CHAPTER TEN
(THE GIRL WITH THE GOLDEN NIPPLE RING)
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Author: Chris Cook Long Beach, California The three stood motionless for a moment, in shock as they stared at each other. Then Willow grabbed Tara's wrist, Cordelia pulled a stun gun from her waist, aiming it at her former student's chest, and the corridor suddenly filled with thick black gas. Tara stumbled as she was yanked sideways, out of the path of the stunner's electrical blast as it fired, and coughed until Willow's other hand found her lips and pressed the familiar shape of the breather/ball gag into her mouth. Unable to see she followed Willow's lead, away from Cordelia's coughing and swearing. Blinded and choked, Cordelia fell to her hands and knees, holding a hand to her mouth to keep out as much of the gas as had drifted down to floor level. She stared around but couldn't see a thing, and Willow and Tara's footsteps were quickly fading. Coughing again she tore open her top and cupped her breast, activating the tiny communicator in the ring through her nipple. "Seal off the lower decks!" she barked. "Cordelia?" Daniel's voice replied. "What's going on, what happened to McDonald's body?" "I said seal the decks!" Cordelia shouted. "They're down here, the Bunnies, McDonald's probably with them, alive!" Long Beach, California "Nuts," Willow frowned, ducking into the spiralling stairwell only to find heavy steel irises closing above and below her. "We'll have to get out above." Tara looked back at the roiling mass of smog choking the corridor behind them. "What was that?" she asked, catching her breath. "Anya's smokescreen bra, remember?" Willow said, gesturing to her suddenly-reduced chest. "What's our escape plan?" "Uh, forward, towards the recreation deck," Tara said shakily. "Willow?" she added as they took off. "Are you okay?" Willow asked, seeing the confusion in her eyes. "What just... I mean, Cordy... why?" "She was the third person at the meeting," Willow explained quickly, "the one I couldn't get a look at the face of - I recognised her outfit. She's working with Daniel." "But," Tara protested fitfully, "she... she wouldn't, she's on our side!" "I guess she's not anymore, she just tried to zap you," Willow sighed. She bit her lip at Tara's shocked expression, then took her hand and squeezed it gently. "Let's get through this, okay? Afterwards... we'll figure it out, whatever's going on." Tara looked pleadingly at her, then swallowed and nodded. "Thanks," she said, joining Willow in a sprint along the corridor. "Where's the car?" "On course," Willow replied, glancing at her watch. They reached a junction, peered around the corner warily, and ducked back quickly as shots rang out from a group of guards at the far end of the adjoining corridor. "Give yourselves up and you won't be harmed!" a booming voice echoed down to them. "You first!" Willow shouted back. "That's Adam Walsh, isn't it?" she asked Tara in a low voice. Tara nodded. "And that's the only way to the deck, unless we double back," she added. A sign on the door opposite them, across the corridor, caught her attention. "I've got an idea," she said, her voice firming. "Have you got anything to cover us, so we can get across there?" "Can do," Willow said brightly, reaching behind her head and yanking her waist-length braided ponytail off. Working quickly she looped the braid into a circle, plugged the tip into the base, and gave it a series of twists, like a combination lock. The braided ring stiffened and sprouted blades along its length, becoming a sleek circular saw. "You wore that in your hair?" Tara asked incredulously. "I did a very thorough check of the manual," Willow assured her. "There's no way the blades could've solidified without the unlocking sequence. Ready?" She drew her arm back. "Ready," Tara confirmed. Willow flung the bladed ring as hard as she could, tilting it as it left her hand so that it veered sideways down the corridor. There was a thunk as the blade embedded itself in the ceiling several metres further on, and Walsh's deep voice rang out "What the-" "Surprise," Willow grinned, squeezing the bridge of her tinted glasses. The corridor was rocked by an explosion, and she and Tara sprinted across, glimpsing a pall of smoke and debris further down as they crossed the open space. Neither wasted time trying the door; Tara simply crashed through it shoulder-first, and she and Willow were safely out of the way before Walsh's guards began to blindly return fire. They found themselves in a long, unoccupied cocktail bar, the far wall of which was glass, offering a view into the liner's huge swimming pool. A variety of bikini'd woman and speedo'd men were floating around, undertaking no exercise more strenuous than leisurely feeling each other up. "We're going for a swim?" Willow asked, as Tara quickly took off her boots. "They're going for a swim," Tara corrected her, glancing over her shoulder at the open door behind them as she handed Willow a boot. "Unscrew the heel, there's a grapple inside. Lock onto something solid and high." "Gotcha," Willow nodded, jumping onto a table and jamming the spike inside the heel of the boot into the ceiling. With a brief whirr it buried itself fast; Tara pulled a bar stool over to the glass wall and did likewise. "Hold on!" she called to Willow, pulling a bullet-sized vibrator from her belt and giving the end a solid twist. It began to emit a shrill whine, and with one hand clasped around her ceiling-mounted footwear she reached out the other and touched the tip of the vibrator to the glass, just as Adam Walsh hove into view in the doorway. "Okay, now give yourselves up-" he began, just as the entire glass wall turned opaque with a spiderweb of cracks and disintegrated into tiny granules. Willow and Tara both clung to their handholds as the pool emptied itself through the room, pressing them up against the ceiling as the water surged past, sweeping away Walsh and his squad, and depositing the half-dressed swimmers on the pool floor as the water level dropped beneath them. "Um, I think this is yours," Willow said, tossing a bright pink bikini top that had snagged on her elbow during the floor to a bemused and topless blonde, as she and Tara abandoned their boots and ran for the pool's ladder leading up to the main deck. "Bring the car up to meet us," Tara said as they climbed out of the drained pool, soaking wet and still in costume, earning surprised glances from the various party-goers lounging around and wondering where the swimmers had gone. The two sprinted for the liner's starboard side, just as Harmony and a retinue of guards emerged from the ballroom deck behind them. "Stop them!" Harmony yelled, catching sight of the escaping agents while her minions were busy glaring about unintelligently. "Sorry, can't stay and chat!" Willow called over her shoulder, as she and Tara reached the edge of the deck. They vaulted over the side and flattened into perfect dives as they fell, plunging into the water with barely a splash. "Oh, nuts!" Harmony yelled, seeing her targets vanish. She ran to the edge of the deck just in time to see Willow and Tara reach their surfacing Aston Martin, which drew back its retractable roof to let them in. "Get my helicopter ready!" she demanded. "I didn't know you had a helicopter," one of the minions said, puzzled. "Get a helicopter ready!" Harmony amended. Long Beach, California "Harmony's going to chase us," Willow sighed, stretching her shoulders as she switched the car's controls to manual. "I don't know whether to be relieved or insulted... what?" "Nothing," Tara grinned, looking away from Willow's chest, which wasn't exactly concealed by her soaked and clinging Tomb Raider top. Willow looked down at herself and giggled, then her eye was caught by Tara as the blonde shook her head, spraying droplets around herself as her hair fanned out. "Wow, you did the hair thing!" she exclaimed, to Tara's puzzlement. "You know," she explained, "the thing, with wet hair when you toss it and it goes all shimmery and like a curtain of silk, and the droplets get all adventurous and then they trickle down in all sorts of inviting ways..." "I have shampoo-advertisement hair?" Tara asked slyly. "You have supermodel hair," Willow clarified, as the car's roof resealed above them and the vehicle dipped back beneath the waves. "There are people whose whole job is to have hair, like hand doubles, you know? but for hair, and they wish they had hair like you do. And hey, there's some of that good old-fashioned Willow babble for you, just like mom used to make - actually she did have a tendency to go on, which is probably where I get it from..." She paused and nodded to herself, as if ensuring her train of thought had finally drawn to a complete halt before disembarking. "In conclusion," she said, reaching out to hold Tara's hand, "you're gorgeous." "Th-thank you," Tara blushed. Her smile broadened as she looked down at their joined hands, and some of the tension in her shoulders began to melt away. Long Beach, California Daniel paced peevishly back and forth, darting glares at various security camera monitors and sonar displays, while the liner's crew kept out of his way. He looked up sharply as Cordelia entered the bridge with a figurative storm cloud over her head. "What happened?" he demanded. "Remember that part where you said security was water-tight?" Cordelia snapped back. Daniel nodded, then noticed Cordelia's arched eyebrow, and slumped his shoulders. "Oh," he said dejectedly. "And last week when I specifically said a security contract with Walsh and his goon squad isn't worth the paper it would be written on, if any of those morons could read?" "What's the situation now?" Daniel cut her off. "Harmony's in pursuit in the helicopter," Cordelia said flatly. "Good," Daniel nodded. Cordelia's eyed widened into an incredulous stare. "Did you hear what I just said?" she asked. "Harmony's capable, surely-" he paused, hearing himself, and revised: "Even Harmony should be capable of dropping a depth charge without messing it up." "You'd think," Cordelia said archly. "You've been instructing her, haven't you?" Daniel asked her sharply. "She keeps going on about the 'supervillainess training' she's been getting from you." "I've been doing what I can," Cordelia admitted. "But there's only so much that can be achieved without a complete brain transfusion. Or infusion, more like. Look, she's a nice girl, and if she's not actually ruthless she's at least air-headed enough that the idea of morality doesn't occur to her, but face it - she's never going to be a capable villain." "Well we need her," Daniel said, "and that's that." Cordelia rolled her eyes and held her hands behind her back, watching through the bridge's forward windows as the distant helicopter lurched erratically around the sky. "And, Cordelia," Daniel added, glaring at her, "your top... could you go put something intact on?" Cordelia glanced down at her attire, which she had torn open quite effectively, leaving most of her right breast and all of her left exposed. "In the middle of a crisis?" she asked. "No." "I'm trying to put an end to... displays like that," Daniel fumed. "And I'm not in this game for your ideals," Cordelia snapped back. "Deal with it." Long Beach, California "Launching sonar probe now," Harmony said into her radio headset, stabbing at a button on the aircraft's pilot console. She frowned as the windscreen wipers flipped back and forth across the cockpit's glass. "Launching sonar probe now," she said again, shutting off the wipers and trying another button. A slim torpedo dropped from the belly of the helicopter, on the end of a long cable that unreeled as it splashed through the surface of the ocean and sank quickly. In the cockpit a sonar display lit up and began chiming as the probe sent out its sound waves. "Cool, this is just like all those submarine movies," Harmony chuckled as the display pinged at her. "Focus, Harmony," Cordelia warned. "Sorry," Harmony said. "Um, hey! I got something! Targeting!" "Check that it's not us," Daniel's voice interrupted. "It's not you!" Harmony insisted. "You're the big sonar blob behind me, this one is out ahead!" "What do you know, she's right," Cordelia noted. "Telemetry confirms, one target, size and echo profile match." "Thank you," Harmony smiled. "Hey, wait," she added, suddenly frowning, "what do you mean, 'what do you know'? I can do this just fine!" "Shoot the target, Harmony," Daniel reminded her. "What the what?" "Remember how we talked about not getting distracted every five seconds?" Cordelia's voice followed. "Yeah, of course- oh. Right-o, no problemo... um hey, there's a bunch of triggers here, which one's the, you know, blow-up-submarine one?" Long Beach, California Cordelia clapped a hand over her radio mouthpiece and turned to the bridge's officers. "Is that helicopter carrying nukes?" she demanded sharply. "Um, no," the captain shook his head. "Just keep firing until you get them," Cordelia advised Harmony, while Daniel sighed in relief. Long Beach, California Harmony's helicopter wheeled around and opened fire into the ocean beneath with a pair of air-to-air cannons, then a flamethrower, a net launcher, and finally an air-to-sea torpedo. A moment later the sea erupted with a massive sub-surface explosion, casting a huge plume of water into the air. Long Beach, California "Ha-ha!" Harmony's voice crowed over the radio. "I got the Bunnies, I got the Bunnies-" Daniel flipped the switch to mute the radio. "Is my boat fuelled?" Cordelia asked the ship's captain. "It's waiting in the yacht bay, ma'am," he replied. "What?" Daniel asked. "Harmony blew them up." "Exactly, therefore it was a decoy," Cordelia said over her shoulder, heading for the hatch to the deck below. "The day she does something espionage-related right, I'll eat my body jewellery collection." Long Beach, California In the liner's submarine bay, in place of the Disco Volante's sight-seeing submarine, the Aston Martin bobbed gently in the pool. Willow finished hurriedly securing Lindsay McDonald's unconscious form in the car's rear luggage compartment, underneath the radar-guided rockets, and jumped over into the driver's seat. "They got the decoy," Tara said, switching off the remote-control station concealed in the dashboard on her side. "Sonar scramblers are a beautiful thing," Willow nodded, sealing the roof and taking the car down. "They're gonna have a fit when they find out they blew up their own pleasure sub." "Harmony was piloting the helicopter," Tara said, "so it may not come as so much of a surprise..." She bit her lip thoughtfully, staring at the dashboard's various displays, as Willow piloted the submarine car out of the liner's bay and accelerated off towards the shore. "What's up?" Willow asked. "Not Cordelia," Tara frowned, "which is what's worrying me. That helicopter is the only craft in the sky - where's Cordy?" "I think we have a suspect," Willow suggested, as a red blip appeared on her surface sonar screen, moving away from the liner's large hull silhouette, and turning to pursue them. Long Beach, California Cordelia stood behind the pilot console of her sleek, powerful speedboat, minimally clad in a black PVC bikini with a green stripe on one side. She gunned the boat's hydrojet engines and grinned as the sonar contact on her screen drew closer. "You don't get away that easily," she growled to herself, reaching beneath the console to press a hidden button. The forward deck of the power yacht opened to reveal four motorised rotary cannons, the roof slid back to make way for two missile batteries, on either side a pair of torpedo launchers emerged from hidden hatches, the sun deck behind the helm slid aside to reveal a mine layer, and lastly the vessel's trim changed from a neutral gold to Cordelia's favourite shade of emerald green. Long Beach, California "You know that just strikes me as extraneous," Willow complained, peering at a video display of the pursuing boat while Tara quickly accessed the Ministry mainframe through a wireless console in the glove compartment. "Having the racing stripes change colour like that? That's just showing off." "Cordelia always liked doing things theatrically," Tara noted, then warned: "But don't underestimate her. "I won't," Willow promised. "I have no intention of being blown up today - I've got precious cargo on board. And him, too," she added, jerking a thumb over her shoulder at the still-unconscious McDonald, visible through the viewport into the luggage compartment. "Those torpedo launchers are sonar-capable," Tara warned. "There's closed launch ports in the hull beneath the waterline too, I don't know what's in those." "Best not to find out," Willow suggested. "She's outpacing us," Tara added. "We've got five seconds of turbo power, we could almost reach the beach," Willow mused as the car's defence consoles slid into place around the steering wheel. "But there's no guarantee she'd break off, and that beach is too packed for a firefight. I'm taking us back out, hold on!" Tara reached beneath her seat's cover and pulled out the straps of its safety harness, strapping herself in as quickly as she could while Willow sent the car diving down, rolling over and levelling out just above the ocean floor, heading back out to sea, beneath the fast-moving speedboat. Long Beach, California "Uh-uh," Cordelia shook her head, "no running away... bad girls." She slewed the boat around and sent a pair of torpedoes leaping from the side-mounted launchers and into the water. "Cordelia," Daniel said, appearing on the central screen on the console. "Not now," she growled. "Get off the screen!" "You're risking exposure," Daniel warned. "Harmony's mucking around we can pass off as a stunt, but if you keep opening fire with highly visible weaponry like that-" "Would you shut up and let me do what you're paying me for?" Cordelia snapped. "I don't care about 'exposure'." "I know," Daniel replied with a long-suffering sigh. "Would you just- when did you change clothes? I thought you were in a hurry!" "I'll see you later, Daniel," Cordelia said with fake sweetness, switching off the screen. She glanced down at her attire and shrugged. Long Beach, California Under Willow's guidance the Ministry submarine car spiralled through the water, leaving a trail of glittering sonar flares in its wake. One of the two torpedoes took the bait and exploded harmlessly behind the vehicle which narrowly outpaced the shockwave from the blast. But the other torpedo dodged the flares and kept coming. Long Beach, California "More flares?" Tara asked. "Not until I know she's out of torpedoes," Willow shook her head. "How are you at warhead guidance?" "I'm no specialist," Tara admitted, "but I can do it." "Firing countermeasure rocket," Willow said, pushing a button on the steering column's indicator rod which fired a thin missile from the back or the car, its liquid fuel engine leaving a wake of bubbles behind it. "You'll have to steer it in, it's not made for underwater work and the guidance systems won't handle it." "I'll do my best," Tara said as a joystick emerged from the door handle beside her, and the glove compartment screen switched to a view from the rocket's on-board camera. Long Beach, California The torpedo closed in on the retreating car, riding through its wake with easy. At the last moment Willow jerked the vehicle into a straight climb, causing the pursuing warhead to overshoot beneath them. As it veered around the regain its target Tara's missile steamed in from the side and detonated, setting off the torpedo's larger payload. Long Beach, California "Hold tight!" Willow warned, as the explosion's shockwave buffeted into the car and tossed it about like a leaf in a storm. Willow fought the turbulence, gripping the steering wheel like grim death until they levelled out near the surface, when she finally let out an explosive sigh. "Okay you know what?" she growled. "I don't like being shot at, and I really don't like you being shot at!" She steered the car around to point directly at the approaching hull of Cordelia's speedboat. "Have some high explosive, Miss Exhibitionist!" Long Beach, California The Aston Martin launched three torpedoes side-by-side, two darting left and right and one dipping further down, before all turning to close in on their target. With only metres to spare the launch ports in the bottom of the boat's hull irised open and disgorged a swarm of tiny projectiles that spread out around the boat and began to home in on the approaching warheads, while Cordelia veered off behind them. Each miniature torpedo detonated as soon as it was close enough, the multiple shockwaves toppling the incoming torpedoes and finally setting off their charges. Long Beach, California "Swarm torpedoes," Tara lamented, as she watched two more torpedoes appear on the sonar display, launching from Cordelia's boat and homing in on them. "She outguns us." "Okay, let's look for another advantage," Willow said, gunning the engines and dodging to one side. The two torpedoes overshot, but veered around behind them and kept on coming. "How good a driver is she?" Willow asked suddenly. "Her instructor gave her an A-plus, I think," Tara said, glancing back nervously at the pursuing torpedoes. "Was that old 'Citroen' Giles?" "Yes," Tara nodded, "I remember her mentioning him." "Good," Willow grinned. "Why?" "He gave me an A-plus too," Willow said, "but added 'and she's crazy behind the wheel as well.' We've got our advantage. Hold on... um, again." "'Hold on' seems to be a recurring feature of your driving," Tara said, offering Willow a hopeful smile. "Trust me?" Willow asked. "Completely," Tara assured her. Long Beach, California "You're going to ram me?" Cordelia asked in disbelief, watching the Aston Martin's blip close in on her sonar screen. "Good luck babe, you'll need more than a nudge bar to get through this hull!" Long Beach, California "Have you ever seen 'Free Willy'?" Willow asked. Tara frowned in confusion, then her eyes widened as she caught on. "Turbo now!" Willow announced, bracing herself and pressing a red button on the gear stick. Long Beach, California With a turbo-jet roar the Aston Martin leapt out of the water alongside Cordelia's speedboat, corkscrewing through the air above the stunned former agent, showering seawater in its wake. The battery of rotary cannons on the boat's deck quickly swivelled upright and let fly a stream of firepower into the air, but the car was moving too fast for the automated guns to track. "You crazy bitch," Cordelia said in wry admiration as she watched the car splash back into the ocean on the far side of her boat. She grabbed a joystick that swivelled the torpedo launchers around to bear on her target, then glanced at the threat console as it started beeping alarmingly, showing the torpedoes that had been trailing the Aston Martin closing on her hull. "Oh shit!" she yelled, leaping onto a rocket-powered jet ski mounted in the rear deck and holding on as it roared out of its launch track, a split second before her speedboat exploded behind her. The jet ski thudded into the ocean surface, propellers taking over from the rocket motor as Cordelia swerved violently to gain control as she bounced from wave to wave. Finally wrestling the vehicle under control she swung around to see the blazing wreck of her boat slowly sinking, and craned her neck to see the Aston Martin surfacing some distance away before submerging again. "I'll be seeing you girls again," she sneered, turning back towards the waiting Disco Volante. Highway, Long Beach, California "Agents Shy Bunny and Adorabunny reporting in, confirm please," Willow said, tweaking the tuning knobs on the car stereo that doubled as a satellite link. "This is Ministry HQ," Fred's voice replied after a moment's static. "What's your status?" "We have a prisoner," Willow reported. "Lindsay McDonald, sending ID for verification now. Request protection and interrogation facilities for him. Our hotel may be under hostile surveillance." "Confirmed, Agent Adorabunny," Fred replied. "Where're your vehicles?" "We're in the Volante," Willow explained, "the Vanquish is back at the hotel. All equipment is packed and ready to move." "Good work Agents. We'll send someone to pick up the Vanquish and get rid of any pursuit surveillance. Proceed south for rendezvous at Agent Hot Tamale's hacienda, we'll clear you for border crossing." "Thanks, HQ," Willow said with a relieved sigh. "Also, important: I'm uploading snooper logs of a meeting between Daniel Osbourne and his associates. Highest priority on this information." "Will do," Fred replied. "We'll analyse it and have orders for you by the time you get to Hot Tamale's facility." "One more thing," Willow added, "we have a new hostile in play: Cordelia Chase." "Can... can you confirm that, Agent Adorabunny? Cordelia Chase is hostile?" "Confirmed, HQ," Willow said sadly. There was a pause from the other end of the satellite link. "Acknowledged, Agent," Fred replied. "Transmit your report as soon as it's ready. We'll analyse and advise. HQ out." Willow nodded absently and switched off the link. "South of the border," she said, forcing a grin. She glanced at Tara, then her face fell at the sight of her, staring off into the distance, looking pensive, troubled. "Tara?" she asked gently, leaving the car to drive itself seeing as evasive driving wasn't called for on the sedate highway. The gear stick and centre console folded neatly out of the way, allowing Willow to shift over nearer Tara. "I-I'm sorry," Tara said, lowering her eyes. "What for?" Willow asked, taking her hand. "I froze, back on the liner," Tara said bitterly. "I-I put both of us in danger. I should have-" "Hey," Willow said tenderly, "it's okay - coming face to face with Cordelia like that, realising... I'd have been just the same, if she'd been my mentor. And you were off for just a few seconds, and after that you were back in the game, you made good decisions, you got us out safely, remember?" Tara sniffled, half-turned toward Willow, but hesitated. "Come here," Willow offered, opening her arms. Tara gratefully sank into her embrace, letting out a single sob, then sighing and breathing more easily. "I'm sorry anyway," she said. "Then I forgive you." "Just like that?" "Just like that," Willow said, without hesitation. Tara drew back a little, but remained snuggled against Willow's side. Willow spared a moment to check that the car was coping with the traffic, then devoted her attention to stroking Tara's hair, soothing her. "I can't believe it," Tara said quietly, after a while. "She was... so dedicated to the cause. She'd do anything for freedom of expression, anything at all. So many times she risked her life for a mission. I mean, you know the stories about Queen Bunny." "I know," Willow said. "They're not exaggerations," Tara went on. "She was unstoppable. She brought down the Pylean anti-music crusade almost single-handed... and Sensei Snyder and his ninja hall monitors? She infiltrated the armoured gymnasium and fought them all for five hours to keep them from escaping until backup arrived. I can't believe she'd do this... I can't think why... what happened to her." "Why did she leave?" Willow asked. "I mean there's rumours, but no-one really knows..." "It was kept quiet," Tara nodded. "It was my last mission with her as a trainee. We were in Siberia, retrieving the stolen access codes for the Orbital Smutellite Network. The thieves had somehow got a hold of some ex-Soviet fembots, no-one knew beforehand, and we got pinned down pretty badly. She... she ordered me onto the last plane out, with the codes, while she fought a rearguard to protect my escape. I-I hated having to leave her..." She swallowed and gave Willow an apologetic look. "You did what you had to," Willow consoled her. "It was five days before we got past their defences to rescue her," Tara went on. "They'd caught her on the third, and they... they made her watch 50s ultra-conservative educational films. 'Polly the Perfect Housewife'... 'Proper Behaviour for Young Women'... even 'Why Showing Your Ankles Is A Sin'." "Bastards," Willow whispered in sympathy. "She fought it all the way," Tara said. "She never gave in... but still, when we got her back to the Ministry, she was... it affected her. She requested indefinite leave, and then just vanished. No-one could find her. Th-they thought she'd given up the secret agent life completely - I mean, who could blame her? - and just settled down somewhere quiet, with a lover... or several... but this?" "Maybe is was being kept prisoner, the attempt to brainwash her?" Willow suggested. "Maybe it did get to her, somehow." "Maybe," Tara nodded. "She's the last person I'd have thought... she always said if it weren't for smut, she wouldn't be anything. She revelled in herself so much, in giving and receiving pleasure... I can't imagine her wanting to give that up." "We'll see what the Ministry has to say," Willow said thoughtfully. "Maybe they know something else, or can figure out why... is there anyone else who knows her well? Did she have other trainees?" Tara shook her head. "I was the only one," she said. "But perhaps M... she trained Cordelia, and I think she knows her better than anyone, even me. There was always... there was something Cordy held back, a private part of herself. We were good friends, of course, and I... I'm sure she'd have told me anything as an agent, but in our personal lives we never quite reached the tell-all-secrets stage." "You and she..." Willow said hesitantly. Tara looked up, then smiled and shook her head. "I'm not being all Jealousy Bunny," Willow said quickly, "I was just- I'm not, am I? Tell me if I'm being too intrusive?" "There's no part of my life you're not welcome to," Tara assured her. "And no, Cordy and I never... we were honest with each other right from the start. What she wanted out of an 'encounter' was a sexual partner, and I wanted a lover, and she respected that." She giggled, just a trace of sadness remaining in her eyes. "She even set me up on a couple of blind dates, with other Bunnies, although they didn't work out. I didn't mind waiting for the right girl to come along." She rested her head on Willow's shoulder and put an arm around her waist, hugging her gently. "And she did. I'm so confused, Willow, I don't know what to think... but I'm so glad I have you." Los Angeles, California A luxury helicopter set itself down on the Osbourne Tower's rooftop helipad, allowing a frustrated Daniel Osbourne and a fuming Cordelia Chase to disembark, followed by Harmony who was simply trying to keep out of the zone of hostility crackling between the two of them. "Do you have any idea what this could cost me?" Daniel demanded as they boarded an elevator and descended to the apartment levels of the tower. "Well seeing as I had a vague clue or two the last seven times you've asked that since we boarded the chopper," Cordelia sniped back, "which didn't stop you explaining it in terse-yet-annoying detail again anyway, yeah, I think the specifics haven't quite slipped my mind yet!" "We'll have to move up the schedule," Daniel said sourly. "And switch operations from here to Europe. If the Ministry locates our base there-" "We'll deal with it," Cordelia snapped. "Now you go do your angry megalomaniac thing in private, or in front of a mirror if you need an audience. I've just had my ass handed to be by an agent I trained and some redheaded slip of a girl I've never heard of, so if you'll excuse me I need to let off steam. Harmony?" "You know I don't like the two of you... consorting," Daniel warned, as Harmony moved to Cordelia's side. "Tough," Cordelia frowned. "I doubt you can find anyone qualified to replace me, and I know, god help us, you can't replace her. Go rant about immorality to some executive yes-men or something." She turned on her heel and headed to her private apartment. Harmony gave Daniel an apologetic shrug and followed in her wake, while the billionaire watched them go with a quiet glare. Los Angeles, California "God dammit!" Cordelia strode through the apartment door and promptly exploded, plucking a decorative candelabra from beside the fireplace and hurling it through an eight-foot-tall vase, which shattered impressively and expensively. She tore her bikini top off and whipped it into the fire, then stomped up the spiral staircase joining the expansive apartment's lounge to the upper level, harshly tugging apart the knots holding her thong in place until it fell in her wake. Harmony closed the outer door and ascended the staircase, finding Cordelia at her exercise equipment doing reverse chin-ups with her legs straight out in an L position, her shoulders straining as she pulled herself up until the bar rested behind her neck. "This is worse than that thing with Richard Wilkins, isn't it?" Harmony asked as Cordelia dropped back to the floor and rested her elbows on a vaulting horse. "That was nothing," she said dismissively. "Just a stupid game to waste some time, I knew he'd never pull it off. This mattered." "Daniel can relocate the broadcast thingy to Europe," Harmony suggested. "It's not, like, a disaster or anything..." "Screw Daniel," Cordelia snapped. "I don't care. This is me and them, one on one. And I lost." "It's not the end of the world," Harmony said, reaching over to massage Cordelia's shoulders. "It is for me!" Cordelia insisted. "I'm the best! Or I should be... I wasn't today, was I?" "They just caught you by surprise, that's all," Harmony said. "Plus there were two of them - two on one, that's not an even match. Actually you know what, I have this philosophy kind of thing for handling two-on-one situations, admittedly not these kinds of situations, if you know what I mean..." "Do tell," Cordelia muttered. "Really? Oh, well, I actually learned in a Yoga class once this position that-" "Harmony?" Cordelia interrupted. "Sarcasm." "Oh," Harmony said. "Sorry." She paused a moment. "Is the massage helping?" Cordelia looked over her shoulder at the blonde, then turned her head forward again. "You know what I need," she said quietly. Harmony's hands stilled, and she moved to lean on the vaulting horse beside Cordelia. "Which one?" she asked. "The strap," Cordelia said. Harmony straightened, but had only gone a step when Cordelia turned and called after her: "Wait... the crop." Harmony turned, looking uncertain. "What?" Cordelia asked. "You're sure?" Harmony asked meekly. "If you don't want to-" Cordelia began, turning away. "No, it's not that," Harmony insisted. "Just... it's not one of those novelty ones." She bit her lip and gave Cordelia a puppy-dog stare. "I don't want to hurt you." Cordelia turned back to her. "You won't," she said. "That's not what I feel." "Well, okay," Harmony nodded, regaining her guileless smile, "if you're sure..." "I'm sure," Cordelia agreed. "You won't hurt me." Harmony skipped off towards the bedroom, while Cordelia turned and leaned lengthwise across the vaulting horse again, spreading her arms and laying her body flat against it. "You won't," she whispered sadly, "I do that all by myself." She let her head drop onto the horse. "But we can make it alright again," she added, a fragile smile spreading across her lips. She straightened again at the sound of Harmony's footsteps returning from the bedroom, and without looking stood beneath the chin-up bar, reaching up to grasp it with her head hung forward between her shoulders. "This is really nice," Harmony said, balancing the riding crop on her finger. "It's from Spain," Cordelia said. "Andalusia." "They have good sex toys there?" Harmony asked, puzzled. "They have good horses there," Cordelia said. "It's not a toy. Get going, babe." "Okay, okay," Harmony giggled, "keep your pants on. Or, you know, not." "Forty," Cordelia said firmly. "Count 'em." "Forty?" Harmony asked, surprised. "Well, okay, if it makes ya happy." She sauntered around behind Cordelia and scraped the tip of the crop down her spine and into the crevice between her ass cheeks. Cordelia hissed as Harmony worked the tightly-bound leather tongue between her thighs and stroked it across her labia. "Are you teasing me?" she asked incredulously. "I don't recall telling you to tease me." "You didn't tell me not to tease you," Harmony pointed out. "That's... actually a good come-back," Cordelia mused. "Hey, I may not be good at much," Harmony said, hands on hips, "but I am good at fucking, in all its permutations!" "Did you just use the word 'permutations' in a real sentence?" "I saw it on 'Totally Spies' and looked it up," Harmony replied happily. "Right," Cordelia nodded to herself, "silly me for asking-" With a stinging crack! Harmony brought the crop down hard across the backs of Cordelia's thighs, leaving a line of white across her tanned skin that quickly flushed crimson as the former Bunny bucked her hips against thin air. "AAH!" she screamed a second later, when her brain caught up with the sensations from her skin. "FUCK!" "One," Harmony counted smugly. "Gotcha." She swung again, crack!, leaving a second scarlet mark next to the slowly-fading first. "Two," she noted. The next three strokes lined the small of Cordelia's back, leaving her hanging limply from her grip on the bar above, panting in a mix of anguish and lust. "C'mon, let's get serious," Harmony said after counting the fifth stroke. She used her booted foot to nudge Cordelia's legs apart, grinning with satisfaction at the glistening slick of nectar coating her inner thighs. Crack! "Six," Harmony counted, as Cordelia gave an animal groan at the stroke across the inside of her left thigh. Crack!, the seventh landed inside her right thigh, eight and nine alternating back and forth. For the tenth stroke Harmony drew back impressively and let fly a stinging crack! across Cordelia's trembling ass. "AAAAAaaaauuuuuuhhhhggggGOD!" Cordelia groaned. Harmony sauntered around in front of her and took a handful of her short-cropped hair and lifted her head to look her in the eye. "Whattaya say?" she asked chirpily. "A... again," Cordelia growled. Harmony did a little happy dance, then trailed the tip of the crop up the inside of Cordelia's left thigh, and continued over her pouting lips and onto her hairless mound. Without warning she drew back her wrist and gave the crop a quick slap on Cordelia's mons, not as hard as she could have, but enough to make her ersatz victim jerk away for a second, before pushing her hips forward again, eyes closed and groaning. "That's eleven," Harmony whispered, kneeling down between Cordelia's splayed legs. She leant forward and touched her tongue to her clit, then gave her a long, firm lick across her smarting, bare mound, across the tiny bunny tattoo there, and all the way up to her waist. "Ffffffffuck..." Cordelia gasped. "What's that?" Harmony asked, jumping to her feet eagerly. "What do you want?" "Quit teasing," Cordelia replied, fixing her with a glare. "Oh-kay then," Harmony shrugged, walking back around to stand behind her. The crop wove back and forth across her ass, then drew back and let fly, crack!, "Twelve!" Crack! "Thirteen!" CRACK! "Fourteen!" Cordelia let her mouth hang open, her breathing becoming a long, endless moan, in and out, as she swung her hips back to meet each stinging stroke across her ass. Crack! "Thirty-nine!" Harmony exclaimed cheerfully, adding the latest in the network of slowly-fading scarlet stripes across Cordelia's tanned ass and thighs. "Didja like that?" she asked, ducking to peer into Cordelia's downcast eyes. "One to go, you know - how do ya want it?" Cordelia remained speechless, only her moaning, panting breaths punctuating the silence, but her eyes fixed on Harmony's. "Ooh, I know that look!" the blonde giggled. She reached up and pried Cordelia's fingers away from the bar above her, supporting her and taking her arm over her shoulders as she slumped. Her free hand travelled down Cordelia's flat stomach, lightly scratched the skin of her mound, then cupped her and dipped two fingers into her pouting pussy, quickly adding a third with ease. "Yowza," she said, as Cordelia's moans increased in urgency, "you got the Pacific Ocean in there or something?" Tugging gently with her embedded hand she led the stumbling woman to the vaulting horse. "But ya haven't come yet, huh?" Harmony grinned. Cordelia shook her head weakly, drawing her arm from around the blonde's shoulders to brace herself against the horse. Harmony withdrew her slick fingers and pressed down on Cordelia's back until she had lowered herself as far as she could, balanced between her hands on the horse and her widely-spread feet, her body horizontal, her ass spread, vulnerable. "Do it," Cordelia rasped. Harmony stood beside her and readied the crop, trailing its tip down her back and into the crevice between her cheeks, until it came to rest on her asshole. She hesitated a moment, and Cordelia, sensing it, pushed her ass back. "You know how much I need this!" she insisted. "Do it! Fuck, now! Please!" Harmony bit her lip and swung, and with a final sharp crack! placed a stinging blow on Cordelia's vulnerable opening. The former bunny howled in a strange mix of pain and triumph, her legs buckled and she lost her grip on the horse in front of her, and Harmony had to quickly grab her to keep her from falling. They both slumped to the floor, Harmony tossing the crop away and holding Cordelia around the waist, as she convulsed again and again, both hands covering her crotch, one plunging four fingers deep within herself, the other pressing them in to the knuckles. With each climax came a sobbing cry of release, repeated quieter and quieter as her body slowly stilled, until she lay motionless save for the gentle rise and fall of her chest. "You're a strange girl," Harmony said, taking a deep breath and releasing it in a sigh. She looked around idly, and her eyes fell on the fallen crop. Leaning over so as to reach it without letting go of her hold on the sleeping Cordelia, she picked it up, and aiming carefully, gave herself an experimental swat on the side of her ass. "Ow!" she squeaked. "So not for me..." She sighed again, then rubbed herself where the crop had made contact, and delicately essayed another swat, with less force behind it. "Ow!" she squealed again, though this time it was mixed with a giggle. "Okay, maybe a little..." |
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