It was absolutely incredible and the girl who called herself Mysteria could not believe her own luck. She didn't really have any superpowers; she was just normal human with a pretty amazing understanding of technology and she stumbled upon invention that allowed her to influence other people. She started small at first with experiments on her fellow students at school, later she moved to coworkers, but she grew bolder in time and her experiments were growing exponentially as was her ambition. She made a lot of modifications to her inventions and tried different approaches, but most of them needed a large sum of money to develop and build and so came the jewel thefts.
It was easy really, approaching enough of people beforehand, influencing them enough that she just got away with everything and her crimes were almost untraceable. But then she got even better idea and made another safety measure with her puzzle boxes which she left around for police to find out. Even if she screwed up and got caught somehow, she made sure that at least some of the people handling her case would be susceptible to her influence. It was genius back-up plan really and since her arsenal of mind-altering gadgets was still expanding, she needed more money and could not really stop stealing. Only with all those superheroes running around, there was always risk of running into an unfair fight. That was why she chose South City, because there was only one of those bastards.
And when he cornered her in that back alley, she was about to lose it, because it looked like her plan failed right then just because someone had received an unfair power. But then the guy started to talk about her movie -- the trap she left at the crime scene and his eyes glossed over in a way she knew all too well. She never expected that her inventions would work on a superpowered beings, quite the opposite. Their bodies were often so alien in comparison to other humans, that she would not even know where to begin, but just with a few words, she confirmed that his mind was already altered by her recordings and when he voluntarily took her second puzzle box and let her go, she almost laughed into his face right there.
Once she had bought time to prepare, she called all her contacts and put her feelers out to learn more about this Defender guy. And while he was looking at her videos and making himself more vulnerable to her suggestions, she was arming herself with more knowledge. It by chance that she found someone, who knew about this guy's weakness. Apparently, it was a pretty well guarded secret even if it did not rob him of his super strength or near invulnerability. But once she learned that he would not be able to run away quickly and his senses would be impaired, her plan started to take shape. She was even able to make a chemical brew that dispersed that stuff into air right under his nose, making it even more potent and he was too slow to realize what was happening.
And now she was watching him sitting before her with a dumb smile on his face. His incredibly well-developed muscles were straining against deep blue uniform, that was obviously tailored to make them show, but that was it. Only other thing he could do right now was to stare at her chest -- her emblem was glowing there in a form of newest invention and his mind was vulnerable the same way like every other human. His strength, speed and power were meaningless when compared with her brains and she kept thinking if that was a rule or an exception. Maybe it was because of the chemicals, but it looked like his will was going weaker by the second, so she had to barely try and he let himself being pushed around.
When he arrived, she was not really sure how well would her new invention work and how much she would be able to influence his mind, but now she wasn't worried at all. This Defender was so full of himself, when he addressed her. Flirting and being so smug just because he was randomly born with power and never had to earn it. She would no longer just be content with spinning him around a little and make herself innocent in his eyes. Cruel smile settled on her beautiful face when she decided what to do next.
***
I was sitting on a beach behind an abandoned chemical plant and everything around me contained traces of substance that impaired my powers and made my head spin. On some level I knew I was there much longer than I intended, because my symptoms were getting worse. I kept sweating and it was hard for me to form a coherent thought. Every time I tried to analyze those problems, my thoughts kept spinning in circles and it was hard for me to find any solution. I would have panicked some time ago but there was one thing that kept me calm all this time -- emblem on Mysteria's corset was pulsing with beautiful light and filling me with inner peace and relaxation. Her voice was keeping me focused on what was important and everything that was worrying me just went away.
"You can remember clearly now talking to me, talking to the little girl, let's call her Marry, do you?"
"I remember talking to Marry," I suddenly recalled the name of my friend.
"You could tell her absolutely anything and she never betrayed your trust."
"She never betrayed my trust," I had no memory of her ever letting me down.
"So, you could trust her and you can trust me, since we are the same person. You already learned to trust me and you trusted the little girl back then."
"I trust you," that much was implied. I could always rely on her all these years and I wouldn't doubt her now.
"And after all that time you spent telling me things, you also learned something even more important -- that you liked to listen to my voice and trust the things I tell you. Remember talking to me and listening to my advice, just like you are doing right now."
"You gave me advice?" my mind struggled with remembering any.
"Yes, I did. Keep looking at the light and remember that my symbol makes your mind calm and suggestible. You want to remember things I tell you. You want to remember me giving you advice."
The light was helping me concentrate on her words. Every pulse kept my mind focused on one and only goal and that was remembering her advice. I kept listening to her voice the same way I did in the past and it sounded so compelling. How could I ever not listen to her advice?
"Do you remember it now? Talking to me, telling me your secrets and listening to my words?"
"Yes, I do remember that," I sighed heavily as if huge burden was lifted from me.
"Very good, you took liking in our little talks and wanted to speak with me frequently, listen to my words as often as possible, didn't you?"
"I did," I replied as in a fog. Her soothing, rich voice was so pleasing to my ears that it was no wonder I always wanted to listen to her words.
"Perfect. Now I want you to go back in your memories and remember the time you found out about your powers. What was it like?"
"It was scary at first," I admitted honestly. "I didn't know what to do with them at first, but then I decided that I should use them for good when I grow up," I smiled being pretty proud deciding that in such a young age.
"Interesting, I want you to remember the scary part of it. Picture it for me; be again the young scared boy that does not know what to do with these new powers. Go back to that time."
My memories were returning and with them came a cascade of unpleasant feelings. I was pretty confident now, but back then? Just a kid worried about these unknown powers and what would they do to me in a long run. I kept hiding and crying a lot because everything was just so scary and I had no one to turn to. Even thinking about it sent shivers down my spine and I was trembling now, once again aware of how much I was sweating.
"Very good, but I want you to realize that you had blocked those feeling of worry, there were much worse than you remember. I want you to double them and then double them again, and continue to be filled with paralyzing fear."
The dread was almost unbearable and my trembling got even worse. Only thing keeping me sane was her voice and her shining symbol. How could my fear be this horrible back then when I could barely handle it right now? The terror was threatening to envelop my mind and I just wanted to run away.
"And then you realized that you needed to tell someone, that you need someone to help you."
