You got me workin', boss man, workin' 'round the clock

When Echo stepped out of the Garden Suite, she expected to return to the common area in the center of the girls’ suites.

Instead, she found herself standing in a black void.

Echo sucked in air through her teeth and looked around. “Well… this certainly isn’t what I expected,” she said, completely ambivalent to her circumstances.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

The black void fell away, and in its place appeared an office with walls so white and stainless they hurt Echo’s eyes. Sitting at a large desk was the producer- and her benefactor- Mr. S.

Echo squinted. She still couldn’t make out a single feature of his face. She clicked her tongue again, and addressed him nonchalantly, “Hello, boss.”

Mr. S steepled and unsteepled his fingers together. He sucked in a deep breath of air, and let out a tired exhale. Then he began tapping a finger on the desk.

His eyes looked tiredly at her.

“Tell me… do you think I gave you the position of host because I was having fun?” He asked in a voice that sounded even more exasperated than he looked.

Echo smiled impishly at him. She knew she was in danger if the producer had called her all the way to the Home Office, but, well…

She couldn’t bring herself to care.

“I don’t understand what you mean,” she innocently replied.

Mr. S leaned back in his chair and sighed again. “Keep in mind that you were given this position as host because your predecessor, the actual intended host of the season, is indisposed at the moment,” he reminded her. “You are simply me making the best out of a bad situation. Is that understood?”

Echo presented him with the sweetest fake smile she could muster, channeling every ounce of her past as Mary.

“Completely understood. …Sir.”

“Then, since your education on the procedures and expectations of a host are not lacking, this is an act of sheer foolhardiness, is that right?” Mr. S’s tired voice took on a note of danger, and Echo felt a chill go down her spine. “Or… intentional defiance, on your part?”

She calmly regarded him.

“Sir, I promise you… I have endeavored neither to defy your will, or act in foolishness,” she assured him, keeping her voice as cool and sane as she could manage while her gleeful heart twisted under the surface. “I only seek to make this show the best it can be… as any host would want to do! …Probationary or otherwise.”

In spite of her words, Echo had no intention of merely remaining Dakota’s substitute until the lovestruck fool returned to the producer’s good graces. She wasn’t some pawn to be expended for the sake of bringing back the queen.

“…You say that…” Mr. S said, shaking his head slowly as his eyes looked at the redheaded woman in disbelief. “…And yet… after being host for only one day you attempt to prematurely put an end to this season? And you expect me to believe that this is in keeping with my wishes?”

Ah. So that’s what this is about. I should have figured as much.

Echo could admit that maybe she’d been a little brazen with that one.

“There’s no need to worry, sir,” Echo chirped. “It is a calculated risk.”

“…A calculated risk?” The producer echoed back to her. The lack of faith in her answer was overwhelming. “This season is a wedding away from ending.”

Echo shook her head. “Won’t happen,” she assured him. “Trust me. If there’s one thing I know-”

“I don’t trust you,” Mr. S interrupted her. “Or rather, I don’t have any faith in you whatsoever. You utterly failed to maintain the charade. You couldn’t impersonate yourself for one day. You were found out almost immediately. And now you think that because you’ve been given the role of host in a temporary capacity, it means I suddenly believe in you?”

Echo stared blankly at him. His condescending scorn may have shaken someone else, but what did she care?

“If there’s one thing I know,” she repeated herself, “it’s how sweet and caring Nick Reynolds is deep down.”

She was dead already. The only way she could live is through success. That’s what her predecessors had failed to understand.

“If you’ll let me demonstrate…” Echo tapped her cane on the floor to summon up a screen.

But nothing appeared.

She frowned and turned to Mr. S. He looked pointedly at her, as if to say, “That’s right. Not in my house, you don’t.”

Then he waved his hand and her powers were working again. A rather childish show of power over her, but whatever. He was the boss.

Echo summoned a screen and presented the existing VP totals for her boss to look over.

1st: Morgana – 108 VP

2nd: Kim – 107 VP

3rd: Rose – 102 VP

3rd: Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin – 102 VP

5th: Dani – 96 VP

6th: Dawn – 90 VP

7th: Carly – 87 VP

8th: Gina – 84 VP

9th: Vivian – 82 VP

10th: Amelia – 80 VP

11th: Cinder/Ella – 75 VP

12th: Sylvia – 68 VP

“As you can see,” she said, using her cane like a pointer and indicating to the existing VP totals, “Rose is currently tied for third place at 102 Victory Points. What that means is, should she complete her bounty and Nick actually agrees to marry her, she will reach the threshold of 200 Victory Points necessary to end the season once and for all. It could happen in an hour, if we’re being honest. Or even less.”

“Exactly my point,” Mr. S said, frowning. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think another producer has gotten to you, to sabotage this season.”

“Ah, but you see, it won’t come to that,” Echo said, clasping her hands around the head of her cane. “Because, as I’m sure you know, Nick is too kindhearted of a person. He knows the rules quite well, and if not, Dawn will be sure to inform him. Remember, any contestant who does not end the season with 100 VP or more will not only not be bound to him permanently as a harem member, but will also not receive an exit transformation to make their lives easier with the current transformations. They’ll be stuck just as they are… or even worse off.”

She covered her mouth to hide her twisted smirk.

“At this present time, only four of the existing twelve contestants have reached that threshold. Morgana, Kim, Rose herself, of course, and finally, our Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. …But what’s this? Little Dani over here, in 5th place, with only… …Ah! 96 VP! Oh, my, no, that’s not enough…” Echo clicked her tongue with a “tsk, tsk” and shook her head.

Then she turned back to the producer and smiled. “Nick will never agree to marry Rose under these circumstances. Certainly, there might be a mad dash to acquire Victory Points with all the other girls in order to achieve it, potentially. I do expect a bit of a frantic scramble. But that’s what we want, isn’t it? For these girls to start trying to get those VP totals up?”

“…So you’re gambling that his good nature will be enough to keep him from ending the season like this, while still motivating the other girls to try harder to get their point totals up, is that right?” Mr. S considered Echo’s position carefully. It wasn’t merely a reckless show like he’d thought it was, he could see now that there was some actual thought put into this plan. “…But it could still backfire,” he pointed out. “What if Nick decides ultimately that it isn’t worth the risk, and chooses to marry her? No, this is still quite out of line, Echo.”

You foolish old man. You think you know him better than me? He would never leave any of them behind, ever! That’s what makes it so easy to manipulate him! Echo had to keep her temper in check. If she said any of that stuff, she wouldn’t even be blessed with the pit of fire snakes.

“But sir… you’re forgetting something even more important,” Echo said, shaking her head. “Keep in mind… there’s someone who Nick wants so desperately to get back that he’d do almost anything. Someone you know very well… kukuku…”

That was Echo’s trump card.

“If Nick ends the season here and now, then he’ll lose any chance of ever seeing Dakota again. Ever.”

Echo shook her head. “He won’t do that. He won’t abandon her. He knows that she feels like he already abandoned her once. He’ll do whatever he can to prove that his love for her is genuine. If that means not ending the season prematurely, so be it. As long as I have Dakota tucked away in my dungeon, Nick is on my leash.”

Oh, that was certainly a visual. Nick with a chain around his neck, kissing her feet while she sat above him on her throne.

Quite a tantalizing picture.

Echo smiled gleefully.

Sure, at the end of the day, it was still just chance. She had risked everything on this move, in more ways than one, by giving Rose the key to ending this season here and now. But she knew how her old love thought. He would never use that key. Not if it meant endangering his friends. Not if it meant losing Dakota forever.

The only thing that last bounty on the sheet would do was drive Rose further into the arms of despair and desperation.

And that was something Echo very much wanted to see.

Mr. S tapped his finger on the table slowly as he rested his cheek against his hand. “It seems you’ve really thought this out, then,” he mused. “Perhaps I underestimated your ruthlessness, Echo. That’s certainly a twisted scheme, if it works how you intend.”

Echo curtsied and flashed the sweetest, most endearing smile she could face. “Of course, sir! You see, I’m not like those two rejects that came before me. Sylvia was so obsessed with impressing her mother that she made countless foolish mistakes trying to emulate her. And Dakota was so afraid of losing Nick’s love that she ultimately let him take all her power and authority away from her, piece by piece. But… I’m different.”

Her sweet smile swiftly turned poisonous as she narrowed her eyes dangerously, and she started to cackle.

“I don’t have anyone I’m trying to live up to… and I don’t care about Nick’s love. I care about twisting him and everyone he cares about into the most depraved master and haremettes this show has ever seen! And if I have to be a little heavy-handed, well… I’ll manipulate, cajole, and bully whoever it takes to get my way!”

Mr. S tapped his steepled fingers together slowly and considered her proposition. “…Very well, then,” he conceded. “Perhaps it won’t turn out to be a mistake after all, making you the host of this season. I’ll give you some latitude in that case. Do your best. I’ll be watching with great interest.”

He waved his hand and a door appeared behind Echo. The intention was obvious.

“You may go now.”

Echo gave him a cold look, then turned and glanced back at the ominous black door. “…Yes, of course, sir,” she said, restraining her real thoughts.

She turned towards the door and walked out.

No, I’m not that sort of pawn, she vowed with an evil smile. I’m the pawn who sneaks up and puts the king in checkmate!

Echo stepped through the doorway and found herself back in the common room. The door to the Garden Suite closed on her heels. She could hear the faint, incredulous cries of Rose coming from behind it.

She smirked.

“That’s what we want to hear,” she murmured, and headed off to continue with her business.

Echo didn’t need to personally interact with any of the other contestants this morning. But that didn’t mean that nobody else got a bit of hands-on interaction from her.

“What the heck?” Dawn sat up in bed. Her cheeks were red with surprise. She was so stunned from her dream that she didn’t even notice that her body had returned to normal.

As she headed to the bathroom to freshen up for the morning, the scenes from her steamy dream with Nick played through her mind. Thanks to her particularly wordy transformation, it had been quite informative.

She reviewed the text to make sure she was on the right track here. Unfortunately, what she remembered was not exactly inspiring.

• The New Thing All the Kids Are Into: At the beginning of each round, Dawn will have a vision of a specific sexual act. (Blowjob, handjob, etc.) She will feel more strongly compelled to do that act than any other form of sex, and urge other girls to do the same, aspiring to show that she can do it better than they can. Each time Dawn “wins” against another girl in this competition, as determined honestly by Nick, she will receive a small sum of VP as a prize. (Competitive)

Dawn felt her face start to heat up. Not only was the sex act that she’d seen in the dream last night starting to feel like a really exciting idea for her to do, she was starting to feel the urge to compel other girls to join in as well.

Normally, that wouldn’t be an issue. She’d done it last round.

But apparently, Echo was a little more overbearing than Dakota when it came to deciding what sex acts were and were not on the table here.

Her cheeks turned red as she remembered her visionary dream. Nick, lying on his bed. Her, standing over him with a gleeful expression on her face.

And her foot moving up and down his shaft, rubbing against it and pushing it this way and that with her heel until she brought him to completion.

That… getting him off with my feet?! I was practically stepping on him! It didn’t look like it hurt, but… no way that’s a thing! Dawn’s ears were standing up on her head and her tail jolted out from behind her, practically straight.

Can… can I even do something like that!? She demanded of herself. Would Nick even WANT me to do something like that!?

There was only one way to know, and that was to ask him.

But she honestly wasn’t sure what sort of answer she was going to get- or what sort of answer she WANTED to get.

Dawn fretted about, not sure what she should do. But she knew she needed to get ready for the morning quickly. The last thing she wanted was to keep Amelia waiting in case the other woman wanted to freshen up before her morning coffee.

I’ll go make some tea, she told herself, splashing water on her face. That should help calm my nerves, a nice cup of tea to start my morning!

Or maybe get her even more wired.

Dawn was not the only person to receive a dream from Echo that night which disturbed her. No, there was someone else who had a transformation that made them get a dream involving Nick, and she was waking up right now.

“Uweh!?” Morgana sprung up out of her candy-coated bed, her pale face red with embarrassment. Just thinking about that dream from last night made her so… so excited! And yet…

Also, really, really nervous and embarrassed.

Her The High Priestess transformation granted her a dream at the beginning of each round, that was supposed to make Nick happy. That was the assumption, anyway.

But after several rounds of hosts making use of those dreams to suit their own needs, Morgana had started to become suspicious of it.

She squeezed her eyes tight and pictured the dream. No way would Nick actually be happy if she did something like that, right?

“You like that, don’t you?” Her dream self said, a twisted smile on her lips as she brandished a riding crop. The dim lights of the Master’s Suite reflected off the leather corset struggling to contain her plump curves. “You’re so naughty!”

The dream Morgana brought the riding crop down hard.

“Ooohh!” The tied-up figure on the bed moaned. For a moment, Morgana had thought it was Nick who she was seeing there.

Nope. Nick wasn’t on the bed. He was sitting in a chair beside it, watching intently. It was another girl, another member of his harem, who the dream Morgana had tied up and on display, as she struck her sensually with the riding crop, hitting her in just the right places to make it sting, but not do any lasting damage.

And the woman in question seemed to like it.

Who was it though? Morgana couldn’t get a good look at the person that her dream self was actually whipping.

Maybe that was the point. Maybe what would please Nick wasn’t her whipping anybody in particular. Maybe he just wanted to see her wielding the riding crop, being the dominant once for a change, compared to her usual submissive self.

…Or, maybe it was Echo playing with her mind. Getting her to think and do things that Morgana never would under normal circumstances. Trying to fool her into thinking that being a dominatrix would make Nick happy.

Honestly?

Morgana didn’t know him well enough to say.

I-I know he and Gina get up to some kinky stuff, she thought, pacing around the Candy Suite as she struggled to keep those vivid memories of her dream straight. But do they ever do stuff like that? Or is it just Echo trying to make me hurt someone? What about the other girls? Would any of them be interested in something like this? Oh, I don’t even know anymore!

Morgana was too innocent for this sort of thing! Sure, she’d had tons of fantasies about being the dominatrix, this was hardly her first dream where she wore black leather! But the realness of it, the actual weight of possibility of it actually happening, it made her flinch. Suddenly, she wasn’t so sure she could go through with this.

The only problem was, tonight was her night with Nick. So she would have to figure it out pretty fast.