Beca searched around her apartment, turning over pillows as Alex spoke to her over speakerphone.

 

"It's no biggie. If it shows up, it shows up. If it doesn't, it doesn't," the disembodied voice said over the speaker.

 

Beca momentarily adjusted her phone sitting in her shirt pocket, screen facing out so as not to mistakenly hang up on her new friends.

 

"Well, I'll keep an eye out for it. I'll let you know if - aha! I found it," Beca exclaimed, pulling the glasses case out from between two couch cushions.

 

"Oh, you're a lifesaver, Bec. When can I drop by to pick it up?" Alex asked, plainly relieved.

 

"Anytime tomorrow should be fine. We'll be here all day. Come on over whenever," Beca replied, carefully placing the glasses case

in plain sight on a shelf before plopping back down on the couch with her sock-clad feet on the coffee table.

 

"Great! See you tomorrow," Alex chimed as she hung up the phone.

 

Beca sighed as she relaxed into the overstuffed couch cushions. Man, I love this couch, she thought to herself as she granted herself a moment to relax her stressed, tired muscles into the fabric. A moment, however, was all she got before she heard her front door open.

 

”It’s about time you came back, where did you…”

 

Beca saw a clearly hypnotized Lisa walking in behind Beca.

 

The brunette’s curt, flat tone said it all.

 

”Chloe. What. Did. You. Do?”

 

“She got Cara. We got Lisa. Well, I got Lisa, but that’s not important right now. What I thought was - ”

 

”No! You didn’t think,” Beca interrupted. “How do you know she’s not programmed to betray us again?”

 

”Relax, babe. There’s not a thought in her pretty little head,” Chloe casually replied, waving a hand before the entranced blonde’s face while eliciting no response.

 

“Chlo, we’re supposed to be a team. I feel like you went behind my back, here.”

 

Chloe went silent for a moment and glanced down at the floor before responding.

 

”I guess I just kinda trampled in, didn’t I?”

 

”What did I say before? We’re in this together.”

 

Chloe nodded before leaning in for a hug. Beca’s gaze softened as her posture relaxed and accepted her fiancee’s embrace.

 

”You’re right. Of course you’re right,” Chloe said, kissing Beca on the cheek.

 

“Ok. What should we do?” Chloe asked.

 

”About Cara? Or about little miss Morticia-Addams-wannabe over here?” She said, nodding her head toward Lisa.

 

“Well, I have an idea about both,” Chloe replied, placing noise-cancelling headphones over their guest’s ears while they planned their next move…

 

 

The overcast day did little to light the damp, narrow alley as the wind whistled through the passage.

 

“Ok, I think this is the place,” Beca said, checking the map on her phone as she, Chloe, and Lisa stook in the shadowy corridor.

 

”I hope so: I’d hate to have ruined these for nothing,” Chloe replied, grimacing at her muddy shoes. Distantly, she heard water dripping through an eavestrough, causing Chloe to wonder exactly where that water has been.

 

”Oh, you worry too much, Chloe. I can fix that,” said a low voice, seemingly out of nowhere.

 

Beca and Chloe look down the alley to see Alison standing at the far side, tall and confident, with a half-aware Cara standing beside her, the latter’s hands bound in front of her.

”I said it before, and I’ll say it again: give her back,” Chloe said, mustering up all the sternness she could in her voice.

Alison let out a genuine laugh at the attempt at bravery she just witnessed.

 

”My, my, someone has a penchant for the dramatic!” Alison quipped.

”Says the hypnotist with a villain complex,” Beca snapped back.

 

”And the bitch who wanted to do a prisoner exchange across an alley. I mean, what is this, some third-rate movie?” Chloe added.

 

”Hey! Second-rate movie,” Alison barked.

 

“Whatever. Can we just get on with this, please?” Beca asked.

“Okay, okay. God, you’re taking all the fun out of this,” Alison replied, facepalming in the process.

 

“On the count of three, we both release our captives, allowing them to walk across. Once they both make it back, we leave peacefully. Agreed?”

 

Beca and Chloe both nodded.

”Ok, 1… 2… 3,” Alison called out across the alley.

 

“Go,” Chloe said softly to Lisa. The hypnotized captive slowly began to walk forward, her face betraying neither her peril nor her soaked foot from the mud puddle. As Cara walked closer, Lisa made no eye contact as she continued back to her Mistress.

 

Chloe’s anxiety was beginning to get the better of her. She already knew how it was going to end, but she felt the tension all the same as her stomach tightened and her breathing shallowed. 

 

Beca, meanwhile, was doing her best to check all angles for any signs of betrayal in hopes of slowing her heart rate.

 

Cara and Lisa crossed each other briefly in the approximate centre of the alley, neither acknowledging the other. Both minds were too quiet, too focused on their tasks to think about anything else.

 

Chloe allowed herself a brief chuckle at the idea that it was Lisa and Cara who were probably the least anxious in the group.

 

Finally, Cara arrived at the opposite end of the alley at about the same moment that Lisa had returned to Alison. Beca held Cara close, hugging her tightly as Chloe stepped in front of her partner.

 

“Ok, we got what we came for. Now we’re leaving,” Chloe called out, successfully hiding her anxiety behind the confidence in her voice.

 

“Oh, I don’t think so. Boys…?” Alison called.

 

As she spoke up, a dozen thugs entered the alley behind Beca and Chloe. They fanned out, covering the entrance and effectively blocking their escape. Each one of them had a glazed, empty look in their eyes as they took their positions.

 

“What the fuck?! We had a deal!” Chloe yelled at Alison.

 

“I believe your little toy there said it best: I’m a ‘hypnotist with a villain complex,’” Alison replied, using air quotes to emphasize.

 

Alison strut across the alley, closing in on her newly trapped captives.

 

”And once I have you two deeply under my thrall, the real fun can begin.”

 

”Are you really that dense? The first thing they teach you about hypnosis is that nobody can be hypnotized against their will - and we’re not about to let that happen,” Chloe asserted forcefully.

 

”Are you really that dense? Between sedatives, subliminals, and straight-up conditioning, you’ll give in before you’re missed,” Alison said, smiling ear to ear, basking in victory as she monologued before her captives.

 

“What about your previous social media followers? What will you tell them about that part?” Beca shot, still holding Cara close.

 

“Those sheep? As if they’ll ever find out. Social media can be staged to sell anything. How would they ever know?”

 

”Oh, through them,” Beca said casually, pointing her finger straight up in the air.

 

“Through who?” Alison asked, confused, as she looked up.

 

The goth domme raised her gaze up the brick walls of the apartment buildings that framed the alley. Above her were tons of people - dozens - standing on the fire escape ledges, watching events unfold before them. Many had their phones out, recording the entire exchange. Others were armed with paintball guns, ready to pelt Alison with paint in every colour of the rainbow.

 

“Wh-what? I-I-I can still…”

”No, you can’t,” Beca said matter-of-factly. “Not after that little monologue of yours. Have you never seen movies? Never lay out your plans! Now, call off your goons, or you can kiss your life as a hypnodomme goodbye from inside a jail cell.”

 

Alison let out a hefty sigh. They beat her, and she knew it. She knew that if she carried out the plan, she’d be taken into custody before dinner. All she could do at that moment was accept defeat. Irritated, she held her hand up to get the thugs’ attention.

 

”Let them go,” she said, simply, snapping her fingers.

 

The pathway opened up immediately as Chloe and Beca guided Cara out of the alley to safety.

 

 

 

 

After a long afternoon of deprogramming, Cara, decked out in a pair of oh-so-wonderfully soft flannel pajamas on loan from Beca, lounged on the sofa while Beca returned from the kitchen, arms full of finger foods and a bottle of wine.

 

”We’re so happy to see you back to your old self, Cara,” Chloe said, eagerly nabbing the first pig in a blanket.

 

”You guys are the best friends ever. I don’t know how to thank you,” Cara replied, smiling cheerily as she had a swig of wine.

 

”For rescuing you? Or for filling you up with carbs and sodium?” Beca joked.

 

”You know what I mean. Seriously, I’m so relieved to be out of there,” Cara said in earnest.

 

Chloe leaned over and settled her cheek on Beca’s shoulder as Beca wrapped her arm around Chloe.

 

”I dunno, there are worse fates out there, after all: getting brainwashed into hypnotic obedience isn’t really the worst thing in the world,” Beca joked once again.

 

”Words to live by,” Chloe teased, reaching up to tap Beca’s nose. Beca playfully tried to bite Chloe’s finger in response.

 

”I mean, Chlo and I do hypnoplay all the time, but it’s all consensual. We’re not really big on the noncon stuff.”

 

Beca picked up a piece of turkey, offering Chloe half.

 

”It wasn’t all bad,” Cara offered. “Like, she didn’t mistreat me or anything - at least, besides the obvious…”

 

”Was it that rough?” Chloe asked before Beca poked her in the side.

 

”What? It’s good to be able to talk about it,” Chloe whined, rubbing her side softly.

 

”Honestly, the first word I’d use to describe it was ‘intense’”, Cara offered, partly to diffuse the sudden tension and partly to get it off her chest. “You guys remember that spiral she has, right?”

 

”Who could forget?” Beca muttered under her breath while Chloe nodded.

 

“Like, I would just sit and stare at it for hours. It just spun ‘round… and around… and around… and even when I wasn’t watching it, I could just see it in my head, you know? The black and white strips just kept coming, one after the other, after the other.”

 

Cara glanced over at her hostesses. Beca was quiet and still, gazing off into the middle ground while Chloe’s breath had slowed a little.

 

“I remember it was just so… compelling… like I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Her voice was in my head and everything she was saying made so much sense. I would just… follow along and internalize every word. Have you ever felt like that?”

 

“Mmm yeah, I have,” Chloe mumbled, while Beca nodded slightly.

 

“I never thought I could be so overwhelmed by a spinning spiral like that… every spin overwhelming my mind as I would just… succumb to the spiral…”

 

Cara’s gaze and smile turned almost feral when she looked over at the happy couple. Chloe’s eyes had shut completely, eyes moving rapidly behind her eyelids, while Beca had a completely vacant facade as she stared mindlessly ahead.

 

”And as the spiral overwhelmed my thoughts, all I could think of was one word: obey… obey… obey…”

 

”Obey,” Chloe and Beca muttered softly under their breath.

 

Cara couldn’t believe how well things were going. Soon, they both would be under her spell, and she could begin programming them to serve their one true Mistress Alison.

 

”Yes, that’s right. Obey. Obey. You must obey. Say it.”

 

”Must obey,” Chloe whispered softly. Beca, meanwhile, began to show some life in her eyes as she fought the suggestion.

 

”Shh, it’s ok Beca, just look here,” Cara said as she quickly drew out her phone and opened a spiral for Beca to watch. The hypnotized brunette’s eyes locked onto the screen as the spiral pulled all her thoughts into its centre.

 

”That’s right, give in to the spiral, lose yourself to the spiral…”

 

”Lose yourself…” Chloe chimed, a little louder this time.

 

Beca’s ears effortlessly tuned into her partner’s voice. Years of conditioning taught her mind to accept Chloe’s words at face value. That extra push was all Beca needed to sink down deep. Beca’s body rapidly sunk into the couch as her chin sank to her chest, leaving ample drool on her cleavage.

 

Cara unlocked her phone and dialed a number from memory.

 

”They’re ready, Mistress,” she said quietly.