A Gratuitous Insult

Catrherine follows up on her discovery at the Regina and Sam considers anti-New Order activities. Read on below or start at the beginning here.

Chapter 17: Data Call

Catherine shared her thoughts on Sam’s tattoo with Aileen McConaghy. “You said you were interested in anything on the ‘ECR’ graffiti. I found an ECR tattoo on an unsponsored male. He works as one of the toys at the Regina Club, if you know it.” Aileen nodded. She wasn’t in London often but she had visited the club on her last trip. “The tattoo had been covered up quite recently. I believe the cover up was done in Victoria. I have some tracking data that puts the male back in Victoria on a regular basis and also in the same location, down on the Isle of Dogs, as a person of interest from the Fitzroy Square rally, though not at the same time.”

“That’s helpful. We’ve had a little extra intelligence on ‘ECR’. It seems like it’s not really a group identity or anything like that. It’s just a gratuitous insult: End Cunt Rule.”

“Charming. And so subtle. Everything’s about sex organs for them, isn’t it? They’re so used to being led by their cocks that if a woman is issuing orders they must be coming from their cunt. Do they really think that’s going to upset us? And why do they seem to hate cunts so much? I thought they were supposed to like them. I know that mine’s quite nice. In fact, pretty much all the ones I’ve encountered have been great.”

“Just because you’re not offended, Catherine, doesn’t mean it’s not worrying. It’s the sort of stupid slogan that can get men thinking they’ve got something to line up behind. And it’s only a short step from there to them starting up campaigning for the right to make prick sex acceptable again or something equally stupid.”

“So we’re still interested in finding out more? I can pass on the addresses to MCF Liaison; maybe they can have a root around.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a good idea yet,” Aileen responded cagily. “Let’s save their size nines for later. If you can keep up the location tracking on your illustrated man and any other related targets we’ll see where that gets us.”

Catherine nodded. She understood Aileen’s point of view and respected her judgement. Once the MCF got involved they would lose all control and she could sense that Aileen felt that there was more to this than a bit of spray painting.

“And, if you discover anything else on your trips to the Regina, that would be a bonus. I’d rather not see it charged to your expenses, though – however good the insights are.” Aileen smiled. Catherine knew she was only half joking.

While Sam Danubo was being discussed by Catherine and Aileen, he was sitting in his cage at the Regina. It was the start of the evening shift and it was quiet in the club. There were five of them on standby in the cages. Only two had been asked for so far. It was all rather theatrical, Sam thought. The cages weren’t really needed, although Natalie had told him they used them so that they would be sure to able to find a “toy” when they needed one. “Besides,” she had said, “they help you get into the right frame of mind ready for when a client comes along.” Sam though they were more for the benefit of the punters when they came to look backstage.

‘The right frame of mind’ – Sam wondered what Natalie would think if she knew he and his friends were very much opposed to the New Order view of the right frame of mind. He’d had a tattoo done of the three letters ‘ECR’ as an expression of defiance but then one of the group had pointed out it wasn’t too smart to be advertising his allegiance. That was when he had got the leopard’s head done at Inky Skin to cover it up.

The leopard’s head had turned out to be a great idea. It did the cover-up job it was supposed to and attracted attention. There had been a couple of clients at the club that had been really impressed by it, and it was always good to be noticed, even if it had been expensive and taken quite a few sessions. If customer’s were asking for him, there was a greater chance that the club would keep him on. Without a sponsorship placement he needed to have the paid work, and in this job that meant he had to spend his evenings crouched naked in the steel cage.

Even so, that was at odds with how he felt about the government. He quite enjoyed the fetish play but having it institutionalised, set down in the laws of the country was another matter. He had always been attracted by the BDSM scene. Perhaps it was the fetish aesthetic, perhaps he had a streak of sexual submissiveness, but that didn’t mean he felt men had no rights. He objected to the way that New Order had hijacked his fetishes as a tool of social engineering, using the male sexual response to create a situation where women could demonise and subjugate them. That was what had led to his involvement in anti-government protests.

The thing that had finally got him on the side of the protestors was the government campaign promoting the work of the Male Control Force with its subtly fetishised imagery of MCF officers subduing offenders. The photographs had emphasised the women’s strength; taught muscles evident beneath tight uniforms. The subjugated men had seemed to be in a state of ecstasy comparable to martyrs in renaissance paintings. That had been the last straw for Sam. He resented images that he found erotic being used to promote the regime.

It had made him decided to take a stand against the exploitation and that was what had encouraged him to get the ‘ECR’ tattoo. Someone at the tattoo parlour had suggested it, telling him what it meant. Then there had been the missions to vandalise government posters and daubing ‘ECR’ graffiti on the local DOSA office. Of course, he knew it didn’t achieve much except to remind the government that not everyone agreed with what they were doing, but it felt like he was doing something.

It was after that someone had suggested that he might learn things of value at the Club, and that it might be an idea to cover up his ECR tattoo. He’d been happy to pass on odd bits of information he picked up. They’d had an MCF officer in and she had been talking about the way they were going to use the detention centres to get better control of dissidents. Then there had been a couple of government staff in laughing about the plans they had for new regulations. The government had been annoyed when news of that leaked out before they were ready. His contacts, on the other hand, had been very pleased at the embarassment it caused.

Sam was worried about some of the protestors though. He was in favour of prick sex being allowed, but the way some of them talked it sounded like they wanted to make it compulsory and that sounded like a rapist’s charter to him. There had even been talk about trying to disrupt DOSA services by attacking their offices. Sam didn’t like the sound of that. He really didn’t want to get involved in anything that might lead to violence.