The morning of the mission breaks dawn and my head is a complete mess. For reasons beyond my understanding, I practically fingered myself into the recovery position in the shower last night, remembering that uncomfortable video of all things. It's not like I find myself attracted to the the woman who was pleasuring herself in that suspiciously spotless shower, so why? I'm not gullible enough to believe in the concept of 'lingering subliminals', am I?

None of this matters right now, I have much more pressing matters! Finally, Miss Murmur's final day as a free woman is at hand and I'll be the one to send it off. If I told myself that my nerves were completely at ease, I'd be lying. While my roommate vacates her bladder I pack my things and vacate the dorm, wishing that my shower had been a slightly more refreshing one... if my roommate can smell it on me, I'm going to seem as shameless as I had to Firefly last night. 

With the trap set for this evening, I have the morning to prepare myself both physically and mentally. If I slip up or hesitate, it could mean letting Murmur slip and she'd be sure to not repeat her carelessness again. I also need to be ready for any sort of mental manipulation or outright attack, that's what this training has been for after all. After passing the final tests yesterday I do feel at ease, but  it'd pay to not get too comfortable, don't want to be complacent. 

The short trek over campus feels surreal, almost too normal on a day I had been building up in my head all week. If I do well tonight, even Nova will acknowledge my accomplishment, she may even offer me a job! I had always looked up to her as my hero, but never dreamed of working under her. In fact, for the longest time I remember not wanting that, to pave my own way just as she had so that I could possible become her equal one day. Thinking on it now, that was such a childish dream, I should want to be as useful for her as possible. I think...

"Hey! What's with the gone out expression, Joy?" Laura snaps me out of my musings and teasingly elbows my rib, which hurts more than she probably thinks it does. "Dreaming of boys again? You're so easy to read, I swear."

"Haha... yeah, no. I'm not a high school girl!" I try to hide the pain left by that villainous elbow of hers, passing it off as outrage.

"Oh, so you spent your high school days dreaming of boys then? Picturing the perfect Chad to your Stacy?"

"My what to my... never mind, we're gonna be late." My eyes roll and I grab her wrist to drag her lazy ass to our morning lecture. My mind is too preoccupied with the operation looming over the day like a shooting star, if I take my eyes off it for even a second it might pass me by. It's not like I'm thrilled at the thought of being in the news again, but I will be taken more seriously at least, I'll be a real hero instead of a juice box mascot waiting to happen. 

"You got any plans tonight, then? I have some juicy gossip I'm just dying to spill all over you. Oh listen to me, I sound like a fuckin' bimbo!" Laura is leaning onto the desk I'm using from her own, only two of her chair's four legs still making contact with the ground. The lecturer clears his throat and stares daggers at the girl almost breathing down my neck, when her voice inevitably reaches a disruptive volume. Making me feel like dying inside while our course mates give us shifty glances is nothing new, but I worry that I already know what this gossip of hers is and if she leans any closer she might connect the dots. Firefly noticed what a mess Orchard was in the alleyway, but I'm not exactly much better now after that embarrassing shower fiasco. 

"Idiot, you'll get us kicked out, if you don't slip and concuss yourself first." My budget perfume is the last line of defence, outside of me just pushing her over. Tempting as it is, I'm not that cold blooded. "Got plans tonight, but you already knew that. Weekend?" 

Laura concedes and lands her chair back onto four legs, writing something in the corner of her notebook before tearing the paper and pushing it onto my desk. This is bound to spell trouble, what gossip could she possibly have that's too important to wait? If it were just about Orchard, she wouldn't be acting so giddy as to forget she could just text me. 

Slowly, I unravel the curled scrap of paper to find the adorably gel penned scribble of my moderately unhinged best friend. 

No way.

No fucking way.

My fingers tighten and scrunch up the note, before sending it hurtling across the table like a live grenade I need to take cover from. This is not a development I had prepared for, frankly I'm unsure as to whether I should be relieved or horrified. 

"Wait up, I know you wanna beat the queue but those sandwiches aren't going anywhere girl!" Laura picks up her pace on the way out of the lecture hall to catch up with me, yanking at my bag to turn me around when she does. "You're not... like, pissed at me, are you?"

"Huh? Why would I be? It's just... weird, but it's nothing to do with me."

"Your best mate and your roommate frenching has a little to do with you, though." Laura smiles bashfully, scratching the back of her head. 

"No, it really doesn't. I'm not even friends with her, you go kiss whoever you want I'm not sure why you think I'd need a full report. Literally on my desk, even!"

"Wow, Joy, I like hearing about all these mystery men of yours that got nothing to do with me. Sorry for assuming you'd give a shit when the shoe's on the other foot."

"Wait I didn't mean it like... I'm happy for you, really, I just have a lot on my mind and the thought of you moaning through my walls at night has me a little frazzled." 

Laura softens, letting go of my bag and nodding her head. "It's prolly not gonna happen again, we were drunk and like you always say, she's kind of a bitch."

"You were at a party? That's somehow the most shocking part of all this!" 

"W-well, not exactly. I was heading home from work and found myself subsumed by their drunken entourage."

"Jesus Laura, tone down the verbiage you're supposed to be the plucky, dim-witted sidekick." 

"Gee thanks! I already said I'm not some bimbo, do I need to dye my hair to prove it?"

"We're both blondies, dumbass."

"Joy, you're more strawberry blonde."

"For the last time, I am not even close to ginger!" 

"Touchy subject?"

"How's this for touchy?"

"Ouch! Bitch!" 

Somehow, for the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon, I find my nerves have settled. Me and Laura laugh ourselves through the day as though it were any other, neither of us quite knowing just how much our worlds are about to change. 

"Erm, hi... which one of you is Hivemind?" I'm at the meeting place, facing a group of ten or so strangers all dressed in civilian disguises. Never has my silly outfit made me feel so exposed, the freshly washed spandex making me stick out like a sore thumb. 

"Oh, I'm sorry for the confusion Orchard. We're all Hivemind." The woman in the middle replies, all their eyes fixed all too noticeably on myself. I'm at least glad they didn't reply in stereo, she must know just how unsettling that would be. 

"I'll be close by, on the street and in nearby buildings. To be safe none of my drones will actually be in the building the penthouse suite is located in, so you will have to keep Murmur in your Orchard for a few minutes while I come to detain her. The credit for the arrest will be all yours of course, as I need my drones to remain anonymous.

Great, I'll have so many eyes on me after this. I know I deserve it, but still, it's hard not to feel conflicted. Attention is a double edged sword, but so long as I can keep my identity a secret my peaceful college existence should continue unmarred. 

"Do you remember the plan?" Hivemind's drones disperse as the sun says its final goodbyes, just the woman in the flowing white sundress remaining with her eyes just as fixed on mine. 

"Of course, we've been through it so many times it's practically drilled in there for good."

"Humour me and run through it one more time so I can be sure."

It's a fairly simple plan, but I sigh and go along with her request anyway. "Murmur is going to be performing the heist sometime past eight. Just to be safe, from half seven I'll be stationed in the vault itself, transported there discreetly with the last of the valuables. Once the thief makes her way into the vault I'll catch her by surprise with my roots and pull her into the Orchard, using my phone to send the signal for you to come and pick her up. Before that point, if five minutes passes without me sending a clear message, you can assume something has happened and come up to check in. Did I miss anything?" 

Hivemind pats me on the head. Why does that feel good? I chew the inside of my cheek to hide the embarrassment best I can and wait for a reply I can make sense of. 

"Very good, Orchard. You should be well equipped to handle anything she may throw at you, I hope you won't need it but that resistance training likely made you the most prepared for a mental assault in the city. Many heroes have crossed paths with Miss Murmur only to have forgotten the entire affair, so keep your wits about you.

My mentor's little prep talk has me feeling more confident than ever, so I nod and give her a self-assured thumbs up. If Hivemind says I can do it, then I can do it! Everything she's told me so far has been the truth, after all.

Everything Hivemind tells mmmphh!

My thoughts are cut off by Hivemind's finger entering my mouth unprompted, sliding smoothly over my tongue as it pushes past my startled lips. I'm far too taken aback to move, but the feeling of my tongue being dragged over the familiar stranger's dainty fingertip is achieved by her swift removal of the intrusive digit. I give her my best attempt at a look of utter incredulity, which is nothing when compared to her shy half-smile, smugness juxtaposed with a little guilt. "Just... a little something to reduce suggestibility levels, perfectly harmless."

I try to process Hivemind's words as best I can. Something to reduce my suggestibility? Did she just give me a dose of something, drug me? If I were more sound of mind, I'd remark on the strangeness of the mystery drug's delivery method, or the similarity in taste to the scent I've spent all day trying to mask. How could I know that during our heated phone sex in the shower last night, which I have since forgotten all about like waking from a dream, that I had more or less begged the woman for a taste of the excitement she had been building between her legs. A certain sheepish idea had overtaken Hivemind since that moment of mentally compromised weakness, why not give me what I asked for while implanting an effective placebo? Of course, I've been far too drunk on the gold shimmer of Nova's suggestions to pick up on anything her or her underlings do not wish me to. Remaining none the wiser, I simply tint a rosy hue and ignore the twinge of heat in my loins, every crease and bump of the woman's finger cemented into memory.

"Th-thanks."

"You're very welcome, Joy, now be a good girl and head to the moving van. We have a rat to catch."

"Yes miss." I'm... I'm a good girl. 

Gosh, it's so hard to breathe in this stuffy thing. Out of all the trinkets left to move, the most comfortable hiding place was this tacky sarcophagus. It's not actually from ancient Egypt, that much is obvious... but the gold and jewels used to make it are the genuine article. The vault is bigger than my dorm room, which is a depressing realisation. The door itself is large enough to drive a small car through, but simple enough for a master thief to make short work of apparently. 

My heart begins to race as the minutes pass by, each second that ticks past is one closer to the confrontation with Murmur. Nobody even knows what the woman looks like, she's a true phantom. This may seem like rudimentary bait, but this operation had been carefully designed for far longer than I was privy to it. This is the only chance of catching her, in all likelihood, if this fails she will never make the same mistake again and trapping her will become an insurmountable task. I take slow, deep breaths to keep myself calm, starting to break into a light sweat inside this godforsaken golden coffin. 

I lay in wait, as still as can be, every possible scenario playing through my head in a rush of paranoia that serves to disquiet my calmed nerves. My hand moves up to double check the earpiece of the subliminal blockers, only to find an empty space. 

My face goes a sickly pale colour as I remember where I had left both earpieces and the contact lenses, I was in such a mess this morning that I forgot to pick them up from the bathroom side table. "No, no..." My fingers twitch and fidget as those volatile nerves only grow more panicked. If Murmur tries anything with subliminal messaging, the entire plan will surely fall apart. 

Suddenly, the entire sarcophagus feels impossibly hot and the air too thick to breathe. I need to cool down and take a breath, so I stumble out through the heavy lid only to gasp at the sight of the vault door's mechanism slowly turning. That pale face of mine widens in shock. The metal door is so thick, not to mention the sarcophagus itself, that I had not even heard the thief's approach. With someone as skilled as Miss Murmur surely is, it may not even have mattered what I could and couldn't hear, her footsteps could be silent altogether. 

This is it, not a moment to spare. I take one last deep breath to cast aside my apprehension and doubt, before steeling myself. 

The mechanism turns to Murmur's tune while I spread my roots into the ground, eyes glued on that large reinforced door, several tons of concrete and steel being pried open by a single ambitious crook. 

Finally, I cross the Rubicon. My eyes lay upon those of my target, a pair of eyes that have never been met without swift reprisal from their owner.

I stare into the abyss, the dark pupils of a small time villain with a big reputation. 

And that black, swirling abyss, encompassed by muted hazel rings.

Those plain, yet penetrating eyes, which hold my very future...

...stare right back into mine. 

Earlier that morning, in a messy dorm bathroom. 

Danielle flushes the toilet with a sigh, still feeling drunk from the night before. Still, her head is a lot more clear than it had been a few hours ago, which means she's sober enough to have an oncoming headache. Her roommate had always seemed like some holier than thou honour student too stuck up or maybe just introverted to let loose and go to a few parties. Every day, without failure, Danielle would go out with her friends while boring old Joy would stay at home, or go to some study session. What a waste of your college days, thought Danielle, but now she's not so sure. The entire bathroom is like a fresh crime scene for some masturbatory homicide case. The scent that Danielle's something of a scholar on, the transparent cheek mark on an otherwise fogged up glass panel, the milky drop dashed against the side of the puddle on the shower floor. 

With this evidence before her, Danielle could only surmise the obvious, that her goody-goody roommate Joy spent the night fucking herself silly in the shower. Detective Danielle ponders for a moment, before deducing that she must have gone through multiple orgasms to match with the evidence on the scene. What could have prompted such uncharacteristic behaviour from the girl? 

No, perhaps her roommate has always been this way. Maybe she likes doing it solo, to her own company? While Danielle has been leaving their accommodation perfectly empty for Joy, she's been taking advantage of the privacy to what? Goon? Is her roommate a gooner? She had grown sloppy, allowed herself to be caught this time by seemingly passing out from the singular ecstasy wrought by her own hand. 

The one thing that this internal monologue had assured Danielle of more than anything else... was that she is definitely still pissed. 

"Hmm?" The girl whips her head to trace the glint in the corner of her vision, another piece of evidence for the court record perhaps? How peculiar, thinks the raven haired sleuth, when her eyes fall upon some suspect possessions left by the culprit at large. 

Oh god, the girl silently remarks, upon identifying the devices sitting on the table. She never even noticed that her roommate wore contacts, a secret the girl hid well. Was she embarrassed by her poor sight? Such a silly notion, laughable even. Danielle adjusts her glasses, feeling personally slighted by the development before her attention falls upon the other device. Two earpieces, professional looking like the ones worn by security guards, yet scrappy enough to look more like prototypes than a genuine product. The girl's mind races when she hears the faint buzz emanating from each respective earphone. Happy for a distraction from remembering that mistake of a kiss with Joy's vulgar friend Laura, Danielle tries to imagine what could be playing through the audio devices in her hands... what sort of depraved auditory aid her roommate had been using to get herself off. They're wireless, but they must be picking up a signal from somewhere nearby right? The girl takes another quick look around the bathroom but comes up with nothing, so curiosity gets the better of her. 

After making a point to clean the bud thoroughly, Danielle pushes the earpiece in and is met with a low, harsh static buzz. 

At first, it's severely unpleasant, the grating hum making Danielle want to pull it out as quickly as her stupid curiosity had put it in. 

But as seconds turn to minutes, the sound becomes much more agreeable, that secret noise meant to keep the hero Orchard in line now sweetens another's ears. 

The sound becomes much more agreeable. 

The sound makes Dani much more agreeable.