Chapter 24 – Assault on the Doll House – Part 1
“So like, what’re you two seeing? Cause I’m seeing more of those creepy masks attached to that custom wireless network in there, like two dozen of them,” Cyber Seer said from her crouched stance at the edge of a rooftop overlooking the ‘Dollhouse’. “I’ve also like, got a few moving around, one without a mask on the network, though.”
“I count over a dozen heat signatures; the structure is obscuring some others on the lower levels I think,” Mecha Musume said from her airborne position, in a high altitude holding pattern above the warehouse. She peered at the rooftop and zoomed the gray FLIR image closer as she banked to the right. From everything she could tell, the building itself was a normal warehouse made of concrete, metal, and glass. “Confirmed; another dozen on the lower level, but these seem to be lined up in two rows and unmoving. The ones up top are forming up now, in front of another one, maybe Dollface.”
“The one you said wasn’t wearing a mask,” Black Cat said, standing next to Cyber Seer atop the roof, “where is that one?”
“Near the one Musume thinks is Dollface,” Cyber Seer said. “Like, right next to her now. She’s hard to follow though, like, a ghost or something moving through the wireless bubbles in there. Totally a neat trick.”
“Kitsune,” Mecha Musume said with a grimace. “I can’t even see her with my lifesign scanner or FLIR.”
“I can’t see through the walls of that place,” Black Cat growled. “Wards have been placed around it to block magical sight and divination magics from penetrating it. And if I try to dispel any of those, whoever laid them will know it.”
“You like, think they know we’re coming?” asked Cyber Seer.
“It would be a smart assumption to make,” Mecha Musume replied. “They had to know that Pink Pussy would have told us where they’ve been hiding, even if you didn’t trace that control signal back to the source. That’s probably why they’ve gathered up like that; Dollface is handing out marching orders. It’s only been about thirty minutes since we left the museum; Kitsune must not have been able to get back here instantly.”
“Like, we should totally bust in there right now, dudes. Surprise them during the middle of their little strategy meeting!”
“What, like through the front doors?” Black Cat asked with a snort. “I’ve seen enough Miami Vice to know that’s a bad idea.”
“Of course not,” Mecha Musume said. “We’ll have a three-pronged attack. I’ll go in from the roof, through the skylights, and draw their attention. If those are just normal people under Dollface’s control, they can’t be as strong as Pink Pussy, even if they’re under the same effects, right?”
Black Cat hesitated a moment before she answered. “Probably. Enhancement magic of that sort tends to build on what’s already there, not set things to a certain level.”
“Okay, so, when Musume goes in, I’ll like, slip in through the wireless and go for the bunch down in the basement,” Cyber Seer said. “That’s where the controller is for these masks, I’m pretty sure from the base-level network scan I just did. From what I’ve seen, it’s like those zone directors kinda, you know, the ones all these hotels use? Uh, I’ll totally explain that one to you later, Black Cat. And then like, you can come in behind Musume, and you can bag us a foxy kitsune with your magic.”
“Well…that sounds reasonable…but I’m thinking there’s more to this we can’t see,” Black Cat said. “All those wards are hiding something, I know it.”
“Should we abort?” Mecha Musume asked, turning her visor toward the rooftop where her allies waited. “If we don’t go in now, we might lose them. Kitsune seems especially slippery.”
“I don’t like the idea of Kitsune, her boss, or Dollface with those artifacts,” Black Cat said quickly. “Let’s go with the plan, then; something about those things means nothing but trouble, I’m sure of it. Just be ready for anything, and try to keep from spazzing out if something unexpected comes up; Kitsune likes illusions, I think, so you might see some wacky shit.”
“Okay then! We’ve totally got this!” Cyber Seer said excitedly. “I’m ready, you two ready?”
“Yeah,’” Black Cat said, though she didn’t sound as confident as Cyber Seer.
“Ready,” Mecha Musume said, coming into a hovering position high above the warehouse. She drew her cannon from its storage mount, and let the charge start building up. As it approached full power, she cut thrust and started to fall. “I’m dropping in to say hello.”
Falling through the air feet-first, Musume heard Black Cat start to say something, but whatever she had said was lost in the crash of glass and steel as Musume crashed through the warehouse roof. She flared her thrusters at the last moment to cut much of her speed, grunting against the sudden G-forces, but managed to land without breaking through the floor to the basement, only causing a few stress cracks in the concrete. She already had her cannon aimed at the masked figure standing in front of the crowd, her targeting systems highlighting the rest of the crowd with markers on her HUD. “Freeze where you are, Dollface and Kitsune! Your scheme is done!” Musume shouted. The room she found herself in definitely wasn’t your bog standard warehouse; it resembled more of a mansion, with fine fixtures and bright lights, portraits of various scenes and people, though all of the people in the artworks wore doll masks.
The assembled group of…dolls were all turned to stare at Musume through their blank masks with their soulless glass eyes, apparently unperturbed by the crash of glass and steel about them. They seemed to be a mix of male and female, wearing different outfits that put her in mind of maids and butlers, though their flesh beneath was covered in glistening, black latex. The one Musume had aimed at stood next to what could have been considered a throne, atop a raised platform, wearing a dark red, Victorian-style dress that hid everything but her latex-covered neck and the doll mask that concealed her face; even her golden hair was done up in a very elaborate way, all curls and ringlets, with various pieces of jeweled ornamentation dangling from the tresses, matching finery upon her neck and wrists.
“I lost sight of Kitsune,” Musume said into her mic, though only static answered her. She could have sworn she had been standing there not half a second ago.
Dollface stood regally, her blank white mask regarding Mecha Musume for a moment before she raised a hand, and waved it toward the intruder.
As one, the dolls that had been standing still moved toward Musume, spreading out as if to surround her.
Musume pulled the trigger, the built-up charge booming from her cannon, lancing toward Dollface. That much power should be more than enough to knock out an elephant!
The shot streaked past Dollface, who hadn’t moved an inch, impacting the wall far behind her in a burst of purplish-white energy, leaving a massive scorch in the paint and blowing several paintings off the wall, sending them crashing to the floor..
Mecha Musume gaped, realizing that something had jerked her aim off target at the last possible moment. Warnings lit up on her HUD as her suit’s sensors registered massive magnetic readings all around her. As her sensors registered the changes in the magnetic field, Musume felt the pull on her legs and arms, her armor’s servos whining as she fought to maintain not only her position, but the grip on her cannon.
Teeth gritted, and realizing the trap for what it was, she toggled the mode on her cannon and focused her targeting computer on the source of the intense magnetic pulls. If her readings were correct, there were several very high-powered electromagnets hidden within the walls of the large chamber. Finding the power source would have been preferable, but there wasn’t time to trace the power feeds; the immense forces were quickly reaching the limits of what the armor’s systems could resist.
Instead, with the electromagnets to her right in her sights, Musume whipped her cannon toward them, pulling the trigger a half-breath later.
Bright red flashed across her HUD, big X’s covering the target zones as her cannon refused to fire. A trio of butlers stood in front of the cannon barrel, her safeties catching her before she could do something she would have regretted. After the incident with the gun-toting maids her first night out, she maid sure she wouldn’t be able to risk killing anyone with a lethal shot without a safety override.
“Damn it!” Musume spat, feeling her feet inch wider across the floor, her left arm losing the fight against the intense magnetic fields, rising. Switching tactics, she dumped all the power she dared spare into her thrusters, opening them full wide, intending to go back through the ceiling and escape the highly focused magnets.
The air around her hummed as the power of the magnets grew.
More warnings filled her HUD, and her thrusters refused to fire.
A maid and butler had dove for her legs, holding to them, right in the way of her exhaust. Two more of the doll-faced maids had jumped up and wrapped themselves around her shoulders and backpack, impeding the main thruster exhaust nozzles. Yet others were grabbing onto her arms and waist.
She could override the lockout, but if she tried to fire her jets, at best she’d severely burn Dollface’s victims, and she didn’t even want to think about what would happen at worst. Rerouting power to her suit’s other systems, Musume tried to step away, tried to knock the doll-faced servants off of her, but they clung to her armor like they were glued there. It must have been the enhancement magic that Black Cat had spoken of; on their own they couldn’t have bested her armor’s power, but with a dozen of them working together, and with the aid of the magnetic fields, she couldn’t resist them.
“What do I do?” Musume muttered with no small amount of strain in her voice, brain racing to find a solution. Her limbs were spread wide, and it was taking more and more power to maintain the grip on her cannon. She felt the armored plates shuddering, saw the warnings announcing the growing stresses on her joints, and then the metal of the armor started creaking in protest.
A new magnetic pull appeared on her sensors through the red haze of warnings, this one below her. Musume felt the weight of the world suddenly upon her, and her armor’s strength simply wasn’t enough to resist. She was pulled down to her knees, the maids and butlers shifting, but maintaining their grip upon her. Her cannon was wrenched from her grasp, hitting the floor with a loud clang.
She couldn’t move. She was helpless.
“Anytime would be good to cut the control system…” Musume said, again getting only static out of her radio. Where was Cyber Seer?! Where was Black Cat?!
At last Dollface finally moved. She had been standing completely still previously, watching from atop her dais with the completely unreadable expression of her mask. Now she strode down the steps, gliding regally toward Musume as if the masked villain were some kind of royalty, holding her chin high.
Dollface made no effort to hurry; she was in command here, and she knew it.
Musume checked her systems, the strain on the armor red-lining the suit’s integrity. She could attempt to purge using the emergency explosive releases, but that would not only leave her defenseless, but would likely injure Dollface’s victims.
The only thing she could do was watch, and hope that either of her companions would suddenly appear, or that the control of the dolls would be broken.
Dollface finally reached Mecha Musume, her servants shifting their positions to allow her better access to the helpless heroine. Dollface’s smooth mask filled Musume’s vision, her head turning curiously one way, then the other, the black, glassy eyes revealing no change, yet the gaze that came through those lenses made Musume shiver within her armored shell.
Raising a hand, Dollface touched Musume’s helmet, gloved fingers tracing around the edges of the visor, then the sides of the helmet, Dollface’s visage shifting in an unnatural distortion as the armor’s cameras shifted to a short-range, wide angle view, making her seem very much like the creepy freak she was.
“It’s not too late to surrender and stop all of this,” Musume said, her voice wavering as she dripped sweat within the steamy confines of the armor. “My friends are almost done destroying your control systems; once that’s done, you’re finished.”
Dollface eased back, tilting her head to one side with apparent amusement, though again her porcelain-like face hadn’t changed in the slightest. Both of her hands went to Musume’s helmet then, for a moment cupping the sides of the helmet, staring right into Musume’s eyes through their respective glass barriers.
It was Musume who shuddered, even whimpered under the doll’s uncaring gaze.
Then the seals on her helmet were released from outside, Dollface having found the concealed release mechanisms without much difficulty.
“No!” Musume cried as the cool air rushed in, and the scent of rubber and cleaning solvents filled her nose. Dollface lifted the helmet from Musume’s head, and Musume trembled, not just from the intensity of the magnetic fields that held her in place, but from the fear of what she knew must be coming.
Helmet fully removed, Musume watched as Dollface casually passed it to one of the maids that still held tightly to Musume with her free hand and legs. Then the villain leaned forward again, her white, unnatural face inches from Musume’s exposed head, those soulless eyes boring deep into the woman beneath the armor.
Musume tried to look away, but Dollface’s hand struck like a viper, snatching her chin, forcing her to look back at the shiny, smooth, pale visage. The fingers grasping her chin shifted, then squeezed, forcing Musume’s mouth open.
From the folds of her large dress, Dollface drew forth one of those dreaded doll-faced masks, deftly moving it toward Musume’s face.
Somehow, despite the terror filling her, Musume didn’t scream, though she felt tears streaming from her eyes as she tried to break Dollface’s grasp. Just a few more seconds, and surely Cyber Seer or Black Cat would be there!
As Dollface moved the mask closer, Musume saw that the inside of it was as black as the outside was white, where the mouth should have been was a large phallic gag plug. Musume let out a whimper as the plug passed between her teeth and inexorably over her tongue and to the back of her throat, her efforts to break Dollface’s powerful hold failing.
The light faded around the edges of the doll mask, Musume’s eyes darting in all directions.
Then the light was gone. For a moment she couldn’t breathe, feeling cold latex upon her face. Then the mask shifted, the gag plug changing shape, filling her mouth, forcing itself down her throat, making her gag and choke. The mask changed its shape too, contouring to Musume’s face, following every curve, transferring her likeness to the white mask on the outside. Only then could she breathe again.
The world beyond fell away. Musume’s thoughts of resistance vanishing into the void.
A singular musical voice filled her mind, speaking as if it had come from the gods above, and Musume suddenly knew her true purpose.
Dimmed light returned, then grew brighter as Musume looked upward to Dollface, seeing the one she was meant to serve. A radiant glow surrounded the beautiful, elegant figure before her new eyes.
“Arise my knight; it is time you served your queen.”
Well, I suppose that’s what you get for making plans in haste, but we all knew it was coming, right? I mean, this kind of thing is what I write, after all.
Will Black Cat and Cyber Seer fair better? Stay tuned next week for the next part of the Assault on the Dollhouse!
Would love to hear any feedback you might have! Hit me up here or over on DeviantArt, or on my Discord server!
