The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

It was all like something out of Alter / Control / Delete, maybe like the fifth episode when the unknown villain starts messing with the cheer team, after Tamara Cinders had been kidnapped and had come back but came back totally different, obviously changed, but no one could figure if her kidnapper had done something to her, or if she was faking it, or if it was like PTSD or something.

Sunny Collins knew that the show was unrealistic, but oh my God it was fun. Watching Kirabo Ketra walking around backwards like it was completely normal, or Mark Cameron suddenly ‘falling in love’ with Deanne Priest, or Joanna Littlefeather forgetting all about a whole year of college, all because of a computer virus that gave the mysterious Doctor D control of people through subliminal triggers in their Alterations.

It was rumored that there was a special set of Alters you could get to be a real part of the show, like how at the end of the episode Doctor D appears and gives code words to all the show’s fans, and those instructions had Alter triggers for people who had the specific programming, which was something like the special messages that flicked across the screen of her visor and made her frozen, or changed her memories, or blinded her, or made her comfortable sitting around in just her panties. Except on a TV. If she imagined Tanya or Liss like some sort of supervillain, playing games with their eight victims just for their own amusement, then this party could be like something out of the second season, where that whole busload of people was Altered by the TV screens and put in that weird maze, and that idea was all kinds of amazing.

Of course that was ridiculous. Tanya could be trusted.

She couldn’t believe it when Sam had come to her and suggested this party. ‘I need someone who will be enthusiastic about it,’ Sam had said. A few late-night viewing sessions with maybe a little more wine than they should’ve had meant that Sam knew that Sunny would be all for it, so she and Athena had been the main organizers and planners. Sam chose the games—it was her party, and Sunny and Athena hadn’t been here before, didn’t know what they had to offer—but everything else had been up to the team of the Maid of Honor and the Chief Party Planner and Bottle Washer. Reporting for duty, ma’am!

And she had metaphorically washed a lot of metaphorical bottles. Athena was amazing for details, but a little short on the big picture things. There were a dozen messages from Athena in Sunny’s party folder that started with, ‘You know what would be great?’ And inevitably, Athena would be absolutely right, and it would mean another hour of work for Sunny. Not that Athena didn’t pitch in, she was extremely helpful, but she also kept finding more good ideas that meant more to do.

Sunny took care of the party booking; Athena had suggested renting a limo for their rides home, since they wouldn’t be allowed to drive. Sunny suggested pizza, made plans to order it; Athena had made sure she would get something halal for Fatin. Sunny wanted to make invitations; Athena had reminded her to let everyone know the dos and don’ts of Alters.

She could only imagine what the wedding planning was like, if Athena had a hand in it. Fortunately, that wasn’t her problem. Next week she was just going to sit there next to her sister and enjoy the show as Sam and Mel tied that big knot.

Hm. Mel. Sunny didn’t really remember Mel at all. It really wasn’t that unusual, she wasn’t super close to Sam—it’s not like they weren’t friends or anything, Sam was pretty great, but she was a lot closer to Chere—and from what she could gather, it was only really Athena that had spent any significant time with Sam’s affianced. She didn’t even know if Mel was Melvin, or Melville, or maybe Melchior, or an anglicization of Maol from the gaelic, but it was fun to think about. Sam and Maol. Samantha and Melchior. Sunny giggled.

Sunny was sure that they’d met, but she couldn’t call a picture to mind. Didn’t matter, her memory for faces was terrible anyway, and she’d put a face to a name again next week. She looked around. Chere was avoiding her, as usual, which was fine, the spoilsport could keep her distance, whatever. She was hanging around with Scarlett, which was fine, too. Sunny just didn’t understand athletes. Not that she was out of shape, but actually spending all that time working and denying yourself pleasure for the sake of playing a game for the pleasure of other people was such a strange idea that Sunny couldn’t really get her head around it. Scarlett was pretty awesome, but she always seemed to be thinking about basketball while Sunny still wasn’t really sure how dribbling worked.

Laine was sitting with them, too. Now there was an interesting person. Alteration in her family, an uncle, not just a pro Alterist but also a gamer, which was a pretty neat mix. She followed a few of the Alter games out there, even if she couldn’t play herself—the necessary equipment was just too costly for a grad student from a single-parent family, at least one who wasn’t studying Alteration herself. Still, she found the variety of games as interesting as the variety of available Alterations, even if she didn’t always understand what was happening on the streams she watched. And there were a few people just worth watching whatever they were playing, whether she understood the nuances or not.

Another reason among many to jump at the chance to come to the party. Which Sunny had. And thinking of the party, the guest of honour was returning from a quick trip to the washroom, lucky enough to only be down a shirt. Stripping off bits of clothing was an effective way to keep score, sure, but Athena had pointed out that it was only useful if they were all wearing the same number of garments. So Sunny had worked out the dress code: four items of clothing each. Top and bra, bottom and panties.

Scarlett finally got caught out in the fourth game, so no one had a perfect record, but with only two games left, Sam and Scarlett couldn’t end up completely naked. Sunny, though, had been forced to strip off three items already. Same as her sister. Both of them were worse off than everyone else; other than the Collins twins, no one had been on more than two losing teams.

Although... Forced was probably the wrong word. The wrong idea. The wrong concept entirely. Sunny sure didn’t feel forced, and she could tell that her sister, despite all the bitching, wasn’t really that upset about anything. What Sunny felt was... good. When they lost the first match, she knew it would feel good to take something off. It was there, in the back of her brain, how good it would feel, and she was right, running around with bare legs was incredible, plus being able to show off her cute sunderwear... she giggled to herself again. It only got better after the Capture the Flag game, and again when she lost Red Rover. And weirdly, she didn’t feel like she was missing out after winning the Blind Queen’s Castle match. Losing was fun, yeah, but winning felt great!

She could take them off. A finger slipped under the waistband. There was nothing stopping her from taking them off. But there wasn’t a reason to. Running around naked with her friends didn’t bother her, but it didn’t feel necessary, or even particularly interesting.

Besides, she wouldn’t be naked, she’d still have shoes and socks on. Safety first. And that was only if she lost a game—maybe she would win these next two, and then whatever came after, and she could hold her head high, wearing her panties while everyone else around her was naked. In the valley of the nude, the pantied girl is queen, Sunny thought with a grin. She was always good at amusing herself, and by now she knew that almost no one else understood her humour.

Idly, she wandered over to the Alteration chairs where they had started the afternoon. Arranged in a hollow square around a concrete support pillar for the building were a dozen identical soft black armchairs, built to accommodate someone as small as Sunny or as large as Scarlett. Each of them had safety straps, of course—easy enough to get out of when conscious, near impossible to fall from when entranced—as well as an external monitor and a pair of directional speakers in the headrest. A whole mess of wires ran out of the headrests, from the brainwave scanner, all the electromagnets, in and out of the pile of pristine computer towers at the pillar’s base. From the hardware nest, multicolor cables ran up and twisted around the concrete until they slinked into the ceiling, obviously toward wherever the big mainframe was hiding. And that’s where all the support for the game’s peripherals would be, too.

Sunny’s hands itched. She wanted to get to that mainframe, just to get a glance at the programming, just to see the actual physical computer involved. She imagined a giant multi-seated console, banks upon banks of monitors, flashing lights, whirring fans, dimly lit, possibly smoky. One malfunction would cause a massive spark and the resulting explosion could throw operators across the room!

At least that’s how Sunny saw it in her head, anyway. It was probably just a bigger and beefier tower, maybe a couple of them linked together with some interfaces and a monitor or two. But a nerd can dream, can’t she?

Sunny could listen to Laine talk for hours about how Alteration worked on the mind and senses, and it was fascinating, but what she really wanted to know was how to make it work on the machine. How to register feedback from the subject’s mind, how to make sense of it, how to find the right variables out of all that brain-mess and manipulate them and put them back into the subject’s head seamlessly. Every Alteration was a four-dimensional project, involving the physical structure of the brain changing over time, and the mathematics of it were astonishing and ever-shifting. She wondered how anyone ever figured it out.

Sunny knew that of course it had taken teams of computer scientists, psychologists, psychiatrists, theoretical physicists, biologists, artists, musicians, hypnotists, and all sorts of others from all fields years to develop proper Alterations, ones that were automated, personalized, and more than just an aide to hypnotism. But she knew all those people had only been making little advances over a long time that made Alters into what they were today. Maybe she’d be working on the next-gen, making the circuits they’d use or the architecture they’d employ to, maybe someday do something crazy like actually reading thoughts. Telepathy! That’d be insane.

Or maybe she might be a test subject for the next generation of Alterists. That could be all kinds of fun too. She crossed her arms, her fingers dancing lazily across her elbows. Sunny imagined herself unknowingly programmed at the hands of Doctor D, or facing Miss Ciele and moving in perfect unison with her and the rest of her ballet class, or falling into the arms of the masterful Emlyn McBride and being swept away to his million-dollar ranch...

“Hey, Sunny, what’s up?” Laine’s voice cut through her reverie.

“Oh, you know, daydreaming,” Sunny replied. “Wondering what Alters will look like in ten years. Thinking about Mister McBride’s Machine. You know, I haven’t been able to find that at the library?“

Laine’s eyebrows rose. “You don’t say.”

“Yeah, I mean, I’ve looked everywhere. I guess it just wasn’t all that popular. Which is funny with all the articles about it. I heard there was a movie in production, maybe you wanna go see it when it comes out?”

“Uhhh... why?”

“Why? Why not!” Sunny exclaimed. “It’s got a rich Alterist and the poor girl off the street and it’s a total My Fair Lady kind of thing and she gets totally changed and like what’s not to love about it?“

Laine stared. “Sunny, you know that... uh... you understand that that book is, um, it’s basically por...”

Liss emerged from the arena. “Ladies! We are ready to play Lost And Found!” Her lightly-accented voice drifted through the waiting room.

Sunny jumped. “Ooh, this should be fun! C’mon, Laine.” She grabbed her friend’s arm and the two of them dashed back to where the others were sitting.

“There will be four rounds of play,” Liss was explaining, while Sunny and Laine both shuffled into a couple seats of their own. “At the start of each round, one member from each team will be designated the ‘Searcher.’ If the Searcher is defeated, the other team wins the round.”

“Sounds simple enough,” Fatin said. “What’s the catch?”

Liss smiled. “There are several, first that the Searchers may not affect one another. In fact, they will not even be aware of each other’s presence.”

Chere gave a little groan. Well, Sunny thought, she was kind of annoyed at having all her thoughts messed up. Guess she doesn’t want to deal with it again.

“Okay,” Athena piped up, interrupting Sunny’s reverie, “so the other three are supposed to stop the Searcher, then? Wait, why are they called a ‘Searcher’?”

“Because they must search for their missing team, you see.”

“Missing?” Laine asked.

Liss nodded. “Hidden, in the maze, unable to act until the Searcher finds them, tags them, and releases them. That’s why we call it ‘Lost And Found.’” She slid her finger along the tablet, sounding like she was reading from the screen. “The Searcher can activate any ‘lost’ member of her team by tagging them. Anyone who isn’t a searcher who gets shot will go back to a ‘lost’ state. To score a point, two different members of the opposing team must shoot or tag the Searcher. They don’t need to do it at the same time, just any time during the round. If it takes more than four minutes to take down either Searcher, then the round will end. If only one team has managed to hit the opposing Searcher, just once, then they get the point; otherwise, the point will go to whichever team has more members active.” Liss looked at the other women in the room. “Clear?”

“Clear!” Sunny said with a grin, moving to grab her gear, slipping her visor on. The others made similar agreements and headed either towards where they’d put their visors and weapons, or towards their team’s door if they hadn’t removed them.

Liss put a hand on her bare shoulder, making her jump. “Sunny, do you have a moment?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, sure. The game won’t start without me, will it?”

“No, of course not.” Liss gave Sunny an amused smile as the waiting room started to empty out. “It’s just that I wanted to speak to you for a moment, about Tanya’s Abduction game.”

“Oh. Oh! Oh yeah, that was all kinds of fun, it was really interesting and challenging.” Sunny nodded enthusiastically. “What about it?”

Liss looked at her tablet. “Just covering the bases. When you were, ah, ‘abducted,’ and sent here, was anything odd?”

Sunny paused, thinking. “Odd? Well, I guess I was expecting to see Laine, or Tanya, but this room was deserted—but other than that, no.”

“That’s strange.” Liss tapped a control on the device. “Laine says she was here in the room when you entered.”

“What’s strange about that?” Sunny asked, making a gesture with her zapper. “She was sitting right over there.”

Liss nodded. “Alright, thank you. Nothing unusual?”

“Nothing.” Sunny smiled.

“Excellent. Good luck out there!”

“Thanks!”

“Love the panties, by the way,” Liss said as Sunny turned to the door. “That little sun is adorable.”

Sunny blushed a bit, turning back. “Aw, thanks, I mostly wear ’em to bug my sister, you know? But they’re comfy, too.”

“Of course, I understand.” Liss’ expression was amused. “I used to do similar things. I think all siblings do.”

Sunny smiled. “I bet you hear it all the time, but you look great in that sari, Liss.” A compliment for a compliment, that’s how it works, right? Not that Sunny was insincere about it, Liss cut a stunning figure.

“I am always happy to hear it again,” Liss replied, bowing her head in acknowledgement. “Especially from one so lovely herself.”

Sunny suddenly felt very aware of her exposure, especially as she realized that Liss might have used that little nod to disguise a sweeping glance up and down her figure. She blushed. “Well, uh, not much here but what mama gave me, you know?”

Liss nodded, meeting Sunny’s eyes. “I’m well aware, Miss Collins. I am sure that both you and your sister are most grateful to her.”

Did Liss wink as she said that? Sunny was sure she saw Liss winking. Or maybe she imagined it. Of course, Liss had that tablet, and she was Altered, so she couldn’t ever be completely sure—but then, if she was completely sure, she could be sure that Liss wanted her to be sure. But maybe Liss wanted her to be confused. Maybe Liss didn’t want her to know whether or not she had winked. Or maybe it hadn’t been a wink but was actually a blink, or—

“Sunny? Is everything alright?” Liss sounded concerned. “Your team is waiting.”

“What? Oh, right, yeah, sorry, see you in a bit!” Sunny gave Liss a quick wave, turned, and went through the red door.

Her HUD responded immediately, sending her the information for the match.

Sam’s Bachelorette Party! Match 5!

Lost And Found

4 rounds, 4 minute time limit each

Friendly fire is ON

Powerups are OFF

Sudden Death is ON

The game will begin in 10 seconds

“Whoops, barely have time to catch my breath!” Sunny said, looking at her three teammates.

“What took you?” Chere asked

Sunny looked confused. “Just talking with Liss, about the Abduction game. You were there, Laine, did you see anything weird?”

“Save it for the Q and A,” Fatin said. “We’re on.”

The door in front of them opened. Fatin and Laine moved out into the maze. Chere hesitated.

“What’s wrong, Cici?” Sunny asked her twin.

“I can’t leave,” she replied snippily. “Not until you three are lost. I’m the Searcher. Says so on my screen.”

“Ah, got it! Yeah, it says that on mine, too.” Sunny said with a wave of her hand as she turned to leave the small room. “Well, come find me, then!”

“Kind of the point, Sun.”

Chere sounded irritated. Chere usually sounded a little irritated when she was talking to Sunny, at least that’s what Sunny thought. The younger twin brushed it off with a grin and headed into the maze. Sunny had always been good at ignoring her sister’s irritation.

Five steps in, and Sunny couldn’t actually remember why Chere was annoyed.

Five steps more, and Sunny wasn’t sure what direction she had come from.

Five steps more, and she couldn’t tell how long she’d actually been in the maze.

Five steps more, and she saw a lovely secluded corner, only five steps away. No one would ever find her there, unless they were looking for her. And anyway, five steps was such a long, long way off the main path.

Five steps was all it took, and Sunny sat down in the corner to watch the world go by. Or at least to watch some of the pretty patterns flickering on her visor. Annie walked by at one point. Sunny thought for a moment about calling to her, but decided not to distract her. She looked like she was busy.

A moment or two later, Athena was standing five steps away, keeping a close watch down the corridor, but still looking over towards Sunny every so often. Even when Athena waved and grinned, Sunny never acknowledged her presence, outwardly. Sam joined her after a moment or two, still five steps away, but was only there a few seconds when she raised her pistol and fired down the corridor.

Despite not being the target, Sunny’s HUD lit up. Red Team Searcher eliminated, it said. Well, so much for round one. She stood and stretched. “Hey girls,” she said, waving to Sam and Athena.

“Hey Sunny,” Sam replied with a grin. “How’re you doing?”

“Great, thanks! Uh...” Sunny looked around. “Guess you guys got that one, huh.” She hadn’t even been in the game. She hadn’t even noticed not being in the game. She was so engrossed with counting steps, and with the patterns on the visor, and with just the feeling of being Altered that she almost hadn’t even been aware that there was a—

Chere stuck her head around the corner. “Is that where you were? Yeah, they got me, sis. You’re here, and Fatin’s just down the hall near the entrance.” She waved past where Athena and Sam had been standing guard. “Never did find Laine.“

“Right here, Chere,” Laine’s voice came from around the corner. “I was just down the hall, that way.”

Sunny walked out into the hall where everyone seemed to be congregating, her prior train of thought completely derailed. Annie was missing; was she hiding someplace?

“Where’s your Searcher?” Fatin asked. “I managed to get a shot off at her before she tagged me back.”

Athena looked around. “Seven of us here, where’s number eight?”

Sam blinked. “Maybe she’s out there getting lost. Like I should be.”

Scarlett nodded. “Me too, I think.” The two of them started to wander off.

“Looks like we’re supposed to wait here,” Sunny said, moving to stand beside Athena. “Says so on my screen.” She looked at her teammates. “Which means I have to hunt for you guys.”

Chere cracked her knuckles. “Hope you’re better at this than I was.” She started to walk away, opposite of where Sam and Scarlett had gone.

“’Theen’s not as good a player as Annie,” Fatin said with a grin, “so you should have an easier time.”

Athena sighed and rolled her eyes, a good-natured smile on her face. “Only one of us has her tits out, Fatin.”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll see after this game,” Fatin laughed, turning to follow Chere.

“You’ve lost just as many games as Fatin and me,” Laine pointed out.

“Yeah, but I still have all my underwear.”

Laine just smiled and shook her head before departing.

“It’s a good look on you, ’Theen,” Sunny said. Make some small talk, try out a compliment.

“Aw, thanks. And you really make those panties look great, Sunny.”

“Heh, I mostly wear ’em to annoy Chere, you know.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Athena looked her up and down. “You look fantastic. Fun and cute. It really works for you.”

Sunny felt the heat rising in her face. She wasn’t really sure how to take Athena’s comment, or what to say in response.

And anyway, Athena was still talking. “You could wear it for any reason. You don’t need to make excuses, just wear what you want and...”

Sunny looked around. “’Theen?”

Athena was gone. Vanished, between one word and the next. Sunny had been looking right at her, but now was seeing through the space where Athena had been, to the wall on the other side. She thought about reaching through that space, but something told her that that would be a bad idea, so she didn’t.

Sunny was about to worry, when she remembered that she’d been Altered. The Searchers may not affect one another, she remembered Liss saying. In fact, they will not even be aware of each other’s presence.

So, logically, Athena must still be there. She was probably standing around, staring at a blank spot, wondering just how Sunny had vanished.

Which must mean that the rest of the players must be lost.

The four-minute game timer appeared on Sunny’s HUD. Time to move. She was sure all her teammates went... one way... but... She looked around. Which way had they gone?

But she was moving, anyway, keeping aware of any danger, looking for Chere, Laine and Fatin as she wandered the maze. The HUD was pretty plain, this time. The round clock on the bottom right was ticking down steadily. No time to waste! Top-center, the game score was displayed—one to nothing, blue team. To the right of that was the current number of active players on each team other than the Searchers, and it looked like Athena hadn’t found any yet, either. In the top-left corner was an empty box, that Sunny somehow knew would show the name of the first person to shoot her, if anyone from the blue team managed to in the first place.

Blue team needed to connect with her twice, with two different runners, to get a point. She wasn’t gonna get as lucky with the team distribution this time as she had last game, with Sam, Annie and Scarlett against her, but Laine could pick off a hummingbird in flight at a hundred paces, and Fatin was driven, determined and smart. She could’ve picked a better team (Annie, Fatin, me, Laine, she thought, and it’s even better if you put Scarlett instead of me, but then I’m not on it), but she wasn’t about to complain about the one she had, even with Chere being no fun like usual.

Sunny rounded a corner to be greeted by the green glow of an ally on her visor, and Fatin’s bare back. Her athletic teammate stood in a corner, hands crossed behind her, zapper dangling down from her right wrist, face to the wall, looking a little like a child being punished with a time-out. Sunny put her left hand between Fatin’s shoulder blades, and smiled as the former lost girl took a deep breath.

“That you, Sunny?” Fatin asked, turning around. “Oh good. So we haven’t lost yet.”

Sunny laughed. “It’s only thirty seconds in! ’Theen hasn’t found anyone yet.” Sunny’s HUD displayed a nice, red ‘1’ in the top right corner, next to the blue ‘0.’

“Great. So what’s the plan?”

“Stick with me, I guess? I mean, you could go hunting ’Theen, but if you get shot I’ll have to find you again.”

Fatin shrugged and slipped her zapper into her hand. “I can be your bodyguard. Or you’re mine. Whichever, let’s just go get her!”

“Alright!” Sunny pulled up her own gun and giggled. “Two topless girls with guns running through a maze together. This is like something out of an old drive-in movie or something.”

“A what?” Fatin fell in line behind her Searcher as they continued through the maze.

“You know, they used to have these big theatres outside and people would sit in their cars and watch really bad movies, and sometimes they would be really bad porn, or not really porn but just like light porn, if that makes sense? Like lots of topless women running around and...” Sunny paused. “I’m boring you, aren’t I.”

Fatin laughed. “A little, yeah,” she said, not unkindly, “but it sounds like there’s some fun movie nights in there.”

“Yeah! I mean most of them are available online now anyway since they’re kinda old, but I could put a playlist together, Chere could cook, ’Theen could bring snacks and drinks—she always gets the best stuff—”

“Maybe we should just get through the game first,” Fatin said gently, “and plan a movie night later.”

“Oh. Oh! Yeah, I’m sorry.”

Fatin laughed again. “Your enthusiasm is infectious, Sunny. I think it’ll be a fun time when it happens. I just want to finish this game and hopefully not be out of my pants after it’s done.”

“You could do like Laine and take off your panties instead,” Sunny suggested.

“A little easier for her to get them off. I’d have to get naked first.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

Fatin’s chuckle was warm and friendly. “Nothing at all. Although, would either of us had said that this morning?”

Sunny shrugged. “I think I would have? But that’s kinda the point, right? Every part of my brain says that if I lose, I’m gonna be naked, and that’s okay. It’s just my body, and we’ve all got one, and whatever, who cares who sees it, right? But it’s not like I want to just strip off now.“

“Yeah, I hear ya.” Fatin replied as they turned a corner. “When I think about stripping more, my mind just says, ‘Why?’ Until I lose, of course. But when I walked out there topless, it was, uh...” They paused at a junction to take a look around. “It was fun. More than.”

“What do you mean?” Sunny asked, leading Fatin down the side path.

“You know. It’s hot. Arousing.”

“It is? Oh wait, ’Theen just rescued someone.” In the top right corner of Sunny’s HUD, the blue zero changed to a blue one. “Let’s hope this leads to a teammate.”

There was someone leaning against the wall at a dead end in the path, but it wasn’t Chere or Laine, it was Scarlett, her shoulder against the wall, her eyes looking down at her feet. Fatin grinned as she saw her nemesis standing there. “How ’bout I just stand guard here, so ’Theen doesn’t wake her up?”

“Why not go out to the main corridor?” Sunny suggested. “Or at least guard the corner. Then you can get anyone who comes by.”

Fatin demurred a moment. “I really would rather stay close here, just to...” She shrugged.

Sunny mirrored the shrug. “Whatever! Have fun, whatever you wanna do. Just stick here, I’ll go find someone else.”

“Great! If I see ’Theen, or anyone else, I’ll shoot first and ask questions later.”

“Keep warm!” Sunny said, heading back down the hall and continuing the way they’d been going before they turned aside.

The discussion with Fatin meant that there was a lot to think about. Sunny knew that the others didn’t necessarily think Alterations were as interesting as she did. And she knew that there were people out there who liked them for other reasons, or who liked Alterations only as a means to a different end.

It was just that, hearing Fatin say that the Alterations were arousing for her—it was something that Sunny knew was possible, because people could be into anything, she just hadn’t thought it’d apply to anyone she knew. And definitely not to somebody here. She had always assumed that everyone here was like her, or like Sam, and just loved the idea of mind control for its own sake, or were at least like Scarlett and just came even if they didn’t really like Altering at all. Or maybe they were here because doing laser tag without the weird pads and stuff was just that appealing.

So if Fatin found it hot to walk out into the waiting room exposed, did Fatin also find it hot when Sunny took off her top? Or Annie slipped off her panties? Or when—

Wait, did someone here actually find her attractive? That was a weird thought. Liss had said so, but Sunny just assumed she was being nice to a customer. And Athena was just complimenting her fashion sense, or whatever it was that Athena saw in her choice of underwear.

A message popped up on her HUD, pulling Sunny’s attention away from her musings. Notice: Blue Team searcher hit!

“Yeah!” she cheered to an audience of the blank wall in front of her. “Go Fatin!”

Immediately after that, the number of active runners on both teams dropped to zero, just for a moment, before blue team’s runners jumped up to two.

“Well, Fatin’s out, but I know where she is, and Scarlett’s gotta be in the game. Need to find somebody quick!” Sunny picked up the pace of her stride, half-jogging through the maze.

The maze. Yep, sure is mazey, Sunny thought, taking a right turn. More mazey than before, maybe? Did Liss change the walls around? There was no reason they couldn’t do that, of course. Or did she just change the way I remember them?

There was no reason they couldn’t do that, too. Fun.

The next hallway had a familiar green skirt in it, attached to a familiar curvy figure in a less-familiar-but-still-recognizable green bra, all wrapped in a lovely green glow, leaning against a wall, looking up over Sunny’s head.

“Hi Laine!” Sunny greeted her paralyzed teammate cheerfully. For her part, Laine’s eyes barely moved from whatever point on the ceiling they were staring at. “Guess you probably would rather be in the game than out of it.”

Laine seemed a bit surprised as she emerged from her stupor with Sunny’s hand on her hip. “Hey, Sunny. What’s up?”

“Help me, Obi-Laine Kenobi. You’re my only hope,” the small woman giggled. “Fatin was up and around for a bit, but ’Theen put her back down. She did get a shot off, first, at least, so we just have to shoot her once more. ’Theen, I mean; don’t know why we’d want to shoot Fatin.”

Laine smiled. “And two-and-a-half minutes to get it done, sounds good. Have you gotten hit yet?”

“Nope, still got a clean record here. Gonna keep it, too!”

“Can’t argue with that optimism,” Laine responded. “Any ideas for how to do that?”

“Not getting shot comes to mind.” Sunny grinned. “Probably a good start to any project.”

Laine laughed. Sunny could almost always get Laine to laugh. She relished the ability to get a rise out of her younger, often-silent friend. Most of her other friends, and especially her sister, seemed to just get annoyed with her after a while, but Laine was ... patient. Maybe it was kindness, or empathy for a fellow nerd, Sunny wasn’t sure. She just knew that she regretted not being able to spend more time with her fellow student, with most of her time being wrapped up in research, thesis writing, work, family...

Not a lot of time for socializing, especially not with a junior who had similar scheduling matters to deal with.

“How about we look for Chere together?” Laine asked. “I’ll fall in behind?”

“Sure, or we could double back, maybe catch ’Theen on her way here?”

“’Kay, uh... which way is ‘back’?”

Sunny blinked. “Er... I wasn’t really paying attention when I came this way.”

“No problem.” Laine smiled. “We can find our way as we go.”

Seems like all I ever do. Sunny grinned. “Let’s get this done!“

“Got your back, Searcher!”

The two moved through the maze, Sunny moving swiftly from junction to junction and checking around corners, Laine three steps behind and keeping a watch behind them. As the clock approached two minutes, the number of blue runners active ticked up to three.

“Hey Laine, do you see the numbers of how many people are active?” Sunny asked, turning back..

Laine started a bit. “Huh? Oh. No, I just have a clock.”

“’Kay, because we’ve got a whole team against just you ‘n’ me.”

“No worries.” Laine was smiling. “We got this.”

“We sure do!” Sunny said with a laugh. “Left or right?”

They went right, then left, then right again. A couple more turns, and Sunny came face-to-face with her sister, her brown eyes and soft face set in a look of determination as she stood in a near-military pose, facing out of her dead end into the hallway.

“Heya, Chere! Wanna join the team?” Sunny asked as Laine walked up.

“She probably does,” said the soft voice behind her. “I don’t think Chere really likes being left out of things.”

“She sure doesn’t! ’Swhat makes it fun to tease her about it.”

Laine nodded. “I get it, but the clock’s ticking. Also, I think she can hear us.”

“Wouldn’t be teasing if she didn’t know about it.” Sunny pressed her tagger to the top of her twin sister’s head.

Chere sighed and rolled her eyes. “Hi Laine. Has Sunny been driving you crazy?”

Laine shook her head. “No. Welcome back.”

“Right, what’s the sitch?”

Sunny shrugged. “No plan. Fatin tagged ’Theen, we just need one more good shot from one of you two. I haven’t been hit yet. There’s, uh, one-minute-forty left to go.”

“Yeah, I have the clock, thanks.”

“You asked. I answered.”

“You’re wasting time.”

“We have time to waste. We’re in the lead.”

Laine stepped closer, seemingly a bit reluctant to physically push the two mostly-naked twins apart. “Please. We can hide here and win that way, but if the two of you keep making all this noise...”

“She started it.”

“Real mature, Sunny. Laine’s right.”

“Yeah, well, if we need to keep quiet...” Sunny flipped her zapper into her hand and shot her sister in the belly. Chere gasped, startled, but almost immediately settled into a distant stare. Laine stared, shocked. Sunny shrugged as the red team’s total of runners went from two to one. “That’ll keep her quiet.”

Laine’s mouth twitched. Sunny could see that she was trying to contain giggles. “M-maybe you should free her again.”

“She’ll just argue with me more.”

“Well, you did just shoot her,” Laine said with a snicker.

“She wouldn’t shut up!” Sunny protested with a laugh.

Laine grinned. “So we should just shoot you, then, all the time?”

“Hey!” Sunny pointed her zapper but didn’t fire. “I could ‘lose’ you, too, you know!”

“Then you wouldn’t have any active teammates, and you’d be helpless.”

“I could hide behind you two. They’d never find me!”

Laine laughed. “Shoot me then!”

“Don’t think I wouldn’t!” Sunny laughed back.

Laine sniggered. “A-alright, alright. I do want to win to match, so please don’t. You don’t wanna end up naked, do you?”

Sunny didn’t really mind the idea. It was kind of fun, after all, with all the Alteration involved. But she couldn’t really admit to it, especially not in front of Chere. And she didn’t want to disappoint Laine or her other teammates. With a heavy, overdramatic sigh, she once more put her tagger on her sister’s head. Chere gasped and ducked away.

“Seriously? You shot me?“

“Shh, it’s fine,” Laine said, again stepping between the twins. “How about we two go hunting, and Sunny can just try to keep herself safe, maybe wake up Fatin again?” She gave Sunny a look over her shoulder which might as well have said ‘say nothing.’ Sunny took the hint and maintained her beatific smile without comment.

“I’ll just go do it myself,” Chere said, tromping off into the maze.

Laine was about to follow when Sunny put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, let her go. I really shouldn’t have...”

Laine nodded. “You know her best.”

One-minute-fifteen left on the clock. “Maybe we can just wait this one out.”

“Maybe. I dunno. They have all three runners still going?”

“Yeah.”

“Then if I trade shots with one, there’s still two to get you.”

Sunny crouched in the corner where her sister had been standing. “Then I can get one of them. I bet ’Theen’s off hiding somewhere anyway, it’s what I would do.”

“Then it’s all tied up, when whoever’s left shoots you.”

“Then we win, because Chere’s still out there in her sulk and we’ll have one person active and they have none.”

Laine gave her a little smile. “You’re being argumentative.”

Sunny sighed. “I’m not having much fun right now, I guess. It’ll pass.”

“Wanna talk?”

Sunny shook her head, unsure of how she felt. “Not during the game, anyway. ’Sides, like I said, it’ll pass.”

“Well,” Laine said, “How about I stand guard until it does?”

“Sure, or another fifty seconds, or...” Sunny’s HUD lit up. Notice: Blue Team searcher hit! “... or until Chere finds ’Theen and scores us the point.“

“Oh, cool, she just... um...”

“Yeah she... did...” Sunny’s thoughts felt thick, heavy. Her body felt the same.

Laine looked a little confused. “I’m gonna go...”

“You... should...” Saying more than that would have taken too much effort.

Laine was gone. Sunny took a deep breath. She wasn’t sure where she was, but that thought didn’t frighten or even bother her. She remembered her Girl Scout training: if you’re lost, just stay put and wait for someone to find you.

She stayed put, and waited for someone to find her. It gave her time to think. She thought about Chere, about Laine, about everyone, about the party. She was the one who had thrown her enthusiasm behind Sam’s idea, and she and Athena had done the lion’s share of the planning. Sunny was the one who invited all the girls over to her small apartment so they could have the pre-party discussion, about what they were all agreeing to. She had even kept notes on what was alright and what wasn’t, even if she couldn’t remember now what was on the list.

Part of the agreement was that they would rent out the whole building—which wasn’t a problem, and was kind of obvious; Sunny didn’t mind running around in her panties with her friends, but if it was just a day for the general public to be here, even she would have objected. Another part was the staffing; the company insisted, for insurance and liability purposes, on having at least two employees on hand.

Tanya and Liss. Strangers. But she knew that Tanya could be trusted. When Liss had arrived, though, or at least had emerged from wherever she’d been hiding, Sunny couldn’t help but feel a bit... uncomfortable. Liss was both somehow familiar and incredibly mysterious.

Liss reminded Sunny of Doctor D, who was always being portrayed by one of the actors on set, digitally altered and shadowed and made unrecognizable, sure, but the point was to make Doctor D both familiar and mysterious. But then again, a lot of things tonight had been reminding her of Alter / Control / Delete, especially having a mystery to solve. She loved having a mystery to solve.

Liss had access to their Alteration programming. So maybe Liss was the reason that Chere was extra-irritable, or that Laine was acting odd, or that Fatin was happy to just strip off her bra so casually, or that Annie decided to just drop her panties and walk around in just a long shirt. Maybe Liss had ‘convinced’ Tanya to step aside, to get her out of the way, to have better access to her victims.

It could have been like that episode, Drama Crisis, where Doctor D targets the students investigating the strange happenings with new Alters, to try and confuse them and drive wedges between them all so they couldn’t figure out what was going on. Sunny knew it had been written so that Mira Allison could leave the show to have her baby, but still it was a great episode, and it could be what was going on here.

Turn up Sunny’s exuberance, which annoys Fatin and Chere. Make Chere easily annoyed—well, more easily annoyed—and mess up Laine... somehow. Distract Athena with all the Alters going on. Keep everyone off balance, upset, annoyed, never looking at the villain hiding in plain sight.

It all made perfect sense! She just had to tell someone. But who?

Sunny’s train of thought was interrupted when Fatin crossed into her line of sight. “There you are!” she said, reaching down to pat the redhead on the shoulder. “C’mon, we’ve got Sam on the run!”

Sunny roused herself from her reverie. “Hey, thanks! What’s the story?” Should she tell Fatin? No. No, she couldn’t. First of all, there was a game to win. Second, Fatin might already be one of them, already a part of Liss’ grand scheme.

Fatin held out her hand and helped Sunny to her feet. “Laine made a great shot and caught Sam while she was running. Chere’s keeping her away from Annie and Scar. We’ve got two minutes left and we just need to go in for the kill.“

“On it! Which way?” Maybe Laine? But Laine was a little more quiet than usual, which suggested that maybe Liss had got to her, too. Could she trust Laine?

“Left. Just keep going, you should run into something before too long. I’m going to go hide.”

“Perfect, thanks Fatin!” Sunny headed down the hall. What about Chere? For as much as they got on each others’ nerves, they were sisters. Twins. They had shared secrets since the womb. But right now? Chere was so annoyed with her.

And not without reason. Sunny had been pretty annoying, had even shot her sister just to bug her. So maybe Sunny was the victim in the first place? Maybe she was afflicted. She’d watched every episode of Alter / Control / Delete at least three times, she was aware that she could be programmed and never know it.

But they had all agreed to... “Hey Sam!” Sunny shouted as a red blur jogged past at crossroad ahead.

Sam stopped. Sam actually stopped and looked, and from the expression on her face, she knew it was a mistake. She moved to shoot Sunny, but by then it was far too late.

Sunny fired, scoring the second hit and ending Sam’s turn as Searcher. She gave a little leap of joy, her previous troubles forgotten. “Whoo! Gotcha, Sam!”

Sam walked towards her. “You did, Sunny. Good job, good shot. Can’t believe I fell for that...”

“Just my natural charm, I guess.” Sunny giggled. “Having a good time?”

“Sunny, you and ’Theen, what you guys have done here—seriously, I couldn’t be happier. Honestly. I owe you guys so much.” Sam shook her head. “If you ever need a favour, if you ever need anything, just call, alright?”

Sunny blushed. “It’s... I just put together a party, Sammy.”

Sam put a hand on Sunny’s shoulder, her voice full of sincerity. “It’s exactly what I wanted. You can plan a party for me anytime. Thank you.“

Exactly what I wanted. Liss must have already... Sunny nodded and smiled. “Glad to be of service!” Couldn’t let on.

Tanya would be back after this game. She could talk to Tanya, let her know, warn her, maybe. Tanya could be trusted.

Sunny took a breath. She had to be calm, not just to avoid giving herself away, but also because, whatever it was, it clearly wasn’t that big a deal. This wasn’t upsetting, or dangerous, just odd. And Sunny had to admit, it was fun, in a strange way, pitting herself against a devious mastermind capable of warping her friends’ thoughts.

Maybe this was something they had all agreed to. A grander mystery. A wider puzzle. A bigger game, like some kinda ARG thing. It sounded like her, like something she’d plan, and with Alteration... she could have been made to forget. She and Athena could have written up this whole plan and had it wiped from their minds. And now they were subject to their own diabolical plot!

In the midst of her musing, Sunny didn’t notice that her own feet had been moving, or that Sam had wandered off. Lost in thought, she turned a corner, made her way to a bend in the path, and knelt down, facing the wall. She visualized chains of cause and effect, mentally drawing them on the blank wall before her, pathways and links and directions. If Liss is playing Chere, making her more irritable, then what was she doing to Scarlett, and why were the two of them hanging out so much? Why did it matter where Laine had been sitting during the Abduction game, after she had lost? Mysteries, and more mysteries.

She could start from only one point, only one thing, that even more than her own thoughts and memories, Tanya could be trusted. And from that one point, like spokes on a wheel, everything spun outwards. No, wait, that wasn’t a good metaphor. Like a spider’s web? Like threads on a loom? Sunny had never seem a loom, and wasn’t really sure how one was used, but it sounded good. From that one point, like threads on a loom, a rich tapestry of devious scheming would emerge.

Okay. Rich tapestry. But she couldn’t see the picture on it. Pretty colours, no sense. But at least now the metaphor worked.

So why would Liss do this to her customers? Well... why did Doctor D do it? According to the show, Doctor D just messed with people for fun. There were some hints of a larger plot in the background, that maybe someone was somehow pulling the Doctor’s strings, but to this point they were just hints, so maybe Liss was just like the Doctor, just having some fun? Or maybe all the threads pointed back at Sunny, and maybe she changed her own memories, and Liss was her puppet?

That would be kind of crazy. And kind of awesome.

But why would she do that? What would her own ultimate plan be?

Was there a need for a reason? Other than it would be fun? It was a party, after all. And Sam had said that it was exactly what she had wanted, maybe that’s what she meant. Maybe every one of them had this great big mystery to work through, and that’s why Liss made her dramatic appearance after—

Sunny felt a soft touch on her shoulder. Gentle, friendly, comforting. She pulled herself away from her thoughts and got to her feet. “Chere and Fatin already had their turns, so that’s gotta be Laine, right?”

“Gotta be,” Laine confirmed as Sunny turned around. “Two minutes left, and Sam’s already hit me. Can’t find Chere, and don’t know where Fatin’s run off to. And the whole blue team is up and looking for me.”

“Right! Where to, then?” How did Chere fit in to all of this, and why couldn’t she be found?

“Ah, well, I’ve been kinda following the left hand wall, which would take me that way,” Laine pointed.

“Sure, want me to lead?” Sunny started down the hall. Maybe it’s a trap, but... if it is, so what? She made herself grin with that thought; good thing she was facing away from Laine, or the other girl might suspect something.

“Might be a good idea.” Laine was following close behind. “Anything suspicious ahead?”

Maybe someone suspicious behind me. “Can’t see anyone. Wanna look for Chere, or for... who’s the blue Searcher?“

“Scarlett.”

“Oh, good, she’s easy to spot.” Sunny giggled. Laine laughed quietly behind her.

It was a bit like the Abduction game, Sunny decided, thinking of her tapestry as they walked carefully through the maze. Can’t really trust anyone, but maybe, maybe you have to trust someone or you’re not going to get anywhere. Maybe the Abduction game was Tanya sending a message, giving them a hint.

“Laine...” Sunny decided to take a chance. She needed an ally, or at the least, a confidant. Even a brainwashed confidant would be kinda nice.

“Yeah, what is it, Sunny?”

“Have you noticed anything strange going on?”

A pause. “Strange?”

“Yeah, strange. Weird. Mysterious.”

Another pause as they turned a corner. “Not really?”

“I’m wondering about Liss. I think she might be doing something to us.”

“Liss?” Laine sounded... relieved? “Why Liss?”

“Well, everyone seemed so... I dunno, impressed with her I guess? Sam was practically drooling, and she’s getting married next week. Even I couldn’t keep my eyes off her.”

“Okay, I’m with you so far...”

“And I mean it would be just perfect if this wasn’t just some game of laser tag but like some giant mystery that we had to unravel with Liss at the middle of it and her playing with all of us and making us d—”

Laine put a hand on Sunny’s shoulder. “Easy, easy. Okay.” Sunny turned. Laine was wearing a wide grin. “You’ve been watching way, way too much ACD, Sunny. Liss isn’t Doctor D.“

Sunny took a breath. “You sure? Because if she was...”

“Yeah, I know.” Laine shook her head. “I’d be saying the same if I was her ‘agent’ or whatever.”

“Okay, but hear me out, alright? Chere is like super irritated with me, more than usual. And I feel more, I dunno, exuberant than I usually do? And ’Theen’s a bit more airheaded, and Scar’s—“

“Taller?” Laine cut in sarcastically. “Really, this isn’t unusual—”

“No but, if Liss was playing games with us, I mean, that’s how I would do it. Keep people a little apart, separated. It’s a good thing we have Tanya on our side.“

Laine, strangely, blushed bright red. “We... we do?”

“Yeah! Tanya can be trusted, right?” Sunny’s eyes widened and she took a deep breath as she realized something. “Hey! That’s probably why Liss was asking where you were during the Abduction game!”

“That’s... what?”

Sunny chattered on excitedly. “She wanted to know if you and Tanya had been talking, if you had any clues! Of course that’s why she was asking about where you—”

“Sunny!” Laine shouted. “Look out!”

Laine dodged away quickly and headed back around the corner at a dash. Sunny thought about following her, but there didn’t seem to be a reason to do anything other than just look at the spot where she had been standing. That seemed like the best course of action. She imagined a Laine-shaped cloud of cartoon dust where her friend had just been. That was amusing. A moment later, Scarlett and Annie came rushing past her, no doubt following the imaginary dust trail, trying to catch up with Laine.

Besides, the floor gave her a fantastic blank canvas to project her mental tapestry, to try and work out the mystery. Laine was clearly involved, somehow. Her reaction said as much: that blush. She knew something.

But it didn’t matter how many times she worked through it, how many lines she tried to trace, or how much she pushed at it. She couldn’t do this alone, and that meant one thing: she had to talk to Tanya.

Tanya could be trusted.

A voice, Liss’ voice, came over the speaker system for the whole arena. “All players please return to the main doors for the sudden death round.”

Sunny nodded. That seemed like that best plan. Her HUD even conveniently gave her an arrow pointing the way. Seemed wrong to just stick around in the middle of the maze when they were so nice as to give her a clear path back.

The puzzle could wait, anyway.

Sunny was last to arrive at the doors. Liss was there, along with the other seven players.

“Ah, good, you’re all here,” Liss said as Sunny jogged up. “Sudden death rules are simple. All of you will go to corners of the maze as directed, except the two Searchers. They wait here. Once the match starts, all of you will be active. If you shoot another runner, then they become ‘lost.’ The Searcher can wake them up, of course, if she comes by them. Finally, the Searcher can’t even survive a single shot, since it’s sudden death. Everyone understand?”

Eight heads nodded. Almost in unison, Sunny thought, as though Liss has programmed everyone...

“Great!” Liss looked at her tablet. “Laine, Annie, you’re the Searchers.” She tapped a control. “Runners, to your places! See you all in a couple minutes.” Liss turned on her heel and practically floated out the door, back into the waiting room.

“Good luck everyone!” Sunny said cheerfully as the runners spread out, leaving Laine and Annie behind. Chere was walking with her. “Looks like we’re heading in about the same direction, Cici.”

“Yeah, I picked up on that, thanks.”

“Hey.” Sunny stopped and put her hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Hey, I wanted to apologize about earlier. Didn’t mean to get on your nerves, and I shouldn’t have shot you.”

Chere sighed. “Yeah, I was a little short with you, I’m sorry too.”

“We’re good?”

“We’re good.”

“Okay. I’m going that way.”

“I’m heading over there.”

Sunny nodded. “Good luck, Cici.”

“Stay warm,” Chere replied, still clearly somewhat annoyed.

Sunny gave a wave over her shoulder and kept walking until she felt that she was in the right place. Unlike before, she didn’t feel an urge to stay put, she didn’t feel like she didn’t know where she went or how to get back. She could remember the path she had taken, and had a vague sense of the maze’s layout. Waiting for the signal, she paced within her designated space, quickly hopping back if she felt she’d gone too far in one direction or another.

It didn’t take long, half a minute at most, before her HUD told her that the game had begun. Sudden death. The timer was counting up, instead of down, only really useful to figure out how much time had passed if she wound up lost. One scoring shot to win it all. One shot in the other direction and her cute panties would be piled on the shelf with the rest of her clothes.

Sunny quickly headed back the way she’d come, hoping maybe to get out in front, to keep Laine safe and take a shot or two at Annie. Chere was doing the same, it seemed, and the two met again where they had so recently split up.

“Long time, no see.”

Chere sighed again. “Maybe we should go different ways.”

“What are you trying to do?”

“Catch Annie, duh.”

“Well, me too, so maybe we should go the same way.”

Chere stopped, closed her eyes, and exhaled in exasperation. “I don’t want to walk with you, Sunny. You’re getting on my nerves.“

“I don’t want to get on your nerves, but I do want to get Annie.”

“So go another way.”

“You go another way!“

“Why do you always do this?” Chere spun to face her sister. “It’s just like when we were kids, you always pick a fight, except now we’re twenty-two, and I’ve grown up, and you’re still... Urgh!”

The words were out before Sunny thought about them. “And you’re still standing here arguing with me. So much for growing up.”

“You just...” Chere threw her hands in the air. “You don’t know when to quit. God, I don’t even think you know how to quit.“

“I don’t even know what I’m doing wrong to start with!” Sunny shouted back. “Whenever we’re together, you just all of a sudden get snippy and upset. It’s like you’re irritated that I’m using your personal oxygen or some shit. You tell me to grow up, you can’t stand to be around me for five fucking minutes!”

“It’s because you won’t shut up about your stupid TV shows, or your games, or your studies. I just don’t care, Sunny! I don’t care about circuits, and complex math, and Alters, and any of it! I just wanna talk about something else, and I wanna have a chance to talk! You haven’t let me get a word in since you were two years old!“

“I get excited about things, so what? I have some passion! I have my obsessions, I get it, I’m a fucking nerd, you dork. I kinda hope that my sister, my big sister, my twin sister would at least try to understand me, maybe wouldn’t act like standing in a room with me was the worst possible thing she could do with her time!“

“I don’t... I don’t think that, Sun! What makes you think that I—”

“Because it happens every time, Cici. Every. Time. Every time we go see Mom, every family gathering, every time we go out, you think I don’t see you rolling your eyes, setting your shoulders, bracing yourself for whatever stupid thing I’m about to say?” Sunny took a deep breath, settling herself. “And it’s been that way since we were kids, Cici, don’t pretend it hasn’t.“

Chere took a couple deep breaths herself, and seemed about to say something, before taking another. Her angry expression softened. The corner of her mouth crooked up a bit. “I’m sorry,” was all she said.

Sunny felt herself relax a bit. “I am, too, Cici.”

Chere nodded, then snickered. “Uh, I was gonna offer you a hug, but...” she blushed. “I, uh...”

Sunny threw her arms around her sister and pulled her close. “Don’t care. Not letting my life be ruled by Jeremy Edwards.”

“Who?”

“You don’t remember him?” she asked as she stepped back. “High school. We went on a couple dates. He just had a weird twin fetish.”

“Him? What?” Chere looked surprised. “Don’t be silly, Sun, he was totally into you.”

Sunny shook her head. “Nah, I mean he didn’t say anything, but—”

“We should finish this game first before we—”

Both their HUDs locked up, flashing a new message.

Blue team wins!

“Huh.” Chere said. “Oops.”

“Yeah.” Sunny looked down. “Guess we kinda...”

“Fucked that one up,” Chere finished, with a grim chuckle.

There was a moment of silence as the walls lit up with arrows to guide them back to the waiting room.

“You... uh, you worried about...” Sunny began.

“I should be, I think? I dunno.” Chere replied. “I’m not eager, but at the same time...“

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Sunny giggled. “Be the first time anyone but me ‘n’ my doc have seen it in ages.”

Chere blinked. Then laughed. Sunny felt herself blushing. “S-sorry, Sun. I shouldn’t laugh...”

“Nah, it’s okay.” Sunny grinned. “I just don’t have time to... you know. Never been a priority. I know we never talked about it, but... you know I’m not really... interested, right? In sex?”

Chere swallowed, couldn’t keep a smile from her face. “Jesus, that’s awkward, Sun. Yeah, we... Mom and I, I mean... we’ve talked about it, a-about you...”

Sunny nodded. “It’s alright, Cici. Mom and I have talked about you, too, although I think that the discussions were a bit different.” She stuck out her tongue.

“Hey! I don’t... not that much!“

“Summer vacation, two years ago, remember? Dating four different guys in two months? And you brought all of them home to meet us?“

It was Chere’s turn to blush. “Look, just because you don’t...“

“Yeah, yeah, you’re making up for my lost time, you got my share of the lust.” Sunny laughed. “Let’s get back to the others, alright? Before they start asking where we’ve gone?” She turned and started back towards the doors. “Besides, if you’re not gonna be an awesome nerd like I am, all that passion has to go somewhere, right?”

“Sunny!” Chere snapped, but she laughed along with her sister. “Can we talk about something else, anything else, please?“

“Yeah, sure, it was bad enough having The Talk with Mom, we don’t need to relive it at someone else’s party.”

“Sunny!”

The twins laughed the rest of the way back to the waiting room.

“We should wait for Tanya,” Fatin said. “It only seems fair.”

“Oh come on! You just wanna put it off as long as possible,” Annie replied.

“Maybe she just wants more eyes on her,” Athena suggested with a grin.

Sunny stood up, leaving her shoes and socks on the floor near her chair. “Annie’s just in a rush to see if we’re natural redheads.”

Chere, already barefoot, buried her face in her hands. Sunny heard her mutter, “Fuck,” but also heard her laughing.

“I think,” Scarlett said, sitting next to Chere, “that your sister might just kill you for that.“

“Oh, I hope not,” Liss said. “Blood is so hard to clean from these floors.”

Tanya stepped in to the waiting room from the lobby. “I always arrive at the best times in these conversations. Normally we only have to talk about blood when we have twenty jock boys running around at top speed, crashing into each other.”

“Tanya,” Liss greeted her co-worker. “Good to see you back. Your break was restful?”

Tanya nodded. “I’m back in time for the last match, I see.”

“Yeah, in just a sec,” Sam answered. “Red team still has to pay up.”

“Yeah!” Annie said. “No excuses left, Fatin!”

“Fine.” Fatin stood up and went to the front of the room. She waited a moment, then slid her black track pants down to reveal her camo-printed panties. The room cheered.

“Nice!” Athena said. “One down, three to go.”

Laine was already moving. Her eyes were down and her face red, but her shoulders were set and her movements confident and strong. She didn’t turn to face the other girls but instead let them watch as her fingers undid the green bra strap behind her back. She paused a moment, bra in hand, her bare back to her friends, who waited in respectful, anticipatory silence.

They all shouted support as she turned, still red to the tips of her ears, her soft, round breasts exposed, her dark nipples peaked. She was smiling, but Sunny noticed that when her eyes rose, they kept jumping over to look at Tanya.

Which made sense. Tanya could be trusted.

“You know,” Chere said, rising to her feet to stand next to her sister, “there’s another way we differ. It’s not just that I’m taller, or our eyes are different, or that Sunny’s hands are bigger than mine.” The two of them walked to the front. “And it’s not just that I have a birthmark on my ass, or that Sunny has a scar on her arm from where I attacked her with a knife when we were little.”

Before now, Sunny had been indifferent to stripping, to removing her last bit of clothing. As she walked to the front, her sister by her side, eight pairs of friendly and supportive eyes on the two of them, she could feel her attitude shifting. She would miss the cute cartoon sun that had attracted so much attention, of course, but this was exciting, it was appropriate and right, it was so much fun, and it was exactly what Sam wanted for her party, which just made it better still.

“There’s another, slight different between us. Sunny? If you would?”

Sunny grinned and slipped her panties off. “Natural redhead, Annie, just like I said,” she giggled. She stood there, naked, and did a little turn around to show herself off.

“Okay, okay, you’re right,” the black girl replied, clapping and laughing along with everyone else.

“Can’t tell that from me, though,” Chere said as she slipped off her own grey underwear. Like Annie, Chere was shaved clean. There were a few appreciative glances from around the room, and among the cheers, Scarlett let out a wolf whistle.

Chere was bright, bright red. Sunny laughed. “C’mon, Cici, let’s get our shoes back on so we can go back in the maze with some dignity.” And as she walked past Tanya, in a soft voice, she asked, “Can I talk to you?“

Tanya smiled and nodded, although she looked a bit confused. But that was alright, she knew that Tanya could be trusted.

“Okay, everyone,” LIss said, getting the attention of the room. “I’m going to turn the tablet back over to Tanya, but I’ll be around, helping to keep things running. Mosty I’ll be getting dessert ready.”

The girls cheered. “Thanks, Liss!” Sam said.

“And I get to run my favourite little game,” Tanya continued as the noise level came down. “Annie, Scarlett, over to red team. Sunny, Fatin, you girls get blue. It’s time for a round of The Virus.“