I smile for a moment as I check out 'Maid Black' and her kinda-skimpy maid uniform, but I start to frown as my brain catches up with me. "Neat, but really, who are you? Just a maid?"
Her expression grows more serious as she looks at mine. "...Did you not buy me? Surely the old geezer must've said something before you forked out the cash, right?"
I stand up straighter, trying to look more imposing - letting my tail hover ominously for greater effect. "There's been something of a hostile takeover. I'm taking over this place! ...Whatever it is! I'm guessing you were a captive, then? Did Baitmaster get you?"
Maid Black seems relieved by my declaration more than anything. "Oh, that's even better! This place is kind of nice, and I was worried I was gonna get shipped off to...well, wherever. Uh, and no, I was captured by the 'Auctioneer' and a couple of his buddies. They tricked me with a post on Poseidon-Kink dot com a couple weeks ago. Showed up at the motel room and bam, black hood and no safe word."
Marcy raises an eyebrow. "The freaky hookup site? Isn't that, like, a notorious place for running into weirdos?"
"Well, also kind of the main purpose of the site, too. I bought this outfit myself for the meetup, you know? Thought I was just going for a bit of 'maid roleplay', then surprise! Now I'm an actual maid, or whatever. At least I don't have to worry about keeping the outfit clean, given he hasn't given me anything else to wear..."
She notices the look on my face and gets back to answering my original question. "Er, right, my name is Janice Black. I'm a low-grade superhuman, I...have cleaning powers."
"Huh." Marcy gives Janice another look. "How does that work, exactly?"
"Like a shitty telekinesis that works better on smaller things. I can sweep up dust with a thought, and make stains melt away. Like you've seen water slide off something waterproof? Poof, just like that."
"Neat." I gesture at the room around us. "And this is the Auctioneer's house?"
"Sort of, he probably has some public address somewhere else - this place is completely underground, I've got no idea where it is and the teleporter is the only way in or out, as far as I know. I can give you the tour, though?"
I nod, and Janice leads us into the hallway behind her. The first room she leads us to is pretty huge - it's like a living room, but at least three or four times the size of any I've ever seen. There's a massive TV on one wall, a bunch of big couches, and even a small dance floor on one side. Janice points out the amenities, then gestures at a door to the other side.
"The kitchen is through there. It's big enough to host a professional cooking staff, but he'd only bring them in for parties. I can cook, kinda, but if you ask me to handle a big event I'm gonna need help. At least the place is stocked pretty good. I figured if I ever got stuck down here I'd have like a year before I starved to death."
"The old guy threw parties down here?"
"That's what he said, though he never had more than a few guests over while I've been here. He told me in case I needed to be ready to, y'know, 'entertain' the party people."
Marcy frowns at that statement. "Did he make you do, you know...things like that?"
Janice shakes her head. "Never touched me or let anyone else do it, apparently that 'lowers my resale value'. Just had to flash my tits or ass from time to time. There's retractable stripper poles in the ceiling there, switches on the wall, figured I might have to learn how to swing around on one of those things. Always wanted to try it once, to be honest."
For someone who was on the verge of being sold into sex slavery, Maid Black sounds...kind of oddly detached about it? I definitely want to pry more into that, but after the tour. I'm liking what I'm seeing so far, this place has secret hideout written all over it! Just as long as I can make sure no one else is going to be barging into the place...
"Nice, nice. I see some more halls down there, what else do we have?"
Janice gestures at one door while leading us towards a larger one. "Bathrooms and servants quarters are down there - that's where I sleep, basically like a college dorm except less noise from the neighbors. There's a more private party lounge in here, for...VIPs, I guess." She shows us a room with a few tables and a small bar, like maybe a place where you could play a game of cards, or have a private business meeting or something.
"Then we've got 'guest quarters' along with the master bedroom. Four guests, one master - decent beds in all of them but I'm pretty sure they're just places to screw the entertainment, more than to actually stay over. Then finally, at the end of the hall is the office. I've been in there a few times but it's locked right now."
She leads us to the end of the hall and sure enough, the door doesn't budge. Wish I'd taken the time to search the dude for his keys or something! I kinda hate to damage the place if I'm gonna be moving in, but it's not like I'm gonna be calling in a locksmith to check things out. Maybe I can get Jef to find me a new door later?
I take a deep breath, and slam my fist into the door. The wood cracks and splinters, and while it doesn't completely bust off the hinges or anything it's clearly pretty structurally compromised. I give it one more good kick, and this time the thing gives away entirely. Janice whistles at the display.
"Ooooh, nice! Got some muscles in there, eh, bug girl?"
I give her a harrumph. "That's Mistress Bug Girl to you, Maid Black."
"Oh, of course, your highness." She gives me a mocking bow, and I roll my eyes.
"You stay out here - Marcy and I are gonna search the place."
"As you command, Mistress."
We head on inside and spend some time going through the usual places - opening desk drawers, moving books and paintings, checking for hollow statues, all the classics. There is a safe behind a fake wall panel, but...that's kind of beyond my ability to punch through, so I'll have to leave that for now. Marcy does find something notable in the top desk drawer though.
"Hey, look, it's more numbers like you said you found before?"
Sure enough, I take a look at the scrap of paper and while it does have the same cell locations and teleporter codes I saw before, it also has a couple of others - all street addresses. Might be alternate exits from this place? They seem to be all over the city, so that would be pretty handy! Thank the Void for the old guy's shitty memory and his willingness to write things down on paper!
Unfortunately, his computer has a password on it and that doesn't seem to be written down anywhere, so that's something to throw Jef at later. There's other random financial papers and stuff sitting around, but nothing I've got the energy for tonight...or this month, honestly. I'm not seeing anything that says 'secret stash of kidnapped superhumans' or anything, at least. Although that does bring us back to the one standing outside the room, and Marcy seems to be wondering about the same thing I am.
"So...what do you want to do about...her? Do you want to, you know..." Marcy licks her lips. "Keep her?"
I give her a big grin. "Was thinking something like that, yeah. Although I still wanna ask her a few things. She seems...calmer about all this than I'd expect?"
Marcy nods. "I did notice that..."
A thought occurs to me, and I sit down in the huge chair behind the desk and motion for Marcy to stand behind me. It's a little awkward with my tail, but fortunately the chair's big enough that I can sit down while keeping it upright behind my back. Once I'm all situated, I call out loud. "Maid Black! I require your presence!"
Janice enters the room, and waggles her eyebrows as she steps in front of the desk. "Wow, you do 'evil overlord' way better than the last guy, Mistress. That tail is very...intimidating."
"Thank you." I cross my hands on the desk. "I kind of notice though that you haven't asked me for anything since we got here. No, 'please, let me go', 'I have a family', or any of that."
The kinkster maid shrugs. "No family I care about. To be honest I figured the worst case scenario would be getting bought by another old guy, but I was kind of hoping for a supervillain, you know? And you are...a lot hotter than I was hoping for. Not to say I don't go for guys, I mostly prefer them, but...damn! She's hot, right? Those black eyes are pretty creepy in a sexy way, right?"
She looks to Marcy for confirmation, and while I'm sure she agrees with that, Marcy seems too confused by the response to actually speak up. Noticing the hesitation, Janice clears her throat and gets back to her answer. "I mean...my day job was as a car saleswoman, even assuming I haven't lost the job by now, which I definitely have. I'll give you the short version - it sucked. Being a fake maid has a lot of benefits in comparison. Free room and board, a lot fewer creepy stares on a day-to-day basis, honestly...and I think being disconnected from my smartphone has actually been really good for me. My mental health hasn't been this good in years!"
"Huh." Marcy seems unconvinced. "You really like the idea of being a...maid slave?"
"...I wasn't going to strange motel rooms dressed like this on a whim, you know?"
"Fair enough." I grin before asking a question of my own. "But...what are you hoping for now that you're mine, Maid Black?"
"Well...obviously I can keep the place clean, if you're going to be using it. I might have a request or two for a couple of perks I've been missing out on...like, you know, maybe a second outfit...but in return I'd be happy to..." She eyes my tail again. "...Polish your exoskeleton?"
"I see." I lean back in the chair, grinning wider. "And if I had other parts I'd like to...you know, get polished?"
If I was expecting to see any doubt or hesitation in her eyes, I'm sure not finding it! "Well in that case, Mistress, I only have one question." Her hands find the fringes of her skirt, and she looks at Marcy and then me again. "...Do you want the maid uniform on or off?"
"...Let's start with on..."