:Theophano's sentries, Glitch, Neon Goons, Evans, the names of the various fallen gangs... Honestly, the first part was more or less a contest to throw in as many continuity nods and Easter Eggs as possible.
Lots of exposition in the first half of the post. I needed to set up the main plot.
Zoe, Edwige, and Gillian were supposed to play a bigger part in earlier drafts, but some changes reduced their 'screen time', so to speak. Still, I enjoy writing them, especially the running-gag around poor Edwige and her many many suitors.
So expect to see them again from time to time.Yes indeed, Ellie has hesitated to give information on the sisters, for the reasons you have mentioned. I want her to remain a complex antagonist. A confrontation with Blink and Knipperen is inevitable one day. Though, will we ever know for sure the identity of the culprit? We only have the Phantoms' second-handed documents, and I don't think either Blink or Knipperen would remember a mere vendor...
The more I write, and the more I realize that outside of being light-hearted 'feel good' scenes, moments of the sisters are also a powerful writing tool. They make transitions a lot easier and smoother: instead of throwing the plot's exposition at everyone's face, you first have a paragraph to set up the exposition. Plus, it makes these characters feel alive...
Marie the gamer. Don't even remember where this comes from. Just that I needed an idle activity for her at some point, and it was back when I was playing Desperados III.
Mag and Tina are also one of my favorite duos. Their interactions just write themselves.
Didn't feature as many uniform stealings in this part as in the prologue, but the next part will hopefully more than make up for that.
Plenty of grunts flew under the radar, though I like to think that the more dangerous ones were arrested by the sisters. These specific bouncers were probably part of a no-name gang which only survived because they were under the other gangs' radar. And now they think they can be big shots, and are wearing the clothes of bigger meaner gangs to pretend they're as tough...
Soph channeled her inner-brat. I bet she had a lot of fun playing the part. Mag's wrist rope launchers are a gadget that allows for plenty of opportunities, but I assumed they had the logical weakness of being partly dependant of Mag's own strength. (She needs to remain anchored to the ground when she pulls someone.) Therefore, if the victim is stronger heavier or is holding on to something, Mag would be the one pulled out. Luckily, she can always tag-team with her sisters.
Once more, a light-hearted part. The Colourblind Clowns... The point was to show that, in spite of their posturing, these so-called criminals are just a joke, small-time wannabees. They can't hold a candle to the real gangs of Heartfelt City... too bad that most of said gangs are currently in jail, courtesy of Blink and the sisters. Oops.
Indeed that barmaid was lucky. She wasn't in the mood for some of Libido's usual antics. It would have been counter-productive. (The scene with Tina realizing her poor phrasing was my favorite joke.)
Jane was made to be hateable from the start. I like to have a huge asshole victim from time to time, it makes the uniform stealing more cathartic. And I think that Jane was especially hateful because she resonates with a lot of people. I mean, most of us have known at some point that 'small chief', who doesn't have much power in the grand scheme of things, but sure enjoys bossing around and harassing the people under his/her command...
I think Mag could have hurt her, if she really had to. That's what I like about her, and what sets her apart, she's definitely the most morally-grey of the sisters. I like to imagine that she's lived through things that made her lose her idealism, and that she only wants to allow her sisters to keep their own idealism, even if she has to get her hands dirty for that... That's how I interpret it at least.
And now the next part of the story:
Part 2
******* Two days later… *******
It took the sisters two days to meticulously prepare themselves. Bondage tools were bought: ropes, zip-ties, tape, and ball-gags. The advantage of being a big team was that you could send various people to different stores, to not buy everything in one place and attract too much attention. Plus, Libido had a loyalty card at the local sex shop. Tinker also renewed their stock of knock-out gas and sleeping darts, and did a complete check-up of everyone's gadgets. Marie renewed her medical supplies. BB studied in great details the recent history of House Eudokia. Mag, Soph, and Tina went to observe Irene's estate from afar. Stasis went to a diner with Amai and Midori. Since these two used to work for the Eudokias, she wanted to ask them about everything they knew about their former employers.
After two days, the supposed moment of Irene's meeting with the gang leaders, the sisters thought they were ready.
Tina had thought of a plan.
She knew that, to infiltrate the estate, she would need a big team.
After one look of a satellite picture of the estate and its security system, Tinker categorically announced that she would have to come in person with her sisters.
Tina even wanted to bring everyone along. However, she didn’t count on some unexpected events…
**************
The sisters were gathered in the room they were using as their bedroom.
Stasis was lying on her bed, looking sick. She was moaning and groaning. Marie was doing a medical check-up. BB was sitting next to the bed, and was holding Stasis’ hand sympathetically. The other sisters were gathered around them.
“Let me guess. Another all-you-can-eat-buffet night with Amai and Midori?” Tina asked with a sigh.
Stasis nodded and gagged. “And... a ‘who can eat the most’ competition…” she added.
“Looks like ONE HECK of a competition.”
“They tricked me! They set a trap! They-” Stasis gagged again. “They bet that... I couldn’t eat more than... THE TWO OF THEM COMBINED…”
“And you took up the challenge?”
“I wasn’t going to… to lose face in front of my sidekicks!”
Mag sighed and shook her head. "You were supposed to ask them questions about the Eudokias... Not to take up their silly challenge..."
"But I asked them the questions! And only THEN I took up the challenge!"
"Still, you should have been more serious." Mag insisted. "It wasn't the time to play games..."
“And who won by the way?” Soph playfully intervened.
Stasis raised a shaky hand. “The battle was legendary… I-”
“She lost.” Marie interrupted her.
“Sis’! Don’t say it so bluntly!” Stasis complained.
Mag sighed again.
However, Tina couldn’t help but smile. “Must have been tough to lose against your sidekicks…” she teased Stasis.
“SIS’! They ganged up on me!”
Marie put an effervescent tablet into a glass of water, then gave it to Stasis.
“Here, drink this. It will help you digest and recover.”
“Th- Thanks…”
“No infiltration for you. You’ll stay here and have a rest.” Tina instructed her sister.
Stasis nodded while drinking her medicine.
“Someone should stay with her.” Marie remarked. “I can-”
“I’ll stay with her.” Mag intervened. “It’s only an indigestion. Marie, you will be more useful with Tina.” She glanced at Stasis. "She and I will have a little talk."
Marie hesitated, but nodded. “Okay.”
“Libido will stay here too.” Mag added. “Ever since she visited her sex shop to buy supplies, she’s in one of her ‘horny phases’. We can’t set her loose among a bunch of female sentries. She won’t be able to control herself.” She was clearly looking a little annoyed by her sister’s frivolity.
“Alright Libido, you’re on horny time-out.” Tina decided.
“SO UNFAIR!” the latter complained.
“Keep complaining, and you’ll be sent to horny jail.”
“If that’s the way it is, I’m hogging the shower. You have been warned!”
Libido stormed inside the bathroom.
Her sisters exchanged a patient smile. Mag sighed however.
“So, what’s the plan to visit Irene’s estate?” BB then asked.
Tina smiled. “We’ll start with the classics… Here’s the plan...”
******* Later *******
Angel covered the two women with a blanket. The first one had a round face, a chubby body of average height, shoulder-long curly dark blond hair, a white skin with freckles on the cheeks, and sky blue eyes. The second one had slick midback-long brown hair tied into a ponytail, a slightly tanned skin, and amber brown eyes. Both were deeply asleep, and were lying on a thick sheet.
And both were also stripped down to their skivvies. The blonde was wearing white control briefs designed to slim down the line of her waist with black edges, a dark beige compression bra, and black socks. The brunette was clad in Brazilian panties and a full-cup bra that were yellow with a pattern of green palm leaves and colourful tropical flowers. The socks were matching the other undergarments. Clearly, she was longing for some vacations...
As a side note, they were also bound and gagged. In order to not already use some of their zip-ties, the sisters grabbed the rolls of brown package tape in the delivery van, and wrapped several layers of tape around the women’s lower-limbs, as well as around their upper-arms, and their forearms and wrists to bind the hands behind the back. When Marie saw that these women had no respiratory condition, the sisters chose to save their ball-gags for emergencies. They knew they had to expect the unexpected when infiltrating a stronghold such as Irene’s. They also used the package tape to wrap-gag the women.
Though it was currently hard to see given the women’s state of undress, these two were actually delivery women. They however had had the bad luck to be ambushed during their shift, knocked out with a homemade sleeping gas grenade thrown into their van’s interior, and robbed of their clothes.
The sisters and the delivery women were inside the back of the van.
Tinker and Soph were slipping into the stolen uniforms: black work shoes, dark grey work trousers with front pockets, a comfortable light grey t-shirt, a red work vest, and a matching red cap.
“Shouldn’t have we found a way to go all together?” Marie asked.
BB shook her head. “Even if we had all found disguises, we can’t approach the gate all together. There are cameras. A large group risks drawing way too much attention. It’s best to send a small team first, let them deal with the guard watching the access gate, then let them check if the coast is clear BEFORE we all go.”
Tina added: “Tinker is the only one who can infiltrate the building. Or, more precisely, Ebony and Ivory are the only ones. Soph will protect her in case things go south.”
“We’re ready.” Soph intervened. “Let’s get this party started! I can’t wait to punch criminals around!”
Tina chuckled. Her younger sister’s enthusiasm was making her smile.
"They'll never know what hit them..." she said to lift the spirits of her gathered sisters. They all answered with a smile, and a determined nod.
**************
Jenny was always delighted when she was stationed in the access gate of the estate. Indeed, it meant she could read her comicbooks in peace. During this shift, she was alone; therefore with no other colleague to criticize her hobby.
Irene Eudokia’s secondary residence was located in the wealthiest neighborhood of Heartfelt City. A place where the streets were pristine at every minute of the day, where the street lamps were painted golden, and where each house was more opulent than the last one. Irene herself was owning one of the biggest estates, with a park and a small pond. Given the area’s land cost, she had spent a literal fortune to build her domain.
The estate was protected by a tall wall reinforced at its top by barb wires. White walls with golden bars and GOLDEN barb wire.
There were surveillance cameras, motion detectors, and heat detectors on all the walls. Visitors, staff members and delivery vehicles could only enter the estate by passing through one thick tall remote-controlled gold-painted grillage gate. Said gate was opened from inside the guardhouse in which Jenny was currently stationed.
Said guardhouse was completely secured, a marvel of technology. Its walls and its door were armored. The window opening on the outside was bulletproof and tainted. Nobody could enter of even see what was happening inside if the guard didn’t want it.
The second an intruder was spotted, the security system would warn Jenny. And the guard herself was unreachable. The door could only be unlocked from the inside by Jenny herself. No human being could enter the estate unless the guard allowed it! As a consequence, she didn’t need to be always attentive. She just had to check the screens any time someone was ringing to enter or when the computer was sending her an alert.
“Ah! This is life…” the sentry said. Had she been a cat, she would have purred of satisfaction.
Jenny was an auburn-haired ponytailed petite woman with hazel green eyes and a light skin.
She was wearing the standard outfit of the sentries of Irene’s estate. Black combat shoes, dark blue trousers, a black equipment belt, and a dark blue jacket over a white t-shirt. A handgun and a walkie-talkie were strapped onto her belt. She also had a black earpiece.
Currently, the guard was sitting on a comfortable office chair. A pile of comics were lying at her feet. She was reading the latest issue of her favorite series.
However, Jenny was so engrossed in her reading that she didn’t notice the threat approaching her.
In her back, there was a ventilation grill. And said grill was being silently removed by tiny claws.
Indeed, no human being could enter the guardhouse uninvited. But small remote-controlled bots on the other hand…
Contrary to popular belief, outside of a few exceptions in big buildings, it was almost impossible for a human being to use air vents to infiltrate a place. Most were too small, and the ones which weren’t couldn’t hold the full weight of a human body. And even if they were sturdy enough, there was still the problem of the noise.
But Ebony 2.0 and Ivory 2.0 were marvel of technologies in their own rights. They were small enough to pass through air vents. Their rubber parts and lighter components were making them completely silent, even when walking on metal.
The two spider-bots silently removed the grill. Then, while Ebony was holding it to prevent it from falling and making noise, Ivory entered the room.
Jenny was feverishly reading her comic-book. She had reached the climax of the story.
Without a noise, Ivory approached the guard.
Jenny licked her finger to turn the page, eagerly awaiting the big reveal at the end of her issue.
Ivory climbed the back of the chair.
A BEEP echoed in the guard house.
Jenny reluctantly stopped reading, and raised her head. She saw on her screen two delivery women. She moved her hand to activate the intercom and ask them their accreditation.
The spider-bot attacked at this moment, and bit a specific spot of the guard’s neck, injecting her with Tinker’s powerful knock-out serum.
“Ow!” Jenny exclaimed.
Reflexively, she put a hand on her neck and dropped her comic-book on her lap. She tried to swat the robot, but Ivory had already scampered away.
Jenny panicked when she realized that some kind of serum was flowing through her veins.
It was a knock-out serum. (She ought to know. She had already been put to sleep by one once, back when she had been working for Roxane Barca. Long story. She had needed to lay low for a while after stealing rare limited editions of her favorite comic book series.)
The sentry stuttered. “N- No… N- Not now! J- Just one more page...”
Reflexively, Jenny tried to grab the comic-book still on her lap and to turn the page. She needed to know the end! She needed to-
However, her body betrayed her before she could do it.
“Ah… Ah…”
Jenny’s body relaxed, and she slumped into her chair. Her head rested on the side, on her shoulder. Her eyelids closed. Her breathing became slow and regular. She was deeply asleep.
Ebony put the air-vent grill onto the ground. Then, the two spider-bots went to the command opening the guardhouse’s door, and pressed it.
Tinker and Soph entered. The bots closed the door behind them.
“Ain’t they useful?” the geeky sister commented as her bots were returning into her backpack. She was beaming with pride. “None of us could have crawled through the air vents, but they did it flawlessly! Surely this must make you realize the usefulness of gadgets…”
“I admire your persistence, sis’… How many times did we have this conversation?”
“You know I’ll never give up.”
The two sisters carried Jenny to a corner of the room, and swiftly divested her of her uniform. Soph removed the lower half of the outfit (the combat shoes, belt, and trousers), and Tinker took off the top half (the earpiece, jacket and t-shirt).
Jenny was left clad in red Spiderman knickers with black lace and a silver spider in the front, and a red and blue bra with a black Spiderman logo on each cup. Her socks were also red and blue with a white Spiderman logo.
The sisters zip-tied the petite woman’s wrists behind her back. They zip-tied her ankles, her calves, and her thighs next. Finally, they wrapped a few layers of tape around Jenny’s upper-arms. They gagged her with a red ball-gag with air holes. The guard was left seated in a corner of the room.
Tinker put the comicbook on Jenny’s lap, opened it to the two pages that the guard was about to read, and taped it to her thighs to make sure that it would stay open. That way, the guard would be able to read the ending of her issue.
Soph rolled her eyes and smiled indulgently. “I don’t think this little attention will make up for the fact that you’re stealing her clothes…”
Tinker shrugged, removed her delivery woman uniform, grabbed Jenny’s discarded guard uniform and slipped into it. “Just because we mug them, we don’t have to be jerks about it. Well, with the ones that don’t deserve it at least. There’s nothing personal. I’m sure she’ll understand.”
“Allow me to doubt that.”
“Why don’t you check the screens to see if the coast is clear for our sisters?” Tinker retorted.
Soph pretended to be offended, though her smile showed that she was joking. “How dare you talk back to your sister? You’re actually spending way too much time with me! My bad manners of a young delinquent are rubbing off on you!”
Her sister chuckled.
**************
Now that the control room was under Tinker’s control, she could open the door to allow her sisters to enter the guardhouse. They quickly glanced at the sight of Jenny and her comicbook, but didn’t comment on it.
“Well, that was easier than expected…” Marie commented.
“Oh trust me, we were lucky to have small remote-controlled robots to infiltrate the air vents.” Tinker retorted. “This security system is top-notch. We could never have been able to penetrate the estate had we not had a mean to neutralize the guard from the inside… No infiltrator could have ever hoped to cross it.”
Tina tousled her geeky sister’s hair. “Too bad they didn’t count on facing a tech genius and her futuristic robots!”
Tinker blushed.
The sisters used the surveillance screen to check the surroundings of the main manor, as some of these cameras were watching the inside of the estate.
“The coast seems to be clear if you try to enter by the back of the building.” Tinker announced.
“The parts used by the staff. Always a safe bet.” Marie remarked.
“A window is open. Looks like it leads to the kitchen. We should scout this area first.” Angel added.
“It’s best to not go all at once.” Tina decided. “Angel, Marie, and I will go first. Tinker, you stay here and man the access room. Soph and BB will help you watch the surveillance screens. Call us on our earpieces if you spot a threat.”
“Okay.”
**************
Marie, Tina, and Angel approached the main manor of the estate from behind. They used the park's bushes and the garden to conceal their presence.
Marie spotted the open window they had seen on camera. It was indeed leading to the kitchen of the building… and it was big enough so that a decently supple woman could use it to enter.
She, Tina, and Angel discreetly approached the window, and glanced inside.
The kitchen was a huge pristine white room, designed to be used to cook huge banquets for numerous guests.
Since it wasn’t meal time, there was no chef. However, the room wasn’t empty.
Three women dressed as sentries were currently in the kitchen. They were wearing the same outfit as Jenny. Black combat shoes, dark blue trousers, a black equipment belt, a dark blue jacket over a white t-shirt, and a black earpiece.
Strangely enough, two of them were cooking something in a big pot near the window. Luckily, the first one was absorbed by her recipe book and the other one by the vegetables she was cutting, therefore they didn’t notice the intruders observing them. The third sentry was sitting on a table, and was warily watching her colleagues cook, so she also didn’t see the intruders. The sisters quickly deduced that these women were on a break.
The guards were called Lori, Teresa, and Fiona.
Lori threw her vegetables into the smoky pot.
“Just a few more spices, and it will be tout simplement parfait!” she commented.
“What were these last words?” Fiona asked.
“It’s French. Cooking always sounds better when it’s in French.” Teresa explained, with the recipe book still in her hand.
Fiona rolled her eyes.
Lori was a tall lanky slightly tanned woman with a long neck. She had hazel brown eyes and brown hair tied into a shoulder-long medium ponytail. Teresa had a white skin, armpit-long wavy blond hair that she was leaving down, and grey eyes. She was a curvy woman of average size.
During their previous job at the Barca estate, the two mercenaries were posing as cooks. It was supposed to be a clever ploy to take by surprise infiltrators trying to mug the staff to impersonate them. (It didn’t work.) However, Lori and Teresa discovered that they enjoyed cooking, and decided to keep it as a hobby.
There was a huge problem however. In spite of their motivation and their hours of practice, the taste of their food was still somewhere in-between cat vomit and radioactive poison. In other words, it tasted very bad.
Fiona, the sentry who was just watching, had a light skin with a few freckles on the cheeks and shoulders, curly fluffy ginger red hair, and her eyes were green-brown. To avoid having her hair in her face, she had tied them into a rough thick high-ponytail with a green scrunchie.
While watching the guards to find an opening, Marie suddenly realized that the open pot was withing reach. Some sort of mixture was simmering inside. It gave her an idea. Tinker’s sweets filled with knock-out serum were a situational gadget, a lot harder to use compared to her pen. However, it looked like it was their time to shine...
In the kitchen, the three guards were still talking.
“And… You are going to make me taste your dish again?” Fiona warily asked the two amateur cooks.
Lori and Teresa glared at her. They had heard the hesitation in her voice, and didn’t like it. “Of course!” the first guard retorted.
Fiona grimaced.
“Don’t worry. This time, we followed the recipe to the letter.” Teresa said. She closed the recipe book and put it on a shelf. “There’s no way this one can fail!”
“Just let me grab three bowls, and we’ll taste it together!” Lori added.
Marie took advantage of the guards’ inattention, and threw all her sedative sweets into the cooking-pot from the open window.
Nobody noticed her.
However, Marie’s idea proved to be even more successful than what she was expecting.
The clone intended for the three guards to knock themselves out when tasting a sample of the recipe. However, Tinker’s sedative sweets mixed up with Lori’s and Teresa’s horrendous mixture caused a weird chemical reaction.
There was a huge ‘poof!’, and the pot released a thick cloud of smoke.
Marie, Tina, and Angel got away from the window.
The guards were taken by surprise.
Lori looked at the pot and frowned. “Strange. It wasn’t supposed to do that...”
“I knew it! I knew this would end up in a disaster!” Fiona exclaimed. “It’s mutating!”
Teresa glared daggers at her. “Ha! Ha! Very funny!”
The three guards breathed the smoke, not knowing that it was a powerful knock-out gas born from the chemical reaction between Marie’s sweets and the mixture inside the pot.
“Hey, actually, I never thought I’d say that about your cooking, but it actually smells… kind of nice!” Fiona commented. “It has this pleasant sugary smell…”
“But it’s supposed to be salty…” Teresa yawned. “I’m… I’m feeling weird all of the sudden… Not you? A little… dizzy…”
Fiona was too. She put a hand on her forehead and staggered. Her voice was slurry. “I- My body… is so… so heavy...” Her eyes widened. “It’s… It’s putting me… to sleep...” she understood. With her last strengths, the redhead grabbed Lori by the shoulders to weakly shake her. “What… WHAT was in that recipe?!” she stammered.
Lori shook her head. She was blinking very fast, as if she was having trouble to have coherent thoughts. “I… I don’t understand... It wasn’t supposed to do that… It- uuuuhhh…”
“aaahhh…”
“uuuuffff...”
She and her two colleagues let out faint moans.
Three dull thuds later, the sentries were lying on the floor, sleeping like babies. Finoa was resting on Lori, with her right cheek resting on the taller woman’s stomach and her arms embracing the other guard’s waist like a pillow. Teresa was lying a few feet away from them, curled up on herself. All three were breathing peacefully, off to dreamland.
Marie, Tina, and Angel waited for the smoke to clear, as the sweets were quickly dissolving, then entered the kitchen through the window.
“Not what I was expecting, but can’t argue with results…” Marie commented.
Angel turned off the fire under the pot as a safety precaution. Then, the sisters dragged Teresa, Lori, and Fiona to a corner of the kitchen, out of sight from the door or the window. They divested the three guards of their uniforms. (They let Fiona keep her scrunchie however.)
As undergarments, Fiona was wearing forest green boyshorts with a matching t-shirt bra and plain white socks. However, her two colleagues’ underwear were a lot more ‘interesting’. Teresa was wearing light green boxer shorts adorned with a pattern of little hot-dogs and black edges, a black bandeau bra with a pattern of little burgers, and red-and-yellow socks sponsored by a famous fast-food restaurant chain. Lori was clad in white cheeky panties. The words ‘All you can Eat’ were written in black letter on the front, and there was a pattern of various foods. Her full-cup bra was also white. On each cup, there was the drawing of a doughnut. Her socks were similar to Teresa’s.
“Stasis is going to regret not having been on this operation…” Angel couldn’t help but comment.
The three sisters grabbed tableclothes and towels, and cut and twisted them into makeshift bonds and gags. They tied each woman’s wrists behind her back and bound each woman’s legs and thighs with strips of tableclothes. Longer strips were wrapped around the shoulders. Towels were used as stuff-gags, then as cloth-gags and as blindfolds.
The sisters hid the three sentries inside one of the kitchen’s big pantries, though they still chose one that was not refrigerated. Fiona, Lori, and Teresa were left seated in a corner, resting against each other. They were actually even looking kind of cute, with their heads nestled in each other’s shoulders. Tina closed the door to conceal them.
Then the sisters got dressed into the stolen guard uniforms.
Tina pinned the hidden microphone onto her collar. “Disguises acquired. BB, Soph, it’s your turn. Go through the kitchen. We’ll secure your way and find you a couple of outfits. Tinker, you keep watching the screens” Tina said to her sisters.
**************
Just like their sisters, BB and Soph used the estate's plant life to conceal themselves. They entered the manor through the kitchen’s window. Angel was waiting for them.
“Tina and Marie have found two maids. There’s a wardrobe in the nearby corridor. They say you have to hide behind it. They will lure the women here.” she explained.
BB and Soph nodded, and got in position. They didn't need words to convey their feeling. They knew they were on schedule, and didn't want to waste time with pointless questions.
Footsteps were quickly heard.
The two sisters shared a smile when they then heard Tina exclaim loud enough, so that they would hear too: “Our colleagues made a mess in the kitchen. We need you two’s help to clean the room.”
“Teresa and Lori were at it again?” one maid commented.
“Yes.” Marie lied on the spot.
“Lady Irene should fire them.” the second maid commented. “Or at least forbid them access to the kitchen. I’m tired of cleaning food stains and vomit!”
“I know hiring Barca’s entire security detail was a very good bargain, but I think Theophano should have thought of the DOWNSIDES of choosing the cheaper option…” the first maid complained.
She was a plain-looking woman of average size, with black hair that were shoulder-long and braided, brown eyes, and a tanned skin. One stand of hair was dyed red. A white headband was keeping her hair. Her name was Stella. The second maid, who was called Selene, was more buxom. Her hair were ash brown, with one strand dyed white. She had a shoulder-long square cut, a light skin and hazel green eyes. A black headband was keeping her hair.
As for their uniforms, contrary to Theophano, Irene wanted her staff to meet up her expectations on what a professional and classy outfit should look. She had a deeply-rooted dislike of what she considered ‘fanservice-y’ uniforms, and the French maid outfit was the one she hated the most. Her estate’s maid uniform therefore was an elegant dark blue calf-long dress with knee-long sleeves and a white collar. A white apron was tied around the waist and covering the lower-half of the body. They were also wearing dark blue shoes and white long socks.
The two maids were still complaining when they passed in front of the wardrobe of precious wood behind which BB and Soph were hiding.
Tina and Marie were following them from afar.
BB didn’t give the two maids a chance. From behind, she grabbed both women by the mouth. Her gloves released their powerful knock-out gas.
“MMMMHHHH?!”
“MFFFFFHHHH!!!”
The two maids struggled together to try to break her hold. BB had to hand it to them, their teamwork was flawless. However, Stella and Selene were no match for the tall woman, even when working together to break free. Plus, the knock-out gas was fast-acting.
Soon, with muffled moans, the two maids drifted into unconsciousness.
BB kept a firm hand to make sure they wouldn’t fall, and carried them under the arms. Selene’s and Stella’s limbs and heads were limply hanging and slightly dangling.
Tina gave her sisters the thumb-up. “We’re barring the access to the corridor. Nobody will disturb you.”
Soph and BB nodded, and quickly stripped the two maids of their aprons, shoes, and one-piece dresses. They also took the socks, since they were part of the uniform.
As undergarments, Selene was wearing a rather old-fashioned sleeveless knee-long white slip over a plain beige t-shirt bra and matching briefs. Since the slip wasn’t part of the uniform, the sisters let her keep it. Stella was clad in an orange camisole and black high-cut panties.
In order to not waste time, the infiltrators used zip-ties to restrain each woman’s wrists, ankles, elbows, and knees. Black ball-gags with air holes were used to silence the maids.
Selene and Stella were then left stashed inside the wardrobe. Since the place was rather tight, their bodies and breasts were pressed against each other. Stella’s face was resting on Selene’s ampler breasts. Soph and BB closed the door to conceal them.
The two sisters removed their own clothes (and socks), then slipped into the socks, shoes, dresses, and aprons.
BB grimaced. Once more, the outfit was too tight. More importantly, it was so figure-hugging that one could see the outline of her own undergarments in the parts that weren’t hidden by the apron.
“It’s okay.” she reassured Soph when the latter, worried, opened her mouth to say something. “We don’t have time to be picky.”
They regrouped with Tina, Angel, and Marie. When her three sisters glanced at her ill-fitting uniform, BB raised a hand to stop them from talking before they could make a remark.
“Soph and I will inspect the ground floor, you three will inspect the first floor.” the tall woman instructed everyone.
Tina hesitated, but then nodded.
**************
The sisters were discreetly roaming the building.
Unsurprisingly, the manor was luxurious. Paintings. Precious vases. Carpets. Tapestries. Mirrors. Gold-plated or silver-plated candlesticks. Furnitues made of exotic woods. Marble. Crystal.
The place was decorated with impeccable taste, maybe, but Tina could perfectly see all the money that had been used on mere decorations. She couldn't help but think of how many families could be fed with the money Irene was using to decorate her house.
Of course, the building wasn’t empty. There were a few other guards. Tina was hoping that none of them would want to grab something to eat in the pantry which was holding Lori, Teresa, and Fiona. Though, given the time of the day, the risk was minimal.
Most of the staff consisted of women, though the sisters didn’t know the reason.
Tina, Angel, and Marie managed to avoid all the groups of guards and servants. From afar, their stolen uniforms were enough to fool the rest of the staff. The sheer size of the building was allowing them to always disappear into a secondary corridor when they risked meeting someone else. For once, Tina was thankful for the Eudokia family’s megalomania.
However, after reaching the first floor, she realized that said megalomania was also going to make her infiltration a lot harder. Because of the manor’s sheer size, there were dozens of rooms, and each of them could potentially contain the information they were looking for, or hold the reunion she and her sisters wanted to spy on.
She thought her best shot was the personal quarters of the Eudokia family, so she led her sisters there first. After a first scouting, she noticed that there was one bedroom too many.
Strange...
Tina and her sisters entered it.
It was a spare child’s bedroom, complete with a baby cradle.
Tina thought at first that she had lucked out, as there was no newborn in the Eudokia family.
But a thorough search revealed… absolutely nothing.
Tina and her two sisters had no idea why Irene would keep a baby bedroom. All her children were adults, she was a widow, and had no intention to marry a second time. But hey, rich people had their quirks, and way too much money to spend...
For now, there was no trace of the gang leaders Irene was supposed to meet. Indeed, the sister’s main goal was to get pictures of these people inside the manor, to denounce the Eudokias’ shady dealings…
They left the baby bedroom, and were intending to search Irene’s bedroom next.
However, Tina froze when she heard footsteps.
“Careful… There’s one of them…” she warned Angel and Marie.
A woman was approaching their location.
They took cover in a corridor.
Zoë Eudokia, Irene’s youngest child, had her family’s light skin, copper-red hair and grey eyes. Compared to her buxom sister however, she was looking very plain, with her average-looking body and average-looking curves. Her hair were tied up into a neck-bun. A few strands were dyed white. She was wearing a white button-up shirt, a black business jacket with small white vertical stripes, matching business trousers, and black shoes.
Tina was wondering if the easiest solution wouldn’t be grabbing a member of House Eudokia to ‘persuade’ her to give them information...
“Get ready…” she whispered to her sisters. “We may have to truss up a rich girl…”
Angel and Marie nodded. They were looking determined.
Tina wanted to be careful though. Irene’s youngest child was probably the least heinous of her family – at least she didn’t have her sister’s snobbish haughtiness and wasn’t a brutish bully like her brothers. However from what Tina had heard she was always carrying a small handgun on her, and she was a good shot.
“Hey! Zo’!” a voice suddenly exclaimed.
Two identical tall muscular men with closely-cropped hair caught up with Zoë. Her older twin brothers Constantin and Basile.
“So you’re back and you don’t even tell your favorite brothers? Rude!” Constantin said, while using his younger sister’s left shoulder as an armrest.
“We were impatient to hear the tales of your adventures!” Basile added, using Zoë’s right shoulder as an armrest. “Mother’s plan couldn’t have worked without you! You’re so good at handling her chores!”
Both laughed. Zoë grimaced. And her exasperated expression was the telling proof that she had to put up with their sibling teasing during her entire life.
Tina also grimaced, but for a different reason. The arrival of Zoë’s brothers was making things more complicated.
They were soldiers by training. Tina suspected she and her sisters would probably be unable to defeat the three Eudokia siblings without the alarm being raised…
“Constantin. Basile.” another voice intervened.
Irene Eudokia had arrived. Two bodyguards were following her. Tina, Angel, and Marie hid further into their corridor. They couldn’t win against so many people.
“My dear sons, how many times will I have to tell you… Stop teasing your sister like vulgar commoners. You are men of high pedigree, I expect you to behave like people of your station at all times.”
Constantin and Basile exchanged a look, and straightened their posture. “Apologies, mother.”
Seeing most of the Eudokias up close, Tina was even more outraged by their wealth and influence. To think that these people had everything, while so many families could barely afford to put food on their tables... Irene was a cold calculating corrupt woman. Her late husband, from what Tina had heard, was a war criminal. Theophano was an overgrown spoiled brat. Constantin and Basile were overgrown bullies. Out of all the children, only Zoë appeared to be a rational adult, and ironically it was because her mother had paid her less attention when she was growing up.
Zoë pushed away her brothers and approached Irene. “Mother, we need to talk. I know you have your plans, but I still think we should have hired more men as part of the staff and the security detail.”
Irene shook her head. “My dear daughter, if my marital life with your father taught me something, it’s that I must have as few men as possible in my life.”
Tina clearly saw Zoë’s cheeks redden.
“Now don’t get me wrong.” Irene added. “Heraclius was a perfect business partner, and we accomplished great things together. However, with any woman that wasn’t you, Theo or I, your father was nothing but a pig wearing a military uniform. Even you admit it. Sadly, most men are like him. And I certainly won’t have more of them than what’s absolutely necessary around my daughters or I.”
Her tirade was interrupted by a woman dressed as a butler. “Madam. Your next appointment has arrived.”
“Perfect. Thank you, Karen. I’m coming.”
Irene and her bodyguards followed the butler. Zoë, Basile, and Constantin walked in her footsteps like obedient little soldiers.
Tina, Angel, and Marie waited until they were sure that the Eudokias weren’t coming back.
“I think we should find a way to follow them…” Tina whispered. “Maybe this is the meeting with the mob boss we are expecting...”
Her two sisters nodded.
However, suddenly, they heard a voice behind them.
“What are you doing here?”
**************
Soph’s and BB’s search of the ground floor was unfruitful. Clearly, Irene didn’t want to keep important information in the floor where most of the staff was working and where guests were greeted.
They tried their luck with the most isolated room of the floor, but it turned out to be the big laundry room. Several washing machines, tumble-dryers, and carts with clean laundry or dirty laundry were inside.
When exiting the laundry room however, the two sisters came across a woman.
The guard was wearing the same uniform as the other guards of the estate. She had a caramel skin tone, orange brown eyes, and espresso brown long hair that were tied into a flat twisted bun. According to her name badge, she was called ‘Lindsay’.
Soph and BB didn’t hesitate or pause. They knew that their best course of action was to look confident, and to act as if they were where they should be. After all, maids near the laundry room shouldn’t look suspicious in the woman’s eyes… The disguised sisters passed next to the woman.
The guard whistled derisively when she saw how tight and figure-hugging BB’s dress was.
“Trying to get someone in your skirt?” Lindsay mockingly asked. “Not that you’d get any luck, tall freak.”
BB winced and briefly stopped. Her body tensed. Soph stopped as well, and put a hand on her arm. She was concerned.
The guard noticed it. “You got a problem? You wanna’ fight to defend your honour?” She snorted. “Well… What little is left with this outfit.”
BB didn’t answer her provocation. She kept a dignified attitude, and started to walk again.
Soph was forced to follow her. But she was seeing red. “You’re going to let her get away with what she just did?” she asked her sister in a whisper.
“Let’s not stoop down to her level. We’re better than that. And we have a mission.”
In their back, Lindsay mockingly commented: “Yeah, you better run!”
Soph clenched her fist. “Well, I am young and dumb, and sometimes I think it’s best to stoop down to their level.”
Suddenly, she turned and walked towards the guard.
The latter, completely oblivious to the danger, chuckled wickedly: “Oh! Did I strike a nerve? What are you going to do, pipsqueak?”
Soph was too furious to even bother to trash-talk the woman. She grabbed her by the collar.
Lindsay frowned. She apparently wasn’t expecting her victims to actually fight back. “Hey!”
PUNCH! “Oorf!” A brutal stomach punch. POW! “Ark!” An uppercut. WHACK! “Aïe!” A kick to the knee. PAF! “Gah!” A right hook.
Soph was still holding the now-groggy Lindsay by the collar.
“Does it answer your question?” Her face was harsh.
“Y- Yes…” the guard answered.
“Do I have to continue the demonstration?”
“N- No… please…”
“And now, what will you say to my sister?”
“S- Sorry ma’am…”
“Good.”
Soph knocked Lindsay out with a neck-chop. (THUD! “Uuuuuuhhhh...”)
“That wasn’t necessary.” BB commented with a disapproving look.
“Of course it was!” Soph retorted.
She dropped the limp unconscious body on a carpet. The unconscious Lindsay grunted.
BB shook her head, somewhat sadly. “You didn’t change her mind or anything. She wasn’t sincere. She only apologized because you forced her. It wasn’t worth risking our mission.”
“You are worth it…” Soph mumbled to herself.
BB couldn’t help but briefly take Soph in her arms. Her eyes were moist. “I know your heart is in the right place. I appreciate the intent. I just hope you didn’t break too many bones...”
Soph smiled. “I didn’t break anything. She’ll just have bruises. And a headache. I’m young and dumb, but I’m not irresponsible. I knew Marie wasn’t here with me to patch her up once I’m done.”
BB nodded, and opened the door of the laundry room. “We’ll hide her here… Hopefully, the maids we replaced are the only ones on-duty, so she won’t be discovered too soon.”
“You know, while we’re at it, we should take her uniform.” Soph remarked. “She’s not your size, but she’s still bigger than the maid. Her outfit will hurt you less.”
BB sighed, but then smiled. She took the guard under her arm, carried her inside the laundry room, and put her on the floor.
She unlaced Lindsay’s shoes and unclipped her belt. Soph unbuttoned her jacket. BB removed the shoes and socks, and slid the trousers down the woman’s legs. Soph took off the jacket and the t-shirt, lifting the woman’s upper-body in the process.
Once Lindsay was down to her light grey bikini panties and camouflage green-and-grey cami bra, the two sisters grabbed discarded white laundries to truss her up. They cross-tied the wrists behind the back, mummified the shoulders, wrapped a makeshift rope around the thighs, another around the calves, and a third around the feet. Finally, they shoved one of BB’s long socks into the guard’s mouth, cleave-gagged her with the second long sock, and blindfolded her with a towel.
BB put on the guard uniform and, while it was still a tight fit, it was more comfortable.
Then she slung Lindsay over her shoulder, and threw the guard into a laundry cart. Soph covered the trussed up body with more laundry to conceal her.
“I hope Tina, Angel, and Marie are luckier than us...”
**************
Tina, Angel, and Marie hadn’t been expecting to be directly noticed by a member of the estate’s household.
Their only luck, however, was that the woman was a maid, and not a guard. She was clad in an elegant dark blue calf-long dress with knee-long sleeves and a white collar. A white apron was tied around the waist and covering the lower-half of the body. She was also wearing dark blue shoes and white long socks
The maid had plain chestnut brown hair, tied into a short ponytail, and hazel brown eyes. Her light skin was slightly tanned. She seemed rather young, in her later twenties at most, and had a cute round-shaped face with a small nose. Her body was of average size. She was called Natasha.
The woman glared at the three sisters and their guard outfits.
“I don’t know you.” she commented.
Tina improvised a lie on the spot: “We’ve been hired recently. Lady Eudokia needed more guards. She fears an infiltration.”
The maid nodded. “Oh. I see. Logical.”
Sometimes, the best lies were the simplest ones.
That was easier than expected… Tina thought.
But of course, in Heartfelt City, nothing was ever easy.
Natasha glanced at Tina’s outfit, and suddenly frowned.
“Why are you wearing Lori’s outfit?”
“What do you mean?” Tina retorted.
“I recognize the grease stains on the collar. We’ve never managed to wash them away.”
Tina quickly came up with an other lie. “Well, you see, I borrowed the uniform to her… Mine was too tight...”
This time however, the maid didn’t fall for the lie. The sisters realized the woman was going to snitch on them. She knew too much...
Marie immediately grabbed a device hidden in her pocket. “I’ll silence her.” she said to her sisters.
Natasha gasped and panicked. “Oh no! A gun?!”
Marie pulled out her pen.
The maid instantly looked relieved. “Ah… Got me scared for a second…”
Marie double-clicked her pen, and shot a dart in the woman’s left breast.
Natasha gasped and panicked again. “Oh no! A cyanide-coated dart! Like in Moonraker!”
Angel grabbed her shoulder to reassure her. “No no no… Calm down… It’s just a harmless sleeping dart…”
The maid instantly looked relieved again. “Ah… That’s better…”
She then realized the implications of being knocked out by infiltrators, and that she’d still end up bound and gagged in her skivvies. She stopped smiling.
“No! Wait! That’s not what I meant!” Natasha’s eyes rolled back. “That’s not what I- aaaaaaaa…” Angel caught the woman when she succumbed to the effects of the knock-out serum.
Tina sighed in relief. “Well, things turned out better than expected…”
“If Stasis was here, she’d probably complain that this woman was just here to provide a cheap cliffhanger…” Marie added with a small smile.
Tina looked at the stains on her uniform’s collar. She hadn’t even noticed them. “Still, if this outfit is so recognizable, I think it’s best I quickly change it…” She glanced at the maid. The woman was roughly her size.
“We stay with you.” Angel announced.
“Maybe you should go look for Irene…”
“It’s best that we stay together. We can’t have one sister wandering on her own, it’s too dangerous.” Marie objected. “Plus, you’ll need someone to watch your back while you change yourself.”
“True…”
Angel dragged Natasha by holding her under the arms. Marie opened the door leading to the spare baby bedroom, Tina entered, and Angel dragged the maid inside. Marie stayed outside to watch the corridor.
Angel and Tina removed the sleeping woman’s uniform together. They started with the shoes and socks, then took off the apron and the dress.
Natasha was left clad in white French knickers and a light purple camisole. Tina used her last zip-ties to restrain the woman’s ankles, knees, and wrists. Angel grabbed the sheets in the baby cradle. She turned them into a makeshift rope and a makeshift cleave-gag. She wrapped the rope around Natasha’s shoulders, then gagged her.
They sat the maid against a wardrobe. The frame of the piece of furniture was concealing her figure. From the door, she was invisible.
Tina slipped into the maid outfit.
“Let’s try to find back Irene. Maybe we can still see who she’s meeting.”
)