Project Viper: Sleeping Cinders (Part 2) (Patreon)

Hey folks!

It's time at last for part 2 of this Project Viper/RWBY series! Last time Cinder and company were captured by the mysterious (and rather handsy) Agent Teller. Now they're waking up in captivity. Can they escape? Or is another fate awaiting them...

-

Progress report:

Capture complete. No complications recorded. All four subjects have been subdued and contained. The new villain-free timeline looks to be stable. Everything is in order to proceed onto phase two of the operation.

Conversion will now begin.

End Report.

-

Emerald groaned as her eyes fluttered open, the inside of her head feeling like a blender switched up to ‘liquify’. Where…

She snapped awake, looking around. This room wasn’t familiar. It was a small chamber, perhaps about two thirds the size of the student bedroom that she shared with the rest of her team, with white, smooth surfaces making up the walls, floor and ceiling, with light being delivered through narrow strips in the roof. The architecture sort of reminded her of the robots that Atlas was always pouring out – but no, this wasn’t Atlas, she was pretty certain about that. There was something too unfamiliar about it all, too alien.

The green haired thief had grown up on the streets – she knew to trust her instincts. And right now they were screaming at her that she was in danger here. She had to move, she had to find Cinder and escape, that was her priority right now.

Unfortunately her current position was going to make that difficult. She was bound in a thick white chair, her arms and ankles locked in thick metal cuffs that prevented her from rising. She was going to have to figure out a way to break those shackles before she could start her true escape. Difficult. Uncomfortable. But not impossible.

She knew a few tricks from her time evading the cops. Maybe if she… Huh. Was that music?

Blinking, she looked around. Had someone noticed she’d woken up? There wasn’t any sign of someone coming to check on her. The music seemed to be coming from the speakers in every corner of the room – some old sounding classical tune that Emerald didn’t recognise. It was the kind of song you’d hear when you were put on hold. Ugh. She rolled her eyes.

Right, so, breaking free. All she had to do was…

… Was…

… Was that music getting louder? She shook her head. Focus, Emerald, focus! She had to…

… Had to…

… It was really nice music though. Was it really that loud? It could stand to be a little louder, actually. That would be nice. The pleasant, soothing charm of it would help her relax and focus on… Focus on…

Uh…

… Escape! Escape, right…

The dark skinned thief frowned. She felt… hazy. Something strange was happening. She couldn’t focus. Every time she tried there’s be the strike of a violin or the strum of a harp, and her thoughts would be swallowed up by the music. Was… Was that bad? Was the music… doing something to-

The song cranked up another notch in volume, and Emerald forgot what she’d been thinking. Something about how nice the music was? How pleasant it was to listen to? Yes. Yes, that sounded right. It really was very nice, wasn’t it? So easy to listen to. So easy to relax to.

So easy to sit here and not think a single little thing to.

Her eyes fluttered again, and a small, calm smile spread over her lips as she leaned back and sank into the comfortable cushioning of her chair. Everything was fine. Everything would be great. Everything was totally normal, so she should just relax, and let the music carry her mind away until it was needed.

And so she did – the light fading from her eyes as she began to stare blankly at the wall in front of her, sat silently, smiling happily, waiting endlessly while trapped within the small, empty white room… and waited for whoever needed her to call her.

Until then, she could just relax, and listen to this lovely tune.

In the pair of rooms right next to hers, Neo and Mercury were deciding the exact same thing.

-

Cinder’s eyes snapped open, and she found herself looking directly into the piercing blue gaze of a familiar face... The woman who’d bumped into her at the plaza! Who… How?! The bound villain would have jumped, but she found she was bound to her chair far too tightly to move like that, held by thick metal restraints. What the...

The blonde gave her a smug grin and waved. “Wakey wakey babe! Rise and shine, we have so much to get done today, and I don’t feel like waiting around for a sleepy head~ You can snooze when I tell you too from now on, kay? Until then, we’ve got lots of things to discuss!”

The Fall Maiden’s amber eyes narrowed. Really? They thought they could speak to her like that? Whoever they were, they were the ones due for a rude awakening. The power of the maiden came easily, to her, the heat of the flames beginning to build…

“Oh, oopsie. Did I forget the nullifier? Silly me~” The woman giggled and whipped out a scroll, tapping in a few commands. It wouldn’t save her – whatever power she sought to wield couldn’t arise in time to prevent the bonfire about to-

A low tone rang through the room, the kind of quiet sound that you could almost ignore, a steady hum that buzzed through your bones and pooled in the base of your skull. Cinder’s vision split for a moment, and her power winked out. She blinked rapidly, suddenly uncertain. What? What was…

But her attempts to resummon the flames met with nothing. It was like her attempts to reach for it kept… missing. The power was there, but she couldn’t get to it – as though some kind of bubble had appeared between it and her.

Her confusion and surprise must have shown on her face, because the blonde woman looked absolutely delighted. “Hah! Oh wow, I love that look. It’s so…” Her voice dropped a few octaves and she pressed her chin into her chest, developing an accent that wouldn’t have been entirely out of place in a low budget gangster film. “Blaaahh, where did my evil powers go? How will I inspire fear and hate in this beautiful woman without my evil powers?! Oh nooooooo…” She relaxed, her voice returning to normal. “Totally worth nearly burning to death for. Now, shall we get down to business?”

“Who are you?” Cinder growled, her eyes flashing. Her restraints were tight and strong – she couldn’t do much more than glare, for the moment. But undoubtably, she would escape. And she was going to remember every second of this humiliation when she did.

“Yay!” The woman clapped her hands together. “I love it when we can move past all the bravado and actually start talking! There’s so much we can work out now. I’m sure we’ll find that we’re not so different, once we get right down to it! I mean, obviously, you’re an evil selfish jerk willing to burn the world down to get what she wants while I’m a lovely paragon of love and beauty, but you know, aside from that I’m sure we’ll get along fine.” She grinned, leaning back to get a full view of her bound captive. “I am Agent Abigail Teller, operative of VPRS – The Villain Prevention and Retrieval Service. Though we just call ourselves Project Viper these days, it’s more catchy. And you, my lovely dark-haired beauty…” She leaned in again, her hand reaching up to stroke her captive’s long black hair. “You’re Cinder Fall – the woman who wants to ruin the world of Remnant. Now why might that be, hm?”

It had been a rather long and self-aggrandizing speech, and Cinder had been rolling her eyes through most of it – but there had been at least a few interesting bits of information in there. Names. Places. This VPRS group sounded like a bad comic book plot, and the woman who had her captive sounded ludicrously insane – if it weren’t for her methods being so strangely effective, the Fall Maiden would have dismissed her instantly.

And yet, it seemed there might be some grain of truth to it all. Which moved it from absurd to disturbing. Just what did these people want…?

So she ignored the woman’s question. She obviously had no reason to give out her own motives for free right now. No, the best thing she could do here was take control of the situation. “I see… Abigail, was it?” She met the Agent’s eyes. “Look, I’m afraid you have the wrong person-“

“Oh come on.” Teller pouted, looking annoyed. “Really? You wake up in a state-of-the-art facility with your powers nullified and someone who clearly knows what you’re up to, and the best you can do is ‘Oh, it wasn’t me’? Tch.” She folded her arms, her disappointment palpable. “Jeeze, for an evil mastermind you’re not very creative, are you?”

Hm. No go, huh? Well it had been worth checking. Time to go for a different tactic then.

She laughed instead.

“Well, you can’t blame me for trying, can you?” She asked, her voice purposefully calm. It was important not to let your emotions show in circumstances like this – even if she was a searing caldera of rage on the inside, she was more likely to get results if she was professional on the outside. “Very well Abigail, it seems you have me.” For the moment. “And I’m not dead, and this doesn’t look like any jail cell that I’ve ever seen – so what is it that you want?”

Engage, charm, fish for information. Those were the rules she had to play by here. Somehow they had her at a disadvantage, and until she found a weakness to exploit, she’d have to play along. Feign defeat, let them think they’d won, and then strike the moment they lowered their guard. That was her best option for the moment.

Teller seemed delighted by the shift. “Much better! Now we can have a proper chat~” And with that she slid straight into Cinder’s lap, her knees sliding around the Fall Maiden’s securely held thighs. “It would have been so much easier if you’d accepted my offer of coffee, you know. Then we could have talked about these things without all this… unpleasantness…”

Ah. Cinder tightened her grip on her emotions, not allowing even a trace of disgust or anger to show on her face as her captor straddled her. No, this was… unpleasant, yes, but if this woman had some sort of attraction to her, then that would make it even easier to exploit her when the time came. “… I’m sure,” she said instead. “My apologies, I was… in a hurry. Plans don’t take care of themselves, you know. But since you have me at your disposal now, I don’t see why we can’t have whatever conversation you were planning on having here.”

“I’m glad you see it that way. Then let’s get down to business, shall we?” Agent Teller smirked down at her, and once again Cinder had to repress the urge to try to attack her. Save the rage until you have the opportunity to make use of it… “You’re being recruited.”

Huh? Cinder blinked. “Recruited? You mean you want me to join your… Villain club?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. Hm, so that was what this was all about…?

“Villain Prevention club,” Teller giggled. “That part’s important! We’re out there stopping naughty villainous gals like you~” Cinder twitched as the Agent lightly booped her on the nose. “And no no, I’m not trying to tell you I want you to join – I’m telling you you’re joining! Congrats, you’re in, we’ll even find you a nice uniform to go with your powers and body type, aren’t we the best?”

“Ah.” Right. She was being pressganged then. Conscripted into this strange woman’s service. Honestly she didn’t see why Teller was being so specific with her choice of words, but no matter. She could work with this. If she was supposed to become an agent, that meant they’d have to give her the freedom to move around and act. Once she had that, escape would be easy. This whole thing was proving to be a massive inconvenience, but at the very least she’d be able to get out of it soon. All she needed was the opportunity.

Still, she shouldn’t make it too easy on them. She had a degree of power here – they couldn’t force her to help them, no matter how they tried to intimidate her. And power was strength – something she was loathe to give up. “I can see why you’d want my help,” she said, her lips curling into a confident smirk. She had power, and they wanted it. It made perfect sense, and stoked her ego nicely. “But tell me – why should I give it? I could sit here forever if I wanted. So… What’s in this for me?”

Agent Teller blinked at her, tilting her head in a moment of confusion, before her lips made a small o shape as she apparently figured something out. “Oh! Oh, no no no.” She shook her head, chuckling. “No, Cinder, sorry, you misunderstand!” Then she leaned in close – terribly close, resting her forehead against her captive’s, amber eyes forced to stare into blue. “You will be joining Viper Ops. You will be fighting other villains and making better worlds for everyone. And you will be serving directly under me. But there’s nothing in it for you – except, you know, the satisfaction of a job well done, and the joy of knowing you’ve made me happy, which will be very important to you shortly! But no, that’s just how things are going to be.”

And before Cinder could react, she’d leaned back and hit a button on her control scroll. A black glass visor suddenly emerged from the head of Cinder’s chair, circling around the front of her face and covering her eyes.

“What are you- You can’t be serious!” The Fall Maiden snapped, struggling to move her head and failing. “No matter what you do, you cannot force me to be your lapdog! And I assure you the attempt will end in flames.” Each word was a snarl at this point, her anger great enough that she felt she might even be able to rip free of these metal restraints on her own soon enough.

But Teller didn’t sound the least bit worried. “Oh, but that’s where you’re so very wrong~” Cinder felt a hand stroke down her neck and along her chest. “Don’t worry – you’ll be happy to do it. Positively delighted! We just have to wash out that nasty personality of yours out and replace it with something a little nicer.” Another chuckle, and then lips being pressed against her cheek. “Goodbye, Cinder Fall. You were a nasty piece of work, but I do have to thank you for taking such good care of this body of yours. I’m going to enjoy having you between my sheets when we’re not working~”

Then there was a loud click, and the visor snapped on – a white and black spiral filling the captive’s vision, black bands of colour slowly shrinking away from her, off into a white oblivion… Or was it the other way around…?

Cinder frowned. They couldn’t… They couldn’t really be trying to hypnotise her, could they? That was… ridiculous. There was no way that that… That that could…

Her brow wrinkled as she felt something slide over her ears. “Now you just lay back and enjoy the show, babe…” Teller’s voice held just a hint of electronic interference as it echoed, so close to her now. “Relax…”

There was a tone – a solid note that emerged from the background hum and rose in intensity, buzzing through Cinder’s mind, as though it was flowing in through one ear and out through the other. It had the oddest effect of making it… difficult to think, somehow. The louder it got, the more it seemed to drown on the Maiden’s thoughts. And the harder it was to think, the more she found herself staring into the spiral, her eyes slipping deeper and deeper and-

N-no! No, this couldn’t- She wouldn’t let this happen! Sudden panic flashed through her mind as she realised that despite how ridiculous it sounded, this hypnotic treatment was having an effect on her, and that surge granted her the strength to act. Quickly, desperately, she jammed her eyes shut, blocking out the spiralling lights and taking a breath to steady herself – to firm her resistance.

Anger ignited in the pit of her belly once again. How dare they – did the fools really think they could do this to her? Didn’t they know who she was? She was Cinder Fall! And she wouldn’t be brought low by this! She would- She would-!

Another tone rang through her head, the unexpected intrusion dazzling the thought away. A second note that sang in harmony with the first, ringing so loudly it vibrated through her skull. Cinder’s eyelids fluttered, but she kept them closed. Even though now it was harder to think than ever, she knew she couldn’t open them. That if she did she’d be lost. She had to-

“Relax.”

The word just slipped into her mind, rolling out over thoughts that the tones had erased, echoing in through her ears and out through her body.  It may as well have been her own. Relax? She couldn’t help but do just that, her tense muscles releasing, her stiff pose drooping. She sank into her chair, the padding warm and comfortable. Yes. She was relaxed. Now she could-

A new tone stopped the thought dead before it could fully resolve, the notes still singing loudly through her, still drowning out all else in her head. Now she could- Now she could-

“Open.”

Her eyelids fluttered again, and this time there was no resistance as they slid open. The spiral was waiting for her. Before, it had slowed down her mind, tangled her thoughts and stumbled her synapses. Now, with her mind so thoroughly hobbled and emptied already by the notes, it acted more like quicksand – sucking what was left of Cinder’s awareness, of her thoughts and desires and rage, sucking everything down into a white and black twisting oblivion, draining it all from her head.

Her lips parted, her mouth hanging open. She didn’t even feel the greedy kiss press up against it, or the tongue swirling in her mouth.

Her mind stalled. Stopped. And rested – Empty. Mindless. Open.

“Fall.”

Cinder Fell. She thought nothing. Deeper than nothing. Her mind was filled with the antithesis of thought. Her head was so hollow that it hollowed itself. She sat open, completely, the deepest, most basic aspects of her soul exposed and undefended.

“Submit.”

And she did.

-

Teller was pleased. And why wouldn’t she be? She had a villain bound up – restrained in both body and mind. She had a beautiful woman ready to hang on her every word. And she was making great time on this entire mission. As far as she was concerned, everything was proceeding 100% smoothly!

Which meant she had plenty of room to enjoy herself with before she needed to sign the final reports.

“Hmmm. Not so fierce now, are you babe?” The Agent giggled, sliding out of her captive’s lap – while making sure that her microphone wasn’t on. Ah, the wonders of technology. Cinder couldn’t hear her through the thick headphones clamped around her ears without a little electronic help, and it was best to be careful with that. Right now a few casual words could have a massive impact on the sexy thing’s mind, and it wouldn’t do to start filling her head with unplanned nonsense.

After all, she had plenty of planned nonsense that would do just fine!

“Let’s get the defabricator on you…” Teller muttered, pressing another button, and not even glancing up as there was a flash of light from Cinder’s chair, all of the woman’s clothing instantly reduced to mere threads which quickly vanished. She only looked over once the work was done, and she could get a nice long view of the Fall Maiden’s naked body, bathed in the flickering light that leaked out from underneath her visor. Mmm, delicious~

“Alright then!” She sat back down, once again using Cinder’s lap for a seat, her hands rising up to cup the Maiden’s now bare breasts, her thumbs stroking the woman’s nipples. No reaction – Cinder’s expression, so adorably slackjawed, didn’t change an inch. There wasn’t even a flush to her cheeks. She was truly under. Teller nodded, and flicked her microphone on. Time to get to work. “You are now an asset of Project Viper.”

The response was immediate. “I am now an asset of Project Viper,” Cinder’s voice droned, completely absent of any emotion or intent. She was merely repeating the words that sank right to her core, and rewrote her identity. She was now an asset of Project Viper. There was no doubt or question about it in her mind – it was pure, untarnished truth. Teller was convinced - she belonged to them.

But there was no harm in gilding the lily, was there?

“You are completely loyal, heart and soul, to Project Viper.”

“I am completely loyal, heart and soul, to Project Viper.”

Again her command was recited, crisp and clear, with no trace of hesitation. Another building block for the mind of the new Cinder slid into place.

“You will obey any member of Project Viper of Agent rank or above, no matter what their orders might be.”

“I will obey any member of Project Viper of Agent rank or above, no matter what their orders might be.”

“You will follow the hierarchy. The higher someone’s rank, the greater priority their orders have.”

“I will follow the hierarchy. The higher someone’s rank, the greater priority their orders have.”

“And you will obey Abigail Teller’s orders above all others~”

“And I will obey Abigail Teller’s orders above all others.”

The Agent smiled, giving Cinder’s chest another squeeze as she turned her microphone off for a moment. “Mmm, good girl~ See, isn’t life so much easier when you’re not being a bitch?” She asked, draping herself forward before kissing her helpless toy once again, and then leaving a trail of lip marks down the oblivious woman’s neck and resting her head on her shoulder. “I’ll have to make sure you’ve got a better attitude going forward. But first…”

She activated her microphone again, adjusting the modulation slightly, and turned on the chair’s recording function on for good measure. Interrogation time, before she got carried away and forgot… again. “Cinder. Tell me everything you know about the grimm, and your plans before you became a Viper asset.”

There was a moment of silence as Cinder’s empty mind processed the instruction and summoned up the relevant information. This command didn’t sink to the bedrock of her soul, so its effects wouldn’t be quite so profound – but it was none the less quite irresistible. “The grimm are originally a creation of the god of darkness, designed to attack the creations of the god of light, and now serve the commands of the immortal Salem…”

And so she talked, revealing every secret and plan with which she had been entrusted over the years. The tale of the two brothers, the story Salem had told her of the sundering of the world, the maidens, the relics, her plans and schemes, all of it. She didn’t, she couldn’t, conceal a thing, and the idea never occurred to her that she should. There was no thought or feeling in her recital – she was no more aware of herself or her words than a book being read in a library. Her only pauses were to answer the questions that Teller occasionally asked for clarification about people, places, and events.

And by the time she finally finished, her mouth once again hanging slack once her talk was done, Project Viper had a far better idea of what was going on down on Remnant. How very useful~

Teller let out a low whistle, her microphone once again securely off. “Hoo. Well that’s a mess and a half. No idea how Command’s going to deal with all that… Good thing planning’s not my problem~” Ahhh, the carefree innocence of a lowly Agent. She didn’t have to dwell on the big picture, she just had to deal with the end result. Death defying action and intense stealth operations were so much easier than balancing out synchronicity.

“But that’s all the important stuff dealt with… Oh, oops.” She winced and shut down the recording function. Hopefully the Research division would find her last comment funny instead of… Uh, well, anyway. Time to have fun. She switched her microphone back on.

“So, Cinder… What are your interests sexually? Do you have anyone or anything you’re interested in…?” She all but purred like a cat, her smirk growing wider by the second.

And yet the answer was… “No. I’m not interested in anyone or anything in particular.”

Teller blinked. Huh. “No one?”

“No. Sexuality is merely another method of manipulating others to gain power over them. I will do what I must, and no more.”

Hm. How about that. The Agent was almost impressed. “Ace, huh?” She muttered, switching her mic off. “Or… close? Whatever. I guess in the end you were only ever about you, right babe? Well, no more of that.” She switched it back on again, modifying the modulation to reach down to her captive’s deepest level. “Cinder – you are now a lesbian. You are sexually attracted to women.”

Once again there was no hesitation. “I am now a lesbian. I am sexually attracted to women.”

“In fact, you’re very attracted to cute blondes with blue eyes~”

“In fact, I a very attracted to cute blondes with blue eyes.”

“Abigail Teller is the most beautiful woman you have ever seen and you fell in love with her the moment you first laid eyes on her.”

“Abigail Teller is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and I fell in l- I fell in l- I…”

Agent Teller’s expression switched from playful to deadly serious in an instant as her enthusiasm screeched to a halt. What? What was this? Why had Cinder stopped?

“You are in love with Abigail Teller.” She spoke clearly and forcefully, moving quickly to address the problem.

“I am in- I…”

The Agent blinked. What was this hesitation? Resistance? It couldn’t be… She checked the chair’s readings. No, Cinder was still as deeply under as ever. Then why…? She tried again.

“You are in love with Abigail Teller.”

“I am in l- I am in… lo- Lu…”

“Love.”

Cinder gasped. “L-love…!”

“You are in LOVE with Abigail Teller.”

“I am… in… l-l-love… with Abigail Teller…?”

It wasn’t really a question – more… confusion. As if Cinder couldn’t quite work out what the words mean- Oh! Oh. Teller bit her lip to stop herself from laughing. Could that really be it?

“Yes Cinder. You are in love with Abigail Teller. She is your world. Your everything. She means more to you than power. She means more to you than life itself. You love her, with all of your heart, and you will do anything to please her.”

The Fall Maiden sighed, empty mind awhirl as her heart was bent into an unfamiliar shape – as she was made to care about someone else for the first time in… In a very long time.

“Yes,” she finally said, her voice once again returning to monotone obedience as her troubles were smoothed away. “I am in love with Abigail Teller. She is my world. My everything. She means more to me than power. She means more to me than life itself. I love her, with all of my heart, and I will do anything to please her.”

There. Much better. Phew – hah! Wow, she’d been worried there. Imagine – a villain breaking conditioning because she couldn’t imagine loving someone else! Talk about narcissism~ How lucky that she’d fallen into her clutches where she could be lovingly corrected!

And, in fact, if she’d been starved for love that badly, then clearly she had some catching up to do, right? Teller’s smile returned, and she rested her head against Cinder’s visor, peering into the glass. It as dark, but she could swear she saw the Maiden’s blank eyes staring emptily back at her. She hoped so. She wanted to see the change she was about to make.

“Cinder. You are a horny slut.”

“Yes. I am a horny slut.”

“You are MY horny slut.”

“I am your horny slut.”

“You get wet just thinking about serving me.”

“I get wet just thinking about serving you.”

“When you’re on duty for Project Viper you can keep yourself in check, but once you’re off all you care about is getting off and pleasing me~”

“When I’m on duty for Project Viper I can keep myself in check, but once I’m off all I care about is getting off and pleasing you.”

Teller’s grin was savage. Her fingers were resting between Cinder’s legs, and she could already feel the woman’s lower delta starting to moisten. “While you’re on duty you are pleasant and professional – doing good and working hard to save worlds.”

“While I’m on duty I am pleasant and professional, doing good and working hard to save worlds.”

“While you’re off duty you are my loving little slut, a submissive and sweet member of my harem, always ready and willing to do whatever will please me, and never jealous of anyone else I might choose to play with instead.”

“While I’m off duty I am your loving little slut, a submissive and sweet member of your harem, always ready and wiling to do whatever will please you, and never jealous of anyone else you might choose to play with instead.”

Yeah. That sounded like fun~ And if she got bored of her new toy, she could always change her again. Oh, speaking of, she’d better not forget to put in a few trigger words!

“When you hear me say the words ‘Toppled Ember’, you will immediately fall back into a trance exactly like the one you are currently in, your mind open and ready to be commanded.”

“When I hear you say the words ‘Toppled Ember’, I will immediately fall back into a trance exactly like the one I am currently in, my mind open and ready to be commanded.”

Annnd one more for fun! “Whenever anyone tells you ‘Sleep now in the fire’ and you are not currently on duty, you will instantly become smitten with them as though they were me. These feelings will last for 24 hours unless I tell you otherwise.”

“Whenever anyone tells me ‘Sleep now in the fire’ and I am not currently on duty, I will instantly become smitten with them as though they were you. These feelings will last for 24 hours unless you tell me otherwise.”

There. That would make lending her out when she wanted a favour from her fellow agents much easier~ And that… That would just about do it, actually. Teller couldn’t think of anything else to add. So, time to wake her up and make sure everything had stuck properly, then.

“Cinder. In a moment, I will snap my fingers. When I do, you will wake up, and be on duty. Your past, and all of your previous relationships and plans, will no longer mean anything to you. You will be an asset for Project Viper, no more, no less. How you became this way will not matter to you – all that matters now is following your new orders.”

The visor and restraints retracted as Cinder began to repeat her last instruction, the earphones waiting until she was done to fold away, making sure she didn’t end in some kind of recursive loop from the sound of her own voice. “In a moment you will snap your fingers. When you do, I will wake up and be on duty. My past, and all of my previous relationships and plans, will no longer mean anything to me. I will be an asset for Project Viper, no more, no less. How I became this way will not matter to me. All that matters now is following my new orders.”

Even without the spiral hovering in front of her, her amber eyes still stared blankly into space, obviously empty and without a shred of wit behind them. Teller licked her lips, taking the chance to do one last check of her body. Stroking the inside of her lovely thighs, squeezing her surprisingly firm ass, cupping those lovely breasts, and stealing one last kiss… Before she stood back up and held her fingers before the entranced Maiden’s face.

Snap.

Cinder blinked, her mind rushing back into action like water pouring through a broken dam. Where- Oh! She was on duty!

She shot up, standing straight before her beautiful superior officer. “Agent Teller! Ah- Asset Cinder Fall, reporting for duty!” She would have even snapped a salute, but for some reason despite knowing she was a member of Project Viper, she had no idea what their protocols were. She’d have to learn those quickly…

But Agent Teller, wonderful angel that she was, didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she smiled happily at seeing the proof of Cinder’s devotion. “Perfect. Welcome to the team, Miss Fall. So glad you’re finally on board~”

“Happy to be here, ma’am,” The Maiden replied, smiling just as freely. After all, she belonged to the most wonderful woman in the world, the one whom she loved with all of her heart. Why wouldn’t she be happy? “I look forward to working under you~”

“Oho~” The Agent’s smile widened, and she glanced down. “Same here, Asset. Same here~”

Huh? What was she looking at? Curious, Cinder followed her gaze… Only to turn beet red as she realised that protocols weren’t the only thing she was currently lacking. “A-ah, my clothes-!” She all but yelped, trying to cover herself with her arms. Damn, she had to be professional! “I’m- I’m so sorry ma’am, I-“

“You don’t care about being naked,” Teller said, cutting through her embarrassed stammering. “That’s an order, babe.”

Cinder blinked again. Oddly enough… she found that it was true. Her embarrassment evaporated like it never was, and her arms relaxed at her sides. Why would she care about being naked, anyway? “As you say, ma’am.”

“I do indeed.” Teller grinned like a cat eyeing a canary, and slid an arm around her new subordinate’s waist. “But let’s go get you a new uniform anyway. I think you’ll look lovely in a Viper bodysuit. And it’s bound to make the right impression on your old friends…”

“My… friends, ma’am?” Cinder asked, her brow wrinkling as she was led out of the white room, and off into the complex, still naked as the day she was born. What friends…?

“Oh yes,” Agent Teller nodded, an evil glint in her eyes. “You’re not the only new recruit today. And I think that the others will sign on a lot more readily once they realise that you’ve joined our team.”

“Ah. Okay.” Why not? “I live to please, Agent~”

“Heh.” The Agent smiled. “I know you do, babe. I know you do~”