Episode XIV - Mina By Motif Here's the next episode in the series. But first... A round of applause, please, for my talented friend and all around 'net genie *Yasmin*, who wrote some wonderful dialogue for this episode. Any wit you may discover in this story belongs exclusively to her. Also, another round of applause for *Musclefem*, who helped me not make a fool of myself (for once!) by pointing out some inconsistencies in the action. I humbly thank you both. -Motif ----------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------- ATTENTION*ATTENTION*ATTENTION*ATTENTION*ATTENTION*ATTENTION*ATTENTION* This story contains any number of scenes depicting graphic violence, nudity, impolite language, lesbianism and other elements which may cause undue stress to people of a sensitive nature. Consequently, this story should not, and I can't stress this point too strongly, *NOT* be viewed by minors or people who may be offended by the story elements outlined above. If you are reading this and either of the above conditions apply to you, please take my advice and move your mouse pointer up to the little box with the 'x' on it and click on it. OK? OK. -------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----Episode XIV - Mina Hunched apprehensively beside the door in the dim light of the stairwell, Mina held her breath and waited until she could no longer hear the guard's footsteps on the other side. After a minute or two, the tall young amazon opened the door and tentatively poked her head through into the corridor beyond. Seeing no one in sight, Mina slipped through the door. Long, beautifully sculpted legs flashed beneath the hem of her knee length robe as her bare feet softly padded down the hall toward a plain wooden door at the far end. Mina's dark, almond shaped eyes darted nervously about the corridor as she moved, her lustrous shoulder length black hair swirling about her pretty, olive complected face. The tall fighter reached the door and dipped a slim fingered hand into the pocket of her satin robe, retrieving a ring of keys. Metal clicked softly against metal as Mina searched the ring for the correct key. After a nervous minute of searching, she selected a key and thrust it into the door's lock; a gratefull sigh escaping her sensuous, slightly parted lips as she heard the tumblers click. Quickly jerking the door open, Mina darted inside. Moonlight bled through tall, high windows lining the dark room's far wall, revealing a row of blank computer screens lurking ominously on a long table. Heavy wooden chairs stood before each terminal like squat guardians and rows of metal filing cabinets lined the walls of the shadowy room. Mina imagined she could hear her heart hammering in her chest as she gazed around the room, thinking about the consequences of being caught tampering with the arena's main data entry bank. A half dozen purposeful strides carried Mina to the nearest terminal and the quick flip of a switch brought the computer's screen flaring into green glowing life. While the computer ran through it's boot sequence, Mina replaced the keys in the pocket of her blue satin dressing gown and withdrew the square floppy disk Victoria had given her. The tall warrior fidgeted impatiently while the terminal beeped and whirred to itself in the still room. "C'mon, dammit." she whispered tensely, watching text scroll down the computer screen. Finally the machine indicated it was ready and Mina hurriedly jammed the disk into a drive and tapped out the short command she'd been taught on the terminal's keyboard. Again, the computer beeped and whirred as the disk's program caused meaningless numbers and symbols to scroll across the screen. Mentally, the dark haired warrior urged the program to finish it's work, eager to be done with this distasteful and dangerous task. After what seemed like an unbearable amount of time, the computer fell silent and the anxious young woman retrieved the disk. A quick flip of a switch turned off the terminal and Mina pocketed the disk. Walking back to the door, a rattling sound from across the room brought her hand flying to her mouth to suppress a gasp of surprise. For a terrified moment Mina stood frozen in midstep, then the door began to open, breaking her paralysis . The wide beam of light streaming through the opening door seemed to chase her as she fled to a dark corner of the room. Bright light from the corridor make a momentary yellow rectangle on the hardwood floor of the room as the door opened and closed, foiling Mina's night vision. At first, the young woman wondered if anyone had actually entered the room, but as her eyes readjusted to the darkness, Mina could just make out the shadowy form of a slender woman standing before the door. Mina's pulse pounded in anticipation, waiting for the woman who must surely be a guard to snap on the lights and discover her. But the shadow woman ignored the light switch next to the door and began moving toward the row of computers Mina had just used. The dark haired warrior realized she'd been holding her breath and slowly, gratefully exhaled. If this was a guard, she reasoned, she would have turned on the lights. "But since she didn't...then who is she?" Mina wondered. Again holding her breath, Mina began inching toward the door as the other woman approached the same terminal she'd just used and turned it on. "Whoever she is," the tall fighter thought, "I'm sure as hel not sticking around." Again the computer's screen flared into life, dimly outlining the form of the woman seated before the terminal. The young warrior moved ever closer to the door, accompanied by the sound of fingers tapping on a keyboard. After another eternity, Mina's hand finally closed on the door's handle. Slowly turning the handle, preparing to dart quickly through the door, the young fighter sensed a rush of movement behind her. A small shriek of surprise escaped Mina's full lips as a strong hand grasped her shoulder, spinning her around to face the woman who had silently crept up behind her. A fist slammed painfully upward into the young woman's chest, making her stumble back against the door. Before she could raise a hand in defense, the shadowy figure moved closer, her fist darting behind her back. Recovering her balance, Mina's dark eye's widened in fear as they caught a glimpse of moonlight flashing on the steel blade of a knife speeding toward her throat. ----------------------- "That's the whole problem with taking slaves in the arena." Camilla said irritably, "One can't just sell them." Grinning widely at her friend's ill-temper, Victoria watched the silver haired warrior turn this way and that before the full length mirror, judging the fit of the long, flowing black dress that hugged the hard curves of her well muscled body. "Your missing the point, Cam." she said in a reasonable tone of voice. "The arena exists to train warriors, not to provide you with a source of income." "Oh, piss on the arena." Camilla rejoined, frowning at herself in the mirror. "I haven't made a decent ransom in months. Street chicks and pauper's daughters, the lot of 'em!" "So greedy! As if you weren't already making plenty with the kickbacks you've been receiving from the Shimurras. But you're right, thing's sure aren't like they used to be." her friend sighed. "It's not greed, Vic." Cam pouted teasingly. "It was an opportunity to do business with one of the largest construction companies - besides they didn't want it to be known that 'less expensive' parts had been substituted..." "Ah, so that's what you've been up to. I admire your audacity, but I still say your greed knows no bounds." "Hmmph. Anyway, it's all that Ms. Mikaela's fault." the tall warrior said, smoothing the soft fabric of the dress over her flat stomach. "She's so damn honest, she wouldn't know a bribe if it trod on her foot." "No one could take a bribe like Ms. Erika." Victoria mused. "I'm really beginning to miss the daft cow." Camilla said, flapping her arms once in disgust as she gave up trying to make the dress fit properly. "What do you think?" "Dreadful." "Drat." spat Camilla, reaching around to undo the zipper. "Hand me that green one, will you?" Victoria stood and walked over to the three other dress's hanging on a hook in the elegantly appointed dressing room. "What we need are the codes to the computer's match generation program." she mused, selecting a short, low cut, spring green dress and handing it toward her friend. "Then I fix it so you could get a few profitable matches myself." "I know, I know." Camilla said resignedly, peeling the clingy black frock from her tanned, well toned body. "And the only person who knows the codes is the F.A." "Maybe not." Victoria said thoughtfully. "How's that, then?" the tall warrior asked, pausing as she took the short green dress from her dark haired friend. "Well," Victoria began slowly. "I could, I suppose, get the codes directly from the mainframe, if I had access to a hardwired terminal." "Do you?" Camilla asked, interest sparking her voice. "No." The silver haired woman stared at her friend for a long moment. "Then why bring it up in the first place?" she said exasperatedly. "Because I'm pretty sure I can get my hand's on a key to a room with hardwired terminals." "What?" Camilla said. "Then why don't you have the codes already?" "Well, it's like this." Victoria said. "You remember second administrator Dalia? Short, blonde, pretty little thing?" "Sure." "I think she wants me." "That's nice." Camilla said, shrugging on the dress, "But so what?" "Well, she had a set of keys for the main data terminals. And they're hard wired to the mainframe. Also, her quarters are connected to the administration building, so..." Again frowned at her reflection, the silver haired woman made minute adjustments to the new dress she wore. "So sleep with her, then while she's asleep, run off and get the codes." "And if she wakes up and I get caught, I'll be busting rocks up in Sparnamore with Ms. Erika." Victoria said firmly. "It'd be safer to hand them off to someone else and have her do the deed. I can program a disk to do the actual work. Then all she has to do is return the keys to me." she said, looking pointedly at her friend. "Oh no, not me!" Camilla said, turning to face her dark haired friend. "I don't fancy heavy labor either. Besides, I hate cloak and dagger." she sniffed. "Such a fine poodle you are! Shady deals are all right but I can see you don't want your own hands dirty, no grunt work for you my pretty Princess. Well, that's that then." her friend resignedly sighed. The two women fell silent for a moment. Victoria stared moodily at the tips of her well polished shoes while her tall friend turned to gaze thoughtfully at her reflection in the mirror. At length, Camilla broke the silence. "What we need is someone desperate enough to do it for us, then keep her mouth shut afterwards." "Have someone in mind?" Victoria asked. "Yes, I think I do..." Camilla replied turning again to face her friend. "What do you think of this one." she said, indicating the dress. "Dreadful." "Drat!" --------------------- Mina's body twitched once uncontrollably, feeling the point of the woman's long, slim blade dent the soft skin at the base of her throat. All she could see of her attacker in the dim light was that she was few inches shorter than her own six foot frame and seemed to have a slender build and shoulder length hair. "Who the hel are you?" the shadowy woman demanded in an angry whisper. The young fighter fought to keep the fear yammering in the back of her skull from overwhelming her. Desperate plans raced through her mind while she struggled to find a reply to the smaller woman's question. "D...Don't kill muh...me!" Mina stammered, stalling for time while her hand slipped into the pocket of her robe. "Answer me, girl." the woman demanded, pushing the point of her knife harder against the young warrior's throat. Mina tightly gripped the ring of keys, slowly lifting them out of her pocket as she said. "Please, I...I'm..." The woman pushed her blade a fraction of an inch forward, piercing the skin, causing a drop of blood to roll down the trembling young fighter's neck and disappear into the deep valley between her lush breasts. "Answer me!" she demanded again. Mentally offering a brief prayer to the goddess, Mina let the keys fall from her hand. They landed with a startling loud clank in the still room and her attacker look down, her attention momentarily diverted. Instantly, Mina's hand flashed up, grasping her foe's wrist and pulling the blade down sharply from her throat. "Bitch!" the shadow woman swore softly, her free hand flying up to grasp her opponent's wrist even as the taller woman's hands wrapped around the her own wrist. The slim steel blade quivered between the two women as they struggled for control of the knife. Strong arms shook with strain and feet shuffled for position as each warrior strove to push the weapon toward the other. Both combatants fought in an eerie silence, punctuated only by the sounds of muffled grunts and scuffling feet. Mina's foe kicked out and sharp bolts darted up her left leg as the toe of a boot glanced off her shin. Teeth bared in a snarl of pain, the young amazon slowly forced her shorter attacker back toward the center of the dim room. Another kick swished past her leg, allowing the tall fighter to push her off balance foe down to the floor. A half-stifled grunt erupted from the smaller fighter as her opponent fell heavily atop her. The blade of her knife hovered perilously close to her shadowy face and she propped her elbows on the floor, striving to keep the weapon at bay. Her slim body bucked and writhed wildly beneath the pressing weight of her adversary's heavier frame, desperately trying to throw the young fighter off her body. In the dark, neither woman could see her foe clearly and had to rely on touch, hearing and blind instinct as they fought. Additionally, both warriors feared discovery by the guards more than death at the hands of her unexpected opponent, and as a result fought as silently as they could. The dark haired warrior's long, slender legs scrapped against her foes leather clad legs as they tangled on the floor. After a couple minutes of hard struggling, she managed to straddle her downed foe and lean forward, using her weight to slowly push the blade closer and closer to her attacker's shadowed, upturned face. Mina's beautiful visage grinned savagely as she heard her foe groan in alarm and felt the slender body beneath her increase it's twisting and writhing. "Now." she ground out, repeating her attacker's question "Who the hel are *you*?" -------------------------- Standing in the doorway of her private gym, the silver haired warrior carefully studied her slave wielding a wooden sword on the blue square practice mat. It had been several months since she'd defeated the tall young woman in the arena and, despite Camilla's lackadaisical approach to training her slaves, Mina turned out to be an exceptionally driven, if not particularly skillful, student. Mina approached this self imposed training regimen with a sullen determination with which she faced life in general, devoting every spare minute she could to physical training and often sparring with other slaves, when her mistress permitted it. That wasn't often since Mina's sparring partners frequently wound up too bruised and battered to continue with their duties afterwards. The regular practice had hardened and thickened the dark haired amazon's already naturally muscular physique. Now her biceps and deltoids fairly rippled with compact power beneath her youthfully smooth, olive skin. Mina's legs, however, still remained her most striking feature, sweeping down in soft tapering curves from flaring hips to slender, yet sturdy ankles and feet. Despite her intensive physical training, however, Camilla noted that her young slave's fighting technique had improved only slightly. Mina still hesitated when her opponent performed a surprising or unusual maneuver and often as a result paid for it in bruises. Still, the great stamina that the young fighters had displayed in her first fight, combined with her improved strength and reflexes, made her more than a match for most of her opponents. Camilla smiled, watching the young warrior's practice weapon flash through a series of high blocks and counter slashes. Earlier, Mina had asked for some time to consider her mistress' proposition and the older warrior had generously allowed her slave a couple of hours in which to make her decision, knowing Mina would immediately head for the gymnasium. Now, judging her slave's time was almost up, Camilla clapped her hand once, bringing Mina's exercise to an abrupt halt. The two warriors looked at each other across the gymnasium. Camilla lounged coolly in the doorway, her black silk dress tailored to show off her well muscled frame. On the mat, Mina dropped her weapon and turned to face her mistress, hands on hips. Her heavy breasts, sweat-molded to her white tank top, rose and fell steadily as she breathed deeply; her dark eye's staring expressionlessly at her mistress. Camilla's expression was o resignedly. Camilla's smile widened. "Good. We'll fill out your re-application to the arena right away. Now, you can hide in the closet beneath the first floor stairwell after you take your first physical. Then..." "Wait." the young fighter interrupted. "First, I have a condition." Her mistress' dark green eyes hardened instantly at her slave's impudence. "Your in no position to make conditions girl." she said severely. Mina stubbornly returned the older warrior's rock-hard gaze, refusing to be intimidated by her formidable stare. Inwardly, she began to wonder if perhaps this breach of protocol was really such a good idea. At first her mistress had offered to release her back to the arena, along with a small but substantial sum of money, in return for her performing an unspecified task. Of course, she'd immediately refused. She'd had been completely stunned when Camilla had threatened to expose the sordid tale of her youthful involvement with a woman who'd turned out to be a northern agent. Mina had been sure her family had thoroughly covered that up before disinheriting her and was shaken to learn that anyone in the arena knew the disgraceful truth. Upset by this unexpected revelation, she'd begged her mistress for some time to think. As it always did, practicing her sword technique calmed her; the smooth, flowing, repetitive motions gradually driving the initial shock from her mind. As she spun and lept gracefully on the mat, two things became clear to her. First, were her secret to become known amongst the veteran warriors of the arena, her carefully built reputation would be utterly ruined. Second, if she performed this task, whatever it was, it might give her something she could in turn hold over Camilla's head. Thus each of them would have something to insure the other's silence. Still, her freedom and a little cash didn't seem enough to Mina. Though reconciled with her decision to trade honor for safety, the young warrior decided she wanted more by way of compensation. "Well, what is it?" Camilla snapped, breaking the tense silence which hung between her and her slave. "I'm not going to assassinate anyone for you." Mina blurted rapidly, "So if that's what you want me to do, forget it." Camilla paused a beat, her stern gaze seeming to hold her beautiful, tall slave motionless. "Is that all, then?" she finally replied, her voice dangerously soft. As Mina opened her mouth to reply, her mistress stepped in close, her smoothly muscled arms flashing with practiced speed. Hands clamped over Mina's throat and crotch, jerking the stunned young warrior onto her toes before she could raise a hand in defense. Mina's lovely eyes widened slightly, recognizing the look of deadly promise glinting in the silver haired warrior's eyes. Carefully, she held herself motionless, sure that any defensive move would result in instant pain. "Such scruples, little Mina!" Camilla said in mock wonderment. "You certainly didn't worry about such things when you were screwing that northern whore of yours." she stated, a cruel smile lifting the corners of her lips. Mina's face reddened, fighting to keep her temper in check as her mistress smiled mockingly up at her. She desperately wanted to smash a fist that smug, taunting smile; even though the older warrior would almost surely beat her to a pulp for it. Her body trembled as she struggled against an almost overwhelming urge to strike out at her mistress, forcing the tense muscles of her arms to relax. Camilla's smile widened slightly as she watched her young slave's battle for control. Feeling Mina's angry trembling subside, the experienced warrior gave a mental nod of approval. "Maybe she will work out, after all." she thought. "Don't worry, girl." Camilla said at last, "You won't have to get your pretty hands all sticky with someone else's blood. But I want to make sure you know where you stand. Do you?" she asked, giving the young woman's crotch a hard squeeze for emphasis. Wincing, Mina nodded slowly, not trusting herself to speak. "Good." Camilla said flatly, suddenly releasing her slave. "Very good." Mina let out an involuntary sigh of relief as her feet fully touched the floor. Resignedly she listened to her mistress' instructions. "Now, after they close down for the close the offices for the night, wait a few hours. Then..." -------------------------- Mina straddled the smaller woman's waist and leaned forward, pushing the trembling blade down until it lay like a sharp threat across her foe's throat. "Answer me, bitch!" she panted angrily. In reply, Mina felt the slender body beneath her twist sharply in one side and, before she could react, felt the smaller warrior's knee jab painfully up at an impossible angle into her right side. Yelping in surprise, the tall fighter jerked forward and her agile opponent yanked her arms to the side with surprising strength, pitching Mina onto her side. The two women faced each other as they lay on the floor, their bodies jerking wildly as each fought for control of the weapon. Mina suppressed a grunt as she felt her smaller foe's blindly jabbing knee glance painfully off her bare right thigh. Then, as the slender woman attempted to lever the dark haired warrior onto her back, Mina managed to slam their entwined hands down onto the hard floor, eliciting a muffled yelp of pain from her foe as her knuckles smashed onto the floor. Mina grinned and repeated the maneuver, this time hearing the knife clatter on the floor. Quickly, she released the smaller woman's wrists, but as she began to frantically grope for the fallen weapon, her opponent threw herself blindly at the young fighter, slamming her smaller body into her tall opponent, forcing Mina onto her back. The slender fighter's hands found her adversaries long, silky hair and she quickly wrapped a length in each fist and began jerking the taller woman's head back and forth, trying to slam it on the floor. Mina gritted her teeth against the pain and flailed blindly at the woman atop her, tearing at her blouse, sending a spray of buttons skipping and clicking across the floor as it tore down the front. A strangled cry came from the smaller woman as Mina raked sharp fingernails across her bared chest. Angrily she jerked her foe's head up and, as Mina's hands closed on her small, thrusting breasts, slammed the back of the dark haired woman's head against the floor. Mina's skull rang with pain as she sank her nails into her attacker's soft flesh, eliciting another muffled shriek of pain and outrage from her foe. Again the slender woman pounded her adversaries head on the floor, making pin points of light burst for the young fighter's eyes. Terror sent a burst of adrenalin singing through Mina's battered body and, as her foe painful jerked her head up again, the dark haired fighter abandoned her grip on her antagonist's breasts; sending her slim hands scrambling up to clutch the smaller warrior's throat. A third head slam jarred Mina to the brink of unconsciousness as she summoned every ounce of strength she'd gained from all the months of training and; bucking her body sharply upwards, threw her smaller foe off with a single powerful yank of her muscular arms. Though blinded by the searing pain rocketing through her head, Mina heard her foe's cry of surprise cut short by a hard thump. After a couple frantic, stumbling attempts the young amazon managed to climb to her knees, expecting her opponent to attack out the darkness at any second. Finally, Mina's vision cleared sufficiently for her to see her foe's shadowed form lying still on the floor. Panic gripped the young warrior, her gorge rising in her throat as the pent up terror of her unexpected fight in the dark room came crashing down. Whirling around on her knees, Mina scrambled on all fours toward the crack of light gleaming under the room's single door. Frantic hands scrabbled in the dark for the key's she'd dropped at the beginning of the fight and, after yet another eternity of searching, one hand finally brushed against the metal ring of keys. Suppressing a shout of relief, Mina snatched the keys and jerked herself to her feet, fighting down a wave of dizziness as she stumbled to the door. Shaking hands made the keys jingle in her grip as she hurriedly fumbled the key into the lock and yanked the door open. Light flooded into the room, blinding the young fighter as she darted through the door and collided with the red clad woman standing just outside. The momentum of Mina's charge slammed the two women into the opposite wall of the corridor and they fell together in a tangle of arms and legs. On all fours the young warrior scrambled away from the woman and, as her eye's adjusted to the light, saw a short oriental woman in a guards uniform lying unconscious on the floor. Her name tag read 'Sung'. "Damn." Mina whispered to herself, stunned by this new turn of events. After a moment, the tall fighter stood on slightly wobbly legs and turned to flee down the corridor. As she turned, Mina caught a glimpse of her attacker through the still open door, lying unconscious on her back in a rectangle of light. The dusky skinned woman was clad in dark leather pants and boots; her black silk blouse torn open to reveal a pair of small, youthfully jutting breasts perched above the plain of her smooth, flat tummy, but her face was hidden in shadow. An insane flash of curiosity ran through Mina's mind, urging her to step back into the room and examine her fallen ambusher more closely. After a brief mental struggle, fear overrode curiosity and Mina fled down the corridor toward the stairwell door. -------------------- Victoria lay exhausted on the wide bed, anxiously listening to the breathing of the small blonde woman curled closely beside her. Sweat dried on her naked body, which ached from a multitude of small bruises, scratches and bites inflicted by the young woman's strenuously athletic style of love making. The plan she and Camilla had come up with had the advantage of simplicity, Victoria reflected; and indeed the first part had gone well enough. Dalia had prepared a nice little dinner for them in the kitchen of her small apartment and afterwards, while her host was putting away the dishes, Victoria had easily located the keys and slipped them to Mina, who'd been waiting impatiently outside the apartment door. Later though, after a passable bottle of Chablis and some innocuously polite conversation, Dalia had excused herself and disappeared into her bedroom. When she'd reemerged, however, her petite, pale skinned form was clad in a shiny black leather teddy. The outfit's neckline plunged down to her navel, revealing the perfectly round swells of her tautly rising breasts, and was cut high at the crotch to show off her slim hips and delicious thighs. A pair of six inch spiked heel boots encased her legs from foot to mid-calf as she stood in the doorway of her bedroom, a wicked smile playing across her generous red lips, and beckoned to Victoria with a crooked finger. Victoria was momentarily stunned by this transformation. The sweet, pretty, almost naive seeming young woman who'd so shyly asked her to dinner had unexpectedly become a leather clad dominatrix and the slow, gentle night of love making that Victoria had envisioned quickly turned into something quite different! Now, after hours of incredibly energetic sex, during which Dalia had clawed and bitten and mauled them both into one screaming, howling climax after another, Victoria anxiously waited for her young lover's sleep to deepen enough for her to slip away. At last, the blonde officer's breathed slowly and deeply; and Victoria judged her to be well asleep. Gently, she disentangled herself from her petite lover's slim limbs and slowly slipped off the bed. Victoria groped in the dark bedroom for the sky blue dress she'd wore at the beginning of the evening and after a few minutes, located what remained of it. The older woman frowned as her searching fingers failed to find a single button still attached to her dress, remembering how Dalia had clawed the garment from her body as they'd wrestled passionately on the bed. Arranging the torn dress as best she could on her mauled body, Victoria silently padded out of the bedroom, moving quickly to the door of the young officer's quarters. She unlocked the door and stuck her head out into the corridor, giving a short low whistle to signal Mina that she was ready to take the keys and disk off her hands. After a long, worrisome moment, Mina slipped from the stairwell door and quickly strode toward the waiting official. Victoria's eyes widened as she took in the young warrior's disheveled appearance. Mina's robe was torn in several places and belted loosely, revealing a generous amount of the tall woman's ample cleavage. Her thick raven-black hair was tousled about her lovely triangular face, which sported a nasty purple bruise on the smooth plain of one cheek. As she approached, Mina was equally surprised by Victoria's own bedraggled appearance. All the buttons on the front of the junior official's form fitting dress were gone and several scratches ran down her bared chest and across the slopes of her full breasts. Her short brunette hair was similarly disarrayed and dark circles of exhaustion surrounded her tired hazel eyes. "She looks like she's just run a marathon and then wrestled with a mountain lion." the young fighter thought, not knowing how close she was to the truth. "What the hel happened to you?" they whispered in unison. "Never mind." Victoria said, keeping her voice low, "Did everything go all right?" "No, but I got the job done anyway." Mina replied tersely, handing over the keys and disk. "Very good." the brown haired official smiled. "Wait here a moment." Mina fidgeted impatiently while Victoria disappeared back into the apartment, feeling very exposed and conspicuous in the hallway. After replacing the keys and slipping the disk into the pocket of the light jacket she'd brought, Victoria quickly returned to the nervous young fighter. "Did you erase the session from the computer like I taught you?" she asked. "Yes." Mina lied, desperately anxious to get back to her hiding place and wait until she could safely slip out of the building. "Well done." Victoria approved. "Now go and hide; I'll get you some clothes and meet you there later." "Who's this?" came a voice from the dark behind the brown haired official, making both women stiffen in alarm. A tousled mop of golden hair arose over Victoria's right shoulder like a small sun, framing Dalia's pixy like face. Pale, slim arms wrapped around the stunned brunette's waist as the young official stood on tip toe and peered at Mina from behind her new lover. "Oh!, Ummm... Ahh..." Victoria stammered, desperately trying to form an answer. Dalia's pretty blue eyes sparkled as she examined the lovely young woman standing stiffly in the hallway. "You darling!" Dalia exclaimed, her soft, puffy lips giving the brown haired woman a quick peck on the cheek. "You've invited a friend! How thoughtful of you." "Why, ummm...yes!" Victoria stuttered, her eyes looking pleadingly at Mina. Mina gave a start, as if waking from a dream. "Well, I really just..." she began, staring back uncertainly at Victoria. "Don't be shy, dear." Dalia purred, extending right hand toward the dark haired warrior while her left slipped beneath Victoria's torn dress to wantonly caress one full, sloping breast. "We're all friends here." Not knowing what else to do, Mina took a step forward, automatically taking the young officials hand in her own. "My pleasure." she murmured confusedly. "Not yet." Dalia grinned lasciviously. Releasing the tall fighter's hand, she reached out to grasp the front of her robe, slowly tugging Mina across the threshold of her apartment door. "But it will be." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---- Copyright 1998 - Wet Hen Productions