"I need to know what happened to me in there."
Val was pacing back and forth in the locker room. She tried to project a sense of confidence, or determination, but she could feel her cheeks burning red. She knew Yun-hee could see the shame she was feeling, the humiliation. She couldn't bear to meet her ally's gaze.
To her credit, the younger woman didn't really show any sign that she felt sorry for Val. Her round face showed no trace of annoyance or condescension. She stood a few inches shorter than Val, and quite a bit plumper; she wasn't overweight by any stretch of the imagination, but definitely curvy. She put her glasses in their case and shrugged. "I'm sorry, Valerie," she said, "but I just don't know. Not without first knowing what caused the flashes you described."
"Oh, c'mon, Yun," Val pleaded, "you're a psychologist, you gotta know something!"
"
Criminal
psychologist, Valerie. I can't give you that much information, it's not what I studied."
Yun-hee reached into the locker and swapped her glasses case for a pair of white knee-high boots. "Alright," said Val, "then what
can
you give me?"
The other woman rolled her eyes as she slipped the boots on. "We're still investigating the incident, there's not enough data yet to draw a firm conclusion about this Blanc woman."
"Dammit, Yun!" Val snapped. "We're supposed to be on the same side here!"
Yun-hee sighed. "Okay... when you confronted her, you accused her of using drugs and magic, right? Remember how she reacted?"
"She said she wasn't a witch or a drug dealer."
"More than that." Yun-hee reached for her gloves. "She wasn't a witch, but she was flattered you thought she was. But she was angry that you suggested she was using drugs. What does that tell you?"
Val paused, the moment marked by the familiar
snap
of Yun-hee's elbow-length glove conforming to her arm. "She's proud of her work. Doesn't want people to think she's taking an 'easy' route."
"Exactly!" Yun-hee had that excited look on her face that she got whenever she was walking someone through a profile. "She considers her work a kind of magic."
The PA let out a burst of static as it came to life. A synthetic female voice chirped, "Blue Angel needed on deck. Repeat, Blue Angel needed on deck."
"That's my cue," said Yun-hee. She put on her domino mask and closed the locker. "How do I look?" Her costume was nearly identical to the one Val wore when she went out on superhero duty, but blue instead of purple.
"Good, but... what does that mean for me? How does this explain what she did to me?"
Yun-hee shrugged. "If we're ruling out magic and drugs, then it has to be some sort of technology. And my guess is that to develop that kind of tech, Madame Blanc probably has some background in hypnosis."
* * *
Mistress Weiss held her hand a few inches away from the man's nose. "So, right now, I just want you to follow my hand with your eyes as it swirls around in front of your face."
Val squirmed in her seat. She wasn't sure why she was still here. She knew, logically, she should've left the moment she saw Madame Blanc step out on stage. But she needed to see what this woman could do... and she needed to know what she was up against.
Weiss slowly moved her hand around in an arc, wiggling her fingers slightly. "That's right. Just like that."
Val felt her stomach tie in a knot. She was paralyzed. She tried to tell herself it was due to fear. She tried to ignore the rush of warmth between her legs.
The hand was moving faster now, swinging wider. "And you might start to notice," Weiss continued, "that it's getting a little harder to follow it, as it moves around and around. But that's okay."
Val was blushing again. Her breathing was slow and shallow, reverberating through her body. She felt her heart pounding like a jackhammer. She focused intently on Weiss' movements, trying to catch something important. That she could use against her.
"Because it's so easy to listen to the sound of my voice." Weiss smiled. "So easy to follow along."
