Preface: This is the second story in the Fractionation series of my super hero world. Feel free to read it as a standalone. But if you're interested in the overarching narrative, it follows Dear Maria, Count Me In. Although this story is an equally good place to jump in.
A bolt of searing electricity flew over my head. I ducked down as it crackled into the faded wallpaper. "Well I guess I'm not getting my deposit back." More bolts of energy rained through the splintered door of my apartment. The men in body armor stood in the hallway, apparently content to fire in from there. The bolts only looked strong enough to stun. That means they wanted me alive. They must have known who I was.
How had they found me? I hadn't used my powers in months. In the moment of stillness I replayed the memories of the last several months in my head. Where had I slipped up? Where was the mistake? Nothing came to mind. Oh well, have to worry about that later. I took one last look around my humble studio apartment. It wasn't much, a creaky twin bed in a rusted frame, a heavily scratched, wooden desk, and my paintings. If the Foundation had found me again I could never come back here.
I instinctively reached towards a half finished water color on the easel. It was small, a scene of a beach that had entered my mind from a passerby's vacation. Maybe I could carry it while I ran. I knew it was a silly thought but part of me longed to take it with me anyway. These fleeting images from the minds of strangers were my only real human contact. At that moment an energy bolt fried the painting and snapped me back to focus. Right, no time to be sentimental.
I sprinted towards window. My fingers fumbled with the worn latch, but I was able to throw it open. I leapt out onto the fire escape. A few seconds later I could hear the heavy boot falls of the men entering my former home.
I heard a harsh voice bark out orders from above. "He went that way. Down the fire escape. Don't get too close." They must think keeping their distance will protect them from me. Idiots. Hold on. If they think that, they couldn't be from the foundation. Then who?
As I scrambled down the rusted metal, each step gave a loud clang, not exactly stealthy. I unclasped my silver earrings. I couldn't have them dampening my powers if I had to affect such a large group. Besides they'd already found me. The dampening effect wouldn't hide me now.
I heard voices from the shadowy alleyway below. I looked down to see more goons stalking back and forth. I suppose they thought of everything. I could see them looking up towards the fire escape. They'd be on to me soon. I had to think fast.
I knocked on the window of the apartment two floors below mine. A young woman looked up at me from her phone with surprise. I gestured for her to open the window. She returned my gesture with a firm shake of her head and a motion for me to shoo off her fire escape. Fair enough.
But I couldn't take no for an answer today. So I pushed into her mind. Instantly my mind flooded with images of her thoughts. People's minds looked like broken mirrors to me, every shard showing a different thought or memory. I always absorbed some surface thoughts when I made contact. In this case I learned her name was Francine, she had been stuck on a candy crush level for half an hour and she was mad about tonight's Dorian concert being canceled. I could see a familiar, dazed smile spread across her face. Over the years I had learned my abilities felt very pleasant to the people I used them on. Another brilliant design feature from the Foundation.
I reached my thoughts out to one of the larger shards and pushed a new idea into it. "Let me in." Francine didn't resist it at all. People with no training or warning rarely could. Instead she hopped right up off her couch, went to the window and opened it. "Please come in," She said in a distant sounding voice. I could hear the fire escape clanging from my pursuers.
Francine stared vacantly up at me. "Now what should I do?" She asked meekly. That's the problem, minds were too fragile or my abilities were too powerful. Either way, the minds of ordinary people melted under my touch. Poor Francine never stood a chance. Just a simple suggestion from me and her subconscious already accepted me as her master, just as the Foundation engineered me for. She was lucky I didn't want to be what they'd made me. If I'd had the mind to I could make her strip naked and cluck like a chicken. She was putty in my hands. A few simple thoughts and she'd be my obedient sex slave, horny and submissive and STOP. I had to control myself. "Um. Go hide under your bed and go to sleep. It's going to be dangerous here. Don't come out till things calm down." I pressed the command into her pliable mind. She accepted it easily.
"Okayyy," she sighed out before falling to her knees and crawling under her bed. I watched her ass as she crawled away. Maybe I should've had her crawl back here and grind that ass against my... STOP! I don't know if the Foundation specifically designed me to want to dominate women or if they just tried to give me a general passion for domination that happened to blend with my sex drive. Regardless it left me with certain, let's just call them urges, that I had to work very hard to keep in check.
I stepped back out into the hallway and started making my way down to the stairs. The guards who had been in the alley surged up the rickety, wooden steps just as I was turning into the stairwell. I ducked back out, in time to see more armed goons pouring out of Francine's apartment. "Subject Alpha Mu stand down!" One of them yelled out.
Doing this many at once would be a risk, but I had no choice. I reached into all of their minds. I braced for the waves of scattered, unrelated thoughts from each of them. But instead a single voice met my conscious "capture him." These people were being controlled. It felt similar to my abilities but also strangely distinct. I'd have to push even harder to displace that thought. That would take time I didn't have. Maybe I could work around it. I pushed with all my strength, shoving my will into theirs. "The other group is in the way. Eliminate them."
In the next instant I fell to the ground, as a hail of plasma fanned across the hallway. It had worked. They were firing on each other. The sounds of buzzing electricity and shouts filled the space, until the uproar faded to quiet. When I raised my head, only one soldier remained standing.
"You're... coming... with... me," He gasped through ragged breath.
"But how can I do that when you're going to sleep?" I asked pushing the idea of sleep into his mind. He fell to the ground. I stood up and nearly fell back down as a wave of vertigo washed over me. I definitely overdid it, affecting so many minds at once. But there was no time to recover. I stumbled to my feet and made my way groggily down the stairs. Hopefully that had been all of them.
A lone figure waited for me in the lobby. The dark shadow of her trench coat cut an imposing silhouette against the light of the lobby windows. I could tell from its bulk that the coat was hiding weapons. Her dark hair rested in a tight bun. She turned to study me with cold, green eyes. A long scar ran down one cheek. "Subject Alpha Mu. I must say I'm impressed. You nearly escaped."
"Don't call me that. Who are you? How did you find me? I haven't used my powers in months."
She cooed, condescension oozing from her voice "Oh you can just call me Maya. As for how we found you, you don't need to worry about that. Suffice to say my Master has had his eye on you for some time. He has a message for you."
"Your Master? So you really aren't with the Foundation then. Didn't realize I'd become so famous." My head was already spinning. I didn't want to use my powers again if I could help it. "Look just let me go. You've seen what I can do. I don't want to hurt you, but I'll turn your brains to mush if I have to."
"See that's the problem. You're wasting your gifts. My Master is very disappointed with your choices," she shot back.
"Excuse me? Who is your master and why does he care what I do?" I replied, still processing.
"It'll be clear when you're ready. You'll serve my master one way or another. But for now you have a simple choice to make Subject Alpha Mu," she said, stepping closer. "Either you break my will or I'll break yours. Whatever you choose, you'll lose."
"You don't get to decide who I am," I snapped.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a glowing orb. My eyes locked onto it immediately and the rest of the world dissolved. I saw only the orb. I only needed to watch. No thoughts. "Oh don't I? It looks like we're leaning towards letting me break you then. That's fine with me."
I nodded vacantly. I couldn't take my eyes from the orb. Her words just drifted into my brain.
"Now let's go back upstairs. I need to finish your programming."
I needed to go back upstairs to be programmed. She took my hand and led me back to my apartment. Maya propped the broken door against its opening and then began removing my clothes.
"I think you'll find the brainwashing experience quite enjoyable. Master explained it all very clearly to me. You see your subconscious needs to associate obeying commands with pleasure. That way your own mind will long to submit and any attempt you make at resistance will drown in your own desire. It's just like what you do. Isn't that right?"
