The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Laine had watched, perhaps a little closer than was strictly necessary, as Sunny revealed her blue bra, and Sam her own red garment, and as Annie dropped her tight jeans to reveal plain white shorts.

Alteration was in her blood, and she loved to see its effects, even something as simple as smoking cessation. It didn’t matter that she’d seen Annie in far less; what mattered was the reason she had so casually dropped her pants, so cavalierly revealed herself, because of the ever-so-slightly-shifted pathways her thoughts and intentions took.

She knew, too, that she wasn’t the only one who felt this way, or at least who felt similarly. Athena could hardly wait to see what happened next to her friends, and, Laine surmised, to herself too. Sam clearly had some interest, since this was the party she’d chosen to have.

She wondered at the sort of person who would work here. Tanya clearly had some skill as an Alterist, so why not do that work instead of help run something like this for... for fun? Not that Laine objected to Alterations being used like this, not really, but it seemed somehow wasteful, a bit like a Picasso being used as wallpaper or a Beethoven symphony as backdrop for a car ad. Not quite the right use for a beautiful work of art.

Still, she’d been having a lot of fun, and she didn’t see that stopping.

Sam graciously offered everyone soda as they waited for Fatin to come back from the washroom. Laine put in an order for root beer.

She looked around. Just her and Scar, the only ones who hadn’t lost anything. Odds were 50/50 that one and only one of them would switch teams, and then it was certain that one and only one of them would be left fully clothed. But then, Chere looked cheerful and casual in her plain white bra; Athena seemed to enjoy the attention that the pink lace top brought her; Sunny took every opportunity to show off the cartoon sun on her rear.

She smiled a little to herself, wondering how much of that was them, and how much was Tanya’s Alteration. Would she enjoy it as much, if her moment came?

Everyone else seemed to be having fun, chatting, smiling, enjoying themselves. Laine sighed a bit, inwardly. These were her friends, but she couldn’t help feeling a little distant from them. Quiet, reserved, shy, the labels went. Introverted, the kinder ones said. Awkward, uncomfortable.

Surprisingly, the labels didn’t actually help her overcome any of the problems they diagnosed.

Laine shook herself from her reverie with the first sip of root beer. This was Sam’s party, it was no time to be sour.

And then Fatin had emerged into the lobby, her round, perky breasts on full display, and everyone stared, Laine included. Not that Fatin was particularly devout, but she wouldn’t have expected the muslim girl to be the first one to go full topless, unless absolutely forced by the rules of the game.

Even having been under no obligation to remove anything, Laine started to feel a little overdressed. She wondered if she would have felt that way normally, and she realized that she would never know for sure almost as soon as she realized it didn’t matter. What caused the feeling wasn’t as important as the feeling itself.

Standard code written into pretty well every program. First-year theory. Don’t let the Altered question their Alterations. She suspected that if she kept thinking about it, she would get pretty quickly distracted... though with everything else going on, that likely would have happened on its own.

The tension in the room was unusual, thick. Everyone seemed to want to say something about Fatin’s state of dress, but no one wanted to be first. Standing a little apart, Laine was the one to let a giggle slip, to draw attention. “What’s the matter, Fatin?” Her tone was light, teasing, trying to break the odd mood. “Wearing embarrassing panties?”

Fatin laughed, thankfully. Laine wasn’t sure what the reaction would be, but at least there was an end to that uncharacteristic silence. Suddenly everyone was talking at once, and Laine could just fade into the background.

She kind of liked being in the background. It was comfortable. Quiet. She could focus on the game, then. On her thoughts. On the effects of the Alterations on her friends.

Fatin went to get her gear back on, and Tanya spoke up. “Great! Once everyone’s ready, we’ll move on to a round of Red Rover.”

Red Rover? The kids’ game? Everyone stands arm-in-arm, someone runs across the field, tries to break the chain? Laine wondered how this could translate to laser tag. She didn’t say anything about it, of course; Tanya would explain.

Or Chere would ask. “Red Rover? Like, the kids’ game? One team joins arms and calls someone across?” There was a note of disdain in her voice, the same sort of tone she’d had when she saw Sunny’s panties after the first round.

A part of Laine understood that well. She was the youngest of the eight gathered, and she could sympathize with Chere’s thought that it was time to put away childish things. Laine assumed that Chere’s feelings were made worse by the fact that both twins looked several years younger than their age; she imagined that if, like the twins, she was constantly mistaken for an actual child, she would want to push away from that as much as possible.

Or perhaps, like Sunny, she would embrace it wholly. She was a little torn, really; she loved her toys, her games, memories of her home. There were days she lived in nostalgia. Even this, laser tag, was reminiscent of an FPS, reminding her of the gaming she wasn’t able to do when she was deep in her studies, or working with her uncle back home.

“That’s right,” Tanya was saying as Laine refocused her attention. “Each team calls a member of the other team, and that individual tries to get past the defending team. If they get caught, they switch sides.”

“Switch sides?” Athena asked. There was a strange hitch in her breath.

Tanya nodded. “Yes. A team wins by capturing all original members of the other team.”

“Okay, but how do you know that someone who switches sides will play fair?” Scarlett asked.

Tanya smiled and tapped her temple. Laine nodded to herself, of course there was a program to assure team loyalty. She looked forward to seeing how it would work. She even told herself that her interest was strictly academic.

“If you want to capture the runner,” Tanya continued, “two people need to zap her within a second of one another. Both easier and harder than it sounds.”

“How does the runner get away?” Sunny asked

“What happens to the rest of the runner’s team?” Athena asked at the same time.

“Sunny, to answer your question, they get to the defending team’s territory at the far side of the arena, and Athena, they...” Tanya chuckled. “They wait.”

“They wait?“

“You’ll see.”

Chere put her hands on her hips. “Thought of everything, I guess.”

Tanya nodded. “We really have. Now, the runner’s zapper and tagger will be generally disabled; there are a few minor powerups that can be found that only a runner can access, and some allow for some basic combat ability, but if you’re a runner, you’re mostly helpless. Defenders, meanwhile, can deal a one-second stun to the runner with their zapper. Both sides will have radar enabled, but it will only show members of the defensive team. Defenders’ visors will also have comms enabled, so you can talk to one another anywhere in the maze.“

“So you stun a runner, then someone else has to do the finishing shot?” Fatin asked. “And can you just shoot someone over and over?” Laine saw her glance at Scarlett, and surmised that their plan from the previous game had left its mark.

Tanya shook her head ‘no.’ “The pistol has a two-second cooldown in this match, so rapid-fire is out of the question in the first place,” she explained. “But otherwise, yeah, you got it; two of you have to work together to catch the runner, or she’ll break through. And before you ask, tags work the same.”

That could make things interesting. Laine was an excellent shot; so too, she knew, were several others, but not all of them. Not being allowed to just spray shots everywhere could be a challenge for some.

The real challenge, though, was stealth and speed in being a runner. Laine wasn’t in the best of shape, and among the eight was the least athletic. Her shirt, green decorated with pink hearts, hung loose off her more round frame, and her long skirt hid chubby thighs. She wasn’t really embarrassed about her body, but she couldn’t help but compare herself a little, especially as clothing was being removed.

Mostly she knew her size conveyed a disadvantage in speed and maneuverability. Combined with her shooting accuracy, she guessed that she would be a frequent choice as a runner.

Tanya was still explaining. “Each team picks who they call at the start of the round, then the system will randomly pick one team to defend first. Runners or defenders who are captured will switch sides after both teams have run. Finally, you won’t be able to call over someone who has run before, until everyone on their team has run.” There were some confused looks among the girls. “Don’t worry, it’ll make sense out there,” Tanya concluded with a laugh.

“Right! Teams! Annie, Sunny, to the blue team; Scarlett, Athena, to red.”

Laine moved to the blue door with Annie and both twins. She’d been right. After this match, it would be only one of them still fully dressed.

“One last warning before you go in,” Tanya cautioned, still smiling. “There’s a lot of mucking with memory in a Red Rover game, for all kinds of reasons. If you get too messed up, call for me, we’ll get things sorted.”

“Aye aye!” Sunny said, bolting into the small pregame room, Annie hot on her heels. Chere looked back at Laine and rolled her eyes, but the blonde could see a hint of fun hidden in the redhead’s expression all the same.

As she walked in the room, Sunny looked at her with some confusion. “Laine? You’re on Team Blue, too? And you, sis?”

Chere rolled her eyes. “Uh, yeah, we were... um... were just...”

Laine’s HUD lit up, distracting her from her own confusion.

Sam’s Bachelorette Party! Match 3!

4v4 Red Rover

90 second round timer, 12 round limit

Friendly fire is ON

Powerups are ON—LIMITED RED ROVER set

Sudden Death is ON

The game will begin in...

Laine looked at her three teammates. Annie, both Collins twins. She... she was sure she had just known that, but she still needed to confirm it. Annie, both twins. Alright. They all walked into the maze, Laine noting the familiar blue-tinted walls of her former Capture The Flag base.

“Who are we gonna call over?” Annie asked. A little list appeared in the bottom left of Laine’s HUD, showing the other team: Sam, Scarlett, Athena and Fatin.

“I vote for Fatin,” Sunny said. “She was great last round.”

“Seconded,” Annie replied.

“Sure,” said Chere, and Laine made no objection.

Fatin’s name was highlighted, and the other three faded out. The other three of... of... something. There was a runner chosen. Fatin. Okay. And her teammates were... she had three teammates. They had to stop the runner, she and these others.

Blue team will run first, her HUD said. And then, You have been chosen to run.

The blue-lit walls faded to white. Laine looked around. Three young women stood there, gazing off into space. Two of them, the one in just her matching blue underwear and the one who had no shirt, looked very much alike, with tousled red hair and very similar heights, looks, figures and expressions; they were likely sisters, possibly even twins. The other was black-skinned, with a shaved head, wearing a nice green shirt but with only white shorts beneath.

Your run will begin in ten seconds, the HUD said.

Yes, of course, the run. The red team would all be in their base. She just had to get in there, and she could capture one of them. Laine turned away from the three others and moved through the maze, looking for a good starting spot.

3... 2... 1... GO!

Laine started moving. Her radar appeared on her HUD, showing the locations of the four red players relative to her, as well as a distance-to-goal indicator. Unlike with Capture The Flag, there was no pathfinding, just absolute distances. No walls were shown on the radar, either, leaving her to navigate the maze from sight and from...

Well, from memory, except she couldn’t remember anything about the maze layout.

If I go this way, the distance counter goes up; so go that way and...

Dead end, but there was a powerup sigil there. With a shrug, Laine put her tagger to the sign. Her HUD showed a new message: One In the Chamber—shoot a defender for a ten second time-out!

Useful.

Laine looked over the radar. If her path was relatively straight, she might be able to use that one shot to get through the one defender who was just there. If it wasn’t, though... well, she had to chance it.

She moved through the maze, generally following the left-hand wall, except where a turn started to lead her away from her goal, or towards the defenders. Although, the defenders weren’t conveniently staying still, they were slowly moving closer, seemingly search across the maze from the far end of it.

Laine supposed she would find out what tools they had to work with on her turn. She was starting to feel a little isolated, and perhaps a bit trapped.

Just as that thought struck, though, she identified a corridor that might lead her in the right direction and strode quickly, readying her zapper. There might be a defender in the way, her radar said, but one defender she could handle.

Laine turned the corner and fired, earning a surprised yelp from another young woman as she was caught in the blast and froze up. Curious, this defender was completely topless. She was darker-skinned than Laine, but not so dark as the woman with the shaved head. Of middle-eastern heritage, Laine guessed, jogging up and assessing how to push past her in the short time the powerup would hold.

No use worrying about it. The topless woman was more or less blocking the corridor, but it seemed likely, since she was in time-out, that she wouldn’t notice or remember Laine pressing close to her, slipping past her, using her sides for grip and balance, and giving her a ‘thank-you’ pat on the tummy for the help, all with three seconds left to get away.

Unfortunately, the corridor swerved just beyond the woman Laine had zapped, and it turned the wrong way. There was no going back, of course, not with the time left before the frozen defender started to move, so she just had to follow the corridor and watch as the little marks on her radar got closer and closer...

Two in front, one behind, and no powerup to help her. Laine dodged down a side corridor, but was once more going further away from her goal.

Which was when the timer popped up on her visor. “15 seconds,” it read, “until narrowing begins.”

Narrowing. She understood immediately. A wall of light appeared on the far side of the area, and touching it would end her run as though she’d been captured. And that barrier would slowly creep across the playing field.

It made sense; with no time limit, and with the defensive team having no direct information on her whereabouts, she could hide nearly forever, gather powerups where she could, and eventually slip through the cracks. But now, she would have to make her move.

Given that someone was closing in on her position, it would have to be away from her goal, just momentarily. Laine turned, started to go, and...

... and tripped, crashing in to the wall. The structures were soft, so she didn’t hurt herself, but she did make a fair bit of noise. Enough to make the defenders close in.

She scrambled, hearing someone right behind her, seeing those dots on the radar moving quick and getting closer. A turn brought her face to face with a very tall woman, who quickly leveled her zapper and fired.

Laine stopped. She couldn’t move. The “12 seconds until narrowing” countdown became one of centiseconds, ticking down the time until she could move again, until she could avoid being captured.

But there was someone right behind her. She didn’t know who fired the second shot, but it didn’t matter.

There was the distinct but distant sensation of movement. She was walking, but the memory of each step faded and blurred into the next, before they all slipped away. Laine gasped, snapping awake, surrounded by walls shining blue. Sunny, Chere and Annie were there.

“Hey!” Sunny said brightly. A split second later Laine heard the echo of her voice on the comm speaker in her visor. “How did your run go?”

Laine thought a moment or two. She remembered the walls fading, taking with them her memories of her teammates, and her opponents. She had practically groped Fatin! She flushed a little with the realization. “It went alright, I guess,” she replied. She had found a powerup, slipped around a couple defenders, frozen Fatin, squeezed past her, and ... and then...

“Did you capture one of the other team?” Chere asked eagerly.

Laine blinked. Had she? After she worked her way around Fatin, what exactly had happened? She knew that there was a turn in the corridor, that she would have to dodge around some defenders, but...

She shrugged. “I... I don’t know.”

Their HUDs all flashed with sudden light. Runner ready!

“Worry about it later,” Annie replied. “Fatin’s on her way.” She ran off and Laine followed her, leaving the twins to head in the other direction.

“Right.” Fatin. Laine could remember them calling Fatin, at least. “Plans?”

Laine’s radar flashed up on the HUD, showing three allies. Where before she’d had an indicator of distance to her goal, now there was an indicator of distance to the runner, although it was noticeably more vague, changing only in larger units, as opposed to counting every slight motion she’d made as a runner. It could serve as an indicator that she was heading roughly towards, or away, from the runner, which was useful enough in its way.

“Think she’s coming this way,” Chere said, “judging by the distance number.”

“We got her,” Sunny added. “Can you guys just push her in this direction?”

Annie looked at Laine and shrugged. “Yeah, sure, why not?”

“If I go down this way,” Laine suggested, pointing, “and you head there, we can guide her towards the twins.”

Annie nodded and took off. Laine knew that there wasn’t a need to actually threaten Fatin in order to push her in that direction, just a need to be present in a space, to occupy territory, to make this direction unappealing. Not that she would mind if Fatin came towards her.

With that in mind, Laine found a comfortable place in a T-junction and waited, watching the radar, watching the distance indicator.

“Hey,” Annie’s voice came in over the speaker. “If you two stand closer together, you look like one person on my display.”

The twins’ discussion could be heard briefly, and then... well, it wasn’t exactly true, they formed a rather big lopsided dot on the radar, but if Fatin wasn’t paying attention, she might easily think that one of them had vanished.

Still, it was something. Might work better for disguising larger numbers. Something to keep in mind for running against a big group. Assuming that she could keep it in mind under those circumstances.

“There!” Laine jumped. Chere’s voice was a shock in the ear.

“I’m on it!” Sunny said, just as loudly. Laine watched as their radar blips started moving quickly, separating and zipping off in opposite directions. Annie’s dot was shifting toward them, more slowly. Laine took an even slower pace, careful, cautious, trying to keep herself in a trajectory that would keep Fatin moving towards the other defenders.

Annie let loose a whoop across the comms. “Got her! Anyone nearby?”

“We’re coming!” Sunny practically shouted. “Stick with her if we’re not there fast enough!”

Laine switched her path, keeping a eye on where she figured the runner was, on the movement of the dot that represented Annie. The twins’ dots converged quickly. Laine watched as the three dots moved more rapidly, away from her, the chatter on the comms coming in quick, excited bursts. Laine tuned it out, focusing on her positioning, It looked like the excitement was moving away from her, in any event.

“There! Sunny!” Chere’s voice came over the speaker.

“On it!”

“Got her! Annie!”

“I’m here!”

A trio of cheers made Laine smile. “Good job, girls,” she offered, moving towards her base.

The comms went to mute and the radar went blank, and Laine noticed a faint, staticky noise on her headset as she made her way back to where her teammates were waiting.

Her team was just coming out of their trance as Laine arrived. “Any idea who we’re gonna call over?” she asked, jogging up.

“I want to separate the twins, and aim for Sunny,” Athena answered, stretching tall. “That’s a really strange feeling, isn’t it?”

“What, waiting for the runner?” Sam replied. “Sure is. I’ve done this a couple times, never quite get used to it. I figured that with all the memory stuff that happens that some of us would find it really enjoyable.“

Scarlett and Athena blushed; Sam grinned and Laine chuckled.

“Back to the question,” Laine said after a moment, “Sunny managed to stop me when she was all alone, when we were playing Capture the Flag. She’s fast and smart, and would be a good addition to the team. I’m all for calling her over.”

“Yeah, sounds good to me,” Scarlett added. “Anything to add, Fa...” She looked around. “Huh? um...” She seemed confused. Laine couldn’t fathom why.

Maybe it was the pretty lights in their visors. Laine tried to say something, but she wasn’t the runner. She would wait.

She wasn’t the runner. She would wait.

She wasn’t the runner. She would wait.

She wasn’t the...

Sam came walking up to the group, out of breath. “Tough run out there.”

Laine blinked. She looked around. Scarlett stood there still looking confused. Athena was standing with her back to the wall, eyes closed, face flushed, smiling brightly; her right hand was pressed lightly to the side of her head and left rubbing her tummy slowly, rhythmically, just below her navel, and she sighed happily.

The memory of the sound of static in her mind faded away.

“Sorry, I thought Fatin was here for a moment,” Scarlett said, her hand coming to rest on Sam’s bare shoulder. “You okay?”

“Yeah, fine.” Sam’s hand covered Scarlett’s, holding it in place. For a moment, a brief moment, the two of them shared a look through their visors, a look Laine couldn’t read.

Athena gave a little groan, like a reluctant child being told that it’s time for school. Laine watched as her eyes fluttered open, as her hands moved slowly, perhaps unwillingly, behind her back. She seemed about to say something through her grin, when a warning flashed on their visors:

Runner ready!

And they were moving. A strategy solidified as they were getting into position, similar to what Laine had been a part of the previous round, when she had put herself in a place to block the runner and drive her towards...

towards...

Who had she driven the runner towards?

Who had been running?

“Sunny’s coming,” Laine’s voice said. She realized that she’d spoken. She looked at the corner of her visor, saw the number ticking down. The radar was active. She was at an entrance to her team’s base, with a radar blip shown to her right and two to her left.

“I can see that,” Athena sent over the communication system. “I’m guessing she’s heading this way.”

“Okay, we’re closing down the space, or at least trying to,” Sam said, and the two dots on Laine’s left started moving into the maze. From her spot, Laine had a good view. No need for her to go anywhere just yet.

Athena’s dot started moving, too, probably using the distance meter for navigation. Laine watched her go back and forth, moving this way and that. She decided that there was no need for her to go anywhere just yet. There was an odd noise in her ears, that sounded a little like speech, almost like the communication system was imperfectly picking up a police scanner, or something like it.

Laine observed as the three radar blips moved around. There was a little noise on the comms, something that sounded like her name. One of the two was headed across the maze, moving rapidly towards Athena’s position. Laine had her post, she would keep it; after all, there was no need for her to go anywhere just yet. Nothing necessitated giving up the plan to leave her spot undefended.

“... moving Laine! Help out!” Athena’s voice came cutting through the static, making Laine jump. “Where are you?”

Laine leapt to action, recognizing what had happened. “Crap, sorry guys, she did something to me.”

“Yeah, we guessed that,” Scarlett said. “Come on, it’s not too late to...”

And then it was.

“She’s past me!”

“Hurry!” Sam shouted.

Laine broke in to a sprint, heading for a point between Athena and their territory, knowing it was probably useless.

There was a feeling of coming to a halt, a feeling of motion, and a feeling of coming to a halt again, and then the feeling that these feelings were fading...

And then Laine was standing shoulder to shoulder with her teammates. She couldn’t turn her head at all to confirm that, she just... she just knew. She couldn’t muster the will to say anything to them, either, to apologize, to commiserate.

Sunny was there, a bright grin on her face, inspecting the four of them. “Sorry, Laine, we’ll bring you back another time.”

Bring me back? Laine thought. Back to what?

“I’m taking Scarlett,” Sunny continued. The tall woman stepped forward, into view, walking slowly, stiffly, across the arena. Sunny giggled and spun on her heel, bringing that cutesy character on her backside into view. “See the rest of you later!” she said over her shoulder, skipping off and giggling.

Fatin came walking up from a different path, eyes unfocused, entranced. Laine’s eyes drifted from Sunny’s departing bottom to Fatin’s approaching breasts, realizing that she was not entirely in control of her actions. In her foggy mind she managed to wonder why her actions would be so interested in Sunny’s ass or Fatin’s nipples, before a long blink brought her back to reality.

“So,” Sam started. “Who do we call over this time?”

“Well we didn’t get Sunny,” Athena chimed in. “Can’t call her again, either.”

“Scarlett,” Fatin answered firmly. “I want my revenge.”

“Sure!”

Laine nodded. “Sounds good. She stopped me in my run.”

“She did?” Sam asked. “Wasn’t that... me?”

“You? But we’re on the same...”

Runner ready!

“Time for that later, girls,” Fatin interjected. “Game’s on. Scarlett’s coming.”

“Right!” Laine snapped to attention, all confusion clearing away with the excitement of the game.

“Right!” Sam echoed, moving in behind Fatin. “Where to?”

“I want to be aggressive,” Fatin replied. “We charge. Just play hot-and-cold with your distance finder and lets go get her.”

Athena snapped a salute and laughed, reminding Laine of Sunny. The younger twin’s playfulness was infectious. Thinking about Sunny made her think, too, about what Sunny said between rounds. We’ll bring you back. What could that...

A flash of motion, outlined in red. Fatin pointed to Laine and Sam and waved them down a corridor. She and Athena went the other way.

Laine saw Scarlett reaching for the wall, for a powerup, as she and Sam rounded a corner. The basketball player turned to face the two of them with a smirk. Laine fired first, fired true, and...

And froze. Scarlett’s powerup must have been some sort of reflector or mirror. A countdown timer glowed on the visor as Scarlett started to rush towards Sam.

Laine could only watch as Athena danced around the corner and fired, an instant after Sam did, and Scarlett wound up captured right there in front of her just as her own stun melted away.

Fatin came around the corner and gave a cheer, giving Athena a high-five. Laine offered Sam the same. The four of them left Scarlett where she was and walked back to their own territory, congratulating Fatin on her read of the situation, everyone in good spirits. Sam walked with her arm around Fatin’s bare shoulders; belatedly, it occured to Laine that her hand was in Athena’s. They seemed to be a perfectly cohesive unit, and they would be adding Scarlett to that mix.

“Well,” Athena said as they arrived at their side of the play area, “looks like I’m up to run.” She turned to face Laine, taking up her other hand as well, looking her right in the eyes. She gave the nerdy girl a soft smile. “Wish me luck.”

“Good...” Laine blinked. “G-good...” she sighed heavily. She leaned against the wall. Her eyes slipped down to where Fatin and Sam were sitting on the floor, Sam’s arm still around Fatin’s shoulder, Fatin’s hand on Sam’s thigh.

Laine felt Athena’s hand on her cheek. “Have a good rest.”

Yes. Rest. She wasn’t running. She could rest. Laine felt herself sitting, facing her two teammates. They could all rest.

They could all...

Athena came around the corner. “Hey guys, look who I found!” she laughed. Laine looked lethargically up at the tan girl in the lace bra, and the two similarly-sleepy-eyed women standing beside her. Scarlett, of course, who they had just caught, and dark, bare-legged Annie, who...

Who had always been on her team. Laine was sure of it, as she slowly climbed to her feet. She remembered walking into the small room between the lobby and the arena, and Annie was there. Scarlett, too. And Athena, Sam, and Fatin, of course. She could remember the twins boasting that they could take on the rest of them put together. And there were a different set of powerups available to them, given the size of the defending team.

And since Sunny had just had a run, Chere would be up next by default.

Fatin stood and helped Sam to her feet. “Okay, two-by-two. One pair to each entrance. Keep on the comms. Could be some crazy powerups out there, since there’s six of us.”

“Do we rush her this time?” Athena asked.

“Nah, defending will be easier.”

Laine couldn’t help but agree. Besides, she was starting to get a little tired. She looked at Annie’s strong legs with a touch of envy. Two previous matches and ... well, she was sure they’d been at this one a while, and she was starting to think that it was time for a break. After this match, for sure.

Annie gave Laine help to her feet, and Laine gave her a thank-you pat on the backside. “You’ll stick with me,” the dark-skinned girl asserted, and Laine nodded. Sam and Athena, that was no surprise; as much as they all loved Sam and she loved them all back, Athena was her best friend, and the two of them hadn’t spent a lot of time together since they got here. That left Scarlett with Fatin, and Laine could feel the mostly-good-natured tension, see it in their glances, hear it in their voices as they started off to the far side of the base. With Sam and Athena covering the middle, that left Laine and Annie to take the near side.

Annie had always been a little protective of the younger girls, especially Laine. It was... well, it was nice. She liked being around Annie, really. She was comforting. Comfortable. The two of them set up where they could see several corridors, and watched, and waited.

“Seriously,” Fatin said on the headset. “It wasn’t cool, Scar,”

“It’s just a game, Fatin, come on.”

“You can say that when you’re not the once frozen like that.”

“Ladies, we can hear you,” Annie said. “Keep it down, would you? Argue on your own time? Stay focused.”

“...excited for you, really!” That was Athena, talking to Sam.

“Good! It’s next week, after all, a little late to change plans...”

“Wedding talk now?” Annie interrupted. “Seriously?“

Laine looked at Annie. Even now, protecting her. Protecting them all. She took a step towards her friend. And another. Scarlett and Fatin were working themselves into an argument again, but she ignored them. Annie caught her eye. Sam was gushing about the dress. Annie smiled at Laine, and Laine smiled shyly back. They were close, now. Hands reached out, touched. Smiles grew wider.

Annie stepped closer, still, guided Laine’s hand on to her bottom, put her own hand on Laine’s with a friendly squeeze. Laine gave a little giggle, felt herself flush. The noise on the comms became background, meaningless. Their other hands unlaced, also found each others’ backside, squeezed, around taggers where necessary.

Laine’s breath caught as they pressed closer, her fingers playing with the waistband of Annie’s shorts. She leaned in, feeling her body press against Annie’s, softness meeting steel, and turned her head slightly, her lips parting. Annie’s were already waiting, her breath catching in anticipation, her eyes closed. Laine moved in, ready to taste, ready to feel, simply... ready.

Thunk.

Visors collided. Startled, Annie pulled back, but was too close to the corner. Her head struck the wall and she staggered forward, knocking Laine over, tangling limbs and wires and headsets and zappers. A mischievous laugh went giggling past them, but that was the least of their concerns.

“You okay?” Annie asked from her position atop her fallen comrade.

Laine grunted. “Uh huh. Just a little bumped up.”

Annie tried to pull up. “Shit, my visor’s tangled in something.”

“Yeah, in mine. Ugh.”

“My zapper’s trapped under you.”

“Okay. Got mine.” Laine wrapped her arms around Annie to put her hands closer together, and pressed zapper to the palm of her other hand. “Guide!”

“Chere just scored.”

“Don’t care. Guide! Help!”

Lights went on around them. “On my way,” Tanya’s voice said in their ears. “We won’t start the next round until you’re safe, don’t worry. Just relax.” Was she... laughing?

Annie and Laine took the advice to heart. “Not much else we can do, huh,” Annie said, trying not to move.

“Ah, it’s... I mean...” Laine felt herself turning red, now that the immediate concern was over.

“It was the Alterations, Laine,” Annie said, a smile in her voice. “That’s all. They’re in our heads.”

“Oh, ah, yeah, of course.” Laine would have nodded, but she was tangled, and Annie’s cheek was incredibly close to her face.

It only took Tanya a few moments to get there. “Wow, you two sure made a mess here,” the guide said, clearly trying to keep her composure.

“Can you get us free?”

“Sure, not a problem. Just don’t move.” Tanya set to work. It wasn’t that difficult to disentangle them for someone who wasn’t actually wrapped up. It was just the work of a minute.

“Now,” Tanya continued. “Are either of you hurt?”

“Bruised a bit,” Laine said as Annie got off her.

“I’m fine, but I landed on soft.”

“I landed on your zapper.”

“We’ll have to check your equipment, too,” Tanya cut in. “Would you follow me, please? It’ll be easier just to get you spare sets and check these two later.” She started to lead them back to the lobby.

“What about the others?” Annie asked, undoing the wristband of her zapper as they walked.

“Oh, don’t worry. They’ll wait for you.”

Laine felt a curious feeling welling up in the pit of her stomach at that statement. Annie took off her headset.

“Besides, Annie, you got called over. They have to wait for you.“

Annie chuckled. “Better have working equipment, then!”

The three of them headed out of the arena and into the gear room.

“Annie, let’s get you suited up first.”

Annie nodded, removing her tagger. Laine started the process of getting her gear off, too, as Tanya helped Annie into a replacement set. “Once you’re ready, you can get back out there and do your run.”

Annie was fastening the new tagger in place as Laine was getting the last of her gear off. “All looks good to me.”

“Sure,” Tanya said. “I just need to check one thing...” She picked her tablet up from the shelf and tapped on it a few times.

Annie looked over. “What are you hrrrk...” The clear visor glittered with incapacitating light.

Tanya looked at her tablet, checking the readings. Laine walked over to her friend and poked her in the shoulder. No reaction. Tanya looked up over the tablet and grinned. “You can do a lot more than that to her right now.”

Laine blushed and stammered. “I-it was something Chere did... r-right? Like how ‘Theen and Sam were talking about the wedding or Scar and Fatin were arguing?”

Tanya nodded. “One of the big ones. Major Distraction. Any opponent within sight of another will be paying attention to something other than the game. Whatever it is that could possibly distract you, short of open violence, will.”

It was the Altering, just like Annie had said. That’s all. She was deeply interested in Alterations, as it was, and... and seeing Annie like that certainly wasn’t the cause of all the emotions welling up.

It had to be the Alterations.

Tanya finished what she was doing on the tablet, and the light faded from Annie’s visor. Without a word, still with that dazed expression that made Laine’s heart leap, she turned and headed back into the arena to take her run.

“Okay, let’s get you into your gear, Laine,” the guide said, moving to another unused laser set. “Not the same urgency this time.”

“Ah, yeah, right.” Laine still felt warm, knew she must be quite red.

“Nothing to be embarrassed about,” Tanya continued, smiling. “I know how it can be.” She brought the spare equipment to Laine. “You’re like me, I think. Seeing your friends being... changed. Being changed yourself. It affects you, doesn’t it?”

Laine’s flush deepened. She nodded, not trusting her own voice.

“And then, Fatin...” Tanya placed the visor on Laine’s head, adjusted it. “And Sunny, so obviously enjoying herself...”

“Mhmm...”

“Annie’s on her run right now. I’ve set it up so that your team has the first run of the next round.” She chuckled. “We have a few minutes to... discuss things, if you like.”

Laine found her voice as Tanya pressed the zapper into her hand and attached the wristband. “That doesn’t give me much time to say anything.”

“Hmmm, true, true.” The guide helped Laine get her tagger on. “Then maybe I’ll have to do the talking.”

“One tap on that tablet, and I’m sure I’d listen to anything you said...” Was she flirting? Was she actually flirting with this woman?

Tanya grinned. “I wonder if you wouldn’t enjoy that.”

“I think... I think I might.” Laine shivered.

Tanya nodded with a smile. “Maybe a little fantasy... Something like this?” She tapped on the tablet.

Light flared in front of Laine’s eyes.

Laine blinked as Fatin came jogging up. Sam and Athena were there, staring at nothing, a look she was starting to get used to seeing on her friends. “Hey Laine,” she said, “good to see you back.”

“Back?” Laine murmured. “What do you...?”

Fatin seemed about to say something, when she paused. “I... I’m not sure.” She replied, her shrug drawing Laine’s eyes to her bare chest.

“Anyway,” Sam said, lacing her fingers together over her head and stretching to the ceiling, “Sunny’s going to be on her way in a moment, so we should get ourselves ready.”

“Right. So for Sunny...” Laine began.

“Same thing as always,” Fatin answered with a grin. “Hunt her down, tag her, and bring her in. Nothing fancy.”

Athena giggled. “Sounds like she’s an animal or something.”

Sam laughed along. “She’s a crafty girl, but we’ll sedate her, cage her, study her and release her back into the wild.”

The image of Sunny lying unconscious on the floor of an animal cage, a dart in her neck, drifted into Laine’s mind as the four of them moved into the maze. It was... strange. It made her giggle, sure, but there was something else about it, something appealing, something...

Seeing your friends being... changed. Being changed yourself. It affects you, doesn’t it?

Dots on the radar drifted apart. The number on the distance indicator shrunk. The zapper in her hand was a dart gun, her prey was closing in, her friends were circling around to help.

Laine came around the corner, and out of instinct dropped to a knee, seeing Sunny’s pistol leveled at her head. The incoming shot missed. Laine hoped it was the only one she had. A quick check of the radar told her that someone was heading this way from the other side, so she took aim and...

“Got her,” Laine said over the headset as Sunny froze.

“I’m here,” Fatin replied, appearing down the hallway, providing the second shot that ended the round.

Laine was smiling as she and Fatin stood next to their insensate friend. They were waiting for something. Sam and Athena were already heading back to their territory, so...

Annie strode into view, slowly, eyes vacant, visor glittering.

“Hello stranger,” Fatin said. “Guess you’re coming with us.”

Laine swallowed. There was something in the back of her mind, something about... about Annie, about warmth and closeness and comfort and touch. It was a fragment, barely grasped, but in the moment it hit with a rush, compounding her excitement, sending thrilling flutters through her stomach, mind, legs...

Well-accustomed to hiding her emotions, Laine’s expression was outwardly still, and the change in her colour could simply be attributed to the exertion of the chase. She didn’t speak, knowing that her tone would give away something of her inner state, but she didn’t really need to; all four of them knew where they were going.

It affects you, doesn’t it?

Sunny in her underwear. Annie without pants. Fatin’s breasts on display. And who knew what was running around in her own head?

‘Affect’ was maybe not strong enough a term. She let herself fall back a step, let her eyes wander, let her thoughts wander with them. Cages for each, fitted with directional speakers and programming monitors. Seven cages in all.

No.

Eight.

You’re like me, I think.

There was no need to always be on this side of the bars.

She wondered how Tanya would feel about being put in that cage. Or putting her in it. Or joining her in it.

Laine looked around. Five girls in various states of undress were discussing who they wanted to call over. She wasn’t really paying attention. The consensus leaned towards Chere, and, well, who was she to argue? Especially since her visor was telling her that she had been chosen by the other team to run next.

She looked at the five women surrounding her, all standing close as if they’d been talking a moment ago. Her hands moved almost without direction, over a shaved head and down to shorts and bare legs; over another set of bare legs and a silly-looking design of a sun, to an uncovered slim stomach and narrow arms; over a nice, frilly lace bra and to a pretty, tan face that just begged to be kissed; over the bare arms, shoulders and back of a red-clad torso; and finally, over the bare breasts and well-toned chest of a wonderfully athletic body.

None of them moved a muscle, twitched an eye, showed any recognition, showed any signs of life other than slow, calm breathing and slow, calm blinking.

Your run will begin in ten seconds, her HUD proclaimed. She would be up against two opponents, and they would both need to be present to stop her.

Laine somewhat reluctantly turned away from the other five women and started moving towards the far side of the arena. Her display counted down to zero, and the radar lit up. The two dots showing up on it were clearly moving in her direction. They felt... close. Like her space was limited. She started to move back to where she had started, trying to get a little breathing room, looking for a powerup.

There weren’t any, not that she could find. She knew that there were some, somewhere, but none along the twisting paths she walked. Those two radar dots kept inching closer and closer.

Laine broke in to a bit of a jog, trying to put some distance between her and her ever-encroaching opponents. It didn’t seem to help, the two of them were maintaining a fairly constant distance. She felt like they were herding her, which might have been the case.

She slipped around a corner, and directly into a dead end. Only thing there was a powerup sigil on the wall, and she figured that she might as well claim it before trying another path.

Her HUD displayed a new message: Heavy feet! All players are slowed.

She wasn’t given a choice to activate it or not.

Suddenly it felt like she was carrying lead weights in her shoes. Running was impossible; she might be able to jog for a short distance, but that was about it. The way the radar dots stopped flitting about quite so quickly suggested that maybe the people behind them felt the same.

But they were still approaching, even if slower, and she didn’t have the speed to get out of the dead end as quickly as she would like. They had the advantage of being able to shoot at a distance; slowing everyone, herself included, would only hurt her. She could see times when it would be very useful, but this wasn’t that time.

At this point, the two dots were approaching the entrance to the dead end from opposite sides. Laine could choose to wait for them, or step out and meet them. It didn’t matter, really, she’d be caught either way, so...

She walked out to face the music.

She shook herself awake. Scarlett was there. “Just you and me against the six of them,” she said with a grin. “No problem, right?”

“Uh, yeah. No problem.” Laine felt a bit of confusion. Wasn’t she just...

“And it looks like they picked me to go over. Who should we call for our turn?”

Laine looked over the list of names. Fatin, Sunny and Chere were all greyed out as previous runners; until everyone had a chance, they wouldn’t be able to run again. That left Sam, Athena...

Annie.

“Annie,” Laine said, before she could think about it any further.

“Alright, let’s lock that in...”

Laine felt her awareness starting to slip. Must be Scarlett’s turn to run, she managed to think, before thought became impossible.

She would swear, though, in the instant before her mind blanked out, that she felt Scarlett kiss her cheek.

A flash of light startled Laine awake. ’Decoy activated!’ her visor proclaimed. Go time, she knew in her mind.

Scarlett was out there, running to get past six friends and score a point. But all their distance indicators, Laine suddenly realized, would be pointed right at her.

The only real problem was that Laine couldn’t tell where Scarlett was, either, which meant that she didn’t know if she would accidentally lead the other team right to her.

Well, no reason not to run a little. Laine looked at where the defending dots were on the radar and headed towards the one standing off by itself. She could imagine the reaction, suddenly seeing the number jump (she assumed) and then start to drop. She expected that, if she’d seen that, she would be reporting to her teammates and calling for help, and sure enough, a pair of dots broke away from their positions and started to move towards Laine’s.

Good. That might keep them away from Scarlett. Might not, too, but it was something to do.

Laine broke to her left, watched as three dots followed, and a fourth slipped in to place ahead of her. Her career as a decoy might be very short-lived. Still, if four of those defenders were fixed on her, that meant that Scarlett might get through.

The next corner would take her right face-to-face with one of those defending blips. Well, if her purpose was to take up time... Laine sat down on the floor, leaned against the wall. Make them come to her.

A young woman jogged around a bend, dressed only in blue panties and bra. She looked at Laine with surprise and confusion for an instant, before pointing her zapper and

A hand on her shoulder. Eyes in front of hers. Scarlett was crouched down. “You doing okay, Laine?”

Laine nodded. “Yeah, did I help?”

Scarlett shrugged, stood, and offered Laine a hand up, which she took. “Don’t know. Not sure if I made it or not.”

Of course.

“Anyway, Annie should be on her way...”

“Right! uhh, how are just the two of us going to stop her?”

“Rush her?”

Laine admitted to herself that the idea sounded divine, although she may have been imagining a different scene than Scarlett.

“If we keep her off her guard, we might just be able to catch her.”

Laine nodded. She was trying to think of something to say when two warnings flashed on her HUD. The first was the now-familiar Runner Ready! The second, though...

Warning! You are the only original member on this team!

If Annie got past them, the red team would win the game. She and Scarlett would finally have to remove...

That didn’t sound right. Laine wasn’t sure of much at the moment, but she was sure that when the match had started, she knew that one of her and Scarlett would no longer be fully clothed.

And hadn’t she been in the same starting room with...

“She’s over here!” Scarlett’s voice came in over the headset. “I’m keeping on her, see if you can get in front!”

Laine looked at her radar, tried to piece together what she knew of the layout, started moving, trying to keep Annie between her and Scarlett, trying to keep herself between Annie and the far side of the arena.

“Lost her!”

With just the two of them, that made for a challenge. Laine immediately switched gears, searching rather than defending, following the distance-finder as well as she could.

“Sorry, Laine, but suddenly it was like there were two of her...”

“Don’t worry about it, just...”

There!

Laine fired at the distant flash of red, saw it stop moving, starting running towards it. She wouldn’t have time to get to Annie in the second she was afforded, wouldn’t be able to shoot her again for another second after that.

“This way!” she managed to gasp out on the headset. The moment Annie’s stun timer ran down, the runner was off like a shot again, and that little number in the bottom corner started counting up.

Scarlett’s blip on Laine’s radar was moving quickly, no doubt sprinting. “Can’t find her!”

Laine tried to get a read on Annie’s position, and realized that the runner was no longer between her and Scarlett, and, more troubling, that she was no longer between Annie and her goal.

She ran to try and remedy the situation, but by then...

Annie and the twins. The memory came to Laine like a bolt of lightning on a dark night. She had confirmed it in the lobby, she had confirmed it again in the small ready room, and she had confirmed it a third time after her run. That was her team. That was the blue team: Laine, Annie, Sunny and Chere.

And Annie finished her run, and captured Laine, and all four of them were on red team. The only hope was that Scarlett had completed her run, and had captured one of the other blue players...

But.

If she had, Laine wouldn’t have remembered her original team.

Arrows lit up on the walls, pointing the way to the lobby.

Annie was standing by the lobby door as Laine approached it, looking a bit baffled. “The fuck did I just do?” she asked.

Laine smiled and put an arm around her friend. “It was the Alterations, Annie, that’s all. They’re in our heads.”

Annie grinned in reply and turned to look at Laine. “Seems I’ve heard that somewhere before...”

The two of them headed in together, the first ones back. “Guess I’m finally going to have to take something off.”

Annie raised an eyebrow. “Any ideas what?”

“Actually...”

The four members of the blue team lined up on one side of the lobby, shoulder to shoulder, laser-tag equipment removed, facing down the imaginary firing squad. The red team were seated around the room, watching.

“Alright, girls, you ready?” Athena asked, smirking.

“Let’s get it over with,” Chere said with an eyeroll.

Annie was much more playful in her formality. “We’ve all agreed to stand in solidarity with our teammate who has lost her third match. Sunny?”

Sunny stepped forward from the line.

“Please start us off,” Annie directed.

The younger twin spun on her heel and snapped a salute. “It is an honor to have fought with you, comrades,” she said with an absolutely straight face. Laine tried to contain a giggle, and failed.

She spun to face her executioners. Her hands slipped up behind her back, and Laine watched as quick and confident fingers undid the clasp of her bra, letting the undergarment fall to the ground.

Sam let out a cheer, followed by the rest of the red team, who burst into applause. Sunny, now with only her panties and shoes on, took a deep, dramatic bow to her appreciative audience, then turned around and gave one to her teammates. Straightening up, she returned to her place in line, all smiles.

Chere stepped up. “I just want you all to know that I’m doing this under protest, but the three of them convinced me.” Her hands, too, flew to the clasp of her bra, a little more eagerly than her tone might have suggested, and a moment later she, too, was completely topless. The opposing team cheered. Chere hesitated a moment; Laine thought she might take a bow like her sister had, but instead she just turned and went back to her place in line, her blush extending down to her collar.

Annie was next up. “As the one who won the game for the red team,” she began, only to be interrupted by good-natured laughter and teasing. She waited, then waved it off. “As the one who won the game, my teammates and I decided that I should be the first...”

Annie’s hands landed on her hips.

“... to be showing off down here.”

In one quick motion, her shorts dropped to the floor. Laine’s eyes followed their movement, then drank in the sight of bare legs, bare thighs, and that wonderfully sculpted bare bottom.

The cheers and applause from the others was tremendous.

Laine remembered the feeling of that body, pressed against her in the maze, and the look on that face as Tanya set up the replacement equipment. Laine closed her eyes as Annie turned to take her spot in the line, the black girl’s hand almost imperceptibly brushing her own as she spun back around.

“Last but not least,” Sunny said with a warm laugh, “Laine, who’s just had her first loss!”

Laine stepped forward, suddenly nervous, feeling shy. “I... this was my idea, s-since Sunny was...” she swallowed.

Sympathetic eyes were almost worse than judgmental ones. She steeled herself.

“I can’t exactly show off, not like my teammates, not yet. But...”

She slipped her hands under the waistband of her skirt, and with a moment’s work (and the help from some preparation in the washroom beforehand) her purple panties dropped to her feet.

The other four, and her three teammates, erupted into celebration. She felt Annie’s arm around her shoulders, felt herself go red.

In her mind, though, it was Tanya’s words she was hearing, her eyes meeting the guide’s from across the room.

You’re like me, I think. Seeing your friends being... changed. Being changed yourself. It affects you, doesn’t it?

It felt good, too, to get that wetness away from her skin.

‘Affect’ was maybe not strong enough a term.