Lockhart and many excuses to slap ass (ENF Nightmare)

The final captive was a stranger with no form of identification whatsoever. The woman, dressed in brown explorer gear like she was preparing for a safari, wore big, rounded glasses over her perpetually shut eyes. She'd been found sleeping in the hollow raiders camp and hadn't woken up since. Paramedics at the scene of the arrest had reported she was perfectly healthy, but completely impossible to wake up. For safety's sake, Zhu Yuan had put her in cuffs, but there seemed to be no real way for this one to cause any harm in the first place unless she suddenly bolted awake.

"Uuuuuuuh," Nicole muttered, not suspiciously withholding an answer, but more visibly and audibly confused. "Was there somebody like that in the hideout?" She tried to remember. Actually, were there female hollow raiders in general? It felt like if so, they weren't programmed into the VR training program at the HIA. "I mean, I guess my focus was pretty much on the raiders, but I feel like I would have noticed her there, given how she's snoring so loudly."

Zhu Yuan raised an eyebrow. With the case of Nicole's intentions solved, this mysterious stranger was the one puzzle piece that didn't really fit. The hollow raiders didn't seem to know her either. Was she just there by coincidence when Nicole's scam went down? Idly, Zhu Yuan began to flip through her notebook, looking for something she'd written that would help explain the oddity.

Instead, she was met with another oddity: the notes she'd written so far were a bunch of gibberish. It had made sense when she was writing, she was sure of that, but now, it all seemed to be a jumble of random words. It wasn't just that the words weren't directly relevant to the situation-- the nonsense they formed barely qualified as sentences in the first place. "What the...?" she asked herself, continuing to flip through the booklet with an agitated expression.

"Denny for your thoughts, officer?" Nicole asked, then gave a little growl. "Actually, I'll give you two dennies if you'll hurry up and get these handcuffs off of me!"

The officer's cheeks turned slightly pink as she stuffed the notebook back inside of her jacket pocket. It was embarrassing to imagine being asked to show those scribbles to anyone; she had a feeling Nicole would tease her about them for sure. Zhu Yuan had been wearing such a serious face this whole time, but those meticulous notes she'd been jotting down would make it look like she hadn't been paying any attention at all. "Did you notice anything strange just now, Nicole?"

"Hey, don't answer a question with another question!" Nicole pouted. "Strange like how?"

"Like... is it possible someone replaced my notes just now?"

"What, you think Mockingbird took off with your notebook?" Nicole scoffed, then gave a sympathetic smile. "Wise does say you work too hard, heh heh. Hey, why don't you go ahead and let me free, then we can both go catch up on our beauty sleep?" Nicole wiggled around so that her back was facing Zhu Yuan, then pleadingly raised her hands as much as she could behind her back to indicate that she was more than ready to be released now.

Zhu Yuan felt a disturbing feeling... something was "off." She couldn't put her finger on what, but the strangeness with her notebook just now defined explanation, as did the unusual, sleeping woman, who was dressed a bit like an Explorerboo for no discernible reason. "Yeah... Hey, do you still have your weapon with you?" Zhu Yuan questioned as she felt around for her keys. She noticed with some alarm that her own PUBSEC revolver was missing from the spot where it would ordinarily be holstered.

"Uh, what do you think? It's like a briefcase. You'd see it right now if I did," Nicole laughed. "Why, need me to play support for old time's sake?"

"Right, right. Er..." Zhu Yuan mumbled, continuing to feel around her pockets for the keys. Her eyes went wide as she finally concluded that her key-ring had gone the way of her gun.

The Cunning Hare was cunning enough to realize something was wrong. "Hey, you didn't misplace the keys, did you?"

"What? No!" Zhu Yuan protested. She'd never misplaced her handcuff keys in her life. Something that embarrassing would only happen in a nightmare.

"That's code for yes!" Nicole correctly identified, now spinning around to face front again with an accusing glare in her eyes. "This isn't funny! G-Give me a hairpin or something, I'll unlock the cuffs myself!"

"While you're still wearing them?"

"Duh! I mean, I'm not a criminal, but I am street-wise," Nicole boasted, puffing out her chest a little bit and causing a jiggle of her eye-catching cleavage.

"Excuse me, can someone provide me a backup key?" Zhu Yuan questioned, ignoring Nicole's request and moving to her fellow officers on duty instead. The crowd assembled was so noisy, she was having a hard time getting their attention. "Excuse me!" She flexed her fingers as she felt a ring drop down over her fingers. "Oh, thank you-"

Then, her eyes widened as the ring continued further, down onto her wrist, before locking in place. Someone unseen had handcuffed her to the low, metal fence surrounding the scene of the arrest where she'd come out of the hollows. "Hey!" she complained, putting one foot up against the metallic barrier and pushing backwards. It was no good. The cuffs were every bit as sturdy as her standard issue. "Is this a joke?!" She placed one hand down next to her foot, then began to try to wrench free her wrist from the band of the cuffs.

Adding insult to injury, another handcuff slapped down on her other wrist, then connected its opposite loop around her ankle. Zhu Yuan gasped in indignation, realizing that she now had both arms bound, one to the barricade and one to her own leg. With the short chain of the cuffs, her only option to avoid falling over was to keep one leg lifted up atop the barrier; trying to get to a kneeling position might make it difficult to stand back up. "Officers, on me!" she cried out, not wanting to throw away her dignity, but recognizing the severity of the situation.

The other officers, amazingly, continued to address the crowd with their backs turned. The audience, on the other hand, seemed fully aware of what was happening and had moved from rubbernecking to now actively pointing and laughing at her predicament.

Zhu Yuan frantically scanned over those assembled for any sign of a normal reaction anywhere. The closest she could find was Nicole's. "What's happening?! Did you get a look at who cuffed me just now?!" she called out loudly over the increasingly raucous crowd while looking over her shoulder.

"Uh... It looked to me like you handcuffed yourself," Nicole replied with a blank expression.

"W-What?! How would I even do that? Cuffing one hand, sure, but how would I bind the other hand to my ankle while the first hand was already bound?!"

"H-Hey, don't yell at me! I couldn't get a good look at it, all I can see is your butt from this angle," Nicole protested. "Kind of blocks my view of everything!"

While Zhu Yuan, red-faced, tried to think up a meaningful retort, she spotted in the crowd an approaching squad of PUBSEC officers in riot gear. "Thank goodness," she muttered, happy for the back-up, or at least for a group of coworkers who were facing the right direction to see her predicament and free her from it. "Over here, please! I-!"

Before she could speak any further, she felt her face fall into a disbelieving, stupefied frown. As the soldiers approached, they parted slightly, revealing the broad-shouldered figure of Bringer, the blonde-headed, disgraced former leader of her division who'd been vanquished during the first Sacrifice incident. He shouldn't even be alive, let alone employees in PUBSEC any longer. He was wearing the tight frown that used to be on billboards all across the city during his campaign for promotion.

"Hm. Bang-up job, officer!" he greeted her, offering her a slight smirk. "Thank you for keeping the streets safe and the people entertained, as always."

Zhu Yuan wasn't sure what to say or even how to address him. Was she supposed to call him sir? Which part was the nightmare-- the part where her former idol had turned into a giant, sword-wielding maniac and attacked the city, or the part where he was still leading the police **** and watching her make a fool of herself?

Bringer walked on past her, notably not stopping to release her cuffs. Instead, he walked to Nicole, tilting his chin up as though he was looking down at some distasteful garbage left in the street. "Looks like you've made a big catch, Officer Zhu Yuan. Gunning for a promotion yourself, eh?"

Nicole, for her part, was just as confused. "Uh... aren't you dead?" she asked, still wide-eyed.

Instead of acknowledging her, Bringer simply grabbed hold of her upper arm and dragged her up to her feet. "Oh yes, we've been wanting to get our hands on her for a long time, heh heh. Nicole Demara of the Cunning Hares..." He walked around her, inspecting her from each angle. "A criminal if I've ever seen one. Fine work."

"She's not a criminal, er... sir," Zhu Yuan protested.

"She's in handcuffs, isn't she?"

"Yes, but that's only because-"

"But then again, so are you! Ha ha ha ha!" Bringer guffawed, the audience laughing along with him. "Don't worry. Recognizing you've still got work to do, we'll help you out of those in just a moment. But not before we recognize your valorous service!"

Zhu Yuan had no idea what to expect as the line of geared-up officers that Bringer had arrived with began to line up behind her. Bringer had made it sound like she was going to be presented with some sort of award... which would be pretty strange for arresting a few hollow raiders, even if she hadn't accidentally handcuffed herself to a barricade in the process. To her surprise, the real answer was even less appropriate-- she felt the heavy, gloved mitt of one of the officers swing down and smack her across the shiny black seat of her pants, causing the holster hooked above at the small of her back to bounce along with her buttocks.

"Excuse me?!" she cried, trying to crane her neck and see who was responsible. "You don't need to obey Bringer! He isn't part of Pubsec any more!"

The officer ignored her warning and instead snapped her a salute. "Great work today!" He then dispersed, allowing the next one to step forward and repeat the act.

This one delivered an even less appropriate touch, allowing his hand to linger on her ass-cheek. There was a creaking of leather as he played around with her buttocks. "A-plus, officer!" he commended her, though it wasn't clear if that was in regards to her work or her rear end.

"Stop! What do you think you're doing?!" she complained, wiggling and trying to turn so that she could put her butt down against the barricade. It wasn't really possible, given how she'd been handcuffed facing the opposite direction. "This is sexual harassment!"

"Ha ha ha ha! That's your problem: too much rigidness in your work. You know how baseball teams give each other a friendly pat on the bum after a game well played, right? This is just like that!" Bringer chortled, slapping one hand through the air at nothing. "You could really stand to be more of a team player, Missie."

Another officer's hand thwacked down against Zhu Yuan's large, firm bottom. This one didn't seem to be gloved, allowing the owner to dig in more with their fingers and feel her up as they spanked her. The next one followed suit and a new trend was set. "This is absurd!" she complained, speaking through clenched teeth as the officers she'd arrived with kept their backs to her like they couldn't hear a thing.

Nicole finally spoke up as well. "What is this, some kind of crazy police hazing thing?"

"Don't think we've forgotten about you, ha ha ha... What you're complaining about is just a little friendly ribbing from fellow officers. You and this other one, well... you're actual criminals, aren't you? I plan to be tough on crime."

"I-I'm not!" Nicole complained. "I scammed the hollow raiders to help you jerks out!"

"Well, then perhaps it is thanks to you that Zhu Yuan's succeeded to the level she has!" Bringer nodded, then clapped his big hands together. "On that note, it's time to present the medal. Ahem... Officer Zhu Yuan, it is my honor to present to you the highest award in our office." He retrieved an over-sized medallion from inside his jacket pocket, then approached. He then tied the ribbon of the medallion around her waist, allowing the medal itself to rest across the broad surface of her backside. "The Best in Ass... Ahem. Best in Class."

"Isn't Best in Class like a dog show thing?"

"Is it?" Bringer questioned as another officer smacked Zhu Yuan on the bottom, causing her to jump a little and making the medal ring as it collided metal-on-metal with her empty gun holster. "Oh well! As for you-"

"Oh, let me guess! You're going to spank me?" Nicole questioned, realizing that's where everything seemed to go in this scenario.

"No, I think that the punishment ought to fit the crime."

"Oh joy!"

"So considering you scammed these two gentlemen, they're going to spank you!" Bringer laughed, stepping aside with a grin on his face as the two hollow raiders appeared, sans handcuffs.

Nicole wanted to question the ridiculousness of the only two actual criminals no longer being in cuffs, but it seemed pretty secondary to the fact that they were being allowed to pants her. The large one lifted her up while the small one wiggled her tight shorts down to her knees, revealing somewhat immodest, low-riding black panties with a little pink bow on the front center above her groin. "W-Wait just a minute! At least let me charge a cover fee if everybody's getting a show!" she complained, joking to hide her alarm.

Before she knew what was happening, Nicole had been set up next to Zhu Yuan but in the opposite orientation, bent over one of the barricades with her bottom towards the crowd and her wrists still cuffed together. Both raiders were laying into her backside with their palms, reddening up the peachy flesh of her bottom. The fact that one of them was so much bigger and stronger actually made it worse, as their timing and the **** of their slaps was completely off, making one cheek significantly redder than the other. "Yipe! Ugh! C-Can't you two at least get your timing right?! There are rhythm games all over the place, you can practice with those and leave me out of it!"

Of course, what hurt worst of all... "Hey, if I'm going to get debased like this, I should absolutely be making money off of it!!" Nicole whined, kicking her legs in protest as she attempted to free herself from her punishment.

While she was thrashing, Bringer approached, then hung a cardboard sign around her narrow waist, letting it hang in roughly the same spot that Zhu Yuan's medal did. She couldn't read it, but Zhu Yuan could... it said "Neighborhood Spanking Program-- Keep New Eridu Safe!", apparently implying that everyone was free to keep spanking Nicole for the good of New Eridu as long as they wanted. If one squinted really hard, one could even read about a special merit program, rewarding those who demonstrated excellence in spanking criminals.

"Now, for the sleepy one..." Bringer grumbled, turning slowly, but frowning as he realized that the woman in Safari gear had disappeared. "Hm? Did someone already get her set up? Two of you, on me." He crossed his hands behind his back as he began to scope out the perimeter, flanked by two of his riot gear officers.

This seemed like the best opportunity for communication the two girls were going to get. "Nicole, can you- erk! Can you do anything?" Zhu Yuan asked through clenched teeth as another officer gave her the old thank and spank. They were getting adventurous now, cupping their hands to feel a bit of her undercarriage in addition to hitting the cheeks.

"Like what?! Do you want me to kick the raiders to ****?" she questioned, experimentally shooting her sneaker into the chest of the little one. It didn't have much effect and just resulted in him wrapping her leg with his arm before bringing down another thwack against her panties. "Ugh! They're so handsy! I wish I was an attack agent instead of a support agent right about now. Not that it's helping you much. How about you, new girl?" Nicole hadn't even realized the third girl was with them until she said that and was as surprised as Zhu Yuan was to hear it.

The third of them yawned. The woman had apparently been awoken from her slumber, to some extent, and was smacking her lips drowsily as several members of the audience spanked her big bottom. Like the other two, she was bent over a barricade, but it didn't seem she was handcuffed at all.

"Wait! You're totally free, aren't you?! You've got to get us out of here!" Nicole begged. "I'll pay, I'll pay! Oh wait, shoot, my wallet was in my shorts..." One of the hollow raiders had finished pulling those off her legs a moment ago.

"How did you get out of the handcuffs?" Zhu Yuan questioned desperately, trying to keep her voice even as one of the supposedly thankful officers put his face up between her butt-cheeks and motor-boated them, jingling her medallion with his forehead.

"They're pretty loose... you can just... huaaaaaaaaaaah~" Lockhart yawned as though the spanking wasn't bothering her at all. "My name's Lockhart, by the way..."

"Just what?!" the other two girls shouted simultaneously, before each receiving another passionate thwack on the backside.

"Just slip your wrists out... Let your hands go loosey goosey..."

It didn't make any sense. Each of them had tried every sort of leverage and torque to try and free their wrists from the handcuffs tying them to the barricade to no avail, but somehow, the strategy of just relaxing their hands and pulling back on their wrists worked perfectly, freeing each of their limbs. Even Zhu Yuan's foot came free easily enough with that methodology.

The moment Zhu Yuan was free, she performed a quick spin kick to knock out the officer behind her mid-thanks, sending him backward into the others and toppling them like dominoes. She then gave a similar treatment to the hollow raiders holding Nicole in place, knocking them out cold. She wished she'd been a little rougher with them from the outset... and that she hadn't ever handcuffed Nicole. In a burst of speed, she wrapped her arm around Nicole's waist to hoist her into running position, then did the same with Lockhart.

"Wait, are we just leaving my pants?!" Nicole shouted, red-faced as she ran across the street in her panties. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that no cars were coming, almost like the whole street had been cleared for a parade. Not only that, there was something odd about the electric crossing signs... they seemed to depict the curvy shapes of women, standing upright at first, then flashing to an alternate pose where they bent at the waist to stick out their rears.

"Yes, we're leaving them! I'll be happy to reimburse you for whatever was in your wallet!" Zhu Yuan answered simply, now gunning it for the police station. Nothing that was happening made any sense, but if she could meet up with the rest of her squad, she could at least finally have a few allies she trusted to protect her while she was unarmed.

"Oh? C-Cause I had a lot of money in there! Like one million Dennies I withdrew from the bank this morning!" Nicole answered, pushing her luck.

"Nicole, I know enough about your spending habits to know that isn't true."

"Oh come on! You can believe Bringer came back to life and your officers gave you an Ass Medal, but you can't believe I have a million Dennies?!"

"Ha ha ha... You two are going to make this a fun dream," Lockhart giggled, bouncing along after the two of them, seeming unburdened by worries, as much as she was unburdened by the ass-ranking medallion or spank-me sign still adorning her allies.