This is the sequel to Part of the Plan and Start of the Plan. I like to thank JHB for his help editing this story into a readable one.
Heart of the Plan
Chapter 1
Skyfortress
"Alright, let's move on to the next item for today's meeting," Vindicator said with a tired voice. The meeting hadn't even been a long one, just an hour and a half, but that was about an hour too long in the superhero's book. Still, as a senior member of the League, it was part of his duties to preside over these things from time to time. He looked the others at the table over, surveying the small gathering of superheroes and League bureaucrats that were running the organization that week. Most of them looked as bored as he felt, so with an effort he schooled his voice as he spoke up.
"The next item on the agenda is the case of Sparkler, the young superheroine who fell into Mesmeri's clutches a few months ago. Her treating doctor is here to give us an overview of her current status and her plans for Sparkler's future treatment as well as what she learned of Mesmeri's methods through this case. Let her in," he directed the station's computer.
The door slid open and the good doctor strode in. She was wearing a tasteful business outfit, but even that couldn't hide the fact that Doctor Bell was a very fine woman. Raven-dark hair streamed down her shoulders, but Vindicator's eyes focused a little lower than that. For a second, his vision was filled by the pillowy breasts of the psychiatrist before he caught himself and forced his eyes to meet hers.
'Come on, you old sod, keep your mind on the business at hand,' Vindicator berated himself. 'She's far too young for you and didn't I hear something about her divorcing a while back? So stop acting like a teenager and get this show on the road.'
"Good morning, Doctor Bell," he began after she sat down. "Why don't you start off by filling us in on how Sparkler got into this mess. Most of us weren't on the board when it happened, if I recall correctly, and I'm curious as to how Mesmeri got her claws into Sparkler myself. I thought we had resistance training for this sort of problem," he finished with a frown.
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Victoria just nodded in ascent. She'd noticed where the attention of some of the board's members had drifted to when she first came in, but she'd gotten very good at dismissing the annoyance that caused. These days, Victoria just let people get distracted by her looks and got on with her job. If they couldn't keep up, then it was their loss.
Opening her briefcase, Doctor Bell took out the relevant case file and activated the holographic system. She would need that for this part of the presentation. "I'm afraid we don't have a lot of details on how Sparkler was captured, Mesmeri's methods left Sparkler's early memories of her captivity fragmented and confused. But we suspect it was during her vacation. It was the only time she could drop off our radar for the length of time it must have taken Mesmeri to break her."
"But how did she do it?" Colonel FSA prodded. "Break her, I mean. Like Vindicator said, the training we provided her should have offered Sparkler some protection against Mesmeri's regular methods."
"With this," Doctor Bell said as she pushed a button. A hologram appeared in the space between her table and the larger one the board sat behind. It showed a chip with something like tendrils or roots streaming out of it's thin sides. "We found this only after we did a very thorough scan of Sparkler's brain, it didn't show up in our first examination. As you can see it is far more advanced than any of the earlier models this supervillain used. Unfortunately, it self-destructed into a useless clump of plastic when we tried to remove it so we don't know exactly how it works."
"But you do have a general idea?" A woman to the right of America's Supersoldier asked. Her nameplate said she was Jana Allison, in charge of human resources.
Doctor Bell nodded in the affirmative. "From our scan we know the chip was connected to various regions of Sparkler's brain, like the auditory, visual and pleasure centers. This essentially bypassed her consciousness altogether, and I believe the chip did more than just relaying information. I believe it also regulated her mind, adding and removing information to tailor it more to Mesmeri's tastes."
Vindicator wasn't the only one that looked a little lost now, so Victoria clarified further. "The recording Restrainer found Sparkler listening to when she caught her was part of the setup. The chip allowed the words to bypass Sparkler's critical faculties, the ones that would have questioned what Mesmeri's voice was saying. There's no training or mental preparation against something like that. Sparkler had essentially been hardwired to obey, her very perception of the world around her regulated by Mesmeri's chip."
"But such a chip would not have been easily implanted, I'd imagine. So it had nothing to do with Sparkler's initial abduction," Vindicator prodded.
"No, I'm afraid we'll remain in the dark on that unless we capture Mesmeri herself. I have little hope that Sparkler's memories of that time will improve. But her progress overall has been excellent," Victoria told them with a pleased smile. "That's the weakness of the method Mesmeri chose."
"How so?" Jana Allison asked.
"Because the chip is the cornerstone of the programming, so without it the whole mental structure gets very soft. It was quite easy to puncture the mental fantasy and get Sparkler's critical faculties working again. During most of my time with her, I've actually been working with her on dealing with the emotional fall-out of being captured and brainwashed. In fact, I believe she's more than ready for the next phase of her treatment."
Vindicator raised an eyebrow at hearing that. "You really think she's ready to be reintroduced to civilian life? That is what you're talking about, isn't it?"
"Essentially, yes. Oh," she quickly went on before anybody could object. "She shouldn't be placed anywhere near Bay City and I would recommend roomming her with a League Member as well, both to increase Sparkler's sense of security and to keep an eye on her. But I think she needs to start feeling trusted again, before she'll really start to trust herself. To be frank, there isn't much more I can do for her while she remains on the station."
"What you mean to say, is that we should place her in Newtropolis. I know you have your practice there," Mrs. Allison said, rather pointedly.
Victoria just gave a rueful smile. "Guilty. I would appreciate it if neither of us had to commute much just for a session. And I also have someone in mind to be her roommate. Dawnstar has room and could use the company. She comes by my office from time to time already, so reporting in wouldn't break up her routine either."
"Dawnstar," Vindicator mused as he brought up a hologram of her file for all to see. "Let's see, hmmm, her powers would certainly be more than enough to deal with Mesmeri. I don't really see any problems with your proposal. Does anybody else?" He asked as he looked at the others.
