This story is a continuation, occurring about 6 months after the end of my previous story 'Hunting Season'. I will not be giving any detailed backstories of the characters or plot so if you want to avoid confusion, I would recommend reading that series first.
Point of clarification before you begin. Since this is a mind control story, with a lot of mental projection any dialogue with " " around it is spoken in the real world while dialogue with ' ' is in the mental plane.
"Are you out of your fucking minds!" I blurted without thinking.
I leaned back into the armchair, my mouth still agape and my drink forgotten, partially in shock at what I had just been told and more in fear of what I had accidentally just said out loud. I struggled to control my racing heart as I stared across the polished oak coffee table at the two people on the sofa who were looking at me heads cocked with confused expressions.
"Can he talk like that to us?" Dan asked, turning his massive torso slightly to look at the gorgeous redhead beside him.
"I guess so, he just did." Tina Stane replied, her green eyes boring into mine as she settled back into her seat, an amused smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "The question is will he live to do it again?"
"Alright, I'm sorry. You just surprised me that's all." I stammered, taking a sip of my drink to compose myself. "For a moment I thought you said that you wanted to go after the Terror Trio."
"Yeah, so?" Dan asked, still slightly confused. When you are an invulnerable psychopath, you don't respond to sarcasm very well.
I sputtered and coughed as my scotch went down wrong and started burning my throat. I heard a snort of laughter and turned, wiping tears from my eyes to glare at Grace Rodriguez who leaned casually against the desk. I couldn't help but slide my gaze over her perfect body and remember out time together. She was wearing a dark pant suit with a well fitted jacket that hugged her hourglass figure, the top button of her cream silk blouse strained against her full breasts. Her firm round ass flowed down to long legs that ended in glistening black heels that poked out from the hem of her slacks. Her dark Hispanic eyes twinkled behind long lashes and a sarcastic smile was spread across her full lush lips.
Lets back up a bit shall we, and review how I got in this situation. My name is Ben Comber and I am a psychic who goes by the name Mesmer, at least that is what I would say to anyone who knew it. My psychic abilities are about as effective as a well targeted ad on YouTube, limited to suggestions and some empathic manipulation. In a world full of A and B class super's, I am a C- at best, but realizing that is how I have stayed alive. Living as an ambush predator I have wormed my way into a pretty comfortable living for myself and avoided any high-risk confrontations, like the one these two maniacs were trying to drag me into right now.
The silverback gorilla trying to look like a man in a silk dressing gown sitting across from me was Dan. I never learned his last name, never wanted to. The less I knew about him the better I slept at night. He was a also super, invulnerable to any form of physical damage. He was also a complete psychopath, you couldn't even hurt his feelings because he didn't have any. You could say he ran a clearing house for super powered individuals. If someone managed to incapacitate or capture a supe, they could bring them to Dan and sell them. Some he kept for himself, but most auctioned off as super slaves to the highest bidder. I had helped him with that on occasion, shaping their minds to be more compliant and submissive after he broke their spirits.
Grace Rodriguez had worked as an investigative reporter but was also the dark energy wielding super heroine known as Black Bird. I had lucked into discovering her secret identity then using it to worm my way into her confidence, and her bed. Once there, I used her to bring down her partners, the superheroine quartet known as the Freedom Flock. Danielle Von Meecham, buxom blonde lounge singer was the sonic voiced superheroine Song Bird. Xin Xiong was the miniature speedster Humming Bird. The statuesque redhead sitting across from me was Tina Stane, multimillionaire owner of Stane International also the battle suited heroine Cardinal.
I had planned on selling Dan the entire group as a completed set and making a big payday in the process, but something changed. Instead, I managed to persuade Tina to work with us to clear the streets of dangerous supers, both good and bad. Dan was won over by the business skills that Tina brought to the table and how his income almost doubled overnight once he started targeting villain's as much as heroes. The rest had settled into various roles in Dan's organization, the alternative being his usual treatment of an asset which was too brutal to think about. All in all, I was pretty pleased with myself and had left 6 months ago with a full wallet and a warm feeling. I had laid low, living off of some of my previous investments until Dan asked (summoned) me back for this meeting.
"Listen, you two have done some good work here and made some good money in the process. You have cleaned up the streets of a bunch of B level wannabe vigilantes as well as lots of super thugs who were on their way to becoming a problem." I said, trying to keep my voice from breaking. "Hell, even the public likes you thanks to Grace's media plan. But the Terror Trio is way out of our league, those three are dangerous."
The Terror Trio was a bit of a misnomer, they weren't a team but instead the three most wanted super villains on the government's hit list. Each of them had caused more pain, death and destruction than the next 4-5 villains combined but had always either avoided capture or quickly escaped. Police, heroes, even some of their evil counterparts all ended up crippled or dead at their feet. They were a huge red flag for a guy who had spent his life avoiding school zones so I wouldn't need to see flashing red lights on a school bus.
"The government has just significantly increased the reward for each of them, dead or alive. In fact, they don't even need them turned over, just proof that they are permanently out of circulation." Tina said, her long elegant fingers twirling her wineglass as she spoke.
"We can get two paydays for the price of one." Dan boomed, slapping his tree trunk thigh with a hand the size of a small frying pan. "How is that for good business sense."
"It's the price in the first place that has me worried. Guardian Guy, Power Princess and Blue Sapphire were the last to go up against just one of them and now they are either pushing up daisies or eating through a straw. How the fuck am I going to do any better." I replied as respectfully as I could.
"Because we are going to help you." Tina said in a voice she thought sounded reassuring.