Meet Mirage, part 2

“What the fuck kind of punishment are you talking about?” Noriko snarled, her voice a low, guttural threat.

A slow, predatory smile spread across my face.

I let my gaze drift across the assembled women, taking in their wide eyes and tense postures.

This was more than a punishment; it was a recalibration. A lesson in authority.

“Oh, I have a few ideas,” I began, my voice dropping to a conspiratorial murmur. “We could go the corporate route. Dock your pay. Demote you. Put you on probation.”

“You can’t do any of that shit!,” Noriko shot back instantly, her chin held high.

“I can,” Gretchen’s voice cut through like ice.

Noriko’s confidence faltered for a fraction of a second, a flicker of uncertainty in her defiant eyes. All of a sudden she looked more like a cornered animal. Nothing but bravado masking fear.

I continued, pressing my advantage. “But… Would that actually fix things? I don’t think so. No, I believe in a more… visceral form of correction. I believe in the soul-cleansing power of… public humiliation. It’s unconventional, I’ll grant you, but I have no doubt it would do you a world of good… Nori-chan.”

The pet name landed like a physical blow.

A deep, blotchy crimson flooded her face, spreading from her cheeks down her neck. Her indignation was palpable.

“Noriko,” I said, my voice hardening. “Bend over that desk.”

The command hung in the air, thick with implication.

Her eyes widened, the pupils contracting with pure outrage.

“Fuck you. I’m not doing that,” she hissed, every syllable laced with venom.

“Bend over,” I repeated, my tone leaving no room for negotiation. “Or there will be consequences.”

“NO!” she screamed, the sound ricocheting off the walls.

She didn’t just refuse. She planted her feet, her arms crossing over her chest in a stance of pure, unadulterated defiance.

“Then, I guess we have to-“

“I don’t care! I’m not bending over a goddamn desk for… for anybody! ESPECIALLY YOU!”

Huh?

What… What was going on?

Shouldn’t the room’s trait make her accept this?

Shit.

A cold knot of dread formed in my stomach.

She was the only one in the room with negative submission. Which meant she was still the dominant one in our relationship. I guess even the room’s trait couldn’t fully overwrite that?

Oh God.

Did I push too far too fast?

I felt my authority eroding. The other women were watching, their expressions shifting from confusion to simmering contempt.

They were drawing strength from Noriko’s rebellion.

What… What was my next move?

Using actual physical **** on Noriko to make her bend over would end badly. Like, really badly. I had no doubt about that.

Should we just go through with our threat? Demotion? Paycut?

No, doing that would make us look weak in front of everyone here, and make Noriko a martyr.

“Maybe you’re the one who should be bending over for letting that article get through,” Holly said from beside me.

A wave of murmurs and nods rippled through the room.

Noriko smirked, a triumphant, vicious little curve of her lips.

Fuck. Fuck.

“You know,” Gretchen’s voice suddenly cut through the rising tide of dissent. “She might have a point.”

My blood ran cold.

Did… Gretchen just say what I think she said?

B-Betrayal?

From GRETCHEN?

Something like that… That simply shouldn’t be possible!

But then she moved.

In a single, fluid motion, she turned and threw herself over the nearest desk, her back arched and her ass presented to the room.

“No,” she said, her voice muffled by the desktop. “This is on me. I kept the article from all of you. It was my decision. My failure. So… punish me. First.”

Everyone fell quiet.

Including me.

I secretly let out a sigh.

Gretch wasn’t betraying me…

She was saving me.

Saving the situation.

Saving my authority.

Sacrificing herself to make the punishment more acceptable for the room.

That was actually… really smart.

Although she very nearly took things too far.

She reached for the waistband of her pants, to let them fall to the floor.

I shot out a hand and stopped her, my fingers closing discreetly around her wrist.

If they saw the “Jack’s Slavecunt” tattoo etched into her ass, things would backfire. Badly.

I cleared my throat, the sound loud in the sudden silence.

“She’s right. Gretchen’s transgression was arguably greater than yours, Noriko. So we’ll start with her.”

“I’m still not doing any of this fucked-up shit!” Noriko shrieked, but her voice had lost some of its power.

“Listen up, everyone,” I said, addressing the room. “This is simple. We’re going to remind Gretchen to do a better job as a leader in the future. So, one by one, you will each give her buttocks a single, firm… spank.”

A collective gasp went through the room.

But no one ran.

No one screamed for the police.

The sheer fact that they were still here, still considering it, was a testament to the room’s trait actually working.

The most disgusted person in the room was, predictably, Noriko, who muttered “appalling” loud enough for everyone to hear. But even she didn’t storm out. Was it because Gretch was her boss, and she was afraid of going fully against her? Or…?

Hmm.

A few of the women looked less revolted and more intrigued. The prospect of spanking their boss, it seemed, held a certain appeal. They might even have serious gripes with the strict former editor.

Only one person was openly smiling.

Triss Skyblue.

One of the web trio.

Based on the way she dressed, like a some attention-starved e-girl, I felt like she could almost have an army of simps hovering over her. And her name… No way that was her real name. Whatever kind of cosplay she was living, it didn’t hide the fact that she was still built like a wet dream that I wouldn’t mind unwrapping.

“Who wants to start?” I asked, my gaze locking onto hers.

The moment our eyes met, hers darted away, as if she’d been caught staring at something forbidden.

Nobody stepped up.

I felt the room bubbling with weirded-out resentment, but nobody could quite put it to words. They all probably felt like the punishment was somewhat justified, but the mood was still very hesitant.

I had no idea what was actually going through their minds, but for a room full of women who had just been told to spank another woman, a muted reaction like this was… creepy.

Luckily… I knew just how to break it.

“Sophie. Ulla. You two first.”

The two women moved as if pulled by strings. They were used to my words having that effect on them.

For them, spanking Gretchen’s ass through her pants would be the mildest thing they had done in a week.

Sophie looked like a ghost, dark circles under her eyes. I wondered if she and her ‘mother’ had a productive talk after I left.

Doubt it.

Her glance at me was a lightning bolt of conflicting emotions—longing, hatred, fear, and some ****, pathetic need.

Her hand, however, showed no such conflict. It rose and fell with mechanical precision over Gretchen’s left buttock.

SPANK!

Gretchen let out a small whimper. The room collectively drew in a sharp breath.

“Damn, Soph,” Melissa, the emo photo editor, quipped. “Do you do this in your free time too?”

Nervous laughter tittered through the room, and Sophie froze, her face flushing as she realized how naturally she’d gone through the process.

“It’s alright, Sophie,” I said, resting a hand on her shoulder. “You’re a team player. I hope the rest of you are as committed.”

Sophie looked up at me, a pathetic smile flickering on her face.

Before anyone else could move, another sharp sound cut through the tension.

SPANK!

“Uff,” Gretchen grunted, her sound higher-pitched this time.

Ulla’s swing had been considerably more forceful than Sophie’s.

She turned back to the room. Sensing the questioning attitudes of her colleagues, her eyes burned with defiance.

“What?”

Ulla directed her question at the room, but pinned her eyes on Holly, who was standing at the forefront.

“Nothing. Just…”, Holly answered, but left the sentence hang in the air.

Ulla stalked toward her, her movements aggressive.

“Just… what?”, she asked in a threatening tone.

“Nothing,” Holly said, her voice smooth. “Just… didn’t expect you to take orders from a man so eagerly.”

Her words got under Ulla’s skin. She shifted her stance, considering her answer for a few seconds.

“Gretchen. The magazine’s owner. Asked for it.”

“I see,” Holly replied, her eyes glinting. “Good to know she has such… eager employees.”

I could see a catfight brewing. As fun as that would be to see, it would seriously derail the setup that we had going. I slipped between them before it could escalate.

“So, yeah, Ulla did her part. You wanna pitch in next?”, I said, directing the question to Holly.

It was starting to feel like Holly was the de facto leader of this little rebellion. She had the cool, confident demeanor of someone secretly pulling everyone’s strings. It felt like others were following her example more than Noriko’s, who was too aggressive for her own good.

If I could get her to play ball… I had a feelings the others would as well.

Her eyes bored into mine, trying to dissect me, to find my weaknesses.

Oddly, it felt like she succeeded.

Then her gaze slid down to Gretchen’s upturned ass, waiting for its judgment. She twirled her braid in her fingers, as if deliberating the pros and the cons.

She turned to her graphics team, Jayden and Kalissa.

“What do you guys think?”

The tiny Kalissa just shrugged shoulders. “I don’t fucking know. This is all so fucking weird.”

Then there was Jayden.

Jayden Schumacher.

At six-foot-four, she towered over everyone, including me.

And yes, I know, the pairing of Kalissa next to Melissa was very comical. The giant and the dwarf. Both our graphical designers, with Holly somewhere in the middle.

I’d never heard her speak. She seemed almost comically shy for a woman of her stature.

“Do… do you think you should?” Jayden asked in a barely-there voice.

Holly’s eyes returned to me.

“I can’t say it’s something I’ve ever fantasized about,” she said, a cruel smile playing on her lips. “But theoretically, if I’m going to participate… shouldn’t I get a turn with you, too? Seeing as you were also involved?”

There she was again, angling for a chance to punish me as well.

I didn’t like this tendency.

Nor the sadistic glint in her eyes.

“Like I said, I made the call! Jack is innocent in this,” Gretchen declared from her bent-over position.

Holly sighed, a long, dramatic sound of resignation. “Fine, Gretchen. If you insist.”

She took two long strides toward Gretchen. Without a hint of mercy, she drew back her arm and brought her hand down with a crack that echoed in the large office.

SPANK!

“OW!” Gretchen cried out, the pain clear in her voice.

The hit had looked quite… hard.

Quick, swift, and merciless.

She was the first one to make Gretchen rub her behind for relief.

As Holly turned back to the room, a ghost of a smile played on her lips before she quickly crushed it.

“Who’s next?”, she asked. (HOLLY +1SP) (+1SP)

The dam had broken.

The forest was about to fall.

And it was going to be fucking glorious.