It was that time of year. The leaves were falling, the air was chilly, and pumpkin spice lattes were back. Kayla loved the fall season. It really was one of her favorite times of the year. In addition to all the fun fall things like sweaters, cozy socks, and sitting in a cafe safe and dry from a rainy day, Kayla especially looked forward to the annual Harvest Party thrown by the city. Reporters were invited as were city council members, and all kinds of other important folks. It was a fun celebration of the season, and Kayla looked forward to it every year.

However, this year she was looking forward to it with more vigor than she ever had in the past. That was because she now had the name of the councilwoman who was aiding and abetting Peirce in his criminal schemes: Sasha Perkins. Lily had been kind enough to provide her with a name and description, and Kayla had determined that at the party she'd confront Sasha and see if she could make her squirm a bit.

"Do you really have to snoop around at the Harvest Party?" Madelyn asked with pouting lips.

"Yes," Kayla said, "I have to start putting pressure on her. Our run-in with Lily proves they're watching us, and I need to stay a step ahead of them. I don't know what Sasha knows yet, and so I have to try and strike before she does."

"Well, can I at least have fun?"

Kayla laughed, "yes, of course. I'll do all the snooping. You can drink and have a good time."

"Yes!"

Everyone invited as allowed a plus one, and Madelyn of course was always Kayla's invite. They always had a blast going together, and what was even more fun sometimes was the after parties you'd get invited to. Madelyn was way better at being in the know than Kayla was, and every year she'd scope out the best party to be at. Kayla was sure that this year would be no exception.

"Okay...how do I look?"

Kayla stepped out of the bathroom and presented herself to Madelyn who was doing her makeup at the desk by her bed. She looked Kayla up and down, her eyes wide with adoration.

"You look great! You're super cute!"

One of the other fun elements of the Harvest Party was that everyone was invited to dress up. As such, Kayla had decided to throw something together, even if the idea of dressing up was a little intimidating for her. She and Madelyn had made the choice of going as Daphne and Velma, a little cliché, but it made Kayla happy. It was between that and Nancy Drew and Bess, and Madelyn was much more apt to go as the Scooby Doo duo.

Kayla, was dressed as Velma, and Madelyn was going as Daphne. It didn't take them long at all to decide who would go as who. Madelyn was much more bubbly and flirty, and so Daphne was a proper fit for her. Kayla, while not as dorky as Velma, still related a lot with her practical way of processing things. That, and she wore glasses, so she had that part going for her already.

"Here, don't forget these!"

Madelyn tossed Kayla a pair of orange knee high socks, an essential part of Velma's classic look . Walking over to the bed, Kayla sat down and slipped the socks over her nude colored nylons. She wore these mainly to protect her legs against the cold, it was rather chilly at night after all. Plus, the nylons gave her legs a gorgeous shine.

The only thing left for Kayla do to was to grab her pair of low heeled mary-jane's and slip them onto her feet. Madelyn was nearly ready too. She had finally finished her makeup, and so leaping out of her chair she twirled around letting her her short purple dress float around her body.

"Great costume ideas," she said adjusting her soft pink tights, "these turned out so nice!"

"Agreed. Hey, are you pretty much ready to go?"

"You betcha!"

"K, then let's head out. I'd hate to be late."

"Psh, people run late to these kinds of things all the time! It's good to be fashionably late after all."

"Madelyn..." Kayla called out as she headed for the door.

"Right, coming!"

Thankfully due to Kayla's type A personality, the girls arrived to the Harvest Party on time! It was already fairly packed even. Kayla spotted dozens of people she'd come to know over the last couple years as a reporter, but she kept her eyes peeled for Sasha. As much as she was looking forward to making idle chit chat all evening (spoiler alert, she wasn't), Kayla had to stay focused on her mission. She'd corner Sasha, pressure her about Peirce, and let her know she's not going to back down.

"Wow! Kayla, you look great!"

It was Toby. He was dressed as a vampire with fake blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. His face was white and his hair was slicked back. Kayla was mildly impressed.

"Looking good, Toby," she said, "didn't know you knew how to use makeup."

"I don't," he whispered, "I had my sister help me out. I have no idea how I'm going to take all this off."

Kayla snickered, "you'll figure it out I'm sure."

"How do you girls do it," he said clearly being facetious, "I feel so heavy with all this makeup on."

"You're lucky it's plastered on so thick, otherwise I'd sock you in the nose right now."

"Hey, that's rude! Oh hey...by the way...I heard you're looking for Sasha Perkins, yeah?"

Kayla nodded.

"Well I haven't seen her yet, but if I do, I'll let you know!"

Kayla rolled her eyes, "gee, thanks."

Madelyn returned with two drinks in hand.

"Snagged these for us," she said before shooting a scowl at Toby.

He cleared his throat.

"Hey, Madelyn."

"Get lost, Edward."

Toby scoffed and turning around he trotted away.

"God, you're so petty," Kayla said as she grabbed the drink from Madelyn.

Madelyn had never liked Toby. She knew he had a crush on Kayla, and for whatever reason Madelyn strongly disproved of him. It was very irrational. She was never cruel, but she definitely let it be known that she was not a fan of his. It was more comedic than anything. Kayla didn't mind, and at the end of the day she gathered that Toby thought it was rather funny too. Madelyn of course saw no humor in it, or at least so she said.

"You ready to go in?"

"Yeah," Kayla said, "let's do this."

Together, arm in arm, the girls moved on from the hotel lobby and into the main convention hall where the Harvest Party was taking place. Classic Halloween music was playing through the overhead speakers, and it was quite nosy inside with everyone exchanging conversations with one another. Kayla and Madelyn moved through the crowd, occasionally stopping to chat with someone or two.

"You're the reporter that's working on the Peirce story! Well, kudos to you, that sounds like a tough one."

"God...and he had you tied up like that? What a creep! I'm glad you're working on that story...we need someone to hold him accountable."

"I can't believe he got away with it for so long...well congrats to you for pushing on. We need more rookie reporters like you!"

It was nice to be recognized for her work. Kayla felt a genuine sense of intrigue as she told people about the Peirce story, and the encouragement she received in return really inspired her to keep going no matter what. If there was any way you could "make it" as a reporter, Kayla felt like this was it.

"Hey," Madelyn said, "if you don't mind I'm going to go grab us some snacks. I'll be right back."

"Sounds good!"

Finding a seat at a nearby table, Kayla sat down for a second. Despite the numerous interactions she had already had, through each one Kayla kept her eyes focused on the crowds around her. She wasn't going to let an opportunity like this pass her by. She had to locate Sasha. The crowd wasn't that dense after all. Surely she'd be able to spot her. The only thing really making it difficult were the damn costumes. Had nobody been dressed up it would have been a piece of cake. Trying to pick Sasha out from a crowd of people all wearing costumes was a different challenge all together.

*bzzzzzz*

Kayla pulled out her phone. It was a text from Madelyn.

"Hey...someone spilled punch on my dress. I'm in the bathroom trying to clean up. Wanna come give me a hand?"

Kayla couldn't help but chuckle. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened at a party or an event. Madelyn was a bit careless after all.

Kayla stepped out from the convention hall and headed toward the bathrooms. Entering the restroom she found a few other girls adjusting their costumes and fixing their makeup. It was a rather large restroom with two different sink areas. Kayla didn't spot Madelyn at the first area and so she headed for the other side of the restroom. Strangely enough, Madelyn wasn't there either. Kayla gathered she was at the wrong restroom, although she was pretty sure this is where Madelyn told her to meet.

Kayla pulled out her phone and shot her a quick text. In the meantime, she figured she'd go see if there were any other potential restrooms Madelyn could be at. Exiting the restroom, now empty as everyone had finished touching up and cleared out, Kayla stepped out into the hall. Standing in front of her were two tall looking men clad in all black with black cat masks over their faces. One of them held a small rucksack and some rope while the other had something wadded up in their hand. Kayla knew she was in trouble, but tried to see if maybe there was a way she could get away.

"Evening, gentlemen," she said, "I do believe the men's restroom is the other way...although, I wouldn't want to make any assumptions of course. I do believe in being free to be who you want to b-ow! Heymmmmph!"

The men saw no humor in Kayla's attempt to lower their guard and instead took to action by grabbing her and pulling her arms behind her back. She felt a few loops of rope circle her wrists thanks to the rope one of the thugs was carrying. In the meantime, the other thug had positioned himself in front of Kayla and was busy making sure she wouldn't call for help.

Taking whatever it was scrunched in his hand, he grabbed her face and held her head steady.

"Helmmmmmmmph!"

Kayla's last ditch effort to call for help was swiftly denied as the man jammed in what Kayla could now feel was a soft sponge into her mouth. It instantly dried her mouth out as it slowly expanded filling Kayla's mouth completely.

"Fmmmmph mmmmmph!"

She was now incapable of making anything but muffled sounds, and added on top of that her vision was also taken away as the rucksack was stretched over her head plunging her into darkness. From here, she was scooped up into the air and dragged away. The sounds of the party slowly faded the further away she was carried. Soon, there was nothing but the loud footsteps of whoever was carrying her thumping into the carpeted floors.

"Lmmmmph mmmmmmm ggggnnnnmph!"

Kayla ferociously fought to try and get free from the men holding her, but they held on tight. Eventually, she relaxed her body and let them carry her away. The bag over her head wasn't easy to breathe through, especially with that damned sponge stuck in her mouth. She didn't want to waste her energy fighting a futile battle, and so instead she sat still and allowed the men to drag her down the hall. She had no idea what they were planning, only she could probably guess who was behind it...

She heard the men enter a stairwell and begin to climb a few flights of stairs. After exiting, they carried her for a little while longer before bursting into a room and setting Kayla onto the ground. They took the liberty of adding more ropes around Kayla's body looping them around her bust pinning her arms firmly in place.

Eventually, the bag over her head was yanked away as Kayla was now thankfully able to breathe freely again. Well, as freely as one could with a giant sponge stuffed in your mouth! Standing in front of her now was a pair of thugs, dressed in all black, and a slender woman dressed as catwoman standing between them. Kayla didn't need to play 20 questions to know who it was behind that mask...it was Sasha Perkins. It had to be. Her long dark hair cascaded down and around her shoulders. It was her alright, and Kayla was fuming knowing she'd been beaten to the punch.

It wasn't just Kayla that had been beaten to the punch, Madelyn had been nabbed first. She was sitting on the ground beside Kayla, much more tied up, with ropes all around her legs as well, and to keep her quiet the thugs had repurposed her green bandana she wore around her neck and used it as a cleave gag between her lips. She rolled around on her stomach, her arms pulled behind her back and connected to her ankles. Both of her purple heels had come off in her struggling, and her dress had risen up well past her rear.

"Fmmmmmmph!"

The bandana tied across her mouth did its work keeping most of her speech incoherent and her cries muted.

Sasha snapped her fingers, and on command one of the goons walked over to Kayla and to her surprise started working the sponge out of her mouth. It took me a little while to pry the soggy mass out, but once he did Kayla took a much needed deep breath. She knew it wouldn't be long before it or something else was jammed into her mouth, but she figured her brief respite was to have a conversation with Sasha. Kayla decided she'd kick things off...

"What's your problem?" She asked not hiding her resentment in the slightest.

Sasha laughed, "I think you mean what is your problem. You're a silly little reporter. Why is it that you feel the need to stick your nose where it has no business being. Clearly, you haven't learned your lesson yet. But it's alright...you will in time."

"You won't get away with this. I will take both you and Peirce down!"

"Honey...don't make me laugh. Besides, I have no connections with Peirce."

She said this while giving Kayla a massive wink.

"You're so full of it. Sooner or later this is all going to catch up to you, just like it did with Peirce."

"Just keep telling yourself that. In the meantime, my men here are going to make sure that you and your friend keep to yourselves this evening. I have no idea what you were planning to do, but whatever it was...good luck trying to accomplish it now!"

Adding a flip of her hair, Sasha turned on her heels and strutted away.

"Hey! Get back here! I wasn't finished!"

"Oh, but you are," one of the thugs tutted as he shoved Kayla onto her back.

"Watch it!" She said as she fell onto her hands, her legs now able to come free.

But the goons knew Kayla was in now place to bargain with them. They did however grow tired of her complaints, and promptly set out to fix that once again. Clearly, the sponge they had used earlier wasn't good enough anymore. They were now opting for a different route...one that Kayla was not too thrilled about...

Grabbing her legs, her mary-janes were unstrapped and thrown aside followed of course by both of her long orange socks.

"Really you guys? Was the sponge not already good enough?"

With Kayla's socks both off, one of the men circled around behind her and propped her upright. He then proceeded to grab a large handful of Kayla's hair and tugged on it hard.

"Ow! You piece of shmmmmmmph!

But Kayla's speech was once again cut off as her knee high sock was packed into her mouth. The man worked in as much of it as would fit before taking her other one and pulling it between her lips. This was an easy task considering Kayla's mouth was forced wide open by the first sock. Her makeshift gag was pulled tight as the sock was knotted firmly at the back of her head. The men then moved over to Madelyn as they reinforced her gag by making it a bit more effective. Undoing the green scarf gag she was currently chewing on, they then wadded it up and proceeded to shove the whole thing in her mouth.

"Gggggggnnnnnmph!"

Madelyn was very upset by this and shook her head vigorously trying to dislodge the scarf. To prevent this, the men took a roll of tape and wrapped a couple layers around Madelyn's face sealing the scarf inside her mouth. The room was suddenly much quieter, with both girls hardly able to emit a sound.

"Fmmmmmmph mmmmmmmph!"

Kayla and Madelyn sputtered and moaned behind their gags as the men wrapped up their business. Before they left they made sure to place Kayla in a much more restrictive tie than she currently was in. Taking her legs, clad only in her nude nylons now, they folded them up so that her ankles were resting on her rear. Winding rope around each of her legs respectively, her legs were now stuck in that position. She was then pushed up and forced to sit up with her legs folded and tied beneath her.

From here, the men took a length of rope and connected it to the ropework around her wrists. Taking that rope they then looped it behind Kayla's back, under her butt (or more like right between it with how tight they were pulling the rope), and then looped it behind her neck before tying it off to the rope connected to her legs. Essentially, what this did was fold Kayla up into a ball, with her chest now firmly squished into her thighs. It was truly a very uncomfortable position to be in, and she could already feel her feet starting to go numb.

"Ffffmmmmmph mmmmmmmph!"

Despite her ball-tied peril, Kayla was still fiery as ever spewing all kinds of insults behind her sock packed mouth. Madelyn joined in too, rocking back and forth in her hogtie wiggling her purple stocking clad feet as she tried to get free from her own bindings. The two made quite the pair, wriggling on the floor with copious amounts of rope wound all about their bodies. It was something Kayla was becoming more and more used to sadly. It seemed like most of her endeavors involved her being nabbed and tied up. Perhaps one day she'd manage to finish a story without ending up like this. She wasn't holding her breath for it though...

With Kayla and Madelyn now more than trussed up, she figured the men's work was done and that they'd be on their way. Instead, they decided to have a bit of fun...

Kayla and Madelyn's now exposed Nylon clad feet were ripe targets for tickling, and so tickle them the men did.

"Fmmmmmmph mmmmmmmmph!"

Kayla tried to shift her body away from the goon as he bent down and started tickling her feet, but of course the rope holding her body folded over was so tight she just had to sit there and take it. She caught a peek of Madelyn amidst the fray who was also having her stocking clad feet assaulted. Not only was the goon tickling her feet, but he'd also take breaks to lick them as well. Kayla was beyond humiliated at this point. What kind of creeps was Sasha working with anyway?

The men continued to tickle and suck on the girls feet for quite a while. Kayla and Madelyn were just puddles of tears and sweat now. Their heavy breathing filled the room alongside their occasional grunts and mews through their stuffed mouths. It was taking them so much time to recover from their tickling onslaught that they didn't even notice the men had left them. Once Kayla was able to catch her breath, so looked around and noticed they were gone.

"Mmmmmmph mmmmmph!"

She hollered at Madelyn trying to get her attention. She flopped her head over and acknowledge Kayla briefly. She hadn't recovered quite as fast and was still breathing hard. Her blonde hair matted to the sides of her face and her forehead glistening with sweat.

Not only had Kayla been bested by Sasha, but she'd been utterly humiliated by her too. To be stuck in such a position like this and to have Sasha's goons do...whatever it is that was...it was all just so embarrassing. As Kayla laid there, stuck in her excessively tight ball-tie, sweat dripping down the side of her face, she plotted her revenge. Perhaps Sasha had gotten the best of her this time around, but Kayla would wriggle free and she and Madelyn would expose Sasha for the criminal scum she was! Besides, how egotistical did she have to be to brazenly show her face to Kayla? Well, she hadn't exactly seen her full face with it being behind a mask and all, but her costume was unmistakable. Once Kayla was free, she'd get even in no time.

Well, turns out, the ropes she and Madelyn were placed in were no joke. Kayla struggled all she could, but there was no getting free...Madelyn was in the same boat too. Hours passed as she and Madelyn grunted through their gags and shifted around trying to get loose to no avail.

It wasn't until much later, when the cleaning crew showed up, that Madelyn and Kayla were finally set free. By now, the party was long over and everyone had cleared out. Kayla, who just didn't know when to quit, was still determined to expose Sasha.

She stormed into Sasha's office the next day, ready to launch her accusation. She was met by a very confused looking secretary.

"Oh um...can I help you?"

"Yes. My name is Kayla Grace, and I'm here to shed some light on a very shady activity!"

"What's this all about then?"

Kayla turned to see Sasha sauntering over, arms crossed over her chest, a devious scowl painted across her face.

"You," Kayla said as she sneered at Sasha.

"Have we met?" Sasha asked.

"Have we m...you tied me up last night!?"

"Oh dear, I'm afraid you must have me confused with someone else..."

"Don't play that game with me. I know it was you! You were there, at the Harvest Party, dressed as...catwoman! Yes, catwoman. Latex suit and all."

"Darla, would you please pull up the records."

"Records?" Kayla said as she turned back toward Darla who was typing away at her computer.

"Yes...I have it...oh, yes, right here. Your Harvest Party costume logs. A complete list of all past and future costume arrangements."

"Excellent, thank you, Darla."

"What is this..."

"As a councilwoman, I prefer to have my schedule planned as far out as I can get. Planning my costume for the Harvest Party is something I make an effort to do each year."

Kayla didn't like where this was going...

"Darla, could you please pull up this years costume plans?"

"Yes, I have it right here. You went dressed as the Greek goddess, Athena. I have all the other info here if you'd like me to get that to you as well."

"No, thank you though, that was all that I needed."

Sasha stood there, an evil looking smile beginning to form at the corner of her mouth. Kayla knew she had been played, yet again.

"Go ahead," Sasha said, "ask the other guests who were there that night. I was dressed as a glorious goddess divine...not some mangy catwoman...it seems like your memory isn't serving you well. Either that or you're trying to lob baseless accusations at me. I sure hope that isn't the case. I do hate dealing with defamation lawsuits after all. They're such a hassle."

How she had done it, Kayla didn't know, but somehow Sasha had managed to change costumes at the last second in order to keep her alibi airtight. It was impressive to say the least, and Kayla knew there was nothing left for her to do but to admit defeat.

She turned around and walked away, not giving Sasha the satisfaction of seeing her get any more angry. It was clear now that in order to take Sasha down, Kayla was going to need to be much more careful. Her direct approach had clearly backfired in her face as Sasha had not come to play any games.

It was currently 0-1 in Sasha's favor, but Kayla was far too invested now to just turn back and give up. One way or another, she'd expose Sasha for the lying criminal thug she was!