Granblue fantasy - In too deep part 1 (Patreon)

“Looks like this is the entrance.” Zeta said to her mission companions.

“Should we head in straight away?” Beatrix offered.

“That would be foolhardy. We know next to nothing about this place.” Ilsa argued.

The crew had been handed down urgent orders to investigate a remote, abandoned, underground laboratory that was supposedly researching primal beasts. 

As a result of the completely unexpected directive, the threesome of warriors had been forced to mobilize without the remaining members of their squad. Zeta had even been called during her downtime and was therefore wearing civilian clothes.

Since she was called in wearing just a tiny black tank top that left most of her shoulders and midriff bare and an extremely short miniskirt, the blonde had at least thrown on a dark green coat with woollen lining for the cold.

Her sandals she’d at least managed to switch for long thigh-high socks and a pair of leather boots for added protection.

Beatrix was dressed in her usual combat suit: The blue thigh-high socks provided comfort against the hard steel of her armoured (high-heeled) boots, complete with knee-protector and thigh shield.

A skin-tight underbody with equal parts blue and black fabric, with most impressive of all a built-in support for her sizeable breasts so it could be worn without a bra for a tighter fit.

Over the underbody she wore her steel harness that protected her shoulders, upper back and arms all the way up to her fingers thanks to the armoured gloves.

The belt that held her weapons was tightly cinched around her waist, emphasising her hourglass figure.

Her blue and gold cape hooked to her right shoulder finished the gorgeous warrior’s look.

Ilsa had also turned up in her military uniform. Her figure-hugging white trousers formed a thin but sturdy layer of protection for the whole of her lower body, enforced by her white steel high-heeled boots with similar red and gold decorations as her trousers.

Her white shirt and vest had the same print of decorations, as did her military cape. All that white was a great match for her pale, smooth skin and dark hair.

A bigger issue than Zeta’s lack of combat gear was the fact that the young women were basically flying blind. Since the mission details had come in on extremely short notice they were lacking in much detail. Hence Ilsa’s reservations about just barging in, versus Beatrix’ eagerness to gather intel as quickly as possible.

“Standing around isn’t going to do us much good.” Beatrix argued.

“Neither is rushing inside without a proper plan. Did you forget we’re here without backup?” Ilsa came back. “What if we’re attacked?”

“We fight back.”

“Don’t be facetious!” The raven-haired drill sergeant lectured. “This is serious, Beatrix! If we’re wounded or captured, there’ll be no one to fall back on.”

“Then let’s not get wounded or captured.” The brunette smirked before turning to Zeta. “What’s your opinion, tie breaker?”

“We don’t need a tie breaker; I say we report back that we found the entrance and wait for reinforcements.” Ilsa insisted.

“Ilsa, let’s be reasonable. We were instructed to urgently investigate this place. Going back to the brass with this little information will just end up with us getting yelled at.” The brunette countered.

The pair turned to Zeta for her input.

She tapped her chin. “I think we should take the risk and head inside.”

Beatrix’ face lit up. “Then let’s go!”

“Hang on!” Ilsa interrupted. “I still think we should-“

“You’re wasting your time Ilsa.” Zeta interrupted. “Beatrix’ mind is made up, since we have to stick together, our choice has been made for us.”

The blonde hummed a cheerful tune as she followed the brunette inside.

“You two!” The raven-haired woman growled, chasing after them.

I should’ve known there’d be no holding back Beatrix once we found the entrance… Let’s just make the best of it.

The threesome joined up again inside the first corridor and started exploring in standard battle formation.

As they made their way through the corridors, they discovered various empty or disused rooms. Abandoned operating rooms, dust covered scanners and incubation tubes, broken mirrors and walls or ceilings with tears or holes in them.

“This place looks like it’s been abandoned for years.” Zeta remarked. “Do you really think any experiments are still going on here?”

“Even if there no longer are, we should still report on everything we find here.” Ilsa replied. “Any information we can dig up can be beneficial for future operations or raids on these kinds of facilities.”

Beatrix nodded. “In that case, since we’ve already ventured this deep; should we keep going all the way to the end?”

She stroked her sword. “Besides, I have this feeling that something is here.”

“Something?”

The brunette nodded again. “I don’t know why, I just feel we should press on.”

“Then let’s go!” Zeta said confidently. “Who knows? We might find something exciting!”

The trio ventured in deeper, eventually turning onto a very wide corridor which could only be the road leading to the main research laboratories.

They continued in silence, with only the sound of their footsteps echoing around the walls of the desolate compound. Ilsa had ordered them all not to speak a word, to prevent from being distracted from any sentries or hidden fighters.

It was a good thing the dark-haired gunslinger made that call, because when they were about halfway down the corridor, two doors on either side swung open and dark brown automatons jumped out.

“Manikins!” Beatrix warned, as her job in the vanguard required.

The group assumed battle positions in a split second and started fighting off their robotic opponents.

It was a short scuffle, but one that left the girls quite puzzled. Not one of the manikins had even tried to strike a deadly blow. The manikins had seemed oddly focused on pinning down their arms or legs, but with the trio backing each other up none of the dolls got very far in doing so.

“Well, at least we know we’re getting closer.” Zeta remarked.

“And that there’s something worthwhile in here. Otherwise there wouldn’t be any guards.” Beatrix joined in.

“We’ll move forward. But don’t let your guard down.” Their leader said sternly. “Just because we dealt with these so easily is no guarantee there isn’t something more dangerous in here.”

Beatrix sighed. “Yes ma’m.”

The gorgeous Erune glared at the brunette. “Am I going to have to make you do laps when we get back?” She threatened.

“Now, now, calm down Ilsa.” Zeta intervened; “Beatrix knows what she’s doing. She won’t put the mission -or us- at risk.”

“Of course I won’t!” Beatrix replied heatedly. “But we don’t have any other choice than to go forward so why should I dawdle around here?”

“There are several options that fit in between dawdling and rushing in head first.” Ilsa lectured sarcastically. 

The blonde chuckled and Beatrix frowned. “Let’s just keep moving.”

“Yes, let’s.” Zeta chimed, after which Ilsa also nodded and the group continued on their way.

After two more small ambushes which the girls fought their way through, a third forced them to make a temporary retreat. Only to discover their route back had been cut off by even more manikin’s!

“A pincer attack?!” Beatrix yelped.

“Hold this position!” Ilsa immediately shouted. “We know their numbers now, we can deal with them until an opening to break through presents itself.”

“Sounds fun!” Zeta replied, readying her spear. “Let’s see who can take out the most as we wait for that opening!”

“You’re on!” Beatrix grinned.

Ilsa rolled her eyes.

These two… 

For the first five minutes the fight seemed to head in the girls’ favour. They were gradually pushing back the manikins and creating more room around them. But when the moment came to make a break, Beatrix chose to push deeper into the laboratories rather than retreat.

“BEATRIX!” Ilsa shouted. “Are you insane?! Who knows how many manikins are still lying in wait for us!”

But the stubborn brunette forged onwards regardless, forcing Zeta and Ilsa to dispense the last of the rear enemies and give chase.

Sadly, their momentary separation was exactly the opening the remaining manikins had been waiting for.

When Beatrix was standing alone against two manikins, four others suddenly abandoned the group fighting Ilsa and Zeta to rush and surround the swordswoman.

“What?!” She yelped at the sudden coordinated attack.

“BEA-!” Zeta yelled, but a sudden attack from her flank forced her to divert her attention. Ilsa was struggling as well, meaning the brunette had to fend for herself.

She tried pushing the manikins back, but with six to one there were too many arms to handle. The young woman was quickly overpowered and restrained by three of the dummies. The others three meanwhile brought out something she’d never seen before: Large rolls of a strange dark grey colour.

The sharp sound it made when the thin material was rolled off sent a shiver down the warrior’s spine.

“Hmrggnn! You damned cretins! Let go of me!” She growled as the manikins holding her body pressed her arms together behind her back, making it easy for another to wrap the material around her wrists. The automaton circled her wrists several times over, pulling it tight and smooth until Beatrix’ hands couldn’t separate anymore.

“What the hell is this?!” Beatrix yelped as she tried to wrest her arms free. But the sticky substance seemed to have fused with her skin, and the multiple layers made the alien material very durable.

Her heartbeat started rising.

This stuff is weird. It’s flexible, but deceptively strong! I don’t think I can tear it.

Whilst her attention was focused on getting her hands free, the manikins took advantage and wrapped more of her alluring body up in tape.

The puppet that had done her wrists wrapped up more of her arms, even pinning her elbows down until they touched.

The two other tape-wielding manikins worked on Beatrix’ slender legs. By wrapping their tape around her ankles, calves and thighs the warrior’s legs felt pretty much welded together.

Some more tape ended up wrapped around her waist, catching her arms as well to press them flat against her back.

As her body grew more and more immobile, the brunette’s eyes widened with fear.

This is bad, really bad!

“Help me!” She cried out on instinct. But to her despair, Zeta and Ilsa were still working their way through the horde of manikins on their side.

I should’ve listened to Ilsa. Beatrix scolded herself.

“Beatrix!” Ilsa and Zeta screamed back, trying to fight their way through to help her.

But that was the last thing their friend wanted them to do. Now that she’d been trapped, the young woman realized how dangerous this new restraint was!

If they underestimate it or get caught off guard, all hope will be lost!

“Don’t follow me!” She shrieked. “You have to-mpffnn!”

A last round of tape hit her face, covering her lips and cutting off her voice.

The act of gagging Beatrix not only startled her, but Zeta and Ilsa alike.

“HMRNNNNN!”

Zeta briefly froze in place out of shock at the sight of her friend’s gagged face, but Ilsa let out an angry roar and started blowing holes in even more manikins to get to her comrade.

Even as she was carried off, Beatrix kept shouting at the others to retreat. She prayed that they’d understand her, that Ilsa would fall back on her initial plan. The plan our lovely damsel had cast into the wind because of her impatience.

They have to get out of here and return with reinforcements. It’s the only way to guarantee we all make it out.

“BEATRIX!” Zeta screamed in panic as the young warrior was carried off, but Ilsa held on to the blonde.

“Wait! If we follow her like this we’ll just walk into another trap.”

“Then what do you suggest?!” Zeta snapped back. “Abandon her and run for our lives?!”

“Retreating would be the wisest course of action, yes.” Ilsa replied. “When reinforcements arrive-“

“By that time Bea could’ve been transported to God knows where!” Her comrade protested. “Or experimented on, or- or-“

“Calm down Zeta!” The dark-haired woman barked. “I know what the risks are of leaving Beatrix like this.”

“Then why-“

“Which is exactly why we’re not retreating.”

It took a few seconds for those words to register with the blonde.

“But you just said the best move was-“

“I don’t care if it’s the safest move, or the best tactic for success.” The drill sergeant interrupted. “I’m not abandoning a comrade. We move forward.”

“Ilsa…” Zeta sighed, moved by her leader’s compassion.

The proud Erune just shrugged. “Like you were ever planning on doing anything different.” 

“Neither were you.” Her team mate giggled.

Meanwhile, a wildly thrashing Beatrix had been carried all the way to the end of the wide corridor and arrived in the main laboratory. It was a huge room of a least 1000 square feet filled with large machines, cupboards full of operating equipment and strange devices the brunette couldn’t recognise.

She was laid down on one of the larger operating tables and promptly abandoned by the 4 manikins that had carried her there.

Bewildered by the sudden lack of attention, Beatrix tried to sit up and look around the room. But with her arms so thoroughly taped up and her legs stuck together, even a matter a simple as that proved annoyingly difficult. Only by raising her legs high in the air and using them as a lever, in combination with her stomach muscles, she managed to pull herself upright.

“Hmmff, hmnnff, hmnffff…”

When she finally managed to sit up straight, the young captive was panting from the effort.

This is just ridiculous. I can’t do anything because of this weird stuff! Isn’t there some way to get it off me?

The brave swordswoman tried squirming her way out, picking at the tape wrapped around her wrists. But with her arms pinned behind her back so firmly, it proved impossible. The tape was too durable, no matter how much strength she put in, it wouldn’t budge.

If I am to ever escape this stuff, I’ll need a knife of some sort.

Her first thought had been to call upon her sword to find out where it was hidden. She sensed it was in the room, but quite far from her.

Her dark brown eyes scanned the vast laboratory. Dozens of cupboards lined the walls. At least one of them had to hold a set of scalpels or blades.

She tried moving her legs once more. The tape creaked softly, but wasn’t letting up.

“Hmrnn.” She grunted annoyed.

It’s going to be humiliating and embarrassing, hopping around like this. Let’s just hope no one walks in to see me...

After carefully scooting her cute behind to the edge of the table and lowering her legs, she slid her body off as slowly as she could. Her heart kept pounding until the liberating feeling of her boots touching the floor finally hit her.

It’s ridiculous how hopeless I am right now! If I could at least move my arms a little, this wouldn’t have been so nerve-wracking.

Beatrix turned towards the closest row of closets and took a deep breath through her nose.

Alright, here goes!

The brunette bent at the knee and made her first small jump. The second she landed again, her awkwardly positioned arms and legs made it difficult to regain her balance.

At times like this I regret that my combat boots have these built-in high heels. They look cute, but stability wise they can be a nightmare.

The second hop went a lot better than the first. Her third and fourth were even made in immediate succession. From there on, she had a rhythm going.

She reached the first closet without incident and started pulling open all of the drawers her tightly taped hands could reach. Some of them were quite heavy to operate, to the point of our brave fighter having to lean in with all her weight to budge the wide drawer. Inside those she found large, heavy metal objects. All of them blunt and far too unwieldy to lift out.

Okay, no surprise there. I wouldn’t be so lucky to find a tool for my escape on the first try. Next closet.

Beatrix started bouncing for the next closet, one with two upright doors this time. She had to grab hold of the ring handles and carefully hop in a semi-circle to pull one of them open. As she’d feared, the only thing to be found inside that closet were lab coats and rubber gloves.

Whilst hopping towards another chest of drawers, she nearly stumbled and fell.

“Hmnnff!” The brunette yelped into her gag as she narrowly avoided a painful dive onto the dust-covered floor.

That was close. I don’t even want to think about how I’d get back on my feet if I end up on the floor!

After safely making her way to the third drawer, but yet again finding nothing useful inside, the brunette gave up.

She was panting from the repeated hops around the room, which proved to be a lot more tiring than walking or even running. And it hadn’t gotten her any closer to escaping!

This place is completely desolate. And the room is too big. I could spend a week jumping around and never find something to cut this stupid stuff off!

There was one definite tool for escaping in this room though.

She glanced in the direction her sword was. She sensed it was within reach, all she had to do was get there… without falling.

Luckily, by now the svelte swordswoman had gotten the hang of jumping with bound arms and legs. She was starting to cover more ground with each jump and using her momentum to keep herself balanced. Her trip to the other end of the huge room took relatively little time compared to her careful journey to the first chest of drawers.

But it was still a long and arduous journey. Beatrix didn’t dare stop too often since it only burned energy to stop and start, let alone keep yourself balanced. But repeating a motion you weren’t at all used to was causing quite a lot of strain on her muscles.

My legs are killing me! This is more tiring than Ilsa’s drills!

After what felt like hundreds of jumps, the bound and gagged warrior finally laid eyes upon her sword.

“Hmnnf (YES)!” She cheered as she saw her Embrasque stood upright against in the corner of the room, still in its scabbard.

The idea of finally being rid of her tape immediately made her forget about her fatigue and pain.

Almost there!

However, the moment she got within 5 feet of it she was startled by four manikins dropping down from the ceiling and barring her way.

Instinctively the brunette tried to jump back and take up a battle stance. But her tight tape bondage ruined that completely. She lost her balance and was headed for a painful drop on the floor when two of the manikins grabbed her by the shoulders and the other two lifted her feet off the ground so they could carry her off, right back to where they’d left her the first time.

As Beatrix squirmed around and screamed to be released, the horrifying truth of that room came to her:

I’m bait! These things set a trap for Zeta and Ilsa!

She stopped her hopeless resistance and started looking around the room. Dozens of manikins were hidden under ceiling panels, inside large closets or even behind hidden doors! All of them were currently transfixed with her gorgeous body, on standby in case the manikins carrying her required help.

The swordswoman ended up back on her table, her entire body trembling with frustration. But even more powerful than that were her prayers that the girls had listened to her and chosen to retreat instead of chasing after her. 

But deep down, Beatrix already knew which option her faithful friends would’ve chosen.

She was soon to be proven right, because Zeta and Ilsa had been cautiously venturing through the rest of the corridor, checking every door and dealing with any stray manikins on their way. They also left marks behind to indicate the path they’d taken, all to ensure they’d have a safe escape route the moment Beatrix was back with them.

After over a dozen of rooms, 2 of which contained several manikins, the duo reached the main lab. They immediately discovered their friend, bound and gagged on that tall operating table. The fact she hadn’t made any progress felt somewhat disconcerting. From what they could tell from a distance, the brunette was panting too. So she’d definitely been trying.

We musn’t let any of that stuff get on us. Ilsa thought to herself.

Zeta had drawn the same conclusion already. She was slowly approaching Beatrix whilst keeping an eye out for movement. That left Ilsa to cover the blonde’s back and their way out.

“Beatrix, are you alright?” Her comrade asked.

“Hmnf?!” The brunette yelped as she sat upright with wide eyes.

They came for me after all!

Zeta had expected her friend to look relieved, happy even. But instead, she immediately started making a fuss!

“Calm down Beatrix, we’ll untie you right away.” Zeta tried to pacify her.

“And we might not even tell anyone about the pathetic way you got captured.” Ilsa remarked, still a bit annoyed that her comrade had ignored her advice and caused this mess.

But Beatrix remained panicked, screaming at the top of her lungs to try and get the warning past her tape gag.

She made it just in time. Her frantic shouting and trying to point at the ceiling with her gorgeous legs drew both girls’ attention upwards, a split second before the manikins pounced.

Zeta and Ilsa jumped out of the way of the surprise attack and managed to fight off the first horde and freed their team member. Ilsa covered the blonde as she cut the tape to pieces.

“My sword is over there!” Beatrix pointed to the south corner.

“Then let’s go grab it and take care of the rest of the puppets!” Zeta shouted as she plunged her spear through two manikins at the same time.

The trio moved towards Beatrix’ weapon despite the onslaught of enemies. But the moment the brunette got her seal weapon back, their combined forces smoothly defeated all of the remaining manikins.

“That was… heavy.” Zeta panted.

“You can say that again.” Ilsa replied, though not nearly as out of breath as the others.

“Why are you tired? You barely joined the fight.” The blonde teased Beatrix.

“Stow it! You think I’ve just been sitting still on that table all the time? I put a lot of energy into escaping!”

“Then why were you still so tightly bound and gagged when we found you?” Ilsa asked dryly.

Zeta started laughing so hard she had to clasp her stomach.

“Not you too!” Beatrix whined at the drill sergeant.

“Do you expect me to pity you? Your capture could’ve ended a lot worse! If you were part of my trainee platoon I’d have you running laps for a week!”

“Don’t you think me having to squirm around like a damsel in distress was punishment enough?” The brunette countered.

“Nope, because we didn’t get to watch.” Zeta giggled.

“You guuuyys!” Beatrix moaned with her cheeks bright red.

“Enough chit chat.” Ilsa broke off the conversation. She’d been keeping a close eye on all corners and the main corridor. “Doesn’t seem like reinforcements are on their way.”

“There aren’t any doors leading to other places here either. “Zeta replied. I think we mapped out the whole compound.”

“Then do you think this room is the place we were supposed to investigate?” Beatrix wondered.

“Looks like it.” The dark-haired drill sergeant replied as she examined some of the cases. “Let’s split up so we can cover more ground.”

“Sure. I’ll call out if I find anything interesting.” Beatrix replied, heading for the north corner.

Zeta meanwhile tried reading through some of the logs, whilst Ilsa examined the large machines lined up against the wall.

After a few minutes of investigating, the dark-haired sergeant suddenly called the other girls over.

“What do you think this thing is?” She asked, stood in front of a huge, unknown machine. There was seemingly no in- or output tracks, no conveyor belts or hatches.

“Beats me.” Zeta said. “It looks like some kind of experimental machine. Maybe it was never finished?”

“Should we fire it up?” Beatrix offered, having noticed a display. “We might learn something from the records it kept.”

“And we could cross reference its output with some of the other logs Zeta mentioned.” Ilsa thought out loud. She still had reservations, but the initial objective of their mission demanded they be thorough.

Beatrix checked the power cables were still intact before Zeta moved the large lever on the side of the machine upwards.

Immediately, the dials and screens started to light up. But before the girls could access the control panel to extract information, the main display started lighting up ominously. A single message appeared on screen:

TARGET ACQUIRED

“Target?!”

“Does it mean us?!” Beatrix yelped, immediately taking a step back and putting one hand on the handle of her sword.

Over a dozen mechanical arms suddenly came out, all of them aimed at the trio. Because of the close proximity and speed, none of them had an easy time fighting off the initial attacks. Luckily, the machine did not seem to have it out for their vital spots. Instead it seemed more focused on pinning down their arms and legs, much like the manikins earlier.

Although that didn’t make the women feel any safer, given how Beatrix ended up because of that tactic.

“Ilsa! What’s the plan? Do we fall back?” Beatrix asked as she fended the mechanical pincers at the end of two arms.”

“Too dangerous! We don’t know the reach of those arms, so we can’t turn our backs to them.”

“So then what?” Zeta shouted as she wrested her spear free from a claw and pushed it back.

The raven-haired woman bit her lower lip.

This is the worst situation. We can’t just thoughtlessly attack it, because destroying the main console would mess up our investigation and ruin all of our hard work.

“Focus on the mechanical arms. Destroy them all!” Were the sergeant’s instructions.

“Got it!” Her comrades replied.

But that was easier said than done.

The girls put up a valiant fight defending themselves from the machine’s impressive offense, whilst simultaneously analysing their attacker for weaknesses to focus their counterattacks on.

But those robotic arms were made out of something so strong their weapons couldn’t destroy them. Especially not since none of them could put any real force into their attacks for fear of leaving an opening for the many other arms.

Eventually, their fatigue from countless battles and the machine’s continuous onslaught took its toll. In a split second of ill-attendance, Ilsa was knocked back and left an opening for four of the robotic claws to grab hold of her arms. The pressure squeezing her wrists made the Erune cry out in pain and lose grip of her guns.

The moment she was disarmed, two of the arms that caught her swiftly forced Ilsa’s arms together behind her back, allowing the other arms to wrap her up in tape from wrist to elbow.

“Aahh!” She cried out in shock and pain as her shoulders were wrenched backwards to accommodate the pull on her arms. It happened so fast she never even got the chance to push back. Before she knew it, her lower arms felt like they were welded together!

Her elbows were touching, an entirely new and uncomfortable experience for the gorgeous drill sergeant. What bothered her even more than the limitation on her arm movement, was how her chest was now forced outwards, pushing against her uniform to make it seem like her perky breasts were about to burst through!

“No! Let go of me!” The raven-haired woman screamed, her cheeks flushed with humiliation. She started pulling at the tape with her arms and kicking at the arms holding her. But to her despair, the tape felt stronger than steel. It wouldn’t budge in the slightest. And with her arms so tightly bound her entire centre of balance felt off, making it hard to kick properly too.

My fighting power has been reduced to virtually nothing! This machine is extremely dangerous.

Her comrades had witnessed the horrifying speed and efficiency with which their leader had been captured.

“Ilsa!” Beatrix gasped, instinctively rushing in to protect her.

But in her haste she was tripped up by an arm sneaking up on her and grabbing her ankle.

The second she hit the ground, all hope of defending herself was lost.

That left Zeta to fend for herself. The blonde fought with all her might to defeat the automaton arms and rescue her friends, but was soon overwhelmed and restrained just like her friends.

With that, all three of the investigation team were rendered completely helpless.

Ilsa had ended up in a position similar Beatrix was stuck in last time.

Her arms were taped together from the wrist to the elbow, with added tape wrapped around her waist to trap her arms flat against her back.

For her legs, tape was pinching them together at her ankles, calves and thighs. She had always been confident in her stamina and physical strength, but in the face of this alien material the curvy drill sergeant couldn’t do a thing to free her legs.

But the machine had gone an extra mile to restrain its raven-haired target, circling extra tape around her legs to force them to bend double until the high heels from her boots damn near touched her butt! 

The end result was an incredibly tight, completely secure and impossible to escape hogtie.

Since Beatrix had ended up wrestled to the ground during her capture, the highly adaptive machine had used it to thoroughly pin her down.

Her wrists had been crossed and pulled above her head before being plastered to the floor and completely immobilised. The same had happened to her legs: Tape wrapped her ankles, calves and thighs tightly together. 

A separate layer of multiple strips then trapped them to the floor. Strips covering her wrists, upper arms, chest, waist, hips and ankles. The combined force of those straps forced the brunette to lie on the floor with her sexy body pulled taut. They also kept her from rolling around or sitting up.

Zeta was the girl left with most wriggle room.

Her arms were stuck in a box-tie shape. Her forearms were pulled behind her back and placed horizontally on top of each other. Added to that were several layers her arms and midriff. The tape had been wrapped very tightly and thoroughly, making it impossible for her to move her arms in any direction.

The blonde’s legs had been forced in a kneeling position and wrapped up to keep them as separate frogties.

Since she wasn’t tethered like Beatrix, or hogtied like Ilsa, the cute blonde would be able to shuffle around.

“Are you two all right?” She asked.

“Hmrgnn! I can’t move, but I’m not hurt.” Ilsa replied.

“Same here.” The brunette said, looking to her left to see the machine returning to standby. “Looks like that thing feels its job is done.”

“I’d have to agree with it. This stuff feels tight.” Zeta moaned as she tried to stretch the tape and create some slack for her arms. But just like Ilsa and Beatrix, she was completely stumped.

“What do we do?” The blonde asked, failing to hide her worries.

“What else can we do?” Ilsa replied, trying to sound calm and collected. “Now that that thing stopped assaulting us, we need to find a way out!”

Zeta and Beatrix nodded. “We’ve been through all sorts of tights spots. We can do this!” The brunette tried to pep her friends up. 

It worked, just barely. They all tried to ignore the pit in their stomach that had appeared ever since their bodies ended up covered in that sturdy tape.

The threesome started writhing around on the floor, searching for a weakness in their restraints.

But as Beatrix discovered last time, all three girls had to admit the tape proved flexible enough to withstand almost anything. A single strip would probably have been possible to tear. But the thick layers they had to contend with right now could efficiently spread out any force applied, rendering it almost inert.

To make matters worse, most of the tape was outside their range of vision. Thanks to that they had no idea where the ends were, let alone if they could reach to pick at them and pull the tape loose that way. 

Nothing they tried seemed to work. Pretty soon the girls were lying on the floor, panting from exhaustion.

“Any luck?” Beatrix asked her comrades.

“Nothing here.” Zeta replied frustrated.

“Same here.” Ilsa growled. “It’s vexing, but this stuff is very impressive.”

“Should we try to crawl next to each other and combine our strengths?” Zeta offered.

“I won’t be of much use of that, I’m afraid.” The brunette replied dryly, twitching around on the floor to make her tape creak. But it held fast, pinning her to the dust-covered ground.

“Hmrggnn!” Ilsa grunted. “I’m having trouble moving as well, but I think I can roll towards you.” She said with flushed cheeks. The mere image of her doing that was making her skin crawl.

“Let me come to you then. All things considered, I’m probably in the best position to move.” Zeta replied, shuffling towards her leader.

But to their despair, even that plan soon fell down.

With Zeta’s arms pinned in that box tie, she couldn’t reach out for Ilsa’s wrists at all. The only angle that gave them any chance at making contact was when the blonde sat with her back turned to the gunslinger and arched herself as far as her spine allowed.

But in that position, the bodacious spear wielder was again working blind. Even when she did make contact with her friend, that awkward position kept her from mustering any real strength.

Ilsa tried to lift her butt to bring her arms up a little higher and make it easier for Zeta to work at them, but after 15 minutes it proved completely futile.

“This is insane!” Zeta screamed in rage. “We can’t do anything!”

She looked over at Beatrix, who had been craning her neck so she could see the others and give extra instructions. “If I can’t even reach Ilsa, then your tape which is flat on the ground is out of the question.”

The brunette nodded with a sad look in her eyes.

Ilsa started rolling around the floor grunting and squirming. Not to bust out, more to vent her frustration.

If these were ropes or cuffs, we might have been able to do something. Ilsa lamented. But this alien material, it doesn’t seem to have any flaws.

Zeta felt the same way.

This is so frustrating! You can’t even tell where this stuff begins or ends, so you have no clue what you’re actually working at!

Beatrix meanwhile had already begun thinking about their next move.

Whoever set this trap is going to come for us. When they do, they’ll have to remove this nefarious stuff eventually. That’s when we’ll make our move!

“Let’s rest for now.” She suggested.

Zeta looked at her with confusion, but Ilsa had come to the same conclusion already.

“It would be foolish to waste any more energy right now.” The Erune agreed. ”We should make sure we’re at full strength when an opening to escape presents itself…” 

Her friends sighed. 

“Let’s hope he doesn’t take too long.” Zeta grumbled. “I’m already fed up with this silly pose I’m adopting.”

“Want to switch?” Ilsa grumbled, kicking her legs demonstratively.

“…I’ll shut up now.” The blonde joked.

The next few hours crawled by. The girls tried to keep their spirits up with conversation, but eventually they ran out of ideas.

It was almost liberating when the sound of footsteps startled the trio.

He’s here!

Who’s it going to be?!

What could his plan be?