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There was that frightened moan again. Becky tried to pull the other girl aside.

“Ashley-gagged moans were NOT what I was wanting to hear down here.”

“What were you expecting to find?! The CEO’s mixtape?! What part of ‘horrible, grisly shit’ did you not get?”.

Both girls were saving face as best they could-refusing to let the other believe the sound got to them. Even so, the prospect of what was further down these corridors had them both trembling. Without saying a word, Ashley gestured to the tunnel to the left of the junction-signaling for them to follow the sound. The girls slowly delved further, making a blind turn right about ten feet in, then another to the left. The room opened up into a hexagonal pod lit with the same blue light, as well as five or six small medical monitors on the opposite wall. The central fixture of the room, however, made them both gasp.

Like something out of a messed up fetish film, the figure of a woman fully wrapped in a rubber suit stood before them, strapped firmly inside of an illuminated pod. The figure’s wrists, waist, knees, and ankles were all firmly cuffed to the pod, with a whole slew of vital monitors protruding from the suit. Most prominently on her, however, was the apparatus seated on her head. Her eyes were concealed by some massive variation of a VR headset, with the headset itself attached to another metal band wrapped around her head. Another mess of wires lead from the headband into the pod, likely monitoring brainwave activity. To complete the ensemble, a black muzzle sat snuggly strapped around her head with a ribbed hose extending from where her mouth would be.

This woman was being kept completely comatose!

Ashley felt a hand on her shoulder as Becky tried to stabilize herself.

“You know, I thought..I thought I was ready for whatever was down here..” The reporter’s voice was labored as she worked off the head rush of terror. “That..This? I was not ready for this..”

The other girl took a step back too. “I’ll be honest, I had kind of expected to find some sort of aftermath? Not walk in on whatever this ‘Saw’ nightmare is while it was in progress.”

Becky took a deep breath and stood a little taller before approaching the pod. Her hand hovered over one of the control panels, inspecting it for something that might free this girl. Her finger tapped the screen.

The lights went out. Then came Ashley’s favorite four letter word.

An intercom clicked.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you girls it’s rude to peak at presents before Christmas?” A sultry voice chided. “Or are you two just completely devoid of any holiday spirit? The party is upstairs!”

Becky was scrambling for her flashlight in the darkness. It was Ashley who broke in with the quips first-as she so often did when she was paralyzingly afraid.

“Ooooh, that was the party? Well, don’t we feel stupid!” She awkwardly laughed. “We’ve been trying to get one of those cute pictures with Santa and you would not believe how many wrong turns we took to find the photo booth. Is this a bad time to ask if we’re close?”

The girl in the pod groaned into her muzzle.

“I know you think that attitude is endearing, sweet girl-“ the woman on the intercom said, “but it really just makes me want to stuff you in a box and bury you deep, deep, deep into the cold earth where nobody has to hear that snark ever again.”

“And here I thought we were hitting it off!”

“ENOUGH.” The woman’s voice growled. “You’re lucky I don’t purge this chamber right now with neurotoxin.”

“Well, that wouldn’t be very Christmas-y, now would it?”

“ASHLEY.” Becky snapped.

There was silence on the intercom. Neither girl was aware, but Ashley’s throwaway smart-ass comment did strike a chord with the woman on the intercom.

“...No, you’re right. That wouldn’t be very ‘Christmas-y’ of me, would it?” The speaker clicked.

The lights abruptly switched back on to alternating shades of green and red, followed by the crooning sound of Frank Sinatra’s “Jingle Bells” being pumped through the corridor speakers. The sudden change in ambience did little to change the mood when cast against the backdrop of the horrifying sight of the latex-clad woman in the pod.

“There. A little more merry and bright for you?” The voice returned. “Are you two even aware of who you’re dealing with?”

“I can’t say we are! Is..is this your operation? Sorry if we’re intruding!” Becky’s courage had come back-if for no other reason than to play ‘good cop’ in this dynamic to make sure that Ashley didn’t get them gruesomely killed. “Tell you what, why don’t we just forego introductions and we get the hell out of here? We can all act like none of this ever happened!”

“Oh, I’m afraid that won’t be happening-Christmas or no.” The woman continued. “If you must know, you have the privilege of invoking the ire of the CEO of this company.”

“No need to complete the introduction, Juliana O’Mara!” Ashley held up her hand. “I already read the Wikipedia articles before breaking in. I don’t, however, recall seeing a section on your page about the fucked up fetish dungeon in LlamTech’s basement-is that one awaiting moderator approval?”

“Ashley, I really think you’re playing with fire here” Becky elbowed the other girl, her voice a frantic whisper. “We’ve got a chance to walk away from this if we just play it smart!”

“This psycho’s one of those megalomaniac corporate types-trust me-“ Ashley’s confidence was not in the least bit comforting, “these idiots love it when you show some balls. Show a little sass, and they’ll find it a refreshing change to the usual idiots they’re surrounded with.”

A pause.

“You do realize the speakers in this room aren’t Cold War era surveillance microphones, right?” O’Mara’s tone was unamused. “I can hear everything you two are saying.”

“Welp, there goes that plan.” Ashley threw up her palms in defeat.

“Are you usually this mouthy? Or do you genuinely believe that you’re excelling at this exchange?” O’Mara remarked.

“If you-mmhhphph!”

Becky clamped a hand over Ashley’s mouth-not about to let her make this situation any worse.

“You know what? I think we can close the book on this amicably.” The reporter tried to defuse the situation. “You mind telling us what we’re looking at? Maybe it’s not as bad as it looks.”

At present, it was going to be very hard to convince either of them of that.

“Hmmmm...” the CEO was clearly thinking over the speaker. “Ordinarily, I would simply say ‘no’ and have you two disposed of. But seeing as it IS Christmas, maybe I can spare a minute of explanation. It has been quite some time since I shared my work with anyone.”

The woman in the pod moaned softly into her muzzle. Becky removed her hand from Ashley’s mouth, but gave her a glare that very clearly said ‘please don’t say anything stupid that will get us murdered.’

“She was a favorite of mine. Beautiful little redheaded thing. Tall. Long legs. Excellent conversationalist when she wasn’t muzzled. Liz, I think her name was? Law student from Stanford, if I remember the pedigree on her resumé.” O’Mara sighed. “But alas, like all toys you eventually get bored. That was several months ago, now. Miss Liz has been in cold storage for some time, feeding my little think-tank with all those clever thoughts buzzing around in her head.”

“Is...is she...” For once, Becky didn’t have anything bold to add. The fear was far too real. “Is she alive?”

“Is she alive? My dear, I’m not some heartless monster!”

“The comatose basement prisoner suggests otherwise.” Ashley interjected.

“Oh, hush, gorgeous.” O’Mara dismissed. “She wants for nothing. That pod she’s in is the ultimate in life support devices-capable of freezing the body to temperatures just low enough to maintain brain function. Technology like that has already saved thousands of lives in military hospitals! Couple that with the nutrient vapors fed to her through that hose and constant monitoring of her brain activity, and she’s safer than she could possibly be anywhere else. All I take in return, is her very thoughts.”

Becky was stuttering out words, genuinely shocked. “Are-...are you brainwashing her?”

“Heavens, no! Nothing so drastic or insane.” The CEO’s tone was alarmingly gentle-as if she genuinely believed she was doing nothing wrong. “You’re looking at LlamTech’s own foray into neural computing-we call it the Exchange. The apparatus around her head translates everything the wearer thinks into actual, readable data for a computer. Think of it like a backup file for the mind! Everything about that person is in that file-what they’re thinking at this moment, their likes and dislikes, what they learned in school, how they react in social situations, and so on! Everything about that person can be read and interfaced with a computer.”

“That...Surely there’s a way you can do that without..you know-“ Becky tried to put the disturbing sight into words, “doing all this?”

“That’s the problem with so many people in this day and age. You just want the fruits of labor without any of the hard work. What you’re looking at is the result of several years of research and development-just to do what we’re doing now required tremendous sacrifice. Previously, this procedure was invasive. Bloody. Intense. Three years ago? We would have harvested what we could from this girl and cast her aside once she was used up. It was horrific.”

Both girls stepped back an inch-not sure how much longer they wanted to look at this.

“But now? Her consciousness is harvested without going under a knife. In a few months, thanks to her sacrifice, why, I imagine we could edit the personality as easily as you could a blog post! Just plug the brain into the exchange and it becomes a readable and editable file. A spelling error here, an egregious personality flaw there-within a few clicks, a person can be fixed! But for now? For now, I must use my lovely underlings as test subjects for the good of humanity.” O’Mara scoffed at herself. “‘Underlings. Look at me! Talking like a comic book villain. You girls must think I’m a horrific piece of work.”

Liz twitched in the pod.

“It’s not so much that..” Becky tried to remain cordial-realizing they were far too deep in this woman’s haven to piss her off. “It’s just that...you can imagine how shocking this is to see, right?”

“Nah, I definitely think you’re literally the worst.” Ashley chimed in. “This is fucked. Super fucked up. I shouldn’t even have to elaborate on why.”

Liz groaned again. Her face couldn’t be seen, but it sounded like some kind of discomfort was befalling her.

“Ahh, that’s to be expected, my dear.” O’Mara replied. “I’m well aware of the old adage about geniuses and their own times.” The two girls could hear what sounded like a keyboard tapping over the speaker. “Fun fact, ladies? This young lady is hardly the only piece I’m keeping down here.”

“So that’s where all your secretaries go!” Ashley said to herself.

“I see you’ve heard the rumors!” The woman laughed. “Well, I can assure you that whatever you heard regarding all that is probably true. Crazy, isn’t it?”

“Ashley, I’m really not liking this.” Becky whispered.

“If it’s any consolation, you two will get to know all the girls down here extremely well when you join them.”

“Ashley.”

Becky was tugging at the other girl’s sleeve in a panic-only to see her casually stretching her arms and bending over to give her calves a good warm-up.

What the hell was she doing?!

“Now as I said before, I could just flood this place with a gas and end you both right now-but I think we’ll go with a more festive route.”

“ASHLEY. That plan? What was the secret plan?!”

Ashley took a deep breath. “Already on it, Clark Kent. I’ve been waiting for this. My secret plan?”

“Yes, secret plan. Is it kill switch codes? What is it?!”

“I knew it would come to this. It’s actually a secret technique I figured out that works pretty well at LlamTech on a previous endeavor.”

“Great, THAT’S GREAT, Ashley! WHAT IS IT?!” Becky was getting increasingly nervous as the sound of various machinery hummed to life in the room.

“One last all-or-nothing gambit. I simply use my legs!”

“I’m not following, Ash. What do you mean-?”

“And-“ Ashley stood proud.

“-...and?!?”

“RUN AWAAAAAAAAAAY!”

She was gone.

Becky wasn’t sure she had ever seen another human being move as fast as Ashley did just then-a purple blur leaving her vision to turn tail in the direction they came from.

“THAT WAS THE PLAN?!” Insane though it might have been, Becky did not give a second thought to doing a similar about-face and booking it. “THIS WAS ASHLEY’S MARVELOUS SECRET PLAN?!”

“Oh, no, they’re running!” O’Mara cooed over the speaker- Jingle Bells still happily echoing throughout the corridors. “Whatever shall I do?”

An army of clicking sounds reverberated down the hallway as they ran, followed by the blip of sirens to indicate something was activating.

“Can we take a moment to appreciate my lovely assistant, Jackie?” O’Mara said. “She truly left no stone unturned for this party. Even the emergency security measures are devilishly festive!”

Both girls were sprinting full speed down the corridors when Becky noticed what was activating-all along the walls, small portholes were opening up to reveal a soft, colorful glow coming from inside.

“Beck-I think we’re about to have company!” Ashley shouted over her shoulder.

If it weren’t for the impending danger looming over them, Becky would have found it nice that Ashley actually used her real name for once.

The warning couldn’t have been better timed-a sudden hum came from behind them. As Becky looked behind her, she saw each porthole that had opened releasing a small quadcopter drone-each one pairing with another to tether a string of Christmas lights between them.

“Oh, you can NOT be serious?!” Becky’s sprint doubled as she closed the gap between her and Ashley. The hum grew louder-like a swarm of bees closing in. Whatever distance the reporter was able to close, the drones were able to do it in half the time.

Ashley gawked as two of the copters pulled ahead-a string of lights pulled taut between them. Both girls knew what these things were attempting.

They were going for a clothesline.

Reflexes were fast on both of them as the girls ducked their heads beneath, the coil of lights passing right over them. In doing so, neither of them seemed to notice the second pair of drones that was coming from further down the hallway-this time going for below the waist.

A strained F-bomb and a crash followed as Ashley tripped over the lights, Becky stumbling into her a split second later. The two tried to help each other up, but the flight pattern of the drones was far too well rehearsed. More and more quadcopters swarmed around them, each pair equipped with another strand of Christmas lights intended to bind the intrepid sleuths. Ashley was the first to be subdued-her ankles and knees already wrapped in several coils of technicolor lights in a matter of seconds. Becky soon followed, her nylon clad legs tightly bound.

Ashley sat herself up as they spun around them, leaning up against a wall to get upright. Swatting away one drone after the other, she reached inside of her jacket as Becky found her arms pinned to her sides by the lights. A solid kick from the reporter, however, managed to smash one against the wall as its lightweight body broke into a hundred pieces. Then another. And another.

Despite all that, more took their place. Their visions were soon smothered with these drones.

Ashley wrapped her hand around the cold metal of the SR9 she had borrowed from Spencer-determined to prove that she wasn’t going to shirk here.

“Might want to cover your ears if you can, Carter!” She shouted as she clicked the safety off. With resolute determination, the girl pointed the weapon at the tightest concentration of drones.

And pulled the trigger.

*Click.*

Pulled again.

*Click*

Maybe it just wasn’t well oiled?! Third times and charms or something, right?

She pulled again.

*Click*

“ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?!” Ashley howled in fury as a coil of lights came for her arms and torso-causing the gun to clatter out of her hand and to the ground. Both girls had nearly a dozen drones each whirling around them, applying layer after layer of lights to completely immobilize them.

The gun was empty. It was EMPTY the whole time.

“Ashley?! Ash?!” Becky called out as her wrists were cinched together. “Is there another plan?! Do you know how to turn these things off?!”

Ashley didn’t respond as she slumped against the wall. She really didn’t think this through. If she was TRULY prepared to pull that trigger-she would have at least LOOKED to see that the gun was loaded.

Spencer was right. Maybe she was too soft? And now? Now they were about to be dragged off to some Fortune 500 psycho’s basement to live out the rest of their lives hooked up to some terrifying Borg hive-mind. She had dragged this reporter girl into this, and how was her trust rewarded? With all this-with being unceremoniously bound by a bunch of glorified RC toys.

Suppose there were worse ways to go?

Ashley thought that one over for a second. No, no there were not. This was pretty high on the list of ‘horrible ways to go’.

Ashley closed her eyes and resigned herself to fate. The low hiss of a gas valve releasing filled the hall.

“Aww, what lovely little presents you two make!” O’Mara cackled over the intercom. “You’re welcome to breathe in this bit of vapor I’m pumping in-it’s just a little sedative to get you two in the Christmas spirit...”

Becky continued to fight-but her struggles waned as the hallway became visibly choked with the gas. The reporter had managed to sit herself up on her knees-doing her best to stand proud in the face of this humiliating display. Her legs were properly wrapped at the ankles, thighs, and knees-with her arms pinned to her sides with a liberal amount of lights, all culminating in her wrists tied tightly behind her back. The “rope”work was so well coordinated that each tug on one bond tightened the knots on the others. The vibrant glow of the Christmas lights just made it all the worse as the fog filled the room-allowing the girls to see just how much their respective struggles were wearing out.

“Ashley?!...C’mon, you...you gotta..” Becky was fading in and out, despite her resolve to fight. “Don’t you dare doze off....Gotta..gotta keep awake!...Just...”

Becky watched Ashley topple over to the ground-with herself not far behind.

She didn’t want to fall asleep, but...It sounded like such a good idea. She could close her eyes for a few seconds, and she’d be right as rain after that. Just a quick resting of the eyes.

That was all.

Just ten seconds.

Becky Carter slumped to the ground.

..................................................

Darkness. Tight, smothering, inescapable darkness.

Deprived of sight, Becky Carter took her usual inventory of “Just How Bad Had Things Gotten?” This was often done just after being knocked out, overpowered, or otherwise incapacitated in her storied career at MDT. What was tied? Where? What senses did she still have? Was there some immediate danger nearby? Life or death? Was she with anybody?

In truth, there was no reason to catalogue anything right now. The answer was just ‘Yes’.

Her weight centered on her upper shoulders-coupled with a little bit of swaying, it was apparent she was suspended on something. Blindfolded, obviously. Arms? It appeared she had been firmly strapped with something coiled around her wrists, upper arms, and chest. The same straps seemed to be digging into her legs at the ankles, knees, and mid-thigh, with yet another wrapped around her waist.

“Ashhmhhh?”

Well, that answered her question about being gagged. Much to her dismay, the way her lips were forcibly parted meant that some sort of ballgag was involved. Worse, it appeared to be taped in just for that extra layer of misery.

Whoever this O’Mara psycho was, they thought of everything. Thankfully, the blindfold meant she didn’t have to see herself like this.

Some rustling came from nearby.

“Ffmhhhhh...FFFHHCCCKKK..” Becky could hear another muffled voice not five feet away, trying its hardest to get out obscenities.

Sounded like Ashley was ok.

“Asmmhhh?!”

“Mhmhhcckkkk!” The other snoop was clearly delighted to hear the other girl’s voice. Judging by the surprise in her tone, she was likely blindfolded, too.

Both girls let out a moan of relief-not being isolated at least doubled their chances of getting out of here.

“You’re a meaaaan one, Mister Grinch!” Came the sensuous voice from earlier-this time not through the crackle of an intercom.

Juliana O’Mara was here to play with her prey.

“You know I had planned to watch that this evening? Just to put me in the Christmas spirit a little more!” O’Mara’s voice was now directly behind Becky. “That is, until some humbugs decided to just ruin my evening and forced me to change my agenda for tonight.”

Becky felt a pair of manicured hands playfully crawl down her arms.

“So, the question becomes how do I deal with you two? You’ve clearly made the jump from the ‘nice’ list after everything you’ve done.” O’Mara’s hands roved down Becky’s sides, planting firmly on her legs. “My, you do have an excellent pair of gams, Miss Reporter! I can see why Marta Alfonsi regards you so highly..”

Becky squeaked.

What did she just say?

O’Mara held back another laugh. “I thought that might get a cute little reaction out of you. After all, why wouldn’t I have heard of the famous Rebecca Carter?”

“Mmhhhppffhhf?!” Both girls gave gagged grunts of disbelief.

“Oh, please. How hard do you think it is for someone like me to pull a background check?” The girls could hear the nasty smile in her voice. “Then again, I suppose it’s a whole lot easier when you’ve already been told about the person in question at length!”

Becky’s moans turned from distress to disbelief as she wriggled all the more in O’Mara’s grasp.

“Let’s just say that your friend Marta has been a bit of a pen pal of mine for a few weeks. Funnily enough, she ended up finding out about the very secret you two discovered this evening. Threatened to tell the whole world about my lovely collection of pets. The difference, though? She used that little bit of knowledge to gain something-not write some silly little news report, or blog, or whatever it is you two do.” Becky’s rear took a playful smack. “She’s got quite the crush on you, Becky. One might even say it borders on obsession! Our deal was simple-in exchange for her keeping things quiet, I’ve offered to help her out with a little bit of good old fashioned LlamTech wizardry. All in the interest of-get this-catching you! Small world, isn’t it my dear?”

“Thlll hrrhh thhh ghhmh thhh hllhhh...” Becky growled.

“I mean, what are the odds? Here I was dealing out cameras, and trap doors, and security measures for her to properly ensnare her little obsession-when the girl of her desire literally walks onto my doorstep! Why even bother with the first part of the deal-“ O’Mara’s grip tightened. “When I can deliver her princess directly to her?”

“Dnhhh yhhh ffcckknnn drrhhhh!” Ashley spoke up furiously, albeit muffled.

“Oh, and don’t think I’ve forgotten about you, Miss Serial-Breaking-and-Entering!” The CEO turned her attention to the other captive. “Jackie was kind enough to pull the file we had on you-apparently, you would have been wise to stay VERY far away from here. In case I wasn’t already clear, I am really not a fan of others interfering with my work. Did your friend Adrianne Olson ever tell you about that? About my little pet peeves?”

Ashley probably meant to utter some sort of defiant obscenity into her muzzle, but their captor naming her friend outright caused her fury to choke back into a weak whimper.

Even the CEO of freaking LlamTech knew who she was.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck. FUCK. Ash repeated in her head. They know we’re connected. They know I’ve been here. They know who I am. They know everything FUCK.

“Your panicked expression says EVERYTHING, my dear. I must say, I think I speak for all of my brave boys in security when I say that we’ve long awaited the day that Ashley Hamrick would be in this very scenario! Have you any idea the damage you’ve caused? The number of IGII units we’ve lost from your rampant disregard for private property? The amount of secrets you’ve leaked? Millions in damage, blondie.”

The CEO cackled as she smacked the rear ends of her captives, making them sway daintily with recoil. Almost dancing around the two girls, the woman in the flowing dress nestled herself behind Ashley and delicately placed her hands on the captive’s hips-pulling her uncomfortably close. Reaching up to the tape on Ashley’s face, O’Mara ungagged her furious prey.

“-and what do you have to say for yourself?”

“Eat a bag of dicks. As many dicks as you can find. In fact, get several truckloads. Eat them. Fuck you.” Ashley spewed at the tall woman holding her. “You leave Adrianne the fuck out of this. Hell, you leave April O’Neal over there out of this. They’re just doing their jobs. You want to fuck with someone? Fuck with me. I’m the one you want. Just don’t you dare f-mhhhpggggghhhhh!”

O’Mara gave a piteous chuckle as she clamped a hand over Ashley’s profane mouth.

“Well, I know what four letter word you resort to when you’re scared! And yes-I will be ‘fucking with you’, as you so delicately put it. Thank you for the offer-especially given how hard it is to find test subjects these days! In fact, I plan to mess with the two of you QUITE a bit.”

“Mmhhhffhhhhh?!”

Ashley’s heart dropped. That wasn’t supposed to go like that. She always thought that doing the “noble” option in a situation like this always resulted in some sort of..She didn’t know, secret outcome? Like the villain would be thinking “wow, what a super brave thing to do! I won’t kill you guys!

A furious grumble was all the blonde gave into the handgag.

“You really thought you could get away with trying to do something as reckless as exposing secret research? That you could just run away with research logs or photos of our most sensitive projects like that and it’d be all over? Moreover, you have the audacity to believe that you’re the hero in all this?” O’Mara rested her head on Ash’s shoulder and playfully pushed her bangs away. “My dear, sweet, NAIVE Ashley! Have you even stopped to consider the security we could bring to the world with the ‘Exchange’? Imagine! No more need for prisons! We can simply reprogram criminals. Mental illness? Simply back up consciousness, and restore to a previous state! The body, now augmented with LlamTech hardware, becomes nigh indestructible! Knowing all this, why on earth would you try to ruin us?”

“Do you even hear yourself? Like, are you getting off on sounding like a comic book villain?”

“I fully expected you to have such a black-and-white view of things, sweetheart.” The CEO gave Ashley a gentle kiss on the cheek and regagged her. “I’ll have to make sure we retain that idealistic bit of sass when I reprogram you...”

“Ffmhhhhh yyhhhh!!”

The woman moved back to Becky. O’Mara wrapped an arm around the squirming reporter, playfully twirling a strand of blonde hair that had fallen in her victim’s face.

“All we want is to change the world-and this is the thanks I get?” The woman paused once more to take a good long look at her prisoners. “That said, if dealing with little bits of corporate sabotage now and again means I get lookers like you two caught in my proverbial web?” She grabbed Becky’s chin and turned the girl’s face toward her. “Then I suppose I can live with it. Time enjoyed is hardly time wasted, am I right?”

“Llhhh mhhhh ghhhhhh, yhhh ssycckkko!” Becky pleaded into her gag-knowing full well that this woman wasn’t going to have a change of heart anytime soon.

“Aaah, you two better enjoy squealing and struggling while you can. I think I’m going to use you two as a reason to make the next jump in ‘the exchange’s capabilities...” both girls perked up, “Rather than giving Marta Alfonsi a tied and gagged Becky Carter all wrapped up for Christmas, I think I’ll do her one better. I think I’ll give her her favorite reporter fully customizable.”

“Mmhpphhhfffhhhhhfhf?!!?” Becky howled in panic.

“Oh, don’t be such a baby, my dear..” O’Mara ran a finger down the small of Becky’s back. “I’ll just hook you up to the same headsets you saw on darling Liz back there! Within a few hours, we’ll have added a bit of ‘source code’ to this pretty little head, and voila! Becky Carter can become WHOEVER Marta wants her to be.”

Becky and Ashley were swaying violently as their struggles picked up-terrified at the prospect becoming just like that poor girl.

“I can just SEE her delight. Christmas morning, a knock comes to the door of the Alfonsi estate. Marta opens the door to see, what’s this? Her princess Becky with her hands tied, mouth gagged, and a heartfelt note from LlamTech taped to her. But something’s different, she notices. Her darling Becky, all clad in some delightful nylons and a nice short skirt, doesn’t seem furious about all this. Instead? Her kitten comes right into her arms, simply over the MOON to be in the clutches of her new mistress..” O’Mara gently caressed Becky’s face, “-and you wouldn’t be any the wiser. She can change your very personality at a whim by putting that little headset back on! Just a few changes in the software while you’re hooked up, and maybe Becky can be programmed to serve as her secretary? The possibilities are endless!”

Becky wanted to scream-but refused to give this madwoman the satisfaction. This wasn’t happening, right?! This had to all just be a bad dream!

“-and don’t think I’d leave you out, my sweet Ashley!” O’Mara reached out and playfully caressed the girl’s bound thigh, reaching up to straighten out her leather skirt. “I think I’ll let you have a vacant pod down here next to Liz! Or better yet-I’ll let you and Adrianne be neighbors when I add her to our lovely family.”

Her FAMILY? Ashley was fuming. The CEO of LlamTech was ten times the psycho that any of the stories suggested. She was ACTUALLY nuts. Still furiously squirming, she felt a hand reach up beside her head.

“Enough with the sensory deprivation, I suppose. Let’s see those gorgeous eyes!”

Becky and Ashley’s eyes flooded with the light of several large monitors as Juliana O’Mara pulled away their blindfolds. The two glanced at eachother-finally seeing the full scope of their predicament. Strips of red and green striped tape sat plastered over their mouths, holding some sort of ballgag in place for extra measure. Just like when they were captured, Christmas lights coiled around just above and below their chests, wrists, and all along their respective legs-with all their weight pinned on a hook between the bonds at their shoulders, keeping them hanging nearly a foot off the ground. It would have been quite the merry sight, if one were able to look past the events of the last thirty minutes.

Before them stood Juliana O’Mara in all her glory. A strongly styled head of pink hair dropped to her shoulders, curling at the ends. Neatly manicured Christmas nails tapped her chin as she stood before her captives, tilting her head as one would admiring a painting at a gallery.

“I must say, you two make such a lovely display like this.” Her lecherous eyes wandered up and down the both of them. Becky’s skin was crawling-it was just like dealing with Marta’s sick glare.

“Gghh ffhkhh yhhrrrhh..” Ashley growled.

Just past their captor’s shoulder, the girls could see full displays of their respective vitals on nearby forty inch monitors. Name, blood type, height, weight and heart rate were all prominently shown-likely so O’Mara could ensure a smooth ‘transition’ with whatever sick conversion she had planned. The woman turned to the console and grabbed a pair of headbands-each with a mess of wires leading back into the ceiling.

“Let’s get you two fitted” O’Mara said with a wry smile as she approached. “These little beauties will interface you two directly into the Exchange. All it needs is a few minutes to read your brains-just so it can get acquainted with the canvas it’ll be working with. It’ll back up every memory, every bit of personality, every little thing that you two think makes you so unique. Then from there? Then we can begin begin the re-write process.”

Becky noticed the heart rate on Ashley’s monitor picking up drastically. Despite all the fronts of defiance, the other girl was clearly petrified of what was coming. Not that MDT’s star reporter wasn’t sweating bullets either.

“Any suggestions for your new personality, Miss Carter?” Becky’s train of thought was broken as O’Mara pulled the girl close, hands delicately running along her back. It wasn’t until just now that she had realized just how tall the pink-haired woman was-even tied up and suspended off the ground, the two stood at nearly eye level. “I’m thinking ‘ravenous little minx’, but that might be a little too on-the-nose for Marta.” She continued to ponder, wrapping a hand around Becky’s gagged face to get a ‘feel’ for how she could best re-write the reporter’s personality. Playfully running her fingers through the blonde French bun, down her arms, and her toned stomach-before finally stopping at her nylon clad thighs.

“You know what, Miss Carter? Those legs would look simply divine in a little black velvet ruffle mini skirt and some fishnets.” As if coronating the girl, O’Mara crowned the wired headset on to Becky-then smiled deviously. “Marta Alfonsi is about to be the owner of one reporter turned ditzy little French maid..”

“Mhhh whhhhthh?!?” Becky Carter failed to verbalize her disbelief on account of the ball filling her mouth. O’Mara fastened the apparatus, prompting another window to open on the monitors showing a full scan of her brain activity.

Oh god, this was real.

“-and no need for you to feel so left out, little miss thing!” O’Mara said as she turned away from Becky-punctuating her departure with a playful pressing of the tape over the reporter’s face to ensure full silence. Carrying another headset, she stood before the far angrier of the two damsels. “While Miss Carter over there will be bending over to dust and clean for her new mistress, I wasn’t sure how to rebuild you..But then I noticed this spicy wardrobe number of yours and thought, ‘Ashley Hamrick is destined to be my little leather princess’!”

“Yhrrr fhhkkn Whhtt?!?”

“Oh, it’ll be marvelous. You’ll be all dolled up, head to toe, in a nice, inescapable leather bodysuit. Completely devoid of sight, speech, or hearing-I’ll keep you ballgagged in my office, I think. Maybe let Jackie try her hand at playing with a sub-at least until I tire of her too.”

Both girls were well aware of the futility of struggling in this moment-but dammit, if Ashley’s fury didn’t give a shit about that. Like a fish on a line, she thrashed in every which direction. Variations of “fuck you”, “eat shit”, and “I’d like to see you fucking try” could be approximated from beneath her gag. Despite all this, O’Mara simply smiled and placed a headset over her head as well and stepped back to avoid taking a purple converse to the face. The CEO quietly returned to the console before them and made a few quick inputs before turning her attention back to her helpless captives.

“Here’s the agenda for this evening, my beautiful girls. As I said, the program needs some time to acquaint itself with all the wonderful little thoughts in your pretty heads. I’ve already queued the Exchange to begin in ten minutes-during that time, I’d advise you two to enjoy whatever final moments of free will you can. Simply relax, and try not to think too hard about what’s going to happen to you. As soon as the program has what it needs to coordinate programming, it’ll all be over in a flash. One quick wipe, or hard reset, and we’ll have stripped away all those inhibitions that keep you from becoming who you’re truly meant to be.” O’Mara stepped forward to caress Becky’s face. “From there? The Exchange will begin to download your new personalities and overwrite the old ones. Of course, I’ll save the old Becky and Ashley to a back up-but why would anyone want that when they’ve got French maid Becky and leather slave Ashley?”

Maybe she was still in denial, but Becky honestly was unable to truly grasp the nightmare that was getting ready to unfold. Despite every horrid situation she had ever found herself in, this one seemed so alien that it just couldn’t be real, right?

Right?....

Judging by Ashley’s quickened pulse on the monitor, she seemed to be swaying between “unstoppable being of rage with a ponytail” and “petrified damsel”. In any case, this impending horror was very real to her. She had seen what LlamTech was capable of-and this was far from the most far-fetched thing she had seen them imagine.

This was really about to happen.

“All the while, I think I’ll go upstairs and make the arrangements to have you shipped back to Manchester for our friend.” O’Mara laughed as Becky’s face turned a deep red at that one. “I’m sure I’ve got a few maid outfits that will look perfect on you, dear. I already took your measurements while you two were asleep, don’t worry. As for you, Miss Ashley? I’ll be sure we have your residence properly ready for your arrival. Hope you’ve made peace with never seeing the light of day again.”

There was a playfully threatening tone in every word Juliana O’Mara had said to them-but the violent nature of the woman really came out on that last one.

This woman truly was evil and didn’t even know it.

“Oh, and one more thing.” A switch was flipped on the console, initiating another siren blip like the one from before. From more portholes in the ceiling, over a dozen more quadcopter drones descended into the lab. Holding formation, the swarm circled the captive snoops slowly-ready to engage them the moment they managed to escape. With that, O’Mara dialed in a prompt into the Exchange’s interface, and tapped “begin”. A pop up window filled all screens with the words “CALIBRATING” above a timer counting down from 10:00. “I’ll let some more of these darlings keep watch in case you try anything stupid. You’re already well acquainted with them, yes?”

9:59

9:58

9:57

Becky and Ashley both exchanged an expression of dread-hoping that either one of them had a brave last-minute plan of escape.

Description
There was that frightened moan again. Becky tried to pull the other girl aside.

“Ashley-gagged moans were NOT what I was wanting to hear down here.”

“What were you expecting to find?! The CEO’s mixtape?! What part of ‘horrible, grisly shit’ did you not get?”.

Both girls were saving face as best they could-refusing to let the other believe the sound got to them. Even so, the prospect of what was further down these corridors had them both trembling. Without saying a word, Ashley gestured to the tunnel to the left of the junction-signaling for them to follow the sound. The girls slowly delved further, making a blind turn right about ten feet in, then another to the left. The room opened up into a hexagonal pod lit with the same blue light, as well as five or six small medical monitors on the opposite wall. The central fixture of the room, however, made them both gasp.

Like something out of a messed up fetish film, the figure of a woman fully wrapped in a rubber suit stood before them, strapped firmly inside of an illuminated pod. The figure’s wrists, waist, knees, and ankles were all firmly cuffed to the pod, with a whole slew of vital monitors protruding from the suit. Most prominently on her, however, was the apparatus seated on her head. Her eyes were concealed by some massive variation of a VR headset, with the headset itself attached to another metal band wrapped around her head. Another mess of wires lead from the headband into the pod, likely monitoring brainwave activity. To complete the ensemble, a black muzzle sat snuggly strapped around her head with a ribbed hose extending from where her mouth would be.

This woman was being kept completely comatose!

Ashley felt a hand on her shoulder as Becky tried to stabilize herself.

“You know, I thought..I thought I was ready for whatever was down here..” The reporter’s voice was labored as she worked off the head rush of terror. “That..This? I was not ready for this..”

The other girl took a step back too. “I’ll be honest, I had kind of expected to find some sort of aftermath? Not walk in on whatever this ‘Saw’ nightmare is while it was in progress.”

Becky took a deep breath and stood a little taller before approaching the pod. Her hand hovered over one of the control panels, inspecting it for something that might free this girl. Her finger tapped the screen.

The lights went out. Then came Ashley’s favorite four letter word.

An intercom clicked.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you girls it’s rude to peak at presents before Christmas?” A sultry voice chided. “Or are you two just completely devoid of any holiday spirit? The party is upstairs!”

Becky was scrambling for her flashlight in the darkness. It was Ashley who broke in with the quips first-as she so often did when she was paralyzingly afraid.

“Ooooh, that was the party? Well, don’t we feel stupid!” She awkwardly laughed. “We’ve been trying to get one of those cute pictures with Santa and you would not believe how many wrong turns we took to find the photo booth. Is this a bad time to ask if we’re close?”

The girl in the pod groaned into her muzzle.

“I know you think that attitude is endearing, sweet girl-“ the woman on the intercom said, “but it really just makes me want to stuff you in a box and bury you deep, deep, deep into the cold earth where nobody has to hear that snark ever again.”

“And here I thought we were hitting it off!”

“ENOUGH.” The woman’s voice growled. “You’re lucky I don’t purge this chamber right now with neurotoxin.”

“Well, that wouldn’t be very Christmas-y, now would it?”

“ASHLEY.” Becky snapped.

There was silence on the intercom. Neither girl was aware, but Ashley’s throwaway smart-ass comment did strike a chord with the woman on the intercom.

“...No, you’re right. That wouldn’t be very ‘Christmas-y’ of me, would it?” The speaker clicked.

The lights abruptly switched back on to alternating shades of green and red, followed by the crooning sound of Frank Sinatra’s “Jingle Bells” being pumped through the corridor speakers. The sudden change in ambience did little to change the mood when cast against the backdrop of the horrifying sight of the latex-clad woman in the pod.

“There. A little more merry and bright for you?” The voice returned. “Are you two even aware of who you’re dealing with?”

“I can’t say we are! Is..is this your operation? Sorry if we’re intruding!” Becky’s courage had come back-if for no other reason than to play ‘good cop’ in this dynamic to make sure that Ashley didn’t get them gruesomely killed. “Tell you what, why don’t we just forego introductions and we get the hell out of here? We can all act like none of this ever happened!”

“Oh, I’m afraid that won’t be happening-Christmas or no.” The woman continued. “If you must know, you have the privilege of invoking the ire of the CEO of this company.”

“No need to complete the introduction, Juliana O’Mara!” Ashley held up her hand. “I already read the Wikipedia articles before breaking in. I don’t, however, recall seeing a section on your page about the fucked up fetish dungeon in LlamTech’s basement-is that one awaiting moderator approval?”

“Ashley, I really think you’re playing with fire here” Becky elbowed the other girl, her voice a frantic whisper. “We’ve got a chance to walk away from this if we just play it smart!”

“This psycho’s one of those megalomaniac corporate types-trust me-“ Ashley’s confidence was not in the least bit comforting, “these idiots love it when you show some balls. Show a little sass, and they’ll find it a refreshing change to the usual idiots they’re surrounded with.”

A pause.

“You do realize the speakers in this room aren’t Cold War era surveillance microphones, right?” O’Mara’s tone was unamused. “I can hear everything you two are saying.”

“Welp, there goes that plan.” Ashley threw up her palms in defeat.

“Are you usually this mouthy? Or do you genuinely believe that you’re excelling at this exchange?” O’Mara remarked.

“If you-mmhhphph!”

Becky clamped a hand over Ashley’s mouth-not about to let her make this situation any worse.

“You know what? I think we can close the book on this amicably.” The reporter tried to defuse the situation. “You mind telling us what we’re looking at? Maybe it’s not as bad as it looks.”

At present, it was going to be very hard to convince either of them of that.

“Hmmmm...” the CEO was clearly thinking over the speaker. “Ordinarily, I would simply say ‘no’ and have you two disposed of. But seeing as it IS Christmas, maybe I can spare a minute of explanation. It has been quite some time since I shared my work with anyone.”

The woman in the pod moaned softly into her muzzle. Becky removed her hand from Ashley’s mouth, but gave her a glare that very clearly said ‘please don’t say anything stupid that will get us murdered.’

“She was a favorite of mine. Beautiful little redheaded thing. Tall. Long legs. Excellent conversationalist when she wasn’t muzzled. Liz, I think her name was? Law student from Stanford, if I remember the pedigree on her resumé.” O’Mara sighed. “But alas, like all toys you eventually get bored. That was several months ago, now. Miss Liz has been in cold storage for some time, feeding my little think-tank with all those clever thoughts buzzing around in her head.”

“Is...is she...” For once, Becky didn’t have anything bold to add. The fear was far too real. “Is she alive?”

“Is she alive? My dear, I’m not some heartless monster!”

“The comatose basement prisoner suggests otherwise.” Ashley interjected.

“Oh, hush, gorgeous.” O’Mara dismissed. “She wants for nothing. That pod she’s in is the ultimate in life support devices-capable of freezing the body to temperatures just low enough to maintain brain function. Technology like that has already saved thousands of lives in military hospitals! Couple that with the nutrient vapors fed to her through that hose and constant monitoring of her brain activity, and she’s safer than she could possibly be anywhere else. All I take in return, is her very thoughts.”

Becky was stuttering out words, genuinely shocked. “Are-...are you brainwashing her?”

“Heavens, no! Nothing so drastic or insane.” The CEO’s tone was alarmingly gentle-as if she genuinely believed she was doing nothing wrong. “You’re looking at LlamTech’s own foray into neural computing-we call it the Exchange. The apparatus around her head translates everything the wearer thinks into actual, readable data for a computer. Think of it like a backup file for the mind! Everything about that person is in that file-what they’re thinking at this moment, their likes and dislikes, what they learned in school, how they react in social situations, and so on! Everything about that person can be read and interfaced with a computer.”

“That...Surely there’s a way you can do that without..you know-“ Becky tried to put the disturbing sight into words, “doing all this?”

“That’s the problem with so many people in this day and age. You just want the fruits of labor without any of the hard work. What you’re looking at is the result of several years of research and development-just to do what we’re doing now required tremendous sacrifice. Previously, this procedure was invasive. Bloody. Intense. Three years ago? We would have harvested what we could from this girl and cast her aside once she was used up. It was horrific.”

Both girls stepped back an inch-not sure how much longer they wanted to look at this.

“But now? Her consciousness is harvested without going under a knife. In a few months, thanks to her sacrifice, why, I imagine we could edit the personality as easily as you could a blog post! Just plug the brain into the exchange and it becomes a readable and editable file. A spelling error here, an egregious personality flaw there-within a few clicks, a person can be fixed! But for now? For now, I must use my lovely underlings as test subjects for the good of humanity.” O’Mara scoffed at herself. “‘Underlings. Look at me! Talking like a comic book villain. You girls must think I’m a horrific piece of work.”

Liz twitched in the pod.

“It’s not so much that..” Becky tried to remain cordial-realizing they were far too deep in this woman’s haven to piss her off. “It’s just that...you can imagine how shocking this is to see, right?”

“Nah, I definitely think you’re literally the worst.” Ashley chimed in. “This is fucked. Super fucked up. I shouldn’t even have to elaborate on why.”

Liz groaned again. Her face couldn’t be seen, but it sounded like some kind of discomfort was befalling her.

“Ahh, that’s to be expected, my dear.” O’Mara replied. “I’m well aware of the old adage about geniuses and their own times.” The two girls could hear what sounded like a keyboard tapping over the speaker. “Fun fact, ladies? This young lady is hardly the only piece I’m keeping down here.”

“So that’s where all your secretaries go!” Ashley said to herself.

“I see you’ve heard the rumors!” The woman laughed. “Well, I can assure you that whatever you heard regarding all that is probably true. Crazy, isn’t it?”

“Ashley, I’m really not liking this.” Becky whispered.

“If it’s any consolation, you two will get to know all the girls down here extremely well when you join them.”

“Ashley.”

Becky was tugging at the other girl’s sleeve in a panic-only to see her casually stretching her arms and bending over to give her calves a good warm-up.

What the hell was she doing?!

“Now as I said before, I could just flood this place with a gas and end you both right now-but I think we’ll go with a more festive route.”

“ASHLEY. That plan? What was the secret plan?!”

Ashley took a deep breath. “Already on it, Clark Kent. I’ve been waiting for this. My secret plan?”

“Yes, secret plan. Is it kill switch codes? What is it?!”

“I knew it would come to this. It’s actually a secret technique I figured out that works pretty well at LlamTech on a previous endeavor.”

“Great, THAT’S GREAT, Ashley! WHAT IS IT?!” Becky was getting increasingly nervous as the sound of various machinery hummed to life in the room.

“One last all-or-nothing gambit. I simply use my legs!”

“I’m not following, Ash. What do you mean-?”

“And-“ Ashley stood proud.

“-...and?!?”

“RUN AWAAAAAAAAAAY!”

She was gone.

Becky wasn’t sure she had ever seen another human being move as fast as Ashley did just then-a purple blur leaving her vision to turn tail in the direction they came from.

“THAT WAS THE PLAN?!” Insane though it might have been, Becky did not give a second thought to doing a similar about-face and booking it. “THIS WAS ASHLEY’S MARVELOUS SECRET PLAN?!”

“Oh, no, they’re running!” O’Mara cooed over the speaker- Jingle Bells still happily echoing throughout the corridors. “Whatever shall I do?”

An army of clicking sounds reverberated down the hallway as they ran, followed by the blip of sirens to indicate something was activating.

“Can we take a moment to appreciate my lovely assistant, Jackie?” O’Mara said. “She truly left no stone unturned for this party. Even the emergency security measures are devilishly festive!”

Both girls were sprinting full speed down the corridors when Becky noticed what was activating-all along the walls, small portholes were opening up to reveal a soft, colorful glow coming from inside.

“Beck-I think we’re about to have company!” Ashley shouted over her shoulder.

If it weren’t for the impending danger looming over them, Becky would have found it nice that Ashley actually used her real name for once.

The warning couldn’t have been better timed-a sudden hum came from behind them. As Becky looked behind her, she saw each porthole that had opened releasing a small quadcopter drone-each one pairing with another to tether a string of Christmas lights between them.

“Oh, you can NOT be serious?!” Becky’s sprint doubled as she closed the gap between her and Ashley. The hum grew louder-like a swarm of bees closing in. Whatever distance the reporter was able to close, the drones were able to do it in half the time.

Ashley gawked as two of the copters pulled ahead-a string of lights pulled taut between them. Both girls knew what these things were attempting.

They were going for a clothesline.

Reflexes were fast on both of them as the girls ducked their heads beneath, the coil of lights passing right over them. In doing so, neither of them seemed to notice the second pair of drones that was coming from further down the hallway-this time going for below the waist.

A strained F-bomb and a crash followed as Ashley tripped over the lights, Becky stumbling into her a split second later. The two tried to help each other up, but the flight pattern of the drones was far too well rehearsed. More and more quadcopters swarmed around them, each pair equipped with another strand of Christmas lights intended to bind the intrepid sleuths. Ashley was the first to be subdued-her ankles and knees already wrapped in several coils of technicolor lights in a matter of seconds. Becky soon followed, her nylon clad legs tightly bound.

Ashley sat herself up as they spun around them, leaning up against a wall to get upright. Swatting away one drone after the other, she reached inside of her jacket as Becky found her arms pinned to her sides by the lights. A solid kick from the reporter, however, managed to smash one against the wall as its lightweight body broke into a hundred pieces. Then another. And another.

Despite all that, more took their place. Their visions were soon smothered with these drones.

Ashley wrapped her hand around the cold metal of the SR9 she had borrowed from Spencer-determined to prove that she wasn’t going to shirk here.

“Might want to cover your ears if you can, Carter!” She shouted as she clicked the safety off. With resolute determination, the girl pointed the weapon at the tightest concentration of drones.

And pulled the trigger.

*Click.*

Pulled again.

*Click*

Maybe it just wasn’t well oiled?! Third times and charms or something, right?

She pulled again.

*Click*

“ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?!” Ashley howled in fury as a coil of lights came for her arms and torso-causing the gun to clatter out of her hand and to the ground. Both girls had nearly a dozen drones each whirling around them, applying layer after layer of lights to completely immobilize them.

The gun was empty. It was EMPTY the whole time.

“Ashley?! Ash?!” Becky called out as her wrists were cinched together. “Is there another plan?! Do you know how to turn these things off?!”

Ashley didn’t respond as she slumped against the wall. She really didn’t think this through. If she was TRULY prepared to pull that trigger-she would have at least LOOKED to see that the gun was loaded.

Spencer was right. Maybe she was too soft? And now? Now they were about to be dragged off to some Fortune 500 psycho’s basement to live out the rest of their lives hooked up to some terrifying Borg hive-mind. She had dragged this reporter girl into this, and how was her trust rewarded? With all this-with being unceremoniously bound by a bunch of glorified RC toys.

Suppose there were worse ways to go?

Ashley thought that one over for a second. No, no there were not. This was pretty high on the list of ‘horrible ways to go’.

Ashley closed her eyes and resigned herself to fate. The low hiss of a gas valve releasing filled the hall.

“Aww, what lovely little presents you two make!” O’Mara cackled over the intercom. “You’re welcome to breathe in this bit of vapor I’m pumping in-it’s just a little sedative to get you two in the Christmas spirit...”

Becky continued to fight-but her struggles waned as the hallway became visibly choked with the gas. The reporter had managed to sit herself up on her knees-doing her best to stand proud in the face of this humiliating display. Her legs were properly wrapped at the ankles, thighs, and knees-with her arms pinned to her sides with a liberal amount of lights, all culminating in her wrists tied tightly behind her back. The “rope”work was so well coordinated that each tug on one bond tightened the knots on the others. The vibrant glow of the Christmas lights just made it all the worse as the fog filled the room-allowing the girls to see just how much their respective struggles were wearing out.

“Ashley?!...C’mon, you...you gotta..” Becky was fading in and out, despite her resolve to fight. “Don’t you dare doze off....Gotta..gotta keep awake!...Just...”

Becky watched Ashley topple over to the ground-with herself not far behind.

She didn’t want to fall asleep, but...It sounded like such a good idea. She could close her eyes for a few seconds, and she’d be right as rain after that. Just a quick resting of the eyes.

That was all.

Just ten seconds.

Becky Carter slumped to the ground.

..................................................

Darkness. Tight, smothering, inescapable darkness.

Deprived of sight, Becky Carter took her usual inventory of “Just How Bad Had Things Gotten?” This was often done just after being knocked out, overpowered, or otherwise incapacitated in her storied career at MDT. What was tied? Where? What senses did she still have? Was there some immediate danger nearby? Life or death? Was she with anybody?

In truth, there was no reason to catalogue anything right now. The answer was just ‘Yes’.

Her weight centered on her upper shoulders-coupled with a little bit of swaying, it was apparent she was suspended on something. Blindfolded, obviously. Arms? It appeared she had been firmly strapped with something coiled around her wrists, upper arms, and chest. The same straps seemed to be digging into her legs at the ankles, knees, and mid-thigh, with yet another wrapped around her waist.

“Ashhmhhh?”

Well, that answered her question about being gagged. Much to her dismay, the way her lips were forcibly parted meant that some sort of ballgag was involved. Worse, it appeared to be taped in just for that extra layer of misery.

Whoever this O’Mara psycho was, they thought of everything. Thankfully, the blindfold meant she didn’t have to see herself like this.

Some rustling came from nearby.

“Ffmhhhhh...FFFHHCCCKKK..” Becky could hear another muffled voice not five feet away, trying its hardest to get out obscenities.

Sounded like Ashley was ok.

“Asmmhhh?!”

“Mhmhhcckkkk!” The other snoop was clearly delighted to hear the other girl’s voice. Judging by the surprise in her tone, she was likely blindfolded, too.

Both girls let out a moan of relief-not being isolated at least doubled their chances of getting out of here.

“You’re a meaaaan one, Mister Grinch!” Came the sensuous voice from earlier-this time not through the crackle of an intercom.

Juliana O’Mara was here to play with her prey.

“You know I had planned to watch that this evening? Just to put me in the Christmas spirit a little more!” O’Mara’s voice was now directly behind Becky. “That is, until some humbugs decided to just ruin my evening and forced me to change my agenda for tonight.”

Becky felt a pair of manicured hands playfully crawl down her arms.

“So, the question becomes how do I deal with you two? You’ve clearly made the jump from the ‘nice’ list after everything you’ve done.” O’Mara’s hands roved down Becky’s sides, planting firmly on her legs. “My, you do have an excellent pair of gams, Miss Reporter! I can see why Marta Alfonsi regards you so highly..”

Becky squeaked.

What did she just say?

O’Mara held back another laugh. “I thought that might get a cute little reaction out of you. After all, why wouldn’t I have heard of the famous Rebecca Carter?”

“Mmhhhppffhhf?!” Both girls gave gagged grunts of disbelief.

“Oh, please. How hard do you think it is for someone like me to pull a background check?” The girls could hear the nasty smile in her voice. “Then again, I suppose it’s a whole lot easier when you’ve already been told about the person in question at length!”

Becky’s moans turned from distress to disbelief as she wriggled all the more in O’Mara’s grasp.

“Let’s just say that your friend Marta has been a bit of a pen pal of mine for a few weeks. Funnily enough, she ended up finding out about the very secret you two discovered this evening. Threatened to tell the whole world about my lovely collection of pets. The difference, though? She used that little bit of knowledge to gain something-not write some silly little news report, or blog, or whatever it is you two do.” Becky’s rear took a playful smack. “She’s got quite the crush on you, Becky. One might even say it borders on obsession! Our deal was simple-in exchange for her keeping things quiet, I’ve offered to help her out with a little bit of good old fashioned LlamTech wizardry. All in the interest of-get this-catching you! Small world, isn’t it my dear?”

“Thlll hrrhh thhh ghhmh thhh hllhhh...” Becky growled.

“I mean, what are the odds? Here I was dealing out cameras, and trap doors, and security measures for her to properly ensnare her little obsession-when the girl of her desire literally walks onto my doorstep! Why even bother with the first part of the deal-“ O’Mara’s grip tightened. “When I can deliver her princess directly to her?”

“Dnhhh yhhh ffcckknnn drrhhhh!” Ashley spoke up furiously, albeit muffled.

“Oh, and don’t think I’ve forgotten about you, Miss Serial-Breaking-and-Entering!” The CEO turned her attention to the other captive. “Jackie was kind enough to pull the file we had on you-apparently, you would have been wise to stay VERY far away from here. In case I wasn’t already clear, I am really not a fan of others interfering with my work. Did your friend Adrianne Olson ever tell you about that? About my little pet peeves?”

Ashley probably meant to utter some sort of defiant obscenity into her muzzle, but their captor naming her friend outright caused her fury to choke back into a weak whimper.

Even the CEO of freaking LlamTech knew who she was.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck. FUCK. Ash repeated in her head. They know we’re connected. They know I’ve been here. They know who I am. They know everything FUCK.

“Your panicked expression says EVERYTHING, my dear. I must say, I think I speak for all of my brave boys in security when I say that we’ve long awaited the day that Ashley Hamrick would be in this very scenario! Have you any idea the damage you’ve caused? The number of IGII units we’ve lost from your rampant disregard for private property? The amount of secrets you’ve leaked? Millions in damage, blondie.”

The CEO cackled as she smacked the rear ends of her captives, making them sway daintily with recoil. Almost dancing around the two girls, the woman in the flowing dress nestled herself behind Ashley and delicately placed her hands on the captive’s hips-pulling her uncomfortably close. Reaching up to the tape on Ashley’s face, O’Mara ungagged her furious prey.

“-and what do you have to say for yourself?”

“Eat a bag of dicks. As many dicks as you can find. In fact, get several truckloads. Eat them. Fuck you.” Ashley spewed at the tall woman holding her. “You leave Adrianne the fuck out of this. Hell, you leave April O’Neal over there out of this. They’re just doing their jobs. You want to fuck with someone? Fuck with me. I’m the one you want. Just don’t you dare f-mhhhpggggghhhhh!”

O’Mara gave a piteous chuckle as she clamped a hand over Ashley’s profane mouth.

“Well, I know what four letter word you resort to when you’re scared! And yes-I will be ‘fucking with you’, as you so delicately put it. Thank you for the offer-especially given how hard it is to find test subjects these days! In fact, I plan to mess with the two of you QUITE a bit.”

“Mmhhhffhhhhh?!”

Ashley’s heart dropped. That wasn’t supposed to go like that. She always thought that doing the “noble” option in a situation like this always resulted in some sort of..She didn’t know, secret outcome? Like the villain would be thinking “wow, what a super brave thing to do! I won’t kill you guys!

A furious grumble was all the blonde gave into the handgag.

“You really thought you could get away with trying to do something as reckless as exposing secret research? That you could just run away with research logs or photos of our most sensitive projects like that and it’d be all over? Moreover, you have the audacity to believe that you’re the hero in all this?” O’Mara rested her head on Ash’s shoulder and playfully pushed her bangs away. “My dear, sweet, NAIVE Ashley! Have you even stopped to consider the security we could bring to the world with the ‘Exchange’? Imagine! No more need for prisons! We can simply reprogram criminals. Mental illness? Simply back up consciousness, and restore to a previous state! The body, now augmented with LlamTech hardware, becomes nigh indestructible! Knowing all this, why on earth would you try to ruin us?”

“Do you even hear yourself? Like, are you getting off on sounding like a comic book villain?”

“I fully expected you to have such a black-and-white view of things, sweetheart.” The CEO gave Ashley a gentle kiss on the cheek and regagged her. “I’ll have to make sure we retain that idealistic bit of sass when I reprogram you...”

“Ffmhhhhh yyhhhh!!”

The woman moved back to Becky. O’Mara wrapped an arm around the squirming reporter, playfully twirling a strand of blonde hair that had fallen in her victim’s face.

“All we want is to change the world-and this is the thanks I get?” The woman paused once more to take a good long look at her prisoners. “That said, if dealing with little bits of corporate sabotage now and again means I get lookers like you two caught in my proverbial web?” She grabbed Becky’s chin and turned the girl’s face toward her. “Then I suppose I can live with it. Time enjoyed is hardly time wasted, am I right?”

“Llhhh mhhhh ghhhhhh, yhhh ssycckkko!” Becky pleaded into her gag-knowing full well that this woman wasn’t going to have a change of heart anytime soon.

“Aaah, you two better enjoy squealing and struggling while you can. I think I’m going to use you two as a reason to make the next jump in ‘the exchange’s capabilities...” both girls perked up, “Rather than giving Marta Alfonsi a tied and gagged Becky Carter all wrapped up for Christmas, I think I’ll do her one better. I think I’ll give her her favorite reporter fully customizable.”

“Mmhpphhhfffhhhhhfhf?!!?” Becky howled in panic.

“Oh, don’t be such a baby, my dear..” O’Mara ran a finger down the small of Becky’s back. “I’ll just hook you up to the same headsets you saw on darling Liz back there! Within a few hours, we’ll have added a bit of ‘source code’ to this pretty little head, and voila! Becky Carter can become WHOEVER Marta wants her to be.”

Becky and Ashley were swaying violently as their struggles picked up-terrified at the prospect becoming just like that poor girl.

“I can just SEE her delight. Christmas morning, a knock comes to the door of the Alfonsi estate. Marta opens the door to see, what’s this? Her princess Becky with her hands tied, mouth gagged, and a heartfelt note from LlamTech taped to her. But something’s different, she notices. Her darling Becky, all clad in some delightful nylons and a nice short skirt, doesn’t seem furious about all this. Instead? Her kitten comes right into her arms, simply over the MOON to be in the clutches of her new mistress..” O’Mara gently caressed Becky’s face, “-and you wouldn’t be any the wiser. She can change your very personality at a whim by putting that little headset back on! Just a few changes in the software while you’re hooked up, and maybe Becky can be programmed to serve as her secretary? The possibilities are endless!”

Becky wanted to scream-but refused to give this madwoman the satisfaction. This wasn’t happening, right?! This had to all just be a bad dream!

“-and don’t think I’d leave you out, my sweet Ashley!” O’Mara reached out and playfully caressed the girl’s bound thigh, reaching up to straighten out her leather skirt. “I think I’ll let you have a vacant pod down here next to Liz! Or better yet-I’ll let you and Adrianne be neighbors when I add her to our lovely family.”

Her FAMILY? Ashley was fuming. The CEO of LlamTech was ten times the psycho that any of the stories suggested. She was ACTUALLY nuts. Still furiously squirming, she felt a hand reach up beside her head.

“Enough with the sensory deprivation, I suppose. Let’s see those gorgeous eyes!”

Becky and Ashley’s eyes flooded with the light of several large monitors as Juliana O’Mara pulled away their blindfolds. The two glanced at eachother-finally seeing the full scope of their predicament. Strips of red and green striped tape sat plastered over their mouths, holding some sort of ballgag in place for extra measure. Just like when they were captured, Christmas lights coiled around just above and below their chests, wrists, and all along their respective legs-with all their weight pinned on a hook between the bonds at their shoulders, keeping them hanging nearly a foot off the ground. It would have been quite the merry sight, if one were able to look past the events of the last thirty minutes.

Before them stood Juliana O’Mara in all her glory. A strongly styled head of pink hair dropped to her shoulders, curling at the ends. Neatly manicured Christmas nails tapped her chin as she stood before her captives, tilting her head as one would admiring a painting at a gallery.

“I must say, you two make such a lovely display like this.” Her lecherous eyes wandered up and down the both of them. Becky’s skin was crawling-it was just like dealing with Marta’s sick glare.

“Gghh ffhkhh yhhrrrhh..” Ashley growled.

Just past their captor’s shoulder, the girls could see full displays of their respective vitals on nearby forty inch monitors. Name, blood type, height, weight and heart rate were all prominently shown-likely so O’Mara could ensure a smooth ‘transition’ with whatever sick conversion she had planned. The woman turned to the console and grabbed a pair of headbands-each with a mess of wires leading back into the ceiling.

“Let’s get you two fitted” O’Mara said with a wry smile as she approached. “These little beauties will interface you two directly into the Exchange. All it needs is a few minutes to read your brains-just so it can get acquainted with the canvas it’ll be working with. It’ll back up every memory, every bit of personality, every little thing that you two think makes you so unique. Then from there? Then we can begin begin the re-write process.”

Becky noticed the heart rate on Ashley’s monitor picking up drastically. Despite all the fronts of defiance, the other girl was clearly petrified of what was coming. Not that MDT’s star reporter wasn’t sweating bullets either.

“Any suggestions for your new personality, Miss Carter?” Becky’s train of thought was broken as O’Mara pulled the girl close, hands delicately running along her back. It wasn’t until just now that she had realized just how tall the pink-haired woman was-even tied up and suspended off the ground, the two stood at nearly eye level. “I’m thinking ‘ravenous little minx’, but that might be a little too on-the-nose for Marta.” She continued to ponder, wrapping a hand around Becky’s gagged face to get a ‘feel’ for how she could best re-write the reporter’s personality. Playfully running her fingers through the blonde French bun, down her arms, and her toned stomach-before finally stopping at her nylon clad thighs.

“You know what, Miss Carter? Those legs would look simply divine in a little black velvet ruffle mini skirt and some fishnets.” As if coronating the girl, O’Mara crowned the wired headset on to Becky-then smiled deviously. “Marta Alfonsi is about to be the owner of one reporter turned ditzy little French maid..”

“Mhhh whhhhthh?!?” Becky Carter failed to verbalize her disbelief on account of the ball filling her mouth. O’Mara fastened the apparatus, prompting another window to open on the monitors showing a full scan of her brain activity.

Oh god, this was real.

“-and no need for you to feel so left out, little miss thing!” O’Mara said as she turned away from Becky-punctuating her departure with a playful pressing of the tape over the reporter’s face to ensure full silence. Carrying another headset, she stood before the far angrier of the two damsels. “While Miss Carter over there will be bending over to dust and clean for her new mistress, I wasn’t sure how to rebuild you..But then I noticed this spicy wardrobe number of yours and thought, ‘Ashley Hamrick is destined to be my little leather princess’!”

“Yhrrr fhhkkn Whhtt?!?”

“Oh, it’ll be marvelous. You’ll be all dolled up, head to toe, in a nice, inescapable leather bodysuit. Completely devoid of sight, speech, or hearing-I’ll keep you ballgagged in my office, I think. Maybe let Jackie try her hand at playing with a sub-at least until I tire of her too.”

Both girls were well aware of the futility of struggling in this moment-but dammit, if Ashley’s fury didn’t give a shit about that. Like a fish on a line, she thrashed in every which direction. Variations of “fuck you”, “eat shit”, and “I’d like to see you fucking try” could be approximated from beneath her gag. Despite all this, O’Mara simply smiled and placed a headset over her head as well and stepped back to avoid taking a purple converse to the face. The CEO quietly returned to the console before them and made a few quick inputs before turning her attention back to her helpless captives.

“Here’s the agenda for this evening, my beautiful girls. As I said, the program needs some time to acquaint itself with all the wonderful little thoughts in your pretty heads. I’ve already queued the Exchange to begin in ten minutes-during that time, I’d advise you two to enjoy whatever final moments of free will you can. Simply relax, and try not to think too hard about what’s going to happen to you. As soon as the program has what it needs to coordinate programming, it’ll all be over in a flash. One quick wipe, or hard reset, and we’ll have stripped away all those inhibitions that keep you from becoming who you’re truly meant to be.” O’Mara stepped forward to caress Becky’s face. “From there? The Exchange will begin to download your new personalities and overwrite the old ones. Of course, I’ll save the old Becky and Ashley to a back up-but why would anyone want that when they’ve got French maid Becky and leather slave Ashley?”

Maybe she was still in denial, but Becky honestly was unable to truly grasp the nightmare that was getting ready to unfold. Despite every horrid situation she had ever found herself in, this one seemed so alien that it just couldn’t be real, right?

Right?....

Judging by Ashley’s quickened pulse on the monitor, she seemed to be swaying between “unstoppable being of rage with a ponytail” and “petrified damsel”. In any case, this impending horror was very real to her. She had seen what LlamTech was capable of-and this was far from the most far-fetched thing she had seen them imagine.

This was really about to happen.

“All the while, I think I’ll go upstairs and make the arrangements to have you shipped back to Manchester for our friend.” O’Mara laughed as Becky’s face turned a deep red at that one. “I’m sure I’ve got a few maid outfits that will look perfect on you, dear. I already took your measurements while you two were asleep, don’t worry. As for you, Miss Ashley? I’ll be sure we have your residence properly ready for your arrival. Hope you’ve made peace with never seeing the light of day again.”

There was a playfully threatening tone in every word Juliana O’Mara had said to them-but the violent nature of the woman really came out on that last one.

This woman truly was evil and didn’t even know it.

“Oh, and one more thing.” A switch was flipped on the console, initiating another siren blip like the one from before. From more portholes in the ceiling, over a dozen more quadcopter drones descended into the lab. Holding formation, the swarm circled the captive snoops slowly-ready to engage them the moment they managed to escape. With that, O’Mara dialed in a prompt into the Exchange’s interface, and tapped “begin”. A pop up window filled all screens with the words “CALIBRATING” above a timer counting down from 10:00. “I’ll let some more of these darlings keep watch in case you try anything stupid. You’re already well acquainted with them, yes?”

9:59

9:58

9:57

Becky and Ashley both exchanged an expression of dread-hoping that either one of them had a brave last-minute plan of escape.