Desperate Times Call For Awesome Measures

Hey there! You there! Why are you looking so down? You know what you need? Another update of Brat Stalker. That’s right. Another update. In your face with words, yo!

Brat Stalker 4.2

Data, data, streaming by before Chase’s glazed eyes. This was a new kind of tedium, a tedium tinged with pain and a deep home-sickness that Chase felt to her very bones. It had been but a few hours since Darby had taken her over her lap and unleashed a hell of a spanking on her backside. A few hours since Chase had learned that Darby really wasn’t bluffing about her new reality. She had meant every threatening word she’d ever uttered. That left Chase feeling scared and incredibly alone, even though she was surrounded by plenty of people, people who did their jobs obediently and without complaint. They may as well have been aliens for all the kinship Chase felt with them.

After having been forced back into the Data Center by an unrelenting Darby, Chase seethed silently to herself. Her tears had dried on her cheeks hours ago, but the feelings that surged through her body had not dissapated in the slightest, indeed they seemed to grow with every passing pixel that slid by on her screen.

She jabbed at the keyboard in front of her, flagging a suspicious node before it could escape the screen and get her in trouble.

“Good work,” Ray noted over her shoulder.

“Thanks,” Chase replied in a small voice. She couldn’t look him in the eye. He would know what had happened to her. He would know how she had been humiliated and punished. She was not ready to see her misery reflected in another person’s eyes just yet.

Ray squeezed her shoulder. “Hang in there,” he reassured her comfortingly.

Chase looked over her shoulder with the best smile she could force, then turned quickly back to her keyboard. He was being so nice. He seemed to have entirely forgotten her bad behavior earlier, it was as if it had never happened at all. She wished that Darby was even a little bit as nice as Ray, but Darby was as cold as ice. She hadn’t offered so much as a kind word after tearing strips off Chase’s hide, she’d just slapped her ass again and demanded that she get up and return to work.

Darby. As if summoned by the thought, the insufferable woman walked into the Data Center, flanked by a striking younger man, closer to Chase’s age. He was a wide set fellow with olive skin, high cheekbones and dark, humorous eyes. He was quite handsome really. Chase wondered if Darby thought so too. Her furtive glances at the pair did not reveal Darby’s facial expression, making eye contact with her now would be a fate worse than another beating. Chase didn’t want to see the look of triumph that was sure to be in her eyes. What was obvious however, was that something was afoot. Both the agents were clad in black tactical gear with side arms strapped to their thighs and holstered at their chests.

“Here for your chips?” Ray greeted them.

“Yeah, we’re going out in the next few hours,” Darby said.

Out? Chase’s ears pricked up. They were going out. She swerved her chair a slight bit, enough to allow her to see that the male agent was fairly close, and even closer, his gun hung casually in the holster, not yet properly strapped in. Her heart started pounding faster as time slowed. This was an opportunity. Was she going to sit here and rot away for the rest of her life, staring at streaming data? No. She would not. She could not.

On auto pilot, she swiveled her chair a little more, reached over and took hold of the agent’s gun. It slid into her hand like an old friend, cold steel against her palm empowering her.

“I think I’ll come with you.”

Three sets of eyes turned towards her. Chase held the gun outstretched before her, hating the way the muzzle trembled in her hands. “I mean it. Take me with you. I am leaving.”

“There is no leaving,” Darby said cooly.

“Shut up! Don’t you talk to me! Don’t talk to me ever again you frigid succubus!” Chase snapped. Choked laughter from the male agent saw her swinging the gun towards him.

“Hey, don’t unload on me,” he said, holding his hands up with a friendly grin.

Nobody seemed worried enough about the fact she had a gun on them, Chase noticed. Ray had folded his arms over his chest and was looking distinctly unimpressed, but not particularly scared. Darby, well, Darby just looked pissed off. Then again, she pretty much always looked pissed off as far as Chase could tell.

“Let’s go!” She tried barking an order. It didn’t work. Nobody moved, in fact, the male agent’s grin grew even wider.

“I have a gun,” she explained helpfully to those of the assembled group, in case they weren’t seeing that for some reason.

“We have more,” Darby replied, her eyes dipping to Chase’s chest significantly.

Chase looked down. Dancing about her gray uniform were several red dots from laser scopes. One. Two. Three. Four. Her heart sank as she realized she had truly gotten herself into an unwinnable stand off. It figured that this place had gunmen everywhere, or perhaps some automated system ready to fire on recalcitrant employees at a moment’s notice.

“Whoopsie-daisy.” Distraction cost Chase her tactical advantage as her wrist was gripped firmly and she found herself being spun around like a whirling top. The gun was wrested from her hand easily and before she could even think about fighting back, she was bodily trapped against the burly frame of the male agent.

“Nice work. It usually takes the new ones at least a week to pull a gun on Darby,” he chuckled against her ear.

“Let her go, Ono, I’ll deal with her,” Darby spoke, the threat of terrible punishments hanging in her steely tone.

“Naw, she pulled my gun, I’ll deal with her,” Ono said, turning himself around and taking Chase with him. As she looked into Darby’s angry gaze, Chase was rather glad that there was a strong arm wrapped over her chest, protecting her.

“She’s my material,” Darby insisted.

Chase stifled a squeak of fear. Darby had spanked her to tears for swearing at her, god only knew what she’d do for pulling a gun on her. Behind her, she felt Ono’s chest muscles move as he shrugged.

“Okay, guess I’ll have to report this to the Head. It won’t look good on your performance record, but if you insist…” There was a half teasing, half serious tone to his voice that Chase found interesting. She’d lost all control of the situation now, and knowing that, she found herself relaxing. Whatever came next, it was beyond her means to influence.

“Ono…” Darby’s eyes glittered with displeasure.

“Let him deal with it,” Ray broke in.

Glancing around at the three players in the stand-off, Chase wished she knew what was going on. Whatever it was, it was far deeper than her misbehavior. She knew a power play when she saw one. It seemed that she was not the only opportunist in the department.

“Fine,” Darby relented.

“Good. Come on Annie,” Ono said with a laugh, releasing Chase from his grip.

“My name’s Chase,” Chase replied, following close on his heels as he left the Data Center. Whatever fate he had in store for her, it couldn’t be anything compared to what Darby plainly wanted to unleash on her.

“Want a beer, Chase?” Ono grinned over his shoulder.

“Uh, sure?” Chase tried to conceal her surprise unsuccessfully as she drew up by his side. “Aren’t you, you know, mad?”

“Mad?” He seemed puzzled for a moment. “Oh about the gun thing? Naw.”

“Why not?”

“I get guns pulled on me all the time, but usually the people pulling them aren’t nearly as pretty as you,” he winked charmingly. “And their guns are usually loaded.”