Pumpkin and Diamond arrived at The Blue House.
It was an upscale host bar in the red light district, and it was near The Apex. Alto owned it, and he helped them by using it for another honey trap. It was quite easy for people to be tricked when it involved anything sexual.
A man thinking he has a chance for a sexual encounter will rush into places a man with a gun fears to tread.
Pumpkin and Diamond were right at home inside The Blue House. It was a more relaxed environment than a strip club, and for a day they would pocket easy money from lonely men, and sometimes women, who just wanted a pretty face and a shoulder to cry on.
Diamond did not like it. She hated that they had to come at the beginning of a shift, instead of walking in whenever, but they had to act along with everyone else.
She hated listening to the complaints of Atlaan economists, lawyers, and hedge fund managers, blithering on as if their lives were hard. She knew that pain was relative, that a child would feel that losing their toy was the worst thing in the world because it was the worst thing that had experienced so far.
But the men droning on about things she did not understand made it hard for her to pretend that she cared, and hard to relate in any way. At one point she quickly went to the bathroom and put petroleum jelly on her teeth.
It forced her to smile so she could dredge through the day.
Pumpkin, unlike Diamond, was a kind soul.
She listened to the complaints and conversations of those that came her way.
She cried and tried to not mess up her makeup as a man opened up to her about how the death of his dog still hurt him every day. He spoke with her freely, after she responded and didn't give the usual replies as the others when he told her about his day.
"It's okay," Pumpkin cooed. "It was an accident."
"I left the door open," the man whimpered. "He would be alive if I didn't."
His pet had died twenty years ago, so even if he didn't leave the door open, he would have died anyway by then. Pumpkin didn't mention it, and rubbed his back, trying to get him to stop crying in public. When his time was up he hugged her goodbye and gave her his card. Diamond watched it all, impressed that she could withstand the entire conversation.
"You're too nice," Diamond sighed.
"No, I'm not! If I was, I wouldn't have come here with you."
"Fair," Diamond grunted.
It was time for their break, so they went to the back room. Pumpkin ate a salad and Diamond rubbed the sides of her abdomen, uncomfortable, feeling like something was there when it wasn't.
"What's wrong," Pumpkin asked.
"Ghost arms," Diamond grumbled.
Pumpkin nodded, and suddenly her salad did not taste that good. "I still get them too, after all these years," Pumpkin sighed. She started to cry again and was upset that she would have to reapply her mascara for the second time that day.
"Girl, please don't. No use crying over things we can't change."
Pumpkin sniffled, and dried her eyes with a paper napkin, blotting it, careful not to ruin her makeup.
"He took our arms, Diamond," Pumpkin whispered. "Let me cry."
"Fine, but between you and me, I'm done with crying. "
Pumpkin and Diamond had come to get their slice of revenge.
Nicolas Vasil was their target. He was an ugly man, but extremely intelligent. One of the best surgeons in all of Atlaan. He worked for Enemy, training their surgeons to "fix" their product. The many surgeons he trained would make their product much more appealing to their customers.
They would remove the second set of arms from the Alterians they trafficked, and they would do surgery on their genitalia, making it less ambiguous, either looking more male or female in the process.
Vasil had trained a surgeon to do the same to Pumpkin and Diamond, removing their second set of arms and leaving scars. The surgeries they did on their genitals made them infertile, forever taking away their choice over what to do with their bodies.
Pumpkin and Diamond were bitter.
They would sometimes feel that their second set was sometimes there, but it wasn't.
Diamond didn't want children, but she was more upset that the choice was taken from her. Sometimes she would wonder what her life would be like if at least they gave her that choice, but that was all she could do was wonder. Pumpkin didn't ever wonder. She just cried and tried to forget about it.
They couldn't.
They met on the beach, like all the other beach lovers usually did, congregating and talking, some of them looking out for each other.
Diamond told Pumpkin she had to stop using her real name, or else customers would be able to track her down. Pumpkin thought that was a good thing, so she could make more money. Ever since then Diamond decided that Pumpkin needed her more than she needed Pumpkin.
Here they were, almost ten years later, still together.
"Maybe we shouldn't do this," Pumpkin thought aloud. "We won't get our arms back."
"You're right. It will feel pretty good though."
Pumpkin gave off a soft smile and whatever hesitation she had was gone.
"What will we do after this," Pumpkin asked.
"I… don't know," Diamond grumbled.
Diamond had never thought about what she would do once she achieved her goal. Neither had Nero, and the two of them both had a horrible trait of focusing on one thing until it was done, no matter the cost.
This trait made Diamond confident and a born leader, but it also made her stubborn and hard to see outside the box.
"We should travel," Pumpkin said. "It's so hot here! Let's go somewhere cold."
"That doesn't seem so great," Diamond grumbled.
"I'm going either way," Pumpkin insisted. "This place has just taken everything from us. But now we can leave."
Diamond started to think that she needed Pumpkin because the two ideas had never occurred to her. That she could just leave , that she had a life after revenge.
"I never really thought about that," she said. "I never really think about anything past next week, really."
"Why?"
"If I knew , then I would already have thought about what to do already."
"Mmm, okay," Pumpkin sighed. "Don't get grumpy or else the customers will notice."
Diamond rolled her eyes.
"They stare at my tits, they won't notice shit."
Pumpkin giggled and started back on her salad again, careful not to mess up any more makeup.
After fixing their faces and checking their dresses they went back, pretending to work. An hour before their "shift" was over, the man of the hour finally came in. Vasil was just as grotesque as ever, and none of the male or female hosts were jumping at the chance to greet him.
He had a terrible comb-over and didn't shower. He tried to cover the smell of sweat with cologne, but he put on too much.
He was a wealthy man, but he did not come from wealthy means. So his suit was ill-fitting, too large for his body, and the color, black, and gold, with strange patterns, in an attempt to prove that he was wealthy.
Diamond, however, was a go-getter and immediately approached him.
She was the first to approach him, but Pumpkin came up to him as well.
"Do not fret ladies," Vasil wheezed. "I would love to speak with both of you."
Pumpkin's skin crawled as she sat next to him on one of the lounge couches, trying to focus on his mole so she would have something to look at that didn't make her want to hurl.
He droned on about his day at the hospital, teaching students how to do very basic things that they should have learned in undergrad, and talking about how they let anybody into medical school these days.
The more he spoke, the faster his jowl shook, and the sweatier he became, even though the AC was on full blast. Diamond tried to drink more whisky in an attempt to make him seem more attractive, or at least more entertaining.
The whisky was not strong enough for either.
They did not talk for very long, since he came right before the club was closing. Vasil, of course, did this on purpose. He came for a specific purpose.
"I am close friends with one of the managers of this establishment," Vasil said, sounding like a snake when he spoke.
For whatever strange reason he kept putting an emphasis on the letter S. Pumpkin nodded and smiled, knowing that he thought he was friends with the manager, and that soon he would fall into their very obvious trap.
Vasil never questioned why after the many times he came to that host bar, that the new hostesses were not shy.
They were quite eager to take up his offer to go into the VIP room, which the hosts jokingly called the PIV Room. He also never questioned or noticed why Pumpkin and Diamond drank out of a separate bottle than his.
The VIP PIV room was clearly intended for sex.
The couch pulled out into a bed, and there was another bed you could pull out from the wall. The lights were blue, the room was windowless, and there was a lock on the inside of the room, one of the few doors in the entire building that had one.
There was a bathroom as well, and the carpet was blue, with little hearts, alternating in different shades. The little hearts glowed in the dark, further adding to the aesthetic that their customers craved.
Vasil's mustache twitched as he anticipated that he would get to have two women at once. He was sweaty and nervous, dabbing his handkerchief all over his face as he sat on a couch that no one should ever sit on, after the many things it had seen.
"What's wrong," Pumpkin asked. "Are you nervous?"
"I'm just… very hot…," Vasil mumbled. "I need some water."
"I'll get you some, don't worry," said Diamond in her can-do customer service attitude.
She went off, happy to do the task, and get away from hearing his reptilian voice. When she returned he was passed out on the couch.
"Damn," Diamond said. "This is too fucking easy."
"I know, right," Pumpkin said in exasperation. "Like, he didn't even catch on!"
"He would never," Diamond grinned. "Once someone thinks about getting their tip wet, that's it. "
Pumpkin laughed and dragged Vasil while Diamond pulled out the bed from the wall and they laid him on it.
He didn't make a sound, and they had to check if he was breathing.
Sadly he was.
"I'll be back," Diamond grinned.
The manager of The Blue House whom Vasil thought he was friends with had given them the keys to the building so they could lock up when they were done. He had also kept all the supplies they would need for when they would do their deed.
He had made sure that none of the cameras had not been working for the past few days, so the whole ordeal would not seem suspicious once the authorities arrived. Vasil had cast a wide net and hurt many people, and he would now be the one to feel the pain.
Diamond returned with a giant bag filled with all the things they needed. Pumpkin giggled as she got dressed up in a sexy nurse costume. Diamond enjoyed her sexy doctor outfit as well. She even got fake glasses to complete it.
They placed a ball gag in Vasil's mouth, and he was still knocked out, making the job quick and easy. They tied his arms and legs to the bed, and put their original clothes inside a trash bag to protect them.
Vasil awoke, tied up and under a bright white light. At first, he was excited when he saw their costumes. He was erect and Diamond gagged in disgust.
"This fool thinks we're really going to give it to him," Diamond snickered.
"Oh don't worry Doctor Vasil," Pumpkin sighed. "We will give you something. "