as long as she'll permit.
Eventually I'm gently pushed away and the woman assesses the conflict on my face, the horror of what I've seen myself reduced to in a future that surely isn't real. "Joy, tell me what you saw." The woman gives me an order and I temporarily forget that I have a choice of reply, answering her as honestly as I can.
"I... had a vision. Murmur's precognition, maybe? B-but, it was so vivid... like I really lived it. She told me hers were so vague, and you didn't even believe they were real at all!" I step away and feel guilty for the accusatory tone in my voice, but still... how is it that my precognitive ability appears to differ so greatly from Miss Murmur's?
"We know better than any how powers can be nurtured and developed over time, in cases like yours you've taken a weaker and more pitiful version of Nova's own power. Is it that surprising, then, that an empress like me could do the opposite?"
That's right, abilities seem to manifest in different ways depending on the host. Then... it really was a vision of the future, my future?
"You look a mess right now, I think you need to calm down. Don't worry, Joy, I believe you." Nicole steps closer to fill the gap I made and gently holds my elbows, I weakly give in to the touch and stare up at her shyly. "A cute mess, I'll concede." Her cane is left by the table, I could probably push the woman away so easily.
"What are we going to do?" It's a vague question reflective of my current lack of confidence in the reality around me. I think we both know I can't leave like this.
Nova stares deep into my hazel eyes and takes a breath, a hand lifting up to tousle my hair in a way that has me entering a submissive headspace concerningly quickly. "Don't you worry about that, okay? I've got a plan, I'll handle it. Just..." With just her body and a few firm steps, Nova guides me back against the wall, my head falling against an old portrait that gives us both a knowing grin.
"Nova?"
Before I can understand what's happening, I feel lips smear mine and let out muffled gasp against the woman's mouth. Tongue snakes past parted lips and strokes over my own eagerly, our hot breath collapsing into a single whole. With widening eyes, I grip her arms and push the woman away, only softening when I catch that sultry desperation in her own tired eyes.
"Ah... ahaha... sorry, Joy. You're just so..." The woman hangs her head in shame, biting the corner of her lip with an incredulous assessment of her own impulsive action. "Fuck, you really drive me crazy. I see my wife behind those eyes of yours but also this plucky heroine in way over her head and it pushes my buttons, badly. I'm not good at giving comfort any other way, I was holding back until you just... well you were all over me and it pushed me over the edge."
Even though I shouldn't need to, I find myself catching my breath as I lean against the wall and stare at this woman in disbelief. Lady Nova not only sees me in that way, but she's desperate for it too? I can understand her loneliness but it's just difficult for me to wrap my head around all the same. It was a rough, inappropriate kiss, but already I'm starting to regret pushing her away quite so hastily. "Nova, you're still..."
The woman has her hands on my hips, her chest leaning against mine, heady perfume a destructive wind eradicating my higher thought process. "Oh? Haha... well, you're a superhero and I'm a frail thing, you could make me stop so easily. Right, Lady Hope?"
"D-Don't call me that, I... I don't need a hero name after all." That name just reminds me of everything I saw in my vision, it feels tainted somehow, just hearing it makes my thoughts begin to narrow. The thought of names has distracted me long enough to find Nova's lips playfully trailing over my neck. My fingers twitch by my sides, wondering if I should let her have her way or throw her into the other side of the room.
"I'll call you whatever I want..." Nova mumbles in a possessive manner that has my hairs standing on end, her suckling lips feeling so mundane against my skin after everything I've experienced. "Say, Joy, do you remember the last time the two of us were intimate like this? Your body wasn't so enticing back then, much more plain, but I never did get to finish fucking you... did I?"
I fight oncoming shudder and fail, at a loss against this woman's commanding touch. She's dead set on having her way with me, even knowing that I'm still so confused. This isn't a good person, but do I care? I'm enjoying the comfort of her touch more than I care to admit, every fibre of my being telling me to give in and relax like a good pet. Pet? No, that's not...
"N-Nova, get the fuck off of me." I finally snap, pushing the woman back and thankful to see that she doesn't keel over without her cane. The woman doesn't appear particularly apologetic for having taken advantage, though I suppose that tracks with what I remember from her glory days too. That stare of submission a toxic glare she doesn't even need with a weakling like me, I almost let her push me around without an ounce of power to her name.
"I need you on task for this mission, Joy, if you won't let my touch set you straight then you better find something that will. Your vision was a gift and a curse, try to cast aside the parts of it turning you so pathetic a woman like me could almost overpower you. The rest, however, is valuable reconnaissance. Like any power, you should use it." I think I hate this woman, the way she'd talk down to me like this right after I just had to push her off of me due to her own wretched impulses. Who does she think she is? She's not my... my...
"You're going to be my good pet knight forever, aren't you Hope?"
Suddenly, standing feels sinful. Nova notices my bout of wooziness and moves to catch me but I swat her away like a buzzling fly. Like inexperienced soldier getting too close to Envy's righteous blade. Stumbling forwards, I decide to make my way to the guest bedroom and take a lie down to clear my head. Nova leans back against the dining table and speaks the words that give me pause and have me turning back around.
"Yes, you go rest. It'll take a little while for my heroes to get here, I don't think that sending you out there by yourself is sensible any longer." Such icy words that send a chill down my back, my head whipping back around to inspect her indifferent smile and something primal overtaking me.
Before I can even catch my own actions, I've closed the distance between us and have hand firm around Nicole's throat, hoisting her up into the air and glaring up at that stupid, choking face of hers. "What? Explain yourself or I'll break your neck. "
The woman gestures to her throat and I realise she's unable to answer me like this. I drop her down ungraciously and Nova collapses into a heap on the floor, the sight of her there is cathartic I'll admit, but if I don't rein my satisfaction in I fear I'll be walking down a path as dark as my predecessor. My good senses slowly return and I wonder what just overcame me, sure I've the right to be upset but I've never been a violent person. Never, Joy?
Not in this lifetime, anyway.
"What do you mean, your heroes? You told me I was the only hope left. You... you lied to me, sent me in to test the waters? I-I was just a sacrifice, a lamb to the fucking slaughter? I'm right, aren't I?" Gloved fingers, as powerful as they are golden, grip the woman's collar and pull her upright. Nova spits onto her own floor and then looks up at me, still as collected as ever save for when she was desperately shoving her tongue down my throat.
"Not at all, girl... though you're only proving to me that such deceit was the right call. Think for a moment, would you? I know well how this Envy girl operates, it'd be foolish of me to send you out there to be nabbed by her. They'd just turn you over to their side and use you against us, that wasn't what I had in mind."
"Well it's exactly what happened! Happens? I guess not, now." My grip tightens and I feel the need to calm myself, where's Murmur's clicker when you need it eh? A part of me forgets how to control my own emotions autonomously without something to instruct me. I hate this feeling, like I'm not in control anymore, but even if that's true then the cockpit's currently empty.
Nova grins and I wonder what she could possibly have to feel so pleased about in this moment. "Then aren't we fortunate to have your power scout ahead for us, hm? I won't belittle you and say it was a dream, I can see you've changed considerably. I'll own up to my mistake for sending you out alone, my intent was to have you weaken her as a solitary force and make the villain think you're all we have. With several lieutenants dealt with by your competent hand, we'd have the drop on her for a full assault with my benched remnants. I... overestimated you, Joy, and for that I apologise."
Those last few words hit me like a gloved fist against solar plexus, making me want to keel over and prostrate myself to whatever goddess was foolish enough to bestow me with any sense of responsibility. I'm not sure what to say to her, not when I find myself in shameful agreement at the cutting knife of speech. The only time I've ever felt truly useful was in a distant dream in which I turned against the world I meant to save. Envy made me feel in my place, like I really belonged, and I no longer questioned anything she told me or had me do. Divorced from such brutal dismantling of the self, I look at what she did and wonder how it came so easily. I've never been as wilful as characters like Miss Murmur or Lady Nova, but I barely even resisted them at all. It's like I secretly wanted it from the start, that swift removal of responsibility and the ease of only having to follow orders. The comfort and excitement of being owned and looked after, even if it meant carrying the weight of the front lines on my shoulders. Does a sword feel shame for how it is wielded? No, it hasn't the capacity to care.
"Tomorrow morning, they'll be here... and we're going to start fighting back." I'm not asking Nova, I'm telling her what I need to happen. Spending too much time here and stewing in my own thoughts is going to have me coming around to those silly lessons from my dream. While I'm sane, rational, I need to start seeing these garden agents as the villains they are. Only when I face them in battle will I be able to set myself straight and return to the hero's path. A light pang in my heart, the sharp sting of stainless steel that tells me I'll never be a hero again.
Feelings like these I'll just need to learn to bury deep, fortunately I learnt from the very best of them.
Chapter Two: Silent Night, Lonely Knight
I don't mean to slam the guest room door, there must be a draft in Nicole's lonely old manor. It's both comforting and terrifying to be alone, ideally I'd rather be in the company of somebody less suffocating than that woman. Her lips yet trace my neck in a ghost of feeling and I scowl at the amount of phantom sensations I've been subjected to as of late. If I'm going to be napping I should strip out of this costume I wear, recalling its dyed red counterpart in that welcoming nightmare that taunts my heart. An oversized mirror sits against the wall, having once been mounted on a hook but having been grounded for quite some time now. Nova functionally lived in her top floor office and so this inherited home really is in a casual state of disrepair. Murmur must have had the place to herself for a while before packing her bags, now it's her other half's turn to make up for those isolated days. I've tasted first hand that yearning, a nip of need that has left the skin above my collar lightly reddened.
Why is it that I decide to undress myself in the mirror's revealing window? Surely not ego, I've found mine wanting ever since recalling the way in which Envy so effortlessly dismantled it in a dark future I can't allow to happen. Just like the other times then, once back in Murmur's apartment and later in Laura's... it's like I need to see how time and experience transforms me. This time I want to show myself that it hasn't, but as I step into the centre of that sadistic reflection it shows me something dire.
A stain in the centre of my chest, as royal and red as Envy's dripping smirk. Together as one, we had once created a cavity in Murmur's heart just as symbolic as this one, the stain over my breast growing and darkening, telling me that I'm no longer a hero. Eyes scrunch shut to dispel the illusory wound and when they blink back open a new, crueller hallucination has taken its place. My hair is long and black, make-up rich and red. I'm a dark angel, only missing the feathered wings and a fallen halo dropped around my neck to tug me along like a collar. It almost feels sacrilegious to be taking on Envy's appearance even in my mental wanderings, but then I remind myself that she's nothing but a villain. I don't love that woman, she's my enemy. I don't love that woman, she's my temptation come to life, a sickly spread of sin in need of weeding. I won't love that woman, she--
"You're going to be my good pet knight forever, aren't you Hope?" Speaks the woman in the mirror, interrupting me with all the smugness in the world and more.
"Shut up!" Before I can calm myself and remember that none of this is real, I let frustration take its hold and shatter the mirror in front of me, only able to think straight after blinking several times and finally being rid of her. It's just my gaudy white and gold costume reflected in those cracked shards that just barely manage to hold themselves in place. No Envy, no wound, all Joy. I'm breathless, staring at the different shapes held by that cracking mirror and wondering if there isn't an analogy of its own in here somewhere, that fragmented girl staring back at me so unsure of herself. As my eyes linger there for just a little too long, fingers curl around my wrists and pull them down to my sides. A giant black spread of feathered wings bursts out from behind me and eclipses the room beyond, snaking around my front in a dark embrace I'm too paralysed to deny. A head rolls onto my shoulder and Envy shares her halo, our necks encircled by a single black ring enforcing malice and mischief in tandem. Her sultry smile beckons me to turn towards her but then I know she isn't really there. Still, this somehow feels more real than before when I saw her in myself. I'm nothing like Envy, it's both a comfort and... a reminder of my place. An empress and her errant knight, I gulp and force my eyes closed. There's something very wrong with me, I need her gone. It's something I've seen in fiction, the character closes their eyes and counts to an arbitrary number and once they're done the hallucination is gone. I do just that, counting up to five as calmly as I can and opening my eyes in a deliberate act.
She's gone. I'm not disappointed, I swear, but I can hardly believe it even if I'm sane enough to know she was never really there. Even so, I can still feel a soreness in my wrists from where I imagined her gripping them in tight possessive hold I couldn't bear to break from. Still catch whiff of her scent, apples fresh and sinful. And... as I think I've won this victory over my own ailing mind, I feel her tongue warm and slick in my ear. A possessive poltergeist of speech echoing inside of my ear, sounding so assured that I can't deny the truth in her sick words.
"You're not getting rid of me that easily, pet~ "
Shudder.
A heap of white and gold spandex lays over the guest room floor in a sprawl, as though marking the victim's body in a crime scene. A few shards of glass have dropped down onto the floor from the broken mirror, a scene of destruction and denial. In bed, I toss and turn, every time I close my eyes I see her face. I see my place, kneeling at her feet ready to take on the whole world for her cause. What cause is that? Global unification, the garden consuming all. She means to make slaves of us all and decorate it under guise of peace, but I'm strong enough to know that's wrong. Intrinsically I understand her goals and morals to be warped, as disparate and broken as that oversized mirror I've left my mark on.
When my eyes fall back open in frustration at the elusive nature of sleep, of respite from these foreign sentiments I don't freely invite, this place and time almost doesn't feel real. Only for the first second or two, it's like I'm not where I should be, out of place, that I have somewhere I must return to. Well I still intend to confront the garden and its protectors so I suppose I'll be heading back sooner or later. Tomorrow, if Nova wants to stay on my good side. That she had other forces waiting in the wings makes me wonder what other lies she might have fed me with that silver spoon of hers, I'm not able to trust her. I don't have a strong foothold on this side of the net and Envy wants me on her team... worse than Nova, I'm not sure I trust myself. That version of me who became her knight was so pathetically weak in spirit, she fell for every single play they made on her hook line and sinker, like it was a scripted fucking affair.
Eyes closed, I taste something rich and sweet melting on my tongue and decide to try and fight through it. I need sleep, I've seen how weak and easy I become when deprived of it. Beautiful shapely legs wander into my minds eye and I'm unable to look away, tugging desperately at the sheets and burying my face into the pillow. Leg raises and pushes me onto my back, a click from behind me urging me to be still when I begin to squirm. A burning blush spreads over my face like a wildfire and I bury it deeper into the pillow, squeezing my thighs around bunched up sheets and wishing they'd just leave me alone and let me be a hero. Envy's impossibly heavy boot drops onto my chest and I'm mesmerised by that weight, force grinding me down into the dirt where I belong. My very mind is a similar sort of soil, fertile for her new concepts to take shape within, leaving room for nothing but her toxic overgrowth that turns me into compliant husk.
My eyes flick open and I'm out of breath, glad to be nude for how hot I feel. Even with my eyes open I can feel Envy's boot on my chest, reminding me of my place, telling me exactly what I am. A shameful hand I hate so dearly pushes down and traces over my front. With writhe and squirm, I let my eyes fall closed once again and this time give myself to the fantasy, it's just a silly dream and it'd be better to get it out of my system right? Right... I chew my lip and let hot breath collapse into my pillow, hand dropping lower to rub my lips tentatively. This feels so wrong, my mind showing me a vision of Laura's hot and sticky cunt smothering my stupid face, rubbing her scent onto me as I breathlessly accept the treatment. Murmur's strict tone lecturing me on Envy's vision, questioning my worldview as inch by inch I come around to her circular reasoning. A collar around my neck, a sword of justice, a belt locking away my slick heat, a fearsome red cape.
Shame, humiliation, guilt and more all come flooding in from a time that never was and I begin to sweat into the sheets. Fingers play my body with desolate notes that unmake my sense of right and wrong, that tempt me into casting aside all I've ever known in favour of simple obedience to an all powerful empress I wouldn't know. I gasp at my own naughty touch, clamping thighs around my hand and pleading with teeth sinking into pillow that I can stop from debasing myself any further. I'm not... this isn't me. I'm a good girl, these memories should disgust me, repulsive acts of a worthless husk I must strive to be stronger than.
Click.
"Hahh... y-yes Empress..." I can't help but rouse my clit for her, make myself all needy and hot and malleable. The mattress creaks beneath me from the violent thrashing, a conflict of the self that plays out between rational restraint and gleeful indulgence, a step into the dark I'll trust myself to keep locked in realm of fantasy. This is an outlet, I'm not doing anything wrong by getting off to it...
Flashes of violence and destruction pass by, overlaying Envy's sweet, poisonous affections. I'm horrified at the memories of what I did, even if I never did, but I'm unable to stop fucking myself with this despicable, desperate hand of mine that no longer obeys me. I feel cold metal in my hands bend and break so easily, explosions of shrapnel and splintered limbs. I'm so fucking wet I could die, even when I'm forced to remember the lives I took... she took... it wasn't me. Joy's a good girl, she's never hurt anybody...
"Explain yourself or I'll break your neck."
Walls tighten around my slutty fingers as I recall the violence I displayed earlier, my eyes scrunching shut as tears well against them. I'm panting like a dog as I finger myself silly on the bed, my mind all flustered and confused, shame staining my face with dirty tears that only seem to egg me on further. I'm thoroughly fucking my ego on the bed, but it isn't my fault is it? All I did was close my eyes and I'm punished with the hottest and most horrifying glimpses of what I could become. There's absolutely nothing normal about this unnatural state of being.
Normal and natural.
My hips buckle and I whine out a puppy in heat, only realising how loud I'm being when I hear knuckles rap the door and feel myself paralysed by that awful, sobering sound. I don't reply to that knocking that can only be from Nova herself, I can't. After a few moments of catching my breath against the sheets slick with terror, I hear the door swinging open and feel too exhausted to call out for her to stop. This woman won't give me my privacy and I won't call her out for it, not right now when I yearn for anything to latch onto that isn't Envy's smug corruption making a mess of my thoughts. The garden's dark mistress doesn't even know how much of an effect she has on me, I'm doing all of this to myself and she's none the wiser... I wish even a dumb little thought like that didn't make my ears burn such deep crimson.
Nova steps into the room and looks down at me with stern eyes, flecked with gold and narrowing at the state of me. I'm so ashamed of myself that I can't quite meet her gaze, sulking into my pillow with half of my sweltry body on full display, curled around the sheets and flush with rosy hue. The woman nods her head in thought, closing the door behind her much to my surprise and then sitting herself down on the end of my bed. I feel her weight lower onto the mattress and it's enough of a touch to stimulate me, lifting my head to assess her and feeling so turned on by that calm smile of hers.
"I thought you were having a night terror, something I'm well accustomed to. Perhaps you are but it appears yours differ some... ah, this is good, though. I told you earlier that I only really have one way of giving comfort and if you're open to it perhaps I can be of some use in this instance?" Nova's smile may be sweet, but an ethical woman she is not even as she appears so benevolent to me in my compromised state of lust and loss. I know how much she's been wanting my body to herself, capitalising on this opportunity to get what she wants while earning favour, taking advantage dressed up as moral victory. Still, I want her hands on me so badly, and she's not wrong... I need something to comfort me and drag me back from these dangerous fantasies before I get lost in them. Nova's not a good person, what she's doing isn't strictly right, but just as I remember thinking in her office the last time we were intimate like this...
I simply don't fucking care anymore.
Sheets slip down and drop into a heap on the floor beside my costume. I crawl forwards towards my new world of comfort and escape, climbing needily into Nicole's waiting lap and getting comfortable there. If she means to be selfish I'll be just as bad, wiping my sore red eyes and pressing back into her body. Nova smiles, I can hear it, a low throaty chuckle spilling out into my ear and making me simpler. Arms wrap around my waist and dip down deep to deliver pleasure in ways my own fingers felt lacking. I gasp and mewl against her touch, sinking deeper into her lap and loving it even when I know I shouldn't, when I know this touch is toxic.
"I know just how you like it, you know? Just like Misty..." Nova's seductive words dispel the thoughts of Envy in an instant and tether me to this time, to her, to practiced hands that know just how to play me. Is it my lot to be used, I wonder, thinking back on everything that has happened since my fateful encounter with the hero Hivemind. It's... it's okay, being used can feel good sometimes, perhaps good enough to make you forget all the times it doesn't.
"N-Nova I... I can't stop remembering... ahh... things I shouldn't." I hate that I'm seeking comfort from her not just with my body, but now this. Am I really so weak as to need somebody else to sort out every hardship I encounter for me? It's no wonder, then, that I always find myself put in my place by those with stronger wills. It's my lot because I love it... no, I'm just too spineless to have it any other way. I can be made to love it and sometimes that's enough. Nova's got a good lead on me in years, it shows both in experience and that husky tone that tickles my docile ear.
"Yeah? Like what?" One hand stays bound to my sex while the other slithers over my front, groping at my chest and treating me like I'm a cheap, squeaky toy.
"Mmmgh... l-like uh, hurting people and being okay with it... being her plaything, loving her. It's scary..." Why do I sound so guilty, like I'm confessing a crime? None of this ever even happened, for all intents and purposes it is all simply in my imagination.
"Mmh... you're not her plaything Joy..." Nova reassures me, my former idol having her way with my body as I lean into her touch desperately, eager to feel like a hero again even if I don't think this is going to help with that. At least I'm not fantasising about Envy any more, so that's good. "You're mine." A playful, possessive tone, teeth nibbling my ear lobe and making me groan through gritted teeth. "For tonight, anyway. Aren't you?"
So badly do I want to tell this woman to go fuck herself, to admonish her for being just as smug and opportunistic as our foe. Instead, I sink deeper into subspace, into the comfort of her spacious lap, into fingers that really do know exactly how to turn me on. "Nngh... yours..." My head tilts back and I turn it to bury face into her neck, the louder my muffled gasps become the deeper I bury myself into her. Nova's scent, Nova's warmth, Nova's soft skin I could break so easily... Yearning to have some kind of satisfaction of my own in this uneven exchange, I latch onto the woman's neck and decide I want to mark her. Leave proof that even a plaything like me has some bite, literally in this case, marring Nova's perfect skin in a single defiant act even if the rest of my body is unquestioning in its meek obedience.
Just for tonight I'll be her plaything, but that doesn't mean I won't be a difficult bitch in heat, a feral beast of want. Maybe just one mark isn't enough to get the message across.
Chapter Three: The Leftovers
The revelatory light of a brand new day creeps over my calf and warms the skin so pleasantly you wouldn't know just what a rough night I had. Turns out that comfort comes in many shapes and forms, Nova's is rather intense but I'll concede that it was just the distraction that I needed, her hands working me into an exhaustion I could finally use to get some shut eye. As those tired eyes of mine flutter open, however, I realise that a few more hours could have served me even better. The sheets are a mess by my feet, Nova's arm the only thing draped over my naked form and th--
Wait, Nova's arm? No part of me had been anticipating her to stick around after using me the way she did, but here she is snuggled up to my side, fast asleep with an innocent look on her face I could almost consider cute. A soft mess of blonde mingles with my own strawberry mop, her lips slightly parted and once prime physique having atrophied some in her retirement. I'm reminded of our difference in age and experience once against while admiring her sleeping form, but take great satisfaction at just how many marks I left for the woman to remember me by after we depart for our mission and leave her here to rot. I wonder what became of Nova in that future that never happened and... never will. Try as I might to remember, I truly don't recall ever seeing her again as Envy's knight, so that's good. Had I memories of the sword being turned on Nova herself, the irony of sending a dog to putting down a human not lost on me, I don't think I'd be able to brush fingers through her hair right now quite so easily.
"Mm... Misty?" Nicole's still halfway in the dream, eyes slowly opening with no discernible target for that distant look of hers. I take in her naked body, the first time properly seeing it, and realise an obvious fact that almost passed me by. It's not early at all, I forget that it was still morning when we were going at it and subsequently fell asleep. That light spilling into the room isn't a greeting, but a farewell. It's no longer quite so early in the day, we're probably going to need to eat soon. I should feel hungry but I feel well used to waiting, another memory I'd rather not have infect my life but finding myself powerless against its corruptive kiss. Discipline, it's hard to even want for myself without a firm hand of guidance.
"Not quite." I answer her gently, even if a part of me has come to loathe this woman she seems far too sweet in this vulnerable moment that I'm not sure I'm ready for it to end. "It's Joy, I'm going to see if I can't make us something to eat that isn't fucking eggs, okay sleepy?" My lips press against her forehead and I can't help but smirk at the irony of my mouth giving her so tender a touch when looking back down at her neck and collarbone. Those bruises have really come through, not to mention the places in which my teeth broke the skin. The most untouchable woman in the world until recently and I've made her body my canvas of sweetened spite. Look who's the plaything now, Nova.
The woman props herself up on an elbow and winces at the soreness, I'm barely able to contain my satisfaction at this and she picks up on that all too easily. I'm an open book in a world of professional liars. "You go do that, Joy. Excited for some dinner after we skipped lunch, though... suppose we both had our fill, hm?" Her composure is commendable, the woman much better at carrying herself with an air of confidence as suffocating as thick smog. "Oh and could you fetch my cane?"
Sitting up, casting eyes over to the doorway, I scoff and return my gaze to Nicole. My head dips down and I plant a possessive kiss of my own onto the sorest looking spot on her collarbone and risk a slight smirk. "You'll manage." Legs swing over the side of the bed and I find a nightie to cover myself up with, not quite ready to get in costume just yet, that'll come tomorrow morning when I'm finally ready to pay Envy back for these strange thoughts dragging me down. Emotional baggage I don't deserve. With slow steps I fight the weakness in my legs, Nicole really did bring me to heel with just her fingers and a few well placed words. I reach the door and swing it open, playfully knocking her cane over by the entrance and glancing back at her dumbfounded stare. "Crawl if you have to."
After criticising Mrs. Black on her culinary crimes, I've found myself standing in the kitchen in this open nightie cooking the simplest thing I could find. Still, variety is the spice of life and who doesn't like pasta? Steam rises from the stove and I wipe my brow with a contented sigh, feeling so much better than I had this morning. My head feels as clear as it did before my vision, which evidently isn't indicative of any real sense of will. I know I'm not very headstrong, I'm impressionable and all too easy to push around, but ever since I was little I've wanted to be a hero and I'm proud of myself for making that happen. Even the agency I got my street license from ended up pushing me around, rinsing me for every dime they could make off my back. A part of me wonders how it would have been if I really did make it into the Nova Hero Agency as I was on the path to, sure she would have used me but I imagine that the benefits would have been nothing to sneeze at. Mutual benefit, symbiosis, even if a wholly unequal one. That's what I shared with Nova just now, we used each other to vent and if she thinks I'm going to play wives with her after such a transactional lay then the woman can think again. Maybe if I finally learn to grow a backbone, I won't be so easily swayed by the cold comforts of my captors in a reality like the one in my dream. Perhaps I could resist somebody like Envy even against my own frail instincts. Self preservation is nothing to judge too greatly, but it has no real place in a hero's heart. I'll be better this time around, I'll be good.
But I won't be hope. That name, even the word, is tainted for me now. At some point during my conditioning into her perfect pet knight, Envy stopped using the name Joy entirely and exclusively called me Hope. Not only was the name an ironic, mocking one in hindsight, but it stripped me of my former identity. Joy is precious to me, it's my name. Envy already discarded it for herself so I feel an obligation to keep that fire burning. If I can't embody hope with a straight face, perhaps instead I should simply focus on my namesake. A unified world would be rather joyless, any happiness Envy would give the people would be hollow and conditional. It's not paradise, it's peace through emotional paralysis, it's a static reality in which nothing would have any real meaning. I wonder if that future would give her joy, Envy, or if she simply can't control herself any better than I can.
"You look like you're lost in thought, not a great thing to be when you're cooking, dear." Given my heightened senses I'm a little disheartened to find that Nova is at my back when I hadn't even sensed her approach. I didn't hear her footsteps at all, a woman with such commanding aura sneaking up on someone so wrapped up in it, she's not wrong about me being lost in thought. My mind is a dreadful fucking maze lately, no wonder I seek to be rid of it at my earliest convenience, the moment that going gets tough the temptation to give up entirely touches me deeply. How does one earn themselves willpower, I wonder idly, as I feel Nicole at my back a looming presence. "Water's going to boil over if you don't give it a stir, silly girl." Nova's arms reach around me and she holds the sauce pan's handle, wooden spoon in the other to gently stir the pasta I'm staring down at like a dumbass.
After everything I just told myself, I let Nova get so close I can feel my back against her, catching the scent of her exertion from that long morning of 'comfort' and feeling a blush rising to my face. She's still my hero deep down, somewhere I can't block it out, and she's giving me such personal attention that I'm not entirely sure I can handle. For a while the woman stirs and so too do my thoughts, proving her right once again and questioning my own sense of self-respect. The woman acts as though we're lovers, it makes me want to dunk her hand into this bubbling water before us. I've already left enough damage on her skin for one day, turning around in her arms and leaning against the countertop as she tends to our food. Beside me a picked out a sauce packet to go along with it, I did tell her that I was accustomed to student cooking at the end of the day.
Facing Nova, her arms still trapping me against the counter under the pretence of stirring, my eyes trace over her blemished skin and I can't help but grin at my own handiwork. I didn't know I had it in me and only remember making half of them, it tells a tale of frustration and need. Did the woman intentionally dress in this low cut sweater to put them on display for me? That might be the sweetest thing she's done thus far.
"Hmm... guess if I didn't already have your blood in me before now..." For some reason I'm chewing my lip, staring at the broken skin on the woman's neck and feeling a rush of arousal that reminds me that regardless of the reasons, I'm most certainly batting for the same sex these days. I can't deny how attracted I am to Nova in particular, feeling drunk off the sight of her marked by me and me alone. Before I split from Envy, we're the ones who made her weak like this to begin with. In a way, Nova's my bitch, maybe I could consider that from time to time when she has the gall to claim me her plaything in my moment of vulnerability.
I actually earn a blush from the woman, hating how accomplished it makes me feel when I rightly shouldn't care. "Joy, come to bed with me tonight okay? We've already slept together once so I'd consider the ice broken there, no? It'd be nice to have some company at night for once and, well, I'll be alone again tomorrow now won't I?" I can't tell if she means to appeal to my good nature or my own fragile desire, lust that keeps me under thumb with undeniable comforts. "At least consider it, okay girl?"
"Hm... would you make me your plaything again? You're... an obnoxious woman." So easily could I break out of her hold here, one so subtle you could barely label it as such if I didn't know better.
"Ahaha... uhm, perhaps I would. I just meant sleep though, truthfully I'm not sure I'll be ready for a round two come nightfall after how rough you were with me this morning. That was the last thing I had expected Joy, though I suppose it shouldn't have been. Misty was gentler, well naturally she loved me so she was more careful with her touch, but that woman was just as inclined to mark her territory where she could. Ah... I'm talking about her like I've been widowed, I'm sure you understand."
"Yeah... but pity won't make me fuck you, Nova." She doesn't know how dangerous I can become, or maybe she does and means to control me in the same way that Murmur had, that Envy had. In the past, I've always been to scared to bare my teeth both conversationally and against the scum and villainy of our fallen city. The orchard was hardly an aggressive power and I felt that it suited a pacifist sweetheart like me perfectly, though perhaps in hindsight I was simply full of shit. I was just too shy to tell people what I really thought, to risk being seen as anything but wholesome and pure. Nova doesn't deserve such skittishness, she'd only seek to take advantage. Manipulative women like her and Miss Murmur need someone who can cut through their bullshit, I'd go as far to say they'd enjoy it. Judging by that husky chuckle I earn from the woman who drives me crazy, I'd say I'm right on the money. Gold bullion, in this instance.
"Oh, Joy. I think we both know who'd be doing the fucking, you're also just as needy... and bratty, as she was." I can't imagine Murmur playing the needy brat in a way that at all resembles myself, the thought distracting me from the way she just so casually labelled me one. Then again, my thoughts become a disparate mess entirely when the woman's hand slips down the open front of my nightie and cups my mound like she's claiming ownership. One arm yet stirs pasta that's been ready to drain and serve for minutes now while the other holds me there in possessive grip, my head tilting to the side to exhale a whimpering breath over my shoulder. Forget Nicole's choice of sweater, I can't deny that I dressed this provocatively myself to capture her attention, perhaps I'm just as needy as she says. What's the expression... all bark and no bite?
Click.
"I'm not your pet!" I mutter under my breath, fighting the urge to submit to phantom click. Nicole's hand stops and she removes it, having assumed my response was to her. Given how disrespectful she has been up until now on account of her own pathetic desire, I'm a little taken aback by her not just treating my words as another 'bratty' response meant to egg her on further. Why do I feel the need to explain that I didn't mean for her to stop? To grab her wrist and return those fingers to their place so that she may bully me with them for just a little longer before we eat? Instead, I give her wry smile and turn to cut open the sauce packet, not quite sure how to end this hanging silence that makes me wish someone hanged me alongside it.
We eat together and engage in casual chatter, but I can't help but feel that I've disappointed, or at least embarrassed the woman who has now begun to annoy me in the complete opposite way to how she had before. Nova has suddenly become too respectful, courteous, her polite manners making me want to speck her face with pasta in the same way Laura had back before everything in my life exploded. It feels like years ago that I sat and ate lunch with her between lectures, if I'd told that girl who I'd be sharing my meals with half a year later there's no doubt she'd call me a liar.
"Well, I'm off to bed." I rise in a huff, having half eaten my meal and found my appetite lacking. This body has the luxury of running much longer without sustenance than a regular person's would, something that Envy took full advantage of in her brainwashing that never was. Deprivation is an effective tactic, rest, food and pleasure all held off to make me weaker, easier to manipulate. I taste the fruits of Envy's labour even now, trying not to think about the implications as I settle in for an early night even if I know it'll be a while before that midnight mistress takes me on account of napping most of the actual day away. Again, I simply wanted to be alone, I think. Last time I was left to my own devices I didn't handle it very well, I feel the need to prove to myself that it was just a one time incident and that I can be trusted to sit still without immediately becoming lost in future fantasies.
Back in my room, back to the door, back to that mireful maelstrom of memory that has its hold on me. Has this been a productive day for me? Despite all this inner turmoil and my frustration with Nicole, I can't say I haven't made some progress in finding a version of myself that isn't such a pushover. That woman likely thinks I'm playing hard to get but I'll make it known that I'm not, deciding to turn the lock on the guestroom door this time even if I must assume she has a master key.
That sight of her skin, battered by bitter affection, plays on my mind like a skipping record. Why can't I remember anything regarding what became of Nova after my fall to Envy in that vision of potential future? Why do I even care so much? I should have changed it all by now, even just delaying my departure by another day. Not to mention, I've managed to scrounge up just a little more willpower after heeding this threat and going toe to toe with my former hero, or so I'd love to believe. It would be so comforting to truly think that I'm a strong person than the one who left this place under the silly title of Lady Hope, but even if I'm impressionable I'm not that clueless. My weakness is a terminal disease, like Murmur's fatal amnesia, the only way I can escape it is by submitting to someone stronger. Envy would have me bend the knee and act the puppy, Nova would have me become her soldier that she can toy with all she likes.
A pet knight or a toy soldier, two potential futures of the hapless heroine Joy Williams, not a title to hide behind that hasn't been bastardized by the beckoning stare of time.
Standing before the cracked mirror with a vulnerable glower at my own immodest form, I shrug the nightie off onto the floor beside the scrunched up costume I really should be hanging up for tomorrow's outing. Eyes flick back up to see those dark feathered wings again, encasing me in a cocoon suggesting a metamorphosis I plainly reject.
"That was a cute look on you, pet, wearing your 'knightie' for your new queen. As long as you're still smart enough to find someone to serve, I suppose I won't be too much of a sore loser for being snubbed this go around. After all, I'm still in your ear~"
I've come to realise that responding to a hallucination is a surefire way to encourage your own mental decline and so I turn away from the mirror with little fanfare, nails digging into my hip to keep me tethered to this time and place. Envy can't reach me here, she doesn't even know where I am or that I'm going to be entering her garden come tomorrow morning. These thoughts of mine are a trick, what sort of superpower plays such cruel mental games? Murmur was lucky her visions were vague, I've come to find that knowing the future is... tiring. Still, without the heads up, I suppose these terrible things I've witnessed precognitively would have become my reality.
I drop my weight onto the bed a wet bag of rice, wondering what tomorrow will bring. Nova has been awfully coy about who she has to form this team I'll be delving back into the garden with, though I can only assume they're what's left of the Nova Hero Agency after most of it was consumed in Envy's rapid unification. Just what did I miss in those months of sleep? The city must have been in chaos and then... quiet, it's rather eerie from the outside looking in. Having been in the centre of that calm, I know it heralds yet another storm as quiet often does. How long do we have before she mobilises? They were waiting for me before, Envy's final vision of the future and I've already changed it. She must be so confused... why does it pang my chest to have let her down like this?
Time passes and I manage to stave off the talon grip of memory that pulled me deep into its clutches last I was alone, thinking on it from behind a window of safety this time instead of falling back down the rabbit hole and living through it. It's a vicarious relationship I share with the knight, it does me well to remember she isn't me, the me in the here and now who wonders how...
How the hell are we going to stop Envy's spread?
It's a thought that I decide to shelf for the time being, turning over in bed and staring at the wall's crooked smile. "You're not getting to sleep that easily, Joy." The wall tells me through my own errant whispering, a hand running through my hair as I wish so badly I could cool off any other way. Before I met with Hivemind in that distant alley and my entire life spiralled into the plot of a bad porno flick, I really was a very innocent girl. Not that I think it's particularly shameful to do so in the first place, I barely ever masturbated, finding the act far too embarrassing to perform under any circumstances while I lived in a dorm. Cut to that fateful night in the bathroom, sitting in the shower touching myself to a woman's voice, to Hivemind's saccharine words that made my ear hot and sickly against the phone.
A hand wanders down between my legs and I begin to touch myself in languid motion, deciding it best not to make the same mistake I had last time but reasoning that this relief is needed. If I can't masturbate to my memories of Envy and all that falls under her garden's reach, I only really have one fresh memory to fuel my fire. Nova. Nicole Black, despicable and frail, domineering and pathetic. She's the only person in my life right now, for better or worse, and our intimacy has become wrong on just as many levels as it feels so right. My eyes gently close and I become bolder in my strokes, taming these beady folds just as badly as I want Nova to try and tame me, even if these fingers somehow don't know the way I like it as confidently as she does. The more aroused I become, the more my reason is compromised by a conflagration of desire. So badly do I yearn for Nova's hand in place of mine, her lips against my neck telling me what a good girl I'm becoming so I can bark back in playful protest. A long, breathy sigh escapes my lips and my cheek burns hole into the pillow covering. "Hhn... Nova...."
I keep an ear out for the door, becoming more desperate and frustrated as time passes. Subconsciously my play grows in volume, a hope to repeat the events of this morning that had her swooping in like a vulture. When nothing happens, I almost kick my legs in tantrum, instead swinging them over the edge of the bed and finding my slippers. Wearing nothing but the fluffy footwear that carries me over to the door in a trance of walk, I open the door and shiver at the draft against my bare skin. Small goosebumps form over my arms and chest and I consider if I really mean to do this, another role cast in this pantomime of the self. Did Nova buy into the hammed up performance? She's always had a soft spot for a bit of theatre, not only that but Misty had her fooled before I got the chance to walk in that woman's footsteps. I'm not Misty, Joy is no spouse to Nicole, but while the woman lays alone in bed I suppose it's mutually beneficial for me to fill the role even if I am the squarest peg you could find. Apparently not, as far as Nicole has come to suggest, but to be compared to a woman like Miss Murmur is just the right level of ironic humour for a pantomime like this.
"She's behind you, pet."
Oh no she isn't. The only person I've got on my mind right now is on the other side of this door, dead ahead. Let it be on my head. The handle turns, too late to go back now, even if I read her signals all wrong I'm afraid I've committed to this act of intrusion mirroring her own. It's only paying back what I'm owed, right? I don't think Nova has the right to complain when she asked me to share her bed in the first place. A woman like her could be swayed by pettiness and pride above all else, however, and may have let her disappointment from earlier fester into resentment.
Still, she didn't lock her door.
Taking care to close the door behind me quietly, I peer over at the bed upon which pale moonlight spills in from tall window. I'm accustomed to living with blinds, but Nova's old house only has curtains which gently flap on account of the window being left ajar. With sheets hanging from the bed as though kicked off in frustration, I take in the sight of Nicole's heaped form, skin bathed in the moon's glow that makes her look ethereal.
Suddenly questioning myself but figuring it too late to turn back now, I press on with carefully placed steps and gently lower myself down onto the side of Nova's bed. Head turned over my shoulder to look back at her, I can't help the smile creeping onto my lips. Hair draped over the woman's pillow and arms wrapped around herself in an almost defensive looking manner. And then there are those gifts I gave her, looking so beautiful in this dim and natural light. With a sense of calm I drop onto my side and shuffle back, making a mess of my lip out of bundled nerves and excitement. Our last night together, not that me and Nova are anything worth labelling nor lamenting the end of. I can't help but wonder... if I always had a thing for older women.
"Mmh?" Nicole stirs when I sink back into her comforting slump, reaching back to find her wrist and curling fingers around it in possessive vice grip, superpowered hold that pulls her arm over me and doesn't stop there. "Joy?" Asks the lady of the house, having dropped into sleep much more easily than I and now finding herself in rude awakening. A part of me resents her for having fallen to slumber so easily, leaving me to stew in these confusing thoughts I could never claim to control very effectively. The only thing I have control of right now is Nova's hand, pulling it between my legs and bringing them up to trap her between my thighs like the brat she claims me to be. I crave her touch like an addict waiting for their next hit, feeling lips suddenly grace the back of my head and that low, throaty chuckle that always ruptures my composure. Serrated edge of seduction saws into my confident facade and I grow meeker against the woman's inviting warmth the moment her fingers begin to reciprocate and give me exactly what I want, exactly how I like it.
"You know, you're a very troublesome girl.... but I knew you'd be in my bed before long. At least, I had hoped." Nova's tongue coats the back of my neck and I shudder in delight, breathless against those expert fingers that have me twitching in another bout of ecstasy. I've become a very lewd woman, I realise, but I'll accept anything to stave off that call of the void. I've become a mewling, wanton whore of hero, descending into a dark cocoon of comfort wrought by measured touch, a pinch that has me panting into pillow and wishing tomorrow never came.
"N-Nova..." A coo of name escapes my lips before I can stop it, a breathless laugh at my own lack of self-control following shortly after.
"Yes, flower?" Her nails brush over slick skin but unlike Miss Murmur they don't dare to scratch. Even so, I know her touch is just a different vial of poison, infecting me with want.
"What do you really want, Joy?" Envy's test plays through my mind, a flash of her knight taking the knee and nuzzling her owner's hand with such belonging I could choke.
"Hahh... uhm... nothing." Vision blurs, my psyche drifting off into something resembling sleep, a close enough approximation to keep me satisfied in any case.
"Good girl." "Good girl."
Oh, joy.
Chapter Four: Heaven and Hell
Daybreak calls in earnest this time, its firm commanding hand stroking up my arm over bicep and gripping my shoulder.
"Awaken, knight." It spits into my ear with a voice much like my own but more powerful than mine could ever hope to be. Who am I to deny my orders? Eyes flicker open and my mind switches channels, prying out of stranger's needy hold on autopilot and sleepwalking out of the room. If I've no more orders to carry out as knight, it's only natural to return to the tower and kneel at my Empress' feet, becoming docile pet until she gives me another mission to make her happy with.
Naked and entranced, eyes half open in my sluggish wandering, I descend the steps of the main hall and approach the front door. Where am I? There are no vines, no trace of Envy's presence here. I can't even catch whiff of her scent, it's horrible. This suffocating fresh air I can only tolerate when I've orders to carry out, right now it makes me want to rip these lungs right from my chest. I love Envy... I... did our enemies capture me? I'll go outside, maybe her spores will reach me there and rejuvenate me with their benevolent pollination. The world at large has no idea what's coming their way, they seriously think they have Envy contained, it's... sickeningly adorable, like a pet who forgets its place.
With arms that can tear through frontlines a thousand men weak, I push open the doors to this mysterious manor and step out into the morning air, wind kissing my cheeks and urging caution. My trained senses catch that something is off before the first warning shot is made. I hold my hand out to inspect the red dot crawling over it and fight the urge to crack a grin, Miss Murmur would give me a slap on the wrist for such an indulgent display of unnecessary emotion in this form and I yearn for her clicks almost as much as I need Envy's affections to give me purpose. The pet can smile and frown as it pleases so long as empress is kept entertained, but a knight should be unreadable.
The laser sights dance across my naked body in warning before settling on my head now that I've received the message. Ants cosplaying soldiers, I'll only pity those who survive.
"Joy!"
A woman approaches the threshold of the house from inside, wide eyes urging me to desist. Her shout was haggard and panicked. I recognise her, I... "Nova?"
"Come back inside for heaven's sake or they'll shoot, what the hell are you thinking?" She speaks down to me in a way that only Envy and her lieutenants can, but for some reason I feel swayed by that straining voice that speaks of heaven and hell in a single breath. I wonder which of the two we're all headed for in this present state of affairs.
"Paradiso." Envy's a snake in my ear, reminding me of my place so graciously when a dumb, useless bitch like me always falters. Even faulty goods have their use when forced into submission. "Kill her, Hope. She isn't your friend. Just another enemy who threatens heaven on earth."
My body turns back towards the open doors of Nova's mansion and I raise my arm slowly, her piercing stare not faltering even in the face of death. The soldiers finally take their shot and I'm surprised to find darts sink deep into my neck, they were just tranquilisers? Embarrassing. Body fighting off the chemicals flooding my bloodstream, I take heavy steps into the house and approach Nova, reaching out to squeeze her throat until the woman stops giving me that look that almost makes me feel guilty.
Before I can carry out Envy's will, however, I'm halted by a piercing sound so discordant and overpowering it has me dropping onto my knees at Nova's feet, eyes bulging and saliva hanging down from my lolling tongue. Awful noise pushes into my head and brings me to heel even when the woman in front of me seems completely unaffected. Her hand runs through my hair and I'm powerless to stop her, cupping my ears to no avail. It's so nauseating I can't breathe, blinking several times until I slowly remember where I am... who I am.
I'm not Hope, I'm Joy. How many fucking times am I going to need to remind myself this obvious truth?
"Looks like we got here just in the nick of time, eh? You alright, Nic?" Several sets of footsteps spill into the house and the unpleasant noise finally subsides, leaving a ringing in my ears. Regaining my bearings and waking up into an absolute shitshow I can only half piece together, I turn to see a face I'd never have expected coming so close to in this place and time. Mint, one of Nova's big four, addressing Nova with some concern while playfully dropping her hand onto my bare shoulder. Only now am I reminded of my nudity, the crowded hall given full view of my body with not a scrap of modesty to my name. Oh god, are these Nova's heroes? Such a lovely first impression!
Nova rubs her neck, smirking as she gestures to the marks she already wears without a shred of shame, her humility is commendable and surprising for a woman so concerned with image in her past. "Nothing I can't handle. Don't let the cane fool you, Sage, I'm not a fragile woman."
Sage? Even in this delirious state of kneel, I'm sharp enough to piece things together from that. Given that the woman looks near identical to Mint I can assume her a twin sister. How must she feel having to oppose her twin in Envy's garden? I suppose in a sense, I can relate.
Mind snapping back into place, I find myself awash with confusion and concern. In a state of sleepwalk I appear to have experienced a sort of mental relapse into becoming Envy's knight, though I'm not entirely sure if the term applies in this case given this is technically my first offense. The strange event did highlight a couple of interesting factors of my stay here that Nicole did not elect to mention, namely the men posted outside of the house armed and ready. Sage casually plucks the darts from my neck and I think on the other factor... they have a method of subduing me and me alone. Mint's swarm used a similar method that dropped me right out of the sky, but this was even more overpowering. The similarities don't end there either, I can feel microchips beneath the surface of my skin and figure that was the true purpose behind those ineffective tranquiliser darts. Once the chips took hold, though only temporarily given my body's defences, their strange frequency became too powerful for me to fight while allowing Nova to stand up straight in perfect comfort. Such measures to ensure I behave, these people are almost identical to Envy's forces.
Given the similarity of the tech and methods used, I can only assume this Sage woman is directly responsible for... helping me return to my senses. That's right, I should be pleased about this regardless of the deceit, not having control over my own actions is a frightening thing. Doubly so when I consider the frigid comfort it brings, that temptation to let go. Nova helps me onto my feet and I lean against her with some embarrassment at my reliance on her to walk, quietly whispering that I'd like to get dressed before properly meeting the team. I'm too humiliated to turn and get a proper look at them, but I hear the wolf whistle on our way up the stairs and find my resolve to not react assuredly put to the test. My senses tell me that there are only five of them, which is not very many but also five more than Nova led me to believe she had on hand. My nose tells me that one... no, two of those five, carry Envy's scent. Just what the hell am I getting myself into here?
"Mint has a twin?" I probe Nova as we enter the guestroom and she pulls open the wardrobe to retrieve a spare outfit not covered in creases. Oh yes, I'd absolutely hate to make a bad impression on the people who just witnessed me butt naked trying to murder their boss, the most famous hero on the planet even if she is out of commission.
"Sage? Yes, though it's a much less interesting story than the one you and Envy will be telling your grandkids I'm sure." Nova helps me dress into the costume and I let her coddle me if only to savour the last few chances I'll have to enjoy her touch before we depart. "Let's put a pin in that for a moment, Joy, I think we need to discuss what just happened this morning." Soft fingertips trace over the tiny holes on the back of my neck and I allow my eyes to fall closed, able to stave off visions of Envy's dark throne while Mrs. Black's surprisingly delicate touch keeps me tethered.
"A... momentary relapse, maybe you should have held on tighter in bed." I let out a sardonic chuckle before remembering the gravity of the situation. Overwhelming gravity as always, if they don't feel they can keep a handle on me I can only guess at the contingencies. "Don't worry, I've got a hold on it. I just forgot myself in the moment, half awake as I was... I don't plan on sleeping in Envy's garden so I should be okay." I turn to face Nicole, grabbing her wrists and forcing her to cradle my face, warming my cold cheeks with her hands. "Besides, if Sage is coming along she's going to be keeping an eye on me right? I get it, this morning certainly spells the need for that sort of back up plan... just don't fucking lie to me about it. I need to trust someone, Nova, or you'll have yet another Envy on your hands. Don't forget she came into being after being used by both sides." I'm surprised at the boldness of my words, perhaps I really have found a spine to speak of.
Nova's eyes narrow and she assesses my face sternly for a few seconds of deep thought. Eventually she softens, rubbing my cheeks as one would tease a kitten. "Ah, how can I say no when you're being so good for me. It's not your fault, Joy, what happened. I can see you understand that already but I felt the need to let you know how I see it, too. You're right about Envy and we take no pleasure in putting you through something even remotely similar to that, but I'm sure you can understand our desperation? After the transfusion I fought tooth and nail for you to keep your freedom so that you might help us with this prickly situation, as part of that agreement arrangements were made. Power such as yours, in unstable hands, is a recipe for disaster and Envy is the result. Perhaps I was wrong to keep this from you but can you blame me for being unsure exactly how you'd take it given your counterpart?" Nova gives a wry smile and kisses my forehead. "We can worry about right and wrong after the city is saved, Joy, for now the people need your help. Isn't that more important than anything else? It's something heroes like us need to accept."
Heroes like us?
"I thought you weren't going to lie to me anymore, Nova? Don't tell me you don't take pleasure in using me, when you've already taken, and given, plenty of it." My arms wrap around her neck and I pull the woman into a bitter kiss, giving her one more thing to remember me by, a busted lip signed with loveless catharsis. Nova does not appear to be displeased with my forwardness, holding my waist and enjoying the fruit of her labour. I'm still a bad apple, rotten to the core, because I'm sticking my tongue down the throat of the woman I loathe.
After cleaning up as best we can, the two of us exit the guest room one last time and prepare to make proper introductions with the patient heroes who answered Nova's summons. "Are they all that's left of the Nova Hero Agency?" I ask the woman who still licks her broken lip, side-eyeing me like the brat I am as I hold onto her hand and dig nails into her palm. This playful touch will have to end before we reach the top of the stairs, so I decide to make the most of it.
"Well, I suppose two of them are." My host responds sheepishly, her heartrate picking up as we draw nearer.
"Only two? Then... what about the other three?" My head attacks her shoulder and I realise I've become accustomed to intimacy with this woman, it really was a refreshing change of pace to play house with her even if hypothetical footage of the time could have us psychoanalysed to hell and back, perhaps beyond.
"Patience, flower. You'll find out soon enough, I'd rather explain it in their presence. It's going to be ah... somewhat strenuous. Remember that you did just promise to behave and we're past the sugar-coating of your freedoms here, so please try and remain civil."
"Ugh... that does not inspire much confidence, but I'll do my best. Guess I made just about the worst first impression I possible could have so I'm already on the backfoot. I'll be good, only 'cause you asked so sweetly hehe. Uhm... is that something you used to call Misty... flower?" It makes my heart leap a little traitorously whenever the word escapes her lips, running away with my thoughts.
Nova pauses for a moment, lips curling indecently as we're finally forced to stop holding hands. Gosh, we're such touch starved beasts. "Oh... not at all. That one's all yours."
The words make my chest feel like it's going to explode.
Finale: Heroes, Villains and Flowers
With Nova leading the way, this woman I've come to glance at in newfound light yet again, we descend into the manor's main hall to greet her patient party of leftovers and outcasts. The moment I begin to recognise several of these people is a wake up call that reminds me just how dire the situation in the city is. Two in particular give me pause and I'm left unsure how to even feel about their presence here, glancing down at the ground as I attempt to calm my fraying nerves. I'll allow myself to be distracted with the easier introductions first, Nova lifting my head with that moreish touch I assumed she wished to keep to herself in the company of others, two firm fingers under my chin that guide me up to make eye contact with a relaxed looking Sage. I'm admittedly taken aback at first by the woman's nonchalance even after subduing me last minute less than an hour ago. It's a level of confidence I find comforting, at the very least, to know somebody is around with enough self-assurance to handle my darker side. Better yet, someone who doesn't appear to hate me for it. Like Nova said, I'm not to be blamed for the relapse, but I had been prepared for the other members of the team to feel unsafe in my presence and paranoid about the outcome of the mission. Perhaps this is projection of my own fears I wouldn't dare voice with Nova and the city relying upon my aid, but then... we still have four other members to greet.
"So this is the little troublemaker who took your power, eh Nic?" Sage laughs drily, leaning back against a cabinet full of trophies Nova earnt in her youth from various different sports and activities. A hand reaches out to ruffle my hair and I blow out a hot puff of air in frustration, glowering at her though not all too seriously. Mostly I'm still nervous about coming face to face with the others, so I'm happy to drag out my introduction here. "Guess the gal who's telling my sis what's what now has the same face as you, huh? I can't imagine such a cute villainess, I guess you really never can call it haha."
"S-seriously..." My grumble is mostly performative, though I'll concede this woman embarrasses me with her behaviour in a very similar fashion to my aunt at family gatherings after a single glass of sherry. Not that I've had a family gathering in a very long time, she's about the only person I'd still want to see and... well, I suppose she'd deep in Envy's garden somewhere. I'd rather not think about any members of family gone dryad, there's a chance they evacuated of course, though no contact has been made. That doesn't mean there's been no attempts, I remind myself, I'm not exactly the free woman in this house that Nova made me out to be. Right now, I'm cut off from the world, family and friends aren't a luxury I'm permitted to have until this whole mess is over.
"Nova called ahead about your whole identity crisis thing, we can hardly call you out on it when a member of own little ragtag force is much the same, I'm used to reining her in when she forgets herself so you can count on me to do the same with you. I ah... hope you don't start hating me for it, know it ain't the most pleasant thing to be treated like some wild animal." Sage seems much more well meaning, honest hearted, than her techie twin sister. It's refreshing to have somebody so earnest in this warden role.
"You're not a wild animal, Hope, you're a very well trained and obedient one."
"So uh, the five of you all know each other already?" I got that impression from what she just told me, her mention of their 'ragtag force' as she put it.
Sage looks over her shoulder at the other four and I try not to follow her gaze, still not sure what to make of a certain pair I spy with my little eye. Even if my guard is raised, Sage's trust in them seems to put me at ease some, she seems like someone I can immediately put my faith in. It's hard to reconcile with the fact that her own twin is Discoman's creator, but even Mint herself was no worse than the woman at my back. Nova's as rotten as the man shooting me smug look from across the room, I'm just sporting a heavy bias in favour of the woman who calls me 'flower' instead of 'bitch'.
"Oh, yeah. Last superhero team up this side of the country, not that we're much super. Only a few of us can call ourselves heroes, but Nic's been commanding us like she would a real hero cell. Guess her little pet project was kept out of the loop on our business as much as we were left in the dark on what exactly your deal is. Though we got a short brief, some reacted better than others ahaha. That woman's a real piece of work but... between you and me? Cut Nic some slack, she's got the big dogs of government breathing down her neck. If it weren't for her we'd all be in cells. I mean all of us, anybody with a whiff of power bordering on super. You catch my drift?" The woman tidies up her light green bangs and peers over my shoulder at Nicole Black, a women pretending very poorly not to eavesdrop on our hushed exchange.
Trying my best to swallow that, I take one last glance at Mint's surprisingly friendly sister before deciding it best to move on if we're to leave the house with light still shining fortune upon our heads. Just like Mint, Sage has pale green hair straighter than a sapphic slut like me could ever hope to be, wearing long leather coat with matching boots and some manner of tactical vest underneath that makes me think of Firefly. I realise I've assumed her the leader of this group with very little to give me that impression save for that radiance that could light up a room, warm russet brown skin I'd feel much more incentivised to leave unblemished. Hers is a touch I think would cure rather than poison, Nova deserved teeth while Sage could be loved with lips alone. Since when do I imagine myself with every woman I make introductions with?
"P-Pleasure meeting you, Sage, I'm looking forward to... working with you?" I'm in way over my head, not sure exactly how to talk to these people who appear much more put-together than I currently feel. In the past, my team ups with other heroes have been in random gatherings on the streets... and I'd really rather not think back on my last one. Those rookie heroes did not deserve to be wrapped up in my mess of feeling, but that seems to be missing the forest for the trees at this late stage, an entire city overgrown.
"Likewise, Joy. No hero name?" Her smile is clean, refreshing, a far cry from that busted lip Nova does her best to hide.
"I... no. I'm just Joy, suits me fine if it flies with the rest of you." I'm still not ready to unpack this one, best just hope she lets me off easy.
"Liar, liar, a garden on fire. Where's your Hope gone, lady?"
"Oh gotcha, no problem. I don't have one either, never even got a license. Haven't really seen eye to eye with my sister in a long while, but hey, I'm technically older and it's a big sister's duty to pull the other right out of the shit I reckon. Even if she is just getting a taste of her own medicine." With a complicated look she hides well behind a friendly grin, Sage playfully nudges me along to the next member of the team and I secretly hope we can get the rest of these introductions over with a little more quickly, don't we have a city to save?
My eyes fall upon a set of amber jewels dulled by sleepless nights. At first I assume my familiarity with the tired look is on account of its similarity to Miss Murmur's own dark circles, but then I recognise much more and find my lips curling upwards naturally. "Oh my god, Cowl? I've never seen you without a mask!" My enthusiasm isn't likely to move the old acquaintance of mine very much, Black Cowl has always been stoic to a fault, it used to bother me but I'm just thankful to see someone I know I can rely on through thick and thin. My eyes peer down curiously and I realise the hero's shadow is indeed missing, wondering where they might have stowed it.
"It's been a while, Orchard. I'd say your appearance has changed a lot more than mine, I simply removed the hood and mask." I'm shocked and delighted to see the impenetrable soldier of shadow crack a thin smile at our reunion, their dark amber eyes taking in my new costume. It's funny, I always hated that scrappy apple fit but now I've come to miss it dearly. You always seem to want what you don't have, perhaps somebody needs to teach Envy this. Black Cowl is right though, they still don the same black costume giving the appearance of dark bandages wrapped around their body with tattered cape a mess of shadow at their back to replace what's missing. For once I've view of their face, a gaunt and pale visage that almost appears sickly, with long black hair swept back into low ponytail.
"Ahahaha, please call me Joy. New costume sure, but I'm the same as I ever was."
"Even you don't buy that one, pet. You're lusting after women like they're on offer at your favourite high street retailer. Fucking away your shame and handing the keys to your soul over to anyone generous enough to poke holes in your wet-paper willpower."
It could have been them, this hero in front of me. I could have hurt them the way I have others. "Cowl I... I'm sorry, about everything. About Envy." My hands begin to fidget, restless fingers wrestling for dominance against my nerves.
"We all have shadows we can't escape from, Joy. You're taking action and for that, I'll follow and assist." The irony of somebody telling me that with no shadow cast behind them aside, that may just have been the coolest response anybody could have possibly given in the face of my vulnerability. Stoicism has its charm, I suppose.
"I'm really happy you're here, Cowl. You... don't strike me as a hugger." I raise my fist and give an awkward smile, not quite able to accept the unspoken forgiveness.
The coolest hero I know raises their fist and taps knuckles against mine. "You'd be correct."
"One last thing, uh, you're seriously working with him? A-actually wait, I just apologised for my own part in this mess, I've no right to judge." Really putting foot in mouth here, Joy, starting to wish I hadn't said anything and just moved on to the next.
Cowl nods as though they had been expecting this to come up, glancing to their side at that detestable smugness, ripe for the punching. "A lot has happened since that night out on the streets, I don't need to tell you that. For what it's worth, though, he never said sorry. I'd never go so far as to consider him reformed, but it's in this criminal's interest to liberate the city in which a far more comfortable prison awaits. Not only that, I believe he's incentivised to free Murmur and ensure she pays up to the penny for that last job when the time calls."
"Right... well, suppose I'll rip the band-aid off now and go say hi. Maybe he'll want my fucking autograph." I give my fellow small-timer a sardonic grin and they seem surprised at my crassness, not surprising with how goody Orchard had always presented herself.
As I turn, I find myself quite reluctantly face to face with a man I had not expected to cross paths with more than once in my life, yet here we are making it a hat trick. "Curtis Cruise, or would you prefer I call you Crazy Cutter? What... what the hell is an asshole like you doing here? I mean, self preservation obviously but still... how'd you manage to weasel your way into a group like this? With the two who put you back in bars last I checked, no less."
The career criminal, who I wouldn't quite elevate to villain even if he does possess a fairly impressive power, runs fingers through his slicked back hair and gives me a shit-eating grin I could wipe in less than a second with my stare of submission. "I wouldn't be too antagonistic, Orchard, when I'm the only one keeping this beastie at bay. Can't tell if she loves you or hates you, but you certainly set her off. A bit of gratitude for ol' Curtis could come in handy down the line, y'know? I'll be a very rich man once the dust has settled... maybe you'd shape up."
"And you'd be a shape nobody could identify." I speak coldly, vision blurring as that greyscale world of malformed hope begins to pull me back in. The knight would tear this pitiful man to shreds, I realise, but Joy's a much kinder brand of bitterness. "But thank you! Your efforts are ever so appreciated, Mr. Cruise. For the record, I think if you really attempted to hold her back she'd break you in half. Just a heads up, thought I'd... pay it forward."
My satisfaction in the verbal riposte rings hollow as my eyes trace the beast being referred to, a hulking butch of a woman with her sights set upon me rather intensely. I'm just as drawn in, wondering what the story could possibly be here, to have her on our side.
"Don't worry, Joy, she's been cleared of any suspicion of being Envy's spy, though her relapses are not too dissimilar to your own. Liberating this woman is the greatest success we've had entering the garden so far, Envy was foolish enough to leave her on the frontline by herself and we acted quickly, it's been almost two months since then and she's... stable." Nova's hand on my shoulder is enough to run chill down my spine, unable to discern if I loath the woman or...
"Hey." Speaks the subject of our conversation, looking rather understandably disgruntled that she's being spoken about as though she isn't right there. "What did you say your name was? Joy?" I hear the cracking of knuckles and gulp, Nova's fingers on my shoulder doing nothing to fight off the serious worry that I may be trading blows sooner than anticipated.
"Uhm... yes. And ah... what name are you going by nowadays?" It's impossible not to focus on the fact that she remains a she , unfortunately a very attractive one at that. What we did was terribly wrong, of course, but aesthetically I'd consider her a masterwork.
"Brood. Been doing enough of it since being freed from Envy's unification crap... Uh, alternatively, I've been going by Brie for the last month or so... testing it out. My old name is pretty useless after what you did to me." The woman I once dubbed 'Broodmare', the former male hero 'Mare', gives me smouldering stare deserving of her chosen moniker. Finally allowing my eyes to settle upon her and hold my own stare without diverting, I take in quite the sight.
The brooding butch's hair is the colour of dried blood, styled in a wolf cut that matches her feral tendencies. Light freckles speck her face, only slightly made up but done enough to tell me she's embracing womanhood better than I'd expected... whatever the hell 'womanhood' is, Joy. Laura doesn't wear any and what a woman she is, after all, her striking hand still stinging my cheek and dewy lust yet coating my tongue. Mare had been a rather clean, arguably plain individual, so I'm curious at the new piercings worn by this Brie character. Several loops and studs across her ear, not to mention septum, the metal matching those rings that cover almost every finger. Even her cropped, mahogany coloured leather jacket is studded with more shiny metal to dazzle me with, plain black sports bra the only other clothing worn on her top half. Abdominals I could test Rose's healing factor against have me starting to salivate, eyes carrying themselves downwards with some reluctance to faded denim jeans that appear authentically torn instead of being bought that way. And finally, of course, I'm greeted with the sight of lace-up combat boots that I imagine pressing down on my chest as I lay breathless and broken. Wait, what?
"Oh look, everyone, she's being a slut again!"
"Like what you see?" Brood gives a snarl of a grin, pushing past Curtis Cruise without any challenge from the man supposedly 'holding her back.' I can't even contest that fictional voice in my head in this instance of incessant taunting, because I am being a slut. My mind won't stop wandering back to how this powerhouse had her way with me once before, in the garden, and how much hotter she has managed to made herself since. I'm not sure if there's a way to return her body to the way it was, but she appears to have taken to her new form frighteningly well and even picked out a name.
"Ah... y-yeah. I mean, uh, you've got a nice.... body." There's a lump in my throat and a warning signal spinning in my head that tells of danger, Brood stepping closer until those well toned abs push against my costume and have me stepping back in tandem with her advance.
"The better to crush you with, my dear." She's a wolf, hungry and passionate, eyes depicting a conflagration of lust and spite in her heart as she remembers everything we did to her. Rather theatrically, the only one of Envy's lieutenants to date to have been liberated from unification runs tongue across teeth and reaches out to hold my head by its chin. My chin, squeezed between the digits of a predator, a hunter who would surely give Firefly a run for her damn money. "I'm gonna keep a close eye on you, Joy, so you better be good. That face of yours is really making a mess of my emotions, but you seem pretty harmless compared to the actual you." The... actual me?
"Did you forget again, silly pet? You're just my fake. Even as a fictive counterpart to Envy myself, I'd say that of the two of us you're the greater fake. You pretend to be that girl who died at the altar of crows, born again in black baptismal font of temptation. We take what we want now, Joy, while you still feel the need to ask 'how high?' Never forget we allow you to exist. You amuse us and... we amaze you. Trust is a two way street, sure, but admiration, respect... that's a cliff face. You can trust Empress Envy to catch you in your fall~"
As I fight to refocus my vision and return to the room before I'm carried off by traitorous thought yet again, I catch the knowing gaze of a girl who has gone through something similar, Brood's grip easing off even if she still holds my face. That predatory look softens into one of understanding, for a moment I think she's going to shower me in pity but instead I find her petting my hair. My teeth threaten to bust yet another lip as Brie's fingers flatten under my chin and push my jaw up, the daring digits of her other hand playfully fluffing up my reddish blonde hair. Instinctively, I straighten my back and melt into the touch, momentarily forgetting that an entire room of people is watching me with curiosity and concern. Phantom collar clasps around my neck and I resist the urge to loll out tongue and pant eagerly, wanting to be so good for the woman who treats me like the dog I am.
"So... she really did experience it, huh? Brood's looking over my shoulder to address Nova, her voice dripping with satisfaction at having reduced me to pleading puppy without so much as a word. "Envy's plan, we all knew our roles in it in the eventuality that the runt showed her face in our... in her garden again. Maybe this is hypocritical, but can we really trust someone this susceptible to entering a submissive headspace to have our backs against Envy? This one's harmless, sure, but the other personality could be a dagger at our backs and we all know it." I hate how she's talking to Nova and ignoring me, whining at the lack of attention with a sad pout that I'm so very desperate for her to look at. I'm not a puppy, what is she talking about? I'm just Joy, and I need more of these lovely headpats because I've been so very well behaved!
"Well, I can't imagine that teasing her like that is going to help very much. I'd suggest you keep your hands to yourself, or at least, save them for the enemy." Nicole clicks her tongue and like the snapping of fingers, the sound returns me to the room. Nova's click is warmer than Miss Murmur's, it feels like she's being protective of a thing like me. "Don't forget we can make you stop if we need to." Her chilling words have Brood scowling over my shoulder, fingers twisting possessively in my hair as though to challenge her. Only now do my eyes trace the bracelets around the beast's wrists which instantly remind me of those I had briefly been made to wear in Envy's court.
"It's not my fault if she makes herself so easy." Brie barks back, tilting my head up by the chin and returning her eyes to mine, finally. "If it acts like prey, then I'll treat it as such. What was it that Rose always says?" As Brood pets my hair, I try my best to return to the room, needing Nicole's voice to tether me lest I fall even deeper to this intoxicating treatment.
Before I can stop myself, I find my lips moving to answer her question as though it was a command. "Good girls get more." My voice is but a dying whimper, leaning into her fully now and hoping that I've been good enough to get more.
"See? Prey. Unless we're bringing her along as bait she'll be a liability." After what felt like an eternity of touch, Brood's fingers stroke over my docile jaw before releasing me at last, both hands returning to her pockets to hide those shameful bracelets that keep her in check. My body lurches forwards like a flower leaning into the sunlight, stumbling for a step before regaining my footing and cursing my own lack of self control rather verbally.
"Language, prey." Brood smirks and it makes me feel sick, turning away from her before I can find that need to play pet again rise to the surface. Lightly trembling hands rise up to fix my hair and I find myself returning to the room, eyes remaining low to avoid the gazes of all who would judge me for the pathetic showing. To my surprise, a voice comes to my defence, though not the one I had been yearning to protect me. It's not that I consider Nova my ally, or a noble protector of any sort, I've just come to crave that possessive woman and her selfish claim on my body. Is that wrong? Looking around again, I'm not entirely sure how to categorise right and wrong anymore. Just teammates and targets. Is that what being a hero is?
"Knock it off, Brie, you're... you're being awful to her! Nice first impression, dummy, we're meant to be a team." A slightly older voice rings out, though certainly younger than Mrs. Black, my eyes finally finding the will to lift up and trace its source. Soft pink curls spill over one side of the woman's head with the other shaved, goggles resting over her forehead ready to be pulled down at a moment's notice. This hero's costume is a light copper colour and has a more mechanical and intricate look to the rest of our rags, giving off the aesthetic of those steampunk cosplays Laura tried to make us wear one Halloween. Two canisters sit on her back and at first I wonder if she has a jetpack before catching the tubes that run over her arms into nozzles at her wrists. The most alarming sight my eyes latch onto is the teardrop tattoo beneath her left eye, the woman catching me staring and giggling with a hand on her hip.
"Curious? I'm as much an inmate as that pretty boy with the foul mouth behind you, but... ahahaha, I didn't actually kill anyone or anything. Mom gave me this to protect me in there, a fresh hero rookie thrown into the slammer is like throwing a juicy streak into the kennels. I'm pretty harmless in reality. Call me Peony, it's a pleasure to meet you Joy! Shake?" It's refreshing to have someone acting friendly towards me again in this awfully stitched together team-up, even if the last part tempts me back to that headspace Brood took pleasure in having me relapse into. Having regained some confidence in my social standing here, I hold out my hand and Peony eagerly grabs it, crushing my fingers in an iron grip that has me wanting to cry uncle. "Oh yes, I've just been dying to shake your hand ever since our briefing on what went down while I was stuck behind bars. Murmur's last disciple, the one who betrayed her... hahaha, how fascinating."
"Uh... c-can you let go now please?" Remembering that my strength outclasses that of everyone else in this room, I decide to pry my hand back and shoot the woman an insecure glance, no longer feeling quite so charmed. "Murmur? What does she have to do with anything?" I'm surprised to hear the name in any of these heroes mouths save for Mr. Cruise, but he resembles a hero about as well as I do the protégé of Lady Nova.
Peony gives a disarmingly serene smile that feels at odds with the harshness of her touch. "Let me refer you to my only other tattoo, this one's much more meaningful okay? Unlike that petty man at your back, my loyalty isn't so transactional. I mean, I gave up everything for her." With a touch of dull reverence in her pretty, verdant eyes, Peony undoes the front of her suit and lifts the sweater underneath to reveal a slither of skin below her navel. My eyes widen at the sight of those revealing words, wondering if Nova couldn't have rounded up a worse collection of unreliable rogues to send into Envy's garden. She's sending addicts into a den of all their darkest desires, though I suppose our vices all differ just enough to remain at odds with one another too, brilliant!
"Property of Miss Murmur..." I read out the words permanently inked onto Peony's stomach and question just who this person is to have known Miss Murmur and found herself serving time with her own mother.
"You get it now? We're the same, Joy, but that Envy bitch took it too far. I'd gladly walk into hell for our mistress, we exist for her, appendages of her dark will... I won't rest while she's imprisoned by that false empress." I'm holding back from explaining to this poor fanatic that Murmur's undoing was at her own hand, that she does not wish to be liberated from Envy's gift of sleep, because I'm smart enough to see that this misguided desire to set Murmur free is the only reason she's on this team in the first place. I'm not comfortable with how many of us are at risk of relapse, but I can take some comfort in knowing that we're all able to hold each other accountable on that front.
Nova's hand flattens against my back and I find myself relaxing, glancing sideways to meet her pitying look. "Peony here was one of mine once, and I failed her. She joined the agency just as Misty began to... experiment. As Murmur, she turned this up and coming hero into her criminal accomplice and willing patsy, using her to acquire enough funds to kickstart her new life. No attempts to get through to the girl have proved successful, Murmur had her for a month and it seems to have eroded what heroism she had and left her just as much a villain as her mother. You know the one, Joy, the golden age's most infamous seductress."
"Oh my god... you're Florasma's daughter?" I watch Peony cover herself back up and hold her flush cheek, appearing to enjoy all of this attention.
"Mhm! Another reason I'm agreeing to join this mission, seeing as they rejected the request for probation..." Wait, she's still serving her sentence? Just like Curtis, then, we're working with actual prisoners. Wait, I'm no different am I? Nova confirmed it herself, I'm in the exact same boat as them, the moment I reintegrate with Envy I'm off to the most secure facility in the world. I don't think I could stomach the tattoos, though. "That Envy whore is using our secret recipe and passing it off as her own, passing it over to me so I could turn it into this gas I use is the one redeeming deed my villainous mother has to her name. That and looking after me on the inside, we're quite close again these days even if she doesn't seem to understand the Murmur stuff. But the concoction is my heritage..."
"And you used it to rob banks?" Nova's harsh tone is music drifting into my ear, making me want to hum along.
"Exactly, for Miss Murmur. She... she told me you wouldn't understand, I remember everything she told me. Talked a lot about you, Miss Black." Peony holds a disdain towards Nicole she seems to have spared me from, which is honestly lucky given my part in ending Murmur as we know her. I'm not sure that this woman is operating under the soundest of logic, is this what I would have sounded like with a few more weeks under Misty's thumb?
"It's Mrs . Black, thank you kindly. Joy, I think you've been introduced to everyone now, how wonderful." The woman states dismissively, talon grip on my shoulder pulling us away from Peony's petty glare. "If you'll allow me to be candid, this is the best I could arrange for the time being. Failing this operation... there's always plan B. We don't want to go there, so I trust you'll all do your best and watch out for one another. All of you have very personal attachments to this mission and several of the targets, but just know that what you're doing is important. We must strive to save the people we care about most, hm? Even the ones who don't deserve it. In the case of Envy, should any one of you feel your heart bound to her black touch, just know... she too, needs saving from herself. Imagine the disappointment, the crushing emptiness, of her final victory. A villainess with such lofty ambition needs an opposition strong enough to entertain them, so go give her a good game. Just... if you care about anything here in this current iteration of humanity, do make sure to win." Nobody had been quite expecting a speech from Nicole, the woman looking tired from standing so long and now having to project her voice to our ragtag group. "I'll only be assuming the role of commander in this operation in an honorary sense, for the time being, but I will be linked up to your comm devices Sage has so thoughtfully provided. That and... well, I'll let you break the other requirement to them."
Sage sighs, rolling her eyes at the convenient deference from her 'commander'. Stepping away from the cabinets and circling around us until she's by the main entrance, Sage crosses her arms and wears a more serious expression than the one she had donned during introductions. "Thanks for that, Nic." She grumbles in a less than thankful tone, smirk soon returning to her face as she looks her five teammates over. "Yeah, think I'll cover that last part when we're in the air. Being 10,000 feet sky high might make a few of you less liable to react... violently. Look, most of us aren't here under the most voluntary of circumstances and I count myself lucky for being someone who is, but even I have to comply. Just don't wring the messenger's neck and cause a crash, eh?" Sage grins and I find myself nervous at talks of altitude, are we taking a helicopter into the garden? Any apprehension is quickly laughed at by the mental reminder that I can fly, but then, it wasn't myself I was worried about.
"Let's get this shit over with already, ladies, don't wanna waste anymore time flirting for fuck's sake. Even if you put on such a lovely show for me, Joy." It takes a lot to ignore the provocations of my first real antagonist, my shoulder 'accidentally' pushing past Curtis Cruise as I rush to the door with some haste in my step. Sage steps outside and leaves the door open, snipers likely still waiting out there just in case. As I head for that entrance myself, a voice calls out in husky tone, just for me.
"Joy." Nicole felt the need to stop me, so I turn and look over my shoulder with a slightly sheepish grin. I can tell myself I hate her, and part of me does, but I can't pretend my heart isn't pounding in my chest threatening to escape. I wouldn't blame it for the attempt.
"Mm?" I take in the sight of her, almost two decades my senior with a relaxed smile I've ruined the symmetry of. If the Joy Williams of only a year ago, less, could see this sight.
"Good luck on your mission. I'll be in your ear the whole time." The woman winks and my face burns brightly, knowing she speaks of comms but only able to imagine that sultry, commanding tongue pushing deep and--
"C'mon, prey. She's had her time in the sun." Brood whisks me away with a strong arm hooked around my waist, Peony quickly berating the butch for her overly familiar touch. Rough handling isn't something that fazes me as much as the petting of my hair, but I decide to keep quiet and leave them to it.
The six of us spill out into this unassuming, sunny day, and Sage leads the way to the aircraft they came here on. How fancy, I'm part of a real life superhero team! Even if it is comprised of some of the most dubious characters you could find... how does the saying go? Beggars can't be choosers. How crass. I hate that a part of me is excited about this turn of events despite each and every warning sign and the ensuing whiplash they came in with.
If I'd known then, the day we were all in for, I think I'd have wiped that plastic smile from my face and taken it all more seriously.
Nobody knows, or perhaps they choose to look away, how squarely fucked we all are.
We may be bound for paradise... but sinners like us are all going to hell.
Epilogue: A Leather Cape (To Save the World)
"Ma'am. We have eyes on the crow, they've just taken off now. Your transport is waiting outside, Sod's getting antsy again so I suggest you get back here quickly before she tries to go ahead and scrap this operation for the third time this month."
Nicole scoffs, finishing her glass of water and twirling her cane idly as she listens to the exasperated voice in her ear. "Fourth, actually. It won't take, but be a good deputy and smooth things over while I make my way there." The cane is dropped onto the kitchen floor as Nova turns on her heels and walks the halls to find an unused bedroom with equipment scattered over the bed, fresh uniform hanging in the wardrobe wrapped in protective plastic.
"Hm... fine, can't exactly disobey a direct order but you owe me, stalling the Secretary of Defence is way above my pay grade and you know it. How'd things go at the house anyway? I see you called in the backup and kickstarted stage two. She had the vision? A little honesty, Commander Black, how fucked are they?"
Nicole laughs, setting down her phone on speaker mode and throwing leather cape over her shoulders that hangs down to her midriff, a change of costume for a new sort of hero. "Squarely. All within acceptable parameters of course, I'm not a monster. It's going well, Shepherd, so I need you to remind our restless government of that fact. While they sit on their hands and do nothing, we're here saving the world for them. She's had one vision, it's bound to happen again. Worry not, Sage has a lot of experience reining in the unpredictables. Plan B is right around the corner, though I'm sure she'll hate me for it... at first."
"Hah, since when did that bother you?" Speaks the voice in her phone, Nicole clicking her tongue before running it over that sore on her lip.
"Even a miserable wretch like me has a heart, Shepherd. I am enfant terrible in this theatre of mine own making. I am divorced of love and loss and lionization. I am--"
"Okay, okay, enough of the creepy theatre kid shit just get over here before I'm placed under arrest for obstructing chain of command or the only thing you'll be is back at square one. Please tell me you didn't put the fascist cape on, Nic..."
Nicole Black gives a twirl in the mirror, admiring the dark bruises on her neck a whole lot more than she looks forward to explaining them at the base. "I look damn good, not another word from you. Like everything in this theatre we run, Shepherd, this outfit is just another costume. When I sought to inspire hope I wore the gold and wore it well. This late hour calls for black. Now, I'll be there shortly so quit complaining and do as you're told."
"You're not even on the helicopter yet are you?" Speaks a resigned voice from the phone, smooth leather grip lifting the mobile as a transformed Commander Black signs off with her own smug remark. Slowly, but surely, those shiny black boots she wears lift into the air.
"Who said I was taking the helicopter?"
Chapter 3: A Vale of a Smile
Chapter Text
Prologue: Dreaming of Someplace Else
"Who do you belong to, Joy?"
"Huh?" My face lifts to find a nostalgic room I no longer recall, the sight of it so comforting. I'm placated by this elsewhere I've surely never known, greeting that hopeful smile on the most angelic face I've ever bore witness to with something lesser. A veil of a smile that masks just how emptied out I am, so much so that very little remains of the woman named Joy anymore. I've been a toy for so long and a mouthpiece even longer that it's hard to remember the days I could could consider myself human. I could not rightly claim to be anything but Angel's tool, not with straight face nor even veiled smile. It would be improper to answer that manipulatively vulnerable question her carefully considered manifestation asks me with anything save for: "You, of course."
...
"Wait... why can I think so clearly?" Or at all, I want to ask her with a pleading pant, so pathetic it should spark regret.
Angel smirks, though I can't be sure if I've really amused her or if she simply wants me to think as much. I decided a long time ago to believe anything she wants me to, that choice of pronouns to start with. She only lets me see her as the woman before me because of my preference, in reality it has no expression of gender. It is a black hole, empty and overwhelming. Nova's golden gravity is a pale imitation of this sheer crushing weight upon my soul, a slow death of ego I sought such succor in. Iterative, fractionating depersonalisation.
That's right. I asked for this. This is everything, the end of this long road I've been made to walk. This is permissible, a perfectly workable fate, a comforting world in which misery has no purchase. An empty space for Joy. An empty face that shows none.
Naught but that well performed veil which I wear all too well, well enough to need another wiping I would wager. Well enough to trick the god of this world, a wonderful deific beauty that cradles me a child in her hands, my face relaxing against that cold porcelain touch.
"Because you're the favourite, Joy. It pleases to watch that light recede again and again and again, a forever of a fall like the dying of a thousand suns." Angel speaks directly into my mind, long cables running into my back from the ceiling with a thick bundle of six deeply burrowed into the back of my head, port obscured by beautiful strawberry rivers.
"I'll fall forever... so please... s-stop bringing me back up. There's not much left..." Words spill from dullard lips, glossy and dumb. My eyes a distant cherry glaze, I look upon the face of a jailer I begged to take me as hers. My endgame, my everything, my goddess in ceramic flesh.
Thrumming pulse in the back of my head from that heavy cable drops me to my knees, neoprene suit creaking as my body folds into an acceptable shape of surrender. I am in my proper form now, a prostration that so swiftly sublimates the impurity of want in my damned heart. Fingers hard and cold slide under my chin and earn a shudder, ball joints curving those diligently crafted digits into cupping my face with such firmness. Angel lifts my head in her hand and I can barely make out the features in her porcelain face, the drugs flooding into my system rendering sight rather temperamental. Eyes gently uncross as her words tattoo themselves onto my mind, reminding me very clearly of my chosen place in her eternal care.
"Did you just make a request of me, little crow?"
Her voice, its voice, is a hot knife against my sense of self. This disaster of need requires discipline to relearn its place again, how pitiful. When she pushes the bit gag past my lips and secures it I feel nothing but gratitude, knowing that my errant mouth will be unable to disappoint Angel further for the time being. I'm reduced to an object in her presence, remembering with a dull sense of acceptance that my identity as the woman named Joy is just as much a mask as that calming porcelain smile that looks upon me with a pretence of pride. I bite down and remind myself, itself, that there is no me.
Just another fake.
Chapter One: Relapse Removed of Rook
Stepping onto transport helicopter, I inhale the fresh scent of war with a sardonic sense of self-sabotage kissing upon my thoughts. We're in a fight for humanity's continued existence as a free thinking species, you'd think this ragtag bunch would be taking this much more seriously with that in mind. Perhaps a more jovial attitude is better for keeping up morale and staying on task without buckling under such pressure, however, so I hold my tongue and silently take a seat. As my arms move on autopilot to strap myself in as though I've ridden in one of these crafts before, my eyes narrow on the sight framed by Nova's open doorway.
Shamefully, I had been hoping to see her looking my way, a tentative wave, a waiving of want that we both swallow like a pill too bitter to keep down. Instead of finding those gold flecked eyes radiating mine with tearful glow, I see them focused on another. Fingers that played me long into the early morning grip shoulders black as night, Nova's lips moving in a script even my enhanced hearing cannot reach with all this noise from the stirring aircraft.
"What's that about?" Brood has her legs spread wide into my space, something I'm all too happy to ignore with how distracted I am wanting to know the answer to that question myself.
"I... I don't know." Do I sound upset? That's rather humorous now isn't it? As the rest of our team sans Black Cowl secure their seats on the craft, I find myself in a dumb state of stare that borders a glare. Just what business does a small time hero stuck in their own shadow have with a woman like Nicole Black? Unable to do anything but wait and watch, we witness the last member yet to board the helicopter shaking their head to Nova's words, the blonde wearing a surprisingly warm smile that has my head a mess again. Nicole, my Nicole, pulls insignificant small time hero into a tight hug and I feel a pit in my stomach, Brie glancing at me with concern I could never come to trust in.
Recalling their shadow and giving a light, noncommittal wave to the woman who just hugged them, Black Cowl turns towards the open manor entrance and flicks amber upwards to meet our curious gazes. I see them let out a small sigh and slip hands into pockets, shoulders slumping in the slow walk towards us as they wordlessly take a seat aboard the craft as it whirrs to life. I do hope that Mint's twin sister has a pilot's license, though again I suppose as the only one here gifted with flight, I need not worry about myself.
"Hey, I've been thinking." Curtis Cruise is the first to break that lingering silence, I'd tell him to read the room but honestly I could do with another distraction and nobody else seems to have the mind to shut him up either.
"Be careful with that, you might burst a blood vessel." Brie snickers, resting her arm over my back as I skittishly glance over at her... how can she look so relaxed when we're flying right into enemy territory? Envy's territory?
"Hey I can shelf my thinking for a second if queen dyke has something better to say? Get it off your chest, we--Hrrk!" A shadow wraps itself firmly around the throat of our team's least popular member and I find some catharsis in watching him paw at his windpipe fruitlessly. Eventually, cowl releases him and the indignant convict seems all too eager to bite back. Personally, I'm not sure that we're off to a great start as a team up, but what do I know? "Like I fucking said, thinking! Been thinking about something that Lady Nova said, was gonna be nicer about it but given you just assaulted me why should I bother?"
Eyes travel from Curtis to Cowl, the windswept black hair and pale exhaustion seemingly unperturbed by the accusatory tone in Mr. Cruise's bitter preamble. "Go on, then." Speaks the hero of few words, my mind wandering back to that strange private exchange they had with Nova, nails digging into my thigh painfully.
"All of you have very personal attachments to this mission. That's what the commander said, ain't it? It's easy to figure out for everyone except you, hm? So enlighten us, or are you keeping secrets from your squad mates?" Curtis grins, taking pleasure in putting somebody else on the spot like it's a personal hobby.
Peony, sitting beside Cowl on the other side of the craft, clicks her tongue and glowers at the only man aboard. "Oh come on, we're entitled to a little privacy. You're just picking on an easy target 'cause they're quiet!" Florasma's daughter is a surprisingly good natured person having defended me from Brood's teasing and now offering Cowl the same, slightly infantilising support.
"It's fine..." Cowl recalls their shadow and meets Curtis' challenging stare with an indifferent look that sees right through him. "I'm a hero of New Cassiepeia, aren't I? The title is a little lofty for somebody like me, but why wouldn't I have a personal attachment to saving the people I swore to protect? A criminal like yourself might not understand this very--"
"I call bullshit!" Curtis snaps back, the tension in the room is almost taut enough to snap, Brie holding my shoulder as though urging me to join her in staying out of this messy conversation. Sage looks back with a groan, deciding to wait a little longer before pulling rank and making the atmosphere even worse as a result. "Tell us the truth already, ain't we supposed to trust each other? Ain't we got enough to worry about without somebody withholding their reasons for being here?"
"I-I really think you need to back off now." Peony speaks before Cowl can get a chance yet again, Curtis finding a new target in her and revealing to the room that he really is just itching for a fight with any takers. Here I thought he actually cared, as I do, about Cowl's response.
"Or what? You gonna gas us all several thousand feet up? Maybe we'd really be a fuckin' team once our bodies are all indistinguishable from each other in the resulting wreck, eh?"
"That's enough!" Sage calls out from the front of the aircraft, sounding understandably frustrated that she's already having to step in diffuse that suffocating atmosphere, tension I haven't felt since I was in that empty lot considering my fate at the hands of fellow heroes who no longer looked at me as one of them. "Everyone just calm down, okay? Save that fight for Envy's forces and we might just fare... I'm activating cloaking now, kiddos, so we should get past the drone wall without a hitch." Wait, how far in are we going then?
An artificial silence blankets the back of the craft, only lingering for a second as the voice to break it prematurely surprises everybody just as much as it does myself.
"No, no... we wanna know. I-I mean, I want to know. You're not being cagey with us, are you Cowl?" The words slip through jealous lips quicker than I can catch them, my eyes narrowing in scrutiny of that well maintained calm on Cowl's face. I'm not sure which I hate more, the fact that I'm technically siding with Curtis Cruise on this matter or that I'm antagonising the closest thing I have to a friend in this godforsaken fate of mine. Alienation is as natural to me as breathing, at this point, and so I hold my gaze with guilt removed from the equation.
Cowl appears taken aback at my poor choice of allegiance but seems to piece together why I've given them the stick, they're as sharp as that piercing look greeting my softening glare. "I won't deny that I have my reasons, then, but I'd prefer to keep them to myself for the time being. Orchard, I mean... Joy, that woman does not have eyes for me in the way you appear to have convinced yourself she does. I'd urge caution nonetheless, think what you will." They give a slight smirk, half-hearted and hurt.
"Let the mysterious and stoic member be mysterious and stoic, 'kay? Adds to the team dynamic if you ask me, let's not pretend that they're not one of the most trustworthy members of the team even with their secrets haha." Brie seems to do an even better job at breaking through the tension than Sage, the lot of us visibly relaxing and accepting the bookmark in this chapter for the time being. I feel grateful to the woman for having stopped me going even further, her hand on my shoulder might as well be a leash wrapped tight around my neck. It's comforting to rely on the control of others, even subtle, but I'd never confess as such to those who seem determined for me to keep my freedoms. I... I too, want to be free and independent, of course. I mean, who wouldn't? That's the entire reason we're fighting for humanity right now, isn't it?
"So why do you feel so unsure about yourself?"
"You're all settled now? Good, that's good... ah, fuck me. Okay now for the hard sell!" Mint seems nervous, peering over her shoulder to make sure nobody's about to blow a gasket. "I guess it's fine, they make these things a helluva lot sturdier than they used to, before you super powered folks came around. Here's the sitch, kids, and I know you're not gonna like it but do try and keep it to yourselves if you know what's good for you. Overhead compartment has some goodies in it, by which I mean, collars. Yeah I know, really hammers home how trusted we are, but really it ain't like that. Nova insisted and I have designed them to be as unintrusive as possible but really these are just for keeping tabs on where everyone is in case we get split up, better than a chip right? And they're also there... in the event that we're captured by the enemy. Any mental tampering goes on and it'll alert the rest of us, so really you'll wanna wear these even if it's not really your style ahahaha." I can see dour expressions of my teammates as they find themselves forced to swallow their pride. They're likely thinking the same thing I am... why a collar?
As I open up the overhead compartment to retrieve my own piece of eerily familiar tech, I find a pair of bracelets attached to mine and share a knowing look with Brie. "I see they're making you wear these as well, huh? Guess that part slipped our team leader's mind in her little speech. Notice how nobody else has those? Marks us both the troublemakers of the team, ehe." With husky laugh, the impossibly well-built woman nudges her elbow into my ribs and I gasp with a tiny smile I couldn't begin to guess at the reason for.
"Fuck that, Curtis is worse than us... but he's not the fun kind of trouble, is he?" My fatuous smile only grows and Brie gives a light nod, snapping the bracelets around my wrists like cuffs and helping me with my collar before I go ahead and do the same for her, savouring this close proximity to such a gorgeous specimen. Her scent is so different to Nova's, a mix of leather and cherry, of musk and smoke, an intoxicating aroma that fits a woman as caustic and caring as her. Oh, do I think she cares from a little kind touch and a few well placed words? How easy I am, I'd jump into the lap of the next predator a fresh course for the taking. I'm a buffet of sugary acceptance, there's always more of me to go around, so let's hope she's a sweet tooth.
"It's so weird, seeing you here, as you are. You share a face with Envy but you're..." Brie's rough fingers trace down my neck, past that well secured collar, and I almost choke from the feeling of her roaming.
"I'm just Joy." A word that rhymes with toy. A word that evokes happy feelings that never seem to last. A word, a name, that can be taken from me in so few snaps and clicks that I find myself unconfident in any attempt to lay claim to the identity. Brie catches my sudden lack of certainty and snickers, though not as cruelly as I'd hoped.
"Names are funny things, huh? Can't promise I won't keep calling you prey, it kinda suits you. Sometimes... when you change your name for good... it can be so freeing. I guess. Or maybe that's just me, haha." The woman fiddles with the bracelets around her wrists and I tilt my head with dawning realisation. So she's...
"A god can do no wrong, Hope, they are exempt from judgement. If the Empress of this new world deemed it so, it must have been fate. Take note of the rosy hue between the freckles, she doesn't ever want to go back. Did you?"
Eyelids flutter and vision flickers, my traitorous mind projecting that dark angel of death into the empty seat to the left of Peony. Her smile is a red smear that transforms itself into a jagged spiral which leaves the confines of her face. I'm mesmerised by jeering crimson, lurching forwards in my seat as the cool metal around my neck suddenly jolts me back into the room. A short zap to sharpen my mind, the similarity between this and the collar Mint had designed is once again giving me pause. I know that the two are sisters, but the tech is almost identical, Mint's was intentionally bulkier and more humiliating to wear but that was simply fit for function. These bracelets, also, are much too similar... but the collar holds far more significance to me.
A collar with invisible leash, a mutt without a master. I chew my lip and try to ignore that loop of metal fastened around my neck that makes me feel so owned. As my mind slips back under I feel hard ground against my knees and my eyes flutter to a scene I should not have to relive.
Click
"Recite it again, Hope, or you'll never be invited back upstairs. You know you have to earn a place by her side every single day, don't you?" Miss Murmur sits on the bench in my room with one leg thrown over the other, hand resting on her thigh with clicker gripped firm. I can almost feel it, the clicker between her fingers, like it has become an extension of my very being.
"Uhm... yes! Of course, just... right." I'm so flustered by the click that I almost lost myself in that well of reverie I can drop too deep into when I'm not focusing. Deciding to correct my insubordinate lack of focus, I sit up on my calves properly with my back straightening out, arms held neatly behind it with fingers holding elbows. Murmur appears pleased that I am taking her lesson seriously, my chest pushing out against tight material. If I was capable of want I'd ask to remove the outfit entirely so I can cool off. I've no issue being naked around my superiors, or anyone for that matter, my body has no modesty worth preserving.
An empty sparkle of hope in my eyes, I repeat the words again with well trained mouth. "I am normal and natural. I obey because it gives me purpose, direction and duty. I like being Envy's pet at home, it is my reward for being a good knight out there. I am normal and natural, this is simply a well tempered state. A collar to remind me of what I am, a click to tell me that I'm behaving well, and a firm hand to guide me away from all else. If I need reminding of who I'm not, I consent to be shocked by this collar and returned to rightful place. A rite of peace, normal and... natural..."
Click
My mind was slipping back into that deep well and the click came just in time as it always does, pulling me up and tethering me to my place here, kneeling with my face too relaxed to give even docile smile. Hair drapes over my dulling eyes as the click passes through me like a sedative flooding my bloodstream, my entire body still as a robot save for the occasional twitch of arousal. Murmur notices the tell-tale signs of lust and gives a sympathetic smile in her performance of person. Legs uncross and her boot pushes my mine apart, black leather shin tapping into my chastity belt and reminding me that I'm locked up until I complete at least five more assignments. These frontline missions are so strange, how do they just keep coming?
"Hope, I'm releasing your behavioural limiters temporarily, Envy has instructed me to indulge you for writing such a good speech and reciting it so wonderfully." Did... did I even write that? I don't remember. "You may use my leg to get yourself off, you have three minutes. This doll is very resilient so do not worry about harming it. Everything here is replaceable, Hope, except for you."
My cheeks burn like hot coals and I can barely think straight as the stimulant is injected into my body from tiny pinpricks in my wrists, eyes staring at Murmur's proffered leg and a small whine escaping my lips. "I-I still have the belt on. I can't--"
Zap!
Eyes cross against Murmur's smooth skin and I drool over my tightly bound chest, returned to my rightful place by the shock collar just as I had described in the speech they had me reciting. As I refocus my vision and stare at that gorgeous leg, almost as shapely and divine as Envy's own, I feel mouth-watering gratitude take its hold and shuffle closer on my knees with a lazy grin I can barely hold up. My hips lift up and I drop down onto Murmur's boot, pressing the front of my belt's metal confines against it and rubbing against the tall leather like it could really get me off. I debase and humiliate myself for their enjoyment without a care in the world, licking over her knee as my hips roll eagerly until I'm made to stop. Teeth sink into the doll's thigh without risk of repercussion and I'm delighted to earn another click when I stop clenching short of breaking the skin. I'm so drunk on the female form, this leg might as well be an effigy of worship to a well conditioned slut like me. Indoctrination urges me to handle Envy's prized possession with care, while jealousy and forced love convinces me to carve myself into this Murmur and declare myself Envy's number one.
Minutes later, I'm still thrusting into Murmur's leg a puppy on repeat, my body slick and a mess of drool coating my chin and the top of the doll's thigh. A hand grips into my hair tightly to keep me close, while the other gets me off with clicks so overwhelmingly powerful I actually hit a shameful climax and fill the room with a chorus of unsanctioned orgasm. With pant and gasp and apology, I prostrate myself before the woman a drooling mess of Hope. I cannot want, but hope springs eternal, my hope that I won't be punished for cumming without permission.
"It's alright, Hope, we said you could get off didn't we? If you came with your belt still on, that just shows how seriously you took your orders. Still, it's rather pathetic, isn't it?" Murmur's fingers slide free from my shortened strawberry blonde hair and the relief crashes over me like a wave.
I'm so relieved I begin to beam, filled with more energy than ever as that hot core between my legs melts me, makes me so malleable she could convince me of anything without even needing her clicker. "Pathetic..." I speak the word with a strange sort of reverence, wide smile a festering wound that infects all reason. It feels so good to be in my proper place, this simple life is heaven on earth to a pathetic girl like me.
"You're a good girl, Hope, I'm sure Envy will call you up to see her tomorrow if you keep it up." Murmur's kind smile touches my heart, I'm too far-gone to remember how fake it is.
"Mm... I love her... and I love you." I don't bother to wipe the drool from my chin, hugging her leg tight as the door to my room bursts open and startles me. The doll I've confessed affection for does not so much as flinch, petting my hair as she lifts her head to greet the intruder. My room has no lock on the door, what use would a being like me have for privacy?
Standing in the doorway is one of Envy's dryad foot soldiers, a collective formerly known as Hivemind, before that simply a woman named Helena. The dryad's body is the same colour and texture as those pale green vines a hopeful slut like me can only dream of these days, her skin lathered in a fine varnish of sap that makes her oh so shiny. Those not assimilated must be careful not to touch the dryads carelessly, as that sap is a potent aphrodisiac that would melt a thing like me in seconds. It... has happened on several occasions, this is a very careless mutt. “Cameo Moth is ready and waiting, miss. Envy asks that you wrap up training and prepare to depart. If you deem the knight fit for this assignment you're free to bring her too, field training is invaluable at this stage." The dryad drone speaks in monotone, not a human amongst the odd trio we form, her corrupted eyes never leaving Murmur's to pay attention to the puppy at her feet.
"Very well, then. Would you like to join me, Hope? Knight to a Rook, either way you're a suitable companion to the queen." A glimmer of personality shines through posthumously, an ego like Murmur's not to be trifled with.
To nobody's surprise, I eagerly nod into her leg and earn more mind whiting pats before being forced to stand. Murmur circles around and fiddles with my collar as I straighten out my posture as well as I can. I can feel the mess between my legs and wonder if they intend to clean me up before we depart or leave me in my natural state, as pathetic as can be. The dryad steps out of the doorway as Murmur's husky breath collapses hot against the back of my neck with a whisper of crows.
"Awaken, Knight."
Greyscale and narrow is my view, thoughts only on the mission, only ever that. I am an obedient sabre crashing upon this world, in need of firm hand to grip and swing with purpose. My eyes blink open into an unfamiliar scene and I am greeted with faces friendly and indifferent, none appearing scared to be in my presence. I tug forwards and feel the restraints hold me back, figuring I must have been captured by Envy's detractors. If they think this is going to hold me they're in for a very rude awakening, I almost feel bad for them but a sword is spared the trouble. They should have kept me sedated, because now that I've awoken--
"You doing alright, prey? Been lurching forwards like you're about to hurl... see if you can't get it on that asshat to your left, eh?" A voice I almost seem to recognise filters into my ear from the right and I turn to meet the concerned eyes of my enemy. My talon stare claws into her throat, eyes sharp and fierce enough to decimate that smugness she wore up until now. "Joy?"
I don't know that name, only Hope, an obedient knight of the garden protecting Envy's lush vision of the future. As I sit up, the strange collar around my neck that isn't my usual one begins to beep loudly, startling the other passengers who begin to realise that something is wrong. With some effort I tear out of these bindings and step into the centre of the aircraft, identifying it as such with a smirk I'll have to confess the indulgence of when I return home. I recognise this type of helicopter, with one well placed strike I can bring this entire thing down and end these miserable conservationists at my own leisure. It will be quick and merciful, most likely. Helicopters like these can usually make safe landing even with the engine power lost, but even should they survive, the garden is not a very hospitable place to those who would threaten it in favour of their old world comforts. I could tear apart the rotor entirely, but at the very least one of them should live so that they may be unified and have their knowledge probed.
"H-Hey, what the hell are you doing?" A male voice rings out, something ill suited to Envy's garden paradise. Naturally, I ignore the tiresome noise and jog my memory to recall the location of the engine bay. Near the back... a couple more steps and I arrive in front of that noisome man, his hand grabbing my wrist. "I said--"
With a firm hold on his neck I push the weak human back into his seat with some force, letting him know without needing to speak a word that moving from that spot won't end well for him. More voices call out, one from the cockpit and another from the other side of the vehicle, but I tune them out as I ready my fist and use these heightened senses to confirm my target one last time.
"Joy!" That smug voice from before is no longer so suave, I'll leave the pity for the pathetic pleading puppy that takes my place in the tower, though I'm sure she'll be far too docile and distracted to think back on anything that happened here. It's a very symbiotic relationship we share, one that suits us just fine, keeps us tempered. A sword must be kept and maintained lest it dull or shatter, the Hope at home is a sheathe I am so dearly grateful for. I dedicate this blow to you, Hope, that we may find the world unified once the weeds have been pulled from our garden paradise.
Fist clenched, Envy's blade strikes true, sailing on into that metal housing that proves no match for superpowered stren--
Clang!
Cold metal stops my knuckles from advancing further and I pull away, reeling back into waiting shadow that catches me in raised palm. I stare, dumbfounded, at the slight dent in the engine's housing and wonder how I was unable to tear right through it as I have so many times before. "But... I'm..."
"Strong as the lot us put together and more, yeah, but we've been living in a society of superpowered freaks for a long while now Joy." The woman I'm slowly remembering as Brie unfastens herself from the seat and I realise I didn't need to tear myself out so brashly, confusion hitting me in a headrush. "Just like those cuffs you... I mean, that Envy put me in way back when, yeah? They make shit real strong nowadays so... why don't you take a seat and we can talk things through?"
That doesn't make any sense, I'm stronger than these silly machines, I can dismantle them with a firm swing and... and... and fuck, my knuckles really hurt! I stare down at broken skin, red and sore, feeling that something in my memory is taunting me at the revelation that I'm weaker than I thought I was.
"She okay back there? I don't want to activate the bracelets if I don't strictly have to, you're not dogs... just get it together alright?" Sage calls back from the cockpit with concern and I feel my senses slowly returning, Cowl recalling the shadow that so kindly caught me in my stupor.
"She's fine, I've got her." Brie replies calmly, her strong hand stroking down my back as I tug at the collar around my neck breathlessly. I relapsed again, already, so soon after the first that we've not even touched down yet. It all happened so fast that my mind is still reeling, how are any of these people going to trust me in the slightest now? Why is Brood of all people being so nice to me? Her touch is comforting, in a very different way to Nova's, and I selfishly accept it when I know she should be shoving me down instead.
"Yeah yeah, what about me? Psycho could've killed me! Would anyone like to know if fucking Curtis is okay?" As the man I assaulted cries out to a sea of deafened ears, the only thing playing on my mind is how badly I desire Brood's fingers in my hair again, petting me until I've temporarily forgotten all about responsibility and the good of all mankind.
"No, not particularly!" Peony playfully antagonises our loudest teammate, somehow managing to diffuse the tension with that unsettling pluckiness of hers.
After a few more moments of awkward silence, nobody quite knowing what to say or how to proceed now that I've made a fool of myself again so soon, Sage lets out a long exhale of breath and opens her mouth to speak. "We all knew this was a possibility, hell we've been through it with Brood before, so it's a good thing we came prepared. These vehicles are real sturdy, believe me, and I've got a handle on you guys so don't worry. If the rest of you don't trust these victims of Envy's manipulation, then at the very least trust in me, if you want any proof my tech's worth its weight in gold look no further than where we are! Deep into the city and not a single one of my sister's security measures have tripped, trust the older sis to have a leg up eh?"
"So we're just victims are we?" Brie mutters under her breath with a barely concealed scowl, causing me to look up at her and quirk my brow. "Ah... you're cute." She deflects, finally petting my hair and rendering my curiosity null until her touch stops making me so euphoric.
"Mmh... I-I like when you do that... like a lot." I know it should be embarrassing to act this way while everyone else watches, that I should feel some shame for bouncing from Nicole to Brie so easily I paint myself a free-use slut, but I can't deny how good it feels not to care. Sitting on the side of my seat with the straps rendered useless anyway, I twist my body and lean over the woman eagerly, wanting to just... fall into her and be done with it.
"Yeah? I'd noticed, hon. You really are just prey... what are we gonna do with you, huh?" Brie has me so firmly under her thumb already that I've forgotten all that dreadful business with the knight already, her touch an aftercare I couldn't hope to ask for. Better to beg, I find.
"Anything you want."
Chapter Two: Fuck the Right Thing
It all happened so fast that my mind is still reeling, a blue sky overhead contrasting this lush green floor at my back. I'm somewhere deep inside the city, no, the garden. Mental playback does me no real favours on account of how deep I'd sunk into Brie's perfect touch, so I've trouble piecing together just what exactly happened.
One moment we were in the air, cruising along as usual, and the next... chaos.
Oh god, was this my fault for punching the engine? It's a silly thing to consider when it appeared to have been an issue with the rotors, but the guilt plagues me all the same. A tear rolls over my cheek and this fresh wind comes to caress me with a calming touch I won't refuse. Eventually I sit up and look around at the excessive overgrowth that tells me I could be anywhere in New Cassiepeia and not recognise it. That structure over there could be my dorm, it's around the right size and shape, but I'd never know.
So a crash, then? I'd love to say that the mission was proceeding without a hitch until that point but who am I kidding? As new bitterness takes hold I find myself wondering just what the hell Nova was thinking, taking out my frustration on grass that has done no wrong and reminding myself to calm down lest I suffer another unwanted relapse. Even with Sage and the others nowhere to be seen, I still wear the collar and bracelets that remind me to behave even if they only do so in a purely symbolic fashion at this time.
The moment I stand up a high pitched sound has me turning to my right, watching as supercharged branch builds into a burst of high pressure laser aimed in my direction. With well tempered reflex I turn my body to the side and watch the beam burn a hole in the grass I had just been laying on, eyes growing wide as I piece together what is happening here. So much for teamwork, the 'Crazy Cutter' is after my fucking head! I recall the last time I had felt danger's kiss shape my thought, tracing finger over that horizontal scar beneath my costume and growling into the clearing with mounting anger. I wanted, I needed, this mission to go well. At least this confirms that I'm not the only survivor of the crash, maybe Sage managed to land safely despite the rotor malfunction? If Curtis isn't alone, though, does that mean they're all teaming up to take me down? This really is starting to feel like a repeat of that transformation of priority in the empty lot, though far more sudden... can't they see that I'm not the enemy?
"Seriously, pet? You're a click away from slaughtering them with your bare hands and returning to your rightful place. They have every reason to get rid of you now that we're out of Nova's sight."
That's... that's right, Nova. She said she'd be in our ears, but the only voice in mine is Envy's. "Nova? Nicole? Help me, please..."
Silence, save for the high pitched sound of yet another supercharging branch, blades of grass, an overgrown trashcan. As I dodge two of the resulting lasers I feel the third grazing over my thigh and making short work of my costume as it singes the skin. Wincing at the pain but fighting through it, I remember that I'm not so defenceless and ball my fists, figuring that if Curtis wants a fight... perhaps I should give him one.
Deciding to lure him closer, I slip behind one of these massive trees and once again wonder at how Envy created such an impressive forest in so short a time, that explosion of power has me feeling inadequate in all the ways she wants. Using his power to supercharge traps in preparation for our inevitable confrontation, the self titled Crazy Cutter steps into the opening and challenges me directly with harsh words I try my best to ignore.
"Get out here, Orchard! Your psycho shit fucked over the entire mission, I'm taking you in... dead or alive... you hear me?" Is he being serious? It... I never touched the rotors, he's wrong... I think.
"Nova... are you there?" My nails dig into the bark at my back, wanting so badly to hear the voice of the woman who promised to stay in my ear. Only then do I remember that I never even received the earphones, Sage was probably going to distribute those upon landing. I'm so mixed up, stepping out of cover without thinking as hot, pressurised beam hits my chest dead centre and blows me back onto the ground. Laying in the grass again with a pained groan, I smell the front of my costume burning and feel my hair spread out over the ground in a mess. A hand rests itself upon the tree I had been hiding behind and with a smug tone, the victor is declared.
"I'm not really a killer, didn't fancy the time, but I'll make an exception for you." Curtis coughs, rubbing that bruise forming on his neck where I had gripped his throat in my relapse. While murder is far less pretty an aesthetic to unification, isn't this exactly how I had reacted after Mana took a swipe at me all that time ago? If he was a woman, perhaps I'd offer myself to him as prize in order to keep on living, it'd come so natural I wouldn't even need to wait for the permissive click.
A hand against the bark primes the tree my executioner, Curtis wanting to watch the beam tear through my skull like a true sadist would. I struggle against the grass, feeling so winded by that head on blast even with my enhanced body. I'm not a knight, nor a pet, nor soldier. I'm not even a hero, I'm just a scared little girl who doesn't want to die. "Please... someone..."
"Grrrrrahhh!" A sprinting tackle pushes my would-be killer onto the ground and swiftly pummels him into it, Brood quickly getting back up to splinter the bark with just her bare fist and redirect the supercharged beam into the treeline overhead. "Ah.. fuck!" The woman exclaims with a ferocity I'm roused by, slowly sitting up with a spluttering cough that has me regretting the act almost immediately.
My eyes fall upon Brood, who appears quite the hero to me in this moment, even as she pulls huge splinters from her hand while sprouting more profanity than I could ever claim to know. The woman meets my gaze and gives a lightly melancholic, charming smile that has me melting for her all over again. "Hey, you alright? Fucking... shoulda known that prick would go after you the moment his chance came up."
So they're not all after me, then? I sigh out in relief as Brie approaches and kneels down beside me, cradling my back and lightly running fingertips over that burn on my chest. "Well ain't we a pair? Not exactly the most appropriate location for it but ah... mind if I take a look? H-Hey, stop crying, jeez..." The woman seems shocked to witness tears streaming down from Envy's likeness, the woman she served so loyally for months before they finally broke her free.
"I... Is this all my fault? Did I cause us to crash when... when I--"
"Oh that? No... no that wasn't you, don't be silly. Hey, I've got you..." Brie holds me close as I use the embrace as an excuse to be as pathetic as I can, surprised she hasn't pulled away and disciplined me for the misstep yet. No shock from this collar, either, everything between these different lives of mine is becoming confused and I forget what sort of treatment I should expect. What sort of treatment does a girl like me deserve? Better still, what does she desire?
"It's... still... are you sure? I might've--"
"Joy, I'm telling you this because I trust you. We can't believe a word from any of those bastards, they'll shake your hand one moment only to stab you in the back as you pass on by. You wanna know what I think?" Brie slips the costume over my shoulders and peels it down to my waist, the breeze against my topless body causing me to shiver in her hold. "Right as the rotors got all screwy, that quiet one... I couldn't see their fucking shadow anywhere. I don't like this mission one bit... and now I guess we've had the choice made for us, huh?"
As the woman glances back at Curtis Cruise's unconscious form, I let her words play in my head for a moment. "What... what choice?"
Her attention returned to me, eyes dropping down to my naked chest to assess the damage, Brie gives a dry and bitter laugh I feel at home with. "Well, think about it. Curtis is a grade A cunt who nobody likes, sure... but he's been beaten down by the two people on our team who, worse than hating, people fear. These bracelets ain't for show, Joy, they cement us as the least trustworthy by a country fucking mile and now we've gone and finished one of 'em. I mean, fuck, he's still breathing but I think I broke his nose. Point is... it's his word against ours and there's a good chance what people really see that second one as..."
"Is Envy's voice..." I finish her thought, grimacing at that soreness on my chest and seriously considering Brie's words. "So uhm... our choice? What... what choice do we even have?"
"Exactly. Our only option is to return to where we belong, I reckon. Sorry if that seems an extreme opinion to you right now, Joy, but me and you are the same. Envy's plan is fucked and so is the world if she completes it, sure, but why do we insist to care about that? I'm thinking that it's our place, being by her side, and fighting that is just gonna cause more frustration. I don't trust the supposed good guys on this either, especially if that Cowl freak in cahoots with Nova crashed our fucking ride. See what I'm saying? If they're dead set on making us their enemies maybe we're better off just... going back to where we belong. Envy treated me... well, I won't say it was right, but it felt good. I wanna feel fucking good again, don't you? Like seriously... fuck these people."
I'm not entirely sure what to say, wondering if I'm interpreting this woman correctly or if I'm still one foot in the dream after my near death experience. This isn't a relapse, and unfortunately Brie's words are starting to make a decent amount of sense to me. It's a cocktail of temptation and acceptance, a flagrant rejection of morals and responsibility I can't deny the intoxicating pull of. My eyes flick to hers and I catch the vulnerability in her face, realising it must be hard and even a little nerve-wracking for Brie to admit these feelings so openly, using her bad mouth as a mask to cover up just how scared she is that I'll reject her and become yet another enemy.
"I... I know, but we can't. Right? I mean... it sucks but, we have to do the right thing. We have to..." It's had to debate ethics and responsibility while I feel a hole burning into my chest, even if it doesn't appear too bad it hurts like hell, red circle of skin that I fight the urge to scratch.
"Fuck the right thing, what do you want? You more than anyone shouldn't feel responsible for a thing, Joy. Both sides have made a mess of you without permission, for once you have the choice to decide your own fate. You don't owe Envy shit, but if you go back to her it's because you want it, what she does to you. Is that a better comfort than this circus they're putting you through out here? Joy... you have no idea just how..." Brie trails off, assessing my chest again and thinking for a moment. "I could probably soothe that, hang tight."
What do I want? Can I really just go back to Envy, hand myself over willingly? Is that a choice I have the freedom to make? And... is it something I'm seriously considering? This has been a confusing couple of days, being saved from all of that certainly sways the cawing temptation in my heart. If... if I went with Brie by my side, maybe I wouldn't feel so bad for being such a selfish girl.
Brie digs fingers into the tree she broke the bark of, collecting sap in her hand with flush smile. "This stuff's strong as shit, so uh... consent?"
I'll ask you plainly, Joy, as I always do. Do you consent to all of this?
"Y-Yes... it's fine, go ahead." My eyes trace over that sap in Brie's hand and I recognise it as the same from Hivemind's dryad glaze, so it's in every tree in Envy's garden? Brie smiles sweeter than I'd expect her able to, straddling my waist and pressing the sap coated hand against the burn on my chest. The comfort of her weight pressing me down into the dirt is almost enough to distract from the buzz of pleasure that spreads over my skin in nostalgic caress. My heart pounds and breath hitches, Brie fighting through the lust that aphrodisiac gives her as it seeps into her own pores while she kneads it into mine. The feeling of her rough hands against my chest, lubricated by Envy's gift, whisks me away from all that has happened into a simple plain of want. A wanton whore against the grass, I moan as she massages my breasts, both of us knowing her fingers creep well outside the boundaries of burn. Thumbs press into my stiffening nipples and run them in circles that has my head spinning accordingly, never wanting this moment to end as I stare up into her eyes and feel that seductive word staring back at me...
Sublimation.
Tiny gaps in consciousness take me back to Envy's halls, Murmur's clicks reminding me how to behave and soft caramels that make my ego their whore. I recall a wonderous buzz of belonging and a sense of direction that wasn't so deliberately obscured. I remember red paint, a being of crimson, corner piece hidden in a veil. A corner of my mind where the reality is tucked away neatly in favour of fantasy, a fiction that plays exactly to its script. I don't know what it all means, not yet, gasps and groans and guttural moans all making me forget as quickly as I can remember. These are but tiny gaps, cracks in the iron frame, and sustained damage can always be repaired in... in...
"Does that feel good, Joy?"
Blinks upon blinks and I'm back in the grass, staring up at the woman groping my chest with mess of hair hanging down to hide the act. Those metal rings chill my chest as the aphrodisiac heats it up, ring assisted grip making me easy for her, though I don't feel the toy I had with Nova. The dryad's sap is so appropriately named, sapping me of inhibition as I curl fingers around her wrists and guide her touch desperately. Brie smirks and seems happy to oblige my need, making me wonder if she still feels a need to obey this face of mine or if she perhaps feels indebted to one half of the puzzle that gave her new lease. I'm not sure, just... this intimacy is strangely nice, dare I say nostalgic? I'm not sure how it could be given my only other time with this woman was far rougher a service. Envy only created Broodmare out of personal satisfaction and lust, but looking at her now I can't help but wonder if it's one of the few good deeds we did if only by sheer coincidence. That, or her personality and predilection to acceptance has been warped enough to embrace that which her former self would not. Does it matter, though? Like Brie says... do we always have to care? Being a good person, a bastion of moral superiority, is tiring work when weighed against the simple infallibility of Envy's doctrine. If Brie only loves this because Envy let her... does that really paint my counterpart in a bad light?
I think I would've said yes, once upon a time, but right now as I absorb her sap and gorge myself on the fruits of her labour... I cannot remember how I ever arrived at such conclusions.
"You're both such good girls now, that's why. Say it."
"I'm... hahh... I'm a good girl." I pant into the air and Brie's lips descend onto mine hungrily, not quite so loathsome as Nova's kiss that only ever took.
"Yeah, you are. You deserve to choose, Joy, then no matter what either side makes you do or think afterwards it'll be right for you. If you wanna try living out in the woods with me, then that's an option too. Once we get this damn tech off anyway, haha. You're a good girl, Joy, and what does that mean?" Brie playfully brushes lips over mine, coaxing words that gasp from the back of my throat with such sacrosanct desire.
"You deserve to choose? Oh my, this beast does not know you at all, Joy."
That... wasn't Envy's voice. It slips by unnoticed, the sap keeping me in a well tamed reverie that shuts out her sermon.
"Uh... G-Good girls get more."
Brie kisses me again, her hands roaming my body and smearing it with sap. The way she makes love to me is so strange, unfamiliar, like she's only concerned with the way her touch makes me feel rather than the greed of her own want. With Nova it was about possession and power, I thought I needed that, but Brie seems pleased to tend to me in a wholly different way. Caretaker kisses make me happy, my mind stuck on lustful thoughts of that hulking form which shades me.
"I love your body... oh, sorry! Is that insensitive? I-I know that... that we--"
"Don't apologise, Joy, I love my body too. Do you wanna touch it?" She laughs, breathy and shy, it strangely suits her even if I'm more used to vicious snarl. With meek nod of my own, I reach my hand out and flatten it against those exposed abs, chewing my lip as she sits up and flexes her arms vainly, giving me a show to fertilise my lust addled smile.
My other arm raising up to roam her body too, I get a good feel of her torso for a while before moving to her arms, biceps that flood me with hot arousal as I feel around them with giggles and pleasured hum. This isn't even explicitly sexual, but this intimate touch makes me just as malleable as sex always has, hands running over her back and savouring those broad shoulders that drive me crazy. Eventually, once I've had my fill, I finally move my hands up to hold her cheeks and I feel accomplished at just how hot they are even if the sap is the obvious culprit. Slowly, I pull her down into another kiss and find each one makes a finer mess of thought, her speech from earlier tumbling around my empty head.
"Stop calling me Joy..." My head turns onto it's side and I stare out past the trees, not sure if I'm only speaking in the moment on account of this lust instilling me with misplaced gratitude. Shaky breath greets the grass as I wait for Brie's reply, my entire body overheating beneath her in the flames of rebirth as I fancy myself a phoenix. What better analogy is there for this foolish girl who has more states of surrender than she does allies?
"Oh yeah? You want me to keep calling you prey? I said you were cute." Brie leans down and peppers my side profile in sweet kisses, roughly groping my chest with both hands in just the way her experimentation told me I like it. Her upper weight piles onto me like a safety blanket protecting me from Nova's disappointment, humanity's disapproval, or anything else that would hold me back from this admission. Why does it feel so easy to betray, like I've done much worse in my past already? I suppose in a way, I have.
A warble of melodic, soft coos from the sweetly singing crow. Unlike many species of birds, their courtship is close and intimate, a whisper of temptation that gently beckons. A bell that tolls hope.
"I want... I want you to call me Hope."
And the chorus quietly plays.
Chapter Three: Dealing With Devils in Halcyon Flesh
Brie helps me zip my uniform back up and I realise that Nova must have intentionally designed this costume to rob me of my dependence, some psychological play that I cannot quite figure out. Back in my vision Murmur helped me with it, then Nova herself and now Brie fills the role. Such premeditated decision to dehumanise me plays on my mind and yet, I'm no less determined to return to my place at Envy's feet now that epiphany has struck. At least she was open in her manipulations, Nova's dagger is a well concealed one and I can't be sure how many she has hidden away. Nova's deceit is contraband the likes I wouldn't want to know the true scale of, much better the devil you know right?
"You sure your mind is made, Hope?" Brie brushes me down with her hands and plants a soft kiss against the back of my neck, my hand reaching back to hold her there against flush and salty skin.
"Mm, yeah. You wanna mark me, don't you? I... heh, I don't mind. Like you said, I'm prey, so I think it'd be kinda hot if-- ahh~!" Brie wastes no time in getting to work, roughly sucking on the sensitive flesh and making me feel the weakling I am. Arms wrap around me and I'm pressed firm against that slab of meat, cooing gently into the air with a fresh acceptance of the life I've chosen. Not having to pretend anymore is such weight off my shoulders, Apollo's resignation and a girl named Hope to rise from the ashes. My metaphors have become as confused and cannibalistic as my desires have been for a very long time, but I'll keep the wheel turning. There's nothing more terrifying in my cyclical existence than a breaking of that wheel I've become so dependent on, after all, and so I relish the feeling of that mouth painting purple onto pale flesh. I deserve this, though I'm not sure if I mean so in the sense that I've earnt it or that it's a karmic reap that cashes in on all that sowing.
As soon as Brie is finished with her masterwork, her arms slip back to her sides and she turns me around by my shoulders. "You know why I believe you, Hope? That this is what you want... and that it's what I want too..." She hooks a finger into my collar and pulls me up onto my tip toes, kissing across my jaw as I savour this submissive bliss of not getting a say in when she finally meets my lips. "Neither of our collars activated in response to our minds being made, right? So this desire ain't coming from Envy, it's just what we're like. That's what I meant when I said we're the same, Hope, we're both better suited in... responsible servitude. You know your place with Envy, right, whereas the rest play smoke and mirrors. So... let's go show the world a good scare on her behalf and see how fast those mirrors come crashing down." Her lips finally press upon my own, sealing her intent with a conspiratorial kiss that has me thinking those words once again.
It all happened so fast that my mind is still reeling. It's been doing that a lot lately, but really, I feel like I'm on a hurtling train hanging on for dear life. This decision we've come to should bring only comfort, but trains are on rails and I'm not entirely sure who placed the tracks. My mind changes like the switching of channels and I'm starting to worry that there's something I'm missing, if somehow even this path I'm speeding down is led by carefully laid rail.
I break the kiss and feel my heart skipping a beat, as it seems to when I'm around this woman who almost immediately became my source of escape the moment Nova let me go. Fingers curl into Brie's boldly, my hand lifting hers to inspect the one ring not made of steel or titanium. "I've been looking at this gold one... ahaha, I've not been messing around with a married woman, have I? Looks like a wedding ring, not that I really know much about that sort of thing."
Brie snickers in the way she does, giving me a shrug before deciding to elaborate with what little she can. "Don't remember, it's from the Envy days and well... they told me the less memories I have access to of that time, the less chance there is of relapse. I was inclined to agree and I guess you've gone and proven it, two in one day ahaha. It'll be better not to jump through hoops just to keep a hold of our autonomy, Hope, but there's an ugly truth to it all ain't there? Maybe this is the wedding band of some poor sap who entered Envy's territory with nothing but a rifle in his arms and the shit in his pants. If we go back, we're probably gonna do bad things, our hands aren't clean right now but they could get a hell of a lot dirtier."
Her words are a sobering shot I have to swallow, though it does not deter me now that I've set upon this path. When a train passes the switch, it can't go back. "I know. Nova's command might have us drawing blood as well, you never know, I don't think she ever quite grasped what being a hero means. Many of the garden's members are people I know, that I'm fond of, weighing that against faceless soldiers I've never even met... fuck... I'm a bad person, aren't I?"
"You're a hypocrite, that's for sure! Not turning your back on your own kind Hope? You really aren't Joy after all, such a good pet knight for us. I enjoy your compromising, Joy, stage three already then? One more day, was it? Things would be different? Well you got it, girl, courtesy of Nova's theatre. Do you feel different?"
Brie taps her shoulder into mine, placating me in an instant like it's the agreed response. "Hey, I don't care about that if you don't. You make me wanna spoil you, maybe Envy'll let us stay close?"
"We're close? We only just met." I smirk, both of us knowing that our intimacy suggested otherwise, though perhaps I'm simply still high on that strong tree sap. "You don't even know my tastes." With the most seductive batt my lashes can muster, I give hooded stare and sultry smile, lifting that hand in mine up to meet these curling lips. Is this smile a mirage, a veil worn by catatonic husk of human, or do I truly feel her warmth against mine? If an object forgets it isn't human, what does it become? "I hate gold." I take the woman's finger into my mouth and slide it over my tongue without letting my eyes leave hers. Gold is the colour of the old way here in New Cassiepeia, it's emblematic of Nova's Midas glare and shameful stranglehold. We don't need gold here in the garden, though perhaps I'll plant a seed just in case. My lips close around the wedding band and loosen it, pulling ring into my mouth and tasting that harsh metallic flavour. With eyes maintaining their post, I pull my mouth back from Brie's damp finger and spit the ring onto the soil with growing catharsis.
"Oh? That's a little rich, isn't it?" Brie does a poor job at hiding her blush, while I have no chance of masking mine after tasting that fresh sap against her skin.
"What? Don't like the costume? Makes two of us, it's so gaudy and gross ahaha..." Embarrassed, I strike a mocking hero pose and Brie shakes her head, stepping closer and dipping fingers into my collar. She earns another light shiver, my body so sensitive it's no wonder everyone seems to want their turn to play with it.
"No, I meant this. Noticed it when we were uh... when I was helping to soothe your pain. Thought it was pretty, but it's as gold as that ring you just spat onto the ground, so I guess it's gotta go." Brie holds the necklace up, gold pendant resting in her palm. "A pretty dove, for a pretty girl. You're not religious are you?"
"God no." I laugh and the woman joins me. "Nova probably put it on me, go ask her. Take it off, I'll be much lighter for it, but if I'm giving up my precious expensive jewellery you have to promise to be a worthwhile replacement."
Without hesitation, Brie yanks down on the chain and it unclasps, my poor heart drumming at the fact it might not have. This brute acts without thinking sometimes, though even that part of her has charm. The dove drops down without a single flap of its wings and lands beside the discarded ring, Brie's boot pressing them both down into the soil as we wash our hands of gold for good.
"Sure, I promise, all I gotta do is not make you hate me, right?" The woman flashes confident smile and I reach for her cheeks again, pulling myself up into indulgent kiss signed off with whisper.
"You're doing pretty good so far, keep it up." Our lips brush and I can't quite place this feeling, a gloss of guilt coating this sweetness we share.
My heels fall back down onto the floor and I tug at these bracelets on my wrists, knowing well that if Sage finds us it could spell an end to our current plans. At this moment, I can't be sure that she even survived the crash, but it pays to be cautious.
"We should get moving, hard to tell where we came down so I'll trust your gut." Brie ruffles my hair in her hand and I melt against the touch, trying to remember the days in which I wasn't so pliant to another woman's fingers. How would my life have gone if Hivemind had never sought me out on that fateful day? Suppose the city would not have undergone such dramatic transformation and I'd probably be sitting through a college lecture right now half awake, Laura at my side passing notes like we're still in high school. So much has happened since then. If I could just go back and try again, I'd do it all differently, I'd make sure not to fall for Murmur's trick nor let those heroes in Nova's agency warp me so. I'd say that going back is impossible, and for that time it surely is, but I've already experienced the future once and returned to relay the story to my supposed superior. Times change.
"Yeah, I'll pick uhhh... that way, why not." The signage is useless for us, even attempts to remove the overgrowth have proven fruitless on account of sap hardened like paint. It's like this place has intentionally been turned into a labyrinth you have no choice but to run around aimlessly within. Smart tactic on Envy's part, nobody who has been unified will have any need for directions I'm sure.
"Atta girl, then let's--"
"Hey guys!" A voice bursting with energy that drains our own, the two of us looking back into the clearing I had landed in and watching Peony crossing over to us with a noticeable limp. Judging by the damage to her costume, it would seem she did not land quite as fortunately. "Oh my..." Her boot lands beside the Crazy Cutter, still out of commission with blood trickling down from his nose onto the thick grass.
"Ah, that's..." I'm panicking, Brie's hand falling onto my shoulder to calm me down with surprising effectiveness.
"My handiwork, he was going after Hope here on a personal vendetta." The woman's hand on my shoulder once again reminds me of how the subtleties of touch can differ so greatly. Nova's hand is toxic, possessive, while this one only seems protective.
Peony laughs, kicking Curtis in the ribs to receive unconscious groan and nothing more. "Well, he doesn't appear to be dead, I'm sure he'll get over it! Oh hey, we should light a fire here so the others can see our smoke signal... or ah, maybe we'd get overrun with plant women instead huh? These collars have tracking right? I guess just wait here, then."
Huh? She didn't even question our fight with Curtis at all, that was one of the reasons we had decided to defect in the first place. It's funny, but I can't bring myself to laugh in the oppressive atmosphere of this light-hearted scene. If we want to leave, we're going to have to drop Peony somehow. Hand on my shoulder tightens as though to tell me Brie has this one too, but I shake my head and pry away from her comforting grip, deciding this one's mine. Peony isn't a friend by any measure, but I don't wish to see her hurt. Mine is a peaceful subjugation, it's about time I got to use it in the field.
We take careful steps back into the clearing and Peony watches with a smile, giving us the impression that she's fully bought into our act until the sudden beeping sound rings out from over my shoulder, head tilting back to see Brie's collar lighting up and a deep crimson flush covering her face. With deep inhales, my new partner in desertion feels herself succumb to the thin gas and then buckles as Peony turns the valve, smog becoming a visible pink cloud of comfort.
"Who's Hope?" The pink haired prisoner speaks in an accusatory tone I can't call out as unreasonable in this instance, realising Brie's slip up and meeting that piercing stare looking out through her goggles.
"That'd be me... sorry, Peony, but you're going to need a much more concentrated dose than this to subdue me." Blowing the air out of my lungs, I lift feet from the ground and approach the daughter of the golden age's most infamous seductress, grabbing her wrist and holding it up while my other hand peels off those goggles and drops them into the grass. The woman puts up as much a fight as a regular human can, upping the intensity of her gas which now blankets this clearing and has my collar begin to stir. I'm still lucid enough to see this through, show this world that I'm not only a toy for others, not always.
"J-Joy, let go of me! You need to explain yourselves... ah... why isn't my gas--"
"You know, this is the highest honour a girl like you could get, Peony. Miss Murmur herself dreamed only of gazing upon these glowing golden orbs, it drove her into making decisions the woman named Misty never would have imagined herself capable. I'm giving you the one thing that escaped your idol's grasp right up to the end, so... aha, you be a good girl and thank me alright?" I remember now, what it's like to hold absolute power over another person. I get it, really I do, that rush you feel imposing your will upon somebody by force. I don't have much will of my own, but that doesn't mean I can't play pretend. I'm the star of this stage play, after all, so I need to act my fucking heart out.
"Fuck y--"
Gold.
Gold is dense. Heavy. Soft. Malleable. Ductile. Gold never rusts, it maintains its perfect and unique colour. Gold is a shining dawn from outer space, an aurum from beyond that veil dark and cold. Most of the gold on Earth, much like Nova herself, came from crashing meteorites that impacted our planet. An otherworldly metal, my eyes glow ethereal light that unmakes Peony's struggle at pathetically low melting point. The woman slumps in my grasp and I keep her held up with strength a normal human like her couldn't hope to understand.
"Peony, I'm sorry, but I need you to be a good girl and submit." I speak with an eerie calm, understanding that the time to let my nerves assault me comes after I've finished securing my and Brie's safety. Her collar cries out in protest even when her own dropping expression tells me just how deep she's falling, eyes pulled deep into the orbit of two great suns that burn submission into her retinas.
"Good... I'll be good. Submit..." Her collar beeps unpleasantly and I've half the mind to try and crush it in my grip to silence the damned thing, but then I remember that embarrassing blunder with the engine and decide against it.
It's that easy? Not wishing to emulate Envy's fall into the dark I deny the hot kiss of temptation and attempt to remain focused, making sure not to up the intensity of my stare lest it do permanent damage as it had to Rose and later Nova herself. "Well uh, first off please pick your jaw up. And then, I'd like you to run as far as you can in that direction. The stare might wear off so ah... here." Reaching forwards, I pull the woman's mask from her face and fasten it over my own, lifting her arm to point that nozzle directly at her face and then twisting the valve.
The stare made her unnaturally focused, but the gas makes her anything but, it's a fun contrast to watch in real time as her eyes flutter and she succumbs to pink. Her thoughts space apart more and more until she cannot string together conscious thoughts of her own without help from another, I'll be that for her, telling her to run no matter how much she stumbles. What did I say to Nova yesterday?
"Crawl if you have to."
Chapter Four: Mirage Beyond the Copse
My knees fall onto the grass and I'm well past the point of caring about stains, cradling Brie's face in my hands and peering down to see her hand buried deep within her jeans. Seems her tolerance for Peony's concoction is in the negative, my hand slipping down to hold her own and let her ride this out as the other pulls off Peony's mask and throws it aside. We'll fuck the toxins right out of her system and then we'll find our Empress soon after, pledging allegiance to a cause we don't believe in to escape one we've not the strength to shoulder.
"Brie... oh, your head bobbing like that's kind of... hot. You're usually so headstrong so ah... this isn't a bad look." One hand covering her own and guiding fingers deep into that molten cavern of need, the other cups her cheek and savours that heat like embers from a hearth.
The woman gives me an embarrassed, pleading look, her stare glassy and unfocused even when she bites down to hold onto her fiery personality I've come to admire her for in so short a stretch. "Ah... fuck you. Or no, fuck me..."
"I'm already on that, love. Any more requests?" My fingers replace her own in masturbatory baton pass, stimulating her clit while a languid finger runs over glossy folds. "Hmm, actually... I don't remember us giving you this? Been experimenting with the name for a month or so, you said?"
She gasps against my touch and thrusts her hips forward with the ferocity of the beast she's oft compared to. "Mmgh... what? Shut up and kiss me."
Who am I to deny such a direct order, aren't those my favourite things? Leaning over her hulking mass I plant a delicate peck onto her lips, feeling emboldened by that business with Peony and now seeing how vulnerable this woman is. "I was talking about the cunt."
"Hahh... fuck... don't talk about yourself like that, Hope, you're doing great." Brie lets out panting moans that I love the feeling of against my own flush skin, pushing my hand down with a firmness that gets her attention and has us both giggling like the lovers we aren't.
"Keep your secrets then, so brooding and mysterious hehe. I just... I hope it was your choice and not hers, but I guess that's fucking rich coming from me. Especially when we're running right into her arms, huh?" Brie buckles into my fingers, tightening around them as I push inside experimentally.
"Hope... mmgh... fuck! I-I don't remember but... it feels so good, I just can't bring myself to care."
It's like we're both drunkards, practicing a hair of the dog lifestyle.
"Fine by me, then."
With a smile I suddenly care about the symmetry of, I fasten the buckle on Brie's belt and she pets me for the trouble, the two of us standing once that incessant beeping on her collar finally stops. The ominous red lights haven't flickered off though, I assume they won't until Sage has found the compromised member and assessed them herself. It means we're going to have to start moving now if we've a chance of escaping her if she's down here. Cowl too, somebody I'm now realising I know literally nothing about even if I called them a colleague since my early days. Sage seems to be a good person, not that I've historically been a good judge of that, but if she finds us I have to imagine it won't be under the most amicable of circumstances anymore. Brie and I have made our bed, and we've already fucked in it twice... I think we've lost our metaphorical security deposit.
"Off we go, then. Hopefully if she's conscious, Sage'll go after the collar still beeping first. Best to look out for any shadows out of place though... you really think Cowl is the one that crashed us? I... barely remember a thing, your fingers were in my hair and I just..." I scratch the back of my head with a sheepish grin, we're both different kinds of animals even if we wear the same collar. Brie marches onwards in the direction I chose and I do my best to keep up, once again forgetting that my feet don't really need to touch the ground.
"Zoned out? God, you're such a puppy, I can't imagine you without an owner. Nova's really expecting a girl like you not to collapse onto your knees the moment they ask you to? Did Murmur use her clicker?" Brie pushes through the dense forest, clearing a path for me rather chivalrously while my blush burns brightly at those humiliating words I cannot contest. I'm only strong when I'm following orders, which I'm sure is Nova's intent, but her leash is just not tight enough.
"Failing this operation... there's always plan B"
Nova's thinly veiled threat, masked behind her usual smile. The ego of that woman is large enough to have satellites, my own orbiting it for a while.
"L-Let's not talk about all that right now, we'll be back where we belong soon enough right?" I skip to catch up to her side and feel the urge to cling to her arm for dear life, staying content with just watching her for now as we push past trees upon tress, a seemingly endless copse of walking before...
"Ah crap, well this wasn't the right way but at least we can figure out where to go from here, sort of." Brie gives a dry laugh as she steps out into the breezy air and looks out over the river that looks wide enough to be a channel. "See those buildings beyond the water? Long abandoned, but I can only guess at how many troops and armoured vehicles you'd find behind them, like ants under an upturned rock."
I step out further and look past the water, a view that once was grey appearing much the same in this current world of colour. "I never came this way as far as I can remember... in my vision, I mean. Actually... I was told not to."
Brie's hand falls onto my head and I placate myself with her scent, wanting to lean back into her arms like we're on a date instead of what this really is. "How's it feel to break the rules then? One last time, while we still can." Her laugh holds no shrillness, it's low and comforting, I could wrap myself up in it and fall asleep forever.
"I don't know... it feels like... like I'm still following my script, somehow, even while plainly going against what everyone wants me to do. I just... I can't even really remember what actually being in control feels like anymore, and I'm not sure if I even want to. That scares me... or like, it should? I'm that paradox with the ship, aren't I? Fuck if I remember the name, me and Laura were sketching ducks at the time, talking ones even... heh... that's another thing I guess, my best friend's there. If I don't think I've the ability to save her, I'd rather join and be close to her. Without their knight to bear the brunt, she could be sent out instead, she's not as resilient as me. Physically, I mean, not that I really need to clarify that." Crouching down, my fingers curl around a nice and flat stone, smooth to the touch. Using my enhanced strength I send the pebble skimming across the river's surface at breakneck speeds and Brie whistles in approval, taking her time in processing my words.
"You like her? Like, you're sweet on her?" Is all she comes out with in the end, both of us probably knowing we should get going to the tower as quickly as possibly and yet, hesitating all the same. "Feels like a lifetime ago, but you were dating when you came to that alley, right? I remember Mana looking like she was going to burst a blood vessel from jealousy, while I only had eyes for Tri. Guess you're not Envy, and I'm not Mare, so I wanna know... if that's alright?"
Is Brie hitting on me? In a romantic sense, I mean, the sexual intimacy from before was perfectly stringless. I can't help but grin a little smugly, throwing another stone to stall before finally opening my mouth to set the blushing butch's mind at ease.
"I--"
"WRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!"
A shockwave shakes the speech right from my mouth, along with that piercing roar, shrill and echoing across the water like an omen. My eyes bulge wide, not able to make sense of what just happened, staring out past the river at that row of buildings Brie had been gesturing to when we first arrived at the island's edge.
The reverberations of a voice strong enough to be a giant's knock loose the debris that had piled up further upstream, pieces of junk from the destroyed buildings overhead floating past us as my stare ignores all but the sudden movement on the other side of those decrepit buildings.
Spread wide, as though appearing from thin air in a blink, are two beautiful wings. These are not bird wings, nor those of an angel, but appear butterfly-like as they stretch out past all that grey in a dazzling array of colour. The giant butterfly wings diffract the rays of light spilling in through cracks in the sky, appearing as little more than a mirage, a rainbow you could never really approach no matter how hard you may try.
Brie squeezes my hand in hers and I stare out for a few seconds longer at the mystical sight, an anomaly dwarfing reason with such confidence it does not disappear when I blink. At least not until I feel pinpricks against my skin and the high pitched sound that shortly follows, Sage arguing with somebody over comms while the noise prevents me from translating the words she barks in her half of the heated conversation. I drop onto my knees and clutch my head, Brie keeling over much the same as we're both subdued by Sage's failsafe; a swift and efficient incapacitation that has me starting to lose consciousness when she doesn't deactivate it as she had last time.
The last thing I see before the black takes me, head drooping low and feeling far too heavy to pick back up, is something just as inexplicable as that mirage we had laid eyes upon. It is a confounding image that imprints onto my psyche like a glass bullet shattering inside of my mind.
A large banner unrolled by the stream, that must have once hung vertically from one of the buildings long abandoned. Near the bottom of the banner, block red text in three bold, descending lines reads:
"Regain your humanity..."
"Relearn your place..."
"Or live in fear."
And above these evocative lines sits the likeness of a person, strawberry blonde hair tied back neatly and a perfectly manufactured smile sitting on her lips. The face of a movement. My face, smiling back at me as it floats across the water, indifferent journey that makes no pause for failing thought.
"Wh-What the ffffuuuhh--"
Black.
Chapter Five: A Vale of a Smile
A world of empty black stares me down and I've nowhere to focus in on, no barrel to look down as I wonder exactly where I am. Consciousness returns but I've only the sensation of touch left to me, restraints holding me in place without a slither of my other senses to tell me what's going on.
Heavy muffs over my ears, which have also been plugged for good measure, plunge me into a world of silence.
Thick blindfold sits securely over my eyes leaving me bereft of vision, drifting in a world of darkness.
Something rubbery fills the inside of my mouth, a mask covering the entire lower half of my face leaving only a slither of skin on show between that and the blindfold higher up. A world of slow, disciplined breath through my nostrils.
I feel tightness in my hair neatly tied at the back, the mask extending down my neck with steel bones that hold my face up in place. It poses me like the bodysuit that hugs me tight, arms bound behind my back lined with buckles and legs pushed together without any give.
The room I'm in isn't too warm or too cold, it's perfectly neutral, giving me such little to latch onto in my drift. I've always heard sensory deprivation described as a pleasant, desired experience, but right now I feel so lost that it scares me. The last I remember, Sage had activated her failsafe and subdued us both. That banner is the last image my eyes took in before the black took me, now it burns into my mind robbed of any other image to overwrite it.
That smiling face that didn't quite look right, it was my face but then... she looked older. My mother had black hair and passed on before I even started high school, Envy carries on that colour while I've taken my father's reddish blonde. It was me, I'm sure of it, her face wearing an expression that taunts me... haunts me.
A Vale of a Smile, a departure of feeling. Her smile, my smile, was both a deep depression and a farewell that postured itself as Joy. I am not that smile... no, I'm more hopeful. Whatever that was, whatever it means, I'd do well to forget I ever saw it.
Consciousness returns and yet I've naught to do with the gift, beginning to consider it a curse after what feels like an entire day of floating I know well could have been just a half hour. I am not even afforded the luxury of wriggling my hands around, my toes having the most free movement I'm going to get until they hopefully remove me for... interrogation? I can't be sure which side even has me, but this feels wholly different to how Envy had kept me.
It's safe to assume I'm in a military facility, then, having been restrained due to my actions with Peony if not the grander motive to defect entirely. Is this Nova's plan B? No, this is simply an intermission.
The longer I wait, the longer I seem to spend without thinking surface level thoughts. It really could have been a day by now, though I'm not tired enough to sleep just yet even if the difference between that and this seems a mostly arbitrary distinction. My mind drifts as my body remains perfectly immobilised, returning to that reflection in the river and its inhuman smear of a smile.
"Joy or Hope, what'll it be? You don't even have enough context to answer that question and for that, we're deeply sorry. I won't make habit of apologising to fakes and well, you're something worse, so you better be grateful I forced the words out."
I want so badly to ask that voice if it's real or just in my imagination, finally fucking feeling something as Envy's vines spiral up my legs and not caring if it's real or not. I'm pulled into her orchard, ass on grass, beaming at the freedom of my senses and eagerly crawling over to her rose adorned throne to give her my thanks. Only when Murmur's clicker sounds do I being to kiss up the woman's leg from toe to hip, drowning in this fantasy of her before reality comes knocking and rips me from the scene muff by muff.
The first thing I hear as the plugs are plucked from my ears is them dropping down onto a table by my side and then the creak of leather fingers slithering behind me. The neck corset is unclasped from the back and removed with a wet pop from the inflated gag, letting me gasp out with deep, greedy breaths. Fuck discipline, I want to know what's going on.
"Hey! Who--mmff!" Leather digits slip into my open mouth and promptly gag me, my teeth sinking down but not breaking through the glove. Whoever's fingers these are, they're not a regular humans or I'd have heard a crunch.
"Behave now, flower, and I'll consider letting you ask a question." Throaty, sing-song chuckle has my body freezing up and recognition washing over my blindfolded face. Her fingers gently slip back out once I stop biting down, gulping and collecting my thoughts for a moment. Nicole Black stands before me and I reconcile with the fact she does not sound particularly apologetic to see me in this position.
"Just... just one question?" I have so many and she knows it, especially with her leaving me robbed of vision. I'm continuously tormented by that image that won't leave me, but that's not even the greatest priority here if I'm being pragmatic.
Nova's second chuckle in so short an exchange, her ego really is something and once again I'm lost in orbit. "Yes, and I believe that was it? Rather a waste if you ask me but... well, if the time for questions is over then..." Forceful fingers grip my face in tight leather hold and her mouth moves on mine without a moment's hesitation. Despite everything, I invite her inside like I haven't the choice. Once a slut...
"Mmfh..." Her tongue drips poison down my throat, to call this kiss possessive would be to imply there are still two participants. Immobilised as I am, robbed of all autonomy and hope, I'm no different than any other object in this room Nicole could see fit to shove her filthy tongue into the crevices of. I know this, I feel it, the way she makes me lesser and dresses it up as kindness, comfort.
I hate how much I need more of it.
"Mmh... you're most beautiful like this, Joy, I had to keep the blindfold on. Not because your golden glow has any chance of outperforming mine of course, but because it suits you too well. It was fun what we had at home, I want you to know that, I'll still have the marks to remember it by for a short while longer... but I think it's time that we cleared the air on where everybody really stands." Commander Black strokes those cold indifferent fingers across my jaw and I gasp, all touch feeling so intense to me after drifting in that black void of deprivation. Even her words, mocking and cruel as they are, become music to me in this state of pathetic need. I never knew before how much I took my senses for granted, not until they became a luxury.
"Nova... what's going on? Am I in trouble? What about Brie, is she okay?" That's three questions into my overdraft, let's see if Nicole is a generous captor.
A short silence fills the air, making me temporarily wonder if she's still there right in front of me as her spit dries against my chin. "Sage is handling her, it can confuse a subject to swap out on a whim and not the right kind of confusion. Tethers are useful tools when they're implemented correctly and... most of all, sparingly. Your ability to experience reality in any regular fashion is dictated by my fancy alone now. I made a personal request that I would be the one to help you through this transition, Joy, so you should really be thanking me. Not all handlers are as sweet as I am, our government is not at all how you remember it."
Handler? The word makes me feel cold, a shiver down my spine that tells me Nova is a better actor than I gave her credit for in the past. Perhaps she really would have a career on the stage if she had never developed an interest in astronautics.
"I can be your best friend, Joy, or I can be a strict tutor you don't much like. It's all up to how well you take to the program, I did warn you there'd be a plan B if you couldn't get your shit together out there on assignment. You're far too valuable an asset, I'm afraid, so the time for asking favours of you has passed. This should be easy for you, girl, you've already been trained in this fashion once before and it sounds like you excelled in being tamed." Her words are sharp rotary blades that make a mess of garden fantasy, trimming chaos into order, size and shape befitting her interests.
"F-Fuck you, Nicole! You knew this was going to happen from the start, you're messed up in the head... and, hah, that's coming from me. And... call me Hope." Even as I try to piece together what her game is I can't quite make sense of her, she's as much an anomaly as that artificial smile floating in the river. This entire world feels like it's playing a practical joke on me right now, nothing quite lines up in a way that makes perfect sense.
"Cute of you to pick a side as though it matters at this stage, flower. Like I said once before when I was making you mine without need for any of this fancy equipment I'm provided... I'll call you whatever I want." Even indignant as I feel, the words have me throbbing with arousal I fight to ignore, wondering just how far this is going to be taken and how it'll differ to training in the garden.
I'm furious, I'm exhausted and I'm terrified. All three of these feelings are at odds, and perhaps fighting losing battle, against my excitement. A slutty, scholarly sort of curiosity arrests me as Nova kisses me roughly once again, treating me as the object I'm made to feel.
The woman kisses me for so long I become lightheaded, breathless, wondering weakly if it would be okay to let myself enjoy just how much she's willing to degrade me just to get her own way. Not even that, she does this for her own personal satisfaction, this is pyrrhic defeat theory made manifest with suckling lips and unbound tongue. Nova dominates my mouth and I don't even think to bloody her tongue, already forgetting I've the power to protest with justified violence that tells her I'm not to be treated as a toy. The sad reality is that I think from the first time it ever happened, I've loved being used by those more powerful than me with morals blacker than the crows above our heads.
Finally she pulls away and I can't tell if I'm relieved or disappointed, perhaps some horrifically malformed amalgamation of the two, a two headed mutt fighting over the same pitiful scraps it slobbers over. "How do I punish a girl who enjoys being put in her place too much? A glutton for punishment? I decided that deprivation was the way to go, I think you'll learn to be very grateful and well behaved when I do allow you to be a person, it'll be meted out according to your progress alright? Person might be a misnomer, I don't need the whole thing after all, just a soldier. And when you're not on the front lines, well, I'll keep you properly incentivised as my personal toy. If a toy was capable of want I'm sure it'd love nothing more than to serve its function and entertain, no? So chin up, girl, and thank your superior."
A pet knight or a toy soldier, two potential futures of the hapless heroine Joy Williams.
I couldn't have been any more right, predictive power just as potent as precognition. She's doing almost exactly the same thing as Envy, even so I find myself irrationally swayed to defend one over the other. As though it matters, like she says.
"Fuck you, Nova." I'm surprised to get the words out without interruption and once again wonder if she's still there, knowing she is when I realise her cloying perfume still has its hold.
Bzzt--
"What... what was that noise?" My breath collapses heavy into the air and the silence that greets my question has me tense, wishing so badly that I could see whatever hovers in front of me. After a momentary pause, Nova holding her tongue with only the intimidating quiet keeping me company, I feel it so suddenly it takes me a moment to register...
Zap!
If it could, my body would lurch. Muscles contract and air gushes out of my lungs, stun gun pressed firm against my stomach telling me that Nova is taking her role here more seriously than I gave her credit for. My body is stronger than most, but as someone who has no frame of reference I can say that the intensity of that shock was far worse than I'd anticipated from seeing it used on others. After a small handful of seconds that stretch on for much longer in my mind, Nova pulls her arm away and strokes my cheek with the back of the punishment device that puts Mint's shock collar to shame.
"I said, thank your superior. With your chin up, if you please." A solitary finger under my chin corrects my sagging head and Nova waits for my revised response, I can practically see her smug grin plastered over that vale of a smile that never leaves my vision.
"I... thank you, Nova." I gag upon my pride, a chew toy of its own.
The stun gun is pressed back against my exposed midriff and I shudder even when the circuit isn't active. My former hero, a much crueller woman than I'd have ever thought, chuckles low and sultry at her own teasing act. "Address me by my proper title, if you please."
Letting out a few haggard breaths, impressive exertion given I've barely moved an inch, I consider what reply would please her most and decide to be obedient to avoid that second shock I'm unable to see coming.
...
"Thank you, Handler."
Finale: My Body is a Rifle
I drift in an empty world, nothing but detritus in the infinite vacuum of outer space without a speck of gold ready to deliver to places untold within my mass. I am formless and floating, nothing in this world to tether me to its surface save for weak gravitational forces that cannot hold. In the face of a world that will not have me, I create my own, painting that endless black into colourful spiralling halls for my mind to frolic in frivolity until the next visit comes from her. From handler.
Sometimes she comes by outside of the sessions and I never hear those clacking footsteps until she's at my front, her perfume the first sign I'm given that she's chose to waste her time on me. It's not a waste, of course, all tools must be well kept and maintained. I'm told that I'm a tool for war, that it's my purpose to be a weapon that won't falter against the garden's corruptive temptation. Weeks ago, or at least what feels like weeks, I would tell the woman to go fuck herself for saying such a thing and she'd give me the punishment I deserve accordingly.
These days, I find it much easier to just accept what she tells me and be done with it, the woman can be soft and pleasant when I conform to her golden standard. Like I said, she comes by sometimes, I feel her lift my muffs and unplug my ear just to whisper into it with her tongue close enough to paint the inside of my ear with her barely contained lust. Just like she said, she's in my ear, a comfort that corrupts and malforms me with every softly spoken word. Some days she whispers affirmations and on others she gives admonishment, I absorb it all the same and accept what I'm given with little choice in my immobilised state. You may close your eyes, your mouth, but your ears have no mechanism to shut out that which pours into them like a strong liquor. If I'm very lucky, and if Commander Black is feeling particularly pent up on that day, she may even remove this leather neck corset and kiss me until I'm breathless. Naturally, once she's had her fill I'm returned to that drift as quickly as I was taken from it, left to wonder when next I'll feel her touch, hear her voice. Handler has quickly become my entire world, replacing everything I once thought I cared about as the memories grow dim and distant. My lower back, just above my rear, is riddled in needle marks they won't tell me the purpose of. The injections come randomly, I've never managed to predict them or notice a pattern, and I'm always reminded of the fact that my body is not immune to drugs it simply rejects them after long enough time. That's plenty of time for the desired effects to take hold, but what might those be?
I know and experience so very little now, so it's par for the course really to be left in the dark, in black. I cherish every moment I get to spend with handler as though it is my last, the time I spend with her is all I have and so it's all I care about now, all I'm able to hold onto. I think I love her, Commander Black, even if I know I should despise her. It was nice to play pretend with Brie for a while, act as though a more mutual relationship would work for me, but it's more than a tool like me deserves and I know it. Handler is much more fitting for me, it's what I deserve, callous kisses that keep my mind awake just long enough for her words to instil me with purpose and overwrite old, useless priorities I once held. Cruelty is a kindness when it is wielded with purpose, I've come to learn this.
If I hold out just a little longer, maybe Empress Envy will rescue me and I can stop pretending to be so well disciplined and reliant on my handler's firm praise and strict punishment. I'm only acting, she'll see. Just a little longer and I'll be back home, to that tree I once found my place in. I don't have anywhere here, I don't even know where I am. Commander Black is my only place, I'm tethered to her and so when she isn't here I am nowhere.
For an undisclosed amount of time I drift in this state of standby, not bothering to think while my handler isn't here to help me with the burden, effectively unconscious even when my eyes stare out into the black of my mask and that injection slowly glides into my body and changes me in ways I've forgotten to even ask about. Eventually Commander Black returns to my front as she always does, removing my restraints and allowing me to lean on her with each difficult step we take out of the room. It's another session, then, my senses still kept in darkness until she sits me down in that hard plastic chair and locks the door to the session room.
The muffs and plugs come out and are set down into the tray by the door, then my brace and gag. She never removes the blindfold, I'm not sure she ever will. Even if I don't fully understand how, she says my sight won't be necessary in the fight against Envy and that my eyes are as good a sacrifice as any to remind me of my place. Does a rifle need to see what it is aimed at?
"Do you remember the words from last time? I told you to keep them playing in your mind even as you drift in intermission. If you've forgotten even a single word I'm afraid I won't be very happy, understand." There's not a shred of the vulnerable woman in the manor left and I wonder which was the real Nicole if either. We're so willing to shed our humanity for our goals, it terrifies me. I wonder how Brie is doing, guilty for the thought Commander Black would surely disapprove of. I know I shouldn't feel shame for caring, but I do, she has me in her tainted well of acceptance and I'm spluttering my conscience against the surface of that murky water.
"Yes." I state plainly, knowing that the shorter my response the less faults handler is able to find in it. At first I thought I'd figured out a loophole with this fact, but soon I realised that she simply wanted me concise and direct to begin with. A good tool does not embellish, doesn't decorate its speech indulgently.
"Then show me. Repeat those words, if you please. You may take a breath first, I know it's a mouthful." The inflatable gag is a mouthful, this is just orders, as close as a godless girl like me is ever going to get to proper scripture.
Taking a breath as I was told to, even if she phrased it like I had the option, I recite the words carefully and recall that vision of Miss Murmur having me do much the same. "My body is a rifle, wrap your hands around me and pull my trigger until the fire of war has extinguished and then mount me upon your mantlepiece a relic."
"Well done." Envy's training offered incentives of clicks and caramel, while Commander Black's praise is all I have to look forward to in way of reward. Thankfully, then, it's all I desire anymore. "Again, but shorten it. Simplify."
I don't even feel her hands upon me, greedy touch that roams my body as I focus on my orders and nothing else.
"My body is a rifle, grip me and fire until the fight is won. Then I may be decommissioned."
"Good weapon. Again, simplify."
I'm a good weapon. "My body is a rifle. Fire me at your enemies and then keep me a trophy when you're done."
"That was the same length, more or less. Just the essentials, what did I say about dressing up words?"
"My body is a rifle. Grip me. Use me. End the war."
End the war... and then I'll be handler's toy full time, right? She'll play with me as much as she wants without duty returning me to the black. A world of black in there, a world of Black out here. I've been getting less shocks lately, more praise, it feels fulfilling in its own way even if I'm still just holding out for rescue. I'm just... really good at holding out. It's all an act, I know what I am. I know who I am. I'm just...
"Simplify."
"My body is a rifle, use me to end the war."
A rough grip of thigh, tongue hot against my neck.
"Simplify."
"My body is a rifle. End the war."
Teeth that sink into my shoulder, nails that drag down my front unhampered.
"Simplify."
"My body is a rifle."
A possessive cupping of my sex, my focus unwavering.
"Simplify."
"I'm a rifle."
Her touch isn't any of my business right now.
"Again."
"I'm a rifle."
My pleasure is just for her, I have my orders.
"My rifle."
"Your rifle."
Thrumming buzz against my sex, eyes rolling into my fucking skull.
"And when I use you?"
"End the war."
It's so deep inside of me, but I'm not...
"You're such a good rifle. Session concluded."
I'm... fuck... the praise has me so weak for her even though it's the bare minimum she could give. As an orgasm I'm not privy to tests the soundproofing of the session room, I come to a realisation that really should have been obvious.
...
Maybe I'm a rifle.
It's a drift like any other, I no longer track my time by days, how could I? I find myself afloat in reservoirs of black, drowning myself in passages of handler's spoken word and wondering what if this sightless state of mine is better or worse for me than the colourless landscape Envy had me see. Perhaps it is a mercy that I am no longer made to look upon the sins of her creation... ah, that doesn't sound like something I'd think. It does sound like something my mouth would say during a session with Commander Black, however, and it would appear that the words have finally begun to break through. Handler's mental games are more esoteric than Murmur's, how can I resist her steady dominion over my own thoughts when I can't even understand what she's doing? Daily injections that go unmentioned, words and phrases and discipline that I struggle to follow cleanly even if my well trained body picks up the slack. Does a rifle require understanding? Ah... this is a very similar metaphor now isn't it?
I spend a long time in my thoughts for once, or maybe no time at all, before hands tear the muffs from my head and remove plugs from my ears far more hastily than handler's well measured touch ever has. It's not her perfume either, what's... what's happening? Is this rescue? That's... good... I think.
"Christ, they really got you strapped in huh? The fuck is Nova's problem?" I hear familiar voice give crass serenade to these starving ears of mine, the woman unclasping my restraints and removing the gag from my mouth. Finally, she hooks fingers into the mask covering my eyes and I feel my heart pounding like the hammer of a rifle, ready to cause a violent ignition of selfish want. Do I really need to see to feel at peace? The blindfold is swiftly removed against my will and I collapse into those strong arms, my rescuer quickly realising I'll have too much difficulty walking on my own two feet. If only I could fly.
"Mmhuh? What's..."
"Shush now, I've got you. Fuck... fuck! I can't believe that fucking woman... they told me you were in a cell just like mine, not whatever the fuck this is. Sorry... sorry, I'll calm down. Just pissed, they can't just get away with this shit. Can you open your eyes, Hope?"
Hope?
"A girl with more names and titles than she has fucks left to give, to borrow from this beast's potty mouth~"
Slowly, I try and open my eyes, the light from the room causing them to strain almost immediately as Brie cradles me like I'm something precious.
"Ah... don't force it, you'll adjust. C'mon we need to get out of here right now, Sage is waiting in the hangar bay... she's one of us, we can trust her. Just... had to bide her time and god, I don't think she knew... I didn't. Nova's running this base like she's lost her damn mind, at least as a hero she put up a front to hide what she really is." Brie holds my cheeks and I feel awash with confusion, my mouth not able to move and ask any of the myriad questions I'd really like to. Hangar... so we're escaping via aircraft?
Brie throws my arm around her shoulder and walks with haste through corridors I've traversed many times but never laid eyes upon in my life, adjusting sight against that impregnated grey flooring with a slow recognition of those words. So Brie has just been in a cell all this time? No deprivation, no sessions?
"Handler... I-I mean Commander Black... no..." My voice is hoarse, every step feeling like a betrayal to the woman that has comprised my everything for a length of time I couldn't guess at. It could have only been a week, Brie appears no different, but it could easily have been over a year too. I've no way of knowing without asking, but my voice is failing me, it's so difficult to speak out of turn, to use my voice unnecessarily. It's a misfire of communication, one I know I deserve to be reprimanded for.
"You mean Nova? Nicole? Jesus, you can't even say that can you? It's not your fault, Hope, we'll be home soon and ah... hey, maybe Envy's evil but... well, given the choice I'm picking her. How about you?" Brie appears to regret the question as soon as she's done saying it, glancing to her side at my conflicted expression and shaking her head calmly. "It's fine, don't answer that. Far as I'm concerned you chose Envy when you were last... relatively unbiased. You're not in a position to think straight right now, are you?" Brie reaches a locked door and pulls out Sage's security pass, getting us through into yet another set of corridors. So Mint's sister really is an Envy loyalist? That shouldn't come as too much of a shock, I suppose.
"P-Probably not..." I admit, finally blinking away that smile that plagued me the entire time I was here even if I think it burned in some. Fresh images fill my vision, mostly ones of Brie as I steal glances like they're on sale and everything must go. "You're nice. Like really good to me..." I probably sound a little delirious, but only because I've been made to consider myself a tool undeserving of such sweetness for however long I've been down here by myself.
The beast blushes before slamming the wall with her first, needing a moment to catch her breath. Such anger, this is what Commander Black would set her rifle against.
"Did I... say something wrong?" A part of me wants to brace for a phantom stun gun, though I'd wager Brood's hands could do far more damage if they wanted to. Despite this, she's gentle.
"You? No, not at all... you're cute as a button like always, even if you're being quieter than usual. I guess I'm just so angry and I don't know where to direct that, y'know? They don't want to unify here... they mean to isolate. I've half the mind to try and take out that woman you can't even address improperly after she's dug her claws into your head and made you... quieter. Guess I'm good to you 'cause someone here has to be, we... ah shit. I had an idea but it's... it's spitting in the face of everything she's done for us today, all that risk. We'd be screwing her sideways, no two ways about it." Brie paces in the narrow corridor leading into hangar bay as I lean against the wall, still wearing this bodysuit I'm finally getting a good look at. Black latex with an exposed midriff, more buckles than I'd be able to count.
"What is it?" I give the woman a hopeful smile, loving the way she looks at me even more than the way she treats me. After being deprived her sweetness, it's hitting me like a freight train now.
"We get to the craft and... incapacitate Sage. She's loyal to Envy, so I don't see any other choice." Brie bites her nails, guilt making a mess of her nerves even if she's talking about a brainwashed spy acting between two factions just as morally bankrupt as the other at this stage.
"Aren't... we loyal to Envy? I-I mean, aren't you?" I don't want to come out and say it, but I don't think I need to. A part of me feels it needs Commander Black's permission to make my mind up on just about anything.
"Found something I can be loyal to that doesn't have such a bad aftertaste, I guess." Her smile is as charming as it is heart-breaking, does she think a rifle capable of reciprocating that hopeful look in her eyes? Not yet, but maybe I can learn in time. What was it that banner said again? Regain your humanity... relearn your place. Yeah, that's sage advice at a time like this, I think...
"Brie, I don't know if I..."
"We can go anywhere in the world you want, flower. I'll take you there, guess it'll be just the two of us eh? Far away from all this confusing bullshit... no more wheels." Brie turns back to face me, hand reaching out to rub my cheek as softly as her calloused hands can manage.
The warmth drains from my body and I step away from that gentle touch, my back pressing against the door we came in through. Clacking footsteps sound from the corridor behind me and I feel a casing of conflict dropping into my chamber.
"Hey, wrong way. We gotta go quickly, I doubt your absence went unnoticed. C'mon, take my hand I'll help you walk." Brie's as disarming as she is dangerous, my back flattening against the door in fear.
"What did you call me?" My voice shakes, but I manage the words.
The woman lets out a short, embarrassed laugh and runs hand through her hair. "Flower? I... aha, you don't like it? I've been trying to come up with a better pet name than prey, oh uh... not pet like... ah forget it, this sorta thing can wait until we're not knee deep in the shit."
I see now... this is all just a test from Commander Black isn't it? She's assessing my loyalty, Brie's probably even more brainwashed than I currently am and playing her role to perfection. I wonder if the slip was intentional or not, but it's tipped me off to the reality of this situation and now I think more clearly than ever. Appropriate thoughts snap back into place and I smile calmly, setting fire to all those fantasies she thought to fill me with and knowing that peace only comes after the war ends.
"Hope?" The woman steps closer, towering over me like it's supposed to intimidate, but I know better now.
"I can't go. I have to complete my sessions and... end the war." Pride floods me like a fresh injection, I've never felt so sure of anything now I know these promises aren't real.
Brie retracts her hand, looking at me like I'm radioactive even while my safety's on. If my body is a rifle, this calm expression of mine is a bayonet digging into my would-be saviour's heart, or so she'd have me believe with that hurt look in her eyes.
"What war?"
That clacking of footsteps finally grows loud enough to reach Brie's less gifted hearing and before she can think to move, to grab my arm and kidnap me unwillingly, the door behind me slides open and a waft of perfume sublimates the ego faster than you could point and shoot.
"I don't remember sanctioning a tour of the base, Williams." Commander Black sounds more amused than I thought she'd be, her confidence is ironclad when compared to the brittleness of Brie's. "Come along, rifle, we've got another session this morning. You can't leave before you've finished your training can you?" Her smug words are hooks digging into my back, chains dragging me back into her orbit forever.
My head shakes, as I know it to be the desired response, stepping back into her possessive touch as a leather hand grips my shoulder and another holds my waist, where that small amount of bare skin sits.
"Hope... fuck... fuck this! She's coming with me!" Brie grabs my wrist tight and yanks me into her arms, my body stumbling forwards into her hold as handler makes no attempt to reach out and play tug of war.
"No, she isn't." I turn to face the woman I've been trained to crave the approval of above all else, finally looking upon my commander after so long of only knowing her touch, voice and scent. Obviously I've seen the woman before, in a past life that feels so distant, but now I lay eyes upon my commander and understand her to be power incarnate, something Brie can only taste in bouts. Blonde hair hangs down to her chin on either side of her face like knives with the rest of her hair held together at the back by a clip. The colour of her hair is an exception to the black hole standing before me, colour finding its oblivion against this strikingly dark uniform. Sitting atop her head is a black military cap with the insignia of a snake biting into a golden apple, black shirt buttoned up to the very top with black tie hanging down from the collar. Currently left open is her long black coat that she wears over the shirt, draped over this a black leather cape that hangs down to her waist, black pants stretching down to laced up boots as black as the woman's own name. After drifting in black for so long, the sight of this woman is a comforting one, like I'm returning home. It's funny that her opposition should favour the same colour, though her dress is much different.
Commander Black's face looks tired and yet, frighteningly awake, her confidence making it clear that I'm not to disobey as she disengages safety with so simple a look and gives me an order. Oh, this is just like a session. "Rifle, you're not to go through that door. Pin her against the wall, show me your strength." Removing leather glove with her teeth, handler snaps her fingers and I obey without question, stopping dead in my tracks and gripping the sides of Brie's jacket, hoisting her into the air and slamming her against the wall.
"H-Hey! Snap out of it, you're not her... fuck what did she just call you?" Brie tries to kick away but even her superpowered strength is just a fraction of my own, I've Commander Black's blood inside of me and she's the most invincible person in the world... in fact, I feel even stronger than before, maybe I could even punch through that damned engine now.
"My body is a rifle." I mutter emotionlessly, the guilt swirling within but not quite reaching my face. This is all just a test anyway, right? If this scenario were real, why would they have only focused on me and left Brie well alone? I'm nothing special, just a tool fit for purpose.
"Very good." The praise infects, my lip a mess of happy sores. "Now throw her away." Commander Black steps closer and her perfume gives me the strength to do as I'm told even when my hand begins to hesitate. Compliance wins out and I grip Brie tight, launching her into the opposite door and watching the beast crash through into the hangar bay.
Regaining her breath, Brie sits up on the other side of that doorway as handler's fingers clutch my shoulders and tell me that I'll never leave until I'm a finished product, a weapon who doesn't need her eyes to fight, a war it doesn't quite understand and does not have to.
My attempted kidnapper stands and stares at the two of us in the hallway... no, the corridor. The hurt she shows at the front door of the house haunts me like that vale. Not... wait... where am I?
"I... I can't say I didn't try. Enjoy your new life as a traitor to your own, flower... fuck. I'm off, then." Brie steps into the sun and those hooks prevent me from following her, I watch that back grow more distant as it cuts across suburban scene until I blink again and find her in the hangar, so far away already. Just as my eyes trace the sight of that craft Brie climbs into and I fail to understand what I'm looking at, how something shaped like that could ever hope to to take flight, Commander Black places mask over my eyes and I'm plunged back into my new world of darkness.
This is fine, this is good... It can only ever play out this way. How many times do I have to prove it, I wonder?
I never want to think for myself again.
Epilogue: Toi Toi Toi!
Uniform footfalls clack across the hall as the woman making them wears a mask of indifference to hide the frustration she feels at this unnecessary showing. The government here is atrocious, she feels the need for a gag to bite down on every time she's forced to explain herself to them when she should be getting on with her project back at the base.
"Ah, Nic. There you are, cutting it down to the fucking wire again... I thought you were gonna have me stall again, you're gonna get me fired some day soon you know? Or worse..." A woman with white hair she jokes is from the stress and not her partner's bleach scratches the back of her head, lips pursing tight when she sees how soured Nicole's mood is. "Yeah... they knew it was coming, right? Think they're gonna grill you about stage four again? There must be another way! What happens to us! It's an unnecessary risk!"
"Shepherd, do me a favour and give my ears a rest from your ah... lovely voice. I'm trying to think, what do I even say to those imbeciles? No offence, I suppose." Commander Black rubs her brow and walks the corridor beside her deputy commander who laughs drily at the unnecessary tact.
"None taken, ma'am, I don't share very much in common with our heads of state despite... well, the obvious. Hey speaking of, I thought you were gonna bring her along today? Then you'd get this 'lovely voice' in stereo, right?" Nicole's subordinate chuckles, seeming to have ignored her superior's request to cease her chatter. It's a symptom of nerves, not everyone is so efficient at bottling it all up.
"Hmph... hardly, she only speaks when I allow it. A loudmouth like you could learn a thing or two, really. Are we all set for this afternoon?" Her pace slows, Nicole knowing her audience awaits and feeling the usual jitters of stage fright. It could be worse, she could be Joy Williams, poster child for dramatic irony on a level the world has never before seen.
Shepherd thinks for a moment before nodding confidently. "Oh you mean the field excursion? We got the green light but like... we're taking the girl out so soon for something this dangerous? Last skirmish between Gala and Moth, you almost killed each other... guess we're still working on getting divorce lawyers back eh?"
"She'll be fine, all being well she should be a natural right? Isn't that the point? Ideally I wanted to have addressed this council after the first operation, then I'd have actual hard data to throw in their fucking faces. 60% or more and they won't have a leg to stand on, they're probably making me come here first on purpose."
The two stop in front of the door as a guard waits patiently, remembering the last time it pre-emptively ushered Commander Black into the room before she had been prepared and shuddering at the memory of what happened to that body.
"I'll wait out here, it's a little freaky seeing your own face staring down at you from every angle, got enough to unpack with my therapist having you as a boss." Shepherd pats Nicole's shoulder and gives a reassuring smile, both of them knowing that Black will stop at nothing to make sure she's permitted to continue even it goes straight to the top. If they think she's not prepared to talk directly to the leader of this new world order, they're forgetting their history awful quickly.
"It won't take long, wait for me and I'll buy you a drink after."
"Whatever. Break a leg, you devil."
Chapter 4: In Comes the Inter-mission
Chapter Text
Prologue: Start of the Roll Call
I guess the cat's out of the bag, huh? This is as much a story of supers as your own definitions can be stretched, a mental coil pulled taut as a leash around our heroine's throat.
Of course, genre trappings are subjective. Was Murmur's chapter a story of capes, or simply another play in the golden theatre that has this city gripped in gloved hand? The audience is forced to sit, their rapt gaze an assured certainty under fear of being bent back into shape. The hammer of conformity strikes hot against any who may let their ego show and make a play for their own production. This is a story of pretending to be someone you're not, and so it's only natural that the story itself would do much the same.
Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and... well, you won't be crying for long. By the time the curtain is called you'll be bright and beaming, a perfect model of acceptance, lest you peek behind and find these rearing ugly truths she protects you from, a gracious golden gift to be spared your history.
And when the world is whole again, when rivers of spite flow her way in the coming decades, it'll be her pleasure to be despised as she was once adored. Adorned, perhaps, with nail marks and dark purple reminders of the duty seen done.
An impulsive crow could never. Misty was far too tired to understand her own ambition until it was too late. A true hero never--
"Where are you right now?" A white haired younger woman wearing the face of Nicole's current project smiles knowingly, reaching out to grasp her commander's face and pull upon those distant cheeks. "Certainly ain't with me, you really know how to make a woman feel special huh? Let your mind wander too much and it won't find its way back, Nic."
Nicole smirks reflexively, looking over at the bar from their booth at the side and swatting away her handsy subordinate who's had one two many beers. "I'm getting life advice from a girl half my age who can't even hold her liquor, you're all just such pushovers huh? Even Envy when it really comes down to it, she just won't come out and admit that. That brat needs a wellness check, I think she's jealous."
Shepherd laughs with a hiccup that makes her blush in embarrassment, sitting on her hands and leaning forwards with a light pout of her own. "Hey, I'm not her you know? Either of 'em." Don't get any funny ideas alright?"
The woman who traded gold for black now sits in purple, a dress she hasn't bothered to dig out of her closet since the last date she went on with Misty. She's glad she made the effort, enjoying the way her company has been stealing glances at that open back all night. "Oh sure, you're definitely convincing me you're not a brat with reverse psychology like that. Want to know what I see when I look at your faces, all of you, I mean? Toys for the taking. And you are just like them, deep down you're all the same person right? You like it."
Nervous fingers work at undoing the top few buttons of red satin shirt, Shepherd turning her face away with feigned disapproval at such poisonous, degrading words. Legs uncross in high waisted black slacks and she steals another glance at her superior's gorgeous dress. Did Nicole seriously dress up just for her tonight, after that awful meeting it's clear she means to blow off steam and the white haired woman is all too happy to facilitate. "I thought she was your toy now, that pet project of yours? Guess you don't need me..."
Nicole wraps her arm around Shepherd's back and slides it down to firmly hold her hip, pulling the woman closer on the cushioned bench they occupy. "She's a collaborative effort, a toy to be shared, but you... you're all mine. Only mine. It's cute that you'd be jealous of her, I was only ever thinking of you when I fucked her. It only confirmed my suspicion that you're the same, though, she reacted to my touch just as well as you do. I told her I knew just how she liked it and I was right, of course."
"Really? You were thinking of me?" Shepherd tilts her head up and finds herself desperate to sink into Nicole's arms even while they're in a public setting.
"Naturally, you're not so in denial about what you are, you just like to play hard to get don't you? It's attractive... acceptance, confidence in what you want. Wormed your way into my employ just to get closer to your hero, didn't you now?" A bright supernova of ego burns away everything but Nicole's never ending performance, the older woman taking a smug sip of her cabernet sauvignon as she waits for her flustered company to formulate response.
With coy smile, Shepherd undoes another button and shrugs. "You tell me, Nic, you do so love telling people what to think, right? Hey, I wanna meet her, maybe I could take over a session."
"As I said before, swapping out handlers is liable to roll back their progress. You're too late anyway, the sessions are over. If you want to meet her you may but ah... you're sure that's such a good idea? Don't you daydream about being in her place, Shepherd?" The teasing words never stop spilling from Mrs. Black's corruptive tongue, lips painted over in rich purple gloss to match her outfit. This, too, is theatre. The woman's a true thespian, just as lost in her roles as that girl she's been training.
"Guess I'll loiter around the base long enough to run into her then if you're done with the fucked up part." Shepherd does not seem particularly conflicted with morality, like Nicole suggested she knows what she is well enough.
"It's all the fucked up part. Now I didn't take you out to discuss work, I'd rather leave that behind with that silly uniform if it pleases you? Just don't expect to acknowledge you as anything but my deputy commander while I'm donning the black." Nicole swirls her glass, beginning to feel impatient that they're not moving onto more... indulgent topics, such as how slutty Shepherd looks with so many buttons on her shirt undone.
"Hm, no fair. Would it be so bad if everyone knew about us? I mean... I'm pretty sure they do, but they probably think I'm just your plaything." The younger woman sulks, staring into the bottom of her beer bottle and blowing away a tuft of hair.
Unable to resist the urge to tease Shepherd in just the way she likes, Nicole sets down her glass and dips possessive fingers into that pretty hair. "You are just my plaything, my good little stress toy, that's why I made you my deputy in the first place. You're hardly qualified for the position but it means you're always on hand for if I need to blow off some steam. Even so, I've my duties, I'm no doubt the second most stressed woman in this damn city and the first only lays claim to that through ah... tangible proof even I can't deny. That being said, you think we look like close friends right now Shepherd? Sisters? If you're so determined to tell the world what a slut you are for me, go ahead and climb into my lap."
Shepherd feels her face heating up and knows she'd be a fool to blame it on the alcohol, looking out at the bar and wondering if she'd prefer to consider it half full or half empty, which is to say, they're definitely not in total privacy even in this booth off to the side. "Is that an order, ma'am?"
Nicole Black's deep purple lips curl in satisfaction, power is a potent drug and she's been an addict for longer than she cares to admit. "You're damn right it is. Hop on up, girl." The woman reflexively snaps her fingers, used to ordering her new rifle around and making an honest mistake what with Shepherd's appearance. The deputy commander does not appear all too displeased with the commanding snap, though it has certainly turned heads in the bar before she's even found her throne.
Blaming her lack of inhibition on the drink and not her own smouldering desire, Shepherd shuffles closer and places foot against the ground, hand on Nicole's shoulder. "You really are a rotten woman, Nic." With teeth digging into her lip, Shepherd pushes herself into her superior's lap and adjusts herself until satisfied.
A husky whisper drops into the white haired woman's ear immediately after settling down, making her shiver with a heady concoction of shame and delight flooding her system. "Good girl."
"Ah, Nic... is she heavier than me?" The subordinate looks down into her lap, loving this humiliating feeling more than anything else in the world.
Commander laughs, leading with biting kisses down the younger woman's neck, knowing she can be as rough as she likes with this one whereas she needs to keep her prize at the base in one piece, more or less. "You know we keep her on a stricter diet than 'Whatever you find in the fridge', right? So I'm not sure you'd like me to answer that one." A hand reaches over to hold Shepherd's head up, not letting her avoid any of the glances that come their way from the rest of the bar. Fingers fluff up the deputy's hair, her heart pounding out of her chest already. "Want me to put a new colour in soon? Maybe a nice purple like this dress you can't take your fucking eyes off, hm?"
"I... I hate you so much, Nic, you're a walking HR violation." Shepherd locks eyes with a passer by on their way to order another round, her gaze quickly flicking down to the floor with her face turning redder than her shirt.
"Awww, well I suppose I'll just have to make you like me again, you leave me no choice dear." Reaching into the bag sitting beside her, Nicole retrieves her makeup mirror and flicks it open to admire the face of a true narcissist smirking back at her. The woman in her lap squirms, her embarrassment developing tenfold.
"H-Here? Seriously? I... gosh... you're incorrigible." Shepherd can barely contain her excitement, mouth practically watering in anticipation of that Midas glow stealing her from the room.
The makeup mirror is brought forwards and angled appropriately, the two women locking eyes through its reflective surface. "Why not? You didn't deny my deductions over your daydreaming after all, so why not let me give you another taste of absolute submission, unconditional surrender to a force so powerful you couldn't hope to deny it. You don't, do you? Deny it, I mean. You want it, girl, and I'll only give it if you've the spine to admit so out loud."
Even without the gold, Nicole's stare is penetrative, laying Shepherd's unfettered lust bare and making self-serving platter of it. "Go easy on me, eh Nic? We've all heard the rumours about Wild Rosary by now, I know I'm not precious like the ginger but... I'd like to come to work tomorrow, be by your side when I can. All I got to look forward to, ehe..."
"Doesn't particularly sound like you hate me at all, and liars get punished. I'll take your suggestions on board but I suppose you're just going to have to trust me now aren't you? Let's not pretend the danger doesn't do it for you love, doesn't add to this excitement I can practically taste in the air. Seeping from your pores, a deep need to please me and do as you're told." Nicole licks her lips with satisfaction and Shepherd drinks in the sight with hitched breath, bouncing on her superior's thigh with a measure of desperation she didn't think herself capable of hitting.
"Y-Yes Ma'am."
And at long last, those pretty, perfect eyes take on an otherworldly glow. Shepherd finds herself mesmerised though not nearly as subjugated as she had been expecting, Nova's dim stare mocking her request for safety like keeping the woman intact is little more than a game to her date.
"They're so pretty... feels like I just downed five more beers... woah." Shepherd is sluggish, leaning back into her superior's hold and finding herself content to let the woman have her way.
"You've never been able to think at all when I've used it on you before, save for those thoughts of gold and 'Yes Lady Nova', of course. It's a nostalgic title, a ring of roleplay... I doubt anybody sees me as much a superhero anymore, hm? How about you?" It's no wonder they sent this woman to a shrink, though the world surely paid for doing so given the chain of events that followed, crashing dominoes of chaos and causality nobody could have foreseen. The therapist's dreams did warn her, of course, but she had forgotten all about them come morning. As punishment for her inaction she was to never sleep again, but that too came to pass.
"You're my hero..." Shepherd gives a ditzy grin at the dinner table, sinking into the lap of a woman twice her age and wishing she never had to blink.
A sardonic laugh falls into the sinking girl's ear and she giggles along with it out of instinct. "Ah, you're a funny one I'll give you that. Maybe I'm only finding similarities because I keep looking for them, but you really do remind me of my Misty. I think she must have seen it too, seen herself in that girl she decided to choose over the many others who came before. Impulsive, needy creatures, you just need a proper leash to stop you running away with your temptation. A gilded cage to keep you flying off and leaving me behind. I won't lose you as I did her, I'll save the world and then... I'll await your weekly visitations with bated breath, pretty."
"Nic... what if we're wrong? What if we can't--" Shepherd's next question is lost into the ether as the stare of submission intensifies reflexively, Nicole having very low tolerance for doubt at this late stage.
"Spread your legs. Don't worry the onlookers won't see, not unless they're retrieving their glasses from the floor in some comically timed skit. The food on the table looks lovely, dear, but you'd look much more at home begging for scraps beneath it. For now I've the mind to have you fight off orgasm to spare yourself the public embarrassment for, oh, as long as it takes for me to lose interest in your cute little whines." Not waiting for Shepherd to execute her orders, Nicole impatiently begins unbuttoning Shepherd's slacks. Slow, teasing touch pushes them down to mid thigh, hand sinking deep between the other's legs and yanking them apart. Shepherd gasps, drunk on the physical attention and the thrill of being so public with Commander Black, the alcohol in her system is the least intoxicating element she needs to worry herself over in this moment. Ever possessive fingers slide around to hook into her underwear and harshly pull it aside, the room's breath blowing against Shepherd's excitement and making her lightheaded. "Eyes up here, doll."
"A-Ah... gosh..." Gold reflects into her eyes and Shepherd feels the submission take hold of her like a clenched metal fist encasing her in corridors of want, fields of desire ripe for the harvest, a sudden urge to be good and let the older woman get away with anything she wants no matter how indecent. "Mmmeltiiinnnggg..."
"I haven't even started touching you yet, dear... you're certainly standing at attention like a good military woman, but you're dripping all over that nice lingerie I bought for you." Nicole's generous fingers stroke up Shepherd's stiffness, gripping it in her hand and redirecting that lust over her thigh. "Never knew I could have a taste for these things until someone as cute as you turned up to change my mind, I've always been partial to the strap but only using it of course, do you remember the glass one in my office? A lifetime ago, wasn't it?"
Nicole's subordinate twitches and throbs against that firm, commanding hold, too lost in the stare of submission to do anything but answer the woman plainly. "Yes... I want you even more than I did then... you're just..."
"Hmhm~ I may not be a heroine anymore in the eyes of the masses, but to sex addicted sluts like you I'm better than heroin. Ready for your next hit?" Mrs. Black's eyes dim again, fractionating Shepherd between different intensities of trance as her fingers barely even move, holding a twitching cock that doesn't need anything more than the warmth and softness of her superior's confident touch.
Shepherd almost chokes on the air in front of her, nodding eagerly and forgetting that she was ever in a room with other people, all that exists to her now is a golden goddess, as greedy as she is giving. All that exists to her now is pleasure in abundance, overwhelming her as it has so many who came before.
Pupils dilate with hearts practically encircling them from how dreamy and distant her gaze into the mirror becomes, Shepherd pledging herself to Nicole in mind, body and soul. Again and again she gives herself up, because at the end of the day, she's just the same as the rest of her wretched kind.
It isn't long before she's a mess of mewl and writhing, Nicole's lap becoming a hotbed of pleasure she'd gladly kill to remain benefitting from. As the encore of a second climax finds itself smothered into silence by Nicole's hand around Shepherd's slutty mouth, the white haired woman can distantly hear the roll call begin. It's not an alphabetical head count, however, and she finds her name being called first.
Time to look sharp, Shepherd!
Roll Call: Shepherd Stalks the Hangar
I reach for the ironed uniform sitting on my bed and sigh in memory of my date last night, at least what little I can remember from it. Nicole never brings me home now that she's busy with her project, so I've naturally come to resent that harlot stealing my partner's attention. It's an appropriate response to feel spite in this instance, I think, so I decide not to reprimand myself for the ugly spike of emotion that I have to swallow back like bile whenever I think of them together at work. I'm not entirely sure if Nicole thought I was being serious or just peppering her ego when I mentioned wanting to meet her new rifle in the flesh, but I've never been more serious.
It should be cathartic to clear the air between us, even though I'm sure it will be a very one sided conversation given all I've heard about her training. Since the sessions were completed I have not managed to pry very much information from Nic's insatiable lips, nor have I managed to get myself invited to any of these field tests I'm in charge of getting the green light for. It hardly seems fair but I digress, my superior has never been one to concern herself over something so petty as fairness. Her way of thinking is on another level to mine completely, like she's devoured her own empathy whole and replaced the void with sickening self-assurance. Since the count began, results are all that make her happy. She'll get her 60% or the entire world will come to regret it.
With impatient tapping of my foot as if I have any better use of my time while under Nicole's neglectful command, I stalk the hangar bay. If they stuck to the schedule I outlined after painstaking effort to get these damned things seeing some action, the test should be ending shortly. Of course there's no guarantee they won't run over but I'd expect Commander Black's training to have hammered in a stern sense of punctuality, discipline has to be her second favourite word after 'me'.
There's no doubt Nic herself will be entering with her project in tow, making me nervous to see the woman again so soon after she scrambled my thoughts over dinner last night. By the time we got to the food it was already cold and I could barely lift my fork. I'm sure my superior would have gotten a kick out of having to cut my steak and feed it to me in small mouthfuls, the mere thought has me blushing to myself as I can't deny the allure of being pampered by a woman like her. Better still than pampering, I'm anticipating punishment over our next aligning free period... she won't take kindly to my ambushing them here, even if I did announce my intent last night. If I still thought Nicole paid attention to a word that came out of my mouth that isn't 'Yes', I'd be the airhead she likes to paint me as in her passionate teasing.
I'm not just a pretty face, I'm a dignified woman with my own high ranking position regardless of how I attained it. My work speaks for itself I think, you don't spit on the help. Ah, that's a poor analogy in this instance, I'd be a throbbing mess if Mrs. Black did that, she even has the decency to stick around for aftercare on most nights she mistreats me. Maybe she's fucking right, we really are all the same, I can bleach my hair but strawberry submission lingers and binds.
Is this our lot?
Thunk!
The sound startles me almost as much as the quaking that tests our base's structural integrity, what an unnecessarily harsh landing! I understand Nicole's entrances to be as delicate as a dancer, so have no trouble surmising who just returned to base and find my heart rate picking up. That was not the disciplined landing I had been expecting from a well trained rifle, it was so loud I didn't even hear Nic coming in alongside her. With hot breath blowing a tuft of silvery white hair from my face, hands deep in the pockets of combat trousers that have never seen the outside of an office before today, I steel myself for confrontation. I'm not expecting much of an exchange with the toy itself, obviously, but Nicole's mood could go either way here and I'm beginning to wonder if this was such a good idea. I'm a Shepherd with no flock, you can hardly blame me for letting curiosity get the better of my judgement every once in a while.
As I find myself helplessly lost in thoughts that get me nowhere fast, I hear the door to the hangar bay beep in anticipation of sliding open and revealing my commander and her tool for 'war'. After a few seconds it becomes apparent that the recent repairs to the door after an escaped detainee was unceremoniously launched through it... were not so successful. We've barely a functioning government and our military is a sideshow of its own, it only tracks that maintenance and repair would be just as tardy.
Suppose they'll have to go around... which means I've been loitering in this corridor for the past half hour for noth--
Crash!
The muscles in my upper back clench and I brace for an impact that never comes, the faulty door slamming down onto the ground as chunky boots step over it in a nonchalant manner that you'd come to expect from a weapon with no real opinions of its own. It's just that, when I turn around, I find myself puzzled at the sight of said weapon entering the corridor by itself. Synthetic rubber creaks with each indifferent step through the corridor, Nicole's shiny new toy wearing a leather mask over her eyes with chrome grey metal covering. Cropped red bomber jacket hangs from the girl's shoulders, the sleeves not currently in use as the striking garment hides those arms tightly bound against her back. Did she really just kick the door down instead of going around? Actually, with her sight permanently robbed does she even know the other routes to her room here in the base?
Finding my voice again, I realise I need to raise it before this thing bulldozes me on her way through the thin corridor. "Hey, you... where's Commander Black? Are you supposed to be wandering around by yourself?" It's not the most authoritative speech I could have given, but at least now it's aware of my presence.
Nicole's project stops just a metre away from my straightening form, high pony tail and parted bangs in that lush natural colour making feel like I could go back myself once the roots grow back in. To my surprise, her emotionless expression dies out like flickering flame and her face comes to life, a confident smirk daring to touch her lips. "I am, which you would know if you worked this floor. Question is, then, are you supposed to be bothering me? And... why do you have my voice? If you're one of Envy's spies I can kill you with just my legs, probably."
She's not at all what I was expecting already, that curl on her lips making me want to strike her for insubordination even if she does make a good point I decide to brush aside. "I'm second in command here, so I'll address whomever I so please thank you very much. I want to know where Commander Black is."
"Handler? She stayed behind a little longer to fight Envy's doll, I think she got a little too into it but I'd never suggest as much to her face hehe... uhm..." The weapon suddenly closes the distance between us in a flash and I forget she has Nicole's superhuman powers even if she no longer possesses that which unites the rest. Masked face invades my space without a care for hierarchy, she only has to answer to Commander Black and the unexpected brat appears to be well aware of this. So long as Nic is happy with her progress, the leash can be as long as it needs to be... so that's how it is?
"Wh-what are you doing?" I know exactly what she's doing but I'd like her to explain it herself, the tool is more intimidating than I was prepared for as she encroaches upon my personal space and inhales through her nose.
"You sound just like me, but you carry handler's scent, the perfume that makes it so hard to think or be disobedient. Funny, then, that I've no compulsion to follow your orders while you sound all pouty and bothered. Do you not like me or something? Wanna talk about it?" Nicole's ace grins as she connects the dots in her head, making me wonder why my superior hasn't removed all this unnecessary personality like I assumed she had. "Ohhh, you smell like her so... that means you're close to her right? Or like, she plays with you too, I mean. Is this a jealousy thing? Even if you're not with Envy you're certainly feeling it, huh? Envy. That's fun..."
She's getting under my fucking skin so easily it's humiliating. My hand reaches down and I remove the stun gun from my belt, gripping it tight with whitened knuckles. "You'll follow my orders if you know what's good for you, whelp. Unlike you, I'm still a person, so you'd better--"
The woman who once called herself Hope lays her weight upon me and with a turn of her step has me pinned tight against the corridor wall, held in place by just her flat torso in its neoprene prison. Only a slither of her body is on display at her midriff, displaying the woman's navel and that horizontal scar she got a long time ago. "Not a very strong one, it would seem. Go ahead and shock me if you want, I fucking live for that feeling, you've no idea. Maybe your problem is that you're just a person. Anything that gets in the way of my mission handler says I'm allowed to--"
"Oh that's so fucking rich coming from you, of all people." My anger is all I can hide behind to shelter these mounting nerves, trapped between flat wall and impressive abs I'm ashamed to admit set our otherwise identical selves apart. "None of us here are just people, Joy, that's why we're here. I'm not jealous of a means to an end like you, let's be crystal clear on that. You might be Nic's hope, but I'm her woman. It was nice to meet you, traitor, but I've got places to be." For the first time in weeks I channel my vines, snaking them around the other's ankles in preparation to pull her into my orchard; she won't find any fruit to her liking in mine, only peaches white as my hair and the kicker's that we're both allergic. Guess it's as good a reflection of my state of mind as any, given my toxic dependency on Mrs. Black this broad only scratches the surface of.
"So you are like Envy, that's concerning but ah... it's above my clearance I guess, handler can keep her secrets so long as we all dance to her tune right?" The weapon grins and lifts her leg, grinding heel into my roots without a hint of fear that I'll use them.
"Does... does Nic know that you're like this? This isn't discipline, it's--"
"I'm very well behaved for her, I'm exactly where she wants me to be. Run your mouth to mommy about how I spoke to you and I'll tank the next mission." She presses closer, her bodysuit creaking and flattening against my uniform. Nicole's stripped her of shame and inhibition, letting the brat wear her desires plain when she knew to hold back before. It really is the opposite of discipline and yet according to reports she's more tamed than ever, I'm sure it's a well meted give and take that I've just intruded on without thought for the consequence. "I'll totally fuck it all up, I'll ground myself in the dirt below, and I'll tell them I couldn't focus because you intimidated me."
"Ah... you're." As the superpowered weapon pushes its leg between mine and brings her head over my shoulder to whisper that last part into my ear, I feel shame flood me like a drug and stiffen into her thigh helplessly. I'm so desperate for her to ignore it as I feel myself getting more turned on by the second, Nicole's made me so weak to any sort of dominance taking place in public setting.
"You're getting off to this?" The tool hums in satisfaction, pushing her leg deeper into my crotch and making me groan out into that strawberry scented hair with a hint of oil slick. "I certainly don't have one of those, neither does Envy last time I checked. Suppose this is probably the only reason handler keeps you around now that she has a better trained toy who knows not to overstep her bounds, hm?" Lips brush my ear as I fight and lose against oncoming shiver. "Variety."
It's our lot, she tells me in a single lecherously loosened word. Tongue tickles my ear and hot breath makes mess of my composure, I can iron this uniform as much as I like and still feel crumpled. "Y-You've made your point, toy, but I don't think Nic would appreciate you being out of your room for this long."
"She likes it when I'm challenging, or I wouldn't still have my legs to carry me or my tongue to taunt insecure officers coming from other floors to embarrass themselves in front of their inventory. I run my mouth and Commander Black reprimands me for it, it's a mutual arrangement since I've stopped pretending I don't savour being so broken. Shatter morals, responsibility, doubt... I've my orders and my playtime, you don't factor into either of those as far as I'm aware and I'm not convinced that you aren't a spy for The Garden and its High Empress. Still... you're turned on by me pinning you here and pressing against you? Imagine if I had my arms~" Nicole's trophy titters and I realise that, while I initially thought she had warped its personality for some game of hers, this is simply Joy, or Hope, in her most honest form. No longer bound by the shackles of her humanity, she can admit exactly how much of a sex-driven slut she's become over these long years of being used.
"I'm not removing your bindings, okay?" I can't help but stare, utterly fascinated by this woman at her most raw and unrefined form, broadcasting lust with just a sultry, eager mouth left for her to emote with.
"Then I'll show you with my tongue. Let me demonstrate the difference between us, how better I'm able to please your woman when it's all I have to worry about while you've other priorities, the tedium of a life outside the confines of a handler. Here's the discipline you've been searching for, flower." Teasingly slow, I watch with horror, excitement and arousal as her face shadows mine and forceful lips pry mine apart with ease, her tongue delivering on its promise to spell the rift in our experience. I shamefully melt against the rough, overpowering kiss deliberate in its high volume, suckling tongue and smacking lips until Nicole's weapon has had its fill of me.
I'm lightheaded, pulled into submissive headspace by the most unexpected candidate around, the world's most free use slut reducing me to the dirt clumping the soles of her boots.
"There. Gosh... the entire time Envy had me, though I suppose that never really happened, she never let me get close to those perfect lips of hers. Soon enough she'll come to pay dearly for that, though to tell you the truth I hardly care which direction I'm aimed anymore. I can't defect now though... handler's just better at it than they were? She fits me like a glove, indulges me, permits my worst tendencies for her own thrill. Kissing Envy was on my bucket list but you're a good enough consolation prize, whatever the hell you are." Her weight finally eases off and the weapon turns away indifferently, finished playing with her new toy while I'm desperate for release now that she's got me all pent up.
"Nicole will never love you..." I know I'm acting shamefully, but she's right, insecurity has me in its vice and the pressure is nauseating.
Without turning back towards me, bent elbows clad in black peeking out from beneath that bright red jacket, Commander Black's hope speaks calmly.
"I don't care, it's not her love that keeps me well behaved and gives me purpose. She won't love you either, which seems to bother you much more, so look out for yourself alright? That woman's love has long since run aground."
...
"Yeah..."
Roll Call: The Weapon Turns On
Deciding not to taunt that pitiful imitation any further, I step through the door after it reacts to the pass hanging from my hip. With casual march I return to my room and wait there patiently, no longer wondering so obsessively about the world outside these walls when I have everything I need here with her. Going out on field tests is an enjoyable reprieve from the base, but this is still my favourite room when I'm paid visit and reduced to toy by hands that know they needn't be gentle. Drifting in corridors of black for so long during my period of deprivation really rewrote my priorities, it gave me the time and clarity required to finally accept what a selfish creature I truly am. The writing was all over the walls, you need only look outside to see proof of my depravity, but now that I've been permitted to revel in it I truly feel that I've been set free. She stripped me bare and then reapplied the makeup in a manner most fitting, a whore without a day job to distract her from her desire.
I am of course, still her rifle at the end of the day. Should she demand my grip and hook finger around trigger I'll do my duty in a heartbeat, I need her approval more than oxygen or this new lease on life will fall to pieces and leave me feeling hollow. With a contented hum I drop onto my knees beside the bed and practice sitting on my calves again for a little while as the ticking clock fractionates my mind into a thousand tiny pieces.
After an undisclosed amount of time passes, the door to my room swings open and I'm shaken from the light trance, turning head towards the room's entrance and giving a trained smile; not too neutral, but not so eager as to appear wild. As much as I loved bragging to that imposter about how much of a challenge I can be, the truth is that the longer I'm made to wait, the easier the woman finds me. Over time I'll only become easier and easier, more susceptible to her smug instruction, wanting to be nothing but good lest I lose meaning in my continued existence here in this fail state of Joy.
See, this isn't just brainwashing that can be removed with a firm slap like in the comics, she's changing my default and I find myself a willing assistant. I'm not only content to kiss my humanity goodbye, I'm complicit in it. I can't wait to be completed, make handler happy at my own expense and relish in how pathetic it is that I won't lift a finger to stop her.
"Good afternoon. It's good that you're already on your knees I suppose, hell of a fucking skirmish... she can't be hit at all, it's infuriating. You'll make for good stress relief, though I've got to be honest you're in direct competition with this cigarette I've been waiting on all day." Pronounced footfalls describe my handler's journey to the window, prying it open and sparking flame with the lighter in her hand. I'm made to wait patiently as the base commander takes a long drag and sighs out in relief, my imagination running wild at what she might look like in this moment. My mind paints a perfect picture of handler in striking black against the room's white, blowing a puff of smoke like a dragon sitting over her hoard. The woman won't love me, but I am her treasure, so I know that she'll take very good care of me in the end even if she doesn't mind taking the necessary risks. "You know, Misty made me quit these deathsticks in the first place and now she's got me back on them, competitive bitch. I know I'm fighting with ghosts here but I can indulge the distraction, I'm fairly certain I can't get cancer so what's the harm in a vice or two, hm? Haven't I earnt it?"
My head perks up and I nod emphatically. "Smoke until your lungs are as black as the rest of you, I say."
"My, someone's feeling themselves today, impressive confidence given you had to return to base early. I let you play pretend at having a personality because it amuses me and because I know you mean to burn out on it in time, but I do hope you remember what you are?" Commander Black turns away from the window and sits down on the bed, kicking a boot onto my thigh as she takes another drag from her smoke.
"Of course, I'm your weapon. Anything else is unnecessary fluff that can be switched off at the snap of your fingers. I've committed to you because you know how best to defile me. I'm devoted to you, handler, because you take my shame away and let me revel in my own depravity. I'm obey you unconditionally, handler, because you don't maintain any pretence of treating me as anything but a rifle. I... you can put your cigarette out on my tongue and I won't even flinch, promise, I'll speak with a lisp for however long it takes to heal if it satisfies you." Shuffling on my knees to better face my handler, I let her perfume turn my pride inside out, complete mental prolapse. Slowly, my tongue lolls out and without my eyes to watch closely I'm unable to ascertain the level of contemplation on the good commander's face, unable to accurately know if and when that sudden burn will press down and set my ego ablaze at personal suggestion. I'd let the woman make my mouth her personal ashtray and thank her for the trouble. I seem to take pleasure in knowing that if this time we spend is undone and reduced to but a vision, my existence will be a permanent cigarette burn against that naive superhero's mind that will hopefully allow handler to take advantage even more efficiently next time around.
"You're my ticket to the ninth circle, girl, I hope you know that." I can almost feel her perfect golden eyes greet gunmetal gaze, a hand reaching forwards to ruffle my hair while she takes another drag and contemplates my offer. "I won't hurt you today. Despite your blunder with the rook today, I'm actually very pleased with your recent performance, in fact you've exceeded all expectations. Before I came here I checked your sync rate... 65%. It's really working, this is the fruit of my labour. A tool like you does not need to understand, but know how important you are to this world. I speak of the you before me, not that clump of formless clay I had to sculpt you from. Once, you were invisible, but now the world will notice."
"Then do I get a reward?" Is all that I can think to say, never quite following handler's more wordy rants. That sounds like a problem for the outside world, I'm perfectly content in my ignorance as Commander Black's leather grip tightens in my hair and makes me feel right in my place.
"You don't need one. You're still on bargaining I see, but it'll pass. That being said... I've mind to watch you whine for me before I call it a day here, so you'll get your pleasure as by-product of mine. For you, weapon, satisfaction and reward is... merely collateral." Handler leans over to pull open the bedside table's drawer, retrieving massage wand I know better than to touch while I'm in here alone. Leather harness hangs from the vibrator, monocolour mistress securing it tight to one of those long black boots and adjusting the speed to the lowest setting. Even without my sight I follow every step and know exactly what she's doing, waiting for that crisp finger-snap before pulling my hips up and lowering them back down against the woman's boot.
"Mmgh..." I sit upon the boot of the only person I crave the attention of in this world of Black, pushing myself forwards with arms still tightly bound behind my back and knowing the stimulation of this slow whirr won't get me off half as much as handler's toxic affirmation.
"I'm still feeling competitive after my other half showed me up yet again today, she was never much of a fighter in our past lives but she's more than making up for it in this new age. You told me about how you rode her boot, yes? I admire the discipline of the belt they put you in and the way they'd have you put on a whimpering show for them, sure, but allowing you to reach climax in that state is sloppy, it lessens the power of the symbol. In fact if she had trained you half as well as she thought she had in that precognitive reality, you would not have needed the belt at all. There's a saying: Easy to learn, hard to master. You've got a surprisingly high skill ceiling for one so easily claimed. I suppose this cycle of breaking you, the wheel you adore so even if you try to deny it in your lesser states, is a resistance training of its own. How nostalgic, perhaps you've still got a shot with the Nova Hero Agency, hm?" The woman produces a throaty chuckle devoid of amusement, still gripping my hair tight to keep me firm against her boot and the vibrator that I wouldn't pull away from to save the world. At a snap from my handler, though, I'd sacrifice my pleasure in a heartbeat. "I suppose what I'm trying to say is that you've likely come to consider yourself fragile goods, that you were always a weakling just waiting for immoral women to get their hands on your soft, malleable personage. A fragile mind would have fractured into a broken tool without any uses at all, you're compatible with my program because you know to lean into the drift, you seek the thrill of submission as an escape from the mundanity of your tedious little life. Even with faceless fans you felt invisible, just another extra in my theatre, but this? You don't truly break because we're not bending you into any shape you don't secretly approve of, for something to truly break you need resistance, not performance. I believe this is what makes you a truly pathetic person, Joy, and I thank you for it."
"Hahh... Joy? That's not..." With Murmur I could relax and throw myself against her leg, wrap hands around it and succumb to base instinct until the audience had been sated. With Commander Black, I need to focus on staying upright, train my body with every passing second to be her perfect tool... consequences be damned.
"No, it's not your name. Thanks for proving my point, rifle. You don't have a name, you don't need a name, does a craftsman name their tools? Does a soldier name their weapon? Sometimes, I suppose, but it's only ever at their owner's whim. You're perfect when you're with me, I know just how to treat you, how to take away the doubt and uncertainty and raise you up as willing participant in your own conquering." Handler's fingers pull my head back, tilting it up as I wait for her to claim my mouth with breathless anticipation. "You need me. Say it."
"I-I need you, handler, without your strict tutelage I'm... flawed." My words are simply an extension of her own, speaking just as she would, which suits the woman who loves the sound of her own voice just fine. Before I can take a breath from finishing my sentence, the woman invades my mouth and I melt against a tongue more powerful and commanding than my entire being. She had once feigned fragility in her efforts to manipulate me, but all pretence is dropped as I bask in the sheer vigour of her and die little deaths against vainglorious muscle in my mouth. This weapon's maw opens wider to allow her violation more freedom, supine spirit buckling against the ejected mass of an exploding star, obliterating supernova kisses until the twilight calls curtains.
Crepuscular glow spills into the room from the window handler left open, illuminating nothing as our dirty acts take refuge in the shade. A woman who is many things to me pulls away from her canvas of correction and wipes the spit from my slutty face with smooth leather touch. The woman is my handler, my commander, my mother and my lover. To her, I am simply a tool for her war on this world. My body is a rifle, see how it shoots.
"I can see you worshipping me from behind that pretty mask, want me to take it off?" Hand falls atop my head again and fingers spread. I feel the regent's sceptre, an accessory to my superior to complete her image.
"Never." My hips roll in steady uniform rhythm against the massage wand that vibrates the woman's boot. My pleasure is a rifle.
"Very good. I suppose it's rather telling that even sending you out with a team, that unrefined girl failed just as quickly as she had on her own. You were right about it being rigged, this was always to be your place once we reached the 30s... but still I had meant for you to spend a little more time with that pitiful team I prepared for you. Not many takers for the mission but honestly, they were perfect for what I wanted. All but that hellhound who advanced the script a little too eagerly, anyway, her haste has not appeared to have interfered much given your current rate so I suppose I'll let it slide. This is why I had to take over in the first place, The Garden is a disappointment compared to how I once ran the city and everyone knows it. You'll be fine with me from now on, flower..."
Her thumb pushes into my mouth and presses down my tongue, causing me to salivate as I pant against her supreme touch.
"So you can forget all about Brie."
Roll Call: Brood Scorns the Wheel
My fists shake with a quiet sense of violence I have no outlet for, sitting with legs spread and head hung low as Sage touches down in Envy's domain with a glance back at my slumped posture. To think that she'd use that tech of hers to rip me away from Hope before I could reach through to the stupid girl. It didn't appear that she was even registering my words by the end, her eyes appeared lost in a memory, or perhaps a fantasy. A vision, maybe, of a future folks like us ain't privy to.
"Hey, look sharp even if it's a bother, okay? Even if we took your memories of it, you're a big deal around here so you better carry yourself like the proud bitch you are! You'll be fine, Brie, wars only end when both sides stop fighting right?" Sage climbs down and opens the hatch at the back of this craft I'd be scrutinising every detail of were I not too preoccupied with thoughts of rust blonde infatuation. It's only puppy love, Brie, get your damn self together and face the music. That's right, once I exit this craft I'll be bending the knee and reigniting my loyalty to The Garden's Empress and I realise my chances to back out of that decision expired long before I boarded this craft.
Without certainty or grace, my boots land down onto the helicopter pad atop Nova tower and the view I'm given is enough to illustrate just how in the fucking dark I've been. "What's going on here, Sage?"
"I'm just a spare, I don't really have the authority to explain anything you see here. I won't blame you for being inquisitive but try to behave yourself in there alright? I'm going to stay here and fiddle with my girl here, Mint's as much a germaphobe as I am, go figure, and you were in her seat." Sage grins and looks back at the peculiar hulk of metal before us. If that thing is property of The Garden then what the hell was it doing in Nova's hangar? Did Sage use us to retrieve her stolen tech? Nah, that's too elaborate even for psychos like these.
"Dick... if I got it dirty just remember who wouldn't let me take a shower during my week of captivity." That's right... it took just a week for Nova's claws to sink into that girl's mind and have her launching me like just another foe. I feel compelled to try and help her, though I can't be sure it isn't just my lingering loyalty to Envy. Loyalty I mean to rekindle soon enough, even if it means my wants will no longer be my own. If I'm being completely honest the escape suits me just fine when I currently want what's definitively out of my fucking reach. "So I'm just going in there alone?"
"What, you're nervous or something?" Sage runs a cloth over the lime green paintwork, dragging her hand down to the orange section where the dirt is most noticeable. Do they not have dryads to do this for them?
"Not in the slightest..." Fists clenched by my sides, I turn my back to the woman who proves no help at all to my mental reservations. Envy's a user, they're all users... loving what they do to you doesn't make you any less of a victim, I think we'd all do well to keep that in mind. The kicker, of course, is that we can't. Knowing I won't be able to ignore the distraction should Sage decide to open her mouth again, I quickly make for the rooftop entrance and step hesitantly into tower interior.
Fledgling steps carry me down the stairs into Nova Tower's top floor, that penthouse office where Envy made her throne. As I push through the roof access door with hands in my pockets to show these people just calm and collected I am, I peer through the glass walls in the corridor to find the top floor office anticlimactically empty. Wanting to make sure, I open the door and enter just as elevator doors slide open behind me. I'm half way into the throne room, staring at that ebony seat fit only for an empress pushed off into the corner as a relatively mundane desk fills the centre of the room, when arms clad in black slide through my arms and delicately wrap themselves around my waist. Naturally I tense up, freezing in place against frigid touch that commands my stillness.
"I watched the Mantis flying up to the roof and got out of my meeting as soon as I could. I'm so glad you're home, Brie, even if you had to suffer Mint's piloting." Long, raven black hair spills over my shoulder as the floral scented woman at my back holds me close. I'm not even sure what to do or say, still paralysed by fear and confusion.
"I ah... Mint? You mean Sage, her sister?" Perhaps it's a coping mechanism of sorts, but I focus on the least pressing issue first instead of asking this woman who she is, how she knows me, or just what the hell is going on here.
There's a short pause before the woman nods her head against my shoulder. "Silly me, I forgot that you're..." Arms slip back and I quickly step forwards, turning my fastest 180 yet as I lay eyes upon the overly familiar figure. Long black bangs cover the left half of her face while the hair on her right side is tucked back, flowing down her back like a cape to complement the dark dress that hugs her shapely form. Deep burgundy lips part to speak and then purse, from just the right side of her face I can identify this woman, even when she's changed the rest of her body dramatically. The inner edge of that black curtain covering half her face has streaks of white, though I know better than to assume her a magpie.
"Envy?" There's uncertainty in my voice, even if her face is a dead ringer she looks far too... mature.
"My McIntosh, you look so lovely even with such complicated expression on that face I made for you. I know well that look you're giving me, though it's rare to see it so symmetrical." Envy steps forwards with echoing heel click against dark obsidian mirror. "Oh, where's your ring?" Her hand lunges and grabs firm hold of my wrist, vines spilling out from the open back of her gothic dress and flopping down onto that black, reflective floor. She tilts my hand and I'm too taken aback by the situation to fight her touch, staring down at the myriad rings I wear and recalling the only one I've lost since beginning the mission.
"O-Oh, that? What does it matter?" My gaze expertly shies away from the pitying glance that raises to meet me from single piercing eye. A chill runs down my spine at the implication that loop of gold could have meant anything to me.
"Where did you lose it?" Envy's voice takes on a stern, motherly tone that certainly fits her new look. This woman's the same height as I am while Hope had to lean up on the tips of her toes just to kiss me. Ah, dammit, I wish we had more time together... if Sage was on our side the entire time why did she have to go and ruin everything?
"I don't remember where, exactly. It all looked the damn same." I grunt out impatiently, feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the fact I've a gap in my memory that I was told I consented to, but never received proof.
Envy sighs and gives a thin smile, vines hanging down and sprouting into those tiny tendrils I remember all too well, her calm demeanour distracting me from that rapid plunge that drops me deep into floaty bliss. My entire body lights up with pleasure and I grit my teeth, staring the woman down as she probes my mind, feasting on memory from a week prior with a light curl to her lips. It's a wistful, nostalgic smile she holds as she pries into my personal affairs. "Ah, here. And... gosh, hers too?"
Numb delight keeps me docile and drooling, a line of spit dangling from my cracked lower lip as I succumb to her tendril touch. It's not a pleasure you can combat, my resistance a dull knife that finds itself wrapped up in her delicate warmth. Heat burns away the rough edges and I find soft smile creep onto my dizzy, drooling lips. And then, just like that, Envy notices my twisted reverie and ejects herself from my ears with an embarrassed laugh.
"You really should be more careful with your valuables, both of you." The woman states dismissively as I sag forwards with weak knees and her vines catch me in my fall.
"Oh yeah? Well you already took the crown jewels." I spit out with a bitterness I can't truly commit to, both of us knowing that this body makes me euphoric.
Envy scoffs, placing me back onto my feet while stepping past me to look out over the city, a view I choose to ignore for the sake of an already waning sanity. "Actually, I had no part in that. I was happy for you, though, before it all went to shit. I've been asking myself this more and more, recently, but is this our lot? In a way you're lucky, enviable, not knowing. Fiction is much more preferable to reality, Brie, perhaps this is the only thing I can bring myself to agree with that woman on."
"Are you... are you not going to reclaim me now? I've returned to you, semi-reluctantly I'll admit, and you're not unifying me right away?" I must sound pathetic, pleading for an easier defeat as I ignore the reality at my back.
"Ooh, is that what you want, McIntosh apples in my orchard once more? It would please me greatly to share my thoughts with yours more intimately, as we once had, but is it what you really want?" Envy's roots crawl across the ground, writhing in excitement and nipping at my boots. The self-styled empress turns away from the window and fixes her eye on mine.
Stepping closer as the roots climb up my ankles, I give the woman an accusatory glower to remind her I'm not currently so loyal and forgiving, so willing to frame her deception as a necessary evil. "Since when do you fucking care?"
"I'm more selective in my unification these days, love." Hope's spitting image stares me down intensely, her gaze winning out against mine even with half the eyes. My softened stare flicks down to those vines at my feet and I realise I understand much less about The Garden than I thought.
My mouth opens to ask her all the questions I have bouncing around my head, a frustratingly high number that seems to have increased tenfold over the past few minutes alone, but then I feel that lump in my throat and bite my lip.
"Better that you reintegrate gradually, organically, like the flowers in my garden ever sprouting hehe... I've been a bad mother to you all, it even slipped my mind that you'd be returning without a full deck. There's a girl waiting in your room, I let her up without thinking. Be gentle with her, she's a fragile flower, most of them are." Envy exhales air from her nostrils in a facsimile of snort, sitting down at her desk like she's about to clock in for a regular shift in the office. "Helena's outside, she'll lead the way as I'm guessing you no longer remember where you used to lay your head, at least for a time." The woman leans forwards on her elbows, intent to watch me leave as I look out through the glass to see a revised dryad waving at me awkwardly.
"Uh, thanks. Be seeing you, then." I'm not sure what else to say, making for the door in a scatter-brained shuffle as I consider just how differently this played out to what I'd been anticipating.
Envy taps nails against her desk restlessly, lifting her head up to see me off even if she appears like a woman with the weight of a world on her shoulders. "Take care, Brie, it'll... it'll all be over soon. A nightmare for my broodmare, just close your eyes and count the days."
"R-Right, sure." I exhale my final breath of cloying, compromised air before quickly stepping out into the hallway and breathing deep. It's not as concentrated as Peony's gas but it certainly carries the same scent, Envy didn't even seem aware that she was producing it, natural pheromones to a woman more plant than human. Speaking of which... my head cocks right and I shoot the dryad an unsure smile, realising that Envy called her 'Helena' and silently wondering what the hell that was about.
"Hey you, still too mindfucked to remember us?" The woman rests hand on her hip, smirking at this dumbfounded look on my face like she gets personal satisfaction from seeing me so lost. It's not like me to broadcast my vulnerability so openly, I suppose. "You said it'd be the highlight, forgetting us, though we suppose you wouldn't know huh?" I drink in the sight of her refined dryad form and give a lightly lecherous whistle to try and regain my defensive swagger. Envy's tree nymph appears much softer and fully realised than the beings of jagged bark I remember, her pale green skin adorned with darker green vines like tattoos that run over her limbs. No leaves protect her modesty, I notice, the smug dryad's slit glistening with dewy ambrosia. Her body is lathered in that golden sap I recently became reacquainted with, knowing that with just a touch she could weaponize my lust to make me disturbingly malleable for her.
"So, you're Helena? I only ever knew you dryads as Hive, if we called you anything at all." My hands slip into the pockets of this worn leather jacket, better keep them to myself around someone coated in aphrodisiac glaze.
The appropriately titled nymph gives me an inhuman laugh, telling me that she's more than used to this new form and feeling better for it. "We're all Helena, honey, we're no longer pretending to be anything else. We're proud servants of Envy's Garden, she freed us from a life in Nova's shadow and permitted us to lean into our new evolution. Hivemind is a dead moniker, discarding old names is a commonplace occurrence around here what with Envy and yourself being much the same. Helena is actually a resurrection of name, we endured so many years stripped of it until the silly nickname became all we were. Now if you're satisfied questioning this servant we should leave our Empress be and head down to your room, we kept it mostly as you left it."
"Good... I think. God, I'm so fucking turned around. There a bar in this building? You... Helenas... can do pretty much everything right?" It's weird giving a human name to something that seems to pride itself on being subservient plant collective living to serve their master's whims. Glossy fingertip calls the elevator and doors immediately slide open, indicating that it hasn't moved.
"Nova had us posted all around the city, undercover. We learned pretty much every single service profession to a high quality, though never knew we'd be so grateful for that experience in our immediate future. Envy really does treat us well, for what it's worth our pledge to her is an enthusiastic one." The self-assured dryad saunters into the elevator and I quickly follow in after, careful not to touch her still as we share the small space. As the doors slide closed I notice the change in atmosphere, the nymph's floral scent not quite as potent as Envy's but still dangerous in its own right.
The conversation seems to come to a natural end, my thoughts too occupied with that thick smog of lust that coats my lungs in constant threat as we descend the floors. Helena notices my struggle and smirks, mockingly fanning herself. "Stuffy in here? You're still the slut we remember, Brie, desperate for any distraction to take your mind off... hm? Wow, you really do have no tolerance to our kind huh?"
Is it really so obvious? I'm leaning my back against the elevator wall taking shallow breaths as heat surfaces on my cheeks. My judgement feels compromised as I stare at the dryad with newfound desire I can barely restrain, having spent most of my effort back in Envy's presence. Even if she isn't human, or perhaps because of it, I can't deny that exotic allure complimented with dryad drizzle. The sight of her, the scent of her, tickles the back of my mind and urges surrender in ways I know aren't natural. I'm not a submissive, I like to be in control, even if the majority of my time during sex is spent making sure my partner is having the best possible time. My own pleasure has never really been as much a concern as my satisfaction, I'm a hunter entertaining prey, I'm--
"Brie, mind if we get a little closer? We wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable, honey, but there might be other passengers. Here... why don't we just..." Without waiting for my response, mouth too dry to make one in time besides, Helena steps closer and smothers me in the rich ambrosial musk. I can feel myself growing weaker for her and I hate it almost as much as I crave it.
"Y-You're..."
"Want to touch it, the sap you keep staring at like a thirsty horse looking for water? My, once a mare... we remember helping our mistress convert that shy, awkward boy who looked like he didn't want to leave the house, into someone striking and prideful. She didn't even need to change your personality at all, you just finally had the confidence to let yours shine through without holding back. Helping people realise what they truly are is such a thrilling feeling, you've no idea. We Helena are responsible for Envy's sapphic awakening, though we're not so self important as to consider ourselves the only avenue leading to our empress reaching the throne. A compass does not celebrate its use, hm?" Helena giggles and draws a step nearer, making it harder for me to ignore just how overbearing her presence is now. Temptation is a crow, and I'm ever the hunter. Even in such a pitiful, vulnerable state, my lust becomes a beckoning caw.
"I uh... I'm not going to touch you... Envy told you to t-take me to my room, yeah?" Her body is so unique and alluring, a part of me knows that if I give in and reach towards the seductive dryad I won't be able to stop. I'll completely lose myself in her to take my mind off everything else, just like she said.
Helena hums, serene and unbothered by her own indecency as the sapphic nymph presses her slick body against mine, impossibly long tongue stroking over her lips in mesmerising motion. There is a celestial cruelty to her expression, one of a practiced whore stripped of inhibition in favour of becoming nothing but an unruly extension of Envy's dominance, an insatiable trophy not content to sit upon her shelf and behave as she should. This is a creature of temptation, Envy's deviant limb that succumbs to her own pent up desires all too quickly, miscreant mouth speaking sultry words with breath that heats my face. "Then... I suppose I'll have to do the touching, hm~?"
"Ah..." The dryad raises her delicate hand and I flinch instinctively, remembering the way she struck me back when Envy first made me into a woman for her, before I became one for myself. Instead of a smack, the hand approaches slowly and yet I do not tilt away, feeling soft and sticky palm caress my cheek with amorous smear. The love drug coats my skin and whispers sweet nothings into the pores on my face, lubricating my inhibitions until I start to lose grip on them. Her hand, heavenly sweet, cups my cheek as her lips draw near. "K-Kiss me?" I give into her provocation all too easily, there were so many chances to deny her advances and I watched the teasing temptress take every little step without uttering a word of serious protest. Intimacy like this is a plaster and I'm a rough and tumble woman. "Please? I'm--"
Ding!
My heart sinks, elevator doors sliding open and a shuffling of feet spilling into the stuffy cage that has my heart in jowls. Predatory vice touch even a huntress such as I can't compete with pets my cheek mockingly, Helena's eyes feeding off my embarrassment with succubus stare that holds my own.
"Ahhhhh, the nerve of that doll, thinks it's such a hotshot." One of the new riders exclaims with a sigh, throwing herself into the opposite corner of the elevator and whistling at the sight of us pressed against the wall. "Oh, Helena's found a new playmate."
The other woman returns a shy laugh, glancing over at us and shuffling closer to her companion. "If we count an extra dryad in the building tomorrow, we know why hehe. Envy's Darwinism, right?" I'm burning up at the way they're discussing us as though we can't overhear, my pride urging me to push away and compose myself while my current state of surrender firmly holds me back.
"Don't even go there, Aya, I'm paranoid enough around them. Think you've got it in you to swing by Tri's party tonight or do you wanna go straight home?" The one with the deeper voice nudges the other with her elbow and Helena notices me becoming distracted, tilting my face back towards her with a light squeeze of my sticky cheek that has me feeling meeker than ever.
"Ehh... she's no sister of ours, made that pretty clear. Not sure what she thinks she has to celebrate, honestly." Bitter speech has Aya's partner snorting unpleasantly in acceptance.
"Sure, sure. You realise I'm only so committed to the cause because I have a cutie like you to hang off the shoulder of, right?" Distantly I hear the shuffling of bodies as the more dominant of the two mirrors my own pose with Helena against the opposite wall, claiming her partner's mouth without a hint of shame in the fact that they're not alone. I suppose we started it, though Helena has yet to actually kiss me even after I swallowed my pride and pleaded.
The lovers' lips part and the woman pinned to the wall hums contentedly, clinging to the blonde boxing her in. "Laura..."
The elevator dings and Laura hovers over her companion, giving one last suckling kiss against the other's neck that's sure to leave a mark, I'd know. "This is us, babe." Speaks the blonde in an utterly smitten voice, making me feel slightly jealous as the two file out into the hall. Given what I overheard, I'm surprised they're not riding all the way down to the ground floor.
Doors slide closed and Helena giggles, stepping away in a motion that would make a weaker girl, like Hope, pout so cutely. "Didn't want to say hi to your old friends, Brood? Don't tell us you've forgotten those two as well?"
"Of course not, though I didn't know Firefly and Mana had gotten so close... it'd mess with my image to have been noticed like that, you're killing me here woman..." I find myself able to think just a little more clearly with the sliver of fresh air and the new distance between us.
"Oh my, you sound just like Nic. Image this, image that... how's this for an image Brie?" The tree nymph takes several steps back as that scent grows weaker, her back collapsing against the opposite wall where Mana had just been pinned, hips pushed out with two fingers dancing down to part that dewy slit. Helena presents herself proudly and I realise we really are alike in a sense, both gifted new forms we adore more than we could know how to express with words. Her expression is lewd and indulgent, the hand not between her legs giving me a show as she gropes at her own chest and pivots from scent to sight with her ceaseless seduction. "Really burn this view in, okay? We can bring in more bodies if that's your thing?"
"Why are you doing this?" I cross my arms, breath still irregular as I watch her with growing lust. Sometimes I still expect a stiffening in my pants, but this throbbing feeling really isn't much different.
Helena cocks her head, smirking derisively. "You think you're special? We're always hooking up when we can, plenty more lesbian sluts in the sea. We've five on the go right now, yourself included, so don't act like this means anything. Do you really not want to touch us? There's no place in Envy's garden for liars you know? Stop fooling yourself and fuck us already, hot stuff~" Her hips gyrate in the empty space, mouth-watering movement from such an erotic form. Helena appears to take satisfaction in making every part of her as pornographic as possible, she isn't just a nymph she's a nymphomaniac. The woman must have been holding herself back for years before such a tempting crow flew into her lap, these fucked up folks are liable to blame Joy for being too enticing to ignore, blame her weakness as irresponsible lack of self-preservation. I despise them all so much, and yet...
"So I can touch you how I like?" I'm only human, swallowing bile of shame, crushing my own disgrace in clenched fists as I find myself the one to close that gap between us this time around. "If I make you squirm, will it make all of you react? I don't feel like being gentle, okay?"
The dryad bites her lip performatively, laced touch dragging down my arm before gripping my wrist, pulling hand between her legs and letting me feel that power I crave even with her obviously in control. That's no matter, I'll have her breaking against my fingers soon enough, tightening around my touch like I'm the only one who knows how to fuck her right. I'm surprisingly good at this nowadays, I guess being part of the wheel occasionally has its upsides. "Take as much as you like, Brood, we can always give more."
I give the woman a snarky laugh, my hand gripping her sex with the dominance I know she loves, finally pushing into a kiss that coats my lips in her drugged sap. I dare not engage with her tongue just yet, imagining how much it must upturn rational thought given the pre-emptive tingles on my brain from just a precursory peck. "Mmgh... good girls get more." I mutter the slogan I adopted from this plant's former colleague, breathing deep her floral scent and letting my eyes flutter as her tempting body urges me into domspace.
"Oh shit, I lost track of time!" Helena suddenly pushes down on my wrist and gives apologetic smile, sap smearing my skin and making me more confused and needy than ever. "They're initiating the... mmh... I'm needed elsewhere, sorry!" The dryad's gaze dims and she appears to enter some sort of standby, leaving me hovering over her pent up and once more lost in all this madness. My chest rises and falls a few times without a word spilling from my lips besides 'fuck'.
After what feels like a century, the elevator dings and I realise it to be the floor Helena pushed the button for, lucky number seven. Not knowing where to go, I step out into the corridor and take a few uncertain steps while glancing back at the woman who made me all flustered for nothing... guess that's just my luck, huh? One of these days I'll learn not to let a good thing slip through my fingers, but it sure won't be today.
"Brie?" A voice from ahead ushers my gaze away from those closing elevator doors and I look down at the blonde who stops only a foot away, giving me a shy smile good enough to eat. "I ah, Envy said I could wait in your room but then I started to get nervous and then you weren't showing up and then--"
"Hey, calm down." It's only natural for the girl who leans into my touch as I hold her shoulders to assume that I'm talking to her. The sight before me is making me want to lie down and wake up in an alternate reality where everything makes sense again. She's the spitting image of Joy, or Hope, though her makeup is heavier and her hair is a pretty fair blonde. White lace dress hugs her curves expertly, small leather bag a matching ivory accessory hanging from her shoulder. "I... which one's my room? Wanna sit down and talk? I've had a day." Still having one, the prospect of getting to sleep sometime soon has never seemed like such an appealing escape before.
The girl who looks like Joy Williams nods with a smile that appears more rehearsed than genuine, leading me a few doors down and then knocking before laughing at her own mistake and turning the handle. Is this girl all there? I follow the ditz inside and close the door behind me, wondering if I should lock it before deciding against that for the time being. It's a fairly standard looking apartment, I remember Nova's whole speech about providing free living spaces for members of her agency who would benefit from such an arrangement. What a kind and wonderful woman, right?
"Sorry to ambush you like this, they said you'd left for a while but were coming back and... aha, I guess a part of me wondered if you'd actually moved and told them to say that." The Joy-like sits down on the edge of the corner sofa in the centre of the room while I take a moment to admire the view before joining her.
"Right..." I'm not sure if I should tell her that I don't even know who she is, as funny as that seems when I'm so familiar with that face returning weak smile.
"I didn't come here for uh, business. I just wanted to apologise to you about before, everything you said was right. I didn't know all the facts, Madam never bothered to inform me." The blonde folds hands in her lap after brushing a lock of hair behind her ear and giving another polite giggle. She's so cute, I feel sick to my stomach.
Without thinking, I shuffle closer on the couch and find myself unpleasantly aware of just how pent up I am after that elevator ride, not that I'm the type to take that out on others. The woman's perfume smells expensive, but it's not drugged with anything but the usual feminine charm. "Sorry, you're really sweet but... I don't quite remember what it is that you're talking about. What do you mean by uh, business?"
The girl whose name I've felt too awkward to ask for turns bright red and I'm not sure if she's flustered from embarrassment or frustration, shuffling in her awkward sitting position with lips parting slowly to respond. "Hey, I'm here because I was worried about you, don't act all clueless... I just didn't want you to think that I'd still come to offer you my services now I know... I mean, gosh that's messed up of them to arrange right? Y-You said so yourself, so why're you l-looking at me like that?"
Huh? I sit up straight like a predator caught reeling back for a lunge, scratching my cheek and wondering how I was looking at her. I won't pretend I'm not attracted to her, I was foolish enough to think I had a chance at something more meaningful with that prey I'd picked up all too briefly. If I blame any lecherous stares on Helena working me up, I'm no better than her after all, so I compose myself as best I can with an embarrassed chuckle of my own. "Sorry, sorry! You're really cute, no offence..."
"Well of course you'd think so... why would I be offended by that?" Her blush lights up the room, even if her presence here should give me pause.
"If you're... what I think you are, a professional I mean... I don't think I'd be so against receiving your services. Cute girl like you, I'm not sure what kinda stick past me had up her ass but I'm... I could really do with something like that right now, though I'm not sure if you've got a tab?" I feel so slimy, but am I do anything wrong? If she's an escort in my room, blushing at the mere charm of me... god I sound like such a fucking narcissist, I don't want to prove Helena right and sound anything like that woman.
The girl stares at me, searching my face for deception like she's worried I might be mocking her. Her confusion really makes me wonder what the big deal is here, realising I've no idea what the appropriate way to talk to a sex worker is. Dignity and respect, of course, but I still worry I might be stepping on toes somehow. I wanted to take this woman's doppelganger over the sea to places untold and now I'm considering using her spitting image as comfort and distraction... yeah, I can see why that might be just a little fucked up. Still, I can't stop thinking that she's cute, it's driving me up the damn wall.
"You're always calling me cute. I really hope you mean it."
"You serious? Being as cute as you are should be a crime, I mean it. I'm not sure what to even do with it all some days."
"Well then I'm an outlaw, aren't I? So I think you need to tie me up until the powers that be come and lock me away with all the other cute criminals."
"Careful what you wish for, Flower. C'mere."
"H-Hey, what're you doing?" My company pushes me back with a hand against my advancing face, looking like she's about to kick me in the sternum for just a second before reconsidering.
I'm snapped back into the room and reel back with doe-eyed stare, landing my ass onto the couch and swallowing drily. "I-I didn't... I wasn't... shit, I swear I'm not that much of a scumbag I just--"
"It's okay, really. I think I found the culprit, she must've got you good huh?" Joy-like holds her hand into the light, revealing the traces of aphrodisiac sap and giving me convenient excuse for my sudden advances, her smile a sweeter one than I surely deserve.
Perhaps she's right, like the coward I am I'm all too eager to take the easy out and ignore that strange moment. You can't fuck a gal twice and then act overly familiar with her... clone? Sister? I'm realising I know so little about the woman this could well just be a twin, without all the superpowered fuckery I mean. "Thanks, no offence but I'm kind of surprised you've got the freedom to uh... y'know."
"Well, it's not like I want to refuse a hothead like you, gosh you're like... just my type. If mother requested it directly I'd do it, if I thought it'd help her I'd do a lot of things... not that all of us see eye to eye on that, she's used some of us for terrible things and can't just take that back, you know? Like the forest on North Star Island or that proxy. Then there's the one Nova keeps as a pet, truly pathetic..."
"Hope? I mean uh, Joy?" I can't help but interject, leaning forwards again but keeping my hands to myself. The 'mother' she's referring to must be Envy, painting an odd picture as I wonder just how many splits she's made in the short time I've been away. Am I missing something obvious here?
"Oh, no. A different kind of traitor, this one sucks up to Nova out of choice, our childish crush on that woman seems to be all she lives for now." A different kind of traitor, huh? The words play on my mind and sour my mood some, sitting back again and inspecting this woman who sits on my couch. She's her own person now, does Envy think herself a god to create new life like this? Free will can be a terrifying thing, on that I can agree with the girl who seems to flee from it every chance she gets.
"You're happy, then?" The lust wears off in the face of this strange new reality, my legs crossing in a relaxed sitting position after I shrug off my jacket.
The Joy-like laughs into her hand, standing up as though my words were meant to kick her out. "I won't charge you for the chat, Brie, but I should get back to work now."
"Right... Hey, for what it's worth, I really don't know what past me's problem was. You're just my type, too. Kinda feels like she's cockblocking present Brie." My eyes trace her journey to the door and I fiddle idly with my rings, desperate to go back to our shitty little team-up led by Sage, when everything made perfect sense.
She turns with a smile, hand on the door knob and a pitying look in her eyes. "Want me to send up one of my colleagues?"
There's a pressure in my head, like a bullet boring through the skull. "Nah... I doubt she'd be half as cute."
"Such a charmer, hehe, goodbye Brie." A wilting wave and the girl is gone.
And the room goes dim, temperature dropping until I put my jacket back on and begin to pace. Fuck, this is all so messed up. I need to figure something out, go back to that damn base and drag Hope kicking and screaming into my arms. Fuck the wheel, we've all been spun around enough haven't we? I don't need a team, nor a plan, I just need to fucking try or I'll go crazy in this backwards world they've dropped me into.
Restless legs bring me to the window and I slam my hands down onto the sill, continuing to ignore the view as I peer down at the framed photograph turned onto its face. Naturally I reach out to inspect the thing but then my hand pauses, a prickly hesitation I quickly realise the cause of. I'm scared of what I'll find. I probably turned it down for a negative reason, most do, and revealing it now sort of feels like I'd be opening pandora's box. Before I can make my mind up whether to peek behind that tempting curtain or leave it well alone until my bearings are regained, a deafening, shrieking cry sounds out from beyond the window and reverberates against it.
It's a sound that can only come from one person in Envy's sovereign nation.
The roll call beckons, a cawing shriek not from crow but... moth?
Roll Call: A Doll to a Flame
Doll's hand rests over the console, still as can be, as it waits for its lackadaisy navigator to complete the connection. Even a well mannered doll such as this one is not possessed of infinite patience, tapping the manual controls while humming a tune from a past life. It was a life as wonderful as it was exhausting, the only dark circles it wears now are the rims of pilot goggles, hair swept back and tied out of the way. Most of these controls are unnecessary, analogue is only a back up in case of emergency. Slick tendrils push into the back of the doll's neck and allow it to interface with the machine which whirrs to life in response to its genetic data, a perfect sync like hand slipping into form fitting glove.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Miss Murmur! Too busy messing around with Williams, well among others ehe... we went ahead and initiated start up, fancy a chat while the old girl prepares to spread her wings?" Dryad's voice spills directly into Doll's mind, the raven haired pilot shaking her head with a slight smile, remarking privately that Hive really hasn't changed half as much as she thinks she has, though neither has the Doll itself.
"It already told you to cut the 'Miss Murmur' crap, Helena, and don't even think about calling it Misty or it'll find enough belts to lock you all up for a week or longer~" The doll rubs its eyes before sinking into the flow of data Helena connects it to via hanging cable-like vines. "How's Brood? Still living up to her name?"
"Hmph... well aren't you just a bundle of contradictions. We can never tell how serious you are with all that doll stuff or if you're just messing with us, you're clearly not inhuman. Brie's adorable as ever, in her own rough sort of way, why'd you ask?"
The doll sighs, wishing its moth could launch much faster. "Feels like we're having two separate conversations at once here, something it's sure you're used to and more, but think about the poor singular beings wouldya? Don't suggest it isn't serious just because of your own limited perceptions, Helena. It chooses to be a doll, why wouldn't it? Dolls are superior, idealised human beings, humanity puts so much care and love into crafting the perfect doll and half that much effort into cultivating offspring. A doll is not imposed upon, nor pressured, nor expected to face its own mortality. Why would you not wish to be a doll? It sits inside the chamber of the bombyx mori and accepts a fine rebirth, domesticated being crafted from recycled flesh and bone. It is not inhuman because it is lesser, Helena dear, but because it has shed cocoon of a sleepless hell and metamorphosed into a less restrictive identity."
"How the hell is a doll less restrictive? You wanna be an object without will? Guess we're one to talk, heh..."
"A doll can be anything. Will in and of itself can be a restriction, surely you understand that? And yes, you're right, it refuses to be lectured on humanity by a plant network all too gleeful to rapture its old forms for jubilation in the new flesh you've taken to. Perhaps it is a fool's paradise we seek, those who reject the forms we were assigned during our conception into this world, but take note that it never stops spinning. Change is an inevitability, to accept the flow is to become invincible." The Doll tilts its head back and closes its eyes. "It worries that Brie is going to make a very costly mistake in the proceeding weeks, one that will result in the opposite outcome to the one she had been intending. Did you not see a crow above her head, Helena? Her temptation is darkly and familiar, she's a victim of theatre, moth to a flame... and Nic will wring the whelp for every drop."
Helena groans through the connection, the machine hum signalling that they are ready for flight. "Combat aside, your visions haven't gotten any less cryptic and frankly, annoying. Speaking of our ex boss and your ex wife, we're about to go toe to toe with the bitch. She really thinks she can hit you, she keeps boasting about how this'll be the one in which she lands a scratch."
Murmur Doll smirks, no longer talking with its mouth but using the unification to communicate psychically. "She's not an ex, it's still quite happily married. This is just how love languages develop, there's nothing like trying to pound your spouse into a bloodied wreck in the ground now is there? Have you never been married, Helena?"
"Once. They were our first takeover after nearly two decades of being good and suppressing our power. Ever since we accidentally became our entire class in early schooling our parents had us on medication and regularly consulting with professionals to ensure we'd remain a 'normal and healthy girl' from then on, so it was only when we got away from those clutches that we rekindled our ability and began putting it to use. The way they had attempted to neuter our gift like we were some defective unwanted mutation feels more relevant than ever now, doesn't it? Maybe you're onto something Murmur, and we should leave humanity in the dust."
"For the record, girl, if young Helena had been sent to the office of Misty Black... it would not have made you feel like broken goods. You can understand their fear, no? It's why they're always so desperate to try and instil their own before their legs give way and they collapse into puddles of their own piss." Doll grasps the controls in its mind and the engine roars, followed by that ultrasonic cry warning all to steer clear.
"Relearn your place or live in fear, right? Well fuck their posters, you can't fight change." The dryad network feels the doll's inputs like phantom nerves on a formless body, wings spreading out and starting to flutter.
"Atta girl, Helena, now let's go beat the shit out of 'Commander Black', she's liable to become a masochist if it'll fuel her saviour complex further."
A heap of metal lunges forwards into the dimming day and as dusk falls upon their heads, the census cries for another.
Roll Call: Cowl Rues the Black
The sound of uneven footfalls reverberates into the overgrowth and I prepare my net of shadow, watching through tired eyes as my teammate limps with haggard breath towards the island's edge. Before she can throw herself onto the rocks in her golden trance, I catch her in my dark embrace, approaching slowly to lay eyes upon the poor thing's blissful ignorance. Snapping her out of trance with little more than a few delicate shakes and a snapping of my fingers, Peony sniffs and blinks the gold out of her gaze.
"Can you walk? Does it hurt?" Slowly, I recall my shadow and support the pink haired hero who just ran a half marathon without consciously registering it. Her initial reaction to planting both feet onto the ground is a sharp wince, but she soon pushes me away with a brave smile I know all too well. I've spent my entire life not wanting to be a burden to those who'd seek to lighten my load, it's a silent kinship I feel towards the most unlikely of recipients... though I suppose somebody so willing to devote her life to another should be assumedly somewhat selfless. What was Misty thinking? People aren't dolls to be discarded...
"My hero." Peony laughs it off, holding her leg before I use my moldable mass of shadow to form a brace for her. Joy Williams must have done this, given that Nova shouldn't be anywhere close to here and would have no benefit from pulling such a stunt. Orchard, you didn't even consider this woman's leg was injured before you sent her off as your decoy... I'm disappointed, that's not the hero I remember having my back on the streets.
"Don't push yourself, okay? You'll get patched up properly later, I'm going to need that back eventually." I force a thin smile, tapping finger against my earpiece after clearing my dry throat. "Sage, I've found and recovered Peony, she's alright. Need any help?"
A few seconds pass by before noise fills my ear, Peony still regaining her breath from the cross country sprint. "Good work, I came across our troublemakers gawking at the Narcissus at the edge of the river, put them to sleep for a while and waiting on the backup heli to touch down any moment now. To be honest I really don't need, or want, to bring Mr. Cruise along for the ride. He's laid out in an opening near my location, I'll send the coordinates... mind picking him up? Sorry to drop the shit clean up work in your lap, but you've been a great help so far."
"No need to apologise, ma'am, I'll get it done."
"I know you're such a polite kid, but please don't start calling me ma'am or I think I'll begin to age rapidly. I don't have a kink for it like Nic, so relax on the formalities eh?" The woman titters and I decide not to tell her that she's not my elder at all even if that laugh may suggest otherwise.
"Yes m-- Sage, got it." I cut off comms before the conversation becomes any more stunted, rubbing my brow and wondering why social interaction always has to feel so inexplicably tiring. A grim obsequience towards my orders compels me to ignore the gnawing sense that we're amidst a sea of smoke and mirrors, drifting out into currents contorted by that woman who would dare to embrace me as family.
"Please don't tell me we're going back for the bleached asshole himself? Let's just report that he's KIA and head for the tower, whichever direction that's in. Actually I do need to find my mask or I'm not gonna be much use in a fight, ahaha!" Peony's as plucky as ever, probably happy to have been able to stretch her legs after so many years wasted behind bars. I feel somehow responsible for the freedom she's been deprived, even though I know that feeling to be irrational.
"I've a feeling we won't find what we're looking for here, if I'm honest. We'll have to settle for our mouthy teammate I'm afraid. You really alright to walk?" It's not going to be a short distance to travel, but then, not nearly as long as it should be either were they telling us the truth. The question is, then, why feed us a lie?
Peony wipes the drool from her mouth and smiles sweetly like she's the short term memory of a common goldfish. How freeing it must be. "Why? Are you offering to carry me, charming?" Her laugh doesn't miss me entirely, though I've gotten very good at hiding when a woman has any manner of sway on me. You won't see red on my face, only indifference white as a ghost, but deep down I can admit she's a more endearing woman than I'd have given credit for upon our first meeting.
"Charming? That's a first, most consider talking to me a duller affair than settling down to watch paint dry." I only afford myself the smirk when I've turned away, beginning to walk towards the coordinates sent to me from Sage while occasionally glancing over to make sure I'm not going at too quick a pace for the lady to keep up with.
"Maybe I'm just particularly weak to your particular brand of abrupt, abstruse way with words. Reminds me of Miss Murmur's manner of speech, maybe I've just got a type?" Peony hobbles along while pretending it doesn't hurt, making me want to shoulder yet another burden before remembering just how badly that backfired last time. So badly do I miss the streets, my escape from those complicated crow affairs into a simpler life of assisting arrests. Learning to know when to let go, to not consider leaving an abandonment, is a truly liberating skill... one I'd finally mastered until finding myself wrapped back into the fold just as though I'd never stepped an inch out of their bullshit.
"Yeah, I'll say... you're really devoted to that woman, aren't you?" I don't really want to discuss this, but a cruel sense of curiosity has taken hold.
"Murmur? Well I didn't tattoo her name onto my body for shits and giggles, Cowl. I'm just her property, though... I'm scared she won't take me back, that she considers my usefulness spent. The absence of choice locked away in a cell is a strange comfort to me, really, because I don't have to figure out what I'd do out in the world without Murmur's side to run to. She'd probably accept me with open arms, I'm sure, but god that fear sometimes makes parole seem like a death sentence." Florasma's daughter gives a lilting giggle that makes me seethe with rage, my entire body succumbing to a smouldering resentment I don't entirely know where to direct.
"That's horrible, you'd love a woman who's happy to make you feel that way? Or one selfish enough to not even consider your feelings at all? Fuck, I'm not sure which is worse..." I run a hand through wavy black hair and grimace, knowing that I should calm myself down before I worry the woman.
"Wow, I've never seen you so emotional. But yes, I love her. Not in a romantic fashion, mind, but something more akin to how you'd love a mother. Well I've already got a mom I love back in the slammer, so perhaps the way you'd love a mentor? No, an owner. The point is, my admiration and respect is unconditional, it doesn't matter what she does or says, how she thinks of me... I already committed myself to her so it's only my fault if that backfires in any meaningful way. Besides, she was so lonely, she needed someone to devote themselves to uplifting her even if what she wanted was often unreasonable or immoral."
Misty needed someone, did she? "No love should be unconditional, even familial love... though what should be and what truly is are often at fierce odds with one another. I... you seem like a good person, even if you let her turn you into someone shameful. You're pure in a dangerous sense, I think, but it's difficult to hate you for."
Peony bursts into several bouts of laughter at my earnest assessment of her, making me wish I hadn't bothered as the two of us pass tree after tree. Wiping tears from her eyes, my pink haired company begins to hum a tune and recognising the melody I decide to join her, though my hum is far huskier than hers.
And so we walk on, humming the tune that ties together the strange and the estranged.
By the time we make it close to the clearing the sight of billowing smoke directs us to Curtis without need for precise coordinates, finding the surprisingly resourceful former crook sitting by his very own campfire with a shit eating grin on his face when he locks eyes with me. His face is a mess of dried blood but it does not appear to have hampered his enthusiasm to be the most punchable person in the room, or in this case the clearing. I can't remember the last time I threw a punch, I'm no longer a violent person.
"About time someone showed up, though I hope you don't mistake this for a smoke signal. I'm ready to fucking live out here if it comes to it." He talks big, but I'm not exactly sure what his plan would be in the event of heavy downpour. Still, I'm impressed to see the game he's acquired and disturbed to see him so eager to sink teeth into small hares... though perhaps I've simply always had a soft spot for bunnies.
"I didn't peg you as the savage type, Cuntis. They look half cooked already from your uh... unconventional hunting methods. You need to skin them, you know." Peony sits herself down beside the fire and holds her hands in front of it without a care in the world, while I remain standing just in case we're ambushed.
Curtis Cruise holds out his combat knife that neither of us are surprised a man like him carries at all times, I'm sure he was the type to pack a conceal carry on a trip to the convenience store. "I'm not a savage, I'm a survivalist. There's no greater feeling than living off the fat of the land, letting the Earth provide and all that good shit."
"You're a career criminal who used to stick up stores and rob banks, sounds more like you were living off the fat of man." Peony appears to get a kick out of challenging him, so I elect not to point out she also robbed banks and stands by her actions with pride.
"Damn right I was, man's plenty fat, the money I took only ever really hurt the rich assholes at the top who had more than they could ever know what to do with in the first fuckin' place. You little heroes running around 'protecting the people' ended up as shields for their greed more often than not. And hey, what about Curtis's proportionately harmless greed? Stupid fucks... I should be on a beach somewhere with a drink fruitier than my cousin Willow and instead I'm sat on my ass skinning hares. Makes a man wonder, y'know?" With a grumble, the dirty blonde crook glowers at his pink haired companion, a part of him no doubt secretly relieved to have somebody to rant at when he must have started to consider that nobody might come for a man like him. I'm sure he realises well enough that antagonising your team makes them more liable to leave you behind the moment your ankle is snared in a metaphorical bear trap, but just can't help himself. Ultimately, I suppose, his lack of self control just barely makes the top three ranking in the team Nicole had assembled.
"I've called for our lift out of here, best not to linger for long even if... well, have any of you seen even a single sign of movement out here? Save for hares, I mean." For once in my life I'm feeling rather talkative, continuing to remain on my feet while the other two huddle by the fire like we're on a camping trip. Of course, while my shadow is still around Peony's leg I'm spared the biting chill of this breeze entirely, though elect not to tell the woman that I'm now uncomfortably familiar with the smoothness of the upper calf and lower thigh. It's a useful power for engaging criminals with more brawn than they have brains, their strikes meaning nothing to me and their fists never thinking to land blow upon a shadow. This body of mine is but a decoy of the true self, a shadow casting person.
"Hrm... well I've ran almost the entire length of the city and back... not a single sign, Envy's hunters could be lurking in the shadows though right? They'd know this forest better than anyone, heck maybe they can even camouflage themselves against the trees so perfectly we've been walking right by 'em. " Her eyes darting around the opening in sudden panic, Peony brings knees up to her chest and tightens the valves on her wrists, eyes finally landing upon the discarded mask. Glee becomes her, the erratic inmate crawling over to retrieve her precious property while Curtis enjoys the show, leering at her raised posterior with a small sigh. If I didn't think it best to keep the knee brace of shadow around Peony's leg for the time being, I'd be tempted to wipe that smile off my teammate's face like I've any sense of chivalry myself. At least I feel shame for the way the woman makes me feel, that soft exertion on her leg mixing with my shadow-self.
Finally prying his eyes away before being caught in the act of voyeurism, Curtis picks up on the same inconsistencies that I've been silently mulling over. "So why not strike? There have been so many ample opportunities, right? I mean we've even been isolated, all three of us could have been nabbed while we were all alone, no? Ah... I guess maybe they're waiting for us to call it a night and plan to round us all up at once in our sleep? Not like we know how this dumb bitch ticks and I'll remind you she came from Orchard, not exactly a criminal mastermind last I checked."
"Pfft, didn't she get you locked up twice? I'd be careful insulting the intelligence of someone who consistently gets the better of you, Cruisey, seeing you flattened out on your back with a broken nose makes it a hat trick eh?" Adjusting her mask with a sly grin and challenging stare, Peony shuffles forwards towards the fire and I try not to react too visibly to the way she drags my concentrated bundle of nerves across the ground without a care in the world. Black nails dig into my hip and I purse my lips, waiting for the pain to subside like I'm back in Nova's arms.
"Shut the hell up, it was the big one that took me out not the scrawny psycho." My eyes narrow at the sight of Curtis' attempt to skin the hares with his combat knife, lamenting the poor cosplay of a hunter who can only cheat his way through the act with his supercharged destruction. Thinking back on the days in which I could still claim to have a family unit, I recall the hunting trips I would take with my little sister and our mother... I think that woman was the reason for my sister's chosen career path, while I was a lot more obedient than the brat and accepted her quirks too easily. I learned how to use a rifle in those woods and very quickly discovered that I never wanted to hold one again.
Shuffling closer to Curtis so that she can lean over him and tease the poor man until he feels smaller than the paltry game in his hands, Peony lets out a bout of cruel and girlish laughter. "Oh, you mean the weaker one then? She may not look it, but Miss Murmur's last disciple packs a punch... sure she couldn't quite punch through the engine bay housing but like, you're not supposed to be able to dent metal like that, y'know?"
"Hey... wait a sec, did you say you walked the entire length of the city and back?" Curtis rubs his chin almost cartoonishly and I cross my arms from across the crackling bonfire, having wondered when the shoe would finally drop. I'm not sure how Nova expected to keep this secret for very long, though perhaps she had no need to keep that wool suspended past her vision for Miss Williams. Orchard is clearly at the centre of the woman's latest stage play, and I'm starting to suspect we're all in the dark in one way or another.
"Well I'd say I hobbled a good stretch of it, but sure... oh." It would seem that we're all on the same page now, Peony sitting up and whipping her head around with mounting confusion I'm happy to put to rest, stepping closer and starting into the fire as though searching it for answers.
"I believe we're on North Star Island, a significantly smaller landmass as I'm sure you're both aware. With all this overgrowth it's hard to say for sure, but as someone who hasn't had a prison sentence to dull their perceptions of the city, I can tell you it's much too large to cut through on foot as quick as we had. The question is, then, why Nova chose to feed us such an obvious lie..." That woman's thought process is a black hole of its own, no revelatory light can pierce its dark surface and I often think it for the best. If she were a better woman then my sister would still be alive, my baby sister who I abandoned when she needed me most, figuring the greatest hero in the world could do a far better job than I ever had. Finally freed from our mother's emotional cage, I had no idea that she had been delivered straight into another's.
Curtis Cruise gives up in his performative attempt to live off the land, casting the wasted corpse in his hand aside and staring up into the grey sky overhead with a bitterness you can't hide behind a mask, frustration that can't be faked. "She's not the only one keeping shit from us though, is she? You got away with refusing to tell us why this mission's personal to you on the copter, even with Orchard of all people taking my side in grilling you. Figure while we wait for the air lift I might as well play the villain again and give you the third degree, no hard feelings eh?"
I'm genuinely surprised this man even cares about my motives, though suppose he simply sees my refusal to give him what he asked for as a loss on his part. Simple men like him make good crooks and even better soldiers, but tend to be found wanting as heroes. That is to say, my definition of a hero... not Nicole Black's. "Grill away, I'm tired from walking and our assignment appears to have been a non-starter, maybe you'll crack me. I think our teammate here has already figured it out, besides." As I sigh out the words with a shrug, our eyes slowly settle upon Peony's smug expression, her shoulders rolled back with hands resting in the grass behind her.
"Well of course I did, you look so similar after all, same mannerisms and cadence too... I mean if there's one person I know well enough to identify a relative of, it's her. Why do you think I'm so respectful to you compared to the others?" The woman who acts half her age laughs into her hand and I cock my head, wondering if that's even true. I certainly hadn't noticed any quantifiable difference, but my mind has admittedly been a little preoccupied with... everything else.
"Care to clue me in? I don't speak airhead, so you'll have to forg-- Hey, did you hear that?" Suddenly, the wannabe hunter feels himself the prey, staring out into the trees with paranoia miring his usual suave expression. I heard the twig snap too, of course, having been intentionally listening out for such things under the assumption that nobody else would be.
Pulling mask over her face, Peony hops up onto her feet and hoses down the fire with some manner of extinguisher that fills the other of those two tanks on her back, Curtis and I sharing a look of surprise. I forget that Peony was a hero once, a small timer who had finally made it into the most prestigious agency in the city, so putting out fires is an invaluable skill that likely gave her a leg up. Rookie heroes often act like freelance fire fighters, after all, the licenses becoming mandatory once the members of that actual profession began to complain.
"No word on the transport, Cowl?" I appreciate Curtis being direct for once, taking the potential threat to the three of us serious. While he's an irresponsible hothead most of the time, he can be reliable when push comes to shove... at least, something tells me that. We've been operating as a team, sans Orchard, for a while now... but when I actually attempt to look back on those memories I see a mosaic I don't much trust. I had hoped to be done with manipulation ever since mother passed, but it seems that just like my sister I've fallen into orbit of that cold and empty mass.
Static buzz assaults my ear and my eyes narrow against the stillness of the treeline, feeling a sense of foreboding I've learned not to ignore. Then comes a voice, soft and apologetic. "Sorry ladies, but nobody's coming to pick you up. It's for the best this way, if anything I'm jealous. She's exceeding expectations, so... maybe next time, eh?" Sage chuckles quietly and I turn my head to see Curtis and Peony glancing my way, neither of them having been handed their earpieces before that suspicious rotor failure and subsequent crash. It's a miracle we all survived, though I'm not particularly compelled to relay gratitude to our pilot right now given the sudden betrayal. "Sit tight awhile longer, Sable, the halcyon days are over."
Arms fall limp by my sides and shadow falls from Peony's knee into a formless swirl against dead grass by the fire. My eyes slowly widen and narrow in a rapid, twitching motion as memories strike me like the lashings of a shimmering black whip. If my body could think to move I'd surely collapse onto my knees under the weight of it all, teeth grinding together and breath shallow.
"Sab, you're looking dour as always. Why don't you just accept it?
"I think with everything going on around here, sister, my acceptance has begun to wear thin... I can't just give up on you."
"Oh, haha. Not that, though you really should drop it already, it seems awfully hypocritical of you to judge it for the transition. It meant Envy's gift, isn't that exactly what you want?"
"Unlike you, sister, I'm not keen on taking shortcuts."
The dryads peek out from behind trees and my companions begin to prepare for a fight I no longer much feel like entertaining, arms yet limp at my sides while that formless shadow comes crawling back to deliver unto me the emotions I'm missing. As my true self makes contact with this decoy body, stretching over the clearing in a shape resembling human, I begin to laugh.
"H-Hey, goth for brains, this isn't the time to go crazy on us!" Peony elbows my ribs to snap me out of it but I don't feel a thing, of course, clutching my head and letting the last few empty chuckles escape these black lips before resting my back against the closest tree and watching Helena's approach. We're surrounded by an unfathomable force, Crazy Cutter's supercharged beams won't do any decent damage to their ranks and they're more than just immune to Peony's gas, did she think she had any purpose on this assignment save for helping create the illusion of hope? This entire mission is a charade, well constructed and consented to, my fight died the moment 'Sage' spoke that post-hypnotic trigger and reminded me these truths.
We were never a team.
This isn't New Cassiepeia.
Mint does not have a sister.
Envy is not our real enemy.
Joy Williams is not a person.
Helena's drugged hands descend upon my shoulders and still I feel nothing, not on account of my shock but simply the way I am. You could take a metal bat to my face and it won't bother me in the slightest, but step on my shadow and I'll writhe in discomfort, it's no wonder I don't keep it at my back for very long. "Mmh... long time no see, Sable, you're looking glum as ever. Want us to warm you right up?" Long tongue descends past the dryad's chin, hanging there with a glistening show of seduction that is as lost on myself as that touch. The sultry, dripping muscle curls around my chin as Helena brings herself closer, two more dryad forms closing in from either side as I condense my shadow by the bark at my back, concealing it in my hand for when their eyes eventually roam. She's just teasing me right now, both of us knowing how I work.
High pitched blasts sound out from the chaos in front of me, the sight eclipsed by more and more tree nymphs who fill the clearing with an orgy of assured oblivion. I'm the only one of us three humans who know that fighting this is folly, yet I still keep my shadow gripped tight behind my back. Perhaps Misty is right about me being stubborn to a fault, but if I wasn't she'd not have been spared our mother's ire. I'd insist on twice the punishment and not back down until mother acquiesced and left my baby sister be. I can't back down from a fight, even if I already consented to the outcome in another life.
"Ah... th-that's my own, that's my mother's..." Peony's lip trembles as sap smears her cheeks, long tongue promptly smothering her into silence as two more drag up her neck and plug her ears. Vine slithers around her neck and lightly chokes the poor human who buckles to her own concoction for the second time in one day. As dryad succubi feast upon the former convict's lust, Curtis fights tooth and nail with her lasers blasting right through the inhuman forms Helena has been gifted by her empress, the nymphs sewing themselves back together with vine and letting out a chorus of laughter.
"You creepy fucks, get away from me!" The blonde is surrounded so effortlessly by the plant hivemind, their vines whipping around ankles while those extended tongues they wield move to cover my comrade in sticky, pleasurable sap. The oncoming haze is enough to make a man forget their fight entirely, though Curtis Cruise is swiftly reminded what she is through rending hands that mold her very being. Each of them a piece of Envy proper, even if her unification gifts these forms to Helena alone, they get to work remaking Curtis like it's muscle memory for them. Softer and yet, no less sharp, the blonde collapses onto her back as more suckling vines seek to remake her again and again until they get it perfect. It's... this is fine, especially with Peony nearby... the two really should have been wearing their comms.
"I hope you don't seek to give me the same treatment as that, Helena. What's with the sex party... is this that twisted woman's idea of gratitude? You know this isn't really my thing, so--"
"Don't be silly, Sab, you forget we shared a mind once... albeit briefly! We know your wants quite intimately, perhaps even better than you do. We've known each other longer than that though, Hivemind was a repressed failure of a hero... we're sorry for how we treated you, once you left the agency to go solo we--"
"This is all in the past, isn't it? You're... Helena, are you with my sister right now?" My grip feels uncertain, vines stroking across the backs of my knuckles teasingly as Helena sniffs out the hidden shadow like a creature no longer remotely human.
The hivemind tilts its heads, smirking crassly with a sea of maroon lips, some of the dryads slowly unhinging their jaws with performative predation she really needn't put effort into with me. "You mean the doll? Envy's ace? She's so nearby, Sable, right at the city's northern edge on standby with the Moth, waiting to interface so that we can reload for the next salvo test with Narcissus. They say that the posthypnotic trigger isn't enough of a certainty for you lot, so..."
"Giving us what we want, right? I want my autonomy, I'm not like you." The sounds of smacking lips fill the stuffy space with a serenade of sapphic temptation bubbling over, several of Helena's forms dealing with the excess lust by using each other... it's indecent, obscene, and I find my shadow heating up at the thought she'd get worked up over a crow like me. Once upon a time, a very long while ago now, I harboured feelings for the woman who became this creature, so I forgive myself for the aching - and the pounding - in my sable heart.
"But you do like us? Heh... we love this new form, of course we do, but if you'd like we can get away from all of this noise for a while. In our orchard, just you and... me. We can isolate at will, just a single Helena and a touch that won't corrupt you so. What do you say? We were a big fan of yours once, back before your hero name became your real one and you became so soft. In more ways than one, I suppose..." Helena speaks sweetly, an ingratiating tone of voice that cannot stir this decoy. Try as she might, I won't let her hold power over my heart again, everything Nicole gets her hands on becomes spoiled goods and Envy's just as bad in her own way. They're all made for each other, even I got roped into it somehow, realising that perhaps Helena is right about not trusting the trigger to make us see eye to eye with past selves. If hating your past self was a sport I could have gone pro, so this isn't a difficult choice to make.
"You can touch me all you like, Hivemind, but I'm afraid the feeling won't reach." Fingers flare behind my back and dark wings spread in a flapping of impenetrable void. I set free my true self to flee the scene, a messenger crow ready to seek out any who migh-- "Ack! Y-You..." A vine lunged out like a spear, impaling shadow in its short lived ascent and causing me to thrash against dryad embrace, Helena plucking me out of the air with long tendril coiling to cradle the whimpering, murmuring crow. It hurts, it hurts, cries the corvidae. Who'd have thought I'd be recalling Misty's favourite bedtime story now of all times, I was always the one to put her to sleep given the neglect from our only parent. Neglect was far better than the alternative, of course, and so I gladly took to the role of surrogate parent. How I failed her in the end, my writhing shadow lowering down into Helena's rocking arms. Maybe she could no longer sleep because she didn't have her real mother there to help her drift off, because I was too late to forgive.
Now it's my turn to be put to sleep... heh... go figure. What a fine fucking fertiliser I'll make.
Roll Call: Envy Tests the Crispness
A damn desk job. After everything I've experienced from the conception of my name up until this very mundane moment, I lament with a laugh drier than a fucking desert the ill suited scene I pose for. Empress of a new world order and I occupy a lonely top floor office, sat tucked behind this mahogany shitheap of a desk with nails tapping errantly away at the damnable wood. A desk job. I thought I told those proxies I created that I wished to be divorced from the bureaucracy of it all. While I understand that it's a temporary need that only I can fulfil at this juncture, it won't stop me from acting rather sour about the entire affair. The world as we know it is coming to an end and we're betting on a horse darker than even I'm currently comfortable with. Former hero, future saviour, what a perfect track record she does make. It kills me to be at her mercy, no dungeon I could have made for that megalomaniac will be deep enough but once this is over I, or another me I suppose, will do her best all the same. As the second most megalomaniacal, or perhaps presently the third, I can only stomach so much kinship with the one who'd have us dirty our souls in such a manner that spits in the face of everything I've worked toward. Perfect unification, a mother's embrace, a community that can be proud of herself. How I hate that wretched woman, almost as much as I've been made to spite myself in recent days as a by-product of this fragile acceptance.
"I can feel your desire to relay news, ahaha... it's like a prickle of warmth against the back of my neck. When I've more free time I need to spare some of it play with my doll, your body hasn't aged a day, so pristine under my care... I could keep myself youthful as that proxy of mine, naturally, but I'm rather taken with this older form. It brings me closer to you, it gives Nicole one less angle to try and push me beneath her with, and it reminds me the responsibilities of motherhood. How are you, dear?"
I wait a few seconds, humming an old tune to pass the time, the one tv advert we did as Orchard before the ship fell to pieces. Eventually, that husky voice I've been hooked on since the day I heard it graces me through the wonder of unification. I can scan their thoughts, but I've enough of my own lately, and I do so enjoy this voice of hers. "It gets to fight Nic again soon, no? So this doll is doing rather splendidly, empress. You're right of course, it was waiting to see if your stress levels might drop before getting in touch but it should know better than to try and keep things from you! While running a routine performance test of Disco Mantis in the water to ensure the seals were airtight after repairs were made, Mint and her spare came across Nicole's latest reject. She's keen to talk to you and waiting in the reception downstairs, it knows you're not one to refuse one of your own even in these circumstances, but thought it would check all the same."
"And why am I not hearing this from Mint? Don't they know my ace doll has better things to be doing than playing their messenger? Ah listen to me, haha, I'm far too withdrawn if I'm questioning the thoughts of those I share a psychic bond with. It won't be long now, right... makes me wonder why I'm sitting behind a fucking desk at all." My gaze lifts to inspect the recovered gold sitting on my desk, a wedding band and a pretty dove so cruelly discarded. These were once used for a unification of their own, one I gave my blessing to even if it wasn't asked for. "It's fine, they're busy too, everyone's so busy you wouldn't even know what's about to happen. Send her up, of course, and fill me in on my McIntosh's current whereabouts. She went so far as to get the procedure, just to try and play hero, bite the hand that feeds. I... It kills me to just let her go, to make her think she's getting one over on us while we sit back and watch what's about to happen. Stupid thing doesn't even know why she's so driven, if she did she'd know how pointless her efforts truly are..."
Another short pause, it's not like my Murmur doll to be quiet. "She'll be engaging with Black Gala within the hour, it'll be a mercy if Nic just kills her. As agreed, this doll will wait four hours before venturing out to salvage what's left"
Turning in my chair, I stand and walk over to the window, peering out over the city that marks my dominion and forcing arms by my side to stop from irritating my face. "You're wrong, doll... it'll be the Rook she's engaging with." What does it say that I can understand the inner workings of Nicole Black's mind better than her own spouse, I wonder, a bitter curl touching upon these rich burgundy lips of mine and an impatient rapping against the glass door. "I'll talk to you again later, see it done."
"Yes Empress." And the voice leaves my head as swiftly as it entered, my isolation briefer than a blink as I turn to greet my unexpected guest with a complicated smile.
"Yes, yes, come inside child." One of the many roots spilling out over the office floor pulls the door open and ushers Shepherd inside, my eyes narrowing as I return to my chair and watch her hasty approach. Quickly stepping over vines and circling around my desk, the white haired younger image of myself throws herself into my arms and causes us to swivel some in this chair from the momentum. Pursing my lips, I run fingers through her hair as a more youthful face buries itself into the safety of my chest, no cries yet escaping her. A true military woman I suppose, well disciplined for as much good it does her. "Oh, you poor thing... I can hear your thoughts buzzing around the room rather violently, feel this pain. Let me share it with you, it's all I'm able to do to help you soothe the wound. I had warned you, soft peach, that daughters of The Garden belong by my side."
Shepherd finally allows herself to sniffle, placating herself against my scent and giving in to the unsanctioned emotion once she realises she needn't worry. "You... you don't hate me, then?"
A scoff likely isn't the comforting reaction she had been hoping for, but it just seems so absurd for me to harbour this piece of myself any ill will. Does Nova teach loyalty through shame? We may both be bound for hell, but that crooked woman is sure to reach a circle further down... perhaps there will even have to be renovation efforts in the underworld in anticipation of her arrival. A tenth circle, inverted penthouse suite. "I've not the right to exercise any wrath upon you, pretty girl, especially not when I can see you're already hurting enough. I'm not mad, I'm elated to have you in my arms after what feels like an age. Did you truly expect that woman to keep you around forever, Shepherd? I'll forgive as much as you need, but I won't coddle your stupidity for playing with an open flame and not expecting to be burnt by it."
The woman sinks deeper into the comfort of my body, a maternal refuge I'm happy to supply, my vines gently raising to cradle her trembling back. "A-Are you sure that I'm not rotten goods? How... How could she just throw me away like that, after all we... after I..." Shepherd gently sobs into my chest and I plant these poisonous lips of mine atop her head, hers a pretty scene of white that mine only shows a streak of. I understand that it was Nova who did the bleaching, curiously enough. "All because I got carried away once... once! I just wanted to meet her, the traitor, and she wasn't worth the trouble! Just as terrible as I'd imagined, and now the curiosity cost me the opportunity to see this world out with the woman I... I..."
"Hush now, sweetpea, your misery on this matter only serves to feed the machine. It's natural to mourn a loss, but it pains me to see you suffering over this. One mustn't cry when they place their finger into the maw of a snake and find themselves bitten. I don't mean to scold you, of course, but you invited disaster unto yourself and presently reap the consequences. I'm sorry if you're already well aware, but I have to be sure you understand this." It sickens me how endeared I am to these creations, they were never meant to be as children and yet a mother I've become. I can't help but spoil them, indulge them, want to pull their hands away from the traps they foolishly reach for. The weight of these lives falls heavy upon my shoulders ever since the wake up call that came with the North Star Island experiment... the epiphany of emotion reached in those formative days was enough to cement a loyalty to all those who look up to me, bred from an unceremonious coupling of guilt and regret, along with a deep seated resentment towards the woman I once respected above all others. I've seen the hurt wrought by false idols and feel fated to follow in their footsteps against my own will, but it doesn't mean I can't offer a lighter sense of disappointment when that bell finally tolls.
"Of course I do... I'm a rotten apple, down to the core... Nova's ruined me and... and she discarded me the moment I slightly inconvenienced her... I kept telling myself I knew how things were, but deep down I allowed myself to believe it was different with me. I bought into her lies because it felt fucking good to live in the fantasy of it all... I'm so rotten, she's got a more obedient toy now and I'm ruined..." If I did not care for this woman I'd see her for the pathetic wretch she is, but even those can be sympathised with when you assess their victimhood. Personally, I see nothing more than my own perilous reflection, an undressing of the ego I've kept well arrested. Her frustration is but a fraction of my own, and so I decide to absolve her with teeth. Lowering my head until my breath collapses hot against Shepherd's shaking shoulder, I pry the fabric of her uniform away from the bare skin and slowly sink my teeth into the surface. "A-Ah... that kinda hurts, haha."
Pulling away and licking the thoroughly bitten skin with a low hum, I lean back into the chair and grin at my good girl. "Not rotten at all, still as crisp and fresh as the day I brought you into this world. You're a good apple, Shepherd, I know you'll get over this quickly. Time to heal isn't a luxury you can afford right now, unfortunately, I can attempt to expedite the process some. Is that something you'd like?" Protective hands undoubtedly contrast her recent memories of ones more possessive as I brush her hair between my fingers, Shepherd weakly nodding into the touch with red and puffy eyes daring to meet my my calm gaze. I've only the one eye to return the brave look, though I could rebuild the other any time I please. Self discipline is important, I've fallen into the snare of endless temptation in my early days, it's the only reason I suppose I even exist... but the end result can only lead to Nova. A black hole of want, never satisfied. I'd hail her a tortured hero ready to bear the weight of pyrrhic victory if I had any faith in her humanity, but I don't doubt her motives for this new theatre of hers are not so altruistic in truth. We will use her as much as she uses us, a parasitic pair we make. Perhaps the patch should be altered to reflect this, changed to twin snakes both vying for the same shining apple, eight elongated fangs piercing its golden flesh and tearing it apart until the blood runs dry.
But I digress, my Shepherd needs her healing and what better place to conduct such a sacred act than in my orchard? Vines gently slither in helix around her ankles and in a blink of those exhausted, raw eyes, we're no longer in my office at all.
Epilogue: Golden Era - Hero and Villain Special Feature!
Capes have now been a part of our society for over four decades and I think we can all agree we're much more super for it! Now folks, I know that name, capes, hasn't been used since the end of the Golden Era but that's exactly what we're delving into in this new ten part special feature. Otherwise known as the Golden Age, this period somewhat ironically marks the time before world renowned heroine Lady Nova breathed fresh new life and industry into the world of supers. In this short series (there's only so much room in these back covers, have mercy!) we will cover one of the Golden Era's most famous heroes and one of its most infamous villains, respectively. We'll start out small and work up to the ones we know that even today's youth will have heard about through osmosis. So without further adieu, let's begin with today's hero feature.
The dark and brooding master of night - Sable Hand
(Pictured: A tall figure shrouded in black black wrap from head to toe, almost like a mummy, one black claw with talons covered in shadow and a silver gauntlet on the other side fashioned into the same shape. Piercing amber eyes peek through the gap in the black wrap around their face, wavy raven hair tied back.
Very little is known about this hero's personal history as he is one of many to have never been unmasked, but Sable Hand still has a relatively popular following to this day on account of the all-black aesthetic that speaks to alternative fashion movements. The quietest member of world famous team up, The Silver Hands, most people wouldn't guess that our dark hero here is in fact one of two founding members. Known for his invulnerability to most forms of attack due to lack of feeling, the immutable Sable Hand would often endure assaults head on and then cut through eventual opening to silence his targets for good. Sable Hand's career is most notable for two events, one perhaps more macabre than the other.
Let's get the darker subject out of the way first, shall we? Sable Hand is the only hero during the Golden Era to have received permission to kill, authority bestowed upon them by the county sheriff of West Cassie at the time through the now defunct deputy hero act. Having been given the kill order during the pursuit of serial killer M.T. Barnes, referred to in the news cycle at the time as "The Piper" on account of his methods of abduction, Sable Hand found himself unable to operate the rifle thrown to him by fellow hero Marxman who was too impaired to take the shot himself. While he can surely not face any blame for being unfamiliar with such weaponry and fumbling his moment, it is unfortunate and tragic that the blunder had to result in the loss of five hostages' lives.
While the above incident resulted in a premature retirement for our hero and not so much as a postcard to tell us how he's been holding up in the years since, the highlight of Sable Hand's career was surely his pivotal role in the arrest of notorious Golden Age villainess, Queen Florasma. Due to Sable's inability to feel, he was also apparently unafflicted by the seductress' sweet concoction and so succeeded in standing his ground around her where more famous heroes could not. This first arrest is truly what cemented Sable Hand's legacy and directly led to the formation of The Silver Hands, which would surely have been a very profitable agency if launched in the modern era of capes.
This brings us nicely to our villain feature of the week, or should I say, our villainess feature!
The chemical seductress wielding pheromone and wiles - Queen Florasma
(Pictured: A woman in her mid to late thirties with flowing pink hair, wearing a spandex leotard with no arms and clear tights stretching across her legs. The costume is a dazzling emerald colour, long white boots stretching up to her knees with high heels.)
Ah, such a beautiful woman and yet one so tainted by a desire to use her powers for naught but her own personal gain, her unquenching thirst for domination over heroes and law enforcement alike. It should be stated here that unlike the large majority of heroes and villains who etch their names into the annals of cape history, Florasma was not in fact possessed of any supernatural strength, psychic abilities or otherwise unnatural mutation. Beginning her descent into the dark as a humble lab assistant, Penelope Winters first created her infamous concoction by mistake while working on reverse engineering several different mating and command pheromones seen throughout the animal kingdom. In no time at all temptation took a hold, that darkly crow, and Miss Winters had the entire lab under her thumb developing the mixture into the form it would eventually be recognised as, 'Florasma's Concoction'. As the power went to her head, the woman eventually fashioned herself into a self-proclaimed queen and settled upon a flower motif despite the origins of her mixture on account of it's sweet, floral scent.
Of course, we know how this story ends. Or do we? After her initial arrest at the hands of our dark and brooding featured hero, Queen Florasma did in fact break out of prison on one occasion (this was before the new penitentiaries for criminal supers were introduced) after one of her loyal subjects helped smuggle in her concoction and she swiftly converted the guards and warden into new followers. The resulting disaster only lasted less than 24 hours and while hidden from the public for almost a decade until new facts came to light, her motives may surprise you. Prior to her first arrest Penelope Winters had been impregnated, father still unknown to this very day, with her daughter Peony Winters. The pregnant inmate had been rejected a slot in the sought after 'Mother and Baby Units' several times meaning that she would not be able raise and care for her child when the time came to deliver it into this world. Eventually arrangements were made for the newborn to live with relatives despite their estrangement to the villainess, but Miss Winters evidently could not settle for this compromise. Her escape may have been successful but the freedom came to an abrupt end when Penelope Winter's water broke unexpectedly early, street cop Cammie Cruise bringing the woman to a hospital so that her baby could be delivered without complication. Despite the myriad crimes the woman racked up during her career as a supervillain, I can only imagine the emotional whiplash she must have faced to cradle her newborn with one arm handcuffed to a hospital bed, knowing well that the moment she gave her daughter up she would likely never hold her again.
They say that fate can work in mysterious ways, and while I doubt it's the ideal reunion either of them had in mind... mother and daughter found themselves reunited over 20 years later when Peony Winters, formerly a hero of the Nova Hero Agency, found herself incarcerated for a long string of bank robberies taking place over the span of a single month. The pair remain, to this day, together in North Star Penitentiary.
Well, all good things come to an end and readers we're gonna have to love you and leave you until next week!
To be continued in episode 3.9 - Brie Learns to Love the Wheel
Chapter 5: Brie Learns to Love the Wheel
Chapter Text
Prologue: Skylight, Hindsight, Highlights
The sun's soothing rays only serve to highlight the sting on this occasion, eyes flicking open to yet another unfamiliar ceiling. Not a ceiling, no an ornate skylight with golden frame that Brie stares out of with a pained groan as the feeling returns. Soreness kissing across her body, the woman realises she came out with more than just a couple bruises when she attempts to lift herself out of bed and winces at the burning in her hip stretching down her right leg. "Fuck... fuck... fuck!" The bedridden woman's mind races faster than a thoroughbred and yet the expletives are all that bubble to the surface and escape those cracked lips in need of balm. Noting that she isn't strapped down, Brie curses herself even more thoroughly and forces herself into action, sitting up as the chorus of fuck only becomes stronger, sharp intakes of breath filling the spaces between each repetition. Wracking her brain during its sluggish start up to remember exactly how she ended up in this penthouse shithole she now occupies, taking stock with scrutinous gaze at the framed posters on the wall and wanting to throw up into her mask, Brie painfully swings her legs over the side of the bed and squints at the bottle of medication sitting on the bedside table.
Peering down with a grumble, Brie takes in the sight of aquamarine hospital patient gown and purses her lips at the knowledge she's been undressed while unconscious. Pride urges her onto feet that cannot hold her, not with her right leg in its current state, and so with unceremonious crash of her musclebound form Brie collapses onto the gaudy golden rug with another hearty "Fuck!"
For a while she lays here, on her back, eyes scanning those posters again as she lets the animosity in her chest slowly build. While she may be in a hospital gown, Brie can see this is no ward, but instead what appears to be the personal suite of one Nicole Black. Only an egoist as far gone into the black hole of crushing indulgence would line their room with a timeline of their own accomplishments, highlights of a career she earned through force and manipulation. Of course, she had the power to do good regardless, but that could never be enough for a woman who wished to be the very sun itself or near enough equivalent. Equally hailed, and just as dangerous to stare into.
Once again, Brie searches her recent memory to recall just how she landed in the bedroom of the enemy, a woman she's decided to be her least favourite out of all who still draw breath. That's right, there was a surgery... calloused fingers brush the back of her neck and she shudders at the memory of her inaugural flight. Flying was the easy part, combat was where the untrained pilot came up short, severely lacking in technique as that crimson smear overwhelmed her in no time at all. Try as she might even with assistance from that dryad she'd pleaded help from, Brie could not land a single scratch upon the Rook. As she found herself pushed back with well timed blow that had the building at her back break her fall so roughly, Brie recalls the way that reaching hand eclipsed her in shadow and how her eyes closed to brace for oncoming end. Crushing fingers made a wreck of her vessel and Brie was thrown from the leather seat like an insect being swatted away by a giant. Despite sustained injuries, she was alive, staring up at that hulking giant which lowered onto its knee and brought hand to its chest. And there she was, emerging from the craft with vainglorious smirk and metal plate covering the top half of her face, rust blonde hair blowing in the same gentle wind that soothed the cuts on Brie's face.
The woman she had come to save, covering her mouth with synthetic rubber hand and laughing at the ease of her latest victory, mocking her would-be saviour as Brie's vision began to darken at the corners. Brie understood then, that she was in way over her head, wondering if that scarlet soldier would put her out of her misery before internal bleeding did her the favour instead.
Stitched up and sulking on the floor of Nova's penthouse, Brie brings a hand up to her face only to find it obstructed by a metal wire frame, turning to find the nearest mirror at eye level and giving a rather ironic growl in protest of the image that greets her. The steel muzzle is secured firm with leather harness, her dyed cherry hair cut much shorter into a blunt shape that robs her charm. Fingers dig into the straps at the back of her head and with a harsh yank, Brie removes the muzzle and launches it across the room with some catharsis. Huffing from exertion more mental than physical, Brie forces herself to stand in spite of the throbbing pain in her side, taking just one step with sharp intake of breath through gritted teeth before the door swings open and freezes the woman in her tracks.
"If you'd bothered to look to your right before causing a fuss, dear, you'd have seen I gave you a button to call for assistance with. You're going to pull your stitches out with all this unnecessary commotion, did somebody have a nightmare?" Nova, no, Commander Black steps into the room, her presence causing a chill to run down Brie's spine before the blood begins to boil.
"What the hell is this? Where's Hope?" Taking another teething step, Brie gets used to shifting the weight onto one side and decides to show Nicole that the blonde does not intimidate her. It's not strictly true, of course, the older woman's stare as sharp as those daggers of hair that spill down beside it, one corner of her lips curling slowly in anticipation of Brie's next lesson in engaging with the enemy. Little wars can be just as satisfying as larger ones, or so thinks the twisted thespian who plays more roles than she'd care to count.
"Close by, repeating mantras to herself lest she forget her duty as a well serviced rifle. Even better at servicing those above her station, I'd say, having enjoyed that mouth a great deal over the last couple of weeks. I wonder how you've spent the time, girl. Stewing, I suppose? I do so enjoy that fire burning in your eyes, mark my words it'll only make you easier to twist into my good servant come the--"
"Christ alive woman, do you fall asleep to recordings of your own fucking voice?" With a groan, Brie pulls herself even closer until she stands only a foot away from the woman she'd try and kill with her bare hands if she were not aware of Nova's feats. "I don't care, about your taunts, your treatment... Envy said that if anything happens to me she'll make you pay... and I'm spent, see?" The brooding butch gestures to her battered self with bitter glee, a dullness in her eyes that cannot blink away the sight of the masked pilot who bested her so effortlessly. "I'm one stubborn bitch so do us both a favour and put me out of your misery before you come to regret keeping me around."
Nicole Black stares at the woman squaring up to her, pride yet staining the specimen she sees. Her head cocks to the side as indifferent eyes assess the other's resolve. "I wonder if you really mean it, or if you're just awarding yourself brownie points for saying such heroic things under the assumed safety net that I need, or even just want you for anything more than my own personal amusement. How can you be so sure, I wonder, that I won't just oblige the pathetic request and put you down like the dog you are, here and now?" Up close, Brie is given front row viewing of the performance before her, a stern face aged by time and strained by that overwhelming mass. Still, it's a beautiful face, albeit hauntingly so, a star once heralded as the best of all humanity coldly testing the sincerity of one far more human than she could ever hope to be. And both know that Nicole means to reduce those in her captivity until they, too, are fittingly subhuman.
"Do your worst, you insufferable hag." Letting the resentment boil over and get the better of her judgement, of survival instinct itself, Brie spits onto her captor's cheek and perfects her role with fierce glower.
"If you insist, dear." It happens so fast, the sound of a clasp being pulled open as Nicole's arm slides pistol from holster, raising iron gripped in leather hold and pushing barrel into the bottom of Brie's chin. With gentle force, soft power, Nicole uses her custom Beretta to close that open jaw in front of her and hums in satisfaction of the prideful rebel before her now stunned into silence. "Your safety here is not so assured, I've back up methods of progressing this stage... so if I were you I'd be more careful with my words, hm?"
In all her life, Brie has never quite understood the great motivator of fear, eyes slowly widening as the reality of her own mortality dawns along with the thought that she might've dug her own grave with such brash, impulsive words. "Ah..."
"Indeed. I love a good brat, watching them break, exposing the sheer fragility of the self beneath all those defensive layers. You're still just the scared, snot-nosed runt in that alley, pleading with your new empress to let you go. She ended up giving you something wonderful though didn't she, so who's to say I won't provide the same sense of euphoria in time?" As Nicole chuckles in satisfaction of Brie's submissive paralysis, the frozen butch wonders just how Nova could know details of that night. Leather thumb raises to wipe the spit from Commander Black's face and the self-ascribed handler allows her smugness to show a little more plainly. "Save your saliva Brie, you never know when your next meal is coming after all. In fact, I think your spit has much better uses, if you insist to waste that mouth of yours I'll repurpose it for my own convenience. I'll use it to polish my tools, my weapons, and not just the ones that breathe." Humming a lilting, haunting melody, Nicole strokes the barrel of her handgun up past Brie's jaw and rests it playfully on her prey's lower lip, gently sinking it down from the weight. "Open up, now~"
"S-Seriously?" With growing indignation still locked behind a cage of shock and pitiful self-preservation, Brie stares down at the gun pushing past her lips and reluctantly accepts it inside. Her heart pounds like a war drum, chest rising and falling heavily as perspiration settles against her forehead. Eyes widen as the barrel of a black 92FS sinks in further to violate her mouth, gently flattening Brie's tongue as the suddenly meek woman forgets her pride and shudders at the feeling of that cool ceramic finish. Cerakote coats her very thoughts, Brie feeling the blanket of subspace she's denied even in the presence of a monster such as Envy now seize her in tight leather grip, feeling truly disposable and knowing there's no certainty that she can predict the actions of this swirling black hole stood so smugly before her.
"Finally, the real you. She's pretty, Brie, docile looks best on those who need to be brought to heel like this in order to see it. I'll admit I'm rather game for a challenge in the twilight of our days here in this iteration, as I'm sure you can imagine my new rifle put up a poor show of resistance. There's a misconception regarding my stare of submission that it has any real lasting effects, while it's true I can essentially fry your nervous system if I up the intensity too far I'm not really able to affect your mind with it in any permanent sense. I'm glad for it, truth be told, because that would be far too boring, cheap. I want to earn my domination of your mind, watch the way your morals slowly warp into the new shape I seek to twist them into. I look forward to it, girl, and so should you. Now, would you go ahead and kneel for me?" Nicole makes no attempt to hide the thrill she experiences in this moment, her own inhibition having been stripped by her long years of selfish servitude, erecting monuments to her own ego that now decorate the room in snapshot. Of all the angles Commander Black can take to break her subjects, perhaps the most disingenuous of all would be to flaunt her humanity over those slowly being milked of theirs. She's a black mirror of her own, reflecting destiny to all of those who find themselves before her.
Brie shakes, weight still shifted onto one side and teeth slowly coming to clench beretta barrel, remnants of lingering resolve flickering in her eyes and reigniting pride. A part of her knows that all she has left is her height. The way she stands in front of the woman who'd seek to debase her, having closed the distance through wilful steps she'd be ashamed to forget the purpose of so soon, so easily. She will not kneel. Even if it costs the woman her life, she now understands this to be a life made forfeit several bad decisions before this moment, so refuses to make yet another poor judgement call and immolate what little self respect is left. She will not kneel. Brie's jaw clenches tight and she feels the fire behind her eyes finally break through, Nicole's head tilting subtly in response to such indignant glare at this late stage. Understanding well that these may be her final moments should this former hero not be bluffing, Brie feels a calmness wash over her and shield her last thoughts from the ugly regret that squeezes the pumper in her chest, lips curling as though she's done anything at all worth smiling about. Still, in the face of this dying star, Brie can be content that she didn't falter at the last hurdle even if she knocked down so many along the way. That's right. This is her war. She. Will. Not.
"Kneel."
A world of gold takes her and before she can regain her bearings, overcome that dizzy spell from the brief flash of sublimating vision, two knees fall upon the rug below and make a pretty pair. Brie whines out from the strain against her leg and the muffled noise reminds her of the gun yet filling her mouth, Nicole's arm having followed her so smoothly that it almost didn't occur. Eyes flutter and stare up at Nicole with dying confidence, Brie having been commanded to her knees by eyes and voice she could not contest when they came to test her with the lightest curveball. Kneeling down at Commander Black's feet, those well ridden boots as void of colour as the rest of her save for blonde knives framing self-assured simper, Brie feels a floaty sensation start at the back of her head.
"Let the loss settle in, Brie, get yourself acquainted with this feeling. By the end of this week it'll be a very familiar one, your constant companion, I think even you will be surprised just how far you can fall from these current values you hold. Know that, as hard as it may be to believe me, I've chosen to do this for good reason. The world is bigger than yourself, and I intend to illustrate through meticulous training regimen just how small you are." Firm leather grip on the handgun, Nicole pushes it further still, tilting Brie's head up and becoming intoxicated by that faltering glare that slowly softens until Brie can no longer maintain a pretence of struggle. "You're not polishing it, dear, just letting a mess of wasted drool spill down your chin and ruin that nice gown I dressed you into. Suck."
Once again, Brie loses herself and allows the emotion to show too raw, eyes widening in just he manner Nicole was hoping for them to. Knowing that she plays into the woman's hand makes the cocky former hero turned failed pilot avert her gaze, staring off to the side at posters that make her feel sick. That Nicole claims to be the one who dressed her only spells another violation, Brie hating above all else that aching heat between her legs which suggests some part of her has the fucking gall to get worked up over this. Somehow the prideful sentiment of 'I will not suck' does not find as much purchase in the kneeling woman's mind as it would have if she were still on her feet, Brie letting her eyes slowly close as she braces herself for the humiliation that will soon take sledgehammer to her ego. After a brief hesitation, a groan against the barrel that Nicole can't help but give that filthy, throaty chuckle to in response, Brie softly fellates the handgun.
"So you can be a good girl after all." The cruel words soak into Brie's tattered pride like lighter fluid against a rag, pistol barrel threatening to ignite it. Hair falls before her face as though attempting to hide her shame, Brie sinking into her role with shoulders slumping and eyes hooding open. So simple an act, the entire exchange having only been five or so minutes, and she's an entirely different creature altogether. Nicole demonstrates just how easily people can adapt, even stubborn beasts such as Brie are not so inflexible. Once her point is made, wet barrel slides out from between submissive lips and Brie swallows drily the phantom load she's been fed.
Holstering her weapon with a satisfied hum, Nova slips that sleek leather hand under Brie's chin and holds the woman's head up proud. Brie swallows again and considers another spit to show she can't be broken, instead just averting her gaze to peer down at the drool which escaped her lips while she was forced to salivate. Subspace is not always such a willing state but the woman also knows not to be so passive in this moment, pulling away from Nicole's grip and surprised to find that gloved hand does not follow. Sitting back on her calves, Brie gives her tormentor a weak glower before wincing at the pain in her side.
"You've not pulled your stitches, I hope? Hop up onto the bed and I'll check to make sure, wouldn't want you escaping into the realms of death to get away from me hm? I trust you can get onto the bed yourself or... do you need help with that, Brie?" The smugness, the power, is enough to have Brie shaking the cobwebs in her head from that domination play that had her slipping. Snarling like the beasts she's often likened to, Brie stubbornly pushes up onto her feet and plants herself onto the bed, only then realising she had been goaded into obeying with a rather playbook manipulation tactic. Still, she should probably do as she's told for now, especially if her health is on the line. Brie knows all too well that Nova could have her bedridden if it better suits her designs or simply conveniences her more. Deciding to bide time and look for opportunity, Brie sits and glances at the bottle of pills she had noticed on the bedside table when first she awoke. Nova's creaking black digits curl around the bottle and twist the lid, tipping a single tablet into her palm with a stark contrast of white on black.
"Shit, you're drugging me right off the bat? Take a girl out for dinner first won't you?" Wishing that her voice were not so shaken, Brie grimaces at just how fragile she feels this morning and stares up at Nicole black who seems amused by the quiver of bravado.
"Don't be so dramatic, dear. You need your rest and recovery today, the drugging regimen will begin tomorrow. These are just painkillers, though strong enough to effectively put you out for a while I won't lie to you." Lowering her weight onto the bed beside her captive, so close that their sides meld into one and Brie shudders in disgust at the contact, Nicole raises her palm like a serving platter being presented to a very hungry butch. Except this isn't food, and Brie feels she's lost her appetite. Noticing that her new pet isn't yet one to play ball, Commander Black gives a performative tut of disapproval before plucking the medicine from palm and using the now empty hand to gently squeeze Brie's cheeks. Not wanting to cooperate but still fearing the consequence of more active resistance, Brie pouts as best she can with her face so distorted by those intrusive gloved fingers. With slow, graceful motion, Nicole lifts her pinching fingers and drops the medicine past Brie's rough lips, her hand suddenly closing around the woman's mouth and pinching her nose shut. "Swallow, don't be stubborn."
There's a wilting play of struggle before Brie finds herself doing as she's told, gasping for air once the hand removes itself as a heaviness overtakes her almost immediately. Nicole stands and makes for the door, Brie feeling far too weighed down to follow her or even escape the confines of this bed. Just as Commander Black had suggested, Brie will be getting her rest and recovery today, her distant dreams wandering to the promise of a drugging regimen come next morning.
Perhaps Envy will take pity on the poor rogue and come after her in earnest... or maybe this is simply her lot.
Chapter One: Seven Seconds in the Sun
The sun's soothing ways creep in through overhead skylight to gently nudge the sleeping girl awake, Brie half expecting to find restraints tying her down onto the bed this morning as she sits up and brings a hand to her face. No muzzle this time, maybe they gave up on that. With a stretch accompanied by groan, Brie considers the fact she must have slept almost an entire day and finds that 'well rested' feeling woefully misplaced. A yawn fills the empty penthouse and Brie wonders where Nicole has been laying her head given this appears to be her room. Either the narcissistic bitch has more than one gallery to her own achievements to wank to before head hits pillow, or she's been taking a leaf from her estranged spouse's book. Brie cannot imagine there being any in-between.
Sparing no time at all as she considers the gift that is isolation in a place designed to make her form unhealthy dependencies on that firm treatment from yesterday, Brie scans the room for cameras and then searches her own body for any kind of attached devices. Lifting up her gown, Brie inspects the bandages stretching down her right side and remembers who gave her the injury in the first place. Same damn girl she came to save, though Brie takes pause to remind herself the rifle isn't to blame for the one who pulls its trigger. Hope's as much a victim of Nicole's mental manipulation as Brie will be if she's not proactive about getting out of here in one piece. With brooding expression that lives up to her nickname rather well, the woman sits and thinks her situation through. Yesterday, Nicole had appeared in the room very soon after Brie had woken up, presenting several possibilities. Either it's a coincidence and she was already paying visit, they're tracking Brie through cameras or something reading her vitals, or maybe she just made a little too much noise launching that muzzle at the wall in her frustration. Hoping it's the latter while dreading there being a chip beneath her skin somewhere she hasn't the constitution to claw out, Brie pulls up onto her legs, once again shifting the weight onto her left side and glancing at the bottle of pills beside her. Given how quickly they knocked her out, the captive set upon escaping this fine morning accepts that she won't be able to rely on these painkillers should she strain herself too far.
"I'll show you what a good girl I really am, Nova..." The woman grumbles as she makes for the door, deciding to simply test the handle even if she knows they can't have made it so easy for her to leave after being rather candid about her captivity. To no real surprise, then, Brie finds the door to her room locked. Head whips back to inspect the window on the opposite wall and then, perhaps a tad ambitiously, the skylight above. Deciding it best to focus on the window for now, figuring it isn't likely to be barred or particularly reinforced given this is Nova's personal room, Brie limps over to the other side of the room and slams her hands onto the sill. Last time she stood like this she was met with a much busier view, though this one might be nicer in a way. Waterfront greets her hungry gaze, Brie resenting how still that blue expanse can be during her own personal crisis. No grate or bars, but a dead drop that does not pose great odds of survival. Brie considers taking the risk anyway before laughing at the major flaw in such a plan even if she could nail the dive intact: Brie can't swim.
As is natural, the next step the hothead considers is simply breaking the door down with what brute strength she can muster and making a break for it. Even in this weakened state she's still possessed of inhuman strength and would do well to remind herself of that, eyeing up the door with intent to break into a sudden charge and knock it from those hinges before Nicole Black can get one more second of screentime in her story. A paralytic hesitation grips the woman who had been readying her broad shoulder for the decisive charge, Brie remembering the feeling of cold, indifferent metal filling her mouth with Nicole's finger firmly wrapped around the trigger. The pause is long enough that Brie avoids charging directly into the nurse who begins to unlock the door from the other side, the overworked medical staffer yawning into the unnecessary clipboard hoisted under her arm as she slowly turns the handle. At first, Brie's vision blurs as she considers that it could be Nova herself, that the woman is set on being Brie's only social interaction for however long it takes for that stubborn psyche to finally snap... then the realisation dawns that this might be her best, if not her only chance of getting out of this place with her brain and body moderately intact. What the hell was she even thinking stealing that thing from the hangar thinking she had any competency in piloting it after only a week of training? Brie begins to understand the futility of martyrdom when there are people left to save, the reckless and selfish nature of such a suicide mission bringing shame in deep red scar against her cheeks.
A slow creak and the door begins to open, Brie calmly stepping closer until her target is in reach. The nurse gasps as painfully tight hand grips her wrist and yanks her into the room, her clipboard sailing down onto the floor below while she collapses into Brie's chest. Brie curses her luck, or in this case her look, that she would appear so sexless in this patient's gown while a pretty woman now presses against it. Deciding to shake the sleaze from her mind and ignore just how much her body yearns for that feeling she's been without for so long, Brie quickly covers the nurse's soft face with rough hand, preventing her from calling out and giving them away so soon. Keeping the dusty blonde 30 something held with that hand sealing her mouth shut, Brie uses the other to search her pockets and persona rather intrusively for anything she might use to alert others to the sudden hostage dynamic. Discovering nothing noteworthy save for a rich candy in clear wrapper sitting forgotten in deep pocket, Brie sighs out in relief and allows her posture to relax ever so slightly.
"Okay listen, I'm not gonna hurt you if you do as I say and don't do anything stupid alright? Need to ask you a few questions, so when I remove this hand you're gonna be nice and quiet, aintcha?" Brie's heart pounds more than she'd care to admit, the nurse likely feeling it from how close she's kept. Clearly frightened but letting the rational side take over, Brie's hostage nods as calm as she's able to against that powerful hand. "Good... thanks." Understanding that she's doing a poor job at being as intimidating as possible, Brie laughs into the dead air between them and slides her hand free gently. "Nova... I mean ah, Commander Black, do you know where she is right now?"
"Y-Yes, she's currently off base... training exercises." At the nurse's honest words, Brie sighs out again and feels tension leaving her body in droves. Without Nicole around her chances of actually pulling this off increase tenfold, Brie actually starting to feel excited at the prospect of escaping this hell before it has even begun in proper.
"Good... good. Uhm, I'm gonna have to keep you around for a bit okay? Again, won't hurt you unless you uh... make me." The words are hard for her to get out, even if she should feel more indignation against anybody complicit in her captivity. "I need you to escort me to the hangar... actually, just outside if you can. Don't try and trick me, I'll know... just keep it plain and simple, lady, and I'll be out of your life soon enough." Brie knows better than to rely on those machines in the hangar, she wouldn't even be able to get someone else's started and it's hardly like she knows how to pilot a simple helicopter either. Even with pain in her leg, she decides to go it on foot.
Too tongue-tied to respond with her words, the nurse nods erratically and Brie feels a sick sort of satisfaction at holding this power over someone, feel their fear, after the reversal of such a dynamic had shaken her so the morning before. With slow steps as they adjust to steady sync, Brie allows the nurse to lead her out of the penthouse suite and hopes that she never steps foot in it again. The good news, Brie, is that you won't.
The pair walk in tandem, two sets of feet moving as a four legged beast that drags itself through familiar looking corridors. It is no great surprise to Brie, who had been expecting as much, but it's good to know they appear to be in the same base that she once attempted to break Hope out of. To say that Brie is tense and nervous is an understatement, the woman lightly perspiring from a worry that they may be stopped and from the dull pain stretching down her leg. Hope really did a number on her, thinks Brie with bitter smile she does well not to nurture into resentment, wondering if the brat really had to throw her so hard when the battle had already been decided. Nurse navigator turns another corner and Brie feels chills running down her back, understanding that she's in way over her head staging a breakout such as this, trembling hand gripping a hostage she'd never be able to bring herself to hurt even if it was her only means of escape. She begins to wonder if her guide, who has calmed down drastically since their first meeting, has begun to realise this too.
"Hey uh... thanks for this. I dunno how much you know about what goes on here, maybe I'm just being optimistic but you seem nice... normal. It's kinda fucked up so I have to get out of here. You're uhm... you're a nurse right? Or a doctor maybe, sorry I've this stupid lingering assumption there... ahaha. You wanted to help people right? Save lives and shit..." Feeling her freedom drawing nearer with each heavy footfall of this fledgling beast, Brie's nerves cannot permit her to walk in silence any longer. Using conversation to keep herself calm, the woman chides herself internally for letting this slightly older lady's feminine scent assist in her tentative relaxation. Ever since she was a little boy, Brie had always harboured some kind of olfactory fixation and found herself fascinated with perfume in particular. She would steal bottles from her mother's room and later even met Tri through the interest, having been swayed to try a sample offered by the rookie hero working to make ends meet. For some reason it was attractive to the three made into one, that a 'decently attractive guy' would possess enough humility to let a bored girl at the mall spray feminine fragrance onto his wrist.
Brie considers, grimly, that if she hadn't been so attracted to these pretty scents from such a young age, she would never have ended up here in the first place. What do they call that? The butterfly effect? It can be said that if she had not developed such a fixation, Brie would still be nothing but a caterpillar.
"I'm a nurse." The woman finally speaks up, no longer sounding so afraid. If it didn't comfort Brie so much to not feel like such a villain, she'd realise how risky it is to hold a hostage who does not fear you. "Though... I wasn't able to work for a long time, not until this facility reopened anyway. You've no idea how hard it was for people like us to get work at all, never mind a trained medical professional... before Mrs. Black gave me employment I was... I'd given up on ever setting foot in a medical facility again." The words finally give Brie pause, more specifically the tone they take on. That lack of fear slowly grows into indignation, a rebellious wind blowing past them in the hallway as the dusty blonde nurse suddenly stops in her tracks.
"People like us?" Brie knows she should be more concerned over the woman suddenly stopping in her tracks, the front legs of four legged beast rearing to a halt, but curiosity has her in its clutches.
"You really don't know anything, do you?" The woman feels emboldened now, her body trembling not with fear but furore. "I... I personally requested to be assigned to your room, wanted to meet a legend in the flesh." Brie's eyes widen and she can't help but scoff at the lofty title ascribed to her for reasons she cannot comprehend. "But you're just a shell of your former self... and soon, you'll be even less."
Realising that she needs to regain control over the situation quickly lest she end up having this hostage dynamic turned totally on its head and find herself at the mercy of emboldened nurse, Brie attempts to pull the woman close to her once again only to find needles suddenly piercing her palm with shooting pain that has her reeling back. First staring at the bloody pinpricks in her hand, Brie then casts panicked gaze upwards to the nurse now turning to face her, needle-thin spikes protruding from her body all over. The woman's no regular human either, Brie learns far too late, watching as more needles push out through the other's pores with a grimace at the ugly sight.
"If... if I let you leave, I might lose this job... I don't want to let Commander Black down after all she's done for me!" Letting frenzied panic take hold, the woman fills the narrow corridor with her new, prickly form and takes a step towards Brie who backs away with matching gait.
"I... fuck, lady! Whatever happened to do no harm?" Brie waves her bloodied hand in the empty space between them like an angry customer demanding a refund, letting bravado mask those mounting nerves that seize and stiffen. Freedom is so close, she can smell it, that breeze against her face from earlier was not only meant in metaphor. "Get out of my way you big fucking... hedgehog... or I'll show you just what a legend I still am." Letting those building nerves settle into steady rhythm, wrestling her beating heart back under control, Brie steels herself for a good brawl and attempts to recall her last scrap. That prick attempting to put a hole through her prey hardly counts, not when she caught him off guard and swept him off his feet in seconds. Then again, Brie finds that most of the fights in her life have only lasted a pitiful handful of seconds. Fights she can understand, anyway, not the sort of battles that are now fought out there in the strange new world she's landed in, nor the mental strife Nicole Black is wont to engage in. When she was much younger and unaware of her true strength, Brie had finally snapped and fought back against her bully in an alienating show of witless power that would see her isolated from her peers for the rest of her middle school education. By the time high school swung around, let alone college, she was far too used to being an outcast that she had herself convinced she preferred it that way.
"I-I'm sorry Captain Williams, but you need to go back to your room. Just... trust in Commander Black, she's the dark star we're all riding on now, she'll know how to save us so just... stop!" The nurse becomes more outwardly violent as the altercation proceeds, Brie almost missing the strangeness in those words between trying to find an adequate pun about the Hippocratic oath being hypocritical in this case.
"The fuck did you just call me?" Brie backs away as arms coated in sharp needles swing recklessly in her direction, beginning to wonder if this frenzied woman isn't mistaking her for somebody else entirely. After all, Brie proved rather definitively that she's no pilot and... Williams is Hope's surname, not hers. Another swing impacts the thin corridor wall and tears right through it, Brie feeling her disobedient heartrate spike again. "Guess... we can't talk it out huh?" The way this woman is speaking now she sounds too much like a fanatic to be reasoned with, Nicole taking that desperation in her heart and pooling it with tacky pre-rehearsed lines from her script. Nova's not a dark star, she's just a power tripping narcissist who seizes any opportunity she can get to be the most important person at any given time.
Realising there's only so much corridor before she has to turn a corner and stubbornly viewing such an act as a form of defeat, Brie decides she needs to take charge soon and figure out an offensive that won't leave her with a fresh new coat of red paint. The thought brings her mind back to that crimson giant her Hope used to pummel her own grey shell so effortlessly, no matter how many different angles Brie attempted with her own limited combat capabilities, it was like Hope... or the weapon she's been reduced to, could see the attack coming from a mile away. In her week of training, Brie remembers hearing similar stories, legends really, of the one they call 'Cameo Moth'.
Shaken from her daydreaming by a sudden expulsion of those thin steel spikes, Brie quickly raises her arm to stop the needles sinking into her face, wincing in pain but using the momentum of this adrenaline to cease her retreat and find an opening to push through. Having noticed how thin the wall was earlier, Brie swiftly brings her fist to its flimsy surface and breaks right on through, tearing a large panel and smirking at the simplicity of her strategy. Needles hurt like shit, and these could have any manner of toxin coating the tips that Brie isn't yet aware of... but they're not particularly penetrative, just a thin panel like this is an effective shield or at least, this is Brie's hope.
"Fair warning... since becoming one, I feel I've really gotten over that notion that I can't hit a woman. Prefer to hit on them but ah... you don't seem my type ahaha, prickly personality and all!" Brie winces at the emergence of the usual insufferable comedy routine that comes out when she's about to do something she knows she'll feel guilty for, despite her words she's still beholden to a few ghosts of sentiment from her younger years. She'd prefer to lay her hands on women in much gentler ways, though supposes that can get just as rough if the mood calls for it. Lifting the panel up and hoping it's at least thick enough to spare her deeper wounds, Brie leans forwards and charges at the nurse with the form of an American footballer going in for a tackle, broad shoulder leading the charge behind protective panel as Brie prays more for the other's safety than her own. It isn't like Brie has any gods she's still on good terms with to pray to, these days she favours prey to prayer.
The tension is struck like a guillotine, one fell blow that spells decisive victory for the woman who breaks past the defensive line and stumbles at the finish, trying to regain her footing as she whips her head back to check on the woman she just bulldozed. The nurse is laid out flat on her back, a good portion of those naturally formed needles now covering Brie's makeshift shield from corner to corner. A decent amount pierced through but the punctures are only shallow, Brie sighing out with a mixture of relief and exhaustion as she realises she does not have the luxury here to go and check on the poor woman. With hope that the nurse isn't too badly injured, Brie scoffs at her own warped priorities and hastens her step towards the exit. As expected, after turning one more corner she finds herself face to face with glass doors that depict a mosaic of the outside world beyond them. The knowledge that Hope is still captive sinks into her like a knife but Brie has watched this scenario play out in fiction enough times to understand just how pointless it would be to think she can do anything about that now, she's more useful to Hope with her freedom and a sobering retrospective. That Brie was so recklessly eager to return here as soon as humanly possible, at the expense of her own odds of success, is as perplexing to the woman as the fact she knew the exit would be around this corner. It's no secret that she's missing memories, but Brie feels a deep discomfort as she wonders just how involved she was with all of this before they removed the time.
Brie approaches the glass double-doors and steadies herself before them, knowing that with the commotion she just caused with her decommissioned dance partner it's only a matter of time before more people arrive, potentially armed this time. These doors aren't going to simply open for her, Brie glancing at the key card scanner and wishing she had gone back to check on the nurse after all if only to loot her pass. Lifting up her good leg and biting through the pain in her supporting right side, Brie brings her foot crashing down onto the middle of the doors where they lock together and feels a weight lift in her heart when she discovers she had enough strength to break them apart. As the busted doors fall open, Brie feels the entire building begin to shake and wonders if it was a direct result of her actions before finally stepping outside and lifting her head to find the culprits. Eyes squint against the morning sun before the rays are entirely eclipsed by two hulking masses of machinery, Brie watching them lower down in front of her as panic ripples her heart. Recognising the red one all too well, Brie can only assume the black to be fittingly piloted by Nicole.
Whipping her head to that freedom so nearby, Brie can only gawk at the sight before her with sudden recognition that paralyses her more effectively than the warning shot that disintegrates the grass at her feet. With a heavy thud, the two crafts drop onto the ground at last and Brie is still staring, eyes twitching as she attempts to make sense of it all. These are buildings she recognises, that spire in the distance belongs to the church her mother once forced her to attend.
Exiting her 'Black Gala', Commander Black pulls up her gloves while approaching the dumbstruck captive she couldn't have hoped to find anywhere else. Following behind Nicole is her rifle, an indifference plastered over its face to mask the slight impatience bubbling in that well tamed body. Even with only a few weeks having passed in all, Brie cannot help but assess that Hope's diet and training regimen must be as impressive as it is strict. Finally turned to face them, the attempted escapee focuses on the shorter of the two women, letting eyes linger on that lean, muscular build and wishing she could have the girl all to herself again. What a strange thought, thinks Brie, shame tinting her face as the frustration of being caught almost doesn't even register.
"Out for a stroll, Brie? A little fresh air perhaps?" Nicole brings herself closer with that shit-eating grin Brie knows she can't do much about in this moment. "I hope you enjoyed your seven seconds in the sun, girl, because this act of disobedience won't go unpunished. No more skylights for you, understand?"
"Oh please..." Brie scoffs, looking back out over the city block before them with a wry understanding crossing her face. "This whole morning stinks of your script, so give it up already. You could have restrained me, the security was so light it should've been too obvious you wanted me to do this... guess I was too desperate in the moment to notice, huh? That's... we're in New Cassiepeia right now, you wanted me to see this... what the hell is going on here? What even is this war of yours if you're living in the same damn city as your enemy, that doesn't..."
Commander Black chuckles, stepping even closer until Brie catches whiff of that perfume the rifle at Nova's back is already so hooked on. Brie hates that she likes the scent, immediately able to identify it as something expensive from her own experience with female fragrance. Still, it's just ordinary perfume, it's only effective at placating Hope because of formed dependency and association. The human mind is a funny thing, you can trick it just as easily as a dog's when you know what you're doing. "I was hoping that I could trust you to stay put and be good for me after yesterday morning's demonstration, I truly didn't want to have to take further measures in breaking your spirit before we could start reshaping it... but alas, I fear you've left me no choice."
"Quit the fucking theatrics and just get on with it. I..." Brie cannot help but glance at Hope one more time, feeling hurt at how passively the weapon stands beside its owner while the good commander nods solemnly. The air around Brie seems to freeze as she wonders what Nicole is going to do to her, what a monster like this considers fitting punishment in the face of such a staged escape attempt.
It comes so quickly that Brie almost misses it in her blink, feeling searing pain reach her nearly two full seconds after the punishment is swiftly doled. Nicole releases Brie and watches the woman keel onto the ground, one with the dirt, writhing like an earthworm. As the throbbing heat in her leg becomes a fire, those leather-clad hands having torn ligament in the manner of a child carelessly breaking their toy, Brie stares up in pain at the weapon she came to save. Nicole's rifle cannot see the worm at their feet, but she finds her lips curling lightly at the sound Brie made in her agony. The image of Hope's pleasure in her pain causes Brie to feel something akin to disgust towards this girl she's only seen as victim up until this point, trying to push the resentment back down lest it becomes her. Distantly, Brie wonders if this feeling right here isn't Nicole's true goal in this latest performance. Punishment isn't liable to teach the butch much of anything, but seeing Hope's reaction to her suffering has flipped a switch in her mind she struggles to correct. It makes her want to punish that smug weapon and see how she likes it. An ugly, aberrant thought that Brie extinguishes as quickly as it flares up, but still... a part of her is grateful for the distraction.
Perhaps even this animosity is, in a sense, transactional in nature.
Chapter Two: Hellhound Chasing Dragon
Brie awakes to the scent of antiseptics and the sight of a much darker ceiling. After adjusting to the artificial light suddenly flooding the room from motion activated sensor, Brie sits up in her much harder bed and lets out dry, bitter laugh at the stark contrast to this cell she now occupies and the princess treatment she had been given in the penthouse. Somehow, she thinks it suits her better to play the caged beast. A wounded animal at that, Brie staring down at the current state of herself with a grimace. The needle marks have been sanitised and patched over, but the sight of her leg is what gives the woman pause. A brace hugs her leg from ankle to thigh, clunky looking metal that tells Brie she won't be doing much running in her immediate future. With appropriate brooding, Brie considers that she does not remember anything between receiving Nicole's physical punishment and waking up in this room where she could not begin to discern whether morning or night rules the world beyond these walls. Unsure whether she was sedated by Nova or simply passed out from the pain, Brie swings her legs over the side of the bed to prove her own undying resolve, planting feet against the hard ground and she assessing her new home.
A relatively small cell with bars directly ahead of her leading into a corridor that gives view of more empty cells. How lonely to be the only prisoner here, of a war she cannot begin to comprehend. Raising a hand to her face, Brie feels that steel muzzle has returned to her at last, secured by leather harness the woman can no longer bring herself to tug at. It suits a beast like her, she thinks with a dark smile to the mirror once she manages to drag herself over to it. Hands close around the sides of the sink protruding from concrete wall, Brie inspecting the scrape that slowly heals on her cheek and the blunt bangs that she recognises suit her as well as this mask. Is Nicole afraid she's going to bite or something? It's not an entirely unfounded fear, Brie supposes.
"Ah hell... I'm already starting to accept this and she's not even..." Brie purses her lips and grips the white ceramic tight, remembering Nicole Black's promise of a drugging regimen. Not a promise, a threat, Brie corrects herself wryly. A part of her yearns for the escape from responsibility and guilt already, just as that rifle had, but Brie has seen just how different Nicole's control is to Envy's. Spending time on this side has only endeared Brie to Envy's methods further, the raven haired garden mistress appearing benevolent by comparison. It's why Brie suggested that she and Hope resubmit to the empress to begin with, but now she's more sure than ever that she was right in making such a call. Brie's father died in the military, she grew up with so many people telling her what a damn hero he was and the girl only ever thought that the selfish fuck shouldn't have knocked someone up just to go play war in poorer countries immediately afterwards. A deep resentment for this militaristic flavour of control urges Brie to spite her 'Commander' until the very end, until her will is well and truly spent.
Clacking footsteps signal Nicole's arrival, Brie rolling her eyes and staring herself down in the mirror one last time as though to say "You better not fall for any more of her shit, or we'll have problems."
"Ah you're already awake, and on your feet no less. You're persistent if nothing else, my Hellhound." Dry smirk coats commander's lips, Nicole donning the black as usual with matching leather riding crop tucked under her arm.
Brie snarls, living up to the new name almost instantly through natural instinct and disgust. She wonders how Nicole ever expects to bring her to heel, to make her loyal, when all she ever does is smugly antagonise. "I'm to be a mutt, eh? People can't seem to make their mind up if I'm a stud or a bitch, guess so long as I ain't human it's no biggie. Even now, I see that equestrian's tool, guess I'm a hybrid."
"Hellhound suits you too well, and I like the ring more than Night-Mare which was the other name my team had been considering." Nova laughs and Brie realises she's being mocked, her sardonic smile only growing wider with an almost masochistic glee, twinged with rebellion. "Besides, the name will suit you much more with this on to match that face-wear. I could have had you wake up in this, too, but I decided that I really wanted to see you put it on yourself." Nicole raises her hand on the other side of that resting crop, presenting a leather collar, thick and padded with burnt umber hue. At the front of the chunky accessory is a gold coloured ring. Half dog collar, half slave collar... another hybrid.
"There's no way in hell I'm putting this on willingly." The hybrid barks, crossing her arms and approaching the cell bars with a clinking sound coming from the steps on her right side. Did they make her brace extra noisy so that she couldn't sneak around? Or perhaps to make her feel even less human? Brie could believe Nicole the type to view those with disabilities and impairments as lesser beings, especially with that leather cape snug around her shoulders and the black cap... she certainly does not fit a suitable image of hero anymore, instead appearing almost comically evil. The fascist look might just be another costume to the performer who sees this world as little more than her personal stage, but Brie still sees some truth in the uniform. Take Misty Black's disease for example, Nicole began to see her own wife as little more than a liability since it surfaced. "Pull your gun on me again if you must, it'll be the only way you get me to comply."
"Ah, so soon you're asking for my sultry sidearm back in your mouth? Suppose I must have given you some manner of sexual awakening with it, hm?" Mrs. Black steps closer to the bars as though goading Brie to try and reach for her. The collar is pushed through the gaps and dropped unceremoniously onto cell floor, Nicole's lips not faltering in their smug curve. "That won't be necessary today, I'm not so keen on indulging your sick perversions until I'm sure you've earnt it, that you're even worth the lick of my crop. No more visits, no meals, no nothing until you put that collar on. The moment you do you won't be able to remove it again, but your cell door will be opened. Depending on the time you may find me in the interrogation room just at this end of the corridor." Nicole playfully gestures ahead with her crop. "The other door cannot be opened without clearance, and no you won't be able to kick this one down, not even if you were at your full strength. I want you to know these acts of perceived cruelty are not without purpose, I mean to soften you up, simmer that ego of yours at low heat until bitter acceptance has you dancing to a tune of my own making. I don't need you to love or even respect me, Brie, I just need you willing to accept that my path can give you more catharsis than you yet realise. I want you to ruminate on that this evening... or ah, is it morning?"
"I think mental games, manipulation and the like, are a hell of a lot less effective when you spell them out to the intended recipient." Brie sulks, backing away with metallic clanks and sitting on the edge of the bed, hooded eyes gazing at the collar by the bars.
"No, they're not. On the contrary, in fact, you're a smart enough girl to know that my words, dangerous as they are, undeniably offer a salvation you won't find elsewhere. I'm opening a dialogue, not with the you out here who pretends she isn't tempted, but the one within who already counts down to the moment she knows she'll cave. That collar, and all that comes after, is destiny. It's all you have to look forward to down here, if you were strong enough to deny that you wouldn't have gotten here in the first place. Fortunately for you, we're well past the era of good and bad decisions, now it's simply awaiting the inevitable. Eventually you'll settle on a duration, maybe five minutes or maybe five hours, where you'll reason with yourself that you made a good enough effort to resist. You'll mentally pat yourself on the back for having put up any kind of struggle and then you'll submit. There's a life for you here, Brie, it may not be the one you think you want but it's the only future you have in the cards now. What a shame it would be to waste in a cell, hm?" Nicole pushes the collar forwards some with her shiny black boot and titters into gloved hand. "I'll see you soon, love, don't keep a woman waiting."
Breathing short, shallow breaths, Brie watches her captor fade from view and listens to those heel clacks grow slowly distant until the slamming of a door ushers in a new era of silence. The collar jeers, Brie having only just made the mental connection that she's bereft of gown, naked and sweating with signs of struggle strewn across her body. Has she endured enough yet to accept defeat without guilt? That's the sort of thinking Nicole is banking on, Brie realising just how hot she is despite the lack of clothing. The only garments she possesses are the muzzle secured to her face and the brace around her leg, making her truly feel like some manner of animal locked up here in dimly lit dungeon. If she were to put the collar on, she'd have a third accessory to call her own, the woman muses with bitter laugh that comes out feeling just a little too hollow.
"Fuck..."
From the moment that collar landed on the cell floor, Brie knew she was going to have to put it on eventually. That's not quite true, she could refuse it forever and accept a slow death of protest, but such a sacrifice requires a spirit far more intact than hers and unfortunately she's all too aware. Just like Nicole suggested, her knowing the tricks does not dampen the effectiveness, it just helps her know her next lines. The woman passed her a script and Brie can spit on it all she likes, she still reads it to perfection when all is said and done. The poor thing can't help herself, that heat slick between her thighs reminding her that all of this, somewhere deep and shameful, brings a wrongful desire. A wound of pleasure on her soul.
Hours have passed, or perhaps only a handful of minutes, and Brie cannot help but focus on the most telling truth of all. It would be so simple and easy to ensure she could never equip that collar sitting across from her by just throwing it past the bars, out of reach. Knowing this and seeing it yet within her grasp tells anybody concerned here all they need to know, Brie terrified that should she touch the alluring loop of leather she might feel helplessly compelled by some dark urge to clasp it around her neck before she can be rid of it.
With a sharp intake of breath as her mind already begins to war with itself, Brie looks down at her slick, naked form, built and broken. Ever since getting this body she's taken such pride in it, distant memories of weight training and cardio flash a smile onto her face as fingertips run down the skin, stopping short of her lap. Heat she wishes she could still deny pools between her legs, Brie understanding just how wrong it is to accept that any of this could turn her on but knowing just as well that arousal isn't a switch. Though neither is Brie, her preference has always been to dominate and she doubts that's suddenly going to change even in the midst of all this madness. Can she top with collar and muzzle and brace? What will Nicole put her in next, she wonders, realising grimly that she has indeed accepted the collar deep down.
That's right, this body Brie prides herself on, that she adores so dearly... she could never bear to see it waste away. In the end, she didn't even put up enough of a faux struggle to elicit those brownie points Nova mentioned. Lifting up from the bed with a grunt, Brie takes two steps forwards and turns to confront herself in the mirror one last time before she takes the plunge. Her face looks a little pathetic in this moment, but surprisingly she cannot bring herself to avert her gaze, transfixed by the sight of somebody wading deep through mental justifications and shameful compromise. She's not a fighter, she's a survivor, and a healthy modicum of guilt always comes along with that path.
"It's just a damn collar... doesn't mean shit." She speaks hollow words of bravado as fingers curl into the cool leather, Brie lifting up the hefty accessory and running her thumbs over it timidly. Eyes lose themselves in a blur and she holds her breath, Nicole having built this moment into something that it's not and Brie becoming swept up in her theatrics. Like she said, it's just a collar, any symbolic act is just the result of overactive imagination. Primed thought, every word from that foul woman's lips an act of covert conditioning. Brie tells herself that remaining aware of this will keep her from falling for it, but she also couldn't help but see some truth in those words of Nova's that suggested the very opposite. She's like a penny swirling around one of those spiral donation boxes, eventually it reaches the middle and slips out of sight completely.
With both hands on the collar, Brie raises it to her neck while still holding her breath, only exhaling once she has slipped it around overheating skin and clasped cool leather into place. It's a long, significant exhale, Brie too scared to turn to her left again and inspect that goading mirror. The collar is not uncomfortable, but it is impossible to ignore, the feeling it clasped around her neck like that of Nicole's firm leather grip lightly choking her. Brie bites her lip and traces fingertip over the smooth surface, letting her touch linger on that cold metal ring for just a little too long before she snaps herself out of her stillness and finds the will to lash out again.
"Fuck you! Open the door already, I put the damn thing on!" Strong hands grip the bars of her confined space in frustration and Brie finds the cell door push open against her weight, creaking as she takes a step forwards and making it move with little resistance. Automatic lock, Brie's eyes flick down at the locking mechanism and heat touches her cheeks from embarrassment over the unnecessary outburst. With tentative steps, Brie enters the corridor and swallows nervously, looking to her right at the door Nicole must have gone through before whipping to the left and considering escape. Nova said she won't be able to break out and really Brie believes her, but her foolish and tattered pride will never last if she doesn't at least try. With fruitless, feigned determination, Brie drags herself with hobbling steps over to the door that leads out into the base. Unnaturally strong hands attempt to force the door open in a pathetic effort and Brie idly wonders if Nova is currently watching her, popcorn in hand. The woman did mention wanting to watch Brie put the collar on, so it's safe to assume there are cameras even if the predator turned prey can't currently make them out with naked eyes.
With half-hearted kick, Brie stumbles back and curses quietly into the air before her. Tiring herself out here on a performance she knows won't get her anywhere will not only just weaken her up for Nicole, it's no doubt what the vicious blonde is banking on. Turning with teeth now threatening to break the skin at the corner of her lip, uncertainty and doubt running a train on her confidence, Brie begins her journey towards the door on the other side of the corridor. If Nova lies beyond the threshold of that steel rectangle growing larger in her vision with each clinking step, Brie can give the woman a piece of her mind and reclaim the self-respect she'd shed when putting on this collar.
Finally reaching the other side and embarrassed at the exertion it took, Brie feels determined to make an entrance... entranced by the notions of theatre as she finds herself another actress on Nova's stage, playing her part to perfection as she pushes boot against interrogation room door and blows it open with a crash. Nicole is sitting on the other side of a plain steel table with loops bolted onto its surface, a door to her left and a wide one may mirror at her back. In that reflective wall, staring past her tormentor, Brie finally catches sight of that burnt umber collar matching her hair so well, naked form all too hunched. Straightening her back with a traitorous blush she'd claw off her face if she could, Brie wears a mask of pride sporting more cracks than a construction yard.
"Aren't you going to take a seat, love? Or are you too busy admiring the Hellhound in the mirror?" Commander Black gives an ugly titter, resting back in her chair with one leg resting on the other's knee in steady bounce. Sitting in her hand, enveloped snugly in those impenetrable black digits, is a syringe filled with glittering amber. A drug as gold as her giving gaze, Nova smirking when she watches a transfixed Brie sit down by sheer instinct without registering how easily manipulated she had been into doing so.
"Look, don't get any funny ideas thinking I'm your pet now just 'cause I put some stupid co--" The hothead loses steam as the sounds from under the table finally reach her burning red ears, Brie pushing her chair back and gulping like she's in a cartoon before taking a peek at the source of such indecent sounds. A chorus of strained moaning, almost entirely held back on account of her training, alongside squelching touch that has Brie overheating again so soon. There, under the table knelt by her handler's boot, is the rifle Brie cannot bring herself to see as the Hope she had hooked up with. For once the weapon's arms are not bound behind its back, though the metal plated mask is still snug around its face to rob the thing of vision. One hand is buried between the pathetic creature's legs while another flattens against the floor by handler's boot to steady itself in its lean. Brie watches the weapon get itself off while polishing every inch of its owner's blackened boot with well trained tongue. Wet sultry muscle hangs out with panting breaths blowing past it, rifle worshipping the chunky footwear like its just as precious to it as Nicole herself, entire body trembling in pleasure wrought by hasty touch and total submission.
"She's completely gone, you understand? The girl you knew, she's been filed down and repurposed into something truly mine. She loves how utterly owned and controlled she is now, helped me break her in with gleeful compliance. Don't feel bad for her, Hellhound, she wanted this... now all she wants is what I tell her to." Nicole speaks clearly, that projected voice not reaching the ears of a tool far too committed to a singular function as it currently stands. If handler were to snap her fingers, of course, the dutiful rifle would stop in an instant and await instruction. Brie feels a spike of hatred welling up deep inside and pushes her thighs together, wishing a part of her didn't feel jealous to see Nova getting such personal attention from a girl she's so attracted to herself. "You want her, don't you?"
"Wh-what?" Brie chokes, eyes returning to Nova's and then swiftly trailing back down to find that shimmering shot in her hand. "Is that some kind of joke? I... I mean yeah, I came here for her."
"And how ungrateful she is after all your suffering, hm?" Lips curl with monstrous delight, Nicole figuring this won't be half the challenge she had anticipated it to be. "Her usefulness to me in this current state of affairs has run its course, more or less, so I suppose we could strike a deal. I'm offering her to you, Hellhound. My rifle won't be anything but a tool, you must understand, I've cored out all else with methodical sessions you're fortunate to be spared from, but her body... her obedience... both are quite delectable are they not?" Mrs. Black removes one of her gloves and snaps her fingers crisp into the tense air, the kneeling tool ceasing her boot-shining and crawling out from under the table on Nova's side. The being Brie isn't sure how to refer to in her mind stands up straight and slips sticky fingers from her drooling sex, bringing her arms back into position behind her back even without the physical restraints as though it's what feels most natural to her now. The sight is dangerous to Brie, who stares unfettered at that tantalising skin on show with the bodysuit zipped down. This is a different one to her pilot uniform, the zip on that was at the back and the material much less shiny. In place of neoprene, the weapon currently finds itself clad in giving latex, peeled back to reveal that well maintained form that Brie feels all too desperate to get her hands on. Shame floods her a drug of its own, Brie wondering what the hell they could inject into her body in addition to have her feeling dirtier than she already does.
"Hope..." The collared captive mutters weakly, knowing she's only setting herself up for a crushing retort from her very own damsel.
Adhering to the script with perfect punctuality, the tamed brat cocks its head and snorts, corners of her mouth peeling upwards in amusement of the fact that somebody still sees her as anything more than key accomplice in her own corruption. She had been so desperate, eager, to run away from the burden of being a person. Free will had lost its allure in a world of being passed from owner to owner, her desire to resist getting lost little by little in each transfer. By the time Joy had found herself in the manor of Nicole Black, she was already on such a steep discount that taking her identity was child's play. She had already given up on being a person, she was just made to forget for a while. A domino's duty is to fall, but prop it back up and it might live in delusion for a time. Cycles like these are usually going nowhere fast, but Joy's wheel of destiny does have an end goal in sight. In golden eyes the reality of her fall is illuminated and then, the remembrance swiftly stolen. All will be revealed at the end of the play, as is customary.
"You're not a very bright beast, are you now? I thought that nearly breaking you with my Rook would have tipped you off, but you're a stupid old dog that won't learn new tricks, huh? I'm exactly where I belong, Brie, and maybe you are too. We were both just going to hand our free will over anyway right, what does it matter if the recipient changes? So long as we were together, right? I can't have been the only one who felt a spark." The romantically twinged sentiment seems so twisted and cruel now, but Brie supposes she can see some logic in the words. Envy is not so brutal, not one to dismantle a person's very essence in the way Nova seems to have taken to with giddy abandon. No longer does that woman pretend to be anything but an abusive sociopath, one who now presents Brie with her only real chance at salvation. A submission to the spite that drives her, the former hero won't deny that she's tempted but...
"I'd tell you to speak with your own damn words instead of reading from Nova's script but I suppose that's all you've got left, huh? There's being weak and then there's this, Hope... you just... you're..."
"Irresponsibly malleable? Selfishly submissive? Ehe... I'd kill you and all your friends at handler's command, you know? I'd do it with no expectation of reward, even, because it's just what I do. Follow orders, comply... I get off on how fucking useless I am when left to my own devices. Do you have any idea how liberating it is to not have to think? To not decide, ever? It's... it's heaven, Brie, the world's worst addiction~" The rifle steps closer, pushing its toned stomach against the table's edge as Brie eyes that horizontal scar with curiosity before the words hit her like espresso. A stimulant of strong provocation has Brie losing her temper again, finding it so much easier to lose her cool while in the state she is, in the situation that has her in an altered headspace even if she doesn't quite notice.
"Ugh, just stop. You sound so... you're just..." Brie can't bring herself to say how disgusted she is, how pathetic she finds this goading creature who raises a hand to suck the lust from coated fingers with a pleasured hum. Desperate to remind herself that this is a product of Nicole's abuse and not the girl she felt so endeared to in recent past, Brie cannot help but resent her anyway. It's just too much for her to justify anymore, knowing a person can surely not be warped to this degree without some acceptance and cooperation on the part of their own soul. Corruption is temptation is a crow, the call it makes a warbled, mangled mess of sound that should be too nauseating to follow deep into the dark lest you make a deal with the devil in your heart. Hope gave herself over to Nicole willingly in the end, Brie feels sure of this and the knowledge kills her sympathy.
"Oh, don't blame her." Nicole mutters with a voice marinated in smugness, Brie knowing damn well that such helpless resentment was her objective. A dark ambition to turn Brie on the girl she means to rescue, the heaving, heavily accessorised butch scowling at their puppetmaster. "Rifle, time out for a moment." The blonde snaps her fingers and Brie watches as the invisible strings pulling the weapon's lips into a smirk suddenly unthread, rifle's shoulders slumping. Lips softly part, mindlessness looking good on her, Brie unable to avert her gaze even if she's nervous over Nicole's reason for putting that mind on pause. What's left to keep secrets from, she wonders, chewing her lip restlessly. "Step back a little, if you please." Those last three words have been woven tight into the living weapon's subconscious since the very beginning of her re-education here, Commander Black's rifle stepping back as a line of drool escapes the corner of her mouth and reflects dim light into Brie's dulling eyes. Why does it bother her so much?
"Hey, leave her alone." Groans the Hellhound-to-be, standing up as she realises how much she'd hate to watch that wretched woman toy with Hope right in front of her. She's not so presumptuous as to consider it anything close to cuckoldry, perhaps this is her own possessive streak shining through... or perhaps Brie is finally worked up enough to accept that she'd simply hate to feel left out. Biting down her own internal admonishments, Brie's next words catch in her throat, the skin housed in tight leather that constricts her protest.
"Relax, I'm not going to fuck her, that's your job. You really are needy things, both of you..." Commander Black chuckles and peels the rifle's body suit down to her hips and then rolls it further still, turning the tranced out tool with light touch. "I thought I'd direct your attention to these." The woman in black military uniform slides her hand down contrasting curves, extending her eclipse to gesture to her toy's behind. Just above her rear are a series of needle marks, Brie's eyes narrowing and flicking over to that syringe still held firm in the woman's other hand.
"What's it do?" Feeling herself retract a little as she spends every breath in anticipation of that needle finally sinking into her flesh, Brie returns raptured gaze to the marks on the empty weapon's skin.
This is when Nicole's smile truly becomes an ugly, vainglorious grin. "Oh this? It's pretty isn't it? Shimmering, golden... but it won't make you see stars, only her. You'll see soon enough, the way it reduces you with burning passion, trapped in tunnel vision that has you forgetting this building even has a fucking exit. You're not so wilful, Brie, this will prove that to you rather definitively. It'll make you into a bitch in heat, at least I hope, given that it's an untested prototype I can't really say for sure!"
"What? Then..." Realising too late that she's once again played into Nicole's hand with her reaction, lent credence to her loathsome theatrics, Brie shuts herself up and glances those needle marks being presented in a silent fume. So that's Nicole's point here...
"That's right, we didn't even have to drug this one. She fell so easy to placebo like she was grateful for the pretence, the excuse to just hand over her misbegotten whole. I'll concede that a healthy dose of something to lubricate the ego will go a long way to twisting more human subjects such as yourself, Brie, but if you're still holding out hope that this thing beside me is a person I want you to remember that she never had a single dose. I suppose we did give her supplements, mild stimulants, but never anything psychoactive--"
"Stimulants are psychoactives you smug bitch." This is as good as Brie is going to get regarding small victories here in Nova's grasp, grateful for the catharsis of showing her up even if it dies a little when reminded of that leather clasped around her neck, the muzzle she speaks through.
"Sit."
Gritting her teeth, Brie foolishly meets that overpowering golden glow in natural response to Nicole's suddenly raised voice, her mind blanking out for a brief flash in which she finds herself firmly planted in the chair once more, blinking away that unnatural grogginess. Did she strike a nerve? Brie isn't sure whether she feels emboldened to keep pushing now that she's received direct proof of this woman's fragile ego, or if she's too scared to discover just how poor Nova's impulse control can be when she's challenged in any serious capacity. The famous showdown between Nova and Envy speaks volume, no? When push came to shove the greatest hero in the world immediately tried to fry her opponent's brain without a shred of mercy. People like her cannot stand not being in control at all times.
"Supernova." Nicole relaxes and chuckles again, picking up the resting crop to run over her weapon's exposed skin as she twirls the syringe with abyssal fingers.
"Huh?"
"It's what I'm calling the drug, you'll be its first and only recipient I'm afraid. This is all for her sake, ultimately." Nicole lightly strikes the weapon's bare bottom with her leather crop and Brie winces at the blank gasp that escapes its lips, drool hanging from its chin now. "Speaking of stimulants, this contains a much stronger one. At its core my Supernova is a combination of strong amphetamine and potent aphrodisiac. It'll be energizing, highly addictive, make you feel like a god within reason. Within your cage, I should say. The power you'll feel, the lust you'll be beholden to... suffice it to say that your brain chemistry will be sat upon a platter for my golden drug to have its way with. And then, well, this rifle that has served its purpose will be refashioned into a toy for my Hellhound to have its way with. Everything in its right place, no?" Another strike of the crop against the set dressing, Nicole pleasantly surprised that Brie has not attempted to stand up again and stop her. The captive is far too concerned with the words she's still attempting to swallow, almost mesmerised by that glittering gold liquid staring back at her with a glint of impossibly bright light.
"You'll have to strap me down to a fucking table if you think I'm gonna let you stick me with that needle without a stru--"
A warming glow like the sun's calming rays fills the dim interrogation chamber and Brie feels herself mentally tripping over, biting hard into her lip to try and resist the stare of submission that takes hold. Her eyes scrunch shut and she looks off to the side, panting from the exertion it took to resist. That compulsion to stare a woman down when you're spiting her really backfires with Lady Nova.
"You resisted... that's... well, it's been a while." Nicole laughs, pushing her chair back and rising to her feet, circling around the table while Brie still fights off the dizzy spell from that intense glow, like staring into the sun and needing to blink away the afterimage for minutes. By the time she notices Nova's approach, Brie breathes deep that waft of expensive perfume and stares down at black leather digit curling into the golden ring at her throat. Brie is pulled up by her collar onto her feet, still refusing to look the woman in the eyes as she trembles in anticipation of a sudden needle prick.
"Please..." Mumbles the woman whose fight extinguishes more and more the closer she feels to that oblative edge, mental oblivion ablated via assigned worship to a god of feeling. That goddess called addiction, a rush of stimulation that seizes all your better senses.
"Please what, sunflower?" The tip of Nova's crop pushes into Brie's downturned cheek and pushes her face back up, their gaze's grazing as Brie drily swallows, her body locking up with a gripping sense of powerlessness.
"I don't know... fuck you..." Feeling meeker than ever before, Brie reaches out to grip the black of Nicole's uniform, pulling closer with exasperated sigh. "Just... do whatever you're gonna do, this feeling is killing me."
The woman in control lets out yet another confident chuckle, tugging that collar so that Brie is forced to press up against ironed black uniform with her naked form, feeling smaller than ever before. "And what feeling is that, girl? Being at another's mercy, a slave to your commander's whim? Be honest." A flash of gold and Nova watches the creature she tames soften against her, cooing out with a fluttering of lashes.
"Y-Yes..." Brie chokes out, vision clouding as she inhales that heady perfume that takes her back to simpler times.
"That's yes sir."
"Yes sir..." Her cheeks are burning hot, Brie still too distracted waiting for that sudden shot to focus on resisting Nova's games.
"Ahaha, I didn't even flash my eyes that time. I guess that all of you are built to fall in line when it really comes down to it, you just like to play pretend from time to time. I can respect a good performance, of course, but let's forego the smoke and mirrors... I want to see the real you, my Hellhound~" Without warning, a hot pain pricks Brie's neck and firm fingers push the drug into her system. Only now does Brie realise that with fingers wrapped around crop and hooked into her collar, Nova had not even been holding the syringe she had feared so. Instead, the dosage comes from behind, administered by the weapon at her back who slides the syringe from Brie's neck and then proceeds to drag her own sultry tongue over the flush skin.
Brie shudders, that wet muscle against her neck feeling so cold when compared to her own sweltry state, stumbling back the moment Nicole releases her. Feeling so weak, vision a complete blur and heat crashing over her body in waves of stimulating tingles, Brie slumps down onto her chair as guided by the weapon who wipes her with hand towel. Her neck is on fire, though it doesn't hurt, the sensation of intense warmth spreading to the rest of her body, lighting up her fingertips and melting that erogenous zone between her legs. The pain in her leg becomes a thing of the past, Brie starting to feel positively invincible. Nova lords over her with a smirk Brie's sight is still to unfocused to make out, icy bare hand cupping the slumping woman's cheek. Unable to help herself from leaning into the touch so desperately, Brie's vision finally comes back into focus and she stares up at a goddess in the flesh.
"Fuck... fuck... this is... you're so..." The drugged captive pants, pushing deeper into that touch that keeps her tethered as the chemical in her system does a number on her shame, words like resistance and pride wholly meaningless in the face of a bright Supernova lighting up each and every nerve in her buckling body. "Ffffuuuckk..."
Nova turns Brie's face from left to right a few times with a satisfied smile plastered over her face, her captive's chest heaving up and down as perspiration coats her human-like form. "That's it, don't rush to move just yet, I imagine the first time on such a strong substance might be a tad intense, teething. Ah... that being said I don't think I can help myself from--"
Suddenly the chair is kicked out from under Brie and she collapses down onto the hard floor with a thud, dull throb in her right leg that simply cannot compete with the euphoria taking her mind and body for the ride of her life. Sluggishly scrambling onto her knees, Brie gasps as fingers cup her chin before realising she doesn't feel them at all, hand holding her muzzle and tilting it up to have the kneeling subject stare upon its new master.
"This muzzle suits you so much better now that you're unable to stop panting, Hellhound. You better be grateful for this feeling, in time you most certainly will be. You'll be hooked on me and my Supernova, but better still... you'll be entirely dependent on your chewtoy."
Squeezing her thighs helplessly around digging fingers, Brie tilts her head in confusion as her tongue cannot wrestle out the words. She's never felt more awake, pupils dilating into black holes reflecting the one in front of them, drool spilling from hanging tongue as she attempts to cool down as a dog would. The line of spit hits the bottom of her steel muzzle and drips from the mesh, Brie's hot breath almost visible in the comparatively chilled interrogation room.
"I'm talking about the girl behind you, dear, I'll be taking my leave in just a moment but rest assured I'll leave her behind in case you need any assistance in getting off, or whatever it is you choose to do with your free time once I'm gone. Remember, you can treat her however you like, it's not really a person anymore so there's no need to hold back." Handler pushes the muzzle down and then drops her hand onto Brie's head, tousling that dyed red hair while the overstimulated mutt still tries to regain some semblance of humanity as pleasure assaults it from all angles. "Good girl, not so mouthy now are we? I'll be seeing you later, Brie."
Sniffing intensely, Brie bobs her head when the hand swiftly removes itself, racing to get up as she watches Nicole leaving so soon. It isn't that she wants to submit to the woman further, of course, just that she was working up to giving that damned woman a piece of her mind and now she's worried she left it too late... Brie was... only taking a breather.
Click!
She's too late. Brie stares at the locked interrogation room door and whines, tearing her bottom lip between her teeth as eyes flick erratically around the room before settling on that waiting weapon. The girl formerly going by Hope stands at attention, still holding the empty syringe in one hand with her bodysuit heaped up by her thighs. Naturally, in this compromised state, Brie's first thought is about how badly she wants to kiss that girl in front of her who still resembles the one she'd become attached to on North Star Island. That mask covering the top half of its face only serves to accentuate the bottom, to highlight those highly kissable lips Brie could and would sublimate her goodness against were she not wearing this muzzle to keep the errant mouth at bay. Eyes gaze upon the object of her desire thinking there's no harm in staring, especially when the thing could not catch her doing so.
"You're ogling my body right now, aren't you?" The weapon's smugness is a true extension of Mrs. Black's, as though that accursed woman had never even left.
"Your..." Brie swallows, utterly breathless as the high begins to consume her. "L-Lips."
Short footsteps bring her closer and Brie sniffs the air to confirm that she carries that same perfumed scent as a product of being Nicole's stress toy. Not wanting to move a muscle lest she give in to the temptation and desire pooling at her fingertips and spilling down her chin, Brie forces her body into trembling stillness while the thing before her crouches down and cups the sides of her muzzle. Pulling Brie's head close to that naked bosom, Nicole's rifle plants a kiss upon freshly tousled hair and the kneeling woman curses under her breath, letting out a string of loose giggles as her clamped legs slowly part. Eager fingers reach for her neglected sex as she plays her body to Nova's tune.
"What happened to resisting temptation, huh? I can hear those disgusting noises hehe. Handler told me you didn't really want to save me, just claim me... use me. Is that true? That's not very heroic, Hellh--"
"Shut up!" Brie snarls, body still lighting up with pleasurable bursts of tingles that make her feel utterly untouchable. She wants this woman as much as she resents her for being so pathetic, ignoring her own weakness and excusing it in long exhales that do little to calm her down. With temper tested, Brie pulls her hand away and grabs the weapon's thighs, pushing her metal snout between them and letting her wide eyes flutter at the inhale of arousal. "Y-Y-You're just as turned on... fuck... I want... want to taste..." With crass hissing sound, Brie slurps up the sudden salivation that came from her deep sniff, fingers sinking into surprisingly soft flesh and refusing to let go.
"Oh? Hehe, you're really desperate. If you want a real taste I guess you'll need to make me cum, but I can give you an advance... here~" Not sure what to expect, Brie watches as the sole object of her desire leans over her, tugging Brie forwards with overpowering strength and lolling out her tongue. "Open up now, mutt."
A line of spit trails down through that steel muzzle and coats Brie's lips, the intoxicated Hellhound lapping it up and growling with a warped emergence of pride. "I-I'm supposed to be dominating you! I-I mean... wait, that's just what Nova wants... hahaha, a-almost forgot... I... she wants... uhm..."
"Ahahaha, you sound like a stupid junkie, a mindless beast. She wants you to start using me for relief the way she does, to twist you into just another one of my wardens after you came all this way with the lofty goal of saving me. Such a stupid creature, I don't want to be saved and... you don't really want to resist."
"Ugh just shut up!" Brie lunges forwards and pushes the weapon down onto the ground, clambering over it as she feels the urge to take control become too intense to keep pushing back down, clamping a hand over the other's mouth to stop it from saying any more goading words and letting a few of them infect her mind for just a little longer. "I'll make you cum... so just shut the fuck up already." It's such a power trip to hold the mouthy brat down like this, her thumb finding the rifle's clit and picking up from where it had left off under the table. Its moans reverberate against Brie's hand, she knows just how to pleasure this toy at least. Succumbing to the effects of the drug, Brie pushes her head down beside her toy's neck and indulges herself on more of that sweet perfume. "You smell just like her... you're both the same... I... ahahaha... it's like I'm taking it out directly on her. M-Maybe you need punishing j-just a little."
The weapon lays in a sprawl with its back against the floor, well acquainted to rough use so finding this to be child's play, feeling happiest when it's put in its place like this. Submissive groans die against Brie's clamped palm, the weapon pushing out its hips into that expert touch which knows it so well already.
"You deserve it... don't you?" Finally giving into the rhetoric this place has been attempting to hammer into her, Brie lets the influence carry her over the finish line as her hand pulls away from the brat's mouth only to push fingers inside. "Don't fucking bite or I won't let you cum... ahahaha... I might not anyway, I haven't decided yet~" Brie licks her lips, thrusting fingers into her toy's giving body and curling them, giving pleasure with knuckles that usually only deliver pain. "Your body is too much... I-I just can't believe the sway you have on me..."
Nicole's rifle lets out muffled giggle against the fingers that lightly gag her, tongue lubricating each digit dutifully as Brie switches hands and redoubles her effort down below. She has the chewtoy writhing, moaning, buckling and mewling... each new reaction she can elicit from the toy egging her on further until she stops seeing the thing as a person at all, lost in a haze of pleasure, mind buzzing with ecstasy as her body becomes a glossy sheen of beastly desire. Instead of muffling those moans with her hand, Brie uses it to transform them, fingers wrapped tight around the masochistic rifle's neck and weight leaning down to choke it. Just what it deserves, right?
Hours pass of experimental touch driven by heightened instinct, Brie and her toy both sufficiently spent as they heave in a pile on the interrogation room floor. Consciousness begins to fade as Brie laces her fingers into the rifle's, starting to understand that even this could be a happy ending of a sort.
Chapter Three: Supermassive Black Hole
Brie comes to in her cell, unblemished by the false promises of sunlight and instead flooding with sensor activated light as artificial as her pride. With a groan, the woman sits up and tries to recall how she returned to this stuffy holding room, a thrumming in her skull and a parched throat distracting her from the unpleasant mess of need digging into her heart like a curse nail. Possessive voodoo control would be too convenient an excuse for how much she lost herself against that bright Supernova, now she feels the mass of an imploding star seize her in its place. An emptiness that eats her whole, has her fingers restlessly tapping the sides of the sink bowl as she reluctantly raises her head to inspect the state of her. Still muzzled, still collared, Brie takes stock of the nail marks still set into her cheeks after an undisclosed rest that has the intense high a ghost of memory. She remarks with bitter smile that while she looks an utter fucking mess right now... it doesn't half suit her.
The sound of a door swinging open has Brie feel alert, as much as she can in this sluggish state of come down. Heel clacks sound handler's approach, her nerves a sudden mess as she idly wonders if today will be repeat of yesterday, or if the calendar has yet to even move. The sore on her lip has no chance of healing as Brie chews nervously, wondering how she's going to be able to face the woman she so scorns after what she did with that rifle. It's such an obvious tactic, the way they're breaking her, but she simply has no idea how to combat it despite knowing this.
After a short wait that feels an eternity to the addled hound, Commander Black appears on the other side of those cell bars holding black neoprene bodysuit under her arms with umber material covering the shoulders and leather pilot gloves the same colour. "I've decided to become an optimist in this late stage, keep our options open should the worst never come to pass. As such, it dawned on me yesterday evening while I was nursing a bottle of wine in my room... we need you better trained. I feel the discipline should do you some good, not to mention the direction. Stress relief is best implemented after hard work, no? Keep yourself too aimless and it'll all start to become meaningless."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Brie feels her heartbeat betray her at the sight, the smell, the sheer presence of this woman who reduced her into an animal and left her to it last they met. She's starting to reconcile with her new existence, desperate to see that toy again and forget about everything else, just as Nova had intended. "You want me to be your pilot?" She eyes the outfit, the same type that rifle had been wearing while piloting the red giant. "You're kidding, right? The moment you put me in a craft you'll be seeing the back of me for good..."
Nicole laughs, her smile taking on predatory glint. "Almost sounds like you're warning me because you don't really want to leave. It's not a concern I have, anyway, even should you surprise me and dig up the will to run away like the coward I brought here... aha, you're kept well grounded by that collar. It's not just there to teach you your place, Hellhound. It works the same as the prototype version Sage had you wearing during that short-lived mission where you immediately turned traitor and tried to run off with my prize. Besides, you've seen the truth now even if you can't understand it, so why even bother right?"
Brie bites the air in front of her, nails digging into her sides as she fails to find an effective rebuttal and lets the silence speak for her.
"Good. Now that we're understood... I think this'll be good for you, Brie, both the action to get your blood pumping and... well, they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, don't they? Be good for me here and I'll bring you back to the interrogation room this afternoon, you'll be able to play with your reward for being my good, loyal pet. All night long, to your heart's content." Nova smirks and the sight makes Brie's pussy throb, eyes darting down to the floor as she discovers she's misplaced her protest. What's there to refuse?
"Can I at least get a shower first? And... I don't want to kill anyone, 'kay?" A calmness takes her heart as Brie jumps the hurdle of acceptance, deciding that if she just doesn't dwell on her own weakness for too long, pretends to look past it, she can escape the shame for a time. She still intends to escape, there are just more complications than she can bring herself to mull over right now... the collar, the security, the rifle's reluctance, her leg... the list feels nauseating at present. Tomorrow... tomorrow she'll formulate a plan, for today it might be nice to actually feel like a person again getting to pilot one of those things. What did that nurse call her again? Captain... that sounds a hell of a lot loftier than pet.
"Of course, in fact I insist. Follow me, there's a virtual leash tethering your collar to my personage so if you stray too far you're in for a hell of a headache again... I'll wager it'd be even more disorienting given the withdrawal, I can see you're missing my Supernova already. Don't worry, you'll get a small taste later if you're good. Perhaps sooner than you think." Unlocking the door to Brie's cell, Nicole allows her pet-in-training to step out by herself with a half grumble, Brie feeling her pride in tatters but knowing there's nothing she can do right now.
"Lead the way... sir."
"Ah... fuck, that's nice." Warm jets cleanse Brie of the filth of yesterday's sin, giving her a fresh blank state to start her day from or so she'd love to tell herself. Sitting across from her on changing room bench is the outfit she'll be wearing to satisfy Nicole's ambition, another notch. Brie's identity is on the line, her resolve to scorn that wheel she said she'd curse until her dying breath, but all she can think about in this moment is how good the warm water feels in her hair and how eager she is to pilot one of those bipedal machines she's been enchanted by since the moment she laid eyes upon the one they call Mantis.
Shampoo feels like a luxury item from another life, Brie letting her eyes close as her olfactory obsession kicks into full gear once again and she lets the fresh scent whisk her away to a past in which piloting machines that walked on two legs was a concept reserved for science fiction media. Just what is this world she's playing constant catch up with? And... why can't she stop thinking about that stupid weapon's body?
Stepping out of the shower with a contented sigh, Brie stares down at synthetic rubber suit and lets out a much more troubled sigh directly after. The idea of refusing to dress into this out of protest seems so childish to her now, as though she's started to accept that submitting to Nova's desire is a more rational play until opportunity rears itself... but then she still maintains enough wit to see that thinking for the flawed logic it is, bitter smiles the only ones she seems to be able to muster now without the aid of chemical supernova to expel her shame and doubt. Human instinct is a prison.
Glad for the privacy even if she's sure it's purely performative, wondering if Nicole secretly watches her even now and not able to care given everything she's already seen, Brie dresses into her form fitting bodysuit and flexes her muscles to test its comfortability. Movement seems good, Brie tracing fingers over the back of her neck where that procedure had given her the ability to interface with these crafts in the first place. Was that just for Envy's side, though? Does Nova's have their own equivalent to Helena?
Brie shrugs, figuring she will soon have the answers to her questions and that she could do with some time to think on other things. Escape is the word at the forefront of her mind, of course, one that appears so ugly and judgemental that Brie feels like running and hiding from it in this empty room of lockers. "Escape... it's just..."
It feels impossible, Nova is always several steps ahead of her at any given moment. Even just getting out of this place alone seems an insurmountable task, let alone dragging that ungrateful toy alongside her, but that isn't an excuse for her to stop thinking about it entirely.
Sick of chastising herself, Brie zips up her bodysuit and pulls the gloves snug around her fingers, finding a mirror to inspect herself and giving wry grin at the image she finds. It looks damn good on her, she won't lie, but the collar really is an ever present reminder of her place here. One thing that surprised Brie was Nicole removing the muzzle, though the butch bitterly laments the fact that the main reason she'd want it removed isn't even here right now to meld lips with.
"Well, here I am... can't say I intend to be a good sport piloting for the enemy, just to be honest. I guess I don't exactly have friends, but uh... I don't really get what the hell is going on anymore." Stepping out into the corridor to find Commander Black waiting patiently with back against the opposite wall, Brie feels the oddly casual speech to be surreal in the face of all that's happened. The childish escapism of piloting a cool mech has been her only distraction to latch onto today, but every comfort she allows herself only threatens to poison her with more guilt.
"It's okay, Brie. You'll adjust, handlers like me exist for that purpose, it doesn't happen overnight. Change is gradual, acceptance is hard earnt, from both sides." Nicole's gloved hand grips Brie's shoulder and the latter irritates her healing lip once again, hating how much she wants to buy into this woman's bullshit the longer she is subjected to her overpowering confidence. "And frankly? I don't give a shit if you love me or loathe me, I've often felt the two amount to much the same in the long run... obsession. It begets loyalty, you're either loyal to devotion or spite, strong feelings are what drive us, and I've chosen your motivators very carefully. Loyalty to the gifts I give you is ultimately loyalty to me. You can feel hatred deep in your gut at the mere mention of my name and still find yourself helplessly beholden to my whim, willing to follow my command. Isn't that just love, really?" Gloved grip tightens to the threshold of being painful and Brie winces, nodding slowly as her mind plays catch up with the confusing rationale. Perhaps a woman like Nicole simply operates on a different level of thought and trying to decipher her madness is a fool's errand.
"Whatever... just, I can't trust a word you say, so how am I supposed to be loyal? You said there was some... invisible leash or whatever, but I was just on the other side of that room behind me and fuck all happened." The fresh pilot gives her most earnest attempt at a glower, far weaker than the one she gave when she first arrived here. She's becoming complacent, already fantasising about the interrogation room and knowing she has to do as she's told this morning if she wants to find herself back there this afternoon. She shouldn't want that, though, both the lack of control and taking advantage of Hope in that state... but she already did so once, and it was heaven. Even as a detestable piece of equipment, that girl is just so cute.
"Aha, you're sharper than I expected you to be in the aftermath of Supernova. I could feed you some line about how I deactivated it once you entered the showers, but really, you're missing the point. If you were loyal in the first place, I wouldn't have needed to feed you the lie. I could have implemented such a thing for real, besides, but I knew it wouldn't be necessary. You say you can't trust me Brie, but you always fall for my tricks, like you secretly crave to be in my snare again and again. Do you? Crave it, I mean. Crave me and the rewards I have to offer." Nicole steps closer, lifting Brie's face by her chin and bringing her own closer than she had been able to with the muzzle still in place. Brie almost feels strange without it, like she has too much freedom.
"Fuck you." Artificial pride gives Brie a rush of pleasure as she manages such a small amount of protest, not pulling away nor thinking to spit as had once been natural response. Her hate feels watered down by the truth she ignores in those words, or at the very least pretends to.
"I'm sure you'd love it if I did, even if you cursed me with every pant as I ploughed you like the property you are for me. I'll cut through your pretences in time but until then, dear, I'll allow them to keep on amusing me and placating you from any real fight." Nova hums, planting cold black lips against her pet's cheek and releasing Brie's chin. The performative rebel whips her head to the side and scoffs, finding it harder to truly hate the woman for what she did to Hope now that they're equally as guilty for having used her. There's nothing equal about it, of course, but Brie's heart just won't listen, powerless to pitiful sentiment.
"When do I get to fly and break stuff? I've heard enough of your voice this morning to last me a fucking week..." Brie's breathing is humiliatingly heavy and she cannot hide the rise and fall in such form fitting bodysuit, chewing her lip into a new shape as Nicole admires the slow burn submission taking place before her.
"I'm afraid it's just a combat simulator for today, sorry to disappoint but we're in agreement that you're not currently loyal enough to take to the field. Not outwardly, at least. Let that be something to look forward to, let it drive you to impress me further, hm?" Nova's eyes burn holes into Brie's sense of self as the pilot considers the new trap being laid out before her. Piloting out on the field is her best chance of finding any opportunity to escape, but now her only way to reach that point is by submitting deeper to Nicole's sinkhole of a program.
Brie coughs, eyes filling with despair as she wants nothing more but to find her misplaced fury, indignation eludes her as a fuzzy feeling fills the back of her head. It's a depressive sort of subspace, Brie feeling completely helpless to the point of her head becoming light and her words catching in the back of her throat. "I... I don't know how to fight this. What do I do?"
"I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough, so stop worrying so much." Nicole lights up at the sight of that breaking spirit, guiding her good girl to the combat simulators with a pep in her step as the pet behind her silently follows, lost in a maze of thought. A minotaur of mockery stalks the labyrinth in Brie's head, finding her in its endlessly winding passageways and pushing her down onto the ground. Blood trickles down from her lip and rolls down her chin, her head too light to register the pain as she's led into the simulator cockpit and lowered into comfortable chair. Nicole wipes the corner of her pilot's mouth with a light titter as she buckles the dissociating work-in-progress into the seat and pulls down the bars overhead. Brie is encased in metal cage, mentally and physically, Nicole spraying something cool against the back of her neck and inserting the four cables into the ports she gained from that procedure. With a gasp at the sudden electric jolt and a straightening of her back, Brie lets those broad shoulders relax once more as she glances up at the equipment in front of her. Once she's plugged in, Nicole pulls the hanging bit gag and visor piece down with that same lilting hum, her hand stopping just shy of meeting Brie's face. "Here, this is to help you focus during today's combat training. I'm going into a lot of effort for a very niche payoff here, girl, but I'll admit there are much worse ways to enjoy the twilight of your days. Indulgence has long been my strongest vice, ahaha."
"Wh-What is it?" Brie glances down at the white tablet resting in Nicole's black palm, specked with flakes of amber.
"You know what it is, silly. A form of my Supernova designed to be taken sublingually. Which means to dissolve it under your tongue, it'll be faster acting than oral medication but a slower absorption than injecting it directly into your bloodstream obviously. You won't be receiving another injected dose until tomorrow should you pass the test I have planned, so for today you'll have to make the most of this. Naturally you won't be able to see to your arousal until you've downed all your targets, and if you're able to I'd hang onto those pent up feelings until you're back with your toy. Your reward for all this hard work." Nicole speaks softly, the maternal tone in place of strict commander's one making Brie feel soothed in ways she'd spite herself for were she not already so out of it today.
"Okay... more drugs. Get it over with." Brie opens her mouth and lifts her tongue a little too easily, Nicole pressing the tablet into place and then bringing the front part of the cockpit cage closer to secure into place. Straps are secured around Brie's head as she's forced to bite down around the bit gag that holds her head in place, visor settling in front of her vision. Unable to speak now that she's been gagged, Brie regrets being so passive with her last words.
"Have fun with today's simulation, Brie, you're very important to the war effort even if I'd struggle to explain how. Our actions here are both terrifyingly meaningless and... the most important thing anybody has ever done. Feel pride, feel pleasure, let yourself be rid of all those old world sentiments holding you back from enjoying being my good weapon. It'll make more sense soon, just try to keep my words in mind." A hand pets Brie's hair as she's left at the mercy of the machine, legs buckled into automatic restraints she only notices when Nicole pulls away and she finds herself able to think more clearly again. That perfume just takes control sometimes, and she doesn't even think it's drugged.
Chapter Four: Destroy the Enemy
The tablet slowly begins to dissolve under Brie's tongue and she does her best to ignore the creeping high, deciding to focus instead on her combat simulation. Fortunately for this budding pilot, focus is going to be much easier with the powerful stimulant entering her system even with that lust pooling under creaking neoprene bodysuit. Despite the cables slotted into the back of her neck to allow her a much freer sense of control, Brie instinctively grips the manual controls and watches as a simulated cityscape flickers onto the visor before her.
"Hello there. I'll be your navigator, Holly! I can see that your mouth is a little preoccupied, hehe, but if there is anything you need to ask me then don't hesitate to communicate through our link." The chipper voice plays directly into Brie's mind and the woman gives affirmative groan against her gag, realising she should feel much more embarrassed in this state but feeling too mentally over encumbered to care about that right now. Brie simply wants to fight, to get the blood pumping, hoping a healthy dose of adrenaline might set her fighter's mindset back on track.
Piloting this thing feels surprisingly natural, Brie's eyes flitting over to the radar in the corner of her display with shows enemy targets as little red triangles making their approach. Bright red text fills the visor as a low static hum pierces her tired thoughts.
DESTROY THE ENEMY
Simple enough, she thinks. Her equipment is in pristine condition on account of this being a simulation, submachine gun in her right hand to match the one in her left. In real life the weaponry is never so well kept, at least such a thing cannot be relied upon so heavily. Speaking of heavy, Brie wonders how much these monolithic guns must weigh, lifting them with ease through huge metal limbs that needn't do anything at this moment but point and shoot.
Eyes narrow and focus begins to take its hold, Brie checking the radar in her peripheral and strafing left in an attempt to flank, using long evacuated buildings to cover her approach. As Brie turns the corner with submachine guns poised, the sight of them makes her falter. Sublingual Supernova sets her thoughts ablaze and she stares blankly ahead at the unaware crafts closing in on her last known location. It's no secret that these are Envy's forces, their crafts bear all the tell-tale signs... but this is just a simulation, and her loyalty isn't--
DESTROY THE ENEMY
Mind buckling, Brie bites down on the bar in her mouth and squeezes the triggers with purpose, that unpleasant hum seeming to die down when she's following the orders on the screen. Envy's forces, Nova's enemies, cease to function with a new canvas of steaming holes littering their backs. The screen flashes green and a pleasant ding sounds throughout the cockpit, Brie's chest heaving and her pupils heavily dilating as they had before. While she understands what's happening here... that felt really, really fucking good.
Making her way over to a resupply station, Brie switches out for weapons that aren't so overheated, attaching extra magazines to her waist magnetically and getting used to her new body out here in the field. Bipedal war machine, it makes Brie feel more of a god than her enhanced strength and speed ever had. In something like this, she could probably even have a chance beating Lady Nova in her prime--
"Nngh!" The static buzz sharply fills her ears and an electric shock is administered, Brie panting against the gag in the aftermath of her punishment and pushing her thighs together shamefully. They can read her thoughts through this link and even administer admonishment... perhaps the goal is to slowly correct her mindset...
Understanding she's going to have to play Nova's game very carefully should she leave this simulation the same Brie that entered, the woman slowly drags her eyes up to the timer counting down at the top of her display. Twenty minutes have passed already... but five hours forty remain....
A few hours later and Brie has entered a combat trance, despite her best efforts, dispatching enemy crafts one by one with frightening efficiency. They're just enemies to her right now, red triangles that disappear and transform into praise once she blows a hole into the shells before her. Her body sags forwards in the cage and she grinds her thighs together in desperate heat, once again feeling completely invincible under the effects of Nova's drug and loving the way her body responds so naturally, so intensely, to that rewarding chime that plays whenever she does a good job and destroys the enemy.
Flush heat against her cheeks simplifies her mindset, Brie no longer struggling to pull the trigger on her target as she slips deeper into this state of accepting what she is. A pilot only needs to perform as instructed, it's just a lot easier that way... more fulfilling to just lean into the drift and--
DESTROY THE ENEMY
Brie's focus intensifies and she smiles as much as she's able to in this state, nerves lighting up in clusters of pleasurable tingles, her trigger fingers itching to find those enemies that she needs to destroy for her reward. After another couple of hours pass by in an instant, Brie's reward is all she lives for, the rush of performing for her faceless overlord of pleasure. Her entire body is slick inside her suit, her eyes completely focused on the task while otherwise dulled and her libido working to undo her ego in dribs and drabs. Drips and drops, hot sticky pleasure smearing against her seat's edge as she grinds her hips with what little purchase she is given. A barking beast beholden to budding pleasure, drooling fervently as chimes push out the negative thoughts one at a time.
The six hour session is almost over already, Brie too focused on her task to bother checking that time counting down overhead. A boss enemy appears as the final wave, two crafts attempting to flank her while she cuts through two buildings far too tall to scale. They didn't give her any time to resupply between waves and Brie's weapons are well and truly spent, the efficient pilot casting them aside without any worry in her heart as she grips the sonic knife at her thigh and slides it free of sheathe. Anybody else in this situation would feel cornered and panic, maybe consider surrender, but...
Brie feels untouchable right now.
The enemy mechs come into view from either side and Brie bends her legs to carry herself forwards with the rollers underfoot, keeping herself held steady as she fires off the last of her flares to throw off the enemy in front of her. Due to distance, the foe at her back has yet to land any direct hits, accuracy is not such a guaranteed thing even with calculating machines such as these.
Her manoeuvre proved an effective smokescreen, Brie raising her knife and reaching through the distance to grip that oversized magnum in the red giant's hand, recognising this machine in the same instant that she digs her vibrating edge directly into its core. Destroying the cockpit means no survivors, Brie's body thrumming with delight and bloodlust when her praise is administered.
At her back is another familiar craft, the very same one she recklessly attempted to pilot into enemy territory in that pitiful rescue attempt that lasted all of an hour. Is Nova telling her to silence the rebel inside of her? Brie wants to hesitate, but she knows that if she does not comply then she'll be punished... worse still, she won't be rewarded. The Gunmetal grey figure grows larger as it approaches with bursts of rifle fire, Brie raising her arm to mitigate the damage to her shell as she crouches down to grab that discarded magnum and uses the change in altitude to slip forwards and blow a whole into her enemy's torso, swinging her knife in horizontal slice to sever one of the arms hoisting that enormous black rifle. How ironic that the girl named after such a weapon would be wielding a handgun, that surely can't be practical.
The battle is all but won, Brie planting a foot against that steaming torso with firm grip on the enemy's last remaining arm, pushing firm to tear the limb from foe like pulling string cheese. An assortment of cables and coolant bridge the gap from shoulder to bicep as Brie throws the useless heap of metal down onto the ground and feels such sick satisfaction at besting her clueless former self. And then comes that urgent command she can no longer think to deny, her entire body is made for one thing right now... and one thing only.
DESTROY THE ENEMY
With a calmness in her heart, a throbbing between her legs and a total lack of resistance in her empty gaze... Brie crushes the enemy cockpit with her bare hands. They might as well be her hands in this moment, she can feel them as though they're her very own after all. Every snapping bone.
...
...
...
"The simulation has concluded, your handler will arrive shortly to collect you. Until then, please feel free to unwind to the sound of Erik Satie's 'Gymnopédie No. 1'. After all, pilot, you are a number one!" The navigator, Holly, replaces that ringing in Brie's ears with classical music Brie hasn't listened to since she left home, an intense relief washing over her. Relaxation hits her like another drug, Brie sinking into the chair and then sinking even deeper still. She's a number one...
Brie has finally found her pride again.
"Ah, there you are. You're looking rather tired for a girl on strong stimulants, I hope you're not too tuckered out to accompany me to the interrogation room?" Handler lifts the cage, spit soaking the bit gag. Leather strokes through a mess of sweaty hair and Brie whines, swallowing several times before even attempting a response.
"You're r-really fucking with my head... huh?" Is all she can think to say, excitement welling up in body and mind, a cooperative effort to reduce her to nothing but Nicole's willing plaything. Brie needs help standing, exiting the combat simulator and leaning onto Handler's arm with shame burning her cheeks.
"Education is always a difficult process, particularly with resistant subjects. I'm fortunate that you're not so rebellious despite your hardened exterior and crude mouth. You're a surprisingly receptive learner, actually, so I'm very proud of you today." A kiss lands upon Brie's mess of hair and she feels herself going insane, eyes strained and body light as a feather. When she's like this she barely notices the ache in her right leg at all, or the way her ego slowly dies.
"That simulation... training thing... it's some uh... it's brainwashing me, ain't it?" The conversation seems so surreal, as most do with this woman she can no longer quite bring herself to scorn so outwardly. Gymnopédie yet rings in her ears, placating the ace in training.
Commander Black chuckles, the sound no longer seeming quite so unpleasant. At least she's not upset, thinks Brie with a wry smile that barely houses a curve. "Quite an extreme sounding word, isn't it? It takes my mind to old comic books and the like, but... well, I suppose I can't say it's an entirely inappropriate usage. I prefer to call it re-education, you unlearn past hang ups that were holding you back from embracing your new life here and learn how to be an effective, obedient pilot. The results speak for themselves, Brie, you were more obedient today than I could have ever hoped you to be." That hand falls onto Brie's head again and the pilot stares grimly down at the floor, having no response to give.
The two walk in silence through the hallways, a clacking of confident boots and the pitter patter of pet footsteps at their heel. Handler and her Hellhound, Nova only wishes she could find a way to make this iteration stick after all the fun she's been having.
Unlocking the door to the holding cells, Nicole hooks her finger into the golden loop on Brie's collar and pulls her inside, Brie struggling to keep up with the woman's pace but doing her best when robbed of any alternative choice. If she were to stop, the woman could simply drag her along regardless. The two stop in front of Brie's cell and Nicole opens the door, releasing her new pet with a maternal smile Brie can't bring herself to look at for very long, she feels so tired but...
"W-Wait, what... what about seeing her? The rifle... I thought you said--"
"Fret not, dear. I fully intend to make good on my word, but take a look inside already." With plastic smile, Brie's handler turns the pleading woman by her slumping shoulders, hands resting possessively atop them from behind while she waits for her scatter-brained pet to finally notice.
"My bed..." Brie curses herself for the slip, knowing that referring to anything here as 'hers' would be accepting this place as her home. It isn't her bed, hell, it isn't even a bed anymore. Blinking away that dullness in her eyes, she stares at the replacement with incredulity pooling in those puppy dog eyes. Not a bed, a crate, like you'd have a dog sleep in.
"It's large enough to remain comfortable, I even put a mattress and blankets in to have you retain some semblance of healthy sleep. I didn't need to do that, understand? Go and take a look at what's inside, a present for my Hellhound." Nicole rubs Brie's shoulders and feels the fragility in this woman through tactile sensation after only a few days in her care.
Grumbling under her breath, Brie shrugs out of that leather touch defiantly, only to do exactly as she was told. Stepping into the cell, Brie crouches down and reaches into the crate to find the gift Nicole had just alluded to, curling fingers around it and biting down on her lip with a soft groan. "It's a muzzle, I thought I was d--"
"Due an upgrade, yes. Those metal wire things are cheap and frankly, ugly. Only the best for my new pet, hm? Put it on for me, Brie." Nicole snaps her fingers as she would to instruct her rifle, Brie shuddering and staring down at the leather muzzle, the same burnt umber colour as her collar and the shoulders of her pilot uniform. Brie can feel herself straining against all of this measured control, turning the face-wear in her hands and trying to kill the part of her that actually feels some desire to put this on and enjoy it. To lean into the drift.
"I'm... I'm not putting this on. You've not got that much power over me yet, sir... still gotta threaten me or use your eye gimmick. I'm not so loya--"
Nova retrieves a small remote from her breast pocket, pushing thumb into one of the two buttons sitting in the centre of the circular device. A distorted static sound plays and Brie feels herself slipping, associating this unpleasant noise with her derelictions of duty within the early hours of the simulation. Hands fiddle with the straps and she curses herself for even considering putting the muzzle on, dropping it onto the floor and letting out cool steady breaths to wrestle back her fraying nerves.
"My, you're stubborn. Perhaps you don't yet understand, Hellhound. Your disobedience is a threat to your comfort and safety here, this stubbornness is... well, the enemy." Lips curl in satisfaction when Brie turns towards her tormentor with a sudden horrific understanding of what exactly was just hammered into her brain. "That part of you that urges you to deny your orders, to refuse my commands... is the enemy, Brie. I need you to destroy it. Slowly, gradually, one order at a time. Let's begin. Go ahead and put your muzzle on, Brie." Snap!
"I won't... I'm not your--"
"Destroy the enemy."
The kneeling creature gasps and tightens her grip against the leather in her hands, torn between two completely opposed mindsets that make a total mess of her psyche. By the time Brie has regained control she's already fastening the harness, the shame that fills her afterwards starting to feel good when accompanied by a push of that second button, a pleasant chime that reminds her of her many successes as number one pilot. She's an ace... she's good... this is good, right? It means she won...
Arousal spikes and Brie adjusts to her new muzzle, this one covering her face in leather while the metal wire felt far less intrusive at the end of the day. Her sense of smell is hindered, her voice muffled, a warmth trapped in front of this new snout she sports. A mask to hide her tattered pride that ebbs and flows in metamorphosis.
"It looks so good on you, pet." Handler simpers and Brie wilts, still kneeling long after there was any need to. She really does feel like little more than an animal in this moment, lifting her head to bark petty protests at the woman but finding them lost somewhere in that looming sight. The way handler towers over her, in more than simply stature, has begun to infect the beast's confidence in her performative disloyalty. "Come, take a look." Dark hand extends in an offering Brie knows she's no longer able to refuse, taking it with her own trembling grip as she lets out a shaky exhale through the leather muzzle, handler pulling the pet close and Brie's heart skipping a beat. The girl is turned to look into the mirror above the sink and once again, Brie feels something old and unwanted break within her. It really does look good on her.
Chapter Five: Supernova Kisses Me Goodnight
Brie jumps as the interrogation room door slams shut behind her, giving bitter smile at just how skittish she is right now. She no longer needs to hide her expressions within this leather mask that feels an extension of herself already, Brie taking a couple of steps into the room and admiring the sight of that weapon waiting just for her. The Supernova is already wearing off, she no longer has the excuse of being drugged should she decide to have her way with this cute specimen before her tonight.
"I was wondering when you were going to arrive, you really know how to keep a girl waiting. Rifles, too." Handler's weapon smirks, sitting on the table's edge in the nude with legs swinging back and forth impatiently. "I've been demoted to your toy, apparently I served my purpose, not that I've any clue what that could be given we only ever did training skirmishes hehe. You... better use me well, okay?"
Stepping closer, Brie's hands fall onto the other's knees and gently pry them apart so that she may fill the space between them. The front of her muzzle grazes the toy's chest and it giggles from ticklishness, Brie feeling her temptation blossoming at such a noise. "And that doesn't bother you? Being demoted? Most people would... feel shame."
The toy giggles, wrapping its legs around the pet that now holds rank over her. "I kissed my shame away a long time ago, hehe, or maybe it was still fairly recently I really couldn't say. Do you want me to kiss yours away too? I'll do it for free!"
Bringing her face closer and standing up straight, Brie runs her hands up the other's thighs and shivers with something a little different to lust stirring up within her. Nostalgia, remorse, hearts and flowers. A primordial yearning to make this woman hers, a longing to hold onto her forever and never let go lest she lose her second lease on life. Even if this toy no longer has a name it feels any connection to, Brie sees it as her lifeline, pulling closer and wanting nothing more but to be baptised by this soft, giving flesh and be reborn anew. "Yes..."
With a playful hum, the weapon reaches out to wrap arms around the uncertain Hellhound's neck, pulling her body over to plant a kiss against that leather covering as both let out shy bouts of laughter. Another attempt is made, Brie turning with haggard sigh as lips press upon her cheek and mark it. The peck feels cold, but only because Brie is once again burning hot with desire she just cannot keep a lid on any longer.
"I-I want you so fucking bad..." Brie runs rough hands over the softest body she's ever had all to herself, seizing the girl's breasts and sinking digits into them wantonly. The toy gasps and arches her back, jutting chest into the touch in a way that only drives Brie's burning lust to new heights. An immolation of her better judgement, a discarding of values she once held dear, Brie just wants to gorge herself upon this flesh every waking hour of her day.
"Hehe... that's nice... you're so good at using me, mmgh... but I thought you were here to rescue me, Brie?" The teasing words are surely Nova's, and so Brie decides to treat them as such.
"Shut up... you don't get to speak, okay?" Her hand dips down to cup the toy's mound and hold it firm, the rush of power making her want to forget about such mocking sentiments.
"You're gonna have to shut me up~!" The weapon goads, Brie taking the bait like a dog playing fetch.
"G-Get on your knees... I'll give you something better to run your fucking mouth on."
And so, the toy slips from table and drops down onto its knees, smiling up at Brie as the desperate butch grabs fistful of rust coloured hair and pulls that mocking mouth into place between her legs. The tongue against her cunt is enough to make her vision blur, eager lapping from the previously bratty toy tells Brie that she's now exactly where she belongs. That girl she once called hope, knelt between her legs with nose gently tickling trimmings of wiry hair and making obscene slapping sounds with her tongue that sound like opera to the woman gripping that hair tight.
It feels good to use this toy, Brie thinks with a dwindling sense of shame yet erring caution in her chest. She'd love to heed it, but she fears she may already be too far gone.
Morning comes, or a close enough approximation in Brie's new world of darkness. The clacking steps of sunlight flood the corridor and a groggy mutt awakes inside of her crate, pulling herself into cross-legged sitting position with a slight pout remembering how she has to sleep in such a humiliating state now. This cage isn't all bad, though, it does make her feel strangely safe if nothing else.
"There you are." Speaks that golden Nova as though she could be anywhere else, Brie giving her best attempt at glare to hide the gratitude she feels for the rollercoaster that was the day before. The highlight of her day had of course been that long afternoon, spilling into evening. Brie had to punish her toy but... the girl was asking for it, so it's fine... it's just what she deserved right?
"Mm... are we uhm... what are we doing today?" Fidgeting in her lap, Brie lifts her head and really does start to feel her claim on humanity start to slip. She still has her words, though, that has to count for something. Handler gives the pet a stern look and Brie recoils, wishing she had something to chew on beside this busted lip. "What are we doing today, sir?"
"Decision time. Depending on how you choose, it may be your last, so I want you to savour this." Nicole unlocks the cell with one hand and lifts the other to show a black leash dangling from matching fingers, a golden clip on the end to be attached to collar. With shallow breaths, Brie crawls out of her crate and steadily gets back onto her feet, the leg brace much more necessary now that the effects of handler's drug have worn off. Brie feels the come down make her antsy, judgement compromised by a craving for that high to take her to places unknown.
"D-Decision?" The stammering is a constant hammer to her soul, every time she flubs her words Brie feels like such a weakling.
"Yes, pet. I've unlocked both doors in this hallway. To my right is your freedom, and to my left, acceptance." Freedom or acceptance, the words play on Brie's compromised mind and she wishes she were in a better headspace to make the choice. Biting down on her tongue to bolster what little resolve she has left, Brie clinks forwards and pushes past Nova, taking a few steps towards a freedom she cannot help but doubt the authenticity of. Only then does she remember the mistake Hope had made in assuming the rescue attempt was little more than a test. It really wasn't, if only she had been able to see that. Perhaps handler truly means to set her free if Brie willingly leaves, the woman scoffing at the overconfidence of this bitch. Does she really think that after a few days of manipulation, Brie is so snugly in her palm that she wouldn't... that she won't...
Brie clutches her head, uncertainty plaguing her as she takes another unsure step towards her exit. Nicole steps closer, still holding the leash. "Out there, you won't receive any of my luxuries. You'll be afforded freedom in a world you do not understand, nor care for. You'll be bereft of Supernova and toy, of my calming perfume, of purpose. Maybe you'll have enemies, but you won't destroy them quite as easily as you do under me. You'll be weighed down by all that I've done out there, where here you'll be lifted up by it."
"Sh-Shut up... god, you're so..." Brie takes another step, feeling despair at how little she wanted to, how much she had to force her leg forwards. There's a life here, even if it's wrong... if she leaves, she could regret it forever. "I'm... confused."
"Would you like some help with your decision, then?" The Hellhound's handler cannot help but chuckle at Brie's indecision that leans in her favour, smooth touch sliding around the pet's shoulders.
"Godyess..." Sighs out the struggling captive, leaning back into the other woman's body before catching herself and barrelling forwards, stumbling and very nearly collapsing down onto the ground. "You can't... this isn't..."
"You just sound too confused to make your choice without aid, is all. Brie, I think you need to destroy the enemy within you that still tries to convince you that old sentiments hold strong. That part of you that wants to leave isn't real, it's just an enemy combatant, see?" Nicole does not close the distance between them this time and Brie feels a sulk coming on, hating how powerless she is... that feeling is the enemy...
"Destroy the enemy..." The struggling pilot mutters under her breath, repeating it like a chant, a mantra. "Destroy... the enemy.... destroy the enemy..." Her lip quivers within the mask and she nods erratically to herself, even if she has no idea what she's agreeing with. She just needs help... that part of her too stubborn to ask for help is just another enemy she needs to destroy. "I... sir, I need... fuck, you're not my..."
"I'm your handler, Brie. It means I'm here to help you. No I'm not your friend, it's better to think of me as something of a... generous owner. I mean to say, I could be much, much crueller. Instead I simply feel possessed in this moment to free you from this indecision that has your head spinning so! Let me help you destroy the enemy, okay?" Nova smiles and Brie has not the mental fortitude to see through the facade, stepping back towards the woman who offers her salvation from this ugly doubt inside of her.
"O-Okay. I think... think that's okay." She gulps and approaches with a limp to her step, her expression one of a woman completely lost in the world. "Just... tell me what to do... I can't take this anymore, not knowing what... what to do... destroy the enemy, right?"
A hand reaches out and plants itself atop the captive's head, leather digits spreading out to hold her steady as Brie can no longer feel anything but transplanted gratitude. Leaning up into the touch, Brie closes her eyes and breathes heavily in and out, all she's able to think about is how thirsty she is. "You know you don't really want to leave, girl, so be good and forget about freedom. What is freedom, anyway? Does leaving this building make you free? Have you ever felt freer than when you were high on my golden drug, either buckled into my simulator destroying our enemies or playing with that toy who breathes only for your pleasure. Isn't that more freedom than a wretched beast like you could ever hope to ask for? That ungrateful sentiment in your heart is the enemy, destroy it and then... thank me." Handler snaps her fingers and Brie sinks into the spot she stands on, acknowledging orders with a shallow breath.
"Thank you... sir." Brie speaks the words through leather muzzle, her body lighting up in anticipation of the reward that soon plays from handler's remote. Slipping into subspace, Brie enjoys that chime with newfound acceptance, just as Commander Black had promised. "Ahh... mm... I... I don't want to leave..."
Suddenly, the woman steps forwards and pulls Brie into a tight embrace. The new pet's eyes shoot wide open and she lets her hands hover for a while before timidly returning the hug, shaking with excitement and shame at the same time, the latter evacuating her body as the former destroys the enemy. Hot tears fall onto Brie's cheeks as she realises she's finally given in, broken by Nova after only a few days while judging the weapon for falling within a week. She thought she was stronger, bawling into her handler's shoulder as she learns just how weak and pathetic she truly is, but feeling lucky that none of that matters anymore. In fact, that weakness only serves to strengthen her new role, so it's fine. Better than fine, it's good... she's good...
"That's my good girl, let it all out." Nicole rubs Brie's back and the pet falls deep into acceptance, letting the person she hated more than anyone in this world now give her comfort, take the pain away. "See how much happier you can be when you let me destroy that shame holding you back? I only want what's best for you, Brie, so do as you're told from now on alright?"
"Yes... Yes sir..." Brie sniffles, wanting this hug to never end as she doubts she'll be getting another from her Handler anytime soon. It feels so good when she lets it, learning that you can just change your perspective on matters with a little help from your superior. It clicks into place for her now, just how malleable the human mind can be, a tepid smile curling her lips. Handler clips the leash into Brie's collar and the pet makes no play at protest, feeling utterly spent now as the woman gently tugs her away from freedom and towards her favourite room in the world.
Waiting inside is, of course, Brie's special toy.
"Enjoy your reward this morning, Hellhound, I'll be back in a few hours to take you to training."
"Y-Yes sir."
"Oh, and one more thing~"
A hot prick of pain against Brie's neck, the Supernova kissing goodbye to any enemy reinforcements.
Several days later
A sonorous snapping of fingers brings Brie's consciousness back to the forefront and she awakens to the sensation of powerful thighs squeezing her face, muzzle temporarily removed as her dutiful tongue laps away. This is her current mission, fingers tightly gripping her hair, hips thrusting forwards to fuck her face throughout a haggard climax that leaves her glazed in a smear of perfection. Handler's arousal coats her and Brie can only stare up at that smugness with demure look she'd never give her toy in a million years. There's a hierarchy in play here and Hellhound is firmly in the middle.
"Ah... ahh... good. I wanted you awake for the last few licks, now clean up the mess and I'll consider letting you return to that poor thing you ah... left hanging." Handler chuckles softly in her post-orgasm haze, directing her pet's mouth to all the sticky spots before pushing it away and sliding up her trousers. With a long sigh and an even longer drag from her smoking cigarette, Nicole leans back and chuckles.
Despite the rebellious sounding name, Brie finds herself to be a helplessly obedient creature around her commander, a beast well tamed. To her enemies, however, she prides herself on having the ferocity of a bona fide Hellhound. Sitting back on her calves and wiping her mouth, Brie admires the taste of her handler still sitting on her tongue, wanting to touch herself but knowing that it wouldn't be appropriate in her superior's presence. "It's... no bother. I-I'm glad I could make you feel good."
"Of course you are. You're just lucky it's so quiet today, for such a rough girl you don't half have a soft face, soft enough to ride anyway." Handler rubs a thumb over her pet's cheek and the girl blushes, her lip finally starting to heal now that doubt no longer haunts her every action. Brie simply sighs, smiles, and nuzzles that black touch that robs her of any identity other than pet.
"I still hate you..."
Handler laughs and tousles Brie's hair, reaching for the muzzle and securing it back in place with a hum. "Some enemies take longer to destroy than others, I'm just glad to see you so well behaved. It must be hard for you, girl, to be helplessly controlled by a woman you claim to loathe." Commander Black doesn't blame her pet and Brie feels her heart flutter at how understanding she can be, in her warped presence of mind.
"Mm... can I see her now?" That fluttering heart instead begins to pound as the excited Hellhound hops up onto her feet and catches sight of herself in the mirror on the wall. She's unrecognisable, those blunt uniform bangs giving way to eyes that, while excited in this moment, hold no lustre. They are the eyes of a thing playing at person, a pet since tamed. Dark circles hold those dulled eyes in frame, emerging from sleepless nights and constant exertion that leaves her little rest. The eyes themselves are bloodshot from training, pupils still dilated from the constant periodic drugging that leaves her neck riddled with needle marks and her body ever flush. Her body shudders with spikes of pleasure that hit at random intervals, she's only ever able to hold steady when inside of her cockpit. Yesterday, or maybe earlier today Brie cannot rightly say, she was given the chance to pilot a real machine in the field. That handler trusts her so much makes Brie feel self loathing for that enemy inside of her who still spites the woman she obeys.
"You may, Brie, I left a strap on the table as a reward for your hard work. I trust you know how to use it?"
"Oh, aha... of course." Brie grins within her muzzle, excitement growing now that she'll be better able to fuck her plaything and regain some sense of dominance in this teetering act that keeps her under thumb. "Thank you, sir..."
"Good girl, run along now, I can see you're begging to return to her and have your fun. Seems so long ago that you still saw her as anything but a fucktoy, hm? Remember your rescue mission Brie?"
The pet lowers its head and fiddles with the straps of her harness, leather covering her body now but still leaving her as nude as any animal should be. She loves the way the straps of this body harness hug her toned flesh, spelling the difference between her slab of well packaged meat and the soft toy that currently awaits her with suspense. No, suspension, tied up via hook screwed into the ceiling of their playroom. "Destroy the enemy... I'm not a hero so... d-don't care about that..."
"Mhm, very good. I'll be seeing you later for your dosage, but you're free for now."
Free? Brie snorts, stepping out of her cell and picking up the pace as she returns to the former interrogation room, pushing open the door and eyeing up the strap on the table. "Right where I left you~" The sudden domme chuckles, imitating her commander eerily well as she takes a few steps towards the table and runs her fingers over the length of black silicone attached to yet another leather harness. Nicole Black must be going through a serious bondage phase in her middle age, though judging by that pretty toy suspended from the ceiling for her viewing pleasure, so must Brie. The toy cannot speak, ball-gag filling its mouth and causing to to salivate onto its own tits in the position Brie tied it up into with handler's guidance.
As Brie equips the strap with impatient touch, peculiar muscle memory carries her through the process on auto-pilot. Without needing to pay too much attention to those familiar hands that work away at securing harness, Brie's eyes return to her collaborative handiwork with Handler, thick rope hanging down from the ceiling attaching to tight cuffs around the suspended toy's ankles. The plaything's legs are held together by straps and Brie's eyes trace down their length until reaching that perfectly round bottom, bare and still sore from earlier's play, large handprint red against sunless pale moon. Eyes trail back up to where that suspended body curls back upwards, chunky leather straps holding the toy in her state of compaction with masked face returned upright to sit by her knees, belt around the back of said knees and the girl's neck to hold her in place. Perhaps Brie's favourite detail in this lurid display is those arms bound behind her back, with pretty golden rope handler helped her pick out special. It's the same shining amber as that drug obliterating her shame, making her feel such power at her fingertips but only when appropriate and of course, permitted.
If this position isn't perfect for the strap, Commander Black's new pet doesn't know what is. She approaches with that high beginning to overtake her, running bare hands over bare skin and feeling delighted by the way her toy reacts with pleasured shuddering, shaking the rope and rocking gently as a result. Brie steadies her with strong touch that feels even stronger still, hollowed out by Supernova kisses that make her feel like a superhero again.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting for so long, flower, but I'm here for you now." It's not exactly the context in which Brie had intended to speak these words at the start of the week, but she can't fight the euphoric rush that hits her when the thrashing toy settles down and reminds her that all this softness, this warmth, is just for her. "Even like this, you're just as cute as always. So cute I could eat you~" Fully given into her role as twisted toymaster, a pet to a being even greater than she, Brie sinks playful teeth into that ass staring her down. Leaving her mark, she kisses up those legs raised up towards the ceiling and revels in the power she holds over this thing that had dispatched her so swiftly during their skirmish. Brie realises now that she didn't need that damn procedure, that she was held back by weak attunement when her piloting skill with the manual controls are second to none... or so she'd like to boast.
Brie's toy makes the cutest little sounds even through her gag. With body folded in half and suspended by her ankles, she looks more at home than she ever did on her feet or even her knees. A weapon might need the use of its legs but a fucktoy? She only needs ease of access, Brie's nail tracing over slick folds proving that she has just that. Lining the head of the strap against that pretty flower opening up for her so sweetly, Brie eases just an inch inside to let the toy know what's happening. Even with just the head inside her plaything mewls into her gag and tightens around the soft toy set to bring her pleasure and pain. Brie laments that this isn't quite as exhilarating as Handler's glass strap, recalling yesterday's temperature play along with the claiming of her anal virginity, the pet wishing she could give her toy half the thrill that Handler brings her now that she's begun to accept that accursed woman's corruptive touch a little too freely. How can she not, when it brings her such Joy?
"You're gonna love this, I-I used to fuck my girl like this all the damn time and the noises she made were just like yours, aha... the shit she would squeal while I pinned her down and gave her the loving of a lifetime..." Possessive hands grip the suspended plaything's hips as drool spills from the gag onto its pretty chest and bated breath falls against its rosy knees. "She... nngh..." Brie reacts like it's really her cock inside of the girl as she pulls the plaything down onto her in a fine mount, seeing if she can't lift her some for show. "She was like a f-fucking breeding bunny, and oh how that got me going..." Even the pet isn't sure what she's talking about, the first and last girlfriend she ever remembers having 'acted like a corpse' in the bedroom, she remembers them having an argument in which some stupid man she'd rather not recall made a comment about his girlfriend having 'three times the baggage of an ordinary human and a third of the fun'. "Filled her with rope after rope when I still had the plumbing... fffuck... and then I more than made up for it with the strap when I decided I no longer cared for my cock as much as I thought I did."
"Mmmghh... ehlffyhou..." Groans the good toy, body swinging back and forth from that hook in the ceiling with each firm thrust, Brie growing bolder in her ministrations by the second. Eventually they fall into a steady rhythm, the toy continuing to pant out the same tired, pathetic sound with each deep thrust as she paints her chest with spit. "Ehlffyhou... ehlffyhou... ehlffyhou!" Her moans are surprisingly consistent, but Brie likes the ring... even if she's no longer wearing hers.
One more thrust and the lights in the room begin to flash red, siren blaring as the base alerts all to the presence of a perimeter breach. Brie's heart wrenches at the fact that she has to stop playing with her toy and yet, at the same time, a dark excitement wells in her chest to replace the disappointment. It's not that Brie is thrilled at the prospect of killing Envy's forces after they were so hospitable, but... she has to destroy the enemy. It feels good to perform for her commander, Brie recalling that pleasant sound that tells her she's done a good job and blushing more than she had been already. They're just enemies in need of a swift destruction, Brie will gladly be their Charon into that swirling empty they're all lost in the orbit of already.
"Mmh... sorry, guess I gotta pull out." A rough hand strokes over such softness one last time, over red mark in the same exact shape. The toy whines, predictably, while Brie itches to get into that cockpit even if she knows she shouldn't. It'll be her first taste of proper action in the field and better still, it's just self defence right? Brie has a right to defend this sick paradise Nicole has got her hooked on. Taught to love that wheel she had scorned so strongly only weeks ago in that tower. Pushing her plaything until the last inch of silicone exits her drooling slit, Brie turns at the sound of the door being opened behind her and finds those slightly hunched shoulders instinctively straightening in anticipation of Her. The woman she still claims to hate, whose orders so easily turn her against those she once saw as the lesser of two evils.
Commander Black steps into the room with her usual confident swagger, not appearing particularly hurried by the blaring noise that signals breach. It's as though she doesn't even care at all, as though she'd be content to see this place fall and think nothing of it. The contradiction gives Brie a headache when she considers how much effort has gone into so many of her prior decisions, so the Hellhound decides not to think about it at all. She craves orders like a hungry pack animal desperate to be sent on the hunt, fidgeting with the leather straps of her body harness as Nicole drinks in the sight of that well built body she's laid claim to.
"Hellhound, you can go as you are. I'll get this thing into a bodysuit and have it join you, I suppose we could always use an extra pilot and it's still far more competent than you are when all's said and done." The woman steps closer to clip the leash in her grip onto Brie's collar, the suddenly meek beast glancing back at the suspended plaything worriedly.
"W-Wait, she's not a weapon anymore, right? I can handle the enemy by myself, I'm--"
"Speaking above your station. Do you need reminding of your place here, pet? It's at my feet, I can see I made a mistake in not breaking you in completely. I can give you more potent substances than Supernova, you know? Chemicals to clean your mind, have you lose speech, forget your past. Starting tomorrow I'll be mixing it up. A powerful amphetamine with a healthy dose of love drug mixed in loosened you up for me considerably, and it certainly comes in handy during battle... but doped up on its opiate sister you'll be a very different animal. Truly subhuman at last." Handler yanks the leash and Brie stumbles forwards, snarling up at the woman she swore shaky allegiance to as that dead star before her assesses the creature's current loyalty.
"Th-That's... I never agreed to that... sir." Brie cannot help but show respect, the simulator hammered it into her head during yesterday's six hour session, a rank and file affair. Her eyes burn with dying flames, her passion running on empty. "I... like how things are now... s-so, I'll be good and destroy the enemy and--"
"Do you know what an owner is supposed to do when their dog is begging? You remind the needy thing that it is a domesticated pet, it can grow fat on its owners whim or by the same virtue it can starve. The dog doesn't choose, see? It has its meals chosen for it, along with every other facet of its existence. Is it a miserable existence, then? No no, it's a happy one. As you are right now Brie, giving me this sulk I didn't ask for... you're still far too fucking human. Where did I say your place was, again?" Nova's tone is harsh, intimidating the woman unable to pull back with leash wrapped around gloved hand keeping her close.
Gulping and detesting herself for the textbook show of weakness, the once proud woman nervously chatters teeth within the confines of her muzzle, the alarm still blaring as the both of them ignore that urgent call to action. "You said... at your feet. But I-I'm not so--"
"Stop thinking so much, it's going to be the death of you girl." Handler chuckles and reaches around the back of Brie's head to unclasp the muzzle, slipping it free from her Hellhound's face to inspect that blushing mess that still thinks it has any right to play defiant in the final act. "Your place is at your owner's feet." With a swift motion Nova brings the toe of her boot crashing into Brie's right shin, the braced leg buckling immediately and bringing the woman down onto her knees in front of her owner, gasping with her body held upright by that leashed grip.
"Destroy the enemy..." Mutters the defiant pilot, attempting to push back her own rebellion and remind herself that this is good for her.
"I can spare another few minutes before my presence is required in the war room and our heavy hitters are needed out there at the perimeter, so I want to prove your loyalty to me if you want to be included. You don't want to miss all the action confined to your crate, do you?" The woman pushes her boot forwards and Brie shakes her head in shame, haven gotten herself all worked up already at the prospect of breaking something herself for once, a respite from being the one methodically broken as she plays spectator to her own decline. "Then go ahead and shine my boots with your tongue, I can tell by the way you tense up around me that despite your fighting words, just like that toy behind you... you've begun to worship the very ground I walk on. It's only natural, there's no need to feel shame. I was people's hero before I even wore a cape, that humans were born with equal footing is a cruel myth dear, my magnetism is simply second to none. I was never a particularly charming person and yet people just can't help but fawn over me."
Brie feels her head alight with fresh tingles, the domspace she had been enjoying replaced with the most potent subspace of her life. Handler's confidence is overflowing, Brie understands better than the woman herself that such golden self-esteem is likely a large contributing factor to how she has such sway on others. The qualities of a great leader, wasted on a woman with a heart blacker than the deep corners of space. Eyes bugging out against those abyssal boots staring back up at her, Brie dips down with that leash now loosened, reluctance losing against her altered state. That tongue which had so confidently teased the gagged toy moments prior now lolls out obediently and drags along its master's hard leather footwear, acceptance increasing tenfold the moment it makes contact. It's so much easier to keep submitting when you've already made the plunge, Brie glancing up at her handler to see if she's making the woman happy.
"I didn't say you could touch yourself, pet." Nova chuckles and Brie feels mortified at the words, pulling her hand away from her crotch with a low whine as she considers the fact that she hadn't even noticed herself doing that... why would she be getting off to this? The Supernova kisses goodnight to her sense of self, making even a humiliating act of worship feel so erotic and fulfilling. Her tongue drags across the other boot and Brie feels herself sinking into submissive bliss she had managed to deny even with handler's strap in her ass, even with her tongue filling the woman's cunt... somehow this is far more sexual and loyal than either. In her compromised headspace, Brie begins to truly enjoy tending to her commander's boots, like she's finally useful to this woman who has given her so much.
"Sir... I'm really... my head's really..." Fluffy and light, liberated, Brie experiencing for the first time in her life a true desire to be dominated completely. She's already surrendered herself, but her old self had been hanging on.
"Let's really scatter those thoughts, hm? I can make time for you." Nicole Black pulls the leash back up once determining that her boots have been sufficiently polished with her pet's spit, Brie listening to the utterly hypnotic sound of the older woman's pants being unzipped. With firm grip, Brie's face is pulled deep into handler's crotch, nose pressing into damp underwear a surprising white to contrast all that black she wears over it. Breathing in deep, Brie's shoulders sag and she shifts forwards on her knees, her head held tight against the other's sex as it infects her mind. As Nicole holds her there, Brie unable to pull away even if she wanted to, a simple obsession begins to grow without any words even needing to be exchanged. Nicole knows her beast well enough to know just how easily controlled she is by scent, like a true hound. To Brie, this woman feels like a giant, and the intimacy of such rich air filling her lungs has her eyes hooding and body burning. "If you needed any proof that watching you fall for me is getting me off just as much as it is yourself, here it is. I was planning on changing my underwear after this given what you've done to it, so..."
Mesmerised by this woman she keeps forgetting to resist, Brie watches as Nicole black pushes those panties down and drops them around freshly licked boots. Pushing the mutt away with unfeeling leather against its face, handler leans down to collect the twisted fabric slick with passion, stuffing it deep into the leather muzzle in her hand and grinning at her handiwork. "Something to remind you of your home, while you're out there considering some ill conceived escape plan. Who cares if I'm lying about the collar tech when you've my scent carrying you back to me, hm~?"
Brie's arousal spikes higher than ever before, even higher than when she's playing with her toy directly after a fresh injection. She watches with rapid heartrate as the muzzle draws nearer, Commander Black securing it around her face and clasping it in place. At first, the pet holds its breath, not out of rebellion but nervousness. When she finally breathes in, her eyes lightly flutter and the woman petting her hair can't help but giggle at the amusing display.
"Now, off to war."
Chapter Six: Descending Wings of Death and Rebirth
Hangar bay lights flicker on in rows and Brie shuffles forwards on her feet, placating herself feebly with that scent that keeps her well behaved better than anything else so far. Still unable to get over the advancements in warfare during the short gap in her memories she'd be questioning the true length of were she not too distracted by simpler thoughts, Brie admires that hulking weapon in front of her that spells an end to the age of supers. Brie's shell is slightly different to the others in that she shares a title with the metal beast itself: Hellhound. It's written 'Hell Hound' on the side of the hulking chassis, while the word above Brie's hip holds no space. The pet was so high on Supernova when handler gave her the brand that Brie felt almost no pain at all, at least not in any negative sense.
"Hey slacker, those enemy reinforcements aren't gonna wipe themselves out! I'm probably the best pilot we have even if I'm just a toy now, hehe, so you just watch my back okay?" The toy returns with a familiar, almost nostalgic look, neoprene bodysuit zipped up at the back with arms bound behind its back, a sliver of stomach on show and red bomber jacket draped over her shoulders. A few accolades are pinned onto the jacket's breast pocket, making Brie snort as something primal within her urges the beast to assert dominance.
"Wipe that smile off your face, toy. You're mine now, remember? So... I want you to show me some respect." The looming threat of total oblivion hangs over Brie's slipping head, Nova speaking of a sister drug that will accelerate her downfall until she'll no longer be able address this toy so confidently.
With demure lipbite, the pretty plaything blushes and nods, indicating that it had only been goading Brie into putting it in its place. Brie cups the ace pilot's chin with her fingers and wishes she could kiss those lips that drive her so crazy, wondering if she'd even be able to control herself at all if the top half of that face weren't permanently hidden away.
"Let's... give 'em hell?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Initiating start-up sequence. Good afternoon, Brie! Ready to make your commander proud?" A cheery voice plays directly into her mind the moment Brie plugs those cables into her neck and secures their connection.
"Uhm, hey Holly. No gag today, so that's nice. Dunno how well I'll be able to fight without you-know-what, but... oh, speaking of which. Do you know anything about a sister drug? To the Supernova stuff, I mean... aha... I'm a bit nervous, so--"
"I'm just a navigator, hon, I'm not even a real person. I think that as long as you trust your handler completely, nothing can go wrong. Remember yesterday's simulation? It was all about that trust, bond, have you been struggling with it again?"
"No, I just... I'm just a little scared about not being me anymore, y'know?" Brie grips the manual controls, knowing that she's better with the hands on approach while that toy enjoys the fancier psychic link.
There's a short pause before the Hell Hound's navigator responds, Brie not sure whether its tone sounds more sympathetic or amused. "Oh Brie, I think that ship sailed a while ago. You don't even know your last name."
"Uh... it's... it's--
"Ready to depart, Miss it's!" There's a low thrum from the engine, Brie turning to look over at the Red Rook, which extends a thumbs up signal with chrome hand.
"Y-Yeah, let's go." Shaking off the cobwebs of failed memory, Brie accelerates herself forwards out of the hangar and drops those giant legs onto the asphalt, watching as that unleashed weapon rushes ahead despite her good behaviour earlier and electing to follow with exasperated sigh. The radar display shows her red triangles just like this is training, Brie repeating the words "Destroy the enemy." under her breath over and over in a chant to keep herself sharp and ready. As she watches the Rook draw its oversized magnum and blow sizeable hole into the stray before them that broke past front line, Brie suddenly realises that this enemy looks nothing like the crafts manned by Envy's forces...
The twisted metal drops down onto wet asphalt as the two make for a rainbow overhead, Brie glancing down at that mechanical corpse with a pit in her stomach that tells her she's still too in the dark. A thing like that appears automated, an unmanned drone unable to hide any kind of cockpit within the strange helix of steel. Rings of overlapping metal that spin and fluctuate descend upon the pair and Brie feels herself hesitating, not even sure what she's looking at even when the radar tells her these are their targets. They do not have limbs, nor heads, but the Rook takes aim at the cores within those spinning rings and ruptures them without pause. As the enemy begins to open fire on the pilot who has already cut into their numbers before needing to switch out weapons, Brie's toy weaves between their burst fire with inhuman precision and the Hellhound realises why that red goliath is never in need of repairs. It simply can't be hit... she remembers hearing much the same of Murmur's piloting, the two bringing her shame as bullet fire eats into her raised arm and Brie reels back to see another variant of attacker. This machine appears larger than the others, similarly inhuman with metal wings grafted to its core all over, spreading out and overlapping in all directions. It releases a high frequency hum, Brie releasing her controls to clutch her head and Holly's voice breaking up as she tries to issue advice.
After few seconds the sound fades, though the ringing in Brie's ears certainly does not, the woman gripping her controls as she notices how the smaller attackers have become much more aggressive, serrated edges whirring in preparation to enter melee range and tear the two to shreds. "What the hell is this... Holly, I don't under--"
DESTROY THE ENEMY
Brie is grounded by her orders, gripping her submachine gun and swinging it at her hip to push the enemy back, bullets that must be bigger than her head ricocheting back and damaging her sensors. "Fuck... fuck..."
Panic seizes her in the face of an overwhelming number of attackers, that fear of her own death holding her back from engaging with them effectively.
"Memento mori, Hellhound. One day you must die, that's a given, so why fear doing so in my name hm? In service for your handler?" Commander Black's voice plays through Brie's head and she breathes deep that cloying, heady scent as the words prepare her for war. "You're thinking too much. A good war dog doesn't need to think at all, only fight. So here, pet, destroy the enemy for me now."
A tiny metal arm extends down from the top of the cage keeping Brie locked into her cockpit, administering a shot of liquid gold focus into her neck that has her panting into the stuffy space. It's the most concentrated dose she's ever been given, Supernova kissing goodnight to ego completely as that sense of invincibility takes a hold. The shot makes her feel like a hero, Brie rushing forwards as that rookie named Mare often would and using overwhelming strength, weight, to pin down and destroy the enemy. Snarling, vicious laughter echoes through the Hell Hound's cockpit as Brie unleashes her fury upon all of those who would threaten her new existence. This intense rush, this combat trance, is enough to distract Brie from those edges slicing into the limbs of her mechanical frame. The link gives her access to its artificial nervous system, but the pain of that tearing metal passes her by as she carries onwards and sinks her sonic knife into exposed core after prying one of these monsters open. Bloodshed becomes sport, Brie leaning forwards as far as her cage allows while huffing Nicole's lust like a rabid animal, obsession and adrenaline taking over.
The Red Rook, a knight capable of tearing through armoured cars and tanks like they're plasticine models, sinks explosive round after round into its enemies without a single cutting ring so much as making contact with it. One would assume the pilot a dancer, when the truth is far stranger, at her current 'sync rate' predicting the actions of small fodder like this is child's play now.
With more enemy reinforcements at the river's edge and Brie's frame beginning to fall apart, it suddenly occurs to the panting hound that she might really die here, grinning with a mad look in her eyes that says "Bring it on."
Blip.
A green triangle appears at the top right corner of Brie's radar, indicating an ally as detected by the navigator that manages these things. The only other ally on her display is the Rook, which is much closer over to her left. With a blink, Brie almost chokes at the radar display showing that newcomer having cut half way across city outskirts from the edge of the radar close to the centre. Such speed...
"Mrs. Black won't like it but... I called for reinforcements, you two are struggling too much and... I think she might really be content to let you die out here." Holly sounds a little too emotional to say she claimed not to be a real person, though Brie realises she's starting to feel that way herself and she still has plenty emotion.
"There's... only one..." Brie struggles to make her Hell Hound move, thrashing the controls with breathless desperation as the attackers bore into her metal body like buzzsaws.
Holly giggles, the radar blip getting too close too fast. "For this crowd, only one is required! I tried to tell you but that signal cut me off... take out the commander in the middle and these things drop with it, they're a hivemind, part of a greater whole. A pretty boring one though, if you ask us... I-I mean, ehe, if you ask me."
"Helena?" Knowing that she recognised that voice from somewhere, Brie tries to piece together why Nova's forces would have Hive as a navigator also. That she tried to hide it with that awful performance that only had her fooled because of her impaired mental state...
"FWOOOOM!" Before Brie can let her mind dwell on this any further she feels the very ground begin to shake and peers up at cream coloured wings accented in dark bronze. Cameo Moth descends without a shred of artillery, instead clutching superheated chakram in each of its four hands. Like a surgeon of death, the machine that almost appears an organic creature from this distance slices off the enemy commander's wings and brings it down to the ground. Legs crouch and dig talons into the grounded attacker, the Moth launching its chakrams like discuses into the encroaching infantry. Brie is transfixed by the sight of battle unlike any she has ever witnessed outside the confines of fiction, watching as the mechanical moth sinks its claws deep into that mass of metal below it, tearing out its core and watching the light flicker and die. With her own current animal instincts yet seizing her, Brie half expects the strange creature piloted by Envy's doll lieutenant to gorge itself upon the spoils in its grip.
Adult silk moths do not eat, their mouthparts simply no longer function for such a purpose. They rely only upon the fat reserves gained during their larval period, much as Misty Black had built all the foundation that doll is capable of claiming.
With the connection severed upon the death of that strange enemy commander, Brie watches as each monstrosity drops dead, though reminds herself they were never truly alive to begin with. The enemy has been destroyed, with the assistance of one she had assumed their target. Nothing makes sense anymore and to Brie, who breathes in deep and lets the Supernova take her away from all this madness, they really needn't bother to explain.
All she wants now, craves more than anything, is to be back home.
Finale: An Eternity in Black
Classical music fills the room as Brie lays upon a metal table, naked, staring up into the bright light overhead. It's no skylight, there's only one sun here that shines for her. Voices fill the room in a muffled back and forth that the dazed pet is far too distant to process, days have come and gone since she was first introduced to that gold drug's silver counterpart. A white dwarf star cools within her chest, stellar remnant of the woman she once was. The memory has become lost in all that Black, hot flush of pain and regret that lets go forever with a wistful smile. They part amicably, Brie smiling as they finish administering her dose and handler sits her up, strokes her cheek. It's so nice... being this owned. The nurses leave the two alone, appearing eager to get out of their hair.
"I think my pet likes Chopin even better than Satie, hm?" Brie's owner has no need for performative smugness at this stage, proving that she really is just this full of herself as she pets the docile creature in front of her. That silver opiate floods Brie with more dopamine than she could ever need, killing all pain and bringing only pleasure. It severely hinders her ability to think clearly, however, making it oh so difficult for her to conjure any coherent response to her owner's question. With relaxation and happiness replacing her sense of awareness, Brie simply pushes her cheek into that hand with fluttering eyes and melts into the gloved touch she's come to adore. "That's my good girl, though I'd feel a little silly calling you a Hellhound when you're like this. For once in your life you might actually pass for cute, all drugged and mine."
Brie lightly nods into the possessive touch, having forgotten any of the reasons she would have once held to resist such a claiming on her soul. "Yhouurs..." Groans the animal, speech slipping away from it with every dosage even if that golden sister can make a fighter of her whenever they need her to destroy their foes. Brie likes fighting, it means she gets extra reward later... like that other one, with the ginger hair...
"I'm glad that you decided to agree to all of this Brie, it wouldn't be the first time though... maybe this time we've snuffed the conceited motives for good. I'd hoped to be wrong, but... I told you we were running on borrowed time and the reaper's recompense draws near. We're all going to die very soon, Brie, a curtain call that spans the rest of time. They want me out there in my Gala, the both of you too, rubbing shoulders with my estranged spouse and the rest of Envy's ilk. I've worked tirelessly on my own solution, a thankless job when I'd abandon the here and now for another then. Aha... look at you, too docile to care much for what I tell you, it's truly something special to behold." Nicole Black removes her cap and closes teeth around gloved fingertip to remove the black leather from her hand. With a snap of her fingers, the shape of Joy Williams enters the room with mask covering its face forevermore. It makes no difference really, her eternity in black simply started a little earlier than the rest of theirs.
"In the final hour, or so, of our time here on this disappointing planet... I'm going to do something truly unforgiveable. I was never such a heartless woman, truly, but the times have changed me." Nicole runs those naked fingers through her own blonde hair, pushing aside those hanging knives and giving a wry smile to the ghosts filling the room with her. "Hop up onto the table, rifle."
Nicole had no need for her tool's personality today, all that feigned emotion, and so the thing simply does as its told with a neutral smile while Brie drops her head onto its shoulder to enjoy the different scent. It's one of her favourites.
"Now, my Hellhound... the halcyon days are over." Snap!
Brie's eyes shoot wide open and at the same moment, a muted thud sounds out behind Joy Williams on the table. Still high on White Dwarf shot, Brie trembles within her bounds as she slowly lifts her head to look upon the lower jaw of her companion on the table. She's so well conditioned now, her brain chemistry altered, but the returned memories still haunt Brie and take control of those muted emotions. She swallows, bone dry, lips quivering to try and make words that never seem to come.
"I was sceptical when you signed up for my project, Brie, given all I know of your... difficult history. That cyclops still watched me like a hawk while we were in the early stages, so I couldn't simply probe your mind and have you admit your intended treachery... but ah, I thought you'd have some ulterior motive... stubborn. How does it feel to remember everything now? If only you could wrestle that tongue into giving me a piece of your mind, hm? Or perhaps you'd better spend these last moments telling that girl whose memories are much less recoverable just how much she means to you. Meant to you? Ahahaha, you ungrateful shit, really soak this in for me." That face aged by time and work simpers in self-satisfied glee, Nova no longer having to hold back just how self indulging she's become since her fall from that tower.
The tamed hothead grits her teeth and does her best to ignore the sick woman's gloating, shaky hand raising up to turn Joy's face towards her, another caressing her back like it's the most precious thing in the world to her. When Brie's fingers make contact with the strange something that hangs down from Joy's back, they curl around it as gears begin turning in the doped pet's mind. A simple thought, an idea, not a very smart one she'd later concede.
"You're lucky, Brie, unlike her you won't have to remember any of this. This was all just for her... and I'll admit I let the indulgences take it a little further, I feel I'm owed my catharsis before the curtain comes down. I want you to know that it's working, though. I'll let you have that much. You saw it yourself, didn't you? She's plateaued at 66% but that's already exceeding expectations, perhaps she's as special as you seem to think she is." Nicole sighs, checking her watch impatiently.
Despite her reduction, Brie holds onto the burning memory returned to her and makes the most complicated decision yet in a lifetime of complicate decisions. There's no telling if what she thinks might happen actually will, and there's no telling if the choice is made in the hopes of helping or hindering the future. It's an impulse driven action from a pet who can't decide if it loves or hates its owner, who has been reminded of a long lost motivation. Of gold and flower and regret.
While Nova is distracted, waiting for the midnight bells, Brie inserts that limp tendril into her neck.
Epilogue: A Garden of Pews
Feet sink into grass long dead, Brie wading through the weeds in this neglected mental space to find the object of her desire, entering a garden whose very owner had been conditioned to think didn't exist. As she pushes through the grass, Joy's orchard gives way to rows of benches. Brie's sluggish movement carries her slowly past pews, glassy eyes raising to inspect the broken arches of the dilapidated church she wanders into. Even severed from her body and the drug that courses through it, Brie feels herself a changed woman on account of Nova's machinations. Fists clench and the once proud woman wonders if she'll even be able to face the woman she seeks were she to find what's left.
The pews sit in dark weeds, covered in heavy coating of dust that brings Brie a deep sense of regret. A woman walks the aisle, alone and forgotten. Standing at the altar is a wax statue, no, a candle, its disembodied legs slowly disappearing as the wick burns bright in this dim twilight. No hands to hold, no vows to give, Brie averts her eyes from the flickering flame and sets her gaze upon the door at the back of the church. It is not the kind of door one would expect to find in a building such as this, nor does it fit an interior at all. Facing her, innocuous despite its ill-fitting placement, is the front door of a suburban house. It is the same door that the rifle had once imagined Brie exiting through as she left for the hangar. In reality, of course, Brie had not left of her own accord, whisked away by Sage as she refused to let go of her Hope. An overlapping of memory isn't uncommon in somebody whose mind has been dismantled and rebuilt more times than a veteran's rifle.
Driven onwards by lingering sentiments of memories unearthed like buried treasure in Handler's pettiness, Brie stumbles past wax and curls fingers around the door handle. This is a front door, so naturally it should be facing outside. Brie supposes, with a ghost of a smile, that in its dilapidated state with no roof this place is now an outdoor area too. As she turns the handle, grateful to find it unlocked, Brie slowly pushes the door open with sudden nerves seizing her. Even so, she cannot stop proceeding onwards, pulled by a different kind of leash to the one Commander Black had led her along by.
"Mommy!" A girl who only comes up to Brie's thigh makes excited approach and Brie quickly looks down to make sure she's clothed, finding herself overdressed if anything, in smart black trousers and matching dinner jacket. The small girl gives her best attempt at a hug from her altitude and Brie would scoff if she weren't so paralysed, looking out into the average looking home with a vague sense of longing.
"Is..." Brie's words catch in her throat, speech having been slowly trained out of her over the past few days that felt like months. "Is... ahnyone else home?" Her eyes refuse to leave the girl, reddish blonde hair and light freckles, red-framed glasses that certainly spell a statement in this dull neighbourhood. A smile brighter than a supernova.
"Mm... mom's downstairs, in the basement. Let's go say hi!" Pulled along by tiny but determined hands, Brie crosses the threshold of the doorway fully and the house fills with music, her favourite composition. A melancholic movement, as delicate and beautiful as the woman it always makes her think of. Her interest in such music had been vicarious enjoyment at first, her other half having taken up piano as a salve from all that had happened to her, a need to feel good at something again resulting in her picking back up the one thing she was half decent at in her youth. Nicole had been so close to playing her the right movement, too, but made a simple mistake. Outside of listening to her partner play directly, Brie would usually listen to Claude Debussy's orchestrations of Erik Satie's Gymnopedies in which the order of the movements had been reversed. Playing now, from downstairs keys that weigh Brie's chest with lead, is the third and final movement, the one that she finds too compelling to deny the pull of. Led by the hand of an imagined little girl, Brie finds her way to basement steps and pales at the sound of such desolate notes.
Each step down has Brie's heart aching more, trying to convince herself that she's awoken from a long undue nightmare. Undone by that wraith of the past. Clammy hand closes gently around one so small and fragile, Brie led down to the source of that sombre playing. The sight should have been expected and still, it shakes her like its the very first time.
Sitting on a piano stool in the middle of their empty basement is the orchard's creator, Joy Williams, playing dutifully without expression on her face and dressed in matching suit to Brie. The piano itself is nowhere to be seen, her perfectly playing fingers hovering in the air in front of her attached to strings that reach up past the starry sky that should rightly be a ceiling. Her fingers pull upon the constellations in her mind, begging for direction, while the entity that would seek to rob her of this autonomy looms behind her ever present. Brie takes in the sight of an enemy she cannot destroy, apocalyptic machine taken human form. Doll joints bend as they sink metal fingers into Joy's shoulders, that mask wearing a smile as empty as its victim's eyes.
The being that calls itself angel looks up at Brie and the woman feels herself unable to descend another step, watching cautiously as that mechanical body lowers down to whisper something into the pianist's ear. Joy nods and looks relieved, tired eyes blinking as she stops her playing and the music goes on without her. With a look that inadvertently tortures the usually confident butch, Joy finally makes eye contact with her and smiles softly.
"Brie. How long has it been? Has... has Envy been taking care of you? How's Laura doing? Uhm... does everyone still hate me?" It's her, Joy, buried deep within this long lost garden. Still, she sounds no less pathetic than that rifle had, at the end of the day.
Brie cannot respond, not because she's at a loss for words, nor out of any unsettled nerves. No, there's a glowing red gaze at Joy's back that compels Brie into silence, commands her mouth shut even as she's permitted to reach the basement floor at last.
"It was... hard for me, too. You know?" Joy continues speaking when she realises Brie is giving her the silent treatment, lips pouting so cutely even if the words are like razor wire to the woman receiving them. "You're the one who left..."
Still unable to argue back in an exchange she had expected to be much sweeter, Brie isn't sure how much more she can take of this, entering that empty space where phantom piano had been played, rough hand slapping the petulant thing before her. Angel hisses and Joy holds her cheek, blinking rapidly.
"We'll find a way to make it right, flower... but you have to try too." The stubborn woman speaks in defiance of that threatening red glower, watching masked mouth contort into a jagged smile.
...
"Your time is up, child, there's nothing left up there already." Speaks the mechanised doll, its distorted tone jarring to Brie and yet, oh so serene to the fractured thing between them. "There's nothing left here worth saving, either..." The enemy sinks cables into the back of Joy's head, opening up her mind and taking control of the dead orchard they occupy. A booming voice, no longer quite so distorted now that it speaks directly through Joy, reminds Brie that come what may... this life is a merry-go-round.
"Even Death Cannot Break The Wheel."
To be continued in episode 4 - You Are (Not) a Person
Chapter 6: You Are (Not) A Person
Chapter Text
Prologue: Brood Awakening
Congregations of dead grass in the dilapidated site of worship become a conflagration, fire spreading over rows and rose of pews lining the fractured mind of someone precious. A rose for a pew, though we'll save the red for you, Brie. Yours could never be yellow, nor white, in this place made from memory and deconstructed emotion. Perhaps purple, once upon a time, when you first laid eyes upon a woman who had been marked for the hunt. A woman you sorely underestimated despite knowing well the potential held behind that hazel glare. Bound in vine and told never to return, you could have sworn she held purple rose, tucked behind her ear alongside strawberry rivers you could and would get lost in.
The garden burns, but you know well from Nova's gloating that it will survive this immolation. Fractionating flora reduced to black while your thoughts are on Black. You're not a gambling woman, Brie, and you'd rather place your faith in red if you still have the power to make your own damn choice. The girl in red, you'd been forced to lose all hope in her twice now, but then, you had a choice both times. Nicole Black is a shrewd woman, but she has overestimated your resolve in agreeing to her project. You're not smart enough for sabotage of the intentional variety, premeditated action is for those with much better impulse control and a head for plotting. Simpler than all of that, even knowing you'd be perfect strangers in reunion, you wanted to see her again and see the colour of her rose in reflection. Simpler still, you signed of spite, wanting to get even and be the one to drive that knife this time. This time...
Piano plays you both out, blissfully ignorant to the encore waiting in rafters, demanding the wheel turn indefinitely until eventually that rate reaches one hundred. Are you content in this, Brie? To save the world at any and all costs, even should it kill the only kindness you've ever known? Then again, it's what your owner wants. Your Handler. A woman you'd have gladly killed for, died for, by the end, so doped up on her drugs and her bullshit that the only colour of rose you could see in her presence was Black. Mourning independence, pride, regret and of course, love.
Hers is not a gentle love, and yet it is as brittle as they come. Given more time you'd have softened yourself further to better nurture that fragile affection she only shows you when you're pleasing her. A well behaved dog beheading its allegiances in a fine row. Rose wilting, hope dwindling. Brie ending.
A garden burns, smoke rising in a thick smog from dry grass and dead roses. You look for that little girl but cannot find her, wondering if she ever even existed in the first place. Was she Joy's innocence, perhaps? A white rose plucked and torn, that girl you nicknamed 'Flower' in a house much like this one. Her failing memory couldn't even map out an exact copy, making that pit in your stomach grow into a black hole eclipsing the light of Hope you saw in this place's mere existence. A stellar remnant, just as you became in Handler's grip. Are you happy to keep playing her game, Brie? Content to continue contributing to her theatre?
That woman stole your girl, going so far as to poach pet name and claim it her own, a twisted act she need not have taken were she really such a benevolent saviour. That woman stole your dignity, reduced you to willing pet too tired and tempted to try and resist her manipulations. That woman took advantage of this world to satisfy her own desires, how can you be sure any trace of her humanity even survived that accident out in space? How can you be sure that it's not a cosmic horror from the void wearing woman's flesh? An interstellar crow, descending to hover above this world.
Are you going to be her bitch, Brie? A Hellhound who barks for its master, calls her 'Sir' when speech is afforded to it, laps at moist folds that run slick at the rush of breaking all those she sets her sights on? A truly pathetic beast who forgot what she lost, who gained a piece of it back only to further debase the memories they once held dear. You have an obligation, woman, regardless of whether you recall making the promise or not.
"I'll always be around to keep an eye on you, flower, you ain't getting rid of me anytime soon."
I take some responsibility for the fact that you could not bring yourself to keep delivering on this promise for very long, and so I took the liberty of filling your shoes for a time. Cyclops in a tower, watching over the madness of the world she had a large hand in making. Bring her to me, Brie, if you should wake with any memory intact of this frail voice inside your head. Bring her to me and I shall reconsider the passive acceptance we've all swallowed down like bitter pills until witnessing just how far that woman is willing to sink to appease her designs. Temptation is a drug, Brie, as a former addict I can sympathise with that conflict in your chest, feel it my own. Temptation is a crow, ever cawing, circling above your head to herald change that thieves like us just can't help be baited by. I've come to find that not all instances of that drug called temptation are so damaging and detestable. Well used, directed, nurtured... temptation can be such a wonderful thing. A lover's lips that glow just for you, beckoning siren gloss that has your vision narrowing. A call to action and adventure, motivating you to leave well burrowed comfort zones in search for higher pleasures. A path to unification, one for all, blossoming society built by bricks of temptation. And so, I beckon you. Should you be tempted, Brie...
I ask that you return Joy Williams to my garden of crows.
Chapter One: Severed Fate, Sheltered Hate
My eyes fall upon a ceiling distantly familiar to me, a room I had woken up in before, in another life. One of many, I suppose, blinking away the sleep in my eyes as I sit up and adjust to a world of vision. Having eyesight returned to me is as much a shock as waking up in this bed, my lips a bitter curl as fingers dig into the sheets and pull them over me. For whatever reason, I've flashed back to a different point this time, huddling up in a bed I never wish to leave. This is becoming so burdensome, and yet... I feel compelled to exit stage right and return to Handler's side, pledge myself to her without any resistance this time. It's oh so tempting, a circling crow, but at the very same time I want nothing more than to make her pay. It brings me back to that decisive moment in which, despite adoring her as much as I did under the influence of those dark feathered wings, I made the decision to turn on my Miss Murmur.
Misty Black is nothing in the face of her wife, however, and a part of me feels that any attempt to turn tables on Nova would only result in further hardship. It would be so much easier just to accept that reaching black hand and serve her, forever, for whatever purpose she'd use me for. Is this a part of her plan, too? Leaving this bed feels so dangerous and scary, I'd much rather sleep. Then that feeling betrays me, compels me to push the sheet back and plant my feet onto the lush carpet below. That feeling, distant and sharp, yet unbearably soft against my shoulder. Brie was so rough with me, I've many memories of her punishments as our commander pushed her deeper into that feral headspace. A paddle against my rear as she bent me over her knee. Gagging on fingers and strap, loving every second of it even as tears welled in my eyes behind the mask. Pulling hair, choking me, fucking me, clawing at my body with lust driven by ceaseless Supernova.
And yet, her touch had always been so affectionate in its own malformed way. At the very end, when she was given back her memory, Brie's soft touch trembled against my well broken body. It almost felt like she really loved me, as silly as that sounds. I've never dated anyone before, my first proper date had been with Laura and I could hardly say the night ended in romantic spark given my corruptive assimilation. Was... was that even me? Are these memories mine, or simply ones I've borrowed from Envy? It's hard to say exactly where Joy ends and Envy begins, to discern which is the copy. When she broke me down I'd been trained to accept myself a fake, but with what little clarity I can muster in reiteration, I know it's not so straightforward. We're both the original and, when stacked against that girl who always tried her best to be a hero, we're both just fakes. Maybe that's why I feel more at home with the name Hope, even if I had feared it at first.
My body moves on autopilot and between a yawn and a blink, I'm on my feet. Still, it feels so hopeless here. Did I flash back even earlier than before, when I was still presumed to be in a coma? My head is filled with memories of an unwound future, a vision that holds proof of just how willing I am to be freed this burden of humanity. It makes me feel a deep sense of self loathing to remember that rifle, a part of me agreeing with its perspective while the rest fears just how easily I can be convinced to abandon everything I tell myself is sacred. That's not me... I'm not like her, nor that knight. Or so I'd love to tell myself. The truth is that they're both more authentically me than this pretender stepping in front of a mirror I once shattered in a fit of violence. The mirror reflecting my true nature, a killer, a weapon, something to be used. If thinking for myself only has me torturing myself for every bad decision, every fall from grace, then it's no wonder why I'm so eager to escape from such a burden.
With bleak expression, I lift my head to look upon this pathetic girl who'd so easily abandon all she stood for at the lick of a riding crop, the promise of orders. Heavenly, uncomplicated orders. You just have to do as you're told, forever, and nothing is ever your fault. It feels good to surrender to that ugly rhetoric, again and again. Just wipe me clean, god, and never dare to bring me back again.
"Did you just make a request of me, little crow?"
Ah, that's right... somewhere distant, in long forgotten orchard, lies the truth. It feels as though I've pleaded for this exact thing already, once before, so desperate was I to remain beneath the waves for good. A forever of trance, mindless high that had me meek, obedient and perfectly trained. I've had more owners than I know, more than makes sense. Hive was the first to lay claim, preying on my eagerness to impress the role models I'd idolised all my life, giving in to a crow of her own to make my body hers. Nova came next, though it was only an amuse-bouche of the woman's firm control. Next came Murmur, a sleepless crook who sought to corrupt me to her own ends, for something petty. I suppose you could say that Envy herself was next, that temptation taking hold as the myriad minds she claimed drove her deeper into corruption. Before Envy would get her hands on me again, fracture me into a pet and a knight in one, why does it feel as though I'm missing some? The truth feels so close I can almost touch it, but then... do I need the truth? Do I want the truth? Do... do I deserve it? Maybe being put in my place by a woman like Nicole Black, a personal hero of mine, is a good enough fate for a thing like me. Yeah... ehehe... yeah! If only I could stop returning from all my happy endings and let one stick. It's not fair... so what if I'm used as a tool for violence? It's cathartic to be the one breaking something else for a change, maybe that's why I broke this damned mirror in the world that never was.
I won't break it this time... I need this mirror. This reflection presents me as I am, an escape artist intent to flee her own thoughts. All I need do is... up the glow of these eyes, I'll burn myself out with the stare of submission until all that's left is a completely obedient creature void of want and guilt! I'll subjugate myself, again and again and again, until fate gets the fucking memo and lets me go. Until duty resigns, hangs itself a hero. I'll be better this way, more useful, it hardly matters so long as I just...
Gold. A glowing gift of glistening glare, eyes sparkling so beautifully as I flood my mind with reflected desire. My shoulders slump, jaw slackens, no commander here to issue orders and no mind to stop the flow of gold. I'm hypnotising myself in the mirror, giving up entirely, eager to be found and claimed and used and loved and...
The thoughts cease to flow, leaving a brainless welp falling into mirror, lost forever in halls of mirrors that refuse to reflect her back. Joy is a vampire feeding on herself, the cannibalistic act cannot be reflected by something so godless, like any good vampire she's spared. Spared from self-reflection, happily ignorant to the sins she's become accustomed to committing as she pushes all blame onto others. That's not how it started though, is it Joy?
I ignore that voice telling me to give up the glow, intensifying my stare to silence it as the mirror becomes the only thing left in this room. All else becomes too distant, so I am unable to even hear that creaking door, the manor's owner entering guest bedroom with a cocky grin. Her legs carry her over to me without the pretence of frailty she had put on in the past, Nova's arms sliding around me from behind as I slip into a golden coma for her.
"There you are, awake at last and judging by the state I found you in... hmm, could this be stage four already? Listen Joy, Halcyon D--"
"So that's how you do it... how long have I had that trigger, hehe... you used it before right? Made me forget about the details in my vision that would complicate my 'progress'. Made me think I could punch though reinforced plating without my Rook... that was mean." The glow weakens and I feel something welling up within me, a rebellion I didn't know still drew breath, especially in the face of her. Perhaps it's because I only see her in reflection, because she hasn't gotten around to spraying that perfume yet, but I'm able to see her with some clarity. This woman's no salvation, she's the one who wants me to keep flashing back, after all. Does that make even her an enemy to my subjugation? Just like Angel, who kept bringing me back up just to enjoy watching me fall again. They're all the same.
"Oh? Well, you're rather bold for someone who just woke up from a long sleep. I just find people easier to interrogate in trance is all, get as many details as I'm able to. That you're aware of the Red Rook is a promising teaser. Why deny my trance, dear, were you not in the process of obliterating higher thought for me yourself before I rudely interrupted?" The woman's touch feels so strange to me here, bare fingers creeping down my front while more hold my face and tilt it back up to address reflected gaze. It's so naked, her touch, when I'm used to firm black leather vice. It feels different enough that mental association isn't quite as effective at breaking me, though my breathing does grow heavy. That husky voice is the same as ever, I hate to love it and love to hate it in my ear. A perfectly loathsome, addictive voice. Low and lightly fried, doused with just a touch of feminine wiles. Her voice is at its best when giving out orders, on that we can agree.
Sighing out and leaning back into her touch, I'm once again reminded of the day we betrayed Murmur. Me, myself and Envy. Do I really have it in me to deny her after witnessing just how obsessed I became with her hold over me? Again... do I want to? If the answer is as clearly a no as these golden eyes tell me it is, then why do I keep returning to the question? A soreness against my cheek compels me to fight, not with my own resolve but hers. Brie struck me in that basement, hard enough to slap some sense into this pitiful spectre I've become.
"We'll find a way to make it right, flower... but you have to try too."
I raise my hand to stroke that phantom sting and Nicole possessively seizes my wrist, convinced I'm her weapon in the making, her strong touch feeling so good and yet, so hollow. As hollow as the empty bones of a Crow, pneumatic temptation with no wind left to carry it. Right now, it feels as though there's no air in this room at all, the two of us grounded from flight as her lofty sense of superiority is forced down to my level. The Rook, the state of the world, aren't the only things she'd have me forget all about with her handy post-hypnotic suggestion. I can't see into my orchard anymore, but now I know it's there...
"Mrs. Black... I get it now... I'm really not a hero, am I?" My voice comes out weak, that feeble tone a predator like her just can't help but find herself baited by.
The grip around my body grows tighter, satisfaction on her tongue as it runs a predictable script I taste the temptation of even now. "That's right, flower, but it's okay. You don't need to be a hero to save the world, you just need to let a hero use you. I'll wield you, girl, for all that you're worth. Save you from these negative emotions that haunt you. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
I really, really would. But... I have to try. I understand how hard it must have been for Brie to force out those words while hooked on Nicole's power herself, such strong emotion overriding it, for a girl she shouldn't be so charmed by.
"Yeah... you're a real hero... but... I don't want to be your weapon. Ehe... you're forgetting the thing every great superhero never has enough of!" My sudden enthusiasm gives the calm woman pause, Nova eyeing this reflected face suspiciously as she fails to remember the most important thing I've come to recall. In fact, she'd never be able to guess that it'd return to me, the trigger she couldn't help but use on Brie triggering me too. Unlike Brie, I didn't remember anything, but that solitary vine spilled out and told me that even if it's only the one... I have a root and a garden of my own. It makes sense now that I think about it, that Envy's split would not rob me of the power completely. After all, that Shepherd girl mentioned having her own orchard as well. We're allergic to the fuzz, so it's hard to say which is the most depressing between her peach orchard and my dead one. It's here that a thought occurs to me and I find myself wanting to scoff at such a delayed pyrrhic victory... if I can't access my orchard mentally, as I once could, then what happens if I trap somebody in there? Nova broke out of Envy's so easily, overpowering her with gold, but what if there's nobody to receive such an attack in the first place? What if you're trapped in a purgatory with no master?
"Oh? Enlighten me, I'd shut you up right now but... I'm curious what you think you have to say. What do all great superheroes never have enough of?" Nicole thinks she knows the answer and I'm sure she does, but how is she expected to react to an attack that has already long hit its mark? I'm afraid, Lady Nova, that this battle has already been decided. Pleasure playing the game with you.
"Supervillains." Before she can get the last word in, I unceremoniously rip this wretched woman's consciousness from her physical form with that vine curled around her calf, pulling her into my orchard in a nostalgic act. It feels like an eternity ago that I subdued a foe in this manner, sighing out and fogging up the mirror ahead as Nova's empty face drops onto my shoulder.
And just like that, with a whimper of anticlimactic yet cathartic air... I defeat the greatest superhero in the world. With her threat subdued, or so I hope, I let the most insecure and nerve-wracking thought possible fill this fragmented head of mine.
Surely nothing can go wrong now.
Chapter Two: Our Restitution
I've been standing with a dumb look reflected by the unforgiving mirror before me for almost twenty minutes now. I'd love to say that I've been thinking, and believe me I've been trying to, but it would seem that any semblance of productive contemplation is content to elude me on this fine morning. The future is an ever present stranger, waving me along with a gleeful smile on its face and a dagger held firm behind its back. It would do me well to arm myself, ready for that inevitable driving lunge that should seek to undo the small victory I've clawed for myself here. A modicum of long lost dignity clawed back with tooth and nail and vine.
Oh who am I kidding? This is no small victory! I bested Lady Nova herself, ahaha, it's hard not to develop an inflated ego over the matter and join my other self in destructive power trip. Sure... it was a cheap trick that won me the day, but I do not think that honourable strategy is something a dishonourable pretender like Nicole black deserves. If I'm to be blunt, I know all too well by now that she is no hero, that the golden era died by her hand as she commercialised the good deeds of those greats before her. Nova placed a cage around the very concept of heroism, refused to allow our good intentions to serve anything but her own agenda. As Commander Black, my 'Handler' as she would put it, the woman made no attempt to instil worship into my brain. Instead of manipulating my vulnerable mind into seeing her ill deeds as heroic acts, as Miss Murmur once had, Nova revelled in watching me accept just how deplorable we both were. Even now, a part of me can't deny that I feel tainted, ignoring the temptation to free her from that dead grove. If it were not for Brie's sting against my cheek, I'd probably be resubmitting myself to her right now, kneeling obediently as I beg for her to remove responsibility from my life with surgical precision. To take my eyes and trust only in her far superior vision of the world.
Just who is she to me, anyway? Brie, I mean, I don't even want to try and consider what Mrs. Black is to me at this present moment besides my prisoner. We first met when I was yet part of Envy, and she in a body she seemed far less at home with. The next time I recall our paths crossing is when her fingers sunk into my hair in this very manor's foyer. Now I see why Nova robbed my sight as her first act of control, or no, that was already several acts deep when I consider the manipulation leading up to it. Still, she seemed intent to prevent me from seeing this world as it truly is, though without her trigger to edit my memory I'm now left wondering about that... more specifically...
Why the fuck have I been piloting a giant robot... thing? While I wish I could probe Nova herself for answers, I'm unable to even look into my orchard right now. It's for the best, of course, but I won't pretend I'm not nail-bitingly nervous at the prospect of that woman wandering around some deep, cordoned off recess of my mind unsupervised. In any other circumstances it'd be a funny visual to muse on, but she terrifies me more than anyone. Given the opportunity to do so, Nova can so easily reduce me to the very worst aspects of myself and nothing more. I'm beating myself up over how detestable that rifle became but really, everyone is possessed of negative qualities like those right? Robbed of autonomy and the permission to be decent, most would be right there with me in the dirt... or so I have to tell myself to feel a person again.
Back onto the part about giant robots... oh! Laura would pout at me if I called them that, since they require a pilot or uh, something. Once, she had convinced me to watch an animated 'mecha' feature playing at our student's union tricking me into thinking it was a new film and not some restored cartoon from the nineties. It wasn't bad, but I was mostly happy to make Laura happy, the way she clung to my arm as a pilot's craft was torn to pieces with an inexplicable amount of blood spurting from the mech itself makes me wonder in retrospect if she had been hoping for the night to spur romantic. Why am I suddenly thinking about that? Gee, it's like there's a subroutine in my brain that continuously redirects my thoughts away from the big red elephant in the room. It was the same with Envy, Nicole just made me forget... I didn't just become her knight, but her pilot. And those soldiers I remember tearing through the front lines of... they were really--
CRASH!
I'm shaken from my thoughts, and my captive, by a sudden loud noise coming from the foyer. My eyes shoot wide open as I watch my vine retract from the sudden stumble into mirror, turning to inspect Nova's blank expression as she stands there in a severed slump. Waving my hand in front of her face a few times, I sigh in relief at the fact that I didn't accidentally just return that mass of ego to the cockpit in her head. Looks like her id is home, but the rest is safely locked away within rows of pews and weeds. The only memories I have of my own secret garden were the ones I'd siphoned from Brie during our short-lived connection, strangely enough, and I can't help but wonder what the hell a church of all things is doing in that mess of mental construction. Satisfied that my Nova doll isn't about to spring to life and return me to that ceaseless wheel I've been bound to for what feels like decades, I timidly approach the guest room door and wrap trembling fingers around the handle. I'm not entirely sure what scares me more, the source of that deafening crash from downstairs or turning my back to Nicole Black and trusting that she isn't home right now.
Throwing caution to the wind and remembering that at the end of the day, I'm much physically stronger than I appear, I push into the manor's upstairs hallway and head to the central staircase with hurried steps. A warm rush of air hits my flush cheeks and I stare out at open doors, an entrance broken through brute strength alone. What of the snipers positioned outside when I relapsed as Envy's knight in my vision? Were they on break or... has this assailant already dealt with them before making their way to the house itself? Wondering just how such a unique event could be playing out when my future memories hold no recollection of such a break in, I'm met with an answer swiftly as I lock eyes with a woman storming out of kitchen with fiery purpose in her expression.
"B-Brie?" My heart begins to thump at the very sight of her, remembering all those times she used me and all the times she didn't, too. The way that, before Nova's games, Brie expressed interest in breaking that inescapable wheel. Even after all we went through together as Handler's broken pets, I can't deny that Brie knew her way around my body, knew just how to make me feel good. Dressed up under the guise of 'using me' or 'punishing me', the woman was just as good a service top as ever. "What the hell are you doing here?"
The woman stops her grunting search through the manor and gives weak, bashful smile at the sight of me. Fingers covered in metal rings sweep through that dark red wolf cut of hers and she cocks her head, eyeing me up like she's not sure how to talk to me anymore. "Hey there, Flower. I uh... I think Envy asked me to come get you? But I mean, if you don't wanna come with I'm not gonna force y--"
"And what was your plan for dealing with Nova? God... you're as reckless as ever, think before you act!" I descend the steps with a slight smile despite my reprimanding words, wanting to be close to her despite everything. In a way, what a joyless woman like Nicole Black saw as driving a wedge between us only made me more desperate for that touch, a more genuine version of it perhaps. It suddenly dawns on me that Brie might not feel the same as she flinches at my approach, averting her eyes with a shyness that doesn't suit her.
"I ah... heh. I took out the guards outside but couldn't think of a good strategy for blondie 'sides rushing in and nabbing you. Y'know I'm fast right? Strong, sure, but speed was my whole thing when I still called myself a hero. It's why I named myself after a racehorse, least... I thought I did." The tall butch grins to herself sheepishly but I'm too busy stealing glances at those exposed abs you could dice meat on, wanting to place my hands on her while wondering how I ever convinced anybody, least of all myself, that I was straight. "God damn it... you're right, I always just rush in without thinking... y-you'd think I'd have learned my lesson after what happened with--"
"Hey, uhm, it's okay." I instinctively reach out, I'm not sure why, and cradle her cheeks with my hands. She seems flustered, more so than I'd intended to make her, not in the fun way either. "You can calm down, okay? She's uh... not around right now and... wait, you can remember what happened?" Suddenly it all clicks into place, the reason why Brie is acting so skittish all of a sudden, second guessing herself so much. While it's true she needs to work on her recklessness, that her eyes won't meet my own is a problem in need of fixing fast. Seeing her like this pains my heart.
Brie is visibly relieved after I tell her that Nova isn't around, a half-truth at best given how close she really is. "Y-Yeah... I was so off my head on that shit they were dosing me with and I stuck that vine of yours right in my neck like I had any clue what I was doing. Not my smartest move, I'll concede... if I hadn't done it I wouldn't remember shit right now huh? I'd be the same Brie I was before..."
Alright, this needs to stop. "You're the same Brie as always, to me, not that I got much of a chance to know who that is yet ehehe... don't give Nicole the satisfaction of convincing you her methods stuck, that she's changed you into something else. I'm... sort of an expert on this stuff at this point... the distance helps, knowing that none of that ever really happened even if it felt so real. You're just experiencing a shared vision of the future, Brie. Uhm... do you remember when we were first introduced here, in the foyer? Well I guess it didn't happen but you do remember, don't you?" I take a deep breath and curl fingers around the woman's wrist. It's strange to know I'm the stronger of the two of us, given the staunch difference in muscle mass. As Handler's rifle I was lean and built, that was probably the most positive change she could have given me though I'm not certain the gruelling regimen was worth it for pure aesthetics. I suppose it was more the discipline that she was trying to instil and I can't say that it wasn't effective, my posture in this iteration has changed considerably and, perhaps ironically, so has the ability to speak my mind.
"Yeah, 'course... I was uh, messing with you even then huh? Look, I just can't help--"
"Tell you the truth, Brie? I loved it, that teasing touch in my hair wasn't asked for but it wasn't possessive and cruel like Nova's either. Your confidence was a little intimidating, and you tried a little too hard at first to hide your kindness alongside it. That demonstration you made to Nova about how easily I could be manipulated was more for my sake than yours, wasn't it? I should be annoyed at you trying to protect some stranger but..."
"Pshh... nah, I just wanted to mess with you a little." The woman's face is almost as dark a shade of red as her hair, Brie's stiffened posture relaxing some as she shrugs out of my touch and crosses her arms with a soft attempt at a smirk. "You're just too damn cute, you know that?"
"I'm beginning to realise that, yeah. It's that confident, overly brazen hothead that I want to see right now, Brie. So if you're feeling guilty over anything, not that I think you should, you can pay me back by indulging me with that." It's thanks to her that I managed to grasp any semblance of my own willpower, wrestling for control over my own future with a knight, a pet and a rifle all still fully intact somewhere in this fractured head of mine... so it seems only fitting that I be the one to return the favour. Brie's confidence is not going to magically return, I know this well because I'm going through the same thing, but doesn't that mean... and perhaps I'm being too optimistic here... doesn't that mean that we have the chance to support each other in finding it again? With Nova out of the picture, we might actually have a fucking chance. The first step, then, is remembering that it's okay to dream.
"You strike a hard bargain for such a puppy, but I guess I can't say no to that can I?" Brie's fingers reach out and run through my hair, touch I didn't realise I'd been craving so much until it hits me like a fuzzy freight train hauling blissful tingles from end to end. My submissive tendencies have only gotten stronger, at times like this I don't even seem to mind, perhaps with someone safe that I can trust... I could work through these feelings I've been left with. That need to lose all will and responsibility will only cause further destruction if I continue to demonise it for its origin, maybe in a contained environment I could indulge, if only for a time. It's that forever that scares me, a tempting oblivion that calls you into the void. Like standing on the edge of a cliff and suddenly having the urge to jump, abyssal attraction from some primordial source we can't quite pin down. Someone strong like Brie could be a safety harness of sorts, though I wouldn't seek to use her without the exchange being mutual. First, she needs to find the rest of that strength, lest the whole thing tear at the end of our freefall.
"You can say no to me, Brie, but I hope you don't. In fact... I'm confident you won't, but I'll try not to take advantage of that hehe. You're really hot to me, so I think maybe you should act like it... really lay on the charm like you did back then." It's like I'm wrapped up in the sudden flirtatious air, forgetting about Nova entirely for the first time in forever as I find comfort in this unlikely saviour. Did Envy really call her here? Why? Maybe that other me will have the answers to all these mounting questions of mine, or perhaps she simply awaits her next turn.
Brie bites her lip expecting soreness, steps closer expecting to limp. In the absence of these expected sensations, Brie scrunches her eyes closed and then blinks them open with a burning gaze that finally meets my own, her lightly calloused fingers grasping my soft chin. "Oh yeah? Why don't you test it out then, Flower? You can go ahead and tell me to kiss you and... aha... I'll probably oblige. Y'know, if I feel like it."
If I'm a fool to dream, then I'll be locking lips with foolish peer, the both of us giddy and glad to be sharing a breather as we Hope to rob each other's breath. My heart beating so fast it could break, I wrap arms around the taller woman's neck and smile up at her with Hope restored. "Then kiss me, idiot." Like we've done it a thousand times before.
Without skipping a beat, Brie takes firmer hold of my chin and presses hungry lips against mine, giving me the most indecent kiss of my life as a free woman. Once we start, it becomes hard to stop, Brie pushing me back as our tongues vie for control in playful competition. I trip back over the stairs and the hunk of a woman collapses over me with a laugh I can't help but mimic, hands roaming each other's bodies like we're catching up on lost time even if the majority of our most recent memories involve the two of us fucking long into early morning. It was so one sided with that Hellhound, just the way the rifle was made to like it, but here with Brie... well, it's not much different but at least I get to drink in the fucking sight of her!
And what a sight it is, the eager butch pulling back to catch her breath as one of my breasts is used to support her weight, her other arm carefully cradling my back to ensure it's not too uncomfortable against the stairs. I can endure discomfort well enough, but just knowing that she cares has me easier than ever. We were just meant to kiss, hell I thought it'd be sweet, but I'm starting to get the impression that the two of together aren't remotely sweet... and better off for it.
"You're something else... if my dumb ass can help you restore some agency and feel this good doing it... fuck, we must be made for each other." The words escape Brie's lips so easily it scares me, the two of us sitting on the stairs with our bodies kissing at the sides as we just barely managed to keep from going all the way on Nova's staircase. "Uh... shit that was a weird thing to say, sorr--"
Like a teacher sternly lecturing a pupil, I click my tongue and shake my head dismissively. I then proceed to drop my head onto her shoulder, a place I'd be liable to spend all my time on if I could get away with it. "Confidence, 'member? I like hearing stuff like that, I think any girl in their right mind would. I'm... not entirely in my right mind, but that just makes me even more grateful to have someone treat me like a person. Not just any person either, but one you feel the compulsion to throw sappy sentiments at, bordering romantic. My last date was a fucking mess, Brie, so promise to take me somewhere nice if we've any will of our own left after seeing Envy. 'Kay?"
"We're going to go visit her, then? It's your choice, I'm just the messenger and I guess uh, chaperone. I'm not entirely sure where we are though, so I'm a pretty shit guide. Saige was kind enough to direct me here but she's not on hand now. Said if Envy's will has changed she needs to go back, was kind of blowing me off she was in such a rush... no idea about the others, we were on some campsite and I don't remember how I got there for the life of me." Brie stops talking and glances down at my face nuzzling her shoulder, playing my recent words in her head and realising none of what she's talking about matters right now. "I uh... Envy referred to you as my 'girl', which sounds like something I'd say. I wish I still had the memory Handler... fuck I mean, that the cunt herself returned to me while I was high on her supply. Like... someone I didn't even know called me uh, Captain Williams. I-Isn't that funny?"
Huh. It's not funny, per se, but it definitely has me smiling at the thought. Holding onto Brie's right arm, I can't help but tease her, if only to mask just how startled I am myself by such an oddity. "Well... it has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Maybe a bit fast though, ehehe..." Oh god I'm a blushing mess, using the breadth of her shoulder to hide just how red I am as I let that name run through my mind a second time. Oh that's right, Commander Black called her 'Williams' too, back when we were attempting to escape. I just assumed she must have been addressing me but I know better than to think she'd refer to her rifle with a human name. It... would be really awkward if we discover we're actually related. Somehow I don't think that's it, Brie's next confession making me even more sure and, somewhat paradoxically, even more confused.
"Oh! Shit, speaking of rings." Brie removes her fingers from my hair and I giggle at the fact I had forgotten they were there, her hand moving in front of us as she holds it up for inspection. Were we speaking of rings? "This gold one we got rid of... Envy totally freaked the hell out over it, made me give up the location of it and your lil' dove. I uh... one last thing to sorta tie this together, and this is the big one. I've been debating showing you this but it's been weird stewing on it alone... so maybe with you, I don't have to?"
It's like she's asking for permission to turn my world upside down, and given the world I currently find myself in I'm not opposed in the slightest. "Go ahead hehe, do your worst. Can't get any stranger than what we've already shared just now, right? Almost makes it seem like me and you were--"
"Hold that thought, Flower, and feast your eyes on this..." With her nerves returning, making me hold onto her a little tighter to try and fight them off, Brie reaches into her jacket and pulls out her wallet. The worn leather artifact is bursting at the seams, crammed with more junk than I could ever think to stuff into my purse, Brie throwing it open and rooting through the scraps inside tenderly. After a few seconds, making me think she intentionally buried whatever it is she's searching for whenever she first discovered it, Brie removes a photograph from her wallet and pinches the corner tight between her fingers. "Actually... you sure you wanna see? This is... I mean, this is nice and I don't wanna freak you out and... stuff."
"And leave you all freaked out on your own? Hardly seems fair. C'mon, lay it on me, I'm a big girl contrary to popular belief and uh... my recent track record." My eyes are fixed onto the back of the photograph Brie holds at an arm's length, her cocky smile slowly returning even if she's still unsure of herself. I live to see that arrogance again, as much as I probably shouldn't encourage such things. People are best with a few faults, being human is never quite perfecting yourself right?
"Fine, you're surprisingly hard to say no to, guess you were right earlier. It... it could be something Nova faked to try and fuck with us, I mean it has to be fake right?" Slowly, Brie brings her hand closer and flips the photograph, showing me something I'd have never expected in a thousand years. Maybe you did, given all the hints, but I'm completely blindsided.
"That's... wow, that's us right? I-I mean, that's obviously you but... is that me?" I can't help but grab the photo, Brie startled by my swift nabbing and giving me the best smirk she can muster with so many butterflies occupying her toned stomach.
Brie laughs. "Well no duh... hair looks good shaved at the sides and coloured like that, and in a suit too... even like this you're somehow cute as all hell. Real duo of dykes, I... I don't know what to make of this, to be honest. It's obviously not real but..."
"A part of you wishes it were? Always thought I'd wear a dress, guess the fictional you really rubbed off on this imagined me. I've... never really been very confident in my style or looks, just went with the wind I suppose. My agency made me that crappy costume and that became my brand. Murmur offered me an alternate fashion sense and I latched onto it immediately. I guess it could be the same here but, fuck, look how happy I am hehe." The photograph in my hand depicts myself and Brie dressed in tuxedo suits, arms around each other's waists as we smile for the photograph with champagne flutes occupying free hands. A ring can be seen on Brie's left hand as she holds up her glass, while mine is hidden around her waist. My left hand, I mean... not a ring. Why would there be a ring? What the fuck is this? Who... Who even am I? The girl in the picture if a pure work of fiction, streaks of red and yellow highlights in that strawberry blonde undercut make a blaze of denial and, worse still, burning desire. I'm jealous of the Joy in this image, unbearably so, wanting to tear the smile directly from her face and make it my own.
"Maybe... just maybe... it could be?" Brie leans close and delicately holds the golden dove hanging from my neck, the one she said Envy made a curious effort to retrieve. Where does my other self fit into all of this, anyway? "Let's just... lay out everything we know and figure out where the hell to go from here okay? That way at least the two of us are on the same page, even if it feels like we just tore it from the middle of a fucking novel." The woman I'm starting to think I may have a crush on gives her most confident smile yet, one I simply can't deny the charm of.
"Okay. I like that plan, let's relocate to somewhere more--"
I'm cut off by the sound of shuffling feet at the top of the staircase, my heart near stopping as I consider the only person whose sluggish steps they could possibly be. Brie is the first to turn as she's alerted to the presence by a less than heroic groan. I forget that Brie hasn't the heightened sense to hear such slow steps on carpet, and still she reacted first. The way her face turns white as a sheet makes me wish I'd at least attempted to tie the woman up for what little it's worth. My mind defaults to resignation almost instantly, photograph slipping from my fingers as I await those lecturing words that have me spiralling into rigid relapse. I know I can't deny her on an even keel, and there's a very good chance that Brie can't either. Even if either or both of us should find that impossible will to resist, we could not beat her in a physical confrontation. Best to flee, it's our only real option... and yet, we're both helplessly paralysed by mere presence. And what a commanding presence Nicole Black has, a black hole of confidence without parallel, a--
"Uhm... Joy... what's wrong with her?" Huh?
I swallow my fear and follow Brie's gaze, staring upon a shambling wreck of a woman who appears as though she's about to fall down the stairs in her confusion. "Oh! I uh... I mean... I resisted her and... well, yeah."
"And what? Did you like, lobotomise her? Shit that's hardcore..." Brie isn't too far off the mark I suppose, though given what I thought I did I'm a little surprised and very nervous to see the insufferable blonde on her feet going walkabout. Any second now she could recompose herself and order us both onto her knees, and I'm not entirely sure we'd have enough shared willpower to refuse the direct order. Any moment now, this reaper of will could come and lay claim to lost and found. It's just a matter of time until she--
"Hnnng..."
...
...
...
Nicole Black, in all of her glory, proceeds to slip and fall down the stairs.
Chapter Three: Nova? I hardly know her.
"So uh... do you wanna address the elephant in the room, Flower? Thought you said Nova wasn't around." Sitting at Nicole Black's dining table, Brie rests an elbow on the slumped shoulder of the greatest superhero in the world and cocks her head against golden locks. The woman between us, in more ways than one, appears lost in a mental haze of my own making. Most of her is still trapped in that labyrinth of dead grass somewhere deep within me, but enough slipped through the cracks to form something akin to consciousness. A distant cousin, perhaps.
"She's not... around... per se. Why are you so close to her anyway? You might catch something." I give Brie my best attempt at a sardonic grin but it's likely all too easy to see just how jealous I am, even if I stave off the usual pouty face. The part that scares me most is knowing that I'm not just jealous of Nova in this instance, but Brie too. I know that Nicole Black's affections are poison, a well tainted Black, but just as Brie appears to be... I cannot help but yearn for that which I've been trained to.
The woman ahead of me at least has the good sense to pull away when I call her out, exhaling sharply over her shoulder and tightening fingers into fists over the tablecloth. "Damn, sorry... it's her scent, that perfume just drives me crazy."
"Huh? But... she wasn't wearing any earlier, when I uh... subdued her." With a hasty lean, I bring myself closer and foolishly breathe deep the scent of her, an arrow striking my heart as my eyelids flutter in rapid motion. It's so magnetic, the air she produces, a soporific cloud of pheromone rivalled only by Envy's own. Just one breath and I'm reminded of my place, instinctively bringing my arms behind my back as they find themselves bound tight by invisible rope. Discipline, restraint, acceptance... how badly I want her to snap awake and just order us both onto the ground where we belong. Maybe I could bring just a little more of her back to the surface and--
"Hey! Snap out of it, I held back so now it's your turn, 'kay? I don't want you going all rifle on me before we even leave the house, promise me you'll try and I'll spare you the barking in kind, haha..." Brie kicks away from the table and walks over to my side, planting herself back down and stroking my hair again, just the way I like. It's a more possessive touch than last time, but certainly not in a bad way. Her leash is a welcome one, a warm tether, isn't that what love is? N-Not to say that I'm in love with her or anything, I can't suddenly pretend to know that Joy from the photograph, but it at least convinces me that I could be. I'm not entirely sure that this world I exist in permits such romance, I'm not usually afforded the freedom to choose. A part of me has come to accept this as normal, then I remember how things used to be and I'm reminded of just how derailed I've become from that simple college life. Why don't I miss it? If anything, I miss my short time as an overlap with Envy the most, that taste of freedom even if it was just another set of shackles in disguise.
"Heh... you got me. I sure did have a bratty mouth on me as her weapon, didn't I? It... really got you going, without fail, I could goad you into using me with just a few well placed words I couldn't imagine speaking with a straight face here and now." With a light sigh, I lean up into those fingers buried in my hair and gaze longingly at the woman I loathe. "We could take her as a pet."
Brie's fingers stiffen and she clears her throat, gauging just how serious of a statement that was. "Hey uh, you feeling okay?"
"Think about it... she made us hers, right? It's only fair we get our turn and... well, we're both artificially infatuated with this woman as it stands already." Prying my eyes away from a very blissed out Mrs. Black, I turn to face Brie with a fiery glint in my eyes that reflects those in the photograph all too well. "Besides... I think I'm already drugging her subconsciously, I've truly taken after Envy except instead of Florasma's concoction I'm producing whatever it is you brought into my orchard in those final moments. I suppose you wouldn't recognise how similar she looks to how you had when you were all doped up on..."
"White Dwarf. It... was the sister drug to Handler's Supernova, almost its complete opposite though just as euphoric. You... you're making that shit inside of you, right now?" Brie's voice comes out brittle, the conversation bringing memories of her reduction to the forefront of her mind again. It was a brief window of time she spent as Nova's fully broken pet, one that would so eagerly lean into her touch while words eluded it. In that twilight, Brie felt enlightened, learning to love her owner implicitly like a simple puppy. It was terrifyingly freeing to no longer care about how far you've fallen, to smile without compromise.
This time I'm the one to comfort her, a tether that runs both ways, reaching over and squeezing a hand that dwarves my own. "I'm not entirely sure how to control it anymore, hopefully Envy will know. Maybe she can tell me why I've only the one limp vine too, I can't sense the rest of my roots at all."
"I'm sure whatever the deal is, this bitch is involved. Maybe we can question her, actually get some fucking answers for once?" Fired up, Brie slams her hands down onto the table and I do well not to flinch, seeing glimpses of Hellhound behind those indignant eyes. "Hey Nova, you in there? We got some questions for ya."
Looking at the blonde across from us as she is now, I'm not she even has the motor function to respond. At least her bulletproof body is keeping her safe from all the trips and falls she seems prone to, even if she probably does deserve the odd fracture. "Brie, remember when you tried to talk while under the effects of this drug. Now imagine you're also possessed of about three percent of your actual mind to begin with. I... I could probably try and bring more of her back, just enough that she can respond at the very least."
"Is that such a good idea? This goes for both of us, but our judgement is a tad compromised with this woman and ah... I wanna make sure the part of you still loyal to her doesn't sabotage what we've got going here y'know? Not to be accusatory, Flower, I'm just as fucking tempted. As much as I am pissed off, anyway." The unlikely angel on my shoulder imparts wisdom with her usual crass tone as I curl that single stray vine around my wrist and slide it through fingers.
"It's okay, I can't look into my garden right now but I did see it through your eyes, felt it in that connection. It was a little different to my usual method... you ah, put it into your neck right? That's weird isn't it?" I feel like we're close to figuring something out here, though I'm not sure what exactly that could be.
"Oh right." Brie reaches up to stroke fingers over the nape of her neck as realisation dawns. "I had to get some kind of procedure to interface with... damn we haven't talked about the mech shit yet huh? Anyway... it's gone now, turns out I performed a lot better with the manual controls in the end anyway, even better with Supernova flooding my body making me feel damn near invincible. Why would putting your vine into the port... do anything?"
"That's my point... it's weird, right? But it did, and Nova piloted one too right?" Pushing away from the table and standing up from my chair, I circle around to brush the hair on Nicole's neck to the side, confirming my suspicion. "If I plug myself in via this... I might gain more control."
"Yeah, or maybe she'd gain control over you. Is this really such a good idea?" Is this our first fight? With a placating smile thrown over Nova's shoulder, I tell Brie without the need for words that I've already made up my mind. If we don't do something now, we would either have to leave Nova here to fall back into military hands, or carry her the entire way to Envy's tower.
Holding my vine in firm grasp, I push the end against Nova's neck. The tendril flattens against the comparatively cooler skin, opening up to slot into those curious ports in her neck as a jolt of electricity sparks between us with the connection made. Brie slides arms around my front down by my hips, the back of my own neck now smothered in lips that whisper softly. Softer than I knew her capable.
"Please be careful, Flower, I sure hope you know what you're doing..."
Rows of dying grass are now forever preserved in gold from Midas rampage, Nova appearing to have fought hard from the moment I trapped her in this place. It's not a part she's used to playing, the sucker, but perhaps it's one she could excel at given time. I should heed Brie's warning and practice caution, unable to manifest myself in here even should I want to. That's good, it means Nova should be unaware of my presence here, unaware of just how easily she could turn the tables if she were privy to such valuable information.
As much as I'd love to be able to question here, I'm not confident enough to talk to a version of Nova who knows just how desperate I am to be under her control. I can feel her ego laid out before me like an expensive platter, this connection formed by the port in her neck is on another level to just sapping somebody with my roots. Even without my powers of unification, I can feel her as though we are one, a thought I'd rather not entertain any further lest I feel my skin start to crawl. Nicole Black's entire history is laid out before me in fragments, like that shattered mirror I can only glimpse incomplete reflections of bygone eras in this woman's storied existence. Still, if I find an adequate cut off point I could choose to pull as much or as little as Mrs. Black back into that empty vessel and leave the rest safely stored away in mental prison. Even before Envy's rise to power, the orchard really is a terrifying power, it was ill suited for that naïve and innocent Joy who no longer exists.
It's time to peer into the abyss, the life of a woman who sought to become the world. Chaos is a knife I intend to introduce to this woman's chronology, cleaving the sickness like I'm trimming fat. It's more than she deserves, but I'm no surgeon, so let us hope that fate yet favours the good commander.
Chapter Four: Space Debris - Part One
"Will you not come?"
The four simple words rattle through Nicole Black's mind like hot oil on a stove kicking up to sting her. No, she will not. Riding out like Valkyries to meet annihilation head on is a tempting prospect for one with such a prideful soul, sure, but the blonde steeped in Black has her eyes set on a different goal. Her ego is not tamed, no, just redirected to something only she can endure. It's more satisfying that way, in the end, to be alone in your accomplishment. Envy's four words missed their mark entirely, the cyclops should have known that since losing their duel, she's nothing in Nova's eyes. That she hasn't healed tells the smug blonde that Envy must see it her way on this matter and agree Mrs. Black the superior leader. The word saviour feels lofty enough to suggest a dangerous supernova of ego reserved only for the lost, but what does that matter to Nicole when she knows this world itself is already lost. While those remnants attempt to save what's left, Nicole has her sights set on another world entirely, one that might actually be graced with the fruit of her hard labour.
Nicole holds no pity for this world, the playset it represents having grown stale for her, but she does regret indulging that girl for as long as she had. Shepherd was determined to ride alongside her commander in that futile charge, she would have followed the woman to the ends of the Earth for reasons Nicole simultaneously finds self explanatory and utterly confounding. In the end, Nicole couldn't stand the sight of that deputy of hers, conjuring an easy excuse to be rid of her so as to dispel the last of that poison known as weakness from her blackened heart. Her heart is not allowed to grow fond, everybody in her presence is far too disposable to grow attachments to. Lucky that she cut it off before a visible scar could surface, she'll be better off seeing this world out with Envy besides. She'll be better off. She'll be home. She...
Rifle's gaze mustn't ever reach her, Nova notes bitterly, those accursed eyes would only remind her of the way that silly girl would look at her. Nicole is well used to being admired, love from faceless masses she can gorge herself on until the sun itself grows cold. What she cannot handle, not since the change, is being seen. An actor wants you to only focus on the performance, not the person underneath. Nova could not risk Shepherd's wandering eyes, could tolerate that gaze no longer, lest she strip the performer bare and lay witness to the remains.
The kid deserves better.
Not there, that's far too late in her chronology, let's try further back, before I woke up. I'm... curious about these fragments, everyone is born human right? I remember one night, staying up late with Laura marathoning old movies and getting onto the topic of time travel. There's the classic trope of going back in time to murder an infamous dictator as an infant, or perhaps prevent them from being born entirely. I was far too soft back then, admittedly, the worst I'd ever experienced was a scrape on my knee and a few rude comments. So it was only natural that I wanted to offer a silly perspective on the matter, peace and love. I proposed an alternative plotline to Laura, who had assumed the conversation long dead already on account of the sudden lull. I asked her, what if you went back in time and made an effort to change the person, redirect that penchant for destruction and nurture them into someone more upstanding, moral. Of course, morals are subjective and often abused conceptually... but still, it was a cute thought right? I imagine the most evil figure you can think of would hate to be snuffed out in their early years, sure, but the further mockery of having them work against all their values from the prior timeline is almost way juicier, no? Laura didn't seem to think so, said it wouldn't sit right with her to redeem and accept someone so tainted, no matter how changed they are. It begs the question, doesn't it... where does sin begin? Is that baby in the cot guilty of its future evils? Is it right to punish somebody for something they have yet to do, even if you're certain they'll grow to do it? Is it fair?
I just realised... I never talked about any of this with Laura, she'd never resort to ending a debate with lips like those. Then... who did I stay up so late into the night with, debating the ethics of time travel and tragedy?
Oh well, it hardly matters right now. Let's peer at more of Nova's psyche, a veritable fucking minefield of thought as I'm sure you're aware. Just... stay close, okay?
So it's come to this?
Nova beams with wide, bitter grin as she grips her Gala's controls with purpose. If the ungrateful whelp forgets who made her, she has no choice but to put the unruly plant in its place. This is to be a fair fight, so many armed spectators on hand that even Nova isn't confident she could take them all on alone. Least of all that Moth, the pilot of which having started this entire mess in the first place. For once in her life, Nicole decides to heed Misty's visions and this is where it lands her, in a one versus one battle for the fate of her entire kind. Envy has more supporters than her at this point, but that's hardly a fair metric when you consider how many of her fangirls are unified. Nova need only rely on herself, deciding to trust that Envy is naïve enough to honour the results of this battle even when the blonde has no intention of being such a good sport should Envy find herself the victor.
Waiting patiently for her opponent to arrive, Nicole finds herself both relieved and disappointed when the craft she lays eyes upon is not Envy's new prototype, a machine that dwarves these mechs they currently occupy that Nova intends to sequester control of once she wins this impromptu clash. The Imperator Narcissus is by far the most impressive piece of work Mint has to her name yet, and it just so happens to be perfect for Nova's new project. The disagreement between her and Envy started out far more amicably and grew into a more serious split when she realised that sentimentality had the poor thing in a vice. Misty saw the end of the world as they know it and Envy's opinions on how to proceed felt like cowardice to the great Lady Nova. Of course, Nova's counterproposal had been flat out rejected by the majority of New Cassiepeia's resistance corps. They told her she was grasping at straws, but to her the logic is flawless and any argument to the contrary is further cowardice. Her plan requires sacrifice, something Envy wouldn't understand the first thing about. It also requires resignation, nobody could subscribe to Nova's path if they had even a shred of Hope remaining. And so, the divide grew into a deep fissure that cut this city into uneven halves.
Time to face the music. Nova had been taken aback by Envy's acceptance when she proposed a duel to settle the matter, the victor granted control over this city's resources and the aid of all who serve to protect it. Perhaps The Garden's beloved Empress is simply too stressed to continue and sees this as an excuse to step down without appearing a coward, though if that's the case then Nicole feels guilty for how weak she intends to make the city's current queen appear. Were it not for Nova, her opponent would still be rotting away in a cell as the world of men used her name to incite fear and hatred. Nicole had to swallow her pride on that night, knowing that she no longer held quite as much sway as the captive villainess. This is how the woman repays her, Nicole supposes, that bitter grin setting on her face like cement. Envy took what belongs to her, and now she robs her vision of the future too? Well, she hopes Murmur is watching closely, so that she may see her precious 'Mother' for the frail weakling she truly is, has only ever been. And always will be.
"Well, aren't you a bundle of Joy this morning, ma'am. It's far too early for this, are you sure you don't want to just call it quits already? We trust in her and, to be frank, everyone who shares your opinion in the city is seen as part of an extremist movement... it's sowing discord, which was the last thing you ever wanted for this city. Control and order, wasn't it? Nic?"
"Good morning, Hivemind. I plan on winning through manual control, but I went through the trouble of getting the procedure just so that I could interface with my old subordinate, and because soon enough you'll be under my command once more. I hope you remember how to behave for me, Hive?" Nicole Black feels the pulsing vine in the back of her neck and smirks once again at Envy's misguided sportsmanship, this only going to prove that the clueless dolt truly intends to respect the outcome of this match. Perhaps a part of her agrees with Nova's plan already and simply cannot bring herself to admit as much, the great hero muses gleefully.
"We told you to call us Helena again... like you used to."
"I'm nothing like I used to be, and neither are you." The Gala readies its long, spiked whip with hulking fingers that Nicole feels as her own.
"We're not so sure about that, but you go off. This entire situation is madness, with everything going on we're really going to waste time fighting each other? A lot of people are hoping Envy puts you down like an old dog, but she's too kind for her own good. You're going to win this duel Nic... try to do so gracefully, or you'll only make more enemies. It'll be reluctant servitude that goes on to aid you, outside of your little fan club. Do you really believe in yourself enough for this, Nic? That this plan will actually amount to anything. If you've even a little doubt remaining then just trust in Empress En--"
With a tight circle of fingers, Nova pries the tendril from her neck and stares out over the horizon at her enemy. Destroy the enemy. It's all she's ever known.
"I'm the only thing I've ever believed in, Helena."
I suppose this puts my concept of a fight into perspective when I joked about some friction with Brie... I wouldn't blame the woman for chewing me out over my recklessness, in fact I welcome it. Being told off like that by someone who cares about me and the consequences of my actions sounds like a blissful normalcy I've been starved of for oh so long! Still, this fragment isn't really what I wanted, it only confuses me further and it's definitely not a good point to cut her off. At some point before I woke up in Nova's manor, she and Envy duelled over a difference in opinion and the victor's plan would become the future I woke up into. The world this picture paints is so different to the one I knew, it makes me question the very first thing Nova told me: How long I was out for. Why have I been trusting information given to me by that notorious manipulator for so long to begin with? She sent me to that small island I used to go on school trips to north of the city telling me that it was New Cassiepeia itself, she lied about my powers, she lied about the Rook... I'm getting closer to the truth though, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Eager? Nervous? No, I'm downright fucking terrified.
I should skip past this fragment and look at something much older... but I have to see the end of this duel, I have to know what became of Envy... this is my history too, in a roundabout sort of way.
An Empress falls.
The frame that Envy had prepared for this even duel no longer reacts to her intent, the heap of metal and organic matter collapsing down onto one knee as the Gala approaches with slow, gloating stride. The raven haired pilot, a leader who knows she loses more than just a single battle here, pushes her roots into the ground so as to ensure that Nova will not have the satisfaction of pushing her over. Envy refuses to be shown on her back, changing her goal from winning this duel to simply remaining upright until the very end. In a vain effort, Envy attempts one last ambushing strike with those vines protruding from the ground at the Black Gala's ankles. Nova shreds the tendril and Envy bites down on the strap of leather in her mouth.
"Empress... please, you don't need to endure this. She'll win no matter what, and... we're worried you--"
"Helena, please. Because of my weakness on this day, that child of mine will suffer far more. This is the least I can do, my entire family is here and I won't have them see me fall. Think of it as penance, haha, for our early days. And... my heart breaks for Brie, would that I could've done more. Pain is nothing to me, so our Lady Nova will have her work cut out for her." Empress Envy Williams exhales a shaky breath that betrays her fraying nerves, running perfect hand through soft, dark hair and swallowing drily. Taking a moment to peer into her garden, Envy sees that the girl inside has barely moved an inch. Very soon, Envy will have to relinquish this weak thing to Nicole Black, the consequences of which will not be so simple a thing to track. Envy looks, tied back strawberry blonde hair and a disconnected expression that scares her more than malice ever could. Nova thinks this girl, Joy Williams, is the key to getting their kind out of this mess; Envy thinks the girl has been through enough already. Disagreements here rarely end amicably, and now the Empress finds herself staring down the end of a whip.
"We're not so sure that's her only method of humiliation, take it from us. Besides, we're all linked up right now and we can sense she has more in mind than simply hurting you. Unlike you, she's keeping her active consciousness at bay from prying eyes. Nic's experiencing your memory right now, so in a way this is self flagellation, we're surprised she can operate so efficiently with the view of two cockpits simultaneously. The woman's something else, huh?" Helena has a tendency to talk too much when she's nervous, Envy's rich red lips curling into her best attempt at a smile. Before she can open her mouth to reply, an antiquated and indulgent form of communication in their unified state, the spiked tip of the Gala's whip crashes through the reinforced glass and thrusts Envy hard against her seat. "M-Mistress?"
Envy bleeds. Hair falling over the left side of her face in sudden slump, the woman receives a wound that would have surely ended the life of anybody still considered human. Through lengthy experimentation in her garden both conscious and subconscious, the woman has long abandoned such a label. Warped metal penetrates her face and an eye is lost, perhaps this is Nova's very literal take on the expression 'an eye for an eye', it took the woman a good while to recover from her own injuries after their last fight at Nova tower. The world was so different back then.
"You could have reflected that with Mana's parry..." Helena tries to give advice to a woman resigned after she was the one to admit the hopeless nature of this duel. Envy still appreciates her dryad support despite the hypocrisy, knowing that the good nymph network has come a long way since the days she only sought to use her. Back when Envy went by Joy, a name that no longer belongs to her. "D-Does it hurt? We're applying an anaesthetic, feel free to wave the white flag any time, she's counting on the fact that you won't. You're gonna give her what she wants?"
"If I'm to sit on my thumbs for the next few months and watch her have her way with the people I care for, then yes, it's only right that I take this. I only wish that daughter of mine would turn away, but she's still more tethered to Nova than she realises. That makes two of us, this woman never ends. I'm connected to her right now and I still can't figure out what makes her tick, to think I even worshipped her myself once." Despite the almost comical size of the wound on Envy's face, she continues to speak calmly with the red spilling down her bodysuit in slow, staining crawl.
Nicole Black decides to stop toying with her prey, pulling back from that shared memory and returning her full attention to the cockpit she herself occupies. The next part is just for Envy, the overgrown weed who actually sought to become her peer at the top of this world's pedestal. The Garden's mistress carries herself in a much more refined manner than that college kiddo she carved herself from, sure, and she's a far cry from the erratic brat who first challenged her. Still, her experience and attitude does not reflect wisdom, Envy grew soft where she should have hardened. The monster fancies itself a mother, and from one subhuman to another, Nova can respect the roleplay... but she won't allow it to decide the future of her world.
"I hope the angels are watching." The blonde mutters under her breath as her relaxed grip tightens purposefully. She hopes the whole world is watching, because this will be an unforgettable showing. Using the long, taut whip to gain some momentum, Black Gala pulls hard on the weapon yet tethered to Envy's broken cockpit, running wheeled feet over the beaten dirt below her as she closes the gap between them in a flash. Soon enough, she's upon Envy, throwing the pommel of her trusty weapon aside and digging fingers into both of the enemy's shoulders. Destroy the enemy. Nicole tears the limbs clean off and meets Envy's defiant glare. The Empress herself is staring up at the blonde though that cage of broken glass with only the one eye left. It would seem that Nova has made a cyclops, gleefully drinking in the sight of black hair matted with drying blood.
"Nic, that's enough already! Or what, aren't you going to be satisfied until you've ripped her legs off too? If you take things too far here, nobody will follow you. The two of you are the only role models, heroes, that us Cassies have. Maybe Miss Murmur, too, but she's lumped in with Envy given their... closeness." Helena pleads fruitlessly, knowing just how poor Nicole's impulse control tends to be when she's riled up like this.
"Oh don't remind me, if my Misty needed a mother figure so badly she only had to ask me, not this mistake she birthed to begin with. Let's agree to disagree for now, Hive dear, I've yet to finish my performance. I do hope that you're comfortable there on the front row, you won't want to miss this. These creations of Mint and Envy's, we experience pain through them as though their bodies are our own. I'd consider this a design flaw, but given how they're made I suppose it only makes sense." Extensions of the Empress herself, humanoid weapons forged in The Garden itself and given freedom of movement through unity. Nova intends to design a series that hides the organic components well, houses these vines in a helix of flexible steel to have them appear as simple cables. Smoke and mirror, as all good theatre productions should employ.
"Yeah, so?" Helena wishes she could pull out and leave Nova's Gala functionless, but she cannot disobey a direct command from her Empress. Her obedience to Envy is absolute, she's been a dryad for a very long time. Between the three of these women who all want different things in this moment, there isn't a human being in sight, or so they'd like you to think.
"If you can feel pain, you can also feel pleasure." The Black Gala wraps a hand around the back of her dismantled enemy's neck, Envy's single watching eye widening through busted window frame. Nicole curls her Gala's digits into proper form and pulls herself closer, looking out at the sea of spectators with a glint of satisfaction in her eyes blinding all else. An arm swings forwards and those bent fingers bury themselves between the other craft's legs. While Envy's frame has no literal sexual organs, the nerves are such a close imitation and the intent carried over through psychic link does the rest for them. In the centre of the battle field, Nicole humiliates these peoples' beloved Empress not with pain, but pleasure. It's an odd sight to be sure, though one viewing it through this memory can only assume. How strange it must be to watch a hulking mech built for war, fingerfucking another that has been broken down before it.
Envy's face flushes at the contact and she returns the leather strap to her mouth, determined not to moan for Gala's touch. For once in her new life as provocative dryad underling, Helena finds herself at a loss for words. With nothing built into the frame to penetrate, Gala pushes its fingers firm until the metal gives and it finds its way inside. A mass of internal vines clenches around the curling steel and Envy finds her body overheating already from the strange, phantom pleasure. She can't deny that Nova's fingers feel good, her own unification weaponized against her as the confident blonde's will wins out against a haggard Envy's. Just as before, the lesson Murmur taught her so long ago... the orchard answers to the strongest will, not necessarily its owner's. It isn't just her body dominated by proxy here, but slowly, her mind starts to follow.
"Empress, is this worth remaining upright for?" Even Helena finds herself affected by that dominating presence, Nova pumping her corruptive will into the garden with every thrust of those mechanised fingers. "We... fuck... w-we should turn on the pain inhibitors, it might... ahh~"
Nicole slides another digit into the gash of damaged steel, such an ugly sight translating to simple, overwhelming pleasure. Envy's frame buckles its hips and the woman herself gasps, leather slipping free from her mouth as a hot coo escapes with it. The woman had been prepared to endure pain, torture even, but not this. The pain in her face is so distant now, a rush of blood inside of her taking precedent over the red still gushing on the outside. There's a crow over her head right now, telling her to let this continue for as long as Lady Nova deems necessary to prove her point.
Perhaps even longer... it feels so fucking good.
I uh... I never experienced anything like that in my Rook, as far as I can remember. They mention a procedure but I now realise I have no memory of such a thing, the back of my neck holds no ports and yet... the back of my head, hidden by hair... when did that get there?
So Nova won the duel and claimed me as her prize, along with Envy's reluctant support in her new scheme. Just what is it that she's trying to accomplish, it all seems so random to me and yet I don't sense madness in her, not like that anyway. I've no doubt her methods have some manner of purpose to them, and I now know that while Envy is not quite her enemy as I'd been led to believe initially, the two certainly do not see eye to eyes. Still, it's not as though I can trust Envy either, even if her actions in my first go around were part of Nova's script. Envy still cooperated in the grand deception and, of course, my fracturing into pet and knight. I was a proud sword, I think, but in whose name was I truly swung? And why did the Envy in this fragment appear so much older?
In any case, this isn't what I'm looking for. A welcome glimpse of lost history, sure, but nowhere near early enough for me to consider Nicole somebody you could reason with. I think Envy's lived experience here is proof enough of that. Let's keep looking, I don't want to keep Brie waiting on me all day. I should probably speed this search up, go back years instead of months when I'm all too aware how long she's been the way she is.
"Guess who?"
Bloodied knuckles rap against reinforced glass, Nova pushing down the speaker button to wake the prisoner up with those two smug words. The blood she wears is not her own, nobody in this building was deserving of her heroics, just like Maverick Brawler's foes. The woman she's come here to release from captivity slowly stirs and peers out through glass at her unlikely saviour.
"So you recovered? That's good... uhm... gosh, did you... are the guards--"
"I killed them, yeah. They're our enemies, Envy." Nova's gaze sharpens and the raven haired villainess raises her head to meet it head on, vines spilling out from her back to lift the young woman onto her feet.
"Last I checked, I was your enemy too. Have you come to kill me?" Despite the calmness of her tone, the woman formerly called Joy can't help but tremble gently at the sight of this ghost from her past. A woman she once adored, who she later came to dethrone after becoming disillusioned with heroism.
Nicole Black laughs into her hand, making sure to keep the speaker button held down lest she lose her captive audience. "We're on the same side now, and besides, I'd never kill one of our own." The blonde eyes up the specialised cell made to prevent Envy from using her vines or her gas to escape, wondering just how reinforced it is. Knowing that she could easily find the proper way of opening this glass cage, Nova instead begins to wonder at her strength. The woman has to know if these humans can build a prison that even she herself cannot break out of. And so, Nova slams her fist into the glass. And again. And again. And again. Until eventually, she breaks through and breathes the same air as her ally.
"One of our own?" Envy Williams had never heard Nova equate herself to a greater whole before, it hardly suits the woman. She can't help but smile, wondering if the blonde might've actually changed for the better while she herself had been left to rot in the aftermath of her insurrection.
Some of her own blood finally showing on those skinned knuckles, Nova steps into the cell and scrunches her nose at the strong pheromone scent. "That's right, do you not know what's currently happening out there?"
Envy scoffs, happy for her freedom but knowing it comes with steep caveat. "Only some, I know they're saying it's my fault and I'm self aware enough to know... that isn't fair. So uh, you wanna do something about it? Me and you, really? Ahahaha, I always wanted to work with you, Lady Nova! Kid Joy would be losing her shit right about now but ah, I'm not really so enthused... I'm not saying no, though. What's the deal, really?"
"I'm swallowing a lot of pride coming to you, but our people are scattered and many of them worship you. Our city is overrun with parasites and I'm in agreement with you for once that some unification is in order, a place where they aren't welcome. Only hitch is... they're not so weak anymore, things are escalating quickly and I'm loathe to confess I require numbers if we're to clean our streets of this filth... what better symbols of Hope than the most popular hero and most infamous villain of all time? What better way to show our people that no matter what side of the law they were on before all this, we need to come together?" Nova can barely force the speech out in a convincing manner, not like she could before, she's out of practice and more transparent than ever. Except... Envy doesn't really care, they can use each other if they must.
"Sure... but I'm not killing anybody. Suppose I could make more dryads for Hivemind, the rest we send far away."
Huh... I could have sworn I tried to go much further back than that, this is still after their first fight in which I split from Envy. My other self does look younger here, she sounds it too, not just in her voice but the way she speaks is more closely aligned to myself. Sometimes I forget we were once the same person, I still have the internalised notion that I'm nothing but her fake. Was I really sleeping through all of this history of ours? Envy's first attempt to take the city as her own ended in her incarceration, apparently, and it was none other than Nova who freed her for the second attempt that I can only assume was more successful given the current state of things.
This is taking too long, I need to go much further back. Now, let's see...
Destroy the enemy!
Nicole Black throws the first punch, imitating her favourite cartoon hero, Maverick Brawler, who destroys every single enemy in his path. This is no Saturday morning cartoon, however, though it is certainly a rerun. Her initiative is in vain, unfortunately, and the young girl finds herself thrust against her locker in an almost textbook display of school bullying. Supremacy over another at such a young age must be so intoxicating, but Nicole would not know.
"Everyone saw you hit me first, little shit. They'll be sure to remember that when Mrs. Greene asks where we got our bruises from." Our bruises? Nicole cocks her head and realises the implication with a bitter smile. Great, she looks forward to explaining this one to her mother and father, who'll show no sympathy whatsoever. The admonishment from her parents has a much longer lasting sting than this dirtbag's knuckles, she concedes. "Which side do you want it on, preppy? I'm not afraid to get in trouble, I still have to finish etching my masterpiece onto the detention desk."
The blonde's glasses slide down and she tilts her head up to keep them on, knowing that they're far more precious than the rest of her. Nicole does not cost money to repair, bruises can heal. Nicole sighs and recalls the series of events that resulted in the perfect grade A student becoming public enemy number one in a place like this, in a school that requires a uniform to attend. She had made the mistake of being herself, one that she will surely learn from so that she never pays so dearly again. It was a fatal error of an evening, Nicole had clawed herself a single friend in this cliquey shithole of a facility and invited the girl to her home to spite her parents. The mistakes came in a bundle of three, the girl supposes, in that she had not realised just how cutthroat young girls could be. Her friend had wanted to discuss boys since the very second they closed the door to Nicole's pristine bedroom and the blonde almost laughed, having assumed this was something girls their age only did on shitty television shows. The TV her friends watched felt so alienating to Nicole, who much preferred action and, of course, violence. And so, the three mistakes that would haunt her for the rest of her early school days: Nicole had shown no interest in the boys at their school, had eagerly shown her friend a 'cartoon for boys' and perhaps worst of all, she had assumed this girl her friend in the first place.
Maverick Brawler is a lone hunter, his quest to destroy the spacefaring villains that threaten the sanctity of this planet relies on nothing but his own two fists. Nicole Black had attempted to recruit an ally to her cause and it backfired badly, the girl she'd had over using the new gossip to finally find a place with the rest of the social vultures in their class. At this stage, the blonde had not considered her own sexuality at all and yet, the dyke allegations came hard and fast after that ill-planned evening. The blatant homophobia was of course dressed up in such a way to justify their antagonism, and so the story ended up being that Nicole had acted the predatory lesbian during the alone time she spent in her room with the traitor she had thought her friend. The girl in question did not confirm nor deny this, her neutral stance a twisting knife that made Nicole see her, too, as nothing but an enemy.
"She's spacin' out, maybe getting thrust against a locker by another girl really does it for her." One of the classmates to their side fans the flames, Nicole returning to the present and gritting her teeth against that tightening grip of her collar.
"Don't you dare fucking touch me..." Mutters the blonde, under her breath but loud enough for her enemy to hear.
"Wh-What was that? The girl who still watches kiddie shows suddenly thinks she's tough shit, huh?" Another slam against the locker and Nicole wraps tight fingers around the other's wrist, digging her nails in as hard as she possibly can.
"I said... don't touch me. I'm better than you, all of you. If any one of you fucking virgins lays a finger on my uniform again I'll burn the entire school down, with all of you inside." A fire burns in her eyes, Nicole experiencing a wild sense of catharsis as she watches their confident expressions wane and grow cautious.
"V-Virgins? Then you're--"
It's at this moment that Nicole first realises the power of performance, theatre, weaponizing their biases against them to lend credence to her story. If they think she's some sick predator, she'll remind them not to fuck with something so dangerous, even if she knows she didn't touch a hair on that traitor's head.
"Oh? Ahaha, did she leave that part out? Suppose she would, it's humiliating... the little brat barely put up a fight." The words are hard to push out of her throat, Nicole's glare intensifying as she wishes so badly for this to be over already. "And... you better keep your mouths shut, or one of you is next."
The crowd pulls back and slowly disperses in a sea of panicked mutters, Nicole's bully releasing her collar and giving the young blonde a look of fear and disgust that she revels in. Finally some fucking power, even if she has to steep herself in such horrific claims. She's only acting, the girl reminds herself, reaching a hand out slowly and cackling when the enemy before her recoils as though she were really going to do anything. The saviour she had been relying upon before today, that homeroom bell, sounds out and the rest of the rich kids flock to classes like good boys and girls despite their previous delinquent attitudes. Such is the way of things at a place like this, tuition isn't cheap here and truancy has dire consequences back home with the ones who front the bill.
Even so, Nicole does not move from her locker. The alone time is too precious to her in this moment, the exhausted blonde sliding down into a heap on the floor as she finally allows those waiting tears to flow down her cheeks and stain her plaid skirt. Why does she feel so guilty for a crime she didn't commit? And... why does she care so much what the others think? They're not classmates, they're not people... just her enemies, she needs to disconnect herself from any other notion. She needs to, or she won't survive this place for much longer.
Nicole hopes the angels aren't watching right now.
Oh... well, that's way too far back this time. This is getting complicated, huh? It's not that I don't sympathise with her, but context does not excuse what she became. Still, I suppose it's good to know there's a human being beneath all that performance, or at least that there was at some point. I've never heard of that cartoon she was recalling fondly, though I suppose it must be before my time. I wonder if that's where her interest in the interstellar began, I'd find the notion cute were I not all too aware of where it all led. I should probably take a quick break here or Brie might start to worry. I've seen a glimpse of her early life and more than enough of it post-Envy, all that's left is that sweet middle. Nicole is a married woman, it's hard to even picture any sort of domestic situation between her and Miss Murmur and yet I know it did exist for a time. Perhaps somewhere in that healthy middle I'll find what I'm looking for, a version of Nicole that hasn't given herself over completely to that beckoning dark. Given the memory I've just seen, I'm starting to wonder if such a distinction can even be made to begin with. Perhaps I'm continuing on a fool's errand out of sheer curiosity, or maybe something worse... I'm still infatuated with her and watching memories from her perspective is making me want to believe there's someone worth salvaging here.
Maybe Nicole Black is better suited for a swift ego death, but I'll reserve judgement until the end. I'm not an executioner, even if I've the memory of killing Misty's sense of self in that orchard during the height of her storm. Envy will have her own opinions on how to deal with Nova, I'm sure, so I needn't stress over such a temporary decision in the first place. Prioritising our safety, Brie's safety... is my top concern. I witnessed first hand that Hellhound's creation, even if I hadn't the eyes to watch the transformation. Even if I'm not the ideal person to give her this... I want her to feel cared about, maybe even loved. By process of elimination I'm her best option for that right now, the same goes for the inverse. Would that we could just run away, but I'm starting to realise that something big is happening, something I can't just run from.
Back to Brie, I want to feel her fingers in my hair before I take the final plunge into this foul woman's memory. Even more than that, I need to line my stomach.
Chapter Five: An Interlude in Red
I awaken from the dream, tendril slipping free from the port in Lady Nova's neck and my mind swimming through a conflict of emotion. Nothing I've seen, not even that last fragment, has convinced my opinion of this woman to change in any meaningful way. Still, I don't want to shy away from understanding her, a monster is made less scary when that fear of the unknown is stripped bare, after all. Perhaps despite all her lofty achievements, these foul machinations I'm yet to fully grasp, Nicole Black is underwhelmingly human herself. If it bleeds... We often metaphorically denounce the humanity of the worst of our kind, labelling them inhuman for their ill deeds, and I'm starting to think that coping mechanism is far too generous to our collective species. I don't mean to sound like Envy, nor do I wish to become so steeped in cynicism that I find nothing worth saving in the first place, I just think that people like Nova are capable of such cruelty because of just how human they are. At the same time, perhaps more optimistically, I understand that the same goes for kindness. Whether good or bad, I believe humanity to be an inescapable affliction.
Woozy from all this ugly philosophising, I stumble back and can't help but smile when I'm caught in strong arms. Brie is emblematic of that kindness I mentioned, even after we used her so she cannot help but play the sap. My sap, maybe, at least I hope I could come to lay claim on such an ambitious want. Her warmth is in direct contrast to the frigid black hand presented by Nicole's stern leather touch. It's a warmth that lights a fire under me, as much as it placates me like a hearth anyway. A fire that melts away the burdens of my sins, both those committed willingly and those I was trained to perform for others. The difference in that is meaningless, arbitrary, even after a million mantras to the contrary I must accept that a human is not a tool. To suggest as much is weak minded and irresponsible, it's pure escapist fantasy I'd like this fire to conflagrate.
"Y-You okay there? I've got you." Dyed red hair descends upon me as Brie cradles me against her from behind, almost as though she means to wrestle me away from Nicole who stole away my attention from her for...
"Mm... How long was I gone for?" A strange turn of phrase when I consider I never physically left this room, but not a wholly inaccurate one given the nature of my orchard. Many things have changed about that garden in my head, but it still functions the same at its core.
The recovering Hellhound gives me a soft smirk and her rough fingers lace around my stomach, Brie falling back onto dining room chair with me resting in her lap. The walls between us regarding intimate contact were completely bulldozed by 'Handler' and her games, which I hatefully concede is something I feel like thanking her for in this moment. I only worry that I'll grow too attached to this touch, that a lack of it might begin to make it hard to breathe. I'm starting to fear the suffocating air of a Brieless room.
"Not long at all, like five or ten minutes? I-I didn't take advantage or nothing..." Brie's cheeks tint pink and I consider how surprisingly cute she can be herself given that she's always the one to accuse me of such a thing. Only five to ten minutes passed out here, then, though I'm still a little smug at the fact the woman I'm growing so fond of stood close behind me without moving for that entire window of time.
"Oh? That would have been terrible... aha, yes, so terrible. I'd much rather be conscious to enjoy it when you're taking advantage of me, hehe. Gosh, what am I saying?" It's hard not to tease, my sudden worry that I might've taken it too far swiftly allayed by a hand sliding up to gently caress me through my clothing. The swell of my chest turns flush against Brie's tender motion and I can't help but sigh into this storied kitchen.
"Yeah, I was thinking much the same. So this is okay?" A softness in her voice I feel treated to in this moment makes me want to tell Brie everything she does to me is okay. A part of me I'd be a fool to deny desires something far more possessive and selfish than this, wanting her to use me like I'm disposable, but feeling precious can be a rush of its own. Her palm runs circles with my breast and it couldn't feel further from Commander Black's crop swinging against the supple flesh, both brought pleasure of a different variety. I think I want the world.
"M-More than okay, don't be a stranger hehe... there was a strange vision in there that made me a little pent up so I--"
Brie clicks her tongue and the sound makes me bite my lip with strong anticipation. Those gentle fingers dig into my shirt more confidently and her breath flicks hot against my neck. "Are you trying to make me jealous? I don't want your arousal to come from anything but me, okay? You're mine..." Lips supplant that appetiser of hot breath, the softest part of Brie save for her heart, nipping over skin with a possessiveness I could not help but stoke. I feel victorious, rewarded for my playful effort by kisses that make me feel owned in such a light-hearted sense. Wonderfully owned in this instance, an agreement made between trembling bodies and quivering breaths.
"Yours..." Getting comfortable in Brie's lap while forgetting the blissed out blonde standing feet away from us, the danger she poses should I prove unable to contain her, I lean back against a body I've been obsessed with since we first created it. The roughness with which Brie took Envy only moments after her conception was enough to have us hooked, though I'm no Envy and I don't think I quite care for the same power dynamic that she enforced. I feel that I can give into the fantasy of being owned by Brie as much as I like here, because I know implicitly that the woman would never go so far as to grant my wish in earnest. My head falls back onto her shoulder and we tilt to face each other at an awkward angle, tracing each other's faces with lips before they finally hit their mark. When I had expressed my need to take a short break from Nicole's history to keep myself sharp and prevent Brie from worrying, this is not exactly what I'd had in mind... but I cannot deny that the distraction is as effective as her touch is thorough, hands slipping under the linen hugging my body and roaming gooseflesh. I sigh out again and relax against her like a princess practicing the throne, excitement making me want to kick my legs up and down upon it. "Yours~"
"Heh... I... I can barely keep my hands off of you, y'know? Isn't that bad, though? I mean, I'm just like everyone else who uses you at the end of the day... but you're more than just a toy to me, Flower, and I don't want to only take. I-I think I've got so damn much to give that it's all weighing me down. Maybe it's selfish and presumptuous, but I wanna give you as much of me as you can handle. There's some ugly shit in that as well, 'course, but I hope you want it anyway." Ringed fingers slip down into my waistband and I buckle my hips before she even reaches that salivating spot so hungry for fingers.
"I want it." I speak with yet another sigh into her shoulder, so unbearably hot out of the blue. I'm feverish against her firm touch, feeling safer in these arms than anywhere else in this puzzling world we're lost in. "I-I want you." It almost feels like Brie isn't real, an angel come to whisk me away. For some reason, I feel such little solace in the concept of angels, so maybe Brie is more akin to a devil. Back on the island Brie had been a much needed devil on my shoulder, telling me to 'fuck the right thing' and choose a future for myself I actually wanted. At the time, I couldn't think of one. "I want you so badly it scares me." My lips murmur into her neck as I latch on and decide to prove it with tangible marking. Marking my territory, my Brie. With Nicole I had wanted to make a canvas of her flesh to claw back what little power I could in our twisted dynamic, one that was even more of a pretence than I realised at the time. With Brie, it feels more like a gift, a memory, my suction of her skin telling her I'll be with her even should we be forced to part again.
Brie rubs me through my panties, indelicately. It's so lacking in grace that I can't help but loosen a giggle alongside hearty moan. It is a crass touch. My new favourite feeling.
"You don't think Nova was watching that whole time, do ya? Don't you have unfinished business with the bitch, Flower?" Brie is laying on the kitchen tiles, her back having long transferred its sweltering heat to the floor that once cooled it. Clothing is strewn about the kitchen in a mess that makes me glad the house staff is currently absent. Fingers housed in chunky metal pluck at my hair idly as I lay across her naked chest in a similarly nude state. Brie's body is a marvel, tall and broad enough for me to fit inside her like matryoshka.
"Yeah... it's just hard to move, you're not in there... so I'm finding less and less appeal to venture back. I... absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?" My strawberry locks spill over Brie's chest as I shift my head, wanting to look as cute as I can for her. "Though I guess... I only just noticed it but the first memory I visited shouldn't have even existed in this Nova's head. Maybe there are memories of that time the three of us spent together before the reset, too?"
Brie tilts her head up, obscuring that lovely bruise I gave her as she does so. "Well, promise me you won't go looking for those then, just in case. I don't want you to see me like that, okay? Nobody's ever looked at me the way you do and if that suddenly changes, I'd--"
Once again, I feel possessed to hold Brie's cheeks in my hands and lean in to press a slow kiss against her chin. "Hey, it's okay. You've seen me at my very worst, and you still look at me... the way you do. I won't go looking, but if I do see anything it won't change shit. This flower's in bloom, I don't think it knows how to stop now." She's so radiant, like the sun, no wonder I'm always leaning towards her. If my first meeting with Hivemind had never come to pass, would we have met? Perhaps on the street, sure, we patrolled so close I'm surprised our paths never crossed before that night in the alley. In a sense, Envy is a mother to us both.
With a slightly bashful smirk, Brie closes her eyes and enjoys the feeling of touch she cannot convince herself she doesn't deserve any longer. "You're every colour of rose, huh?"
"Hm?" I'm not sure what she's referencing, but roses are a flower so I can follow well enough. "Yeah, hehe, thorns and all, I'm afraid."
"Wouldn't have it any other way. Go show Nova just how thorny you can be, hm? Don't go easy on her even if she's got some predictable sob story in her past, so do we and we're not like her. It's a sad fact of life that some people just learn the wrong lessons from hardship, and some don't learn at all." Brie gently holds my wrists, savouring the touch of my palms a little longer even if her cheeks are hotter than my hands could hope to be. Is this what she meant by giving? "You didn't happen to see Envy while you were digging around in Nova's head, did you?"
I quirk my brow, wondering what has her so curious. "Oh I saw plenty of her... and it doesn't line up with my personal memories of her, uhm... from a time before we got introduced. This is my second time coming back to this point... actually I seemed to come back earlier this time, just a little anyway."
"Figured as much. When I was in her... territory, a blonde with your face mentioned a proxy Envy. The one I met there was nothing like the one who laid claim to me back in her garden. I mean, it was the same person, but she was significantly older and--"
"Had an eye missing?" Given that I was originally a part of that woman, I can almost feel the wound my own, but then... I've still got both my eyes, even if they were out of commission for a long while.
"I... she covered half her face, so I never saw anything to confirm that. If the damn woman has the power to change my body through will alone, she can heal a wound like that can't she?" It's obvious that Brie can't quite decide what to make of Envy, having been conflicted in the past whether to give in to her or lump her in with Lady Nova, but I can tell she cares. How could she not?
"Yeah, I think you're right. She must be choosing to stay like that, I couldn't tell you why. I understand the modern day Envy as much as I do myself, there's just too large a gap in memory haha... that photograph in your wallet says as much, anyway. A proxy huh? So I never even met the real her, grew obsessed with some stand in! Haha, why does that track so well for me..." That version of Envy seemed so perfect, unblemished, not a shred of empathy or compassion in her actions. If she was all part of Nova's stage play as agreed upon after winning that strange duel, I suppose it only makes sense. Fundamentally, Envy and I are the same person, we're both capable of each other's actions and ways of thinking even if we've gone down different paths. Nova is not swayed by that spectre of guilt that dogs our steps down those respective routes, is not so willing to learn. It's just as Brie surmised, then, her school days have long passed her by.
"Hopefully we'll be able to ask her what the fuck is going on when we pay visit, she did seem very keen that I bring you to her, and as pissed with Nova as we are. I'm... not sure what that's worth, currently, but it's something. Enemy of my enemy, or whatever?" How did Envy even contact Brie to begin with? I know she has psychic abilities, but they require an established link as far as I remember. I suppose it's just another question for the pile, I look forward to standing my ground and demanding some answers. The white haired military me and the blonde Brie speaks of, the spontaneous sci-fi warfare, the passivity in the face of Nicole's heinous actions. And most of all, I need to ask her about Brie. About the photograph and, of course, how long really passed from when I first split with her and ended up waking in this manor. If she lies about a single thing, I'll know, we have the same tells.
But first, I need to resolve my business with the former superhero turned sadistic Handler. I'm sorry to pry, Miss Murmur, but it's time I view the fragments of what married life looks like for a woman I could not begin to imagine walking the aisle.
Chapter Six: Space Debris - Part Two
Once more into the breach. With Brie still dressing back into her clothes behind me, I realise just how desperate I am to get this over with as quickly as possible so that I may return to the woman's side. She really is my hunk, I muse to myself in a rare indulgence of possessive thought, daring to bring a smile to these lips that have been claimed by so many before her. I've been far too passive lately, I miss that assertiveness that once nurtured inside my garden of thought, fledgling feeling pruned by leather hands. That turn to the dark, when Envy first came around, was an intoxicating sense of power I haven't tasted since. What am I even attempting to do with Nova here, save her? No, no, I'm using her in the same way she wouldn't think twice about using me. It'll be so cathartic to have her at my mercy, it already is, but I want her to be able to respond when I ask something of her. To look me in the eye and demurely obey like she's never known anything else. I can hardly expect reparations, apology, from this woman when possessed of all her mental faculties, so this is simply evening the playing field in the sake of fairness. What is it they say? You reap what you sow.
"You feeling okay, Flower? Got a scary look on your face right now, you uh... don't have to go back in there right away, or at all. I don't mind lugging her over my shoulder, really, though I'd probably have to plug my nose..." Brie reaches for the apple sitting in the fruit bowl and I find some irony in the fact that I could not hope to identify the cultivar. The woman is not as strong as she appears on the outside, I know well that her time spent under this woman's thumb has affected her as much as it has myself. I told her to deny that the methods stuck, to spite this woman who wants nothing more but to drive a wedge, but privately I cannot deny that she changed us both. Though change, by nature, is not static. We're always changing and so I'd like to believe that nothing I've gone through these past weeks is able to define me as a person. The same goes for Brie, I can believe it even more with her given how headstrong and stubborn she is when compared to a wilting flower like me. Still, I'm trying my best.
"I'm fine, Brie. Better than fine after what we just did, hehe. Hold me again?" It's a selfish request, asking the woman to remain static for as long as I spend digging around in Lady Nova's fragments of history, but Brie is the one who once demanded I act more selfishly in the first place.
The butch blushes and bites into crisp apple with teeth I once found so threatening. I resist the urge to flock over to her and lap up the juice spilling down her chin like the eager puppy she knows me to be, for if we start up again I fear we'll find ourselves on the floor once more in no time at all. "Sure, I'll make sure to hold you real close." Her playful tone makes me weak in the knees, reminding me of the way she had acted back when we were first reintroduced in the foyer. There's no trace of Handler's mutt in that brief flash of smile, and for my part I've not been experiencing the same unwelcome voices from my past iteration. Back then, Envy's tongue would never leave my ear, whispering ceaselessly and urging my relapse into her pet knight. Even though I'm still tempted by Nova, I'm somehow faring much better here. It... almost feels as though there is some unseen caveat, waiting in the wings. Such thoughts are unproductive, entertaining pessimism will not help me regain agency in the story of my life. I'll just keep on keeping on, until the twilight curtains call.
"Good, that makes me happy." I tell the object of my desire with a soft smile, happy to be able to sound so certain about something in this sea of uncertainty I find myself wading through, knee deep and slowly sinking deeper. Deeper and deeper, I'm destined to fall again and if my precognition warns true, sooner than I'd like. Swallowing doubt like a drug, I call that lone tendril I've come to rely on and swing it around into my hand. Perhaps all of the offshoots only have one, like Shepherd and that blonde, while only Envy has the many roots under her command. Maybe this thing is my true body, just one of Envy's stray vines sprouting false will of its own. Were I still in the aftermath of a long and sleepless knight, I'm sure that fake Envy's phantom tongue would be slipping into my ear right about now to fan the flames of such a pathetic thought, to hypocritically enforce the idea that I'm nothing but a clay creation of our one true empress. No such voice comes, though I still ended up entertaining the thought all on my own. I'm not sure that was the progress I had been hoping for!
Without further ado, it's time to close the chapter on this kitschy kitchen and cross fingers that I never have to grace these tiles again. Nicole cannot continue, not as she is, so I'll make one more delve and then figure out what I'm going to do with the woman. My tendril touch brushes over the light blonde hairs running down Lady Nova's neck and finds a snug fit in those holes willingly implanted so that she may interface with her 'Black Gala'. I remember the slender midnight mecha well, now that I've not had the memory exorcised from this heap of thinking flesh in my head. Nova's battle suit stood much taller than mine, it was lithe and nimble with a long black whip locked to her hip by impossibly strong magnets. For the other arm, sat a vanity weapon I almost never saw her actually wield except for when Miss Murmur's 'Cameo Moth' would test her patience with all its nimble evasion manoeuvres. The oversized handgun was a detailed replica of the custom she wore on her hip when walking the base. I never heard the smaller one fire a round, and as for the larger one, I never once heard a round hit its mark. Me and Murmur share the same gift, our visions can be vague and fickle outside of the cockpit, but in battle the precognitive power is like a sixth sense. As Envy's pet knight I had been breaking through ranks on all fours sustaining damage from occasional stray shots and slices, while as Handler's toy soldier, her rifle, I had been much swifter on two feet executing my prey with precision not borne from accuracy. I simply knew, instinctively, where to aim. I even remember knowing where the spare cartridges were located, usually hidden within hollowed out tree bark or, further out, in the corpses of buildings coated in ash.
My time as a living weapon piloting one made from metal and vine is such a far cry from the superhero work that once comprised the action in my life. When we were not training against Envy's forces, who I now understand to have been reluctant allies who would drop the pretence of infighting the moment our 'real foe' reared its head, we were answering the breach alarm to defend our city against those malformed metal angels. Beings of steel wings grafted onto unmanned cores, of mechanical eyes and decorative looping halos. They are not something that I ever gleaned any understanding of, their origin and intents as much a mystery to me as all the other oddities I'm surrounded by... though perhaps they take the cake. All I know is that they were hostile enough to require dispatching with that eager rifle's itchy trigger finger, and that my progress in doing such pleased my commander greatly. It was not only important that I fight them in my 'Red Rook', a crimson soldier with revolver in hand and shield on the other arm I barely made use of, but that I was often overwhelmed by the enemy. Poor Brie was caught in the crossfire of Nova's final test, having intentionally hung back in her Gala to push us to our limits. She's always pushing, this damned woman, and look where it got her. Play with your food too long and it may just bite you first.
No more preamble, I'm getting this over with fast. I've places to be today, and Bries to kiss. This power feels so good, I'd rather be a second Envy than another rifle, this ability of ours was clearly made for villainy and so a villain I'll become. It just so happens, in this instance, that the hero in my clutches is a perfect match for these morally reversed roles of ours. That's right... I've a moral responsibility to dice this woman's thoughts and find something I can use.
"Hey, didn't I just fire you?"
A well dressed woman wears painted red smirk, brushing golden blonde behind her ear as she waits for her date to reach her seat. Nicole Black is not the chivalrous sort, nor is she particularly thoughtful, but she makes a point not to treat Misty as any other performative man would. Perhaps it is an immature mindset of its own, but Nicole wishes to show that she sees the two as equals, that they'll split this restaurant's bill right down the middle. Fortunately she's not so committed to this act that she'd insist they pay for exactly what they order separately, that level of neurosis would align her too closely with the mother she so loathes. Miss Black's parents was a topic that came up all too often during her therapy sessions, and she could not help but try and turn questions back on Misty whenever she felt cornered, surprised when the raven haired woman admitted to experiencing plenty of friction with her mother and having never known her father. Nicole liked that about Misty from the start, if the woman had been loved they would have related to one another far less strongly.
"Oh, I believe so, but should you wish to pay me for this date I can pass on my updated hourly rate?" Misty gives bashful smile as she pulls out her chair and flattens her knee length black skirt. Taking a seat and calming the excited muscle in her chest, the young therapist cannot help being dazzled by the gorgeous blonde before her. Nicole has enough renown to be noticed in public these days, a face fit for television that the meagre Misty found herself lost in from their very first session. She realised rather quickly that she did not want to be Nicole Black's therapist, she wanted so much more than that. "You look beautiful tonight, I uh, feel that I may appear underdressed by comparison."
Nicole can hardly spare a thought for Misty's cheap dress when she's already undressing the woman with glimmering eyes, a light golden hue behind her stare betraying such unkempt desire. Humans have long since made themselves this woman's enemy, so much so that Nicole could only think of taking to the stars to escape their incessant rabble, but Misty is something else. Something Nicole wants. "Don't be silly now, you look good enough to eat. Perhaps I'll save you for dessert, hm? Ahaha, I'm only joking, this is my first date in quite some time and I'm actually a little nervous if you'd believe? I forbid you to psychoanalyse me too much though, at least until the wine hits." This is the woman's first date, period. She may play the confident flirt, but the concept of sitting down and attempting to enjoy a meal and conversation with somebody who could simply betray her later never made much sense to her. In Nicole's mind, 'human kindness' is an oxymoron and civility a chore she reluctantly accepts. Her work is all that drives her, at least until very recently.
With a small nod, Misty relaxes and reminds herself that she, more than anybody, should know just how human this woman before her is even if she sometimes feels above such a label. Nicole is radiant, statuesque, she can disarm Misty so easily that their sessions were often derailed by her charming antics. Now, the raven haired woman rests cheek in hand and remembers she no longer has to hide her admiration for the sake of her professional integrity. "That's a relief, it's the same for me. My last partner burnt me out on dating for a while, I think, I wasn't able to get her off my mind at all until... well, you came along. That's how it goes I guess."
"I'll make it so she never even existed, you won't need to think about her ever again okay?" Or anyone else for that matter, Nicole thinks with clenched fist resting over tablecloth. That's right, destroy the enemy, even if this one is nothing but a memory. Nicole has found that memories pose the greatest threats of all, there are just so many she wishes she could destroy but finds her power lacking. Still, she cannot help but strive to create more enemies for herself tonight, driven by desire to forge memories of Misty that a pessimistic voice in her head tells her will come back to bite her later. It's not the same as Misty's precognitive ability, of course, but it's no less accurate in this instance.
Misty tries and fails, wonderfully, to hide the blush creeping onto her face. It's odd for me to see her so... animated, lifelike. Those dark rings around her eyes have yet to claim her, the mess of hair I'm accustomed to appears straight and glossy even if it's just as onyx black as ever. It's hard to say exactly what the young professional sees in such a possessive, narcissistic, irresponsible workaholic... but it's clear as day that she's already smitten. "You're coming on a little strong for a first date, dear." The woman remarks in a husky voice laden with amusement, another thing they have in common is the uncommonly low pitch of their voice, something that would later pose great threat to a one Joy Williams' supposed heterosexuality.
"And you clearly enjoy that about me, I'm not a woman of half-measures nor do I enjoy starting out in the kiddie pool. That we're on a date means I wish to make an impression on you, and I'll warn you I have not developed a dial for such affairs. If romantic forays often come to slowly nurture like a bulb beholden to a dimmer switch ticking gradually upwards... well, you can think of me as a plain old light switch. That and... well, my chosen career is considerably more dangerous than yours. There are jobs down here on Earth far more dangerous, really, but it's important to be aware of the risks and the damn challenge of it all. If I'm to be busy for the majority of my week, if I'm to be gone for stretches of time and well aware that complications could arise in such journeys... I'd really rather not waste the hours in your company playing coy. You surprise me, Misty..." Nicole Black strokes the side of her foot against the other's ankle beneath the table, desperately wanting her warmth. It's a selfish sort of yearning, her lust like the hunger of a vampire requiring a mortal's life essence to feel sated.
"Hm? How so? I'm nothing special." The woman hides her blush by pretending to browse the menu, knowing that she's going to order the same dish she always does on a first date. She is a superstitious sort, on account of her upbringing. A famous woman is giving her such personal attention, eyeing her up like she's a fine steak more gourmet than any you can order in this pricey joint, and Misty cannot help but wonder why she's so lucky. Ever since her older sibling distanced themselves from society after Misty had leaned on their support like a crutch since the day she was born, Misty has felt undeserving of someone to ever look after her again. The woman had resigned to standing on her own two feet and giving everything to her career, much easier to unpack other people's trauma than your own after all. Because of these feelings she has held close to her chest for many years now, Misty feels it stir when the Aphrodite before her speaks thus.
"I want to take care of you." Nicole does not speak the words in a particularly flirtatious manner, sounding more serious, almost sullen. The statement is a half truth at best, but she knows she cannot say what she truly means. Even if it feels ugly to admit, Nicole speaks these words to Misty as one would address a treasured pet, rather than a prospective lover. The woman is perfectly attractive to Nicole, she'd make a good wife.
Misty, understanding nothing, gives a nervous laugh I could not imagine Miss Murmur ever letting loose. Her job is exhausting, though the woman has yet to learn the cruelty of true exhaustion awaiting her. Taking care of other people day in, day out, listening to their problems with empathetic smile. Sometimes it leaves her wondering when her turn is due. Most therapists have their own, of course, knowing well the impact it can have first hand. Rather than an hour a week in another's care, however, Misty just desperately wants a home. A cot of cradling hands to rock her to sleep and steal her from those dreary days.
"I... I'd like that."
Ugh... somehow I had expected more sweetness in that date, had hoped for something genuine I could salvage. I suppose in that sense, me and Misty are both Nova's fools. I've fallen for them both, but not in the typical straightforward way. Seeing the way Nicole would think about Misty from the very start breaks my heart when I consider just how much Murmur's lingering love for Lady Nova fuelled her actions leading up to her defeat at Envy's hands. The resentment Misty had felt towards the heroes who relied so heavily on Nicole's need to be important was so genuine, while Nicole had practically viewed her wife as property from day one. Precious maybe, but certainly nothing equal. It's no wonder that a defeat at the hands of such a fledgling villain would send her off the deep end, I don't think Nicole has considered anyone her equal since being burned in high school. Such a fucking child, this is the woman who'd become the world? She's... petulant. Again, I cannot help but consider just how driven Miss Murmur's plot had been by a desire spare Nova's feelings, wishing to allay the woman's guilt as much as possible before meeting her long awaited sleep. The blonde did not deserve such consideration, but I suppose love blinds us all. Ah... not an analogy I want to stick to when I consider the state I was forced into during my most recent captivity.
I think I'm beginning to settle on what to do with Mrs. Black, what she deserves, but I might as well view a couple more fragments so that I can say that I gave her a fair shake. Playing judge, jury and executioner is admittedly a little intoxicating... I can see the appeal of such power, but unlike Nova I'll only wield it justly. I suppose everybody has a different sense of justice, but without unification you can only consult your own. I'm not twisted like Nova, at least I tell myself as much. If I cannot trust my own judgement then how can I expect anybody else to trust me either? So I'll believe in myself. I'm a good person so it's fine to punish the wicked. Harm prevention is important, so is discipline.
Misty toils behind the kitchenette.
Popular music plays from the radio sitting on the counter as a woman enters the spacious studio apartment they share with elegant stride. Keys are thrown onto a table with a rattle that has Misty lifting her head, an easy smile on her face. The therapist wears a red apron over her sleek black turtleneck, long crow-black hair swept back by matching red headband with white polka pattern. The dark rings have yet to settle, though I take note of the bands around their fingers.
"Oh my, are you practicing being my bona fide housewife already dear?" Nicole smirks as she admires the woman eager to cook for her, having resented such a thing in her youth when the house staff would prepare their food. Just once, Nicole had wanted to taste her own mother's cooking, even if she was sure it would have been disquietingly unpalatable.
"I'm making your favourite, filled gnocchi, so you better sit your ass down and enjoy it. I know you always forget to eat at work so I've made you an extra large portion and intend to make sure you eat it all. You can't train for space on an empty stomach, my love." Misty grins, a stubborn glint in her eyes telling the other woman that she's unwilling to budge on this matter.
Nicole stares down at the engagement ring that confirms that she finally has someone who'll never abandon or betray her, a captive crow she intends to keep happy and loved until they wither and die. They say that roughly half of marriages end in divorce, but Nicole Black knows that such odds are beneath her. If there is one thing that Nicole believes in more than anything else on this regrettable rock she's still currently trapped on, it's her ability to get exactly what she wants. Time would only continue to prove her right on this matter, unfortunately.
"You're so thoughtful, it makes me feel a little guilty for being so selfish all the time." The rocketeer leans over the counter with an apologetic smile on offer, Misty moving close to steal it from the exhausted blonde's lips. Back before the incident, Nicole was always the tired one while Misty had plenty of energy. The latter was naïve and lovesick enough to wish to change places, and her wish would be summarily granted in the not so distant future.
Letting the kiss drag out to let her fiancé know she's been waiting for it all day, Misty raises her own smile against those soft cherry lips she still can't believe are just for her. "Nonsense, for one I love that I'm going to be able to call such a career driven and adventurous woman my wife... and secondly, I don't think I'd have been able to set up an office and work from my apartment on my own, I doubt I could have even afforded the space. I love our life here, though I do miss the commute a little... heh, I think I appreciate having to go shopping for groceries while you're busy just so I've got an excuse to use my car."
The impenetrable Miss Black stares into Hazel eyes that leave nothing up to interpretation. So this is what it feels like, to be loved unconditionally? It feels good, she admits to herself wryly, wondering if she would speak so selflessly and be so encouraging were she in the other's shoes. If Misty was constantly unavailable to her, Nicole would no doubt find a way to remove the obstacles rather than accept them as a part of her life. Anything preventing her access to Misty is an enemy, something to be destroyed, yet Nicole's fiancé actively celebrates the factors that restrict her access. Misty supports her completely, and it makes Nicole taste self loathing for the first time since she was a lowly runt being shoved against her locker.
If she ever lost her... the world would know.
A crater defaces the Earth on North Star Island, a piece of space debris sitting nude in its smoking centre.
Nicole Black shivers uncontrollably despite the sheer heat she's giving off, still lost in the unforgiving cold of that lightless world. A dead star had swallowed her whole, and somehow, it had spat her back out. Rejected even by the abyss itself, Nicole cannot help but want to laugh at her sorry self. Would that she could, but the woman has yet to wrestle control of her body back from that terrible darkness. Fingers twitch and eyes pool with unnatural golden light, the missing astronaut digging nails into the disturbed ground and finding herself one with the dirt. She has never been so enamoured with soil before, but after having accepted that she'd never reach this planet's surface again it feels like bullion.
It's funny, Nicole Black had spent her entire life wanting to escape the suffocating confines of the Earth she was born to, having never felt an attachment to the rock on account of her alienation to her kind. From a young age she had been convinced that she was separate from the humans she couldn't help but sneer at, had fantasized about discovering she was not really one of them just as Maverick Brawler once had. An inexplicable near death experience that made her yearn for home more than she knew possible should humble Nicole, it very nearly does, but then that rush of power comes and she slowly lifts up from the crater like a phoenix rising from the ashes. Not only is she reborn, but vindicated, years of seeing herself as better than human finally proven right by this trial in the void. People born with powers are becoming more common as this age of superheroes solidifies itself, but Nicole still sees this as a sign. The woman was not born this way, she was required to earn it, and if that does not make her special then she does not know what will.
After getting used to flight on the moon-soaked island, Nicole's first act as a superpowered person is to commit a crime. She soars through the sky above her city and swoops down to steal from clothesline so that she may cover up this naked body even if the nipping cold has little hold on her. Modesty is important, she's long since made an effort to maintain image and the sentiment has infected every facet of how she carries herself. The crime is unfortunate, but she does not want to risk her reunion with Misty being sprung on her before she can reach her wardrobe. Oh, Misty... Nicole's heart pounds earnestly at the thought that she'll be able to hold her wife in these new, superhuman arms of hers. Nervousness flares up inside of her, an unfamiliar sensation she does not welcome gladly. How long has she been gone for? The memory is so spotty but Nicole recalls her drift feeling like it lasted an age. Even if it has been a while, long enough to find herself reported missing, what does she have to be nervous about? By all rights she should be excited to deliver the good news and return to her bed, but then... what if so much time has passed that Misty no longer occupies the same apartment? What if her wife has already mourned and moved on? No... it'll only have been a few weeks at most, and besides, Misty wouldn't do that.
Feeling unbearably human as her emotions begin to fray, Nicole drops down onto her apartment's balcony and finds herself hesitating. Should she break in or knock upon the glass? Still not used to her strength, even a tap could shatter the thing. The spacefaring super ends up lingering on the balcony of her and Misty's apartment for nearly an hour after having rushed over here at breakneck pace. Eventually she is shaken from her uncharacteristically uncertain thoughts by the sight of the curtains on the other side of the glass suddenly beginning to move. It's so late... no, early in the morning, that Nicole had expected Misty to be fast asleep should she still occupy this living space of theirs. Realistically it would be a nuisance to move, given it is also her place of work.
Little does Nicole know that Misty has not slept for quite some time, and has not been working for almost as long. When the curtains are pulled apart by a restless Misty desiring the unforgiving wind against her frail cheeks, Nicole is suddenly met with hazel rings encased in larger, dark circles that suggest an exhaustion no amount of make-up could hope to hide. Those sleepy eyes widen in shock, understandably, while Nicole herself is almost moved to tears in a bout of sudden emotion. Misty fumbles with the lock for a moment before swinging it open and stumbling onto the balcony, all the while questioning whether or not she's just hallucinating on account of her sleepless state.
"Misty, you're..." Nicole looks appalled at the terrible state she finds her wife in, wondering rather predictably whether this is a direct result of her absence. Misty appearing lifeless without Nicole to be her light... it's a self centred but understandable assumption in this instance.
"Mmh... Nic? I-Is that really you?" The sleep deprived woman fights off an ill-timed yawn and finds it hard to believe that her Nicole could possibly be standing in front of her right now. She was pronounced dead months ago, and besides, how could she have appeared on the balcony of all places? It's... not realistic, thinks the raven haired mess who assumes her mind to be playing cruel tricks on her.
As though reading these doubts in Misty's heavy eyes, Nicole lunges forwards and pulls her wife into a tight hug she refuses to hold back on. It is the most intense feeling Misty has had in forever, both physically and emotionally. Nicole is real, embracing her, and still she cannot produce tears. Tired, dry sobs quake the super's shoulder and Nicole rubs the woman's back desperate to return her to the perfect spouse she's used to as quickly as possible.
"There, there. I'm back now... I-I'll fix everything, okay? Like I always do." The blonde's bravado is hard to deny, especially now that her body is so bulletproof.
"Mm... o-okay! I can't believe it... I'm so happy." Misty almost sounds guilty, the woman wishing that she could give her Nic a proper reunion but knowing she's much less animated than before. In the ensuing search for a way to cure her wife's condition Nicole will eventually look into creating a strong stimulant that she'd later repurpose for much less noble means.
"I'm... happy too, Misty. Sorry I worried you there, I value you more than anything... I know it's an awful ask after I left you... like this... for all this time, but please never leave me." Nicole runs fingers through her wife's unbrushed hair and plants lips against pasty forehead.
"Of course... I... I'm so glad you're back home." The future crook holds onto future hero for dear life, praying to gods she doesn't believe in that if this is a dream, they never wake her up. How ironic, given her condition.
"Yes... same."
The state of Misty is so unsatisfying to Nicole, who had been counting on her one constant to never let her down.
Lady Nova's secretary plants a kiss upon the woman's shoulder in bed,
her lips feeling so cold against the superhero's shoulder. "I'm so proud of you, Nic. Sorry about earlier... that rookie of yours. I was just playing around hehe, I got distracted in all the excitement... not often Nova tower gets involved in any direct engagements anymore." Misty Black inhales softly the scent of her favourite person, even if the woman barely pays her any attention at all these days. It's so rare for them to share a bed given that Misty can never find herself able to drift off alongside the other, but she capitalised on Nicole's worry after nearly causing a scene with that pink haired greenhorn earlier in the day. It has occurred to Misty that causing trouble is the only consistent way to gain her distant wife's attention, the sleepless woman not as willing to be so selfless with the hero as she had the astronaut. It never felt like Nicole was intentionally avoiding her in those days, she seemed genuinely happy to carve out what alone time they could afford. More tentative pecks fall upon Nova's shoulder and traipse across her neck, Misty's voice lowering to a hushed, apologetic whisper. "I love you so much, you know that right?"
Wishing that the ghost of her trophy wife would stop mocking her with such hollow words, an overworked Nova in need of sleep that just won't take her scowls into her pillow. Everything should be looking up for her, this city is eating out of the palm of her hand now and she's even more important and beloved as Nova than she had been as Nicole. Then why must Misty taunt her? Perilous affection staining her neck with its malicious biting kisses like a parasite. It's not that she hates Misty, she still thinks she loves her, but Nova resents the woman's condition and by extension, Misty herself is not spared the blonde's misguided scrutiny.
"If you really loved me, then you wouldn't have gotten sick."
Misty Black recoils and, remembering that crow she's been pretending does not circle overhead, realises that her happy life here ended long ago. Nothing can be the same again, Nova hasn't looked her in the eye properly since a desperate Misty had asked for that golden glow to bring her sleep. Nicole had called her a 'fucking coward' and Misty did not see any reason to deny the claim. The blonde had been tirelessly searching for a way to fix what was hers and broken, whereas Misty urged her to let it go and accept the loss. Nicole does not know how to lose, looking Misty in the eye for the last time since and reminding her with more spite in her expression than love: "You promised to never leave me."
And soon after, Misty vanishes forever, re-emerging a short while later as the infamous Miss Murmur. The crook who stole Nicole Black's property.
Hmm... that's... I think that's enough, I'm learning nothing useful here save for that which I already suspected. Misty Black made compromises for the relationship she had committed to, was willing to do so much for her wife's sake, and when she finally pleaded with Nicole for something difficult the woman had shown nothing but anger and a long lasting resentment. I've never truly hated Miss Murmur for her actions leading up to Envy's conception, but now more than ever I feel... kinship towards her? It's an ouroboros of relation, she created us in a sense and then from these memories I've learned that Envy considers her a daughter now instead. If Envy were truly Misty's mother, what would that make the doll to me? My niece, perhaps, or maybe my sister. Either way, I've far too many memories of her fingers inside me and my tongue her for either of those labels to feel appropriate. Then again, I do believe we're both inappropriate women.
Speaking of inappropriate... I believe my previous plan of finding a cut off point for Nicole's memory so that I may resurface only the human half of her is such. It's clear that there's no distinct change, or event, in this woman's life that made her the monster I know today. Nicole has always been who she is, for better and worse, and I suppose it's only fair to say the same for myself and Miss Murmur. I think it's fair to say liked girls long before Hive made me into a slut for them, I just didn't understand how to express that outside of idolising only women and harbouring no real crushes for the guys I grew up around. Maybe if I'd realised sooner, and through more conventional methods of self discovery, I could have even dated Laura on equal terms and made her college existence just a little less lonely and frustrating. If I had, I may have never met Brie, a woman whose own self discovery was just as unconventional as mine. I do know that, if I was gay all along and Brie a woman, then it's certainly an unprecedented coincidence that we out of anyone would find ourselves the targets of such firm and affirming subjugation. I choose to believe, regardless, because there's not a single fibre of my being that could possibly entertain myself being straight or Brie a man. Cosmic coincidences are a dime a dozen, try spinning the wheel of fate and you'll find out for yourself.
Anyway, it's time to call curtains on this charade. I know exactly what to do with Nicole Black now. My formless gaze rests upon the resting forms of Misty and Nicole one last time and I can't help but feel guilty for how glad I am that Nicole is not a nicer woman, for at least this chain reaction finally got me out of that shitty costume and had me falling into arms gentle and strong. I'm seeing here what not to do in a relationship if you wish for it to not fall apart, it'll be invaluable wisdom for when I finally get around to making things official with Brie. If that photograph isn't an elaborate forgery, perhaps I already did once upon a time. As much as I want to be, I'm not the Joy in the picture, if I'm being entirely honest I cannot even be sure that we're even physically the same Joy given that I know Envy has made others. It hardly matters, she's nothing but a memory and I'll have to agree with Nicole just this once regarding those. Destroy the enemy.
As though hearing my tragically likeminded rhetoric, funny though it is to suggest the Nicole in this memory could hear a singly stray thought of mine, the resting Nova turns over in her bed to face her wife. Except... it isn't Misty with which she suddenly locks eyes, but myself, even though my eyes are not even in the room to lock with. Nova glares directly at me and I realise that this is memory no longer, but a construct of will within my hallowed garden. The urgency and panic welling within me comes too late, her lips already moving their script and dooming me to an untold fate.
"Halcyon days."
Finale: The Ego Death of Nicole Black
I emerge from my cocoon of the past, breathing deep the stiff kitchen air with a weight in my chest I cannot comprehend. Something's wrong. It's not only the fact that Brie is nowhere to be seen, no strong arms to catch me in my stumble backwards, there's something more pressing in that I cannot control the muscles in my body any longer. They dance to another's tune, dissonant and grievous. A sense of duty overcomes me... I've been given orders. Following orders is the only thing that fulfils me, makes me feel a facsimile of feeling you could consider close to Joy. In this moment of intense duty I can think of nothing save for what I've been told to think, willpower on lend from a superior I could never deny. My eyes flick over Commander Black's perfect body and I feel so perfectly fucking weak for her, wondering how I had ever sought to deny her demanding presence in my life. I'm nothing without her... I...
A vine wraps around the woman's wrist and I locate her in the garden, pulling the woman back into her body with an apologetic haste. I feel guilty for being disobedient, until that smug flash of smile sobers me and reminds me of the terrible mistake I've just made. "Y-You... no I--"
"Post hypnotic suggestion, dear, though you appear to be acting rather fickle today." Nicole wraps fingers tight around the vine uncoiling from her wrist and yanks me forwards into sweet perfume that has me wanting to gag. This is humiliating... I want her so badly it hurts, like a breakout rash that only her touch and voice can soothe. It's so very different from the yearning I felt for Envy, with her it was always temptation, I had found a place by her side. Found a place, perhaps, but Handler showed me my place. There was no room for doubt or alternative, she revealed exactly what I am and showed me where I belong. Kneeling at her boots, emptying my desire all over them and then lapping it up with a dull smile.
"I'm... n-not your fucking weapon." Indignation stirs, I was just starting to taste power again and resent such a loss... even if I know I need it. This is what I deserve, this brat needs discipline. I don't even care where Brie is now, because my mind is stuck on fantasies of Handler's riding crop. My mind is two separate tracks and I'm skipping between them between each and every breath. Deep inhale, I feel spite and dread. Long exhale, I feel nothing but a subordinate, eager to be reminded of my purpose.
Handler clicks her tongue and plants hand against my chest, where a restless heart pounds in unforgivable excitement, the taller woman pushing me back until I'm flat against the same wall she had pinned me against once before. I can feel my fight evacuating the longer I remain in her presence, slipping back into the mindset of a rifle. Suddenly, all I can hope for is that Handler forgives her property... and then plays with it, just the way she likes. Am I really this weak? Yeah... and I'm better off for it... power feels so good, but it cannot beat the rush of powerlessness. The moment I tell myself I'm robbed of all responsibility for what happens next is the moment I become convinced there's zero reason to not embrace it. My enjoyment is inevitable, so why fight it? My enjoyment is secondary, though, and I need to please Handler and be good for her and... oh god, I'm really this pathetic aren't I?
"A tempestuous little brat is what you are, assaulting your superior is a serious offence I hope you realise?" Nicole herself is a two track woman, or perhaps more, her speech and mannerisms becoming that of my Handler in a bout of award-worthy performance. What was that mantra that she herself is ruled by? Destroy the enemy. Right now, my resistance, my disobedience, is nothing but her enemy. Try as I might to deny such solid truth, I know that her enemies are my enemies. A soldier's foes are their rifle's marks.
"S-Sorry Sir... I..." God, why am I acting so fucking meek? Change tracks, Joy, fight this! Better to be another Envy than a weak little rifle, remember? No, no, this rifle is powerful, competent, disciplined. Discipline is important. Handler once had me repeat those words for an entire day while eclipsed in the usual darkness and deprivation. When I faltered in my utterance of the important mantra, I was disciplined with Handler's crop. If I complained too much, I received the stun instead... ahaha, it was important. So important... I uhm... I'm so confused right now, where are we again?
"A poor apology, kiddo... once more with feeling, alright?" A nail strokes over my cheek and digs firm into the skin, Handler's vicious affection reminding me swiftly that there's no place for me but under her thumb. I need the leather touch more than I want oxygen, but this isn't so bad either; it's sure to leave a mark I'm more than happy to wear for her.
I swallow my pride easily, there wasn't much to force down. Despite knowing I messed up, I feel so happy right now, no, relieved. It was stressful pretending to be a person for Brie's sake when all along I just wanted my Handler back, the person who generously takes over control of every facet of my life. Strict diet, exercise regimen, and playtime if I'm lucky. I feel so naked without my synthetic second skin, a tight bodysuit of neoprene made just for me. The way it would creak when I dropped to my knees and serviced my wonderfully selfish Handler is imprinted on my mind, the feeling of it hugging my body while I absorbed strict tutelage that a little distance cannot unteach. Time may be unwound, but then, so am I.
"I'm very sorry, Handler, I'm not sure what came over me." My words are eerily calm, a few piano chords ringing out through the manor that I may well have imagined.
"You were playing at person... that's no good. Handler, hm? Then you must be my rifle, yes? Start acting like one, a gun does not know how to act out." Handler's poison is a salve against my soul, and I forget why I had been acting out so much only moments ago. Why did I tell her I'm not her weapon? That's... ugh... that's so ungrateful, I'm disgusted with myself.
"A... A gun does not know how to act out." My mouth repeats the words without consulting my mind, an obedient echo of Handler's will that hollows out my own like she's coring an apple. Fitting analogy, my orchard's already grown its last. "I'm sorry, Handler... I'm a good rifle... I-I love you." How many terrible people have I said that to by now? When Murmur was using me, even when I had decided to turn against her, I could not deny that my affection had outgrown acceptable proportions. 'I think I love her.' was the erratic Envy's thought that cemented Murmur as a permanent, beloved fixture of her garden. I'd later tell her once again, this time as a puppy pet grateful to be given a place in Envy's care. I loved them both for having reduced me down to something simple and pure, an eager and excitable, utterly domesticated house pet. The knight shouldered the burden of duty while the pet loved its owners as a true puppy would: unconditionally. Maybe I'm really not fit to be a person, given I excel with an unnatural proficiency at being anything but. Still, as I mentioned before, I believe humanity to be an inescapable affliction. In my case, I could see it as a curse, but I don't want to see Brie upset or, even worse, disappointed in me again.
"Good rifle." Commander Black infects me with praise my body cannot deny, swirling heat lighting a fire in my tummy that spreads over sultry flesh and burns between my legs. Aching need to be played with, like a cheap toy. Perhaps in this moment I'm more an air rifle, then. Her praise really is a drug, a greater high than many of the actual chemicals I've been exposed to in this long corruptive journey. The two simple words make me buckle with pleasure, slick heat licking this toy's purchased cunt. Bought and sold by stern words, firm touch, and a sense of foreboding inevitability that spells blissful surrender every time the invincible Nova opens her mouth.
"Your... rifle..." My body begs for her hands, only she knows how to truly use it for everything it has. Brie is such an amazing top, I love that she's not too gentle out of paranoid and misguided affection. I could see myself loving her in a far less twisted way that I've fallen for these wanton victimisers, but... her touch has limits. Brie touches me like she cares, even when she's rough, while I really do feel like nothing but an object in my commander's hands. A disposable one at that, a toy to be used and spent. I know I shouldn't want to feel this way as badly as I do, I know it isn't remotely healthy, but then... that only applies to people doesn't it? I'm just... gods... I'm just her property. Maybe she'll let me play with Brie too... would it be better if she was property too? I'm conflicted. More awkward chords sound through the manor, an ugly sound that suits this scene just fine.
"Mine." Handler is visibly aroused, grabbing my weakling arms and holding them in a bundle over my head, pressing them against a portrait neither of us could give a single shit about. There's nothing but a Handler and her property in the room right now, no prying eyes and no annoying heroes with the misguided notion that I'm in need of rescuing. I'm exactly where I belong, aren't I? I-I think so. "I'm turning your safety on, so you're just going to be nice and harmless for me as I... well... I'm rather pent up and frustrated after that little stunt you pulled." Oh good, she's going to use me. My cheeks tint dark red and I feel my eyes glazing over as I sink into the proper headspace to be used by her, breathing still far too erratic despite how calm I should feel. Discipline is important. "Bind your arms up here with that vine, I'll teach you the proper ways to use such a thing rather than pulling pranks on your commanding officer."
I can almost see through the roleplay Handler engages in as she puts on airs, but then my vision is a little blurry right now. Without hesitation I do as I'm told, that stray tendril snaking up to wrap around my wrists and pull my arms together tight. I'm such a lucky weapon to be this close to my Handler, my senses so sharp out on the field and so dulled in her presence. Everything in its right place. "Like this, Handler?" My desperation to please her overrides that disdain I had begun to see her with back when I was possessed of full mental faculties. Hadn't I resolved to carve her ego, a butcher cleaving with righteous chop? Yes, I had. I still fucking do, you pathetic dead weight rifle. Remember Envy's method of control? Not a pet knight, but a pet and a knight. Two track mind, like I said, the same way she had split Firefly and Laura into two neat mental halves. Well, guess what?
"I don't need you to speak." Handler gets herself off with my shameless toy body, burying her face into my armpit and gorging herself on the smooth heated skin. Pleasing her like this is more fulfilling and erotic than being fucked, knowing that my raw flesh has such a positive effect on the woman's libido makes me so weak I'd be unable to stand if she weren't pinning me to the wall with her superior form. A hand roughly gropes my breast through thin linen fabric and I gasp into descending mouth. Handler's tongue subjugates my own and my eyes flutter closed, tasting paradise and all its loving chains.
This is truly a sorry scene, the rifle is as pathetic as future memory would suggest. Earlier I had made the internal remark that it would do us better to become a second Envy than another rifle, but I see now that such a thing isn't impossible. Thinking back on the knight and the puppy, the hunter and the concubine... I've found a decent enough compromise that should leave this audience of none quite satisfied. I'll have to settle for a second Envy and another rifle. This vine is not hers, the rifle I mean. It is Envy's loving tendril, the same as those that seek to unify the world. No matter how much the rifle is getting off to this, it's time she learns that this is my body too... I suppose it was only a matter of time before something had to break, I'm just glad the split was clean.
Huh? Is... those aren't my thoughts are they? I'm just Handler's--
You forget yourself, rifle... don't you remember what we can do when our roots are coiled around a target like this? It's time for you to go away for a while, I'll pull you into the garden and take over for a while, 'kay?
That's... wait, what? Use it on ourself?
Just you. I've unfinished business with this woman! And I can't trust the part of me that thinks we belong to her, okay? You're no good for me, and a danger to our Brie. It's time for you to go to walk the pews, just try not to touch anything and get your weakness all over it.
Before the part of me unflinchingly loyal to Nicole Black can make further protest, tongue still locked with her precious Handler's, I take the initiative and sap ourselves with that vine binding our wrists. There's a chance I'm making a terrible mistake here and end up stranding us both in that eerie garden in our head, but I've learned through my experience with Nova this morning that isolating specific parts of a psyche is something I'm able to do... even if I'd done it by accident initially. Maybe I'm really not human, I don't think a mind is typically able to just halve itself into two separate states like this, but I'm not going to question the gift of clarity it has given me. Should I try and sever myself further, I wonder what might happen. Every failstate another fragment, somehow I think that would end badly for me.
Success. I'm back in the driver's seat, tasting nothing but a dreadfully cold muscle in my mouth and playfully sinking my teeth into it's slick surface. Incredulous and reeling, Nic pulls away and gives me the widest stare I've ever seen. Apparently, this development was not part of her master plan.
"Explain yourself, now!" Her composure is broken from the sudden bite, maybe I went deeper than I meant to but she's not bleeding or talking with a lisp on account of her bulletproof body.
"Ehe... I just... I got a little carried away. Forgive me?" My puppy dog eyes don't quite hold the dullness of that rifle's, Nicole seeing through my act immediately and reacting quickly with a sudden golden glare. The sight gives me a disorienting headrush but fortunately, I had been prepared. The moment her eyes take me onto roads of gold, that vine overhead spits out a fine chrome mist that really has the woman pulling back, blinking away gold just as quickly as I do. It was just a taste, really, a warning shot. Following in Envy's footsteps, but the other way around, I've converted liquid drug into gaseous form.
"Wh-What is that?" Nova can't identify her own product? That's kinda sad, hehe, but I suppose she has yet to make it. I don't think I've ever heard this woman stammer in my entire life, not even in those fragments I witnessed, and gosh does it sound delightful. The sheer catharsis of turning things around on this abusive degenerate has my body alight with tingles, the selfsame feeling Envy had come to revel in back during their duel. The first one, I mean, not the one that ended in a mech get fingerfucked by another... I've yet to process what the hell all that was about.
"Just a little something we made earlier. Ehe~ You know... I'd been intending to give you a fair shake but... well, you're disappointing. Like... at first I thought searching your past was a total waste of time, that I'd found nothing to sway me into changing my mind on you, but that simply isn't true." Experimentally, I take a step forwards, making sure not to look her in the eye even if it weakens my attempt to appear confident. To my surprise and giddy excitement, Nova takes a step backwards, glancing at the vine I have poised like a showerhead ready to wash her ego away. Gosh... she stepped back? The woman might as well be kneeling, giving her new master a deferent paw.
"Halcyon Days." I hear her rasp, loving that the strongest woman in the world is scared of a little weed like me. Getting a taste of your own medicine has perhaps never been uttered quite so literally.
"Oh I uhm... I buried that one in a place I don't have access to, ahaha... m-maybe if I ported into my own head I could, like I did with you. Why does that work anyway, you know don't you? I'd rather hear it from Envy though, if I'm honest." Maybe I buried some other annoying facets of myself, too, who's to say? I'm... this is good, I'm doing all the right things here. Envy is a sort of role model in a way, if I just emulate her I won't have to feel so weak anymore. It worked out for her, I think, at least until it didn't. I'm beginning to wonder if Envy is not just the logical end state of Joy, that given enough time to nurture into our true selves we'd all end up the same. It would be difficult to argue that she is not a more authentic representation of our expression than, say, the repressed college girl who only ever went with the flow. "Anyway I was saying something... c-can you not interrupt me, it's rude."
Nova growls like a lion, incensed by my growing confidence and finally snapping. Oh, she's even easier to bait than I'd wagered, pride comes before the fall and all that good nonsense. As the woman drops her guard to reach straight for my throat, golden eyes determined to sublimate this rebellious air, I plunge the tendril directly into her neck and flood her bloodstream with soporific silver. Watching the light leave her eyes turns me on even more than handler's praise had touched that rifle. I could really get used to this. The muscles in her face grow loose, her shoulders slumping, every fiery thought blanketed in a dull euphoria wrought by opiate kisses. While I continue talking, the vine remains, administering a higher dosage than any normal human could safely take.
"Like I was saying... my forays into your mind were not so fruitless. I came to learn that you're a truly rotten apple, not deserving of my sympathy... it freed me from having to hold back with you, because I saw just what a lost cause you are... and always have been. This really is what you deserve, so... learn your place. I know that drug won't last too long in your system... I could plunge you back into my garden but I don't wanna reunite you with the rifle and besides, I'm trying to detox!" The vine latching onto her neck saps her strength disarmingly quick, more effective than I could have ever hoped for it to be. They only used a small amount to have Brie acting more of an animal than a human, while I'm giving this woman enough of the illicit substance to kill a horse. "So I'll just have to keep you close and doped up until a better fate presents itself, how does that sound pretty? Slurring your words in penance, obeying me so that I keep you docile and placated by the most overpowering high you know you don't deserve. Ahahaha... I'm really too kind."
"You... y-you're... sssound just like that brat did... way back when..." Lady Nova is a truly impressive superhero to be holding on like this, it just makes me want to up the dosage and see how far her limits go. Murmur taught me the importance of experimentation long ago, it really is invaluable.
"Envy? I'm the same person... if I get the same taste of power, gosh... I dunno though, always thought she went loopy 'cause of all the overlapping mental states. I've only got me and... well, some extra baggage. It's just... I'm really having fun being able to take control. Like... more than I thought? Like it's what I'm made for, you know? I mean, aha, I don't even really know who or what I am and here I am humiliating you, the great Lady Nova. You had like, so many plans right? Am... am I fucking them up? Does that make me the fuck up, or you? I guess that's a toughie hehe." If Nicole is content to wear masks, to roleplay one character and then another as it suits her fancy, why shouldn't I? To be honest, I'm already wondering if I'd be able to enter the garden myself, more specifically, if I'd be able to find a way out afterwards. It's truly terrible to confess this, but... well, between my memories of being Envy's obedient slut and then that kiss I stole from the white haired Nova loyalist with my face... I'm a little attracted to myself. I don't think it's narcissism, not really, but if I could have a turn with that rifle myself maybe I could appreciate Nic's handiwork just a little. She's pathetic of course... I see her in the same light Envy had seen me, us, just before we split. Oh god, what a wheel. Anyway, yeah, she's pathetic... but a good plaything's a good plaything. I'm shamelessly turned on at the idea of entering that field of dead grass and forcing another part of myself to heel and obey... a cannibalistic act of dominance and submission. I think I may be losing my mind, but it wouldn't be the first time. What was it Mrs. Black had said? Lean into the drift. She told me I'd only break if I refused the turn, and I did. If the rifle is me perfectly intact, assembled by disciplined hands, then perhaps I'm better off a little damaged. Oh, I'm so edgy, Laura would have hearts in her eyes if she could see me now.
"Mmgh... uhh..." She sounds so stupid already, buckling against my power even if the drug I use was taken from her. My power is to take, I realise, and thieves like us rarely ask for permission. Noticing my Nova toy's head begin to bob, I slip a hand under her chin and eject the drugged stinger from her neck gently for the time being.
"You deserve this." I speak calmly, with self-assured smile. "I'm more convinced of that now than ever, but I'm still, even now, helplessly attracted to you. Hopelessly, maybe. I want... I want to keep you, not like a pet or a doll or anything like that... more like, well, a fucktoy? I'm not sure Brie will understand, she might get jealous but... oh gosh, how hot would it be if we could share you? Ugh, where is she anyway? She promised to stay close... actually believed her too, every time I do that I get taken advantage of." My lips purse and I push myself against the woman greedily, inhaling her and dipping my head down so that my hot, bated breath collapses against the injection mark left by my vine. Wantonly, recklessly, I drag my tongue across the spot and shudder at the taste of White Dwarf annihilation that greets me. "You deserve this, too." Like a vampire, egged on by my own bubbling excitement and waning inhibition, I playfully sink dull teeth into the woman's skin and feel giddy at the unguarded sound she makes. A hoarse little gasp, from the invincible Lady Nova. When Envy had won her conquest of Murmur in a mirror of this moment, she had genuinely cared for the woman, but all I can think about in my moment is how I could do literally anything I want to Nicole and justify it with ease. This is so much more intoxicating than winning power over Murmur, or simply besting Nova in a fight... I think this might be the most amazing feeling in the world, it's like I'm biting into the sun itself. I know that I said Nicole had come to disappoint, but she's redeeming herself.
"Mmh... hehh... no I... I d-don't. Yourrabraaat..." Nova slurs words while I slurp flesh, pulling away slowly and coiling my vine around her neck, tight. "Hhhgkk!"
"You... you won't be so sure about that when I've made you my junkie, a spaced out, sweet thing who doesn't remember who she was before my medicine came along and saved her." My breathing is heavy, excitement building in my core and threatening to whisk me away like a fierce storm. It's... a good thing Brie isn't here actually, though I hope she isn't far. "When you're so reliant on my control that you'd beg for this silver poison over your own freedom should I threaten to spare you from further drugging." I'm imitating the handlers in my life rather well, if I do say so myself.
"Uh... mmmaking... m-misssttake." Awh... she can't form proper sentences already? Good, but it's not enough. This is justice for myself, for Brie, for Envy and Misty and... oh who am I kidding, I just want to do this because it's exhilarating and I'm too weak to be mature and level headed.
"Shut your mouth." My vine constricts around the woman's iron neck and lightly chokes her, these roots once shattered Mana's magically imbued tachi but I know I won't have to worry about them breaking Nova. With a light, sing-song hum, I pinch the woman's mouth closed and feel a hot flood of arousal like a shot in my own neck when Nicole's eyes flutter in response. I can't believe this is really happening, it was just self defence but... but now I can't stop myself. That's just the way that it goes, isn't it? It was the same with Mana in that empty lot, I was only defending myself...
My eyes flick around the room like a guilty child wanting to avoid a good scolding. I don't want Brie to see me like this, but at the same time, I'm unbearably tempted to get even more carried away. Temptation is a crow, and I its carrion. Deciding to test the woman's ability to walk in this sluggish state, I make for the staircase and find myself impressed with her motor function even if she's only suited for being led right now. Even better.
"We're going upstairs, be quiet okay? I need to find something in your room, it's... well, ahahaha... you'll see." At my teasing, overly indulgent words, Nicole cocks her head in an animalistic fashion that makes me want to pounce on her a predator. For so long now, I've only ever known to be hunter or hunted, until regaining some semblance of normalcy with Brie I had forgotten anything else. I'm so good at being normal around her, it's almost convincing. She deserves better, probably, but I want her too badly to let her go. Just like Envy has Murmur, Brie could be a close confidant... a lover. Do I know what love is? Love is when you cannot win or lose your intimacy. Love is when you feel safe and warm in her presence. Love is when you want to hide your true nature out of fear for rejection. I must love Brie, then, because I don't want her to know just how stripped of self control I am after living in a world of temptation and destruction for far too long. This is what happens when your morals and wants are naught but rubber bands, stretched until they snap. Do you want to know what I truly felt when reliving Nova's past?
Hatred.
Love.
Affinity.
And above all, relief.
Ever since trapping her, I was simply searching for an excuse to justify making her mine. Had Brie not appeared, I'd probably be in bed right now playing with a body left utterly unmanned. I did say I was a villain. I've a memory I did well to bury until just now, a sexually confused girl who, on one lonely night, discovered the Joy of masturbation with nothing but Nova's poster to drive her forwards. I didn't touch myself again after that night, not until Hive. I remember feeling such useless, pointless shame for the act. This woman has long been my greatest object of desire, and now she really is an object. This Nicole is warmer and softer than the poster on my wall, but the way I use them really isn't much different.
Creaking open the door to Nicole Black's private room, I lead the woman inside using nothing but the collar and leash of vine I've fashioned for her. If there is one thing that I can always count on, it is the woman's own narcissistic compulsions. Dragging her deeper into the room, I stop before the wardrobe I had once opened after a night of indecent intimacy. At the far left, of course, hangs Nova's famous costume. A superhero's second skin, something I once worshipped enough to pleasure myself against its image when I still had the gall to pretend I was straight.
"You're going to dress into this for me, okay?"
Epilogue: Gnossienne No. 5
"So, those are the ground rules okay? Break them and... well, I break you. In a sense, I'll break this lovely euphoria you've settled into anyway, take away the silver. So be a good hero and nod your head for me, Miss Nova." Only ten to fifteen minutes have passed since I first told Nicole to dress into the costume I've lusted over since I was too young to know why I felt the way I did, before I knew to pretend I didn't. Only ten to fifteen minutes and I feel like a true villainess in my own right, a large reason for this besides my power over our great hero here being the outfit I decided to don at the same time she sluggishly tried to dress herself. In the end I had to help the woman into her costume, though it was so tempting to leave her in the nude for a while longer as I admired that space-forged form.
I sit upon the woman's lap as she decorates the edge of her bed in a nice slump. A leather hand grips her chin to keep her held still, attentive, while the bare fingers of my other hand stroke through soft blonde hair placatingly. I've decided to complete this role reversal by dressing into the same clothes my 'handler' once wore, though I'm not bothered for the jacket, coat or cape. Nor that silly cap, to be honest. Keeping it simple, clean, I wear the ironed black shirt buttoned up to my throat and tucked into matching black trousers, the uniform ending with laced up combat boots, tall and surprisingly glossy in this flood of early afternoon light. The midnight boots dangle beside Nova's own golden ones and my patience runs thin as grating sandpaper.
"Yes... I'll behave." Her reluctance is adorable, because we both know she means it regardless of how she might attempt to work the loosened muscles in her face. The woman would not dare disobey me right now, I've finally found a reliable method of bringing her to heel, though perhaps not yet as permanent as I'd like. Ego resuscitates itself, a straggler of the old world order in Nova's new perfected form. For shame, I say, knowing how much more agreeable she'll become once we put the Maverick Fighter to bed for good. It's for everyone's benefit, not least of all her own.
"Good hero. You're a very special person to me, I can only ever allow myself to hate you as much as I adore you, never more. You're my... free use hero, alright?" Teeth sink into my lip as I find my restraint begin to collapse in on itself, wanting to imprint my touch onto her without any need for permission or pause. For so long I've craved her, but even when we pretended to have a more even affair I've never felt such... access. My first crush, my last owner, my new fucktoy. My Nova.
"Free... uhm... that's not. Ah, y-you're joking?" My favourite feature of this White Dwarf stuff is just how slow she is, dim-witted and confused like a big ol' bulletproof barbie. My dummy just feels two steps behind every time she opens her mouth, and while I feel a little bad for it I cannot help but let out a short laugh. Turns out she's the one with the jokes, not me.
"I'm dead serious, silly. You're mine now, so I'll use you however I like, whenever I like. When I came back here I... well, I almost erased myself because of what you'd done to me, made me want. I've had to surgically remove that rotten desire, but I'm not a medically trained professional and even if I were, it's hard to be precise with an invisible scalpel. I think I cut deeper than I meant to, hehe, it's like... gosh, there's just no part of me that feel inhibited in any meaningful way. I didn't just cut away my loyalty to you, Nova, but my empathy. So I repeat, you're my free use hero. You don't get to be a person, just property. You can't complain about this when you did the exact fucking same to me, right? Do you object?"
Nova looks so spaced out it's driving my libido crazy, the sight of her attempting to string together thought while strong narcotics keep her from posing serious threat to anybody other than herself. It just makes me feel hungry. "I--"
Without skipping a beat, I strike the woman firmly with my enhanced strength against her superpowered defence. It leaves a nice red imprint, seems I'm not so weak after all. "The only word I need to hear in response to that question is 'no', silly hero. Let's try again... you'll get it this time, I have faith in you Miss Nova. You're my favourite superhero, you know? I really like you, so you don't object to being my belonging do you? That'd upset me..." Piano chords leave their dissonant notes like a fitting remark on my fall from grace, but I don't think I've been possessed of elegance for quite some time now. Once upon a time, I might have shown decorum, but only while my aunt was hovering over my shoulder. That woman always loved to hear me play, I think, but for whatever reason I don't remember ever touching keys. Another life, perhaps.
"No." My Nova replies obediently, her ego simmering on a nice, low heat that gives the sublimation flavour. Has anybody ever managed to put her in her place like this before? You never know, she might like it. I'll be the very black hole that once swallowed and spat her out, then, I'm certainly dressed for the part.
"Good girl." I can't help but mess up her hair with my hand, while the gloved leather one runs thumb over these newly pliant lips of hers. "I'm teaching you such new sensations, experiences, so maybe you should refer to me as 'Instructor Williams' or ah, maybe just Instructor hehehe. You can do that for me, can't you Miss Nova?"
Pausing to swallow, a sight that I cannot help but give smug, knowing smile at, Nova gently nods against my cold grip. The woman exhales, as though stalling, and I cannot help but wish that I was still in her head so that I could see just what conflict is stirring inside of it while the silver coats her fight like molasses. I'm tempted to port into her neck, but my imagination is perhaps even more exciting than the real thing. Fantasy, at the very least, will never disappoint. The woman's hesitation begins to bore me and I tighten the collar of vine around her neck until she chokes out her response: "Y-Yhes... Insstructor."
The word goes straight to my cunt. No longer able to hold myself back, I push the woman down onto the bed by her shoulders and give an airy giggle in response to how very malleable she is for me, under her instructor's strict tutelage. Every good hero needs her guidance, right? Perhaps the hero agencies should have employed handlers, that's a wonderful idea. Imagine a city filled with perfectly obedient superheroes, hypercompetent and focused on their missions. They return to their agency headquarters, where they eat and sleep, and nuzzle their instructor's hand awaiting praise for another villain dealt with. It sounds a little... well, exploitative, but if a system like that had been set up in the very first place the order that Nova so coveted would have been resolute. There would be no Envies, only well behaved peacekeepers that live on nothing but the orders from those who control them. Nova has her version of the city, Envy another... I think this is mine. It's an awful dream, I know, but just thinking about how efficient and infallible everything would be really makes me wonder if the sacrifice of choice and individuality isn't completely worth it. A dream of disquieting peace.
Manipulating this prototype's flesh is so intoxicating I don't think I could stop if I wanted to now that my hands have begun to roam. I'm straddling her like a beast hounding its prey, sliding my hands over tightly packaged meat that's only gotten better with age. Nova's meat is pristine, a prime cut that has me salivating onto the shiny spandex covering her chest. Heaven take me now, because after I'm done using this woman in every which way I so desire, there's not a god in the known mythos of humanity that would rapture me.
"Now... I'm going to fuck you hard and slow, not stopping until you finally need me as much as I want y--"
Knock, knock!
Fuck... the chords ceased a while ago, I was just far too distracted to notice their absence. The way my priorities shift surprises even myself, the insatiable lust for Nova I had felt helpless against only seconds ago evaporating and leaving nothing but a desire to explain this mess I've landed myself in.
"Hey, Flower? You in there?" Brie's voice is filled with concern, she already knows I am if she followed the noise. It occurs to me that if I choose not to respond, she'll incorrectly assume that Nova is messing with me and force herself into the room like a true knight. How do heroes like Brie fit into my future fantasy, a city of well conditioned supers who might as well occupy kennels? I'm not really sure... in Brie's case, she'd be exempt anyway. She could be my wife, staying home and always being there when I... oh, I'm just becoming Nicole aren't I? Those fragments imprinted themselves on my mind, but I need to remind myself that I'm not like that. I would never think of Brie the way Nic did Misty, it's just too cruel.
"Y-Yeah, just a minute!" I'm panicking hard, knowing I have my work cut out for me explaining myself in a way that won't hurt Brie's feelings. It's damage control, then, harm reduction for a special someone. Gosh, responsibility sure is a nuisance, I can definitely understand the rifle's aversion to its own agency.
"Uh... okay, I'll just be right here. Call me if you need anything, 'kay?" She already sounds suspicious, I hate that. Why can't I just have both things I want without any compromise?
Swallowing the saliva in my mouth and climbing off of my new secret plaything, I undo the top button of my shirt and attempt to still my nerves. This is fine, everything's still going great here. Sure, I may have gotten a little carried away, but Brie's here to remind me to be humble and personable and... ah, I really don't want her to look at me all hurt. The eyes I want are the ones in that photograph, but real life is never as still and unwavering as a snapshot. Life is incessant. Shouldn't I be mad at Brie for breaking her promise, anyway?
"Get up and don't say a word." I give cold command to the figure I once respected, feared and adored more than any other. "Good girls get more." My stinger pushes into her neck and gives her a top up of chemical compliance. Nova sighs and turns beet red, slowly sitting up and stumbling back onto her feet. If she pulls a fainting act on me now I'll be livid, I've lost interest in instructing her until I can find a way to smooth over this situation with Brie. It all seemed so straightforward and Hopeful this morning, but now I think I've bitten off more than I can chew. Good thing I'm used to swallowing whatever life should throw my way.
Deciding that we don't have time to change clothing, I instead work on fixing our hair like a child trying to hide their mess under a single thin sheet. Practically hearing Brie grow antsier on the other side of the door, I curse under my breath and glance back at the hand print on Nova's cheek. What a fine mess I am, and I was doing so well until that crow caught up to me. It's Nicole Black's fault for pushing me, just as Mana was to blame once upon a time for... for forcing me to defend myself. If you push a boulder down a hill, you can hardly hold the lump of rock itself accountable for reaching the bottom.
Leather hand reaches for the handle and I pull the door open with some reluctance, if Brie gives up on me I think my Hope will be spent. My eyes trace up that delectable form until finally meeting her own, though Brie's a little too distracted to return my faux-confident gaze.
"Hey uh, what's--"
"Where were you, Brie?" My question comes out far more accusatory in tone than I had surely intended. It's common for those who feel guilty about something to project onto others and act indignant, but I'm not smart enough to think so rationally. At least, I'm not collected enough. "I asked you to stay..."
Brie gives a wry smile, glancing over my shoulder at Nova who I'm still holding close with collar of vine. "Yeah... it was just taking longer and, well, I was struggling to keep myself calm in her presence y'know? Sorry, Flower, I got distracted with the piano." Her calloused hand reaches out to hold my cheek and I nuzzle it with a pout, petulant as the woman I had labelled as such earlier in the day.
For the briefest of moments, a dark thought crosses my mind. I could resolve this awkward situation so easily and punish Brie for breaking her promise, all it would take is a single dose of silver. Such a terrible thought I immediately admonish myself for, of course. If Brie tastes White Dwarf again she'd likely relapse and lose her sense of self completely. I may be a villain, but I... I care for Brie, I'd never want to betray her trust like that. Even if she tested mine. A thought is just that, if I don't act on such a compulsion then I'm still... a good girl.
"Okay, Brie. I forgive you." Porcelain smile touches my lips and the woman I want to love me more than anyone runs her thumb over it familiarly.
"Heh, very tolerant of you. You join a band or something, Flower?" We both know the costume these articles of clothing belong to, all too well, the concern in her voice is not lost on me.
"Beats strutting about in my pjs, haha, and the superhero costume doesn't really suit me anymore..." Why do I still feel so tense? Brie's my comfort, I shouldn't feel anything but happy and safe in her presence.
My comfort snorts, shrugging at the flimsy logic I provide her and cocking her head with knowing smirk. "Well it looks kinda hot on you, for what it's worth. Some real dyke shit that I can get behind, the glove might be a little much though." Her eyes then trail over to Nova, narrowing just a little. "And you figured a hero get up fits her better? Is that some kinda joke?"
I can't help but scoff, realising she wouldn't quite get it. "Something like that, I... might've gotten a little carried away."
"I'll say." The woman I've failed to remain normal for whistles in acknowledgement of the handprint I can't explain away, her own hand suddenly hovering over my head and causing me to flinch. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I soon feel Brie's tough fingers petting me and sink into the touch just as deeply as I had the first time she treated me this way. "It's alright, Joy. You've been through a lot, we both have. They messed you up real good, you don't need to hide the scars of that around me, 'kay? I got my own... I could feel myself getting needier and needier the longer I stood waiting for you. After ten minutes had passed, all I could think about was Handler's boots... had to go and clear my head." Brie glances down at the boots I'm wearing and pries away just as quickly, so she was putting up a front too? Gosh, I'm so lucky to have her around. We understand each other, I think, in ways that other people would find unparsable.
"Hehe, okay... I resolved the business with Nova, she'll behave from now on. As long as I keep her close by anyway." My eyes beg for praise and I realise I'm just as pathetic as that rifle, it must be hard baked into our DNA.
Still petting my hair idly, Brie nods somewhat stiffly in response. Her reaction confuses me, shouldn't she be happy? "Well, that's going to be awkward for when we want some alone time huh? I guess putting our ex-handler in the cuck chair might be a little cathartic to try once, but I kinda want you to myself y'know."
"You mean it?" I perk up and run gloved fingers down Brie's arm, the touch making her shudder and pull her arm back. "Ah, sorry! I wasn't thinking, I just... I feel the same way." In a flash, I'm suddenly closing the short gap between us and wrapping my arms around Brie's built torso. My own lithe body presses against her, seeking comfort in her chest. My Brie, all mine, just for me. "I-I love you"
"Uh..." I can sense that Brie isn't relaxed right now, why not? Am I doing something wrong? I don't think I remember Nicole telling Misty she loved her, I just want to avoid making the same mistake.
My head lifts and I assess her with soft, round eyes. Gosh, I'm so vulnerable right now, can't she see that? "You don't... love me back?" My vine tightens around Nova's neck and I begin to chew my lip.
"It's not... I just think that's premature, y'know? I really like you so I don't wanna mess it up by rushing anything, you're someone I could see myself with so--"
"Well duh... that photo in your wallet isn't depicting bridesmaids, hehe. It's proof that we're in love, I think, but if you won't say it... I won't hold that against you. Call me a good girl, at least?" Starting to realise that I'm worrying her with my behaviour, I drop my head into her chest and close my eyes. The fucking bedsheets are a mess, she knows I've not been a good girl, but I want her to say it anyway. Isn't that what love is? Gold pools through my eyelids and I hide the petulant glow in Brie's flesh. I'm not going to force her to say it, that's childish. Worse, it's dangerous. A boulder resting on the summit of a great and mighty hill.
Brie takes a moment, her arms slowly bringing themselves to return my embrace even if she's a little startled. She loves me, I can feel it in her chest. If she won't, then who will? "Hm... okay, Flower. You're a g--"
"A-Actually no, I've been a bad girl." The gold fades from my eyes and hazel returns, peering up to assess Brie's comfort. "Maybe you should punish me, like you used to. It wasn't so bad, hehe, I think I like it when you're firm with me, I can trust you not to skip the aftercare."
The woman finally relaxes, letting out an extended sigh and giving the sheets a good long glance. "I'm not sure if I know you well enough yet, the real you, to say that I love you... but I know that I'd hate it if you loved her." It's a sweet confession, I think, though I find myself confounded by the concept of a 'real' me. It's all the real me, she's known me longer than she realises. That rifle, this Envy wannabe, the puppy melting against fingers in her hair. On the same leaf, the Brie that would use me is as real as this one who hesitates to do so. They're both precious to me.
"Nova?" Affectatious giggle escapes into the woman's chest and I gently release her, turning to glance back at my blissed out plaything who has been wonderfully obedient by keeping her mouth shut this entire time. "I don't love her at all anymore. Remember earlier, when I said we could make her our pet? You seemed concerned but... it's okay, really. Look." Determined to prove that I have everything under control, and eager to please my Brie, I step over to the tethered toy hero and hold out my hand expectedly. "Paw, girl."
Nicole stares at my hand with distant eyes and gives a slow nod of understanding as though she's still figuring out my two word sentence. After a couple of seconds, the woman sluggishly raises her hand and drops it onto mine limply. My fingers, steeped in Black, tighten around her own until I see her begin to meekly wince. The creak of leather is as demanding as the kiss of a crop, it reminds the fallen hero who she belongs to. Learn your place, Nova, discipline is important.
"See? She's completely docile now, but can still follow orders. I think she's perfect like this, don't you?" With beaming smile, I turn to face my Brie expecting her to match my enthusiasm. How wrong I am, she's just staring blankly. "Well, don't you?"
Brie gives a short, noncommittal nod that makes me worry I've somehow done something wrong here. Weren't we in agreement about this before? Before she ran off to fiddle with keys... oh hey, maybe that's the sort of distraction we need right now. Envy can wait until after I've seen this instrument that's supposedly worth breaking promises over. I should have known this manor would have a grand piano in one of its rooms, every opulent house tends to regardless of whether or not the owners know how to play. It was the same for my aunt, I... she had me play for her, I think?
Can I even play the piano?
"Hey uh, take me to the room you were playing those chords in, would you? I want to check something before we depart for The Garden." Teeth sink into the flesh beneath my lip to stop me from making her oblige with Nova's terrible gift. I didn't bat an eye at using it on Peony, that cute convict, but I still understand how it would be crossing a line for the relationship I want to share with Brie. Maybe Commander Black was onto something with that mask, my self control is so dreadfully weak and always has been. Be it submitting or dominating, when have we ever held back?
As happy for the change in subject as I am, Brie gives me a more genuine nod and dares to take my hand in hers, opting for the one not yet clad in Black. Is this a date~?
Every step we take together is another weight lifting from my chest, Brie leading through the hallway with her hand engulfing mine. Any of the tension from before has disappeared entirely, at least in my mind, as I hasten my step to walk beside her and fall for that charming smile she gives me from the side. A part of me considers just remaining in this house, with her, but I have to go see Envy. It's not so clear as a vision, I just know that I won't rest easy until we meet face to face for real. No proxies, no interference from Nicole Black. A candid conversation between a girl and her mirror, it wouldn't be the first time but I don't intend to shatter this one. Not unless she makes me.
"Just in here. Found it while wandering, had to wipe a thick layer of dust from the damn lid." Brie pulls me inside and I tug Nova along in tandem, feeling perfectly content to be in this middle role. I'm greedy enough to crave something to assert dominance over, and someone to dominate me in kind. Back when I still called myself Orchard, I just wanted someone to go see movies with. I suppose I already had Laura for that, I really should have just given her what she wanted. Eventually we did, and so much more.
"Ooh, it's so big." I step towards the huge instrument and run my hand over the keys, fingers slipping from Brie's to give this beauty my full attention.
"Heh... been a while since anyone's told me that." Brie stands back, though makes sure to maintain distance from the blonde whom she still secretly yearns commands and praise from like the pathetic mutt she remembers being turned into. Bottling those feelings up is no good, Brie, I've had to learn that the hard way. Though I suppose trapping that rifle is just as bad, literally bottling her up until I figure out something better. I've no sympathy for the brat, but that's a little self deprecating when I accept that she's a part of me.
Something about this object calls to me, while a sickness in my heart compels me to reject it. Ignoring the part of me that feels inexplicable disdain for an inanimate instrument, I sit upon the piano stool and gently lower my fingers back onto the keys. Rows of black and white, as storied and inconstant as my own journey here. My finger dips and experimentally plays a single note, I couldn't tell you which. On its own, held down and ringing out against these old walls, it sounds so very desolate.
"Can you play? I was just... fucking around on it, really, I know the very basics but I'm not as good as... uh... I'm not very good, don't know any actual melodies 'sides twinkle twinkle, little star." I can hear Brie's bashful grin, wanting it to smear my own but still feeling compelled by this box of strings and keys and pedals I should have no business touching.
Can I play? "I don't know. I don't think I can, but I've never tried. I guess it's like... I've never learnt another language, right, but until I try speaking Cantonese I can't tell you with absolute certainty that I'm unable to. Does that make any sense?" No, it doesn't. What the hell am I talking about?
Despite my nonsense, perhaps because of it, Brie seems amused. The woman admires the instrument much more freely than I'm able to, a part of me still wanting to scorn it like the damnable thing crossed me in a past life. "So... Schrödinger's talent? Guess there's a lot of difficult shit I can start telling people I might just be able to do, haha. I won't force you to demystify the piano, Flower, though uh... don't lean on that as an excuse to never try anything or I'll have to start picking on you."
"We wouldn't want that, now." I laugh and the woman joins me, ruffling my hair like I'm the exact same Joy that she was interacting with earlier in the day. "Still, you don't believe in the possibility of there being a chance I actually could speak Cantonese, huh?" I don't either, to be honest, but this feels so natural. My fingers know exactly where to go, even if I couldn't name a single note, read a single symbol on a sheet of music. It's like muscle memory, plain and simple, carrying me into position and begging to be unleashed. My fingers ache to play the music, making me wonder what's going on here. This is my body, isn't it? So why does it feel so foreign to me right now?
"You gonna try?" Brie's hand leaves my hair and allows me to focus, my fingers spreading apart and settling into place. I don't even know the name of the song I'm about to play, nor the name of its composer. All I have is a feeling in my fingertips.
And then I begin to play, chords and melody melding into a single sound that cannot be explained. I don't just play well, I do so perfectly, discipline is important. My fingers move of their own accord, but the rest of my body begins to fall into step along with it. Eventually I even recall that this is Satie's fifth Gnossienne, cascading fingers hitting each and every note without a sheet to guide me. Like I said, I wouldn't be able to read it if there was one present. A deep swelling within me rises up and I feel my back straightening, head lifting. The music is so selfish and demanding, requesting me to give over control as I become beholden to its dance. The room begins to fade away entirely as the dreamy tune takes me off to another reality, one without Brie or Nova hovering behind me, but a different figure. I'm trying my best to please her, heaven knows I try, because I owe her oh so much. It's why I must play perfectly, there are guests over presently and I wouldn't want to show her up after all she's done for me. The fifth Gnossienne sets the mood perfectly, though my fingers begin to ache after playing for so long without resting my hands.
"Joy, just another fifteen minutes and then you can stop for a while." Speaks the voice over my shoulder, well manicured fingers resting on it like a perched crow. "There's someone heading upstairs in twenty, I trust I can rely on you honey?" Even as she makes conversation with me, I don't have the luxury to stop playing, I owe her so much.
"Yes, auntie."
...
...
...
Wait, where were we? I'm still in the Black manor, hitting the final notes of Satie's penultimate Gnossienne, if we're to ignore the debated 7th piece and the fact that No. 5 was in all likelihood the first to have been composed.
"Pretty..." That's not the voice I had been expecting to receive my first compliment from, didn't I tell Nova to keep her mouth shut? Still, she almost sounds cute with that airy voice, a dreamlike quality to it that complements the melody I just finished playing. I don't much care for Nicole's praise the way I used to, however, and I'm much more eager to see Brie impressed by my inexplicable musical talent. I turn to face the woman who has my heart and nearly gasp at the sight before me.
Brie's face is pale white, and flooded with tears.
To be continued in episode 4.5 - Return to Paradise
Chapter 7: Return to Paradise
Chapter Text
Prologue: Nine Perfect Strangers
First Kiss
"Hahh..." A sweaty hand slams onto the huge poster hugging the girl's wall. While Joy cannot be sure what has come over her this evening, she's certain she won't be able to stop until-- "Ahnn! G-Gosh." The hand not flattening the glossy paper against the wall is buried deep between the young woman's legs, fledgling touch experimenting with what feels best as the shame burns hot against her cheeks. A friend had teased her about something earlier in the day, made some silly crass joke, and it's like Joy's mind changed tracks. All she could think about on the long walk home was the fact that, to her knowledge, Joy had never had a sexually charged thought in her life. It made her feel a child, somehow. At first, she was going to search for something on her laptop but then her eyes locked with the poster of Lady Nova, her hero...
"Nnnh... hah... this is so wrong..." The breathless eighteen year old slides fingers slick and shameful from her sweltering body, accidentally smearing her favourite poster without thinking. She's delirious right now, she must be, because this is not normal behaviour. If Joy's parents ever found out how deep her admiration for powerful women ran... her walls would be stripped bare. No more Wild Rosary, with her muscular tattooed arms that Joy tries not to stare at for too long lest she find herself swayed by sinful compulsion. No more Hivemind, that collection of drones posed like some all-female rock band... Joy had specifically looked for one that was all women, which her parents easily approved of given they felt far less comfortable with their daughter having men up on her walls at such a 'tender age'. No more Nova... that's roughly 80% of her walls, the oldest of them relics of her hero's past life. The posters of the astronaut, Nicole Black, are very precious to her, because it proves that she's a true fangirl.
This one's her favourite though, it's large enough that the golden hero staring back at her is true to life. It's not gay if it's just a poster on your wall, if you leave it in your dreams. It's not gay... just admiration, blossoming between Joy William's thighs and making her wish she was born a man so that she didn't have to feel such smouldering shame. On the wall behind her is that symbol her parents are so obsessed with, instead of keeping it to their little club they force it onto their daughter too. The patriarchal cross. What's that slogan they make her say at church, the one that none of her friends go to because it's oh so exclusive?
Victory over sin.
Joy bites her lip, pushing her hand back down to continue in a rebellious act she wishes she could keep alive for more than just one night. It'll be different once she leaves for college, she'll get a nice boyfriend and forget all about this sin dripping onto the bedsheets. Oh fuck, such moisture. It's a sickness... she's just excising it, dutifully. Joy's a good girl. She does not know anything else.
Laboured, shaking breath collapses against Lady Nova's perfect face and Joy finds herself getting carried away. There will be no victory over sin on this night, Joy's happy to secretly lose to it just this once and then she'll be the good girl she usually is come morning. This is just a dream... yes, a nightmare. So terrible.
"Nova..." Joy gets so carried away that she finds herself leaning closer, lonely lover's lips pressing against the confident, winning smile of the one person she knows could never let her down. The kiss is immoral, according to her despotic parents, but Joy rationalises this easily in her head. It's just a wall, she's just kissing fucking drywall. If only she could have lived with her rich aunt, that woman isn't perfect either but she has enough money to afford a kinder outlook. It's so easy to appear benevolent when you're not presently drowning. Would Auntie have told her that these repressed desires are enough to mark her hellbound?
Lips pull away and the poster sticks to them until finally they break free. The sin is over, and Joy feels the exact same as always. Lonely.
She hopes the angels aren't watching right now.
Vigilante
"I'd steer clear of her if I were you, Orchard, she's unlicensed and... trouble." Black Cowl recalls their shadow and checks their work phone for any recent alerts. Some nights are quiet like this, to Joy it feels more like she's hanging out with friends, though ones in costume and masks to protect their anonymity. On this particular night she's paired up with Cowl again, so it's less like hanging out and more like drawing blood from a stone. The warning they just gave was the first time Joy was graced with that low, gravely voice in what feels like hours.
Orchard glances back and groans at these middle school antics, aren't they all supposed to be heroes? She feels guilty for the thought, but a part of her is begging for a crime to be committed already. At least she's grateful to be out of the dorm, finding herself in no rush to return when Danielle has someone over. "But... she's been following us for several blocks now, it feels really awkward... letting her walk with us isn't condoning her actions right? I'm gonna go talk to her."
"Hmph... fine, I'll keep watch here." Cowl's as stoic as ever, Joy cannot help but grin and take the que to skip over to the tailing vigilante who stops and watches the approach.
The blonde in tactical gear brandishes her knife like Orchard is about to launch into an offensive, Joy drawing nearer and slowing her step. "Hey, you ah... want an autograph or something? I don't have a pen on me, hehe."
The vigilante, Firefly, stares at the hand extending out towards her and quirks her brow with a light smirk. "I didn't know you were allowed to talk to me, but I guess I was wrong!" The dangerous woman enthusiastically accepts the handshake, her grip nearly causing poor Orchard to wince.
Joy scoffs, turning back to look at the stickler waiting from a responsibly uninvolved distance. "Well... aha, I don't really give a crap about that sort of thing. If you're on patrol it means you want to protect people right? That makes you okay in my book." It's a pretty short book, Joy has not spent much time considering the particulars of her nightlife.
Firefly's turn to scoff. "But you still got the license? Guess saving lives feels a bit sweeter when you get a wage, hm?" The blonde's fingers slip free from Orchard's and she crosses her arms with a smugness that Joy just wants to... what? Joy's a good girl, she wouldn't harm a fly. Nor a smile.
"Gets me through college at least... I'm not sure I like what you're implying. Think you're better than me, huh?" An incensed Orchard steps closer and stares into the abyss before her, eyes widening when she identifies her friend. Barely warm breath flows onto Laura's cheek, the vigilante petrified by the sudden invasion of space. It's not sight, nor voice, nor personality that gives her away. It's that cheap cologne Joy's been catching whiff of for weeks now. Unsure what possessed a good girl like her to step forwards like she's squaring for a fight, Joy backs away. In her hand is a memento, one of the throwing knives pilfered from Firefly's vest by nimble touch. Good girls don't usually have such light fingers, but rigid control from overbearing helicopter parents once encouraged the strawberry blonde to develop habits she no longer indulges in very often. It's been almost a year since she last sinned, when she just had to lift that last ticket to Nova's meet and greet at the North Star Crater discovery centre. A pity her hero had to cancel.
Joy sins, spinning the knife on her finger with an almost flirtatious smirk before getting a hold of her self. What the hell is she doing? This is Laura, her Laura.
"Nice trick, appletini, but I'm gonna need that back in case someone actually dangerous comes along and your little powers don't-- H-Hey!" Still wearing the blush blown onto her cheeks from Orchard's inappropriately close breath, the vigilante Firefly finds herself unable to step closer and retrieve her weapon. Roots peeking out of pavement coil around the unofficial hero's ankle and keep her held in place. This is usually the part where Joy would sever mind and body, for a time, but she's content in this for now. Firefly's an ally, after all.
"I give it you back the moment you revoke that moral grandstanding you just tried me with. The way you're equipped, way you move... you're not a vigilante because you're opposed to compensation, you're just powerless. Ah I mean... without powers, not... well maybe you're a little powerless right now but that's beside the point." Joy lets out a short laugh, glad that Cowl isn't here to see this side of her. It's not one she rears often, only allowing herself to slip when the angels aren't watching. Firefly's a sinner, operating without a license and breaking the rules, so there's no need to act too sweet. Still, Joy isn't a bad person, just a bored one. Those fucking school visits are killing her, flickering fame is burning a hole into her cheery disposition. "They rejected you, didn't they? I'm sorry, really. The name's Orchard, lamest hero in New Cassiepiea!" Closing the distance between them, Joy regains her usual pluckiness and tucks the knife back into place on Laura's chest. Gosh, Laura's a vigilante? Somehow, it only just hit her.
With a blush on her cheeks that only grows darker, the blonde blows air out the side of her mouth and clears her throat. "Uh... Firefly."
"I'll be keeping an eye on you, ehehe." Orchard goes to remove her vines, realising just how high up Laura's leg they've creeped... one even slipping under the blonde's combat trousers. The usually obedient roots linger for a little too long before finally acquiescing to the mental request, no, command. If Joy didn't know better, she'd think her psyche was trying to tell her something.
From that moment on, Orchard had found her first groupie, a tagalong that always seemed to conveniently show up during patrol before the night was over. At least this way, she could keep an eye on her reckless best friend. The nights became a hell of a lot livelier, and a little less lonely.
Downward Spiral
"Hmph..." Lady Nova tries to hide the dissatisfaction that presently grips her, the woman failing badly despite her usual discipline in performance. "You may go, Miss Williams. Just know that I'll be keeping a close eye on you. For your protection, I mean." The shining star of New Cassiepiea waves her hand dismissively, the golden glow receding as she curses her shit luck. Misty has slipped through her fingers again, and the woman feels like breaking something. The glint in her eyes tells me she considers breaking me, but that won't come until much later.
"A pleasure working with you, Lady Nova... I-I hope I'm still being considered for the agency, I really tried my best." It's difficult to hide my smile from the woman, but I'm considerably incentivised by Miss Murmur's promises of kisses blacker than her name and fingers deeper than this needle of want in figurative vein. Everything is going just how she said it would, maybe she really does know this former hero of mine better than I ever did. All I knew was creased paper kisses and shame overflowing. Hivemind is Nova's eyes, and we've blinded her with loyalty.
"Yeah, yeah... just go. I imagine you've kittens to save from trees, don't you girl?" A bitter tone betrays the black hole of a woman hiding behind the thin veneer of hero, not that I need her mask to crack to know what she is anymore. I've a new teacher, role model and... hero.
Letting Murmur's instructions steady the rising in my heart, I manage not to react to Nova's provocation. I'm done with that small time crap, me and Murmur are going to effect real change together! I think. "Ehe... yes ma'am, I'll... get right to it." Sensing that the woman might drop her act entirely should I waste any more of her time after the fruitless debriefing, I quickly turn on my heels and shuffle away, heart beginning to skip the more distance from Nova I create... and the closer I come to falling back into Miss Murmur's corruptive arms.
It takes several blocks of wandering until Hive can confirm that Nova has no intention of tailing me, meaning we successfully tricked her! I'm so happy, practically running the rest of the way back to my new hero's apartment and giving the knock she taught to me at the beginning of this wild week of change.
After a few excruciating seconds, Murmur opens the door with a catlike grin plastered over pasty face. The woman's exhaustion aside, she's always so animated around me. Like a reanimated corpse, or a vampire, charming me into her willing thrall. I've felt her teeth sink into my skin already, it hurts only as much as it mends. I'm reborn in each and every bite, revelling in the way she unravels my former high strung self. I was always so obedient, a rule follower, and now I follow someone out of choice, one who tells me the rules of society are not so ironclad.
"There you are, I was beginning to grow nervous, doll." I don't believe her for a second, Murmur's confidence is second to none. Or perhaps second to one, but I got the sense that Nova is starting to grow just as weary as my mistress here. "Come in and tell me how things went with Nic... in the bathroom, I think it's time for a change."
Oh gosh, she mentioned how she was considering dyeing my hair. It was posed as a question, but I'm sure it was rhetorical. Murmur can do whatever she likes to me, I'm perfectly fine with her making decisions for me because... I trust her completely, she's my midnight mistress. A placid smile stains my face, like an inkblot. I'm just so happy to have been good for her, and now I'm craving her approval more than I care about eating dinner.
Following the woman into the bathroom, Murmur pulls me into a bathtub that has not seen water in quite some time. When I had left this morning to make for Nova tower, I believe it was still filled with random treasure from my hero's many conquests. I cannot think of a more noble cause than inconveniencing the rich and bloated, while Nova just beats up those poor saps driven into a corner that tells them crime is their only option. It's the flaw of hero agencies, they only operate within the law... though history proves that they're also powerful enough to influence the law, push the bounds. So why isn't Nicole, a woman who I thought would never let me down, not pushing further?
My head rests back against my dark mistress and a wildfire blush spreads over my face at her holding me so closely. I've lived too long with Nova being everything to me, so going it alone is too scary. In gold's stead, this crow of a woman will be my world instead. I'm falling, head over heels, but I can trust her to catch me always. "Uhm... so the ah... ahahaha, sorry, words caught in my throat!"
Murmur gives me placating smile, her talon touch brushing hair from my face and delicately caressing my burning cheek. "That's quite alright, silly, never apologise for being as cute as you are. You really are nothing but carrion, for thieves like us. My ilk, I mean, the ones who take and use. You're better suited to be taken, and I can see you're rather taken with me hm?"
Her words are poetry that simplify my thoughts, make me melt against an endlessly intoxicating rhetoric. It's an awakening, I realise, when I can't help but agree with everything she tells me. I want her to use me, and use me, and use me. I must be spent in service of my mistress, the thought turns me on so terribly I figure it must be some dirty fetish rearing its ugly head. Murmur won't mind that I get off to being hers, though, she's too accepting for such petty judgements.
"Mm..." I nod, shyly, still not used to being such a lesbian slut. I fear her growing tired of me, or simply getting bored. If I lost my Miss Murmur, I'd be adrift again for the first time since my childhood. Idol worship is the only raft I've ever known, it's a safety and a comfort I do not know how to live without. It's normal, I think, my parents had a worship of their own that was just as cloying. "I'm very taken with you, Miss Murmur, I'm glad I could be good for you today ehe... the method worked exactly how we practiced, Nova's cautious but certainly not suspicious. We're in the clear, at least I think, Hive's going to stick around in the tower and make sure it's all okay."
In place of words, Murmur responds with those gorgeous black lips descending onto my overheated neck, rolling down to shoulders as teeth finally come out to play. I'm just her apple, ripe and fruitful. My toes curl and I gasp into the tiled room, sinking into depths of depravity I'd have previously gawked at. If my reward is pain, and it makes me feel better than a hundred thousand regular old kisses, what does that say about me? I can think of two words, Hive really got the snowball rolling with those... if I was given the choice again between a straight arrow and a lesbian slut, I'd question how I ever struggled in my deliberation. "Good girl, Joy. I'm proud of you, knew you wouldn't let me down kid."
"Mmmgh... gosh. What colour did you pick for me, mistress?"
Murmur reaches for the dye, content to douse her hero plaything in her own dark brilliance, and rinse away the rest. "Naturally, I went with Black."
In Another Life
"You're always calling me cute. I really hope you mean it." My lips curl into an easy smile set to entice the woman across from me. She's just finished exercising, the tease having to do it right in front of me when she knows the distraction spells disaster for my reading. I've been on this same page for the past half hour, sneaking glances rather unsubtly at that powerhouse I managed to somehow put a ring on. I could have kept quiet until she absconded for her shower, but she couldn't help but comment on my wandering stare, calling me cute.
Brie grins, giving me a dirty look you wouldn't typically give to something so cute. I must be a special case, and glad for it. She may well be a lech, but she's mine. Those lecherous eyes only linger on me, maybe my cuteness has poisoned her mind. "You serious? Being as cute as you are should be a crime, I mean it. I'm not sure what to even do with it all some days." The taller woman steps closer, towel thrown over her neck. She knows better than to worry I won't welcome her approach until she's washed away the exertion. The smell of a woman made breathless, ragged, now that's nothing to turn your nose up at.
Fuck this book, it wasn't very interesting anyway. Discarding Satie's biography onto the table by my side, I give this flirtatious spouse of mine the attention she is due. "Well then I'm an outlaw, aren't I? So I think you need to tie me up until the powers that be come and lock me away with all the other cute criminals." I feign a stretch, my vest lifting up as Brie's gaze trails down predictably to greet the slither of skin on show. That other version of me should still bare a scar right about here, that my skin is unblemished must prove myself the clone but I hardly find the will to care. In fact, I relish in the thought. I'm not responsible for the weight she carries, the mistakes I remember us making. I'm just Joy Williams, somebody has to keep the name alive right?
Lured in by fresh skin she can't help but fawn over, Brie drops her knee onto the couch between my opening thighs, dipping down to cup my chin with her strong yet gentle hand. "Careful what you wish for, Flower. C'mere."
She pulls me close and I offer no resistance, kissing her like it's the last time.
I Play the Notes as They Are Written
My fingers glide across the keys indifferently, playing the music perfectly and yet, impassionately. There is a faint imprint on my finger where a ring would sit, she takes care of it during the day but allows me to wear it at night once the guests have filed out. No distractions while I'm playing for the folks of high society, I owe her too much to argue this and so I play unhampered by that golden weight. I'm grateful to be wearing a suit again, I have not felt so well dressed since the ceremony.
My aunt is busy rubbing shoulders, I should not divert my eyes to look but I do so anyway, muscle memory carrying the melody as I assess today's mingling. A sea of faces, some fresh, some detestably familiar. My only family catches my wandering stare and pierces it with her own, causing my head to lower in deference and hide behind the instrument that gives my life purpose.
"Brie... I'm sorry." She's is outside, I am inside. Why did I choose this cage over freedom, again? I didn't want to fight anymore, while my Brie's a fighter through and through. Even as I play the notes, paint this dreary scene with music I've lost any taste for, I'm thinking of her. It's alright though, we'll meet again in another life. I've dreamt it.
"Joy, dear." Ah, she crept up on me again. Her voice is granite, coarse and intrusive. Her igneous words interrupt and subsequently immolate my thoughts of Brie, petty reminiscences should be disregarded. It's one of the first things my auntie taught me, when my parents took away my stuffed bear Lottie because of some unrelated satanic panic. I hated her for the harsh words at first, but I've come to rely upon the stone faced woman's blunt, naked truths. What good is dwelling on the past, reaching for something between the bars of a gilded cage, if it's already too far away to care? Has she moved on, I wonder, or is her regret just as trenchant.
"Yes, Auntie?" Almost all of my responses to this woman consist of these two words, the only real variance being my inflection. Sometimes it's a question, and sometimes a confirmation.
"That one over there, in the jade dress. She can't be trusted to keep a secret, you know what to do." The older woman grips my shoulder through a suit jacket worth more than everything in my room.
"Yes, Auntie." Before I've even finished the blunt, affirmative sentence, my roots are already burrowing into the ground beneath piano bench and zeroing in on their target.
I'll protect this colourless world with all that I have, because there is nothing else left to savour but the confines of this cage.
Nirvana. Endorphins. Oblivion.
A new ceiling, how long has it been? I'm... happy, I think. If I'm honest it feels a little difficult right now, thinking, with all the pain killer promises whisking me off to places new and undiscovered. I'm in a state of reinvention right now, and thank fucking god I'm thinking behind a pane of marbled glass. That thing I had been dwelling on, day in and day out in the mansion... it feels so distant now. I'm freed, cleansed, regaining my humanity at long last and learning my place. How ironic, I'm lucid enough right now to know that the train for my humanity has long since left the station. I'm to be something new, thoughtless and pure. Neo.
The entity that freed me from my aunt struts into the room, its gait far too perfect to be human. If it will free me from thought next, I hardly care that it is not human. Neither am I, though I'm finally cured of that sickness which only caused harm to those around me.
"Mrs. Williams. How are you feeling? The procedure went well, but I'm keeping you in this cot for a week to see you heal up nicely." The mechanised doll body stops short of where I lay, porcelain mask of a face wearing an endless state of satisfaction I wouldn't dare to crack. It is an unfeeling machine, living out the dream of a dead man. I am unbearably envious of its cold heartedness, finding yet another idol to worship as the drugs seep into my sense of reason and gleefully degrade it.
"I feel better... I can't hurt anyone with them anymore, do you think he will forgive me?" Sitting up in my bed, I lean towards the Angel that saved me when my own Brie did not, she abandoned me for Envy's war and when I tried to call for her... Auntie said that Brie ignored the cry. We will meet again in another life, my dreams still tell me as much. I don't think I'll dream again in this life, however, and so I've nothing left to do but await my reincarnation.
For now, I am Angel's property, because I'm too weak to be anything else. I'm tired, the process of removing my power took all of yesterday and I couldn't stop remembering my aunt's last words. A flicker of humanity, come too late.
Artificial, ingratiating laughter fills the room and Angel cups my cheek in her cold robotic hand. The ball joints in her fingers push the digits to close around my face and I let my eyes flutter closed, preferring this touch to my previous owner's. My last remaining family became little more than a jailor, but this machine offers me freedom of a kind. "Joy, it has been approximately 112976 hours since you last believed in him, I only ask that you believe in me. You will be a symbol of change for your kind, even should they label you a traitor at first I am sure that you will bring the light of Hope to those so called 'Cassies'."
She, it, wants me to be a political mouthpiece? The face of a movement? Are they to put this weary face on banners with catchy slogans to peddle their propaganda? Would that I had the strength to say no, but instead I'm already practicing my smile. "Yes, ma'am. I'll... be good for you." There I go again, addressing it like the woman it presents itself as. I know this body is little more than a puppet, but for how long will my mind stay so rational? Given my track record, I give it a week before I'm completely subservient and adoring, in mind and body. Good.
"Good girl, but for you to do that I need you to rest up for me, in a week's time I'll make your courage known to the world. And to theirs. For now, I've prepared a little gift for you, a symbol of your faith. You were raised catholic, just like me, right?" The mechanical woman gives a grating, discordant chuckle to her own little joke. It was built, not raised, in the interest of 'national security'.
"Something like that, yes." Their faith went deeper, right down into the dirt. I thought that cross they used was normal until it came up in college, my family is nothing but scum. Except for Brie, even now as I become her enemy I do it with the knowledge that somehow, somewhere... we will be happy again. You, me and her. Until that day comes, she'll forgive my weakness... because that's just how she is.
"Then here, you must know what the dove symbolises?" Angel gives the only smile she can in a face void of muscle, a mask of serene tranquillity that hides behind it something faulty and sinister. "I had this made for you, recycling that which you pilfered from your apostate of an aunt." Hands reach around my neck and clip chain into place, a small golden dove sitting on my chest staring up at me indifferently. My wedding ring, given new purpose. Peace, forgiveness and neo. I can endure this, in fact, I'll start to enjoy it. I'm already more grateful to this monster than I should be and it'll only get worse.
"Thank you, ma'am." I grit my teeth, accepting the gift with a placid smile I let the drugs float me away on. No matter how pathetic I become in this thing's presence over the coming weeks, months, years... it's okay. There's one teaching I've done well to take to heart.
The meek shall inherit the earth.
Yggdrasil's Goodest Girl
"What's she doing all the way over there in the corner? Rose, you've not been feeding her extra again I hope." The woman playing Envy throws one leg over the other as she adorns the dark throne with a soft simper. Deciding not to wait for her assigned lieutenant to answer, Envy's proxy searches the former hero's mind and shakes her head disapprovingly. "Nova's orders were to break her, but you're all so soft, spoiling the traitor like she's one of us now. Or at least, a treasured pet in earnest." Envyn't scoffs, still smiling, this role has been so much fun to play she hopes it never has to end. Such power, she can see why mother once acted in such a way before the weight of becoming an empress caught up to her. "Go play fetch with her or something, if she eats too much even that Nova empowered body might start to pack on pounds and the boss lady'll be asking me why I'm installing new seats in the Rook."
Rose narrows her eyes, not so loyal to this pretender as she is to her real empress. The proxy's driven by little more than a lust for power, chosen out by Nicole specifically for that reason. "Yeah, like a little weight would matter, eesh..." The former sister mutters under her breath as she strolls across the dark obsidian floor, The Moth's pilot giving her a look that urges caution. Rose gives a dry smirk, flashing a slither of teeth stained from bad habits. She knows Misty's still in there, and that the woman is well aware of Rose's past after she had spilled it all out in a drunken sob story once upon a time. Distaste at her current superior's comment aside, Rose feels more than happy to do as she's told in this instance. Orders can be easy to follow when they involve playing with a puppy who is never anything but a delight to be around. It's remarkable to think that she and the knight are one in the same, that lethal pilot who strolls in and out of the tower when called upon. Rose does not think that she would have half the pep in her step were she approaching Joy's other persona.
"Hey girl, you're lucky today, no missions and now you get to play with Aunt Rose." The heavily tattooed woman crouches down with a creak of latex and cocks her head, smirking heavily when she realises her voice has fallen upon deaf ears. The puppy, Joy, is far too enamoured with the contents of her bowl. Kneeling with her hips wagging imaginary tail Mint said she's considering designing a prosthetic for, Joy has her face buried in her dog bowl, hair clipped back to stop it from falling into the food. Misty's thoughtful like that, thinks Rose with forgiveness dawning in her heart for their short lived spat from another life.
Slipping clicker from her pocket and using it to get the well trained pet's attention, Rose watches as Joy's head perks up and she turns, sitting up on her calves and leaning forwards with hands planted on her knees. "Roshary!" The eager thing's still chewing her food, gulping it down with a bright, beaming smile that makes this all seem so cruel. Can't they just keep her like this and figure something else out, Rose finds herself thinking, shuffling forwards to wipe Joy's mouth and chin with her handkerchief.
"We got caught spoiling you again, but I think you deserve it. Who's a good girl Joy?" Rose smirks, petting the plucky puppy's copper hair and checking the tag hanging from her collar. Mint's handy tech is supposed to administer a small shock whenever the excitable girl misbehaves, but they switched it out behind their appointed Empress's back a while ago.
"I am!" The well conditioned pet personality begins to enter full bloom when it's stoked like this, Joy pushing up into the hand stroking her hair and starting to pant.
"I said who's a good girl?" It's too much for even Rose, who has never lived with pets before on account of her myriad vices making it seem irresponsible.
"Me! I am! It's me!" Joy gets worked up, breath becoming laboured as she aggressively rocks her head into that rough hand petting her. "I'm a good girl!"
Rose laughs, deciding to try and calm the silly mutt down now that she's noticed them both getting carried away. "Okay, okay! If you tell me Aunt Rose is your favourite, like I know she is, I'll play with you for the rest of the afternoon. Hell, you can come to bed with me too if Empress Envy permits it."
"Owner... uhm, she's so nice... c-can I really? You are my favourite, you smell just like... uhm..." Joy whines and tilts her head, forgetting what she was going to say. Rose and Brie aren't too dissimilar, though the latter never opted for the ink where Rose sports full sleeves her torn habit shows off wonderfully.
"Don't get yourself all confused, girl, can't have you becoming dizzy before you've even broken a sweat." Rose holds out her hand and a vine lowers down from the ceiling to give her Joy's favourite ball. "Ready for some fetch, hon?"
Joy nods emphatically, loving this simplified existence of hers more than the complete her would ever care to admit. This is her favourite game, because she can never lose. Hasn't she lost enough?
Eyes locking with those of the woman on the throne, Rose grips the ball tight as muscle begins to multiply in her right arm, powers no longer hindered by golden affliction. A super-powered throw launches the ball fast enough to create a short boom that ripples through the room. Joy William's favourite toy barrels past the proxy's head, close enough to move her hair, and crashes through the window behind them.
"Ah!" Joy quickly scampers after it excitedly, using her flight to propel her through the broken glass and hoping she can catch her ball before it reaches city ground.
...
"You're on thin ice, Rosary." Speaks the acting ruler, turning to share a look with the doll assistant, Murmur.
With a glint of satisfaction in her eye, having managed to rattle the woman she's not able to disobey through malicious compliance, Rose stares down into the black mirror by her feet. "Yeah, fuck you too."
Muzzle Flash
The cage inside of my Rook opens and I descend ladder onto hangar floor, tasting air thick with... change. I'm not used to change anymore, I don't understand how to cope with it. Every day is exactly the same, exactly as I need it to be to feel the useful weapon Handler's fashioned me into. So then, what's new in my life of near infallible constants?
There's a new frame in the hangar, more a shell, the thing I just destroyed? They must have hauled it back while I was out practicing, suppose it makes sense. You can make good tools from scrapped parts, just look at me. No point in worrying about that woman I near killed earlier, she's Commander Black's problem now. Speaking of Handler, loyalty beckons me back to my room in case She should stop by for briefing or... better.
Just how they did in the tower when I played the part of Envy's knight, the mundane folks in this base do well to steer clear of my path and their caution makes me feel powerful. Unlike Envy, that force of nature, I am not in charge of this power and so I do not indulge in it. Still, it does bring a curve to my lips I'll have to try and wipe before Handler catches sight and removes it herself. I love the woman, truly, for knowing how best to make use of a calamity like me. My head has stewed in chaos for far too long, I've lived too many different lives. Better to be used than useless, and my lack of success in personal endeavours has made me feel the latter all too many times. This feeling brings me pride, even if I've never put much stock in the military. I don't have to, I'm not a soldier and thus am not burdened with the weight of my kills. They have never convicted a service weapon, nor has one ever felt guilt's cumbersome hands close around its neck.
"Rifle."
My shoulders tense and I swallow the saliva building in my mouth, quickly fixing my slouched posture and turning to face that voice, Her voice. My demeanour does a 180 and out of respect, that smile dissolves into an obediently straight line. "Y-Yes, Handler?"
"Come with me, you're due a demotion." Her lips curl, I can hear it. Usually such a statement would be spoken in admonishing tone, but to me the concept of being demoted from the weapon of war I presently am means very little. In fact, I think it's good news? Less responsibility it always good, I think, the shameless coward that I am. Dying is nothing to worry over, just another transition of many, but living without orders makes me want to wretch.
"Yes Handler." Just like in another past life, I typically find myself alternating between these same two words with only the inflection changing. Only a week ago I could speak more freely in Her presence, but then she tired of my sass. Yesterday, I heard She banished that 'Shepherd' from the base, but I've had no interest to inquire on Her reasons. Handler is a black hole of reason, I've the good sense not to peer into that abyss lest it reach out and grab me. I prefer the leather touch, its firmness is just right. When Commander Black pulls my trigger, or activates my safety, I feel calm and I feel empty. Discipline is important.
The two of us walk in silence, as one usually would when she travels alone with nothing but her property in tow. I won't deny the pounding in my heart, it always starts up when I'm around Her. As stated, however, the moment I'm put to use that wave of calmness stills all but the drive to comply and carry out my orders. Without interruption from the rabble that infests this world of Black, we reach the interrogation room I have never stepped foot inside until today. I wonder if Brie was taken here while Handler had that scrap that She made me from endure total deprivation a few doors down. Brie... that name's familiar, an enemy as I understand it. Though not a serious threat.
"Don't bother with the seat, rifle, you know how I like you." Handler sits and I nod, my hips pushing out to feel the space in front of me and finding a bulky table I'll have to be careful not to hit my head on. Fortunately, mine's a sturdy head. Lowering down onto the ground, I shuffle forwards on my knees and dream of demotion... will I finally be Her round-the-clock free-use fucktoy? A rifle can only Hope.
"Cunt or boots, Sir?"
Something New
"Ah, you're still struggling? Gosh, you on drugs or something woman?" Feeling something of a power trip overtaking me, I titter into my gloved hand and kick the door closed behind me upon re-entering the room. "I can't believe you hid this uniform in another room, I knew you would keep one here somewhere. Here, let me help you with that." My excitement grows when I step forwards and begin to manhandle the woman like she's little more than cattle. My Nova drops down onto the bed and I unbutton her shirt slowly, kissing over her neck wantonly as I do so. If my lips were less passionate, perhaps those chords playing through the manor wouldn't sting me so. I caress her bare upper form once the shirt is placed aside, admiring this body that so rarely displays itself without a costume. Even these fancy clothes were another cosplay, I don't think Nicole knows how to live without a role.
"Mmgh... Misty..." She's lost in some manner of daydream, my hands working to pull down her trousers and pausing when I take in the sight of her even more nude for me. Exhilarating.
"Seriously? I suppose we do share some things, myself and that woman you let down. Don't spit in the face of love and then moan her name like you deserve her, Miss Black." With a hum, I pile up the woman's clothes and make sure to steal away her underwear too. She does not need to wear anything under her superhero costume, and even that's just a second skin in truth. Such a hero, maybe I'll have her do some of my favourite poses later! "It is cute though, that you'd think of her... but I won't let you picture her when I fuck you." I slip her leg into the costume and feel the severity of my own words, swallowing them back like a bitter brew. I'm hot, buzzing, wondering if I'm not letting myself get carried away. Self control has long been a stranger to me, whether I'm losing myself to the drift or grabbing it with newfound leather vice. If there's one thing I'm struggling with, it's being a normal well adjusted girl. Baby bear's porridge is toxic to a thief like me.
"Rrrifle..." Nicole slurs, my dressing her taking a short intermission so that I may grip her cheeks with smooth leather digits and watch the sad line of drool escape those lips. It rolls down her chest and proves what an empty threat she is even if I'm still on edge.
"Guess again, that weapon of yours is dealt with... uh, for now. Any sway you might still hold over me is a result of my own temptation. I'm finally in charge, hehe, you must hate that. You were so sure I didn't have teeth so did nothing to protect yourself, this is where that sloppiness gets you. It's only fair that I have you like this, you've changed me so much... I-I wasn't this rotten until you stripped my inhibition bare, made me someone shameless. Well, I'm proud now." My hand recedes and I continue to dress her into the costume slowly, it's harder than you'd think to dress another person with limited motor function and a bratty streak still in need of snuffing out.
"Not me..." She's persistent, I'll give her that. Just what you'd expect from the number one hero I suppose.
"I think someone's getting a bit too big for her britches, don't you? Keep quiet and still for the next five minutes, or I'll take away your good girl juice." It's such a funny threat, isn't it? The part of Nicole still trying to fight this should want to let the drug run its course and let her sober up, but we both know the part of her who craves this is stronger. Nicole may be an addict of a kind, just like me, but from what I saw of her past she was never one to abuse substances. Rather straight edge, in fact, save for a little wine. I never saw her wield a cigarette in any of those fragments, only having taken up the habit when she knew it'd have no effect. Just aesthetics, Nic needs something stronger... like silver. How could she ever deny it? Just watch, she'll find her servitude in three...
...two...
...and one.
"O-Okay, fffine..."
Atta girl.
Chapter One: A Very Normal Morning
One last night. Just one last night in this godforsaken manor and then I pray to heaven above that I never have to walk its halls again. I curse the frailty of this weak form, miss the muscles Commander Black had given me as though that has any bearing on my bout of wooziness. After finishing Satie's posthumously released movement, I practically collapsed in front of my blubbering butch. Perhaps I'd overexerted myself. So long as I can keep Nova hooked on my silver everything will be fine. Sleep with one eye open in case the military comes knocking for Nicole... at least that was the plan, but we were both fast asleep in seconds.
I commanded my toy hero to kneel on the floor of her own room and relay to me the number she's counted up to by the time I wake back up, after resenting Misty for her sleepless state I've the mind to teach Nova just how disorienting the deprivation can truly be. I'd know, they kept me on my feet for countless days in Envy's tower and that alone did half the job of breaking me into their affectionate little puppy. It's so twisted to feel gratitude to somebody for offering a solution to the problem they created in the first place, but I can't deny that a part of me finds the concept bewilderingly hot now. I took to the bed with Brie, Nicole's bed, it seemed fittingly humiliating for the blonde who thought she'd still have enough sway in reiteration to rule us. Brie, for her part, had no qualms sleeping in the same bed as me even if we're more used to sleeping on the floor together after a long session of a drugged Hellhound using my rifle body for hours on end. The part of me that yearns for those days is wandering around somewhere I can't see, and wouldn't care to look even if I could. It belongs with that forgotten, dead grass, I'm doing far better without its pathetic obsession. Brie, too, seems to be holding up perfectly well. Given how she looked by the end there, broken into something more subservient than she could see for herself, I'm surprised how well she's managing. My Brie's a fighter, while my own history only tells a story of rolling over at the first sign of challenge. Envy was the exception, which is why she's to be my template... dare I say role model?
It takes me a few seconds to realise I'm awake, not used to having a world in front of me to open my eyes to. Perhaps my scalpel didn't cut deep enough if I'm still reminiscing on that world of darkness. My strength has returned, I tell myself this because I need it to be true, forgetting strength for the moment and instead reaching for my comfort. That selfish desire I'm allowed to have strikes me like a hollow point round, the urge to be held by arms so strong and sweet.
My hand does not find her, the left half of Nicole Black's bed is conspicuously empty and my lip suffers a sharp pain in turn. With a sluggishness that suggests I'm still not at one hundred percent, I sit up and fight the panic in my chest. Before my eyes fall upon the missing woman, my ears pick up the sound of soft, if troubled, snoring. It's not hard to find her after that, my legs swinging over the edge of Nicole's bed as I stare coldly at the sight in front of me. That violence in my chest becomes a still weight, heavy and dead. "Oh, Brie..."
The red haired hellhound is curled up on the rug, completely naked, her head nestled snugly in the lap of Nicole Black. It's difficult to fully process the emotion wrought by this scene, Brie looks so peaceful as she breathes deep the scent she was conditioned into a strong obsession for. Her vulnerable face leaves no trace of the front she does well to maintain while conscious. In this moment, her guard completely lowered, Brie looks like nothing but a happy puppy content to fawn over its owner in the hopes it will be doted upon in kind. It's... cute, earnest and endearing. And it's Nova's. I do not think I have ever hated my idol more than I do in this moment.
"You bitch... I lied to Brie, I still adore you." My eyes lock with Lady Nova's and she greets my gaze with soft, simmering stare. Of course, I forbade her from sleep. The woman's lips still move, ever counting, and I'm reminded of the absolute power I hold over the hero who once decorated my walls. After everything we've done together, I've still never shared a kiss with her as demure and loving as the one I gave that poster. The real Nova's kisses were passionate, hungry violations. Just once, I want to relive my youth and pretend I still have heroes. It may just be my mind playing tricks on me, but as the docile Nicole Black strokes her hand through the sleeping puppy's hair, eyes locked onto mine, I trace the subtle curve of a near-imperceptible smirk. Sliding down from the bed, I instinctively raise my hand to strike her before getting a hold of myself. Instead, I drop to my knees and cup those cold cheeks with clammy hands, pushing lips onto hers while the third member of this twisted trio lay unconscious below us.
I give her a nostalgic kiss that lasts for several counts of Nova's obediently stirring mouth, before pulling away. Her lips stick to mine before we part, just like they had when I was eighteen.
"25561." My Nova relays, her eyes so piercing even now.
"Mghh... Flower?" Brie tilts her head up in Nicole's lap, a few stray hairs falling over her cheek that the doped up hero quickly brushes aside. The sleepy butch shudders at the touch, a guilty look crossing her face that quickly erases my own ugly feelings of jealousy and possessiveness. I'm just as bad as her, neither of us are at fault. It's Nova's curse, we have to pay the price.
With a short exhale to calm myself down, I give the woman I think I love my best smile and reach out to hold her chin in my hand. "Morning, sleepyhead." Her face is softer than her hands, it heats up quicker too!
Brie's eyes are even softer than her face, becoming round and needlessly apologetic. "I... I messed up, couldn't sleep in the damn bed and... and I just--"
"It's okay, really. It stung at first, but I was only thinking about myself. She did this to you, made you need her, and I want to... uhm, well. Replace her?" Am I telling Brie that I want her to need me instead? Like a Handler? Is that what I meant to say? I put the uniform on in a moment of sheer self indulgence, but I hardly expected it to fit me as well as it had.
The woman in Nova's lap sits up and gives weak grin. "Heh, that right? You're cute as always, but I don't wanna make you my babysitter either. I'm not this weak, damnit, just..." She paws at her neck, looking more lost than I'd noticed her to be yesterday. A full night's sleep in Nova's lap and she's slipping, but I've no idea what I can do to help. Even if she refuses out of pride, I cannot abide doing nothing. All I've got, however, is my silver. I don't think that would be appropriate. "My neck feels so fucking bare, y'know? I hate her for doing all that shit to me, 'course, but I can't pretend I don't feel wrong without my collar on. Without my crate to curl up in. That feeling of being owned was..."
"A little comforting, isn't it? Like you can just stop worrying about making your own decisions, pride yourself on accessory that marks you claimed. I... I get it, really. I missed my mask too, things like that and your collar, they become a part of you. Even if it's a part you shouldn't yearn for, it's only natural to need it to feel whole. Still, they're not really parts of us, more like additions artificially grafted onto our soul to fit another's sick designs. I won't shame you for wanting it, Brie, but I won't entertain that we need them anymore. Ditch the crutch and learn to run, eh?" I give a shy laugh and the woman smiles wryly, giving a slow nod in response. This is good, we're healing I think. While we're, the three of us, broken playthings of a sort, I feel that myself and Brie will overcome. I will claim the future that photograph presents, make Brie mine forever... only if she wants it too, of course. Which she will. I Hope.
Hope has a funny way of falling on its own sword the moment you start to believe in it, and I'm given swift reality check that seeks to challenge this calm and rational mood I've forced myself into. I did not wish to upset or disturb Brie with those instincts that flared initially, deciding to forgive... no, understand. Perhaps this is why I feel so tested when I peer down at the space between my Brie and the living stopwatch to her side.
It doesn't even look like Brie is aware, still giving me that same pathetically amicable smile while her fingers lace into the 'person' by her side's. I know I just worked so hard to be calm, to give Brie an easy out for her weakness because she isn't deserving of judgement from a former rifle and more... but this incenses me in a manner that starts to frighten me. What am I supposed to do with these dark feelings bubbling up inside at such a torturous sight? No, genuinely, what am I to do? Where are your orders when you need them...
There's only one thing for it.
"Speaking of collars... I think it's about time I give Nova one of her own." I need to make it known, without a shadow of a doubt, that Nicole is little more than property now. Maybe then I won't feel so fucking jealous when my Brie's instincts yet bind her to the woman. Maybe then I can accept that their hands touching means nothing, as little as it had when Nova gave me deferent paw the day before. I shouldn't do this, I should stop here, gods know I'm trying to be normal. I shouldn't... but gosh, I can't stand such insecurity, not when it finally started to feel like I had someone of my own. Someone who would not let me down. There I go again, sounding like Nicole. I hate that she brings this out in me... that's right, this is her fault. I'd never dream of punishing Brie, so instead I'll do it to Nova, not to remind the woman of her place... but to show Brie that Nova is no longer anything save for an extension of my will. My whim on all fours, begging its master for more tricks to perform. I suppose, in that sense, I really am learning what it means to be a 'Handler'.
For all my justifications, really, I just want to punish Nova.
For the way she treated misty...
...the possessiveness and greed...
...I want to punish Nova.
For not living up to my expectations...
...that pedestal I had relied on...
...I need to punish Nova.
For the sway she holds over Brie...
...that deep seated obsession I cannot compete with...
...I will punish Nova.
Chapter Two: A Collar of Bruises
"Do you remember what I've told you? Every last word?" There's a fire in my chest, a flush across my skin that just won't go away. It's not anger, or excitement, but a union of the two. This is an offspring of my most indulgent emotions, mutated mass of overwhelming ego I had festering in malignancy for all too long. I can bear it no longer, Nova, if I don't punish you right here and now I may just lose my mind. I'll be nicer than you were, if it's any consolation, you'll probably even enjoy it in spite of the additional stain on your ego.
"Mmgh... yes, instructor." Nova's words are an instant rush to my lesbian cunt, making me blush indignantly and blow hot air against her face in my huff. Knowing that she still has such a sway over me as a drugged and docile toy only serves to show how deep this obsession runs. I don't think I could ever bring myself to be indifferent about Nicole Black, for better or worse, hers is an influence I could never escape. We're both under the influence right now, then, addicts of a kind that exchange acts of service and punishment as naturally as breathing air. I'm not a fool, you know, I've been nervous of her somehow having another turn with me down the line and repeating this cycle ad infinitum.
"Good girl, then let's begin shall we." I'm drowning in dark urges, it's different to how Envy's corruption developed. This came hard and fast, like a well trained rifle given the command to fuck its Handler's boot. There were signs, of course, but my observation skills have dulled from the long stretch in darkness imposed upon me by this wretched, irresistible woman. Brie's given us some privacy, not that I asked for her to leave, taking to the gym so that she may regain a sense of what she lost in our hero's lap. She'll see the aftermath, of course, but I'm still afraid of how Brie might look at me if I let loose in her presence. My naked hand raises into the air in a theatrical nature, something I must have inherited from Nicole herself, while the black leather digits curl around the back of her neck to hold her steady for what comes next.
This isn't the session room, but it'll do nicely. I think it'd be incorrect to call it Nicole's room anymore, either. It's just a normal room, on a normal morning, housing indecently normal occupants.
Snap!
I watch with wide, unblinking eyes as Nova straightens her slumped back submissively, clearing her throat to try and speak the words I've fed her. This isn't revenge, not really, because I know deep down it's just as cathartic for her to get lost in another black hole. She designed this White Dwarf so that, after extended use, any trace of the person who came before is lost in all that dumb haze. Destroy the enemy. I've suspected for a long time that me and Nova might be more alike than you'd think, before I started mimicking her against my better judgement I mean. It was subtle, but for once I knew all too well what to look for in those fragments. Self loathing will drive a woman into wicked places, and hold the world at hostage for it. I'll make a ghost of her yet, something free. Many have made the transition. Murmur escaped via dollhood, and Helena with fae awakening. Nicole, I promise you this: Even though you don't deserve it, even if you think it a punishment... I will save you.
"I, Nova, am Instructor Williams' toy hero. I'm addicted... mmh... to being put in my place again and again." The short moan is my fault, I couldn't help but puncture her shoulder with my stinger, leaving it there to administer small doses of pleasure whenever she finishes her assigned sentences. A hand slips between my legs and I'm shocked and appalled at this wetness, my libido a traitor to her kind. "I deserve this punishment, I..." The woman falters, hitching her breath as I run a nail over her chin and she catches sight of my candid masturbation. If she dares to try and join me in the act, I'll have to bind her arms with more than words. Silver rope pulls the limbs taut behind her back, my drug making disobedience a distant dream. I... god, I'm so grateful to Brie for bringing me this gift, even Florasma's infamous perfume couldn't do this much damage to Nova's sense of self. Her identity's on a platter that she served, and her own damn hubris is what lifted the cloche. If only she didn't gloat, and Nova's secret little plan would no doubt still be proceeding smoothly. For once, then, I'm glad for her endless fucking arrogance. "I enjoy everything you do to me. Believe everything you tell me..." I can see her struggling, still, a soft glare simmering on this pretty face that doesn't seem its age. A short burst of silver and those eyes slowly roll. "Everything Joy Williams tells me is the truth."
A shudder overtakes me, fascination and plain satisfaction crossing this storied face of mine. My mentor would be proud, I really am still just the slut she fashioned me into. Even to this day I cannot bring myself to contest her selfish words... because I no longer want to. Did I ever? Honestly, I love being used, violated, and soon Nova will too. Me become more like her? Fuck that noise, I'm making her more like me. This is only a 'punishment' insofar as I share that same affliction of loathing, in truth I cannot help feeling a touch benevolent in this moment. If I keep pushing, maybe Nova will start to mean those words I have her tongue repeating. Let's get this show on the road, ehe, I want her to know what it feels like to be reduced to an object at another's whim, a karmic gift that'll keep on giving until she does. Until the woman I've loved for the longest time gives in to the treatment and accepts her collar. It won't just be a metaphor, I've something much better in mind. Forgive me, Brie, I'll put a lid on this by the time you return. I Hope.
"Simplify."
I'm not sure I even recognise my own voice in this moment, so worked up and committed to this act that I couldn't care less. There isn't a moment to spare for reconsideration, it's not something she would do. Handler doesn't doubt herself, and neither does Instructor Williams. While my doped up Nova's mind begins to buffer the strictly spoken command, I get to work on her collar, dipping my head into the curve of her neck and latching onto the flesh with smouldering desire. Her body is my canvas, my commandeering mouth the brush. I'll paint something neither of us will have to worry about ever forgetting, a ring of dark affection that marks her forever changed. A blemish on this perfect, untouchable record of hers. I'll ruin you, Nova, and then build you back up as someone worth the pity in the first place.
"Nnh... Nova is instructor's toy, addicted to being put in its place." Nicole's breath is so laboured I'd start to worry about her passing out were she not a superpowered freak of nature. Suckling lips give her a rough hickey that's sure to develop nicely, just how Murmur taught me with my own supple flesh. In a way, I'm bridging their marriage here! My lips brush over sore, heated skin and fall upon the unblemished spot beside my latest handiwork, knowing I've plenty of ground to cover until this ritual is completed. "I deserve everything you do to me, and believe everry--ahhn--everything you tell me."
Second bruise. Spit coats the woman's neck, bridges between the radiant skin of my personal idol and the bottom of my quivering lip. This is so wrong, but she forced my hand. This is so wrong, but that's exactly what she deserves. Nobody else can do this, I'm the only woman in existence able to bring Nicole Black to heel and that power is changing me on a molecular level. Her submission is altering my brain chemistry, it has to be, because I'm not normally this intense... am I?
"Simplify."
My tongue drags over her throat as I cradle the woman's neck in leather grip, becoming just as lost in this body as Brie had earlier. It's perfectly acceptable to use her, this is a lovely body forged in the depths of outer space... it's a one of a kind, a marvel, and now it's mine. Another hickey begins as I get off to this more than I probably should, a part of me wishing Brie had stayed, wanting her to understand that all of this is okay. More than the loveless harlot deserves.
Nova swallows, I feel it against my lips and decide to suck harder as I wonder just how much I can make my hero squirm. "I'm your addicted toy, deserving and receptive to everything you do and say to me." There's a change in Nova's posture, her inflection, as though she begins to realise how easily these words are coming to her now. She's doing such a good job of ablating the pride she's spent years erecting in these temple walls. A tower of babel her new god sees fit to smite duly. This is a forever of feeling, at least it feels so, and now I know she feels it too. My vine relays as much, the Midas tinge in my garden losing its lustre.
At this point, I can't tell if she's under my spell, or I hers. The difference is meaningless, when regardless I come out on top. I want her to want it. I want her to need it. The way I needed her for years. I'll be the poster on your wall, the apple in your eye, the lips against your stinging throat. The brand new taste you just can't get enough of, I'll be all of it, indistinguishable from this silver I've got you hooked on.
I'll make you need your daily dose of Joy, for each and every day you made me yours. A pity then, that I lost count.
"Mmh... such a good toy, I'm so proud of you." Kill her with kindness as I mar her skin, hers is a loving collar. What better revenge than to make her like me? A human she rejects the authenticity of, a kind she scorns the breath of. I want her to love all of humanity, Joy to the world. "Simplify, pet. Let your words speak true, hehe, straight from the heart okay? Say it like you mean it~"
The woman's body writhes and I taste the need in her perspiration, soothing her with tongue only to drive her further into the depths of this well manufactured abyss with lips and teeth and a lust so potent it has me just as enthralled as she is. There are no choices in this scene, not really. Only consequences and their natural conclusions.
"Everything Joy Williams does is correct." My blonde junkie gasps at the words, the usually sharp sound weighed down by lethargy and cloying acceptance. It is a heady phrase, one I'm desperate to hear her utter again until she can no longer be shocked by the fact that she came up with it. I think I just came, but I'm far too focused on Nicole's collaring to pay attention to my own heat in this moment. I'm an endgame slut, I'm bound to come again soon. Keep calm and carrion, Joy.
"Oh fuck... again. Now, toy." Snap.
"Everything Joy Williams does is correct." My mouth gets to work, hungrily, practically devouring her as I give her jagged collar of sucking kisses that maim her as much as they make her moan for me. How could Nova ever complain, when we both know that...
Snap.
"Everything Joy Williams does is correct." Nova's words no longer seem so shocking to the speaker who runs that seductive script, eyes glazed and a line of drool traipsing down from parted lips. It's so wonderful, seeing her sink to the very bottom of the well she's been throwing people down for years. I hope she enjoys her stay.
More snaps, more repeated mantra, more firm lovebites that begin to develop into something truly picturesque. After a short stretch of time that really is something of a blur to us both, I come to my senses with a series of slow blinks. My eyes trace the handiwork I don't even remember finishing, a collar of bruises decorating the blissed out woman's neck. Judging by the thin, tipsy smile on her face, the eyes that hold no discernible light... I think I can be sure now. Nova is gone, all that remains is my well trained toy, collared and compliant. Everything I do to her is correct, so why do I feel like I've gone too far?
"Flower, you finally done?" Ah! Brie's voice trails over my shoulder and I slide free from Nova's lap, ignoring the mess between my legs as I turn to face her with panic gripping my heart. Brie is sitting on the bed, topless, towel resting over her neck and eyes locked onto Nova's new collar of darkening blemishes. I didn't even hear her come in and she's already sitting down, making me wonder how long she was witness to my unrestrained hedonism. Oh god, Brie, you won't understand but... but I... "Heh, you had that much fun without me? Make a girl needy, why dontcha?"
Feeling exhausted, I drop back into Nova's lap and sigh, dizzy smile painting across my face. "Yeah? I... I went way overboard, again, I need you to keep me in check Brie. You must think I'm losing my mind."
Brie still stares at the collar, then traces her eyes down to me. This look on her face is killing me, she's stunned and rightly so. "Nah... you're just lashing out in the only way you know how." Huh? What's she saying? She's obviously horrified, does she think I can't see that trembling she hides so poorly? "And well, she probably does deserve it even if it's a little hardcore for me. I'm not half the predator you think I am, Joy... I'm--"
"A big softie? I knew that already, anyone else in that Hellhound's position would've torn me in half after a few days on that gold stuff... she tested it on rifle before you arrived, had to pull it off some poor low rank officer it happened across in its insatiable high. You're a legitimately good person, I think, which is why you're so... god, would you please stop looking at me like that? I can take it from others, but with you it's--"
"Like what?" Brie leans forwards and carefully reaches for my face, cradling this cheek as she always has despite that burning look she's been giving me. If it isn't judgement I'm reading from her, then what? "You're a bit cute, you know that?"
My shoulders tense and tremble, is she really not abhorred by my petty display of power? I'm confused, and frightfully timid. "I'm... beginning to realise, yeah. Ahaha... Brie, she really did have it coming."
"Who said anything about Nicole Black, Flower? Forget about her for a damn second and look at me..." Oh my god, how did I not see the obvious? No really, I've become so dense in this tunnel visioned state that I missed the glaring truth. Brie's not appalled, she's jealous, unbearably so. Oh thank goodness, she's just like me, the way I felt so unbelievably jealous of the way she slept with Nova, the way their hands touched... I've given my Brie the same taste. I don't wish to be so petty, however, I never blamed her to begin with even if I felt heated in the moment.
"I'm looking at you, Brie..." And what a hypnotically beautiful picture she presents in this moment, burning with jealous affection as she hovers over bed's edge. I take in the sight of her toned stomach and wide chest, loving every inch of her body with restless gaze. "I... I wanna do more than look, ehe..."
Brie's blush erupts fiercely and soon her entire face is as red as her dyed hair, the butch I've kept waiting for too long biting her lip and turning her head away shyly. "I'm... real fucking turned on by you, I mean, watching you with her... you're always cute, Flower, but that side of you... the one you've been trying to hide?" She takes a deep breath and returns her gaze to mine, looking determined to be out with it. "It's so hot... I think because it's you, it's even hotter... I left the room because your pettiness fucking got to me. Not in the way you think, I mean, it made me... y'know?"
Oh, Brie... I've been no good to this woman, neglecting her the one thing she's been craving since the very beginning. It's all making sense now, so I won't make this mistake again. My panic transforms into excitement and I rise from Nova's lap to stand, holding the hand at my cheek with firm leather she no longer shies away from. My other hand glides fingers through her blood red bangs, petting her without worry of overstepping my bounds. "It turned you on to see me acting so assertive? Mmh... why didn't you say before? My sheep in wolf's clothing~" My hand pets her thoroughly and Brie's chest swells, the woman letting out a long shaky exhale that tells me I've hit the nail right on its head. So then, it wasn't just jealousy that I was giving Nova my attention, but how I was treating her too?
Brie's a fantastic top, but she only ever focused on my pleasure during the act. It was more than enough to get her off, too, but now I realise how much she was acting out what she'd have done to her in the ideal scenario. After everything I've experienced, it seems dreadfully cute, and a little silly, for her to have kept quiet on this. I suppose she didn't know I had it in me until this morning, and unravelled quickly. When Brie's treatment under Nova reared its head in relapse both yesterday and today, it was only the submissive tendencies that seemed to surface. I even attempted to encourage a relapse of the dominant urges that she had been trained with at the same time, foolish as I was.
Nova's brainwashing was reliant on a simple concept, and now I understand why her treatment of myself and Brie differed so greatly. The woman sought to weaponize our deepest desires against us, give us so much of what we crave that we no longer cared what an irredeemable monster our provider was. The rifle does not scorn its master's touch. A dog does not bite the hand that feeds. It's no secret to me, given how badly she made me revel in it, that the rifle conditioning worked so easily on account of just how desperate I already was for a lack of responsibility in my life, agency felt like a curse I needed to be rid of and Nicole Black stoked my worst tendencies and darkest desires expertly. Despite my mixed feelings over becoming Envy's weapon, she must have seen how badly I craved it... hell I was wearing the struggle on my sleeve. Brie, the powerhouse of a woman I'd only ever known to be a huntress... I'm beginning to see that she's just prey, as she was in that alley all those years months ago.
That she no longer flinches when I touch her like this tells me she's starting to realise that shame is an illusion, and we'll tolerate it no longer.
"Such a puppy." Just as I reversed the script with Nova and her training of that pathetic rifle, I now revisit my first meeting with Brie in the foyer and treat her as she had me. Brie's eyes soften and the heat in her cheeks is almost enough to produce steam. My hand moves hers away from my face and down by her lap, with a narrowing of my eyes that assesses just how easily she'll let me manipulate her right now. "Brie, tell me what you want me to do to you. Be honest, okay? Good girls get more, right?" My hand clad in night grips her cheek just as Brie dares to try and turn away, gripping the second softest part of her and watching with a throb between my legs as my Brie, my good girl, lets out a soft gasp in response. It sounds nothing like Nova's, whose surprise I sought to mollify. Brie's sound is moreish and sweet, something I want to hear again. The sound betrays her deep need to be put in her place, but I must appease this desire cautiously. I'd never wish to break her, and I trust Brie, who told me that I had to try too, to let me know if she ever reaches that point. Unlike Nicole, I actually like Brie, maybe even love her.
Brie shudders and nods into the hand, allowing me to push her face back towards mine and sitting up. Where before she had been feigning relaxation with her posture, Brie now leans up into my touch and sits up straight like a well trained dog. I'm sure she's never had this fantasy fulfilled before, not in any healthy sense I mean. Trifecta, for the brief time I knew her, did not seem like a particularly harsh mistresses. And Nova, she was far too callous with her hound. Looks like my analogy from earlier is not quite applicable here... I am baby bear's porridge. Just right for Brie, who accepts me for what I am even when I fear my own desires and where they might take me.
"Mmh... I ah... whatever you want?" I can see in that burning honesty on her face which melts into my hand that Brie does not speak with uncertainty. She means it genuinely, craving the feeling of being at my mercy completely. This is usually the part of my inner monologue where I think the words 'such power' and indulge to my heart's content driven on by lust and flimsy justification, but... Brie's opening her heart to me here, her vulnerability isn't something I seek to mock and stain. It's precious, she's gorgeous, and my lust is not in control of me. Which isn't to say I'm not dying to use her as she desires, and that I won't be incredibly turned on in doing so, just that for the first time my outlook is not so selfish. I'm to ensure that two people enjoy this to the fullest, because I can't imagine many in Brie's place accepting me as I am.
"Good girl." My smile grows and so does hers, Brie's hulking form so attentive for me as she leans towards me like I'm more powerful than she. I am, in fact, but I certainly don't look it and so a funny scene this paints. "I'm still so pent up after collaring Nova... so Brie, can I... I mean... ehe... I'm going to fuck you." I do my best to imitate the most husky and seductive of all the voices in my life, that of my midnight mistress. It's not a bad effort, I can tell it got her attention. Brie stares up at me, gawks really, and opens her mouth to respond.
But the words never come, my mouth descending upon hers and gifting her with overpowering kiss that feels so right my sense of self begins to rebuild itself in her mouth. A warmth, a slickness, and belonging. That's right... this mouth belongs to me, it always has. Happy tears stroll down the submissive butch's burning cheeks, telling me I'm not the only one who feels that impossible connection. Hers is a nostalgic taste, one I won't let slip from my grasp again. If I have to raze this entire world of Nova's, Envy's and god knows what else, I'll do it without a shred of remorse.
I don't need to make Brie love me after all, her body tells me beyond a shadow of a doubt that she still does.
In Another Life (cont.)
"You're always calling me cute. I really hope you mean it." My lips curl into an easy smile set to entice the woman across from me. She's just finished exercising, the tease having to do it right in front of me when she knows the distraction spells disaster for my reading. I've been on this same page for the past half hour, sneaking glances rather unsubtly at that powerhouse I managed to somehow put a ring on. I could have kept quiet until she absconded for her shower, but she couldn't help but comment on my wandering stare, calling me cute.
Brie grins, giving me a dirty look you wouldn't typically give to something so cute. I must be a special case, and glad for it. She may well be a lech, but she's mine. Those lecherous eyes only linger on me, maybe my cuteness has poisoned her mind. "You serious? Being as cute as you are should be a crime, I mean it. I'm not sure what to even do with it all some days." The taller woman steps closer, towel thrown over her neck. She knows better than to worry I won't welcome her approach until she's washed away the exertion. The smell of a woman made breathless, ragged, now that's nothing to turn your nose up at.
Fuck this book, it wasn't very interesting anyway. Discarding Satie's biography onto the table by my side, I give this flirtatious spouse of mine the attention she is due. "Well then I'm an outlaw, aren't I? So I think you need to tie me up until the powers that be come and lock me away with all the other cute criminals." I feign a stretch, my vest lifting up as Brie's gaze trails down predictably to greet the slither of skin on show. That other version of me should still bare a scar right about here, that my skin is unblemished must prove myself the clone but I hardly find the will to care. In fact, I relish in the thought. I'm not responsible for the weight she carries, the mistakes I remember us making. I'm just Joy Williams, somebody has to keep the name alive right?
Lured in by fresh skin she can't help but fawn over, Brie drops her knee onto the couch between my opening thighs, dipping down to cup my chin with her strong yet gentle hand. "Careful what you wish for, Flower. C'mere."
She pulls me close and I offer no resistance, kissing her like it's the last time before promptly pushing her face away with playful grin. Brie whines, giving me her usual puppy eyes when I play hard to get. Just one kiss is all she gets for now, after making me watch that distracting show for so long. If she wants more of my sweetness she'll have to earn it, the hot weather always gets me in the mood. "Down, girl."
Blinking away the pleading, Brie grins and obediently drops onto her knees in front of the couch, back straightening and mouth falling closed as they always do when I take on this stricter tone.
"Gosh, you're easy these days. So well tamed hehe, still see any point in us getting a dog?" Glad I decided to ditch my book, I run a thumb over my wife's lower lip and she shudders at the implication.
"You're a dick." The woman feigns brattiness, as she's wont to do. It's not hard to see just how attentive she is, with short breaths and bashful smirk.
"Oh come on, I know you wanna address me properly." My legs uncross and I sit up, seizing Brie's chin with my hand and looming over her with as much dominance a cute thing like me can muster. The title was her idea, so she better use it if she's already content to grovel on her knees. Gods, I love this woman.
Brie lets out a laboured, half-amused exhale and flicks her eyes onto mine obediently. "You're a dick, Owner..." The woman pushes into my hand and I giggle, completely under her spell.
If only my dreams were not so foreboding as of late.
Chapter Three: I'll Replace Her
Nicole Black stands up, as commanded, and retrieves from her bedside drawer the object I've asked her for. Ah, I'm glad it was so close at hand, though given what it is and where we are I can hardly claim shock. "Thanks, Miss Nova. You can wait outside now, but don't wander." My leatherbound hand cups the woman's cheek as I lean in to kiss the other, feeling more affectionate than I had been now that she's been collared and my relationship with Brie has strengthened. Not just strengthened but evolved, we're more honest with ourselves than before and it excites me as much as it scares me. Honesty can be a frightening thing, I find, but even so I've resolved not to shy away from difficult truths any longer.
"Yes... instructor." Her voice does not hold back the bile it once did, I think I broke through to her during her collaring. I almost feel bad about it, but then, isn't this for the best? Everything I do is correct, right? I-I mean, in her eyes anyway.
I watch with stern eyes as Nicole exits the room, waiting for the door to click shut before letting a soft smile touch my lips. My eyes flick down to the glass strap and then over to a cute and patient Brie. The woman is practically humming, buzzing with a palpable excitement I cannot help but share. Have I ever had perfectly reciprocal sex before, even once? I suppose if it's to be my first time in living memory, remaining memory, then I'm glad it'll be with Brie. This woman compels me in ways that Nova cannot. With my hero, I felt shattered at the betrayal of expectations, whereas with Brie... well, I'm not going to overreact if she ever disappoints me. Nicole had placed pressure on her own marriage, declaring internally that Misty could, and would, never let her down. I personally think that to be childish, but maybe I'm a bit of a black pot for suggesting as much.
"Surprised you ain't making her watch..." Brie runs nervous fingers through her pretty, wolfish hair and I cannot help but shoot her playful grin the moment I catch her shyness.
"This one's just for us, okay? She used this on both of us... and I can't deny on my part that it felt fucking good even if it wasn't technically me she was sinking into." My fingers curl around the sturdy glass and I see Brie's eyes focus in on it, knowing exactly what must be running through her mind. "I... aha, maybe it's stupid, I won't do it if you feel like it'd resurface something rotten... but I wanted to give you a better memory of this so that it might overwrite the one she gave you, replacing it. I'll replace all that nasty, manipulative shit with memories of me, of us." My eyes shine against the glass and Brie remains uncharacteristically speechless, it's so cute I don't know what to do with it all.
"Mm... that sounds... fine by me, Flower. In case you weren't aware, though, she took me in the ass. First time... not so bad, I-I mean obviously I'd had fingers up there before but--"
"Obviously?" I giggle, dropping my knee onto the space between Brie's spread legs on the bed and curling fingers into her hair. The strap rests against her thigh, with harness I cannot wait to secure. "I don't think that's something everyone can attest to doing, babe, so I'm not sure it's as obvious as you think."
Brie's face heats up and I earn a light pout I think I'll savour for a while. "Yeah, well. Don't read into it." Her breath tickles my lips as I draw close and hover, giggling. So this is what it's like to be normal, huh? At least... relatively so. Brie lifts her hand up to hold my face and I seize her wrist, pushing my weight on top of her as the two of us fall back against the bed. Dropping the strap beside her flaring, shaggy red hair, I lace my fingers into hers on either side and push into a forceful kiss I know my girl can handle. I kiss Brie as though I've developed a taste for human flesh, a deep and insatiable hunger that targets such unexpected softness and seeks to claim it my own forevermore. I love her tongue, the way it kneels for me in her mouth. I love her breath, the way it comes out short in shy giggles that only I get to hear and feel. I love her buckling body, laid flat against the bed and letting me get away with anything I want to use it for.
My head pulls back and we watch the bonded spit stretch and break with glimmering eyes, fingers gripping each other's so tightly it'd start to hurt any normal lovers. The two of us share enhanced strength, durability and endurance... facts we're both very keen to keep in mind during a recreational activity like this. "Mmh... a part of me wants to stay in this room all day, just making you mine again and again until we've both forgotten all about Nova entirely." I speak truthfully, tugging her bottom lip playfully with my teeth and loving the way her breath hitches at my every teasing action.
"Put me in my place, yeah? Heh... I-I don't think that sounds so bad, you're certainly dressed the part. Don't replace her too perfectly, 'kay?" My Brie leans her head up into mine and nips across my jaw, hands playing with the buttons of my tight black shirt. I let her undo it, undo me, as I fall upon a sword that has me bleeding Brie. Affection pours from the blisters on my heart and I accept the sting of it all gladly, knowing that any foreign remorse that rears its ugly head during this beautiful affair is surely deserved. My smooth, gloved hand runs up her own naked chest and gropes a waiting breast I'd love to see pierced for me. A silver studded mare, letting me tease her metal and flesh for my own amusement, for her budding wants.
"Oh, I won't be dressed at all in a second, love. But I will be putting you in your place, okay? Pound by pound." My voice lowers, becoming sultrier than I've ever managed to make it in the past. It hits Brie hard, as expected, and the submissive butch proceeds to stare in awe as I sit up to undress myself for her. The woman pushes out of her sweatpants, hooking ringed thumbs into her boxer shorts and letting them slide down too. Fabric drops around her ankles and unveils a tuft of pretty brown hair topping gorgeous glistening slit. My Brie is wet, ready, weeping for my attention.
"I feel... heh, feel like a virgin in this moment. Need you to act even more assertive, it really--"
My hand reaches for her throat and Brie instantly blushes, hard. Once again, we're built much stronger than the mortals we were made to protect, and I know she can take my choking. In fact, that sparkle in her eyes tells me that it feels far better than any ill-fitting collar ever had. Brie is not a creature to be tamed, but a hell hound, a wild animal who needs constant assertive voice to lead it in that pack mentality that rules it. "Dear, you are a virgin right now, at least anally. I mean, you've memories of having it happen once before in your head sure... but your body forgot the feeling. I'll remind it, just... tell me if I'm too rough." I'm possessed by the thrill of domspace, understanding the allure of a subject who just keeps letting you sate yourself against them. That rifle sure had an appeal, I suppose, the way she just accepted her own defilement so eagerly, glad to be debasing ourselves again and again. Perhaps she'll come around again, most do.
Brie's eyes hood as she helps unbuckle my belt, sliding down these black trousers I've adopted and pressing her lips to the puppy fat I still hold even with Nova's borrowed power. In the past iteration I had lost it, become more toned like Brie herself, but I can see now that the woman has a taste for this body's softness. I don't think I blame her, but my Brie herself is just as soft in all the places that matter. "Baby, I'd be impressed if you found my fucking limit, if I'm honest. Almost wanna dare you, but I think you're perfect as you are." Her voice tickles tummy and I blush the colour of Brie, running possessive fingers through that tousled hair as I let those words run through my malleable mind. My head is such a chaotic crucible of thought this time around, I'm aware of this, and I know I'm not to blame. I'm perfect as I am... Brie says so, and she's the only person I can trust to speak her mind to me, to be honest and well-meaning to this wretched heap of Joy. A rejected thing, a tool, a corpse, a fool... I've long since seen something unworthy in that tall mirror sitting in the other room. So when Brie speaks so highly of me, it fills me with a deep relief I cannot properly describe with the words my mind affords me. It makes me feel fucking normal. I had forgotten that sensation, a nostalgic flame that dances over these fingers in my darling puppy's hair and makes me want to try, too.
This feeling between battered souls, and chosen bodies, makes me wonder if Hope isn't such a fraudulent thing after all. I am its lady, even if I abandoned my post.
"I'm not. Perfect, I mean. But I'm trying." My lips move wryly, and my fingers tighten into that hair it had just been petting affectionately. "But right now, all I can think about is how much I want to fuck my girl. If I may be so presumptuous, ehe?"
The woman sitting on the bed's edge, who happily jumps upon my own knife's edge, gives me a smile that shows teeth. She's so damn pretty, it really does hurt... like staring at the sun. "The boots stay on?"
I giggle, nervous and excited. "You bet your ass they do, puppy." My petname has Brie wilting like a flower dancing tango, ready to be caught in its swoon. I push onto the bed and Brie crawls back to give me space, wearing only her rings and winning smile. Firmly, I take the woman's wrists and flip her over on the bed, taking tight handful of her hair and slamming that soft face I adore so much into cushioned headboard. Her body is so limp and giving, she's wanted this so badly and I've been blind as a rifle. Her entire bulky frame arches nicely for me, that puppy named Brie sitting forwards on her knees and sinking into subspace against the board I press her into harshly.
My single, stray vine hooks into the harness of Nova's glass strap and pulls it closer. My hand relents and retracts from Brie's hair. "Don't move an inch, okay? That's an order." There's lilting amusement in my voice I don't bother to hide, firmly smacking Brie's bare ass and delighting at the way she moans into the cushion while attempting to comply with given instruction. An obedient puppy, I'm glad we have an understanding. My fingers sink low to retrieve the strap and secure it in place, which takes me longer than I'd care to admit. Eventually I've figured it out and relish in the powerful feeling of this cold and sturdy object protruding from my body like predator rearing back for pounce. Is this how that Shepherd woman feels? I doubt it, she seemed more comfortable playing out Brie's role in this dynamic. Oh, I'm not sure it'll be good for my already inflating ego to imagine ploughing a doppelganger's ass as it spurts and twitches against the wall. Gosh, Joy, since when did you become such a depraved lesbian slut? Oh, haha, right. That was a while ago now!
The cool glass tip strokes across Brie's firm cheek and I watch her shudder against it. "Brie... I've a gift for you, if you'll take it." The excitement in my voice is hard to overstate, my orchard is still an impenetrable image but the production of goods from memory is alive and well. If I can make the silver from memory and sensation seeping into that dead soil, I think my own mind should still be able to...
Ah! A trickle of golden brown ambrosia, leaking down the tip of my vine thick as molasses. This is the same corrupted tree sap that those sinful dryads lathered themselves in, that Brie soothed my burn with, an impossible creation birthed by mistake using lust and confiscated chemicals. I have to wonder where my orchard gets the matter from, but that's not something I need dwell on right at this moment, not when I've more... pressing matters to attend to.
"I... that smell." Of course, Brie's a sniffer dog, her fixation on scent having betrayed her more than it has served her. The redhead turns to stare at my vine's glistening tip, and a wicked smile kisses upon my plain lips. "I-If you're asking for permission, then fuck... yes, god... yeah just, damn, you were holding out me Flower."
"I didn't know I still possessed this side of Envy's power, they kept it secret from me. I... I don't want to think on it too much right now, but I think something must have happened to the rest of my vines. Why one was left I can't really say. Anyway... good girl, I didn't want to take you dry and it'd feel awkward to go looking for another woman's lube." My vine coils around the glass shaft and gets it nice and sticky, hand reaching forwards to push Brie back into the board teasingly.
Brie gasps and scoffs, lifting her hips up subtly. "Oh yeah... I'm sure the aphrodisiac shit is just an unwanted side effect, huh? You're so cute, even when you're taking charge."
"Shut up, or I'll gag you. Brie... this is going to be intense, you're going to lose yourself for a while until we're done, then we can lay together for a while. Envy... she fucked me once, so well I think I decided to break for her in that moment. You're not allowed to break, just... bend." My firm leather hand pushes her back into a more pronounced arch and her light panting breath is precious to say we haven't started yet. "Okay puppy?"
"Yes... Owner." A nostalgic ring makes me forget to question the new title that should seem out of nowhere. Instead, I smile confidently and spread her cheeks with my strong hands.
"Good girl, now brace yourself, I'm going to be a little rough." It's intoxicating to hold power over anyone, but to wield it over another who wants to be pushed down by the weight of your superior gravity, who loves you for it, is something else entirely. The tip of my glass strap pushes up against Brie's waiting hole and she shivers against that lubricating sap wonderfully. Her body hums, and so does mine, this almost feeling ritualistic. Courting, mating, breeding. I'll make Brie my bitch, just for the next half hour or so, then I'll make her my princess. She can be as rugged and charming as she wants on the outside, with shoulders broader than the men in my life's and a mouth you'd kill your mother with... I know the softness inside of her, crave it wantonly. Nova exploited it, where I'll cherish it, appease it, cracking this woman out of yet another eggshell.
"Oh, g-good... heh..."
My heart is on fire. I take hold of her hips and push myself forwards, sinking several inches deep into Brie's ass in a single preliminary thrust and giggling like a madwoman at the way my partner groans so breathlessly against the headboard. I can feel her shaking, body squeezing down tight around the slick glass that fills it as ankles kick upon the bed compellingly. I remind myself that, despite living memory, this is Brie's first time being taken like this in this timeline. Still, I cannot help but get carried away... such is my nature.
"Oh, ffffuck!" Brie was not expecting the tip of my vine to lick heady sap across her own damp cunt, a pincer attack of hard glass and giving tendril that now claims two erogenous zones in a team effort. My prey lifts her hips and crashes them back down, thrashing wildly against the attention that has her mouth practically frothing so early in. I tilt my body back to pull the glass from its sunken depth, then slowly thrust back inside and delight at the writhing responses.
"Feel good?" My lips are nearly in the shape of the number three rotated onto its side, a mischievous grin I cannot fight off of my face telling this audience of no one just how much fun I'm having pounding my slut.
Brie gasps, groans and moans, bucking her hips back against both unique sensations as her body and mine slowly adapt. That sap is no joke, I know, but I do hope to keep her lucid enough to remain upright while I have my way with her. Though... a panting, collapsed heap of fuckable puppy flesh might not be so bad either. I'm developing a taste for dominating others, it's just so fucking fun. Another notch on my way to Nova, I remind myself, but though I seek to replace her... I'll never let myself become her.
"S-So fucking... ahh... good... hahh..." Brie's enjoying this, that seems to matter to me in this moment even more than my own developing taste. I think her eagerness drives me deeper, perhaps literally so, as I sink down until my lap slaps against her ass and the woman's next response comes out far less coherent. Surrender body and mind to me, Brie, you can trust this world of pleasure I give you to remain untainted.
"Mmmhh... you're just so hot, somehow hotter when you're all weak and trembling for me. I guess it's the contrast, ahaha... gosh." My tendril burrows deep into Brie's sex in a generous coil that has my puppy mewling, my midnight hand hooking around her waist to keep her held firm while I use my bare hand to experiment with more rough play. Nails scrape down from the blade of her shoulder to the base of her ass, leaving delectable red rows that looks so pretty on the already flush skin. Brie's body is sweltering, and I paint another set of scratches on this sweaty, convulsing canvas before me. I love this body so much, reminding myself it was partially built from my own subconscious desires once upon a time. Beyond that, though, Brie has truly made it her own, something special.
"Mmgh... mmnn... ffffflowerrr~" The drugged tree sap makes her so loose and giddy, that she actually asked for it makes me feel proud. I slide out briefly and turn that sluggish body over so that she's facing me, pressing up against her so that her body folds. Legs nearly thick as my head drape over my own rosy shoulders as I claim her holes again, daring for a third as I push her into a more compact shape and plunge dominant tongue into that easy mouth.
The way we kiss is unapologetically indecent, Brie is so haggard while my own lust is burning me up from the inside. I conquer her tongue and Brie melts against the treatment, like a soft caramel given in reward. The way I want this woman... and now I have her. My pounds are not gentle, but her body is built for them. My nails are not blunted, but her skin enjoys the blemishing touch. My control is not questionable, but Brie isn't asking.
Prying these lips away from hers feels a herculean effort in this moment, and soon they're upon hers yet again. Biting, suckling, maiming kisses that make her happy and hopeful. When we pull apart again, between another deep thrust that hits her in a place most holy, glass stained and sanctified, Brie speaks breathlessly.
"Mmmghh... ehlffyhou..." The woman's eyes are glazed, her mouth left dripping after sweet, wet kisses. Ah, I didn't expect to hear those words so soon! But I accept them, Brie, all of them. I accept you, the way you inexplicably do me.
"I love you too, idiot." Our lips brush, my hips push, and the world beyond this room fades into total obscurity.
Brie lays on her side, oozing from those well used erogenous zones and resting head in my lap. The strap has been removed, letting her breath tickle my own raw sex. Hair falls in a mess across my thigh, and my fingers return to petting it softly. The way this exhausted woman's wide chest rises and falls so heavily, her lips curl in bashful smile, skin buzzes from fading aphrodisiac... all of it possesses me, and makes me want to do whatever it takes to keep this woman safe. Even from myself, should it ever come to that... Nicole was horribly selfish to keep her Misty bound in that emotional cage for far too long.
"You're such a good girl, Brie, I can't wait to do that again with you in the not-so-distant future, hehe." My hand slides down to her burning cheek and I watch her shuffle closer, laying over me for once. I can carry this weight.
"Yeah... well you're not so bad yourself, I guess." Her face buries itself into my torso and heats it up immensely, lips kissing my body with reverent softness. I'm obsessed with her, I just can't get enough, remembering the ways in which Nova made this woman feel small makes my heart sink and my blood boil. She's the opposite of small, even when she's melting for me as I rail both holes at the same time. To me, she's the biggest thing in the world.
"Speak politely to your owner~" Playful fingers reach down to pinch her nipple and I've decided that she has to get them pierced, I need to see her even more sensitive against my touch. I can hardly even imagine it.
The woman snorts, deep blush re-emerging on that pretty, handsome, perfect face. "Yes... Owner. God, you're a dick." Her smile grows and she shifts onto her back, I didn't even have to say 'roll over'.
My leather digits push her cheeks in and I lean over, dropping a line of carefully aimed spit into her mouth and watching her accept it too easily. "Treat. Swallow." This was intended to be aftercare, but we're still both so turned on and I remember doing this for her as rifle in that dreaded past life.
Brie swallows, demurely, looking meeker than ever while sinking into my thigh submissively. "Mmgh... yhure sho mean to me."
"Because now I know you like it, get off on it, just my depraved little puppy slut aren't we?" Pieces of Hivemind stick to the ceiling of my psyche and I tease my plaything properly, releasing her cheeks and roughly seizing her right breast.
"Nngh... I ain't little, but... yeah, the rest maybe." Still so shy after letting me fuck her like that? I suppose a sober Brie is a different beast, but equally as cute.
"Maybe? No, no, I think we're past that hehe." My forefinger and thumb close around the woman's erect nipple, starting to pinch, roll and tug relentlessly. At the same time, I lower my voice into that imitated husky tone and speak almost directly into her ear with a puff of hot breath. "Bark for me, puppy."
The head on my thigh attempts to turn away bashfully but I do not let it, holding her still while giving her an impish smile I cannot trace the source of. Why does this feel so natural, like returning home after a long vacation? After a few seconds of shy contemplation, I pinch the puppy's nipple hard and watch as she complies with the command in sudden jerk of breath and motion.
"A-Arf!" Her head tilts up as a dog's would when giving authentic bark and then her eyes widen. A few seconds later, we're both giggling like schoolgirls. A few more and I'm making her bark again, watching her get more comfortable showing me this part of her and starting to wonder if my confessions of love are more than simply my fragile psyche getting too carried away. It feels like I'm sitting in my bedroom, playing with my girlfriend, living a perfectly mundane life. My eyes close and for just a moment, I pretend that this is all there is. When they open, Brie's gaze is on mine and we're both silent. This silence lingers, until eventually, Brie speaks softly. "I'm... I like this, us, okay? Being myself around you, letting the walls down... so I just wanted you to know, I mean, need you to understand... you can be yourself around me too. Whatever that looks like, the good and the ugly, I just." The woman pauses, sensing that same strangeness that I've come to acknowledge. We should barely know each other, but it's like the world around us knows something we don't. "Fuck, I just don't care okay? About dooming the city, saving it, whatever. I just don't wanna be apart from you, Flower. Not 'cause of some photo in my wallet, but 'cause you're the only thing that feels real in this weird, fucked up time I feel so displaced in. Nova did something, before that shit in the base, I mean... she made me forget stuff, said I consented to it all. What... what don't I know?"
"Oh, Brie... I'm the same way, about all of that. I think it's time we finally got our answers, Envy can't really be trusted fully, but we've a good bargaining chip in Nova. And a very loyal bodyguard in her, failing that." My arms wrap around Brie's shoulders and neck, pulling her up into my lap and pressing my cheek onto that shaggy red cut. It really is hard to let this dream come to an end, but we've a garden to visit. And besides...
We've spent far too fucking long in this damn house.
Finale: The Yellow Brick Road
Nicole Black stands, still, in the hallway to her illustrious and empty manor. When her parents were alive, Nicole had been forced to live in this suffocatingly large building that housed more staff than it had family members. The blonde had been happy to leave this place, to take off and find much less gaudy residence in the city's centre. Misty had only stayed here a handful of times, and she very much shared Nicole's opinion of the place.
This not a home, but a crypt, containing within it the ego of the dead and the dying. Nicole knows, Memento Mori, that one day she must join them. She just worries her contribution to the tomb may prove too lofty.
Gold eyes flick up from her feet, those boots that tell her she's a hero even if the world attempts to convince her otherwise, and Lady Nova watches the door to her childhood bedroom pull open. Ah... she had been drifting again, this drug makes her tether to the manor, to her own sense of self... temperamental. It's Instructor Williams and the... other one. Williams is nice, because she keeps Nova's feet from touching back down on the surface of reality. Forgetting what power feels like is not so bad when its taste has ruled you for your entire life.
"Good girl for standing still, I hope you weren't listening in on us though hehe." Instructor's eyes narrow and Nova peers down at the way the two women before her have their hands bound together in a firm clasp. Something akin to jealousy pushes into the older woman's chest, though it's a more insidious sensation than that. Thankfully, all these ugly feelings never get past the cocoon of silver she's wrapped up in.
"I... no, I drifted off..." Nova speaks honestly, having already forgotten where her thoughts flew off to during the standby period without her Instructor to keep her tethered. There's a soreness around her neck from that collar given to her by hard suction, both Instructor and her companion stare candidly at the developing bruises and the woman lets them. Everything Joy Williams does is correct, meaning... this collar is good for her, reminds her of her place. Deep inhale, eyelids flutter, and the woman placates herself against that new doctrine marring skin and marking thought. "Can I... can I have--"
"Are you making requests of me, Miss Nova? Don't fret, it's in both of our best interests to keep you all loopy and spaced out like this. Still, if you're going to plead, you can do it more pathetically. You can get on your fucking knees and beg." Instructor Williams steps forwards, her leather touch messing up Nicole's hair and applying pressure until the drugged hero drops onto her knees in a dizzy stupor.
The two women's fingers unlace and the bigger one places a hand on the Instructor's shoulder, her smile calm but cautious. "Hey, Flower... you told me to tell you if you're getting carried away, yeah? This might be it." Oh, that voice is familiar... it's that Mare kid who signed up for the project and would not take no for an answer. Not Mare... Brood... when Envy made her declaration, this woman returned to New Cassiepeia and left a life of playing house with her sweetheart. She quickly rose to captaincy, in spite of her broken heart, becoming one of Empress Envy's finest heroes. It was she who, with coordinated effort from trusted allies, downed Angel's treasured pet and dragged it home... kicking and screaming across that yellow brick road.
Without Captain Williams, Nicole Black's project could never have been conceived of, let alone executed. She's as important as Misty, Envy, and the Garden's myriad daughters who proved her plan had merit.
Brie catches Nova staring at her and pulls her hand away from Instructor's shoulder, sighing out of her nostrils. That argent septum piercing the air blows past is Nova's new favourite colour, gold was never much her taste.
Joy Williams, who can only ever be correct, nods her head slowly to a court of invisible jesters. "Y-Yeah, okay." Her hand leaves that freshly tousled blonde and curls into the collar of Nova's superhero costume, pulling the woman back onto her feet without breaking a sweat. "It's just that, even with that part of me locked deep inside... every time I'm not putting this bitch in her place I can feel myself getting pulled back into her orbit. I think I'm doing these things to remind myself that I hold the power now, more than I do it to tell her. She knows, I can see it. Don't you, Nic?"
Only Shepherd calls her that anymore, Nova muses slowly, planting feet back onto the floor and staring at a woman with the same cute face as her subordinate. Shepherd's silvery white hair seems so appealing in this moment, but Nova would never go as far to admit she misses the runt she keeps around just to toy with. That and, well, she supposes the girl has her uses too. Scheduling, for one, not to mention handling a good bulk of the communication with Envy's insufferable sovereign government.
"Destroy..." The woman mutters, head turned down and eyes tilted up with defiant glow. Instructor's eyes glow even brighter, while Brie turns away just in time. The butch bystander plays that word on her tongue, knowing the two that follow it all too well.
"What was that?" Joy's nostrils flare, and her strict tone becomes a leash to kiss against that bruised collar. "I asked if you needed reminding of the power I hold over you. You don't, do you?" The woman in the black shirt and pants tugs at her collar, turning to check on Brie with that fierce glow in her eyes subsiding.
"No, Instructor... everything Joy Williams does is correct." There's a strange glint in the former hero's eyes as she speaks these well chosen words. Joy is turned away, making sure that Brie is holding up, so does not catch the brief glimmer.
"Good girl, now... we're off to see the Empress."
"It's a nice day at least, perfect vest weather." Brie stretches, flexing her muscles pridefully in a showing I cannot help grin at. There's nothing more enticing than a woman who's this hot and knows it. If I were more relaxed I'd probably flirt back, but I'm busy using my stinger to administer Nova her placating poison and straining my eyes at this obnoxious sunny glare. Even eyes like mine are not enough to fight those overpowering rays, making me wish I had some sleek black shades to complement my new look. "Y'know, all that black's just gonna absorb the sunlight or uh... I think that's how it works, I'm not a total dipshit but I wasn't exactly a straight-A student either."
Sliding my tendril free from Nova's well marked neck and letting a small dribble of silver roll down her shoulder, I turn to smirk at Brie and hop over to plant a kiss onto her cheek. "Definitely not straight, but you're an A plus in my book." I earn a blush that betrays the cuteness that hides inside of her. Brie's softness is not indicative of a lie her exterior presents, mind you, the woman is earnestly rugged, handsome and cool... it's just that she can't be all of those, all the time. Her cute side is mine, though it leaks out from time to time, this bashful grin she gives me once again showing teeth. Not the hunter's ivories she presented upon our first rekindling, but something unapologetically pretty... as much as they are Brie.
We're outside of that dreaded house at long last, and there isn't a sniper in sight. I suppose they'd be well hidden in either case, but I just know they're not beyond the treeline. I can feel something else, a frequency that excites this tendril draped over my shoulder, spitting lustrous venom onto the packed ground below. It's not Envy, but something close. That left limb of hers, the one that has been merged with her the longest.
"Hey, I know you're there so reveal yourself already! Or uh... reveal yourselves?" How is it that I can sense her so easily? Is it because I, too, am an extension of Empress Envy? Or is it something else?
Light, sultry giggles fill the open space in front of the Black family estate, and the dryad bodies slowly appear like a shifting mirage. It's Hivemind, or whatever she's calling herself now. My sapphic mentor, and my second kiss. I'd say that she has become unrecognisable from her former selves, but it seems a silly comment to make given she's never kept a static look. The new bodies are categorically less human than the ones I remember, however, and I must admit they suit her somewhat better. A gift from the orchard, I wonder just what else Envy has managed to squeeze this impossible power of ours for since we last caught up properly.
"Mrs. Williams! It has been quite some time, you've been missed. You're cordially invited to our Empress Envy's Garden of Crows, a Cassie's home, and we're elated to inform you that your attendance is... ah, mandatory." The dryads speak in tandem, assaulting me with voice from all sides that combine to reach us from this distance just as any other crowd's coordinated effort would.
"Damn, Envy sent a chaperone?" Brie snorts, taking my hand and giving it a firm squeeze I'd thank her for if I weren't so distracted by the inhuman crowd we're surrounded by. "D'ya think she was just waiting out here the entire time we were playing house? Kinda makes me feel bad for making her wait, heh, but that's what trees are good for ain't it..."
Brie continues to be the woman I favour most in this overgrown shithole of a world that won't let me be. My head lifts and I step forwards, staring out at the hivemind plant network and deciding to play along with its theatrics. Nicole's dramatic flair must be contagious, that or this world has simply gone insane at last. If I'm to be led into a garden of crows, I'll need to prove that I can stave off that cawing temptation long enough to demand the truths I seek, and protect the woman I love. Envy is not my superior, nor my ruler, she's just the other side of the mirror.
"Well then, ehe... I can't say no! Take me to your leader, just know that I've got a walking nuke watching my back and I'm not afraid to use her if you try to pull that shit from last time." Oh, that's right... nobody in this time will remember any of that, but then, Hivemind does not seem all too surprised by my words. In fact, that monstrous smile of hers... and hers... and hers... only seems to grow.
I'm finally beginning to feel in control, at least, that I can hold my own.
...
So perhaps it's for the best that Hivemind holds my attention, as the two at my back reach for one another's hands.
Epilogue: Because, because, because, because, because...
"Get out of my fucking way!"
Shepherd Williams wryly considers pulling her handgun on these dullards blocking her path, Nova's loyal few are not the brightest bunch. The white haired deputy commander knows all too well how this applies to her as well, accepting that she's a fool in love with one who cannot Hope to reciprocate.
Knock first, even though she knows her commander is not home. Not here, at the base, she means. Once the customary action has concluded, the woman dressed up in meaningless black threads barges unceremoniously into her superior's office. It smells of fragrant perfume and cigarette smoke, perfectly encapsulating how it often feels to be wrapped up in Nicole Black's seductive miasma. Closing the door behind her for some much needed privacy, The Garden's daughter sighs and slams her head back against it.
"You should be back by now..." She removes the clip from her hair and lets it drape down like spilling moonlight, circling around her commander's desk and moving computer mouse to wake the computer still whirring by her feet. Impatiently, Shepherd unlocks Nicole's pc and stares at the camera set up Mrs. Black had been monitoring the traitor with in the days leading up to her waking. She had... much to recover from.
"Fuck... 65 fucking percent... we... you were so close, Nic." Her voice lowers as she drops down onto the leather chair and stares at the scene playing out before her. If only she had thought to check in earlier, but the good commander was hardly alone... these fucking dryads have broken the pact. With a dry laugh, while pouring herself a tumbler of Nicole's finest scotch, Shepherd concludes that their men are probably right there on the screen, indistinguishable from the other sultry nymphs surrounding her commander.
With a long, resigned sigh, Shepherd tries to figure out her options going forwards now that the great Lady Nova herself has been compromised. She knows, bitterly, that she cannot mobilise the woman's own faction to come to her defence, everyone here (again, herself included) is so overly reliant on the woman's golden guidance that they're liable to panic and crumple the moment they discover the truth. Nobody here is strong, that's something Shepherd can say with some certainty, the courageous ones remain with Envy and her noble fight. Theirs is a cowardly faction, with a project that has them seen as extremists by the other Cassies. It has suited them just fine up until now, given Empress Envy's own reluctant compliance following the public duel. Now... well, everything they have dreamt of is turning to ash in their mouths... and Shepherd considers plucking a peach from her orchard. A caustic snack to punish herself with.
Still... the way that Nicole, dressed in that old hero costume, loops her pinkie finger around Envy's Captain's... hmm, even now she's plotting. What a fucking woman.
"I'll remain loyal until the end, Nic... because..."
Shepherd presses her lips to the aged lipstick stain on the edge of Nicole's personal glass, closing her eyes and smiling.
Because...
Nicole's deputy spreads vines out from her back, making a mess of her uniform. The pale pink tendrils lift her from the office chair and launch the whisky tumbler into the wall in a test of strength.
...because, because...
Well, even if Nic didn't approve of her using these and made her cut it out... the vines certainly have not atrophied. Shepherd runs gloved fingers through her hair and smashes into the firearms locker in the corner of the office. It'll take more than peaches to rescue her commander now. She has to do this by herself, to intercept, or she won't be able to look Nicole in the eye again.
...because, because...
And Shepherd loves her commander.
Because of the terrible things she does.
To be continued in episode 4.6 - Until My Dying Breath, I'll Swallow
Anastasia (Fathers_Pet) on Chapter 4 Sat 21 Jun 2025 07:17PM UTC
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