Finding Answers in Firleaf (Bimbo/Mind Control) (Patreon)

Hey folks, how's going?

Well. I guess it's going, huh? One way or another. Not much else we can do but keep doing our thing. So, in the spirit of that, here's a tale about the ever lovely Blue Blazer and Mimic Gimmick! They'll save the day if they keep trying at it, for sure!

Hope you enjoy!

“Something seems off about this place, boss.”

“Really? Seems perfectly charming to me, old friend.”

Blue Blazer and Mimic Gimmick were on the case again. Specifically, a missing persons case that they’d been handed by the local authorities. The police were stumped and getting nowhere? Throw the whole thing at a superhero and blame them if they can’t solve it! It was win-win.

The town of Firleaf was a quiet place. Smaller than the city that the heroines usually patrolled, with much less industry around to power it, but less traffic to pollute it as well. The suburbs ran towards the town centre, then back out towards the suburbs again, with a few factories around the edges to keep money flowing in. The place was pretty idyllic compared to some of the places BB had seen on earth.

Mimic clearly didn’t agree though. To her – a city kid, born and raised – the town was a sleepy backwater with barely anything to do. But more than that – there was something putting her on edge here. Something she was sensing just by walking down the street, her mentor hovering next to her. Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

“I’m just saying, the sooner we’re done here, the better,” the shapeshifter huffed. “So let’s get going already. Where do we start?”

The blue-skinned alien frowned at her sidekick’s sour attitude, but she let it pass. Instead, she turned her attention to the matter at hand.

“Tricky to say.” She moved one of her four hands to her chin, like she was always seeing humans do on TV when they were deep in thought. “Disappearances have occurred all over the town, with very little in common to link the victims. The main connection seems to be that most of them were visitors to Firleaf, on business trips or just passing through. Their cases were reported in when they didn’t show up at their destinations.”

“So we’re looking for something that targets outsiders?” Mimic looked around, suddenly very aware that the two of them were the most obvious outsiders for miles around. You just didn’t see many blonde aliens and brunette shapeshifters in this part of the world! She didn’t spot anyone watching them or any signs of sinister intent afoot, but she’d have to keep an eye out...

“Perhaps, now.” BB shook her head, doubtful. “But the earliest missing person reports were for people who’d lived here all their lives. Something may have changed in the kidnapper’s M.O., but I suspect we’re not looking at a simple operation here.”

The sidekick nodded. “Okay. If that’s all we’ve got to start with, I guess we’d better talk with some of the locals, see if they’ve noticed anything unusual around here lately.”

“A fine idea,” the alien amazon agreed. “I’m sure any of these citizens will be happy to help us!”

Mimic rolled her eyes. Her mentor was such an optimist sometimes. They weren’t going to be able to just pull people over and talk to them out here. This wasn’t the city where they normally worked, and they weren’t famous out in the boonies. Everyone knew that communities like this were closed off and isolated. None of them liked outsiders. They’d be lucky if even one or two people answered their questions…

“Excuse me, miss!” BB waved to a passerby. “Do you have a moment? We have some enquiries we wish to make about your lovely town.”

“Oh of course!” The woman immediately walked right on over with a bright smile. “How can I help?”

… Okay, sure, exception that proved the rule. Mimic slid up beside her mentor and smiled to the other woman – trying  to ignore how spacey she looked. The lady was a blonde with considerable curves (the kind that Mimic herself sometimes sported when she was messing around with helium tanks), dressed in a rather sharp business suit.

The head hero met her smile with one of her own. “Thank you. As you can see, we’re heroes from out of town. I’m Blue Blazer, and this is my assistant, Mimic Gimmick. You may have heard of us?”

The woman kept smiling. “Nope!”

“Oh.” The wind went a little out of BB’s sails, but she kept going anyway. “W-well, in any case, might I ask your name?”

She nodded happily. “Sure! I’m the Banker.”

The two heroes paused, exchanging a glance.

“I see!” BB nodded, her smile flickering a touch. “A fine profession! But, ah… I meant to ask your name…”

“Right.” The Banker nodded understandingly. “I’m the Banker.”

Another shared glance. Mimic slowly shook her head.

“Oh, okay.” Blue Blazer nodded again, smile really strained now. “Well, in that case, can you perhaps tell us if you’ve seen anything strange in this town lately? Within the past six months, say.”

The blonde clapped her hands. “I’d be happy to, but everything’s been totally normal around here. Firleaf is such a wonderful town – more people should move here! It’s our own slice of paradise~”

Hm. One last shared glance, and this one came with a shared thought – that there was no way this woman was going to be of any help to them.

“Oh. Well. Thank you all the same.” The pair waved her off, before wilting a little in her wake.

Mimic didn’t wait long to strike. “… I told you something was off about this place.”

“We can’t be certain of that!” BB protested. “Maybe she’s just a bit… strange. Humans are odd creatures.”

“Hey!”

The sidekick’s protest was ignored as her mentor waved down another passerby. This one was a brunette dressed in blue overalls stained with the occasional splash of oil – but, to Mimic’s surprise, she was another example of a woman with incredibly pronounced curves. Definitely not the kind of figure she would have expected from someone with such a hands-on uniform…

“I’d be happy to help,” she was telling Blue Blazer. “Everyone in Firleaf is a helpful soul. I’m the Mechanic, what can I do for you?”

Uh oh.

BB bit her lip. “Nice to meet you, miss Mechanic. I don’t suppose you could tell me if you’ve seen anything unusual in town lately?”

The brunette shook her head. “Oh, no, nothing unusual ever happens around here. Firleaf is a wonderful town, where everything is exactly as it seems!”

“I… see.” The heroes waved off another bizarre citizen, resuming their walk through town in silence for a moment. Then…

“This doesn’t necessarily prove anything…”

“You are such a sore loser sometimes, boss.”

“I just don’t want us jumping to conclusions!”

The sidekick sighed. “Seems pretty clear that something’s wrong with this place.”

Even BB couldn’t deny it any longer. “Maybe, but I can’t possibly imagine what would cause strangeness like this. Let me just as a few more questions…”

That was reasonable enough, and Mimic didn’t object. This was really weird, and she, too, couldn’t think of any reason why this kind of thing might be happening.

The next woman to pass them was a blonde in a shirt and jeans, with a blue and white striped apron hanging from her neck. She was another one with a chest the size of a pair of cantaloups, too. What did they put in the drinking water out here, pure milk? Now that Mimic had noticed it, looking around she could see there were a lot of surprisingly endowed women around here…

“Hi there! I’m the Grocer,” the woman was saying with a perky voice, because of course she was. “How can I help you?”

The two heroes tried not to wince as they returned her greeting. “I was wondering…” Now even BB was starting to sound uncertain about all of this. “Have you seen anything unusual around here recently…?”

“Oh no,” the blonde answered predictably. “Firleaf is such a wonderful town. Nothing unusual ever happens around here.”

“Right…” The blue alien lifted an eyebrow as she hovered in front of the woman. “Well, in that case, is there anywhere we can ask about recent events here? A newspaper, perhaps? Or the town hall?”

Mimic was about to point out to her mentor that they could just look these things up on her phone – she loved the woman, but BB could be frightfully bad with human tech – when the blonde spoke up first. “Oh, you should speak to Sam. No one knows this town better than him!”

Huh.

“His name is Sam?” The elder heroine asked cautiously. “Not ‘the Conductor’ or ‘the Pilot’?”

“Yeah.” The woman blinked at her like she’d just said something bizarre. “That’s just his name. Is that a problem?”

“N-no, not at all!” BB laughed nervously. But she glanced to Mimic again, tilting her head. This sounded like it might be a lead. Best to check it out. “Uh, where might we find this Sam fellow…?”

-

‘Sam’, they were quickly able to determine, was Samual Prince, a real estate agent and apparent minor celebrity in the town. He had billboards and everything. The heroes had even seen one or two of them as they flew in.

That would have made finding his office easy – if it weren’t for the fact that seemingly everyone they spoke to knew where it was. Perhaps ‘minor’ was the wrong word – neither BB nor Mimic had ever seen this kind of infamy for a guy who sold houses. Another thing to add to the steadily growing list of mysteries this seemingly picturesque town held.

“Ladies! Wow, I can’t believe our humble little town is playing host to not just one, but two spectacular superheroines! What brings you to Firleaf?”

In real life, he looked shockingly like the man the billboards had portrayed. His smile really was that wide, and his teeth actually did sparkle like that. If anything, they’d played down how glossy he was in real life. He had short, sharply cut black hair, and the eyes of a con-man at a parole hearing. Around his shoulders he wore a personally tailored red blazer, with his name stitched into his lapel with golden thread.

“Mr Sam, I believe?” Blue Blazer shook his offered hand. “I understand you’re rather famous around the town.”

He let out a good natured chuckle, waving her words away. “Oh, I know a few people, sure – always remember the name of your clients, miss Blazer! But I wouldn’t say I’m anything special. I just know how to get the right people in the right place, and clearly that’s appreciated around these parts. Here! Take my card.”

He flicked his wrist, producing a pair of gold-lined business cards, offering them out. BB took one, ever the gracious heroine, though Mimic gave the man a long, grudging look before she did the same, correctly intuiting that he wouldn’t stop offering. She’d met his kind before – either in prison, or in used car lots. She didn’t trust this guy an inch, and as soon as he looked away from her, she tossed the card he’d handed her in the trash.

“Thank you, sir.” Her mentor, of course, was much more trusting, sliding her card into a pocket. “Now, I was hoping to ask you, since everyone says you’re something of an expert on the subject – have you perhaps noticed anything unusual going on in this town in the past few months?”

“Unusual? Hm…” The man leaned back against his desk, considering. “Well there have been a few disappearances, I suppose. But I heard that all got sorted out, everyone was right as rain.”

“Really?” The blonde alien tilted her head, curious. “That’s peculiar. After all, we ourselves were asked to come here ourselves to investigate those very disappearances, and we’ve heard nothing of the victims being found…”

“Oh.” His eyes widened in surprise for a moment, before he was suddenly nodding with understanding. The expression change was so quick that Mimic wasn’t even sure that her friend caught it. “Ah, I must have misheard, yes, that’s very unfortunate. Well, if that’s why you’re here in town, I’d love to help you in any way I can. You say you’re looking for suspicious activity? Maybe I can help with that. People do tell me a lot about the goings on around here.”

BB nodded slowly, eyeing the man with a look that even her sidekick found difficult to read, her antennae twitching. “Yes, that would be most helpful. We were told that you know a lot about this town, and your assistance would speed our investigation greatly.”

Sam clapped his hands together, a pleased grin on his face. “That’s what they say! I keep my ear to the ground. I couldn’t win the real estate agent of the year award five times in a row if I couldn’t find all my clients their perfect homes!” He snapped his fingers, his shining white teeth glinting, before turning and walking over to one of his filing cabinets by the wall. “If you insist that these people really are going missing, then I’ll use my connections to help you look. Maybe I’ve missed something lately.”

As he was momentarily distracted rooting through his documents, Mimic leaned over to her mentor – well, stretched her neck and leaned her head while keeping her body where it was, because why simply ‘lean’ when you can shift? – and gave her an uncertain look.

“Are you sure about this Boss? This guy is crazy suspicious.”

To her surprise, BB nodded in agreement “He is, without question. But I don’t see any actual evidence of any crimes here. And given the kind of man he seems to be, I doubt he’ll tell us what he’s done with the people who have disappeared if we try to interrogate him.”

That… was fair, actually. “What do you want to do?” The brunette glanced back towards Sam.

“We keep an eye on him,” the alien amazon said quietly. “Let him think we’re fooled. Villains like him always get overconfident if they think they’re getting away with their crimes. He’ll slip up and tell us what he’s done himself. His ego will demand no less.”

“You really think so?”

BB glanced at her, grinning. “You saw the billboards too, didn’t you?”

“Good point.” Ha! Mimic smiled, snapping back into her regular place before Sam could turn back around. Sometimes it was nice to be reminded why her mentor was her mentor. She really did know what she was doing!

“Here we go. Let me take a look through these…” The man slammed his cabinet shut and turned back to the pair, holding a collection of files and loose sheets of paper. “I keep a lot of notes on what people tell me about the town, you see. Gotta know this stuff when you’re in real estate. I’ve got some rumours about Mafia activity in this one…” He pulled one out of the pile for a moment, looking it over… Before throwing it over his shoulder with a shake of his head. “Nah, that was all a big misunderstanding. The cops cleared that one right up, and now the town has an amazing pizzeria, have you visited it yet?”

BB giggled, playing every bit the charmed guest. “We have not! We’ll have to look out for it.”

“Oh, you certainly will, certainly will…” He pulled out another piece of paper, looking it over. “Prostitution ring?” He glanced at the heroines for a second, before shaking his head and getting rid of the paper again. “Oh, no, that got dealt with last month. Shame, shame – Uh, I mean it’s a shame what people try to get up to in a nice town like this, don’t you think?”

“Isn’t it?” The elder heroine gave him a saddened pout. “Perhaps it would be easier if this town had a hero or two of their own.”

“Ah, no, I don’t think I’d go that far.” The man chuckled – a little nervously, to Mimic’s ear. “Firleaf is a wonderful town 99% of the time. We don’t need any hero trouble. Though I certainly wouldn’t object to the two of you hanging around- Aha!” He ripped another piece of paper out of the file, shoving the rest off onto his desk. “Here we go. Perfect.” He turned to the pair. “I know exactly where you need to go.”

-

“Synergistic Solutions! One of Firleaf’s finest business!” Sam gave the two heroes a broad smile as he gestured at the building across the street.

They looked. They were not impressed. The old building was still standing, but that was probably the only nice thing that could be said about it. The windows were boarded up, and the roof had at least partially collapsed. There were signs of

“Finest?”

“Okay, it used to be our finest. But, uh, well, there were some legal issues, and the place got shut down some time ago. Real shame, real real shame. ‘S been terrible for the economy.”

“And you think that the kidnappers have been using this place as their base?”

“Uh. Sure! Yeah, that makes sense, doesn’t it? There’s not many places to hide in a town like Firleaf.” He nodded to himself. “Anyway, if you’d like to take a look around, I do happen to have the keys here, so I can let you in.”

“Oh, thank you.” Blue Blazer gave him one of her confident smiles. “And I’m sure you’ll give us the tour around, won’t you?”

“I will?” He blinked at her, surprised, before coughing nervously. “I mean, of course I will. I’d be delighted. Just this way, ladies…”

The man went to cross the street, beckoning the heroes to follow him. As they did so, BB leaned over to her sidekick, smirking. “There. No slipping away from him. Now we just need to keep an eye on him and see what he does. I’m sure he’ll reveal himself soon.”

“Yeah… Any time now…” Mimic nodded, breathing hard.

The mighty maiden raised a concerned eyebrow. “Are you feeling alright?”

Her sidekick nodded, though she had to admit she was feeling a little distracted. The walk over here hadn’t been long, but she was starting to feel a little winded all the same. Clearly all that time spent searching the town was starting to take its toll on her. Well, that and the flight over. BB had it way easier – she could just hover everywhere. Mimic had to choose a flight capable form and then flap.

“I’ll be… nn… fine,” she muttered, pressing a hand to her brow before shaking her head. “Don’t worry.”

Blue Blazer didn’t look convinced, but relented all the same – knowing full well how stubborn her friend could be. “Very well, but if you start calling yourself ‘The Sidekick’, I’m sending you home immediately, okay?”

There was a smirk on her lips as she said it and Mimic couldn’t help but snort at the joke. “Oh, don’t worry, there’s no way in hell that’s happening.”

“Good.” Her mentor nodded, satisfied. “But do be careful. We don’t know what’s at work here – if you suspect anything is affecting either of us…”

“… I’ll let you know immediately.” The sidekick finished, nodding. Obviously, she wasn’t just going to ignore something like that. She wasn’t a rookie – the two of them dealt with this kind of nonsense all the time! At least that little fairy brat wasn’t involved in this one.

BB grinned, clearly agreeing with the sentiment, before turning to cross after their ‘guide’. “Let’s not keep him waiting then.”

Mimic smirked right on back, falling in to follow. Though, a sliver of paranoia did make her pause for a second. Could they be under the influence of this weird town as well?

Ha. As if. Given the proportions on everyone around here, she was preeetty sure they’d notice if she suddenly started sporting curves bigger than her head. Though maybe not if BB did – that girl was already pretty big, wasn’t she?

… Was she? The sidekick paused, glancing at her mentor. The red uniform/leotard the other woman wore hid basically nothing, so she could easily see that, yep, those blue bombshells were bigger than coconuts – though not quite head sized. Yep, no problems here!

Smirking, she crossed the road after the others. And, in the afternoon light, you might be forgiven for thinking that her hips looked just a little bit thicker with every sway…

-

“First stop on the tour – the reception!” Sam spread his arms wide, as if announcing some grand museum exhibit, as he led the heroines into one of the most run down company buildings either had ever seen. Lights were dangling from the ceiling. The front desk had been tipped onto its front. Someone had clearly punched several holes into the walls for some reason. And the hinges on the front doors squeaked.

The most positive thing either of them could say about it was that it clearly still had power, otherwise those hanging cables wouldn’t be sparking so much.

Blue Blazer put her hand to her chin, eyes scanning around. “It looks like your theory was incorrect, Mr Prince,” she said, frowning.

“Hm?” He glanced over at her, surprised, as though he’d almost forgotten she was there. “Theory?”

“That this is where the kidnappers were hiding.”

“Oh. Oh!” His eyes widened in understanding, before he laughed and shook his head. “Let’s not be too hasty, madam. We should have a proper look around, right? Just because it’s a little cluttered down here doesn’t mean they haven’t been taking advantage of the upstairs rooms!”

“’A little cluttered’ is one way of putting it,” Mimic sighed. “This place is a dump!” Honestly, seeing it be such a mess felt almost offensive to her, for some reason.

Sam was undeterred. “Oh, it’s just a bit of a fixer-upper. And all the more reason for criminals to be hiding out here, right?”

Uh huh. Yeah. Sure. The heroes rolled their eyes at each other, but said nothing out loud. But man, humouring this guy was going to take more work than they expected.

“A shame that it’s in such poor condition,” BB sighed, picking up the front desk and set it right, then leaning over it to polish its surface down. Mimic was surprised to see her mentor care so much about the neatness of a random office building… And then she was surprised to find herself staring at said mentor’s ass as it wiggled from side to side, the alien spending a moment to adjust the desk just right.

There was just something captivating about watching it sway back… and forth… and…

“H-hey!” The sidekick only broke her breathless trance when she noticed she wasn’t the only one staring. “What are you looking at?”

“Oh, me? Nothin’, nothin’!” Sam raised his hands innocently. “But, uh, hey, let’s check out the rest of this place too. Just in case, yeah?”

BB rose with a bright smile. “Of course, sir. We should make sure to be thorough!”

“Very well.” Mimic sighed, unable to hide her exasperation. “Lead on, Mr. Prince.”

He shot the pair a grin, before doing just that, guiding the way towards the stairway at the back. Blue Blazer followed after him primly, having dropped out of her typical hover in order to walk across the floor, her stride developing a swaying mince kind of rhythm. Once again, Mimic found her eyes drawn after her… Before shaking her head clear as the woman vanished up the stairs.

Man, she was so distractable today.

The sidekick took a breath, and hurried after the others, only pausing to take one last look around the room before leaving. You know, despite what she’d said when they entered, this place was actually in surprisingly good condition. The lights were all nicely seated and working, the doors opened and closed easily, the walls were clean…

… Hadn’t… hadn’t there been some problem with the walls earlier?

No, she must have been thinking about something else. Everything was in good condition here. Like the place was just shut down after a normal day of work, ready to resume in the morning. Funny – why had she thought otherwise?

Ah well. No big deal. With a shrug, she headed up the stairs to catch up with the other two.

-

“And up here is the board room…” Sam was still giving the tour as he led the two women past a series of offices, straight into a large chamber that was mostly filled by a long straight table, surrounded by chairs. “Not too bad, if I do say so myself.”

Mimic had to agree. Despite a rough beginning, this tour was starting to show a lot of strengths in this building. She could easily see a company being run through here, instead of a ruin. Which was starting to make her question why they were here in the first place.

“Didn’t you say this place was abandoned?” She asked, folding her arms, her expression stern. “I thought that was the reason we were looking for the kidnappers here.”

“Oh, we’re still looking around. I’m sure we’ll find something…” He waved a hand dismissively, before looking to BB. “What do you think, dear?”

The four-armed fighter clapped her hands, smiling with delight. “I think it makes for a lovely meeting room! I bet the boss could get all sorts of business done here!”

Mimic facepalmed. Sounded like her friend was getting distracted from the real job. Hardly unexpected, unfortunately. She had always been flighty, and now it sounded like she was busy day dreaming about running this place. Ugh, she sounded so chipper, too. It was embarrassing.

But, of course, she’d always have a job as long as she kept dressing like that. The brunette took a look over at the blonde, raising an eyebrow as she took in the red suit the other woman wore. For some reason, the thought of a red leotard popped into her head – but no, Blue Blazer wore a velvet red jacket and a red pencil skirt, all cut to show off as much of her admittedly curvaceous body as possible. She couldn’t bend over without showing off her red underwear, and everyone could see she wore the same shade for her bra. Red and blue made for one hell of a contrast…

Tch. Why couldn’t she be a bit more professional? The sidekick looked down at her own uniform. Much more practical – a black business suit over a white blouse and black pants, all professionally tailored. Not that she’d had a choice about the tailoring, with how big her bust was. Shops just didn’t stock bras that went deep enough into the back half of the alphabet for her.

“Yes, well, whatever,” the more mature of the pair sighed, looking at their guide. “I think that’s more than enough of this place. Have you anything else to show us, or shall we get going?”

“Oh, no, don’t leave yet!” The idea seemed to distress him for some reason. Interesting. “Actually, there was one more room I think you’ll be interested in…”

-

“Here we are,” he said, leading the way once more. “The capstone of the tour, the Boss’s Office!”

Mimic strode in behind him, looking thoroughly unimpressed. And behind her, BB was bringing up the rear – while making sure to swing hers with every step.

“Great,” the brunette’s words were short and sharp. “Looks nice. But no kidnappers. Got any more of my time to waste?”

She wasn’t wrong. The Boss’s Office was a nicely done up room, with a large desk in the middle, and tinted glass walls so that the occupant could watch the rest of the office from the comfort of their chair. The perfect place to run a business, as far as she was concerned – but rather irrelevant to the whole kidnapping thing.

“Now now,” the sleezy salesman just chuckled at her jab. “It’s hardly a waste to get a full view of a property before a purchase. But what do you think, babe?”

He looked to Blue Blazer, who had moved into the room and was now sorting stationary on the desk.

“Hm? Oh, whatever makes the boss happy is fine by me~!” She giggled, before going back to her very important organizational work.

Mimic, though, was distracted by the man’s choice of words. “What do you mean purchase? We’re not here to buy from you.”

“Oh?” Sam grinned at her. “Then why are you here?”

She blinked. Wasn’t that obvious? “We’re here to… we’re here to… Uh…”

Oh. That was funny. It was on the tip of her tongue…

“Come on now, lady – who goes to a real estate agent if they’re not looking to buy property?”

That… that was true… wasn’t it? Wasn’t it? Oh, why did her head feel so empty…? Something- Something was absolutely wrong here!

“BB…” She groaned, rubbing at her head. “We… We’ve got to get out of here…”

But if she hoped for support, she wasn’t going to get it.

“Who’s BB?” The blue alien turned from the desk to smiling at her blankly. “I’m the Secretary!”

Oh no.

Sam, meanwhile, looked impressed. “Wow, you’re really trying to resist, huh? Sorry, babe, there’s no point. The two of you belonged to Firleaf from the moment you took those cards of mine.”

Cards? Wait…

A memory of the two of them in his office, accepting those stupid pieces of paper, flashed through her head. “But- But I threw that away!” She gasped.

“You did? Rude!” He laughed. “But it doesn’t matter. Once you’ve accepted my card, you’ve accepted whatever place I find for you in Firleaf!”

“You…!” The heroine staggered, swaying on her feet. “This is what happened to all of those people who disappeared… Why would you do this?”

He tilted his head. “Why? Why, to sell more houses, dear. Firleaf is the perfect town, and perfect towns are valuable places to live. You wouldn’t believe how much people are willing to pay to live in a town that looks like it jumped straight out of a picture book! All I have to do is make sure that everyone has their own role to fill, and that they do it well. Anything else…” His eyes flicked down to her chest, and his smile grew that much smugger. “Well, that’s just a bonus.”

She stared at him, incredulous. “You’d… You’d do all of this… just to sell some houses?”

That got a laugh. “Would I? Well, babe, that’s not the question you should be asking.” He moved closer, cupping her by the chin. Despite herself, she found she couldn’t pull away. “The question you need to ask is: Who are you?”

“Who am…?” Wait. Wait, no. No, she had to get this right. She was- She was- She was-!

“I’m the CEO!”

She couldn’t stop herself – the words burst from her lips despite her best efforts. And despite her best efforts, she realised they were true.

The admission rang through her soul like a bell, shattering the last dregs of resistance. Instantly, the brunette’s shoulders slumped, her chest bouncing as it swelled out another couple of cup sizes. A slow, stupid smile spread over her face as her eyes glazed, everything that was left of her former intelligence drizzling away. She didn’t need any of that as the CEO, after all.

Yeeesss, that was right. The CEO. She was a business woman who did business things. A very busy business woman who had no time to be standing here gawping. She had people to boss around!

“What are you doing standing around in my office!” She barked at the Secretary, stepping over and giving her a good smack on the rear. “Go get me some coffee! I’ve got important work to do!”

The Secretary squealed as she snapped to attention, holding down the hem of her skirt coquettishly. “Yes Boss! Right away boss!”

“I’m the CEO!” The CEO roared after her as she scampered away. “Don’t you forget it. I’m tellin’ ya’, Sam,” she sighed, lowering her voice as she circled her office to get to her desk. “You just can’t get good help these days.”

“Don’t worry.” He gave her a wink as he walked to the door, leaving her to sit at her desk alone. “I’ll make sure you’ve got plenty of workers in here before too long!”

That sounded good to her. She was the CEO, after all. She needed people to boss around, to get her numbers and spreadsheets and things. Until they got here, all she could do was sit here and look busy.

So she did – though her version of ‘looking busy’ was smiling blankly at the wall. She’d be joined in said work by the Secretary, once the blue bimbo got back with her coffee. There the two of them would stay, ‘working’ away in their now fully restored office building - little more than two toys in a town-sized play set.

How had this happened? What dark methods were used to turn the pair from heroes to empty headed thralls of a simple town? These questions didn’t matter to either of them any more. They were just happy to have found their place in Firleaf – the most wonderful town in the world.

And they couldn’t wait for more people to join them~