Dress Off 07: Pillar of Purgatory

"So, here's how this is going to work," Jessica said in a conversational tone, "that little gizmo in your neck is controlled by this little gizmo in my hand." Jessica waved a small palm-sized remote in her left hand. "I'm going to temporarily switch this off and you're going to take me into your little side-office over there, and there won't be any unnecessary messiness around trying to signal to anyone watching on the foyer cameras." Jessica nodded at the guards' room off to the side of the foyer. "Then we're going to have a little chat about how the rest of this night is going to play out, and at no stage will you attempt anything stupid." Jessica leaned in to the stricken guard's ear and whispered. "Because if you do, I'll freeze you again and leave you tied to a streetlight outside. And you won't have to worry about people thinking your outfit is a size to big for you, if you get my drift." Jessica gave the woman a meaningful look, and the guard gulped, her eyes moving up and down to indicate that she understood.

"Excellent!" Said Jessica brightly. "Time for a little girl-to-girl chat then! Lead the way."

****

Penelope walked out of the lift and into another lobby, this time on the eighth floor of the building. Dressed in nothing other than a pair of handcuffs and a brunette wig, she tried to maintain her composure and act like Stacey Shackleton would have in the same situation. It was all she could do though to stop from twisting her body around and shielding her full frontal nudity from the gaggle of uniformed men who were waiting for them as they emerged. Instead, she tensed her body, tried to stop the nervous shaking, and eyed the nearest man defiantly.

Erin pushed her on, and scanned the room for the group's leader. A tall man in his fifties, dressed smartly in a business suit and with a streak of grey in his otherwise perfectly coiffured hair, stepped forward and scanned the two women. His piercing blue eyes cut into Penelope, and she could feel her mouth going dry. Penelope was several years younger than Stacey, at least half a foot shorter, and her breasts were also a cup size larger. The only thing going for her disguise was the wig and the fact that her gorgeous figure might just cloud the men's minds enough that they wouldn't put two and two together.

"Funny," the man said, looking down at his phone, "you looked taller in the video capture." He looked suspiciously at the Erin. "Where are the guards?" He asked.

Erin shrugged. "Downstairs guarding the door I suppose, really not my business. Why don't you go and ask them?"

The man's eyes narrowed. "The lift stopped."

"Yeah. She hit the emergency stop button in a futile bid to escape and I had to teach her a little lesson." She jerked Penelope forward and twisted her around, and the woman yelped as she almost stumbled. Penelope bent over and reluctantly exposed a bright red backside, courtesy of some special makeup that the agent had put on prior to arriving and that doubled perfectly for a thoroughly well-spanked ass. Penelope was then made to turn back and face the men, her hands bound behind her back and presenting the perfect picture of submission. "Thankfully I'm thorough."

The man pursed his lips, and then held up a finger to hush Erin. He put his phone up to his face and calmly spoke into it.

"Security. Are you downstairs in the foyer?"

He waited for a moment, before a woman's voice came back in response.

"Yes sir. We're all down here."

The man held the phone out thoughtfully, not taking his eyes off Erin and dragged the silence out for a few moments longer before acknowledging the response. "Report in immediately if there is anything suspicious."

"Yes sir."

The man slipped the phone back into his suit pocket and slowly approached Penelope, running his eyes over the naked agent's body, taking in every inch of her bare skin, and then walked past her, running a finger down from her shoulder, along her spine, and caught the handcuffs as he approached Erin. Giving an experimental yank that almost pulled Penelope off her feet, he satisfied himself that the handcuffs were on securely, and gave Erin a pleasant smile.

"Just one more test, and then we can conclude our transaction."

Erin gave him a look of impatience. "Let's hurry this up shall we, I do have other things I'd like to get done today."

The man's pleasant smile didn't budge, but his tone was matter-of-fact. "Well, you'll appreciate I'm sure that such valuable merchandise needs to be authenticated... especially when... well." He stepped back so that he was now directly standing in front of Penelope again, and then let his eyes drop slowly down to the captive's exposed womanhood. He let his gaze linger over Penelope's neatly trimmed pussy and continued to stare as he sensed Penelope's growing discomfort and nervousness. Finally, he slowly looked back up at Erin and leaned his head to one side. "Especially," he concluded, "as it seems the carpet doesn't seem to match the drapes."

Penelope's heart skipped a beat as he realised that, as short as her hair was down there, the man's fine eye for details had noticed that it was black in contrast to her red hair. Penelope closed her eyes and cursed herself for not thinking of that earlier.

Erin shook her head. "Look, I couldn't care less about her personal sense of style. You're the one who sent out the contract on her, and I'm here to collect." She lied smoothly, hoping that her bullshit was coinciding with how they'd actually responded when Stacey had escaped. It at least seemed plausible that they'd sent something out to the local network of bounty hunters, given they could hardly go to the police.

The man grunted, and then turned to one of his entourage. "Bring him." He said.

Erin and Penelope tried to look through the small crowd in front of them and wondered who they were referring to. They didn't need to wait long. Erin held her breath when she saw a tall man with a familiar face shuffle towards them, and tensed her muscles instinctively, ready to switch to fight or flight mode.

It was Tom Mitchelson. Tom had clearly seen better days, his hair was a mess and he was dressed in a grey medical scrubs, looking like a zombie, barely able to focus his eyes on the women in front of him as he came to a stumbling halt next to the business man.

"This is Tom. He's out latest... recruit, shall we say. Tom is a good friend of the woman you've brought in, and is in a very cooperative state of mind. So," he put his hands in his pockets and looked left and right at his flanking guards, "shall we see what he has to say?"

Erin felt a chill go down her spine as Tom stared dully at both herself and Penelope, and took one small step towards her new friend.

"Tom," the business man asked, now putting an arm over Tom's shoulder as if he was a lifelong friend asking for a small favour, "could you please tell me whether this fine specimen is the woman you came along with tonight?"

As he opened his mouth to speak, Erin's hand wandered to Penelope's restrained wrists and positioned themselves to flick the hidden release switch so her partner at least had a fighting chance. Outnumbered at least five to one though, Erin wasn't liking their odds.

****

Down in the guard's office by the front foyer, Jessica stepped back and inspected her work. The woman she'd been working on was standing up with her hands on her head, but was no longer dressed in her guard's outfit. Instead, she was wearing the white jump suit that Jessica had walked in with, while Jessica herself had slipped into the uniform. The jumpsuit was extremely tight on the guard's somewhat plumper body, and the woman clearly looked self-conscious. Her guard's outfit was equally ill-fitting on Jessica, but would be just what the agent needed nevertheless.

Jessica nodded her head in satisfaction, and then gave the woman the thumbs up signal. "Yes, yes, that will do nicely." She rummaged in a bag, and then produced a small metal cylindrical object with an antenna sticking out prominently. "So, let's just run through how this all works. You see, you are wearing a rather fetching outfit with some rather amazing properties."

She gave the other woman a broad smile, and then reached over to pick up a phone which had suddenly begun to ring. "Yes sir, We're all down here." Jessica replied after a man's voice had come through from the other end. Jessica held up a hand to indicate the guard was to be absolutely silent, and then replied with a simple "Yes sir" before the caller promptly hung up.

"Now.. where were we? Oh, that's right!" Jessica said, keeping the phone in her hand. "So, as I was saying, the outfit is rather special. Perhaps the most special piece of clothing you've ever owned, so that's something to remember this night for!"

Jessica took a step forward and waved the cylindrical object theatrically. "You see this gadget and your outfit are connected." She turned the gadget around to show the captured guard a small red button, and then flicked it on. "In seven minutes, this device will start transmitting a signal. That signal will cause certain critical threads in your outfit to fail. Spectacularly. Now, the good news is that the signal only has a distance of around six city blocks. So all you have to do is be more than six city blocks away from this spot when the timer goes off, and you get to keep your clothes on."

Jessica then put a hand in the bag again and pulled out another small remote.

"So I'll give you a sporting chance to get away. However, should you decide for whatever reason to try and get help or call your bosses, then I'll know about it." She tapped her ears for effect. "And then I press this little button here."

She pointed at the woman's crotch. "Now, you're probably wondering why I placed that adhesive disc to your pussy before dressing you. Suffice to say that if I need to press this button, then you'll truely have a night that neither you or anyone around you will ever forget."

The woman gulped, and nodded her understanding. "Okay. Okay, I won't tell anyone." She gasped.

Jessica smiled. "I know you won't. So... just one last thing to do." Jessica pulled a blonde wig out that looked identical to her own hairstyle, and indicated for the woman to move her hands of her head. She meekly complied. Then, with delicate care, Jessica placed the wig on the guard's head and pressed down. "Don't worry. The adhesive will wash out in about an hour. I wouldn't recommend trying to take if off before then though."

Then, Jessica gave the guard a healthy smack on her bottom, and pointed at the door. "Run." She said. "Time is not your friend!"

The guard gave Jessica a startled look and then - not needing any further invitation - bolted for the door out to the foyer, turned left, and sprinted out of the wide doors into the darkness.

As Jessica followed her out of the office, she pulled a second wig out of her bag. This one was the same mousy colour to the woman she'd just set loose on the streets of Brisbane.

Putting it on and checking herself in the camera of the guard's phone, she then opened up the "recent calls" menu and hit redial on the number she'd just answered.

"Sir?" She said. "Sir, you asked me to report anything suspicious. Sir, the woman from a few nights ago just tried to get through the foyer. Said she was here to rescue her friends. She ran out of the building after I challenged her, sir, but I managed to tag her with a tracker before she escaped. I need assistance in following her, sir."

Jessica eyes flashed as she spoke into the phone, and then took a deep breath as she wondered how Stacey was going. It was one thing to break into the building, she thought. Quite another thing entirely to break out.

Disappearing back into the guard's foyer office again, Jessica began to grab her gear bag when she noticed out of the corner of her eye that one of the monitors wasn't showing a corridor or office in the building. Instead, it was showing a large pillar in the middle of a huge roofed arena. Walking over, Jessica leaned in closer and whistled in surprise as she realised what she was looking at.

The camera feed was panning around the pillar, which was large enough for six women to be chained naked and spreadeagled, facing out to the audience and being subjected to revealing full frontal shots of their most intimate body parts. There was even space for two more women who were currently absent, and as the camera panned around one more time, Penelope clenched her jaw as she saw Tess Trueheart chained up, giving the audience a look of quiet determination and defiance, followed directly afterwards by a clearly seething and furious and equally naked Elizabeth Harrington. The other four women seemed downcast, and two in particular seemed to be in a trance.

Jessica grabbed the bag and walked out of the office with a heightened sense of urgency. Time was well and truely running out.

****

The tall red-headed woman pulled her coat tighter around as the light drizzle began to intensify. Glancing up at the dark winter clouds overhead with a critical eye, she hurried along through the semi-abandoned warehouse complex outside of Portland, ignoring the occasional workman who was similarly hurrying from one assignment to another before the heavens truely opened up on them. Finally, after rounding a corner and approaching a large nondescript warehouse with a vivid blue number "12" plastered above a wide vehicle entrance, the woman slowed her pace, checked around her again, and then approached a smaller side entrance. She fumbled in her coat pocket for something, and then produced a small card as the rain came down even harder.

Grumbling, she fiddled with a square box at shoulder height attached to the wall, and eventually managed to retract a cover from it. Behind the cover was a shining silver access panel that seemed far more modern and expensive than the building or the door that it was attached to.

Tapping the card against the access panel, the woman leaned in as a calm computerised voice spoke.

"Card identification confirmed, voice identification required."

"Agent Brittney Barecat, my voice is my identification, confirm." The woman said, shivering slightly as a cold wind sprung up.

A few seconds passed, which didn't help Brittney's mood improve at all, before the voice chimed up again. "Card identification confirmed. Voice identification confirmed. Agent Brittney Barecat confirmed. Proceed."

The side door finally begun to open, and Brittney burst through it and in the dry warmth inside, breathing deeply and contentedly as she felt warm air on her face.

The warehouse was a multi-storey affair and the side door had led to a square lobby with only a couple of nondescript tables and a stack of boxes to one side. Other than the exit there were two wooden doors that led out of the lobby, one of which was signposted "stairs" and the other had a dirty glass pane in it that revealed a much larger internal space beyond.

Brittney walked through lobby, her pace slowing slightly and her newly-contented expression flickered with a sudden feeling of doubt. There was no movement in the interior space beyond the second door, and Brittney knew that Headquarters should by all rights be bustling hive of activity as Decider Enterprises settled into new premises after having had to evacuate their old base only recently.

The woman she had a message to deliver to had her offices on the second floor of the warehouse, and Brittney turned and opened the door to the stairs even as her puzzled expression tried to make sense of the quiet and lack of activity. The stairs in the old building creaked under her feet and as she emerged into a long corridor on the second floor, she subconsciously began to sneak along through the piled up collections of files and equipment that had still to be unpacked from their boxes, and that were strewn against the walls, punctuated only by the occasional door.

Brittney stopped short of the Director's office, and cast a look in each direction down the corridor. Edging closer, she pressed her ear against the door, and when she heard no noise from inside, she experimentally tried the door handle. It twisted in her hand, giving a creak that she immediately regretted. Stepping back again she found herself holding her breath, but when no sign of movement came from either direction, she returned back to the door, grasped the handle, and with a sudden jerk, opened the door and stepped inside.

To her surprise, the Director was sitting calmly at her desk, staring at the laptop in front of her. Brittney opened her mouth to apologise for bursting in, when she realised that despite her sudden an obvious entrance, the Director was still serenely looking at the laptop screen and hadn't acknowledged her arrival.

Brittney stood in the doorway, and finally perked up the courage to say. "Dir... Director... umm... it's me... ah.... Agent Barecat?"

The red-haired agent stepped out of the office and peered down the corridor again. Still no sign of movement. This was getting beyond weird.

"Umm... Director?" Brittney said again, waving now.

Finally, at the third time of asking, the Director slowly raised her eyes from the screen and stared blankly at the woman at the entrance to her office.

Brittney finally smiled, glad that she'd seemingly gotten through to her commanding officer. The smile died on her face though as she saw the blank expression on the Director's face turn into a stern and fierce look. The Director pressed a button on her laptop, and the voice that came out of her mouth was distant and almost robotic.

"Security. Intruder in the Director's Office. Apprehend."

Brittney's mouth dropped open, and she stumbled back. "No... no..." she turned to run, but then a thought materialised at the forefront of her mind and - with her recent training kicking into action - she instead dashed across the office, grabbed the laptop of the desk before the zombie-like woman it belonged to could react, and then turned to sprint out the room with it tucked safely under one arm. She turned to head back towards the stairwell but came to a skidding halt as the door to the stairs burst open and two security guards lumbered through.

"Fuck!" Brittney swore, and turned on her heels and headed further down the corridor. If she remembered correctly, there would be a second stairwell somewhere further along, and she'd just have to hope that security wasn't on top of their game and were only coming from one direction.

Brittney tore along, and turned a corner down a similarly dusty and nearly identical corridor, and gave a yelp of joy as she saw an "exit" sign pointing towards a door at the end. The sound of pursuit was fading behind her - Brittney may not have been the strongest agent or the best fighter but she did have the gift of speed and fleet of foot. As she crashed through the door to the second stairwell, she only had one goal in mind and that was getting out of the building as fast as humanely possible. She had no idea what had happened here, but "somewhere else" seemed like an eminently sensible place to figure things out.

Taking the stairs two at a time, Brittney was about to dash out into what was hopefully the deserted ground floor warehouse beyond when her heart skipped a beat. The handle on the door on the ground floor was being opened from the other side. The chances of that being a good thing seemed vanishingly remote to Brittney, and she was about to curse and head back the way she came when she heard a noise from above her. Her mouth went dry. The guards who had been chasing her had apparently figured out she'd entered the stairwell, and now she looked around desperately for another escape route. It was then that she realised that by a random stroke of fortune, she'd chosen a stairwell that had stairs leading to the basement below. Needing no invitation to seize the opportunity, Brittney sprinted down the stairs again, leaving it to future-Brittney-in-thirty-seconds-time to figure out just where she was going to hide in a basement.