The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

An Akiko Too Far

The people and events in this story come from my brain, not the real world. Regardless of what that tells you about my brain, it means that I’m not writing about you, your mom, your friends, or your friends’ friends. So you can’t sue me. Neener neener.

If you’re underage in your territory (and you know what I mean), then read something else.

Note: This is the conclusion of secret agent Akiko Masumi’s second serial. It follows “Akiko in the Afternoon,” “The Trouble with Akiko,” “Love with the Proper Akiko,” “An Akiko to Remember,” and “The Wrong Akiko.” You don’t need to read the first series to follow the second, but it helps.

Inspirations: Trilby Else—This storyline continues to have an overall Trilby-ness to it, owing a specific debt to his “Trinkets.” A special shout goes out to him for all his unfailing encouragement while I wrote this.

© 2001 Aerosol Kid

* * *

“Um... milady? Would you mind putting that out, please?” Jung Hyun Park asked delicately, wrinkling her nose. We faced each other in the guarded entrance to Kali’s underground bunker outside Sydney. She’d come to meet me at the lift from the faux office park above.

I put out my cigarette on my heel, and she smiled gratefully, but the smile faded when I pulled out another smoke and lit up. “Baby,” I exhaled, waving the flame from my match. “Tell me whatever it is you need to tell me. It’s 0200 and I’m tired.” The guards waved me through, so I blew past Jung Hyun, forcing her to backpedal. “I’m sweaty and I smell like airplane,” I groused, as she struggled to catch up. “And I seem to be without a handmaid.” I took her hand and swung it gaily while we walked. “How about you fill in for me, until I get my Nina back?”

Jung Hyun knew I was jacking with her, and didn’t like it one bit. She was Kali’s handmaid, and she was used to being treated with a little deference. “Kali asked for you, milady,” she said, trying not to sound resentful, not quite succeeding. “She wants you to go directly to her chambers.”

I tried not to groan. I didn’t sleep on the flight back from Kuala Lumpur; I was too worried about my friends. According to Alex, the only way I could save them was by following orders and finishing the mission. Since that wasn’t going to happen until sunrise, the only thing I wanted to do was shower and hit the sack. Now it looked like I’d be up all night with Kali. I wanted to throw a tantrum, but blowing my cover wasn’t going to save the day. “Why, Ms. Park,” I Scarletted at her, fanning myself. “That’s most flattering.” I motioned ahead. “After you.”

I could tell she wanted to push me down and tear my hair out. Instead, she pulled out her cell phone and began to lead me through the maze of tunnels. “Milady. Yes, we’re on our way,” she murmured, as I watched her cute butt wiggle this way and that. We took an elevator so far down that my ears popped again. Halfway through a dark corridor, Jung Hyun stopped and felt around for something. A section of the wall rotated outward, and we slipped through to yet another passageway. There were more guards, and I thought they’d just wave us through, but these ladies meant business. I got frisked, and how. Jung Hyun smiled thinly and crossed her arms, enjoying it. That is, until they gave her the once-over too.

“Send her in,” Kali’s voice crackled over an intercom, near an imposing set of doors. The guards performed an efficient drill: two flanked the entrance, while another pair worked a series of locks. Eventually, the doors swung outward, and I spied a dimly lit boudoir. From somewhere far inside, Kali said, “That will be all, Ms. Park.”

“As you wish, milady,” the foxy handmaid bowed, cheeks reddening. Her eyes met mine for a millisecond before she took her leave. Mrrrrreoww! Ffffft! I was relieved that Miss Kitty was on Kali’s leash.

I’d been on a mission for sixteen hours, and my eyes were tired. Torches and candles burned here and there, but it was still hard to see. I stumbled into a huge canopy bed, then I spied some sort of office in a corner. Kali sat there with her back to me, swiftly pecking at a keyboard.

“How did it go?” she prompted.

I was a little lost for words. Alex’s presence during the mission had me a little tongue-tied, sure, but I was also distracted by Kali’s attire. A white sarong snaked around her thin waist, and that was about it. Her pale, muscular back enthralled me, in spite of my unwillingness to be there.

I shook myself. “Exactly as planned, milady. We can arrange for delivery any time in the next eight days.”

She continued to type. A single braid hung down to her ass, swishing occasionally. “You didn’t run into any unpleasantness from the men?”

“One of them did try to bargain with me in private for my assistants,” I lied. “But no, milady, we didn’t encounter any resistance.”

“It’s a common misconception,” Kali said, and I could tell she was smiling, “that my loyal subjects are simple slave girls who would obey to anyone who purchased them. They’ll all understand, soon enough.”

Even though her take-over-the-world talk was creepy, I breathed a little easier because she seemed to buy my story. “Will that be all, milady?”

“All?” Kali finally stopped typing and swiveled in her chair to face me. I marveled at her bangs, meticulously teased, and her perfectly penciled eyebrows. Let’s not forget those inscrutable brown eyes, and full lips glossed with smoky plum. “No, that will not be all.”

She rose to her feet, and I tried to hold eye contact, but her tits were really great. It was hard to think of her as an evil supervillain, that’s for sure. “Aren’t we breaking camp and relocating, milady?” I attempted.

Concern wrinkled her brow. “Don’t be nervous, Akiko. I don’t mean to intimidate you.” My mouth fell open. This woman—obsessed with Taking Over The World, and possibly even about to succeed—was hot for me. She sashayed up to me and reached out to massage my neck. “I know it’s late, but I’m a little wound up. I was hoping you might help me relax.”

“I just got off the plane, milady. I don’t smell too good.” The more she rubbed, the fewer excuses I could come up with. This gal was playing me like a fiddle.

She nuzzled my neck and inhaled deeply. “You smell divine,” she declared, then she licked my collarbone. I gasped softly in surprise. “And you taste wonderful.”

I sort of giggled, but I was still on edge. In the normal world I would’ve just said, “Not tonight, I’ve got a headache,” and that would be that. But I was supposedly programmed to put out on command, so I didn’t have that luxury.

Kali pulled back a bit, evaluating me. “Poor Akiko,” she soothed. “You’re still keyed up from your mission, and here I am asking you to jump right into my bed.” She rolled her eyes at her own lack of consideration. “Wait right there, I’ve just the thing.”

She left me trying to figure out what to do with my hands. I had a strong urge to flee, to round up my friends and blow this popsicle stand. But Alex wanted me to leave the rescuing to him and concentrate on Le Big Picture. I sighed, pacing the room. If it were just time for me to do something, I’d have been fine. Waiting is the hardest part of the secret agent gig.

“This will make it all better,” Kali announced, her bare feet slapping the marble floor. She sat down on her gigantic bed and patted the white duvet. “Please sit.” There was something concealed in her left hand.

How does that old saying go? The only way out is through? I was pretty sure what Kali had in mind, and like I said, I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the notion. But I swallowed, put on my best happy slavegirl face and seated myself next to that power-mad little hottie from Singapore.

“Look at me,” she commanded. “I want to see your eyes when I do it.”

I did as told, and before I had a chance to ask what she was talking about, I felt the familiar cold sting of metal at my neck. “Oh...” I heard myself say, as Kali’s brown eyes dissolved into buzzing hot noise. My head bonked into hers, and she held me there for a moment, letting her wand do its thing. She rambled to me about her hand-held mental disrupters, how they were her favorite invention. I wanted to ask her to stop, but my lips were numb and I couldn’t even lick them. I managed to make this weird little noise. Kali took the hint and gently lowered me onto my back. The bed felt delightful.

She stroked my hair, which was nice. “This, Agent Masumi, is what I like best about my work. I’ve been patiently waiting to fuck you for weeks. Now you’re all mine.” The kissing made me dizzy, and I could barely move my tongue, so Kali settled for sucking on my lips while I made random noises of encouragement. It seemed once again that I was in auto-slut mode.

There was some rustling around on the bed, and I felt her messing around with my feet. One of my boots plopped onto the marble floor, then the other. Next, Kali attempted to slide my pants from around my hips. She grunted and tugged and I was absolutely no help at all. My undies came off with relative ease. When she knelt behind me and peeled off my tank top, I found the strength to pluck at her sarong, which fluttered away from her thighs almost as soon as I touched it.

Next, she tied my hair back, which was thoughtful. Satisfied that I was all naked and ready to go, she locked eyes with me and slipped under the covers. That was my cue, so I labored to move my cold limbs. Clumsily, I joined Kali under the warm bedding.

Now it was just my hot skin and hers, enveloped in wonderful, fuzzy flannel. We made out for a long time, because that’s about all I could manage, but after a while my fingers began to trace her hips. She got bold, pushed my legs apart and teased my vee. It tickled, and I started doing this embarrassing moaning/panting thing. I think she got tired of me squeezing her fingers between my thighs, because she climbed on top of me. I felt her lips at my ear, where they began a slow, wet expedition to the hollow of my neck. There was a brief taste test of my left arm, then an all-out assault on my boob, which prompted me to grab her by the shoulders enthusiastically. She licked across my ribcage and headed for my navel. I feverishly prayed for her to keep going south.

Kali tongued my belly button.

Pushed my legs very far apart.

And then locked her mouth to my pussy, as I writhed against her sudden iron grip on my hips. I came from sheer surprise, squealing like a virgin.

She sucked on me roughly; buzzing my button until I quaked once, then twice. Each time I came I felt lighter, more rubbery. I lost track of time.

It was burning hot in that bed. I was exhausted and sticky, soaked from head to toe with sweat and other stuff. Kali kissed my tummy, and triumphantly emerged from under the covers, ringlets of damp hair stuck to her face. I kissed her eagerly, wanting to taste myself on her lips, and I wasn’t disappointed. She rolled off of me and pulled me on top of her. Her pose was submissive, but her hot chocolate gaze and faint smile left no doubt who was in charge.

I rose up on my knees, flinging the soaked bedding away from us, and looked down at Kali’s unusual body. She was quite thin—her ribcage was sharply delineated—but her tits were very high, very round and quite big. Suspiciously perfect. I leaned over them, cupped them in my hands and licked an areola. They seemed pretty real to me. Satisfied, I buried my face in her chest while she gripped the back of my neck.

She was real quiet, but I could tell she was enjoying herself—maybe even holding back on purpose. Well, she said she’d been waiting so long to have me, and I felt like I had a reputation to live up to. So I slid down, gripped her thighs and pushed them up. I wanted her legs in the air for this show. Before I could so much as breathe on her nether lips, she cleared her throat. “You mentioned an interesting fantasy, while you were with Siobhan and Ophelia the other day.” She was trying hard to sound aloof, but she came off more like a porn star.

“What do you want me to do?” I husked, causing her to shiver.

She reached out to her nightstand and grabbed something, placed it on her tummy. Curious, I reached around her thigh to retrieve it. Sour apple candy! “Hmmm. Yummy,” I opined, untwisting the wrapper. “It’ll be my pleasure, milady. Uh?” The last was because Kali surprised me with that damned disrupter again. She used a lighter setting this time, so I was able to hold onto her legs, but the inside of my head went all runny. I moaned pitifully while I got my bearings, and my face was so close to Kali’s cunny that she had this huge orgasm. She definitely got off on zapping me like that.

Things got really fuzzy after that. I managed to get the candy in my mouth and turn Kali into a sticky, apple-flavored wonderland. Sometimes she gripped my head and fucked my mouth, sometimes she’d zap me with the disrupter and watch while I struggled to come to my senses between her legs.

A good time was had by all.

When I came to, it was 0500, and Kali was asleep with her back to me. Strands of my hair clung to my forehead, and my tongue was tres sore. I took a hot shower in her amazing bathroom, then hunted down my clothes. When I slipped out of Kali’s chambers, one of the guards gave me a little wink. I got the feeling Kali wasn’t much of an afterglow cuddler, so I didn’t think I’d be missed.

We were scheduled to break camp at dawn and leave by 0800. Our destination was kept secret until all the transports were loaded and ready. From what I understood, Kali and her Advisors moved so frequently they had it down to a science. I could see why no intelligence agency had been able to keep up with her. Until yours truly, of course. If Alex was right, all I had to do to end this mission was to be with Kali when we left this base.

That was three hours away, so I had a little time to check up on my girls.

I found my way back to Containment without much trouble. The guards were hesitant to let me in, but I gave them some baloney about getting the prisoners ready for transport, and they waved me in.

Once inside the little storage room, I locked the doors and looked around for cameras. Satisfied that no one was watching, I stemmed the flow on Nina’s sedative drip, then Akemi’s, then Miyu’s. While I waited for my lovely colleagues to stir, I looked around near the console where Kali had almost brainwashed me earlier. I looked in a cabinet and sure enough, I found a few of those handheld disrupters. They each had tiny labels with basic guidelines. One was for sleep, one for “suppliant suggestibility” and another was for “intense sexual arousal.” I armed myself with one of each, slipping them into my pockets. When I rejoined Nina, she was beginning to fidget and frown. As she yawned, I held the suggestibility doodad to her temple and gave her a jolt. Her irises contracted and her lips parted. I felt bad because all this time she’d been asleep with her blue contacts in.

I nuzzled her ear and whispered, “Hey, babycakes. It’s Akiko. Can you hear me?” She nodded slowly. “Listen...”

I went from Nina to Akemi to Miyu; zapping them, changing out their sedative bags for saline and whispering instructions. When I left, they were asleep again, only now they’d have a fighting chance when the shit hit the fan.

* * *

I was beginning to see how demanding Kali was of her highest ranking slavegirls. She’d sent me to Malaysia, used me all night as a sex toy, and now (after a brief breakfast) she had me scrambling to keep up with her as she supervised the breakdown of base camp. I was running on roughly ninety minutes of sleep, but I was very tightly wound. Kali wore a black suit, black lipstick, and even black ribbons in her spiral braids. She looked hot as fuck. I followed her terse orders to the letter, making security arrangements and coordinating trucks, planes and helicopters. My stomach churned as I thought about the transmission I’d be sending within the hour, and the craziness that would follow.

At 0800 on the dot, a convoy of trucks and busses left the bunker through a hidden underground tunnel. The tunnel intersected a major highway nearby, at a discrete location. Two of Kali’s Advisors rode with this group, as well as Jung Hyun, who had the honor of watching over Kali’s luggage. A second convoy of vans and Range Rovers trickled out of the office complex at ground level, all headed for the airfield. I rode in this group, along with Kali and the other three Advisors.

Kali had her poker face on for the Advisors, who sat across from us and glared. I was convinced that they knew we spent all night doing the nasty. They were lovely girls, but corporate types; all dressed in that gravely serious way. Ms. Lim was Chinese-Malay, Ms. Santiko was Indonesian, and Ms. Balakul was Thai. They were making me paranoid. I refused to make eye contact, and resolved to sit far away from them on the flight.

I crossed my legs and tapped my foot nervously. Kali put a hand to her mouth and nonchalantly whispered in my ear, “You lived up to your hype last night, my lovely. I’m still wet just thinking about you.” I was sure no one else heard her over the road noise, but my first reaction was to turn beet red and glance furtively at the Advisors. Pleased with herself, Kali laughed and turned to look out the window. At that moment, I realized that these hags couldn’t lay a finger on me, because I was the Boss Lady’s favorite lay. They continued to give me stink eye, while I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at them.

Three big helicopters waited for us at the little airport. Most of the convoy stopped here, and the rest kept going to another airfield. More misdirection on the part of Ms. Kali. I made a show of covering her as we walked along the grassy field, which seemed to please her.

The helicopters were converted military troop transports. One was reserved for us, so there was plenty of room. Even all the slavegirls on the other flights would be pretty comfortable. I was relieved when Kali took a seat in the rear and her three bitches sat up front near the cockpit.

“You can relax now, my vigilant protector,” Kali purred to me, while she set her laptop across her knees and powered it up.

“Thank you, milady,” I yawned. Up front, the pilot looked over her shoulder at Kali, who gave the thumbs up. We lifted off swiftly, and the sunlight shifted angles through the cabin as the airfield swung down and out of view.

I kept a low profile, assessing the flight crew, noting that they were armed. Kali was completely engrossed in some spreadsheets. She looked damned cute, really. I thought about how good she’d been to me in bed, and the classic undercover queasiness set in. To her, I was a priceless asset: a deadly spy who’d been meticulously brainwashed. She had unshakable confidence in her abilities, and in her technology. Because of that, she trusted me enough to have my face between her legs. Enough to put me in charge of her life. And even though it was Kali’s self-confidence and not genuine trust in me, I still felt like I was about to betray a lover. That’s fucked up, isn’t it? Let’s not forget this woman was planning to destabilize governments and brainwash millions. I chastised myself. You’ve been out in the field too long, you big a-hole.

I shut my eyes and counted to ten. Bit my lip. And willed open my communication implant’s distress channel for five seconds.

I expected to be discovered instantly and hurled to the floor, but Kali kept typing, and the Advisors continued a quiet conversation up front. I was about to smile, when I saw the Aussie co-pilot check something, then check it again. Flustered, she leaned into the passenger cabin and caught Ms. Santiko’s eye. “Milady. There’s been an unauthorized radio transmission from our position.”

Ms. Santiko didn’t get it. “From our position?”

The co-pilot blanched. “From onboard, milady.”

I took advantage of the few seconds I had left and made my way toward the cockpit. “What do you mean, ‘unauthorized transmission’?” I barked, ever the concerned bodyguard.

“It was a brief burst on an extremely high radio frequency,” the freckled co-pilot stammered. “Looks military. Most likely used to help someone triangulate our position.”

To my left, the pilot scratched her nose, muttered a curse.

“Are you sure your equipment is working properly?” I challenged, acutely aware that I had everyone’s undivided attention.

“Yes, milady. Everything checks out. Someone’s most likely tracking our vector.”

I turned to face Kali, who played nervously with her elliptical braids. At this point, the cavalry was on its way, so all I needed to do was stall. “Someone must have placed a transmitter on this aircraft before we lifted off,” I theorized.

She slipped the end of a ballpoint pen into her mouth. Chewed absently. Nodded, eyes narrowing. “What do you propose, Akiko?”

I was about to answer, when Ms. Lim spoke up. “You!” she hissed, poking me in the back “You sent it!”

A loud voice crackled over the radio in the cockpit, directing us to “land gently and slowly,” and “come out with your hands up.”

Ms. Balakul sided with Ms. Lim. “Kali, your little bitch sold us out.”

“Impossible!” barked Kali. “When will you get it through your heads? It’s not possible to resist my conditioning methods!” Exasperated, she tossed aside her laptop and marched up to me. She pulled something from her belt pouch and aimed it at me. I flinched instinctively, but it was just a scanner. Kali’s lips curled into a sneer as she prepared to once again prove her doubters wrong. But when she saw what the scanner had to say, her face got very white.

“Well?” Ms. Lim demanded.

The scanner slipped from her fingers and rolled around lazily on the shifting floor. Our pilot was trying to evade some other aircraft, and we had to grab for something to stay on our feet. The look she gave me was hard to take: I’d betrayed her. “Agent Masumi’s communication implant has been reactivated,” she said in utter disbelief. “She sent the burst.”

I’m sure that if fighter planes hadn’t been buzzing us, the Advisors would’ve gloated a whole lot more.

“How?” Kali cried numbly. “This isn’t supposed to be possible.” Her big brown eyes registered her shock.

For a split second, I felt terrible. Then I wised up. “You can’t have your Akiko and take over the world, too,” I shrugged.

“Shut up!” Ms. Santiko growled, roughly shoving me to the deck. Someone’s stiletto heel dug into the small of my back, and the cold muzzle of a revolver pressed against my temple. “I’m going to spray your brains all over this fucking helicopter.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” I cautioned. “I’m the only thing on this chopper they want alive.” Carefully, I moved my hands toward my pants pockets. “I just opened my communications link. They can hear everything. If it’s interrupted, they’ll assume I’m dead, and you’ll be eating missiles for lunch.”

The pilot tried in vain to lose our Marlin pursuers. My stomach did icy flips.

Kali’s voice regained some of its honeyed assurance. “That’s right, girls. Akiko may not be under my spell, but she’s our ticket out of here.” I knew what she was doing even before she knelt down next to me. I might be able to resist long-term conditioning, but not the disrupter she was undoubtedly getting ready to use.

The truth was, Marlin would probably figure out I was compromised in a heartbeat, and they’d waste me if it meant taking down Kali. It was nothing personal, but my life was definitely in my own hands.

Before Kali could zap me, I swept my legs in an arc, knocking Advisors everywhere. I was relieved that Ms. Santiko’s pistol didn’t discharge. My spin continued, sweeping under Kali’s feet, knocking her on her arse. I wish I could be all cool and say this move was kung fu or aikido, but I learned it from this guy who was a breakdancer.

As I sprang to my feet, I reached with both hands for the disrupters I’d armed myself with earlier. I didn’t really care which flavor I ended up with. I was closest to Kali, so I tagged her on the butt. She yelped, crumpled to the deck. Evidently I had a Sleep Inducer in that hand. I was moving too fast to be sure, but I think she got off on it.

I spun to face the Advisors. Ms. Santiko scrambled for her pistol, Ms. Balakul crawled toward the cockpit, and Ms. Lim tried to free herself from the chair she had spilled into. I gave Ms. Lim a dose of the same disrupter I’d used on Kali, and she sighed blissfully as she slackened in her chair. With my other hand, I zapped Ms. Santiko just as her fingers brushed the handle of her gun. Since Ms. Balakul was crawling toward the cockpit with her back to me, she was the easiest to subdue. Judging from the provocative things that came out of her mouth, I’d say I had the sex-stunner in my right hand.

There was still the flight crew to deal with. The co-pilot unsnapped her sidearm from her thigh holster as she struggled to turn toward me in her seat. I dropped both disruptors and reached in my pocket for the third, praying it wouldn’t fuck the pilot up too much to fly.

I tapped the wand against the co-pilot’s helmet. Her eyes went glassy and her pistol dropped to the deck. Switching to the lightest setting, I tranced the pilot, leaned down and ordered, “Set us down.”

She answered by putting us in a steep dive. “I won’t let you do this!” she snarled.

I braced myself next to her and gave her a stronger dose. She flinched, jerking the stick a little too much for my taste. The chopper’s nose snapped up for a second. “Level off, soldier...” I yelled. She blinked a few times. “Come on, level this bird off.” The ground was getting awful close.

The determination melted away from her face. “Yes, milady,” she sighed, and the sky dipped back into sight.

A voice thundered in my head, over the radio implant. “Akiko? Akiko? What’s going on over there?”

“Who wants to know?” I challenged, putting a hand to my forehead. Cripes, that was loud!

“Masumi-san! It’s Doctor Sato! Are you OK?”

“Affirmative.” It was so good to hear the yummy doctor’s voice again! “This chopper is secured and we’re setting down.”

The ground was crawling with Oz foot soldiers and Marlin ops when I hopped out of the helicopter. The other choppers in our group set down nearby. I learned later that the pilots got confused when they saw Kali’s helicopter land. I don’t think she ever thought about what to tell them in the event of her capture. Doctor Sato and her assistants led me away as Kali and her ladies were rounded up and cuffed.

“You did so well, Masumi-san,” the Doctor purred in Japanese. “We’re so proud of you. Let’s get you back home and make sure you’re OK, yes?”

I pushed many gentle hands away. “Where’s Alex? I’ve got to talk to him.”

There was some whispered discussion between the good Doctor and a soldier. Then she stepped away and called someone on her keitai. I bit my lip, wondering if the girls had managed to wake up and escape. Had I done enough? Had Alex kept his promise and gone after them? Dr. Sato finished her call and took my hand. “We will go on to the airport,” she explained. “Cortazar-san will meet us there.”

“But...” I stammered.

Doctor Sato flashed her sleepy smile and kissed my cheek. “Your work here is done, Masumi-san.”

* * *

It was chilly, standing outside the unmarked Marlin hangar at Sydney Airport. Our jet was fueled and ready to take us back to Tokyo, but we were still waiting for Alex. I stubbed out my cig and lit a fresh one, while the ecstatic operatives around me alternated between guzzling beer and pouring it on each other. I wouldn’t be able to relax until...

“There’s Alex!” someone yelled as they mussed my hair. I smiled weakly and shuffled from one foot to the other.

The black van rolled up next to the jet. I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I ran over, grabbed the side door handle and jerked open the hatch. Alex regarded me from the dark interior with a shit-eating grin on his face. I saw a swirl of platinum blond hair as something pounced on me, knocking me to the asphalt.

“Baby! You’re alright!” Nina squealed.

My elbows were scraped, and the wind was knocked out of me, but I didn’t care. I squeezed Nina until she coughed. “God, I thought I’d never see you again!” I moaned, covering her with kisses. There was laughter, as several hands pulled Nina to her feet, then me.

Alex jumped out of the van. “Your little ploy worked,” he said. “They woke up in mid-transit and Nina was able to get a transmission to us. Finding them was no sweat.”

“What about —” I sputtered.

Alex slipped behind me and wrapped me in his arms. “They’re going to need some looking after, but I think they’ll be fine.”

I peered closer into the back of the van. Two figures lay swaddled in blankets. One had a curly, disheveled mop of hair, the other a glossy black bob. My fellow agents were all safe.

“You did great, kid,” Alex murmured, as my knees gave out.

“I haven’t slept in a while,” I apologized, just before I fainted.

* * *

When I got back to Tokyo, I laid low for a while. Assistant Director Takizawa put me on leave. I found an apartment in Harajuku and had a blast fixing it up. The higher-ups at GIA bought me a brand new yellow Miata, so I took a few long drives in the country.

Before this Marlin gig, I had been terrified of my job-acquired kinks. To be fair, getting turned into a submissive bisexual in the line of duty is a freaky thing. I thought I’d been permanently bent in a way that would continue to get me in trouble, and that my days as a secret agent were numbered. I was mad and sad and scared all at once, and let’s not forget oh-so-excited by the thought of being hypnotized.

I had believed that my assignment to Marlin was basically my death warrant. And I proved myself wrong by having the balls to tough things out and get the job done. Dr. Sato had only been able to administer half of the treatment that was supposed to keep me safe once I infiltrated Kali’s organization, but I turned out to be more naturally resistant to mind control than any other Marlin op.

Of course, the brass knew this all along. Things hadn’t gone exactly according to plan, but they’d sent me into Kali’s network knowing I could take her down. To them, I was the ideal double agent. And now that I had some kind of promotion waiting for me upon my return to work, the things that got me off in the bedroom weren’t so scary, if you know what I mean.

All in all, I was pleased with myself.

Nina had to go through a little deprogramming, but she’s a lot like me (maybe even a little more resilient), so she was fine. She wanted to hang around, and I really wanted her to, but she was so young, and I wasn’t crazy about her being a secret agent. I told her to go back to Oz and become a famous singer—which is what she’d been doing before she was recruited. I told her if we were still thinking about each other after a while, we’d see what was up.

Alex gently pursued me during my vacation. There was definitely something between us, but my heart ended up with Nina, who I’d sent away.

Why do I do these things to myself?

Miyu spent a few weeks with Dr. Sato, eventually making a full recovery. We started hanging out when she got well enough. These days, she’s like a big sister to me. We’re real tight.

Poor Akemi took a lot longer to get better. She did recover, but she retired from Marlin. Last I heard she was married to some doctor, playing housewife.

Eventually, I got antsy and started to pop in at Marlin HQ every day. I’d just stick my head in the conference room and say hi. When nobody took the hint, I started hanging out in my office in the mornings.

By my fifth morning of loitering around, I finally mastered Momo the E-mail Bear. I was catching up on some family correspondence, when a shadow fell over me. I looked up. Assistant Director Takizawa stood in my doorway, his expression carefully neutral.

“Takizawa-san, come in please?” I chirped.

He entered, but remained standing, hands behind his back. “May I ask what you’re doing?” His body language was all business, but his voice was gentle, teasing.

I pouted as much as social convention would allow. “I’m a little bored with vacation, Assistant Director, sir. Is there anything for me to do around here?”

He considered. “Well, it so happens that I have been promoted to Director.”

“Sorry, sir,” I apologized for getting his title wrong. “Congratulations. Do you have anything for me, Director sir?

He bowed slightly. “Yes, I do. I’ll need you to move your things to an office upstairs, Assistant Director Masumi.”

End