“Look, we’re not kids, Freya. We can take care of ourselves, just fine thank you,” Allison huffed, blowing a strand of red hair out of her face.

“Ha! I hope he does try something. I still owe him for last time,” Freya replied, cracking her knuckles.

“I’ve been doing this far longer than any of you. I know to handle myself,” Freya answered.

Freya entered the hall of mirrors, where Twister and Saphira waited for her. A seemingly endless series of tall, gilded mirrors lined the walls of the white marble chamber. The endless reflections made the towering hall appear to reach into infinity. “They’re coming along nicely, Saphira. We’ll need a name for our group at this rate,” Freya joked as she approached.

“No offense, but that doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue,” Twister replied. “How about The Freedom Force? Or Alpha Team? Or maybe Super Squad?”

“We’ll have plenty of time to think of something. But if we want to get you two home before sunset, we need to hurry,” Saphira said. She turned to face one of the mirrors and placed her hand on the reflective surface. A soft glow emanated from her palm and radiated across the glass. It rippled the reflection like a stone thrown into a calm pond. And as the ripples settled, the image had changed to one of Twister’s gymnastics studio. Balance beams and Pommel horses were silhouetted against the orange of the sunset.

Then Saphira turned to a mirror on the opposite wall and repeated the process. This time the image displayed the San Angeles skyline as seen through sweeping windows. Freya gave Saphira a nod before stepping through. The surface of the mirror felt strangely warm pouring over her skin. She closed her eyes as she walked, and when they opened again she was standing in her penthouse apartment, wreathed in a warm light.

Freya looked out over the city skyline and wondered if this era would ever feel normal to her. She certainly appreciated the luxuries of modern life, but a part of her yearned for the simplicity of her original time. She missed the feeling of testing her strength with the other Valkyries on a real battlefield. Hero work had some of the same appeal, but couldn’t quite scratch the itch. Oh well, there was nothing to be done about it tonight. She turned away from the silhouettes of towering glass and headed to the kitchen.

She was eager to soak in her massive tub and forget the day. Not having a secret identity had a few perks, she thought as she placed her hand on the cool door knob. She paused for a moment. Hadn’t this door been open when she left?

She wore a yellow jumpsuit, emblazoned with white accents. A yellow helmet shaped like a lion’s head covered the woman’s face. This was the yellow Dyna-Trooper, part of a group of heroes. The attacker whirled around, angling her blade for a long strike across Freya’s torso. Freya stepped backward and knocked it away. Laevateinn could probably cut the woman’s sword in half. It was an ancient relic itself after all. But the yellow trooper could be helpful if Freya could just free her.

Someone had to be controlling her, but who? Mr. Mesmer should still be in prison. The yellow figure stabbed again, but Freya deftly deflected. The Xondor mind worms should all be extinct. This felt too clumsy for Fractal. Whoever it was must have a grudge against her specifically. That was it!

The woman tried to stand, but Freya pounced, pinning her to the ground. Quickly, Freya reached a hand to the back of the woman’s neck. She felt it there, just as she’d expected, a small bump. The hero crushed it between her two fingers.

“Well let’s see, you broke into my home while I was away and then tried to kill me upon my return. Jogging your memory?” Freya asked, still keeping a tight grip on the stranger.

“What warehouse? Tell me everything,” Freya answered.

Freya released her grip and helped Talisha to her feet. “It’s alright. That man was likely a super villain named The Mind Hacker. I’ve vanquished him many times before. Take me to your friends. We’ll have The Mind Hacker in irons before the night is out!”

Freya had been hoping for a break tonight. But an easy win over a familiar foe was its own form of comfort. Fractal’s plans had led her to dead end after dead end. But The Mind Hacker was usually more straightforward. His abilities to control people made him overconfident. This would be a nice break for her, simple, easy. Still the words of her young friends tugged at the back of her mind. She opened a comm channel on her ear piece. “Twister, this is Freya. I’m at warehouse forty six down on the docks. I’m handling a villain. If you don’t hear from me by the end of the night, come investigate with the others in the morning,” she said, feeling silly even doing it.

“Yeah I noticed,” she yelled back. The red trooper had leapt out from a rack of oil drums and was swinging at her with his massive gauntlets. But Talisha stayed one step ahead, quickly retreating back towards Freya.

Freya whispered under her breath to Talisha, “Alright. It’s four on two. But we don’t need to defeat them. We only need to get the chips off their necks. Then the odds will turn in our favor. They can’t use their combination attack without you. So as long as we watch out for The Mind Hacker we should be fine.”

Talisha smiled. “Master said you would be too confident. Now you will take your rightful place as his toy.”

“I’m right here, my precious little doll,” a high voice cooed. The gaunt man stepped out from the shadows. He wore a black vest and pants over a white shirt and carried a strange piece of wood in one hand. “I’ve waited for this day a long time.”

He approached her and began gently running his hands over her arms. “Let’s just say you’ve made some powerful enemies, my pretty doll. They gave me some new tricks in exchange for taking you out of the picture. But don’t worry, my toy. They’ll leave you alone now. No one will bother you anymore,” he cooed. The man’s bony fingers ran across Freya’s trembling arms.

“Tsk Tsk Tsk. Didn’t I tell you I had some new tricks.” He waved the piece of wood in his hand and Freya’s hands responded immediately. They fell to her ample breasts and began massaging them. She felt like a prisoner in her own body. She tried to make her hands stop, but they no longer listened to her. They felt like they were moving on strings.

“Guilty as charged,” the man said, oozing with condescension. He approached her and reached out his hand.

The Mind Hacker coughed from the kick, but came away smiling. He returned to Freya on the ground and attached his strings to her other leg. Her arms and legs spread helplessly at his command. She tried to move, but her limbs were no longer her own. All she could do was wiggle her torso and turn her head.

“That’s better, my pretty doll. You don’t need to speak unless I tell you to. Isn’t that right?”

The Mind Hacker ran a gentle hand across her chest, spreading strings as he did. “That’s it. I’ve waited so long for this day. You put me in jail so many times. You foiled so many of my plans. But I never gave up. I knew that one day you would be the crown jewel of my collection. I knew that deep down you wanted that too, didn’t you?” His hand lingered on her breasts, slipping under her armor to tease her nipples.

“That’s what I thought,” he purred. He reached a hand under the leather skirt of her armor.

“See, you love being tied up, don’t you?”

“Such a good doll for me,” he said. He twitched his wrist and the strings inside her heightened her pleasure even further. They filled her completely, pushing further and deeper inside of her than she’d ever felt. And as they crept deeper inside, they took her nerves captive along their path. Every inch of her sensitive flesh was under his control now, trapped in an endless vortex of pleasure.

Freya came and couldn’t stop. Her hips thrashed against the cold, concrete ground. All of her thoughts washed away in the endless tide of pleasure.

“Yes Master, Yes Master, Yes Master,” she moaned, as he commanded of course. But her head was nodding too. She couldn’t stop. She couldn’t think. She just wanted the pleasure to go on forever. Then she felt them, the strings reaching deep into her mind. Her thoughts, her beliefs, all just puppets on strings. She could feel her Master going through them. The thoughts he had no use for fell limp and went to sleep. Her desire to be a hero and help people went to sleep. Her pride in her accomplishments turned to pride at serving her Master. Her feelings of arousal and submission pulled up, dancing through her mind. Freya could feel her Master returning control of her limbs to her. Of course, she would only use them as he desired. “Thank you for enslaving me, Master,” she whispered.

Freya complied immediately. At first her body twisted and jerked as the strings tugged at her. But nonetheless her clumsy limbs padded across the concrete floor. Slowly her movements became more fluid and more deliberate as she adjusted to the guiding force of her tether. She bowed down deeply when she reached him, pressing her forehead to the dusty ground.

His member twitched against her tongue. She delighted in feeling his pleasure. The Mind Hacker grabbed her braid and used it as a handle to guide her deeper onto his shaft. She obeyed happily, taking him deep into her throat. She loved to obey now. A salty dribble leaked into her mouth. She was close to finishing him and that brought her such joy. She sped up, moaning loudly.

The thin man released a happy sigh. “I knew you would be worth waiting for, my doll. You did not disappoint.”

—-

She found the door to the rusty warehouse hanging open. She knew they had made it inside then. Maria took a flashlight from her belt and entered. She panned the light across the stacks of broken boxes. The warehouse was quiet and still, save for a faint rustling sound.

It took Maria a moment to find her with the flashlight. “Oh thank goodness you’re safe. What happened with the villain you were after?” She asked, relieved.

“Oh I see. The Mind Hacker. He’s a classic villain of yours. He’s the one with the mind control chips right? I’m surprised he got away. Usually you beat him pretty easily right?” Maria asked suspiciously, trying to casually approach the other woman.

“Oh, you don’t say. Well we’ll all be sad to see you GO!” Maria yelled the last word as she shot an elastic arm across the space between them. Her hand arced through the air and grabbed the back of Freya’s neck. She felt urgently for a microchip, but found nothing.

Twister crashed into the floor, her flashlight rolling across the ground. She shakily stood up. “But How? Freya, how is he controlling you?” She gasped.

Twister noticed for the first time the disheveled appearance of Freya’s clothes. “It’s ok, Freya. I’ll save you,” she said, voice straining.

“Freya, just tell me how he’s controlling you. Please, I know you’re still in there,” Twister pleaded.

“I’ll tell you,” The Mind Hacker said with a chuckle. “After all I’m about to do the same thing to you. She’s my perfect little puppet now. A kind stranger gave me this control bar and told me to take Freya off the board. Of course, I don’t think he’ll mind if I take you too.” He raised the piece of wood and Freya gave a little shiver of pleasure.

“Oh no. I’ll take my time with you. The fact that you know what’s happening to you will make it all the more delicious. I’ll take your self control away from you one string at a time. With every thread I attach, you’ll lose more and more of yourself, until you’re begging me to enslave you,” The Mind Hacker gloated.

The Mind Hacker laughed. “What? Are you going to stab your friend? Not very heroic of you. It won’t make a difference. Pain doesn’t mean anything to her anymore.”

—-

Freya felt an odd sensation in her wrist, like it was hanging loose in the air, like she could move it however she wanted. Bizarre. Then feeling spread up her arm.

Then with one final snap, Freya’s mind returned to her. Her head swam, but she acted immediately, dropping Maria and charging for The Mind Hacker. Her fist dug into his face with a crunch. He flew across the dark warehouse, hitting the metal wall.

“I owe you an apology Twister,” she gasped as her teammate returned Laevateinn.

“I thought the rest of you were below my level. I thought you all had so much to learn from me, but I had nothing to learn from you,” Freya said, choking down her shame.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re an idol for me. Fighting side by side with THE Freya. It’s a dream come true for me,” Maria answered earnestly.

The troopers closed in slowly. For the second time in one night, Freya found herself back to back with an ally, surrounded by enemies. “It’s six on two. Not great odds. We’ll have to be careful. I can cut them free apparently, but it’ll take time. We just need to release them all before they can get either of us.” Freya hated to admit it, but The Mind Hacker was probably right. It would be nigh impossible to defeat this many opponents without giving him an opening to capture them. Twister had pulled off a miracle saving her. But Freya couldn’t shake the feeling that it may not be enough.

Maria gave her a reassuring smile. “Sounds like a plan to me. But I think we have pretty good odds,” she said.

“You didn’t notice? It’s a beautiful sunrise,” the other hero answered. Freya finally saw the soft, pink light filtering down through the sky lights.

The hulking form of the red trooper moved in to pummel them down. But as he did, another shape appeared in the light. The muscular silhouette knocked him to the side. “Pick on someone your own size,” Allison’s low voice growled in her demon form.

Talisha called to the other troopers. “Form up! We need the Dyna-Cannon.” The colorful heroes banded together. Their weapons merged into one, forming a massive laser. A ball of rainbow light gathered at its tip.

“Please allow me,” a lyrical voice echoed through the cavernous chamber. The laser fired straight towards the heroes, searing the ground as it passed. But the light in the warehouse brightened unnaturally. It fell before Freya like a gossamer curtain. The beam stopped as if it had hit a wall of solid light. The laser refracted off the light, dissolving into rays of pure color, before it finally scattered into a beautiful rainbow.

The Mind Hacker stared in slack-jawed amazement at how quickly things had turned against him. “Um. Maybe we could . . . talk about this?” He squeaked.