It's been two weeks since I was captured by Rose, and in those two weeks I've been losing it. My aunt had been my mentor for all my life. I had thought she genuinely cared for me. Maybe she never did. Or maybe it was that drug she took that warped her personality into something so ruthless.
Whatever it was driving her behavior, she'd kept me locked up in that tiny cell. One toilet. One sink. One small cot with a single blanket and no pillow. Sturdy walls and a reinforced metal door I hadn't been able to break down no matter how much I tried. I received three meals a day, cold food that was delivered through a slit on the bottom of the door. It was around three thousand calories a day, but with my modified metabolism I was still hungry and losing weight every day.
What I couldn't stand the most was that she was putting me to work, threatening to do to the rest of my harem what she'd done to Mia, inject them with so much of her new drug that their bodies were transformed into exaggerated parodies of themselves and their minds snapped. Or worse. She promised she could always do worse.
Which meant that every day I had to log on to the laptop she'd provided me and oversee the research her team was working on. The laptop had extremely restricted access, only able to connect to the local network and only able to view the files Rose was letting me view. I wasn't even allowed direct contact with the research team, all of my ideas and orders directed through Rose herself.
And what were they working on? Two projects. First, a way to stabilize the process without needing to rely on my semen. I'd already given them a hefty sample and at the rate they were going, would have a solution within a month. As bad as that was, it was their second project that scared me: an airborne version of the bluepill. Aunt Rose wanted to infect the entire world.
The virus would transform every woman into her ideal self, make her young and sexy and healthy. It would do the same to every man, transforming them into women, overwriting the Y in their XY chromosomes permanently. She wanted to get rid of an entire gender, and that wasn't even the worst.
"Look at the data! The blue pill was always meant for adults. The reactions in a teenager still going through puberty would have unpredictable side-effects, but it's clear what would happen to anyone younger. One hundred percent lethality. Release this virus and you would kill every single child on the planet!" I had shouted within the confines of my little cell on the twelfth day of my captivity.
"If that is the price I must pay to save this world, then so be it. With my brilliant formula, humanity will have plenty of time to find a way to bring the next generation into being." Rose's answer came in through the speaker.
Her brilliant formula. It was one thing to hold me hostage and force me to go along with her diabolical plans, but to take credit for my work? I was going to make her pay.
Even though she and her team had been working on the problem all this time, they were still no closer to the solution. So far, I'd been delaying them, sending them down false, time consuming leads into solutions that would never work, but I couldn't keep it up forever. If I didn't start producing results for her soon, then the rest of my harem would pay the price.
Even if I refused to cooperate, they'd find their breakthrough eventually within a year or two and in the meantime, every person close to me would suffer. And stuck inside of this room, there wasn't a damn thing I could do to help them.
It was late. The lights in my room had been shut off, and I was lying on the cot, unable to sleep. That was when I heard a knock from the other side of the door, followed by a loud whisper, "Charles? Are you awake? Charles?"
Stephanie. My former assistant. The spy Rose had sent to spy on me. The woman who had betrayed me and given up my research. I'd dosed her with the bluepill, but Rose had replaced my programming with her own.
Or so I'd thought.
"I'm awake." I answered.
"I don't have much time. Take this." I heard the small opening at the bottom of the door (my meals were slid through there on a tray, the door hadn't opened once since my capture) slide up, then heard something small slide across the floor, and then Stephanie's footsteps were retreating.
I rolled off the cot and felt around in the pitch black room for what she'd delivered to me, hands brushing against the floor until I struck upon it. Light, weighing only a few grams. Small, rectangular. Plastic body, a metallic tip.
A USB flash drive.
Just what was this? Another trick? Or a chance to escape? I forced myself to fall asleep and wait until morning. On the off chance it was legitimate, turning on the laptop would show up on the security camera watching me.
Sleep didn't come fast, but I woke up with more energy than I'd had in days. Once I loaded up the laptop, I angled myself to make sure that I was obscuring the small port on the side, then inserted the drive.
I opened up the folder, saw that there were two files inside, a text file and one executable: trustme.txt and skeletonkey.exe.
With nothing to lose, I double clicked and ran the executable.
"Well now. This is interesting." I whispered under my breath.
I watched as the icon showing I was stuck in the local network flipped over. I was live on the internet. I opened up the browser, ran a few searches, looked at the latest headlines. I was in. If this was a trap on Rose's part, it was foolish. I could leak all kinds of info from here, bringing journalists and the authorities snooping right now when she wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible.
I opened up the text file.
I've been thinking about you every day since you came to NPC. What we did was wrong, and I feel awful. You were right about everything. Rose brainwashed me. She brainwashed everyone! I don't know how I was able to break free of it, but I have a theory: love. My love for you was more powerful than her control. Now that I'm free, I'm going to try and do everything I can to make it right.
Rose has gone too far. What she's planning has to be stopped, and she can't hold you against your will any longer. I don't know what to do, but I know you will. Contact me at this email. I'll await your instructions. Master.
Love? Master? Well, well, well.
Her theory was ludicrous, of course. Far more likely that there was a fatal flaw in Rose's method. Or perhaps when I gave her the sample of my cum, the contact on her skin had been enough to reignite her addiction to me. I'd cum all over her tits, after all. Whatever it was, I could use this.
For the rest of the day, I multitasked, working on the false solutions for Rose while I worked out my own plan. Using Stephanie as a go-between, I was able to get in contact with my other allies.
Elle and Kayla had been kidnapped and kept hostage. They were somewhere in the building. The rest of my harem was still okay. Jian hadn't left the building since I'd been captured and the top authorities I'd left in charge had gone into hiding.
Master! What should we do? Everyone here is ready to die for you. I've looked into mercenary action, and I think we might be able to extract you. Jian's first message to me once I made contact with her.
