New Cassiepeia - Golden Cape Mall

"Abbie? What's wrong?" A worried voice calls from beside her friend. 

Abbie is too busy convulsing to respond. 

The two had gone out shopping together to buy some new outfits, a ritual they would perform bi-weekly without failure in their two years of friendship. Gemma had no idea that her close friend had been a lowly criminal before the two had met, nor that she belonged to a network of shared minds controlled by one of the most famous heroes in the city. No, Hivemind's integration into Cassiepeia's general populace had to be utterly convincing, seamless and untraceable... and it was, until today.

"T-talk to me Abbie!" Gemma crouches down in panic, hovering over her collapsed friend and tapping the delirious face only half staring back at her. Abigail whimpers at the light touch and turns her heated face to give Gemma a pleading look through fluttering eyelids. Gemma's lack of comprehension at this wordless request betrays her naivete, when even concerned bystanders begin to share uncomfortable glances at the loaded implication in the drone's eyes. Not a second later, Abbie seizes Gemma's wrist despite her present disarrangement, pulling down the hand previously at her cheek. Gemma's hand is impatiently dragged down under her friend's skirt and she immediately turns the same shade of red as the other, her cool hand suddenly met with a telling warmth. A moist, cavernous warmth between Abigail's legs that Gemma had never dreamed she would know first hand. 

"Hhhnn... Ohhh-" Abbie trails off, the drone only receiving limited transmission from her Hivemind as they appear to be experiencing something new and exciting from an unknown source. Pleasure flooding the entire network, making each and every one of them too weak to stand, too hot to deny themselves a swift relief. One sits in a dentist's chair, their legs spread and their fingers mining for gold, completely ignoring the startled medical professional frozen in shock above them. Another holds onto the railing of a subway car for dear life, their knees stating to give and bend inwards while their gym leggings are pushed open by their own swelling bulge. Two drones who were previously hard at work in they city's own Nova Tower are in the midst of a desperate tryst, their tongues keeping one another occupied while their shared mind wanders elsewhere... Lost within a lovely little orchard, which unmakes them to the tune of golden bells. 

"Wa-Wait, Abbie... I-I..." Gemma is a stuttering mess, she has the mountainous task of keeping a cool head while an unchecked warmth floods from slick fingertips to those thawing mental defences. She always thought Abigail was attractive, in mutual appreciation kind of way, in the dressing each other up fortnightly kind of way, the lost daydreaming in the shower kind of way. That Abigail herself would suddenly reciprocate in the lewdest and most public of ways is an arrow straight to the heart and a slap to the loins for poor Gemma. She's not only lost for words, but paused of thought. The fact that a crowd has amassed of the curious passers by, or that something very wrong is surely happening to have caused this bizarre moment, is of no consequence to the beating heart of a lonely 30 year old. She soon pulls herself back into her senses, however, out of the vague necessity to not reach the front of the morning papers as a sapphic sex-pest and local nuisance. "...wake up, Abbie... c'mon... ahaha... what's wrong with you?" Her throat seems to tighten with the nervous laughter, when Abigail simply rolls her hips to coat more of Gemma's stun-locked hand in her forbidden sap. 

Hivemind is becoming a simple Dryad, a nymph of the forest whose only instinct is to share their intimacy with those not yet taken by its golden law. 

Meanwhile, I've fallen onto my back, the roots of my orchard receded and two bundles of sweaty flesh collapsed breathlessly against the dojo's flooring. Whether by coincidence or something deeper our chests rise and fall heavily at the same time, as synced as she is with the rest of her drones. 

My head still swims with the irresistible urge to string together orgasm after orgasm, along with the all too compelling desire to obey. With the only other person in the room currently unconscious, I'm able to waylay this drive temporarily, pulling my body across the smooth floor towards the chilled cup of tea sat on the side table. Every motion seems to elicit some manner of gasp or moan out of me, Florasma's powerful chemicals seeming to rewire the body into a perpetual pleasure chamber. Only when the lukewarm herbal mixture passes over my lips and down my throat do I begin to feel some semblance of normality again. After what feels like an eternity of spiking arousal and unwilling submission, I can think clearly. 

"Holy fuck." I utter unceremoniously as I groggily recall the events of the past few minutes, seconds stretched into hours by the mind numbing scent from that accursed vial. My trainer, Hivemind, is passed out with one hand under the waistband of her pants and the other grasping at her exposed breast, shirt riding up to her shoulders. I look down at myself to see a similar state, my costume pulled in all directions and my fingers shiny in the light of the room. I begin to panic, as anybody would in this situation I'm sure, head darting around to make sure nobody was watching before making a beeline for the exit. I should have at least checked on Hivemind, but my heart won't stop pounding from the overwhelming nature of the situation and all I can think to do is run as fast and as far as possible. 

Exiting the warehouse and adjusting my costume appropriately, I notice the darker patch around the crotch where my 'florgasm' had seeped in unhampered, making a mental note to myself that I should put an extra layer between my private parts and the thin material of the costume should something like this happen again. I had stopped wearing underwear due to the heat and the outline seen through the outfit itself, but this is the price I'm now having to pay. Similarly, my nipples are poking straight through the fabric up top... I look like such a slut right now, not at all the shining example of family friendly heroism I've been branded as. 

So far, so good. It's still early so I manage to avoid getting seen in my compromised state, at least my costume is still intact, I can't afford to replace it if I get any tears so I'd be having to fish out the needle and thread! I smile to myself, starting to feel somewhat normal again as I duck into the alleyway I use as a shortcut to the back of my dorm. Just when I think I'm in the clear, a hand slams against the wall beside my head and stops me from turning the final corner to the dormitory's fire escape. This is right where I had encountered Hivemind the other day, I gulp and draw my eyes up to meet the other's, thinking I may be getting mugged... having to pull my usual heroics while looking like a sexual deviant is not how I had planned my morning to go.

"Ssstop, Joy..." My heart skips a beat. How does this person know my identity? Their voice is husky but slurred while their eyes are unfocused and drooping. I'm confident I've never met this person before, and yet... 

"Oh, uh... Hivemind?" I chew my lip, having just fled the scene of them left as an untended puddle of bliss. A puddle of my own making, I suppose. 

"T-take me baaack, please..." Her finger traces down my hip and her lip quivers with excitement, it seems her mind is still just as gone as I had left it. She wants to return to the orchard? Maybe that's the only way to return her senses. I quickly lay down my roots and wrap her up in them before her approaching lips can meet my own. A hot, breathy gasp teases my mouth before those glassy eyes of hers find a sudden change of scenery. 

Returning to the orchard, Hivemind finds a different garden than the one she craves. There may still be a few weeds left to pull, some Dryad whispers in the thick bush beyond, but I have control again. I had no idea that my orchard could find itself in such an altered state before, having learnt something new and dangerous about this power of mine. Hivemind seems understandably disappointed, but is soon distracted by the sound of something falling. Not her, this time, but an apple which falls loose from its branch and rolls towards her feet. The needy Dryad blinks and the deep crimson apple becomes a muted green swirl, white porcelain forming around it. Tentatively, she picks up the cup of tea and takes a desperate swig, hoping with all her heart to once again receive the garden's forbidden knowledge tasted from that once shared apple. Instead, she finds her drone in the dojo knelt by the side table unsteadily, room temperature liquid rushing into her mouth and putting an end to this embarrassing escapade. 

Hivemind pulls away and runs a hand through their hair, back falling against the wall. 

"Holy fuck." 

"H-hey, I said the same-"

She whips her head back to shoot me a stern glance. "Joy, listen closely."

"Uhm, what? I don't remember telling you my n-"

Before I can finish my sentence Hivemind cuts me off yet again, this time with a sharp snap of her fingers and the words "Halcyon Days."

"Joy!"

I near leap out of my skin at the sudden shrieking voice from over my shoulder, Laura slams down her tray and cracks open a can of flavoured coconut water. "You've been so absent minded lately, more boy troubles?"

"Oh, uh... ugh, yeah you got me." I decide not to remark on the subtle smell of gunpowder only someone who patrols the city streets would even pick up on. I just hope she was disarming someone, not upping her arsenal. "It's a bit of a complicated relationship, this one..." 

Laura grins, seeming more interested in the subject than her pre-packaged pasta. "Hmm? So you actually let one get past the first date? Must be special, Joy. You gonna introduce us or what?"

This is exactly why I don't date these imaginary men more than once a piece. I really have been absent minded and now I've let slip a compromising half-truth. My training session have been going strangely, to say the least. I want to form some kind of rapport with Hivemind, but she seems incapable of such relationship. Since the second day, it has been strictly business. Apparently the double dosage had proven too much for me to take with my current tolerance, but I hardly remember a thing. 

"It's uh, not like that trust me. Actually, I've been taking self-defence lessons in private. Don't tell anyone okay?" Time to switch up the lie with something closer to the truth, easier to maintain my story that way. 

My best friend snickers, prodding at the tomato and basil penne with a plastic fork. "I don't talk to anyone but you, so I wouldn't worry. But damn, taking self defence is the last thing I expected!" Lacking any sort of volume control, Laura proceeds to say that loud enough for the tables around ours to hear. "This is like, the safest city in the world, most people just assume a superhero is gonna save them if anything bad ever happens. What's got you so rattled?" 

I roll my eyes, the irony of a vigilante telling me this is too much. "You do realise this city also has the highest crime rate in the country right? It seems the more heroes you get, the more criminals feel the need to even out the balance." 

"Uh-huh, I guess you're right. World's shittiest yin and yang, kinda makes becoming a hero seem pretty bleak huh?"

She inadvertently touches a nerve there, but I keep my composure and brush it off, thankful that she seems to have subscribed to my newest fiction. "Actually, I'm going straight there after our next lecture so I won't be walking back with you." Laura doesn't stay at the dorm, but she usually always walks me there, in a completely transparent attempt to get invited up to my room... I always have to deny her the honour of course, as I usually head straight back out the back. 

"Cool, cool..." She finally seems to have lost interest in the conversation and makes messy with her food. Fine by me, I'd rather not have her breathing down my neck any more in this topic, she may be easy to deceive but that has its limits, she's trusting not stupid. 

College goes, as it always does, idly by. I can't say my degree is at the forefront of my mind these days, though with my current agency I can hardly make a living off of Orchard's exploits either. Perhaps if I do well and actually manage to subdue Miss Murmur, I can get a hero internship at Nova's private agency. Hivemind said that she learned how to brew tea because when she started out, she was actually placed in an assistant role at Nova Tower. It seems painfully boring, but she ended up one of the big four, so it really shows how virtuous patience and hard work can turn out to be... right?

Our lecturer, a stern older woman with a thick French accent and a depressingly consistent wardrobe, waves us out of the hall. I check the time on my phone and pick up my pace, not wanting to be late to training. I only have one last day before my week of preparations is over, I'm worried that the resistance training just won't stick, so far I just keep slipping into trance and having to trust my mentor's recollection of events. Not that she would lie to me of course, what reason would she have?

Everything Hivemind tells me is the truth.

"Orchard, there you are." My mentor says with a smile, the same drone as yesterday ushers me inside the dojo and guides me to the mat. "I trust you've been following your instructions to the letter, yes? Our trap has been set for tomorrow, Murmur has already sent a calling card in advance to intimidate the target. A real mark would know better than to involve law enforcement or any heroes, Miss Murmur has proven she can take away much more than a few valuables if she's pressed."

I nod, recalling the example she set three years ago when a mogul released the calling card to the press and asked for help from a group of heroes. He managed to keep his money, but was quickly cut off from making any more and lost his entire family when Murmur leaked a tape of him confessing to some very illegal sexual proclivities. Later cleared of wrongdoing after proving her had been coerced into a false admission under duress, it was too late for his reputation and home life. Since then, nobody has thought to cross the thief lest they meet a similar end. Even I never thought I'd actually be going after her, despite my daydreams of bringing her to justice. 

"Let's try the first resistance test, then, remember what I've taught you." 

Giving another quick nod, I brace myself, kneeling down on the mat and pushing my legs closed. Hivemind raises the spray bottle to my face and gives me a dose of Florasma's sweet, heady concoction, then another. I immediately recoil  and my head starts to spin in a downward spiral which usually finds its end between my legs. I keep my thighs together, squeezing tight and trying to hold onto my senses best I can. The air around me is so moreish, I take deep breaths of it as the familiar tantalising warmth wraps me up, like a blanket of soft tongues which lap and tease at my skin. With my new underlayer, which protects me against bullets, knives and humiliation, I can feel my nipples stiffening and pushing inwards. Everything feels so good that I begin to lose myself, but I've been through this to learn how to adapt. Failure to resist comes from trying to fight the mind melting chemicals and slipping down into a much easier, rewarding trance, the gratification it gives much simpler than the complicated struggle to retain one's state of mind. Instead of going against the overpowering current, I need to contain and redirect it. I force my legs to stay closed despite every part of my body urging me to let it free, to fuck myself back over the edge of oblivion and become nothing but a horny flower for a long detained villain to pollinate. 

Instinctually, I set my roots into the ground while holding my legs together, squeezing my thighs as my traitorous body attempts to earn it's reward via friction instead. Fortunately this is too little, too late. My roots reach the waiting Hivemind who groans huskily when her ankles are seized and she is pulled back into my orchard. Little do I know, that the seed of knowledge planted deep within her mind invites her latent Dryad to come out and play every time we do this. She is just as oblivious to the secret comfort she finds within this space, the way she keeps wishing to return and find her fingersmith friends and share wet whispers with their tongues. 

Just like we have trained, I expel all the intoxicating chemicals through my roots, flooding not the orchard but its occupant. 

Hivemind tries to tell herself that she wasn't waiting for this all day, that she isn't weird for liking this so much, that this seed of corruption that has taken root in her mind is all just in her head... oh, poor choice of words. Meanwhile, I breathe in the fresh open air and take a delicate sip of the freshly brewed tea. Still warm, she really can make a pleasant cup. 

"H-hey, Abbie! Not... not again... I mean, I uh..." Gemma can hear her friend's deep groans from over the phone, their light conversation having gone from talking about going back to work to heavy breathing and the sensual sounds of compulsive masturbation. Wet slapping noises that Gemma struggles to imagine coming from another woman caress her ear like a naughty joke, her words of concern dying in her throat as she helplessly recalls those hot memories of the mall, the gym and most recently her sister's wedding the evening prior. 

"I-I'll be right over!"