The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Sluthack

Chapter Two: Insertions

Selene was surprised that someone as apparently important as Dr Hilflos didn’t rate a secure parking space, or even a bodyguard. She had already reviewed the recording, and seen the young programmer walking nonchalantly across the gated carpark. But, although the attack must have been seen by whoever was running security, the absence of any response did seem to lend credence to Jenner’s belief that the corporation had been compromised.

She cursed the gremlin’s weak stomach when it came to matters sexual. If only Glitch had continued to watch and more importantly, record, then this would have been so much easier. But, the camera logs had already been purged, as either the attacker, or more likely an accomplice, erased every trace of the abduction. Well, almost every trace, which rather neatly brought her back to the present and why she was standing in the very same spot from which the doctor had been taken.

Crouching low, the hacker let her rough hands run gently over the tarmac. The beat of the city reached out to her, thudding dully in her belly. Energy flowed beneath her fingers, pulsing to its own alien rhythms. Selene listened, opening herself to the chaotic ebb and flow. There were discordant notes amid the melody, jarring and incongruous. Fragments of harmony that seemed strangely blunted, or unfinished.

Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to remove all the evidence, and although she didn’t recognise the taste of this hacker, if their paths ever crossed again, Selene knew that she would have no difficulty identifying them. But no matter how good they thought they were, there was no such thing as a perfect hack, especially when your opponent could cheat.

With her mind already partially immersed, it took only a small effort of will to summon a daemon. The tiny construct was almost painfully stupid, but that was perfect for grunt work. It already knew her wishes, having been formed at least in part from the strength of her desires. For a moment, it flew around her in dizzying circles, a digital sprite dancing on wings of virtual light. Then, it sped off; chasing the tiny errors left by the hacker’s meddling.

The trail led away from safe, corporate apartments, through the mediocrity of low cost tenements and into the seedy heart of the slums. Despite their quarry’s numerous attempts to throw them off the scent, the daemon was relentless, pursuing the target with mindless determination. Even when the omnipresent surveillance cameras began to grow sparser, the streets themselves held onto the impression of the vehicle in which the programmer had presumably been transported.

And then, quite suddenly, the hacker’s manipulation just stopped. The vehicle had continued its journey, quite openly, but the daemon flitted around a nearby squat, its agitation very obvious. Outwardly, the building appeared as unremarkable as any other, but it was drawing far more power than it had any right to, and the flickering emanations that were only visible when she really looked suggested a level of security that was entirely out of place.

It seemed likely that she had discovered where the kidnapped programmer was being held, but Selene knew that wouldn’t be enough for Jenner. Unpalatable though it might be, she was going to have to confirm the abductee’s presence visually before putting in the call. Her grip tightened, knuckles white as they wrapped around the cane’s ornate handle. She hated the physical side of her work, but there was no other option.

With a deep sigh, she unpacked her deck and let it run through its startup procedure. This was going to take something a lot more sophisticated than a simple daemon, and that would require more processing power than her wetware alone could provide. The building’s wireless network was heavily encrypted, but that only slowed her down a fraction. There was a moment of transition, where pale pastel reality unfolded into brilliant primary colours, before her avatar stepped effortlessly into the security construct.

* * *

The system was running the default template, which meant that the SysAd was either professional enough to avoid tying up all that processing power on simple flash, or too lazy to change the ‘out of the box’ settings. Given the sophistication of the defences, the former seemed like a safer bet. Selene wrapped her avatar in layers of magic and code, hiding in plain sight, as she began to probe for weaknesses.

Intrusion Countermeasures ignored her, cartoon monsters bristling with enough psychotropic software to literally melt her mind. The network was small, but that didn’t make the building itself any less formidable. Heat and motion detectors were linked to sentry guns and she had already tasted the unmistakable tang of magic. Above it all, the SysAd prowled; an anime schoolgirl whose unthreatening appearance belied the arsenal she almost certainly carried.

Selene downloaded the building plans, immediately noting the various security doors and checkpoints. Actually interfering with the system functions themselves was fraught with danger, and the greatest threat was the human component. People were unpredictable, and that meant the SysAd had to be dealt with first. There was no point in simply dumping her. That would only alert security to her presence, and she wasn’t about to start killing people just because they got in her way. No, this called for something more insidious.

The hacker’s fingers flew over the keyboard, shifting priorities and reallocating resources. Once again, she let her will work on the shifting patterns of code, forming itself into another daemon, larger though no less imbecilic that the bloodhound she had fashioned earlier. It coiled and squirmed beneath her cloak, still hidden from prying eyes. Then, as the mass of writhing tentacles hurled itself at the frail, bubblegum-haired avatar, Selene hit her with the second prong of her assault.

Darkness wrapped the SysAd from head to toe, as more code slipped past her filters unnoticed. Selene’s program locked up her interface plug, trapping the startled woman in virtuality, and effectively paralysing her meatbody. In an instant, the security decker found that she was entirely at the mercy of the daemon, and its lascivious attentions.

Selene allowed herself a vicious grin, watching the helpless sailor-suited girl make her hentai debut. Tendrils probed and caressed every inch of virtual flesh, as they prised her weakly struggling body from what little protection her clothing had offered. Feedback flowed into the SysAd’s body, chains of orgasmic signals cascading in fluttering shivers.

Soon the creature would tire of its succulent prey, but even then the poor woman would be left exhausted, utterly spent and still helplessly immobile. Whatever happened now, she was effectively out of the fight, but having the time of her life, whether she wanted it, or not. Selene knew from experience that the daemon could do almost anything here, unimaginable and horrible things. Things that left you feeling filthy for days, but which you would always long to experience again.

Blowing an unnoticed kiss to the moaning mass of writhing tentacles, the hacker turned her attention to the rest of the building’s defences. No longer having to worry about the SysAd’s interference, Selene quietly subverted every sensor and weapon, while, at her insistence, the network blithely ignored what she was doing and pretended that everything was as it should be.

That only left whatever security personnel were onsite, and the mystical protection she had already sensed. The hacker took only a moment to find the RFID codes that they were using. With those in hand it was a simple matter to track them. Selene stared at the virtual display, unsure what to make of the apparently skeleton staffing. Then she came to a decision.

“Glitch,” she asked softly, “Can you hold the fort here, while I get inside?”

The gremlin appeared suddenly, viewing the construct with unease, and casting a disapproving stare at the now naked SysAd and her tentacle-wielding attacker. One narrow eyebrow arched, she pinned Selene with a cold stare.

“Why do you always do that?” the spirit complained, “You know that I can’t concentrate with all this mess.”

“I need her out of the way,” the hacker explained, “And this is a lot kinder than the alternative. Besides, the girl looked like she would benefit from the attentions of a lust daemon.”

Glitch winced, breaking eye contact and muttering darkly under her breath. But, already the spirit was taking control of the construct, and that was good enough for Selene. Satisfied that she could stop worrying about the technological security, the decker stepped out of virtuality and back into the real world once more.

* * *

The gremlin ran overwatch, as she slipped into the building. Once through the first layer of security, Selene paused to scrawl a hurried circle on the cracked linoleum. She scattered the items she had managed to scavenge, hoping that it would be enough, and then the hacker called out softly, waiting to see if anything would answer.

A half-eaten burrito and some soggy fries made a somewhat unimpressive offering, but the squat’s hearth spirit seemed more than grateful. After some token bargaining, the pallid creature shrouded her in its presence, allowing the limping hacker to blend seamlessly with the battered surroundings.

Glitch’s voice was a warm, comforting presence, as she moved carefully through the narrow corridors. Instinctively, she found herself heading towards the basement. Security began to tighten, and the hacker’s progress slowed even further. But her mystic cloak shielded her from prying eyes, and the gremlin was there to guide her past every obstacle.

By the time she reached the servers, Selene was flagging. Her leg ached, the dull pain gnawing away at her. The hacker leaned heavily on her cane, and dry swallowed two small capsules. The painkillers were bitter, but she knew that they would get the job done. Only then did she begin to examine the system itself.

The servers were isolated from the rest of the network, and inaccessible from outside the facility. Even a cursory scan revealed sheets of cascading ICE, every piece of which was blacker than the Prince of Wales’ dead heart. There was no way she could touch whatever secrets lay within, but not everyone was bound by the same constraints.

She called the spirit back to her deck, letting it ride the wireless link right back to source. Glitch could walk paths that she herself would never dare to tread, and more importantly she would live to tell the tale afterwards. Selene already had her suspicions about what they would find inside, and if she was correct, it was just possible that it would give her the leverage she needed.

“I’m going to collect our missing memeticist,” she told the waiting gremlin, “But in the mean time I want you to download anything that looks juicy. We need some insurance here, Glitch, and my guess is that this is where they’re storing the countermeasure.”

“Okay,” Glitch agreed happily, apparently willing to do anything just to get away from the screaming SysAd and her remorseless attacker, “Consider it pilfered.”

Pharmaceutical numbness stole over the hacker’s body, leaving only warmth and an inflated sense of calm. The defences were all down, and there was no one between her and the target. Selene’s orientation system projected a simplified map onto her retina, guiding her unerringly towards the cellblock. There was only one occupant, and it seemed a fair assumption that they would be the person for whom she was looking.

Emergency lighting flickered, and not for the first time Selene wondered if she should get her eyes done. The wiring was minimal, and being able to see in the dark would be a real boon. But now was not the time to worry about the things she lacked. The hacker took a deep breath, and then gently pushed the cell door. It swung open soundlessly, revealing a naked and extremely unkempt woman, whose glassy eyes seemed even less human that Jenner’s.

“Doctor Hilflos,” she began airily, her voice faltering before she could reach the punchline, “I presume?”

“She can’t hear you,” a husky voice whispered from far too close, “In fact, thanks to the earbuds, she can’t hear anything right now, except my voice.”

Selene whirled round, fear warring with confusion, and the hackers heart seemed to leap into her throat. Magic clung to the tall stranger, leaving her aura distorted. The hacker’s eyes widened in surprise, as she realised what she was seeing. The other woman stood within easy arm’s reach, bobbing lightly on the balls of her feet. Her posture was deceptively open, but it was obvious that she was a coiled spring.

“I’m sorry,” Selene apologised, “I’m afraid I didn’t recognise you, without the fur.”

“That’s funny,” Neko giggled, “I can see that I’m going to have to watch you. Now, why don’t you be a good girl and join the doctor in her cell?”

It didn’t take long to weigh up her chances; even in her human form, the shifter was more than a match for the petite hacker. Besides, there wasn’t a cell in the world that could hold her, not if she really set her mind to escaping. Dimly Selene wondered when the hearth spirit had withdrawn its protection, and why the catgirl hadn’t shown up on the building’s network of sensors. But as she took a step backwards, the shifter’s next command made every other concern secondary.

“Now,” she hissed, lewdly, “Strip!”

“What?” Selene demanded, unable to resist glancing at her fellow captive’s nude and obviously abused body, “You have got to be joking.”

In response, the catgirl’s arm seemed to shiver. The skin rippling into a shock of amber fur, as vicious-looking claws flexed and gleamed. Her lips pulled back in a cruel sneer. Their eyes met, and understanding passed wordlessly between them.

“Strip,” Neko whispered, “Or I will do it for you, and that won’t be nearly as gentle.”

The hacker grimaced, and began to slowly unzip her heavy jacket. Shrugging off the armour left her feeling increasingly vulnerable and the look on the catgirl’s face left her in no doubt that things would only get worse. Briefly she considered making a stand, but it took only one glimpse of those wickedly sharp claws to dissuade her. Sighing in resignation, Selene fumbled with her faded t-shirt.

Neko tapped her fingers impatiently, eyes flashing with hunger. She stepped closer, letting her feral presence graze the hacker’s partially clothed body with lurid promises. The threat was unmistakable, and Selene began to attack her clothing with renewed vigour. The catgirl showed her approval with a toothy grin, while her amber eyes burnt into every inch of exposed skin.

“Poor scarred little mouse,” she sighed, as Selene peeled off her combat trousers, “Maybe I’ll leave your legs free; you won’t try to run away, will you?”

A thin strand of ribbon slipped from the catgirl’s hand, and she indicated with a raised finger that her captive should turn around. The hacker meekly accepted, awkwardly sliding her panties down one crippled leg. She could almost feel the woman’s eyes boring into every weak curve, as she bent to remove them.

“Hands behind your back,” Neko ordered, “Wrists crossed, back straight, who knows, maybe that will help to make something of your meagre assets?”

Flushing scarlet, but somehow resisting the urge to cover her small breasts, Selene did as she was told. The ribbon slipped silkenly around her wrists, and in an instant was pulled painfully tight. The hacker pulled feebly against the taut bindings, but that only made her captor tighten them even further.

Cruelly, Neko reached around and pinched the hacker’s nipple between thumb and forefinger. Her claw slid smoothly from its sheath, piercing the puckered flesh and forcing the bound woman to go suddenly very still. Selene gave a strangled whine, as the sharp sting faded slowly into burning heat.

Then, with smooth strokes, the catgirl began massaging the swollen breast with her padded paws. The combination of friction and tickling softness was delicious, as Neko began to milk and crush the captive’s tingling tits. Desire wrapped itself around her brainstem, lewd limbic lassitude sinking into Selene’s thoughts and robbing her of the strength to do anything but slump back into that controlling grasp.

“There now,” the catgirl breathed, while her fingers continued their seductive touches, “Isn’t that so much better?”

Breasts aflame, the hacker could only groan. Her biomonitor flashed a series of increasingly anxious messages across her retinal display. Something noxious was even now coursing through her veins, and no matter how hard it tried, her bioware seemed unable to purge it.

Purring hungrily, the catgirl eased her captive gently onto the cell’s couch. Her clawed fingers lingered obscenely over the hacker’s nakedness, touching lightly and layering pleasure on top of pleasure. Selene knew that it was only the chemicals talking, tormenting toxins teasing her helpless body to distraction. But that didn’t seem to make any difference to just how good it felt.

“Rest now,” Neko’s voice echoed, as though from a vast distance, “And let me get everything prepared. We’ll need another pod, for my newest good girl. You two play nicely now, and I’ll be back before you can say, ‘irresistible sexual subjugation’.

* * *

Elkeslut woke slowly, her loins aching with horrible need. Mistress’ voice slipped away, even though she groped desperately for the fading words. Her body was still coated with the sticky film of her panting surrender, the scent of lust soaking her mind and leaving nothing but arousal in its wake.

She blinked away the haze of sexual fog, and a low moan formed somewhere deep inside. The programmer didn’t recognise the woman who lay beside her, but that really didn’t matter. Her roommate was quite naked, and offered no resistance, as her small hands began to explore and probe. The bondage came as another delightful surprise, stirring memories of her own wonderful restraint and the way in which Mistress’ use had thrilled her.

In a way, the woman’s scars had a beauty all of their own. The contrast between the smoothness of her soft thighs and the rough keloid that snaked down her calf only amplified the heat of those sensations. Small nipples stood proud and tense, as Elkeslut buried one hand between her burning lips and began to pound at her greasy cunt.

Selene groaned weakly, but was pinned and clearly at the other woman’s mercy. She could only lie there, as Elke mounted her, rocking back and forth, grinding their drooling cuntlips together. With her hand trapped between them, crushed into their conjoined seams, fingers fluttering spastically, the programmer’s touch was that of a virtuoso, showing all the dexterity she possessed. Ruthlessly she took everything she needed, giving no small measure of that delight in return.

The drugs sapped the hacker’s strength, weakening her in every way imaginable. She tried to fight against it, but found that she had nothing left. Elke was just too desperate to resist, her attention so wanton and every touch almost unutterably depraved. As the programmer dragged her slippery lips up over Selene’s body, painting her lust in oozing trails that coated and smeared across the other woman’s belly, there was a moment when they both realised that this was no longer one woman forcing herself upon the other, it was mutual, and the only goal was the climax for which they both yearned.

Swivelling in place, the programmer hooked her legs behind Selene’s shoulders and bend forwards slowly, wrapping her fingers behind the other woman’s knees and drawing them gently apart. She pressed her arse down, forcing her gaping cunt into the hacker’s face, before thrusting her mouth into the spicy sweetness of that equally eager sex. The bound woman’s tongue lashing was too weak and uncoordinated, giving just enough to hint at what might be, but no more. Howling in frustration, Elke pushed down more angrily, smearing her wetness into that slack tongue, begging and demanding in equal measure.

Only Mistress could slake her thirst, no one else would ever quench the raging fire that burnt between her thighs. But, for the moment at least, her helpless cellmate made a suitably responsive proxy. Elke’s throbbing sex muffled the other woman’s moans, as her flickering tongue found the sweet glistening nub of Selene’s dewy clit. She strained, muscles tensing in expectation and ground herself relentless into that beautiful face.

She came, screaming out the joy of her agonised release. The sound thrilled against the captive woman’s sex, forcing her to juice and clench in waves of greasily ecstatic spasms. The honey of Selene’s arousal dribbled free over the programmer’s chin, painting her jiggling breasts with cummy streaks. She exulted, throwing back her head and losing herself in the moment.

It wasn’t enough, merely an appetiser for what she truly craved. No, that feeble climax wasn’t nearly enough, Elke decided, bearing down once more and almost suffocating the other woman in the wet heat of her slippery snatch. Her teeth bit gently into Selene’s creamy flesh, nursing her tormented clit as she began to suck so sweetly. The hacker’s powerless moans only pushed Elke to accelerate her efforts, ignoring the weak protests that echoed into her owned and perfectly controlled slutcunt.

Selene could do nothing; her muscles simply trembled impotently, while that clever tongue robbed her of even the will to resist this hideously carnal onslaught. She could barely breathe, could hardly think, but the hacker could feel and with each passing moment her world seemed to contract further until all that remained was every licking caress and the moist, fragrant passion of Elke’s smothering pussy.

* * *

Glitch hadn’t stuck around when the catgirl had suddenly appeared. The spirit had followed the wireless link back into the security construct, taking the stolen files with her. The SysAd was still a disgustingly writhing mess, but that wasn’t likely to last for much longer. Thinking quickly, she decided to use some of what she had learned in the server room.

The original Soulkiller program had been a tool of assassination, burning out the synapses of whoever’s mind it stole. But that wasn’t good enough for the creative team behind this project. Their new version didn’t kill, but what it left behind was something will-less and entirely beholden to its own base impulses. They named it, Slutmaker, and that seemed as good a starting point as any.

She tore the code apart, discarding everything that she didn’t need and using what was left to build something almost completely new. Glitch had no use for a copy of the SysAd’s personality, and she didn’t want her as a mindless fucktoy. But if she could just tweak the woman’s allegiances a little, and selectively edit her memories of what had happened, that would be more that sufficient for the spirit’s purposes.

Soulkiller, and Dr Hilflos’s vaccine went into storage, quantum cryptography ensuring that no one could access them now without her say so. Then, Glitch hit the whimpering anime avatar with her rewritten attack program. Virtual fingers caressed and massaged the code as it sped towards its target, fine-tuning the fragile strands that would effectively hardwire themselves into the SysAd’s already exhausted brain. The good girl meme swarmed across the link, lighting up the woman’s reward centres and flooding her mind with dopaminergic approval.

With her adversary out of the way, the spirit turned its attention to the security system and her errant technoshaman. What she saw, as she flicked through the cameras was almost enough to make Glitch kill the feed and retreat into herself, howling in jealous rage. Only the fact that Selene was so obviously a helpless, (though not an apparently unwilling), participant stopped her.

Why couldn’t the hacker understand? In what she laughably thought of as the real world, Selene was a broken, clumsy thing. While, in Glitch’s reality (that was anything but virtual in her eyes), the woman could soar and would always remain beautifully perfect. What was this obsession with simple physical processes? The spirit could show her pleasure beyond anything she could possibly imagine, if she only had the wit to ask.

Which was why it caused her almost unbearable pain to watch the sweaty fumbling. There was a strange visceral appeal to their corporeal conjugation, but in truth the experience only served to highlight just how inadequate she must be in Selene’s eyes. This was so clearly what the hacker wanted, her reactions made that entirely obvious. And, equally clearly, it was something that Glitch would never be able to provide.

Rage bubbled up from somewhere deep inside, lending her its icy clarity. With an attention span that could be measured in seconds, it was a miracle that the decker had held her interest for this long. Glitch wasn’t about to give up now, not without at least attempting to show Selene what she had been missing. The spirit gazed at the long strands of mutating code, and for the first time since they had met, she allowed herself to contemplate the previously unthinkable.

The mewling whimpers continued, softening into the background, as Glitch once again began to redirect the flow of the shockingly dynamic software. Letting it metamorphose into something entirely different from what had originally been intended. The spirit let her anger fuel the process, pouring her scorn into the viciously destructive algorithm.

* * *

The slight oriental woman swirled the boiling water, still holding the perfect seiza position. Her guest tried her best, but it was clear that she was suffering. Sakura allowed herself a slight smile, but didn’t suggest that the gaijin alter her posture. After all, tradition was very important.

With flawless grace and perfect politeness, she began to ladle out the small misshapen cups of aromatic tea. Steam billowed, shrouding the pair briefly and allowing the younger woman to shift minutely in an attempt to restore the circulation in her numbing legs.

“She’s here then?” the guest asked blandly, her tone giving no evidence of her discomfort.

“Yes,” Sakura nodded, handing the bowl across the small table, “Neko is preparing her as we speak.”

Bowing stiffly, the other woman accepted the bowl and raised it in salute. Then, she rotated it in her callused hands and took a tentative sip of the scalding liquid. Sakura forced herself not to grimace at the gaijin’s lack of poise and waited for her to wipe the bowl’s rim and return it to her.

“Are you sure that she will cooperate?” the guest wondered, bowing again as she passed the bowl back to her host.

“Trust me,” the woman nodded again, “Once she’s been processed, your hacker will happily admit to anything we suggest. Everyone will get what they want, at least everyone important. We get the vaccine, Overwatch get their culprit and you get away with shafting your own company.”

“What about the doctor?” she asked after a long moment.

“Neko wants to keep her,” Sakura admitted, “Although clearly that isn’t going to happen. The plan hasn’t changed, Lizzie, once they’ve served their purpose, we arrange an unfortunate accident. No loose ends, and that includes the hired help, if they decide to make an issue of it.”

She let the implied threat hang between them for a long moment, before taking a small sip of the rapidly cooling tea. The gaijin was already damaged goods in her eyes. After all, a dog that would betray one Mistress could never be trusted not to do so again. She wasn’t even worthy of the title ronin, although Sakura had no doubt that a suitable position could be found for her, once the dust had settled.

Having an operative in the very heart of Aegis Industries had been invaluable, but now her use was coming to an end. The businesswoman let her calculating gaze drift over her guest, already contemplating the training packages she would have the pod install. She was clearly too plain, and ordinary to have the makings of a decent bedslut, but perhaps there was something suitably demeaning that could be found in the aftermath of her ‘accident’.

It was unfortunate, but unavoidable. In her efforts to rescue the kidnapped programmer, Jenner would fall victim to the very weapon the hacker had apparently stolen. Tragically both the programmer and the hacker would also lose their minds in the ensuing escape attempt, leaving no one to contradict her version of events.

Then, still smiling, she gently placed the tea bowl back on the table, and with an imperious wave of her hand, indicated that the meeting was at an end. Ignoring the flash of irritation that crossed her guest’s face, Sakura rose gracefully and bowed deeply, acknowledging her respect for the ceremony, while patently dismissing the other woman.

* * *

Jenner stalked away from the meeting, hands clenched into tight fists, as she fought to keep her temper under control. She knew that the fragile oriental was trying to unbalance her, to goad her into making mistakes, which she could then capitalise upon. But that didn’t make it any easier to bite her tongue. She needed to focus on the plan, because that was the only way to make it through this intact.

No matter how good their subterfuge, no one got away with betraying the Crown. There was a reason that it was called High Treason, and not even a neatly packaged, mindfucked scapegoat was going to appease the official investigators. They would never stop looking, and from bitter personal experience, she knew exactly how long their memories were.

Her only chance was to give them what they wanted, and that meant letting them take her, either as a captive, or preferably a corpse. Jenner knew that she had to wait until Sakura made her play, and trust that her preparations would be enough. Because the other thing that was painfully clear was that her new employer had no plans to honour their deal.

It was a shame really, because she had quite liked the hacker. Something about the underdog appealed to her. But, this wasn’t about her own proclivities; it was business, pure and simple. They needed someone who could be tied to the programmer’s disappearance, and thanks to her investigation, Selene’s fingerprints would be all over the hacked surveillance system.

Whatever was left, once Sakura’s pet catgirl had finished with her, would eagerly confess to anything, just to feel the pleasure that only obedience could bring. Jenner had no doubt that the hacker’s mind could be warped to the point where she would believe absolutely that she had masterminded the entire plot.

Despite herself, the apparently cold-hearted woman couldn’t quite suppress her shivering reaction. There was no place in her tightly control world for emotion, and yet, the stark reality of what they intended, not to mention the likely consequences, was almost enough to give her pause. Jenner stood at the brink, staring down into the finality of this decision. For a long moment she teetered, wondering if she truly had the will to proceed, and then she stepped forward, accepting the inevitable, and consigning all the players to their preordained fates.