The Time for Action

"You know this plan is insane, right?" I ask.

"I don't think we have the luxury of making sane plans at this point," Michelle remarks.

I pause for a moment, considering my ****'s words. I suppose she has a point. They say that **** times call for **** measures. I'm not sure how most people feel, but I think a crazed woman with a world altering remote is about as **** of times as you can get.

"You're right. We don't have another choice. Let's do it," I say, which Michelle promptly nods to.

I actually surprised myself a bit. When Michelle first asked me to tell her as many attributes as I could remember, I thought there was no way I'd be able to name any of them. However, I actually managed to do pretty well. Obviously, I had to paraphrase a lot of stuff, and there were almost definitely some things I got wrong, but overall, it seemed like my memory was more than a good enough starting point for Michelle. It was like once I started thinking about a particular girl, a bunch of information just started surfacing from my subconscious. I guess spending so much time getting to know each girl actually helped me learn what makes them unique. Who would've thought?

Anyway, after going through everyone, Michelle proposed that we attempt to recruit every girl that doesn't have an attribute that the user of the remote can directly influence. Or at least as many as we can get ahold of. There were a few problems with that idea, however. Namely, Skye's COMMANDING AURA makes it really easy for her to control people, so there's no guarantee anyone we bring won't turn against us. Still, Michelle helpful pointed out that that would be true even if it was just us, so having the extra backup could still be worth it, especially if we could catch Skye off guard with our numbers.

"I just realized something else," I say as a new problem occurs to me.

"What's that?" Michelle asks.

"Remember when you got that phone call from Julia earlier? It's probably safe to assume that Skye is trying to reach everyone so she can get them under her control. Helen has the contact information of everyone in the harem and has met with almost all of them at least once. I'm worried that if Skye tells Helen to start making calls, everyone will trust her and they'll end up on Skye's side," I explain.

"Like I said: it's not a sane plan. There are tons of 'what if' scenarios that could screw us over if they actually happened. But I can't come up with any better alternatives. We need to make some kind of move if we want have any hope of winning. We'll just have to pray that the odds are in our favor. Who knows? Maybe spending all that time with the Random Remote gave you some good luck," she suggests.

"I hope so, Michelle. I sure hope so..."

It's already started to get dark, so Michelle and I agree to try and get some rest so we can begin our search first thing in the morning. We also decide to not make or answer any phone calls, just to be safe. Are we being paranoid? Maybe. But I feel like when it comes to dealing with Skye, it's not unreasonable to be a little paranoid.

The entire evening, Michelle and I are practically glued to the hip. Neither of us want to leave the other one. It's not that we're scared something is going to happen (though that possibility doesn't help), we mainly just like the small amount of comfort we get from being together. It's funny. Growing up, Michelle and I would never willingly spend so much time together, but now, you couldn't separate us if you tried.

The two of us make dinner and eat, then head to bed. I even let Michelle sleep in my bed with me, which she seems more than willing to do. Honestly, with how long Rose and I have been sleeping together, I'm not sure I'd be able to fall asleep by myself anymore. Something about having another warm body beside me is just comforting. So we snuggle up and do our best to relax so we can have energy for tomorrow. It's not the easiest thing to do, but eventually, I do manage to close my eyes and drift off.

When Saturday morning comes, I can't help but be a bit jittery. When I wake up, Michelle is already dressed and ready to go. She also went ahead and made breakfast. Nothing fancy, just a quick bite so we can be on our A game. I join her downstairs as fast as I can and before long, we're ready to go. Well... as "ready" as you can be for a day like today. Like I said, I'm incredibly nervous. Right before we head out the door, Michelle stops and turns to me.

"Hey, do you still have that lists of addresses Helen gave you yesterday?" She asks.

"Uh, I think so." I feel around for a moment before pulling it out of my pocket and showing it to her. "Why do you ask?"

"Can I see it for a second?" Not seeing any reason to say no, I nod and hand her the paper. She looks over it for a moment before pulling out her phone and snapping a picture. She then hands it back to me. "I suggest you do the same. You never know. It could come in handy."

I don't really understand what she means, but I suppose it can't hurt to have a backup. I take a photo of the paper with my own phone before putting both away.

"You know, I've been meaning to ask..." Michelle continues, "why do you think Helen gave you that paper? Isn't she Skye's assistant now? You don't think it's some kind of trap, do you?"

I think about it for a moment.

"Surprisingly, I don't. In the note, she wrote 'I'm sorry and good luck.' Helen normally isn't that... personal. If she had done it for Skye, I think it would have been much more professionally worded. So I think she genuinely wanted me to have it. As for why, I'm not exactly sure," I answer.

As much as I'd love to try to figure out what was going on in Helen's mind yesterday, I know that we have work to do. Michelle and I leave and begin making our way to the bus stop. As we do, I turn back and look at the house. I guess the next time I'm back here, it will presumably all be over. If I ever come back, that is... On second thought, maybe I should focus on something else.

While on the bus, I talk with my sister a little more about what our exact plan is. Basically, we're going to spend the early parts of the day trying to recruit as many women as possible. Then, whatever we end up with at the end of the day is what we confront Skye with. The sheer looseness of this idea is enough to make me anxious, but as we've already been over, an insane plan is all we can come up with at this point. Michelle assures me that she has a few different attack strategies in mind depending on who we end up with, as well as some potential counters to certain attributes that Skye might try to use against us. Just like everything else, a lot of it is pretty hypothetical, but I do appreciate how much thought she's put into this.

Once we step on campus, we come to our next major challenge: actually finding people. Despite spending a lot of time with a lot of these women, I don't actually know where a lot of them live. And of the ones I do know, they aren't even all in this part of town. But searching at school gives us the best chance of finding the most people, so it only made sense to start here.

And so the hunt begins. The first place we check is the teacher offices. It's not the most likely place to find anyone, but they're closer to the bus stop than a lot of other options, and you never know who will be there on any given day. Unsurprisingly, we don't have much luck. There are pretty much no students there and none of my professors are in their offices today, not even my male professors (not that I think it would be a good idea to involve them).

Next, we head through some of the busier parts of campus that many students tend to hang out at. We check the library, multiple dining halls, the gym, art studios, theaters, some of the busier green spaces, the list goes on and on. But all of them ended without success. The gym was an especially rough search to have nothing turn up at, for what I'm sure are obvious reasons. Hell, I even kept an eye out for Book Girl, since she doesn't even have any attributes, but that doesn't lead to anything either.

It's at this point that we're starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel in terms of places to look. The only person I can think of who lives near here and doesn't have any attributes related to the remote's user is Katia. And listen, Katia's a sweetheart, but I wouldn't exactly pick her if I was going into battle. Not that it matter, since when we get to the dorm building she lives in, we don't find any sign of her being there anyway.

Things are not looking good. We've spent hours looking for people at this point, yet we have nothing to show for it. Sure, there's a few other places we can go off campus like Louisa and Phoebe's apartment, but all of those options are a decent ways away and would take a long time to get to and search. Not to mention that we're not even guaranteed to find anything there. As much as I hate to say it, it's starting to look like Michelle and I really are on our own. I can't say I like how those odds sound...

"Hmmm..." Michelle hums as she tries to think of any other ideas. "What about Skye's sister? You know where she lives, don't you?"

"Christina? You're joking, right? How would she be able to help us?" I ask.

"I don't know. From the way you described it, it sound like they don't get along. Maybe she hates Skye enough to be willing to help us. Surely it's at least worth a try..."

I can't imagine Christina is going to be much help. Even if she does hate Skye, we're not on the best of terms either. And I know some of her attributes involve the user, so we're not even safe on that front. That being said, Christina is one of the only girls who remains at least somewhat aware of her change in behavior, at least when it comes to how she interacts with the user. Maybe she could be useful. Like Michelle said, it's worth a try. Call me **** if you want, but I'll take anything at this point.

The two of us head over to the sorority houses. However, as we approach the building Christina live in, a couple of girls come out and stop us.

"Hey, I recognize you. You're that loser that came to see Christina awhile back," one of them says in an annoyed tone. "No way we're letting you back in."

"What? Why not?" I instantly remember why I hate it here so much. It's like a colony of Christina's.

"Christina needs to get her fucking act together. She's ruining our vibes with her stink. If she can't clean herself up, we're totally gonna kick her out. And until then, she's not allowed to invite any guys into the house," the other girl explains.

God, I hate these sorority sisters.

"But I really need to speak to her," I insist.

"Not my problem."

Michelle can tell I'm starting to get peeved and pulls me away before I make things worse. Once we're a decent distance away, she gives me a second to cool off.

"Let me try," she says after a moment.

"Huh?"

"Clearly they're not going to let you in, but maybe I can convince them to give me a pass."

"What makes you think they won't stop you? They saw that you were with me," I point out.

"Doesn't matter. I can speak their language. Or did you forget who you're talking to?" Michelle reminds me with a surprising amount of smugness.

That is true. Sometimes I forget how much of a bitch Michelle used to be. Back when she was in school, she was one of the popular girls and never had much trouble getting whatever she wanted.

"Alright, but promise me you'll be careful," I instruct her.

"Of course, Master. Just stay here. I'll be right back."

Michelle gives me a quick kiss on the cheek before walking over to the sorority house. I watch from afar as she goes over to the two women standing in front of the house and begins talking to them. Within less than a minute, the three are chatting and giggling like they're best friends. Another moment passes, and the two are leading Michelle into the building. My god. My **** never ceases to amaze me.

Well, I guess there's nothing to do now but wait and hope. Honestly, I don't feel like this will result in anything worthwhile, but I am willing to at least give it a shot. Or that's what I thought at first. As time passes, I quickly find myself becoming more and more antsy. I start to wonder if she's alright or if she needs my help. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do but stare at the building from across the street and hope she comes out soon. I keep finding myself checking the time. At the ten minute mark, I find myself panicking. What's going on? Why hasn't she come out yet? Did something happen? Did Skye do something? How would she even know we were planning on coming here? Is she somehow-

My last thought is cut off as I feel someone grab me from behind and twist my arm. The sudden **** catches me off guard, and I nearly scream. I try to pull myself free, but the person holding me is too strong, and I can't escape their iron grip.

"Quit moving. This will be easier for everyone if you stop resisting," a voice whispers to me.

I freeze. I can feel my eyes widen as I recognize the voice.

"M-Maria? Is that you?" I ask as I try to turn to get a better look at her.

I just barely catch a glimpse of Maria's face before she forcefully yanks my arms and squeezes them tightly. FUCK! That hurts like hell! How can one woman be this strong? I feel like my body is about to snap in half. Now I know how that one kid felt when she nearly broke his wrist.

"What are you doing? Let go of me!" I cry out.

"No can do. I've got a job to do," Maria responds. Her tone is mostly cold, yet there's also a hint of **** to it.

In that moment, I realize what's going on. Skye must have sent her to find me. Shit, shit, shit! No! This can't be happening! I try once more to get away from Maria, but she barely budges from all my shaking. I look around for any help, but there aren't any people around. This is bad. This is SO bad.

"Please, Maria. Don't do this," I beg her.

"I'm sorry, Matt. I have to. Captain's orders."

Suddenly, I feel an incredibly powerful **** collide with the back of my head. Immediately, I feel my entire body start to weaken. The world seems to move in slow motion as my thoughts blur together. No... I can't let this happen... I glance over... toward the sorority house... to look for Michelle... but she's still nowhere to be seen...

My eyes... begin to close... on their own... as I feel... myself... lose... con...scious...ness...

N... no...