Chapter 5

Randy's frame of mind wasn't everything Amy could have hoped for as he approached her. Behind him, Toby shrugged and popped his eyes -- but Amy had a direct read on Randy, so she went low-key.

"Thank you for coming to talk to me," she said humbly.

"Yeah, well..." Miriam had been hot stuff, or Randy would have wanted more than what he considered to be 'good attitude' from Amy. "I'm here, but she hasn't seen me. What do you want?"

"I wanted to know what she did right."

"Every fucking thing." Memory shifted Randy's attention from the girl in front of him to something amazingly pleasant. "She's the first one of you that didn't give me shit about something -- and given what we did to her, it was --- just fucking incredible..." He shook his head. "I get so tired of, 'But Randy this,' and 'I don't wanna do that' -- she just sucked it up and came asking for more! Why can't all of you be like that? Why don't any of you have any goddamned respect?"

Amy suddenly realized that she was dealing with a really, really unhappy young man. Digging a little bit, she could see it all -- the pudgy body, the ribbing, the harassment, being taken for granted -- or worse, humiliated -- by girls; the total lack of respect. Now, especially, Randy had made huge progress internally -- but it wasn't visible externally, and only a limited number of people had any idea of the changes -- and most people couldn't have cared less. Randy needed a platform from which he could declare his manhood -- and this was it -- this group. Inside this group, Randy was a mover and a shaker -- and everyone -- ESPECIALLY everyone female -- had better be ready to acknowledge that, because here he had power -- and, particularly if angered, he WOULD use it!

There were two possible courses of action; she could try to alter him, bleeding off the anger, or she could just deflect it. The latter course didn't require anything in the way of special powers -- all she had to do was show him some respect. Since that was the role she'd chosen, continuing in that vein was easy enough... "I'll do my best, Sir."

Randy blinked. "See you do," he said gruffly. "We done here?"

"Yes, Sir." A little buttering-up went a long way, Amy discovered.

Randy reached in his pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper. "When she comes out, give her this for me."

Amy took it. "I will, Sir."

"See you do. It's important." Randy headed off.

Amy crossed to Toby. "That was close..."

"There's some juggling involved," Toby agreed. "Did you...?"

"I didn't touch him. Flattery goes a long way with him, fortunately." Amy looked off in the direction Randy and his sister had departed. "He's an angry guy; nobody has given him the respect he craves -- well, nobody but Miriam, anyway." She unfurled the paper and read the contents, raising her eyebrows. "You know, if I got this..." She handed it to Toby.

Toby read it. "Well, it wasn't meant for you. Given what we've heard about what happened, Miriam will look at it differently." His eyes shifted focus as he reached out to Miriam, who was drying herself in the bathroom. "Whatever you might think, she's gonna be tickled pink. As it is, you'd think she spent the day at Disneyland..."

"That might be the perfect thing for Randy," Amy mused, "but he's worried that when she actually SEES him, she will reject him."

"That's too bad," Toby sighed. "May I?"

"Don't adjust anything."

"I want to see what she thinks he looks like." It was easy; Randy was floating on the top layers of Miriam's mind. "It's nebulous -- she has NO IDEA what he looks like. He's an ideal to her -- that mythical person who can command her to do anything..." He opened his eyes. "She's really strange. I may want another test case. She's a LOT like my Ma..."

"How so?"

"It's about what she gives -- and what she gets. A guy who gives her the least little bit of affection can have ANYTHING from her. And the more he demands, the more she feels like she's holding up her end of the bargain."

"Well, he's half in love with her," Amy mused.

Toby sighed. "If they get past that one test, they'll be inseparable." Coming back to another subject, he added, "Protecting you isn't going to be easy -- even Teela gives out the occasional blow job. Randy, in a good mood, might not be a problem, but if Damian takes it into his head..."

Amy had gotten a small chunk of Damian early in the day. "He's pretty smart, too, isn't he?"

"He pretty much suspects what I'm capable of; he's even asked for assistance a couple of times," Toby replied. "He'll be very leery of you if he gets the idea that you can manipulate him. He won't like that AT ALL!"

"Well, if I have to..." Amy muttered.

"You're best off acting as if you expect it," Toby told her. "Theoretically, I can protect you, while I'm around -- but there are limits even to that if one of them decides you're acting too independent."

"What about Lon?"

"Well, it will never occur to him that you have anything in the way of powers without direct evidence -- but if you cross him, he'll want to teach you respect."

"This stuff is what bothers me," Amy sighed. "It's the 'Boy's Fuck Club' -- don't fuck with the boys, or else!"

Toby sighed. "That's fair -- but Lon is usually distracted with Sally, and Damian has his hands full with Alyssa and Candace."

"Is he the only one of you regularly doing older women, now?" Amy asked.

"Yeah."

"And that's because?"

"Candace is the closest one to looking for incest," Toby revealed. "She would fuck Lon in a heartbeat, given the proper circumstances. Lon's defenses aren't that good, anyway. Candace likes young studs -- and underneath there, somewhere, is an urge to fight authority -- but only so she can be crushed by it -- totally controlled. With regular guys, she's bossy -- and never satisfied, basically, even if everything goes her way. With Damian, though, she pushes him a little and he rolls right over her -- and she loves it."

Amy eyed him. "You're sure?"

"I've seen it a dozen times. And I've probably NOT been there even more!" Toby insisted. "If Lon ever really busts on her in a highly sexual situation..."

"Who else?"

"Hank. Hank's a sweetheart, though -- and he's got Maddie..." Toby stopped. "You know, there are three hundred things you haven't heard about -- but Miriam is coming..."

"Okay. Tomorrow!" Amy waved a finger.

"For sure!" Toby got out of there.

Only the new girl, Amy, was there when Miriam came out of the bathroom. "Where is everyone?"

"Gone," Amy replied. "I'm taking you home."

"Do you even know where we are?"

"No. But we'll figure it out eventually."

Amy waited until they were in the car to pump Miriam. "So, how was it?"

"It was SOOO great! I'm so glad I pushed to get in!" Miriam cooed.

Amy murmured, "A lot of people wouldn't react that way -- they would have been upset at the abuse and the control and the craziness. What is so great about being someone's piece of meat? I went through some of that stuff, but I didn't ENJOY it!"

Miriam blinked. "No?" She shrugged. "I was warned that things might not be fun, but... I got to see and use some really neat stuff -- did you see that pillory thing? I was tested, challenged -- nobody does that -- not that way, anyway. I had my first sex with a guy..."

"Wait -- that was your first time?"

"Uh huh. It was my first time with a dog, too, but I think I could have passed on that. Still, I did it -- and that's all that counts, isn't it?" Miriam eyed Amy expectantly.

"Um, yeah, I guess so..."

"I mean, you did whatever you did so you could move on, right? Be a member?"

"Yeah..."

"So it's an accomplishment, right? There was a challenge and you overcame it, right?" Miriam pressed.

"Yeah, you're right. I guess I wasn't looking at it like that," Amy replied.

"From talking to the other girl, I understand that some of them were kind of sucked in -- but we had to prove ourselves worthy," Miriam beamed.

"Worthy of what?"

"Worthy to be in the group!" Miriam eyed Amy as if she had two heads. "Don't you want to belong? Don't you want to meet boys?"

"Oh, well, sure!" Amy replied. "Of course! But it's just for sex..."

"I've had almost eighteen years to catch a boy with my looks or my sparkling conversation," Miriam retorted, "and there isn't a line, you know? If sex works -- well, I can think of a lot worse things..." She sat there, staring off into space. "That guy was just ... Wow!"

"I see your point," Amy muttered. "But they put you through a lot of crap -- tied you up and made you do crazy stuff, right? How is it that you enjoyed that?"

Miriam shrugged. "Oh, I don't know..."

'Aha!' thought Amy.

"Ever since I was a little girl, the whole captured and held prisoner game has been a turn-on..."

'Wups! Maybe not...' 'Ever since I was a little girl...' wasn't something you inserted into someone's mind in two seconds -- or two minutes, or two hours, for that matter. Not if you were going to support it with consistent memories. Amy had tried to fix Reid and Ronnie to that depth after her inadvertent major surgery on their minds and it took days before they were reasonably functional... "Really? Since you were little?"

"Sure. Boys still liked me until I hit puberty -- to play with, anyway. We used to play this game called 'stew pot' at recess -- a boy would catch you and take you to a tree, and you had to stand there with your back to the tree and your arms wrapped around it like you were tied up and being cooked..."

Toby didn't make THAT up -- Amy was certain. "I never heard of that game..."

"Oh, one of the boys probably made it up," Miriam waved it off. "The rules changed a lot. You had to offer another boy a hug or a kiss on the cheek or something." Miriam frowned for a moment. "Maybe a girl thought that rule up." Then, under her breath, she added, "Maybe I did..."

It didn't matter. Miriam's fixations didn't appear to have come from Toby having screwed with her mind...

Meanwhile, Miriam looked up and said, "Haven't you ever had to prove you were worthy of something?"

Nonplussed, Amy replied, "Well, yes, but what are we talking about here?"

Miriam cocked her head and said, "If you don't know, I probably can't make it clear."

The response knocked Amy for a loop. Apparently, Toby wasn't as full of shit as she'd assumed. The pre-Reid Amy probably would have understood instinctively, but now she was trained to look for nefarious plots behind every bush. Even her limited acquaintance with Toby told her that he wouldn't do a screw job on someone's mind for nothing -- and this particular setup was more likely to hurt him than help, as it made him look ham-handed. Amy had come to believe that people with the powers that she and Toby exhibited could not BE that ham-handed -- with certain exceptions, like personal peril. It would be the sign of an inferior mind... something Toby's clearly wasn't.

Amy became aware that she was clutching something -- the scrap of paper that Randy had pressed into her hand. "I'm supposed to give you this," she said, handing the somewhat crumpled note to Miriam.

Miriam opened it and happy tears blurred her vision. It said:

"You're my sweet bitch and I'm very proud of you. Remember your lessons -- they will lead you to me." It was signed, 'You Know Who.'

"That's so sweet!" Miriam sniffled.

Amy shook her head; the whole thing wasn't quite right, somehow.

Meanwhile, the word went out; Friday night was a command performance. The younger generation was expected to have one hundred percent attendance among the non-volunteer members, especially, while the older generation was optional, with a few exceptions. Jiang Yi was to go -- and cater; Sonya was required to attend, of course. Teela, thumbing her nose at Rick, who was still being balky, decided she would attend with her 'sister.' Frank, upon discovery that he was going to be without females for the first evening since Tuesday, decided that he would either hit a burger joint or a bar, depending upon his mood; peace and quiet was something he was looking forward to, no matter how attached he was getting to his little blocky woman.

Make no mistake -- he WAS attached to her; he knew it and she knew it and the girls knew it. Tuesday evening, Jiang Yi had been all over him, apologizing for screwing up on Monday -- but it was just a missed communication; Frank hadn't been mad as much as surprised that somebody thought he'd put her out. Now he was careful to see to it that Jing Yi had instructions to return, silly as it seemed. Sonya wandered back and forth between Frank's home and her own -- and Frank didn't feel it was any of his business until Jiang Yi decided otherwise. And as for Friday night, Frank felt that a little strange dick probably wouldn't hurt Jiang Yi any -- besides, he owed the group, big time.

Tabitha's requirement to be present let Fred off the hook, particularly as Louise and Rico would be there. Louise planned Rico and one strange dick; Rico had no plans at all; he would go with the flow. Beth and Robert were coming, later -- mostly to use the dungeon pieces. There was something unspoken but present nonetheless between them; Robert managed to find his way to Beth's every few days, or vice-versa.

Trish's attendance was required and Phyllis' optional -- but Phyllis found herself entertaining the idea. Maybe she could get a boy, 'take-out,' or something...

Toby tried to lay out some kind of plan for handling the guys, but things were a mess. Half of the girls were technically taken, even if their boyfriends allowed them to participate at some level. Teela was probably bluffing -- and what would she do if Rick showed up? Sally could MAYBE be called on for booth duty. Maddie should probably stay away, given the physical and mental challenges she was going through -- and that probably meant that Hank would leave things to Toby and not show up.

Toby needed to tie up Tad, Mark, Alonzo, Pete, and Bobby. He had Miriam, Sonya, Trish, and Tabitha -- but he needed enough bodies that he could pretend Amy was the odd girl out, and he was short for that.

Beth and Louise would be late, like last time -- and they were bringing their own, more or less. Candace would be hosting -- and Damian had the call on her, anyway. Toby didn't want to mess over Jiang Yi -- if she had a good thing going with Frank, there was no good reason to put her on the line -- she wouldn't generate any excitement, anyway. And if he dragged Phyllis in, who would fuck her? He went to sleep with his head buzzing; ultimately, he had to rely on Terence, Damian and Clint to release their women without noticing that Toby's wasn't busy -- which MIGHT work with Sally and Teela running interference. It was another probably distasteful discussion subject for Amy...

Thank God the gays were staying out of it.

Friday morning spawned some unexpected excitement. Bobby Beckwith cruised the black girls and tried to get some attention -- without Pete flying cover. Bernice Higgins lit into him again, "Why y'all fuckin' with black chicks? Won't no white ho's pay no attention to ya?"

"Oh, lay off, Bernice," Trish said wearily. "Bruthuhs poach white chicks all the time -- why can't they get a little back?"

"You gonna date white boys?" Bernice pressed. "Good -- more bruthuhs for me!"

"You wish!" somebody snorted.

"Yeah!" Tabitha added to it, "When's the last time ANYBODY got within twenty feet of YOU, Bernice! Maybe you oughta be NICE to Bobby!" There was general laughter.

But Bobby said, "Hey, she asked a question... I found out black girls were hot! THAT's why I'm here!"

"Y'all hear that?" Bernice preened. "I'm hot!"

"Nobody said YOU was hot, Bernice!" somebody laughed. "You musta been suckin' dick early to get them teeth..." Bernice's teeth were splayed in such a manner that you would think she'd sucked SOMETHING a little too much -- but it had probably been a thumb.

"Hey!" Bernice whirled. The girls were back to carping at each other and everything might have been fine, but the clouds had gathered...

"So you chasin' black girls?" Bernice had male counterparts -- several of them -- and they had gathered to dispel the threat. "I don't think so. Pete ain't here, and football don't mean shit, anyway! Move the fuck along!"

"Aw, come on! What's wrong with talking to black chicks?" Bobby argued. "Except maybe Bernice..." That got a titter, but the numbers weren't on Bobby's side. Things got physical, fast, and Bobby went down -- three on one. A couple of shots didn't seem to be enough, either...

... Until Trish waded in with a can of pepper spray. Then it was "What the fuck?" and other exclamations and the assailants backed off. "What the fuck you do THAT for?" one of them complained.

"Marcel, do you REALLY want to get expelled?" Trish retorted. "Besides, football might not be about shit to you, but it is to other people."

"You be doin' all right, Man!" Marcel sneered. "Got the lezzies coverin' yo' ass! Why don't you teach him to eat black pussy, Trish? You ain't got no use for dick, anyway..."

"I damned sure don't have no use for YOURS, Marcel!" Trish ranted back. "Jeezus, Bobby, why did you have to fuck around and get in it like this?" she asked, pulling his head onto her knees.

"Met a girl," Bobby said through puffy lips.

"She's that important?" Trish asked. "Bobby, you can't just go talking up girls at random -- you'll get your ass kicked a couple of times a day!" Pete showed up then to help Bobby up, glaring around. Trish cupped Bobby's face. "Promise me you'll stop running around like this, hitting on random black chicks."

"No!" Bobby argued. "Not until..."

"Bobby, you can stop -- do you understand? I'm saying the word..."

Bobby froze. Pete cocked his head and eyed Trish, obviously comparing her with a shared memory. Trish just looked back.

Bobby pulled in a breath through sore ribs. "As in, 'Say the word...?' Like that?"

"Just like that, Bobby. It was me -- both times."

"I meant what I said."

"I see that. I hope you're serious," Trish muttered.

"Serious like an ass whuppin', looks like to me," Pete opined.

"Yeah." Bobby locked eyes with Trish. "I was planning to protect YOU..."

"You will." Trish put herself under Bobby's right arm; Pete had the left.

"What the fuck is this?" Bernice opened up.

"Shut the fuck up, Bernice," Trish waved her off. "Go suck Marcel's dick -- if you can find it." The three of them moved off.

Some distance away, they settled on a step. "You okay, you dumb fuck?" Pete asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," Bobby nodded -- but he was looking at Trish.

"Better stay out of that side of things for a while," Pete advised.

"I've got no reason to go back," Bobby replied, his eyes not leaving Trish's.

"This won't be the last trouble," Trish warned.

"Maybe not," Bobby replied.

"What about Randy?" Pete asked.

"That was never on," Trish answered. "His choice."

"What about the club?" Pete asked.

"Talk to Toby," Trish replied, "Or Hank." She was talking to Bobby, though, not Pete. "We can, um, talk about it later."

Pete wasn't stupid. "You'll be okay here," he said, standing. "I'll see you later." He moved off.

Bobby was waiting. "Membership in the club isn't, um, necessarily voluntary," Trish muttered.

"I guess I'm not surprised," Bobby replied. "I mean, I never expected ANYBODY to volunteer to have sex with me."

"I did. The second time," Trish said quietly.

"So... A third time?"

"Tonight." Trish paused. "I might have to do someone else..."

"Besides me?"

"Yes. Besides you. Maybe, if you talk to Toby or Hank -- or Randy..."

"Just tell me."

"They caught a bunch of us doing something we shouldn't have -- so now we're sex slaves. It's blackmail," Trish explained. "If we're together, they might throttle back or let it go -- or at least kind of get permission from you... That's kind of what I see going on."

"Is there that much passing around?" Bobby asked.

"Except for parties, no," Trish replied. "Especially not if you're taken. I wasn't."

"You are now," Bobby told her. "I'll talk to Toby."

"Okay."

"Look, if you're just doing this because I pushed it, or because of this other thing..."

"No, I like you -- you're kind of sweet. But I was worried about..." She waved at the various clusters of people awaiting the bell, "that..."

"If we're really together, that won't last," Bobby declared.

"Not for people who know about it," Trish agreed, "but there will always be someone who is surprised."

"Tough." Bobby put an arm around her. "They need to get their shit together and stop being assholes. But it's not up to me to teach them."

Bobby cornered Toby after second period. "About Trish..."

"What?" Toby blinked, surprised. Bobby knew?

"Trish -- you know. Trish Horner."

"So you know."

"Yeah." Bobby gathered himself. "She says some of the girls aren't volunteers."

"Yeah," Toby nodded. "I wasn't that hot on the idea, but they presented us with an opportunity."

"That's bad shit, Man."

"That 'bad shit' got you and Trish together," Toby retorted. "And you wouldn't be the only ones."

"Yeah, well, maybe..."

"No maybe about it," Toby insisted. "It's the way it was. She'd have never touched you in a million years."

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying I don't want to have to take any more crap about it!" Amy had made Toby touchy. "Trish isn't the only one you've done -- and NONE of them are volunteers!"

"I want her out."

"No."

"Why not?"

"The group is secret -- and needs to STAY that way," Toby insisted. "Just about everybody in the group has a skeleton in their closet -- one known to the group -- to keep their mouths shut. I can't have her blabbing -- the fact that she told you anything is already a problem. And we need a grip on YOU now!"

Bobby grimaced. "We're together now. I don't want her loaned out all the time."

Even carrying the fact that he had Amy to justify in the back of his mind, Toby took the hard line. "First, you need to become a full member of the group. Second, Damian's girl gets loaned out, and Terence's, and Clint's and Lon's does booth duty -- do I need to go on? Under normal conditions, no problem -- you get the right to claim she's fenced -- but not for parties. Otherwise, the entertainment is... limited. And you took advantage of that entertainment, you know? You were living off the fat of the land..."

Bobby grimaced. "What do I have to do to join the club?"

"I'll get back to you," Toby replied. "Usually, we have the new member do something highly embarrassing and probably illegal on video -- usually involving sex. Something you do NOT want to get out, obviously. With guys, it's easy if you want to take the low road..."

"Like what?"

"Well, sucking a dick isn't illegal, but it isn't something a lot of guys want made public..."

"Ugh."

"Yeah. We're working on other options. Some of the guys had special circumstances that made it all easy -- and sometimes we hold them by proxy."

"What does that mean?"

"It means we have something on a relative, not you personally. If you knew more about the group, you'd understand. Probably most of us guys aren't nailed directly, but we have relatives we'd rather not see jailed or in a media circus."

"I wish I knew what you were talking about," Bobby complained.

"Tonight, maybe? I'll go easy on Trish, if I can. Besides, if you're doing her, she's busy, right?" Toby grinned.

Bobby grinned back. "There IS that..."

"Not everybody is a prisoner," Toby told him. "We brought in a female volunteer just last night."

"Good to know, I guess," Bobby mused, "but why?"

"Some girls are never going to get any attention with their clothes on," Toby replied.

"Sally's a whack job," Misha declared. "Letting Lon run her like that..."

Miriam glanced over at the table where the pair were sitting, hip to hip. Lon was rubbing Sally's thigh, it looked like. "Give it a break, Misha! You would probably be under the table, blowing him!"

"Hey!"

"All I'm saying is she read the price tag and she's paying it. What would YOU pay?"

"No that."

"No?" Miriam eyed her. "Okay. Tad Travis. Let's say I have the inside scoop on a party he's going to. Let's say the whole football team is gonna be there. Let's say it's a masked party -- all the girls wear masks so they can't be identified. Let's say you can get in, but you have to have sex with somebody, sometime that night -- and you can't control who -- you have to take the luck of the draw. You could end up with Tad, or you could end up with Alonzo Perry or Pete Phifer -- or that Vince guy, or Toby Tolliver, the trainer or water boy, or whatever. There are two rules -- you do what you're told, and you can't tell a boy who you are unless he asks you directly because he's interested in you. Do you go and take a chance on having your brains fucked out for nothing, or do you stay home and whine about how you can never meet guys?"

"Are you nuts?" Misha ranted. "No thanks!"

"Um, wait a minute," Donna Travers muttered, wiping her nose. She had horrible allergies and her nose was always red. "I go to this party -- and what happens?"

Miriam waved a hand. "Let's make it awful for Misha. You get naked. You wear a hood or a mask or something, so nobody can see your face. You do what you're told -- and you're there for sex, so you're gonna get told to give blow jobs and ride cocks. There are a dozen other girls there doing the same stuff, so you're not alone. The guys have one rule -- they can't find out who you are unless they're willing to take you out -- in public -- and be seen with you -- let's say, twice. If he DOES ask, you get to give him a card that has a code on it or something that whoever running things can use to identify you. Of course, if you don't want him, you just don't give him a card... Remember, every guy there is on the football team or has some other reason for being famous and being there."

"So," Donna dabbed at her nose thoughtfully, "I go and I have sex with one, two -- maybe several guys. If one of them likes me, I get to go out on two public dates with him."

"Right," Miriam nodded. "That's your chance to lock him down."

"He'll know you fuck around!" Misha erupted.

"Yeah, but nobody else will," Miriam pointed out. "We'll say there's a secrecy clause -- if he lets that out, he can't ever go back or something."

"He'll want to fuck on the dates!" Misha argued.

Donna turned, looked Misha dead in the eye, and said, "I fail to see your point. I already fucked him once, didn't I?"

Misha ranted, "Why are you even talking about this stupid fantasy?"

"Because," Donna replied. "When I go to dances, I end up standing along the wall all night watching other people dance! This thing..." she waved her dirty Kleenex at Miriam, who flinched, "I could run wild at this thing and nobody would know. And boys would be all over me!"

"And the sex?" Misha countered, her arms crossed over her small chest.

Donna rolled her eyes and replied, "Well, I COULD wait until I was forty..." Little Anita Shepherdson giggled. Donna sighed. "The only problem with this is that they would probably have to put me in an extremely dark room, with my ass..." Donna had a good-sized ass -- and she tended to walk pigeon-toed, which only accentuated it.

"I couldn't do the room," Anita lisped. Anita was dirty-blonde, and skeletal, with eyeglasses, serious braces on her teeth and acne scars on her cheeks -- and was just as pigeon-toed as Donna. "No one would find me." She turned to Miriam. "But if you find this party, you call me, okay?"

"You'd probably catch some big black guy!" Misha snorted.

"How big?" Donna laughed, measuring out several inches between her hands, "Like that?" Anita giggled, a high-pitched sound intermixed with snorts. Miriam flashed a triumphant look to her left.

And Amy, who had been silently party to the entire conversation, looked thoughtful.

"Okay."