As she sat outside the CEO of Valeyard Solutions's office, Mel Adams checked the time on her phone once more and sighed. Supposedly, her host was running five minutes late - this, from a woman who had never been tardy for anything in her life. Making Mel wait was the most transparent power play in the book, and worst of all, it was proving entirely effective at pissing her off.
Really, the whole situation was setting her on edge. An unfamiliar office in an unfamiliar building, opulent yet spartan, and Mel was about to meet one of the most formidable rising stars of the hypnogarch world. A woman who, like Mel, hailed from a social and economic elite who used mind control to leverage and reinforce their power. Only, unlike Mel, this woman had notches on her belt and a fearsome reputation. They were meeting on her turf, too. In hostile territory. Mel was out of her depth.
Which was, of course, the point. This was a test. Mel's trial by fire, given to her by her parents. To become a fully-fledged hypnogarch, you had to be strong. If you weren't, your peers would eat your lunch and make you thank them for it while your brains drooled out of your ears.
"Ms. Adams?" said a secretary, approaching and offering a polite little bow. "Thank you for waiting. The CEO will see you now."
Mel rose from her seat and followed as the secretary led her into the office. She didn't bother to reply. There was no point, and, like all the others, she gave Mel the creeps. The entire floor was staffed with near-identical women, all of whom wore identical outfits: tiny pencil skirts and tight, white blouses, open to expose cleavage - and all of them had suitable bodies to make the clothes distracting. But more to the point, each one of them had a certain telltale, glazed look in their wide, guileless eyes.
All of the secretaries were completely hypnotized.
It was another typical flex from a powerful hypnogarch. But just like making Mel wait, it was unnerving.
"Melanie Adams," said the woman behind the CEO's desk, as they reached her. She smiled a thin smile. "My. I suppose I should be honored."
It was her. Vivienne Yvette Gilbert. Mel would have recognized her anywhere from all the magazine covers and fawning interviews. She looked just the way she always did in her photos: tall, professional, and classically beautiful, but modest, with her long, tailored suit only just tight enough to hint at the well-honed body underneath. Her auburn hair was tucked back in a neat, disciplined ponytail, and her eyes reflected a keen, vicious intelligence.
Vivienne Gilbert was a business savant, combining old money wisdom with new money ambition, and was, by all accounts, an extremely skilled hypnotist. Her company was taking the corporate world by storm, and the small army of brainwashed secretaries outside attested to her ability to get whatever she wanted from people, by any means necessary.
This was Mel's test. This was the woman she had to destroy.
"Mel, please," she offered. "And really, I'm the one who's honored. Your time is valuable."
Vivienne nodded graciously, and indicated for Mel to take a seat opposite her. The secretary who had led Mel inside stood at attention to one side, against a nearby wall.
"So," Vivienne began. Her confidence was supreme. "To what do I owe this pleasure - a visit from the profligate faildaughter of two of high society's most prominent elite?"
Mel bristled a little, but didn't let it show in her face. "Curiosity, really. I thought that the two of us might want to get to know each other a little. After all, we're both from the same generation, right? Just like mine, your parents were-"
"Cut the crap," Vivienne interrupted with a slicing wave of her hand. She leaned forward. "My time is valuable - more valuable than yours, at any rate - so let's not waste it. Despite your wasted youth, I'm told that you've recently taken a position as executive vice president at one of the family businesses. And recently, shell companies attached to your family have been making aggressive offers to buy out my stake in Valeyard - offers I have declined."
Mel simply nodded. She wasn't surprised to learn that Vivienne had figured this much out. Anything less would have been a disappointment.
"You're here," Vivienne surmised, "because your mothers asked you to make in-person overtures. They want my Valeyard, and they've sent you to persuade me to sell." She let out a brief, quiet laugh. "Amusing."
Mel spread her arms. "You're correct, of course," she replied. "So far, you've rejected all offers. That's your right. But everybody has their price, even if it's not monetary. Assurances, perhaps. A position in one of our conglomerates? With Valeyard in the family, we could achieve new levels of market dominance and integration. You could be part of that. You could reap the rewards. Power, prestige - you name it."
It wasn't a bad offer - but just as Mel had expected, Vivienne rolled her eyes.
"Sophistry," the CEO dismissed. "You and your parents simply want to take what's rightfully mine. You want control - and you want it because you're afraid. My Valeyard's quarterly numbers put all of yours to shame. For now, I'm just a good story. A new, rising star. But in a few years, I'll be knocking at your family's doors. Challenging your mothers. I'll be a competitor. A rival. A threat."
Mel said nothing. She wasn't wrong.
"Let me make this very clear." Vivienne smiled a shark's smile. "I am a threat. You and your mothers are right to be afraid. I'm not willing to be a partner or a pawn, or a... vice president." She sneered the last two words. "I intend to come out on top. Understand?"
"With respect," Mel replied, after a moment's consideration. "Valeyard isn't exactly rightfully yours, is it? You've already shown a willingness to jump ship, given the right opportunity. After all, you didn't found this company. You simply acquired it. You took advantage of someone else's capital and someone else's ideas. Perhaps we aren't so different."
Vivienne simply laughed at the provocation. "You really are new to this world, aren't you?" she mocked. "Yes, I acquired Valeyard. I took it from the original owner. Do you understand what that means? It's mine. Not hers. Mine. She lacked the strength to hold on to what she'd built, and I had the strength to take it. That's the very definition of rightful ownership."
"I understand," Mel retorted. "And you've guided the company all the way to the top of the stock market. Some would say you've already proven yourself."
"Some would say?" Vivienne echoed derisively. "Ridiculous. You'll have to do much better than that if you expect to convince me. Especially since I suspect that your mothers would prefer I end up much like the original founder."
"And how's that?" Mel asked.
Vivienne's smile grew wider than ever, and she gestured off to one side. "Why don't you see for yourself?"
Hairs stood at attention on the back of Mel's neck as she realized Vivienne was indicating the brainwashed, identity-scrubbed secretary who'd led her into the office.
At first, it seemed absurd to believe that such a sharp, entrepreneurial mind could have been so completely blunted. But Mel knew all too well just how far someone could fall given the right kind of treatment, and besides, now that she was looking closely, there was a certain, unmistakably resemblance between the woman standing at attention before her and the woman she'd seen in old photographs when she'd been researching Valeyard's history.
How long must she have been a mind-controlled thrall by now? Years? It was terrible to imagine - but the worst part was that, even as they were talking about her, the woman's eyes registered absolutely nothing but blank, blissful, helpless compliance.