Natalia put what she just heard out of her mind as she walked across the ship towards the workshop area where Florrie had set up. Over the past day Natalia had been preoccupied with her own personal problems, but Florrie had apparently been absorbed in a new project thanks to something delivered by Phi’Scia when she arrived.

And speaking of whom, Phi’Scia caught up and started walking alongside her. “Kendrick-san, how are you feeling today? Any complications with the conditioning?”

The first part of that caught Natalia off-guard. “‘Kendrick-san’?”

Phi’Scia blushed a bit, apparently having realised her slight faux-pas, “oh, sorry, you’re from an Australian-Japanese family, so I presumed it was appropriate to use ‘-san’ as an honorific and your last name instead of your first.”

Natalia blinked, processing this, but she chuckled, shaking her head. “Nah, we don’t do that in this household, but I totally get why you’d make that mistake. We only use Japanese honorifics when we’re actually speaking Japanese.” She then began speaking fluent Japanese, “”

Phi’Scia had rapidly gone from embarrassment to grinning from ear to ear as she listened to Natalia. “Earth is going to be such a wonderful subject for a long-term research project. It’s not every day when you get to study an relatively unknown populated world and its various cultures. I imagine once the coast is clear and the planet isn’t at risk of being overrun by the Salvron, a lot of Miama are going to come here to study as much as possible.”

Natalia only nodded, not having much to say about that, as they arrived at the workshop space. She blinked as she looked over the project itself, standing at two full metres in height - an armoured high-tech battlesuit equipped with multiple weapons (mainly energy weapons, missiles and a beam sword on the hip) and jet boosters on the legs, feet, sides and back. It looked like something some sort of sci-fi super-soldier would wear, though curiously it lacked a proper helmet visor. Multiple weapons were either mounted onto or built-in to the hands, arms, shoulders, head, and even the torso. The individual parts looked worn and the paintjob was long gone. But ultimately the impression she got was ‘Iron Man meets Master Chief’ in terms of form and function. “What on Earth…?”

Florrie peered around from behind the suit, wearing protective clothing and gear, using a stepladder. “Oh, Nat, Phi! The suit’s coming along pretty nicely, I should have it fully assembled and working properly by tonight!”

“Florrie, that looks like something Tony Stark would build. Is that what Phi’Scia delivered?!”

Phi’Scia nodded, walking over to the suit and putting a hand on the left arm, “all of this was just a bunch of second-hand older parts sent down by Sal’Arzia, who figured you two would be able to do something with them, at least. I’ve been assisting Florrie with understanding the documentation and how things go together, but I wasn’t expecting her to put all of this together so quickly.”

Florrie snorted as she got back to work, “I’m not working with a box of scraps in a cave, Phi. These are kinda used but still very workable, I mostly just need to do a bit of maintenance and put the whole thing together.”

“I think you’re underselling how impressive this is, Florrie, most of this was barely recognisable as being parts of a suit last night.”

Natalia didn’t find this all that surprising. Despite her issues, Florrie was genuinely brilliant, if she had the right documentation for all of these parts it wouldn’t have taken much effort from her to figure out how everything worked and put it all together. Natalia walked around the suit, taking a good look at it - it certainly would be functional enough when put together, it was mostly the back that was messy, with exposed wires and cabling of types that she had never seen before. She noticed there wasn’t any kind of opening in the back where Florrie (or anyone else for that matter) could pilot it, and the suit itself was certainly too tall for her to pilot properly. “Is this supposed to be controlled remotely?”

Florrie let out a laugh. “Nope! You’ll see when we actually get this baby working! Come on, we’ll get it done way faster if you actually help!”

“Give me the documentation first, otherwise I’ll just screw it up,” Natalia said flatly.

“Already sent to your neural interface,” Phi’Scia said.

“I can confirm that,” NIA said, as a file transfer notification appeared in the corner of Natalia’s vision. Even after a couple of weeks of basically being a cyborg, Natalia was still having trouble fully getting used to the reality of all of her cybernetic enhancements. “Would you like me to provide the data to your brain?”

“One mo, talking to NIA,” Natalia said. “You can do that?!”

“Well, technically, no, not directly, that’s a nut that hasn’t been properly cracked yet. What I can do, however, is simulate the process of knowledge absorption.”

“Um, alright, give it a shot.”

Natalia felt a bit of whiplash as about a minute flashed before her eyes, though in many ways she swore she had spent about an hour of reading the documentation non-stop in a small room. But now she could properly recall every single page of the documentation for the different parts. “Okay, guess I’ve already read the whole lot. Somehow. Wow this is so weird.”

“Good, then you can help me set this up. There’s safety gloves and stuff over there,” Florrie said as she gestured to a nearby workbench.

“Alright, alright, geez,” said Natalia, though she wasn’t exactly upset about it as she went to put some gloves on. She wanted to get into working on this thing as well.

❖

In about an hour the pair, with a bit of extra help from Phi’Scia, finally got the entire thing fully hooked up and ready for testing, moving it over to the training area, where a whole bunch of training dummies were set up. Gartho had come over to help get the dummies ready, and looked fairly eager to see what would come of it. “They should be ready, Florrie. We’re ready to begin.”

“Awesome! Alright, here goes…” Florrie powered the suit on, causing it to hum to life as the various lights on it glowed, and then pushed her hand against a plate on the back of the suit, and her body suddenly zapped right into it, disappearing entirely.

Natalia blinked, putting the dots together. There was apparently still a ‘cockpit’ of sorts, but not in the way she thought it it normally. Her mind skimmed through the parts documentation, and she recalled a specific magi-tech component similar to Aurelius’ cube, which basically was a compressed cockpit, which even had safety measure that caused the automatic ejection of the user or the device itself when the component was actively being damaged or about to be destroyed. “Okay, so that’s how it works…”

“Well, of course, how else was she going to pilot it directly?” Phi’Scia said. “Military-grade drones are largely banned in galactic warfare for all sorts of reasons, so piloting it remotely was out of the question.”

The suit began to move, looking at its arms first. Florrie’s voice came from the head. “Oh, this is SO COOL! Next time we chat with Sal I am so thanking her for this!”

“Florrie, how are you doing that?” Natalia asked, “you okay in there?”

“I am so much better than okay!” Florrie giggled. “It’s like one of those cockpits from G Gundam, except without the skin-tight suit and stuff.”

“Specifically, it’s similar to the simulation chambers, except a bit smaller in size, relatively speaking,” Gartho said.

The suit began to point a couple of palm-integrated energy blasters at the dummies, and started firing bursts. Florrie was squealing in pure delight as her shots ripped apart the the virtual matter. “Yes yes yes YES! This is all I could’ve ever wanted and THEN SOME!”

Phi’Scia chuckled, “she’s certainly enjoying this…”

Natalia was impressed, but she was somewhat amused by how overexcited Florrie was about it. Then again, Natalia probably would be if she was in her shoes. “Florrie, you haven’t even tried out half the suit’s arsenal, settle down.”

Florrie ignored her, however, laughing manically as she put the hands together and charged up a dual-palm blast, firing off a large sphere of energy that exploded violently and took out multiple dummies at once.

And then the suit suddenly shut down, Florrie suddenly and immediately being ejected onto the floor, with her body surrounded with a protective field that disappeared once she stopped moving. She sat up, pouting. “Oh come on, seriously?!”

“You overloaded the power core,” Gartho sighed, “I suspect the power routing was somewhat suboptimal.”

“Well, shit. I should’ve figured something would go wrong with the first test,” Florrie sighed as she stood up. “Gonna have to do some tweaking…”

“I’ll help you with that. The fact that it worked that well at all with your first attempt is still very impressive,” said Gartho with a nod.

Natalia nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that went impressively well for your first time with tech like this. I’m sure you can get it fully working!”

Florrie grinned, “thanks. Well, best get to it, I want to make sure this thing can do everything I want it to do!”

“We probably should begin our conditioning session for today, then, and go fetch Captain Valitar,” Phi’Scia said. “They’ll be at this for a while, I think.”

Natalia nodded. She wasn’t sure whether to be dreading it or be excited.

❖

After fetching Tharen on the way to her room, Natalia sat down on her bed, taking deep breaths. She was putting her own mind in the hands of someone she only met a day ago. But considering Phi’Scia had saved her from being completely brainwashed, she felt she could at least trust her. And NIA had told her that it was more challenging for magic to alter an artificial intelligence, especially one shielded against the ‘Mind’ rune, so Natalia could trust her even if she couldn’t trust her own mind.

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” Phi’Scia said, sitting next to her. “I’m going to set up a mental ‘program’ in your brain that should set myself, Captain Valitar, Agent Beathwe, Lady Leigh and Magister Kruse as your ‘masters’ as far as your mental conditioning is concerned, so any orders we provide will take precedence. Even if Hanzo gets a hold of you again, anything he does will be completely subordinate, and the program will automatically wind back any further attempts at mentally conditioning you by anyone other than myself or Aurelius. Do you have any questions?”

“What’s to stop Hanzo from just getting rid of it?” Natalia asked.

Phi’Scia smiled in an oddly smug way that felt uncharacteristic of her, despite how little Natalia had actually interacted with her. “As if I’d let that scoundrel mess with my work. Your neural interface stores and resets the effect whenever unauthorised changes are detected, using your own Energeia. And he’s not going to find out unless he figures out to dig into your mind, and if he could you’d be in much deeper trouble at this point.”

Tharen chuckled, “see, she’s got it all figured out.”

Natalia nodded, “okay, yeah, I think I’m good. I’m ready.”

Phi’Scia nodded. “Good. Just close your eyes, and relax, try to empty your mind.”

Natalia closed her eyes, doing as instructed, trying to focus on her breathing. She felt Phi’Scia stand up from the bed, the footsteps around her, and then Phi’Scia’s fingers on her temples, and a bit of tingling from the Energeia flow. Images of her ‘masters’ flashed in her brain, though she tried not to think about them. Something in her mind shifted, a framework of understanding being constructed of how she should conduct herself and who she should obey, assuming she chose to obey at all. She was not entirely her own master, but at the same time the holders of the reins were people she could trust.

After a while, Phi’Scia took her fingers away. “It’s done.”

Natalia opened her eyes, seeing Phi’Scia standing in front of her. “Uh, I don’t feel much different, I suppose.”

“The changes will really only become evident once you begin experiencing their effects,” Phi’Scia said, gesturing to Tharen as she stepped aside, “Captain, if you would?”

“’Tharen’ is fine here, Phi,” Tharen chuckled. “Alright, Natalia, we’re gonna do a bit of roleplay. I’m going to give commands as your ‘Master’, and yer gonna tell me how deeply compelled you were to obey them. Ready?”

Natalia gulped. “Uh, sure.”

“Natalia, get on your knees.”

Natalia immediately felt compelled to do as commanded, but she barely restrained herself, frozen in place as she held herself back. “Oh, geez, I almost did that.”

“That tells me more than enough about the current state of your conditioning and how the program interacts with that,” Phi’Scia sighed. “We still have much work to be done, then. I won’t personally participate, and you can decline to do this if you wish, but I’d like to study your behaviour under the effects of the conditioning in a safe sexual context.”

“I mean, if you’re both okay with it?!” Natalia said nervously. “I mean… It might be fun…”

Tharen nodded, “alright, don’t try to resist our commands, but feel free to let us know if you start becoming uncomfortable with this. Natalia, second verse, same as the first - on your knees, now.”

Natalia didn’t bother restraining herself, immediately getting off the bed and falling onto her knees, as if she was pulled by a mental leash.

“Now on all fours.”

She was on all fours immediately after processing the command. Much to her own surprise, this felt weirdly exhilarating. And then there was the feeling between her legs. She couldn’t help but think, oh God, am I that much of a… Pervert? Sub?

It only got worse when, as she was taking notes, Phi’Scia commanded, “tell me how you feel about this, Natalia.”

“It feels… Weirdly exhilarating… And arousing,” Natalia admitted, unable to restrain herself from telling the truth. “I… I don’t hate this. I think might actually kinda like it.”

“That’s because you’re trying this in a safe environment with people you like and trust, rather than with a toxic, manipulative individual like Hanzo,” Phi’Scia said. “There’s no need to be ashamed of it, everyone has their sexual ‘kinks’.”

“Hypnosis is supposed to be almost fake, like, it doesn’t work unless the subject wants to follow orders. Magic hypnosis is… A whole other ball game, it’s kind crazy.”

“Again, you can tell us if anything we’re doing makes you feel uncomfortable,” said Tharen. “You wanna keep going?”

Natalia bit her lip as she thought it over. She could stop anytime she wanted, but her curiosity was rapidly getting the better of her. This was for her own sexual and mental health, after all, why not give it a go? “Sure.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Tharen chuckled, “okay, if we’re gonna be roleplaying, and you’re already on all fours… How about some pet-play? Like, say, acting like one of your Earth dogs. You okay with that?”

Natalia immediately felt a tinge of anticipation between her legs. “Um, sure!”

“Alrighty, then. Now, strip. Dogs don’t have clothes, right?”

“Y-Yes, Master!” Natalia wasted little time stripping away her clothing, until she was buck naked, and returned to being on all fours. “Now what?”

“Dogs also don’t talk. You want to be a good dog, don’t you?” Tharen said.

Natalia found herself unable to speak normally, even if she wanted to, audibly barking as she stuck her tongue out.

“Get on your back, time for belly rubs!”

Natalia flipped onto her back without a second thought, panting and posing like a dog, as Tharen came around to give her the belly-rubs she so desperately desired. Her pussy was already wet. Oh… Oh geez I’m actually thinking like a dog, now?! Why is this so hot?!

“There’s a good girl,” Tharen cooed, as she gave her belly-rubs, his claws feeling surprisingly good on her belly.

Natalia barked again happily. Being praised for her obedience turned her on so fucking much.

Tharen stripped naked as well, his dick rapidly getting hard as he groped her breast. “Now for the really fun part. Natalia, why don’t you get up and start licking and sucking my dick?”

Yes, Master~! Natalia gleefully thought in her head as she got back on all fours, and began licking and sucking on Tharen’s dick without restraint, causing him to groan. She glanced to the side, and noticed Phi’Scia had unzipped her suit and was masturbating. Wow, I thought she’d handle this more clinically, but she’s dirtier than I thought…

“Very good girl. You’re doing very well, Natalia. Your master is pleased,” Tharen said, as he pet her head, making Natalia even more wet than before. She restrained the urge to squeal happily from the praise for her performance. After a bit, he commanded, “okay, that’s enough foreplay, babe. Turn around so I can fuck that bitch pussy of yours.”

Natalia stopped sucking, and immediately turned around, facing her rear towards him shaking it with a whimper, thinking, please, Master, I need your dick so fucking bad right now!

“I think telling you you’re a good girl is getting repetitive, but I’ll say it anyway, because you are~” Tharen chuckled, as he mounted her, and pushed into Natalia’s folds.

Natalia let out a lustful moan as she felt him plunge into her. She couldn’t get over how good this made her feel. As Tharen started thrusting in and out of her, she continued to pant and moan, especially when she managed to reach up to grope her tits.

She couldn’t deny it anymore - she was a hardcore sub, and she loved it. And she loved slave-play and pet-play, too. It was an intense sexual awakening for her, and she didn’t want to go back.

Fully immersed in Tharen fucking and dominating her, Natalia continued to lustfully moan as he thrust into her faster and faster until he finally blasted his load inside of her, inducing her own orgasm, causing her to collapse, spilling mixed juices onto the floor as she was enthralled by the sheer ecstasy of it all.

After about a minute or two, Tharen got up, panting, “your pussy never gets old, doll… You alright?”

“Woof…”

“Okay, that’s enough of the dog thing, Nat.”

Natalia sat up, moaning as she turned back towards Tharen, “that was fucking amazing, Master.”

Tharen actually looked a bit uncomfortable. “You don’t have to call me that, Nat. You sure you’re not getting too into it?”

Natalia giggled, shaking her head, “no, it’s fine, I thought we were still doing the slave-play part. You were right, Tharen. I’m a total sub and I fucking love it. I know, it sounds super ironic but it feels so liberating.”

Tharen sighed, but smiled. “Arright, as long as you feel comfortable with it. We just want you to get used to it, okay?”

Natalia smiled, kissing him on the cheek. “Thanks, Tharen. I’m glad you’re so mindful of how I feel.”

Tharen looked over his shoulder, seeing Phi’Scia panting, having also orgasmed. “Looks like you enjoyed that too, Phi. You sure you don’t wanna join in?”

Phi’Scia made an adorable reptilian squeak. “N-No thank you, I’m just fine observing!”

“Arright, if yer sure.” Tharen turned back to Natalia, “wanna keep going and experimenting?”

“Oh fuck yes, Master,” Natalia grinned.

❖

Natalia found herself eating lunch the following day without Florrie, who was busy with something else that afternoon. It was not like they were joined at the hip on lunch breaks. Natalia just liked being by herself sometimes.

Once she was done eating lunch, she decided to go to the library - maybe do some research on some of the things that were suddenly rather relevant lately. She packed her bag and started walking.

Halfway there, an arm wrapped around the back of her waist. An immediate feeling of panic came over her. “What are you-”

“Not another word,” spoke the man who had suddenly came up from behind. The voice and the look was unmistakable. “Only you can see and hear me right now. People will get suspicious if you start talking to someone who isn’t there, no?”

Natalia had noticed people giving her odd looks for a moment, but when she seemingly calmed down, they started ignoring her, likely thinking someone bumped into her rather roughly.

Hanzo chuckled, “let’s talk somewhere more private, shall we?”

Natalia grit her teeth, whispering, “how are you…?”

“Here and not completely fucked up? Well, my real body isn’t here, but this isn’t my real body,” said Hanzo, giving Natalia’s ass a firm grope, “I can split off one of my tails as a ‘clone body’ that I can control remotely. It’s not as strong, but it’s got enough magical power for this. And don’t think you can permanently weaken me by destroying this body, the tail will just return to me.”

“Bastard is concealing his magical signature. Looks like he’s still got some tricks up his sleeve,” NIA mused.

Hanzo proceeded to steer her to the nearest women’s toilets, finding an open cubicle and going in, locking it behind them. Hanzo sat down on the toilet seat, sat her down on his lap, and then cast a couple of additional spells. “There. We should have total privacy, nobody can hear us while we’re in here, and it’ll look like it’s just you on the toilet.”

“What the fuck are you playing at this time, you bastard, and give me a reason why I shouldn’t just shank you with my blade rifle right now,” Natalia snarled, turning around, panic giving way to rage. This clone body was weaker, she could easily kick his ass, and failing that, NIA could call for help.

“To give you another opportunity, my dear,” the fox spirit said as he changed into his original form, stroking her chin with a finger. “I know I got most of the way towards making you mine last time. That wouldn’t have been undone so easily. You still crave a master to serve.”

Natalia grit her teeth. He wasn’t… Wrong, despite Phi’Scia’s efforts. “I can still choose my own master until the conditioning is gone.”

“Perhaps. But do you want the conditioning to go away?” Hanzo chuckled, staring into her eyes. “I can be a proper master that nobody else can. I’ve got quite a bit of experience. But this time I’m letting you try before you buy. If you promise me to come to me this time every day until I recover, and act as my sex slave, I will give you the opportunity to continue to be my slave or walk away. No strings attached.”

“And how am I supposed to know you’ll hold up your end of the bargain?”

Hanzo produced a rolled parchment, written in rather artful Japanese, and an ink pen. His signature was already inscribed on it. “We form a contract binding us both.”

Natalia looked over the terms written on the contract. It was almost exactly as he stated, with the added condition that all mental conditioning induced by Hanzo during the contract period (which she would be contractually obligated to not resist) would automatically be undone when the time came to make the choice. Hanzo would also be unable to inflict any kind of permanent harm on Natalia.

She wasn’t sure why she would possibly want to actually sign it. It made absolutely no sense, it didn’t benefit her whatso-

Wait. An idea formed in her head, one that seemed like a bad idea but became increasingly appealing the more she thought about it. Just go along with it, pretend to desire his dominance, butter him up, and maybe it might lead to an opportunity to make him drop his guard or even lead him into a trap. The thought of it really turned her on. He wouldn’t be able to fully brainwash her, so what was the harm in indulging herself?

“I’m not convinced this isn’t a bad idea, Natalia,” NIA warned.

“No, this’ll totally work! He’s not that smart, and there’s no way he can brainwash me fully now! And there’s no way I’d willingly become his slave, either. Think about it, no matter what he does, we win! And I get to have some fun in the meantime! It’s perfect!”

“Natalia, stop thinking with your vagina, I don’t think you’re seriously considering the possibility that you might actually-”

“Well? This is a one-time opportunity, and I’m not interested in waiting for you to make up your mind,” Hanzo said impatiently.

“Anyway, we don’t have time to debate it or ask for advice. I’m going for it,” Natalia thought, and signed the contract. “F-Fine. I accept the terms.”

She could hear NIA sigh. “Just… Don’t say I didn’t warn you if something goes wrong.”

Yeah, right. There was no way Natalia could imagine things going wrong at all, now.

She already felt tingling through her body as the effects took hold, and the contract glowed, Hanzo stowing it away. “Good girl. You’re mine every lunch period for the next week. Let’s begin, shall we? Turn around.”

Natalia turned towards the cubicle door, as he conjured up another hypnotic orb like last time. She was immediately immersed in the ripples of colour, smiling dumbly as she found herself outright incapable of resisting its influence on her mind.

His fingers rubbed her temples, Energeia flowing into her mind. He began to whisper commands at his leisure, sinking her deeper and deeper, until he reached the point he didn’t succeed at last time. “I am your master. Swear total allegiance to me, Natalia, and take your place by my side.”

“Yes, Master Hanzo. I am your loyal slave,” Natalia said dutifully and without even thinking.

The orb dissipated, and Natalia’s mind refocused as Master began groping her breasts. “Good girl. How do you feel?”

Natalia giggled, enjoying the feel of his hands, “I feel really good, Master. You were right all along, being your sex slave was my true calling.”

“Then this next week is going to so much more fun than I was expecting,” Hanzo grinned, as he turned her to the side, and kissed her. Natalia eagerly reciprocated.

The fox pulled up her top, his clothes disappearing and exposing his rather large and hard canine cock, feeling up her bare breasts and reaching into her pants to finger her pussy. Natalia kept kissing him, tangling tongues with him. Kissing someone with a snout was odd, but between him and Tharen, she felt she was likely to get used to it fairly quickly.

Hanzo broke the kiss, his penis popping up between Natalia’s legs. “Put those tits to good use, slut.”

“Yes, Master,” Natalia smiled, getting off of him and getting down on her knees, putting his cock between her huge tits. The feel and shape of his dick was quite new, and she was excited to try it out as she began mashing it between her boobs, and started licking and sucking, enticed by the exotic taste. She could feel it throbbing between her breasts and in her mouth, and the taste of his pre-cum as he groaned in pleasure was also delightful.

“Fuck, you’re pretty good, you little whore,” Hanzo groaned. “Shame it’s only gonna be for one hour a day, but plowing your slutty cunt is gonna great, especially when you become mine permanently.”

Natalia found herself eagerly wanting that day to come as soon as possible. Still, right now she needed to get her master off, and she redoubled her efforts, soon causing him to blow his load right into her mouth, and she swallowed every last drop without complaint.

Hanzo groaned, petting her head, “fuck yes, that was great. Take off your pants.”

Natalia got off his cock, and took off her shoes and her pants as quickly as she could as she watched his dick rise once more, eagerly awaiting his next command as her soaked pussy dripped onto the floor.

The command didn’t come. Instead he spun her around, and grabbed her, holding her over his cock and slamming her down onto it, making her squeal in ecstasy. Instead of his hands lifting her, she could feel magical forces on her body lifting her up and down like a sex toy as he groped her breasts from behind, causing milk to leak out.

The fox spirit laughed, fucking her roughly and fondling her without regard for her comfort. “You love this, don’t you, you eager little sub slut?”

“Yes, Master! God, I need this more than anything in the world! I’m just an eager cocksleeve for you!” Natalia howled lustfully, her eyes rolling back as he fucked her as hard and fast as he could. She had basically no input in the whole thing, not that she cared in the slightest, she was his sex toy, what did it matter if she had no agency in how he fucked her?

Suddenly, something changed - his cock locked up inside of her. The canine dick had knotted her, which was a strange but exciting thing that no doubt she’d enjoy countless more times.

Then it erupted, filling her to the brim with his seed, causing her to orgasm in tandem, shuddering as she rode the sheer high back down to Earth.

And with that, the program started resetting her conditioning. While it would take some time, she had enough clarity to be aware of what he had done to her mentally but still be able to act as she was doing just before. “Oh, yes, Master… That was amazing…”

She barely noticed him use magic to clean up the resulting mess. “Well, I’d love to keep going, but we’re out of time. See you tomorrow, my little cock-hungry slut~”

He disappeared, causing her to fall down onto the toilet seat. Natalia checked the time - five minutes before class.

She groaned, standing up and putting her clothes back on. The contrast between him and Tharen couldn’t be more clear, and, frankly, now that her mind was clearer, it only made it clearer that he was too much of a toxic partner for her.

Still… There was a perverse appeal to his kind of domineering… No, she set that aside for now. She took a piss while she was there, got herself organised, and left, trying not to think about that for the rest of the day.

❖

Phi’Scia paced around Natalia’s bedroom rubbing her temples. “Ugh… I can’t believe you actually did that… I know he was pressuring to you make a decision quickly, but you do realise you’ve put yourself in the hands of that rapist manic?”

“Only for an hour a day, and it’s a great chance to give him enough rope to hang himself with. I might be able to trick him into revealing where he’s hiding, or even failing that, trick him into walking right into a trap when we meet for the final time,” said Natalia, laughing sheepishly as she stood in the middle of the room. “It’s not a bad plan!”

“Maybe, but I don’t like it. I’m worried he’ll try to pull something over on you, and you’ll have to endure something you consent to,” Phi’Scia frowned, turning to her. “I know you don’t want your sisters to know about this, but… Just keep me in the loop and report to me what he does, okay? That’s an order as one of your ‘temporary masters’, just in case he orders you not to tell anyone.”

Natalia could feel the effect of the command already, and fortunately, it did seem to supersede Hanzo’s control over her. “I will, Phi.”

“Well, good news is, he specified only his conditioning would be undone by the contract, so our daily de-programming sessions should still be fine,” Phi’Scia said. “Again, though. I know it’s too late to back out, but he starts doing something especially shifty, let me know. I’ll figure something out.”

Natalia nodded, with a sigh. “Yeah, will do. Thanks, Phi. But I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

She restrained herself from saying ‘what’s the worst that could happen?’, but she wasn’t prepared for the real worst thing that could actually happen…