The Inner Fullness Heist:

One of the strangest things about dating a fellow acquisition agent was how it made Joey think about clothing. He had seen girls in every conceivable dress, from club wear, to cheeky fetish costumes, to some of the most extreme bondage gear ever invented. But nothing got him going quite like seeing Carla in her mission attire. In a high-waisted, green dress and carrying the over-sized purse, the short woman looked pretty and nonthreatening, verging on nondescript — the perfect look for putting prey at ease.

Joey himself was far too big to pull off non-threatening, but in slacks and a button down short-sleeve shirt over a white tee, he looked innocent enough. Side by side, they were a little more conspicuous than ideal, but endearingly mismatched. She made him look safe.

"Busy morning?" she asked, adjusting the heavy purse on her shoulder.

"Not too bad," he said. "Had to take over for Bronx with that party girl. Quick little workout, dropped her off at the machine shop, and here I am."

"The machine shop?" she asked, feigning shock. "What did she ever do to you?"

"Oh come on, those guys aren't bad."

"Oh I'm sure they're great. For the first hour or two. All, what, ten of them? " she said with a smirk.

He shook his head. "No, I think there were just, uh.... Shit, why can't I remember?"

She wrapped her arm through his, patting him affectionately.

"You're just a little preoccupied. Probably because you had your dick buried in that tart," she teased. "Serves her right for giving my man a wondering eye."

The two nodded to a dour guard, who waved them through into the garage.

"As for me, I foiled a daring escape plot."

He tensed.

"I'm joking, Joey. Mel saw it coming. The girl is clever, and Mel's looking for a new assistant — I was just there to help with the intervention. What's got you so jumpy today?"

He forced a smile."It's just jitters, like you said. So what did you do? Take down, a gangbang and some sensory deprivation?"

"You are such a barbarian," Carla said, squeezing his arm. "I appealed to her good judgment, and showed her an example of what happens when girls are too clever to do what they're told."

He opened the passenger door and offered her his hand. "Would a barbarian get the door and help you into the truck?"

"His woman, his truck? Absolutely."

"You really should have seen Fifi," she continued as he climbed into the driver's seat and started the truck. "She was magnificent in the role of 'Example.'"

"The big titty pet with the ink? Wasn't she an actress or something?"

"Or something. A producer, I think. I played up the story, but she really was a handful when we got her. Willful. She's turned into the most wonderfully placid pet. You really should-"

She watched his face color. "You already have."

He nodded, a little bashfully, starting the car.

"She rolled on her back and started begging last time I passed her in the hall. She had a full sensory deprivation hood on and everything. I don't even know how she could tell I was there."

"Such a good girl," Carla smiled, lazily.

"Yeah," Joey said, waving to the guard as they rolled out through the gate.

As he turned into traffic, his face took on a look she'd seen before. There was something he wanted to say, but wasn't sure he could. Carla watched him out of the corner of her eye.

Mouth or hand, in 3, 2, 1

He clicked the radio on. Right. Looks like she'd have to pry it out of him.

"So, are you feeling good? Ready?"

Joey sighed. "Ready as I'll ever be. I still think you guys take insane risks."

"Us guys? You're one of us now, remember?"

"Just for the fringe benefits," he said, putting a hand on Carla's thigh. "What about you? You feeling good about this?"

"Yeah. Just steeling myself for dealing with new age types all day."

"Imagine what they'll have to put up with," Joey laughed.

"Oh, I am," she said, suggestively, running her fingers over his hand. "So come on, it's the mission plan, isn't it? Tell me what you're thinking."

He shrugged. "Christ, where do I start? We're not even in the same room with the receptionist during the first acquisition, and she's sitting by the phone. And it's an upscale place — 'may I speak to the manager' central, only the manager is tied up in back. Not to mention the field test, and who knows how many clovers. And that's assuming research didn't miss anything."

"Tests," Carla said quietly.

"What?"

"I'll tell you in a minute, but look: we'll be okay. Our research team is good, and the two of us are even better, honey."

He nodded, squeezing her hand.

"Alright," Carla said. "Lets go through it from the beginning. I'm going into boss mode now."

She cleared her throat. "Standard procedures?"

Her tone and demeanor were entirely different. Clipped, officious — a mission lead persona.

Joey looked at her. "What, like the beginning, beginning?"

"Standard procedures," she repeat.

"Isolate, acquire, pack up the product, clean up and go. same as always, right?"

"Always as in the three months you've been here? Yep. Applicators, ragdoll shot or just manual control and restraint at the agent's discretion," she said with a nod. "I trust you."

Joey nodded. The applicator was usually the preferred method, because it kept the girl completely unconscious for hours, but the paralytic "ragdoll shot" could also be a great tool in certain situations. It certainly let you pack them tighter.

Manual control was Joey's specialty. He tried to be sparing because of the risks, both to the item and the picker, but it was nice to be able to use his brawn and keep his techniques in practice — especially now that he was starting to get involved with training. Without his practice with unrestrained targets in the field, the little game he'd played with Squirt this morning wouldn't have gone nearly as smoothly.

"Anyone with special handling rules?" Joey asked, nonchalantly.

"Nope," Carla said with a grin. "Everyone's available for a little light recreation, just as long as we keep things running smoothly. Just don't get too greedy."

"Gotta love a company that understands the needs of its workforce," Joey grinned. "Is everyone spoken for?"

"Except for the test subject and, uh, the last girl," Carla said, her face a little flushed.

"Oh?" He glanced at Carla, slowly smiling. "She's a dancer, isn't she?"

Carla had been obsessed with finding a dancer for her assistant. he'd been on the lookout for just the right girl for just as long as Joey knew her.

"Yep. You wouldn't believe what those assholes at HQ were going to do with her," Carla said indignantly.

"Oh don't get me started," Joey said. "Remember that socialite we took last month? She was charming, educated, and just... quite skillful, you know? HQ took one look and was like, 'big tits? Hucow.' Never mind her conversation skills or the fact that she gives the second best blowjobs I've had in years."

Carla gave him a look. "I'm a big girl, Joey. Not offended that the brainwashed sex slave sucks a meaner cock than I do. It's literally her career. Now if I had a little more practice...." she looked down.

"You really want to get me riled up before a job?" he asked, conspicuously flexing his massive bicep.

"Always."

"But anyway," she said, switching uncannily quickly to boss mode, "yep, careers planned out for everyone, except for the receptionist. Depending how things go with the training serum, she might end up a field agent, someone's bimbo assistant back at HQ, or a houseplant."

"Yeah, could you go over that one more time? Seems like a big risk for something we could test at HQ."

"Okay, so you know how we bring in consultants when we're trying to do an office bimbo or something, because there's a totally different way of doing everything?"

"Yeah, I still want to know how they do that."

She looked at him. "I thought you did that work with the Johnnys?"

Johnny's Bedroom Delights, Joey's previous employer, was more of an old school operation, disguised as a high-end bondage equipment and sex toy manufacturer. They were best known for their snatch teams — just having worked for one was enough for Joey to get a job with the Org — but their training program was quite respected as well. The Org had better customization options these days, but if you just wanted something straightforward and eager, JBD was still the place to go.

"I mean, we did the straightforward stuff, but I never saw a girl come out of the program who could run an office. Basically, most would be able to have a pretty articulate conversation about how much she likes to suck your cock, and maybe one other thing.

"And we could get that brain moving again. But when we'd tried to build her back up into an office bimbo, nothing would work right. She'd just ends up jigglier and squeakier and more useless than before."

He glanced at Carla, innocently noting the flush on her cheeks.

"Spankings, gangbangs, teasing and denial — nothing. She'd just get hornier for the discipline. You know, this one time-"

"I am not gonna let you get me sidetracked," Carla interrupted.

She cleared her throat, switching right back to boss mode.

"Anyway, apparently they can turn out a girl who can run an office and a train, and this is the stuff they use. But it's pretty new — I don't know their business, but I'd say they've turned out two, maybe three dozen units.

"So right now, they know it makes the girls suggestible and horny, and they know it helps them forget stuff they don't need — you know, old habits, pressing obligations, family and friends?"

He nodded.

"But the million dollar question is, are they getting dumber, or just learning a different way to think, and learning it really well?"

"What's the difference?" Joey asked.

"Say someone wanted to convince you you were a robot, who was programmed to serve people in some basic ways. They wanted you to fuck on command with a few programmed techniques, run some exercise routines to maintain your body, and take care of your basic needs, and that's it.

"One way they might do it is by reducing you. They'd dumb you down, blank your memories of the past, and then rigorously train you in certain behaviors. Just the same behaviors over and over until you got it."

Joey nodded. "And if they have to brute force it, it's fine because they've got the time and the brute force."

"Right. But let's say they decided to it differently. They let you keep all your brains, and just convinced you so deeply that you're a robot that all your experiences are fit into that framework, then teach you to only do the behaviors they want. From the outside, it would be very hard to tell which one had happened."

"Why does it matter?" Joey asked.

"Well, in the short term it doesn't. Either way, you'd be a fuck-suck bot able to do the same four or five things. But in the long run there might be all sorts of differences. The smart you is more trainable for one thing. But he might be less stable."

Joey thought about it.

"I see what you mean. With my smarts, I'd be a lot more likely to notice the things I'd been taught to believe I was made no sense."

Carla nodded. "Or, you'd just become even more dedicated to the role and channel all your energy into being the best sex bot you could be."

"So, we're testing it on the receptionist to see how well she learns on the fly?"

"Yep. It's a bigger dose than they usually use, but it's the same principle. At the very least, it'll still make her docile, easy enough to control, and probably kind of fun. And if she's acting suspicious, or turns into a drooling idiot or something, we can stick her in the back room."

He nodded. "Or under the desk."

"Or under the desk," she agreed. "Now," she paused dramatically, "think about what we get if it's not making her stupid — if it's making her really horny and helping her learn."

Joey pondered.

"She'll be what, the third acquisition? So she'll have been involved almost from the beginning, except she already knows what we did with her boss and coworker."

Carla nodded.

"Despite that, she helps us take all these women, including women she knows, and turn them into living, breathing sex toys. She fucks willingly and eagerly, and it's the hottest thing she's ever felt.

"And she can't wait to do it again. Follow our orders and help us acquire more product."

Joey paused and took a deep breath. "I don't know what you call that, but it would be fucking amazing on a mission."

Carla smiled, glancing at his bulge. "I call it, 'The Judas Bimbo.'"

Joey smirked. "You're such a fucking nerd."

"Anyway," Carla continued, glowering at him, "you've got three doses in that gizmo. Doses wear off partly, but not all the way — especially at that dose. So if she's a risk, or we're not getting results we like, we can either up the dose or just pack her up with the rest of the product. Did they tell you how it works?"

"Yep," he said, tapping the shiny, steel belt buckle with the bronze circle in the middle.

"The cover plate slides off the belt buckle. It has three metered injections. Just snap it off, press the little button, and the auto-injector comes out. It automatically injects when you stick it in, and cycles the dose."

Carla nodded. ""Right. The goal is to keep everything looking like a normal office while we do the collections. Research says you're her type, and the drug enhances arousal and impairs cognition."

"Dumb and horny, just how I like 'em," Joey smirked. "Present company excluded."

Carla rolled her eyes. "I'm sure she'll feel the same way. I'll do the first injection, so I'm the bad guy."

Joey sighed, turning off the expressway onto a local four-lane. The sky was murky and grey, and he could see the wind shaking droplets from the soggy trees.

"It still feels like we're the guinea pigs," he muttered.

Carla put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey. If she gets on everyone's nerves, we can always give her to Jan for whatever mad science crap he's cooked up."

"And you say I'm the barbarian," Joey said with a look of staged shock.

"Speaking of which," continued Carla, "and I know you're going to hate this, but Jan, uh, might be running a test if we end up with a clover."

"Well, shit," Joey groused.

In truth, Joey really did find Jan's experiments wasteful. He'd admit that Felicity, Jan's prototype doll, added a certain novelty and flair to the place — she was something most other procurers and trainers didn't have — and it was fun to watch her cum just from taking a load.

But with all the implants and body mods, she was basically single purpose — just puffed lips, a long tongue suction. Joey did not relish the thought of turning another girl into something like that.

"Oh, I haven't got to the bad part yet. He's bringing Sprinkles."

"The bratty rock girl from Floor 12?"

"Not anymore. She's Daddy Jan's little princess now," Carla said with an impressively straight face.

"And he's bringing princess on the mission? What the fuck is this? Star Wars?"

Carla rolled her eyes.

"And you call me a nerd. Jan says she's got a way with women. She's helping him test something or other."

"And he can't do it when we get back?"

"Yeah. He seems to think it'll be better in the field, when she hasn't been put through the rest of it. Apparently, she'll be pretty user-friendly once it absorbs."

* * * * *

Joey felt his stomach tightened as they turned onto the long, unimproved road. He always got a little jittery on the final leg of the trip. Once the mission started, nerves would be a luxury he couldn't afford.

"So yeah, that's all... you know what, it still seems all fucked to me," he said, his calm gone.

"We're staying way too long, taking way too much risk. Yeah, our researchers are good, but JBD had good researchers too, and we never took risks like this."

Carla regarded him calmly.

"It seems fucked because you're still thinking about this like an operator."

"Well, yeah," Joey said. "How else should I think about it? This is like a less violent, better paid version of the shit I got paid for in Iraq."

Carla shook her head. "Look, JBD handles acquisitions like a hitman or a soldier. And it works: you know who the targets are, what they look like, where to strike, and how to exit. In and out, nice and clean, right?"

"That's about it. Yup."

"The Org does bigger and badder ops because we look deeper."

"Why?" Joey asked in a bitter tone. "Because your research guys read their social media accounts and dating profiles?"

"Yeah. Pretty much," Carla said.

He sighed.

"Okay, I'll bite. Make me feel like it's just another mission."

Carla shuffled the papers. "Okay, let's take Vera, the first target."

Joey nodded. By his expression, Carla could tell he was very much looking forward to taking Vera, and she couldn't blame him. The file photo showed a tall, curvaceous woman with soft, blue-green eyes in a flirtatious blue evening dress. She was sitting on a balcony with a glass of wine, with the contented smile of a bon vivant patiently indulging her senses.

"Owner and operator of the Inner Fullness massage studio. She emigrated from France in her late teens. Started the business with a loan from her father, who passed on last year. Likes to travel, enjoys good food and wine. Has boyfriends and girlfriends come and go, but stays friends with them. Sexual history isn't extreme by our standards, but she's pretty active and adventurous. You remember what else?"

Joey scrunched his brow for a moment. "Yeah, wasn't she into some kind of energy healing mumbo jumbo or something?"

Carla nodded. "Yoga, Tai Chi, psychedelic trips with Peruvian shamans, quantum something or other, and pretty much every kind of energy healing mumbo jumbo. Sells a lot of it too. What does that tell you?"

"That she's not a very threatening target if we get her by surprise. Fit but not formidable. I knew that much, Carla."

"You know what it tells me? With a little friendly offer from a fellow healing arts enthusiast, she'll acquire herself."

"Bullshit," he scoffed. "No target is that user-friendly."

Carla patted his leg. "Not only will you not have to lay a hand on her, but she'll thank me for the opportunity to try the applicator."

He shrugged. "If you say so, but I'll believe it when I see it."

"You will," Carla said blandly.

"It's a good thing I trust you."

"Isn't it, though? Meanwhile, you'll be working with Sammie. What do we know about her?"

He nodded. "Spunky little thing. Smaller, but really fit, right? I think she's got some self-defense in there."

Carla looked serious. "Yeah. Fitness buff, some martial arts, striver, over-achiever. Keeps herself very busy. No time for partners, so she doesn't have a very active sex life. She's tough and tenacious — a girl who doesn't give up — which means you might want to start with manual control to keep her from getting loud. You've got like 120 pounds on her, so it shouldn't be a big issue."

"Yeah, but she doesn't need to win. She just needs to alert Laney before she loses."

"We'll get back to Laney in a minute. What else do we know about Sammie that can help us?"

Joey scratched his head. "She's close to the owner, right?"

"Yep. Vera's protege and second-in-command, so she'll be looking out for her. I think she's got a crush on her too."

"Isn't that bad news?" Joey asked. "She'll get pretty charged up when she sees Vera going down."

Carla shook her head. "Yeah, but physically, she's not a threat, remember? She'll fight hard regardless. But now, we can channel her attention. When she's focused on me and Vera, she won't be watching you."

"Okay, okay," Joey said, nodding. "But what about Laney? She's sitting in the front office, right through the door and across the room. She's behind a desk, which will slow us down, and she has a cellphone, computer, and office phone all within a couple feet of her."