Chapter 36.5: Chronicles of Heartfelt City 2
Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2021 10:15 am
And so this is the 'surprise' I briefly mentioned in my previous post. This project is actually longer than the previous one, but I hope to complete it as quickly as possible.
This story is, of course, posted with Trackman's permission.
I thank once again Trackman for allowing me to write a story featuring his characters. I also thank him for all his advices, and for being so quick to answer to my numerous questions!
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Chapter 36.5: Chronicles of Heartfelt City 2
Part 1: New threat
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Some nights, she would dream of a cute little girl. One who was called Carrie. She was accompanied by a man wearing glasses. His name was Simon. They were saying they still loved her, and that they would love her no matter what happened.
She would always wake up terrified, shaking in her bed, and it would take her hours to be able to sleep again.
She feared no man. She didn’t fear pain, and she didn’t fear death. But that sight… It was terrifying her.
It wasn’t for nothing that she always avoided Kuebiko. When that dumb Neon Goon tried to molest her in the shower, she bit her ear off. When Glitch mocked her intelligence, she smashed her head into her plate full of food. When Ricochet antagonized her, had the wardens not split them up, she would have broken the mercenary’s trigger finger even if it would have meant letting the markswoman gauge her left eye out. And, had it not hampered her plan to communicate with her followers outside, she would have drowned Bianca in the water of a toilet bowl. Unfortunately, if she murdered another inmate, she would be put into the brig and her accomplices among the guards wouldn’t be able anymore to help her communicate with the outside world. (Therefore she was saving Uniform Stealing Bianca for last.) But Kuebiko… Sarah never dared even looking at her in the eyes. Even without her toxins, Heartfelt City’s ‘Scarecrow’ had a talent to prey on anyone’s worst fears.
Luckily, she was now in a solitary cell, due to her tendency to get into fights with other inmates.
Most nights, she would dream of being locked into a tight dark space. She would dream of herself suffocating slowly. And when she woke up, she was seeing the world in shades of red, with in her mouth a thirst for blood.
If your enemy slaps you, cut their hand. If they spit at you, cut their tongue.
The Leader was following one precept. No matter who crossed her, she would always retaliate tenfold.
And in her eyes, any woman choosing to work as an infiltrator had crossed her. And would therefore pay the price.
She simply needed to step up her game, and change her tactics.
Speaking of which...
**************
Come on, Cass’! You’ve already made the trip up to here! You’re not going to bail out now! Just do it… You’ve promised yourself to be brave!
Cassie was a woman of mostly average size and build. Perhaps she was slightly shorter that the average person, and her thighs and her legs were slightly thicker. She had a round face, dirty blond hair, grey eyes, and a light skin that was slightly tanned. Her haircut was a chin-long bob-cut with a straight fringe.
Cassie took a deep breath and knocked at the door of the small house. The support group she was supposed to meet was waiting inside.
A woman opened. She smiled warmly at Cassie to put her at ease.
“You’re Cassie?” she asked.
“Y- Yes...”
The woman shook her hand. “Name’s Louette! Come in, come in!”
Louette was a tall slim fit woman, with closely cropped hair that were dyed dark blue. Her eyes were blue and her white skin was slightly tanned. There was half-a-dozen piercings in each of her ears. She was wearing a sleeveless t-shirt, allowing Cassie to see that a red Chinese dragon was tattooed on each of her arms from the elbow to the shoulder. Black roses were tattooed on her right forearm, and a flock of crows were tattooed on her left forearm.
“Let me introduce you to the other members of the group…”
Cassie followed Louette inside. Three women were sitting on chairs, in a circle. There were two more chairs: one for Louette and one for Cassie.
“This is Magda.” the blue-haired woman said while pointing at the first member of the support group.
Magda was a woman of average size with a white skin, waist-long loose blond hair, and green eyes. She smiled and saluted.
“This is Ellie.” Louette added.
Ellie was a short chubby woman with neck-long light reddish brown hair, light blue eyes, and a tanned skin. She was wearing round-shaped glasses. “Hello!” she said with a huge grin.
“And this is Willow.”
Willow nodded silently without smiling. She was a skinny goth girl with a pale skin, black lipstick on her lips and black eyeshadow. Her armpit-long raven black hair had blood red tips. Her eyes were dark brown.
Willow was younger than the other gathered women, in her early-to-mid-twenties, while the others all looked in their early-thirties, or at least late-twenties.
Cassie smiled nervously. “H-Hi everyone...”
“Don’t worry. You are among friends here.”
Louette showed her an empty chair.
“Please have a seat.”
Cassie complied.
“So… What do I do now?” she asked.
“Why don’t you introduce yourself to us?” Magda asked with an encouraging smile.
“I- I…”
Cassie was afraid to go first.
“It’s okay. I’ll show you.” Louette intervened. She raised her hand. “Hello everyone. My name is Louette.”
The other women, save for Cassie of course, had already heard the story, but they played along. The goal was to put the newcomer at ease. “Hello Louette.” they answered. (Willow simply nodded.)
“H- Hello Louette…” Cassie added.
“I was mugged six months ago.” the blue-haired woman added. “I work as a security guard and bouncer in a nightclub. I was wearing thick black shoes, black trousers, a belt with a pepper spray and a nightstick, a shirt with a grey camouflage-like colour, a black jacket, and a black cap. I didn’t see the woman who assaulted me. It was the night. She ambushed me from behind while I was taking a break outside, clamped a cloth soaked with chloroform over my mouth, and knocked me out. When I woke up, I was already stripped down to my underwear and trussed up. I was wearing a night blue t-shirt bra, a black thong, and white ankle-long socks. The mugger bound my wrists behind my back with zip-ties. She also zip-tied my ankles, and wrapped tape around my calves, my thighs, and my upper-arms as a safety precaution. I was gagged by a piece of cloth shoved into my mouth and tape wrapped around my lower face. My mugger left me hidden and locked in the trunk of the car she stole to come to the nightclub. It took the police three hours to find me. I was fearing I may suffocate, but they managed to found me. By that time, my mugger had already left though, with the till of course.”
Once she was done, Louette turned to Cassie. She didn’t look ashamed or embarrassed in the slightest. Nor did any of the other members of the support group.
“You see? Nobody will judge you.” the blue-haired woman said. “You don’t have to feel shame for what happened to you. It wasn’t your fault. You’re guilty of nothing. Accepting that fact will be the first step to your recovery. And talking about what happened to you will be the first step towards your acceptance.”
“These women get their kicks by dominating their victims. They want you to feel inferior to them, but the truth is that you’re a better person than them.” Magda added. “Never forget that.”
“Louette told every detail of her mugging to show you that, no matter what happened, you must not be ashamed.” Ellie concluded. “But you don’t have to tell us everything if you don’t want to. You don’t even have to tell us anything about the event if you don’t want to. If you prefer, you can simply introduce yourself.”
Willow nodded in silence.
“I- I’ll try.”
Cassie took a deep breath and raised her hand.
“Hello everyone. My name is Cassie.”
“Hello Cassie.”
“I work as a nurse. Healing and helping other people has always been my dream. I… I think that you know what a nurse uniform looks like? I was mugged two weeks ago. The… The woman was a mercenary, looking to assassinate a witness that was being healed in the hospital… She threatened me… She said that she would kill me if I so much tried to resist… And the police said that she already killed a few of her victims… They said that to flee the hospital, she lured a janitress and she... So I... I… I’m sorry. I can’t describe it… Not yet…”
“It’s okay.” Louette reassured her. “For a first session, you’re being very brave.”
**************
The session was long, but did Cassie a lot of good. Once they ran out of time, Louette escorted her to the door, and said good bye. They agreed to have another session next week.
“I like her.” Magda commented when the blue-haired woman returned alone.
Willow nodded in silence.
“Me too. I want to help her recover. But the question is… Is she a potential recruit?” Louette answered.
“I don’t know if she has the stomach… She looks a little TOO gentle for her own good…” Ellie commented.
“Well, these are questions for later.” Louette checked her wristwatch. “The prisoner should have woken up by now.”
The blue-haired woman looked at her phone. The device was connected to a camera in the basement.
“She has woken up.” Louette confirmed. “And she’s still tied to her chair, nice and tight.”
She looked at Magda.
“You’re ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be!” the blonde answered with a harsh smile.
**************
The woman tied to the chair in the basement was called Helen Jacomy. She had a crew haircut. Her hair were short and dark brown. She had chestnut brown eyes and a tanned skin. She had an innocuous-looking appearance, though a closer inspection could allow to see that her arms and legs were more muscular than average. She was a woman who trained in martial arts.
Helen was wearing plain ordinary clothes: grey-and-white sneakers, dark blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a light blue denim jacket.
Currently, she was tied to a chair with ropes wrapped around her calves, thighs, waist, arms, and shoulders. Her wrists were also handcuffed behind her back, and her ankles were also cuffed, to make sure that she wouldn’t be a threat even if she managed to untie the ropes. She was blindfolded with a black scarf, and cleave-gagged with a thick piece of cloth.
The prisoner was struggling in vain, moaning and crying in her gag.
Louette, Ellie, and Willow all put on a white ‘angry face’ theater mask.
Then Louette removed the blindfold and the gag, and allowed Magda, the only one who wasn’t hiding her face, to stand in front of the prisoner.
Helen caught her breath. Her eyes were red because of the fear.
“Who… Who are you?!” she stammered with a frightened tone of voice.
Magda smiled. “You don’t remember me? We met seven months ago. I was wearing white running shoes, pink socks, hot pink sweatpants, and a matching hot pink tracksuit. You commented that I looked very sexy once stripped down to my candy pink sports bra and boyshorts. And you had a lot of fun hog-tying me with ropes, and gagging me with my socks and tape... I hope you had your fun. Because now it is my time.”
Helen’s eyes widened. It had taken her some time, but she had recognized the blonde.
“It’s… It’s you… You’re the jogger that I-”
“Ah! So you finally remember me!”
Magda grabbed the woman’s cheeks.
“See. That’s the problem most women like you have. You forget the faces of your victims. But we on the other hand… We never forget yours.”
Magda squeezed Helen’s cheeks hard, making her wince in pain.
“I also didn’t forget what you said to me. ‘Serves you right for being rude.’ These were your exact words. For the crime of ‘being rude’, I apparently deserved to be beaten up, choked, stripped, and left half-naked and bound-and-gagged in the middle of the park during the entire night…”
“Listen, it was a one-time mistake… I was going through a hard time and I-”
“No need to lie. We did our researches about you.” Louette interrupted her. “You’re one callous little bitch… You seem to like mugging and stripping other women a lot. There are many victims. You’re doing it for the pleasure. I bet it makes you feel powerful, eh? You have a disgusting way of getting your kicks, you know that?”
Helen tried to justify herself, but she had been unmasked.
“Most importantly, I didn’t forget what happened after you left me half-naked and defenseless.” Magda interrupted her.
“Wh- What happened?”
“Let’s just say that I was NOT found by good Samaritans… Let’s just say that I spent a very bad night…”
“I’m sorry… I… I never thought you’d-”
“I’m not here for an empty insincere apology. I’m here to make sure you pay the tab…” Magda interrupted her. “However, I’m willing to give you one chance. Say my name. Say my name, and I might consider changing my mind… You do remember it, right?”
“Of course! I… I remember it! I…” Helen panicked. “It’s… uhm… It’s... Ma… Macha?”
Magda laughed wickedly.
“Nice try. But wrong.”
Louette grabbed a syringe and injected Helen with a colourless liquid. The latter winced in fear.
“Don’t worry.” the woman with dyed blue hair said. “It’s only meant to paralyze. We just don’t want you to pull out a dirty trick during the next part…” She looked at Magda. “Please proceed.”
Magda untied the ropes and unlocked the handcuffs to release Helen’s body. However, because of the paralyzing drug, the infiltrator wasn’t able to try to escape.
Magda removed the clothes Helen was wearing one after the other. Slowly. Since her victim’s body was paralyzed and motionless, the task proved to be easy. The blonde started with the jacket, as it was the easiest article of clothes to remove. Then, she grabbed the t-shirt and roughly took it off. She untied the sneakers and removed them one by one. She also removed the black socks. Finally, she unzipped the jeans and grabbed the legs to pull the trousers off.
The woman was left wearing dark grey boyshorts with black edges and a matching sports bra.
Then, Magda removed her own clothes and put on Helen’s, save for the socks. She appreciated the fact that they were still warm.
“Feeling better?” Louette asked her friend.
Magda smiled ecstatically. “So much better!”
Ellie glanced at Helen. “Now, how about we start the second step…”
Willow grabbed the handcuffs and restrained their prisoner once more.
**************
They hog-tied the cuffed underwear-clad Helen, shoved her own socks into her mouth, cleave-gagged her again, and threw her in the trunk of Louette’s car. Then, they drove her to a specific part of the town.
It was the night.
They stopped in the middle of an empty alleyway, and dropped the trussed up woman on the ground. They were all still wearing their white ‘angry masks’. Even Magda had put on one.
“Here you go.” Louette commented.
In spite of her dire situation, Helen couldn’t help but feel a little relieved. She was being spared!
Louette easily read her face. “I wouldn’t rejoice too soon if I was you… Do you actually know in which part of the town we are?” she remarked with a small cruel smile.
“This area is controlled by the remnants of the Neon Goons. And I’m sure you know what they’ll be tempted to do with a half-naked defenseless woman…” Ellie added.
Willow grabbed a boombox in the trunk of the car.
Magda smiled and said: “Now, a fair woman would let chance decide. After all, there’s no certitude that the Neon Goons will find you first. However, I’m not here to be fair. I’m here to give you a taste of your own medicine. I’m here to make you live through what I lived through because of you…”
Willow placed the boombox next to her, and Magda switched it on.
“J-pop.” Magda explained. “I’m sure you know that the Neon Goons are more into rave music or heavy metal. Playing J-pop in their district is akin to a declaration of war. You can bet that the second one hears that boombox, they will all come running.”
Helen’s eyes widened in fear. “WHHT! PLHHSH! H BHG YHH!”
However, she saw no sympathy in the eyes of her captors. As former victims of infiltrators, they weren’t willing to show her any mercy.
“The time it’ll take the Goons to arrive, think about all the women you hurt for your own pleasure, for your own callous self-fulfillment. Think about them HARD.” Magda harshly commented. “We are THEIR revenge.”
“An eye for an eye, Helen.” Louette said. “We’re taking justice into our own hands. We’re punishing you the same way someone was hurt by you.”
“We are the White Masks. The streets don’t belong to infiltrators anymore. We’ll make sure to get rid of all of you!” Ellie added.
“Have a nice night.” Magda concluded.
Willow remained impassible. Under her mask, she was smiling.
Then they drove away, abandoning Helen to her fate.
The boombox was blaring a loud J-pop music.
**************
Behind the wheel, Louette commented while driving: “And one down…” She was very satisfied. Tonight’s operation was the result of several weeks of reflection and planning. And it went without a hitch.
Willow smiled.
Neither she nor her friends were going to feel bad for Helen. She was the kind of selfish person who didn’t care the slightest for the people she hurt. Several women had ended up in critical condition because of her, usually because they were found too late.
“We should recruit more people… I mean, going after them one at a time is good, but I wish to go up a gear. And for that we’ll need more muscle.” Ellie commented.
The short chubby woman was actually the White Masks’ latest recruit, whom they hired shortly before abducting Helen. She still wasn’t fully aware of all the details of their plan.
Louette shook her head. “I understand your point, but we must not rush. At any cost. Sarah’s mistake was to try to go too fast. She failed two times because of that. And she’s the first to admit it. We have to try a more subtle approach.”
“You’ve heard about these vigilantes on the news, didn’t you? The ones who fight crime during the night?” Magda intervened.
“The Night Angels? Yes.”
“They’re our source of inspiration. Well, right behind leader Sarah of course. Seeing them inspired me to stop dwelling on my misery and to take up arms!” the blonde explained.
“Plus, they’re very good at building a reputation. The medias are eating up their adventures.” Louette added. “The public opinion loves them. We’ll try to replicate their success.”
“That’s why we have to carefully select our targets.” Magda concluded. “We need to target isolated infiltrators to avoid repercussions from the larger groups and, more importantly, we have to choose ones that are especially callous, to build up good PR. Sarah has asked someone to write her biography. Hopefully, this will also help our cause. Then, once public opinion is on our side, it’ll be time to recruit more people… and to lay waste on the bigger teams.”
**************
The patrol of this night was composed of Angel, Marie, Mag, and Soph. Currently, they were driving in the empty streets of Heartfelt City.
“It’s a slow night this time…” Soph commented while driving their van. “Only two catches…”
“Maybe we’re finally seeing the end of it?” Angel asked. She was sitting on the passenger seat. “We’re not in a videogame after all. Neon Goons can’t spawn forever...”
“Maybe…” Soph switched the radio on.
It was Demons, by Imagine Dragons.
Angel grimaced. “Can you… change the frequency please?”
“You don’t like this band?”
Angel shook her head. “On the contrary. I love their songs. It’s just that the lyrics of this one… they bring bad memories.”
Soph didn’t insist. She changed the frequency and lightly ‘mock-punched’ her sister’s shoulder sympathetically, as a gesture of affection.
Suddenly, they heard Tinker talk in their earpieces:
“Girls, I’ve intercepted an interesting information. Apparently, some idiot is playing J-pop music in the district of the town belonging to the Neon Goons.”
“What?! That’s gonna draw them like moths to a flame!” Soph exclaimed.
“Let’s go there! We may be able to help!” Angel immediately said.
Soph stepped on the gas. “Mag, Marie, you’re doing good behind?” she asked to her two sisters, who were in the back of the vehicle. “We will need your disguises sooner than expected!”
Mag scratched the Velcro and adjusted the black fingerless gloves she was wearing. “No problem.” she commented. Currently, she was wearing lime green sneakers, electric blue trousers, a scarlet red t-shirt adorned with a black skull, and a night blue jacket splattered with lime green paint.
Marie put on black fishnet stockings and black ankle-boots splattered with blood red paint. “In fact, we’re done.” She was clad in a black studded leather jacket with studs that were painted blood red, a grey t-shirt with the image of a red bloody hand doing the middle finger, and black leather pants.
Two unconscious Neon Goons were lying at the sisters’ feet. They were, of course, the original owners of the clothes the sisters were now wearing.
Angel, Mag, Soph, and Marie captured the two thugs twenty minutes ago. The criminals were trying to rob at gunpoint an old couple.
The first goon had dyed lime green hair to match her (former) jacket, a light skin, and hazel green eyes. She had a shoulder-long square haircut. She was wearing a purple stick-on bra, lavender lacy tanga panties, and red socks. The second goon had neck-long curly dyed crimson red hair, a black skin, and chocolate brown eyes. She was clad in a white demi-bra and a white g-string.
Both criminals were gagged with red ball-gags. Their wrists and their ankles were bound with white zip-ties. They were still deeply asleep, thanks to the knock-out serum of Marie’s pen.
“Then brace yourselves! The rescue mission begins!” Soph shouted.
She stepped on the gas.
**************
The sisters arrived just in time to prevent of tragedy.
The Neon Goons were half-a-dozen. A bunch of rowdy intoxicated overexcited women with outrageously loud hair dyes and even louder clothes. They were surrounding a bound half-naked woman. For now, they seemed content with groping her and humiliating her, but the sisters knew it was only a matter of time before one would try to go further…
Soph parked the van at a safe distance.
The plan was simple. Mag and Marie were going to approach the thugs first, using their disguises to blend in. They would create a distraction to allow Soph and Angel to approach from their targets from behind. The former would beat the goons into submission, and the latter would carry the bound victim out of harm’s way.
Mag and Marie walked the street and approached the group of thugs. They were imitating the confident rowdy demeanour of the Neon Goons. To better blend in, they were wearing wigs: an electric blue one for Mag, a magenta one for Marie.
“Hey girlfriends! What are you doin’?!” Mag exclaimed.
“Teachin’ this nerd a lesson!” a goon with short bright orange hair answered. Her black leather jacket, t-shirt, and trousers were splattered with a matching bright orange paint.
“Can you believe some moron thought they could play J-pop in OUR turf?!” another woman with ponytailed purple hair added. She was wearing a purple sweatshirt and matching sweatpants.
“But when we arrived to teach ‘em a lesson, all we found was this sweet piece of ass…” a third thug, with waist-long braided spring green hair, added. She was clad in an electric blue jacket, a scarlet red t-shirt, a brown leather belt, and navvy blue trousers.
The thug lightly slapped the bound woman’s butt, making her squirm, and laughed.
“I call dibs on her!” ‘Orange Hair’ suddenly shouted.
“No way bitch! I was here first! She’s mine! Wait for your turn!” “Purple Hair’ retorted.
“Pff! A half-naked chick! You’ callin’ that breaking news?” Marie exclaimed to distract them from their victim. “Are you, like, five? This is Heartfelt City! They find a half-naked bound woman every day!”
“Hey! You’ insultin’ us?” ‘Orange Hair’ barked.
Most goons turned to watch her and Marie, eager to witness a potential fistfight. Luckily, they were too blinded by lust and alcohol to realize that Mag and Marie were impostors. The dark of the night was also helping.
“She’s just sayin’ she found a better thing!” Mag intervened. “Wanna check?” She pulled out a small cylindrical metallic device.
“What’s this?” ‘Purple Hair’ asked.
Mag smiled. “Say cheese!”
She activated the device, a nice little gadget that Tinker built after a movie marathon of all the Men in Black flicks. It let out a hard dazzling light.
The Goons shouted as they were dazzled. Of course, Tinker wasn’t able to give the light the power to erase the memory of recent events, at least for now, but it was perfect to blind an opponent.
“Soph, Marie, with me!” Mag shouted.
She and Marie swiftly took out ‘Orange Hair’ and ‘Purple Hair’ with a few martial moves each.
Soph jumped from the shadows and rushed the remaining Neon Goons from behind. The one with spring green hair tried to turn to face her, and was socked in the jaw with a vicious right hook for her trouble.
At the same time, Angel grabbed the bound half-naked woman and dragged her away from the commotion.
“Here, let me take you to safety.” Angel said to the victim.
The latter was gagged, but nodded frantically.
Reasoning that it would be better to free her once they were away from the commotion, Angel slung the woman over her shoulder and ran away from the fight.
Mag and Marie were neutralizing one Goon each with, respectively, a good old-fashioned beating and a submission chokehold.
Soph was facing the two remaining Neon Goons, who had managed to draw switchblades. Needless to say, the fight was going to be very one-sided… For the Neon Goons, of course.
Once they were near the van, Angel removed the gag and cut the ropes hog-tying the woman.
“Thank you… Thank you so much…” she said.
Angel pulled out a lockpick that Tinker designed to unlock handcuffs. “Don’t move. I’ll remove your cuffs.”
At the same time, one Goon tried to shank Soph. Or, more precisely, she tried to take a step forward and to run towards Soph. But the clone easily read through her intent and, as the thug was taking her first step, Soph’s feet hit her in the chest, sending her onto the ground. The second Goon thought she had an opening. Big mistake. Soph nimbly dodged her knife. She slapped the woman hard on the temples with her two palms to disorient her. The thug grunted in pain and dropped her knife. Soph finished her with a knee to the stomach and a neckchop that knocked her out cold. The first Goon spat a few insults as she was trying to get back on her feet. Her eyes widened when she saw Soph’s fist speeding up towards her face. The clone hit her in the forehead, right between the eyes, sending the criminal to dreamland.
The battle was won.
Mag, Marie, and Soph gathered all the moaning half-conscious Neon Goons, and started to strip them of their outer clothes.
Angel finished unlocking the handcuffs. She helped the woman get on her feet while her sisters were busy stripping and restraining the thugs.
“What’s your name?” Angel asked the victim.
“It’s Helen… Thank you… Thanks a lot...”
As she was busy thanking her savior, Helen noticed the zip-ties on Angel’s belt.
She quickly came up with a plan.
Angel opened the door of the passenger seat.
“You can sit here while we take care of these criminals…” she proposed. “Don’t worry, you are safe now. We will – gahrk?!”
Helen struck while Angel was turned. She wrapped an arm around the clone’s throat and choked her.
“Nothing personal dear, but I need your van and your clothes to escape…” the woman whispered in Angel’s ear.
She indeed didn’t want to be interrogated by vigilantes – or worst, by the police.
Her intent was to knock out Angel, zip-tie her, put her in the van, then flee with the vehicle to a safe place, in order to strip her victim and hostage.
However, Helen didn’t know that Angel was a former overtrained killing machine. The clone had renounced her old ways, but completely forgetting a lifetime of training that had been literally bred into her was impossible. Faced by the perspective of a throttling, Angel’s body took action by reflex, almost by itself.
Angel violently hit the woman choking her in the stomach with her elbow. Helen grunted in pain and her grip loosened, allowing the clone to break free. Then Angel violently moved her head backwards, to hit her opponent in the face with the back of her skull. “Ow!” Helen shouted. She staggered. The clone made Helen fall on the ground by hitting her in the back of the calves with a roundhouse kick.
Helen whimpered in pain. She had hurt her arm during her fall.
Angel’s training was still so much ingrained in her that she reflexively raised her feet to stomp on her enemy’s throat, a technique that she had used several times.
She stopped herself however.
“I… I’m sorry!” Angel exclaimed while taking a step back. “I didn’t want to hurt you…”
“Angel! What’s going on?!” Soph shouted, as the noise of the commotion had drawn her attention.
“I… She attacked me, and it happened… My body moved by itself... It was an accident. I didn’t want to harm her… I didn’t try to kill her…”
Soph grabbed her sister by the shoulders to calm her.
“Calm down! I trust you! I know you didn’t!”
Angel took a small breath. “It’s okay. I’m calm. I’m calm.”
Soph nodded, satisfied. Angel had become a lot better at handling her panic attacks.
Then Soph looked at Helen and her eyes narrowed.
“You ATTACKED her?!” The clone approached the woman. “So, my sister saves your life and this is how you repay her?!” she shouted, making Helen curl up in fear. “You know what? I think this calls for a little… ‘lesson in pain’.”
Soph cracked her knuckles menacingly.
Angel grimaced. “Soph… There’s no need to-”
“Angel.” her sister gently interrupted her. “You know that we all respect your and Tina’s kindness. We all respect your decision to do everything in our power to make sure that the people we mug are found in time once we’re done, safe and sound with as little harm as possible. And when it’s innocent bystanders, I am 100% behind you.” She briefly hesitated, then added: “I admit I have some reservations when we do it with criminals or corrupt people, but I get your idea. We’re not supposed to be judge, jury, and executioner. It’s the court’s job to decide the fate of the criminals, not ours, and we’d be hypocrite to try since we’re also breaking the law.” Soph then casted a terrifying glare at Helen. “However, you can’t ask me to witness someone try to hurt my sister and NOT do something about it…”
She raised a fist.
“Soph… Please…” Angel said while looking at her.
Soph hesitated, grimaced, but then lowered her fist. “Shoot! You know I can’t resist those eyes!”
Angel smiled lightly, in an apologetic way.
Soph grabbed Helen by the collar.
“Fine. I will ask you a few questions NICELY. If you answer them truthfully, I MAY decide to NOT pummel you.”
“I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”
“Then tell me who you are and why you were here.”
“Name’s Helen…” Helen looked at Soph and Angel. “You are… You are THEM, right? The sisters who are also infiltrators? I’m like you, you know! I’m an infiltrator too! You have to help me! There’s this group of crazy women! They say they’ll take justice into their own hands and will get rid of all infiltrators! They left me here because they knew the Neon Goons would find me! You have to help me!”
“You tried to attack my sister, and you ask us to help you? I admire your nerve.” Soph called towards Mag: “Sis’, bring some zip-ties over here please.”
“You said you wouldn’t harm me!” Helen shrieked.
Soph smiled. Her expression was downright terrifying.
“I said I wouldn’t HIT you. I never said anything about letting you put on some clothes. And I CERTAINLY never said anything about allowing you to spend the next couple of hours UN-tied and UN-gagged.”
Soon, a thoroughly bound-and-gagged Helen was sharing the back of the van with a bunch of defeated humiliated Neon Goons.
All women were zip-tied and ball-gagged.
‘Orange Hair’ and ‘Purple Hair’ were wearing sets of bra and panties that matched their hair colour. For some reason, ‘Spring Green Hair’ was wearing pink control briefs and a matching padded bra. Her partners-in-crime were probably going to mock her relentlessly because of that. The remaining Neon Goons were wearing underwear supposed to remind the world that they were tough criminals: black panties with a white skull and black full-cup bras. Of course, given the fact that they were zip-tied and gagged, they looked more ridiculous than threatening.
“Well, I think we got ourselves a nice ‘Catch of the Day’…” Mag commented.
“I feel like a fisherwoman who just got a big haul…” Marie added.
Soph glanced at the Neon Goons. “Some of them indeed SMELL like rotten fish…” she mocked. “But I’m pretty sure that the police will enjoy seeing them nevertheless.” She glanced at Helen. “Especially her. Judging by her reaction, I bet the authorities will want to have a chat with her...”
“MHHHHH!!!” Helen protested.
They ignored her.
Angel started the engine of the van.
“We’ll have to organize a sister meeting with Tina and Tinker.” she commented. “It looks like people are out for infiltrators’ heads once more.”
**************
It had become something akin to a reflex. Whenever they heard about infiltrators being targeted, the sisters would always check the latest activities of two groups: the Phantoms and Sarah Summers’ cult.
“Nothing in the police records suggested that the Phantoms were on the move recently. They are still building up their strength, after their recent confrontation with the Company.” Tinker commented. “What about you, Tina?”
Tina was searching the blog created by Sarah’s husband to look for her, actually their best source of clues when it came to the ‘Leader’.
“She’s still in prison…”
However, Tina was sounding glum.
“Something wrong sis’?” Angel worried.
“Simon Summers ended the activity of his blog.” Tina explained. “He posted one last message to thank everyone for their help, but…”
“Let me guess.” BB intervened. “Sarah pushed him and their daughter away.”
“He didn’t say it explicitly, but yes that’s what happened. He says that they’re not going to give up on her, but…” Tina shook her head. “When Mag informed Sarah’s family about her whereabouts, I thought that something positive was going to come out of their reunion… But it looks like the opposite happened.”
“It’s a defense mechanism.” BB explained. “I’m not an expert, but I’ve read a few articles about psychology. Sarah is afraid they’ll make her determination falter, so she’s trying to drive them away.”
“I wouldn’t rule Sarah out however.” Tinker intervened. “I’ve checked a few of the latest trends and posts on social medias. And it looks like Sarah has been very busy as of late…” She showed her sisters a few articles online. “She’s using a fake ID, but her rhetoric is unmistakable.”
The online articles were denouncing the actions of infiltrators. They were of course biased, selecting the information and twisting the facts to suit Sarah’s needs. She was emphasizing the harm they were causing.
Sarah was also comparing infiltrators to rapists and serial murderers.
Of course, she was purposefully avoiding to mention the fact that some of the most active ones – Tina and her sisters – were actually making sure that their victims were found safe and as unharmed as possible.
Now, hate-filled comments weren’t rare on the Internet. But Sarah’s were especially virulent.
“She has changed her tactics. She’s using the social medias.” BB deduced. “She has understood that gathering big cults is inefficient. So she’s now trying to inspire smaller groups of copycats and to turn the public opinion against us, all the while staying in prison to lay low…” The tall woman shook her head. “I admit, I’m kinda impressed by her ability to renew herself… Usually, people like her are unable to question themselves.”
“Hurrah. I’m so happy for her.” a deadpan Mag dryly intervened.
Tina tried to remain focused. “How can she post messages on the Internet while in prison?”
“I’m pretty sure that a few wardens are among her sympathizers. It shouldn’t be too hard for her to have some access to the Internet.” Tinker explained.
“So you think that this group of vigilantes that targeted Helen is encouraged by Sarah?” Angel asked.
“Maybe. And I think there’s maybe a way to learn more about it…”
Tinker showed them another article.
“Sarah’s recently gotten in contact with a writer. She wants her to write her biography. But we can easily deduce that this so-called biography will be a rallying text used to inspire future sympathizers… The author is called Annette Barkis.” Tinker smiled. “She and Sarah actually never directly interacted yet. Only communicated through letters and messages.”
“It means that she’s only seen pictures of Annette and doesn’t know what her voice sounds like…” Tina concluded.
“Annette’s and Sarah’s first meeting is supposed to occur in two days. I propose that we stick our nose in their business…” Tinker said.
Her sisters agreed.
“I see a few problems though.” BB intervened. “Sarah heard the voices of a good chunk of us. Plus, she’ll expect Annette to talk about her first draft. And while Tinker can hack their messaging system to steal a copy of the text, I don’t think any of us can learn it memorize it in such a short amount of time.”
“Well, maybe except you BB…” Stasis commented to praise her sister. “But you’re too tall to impersonate Annette.”
Tina thought for a moment.
“I think I have a solution...”
**************
“Felicity. I need your help. WE need your help.”
Felicity was a girl who had a multi-coloured pixie haircut, which was brown at the back and sides but a dark purple at the front, she had teal blue eyes, a white skin, and an average body. However, her look was very distinctive: a multi-coloured pixie haircut, a ring piercing and black earrings which served to establish her rebellious image.
She was wearing some of her favorite casual clothes: a white shirt that featured a pink skull wearing shades and putting a finger to its lips. On top of that she wore a green coat with pink patterns on the sides and the back, with the sleeves slightly tucked up, and a wristband. She was also wearing dark red jean shorts over black ripped tight leggings and dark lavender pink boots.
Felicity took Tina’s hands sympathetically. “Tina, I owe you so much, so you know that I would help you with my eyes shut.”
“Thanks…” Tina couldn’t help but smile. In a world where everyone was trying to have her and her sister’s heads for one way or another, it was good to know that she had a few friends she could count on.
“Though I’m surprised you chose me.” Felicity added. “I don’t exactly have the most unassuming appearance…” She pointed at her hair.
“Nothing that a good wig, contact lenses, and some make-up can’t fix. As long as we add the right clothes, of course. Would you mind removing your piercing and your earrings?”
Felicity winked. “Only if it’s temporary.” she joked. “Still, I thought you’d ask a more competent professional infiltrator...”
“You’re the best suited to play the role.”
Indeed, Felicity had a condition called Hyperthymesia, which meant that she possessed a superior autobiographical memory, allowing her to recall virtually anything and everything she’d seen or heard. Or read.
Therefore, she could easily memorize the messages that Annette and Sarah sent to each other, and that Tinker hacked, as well as the first manuscript that the young author sent.
Tina added: “Sarah knows about your existence, but she has never heard your voice. So I’m sure that with the make-up, the wig and the disguise, she won’t recognize you. But even then don’t worry, we won’t leave you alone. One of us will be around as backup.”
Felicity thought for a moment, then nodded.
“I’ll do it.” She hesitated, and added: “Just don’t tell Elisha… I don’t want to worry her.”
Tina winked. “Of course we won’t!”
**************
Annette was a woman of average size and build with light brown hair tied up into two shoulder-long low ponytails. Her skin was white and she had light blue eyes.
She was wearing casual clothes: red shoes, black leggings, a light green knee-long skirt, a large beige belt tied around the waist, a white light button-up shirt, and a light green light jacket. She was carrying a light brown handbag.
Annette was a young writer. She fancied herself as a talented author, but the truth was she had never been successful...
That was, until she got in contact with the infamous criminal Sarah Sandy Summers. For now, they only exchanged letters and texts, but their collaboration looked promising. The ‘Leader’ needed someone to write her biography. Well... officially it was going to be marketed as her biography. In reality, it was more going to be a pamphlet to give her followers some kind of ‘official sacred book’. A way to rally them even though she was behind bars.
Annette rubbed her hands. She was going to make so much money… Personally, she didn’t care about Sarah’s philosophy and message. However, she knew that, lately, stories about infiltrators sold like hot cakes. A book as controversial as the one she would write for Sarah could only bring Annette media exposure… and plenty of money.
Today, Annette was going to meet Sarah in person at the prison. She had arranged for a car.
Her chauffeur was called Mercedes. She was tall, had a light skin, blue eyes, and ash brown hair tied into a midback-long voluminous low ponytail. She was wearing a classic driver uniform: black shoes, a white button-up shirt, a dark grey chauffeur jacket, a small black tie, dark grey pants and a matching dark grey chauffeur cap, as well as light grey driving gloves.
“Greetings, ma’am. Let me lead you to the car.” Mercedes commented.
Annette nodded and followed her.
“Thanks! Today is a good day! I’m going to visit the infamous criminal Sarah Summers in prison, you know?”
“That sounds fascinating.” Mercedes answered with a nod. (She was indeed contractually obligated to politely agree with whatever her customers said.)
They left the hall of the hotel and went to the underground parking.
The place was empty, save for the parked cars.
Suddenly, on the way, Mercedes grimaced.
“You okay?” Annette asked.
“My shoes are killing me…” the chauffeur answered. “They were actually given to me by the company, but they’re too small… I wish I could take them off.”
“Do you want a Band-Aid? I have some in my handbag.” Annette proposed.
“Yes, please.”
Annette grabbed her handbag. At the same time, Mercedes bent forward to scratch her heels.
thump!
Suddenly, a small dart hit the leather handbag.
whiz!
At the same time, a green ball flew over Mercedes’ head.
Marie was actually aiming at Annette, of course, but the woman raised her handbag at the worst moment possible for the infiltrator and unwittingly parried the dart.
The same thing was true for Stasis: she was aiming at Mercedes’ face, but the chauffeur just HAD TO bend forward in order to scratch her heels just in time to involuntarily dodge the knock-out ball.
Soph and BB, who were approaching the two women from behind to catch them, actually had to duck to avoid being knocked out by their sister’s green projectile, preventing them from grabbing their targets.
All in all, Annette and Mercedes were able to foil the first attempt of their muggers by complete chance.
Annette noticed the dart embedded in the handbag.
“Uh? What’s this?”
She and Mercedes looked at the small device.
“I can’t believe I missed! When did that ever happen?!” Marie exclaimed while stepping out of the shadows.
“Talk about a MISSED opportunity!” Stasis added while following her sister.
“Weak pun, sis’. Weak pun.”
Annette stared at them with a dumbfounded expression. “Who are you?”
Marie raised her hands to try to appease the two women, as she didn’t have another projectile in her pen and Stasis didn’t have the time to reload her slingshot. She needed to buy some time.
“Please don’t scream. If you try to scream, my sisters will have to beat you up.”
Soph and BB were indeed now standing behind the two women. They had approached them discreetly.
“What’s going on?!” Annette shrieked.
“It seems we’re being hijacked, ma’am.” Mercedes calmly answered.
“Hijacked?! Who are these women?!”
The chauffeur shrugged. “You said you’re about to enter a prison complex to interview someone, right?”
“Well… yes...”
“Then, probably by some people longing to infiltrate the building while posing as us.”
Annette blinked, then exclaimed: “How can you be so calm?! Protect yourself! Protect ME!”
Mercedes shook her head. “Sorry, ma’am. Company policy. We have insurance for this type of situation, don’t worry.”
Marie smiled. “Oh, so you already know the drill? Perfect, then it’ll make things easier.”
Mercedes nodded.
Annette’s eyes went from her chauffeur to Marie, then to her chauffeur again. She was sensing Soph’s and BB’s presence in her back. The former put a hand on her shoulder. Annette’s lip quivered.
“But… My money… My fame…” she stammered.
**************
The four sisters escorted Annette and Mercedes to the back of a van they had rented for the occasion. Once they were away from prying eyes, the two women were swiftly stripped of their outer clothes.
Stasis slipped into the chauffeur uniform. “These shoes are killing my feet… The person who designed them should be thrown in jail!” she complained.
At the same time, Marie adjusted Felicity’s wig and make-up. “There you go.”
“I admit, I wouldn’t want to make it my job, but there’s a certain thrill at playing the part of a disguised infiltrator…” Felicity put on the contact lenses to change her eye colour and smiled. “I feel like the heroine of a spy flick. I don’t think even Elisha would recognize me right now...”
The hacker was now looking like Annette’s twin sister, thanks to the magic of make-up, wigs, and contact lenses.
BB gave her the young author’s clothes: the shoes, the leggings, the skirt, the shirt and the jacket.
Felicity took them, removed her casual clothes, and got dressed.
“You’re sure it’ll be enough?” she asked.
“Sarah never met Annette in person and they only communicated by written messages. Apparently, even with the complicity of her wardens, a phone call was too risky. They had to wait until she was allowed to receive visits.”
“And these two will be alright?” Felicity asked, mentioning the real owners of her and Stasis’ current clothes.
“We’ll send an anonymous call to the police to have them rescued once we’re done.” BB explained.
“A van, some blankets, an after-mission protocol... You sure got a lot more organized! I still remember the time Tina rescued me… Things were a lot more… improvised on the fly back then.”
“We learned from our experience.” BB said. “Though don’t worry, improvisation is still our forte. Especially when this one’s around…”
She pointed at Stasis, who playfully stuck her tongue at her with a wink and a smile.
“Just making the world a funnier place…” she jokingly retorted.
Divested of their outer clothes, Annette and Mercedes were sitting on a thick blanket in a corner of the back of the van. Annette was wearing night blue cheeky panties with golden yellow edges, a matching full-cup bra, and black socks. Mercedes was clad in grey socks, a sky blue push-up bra, and white boyshorts with black stripes.
Both women were bound with pink ropes from Libido’s stash: wrists tied behind the back, shoulders bound with ropes, knees restrained, and ankles tied together. They were silenced with black ball-gags with air holes in them. They were also blindfolded with sleep masks.
Mercedes was quiet and compliant. (After all, she at least was able to remove the shoes that were too tight.) Annette was grousing in her gag.
“Quit complaining! You’re writing an anti-infiltrator book. You knew this was coming.” Soph commented while checking their bonds.
“Thhtht’s hnfhhr!” the young author protested.
“You are aware that your book will be used to convince people to kill other people, right?” Soph added. “Honestly, you should be thankful that our sister insisted we give you a blanket.”
As she was talking, she put said blanket on the two women’s bodies to cover them from the shoulders to the feet.
“Time to go!” Stasis told Felicity. “Your appointment is waiting for you.”
“THHT’S SHLL SH HNFHHR!” Annette tried to shout.
Everyone else, including Mercedes, ignored her.
Felicity took a deep breath. She wasn’t a professional infiltrator but, for Tina, she was going to do her best!
This story is, of course, posted with Trackman's permission.
I thank once again Trackman for allowing me to write a story featuring his characters. I also thank him for all his advices, and for being so quick to answer to my numerous questions!
**************
Chapter 36.5: Chronicles of Heartfelt City 2
Part 1: New threat
**************
Some nights, she would dream of a cute little girl. One who was called Carrie. She was accompanied by a man wearing glasses. His name was Simon. They were saying they still loved her, and that they would love her no matter what happened.
She would always wake up terrified, shaking in her bed, and it would take her hours to be able to sleep again.
She feared no man. She didn’t fear pain, and she didn’t fear death. But that sight… It was terrifying her.
It wasn’t for nothing that she always avoided Kuebiko. When that dumb Neon Goon tried to molest her in the shower, she bit her ear off. When Glitch mocked her intelligence, she smashed her head into her plate full of food. When Ricochet antagonized her, had the wardens not split them up, she would have broken the mercenary’s trigger finger even if it would have meant letting the markswoman gauge her left eye out. And, had it not hampered her plan to communicate with her followers outside, she would have drowned Bianca in the water of a toilet bowl. Unfortunately, if she murdered another inmate, she would be put into the brig and her accomplices among the guards wouldn’t be able anymore to help her communicate with the outside world. (Therefore she was saving Uniform Stealing Bianca for last.) But Kuebiko… Sarah never dared even looking at her in the eyes. Even without her toxins, Heartfelt City’s ‘Scarecrow’ had a talent to prey on anyone’s worst fears.
Luckily, she was now in a solitary cell, due to her tendency to get into fights with other inmates.
Most nights, she would dream of being locked into a tight dark space. She would dream of herself suffocating slowly. And when she woke up, she was seeing the world in shades of red, with in her mouth a thirst for blood.
If your enemy slaps you, cut their hand. If they spit at you, cut their tongue.
The Leader was following one precept. No matter who crossed her, she would always retaliate tenfold.
And in her eyes, any woman choosing to work as an infiltrator had crossed her. And would therefore pay the price.
She simply needed to step up her game, and change her tactics.
Speaking of which...
**************
Come on, Cass’! You’ve already made the trip up to here! You’re not going to bail out now! Just do it… You’ve promised yourself to be brave!
Cassie was a woman of mostly average size and build. Perhaps she was slightly shorter that the average person, and her thighs and her legs were slightly thicker. She had a round face, dirty blond hair, grey eyes, and a light skin that was slightly tanned. Her haircut was a chin-long bob-cut with a straight fringe.
Cassie took a deep breath and knocked at the door of the small house. The support group she was supposed to meet was waiting inside.
A woman opened. She smiled warmly at Cassie to put her at ease.
“You’re Cassie?” she asked.
“Y- Yes...”
The woman shook her hand. “Name’s Louette! Come in, come in!”
Louette was a tall slim fit woman, with closely cropped hair that were dyed dark blue. Her eyes were blue and her white skin was slightly tanned. There was half-a-dozen piercings in each of her ears. She was wearing a sleeveless t-shirt, allowing Cassie to see that a red Chinese dragon was tattooed on each of her arms from the elbow to the shoulder. Black roses were tattooed on her right forearm, and a flock of crows were tattooed on her left forearm.
“Let me introduce you to the other members of the group…”
Cassie followed Louette inside. Three women were sitting on chairs, in a circle. There were two more chairs: one for Louette and one for Cassie.
“This is Magda.” the blue-haired woman said while pointing at the first member of the support group.
Magda was a woman of average size with a white skin, waist-long loose blond hair, and green eyes. She smiled and saluted.
“This is Ellie.” Louette added.
Ellie was a short chubby woman with neck-long light reddish brown hair, light blue eyes, and a tanned skin. She was wearing round-shaped glasses. “Hello!” she said with a huge grin.
“And this is Willow.”
Willow nodded silently without smiling. She was a skinny goth girl with a pale skin, black lipstick on her lips and black eyeshadow. Her armpit-long raven black hair had blood red tips. Her eyes were dark brown.
Willow was younger than the other gathered women, in her early-to-mid-twenties, while the others all looked in their early-thirties, or at least late-twenties.
Cassie smiled nervously. “H-Hi everyone...”
“Don’t worry. You are among friends here.”
Louette showed her an empty chair.
“Please have a seat.”
Cassie complied.
“So… What do I do now?” she asked.
“Why don’t you introduce yourself to us?” Magda asked with an encouraging smile.
“I- I…”
Cassie was afraid to go first.
“It’s okay. I’ll show you.” Louette intervened. She raised her hand. “Hello everyone. My name is Louette.”
The other women, save for Cassie of course, had already heard the story, but they played along. The goal was to put the newcomer at ease. “Hello Louette.” they answered. (Willow simply nodded.)
“H- Hello Louette…” Cassie added.
“I was mugged six months ago.” the blue-haired woman added. “I work as a security guard and bouncer in a nightclub. I was wearing thick black shoes, black trousers, a belt with a pepper spray and a nightstick, a shirt with a grey camouflage-like colour, a black jacket, and a black cap. I didn’t see the woman who assaulted me. It was the night. She ambushed me from behind while I was taking a break outside, clamped a cloth soaked with chloroform over my mouth, and knocked me out. When I woke up, I was already stripped down to my underwear and trussed up. I was wearing a night blue t-shirt bra, a black thong, and white ankle-long socks. The mugger bound my wrists behind my back with zip-ties. She also zip-tied my ankles, and wrapped tape around my calves, my thighs, and my upper-arms as a safety precaution. I was gagged by a piece of cloth shoved into my mouth and tape wrapped around my lower face. My mugger left me hidden and locked in the trunk of the car she stole to come to the nightclub. It took the police three hours to find me. I was fearing I may suffocate, but they managed to found me. By that time, my mugger had already left though, with the till of course.”
Once she was done, Louette turned to Cassie. She didn’t look ashamed or embarrassed in the slightest. Nor did any of the other members of the support group.
“You see? Nobody will judge you.” the blue-haired woman said. “You don’t have to feel shame for what happened to you. It wasn’t your fault. You’re guilty of nothing. Accepting that fact will be the first step to your recovery. And talking about what happened to you will be the first step towards your acceptance.”
“These women get their kicks by dominating their victims. They want you to feel inferior to them, but the truth is that you’re a better person than them.” Magda added. “Never forget that.”
“Louette told every detail of her mugging to show you that, no matter what happened, you must not be ashamed.” Ellie concluded. “But you don’t have to tell us everything if you don’t want to. You don’t even have to tell us anything about the event if you don’t want to. If you prefer, you can simply introduce yourself.”
Willow nodded in silence.
“I- I’ll try.”
Cassie took a deep breath and raised her hand.
“Hello everyone. My name is Cassie.”
“Hello Cassie.”
“I work as a nurse. Healing and helping other people has always been my dream. I… I think that you know what a nurse uniform looks like? I was mugged two weeks ago. The… The woman was a mercenary, looking to assassinate a witness that was being healed in the hospital… She threatened me… She said that she would kill me if I so much tried to resist… And the police said that she already killed a few of her victims… They said that to flee the hospital, she lured a janitress and she... So I... I… I’m sorry. I can’t describe it… Not yet…”
“It’s okay.” Louette reassured her. “For a first session, you’re being very brave.”
**************
The session was long, but did Cassie a lot of good. Once they ran out of time, Louette escorted her to the door, and said good bye. They agreed to have another session next week.
“I like her.” Magda commented when the blue-haired woman returned alone.
Willow nodded in silence.
“Me too. I want to help her recover. But the question is… Is she a potential recruit?” Louette answered.
“I don’t know if she has the stomach… She looks a little TOO gentle for her own good…” Ellie commented.
“Well, these are questions for later.” Louette checked her wristwatch. “The prisoner should have woken up by now.”
The blue-haired woman looked at her phone. The device was connected to a camera in the basement.
“She has woken up.” Louette confirmed. “And she’s still tied to her chair, nice and tight.”
She looked at Magda.
“You’re ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be!” the blonde answered with a harsh smile.
**************
The woman tied to the chair in the basement was called Helen Jacomy. She had a crew haircut. Her hair were short and dark brown. She had chestnut brown eyes and a tanned skin. She had an innocuous-looking appearance, though a closer inspection could allow to see that her arms and legs were more muscular than average. She was a woman who trained in martial arts.
Helen was wearing plain ordinary clothes: grey-and-white sneakers, dark blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a light blue denim jacket.
Currently, she was tied to a chair with ropes wrapped around her calves, thighs, waist, arms, and shoulders. Her wrists were also handcuffed behind her back, and her ankles were also cuffed, to make sure that she wouldn’t be a threat even if she managed to untie the ropes. She was blindfolded with a black scarf, and cleave-gagged with a thick piece of cloth.
The prisoner was struggling in vain, moaning and crying in her gag.
Louette, Ellie, and Willow all put on a white ‘angry face’ theater mask.
Then Louette removed the blindfold and the gag, and allowed Magda, the only one who wasn’t hiding her face, to stand in front of the prisoner.
Helen caught her breath. Her eyes were red because of the fear.
“Who… Who are you?!” she stammered with a frightened tone of voice.
Magda smiled. “You don’t remember me? We met seven months ago. I was wearing white running shoes, pink socks, hot pink sweatpants, and a matching hot pink tracksuit. You commented that I looked very sexy once stripped down to my candy pink sports bra and boyshorts. And you had a lot of fun hog-tying me with ropes, and gagging me with my socks and tape... I hope you had your fun. Because now it is my time.”
Helen’s eyes widened. It had taken her some time, but she had recognized the blonde.
“It’s… It’s you… You’re the jogger that I-”
“Ah! So you finally remember me!”
Magda grabbed the woman’s cheeks.
“See. That’s the problem most women like you have. You forget the faces of your victims. But we on the other hand… We never forget yours.”
Magda squeezed Helen’s cheeks hard, making her wince in pain.
“I also didn’t forget what you said to me. ‘Serves you right for being rude.’ These were your exact words. For the crime of ‘being rude’, I apparently deserved to be beaten up, choked, stripped, and left half-naked and bound-and-gagged in the middle of the park during the entire night…”
“Listen, it was a one-time mistake… I was going through a hard time and I-”
“No need to lie. We did our researches about you.” Louette interrupted her. “You’re one callous little bitch… You seem to like mugging and stripping other women a lot. There are many victims. You’re doing it for the pleasure. I bet it makes you feel powerful, eh? You have a disgusting way of getting your kicks, you know that?”
Helen tried to justify herself, but she had been unmasked.
“Most importantly, I didn’t forget what happened after you left me half-naked and defenseless.” Magda interrupted her.
“Wh- What happened?”
“Let’s just say that I was NOT found by good Samaritans… Let’s just say that I spent a very bad night…”
“I’m sorry… I… I never thought you’d-”
“I’m not here for an empty insincere apology. I’m here to make sure you pay the tab…” Magda interrupted her. “However, I’m willing to give you one chance. Say my name. Say my name, and I might consider changing my mind… You do remember it, right?”
“Of course! I… I remember it! I…” Helen panicked. “It’s… uhm… It’s... Ma… Macha?”
Magda laughed wickedly.
“Nice try. But wrong.”
Louette grabbed a syringe and injected Helen with a colourless liquid. The latter winced in fear.
“Don’t worry.” the woman with dyed blue hair said. “It’s only meant to paralyze. We just don’t want you to pull out a dirty trick during the next part…” She looked at Magda. “Please proceed.”
Magda untied the ropes and unlocked the handcuffs to release Helen’s body. However, because of the paralyzing drug, the infiltrator wasn’t able to try to escape.
Magda removed the clothes Helen was wearing one after the other. Slowly. Since her victim’s body was paralyzed and motionless, the task proved to be easy. The blonde started with the jacket, as it was the easiest article of clothes to remove. Then, she grabbed the t-shirt and roughly took it off. She untied the sneakers and removed them one by one. She also removed the black socks. Finally, she unzipped the jeans and grabbed the legs to pull the trousers off.
The woman was left wearing dark grey boyshorts with black edges and a matching sports bra.
Then, Magda removed her own clothes and put on Helen’s, save for the socks. She appreciated the fact that they were still warm.
“Feeling better?” Louette asked her friend.
Magda smiled ecstatically. “So much better!”
Ellie glanced at Helen. “Now, how about we start the second step…”
Willow grabbed the handcuffs and restrained their prisoner once more.
**************
They hog-tied the cuffed underwear-clad Helen, shoved her own socks into her mouth, cleave-gagged her again, and threw her in the trunk of Louette’s car. Then, they drove her to a specific part of the town.
It was the night.
They stopped in the middle of an empty alleyway, and dropped the trussed up woman on the ground. They were all still wearing their white ‘angry masks’. Even Magda had put on one.
“Here you go.” Louette commented.
In spite of her dire situation, Helen couldn’t help but feel a little relieved. She was being spared!
Louette easily read her face. “I wouldn’t rejoice too soon if I was you… Do you actually know in which part of the town we are?” she remarked with a small cruel smile.
“This area is controlled by the remnants of the Neon Goons. And I’m sure you know what they’ll be tempted to do with a half-naked defenseless woman…” Ellie added.
Willow grabbed a boombox in the trunk of the car.
Magda smiled and said: “Now, a fair woman would let chance decide. After all, there’s no certitude that the Neon Goons will find you first. However, I’m not here to be fair. I’m here to give you a taste of your own medicine. I’m here to make you live through what I lived through because of you…”
Willow placed the boombox next to her, and Magda switched it on.
“J-pop.” Magda explained. “I’m sure you know that the Neon Goons are more into rave music or heavy metal. Playing J-pop in their district is akin to a declaration of war. You can bet that the second one hears that boombox, they will all come running.”
Helen’s eyes widened in fear. “WHHT! PLHHSH! H BHG YHH!”
However, she saw no sympathy in the eyes of her captors. As former victims of infiltrators, they weren’t willing to show her any mercy.
“The time it’ll take the Goons to arrive, think about all the women you hurt for your own pleasure, for your own callous self-fulfillment. Think about them HARD.” Magda harshly commented. “We are THEIR revenge.”
“An eye for an eye, Helen.” Louette said. “We’re taking justice into our own hands. We’re punishing you the same way someone was hurt by you.”
“We are the White Masks. The streets don’t belong to infiltrators anymore. We’ll make sure to get rid of all of you!” Ellie added.
“Have a nice night.” Magda concluded.
Willow remained impassible. Under her mask, she was smiling.
Then they drove away, abandoning Helen to her fate.
The boombox was blaring a loud J-pop music.
**************
Behind the wheel, Louette commented while driving: “And one down…” She was very satisfied. Tonight’s operation was the result of several weeks of reflection and planning. And it went without a hitch.
Willow smiled.
Neither she nor her friends were going to feel bad for Helen. She was the kind of selfish person who didn’t care the slightest for the people she hurt. Several women had ended up in critical condition because of her, usually because they were found too late.
“We should recruit more people… I mean, going after them one at a time is good, but I wish to go up a gear. And for that we’ll need more muscle.” Ellie commented.
The short chubby woman was actually the White Masks’ latest recruit, whom they hired shortly before abducting Helen. She still wasn’t fully aware of all the details of their plan.
Louette shook her head. “I understand your point, but we must not rush. At any cost. Sarah’s mistake was to try to go too fast. She failed two times because of that. And she’s the first to admit it. We have to try a more subtle approach.”
“You’ve heard about these vigilantes on the news, didn’t you? The ones who fight crime during the night?” Magda intervened.
“The Night Angels? Yes.”
“They’re our source of inspiration. Well, right behind leader Sarah of course. Seeing them inspired me to stop dwelling on my misery and to take up arms!” the blonde explained.
“Plus, they’re very good at building a reputation. The medias are eating up their adventures.” Louette added. “The public opinion loves them. We’ll try to replicate their success.”
“That’s why we have to carefully select our targets.” Magda concluded. “We need to target isolated infiltrators to avoid repercussions from the larger groups and, more importantly, we have to choose ones that are especially callous, to build up good PR. Sarah has asked someone to write her biography. Hopefully, this will also help our cause. Then, once public opinion is on our side, it’ll be time to recruit more people… and to lay waste on the bigger teams.”
**************
The patrol of this night was composed of Angel, Marie, Mag, and Soph. Currently, they were driving in the empty streets of Heartfelt City.
“It’s a slow night this time…” Soph commented while driving their van. “Only two catches…”
“Maybe we’re finally seeing the end of it?” Angel asked. She was sitting on the passenger seat. “We’re not in a videogame after all. Neon Goons can’t spawn forever...”
“Maybe…” Soph switched the radio on.
It was Demons, by Imagine Dragons.
Angel grimaced. “Can you… change the frequency please?”
“You don’t like this band?”
Angel shook her head. “On the contrary. I love their songs. It’s just that the lyrics of this one… they bring bad memories.”
Soph didn’t insist. She changed the frequency and lightly ‘mock-punched’ her sister’s shoulder sympathetically, as a gesture of affection.
Suddenly, they heard Tinker talk in their earpieces:
“Girls, I’ve intercepted an interesting information. Apparently, some idiot is playing J-pop music in the district of the town belonging to the Neon Goons.”
“What?! That’s gonna draw them like moths to a flame!” Soph exclaimed.
“Let’s go there! We may be able to help!” Angel immediately said.
Soph stepped on the gas. “Mag, Marie, you’re doing good behind?” she asked to her two sisters, who were in the back of the vehicle. “We will need your disguises sooner than expected!”
Mag scratched the Velcro and adjusted the black fingerless gloves she was wearing. “No problem.” she commented. Currently, she was wearing lime green sneakers, electric blue trousers, a scarlet red t-shirt adorned with a black skull, and a night blue jacket splattered with lime green paint.
Marie put on black fishnet stockings and black ankle-boots splattered with blood red paint. “In fact, we’re done.” She was clad in a black studded leather jacket with studs that were painted blood red, a grey t-shirt with the image of a red bloody hand doing the middle finger, and black leather pants.
Two unconscious Neon Goons were lying at the sisters’ feet. They were, of course, the original owners of the clothes the sisters were now wearing.
Angel, Mag, Soph, and Marie captured the two thugs twenty minutes ago. The criminals were trying to rob at gunpoint an old couple.
The first goon had dyed lime green hair to match her (former) jacket, a light skin, and hazel green eyes. She had a shoulder-long square haircut. She was wearing a purple stick-on bra, lavender lacy tanga panties, and red socks. The second goon had neck-long curly dyed crimson red hair, a black skin, and chocolate brown eyes. She was clad in a white demi-bra and a white g-string.
Both criminals were gagged with red ball-gags. Their wrists and their ankles were bound with white zip-ties. They were still deeply asleep, thanks to the knock-out serum of Marie’s pen.
“Then brace yourselves! The rescue mission begins!” Soph shouted.
She stepped on the gas.
**************
The sisters arrived just in time to prevent of tragedy.
The Neon Goons were half-a-dozen. A bunch of rowdy intoxicated overexcited women with outrageously loud hair dyes and even louder clothes. They were surrounding a bound half-naked woman. For now, they seemed content with groping her and humiliating her, but the sisters knew it was only a matter of time before one would try to go further…
Soph parked the van at a safe distance.
The plan was simple. Mag and Marie were going to approach the thugs first, using their disguises to blend in. They would create a distraction to allow Soph and Angel to approach from their targets from behind. The former would beat the goons into submission, and the latter would carry the bound victim out of harm’s way.
Mag and Marie walked the street and approached the group of thugs. They were imitating the confident rowdy demeanour of the Neon Goons. To better blend in, they were wearing wigs: an electric blue one for Mag, a magenta one for Marie.
“Hey girlfriends! What are you doin’?!” Mag exclaimed.
“Teachin’ this nerd a lesson!” a goon with short bright orange hair answered. Her black leather jacket, t-shirt, and trousers were splattered with a matching bright orange paint.
“Can you believe some moron thought they could play J-pop in OUR turf?!” another woman with ponytailed purple hair added. She was wearing a purple sweatshirt and matching sweatpants.
“But when we arrived to teach ‘em a lesson, all we found was this sweet piece of ass…” a third thug, with waist-long braided spring green hair, added. She was clad in an electric blue jacket, a scarlet red t-shirt, a brown leather belt, and navvy blue trousers.
The thug lightly slapped the bound woman’s butt, making her squirm, and laughed.
“I call dibs on her!” ‘Orange Hair’ suddenly shouted.
“No way bitch! I was here first! She’s mine! Wait for your turn!” “Purple Hair’ retorted.
“Pff! A half-naked chick! You’ callin’ that breaking news?” Marie exclaimed to distract them from their victim. “Are you, like, five? This is Heartfelt City! They find a half-naked bound woman every day!”
“Hey! You’ insultin’ us?” ‘Orange Hair’ barked.
Most goons turned to watch her and Marie, eager to witness a potential fistfight. Luckily, they were too blinded by lust and alcohol to realize that Mag and Marie were impostors. The dark of the night was also helping.
“She’s just sayin’ she found a better thing!” Mag intervened. “Wanna check?” She pulled out a small cylindrical metallic device.
“What’s this?” ‘Purple Hair’ asked.
Mag smiled. “Say cheese!”
She activated the device, a nice little gadget that Tinker built after a movie marathon of all the Men in Black flicks. It let out a hard dazzling light.
The Goons shouted as they were dazzled. Of course, Tinker wasn’t able to give the light the power to erase the memory of recent events, at least for now, but it was perfect to blind an opponent.
“Soph, Marie, with me!” Mag shouted.
She and Marie swiftly took out ‘Orange Hair’ and ‘Purple Hair’ with a few martial moves each.
Soph jumped from the shadows and rushed the remaining Neon Goons from behind. The one with spring green hair tried to turn to face her, and was socked in the jaw with a vicious right hook for her trouble.
At the same time, Angel grabbed the bound half-naked woman and dragged her away from the commotion.
“Here, let me take you to safety.” Angel said to the victim.
The latter was gagged, but nodded frantically.
Reasoning that it would be better to free her once they were away from the commotion, Angel slung the woman over her shoulder and ran away from the fight.
Mag and Marie were neutralizing one Goon each with, respectively, a good old-fashioned beating and a submission chokehold.
Soph was facing the two remaining Neon Goons, who had managed to draw switchblades. Needless to say, the fight was going to be very one-sided… For the Neon Goons, of course.
Once they were near the van, Angel removed the gag and cut the ropes hog-tying the woman.
“Thank you… Thank you so much…” she said.
Angel pulled out a lockpick that Tinker designed to unlock handcuffs. “Don’t move. I’ll remove your cuffs.”
At the same time, one Goon tried to shank Soph. Or, more precisely, she tried to take a step forward and to run towards Soph. But the clone easily read through her intent and, as the thug was taking her first step, Soph’s feet hit her in the chest, sending her onto the ground. The second Goon thought she had an opening. Big mistake. Soph nimbly dodged her knife. She slapped the woman hard on the temples with her two palms to disorient her. The thug grunted in pain and dropped her knife. Soph finished her with a knee to the stomach and a neckchop that knocked her out cold. The first Goon spat a few insults as she was trying to get back on her feet. Her eyes widened when she saw Soph’s fist speeding up towards her face. The clone hit her in the forehead, right between the eyes, sending the criminal to dreamland.
The battle was won.
Mag, Marie, and Soph gathered all the moaning half-conscious Neon Goons, and started to strip them of their outer clothes.
Angel finished unlocking the handcuffs. She helped the woman get on her feet while her sisters were busy stripping and restraining the thugs.
“What’s your name?” Angel asked the victim.
“It’s Helen… Thank you… Thanks a lot...”
As she was busy thanking her savior, Helen noticed the zip-ties on Angel’s belt.
She quickly came up with a plan.
Angel opened the door of the passenger seat.
“You can sit here while we take care of these criminals…” she proposed. “Don’t worry, you are safe now. We will – gahrk?!”
Helen struck while Angel was turned. She wrapped an arm around the clone’s throat and choked her.
“Nothing personal dear, but I need your van and your clothes to escape…” the woman whispered in Angel’s ear.
She indeed didn’t want to be interrogated by vigilantes – or worst, by the police.
Her intent was to knock out Angel, zip-tie her, put her in the van, then flee with the vehicle to a safe place, in order to strip her victim and hostage.
However, Helen didn’t know that Angel was a former overtrained killing machine. The clone had renounced her old ways, but completely forgetting a lifetime of training that had been literally bred into her was impossible. Faced by the perspective of a throttling, Angel’s body took action by reflex, almost by itself.
Angel violently hit the woman choking her in the stomach with her elbow. Helen grunted in pain and her grip loosened, allowing the clone to break free. Then Angel violently moved her head backwards, to hit her opponent in the face with the back of her skull. “Ow!” Helen shouted. She staggered. The clone made Helen fall on the ground by hitting her in the back of the calves with a roundhouse kick.
Helen whimpered in pain. She had hurt her arm during her fall.
Angel’s training was still so much ingrained in her that she reflexively raised her feet to stomp on her enemy’s throat, a technique that she had used several times.
She stopped herself however.
“I… I’m sorry!” Angel exclaimed while taking a step back. “I didn’t want to hurt you…”
“Angel! What’s going on?!” Soph shouted, as the noise of the commotion had drawn her attention.
“I… She attacked me, and it happened… My body moved by itself... It was an accident. I didn’t want to harm her… I didn’t try to kill her…”
Soph grabbed her sister by the shoulders to calm her.
“Calm down! I trust you! I know you didn’t!”
Angel took a small breath. “It’s okay. I’m calm. I’m calm.”
Soph nodded, satisfied. Angel had become a lot better at handling her panic attacks.
Then Soph looked at Helen and her eyes narrowed.
“You ATTACKED her?!” The clone approached the woman. “So, my sister saves your life and this is how you repay her?!” she shouted, making Helen curl up in fear. “You know what? I think this calls for a little… ‘lesson in pain’.”
Soph cracked her knuckles menacingly.
Angel grimaced. “Soph… There’s no need to-”
“Angel.” her sister gently interrupted her. “You know that we all respect your and Tina’s kindness. We all respect your decision to do everything in our power to make sure that the people we mug are found in time once we’re done, safe and sound with as little harm as possible. And when it’s innocent bystanders, I am 100% behind you.” She briefly hesitated, then added: “I admit I have some reservations when we do it with criminals or corrupt people, but I get your idea. We’re not supposed to be judge, jury, and executioner. It’s the court’s job to decide the fate of the criminals, not ours, and we’d be hypocrite to try since we’re also breaking the law.” Soph then casted a terrifying glare at Helen. “However, you can’t ask me to witness someone try to hurt my sister and NOT do something about it…”
She raised a fist.
“Soph… Please…” Angel said while looking at her.
Soph hesitated, grimaced, but then lowered her fist. “Shoot! You know I can’t resist those eyes!”
Angel smiled lightly, in an apologetic way.
Soph grabbed Helen by the collar.
“Fine. I will ask you a few questions NICELY. If you answer them truthfully, I MAY decide to NOT pummel you.”
“I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”
“Then tell me who you are and why you were here.”
“Name’s Helen…” Helen looked at Soph and Angel. “You are… You are THEM, right? The sisters who are also infiltrators? I’m like you, you know! I’m an infiltrator too! You have to help me! There’s this group of crazy women! They say they’ll take justice into their own hands and will get rid of all infiltrators! They left me here because they knew the Neon Goons would find me! You have to help me!”
“You tried to attack my sister, and you ask us to help you? I admire your nerve.” Soph called towards Mag: “Sis’, bring some zip-ties over here please.”
“You said you wouldn’t harm me!” Helen shrieked.
Soph smiled. Her expression was downright terrifying.
“I said I wouldn’t HIT you. I never said anything about letting you put on some clothes. And I CERTAINLY never said anything about allowing you to spend the next couple of hours UN-tied and UN-gagged.”
Soon, a thoroughly bound-and-gagged Helen was sharing the back of the van with a bunch of defeated humiliated Neon Goons.
All women were zip-tied and ball-gagged.
‘Orange Hair’ and ‘Purple Hair’ were wearing sets of bra and panties that matched their hair colour. For some reason, ‘Spring Green Hair’ was wearing pink control briefs and a matching padded bra. Her partners-in-crime were probably going to mock her relentlessly because of that. The remaining Neon Goons were wearing underwear supposed to remind the world that they were tough criminals: black panties with a white skull and black full-cup bras. Of course, given the fact that they were zip-tied and gagged, they looked more ridiculous than threatening.
“Well, I think we got ourselves a nice ‘Catch of the Day’…” Mag commented.
“I feel like a fisherwoman who just got a big haul…” Marie added.
Soph glanced at the Neon Goons. “Some of them indeed SMELL like rotten fish…” she mocked. “But I’m pretty sure that the police will enjoy seeing them nevertheless.” She glanced at Helen. “Especially her. Judging by her reaction, I bet the authorities will want to have a chat with her...”
“MHHHHH!!!” Helen protested.
They ignored her.
Angel started the engine of the van.
“We’ll have to organize a sister meeting with Tina and Tinker.” she commented. “It looks like people are out for infiltrators’ heads once more.”
**************
It had become something akin to a reflex. Whenever they heard about infiltrators being targeted, the sisters would always check the latest activities of two groups: the Phantoms and Sarah Summers’ cult.
“Nothing in the police records suggested that the Phantoms were on the move recently. They are still building up their strength, after their recent confrontation with the Company.” Tinker commented. “What about you, Tina?”
Tina was searching the blog created by Sarah’s husband to look for her, actually their best source of clues when it came to the ‘Leader’.
“She’s still in prison…”
However, Tina was sounding glum.
“Something wrong sis’?” Angel worried.
“Simon Summers ended the activity of his blog.” Tina explained. “He posted one last message to thank everyone for their help, but…”
“Let me guess.” BB intervened. “Sarah pushed him and their daughter away.”
“He didn’t say it explicitly, but yes that’s what happened. He says that they’re not going to give up on her, but…” Tina shook her head. “When Mag informed Sarah’s family about her whereabouts, I thought that something positive was going to come out of their reunion… But it looks like the opposite happened.”
“It’s a defense mechanism.” BB explained. “I’m not an expert, but I’ve read a few articles about psychology. Sarah is afraid they’ll make her determination falter, so she’s trying to drive them away.”
“I wouldn’t rule Sarah out however.” Tinker intervened. “I’ve checked a few of the latest trends and posts on social medias. And it looks like Sarah has been very busy as of late…” She showed her sisters a few articles online. “She’s using a fake ID, but her rhetoric is unmistakable.”
The online articles were denouncing the actions of infiltrators. They were of course biased, selecting the information and twisting the facts to suit Sarah’s needs. She was emphasizing the harm they were causing.
Sarah was also comparing infiltrators to rapists and serial murderers.
Of course, she was purposefully avoiding to mention the fact that some of the most active ones – Tina and her sisters – were actually making sure that their victims were found safe and as unharmed as possible.
Now, hate-filled comments weren’t rare on the Internet. But Sarah’s were especially virulent.
“She has changed her tactics. She’s using the social medias.” BB deduced. “She has understood that gathering big cults is inefficient. So she’s now trying to inspire smaller groups of copycats and to turn the public opinion against us, all the while staying in prison to lay low…” The tall woman shook her head. “I admit, I’m kinda impressed by her ability to renew herself… Usually, people like her are unable to question themselves.”
“Hurrah. I’m so happy for her.” a deadpan Mag dryly intervened.
Tina tried to remain focused. “How can she post messages on the Internet while in prison?”
“I’m pretty sure that a few wardens are among her sympathizers. It shouldn’t be too hard for her to have some access to the Internet.” Tinker explained.
“So you think that this group of vigilantes that targeted Helen is encouraged by Sarah?” Angel asked.
“Maybe. And I think there’s maybe a way to learn more about it…”
Tinker showed them another article.
“Sarah’s recently gotten in contact with a writer. She wants her to write her biography. But we can easily deduce that this so-called biography will be a rallying text used to inspire future sympathizers… The author is called Annette Barkis.” Tinker smiled. “She and Sarah actually never directly interacted yet. Only communicated through letters and messages.”
“It means that she’s only seen pictures of Annette and doesn’t know what her voice sounds like…” Tina concluded.
“Annette’s and Sarah’s first meeting is supposed to occur in two days. I propose that we stick our nose in their business…” Tinker said.
Her sisters agreed.
“I see a few problems though.” BB intervened. “Sarah heard the voices of a good chunk of us. Plus, she’ll expect Annette to talk about her first draft. And while Tinker can hack their messaging system to steal a copy of the text, I don’t think any of us can learn it memorize it in such a short amount of time.”
“Well, maybe except you BB…” Stasis commented to praise her sister. “But you’re too tall to impersonate Annette.”
Tina thought for a moment.
“I think I have a solution...”
**************
“Felicity. I need your help. WE need your help.”
Felicity was a girl who had a multi-coloured pixie haircut, which was brown at the back and sides but a dark purple at the front, she had teal blue eyes, a white skin, and an average body. However, her look was very distinctive: a multi-coloured pixie haircut, a ring piercing and black earrings which served to establish her rebellious image.
She was wearing some of her favorite casual clothes: a white shirt that featured a pink skull wearing shades and putting a finger to its lips. On top of that she wore a green coat with pink patterns on the sides and the back, with the sleeves slightly tucked up, and a wristband. She was also wearing dark red jean shorts over black ripped tight leggings and dark lavender pink boots.
Felicity took Tina’s hands sympathetically. “Tina, I owe you so much, so you know that I would help you with my eyes shut.”
“Thanks…” Tina couldn’t help but smile. In a world where everyone was trying to have her and her sister’s heads for one way or another, it was good to know that she had a few friends she could count on.
“Though I’m surprised you chose me.” Felicity added. “I don’t exactly have the most unassuming appearance…” She pointed at her hair.
“Nothing that a good wig, contact lenses, and some make-up can’t fix. As long as we add the right clothes, of course. Would you mind removing your piercing and your earrings?”
Felicity winked. “Only if it’s temporary.” she joked. “Still, I thought you’d ask a more competent professional infiltrator...”
“You’re the best suited to play the role.”
Indeed, Felicity had a condition called Hyperthymesia, which meant that she possessed a superior autobiographical memory, allowing her to recall virtually anything and everything she’d seen or heard. Or read.
Therefore, she could easily memorize the messages that Annette and Sarah sent to each other, and that Tinker hacked, as well as the first manuscript that the young author sent.
Tina added: “Sarah knows about your existence, but she has never heard your voice. So I’m sure that with the make-up, the wig and the disguise, she won’t recognize you. But even then don’t worry, we won’t leave you alone. One of us will be around as backup.”
Felicity thought for a moment, then nodded.
“I’ll do it.” She hesitated, and added: “Just don’t tell Elisha… I don’t want to worry her.”
Tina winked. “Of course we won’t!”
**************
Annette was a woman of average size and build with light brown hair tied up into two shoulder-long low ponytails. Her skin was white and she had light blue eyes.
She was wearing casual clothes: red shoes, black leggings, a light green knee-long skirt, a large beige belt tied around the waist, a white light button-up shirt, and a light green light jacket. She was carrying a light brown handbag.
Annette was a young writer. She fancied herself as a talented author, but the truth was she had never been successful...
That was, until she got in contact with the infamous criminal Sarah Sandy Summers. For now, they only exchanged letters and texts, but their collaboration looked promising. The ‘Leader’ needed someone to write her biography. Well... officially it was going to be marketed as her biography. In reality, it was more going to be a pamphlet to give her followers some kind of ‘official sacred book’. A way to rally them even though she was behind bars.
Annette rubbed her hands. She was going to make so much money… Personally, she didn’t care about Sarah’s philosophy and message. However, she knew that, lately, stories about infiltrators sold like hot cakes. A book as controversial as the one she would write for Sarah could only bring Annette media exposure… and plenty of money.
Today, Annette was going to meet Sarah in person at the prison. She had arranged for a car.
Her chauffeur was called Mercedes. She was tall, had a light skin, blue eyes, and ash brown hair tied into a midback-long voluminous low ponytail. She was wearing a classic driver uniform: black shoes, a white button-up shirt, a dark grey chauffeur jacket, a small black tie, dark grey pants and a matching dark grey chauffeur cap, as well as light grey driving gloves.
“Greetings, ma’am. Let me lead you to the car.” Mercedes commented.
Annette nodded and followed her.
“Thanks! Today is a good day! I’m going to visit the infamous criminal Sarah Summers in prison, you know?”
“That sounds fascinating.” Mercedes answered with a nod. (She was indeed contractually obligated to politely agree with whatever her customers said.)
They left the hall of the hotel and went to the underground parking.
The place was empty, save for the parked cars.
Suddenly, on the way, Mercedes grimaced.
“You okay?” Annette asked.
“My shoes are killing me…” the chauffeur answered. “They were actually given to me by the company, but they’re too small… I wish I could take them off.”
“Do you want a Band-Aid? I have some in my handbag.” Annette proposed.
“Yes, please.”
Annette grabbed her handbag. At the same time, Mercedes bent forward to scratch her heels.
thump!
Suddenly, a small dart hit the leather handbag.
whiz!
At the same time, a green ball flew over Mercedes’ head.
Marie was actually aiming at Annette, of course, but the woman raised her handbag at the worst moment possible for the infiltrator and unwittingly parried the dart.
The same thing was true for Stasis: she was aiming at Mercedes’ face, but the chauffeur just HAD TO bend forward in order to scratch her heels just in time to involuntarily dodge the knock-out ball.
Soph and BB, who were approaching the two women from behind to catch them, actually had to duck to avoid being knocked out by their sister’s green projectile, preventing them from grabbing their targets.
All in all, Annette and Mercedes were able to foil the first attempt of their muggers by complete chance.
Annette noticed the dart embedded in the handbag.
“Uh? What’s this?”
She and Mercedes looked at the small device.
“I can’t believe I missed! When did that ever happen?!” Marie exclaimed while stepping out of the shadows.
“Talk about a MISSED opportunity!” Stasis added while following her sister.
“Weak pun, sis’. Weak pun.”
Annette stared at them with a dumbfounded expression. “Who are you?”
Marie raised her hands to try to appease the two women, as she didn’t have another projectile in her pen and Stasis didn’t have the time to reload her slingshot. She needed to buy some time.
“Please don’t scream. If you try to scream, my sisters will have to beat you up.”
Soph and BB were indeed now standing behind the two women. They had approached them discreetly.
“What’s going on?!” Annette shrieked.
“It seems we’re being hijacked, ma’am.” Mercedes calmly answered.
“Hijacked?! Who are these women?!”
The chauffeur shrugged. “You said you’re about to enter a prison complex to interview someone, right?”
“Well… yes...”
“Then, probably by some people longing to infiltrate the building while posing as us.”
Annette blinked, then exclaimed: “How can you be so calm?! Protect yourself! Protect ME!”
Mercedes shook her head. “Sorry, ma’am. Company policy. We have insurance for this type of situation, don’t worry.”
Marie smiled. “Oh, so you already know the drill? Perfect, then it’ll make things easier.”
Mercedes nodded.
Annette’s eyes went from her chauffeur to Marie, then to her chauffeur again. She was sensing Soph’s and BB’s presence in her back. The former put a hand on her shoulder. Annette’s lip quivered.
“But… My money… My fame…” she stammered.
**************
The four sisters escorted Annette and Mercedes to the back of a van they had rented for the occasion. Once they were away from prying eyes, the two women were swiftly stripped of their outer clothes.
Stasis slipped into the chauffeur uniform. “These shoes are killing my feet… The person who designed them should be thrown in jail!” she complained.
At the same time, Marie adjusted Felicity’s wig and make-up. “There you go.”
“I admit, I wouldn’t want to make it my job, but there’s a certain thrill at playing the part of a disguised infiltrator…” Felicity put on the contact lenses to change her eye colour and smiled. “I feel like the heroine of a spy flick. I don’t think even Elisha would recognize me right now...”
The hacker was now looking like Annette’s twin sister, thanks to the magic of make-up, wigs, and contact lenses.
BB gave her the young author’s clothes: the shoes, the leggings, the skirt, the shirt and the jacket.
Felicity took them, removed her casual clothes, and got dressed.
“You’re sure it’ll be enough?” she asked.
“Sarah never met Annette in person and they only communicated by written messages. Apparently, even with the complicity of her wardens, a phone call was too risky. They had to wait until she was allowed to receive visits.”
“And these two will be alright?” Felicity asked, mentioning the real owners of her and Stasis’ current clothes.
“We’ll send an anonymous call to the police to have them rescued once we’re done.” BB explained.
“A van, some blankets, an after-mission protocol... You sure got a lot more organized! I still remember the time Tina rescued me… Things were a lot more… improvised on the fly back then.”
“We learned from our experience.” BB said. “Though don’t worry, improvisation is still our forte. Especially when this one’s around…”
She pointed at Stasis, who playfully stuck her tongue at her with a wink and a smile.
“Just making the world a funnier place…” she jokingly retorted.
Divested of their outer clothes, Annette and Mercedes were sitting on a thick blanket in a corner of the back of the van. Annette was wearing night blue cheeky panties with golden yellow edges, a matching full-cup bra, and black socks. Mercedes was clad in grey socks, a sky blue push-up bra, and white boyshorts with black stripes.
Both women were bound with pink ropes from Libido’s stash: wrists tied behind the back, shoulders bound with ropes, knees restrained, and ankles tied together. They were silenced with black ball-gags with air holes in them. They were also blindfolded with sleep masks.
Mercedes was quiet and compliant. (After all, she at least was able to remove the shoes that were too tight.) Annette was grousing in her gag.
“Quit complaining! You’re writing an anti-infiltrator book. You knew this was coming.” Soph commented while checking their bonds.
“Thhtht’s hnfhhr!” the young author protested.
“You are aware that your book will be used to convince people to kill other people, right?” Soph added. “Honestly, you should be thankful that our sister insisted we give you a blanket.”
As she was talking, she put said blanket on the two women’s bodies to cover them from the shoulders to the feet.
“Time to go!” Stasis told Felicity. “Your appointment is waiting for you.”
“THHT’S SHLL SH HNFHHR!” Annette tried to shout.
Everyone else, including Mercedes, ignored her.
Felicity took a deep breath. She wasn’t a professional infiltrator but, for Tina, she was going to do her best!
A fun new story, adding some new layers to Trackman's already multilayered universe.
) Looks like more crossover chapters are on the way - looking forward to what's in store.
The scene was more a way to illustrate the effectiveness of the White Masks at gathering information, a detail to highlight the threat they pose.