Heart Of The Plan Ch 02

Chapter 2

Dawn Sterner's apartment, Thursday afternoon

Her return home was a lot less impressive than her exit, not to mention delayed by hours. 'At least I managed to let Emily know I was running late. And I won't have to make dinner for once!'

And that sounded great to the tired Dawnstar. She'd spent hours keeping the denizens of some hell-dimension at bay while Witcheress tried to close the portal, something that had taken an awful amount of time and energy. Dawnstar herself had nothing left and with the setting sun, no time to recharge. Which was why the brunette was knocking on her own apartment door instead of flying in through the window. 'From now on, I'm taking my house key with me on patrols. This might be the first time I was so spent, but I can't bank on having a roommate if it happens again either.'

As she finished that thought, Emily opened the door. She greeted Dawn with a tremulous smile and a 'Hi' that sounded equally shaky. Frowning, Dawn stepped inside. "Hey, sorry I'm late." She hesitated for a moment, unsure if she should just go ahead and ask what was wrong or let Emily open up at her own pace. She used the closing of the door as a means to buy her some more time, but was still unsure long moments after the door clicked shut behind her. "Uhm, how was your day?" Dawn asked lamely as she decided to give Emily a chance to open up on her own terms. She winced internally at how unsubtle she was being.

"Not too bad. The shopping went without a hitch and I got dinner ready. I think it came out well; it should be ready in 10 minutes once I turn on the oven." She took a deep breath. "But, uhm, earlier, on the news..." Emily trailed off.

Dawn wisely let her be and simply stood there waiting.

"I was checking SNN and there was this article about the latest victim of Mesmeri."

"Oh?" Dawnstar's response was equal parts worried and surprised. She hadn't heard there was any news on the supervillain.

"Yeah, some congressional aide got caught. But the weird part was that she had the same first name as me and, and reading about her triggered a ... a ... a part of a memory. Like a flash."

Compassion replaced the surprise. "I see."

But Emily shook her head. "No, I don't think you do. It was about some training exercise, it was very brief, but ... It was mostly weird, really. A flash of feeling and some words plus I ... I ... You might recall I showed a lot of control over my power when I was, uh, posing as Mesmeri."

Dawnstar nodded and the girl continued. "Well, after that memory I tried something and ... and I got a little bit of that skill back."

Very carefully, Dawnstar kept herself from moving back. "How so?"

Emily bit her lip as her eyes unfocused in thought. "Uhhh, I don't really know how to explain. I could show you?"

The superheroine gave her recovering colleague a long look at that proposal. She'd read the report, she knew Emily had pulled a number on Animes and Restrainer before they snapped out of it and caught her. Still, this was about trust, and Dawn couldn't see anything in Emily's eyes that hinted at a double-cross—just a lot of uncertainty.

"Alright," Dawnstar assented. "Show me what you can do now."

The girl sculpted her hands in front of her, then she took a deep breath before an orb of soft light appeared above her hands. She seemed to be almost cradling the glowing sphere and Dawnstar whistled, impressed.

She knew Sparkler could only do light-flashes before, flashes she couldn't direct or even control the strength of them much. 'But this ain't a flash, more like a light-sculpt-' Her thought was interrupted by a pulse of bright light from the orb.

"Sorry, still having some trouble keeping the form." Emily's voice sounded strangely detached, but another flash distracted Dawn.

"Can you make it into any other shapes? Or colors?" Dawn asked interested. But she missed Emily's response because of the two flashes in quick succession that coincided with Sparkler's answer. Or at least Dawn was sure that was the reason she hadn't caught Emily's response.

"I ... I think ..." another light-pulse temporarily distracted her, but a moment later Dawn remembered that she had been saying something. "I think your ..." A flash. "It might

still

need," Dawn murmured as her eyes started to fall into the sphere. She barely paid any attention to her own words, nothing at all to anything else save the orb of light in Sparkler's hands. "Some

work. I

I

I ..."

Her mouth hung open slightly as time stopped in a bright flash of light.

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"Dawn, could you wake up please?" Emily asked her as she gently shook her shoulder.

Bleary eyed, the superheroine looked up only to see a blot in the darkness. Blinking, she sat up in her bed as she gathered her wits about her. "Uhm, Emily? What are you-? I mean, why did you wake me up?"

That was the question. Dawn had been tired and the great meal Emily had prepared for her had only made her drowsier. Heck, she'd even drifted off during that demonstration Emily had given her. Good thing she'd lost control and woken her up with that big flash, even if Dawnstar did see spots for minutes afterwards.

With her eyes finally getting into focus and her brain starting to work again, Dawn noticed Emily was quite anxious. "I ... I ... I had a ... nightmare and I just ... I couldn't get to sleep again. I ... I know this sounds childish but could I ... stay here? Just for a little while," the blonde hastened to add.

Dawn had already opened her mouth to say no, when she took another good look at Emily's expression. Instead of saying anything, she simply nodded and scooted over to make some room for the girl. Having done that, Dawn lay down again hoping that Emily just needed the company so she could at least doze a little.

And, at first, that's what happened. The other girl settled in besides her almost touching her shoulder and then everything was quiet ... until Emily started to talk. Her voice was soft and halting, like she had to drag the words out of herself. "I ... I had a dream ... or maybe a memory ... that I was back with Mesmeri, that I was hers," the blonde's voice grew hoarse at that last bit even as the flow of words became smoother.

Suppressing a sigh, Dawn rotated to face Emily.

"I woke up," she continued, her eyes brimming with some emotion, "and I felt so ... so wired that I didn't know what to do. So I thought I could practice my new skill a bit more, and get my mind cleared that way."

As if to demonstrate, Sparkler brought up her hands between them and an orb of light appeared. Eyeing it a little warily, Dawn started to ask what she was doing. Emily simply kept talking. "But it only made me remember more," the blonde murmured as a flash of light drew Dawn's attention fully into the sphere. "Better," Emily cooed like she'd enjoyed it.

'But that's stupid! Of course she doesn't ...' Dawn thought before another light pulse left her mind pleasantly blank. Next came three quick flashes that sent a delightful shiver through her body and made memory a distant dream.

"I remember standing at attention, ready for my Mistress' command." The blonde's voice had grown husky from excitement, an excitement so palpable Dawn felt it herself. Vaguely, she was sure that there was something else she should be feeling, but it was too much trouble to remember what it was right now.

Another series of flashes consumed all her focus, leaving her thoughts free to wander every which way. Emily's voice kept going, like a beacon in the night, and her mind latched on to it. "No sadness, no guilt, no will. I was so happy, so wet, so eager to obey Mesmeri. You can imagine how it feels, can't you?"

Dawn nodded.

"Because obedience is peace, obedience is pleasure. This truth just won't let go, you can't deny it."

The light commanding all her attention, Dawn was grateful she could trust Emily to steer her thoughts to where they were supposed to go. At least, Emily said she trusted the blonde and Dawn couldn't think of a reason not to. "I can't deny it," Dawn breathed as her heart thumped in lockstep with the pulsing orb.

"That's good."

Dawn mewled at the approval in Emily's voice.

"I'm glad to see you are taking to your lessons so well. That you still know how good it feels to agree with me, to accept my words as your thoughts. It feels good, right?"

"Yessss." The word slithered out of her mouth as her clit buzzed briefly at how much she agreed with Emily's thoughts.

'Excellent,' Dawn's mind continued in Emily's voice. 'Now close your eyes and dream of Mistress. Dream of surrender.'

"Surrender," Dawn mumbled as she descended into sweet dreams.

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Dressed in her black-and-white catsuit that covered every part of her, Mesmeri sat on her throne before Dawn. Dawnstar cried out, her bosom heaving as she gasped for breath while her hand circled her clit. She knelt naked before the villainess. Her skin slick and shining from sweat. Mesmeri watched as Dawn debased herself before the regal figure.

'This ... This isn't right. It can't be—ugh—it's not supposed to—oooh—feel sooo good. So close, hmmm, getting close to cumming right in front of Her eyes.'

But nothing happened. The pleasure just built and Dawn couldn't remove her eyes from the woman on the throne, silent, until the desperation reached Dawn's eyes.

She only spoke one word. "Surrender." She said it only once.

'Surrender? Surrender? Surrender,' Dawn's mind kept repeating like a broken record. Stuck on it, obsessed by it as her body now timed its self-pleasuring to coincide with that repetition: 'Surrender. Surrender. Surrender. Surrender.'

A deep moan parted Dawn's lips as the concept consumed her, as it became the answer to her question, to all questions. 'Surrender. Surrender. Surrender.'

Surrender.

To Mesmeri.

"Surrender!" Dawn cried out as her body tensed, surrendering to pleasure completely.

"Surrender" Dawn panted into her pillow as sleep fled before the orgasm meandering through her body.

Her heart still pounding in her chest, Dawn stared in to the dark of her bedroom trying to separate dream and reality. 'Emily came to my room, complaining about nightmares, said she was dreaming about Mesmeri. Dreamt about surrendering to her... Didn't she?'

Looking around, she noticed she was alone in bed now. Straining her hearing she could faintly hear someone bustle about outside her room. The clatter of plates being set down combined with the light filtering through her curtains clued the superheroine in that it was morning now. 'But did last night happen? And what was with that dream?' Her cheeks heated up as her pussy twitched at the memory. It had been the most erotic dream Dawn could recall, and up until yesterday she would have sworn she didn't swing that way. Dawn still thought she didn't, but that dream ... It had been disturbing. Had it been prompted by Emily's late night visit or was that part of the dream?

Eager to get at least some answers, Dawn patted out of her bedroom still wearing her sleeping clothes. She stopped at the entrance of the kitchen to observe Emily go about making breakfast, looking for some clue. But Emily looked fine as she turned the coffeemaker on and set two slices of bread in the toaster. If she'd been suffering from nightmares last night than she wasn't showing it this morning.

'Guess it was all in my head. Good thing its Friday, I can talk this over with Doctor Bell and get her take on it. Find out if there's anything to worry about me having sexy dreams about a supervillain.'

Dawn mustn't have been as stealthy as she'd thought she was because Emily wasn't startled in the least when she pivoted towards her and saw her in the door. "Hey, sleepyhead, I was about to wake you up!"

"Uhm, thanks." Giving her roommate a smile, Dawn started to walk into the kitchen. "You do know you don't have to do all the cooking around here?" she wondered as she took a seat at the counter. "I don't mind doing my share."

"Oh, I know. But there's still so much to do before our appointment with Doctor Bell. It's going to take us all day to prepare you," she answered as she took the seat on the other side of the counter.

"Prepare me?" a bewildered Dawn repeated.

Sculpting her hands together on the kitchen counter Emily ignored the question. "Surrender to the light," she sing-songed.

Even more confused now, Dawn opened her mouth to ask her what she meant by that but her eyes didn't need an explanation. They fell to the girl's hands and the orb of light cradled there. The question died on her lips as Dawn fell into the light.

"Surrender to peace," a voice chimed. "Surrender to pleasure. Surrender to Mesmeri."

"Surrender," another voice murmured.

Victoria Bell's office, Friday afternoon

"So the news reports on Emily Salesburry shook her up?" Victoria surmised as Dawnstar finished her tale of what had happened on Thursday. The girl under discussion was still in the waiting room, being entertained by Kathy. They were the last of Doctor Bell's appointments for the day, but that didn't mean Victoria had any intention of rushing this.

The superheroine nodded. "Yeah. I think what got to her was the name, Emily. It's not that hearing about that poor woman triggered any memories, but it brought it home that she's not Mesmeri's only victim. And that she didn't save them. It's not her fault. I know that and so does she, but we didn't become superheroes to shrug our shoulders and say that it's not our problem."

"I've noticed," the psychiatrist murmured, amused, before her expression faltered. "I'm on Miss Salesburry's case, actually. It's a ... puzzling one."

"Are you sure you should be telling me this?" Dawnstar asked carefully.

Doctor Bell waved her concerns off. "Since you're keeping an eye out for any attempt by Mesmeri to get her claws into Sparkler again, you have a need to know. So yes, I am sure."

She leaned back in her chair. "I was expecting to see an implanted chip, similar to Sparkler's, but instead Mesmeri went back to her old methods. We found one of her tailored drug-cocktails in Miss Salesburry's blood and one of those controller circuits taped to her spine. No different then what's she's been using for the last couple of years. It makes no sense!"

"Uhm, I'm no expert, but maybe she's just burning through her inventory. Most supervillains don't have Regan Rathor's budget, you know. They can't afford to simply dump their old stuff," Dawnstar shrugged, "not if it still works."

"But it didn't work! The drugs impaired her mental faculties to the point she couldn't remember the password, yet she kept trying to get in, because those were her orders. It's what got her caught. So why did Mesmeri not use her new technique on such a high value target? She knows the drawbacks of her old methods just as well as I do and she must have spent a lot of money developing that controller chip."

The superheroine didn't respond right away. "Hmmm, it could be that there's a problem with this new gizmo. Or that Mesmeri is worried there's a problem. We did get Emily back and Mesmeri won't know exactly how it was done."

Frowning, Victoria mulled it over. "She could wonder if Sparkler fought the programming and that's why she hasn't used it since. Then again, you could be right about her resources too. It could simply be that she can't afford to make another chip."

"Such a waste," Doctor Bell sighed shaking her head. "Mesmeri was the foremost expert on mind-machine interfaces on the face of the planet. She could have made millions doing legitimate research, but instead she wastes her time and money on heists and schemes."

Letting go of might-have-been's Victoria brought her attention back to the woman in front of her. "But enough about Mesmeri; what about you? How has your day been?"

"Relaxing," was the superheroine's quick response. "I didn't do much," Dawn revealed with a frown. "I just, uh, hung around the house. I think I'm getting a bit spoiled having a roommate. Emily's been taking care of more and more of my chores and she's a better cook than I'll ever be. I'm going to miss her."

"Miss her?"

Dawnstar shrugged. "She's been doing good so I figure it's only a matter of time before she gets a clean bill of health and relocated to wherever the League wants her."

"I'm glad to hear you think she's doing so well, and I agree. Though, even then, she's not at the final stage of her treatment. You'll be together for quite a while longer."

The other woman gave a warm smile at hearing that. "Why don't I get Sparkler in here. I'm sure she's anxious to get today's session started." Something flickered in Dawnstar's expression, but, when she didn't say or do anything, Victoria proceeded to page Kathy, slightly mystified at Dawn's reaction. "Kathy, could you let Miss West in?"

Silence greeted her request, silence which stretched out for several seconds before Kathy's voice finally piped up out of the speaker on her desk. "She's coming in now, Doctor."

'Huh, she sounds a little tired," Bell mused. "Must be looking forward to the weekend.'

The door clicked open and Sparkler stepped into her office while Dawnstar finally got up from her seat and left. Victoria Bell didn't ponder her assistant's unusual lack of energy any further, and focused on her patient. "Good afternoon, Sparkler. Why don't you take a seat." She waited for the girl to get comfortable before continuing. "Dawnstar told me you had quite the shock the other day."

Emily nodded but gave Victoria a brave smile. "Yes, I ... I didn't expect what happened ... that I'd be affected so much by a news article. But it helped me too."

Giving an understanding nod, Doctor Victoria Bell settled down to help Emily work through this latest obstacle—though it sounded like Sparkler was already well on her way doing that on her own. In the back of her mind, she enjoyed the proof of a job well done. But the work wasn't finished yet.

To Be Continued