They may be on to something.

Try as I might, I just can't get myself to fully calm down. I keep pacing around the room as Helen continues working silently. The wait is killing me. I can't help but wonder what exactly she may have realized. After what feels like the longest few minutes of my life, she finally looks back at me.

"Okay, I'm not 100% sure, but I think I may have an idea of what happened to Violet," she says.

"Seriously?! You're amazing, Helen! What do you know?" I ask.

"Well, I wouldn't say I know anything. I just have a theory that I believe could tie together all the information we have so far," Helen clarifies. "Like I said earlier, if Violet really was less aroused than usual before she disappeared, that implies that she was put into some kind of position that she found incredibly uncomfortable."

"Which is pretty hard to do, given Violet's OMNI-KINK attribute," I add.

"Exactly. And according to Bianca, the next morning, she left the apartment seeming of her own volition, but didn't tell anyone where she was going or for how long. You've made it pretty clear that that's also highly unusual for her."

"Absolutely. Violet and I talk all the time. I feel like she would tell me if she was going on such a long trip," I respond.

"So that makes two odd behaviors. Now, what if we assume those two facts are related in some way?" Helen poses.

"You mean like... somehow Violet was **** to go somewhere she didn't want to without being able to tell anyone?" I'm really trying my best to follow along here.

"But that would bring up the question of how. How could someone get Violet to do that? I find it hard to believe that Violet would feel threatened enough to not tell me, you, or Bianca what was going on, especially if she was able to get away from said threat and go back home. That's when I decided to go back through my notes. And when I did, I realized that there just so happens to be a certain someone the Random Remote was used on that would have the exact ability necessary to influence Violet," Helen claims with confidence.

I quickly try to run through all the women I've used the remote on in my head. Obviously it's not the masochist slut or Bianca. No one in my family. Daisy doesn't make sense. Katia? No. Louisa? I... don't think so. Maria? Uh... maybe? God, this is starting to hurt my head. There are too many women to keep track of. Why the hell did I use the remote on so many people? Seeing my struggle, Helen thankfully decides to end my suffering.

"I'm talking about Skye Cunningham. Her attribute makes other people feel the need to obey her commands. If she ordered Violet to go somewhere without telling anyone, Violet may not have been able to resist, even if she didn't want to," Helen explains.

That's right! Skye's identity is "Dominatrix." I can't believe I didn't think of that. Well... maybe it's not the most unreasonable thing. I really haven't spent that much time around her. In fact, I don't think I've seen her once since she got her initial attribute.

"So there we go! Skye kidnapped Violet! Now all we have to do is go to her place and stop her!" I say.

I can start to feel myself getting heated. Now that I know who's to blame for this, all of that fear I was experiencing is turning to anger. If Skye thinks she can mess with my girlfriend, she's in for a rude awakening. Unfortunately, my assistant doesn't seem so eager.

"Not so fast, Sir. I told you, this is just a theory. We don't have any actual evidence. We don't even know why she would want to take Violet," Helen points out. "Besides, I don't know where Skye is living right now. If I kept digging through the mess that is the school's files, I might be able to dig up an address, but it would probably be her parent's address. We have no way of knowing if she even still lives there."

I... I guess she has a point. It's kind of hard to be sure about anything given how little we know. But I still feel like we're on to something. I can't let Skye get away if she really is the cause of this.

"Surely there's something we can do. She still has to go to class. Maybe we can follow her or something," I suggest.

"And what if she catches us and uses her attribute? I'd like to think we could resist, but realistically, we have no way of knowing if that's actually true or not. We definitely can't risk that happening to you, and the thought of her turning me against you is... well, I don't even want to think about it. And even if we could follow her without her noticing, what would we even do to her?"

Hmm... now that I think about it, I'm not sure. Normally, my gut reaction when I'm in a bind is to use the remote, but that won't work in this case. I'm reminded of all the times I used the remote on Rose, hoping each time that it would help me gain more control over her, but it never did. Each attribute only pushed her further and further into the Wild Card she is now. If I did the same to Skye, she'd presumably become more of a dominatrix. I can't let that happen. Alright, executive decision: no more using the remote on Skye until this Violet business is sorted out. Maybe no more using it on her, period.

"So... what do you suggest we do, Helen?" I ask her.

"Honestly, I think I need to do some more research. See what else I can find out about Skye. Try to get evidence to confirm my theory. Maybe even find out where she lives and if she's keeping Violet there. I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I think we need more time. We have no idea how much she knows. It's dangerous to try to rush in without a plan," Helen tells me, though even she doesn't look happy about what she's saying.

She's right. That's not what I want to hear. I want Violet back now. But... I guess there's not really a way to make that happen. Whether Skye has her or not, we just don't have enough information. Although, just to be clear, I feel pretty confident in Helen's theory at this point. But just like how I trust Helen to be right about Skye, I also have to trust her when she says that we need to wait before making our next move, even if I really want to do something now.

Luckily, I know that Violet is tough. If anyone can be stuck somewhere for days and keep fighting all the same, it's her. I'm sure she's doing whatever she can on her end to help us, so I need to make sure I'm doing the same for her.

"Alright, fine. You keep working on this. Make it your top priority," I instruct.

"Of course. Nothing else is more important to me," Helen assures me.

"So, what should I be doing?"

"Keep working on the other women you've used the remote on."

"Wait, what? I'm worried about the safety of my girlfriend, and your advice is to ignore all of that and keep getting my dick wet in other pussy?" I ask, almost insulted.

"I would have put it a bit more eloquently than that, but yes. None of this changes the fact that our end goal is finishing the harem. If I'm focused on this, then I won't have time to keep meeting with your other girls to prepare them. Don't forget, I still have to keep up with my duties as the Dean of Students as you requested. Unless you'd rather I ignore that from now on," Helen says.

"No, no! The last thing we need is people getting suspicious of you."

"That's what I thought. That's why I think the best course of action is for you to finish everyone's transformation and try to get them onboard the harem, while I fully focus on getting Violet back. Of course, you're the boss, so I'll do whatever you tell me to do, but those are my suggestions."

I hate this. I hate the idea of having fun with other women while Violet is stuck who knows where. But when Helen lays it all out like that, it does make more sense than anything else. And knowing me, if I tried to sort out this Skye and Violet stuff myself, I would only mess it up anyway. Not to mention that the fact that I'm the one with the Random Remote kind of makes it my responsibility to work on the transformations by default. Once again, Helen's idea beats my own. And I did just say that I should trust her on this...

"Okay. I'll try my best to leave Violet to you and focus on the other women. But the second you get any information, you tell me right away, got it?" I tell her with a serious look.

"I'd never dream of keeping things from you, Sir," Helen responds with a soft smile.

"I guess I should leave you to it, then," I say as I start making my way to the door.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Helen asks, causing me to turn back around.

"Uh... I don't think so? Did you want a goodbye kiss or something?"

"First of all, Sir, as a general rule, I always want a kiss. But that's not what I was referring to. Didn't you just decide to work on completing the transformations of all your women? Well, I believe one of those women is sitting right in front of you and you haven't even bother to check her for a new attribute."

Somehow, Helen's teasing does make me feel a little better. Maybe her social skills are improving.

"Oh yeah? And how do you know I didn't check before I came in here?" I ask.

"Call it my intuition," she smirks.

Alright, I'll admit it. That one got me. And she does make a good point. If I'm going to work on attributes, I might as well try to finish hers up too. But first, I walk around her desk and give her that kiss. She seems to appreciate the gesture, leaning into my hand as I gently caress her face. The kiss is short and relatively tame, but I can tell it meant a lot to her. Afterwards, I pull out the remote and lock on.

- SELECTED TARGET: HELEN SANDERS -

New Attribute Available. Press red button to claim.

Well, shoot. Looks like Helen's right again. How many times does that make it today? Too many to count, I'm sure. I look over at her to see a smug look on her face, as if she already knows what it says without even looking. Maybe there's something to her intuition...