"Justice, as a concept, is... overrated," I spoke down to my prize. She stared up at me defiantly, her short red hair still projecting a no-nonsense attitude, though her arms wrapped around her nude frame and slight trembles undermined any presence she may have had. "Take you and me, for example. Sure, you developed the serum, and one might argue that it would be just for you to be able to present it to the committee and reap the rewards."

"Doctor Lang, you don't-"

"Please, call me Jocelyn. We're beyond colleagues now, I think."

I got a thrill as she obeyed, even over something so trivial as a name. "Jocelyn... you can't abduct me like this. You're in over your head, you're going to m-"

"Shush," I said, flicking her over with my index finger. I don't know what I expected, but she fell over so easily I was almost surprised, as if I expected her to put up any resistance. "Are you really trying to tell me what to do? I'm smarter than you, Nora."

She huffed, getting back to her feet. "Just because you're bigger-"

"Automatically makes me smarter, yes." Interrupting the little runt never got old, and was a constant reminder of her position beneath me. "Because if you weren't so dumb, you wouldn't have gotten your little project stolen by an intern, now would you have?" She opened her mouth to speak, but I waved my hand dismissively and spoke over her again. "No, you wouldn't. So now you're going to do everything I say, because... I'm kind of like your boss now, right?"

"My boss?" she asked, incredulous.

"Well... would you prefer the term 'Owner'?" I grinned wide, full of superiority. It felt good to have this smug bitch in such a position of powerlessness. "Because I can make you call me Owner if you'd like." Nora stayed silent, lowering her eyes to the table. I placed a fingernail under her chin and forced her face back up to mine. "Answer me."

"B-Boss is fine," she conceded. I released her with a small shove, making her stumble backwards a few steps and flail her arms to maintain her balance.

I shook my head and chuckled. "You're so easy to fuck with now, Nora. Call me Jocelyn. I want to keep things light-hearted between us, okay?"

She was squirming under my gaze, but I could tell she knew that antagonizing me would only make her life harder. "Okay." She looked down at herself. "Can I at least have some clothes?"

"Ask nicer. Politely." Nora was struggling with subservience, and I was determined not to make it any easier on her. My broad grin probably didn't help her cope, either.

"M... may I please have some clothes, Jocelyn?" she asked, her voice a touch sweeter than it had been. When I reached out to pet her head I could feel her shy away, but I let it go for the moment.

"Oh, sweetie, no you can't. Pets don't wear clothes, even little dollgirls like you."

Incensed, the older woman stamped her foot at me, balling her fists at her sides. "You said that-"

"I said that you needed to ask politer. I never said I'd honor your request. Now bite your tongue, little lady, you're in the presence of your superiors." Nora was visibly livid, eyes wide and face flushed a deep red, and I decided to fan the flames. "Or are you gonna do something about it, twerp?"

"FUCK YOU!" she screamed, rushing forward towards me. The little woman lashed out against the first thing she could reach, which happened to be my right breast behind a plain black T-shirt. Even just one of my boobs completely dwarfed the former person, but in that moment she didn't even seem to register how pathetic she looked. "You snot-nosed, vapid, dumb fucking cunt! I spent my life researching this, and if you think you're going to take it away from me in an afternoon you have got another goddamn thing coming!"

Maybe it was callous of me, but in that moment, seeing her tiny little body punching and kicking my boob with all her might, I couldn't help myself. I laughed in her face, my chest jiggling with the force of my laughter, and that only made her angrier. She must have spent a solid minute wearing herself out against the bulge of fabric and flesh before finally falling to her arms and knees. When my giggles died down, I could make out her small, pathetic sobs.

"Aww, did the little twerp tucker herself out? You need a nappy-poo?" I asked, stroking her back. She just cried harder, and when I scooped her into my palm she curled up into a little ball, holding her head in her arms.

"It's not fair," she mumbled from within her little ball. "It's not fair."

"Oh, hush, it's more than fair," I admonished. "I'm getting everything I want."

Her head rolled to the side, staring up at me with a look of bewilderment. I met her gaze with a smug, triumphant look of my own. "Y... you're a monster," Nora whimpered.

"I'm your owner," I corrected. "And I'm getting tired of having to repeat myself. Do you like living, Nora?"

The former scientist opened her mouth, but after several seconds passed with no vocal response, she simply nodded in response.

"I'm glad," I said, my voice softening. No need to take a hard edge with an opponent who knows she's been beaten. "Because I want you to stay alive, too. But you're going to have to work for it. Earn your keep, so to speak. The first thing you're going to have to do is address me respectfully at all times. Can you do that for me, Nora?"

The spark of defiance lit up her eyes again, and for a moment I believed she'd shriek at me, tell me to fuck myself and possibly even throw herself off the edge of my hand. Pleasingly, she instead took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a long moment before answering. "Yyyes, ma'am." Her voice was quiet and meek.

"Good girl," I cooed, taking her back up to my room. "Now, as I was saying, I know you wanted to present it to the committee, but think of how much better it is now that I have your work."

"Better?"

"Much better, because I'm going to use it to make my life as simple and carefree as possible. And that's all that really matters to you anymore, right?"

Again, Nora looked as though she might lash out, but eventually calmed her anger with a subdued, "Yes, ma'am."

"Atta girl." My room was small, featuring little more than a bed and a dresser, but I'd recently made one significant change. Nora noticed it almost immediately.

"Y... I'm not going in there, am I?" She scooted herself to the back of my hand, forcing me to cup my palm to make sure she didn't go over the edge. I chuckled and patted her head.

"Of course you are, my little pet." Bringing her over to the dresser, I lifted up the top of the hamster cage and gently lowered her inside, spilling her out onto the bed of wood chips. I closed and latched the exit, then grinned down at her through the grid of iron bars. "This is your new home! I've spared no expense here, either. You've got your water bottle for when you get thirsty, a little bowl of kitty food right there for you, and even a wheel to help you keep your excellent figure!"

My pet moved to the front of the cage, wrapping her hands around the bars and looking up at me with hopelessness in her eyes. "Please... please, Jocelyn... what did I ever do to you to deserve this?"

I rolled my eyes and sat down on my bed, the cramped quarters of my room keeping me relatively close to her. "Haven't you been paying any attention, runt? Life's not fair. You've gotta stop looking for the justice in it, and just accept the hand you're dealt." I winked. "In this case, you've become my little pet and you just have to accept that."

"But why me!?"

"Because you were there. Because you invented the shrinking serum, and I happened to be in a position to take advantage of it. It's just that simple, darling. Sometimes you're the predator and sometimes you're the prey."

Nora fell to her knees, her hands sliding along the bars as she descended. "I want to die," she muttered.

"I'm not putting you out of your misery, so if you want out you're gonna have to starve yourself. Good luck with that one, twerp."

Nora fell back on her ass, staring out at nothingness. "What... what if someone from the lab comes looking? Maybe they'll... maybe someone will save me."

I snorted. "Oh yeah? You think they're going to come search my apartment to see if I kidnapped you and, what, stashed you in my closet?"

"You did kidnap me!" she insisted.

"Well duh, but they don't know that, and they don't know what you were working on. Sure, they'll find your notes, but who knows, maybe they'll think you used it on yourself." I laughed to myself as an image came to mind. "Can you imagine the entire department searching the floors with magnifying glasses looking for you? Eventually they'll just figure that, you know, you shrank so small as to be irrevocably lost, and everyone will move on."

I could make out the glint of tears in her eyes as she thought about what I was saying, so I continued. "So it makes sense, then, that you should make the most of whatever life I choose to give you from now on, doesn't it?"

Sniffling, the little woman looked up to meet my eyes. For a long, silent moment she just stared at me, and I grinned back in response. Finally she hung her head again.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Wonderful! Oh, I'm so glad to hear that, little mouse." I rose to my feet, looking down my full height at the nude woman trapped in a cage before me. She looked so small, so helpless and pathetic that I couldn't help but to giggle again, playfully wiggling my fingers at the bars. "Now I gotta go do some shopping, so just sit tight, all right? Maybe have some water, grab a bite to eat - even go for a run, if you're feeling up to it!" I knew it was fucked up, but I couldn't help rubbing her face in her own powerlessness. It was a rush to say these things to another human being knowing she had no option but to sit there and take it. "Back later, little slave!"

As I left my apartment, closing and locking the door behind me, I felt a warm energy pulse through my arms. The world had only just begun to hear from me.

"How are the nails coming, runt?" I asked, not caring enough to tilt my head around my phone and look.

"Very nicely, Mistress!" came the chipper reply. I could hear the falseness in her voice, but I let it go. As long as she was acting the part and doing her job, I was happy.

"Glad to hear it. Maybe you'll even get breakfast in the morning."

A week had passed since I'd first captured Nora, and her transition to the life of a slave had not been as smooth as I'd imagined. She'd had moments of resistance nearly every day since then, and though I always broke her of them, it seemed like she was always ready to rebel the following day. I had thought it cute at first, but it was starting to get tiresome.

"Stacy's coming over tomorrow," I said, letting the comment hang in the air. I felt Nora freeze for a moment before resuming her duties.

"Y-yes, Mistress," she replied.

"She's very eager to get her hands on you again."

Nora worked in silence for a long while, undoubtedly trying to figure out how to word a plea for mercy from my manic friend.

"Mistress?" she finally asked.

"Yes, pet?"

"I... um, I-I've been a good girl recently, right? I do as I'm told?"

I cocked an eyebrow, lowering my phone to my chest. Nora stood on my right foot, having painted all but my pinky nail a bright red. "You've been adequate. I don't know if I'd say you've been good."

She looked wounded, the little actress. "Mistress, I think of nothing but your happiness at all times! I'm the best possible girl I could be!"

I barked out a laugh, and she stumbled to keep her balance. "Who are you trying to fool here, me or yourself?" When she didn't reply, I continued. "Not ten hours ago I was spanking your behind for your stupid little escape attempt. Do you think good girls make escape attempts?"

"Mistress... Mistress please please don't let Stacy play with me! She's... she's the worst, please! Please, I'll do anything!" Nora whined.

"You know, she said she wants to test the theory that oxygen deprivation kills brain cells. She said she's just gonna hold her thumb over your face for like ten, fifteen minutes, then when you wake up we'll see if you're any dumber." I giggled down at her. "Can you imagine you, but dumber? You'd be, like, super retarded. Super pathetic."

Desperation rising, Nora threw herself to her hands and knees, kissing my skin beneath her. "Mistress please! I love you! You're the only Mistress for me, I'll never run away again! I'll never be a bad girl again, I swear! Please don't let her torture me, please!"

I almost turned my camera on and recorded her little pleas, they so perfectly summed up how far she'd fallen. I controlled everything about her, and even though she resisted, I think she only did so because she knew that I had the power to do anything I wanted with her. Staying quiet and grinning, I let her humiliate herself for another two minutes before raising a finger to silence her.

"I might be persuaded to talk Stacy out of tormenting you," I said. "If you do something for me."

"Anything! Anything at all, please! Name it!"

"Agree to give up your voice."

She frowned, watching my expression for some hint of a joke. "W... what?"

"From now until you die, all you'll do is bark. Or meow, or squeak, I don't really care as long as it's animal noises. You'll never speak another real, human word as long as you live." I let my phone slide down to the bed as I folded my arms across my breasts. "If you agree to that, I'll protect you from Stacy. You'll be completely safe from her for as long as you can obey the rule."

"M-Mistress-"

"Oh, and you get ten words of argument. So that's one right there." I smirked down at her. "So what's it gonna be, pup?"

Nora stared at me in bewilderment, obviously feeling one of the last strands of control she had over her life slipping between her fingers. "You... can't do this..." she whined.

I held up my hand, fingers outstretched. "That's five. Five more words, and then the next one better be a bark or I won't even supervise the time Stacy spends with you."

Eyes wide with panic and desperation, little Nora summoned up every ounce of emotion she could muster, letting it all out in a single utterance: "Please!"

I looked down at the woman who, in a syllable, had bared her soul to me. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her miniscule body was shaking so hard I thought she might just fall off my foot were it not for her fingers digging hard into my skin. I stared right back at her, my smug grin not wavering for a second. "Four more."

In a very literal sense, she looked crushed. She reminded me of a swatted fly, stuck to a wall by its own guts and twitching its last, knowing it's about to die, and the only thing it can do is stare at its murderer and wait for the darkness to claim it. Nora was not a woman anymore. She wasn't a human being, she was a doll. A toy for my whims, and it had only taken a week of training to get her to this point.

Through red, puffy eyes she stared at me, her lips curled in a snarl that would have looked menacing were she not so pathetically small. "I hate you, cunt," she hissed as venomously as she could muster.

I had her. I knew I had her, and I was going to savor the moment for everything it was worth. "Oh yeah?" I asked, barely able to keep a giggle out of my voice. I was wild with sadistic delight. "And what, exactly... are you gonna do about it?"

Her face twitched with rage. I could practically see the slew of bile waiting just on the tip of her tongue, wanting so desperately to come out. The weak little bitch had so much she wanted to say, but instead, all that came out of her mouth was:

"Arf."

I cackled. In that moment, it was the single funniest thing she could have said. She just stayed there, kneeling on all fours on my ankle while I had a fit of laughter, occasionally pointing down at her and mockingly repeating her utterance.

When I'd collected myself to the point that I could speak, I applauded her effort, smiling broadly down at her. "Good job little puppy!" I said, my voice thick with condescension. "Well done! You barked! Now be a good girl and bark for your owner again."

She looked wounded, but I suppose it was easier for her to swallow her dignity after taking the first bite. "Woof," she said sullenly.

I giggled again, followed by more applause. "Brilliant. Absolutely lovely, little girl." I lifted her to my chest, stroking her back. She squirmed and resisted, but it didn't matter to me one bit. "All right, I'll keep my end of the promise. Stacy won't hurt you for as long as you never say another human word. Think you can do that, pup?" When she stayed silent, I flicked her ass. "I said, can you do that?"

"Bark!" she said, wincing in pain at the blow to her already-tender rear. I raised her up and planted a kiss on her back, then brought her over to her cage once again.

"You know, I finally think you're a good girl," I told her as I latched the door, sealing her inside. "And that's what you really wanted, wasn't it?"

Nora retreated to her bed, a little pile of wood shavings she'd nestled into the past few nights, making a comfy padded area for herself. "Bow-w," she replied.

"I thought so. Good night, little dog-girl. Sleep tight." I climbed into bed and flicked the light off, plunging the room into darkness as I settled in and got ready for the wonderful, cheery day to come tomorrow.