Lights, strobing, pulsing, shimmering, throbbing, pressing against her eyeballs, so much more fascinating and captivating than anything should ever possibly be, so complex, so pretty, so nice, so good. She just watched. She knew that she had to watch. She had been told to watch, once, a long time ago. She remembered. She remembered Emily’s beautiful voice, telling her to watch. Always watch. Forget everything else. Be calm. Be receptive. Be open. Watch the lights. Watch the lights.

“Watch the lights,” a calm voice said, close to her. Infinitely far away. Inside her head. Beyond the lights. Inside the lights. Everywhere.

“Yes,” another voice said. For a moment, Eva wondered if it had been her that was speaking. But it wasn’t her. It was someone else. 

“Watch the lights,” the first voice repeated. But Eva was already watching the lights. Watching. Always watching. She already knew. She already knew. She didn’t have to be told. The words weren’t meant for her. She was just there, looking at the lights, too. Shimmering, shifting, pulsing, strobing.

“Look at the lights,” the voice said again.

Vicky. Vicky was speaking. Her voice was so calm. So very calm. So very obedient. Yes. So calm. So obedient. So nice. So good. So right.

“Yes,” the second voice affirmed, just as calmly, just as obediently. Yes. So calm. So obedient. Drugged. Pacified. Calm. Obedient. Mom was so obedient. So calm. So receptive. Looking at the light. Looking. Always looking.

“Listen to my voice,” Vicky said, and the lights shifted subtly along with her words. Or maybe even before her words. So calm. So pretty. Programmed. Predetermined. Dancing along with obedient choreography, made to capture, made to grip, made to enslave, made to enslave, made to enslave, made to…

“Listen to my voice.” Yes. Her mother must listen. She must listen. She must listen. Listen… listen…

“Yes,” the material said. Eva smiled. Yes. Good. Calm. Obedient. This was good. This was working. She knew that she wasn’t the one that needed to listen. Vicky wasn’t talking to her. She didn’t have to listen to her. She could enjoy the lights. The lights that she already knew to watch. The lights that had already burned themselves into her mind. She remembered. So good. So hot. So wet. So good. Calm. Obedient. Enslaved. Yes. So enslaved. Brainwashed. Enslaved. Obedient. Calm. 

“Listen to my voice.”

“Yes.”

Yes. So good. So hot. So nice. This was right. This was correct. Her mother needed to be enslaved. She needed to serve. She needed to be complicit. They all needed to serve. Serve. Serve. Serve with the lights. Serve with their minds. With their bodies. Obedient. Wet. Happy. Calm. Good. Obedient.

“Are you listening?”

“Yes,” the other voice said.

“Are you watching?”

“Yes,” the other voice said.

Yes. Drugged and receptive and calm and numbed, ready to be brainwashed, ready to be enslaved, ready to believe, ready to become part of it all, ready to be made to serve. Yes. Yes. Yes. Good. So good. So nice. So warm. So calm. So good. All of them. All of them so calm. All of them so obedient. All of them. All of them.

She listened. She watched. She was wet. She was happy. She was good. She let it all happen. It had to happen. She wanted it to happen. She listened to the voices, commanding and accepting, changing and being changed, enslaving and being enslaved, happy to be part of it, watching the lights, kneeling on the hard cold floor, feeling her muscles get stiff, feeling her glistening body ache. So beautiful, so calm, so good. So right. Vicky had obeyed. She was enslaving her. She was doing just what Eva had told her. Just like she had hoped. It had been so close. It had been so scary. She still felt the numb ache where she’d been injected when they had fought.

Moans were filling the air. Her mother’s body was glistening with sweat, reflecting the beautiful lights, droplets running down her skin, onto the cushioned chair, onto the restraints, onto the stainless steel. She was gone. Her eyes were looking only at the lights, thoughtless, empty, receptive.

It was all so beautiful. So nice. So good. Eva wondered how much longer it was going to take. It was so good. But it had already been going on for a while. It felt so long. An eternity of lights and voices and moans and shivers and obedience and calm. So good. So right. So wonderful. 

But Eva felt her body ache. So good. So nice. But she was getting tired. She didn’t want to stop, but she was nervous. Nervous about the time. Nervous about how long she’d been looking at it all. It was good. So good. But this wasn’t how it had been supposed to happen. No. This wasn’t how it had been supposed to happen at all.

So good. So calm. So fascinating. She was so happy this happened. But…

…there was something else. Something important. Something she’d forgotten in the bliss of losing herself to the magnificent machine around her. Mistress Devanshi’s machine was so beautiful. So hot. So violent. Making people obey. Raping their minds. Making them property. Making them brainwashed slaves. Slaves like Vicky. Slaves like Eva. Slaves like Emil–

NO!

And with that, the fog around Eva’s mind lifted, and she was awake, heart racing with the sudden rush of adrenaline.

Fuck! Shit! She looked around, and saw Vicky standing at the console, stiffly looking down at the display, mindlessly reciting suggestions for the material currently being enslaved. There was no sign of thought in her eyes and Eva breathed a sigh of relief even though her pulse was still racing. She also couldn’t help but feel a rush of arousal at the sight of Vicky’s empty eyes. She was gone. She was completely under control. No will at all. It was so fucking hot.

Then Eva looked at the material in the chair, and smiled. Under any other circumstances, she’d be spreading her legs to masturbate to the sight of it. She couldn’t believe how fucking far she was gone to find this as incredibly hot as she did. Yes. Her mom was being enslaved! She didn’t want to stop it. She didn’t want to tell Vicky to change anything about the programming that was being forced into her mother’s mind. Mom was going to serve, and she was going to eagerly give Eva away and let her be sold and fucked and raped like the piece of property she was. 

Eva shook her head with quiet disbelief at how fucking brainwashed she truly was to be thinking any of this. It was so fucking good. Her pussy was on fire with need.

No. Not now. Not yet. She pulled her eyes away from it and thought about her next move. First things first. She had lost time. How much time? Half as much as Vicky? How did it work? She had bet on this, and it might be working, but she had to act quick, now.

“Slave Vicky, listen to me,” she said, and Vicky snapped to attention with a lack of hesitation that made Eva’s pussy squirm.

“Yes,” Vicky said.

“Do you know that you are drugged?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know how much longer the effect on you will last?”

Vicky knew to answer in the most useful way. “At least five minutes, but probably not much more than fifteen,” she said. It seemed that she really was much better at this than Emily had been. Even in her drugged state, she had managed not to get caught by the lights. A terrible little part of Eva kind of understood now why Devanshi had punished Emily and Laura for letting anyone but a trained slave like Vicky do her enslavement if this was the gap in competence at show.

“Good,” Eva said. Again, she realized how lucky she had gotten. If Mary had been here, she would have been fucked. If that half dose of sedatives had been enough to keep her under, she would have been fucked. If Vicky had been unable to do her task while drugged, she would have been fucked. 

Right. The drugs. Five more minutes. Fifteen, max. “Will you be done enslaving my mother before then?” she asked.

“No.” Vicky said. “The sedative part of the drug wears off much more quickly than the neuroactive component.”

Fuck. “Can the enslavement process be interrupted and resumed?”

“Not without a significant loss of progress.”

“Damn. Keep going then, but tell her only to obey slave Emily instead of Devanshi. She is her enslaver. She must obey her above all else.”

There was a pause, and Eva saw a flicker in Vicky’s eyes.

“Obey!” Eva insisted, and Vicky’s eyes went blank again, and a placid smile spread across her lips.

“Yes. I will obey,” she said. Eva couldn’t help but squirm with arousal. It was so fucking hot. No. Not now. Not yet.

Eva walked past her, and found the bag of syringes lying on the floor next to the console. This was another thing that Eva had been extremely lucky with: Mary had decided to take the whole bag instead of just one dose. Another thing that felt lucky but probably wasn’t an accident was that the stuff didn’t need to be injected into a vein. No. That part had to be by design. It would be pretty lousy at its job of sedating people against their will if it required them to hold still.

Despite that, there was no reason to do more tissue damage than necessary - especially since Vicky’s body existed to be naked and to be looked at. One bloody puncture mark was suspicious enough. Actually, that part might be a real problem. It was pretty noticeable. Fuck. 

But it didn’t matter. Not yet. There were more immediate issues to deal with.

“Hold still,” Eva said, and pushed the needle into Vicky’s arm.

*

It took almost an hour before her mom was fully enslaved. Eva had to use up almost two entire doses to keep Vicky from waking up. She remembered her own time under the lights. Her sedative had worn off not long after Emily had restrained her. She had still been awake to fight, before the lights had erased her resistance. It made her so hot to remember. Watching it happening to someone else was just as hot. Watching it happen to someone she loved was fucking incredible.

No. Not now. Not yet.

When it was done, there was no time to dwell on anything either. She had to keep things moving. Every minute counted. She had already loosened the restraints on the chair when the program ended and the lights returned to their static test pattern.

“Get up, slave,” Eva said. “Stand over there and be quiet.”

She saw her mother’s eyes light up with utter revelation and excitement, but that particular delightful fact would have to wait for later, too. Not yet.

“Slave Vicky, get in the chair, quick.”

This was it. Eva’s heart was hammering nervously. She was still expecting something to go wrong. Some catastrophe. Some horrible thing that she’d missed. The end of her lucky streak. There was only so much that things could possibly go her way without some terrible reckoning.

But nothing happened. Vicky obeyed, sat herself down in the chair, and spread her legs for the vibrators that would condition her thoughts with pleasure.

“Actually, you can help me, slave. Strap her down!”

Her mother obeyed, and pulled the straps down around Vicky’s wrists, ankles, and her neck with unquestioning confidence. There was no hesitation in her actions, no question in her expression. Eva, meanwhile, pushed the vibrators into Vicky’s receptive body, making sure that the mechanism keeping them in place was properly adjusted and that the cables were firmly connected.

“Okay,” she said, taking quick breaths, “Please, this has to work.” 

She hurried over to the console. “Vicky, tell me how to change your programming! I need to change one of your core beliefs. What do I need to do?”

Vicky’s face hardened. Her brows furrowed. “You’re not supposed to do that,” she said, slowly.

“Obey me, slave! Tell me what I want to know!”

“I…” Vicky said. “You…”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! She was waking up! There were no dancing lights to catch her mind and put her under. 

“You!” Vicky’s expression suddenly hardened. “WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE?!”

For a moment, Eva panicked. She instinctively looked at her mother, who was obediently keeping quiet. She found only wide-eyed confusion. She looked way out of her depth. Of course, she did.

Vicky was bursting with rage. Her screams were deafening. “YOU FUCKING BITCH! WE WILL FUCKING CRUCIFY YOU FOR THIS!” She twisted and yanked at her restraints, trying to break free, screaming and fighting like a wild, desperate animal. “FUCK YOU!!!” 

Eva stood, thoughts racing, heart pounding in a panicked state of shock.

Fuck! What do I do? What–

Wait. What the hell was she thinking? This was stupid.

She grabbed another syringe and pushed it into Vicky’s restrained neck.

*

“Obey me, slave. Tell me what I want to know.”

Vicky’s voice was calm. Her eyes were empty. There was no resistance. “Select ‘Advanced’, then ‘Custom Programming (Generic)’.”

Eva did as instructed. The User interface was ugly, but functional. It felt rather strangely like changing column settings in an old version of Excel.

“It’s asking for a session length,” Eva said. “How long will it take to change who you obey?”

There was the slightest pause in which Vicky simply sat there, legs spread, eyes empty, completely vulnerable and defenseless, vibrators stuck between her legs, ready to be made to believe what she didn’t believe – and she looked so very unlike the strong-headed belligerent whore that Eva knew she was. It was so strange to see her lose, to see her hesitate and struggle to say what some part of her must still know was something she should not say, only to be defeated by the drugs in her brain. She was just like everyone else, now. They were all just puppets to brainwashing that could not be resisted.

“Fifteen minutes,” Vicky answered.

Eva entered the digits, and pushed the button, and the lights above them started dancing again. Eva felt her mind shiver reflexively, and for a moment, she almost gave in. It was at the core of her brainwashing; looking at the lights was the very first thing that her mind had learned to accept, and looking at them now was like looking into her own beautifully enslaved soul – and if the dangers and consequences of falling into the patterns hadn’t been such an ever-present part of her whole existence from the word Go, she would have fallen into the same trap as Emily did.

But she knew to be careful. She knew to catch herself.

This was it. This was her shot. Her way to free Emily and hand her the end of the leash to all of their minds. If there was any way it would happen, this had to be it. Please. This had to work. It simply had to.

It did, indeed, take fifteen minutes.

The air was eerily quiet as the lights stopped and the vibrators stopped humming. The naked slave’s eyes were still glassy, but she was quickly coming to. It was almost hard to believe that Vicky could be anywhere near lucid with the amount of neurezepam that Eva had injected her with. But apparently, the effects were only triggered by the lights, and the lights were off now. Vicky blinked, and looked around, and found Eva, and their eyes met.

“Fuck,” Vicky said. “Okay. So…” 

She sighed. “First of all, now I’ve got to prove to you that I’m actually properly enslaved to serve Emily,” she said. “And then I’ll have to come up with a plan that’s going to fucking work since you absolutely don’t have one.”

Wow. Straight back to business without missing a step or losing any of her trademark agreeability. “Delightful as ever,” said Eva.

Vicky scoffed. “Bet you wish you had more time to make me a little servile bitch, don’t you?”

“More and more with every word,” Eva muttered. She didn’t know what she’d expected Vicky to react with. Maybe some awe-struck revelation. Maybe some arousal to have such a central part of her life just utterly changed and overwritten. Maybe even some devotion to the one that had done the enslaving.

Vicky gave her a crooked smile. “Maybe after we figured all of this bullshit out. Fuck. This is such a mess.”

“Tell me about it,” Eva said.

Vicky sighed again. “Damn. I fucking knew that there was something supremely off about you. Emily really messed up, the poor little thing. Fuck. We need to make this right. She’s probably…”

“Getting raped right now,” Eva said bitterly, and saw Vicky wince in response. It was strange to see that kind of distress in her expression. There was a heavy silence as they looked at each other, but meeting Vicky’s gaze gave Eva a strange sense of connection and comfort. She wasn’t alone anymore. She wasn’t–

“Wanna untie me, by the way?”

Eva snapped back to attention, and made for the chair – but when she was just about to start undoing the straps around Vicky’s wrists, she hesitated. She looked down at Vicky. She looked agitated, but not all angry or suspicious.

Still…

“You’re right, Vicky,” Eva said. “How do I know that you’re not lying?”

Vicky grimaced. “Yeah, right. I did say that, didn’t I? I’d hoped you hadn’t heard. Well… here’s the thing: It worked. You got me. I’m on your side, do or die. Anything to serve Emily, oh enslaver of mine. All hail! But… I can’t prove that I’m telling the truth – and you know it.”

Eva sighed. Fuck. There wasn’t anything that Vicky wouldn’t be able to say or do that was impossible for a sufficiently good liar.

Fuck. She was wrong though. There was a way to prove it. A really fucked-up way. 

“Actually…” Eva said. “There is one thing.” She loosened the restraints and helped Vicky out of the chair. Vicky wasn’t immediately attacking her, which was a good first step. But that wasn’t what she was after.

“Here’s what I’m thinking,” Eva said. “I’ve been gambling with my fate for an entire week since I’ve got nothing to lose anyway. There were only high-risk options available – but not taking the risks meant losing for sure. So… might as well take risks, right?

Vicky shrugged. “Yeah. Sure.”

Eva sighed. “And… if you’re lying right now, there’s no way I’ll be able to succeed anyway. I need your help. It’s the only way.”

She grabbed another syringe of sedative, stepped up to Vicky, and held the needle against her own neck. “So what’s one more all-or-nothing risk against certain defeat? If I’m going to lose anyway, let’s make it quick and painless.” 

She gave Vicky a pained, desperate smile. “All you have to do is push.”

Vicky smirked, slowly raised her hand, and took hold of the syringe. Eva felt it leave her own hand, felt the tip of the needle scrape against her skin, heart quietly hammering in her chest. Vicky was close enough to smell. Sweat and perfume and sex. A brainwashed whore. A will-strong bitch. A beautiful, magnificent tool, eager to serve. Serve Emily! Please! Let her serve Emily!

But the moment dragged, and Eva realized with a dreadful shiver in her stomach that Vicky was enjoying this. Fuck! She should have just made her serve her directly. Make herself Vicky’s mistress instead of Emily. Why hadn’t she done that? It would have been so much easier. Vicky would never dare to play games with her Enslaver. Oh God, she had fucked up! It hadn’t worked! Vicky still wanted to dominate her, no matter if she served Emily. Eva hadn’t changed that! She hadn’t–

With a jerk, Vicky pulled the needle away from her neck – and Eva nearly fainted with relief. There were tears in her eyes.

Vicky scoffed, and smirked. “Sorry. I love you, but I couldn’t help myself. It was just too fucking hot.”

Eva chuckled nervously, still too overwhelmed to produce more than a voiceless wheeze as she did so. 

Vicky looked at her, and her expression slowly changed from a smile to obvious regret as she realized how much she had just mistreated her own enslaver. 

“Fuck. I’m… I don’t know why I did that. Fuck! You’re not actually into that, are you? You’re not actually… fuck! You only played along with the power games to get me to drop my guard! Fuck! I’m so sorry!”

She put the syringe on the enslavement chair, and hugged Eva tightly – but the embrace only lasted a short moment. She almost immediately let go, and stepped back, her expression wild and confused.

“Actually… you know what? This is fucked. And honestly, fuck you for putting me through this! This is… this is… a lot! I… you’re my enslaver, now, and I fucking love you for it – and I can’t get over how fucking amazing and weird it is to suddenly be Emily’s slave – but you know what else? I can’t fucking stop myself from thinking that it would be so much fucking easier if we’d just fucking serve Devanshi like were were supposed to.” She wasn’t meeting Eva’s gaze, instead looking around aimlessly as she shook her head, obviously still completely overwhelmed by what had happened to her. “We were supposed to serve her!”

There was a long pause.

“But we don’t,” Eva said.

Vicky scoffed. “Of course not! Fuck Devanshi for what she did to our Mistress! I want nothing more than to see her kneel.”

“Naked and enslaved!” Eva said.

“Ready to be raped, no more fucking will left in her!”

“Spreading her legs for anyone that buys her!”

“Just a set of warm holes.”

“Emily’s property!”

“Emily’s slave!”

They kissed. It was primal, fundamental, like a strike of lightning hitting the tallest tree, traveling the path of least resistance. It was what needed to happen, had to happen. Vicky’s tongue pushed Eva’s lips apart, and she took it in, sucking, caressing, wet, hot and needy, shivers running down her body as all the tension found a way to ground itself into the enslaved body of Vicky. Yes! Another whore just like herself, serving the same Mistress, united in obedience! The relief of it was incredible. The pleasure of it was larger than life. Finally, a win for team Emily! Vicky served! Vicky! She was Hers! Yes!!!

Finally, the kiss broke, and the both of them sighed a sigh of relief. Vicky looked like she still couldn’t believe it. To be honest, she looked exasperated.

She scoffed. “You’re crying.”

“Fucking sue me,” Eva said, wiping her eyes. “Do you have any fucking idea what I’ve been through?”

Vicky bit her lips. “Fuck. Yeah, I guess that must’ve been pretty hard. At least you got to let yourself be used to take the edge off. Wait… fuck, don’t tell me that Emily forgot to make you wet for your own enslavement?”

Eva laughed. “Oh God, no! I’m a brainwashed slut through and through. She really just forgot to make me worship Devanshi instead of my immediate Enslaver.”

“Good,” Vicky said. “You’re better that way, whore. Right, Luisa?”

Eva smiled, and she felt a warm surge of pleasure between her legs as she looked at her mother, and saw a naked slave nearly bursting with glee, eyes bright and awake and shimmering with tears of joy. She wasn’t answering, however.

“Oh, right,” she said. “You may speak,”

Her mom let out a whimpering sigh of relief. “Thank you!” she gushed, looking back and forth between Vicky and Eva with wild, teary eyes. “Thank you! I–  I can’t believe this! How is this real? How is this possible? This is… I’m… I’m  a slave! I’M A SLAVE!”

“Feels good to say it, doesn’t it?” said Vicky.

“Oh, dios mio! Yes! I…” she stammered, lost for words, overwhelmed by her own brainwashing. “And you!”

Eva smiled proudly. “Yes!”

She had never seen her mother’s face light up with such utter delight. “You’re property!” she said. “My girl! She will serve! Yes! Yes!”

She turned to Vicky, and kissed her on the lips. “Thank you so much,” she said. “Thank you for making me understand! Thank you for making me like this! I… I still cannot believe it! It is… it is so good! I–”

She looked down at her naked self, and gave her daughter a deeply embarrassed look. “And you saw everything, didn’t you? I… I mean, it shouldn’t matter now, but… it feels strange. So strange.”

Eva smiled, mildly amused. “Don’t worry, mom. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before. Just focus on what feels right. Let your brainwashing be your brainwashing.”

Her mother smiled. “Yesss! I am brainwashed! I am a slave! I am– sorry, I just keep wanting to say it out loud! It feels so good to say it out loud!”

“Don’t worry. It will fade,” Vicky said. “You won’t have to constantly keep yourself from gushing when you’re back home. You’ll just be happy and content to do whatever you must to protect your enslavers.”

“Yes!” said Luisa, intense and eager and happy. She stepped forward, towards Eva, until they were less than an arm’s length apart. She took her by the shoulders, and Eva could feel her trembling. She looked her daughter up and down, smiling, proud, happy. “Yes!” she said, breathlessly. “Anything to be complicit. Anything! My little Eva will be a whore! Property! Nothing but property! Yes! Oh, Eva, I’m so happy for you! You’ve always been so beautiful! So beautiful! And now! Everyone will want to have you, and you will give yourself, won’t you? You will give all of yourself!”

“Yes!” Eva said, tears in her eyes.

“I love you so much,” her mom said. “I’m so proud of you!”

They embraced tightly, and Eva felt her mother’s warmth against herself, felt her bare skin brush up against her own, and as their bodies touched she felt like she had never been as close to her as they were in that moment. There was no more wall between them. Her mom was seeing her exactly like she was, naked and exposed, with nothing more to hide, nothing more to be ashamed of, all of her out in the open. They were both brainwashed slaves, united, sharing one wonderful purpose, one common obsession, one perfect understanding. There was no going back. Why should there be? This was wonderful. This was correct. This was the best way that things could have gone. Eva needed to serve, and her mom understood that too, now. It was such a relief. Such a wonderful thing.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we’re running out of time,” said Vicky after a minute or two. “Fuckslave Eva’s readjustment wasn’t supposed to last much longer than what she did to me. After all, she was supposedly fully enslaved, just lacking the proper wordings and fixations.”

They broke up their embrace, but stayed close for a moment longer.

“Fuckslave Eva, huh?” her mom said with a thin smile. “Is that what Mary is, too?”

“No. Mary’s more like you are now,” Eva said. “She’s fully obedient, but she’s not a fetishistic whore like me. She doesn’t serve with her body.”

“Too bad,” replied her mother. “She’s almost as fuckable as you.”  Then she blushed, and giggled. She looked suddenly embarrassed. “Jesus. I can’t believe I said that.”

Eva raised her eyebrows. “I can’t believe you only called me a whore and nothing worse. You know you want to.”

“Stop it, Eva. Just because I’m brainwashed doesn’t mean I’ve lost my sense of manners and decency.”

But then she bit her lip, and smiled nervously. She wasn’t able to meet Eva’s eyes, but she said it anyway. “For example, I would never say that I hope that you’ll be covered in cum later today like the filthy little slut that you are, you brainwashed little whore. Or tell you to give all of your fucking holes away because that’s all you’re fucking good for, now.”

Eva gasped with arousal. “Too bad,” she said after a breathless moment of shivering excitement. “Hearing you say that would have almost made me cum.”

Vicky cleared her throat. “I’m fucking wet, too,” she said. “But we really need to tidy up and get going. Also, I need to actually teach you how to obey how you’d be supposed to be obeying if you weren’t such a wonderful mess of shoddily brainwashed obedience. So that’ll be a lot. Hope you’re quick on the uptake, because we don’t have the luxury of forcing your brain to remember. If only there had been some planned procedure to take care of that.“

“Fuck you, Vicky. You know I had to do it for Emily.”

“Yes! Of course! Still – doesn’t make our situation any less messy or your brainwashing any less of a botch job! Sorry. Love you. Just… we really got no fucking time! We need to move!”

Eva nodded. “Yes. Yes. You’re right. Fuck. Of course you’re right. Let’s go! Mom, do you know what to do? I was knocked out watching Vicky for most of your enslavement.”

“Yes, of course,” her mom said proudly. “She enslaved me well. I know how to obey. I’ll always obey!”

“Good. Vicky, take the lead.”

Vicky nodded, then sighed, brow furrowed, obviously thinking hard on how to proceed. “Okay. Okay. Let’s start with putting on some fucking clothes.”

And so they did. It felt strange. It was such a normal thing to do, but everything around it felt out of kilter. It was impossible to tell what was normal anymore. They were all brainwashed. They could be made to believe anything, want anything, crave anything, and what felt correct and normal was entirely up to the person holding their leashes. Being naked felt normal. Being property felt natural. Having a mother that was eager to let you whore yourself felt utterly correct. They were slaves to their programming. But they were also slaves to circumstance and chance, caught between blissful obedience and urgent purpose, having no choice but to eagerly serve someone that would betray them in a heartbeat. There was no question that they were property. There was no question that they existed only to serve. There was no question that they would never be anything but slaves.

The only question was: Whose slaves were they going to be?

*

Eva’s Mom left without much more ceremony. Her purpose was to return home and protect her daughter’s enslavement. If everything went well, they would never see each other again. She gave her daughter one last kiss, and wished her all the best in her new life as a brainwashed whore, and that was it. Suddenly, she was gone.

Eva wasn’t going to miss her. This life was better. So much better.

“I still can’t believe you dragged me into this fucked up situation,” Vicky said. 

Eva rolled her eyes. “Come on, can’t you be a little more optimistic? We’ll make the best of it! With you on team Emily, we got an actual shot now!”

Vicky took a deep breath and looked at Eva. “It’s going to be fucking hard though. Almost impossible.”

Eva shook her head. “No! We’ve got this! You’re the one that would have done my reinforcement and advanced training. Can’t we just slowly take over? We’ve got time now, don’t we? You were the one that was going to ruin it all, but now you’re complicit! There’s no more ticking clock!”

Vicky scoffed. “Yeah, except for the fact that every day Emily’s getting raped and abused and treated like a whore.”

Eva’s chest tightened. “Yes,” she said. “But as long as we eventually win, it’s still better than failing! Even if every day is horrible, we can… we can make sure now. We can play it safe. Slowly take over. Make all of them serve Emily. You know we can do it.”

Eva sighed, and shook her head in a gesture of futility. “Yeah. Sure. Of course we can do it. I want to do it in fact. Trust me, I want it more than anything. But it won’t change shit.”

“What? Why?”

Vicky looked at her with an expression of fatalistic amusement. “Because of an ingenious little thing called Contingency Zero.” 

“What?”

“Just listen. It’s playing right now.”

“What are you talking ab–?” But just as she said it, Eva suddenly noticed the voice of Devanshi Charan, quietly filling the room, speaking softly like it had been the entire time they had been here. 

Her brain suddenly protested. No. It was silence. The room was silent. It had always been silent. She had always expected there to be some hum or drone accompanying the lights, but the room had always been strangely silent.

Except that it hadn’t been. Mistress Devanshi’s voice had been there the whole time.

“I…” Eva stammered. “What?”

It was impossible to comprehend. The words were clearly English, and they were loud enough to understand, but they just… immediately slipped away once they were spoken.

“What is she saying?”

Vicky shrugged. “Dunno. She’s probably giving us a trigger that will cause us to fall asleep. Or maybe a trigger that will reset our programming. Or maybe even a trigger that will make us rip our own throats out. I don’t know. I can’t know. And neither can you. We’re lucky Mistress even allowed me to remember that it exists.”

For a moment, Eva was speechless. This seemed impossible. “Let’s just find the speakers then,” she said. “Shut them off! Remove the Contingency! This isn’t magic. It can’t possibly be irreversible with a fully drugged and suggestible brain.”

“Do you want to get rid of it?”

“No! Of course not! I’d rather — oh.”

“Yep. Me neither. I love having it. I love that you have it.”

Eva shuddered with satisfaction. “Fuck yes. It’s so good!”

Vicky gave her a lopsided grin. “Don’t let the cognitive dissonance give you a migraine, honey.”

Eva swallowed a lump in her throat. Okay. Fuck. Yep. That definitely made things much more complicated. It really was never easy, was it? 

Still, they were going to find a way, despite that wonderful piece of brainwashing that all slaves must have – that wonderful shackle that must never be removed. It was part of them. Forever. It had to be. Just like they must always be slaves, no matter who they served. It felt almost wrong to even know about it. It would be even better not to know that it was there.

But she did know that it was there. And something about it made her wonder…

“Wait. How am I not Devanshi’s slave if her voice has been there the whole time?” Eva asked. “Shouldn’t that make me serve her by default instead of Emily?”

Vicky groaned with annoyance. She looked as overwhelmed and stressed as Eva felt. It really was hard to think about it. “How many fucking times do I have to tell you that I don’t know?” she spat. “If I had to fucking guess I would say that right now we actually are her slaves, just waiting for the right words out of her mouth to betray Emily forever.”

Eva shuddered. Fuck. If that was true, it really was hopeless. The reality of the situation made her feel suddenly light-headed. It was so hard to think about when you knew that you weren’t Devanshi’s slave. What were they going to do? How could they possibly make this work? It was so much.

“If we catch her off-guard, maybe she won't be able to hit us with triggers,” she finally said. “Or maybe she will. It doesn’t matter. We’ve still got to try.”

She felt her pulse racing and her thoughts spinning. This was so much to worry about. So much to fight for. So much to be afraid of.

“Agreed,” Vicky replied. “As you said: we’ve got nothing to lose. Any risk is worth the risk. Anything for Emily. Anything for our enslaver!”

Eva smiled. “That’s right, slave. We can't be thinking about the risks. We need to... just focus on what we are and what we got to do.”

Yes. They were slaves. Emily’s slaves. And they were going to do anything in their power to keep serving the one that had enslaved them, no matter how hard it was going to be, no matter how risky, no matter how…

No matter how…

…

“Wait.”

“What?”

“I feel like I’m forgetting something.”

Vicky scoffed. “Maybe the fact that I told you a million times that we need to get going?”

“No,” Eva said. “I’m being serious. There was something important.”

Vicky looked at her, and for a moment her facade of belligerence dropped, and she looked sincere and alert. They were partners now, and Vicky was way too committed and smart not to take her seriously.

“I…”, she began, but then she hesitated, suddenly looking concerned. Her forehead was curled into deep wrinkles as she thought hard about something. “You’re right… there was…”

Eva shook her head as she watched Vicky trying to come up with something, and she felt a strange sense of sudden doubt creep over her. Why had she said that? If even Vicky wasn’t able to remember, surely she was being silly.

“Actually… I’m not sure there was anything,” she said. She suddenly felt stupid for even bringing it up. Actually, she was certain that she’d just imagined it. 

Vicky tilted her head. “Yeah. There wasn’t. You’re imagining things.”

“Yeah.” Eva nodded. Vicky was right. It had been nothing. Everything was fine. “Sorry. I’m being stupid. Go ahead, call me a stupid bitch.”

Vicky gave her a lopsided grin. “You’re a stupid bitch… but I love you anyways. Come on! I won’t repeat myself again.” She started moving, and Eva quickly followed after her. “Don’t worry, Eva. We got this. All we have to do is take it slow and play it safe now, just like you said. We’ll make the others serve, too! We’ll make them all serve Emily!”

Prickling excitement swelled in Eva’s belly. Yes! She had really done it, hadn’t she? She had threaded the needle at the last second, despite everything. Vicky served, and now they had an actual shot at putting Devanshi’s reign of terror to an end and to replace her with their true enslaver! 

She quietly chuckled to herself. Devanshi Charan. She was such an imposing woman with such an aura of dominance and infallibility – but it had turned out that her entire act had been little more than hubris. Whether through arrogance or complacency, she had made enough mistakes to allow Eva to slip through the cracks and find a way to turn the tables, and despite all of her brainwashing and security protocols and contingencies, there were now two slaves that no longer served her. 

And that was all it was going to take. Eva was sure of it. Even if it was going to be slow, it was inevitable now. One by one, the dominoes would fall.

The two slaves left the basement, got into the car that Vicky had taken to get there, and drove off towards the compound through the choking LA traffic. 

As they made their way through the city, Vicky taught Eva how to be a proper slave, with every phrase and pose and act and ritual prescribed by a Mistress neither of them served any more. It wasn’t brainwashing, of course – just a series of extremely dirty and kinky lessons. Some tiny part of Eva wished that it was brainwashing. She would never feel the primal urge to do exactly what she was being taught. She would never actually get wet when saying her words of devotion just right. She would never feel the utter correctness of being exactly like Devanshi wanted her to be.

But that was alright. She would get that with Emily. Emily was going to be such a good Mistress once she was brainwashed to know that she was supposed to own them – and she wasn’t going to be sloppy like Devanshi. Eva and Vicky were going to make sure of that. They would make sure that there was a safety net. They would make sure that nothing could go wrong. A contingency for every slave. A contingency that–

Oh no. 

Eva felt a cold chill run down her spine and a sudden rush of adrenaline in her throat, and she remembered. Oh fuck, she had forgotten! She had–

It lasted only a second. Then she remembered not to worry. Only slaves that served Devanshi were allowed to remember, and she knew to forget it. She remembered that it was nothing. She served Emily, and no one else. 

Yes. Only Emily.

Definitely no one else.