Like Adam and Eve

"Natalia" Joey recalled the comment from the armed security guy that seemed to have spooked Charlie "Is that your real name?"

"Natalia Kuznetsov" she replied "But everything I told you was true. I've lived in the US and been a full citizen here for most of my life. I can still talk with an authentic Russian accent but it doesn't come naturally anymore."

"That might actually be pretty hot to hear."

"Yeah, maybe another time."

Charlie seemed on edge. She also didn't seem like she would be in the mood for discussing exactly why right now.

"So do you want me to call you Charlie or Natalia?"

"Charlie is my assumed name by now so stick with that. Never refer to me as Natalia in front of anyone. In fact, it's safest and easiest just to never call me that at all."

"Okay"

This was almost like talking to a different person. Joey had never experienced Charlie behaving in such an unfriendly manner towards him. He tried not to take it personally - she was in business mode, he figured. Perhaps the best thing to do was steer the conversation onto a hopefully less thorny issue.

"Where are we going?"

"Maine"

"What? But that's a ten hour drive!"

"Eleven, actually."

"So why are we going that far away from DC? That's where my job is, for a start.""

"I'm sorry, Joey, I don't have a safe house in every state. This is the only one available to me in the East. And it won't be business as usual for either of us for a while now, believe me."

"Why do we even need a safe house? Are we in danger here?"

"I told you if you got in the car you had to trust me, okay?" Charlie sighed "We'll be fine, I just don't want to take any chances until I have a better idea of exactly what is going on."

"And what about Dawn and Liv? The show will be over by the time we get to our destination." Joey fretted.

"I'm aware of that, but there is literally nothing we can do to stop it from going ahead. If we'd have tried to get into the studio we would have been shot."

"WHAT? They wouldn't get away with that!"

"Jesus Joey, you are so fucking naive! Do you even realise that if there hadn't been so many witnesses there..." Charlie halted that thought, and her expression began to soften almost immediately once the frustrated outburst, that had been building for some time, was out of her system "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. I know you're way out of your comfort zone here, but this is getting serious now and you can't keep playing the bewildered civilian. I need help from you and your power, so you're going to have to start stepping up to the plate a little more. If you keep being so placid with the ability you have we'll have no chance of achieving anything. We talked about this before, being each other's ride or die, and you have to understand your role in that. Whatever else I can do, I don't have your bullshitting power."

"Maybe I can give it to you?" Joey suggested.

"Huh?"

"I could do a recording for you. Like I did with Kayleigh. Just a simple "You believe everything the hot blonde lady playing you this message says is true and will obey her every instruction without question" type thing you can have on your phone."

"If you're willing to trust me with a message like that, it would actually be incredibly helpful."

"Of course I trust you, that's why I'm still here by your side. And since I've been so useless with my power it's probably better if you have it."

"You haven't been useless, you've been incredibly responsible and restrained" Charlie placed her hand on Joey's knee briefly as she continued to drive "I really admire that about you, but unfortunately the situation has changed. I can't do this on my own. All we have is each other and your bullshit. If you need to mind fuck a few people who deserve it, and maybe even lie to some others who don't, then so be it. I certainly will be."

Once again, Charlie's honesty about the kind of messed up things she sometimes had to do was strangely comforting to Joey. He was very happy he had gotten into her car, and not just because he could no longer imagine his life without her in it..

---

Joey, who was never one for a long car journey and had drifted off to sleep somewhere in Vermont, was shaken awake by Charlie once they finally arrived at their destination. It was starting to get dark, but as he stepped out of the vehicle he realised there wasn't much to look at anyway. It seemed like they were out in the wilderness, but at least parked near a large, cosy looking cabin.

"I told you it was just gonna be me and you" Charlie shrugged at Joey as she caught his surprised expression "There probably isn't anyone else around for several kilometres. This will be the perfect place for us to lay low for a while so we can plot our next move."

She walked over to the cabin and unlocked the door. The place was clean, spacious and functional. It had everything they needed but not much more - a double bed, shower, toilet, stove, fridge and a very large supply of tinned foods.

Charlie was barely over the threshold before she started peeling her clothes off.

"You undressing already?"

"I've been driving all day. I'm sweaty."

"What are you going to wear?"

"I'm not. I didn't bring a change of clothes, what with the whole fleeing for my life situation that suddenly arose. We'll just have to go naked."

"Seriously?"

"It's not like we're in a position to go clothes shopping here, Joey. And who the fuck even cares?" she gestured exaggeratedly at nobody "Like I said, there isn't anyone else around for miles. it's a hot summer. It will be fun. We can be like Adam and Eve, only without the fig leaves."

"Do we even have any kind of internet connectivity here?" Joey wondered.

"Of course! I wasn't proposing we live like savages" she began to boot up her laptop "Speaking of which, we'd better catch up on the Naked News and see what the damage is."

"Won't we get brainwashed? Not even I'm immune to my voice."

"We'll keep the volume at zero and I'll switch the subtitles on. It will be fine" Charlie assured him "Oh fuck, look at those viewing figures!"

Joey's eyes widened in astonishment as he saw the counter below the video feed. Already more than twenty million people had watched the show and that number was rising rapidly.

"Fuck, this thing is seriously snowballing!" Joey panicked.

"Of course it is, the Vice President of America is almost certainly naked on there That's global news. I'll also bet there is some kind of message from your best buddy compelling people to tell their friends to watch."

"So how the fuck are we supposed to deal with this?"

"I don't know Joey, believe it or not I don't automatically have all of the answers for everything. I'm starting to feel a little out of my depths here too" Charlie admitted "Shall we at least see what we're up against?"

The show started with a blank screen and the subtitled words that Joey had recorded for Kayleigh.

Everything that Kayleigh Preston. the co-host of this show, says is completely true - and you will accept it as fact without question.

"Damn Joey, that wording is pretty watertight" Charlie sighed "And you didn't even keep her power constrained to just the broadcast!"

"I know, I fucked up" he shook his head regretfully "I just never dreamed she would abuse my trust like this!"

The camera panned to a plush looking studio where a smartly dressed Kayleigh was standing next to Dawn, who was wearing a robe and seemingly nothing else. Their names flashed up beneath them, in case anyone was in any doubt over which of the two women's words were to be taken as gospel.

"Hello, I'm Kayleigh Preston, and this is my co-host Dawn Fraser - the esteemed former Washington Post journalist."

"Former?"

"She'll be working for them full time now" Charlie explained without a hint of surprise.

"Everything you hear on this show is the truth." Kayleigh continued "You have no need to read or listen to any other news sources from now on, since nothing they say can be trusted. It is really important, as soon as you finish watching this broadcast, to ensure your friends, family and anyone else you care about does the same. It is the only way to keep them safe from the increasingly dangerous lies of the establishment"

"You may all take a swig of your Kool Aid now" Charlie deadpanned as Kayleigh went on.

"Now, this show is called the Naked Truth for more than one reason and, to demonstrate that we keep our promises, everyone appearing on this show will be fully nude by the end of the broadcast. That includes not only Dawn and myself but also our very special guests Olivia Adams and the Vice President of America Clarissa Clayton - so keep watching!"

"I'm really not sure this can be Kayleigh's idea. She told me she would never make the VP strip."

"She lied."

"Do you think she could be being mind controlled?"

"I doubt it, Joey. I know it's hard because you guys were so close, but I think you need to accept you got played here."

"And now!" Kayleigh smiled at them from the screen "You're first naked news bulletin from the brilliant Dawn Fraser!"

"Thanks Kayleigh!"

The camera panned back over to Dawn, who had by now removed her robe, so she was standing full frontally naked on screen before an audience of millions that was growing by the second.

There was no going back from this. No words Joey could say to make people forget it ever happened and delete any screen grabs they had taken to enjoy later. This explicit footage of the award winning journalist was out there in the public domain forever now, as she smiled vacantly and spoke almost robotically into the camera.

"Good afternoon everyone. Here are your first Nude Headlines."