Note: I don’t remember a lot of the rules to card games like Texas Hold’em so they may not be depicted correctly here in this story. I’d ask that if you do know the rules then please don’t roast me too hard. You can roast me but, you know, not in a mean way. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

There wasn’t much left on Taria’s side of the table. Meryn’s eyes were cool as ever, not even betraying confidence or satisfaction at her seemingly inevitable win. Taria eyed the cards as Meryn dealt them, trying to come up with some way to out bluff the stone faced crime fighter.

She didn’t even move for the two cards placed in front of her, instead waiting for the flop when Meryn would flip three of the five cards in the middle of the table. Meryn checked her two cards and waited for Taria, still remaining expressionless.

In the hole, Taria’s two cards showed a Three of Hearts and a Jack of Spades. Without much to bet with it seemed a risk to stay in for this round. But conceding another round to Meryn and losing her blind bet yet again couldn’t be good either. So Taria rapped the table with her knuckles, keeping a cold stare on Meryn.

“Check,” she said.

Meryn didn’t flinch, tapping the table once seconds after Taria. “Check.”

Meryn flipped three cards over in the centre of the table. The three cards showed the Three of Diamonds, the Jack of Clubs, and the Eight of Clubs. Two pair Taria thought instinctively. She took a chance and pushed her new bet forward, dropping ten of her last fifty dollars down in the centre. She hoped it would be enough to scare off Meryn.

“Raise,” Meryn said, pushing fifteen dollars to the centre of the table.

The attempt backfired and Taria, desperate to get back in the game, placed another five in the centre. “Call,” she said.

With both players still in, Meryn flipped over one more card; a Three of Clubs. Full House Taria thought to herself. Gotta chance it.

With thirty-five dollars left on her side of the table, Taria pushed twenty dollars into the middle of the table, raising the bet yet again.

“Raise,” she said.

Though she might have imagined it, Taria thought she saw the traces of a smirk cross Meryn’s lips in that moment. Crap. What does she have?

“I’ll call,” Meryn said, equalling Taria’s bet.

“You sure you want to do that?” Taria asked, trying everything she could to scare Meryn off. She did have a good hand, after all, and Meryn was unlikely to beat it. But Meryn was as fearless as she always was and leaned back in her chair, still not betraying a single emotion.

“Pretty damn sure,” she said.

Meryn flipped over the last card in the centre; an Eight of Hearts. Taria’s heart sank a bit. Crap. Could she really have two eights in the hole? Or maybe she has two Jacks? Might be why she’s seemed so confident this whole time.

Taria had lost enough money to Meryn already. But she didn’t want to lose all of it. Staying in this round might prove a costly decision if Meryn somehow had a better hand. Mulling over her decision, Taria decided that Meryn had to have a better hand and, in spite of her full house, she would have to fold and concede to avoid losing any more of her money.

She tossed her cards down on the table and leaned back in her chair. “I fold,” she said. Taria furrowed her brow when she saw the faint traces of a smile curl Meryn’s lips.

“You must have had a bad hand,” Meryn said. She revealed her two cards, an Ace and a King, and announced her hand. “Two pair, Eights over Threes.”

Taria pounded the table with one shut fist. “Are you kidding me? God damn it!”

“What?” Meryn asked, shuffling the pot to her side of the table. “What did you have?”

“I had a goddamn full house! How do you keep doing this to me?”

Meryn shrugged. “Far as I can tell I haven’t done anything to you. Maybe you just need practice.”

Taria just sighed and shook her head. “I can’t believe I keep falling for it.”

“It’s your deal,” Meryn said.

Taria scooped up her remaining money and stood from the table. “No. I’m done. You win. I’m not losing all my money to you again.”

Meryn sat back and started counting the money she had won. “You didn’t lose that much. I mean it is only a hundred and-”

“No need to gloat, Meryn,” Taria said.

Meryn stood up with her, pocketing the money she had won from Taria and they left the HQ’s lounge together. They had a destination in mind. They were to meet Artema and Jonas in Artema’s office for some kind of under-the-radar mission. Neither of them knew what they were in for but Taria would take it as a welcome break to losing to Meryn at cards. Of course, with they way things had been going lately, maybe she would rather keep losing at cards.

...

The whole time, Taria could not keep her eyes off her card partner. She had no idea Meryn knew how to dress so... elegantly. It was a bit of a strange new side to see from the usually reserved loner.

But all three of them had to dress for the occasion. For this mission, Artema had chosen to send in both Taria and Meryn and their hacking, code breaking master Elyn. The three of them remembered back to a very weary and bruised Jonas explaining the situation to them in Artema’s office.

“We’ve got to do this one quietly,” he began. “We’ve had intel about the Royal Casino for a long time. But, of course, the director never wanted to pursue our leads and considered the casino a dead end. But we’ve known that Jhana owns the place. What we need is proof that she is using it to fund her illegal asylum. As soon as we have that then I think even the director will have no choice but to help us take down Jhana.”

The casino itself was a wide, single story building with bright, purple lights proudly displaying its name on the front. Two burly people, a man and a woman, guarded either side of the entrance and checked ID for the people queuing up to enter. The place only welcomed those in fancy dress so each of the three women had to look the part.

As Jonas explained, “We can’t even so much as give the hint of an appearance that we’re there on a mission. You have to look the part and play the part as a party of gamblers out for a night of fun. If any of this gets back to the director then we’re sunk.”

It seemed a strangely public place to try a covert mission but there wasn’t much choice. If the Agency didn’t get something tangible on Jhana and loosen whatever hold she had over the director then their jobs would only get harder and harder. The worst part of the job was that it required them all to slip away from the casino floor without being noticed. The place was full of tight security, too, and Jonas had no power to hack any systems remotely as it seemed Jhana protected the casino with the toughest encryption and security that she could find. All he could do was hope to guide them from afar.

“We’ve noted a pattern,” Jonas said. “Well, those I’ve managed to get back anyway. Jhana still has a few locked away in that damn asylum. But this will be our chance to break them out and shut it down. Anyway, Jhana has two offices in the building. One is on the ground floor and she keeps both a small safe and a computer with some pretty hefty security software. Jhana is definitely keeping records of something in both places and we need to find out what. But then there’s her hidden office downstairs near the vault.”

Jonas had drawn a blueprint of the casino from the little intel he’d been able to gather over time. “We have no real idea what goes on down there but she does spend some time in there and it would be the perfect place to hide sensitive information. We need to get someone in there, too.”

Elyn decided to head to the ground floor office and put her skills to use. It would be the easiest to get to as well so she could do it on her own. Taria and Meryn would stick together and head for the basement office. With their roles and their fancy outfits taken care of, Jonas nodded to them solemnly as they left. After testing each of their earpieces, Jonas and Artema stopped them one last time before they headed out.

“Good luck,” Jonas said. “And please be careful.”

“Lanala and I will be on standby if something goes wrong,” Artema said. “Just know that I won’t leave any of you ladies behind. Risk or no, we will all come home together.”

Artema’s inspiring words faded from Taria’s mind as Meryn caught her attention again. Agent Gold was dressed to the nines. The dress she wore was short and yellow but covered in gold sparkles. The skirt rested about six inches above Meryn’s knees and it was held up by thin, frilled shoulder straps that also sparkled and danced in the light. Meryn also wore a pair of yellow, open-toed heels to match the dress and, with her toned figure and accentuated curves, Taria found herself unable to tear her eyes away. The sight was not unpleasant but it was so strange to see Meryn rock such a look so well. She had even put matching yellow clips in her bobbed, red hair and taken so much care with her makeup it made Taria wonder if Meryn was hiding a real fashionista beneath the surface.

Taria herself, of course, didn’t look bad either. With one shoulder bare, Taria’s black dress was a few inches shorter than Meryn’s and bore her toned legs, though she also wore dark nylons to keep with the look. The one strap on her dress came down from her left shoulder to leave the right bare and it caused Taria to get a lot of looks from both men and women. It didn’t help that her usually short frame had been heightened by the heeled, strappy black sandals she wore to match the dress. Taria had not done much with her blue bob cut, still leaving the bangs to cover her right eye but the look just made people stare all the more. But neither of them had prepared for this night as much as Elyn.

Never one to be outdone, Elyn had gone full out for showing herself off. She had agonized over the choice but Elyn went with a short, ruby red coloured cocktail dress that was the shortest of all three of them. The skirt had a split on Elyn’s left thigh as well and showed off her elegant thigh. The dress was strapless, as were most of Elyn’s dresses, and left her shoulders bare. She had also put on matching earrings, with red amethysts cut into the shape of little flames. Her flaming red heels, adding just over four inches to her height, completed the outfit. She had even given the other ladies a little twirl when they saw her, knowing that she looked good. Elyn had even gone so far as to streak one side of her orange bangs in red. She couldn’t do much else with her short hair but Elyn relished the attention she got from people, her allies included. I may just have to get myself tied up in this outfit when I get home she thought to herself.

The place bustled outside and the murmur of myriad chatting filled the air as the line shuffled ever closer to the front. Soon they’d be inside. As another two people were allowed inside, the line moved but Meryn noticed Elyn hadn’t moved with them. She seemed to be admiring herself in the reflection of the tinted windows.

“Elyn, get a move on!” Meryn said.

Elyn ran a hand through her hair and struck a pose, pushing her left leg out and admiring her shapely thigh. “I can’t help it. I just look so damn good!”

Meryn sighed. “The line’s moving, Elyn.”

Elyn seemed to ignore her. “I would look divine tied up in this outfit, don’t you think Meryn?”

“Elyn! Get over here! Don’t make me come over there!”

Elyn sauntered up to Meryn, her heels clacking on the pavement and her hips swaying back and forth. She eyed Meryn up and down for a moment when she arrived in front of her. “So would you, as a matter of fact. Just imagine that little yellow dress decorated in some nice rope or tape. You clean up so well. I could help you if you ever wanted to try some bondage for fun, Meryn. In that dress I mean... damn. You’d look stunning.”

“Get your mind on the job, Elyn,” Taria said from behind Meryn. “This is important.”

Elyn chuckled. “Isn’t it always? How’d that last one go for you? Wish I could have been there to see you tied up at Aurora’s mercy. That woman is fascinating.”

“All right, that’s enough talking. As far as we’re all concerned, this is a fun night out,” Meryn said. “No more mention of anything else. Got it?”

Taria glowered at Elyn and the orange-haired beauty stuck out her tongue in return, a cocky smirk curling her lips.

“Elyn, don’t make me knock that look off your face,” Taria said.

Elyn laughed this time. “Oh, you’ve always been too easy to wind up, my dear. Relax and have fun for a bit. I mean, look at you. You’re gorgeous! Just let loose a little bit.”

“Yes,” Meryn said, without a trace of emotion in her voice. “Let loose. Have fun. That is what we’re here for.”

“Okay, Ms. Robot,” Elyn said, rolling her eyes. “At least try to pretend you’re having a good time.”

Meryn scowled and cleared her throat. “Whatever. We’re holding up the line. Time to go, ladies.”

Elyn mock saluted Meryn. “Yes, ma’am. Guess you’re the new fearless leader, then?”

“Shut up, Elyn,” Meryn said.

“See? Artema is rubbing off on you already.”

Meryn just growled under her breath and the three women had their IDs checked by the two burly guards at the front. With a simple nod, the guards allowed them inside. It was time to get to work.

...

It had been easy enough for Elyn to get into the staff hallway alone. She spent a fair amount of time flaunting herself at the slot machines, attracting all sorts of attention, and then moving on to roulette where she actually won a fair bit of money. But, with her gambling done and her cash prize retrieved, Elyn excused herself to the bathrooms. A man who had taken a liking to her followed her from the roulette table and had barred her way when she exited the bathroom.

He seemed a tad suspicious of her but she noticed he couldn’t stop looking at her legs and chest. So, with an obvious ulterior motive, Elyn picked his chin up and stared him down.

“My eyes are up here, sweet cakes,” she had said.

Before he could say anything, her voice was in his mind. The man froze and listened to the smoky voice that whispered inside his head. Look me in the eye. The man's eyes stopped focussing on Elyn’s stunning legs and instead moved upward to meet her fiery red eyes. She smirked at him. Apologize for ogling me like a pervert.

“I’m sorry for ogling you like a pervert,” he had said.

Now walk away and forget you ever saw me.

In an instant the man had walked away and left her alone to sneak into the staff hallway. Luckily it was busy that night and most of the staff were on the floor or elsewhere in the building. Elyn found Jhana’s ground floor office easily enough and crept inside after picking the lock open.

It wasn’t an especially large room but it was garish, as Elyn expected. Jhana always did have expensive taste. The walls were covered in a fancy, purple wallpaper with gilded trimming. The carpeted floor matched the walls and a shining, mahogany desk sat front and centre in the room. Behind it, Elyn noted the small digital safe that Jonas had mentioned and the encrypted computer rested on the desk.

Elyn smiled and cracked her knuckles. She reached into her handbag and pulled out a pair of fingerless gloves. Slipping them on, she got to work on the safe first. Eyeing it up carefully, Elyn reached to her handbag again and sprayed the ten digit keypad with a small bottle, revealing small fingerprints on some of the numbers. Now it was just a matter of working out the order. Knowing Jhana, it would be something quite specific. Smiling to herself, Elyn punched in the code 7-2-7-6-2-1. The LED lit up green and Elyn pulled the door open.

Of course you’d put that in Elyn thought to herself. It was the day Jhana had gotten Elyn expelled from the Royal Guild back in Ikaatan. Jhana was actually rather predictable when it came to her gloating.

Inside the safe, Elyn sifted through an assortment of cash, papers and jewellery but found nothing that would be incriminating enough to prove Jhana was using the casino to fund her asylum. So that left the computer.

Silently thanking Jonas, Elyn removed a small flash drive from the heel of her left shoe and slid it into a slot on Jhana’s computer. When she had it booted up she rolled her eyes. “Hefty security,” she muttered to herself. “Honestly, Jonas, you are such an amateur.”

Scanning coded file after coded file, Elyn finally found a financial document paying for the transport of a prisoner. It turned out to be the casino’s previous owner, a wealthy woman who had gone missing weeks ago but no one had really noticed. Jhana took over the casino so quickly and quietly that this woman’s absence was only mentioned once or twice before it all went quiet again. And, of course, the document showed where the funds for the prisoner’s special containment came from; they had been taken from that week’s earnings at the casino.

Elyn copied the document to her flash drive and slid it back into her heel. Hoping it would be enough, she started to switch off the computer when it went blank on its own and the lights of the office went out. Something heavy slammed shut in front of the door to the office and everything went silent.

“That can’t be good,” Elyn said.

“It isn’t,” the familiar, confident voice said from some speakers above her. “It’s been awhile, Elyn.”

Elyn chuckled. “Too long, dear Jhana.”

“I do hope you’ve made yourself comfortable in my office. It will be your prison cell for the next while. I do hope you realized that I have alerted security to your presence and they are on their way to make you... more secure.”

“I can’t wait,” Elyn said. “You and I always have the best of times.”

“In the meantime, I think you need some rest.”

White gas began pumping into the room from all corners and Elyn instantly found herself getting light headed.

“Ah... I see you’ve stolen a trick or two from the thief,” Elyn said, trying to fight the effects of the gas.

“I do hope you lot are treating her well. She was a good ally once. But she makes a better prisoner now. As do you.”

“I... couldn’t... agree.... more....” Elyn said, the world beginning to go dark. She stumbled out of Jhana’s chair and collapsed to the floor. She slumped onto her stomach and found it harder to stay awake.

“Have fun, Elyn,” Jhana said. It was the last thing Elyn heard before the doors to the office opened. Then all she heard were some footsteps and everything went black.

...

Nobody had noticed the two of them slip out and down the service elevator to the basement. Meryn and Taria had played cards for awhile before heading off for their own objective.

Meryn took almost everyone to the cleaners at every table. They played both Texas Hold’em and Seven-card Stud and Meryn came out incredibly well, more than doubling her starting money. Taria managed to break even simply by watching Meryn and avoiding rounds where Meryn would stay in and raise the bets. In fact, Taria learned to spot Meryn’s bluffs and realized how much more frequently she would double bluff than anything else. One man learned that the hard way when he called Meryn on the last round of betting on Texas Hold’em. He had managed a flush, that is, five cards of the same suit. With a pair of Kings in the middle, however, he hadn’t banked on Meryn having two other kings in the hole.

When the river was dealt, Meryn raised the bet and the man called her bluff, believing her to be pretending. His face lost all colour when Meryn revealed her two Kings and took the pot with a Four-of-a-kind.

Meryn even won at blackjack a few times but Taria knew Meryn was good at a strategic game like that. That’s why she refused to play against her at all.

After collecting their winnings, the two of them mingled with the crowds gathering around the dice and roulette tables. Then they moved on to the people milling around the casino bar and used the crowd to slip away toward a staff service elevator that led down to the vault.

With handbags and tools at the ready, the pair of them managed to creep their way through the corridors, avoiding the eyes of people and cameras, and find a wooden door labelled ‘Manager’ beside a massive, round steel door that obviously closed off the main vault. The office door was locked, of course, and Taria left that job up to Meryn. The former crime fighter had picked up many skills in her time. Picking locks had become a rather regular hobby in her past and she made short work of this one.

Heading inside, they found the room to be rather sterile; plain, stone walls, white ceiling and tiled floor and a simple, steel desk near the back of the room. A small tablet lay on the desk but, otherwise, there really wasn’t anything of interest to find. Deciding they could hack it later, Taria took the tablet and hid it in her small handbag while Meryn kept an eye on the door.

As Taria approached the door, Meryn held up her hand and leaned hard against the wall.

“What’s wrong?”

“Quiet! I need to hear this.”

Taria joined her ally against the wall and heard the faint murmur of a conversation. It took some effort but she was able to make out words spoken between two women outside the room. They seemed to be getting closer.

“This is stupid,” one of them said. She sounded younger, maybe in her early twenties. “There’s no way somebody would try to steal from us. And what’s the point? Why not just try to win the money?”

“It’s not money they’re after,” the other woman said. She was definitely older by the sound of her, though not elderly. If they were both working as casino security then they were both probably youthful and strong. “They’re hacking into our systems and after the owner’s information.”

“What for?” the younger woman asked.

“Could be anything. Blackmail, extortion, hell, maybe they want to kidnap her. Who knows.”

“Good thing we tied up that one upstairs, then. I don’t want to think about what else she might have done.”

Meryn and Taria looked at each other for a moment. She must have been talking about Elyn.

“Couldn’t get her to talk either. And she wouldn’t say what she stole. We know she stole something but she insisted she was ‘just looking around.’ I gagged her for that line. The owner’s special force will be here for her soon enough, though.”

“Yeah, and why is it we didn’t just call the cops?”

“It’s the owner’s procedure,” the older woman said. “But she does say that her forces are like an extension of the cops. Says they all go to the same place anyway. It’s worked before with people coming in here and causing trouble. No reason why it wouldn’t work again.”

The younger woman let out a sigh. They sounded very close now. “And you said she came in with two other women, right?”

“That’s right. Cameras at the front caught three of them coming in together and, since she was in the owner’s office upstairs, it makes sense that at least one of them would be coming down here, too.”

Meryn and Taria both leaned back from the wall and exchanged glances again.

“They’re onto us,” Meryn said.

“No kidding,” Taria replied. “And they’re coming in.”

Meryn reached to her hip on instinct but then realized she was wearing a dress and hadn’t brought any weapons. “This is why I hate dresses. All the good looks in the world and no damn pockets. What genius thought pockets on dresses were a bad thing?”

“Nevermind weapons, just rush them. There’s only two of them, right?”

“Sounded like it. Let’s do it.”

Both of them hid in the corners as someone outside the room turned the knob on the office door. Still in their hiding places, neither woman moved but nobody entered the room. Before either of them could check, they heard several guns outside the room cocking and both of their hearts sank.

“This ain’t my first rodeo, girls,” the older woman from before shouted into the room. “We’ve got six automatic weapons pointed at that doorway. You both come out with your hands where I can see them and we won’t riddle you full of holes. Got it?”

Meryn took in a sharp breath and eyed Taria in the opposite corner. “Got no choice,” she said.

Taria agreed. “I’m getting kind of sick of this crap,” she said.

“Are you sick of being alive yet?”

Taria sighed. “No. But I’d like something to go right for once.”

“We’ll get out of this. Just do what she says for now.”

‘Fine.”

Both women held their hands up and appeared in the doorway. The older woman was a tall, muscular woman with long, platinum blonde hair. She was flanked by several other women with heavy weapons and flak jackets, pointing their guns at Meryn and Taria.

“I wasn’t bluffing. I don’t play these damn casino games. I just protect them,” she said.

She nodded toward them and four of the women moved forward. “Get them restrained and take them upstairs to join their friend. I imagine the owner is going to want to see to them personally.”

“You’re making a mistake,” Meryn said. “You have no idea the kind of woman you’re working for.”

“Frankly, my dear, I don’t care what kind of woman I’m working for. She doesn’t pay me to ask questions and as long as keeps signing my paychecks then I won’t bother. Now shut up or I’ll gag you, too.”

Meryn and Taria both quickly had their hands cuffed behind their backs and they were led away back to the service elevator they had just come down. Taria hoped against all hope that they wouldn’t take her handbag. They needed that tablet within. But she didn’t have much choice now. With the mission having gone awry yet again, she expected nothing less but the worst.

...

Elyn knew she should be trying to escape but it was just too much fun. The only thing she didn’t like was that she couldn’t see herself all tied up in her gorgeous outfit. But, of course, she couldn’t see anything at the moment.

Agent Firebrand had been tied up quite tightly by security. They had come in with these strange, glowing blue ropes that seemed to be radiating a kind of energy. Elyn didn’t know what technology had been used to create them but Jhana had clearly stolen the idea from Aurora.

The ropes bound her legs at the ankles, above and below the knees and higher up on her thighs. The rope pushed her already short dress up further and, given her current seated position on a couch in Jhana’s office, exposed the bright red panties she wore underneath.

More of the ropes framed her chest and kept her arms tightly pinned to her sides. Another rope stretched down from Elyn’s arms to her crossed and bound wrists behind her back. Her bondage was completed by a heavy wrapping of a matching blue, heavy duty duct tape that sealed a thick cloth in her mouth. Topping all of that off was a leather blindfold one of the guards had pulled from nowhere to plunge Elyn into darkness.

She so wished she could see herself squirm and struggle but she could settle for the simple feeling. Besides, she could imagine what she looked like in her cocktail dress and heels, completely bound and gagged.

Thinking on her bound form was a heavenly thought and made her want to stay tied up all the more. Elyn would struggle hard sometimes but only to feel the ropes bite harder against her skin and give her the great, trapped sensation of bondage that she so craved. None of her struggles were serious in any attempt to actually escape. She would have to rely on her allies to do that for her.

Elyn was a little disappointed, however, when she heard the door open and two familiar, muffled voices shouted back at the security guards dragging them into the room.

“Mmmmph!” Meryn protested, now gagged with the same blue tape that Elyn had been. Her hands were still cuffed behind her back but, on the way up, the guards had added some of the blue ropes to her arms and framed her chest exactly like Elyn. It seemed she had given them some trouble on the way upstairs.

But Taria had given them even more trouble, by the looks. “Mmmmrrrggh!” she growled, still trying to kick out at the guards, blindly trying to find them. She, too, had been blindfolded and gagged heavily with tape. But, along with her cuffed hands, Taria’s ankles had been shackled with a sturdy pair of leg irons. A heavy wrapping of the blue rope also tightly hugged her torso and arms, covering most of the top half of her chest. Taria writhed against her heavy bonds but she was helpless to fight back.

The guards sat Meryn down on a couch opposite from Elyn and held her down while they bound her legs in more of the rope, winding it around her legs in six places; her ankles, calves, just below her knees and in three places on her toned, shapely thighs. This made Meryn’s dress ride up like Elyn’s as she got back to her sitting position. Heavily bound, there was nothing she could do to stop them from further restraining Taria.

They wound coils of rope around Taria’s lower and upper legs, only leaving her knees bare so she could bend her legs. They bound her legs with one coil running from her ankles to just below her knees. The second coil secured her legs from just above her knees to higher up on her thighs. Her dress, as well, rode up much higher in her seated position and as she tried kicking and bucking against her captors.

Seating her in Jhana’s office chair, the guards wound even more rope around Taria’s torso and waist to attach her to the chair. Further rope was used to attach Taria’s legs to the chair supports beneath her so she couldn’t kick out her legs anymore.

Fully bound, gagged, and blindfolded, the guards left Taria in the chair to writhe and thrash in her unyielding bonds.

With all three women securely tied up and gagged the head of security, the older woman from downstairs, nodded with satisfaction and let her guards leave the room first.

“All right, ladies,” she said when the guards had left. “You give us any more trouble and you won’t like what happens. You’ll be staying here until the owner arrives. She will want to talk to you directly. From there, well, I guess we’ll see what she decides. But I’d suspect you’re not going to be released from those restraints any time soon.”

“MMMMMPPPHH!” Taria screamed from across the room.

“Mmmm mmmp mmmp! Mmmmph!” Meryn protested, struggling with her bonds.

“Hmmmmmph.....” Elyn sighed, still thoroughly enjoying her predicament. She giggled when she felt the ropes pull tighter against her struggles. With her allies captured as well, however, they may have to rely on Artema yet again for a rescue.

“Oh and I don’t care how much noise you make. Scream your heads off. You’re not getting loose, girls. Have fun!”

“MMMMMMPPPHHH!” Taria and Meryn said in unison.

“Mmmmph!” Elyn said, half-heartedly. She couldn’t be distressed if she was having this much fun, after all.

...

Standing in line outside the casino, Artema stood with her arms folded and tapped her foot on the ground, waiting. She sighed as she felt a pair of eyes watching her from behind.


“Quit checking out my ass, Lanala,” she said.


It was true. When Artema informed her wife that they hadn’t heard anything from the three inside the casino, she got a little bit too excited at the prospect of seeing Artema in a dress. When they had changed, Lanala was not disappointed and simply could not keep her eyes away from Artema. Particularly, her rear end.


Artema’s dress was rather tight and a tad short, sitting about six inches above her knees. The white dress had thick shoulder straps and was covered in glittering, silver sparkles. She wore a white pair of heeled sandals to match. Artema herself questioned why the dresses were necessary but reminded herself that they were still under the radar and couldn’t tip off the director. Even if this was a rescue mission now.


Lanala had hoped to impress her wife with her own dress, a black number with long sleeves and a startlingly short skirt with a split down the right side. Also choosing a pair of heeled sandals, in black, she dressed to the nines for her wife. Always eager to impress her, Artema had already admonished Lanala once for losing focus on the mission.


“S-sorry, Artema. But that’s really difficult. I keep having.... thoughts.”


“Belay those,” Artema said. “We’ve got a job to do. Whatever you’re thinking, we can do it later.”


“I hope so,” Lanala said. “It should be against the law for someone as hot as you to wear a dress like that. How is a woman supposed to focus on the job?”


Artema sighed and turned around. “Quit flirting with me for just a damn minute. All right? We can have our fun when everyone is back home safe. Okay?”


Lanala gave her head a shake, still having trouble keeping focus. “Okay. We’ve got this.”


Artema turned around and Lanala’s eyes moved to her shining, purple hair, still tied back in a beautiful braid. Then Lanala’s eyes moved gradually downward, taking in every curve and muscle in Artema’s back until the rested again on...


“Lanala!” Artema said, snapping Lanala back to reality. “We’re going in now. Stay focussed, okay?”


“Okay....” Lanala said, still unsure of herself. It took quite an effort but, for her friends, Lanala could ignore the curves and muscles on her wife’s body. She just didn’t know how long she could keep it up.


...


There was nothing Elyn could do to escape and she knew it. Even if she wanted to, there wasn’t much to be done against these strange, blue ropes. She saved some of her energy and just listened for a moment to her two allies. Trying to picture them tied up was a nice thought and hearing their muffled protests only helped with the vision. Of course, she would have loved to get the blindfold off her eyes to see them but, as far as Elyn was concerned, beggars can’t be choosers.


“Lmmm mm mmt mmmph hmmmr!” Taria said, still silenced by the tape that gagged her. Her bonds were particularly numerous and tight and she couldn’t escape either. She couldn’t even kick her legs to move the chair forward but her own blindfold would have prevented her from knowing where she was going anyway.


Meryn, the only woman in the room not wearing a blindfold, tried to get up and hop across the room to help untie Elyn. But a guard must have noticed her on the camera feed because the woman who was the head of security entered the room and dragged Meryn back across the room to the opposite couch and hogtied her with another length of the blue rope attaching her bound ankles and cuffed wrists together. Now she could only struggle helplessly and growl into her gag, unable to get free.


The office door suddenly opened and Meryn struggled against her ropes to turn her head and see who was approaching from behind. Taria and Elyn both tried to look around, in spite of their blindfolds, but they would never see who was coming like this.


Meryn growled louder into her gag and began struggling harder as soon as she saw who had come in.


“Well isn’t this a fine gift,” the confident, raven-haired woman said as she strode into the room. Jhana wasn’t wearing her usual attire on this night. As was mandatory in her casino, she wore a fancy dress. It was longer than the other three women’s dresses, the skirt reaching all the way to the floor the skirt had a split in both sides, however, so you could see both of Jhana’s long, beautiful legs underneath.. It was a purple dress that sparkled in the light and was held up by two thin straps. Jhana wore black high heels to go with it and even had the audacity to wear a silver tiara on top of her head.


“Mmmmph!” Meryn said.


The other two women recognized the voice as well. “Hmmmph,” Elyn said, trying to roll her eyes beneath the blindfold.


“Jmmmnmm! Lmmt mmph gmmm!” Taria said, growling and struggling furiously.


“My, you ladies all appear to be in a chatty mood tonight. Even with the gags on. What a joy.”


Jhana knelt down to Meryn and gazed into her eyes. Meryn glared back, struggling against her restraints and glaring back into Jhana’s eyes. “You look ravishing, my dear. It has been far too long since I gazed into those gorgeous, golden eyes, Meryn.”


“Mmmmrrgggh!”


“Of course, don’t you all look lovely tonight?” Jhana said, standing up and walking into the middle of the room. “A night out at my casino will have that effect, of course. But, I daresay, you ladies have exquisite fashion sense. You truly are a treat for the eyes.”


She walked to her chair, the chair Taria was tied to, and knelt down close to her ear. “I should keep you in these outfits, I think. And find you some nice, big cells with clear windows so I can watch you day and night. What a treat that will be.”


“MMMMPPPHHH!” Taria screamed into her gag, shaking her head back and forth. She struggled against her bonds again but they had no give.


Jhana strode across the room again, stopping over top of Elyn this time. She sat down next to her and rested one arm on Elyn’ shoulders. “Maybe I’ll even let you play with me,” Jhana said, whispering to Elyn. “If you behave yourself. You’ve always been a beautiful woman, Elyn. Perhaps I was jealous of you in the past. I can make it up to you and keep you tied up for the rest of your life in my wonderful little asylum. I know you would love that, my dear.”


“Hmmmph,” Elyn said. The idea was tempting but Jhana was too insufferable for Elyn to be around.


“No? Perhaps some time in solitary will change your attitude. Yes. Solitary confinement and complete sensory deprivation. Though you of all people would love that. But maybe not the way I do it.”


“Shmmt mmp,” Elyn said, once again trying to roll her eyes behind the blindfold.


“Ah well. I suppose there is nothing else to do but wait for the rest of your little band to arrive. I’m certain the director will be displeased when she learns I’ve captured you. Then again, maybe not.”


“Ymm tmmk tmmm mmmphch,” Elyn said from beside her.


“So do you, dearest Elyn. So do you. Even when I gag you there is no stopping your words, is there? Though you do like talking into gags, don’t you?”


Jhana stood up from the couch and stopped in the middle of the room again.


“Well, this has been lovely catching up. I’ll see you three...” Jhana stopped speaking when she heard something outside the door. It sounded like... gunfire. Followed by bangs and crashes and people being flung about out in the hallway. She heard a strong, female voice from outside the room that filled her with dread.


“Get to the office, Lanala! I’ll handle them!”


Jhana simply couldn’t believe her ears. “No... no. She can’t possibly...”


Elyn smiled and chuckled beneath her gag. Meryn and Taria both stopped struggling and waited. The sounds were getting closer and, by all indications, things were not going well for Jhana’s security team.


...


Five minutes earlier


“Listen, ma’am, I have to get back there. I have a search warrant,” Artema said, holding out a forged document that Jonas had created. Everything they were doing was highly illegal and Artema had said so. But she agreed with Jonas about these being desperate times.


“Listen Detective... Hunter, I’m not letting you in until I hear back from the owner. There has to be some mistake.” Artema was speaking to the head of security and doing everything in her power to access the staff areas as quickly as possible. It seemed the subterfuge angle wasn’t working and when she Lanala emerge from the crowd and sidle up beside her, she knew that stealth wasn’t working either.


Artema sighed and snatched the paper back from the head of security. She tore it to shreds and tossed it on the floor. “So much for subtlety,” she said, clocking the woman in the chin and then kneeing her in the stomach, stealing her gun in the process. Artema hit the woman in the head with the butt end of her own gun and knocked her unconscious.


Lanala hadn’t expected Artema to go from zero to a hundred so was initially caught off guard by her sudden attack. But she quickly followed her wife’s lead and charged on as the casino security reacted. Patrons of the casino were startled and thrown into a bit of a panic at the sudden fight breaking out and began making for the exits. This made things difficult for security to get through and the two women barged their way through to the staff hallway.


Artema fired the pistol over the heads of several members of security to back them off and pressed on further into the hallway. The office where the other three were being held was well within reach now. Getting closer to three security guards, Lanala and Artema managed to disarm them and take them down before heading for the office.


Four more security officers made it into the hallway behind them and ran at the pair of them with stun batons. Artema stepped back and ushered Lanala forward. “Get to the office, Lanala! I’ll handle them!”


...


It wasn’t long before everything Jhana feared came true as Lanala shouldered the office door down and met the frightened eyes of their main target. A rush of anger overtook Lanala then as she remembered her wife’s capture and rushed straight at Jhana.


Before Jhana could react or stop Lanala with any of her powers, Lanala planted one heavy fist into Jhana’s jaw and the blow took her to the floor. Lanala was quite surprised to find that she had knocked Jhana out cold.


Still shocked, she hardly heard Artema enter the office and shut the door behind her.


“We don’t have much time!” Artema said. “Let’s get them...” She stopped when she saw Lanala standing over Jhana, breathing hard, with both hands shut. “Lanala, you didn’t-”


“No. She’s just unconscious. But we should take her in. This is our chance.”


Artema was stunned. She hadn’t expected Jhana to actually be here. And with her security dealt with for the time being, it was possible that there was enough time to free their allies and subdue Jhana to bring her in.


“Let’s get them untied,” Artema said, nodding to the captured agents. “And then tie her up. I just... can’t believe this.”


Lanala said nothing and quickly got to work freeing Meryn and Taria. Artema worked on Elyn and, when they were finished, Lanala didn’t hesitate to clap a pair of handcuffs onto Jhana’s wrists. She then hogtied their target and wrapped her arms and most of her legs in the blue rope before gagging her with two of the cloths retrieved from the mouths of the other two agents. One was stuffed into Jhana’s mouth and the other was tied over it.


Artema hefted the captive Jhana over her shoulder and the other four agents just stared for a moment.


“I know. This is insane. And we got lucky. But let’s not waste any more time.”


The other four agents agreed and helped Artema leave out a fire exit and back into the night. They were careful on their way home in one of their black vans and stayed well out of sight. But none of them could shake the feeling that all of this had been too easy. Still, they had their target in tow and had pulled off the rescue mission. And with Jhana officially captured, it may get the director off their backs. For now, each of them would take the win.


...


With Jhana tucked away, bound and gagged, in the interrogation room, Artema sat down on her bed and stared at her wife, thinking back on all their recent success. Jhana wasn’t their only prisoner, after all. They had captured Aurora and Farrah and stashed them together, also tied up and gagged, in the holding cell downstairs. Still, Artema simply couldn’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t over. Something didn’t feel right.


Lanala distracted her, however, when she jumped on Artema and pinned her down against the bed. They were both still fully dressed from their night out and Lanala had been desperate to have some fun with her wife.


Artema could have fought her off but, truth be told, she wanted some distraction from her worried thoughts.


She opened her mouth to speak to Lanala but the smaller woman shoved a purple ball gag into her mouth and strapped it on tight.


“Hmmm?”


“This is what you get for distracting me all night,” Lanala said.


Artema giggled into her gag and didn’t resist when Lanala flipped her over onto her stomach and handcuffed her wrists behind her back. Lanala flipped her over again and placed her mouth around the ball in Artema’s mouth and kissed her for a long time. Artema returned the favour, though she had trouble getting to Lanala’s lips around the ball.


Lanala finally let go and gazed into Artema’s eyes again. “You were amazing tonight. A total badass.”


“Sghmm wmmr ymmm,” Artema said into her gag.


“But now you’ve been captured, dear escape artist. And it’s only going to get worse from here.”


Artema giggled again.


“I’m going to tie you up so tight, my dear,” Lanala said. “And then I’m going to grab that luscious ass and I won’t let go until you escape.”


“Hmmm....” Artema said, smiling behind her gag.


“Oh yes. And if you can escape, then it will be your turn. If you can escape, tie me up tighter than you’ve ever tied me before. And you’re going to kiss me all over. And then some. You understand?”


Artema couldn’t argue with that. She simply nodded and giggled again.


“Good. Let’s go, then. Let me fetch the rope.”


As her wife was tying her up for a good time, Artema still couldn’t shake her worried thoughts. Even in this state of bliss, Artema couldn’t help but think something was amiss. She just couldn’t put her finger on what. Those thoughts disappeared, however, when Lanala tightened a crotchrope she had tied without Artema noticing. Her mind then was filled with pleasure and thoughts of her beautiful wife. The rest of the night was a blur of love and passion for the two of them.


For the time being the happy couple could celebrate. After all, this night had been a big win for them. Besides, they both needed the distraction. They knew the director would be coming to interrogate Jhana. Then their worries would only increase. That’s why, on this night, they let their worries go and simply enjoyed each other the whole night through. They would deal with their problems in the morning.