The Break In

I glanced back over at my partner for this mission, the super hero Twister. She leaned over the rooftop’s railing with binoculars in one hand and a cheeseburger in the other. The black leather bands of her jacket hugged her figure. I couldn’t help but think she looked much more natural in her costume than I did in mine. Honestly she looked more than natural in it. I couldn’t help but imagine bending her over the railing and . . . STOP. I cleared my throat. “So is this the kind of thing heroes do often? Just hang out on a rooftop for hours, watching a lab and waiting for someone to break in?”

“Right, right. And is the burger part of it?”

“Right. Are we sure we want to fight him? His psychic powers are probably stronger than mine. Freya and Saphira just told us to slow them down until they could come back us up. Saphira’s teleporting only works in the daylight. So that could take a bit.”

I sighed. I hadn’t exactly meant to sign up to be a super hero. I’d spent most of my life running away from danger and here I was running towards it. But if Fractal was after me anyway, I may as well try to get a jump on him. “Look I can’t guarantee the silver will protect you. It works with my powers but we can’t know for sure that his powers work the same way as mine.”

“That’s a lot of faith to put in someone you just met days ago.”

Did she really mean that? I couldn’t tell because she had the circlet on. But I decided to believe she did. I reached out my consciousness across the building. I could feel only the thoughts of a few minds within, likely all security staff. Their surface thoughts flowed into my mind. “Let’s see. I’m pretty sure the gatekeeper is watching porn. One of the front security guards is daydreaming about his neighbor’s wife. And . . . And” the image slammed into my mind, a young woman with crimson-red hair crying in a destroyed house. I could see claw marks ripped into the walls and floors. It was so vivid, almost like she was dreaming it right now. “And there’s a young woman who’s incredibly sad and maybe asleep?”

“Yeah I’m sure.”

Freya’s voice crackled with static in response. “Roger that. Signal if you see any signs of Fractal and I’ll dispatch to your location.”

She landed us on the Barton Labs roof. “7.2. Not used to the weight.” She muttered under her breath. She made her way to the roof access door and started picking the lock.

“Call it a hunch. People like him love to pick on people weaker than them. Besides, even if she’s not related it sounds like she needs help.” With a soft click the lock gave way and the door swung open, revealing the dimly lit stairwell within. “Now which way?”

“Yeah but can you honestly say this one didn’t seem like she needed help?” Twister led the way down the winding, concrete stairs. The fluorescent lighting bathed the tiny space in an eerie glow.

As we emerged from the stairwell, the utilitarian, concrete walls gave way to intricate metal panels. Row upon row of glowing buttons and switches seemed to cover every surface of the basement. Straight ahead, a colossal blast door stood wide open. Two guards waited on either side of it. They leveled their assault rifles at us. “Hey you. You’re not supposed to be here!”

I closed my eyes as the muzzles flared. The gunshots echoed through the metal chamber. I saw my earliest memory, crying alone in a padded room at the foundation. Then that darkness faded into the day I developed my powers and escaped. The sterile white hallways of the foundation gave way to filthy, New London streets where I could barely feed myself. I remembered the old art supplies I found in a dumpster and spending every waking second drawing and then painting and then selling my paintings on the street. Then the sunlight melted the dirty pavement and I remembered standing in the Sanctum’s white marble chambers with Saphira and Freya and Twister as they picked out my costume. Everyone was smiling and laughing and . . . and . . . Wasn’t dying supposed to hurt more than this?

“Uh I think Yes? But I mean how?”

I could hear a faint, metallic banging echoing down the corridor beyond. I activated my ear piece “Freya, he’s here. We found him. Meet us in the basement.”

“We must be too far underground. Who knows if she heard that. Saphira probably can’t see us this far from natural light either. What do we do?” I asked.

The corridor yawned in front of us, occasional lights dotting its cavernous darkness. As we ran, the banging grew louder and louder. Finally it reached a crescendo and then stopped. “Come on. We have to hurry,” she yelled over her shoulder.

Two figures emerged from the darkness of the vault. The first was a pale, young woman with long, crimson hair. She wore baggy black pants and a loose, black tank top. Spiked chains hung from her belt and shoulders and she wore a collar with a gemstone in the center around her neck. She eyed us both with a cold glare.

I tried to read their surface thoughts. I felt the same overwhelming sadness from the girl with some other feeling underneath it but I couldn’t see it under the image of her crying. But the masked man, I couldn’t read anything from. Either that mask included silver or he had some other way to block me out.

“Why don’t you come over here and find out Fractal?” Twister shot back confidently, stepping towards them.

Twister shot her fist out towards him in an elastic punch. But the redhead interposed herself and batted the blow aside.

“I don’t need your help.” The woman replied tersely.

“Yes Master.” Malice grunted in response. She moved to stand between us and her master as he walked away.

“But I want to hurt you.” Her blue eyes lit up with a harsh yellow light as her pupils narrowed to slits. The pale pink of her skin brightened to a deep crimson. Her scrawny frame thickened with muscle until she loomed over both of us. A pair of horns shot out from her forehead as her teeth turned to fangs. Her once loose clothing now fit snugly around her taught muscles. With incredible speed for such a hulking figure she slammed a fist into Twister’s stomach. My teammate’s body stretched under the impact before she shot across the chamber like a rubber band.

Malice stared down at me with those catlike yellow eyes for a moment, then swung her fist into the side of my head. I crumpled to the ground, the room spinning around me.

Twister bounced off the far wall and rebounded, spinning into a kick directed at Fractal’s retreating form. But Malice cut in to block again. Twister flipped off her arm and landed beside me. Fractal disappeared into the darkness of the vault beyond.

I sat up groggily. “I tried. But it didn’t take. Her mind doesn’t feel like the others under Fractal’s control. But my command bounced right off. She has to be under some kind of influence.”

I stared down at her circling below us like a hungry shark. “It has to be another artifact If I can’t affect her at all.” I scanned her body, looking for signs of magical influence. I swept my eyes over her impressive physique. I had to admit the added muscle looked good on her, not that she wasn’t cute before. Shame she was resisting my influence. She’d make a pretty hot sex slave. Though maybe with a different outfit, maybe some nice lingerie, maybe a . . . COLLAR! “It’s the collar! The collar is controlling her!”

“Call it a hunch. Think you can get it off her if I can distract her?” I smiled.

“That’s a yes right?” I asked.

“Yes.”

The crimson silhouette bolted across the room, yellow eyes shining in the dim light. “Here goes nothing.” I muttered under my breath. I brought my consciousness against hers with all the force I could muster. I saw the now familiar images in her mind. But this time instead of giving her a command I met her images with one of my own. I showed her my childhood, me crying alone in a padded room with two simple words “I understand.”

Malice’s eyes widened in shock. Suddenly her transformation reversed. The crimson hue drained from her pale skin and her frame shrank back down. The shocked expression on her face gave way to one of pure exhaustion. Her blue eyes drooped, struggling to stay awake before they finally rolled back in her head and closed. She toppled to the ground. Twister was barely able to to jump back and extend her arms to stop Malice from slamming into the ground as she passed out.

“Hey, you didn’t call me new guy!”

As if on cue the masked figure emerged from the vault, carrying a small steel box. He looked out at us, face hidden behind a kaleidoscope of reflections. “It is so hard to get to get good help these days. I had hoped she’d last longer than that.”

He reached out a hand towards her and then paused. “Ah, I see he told you about the silver.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Then suddenly the silver circlet drifted up into the air before shattering into tiny pieces. “Did you not know I could do that?”

I threw my consciousness into her mind. The fragments of her thoughts rushed past me. I learned her name was Maria. I saw images of her competing in a gymnastics contest. I felt she had an urge to ask out someone named Stephanie but didn’t feel like she could. But I couldn’t let myself get distracted by those images.

But Maria was fighting too with everything she had left. Even as her eyes were beginning to glaze over, All the loose shards of thought were reflecting images of her heroics. Burglars hanging from lampposts, smoldering wreckage of sinister machines, rescued hostages hugging her, all filled my mind. Of course that wouldn’t be enough to stop someone as powerful as him. But it was enough to slow him down and that gave me an opening. I started breaking free more thoughts than he could claw back. My head spun from the strain but I could do it.

“Impossible. No one had ever resisted me.” He snarled, ducking and weaving with his telekinesis.

“It matters not. Your will power will break eventually. I can already see you getting tired, your limbs growing heavy and sluggish,” he said smugly.

A narrow line of light appeared on the ceiling accompanied by a metallic, scraping sound. Then another line, followed by a third and fourth. We all stopped to look up at the strange sound. A second later, a chunk of the ceiling collapsed onto the ground in a cloud of dust and rubble. The settling dust revealed an athletic woman with braided hair, wearing leather armor and brandishing a glowing sword. Freya stood proudly, and turned to face Fractal. “You must be Fractal. Nice to finally put a name to a face. Even better to put a fist to a face!” She charged forward.

As Freya closed on Fractal, he dropped the steel box and raised his other hand towards her. The swordswoman froze in her tracks. Her face took on a dazed expression that I was becoming all too familiar with. I split my focus between the two of them, bolstering Freya’s resistance to the best of my ability. Like Twister, she was able to shrug off most of his influence. She almost appeared to be fighting drunk but she continued on. A thin trail of blood began to leak from my eye as the strain of resisting Fractal added up. The room spun in my vision but I stayed conscious.

“Looks like this dog just bit the moon.” She gloated. “Hope I didn’t leave a crater.”

As soon as the mask fell, his psychic pressure exploded. I lost my hold on Maria and and Freya instantly. I could feel their minds snap, ready to obey his every command. Then I could feel his attention turn to me. My power was already nearly depleted. I resisted for what felt like seconds but it was probably less than that. My thoughts disintegrated. I knew only that I existed to serve. My memories blanked out for a while after that.

I swallowed hard. My heart pounded. Whoever he was, he certainly knew how to tempt me. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from Maria’s body. Her years of gymnastics had treated her well. I ran my hand down her side. I lingered on her hips, imagining how they’d feel underneath me. She just stared straight ahead, a thin line of drool escaping her supple lips.

I felt woozy. Both of them were mine to control. No one would have to know. We could just have a little fun and I could make them forget or blame the whole thing on Fractal. It would be so easy, a victimless crime really. They’d enjoy themselves because I’d tell them to. Then I’d break them free. If you think about it, it’s the least they could do to thank me for freeing them. A wicked grin spread across my face.

“Yes Master,” she replied in a dull monotone. Then her body fluidly complied. I laid back on the ground and she obediently lowered herself on top of me.

“Yes Master,” She leaned down towards my face. Her face was just inches from mine. I could feel her breath. I yearned to taste her. My fantasy was becoming real. It all started to feel very real.

But not today. Today I chose to trust. “Maria I want you to . . . Stop!”

“Twister, please get off me. Go stand next to Freya and forget we did any of this,” I grumbled.

I took one last look, barely suppressing the urge to bend both of them over and STOP! “Both of you wake up!” I said before I could change my mind again.

“He got away. And it looks like he got whatever he came for. The artifact is gone too. I’m sorry guys. I couldn’t stop him. The helmet must dampen his powers. I don’t know why he’d do that, but I didn’t stand a chance once he took it off.”

Freya clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Maria is right. We may not have been victorious tonight. But we learned much of our foe’s capabilities. We will surely best him next we meet!”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

I looked down at her sleeping form. She looked so innocent, lying there and gently snoring. Damn she was cute. “Yeah maybe you’re right.”