2019-07-20 - spike - The New Shop 124

Author: spike
Title: The New Shop 124
Date: 20 July 2019

Chapter 124
“Progress report, Eric?”

“Yes, sir. I’m familiar with the layout of the store now, sir. We’ve had a couple enquire about the races and another hand in a card from that bartender, Luke, sir.”

“Good, good. Did you inform the card holder of the event this weekend?”

“Yes, sir. He said he’d be there.”

Q nodded. “He may very well be one of the ones we temp suit tomorrow then. Artemis?”

“All the dogs are suited and in their pelts ready for the morning, sir.”

“And what name did you decide on for the sarge? I imagine it’ll be something like Beast or Yomper?”

“Errr… Sir?”

“Oh? Not familiar with those terms? Beast is a punishment exercise in the British army. I’ll beast you all the way to bloody Scotland! A yomp is a forced march in heavy kit. Probably the most famous one in recent memory is the Falklands war.”

“Ah, no sir. He wagged his tale for Bilko, sir.”

Q chuckled. “I approve. Now, I reviewed your conversation with the dogs earlier and I do like some of your ideas. Alpha. You will be the one to wear the potential blank’s clothing when you do a swap in the dark room. You will also wear a rubber or leather hood to hide your features tomorrow. You can book out anything he may have left on check in, in the cloakroom or bag check or whatever they call it. If they have cars, drive them away, contact home and a lift will take you back. Scatter them. Abandon them miles apart. Preferably in locations well away from buildings, so there’s little chance of CCTV coverage.”

Alpha snapped to attention. “Yes, sir.”

“And Artemis… The idea has some merit, curing their suits using the nightclub’s UV lighting system, but, not straight away. Do not let them dance the night away in the club while wearing one.”

“Yes, sir. Why, sir?”

”Offer them the dog, walk them around the car park a few times. Alpha can hand their wallets to Beta, he will photograph the contents and forward them to us. We’ll perform the background checks. Only when the checks have cleared will you allow the suits to cure. Take the dog into the nightclub then, or, if the check fails, release them. Only if they pass will you let him join the other dogs for some fun. A couple of hours should be enough to cure the inner suit while in the dog. If it isn’t enough, freezing the dog certainly will be, which is what you will do when returning with them there.”

I nodded. “So, a three way swap, sir? Alpha wears his, He wears mine, I wear Alpha’s?”

“Quite. In fact, take a few just so you can be seen releasing them. It’ll allay suspicion. If everyone reports that we allowed them to experience the suit and dog but they were released, the missing ones won’t be tied to us.”

“Isn’t there a risk of cross infection, sir? If one of them has an STD, sir?”

“The cock tube? I’ll ensure the van is equipped with a sterilising agent and distilled water to rinse if off between occupants.”

“And chastity, sir?”

“The old dog suits and pelts are still in stock, Artemis. After all, it’s what Bilko and Bomber are wearing. Just for this type of occasion. The chastity can wait until they’re in the complex and frozen for their wash.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Oh, one final thing… Whatever you wear… No pockets.”

“Sir?”

“They won’t be able to transfer their belongings if the clothing they’re given has no pockets, Artemis. They will have little choice but to allow them to remain with Alpha.”

“What if one of them has a wrist wallet, sir? I’ve worn one of those before now to a club.”

“Simple. Everything off. It has to be anyway before the suit is cured.”

“Yes, sir. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of your stuff. The gear you’re in’s worth over a thousand dollars so we’re hardly likely to run off with your wallet. Something like that?”

“Yes. Very good idea. Q out.”
* * *
It was time. The ride in the back of the van, getting out at the park. Running, playing fetch, the dogs were all having a whale of a time.

We got a lot of attention from passers-by, much of it negative. Mutters, dirty looks, disgusted expressions.

I sighed as I watched them, wishing I was with them playing. Currently it was a game of who could keep hold of the ball the longest, bounding over each other, knocking each other over, and stealing the ball. A lot of rough and tumble and god it looked like fun.

“What the hell are you wearing, boy?!”

A hand gripped me and span me on the spot. I stepped back in shock at the disgusted expression on the cop. I glanced across at Alpha, but one had approached him too. He was observing the dogs some way away and he had his back to me.

I reached into my shirt and the cop immediately stepped back, his disgusted expression changing to one of fear.

He drew his gun. “Hands in the air!”

My hands shot up.

“Now answer the question!”

As soon as my right hand moved towards my left in order to type… “Hands apart and answer, dammit!”

At least Alpha could speak, but he wasn’t having any more luck with his. Before he could even get even the briefest explanation out, he was flat on the ground with the cop’s knee in his back and cuffs being applied.

I glanced behind me. The dogs had ended their game. Bilko had bolted, the rest were approaching my position and it was then the cop saw them.

His gun began to flail wildly, clearly not knowing who to aim the thing at anymore.

My left hand shot to my right wrist and I managed to type “Freeze!” before the cop saw what I was doing and span me, grabbed my arms and cuffed me too. The training band made no sound of course, only the dogs could hear it.

Another glance and I breathed a sigh of relief. The dogs had bitten down, hard. Five minutes of bulletproof protection and immobility.

“I’m arresting you for public disorder, resisting arrest and gross indecency! You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law! Do you understand? Fuckin’ queers!”

I didn’t nod. I couldn’t speak. This really seemed to annoy him.

“I order you to answer the question!”

Tough shit, moron. And good luck carrying all those dogs.

The only thing out of Alpha as he was hauled to his feet was “I’m not saying anything until I’ve seen my lawyer.”
* * *
The dogs had remained frozen, even after the five minutes had elapsed forcing the cops to carry each of them to the paddy wagon when it had come to collect us.

Now? I sat in an interview room, voiceless again. My armbands had been handed in to the desk sergeant on check in.

I sat with my arms folded as a new cop entered and sat opposite me.

“Name?”

I remained motionless.

“This will be easier if you talk, y’know. Your friend’s already admitted all your crimes so there’s no point in holding out on us.”

I chuckled to myself. That old trick? Yeah, right.

“Why aren’t you talking to us?”

I prodded my throat and then my wrist.

“What?”

I twiddled and I didn’t do it in the slow deliberate way we did when talking to newbies.

“Your cunt of a police officer prevented me from speaking from the start. Give me a fucking armband and I’ll say something, but only with my lawyer present.”

He stared at me dumbfounded and sighed. “Well. A public defender is on his way if that’s the reason you’re being so tight lipped. We’ll just have to wait for him.”

I nodded.

“Do you understand why you’re here?”

I shook my head.

“Do you understand the charges?”

Charges? That pile of bullcrap? I nodded and then shook my head.

“At least take the mask off! Hell, we couldn’t even take your prints!”

I folded my arms again. You’ll never know who I am. Git.

Another sigh. “OK. Be difficult.”

He got up and left the room.

I remained in there for what felt like an age, staring at the door. You’d think being frozen for hours in the store would prepare you for boredom but this was something else.

I was on the verge of nodding off when something jerked me awake.

“Testing, testing, 1 2 3 testing. Artemis, I don’t know if you can hear me. It’s a rush job by Two. Alpha has made his phone call but we were already on the case by then thanks to Bilko. There’s a slave in the station running a mobile phone app with your name on it. If you can respond, do so now. It should work both ways.”

I sighed to myself.

“I’ll take the absence of a reply to mean you’ve been deprived of your voice or the app isn’t fully functional. Either way, I have sent my best lawyer to you. Ensure you’re speaking to the correct one. If a lawyer they provide appears, he won’t know how to sign. Mine will. All theirs wants to do is get it over and done with and innocence be damned in most cases so don’t place much in the way of trust in that one. Oh, one last thing, I’ve issued a blank command to your suit. No reduction in status, but no identifying marks. Just in case they have you remove your shirt. Q. Out.”

As if on cue, the door opened and a man with a tray of coffees came in, placed the tray on the table and, after putting the coffees on the table itself, picked up a file they were resting on.

He sat opposite and placed a cup before me.

“Now then… Let’s see what you’re in for.” He opened the folder and looked at me. “You’re refusing to speak?”

I shook my head.

“They say you haven’t said a word. Why?”

I signed. “They wouldn’t let me. I’ve been denied the right to speak since I got here.”

A curious expression crossed his features. “What… the… what was that? Can you read?”

Of course I can fucking read. I nodded.

He took a pad and pen from his jacket pocket and placed them on the desk. “What did you just say?”

I wrote, “I said I’ve been denied the right to speak since that bigoted pile of shit arrested me!”

“Bigoted?”

“He read me my rights, ending it with fucking queers. What else would you call him but bigoted? FYI, I’m bi, not gay.”

“And why did he deny you your right to speak?”

“He asked me what I was wearing.”

“Yes, he then said you tried to pull a gun on him.”

“Did they find any weapons on me? Anything near where he cuffed me?”

“Well, no, but”

I reached into my shirt and slapped down the leaflet I’d intended to give to the cop.

He picked it up and read it. “And this is it? You tried to give him this?”

“He asked me what I was wearing, what better way to explain? After that it was hands up, at gun point. When he saw the dogs and started waving that thing about I managed to issue a freeze command to them but when he saw me do that I was cuffed. Then my armbands were removed so I couldn’t fucking speak. Fairly simple isn’t it?.”

“Why can’t you”

“Because I’m mute! OK? I’m sure the man I was with explained all that! Assuming he’s been given the chance to speak himself!”

“What… What are those… those dog… things?”

“What do you mean what are they? It’s obvious there are men in those dogs.”

“Men?! But they’re just models! Solid plastic models!”

“Don’t tell me they’re still frozen?” I sighed. “I suppose it makes sense.”

“Frozen? You mentioned that before! Freeze? What did you mean?”

“We spend time in suits like that because we enjoy it. We even compete. Race in them but when you’re out in the wild, in a national park there are risks so they have a built in safety feature. During our first race, a bear attacked one of the dogs. He came out of it unscathed because when they freeze themselves they’re bullet proof, and I should know. I was shot while in one of those, but froze myself before the idiot pulled the trigger. Shredded my fur but I was fine.”

“Good god! But what were you doing in the park?”

“We were practising for tonight, at the club.” I prodded the leaflet. “Now, explain to me why we were arrested? Just because a cop decides he’s not just the police but the fucking fashion police? What am I wearing that’s obscene? Did he accuse me of waving my dick around in public? If my genitals weren’t exposed, then I can’t be accused of indecent exposure or gross indecency or whatever it was. How were we being disorderly? We were in the park, standing there, doing nothing. Just watching the dogs play ball. How did I resist arrest? All of those charges are bull shit and you know it.”

He sighed. “I’ll see what I can do, but they will insist on the removal of… that thing. So they can photograph and fingerprint you.”

“And if I refuse?”

“You’ll have obstruction of justice added to your charge sheet.”

“What justice? Get them to drop the charges. There has been no crime committed and the police have no right to fingerprint or photograph innocent men! I refuse utterly to remove this suit. In fact, I intend to spend a very long time in it.”

“Very… How long?”

“How long have you got? Ten, twenty years, my entire life, what business is it of yours? I refuse for three reasons.”

“And they are?”

“One. This suit cost more than you could afford with a month’s salary. Six months’ pay for that cop, most likely. It can’t be removed without being destroyed.”

He gulped. “Really? When did you first put it on?”

“About a year ago.”

“And… and it’s never been off?”

“Never, no. What’s more, I hope it never does come off, that’s reason two. Not just the cost, the fact I love it in here. Why would I want to take it off?”

“What’s the third reason?”

“Oh, that’s a good one. You might try to force its removal but there’s nothing you or anyone else here could do to get it off. You’d only blunt your knives. It’s impossible to remove without some very specialised equipment. There is a fourth but you wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

“Removing me from the suit would displease my master. Happy now? I’m a slave and before you recoil in horror, a willing slave. I gave myself to my master two years ago. A year ago he rewarded me with this suit. I’m his. Utterly and irrevocably his property to do with as he pleases and quite frankly, it’s the best decision I ever made.”

“But slavery’s illegal! We’ve got to get you out of there!”

He made a move to stand but I gripped his hand and pulled him back into the chair. “I said I took this willingly! What rights I had, I gave to my master. My choice. It’s not your decision, it’s mine. There’s one man in this world who can decide on my destiny and you’re not it. No interfering do-gooders are going to tell me how to live my life! Got that?”

“But slavery!”

I sighed. “Oh, look on it as an old style marriage if you feel more comfortable about it!”

“What do you mean?”

“Those old marriage vows? All my worldly goods I thee endow? To love, honour and obey, forsaking all others as long as you both shall live? Seems to be a good definition of slavery to me.”

“You’re free to speak here, you understand that? There’s no risk of”

I held up my hand. “I’m not telling you this out of fear of punishment. I’m not telling you I took this willingly because I’m terrified of the repercussions. I’m more afraid of things getting out of hand and never seeing him again. Why would I admit to being a slave if I was afraid of him?”

“Who is he anyway? This… this master of yours?”

”I won’t disclose his identity. I know how a hell of a lot of you people view the fetish community. Perverts. Dangerous. Disgusting. Abhorrent. They should be locked up, etc. Most of the vanilla world view us with contempt or suspicion and why would I want to out the man I love?”

“I will still need your name.”

“He gave me the name Artemis. That’s who I am now.”

“Your real name!”

“Are you married?”

“Yes. Why?”

“And did your wife take your surname when you tied the knot?”

“Of course.”

“Well then. She changed her name when she married you. I changed my name. The only difference being my master chose it. Artemis is all you’re getting out of me. Now get them to drop those charges. If you don’t, someone else will. And soon.”

“What do you mean? Who will?”

“A proper lawyer whose only interested in the welfare of his client rather than someone who’s only interested in a quick fucking conviction!”

“Now that’s a bit unfair!”

“Only a bit? I think I rest my case then. That’s what people think about lawyers like you. You want it done quick as possible and hang the consequences. Difficult case? Oh dear what a shame never mind.”

He sighed. “OK, OK, I get it. We’re not all bad you know. How did you know you’re getting a paid for lawyer anyway?”

“I might not be able to make a phone call but one of those dogs escaped when the trouble in the park started. He got the message to my master before the other man I was with got to make his call. My master told me just before you came in.”

“Told you? But no-one’s been in here!”

I tapped my ears. “All part of the suit. Built in radio.”

“He can talk to you? From anywhere?”

I nodded and scribbled some more. “I know for a fact they’ve broken the law in keeping me here. Where’s my phone call? They didn’t offer me one, not that I could take it after they took my voice. If you want to be paid for this then fucking do your job! Get us out. No charges. No courts. Nothing. No crime has been committed! Now get me my fucking armbands!”