Aftermath

Valerie and Hawk arrived at a secluded warehouse in the middle of nowhere. They got off, and went to the back and opened the giant door at the back. They were greeted by the sight of almost forty nearly naked women, wincing at the sudden change in lighting.

"Alright, ladies. Follow me.", said Hawk. "Come on.", he said to Valerie, and they went inside the structure.

It was dark inside. A lone silhouette was seated in the distance, surrounded by all sorts of computer displays and gadgets. Valerie squinted, her eyes still adjusting to the darkness. The figure turned around to face the entering crowd.

"Oh my god! Valerie, it's you!", she heard her say, delight in her voice. The figure ran towards her, and Valerie recognized her face as she came close.

It was Iris. She hugged Valerie, saying "I'm so glad you're okay."

Valerie smiled, returning the hug. She felt her skin touch Iris's skin, and did a double take. As they stopped hugging, she understood why.

Iris was naked, save for a bondage harness. Valerie recognized the crisscrossing leather strips - it was the same one she had been wearing when they had rescued her. "Are you okay?", she asked, concerned.

"I-I'm fine.", replied Iris, looking flustered. "It took me a couple of weeks to recover physically, and then about a month to remember everything again. Once I heard Hawk was going back to save you, I had to be on that mission. I sped through re-training as fast as I could, and assisted him on this mission. I owed it to you.", she said solemnly.

Valerie couldn't help but hug Iris when she heard that. She felt happy there were people who cared about her, even when she was gone. "Sorry to ask, Iris, but why are you, y'know..."

Hawk caught up to them, intervening to save a blushing Iris. "Since she came back, she can't wear any clothes. It's either this thing" - he pointed at the harness - "or nothing. We don't know why."

Valerie shuddered. That was likely a lingering effect of her conditioning. Iris had only been in captivity for a couple of weeks, so hopefully this was the worst of it. A feeling of dread washed over her.

"How long was I...", she began to ask.
"Almost three months.", replied Iris. "I'm sorry we get you out sooner.", she added guiltily, seeing the grim expression on her face.

"It's not your fault, Iris.", interjected Hawk. "They were on high alert after we broke you out. There was simply no chance anyone could get in. In fact, it was you who saved our ass when you returned and hacked into their system. If you hadn't created this party we were in, god knows how much longer Valerie would have been in there.", said Hawk.

Valerie's head was spinning. She remembered flashes of her 'conditioning' inside the place. How many traps had been laid for her in her own mind? She didn't want to imagine. "What about the whole buying thing?", she asked, looking at the crowd of women behind them. She didn't mention Anya - she still didn't remember if she had been telling the truth about going undercover.

"Well, you can thank Iris for that too. She used her tech wizardry to make it appear like there had been a transaction. That's why I had to leave with everyone. If I had waited, they would have eventually found out.", replied Hawk.

"Smoke and mirrors.", smiled Iris. "Now, let's go to the debrief."

"C-can I get something to wear?", asked Valerie nervously. She was still wearing Anya's garter belt and stockings, with nothing to cover the rest of her body except her hands. And her hands were not doing a great job.

"No time.", replied Iris, winking.