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  • Red Team Mission 1 – The Black Ship – Chapter 4

    Red Team Mission 1 – The Black Ship – Chapter 4

    Chapter 4 – Signs of Disturbance

    “More sealant here,” Kaylee said from the front of the line.  She had only gone about fifty feet down the corridor leading from the stairs that had led away from the corridor outside the airlock, toward the first of the bulkhead transitions into the cargo area of the ship.  “Looks like a canister of the stuff or something exploded against the blast doors, but I don’t see anything like that laying around.  It’s got the door just about fully covered.”

    Murissa’s low growl followed a moment later.  “Someone was here, got the stuff on them.  Looks like…something dragged them through the doors.”

    “You can actually tell that?” Kaylee asked, sounding skeptical.

    “It’s what I do,” Murissa replied with a grumbling growl, crouching near Kaylee as Shi and the others approached.  Her big hand motioned along the floor, starting at the door and moving back toward Shi.  “Look…this patch here, it’s got a clear channel through it leading from there to the pressure door, about the width of an average-sized humanoid.  These smaller channels here to the sides of the main channel, see how they have been smeared and have four or five smaller channels in this repeating way.  And here, how these smears are more noticeable around the exposed grating?  This was someone’s attempt to stop from being pulled away.  It’s clearly leading over the lip of the door.”

    “Huh…yeah, I guess that could be what that is…” Kaylee said slowly.

    Murissa’s tail twitched with annoyance.  “Try stalking prey in the real world, you’d learn a lot more than you do sitting in that soft chair all the time looking at the stars.”

    By this time, Shi and the others had come to a stop near the edge of the sealant, and she could clearly see the details Murissa had pointed out.  Before Kaylee could respond to Murissa’s not-exactly-veiled insult, Shi spoke up.  “Like a trail through blood.  But you’re certain that whatever was dragged through here was humanoid?”

    Murissa nodded, rising from her crouch.  “Yes, commander.  Shape is wrong for a quadruped or other type of animal.  No signs of fur in the sealant, no claw marks anywhere either, so probably not a ferian of any breed.”  Ferians were either ferakatians, like Murissa, or feradogians, more wolf-life bestial humanoids.  Curiously the two races native to Feria were sexually dimorphic, just in opposite ways.  Ferakatian women were larger and more aggressive than their males, who were usually on the tall side of average humanoid height, while it was just the opposite with the feradogians.  To say the two species didn’t get along would be an understatement.

    “Maybe they were using the sealant like some kind of improvised capture device?”  Briar offered.  “It’s…not exactly unheard of to have someone go mad on long journeys and start threatening the ship with their behavior.  Maybe they were just trying to be merciful and not really hurt them?”

    “That’s what stun sticks are for; even the worst supplied ship should have some basic defensive armaments onboard,” Kaylee said.  “To repel pirates if nothing else, not that pirates would be likely to attack a DSM ship since a company ship should have a lot nastier defenses.”

    Shi turned her attention to the far end of the sealant trail, and walked over to the doorway it led to, the sliding door only closed a few inches.  Closer inspection told her that the sealant had gotten inside the track and stopped the door before it could fully close.  Inside, the room seemed to be used for tool storage, several lockers lining the walls labeled in elvish and common.  A couple of the lockers were open, some drills and bits laying scattered on the floor, along with a plasma torch and a few power cells for it. 

    “I don’t think it was used as a restraint.  This stuff gets super hot for a few seconds when it’s activated,” Hilde said as she readied another comm relay.  “If you’re trying to catch someone with it, that’s gonna be some severe chemical burns, so expect a trip to the med-bay immediately after for some serious surgery.”

    More of the sealant was splattered around the room and on the tools.  Shi’s arcane sight still picked up lingering magical auras in here, but nothing strong enough to actually get a good idea of what the magic did.  The trail clearly led to the open locker.  Shi crouched and picked up the plasma torch gingerly; there was a smear of the sealant upon it that looked rather like fingers and the palm of someone’s hand on the grip.  Her eyes went from the tool to the splattering of black sealant on the floor, then she noticed a few particular circular splotches on the deckplate.  Eyebrow raising, she looked up.  Sure enough, through the vent grate, there were some strands of the sealant where it had…no, not splattered, it was like it had flowed through the grate!

    “Murissa!  Come in here,” Shi said, replacing the cutter on the floor before she stood.  The ferakatian came to the door with remarkably silent steps for someone of her size wearing magnetic boots and an armored space suit, pausing at the door, but leaned in to peer around the room.  Shi pointed at the floor, then the ceiling.  “Am I right in my assumption that this stuff came from up there?”

    Murissa gave a low rumble, her eyes going to the floor again, then to the ceiling, and then her tail thrashed anxiously.  “Yessir,” she said after a moment spent staring at the ventilation grate.  “This isn’t normal sealant…” she growled through clenched fangs.  

    Hilde had come up and squeezed herself beneath Murissa and looked around the room.  “It’s…not out of the realm of possibility that there was a breach somewhere and it got carried by the vents in its liquid state…”  Even she didn’t sound convinced of that, though, and her eyes lingered on the plasma cutter for a few moments.  “Um, I set up another relay out here…”

    “Thanks,” Shi said.  There were far too many unknowns here, the sealant, or whatever it was, foremost amongst them.  She tapped her comm connection back to the scout ship.  “Captain, Sukimori here.”  There was no response.  Shi checked the signal level, which looked good.  “Captain, are you there?”

    “Commander, please hold a moment,” said another man’s voice, Dergwin, the dwarven comm officer.  “Captain Maerrill is speaking with someone in his ready room about that ship.  Transmission just came through a minute ago.”

    “Copy that, I’ll wait,” Shi replied, releasing her link as she looked at Hilde and Murissa.  “Well, looks like the Captain may have reached someone who knows something about this ship.  We’ll have to wait and see, but I’m not moving any further just yet.  Briar!  Can you pick up anything else about this sealant here?  Any other strange properties?  Are you getting any life readings around us?”

    Briar unslung his scanner again, plucked the probe out, and went to the bulkhead door to stick it into the dried goop, lips curved into a doubtful frown.  Murissa and Hilde moved out of the way for Shi to exit the tool room, though Murissa lingered by the door, looking a little nervous.  Briar shook his head slowly as he moved up to Shi.  “It reads as the same composition that we’ve seen elsewhere.  Nothing different, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you much else without a dedicated scanning setup like in the medbay on our ship.  Only difference here is that it’s warmer than at the airlock and bridge.  I’m reading a better atmosphere beyond this door, and a very faint power signature.  Someone might have a portable generator running in there, keeping a little air recycling more than the rest of the ship.”

    “Hmmm…” Shi drew one of her revolvers from her hip, flipped the gun in hand, and tapped the butt of the grip several times on the surface of the sealed door, the metallic thumps muted through her helmet.  She waited a few moments, then repeated the knocks, a little harder this time.  Still no response after a good thirty seconds.  Frowning, she spun her revolver around and holstered it in a single motion.  “No lifesigns in there, though?”

    Briar shook his head.  “No, sir, still nothing.  But I’m still only limited to about thirty feet; beyond that everything is drowned out by interference.”

    “If I may be so bold, commander,” Kaylee said, still staring at the doors, her big gun held at low-ready, “I would bet on there being some kind of messed up experiments going on here.  If this is a DSM black ship, and it sure looks like what one would look like to me, then there’s probably some pretty nasty stuff hiding down there.  I’m not so sure we should open those doors to find out.”

    Murissa growled softly, crossing her arms over her broad chest.  “Agree.”  She said nothing else, but the fact that she had agreed with Kaylee about keeping the doors shut said a lot more.  Shi had never known Murissa to hesitate to go into a dangerous situation in the slightest.

    “Hilde?  Briar?  Your thoughts?” Shi asked, looking at each of them in turn.

    Hilde leaned against the wall by the tool room door.  “I’m curious what’s down there, yeah, but…we don’t have much information at all, and something about that sealant isn’t normal for sure.”

    “I’m more worried about whether anyone is alive or not, and if they need our help,” Briar said, finally plucking his probe from the stuff on the door and replacing it in the slot on the scanner.  He shifted, adjusting the med pack.  “Hopefully they’re still alive, but…I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about this whole thing.”

    “Hey, commander, can’t you do some kind of magic to see what’s ahead?  What’s that called?” Kaylee said, sounding more hopeful.  “You know, where you can see far away places?”

    “Scrying,” Shi said with a shake of her head.  “Divination has never been my strong suit, beyond some combat applications, anyway, and that’ll only give me a few seconds of foresight at best. I’m more of what you’d call an evoker…meaning I tend to blow stuff up.  Good thought though.  Briar, how about you?  Is Erisaya willing to offer any insights for us?”

    “Well…” Briar said, looking a little anxious behind his faceplate.  “I would have to pray and perform a ritual for that kind of guidance; I can offer an augury relating to our actions…but I can already tell that something is very dangerous beyond those doors even without that.  I think we all can, right?”

    Shi nodded, as did Kaylee and Hilde; Murissa stood unmoving aside from a twitch of her tail.  “Yeah, there’s something janky here for certain, but we won’t know what it is unless we go for a look…though I do wonder if it’s actually worth it or not.”

    “Heck of a bonus for the salvage if nobody’s alive, though.  Ship like this would go for a lot…even if DSM pays up to keep it quiet,” Hilde said, shifting her gear on her harness.  “I bet we’d get a few months worth of pay for it, and I’m talking everyone on board our ship.”

    “Yeah, right,” Kaylee replied with a snort.  “Or more likely, DSM would make certain to send other ships here and blow us to pieces along with this thing if they didn’t want their secrets known.”

    “When you say it like that, it just makes me want to delve into their core and see if it’s been wiped, or pull any kind of data or anything else we can from the ship and broadcast it to all corners of the net just to stick it in their eye,” Hilde said.  “Hate that company…”

    Shi was about to respond when her comm beeped.  “Hang on, transmission incoming,” she said, tapping her comm.  “Sukimori here.”

    “Commander, anything to report?” asked Maerill, his voice clear, but sounding a little more strained than it had been the last time they’d spoken.

    “We’re in the main corridor, just outside the bulkhead doors into the next section of the ship.  More of that sealant is spread around, but we’ve not gone any further yet.  We see signs of…something potentially hostile, like someone was dragged through this stuff before the doors were sealed.”

    “Copy that.  Proceed with caution, commander.  I’ve contacted a source that is trying to dig up more information for us, but that’s all I can say right now.  Keep me advised of your location and any major updates, but stick to the main route to the engineering section if possible.  Just so you’re aware…I’ve not officially told command that your team is onboard yet; As far as they know, we’re shadowing the ship and keeping an eye on it.  Some of the brass have ties to DSM and would likely pull us out the moment they found out we’ve entered it, so I want something solid about what’s going on over there before I fill them in on that little detail.”

    Shi felt her own tail twitch, but she nodded.  “Understood captain. We’ll make for engineering with as much speed as we can safely manage, and hopefully find something left in the core, or something physical we can retrieve.”

    “Copy.  Good hunting, commander.  Maerill out.”

    Shi cut the transmission and blew out her breath.  “Sounds like things are about to get political.  We’ve not got much time before someone pulls the plug here, so we need to find something that’ll make it worth our effort.  Kaylee, you’re still on point, Murissa will back you up.  Hilde, keep us on the most direct course to engineering; no detours if we don’t have to.  I want to see if there’s anything at all we can pull from that core, or find something else to prove what’s going on here.  I’m not against holding DSM by the balls.”

    “Yessir!” the team said, though Shi could see the wariness on their faces.  Once politics, especially those involving the megacorps like DSM, started up, things always devolved into a migraine-inducing mess.

    Oh my, seems that things are getting stranger as the team delves deeper!

    I was really starting to get into the swing of the story at this point.  I’m honestly just a little surprised I hadn’t gotten into anything particularly kinky after four chapters, lol.

    What is up with all that strange sealant everywhere?  Did it…eat someone?  Drag them off to a horrible fate?  What lies beyond the bulkhead door?

    Stay tuned for Chapter 5 next week to find out what lies beyond!

    Until then, Urban out!

    Hit me over on DeviantArt, or on my Discord server!  I’m usually always around, and would love to hear what you have to say!

  • Red Team Mission 1 – The Black Ship – Chapter 3

    Red Team Mission 1 – The Black Ship – Chapter 3

    Chapter 3 – The Bridge

    Kaylee stepped up to the door, setting her weapon against her hip, then slammed her fist into the button to open the passage.  She steadied herself, ready to fire the big weapon.  “Damn it!” she spat a half second later as Murissa shoved passed her, forcing the human pilot to quickly draw the weapon’s muzzle upward.

    Murissa didn’t seem to have cared one way or the other, her short blades at the ready as she stalked down the red-lit passageway.

    “Good way to get yourself ripped in half,” Kaylee muttered, stomping after the ferakatian.

    Shi looked to Hilde, who shrugged, and Briar, who shook his head.  Not the first time something like that had happened; by now one would have thought Kaylee would have expected it.  “Watch yourself, Murissa,” Shi said after a moment, “Kaylee’s weapon can’t clear the hallway if you’re in front of it.”

    Growling angrily, her armored tail waving slowly behind her, Murissa replied, no doubt through clenched fangs.  “Yessir.”

    As they continued along through the passageways, following Hilde’s directions, there was little in the way of signs of conflict or disaster, nothing on scanners as far as confirmed lifesigns either.  The rooms they checked as they passed showed some usage, items out of place, and signs that work had been interrupted, but no hints as to what happened aside from splotches of the rubber sealant, which dotted the floors and walls, like something had splattered it at random in small splashes.  

    “Any other information on this stuff?  Still seeing lingering magical residue on some of the patches, very faint, too little for me to analyze.” Shi said, peering into one of the branching passages that led to a row of escape pods, which were all in place and powered down.  “Why is it all over the place?”

    “It just reads as a basic rubber compound,” Briar replied, tapping the screen of his scanner as he pressed the attached probe into one of the black splotches.  “Standard latex basically, very similar to the kind of sealants used for temporary hull breach patches, may even be a DSM proprietary mixture.  Structure is…well, I suppose you could call it unstable, like it’s broken down to some extent maybe?  It isn’t entirely solid, still has some fluidity to it, like it can’t fully solidify, like the chemical makeup isn’t perfect.”

    “Could be that this ship’s been adrift for a while,” Hilde offered, tapping the faceplate of her helmet in front of her chin thoughtfully.  “Though that would take…well, most compounds like that won’t start to decay for decades in some cases.  Could have been lingering in the ship’s stores for a while, I suppose, or been a bad batch.  DSM loves to cut corners where it can.”

    Shi frowned, adjusting her grip on her revolver.  Something was wrong with this picture.  “Any theory on the magical signature in it, though?”

    “That’s your department, commander.  If I had to guess…maybe some kind of compacting magic, or something to help it spread easier if the atmosphere was lost?  Could explain why it’s splattered around everywhere.”

    Shi nodded, giving a little shake of her head.  “Reasonable, but I can’t read the aura, so I can’t say for sure; it’s just too far gone.”

    Kaylee’s voice came over their comm a moment later.  “Path to the bridge is clear, door was even open; nobody here, everything’s off.  Murissa’s even more disappointed than she was before.  Looks like all the systems are offline, probably just conserving power at this point.  I’ll wait for your word, commander, before I touch anything.”

    “Right,” Shi said, motioning to the other two with her free hand to head out the door.  “We’re coming.”

    A minute later, the three of them stepped through the open blast doors and onto the ship’s bridge.  More black splotches here and there, a couple tablets resting on the consoles, some drink containers open and partially consumed.  The blast shields were in place over the windows, so they couldn’t see outside.  There didn’t seem to be any obvious signs of damage from an attack or catastrophic failure.

    “Next relay’s set if you want to check in,” Hilde said as she went to one of the tablets and picked it up, hitting the power button.  “It’s dead, this one too,” she added after picking up another one and trying its button a couple times.

    Shi nodded, tapping her comm after holstering the revolver she’d been holding onto.  “Captain Maerril, we’ve reached the bridge.  Can you still hear me?”

    “Still loud and clear, commander,” the captain said.  “Hilde’s relay system is working just fine.  What have you found?”

    “A whole lot of nothing, sir,” Shi replied, feeling her tail swish with her annoyance.  “Well, a whole lot of that sealant.  There’s something to all that stuff we keep finding, I just don’t know what.  Everything on the bridge is offline, the tablets we’ve looked at so far are dead, so likely this ship has been adrift for a long time.”

    “Understood.  We’ve still received no further information on our inquiry about the ship, even going back a hundred years, and DSM is being typically obtuse from what command says; officially an information request has been submitted and is pending review after submission to the proper department and…well, you know how it goes with corporate bureaucracies.  Still waiting on my contacts to get back in touch, too.”

    “Right.  I want to try and see what the ship’s computers can tell us.  Permission to proceed with bootup?”

    “Granted,” Maerill said.  “We’ll keep an eye out for anything strange out here.”

    “Understood, out.”  Shi turned back to her team, opening up their group communications again.  “Kaylee, Murissa, keep an eye on the doors.  Hilde, get started with the startup sequence; I want to know what’s happened here.  Briar, what’s the analysis of the air over here look like?”

    “Yessir!” said Murissa, Kaylee, and Hilde at once, moving to get their tasks done.

    Briar tapped at his scanner’s screen again.  “Air quality is stale, but breathable; doesn’t appear that the recyclers are working at full capacity here, and I can’t determine if this ship has a garden aboard, even though it’s certainly big enough for one.  No chemical contaminants detected, no known airborne poisons or contagious organisms.  I could sweeten the air inside the bridge if we wanted to close the doors and take our helmets off for a bit.”

    “Not just yet,” Shi said.  She wasn’t certain the bridge was fully contained; there were the air vents to consider, after all.  She watched Hilde set up the generator and start plugging cables into different ports on the consoles for a moment, then turned to Murissa.  The ferakatian had sheathed her short blades and stood with arms crossed in the center of the open doorway, looking down the passageway, as if daring anyone to come at her.  “Any impressions yet, Murissa?”

    “It smells bad,” she growled in response.  “This whole situation.  But you know that.”

    “That was really helpful,” Kaylee said, with no small amount of sarcasm in her voice.

    “None of that, Kaylee,” Shi said, voice stern.

    Murissa’s tail twitched, but she didn’t move otherwise, or even look in Kaylee’s direction.  “Something is looming below us.  Not sure what it is…nothing I can track, just…I know something’s there.  And I don’t like it.”

    That hung ominously in the air for a moment before a screen flickered to life behind Shi, its greenish light reflecting in her helmet’s faceplate.  If she hadn’t missed her guess, Murissa might have just admitted that something aboard the ship had spooked her.  

    “Huh…that’s odd…” Hilde said.  Shi turned to her and the console she sat at.  “Computer is going through an initial boot-up sequence.”  She rolled her chair to the next console and powered it up, another green screen with several progress bars appeared before she rolled to the next one.  “This one too…and this one…”

    “That shouldn’t be possible on a ship that’s been in space already, right?” Kaylee asked from the door.

    “No, it’s definitely possible,” Hilde said, tapping her fingers on the edge of the console as she waited for the progress bars to fill.  “You just have to completely reset the entire system, like from the hardware level.  Not something you’d do unless you’re interested in leaving absolutely no records behind; it would take weeks to get the systems restored to proper working order in a drydock after something like this.  You just wouldn’t do it in space, not for a legit reason, anyway.”

    “So, you’d do it if you were working on a DSM black ship that got compromised, maybe?” Kaylee asked.

    “Yeah, I could see that,” Hilde said, turning her head to look over each screen.  “They’ve failed to connect to the main data core, connection is offline; found the device on its second sweep, just no response.  Power systems…auxiliary power only, life support is on minimal power as well, which is why we have some air stirring.  Commander…chances are really good that I’m not going to be able to get any data out of the core if the whole thing’s been reset, but I won’t know until we have power restored.  I can use the generator to send a wakeup pulse and see if we can get things online, but if there’s damage to the core, I wouldn’t want to try it.  Could always tap the data core directly, but something that big is beyond my portable generator here.”

    “So…you’re wanting to head to engineering and see what it looks like before we try?”  At her nod, Shi considered her options.  She held up a finger to Hilde and tapped her line back to the captain.  “Captain?”

    “Copy, Sukimori; what do you have for me?”

    “Hilde says it looks like the systems have been completely reset, something that’d only happen if they intentionally wanted to wipe all data from the core.  We would have to make our way to engineering to check the status of the main generator and the fuel tanks before we can attempt startup to get the core online to access the data, though.”

    Maerill remained silent for a time, though Shi could still hear the background noise coming from the scout ship’s bridge.  “Okay, check it out.  Stay alert and make absolutely certain there’s no booby traps or damage that’s going to send us all up in an inferno before you turn the power on.  Keep me up to date.”

    “Yessir, out.”  Shi cut the comm.  “Alright, ladies, we’re heading to the engineering section.”  Shi was aware that Briar wasn’t a lady, of course, but he had made it quite clear that he didn’t mind being included in such a way during their first mission.  “Hilde, what’s our most direct route?”

    Hilde tapped at her tablet and activated the holoprojector, causing a wireframe outline of the DSM ship to appear, with a red line running from the bridge through the interior toward the engineering section near the main drives.  “This should be the quickest route…assuming a standard deck configuration.  I get the feeling that’s not going to be the case, though.  DSM sells these ships as heavy-duty cargo haulers, so most of that space is supposed to be open area.  If this ship had a different purpose, and so far I’ve seen no evidence saying it didn’t, then there could be anything between us and engineering.  We couldn’t penetrate the stealth rigging to get a look at the inside, and our handheld scanners aren’t getting much either, so…”

    “Well, we’ll just have to improvise if we run into anything,” Shi said, studying the holographic schematic.  “Murissa, let Kaylee take point this time; head back the way we came, then we’ll take a turn toward the rest of the ship through the central linkage corridor.  Hilde, Briar, come with us; I don’t want to split us up if I don’t have to.  Murissa, close these doors behind us.”

    Surprisingly there was no protest from Murissa as Kaylee stepped out into the hall beyond the bridge and started back down it, the barrel of her launcher leading the way.  Hilde quickly packed up her gear and moved out, Briar following her; Shi noted that the three of them shared a look amongst themselves, and spared some glances at Murissa before they got too far along.  Shi stayed behind as Murissa muscled the doors together, growling as she did so, but managing the feat with little trouble.  She killed her group link and touched Murissa’s forearm as she tried to walk by.  “Is there something I need to know?”

    The ferakatian was tense, that much was certain, but as she looked down at Shi, her amber eyes revealed nothing.  “Nothing I haven’t said already.”

    “I think they were expecting a protest about Kaylee taking the lead.”

    Murissa’s muzzle twitched, and she looked down the corridor, flashing her fangs, but then shrugged.  “Maybe I just thought some things would respond better to that gun than my blades.”

    Shi held her for a moment longer, wanting more, but released her grip, allowing Murissa to continue along as Shi brought up the rear about ten feet behind the others.  Leave it to Murissa to start seeing things logically at the oddest of times…no, that wasn’t it, and Shi knew it.  Something was nagging at her instincts too.  There was definitely something down there waiting for them, though she could only guess it had at least a vaguely arcane nature.  What was the sealant?  What role did it play in all this?

    Things are starting to get interesting!  Quite the mystery seems to be afoot aboard this strange ship, but the bridge only added more questions to the pile.  But that’s part of what makes a space hulk story entertaining, right?

    What will the team find below?  What lurks in within the bowels of the ship and inside engineering?

    Well, dear reader, stay tuned for the next chapter to find out!

    Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter posted, by the way.  I’d suffered a setback with my eyes last week that prevented me from getting the post made, but am on the path to recovery now!

    Stay tuned for Chapter 4 next week!

    Until then, Urban out!

    Hit me over on DeviantArt, or on my Discord server!  I’m usually always around, and would love to hear what you have to say!

  • Red Team Mission 1 – The Black Ship – Chapter 2

    Red Team Mission 1 – The Black Ship – Chapter 2

    Chapter 2 – Through the Airlock

    “Oh, I hope they’re hostile,” Murissa growled, cracking her knuckles inside the gauntlets of her armored space suit.  “It’s been way too long since I’ve got to indulge myself.”

    “But…why?  Why do you always want to hurt people?” asked Briar as he finished sealing his own suit, frowning as he awkwardly shifted himself to better situate the suit’s light armored plates.  Though much lighter than what Murisssa wore, and even after several missions and training, Briar still hadn’t grown entirely comfortable wearing the suit.

    “Because she’s a big, bad pussycat that just has to prove herself the baddest ass around,” Kaylee said, no small amount of displeasure coming through her voice.  She slammed the magazine of her launcher into place for emphasis, smirking up at the bigger ferakatian woman.  Kaylee wasn’t exactly tiny for a human, standing nearly six and a half feet tall and with a very muscular build, but she still looked small next to Murissa, who had a good two feet on her, not to mention a lot more muscle weight. Kaylee had her thick reddish-orange hair tied back in a ponytail, resting over one shoulder for the moment.  “Or at least the biggest ass.”

    Murissa let out a low, threatening growl and tensed, her tail raising and swaying threateningly as she turned her feral, yellow-eyed gaze toward Kaylee, her ears laying back.  Her crimson hair, dotted with a few darker spots, bristled about her head even though it was currently tied back into several braids to allow it to fit inside the suit’s helmet.

    Shi stepped between the two then, shooting each of them with a sharp glare, her icy blue eyes boring into each of them in turn for a few seconds.  “Stop it right there, you two.  Save it for any hostiles we may encounter.  Let me reiterate that this is a rescue mission first and foremost.  If you want to have it out in a sparring match later, that’s on you, and I’ll only care if your infirmary visit afterward affects your other duties.  But not now, not on this mission.  Understood?”

    “Yessir,” Kaylee said almost immediately, her eyes quickly turning from the intensity of Shi’s glare, focusing on securing her other weapons and ammunition packs.

    Murissa growled again, her tail swished, but she nodded slowly.  “That’s understood, commander,” she said at last, through clenched teeth, not meeting Shi’s gaze, rather maintaining her intense stare upon Kaylee, that of a hunter with its prey in sight.

    Shi stepped up to Murissa and poked her on the thick chest plate; she probably hadn’t even felt it, but it was enough to get the ferakatian’s amber eyes on Shi.  “You’d better switch to another target real fast, or I’m pulling you from this operation.  Am I clear?”  Shi was at least three feet shorter than Murissa, her body built for agility and speed, not raw power, so she was positively puny next to the ferakatian, but Shi spoke with authority that came from more than just her rank, thanks to a little arcane enhancement to her voice.

    The ferakatian’s eyes met Shi’s, and after a moment, she looked away, staring down at the airlock hatch, her armored tail swishing angrily behind her, though her ears finally raised.  “Yessir…it’s clear,” she said through clenched teeth.

    “Good.  Now, are you sensing anything over there?”

    Closing her eyes, Murissa took in several breaths, then shook her head.  “Just reading the room, commander,” she said at last.  “It doesn’t work that way for me; I need something to hunt before I can really start to pick up anything.  Something’s…not right though.  Feels like…something looming just out of sight.  Have to get closer to get a good lead on it.”

    “I’m almost through the hatch’s security,” Hilde said from the console in the corner of the staging area.  The stout dwarf already had all of her gear ready to go on the floor next to her, the pieces that weren’t already strapped to her armored suit, anyway.  She looked like she had packed at least half the tools from the Stalker’s stores with her, including one of the small, portable fusion generators.  Her thick, fiery-orange braid disappeared into the collar of her spacesuit.  “Nobody is trying to resist my intrusion, just your stock standard DSM security as far as I can tell.  No change from the ship on sensors, no visual sightings from the lookouts, either.  All indications are that the main power systems are still offline, and everything’s in standby mode; we’ll be in zero-g while their TK-drive is offline.”

    Shi nodded, turning from Murissa to Briar.  The medic was actually a little shorter than Shi, youthful and undeniably cute like most Erisayan clergy, his strawberry-blond curls pulled back in a ponytail that seemed a bit too tight, his almond-shaped, green eyes revealing his nervousness.  Had they not been aboard a military ship, Shi very much felt the urge to go and try to comfort the adorable femboi, but quickly extinguished the feeling; he had to learn to control his nerves on his own; he’d been at this long enough that he should be getting used to recon operations.  “Any thoughts on the situation, Briar?”

    “Um, I don’t really have enough data to form any kind of opinion, honestly,” he replied in a soft tone, going over his medical kit for the third time to make sure everything was there.  “There’s still atmosphere over there from what Hilde was able to get from their computer, but it could be full of poisonous gas for all we’ve been able to glean from the sensors.  Everyone should keep their suits sealed up until we know it’s safe, and watch for signs of sudden damage to them, if there’s something corrosive in the air for example.  If it looks funny, don’t touch it without scanning it.”

    Practical advice as usual, but never a bad thing to remind the team of the basics, especially when there was someone like Murissa in the mix, who tended to act without thinking too far ahead.  Kaylee at least, for all her physical prowess and quick reflexes as a pilot, had a pretty good head on her shoulders, most of the time.  “Alright, that’s fair.  Murissa and Kaylee have the lead to the bridge; Hilde will follow and provide navigation, and I’ll take up rear guard once we’ve cleared the airlock.  Keep non-lethals loaded until we have reason to switch to something more potent, and watch your line of fire; don’t want to set off something that may be volatile.  Murissa, target to disable, not to kill.  And if you think you see something, don’t keep it to yourself; we’ll keep our lights off and rely on our helmets’ visual enhancement for our initial trip over.”

    “Yessir!” said the team.  

    Hilde spoke up a moment later.  “I’d say watch out for low-tech boobytraps too; if this is a DSM ship, they probably have plenty of automated and higher tech defenses on the inside, assuming they’ll run on the auxiliary power, but don’t discount the good ol’ grenade tripwire if they’re playing at being wounded over there, or if something turned the crew batshit crazy.”

    Shi nodded, as did Kaylee and Murissa, with Briar following a few seconds later, looking a little more unsettled as he likely envisioned the effects of such a trap, his fair skin growing a little more pale.  Shi picked up her helmet, her own red hair tied up in a loose bun.  “Commence final gear checks.  Life support, comms, sensors, support gear, and weapons.”  Joining the team in their final checks, putting their helmets on and sealing them up, confirming air supplies and suit integrity first, getting a second set of eyes on each other’s gear, Shi eventually finished up with her own weapons, a pair of heavy break-top blued magnum revolvers at her sides, with an even larger-framed third revolver in a holster on her chest, likewise a break-top, but with a much larger frame and stouter lockup. The frame itself was made of gleam, enchanted mythril, covered in flowing arcane runes in the Kerryn script, glowing faintly in a blue-white light, pulsing slowly in fact.  She wore her gun belt harness over her lightly armored environmental suit to carry all the guns and her ammunition for them, .44 magnum rounds in a variety of types, from solids to hollow points to armor piercing and even elementally infused round, all of the bullets enchanted by her own hand.  The third revolver was her trump card if things got really dicey, and while it could digest the same ammo as the other two guns, it had some special rounds only it could fire, five of them currently loaded in its large cylinder.  That was her big boy, her special companion, for when things got dicey.

    “I’m in!” Hilde said over their comms.  “Confirming we still have no response from the inside.  We should just be able to float on over and go right on through the door.”

    “Alright.  Murissa, Kaylee, get into position.”  Shi tapped the control on her suit’s wrist to call up the bridge as Kaylee worked the bolt on her launcher to load the first round from its magazine.  “Captain, this is Sukimori; Red Team is ready to go.”  The team had originally been designated ‘Red’ due to the dangerous situations they found themselves going into, but with the team’s current composition, it fit on another level:  they all had hair of some shade of red or another.

    “Be careful commander; still nothing back from command about a missing DSM ship.  I’m reaching out to a few contacts I know, see if there’s something unofficial they can tell me.  Keep me updated every ten minutes, even if you have to bang on the hull.”

    Shi’s lips curled into a grin.  Whatever stealth rigging the ship had, it would definitely mess with their communications, so banging on the hull could likely be more effective than wireless comms.  “Hilde has already thought of that; she’ll be leaving a trail of wired relays behind us, should reach right through whatever it is they have infused in the hull.”

    “Good.  I’ll keep us here for now, but if anything happens that indicates the ship is doing something I don’t approve of, I may have to detach us.”

    “Understood.  I’ll wait for your order before we try starting anything up bigger than what our portable generator can handle.  We’re moving out.”

    “Roger that, commander.”

    Shi closed the channel and gave the thumbs up to her team.  

    Murissa’s excited, deep purr came from the helmet’s speakers as she drew a pair of short blades from their sheaths, holding them underhanded, and jumped into the shaft that led to the outer airlock, floating down on the lower gravity until she landed on the airlock door.  The ferakatian loved her blades; she wore at least a dozen throwing blades on her harness, a large two-handed, curved sword on her back, plus the two she held in hand.  If those failed, she always had her claws to fall back on.

    Kaylee followed behind, her deck gun unslung at the ready.  It was actually a magazine-fed grenade launcher with a shortened barrel, loaded with anti-personnel rounds, which were just filled with buckshot, and in the case of her first magazine, rubber pellets to limit the lethality.  She was likewise packing a heavy pistol in her thigh holster, along with a collapsible stun baton.  She usually filled the role of a pilot, but was the second best unarmed fighter aboard the ship, right after Murissa, and had specialized in CQB designed to handle boarding operations, so was well-versed in getting up close and personal when needed.

    Hilde wasn’t nearly as well armed or armored, carrying only a standard pistol for a sidearm in addition to a small bullpup SMG and a stun baton, with a more lightly armored spacesuit, similar to what Shi wore, designed more for mobility than absorbing damage.  Her gear instead consisted of her portable computer, a small fusion generator, and various tool kits and electronics gear for communications and scanning.  The last thing she strapped on before jumping into the airlock was the spool of cable for the wired comm relays, which would feed out behind them for her to attach the comm booster nodes to as they went.  She really did look like she had most of the ship’s complement of tools and scanners hanging from her.

    Briar was the most lightly armed of them all, carrying only a small pistol for his sidearm and his stun baton.  He packed one full medical kit on his back, with everything one could need for emergency medical aid, plus several smaller trauma packs and healing stims hanging in pouches on his harness.  His suit had large white patches set with the red crosses that indicated he was a medic; most of the time that meant he was technically considered a non-combatant, but there had been situations in which that hadn’t mattered, and he’d been forced to defend himself.  

    Shi landed in the middle of her team, then pulled the lever to cycle the inner airlock, which sealed above them with a loud clang.  “We’ll play this like we usually do.  Be ready for an ambush in the airlock; I’ll help bolster our defenses, but don’t get careless.  Once we’re out of there and in the ship, stick to the route HIlde gives us, and watch your flanks; Briar, Hilde, keep an eye on your scanners.  Questions?  No?  Briar?”

    Briar put a hand to his chest, or more accurately, over his holy symbol that rested there, and began his prayer to Erisaya, asking for her protection and her blessing for the team.

    As the prayer ended, Shi felt the uplifting surge of energy encapsulate her as the blessing took hold.  She nodded appreciatively to Briar, then extended her own hands, speaking several words of power as she worked her fingers in specific patterns before spreading her arms.  As she did, shimmering panels of glowing energy surrounded her entire team, interlocking not unlike armor before dissipating into a very faint, almost imperceptible glow surrounding their bodies.  Her protective spell wouldn’t stop a bullet or knife exactly, but could slow and potentially deflect any incoming attack enough to turn a successful hit into a miss, or at least mitigate the damage, potentially turning a fatal blow into a survivable one.  “Here we go,” she said, hitting the button to clear the safety lock, then pulled the lever for the outer airlock.

    The pressure around them lessened as the atmosphere dissipated.  They found themselves floating in a few moments, shifting their bodies so that their magnetic boots clamped down on what had just been the vertical walls of the airlock shaft.  The outer door rumbled as it slid upward.  It rotated slightly, then began to open, irising into a larger portal.  Beyond this, the docking tube extended about fifty feet, clamped into place over the airlock of the other ship, bright white lights and silver insulating material reflecting those lights down the tunnel.  It could be filled with air temporarily in the case of an emergency ship-to-ship evacuation, but for now, it was left in vacuum.  

    Before the outer door had fully opened, Murissa sprang forward, Kaylee on her heels.  Shi waited a second, then followed behind them, one revolver in hand.  So far, there had been no response from the darkly painted hatch.  She activated her arcane sight, but saw nothing radiating from the approaching portal.

    Murissa twisted as she approached the other ship, landing easily in a crouch by the airlock door, poised to pounce on anyone who dared to open the portal.  Kaylee landed on the opposite side, not quite as elegantly, but well enough, angling the wide barrel of her launcher downward.  Shi twisted herself around, landing between the two of them on the lip of the portal.  After a few moments, with nothing happening, she looked up to their ship, then waved the other two to come down.

    Once Hilde and Briar were on the DSM ship’s hull, Hilde set to accessing the outer airlock controls, sliding the hatch aside, then sticking the cable from her wrist-mounted tablet to the port.  She tapped the screen a few times, then gave a thumbs up, and started a count with her fingers, moving down from five.

    As HIlde’s last finger dropped, the hatch slid into the hull, the outer armor plating separating into two halves before the airlock hatch itself irised open.  Bright lights shone out from the airlock, but nobody was there to greet them.  

    “No movement, no lifesigns in or beyond the airlock,” Briar said after a moment, already working at his scanner.

    Shi motioned to Murissa and Kaylee.  The two leaped over the edge and locked their boots on the walls, moving in slowly.  Shi followed, then Hilde and finally Briar.  The staging area beyond the inner airlock was dark beyond the thick glass on the portal.  “First of the comm relays placed?”

    “Yessir,” Hilde said.  “We can make sure it’s linked through the airlock control system once we’re inside.”

    Nodding, Shi cycled the airlock, the outer hatch closing, pressure increasing as atmosphere entered the chamber.  She and the others oriented themselves according to the markings along the tunnel as pressure increased, readying to enter the staging area; it was oriented so that the airlock would be in line with the rest of the ship’s decks.  As the inner doors opened, red light flooded into the airlock from the emergency illumination.  Something black and stringy spread between the doors as they slid open, stretching, then snapping, faint wisps of magical energy bleeding off and dissipating into nothingness.  “What’s that?”

    “Um…it’s rubber sealant,” Briar said after a moment, looking at his scanner with a frown.  “Picking up a lot of it around the staging area.”

    “It had a magical signature, but it dissipated before I could identify it,” Shi said.  “Be careful.”

    Murissa leaped over the airlock’s threshold and landed with a threatening snarl, blades readied, turning slowly in a circle, but there was nobody there to greet her aside from the empty helmets of a half dozen bulky spacesuits inside their storage lockers.  Kaylee was out a moment after, stepping over to the other side of the door. Shi followed them, her keen kerryn eyes seeing the dark patches of the sealant splattered all around the airlock staging chamber; only Kaylee and Briar, being human, would have difficulty seeing without the vision enhancements from their helmets, barring pitch black, in which case Hilde’s dwarven tunnel sight would give her the advantage.  Shi’s ears twitched uneasily; something was off, she just didn’t know what it was yet.  She uttered a single arcane power word and made a tossing motion with her hand, sending a ball of light into existence, floating overhead.

    “Almost looks like they might have had a hull breach or lost atmosphere suddenly in here,” Hilde said as she came through, head turning to sweep the room.  “At least, that’s the only thing I can figure for all this stuff everywhere.  Like one of the emergency sealant containers popped or something.  Usually it’s all bright orange or red for visibility, but on a black ship, I guess it makes sense.”

    Briar came through last, stepping awkwardly around a large patch of the sealant, but still managed to step in another smaller patch. He grimaced, pulling his foot away, but didn’t have any major residue left on the boot.  “It’s dry, so this happened a while ago, at least.”

    “Get that comm relay in place and make sure we can communicate with the ship.  Briar, what are you picking up?”

    Murissa raised from her crouch, tail snapping angrily as she stalked toward the only other door leading from the staging area.  “That wasn’t exciting at all.”

    “I feel you,” Kaylee said, sounding almost like it pained her to agree with Murissa before moving toward the door, but likewise holding her position.

    “Not a bad thing,” Shi said.  Hilde pulled away some of the sealant around the airlock’s control access panel, letting it drift away in the lack of gravity, then went to work setting the next relay after closing the airlock.  Shi looked at Briar.  “Well?”

    “Still getting minimal power readings.  Think I’m picking up lifesigns below us, but it’s hit or miss; might be that stealth tech blocking the scans,” Briar said, shaking his head.  “I’m getting a lot of interference; the best I’m going to be able to do is maybe twenty feet unless it clears up outside the airlock.  Air reads as breathable, though; seems like it’s still being recycled.  No immediately obvious signs of poisons or other contaminants.”

    “Relay ready,” Hilde said, rising from her crouch, the thin wire from the spool training behind her to the small electronic box that was now connected to the airlock’s control system.  “Give it a try.”

    Shi keyed up her comm.  “Captain, can you read me?”

    “Roger that, Sukimori,” said Maerill, his voice loud and clear.  “We aren’t picking you up on scanners now, didn’t get anything useful when the airlock was opened, either.”

    “No surprises yet here; just a sealant spill in the airlock staging area,” Shi said.  “We’re moving toward the bridge now.  Standby.”

    Shi motioned Murissa and Kaylee to proceed.  “Take us to the bridge.”

    Things are starting to ramp up as the team steps into the unknown aboard the mysterious black ship!  What will they find beyond the airlock?  Well, friends, stay tuned for the next chapter to find out!

    I started this story mainly as a device to flesh out Shi’s character (who will be showing up in later stories further along in the timeline), and initially struggled with some of the other team members.  Kaylee and Murissa were already established in universe prior, thanks to a short RPG campaign I ran for a friend, taking place approximately ten years after the events of this story, but wasn’t really sure what I wanted for Hilde and Briar, aside from Hilde being a dwarf and Briar being a trappy femboi and a priest of Erisaya (goddess of love in my setting, basically).  So, originally they were a bit flat, but during the editing phase, I fleshed them out a bit more, though they get a lot more character in the sequel.

    Why yes, there is a sequel, and it’s already written!  I went through a very productive phase, lol.

    But that’s all I’ve got for now.

    Stay tuned for Chapter 3 next week!

    Until then, Urban out!

    Hit me over on DeviantArt, or on my Discord server!  I’m usually always around, and would love to hear what you have to say!

  • Red Team Mission 1 – The Black Ship – Chapter 1

    Red Team Mission 1 – The Black Ship – Chapter 1

    Chapter 1 – Derelict

    “Coming up on the unidentified vessel,” Kaylee said from the co-pilot’s seat.  “Time to intercept ten minutes.  All communications have remained unanswered, no change in course.”

    Shi frowned at the sensor readouts over Hilde’s stout shoulder as their small recon ship, the Pteravilla Stalker, closed in on the unidentified contact that had crossed into restricted military space about two hours ago.  “Am I seeing that right?  Is it adrift?”

    “Looks like it,” said Hilde, tapping quickly at the keys on the console, her thick dwarven fingers showing impressive deftness at the task.  “No indications of power from their TK drive or maneuvering thrusters.  Trajectory and distance traveled since initial perimeter breach indicate no increase or decrease in velocity, attitude seems to be unsteady.”

    “Are you getting anything from their transponder yet?” That was Captain Maerril, from the command chair, his elvish voice leaning more on the high-pitched side, as it usually did when he was nervous; Shi had already noticed the sheen of sweat forming on his forehead a few minutes ago.  “What can you tell me about the bogey’s make?”

    “Transponder response still negative; looks like it’s offline,” Hilde said.  As she tapped at her console, the display Shi watched changed, a schematic of the ship rendering in place of the course projection.  “Bogey appears to be a heavy transport or light cruiser…likely…hmmm, that’s odd.  Getting some kind of interference on the scans even this close.”  She tapped rapidly a bit more, then frowned.  “I can’t clear it up, so I can’t get a full read of the ship’s structure even with our enhanced recon suite.  Based on the partial render, though, I’d say it’s one of DSM’s designs; certainly looks boring enough for it.”

    Shi’s tail twitched as she watched the scanner’s attempt to render the vessel fail again, the generated image stuck as a partial framework with missing patches, generally blocky and long, but with plenty of details missing.  The length and shape did seem to resemble one of DSM’s ‘toppled skyscraper’ ship designs, though, as Hilde had indicated.  “No indications that we’re being jammed here, right?”

    “That’s right,” Hilde said slowly, her head turning slightly in Shi’s direction.  “Thinking some kind of stealth baffles or coating?”

    “Yep,” Shi said with a low growl.  “Getting a bad feeling about this one.”

    Maerril scoffed.  “You always have bad feelings, commander.  Anything in particular this time, or just instinct?”

    “Instinct mostly.  They’re usually right, though,” Shi said, turning to look at the captain, keeping her face and voice cool.  “Maybe it’s just severely damaged and returning some odd readings from the damaged superstructure, but nobody ever comes out this far, not even pirates.  Closest they’ll get is a half dozen parsecs from here; none of them want to risk running into one of our scout patrols.  This one has either suffered some catastrophic damage, is trying to be very quiet by drifting through here at sublight speeds on minimum power, or…something else.  We aren’t trying to be quiet ourselves, so they should have seen us by now, if they’re able to.”

    The captain sighed, but nodded, however grudgingly.  “Well, it’s our duty to see what’s going on regardless. We’ll see what it looks like when we reach visual range; if we don’t get a response then, we’ll move in for a closer look.  Maintain alert status and be ready to fire back if they’re hostile.”

    The minutes ticked down rapidly.  Hilde continued to try and scan the ship to no greater success even at less distance, and Shi stared out of the viewport, eyes narrowed and tail swishing back and forth slowly behind her.  At last a blip showed up on the front viewport’s holographic HUD, indicating the ship had come within visual range.  The HUD opened a display window and showed an extremely long-range zoom of the bogey.  For a moment Shi saw only black, dotted with stars, then some of those stars winked out in a very definite, boxy shape, however blurry it was at this distance.  “That looks like a stealthy paint job to me,” she said.

    The captain ignored her comment, looking over to Hilde.  “Any more details yet?”

    “Still nothing, sir,” Hilde said, sounding a little tense herself.  “At this range, it has to be some kind of stealth equipment.  Still no change in course or velocity.  By now, if they had powered up their main power core or TK-drive, we should be seeing some indication of that, even with stealth.”

    Captain Maerill nodded slowly, looking reluctant to get any closer as he wiped at his brow.  “Everyone stay alert.  Gunners, keep the ship in your sights; Vyrallei, Serra, be ready to go evasive if they make any sudden moves.”

    “Yessir!” the pilots said in unison, making a few adjustments on their consoles as they quietly discussed their approach.

    The image on the HUD grew clearer as their distance from the unknown ship grew shorter.  It was definitely one of DSM’s heavy freighter designs, too bulky to be a cruiser.  The hull was painted in a flat, dark color, somewhere between black and midnight blue.  Shi could just make out some protrusions that were likely sensors or turrets.  The ship rotated slowly and unevenly along its vertical axis, looking almost as if it were some kind of office building tumbling through space.  

    As the distance ticked down, and Kaylee announced they were only sixty seconds away, Hilde spoke up.  “Starting to pick up more details finally…still no transponder signal, but I am picking up very weak power readings through that stealth rigging.  Scanners are getting a better look at the ship now too…it’s a modified DSM Dynamic Paradigm-class heavy transport I think…probably a mark two or three.  Several non-standard protrusions and additional unidentified structures on the surface.  Still no indications of reaction to us.”

    The captain tapped the console on his command chair, opening a comm channel.  “Unidentified vessel, identify yourself at once.  This is S/R-545, Pteravilla Stalker, based out of Zauvis Four.  You are in violation of restricted military space.  Respond immediately if you are able.”  He muted the channel on his side, leaving it open, and turned back to Hilde.  “Any signs of response now?”

    “Still nothing, sir.  Though I’m not registering any obvious damage on the parts of the hull I can scan with any kind of clarity.”

    Maerill sighed, then looked at the pilots.  “Quick fly-by, then circle back if there’s nothing else from them for an up-close look.”  He tried his hail again, and still there was no response. 

    Shi’s eyes were glued to the front viewport as the HUD’s magnified image disappeared and the ship itself appeared in its place through the actual viewport.  It was gone in a flash as the pilots took the Stalker over the bogey’s hull at full sublight speed, but when no response came, it returned to fill the viewport as the scout ship came about.  “Gunners remain on standby,” she said into the intercom.  “We’re going in close; all hands, be ready for anything.”

    Coming back to the boxy vessel, which was far larger than the scout ship, Shi could see the dark hull slowly rotating in front of them.  The design was hardly what you’d call exciting; very utilitarian, rather boxy and kind of like an office-building in general shape, with multiple large cargo containers secured to the carrying racks on the outer hull.  If you wanted to haul a ton of cargo, then it was a good, if extremely boring, choice.  She closed her eyes, took a breath, then opened them again as she called upon her arcane sight.  

    “Match rotation,” the captain said.  The tumbling of the ship ahead of them began to slow.

    Parts of the hull began to glow faintly as Shi scanned it through squinted eyes.  “I see magical residue, captain.  Not active wards, maybe the residue of wards that were triggered.  The magic is definitely fading, may have even been something to enhance stealth, even, but whatever it was, the enchantments are broken now.”

    “That’s expensive,” Kaylee muttered from the copilot’s seat.  As the massive transport loomed and filled the viewport, the Stalker’s forward lights came on, blasting the bogey’s dark hull with white light.  “I see the ship’s name…Innovation 21937…sounds like a really original name for DSM.”

    “No records of a vessel reported missing with that name before we left port,” Hilde said, typing at her console.  “Running its ID through our database now.”

    “Any change in the magical signatures, commander?” the captain asked.

    Shi shook her head.  “Nothing.  At least, I don’t see anything else that may be active right now; if there are more spells waiting, they’re cloaked very well.”

    “I bet I know what this is…” Kaylee said suddenly, her voice a whisper.

    After a moment without further comment, captain Maerril spoke up.  “Well?  Don’t keep us in suspense, Serra, what is it, then?”

    Kaylee turned her muscular frame around in her chair.  “I’ve heard stories about these, captain, like stories you hear in bars about ghost ships.  This is one of those DSM black ships!  You know, they use them as mobile sites for all their illegal research!”

    The captain didn’t say anything for a moment, then laughed.  “Serra, you’ve been watching too many conspiracy videos on the net.  There has never been any confirmed example of such a thing.”

    “Well yeah, that’s because they always cover it up if something happens to them!” Kaylee said.

    “That’ll be enough of that kind of talk,” the captain said, chuckling and shaking his head.

    “You have to admit,” Shi said, letting her arcane vision fade as she looked in the captain’s direction, “it certainly matches the rumors you hear about those black ships perfectly.  Any records on that designation, Hilde?”

    “Nothing yet.  I haven’t been able to establish a link with any of their onboard systems to confirm a serial number, but there’s definitely no missing ships that match on the public record.  I sent the request through to the command station to dig deeper, but that’s going to take time.”

    “Any signs that anyone onboard is trying to get our attention?  Signal lights in the viewports, flares, anything?” asked the captain.

    “Nothing, sir,” Hilde said.  “No changes, none of the gunners or observers have reported anything.  Power readings, what little there are, indicate it’s running on auxiliaries; even with stealth, at this distance, we should pick up its main power core without issue.  I’d say they shut everything down, but I couldn’t begin to imagine why.  We haven’t been able to spot any open hatches or ports; the engine room area seems to be intact, so they didn’t eject the power plant.   No significant radiation readings, so if it’s there, it’s likely intact.”

    “Quite the mystery,” the captain mused, rubbing his angular chin thoughtfully, then wiped at his brow again.

    Shi’s tail continued to twitch, and her eyes remained glued to the strange ship next to them.  They flew along its hull now that they’d matched its rotation, and were looking for any signs of damage.  “If you want to solve a mystery like this, there’s only one way to do it, captain,” she said, looking his way.

    Maerrill frowned at her, raising his chin.  “You can’t be serious.”

    “If there are people in distress over there, we can help them.  If not, then we can access the bridge and glean what we can from the systems there.  I’m not saying it is a DSM black ship, but if it is one, then there could be some very valuable data in that mainframe.  And…if not, and it is abandoned, then salvage rights apply, even for us.  It’d be one hell of a bonus for the crew.”

    The captain shook his head.  “You’re crazy, Sukimori.  But you’ve also got good points.  You really think it’s worth the risk?”

    “Absolutely,” Shi replied without hesitation.  If that was a DSM black ship, and they could prove that such a thing actually existed, and could pull evidence of illegal activities, it’d be one hell of a scandal.  And if other rumors were true, that those ships were a part of Rivalle Volcari’s Arcane Research and Development branch, then there could be some very spicy secrets aboard that would be worth quite a bit to the arcane community, probably to Shi herself.  

    “Well…” the captain said, looking out the viewport to the dark ship, rubbing his chin again.  “That would be a lot of money, wouldn’t it?”

    “This class of ship is supposed to have a docking hatch and airlock near the bridge,” Hilde offered.  “In fact, it’s a straight shot from the base of the command tower, just a hundred meters.  We could get in there, see if anyone’s still alive and in distress, and access their systems within an hour, tops.”

    Maerrill still looked doubtful, but nodded after some moments of consideration.  “That’s not bad.  Okay, commander.  Take your Red Team with you, and be careful; it’s untelling what kind of security systems and traps may be over there.”

    Shi held a grin in check, but saluted the captain.  “Yessir!  Kaylee, Hilde, let’s get going.  Ready to go at the airlock in fifteen!”  

    “Yessir!” the two said in unison, quickly unstrapping themselves from their stations as their backups were called over to replace them.  The Stalker didn’t have a lot of crew aboard, so there was a fair amount of multitasking for most of them, and the members of Red Team were the best suited for this kind of operation.  Shi grabbed her comm from her belt and tapped at the two additional crew members she wanted to bring along.  “Murissa, Briar, report to the ventral airlock, ready to go in fifteen minutes, full kit, rescue and boarding operation, hostiles possible.  Move it!”

    “Y-Yessir!” said Briar through the comm a second later.  The medic’s voice sounded a little surprised, maybe even nervous to have been called up for a mission.  He was the newest member of Shi’s little recon team, but had handled himself well enough so far; he just needed to build up more confidence through experience.

    “About time we had something interesting to do,” came Murissa’s reply a moment later, the ferakatian’s voice a low, rumbling growl.  She had been spoiling for some action for weeks now; Shi could sympathize; ever since the border disputes had ended a few months ago, they’d seen a lot less excitement.  It was why the lot of them had signed on for a basic patrol mission in the first place, in fact, just to have a chance at something interesting happening.

    Shi led the way with Kaylee and Hilde following behind her to the stairwell.  “Take anything you think we might need.  Something doesn’t feel right about this ship, so I want you to be ready for anything and everything.”

    Welcome to the first chapter of my latest story!  And welcome back to the UrbanVerse!  I had to take a few weeks off from posting due to family vacation and just being super busy with yard work the last few weeks!

    It seems such a long time ago, but I actually wrote this story last year, over the course of about a month, which is pretty impressive for me on a 26k word story.  I wanted to delve into something a little different, outside my typical kinky wheelhouse in favor of something with more action and more horror.  Though, don’t worry, there’s still some kinky elements lurking around…

    For the central character, Shi, I wanted to finally bring one of my favorite characters into my sci-fi setting.  As some of you may know, kerryns reincarnate throughout the years, and Shi is no different, being the current reincarnation of a couple other kerryns you may have read about in some previously released short stories, Shibari and Shibaru (Shibaru being the reincarnation of Shibari).  I also wanted a badass arcane gunslinger, so Shi fits that niche quite well.

    Kaylee and Murissa were pulled from a fairly recent online RPG I ran for a friend, each being NPCs in that game.  Some of you may recall Murissa from “Stumped for Rivalle“, too; that story takes place approximately ten years after this one.  As you’ll see, Murissa is a bit headstrong, which tends to get her into trouble; some bad habits are hard to break.  The rest of Red Team, Hilde and Briar, were original creations for this story, but over the course of my writing them, have grown into more fully developed characters.  It’s taking me a while, but I’m slowly fleshing out my setting with an ever-expanding roster of characters!

    I hope you enjoy this story as I begin releasing it; I feel like it’s one of my personal favorites!

    Stay tuned for more next week!

    Until then, Urban out!

    Hit me over on DeviantArt, or on my Discord server!  I’m usually always around, and would love to hear what you have to say!

  • Madhouse Cat Fight – Part 3

    House Call

    Laura sighed as she sank onto the couch, the coolness of the soft material soothing some of the day’s aches.  She crossed her legs, rubbing one foot after she plucked her shoe off, easing away the fatigue.  It had been a long, tiring day spent working on her latest case at the SCPD, and even with her enhanced stamina from her burgeoning powers as Gun Bunny, she was tired.

    She glanced at the clock by the TV, noted it was nearly midnight, and wondered where Cat was.  Cat had sent a text a few hours earlier that she would be late, that she had run into an old acquaintance, but since then, nothing.  Cat could certainly take care of herself, but after that whole incident with Dollface a few months ago, Laura had been more than a little protective of her.  Maybe she should just give her a quick call and see when she was going to be home.

    As Laura reached for her phone on the coffee table, there was a knock at the door.  She shot an annoyed look at the door, wondering who could be knocking this late.  None of their neighbors were usually up this late, not on a weekday, anyway.  “Maybe they’ll go away…” Laura thought for a moment, content with just relaxing on the couch for a while longer, but then the knock came again, a bit  louder than before.

    Groaning, Laura got to her feet, checking her gun in her shoulder holster, making no effort to hide it as she approached the door.  She’d tossed her jacket on the kitchen table earlier, but as she neared the door, she was suddenly alert.  Some instinct was warning her to be cautious.  She approached the door more slowly.  “Who is it?” she asked, hand on her gun as she leaned into the peephole.

    Laura’s eyes widened at what she saw.  Two blue-haired women wearing business suits, one’s hair in a ponytail, the other wearing it loose about her shoulders.  They looked fairly similar, siblings perhaps.  For a moment, Laura could only think of how gorgeous they were, their suits hugging their curves perfectly.  She was practically ogling them through the peephole.

    The one with the ponytail spoke.  “Detective Conway?  Please open the door; I have some things to discuss with you regarding Miss Ramos.”

    At the mention of Cat’s name, Laura quickly narrowed her eyes.  It hit her then.  She recognized these women!  Jennifer and Maria Tempest!  What kind of mess had Cat gotten into that she had run across the Tempests?!

    As much as she wanted to, Laura resisted the urge to open the door immediately.  She had to weigh her options very carefully.  Not one, but two of the Tempest family now stood at the door to her apartment.  Perhaps the most wealthy family in Sentinel City, perhaps the most influential, and perhaps the one with the most rumor and shady dealings swirling around it.  Some members of the family were always coming up here or there whenever a big criminal investigation was underway, never actually related to a criminal act of course, but there was always some suspected link.  Just never any evidence or anything even remotely solid the police could use to tie them to anything.  

    Laura quickly ran down what she knew about these two.  Jennifer had been earning a name for herself as the Director of the Edgewater Institute, the city’s primary holding facility for superpowered villains once they were captured.  Edgewater’s expertise in this area had earned them quite a few high praises from the higher-ups within the Sentinel City power structure, though the nature of what went on there was not entirely known, for security purposes, so it was said.

    Maria Tempest on the other hand…Laura knew a lot less about her.  She had made an appearance when another of the Tempests, Rachel, had been named as the new director of the city’s museum following the renovations that had come about due to the battle that had finally captured Pink Pussy during that whole Dollface affair.  Otherwise, though, her name hadn’t come up a lot.  She ran some kind of special school or something just outside of the city on a private estate, but Laura didn’t have the particulars besides the fact that it catered to the super-wealthy types.  

    “Detective, open the door.  I have a lot of work to do, and would prefer not wasting more time than I need to,” Jennifer said, putting a hand on her hip.  

    Grimacing, Laura reached for the doorknob.  She needed to find out about Cat, but what could the implications be if it were discovered she was having a private meeting with two of the Tempests?  Her entire caseload could be in jeopardy.  What if some lawyer found out and raised the accusations in court that she was in bed with them should their names come up at some point?  Laura flushed slightly.  “Not literally, figuratively!” she thought, chiding herself for even thinking of such a thing.  Not that she would mind, certainly… “No, derail that train right now, Detective!”

    Before Jennifer could speak again, Laura opened the door, forcing her most pleasant smile.  “Of all the things that could have happened this evening, I certainly wouldn’t have expected a visit from two of the Tempests.  To what do I owe the honor?”

    Maria smirked, while Jennifer’s face remained quite a bit more stern as she spoke.  “Detective, may we come in?  I would prefer not to discuss matters such as this in a hallway.”

    Laura got the impression that Cat was in some kind of trouble, and stepped aside, motioning the two of them to enter.  “What’s happened?  Is Cat okay?  She’s not…in your hospital, is she?”

    Jennifer didn’t respond immediately, waiting until both of them were inside and Laura had closed the door before she continued.  If either of them disapproved of the modest apartment Laura and Cat shared, neither indicated it.  Jennifer met Laura’s eyes.  “I’m afraid that is the case, Detective Conway.  Physically she’s fine, though I have my doubts about her mental state.  Shall we sit?”

    Laura was about to tell Jennifer to just get on with it, but instead she nodded toward the couch.  “Sure…” she said slowly, grabbing one of the chairs from the kitchen table and following behind the two Tempest women, her eyes drifting downward, noting the tightness of their skirts, how much thigh was actually revealed, the way their pantyhose shimmered over their legs.  “Damn it, Laura, head out of the gutter!  What’s wrong with you?  This is about Cat!”

    She sat her seat on the opposite side of the coffee table from the couch Maria and Jennifer had sat upon, eyes going to Jennifer’s briefcase.  “So what’s happened?”

    “Do you know of a woman named Anita Winters?” Jennifer asked, taking out a tablet from her case before crossing her amazing legs.  

    “Oh shit,” Laura groaned, Jennifer’s legs forgotten.  She certainly knew Anita Winters; her and Cat had fought plenty of times back during Cat’s MMA days, and they hated each other almost as much as Pink Pussy hated Shadow Lynx, maybe more.  Their last fight had been absolutely brutal, and there was even talk of some legal action to keep the two from each others’ throats before Winters had gone off to fight in the men’s division.  Laura rubbed her temples with her thumb and forefingers.  “What happened?”

    “As I understand it, a chance encounter at a restaurant led to a shouting match, which nearly led to a brawl right there, which then evolved into an illegal fight within my facility,” Jennifer said, tapping at her tablet before holding it out for Laura to see.  A video from a high-definition security camera played in full color and with pretty good audio, showing a crowd of nurses cheering as Cat and Anita went at one another.  It didn’t look like either had grown more fond of the other.  “You can understand that this proved to be quite a disruption to my staff and their scheduled duties, to say nothing of the fact that Miss Ramos was not given permission to be on my property, certainly not within an ‘Employees Only’ area.”

    Laura watched the screen for a few more seconds, until Jennifer pulled it away and stopped the video.  She crossed her arms, looked up to the ceiling for a few moments, then back to Jennifer.  “How much trouble is she in?”  

    “That depends on you, Detective,” Jennifer replied, her voice betraying nothing, completely calm and collected.  Laura had no doubts that the Tempests were very adept at extortion, proof of it or not.  “I could have gone directly to the SCPD with this the moment I found out about it; the nature of my facility and its relationship with the city being what it is, security is an absolute priority.  Trespassing in such a place only to have an illegal brawl is very troubling indeed.  However…upon learning of your relationship with Miss Ramos, I decided to extend a professional courtesy to you.  This doesn’t have to get out of hand.  I am big enough to admit that my nurse was in the wrong by bringing Miss Ramos into my facility in the first place.  It’s obvious she was thinking with her fists and not her admittedly small brain.”

    So Winters was working as a nurse?!  That seemed completely nuts at first, but the more Laura thought it over, maybe it was more for pure muscle than actual nursing, given the nature of the people who went inside Edgewater.  She kept her face as neutral as possible as she considered Jennifer’s words.  “What exactly are you proposing?” Laura asked carefully.  Why did she feel as if she were about to negotiate with the Devil himself?

    “Nothing more than a standard observation period,” Jennifer said, tapping at the screen again.  “Seventy-two hours for their blood to cool and their injuries to heal.  Following this, there would be a final interview with another of my staff just before she is released.  I am not anticipating any problems in that regard, barring undiagnosed issues stemming from a long history of concussions, of course.  I’m even willing to use a false name for the record given that she is something of a local celebrity.”  Jennifer raised a finger as if anticipating a protest from Laura.  “Nothing shady, I assure you; celebrities do it all the time when they don’t want the press to find out they’ve had a medical issue.  And believe me when I say that I have no love for unwanted attention from the media.”

    Jennifer paused, looking up from the tablet screen.  “Additionally, Nurse Winters will be receiving further punishments once she resumes her duties following her time-out period.  Though…in the case of Miss Ramos, perhaps additional punishment should be more of something you should consider.”

    Laura sat back in the chair, on guard.  “What exactly is that supposed to mean?” she asked, warry.  Her eyes shifted to Maria, then back to Jennifer.

    “I can understand people quite well, Detective; it is part of my duties as facility director, you see,” Jennifer said, gaze unwavering upon Laura.  Laura caught herself staring into her eyes, her breathing quickening as she very nearly lost herself within them.  The feeling passed, and Jennifer continued.  “Miss Ramos was very worried about what you would think when you found out about her situation.  I explained to her that it is within my rights to have charges officially brought up for her trespass, but as I said, I wanted to extend a courtesy to you and not have things go that far.  I…sense there is something deeper between the two of you than just sharing an apartment?”

    The way Jennifer said that made it sound like she knew exactly what the relationship between Cat and Laura was.  Feeling her face warm, Laura crossed her arms and made herself look away from Jennifer.  “You’re…not wrong,” she said after a few seconds of hesitation.  

    “Certainly nothing to be ashamed of, Detective.  We should all be so lucky to have someone special in our lives,” Jennifer said.  “But I get the feeling that you’re more the controlling personality in your relationship?  Miss Ramos is quite headstrong and quick to act without thinking, but you can reign her in, keep her on a shorter leash than most can.  Cage those wild impulses?  Though your relationship has recently evolved into something much deeper, I think.”

    Laura tensed, her eyes narrowing as they went back to Jennifer.  Those were some very specific words for her to have used.  How did she know?!  Cat surely wouldn’t have told a complete stranger something like that, especially not in a situation like she was in now.  “And you just…figured that out through brief conversation?  Guess that’s why you make the big money, huh?”  There was probably more venom in her voice than she’d intended, but if Jennifer had taken offense, she didn’t show it.

    Instead, Jennifer actually smiled.  Laura’s heart skipped a beat, and for an instant she wanted nothing more than to have that smile all to herself.  What a beautiful woman!  

    Then, the feeling passed, and Jennifer shrugged.  “I wish I could take credit for my amazingly keen observations…but I’m afraid it’s a much more simple explanation.  After the fight had ended and both of them were being treated, I looked at Miss Ramos’s cell phone and unlocked it with her thumbprint while she was unconscious, looking for an emergency contact and noticed she had messaged you last…and she had you listed as ‘Mistress BunBun’.  I didn’t delve deeper than your contact information, I promise.  Apologies if I’ve assumed wrong, but being familiar with the scene myself, I don’t think I am.”

    “Mistress BunBun?!”  Laura felt as if her face was on fire at the moment, and the rest of her body was quickly following.  Laura knew that Cat kept a completely different cell phone for use as Pink Pussy and all her social media stuff, but that was getting damn close to the line!  “Calm down, maybe it’s not so bad.  Nobody could assume who the two of you were based on something like that…right?  It was just a cute nickname, if a bit embarrassing for someone else to know about…”

    Maria leaned forward then, her smile just as disarming as Jennifer’s had been.  “It’s adorable, really, Detective.  I could just imagine you wearing a more dominant style of attire to highlight your legs.  You really should consider dressing to show those off better.  Though I suppose that would be looked down upon at the police department, wouldn’t it?  A pity, really.”

    Laura swallowed, her throat dry.  Maria made a good point, maybe she should consider a wardrobe change.  When she was dressed up as Gun Bunny, it really did show off her legs, which had only gotten more muscular and shapely as she had adapted to her heroic persona.  Then Laura shook her head, banishing such thoughts.  Why was she even thinking about her choice of clothing now?  No doubt her annoyance showed through as she turned a harsher glare back to the Tempests.  “So what now?  It sounds like there’s really no other good option here.  Cat’s gotten herself into trouble again, and now she’s going to have to sleep in the bed she’s made for herself.  I’m not happy with the situation, but I’m not unappreciative about what you’re doing for her.  So thank you for that, at least.”  If she had sounded flustered, it was because she was.  Coming home after the stressful day she’d had, topping it off with Cat landing in this situation, and getting a house call from two of the Tempests…it was too much.

    “Now I wanted to make you a proposition, Detective,” Maria said, producing a card from the pocket of her jacket.  She held it between two fingers, then slid it across the coffee table.  “Have you heard of the Tempest Grand Academy?”

    Laura looked at the card, on alert again, then followed Maria’s hand to her arm, diverting to her chest for a moment before going to her face.  “Is that what you call that school outside the city?  It’s for the rich and powerful right?  Like an ivy league university or something?”

    “Not exactly, no,” Maria said, sitting straight, chin raised, radiating a commanding presence.  “We do tend to cater to the wealthy, but not always.  We focus more upon training for certain behaviors…behaviors which I believe you and Miss Ramos have begun to explore.  As Jennifer suggested, perhaps it would be appropriate for you to punish your headstrong pet in some additional way.  But instead of calling it a punishment, why not consider it a chance at education?  Proper training for the both of you, a chance to learn more about your roles and grow closer.”

    Laura felt her eyebrow raise.  “Your school is some kind of S&M club?”

    Maria’s eyes narrowed, her lips curling into a frown.  “Most assuredly not,” she said firmly, and the tone of her voice immediately had Laura shrinking into her seat, feeling like she was getting admonished in school all over again.  “Our goal is to educate and train dominants and submissives in proper behaviors through an academic setting, and to reinforce good practices:  safe, sane, consensual.  You’ll learn much more than that, of course, and we have several programs designed with specific focuses depending on your interests.  Jennifer has even sent some of her staff to my facility to learn when they may have performed in undesirable ways.”

    Laura shook her head slowly.  This was nuts!  “I couldn’t do something like that.  One, me or Cat couldn’t afford it, and two…your family has a reputation in Sentinel City.  One that the average person doesn’t know about?  Granted, there’s no proof of anything specific, and I’m not implying anything, but if anyone on the force knew I was meeting with not one, but two Tempests right now, it could be bad for me.  This sounds very much like a bribe of some kind.”

    Maria waved her hand dismissively, though the intensity in her eyes grew.  “Rumors spread by other influential persons who wish that we weren’t as successful as we have been.  And this is not a bribe, Detective.  It’s simply an invitation for a weekend at my school as a free trial offer; I’ve given such offers to many people.  Jennifer has discovered some behavioral issues with your lover that I’m sure you would like to see corrected, yes?  I can help you do that, show you where you need to improve yourself to better handle someone as headstrong as she is and get her in the proper mindset for better obeying her mistress.”

    “I couldn’t-” Laura started, but Maria cut her off.

    “Don’t make the decision now,” Maria said.  “The offer will remain open, and it’s something you should discuss with Miss Ramos once she’s out of my sister’s facility,  and decide as a couple.  I can assure you that both of you will benefit from my courses.”

    Laura continued to shake her head, but couldn’t say anything in response.  The entire offer just seemed so surreal, as did the situation.  “Maybe I should have brewed up some more coffee when I got home…”

    “Detective Conway, here is my contact information as well,” Jennifer said, sliding her card next to Maria’s.  “I understand that you are feeling rather overwhelmed at the moment, but I can assure you that Miss Ramos is in excellent hands.  We have the best doctors and nursing staff in the city…with a singular exception, it seems.  But, if you have any questions at all, please let me know.  You have no objections to my proposed observation period?”

    “Uh…no, no I guess not,” Laura replied, sighing, looking from the two cards to the two goddesses sitting on her couch.  She should have felt relieved that they were leaving, but she would rather they have stayed.  It would almost hurt not to see the two of them sitting there… “I um…I’m just tired, and it’s a lot to take in after the day I’ve had.”

    “Excellent,” Jennifer said, standing with Maria following half a second after.  “I hope that you’ll be able to pick up Miss Ramos in person when she’s released; it’s usually better if a loved one is there, even if it’s a fairly minor stay such as this.  In the event of an emergency, you can leave a message with my secretary, or if you feel the need to make additional inquiries at the nurses desk, I’ve checked Miss Ramos in under the name Felicia Guerrero, though direct communication will be impossible as it is classified as a psychiatric observation.”

    “Right, okay,” Laura finally got to her feet, rushing by the two women to open the door.  “I uh…appreciate the assistance here, I really do.  Sorry that Cat caused you so much trouble.”

    Jennifer smiled, and Laura felt a longing to see that smile forever, to feel Jennifer’s lips with her own, to press their bodies together… “It’s quite alright, Detective.  It wasn’t wholly her fault, and she will learn her lesson, I suspect, sooner or later.  Good evening.”

    Maria followed Jennifer, pausing before she fully exited the apartment, her smile just as radiant, filling Laura with desires she didn’t even know she’d possessed.  “Good evening, Detective.  I do hope you’ll consider my invitation; I’m positive the two of you will enjoy yourselves.  You’ll learn more about yourselves than you may realize, I guarantee it.”

    “I’ll…we’ll consider it, yeah.”  Laura leaned on the door as she watched the Tempests walk down the hall, their tight skirts hugging their swaying hips.  She sighed again, feeling as though she’d just lost something amazing as the pair moved out of sight.  She very nearly stepped out into the hall to keep watching, but caught herself, shook her head, and shut the door, sliding the locks into place.  “What’s gotten into me?  I must be a lot more strung out than I thought…”

    Laura rubbed her eyes, her exhaustion coming on quickly now.  She glanced at the cards on the coffee table, then at the couch.  She wanted to sit there again, to breathe in the lingering scent of Jennifer and Maria’s perfumes, but willed herself to walk by the couch, heading to the bathroom.  “A shower first, then bed.  You need rest,” she told herself.  Her mind never strayed that badly unless she was tired, but even then, she’d never lusted over a pair of women like that.  Then again…there weren’t many women like those two, certainly not together, and certainly not in her apartment.  

    As she hastened to strip off her clothes, Laura thought more of Cat, and felt angry.  Not just at how Cat had gotten herself caught up in a fight with Anita, but at herself for even thinking as she had about the Tempests.  “They’re mafia, Laura; you know this, even if there’s no proof of it.  We’ve been looking at that family for years trying to bring them down.  You can’t get involved with them, you can’t, not anymore than you already are!”

    As the hot water poured down on her, and much of the aches of the day started to fade, she kept her mind on Cat.  Even if Laura didn’t trust her, Jennifer had made a good point.  Cat was definitely getting some kind of additional punishment for doing something so stupid.  She still had the cage in the corner of her bedroom, and plenty of restraints to play with.  Cat had been mostly good for a while now, but this was a pretty serious incident, especially if it brought them anywhere near the Tempests.  

    After the shower, Laura headed straight to bed, flopping into her cool sheets without even bothering to put on her sleeping clothes.  She drifted off quickly, her final thoughts before sleep took her being of Cat across her lap, receiving a firm paddling.  Yet, they weren’t alone; Jennifer and Maria watched them, sitting on the couch again, nodding their approval at Laura’s choice.

    A slightly different perspective on events, this closes out our little detour back to the superhero setting, hinting at things to come and officially introducing Maria Tempest to the mix, though chronologically she’ll be introduced earlier in an upcoming story (don’t have a release date on that one yet as I’ve not written it).

    I’ll likely be diverting elsewhere in the UrbanVerse next week, though I might pause my releases for week or two; I’ve been working around the house and property a lot now that the weather is warming up, and will be getting ready for a little weekend getaway as this posts.  Though I’m at that age where I’m feeling the soreness more keenly than ever, I am quite enjoying my time with the chainsaw.

    Thanks for reading, everyone, hope you’re continuing to enjoy my work!

    Until next time, Urban out!

    Hit me over on DeviantArt, or on my Discord server!  I’m usually always around, and would love to hear what you have to say!

  • Madhouse Cat Fight – Part 2

    Show Some Restraint

    Voices…voices in the dark.  Far away, down a tunnel?  In another room?  A ringing sound nearly drowned them out.  “Just a few more minutes…”

    The voices wouldn’t stop.  “Why are you not letting me sleep?  Just shut up already!”

    And they were getting closer, louder.

    “…other places for working out baser aggressions, at least a dozen that I’m aware of in Sentinel City.  It was the staff’s mistake; you did the right thing, so don’t feel bad about profiting at their expense in this case.”

    “Are you sure?”

    “Of course I am.  Buy Maria something nice on your next date.”

    “Well…I suppose- Oh!  She’s coming out of it!”

    Cat groaned, and her eyes fluttered open, vision blurry in the bright light.  The moment she tried to move, she regretted it.  Pain radiated from her ribs, shooting through her body as she squirmed about; breathing hurt, everything hurt.  She groaned again, tried to clutch at her ribs, but found that she couldn’t move her arms.

    “Don’t try to move, Miss Ramos.  Breathe slowly, breathe shallowly.  You have multiple broken ribs, and likely a concussion.  Trust me when I say that those are the least of your problems right now.”

    “Uhhh…who…?” Cat croaked, eyes having trouble focusing on the shadowy form that had stepped up beside her.  That voice…she recognized it.  Not Anita, but someone else.  Who…? So familiar… Then it clicked.  That blue-haired woman who had stopped the fight!  Cat rolled her eyes toward the form, finding that she couldn’t move her head.  What was going on?!

    “Jennifer Tempest, director of the facility you so brazenly trespassed within for your little dick-measuring contest with Nurse Winters.”

    “Ohhh…crap,” Cat groaned, blinking, wincing before she opened her eyes again.  Jennifer’s features started to come into focus at last as Cat’s eyes adjusted.  As the blue-haired woman’s features became clearer, Cat sucked in her breath, groaning as she felt her ribs shifting inside her.  She couldn’t pull her eyes off of Jennifer’s perfect features, her eyes that burned with an intensity unlike anything Cat had ever seen before.  She couldn’t see the rest of her face, hidden behind some kind of respirator, but she knew it was beautiful.  Cat’s eyes drifted downward, seeing Jennifer’s curves in that tight latex outfit, the swell of her sizable breasts, and felt a surprising heat growing between her legs, and realized that her nipples were getting hard even through the constant pain in her body.

    She remembered to breathe again, gasping, then wincing as her ribs reminded her they were broken.

    “Did I not tell you to breathe shallowly, Miss Ramos?  It seems you and Nurse Winters share some less than appealing traits,” Jennifer said with a disapproving shake of her head.

    “W-what are you…can’t move…hurts…” Cat mumbled, shifting again, feeling a resistance on her limbs.  Was she…strapped down?  Was that really a bad thing, though?  She was close to Jennifer!  She was right there, so close…that perfect body, so perfect…

    “Relax, Miss Ramos.  You’re in excellent hands here.  This is a medical facility, after all, and I shall not allow you to go unaided.  I also shall not allow you to go unpunished for your illegal fight on MY property, which YOU were trespassing upon.  My staff does not have permission to bring unauthorized persons into my facility.”

    “I…I can’t move…” Cat mumbled, resisting her body’s insistence on taking a deep breath as she stared hungrily at Jennifer, not exactly put out by that fact, if it meant she could stay close to Jennifer.  How could one woman be that hot?  Why was she getting so turned on?  If she could just…if Jennifer would just…touch her…

    “You are being detained, Miss Ramos,” Jennifer said, her voice positively melodic, even when it was filled with venom.  “I have yet to contact the police given your medical condition, but you can rest assured that I will be speaking to them over this incident.  Until then I will see to it that you are treated well and your maladies are treated.”

    Cat groaned again.  “I’m sorry…I didn’t…didn’t think…” It almost hurt to have disappointed Jennifer so.

    “Actions have consequences, Miss Ramos,” Jennifer said, backing away.  She snapped her fingers.  “Healslut!  You are needed.”

    Recalling that strange name, Cat turned her eyes, however reluctantly, away from Jennifer and watched the strangely dressed nurse totter forward on those impossible heels, golden shackles and chastity gear clattering softly.  She was dressed as she had been before, though the leash dangled in front of her as she approached Jennifer, stopping beside her with practiced ease.  Cat watched, eyes wide, as Jennifer unbuckled the gag from the hooded figure’s head and removed it, gasping when she saw the size of the phallic shape attached to it.

    Jennifer took a firm hold of Healslut’s collar and pulled her along, and the nurse in the latex hood obediently followed, working her mouth, a bit of drool lingering and dribbling down her chin onto her chest.  Cat felt the table she was on shake, then felt herself moving forward into a more upright position.  Her eyes followed Jennifer as she led Healslut in front of Cat, and hauled on the leash.  

    Somehow the nurse called Healslut got to her knees without falling, making it look almost easy.  Jennifer guided her forward with the leash, and in a moment Cat felt a warm breath over her surprisingly hot, wet pussy.  “Don’t resist, Miss Ramos; you’ll enjoy this, I assure you, or Healslut will be disciplined quite harshly.  Begin!” she ordered, pulling Healslut between Cat’s legs.

    What was going on?  Nothing made sense!  But, if Jennifer wanted it so, who was Cat to argue?  “What are…ohhhh!” Cat gasped as warm lips pressed down against her pussy, starting with a kiss before Healslut’s tongue quickly followed, flicking out to tease Cat’s clit before moving on to her lower lips.

    Cat arched her back reflexively, wincing in a heady mixture of pleasure and pain as Healslut’s tongue worked expertly on her pussy, sliding inside slowly, probing, finding all the right spots, making Cat moan and squirm.  Then she nibbled softly on Cat’s lower lips before her tongue returned to Cat’s clit, circling it, building up the fire at an incredible rate.

    Cat was suddenly aware of a glow coming from below, a brilliant, pure white light that grew more intense as Cat grew ever closer to climax.  Her pain began to fade away as the glow intensified, and she turned her eyes downward, moaning and writhing with the intensity of the pleasure Healslut’s tongue gave.  The woman between Cat’s legs…she was glowing!  White, pure light radiated from her, made her golden chastity gear appear even more majestic!

    Somewhere in Cat’s confused mind, a name clicked.  Solaria!  She could heal with a touch, and she radiated light when she prayed for healing!  Could this be…?  No, surely not, right?  Solaria couldn’t be here, couldn’t be dressed like that!  Could she?  That didn’t make sense at all!

    Before that train of thought could get any further away from the station, it was derailed, Healslut’s tongue bringing Cat back to the moment as her aches continued to fade, the pain in her chest from broken ribs evaporating like fog in sunlight.  Her whole body tensed, though try as she might, she still couldn’t move.  She could feel the restraints now, some heavy straps on her limbs, what might have been a full on neck brace around her neck, keeping her head immobile.  

    But at that moment, she didn’t care.  She moaned loudly, her eyes rolling from Healslut to another figure that had come within sight, the nurse with the pink leopard-print panels on her uniform, intent on examining the restraints that held Cat.  Then her eyes went to Jennifer, who stood behind Healslut, watching the performance with a smug smile upon her lips.  

    Jennifer turned her brown eyes from Healslut to Cat, and Cat felt a rush of desire within, moaned heatedly, panting like the slutty girl she was in that moment, trying unsuccessfully to reach for Jennifer.  “Enjoying that, are you, Miss Ramos?”

    The light grew more intense.  Cat’s body ached for release, Healslut’s energy pouring through her.  She’d never peaked so fast!  Cat’s whole body shook as she let out a heated cry, rocking against the restraints as Healslut’s light momentarily blinded her.  So close!  Healslut was amazing!  The power surging through her was so intense, so warm, so pure! 

    So close!  She could feel it, Healslut’s tongue was flicking at her clit again, then pressed deeper inside, touched around that special spot!  Almost there!  Cat moaned again, felt the orgasm coming…almost…!

    And then the light faded, its blinding radiance dimming and vanishing, just as Healslut’s mouth left Cat’s pussy and she settled back on her knees, panting and licking at her lips.

    “What?!  No, wait, more, I need more!  I’m so close, just a few more seconds!” Cat panted, struggling against the restraints as her eyes looked down to Healslut.  She couldn’t just stop!  “Hey, come on, please, please don’t stop!”

    “That is quite enough, Healslut.  You’ve healed the patient as required,” Jennifer said, taking up Healslut’s leash and guiding her to her ballet-booted feet.  She brought Healslut to another nurse waiting off to the side and passed over the leash.  “Take Healslut into Nurse Winters’ room and wait for me; we won’t be much longer.”

    “Yes, ma’am,” said the nurse, tugging at the leash.

    “M-may Healslut have something to drink, Mistress?” asked the severely restrained nurse.  “I-is it time for lunch yet?”  She sounded extremely tired.  “Wait…no…this is…overtime?”

    Jennifer swatted Healslut’s backside with her hand, causing the nurse to stagger and yelp.  “I don’t recall giving you permission to speak, Healslut.  Nurse Gibson, make sure that you reapply Healslut’s gag before she is escorted from the room.  I had been willing to grant her a reprieve, but it seems she doesn’t want one.”

    “Yes, ma’am,” said the other nurse as Healslut whimpered.

    Then Jennifer’s eyes were back on Cat, and all thoughts of Healslut’s predicament vanished from Cat’s mind as her breath caught.  She could feel the fire burning inside, hot and still ready to explode, but she was held too firmly by the restraints to get her hands anywhere near her pussy.  But still she wanted to cum so bad!  Immediately she thought of Jennifer, of having her hands finish what Healslut had started, or perhaps even her mouth.  Cat groaned and squirmed.  “Please…please let me cum!” she begged.

    “Oh, I think not, Miss Ramos,” Jennifer said coolly as she returned to Cat’s side.  The leopard-printed nurse worked a control on the side of the table, bringing Cat into a horizontal position again.  Jennifer leaned over, filling Cat’s vision, and Cat whimpered desperately for her.  “Don’t expect that burning desire to fade any time soon.  Specialist Leopard will now secure you for your detention period, and I can assure you that you won’t be experiencing any orgasms while within my facility.  Until you are picked up by law enforcement, I intend to make your stay quite unpleasant.  Do you realize how much of a disruption that fight caused to my operation?  No, I suppose you don’t.  Be a good girl now and don’t resist.”

    Cat suddenly felt a stirring within her, recognized it as Pink Pussy.  Her other self wanted to fight, to break free, and make a quick escape…but somehow, Cat didn’t see it that way.  She felt an overwhelming desire to lay exactly where she was, to obey the Director’s command not to resist.  She didn’t want to disappoint that amazing woman anymore, after all.  She’d already done enough of that with her silly fight with Anita, and she just couldn’t bear to cause Jennifer more trouble.

    So, Cat nodded slowly, shifting her legs, noting the heat between them.  “Y-yes, ma’am,” Cat said, something between a whimper and whisper.  

    Jennifer’s eyes continued looking over Cat a few moments more, considering the response, before she turned to Specialist Leopard and nodded.  “You may proceed.”

    “Yes, ma’am!” said Specialist Leopard, quite a bit more excitedly than Cat would have expected.  The other woman leaned over Cat, her face mostly hidden behind her gas mask, though her green eyes were sparkling with her eagerness.  “Now, I need to start with the plumbing connections, and once they’re settled into place, we can get you into your relaxation sack.”

    Cat wasn’t sure what a ‘relaxation sack’ was, but she didn’t want to risk making Jennifer more displeased with her by asking, so she merely nodded, or at least tried to, considering she couldn’t move her head much at all.  “Oh…okay…” she muttered instead.

    A moment later, Cat felt Leopard’s warm, latex-covered hands upon her thighs.  Her breath caught as Leopard’s fingers slid over Cat’s hot, moist lower lips, spreading them.  Cat moaned softly, arching her back, limbs pulling against her restraints.  Something cool and slick pressed against her pussy and easily pushed inside, shifting as it was adjusted, then grew larger as if it had been inflated.  Cat moaned a bit louder, panting, very nearly begging for that climax again, but a stern look from Jennifer silenced her.  

    Leopard’s work wasn’t done, however, because Cat soon felt something else pressing against her anus, its lubed, rounded head starting in easily enough.  She didn’t resist, instead closed her eyes and let it happen, felt it grow larger the more deeply it was inserted.  Another heated, lustful moan escaped her as the largest part finally slipped past her opening and the thick plug settled into place.

    “There, that wasn’t bad at all,” Leopard said.  “In fact, I think you enjoyed that quite a bit.”

    “She did; I sense this one is something of a slut,” Jennifer said, sounding as if she disapproved, but the slight curl of her lips hinted otherwise.  “Perhaps we’ll look at correcting that behavior later on.”

    Jennifer wasn’t wrong, exactly.  Cat had certainly had her moments, and once she transformed out of her Pink Pussy persona, she was always horny and ready for some kind of sexy time, whether that was with Laura, her toys she had stashed in the apartment, or with a random hookup.  

    Leopard chuckled, but hurried to the next step, securing a belt quite snug around Cat’s waist, the belt having a vertical strap which came between her legs.  Though Cat couldn’t see what was being done, she felt and heard things clicking into place, shifting the plugs within her as they were attached to the strap, then felt both plugs move just a bit deeper inside of her as the strap was secured to the waist belt, a solid click coming from the locking device.  She felt herself blushing as her thoughts drifted back to that month she’d spent with Laura after she had been freed from Dollface’s control and hadn’t been permitted to go out as Pink Pussy, instead remaining in a chastity belt and a sex-shop quality mockery of her heroic persona for much of the  time.  That brought another thought to mind, too.

    “Laura’s going to be so pissed with me when she finds out about this…she’ll keep me in that belt even longer this time…”  And yet, the thought of her companion taking that kind of strict control again made Cat squirm, wiggling her hips to test and see just how much pleasure she could get from the belt she now wore.  Her nipples ached for attention, and the plugs, though unmoving inside of her, were a constant, teasing pressure.  

    Leopard worked quickly as Cat squirmed about, proving herself quite adept at dealing with the minor struggles Cat gave her, more out of a need to try and touch off that orgasm she had been denied rather than any serious attempt at escape.  First Leopard undid the restraints that held Cat’s legs to the table, working warm rubber upward from Cat’s feet to her thighs; Cat could see the black, shiny latex, watching with fascination as it seemed to flow up her muscular legs.  

    Leopard moved to Cat’s arms next, unstrapping them from the table before applying shoulder-length latex gloves with just as much ease.  Cat’s fingers slipped inside the finger slots easily, but she noted that her fingers were all pressed together.  While Leopard worked on her other hand, Cat raised her now free arm and looked at her shiny appendage, seeing that the glove had turned her hand into more of a paddle shape, completely smooth.  She could make an awkward fist, but there was no way she was going to do much with it.  

    Cat looked at Jennifer, opened her mouth to speak, but Jennifer gave her a curt shake of the head, so Cat didn’t say anything, leaving her questions unasked.  Cat turned her eyes back to Leopard, who was rolling a cart over.  The specialist picked up a large mass of shiny black latex, unrolled it and positioned it at the bottom of the table Cat lay upon, spreading it out so that parts of it dangled over the edges.  “If you would, I need to pull this up underneath you, so raise your legs…yes, that’s good…now arch your back…now raise your hands…great!”

    Doing as she was told, Cat wiggled herself over the warm rubber, causing it to squeak as it was spread out beneath her, feeling several bumps and what felt like more straps brushing against her as the large sheet of latex was brought upward toward her neck.  Leopard made some quick connections to something on Cat’s belt, nudging the plugs enough to make Cat moan hungrily again, then guided Cat’s feet into the pocket at the bottom of the sheet, forcing Cat’s legs together.  Several straps were secured along Cat’s legs, at ankles, above and below her knees, and around her thighs.

    Then Cat felt more latex closing over the straps, like her legs were contained within individual pockets attached to the larger device.  Leopard was then at Cat’s midsection, tugging a few straps from beneath Cat before she laid a larger latex sheet over Cat’s midsection.  As straps were worked into position, Cat realized it wasn’t really a sheet, more like a molded form, conforming to the tops of her hips and general shape, ending beneath her breasts.  As the straps were pulled more firmly and secured, she had the idea that it was very much like a corset, though attached to the sheet she lay upon.

    Next came some smaller straps around Cat’s chest, fitting tightly around her breasts like a cupless bra, though additional straps were worked into place, pressing down upon her breasts and covering her nipples with some kind of metallic caps held in place by the web of rubber straps.  Starting to feel a little nervous, Cat breathed more quickly, feeling the straps resisting her, pressing in on her from all sides.  Yet, at the same time, she felt her arousal spiking, and squirmed in the device, her hands reaching up to feel at her breasts, sensation dulled by the latex.  Then one hand drifted lower, feeling the thick, corset-like piece around her middle, then her hand moved between her legs, probing at the belt.  

    “Ah ah, no time for touching,” Leopard said, gently taking hold of Cat’s left arm, guiding it to Cat’s side.  Cat felt her hand being pushed into some kind of pocket, then more straps were secured at her wrist, above and below her elbow, then around her bicep, before the outer sheath was sealed up, hiding the straps and her arm within.  Moments later, her right arm was similarly secured, leaving her pretty much completely helpless.

    “Now this will be a little more intense,” Leopard said.  Cat’s eyes followed her as the specialist moved back toward Cat’s feet.  Cat felt a slight tugging near her toes, then felt the latex sealing further.  Her legs were squeezed even more firmly together as the latex pulled together and sealed itself around Cat’s form.  “As you can see, it’s sealing itself,” Leopard said, addressing Jennifer this time.  “This makes it a lot easier to secure patients, especially those who may be resisting.  Plus the unique nature of my seal means that until the release is triggered, it is basically one solid piece, meaning it won’t be easy to escape from at all.  I’m sure we’ll be getting a very good test of this with Nurse Winters shortly.”

    “Oh, I guarantee it,” Jennifer replied, watching the sealing process.  Her eyes followed the latex as it slowly pulled itself tighter around Cat, the seal moving over the corset, then her chest, her arms pressing firmly against her sides as it tugged at her shoulders and sealed over the collar.  “And it has meshed itself to the collar as well.”

    “Full isolation hoods can be affixed before this of course,” Leopard said, “but given your special treatment here, those aren’t going to be used this time.”

    Jennifer nodded, watching as Cat squirmed and wiggled around inside the sack.  The fact that the blue-haired director’s attention was fully upon the helpless woman made Cat feel even warmer than the latex had already made her, and she was keenly aware of how the plugs moved inside her, and how those metal cups teased her nipples.  Cat breathed quickly, short panting gasps, biting at her lip.  Try as she might, she simply couldn’t move her hands from her sides.  She needed to cum so bad!

    “Secure the transport harness so that we can take care of our other troublemaker,” Jennifer said.  “I’ll take care of her headgear.”

    “Yes, ma’am,” Leopard said, ever cheerful.  Cat’s eyes darted to follow her, watching as she retrieved some heavy looking straps, patterned in yellow and black stripes, like caution tape.

    Cat’s attention came back to Jennifer again, her eyes going to the device that was held in her hands.  Cat gasped, seeing that it was a mask not unlike the one Jennifer and Leopard both wore, but with a very obvious addition to the inside, namely a very large phallic gag.  

    “Something tells me you will be able to handle this without too much trouble,” Jennifer said, raising the gag towards Cat’s face.  “You’re not going to resist now, are you?”

    Swallowing, Cat licked her lips, then gave the tiniest of shakes of her head.  “N-no…” she said.  Pink Pussy stirred inside her again, the image of a dog’s muzzle coming to mind, but Cat pushed it away, wanting desperately to please Jennifer.  So, she obediently opened her mouth wide.

    “Good girl,” Jennifer said, pressing the tip of the phallic gag into Cat’s mouth.  As the long rubber shaft entered her mouth, Cat felt Leopard wrapping those straps around her feet and ankles, then her upper legs, working upward swiftly.  Cat felt tiny holes in the phallic gag as it moved over her tongue, and though it was large, she had had more than her fair share of practice with deepthroating, so she had no trouble taking it fully inside.  As the mask’s inner seals settled over her nose and mouth, the gag touched the back of her throat, her teeth settling into a slot perfectly positioned to make sure it was staying put.  Cat’s already restricted breathing became a bit more difficult as she took her first breath through the mask’s valves and filters.  Despite the restriction of the collar, Jennifer easily secured the straps of the mask around Cat’s head.

    Cat moaned around the large gag, already feeling her jaw protest, but feeling pleased at herself for having taken it fully without issue.  That had pleased Jennifer,right?

    Soon after, Leopard had finished securing the heavy-duty latex straps around Cat’s sacked body, forming an outer harness that further compressed her already restricted form.  “There we go, all ready for her to be taken to her room!”

    Jennifer gave one last look at Cat, then nodded at Leopard.  “Excellent work as always.  I am very interested to see how well this works with someone Winters’ size.  Shall we find out?”  Jennifer looked over Cat one more time, then turned, sweeping her arm over Cat’s bound form.  “Nurse Miasma, escort our patient to her room.”

    Miasma?  That was a strange name.  Then Cat realized Jennifer was talking to someone else.  Had there been another nurse here all along?!  Her eyes suddenly darted around the room, but from her position, she couldn’t see anyone else.  She thought Nurse Gibson and Healslut had been the only other ones here.  What was with those names?  Was it Jennifer’s way of addressing special nurses, maybe?

    “Yes, ma’am,” said a strangely modulated voice, electronic and something not entirely male or female in tone, which was followed by some very heavy footsteps thumping against the floor in a deliberate stride.  A tall figure loomed into view at last, Cat’s eyes widening as she sucked in her breath through the mask.  This nurse had to be taller than Anita by at least a foot, if not two!  Though she wasn’t built like a dump truck like Cat’s hated rival, and was dressed in something that resembled a sexier, latex version of a diving suit with very obvious feminine curves, Cat could tell by the way she carried herself that she wasn’t to be trifled with.  Cold, dark lenses of her gas mask stared down at Cat.

    “You’ll be in excellent hands, Miss Ramos,” Jennifer said, looking positively tiny next to Miasma, but so much more radiantly beautiful.  She turned, walking away with Leopard following behind her.  “Be on your best behavior; I will see you again soon.”

    Gulping, Cat managed a squeak of a reply and another very faint nod, her eyes reluctantly leaving Jennifer when she had moved out of sight, focusing on Miasma.  The extremely tall nurse reached for Cat, taking hold of the harness just above Cat’s chest and lifted her into a sitting position with no apparent difficulty.  Then, the giant took hold of the rear of the harness and just as easily lifted Cat off the table, holding her out in front of her and dangling her like a kitten as she started out of the room.  There was no question about it:  she was much stronger than even Anita was!  How many superpowered nurses did Jennifer have?!

    Cat barely even squirmed as the harness and sack held her in Miasma’s grip, the tall woman’s footsteps thumping as though she weighed some immense amount.  What was she?  As they exited the room and entered into another hall, the walls a rather ominous shade of black highlighted with red and yellow, Cat could feel Pink Pussy urging her to act, to draw out her power and transform, to escape.  And yet, as much as Cat agreed it was probably a good idea, she remained placid in Miasma’s grip, wiggling as they bounced along, the tall woman’s pace steady.

    Cat glanced side to side, noting several securely sealed doors, large red panels indicating they were locked, others showing dark, as if unoccupied.  She got the feeling the security in this place was top notch; there were heavy duty reinforcements on the doors and walls, large sections that were likely pressure doors of some kind, and multiple camera domes and who knows what else.  

    There also seemed to be some kind of mist hanging around the floor and in the air, Cat noted.  Faint, but definitely there, and it seemed to be getting fed through vents lining the hall.  Maybe that’s why they were so big on the gas masks?  What was it?  Cat got the impression that it was ‘trouble’ whatever else it may have been, but at the moment, she didn’t really care.  She was being a good girl for Jennifer, and probing too deeply about all the security just seemed to go against that…

    Turning a corner, Cat watched as a section of the wall, no, one of the large pressure doors, slid aside with a surprisingly quiet rumble, allowing them through.  Cat noted the cells here seemed to be smaller, the doors placed closer together.  Stopping in front of one seemingly at random, Miasma reached out and activated the panel with her free hand.  The display was green, and Cat caught a glimpse of the word ‘Unoccupied’ as the door locks disengaged and it slid aside, revealing what could have been a standard sized jail cell.  Instead of the bare concrete walls and uncomfortable cot, however, Cat only saw shiny black padding everywhere, lit by a single overhead light.

    Miasma brought Cat inside, but instead of depositing her on the floor, she approached a pair of yellow and black striped straps dangling from the ceiling.  Cat felt something being manipulated on her shoulders, then heard metallic clicks as something locked into place at the top of each one.  The pressure of Miasma’s grip on Cat’s back lessened, and in the next moment she felt it taken up by the harness at her shoulders.  The large woman’s glassy, gas-masked gaze met Cat’s for a moment as she stepped around the dangling captive, then she crouched out of sight.  Another pair of metallic clicks sounded, and Cat felt a tug on the harness straps around her ankles, anchoring her in place.  There was another softer rustle, then Cat felt a slight movement on the plugs inside her, heard something click in place, then something else, further down, near her feet.

    Cat watched placidly as Miasma rose again, then thumped out of the room, her heavy steps only partially softened by the padding.  Cat couldn’t follow her movements fully, as she was facing one side of the room.  She did notice, however, that there was another pair of straps dangling from the ceiling right in front of her.  The door slid shut, the bolts sliding into place a moment later with a hiss, leaving her alone.

    For a time, Cat just dangled there, feeling a rather peaceful serenity within her.  She very nearly fell asleep in fact, but at another stirring of Pink Pussy, Cat was suddenly wide awake, eyes darting around the cell.  Her teeth bit into the thick gag that filled her mouth, and she jerked and grunted as she tested the device she’d been secured within.  “What the hell, Cat?!  What were you thinking back there?  Just doing whatever that lady asked, being a docile little kitten?!  Now you’ve gone and gotten yourself into a real nasty spot.”  

    Grunting, Cat strained to move in the sack, feeling as though it was actively resisting her attempts at freeing herself, growing tighter or seeming to shift against her motions.  She shook and wiggled, but couldn’t even manage much in the way of a swinging motion thanks to the four straps that held her suspended in place.  Did she dare transform and let Pink Pussy loose?  Her transformation would tear any clothing she wore to shreds, and had done the same to some ropes and handcuffs she’d been bound with before, during one of her and Laura’s little tests, so likely she would be able to escape the sack.

    “But…what was that gas out there?  Why isn’t it in here?  That means something…some kind of knockout gas maybe.  And what was it that had made me so docile before?  I’m never that agreeable, not even with Laura!  Most of the time… But they’re watching me, I’m sure.  There were plenty of cameras in the halls, and they know where I am.  If I transform, then they’ll know who I am too, and I can’t exactly risk that.”  

    Cat continued to jerk at the sack, grunting with effort as she shook and fought, but gained not the slightest bit of freedom.  She had to give it to the Director and that Leopard chick; they certainly had some of the most impressive restraints Cat had ever seen, though some of the stuff on the inside, like those plugs, and the gag, were very questionable.  “There’s more going on with Jennifer Tempest and this place…it’s more than a containment space for superpowered criminals.  There’s more to it for sure…”  Cat certainly wasn’t talking about their regular functions as a hospital and mental health facility, either.  

    Every instinct she had was screaming that something else was going on here.  What was Jennifer Tempest up to?  “Tempest…yeah, Laura’s mentioned them before I think.  Maybe not Jennifer, but others in that family.  Shady bunch, I think…mafia, maybe?  They were slippery, appeared legit, but so many rumors of criminal dealings, yet no evidence.  Something is definitely not right here.”

    Continuing her struggles to escape for several more minutes, Cat finally gave it up with a huff around the phallic gag, her hair dampened with sweat, to say nothing of her body inside the rubber sack.  Thinking of herself momentarily as a holiday turkey inside one of those plastic baking bags, Cat’s eyes darted to the door at the sound of the locks disengaging again.  

    With another hiss, an airtight seal, she realized, Cat’s eyes narrowed, a growl forming in the back of her throat at the sight of Anita’s wild red hair.  For a moment she thought the lumbering oaf was there to taunt her, but the dull, glazed look in her eyes above her gas mask said she wasn’t spoiling for a fight.  In fact, Cat realized a moment later, she likely couldn’t fight at that moment, because she seemed to be wearing a larger version of the very same restraints Cat was now adorned with.  

    Even with her bulk, Anita was just as securely contained as Cat.  Her head was held upright by a heavy collar, curved like a rigid cervical collar, in fact, but in black and seemingly made of the same latex as everything else was.  Details of the collar were hidden beneath the smoothness of the ‘relaxation sack’, which in turn was covered by the black and yellow straps of the outer harness, which had a series of vertical straps holding together all of the horizontal straps.  The ‘relaxation sack’ itself was nigh featureless, smooth black latex, not even with a visible seam down the front, every one of Anita’s muscular curves highlighted.  Her arms seemed to have been completely melded into her, blending so smoothly it took Cat a moment to place where exactly her hands were.  The only obvious signs that something lay beneath the sack besides Anita’s body were the outlines of the corset-like waist restraint, and the two rounded forms of the caps over her nipples, along with some kind of metallic ring near her crotch.

    “So…that’s what I’m stuck in…” Cat thought sourly.  Then her eyes widened when she realized that someone was actually carrying Anita.  Though the red-head’s sizeable form blocked most of the doorway, it took Cat only a moment to realize that it was Miasma who held Anita, in one outstretched hand, just like she had Cat.  And Anita wasn’t fighting her!  Anita was just dangling there, not even trying to struggle…just like Cat had earlier.  Cat sucked in her breath, noted the hazy gas flowing around in the hallway beyond the door.  That had to be it!  It was pacifying anyone who breathed it!  But she and Anita wore masks…maybe not with a filter that could work against the gas?  But what were the masks for?  They certainly weren’t needed just to hold the gags in place.

    The inhumanly tall nurse had to use her free hand to guide Anita through the doorway, but in a moment she had lifted Anita into place, directly in front of Cat, much too close, actually, and was securing the straps to the harness at Anita’s shoulders. “Holy shit!  Who is this?  How is she this strong?!  She’s not even struggling with that ox-headed cunt!”

    Cat growled, narrowing her eyes.  Anita was practically touching her!  She was just about to voice her displeasure at having to be so close to the brute when her eyes caught movement and a flash of white latex at the doorway.  By the time her eyes had come to rest upon Jennifer Tempest, Cat’s voice caught in her gagged throat, and she was once again filled with an overwhelming desire for the blue-haired woman.  Cat breathed faster, squirmed and squeezed her thighs around the plugs that filled her, caught herself moaning softly with desire.

    Jennifer stepped into the small cell, arms crossed, a disapproving frown firmly upon her lips.  Cat heard Anita moan too, glanced back, saw that Anita’s eyes were likewise on Jennifer.  “Now that the two of you are together, I will explain exactly what is going to happen.  I have initiated a seventy-two-hour observation period for both of you to evaluate your condition, beginning at the time myself and Nurse Miasma leave the cell.  Obviously you have unresolved issues that will likely need proper psychiatric treatment afterward, but I absolutely will not tolerate such blatant disregard for rules within my facility.  The goal here is to see if you two are capable at all of learning to at least tolerate one another without flying off the handle and trying to kill one another.”

    Though Cat’s attention was almost entirely on the blue-haired goddess in front of her, she didn’t miss the fact that Miasma had pulled something from the ceiling and worked at attaching hoses to the front of Cat and Anita’s masks, where the end of the gags were.  

    “I would suggest you be on your absolute best behavior, though I certainly do not have time to make sure of that myself,” Jennifer said, her voice firm.  “You will find that any attempts to struggle or escape your punishment will in turn ramp up the punishment factor.  I also suggest you try to be as calm and relaxed as possible.”  She raised a finger, pointing it at Anita.  “Nurse Winters, you will resume your duties at the end of the observation period.  I expect that you will be the absolute model of good behavior, otherwise you will be punished again, as was discussed earlier.”

    Cat actually saw Anita shudder and thought she might have even heard the woman whimper.  That made Cat suddenly feel very cold.  What had Jennifer promised to do to her that had gotten that kind of reaction out of Anita?!

    “And you, Miss Ramos…following this holding period, you will be turned over to the authorities to be handled properly given your actions within my facility.”  Jennifer’s finger went to her chin, tapping thoughtfully.  “I suppose the question should be which authority, though. The SCPD…or a certain detective with them that you may be a bit more…familiar with?  What would she think about your behavior, hmm?” 

    “Oh crap…she wouldn’t tell Laura…would she?  What would she tell her?  How does she even know about that?  My phone or did she go through my things?  Does she have a mind reader here?  How does she know?”  Cat gulped, felt a deep pang of guilt and worry building rapidly within her.  But Laura had to know something was up, if not now, then soon, when Cat didn’t come back tonight and didn’t call her.  “Crap crap crap…I’m in so much trouble!”  She barely noticed that Miasma had secured a few extra straps to her and Anita’s harnesses, connecting them together, drawing them close enough that they were touching now, breasts firmly pressing against each other, the little cups over their nipples rubbing together.

    “Decisions, decisions; it is so very difficult being the director of this facility at times,” Jennifer said, sighing.  “Whatever the case, I won’t be seeing either of you, barring a medical emergency, for three days, at which time we shall see if you’ve learned anything at all.  Until then, do try to enjoy each other’s company.  I’m afraid I have a very important meeting to get to now.”

    Cat whimpered, her mind still wondering exactly what Laura would think about what she’d done.  Miasma connected a hose to the side of Cat’s respirator mask, then connected the other end somewhere out of sight, though Cat was certain it was somewhere between her and Anita.  What?  Why was there anything…?

    A similar hose was connected to Anita’s mask and brought downward between them, and Cat felt it connect over her crotch, to a ring that probably matched the one she had seen on Anita’s sack.  As Miasma stomped out of the small cell, Cat caught one last look at Jennifer, whose eyes revealed a look that said she was quite pleased with how the two women were being restrained, and tapped at the door panel, causing it to slide shut, locking ominously a moment later.

    That was when Cat breathed again, and got her first clue as to what exactly the hose was for.  Anger and outrage immediately flooded through her as she glared at Anita, who seemed to be coming out of her own stupor, and was glaring just as hard back at Cat.  “That bitch!”  She wasn’t entirely sure if she meant Anita or Jennifer, or both.

    Breathing in again, Cat snarled.  Even over the rubber scent that had inundated her from the moment she had woken up on the table, she could smell Anita’s sweaty odor filtering through the mask.  It didn’t take much squirming about to feel the hoses between them, and the location of that connection left no question at all about what Jennifer had done.  Anita grunted, her head wiggling against the collar, and Cat followed suit, but try as she might, there was no dislodging the hoses.  

    Each woman would have to breathe the others’ sweat and crotch musk for the duration of their confinement.  Both had already worked up quite a sweat from the fight, and from the smell of it, Healslut had performed her work on Anita just the same as she had on Cat.  Both of them were suddenly glaring daggers at one another in the scant inches of space between them as they recognized exactly how unpleasant the next three days were shaping up to be.

    Anita roared into her gag, her much larger form shaking and squirming for everything she was worth as she strained against her bondage.  Cat started off with a string of gagged curses as she realized that was only going to make things worse for her if the big idiot worked up a fresh sweat that would only be enhanced by the latex sack.  The latex squeaked as their bodies rubbed against each other, their breasts pressing more firmly together, the nipple caps pressing into Cat’s sensitive nipples.

    Over Anita’s animalistic cries, Cat could just make out a single beep.  Then Cat screamed in surprise and pain, her body jerking as multiple jolts of electricity shot through her, starting at her feet and working her way up almost randomly, ending with a very painful zap to her nipples.  She thrashed about, tried to rock herself forward and back, anything to get away from Anita, but the straps held them together quite firmly.  There was another beep, and Anita squealed, her body jerking as if she too had been shocked.  

    “Serves her right, fucking cunt!” Cat thought as her own shocks subsided, and though she wanted to do almost anything else, she couldn’t help but pant for the unpleasantly Anita-flavored air coming through her mask.  

    Then Cat jerked again, just after another beep, more shocks playing over her body, hitting her sides, then the soles of her feet, even between her thighs this time.  A couple weren’t as intense as before, but then again, a couple were even more powerful.  As she squealed in pain and thrashed about in the sack, Anita did the same as another series of shocks assaulted her.

    As the shocks faded, the two of them huffed for more unpleasant air, glaring at one another.  Cat tried to yell at Anita then, berating her for getting them into this mess, but it came out in a garbled mess thanks to the massive cock filling her mouth.  Anita got the gist of it though, because she jerked about like a worm on a hook as she responded with her own incoherent verbal assault.  Cat could almost understand what she had said, though, and rebutted once again, jerking forward and trying to headbutt Anita, but the collar remained firmly rigid, and she only managed to rock them back and forth.  Anita got another round of shocks though, and for a moment Cat was pleased.

    Until Anita’s thrashing triggered another round of electrical jolts on Cat, anyway, which had her howling as the strongest jolts yet lit up her stomach, nipples, and her insides around the plugs.  Anita muttered what sounded like another curse aimed at Cat, and both of them again tried to lunge at one another, to break free of something that held them just for the chance to hurt the other.

    That’s when a different beep came from wherever they were coming from, a slightly different tone, and twice in quick succession.  Cat immediately felt the corset clamping down around her midsection at the same moment that the collar grew tighter around her neck, the hiss of air filling her ears as it inflated. Anita’s eyes had a shocked look, and Cat could see that she too was under the same punishment, could just make out the collar expanding around the red-head’s meaty neck.  

    Cat’s mouth opened around the phallic gag, her own eyes bulging as she struggled to breathe.  Their struggles ceased for the moment, each of them hanging with only the mildest of squirming as neither could breathe.  The two beeps came again a few seconds later, and Cat greedily sucked in as much air as she could through her nose and around the gag, not caring for the moment that it smelled like Anita after a day at the gym mixed with a tire factory.

    For a few moments the two stared at each other, then their eyes instinctively turned in opposite directions, much preferring to stare at the blank, padded walls.  Cat’s breathing slowed, and became almost normal.  She squirmed, but nothing severe, and felt Anita doing the same, apparently trying to find some way to be comfortable inside the sack just as Cat was.  

    Without warning, the plugs filling Cat began to vibrate, as did the caps on her nipples.  Cat tensed, moaning softly as the vibrations became very strong, very fast.  Her eyes rolled closed, that horny feeling left by Healslut reasserting itself with remarkable suddenness.  Anita moaned too, the faintest sense of vibrations from her own plugs coming through their sacks.  

    The vibrations ramped up, the scent of Anita’s arousal growing more powerful inside Cat’s mask.  She worked her thighs around the plugs, felt her own juices flowing quite freely down her thighs.  Momentarily forgetting that she was tightly restrained within the sack, Cat began to buck her hips, trying to get the plugs just a little deeper, to rub just a little harder against that one spot…

    Anita squealed, jerking violently as her vibrations were immediately replaced by another series of electrical jolts.

    A moment later, Cat cried out, the plugs ceasing their pleasure, replacing it with strong zaps that had her squirming and thrashing.  As the shocks subsided, her angry glare found a matching one from Anita again.  Cat bit down upon the thick rubber in her mouth, sure that she couldn’t do much to hurt it, and proceeded to berate Anita for being such an annoyance at causing their pleasure to end so abruptly.  

    Anita probably couldn’t understand Cat, but she had certainly got the gist of it, bellowing into her gag and rocking them both back and forth as she tried everything she could to overcome the restraint of the sack to get at Cat.

    Cat squealed, more zaps peppering her body, making her squirm for all she was worth to escape them.  Anita’s rant came to an end with a choked grunt as she too was electrocuted by the evil sacks.  The anger in them hadn’t subsided, though, and in the next moment, between their attempts to once again strangle one another, each was shocked again.

    It was only after the collars and corsets engaged, choking their air from them, that Cat came to a realization.  Three warning shocks to calm down and be still, then the air restrictions began.  But…each time the shocks were triggered on one of them, it had been because the other had struggled too much.  “Son of a bitch…damn that woman!” Cat thought, her ire directed squarely at Jennifer Tempest.  

    With her lungs burning, their collars and corsets released their grip, and Cat once again sucked in the unpleasant air.  Their calm states soon triggered the vibrators in the plugs again.  Each of them were soon squirming, the air coming through the masks hotter and muskier than ever.  

    Then Anita tried to make herself climax, wiggling around in her sack.

    Cat squealed as she was shocked again, right on her tingling nipples and through the plugs, then all over her feet like a couple dozen little pinpricks.  She immediately shook and fought for all she was worth, glaring at Anita, smiling around her phallic gag as the bigger woman was shocked in turn.  It was only a few seconds before she too was shocked.

    This was going to be an absolutely maddening three days.

    Well, this part certainly was much easier to write than the fight scene that composed part one, lol.  Definitely had a good time with it, and hope you do as well!

    You might have noticed a certain character in Part 1 that makes a bigger appearance here.  This poor, overworked student, known here as Healslut, belongs to ClockALock over on DeviantArt!  You’ve seen her before, making her first appearance in The Peculiar Predicament of the Pilfering Pink Pussy, where she used her real name, Ankara.  Since that time, she’s become something of a more prolific superheroine, known as Solaria, although she has an uncanny tendency to wind up kidnapped in various predicaments, one of which led to her obtaining her rather flashy jewelry, and her unusual advanced education in the art of medicine courtesy of Jennifer Tempest.  You can see some images of Solaria done by PlasmaDragon over on DA:

    Reference 1 (Solaria regalia)
    Reference 2 (“naked”)
    For Science!

    Don’t have much else to add right now, so I’ll just say “Stay tuned for part 3 next week!”

    Until next time, Urban out!

    Hit me over on DeviantArt, or on my Discord server!  I’m usually always around, and would love to hear what you have to say!

  • Madhouse Cat Fight – Part 1

    Big Fight Night

    “What the hell did you just say?!” Cat snarled, slamming her fists onto the tabletop, causing her dishes to clatter, her drink nearly toppling to the floor.  She was on her feet and hadn’t realized it, muscles tensed and ready for a fight.

    The redheaded brute of a woman who had just strode in with a half dozen women behind her rested her meaty hands on her hips and smirked down at Cat; even standing, Cat was several inches shorter than Anita Winters, and a good hundred pounds lighter.  At least.  “I said you’re a little pussy bitch who doesn’t know how to fight!!”

    That hadn’t been exactly what she’d said, but the sentiments were the same.  Cat’s eye twitched, and her teeth ground.  “Look who’s talking!  I beat your ass in that last fight we had, Winters!  Wasn’t it right after that you ran off and joined the men’s league cause you couldn’t handle real women?”

    The big woman growled and pointed a finger at Cat, likewise looking like she was ready to throw down.  “You only won because of a technicality!  Fucking points system bullshit!  I had you beat, Ramos, and you know it!  You couldn’t handle that and left the league right after like the little poser cunt you are!”

    Cat had left the league right after, but not for that reason; no, mere days after that fight was when the world had gone crazy and she had discovered she could transform into the Pink Pussy, and started focusing on fighting crime.  Cat stalked around the corner of her table and shoved her finger right in Anita’s chest.  “And what about you?  Didn’t you get thrown out because of all those allegations that you rigged the matches with all those guys?  Or was it because you couldn’t handle some drunks hitting on you at a bar one night and put them in the hospital?  Lost control like the wild animal you are!  You’re a mindless brute, Winters!”

    Anita’s own finger poked Cat’s chest, feeling like a solid steel rod, and her face was suddenly inches away from Cat’s as she shouted.  “But I can fight, unlike you!  I know something about you, Ramos.  You were at that Chinese place when that tentacle monster attacked it.  I saw that video online, recognized your bleached bimbo mug as you got thrown around like the pathetic little poser you are!  Couldn’t finish that fight on your feet, just like our last bout!  You’re a fake, Ramos!”

    Cat felt her forehead pressing against Anita’s as the two snarled at one another.  Other patrons in the restaurant had cleared out.  That night at Mr. Wong’s place was anything but a regular fight and the bitch knew it!  She shouted right back.  “You wanna try me again?!  Keep it up, Winters, and I’ll prove just how wrong you are!”

    “You couldn’t beat me if you wanted to, Ramos!  You don’t have what it takes!  You’re a fucking pussy ass bitch!”

    “Right here, right now!  I’ll show you who the bitch is!” Cat’s fists were ready.  Anita’s were too.  

    “Anita, hold on!  Wait, Anita, not here!” said one of her friends, trying to push herself in between the two enraged fighters.  

    Not a good place to be.

    “You stay out of this!  I’m gonna finish this right now!” Anita bellowed, big fist raised and ready to rock.

    “Remember your probation, Anita!  You can’t get in trouble like this!” said another of her friends, who was completely ineffectively trying to pull Anita’s raised arm back to stop the sledgehammer of a fist from striking out at Cat.  “Remember what the Director said!”

    That actually made Anita blink, her fist wavering.  She touched the heavy collar around her neck, some kind of LED panel attached to it flickering a green light as her teeth ground while she debated within herself whether to continue or not.

    Cat couldn’t stop herself, felt her lips curling into a positively feral smile.  “What’s the matter?  Pussing out?  Coward!”

    Anita roared, and suddenly her whole group was interposing themselves between the two fighters, most pushing against Anita, two trying to pull Cat back.  One of them managed to speak above the others.  “Wait, wait damn it!  You can settle this, but not here!  You both want a piece of each other, so let’s do it, but not in the middle of the restaurant!”

    “The gym!  The gym at the institute!” said another.  “Nobody uses it this late, and it’s got that ring we use for self-defense training!”

    “How about it, Ramos?  You gonna chicken out or you still wanna do this?”

    “I don’t care where it is, Winters!  I’ll kick your ass around the ring just like I’d wipe the floor with you here!”

    “Fine!  You ride with those two, and you’d better not try to wiggle your narrow ass out of this!” Anita said, stabbing her fingers at the two women holding onto Cat.  She suddenly turned, dragging two of the four with her, nearly causing the others to fall.  “Get dinner to go, girls!  I’ve got a little bitch to educate!” she announced, stomping out of the front doors.

     

    Thirty Minutes Later…

    And so it was that Cat found herself inside the employee only gym of the Edgewater Institute, cracking her knuckles in one corner of the ring, licking her lips in anticipation of the ass-whooping she was going to deliver to Anita Winters.  She’d shot a text off to Laura on the ride over, only telling her that she’d ran into an old acquaintance and would be late.  The two of them wore only sports bras, shorts and padded fighting gloves, well, besides that collar Anita had taken to wearing; Cat had already been out for a run when she’d stopped for dinner, and by the time her two nurses had led her inside the gym, Anita had been stepping out of the locker room similarly dressed.

    Cat was aware that a crowd was growing inside the gym, more than a couple dozen nurses, both on and off duty by the look of it.  She had heard odd rumors about the Edgewater Institute, and it looked like they were at least somewhat true.  The on-duty nurses wore uniforms that were extremely tight-fitting, designed more like the classic ‘sexy nurse’ uniforms and in several different colors instead of scrubs most hospitals went for.  More interestingly, there were a few nurses who stood out, their uniforms apparently indicating special duties or something…else.  There was one nurse wearing a black uniform trimmed with red, face covered by a gas mask, hanging around outside the ring near Anita, leaning in close to talk to her.  

    Another wore a different black uniform, with bright pink, leopard print side panels, the whole uniform glistening in the light and hugging her curves like…latex.  Yes, that was definitely latex.  Her face was mostly hidden behind a respirator-style gas mask, showing only her green eyes and short red hair, a pair of forelocks hanging low to either side of her eyes which seemed to be looking over the scene in a disapproving manner.  She had been texting with someone a few moments ago, but now she was talking with another nurse, then shrugged, and then started calling for everyone to place their bets, taking up an empty container for the pot.

    There were a couple more nurses wearing latex uniforms, one of which led another inside the room that made Cat do a double-take, her mouth falling open.  What the hell was that?!  They led what could have been a nurse clad in one of those tight-fitting latex uniforms, in white, but she was on a leash!  And her head was covered in a smooth latex discipline hood, a harness gag secured around her head and covering her mouth but for what had to have been a breathing hole, a tight ponytail of platinum blonde hair extending upward and dangling down behind her head. And the rest of what she wore…a golden chastity bra, thigh bands, and belt glittered atop the immaculate white latex, as did a tall collar around her neck and shackles about her ankles, her feet forced into an en pointe position by tall ballet heels that seemed to be melded with the rest of her uniform.  As the nurse leading her hauled on the leash, the woman stumbled against the hobble chain, and Cat noticed that her arms were secured behind her in a firm reverse-prayer position, wrists held by golden cuffs, hands secured inside latex mittens.

    “Don’t get distracted, Ramos!  You’ll meet Healslut soon enough when I beat the everloving shit out of you!” Anita said, rumbling a laugh that her gaggle of cronies shared.  

    “Healslut?  What in the hell is going on here?”  Cat’s eyes shot from the tightly bound nurse to Anita, narrowed angrily, any additional thoughts she had about the strange nurses evaporating as her rage instantly reignited.  She felt her fingernails digging into her palms as she snarled.  “What’re you waiting for, then?  Come and get me if you can, or are you too busy talking up your girlfriends for a pity-fuck after I win?”

    Anita snarled, and the nurses around her quickly scattered.  She took a step forward, her muscles tensing as her big foot slammed onto the ring, shaking the whole thing.

    Cat matched Anita’s move, her step much lighter.  The sound of cheers and shouted bets disappeared as her focus went exclusively to the red-headed giant in front of her.  Their fighting styles were mirror images of one another in many ways, Anita being all about brutal, overwhelming force and inescapable grapples, while Cat was more about speed and wearing an opponent down with lots of quick strikes before going in for the knockout.  She knew plenty of submission holds as well, but Anita did have a big advantage in that she was built like a battle tank, and could probably out-pull one if given the chance.  Still, Cat hadn’t been idle during her time away from the ring, far from it.  She’d learned plenty about down and dirty streetfighting during her hours patrolling Sentinel City as the Pink Pussy, and knew that Anita’s anger tended to get the better of her in an extended engagement.  It was just a matter of making sure she didn’t take a hit she couldn’t recover from before then.

    “Alright, ladies, let’s do this!” shouted one of the nurses, leaning over the ring ropes and waving her arm between the two combatants.  “Fight!”  She quickly hopped down and away.

    Anita charged at Cat like a rhino, roaring, head down, arms wide, ready to grab or punch or both.

    Cat waited as long as she dared as Anita barreled toward her.  She faked right, then left, then ducked the meaty hands grabbing for her.  Cat sprang forward, diving between Anita’s widely spaced legs.  She hit the mat, turned, kicked, landed a solid hit to Anita’s lower back.  She was already moving, rolling forward, regaining her feet and her balance.  

    Anita was facing her already, looking as if she hadn’t even felt the strike.  She surged forward again, moving remarkably fast for her size as she tucked in and threw herself at Cat, shoulder first.  

    Cat moved forward as well, hopping over Anita’s charge, planting her hands on Anita’s back and vaulting over her, landing two quick kicks to Anita’s back before she cleared the brute, landing easily on her feet.

    An outraged snarl came from Anita in response as she staggered, short of going to her knees, and spun about to face Cat again, nostrils flaring.  “What’s the matter?!  Stop running!”

    Flashing a wide grin, Cat did just the opposite, and ran directly at Anita.  The expected swing came from Anita’s big arm.  Cat ducked, nudged it just a bit further away with her own forearm, then came in for a quick jab to Anita’s face.  She barely caught the knee coming at her, pulling her punch and diving aside, feeling the flat of Anita’s kneecap brush her in the hip.  As Cat landed, she realized it had been enough of an impact that she’d likely have a bruise, even though it had only been a glancing blow.  

    Apparently Anita had learned a few things too.

    With a smug smirk on her face, Anita kept low and stalked forward while Cat moved backward.  The two sized each other up as they began to circle the ring.

    Cat moved first, suddenly changing her direction.  She led with a few quick kicks, drawing Anita’s attention.  The giant blocked the strikes easily enough, but Cat was already shifting her weight.  As another kick landed, Anita made a grab for Cat’s extended leg.  Cat pulled her leg back, watched Anita’s hands following it, then twisted, dropping toward the mat, catching herself with her hands, then brought her other leg up, her foot impacting into the side of Anita’s face with all the strength she could muster.

    Already off balance, Anita grunted and staggered, going to her knee and steadying herself with one hand on the mat.

    Cat had already started moving, snatched Anita’s free arm and twisted it as she wrapped her legs around it and leveraged off of Anita’s neck.  It had been a spur of the moment decision, but if she could manage to injure the brute’s arm, make it a pain to use, it’d make things all that much easier later in the fight.

    Anita roared, not in pain, but anger.  

    Cat felt the big woman resisting her twisting motion, and realized that Anita was winning through raw power.  Wincing, Cat released her hold and scrambled to move away.  She saw Anita’s fist coming, but hadn’t moved fast enough, and caught the punch in her gut.  She wheezed as her breath was knocked out of her, reacted on pure instinct as she used the momentum of the punch to lead her backward, and danced away, panting as she fought through the pain and tried to regain her air.  

    That was really going to hurt later.

    Anita suddenly loomed up in front of Cat, arms wide.  She came in from both sides, arms closing in for a bearhug.

    Not wanting to get caught in something like that, Cat struck out with a quick jab, caught Anita in the face, but it barely fazed her.  Her intent was clear, and she was set on that goal.

    Cat dropped to the mat, feeling Anita’s arms brushing her own just before they could close around her.  On her side, she kicked out with both feet with everything she could muster, striking into Anita’s stomach.  

    Anita grunted and staggered backward, momentarily thwarted.

    Knowing she didn’t have much time, Cat sucked in as much air as she could and kicked again, this time going for the side of Anita’s left knee.  Her foot slammed home, the knee buckled, but Anita kept her footing.  Cat kicked again, foot landing in the same spot.

    This time Anita went down with a grunt of pain.  

    Cat rolled onto her other side, kicked with her other leg, going for Anita’s face now that it was in range.  Her heel slammed into the red-head’s nose, her head jerked back.  Cat saw blood.  She kicked again as Anita’s head came forward.

    Anita’s massive hand clamped down on Cat’s ankle like a vice, stopping her foot instantly.

    “Oh shit,” Cat muttered.  Not good!

    “Squeal for me, cunt!” Anita roared, snorting blood out of her crushed nose, her enraged gaze firmly on Cat.  The giant rose and twisted Cat’s leg.

    Cat twisted her body with Anita’s motion to lessen the pressure on her leg.  She had no doubts about how strong Anita was; the woman could break her leg without much effort.  She kicked with her free leg, smashed her foot into Anita’s elbow, but somehow her grip stayed firm.  Her other arm was coming in to ensure Cat wasn’t going anywhere.

    Jerking her leg away from Anita’s other grasping hand as she was lifted upward, Cat swung her elbow once, then again, into the knee she’d kicked earlier, putting all the strength she could muster into it.  The big woman staggered and dropped again, her crushing hold on Cat’s ankle holding tight, but she had to use her other arm to catch herself.

    Using the few precious seconds she had, Cat lashed out with her free leg, striking Anita’s wrist first, then crushing her fingers with her heel on her followup strike.  The big woman snarled, but finally let go, and Cat dropped fully to the mat.

    Anita roared and dove forward, aiming her bulk at Cat, hoping to pin her to the mat.

    Cat rolled aside, feeling the ring rock as Anita’s mass slammed down inches behind her, and scrambled to her feet as she put as much distance between herself and Anita as possible.  Cat panted, blinked away sweat, and put herself on the defensive.

    Her red-headed opponent flexed her injured fingers and rose back to her feet, favoring her knee, angling herself so that it was staying behind the rest of her as she more cautiously approached Cat.  Her bloody lips twitched as she snarled at Cat, nose still dripping.  “You’re gonna regret that, Ramos.  I’m gonna make you beg for mercy, and you ain’t gonna find any.”

    “Big talk, but if you can’t hold onto me better than that, you don’t have a chance.”  The crowd around the ring was cheering, a dull roar in the background.  She heard a lot more of them shouting for Anita, though.

    The two stalked one another around the ring, once, then twice, keeping their distance as they plotted their next attacks.  Cat knew that Anita had a weak point to focus on in that knee, but Cat’s leg wasn’t exactly feeling great, her ankle already aching when she put her weight on it.  What little time Anita had managed to keep her in her grasp was enough to have left its mark.

    Anita made the first move, lunging forward, her massive arms reaching for Cat.

    Cat hopped backward, and a second time as Anita came in at her from a slightly different angle.  As Cat tried to get in close enough for a counter, Anita twisted, using her injured leg to send a wide kick toward Cat’s midsection.  Again, Cat weaved out of the way, hopping backward.  She was suddenly aware of what Anita was doing:  backing her into a corner.

    Cursing at herself for how easily the brute had managed to lead her around like that, Cat’s mind churned furiously to come up with something she could do in response.  She was quickly running out of ring, and Anita’s wide reach meant she definitely had a growing advantage.

    Thinking less like an MMA fighter and more like her pink-furred persona, Cat saw a possible avenue of attack.  It’d be dangerous, but…big risk, big reward!

    Cat weaved beneath another of Anita’s lunging grabs, struck out with a very long, telegraphed kick aimed at Anita’s midsection.  Anita went to grab at Cat’s leg, but Cat quickly pulled it back out of reach, struck out again with her other leg and landed a glancing blow on Anita’s shoulder.  

    The bullish woman grunted and lunged at Cat again, a wild gleam in her eyes revealing that she was certain she had Cat exactly where she wanted her.  

    This time when Cat hopped backward, she grabbed the ring ropes to either side of her, just before she reached the corner, then hopped atop the uppermost turnbuckle.  Pushing off and using the rope tension to add to her movement, she leaped over Anita’s head, enjoying the momentary look of surprise on the woman’s face as she came down with all her weight onto Anita, both feet slapping firmly into the center of the red-head’s shoulders.

    The impact sent Anita forward, crashing into the corner post as Cat rolled down the bigger woman and hit the mat, coming to her feet.  Pretty sure that she saw the upright now bent from Anita’s impact, Cat nonetheless rushed right back toward the dazed giant and pounced onto her back.  One arm latched around Anita’s neck and squeezed with everything Cat could muster, while her other pounded at Anita’s kidneys as fast and hard as she could.

    Anita grunted and snarled, staggering backward as she shook her head, reaching for the arm Cat had around her neck with one hand and throwing an elbow backward with her opposite arm.

    If there was ever anyone Cat could call a brick shithouse, it was Anita.  The woman just wouldn’t stop!

    Though the both of them were covered in sweat at this point, Cat was under no illusions that it would help her if Anita managed to latch onto her again.  She stopped her assault on Anita’s kidney and let go of the red-headed brute’s neck, immediately hopping backwards, narrowly avoiding the elbow.  

    Anita roared again, suddenly throwing herself backward, her bulk moving with speed Cat hadn’t thought possible.  Cat put her arms up and braced, but there was nothing she could do to avoid the sudden, unexpected attack.  

    Cat cried out as the full weight of all that brick slammed into her.  She felt the mat rushing up, and then lights flashed and swirled in her vision as she rolled.  Dazed, her body screamed as new pain flared, coming to a stop against the ropes, her arm catching the bottom rope before she could roll completely out of the ring.

    “Okay, yeah, put me down for a hundred on Winters.”

    “I’ll take that bet!  A hundred on Ramos!”

    “Your loss, Bayne!  I’ll be happy to take your money!”

    Cat heard Anita groaning nearby, blinked a few times to clear her vision, her head rolling toward the voices.  The leopard-printed nurse with the cash box was tapping on her phone as another pair of nurses stuffed their money into the pot.  Their uniforms were different, but were composed of shiny black latex and tall heels.  What was the deal with the uniforms in this place?

    Not wanting to disappoint whoever Bayne was just on principle, money be damned, Cat gritted her teeth and tried to blot out the pain, turning her attention back to the ring and the lumbering giant still inside it.  Anita was rubbing at her side where Cat had pounded at her kidney, grimacing and panting in the momentary respite she had created with that unexpected body check.  

    Cat willed herself to her feet, feeling Pink Pussy stir inside her.  As much as she’d enjoy the enhanced stamina, speed, and recovery rate her other self could offer, she pushed it away.  She couldn’t transform in front of a few dozen nurses; there was no way she could reveal herself and get away with it here.  Besides, it wouldn’t be fair to Anita; she wasn’t super-powered…at least Cat didn’t think so, anyway.  She probably just lived in the gym pumping all the iron, all the time, and spent all her money on the protein it would take to bulk up like that.

    Seeing Cat on her feet again, Anita assumed a more defensive stance, as did Cat, and the two began to slowly stalk each other around the ring again.  Cat’s body ached, and she felt the burning of several scrapes from her roll across the ring.  “Good move, Winters.  Didn’t expect that kind of speed from you.”

    Anita smirked, blowing out some blood that remained in her nose with a snort.  “You’re not as weak as you look, either.  Didn’t think you could punch that hard; actually felt those.”

    And that was the extent of their conversation.  Still stalking, Cat was back to trying to come up with a way to put Anita down for the count.  The way the other woman was huffing around, Cat was fairly certain she would need to try and choke her out.  A body that big took a lot of air to function, after all.  But how to do it?  If she could get behind the big woman again, that would be best, but all Anita would have to do is flop onto her back and she would crush Cat out beneath her.

    Attacking head on was dangerous too; Anita had a massive reach advantage.  And it would put Cat directly in range of those tree trunks the red-head used for arms.  Anita also had impressive endurance and could shrug off all but Cat’s strongest strikes without feeling them.  She was slower, more prone striking out without thought, but even when Cat had taken advantage of it, she hadn’t stayed down for long.  

    As they continued their slow, stalking dance, Cat decided that she had to go for Anita’s air again.  As meaty as her neck was, it was also Anita’s weakest spot.  Problem was, Cat would be vulnerable to several attacks if she tried the chokehold again.  Could she hold out long enough to choke Anita out?  

    It looked like Anita’s patience was gone for their little stroll about the ring.  The bullish woman snorted and lunged.

    Cat shot forward instead of trying to stay out of reach.  She batted one of Anita’s arms aside with her forearm and twisted away from her other arm, using the momentum to land her elbow into Anita’s gut.  She could sense Anita correcting, saw her adjust her footing.  Cat scrambled to keep ahead of Anita, sensing her arms closing in.  

    She brought her knee up, catching Anita in the thigh, ducked just in time to avoid Anita’s arms, feeling the red-head’s sweaty skin slide over her shoulders.  Cat had gotten her only slightly off balance and struck out with another quick jab, catching Anita in the side.  Cat broke off in the next instant, diving low, hit the mat and rolled upright, sweeping her leg behind her, striking Anita in the ankle with a loud slap, wincing at the sting she felt in her foot.  

    Anita growled, swiveled, and dove at Cat, her hands clasped together as she put her full weight into an overhead crushing blow.  

    Cat pulled herself back with her arms and spread her legs wide at the very last moment, Anita’s balled fists slamming down on the ring an inch from Cat’s crotch.  She could have sworn she’d heard the boards beneath them crack.  

    Cat struck out with her left heel, struck the side of Anita’s head.  Not a strong blow given her position, but enough to buy another moment for her to make use of Anita’s exposed position.  She immediately followed up by pushing her foot against Anita’s forehead, shoving herself backwards rather than trying to deal damage.  

    Anita’s hands and forearms ran over Cat’s leg as she scooted backward, just barely missing a potentially final grab that would have decided the match right then.

    Hopping to her feet while Anita lumbered back upright, Cat then leaped forward, landed on Anita’s back, and rolled over it.  Alighting  on her feet on the other side, she twisted and lashed out with her right leg with everything she could muster, and caught Anita across her backside with her shin.  

    It was enough to cause Anita to stagger forward, still off balance while she tried to get herself upright.  Cat rushed straight at her again, reached out and placed her hands over Anita’s lower back, then vaulted over the giant again.  

    This time Cat hadn’t tried to clear her opponent.  This time she was angled right at Anita’s rising head.  Her crotch slammed into the back of Anita’s head, her legs falling to either side of it as she rested on her opponent’s broad shoulders, and Cat clamped her thighs together and crossed her ankles, squeezing with everything she had.

    Anita’s growl was an angry rumble as the big woman surged upright.  She swung around wildly, trying to dislodge Cat while simultaneously grabbing at her.  Cat weaved and wiggled for all she was worth, taking a handful of Anita’s hair for leverage as she swung backwards to avoid those powerful arms.  It was like riding an actual bull!

    “It’s not too late to give up, Winters!” Cat taunted.

    That’s when the sledgehammer of Anita’s fist struck Cat in the side, her vision blurring as pain exploded through her.  The fact that she fell forward over Anita’s head, doubled over from the jarring blow, was the only thing that had saved her from the follow up strike from the other side; Anita had only managed to graze her with her knuckles on that one.

    Still clinging to Anita’s neck with every bit of strength she could muster in her legs, Cat felt the shift in momentum, knew what Anita had intended.  Before the giant could topple backward and slam Cat into the mat, Cat eased the pressure on her thighs only slightly.  She jabbed at Anita’s head, a few quick strikes to keep her off balance.  

    As Anita’s arms again rose to strike at Cat, the giantess pitched forward.  Cat let the momentum carry her.  She held on tightly to Anita’s wild red mane and released her hold, raising her legs before sliding around Anita’s head.  Anita howled as Cat’s full weight tugged on her hair, a mix of pure rage and pain.  Cat pulled herself upward, slamming her crotch into Anita’s face before she settled in the right position.  The moment she was in place, she clamped her thighs together again and recrossed her ankles, and squeezed for all she was worth.

    Cat managed another couple of quick jabs at Anita’s head before she had to break off the attack.  She saw Anita’s fists coming at her and reflexively fell backward, dropping below the flailing hammers that could knock her cold if they struck her just right.  But she kept holding on for dear life, but had lost her grip on Anita’s hair.

    Grimacing, Cat knew what was coming.  Her fall backward had only bought her a couple seconds; she couldn’t recover fast enough to avoid Anita’s grip now.  Now it would be up to her own endurance.

    Anita’s massive arms closed around Cat in that bearhug she had so wanted to use the whole fight.  Pain flared throughout Cat’s midsection and only grew worse as Anita’s monstrous strength crushed down around Cat.  

    Intense didn’t even begin to describe the crushing force.  Anita had gotten stronger since their last bout.  Almost immediately the air was crushed from Cat’s lungs.  She grimaced, resisted the need to scream.  

    Something popped in Cat’s chest.  Then something else cracked.  Pain flared, brilliant and blinding.  Ribs…her ribs were giving already!

    Anita went to her knees, but stubbornly held on as Cat’s thighs continued choking off her air.  Why wouldn’t Anita go down?!  Cat didn’t have much left.  She couldn’t breathe, even if she felt Anita’s grip slacken just a bit.  

    No!  She wasn’t going to give up!  She was going to see this through!  She was going to win!  Finding a reserve of strength that wasn’t tapping into Pink Pussy’s power, Cat somehow managed to bring her arms up, slamming her elbow into Anita’s side once, twice, a third time.

    Anita wavered, her grip faltered, but tightened again.  

    Cat’s vision was blurry, filled with stars.  Her lungs burned; she couldn’t breathe.

    From her position dangling upside down, Cat saw a blurry flash of white topped with pale blue, thought someone had just vaulted over the ropes and landed in the ring in front of them.  

    “That is enough!  This ends now!” The commanding tone left no room for discussion.  A hush fell over the gym, but neither Anita nor Cat seemed to notice.  “I said that is enough!” the voice added a moment later, the woman’s tone positively icy.

    The figure approached them.  Cat saw a blur of movement, then heard a solid impact just above her.  Anita’s grip faltered and fell away almost instantly, the big woman falling to the side, sucking in air immediately.  

    Cat dropped her own hold the moment Anita’s arms fell away, and landed on the mat with a very ungraceful thud.  Gasping for air, she tried to focus on the figure who had come into the ring.  The way her outfit was glistening, it had to be one of those latex uniforms.  Cat struggled upright, fighting through the pain.  Anita was next to her, but the figure in white was leaning over her.  Was that…did she have her own arm clamped around Anita’s neck?!

    Then something clamped around Cat’s neck, something warm and smooth…latex!

    “When I give an order, I expect it to be followed!” said the newcomer, cold, calm and fully in control.

    Stunned, Cat tried to shake herself free, but the grip was even more unyielding than Anita’s.  It took her a few moments to process what had just happened.  The woman not only held Anita in a chokehold the big oaf couldn’t break free of, but was balancing on one foot, her other leg raised so that she easily held Cat’s head between her thigh and ankle.  All while wearing high heels!  Who was this woman?!

    As Cat’s vision blurred, her strength waning with lack of air, she heard the woman holding to her and Anita giving out orders.  “This unauthorized event is finished.  All nurses are to report immediately to their duties and await disciplinary action; those of you who are not on shift will have your punishments handed out at the start of your next one.  Nurse Ashburn, continue assisting Specialist Leopard with unloading her delivery; you’ve wasted enough of her time as is.  Doctors Del Vecchio and Bayne, see to it that the nursing staff are in fact performing their duties…and remember to report to the R&D wing at the end of your shifts for the overtime you so graciously volunteered for.”  There was a pause, the sound of nurses shuffling away, fearful murmurs.  “And Nurse Gibson…wake up Healslut and escort her to the maximum security wing’s intake; we have a couple of new volunteers who will need her attention before they begin testing Leopard’s latest devices.”

    Cat tried to protest, managed to raise her hand to swat limply at the leg that held her in its choking grasp.  If the woman at the other end of said leg noticed, she gave no indication of it.  The last thing Cat saw before she blacked out was the glint of light reflecting off the blue-haired figure’s glasses as they looked down at her.

    At long last, a return to my superhero setting!  I’d actually written this around the middle of last year, but have been sitting on it a while due to various reasons.  Not that I’m not happy with it or anything, just life and other stories taking precedence.

    Though this particular chapter doesn’t have a ton of my usual kinky content, I found it a very fun challenge to describe the extended fight scene between Cat and Anita.  It took me a lot longer than normal to finish that chapter as I’m far from what I’d call a fan of watching MMA or any other sports.  So, hopefully I didn’t screw things up too badly with my descriptions; if I did, please let me know!

    This was meant as a fun little worldbuilding story, adding in some new characters, as well as expanding the facility and staff featured in Anything for a Scoop and The Honey Trap.

    Stay tuned for next week’s follow up chapter, in which we get to see Cat and Anita receiving some unorthodox treatment for their antics.

    Until next time, Urban out!

    Hit me over on DeviantArt, or on my Discord server!  I’m usually always around, and would love to hear what you have to say!

  • The Golden Bunny

    Valefar System, Valefar V, Paradise City

    Inside The Devil’s Watering Hole, 7:30PM local

     

    “I should never have come back here,” Felicity thought sourly, biting down on the rubber ball wedged behind her teeth, gagging as it forced the attached phallic plug deeper into her throat.  “Damn that devil!”

    It wasn’t the first time she’d had those thoughts, and it surely wouldn’t be the last.  She snatched up the serving tray just as the bartender placed the final drink, her gagged grumbling lost to the din of the music and the crowds as she carefully adjusted her cuffed hands on the tray and started taking her measured steps back to the target table, careful not only of her very high heels but of the cuffs and hobble chain connecting her ankles.  

    Felicity’s eye twitched a few steps later as a fresh line of drool slipped from beneath the muzzle-like mask that covered her lower face, the warm spittle once again wettening the tops of her breasts.  She tried to ignore it, and by now she thought she would have been used to it, but that wasn’t the case.  It was annoying.  So very annoying.  Like the whole situation.  “Damn that devil!”

    The expected whooping and catcalls started again as Felicity made her way deftly into the crowd, tray balanced in her hands.  For a wonder the crowd generally seemed to give her space, the patrons perhaps wary of doing something that might earn them some time as the Watering Hole’s newest indentured servant.  She ignored those trying to get her attention easily enough, unless they were waving an empty glass in her section, anyway.  She had only so much her brain could handle at the moment, and her ridiculously revealing and restrictive outfit and having to carry the tray while wearing it took most of her cognitive faculties.

    It had been a good eight months since Felicity had been in Paradise City, and it had expanded rapidly since her last visit, being the self-proclaimed ‘Gateway to the Demon Sector’, even though officially that was supposed to be Aphelion Station, near the edge of the Barrier.  The Devil’s Watering Hole had done well for itself, it seemed, and was still the top-rated place for thirsty spacers to take a load off and throw away their money on the rigged casino games.  And apparently their ‘Bouncing Bunnies’ had garnered quite the following too, even if their employment was dubious at best, at least compared to how things were outside the Demon Sector.

    Felicity hadn’t exactly intended to return to Hellion’s business, not after that humiliating stint as a tightly-roped porch decoration, but her latest crew had been on a tear through town, and after quite a few drinks, had found themselves at the Hole.  She honestly didn’t even remember most of that night, though she did remember making her way into the casino, trying a few of the slot machines, then heading toward one of the roulette tables…and then things got a little fuzzy, well, a lot fuzzy.  She’d woken up the following morning in one of Hellion’s ‘employee’ dorms, little more than a fancied up prison cell, really, with a fresh debt and a very excited Vanessa Hellion to greet her, more than a little eager to tell Felicity all about the new debt-relief program she herself had inspired.

    The fact that Hellion had a custom outfit ready to go, just for Felicity, left the down-on-her-luck gambler with more than a few questions, but with her temporary crew having abandoned her again, she didn’t exactly have much choice.  At least this debt wasn’t as big as the last one…

    Still, the outfit was ridiculous, gaudy and horribly impractical, but at least it left her with some small dignity.  Sort of.  Not really.  Felicity sighed around the gag as she approached her destination table, wishing she could adjust the outfit just a little as it pinched between her legs, but that was exactly what it had been intended to do.  

    The offending outfit was a gold bunny costume, the outer layer of material possessing a brilliant metallic sheen, almost like polished golden chrome.  The ears attached to the ridiculous gag harness, and the strappy, five-inch heels, had the same metallic brilliance, causing her to reflect pretty much any light and draw attention from all sides.  And of course, they were all locked in place with electronic padlocks keyed to a central control device.  The bodysuit itself hugged her curves, even enhanced them thanks to the built-in, self-tightening corset, and was cut in such a way that her breasts were barely contained, yet somehow her nipples managed to remain enticingly hidden just below the edge of the cups supporting her tits.  The suit cut downward in a narrow ‘V’ shape between her legs, tight enough to leave little to the imagination while remaining a constant annoyance, a narrow strip running between her ass cheeks.  A puffy bunny tail rested just above her barely covered ass, which might as well have been completely exposed between the skimpy suit and fishnet stockings beneath.  

    The other accessories consisted of a bow-tie collar, which, though outwardly looking like just cloth, actually concealed a narrow metallic band complete with an electronic lock and a tracker, controlling her access in the building and making sure that she couldn’t slip too far away from Hellion’s grip, as well as a pair of similarly styled cuffs at her wrists that did little to hide the cuffs secured around them.  A chain ran from her cuffed wrists to ring on the locked belt around her narrowed waist, continuing down between her legs to connect to the hobble chain between her ankles.  

    At long last, Felicity made it to the table, surrounded by a laughing spacer crew, fresh off their latest jaunt into the Demon Sector.  She sat the tray on the table and carefully distributed the drinks, noting that none of them made a move to help her even though she obviously struggled to do so with her cuffed hands.  

    Before she could remove the tray, a cred chip was tossed atop it.  Noticing the value on the chip, Felicity groaned.  She didn’t resist, though, not wanting to get in deeper than she already was, as the big orc stood and reached around her, grabbing handfuls of her tits, giving each a firm squeeze, pinching her nipples with his thick fingers.  After a few moments, his hands moved to her ass, grabbing up her flesh easily, squeezing her cheeks together in a few circular motions.  After he released her, she braced, then grunted as his hand slapped across both cheeks, leaving her ass hot and tingling, and the rest of his crew laughing as they started into their drinks.  

    Biting her gag, since she couldn’t bite her tongue, Felicity managed what could have been a smile or a grimace, picked up the tray, and bowed to the table.  A passerby tossed a cred chip on the tray, and she squealed as another smack landed across her ass, and more laughter erupted around her.  

    “I’m going to strangle Hellion!  I’ll choke the life right out of her!” Felicity thought as she turned and started looking for other customers needing refills.  She caught the wave from the bartender, signaling her over.  By the time she had reached the bar, she had racked up another four smacks across her backside, several more quick gropes, and a neat little pile of credits on her tray.

    The bartender took the credits as she sat the tray down, depositing them into the bucket behind the bar designated for her, then quickly deposited two drinks onto her tray, one a particular reddish bourbon with added chilis for even more heat, and the other some fruity cocktail that seemed rather randomly mixed, as was typical.  Felicity groaned again, her shoulders sagging.  She knew immediately where she was headed, even before the bartender specified her destination.

    He thumbed toward the rear of the bar.  “Take these to Vanessa’s office.  You’re on break after that.”

    Sighing, more drool spilling onto her chest, Felicity’s head dropped, but only for a moment before she recovered and picked up the tray.  She carefully made her way toward the elevator the bartender had indicated, the doors sliding open with a beep from her collar.  After a short ride upward, the elevator stopped, doors sliding open, and Felicity stepped into the hall, which always made her think of walking into Hell itself.  The decor was mostly red and black, the lights dim and flickering orange, like the flames they were meant to emulate.  

    She approached the door at the far end, the door’s locking mechanism beeping in sync with her collar before it slid open.  Her nose wrinkled behind the muzzling mask as she caught the sharp odor of cigar smoke, some local blend that Vanessa had taken to since Felicity’s first visit to the Hole.  The smoke made her nostrils tingle, almost like she’d inhaled chili powder.  Vanessa was really going all in for the whole ‘devil’ thing.

    The two Hellion siblings lounged on the couches in the corner of the office, the windows open and overlooking Paradise City’s spacelanes, a near-constant stream of transports and smaller craft darting here and there.

    “About time you got here with those drinks,” Vanessa spat, her yellow eyes narrowing as they turned to Felicity, her lips parting to reveal her sharp teeth as her devilish grin formed.  “Does my favorite bun-bun need some corrective discipline?”

    Felicity shook her head quickly, picking up her pace, short quick steps, to cover the distance.  She positioned herself between the pair, bowing and offering the tray to Vanessa first, then to Savory once she had taken her drink.  Felicity tried not to look at Savory too long; he could get her hot and bothered without even trying.  Damn him for being so sexy!

    “Set the tray down, Felicity, take a load off,” Vanessa said, motioning to the carpeted floor between her and Savory.  The cruelly playful look on Vanessa’s face made Felicity shiver.  The devilish woman had something planned, and Felicity was certain she wasn’t going to enjoy it.

    Doing as she was told, Felicity sat the tray on the nearby coffee table and eased herself onto her knees, somewhat awkwardly thanks to her restraints, but she had almost perfected the technique.  She lowered her head, grateful for the chance to give her feet a rest, but vainly hoping that Vanessa would forget about her if she could only make herself less obvious.  Not that that was really an option in a sparkling golden bunny suit, but one could hope.

    Felicity felt Vanessa’s hand upon her head and tensed, the woman’s fingernails lightly massaging Felicity’s scalp through her hair, almost like one would scritch a pet.  She hated when the devil did this kind of thing, but what could she do about it?  Staring at the floor, Felicity tensed, felt her wrists jerking at the cuffs, and again bit into the rubber ball, sending a line of drool into her lap.  Her unease was somewhat offset when Savory extended his perfectly curvy leg toward her, his high-heeled boot lightly brushing Felicity’s thigh, then dipping in between her legs, the tip pressing against her crotch.  She let out a soft whimper, not sure if it was distress or desire.

    Damn these devils!

    “You know, we received some juicy information from beyond the Barrier earlier,” Vanessa said, her fingers pressing a bit more firmly into Felicity’s scalp.  “Very, very juicy in fact.”

    Gulping at the way Vanessa had said that, Felicity tilted her head toward the red-skinned devil, though her eyes lingered on the bluish-purple flesh of Savory’s exposed thigh, and made an inquisitive grunt in lieu of actually trying to speak.  Why was Hellion telling her this?  Felicity sucked in a sharp breath through her nose as Savory’s foot found a delightful spot, sending an electric tingle through her loins. 

    “I’ve been quite taken with you, my dear bun-bun, and I just had to know more about you after our initial time together was cut so surprisingly short.  Did you ever properly thank your benefactor?  No?  Somehow I’m not surprised.  Anyway…imagine my surprise when I simply could not find any proper information about one Felicity McClanahan from the Ruria Four colony.  Why, it’s almost like your whole identity had been created mere weeks before you showed up in Paradise City!”

    Her dread had grown steadily as Vanessa spoke, and by the end of it, Felicity had grown rigidly still, her widening eyes moving to Vanessa despite Savory’s continued attempts to get her hot and wet.  She shifted the ball in her mouth, but couldn’t make a sound.  The wide grin upon the red devil’s face, yellow eyes glowing with perverse delight told Felicity everything she needed to know.

    She was doomed.

    “Luckily for us,” Vanessa said, rolling her drink around in her hand, “we have a close relationship with a very talented information broker on Sentinel who worked a most delightful bit of magic with the data we sent them a few months back.  Savory?”

    The other devil’s foot finally slid away from Felicity’s crotch as he leaned over and tapped the controls on the table.  Felicity looked on in horror as the holo-projector built into the surface activated and started displaying multiple information windows, showing at least two different ID cards, a corporate dossier, police reports, and no less than three bounties from agencies beyond the Barrier.  All of them were for and about an Aurora Roche…who just so happened to look exactly like Felicity and even had the exact same genetic profile.

    “Such a busy little bun-bun you’ve been,” Vanessa said, her nails once again scritching.  “I never would have pegged your real name as Aurora, though; seems a bit more girly than you present yourself, but whatever.  You managed to scam three corps over the last decade and made off with over five million credits, that’s very impressive.  A shame it all came crashing down when you got a bit too greedy with that DSM subsidiary, hmm?  And let me guess…all that money is gone?  Gambled away in some seedy den or another?”

    Felicity, or rather Aurora, sighed around the ball gag, nodding slowly and numbly.  She’d lost it all, had used the last of it to get her new identity and a ticket into the Demon Sector, in fact.  If she hadn’t been screwed before, she was properly fucked now.

    “A shame, that,” Vanessa said, though she didn’t sound too unhappy about it.  “Fortunately for you, my dear brother and I are here for you, bun-bun.”  Savory’s foot returned, rubbing teasingly along the helpless human’s thigh.  “We had a long discussion about what we should do with you.  Those bounties aren’t insignificant; hell, all of them together would easily cover our costs here for a year or two.  But turning you over to the law wouldn’t be any fun, would it?”

    “No fun at all,” Savory said softly.  “Would be a tragic waste, really.”

    “Quite tragic, especially after you’ve become our favorite bun-bun.  But I think we have the most perfect solution to your problem, my dear.  You have talents beyond just looking good in a tight costume and tighter restraints, and we can definitely make use of them on this side of the Barrier.  So you’ll be working for us on an extended term, what we’ll call an indefinite contract.  We’ll make sure all those unfortunate details about your past are kept nice and hidden, and you can continue being our golden bun-bun, Felicity.”

    Indefinite?!  No, there had to be another way, something else she could do to get out of this!

    “Oh, don’t scare the poor bun,” Savory said, leaning forward to cup Felicity’s chin in his hand.  Felicity’s wide eyes turned to him as she sucked in her breath, his touch enough to send a surge of arousal through her despite the fear and uncertainty of the situation she was now facing; she could feel her nipples straining against the golden bunny suit, felt the warmth between her legs.  She met his red eyes, their faint inner glow promising so much.  She practically melted beneath his ungodly beautiful gaze.  “Indefinite is too strong a word, you see.  You’ll be working off the sum total of all those bounties in our stead…with a periodic compounding interest, of course.  But I assure you, my dear, sweet, bunny, you’ll have your chances to get out of our employee.  But…while you’re here, you’ll have some perks as our favorite pet, perks many have only dreamt of…”

    Lost in Savory’s eyes, Felicity mumbled into the gag.  Her arousal grew by the second, and she could feel the moisture building between her thighs.  Then there was a painful tug on her hair as Vanessa jerked her gaze away from her brother, forcing Felicity to look up at her, Savory’s spell broken for the moment as fear once again filled her.  “Don’t get the wrong idea, bun-bun.  You’re our bitch now, and if you step out of line, you’ll regret it.  If you thought our punishments were severe before, you’ve not seen anything yet, and if you piss us off enough, you’ll find yourself on the other side of the Barrier in a corpo prison, and we’ll be enjoying those bounties.  Now, you’re going to be a nice, loyal bun-bun just for us, right?”

    Vanessa’s hold on her hair hadn’t slackened, but Felicity managed a slight nod, her eyes still wide and fearful.  Drool spilled down her chin.  “N’mm…N’mm nn mmhnphmfmr mnn mmnnph.  N’mm hm mnnr mnmnm hnn-hnn (I’ll…I’ll do whatever you want.  I’ll be your loyal bun-bun),” Felicity said, sagging in Vanessa’s grip. 

    Vanessa’s devilish smile widened, revealing her sharp teeth.  “We’ll see about that, won’t we?  Don’t think I trust you just yet, given your past with other employers, but that’ll take time and effort, won’t it?”  She finally released Felicity’s hair, then leaned forward and reached around her head, unlocking and unbuckling the phallic ball gag.  She removed it, then tossed it on the table.  As Felicity worked her jaw, glad to have the terrible gag removed after several hours wearing it, Vanessa raised one leg, resting the sharp heel of her black leather thigh-high boot against the edge of the table.  “Since you’re on break, how about we get started with some loyalty building exercises?  My boots could use some attention, bun-bun, and you’ve got just the tongue for the job.”

    A follow up to the last story, written while I was going through a bit of a bunny suit phase.  More worldbuilding (or galaxy building in this case), stemming from a little online TTRPG I ran for a friend, whose character was responsible for paying off Felicity’s initial debt when she was moonlighting as a porch decoration.  I’d wager we’ll be seeing these characters again; Paradise City will likely be something of a hub world for most of the stories taking place in the Demon Sector, at least during this time period.

    Fun Fact:  There’s another unrelated story involving bunnysuits that got started around the time I wrote these, but it’s not finished yet, and it’s for a different setting, but I think once it’s ready, you all will enjoy it.  That one involves gunplay and heavy chastity gear 😉

    Anyway, we’ll be moving to something a bit different next time, so stay tuned for more!

    Until then, Urban out!

    Hit me over on DeviantArt, or on my Discord server!  I’m usually always around, and would love to hear what you have to say!

  • Night of the Bouncing Bunnies

    Valefar System, Planet Valefar V, Paradise City

    Inside The Devil’s Watering Hole, 4:45PM local time

     

    “For all her faults, I do hope to see Ms. McClanahan again,” Savory said, his elbows resting on the railing overlooking the stage below as he sipped at some fruity concoction or another, his shapely hips and behind stretched out languidly, yet ever so enticingly as his slender tail snaked back and forth.  The stage curtains were pulled closed, but some additional curtains had been set up further from the main stage, along with some new temporary pipe framing that wasn’t entirely hidden from view by them.  There were already a couple dozen regulars lingering about to see what was in store, and more were starting to drift in from the streets.

    “As do I!  I need to thank her for the inspiration for our new debt relief system, and convince her to gamble away more of her ill-gotten gains.  She’s a terrible gambler, and makes for a fine display piece when she’s properly motivated.  Not that the current batch will be any less popular.  I guarantee the crowd is going to go wild for this, and we’ll have plenty of extra creds on hand,” Vanessa said, rising from where she had been leaning against the railing, her fists planted on her wide hips, just below her narrow waist, licking her lips as she looked over the stage below.  Her amber eyes seemed to pulse brighter with her anticipation, her visage seemingly growing even more devilish than her horns and red skin already made her.

    Savory took another drink, flicking a strand of dark hair from his face.  “Wouldn’t it be more profitable just to whore them out, or actually use their ship?  You know, have them run cargo and such for us till they’re paid off?”

    Vanessa scoffed.  “Of course, but it wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining or humiliating for them.  At least a couple of them are natural whores, so I’m sure they’ll at least appreciate just how easy this is going to be for them.”

    “Maybe…how long is this going to take for them to work off that debt?  Weeks?  Months?”

    “Depends on how generous our dear patrons are,” Vanessa replied with a dismissive wave of her hand.  “Doesn’t matter; as long as they’re making money, they’ll do as side entertainment and porch furniture.  Once the people get tired of them, then I’ll find something else humiliating for them to experience.”

    Savory stood with a sigh, then took another long pull from his drink, finally shrugging.  “You’re the business genius, sis.  I’m just here for a good time.  I’m still dancing tonight, right?”

    “Of course you are, hon,” Vanessa said, looking to Savory appreciatively.  “This little distraction is entirely lowbrow, not fine art like you.  You’re in a league of your own, and our patrons recognize that.  Especially the men who can’t believe they’d ever find themselves lusting after a darling boi like yourself.”

    Savory caught himself as he turned away.  “Oh, speaking of…I think the fellow who had his eyes on me last night will definitely be back tonight.  Already got in mind what’ll tickle his fancy; pretty sure he’s a big tipper, and has plenty of credits to lose.”

    Vanessa chuckled.  “I trust your instincts.  You’ll be on in a few hours, so rest up.”

    “Sure thing, sis,” Savory said, twirling easily on one foot before he sauntered away.  

    Vanessa lingered at the railing a bit longer, then headed toward the stairs.  It was about time to get the show started.

    * * *

    5:05PM

    The crowd had grown significantly in the last fifteen minutes, packing in around the stage, drinks in hand, more filling the tables on the lower and upper levels that overlooked it.  Vanessa’s smile remained hungry as she watched the crowd grow from the shadows at the back of the stage.  The hired hands she’d sent out into the streets to spread the word of the night’s new entertainment had done their jobs satisfactorily, money well spent.

    With the crowd’s anticipation high, Vanessa strode by the new entertainment, initially ignoring their muffled grunts and squeals of protest, the helpless shaking and pulling against their restraints.  She paused before she cleared the last of the curtains, turning to look at them, baring her sharp teeth as she smiled, bringing her demonic heritage fully into the forefront of their minds.  She had never been ashamed of her succubus nature, like so many of her kind seemed to be these days.  “Don’t go whining now!  You knew the risks when you decided to keep gambling, and now you’re going to have to live with it.  Don’t worry, you’ll love this!  Or you’ll hate it; I don’t care what you think; this is for them, after all,” she said, nodding over her shoulder towards the crowd.  

    Then Vanessa swept through the curtains and strode to the edge of the stage, snatching the microphone that waited for her there.  “Good evening, Paradise City!” she called, raising her free hand to wave as the cheers started.  She could feel the lustful intentions around her quite keenly, could smell the desire of the crowd, savored it for a few moments.  They didn’t care about the horns on her head or the deep red hue of her flesh; they saw an hourglass figure, big tits, and a skimpy, black leather two-piece accented with opera-length gloves and thigh-high heels.  

    At last, she signaled the crowd to quiet down.  “I am Vanessa Hellion, and welcome you heartily to the Devil’s Watering Hole!  Old or young, new or returning, we at the Hole value each and every one of you as our dear customers!  We know what you like, and we aim to please!  While you’re waiting for the star of the Hole, Savory Delight, to begin tonight, we would like to offer you a way to fill the time and show your generosity to your fellow spacers!”

    Vanessa snapped the fingers of her free hand, signaling the help behind the curtains.  She saw the surprised looks, heard the gasps, then the excited cheers started again.  Vanessa spun on her heel, facing the freshly revealed quintet, licking her lips as they wiggled and strained to be anywhere else than where they were right at that moment; she could practically taste their humiliation already.  She brought up the mic again and slowly strode toward the helplessly bound playthings.  “Here we have some unlucky travelers who seem to not know their own limits!  The poor darlings simply couldn’t stop themselves and ran up a terrible debt in my casino.  I tried to intervene on their behalf of course, but when a customer has assured me that they are right, how can I not trust their word?”

    The five spacers were dressed almost identically, the primary color of their outfits being the only difference.  Two men, three women, alternating between hastily constructed divisions in the pipe framework, forming improvised stalls for each one.  Each wore a glittering bunny outfit, expertly tailored for their body size and shape, even the men, complete with floppy ears on their headbands, fishnet stockings, and high heels.  The women wore green, yellow, and red, the men pink and purple.  To make sure they didn’t put up too much of a fuss, the headband with the bunny ears was actually attached to the head harness that was securely strapped and locked around their heads, their mouths filled with a dildo/ball gag and hidden behind the color-coded facemask that kept the lower halves of their faces hidden.  It didn’t stop drool from spilling down beneath it, already glistening on their chests.

    Each of the bunnies were tightly wrapped in multiple layers of rope, owing to the rustic flair the Hole had built up for itself out here on the Demon Sector frontier.  Their arms were secured behind them, with more ropes winding around and highlighting their chests, with several more bunches securing their legs together at the mid-thigh, above and below the knees, and at their ankles, even keeping the heels in place, being tied around their arches.  More ropes secured to their torso bindings were lashed to the overhead framework, ensuring they wouldn’t be wiggling or hopping too far. A final rope wound around each of their waists and ran between their legs, extending out over a pulley and to a bucket, which were currently empty and shaking at the end of the line as the five struggled. For the women, the ropes ran between their lower folds, and for the men, the ropes wound tightly around their packages, and in each case, would grow tighter the more weight that was added to their pots.  In each of the five stalls were an assortment of stimulating toys, sure to keep the bunnies hopping.

    Vanessa turned back to the crowd, her voice taking on a more pleading tone, though she doubted she could keep it sounding sincere for long.  “So, my dear customers, I would ask that you search your hearts and consider a generous donation to these poor, debt-ridden travelers!  Help them work off their significant debts so that they may continue their journey!  But, we should also consider teaching them a lesson not to be so careless!  Five credits for a grope, ten for a teasing session with a vibrator, fifty for a spanking, one hundred for ten swats with a paddle, two hundred for ten lashes with a leather strap!  Please, my good, generous customers, show these poor, dumb, greedy idiots that we are a generous people in Paradise City, and are more than willing to help them recover their debts and travel the stars once again!  Oh, and do mind yourselves; customers who get too rowdy will be dealt with harshly!  Be careful, you might find yourself up here too!”

    Vanessa waved at the crowd as she replaced the mic, cheers going up as lines were already forming on either side of the stage, kept in order by the bouncers she had brought in just for this event.  She sauntered toward her bunnies, specifically to the ship’s captain in the middle of the group.  Smiling at the scowling woman, Vanessa made a show of plucking a cred chip from between her tits, showing it to the crowd, then tossing it into the captain’s bucket.  She then took two handfuls of the captain’s tits, giving each a firm squeeze, delighting in the angry squeals and wiggled protests of the captain.  

    With the captain fired up, Vanessa sauntered backstage, grinning like the devil she was.  It was going to be a very profitable night.

    A short and sweet little piece that popped into my head one day after seeing some particularly enjoyable image sets on Pixiv (link below) involving bound bunnies, ropes, and filling buckets with heavy things.  Vanessa and Savory, along with the Devil’s Watering Hole had already been established some time before I wrote this one during a little online tabletop RPG game I’d ran for a friend, and thus it seemed a perfect place to incorporate the idea.  See, that’s the fun thing about rough and tumble frontier towns, the laws are so much more lax when it comes to employee rights!

    Anyway, not much more to say about this one.  It’s a fun little diversion, a little peek into the Demon Sector’s largest settlement (at this time), and a successful worldbuilding exercise.  I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.

    Stay tuned next week for the follow up!  We’re not done with the Devil’s Watering Hole just yet!

    Oh, and I think I mentioned a couple links…here they are:

    https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/101721754
    https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/103358668

    Tell next time, Urban out!

    Hit me over on DeviantArt, or on my Discord server!  I’m usually always around, and would love to hear what you have to say!

  • A Simple Negotiation

    “How is this guy not on your special squad?” Releana asked, scrolling through the file on her tablet as they walked down the prison corridor.  It was the first time she’d actually visited one of the dark elf prison facilities in an official capacity.  Her first trip to one had been much different, and a lot more restricted to say the least, but it had led to some very lucrative developments, the most important of which being her lover.  She glanced down at Fenrou, who walked beside her, quite a bit smaller than her impressively muscled figure.  “He seems like the type who would fit right in.  Robotics expert, hates DSM, led an armed rebellion against their corporate security forces that were taking over a mining colony…”

    Fenrou scoffed, rolling his eyes.  “Hardly.  He’s about as disagreeable as they come; no surprise from an aerian.  You know I like my agents to follow orders when I give them…not to mention they have to look good in Seal-Tech.  Takes a special kind of male to earn my attention, which is why I only have the one on my team.”  He flashed his winning grin at Releana.  “But you know where my true passions lie.”

    Releana’s smile widened.  She certainly did know, and just thinking about another chance to be reined in by Fenrou kindled a fire inside of her.  She snorted, gave a little whinny, and bumped him playfully with her hip.  “I certainly do.”

    “Down girl,” he said, his hand moving to rest on her backside, rubbing her firm buttocks lovingly.  “It wouldn’t do for me to have to get you geared up and ride you through the halls; what would the staff think?”

    “Honestly, given your reputation, I doubt they’d be that surprised to see you riding me around like that,” Releana said, her lips curling into a grin as her voice lowered into a more sultry tone.  “I certainly wouldn’t mind if you wanted to…”

    He raised an eyebrow quizzically at her.  “Sounds like someone needs to be taken out for a nice, long ride after we’re done here.  Would my girl like that?”

    “Oh, you bet I would,” Releana replied immediately, already wishing she wore her pony boots instead of the much less exciting heels she wore now.  Thinking of getting suited up in her pony gear made her squirm, biting at her lower lip.  She quickly pushed the thoughts aside, though.  “Business first, then naughty ponygirl things.”

    “Naughty ponygirl things, hmm?  Well well, sounds like chastity-mode is going to have to be on,” Fenrou replied, his hand that had been resting upon Releana’s backside slipping lower over her skirt, his fingers tracing the curve of her buttocks.  “A properly trained riding pony doesn’t need orgasms anyway does she?”

    “She might want them, though,” Releana said softly.  Oh yes, she did want them, so bad.

    “In that case, she would have to work very hard to please her owner, wouldn’t she?”  His fingers pressed against the material of her skirt, slid downward on her thigh and slipped between them, angling upward.

    “Yes…” she said, breathless.

    Fenrou’s fingers inched higher, pressing against her panties, which were quickly becoming moist.  His touch was light, teasing, then vanished as he came to a sudden stop.  “Oh, we’re here!  Guess we’ll have to tend to business first, hmm?”

    Gasping, Releana shot Fenrou a pouty look, but then blew out her breath, shifting her skirt back into place where it had ridden up her legs.  “Damn it, you do that so well!  A certain pony might be hard to rein in if she’s getting frustrated like that.  Anyway, do you want to make introductions?”

    He shook his head.  “Probably better if I don’t go in; seeing me will just sour his mood into something worse than it usually is.  Besides, he won’t be expecting you, so that might give you an advantage.”

    “The gods know you need all of those you can get with aerians,” Releana replied.  She leaned down and gave Fenrou a quick kiss on the cheek.  “Well, unless you’re a kerryn, but even that isn’t a guarantee these days from what I’m told.  I can already sense his emotions; he is a surly one, isn’t he?”

    “If anyone can convince him to do something useful, it’s you, love.  Good luck.”  He kissed her cheek in return, then keyed in the code to the door before he stepped away, heading a few cells down the corridor.

    The door beeped as the code was accepted, then the locking bolts moved out of place before the door itself slid open, and Releana tucked her tablet into the pouch on her belt.  Like all of the prison cells they had visited thus far on this special recruiting operation, it was little more than a closet, coated in pure black rubberized padding.  It would have been more or less standing room only even without the straps hanging from the ceiling and walls that enforced a standing position to the prisoner inside.

    This particular prisoner already had a combative look on his stony face, dark eyes narrowed and filled with anger, lips set into a severe frown.  He was about the same height as Releana, she noted.  If he was surprised at seeing Releana there instead of one of the usual guards, he didn’t show a hint of it, remaining as still as stone.  His breathing remained steady, his black hair, long and wild, barely moved from the airflow coming in from the corridor, his long ears knifing through the mess.  Not even his falcon-like wings, coated as they were in Seal-Tech and secured behind him, twitched.  Like most of the standard prisoner population, his suit was a bright orange color, form fitting, thus revealing a very muscular, broad body, not uncommon in aerians, imprinted with his name, prison ID, and barcodes on the chest, left arm, and right leg.  It was currently in a standard restraint configuration, meaning a stout straitjacket, with heavy-duty cuffs around the ankles, though additional straps had been secured around him, likely owing to the various ‘disagreements’ with the guards that had been detailed on the records; infirmary visits had spiked quite significantly during those times.

    Releana put on her most winning smile.  Her mind had already reached out to touch his, but like his face, not much was being revealed on the surface, so she began probing a bit deeper, though kept her touch very light; she didn’t necessarily like diving into people’s minds without them knowing, but it definitely had its uses in the cutthroat corporate world she tended to stay mired in these days.  “Ruhgare Schwersturm.  I would exchange pleasantries, but it’s not a very pleasant place, is it?  How would you feel about getting out of here?”

    No reaction physically.  He was staring through her, that famous aerian thousand-lightyear stare.  She sensed something in his mind, though.  Skepticism, mixed with…amusement?  And simmering anger beneath it all.

    Keeping her smile up, Releana continued.  “I’m Releana Veylani, owner and CEO of Veylani Transport.”  She opted to leave off the additional name the company had gained since the merger with Fenrou’s company; no sense in risking any hard feelings over a dark elven name being brought up.  “I’ll get right to it. I’m quite interested in the way you modified those loaders during the Rookwan Mining incident a few years ago, and would like to bring you onto a project I’m starting up.”

    His eyes finally shifted, actually focusing on Releana.  It was the only movement he made.  She sensed a momentary thought of freedom, but it was immediately overridden by that underlying anger and what she sensed was a naturally disagreeable nature.  “Not interested,” he rumbled, his deep voice cracking from lack of use.

    “Perhaps you’d like some details on the project first?  I can’t go into all the details, but suffice to say I want to take your loader modifications to the next stage and-”

    “Not interested.  Leave.”  

    Defiance flooded through his mind, fueled by that deep-seated anger.  Outwardly, his face was just as it had been before, no real change.  She sensed his desire to be free momentarily slip through, but it was quickly quashed.  He had pushed it away himself, refusing to acknowledge it…refused to hope for it, like doing so would be admitting to some perceived weakness within himself. 

    “I don’t intend on using your talents without compensation,” Releana continued.  “This is an offer for a paid position in my company, and a clean slate on your record.  We all know DSM was in the wrong, and believe me when I say that I hold no love for them.  Why not stick it to them a bit and come up with something they haven’t even dreamed of?”  That probably wasn’t true; Releana knew that DSM had developed quite a few robotics technologies, drones first and foremost, had even developed the heavy loader designs Schwersturm had modified in fact, but they were slow to push any advancements.  Releana had come to the conclusion that DSM and Rivalle Volcarri preferred to let technology stagnate, and preferred to maintain their edges until advancement was actually needed when some other company finally caught up to them.  

    That was going to change one way or another, but if she could get Schwersturm working with her, it’d make it happen that much sooner.

    “No.”  Another thought slipped through the aerian’s defiance then, and Releana heard it clearly.  “Little girls shouldn’t play with dangerous toys.”

    Easing her smile, Releana put a hand on her hip and turned serious, keeping her annoyance in check.  “This is going to happen, one way or another.  I’m not playing games; I want to see DSM crushed, and I can see that there’s a brand new market just waiting to be created here, and I want to be on the bleeding edge of it.  They’ve wronged me, they’ve wronged you, and they’re wronging the rest of known space.  It’s not going to be an easy fight, but I’ll see it through.  Why not have a hand in it?  You’ve got some great ideas, Schwersturm, and they’re going to waste here.”

    “Still not interested,” he said, his eye twitching downward and back as he stared her down, perhaps taking in her appearance fully for the first time.  In his mind, Releana could see that he was more conflicted than he had been just a few moments ago.  Perhaps something in her words had stirred something inside him?  She pressed a little harder, slipped through the crack in the wall he had erected, and read his thoughts more clearly.  “She sounds like she means it.  Still too young, though.  Great body for a human, attractive even…maybe she could handle herself in a fight.  Not as soft as she seemed?  Definitely works out a lot.”

    “Are you certain?  You really prefer rotting away in this prison instead of doing something meaningful?  It’s an honest offer.”  There was more there, but how hard could she push in his mind without alerting him to her intrusion?  She had learned subtlety over the years, but even with all the training she’d received from the doppelganger, she was no Linderman.  “Name your price, then.  What would it take for you to accept my offer and work for me on this project?”

    “Wasting your time.  Better to just leave now,” he said, looking over her more deliberately, taking her in fully for the first time before that long stare returned.

    Willing herself to remain calm and focused, Releana had known going in that dealing with aerians was like trying to bleed a stone.  Still, his resilience was impressive nonetheless.  She crossed her arms, shifted her stance, and stared back at him, frowning now.  She’d maintained her link through that crack in his mental barrier, and was getting more thoughts coming through.

    “Bet she could put up a good fight.  Body like that is a warrior’s body.  More humans should try for that kind of look, might make them more tolerable in general.  Careful…might get a hard-on thinking like that…”  Several images flashed through his mind in rapid succession, erotic images, but surprisingly…submissive in nature.  He saw himself getting twisted up in a chokehold between her thighs.  Then the mental image changed to him losing a fight to her, begging for mercy.  It quickly shifted again, to her wearing what could generously have been called armor, more like a metal bikini and heels, standing atop him and grinding said heel into his crotch.  That image changed to her atop him, holding him to the ground as she rode him.

    She could have gasped at that moment.  It wasn’t just the lewd images of herself.  She was used to seeing people fantasizing about her when she read their minds; that was just something that came with the territory.  But for an aerian who was so outwardly defiant toward her to harbor such thoughts of her dominating him had caught her completely off guard.  Granted, he’d been in prison for several years, and probably didn’t see a lot of women he considered attractive given the enmity between aerians and elves, but still, those particular feelings were quite unexpected from an aerian.

    Seeing an opening she hadn’t considered, Releana leaned back and reached for the control panel outside the cell and hit the release for the straps that held the aerian in place.  She turned back to him as the five second timer started to count down.  “I’m not accepting that as an answer, Schwersturm.  You’re working for me on this project, whatever it takes.”

    “And just how far are you willing to go, human?”  he snarled.  The crack in his mental wall was filled with a surge of that seething anger, forcing her out of his mind.  She sent her thoughts to Fenrou, letting him know that she was okay, and to give her a few moments for some hostile negotiations.

    “Maybe you’ll respond better to this,” she said, the panel outside beeping as the timer ran out, the straps holding him in the center of the cell snapping free and retracting into the cell walls and ceiling.  She was already in motion as she spoke, her left fist slamming into his gut below his crossed arms with everything she could muster.  She followed up with a right cross to his face that sent him hard into the padded corner of the cell.  She didn’t give him a chance to recover, grabbing his straitjacket straps.  She hauled him out of the cell, hefted his weight over her shoulder, and slammed him into the floor with her full strength.

    Schwersturm grunted  as he hit the floor, then snarled, trying to fight against his restraints.  He lifted his still-bound legs and kicked out at Releana.  

    She caught his kick with her arms as she sidestepped, twisted his legs and hauled him over so that he was laying on his stomach.  He resisted her, his muscles tightening with impressive strength, but she twisted around him and slammed her foot downward, her heel connecting with the small of his back.  He grunted louder, obviously in pain, and she ground her heel against his spine as she applied more pressure to pulling his legs in a direction they weren’t supposed to go; not enough to break anything, but from the sounds he was making, she was getting the results she had been going for.

    “The original offer still stands,” Releana said through clenched teeth as she kept grinding her heel into his back.  She twisted her ankle around a few more times, getting a louder, pained grunt in response, then twisted his legs around the opposite direction.  This turned him so that his back and wings were against the floor again.  She dropped her hold on his legs and then dropped herself, specifically her knee, into the very noticeable bulge in his crotch.  

    His face reddened, and he managed to keep his discomfort to a loud groan without crying out.  Releana grabbed the collar around his neck, lifted him toward her, then slammed him into the floor again, and held him there, grinding her knee into his groin.  “Final chance, Schwersturm.  That offer is about to be rescinded.”

    Wild eyed and filled with rage, Schwersturm glared up at her, snorting through his nose.  He continued to fight against her, though he was unable to mount anything more than futile struggles at this point…which he likely enjoyed; she wasn’t about to delve into his mind to confirm it.  Teeth clenched, he snarled definitely, then met Releana’s gaze; he was angry, certainly, but something had changed there.  “Fine, Veylani.  Your terms are acceptable.  I’ll take the position.”

    “Good boy,” she said, releasing her hold on the collar before pressing her weight into his groin to get back to her feet.  She blew out her breath as Schwersturm groaned and rolled onto his side, curling himself up to try and ease the pain in his crushed groin.  As she tucked a stray strand of hair over her ear, Releana noticed that she had attracted a small audience in the form of a trio of prison guards, who held their batons ready, but were looking from her to Schwersturm, obviously impressed.  She pointed at the downed aerian.  “I’ll take this one to go.”

    She looked to Fenrou, who had his arms crossed and leaned against the wall with a smirk on his lips.  “Hostile negotiations, huh?  I knew you had a reputation for being forceful in your dealings, but seeing you in action was something else.”

    Smiling, she walked back to Fenrou.  “Sometimes they just won’t listen to anything else.  I’m usually not that forceful, though.  Tough nut to crack, that one.”

    As the guards picked up Schwersturm and started hauling him off in the direction of the exit, Fenrou reached out and put his arm around Releana’s waist, pulling himself against her.  “Do I even want to know?”

    “You’d probably just get jealous,” Releana said, laughing as she put her arm around Fenrou.  “So how about we take a break from all these interviews?  I’m all fired up and could use some help dealing with all this restless energy.  You know…in that way I like?”

    “How can I say ‘no’ after that display?” he said, leaning up to kiss her.  “You’d break me in half if you did that to me.”

    Releana snorted and stomped her foot before they started walking down the corridor.  “Better keep those reins real tight in hand; I might be feeling a little wild.”

    “I have ways of dealing with wild mares like you, love.”

    “Mmmm…and I want to see all of them!”  It was a good thing she was in charge of her company, otherwise having to explain unexpected delays on her business trips might have gotten a little awkward.  

    A short, sweet little piece featuring a much more mature Releana, taking place some time after the previous stories, probably a year or two.  I really need to get that timeline sorted out…

    Anyway, this technically spoils some of the development of Releana’s character, but not really how she winds up where she is.  I had a couple of inspirations for this piece, specifically an Amazonian woman like Rel dominating a man, and an excuse to begin the development of combat mechs in my setting.  So I just combined the two into a quick little story that also showed a more flirty side of Rel with her boyfriend.  Think it works pretty well for what it is, but what do you think?

    That’s all for now…

    Tell next time, Urban out!

    Hit me over on DeviantArt, or on my Discord server!  I’m usually always around, and would love to hear what you have to say!