Dress Off 05: Arena of Embarrassment

Location: an island somewhere in the South Pacific.

Tess took a couple of deep breathes, and refocused on the grey metal door in front of her. The door resolutely failed to react to her stare. Twitching her noise for a moment, she then did a couple of neck stretches that - on subsequent reflection - only achieved making herself even more acutely aware that she wasn't actually relaxing. Tess knew all the tricks for maintaining a clear mind, or at least she'd thought she did. Right now, however, there were a dozen or so different scenarios that she'd just spent far too long on imagining might wait beyond that door. And those scenarios weren't so much fading away, but spawning whole new concerns instead.

The door continued to stand implacably in front of her, the complete absence of a door handle making it abundantly clear that the door would open when it felt like doing so, and not one moment earlier. Tess experimentally tried rotating her shoulders while keeping her arms by her side, as she'd seen on TV, and then just sighed and resigned herself to the interminable wait.

The large monitor that hung down from the high ceiling over the doorway was as silent and black as the door was immovable and grey.

It had to be said, Tess thought with slightly more irritation than probably befitted a special agent of her calibre, that what wasn't helping much was Bree's running commentary. In particular, her fellow agent's long running monologue on how Bree's current uniform accentuated the finest qualities of her derriere.

"Seriously, Tess." Bree was currently murmuring, distractedly, "If anyone ever asks you if you've witnessed one of the seven wonders of the modern world." She paused a moment for emphasis as she slowly ran a hand up and down her backside. "Just tell them that you once saw Bree Carson in this outfit."

Bree's attention had been on the single floor-to-ceiling mirror in the preparation room for the past fifteen minutes, and she was talking out loud more on the assumption that Tess was still in the room rather than from any serious attempt to drag her gaze away from the mirror and confirm that.

Both Tess Trueheart and Bree Carson were dressed in matching blue outfits - a two piece affair that hugged the body and sported an identical blue utility belt. The leggings accentuated the women's form beautifully, even if there was nothing particularly outlandish in the design. The top itself gleamed, and even the relatively dull light in the preparation room reflected off the material to give the two agents a shimmering glow. Any observer who saw Tess or Bree in these outfits could have been excused for being heavily distracted by any number of salient features, however a particularly keen observer might also have noticed that the top had the unusual property of being secured at the back, via clasps rather than by any zip or buttons at the front.

Bree turned around to face the mirror directly, and perched her hands on her hips. Soaking in the view for a moment, she then gracefully used both hands to trace a path from her inner thighs, up her stomach, over each breast, and then up and around her neck, so that her fingers interlocked behind her head. Finally, and with the same visible sense of satisfaction that an artist has when putting the last touch on their defining masterpiece, Bree pulled her shoulder-blades together and pushed her moderately proportioned, but wonderfully formed breasts to the fore.

"You know I almost feel sorry for our fellow contestants." Bree continued, "Waiting in their rooms, out there somewhere, completely unaware that once those doors open up, these twins are going to gun. Them. Down." She playfully twisted her chest so that each breast swayed forward momentarily, and even without looking at Bree, Tess knew that Bree was mouthing "pow! pow!" at her own reflection.

"Yes, yes." murmured Tess, "I'm so much happier in here, being told that in excruciating detail. I also found the three other times you've just said that to be particularly useful in removing any ambiguity as to your point."

Bree grinned and finally turned away from the mirror, sauntering over to her partner.

"Tess, so tense. What are you thinking about boss?"

"Well." Tess replied quietly, "I'm most certainly not thinking about the fact that we still haven't heard from HQ. I'm quite deliberately not dwelling on the realisation that we don't know much about what's actually on the other side of that door. And I am absolutely not mulling over the issue that we have no backup plan if the encryption keys we're about to play for fall into the wrong hands."

"Tess. You and me, we've got this covered." Bree draped a friendly arm around Tess's shoulders and theatrically waved her other hand in a wide arc in front of them both. "You're over thinking it. The world beyond that door is a simple enough place. If it's moving and it's not me, then strip it of whatever it's wearing." Bree took her arm off Tess's shoulder and gave Tess what was supposed to be a reassuring pat on the backside.

"We don't need a backup plan. Stacey and Erin are generally fantastic at everything we throw at them, and for all his many, many faults, Mitchelson is not without talent either. Those three are more than capable of looking after themselves. They'll be fine. We've got you - the finest special agent in Decider Enterprises' history - and me - the empress of embarrassment. We're going to go out there, reduce the sum total of clothing worn by our competitors to zero, and then take as much time as we want finding those keys."

"Yeah, I know." Tess looked at Bree and gave her a small smile, before returning back to staring at the door. "I guess I've just had a lot on my mind recently. Managing to get yourself captured by Harrington and her moronic band of idiots can dent a girl's confidence, I guess." Tess scrunched her nose up at the memory of Harrington's interrogation sessions, and was about to continue the conversation before she suddenly stopped, looked at Bree again and raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"'Empress of Embarrassment'? Seriously?"

Bree shrugged. "Eh. It'll do for now."

Tess was about to smile and tease her partner some more when the monitor above the door suddenly kicked into life. Tess and Bree exchanged a wordless glance, and then they both subtly and subconsciously shifted their stance to one that suggested both were combat ready for all hell to be unleashed from behind the door.

********

[On an undisclosed webcast, from an unknown location.]

"Eight women, one goal. Who will pick up the prize and be on their way, and who will be left out on display? We'll find out in just over fifteen minutes as our four lovely pairs do battle in the arena of embarrassment; the stadium of stripping; the battleground of babes. Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome. To Lesbian... Strip... HUMILIATION!"

The video in the webcast had been flying through a massive, covered, multi-level arena, where a collection of large inflatable bunkers — seemingly little more that huge air bags — were dotted across the artificial terrain. The announcer's voice momentarily gave way to an excessively loud and generic theme music, and the video briefly switched to a rapid fire montage of eight beautiful women dressed in matching attire, differing only by colour.

"My name for today is Alexander Harrison, and beside me in the commentator's box is my co-host Christopher Richardson. Chris, some exciting match ups today. Looking for a tight contest and some even tighter bodies."

"Absolutely, Alex. Very excited to be here today. We couldn't have asked for a better line-up of high-flying hotties to kick off the very first edition of LSH. In Red Team today, we've got Akemi and Takara from the Land of the Rising Sun, and it'd be a brave man who'd bet against these jewels from Japan."

The webcast momentarily settled on two Japanese women in red outfits, posing with calm and confident expressions on their faces as the camera quickly scanned over their bodies.

"May be so Chris, but let's not look past Yellow Team, where our two stunners from South Africa are striving to strip their competition bare. Charlize and Thula told me personally that it's not enough for them to win, they want their fellow contestants to utterly lose everything too."

The webcast moved on from Akemi and Takara and two gorgeous women dressed entirely in yellow, one white and one black, graced the screen. The blonde-haired white woman nodded her head grimly at the camera, while the raven-haired black woman pushed her left fist into the open palm of her right hand at chest height, her muscles noticeably flexing under her tight red top.

"My kind of contestants, Alex. Let's not forget Blue Team though, and I'm reliably informed that Tess and Bree are no strangers to getting women naked. These amazons from the Americas seem ready for anything, and Bree tells me that she can strip anyone of anything with surgical precision."

The webcast switched over to the profile videos of Tess Trueheart and Bree Carson, dressed in their blue outfits and generally giving off the aura of Goddesses. Tess looked calm and serene in her pre-game pose, barely acknowledging the presence of the camera in front of her. In comparison, Bree winked conspiratorially at the audience and then bit her lip in a manner that was guaranteed to raise the blood pressure of quite a large percentage of the watching masses.

One of the commentators audibly cleared their throat after a few seconds of silence. "Yes, well, I'm certainly looking forward to following the exploits of those two later on Chris. It'll almost be a shame for them to win, if you get my meaning."

"I certainly do Alex, I certainly do. And one team that wants more than anything to grant your wish is our final team - Green Team!"

"Boy, do they ever, Chris. Adding even more spice to this contest is the personal rivalry between our Blue and Green Teams. Also representing the United States of America, a woman who has no problem calling herself the Queen of Humiliation, and a woman whose said her sole mission is to leave Bree's bare posterior on camera for posterity. Clad in green, they're mad and they're mean, they are... Elizabeth and Monica!"

The webcast finally moved on to the last team, and broadcast throughout the world were the faces of none other than Elizabeth Harrington and Monica Fairchild. Harrington's face was a mask of cruel beauty, and even in her forties the sworn enemy of Decider Enterprises was an imposing figure. Beside her, Bree's ex-partner and latest recruit to Harrington's crusade was standing impassively, with perhaps just the faintest trace of nervousness dancing across her eyes as the porcelain skin of the auburn-haired stunner otherwise betrayed no outward emotion.

The camera lingered on them for a short while, letting the audience drink in the beauty radiating from the two contrasting women, before the commentators once again cut in.

"For the benefit of those who may have skipped over the rule book and went straight to the player photos, the regulations are really very simple. We're about to unleash these four teams of lovely ladies into our arena below, and they'll have their eye on one single prize: a box, somewhere, lost in there, with a simple piece of paper inside. Not much, you ask? Well let me assure you that each and every one of the eight women taking part today are willing to risk everything for that simple prize."

"That's right Alex. The game goes on until one pair has the prize, but don't worry - they won't just be hunting for paper. Want to make sure you've got all the time you need to find that small little box? Well, how about making sure that the other teams are ever-so-slightly inconvenienced by being handcuffed to the Pillar of Purgatory!"

The webcast suddenly zoomed in on a massive pillar positioned at the exact centre of the arena, where the three floors to the arena gave way to a large open space that reached up from the ground floor all the way to the arena's roof. The pillar was hexagonal, and two pairs of handcuffs were bolted on to each of the six sides, one pair only a few centimetres off the ground, and the other pair at just over two metres.

"You've got it Chris. The contestants are all wearing light sensitive sensors on their nipples and nether-regions. While their clothing remains on, those sensors remain quiet. However, should both team members be completely stripped of their clothing, then the sensors will trigger, and the team will have ten minutes to get to the Palace of Penance. There they will find all the equipment they need to convince their audience that their team deserves one last chance to remain in the game. Otherwise, that team will be disqualified and will take their rightful place on the Pillar of Purgatory! Sadly, I suspect our audience are going to be difficult to convince, so our teams will have to put on quite a show!"

"Looking forward to it Alex. We're now only a few minutes away from Lesbian Strip Humiliation, so settle in folks, and get ready... for the show of the century!"

********

The monitor in the preparation room went dark again, although to Tess and Bree, the residual images of Harrington and Monica seemed burnt into the screen.

Tess looked sideways at Bree, who'd been silent for the entire webcast, and who for once seemed temporarily lost in thought about something other than how she looked in their blue team outfit.

"Bree. You up for taking on Monica?"

Bree didn't take her attention off the now dead monitor as she simply replied. "Absolutely."

Tess nodded. Unspoken was the acknowledgement that this was the first time Bree had seen Monica for two weeks. Two weeks, Tess reflected. It seemed longer than that since Stacey, Erin, Bree and Monica had launched a daring raid to rescue her from the clutches of Harrington's organisation. Two weeks since Monica's apparent betrayal had landed Decider Enterprises an invaluable mole close to Harrington's operations. Bree played the "bubbly, sexy, vapid airhead" role well, but Tess knew Bree would have been struggling inside knowing that her own partner was in constant danger of discovery.

"So," Tess enquired after a few moments, "You reckon you can strip Monica when we come up against her."

"I'll strip her so quickly she'll doubt she'd ever been clothed in the first place." Bree replied, flatly.

"Right." said Tess. She knew there was no point pushing this further.

On the one hand Tess looked at Bree and could list any number of differences. On the other hand, they both shared one unique characteristic beyond just being agents masquerading as blonde babes. They were the only two women to join Decider Enterprises having won a game of Dress Off, or in Tess's case, a far crueler Dress Off variant of Harrington's devising. In an organisation of highly intelligent, multi-talented women, born-anew from the crucible of embarrassment that is losing Dress Off, both Tess and Bree had shown their opponent a rare mercy. As such, both they and their respective opponents had ultimately joined Decider Enterprises, and Tess only had to reflect on her own connection and relationship with Sonya to know that Bree would be in a world of hurt at the danger Monica was in.

"Okay then." Tess continued, finally, "Personally I might take my time extracting Harrington from her clothing. Might as well savour life's little joys..."

Bree sighed, and looked over at Tess, before her seemingly troubled expression reverted back to a sexy smile. Silently, almost at this signal, the door in front of them slid open, and the bright lights from the arena bathed the two gorgeous blondes.

"Come on Tess. There are six women out there who are overly attached to their clothing, and it's time we helped them break that crippling emotional dependency."

"Yes." replied Tess, "And the small matter of the encryption keys..."

********

Tess walked down yet another corridor on the ground floor of the arena. They'd only been inside for ten minutes, and already Tess was realising that the arena was even larger than the webcast and the briefing had made it seem. A huge maze of corridors and rooms across three floors hugged the outer walls of the arena, and surrounded a large open area at the centre that was dotted with obstacles.

Most of the rooms were empty, and one sterile white corridor looked much like any other. However, occasionally, a room would have a single box resting in the middle. Tess knew that one such box was out there that held the ultimate prize. However in the short term she'd had to satisfy herself with acquiring a slingshot and some small plastic balls filled with an unknown liquid. The organisers had promised that the boxes would also contain useful trinkets and items that they could use on each other, and Tess already had a few suspicions on what the liquid would do.

The corridor she was in seemed to be a long, main arterial corridor that ran parallel to, and for the length of, one of the arena walls. The corridor was broken up with occasional sliding doors that activated whenever someone approached, so that you couldn't see down the entire length of the corridor from any one vantage point. One side of the corridor had a long transparent window at waist height, and looked out on to the open arena core. Coming off the other side of the main corridor were a few smaller side-corridors that subsequently branched off into a system of narrow corridors, access ways and rooms. At the exact middle of the main corridor was an entrance to the central arena area, and Tess was making her way back to their starting location after a brief reconnoitre to the arena core. Tess stopped in front of the next sliding door, at the furthest range of the sensors, and waited for the door to open. As the door slid away, Tess saw another empty stretch of corridor beyond, and stepped through the door. She briefly scanned the area, and then continued on her way, the door sliding shut behind her.

The stretch of corridor Tess had been in was quiet again. Even the movement of the cameras scattered around the arena made no noticeable noise. The very first sign that Tess had been far from alone in that corridor was not audible, but rather visual, as a flicker of movement out of a darker side-corridor that betrayed the presence of two red-clad women.

Akemi was the first to emerge, and quickly checked down both directions of the well-lit main corridor, before making her way down towards the doorway Tess had gone through, with the practiced stealth of a master thief. Akemi stopped just prior to where she knew the door would pick up her presence, and with a hand gesture indicated for Takara to follow her. As the two contestants exchanged a few glances and mouthed expressions, Akemi moved her left foot slightly forward and triggered the door opening. The door slid open again, silently, and Akemi and Takara pressed themselves up against the sides of the corridor so that their bodies were mostly hidden by the frame of the doorway. Even so, they knew that if Tess noticed the door was opening behind her, that she'd realise there had to be a reason.

As Akemi stole a lighting look around the door frame, she could see Tess obliviously moving on through the next doorway further along the corridor. The two Japanese beauties moved on into the corridor segment that Tess had just vacated, and ran with a speed and grace that spoke volumes of their chosen profession. As they arrived at the next door, they repeated the same recipe of action as before, and pressed their supple bodies into the small hiding places afforded by the door frames.

This time it was Takara who stole a glance around the door to see where Tess was, and she quickly signalled to her partner that she'd just seen Tess turn into a side-corridor about half way down. Akemi flashed back her acknowledgement, and the two efficiently made their way through the door and down to where the side-corridor branched off, once again without making any sound at all. The side-corridors were only dimly lit compared to the main corridors, and Akemi and Takara heard Tess' footsteps receding into the distance before their eyes adjusted and they saw their prey's back disappearing around a corner. The two women exchanged one last glance to confirm their plan, and then followed Tess down the corridor, making sure that only one went around a corner before signalling for the other to follow.