"You know there are other people who can do this . . . I was sleeping." Mystic's eyes are barely half open, but mine are open wide. "I think I'll give you their numbers so you can drag them to their offices at ungodly hours."

"I know that, really, I do. If I wanted to find someone already awake who could help me out with this I'm sure that I could, but not someone I would trust even half as much. There are some bad things going on, very bad things going on. Confusing things. I wouldn't come to you if I didn't need to come to you, but I do. Please just help her out? No special requests just do whatever you did to me when we first met, but if there's a tree in there, uproot it."

My head still hurts just from trying to think in a straight line about The Domina's appearance. She was me, but she isn't me anymore, and she's pretending to be me. I swear, someone could use that on me as a confusion induction and I might not even realize it until I had drooped down to the floor and started drooling obediently.

Aureus is obediently smiling beside me. Even if she might not know what comfort is at the moment, I'm petting her golden hair to try and show her some tenderness. I can't imagine she's received much lately.

After a very impressive yawn, Mystic adjusts her turtle shell glasses and stares at the golden woman. "I don't want to know. Really, I don't. I like to help out, but I don't want to be pulled into some big conflict. I'm not that kind of woman. So, just get her to sit down and relax, and I'll see what I can do in her head. It might take me a moment. I'm not as good when a call to my cell phone wakes me up at two a.m."

"You heard the nice woman, Aureus. Take a seat in that big fluffy couch and let the nice lady do her work, okay? She'll have you feeling a lot better quick as she can." She nods very smoothly with a wide smile before sitting down as Mystic moves to sit beside her.

Did The Domina intend on taking Aureus for some scheme of hers, or did she intend for me to take her? I can't start second guessing myself but the game did just become a hell of a lot more tricky.

She thinks she knows me better than I know myself. I've changed a lot. That should be an advantage.

Gently Mystic slides her fingertips over Aureus's forehead in a way that just screams mind meld. Immediately Mystic's eyes go wide. Her fingers tense and quiver but don't move from their position. "Whoa. I've only seen one woman with more in her head than she has, and that was you. There's a lattice working of gold underneath what feels like a thousand layers of conditioning . . ."

"Leave the gold alone, I think that has something to do with what she is. She can turn back from being golden, maybe that would make it easier for you to work on her?" Aureus is still just smiling blankly like she's a million miles away. That brings back way too many memories.

"It might be a good idea . . . Okay, I lied. I might want to know a little bit about what's happening but only for future reference." Mystic sounds worried, and while that's nothing new, it still worries me.

It feels like something big is going on right beside me and I can't see it. If I can't figure out what it is in time something very bad could happen. It might be a little bit egotistical to think so, but somehow I think it leads right back to The Domina. If she thinks she knows me so well, then maybe I'm really the one that knows her. That should give me an edge.

Gently as Mystic moved her fingertips, I press my lips to Aureus's ear and whisper in smoothly as I can. "Be a good girl for me, and let the gold melt off?"

She nods timidly and the gold all slowly pools off of her. It looks like there should be a puddle of it around her feet, but it just melts away. In a moment I know she could call it all back up too. It's amazing. If I'd been able to do that as Silver Girl it would have been very convenient.

Mystic's eyes shrink a little closer to normal as her fingers slowly slide to a new position. "That's a lot better, thanks. All of the gold is gone. It must be how she controls it, but I can't explain any more than that. It will be a lot easier to get all of this out now. So what seems to be the problem? Don't tell me too much. I don't want to know enough for it to be dangerous."

For being so afraid of actual involvement, Mystic really is a sweetheart. She could have turned me down, but instead she got up and drove into work just to give me a hand. "Remember how way back when there was a price on my head by that Domina Argenti? The one who looked like me? She's back."

"Oh."

"Yeah. So if you see me again after this and I don't call you first from the same cell that Jade gave me . . . be careful, okay? I have no idea what she's up to, but she's masquerading as me. Well, as Silver Girl. It's a long story, and you don't want to be involved."

"Right."

I give Mystic a soft kiss to the top of her head and she smiles just a little in an appreciative way. I really wish I didn't need to drag her into this, but I really didn't feel well equipped to help Aureus.

A moment later Mystic pulls her hands back and stands up to walk over to in front of her desk. The auburn haired woman nearly falls off of the couch with a loud squeaking sound and looks up between the two of us. "Where am I? Who are you? Well, I think I sort of remember who you are, Patina or something like that, and she called you Mystic on the phone . . ."

Her little freak out is adorable. The look on her face shows that it embarrassed even her but had felt like the natural reaction to have after everything that happened. I've been there. Slowly I walk over to the couch and sit down to offer her my hand. "Yeah, my name is Patina. I rescued you from the Auction."

"To be fair, you had help. She was an impostor? I . . . am really confused. Not as confused as I thought I was, but I'm still very, very confused." Aureus blinks very slowly and looks around the room before her eyes rest on Mystic. "And thanks, by the way. I appreciate it."

Mystic just nods and then smiles a little. "Don't worry about it. You can thank me though by leaving and discussing all of this somewhere else so I can try and get some sleep?"

Nodding I hold out a hand to help Aureus up. She takes the hand thankfully and lets herself be pulled up. Already she looks like she could take on the world. Her face still looks full of confusion and a little bit of worry, but her smile and the look of her eyes is a very daring one. If she suddenly thought I was on the wrong side I wouldn't doubt her resolve to steal Sylvia and ride off to help. That counts double if she doesn't know how to ride.

"Sure thing Mystic. Take care of yourself." After I'm done pulling her up Aureus starts to dust herself off and casts a slow look over her clothes. I feel a little bit bad for her, but I can get her something that fits before too long. "Call me if anything strange happens, okay?"

She nods and Aureus smiles to her with a soft nod. "And if I can ever do anything to pay you back, call her to call me. Or I'll call you. Phone numbers will somehow be exchanged."

Even Mystic can't stop herself from cracking a rather bright smile. This little golden dear might be just what I needed. She reminds me of myself before I met The Lady, or after I met Mystic the first time. I still can't believe how long ago that was. It feels like it was just last year.

Aureus follows me out to Sylvia and looks her over before hopping up with me. "This is a very hot bike. Your uniform's not bad either. In case you're wondering, I am highly vulnerable right now and latching on to the closest thing that feels safe. And my name is Olivia by the way. I mean, you can call me whatever you want but Olivia is my name. Don't call me Liv though, please."

Her arms wrap tighter around me than they did before, and I can feel her grinding into me to get comfortable. Maybe she's grinding a little more than just to get comfortable. I can't be sure.

Right as I'm about to answer her she starts talking again. "And I appreciate how sweet you were, really. I mean, you risked yourself to save a little silly head like me. Sorry. I have this problem of talking way too much when I'm nervous, and I am very nervous right now. Why don't you start talking?"

It's impossible not to laugh, so I do and get Sylvia started up at the same time. "Well, you're welcome Olivia, and thanks. You can call me Patina, obviously." We start to drive off, and making another cute sound, my passenger clutches even tighter. "Don't be afraid hun. I know how to drive this thing. But yeah, I'm Patina, and the bike you're riding on is named Sylvia. We're heading to a penthouse I'm . . . borrowing. I'll explain everything once we get there."

"Something tells me that explanation is going to be a very interesting one. Does Sylvia have nitro boosts or expandable wings or something? Does she break the sound barrier?" She wiggles against me, and I blush.

Until tonight, having a bike with a cop radio built in sounded rather nifty. Right now I wish I had some of those things, or at least something more. Sylvia is mostly just a form of transportation. Like I thought once before, adding hypnotic exhaust fumes, a spiral on the front headlight, or anything like that, would just not be a good idea. Anything else is outside of what would fit.

Besides, I don't know if I want to be driving a flying motorcycle. I'm not too knowledgeable about air traffic laws, but they've always seemed very strict. I don't think I'd do well up there without a helmet.

"No, she's just a motorcycle. Well, she has a radio that can tie in to police frequencies but I haven't really needed much else. If she broke the sound barrier I think that she would also be breaking my spine in the doing. I've wondered about making her faster, but I don't think I have the reflexes for it. Tell me about you, Olivia. I know nothing about you besides the name Aureus and that you can turn to gold."

I can feel her nodding against me she's so close. It's a nice feeling of closeness, but it might be just a bit much. She's choosing it though, not me. I'm not sure if that makes me feel better or worse. "Well, that's no fun. I guess it's safe and all but no fun at all. You don't even call it the Patinacycle. Sorry, I'll stop . . . And don't call me Aureus when I'm not gold."

There's a certain delight in knowing that I'm right. Something about Olivia when they were up there just screamed it. She is like me. Or at least she's somewhat like me.

I take a hard left and Olivia practically screams. Her body is more intimately pressed against my back than I have ever felt a body before. She feels so strong against me, but she still needs me. I love it. I can feel that she wouldn't just yield to me, but she's still . . . following my lead. It's not so much that as just a natural feeling that I'm the logical one to follow.

When I first came to Midas, a lot of women gave me that feeling. If I've finally grown up and I'm able to give that to someone else then well . . . that makes a deep part of me smile.

"Where are you from then, Olivia? If I can ask, that is. Really, you can tell me to shut up. And Patinacycle sounds almost as stupid as the Aureuscopter. If you ever get a helicopter and name it that . . ." We share a laugh and I stop at a red light. Just because I'm a heroine doesn't mean that I disobey all traffic laws.

"I'm from Oakland. Well, okay, I was born in Oakland, but I lived just about everywhere in the bay area. Used to ride a lot of bikes back there too, and always in the passenger's seat. I never much liked the idea of driving one of these things but I love how it feels." The light turns green, and she tenses up when I take another sharp turn and I savor that feeling.

She doesn't seem too spooked so I can enjoy the feeling of her tensing against me can't I? "Not bad. This bike was a birthday gift from my mother. I'd never had one before though I used to dream of it in passing. We're almost to what I've been calling home. The place is big enough for you to have your own room."

"Who says I won't want to be sleeping with you?" I stop at another red light, and she lightly kisses my ear. "We should stay up all night just talking, and then see which room we feel more comfortable with."

No, she's not like a younger me. A younger me never would have felt comfortable being so forward with a masked woman on an expensive bike riding me to her home after saving me from an auction house. Olivia is so much more sure of herself even if she's willing to be second chair.

Not everything leads back to me. I should start getting used to that and then getting over that. It might be a good idea. The world is a lot bigger than me and I know that now more than I ever did before.

"Let's just wait on that, okay Olivia?" The light turns green and I keep going straight. "You barely even know me. Whose to say I'm even interested in women? There are some heterosexual women out there even if sometimes they seem to be the minority I'm told that's just silliness."

"I remember the way you looked at me when I was behind the glass. I know, a lot of people looked at me. You didn't look at me like they did. You were admiring me. That's very flattering. If you think you're straight, a straight woman doesn't stare at a woman being prostrated like that and she doesn't take turns harder on purpose to feel the woman behind them grind for dear life." She has a point.

Finally I start to slow down and park Sylvia inside of Caress's garage. "You're very perceptive. How long have you had the name that starts with an 'a', huh?"

"Two years."

Smiling I kill Sylvia's engine and wait for Olivia to get off of her before I follow suit. "Not bad. Well, follow me. Warning, this might be a bit upsetting. There are five women inside of this penthouse that are trained to continually condition themselves deeper into helpless slavery. This is because they are a dangerous group of villains called the Slut Squad, and I simply had to take care of this delicately. I'm one of the good gals, I promise."

Olivia stops following me for a moment, and I turn to face her. "What? No, you need to explain that a little bit more before I'm going to just brush a comment like that off."

"Okay. Fine. The women inside are the women who sold both me, and The Domina, the silver woman you saw earlier, at the auction house. I kidnapped them using methodology close to their own so that they could help me take down the auction. They're still inside because I didn't want word of their capture to spread. I plan to promptly turn them in to five different precincts so that there's no chance of them working in concert."

"Mmhmm. See, that makes sense." Nodding, Olivia speeds up just a little and follows me inside. The place itself is rather lavish, so I'm not surprised when she whistles. "How much money were the two of you worth, anyway?"

I laugh and slowly shake my head. "We weren't their only sales. This is just the penthouse of one of them, Caress. To be honest, I really can't give the fifth of them over to the police yet, because if The Domina is around that means that I need to have her give me a little help with preparation before we meet again. If we ever see each other without Amethyst around then there is going to be trouble. If she can find a way for there to be trouble anyway, there will be."

Olivia nods and looks very suspicious but like she'll go along with it anyway. Good. She has a lot more sense than I had two years into being Silver. Hell, two years into being Silver Girl I was being Silver for The Lady. Aureus doesn't seem like she did much better.

Once we're inside I take off my mask and let down my hair. It feels nice not to be hidden behind it, but it also feels a world and a half better to be out of the belt and to collapse on the couch to start fussing at my boots.

My new friend takes a moment or two to scan the surroundings before she sits down beside me and crosses her bare feet up on the coffee table. She looks so satisfied if poorly dressed. At least the outfit had pants and not a skirt that barely fit. That would have been disastrous.

With a satisfying sound my second boot slides off and I sigh. The SS are still running through their obedience drills only stopping for biological needs until I tell them to do anything different. That will include sleep when they need it. I could leave them be, but I probably should get Savor started on my project for her . . . but that can wait for a few minutes.

"What's your name when you don't have the mask on?" Olivia slides just a little closer, but not rudely close. "If I can know, that is."

Smirking I ruffle up her auburn hair and stare up at the ceiling. "Lucia. My name is Lucia Colloten. I really haven't gone by that name very much here in Midas, but it's who I am. Did they take you from here or were you somewhere else? A girl who turns to gold should probably stay away from Midas if only for the puns."

She grins, but doesn't pull away. "I was following a lead and wound up in Midas about a month ago. One of my old on and off again enemies, Mourning Frost, was last seen heading for Midas. When I looked into it, I found out she'd been coming and going to Midas for about nine months. I came here to investigate, and sure enough I found her trail and traced her to a research laboratory of the Argentum Project."

There's that name again. I keep hearing it every where, and knowing that The Domina is around . . . "Go on, please. This is very important. You have to tell me everything you know about this."

"Okay . . . I didn't know it was that important. I know about The Project, so I just assumed it was a fluke or that she was disguising her identity . . . but a woman with almost pink hair . . . no, purple, purple in a pink way, sort of like how some red hair looks more orange . . . She was apparently in charge of that facility, and she even called her Mourning Frost, and welcomed her in." Something in Olivia's eyes changes, and then a moment later just her eyes turn to gold. It's very gorgeous, but it represents a shift in all of her mood in a visual way. "I tried to find out what was going on, and they confronted me."

I nod, and wrap an arm around her protectively. My other hand grasps one of hers and squeezes. I know how recalling these stories can feel. It never feels good at all. "Mourning Frost is obviously a woman with the ability to manipulate cold. The woman she was with called herself Ember, and apparently had some sort of fire abilities. I was already in my gold form, and I tried to take them on. They were hoping for that. Using their powers in concert . . ."

A golden drop slides slowly along her cheek, but I gently kiss it away. She might not need to be as sexually aggressive as she has been, but encouraging her with a tender touch might help her more than a soothing word. Something about that makes me think of my mother . . . the silver eyed one.

"The sensory overload, the stiffening both of their powers caused . . . I couldn't move and I couldn't think. The next thing I knew I was in some kind of apparatus, some plugs were put into my ears, and I was muttering along with whatever they were saying. After that . . . I woke up in a room, as a statue, and then there was the auction a while after that." She sighs. "I lost all track of time."

What they did to me was awful. They stole my humanity. But they stole being alive from her . . . I think that's worse. Gently I stroke her cheek with my thumb and press my lips to her forehead. "You don't need to wind up in my bed tonight Olivia. Trust me. There's a guest room and you can sleep in there. I need to get some things arranged, and you need to spend some time as a human woman and not a statue. I can get you a phone, you can make some calls . . . But there are things I really can't delay. I'll explain everything. I promise."

This is bad. This is very bad. At first her description of Ember made me think of Pandora, but that doesn't fit her at all. Besides, why would she be in Midas? I need to get on the phone with her and soon. No matter exactly what is going on here, it is bad, and I need to fix it as quickly as I can.

Aureus turns back to gold and pulls away from me to start pacing. She looks very nervous, agitated, and just generally unhappy. At least it doesn't seem like she's upset with me but who knows just how long that'll hold out. It's not that fine of a line between being upset with a situation and being upset with the closest person who is just doing their damnedest to make things all right.

When she stops pacing, she looks out of a window into the night that is quickly approaching morning. That means my time is getting closer and closer to running out. "We need to act, but we need to do it smart, so all right. This is more your city than it is mine anyway. I can follow your lead."

Smiling I slowly stand up. The floor feels like it's a good two to five inches lower than it should be, but that's the effect of wearing heels too long. "Thanks for understanding Aureus. Do you want any food, a phone, anything like that?"

"Could I order a pizza or something? I just want something unhealthy and horrid for me. When I was a statue they fed me the most nutritious meals ever. I want to be bad if only to defy them." She grins and I feel a world better seeing her noticeably relax. "I'll pay you back for it. Just a phone, a room to be in private, and a pizza. Well and some soda if that's okay."

"Of course it is. Give me a minute to get the address and some cash. Once it gets here, well, before it gets here, I'll show you the room to crash in. You'll be all set." I wrap my arms around Aureus with a gentle hug before pulling back. "I've been through this too, Aureus. If you need me, I'm here."

Nodding slowly, she hugs me back and smiles up at me. "Will do. It'll be lovely working with you."

I smile back down at her, and there's no way I can disagree.

Once her food situation is taken care of I proceed into the Slut Squad's room, or the main bedroom. Caress is tied down again, but Aura and Glimmer are curled up to her on one side, Whisper on the other, and Savor is lying on top of her. It's an adorable image, made actually adorable and not just cute by how defenseless they are.

Carefully I approach them, and just barely tap Savor's shoulder. She makes a cute muttering sound, and I almost feel bad for the humiliation I gave her. Not bad enough to feel like doing anything about it, but almost bad in an apologetic sort of way.

I'm not that selfless or altruistic of a person even if I'd like to think of myself as a heroine.

"Savor . . . Come on little girl, wake up . . . Your owner needs your help. Wake up . . ." I lean down and kiss her foot ever so gently, and she finally starts to stir. She almost starts to speak before I hush her with a soft "Shh."

She nods, still barely awake. I know she didn't hear me, she just wants me to know she's awake and listening. I think she was the easiest to make obedient, mostly because she had the powers of all five of the slut squad working against her, including her own. She is one woman I never intend to indulge in a night with, if only because that intense of focus just can't be healthy.

"Come on up, wake up dear, and quietly. I need you to get up so that we can start discussing some plans, all right?" Savor obeys, of course, and her cute short hair bounces as she slowly peels herself away from the pile and crawls off of the bed.

Once off of it she smiles and kneels down on the floor, looking up at me and whispering in a very cute little girl voice. "What does my owner want?"

Leaning down I pet her hair slowly and then gently kiss her forehead. "I need you to help me with a couple of little science projects. They're nothing too big, but they'll probably take you a little while to complete and I don't want to rush you but I do need them quickly. Can I trust you to keep yourself good and obedient while you're working on my project, or do I need the squad to accompany you?"

"Oh, already so obedient . . . couldn't do anything more! I can do anything you need me to owner, really, I can!" She looks so desperate. A part of me wants to tell her she can't just to hurt her, but that would be contrary to my goals and that is much more important.

"I'm going to write down a phone number. You're going to get dressed and drive Caress's car back to your place. You're going to check your voice mail, and it will have all of my instructions there. You will begin work, and once figuring out how long it would take to complete you're going to call that cell phone number to let me know. If the call doesn't go through, you'll leave a message. All right?" She's still a little too addle minded and asleep for me to tell her the details, so this is for the best. Plus, it'll help things get moving faster.

"Okay . . . Of course owner . . . Is there anything else?" Savor looks into my eyes, so ready to please, so willing, so needing, so curious . . . and I just shake my head. "Then I'll get dressed!" It won't be long before she's dressed and out of here, so I go back into the den and grab out my cell phone. I've already left the message, but there's one other number that I need to call tonight.

A part of me says that I should call Jade, but I can't afford to do that. Even if she and Nightshade are the only other people in Midas who know about The Domina, and Jade is the only one (hopefully) who knows that I've been depowered . . . It doesn't feel right to call Jade.

Once all of this is over, I can call Jade, but not yet. There's way too much happening, and a part of me really doesn't want to bring Jade into another bleak situation. She already saved me twice and tried for a third. There won't be a fourth.

Instead, I punch a different number into my silver cell phone and listen to it ring . . . and ring . . . and ring. Maybe she won't pick up. If she doesn't, then I might need to call Jade. Aureus and I can't do this alone.

"Who the hell is calling at this hour?! You're not even showing up on my caller I.D., you Puta! Say something!" Pandora's angry voice blares out at the other side and I'm very glad she answered. She must have only just gotten to sleep, being a night walking fang face and all. Too bad for her, but this takes some precedence.

"Patina." I smile, and just wait. If the programming I left her with worked, then in just a moment . . .

There is a very satisfied gasp on the other side of the phone and then a much more pleasant response. "You. The one who got into my head and . . . helped me out. What's going on, why are you calling me again? It's been a long time . . ."

At least I helped even if I did have to leave so soon after meeting her. "Sorry it took me so long, but I thought you'd have your hands full with Dolores. Are things better now?"

"Yeah, uh-huh, a lot better. Your advice really worked. Mi familia is doing so much better now. Are you calling for some help? Because I don't think you did this for any sort of payback, which is still reeling in my head, but I'd love to help if I can, to return the favor." She sounds so very happy and actually sweet.

I'm glad I did this for her. I'm glad that I left instead of stayed. I would have just slowed things down. "There's a situation developing in Midas City. I'm not saying that anything had gone wrong yet, but I'd love to have you at my back."

"Well, it's a little late for me to be going out now, but . . . I'll be there as soon as I can, Patina. Give me an address?" Some part of her still sounds so fierce even if hearing my voice made her feel submissive. Maybe I was born for a leader role after all. Leading Pandora and Aureus against whatever dire situation is unraveling feels natural.

"I'm not sure where I'll be when you get into town. When you do, just call this number. That sound all right Pandora? And you were right. You don't owe me anything, not really. This is just a favor. A request." Hopefully she can hear the sincerity in my voice and the smile.

Even if things are getting darker instead of lighter, at least I'm gathering a good amount of friends. After I get off the phone with Pandora I can have Alyssa start looking up information on The Argentum Project, The Domina's recent activities (or rather Silver Girl's), Ember, Mourning Frost, and anything that visibly links them. There's a lot of risk, but a lot of good things too.

"That sounds good . . . and Patina . . . I think about that night. A lot. Thanks. I'm going to go back to sleep . . . bye." Pandora clicks off of the phone.

I smile before heading back into the bedroom. The last call can wait. I've been a good girl, after all. Dolores is a safer place, and soon enough, Midas will be too. "Girls . . . Your owner needs some entertainment." Grinning I climb up onto Savor's spot, and they all slowly awaken and begin to arch against me and wrap around me.

After a little fun, and that little phone call, I'll sleep like a baby . . . no . . . I don't think babies sleep quite that well. I'll sleep like a porn star. Hopefully, I'll sleep like a very satisfied one.