Elsewhere, preparations are taking place

Deep in the quickly established Olympus camp, Tasha was nervously triple checking her equipment. She had gotten the order that she would be part of a scouting party not long before and had been obsessively making sure she was as ready as she could be ever since. She wasn't nervous because of the mission, she prided herself on never balking in the face of orders and had carried out dozens of successful missions with various teams. It was part of the reason why she had been recruited by Olympus. The organization was only whispered about in the military, but plenty of the elites knew about it, typically because they were the ones being absorbed into it. She had gotten to that point, earned her place, and knew it. So she had no doubt she was qualified; it was what she was going up against that had her scared.

All through training, her deployments, and following secret missions for Olympus, Tasha had adamantly maintained a firm sense of self. Always knowing the limits of her body, her mind, and her skills had gotten her this far, and she valued her firm control over her emotions and mind over all else. Her opposition had always been something outside herself. She didn't always know if she could beat it, but she always knew herself, and that had brought her comfort and confidence.

Now, she was facing an enemy that could strip all that away. From all the reports that had been shared with her and what news she could find, it was painfully obvious that Patient Zero, 'Aires', was capable of the utter destruction of one's self. Olympus had captured and experimented on numerous Infected, up to and including infecting other test subjects with the virus. The effects were far from universal, but extremely common among those carrying it was either a complete detachment from who they had been or even total memory loss. Tasha couldn't imagine anything more horrifying.

Orders were orders though. She had been assigned to a team that was tasked with scouting along the perimeter of the enormous living wall that had surrounded whatever city they were encamped around. They knew the wall itself was dangerous, attacking anything that came too close to it in any direction. Olympus had gotten a few new test subjects out of the failed tunneling effort, despite the difficulty in disinfecting the affected workers. They hadn't seen any of the surely doomed inhabitants of the town outside the wall yet, so Tasha knew the mission was relatively safe, but remained nervous anyway. Better to be on edge than complacent in the face of danger.

Strapping the last of her impeccable gear to her green uniform and carrying her issued weapon, she made her way through the bustling camp towards the edge where the rest of her team was supposed to organize. It wasn't too large a group, a few over a dozen women assigned with investigating the southwestern perimeter for any signs of the wall expanding. Tasha had even worked with a few of them before, though given what she had heard around the camp about some of Olympus' tactics, she wasn't sure that would entirely be a comfort.

Case in point was the person already waiting at the staging point for the rest of the group. Tasha recognized Yvonne, a tough as nails woman she had been teamed with a few times during their Olympus careers, though it took her a moment. The brunette was different from what Tasha was used to, and in a rather significant manner. Yvonne had always been strong and looked it, far more muscular and intimidating than most women and a good number of men were. Her femininity had always been evident second, her toned muscle leaving little room for superfluous body fat, giving her a sharp countenance and small breasts. The woman waiting for her definitely only possessed one of those things. The Yvonne checking over her weapon was wearing a tank top that couldn't possibly constitute as armor and was pushed out by a sizable pair of firm, round tits. No amount of her muscle mass had been reduced, but a light layer of padding took just enough of the edge off her to make her undeniably sexy. Coupled with light brown hair mostly bound in a tight braid, powerful arms, and high cheekbones as sharp as ever, she was a knockout in every sense of the word.

"Yvonne, it's...good to see you." Tasha's words were hesitant as she approached the woman she had once easily considered a friend and now didn't know what to think of. "I see you got offered that treatment they were talking about. And took it."

"I'm not sure I'd call it a 'treatment', it's a little more intimate than that. It's not nearly as bad as you think. Who wouldn't take the chance to become better than they ever could be normally? Plus, these are nice." Yvonne hefted her new chest with a sly wink in the other woman's direction. Tasha quietly stood a few feet away from her friend, consciously out of arm's reach, and looked her over. She looked good, better than ever really. Not a flaw was to be found anywhere Tasha could see and she didn't doubt the same went for everything she couldn't see. Her friend could only be described as Amazonian and it fit her to a t.

"I'll still pass. I'm not taking the risk of becoming...someone else. No matter what they promise."

"Not they, she. What she promises. My Lady isn't like those maniacs we're fighting. She's the opposite of them. She's countering their hedonism with control and restraint. She doesn't erase people in their own bodies."

Tasha couldn't help but quirk her eyebrow at Yvonne's passionate tone, having not heard the muscular brunette so passionate about anything except proper lifting form before. She wasn't sure she believed everything Yvonne was saying but wasn't going to fight such obvious opposition. "Well, whatever the case is with your Miss Top Secret, I'm okay just how I am. Besides, don't you feel exposed like that, without any armor or anything?"

"You know, my skin's pretty tough despite looking so soft. I don't think I really need that much armor."

"Plus, this is just a scouting mission. No need to be so scared, Tasha." Tasha and Yvonne both turned to see another woman they knew, Raegan, walking towards them. The fully kitted out of the two of them sighed at what Raegan was wearing.

"You went for the treatment too?" she asked, seeing the dirty blonde wearing a crop top version of what Yvonne was sporting. She looked damn good in it too; she'd always been one of the bustiest women Tasha knew and the black tank top showed just how true that was. Paired with a toned midsection and tied up hair, she was just as impressive.

"She didn't," Yvonne said immediately, looking her up and down. "She's just naturally that gifted."

"How can you tell?" Tasha asked, not quite believing it.

"It's an instinctual thing; I don't quite know how, but I just can."

"She's right, these goods are all natural, puberty grown, genetically blessed tits. I just thought with the obvious lax in 'proper' dress code, I'd take advantage. Maybe I'll find a girl or two who want to check for themselves." Raegan gave a sexy little sashay over to join the other two, leaning casually against a stack of containers.

"Good luck with that," Yvonne said. "I can tell you right now you won't find any takers with any of My Lady's followers, there's a pretty clear warning for celibacy for all of them."

"What? I call bullshit, isn't this thing we're fighting a sex virus? And isn't the whole point of the head honchos bringing N-"

"The Lady," Yvonne quickly interrupted, shooting Raegan a meaningful look, who just sighed.

"...bringing 'The Lady' in to help us? Fight fire with fire?"

"Look, the conditions were clear when I agreed to be part of it. No sex, no matter what. And you can stop looking so concerned, Tasha, I can't spread it. That was something else they told us: only the Lady can give it to other people, we're not contagious."

"Maybe I'm just intimidated by all that muscle," Tasha joked, trying to deflect attention from her continuing to keep her distance from Yvonne. Despite all assurances, she thought it best to stay vigilant, just in case. She hadn't gotten to where she was by being careless.

She remained in conversation with Raegan and Yvonne as more members of the scouting group assembled, about half of them with notably more exposed and more buxom skin than normal. If their skimpier clothing didn't give them away, each of the Lady's soldiers acknowledged each other with little glances that said they were consciously aware of each other, even when they weren't in eyesight. Tasha was thinking that would actually be a handy sense to have for a group of soldiers when a peculiar and distinctive smell tickled her nose. It was the smell of female arousal, something she had smelled on herself enough times to recognize. Knowing what to look for, Tasha began noticing telltale signs that it was coming from the Infected soldiers. A tightly crossed pair of legs here and there, erect nipples, gradually shifting posture, almost every one of the Lady's troops was showing one sign of arousal or another. It seemed odd, especially since they were celibate according to Yvonne, but a sharp call wrenched her thoughts away from the matter.

"All troops, fall in!" came a firm and authoritative voice Tasha wasn't familiar with. She quickly lined up with the rest of the ten women that had gathered before she actually saw their presumed squad leader. When she did, she was very glad she had gotten in place first, because she wasn't sure if she would be able to keep from freezing in place at the sight.

Standing in front of the lined up soldiers was a black haired woman that looked like a supermodel. Her face alone would turn eyes, gorgeously sculpted with arched eyebrows, slightly angled eyes, a small nose, and full lips. Her hair cascaded down to her back in a wavy sheet that contrasted to her lightly tanned skin, of which plenty could be seen thanks to what could only be called a tactical bikini, if such a thing existed. Foregoing any attempt at armoring herself or hiding any inch of her femininity, the woman wore a camo print bikini top that only served to keep her decent, which was clearly its only function. Her firm, proud breasts clearly didn't need any support but their own, which the top also made evident by the abundance of side boob it revealed. The entirety of her sculpted waist was free to see, only interrupted by the standard issue belt she wore just above her sexy hips. Bikini bottoms to match the top cupped her taut ass, molding just as firmly to those curves as her top did. Her thighs were mostly hidden by the additional gear that was strapped around them, but the rest of her legs were left bare down to the tight boots that covered her feet. Finishing her examination, Tasha registered two things. First, her squad leader was clearly one of the Lady's recruits. And second, she seemed to be loving the attention.

"Ladies, I'm Amanda Heltus, I'm going to be your squad leader for this scouting mission," Amanda said, positively strutting up and down the line of women all standing together. All of them watched her, some with more desire than other, with Raegan next to Tasha definitely being the worst offender. For her part, Tasha just tried to focus on the words, not the body the words were coming out of. "This is going to be pretty routine, we need to make sure that wall hasn't spread any more. Keep your eyes sharp and be ready for anything. Got it?" Every woman in line nodded silently and Amanda walked over to one of the nearby containers, snapping it open and bending over to pull out what was inside. Tasha rolled her eyes, there was no way the woman didn't know what she was doing, but couldn't help but watch nonetheless.

"This," Amanda said, hefting a rifle that didn't look much different from a normal one, "is a production prototype of the new rifles Olympus is creating to combat the Contagion. For those of you that don't know, my Lady's powers are capable of conferring power onto objects, which are markedly more effective against the Infected. However, the enchantment doesn't take on more complex objects, which includes most modern weapons. Previously, they got around that by using more medieval gear: swords, plate armor, that sort of stuff. This rifle is different. From what I've been told, it uses magnetic levitation and a electromagnetic rail acceleration system to fire enchanted material at the target. I'll confess, I don't really get it, but the bosses said 'it's basically magic, don't worry about it, go test them," so that's what we're going to do.

"For those of us with our Lady's blessing, using these is simple. The rifle will feed off her power within you as its power source, so you won't have to worry about running dry on juice." From the smell around them, Tasha didn't think they were going to be running out of any kind of juice any time soon. "For the rest of you, these things are pretty power hungry, you'll only get three or four shots before you run dry. They recharge quick though, with just a touch for a few seconds, so we're going to be pairing off, six teams of two. Pairs are as follows..." The eleven women were quickly grouped, Yvonne and Raegan getting put together while Tasha was selected to go with Amanda herself. They made an interesting looking pair, the most and least covered soldiers standing side by side.

"You can look, you know? I don't mind. In fact, I'd prefer it if you did," Amanda said quietly to Tasha, who focused on becoming acquainted with the new weapon she had been handed.

"You want to be looked at like a piece of meat?" Tasha asked with flat bluntness.

"...You're probably used to all the rest of my Lady's followers. They get a little power boost in exchange for not having sex. But I'm different. My Lady realized her power works on accumulation of sexual energy, and with me, she figured out how to pull it in from outside the self. So the more you desire me, the more your eyes trace my curves and your hands ache to grab my body, the stronger I become. So look all you want, Tasha, your lust is such a delightful little itch."

"I'll keep that under advisement. But first, we have a mission to run, right?"

"I suppose. All troops, let's move out!" Amanda shouted and the rest of the women stepped into line. "Stay close to your partner and keep your eyes open. I don't want any of you to miss anything." Tasha subtly rolled her eyes at the purring tone Amanda adopted at the end of her order, her meaning unmistakable to everyone in the squad. Not wanting to have anything to do with the suggestive teasing, she started off towards the area they were supposed to patrol. The sooner she got this over with the better.