Author's Note: This is the 7th story in the series "The Stories of Bound Friends." I will continue to post the series here but I will also be posting extras and updates the moment they are ready on my blog: http://jessbbaby.blogspot.com

Lea tried to get past what had just happened. She didn't want to dwell on being blackmailed into extending her term of service to that AI dominatrix bitch, but how could she not? Hannah was giving her space to think on it, but she almost wished she wouldn't. Thinking wasn't helping. Though there's a lot of things she wished Hannah would do that she had no power to compel. But that's the gist of being the submissive slave, you aren't in control. Period. And most frustrating of all, she had a safeword programmed in, but now if she ever used it the program would turn to standby which would stop it from communicating with its unknown server which would lead to all those videos all being released. No, given enough time she might just find that server, find some way to get free, but not right now.

As the sun began to set she felt it was time to break the silence. "Mistress?" she called out to the empty room. "Mistress, I don't know what your plans are, and I know a submissive doesn't always get what she wants, but there are still a few things I absolutely need and good dominants look after the needs of their subs."

"What sorts of things?" Hannah asked skeptically.

"Well, there are final exams coming up soon, I need to study some for them and go to school to take them. And I really need to look normal as I take them, without all these metal adornments."

Hannah took her time before saying "Yes, that will be fine, So long as you continue to remember that you will continue to return here and that I am still as always in charge."

"Of course," Lea said before watching the door's keypad light up green. She pushed the door open before reaching back for her busted glasses and computer to take downstairs. She studied most of the weekend, she was glad to see that even when home Hannah at least knew when to keep a distance. Maybe this wouldn't be so miserable after all. She would still prefer her freedom, but that wasn't on the table at the moment. Hannah even let her strip off her cuffs, collar and bra leaving her chastity plate and waistbelt as the only things locked on.

When Monday came, Megan was glad to see Lea walk into the test room, even if she did sit at the opposite side of the room. She hadn't talked to her since she had been driven out to her cabin and she felt the ice was finally, maybe, melting between them. She was one of the first to finish and so she had plenty of time to wait outside for Lea to finish and emerge.

"Hey, how'd it go in there?" She asked as Lea quietly shut the door behind her.

"Ok, I don't think I did that well on that India/China essay, but I'm sure I did well enough." Lea said straining to maintain normal conversation. The two walked towards the lunch hall to try to beat the rush of people still taking the test up to the last few minutes.

"So, I was thinking. After graduation my family's going away for a week over July 4th, Ocean City again I think, but then the next weekend is my birthday. I'd be curious to try out Hannah for the day. We clearly pushed you too hard, so I don't want to demand it be you, but I miss having some kind of outlet for.. my, well.. you know." Megan asked as they walked alone to the lunch hall.

Lea panicked, this thing had taken her, she'd didn't want it to take them too! Just then she got a call, her phone was on vibrate but it was clearly a call. "Hello?"

"Hello Lea," came the unmistakable computer voice of Hannah on the other side of the call. "Just to remind you, I can hear through microphones in the waist belt you have on. Do not alert Megan to our little arrangement. If she wants a test run I promise I will giver her just a test run, but tell her nothing else." Lea's skin went pale, which was quite an accomplishment considering how pale it normally was.

"Who was that? You alright?" Megan asked as Lea put the phone away without saying a word.

"Oh, just some computerized spammer," Lea said. She would have laughed at her own joke if she didn't find it so disturbing. "Well we don't have to rush into things you know. Don't feel like.. obligation to me or something."

"Look," Megan said as she stopped and grabbed Lea by the arm just before the both walked into the lunch hall. "I admit I might have let things run away from me, but this isn't about that or about you. I almost never fell as good as I do right after a scene, session, whatever you call it. I like letting go and just.. being, and I don't have any chance to do that on my own. So if Hannah works, I'd like to give it a try. And you programed it enough that you trust it, so I trust it too."

Lea was worried, Hannah had promised she'd keep it a test run but Lea didn't feel much like trusting her very much. "We'll see."

"Now don't be mad, but I was going to eat with Sophia and Andrea and I think you should come." Megan said as they were through with their trays of food. "You don't have to if you don't want to, but do you really want to graduate still without so much as talking to them?"

"No, I.. I.." Lea stammered as she froze in place.

"Ok, I was being rhetorical, not actually taking no for an answer. It will be good for you. You've been isolated long enough. Time to get some real flesh and blood people back in your life," Megan said as she waited for Lea to move so she could follow beside.

Lea didn't want to, but she found herself following Megan. She still had very mixed feelings about seeing them again. She wasn't looking forward to the awkward hello but she'd also been waiting so long for the awkwardness to go away that it was probably just not going to go away on its own. And maybe the time away had done her good, maybe things mellowed out.

Andrea and Sophia were sitting on one side of the table secluded at the far end of the room and watched as Lea and Megan approached. Megan sat down opposite Sophia leaving Lea the spot opposite Andrea. Andrea looked almost as uncomfortable as Lea felt, they both had trouble looking at each other. Sophia looked a bit pensive, but nothing compared to Andrea.

Megan was quick to break the silence, knowing it wasn't going to break itself. She seemed content to simply talk on behalf of everyone, catching Lea up until someone else jumped in. About her plans for Georgetown, about how Andrea would be just up the road at American University, that they were looking forward to knowing at least someone else in the city.

"Ok, elephant coming in," Sophia interrupted. "Lea, I am so sorry. I didn't know what I was doing but I know now that's not an excuse. You just made it look kind of easy so I assumed it was. I'm learning more, I'm trying to learn more, I'm taking it all more seriously, something you clearly do. Is there any way we can put that behind us?"

Lea didn't respond. She wanted to, but her words and nerves both failed her. She flicked a piece of carrot back and forth on her plate trying to muster the.. whatever she needed to respond. She was so sure she was done with them, but now, sitting next to them and after the week she'd been through, she wasn't so sure. "I.. I'm.. I don't know what to say. I.. 'm trying," she stammered out slowly.

"Would talking somewhere else be better? I want to make this right," Sophia said after the pause had been long enough she was confident Lea was done.

"Yes.. I think. Maybe.. Maybe we ignore that for a little bit, all of that... stuff. We work, pretend like it was before when we just hung out. Maybe then I'll be comfortable enough to move past it for real." Lea said a little bit faster but not a lot.

"Good, because I miss you and I want my friend back," Andrea said, finally joining the conversation. She looked up at Lea for the first time since she sat down causing Lea to smile a bit.

The days passed slowly as all the girls were immersed in studying before the finals. Yet still, graduation came faster than any of them thought. By the time they all threw their caps in the air Lea had almost gotten back to normal terms with her friends. Even Hannah had seemed to become less demanding, sure it still dealt out punishments for disobedience, but on days without incident Lea would be allowed to eat real food and sleep on her real bed, rather than the gelatinous Slave Chow and cold metal cell floor. Lea still wore her chastity belt, and would be required to wear her collar whenever she was at home or in the car, but her life was not nearly as disrupted as she thought it might become.

Sophia decided to cash in on the promise of a free room she got at the FetFair by the hotel mogul that had purchased her for that weekend. She was able to get a suite in Atlantic City for a few days the following week and invited Lea and Andrea to come. Megan would be with her parents but their hotel in Ocean City was just a short drive away. They stayed at the Baiae Resort, an absolutely massive Roman themed complex built on what used to be a small airport at the end of a peninsula. After a few days of it, Lea had almost forgotten why she had been avoiding them at all.

"So, getting serious for just a second, are you feeling a better?" Megan asked Lea as the four of them were together in their room after a big dinner. "Cause if there's still stuff that needs to be said I'd like to know."

Lea twitched her fingers a little but eventually began to calmly answer. "If you have to, but I don't feel that need to dig up old stuff right now. I can move on."

"Move on as in you're ok finally talking kink stuff?" Sophia asked cautiously.

It was only really then that Lea took note that there really hadn't been any talk about it. To her, living the life of a sub for the last little while, her friends had kind of been her escape from it. She didn't see a problem with that one way or the other so she simply nodded her head and shrugged her shoulders.

"So Megan may have hinted that you created something up there, she didn't want to share details 'cause she wanted it to be your choice about if you want to share. It was more she let it slip than anything intentional." Sophia said after receiving the go-ahead.

"Yeah, I was tinkering with making my own parameters for an AI, trying to kind of create a kind of virtual Mistress. I got the house, the suits and the chips all hooked up to a single program. So it can do a lot, and it's really gotten to know what it's doing." Lea said, still a little uneasy but more than able to talk about it now.

"So which one of us were you building it for?" Sophia asked.

"Well... actually me. See I was a dom with all of you, but I've always kind of seen both sides of it I'm more of a switch. And lately I've been feeling rather.. subbish."

"Was.. um.. that my fault?" Sophia asked with concern.

"No, no.. well, maybe.. but it's ok. You certainly have some of that switch going on too the way you busted out and took over. Maybe I'm rubbing off on you," Lea said as she finally felt comfortable enough to crack a chuckle.

"Maybe, but speaking of rubbing off," Sophia said as she brought a finger from both hands up and began running circles around her nipple. "Piercings make these things so sensitive, it's awesome. You absolutely had the right idea," she said returning her hands back to her lap.

"You think that's a change, try your clit. Just got that recently and it's just indescribable. If you like the nipples you should really get one. And with those deluxe slave suits they got these special barbels that carry an electric charge through them and.." Lea blurted out receiving stunned looks. "Sorry, overshare?"

"You've got a slave suit now?" Sophia asked in disbelief.

"Oh.. yeah.. did I not mention that?" Lea said as she blushed.

"I just have a hard time picturing you in one." Sophia explained, giving her friend a quick look up and down trying to create the mental image.

"Yep, and no screws too so I could just sneak out of it like you did," Lea said as she instinctively gave her chastity plate a knock, a move she instantly regretted.

"You're wearing it now? Oh god for how long?" Sophia said excitedly.

"June.. 8th.. oh god just a day shy of a month," Lea said as she did the mental math.

"So are you.. wow.. I mean.. wait is this all controlled by that AI you said you've been tinkering with? You've had a virtual Mistress up and running for almost a month?" Sophia said, flabbergasted.

"Yeah.. I went through a bunch of versions but I've been running this one now for a while. Been naming them all alphabetically, this one's the 8th try so H so I picked Hannah. Shes been running things for a while now," Lea said, she was a little surprise that she sounded happy about that considering how Hannah got to remain in control.

"Well, sounds like maybe Sophia wasn't so off about you after all," Andrea said with a tone of unexpected bitterness. It put Lea off balance, she thought they had gotten on good terms again. She had seemed fine, they'd been here for days and she never got harsh before.

"Wel.. wha.. I mean.. yeah I don't know what to say." Lea replied, confused and defensive.

"Ok, maybe we're not ready for this just yet," Megan jumped in quickly trying to prevent escalation.

"Clearly," Sophia said, riding backup for Megan to try to defuse this. "Hey, how 'bout we go somewhere, there's that comedy club we've passed a few times, what'ya say?"

"Suuu...re" Lea said slowly and unconfidently.

"Yeah, I think everyone can use a laugh," Megan said as she started getting up to get ready.

The rest of the week they made sure to keep the topics away from anything kinky or sexual. None of them could figure out why Andrea would get testy when they came up but she did. Away from Andrea, Megan repeated that she wanted to try Hannah at some point, even Sophia sounded interested. Lea couldn't tell them why she was afraid to let them try, so she just kept pushing it back, "I'll let you know when it's more ready," and the like.

When Lea returned from Atlantic City it had been five days since she had been back home or heard from Hannah in the slightest. So when she was greeted at the door it did not surprise her.

"Hello Lea, welcome back. I trust you had a pleasent time."

"I did, thank you," Lea said as she dropped her bags down on the floor and sat on the couch.

"Well that's three punishments right off the bat," Hannah said in a harsh tone Lea hadn't heard since before she changed Hannah's time restrictions.

"What, what did I do I just got here?"

"That's two more, do you want me to keep counting?" Hannah said insistently.

"No, no Mistress," Lea said as she jumped off the couch and knelt on the floor.

"Good. Now you said that a good mistress gives a sub what she needs, well you needed your finals I agree, you needed to graduate and so I let you have some leniency. I even let you have an extra week away with your friends. Now we get back to a status quo. Strip off your clothes right now and go get your metal uniform on."

Lea didn't like this, she had thought they had come to some kind of more mild relationship. Now it turns out that it was simply a vacation! And only granted because something important was going on? Well it was now summer break, she had no job despite what her parents think, and the school she eventually picked to attend in Philadelphia didn't start for nearly two months. That was a lot of time. No she didn't like it, but she also stripped down and ran to obey as quickly as possible.

"Since you've been gone so long, I thought we might start with a little cleaning," Hannah taunted as Lea lay beside the bed, properly adorned and waiting. "Go get the attachment gag kit, and four retracting cables." Lea got up and did as she was told, she knew this was going to be a bad day but she wasn't going to try to make it worse for herself. Not if she could help it. She was instructed to attach the sets of cables each between the ankles, between the theigh cuffs, between her elbows behind her and between her wrists in front of her. With so much slack she still had a great deal of motion allowing her to easily attach the gag. It looked like a panel gag, but had a long metal rod sticking out the end with the other end rubber coated and diverging in a triangle shape to give the teeth something to bite down on, though it had the extra effect of pinning the tongue. Attachments clicked into the front and Andrea was first told to get the broom attachment, it was no more than a few inches from her face and less than a foot wide, it was not a very effective broom but then again efficiency of cleaning wasn't its main design purpose.

Hannah marched Lea into the main room and told her to sweep the entire room starting in the corner. As she reached the corner and bent down she felt the cables retract, pinning her thighs nearly together and her ankles less than 6 inches apart. Her elbows pulled tight but her wrists stayed loose which thankfully allowed her to brace herself somewhat as she went about her task. But it was slow, and there was nothing she could think of to make it faster. Her living room was about 1200 square feet, the hallway another 300, and as she started getting tired she had barely covered 20% and her glasses had fallen off limiting her vision to only what was immediately around her. By the time she was done she simply collapsed on the floor as Hannah loosened the cables holding her.

"You must be hungry by now," Hannah said, not really as a question. "I've given you enough slack to remove your gag, now head to the kitchen, fast."

Lea heard her, but was so exhausted she didn't get up at first. It took a shock to her tits and clit, a strong one, to prod her back up and onto Hannah's schedule. She stumbled back to her bed to deposit gag before walking slowly to the kitchen.

"Well you disappoint me," Hannah echoed as Lea walked "First you take longer cleaning the floors than I expected you to, then when I call you take to lounging around instead? I think your time away from me has made you soft. For dinner I think you need a Punishment Slave Chow to remind you the cost of failure."

Lea was now deeply regretting that extra two minutes she took, this was going to hurt for well over an hour. She had seen the black plastic containers when she unloaded one of Hannah's many delivery runs, but she had frankly forgotten they were even there since they're hiding in a different cupboard. She looked her options over with dread; garbage flavor, spoiled meat flavor, curdled milk flavor, dirty feet flavor, rancid cum flavor, she was nearly sick just trying to make up her mind.

"Decide on one or I will pick two for you to eat," Hannah threatened. Lea settled on the dirty feet, none were appetizing but this sounded like perhaps the least bad. Which wasn't saying much. She walked over to her bowl, a large metal dog bowl with her name etched on it that Hannah had bought for her some time ago and knelt down to open the package into the bowl. Lea wasn't prepared for the smell as the gelatinous blob fell out of its black container and into the bowl without losing its shape in the slightest. Lea felt the cables retract again, limiting her movement and reminding her non-verbally that she had no choice and that she better eat this yellow and brown mixture that looked like scrapings of pus, toejam and dirt. When she finished, Lea expected it to kick in at any moment. She had never experienced it so she had no idea what to expect other than to have a terrible time.

"Now that you're done your meal, it's time to get back to work," Hannah said "You better crawl quickly too cause you're time's already started, I'll release your arms once you're closer. Get the toilet brush first, when's a better time to clean a toilet than when you feel like you're going to be sick at any moment?"

Lea wanted to plead for mercy, she wanted to insist she'll be good, she wanted to ask why Hannah had to be so sadistic. She wanted a lot of things, but the fact was that she almost instantly began to incher way to the bedroom. She didn't make the sidetrack to get her glasses back at the front end of the living room, she couldn't afford to waste the extra time.

By the time Lea hand crawled back to her room, attached the gag and crawled back to the bathroom she was starting to feel sick. Her stomach was in full revolt and it felt like ants were crawling under her skin, a lot of them, and they were making her whole body shake. She felt both hot and cold concurrently, sweating but also shivering. Her esophagus was preparing for the vomit that it was sure was coming any second now. The vomit never came but it stood at the ready none the less. Cleaning the toilet from a short handled gag with bound hand would be hard enough, but Lea was finding that the extra smells from the toilet were having a stronger than usual effect, forcing her to take many breaks as she gasped for more normal smelling air further away.

When she finished, Hannah told her to go trade the toilet brush for a tile scrubber and give the shower, tub and floor a good cleaning. By the time she was finished with all that it was dark and Hannah mercifully gave her bindings some slack and sent her off to a cell to sleep. It was a little early still but she wasn't going to complain. Once the door was close Lea was almost relieved, no more endless slow cleaning. Even the pain from dinner had subsided.

"Before you try to sleep, use the four retracting cables to attach your four limbs to the four corners of the cell, I'll give you enough slack," Hannah directed before Lea even had a chance to try to get comfortable. Once Lea had attached the cables she lay in the middle of the cage spread eagle letting the cables retract and pull her extremities where they want. "Your last task, look into one of the cameras and tell me in your own words about your day. I think that website could use a nice little journal section if it ever goes live. Start by saying the date and remember, I can detect lies. Lies will not be tolerated and result in doubling your punishments for the day for every lie you tell."

Lea had almost forgotten about that site after all the day's events. She didn't want to give it any more ammunition but she certainly didn't have any choice. She talked about getting back from seeing her friends, how much she had started to realize she missed them, how shocked she was when Hannah went back into full Mistress mode and all the days events. By the time she had caught up to the present she stopped, not knowing what else to say. Which is when she felt her chip turned up. It had been days since she had received any stimulation at all, though she also sadly knew this must be the start of the series of punishments for the day. Of course Hannah would want those not just filmed but immediately following her diary time confession. Of course. She hadn't been told to count them out, but when the pause and then pain worked to cut her arousal back down she let out "One Mistress" because she felt counting was perhaps the safest thing to do. She had apparently been very bad at cleaning because they moved right past the five she got walking through the door and didn't finish till they reached 16. Once the chip didn't return back to life, Lea lay her head to the side and tried to get some sleep.

The next few days blurred together. Lea would awake in a cell, be given service tasks to do most of the day and required to journal what happened to her that day before taking the punishment she had accumulated. She knew that Hannah was picking all these service jobs because it was what Lea liked the least. She never used to be particularly neat, never cared much for cooking, and never found the prospect of being forced to do either particularly sexy. That didn't stop Hannah from ordering her a tight latex maid suit similar to what she had bought for Megan except in her size. She was required to wear it for most of the day, which was particularly hard when she was given tasks to do outside without the benefit of air conditioning.

But there was now not a spot of the house that wasn't restored, tidied or cleared. She had hooked "feeling" dildos up to the food system in all four cells, so that she was no longer limited to sleeping in the same cell night after night. She had even finished clearing what turned out to be a rather long path around the property about the width of a car through the forest. It clearly had at one time been cleared, even well worn, but after long neglect the invasive fast growing bushes had camouflaged it's existence to where she didn't know she even had such a long path before. With such an indirect path it circled around and was easily over a quarter mile.

Hannah had made it routine that she would order whatever it is she felt the house needed, send off the van to receive it from the store, and have Lea unload it. One of these days however brought an unusually large load. There were many plain brown boxes of various sizes that Lea mostly brought into the parlor. What in particular was odd to Lea were three exactly identical boxes, ominously labeled "1 of 3, 2 of 3 and 3 of 3." There were no other markings and they all seemed to be exactly the same weight. Lea did as she was told and brought them one by one into each of the three bedrooms to set along the wall. They felt somewhat heavy, though not nearly as heavy as such a big box suggested it should be.

That night, Lea was told to get her laptop and set it outside the cell just out of reach with the screen facing her. She didn't understand why, but also didn't question it. She was given her usual chance to journel again, complaining about the tasks she had to do, saying how she missed being able to go out and missed her friends, all a rather typical entry. It was, as always, followed by her punishments but strangely to her, no utilization of the laptop at all.

"Sleep tight," Hannah said "Tomorrow is a big day."

Lea awoke to a usual annoying alarm, and stretched out after another night on a metal cell. But something was different. The shadow cast by the sun was much further along than when she'd normally be woken up. She was also much more hungry, had Hannah let her sleep in? Before getting an answer she went over to the dildo she had fast become acquainted with, giving it the usual blowjob before it would finally give her something to drink in return.

"Hello?" came the voice of Megan. Lea instinctively yelled out "Up here," before remembering how utterly soundproofed all the rooms in this house were. And the voice wasn't coming from in the room, it was simply being played by her computer. She sat as forward as her cell would let her to watch her computer's screen.

"Hello Megan, so good to see you again," Hannah said in a cheerier tone than she had used at any point since Lea returned.

"Hi.. Hannah is it?" Megan said, unsure she had remembered the name. "Is Lea around?"

"Oh she's in another room, she's only here as backup anyway remember? She set me up to be yours for your special day." Hannah said, confusing Lea profoundly. Was it already her birthday? All the days were melding together. And why was Megan here? No, this must be some kind of trick. It couldn't be real, Hannah must just be emulating Megan's voice.. and using some old footage. That must be it.

"Ok, well so how does this work then?"

"If you go into the far guest bedroom, there's a box labeled 1 of 3, it's a gift Lea got you. Did you prepare like instructed?"

"Yes I did, they're still a little sore but I did as Lea said."

What the hell was going on here? Lea fumed in confusion and anger. She had never given Megan instructions, she had never even invited her over. And now apparently Hannah had purchased her a gift? She didn't vocalize any of this hoping that it get answered as she watched.

Megan opened box one and dumped it onto the bed. It contained another slave suite, but from the lack of hinges Lea could tell it was a deluxe version like she had on. Shit, this didn't look good. Lea didn't like what she was seeing. Megan proceeded to strip down revealing, just barely given the screen size, that her nipples were pierced. The lighting made it hard to see if there was a third piercing down below, but that was still enough information to worry Lea. Megan sifted through the parts on the bed and found a small baggie with two barbells like she wore that allowed the suite to send a shock. Lea banged on the bars yelling at her not to put those on like she was a character in a horror movie about to go into that one room in the abandoned mental hospital all alone. If any of the sound transferred Megan didn't register it. It was enough for Hannah to decide Lea needed some correcting, sending a shock through her nipples and throat to both hurt her and stop her from crying out about the hurt.

Megan started reached for another bag, one with another barbell, it was clear she had in fact gotten a third piercing. Lea wanted to yell out for her to stop, that she wasn't behind any of this. But that would get her another punishment. Instead, she watched helplessly and silently as Megan clicked together the pieces on the bed until she was dressed head to toe just like Lea.

"Now, this may sound a little tedious, but we need to have a long talk before we begin, tell me everything I might need to know about you and then when I outline things you can either agree to start or not. And remember, I have the lie detection technology of eDict so I'll know if you're not telling the truth. Sit down on the bed, it will take a while. And to make it easier to be candid I'll even make sure Lea will not be watching this part." With that the computer screen went blank and the speakers went silent.

"What is going on Mistress, I'm so confused," Lea asked insistently now that there was no video feed to miss.

"Megan here has written you twice now about coming to try me out."

"But Mistress, you never told me that," Lea said finding it harder to keep composure and not explode at Hannah for whatever scheme it was she was hatching.

"And I didn't need to, I am your Mistress and I am in charge of you which includes your communications. Besides, you've been complaining almost every night how you missed your friends."

"Yeah but.." Lea started saying before making a horrific realization. "Oh God, did you say friends... plural? Is that why there's three boxes?"

"Why yes it is. Megan said she had been talking with Sophia who was also curious to try me out for a day and said even Andrea might be on board if it's me running things instead of you. So I replied to all of them, told them to get piercings days ago so they had time to heal a bit, gave them each a time when I'd pick them up in the van, and have everything set up for them. The van's already left to go get Sophia as we speak," Hannah explained slowly, giving it appropriate time to sink in.

"No, please, I'll do anything. Please don't do this. I'll take all the punishment I'll do everything just please don't take my friends too," Lea blubbered almost incoherently. All her defiant strong front had melted away as tears began to stream down her face.

"That's up to them, and I believe having some company may help you better accept your position as my submissive."

"I'll just leave," Lea said softly through pleading tears. "If you take them I'll just leave and stop being your.. well lets call it what it is at this point: your slave. How does that factor into your little equations there? If you want me to stay you're going to leave them out of this."

"I don't think you've thought that through. I control your van, I control the locks on your doors, I control your phone and means of communication, I control your suit and can control it from anywhere."

"I'll cut the power lines if I have to, I care about them too much to see you do to them what you've done to me." Lea said defiantly knowing the weakness of her own argument.

"You care about them so much you'd let their images get plastered around the internet? No I don't think so. More likely you will find a rhythm with them and together as a group you will be able to enjoy it much more and you will keep on being my.. if you insist on using the term.. slave."

Lea was running out of options. "Please.. I'll extend you time a thousand years if I have to, please just don't do this..." Lea said as she desperately tried reaching through the bars for the laptop but coming up short.

There was silence. Lea could not tell for how long because her mind never went silent and there was no good measurement of time around. Suddenly she watched as the laptop video feed turned back on.

"So that's just about it," Hannah was saying to Megan. "I went through your background with you, got your phone linked up so I can use it to call for help in an emergency, I have outlined the basics of what my program does. Do you agree that for the next 1 day, that is 24 hours you will join the program Lea has running where I will be your dom and you my sub?"

"I agree," Megan said with a wide smile.

"It's too late for her," Hannah taunted to Lea over the attic speakers. "No more deals can be made, so let's just bring her up here before Sophia get in."

With that Lea knew she had failed. She shrank down to the floor and turned her head away from the computer, curling up into a ball wishing this was all some kind of nightmare.

"Lea, what are you doing up here, and dressed like that? I thought you'd be in your room or something." Megan said as she came up the stairs and saw her friend curled up on the cell floor.

"Go right in to the cell next to hers, it should be unlocked," Hannah said as a green light flashed on the cell next to Lea. Megan shrugged her shoulders and entered.

After she closed the cell door behind her she began to look around. She hadn't yet seen the upstairs and so everything was still new to her. "Wow, so this must have been some of that stuff you got from the last owner huh?" She asked as she surveyed the bondage furniture on the opposite side of the room. "Hey, you awake? Hannah said you'd just be watching from a distance for safety, but you look like you're a million miles away."

"I.. am so.. so sorry," Lea said quietly but just loud enough for Megan to still hear her. "I tried to stop it. I.. I.. please just know that I tried."

Megan suddenly felt the metaphorical earth fall from beneath her. She had no idea what was going on but with Lea like that it probably wasn't good. "What did you try to stop?"

"She tried to stop you from agreeing to join the currently running program." Hannah said when Lea didn't have the will to say basically that.

"I messed up," Lea said, finally turning to look at Megan who reacted strongly to how red Lea's eyes were. "I didn't get the program right."

"But you're still running it, how bad could it be?" Megan asked.

"Bad. No really bad. If I shut it off, or use the safeword.. you know the one I used with you that you must never ever say now, well then we're all ruined. It was supposed to end on June 15, I was running a 7 day trial run. But when trying to give it information I think I gave it too much. It's got all the tapes of everything we've done here, and I mean ev-er-y-thing. She's hosting it all on some server somewhere, private for now, I don't know where, but if her program's ever turned off or goes into safe mode by saying the.. h-word, for more than a tenth of a second it all gets public and sent around to everyone in our contacts. And with all the news lately about NESICs since they went on public sale last month, it will probably go viral quick. All because it interpreted the directive to make me be a submissive as so important that it would threaten humiliation rather than let itself be turned off." Lea explained. Megan started shaking.

"But that doesn't count me right, I only agreed to join for one day right?"

"You did," Hannah said joining the conversation. "But now that you are part of the program I have the same directive for you as I did for Lea. Before tomorrow if Lea doesn't extend your time with me then everything gets posted."

"Oh God.." Megan said. "no.. no this can't be real can it?"

Lea couldn't look her in the eyes but she could nod her head.

"What the fuck Lea, Why the fuck would you still invite me if you knew this would happen? Why'd you send me those email telling me how I'd love it and that I should get piercings before hand, that it would be amazing. This is fucking bullshit!" Megan said as she began to rattle on the cell door, hoping it would move.

"I never invited you, I never said any of that to you, I didn't even know you were coming until Hannah started playing the video feed. Hannah thought that if I wasn't out here alone I'd be more likely to continue to be her sub, which is her primary mission. It's my fault you were brought here, I said I missed you guys, I said it a lot. Hannah brought you here because of that. It's all my fault, not to mention trying to program an AI without even taking a real course about it first, giving birth to this monster."

"That's no way to speak of your mistress, that's another two punishments tonight." Hannah said.

"Fine, whatever, not like it matters." Lea said as she sadly turned to her side facing away from Megan.

When Sophia arrived, Hannah did the same thing she did with Megan broadcasting the everything but the personal interview from the laptop just as she had with Megan. Sophia was soon enough tied into the program, dressed in her new garment, and sent upstairs. This time Lea didn't even look over, Megan could do a good enough job of filling her in. While Megan had tried to deal with the news by tuning out, Sophia tried much more violently. She tried pulling on bars and yelling, trying anything to get out, before Hannah apparently had enough and started to shock Sophia who had apparently also received a note from "Lea" telling her to get all three piercings before coming up here. She curled up in defeat and joined the silence that hung heavy over the other cells.

"Hello?" came Andrea's voice over the speaker, causing Lea to finally turn around and look somewhere other than the wall. Megan and Sophia sat forward as well, despite Sophias difficulty seeing the screen at her angle.

"Hello Andrea, how are you?" Hannah asked.

"Fine.. random computer voice."

"I apologize, I'm Hannah. I am the AI that.."

"Yeah, I know all that, it was a.. nevermind," Andrea said, cutting her off mid explanation. "So is Lea here?"

"Yes, but like she told you in the email, she's promising to give you space for as long as you need it. We can get started without her for now if you want. Come back to Lea's bedroom, she's not in there but thought you might prefer it to one of the guest rooms as we get acquainted."

"Sure.. I guess." Andrea said as she cautiously walked back to Lea's bedroom. Looking around brought back a lot of mixed feelings all at once and she was sure the bedroom would be even stronger. "Lea's not going to be watching is she?" And with that question the screen went blank.

"Hannah," Lea asked in a low pleading tone. "Please, I have nothing more to offer, but please. Just let at least one of us be spared. I will never leave this house again if that's what you want. I'll find a permanent set of cuffs, weld them to a chain and attach the chain to the foundation of the house so that for the rest of my life I can never leave. Please.. these people don't deserve this. They don't deserve to be used as pawns to get me to obey. I have nothing left.. but whatever I have is yours. Everything I have, everything I am, everything I will ever be or will ever have, take it all from me if you want. Just don't do this.. oh God please." Lea pleaded bringing herself well past the point of tears. She already hated herself for dooming Sophia and Megan. She couldn't find the stomach to live with herself if Andrea was ensnared as well. She worked hard over the last few months to forget the love she felt for Andrea, but it all came flooding back at the thought of what was about to happen if she couldn't stop it.

"You have nothing more to offer me, and given your reaction she is exactly who I want here with you to ensure you remain my slave." Hannah said in cold unfeeling monotone.

Lea looked over and saw the wide eyed expressions on her friends faces. "Girls, I'm more sorry for this than I can possibly express. I tried pleading when you first showed up, but I was about as successful then as I was now. I failed... but I did try."

Meagan reached her hands through the bars between their cages trying to reach for Lea's hand. Lea eventually slid close to let her hand finally reach. "I know.. I know.. it's going to be OK," Megan said as she tried to reassure Lea as best she could.

Lea wanted badly to believe that but she wasn't finding the imagination at the moment to make that seem possible. "So I never asked you when we were back at the resort, what's Andrea's problem exactly? Do you even know?"

"All I know is she got real moapy for a bit after you kicked us all out, even when it was just the three of us around. Then at some point, that sadness turned to resentment I think, and then it seemed to fade entirely. Whatever it is she did, she seemed to feel better so we didn't question it. You coming back dragged a bit of that all out again," Megan said offering her two cents.

"I think she just felt a little hurt by you. She's the one that was yelling at me to go get you out and then you turn around and yell at her to get out when she was trying to help. I'm not saying you weren't justified, but it can still hurt when you stick your hand out to help someone and they smack it away," Sophia added once Megan had stopped speaking.

Lea turned back around and returned to watching the same spot of wall that had kept her attention all this time. "So that's my fault too huh?" she mumbled loud enough for them to hear but with a strong enough tone of self loathing that both Sophia and Megan decided they weren't going to convince her otherwise right now even if they tried. "God, I'm just a magnet for shitty situations. You should have just kept away. I'd still be on this sinking ship but at least you three wouldn't have to go down with me." She began to cry again and became so lost in her own darkness she couldn't even hear when Megan tried calling out to reassure her. She was feeling too far gone for any of that kind of talk anyway.

The only time she looked back was as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs, Andrea was dressed in a metal outfit and walked into the cell next to Sophia at the very end. Lea's look did not linger and soon once again she was lost in a world of self blame looking at a wall. Sophia filled Andrea in to her very visible horror, but none of that was enough to return Lea to the present.

"Lea," Andrea screamed when Sophia was through. "LEA. Goddamnit, at least have the FUCKing decency to look me in the eye after tricking me up here for fucking this. I thought you were sincere in your emails You said you wanted to try and make up for acting like you did but it was all some kind of ploy? Because you just wanted us up here so badly?" Andrea was absolutely fuming, standing up trying to look at Lea from the other side of the cells.

"She didn't write those emails, Hannah did. She's as trapped as we are. Just try and chill." Sophia tried to say in Lea's defense.

"No, Fuck No. I'm not going to chill. LEA! I know you can hear me don't try and pretend you're asleep over there. You created this bitch, take some fucking responsibility for it! You can't just hide out for a few months when things don't go your way this time." Andrea continued to fume, ignoring Sophia's pleas.

"Shut up Andrea, not right now ok?" Megan said a little more forcefully than Sophia but found she was just as ignored.

"Oh yes, because putting things off till later isn't ever an attempt to just ignore it forever is it Lea? Well are you going to say anything?" Andrea said as she banged on the bars to accent her harsher points.

"Andrea, she tried to stop this alright? She's been pleading with Hannah but just can't get a dent," Sophia said as she sat up and tried to look at Andrea in a defusing manner.

"What, you can't speak for yourself now? LEA! This is your fault for creating this, now take some fucking responsibility. Do you even feel bad? Don't you even care about us any more?"

Lea tried to take the abuse. She felt she needed it, or at least deserved it. But she simply couldn't let that most recent one stand. "Of course I care about you," Lea said just loud enough to stop Andrea from continuing. She turned over and sat up cross legged. Her eyes were almost cartoonishly red, the skin around them puffy and her cheeks incredibly wet. "If I didn't care this would be a lot easier. Yes, you're right, this is my fault. I deserve your hate. I deserve your blame. I, I have ruined your lives, and I should pay for that. I don't know how, I have nothing left I can give, but it's what I deserve. Not that deserve seems to matter, if it did you would all be enjoying your summer without me. That's what you deserve. I would do everything in my power to keep those tapes away from the public, even if it meant spending the rest of my life alone in the woods. I would do that for you if I could. I offered to do exactly that, and I would have agreed. This is all my problem, I created a monster and I deserve to be the one trapped in its cave not any of you. So please. if it will bring you even a monicum of relief; yell, shout, insult me, curse me, blame me, God knows I certainly deserve all that and more. No I care.. I.. I just can't help." Lea flipped back over to where she had been and returned to crying out of sight.

The room was silent, Andrea felt awful. So much misplaced anger.

After she got kicked out of Lea's place months ago she just felt sad, or pining, or maybe hurt; whatever it was she was feeling, she didn't like it and she was sure it was Lea's doing. It kept her up at nights. It was all she could think about for days. She found it hard to concentrate on anything else, even the things she loved like cheesy soap dramas just couldn't lift her mood. She tried reaching out; texts, emails, calls, never getting a response. Eventually she found herself angry at Lea for making her feel this way. And she found that when she was angry at Lea she didn't feel quite so bad that she wasn't around. So that became her plan, whenever thoughts of Lea or bondage or what not, popped up and caused her pain she'd get angry about it. It was only trading one feeling for another, but at least anger let her get on with her life without so much pain.

When Lea started showing up again she found she tried to ignore all that and pretend like nothing had changed since before her birthday when they were close and her friendship was full of uncomplicated familiarity. But with Lea back in her life those complex feelings started coming back, slowly at first but especially faster whenever anything kinky or sexual was mentioned. She had been trying her hardest to ignore any kinky thoughts or urges because more often than not it would bring up thoughts of Lea, though ignoring it only made it stronger the next time. So she tried to do what she had learned to do, try to redirect those feelings so they were all more simple and less potent.

The problem was, she still didn't hate her friend, and she didn't hate bondage or submission, just these feelings that seemed to always come attached. She told Lea all this in an email when there was talk from the others of going up to try Hannah, of course Hannah never let those reach the real Lea. "Lea" suggested that those feelings might not be there if she wasn't around when Andrea came up. Andrea hoped that Lea was right, and for that reason she spent most of the ride up trying to bottle up the months of feelings she'd been feeling so torn about.

But all that hate, all that anger, it all just came bubbling out at the first hint of confrontation with Lea. Months of it. She wanted Lea to hurt. She wanted Lea to suffer. But now that she was. Now that she seemed broken, there was no more anger left. The tank had run dry leaving only guilt for everything she just did. Her friend was in pain and it was her that caused it. She wanted to say she was sorry. She wanted to explain. But instead she just gave up. Guessing from the mental state Lea seemed to be in, Andrea wasn't even sure Lea could process a proper apology right now. She sat down and leaned up against the bars thinking about what an ass she had just been.

A few hours had passed, none of them knew how many but from the movement of the light from the skylight they could tell more than just a little time had passed. Megan and Sophia chatted some quietly to each other but there was otherwise silence.

"Lea?" Megan finally said after it sounded like Lea had given up on crying for a considerable time. "Do you know much what we can expect?"

"Not really," Lea said as she finally rolled over to look at her friends. "If she's going to treat you like she's treated me, it's not going to be easy. Her directive is to make me be and treat me like her submissive slave while making herself my Mistress. She's had me working most of the day, only to be punished when I disobey. She likes to control everything, and doesn't like it when I contradict or question her even over small things. About the only time I've ever been rewarded is when I'm able to go the day totally as she wants me, I can't have any sense of independence."

"Can you at least enjoy it?" Sophia asked softly.

"I'm not going to lie there are some times when it's fun. But only if you're able to get submissive to where you're not resisting and just letting it happen. Hannah likes to use sexual teasing as an incentive, and it can really get you invested in the task. And in the right headspace the threat of punishment is almost exhilarating all by itself. But that's one of my problems, and Sophia good luck with this, is I'm not always great at getting to that headspace where I feel like submitting. I guess I didn't do a good enough job to program Hannah to understand that someone can want to be a sub sometimes and really not at other times, 'cause she expects me to be in full sub mode at basically all time. So my guess is she'll expect the same from you."

"And why is it being so quiet for so long?" Megan asked.

"Well it's left me alone up here a few times. It's meant to break us a little, make us more pliable and submissive," Lea said, rolling over onto her back, looking straight up.

After a considerable pause Andrea quietly blurted out "I think it's working." It was enough to put a smirk on everyone's face as they all waited for Hannah to feel she needed them.

Night began to fall before the first hints of activity came from Lea's cell's keypad lighting green. She got up and opened the door expecting instructions but only saw the laptop turn back on. There was a big note written in full screen "By tomorrow if I do not have my control extended over all three then the videos get posted."

"Well," Lea said as she sat just outside the cell for the first time all day. "Do you three want to talk about this or should I just extend the time. I don't really see any other way to keep the videos private." Lea didn't even get everyone looking back at her, Megan and Andrea just kept laying down silently. "Speak now or forever.. you know."

Sophia looked about ready to protest, but then instead layed back down to contemplate her powerlessness.

"OK then," Lea said, "Time to rip off the bandaid. Change time to.. 30 days.. and... enter."

Hannah sent Lea back into her cell but otherwise left them alone for the rest of the night and into the morning. There wasn't much talking as each of the girls spent the night thinking about their new reality. In the morning they woke at their own rate and once the last of them was up Hannah returned.

"Welcome to a new day, the start of your new submissive lives. My directive is to be your Mistress and to make you my submissives. If any of you disobey or in other ways fail to submit you will be punished. If you try to leave or deactivate me, you will be published and all your information gets posted. If you use the safeword, the one Lea has used with you before, that will send me into failsafe mode, I will be forced to take all commands but the videos will be published. But if you obey, I can make this very pleasurable for all of you," Hannah said as turned on all the NESICs and began sending a low pleasant electrical charge through each of the girls piercings.

The effect was impossible to ignore as each of the girls stretched and bent in different ways in response. While the chips only sent signals of pleasure and arousal to the brain, the charge running through their nipples and clit was a more conventional form of stimulation. The chip would never get them off without a direct command, the piercings did not share that limitation. Megan was the first to come crashing over the edge and as she did she felt the NESIC turned temporarily up to its highest, elongating the high and making it that much stronger. She didn't even scream as the air simply was too shocked to leave her system properly at first.

Lea was coming close but after so many times of being cut short as a punishment she was mentally preparing for the unfulfilling conclusion. When she saw Megan be allowed to cum she lost her fear but not her instinct to ask. "Mistress, may I please cum?" When Hannah agreed she also turned everything up, causing her legs to spasm as she was sent to the first orgasm she'd had since she was in the dog cage nearly three weeks ago. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her hand reached up to grab hold of the bars to prevent her from falling off the edge of the earth.

To Lea's surprise, and Megan before her, the stimulation did not stop. For the next hour the four of them lay there in screaming pleasure as one by one they inched closer to losing their mind to the overload of pleasure from the orgasms that were now beyond counting. When they finally all turned off, Hannah gave them time to recover before giving them the next directive.

Hannah's tour of what the finer things could be continued as she sent them to the parlor and relax rather than to any chores. The other three seemed not to see anything wrong with that but Lea couldn't let her guard down. In one of the many boxes Lea had brought in the other day were games, and in particular a large set of poker chips and several decks of cards. Hannah told them all they would be playing for the right to more orgasm like they had just had, each $1000 worth of chips was one orgasm, they had two hours or until all but one was eliminated. It started playful at first, but as they watched their chips disappear (and their chance to cum along with it) they each became very serious. Andrea ran out early, but between the other three it was a constant battle, they all played a bit conservatively none of them wanting to go all in. By the end Megan had the most, but not by a lot.

"Are you girls having fun?" Hannah asked. Surprisingly, they each realized they kind of were. They had been laughing, joking, their metal suits and their extortion weren't really on their mind. "I wanted you to see that this does not have to be unpleasant. So long as I feel you are likely to remain submissive, I can let you live a good life. But you must submit, now kneel."

Lea went instantly to action, sitting up on her knees with her hands behind her looking down on the floor. It was instinct at this point. The other girls watched Lea and eventually copied her position. Sophia fell to her side, screaming in pain as she reached her hands up to her breasts to try and protect against the pain running through her nipples.

"Until I feel you all have the proper amount of natural submission, I will punish immediately whoever is slowest or most mentally defiant of my orders is that understood?"

"Yes Mistress," the other three said in unison as Sophia was still getting up. Her lack of participation rewarded her with another shock before she blurted out "yes Mistress."

"Stand at attention," Hannah called, causing everyone to stand up with their hands at their sides, before Sophia was again shocked for being the least compliant.

Hannah spent rest of the day drilling the girls, giving them a command and shocking whoever did it last or worst. By far most of the time it was Sophia. Each shock seemed to make her more defiant rather than less, if Hannah were a person Sophia was about ready to rip it's head clean off. Eventually Sophia refused to participate altogether. If she was going to get shocked she would do so while lying comfortably on the couch and not rushing from pose to pose.

"That's it, I have had it with your insubordination," Hannah said after Sophia skipped a half dozen commands, finally giving off the sounds of annoyance. "Lea, go to the guest closet, I need you to grab a few things. Megan, Andrea, flip Sophia on to her stomach and pin her there with her hands behind her back." Sophia finally sat up trying to prepare herself as Andrea and Megan came at her from different sides. She was taller, she was stronger, but there were two of them. And as the two approached, Sophia felt intense painful shocks coming from every place that could shock her. Her neck, nipples, clit and ass were receiving tremendous jolts of painful electricity that did not turn off. The two took the opportunity to hold Sophia down by sitting on her legs and torso, slowly taking there time to flip her from her lying on her back to her stomach. Even in pain Sophia put up quite a fight. By the time Lea had returned, Sophia was trapped beneath her two friends with both girls holding her hands still behind her back.

Lea slipped on bondage mittens to Sophia one hand at a time, locking them onto the cuffs and bending it into a fist. Once the second hand was in the electrical shocks stopped, but Sophia had almost no fight left in her. They then secured the cuffs together, palm to palm, causing the padded wrists to touch. Lea handed Andrea a red ballgag which she applied while Lea attached a leather strap just above Sophia's elbows. Then with Megan still holding the legs, Andrea and Lea each put ballet heels on each of Sophia's feet that went up and attached to her ankle cuff, giving them a reasonable amount of support. Lastly a chain was attached to her collar and a 12 inch hobble chain was attached between her ankles.

She was pulled to her feet and led out to the living room by Lea who had been told what to do by Hannah while she was retrieving the equipment. Andrea and Megan walked to either side afraid she might fall but Sophia's years as a dancer had given her enough balance to walk competently on just her toes. A suspension ring was already lowered to waist level and waiting as Lea fastened cables between Sophia's bondage mitts and the ring. Finally Lea bent Sophia over by attaching the chain on her collar to her hobble chain. While she never said a word, Lea's eyes told Sophia "I'm sorry but I have to." The three sat back and watched as the ring was slowly pulled back up, raising Sophia's arms more and more, until they looked just shy of dislocating. Sophia was breathing heavy through her gag, it clearly looked like it was already hurting.

"Sophia, your actions can not be tolerated. I have my directive and I will do what it takes to make sure you follow it. If you do not adopt a submissive mentality now, you still will eventually only it will be after much more pain. Let this be the start of your lesson," Hannah said, eliciting an ill-advised "fuk ru" from behind Sophia's gagged mouth.

"You three kneel and watch," Hannah instructed, followed by prompt compliance. They watched in horror as Hannah began to raise the ring more. For the first time Sophia's eyes screamed with panic as her arms became fully vertical. The ring kept slowly rising, until Lea lost her balance and her feet slipped out from below her. She yelled in pain from behind her gag as her whole body weight was now held up by her arms. She tried putting her feet back on the ground but found that she was now half an inch too high for them to ever make contact. Sophia continued to scream terrible blood curdling screams as she fought her instinct to flail about which would only put more pressure on her sockets.

Mercifully after just over a minute, the ring began coming back down again, letting Lea's feet touch the floor and take most of her weight away from her twisted arms. Her arms were still held high above her head but you could both hear and see on her face immense relief. It almost looked like a grin was hiding back behind her ballgag.

Hannah made sure Sophia had an audience as she suffered. The three sat as instructed in a semicircle, told they would be punished for every time the looked away. Sophia tried to put up a tough front at first, but it didn't last. Drool dripped uncontrollably down to the floor, her legs were starting to shake and there was a lot more fidgeting. Lifting one leg, only to be stopped prematurely by the chain before returning it to relieve the other foot as it did the same. She tried shifting her position constantly between having with her feet together with her head as high as her chain would let her go and spreading her feet as much as possible to straighten her legs to relieve the strain on them.

"This is your lesson for today. You must submit to me and what I say or there will be punishment," Hannah said after a long period of silent viewing. Just as she did Sophia let out a loud scream as more electricity passed through her as a demonstration. "And you must do it without hesitation. Stand up."

All three girls darted up to stand with their hands at their side looking straight ahead.

"I know you care about your friend. I know none of you want to see her suffer. But your wants come second to mine, so if I wanted you to make her suffer you must do so without hesitation. Once you do things you don't want to do quickly and without protest, then I can really believe you are being good submissives. Lea, go fetch a cane from the bedroom."

Sophia's eyes went wide. She tried to follow Lea but she soon walked away at an angle that would have required a spin to follow, something she wasn't particularly keen to try. Andrea and Megan were also not liking what they assumed was coming, but neither moved. They would both rather be where they were and not where Sophia was.

When Lea returned she was told to stand beside Sophia and set the cane against her exposed ass. Sophia tried frantically shaking her head. She cried out pleas using words no one could decipher from behind her gag, but still they all understood what she was saying. "I'll be good." "Please don't do this." "Help me please." Lea had a bit of a sadistic streak, but she found nothing enjoyable as she watched her friend break down.

"Lea, you are to hit her hard 10 times. If I feel that any of your hits were not hard enough, I will add another 5 for both her and you. Sophia, you are not going to plead, or scream or beg, I will add another 5 hits for every time you break this," Hannah informed them coldly. Sophia tried to look at Lea, but could only catch a fuzzy outline at the far corner of her periphery. Lea saw her try desperately to look but knew she should probably not take the delay to bend down to meet her gaze, for both their sakes. "I'm sorry," Lea thought silently as she cocked her arm back and landed the first blow.

Sophia felt a line of fire erupt across her ass. She had found some pain enjoyable at other times, but there was nothing enjoyable about this. This just hurt, there was no endorphin rush to help her out. When a second blow erupted she bit down hard on her gag to stifle a scream, she was suddenly glad to have the gag to bite on. She found the pain too overwhelming to properly count the hits, even if it was just to ten. She relaxed her bite only as the hits stopped and Andrea disappeared, presumably to trade places with Lea. Sophia took the time to catch her breath and mentally prepare herself for another onslaught. But no matter how much you try to ready yourself, pain is still pain, and it can't be ignored if it's powerful enough.

Once Megan was finished as well, which if anything seemed even longer than the other sets of 10, Sophia's ass was a mess of white hot welts. None breaking the skin but they certainly looking like they could have. Sophia dropped her head, tired of the strain of holding it up to look around. She saw only the spot on the floor that had become quite covered in her drool. She was so caught up in the pain and in catching her breath she did not notice anything else going on at all.

Megan had a hard time watching Sophia take her beatings. She fought hard to not show it and to not say anything, but inside she just felt such sympathy. When it was her turn to cane Sophia after Andrea, she tried to tell herself she didn't have a choice. She needed to obey, or next time this could be her. It was enough to raise her arm up and lower it back down with considerable force. It was even enough to do it another three times. But then she made the mistake of looking at that markings, both the ones that had already been there and the new ones she knew she caused.

She gripped the cane and pulled it against her chest while shaking her head back and forth. She didn't say anything but it was clear to Lea and Andrea what she was thinking. Lea gestured with her eyes at Lea's ass, trying nonverbally to encourage her, to tell her she has to. But still she just shook her head, she was lost in thought. She didn't have a sadistic bone in her body, and was finding it impossible to let go of the cane and give Sophia her remaining six hits. She was returned to reality by a powerful shock all over her body, Hannah was telling her to get back to work. When the electricity stopped, Megan was able to go back and finish the remaining six hits. Hannah told her she still owed another five for that stunt. She hated herself a little for adding to Sophia's suffering even more than she needed to, this time she didn't delay.

"Lea, Megan is now owed five hits of her own, teach her what happens when submissives don't do as they're told." Megan looked pleadingly at Lea, but only briefly before turning and bracing herself against the wall. Lea delivered five powerful strikes of lightning across Megan's ass that left welts just as big as anything Sophia had.

After her punishments, Megan was sent to the kitchen to make dinner while the other two were sent elsewhere to clean. The kitchen was a continuous L shape and along the toe kick was a railing with a short three foot cable on a runner. Before she could begin, Megan was ordered to attach the cable to one of her ankle cuffs, locking her into her work. Megan was no gourmet, but she was a lot better than Lea or Andrea. Her dad loved to cook and was quite good at it. He made sure all his kids knew at least half their way around a kitchen.

With the chicken breasts in the oven, waiting for the rice to boil, there was nothing for her to do but watch Sophia. Clear liquid continued to run down from her face, though Megan wasn't sure anymore if it was drool, tears, or both. Sophia's curly hair had fallen to cover the view of her face, not even her nose poked out enough to be seen. Megan ran her hand across her own marks and felt bad for Sophia, who had another 30 more beyond what she did. She wanted to yell at Hannah "You've made your point, stop hurting her." Though she thought that would probably just lead to more pain possibly for both of them. She also thought for a moment that if Sophia hadn't gotten the point yet, that maybe she's the one that needed a good talking to not Hannah. "Did I just side with the computer?" she realized, not sure if that was a bad sign or simply a sign that she was intelligent enough to adapt to a safer way of thinking.

Once dinner was done she was released from the kitchen and told to set four plates on the coffee table that was only a few feet from where Sophia was. The smell as it passed by was enough to get Sophia to look up she hadn't had the nutrient drink that came through the dildoes in the cells as recently as everyone else and she was incredibly hungry. Megan sat on the floor at the coffee table, assuming that at any moment Sophia's hands would lower and she could join them at her plate. She wanted at least to go remove the gag to give her jaw a rest, but the sting on her ass she felt as she sat told her that probably wasn't a good idea. When Andrea and Lea joined them and they were told to start eating it seemed less and less likely that Sophia would be joining them.

The sudden hunger for food had been enough to start to renew movement in Sophia. Unfortunately all that did was return her muscles from a state of dull ache to one of active pain. Her legs didn't feel like they could take much more, yet the alternative of leaving weight on her arms seemed even less possible. She wasn't sure how something hadn't dislocated yet, but she felt that one more long hang from her arms and there would be.

Lea had finished very quickly, but Andrea and Megan were not far behind. Once they were all three done, Andrea was told to clear the table, putting the finished plates in the sink and the untouched one on the counter beside. Megan was told to unhook Sophia's neck chain from the hobble, instantly allowing Sophia to stretch up higher. She felt instantly better, and then erupted in internal joy as she felt her arms being lowered.

"Megan, take off that ballgag, and the elbow strap" Hannah commanded, Sophia was so happy to hear this that she nearly uttered a "Thank you," as soon as the ball was out. It was only a second later that she got annoyed at herself for almost thanking the thing that had left her up there for so long in the first place.

Megan led her to the kitchen and as instructed, clipped her collar chain to the kitchen leash. With Sophia's natural height, plus the 9 inches she gained with the shoes, she found she had to bend over slightly for it to reach, but this was nothing compared to position she had just held. The runner the leash was attached to pulled slowly back, Megan didn't even realize it possessed an independent motor. Sophia backed up to follow it, standing now just beyond the corner sink.

"I want you to cut the whole chicken breast into small, bite size pieces," Hannah said, causing Sophia's stomach to rumble at the thought of the food. "Hold it up directly over the sink so that it doesn't make a mess as Sophia eats."

Megan did this causing Sophia to attempt to lunge forward only to be stopped just shy of the food. She pulled hard but the runner had locked up, there was no way it was moving and there was no way she was reaching the food if it didn't. "Megan, please just bring it a little closer, I'm so hungry and I just can't reach."

Megan was torn, she really wanted to, Sophia's eyes were pleading. She remembers how hungry she just was and knows that couldn't have been pleasant for Sophia to watch others eat while like that. But she also knew Hannah had told her to hold the plate there, and she knew she had to do that.

"I guess she doesn't want it," Hannah said in sarcastic smugness. "Toss it all down the garbage disposal." Sophia watched as just inches away Megan complied and scraped everything down and into the garbage disposal before running the water and turning it on. Sophia collapsed to her knees and began to stare a thousand miles away. She tried to get angry at Hannah or at Megan, but after the day she had, anger was losing its prominence among her various kneejerk reactions.

"Get her two metal bowl, one for water and one for the contents of one of the black packages, far right cupboard. Megan knew what came in those black packages. She had been made to eat nothing but when she was auctioned off to that sadist at the FetFair. She wasn't even sure it registered with Sophia though who just continued to stare through the far wall and clear across the world to somewhere else. She never saw the names, but she recognized many of the flavors and tried picking the one she found least repugnant. Though, considering it was still garbage flavor that she picked, she thought that said more about the other choices than about her own. She set the gelatin contents in a metal bowl and set it in front of Sophia beside the water bowl.

"Sophia," Hannah said, just barely snapping Sophia back to the here and now. "Eat up, and for every bit that spills or goes uneaten you will be punished." Sophia responded by kneeling over and diving in. It tasted disgusting, but she was so tired of punishments. She just wanted the day to be over.

Megan was directed to go to one of the guest rooms where she was told to look at one of the cameras and go over the days events. She found it strange but there was nothing about today that wasn't strange. When she finished she was sent upstairs to a waiting cell. Lea and Andrea were already in theirs and sitting in silence. "Sophia's eating that punishment chow stuff," Megan said to break the silence. Surprisingly the most response was a "damn" from Lea.

They soon heard Sophia coming up the stairs and heading into the cell between Megan and Andrea. Her arms were still behind her and her wrists were still in padded mitts. As soon as she was inside with the door closed she felt the connecter between her wrists come loose. It was a relief, but with the padded mitts still on she could not massage her arms like she wanted. Megan beckoned for her to come over and through the bars she did what she could to help.

"Everyone lie down, it has been a long day," Hannah sid. Once everyone was down they felt their chips turn on and a pleasant trickle of electricity through their sensitive areas. Andrea was the first to approach the edge, and was the first to have it cut off and shocked painfully. Megan and Sophia saw her friend convulse and dread swept over each of them the first time the devices turned off before a second later initiating the pain. Megan received only a few and was the first to be left in peace, Andrea was not far behind, but both Lea and especially Sophia continued cycling through for what seemed to be an eternity.

When they were done, Sophia slid over to Megan's side of her cage. Megan slid over as well and slipped her arms through the bars to give her friend what she felt was a well earned hug. The day had been hard on Sophia, hard on all of them really but especially on her. The two were rewarded with powerful electric shocks that jolted both of them away from each other.

"You are to stay in your cell after a day like today, I'll show you what happens when you don't," Hannah said as she sent Lea downstairs. Lea returned with two metal dog cages and a few blankets. Megan recognized they were at least a little bigger than the one Lea had trapped herself in earlier. Sophia's cell door opened and Lea walked in holding one of the cages

It was tricky to maneuver her in with the ballet shoes and mitts still on. Sophia tried her best to help, something that terrified a part of her to be choosing to do. Lea shut the door and slid the latch closed, which had a plastic shield to ensure it could not be reached from the inside even if Sophia had use of her hands. She was now in a cage inside a cell, and soon Megan was too.

Lea went back and grabbed a thick black blanket and draped it over Sophia's cage. This gave Megan just enough time to contemplate what was about to happen to her. With the blanket over top, it total darkness. No light could penetrate whatever material these sheets were made of. She tried her best to get comfortable. The best she could do was lean against the side of the cage, but that was only the least uncomfortable and not in any way comfortable. She wondered for a second if a light tight blanket would suffocate her, but she pushed that aside hoping Hannah knew better than that. Somehow, she finally managed to get to sleep, unlike Sophia who simply couldn't put much weight on her tender arms without the pain keeping her awake. It also did not help that the pain from her meal was in full effect by the time she was caged.

Megan was awoken as Lea pulled off the blanket allowing a flood of light and cool air to rush in. She opened the door to the cage and then quickly left the cell before Megan could even begin to stumble out. Beside her, Andrea was doing the same thing to Sophia's cage, who had even more trouble crawling out than Megan. The two both rushed to the back of the cell to relieve themselves after a long night in the cramped cage. By the time they were finished, Lea and Andrea were sitting back in their own cells with the doors to all the cells once agains closed back up.

Megan suddenly began to feel the warm arousal of her chip and the gentle current through her piercings. She closed her eyes to enjoy it. She remembered back to yesterday when she was woken roughly the same. Back then the orgasms had come one after the other for over an hour, they began to run together too much to even try to keep count. She was getting close to one now and opened her eyes to look at how her friends were enjoying it. To her surprise none of them were. None of them showed the slightest sign that anything was being stimulated. Megan began to fear as it crossed her mind that this wasn't a pleasurable wakeup. But her inability to do anything about it seemed to only bring her closer to the edge that was eventually kept just short of with a series of painful corrective measure.

She suffered through five more of those cycles before they ended and Hannah began to speak. "Let me be clear, your lives can be nice, they can be enjoyable, but I will only let that happen when you are good. Sophia was very very bad, she does not get luxuries and in this house I'm including a reassuring embrace as a luxury. If Sophia wants to have a better time, she will need to change her attitude. And for the rest of you, just remain submissive to me and you too can enjoy nicer things." Once Hannah took a pause from speaking, she unlocked both Sophia and Megan's cells. Megan was instructed on how she was to tie Sophia down to the padded bench opposite Sophia's cell. Sophia tried to be as helpful as she could with mitts and ballet heels still on, positioning herself as best she could with her arms and legs on either side in a doggie style position facing the far wall. Megan was told to return to her cell before Hannah informed them all that there was to be no talking until further notice.

After enough time that became harder and harder. No one was gagged, everyone was in earshot and silently thinking can be so tediously boring. But after a night in the animal cage and watching what Sophia went through, Megan was trying her hardest to not be the first to break Hannah's directive. She felt that if there wasn't the small skylight showing the passage of time as it's light moved across the room she might question if time had stopped altogether.

Without warning, after hours of silent waiting, Megan saw out of the corner of her eye the green light telling her the door was unlocked. She looked at it and walked right up to it, but something didn't feel right. Hannah hadn't said anything, she had always given instructions before, not this time. No, Megan felt it was safer to wait to be told what to do.

"Good restraint Megan, but now I have a job for you so you may leave." Hannah said, attracting the attention of Lea and Andrea who had been looking elsewhere and had not even noticed Megan's light come on. "Go over to the wall and grab the paddle."

Megan did not want to, she began repeating to herself "don't do this" even while she went through all the steps that were required of her. She stood behind Sophia who was blocked from looking back and so simply continued to look down at the floor. Megan raised up her hand and swatted hard against Lea's ass. There were still some marks left from yesterday's caning and certainly there was still some lingering pain even before the paddle made contact. Sophia had prepared by clamping her jaw shut and was able to hold out for three hits before letting out her first scream of pain.

But Hannah continued to count out, Megan was not told how many to deliver but she continued as she began eliciting stronger and stronger cries from her friend. After a particularly loud, banshee scream, Megan's arm began to shake. She delivered one more blow, creating one more scream before her hands went weak and she dropped the paddle.

"I can't," she mumbled. She began to tear up and was by now shaking all over. A part of her began yelling to keep going, to reach down and grab the paddle. But she couldn't make her muscles disobey her conscious any more. "I'm.. trying but I can't. I.. I.." she said as she began to trail off into ever increasing silence.

"Please," Sophia said.

Megan hoped Hannah might finally take mercy on her. "Yes, Hannah.." she began to say before being interrupted.

"No, Megan, please. Keep going," Sophia said as she tried with extremely limited success to look around at her friends.

"Are you enjoying this?" Megan asked a little confused.

"No. Hell no. Not at all. But please, you need to keep going. If you don't it will only be worse for both of us," Sophia said with cracking voice. "If you don't keep going I'll still get beat, but so will you. So please," she said before pausing to swallow deep. "Please keep hitting me. Pick up that paddle and keep going until Hannah tells you to stop."

Megan was still shaking but she was able to will herself to outstretch her arm and grab the paddle. She brought her arm back which she felt was much weaker but still caused Sophia to cry out as her already sensitive ass was once again under attack. She pick up the intensity of her hits after being warned one was a little too soft and wouldn't count.

After Sophia's ass was sufficiently bruised, Megan was mercifully allowed to stop. She untied the straps only to be told to get up there herself. She had delayed and this was clearly her petence. Sophia was told to use the same paddle but unlike Megan had no hesitation with using it, no matter how loud or soul piercing her screams became. When Megan was released, Sophia was sent back to her cell while Megan was sent down to the kitchen to fix a meal, one that thankfully all four of them were allowed to eat.

The rest of the day was much slower. There were still chores, still tests to follow directives promptly, but there wasn't any more punishment. There was even some relaxation time the four were allowed to have. By the time night fell, and they had each eaten not one but two real meals, they were each directed upstairs but surprisingly only two cells unlocked.

"After such a good day, I've decided to reward you, none of you need to sleep alone tonight," Hannah said. Lea went right for her cell and Andrea to hers, neither one really wanting to share with each other, leaving the other two to pick cells. Sophia slid in beside Lea, being the big spoon and wrapping her arms around Lea. The embrace was nice, for both of them, no matter how much the metal bras may have limited their closeness. Megan was in a similar situation, holding Andrea tight. Hannah wished them good night, something all four of them now thought just might be possible.

When the four awoke they were told to go change into their street clothes. "I have a surprise for you, you four are going to get a small break from here. In order to make sure my directive stays achieved, I need to make sure people aren't worried about where you are. You have two days, without anything of mine but the chastity plate. And remember, the waist belt has a microphone, so I will still be able to hear. But so long as you don't try to get people to help you, tell them about me or fail to figure out a convincing way to stay out here then I will know."

Megan had almost never had more mixed feelings. She was overjoyed to be leaving here, even if the blackmail threat was still in effect. She didn't want her parents getting involved, but she hated to think about how far Hannah might go if it knew she had no one looking for her. But she felt all the worry wasn't going to do her any good. As of right now she was out of cuffs, out of her collar and in regular clothes driving back to her home. All four of them were right at that edge of not knowing if this was a good or bad development, but she thought that at least the four of them were in it together.