The Planning Phase

"Alright, Abigail, what do we do first?" Chelsea asks to the busty brunette standing beside.

"Huh? Why are you asking me?" Abigail asks back with a bit of surprise.

"You're the one who seems to know what she's doing. I mean, you were the one who suggested an investigation in the first place," Chelsea explains.

"That's not... I mean, I didn't-"

"I agree with Chelsea," Lalita interrupts. "You seem like the most capable person here when it comes to leading an investigation, so tell us where you think we should begin."

Abigail instantly starts to feel the pressure rise as everyone stares at her, waiting to hear what she's going to say. Sure, she enjoys doing puzzles in her free time, and therapy does require a decent amount of critical thinking, but it's not like she's a detective or anything. She doesn't know the first thing about solving a crime. Still, a part of her sees everyone looking at her and feels the need to step up. So despite her reservations about being thrust in this position, she decides to try her best to help.

"Alright, fine. I guess the first thing would be to search for any clues we can find," Abigail notes.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Chelsea quickly agrees. "See? I knew you were the right one for the job!"

"We should probably spread out a bit though. I don't know about everyone else, but I feel a bit cramped with all of us in this small bedroom," Isa points out.

"Good point, Isa. We probably shouldn't all be searching the same place anyway. We can cover much more ground if we split up a bit. Maybe we could search around the house in pairs?" Abigail suggests.

"I would advise against travelling in pairs," S.A.M. suddenly speaks up. The robot then turns and looks at Lalita "You are confident that no one has been on the premises except for the 12 of us, correct?"

"This house has a state of the art security system. If anyone came anywhere close to the house, I would know immediately. I'm feel pretty good saying that we're the only people here," Lalita confirms.

"I detect no deceit in Lalita's statement. As a reminder, that means that someone in this room is the culprit. If said culprit is left alone with one other person, they may attempt to mesmerize them just as they did with Noelle," S.A.M. explains.

"You really think the person responsible is dumb enough to try this again?" Mona asks.

"The criminal's goal is unclear. It would be in all of our best interests to proceed as cautiously as possible. As such, I believe that working in groups of three or more is preferable to being in pairs."

Abigail considers S.A.M.'s proposal and realizes that she makes a good point. While there are a few people here that can manipulate multiple people at once, it would be significantly more difficult. Besides, all of this happened to Noelle when she went off by herself, so keeping people together is the best way to prevent this from happening to anyone else.

"Okay, groups it is. Lalita? Do you think that you could double check your security system? I want to make absolutely sure no one else came into the house without us knowing," Abigail instructs.

"I can do that. And I'll take Cassidy with me..." Lalita says, looking hungrily at the young inventor.

"Oh, hell no! I'm not hanging out with the spoiled princess again. In fact, I don't want to deal with any of you. I'm going to solve this thing by myself so I can get out of here. The rest of you will just slow me down," Cassidy argues, quickly walking out of the room before anyone can argue.

"S.A.M.? Chelsea? Can the two of you keep an eye on her? Make sure she doesn't cause any trouble?" Abigail asks.

"You got it! And we can look for clues while we're at it too!" Chelsea replies with a smile.

"Understood," is all S.A.M. says before leaving to catch up with Cassidy. Chelsea quickly follows behind.

"I'll go with them too," Isa adds. "Maybe I can get Cassidy to relax a little..."

"Uh... perhaps we should avoid using our abilities on each other during the investigation," Abigail proposes. "I know it's all been in good fun up to this point, but given what's happened so far, it might be for the best if we didn't mess with each other's minds anymore. And besides, we all need to stay focused if we're going to figure this out."

Everyone just stares at Abigail without saying a word. After a moment, Isa looks around before mumbling, "Yeah... um... I'm gonna go..." The masseuse than quietly slips out of the bedroom. A slight nervousness hits Abigail as she realizes how easily this investigation could go off the rails, given who she's dealing with. And the worst part is that she knows she's just as bad as the rest of them...

"Anyway..." Abigail utters, unsure of the best way to get back on track. "I'd like to look around the scene of the crime a bit more. Surely there's has to be some kind of information around here."

Abigail glances around the room momentarily, doing her best to avoid staring at the petite woman masturbating on the bed as she does so. Aside from Noelle herself, there isn't anything obviously out of place, but she has a feeling she can find something if she looks around with a more thorough eye.

"Ooh. May I stay here with you?" Pearl asks in a relaxed tone. "I find Noelle's condition most intriguing and would be interested in studying it further."

"I'm fine with that. Maybe you could even use your psychic abilities to find out what's going on in her head right now. Who else is going to stay? Mona?" Abigail looks at the tall redhead.

"Fine by me. As long as I don't have to work with the airhead or Little Miss Selfie, I'm good with whatever," Mona responds, giving a side eye to Blondie and Sabrina.

"Then it's settled," Lalita says. "You three stay up here while everyone else can join me downstairs. After we check the security, we can look around down there to see what we can find."

Abigail nods, and after a bit more discussion, Lalita heads out of the room, followed shortly by Sabrina, Blondie, and Danielle. With everyone now split up, the investigation officially begins. No one knows who to trust, and a thick tension remains in the air as they all separate. Will they be able to figure out what happened to Noelle? And will they be able to stop themselves from mind controlling each other for long enough to get any actually work done? Only time will tell...

Although, I think most of us already know the answer to that last question...