AUTHOR'S NOTE: This series contains gay male sex, as well as straight sex. If that's not your thing, be warned.
This chapter is mostly straight stuff, but I'm keeping this as a general warning for the whole series.
********
Over the last few days, Cypher had been hard at work trying to find out more about Sapphire, a villain who seems to have gained her powers over the last month or so. Despite her being new to the game, Cypher had to admit she was good at hiding her tracks.
Word on the street was, Sapphire was doing some small robberies. Electronics, clothes, supplies--things she could use or sell for a quick buck, but nothing so big as to raise suspicions. At first, Cypher couldn't find anything, but digging deeper, she found a whole slew of reports. Apparently Sapphire had hit more than her fair share of malls and outlets. But there were also reports of her at a couple of jewelry stores. And a bank?
The weird part was that all these reports were filed like normal, but deleted almost immediately. Without the special access to police records the League had (and some data recovery tech the police didn't even know about) she would have never have found them. She was good. And she definitely had an ally on the force.
Before turning in for bed, she gathered all the evidence she'd found and sent it to Clusterbomb, the League's demolition and warfare expert. Brute force was more his style, but he also had the most police contacts, so he was the best person to loop in.
After being woken up when Shiver's late night entry triggered an alert, she managed to get back to sleep, only to be roused by another alert, this time of another League member requesting entry to her quarters. She turned on a bedside monitor and pulled up a security camera and saw Shiver come up on screen, with Cyclone behind him.
Probably here to ask me not to write him up again,
she thought.
Or maybe Cyclone snitched on him. I know it's procedure, but the dude really needs to relax a bit
.
She could ignore them. She should ignore them. Some nerve this douchebag had, a junior waking up the Head of Security in the middle of the night to ask for forgiveness for his own fuckup. And not for the first time. But while the security she provided the base with was uncompromising, Cyper herself was far from it.
Day-to-day, she tended to be quite timid. She was also terrible at dealing with any kind of direct confrontation, and that was a big part of why she used her superpowered intelligence for intel gathering and security, instead of going all-in on battle tech like other heroes.
This is also why, despite her better judgment, she decided to... pretend to be asleep and hope they would go away.
"Cypher, I'm sorry it's late," came Shiver's voice over the intercom. "I'm sure you already know I was out after hours. But I have a lead on a new villain."
Yeah, sure
. Cypher thought.
He's just banking on me not wanting to argue with him about curfew. But if I get him off my back now, I'll be able to sleep at least
.
"Alright, alright," she said, slowly getting out of bed and walking to the door.
"This better be goo-" Cypher stopped cold in the middle of her sentence as she swung open the door to two bright blue, glowing gems in her face. She noticed Shiver was holding one, and Cyclone another, but all she could take in before Sapphire's power started erasing her mind.
"Whoa... What the fuck? Put those... away..." she said, her pupils dilating in the blue light.
"Let us in." She heard Cyclone speak. Her vision never left the gems as she stepped aside to let the hypnotized heroes pass.
It's... so hard to think... Could a mind controller be on the loose? Wait, the police. Sapphire! That must be how she hasn't left a trail. It might be too late for me but I can still Cluster! I just need to wait... Yes, now!
For half a second, the juniors turned their backs on her as they entered the room, blocking the hypnotic glow. She put her head down, determined not to look back at the light.
The pretty light
.
Cypher charged for whichever hero was closest, diving to tackle his legs to bring him to the ground. As they crashed to the ground, she transitioned into a roll towards a nearby work table where she was testing some new defense tech. Reaching for whatever was closest, she found three coin-sized metal disks and--still without looking--flung them backwards. She heard the sound of Cyclone crying out in pain as electricity flowed through his body, then the sound of his body hitting the floor as well.
Thank god that worked. Now, a base-wide alarm. Just gotta get to my computer.
Taking care not to look at either hero, she sprinted to her desk but couldn't get more than a keystroke off before being knocked aside by a gust of wind.
Before she could move, she was pulled to her feet. A hand pulled sharply on her hair, and she reflexively yelled and opened her eyes in pain. She was greeted by the sight of Cyclone, one hand holding her by the hair, the other hand holding...
Oh no...
"That's right, just look into the gem. Stop fighting, Cypher."
So pretty...
"Don't make... me hurt you, Cyclone. This isn't you."
"But this is me, Cypher. I'm Mistress Sapphire's obedient slave. And soon, you'll be one too."
Cypher's eyes started to glaze over, and her face and body started to go slack, but inside she was still fighting.
Sapphire! So it is her! Shit, I thought I was at least a couple of steps ahead, but I'm way too late. It's too late... I can't look away from the crystal... She's going to ensl... No! I can still fight this.
