How many days have passed since I submitted myself to Miss Murmur? Since I decided to be a real hero going forwards? I sit up in bed and sigh out longingly, remembering those lies I had to tell my former idol, how I had to lock the truth away in my orchard when that golden stare bore down to confirm that what I fed her was the truth. That Murmur, lovely Miss Murmur, got away in the end and pulled the wool over my eyes as she had every hero who crossed her before me. Even Nova herself. 

It wasn't an ability I knew I had until my mistress pried it from me after days of exhausting, exciting experimentation. Hive followed her instructions well and convinced Nicole to let me stay in her care for the five days following that unsuccessful mission. The city's number one hero was of course furious, this was to be her great victory, but she reluctantly agreed to wait a while before debriefing me. An interrogation really, Murmur knew it was coming and so used those days to prepare me just as the Nova Hero Agency had done the same in the days preceding my mission. Suffice it to say, I was just as motivated this time around.

"Can't believe how easily Nic took the bait. She's oh so predictable and... aha, as uptight as ever if your account is anything to go off. Here, coffee. Strong shit. Sorry for keeping you up so late again, I forget most people actually sleep and well... been a while since I let myself play with my food. It's good to indulge when you have cause to celebrate right?" Murmur rests a knee onto her mattress and I hastily reach over to take the espresso from her with a sleepy smile, crawling over a mess of dark sheets to do so. I'm still not entirely used to the woman's apartment, having expected an impressive lair befitting such a brooding vigilante and instead finding myself in an apartment scruffier than Laura's. Half of the mess is formed by loot collected from Miss Murmur's infamous robberies that earned her the city's ire, strewn about like she never even gave a single shit about their value herself. Now that I think about it, do the people of New Cassiepeia hate Murmur? Outside of the circles I run in, I'm not sure most people are even aware of a crook on her level. Isn't it just the rich elite who have cause to take her down? Isn't she just so dreamy? 

I loosen another infatuated sigh and sip the bitter coffee in my hands gladly, able to endure it now I'm not such a sweet thing myself. The dark haired woman climbs onto her bed in loose tank-top faded and ridden with holes, even darker circles descending upon me as she takes the cup from my fingers and feels them tremble in anticipation of her. "Play with your food? Are you going to eat me, miss? That might make me a little behind schedule on my weekly quota of uh... rescuing cats from trees."

"I think you're done with that sort of crap, Joy. That's not the work real heroes like us are needed for... though I suppose in claiming you I have rescued a lost kitten from a very high branch she was close to falling from. And yeah, I think I'll eat you..." Miss Murmur pushes her knee between mine and holds my bare shoulders firmly, pulling me into her heady cloud of sweat and deodorant. "Bright and sweet, as tempting as Eden's apple... just makes me wanna corrupt you until the juices run black." Mistress Murmur's teeth set upon my shoulder like fangs, breaking the skin with relative ease and making me grip onto her as I groan through my own gritted teeth. There was a lot of this during those recovery days where she tested the ins and outs of my power like it was her new toy, I learned to not only get used to such roughness... but crave it. Shamefully, I yearned for her to put me in my place again and again until I seriously started to wonder if I was a masochist. It's intoxicating to be your hero's outlet. It makes me feel owned.

Distantly I remind myself I'm a lesbian slut, a revelation that Hivemind helped me come to, as I buckle against Murmur's curled fingers while her teeth yet mark me. I pant against her shoulder, body writhing on those scattered sheets, begging her for more. When she's finished using me I collapse back onto the sheets and feel them stick to my back in this heat, head spinning in all this dizzying haze she has me suffocating in all hours of the day. In college, people have begun to talk and on the streets, my fellow heroes have started to notice too. 

After letting myself get drunk a while longer on the aftermath of Mistress Murmur's morning meeting, I peel myself out of bed and plod over to the wardrobe mirror to assess the damage. Just over a week has passed since my 'failed' mission that I can only perceive a complete success... and I find myself unrecognisable in the mirror. My hair's a tangle of messy auburn and I've circles forming around my own tired eyes from the constant late nights with my insomniac mistress. Dark hickeys line my collarbone, shoulders and neck, not to mention those fresh teeth marks as shiny and crimson as red delicious. Lipstick smears my jawline and cheek, painting over my chest like a canvas as the black kisses delve lower still. Must be from last night, I can barely even remember. Murmur's arms snake around me from behind and her soothing kiss against my sore spots is all the aftercare I require, leaning back against her as the picture in the mirror finally seems to make more sense. I'm hers, it feels too good to deny. She applies a thick black eyeliner to hide the dark circles 'in plain sight' and by the time she's gone I'm even more covered in her midnight stains. 

I reach for the strap of my wallet, a custom one given to me by a fan as young as I was when I first started fangirling over Nova, made in the colours of that tacky costume I always hated. Flipping it open idly with my thumb, I slip out the clipping I keep from when I somehow landed on the front page of The Rising Star. I was so nervous when they took this terrible fucking photo. I press the thin paper against the mirror and drink in the contrast between the scrappiest superhero in the world and Murmur's useful tool. 

"An apple a day..." My fingers close around the clipping and scrunch it up into another piece of junk, letting it drop onto Murmur's already messy floor. Like she says, no more cats in trees... don't we have firefighters for that? No more school assemblies, I always hated going to them anyway. No more small time bullshit, I have a gift don't I? My Orchard is so invaluable that the city, no, the world's greatest hero wanted it to belong to only her. Well, she'll get a taste of it alright. Just as Murmur predicted, Nova has insisted on handling her personally now, giving poor Orchard one more chance to prove the use of her unique ability before she's cast aside as another talentless rookie who couldn't make the cut. 

Suits me just fine. With Murmur as my guide I'll see to it that those corrupt heroes get a taste of their own medicine. We already succeeded with Hivemind, she's deep within my garden even now. Aren't you, Hive?

A seedling grows in the orchard and from it sprouts a dryad, perfect in its sinful lustre. The nymph's lips curl, a piece of one of New Cassiepeia's most famous heroes ready to heed my beck and call at Miss Murmur's command. It was something else we discovered during those long days of anything but rest, we had Hivemind possess me as she does those criminals that become the Nova Hero Agency's new property through dubious legality. Once I felt her begin to take over, my thoughts retreated to the orchard and I set my roots, luring her inside and keeping her there on standby. In essence we now share a telepathic bond imperceptible to Nova and her techie underling, which should prove very useful in the near future. 

"Miss Williams? H-how can I be of service?" She's so eager to serve me now, desperate for more rich ambrosia that only I can give her. When the woman confessed to keeping a sample of Florasma's concoction for herself after we began to train with it, that she used a handful of her drones to begin synthesising her own supply... well, it now keeps her tamed just as it once had during that incident that had my orchard a garden of lust. This time I keep it well in control. I tilt my head up and unscrew the synthesized drops from the tiny bottle kept in my wallet, squeezing lightly until I feel its potency spread warmth across my tongue. My mouth closes and I swallow the tainted saliva, focusing on directing that chemical control directly to Hive's dryad drone. "Mmhgh... you're sooo generous, Miss Williams."

Everything Hivemind tells me is the truth~

"Come pick me up in the nicest taxi you have that can be here in ah... ten minutes or less. I need to pick up something from my dorm room before I head to class so no dawdling hehe..." It's such a rush, commanding others. I can see why mistress seems to get off on it so much. Get off on me so much. I'm aware how obedient and submissive I am, I know it isn't normal. It just feels so right, like for the first time in my life I matter for more than giving our lazy boys in blue a break they did jack all to deserve. Last I checked the paltry sum afforded to my dead end hero agency isn't boosted by nice, buttery taxes. 

"Y-yesss... ah, sorry... yes miss. I'll be right there." Hivemind's need tickles the back of my head in a pleasant tingle and I run a hand through my hair with a little gel, messing it up as if it wasn't already a mess. 

"And Hive, don't drive one handed." 

"I have plenty of free hands, remember?" The dryad relays the woman's chuckle and I cannot help but smirk, she'll regret the confession soon. 

As I open Murmur's wardrobe and borrow something to wear, I carefully cut across her room and wipe myself down carefully with damp hand towel, only letting out a few gasps from the soreness. "Okay then, let me rephrase. Don't touch yourself at all until I've given you permission. I still owe you, after all." These are words that plucky do-gooder on the floor in a scrunched up ball would have never even thought up, but that girl was naive enough to think Nova's agency actually wanted to help her, that they saw something in her save for the saving of face and the hallmark signs of a steady profit. 

"Ah! O-okay, Miss Williams. I'm your--" With a wave I pull her back into the garden's roots, admiring the canvas I present in the bathroom mirror and the pretty watercolours left behind by my mistress after wiping away the excess. This is becoming harder and harder to explain to Laura. While the vigilante Firefly is still firmly under Murmur's thumb, her sunny alter ego is none the wiser. Given that the goddess of gold herself is after my mistress to make fine example of, she's always been very strict on herself and never left a trace of her conditioning to be collected like a fingerprint. I'm her first proper slave in a long time and that's only because my orchard protects me from interrogation... wait, slave? No, no, I'm her partner. A sidekick, just look at my costume. Sometimes my thoughts get mixed up, it's why I need to come and sleep with Murmur so that she can fine tune this silly head of mine as I dream. Of course it would not be safe to do so had Hivemind not been the one chosen to covertly spy on us for Nova.

With me in her collection, as valuable as this solid gold sceptre I need to step over to reach the front door where my boots are, Murmur can finally start acquiring more 'sidekicks' and store their memories of being hers safely in my orchard ready to be returned whenever my roots find them once more. Firefly's loyalty is a pretty flower blooming in my secret garden right now, keeping Laura safe and clueless. With Hivemind we've no great need for manpower, but those powers can come in handy. For her part, Laura can really put up her own in a fight even stacked up against licensed heroes. 

Time to face the day, I think I hear Hive's wheels rolling in already, such a good girl. Grabbing a jacket and throwing it over my shoulders in a rush, I find myself halted by a hand around my arm that spins me back into Miss Murmur's. When she holds me like this my priorities fall to the wayside so quickly, all I see is her. "Be a good little hero for me today, okay Orchard? If you see any crows circling in the sky above you, well, don't ignore them for too long and deny yourself the Joy of giving in." Murmur's hand slides up and the woman cradles my face, a burning hot face that stares up at her with adoration pooling in its eyes. I don't think I've ever fallen so hard... or so far.

"I don't need to tell you where my dorm is right? I think you and your buddies saw to that already, I can't believe I was so blind to the invasion of privacy at the time!" It's different with Murmur of course, because there's no secrets I'd even want to keep from her. I'd trust her with my life, no stare of submission required.

The driver pushes their hips together, still riding out that concentrated dose I gave her back in the apartment. "S-sorry Miss Williams... they always pushed me around too, I never meant to... to--"

"You didn't get off on playing with me? Nicole never told you to call me that night, did she?" My mind feels so sharp now that I've overcome their mental conditioning. I can think so clearly now, if there was a crow circling in the sky above I'd surely look up and thank it.

The woman goes quiet and I gently stroke a hand down her arm, prying it from the wheel and letting it rest over my warm thigh. "Did you pick a female driver because you know my preferences? Still think I'm just a lesbian slut, do you? Well... maybe you're right... everything you tell me is the truth after all hehe." Leaning back in the passenger seat, I slip the stranger's fingers into the waistband of Murmur's torn skinny jeans. I'm not entirely sure if they're stylistically ripped or simply that old.

"Ah uhm... didn't you tell me not to drive one handed, M-Miss--"

"Shut up and keep your eyes on the road... it's your fault I'm like this, take some responsibility. You've no excuse for sloppy technique, Hive, so many bodies to train with... ah~" These fingers feel so different to Murmur's. I feel the creases in her knuckles, the way she slowly curls them as a long fake nail moves to wake my needy clitoris. "Y-yes, just like that... don't you dare stop until I-- ah! Ahahaha!" A pothole drove her deeper, Hivemind apologising profusely before I remind her to keep quiet once again. This'll be my second orgasm of the day already, against another woman's fingers no less.

By the time we reach my dorm, I'm much quieter, feeling soft and meek now that I've buckled and moaned against her touch and let that post orgasmic haze take me. They say it comes with clarity, but I wouldn't really know. I step out of the vehicle and blow a woman I once idolised a teasing kiss, just a parting gift to keep her thinking of me as if the sapling in my orchard doesn't see to that already. She's earnt the attention anyway, that technique has me wondering if we could have a few warm bodies occupy Murmur's flat like a harem of sorts... though I suppose that isn't a particularly heroic thought. 

Stepping into my apartment quietly, I wonder if Danielle is going to be in or not. Even if she has classes the odds are fairly even, I'd rather not have to explain my recent absence nor my strange behaviour from before. A few steps into the room and I catch a strange sight. Danielle sitting at the computer, no, my computer. The girl doesn't have her own, I only got one when I started fighting crime though thankfully it's well... encrypted?

"Dani, what the fuck?" I step closer, my roommate's back to me as she sits slumped in the desk chair while her arms almost seem to move by themselves.  Am I really this sleep deprived, or is my party animal college roommate currently scouring my personal files like it's an all-you-can-eat? God knows how she got onto my account in the first place, I'm more curious why. I mean there it is sitting right in front of her, reflecting onto her glasses in its revealing glow. My secret identity is laid bare, I won't have much chance at denying it when she turns and starts interrogating me and yet... she never does. 

As I cautiously approach, I notice why my question fell on deaf ears. Plugged ears, coiled wires looking all too familiar to me. I realise she isn't even wearing her glasses and when I consider those subliminal contacts that went with the earphones, I figure out why. "Dani... I mean... are you--"

"Right behind you, Joy~"