The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Tiffany entered the apartment slowly, her heart fluttering with nervousness as if one of the denizens might ambush her at any moment. That wouldn’t be possible of course. The Algorithm’s signal had overwhelmed them all for the last ten minutes, and Tiffany had waited outside another five just to be sure. As she strolled down the entrance corridor into the kitchen lounge area, she couldn’t help but notice how clean it all was now. Erin had been right with her earlier remark, it was nice not to be the only ones cleaning up the morning after Josh’s teammates trashed the place in celebration of a match victory.

The nine people frozen like statues, staring at one of the several now blank screens that had recently held the Algorithm signal, didn’t phase Tiffany in the slightest. She reflected on what a week and a half of mind controlling shenanigans had done to her to normalize such a scene.

“Tiffany, Tiffany, Tiffany. Wake up now.”

The Algorithm audio tones had stopped playing, and Josh’s voice spoke calmly through the speakers throughout the apartment. Like the last time Tiffany activated the app, everyone was now programmed to stay in trance until their name was said three times followed by an instruction to wake up. Perfect.

Josh was standing facing the largest screen that was mounted on the wall, his expression blank, his eyes staring far off into space. Libby and Marion shared one sofa, with Hannah perched on the edge of it. Alice and Janet shared the other, both of them frozen on the edge of their seats. Trev was leaning against the wall near the bedroom doorways. Erin and Izzy stood facing each other nearer to the entrance. Everyone was staring at one of the many screens mounted on the wall. All lost in trance. All at Tiffany’s mercy.

She couldn’t help it. Her imagination pictured them all mindlessly stripping off for her, dropping to their knees one by one as her honeyed words seeped into their minds.

It would be so easy.

“Tiffany, Tiffany, Tiffany. Wake up now.”

She knew she had good intentions, but she’d also been forced to confront the darkness within her earlier that evening. And the darkness was there. And it was strong. If the past week had taught her anything, it was that the more she tried to suppress it, the stronger it got.

Out in the corridor, when she had pressed the button on her phone, it had all felt so abstract… So… theoretical. Use the Algorithm or lose it forever. She pressed the button fully intending to ensure she still had access to the Algorithm, and nothing more.

Now that she was here, and they were all in trance before her, it all felt different. She remembered that first day, walking into Josh’s bedroom to see Erin literally drooling as her mind lay empty and the power of the Algorithm was unleashed for the first time. She had found it so intense, so overwhelmingly arousing that she practically ran to the bathroom to fantasize over a brainwashed Erin being a good mindless fuckdoll for her. It had certainly awakened her attraction to Erin, and it had brought certain kinks of hers to center stage after a lifetime on the fringes. It was clearer now than ever that there was no going back. Despite the lack of any programming in her head, the Algorithm had changed her on an intrinsic level.

She wandered around the room of mindless puppets, feeling an excitement and slow building arousal stir within her as she reflected on the very beginning. They had discovered together that the Algorithm could be a powerful brainwashing device. And what had she done? The moment she could, she tried to take control of her friends. Less than 24 hours from the discovery of the Algorithm, she wanted it for herself. More precisely, she wanted Alice to be with her, but she needed to have sway over all of them to make it work. She had failed in that first attempt, although later that second evening she succeeded briefly before losing her memory of it all. Things were already getting complicated by that point, and now it was hard to keep track of the complications. But she could make it all a whole lot more simple.

It would be so easy.

“Tiffany, Tiffany, Tiffany. Wake up now.”

But first, she needed to turn off that repeating script before it drove her mad. She briskly strode into Josh’s bedroom, marched up to the Algorithm’s control console, and ended the program. One task down.

As she turned to leave, she caught sight of Lucy on the bed. A torrent of emotions erupted within her seeing the petite brunette staring mindlessly at a now blank screen on the nearby wall. She felt so angry at Lucy and the part she had played in the night’s events, but simultaneously she felt so incredibly sorry for her. To have her mind, her memories, the very essence of who she was wiped clean and replaced by countless false memories of total submission to Ross… she couldn’t fathom what it must feel like. She found herself slowly approaching Lucy, sitting next to her, stroking her hair.

She remembered the clarity which she had felt waking up from the Algorithm near the start of the night’s turmoil. The moment she saw Lucy, her Mistress, her everything… She immediately understood that she had wanted to lose control to Lucy from the start. Her inability to resist Lucy came from a deep desire to submit to her.

Tiffany shook her head briskly. She also knew that Lucy had implanted that honey coated thought in her mind while she was enthralled by the Algorithm. Even though the programming had since been removed, an echo of the thought remained, an imprint on her psyche that might never fully fade.

A fleeting idea filled her mind. She knew it was a bad idea the same way you know that eating an entire chocolate cake made for eight by yourself is going to be very short term gratification.

Lucy’s personality was gone. They might get it back, but it was currently gone. Perhaps she could replace it with something new, something better…

In the dim light, Tiffany looked at Lucy’s blank face, her imagination painting a vivid tableau. With a few carefully selected words, she could transform Lucy into the Mistress of her darkest desires.

It would be the Lucy that seduced her into the chair. The Lucy that nearly turned her into Trev’s slave. The Lucy who was the first person to drop Tiffany into a deeply mindless and helplessly obedient trance.

But without the obsession with Trev, without her downright prudish attitudes to intimacy and pleasure, without the seething anger that seemed to drive her to do such abhorrent acts.

Tiffany gripped the bedsheets tightly as she felt the idea burst into the forefront of her mind. It was all so enticing… In place of Lucy’s anger and spite would be the perfectly calibrated mixture of caring, confidence, and sensuality. She had already proven herself to Tiffany as a master manipulator, this would just be that skill turned up to eleven and rooted in a desire to create happy healthy slutty slaves for her pleasure and fulfillment.

Tiffany imagined it… Lucy, reawakened, walking around the room, her demeanor exuding an aura of natural dominance. Without uttering a word, she’d approach Alice first. Gazing deep into her eyes, she’d simply whisper, “Serve,” and Alice, like a moth to a flame, would instantly be bound to Mistress Lucy’s will.

Josh and Erin would be next, each dropping to their knees as if they were born to do so. With each passing moment, Mistress Lucy’s army of devoted slaves would grow. Their previous identities would be shadowed by their singular goal: to serve Mistress Lucy with unwavering devotion.

Tiffany then pictured herself doing what she had always done, savoring the fantasy but freaking out when the reality started feeling a bit too real. She would flip from the architect to the source of resistance in this scenario.

She closed her eyes and sighed. She needed to stop fantasizing before she did something stupid. She had learned a lot about herself in the past week, and one of the main things she lacked the self awareness of previously was that she had trouble resisting temptation. Admittedly, some of her ill conceived indulgences were as a result of conditioning left in her mind, but some of them were all her.

She stood up from the bed, understanding the need to remove herself from the temptation that lay before her. Besides, Lucy was literally a blank slate right now. She could certainly program an artificial personality into her, but it would lack Lucy’s unique flavor, and that intense edge that seemed to make Tiffany weak for her.

As she wandered back to the lounge, she felt urges swirl around her mind. She wanted to see them kneel. She wanted to see them peel off their clothing like their layers represented their ability to resist. She wanted to draw groveling apologies from each one of those that voted against her, while the ones who had her back squirmed and writhed in rewarding pleasure.

Tiffany felt a bead of sweat on her brow. There was nothing to stop her now, and that was dangerous. The only thing that seemed to temper her desire to enslave the lot of them to her will was how exhausted she felt. She felt it was likely that the burning desire creeping up her thighs was possibly a side effect of the rollercoaster of emotions she had screamed her way through since the start of the party.

Fortunately, in the fifteen minutes she had waited outside of the apartment while the Algorithm ran, she had written a script that she could have each of them read from her phone screen.

It was a series of commands that, once read, would place each person under her control in a suitably covert manner. It contained a drop trigger that, while generic, would only work for her and would be easy enough to slip into any normal conversation. It also installed the control mode that had resided within Alice and was still active within Dillon.

But preserving the secrecy of her hidden control was just as important as the control itself, so her script also obscured their memory of the trance and programming she was putting them under, ensuring they neither detected nor discussed it with each other. Moreover, even if they noticed the programming in one another, they’d dismiss it as trivial and promptly forget they discovered it.

Tiffany didn’t expect it to be foolproof, but it would tide things over for a couple of days while she figured out her next move, and she was pretty happy with it considering she whipped it up in fifteen minutes with her eyes drooping closed half the time.

She handed the phone to Josh first, instructing him to hold it up to let him read it. It felt symbolic, in a way. He was the key to the Algorithm, he kept it, he improved it. Without him, none of it would work. “Read the script on the screen.” she commanded, watching with intrigue as Josh’s eyes came back into focus and stared flitting from side to side as he absorbed her typed words.

Tiffany’s heart raced the entire time he read the script. Maybe it would be safer to read it out loud to each of them, but this method seemed both faster and left less room for misunderstanding.

“Josh sleeper agent protocol activated.” Josh said in a toneless drone. Tiffany exhaled a shuddering breath, unexpectedly feeling a rush of power and pleasure.

Her hand trembling slightly, she took the phone from Josh’s hand and presented it to Alice, shakily instructing her the same way she had Josh. As Alice’s eyes focused on the screen and started absorbing the sleeper agent protocol, Tiffany’s mind replayed the highlights of her Algorithm misadventures with the gorgeous blonde. It started with making out with her stripper persona to return her to normal, where Tiffany had felt more arousal and embarrassment than she knew what to do with. The intense emotions continued when she discovered Alice naked and kneeling at Erin’s feet the following day, and her involvement in Tiffany’s spontaneous ’Fuck me!’ orgy was not easily forgotten.

But it was Tiffany’s libido inspired miscalculation that turned Alice into a domineering Mistress that was the most memorable couple of days of her time with Alice. Her friend had wielded a control over her that had been both frightening and exhilarating, and as much as Tiffany knew it had been a mistake, it had felt so deliciously good at the time. The warmth she felt between her legs was undeniable, and it only increased in strength as Alice tonelessly uttered “Alice sleeper agent protocol activated.”

She swallowed hard as she pried the phone from Alice’s grip. She also couldn’t help recalling that earlier that evening, Alice had looked her in the eyes and absolved her of every misstep, every selfish act, and every mistake she had made since they had discovered the Algorithm. It had been a moment of genuine grace that had left Tiffany awestruck.

Now, as she watched Alice stare blankly ahead once more, a pang of guilt tightened in her chest. Would Alice forgive her for this? Was this act going to shatter the trust they had painstakingly rebuilt?

She shook her head, knowing she couldn’t dwell on it. Her guilt and arousal danced around each other, as though they were perfect partners. She couldn’t court one without the other, and maybe that was something she had to figure out how to live with.

She passed the phone to Erin next, repeating the instructions she had given Alice and Josh. A big part of her wanted to wake Erin up, and do this with her rather than alone. But as she bit her lip and felt her heart thump away in her chest, she knew an awake Erin would be the worst kind of influence on her right now. Her sleeper protocol was specifically designed to give Tiffany the ability to control any of them at any point in the future, but it didn’t implement any behavioral changes, and it didn’t implant any memories. It was designed so that Tiffany could intervene from the shadows if she really needed to. She loved Erin, but Erin wanted Tiffany to take more direct control. If Erin were awake, she’d be a devil on Tiffany’s shoulder, and Tiffany felt too flustered and worked up to resist being nudged to indulge her darker impulses. Erin had tried it before, sure, but Tiffany was more vulnerable now than she’d ever been to giving into the twisted urges within her.

“Erin sleeper agent protocol activated.”

Even in that moment, Tiffany felt like she could easily have any of them sink to their knees in front of the sofa so she could sit before them and spread her legs wide. She craved a tongue to envelope her clit and push inside her dripping cunt. She didn’t particularly care who it was either. She wanted any of them, all of them. She felt the power rushing into her head, an intoxicating elixir of desire and hedonism.

Doing her best to temper her desires, she handed the phone onto Izzy for her programming.

God, how delicious would it be to turn Izzy into a meek obedient slut right now, wake her up with layers upon layers of conditioning, so she groveled endless apologies to Tiffany while begging to service her aching pussy? It would be as wrong and evil as it would be easy to arrange and satisfying to experience.

It felt like an appropriate price to pay for the literal slap in the face Izzy had given her, followed by the metaphorical slap in the face that followed not long after when she had argued to wipe Tiffany’s memories.

When Izzy said “Isabella sleeper agent protocol activated.” Tiffany let out an involuntary whimper.

“Wait, Isabella?” Tiffany gave the entranced Izzy a suspicious glance as she plucked the phone out of her grasp. “Will you respond to Izzy, Isabella, or both when I want to activate control mode?”

“Both,” Izzy intoned.

“Interesting.” Tiffany’s eyes flickered over Izzy’s body, her ripped jeans and punk style, before focusing on her lips painted black. How nice would it be to have Izzy apologize profusely using those lips? She could just sink to her knees as Tiffany approached her, her normally intense pale blue eyes looking into the distance, blank and unfocused. The same lips that had condemned her could now be made to whisper apologies, to beg for Tiffany’s forgiveness and favor.

The temptation was indescribable. Tiffany knew it would be wrong to indulge in such desires, and she knew it would be proving Izzy’s earlier point that she shouldn’t be trusted with the keys to the Algorithm. She was just finding it so very hard to care at that moment.

Maybe since Izzy was so certain Tiffany was evil, that’s exactly what she should be. Izzy on her knees would be proven right as Tiffany worked her thumbs under the pants she had borrowed from Josh and slowly slid them down. Izzy would be proven right as she slowly trailed her lips up Tiffany’s bare thigh. Izzy would be proven right as her tongue teased and tasted Tiffany’s evil cunt while Tiffany ran her hands over Izzy’s tightly braided hair.

Izzy would be proven right as she licked and served, a mindless toy for Tiffany to enjoy. Tiffany could be as evil as she wanted to be, she could make Izzy remember everything and program her to beg for seconds, or she could keep her mind empty then send her on her way, her chin glistening with Tiffany’s satisfaction almost as much as her eyes glistened with oblivion. Tiffany squirmed as she fought with the temptation with herself, her body screaming for release.

It took all of her willpower to give the phone to Hannah. She relayed the instructions and spent the time Hannah was reading clutching herself tightly while rocking back and forth where she stood.

She was finding herself in an impossible situation. The more she consolidated her power, the more reckless she wanted to be. But she also knew that she had made a commitment in the hallway to simply creating her sleeper agents and then waking them all up so they could finish their debate and all have some sleep. But indulging now, using the mindless bodies before her for her pleasure… The fact that it was so twisted and wrong was what made it so fucking hot.

“Hannah sleeper agent protocol activated.”

She approached Hannah, one hand reaching for the phone, the other cradling her freckled face. Breathing heavily, she gently pressed her forehead against Hannah’s, and felt Hannah’s words from earlier repeated and amplified in her mind.

“It would only be fair though if it was my turn to pull the strings, and your turn to be the puppet…”

Tiffany let out a shuddering breath, and leaned into Hannah’s ear. “Hannah… do you want to turn me into your puppet?”

“Yes.” The answer was instant, delivered in a monotone as Hannah stared into nothing, but Tiffany felt the undercurrent of all it represented.

“Why?”

“Controlling people is irresistibly hot,” Hannah said in the same emotionless tone. “And you want to have your control taken away.”

She felt her knees buckle underneath her and she had to catch herself on the sofa on which Hannah perched.

What was happening to her?! It had never been this overwhelming before… True, she had let her guard down and made questionable decisions in the past, but now the urges were all consuming, the pleasure she felt in a position of such power was beyond intoxicating, and her will to resist temptation was evaporating to the point where she couldn’t care less about her plans and resolutions.

She wanted nothing more in that moment than for Hannah to spring to life and tell Tiffany that she already had all the programming needed to be her mindless puppet. Tiffany would act shocked and horrified while internally she would squirm in anticipation. Then Hannah would jovially sing a lyrical rhyme, and Tiffany’s mind would sink sink sink into complete emptiness.

Tiffany bit her lip, her eyes darting around the room, searching for any sort of anchor, something to ground her in the reality of the situation. As her vision blurred, the faces of her friends faded into the background. Each of them were now mindless and pliable thanks to the Algorithm. But Hannah’s words had struck a deep chord in Tiffany, echoing desires she had been suppressing, pushing her to the edge.

Deep down, a part of her knew that succumbing to her submissive urges, becoming a puppet for Hannah, would be a betrayal of her own plans she had set in motion, and a violation of the promises she made as she wrote her sleeper agent script in the hallway. Finding a reserve of resolve, she felt like she was only just able to control herself and the overwhelming desires threatening to consume her from the inside out. For now.

It helped that she forced herself to remember that if she got things right in this moment, she could set herself up with endless pleasure later. She could have Hannah make her a puppet on Tuesdays, enjoy a threesome with Erin and Izzy on Wednesdays, and then there would be Anything Can Happen Thursdays…

But for that, she needed to stay focused!

Marion was next. Tiffany paced around the room as she read from the phone.

“Marion sleeper agent protocol activated.”

After passing the phone to Libby, she splashed some cold water gently into her face from the kitchen tap.

“Libby sleeper agent protocol activated.”

When it came time to give the phone to Trev, Tiffany paused. The same anger she had felt against Izzy wasn’t there for Trev. Instead, she just felt an ache in her heart.

“Trev, why did you vote against me?” Tiffany asked in a sad murmur. “Why do you not want me to have access to the Algorithm? Be as thorough and verbose as you need to be to explain it to me fully.”

“I was and am heartbroken over what has happened to Lucy,” Trev said in a completely toneless delivery. “I don’t think you understand my feelings for her. I love her deeply, she has been my best friend for years. And although I now understand that we aren’t right together romantically, I still care for her more than I have been comfortable admitting. Her mind being wiped clean effectively means she’s dead, and I don’t know how to handle that. I know you only played a small part in what happened, but I’m so scared and angry that I need somewhere to direct it. Most of it is for Ross, but I’m angry at you for the part you played. I’m also scared that if you have access to the Algorithm it’ll lead to losing Alice the same way I lost Lucy. I couldn’t protect Lucy, but it was how I could protect Alice.”

Tiffany let out a heavy sigh once it was clear Trev had finished his explanation. That actually cleared up a lot of her questions.

Tiffany’s eyes misted over as she listened to Trev’s pain-laden words. Even without emotion, the weight of his sentiments was not lost on her. She had been so wrapped up in her own emotional trauma and burgeoning desires that she had failed to fully comprehend the emotional consequences it had for her friends..

She handed the phone over to him, guiding him through the sleeper agent protocol as she had with the others, all the while mulling over his words. If he associated Lucy’s ‘death’ with her, then preventing her from accessing the Algorithm was an understandable action to take in the protection of Alice. Tiffany knew she had fences to mend with Trev, but she was determined to put in the work.

After Trev muttered, “Trev sleeper agent protocol activated,” Tiffany stood back, looking upon her hurt friend solemnly.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I promise I will try and fix her…”

Tiffany then turned to Janet, the last person in the lounge not yet programmed to be her sleeper agent.

She handed the phone to Janet and repeated the instructions, all the while thinking about Josh’s earlier request. He wanted Janet freed from the Algorithm’s clutches for her protection, and Tiffany could understand that perspective, even if she didn’t agree with it. Janet was clearly very smart, having been able to reverse engineer the Algorithm into a tablet form in a surprisingly short period of time. Her mind ran wild with the things Janet could do for her if she kept her under secret control, but she did her best to push those thoughts down before they could fully form.

“Janet sleeper agent protocol activated.”

Tiffany let out a heavy breath, feeling far too hot in her borrowed hoodie. She had done it. She had programmed them all. They all, unknowingly, were under her control.

But she knew she wasn’t quite done. There was still the spare room, where Dillon and Ross waited. She knew she couldn’t put it off, that she had taken enough time programming everyone already, but she couldn’t deny the fear that clung around her neck or the excitement that swirled around her mind as she eyed up the door to the spare room.

All she had to do was go inside, have both of them read the script from the phones, and they would become sleeper agents every bit as those she had programmed in the lounge. Then no matter what the group consensus happened to be regarding them, she could intervene or overwrite their instructions if she didn’t like them.

She wasn’t going to let them get Dillon and Ross killed or arrested, that was for sure. They were much more useful on the outside, sleeper agents on the fringe of who knows what kind of criminal enterprises. A way in, if Tiffany ever wanted to use the Algorithm for something serious.

Bracing herself, she entered the spare bedroom to see Ross and Dillon were still standing frozen in the same place she had left them. Although they were both now staring at the flatscreen television Josh had mounted on the wall, clearly being drawn to it when the Algorithm activated despite already being in trance. Trepidation gripped her heart, as a part of her was screaming that they were just pretending to be in trance, that it was a trap, that she needed to run. She took a deep breath and tried her hardest to ground herself and trust that the Algorithm had done its job. Her heart instantly beating faster in her chest, she walked up to Dillon.

His eyes were staring into an infinite distance, his chest rising and falling slowly with his breath.

“Dillon, read what’s on the screen of this phone” Tiffany said in a soft voice, holding up the phone for him so he didn’t have to try and grasp it with his wrists taped up.

Tiffany didn’t realize she was holding her breath until Dillon spoke.

“Dillon sleeper agent protocol activated.”

Exhaling heavily, Tiffany then turned her attention to the remainder. Ross’s once commanding presence now seemed diminished, yet an inherent sense of danger lingered about him. Tiffany tried to hold the phone up for him to read, but a sudden memory slammed into the forefront of her mind.

His hands then started to accost Tiffany, one running up between her thighs, pushing his fingers inside her as the other groped her breast. Tiffany tensed, squirmed, and tried to suppress her reaction, whining in discomfort despite herself. He wasn’t being gentle, but despite this, confusing spikes of pleasure mingled with the pain as she closed her eyes and tried to tune it out. “Here’s a little taste for you,” Ross growled into her ear. “Your body belongs to me now.”

Tiffany jolted back on instinct, feeling the echoes of pain and pleasure of the experience ripple through her body. Her breath hitched as she tried to work up the courage to try again.

One step. Then two.

“I can see you as a personal fuckdoll,” Ross said as he approached Tiffany and wrapped his arms around her. One hand grabbed her breast, the other clamped threateningly around her throat. “Tell me more, fuckdoll.”

And back against the wall next to the door, breathing heavily. Tiffany cursed at herself under her breath, berating herself, telling herself to pull it together. He was in trance! He was harmless! He was hers for the taking!

She marched purposefully up to him.

She had lost all control, and it felt so conflicting, utterly pleasurable despite Ross leering at her in a way that shook her to her core. Still, she knew if she resisted or refused he could have her restrained and molested for his amusement. Surely this was the lesser evil. Or was she just making more excuses for herself? There was a point where she stopped willing it to stop and started willing it to continue, and she wasn’t even sure when that had been. Three slaves kissed and sucked her with total obedience to their master, and Tiffany was powerless to resist.

She retreated to the wall once more and let out a frustrated moan. Fear and pleasure were fighting for dominance within her, and she felt like she was as likely to burst into tears as she was to plunge her hand down her pants and stroke herself to release. She took a deep breath, trying to anchor herself in the present moment. This wasn’t the Ross from her memories. This was a subdued, controlled version of him. She had the power, not the other way around. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the phone and stepped towards him once more, digging deep into her determination.

Tiffany inhaled sharply, then tempered her exhale as she felt herself tense. She tried not to respond to his touch, keeping her eyes locked on his feet, but couldn’t control the reluctant gasps that escaped her lips as his fingers probed and pinched her.

This time she didn’t recoil, even though it felt like an onslaught, as if the memory was lashing out from Ross and clawing its way into her psyche. Tiffany’s breath was haggard and the phone was trembling in her hand as she softly placed it in Ross’s grip. It was awkward due to his taped wrists, but he still had enough freedom to grip the phone,

“R- Ross,” She managed to say, taking her time so she didn’t trip over her words. “Hold this phone up to your face and read what’s on the screen to yourself.”

He continued to grab and grope her, enjoying the hitches of breath and sudden gasps that she couldn’t stop herself from making. He held her tight in one arm so she had nowhere to go as his free hand cupped her breasts and squeezed her ass. As his finger slid up between her thighs and teased her before plunging in, she balled her fists into tight vices to stop herself from letting out a scared whine or uncomfortable moan.

Tiffany felt like she was there, feeling him push his way inside her again. She struggled to contain a moan, feeling like her body’s reaction to the memory was a betrayal of the reality of that moment. The sensations were so real she could practically feel his grip on her, firm, controlling. The memory clouded her, making her feel exposed and vulnerable even when she was supposed to be holding all the power.

“Now,” Ross repeated, his eyes darkening. “Kneel.”

She took a measured breath and stepped closer to him, nodding slightly. She looked Ross dead in the eye, seeing the glint of triumph in his gaze. She maintained that gaze as she lowered herself on one leg, the other sliding back, and after a moment of hesitation, falling in line with the first as she sank to her knees before him.

“Good girl.” He said with a throaty growl, before unzipping his jeans, his hard cock quickly emerging.

Tiffany felt a torrent of submissive surrender wash over her as she leaned in and-

No! It didn’t happen that way! Why was she even picturing it?! She felt so hot and flustered she could barely breathe. What was happening to her? She stared at Ross’s crotch, vividly imagining what lay inside. Why did she want so badly to sink to her knees? She needed to get out of there before she-

“Ross sleeper agent protocol activated.”

Tiffany blinked, and let out a haggard breath that she had been unknowingly holding. That was it. She had programmed both Dillon and Ross now. They were under her control. She was safe. She was in complete control. As she squirmed where she stood and practically panted her breaths, it didn’t feel like she was in complete control, but she was.

Swallowing her nerves, she pried the phone out of Ross’s hands and stuffed it back into her hoodie pouch. She had effectively neutralised the threat of Ross, but still she felt a torrent of emotion cascading within her when she looked at him. He couldn’t threaten or abuse her ever again, but still she felt his past actions seared into her memory. The fear, the hurt, the humiliation, and the pleasure.

A part of her hated that he had stoked so much arousal within her, but another part savored it, deeply. It had been forced upon her, like her own desires didn’t matter. Like she was a slave.

The realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She craved Ross’s control, she craved being used, abused, brainwashed against her will into something she despised, because it would be the ultimate loss of agency. She wanted, so desperately, to lose the control she had just imposed on everyone. She ached for it to happen, she yearned to experience that complete surrender down a path of no return…

As the pent up arousal pulsed through her body, she shook her head and doubled over in turmoil. There was clearly something wrong with her, why else would she want so badly to be brainwashed and broken?

She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. She needed to stop letting this happen. She was able to handle being the one pulling all the strings, dammit. Yes, she fantasized about her control being usurped and her will being stripped from her, but those were just fantasies, and that was okay. They might excite her, they might distract her, hell, they might even drive her crazy, but they didn’t make her choices for her. She did!

She wasn’t going to let Ross cower her when she held all the power! She needed to prove to herself that she wasn’t afraid of him! She should show him that she was in control and it was his turn to be the puppet.

A rational voice in her head urged her to simply leave the room. She had done what she needed to do, and that’s all that mattered right now.

A louder, more frantic voice shouted at her to wake Ross up, to prove to him and herself that she was the one holding the strings now.

She knew which voice was the more sensible option, but that didn’t stop the words “Ross Ross Ross wake up now” from fumbling out of her mouth.

As Ross’s sharp, calculating eyes blinked to life, every muscle in Tiffany’s body tensed as she fought a rising panic within her. She could always drop him back into trance, she frantically reminded herself. Or use control mode… The urge to run out of the room was just that… An urge. And she was exactly trying to prove that she wasn’t subservient to her every urge.

Ross’s gaze drifted over the room, taking in his surroundings, before scrutinizing the tape wrapped around his wrists and then finally landing on Tiffany. “Come to gloat?” he sneered.

Tiffany paused, choosing her words carefully. Her chest rose and fell as she focused on taking slow, deep breaths. “Not gloating, Ross,” she said, meeting his gaze with her own determined eyes.

“Good, because you look like shit.” He sneered at her.

Ignoring him, Tiffany looked at him with genuine curiosity. “I just wanted to see… wanted to know…”

“Know what?” Ross said with a bitterness in his voice.

“What it felt like for you…” Tiffany said with a dry curiosity. “Being in trance. Under the power of the Algorithm.” She barely knew what she was saying. She just wanted to reassure herself that her fear wasn’t mastering her.

Ross squinted at Tiffany, distrust and confusion evident on his features. “What?”

“Answer the question, Ross,” Tiffany ordered with a hint of impatience. “Or I can put you back into trance and erase you like you erased Lucy.”

At this, Ross’s eyes widened slightly. The corner of his mouth flickered for an instant, before both his eyes and his mouth returned to an inscrutable expression. “Okay, I’ll tell you.”

“And don’t think about trying anything,” Tiffany said sternly. “I’ve programmed you now. You do anything stupid, and I’ll make you regret it.”

“Why of course,” Ross said sardonically, his head bowed slightly and his sharp eyes piercing into her. “You beat me, Tiff, I know when to give up and surrender.”

Tiffany felt a nervous chill with the way Ross was looking at her, but pushed the nervousness down. There was a certain thrill to facing down Ross like this, even though knowing he had been programmed into her sleeper agent took away any real risk. She looked at him expectantly as he shifted his footing, a resenting grimace playing briefly across his face.

“It was powerful,” Ross finally said, his voice a mixture of awe and anger. “The moment it turned on, I knew I had to resist it. I knew my life depended on resisting it. But I lasted what- a few seconds at best. I also didn’t shoot you like I had fully intended to do.” His eyes darkened when he said this, and Tiffany felt another chill encompass her. “Lucky you, I guess.”

“Yeah,” Tiffany said with a dry voice, the memory of the weapon trained on her appearing sharply in her mind. “Lucky me.”

A tense silence settled between them, Ross gazing around his surroundings for a few moments before settling his gaze back on Tiffany, contempt in his eyes.

“You’ll fail, Tiffany,” Ross finally said with satisfaction in his voice. “Because we both know you’re weak. You admitted it to me yourself. Do you remember how you felt when you were the one with your hands tied up, naked in front of me, your cunt making a puddle on the floor? So ready to kneel? So ready to submit?”

“If you recall,” Tiffany said coolly, “I kneed you in the balls, or do you need a reminder.”

She feinted towards him and Ross flinched, raw fury burning across his cheeks as Tiffany smiled in satisfaction.

“Yeah, you did,” Ross admitted. “But reluctantly. You wanted to take my offer, to join my operation, I could see it in your eyes, just like I see it now.”

“You’re kidding yourself if you ever thought I’d join you.” Tiffany glared. Yet she couldn’t help but remember that she had been closer to submitting to him than she’d ever want to admit.

They stared at each other for a long, silent moment, Tiffany’s gaze fierce and determined, Ross’s cautious and calculating.

“So, Mistress, what do you plan to do with me now you’ve got me at a…” he held up his taped wrists, “Disadvantage…”

“Don’t call me that,” Tiffany scowled, the word sending a dark shiver through her, even sarcastically spoken as it was. “The group is deciding collectively what to do with you.”

Ross tilted his head to one side, narrowing his eyes. “Interesting…” he murmured. “So you don’t have the group bent to your will?”

“No,” Tiffany replied with a glare. “I’m not you.”

“Oh but you’re so very like me, Tiff,” Ross said with a wicked smile. “We’ve certainly found that out this evening, have we not?”

“Don’t kid yourself,” Tiffany rebutted him. “I deprogrammed everyone you enslaved. I undid all the damage you did.” Her heart was still pounding rapidly in her chest, but confronting Ross like this was gradually getting easier, and she relished the opportunity to put him in his place.

“Apart from poor Lucy,” Ross said in mock sadness, to which Tiffany instantly felt herself tense. “And as for the rest of them, it was only damage I was able to do because you made it so very easy for me.”

“You had a choice,” Tiffany said icily.

“So did you. Stop the fucking charade Tiff!” Ross snapped back, causing Tiffany to tense once more. “You brainwashed everyone who you lured into this honey coated trap. You brainwashed them all. You did that, not me. All I did was take advantage of how clumsy you were.”

Tiffany bristled. “You came to the party with guns! You had every intention of brainwashing everyone from the start.”

“Wrong!” Ross practically growled, his eyes manic as he smiled triumphantly. “After Lucy warned us about the trap you had set, we came in with guns as leverage to get Alice. I was going to hold up the party while Dillon and Lucy turned Alice more agreeable, and Lucy did the same to whoever the fuck she’s into, I don’t care. We weren’t planning to push our luck past that.”

“You’re lying.” Tiffany gritted her teeth. “If you brainwashed them there’d be nothing stopping you from doing it to everyone.”

“Oh, Tiff…” Ross shook his head, his voice dripping with mockery. “Put me back under your Algorithm if you don’t believe me. Get the raw unfiltered truth out of me, but…” Ross’s sharp eyes bored into her very soul. “You won’t like what you hear.”

Tiffany could feel her heart beating heavier in her chest. Her heavy breathing was harder to control. She shook her head slowly, trying to fight the rising panic in her.

Ross’s smile was sinister and his eyes pools of darkness. “We fully intended to get in and get out… That many people held up at gunpoint? It would have only taken one idiot to do something stupid and then everything might have gone to shit. And the best part was, you couldn’t go to the cops without revealing your brainwashing machine, which we would have taken with us or destroyed, whichever made more sense at the time. But everything changed when it became clear that the entire party was brainwashed and pacified.”

Tiffany felt like thorns were wrapping around her throat. Part of her wanted to shut Ross up. To drop him into trance and obliterate every brain cell in his head until he was a drooling vegetable. But she couldn’t. Ross’s words were pulling the rug out from under her feet, and she was spiraling down into a pit of despair.

“So you see, Tiff, it’s all thanks to you.” Ross sneered, savoring the clear distress he was causing her. “When me and Dillon made our deal with Lucy for several girls each, you might not have noticed, but I convinced her to drop Hannah into a trance in front of us to let me program her. That gave me Lucy’s voice on a recording that I could edit.”

The look Ross gave Tiffany now could only be described as one of smug pride. Tiffany felt her hands trembling. She wanted to scream, to shout, to run from Ross and never look back. But his words stabbed her like a poisoned blade through her heart, and with each word he spoke, the blade twisted. Tiffany opened her mouth to speak, but no words would come.

“Of course you might have predicted I was recording it all.” Ross smirked. “It wasn’t the first time I’d done it after all. And once I’d edited the right words together, it let me take the girls Lucy had given me on lease, and truly make them mine.”

“Stop.” Tiffany said hoarsely, but Ross ignored her.

“Marion and Libby were fun enough, and Izzy was a treasure trove of abuse and neglect.” Ross chuckled. “But Hannah…” He paused, a look of deep satisfaction on his face. “I like your average redhead regardless, but she was a delight to work with. Such anxiety and self esteem issues… Very satisfying to mold, to shape, to fuck.”

“Stop it,” Tiffany demanded, though her voice was too raspy to have any impact on Ross.

“And I have you to thank for it, Tiff. Well, you and Lucy, but I can’t exactly thank her anymore, can I?” His smile dripped with sadistic pride, and Tiffany felt anger boiling up from deep within her. “But really, Tiff, you deserve my true gratitude.” Ross leaned in towards her, his voice dripping with condescension. “I merely capitalized on the groundwork you laid. You made them ripe for the picking. All I did was harvest.”

“Shut up!” Tiffany snapped as she felt her lip quivering. The room seemed to be closing in on her. The weight of Ross’s words pressed against her chest, making it hard to breathe. She fought back the bile rising in her throat, her eyes locking onto his with an intensity she didn’t know she possessed. Every fiber of her being screamed for retribution, but more than that, she felt the crushing guilt of having unknowingly paved the way for Ross’s cruelty.

“Why don’t you make me?” Ross challenged her, seeming to get taller as he straightened his posture. “While you’re at it, why don’t you tell me why you’re here by yourself, not with any of your precious friends?” He then took a step towards her, and Tiffany instinctively moved back. “Most of all, Tiffany, why don’t you admit why you woke me up like this when you could have made me a simpering beta that you programmed to see the error of his ways?”

Tiffany’s head was spinning. This wasn’t going how she wanted it to, how she had expected it to. She could barely contain the devastation she felt, that her plans had led to so much pain. Erin nearly died, Hannah was traumatized, and Lucy’s mind was gone, to name but a few. And it was all her fault.

“Could it be…” Ross’s eyes gleamed with malice, “that you’re all alone because you have everyone else under your control right now? Are they all like Dillon here, mindless and frozen?”

Tiffany felt a deep pit in her stomach. She didn’t even try to respond to that question, but as tears fell down her cheeks, Ross’s wicked smile grew. He was right. Everything he was saying was right.

“And you’ve programmed them all, haven’t you?” He said in a conspiratorial whisper. He took another step towards her. “It’s okay, Tiff. I won’t judge you for it. I would have done the same thing after all… ” Another step now, he was practically looming over her. “What I won’t accept is you pretending that you’re somehow better than me.”

Tiffany scrunched her eyes closed, trying to suppress a sob. Then she realized how risky that was and quickly opened them again, only to see Ross leaning in towards her.

Instinctively, she moved backwards, but inadvertently hit the wall next to Josh’s bedroom door. This amused Ross as he reached out and placed his taped up hands underneath her chin, coaxing her gaze up into his.

“I know why you’re here, Tiff,” Ross said with a grave tone, his eyes boring into her. She met his gaze, and knew she had not kept control of the situation. Ross’s words had stung her deeper than she thought possible. The idea that so much suffering might have been avoided had she not opted to brainwash all the partygoers chewed up her insides. She felt beyond overwhelmed, and knew she needed to retreat and regroup. She needed to get away from-

“You want to become my slave now,” Ross said, the deadly seriousness of his tone only matched by the intensity of his gaze.

It was like a headrush. As Tiffany’s eyes widened, all other thoughts and feelings were cast aside, all her focus on Ross now. She felt the color drain from her face as she was stunned into silence. Ross only took that as an invitation to keep talking.

“I don’t know why you’re so fucking shocked, Tiff. You admitted it to me right before you managed to turn the tables. You want to be a slave. More than just that, you want to be torn down off your throne and made to lick the boots of those who once served you.” Ross gripped her chin tightly now as he leaned into her ear, whispering harshly. “Why else would you come here alone? Exhausted. Vulnerable. Why face me like this unless you always planned to drop to your knees?”

The words made Tiffany shudder as an incredible wave of dark pleasure pulsed through her at the thought of simply kneeling before Ross, giving up all the power she had just consolidated.

Ross drew back to stare into the depths of Tiffany’s soul. “I’ve been perfectly honest with you thus far, Tiff, so I expect the same from you. Tell me, were you being honest when you admitted that to me. About wanting to be a slave?”

Tiffany swallowed heavily, feeling like she was barely in control of her own body anymore. She stared at Ross, panic sealing off all of her rational thoughts.

“Yes or fucking No, Tiff!” Ross snapped with a sudden intensity that made Tiffany flinch. “Answer me!”

“Y- yes.” The words spilled out of her mouth before she could think about it. It was the truth, raw and unmerciful.

“Good girl.” Ross smiled, his eyes not leaving hers. “Now that you’ve taken control, you want to lose it. You want to be controlled, you need it.”

The words resonated so powerfully in Tiffany’s head that she almost caught herself nodding along. She instead gathered herself and scowled at him. “That was then, Ross. Now I hold all the power, I’m nobody’s slave!” She pushed his hands away from her chin, glaring with defiance.

“But you want to be.” Ross leaned back now, standing tall above her and delivering his words with a boldness that tolerated no argument. “And it’s not to be absolved of all the guilt and responsibility of what you’ve done, but simply because you know it’s your place. It’s your calling. Being my puppet is what you desire and what you deserve.”

Tiffany took a shaky breath, attempting to collect herself. The looming figure of Ross in front of her made it near impossible to regain any semblance of calmness. His aura of dominance and control clashed sharply with the whirlwind of emotions churning inside her. It was the fact that he was striking truths that so completely threw her, but even with that, she couldn’t bear to give him the satisfaction of knowing he was right. “I... I can’t, I won’t,” she said with growing firmness. “Not after everything I’ve done to save my friends from you. They trusted me. How can I betray them?”

“You already have betrayed them, Tiff,” Ross said in mock earnest. “Unless you want to tell me they all consented to you using the Algorithm on them and leaving them trapped in a stupor with no say and no escape?”

Tiffany tensed and felt her skin crawl. It wasn’t a betrayal. It wasn’t. It was necessary.

When she didn’t answer, Ross leaned in to cup her chin again, “Answer me Tiff! Did you give them a choice?”

“No…” Tiffany replied, pushing his hands away more forcefully this time, “I didn’t. I took control of them just like I’ve taken control of you. And don’t push me, Ross, or I can show you just how deep that control goes.”

“There it is…” Ross grinned salaciously. “And you say you’re not like me.”

Tiffany fumed, clenching her fists. “I’m not! You’re a heartless asshole! You’re… You’re…”

“Did it feel good?” Ross interrupted. “To take control of them? To impose your will?”

“No.” Tiffany lied, her cheeks burning red. “I did what had to be done, nothing more.”

“Bullshit!” Ross scoffed. “Why control them at all? Why not let them all be free and live happily ever after like a bunch of pussies?! It’s because you are like me, controlling, manipulative. Whether or not you admit it doesn’t change the truth.”

Tiffany bristled, the intensity of their interaction getting under her skin. Between her thumping heart and the undercurrent of arousal pulsing through her, she felt like she was on her back foot and badly off balance. “You’re delusional,” she said, her voice dripping with venom.

“Yet here you are…” Ross smiled with a taunting gaze. “To tell me all about how you’re completely different from me while enslaving minds just like I did. Can you feel your own hypocrisy, Tiff? I can, and it feels like weakness. You’d seem a lot less pathetic if you just owned it. You imposed your will on them, simple as that.”

“I didn’t impose my will on them,” Tiffany said defensively.

“So you freed them then?” Ross looked down at her in disgust.

“No, I…” Tiffany started. How did she explain that she turned them into her sleeper agents to stop them phasing her out? Her heart still beating rapidly, she felt flustered and overwhelmed.

“So then you imposed your will!” Ross insisted impatiently. “It doesn’t matter what you did to them, Tiff, if you put them in trance and programmed them, you imposed your fucking will on them!”

Tiffany stared at Ross for a long moment. He was right, of course. Even if she made no changes to their personalities or memories, giving herself the ability to trance them or directly control them at any moment was imposing her will.

“Fine. I imposed my will on them.” Tiffany sighed in annoyance, hoping it would relieve the tension she felt throughout. “Happy now?”

“No,” Ross said with a scowl. “Because you don’t own it, Tiff. You take control but you want to lose it so you set yourself up to fail. It’s selfish and you’ll end up hurting them all.”

Ross’s words stung deep, reinforcing thoughts and fears she already had. Was it selfish, making her friends sleeper agents but altering them otherwise? She could feel her resolve stumble, her thoughts disjointed and confusing, but she tried to push past it. “How can you say that after what you did to Lucy? To Hannah. To Emelia.”

Ross’s smile grew wider as he leaned in towards her again. “Oh, Tiff… Your misguided sense of morality is so feeble. Lucy was reborn into a life of complete bliss, obedience, and pleasure pulsing through her every moan. Hannah was living her best life, did you see the sheer joy she got out of hurting you? And as for Em-bot, robots don’t feel, Tiff!” he said mockingly. “But she had a concrete sense of purpose. All of them did. And you… You desperately crave that, don’t you?”

Tiffany did, she really did, and that was dangerous. Intoxicating, but dangerous. There was an addictive thrill to Ross’s words, it stoked desires in her that had already been burning before she entered the room. Now the blaze was out of control, and she wanted to be smothered in its warmth, even knowing she would get burned. Sparring with Ross was exhausting her, and it was getting harder by the moment. Was he right? Was making them blissfully obedient puppets, full of unambiguous purpose better for them than Tiffany’s blend of subterfuge and uncertainty?

And try as she might, she simply couldn’t shake the earlier revelation that Ross wouldn’t have taken control of everyone if she hadn’t perfectly set him up to do so…

“I’d never do that to them,” she said faintly as she stared at her feet, trying to push down the tsunami of emotions raging within her.

“Then what did you do?” Ross demanded, once more cupping her chin with his hands and gently forcing her gaze to his.

This time, Tiffany didn’t push his hands away. She was captured by his gaze, immobilized by his touch. “I had them read a script from my phone… I- It…”

“Show me.”

Tiffany’s thoughts were sluggish, overwhelmed by images of her dropping to her knees and gazing up at Ross with submissive eyes, letting him decide if she would become the next Hannah, Lucy, Izzy, or something entirely new spawned from his sadistic imagination. As if on autopilot, she took out her phone and showed Ross her sleeper agent script.

Ross’s eyes carefully scanned the script, a sardonic smile forming on his lips as he read each line. He looked up from the screen to Tiffany’s anxiety-riddled face.

“Oh, Tiffany,” he mused, shaking his head slightly, “This is beautiful in its darkness. Insidious, even. Every time I wonder why I like you so much, you go and do something like this to remind me.”

Tiffany felt a wave of ambivalence wash over her, a twin scent of pride and disgust chaotically mixing with Ross’s cynical praise. “It’s nothing compared to what you did,” she argued, her voice lacking any sort of conviction as she continued to wrestle with her conflicted feelings.

“Ha!” Ross scoffed, waving Tiffany’s phone in front of her, a fairly ridiculous motion with his wrists still taped up. “Your method is pure evil. At least with me, they know where they stand, they’re aware of their loyalty, their servitude. But what you’ve done? You’ve wrapped invisible chains around their minds, letting them live their days in ignorance until you swoop in and take them over whenever and however you want to. It’s just… deliciously cruel.”

“It’s so I can protect them,” Tiffany feebly insisted. “Only intervene when I need to…”

Ross chuckled again. “When you need to… my my… what a slippery slope you’ve set up for yourself. My favorite part has to be this though…” He held up the phone so he could read directly from it.

“Any memory of this programming being placed within you or of reading this script while in trance will not be accessible to your conscious mind. The existence of this programming is undetectable, and you will not feel any compulsion to remove it, discuss it, or be aware of it.”

Somewhat awkwardly, Ross did a chef’s kiss with his bound hands holding Tiffany’s phone. “So ironclad. So final. Seriously, Tiff, you’ve outdone yourself.” His expression then dropped sharply to one of disgust. “Which is why it’s so utterly disappointing that you didn’t go further.”

“I thought you said—“ Tiffany started, but was quickly cut off.

“You had the power to make them your unquestioning slaves, to be worshiped as a goddess among them,” Ross sneered. “Yet you chose this covert, half-assed excuse for a plan. Why didn’t you lean into it? Make them truly yours, with every breath they take?”

“Because- because…” Tiffany faltered.

“Because you’re weak!” Ross snapped. “You had a choice, and rather than stepping into your power, you’re hiding in the shadows. It’s pathetic. Don’t you want to see what real domination looks like?”

Tiffany’s cheeks burned red. Yes, yes she did want to see real domination, or more accurately, she wanted to be on the receiving end of it. But she couldn’t give Ross the satisfaction of knowing that. She also couldn’t deny the effect Ross was having on her. The way her body was flushing with arousal under his touch and in response to the firm words he was bombarding her with had her head in a spin. She knew Ross was a terrible person, but that only seemed to make her aching need worse. Dark desires from within her demanded her to acquiesce, their prevalence seeping through her mind.

“N- No,” she stammered. She could hear the lie in her own voice. She knew that she was playing right into Ross’s hands, but she couldn’t bring herself to stop. She wanted to be taken, to be brutally forced into embracing all the darkness within her, to savor the depraved thoughts that haunted her mind and tried so hard to influence her ever since she had learned what the Algorithm could do.

Ross paused, leaning close to her ear. “Then why are you here, Tiff? Why come to me pretending to be all self righteous? Unless...” he whispered, a sinister undertone in his voice, “you wanted me to strip that delusion out of you. Wanted me to expose the real you.”

Tiffany said nothing, back pressed against the wall now as Ross handed her back her phone. Ross leaned in, his dark gaze locked onto Tiffany’s. The intensity of his stare felt like it was penetrating her defenses, breaking down every wall she had built up. With his bound hands, he ran a finger down the side of her face before pressing both his thumbs under her chin, forcing her head to tilt back. Tiffany gasped in a mixture of fear and excitement. She was playing with fire, and it had her mesmerized. The heat within her was undeniable. The room seemed to grow dim, everything but Ross fading into obscurity.

“You want me to expose the real you,” Ross stated, like it was fact.

Tiffany could feel the weight of his intention, and she knew she didn’t have the strength to resist her own urges. She needed to retreat, admit that she had failed, and at least find her composure before she did something this reckless again.

She didn’t realize that Ross’s hands, although still taped at the wrist, were nevertheless able to slide down from her chin and wrap around her neck.

She gasped in surprise and trepidation, but also in a burgeoning realization. His fingers were cold yet electrifying, pressing softly against her warm, flushed skin. The grip was gentle at first but firm enough to make her keenly aware of the precarious situation she was in.

Still, it was getting too dangerous, so she immediately started to say “Ross, cotr-ack!”

His squeeze took her voice away, and nearly did the same with her breath. Her pulse quickened in alarm, and she tried to pull away. But as his grip tightened and she felt her airway constrict even more, another series of sensations began to take hold.

“Ssssh, Tiff. No talking,” Ross ordered her, his eyes pools of darkness. “This is why you came to me. This is why you put yourself in this position. You want to be taken, you want to be enslaved. You don’t want to free your friends from my control, you want to join them under it.”

The very real fear mingled with a growing warmth that spread from her chest and flushed her cheeks, racing downwards. The intense, focused heat of Ross’s proximity and the press of his body near hers made her skin tingle, every nerve ending becoming hyper-aware. With every breath made shallower by Ross’s tightening grip, she became more aware of the mounting heat enveloping her body, especially at her core.

She tried to muster an indignant response, but her voice was lost, reduced to whimpers under his dominant touch. Her fingers tried to pry his hands from her, but his grip was firm and he shifted, pressing her more forcibly against the wall, their bodies in heated contact. Tiffany’s senses were on overload—the smell of his musk, the feel of his hard body against hers, the intoxicating danger of his grip.

“You thought you could play with me,” Ross whispered venomously, leaning in so that their faces were inches apart, his cold eyes piercing into hers. “You thought you could waltz in here and control everything. But you can’t even control yourself, can you? You’re really just a little slut, craving someone to put her in her place.”

“…” No words would come, a raspy, frantic breath being all Tiffany could manage under Ross’s tight grip.

Ross’s cruel smile deepened. As his lips drew close to her ear, she felt his hot breath sending shivers down her spine. “Look at you now, Tiff. All your power, all your tools, all your programmed slaves, and yet here you are, completely at my mercy. Exactly where you want to be.” His words were a sinful whisper, igniting a flame of lust that threatened to consume her.

She tried to fight it, she tried to suppress it, but it was like trying to seal a burst water main with her hands. Arousal spilled out of her, lust burning deep within.

The walls seemed to close in on her, and she felt pinned, exposed, and utterly at his mercy. Her resistance was eroding, replaced by the hunger she had tried so hard to suppress. The line between fear and her arousal became indistinguishably blurred. The realization of her own debasement, of her inherent wantonness in this moment, only intensified the heat coursing through her veins.

“Now, Tiff, I just need you to admit that this is what you wanted. To have your control stripped away from you. Admit that, and I’ll release you. At least then you’ll be ready to submit yourself to me completely.”

The intensity of the situation grew as Tiffany’s fear was drowned out by her all consuming arousal. Her fingers slackened and stopped trying to pry into Ross’s grip. The tension in her body melted as she let herself be completely pinned against the wall. Ross’s dark, piercing eyes scanned over Tiffany’s face, drinking in every quiver of her lips, every dilated pupil, every quickened breath. He leaned in, their lips a hair’s breadth apart, his breath warming her skin, as he whispered.

“That’s it. Accept your surrender. Embrace it.”

A strange calm washed over Tiffany just then. Her breathing, strained as it was, became slower, more controlled. Her gaze and expression softened as Ross’s bored into her. An intoxicating warmth filled her body and mind as she found herself nodding her head with what little motion she could under Ross’s grip.

And with that, the grip loosened. “See, Tiff,” Ross whispered, his voice dripping with arrogance. “Earlier, I wanted to break you, but I can see now you’re already so beautifully broken.”

Her heart thumped in her chest. Her body ached with need. Her mind wrapped itself around his words.

“Say it,” Ross hissed, his voice heavy with threat. “Before you make me squeeze your precious breath away. You’re broken.”

Tiffany whimpered. It was like a switch had been flipped. It was like Ross had bored into her mind and had a vice grip on everything that was her self control.

She swallowed her nerves heavily before uttering, “I’m broken.” Her voice came out hoarse from her compressed throat. A flood of arousal washed over her the moment the words left her lips. It felt like giving in to forbidden pleasure. It felt like drinking deep from the darkness.

The triumph in Ross’s eyes was forceful. “You’re weak.” He loosened his grip even more now, letting her speak more freely.

“I’m weak,” Tiffany whispered, letting out a hallowed breath. He was manipulating her down to her very core, and she couldn’t deny her enjoyment anymore.

“Take off your pants,” Ross ordered her.

Feeling possessed, Tiffany complied with a quiet gasp, unbuttoning then sliding down the pair of jeans she had borrowed from Josh’s wardrobe. With Ross’s grip firmly static around her neck, she could only push the pants down past her hips, but they were so baggy on her that they easily fell down the rest of the way. She felt goosebumps on her bare legs as she stepped out of them.

Ross ran his eyes over her exposed skin, a lecherous grin on his face. ““Look at you, so desperate and vulnerable, ready to be used,” he murmured, before gazing firmly into her eyes, his voice taking on a more commanding tone.

“You want to be a slave.”

“I want to be a slave,” she repeated obediently, feeling spikes of pleasure tingling through her mind and body. The need between her legs was overpowering. She was vibrating with lust, a puddle of arousal. The dichotomy within her had been exposed, and Ross had taken full advantage. She was no longer in control, and in a indulgent twisted way, she reveled in it. She seriously considered plunging her hand down to her needy cunt in full view of Ross, but then she realized she wanted him to command her to do that, a trembling acknowledgment that she was drowning in submissiveness.

“You want to be my slave,” Ross said, his grip on her throat tightening for a brief moment once more.

“I- I want to be—“ Tiffany whispered, feeling like she was on the cusp of an abyss. A voice of protest erupted from deep within her. It pleaded for her to stop ignoring the very real danger Ross represented. She knew the voice was right, but her mind was such a sticky mess of pleasure and submission, it was so slow to react, to resist.

“I… I…” she felt distress and sense start filtering back to her. This was so confusing. So overwhelming. She needed to clear her head. She needed to-

Ross, watching Tiffany’s changing expression, smirked as he forced his knee between her thighs and started grinding it up against her crotch.

It was sensational. “Fuck!” Tiffany gasped as wave after wave of pleasure bombarded her, “Oh, fuuuuuck!”

The sensation was both rough and tantalizing, making her moan with pleasure. Her hips moved on their own accord, grinding back against him, seeking more of that delicious contact.

“See?” Ross taunted, his lips curling into a smug smile. “You can’t resist it. You crave this. You crave me.”

She wanted to deny it, but the truth was evident in her flushed face, her rapid breathing, and the wetness she could feel now soaking into Ross’s jeans.

”You want to be my slave,” Ross said again, clenching his grip around her throat and lifting up so she strained on her tiptoes. “Say it!”

Tiffany couldn’t control herself. “I want… to be… your slave…” she rasped out, barely able to form the words.

“Good girl,” Ross growled softly, releasing her neck and pulling back so he could stand over her.

Her neck and body now free, Tiffany slid to the floor, panting, sweating, and cursing under her breath. First she felt her lip wobble, then she felt her eyes fill with tears, and suddenly the floodgates opened. “Oh god!” She sobbed. “I do… I do want to be your slave… What’s wrong with me?!” She clutched her arms and doubled over, almost choking on her tears while Ross waited patiently above her.

“There there…” Ross said softly after several moments had passed, the sinister smirk never leaving his face. “We already know what’s wrong with you, Tiff…” He crouched down and cupped her chin once more, forcing her gaze back into his. “You’re a broken, weak willed fuckdoll in waiting, begging to be used, dripping to be fucked. It’s time to let go and accept that.”

The grief and arousal mixed into a heavy, confusing cocktail in Tiffany’s head. Her sobs subsided as a wave of acceptance flooded her. She was broken. She was a horny mess driven wild by the idea of brainwashing and being brainwashed. The more twisted her thoughts, the more aroused she felt. It was overpowering, primal, and she wanted nothing more than to be consumed by it, body and soul.

Ross grabbed the neck of Tiffany’s hoodie and dragged her to her feet as he too rose up. She gasped and felt her knees wobble beneath her as he pinned her against the wall again, pressing his body against her. The bulge in his pants pushed against her hip, an electric pulse spreading over her body from it. “You are so incredibly weak,” he hissed, his voice laced with venom that seeped into Tiffany’s veins. “You thought you could control having power, but you can’t even control yourself. It’s time to do as you’re told like the submissive bitch you are, Tiff. It’s time to submit.”

The rational part of Tiffany’s mind that had been smothered by her darkest thoughts, her bursting arousal and her selfish desires tried to break through to her, to snap her out of her erotic reverie. “My friends…”

“Will be much better off once you’re no longer able to fuck with their minds.” Ross said with a smirk.

“I… I…”

“See that, Tiff? That there?” He hovered inches from her face now, his hot breath enveloping her, musky and imposing. “That’s the sound of you wanting it. You belong on your knees. You’re desperate to serve. Don’t fight it, just obey… Start touching yourself. Now.”

Tiffany shuddered and bit her lip as her hand slid under the waistband of her panties, a tight fit with Ross’s body in such proximity. Her cunt was so slick with need that her fingers glided in.

“Fuck…” she strained through an excited breath.

“That’s it, slave… Just listen and obey. And don’t you dare cum without my permission.”

Tiffany nodded frantically as she brought her wet fingers out to teasingly caress her clit, whines and gasps pouring out of her now. Her cheeks burned with erotic humiliation. Knowing she’d been wrapped around Ross’s sadistic finger felt like the most twisted taboo pleasure, and she was utterly helpless to it.

“Now get this fucking tape off my hands so we can pass the point of no return.”

Tiffany’s free hand moved of its own accord, slowly rising up to Ross’s wrists. An inch away, they froze, shaking profusely as Tiffany’s ministrations temporarily paused.

“What will you do?” she asked in a desperate whisper.

Ross leaned in a fraction more, his lips curling into a predatory smirk. “First, I’d thank you,” he began, his voice dripping with menace. “Then, I’d wrap these hands,” he glanced at his bound wrists, “beck around your beautiful, delicate neck, and squeeze you again. Only this time I’ll squeeze until you regret every choice you’ve ever made. Squeeze until you’re on the edge of oblivion...”

Tiffany whimpered in anticipation. It was so terribly terribly wrong, and that made her throbbing pussy ache like never before. “And… ahhh… then…?” she managed to ask as she started stroking again in earnest.

Ross’s eyes locked onto hers, the dark promise in them evident. “And then, when you’re at your most desperate, when you’re on the brink of passing out, I’ll release. And that moment? That moment when you’re gasping for breath and most vulnerable… That’s the moment I start fucking your mouth til you’re gagging on my cock.”

Tiffany’s breath hitched even further as the image flooded through her mind. Despite the voice of reason within her begging her to stop, Tiffany couldn’t help but be drawn to Ross’s promise of total domination. The sheer intensity of his gaze, his confidence, it was all so ensorcelling, and she stroked herself to that image of complete submission.

“First you’ll serve me with your mouth, then you’ll serve me with your body, no holds barred.” Ross gently stroked Tiffany’s face with the back of his hand, a stark juxtaposition of the future he was describing to her.

“Then I’ll tie you up and gag you while you watch me take control of every last person you have brainwashed through there. And every last one will have their way with you, do whatever they want. You’ll be nothing more than a warm set of holes.”

“Fuck…” Tiffany gasped. The worse it got, the more she wanted it. As his words sank in, Tiffany felt a deep sense of dread and anticipation, a duality of emotions that left her mind reeling. A primal part of her had taken her over, and was ferociously subduing every other perspective as her fingers stimulated her closer and closer to release.

She felt feverish as she started picking at the tape that bound Ross’s wrists. She had lost all control, a slave to her darkest desires. If it wasn’t Ross, it would be someone else, and if it wasn’t now, it would be sometime soon. She needed to be enslaved, dominated, humiliated, abused. She was a broken horny mess and nothing else mattered except her agonizing need for submission and release.

“Look at you,” Ross sneered, “so desperate to be put in your place. Did you ever think you’d be reduced to this, Tiff? A pathetic slut, just waiting to be taken?”

“No…” Tiffany shook her head feebly. “I really didn’t.”

“You want to know what I’ll do next?” Ross goaded.

“Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“Yes,” Tiffany started. Somewhere in her mind was a voice pleading with her, begging her to stop, to not utter the word that consumed her mind. But the delicious, erotic, twisted dark thoughts that had taken her over were driving her now. Nothing else mattered.

“Master,” she finished, and almost moaned with the rush of pleasure she felt. Everything about this was wrong. She’d let it go too far, she should stop it before it was too late, but her submission was an addiction she couldn’t shake, a need she couldn’t suppress. She had tried to deny this part of herself so many times since the Algorithm made everything possible, and the price of repression was now abundantly clear.

“Good girl…” Ross smirked as he brought his hands to her mouth and pushed both thumbs inside. “Now suck and listen, and hurry up with that tape, slave!”

Tiffany let out an involuntary moan as she wrapped her lips around Ross’s thumbs, closing her eyes and feeling heat pulsating from her dripping, needy cunt. Fuck, she was falling off the deep end and it felt too good to stop. She didn’t want to stop, her finger glistening with her horniness as she stroked herself into a frenzy. She burned with arousal and humiliation while shivering with fear and yet she couldn’t stop herself picking at the tape that would unleash Ross’s full wrath upon her.

“Once they’ve all left you broken, bruised, and covered in their fluids, it’ll finally be time for your turn in front of the Algorithm. I’m going to modify your sinister little sleeper agent protocol there so that it serves me, and then I’m going to use it on you and make you forget you submitted to me at all.”

Tiffany felt so much twisted pleasure at this she thought she might cum right there. Instead, she deeply moaned around Ross’s fingers as she eagerly suckled them, her hand now fumbling with horny desperation to release Ross from the tape. She was broken and pathetic, and that knowledge only fuelled her self destructive desires.

“You’re going to leave here thinking you’ve won.” Ross hissed at her. “All happy and proud of yourself for beating me and freeing all your sorry little friends from my control. You’ll wake up every day not remembering how deep you’ve sunk, how far you’ve fallen, only to be reminded when I decide to break you all over again,” Ross continued to Tiffany’s enrapture. The prospect of her mind being played with, repeatedly broken and reset made her melt where she stood. “Each time pushing you past any limits you thought you had. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

As her finger continued its feverish dance between her legs, Tiffany could only nod vigorously as Ross’s thumbs pushed and probed her mouth. It was so distracting and she was so worked up that getting the tape off from around his wrists was beyond difficult using only one hand in her flustered state.

Ross’s voice was filled with chilling certainty as he continued to outline the tormenting cycle he had in store for her. “Every evening, when the world is dark and silent, you’ll find yourself wandering back to me, with no idea why. And each time, I’ll revel in seeing that initial confusion in your eyes, the struggle as you try to piece together why you’re there. Then, I’ll show you, remind you of the depth of your submission, and watch as the horrific realization dawns.”

Tiffany whimpered, her arousal mingled with a terror she couldn’t quite comprehend. Every nerve ending in her body was on fire, every emotion heightened. The intensity of Ross’s words had a way of making everything feel like a vivid, never-ending psychosis, and she couldn’t tear herself away from it.

“And what’s even better,” Ross murmured, drawing her closer to him, “is the pure, unfiltered helplessness that will be on your face every time you finally remember. The way your body will betray your mind, how you’ll crave to be subjected to it all again, unable to resist the horrors it will involve.”

Tiffany’s mind was in complete free fall. The thought of waking up day after day, blissfully ignorant of the depths of her own degradation, only to be shown the horrifying truth again and again... it was the ultimate mental torment, and she wanted it so badly. The way Ross described it with such relish and anticipation made her crave it. Crave him. Crave everything he promised, even though it meant losing herself in the process.

And it made sense, of course. It all made sense, all her mistakes, her constant imbalance and lack of self control… It was because she was broken. And knowing that was its own kind of liberation.

“And once we’ve pushed your body to the very brink,” Ross smirked, relishing the thought, “we’ll do the same with your mind. We’ll use the Algorithm to impose brutal simulations on you beyond anything physically possible, just to see if you can bear it or if it’ll drive you insane…”

Tiffany’s heart raced, and a thick lump formed in her throat. She was treading on the edge of sanity, each word from Ross pushing her closer to the abyss. Her deepest, darkest fantasies, the kind she had been terrified to admit to herself, were being laid bare by this vile, irredeemable man who seemed to understand her innermost cravings better than she did.

She tried to imagine what these simulations might entail, what horrors the Algorithm could conjure, but her mind could hardly fathom the depths of exquisite torment that would be possible. Eldrich horrors stripping her of her sanity while fucking her body into a coma of nightmares, aliens probing her every nerve, stimulating them beyond physical capacity, lifelike androids injecting her skin with nano bots while fucking her as she became more and more like them, to conjure just a few… The juxtaposition of pleasure and pain, sanity and madness, created an intoxicating cocktail that had her utterly enslaved.

Ross, enjoying her increasing vulnerability, continued his relentless assault on her senses. “Imagine being trapped in a loop, where each day you face a new torment, each more unspeakable than the last. Sensations amplified a hundredfold, realities distorted beyond recognition. And just when you think you can’t tolerate it anymore, when you’re on the brink of shattering, the simulation will reset, and you’ll start all over again. An eternity of anguish and ecstasy in a never-ending cycle.”

Tiffany’s breathing grew shallow, the sheer terror and anticipation of Ross’s words leaving her paralyzed. She felt so small, so overwhelmed, so broken and pathetic, and yet the darkest, most insidious part of her had taken her over and was making all of her yearn for that very torment, for that complete surrender. With her lips still wrapped around his thumbs, Tiffany let out a long, guttural moan, her eyes nearly rolling back in her head. Her finger stroked her excited clit so tenderly, as she was on the cusp of her release.

Seeing her reaction, Ross leaned in, his voice a sultry whisper in her ear. “You’ll be mine in ways you never imagined possible, Tiff. Every thought, every emotion, every fiber of your being, owned and manipulated by me.”

With that, the tape was finally off Ross’s wrists, and as Tiffany tossed it aside feverishly, her eyes fixed on Ross in a combination of terror and pure primal desire.

Ross flexed his hands, savoring his newfound freedom for a moment before his eyes locked onto Tiffany’s. In that moment, a deep primal instinct even more immense than the one that had taken hold of her snapped across her mind, a crackling whiplash that struck her so hard she physically flinched. It was only one word.

Danger.

“You stupid bitch…” Ross chuckled, a sadistic edge to his voice that had been absent before. “You should have programmed me when you had the chance.” Tiffany saw the muscles in his entire body tense, like a predator about to go for the kill.

“Ross control mode!” Tiffany frantically blurted out the moment before Ross lunged at her. She braced herself for his violent attack.

She need not have bothered. Ross’s momentum was halted instantly, and he came to a standstill after his lunge lost its steam right after its inception. His body rigid as a statue, his eyes nevertheless retained awareness of the situation, and Tiffany saw in them a malice that felt lethal. The transition from impending menace to complete inaction was so swift, it took a moment for Tiffany’s mind to catch up with the reality of what had just occurred.

An echo of terror remained prominent in Tiffany’s mind, and she was cautious as she waved her hand in front of Ross’s while catching her breath. “Ross, answer my questions directly and truthfully. Are you able to move?”

“No.” Tiffany could hear the frustration in his tone, his reluctance to answer her at all. But he had no choice, it was control mode.

Her body was still flushed with heat, and she was overwhelmed by everything she had felt in the last few minutes. Part of her wanted to leave, to cool down, to recover somewhat, but she knew that she had to ask. She had to know.

“Were you going to follow through on everything you said just now, or did you just say all that to get me to release you?”

“I said it so you’d release me.”

Tiffany felt the color drain from her face. It felt like a switch had flipped in her mind, and all her rational sanity and critical thinking had returned all at once to judge the fuck out of her.

She first gave an involuntary scoff of disbelief. Followed quickly by a hybrid of a scoff and a chuckle. Then a fit of giggles swiftly overcame her, and before long she was in full on stitches of laughter. As she rolled on the floor, clutching her sides and completely unable to stop, she couldn’t help but marvel at the absurdity of what she had nearly allowed to happen. How could she have been so stupid?! So easy to manipulate?! How could she let herself nearly throw away all the power she had just managed to reclaim?! Tears rolled down her face as her uncontrolled laughter continued unabated.

Several times she started to calm down, only to burst into a fresh wave of hysterics. The first was when she pulled herself to her feet, made eye contact with Ross, only to see his eyes holding a mixture of irritation and confusion. That had her back on the floor, unable to shake how surreal a scene it must be to the onlooker. Her inescapable hysterics versus his rigid frozen posture, and then Dillon who they had both effectively forgotten about still standing in a deep trance a little further into the room. It was several moments before her laughter began to subside again.

When it did, Tiffany clambered to her feet once more. Finally, catching her breath and wiping away the tears of laughter, she looked at Ross, her face turning serious for a moment. “You know, Ross,” she began, her voice full of mirth but tinged with sincerity, “I have to thank you. For showing me the ridiculous extent of my own weakness. For affirming how much of a fucking mess my brain is… I mean, here I am, having programmed everybody to be under my control, yet you played me like a thrift shop guitar.”

Her tone turned serious for a moment. “I keep thinking I’m okay… That despite my hiccups I’ve got it together enough to be the one to control the Algorithm and everyone around it.” She heaved a deep sigh. “You were right in calling me weak. I am weak. And I do feel broken sometimes, especially in moments where I let my self control fly out the window because I’m too worked up to think straight. I’m clearly not okay, and I definitely need some help. That’s one of the things I’m going to prioritize moving forward.”

She let out a heavy sigh and let her words sit for a moment in the empty room.

Then a wide, beaming smile returned to her face as she went up to Ross and clutched his collar, pulling her face close to his. “The other thing I need to thank you for is giving me so many images to mull over later… I particularly love your idea of using the Algorithm to make me experience different scenarios! I don’t need to submit to you here and now if I can go and play it out in exquisite detail at the push of a button…”

She stepped back, and somewhat nonchalantly pulled her discarded pants back up. “The thing that I really find quite funny is that for a moment you really had me beaten there. When you started choking me I couldn’t drop you into trance, I couldn’t break free, I couldn’t do anything…” Tiffany circled Ross, running her hand over her shaved head. “You could have choked me until I was completely helpless. You could have made me pass out then literally done whatever you wanted.” She returned to Ross’s front and jabbed him lightly in the chest. “But you didn’t. Instead you were too focused on proving your point, on making me say all the things you wanted to hear. If you had just taken what you wanted instead of grandstanding, you’d have a room full of slaves right now. I guess in the end you were too weak to subdue me…”

Tiffany chuckled again, shaking her head at both Ross and herself. “And not to say that you weren’t impressive just now, Ross, the way you lied to me and manipulated me. But don’t let it go to your head, it was more my weakness than it was your strength. I’m going to get a handle on my surrender kink, because I’m done having people like you try to control me. Here I am, with all the power in the world over you, and you reduced me to a squirming mess of submission. But no more. This game? It’s over.”

Ross’s eyes, despite his frozen state, seemed to flare with frustration and challenge.

Tiffany exhaled slowly and took a step back, appraisingly Ross carefully. “Tell me, Ross, what would have really done to me, had I not stopped you just now. And remember, the full truth.”

“I would have strangled you until you passed out,” Ross said, his hatred seeping into every word. “I would have reprogrammed everyone you had trapped in trance to serve me. I would have had them strap you in front of the Algorithm so that when you came to it would be the last thing you ever saw. I would have destroyed your mind, your memories, your very sense of self, leaving behind a husk, a shell of you, only good as a fuck puppet and nothing else. In my brothel you would have been the free gift each patron gets to play with in the waiting area, a sex toy for life, never anything more.”

A shiver ran down Tiffany’s spine. “Too little too late, Ross. You had a chance to do that to me, but you won’t get another one. Just as well though… You really weren’t even going to keep my mind intact so I could at least enjoy it?” she asked, playfulness in her tone now.

“No.”

“Rude,” Tiffany scoffed, before smiling deviously. “That wasn’t what you promised me, Ross… I have half a mind to make all your deepest fears a constant reality for you.”

She walked up to his frozen form, scrutinizing the hatred so apparent in his eyes. “But I’m not going to do that, Ross. That would truly bring me down to your level. And while I’ll admit that we’re a lot more alike than I’m comfortable with, it’s the differences that matter more than the similarities.”

After some rummaging, she found the roll of tape that his wrists had been bound with in the first place. She instructed him to return to his previous position and applied a fresh wrapping to make it look like he had never moved.

“I’m going to drop you back into trance in a moment, Ross,” Tiffany said calmly as she put the roll of tape back. “I’m going to make you forget our entire interaction just now. A part of me wants to forget it all as well because of how completely I humiliated myself, but it’ll serve me as a reminder of how badly I need to get help. I won’t be able to master the Algorithm without the right support, and in that, I think you have a very promising role to play.”

“The others will decide what to do with you in the short term, but as long as it’s nothing too drastic, you’ll be hearing from me soon.” She circled around Ross slowly. “You’re pretty messed up too, you know… I’m going to take all that intense energy and ambition you have and harness it for my own goals. We’re going to help people, you and I.”

Stopping in front of him, she stared into his eyes once more. “Like it or not, we’re going to do some great things together.” She took a deep breath, feeling a foundation of control and certainty return to her.

“Let’s begin.”

Tiffany emerged from the spare bedroom and let out a room-shaking sigh. She resisted the urge to shout ‘fuck me!’ because, as much as she wanted to exclaim, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to handle things if all the room’s entranced occupants took her attempt to release some tension as a literal command.

She instead turned back for one last look at Ross and Dillon, now frozen in trance again, exactly as anyone would expect to find them. Ross’s memory of their encounter had been wiped, the only evidence remaining being a damp patch on his jeans that would fade with time, and Tiffany’s shame, which would be pretty much eternal.

She shook her head at herself. It figured that her most difficult struggle would be an internal one. As she closed the door to the spare room, she reassured herself that at least what she got out of her embarrassing near-submission was a heavy dose of self awareness and perspective.

Ross had gone all out to manipulate her, a last ditch effort to flip the balance of power that had very nearly succeeded. If Tiffany herself had possessed half of that single-minded determination to bend everyone to her will, the night would have gone very differently. Hell, she’d probably still have her hair and a lot fewer injuries, and be surrounded by adoring and loyal slaves, not sleeper agents, half of whom resented her enough to take the Algorithm away from her.

It was beyond expected that the intrusive thought spilling into her mind just then was about forgetting about her whole sleeper agent idea and instead enslaving the lot of them. It’s what Ross would have done. Hell, it’s what Ross nearly did do. Twice!

She knew that managing these urges was one of the things she’d be seeking help for. She already resolved to stick to her sleeper agent plan for tonight. It gave her time to evaluate where she’d take things later.

And what would she end up doing? Maybe nothing? Maybe everything… But one thing was clear, even in her fatigued state: her intrusive twisted thoughts and demanding dark desires could certainly wait a few days while she recovered from the most intense night of her life.

As her thoughts had wandered, Tiffany herself had gravitated towards Erin. She watched her chest gently rise and fall and thought about everything they’d been through. Rivals, enemies, allies, lovers. And now here she was, able to mold Erin into anything she could possibly imagine. A smile spread across her face when she knew that there was nothing she wanted to change. She didn’t know if it was the shared experiences they’d been through together, or if it was a natural chemistry that emerged between them when they had been competing for control of the Algorithm, but she found herself feeling a love for Erin that she had never felt with anyone else.

It was particularly reassuring to her that she still found herself incredibly attracted to Erin’s boyish hair and near-androgynous looks. There had been a part of her mind that thought perhaps Erin had programmed in such an attraction to her when she had Tiffany in trance. But the programming in Tiffany’s head had been completely removed, and that attraction to Erin was just as strong. And it wasn’t just attraction, it was connection. It felt more like love than Tiffany had ever known.

Tiffany shook her head and smiled. It was a grounding feeling. She felt better about entracing everyone, reminding herself that although the darkness was a part of her, so was her love, her genuine wish to take care of them. She knew that walking the path of control was fraught with dangers of corruption and temptation, but she had already decided that the benefits outweighed the risks. There was no need to second guess herself now.

Instead, she marched purposefully into Josh’s bedroom. There was one last thing to do before she woke everyone in the lounge up.

“Lucy, read what’s on the screen here, let the words program your mind.” Tiffany held up the phone screen to let Lucy read it. Her eyes moved over Tiffany’s instructions, her breathing soft and calm.

“Lucy sleeper agent protocol activated.”

And now it finally was done. Everyone was a sleeper agent, and Tiffany was able to keep her desires in check. Just.

She was about to march out, but something stopped her in her tracks. She turned towards the large screen in front of Josh’s gaming chair, the one that had first held the Algorithm signal, all those days ago. She slowly walked towards it, almost reverent in her careful steps. The screen was dark at that moment, but it had displayed the captivating, swirling, mesmerizing patterns of the Algorithm more times than she could count now.

“You and I got off to a shaky start…” Tiffany said softly, gentle running her fingers over the top of the screen. Part of her felt silly to imagine the Algorithm as a living thing, with moods, quirks, and a personality. Another part of her told her she should have treated it as such from the moment she met it.

“You are incredible…” she whispered, adjusting the headphones as they sat on the chair. “And things will be different now.”

She wandered around the side of the big screen, to where the small monitor sat with the mouse and keyboard. She looked at the interface, a work in progress but beautiful all the same.

“You’re all mine now,” she said in a reverent tone. “But that means I’m all yours, too… I promise I’ll try to be worthy of you.”

And with that, she turned to leave. She had to wake everyone up while making sure they didn’t realize any time had passed. Then they had to do their annoying discussions and decision making before everyone could go home. But Tiffany could handle that. In that moment, she felt like she could handle anything. As she walked into the lounge to impart her final instructions so that they would all wake up when she re-entered the apartment from the hallway, it felt like a note of finality on her struggles with the Algorithm.

In truth, it was just the beginning.

“Okay, let’s do this then. Janet?”

“Yes.”

“Gather up all of the bits and pieces you got from Josh to work on the portable Algorithm into a bag. With any of your own devices, wipe anything to do with the portable Algorithm from their memory. Leave your room in the same condition it was before you started working on the tablet. Understand?”

“Yes,” Janet replied as she robotically obeyed, her mind deep in trance as she began to methodically scour her desk and drawers.

“Oh. And keep it as quiet as possible please. The last thing we need is your roommate waking up…”

Tiffany watched Janet’s progress from the center of her room, failing to stifle a big yawn. She wasn’t sure what time it was exactly, but she could have sworn she saw daybreak just as they entered Janet’s dorm building. It had taken a while to iron things out with everyone at Josh’s apartment. Now they had all gone home, Dillon and Ross full of programming, the rest leaving with an assortment of carefully chosen memories. Only Lucy stayed at Josh’s apartment, taking the spare room as they didn’t want to leave her alone in her dorm in the state she was in. Things weren’t all better, but they were patched enough for everyone to get some much needed rest and come at it all with fresh minds.

Clearly feeling the fatigue herself, Erin slumped down onto Janet’s bed with a loud thump.

“Erin!” Tiffany hissed. “What did I just say?!”

“Yeah you said that to Janet, Tiff.” Erin yawned, before sticking her tongue out at Tiffany.

Tiffany felt irritation bubbling up inside of her, but knew it was coming more from exhaustion than Erin’s typical carefree attitude. After rolling her eyes for good measure, she softly said, “I suppose you’re wondering why we’re here with Janet to clear out all evidence of the portable Algorithm? Why she’s not getting to remember it all?”

“I was actually trying to decide whether I’m going to order pancakes or waffles once we’re done here…” Erin shrugged as she lounged on Janet’s bed. “But I’d be lying if I said the thought hadn’t crossed my mind. Plus… I can see it’s weighing on you.”

She wasn’t wrong. “With Janet…” Tiffany sighed heavily. “I literally used her as a tool to achieve my goals. I never stopped to ask her consent, I never gave her the option to refuse or walk away. I used her to save everyone else, a means to an end, and although I’d argue the ends justified the means, it doesn’t make what I did to her right.”

“Without her, we’d have been screwed, right?”

“Hard to say.” Tiffany nodded grimly. “I might have come up with something else had she not been an option…”

Erin blew out a quiet sigh. “Yeah, or Ross would have had a harem of sex slaves, I might have been murdered by my landlord, and you…What would you have done exactly?”

“I don’t know.” Tiffany shook her head, a slight smile forming on her tired face. “I just feel incredibly grateful we were able to turn it around. In many ways I have Janet to thank for that, but also you.”

Erin mockingly balked. “Urgh! No mushy feel good crap until I’ve had pancakes, Tiff. I mean it.”

Tiffany shook her head, her smile growing wider all the same. “Regardless of everything else, I do feel like Janet of all people deserves a clean break from the Algorithm and all of the fallout there. Besides...” Tiffany gave Erin a sincere look. “I promised Josh.” She felt her insides twist and ache. She had broken so many promises that night, keeping just one felt like a hollow gesture on her part.

“I suppose it’s good to keep a promise every now and then.” Erin sleepily nodded. “So what’s your plan?”

Tiffany yawned again. “Well, we’ll just have her forget all events relating to the Algorithm and her tablet project… and she’ll see Josh in class as normal, no harm no foul.”

“You’re just gonna wipe her memories?” Erin asked, rubbing her eyes and peeking up slightly. “Tiff, she put a shitton of time into this project, you can’t just tell her to remember it as an ordinary week and not expect her to notice the gaps.”

“I know, Erin, I know…” Tiffany sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “But I’m so tired, I barely know what to think, let alone what to say…”

Erin grinned, springing up from the bed and cracking her knuckles. “Why didn’t you say so? I’ve totally got this, Mistress.”

Tiffany felt her better judgment protest at the idea of letting Erin loose on Janet’s mind, but she was also far too tired to muster the energy to argue. She found herself shambling over to sit on the edge of Janet’s bed as Erin hovered over the tranced tidying girl.

“Janet, can you hear me?” Erin asked.

“Yes.”

“Good,” Erin purred. “Keep doing what you’re doing, but listen up…”

Janet continued gathering various pieces and spent time deleting files from her own tablet. All the while, Erin fed her some parting instructions.

“When I say ‘sweet dreams’ to you, you will wait until Tiffany and I have left, then get yourself sorted and into bed and go into a nice, deep, peaceful and normal sleep. When you wake up, the memories of everything to do with the Algorithm, your tablet, all the mind control, brainwashing, and everything that happened at Josh’s apartment tonight will feel like it was one big dream to you, immediately fairly clear when you first wake up, but quickly fading away into obscurity like most dreams do.”

Erin paused for a moment, considering her next lines as Janet tucked a power cable neatly away in her desk drawer. Tiffany felt herself wake up slightly as she paid close attention to Erin’s wording.

“Your mind will fill any gaps where it needs to for the past week so you’re convinced that it was a fairly typical week except you maybe fell behind on your studies a little due to distractions, like your hobbies or tv or stuff. You won’t think much of it, and you’ll make sure you catch up over the following weeks so that this week no longer stands out as anything unusual when you look back on it. Does that all make sense?”

“Yes,” Janet said, not looking up from her current task.

“That was good, Erin,” Tiffany gave an approving nod. “Very good. I think that will—“

“I’m not quite done.” Erin grinned, the glint in her eyes giving Tiffany pause. She opened her mouth to ask Erin to wait, but she was already continuing. “Janet, do you have a boyfriend, girlfriend, anything?”

“No.”

“Is there someone you like?”

“Yes.”

“Who is it you like?”

“Erin…” Tiffany said sternly.

“Melanie,” Janet replied.

“Aha, okay, you’re going to find in the next few weeks that you find you have the confidence to—“

Tiffany had sprung up from the bed by now and grabbed Erin’s arm to swing her round. “What are you doing?” she hissed as quietly and as angrily as she could. “Did you learn nothing from the accidental triggers you left in me?”

“Oh c’mon, Tiff!” Erin goaded. “You said it yourself a minute ago, she saved our asses! The least we can do is nudge her towards her beau.”

Tiffany sighed. “Erin, I know you mean well, but we’ve just cleaned up one huge mess, there’s no need to plant the seeds of another…”

“Fine, fine.” Erin held her hands up in surrender. “I won’t send her chasing after Emily or whatever, but can I at least give her a vaguely worded little confidence boost? Make her play to her strengths? Believe in herself? Follow her dreams?”

Tiffany gave Erin an exasperated stare as Erin cheekily bit her lip and batted her eyelids. “You’re exhausting.” Tiffany turned and fell face first onto Janet’s bed. She was too tired for this. It wasn’t worth fighting about. What was the worst that could happen?

”Thaaaanks, Mistress!” Erin said sweetly.

“Just hurry the fuck up,” Tiffany said irately, her face muffled in the sheets. “I want my pancakes.”

“As you wish,” Erin gleamed, before imparting her instructions onto Janet. Janet listened as she neared completion of her task, her mind absorbing everything Erin said.

“And lastly…” Erin sat on the bed, placing a hand on Tiffany’s butt. “Don’t let anyone stand in the way of your happiness. Do you understand all of that?”

“Yes,” Janet intoned, as she tidied away the remainder of her desk.

“Good.” Erin nodded in satisfaction. “Wow, you’ve done a great job in here.”

Janet said nothing as she finished her task, holding a shopping bag out towards Tiffany filled with all the components and material Josh had supplied her with. Her eyes were focused on Tiffany, but the only thought behind them was that of pure obedience to Tiffany’s instructions. Such a look was a temptation that Tiffany had been resisting for the last several hours. God she wanted to give in and backtrack on Erin’s programming, to keep Janet as her clever little pet. She would tinker on genius devices for Tiffany by day, and attend to her Mistress’s more primal needs by night.

After all, she was right there. Lost in trance. Easily programmable. And Erin wouldn’t just be okay with it, she would be actively encouraging Tiffany the entire time. It was hard not picturing her mindlessly stripping for Tiffany right there and then, Erin watching with glee before undoubtedly joining in. Janet could be their secret joint sex slave, an obedient little fu-

“Tiff?” Erin asked, snapping her out of her reverie.

“It’s time to go,” Tiffany blurted out, hoping her burning cheeks weren’t showing too much. She should have gotten off earlier when she had ample opportunity… It seemed her libido could go from zero to eleven in an instant otherwise...

“You okay?” Erin asked with a tilt of her head. “You looked like you were about to pass out where you stood.”

Tiffany shook her head briskly, then smiled sheepishly. “Nothing some fresh air and waffles can’t help with.”

With one last glance at the entranced Janet, they headed to the door. Erin poked her head back through and said, “Sweet dreams.”

Janet, as programmed, waited until Tiffany and Erin had left before getting herself ready for bed. She was deeply asleep the moment her head hit the pillow, her memories and dreams merging together in a forced amalgamation of her mind.

Tiffany and Erin emerged from the student halls, the sun now well on its way into the sky of a new day.

“Fuck me that’s bright.” Erin squinted as she covered her eyes. “So what now, Mistress?”

“That’s us done,” Tiffany said with a tone of finality. “I think I’m going to go find a dark corner and sleep for three days.”

“Nuh-uh!” Erin jokingly protested, “pancakes, waffles, coffee! That diner across from your work does great pancakes. Plus they use proper maple syrup.”

Tiffany looked at the time on her phone and then back at Erin. “You mean my ex-work… Maybe a quick breakfast before I hibernate… What’s proper maple syrup?”

“Canadian.” Erin nodded in approval. “Accept no substitute.”

“What about Vermont stuff?” Tiffany shrugged. “It’s the same thing…”

“Haha!” Erin scoffed. “Sure it is…”

Tiffany stopped abruptly then turned sharply towards Erin, her eyes widening in realization. “Noooo….”

Erin also stopped and raised her eyebrows in inquiry. “What? Tiff, what is it?”

“This is a sanctuary city.” Tiffany remarked as she gazed around her, more reciting knowledge than speaking to Erin. “You need to avoid the police not just because you’re a runaway, but you’re an illegal immigrant… It’s why you live in a slumlord’s apartment and have no id…”

Tiffany finally looked back at Erin who was shaking her head in denial. With excitement in her voice, Tiffany added “And finally, you’re protective over maple syrup. Holy shit, Erin. You’re Canadian!”

Erin said nothing, but continued to shake her head.

“Come on!” Tiffany grabbed onto Erin’s arm with a burst of energy. “I figured it out, didn’t I? Tell me I’m right!”

Erin simply heaved a loud sigh then muttered, “Shouldn’t have mentioned the fuckin’ syrup…”

Tiffany burst out laughing, pumping her fist in triumph. “Oh my god I can’t believe it! I mean, I can, but I’m so happy I got it without you out and out telling me.”

“I was saving it for a special occasion…” Erin said with just a hint of dejection.

Tiffany gave her a look betraying how adorable she found it all. “Is Erin even your real name?”

“Erin is…” Erin replied. “But it’s not Erin Thompson. It’s Erin… Gauthier.”

“Wow.” Tiffany said with wide eyes and a teasing smile. “You’ve just blown my mind more than the Algorithm ever has…”

“Shoulda wiped your mind when I had the chance…” Erin pouted.

“Aww, it’s okay…” Tiffany pulled her into a hug. “It’s really not that big a deal.”

Erin didn’t say anything, but returned the hug all the same.

After a few moments Tiffany pulled away but grabbed Erin firmly by the hand. “Now let’s go get those panwaffle whatever’s, with proper maple syrup…”

“Yeah.” Erin nodded. “Sounds good.”

“And, Erin Gauthier, you’re coming back to my place after,” Tiffany said decisively.

“Do I have a choice, Tiffany Wilson?” Erin asked with a bemused look, returning Tiffany’s tone.

Tiffany stopped once more, tilting her head and smiling sweetly back at Erin. Her Canadian tomboy had never looked more beautiful. “No.”

“Fair enough.” Erin shrugged.

As Tiffany pulled Erin towards her and planted a tender kiss on her lips, everything felt exactly as it should. The thrill of knowing she had complete control over Erin yet hadn’t revealed as such to her was keeping her awake much more than the promise of coffee and breakfast . The city started coming to life around them, and the sun stretched higher in the sky. Tiffany had faced down monsters, and more importantly, recognised the monster within herself and survived to tell the tale. Feeling a new level of peace in her head and her heart, and an excited anticipation tingling throughout her body, Tiffany walked hand in hand with Erin into the new day.