Subroutine Ch. 15

"You're not going to beat us, Amia," Lori said. Her newfound sense of hope gave her the strength to pull her gaze off of her roommate and look her adversary dead in her eyes.

"Oh?" Amia replied nonchalantly. She seemed entirely unconcerned. "And why's that?"

"Because I'm not the one who wants to be a drone." Lori smiled. "You are."

"What?" Amia laughed derisively, but Lori thought she could detect a slightly nervous edge to Amia's laughter. "That's ridiculous."

"Is it?" Lori drew herself up to her full height, her confidence slowly rising. "You sure seem to know something about how good it feels to be a drone, Amia. It's a little suspicious."

"That's..." Amia looked like she'd momentarily short-circuited. It was obvious Lori's questioning had taken her completely off-guard. "It's programmed to feel good, duh! I made Elbourne make it that way. That's how I know."

"No. No, that's not it." Lori shook her head. It was dawning on her more and more with each passing moment, the pieces all coming together in her head. The genuine shock in Amia's eyes was all the confirmation she needed. "You didn't just know it felt good. You were waxing lyrical about it. Got any fantasies you want to share?"

"No." Amia glared viciously at Lori, her bloodshot eyes full of rage. "None of this matters! This doesn't change anything. You're mine! You're both craving it. You both need it. You both-"

"I think it does matter." Lori's newfound clarity gave her the strength to interrupt Amia, easily cutting through the mind-controller's ranting. She could tell that Harper was now a little more lucid, Lori's words giving her roommate something to hold on to. Lori didn't want to risk Harper falling back under Amia's spell. "C'mon, Amia. Are you really trying to tell me you haven't fantasized about it? What was it you were just saying... 'all it takes is one moment of submission'. Have you felt that moment? Are you craving it?"

"Shut up!" Amia shrieked.

"You can't tell me you haven't thought about it," Lori pressed. "Not after the way you were talking about it. You've thought about it a lot. Haven't you?"

"It's not... it's..." Amia suddenly looked mortified, ashamed that anything but a hard denial had passed her lips. Lori, conversely, felt energized. Seeing Amia crack right before her eyes was filling her with giddy euphoria. Far from feeling weak and disoriented, as she had done mere minutes before, she was feeling as strong as she ever had. She wondered if the adrenaline rush that was now hitting her was the same feeling that Amia, and even Harper, had felt before. Clearly, they had let it go to their heads, albeit to different extents. Lori needed to avoid making that same mistake. She didn't feel too worried, though. She was in control.

"It's what, Amia?" Lori demanded confidently. "We both know what it is. So why don't you just admit it? What are you afraid of?"

Amia's unnerved expression twisted into a nasty grimace. "You better shut your mouth, before I decide to set my drones on you, risky or not."

A little of Lori's confidence ebbed away as she surveyed the room around her, and once again became conscious of the four brainwashed, latex-clad drones that were still standing at attention, ready to spring on her the moment they received the command. She needed to remember that she was still in danger, Lori thought to herself, or else overconfidence was sure to be her undoing.

"I'm just saying," Lori continued, adopting a slightly gentler tone. "Why not? It'll be pleasurable, and you won't have a care in the world. You said so yourself."

"What is this?" Amia snarled, unwilling to be drawn in. "You're playing some kind of trick, aren't you?"

Lori spread her arms wide, the picture of openness. "I'm just asking questions."

Amia paused, eyeing Lori suspiciously as she considered her next words. Lori had to suppress a smile. It was transparently obvious what Amia was thinking. She was weighing whether or not she had something to prove, and whether refusing to play along would show weakness. If she was smart, she would ignore Lori's taunts, of course. But Lori had a feeling Amia wouldn't be able to resist.

"I'm not like you," Amia snarled, after a moment's thought. "I'm in control. I've always been in control. I've been toying with you for weeks, and you didn't even know it. In fact, you enjoyed every single second of it. That's what you are. You're weak. Submissive. I'm dominant. Powerful. I take pleasure in doing whatever I want with people like you. I'm in control."

Lori shivered. Despite everything, she was struggling to completely shrug off the kind of dominance Amia was projecting. Lori knew all too well how pleasurable it was to slip into submission. She'd experienced it far too much to ever forget. Even now, it would have been a lie to pretend to herself that she didn't still feel that temptation. It would be so easy. But she had to keep fighting. It wasn't about her or her pleasure anymore. It was about saving Harper and her friends.

"But," Lori countered, placing a fingertip on her chin and affecting a mocking, confused look. "You said yourself that dominance and submission are just two sides of the same coin. Those are your words, Amia. Not mine. Yours. Whatever pleasure you get from being in control, you can get just as much pleasure submitting. Right? Isn't that what you were saying to Harper?"

"That... that wasn't about me!" Amia cried, frustrated.

"How do you know?" Lori shot back. "Have you ever thought about it? Have you ever tried it? You must have been tempted, right? Maybe just once? I'm sure that at least one time, when you had Elbourne here, or someone else, and you had them starting at one of those spirals, you must have been tempted to look too. Who wouldn't be? You must have wondered how it would feel. How good it would feel. Who wouldn't? It was just curiosity, of course. At least at first. But then, it became something more than that, right?" Amia looked almost spellbound as Lori wove her tale. "You started fantasizing about it. One of those secret, shameful fantasies. It would be thrilling, wouldn't it? To lose it all. To experience everything being so completely turned on its head. You, the submissive drone. Someone else, the dominant administrator. It was exciting. Maybe it even went beyond fantasies. Maybe, just once, you did look. Maybe that's why you know how good it feels to submit. Maybe that's all you can think about."

The look on Amia's face was all Lori needed to be sure she'd hit the mark. Her expression was one of utter shock, but it was tinged with something else too. Amia's cheeks had become flushed, her brow was slick with sweat, and she was breathing unusually hard. She was obviously aroused. Ashamed, yes, but aroused too. Now, Lori couldn't suppress a grin. She'd known she was on the right track.

"I... I..." Amia stammered. "I-I never did that."

Lori picked up on her inflection right away. "Right. You never looked. But you wanted to. You fantasized about it."

Amia looked like she was about to explode, although Lori wasn't sure if it was anger, shame or arousal that most showed through in her face. She was so flustered she forgot to deny what Lori was suggesting. "T-that doesn't mean anything!"

"I think it does," Lori declared, in a sing-song voice. "It means I'm right - about everything. You know exactly what I'm talking about. You know exactly the kind of pleasure I'm talking about. The pleasure of submission. You're thinking about it right now, aren't you? You want it. You're craving it."

"Shut up!" Amia repeated, her voice weaker and less assured than ever. "That's not me! That's... that's you! You're twisting everything around, you bitch!"

"Oh yeah?" Lori stared Amia dead in her eyes, daring her. "Prove it."

Heaving and breathing hard, Amia just stared back for several long seconds, seemingly dumbfounded. Lori waited, motionless. She didn't want to give Amia too much time to gather her thoughts, but she didn't want to press her so hard she snapped either. She needed to walk a fine line. Hopefully, Amia would walk right into the trap she was setting. Her grin faded as the silence wore on, but a thin smile returned to her face once Amia drew herself up, ran a hand through her now-messy hair to re-arrange it slightly, and stepped forwards confrontationally.

"You're going to submit to me," Amia declared, her furious eyes boring holes in Lori's head. "Right now. Because you are weak. Because you've already submitted. Dozens, maybe hundreds of times. You think you're free? You're just a broken drone. You know it's all still in your head. All that programming and brainwashing. You know you'll cave once I make you submit. And you know you'll love it."

"Yeah," Lori moaned. She swayed on her feet as the impact of Amia's words hit her. She didn't try to fight it. It was so vivid, the impression of pleasure most of all. She knew how good it would feel to break. "It's incredible. There's nothing like it. It feels so good."

Lori watched for Amia's reaction carefully. She was braced for Amia to narrow her eyes in suspicion, signaling that it was probably over. But instead, Amia's eyes widened maniacally as she sneered in triumph, her supreme confidence already almost fully restored.

"Yes!" Amia cried, energized. "No other pleasure even comes close. Nothing does. Not your freedom. Not your individuality. Not your control. Nothing. You'll throw everything away for it, won't you?"

"Can't help it," Lori murmured, moaning again. She wasn't faking it. She didn't need to. All the urges Amia was appealing to were still strong in her mind. She wasn't struggling to deceive Amia so much as she was struggling to keep hold on her own mind. The temptation to submit for real was crushing. "It's irresistible."

"Lori?" Harper hissed in an urgent whisper. "Lori, no! Come on, you can fight this!"

"I'm sorry, Harper." Lori turned to face her roommate slowly, but then once Amia couldn't see one side of her face, she winked at her knowingly. "I don't think I can anymore. It's too strong."

At first, Harper looked confused and uncertain, but after a moment she returned Lori's wink with a barely-nod. "I can't believe you!" Harper cried, convincingly feigning shock. "After everything we've been through! After everything I tried to do for you!"

"She can't help herself," Amia jeered. "How could she? I'm offering her the ultimate pleasure. You know it too, Harper. You know how good it feels to submit. You know that kneeling before your betters, clad it latex, your mind empty of all thought, is the best feeling in the world. Obedience is pleasure."

"Obedience is pleasure." Lori shivered. Her body was covered in goosebumps. She wanted to touch herself so badly, but she knew she couldn't. She knew if she gave in to that temptation, everything would soon spiral out of her already-loose control. She did her best to keep herself focused on her plan. "Y-you're not going to stop, are you? Not with us. Not even just with this school."

"That's right!" Amia raised one hand in front of herself, and clenched it in a tight fist. "I have big plans. You have no idea. I'm not going to stop. I'll never stop. With this technology, I can do anything!" Lori trembled at the look in the TA's eyes. She was utterly power-mad. "Soon, everyone will kneel before me. Everyone! I'm going to show them all how good it feels to submit. Obedience is pleasure. No-one can resist that. No-one can fight the ultimate pleasure. No-one."

"No-one." Lori nodded. Then, she turned to the drones surrounding her, and smiled. "That's right, isn't it, Unit #0001?"

"What?" Amia froze, confused. Her ears pricked up, alert, as if she sensed something was afoot. She was right.

Unit #0001 turned to look at Lori, Professor Elbourne's cold, expressionless face staring into hers. "Evaluating new data. Evaluating new behavior protocols."

Lori bit her lip. This was it. The critical moment. Now, there was nothing to do but wait.

"New behavior protocols confirmed," Unit #0001 announced, after a few moments. "This units only purpose is to pleasure Amia Grover. All units' only purpose is to pleasure Amia Grover. Amia Grover's pleasure is all that matters. Submission to hypnotic indoctrination is the ultimate pleasure. All units will proceed to subdue and indoctrinate Amia Grover."

"Command accepted," came the sombre echo from around the room.

"What?" Amia repeated, now even more dumbfounded. Even as the pack of drones spread throughout the room began to advance on her, she didn't seem to register that it was really happening. "What's going on? This is impossible. Why... why are you doing that?"

"Don't you see?" Lori giggled. She didn't want to fall into the same mistake as Amia, listening to herself talk instead of making sure she'd won, but she couldn't resist crowing a little bit. "You brainwashed them all into thinking that your pleasure is the most important thing in the universe. And, just now, you told them that being brainwashed and submitting is the ultimate form of pleasure. Apparently, even drones are capable of putting two and two together."

"That's not what I meant!" Amia protested, but the drones kept advancing nonetheless. Amia glanced nervously between them, clearly on the verge of panic. "Stop!" she cried, but the only one that stopped was Unit #0001.

"Remember?" Lori put in gleefully, after allowing Amia to stew in her own confusion and panic for a few seconds. "They don't take orders from you. Not directly."

"Shit!" Amia spat, as she remembered the cautionary measures Professor Elbourne had taken. She had started backing away from the drones as they steadily closed in on her, but she was already backed into a corner. "Um, Profess... fuck, I mean, Unit #0001, tell-"

That was as far as she got. As soon as she started talking, Lori surged into motion. She sprinted as fast as she could, moving faster than she ever had in her life, and in no time at all she crossed the distance between herself and Amia. Amia was taken completely off-guard, and had no time at all to react or even cry out before Lori barreled into her, tackling her off her feet and, crucially, clamping a hand over her mouth.

"Mmph! Mmmmmmph!" was the only noise that came out of Amia's muffled mouth, as she struggled furiously beneath Lori to try and free herself. It was no use, however, Lori had managed to pin both of Amia's arms beneath her knees, and even though Amia was tossing and turning like crazy, Lori managed to keep a hand over her mouth.

"Sorry, Amia," Lori panted, breathing hard from her exertion but grinning wildly. "This is it. You lose."

Then, the drones were upon them. They descended around Lori and Amia, surrounding them. Lori couldn't deny that it gave her a certain thrill to see their latex clad bodies all moving in concert to fulfill, not Amia's plan, but hers. It was a rush, to know that she was in control of this, that even though she hadn't given the drones any commands, they were doing exactly what she had wanted. Lori's grin widened. She wasn't going to go crazy with power like Amia, but after everything she'd been through, she figured there was nothing wrong with enjoying herself a little.

Amia's muffled shrieks became even more high-pitched and desperate as the drones started to place their hands on her body, restraining her at her wrists and ankles to ensure that she would be unable to squirm free. Unit #0001 held back, still in frozen in place by Amia's final command, but that didn't matter. The three remaining drones - Lori's friends, Sally, Madison and Jae - would be more than enough. Especially if Lori helped. For the moment, though, Lori focused on keeping Amia's mouth covered as the drones beside her started to clinically and mechanically strip the would-be mind controller of her clothes. Lori scrambled out the way so she was no longer on top of Amia, eager to get out of the way. Working together, the drones managed to get Amia out of her tight-fitting jeans, and when the drone that had been Madison found that it couldn't remove Amia's crop top over her head, it instead simply ripped the flimsy top from her body. Amia's panties and bra soon followed, until the squirming TA was left completely naked. Completely exposed. Completely vulnerable.

"How's it feel, Amia?" Lori mocked. She couldn't help it. She wanted to ride this thrill for as long as it lasted. Payback was sweet. "Now that you're on the receiving end for once. Feel good? Does it live up to your fantasies?"

"Mm mmmph!" was the only reply Amia was capable of making.

"Let's see." Keeping one hand over her mouth, Lori stretched down and managed to slip a hand between Amia's legs. Amia's squirming became particularly frenzied for a moment, but with the drones holding her limbs, she was unable to escape. Lori retracted her hand after a moment. It came away wet. "Huh, look at that," Lori continued. "I guess it does. Looks like you're not such a dominant after all."

Before she could do or say anything more, the drones proceeded with the next part of their plan. Sally was on Amia's right-hand side, Madison was on her left, and Jae was at her feet. As one, as if responding to some unseen signal, they bent forwards and started pleasuring her with their mouths. Drone-Jae used its unrelenting, hypnotically-driven strength to pull Amia's legs apart and quickly buried its face in her cunt. Even though it was brainwashed and emotionless, it devoted itself so completely to the task of eating out Amia's pussy that it almost seemed to be in an impassioned frenzy. At the same moment, on each side, the other drones - Units #7137 and #7428 - starting to aggressively kiss and bite all across her exposed form, across her midriff and on her small, pert breasts. The instant over-stimulation drove Amia wild. She started thrashing like never before, and her muffled protests morphed into something that sounded suspiciously like moaning. Lori could feel herself becoming aroused too. Seeing Amia brought so low was unbelievably satisfying, and it was a delightful reversal to see Amia now falling prey to the drones she had created to serve her.

"Lori?" Harper called out, cautiously approaching the pile of latex-clad bodies surrounding Amia. "Are you...?"

"Don't worry, I'm OK," Lori panted. "I'm just, um, helping."

She was embarrassed to admit she wanted the satisfaction of degrading Amia personally. Fortunately, Harper didn't question it. She just nodded gratefully, and then slumped into a chair. Finally, she could rest. Lori, though, was only just getting started. She was no longer breathing hard from exertion, but from the heat filling her body. Between her own legs, her cock was growing hard, straining against the tight-fitting latex in a way that, she had to admit, felt incredible.

"Here's what's gonna happen," Lori said, returning her attention to Amia. She couldn't know for sure, but she had a sense of what the drones might be planning. "These drones you were so in control of are going to soften you up with pleasure, and make your mind nice and weak. Then, I'm gonna put that brainwashing device on your head and brainwash the fuck out of you. A little like what you tried - and failed - to do to Harper. Except, this time, it isn't a game. It's just the end, for you."

"Mmmp- mrrrr!" Amia's muffled, inaudible protest was cut short by a load, full-throated moan as Jae started roughly tongue-fucking Amia's wet, needy pussy and using a hand to tease her throbbing clit. The effort on Amia was incredible. It had her tossing her head from side to side so hard, Lori was struggling to keep a hand on her mouth. Not that she really needed to - there was no way Amia was still in a fit state to properly issue any kind of complex command. Lori supposed she shouldn't have been so surprised. The drones had, after all, probably been programmed with Amia's pleasure specifically in mind.