Unmasking was always seen as a taboo, an escalation no one could really afford. If a villain saw they had no recourse even in their civilian life, they wouldn’t think of holding back, without regards of any collateral damage. Meanwhile, heroes would end up endangering their friends and families, possibly even needing to leave them permanently in that situation. Rebuilding in a new place, losing all of their previous connections, their relationships.

That didn’t mean unmasking never happened. Just mostly on small-timers, people too weak to become part of the top force, the ones known nationally. People without power to back themselves up, or not enough fame or infamy.

I looked at Green Thumb, and I knew I wanted to hook her into my orbit. She had such a versatile power, and the naivety to believe there wasn’t a need to hide the true breadth of it. I watched as she threw her seeds, the plant immediately exploding to life the moment it hit the victim. Vines tied would-be muggers, keeping him restrained and unable to do anything else except lying there.

She never tried to take money back from the people she captured, either—unlike other vigilantes I knew of. Heroism didn’t really pay, and so people made do. Police looked the other side, because they knew without capes, the villains would end up doing worse. If the unpowered people ended up by the wayside? That wouldn’t be their fault then.

I pulled more videos of her exploits. Of how she deliberately never went against any other capes… But most importantly, whenever she finished her patrol of the suburbs, before finally going back to her place, her room.

It was easy to find out who she was, with that knowledge. Kallan Walker, not an orphan, but… her mother was working in another country, barely acknowledging her existence. Meanwhile, her father didn’t seem to be recorded anywhere. A result of cheating? Abandonment? I could try to find out, but it wasn’t too important right now. I grinned, an idea slowly forming in my head as I thought over her existence.

She was alone, with barely any support pillars around her. She lived by herself, even needing to work, considering the almost insulting amount of stipend her mother sent. With her powers there and active, was it any wonder she turned into capery? It was just a lucky break she chose to be a hero—and that was why I took an interest.

At first, it was just to understand the new vigilante in Barlam. Now though… There was a possessive desire forming in my chest, a want I didn’t know could even exist.

Surely she would be happier by my side.

No. I would ensure she would be happier.

My eyes looked to the side, to the single headset I was working on, on-and-off. Something a few heroes had whispered to me, of a way to convince villains to turncoat…

Green Thumb might not be a villain, but with what I was planning, the core idea of the headset was sound. As long as she wore it, then I could just… I smiled, liking the idea that was forming in my mind.

It was morning when I noticed the email. With barely enough sleep—I only arrived back in my room at 4am—I nearly threw it into the trash. That was when I realized it had Green Thumb right in the subject, and I had no choice but to open it, if only to reassure myself that no one had found out.

Someone did.

My heart was beating too loud, blood rushing in my ears as I stared upon the words. I was reading and yet not understand, not getting why did people do this. Like, I was managing to keep myself on the down low! Not really facing any other capes, especially not one of the villains. Maybe one of the muggers I caught…

No, that line of thought was all too much. I shook my head and opened the email properly, hoping I didn’t end up downloading a virus or something. With that problem out of the way, I read it properly—and found ice settling inside my veins.

I was glad that even though I shared the apartment rent with four others, all of us have our own room. If anyone else saw me right of this moment, I was certain I would end up spilling everything, and who knew what they would want to do?

Good morning,

May this email found you in good health. Well, I actually do know you are all good, considering yesterday you only found a few muggers to stop. The place you chose to patrol are actually not huge on cape activity… You are such a smart girl for realizing that and deliberately picked that place.

No worries, it’s always good to not pick a fight against the bigger fish. In fact, I would love to congratulate you about it, Green Thumb. Why don’t you come to my place and we’ll have a good chat?

You can refuse the invitation, of course. But the video I had attached might find itself out, somehow finding its way into certain journalists’ emails. Social medias are always hungry for more news too, of something sensational to be pored over—and this will be perfect.

Nonetheless, I’m sure you’ll pick the right choice.

Best Regards,

Your biggest fan <3

A stone had lodged itself in my stomach, heavy and making me wish I could puke it all out. But no, it was all just a psychosomatic, all in my brain and because of stress and worry and anxiety all at once.

No matter how many times I read, closed and read again, even turning my phone off and back on—it didn’t change. I prayed it would, but it was the same words taunting me over and over again, telling me that someone was blackmailing me as of this moment. I felt sick, and yet I knew I couldn’t do anything.

Except checking the video.

I clicked it open, and immediately wished I didn’t. I should have just accepted what the person said, I shouldn’t have thought that they were lying.

The video cut right onto where I was in my bedroom, already wearing my usual dark pants and heavy-duty boots, even the usual bulky jacket I wore. I was putting off wearing my blank green mask then, instead looking through the pouch with my plant seed—ensuring they were all alive, and would immediately sprout all over the criminal when I threw them. I put it in my inner jacket’s pocket, before finally took the last part of my repertoire and put the mask on my face. It looped back to the beginning after this, but one thing for sure was… my face was clear, throughout.

Nausea built up in my throat like the rising tide, and it took all I had not to puke at the sheer violation happening. Especially when it was recorded in my room. My skin crawled as I let my eyes roamed all over, the feeling of being watched felt especially prevalent now. I had to check every nook and cranny—

Another message popped in my email, the timing was incredibly suspect. In the depth of my mind, I had a feeling of what it could be, but I still clicked on it anyway.

You can try looking for them, but I might not be as kind, if you decide to destroy them.

Nothing else was written, and I could feel the lump in my throat. It was hard to even swallow, my palms feeling so clammy as I stared at my screen.

Whoever they were, it was clear they had more than one camera in my room. Maybe even elsewhere in this apartment, I had no idea.

Another ping, and I held back my desire to just throw my phone out. To just let it fall out from the window, until it break against the pavement. Or maybe it would hit someone’s head and with my current luck, they would then look at my inbox and watch the video. Who knew what my blackmailer would do next then, I didn’t want to know .

So I instead opened the next one and it’s—oh. They apologized for not giving me the time and place and I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry. The meeting would be tonight, and the address… it was one of the rich areas. My stomach flipped, the uncomfortable realization I couldn’t do anything becoming realer by the second.

They also asked for me to bring my costume, but not to wear it. That would be for ‘later’, whatever that meant.

Maybe… maybe I could pretend. Attack them, the moment we meet one another? I had a feeling this wouldn’t work. But what else could I do?

At this moment, I wished that I tried to make more than restraining vines. There were so many ideas in the back of my brain, ones I could try to make with more seeds and time—but I never did. I was scared of the possibilities, of what if they fell to someone else’s hand? Now I had nothing as an answer, and those fears seemed stupid.

In the end, I had nothing else to do, except preparing to go to my workplace until it was time to go. Changing my clothing felt so much worse, what with the knowledge that at this moment, they could have been looking and seeing me changing. They might have seen before, but the added knowledge… My stomach was churning, barely held back from puking.

Working couldn’t really distract me from what would happen later, but I knew I had no choice but to focus on it.

My boss wasn’t happy with how distracted I was while working, telling me I better be in tip-top shape tomorrow. I wanted to scream, but well… I would meet my blackmailer tonight. One way or another, things should be done today.

I lifted my head up, looking at the massive gate with the symbol of a raven right there at the metal grate, a lone red stone was placed there in its eye, gleaming and glinting with unknown light. A lone camera was on top of the fence too, its black lens seemingly void of life, even as the red dot at the bottom of it showed the fact it was alive. I was sure there were more though, even as my attention turned back to look at the bird, the redness somehow pulling at it. No, demanding for me.

My focus was upon it, dragged towards it until everything else fell down. A void of nothingness where it was all I could do to breathe and stare. Trying to find if there was something else, my body frozen even as my thoughts were whirling, wondering and curious of what it was.

The monitor planted right into the brick fence to the side crackled so suddenly I nearly jumped, my head swiveling just as the gray screen turned into the head of a raven. Still the same shimmering red stone in its eyes, now two instead of one.

“Welcome, Kallan. I’m so glad you decided to accept my invitation!” Their words rang in my ears, and I knew this was all puzzle pieces falling together. I was still trying to connect, to understand who they were, but it was hard to think. All I could do was stand as I heard her words, her tones. Excitement. Glee. Both of those mixed in easily with their words, as if I had decided to come because of my own volition. “Now come, there are so many things I wish to do with you.”

More flickers came over the screen as I watched, the screen seemingly pulling my attention further. The raven was breaking up, no longer a bird but a kaleidoscope that called up to my thoughts. All pulled together until they were all bundled against one another, pressed and bleeding until I couldn’t parse between them all.

This wasn’t anything good, I knew that from the moment I started to fall. And yet everything was smooth, my thoughts unwilling to follow my lead. It was easier to let the statics, the colors and buzzing to lead them all combining into a slurry I couldn’t understand.

“Ah… I forgot that I put this as part of my self-defense.”

The voice was somehow clear, able to penetrate through the white noise in my head. It was hard to understand, but somehow, that didn’t feel right. There were enough sadism hidden behind it, a giggle as if it was wonderful I was caught within it. Understanding still didn’t bring freedom to me, and my own consciousness refused to be grasped back.

I couldn’t do anything, until she said a word—something that seemingly just came to my brain, something I understood and yet unable to retain. Then, and only then, did my thoughts started to settle. Separating themselves into their own lane, an unscrambling that somehow worked.

As if someone was able to separate the yolk and the whites again, despite mixing them all up to make an omelette beforehand.

The gate was open in front of me, the invitation so clear and obvious I didn’t have any other choice but to walk in. The cobblestone felt smooth and worn beneath my boots, a part of my costume—it should be fine. After all, they didn’t say anything about that when the monitor was on.

I tried to remember what else was said, but it seemed as if the staticky raven had taken roost in my head.

The worst part of walking through the long, winding walk from the gate to the manor, was how much garden there was outside the walkway. So much fertile soil, all begging for my touch, so I could… I shook my head, not wanting to think of the possibilities that would merely leave me salivating. It would hurt the moment I was back home again, in my tiny apartment and only a few pots I could use to breed my own restraint vines. The only thing I managed to make, because to make anything new, I needed more time and soil than I have access to.

The manor was huge, even from where I was walking through. There was no other way to describe it, with how it seemed to line up from one football sized length to another. Maybe even longer? I didn’t know, but at least I could barely see the end of the building.

Took me forever to finally arrive in front of the entrance, and I could feel nervous energy all over my body. My hand fingered the pile of restraint vine seeds I had put in my pockets, trying to calm myself with the feeling. Not only for the seeds, but how each of them was thrumming with energy and ready to be thrown at this villain’s face. Once I had them restrained, I could try to interrogate and find out why they had blackmailed me. Setting my jaws, I tried the door, not terribly surprised to find it wasn’t locked.

Lights immediately turned on with the door’s swing, allowing me to see the big entrance hall, with many doors leading deeper into the house, as well as a huge staircase for going upstairs, where there were even more doors. Pillars could be seen too, swirling, carved with more crows and each of their eyes inlaid with previous gemstones. Rubies, sapphires, diamonds—there were variety, and none of them could have been cheap I was sure.

Paintings of people were also placed all over the walls, and I couldn’t help but look at how long the line was. They were the ancestors, the people who had lived here and inherit the building and the land from the one before. Each of the paintings always have one similarity between each other, despite everything. It was a symbol of a crow, perched on a branch, its baleful eyes somehow could be felt despite my distance between the painting and the entrance. This wasn’t a mere manor, but it was a sign of an old family. A legacy even…

It had been niggling at the back of my mind, with the crow symbol outside. The sheer amount of corvid, seemingly all over the house. This had to be the main house of Raven, one of the elite in Barlam.

Cold seemed to seep into my stomach upon that realization, an uncomfortable churn I could feel as I realized how fucked I was now. A villain who was part of the elite? Even if I managed to do something to them—there were no way they would stay in the prison. Like, no matter what I found here.

I… No, I couldn’t think like that. I was, am, Green Thumb. A weak-ass vigilante who only gathered around the suburbs, staying close to Downtown area, not daring to go to the Docks where many gangs still operated despite The Castaways cracking down on them. I was weak, but that didn’t mean I backed off. I was still a part of the cape scene in Barlam, despite everything.

“Welcome, Miss Walker. The Mistress of the House has told me to let you walk for a while, before finally telling you to come with me to meet her.” A distinguished and, frankly, posh voice made me jump in surprise. A butler had just suddenly popped up in front of me, a polite smile plastered on that old face. He bowed at me, despite the fact I was certain he should still be on top of me, in terms of social hierarchy.

After all, I was from the poor part of the town, and this was the first time I saw someone wearing a butler uniform for real and not doing it as a cosplay. He wore it with dignity, even as he turned, walking to one of the back doors below the stairs. It was obvious where he was bringing me. To the person who had blackmailed me.

Was he in this as well? Considering he had said ‘Mistress of the House’... but he didn’t seem to think much of me, except as a guest in this place. Rather than ending up doing anything wrong, I decided to not throw the vines at him. Besides, he was the only one who knew the way. I didn’t think I would be able to find the right way, even with a month to explore this place.

The road was complicated, with turns I didn’t expect to happen. The only thing I was certain of was how we were going deeper, further underground than I expected. No other commercial building had such a deep basement, I was sure. Deep, and wide. Like, it wasn’t just a straight spiral stair going down, but with long ass corridors that made me wonder if we, perhaps, have ended up elsewhere.

Soon enough we arrived in front of a steel door, one the butler unlocked not only with a key, but with some sort of complicated movement and probably his fingerprint. He jiggled the handle a few ways, and I could hear the clicks as it probably unlocked a few more mechanisms. When the door finally opened, he merely moved to the side and gave me another bow, no explanations given.

“You just need to walk down, and you’ll arrive where the Mistress wants you, Miss Walker. She has been waiting.”

Still as polite as ever, but his expression was unchanged. Still neutral, careful and didn’t tell me a single thing of what was running in his mind. He was calm, and I palmed one of my seeds—this would be useful. I would see this ‘Mistress’ soon, and ensuring the butler was unable to help her would be a great advantage.

“I don’t think you’ll wish to do that, Miss Walker. Right now you are protected because the Mistress wishes for you to arrive to her unmolested, but if you decide to break the neutrality… She always gave me carte blanche to handle you as I see fit.” His voice was flat, even the politeness beforehand was just gone as he stared at me.

I felt pinned, as if I was an insect under the watch of an entomologist. Slowly, with more power than I thought I had, I managed to give him a nod.

He scrutinized me a while further, gray eyes trying to understand whether I was being genuine or not. I could only sigh in relief when he finally closed them and gave me a nod, turning away.

The pressure lessened, and I immediately scrambled through the door. It was a spiral staircase, going straight down, the walls were made of stone and reminding me so much of every horror story with a basement. Or maybe just the eldtrich horror type? I probably was thinking too much. But I was just trying to distract myself from the creepiness of the stairs, with the darkness covering majority of the place and how because it was underground, and the walls were made of stone, it was slightly cooler than the rooms up above.

There was even a music playing throughout, a soft instrumental that so easily wormed its way into my ears. I focused on that, trying not to think on anything else. Just the tunes, not the possibility of horror ahead of me, of what the Mistress might want to do to me. I couldn’t do anything to those, but I could stop myself from being so scared I wanted to run back up. Criminals were fine, but ghosts? They were too much, really.

The music helped, especially as I let it lead myself down, the rhythm, the sound somehow made each step easier.

At long last, after… I didn’t know how long, I had arrived at the bottom. More stones covered the soil, and I looked at the door suspiciously. It was a nondescript one, solid oak if I was to really guess, but it could be some other wood. Just that after seeing the steel one at the top of the staircase, this seemed too normal.

Before I could have decided one way or another, that decision was taken out of my hand. The door swung open, allowing me to only see the darkness in the room. My heart was beating so fast as I tiptoed in, trying and hoping the little stealth could have given me a little edge against her—even if the fact I was here must be known already.

The door slammed shut behind me without a noise, the light suddenly turning on and making me shut my eyes in surprise.

“Welcome, Kallan! Or should I say… Green Thumb? We finally meet!” The voice was familiar, not so much that I felt I knew her, but it sounded like someone I had heard often enough. Maybe a regular in her work, or perhaps mostly from TV. “No need to keep your eyes closed, my dear. I don’t look half-bad, from what people said about me.”

I wanted to scream that had no relation at all, that I did this because of the sudden light—My hand had slipped into my pockets, grasping the rough seeds, ready to throw it.

“Anyway. Take your hand out of your pockets, please. I know you are bringing your lovely vines with you, and I can think of many, many ways of using it that you aren’t using now…” She trailed off, as if a little embarrassed, and I could feel my stomach twisting uncomfortably. “But you want to ensure your little video didn’t get sent around, yes? Then maybe you should listen to me, instead of what your silly brain is telling you.”

My sight was coming back, faster than if I got hit with a flash bang. While slowly opening my eyes, I also pulled my hand out of the pockets, managing to keep my grasp on one of the seeds. That should be enough. Hopefully. I knew fighting at this moment was stupid, but I also didn’t want to be completely helpless.

Blinking my eyes open, I could mostly see. There were still a few spots, but they were rapidly going away with every second. Someone was sitting on an office chair in front of the frankly massive monitor, each one showing off a street of Barlam, flickering and changing to another street every few seconds. Not only streets, it was also looking at the buildings, people’s houses and various offices and malls—nothing was sacred, and there was no place she couldn’t access, it seemed.

She, because there was no one else here, swiveled the chair around. I finally saw who was the Mistress of this House. The one who blackmailed me, even. She looked painfully familiar, with her peregrine hawk helmet, those familiar marking all over her front and sides, coloring her tight suits—she was Peregrine. One of the biggest superhero in the city. She didn’t handle most of the street level fights, that I knew of.

But everyone knew about how Peregrine had worked together with the big names. How she got called to handle the national-level threats, even planetary. And… she was my blackmailer? It felt incongruent to try pushing those two facts together, like saying an elephant cared for the grass it stepped on.

I was just a random vigilante, wearing my costume because I had powers and I couldn’t help but believe I had to use it. That I had a responsibility to the surrounding community, to keep them safe from the gangers and people who seek to take advantages. The muggers, drug dealers, people who took advantage of others… I just couldn’t leave it be. I tried to help beyond that too, but as someone without that much money to throw around… it was hard.

Peregrine was smiling down at me, the chair deliberately positioned just so she would be taller. “Is it so surprising that I’ll take an interest in you?” She stood up, moving so smoothly it took me a moment that she had stood right in front of me now, her hawk helmet allowing me to see right into her eyes—and it sent shivers down my spine.

Those blue eyes were looking at me as if I was an interesting specimen. She wasn’t looking at me like I was a person at all, that her interest within me was merely for one reason or another. I still didn’t understand, but I suddenly had a feeling I should have never come. Let her spread that blackmail, as long as it meant she would never have me here.

“Oh. You are such a skittish one, Kallan. I have done so much just to invite you here, and you wished to spurn my invitation already?” She sighed, shaking her head. If it wasn’t for the fact it was all forced on me, I might have laughed with the way she was acting. All I could feel was sickness, though, a clench in my chest.

“I… just tell me what you want. Do you just wish to gloat or what?” My voice was choking slightly, the realization that I was such a weak vigilante that even someone like Peregrine had to be looking down on me. After all, why else would she end up doing all these? Blackmailing and everything.

She cocked her head to the side, as if just realizing the way she was acting invited very different feelings than what she was looking for. But then her grin was there again, and I wanted to back off, to run away, despite knowing there wasn’t a way out. Even throwing all my restraining vines here wouldn’t work—Peregrine surely would have some sort of technology, all ready to purge the plant life if she wished to.

“No, gloating doesn’t meet my purpose.” She murmured, shaking her head before turning around and going to the side of the room. I watched her carefully, hand twitching and wishing to just do something beyond standing here and accepting what she wanted to do to me.

But attacking Peregrine would be… I shuddered slightly, imagining how the heroic community would think about that. I would be branded a villain so fast I doubted anyone would think for more than a second, probably even thrown into that special prison they were starting to build too. Especially considering I was in her home too, making it even more taboo, making the people even madder to me than they already were.

I would love to think that heroes would be better than people, but a lot of times, they could be as easily be whipped into frenzy. So with those thoughts heavily pressing down on me, I… stayed my hand. Waiting for Peregrine to find what she wanted.

It didn’t take long, all in all. She soon walked back in front of me, this time holding some sort of… helmet? More akin to a VR headset, if I wanted to really put a name on it. She was presenting it towards me, a grin on her face.

“This is what I wanted you to do—just wear this for a while, until I tell you to stop. I’ll delete the video then. I do like you being a hero, you know?” Her voice had turned soft at the end, an almost fondness nearly entering her look as she looked at me.

Slowly, reluctantly and wishing I could just throw it to the ground, I grasped the headset. It felt slick under my hand, a well-made machine with an unknown purpose. “What is it anyway? I’m sure you can find anyone jumping in excitement if you told them you need to have one of your kits tested, right?”

“Not wrong, but there’s a point to this all… and you’ll wear it in the end, won’t you? Since you wished to stay as a cape, a hero.”

She wasn’t wrong, even if I wished I could say so. I still stared at the headset with trepidation, uncertainty burning in my core as I lifted the surprisingly light device up, a bit closer to my face.

It didn’t seem to give the feeling of a prototype, instead seemingly looking robust and sleek. Everything was placed correctly, no wires and plates located out of place. So it shouldn’t electrocute me or anything.

Peregrine backed off slightly, not going back to her seat, but still watching what I was doing. Waiting for me to finally put the headset on my face. There were an obvious excitement forming on her face, a vibration all over her body as if this was the fruit of a plan.

The whole thing reeked of a trap, that I was missing something important and fundamental. Nervousness skittered in my stomach like a spider, and I slowly put it over my head. The machine immediately tightened itself over my head, making the dark screen pressing closer to my eyes as if there were no distance at all.

Lights came on first, turning the darkness into brightness that made me jerk in surprise. Sounds—music was a more fitting word, perhaps. That also came on, the tunes running sweetly as I let my eyes adjust to the screen’s changes. It was no longer only a static white, but a swirling color that seemingly made my brain buzz with pleasantness.

A seductive promise to just let myself rest. The music was whispering in my ears too, the way it wrapped around my thoughts—I… my eyelids fell down so easily, not fully closed, because I still needed to see the lights and understand what I was being taught about.

The more I watched, the more I understood the song, and it also came true for the other side. Lights and musics working together to make me realize and learn, telling me that Peregrine—Mistress was the one I needed to heed and obey. A part of me was niggling over those, but it was becoming easier to ignore it.

After all, the colors were so pretty and the music so understanding. How could they be wrong? They told me my wishes were to submit to my Mistress, to become Mistress’ pet and wasn’t that the sweetest thing anyone had ever told me? That there was someone who wished for me, wanting me to become theirs so fully that there couldn’t be anything else in my mind.

Heat formed in my core with that realization. I shouldn’t feel that way, there was a wrongness in that way of thinking that made me want to lay down and rest—it was easier to just let myself follow the flow. To listen to the music, and let the colors decided for me.

My arms felt heavy, even as the colors started to encourage me to do something else—to start pulling off my shirt and pants. I… I shouldn’t, right? Confusion filled me to the core, everything feeling so false, and that I was making a mistake.

They were moving slowly, trying to convince me of the rightness of it. That I wanted to show my body off to Mistress, that she would love and appreciate me, for I was hers in every way that mattered.

I whimpered, uncertain of what I should be doing next. The colors and music felt angrier to me the more I tried to fight too, as if telling me what I was doing was wrong, that I was being such a bad girl to be rebelling like this.

Don’t I want to be a good girl?

That question seemed to be seared straight into my mind, telling, battering me down until I had no choice but to say yes—and yet I still didn’t want to. My hands lifted, for doing… something. It felt incredibly wrong, and I was confusing myself in what I should be doing. I should be able to do something to stop all of this, that this wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. It was so much easier to let them fall back to my sides again.

“You are so stubborn, but that’s the Kallan I love.” Pe—Mistress’ words were sudden, but I immediately perked my head up, feeling all my attention focusing on her. It was easier to do so, as nothing within me refused her. In fact, I felt more excitement than ever that she was looking at me, saying her praise and seemingly loving me.

I gasped when I felt her hand gently touching my body, straight against my skin. I moaned, trying to press my body further into her palm, the music and colors immediately giving their approval. Everything felt good, inundating me further into the wonderful world of pleasure.

“Good girl, you’ll listen to me better now, yes?” She whispered, and I couldn’t help but nod. Everything felt great, from Mistress to the way the headset hypnotized me. “Spread your legs for me, pet.”

Maybe I would have tried to fight, if my mind wasn’t being turned to mush. All I had right now was merely following her orders, and getting the wonderful reward as the headset gave its agreement with my obedience. I groaned, begging and lifting my head towards her—I couldn’t give her a pleading look, but she had to understand. “Please…” I gasped out, trying to make it even more obvious.

I didn’t know how she reacted, but the way she suddenly grasped my thighs, pulling me flush against her body—I felt certain she liked it.

“Oh? You can start begging now?” Her words were a growl, a predatory desire easily heard from her tone. It made me wet, and I couldn’t help but grind myself against her body, her thighs feeling so toned and wonderful as I smeared my own wetness against hers. “I wanted you to say a few words before I do anything though.”

Arousal had long since building, starting from back when I just started wearing the headset. I needed her touch so desperately I could only whine, giving the nod of agreement she wanted out of me.

“Tell me you’ll give up to be a hero.” She whispered, caressing my chin, lifting my head up a little, so I would look straight at her eyes if I didn’t have this screen in front of my eyes. “That you’ll be my pet, forever staying in my mansion. There’s more than enough place for you… and you’ll be safe.”

Her voice became softer in the end, of care and gentleness weaving together. I wanted to say yes so badly, to repeat those words she asked me to.

A part of me couldn’t help but refuse. There was something about being a hero I really stayed with, a reason why I continued to go out, despite the way my life constantly going down the drain. Finding work was hard, and being a vigilante in a city with so many other heroes? There was no need for me to go out, because there would be someone else there eventually.

And yet the thought of leaving a few of the victims I had saved felt like pulling teeth. I shook my head even harder, feeling dizzy despite the uncomfortable feeling forming in my chest. I disliked needing to fight Mistress over this, because it felt so… so wrong to hear about, even. She was the foremost expert in superheroing here though. She was the one with the bigger presence, she even had been doing this ever since… a few years before I even had decided to go on the streets.

I still remember a time before Peregrine was out on the streets, when the villains decided that those esoteric heroes would lose to machinery and technology, and they were true—until Peregrine was there. Equipping others, showing off wonderful machines that protected the heroes, giving them the specific weapons they needed to turn their powers into something more.

Right now everything was more of a stalemate, where both sides were doing an arms race—whoever would become stronger gained an edge, before the other side would add in what they needed to regain it.

Of course, the criminals with no backers still continued to exist, flourishing as the cape communities become more dangerous by the day. Ignored, and I found myself deep in my heart that I couldn’t leave those people be, to terrorize of the poor and weak.

There was a sigh, and I whimpered, hunching my shoulders a bit more. I couldn’t help it, despite wanting to stay with my own decision. Disappointing her just now felt so bad, especially since I knew the reason she let that out. Letting me hear it, even. The headset emphasized on it too, capitalizing on my already low self-esteem, hammering upon them to show how right Mistress’ words were.

“You know why I wished for you to stop, dear.” She kissed my cheeks, pulling me closer to her warmth. Gently taking me to sit on her lap, as she sat back into her chair. It felt comfortable just lean against her, letting her talk me away from the one thing I wanted to keep. The headset agreed, telling me that she knew better than me, that what I was doing was childish and bad. “You aren’t strong enough, you never know which criminals might end up looking at you and decide that they want to get you and…”

She trailed off, her tone more upset than I thought she would feel. I knew what she was implying, and it was what worried me a lot as well. There were reasons why I never went out further than the few routes I went through, memorizing and remembering the roads and buildings. Knowing which ones would be safe to be climbed through, which ones I needed to stay on the roads for, and which ones I should never pass through.

“I tried, Mistress.” I whispered, unable to really say everything in my head, the words seemingly slipping away from my grip with every second. It was easier to just let myself listen to her.

Her hands were warm against my body, gently caressing and touching me. She had slipped them under my clothing, touching them straight and letting me feel her suit. “And that’s why you are so, so good, my little pet.” She murmured, the praise making me shudder and moan, arousal continuing its building in the back of my mind.

“So, let me stay…?” I whispered, confusion starting to form at the back of my mind, at the way Mistress seemingly praising me for what I had done—but she wanted for me to stop. Those felt like an opposite stance to have, something that couldn’t be had together, as if mixing water and oil.

She soothed me, one of her hand slipping out of my clothes before running down my hair, scratching my scalp slightly. It was relaxing, giving more credence to the truth that she merely wanted me to be with her, becoming her pet. The only reason I was still holding out was the ‘nothing else’, the fact that she wanted me to stop everything, drop all of it except for her.

I could cut out the few friends I had. I could stop my job. But helping others…

“I have a question, pet. Once you have imbued your seeds… does it need you to throw it so it will grow?”

I frowned, not because it was a bad question, but because that thought suddenly felt uncomfortable to me. As if Mistress had found an avenue of attack I didn’t want to listen to. But in the end of it, I just… shook my head. I couldn’t say it, as if saying it would turn it into something too real. Something I couldn’t take back—even if this couldn’t be taken back as well.

She hummed, and it was kind, resonating through my body. Making my eyes falling close and away from the colors that still continued its way to melt my brain. The music was still there though, so it didn’t really matter, one way or another.

“So you don’t need to be there. What if… you give your seeds to someone else?”

“Who?” I croaked out, the realization that I was useless in the fields suddenly terrifying at its possibility. Because she wasn’t wrong, and that I had no training to be there, on the streets fighting against people with more training than I was. Even if I didn’t want to fight any capes, or not wishing to fight people with backing—they would eventually look at me. One of the ones I threw to the jail might even already have a plan, might have gone to one of the gangs in Barlam and begged them to help keeping me off the street.

I couldn’t say it was impossible, because people knew vigilantes could just be gone the next day. Whether they merely hang up their cape and mask, or even left the scene entirely. No one really knew, one way or another—but the matter of the fact was, they were no longer there, and people were no longer protected.

“Anyone, really. People who can protect themselves, those with more offensive or defensive powers and just needed the extra edge.” There was a hint of excitement in her next words, with the way she touched me just a little bit more—I gasped, as I let her words sink into my brain. “Me. Let me handle it. I’ll then be able to merely use a seed shooter instead of tasing someone… Actually, a mix of tasing someone before using your seed would be a good idea.”

She mumbled a little bit, ideas and blueprints probably forming in her genius brain. My body shuddered slightly at the thought of helping her—others would be weirder, even if I found it in myself the desire to let it happen, if Mistress asked for me to. Which she was already doing, but it still felt… wrong. But if it was Mistress? I couldn’t imagine any higher honor, and that made me moan.

Mistress seemed to snap out of it with the noise, if the way she tightened her hold all over me was any indication. “Right. You are what matters right now, my pet.” Her adoring words continued to make me feel so good, and my body found itself becoming more aroused everytime too. Her tone was amused as she continued onto her next question, her hand gently rubbing my entrance through my soaked panties. “So, are you going to let others handle it for you, girl?”

Parts of me still wished to refuse, of course. But now… now I could see what Mistress was saying, of the way she was merely just protective of me. She could save more people, everyone if I helped her.

Maybe I still shouldn’t have, but everything seemed to point out that this was the best thing I could do. As her support, never going out again. My hold upon staying outside, on keeping the cape crumbled slowly but surely. The desire was slipping away from me, the approval coming from the colors and music were what I needed. Just a little push, after her convincing.

At the end of it all, I could only say yes.

Mistress held me then, and she murmured a word—one that made me gasp, as electricity passed through all over my body. I moaned, pressing close against her, the feelings making me reaching the peak so, so fast I couldn’t help but come right then and there.

Orgasm was pulled out of me, again and again until my head was mushy and empty and there was nothing within it.

Nothing, except for her.

“I love you, Mistress.”

Even without being able to see through the headset—I knew she was smiling. “Good girl, my wonderful, wonderful pet…”

I let my eyes flutter close, content to only listen to the music and her words. When I would next open them again, I knew I would be what she wanted me to be.