"My name is Shimmer," Trinity announced, with her hands rested proudly on her hips. "And I'm here to bring you to justice!"
Delivering a line like that to a criminal's face, as corny as it was, made Trinity's heart swell with pride. It made her feel like a real hero. The mugger she'd cornered, though, didn't seem so impressed. Her face was doing an odd little dance, caught between fear and amusement.
"Are... you serious?" Candace asked cautiously.
Trinity couldn't resist pouting a little. This wasn't the first time she'd been met with a reaction like that tonight. She'd been trying to find people in need of help, but had mostly only succeeding on confusing everyone she came across. This was the first real crime she'd discovered.
"Yes!" she insisted. "Why does everyone keep asking that? I'm a hero!"
The corner of Candace's mouth twitched. "Have you seen yourself?"
"What do you mean?"
"It's... uh..."
Candace threw a meaningful glance down at Trinity's outfit. The costume she'd borrowed from Radiance was far too small for her, in all the most unfortunate and embarrassing places. A few hours running across the city hadn't done it any favors. The stretchy material was struggling to contain Trinity's impressive hips, and the way it clung desperately to her tits and her thighs didn't leave much to the imagination. It wasn't a dignified look.
Not that Trinity, in her current, brainwashed state, was aware of that.
"Let's just say you might need to give that another pass," Candace commented dryly.
Trinity glanced down at herself. She didn't see that she was dressed more like a stripper than a superhero. She couldn't. The lingering effects of her own shimmer were warping her mind, filling her with fantasies and desires that were far more potent than mere reality. Candace's comments did little to either enlighten or dissuade the brainwashed supervillain. On the contrary, she was a little pleased to be engaged in hostile banter with a villain - albeit a very petty one.
"Wait," Candace said abruptly. "What did you call yourself?"
"Shimmer!" Trinity repeated proudly.
The mugger squinted at her. "That sounds kinda familiar."
Trinity blushed a little, embarrassed. "I-I doubt it."
"No, it does," Candace insisted. "I've definitely heard of a Shimmer online. I guess she got her ass kicked by Radiance a couple days ago, or something. And before that? I'm sure I can remember a bunch of other times she's been in the news."
Trinity turned a deeper shade of red. She hadn't prepared for this.
Candace's face registered a growing certainty. "You even look like the photo that was going around on social media yesterday."
"Shit," Trinity spat unhappily, under her breath. She'd been hoping she could simply turn over a new leaf and start afresh. After all, she was now horrified by her former, villainous escapades. Perhaps she should choose a new name. It simply hadn't occurred to her that anyone would recognize her.
"But," Candace continued. "You sure as hell weren't dressed like that."
"That's not important!" Trinity insisted. She needed to regain control of the situation. "What's important is that I saw you rob that poor woman. As a hero, I can't stand by and do nothing in the face of a crime like that! Put down your knife, and we can do this the easy way."
She smiled, satisfied that she sounded suitably heroic.
"Hold up," Candace replied. She lowered her knife a little, but didn't drop it. "Aren't you actually a villain, though?"
Trinity tried her best not to look too ashamed or too crestfallen. "No!"
"No, you totally are!" Candace retorted. "That's why you were fighting with Radiance!"
Trinity almost flinched. That fight felt like forever ago. A lifetime ago. It wasn't pleasant to be reminded of what she'd done. Her feelings towards Eleanor Quinn and her ilk of billionaire hadn't changed, exactly, but she couldn't stand the thought that she'd set out to rob her of her money. Radiance had forcefully impressed on her that her previous way of doing things was selfish and foolish. She needed to change. She couldn't just break the law whenever she pleased, or take money from whoever she thought deserved it.
That was against the rules.
"What is this, some kind of joke?" Candace demanded incredulously, now certain who she was dealing with. "C'mon, Shimmer! I thought you were cool! Stealing from the rich, y'know, all that."
"It's... not cool!" Trinity shot back, slightly desperately. "Stealing is wrong!"
Candace just snorted. "What the hell happened to you? How did you go from pulling off robberies to dressing like a bimbo and coming out here to fuck with me?"
"I..."
Trinity didn't know what to say. She couldn't possibly explain what had happened, could she? There was no way she could just tell this person that Radiance had captured her and forced her to use her own mind-control powers against herself, twisting her values and turning her from a career villain into some kind of goody-two-shoes. Or, that she'd then incapacitated Radiance and escaped from her, wearing one of her old, prototype uniforms, solely so that she could try her own hand at being a superhero. Even to Trinity, it sounded insane. Her own actions weren't even slightly rational.
But that was far less important to her than the desires and values Radiance had implanted into her mind. They beat at the inside of her head like a drum; a rhythm that couldn't be delayed or denied. The words Radiance had used to brainwash herself were her faith and her god. They were more important to her than food or water or air. And far, far more important than dignity or rationality.
She loved to obey the law.
She loved to follow the rules.
She wanted to be good.
She wanted to be a good girl.
She needed to protect people.
She needed to make people feel good.
Trinity took a deep, calming breath. With those all-important principles fixed firmly in her mind, she knew what she had to do. She couldn't let this criminal lead her astray, nor could she let herself succumb to embarrassment or taunting.
She was a hero now. And she was going to do what heroes do.
Trinity fixed Candace with a serious, righteous glare. "Put the knife down and come with me," she demanded. "Last chance."
Candace glanced nervously from side to side. She seemed to sense the change in Trinity's demeanor, and was obviously trying to judge how afraid of her she should be, and how far there was between her and the entrance of the alleyway they were standing in. After a few moments, and another derisive look at Trinity's ridiculous, whorish costume, she made her choice.
"This is a joke," Candace scoffed. "Get lost."
She glanced at the entrance to the alley again. And by the time she looked back, Trinity was right there in front of her.
Usually, given the nature of her powers, Trinity did her best to avoid any kind of physical confrontation. It didn't play to her strengths, especially not in a city full of heroes strong enough to crush a car between their hands. But in part because of that, Trinity had taught herself how to move. When she needed to, she could move a lot faster than most people expected of her. Normally, that skill was reserved exclusively for running away.
But it was just as effective for closing the distance between her and Candace.
Candace's eyes went wide as, before she really knew what was happening, Trinity's hand fastened around her wrist. With strength bolstered by righteous fervor, Trinity jerked her hand to one side, pulling her knife harmlessly out of the way.
And with the other hand, she reached for Candace's head.
"F-fuck!" Candace shrieked, in the instant before Trinity pressed her thumb, shimmer flaring, against the center of her head.
"Drop it," Trinity ordered, as she saw her power surging through the mugger.
Candace didn't hesitate. She couldn't. Before she could protest, before she could even process what had just happened, her fingers relaxed and allowed her knife to slip through her fingers and clatter uselessly against the ground. She stared at Trinity with uncomprehending eyes that rapidly changed color to the familiar, vibrant purple that indicated she was under Trinity's control.
Trinity breathed a sigh of joy and relief. She had defused the situation. Candace no longer posed any threat to her. Like most people, she was utterly incapable of putting up any real resistance to her shimmer. Controlling Radiance had felt like trying to swim through treacle; compared to that, getting into Candace's head was child's play. She couldn't so much as blink of Trinity didn't want her to.
But much, much more important than that was the fact that Trinity had finally done it.
She'd been a hero!
The warm sense of reward and satisfaction that flooded the brainwashed villain was like nothing she'd ever felt before in her life. It was better than sex. The all-consuming urges Radiance had inflicted on her were finally being sated. She was being a hero. She had stopped a criminal and saved the day! She could even give that woman her purse back, if she managed to catch up with her. Trinity was upholding the rules. She was enforcing the law. She was keeping innocent people safe, and making them feel good. She was being an obedient servant of the people.
Trinity had done it!
So, what next?
The importance of that question dawned on her as she looked at the entranced girl twitching helplessly in her grip. What was Trinity going to do with her? She felt slightly embarrassed upon realizing she hadn't bothered to think that far ahead. Trinity's brow furrowed as she considered the issue, drawing upon her new mantra as she did so.
WWRD: what would Radiance do?
Take the mugger to the cops, probably. That seemed like the most lawful option, and for that reason alone, Trinity felt a powerful pull towards it. But equally, she couldn't ignore that it presented numerous issues. She wasn't an official hero - not yet, anyway - which meant that the police were likely to be very skeptical of her and her intentions. Licensed heroes got a pass. Vigilantes were objects of suspicion, or even sanction. That went doubly for someone who was using mind-control powers. Trinity could have the girl confess her crimes, certainly, but given that she could also just as easily make her say anything else, that didn't count for much.
Furthermore, in light of what Candace had told her, it seemed like there was every chance the cops would recognize her. And if they did, that would bring untold complications upon her and Radiance both.
