The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Aces and Eights

Chapter 6 — Four Acts of Shame

“Of course they’re programmed to sleep it off and let the brainwashing take root so they don’t think anything abnormal happened,” Cheryl said, watching Brenna and Cynthia flop over on the bed and curl up with smiles on their faces.

“I got Brenna, trust me on this,” Rhonda said with a wicked grin. She perched herself on the edge of the bed next to Brenna and said, “Yeah, that’s a sweet dream, isn’t it? Loving that cheerleading dress, being tossed in the air like a little beanbag, that cute little short skirt, your panties showing with every flip...”

“What’s she doing, trying to give herself an orgasm?” Cheryl asked.

Gianna smiled. “She might, but for Brenna, what she says is the worst of her nightmares,” she pointed out as she crossed the bed to Cynthia and started running her fingers along Cynthia’s waistband.

“We don’t take physical advantage of people, even if it would help awaken them,” Claudia warned.

Gianna rolled her eyes as her fingers found the drawstring. She yanked as hard as she could, tightening the pants around Cynthia. Cynthia shot up with a shriek and threw a right hook that would have had Gianna out for the count if she hadn’t anticipated it and ducked. “I’m gonna kill you... oh. Uh, hi, guys. Whoa, I’m back at the hotel? How long was I out? I remember a siren, then I... then those tights—my God, is that it? Is Great Lakes working with those devils?”

“No, nothing like that,” Gianna reassured her.

“Holy shit. If they lowered you that suggestible... if we let you sleep you’d be registering for classes and destroying the mission every second. Someone go help Rhonda. I think she’s got the right idea, but—” Claudia started.

“GET OFF OF ME, ASSHOLE! Just ’cause I’m blonde, and cheer, and make this skirt look good, don’t mean I’ll fuck your fat, disgusting, chauvinist ass!” Brenna screamed, flailing wildly with her fingers hooked into claws.

“I’m fine!” Rhonda volunteered to the rest of the unit as Brenna got her on the right cheek. “Welcome back, Brenna.”

“And I do NOT do girls!” Brenna snapped, still blinking herself awake.

“Really? ’cause we’ve got pictures from the Pink Room,” Rhonda said with a smirk.

Brenna did a double-take, and with that she was fully awake. “Think I failed, guys. Some bitch, ’scuse my language, a presence controller like lightning right into my brain, got me... then it was all pom-poms and backflips, then Rhonda woke me up. The weird thing was, it wasn’t the normal sexy stuff that folks do with cheerleaders. Maybe makeup and leg shaving, but... they’re so moral that they didn’t do much. Likely kept me from goin’ back into Texas Elite mode, but I could feel it...” She shuddered. “Thanks, Rhonda.”

“So loose programming, natural settling into old patterns. Very passive, but very effective. Good call,” Gianna said.

“Okay, enough pleasantries. What was the programming like? Was there anything outside the Arctic Bear mantra? Did you see anyone else put under? Or anything out of the ordinary?” Claudia demanded. The sooner they could remember the necessary information, the sooner they could let it go. As risky as it was, she needed both Brenna and Cynthia, so she was going to have to run the risk of having two moles in her outfit.

Brenna screwed up her face in thought. “Still kinda scrambled here, though they make you remember more than you forget. I think the last time I crammed that many textbooks, I was takin’ finals in high school. Couple of the boys made the girls they took change in front of them, but that’s just hormones, and there wasn’t even any inappropriate touchin’. They never used any strong stuff after the big blow, just a constant stream of small stuff, real moral, the kind of life you want to strive for. Wound the ropes a little tighter, ’cause who doesn’t want to be a better person. But you need breaks from it too, you know? And it was awfully warm in there. Don’t think the room was built for that many people. And they didn’t seem to wanna do this to us. Weird controllers who don’t see strangers as fresh meat, but that’s how they roll at Great Lakes,” she said, trying not to fall back under.

“Yeah, we met the ones who found you. Elena’s probably a sweet girl if you can get past that Russian instinct to crush a soul to death. Even her buddy was scared of her,” Cheryl said, glaring at Rhonda, whose eyes had gone unfocused at the word crush, remembering how Sheila had subdued Elena.

“Cynthia?” Claudia said.

“The siren who sung me to sleep was a rookie freshly under control herself. And I was in class, so I heard everything they wanted to tell the controllers to tell us to believe... and a few other things. There’s a whole lot of doubt. They might be brainwashed just to keep their powers in check, but they aren’t stupid. If anything, they learn about the world so we don’t end up with harem boys who find blondie, doll up blondie, fuck blondie, keep blondie, dump blondie on the side of the road when it’s time to trade her in for a redhead. The controllers there...they chose this, they wanted to be more than just something out of a spiral film. The feeling I got isn’t about Cleveland, it’s bigger.”

“They know they’re the slaves? Not the regular people?” Claudia pressed.

“They get that, and they’re okay with that. They’d rather be dazed if it’s on their terms instead of bein’ in the war zone that’s today’s control community. No, it’s bigger than that. They don’t know if this is real, or if it’s just Michaelsson’s fantasy. And if it’s a fantasy...” Cynthia trailed off.

“Fuck this, let’s go fucking!” Rhonda finished.

“Or worse. Elena was hittin’ those pledges with the hammer. If she didn’t break at least one of those girls before they got me, I’d be real surprised,” Brenna said, fighting to keep focused at the memory of what had happened in the dorm room.

“And almost everyone was tying people down more tightly than normal. You could tell they were scared of what they could do, but kinda excited ’bout it too. I got a rookie, so she was under the professor’s control, so she was usin’ the normal level, but the others were knockin’ people out harder. That’s why Brenna remembers less. But same sort of study. In that cell, it was just readin’, writin’, and regulation. I think boredom kept my eyes glazed more than Alma’s music,” Cynthia said with a smile.

Claudia recognized how much of the control was fading, especially from Cynthia, and let them in on the plan. “We’re bringing in General Collins. He’s a Great Lakes alum, knows the area well, and can speak their double-talk. We’ve got a major issue. Yeah, there’s breaking out by the student controllers who don’t want any part of Michaelsson’s stringent ethics, but Michaelsson’s letting his standards slip too. He’s putting his eyes on spies himself. We found an Emma who got fried. She’ll recover, return to base with a clean report, set off their alarm bells, and another will be sent. But that’s the level of power we’re working against here. We need a strategy. This is a tricky one.”

“You’re hiding something. What happened in the stadium? You’ve been cagey about that ever since we rendezvoused,” Cheryl said.

“Something bad, both the tip of the iceberg and the root of the problem, but I don’t even think I fully know what happened, and that’s the truth. You’ll know more when Collins gets here and can cut through some of the bullshit, but not before then. Not with this many controllers running amok and committed to protecting themselves at any cost. Elena almost beat it out of me. I had to draw blood to keep my composure.” Claudia saw the fear on everyone’s faces and knew that they understood what she meant. “I don’t think we can last much longer. I don’t think we’re going to have to. The showdown is coming, but it’s the aftermath that I fear more. We don’t know the cogs of the machine, and until we do... we can take out Michaelsson, but if we don’t know what’s going to happen if we do, we can’t run the risk of opening the cages at the zoo.”

Morning came, and Claudia received the text from Collins that he was there and was ready to meet her and her alone in the parking lot. This message was not received well by the rest of the unit. “So lemme get this straight, ’cause it’s probably the only thing I’m ever gonna get straight in my life: this guy, who’s a Great Lakes alum and might as well be one of the Twelve Disciples if Michaelsson is God, wants you to go there alone. Doesn’t want any of the rest of us, even though there’s probably gonna be a killing at some point in the day. You don’t think this is a little sketchy?” Rhonda asked.

“I think he wants you to be the backup. There’s safety in numbers, but there’s danger in one weak link. If we’re not careful, one of us will end up shooting the others. If there’s trouble, I’ll text you,” Claudia reassured her. With that, she headed out to the parking lot to look for Collins.

The blue and gold Lincoln aroused her deepest suspicions of his true loyalty, but then she saw him leaning against it in a blood red sweater and black slacks, the colors of declared war. More, she recognized the sweater as the sign of a controller long dead, a fear controller whose battles with Michaelsson had been the stuff of legends in the mundane world and folklore in the underground world of control. If Collins was in Great Lakes in those colors, he couldn’t be laying a trap—the loyal citizens of Great Lakes would tear him to shreds. “General Collins. I guess every cop really is a criminal if you’re wearing that gear,” she said with a smile.

Collins didn’t return it. “More of a disguise to keep the old Alpha Omegas from worshipping me as an extension of Isaac. But I’m glad it also cemented your intentions. We’ll talk in the car,” he said, holding the door open for Claudia and speeding off as soon as she was belted in. “Who needs cameras when you have a hundred thousand extra eyes and ears?” he asked rhetorically.

“I understand, sir. I assume that’s the same reason you also wanted the rest of the unit to stay behind. We can’t afford any security risks,” Claudia agreed.

Collins nodded. “You know, there was a point, back when the team was fading from Isaac’s old age, when everyone thought he’d died and was being kept as a mythical specter until Nick could assume power? And that people thought Nick had taken over when the team rebounded? We know now that he was just readjusting to life as an old man, after all. You don’t beat Northern State at ninety without having people think you’ve confirmed the myth that vampires are immortal,” he mused.

“I get it. He provides good entertainment, even if he’s got thousands of controllers at his disposal,” Claudia said, humoring him, even as her hand drifted toward her gun. He might not be able to work with anyone in town to set a trap, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t playing his own game, she thought.

“You confirmed the one act I suspected. I might be an Arctic Bear, and on game day, I bleed as blue and gold as anyone, but there’s one thing more I have in common with Isaac Michaelsson: fearing the extensions of possibilities and taking appropriate steps to take care of them. That’s why he urged me to join the Men of Wealth and Taste. Yes, him, personally. And that’s not just reserved to the football team. But I needed the confirmation of how he did it in 2004. That was the last piece of the puzzle.”

“Sir, with all due respect, what does the football team have to do with his control?”

Collins smiled. “The Arctic Bears of Great Lakes University are the biggest focus object known to man. The program is his beacon, his sign of showing those who he controls at a remove—be it by a student, a professor, or another coach—that he is their one true master, to be worshipped every Saturday in his castle and cathedral on the 100-yard altar. When it faded, he was fading. He was deep enough in to easily transfer power, but he didn’t. That always puzzled me. Nick was raised on Isaac’s mantra from birth—‘only baby to be born with glasses,’ everyone used to joke. And he serves as his dad’s right-hand man, but that’s all.” He paused. “How big is the crack now?”

“MI-9 was spotted in a prison for those who were caught snooping by controller students,” Claudia said sharply, still not knowing who to trust.

“Oh, the Sister Shack. We had that in my day. There was always some freaked out sibling at a different school who saw one too many spiral films and tried to grab their brother or sister and save their soul, and there was only one way to get it into their head that we were the good guys, or at least trying to be the good guys. I personally came here and knocked some sense into the Mu-Dusas when they were using it to rattle the cages of Northern Staters a few years back. Simple college prank stuff, but it had to end there before it became anything more.”

“Well, these days, they’re stowing reporters, Mounties, Mindcrime, and, oh, yeah, an MI-9 drone in there. Now who at Great Lakes could properly shut down someone whose soul is frozen and loyalty completely given over to the throne, someone whose personality is submerged until they’re old enough to retire to guarding the Crown Jewels that got them down that far to begin with?” Claudia pressed, sure now that Collins was leading her on.

“And two Wealth and Taste who are among the best we have to offer. This is what I’m getting at. I needed to confirm your loyalty and confirm my fears. Michaelsson diffused his control on campus to keep power in his castle. It’s not relevant to your investigation of Michaelsson now, but it’s vital and dire for the aftermath. He has us in a devil’s bargain. If he dies peacefully, with honor and with no shame, the son rises in the east and the flock follows Nick with no consequences. But if he falls in disgrace...”

“It’s already happening,” Claudia said. “There’s a rogue student popping up like the Ghost of Christmas Past at half our investigations. One controller was so hysterical her friend had to... smother... her fears. Cheryl ran from a gypsy whose brain was starting to smoke from the conflict. The Sister Shack turned into two full classrooms in the library building. We’re not the only ones on the trail by a long shot. Even the mundane world is catching hints that something’s rotten in Great Lakes. And Cheryl’s been cracking the code we lifted from the MI-9 operative. Someone at Great Lakes blew the whistle on Cleveland and asked for MI-9’s help. I think there’s a price on Michaelsson’s head, sir.”

“The earth is trembling. But the main question is this, Marion: why isn’t he backing off, letting his power fade, so no one sees the taint to the empire. He backs off, Nick rises unscathed, and the Arctic Bear roars triumphant. Mere hubris doesn’t explain that angle. I don’t think self-destruction is in his playbook. Tell me about the Hansel.”

“Name’s Red. He let me into the file room. That was all he could do. He was broken. You could tell from the way he talked, the way he moved, everything. Michaelsson did it. It’s in his own hand in the file room: full records of what was done, updates on Red’s care, additional measures taken. But he broke out for just enough time to give me a code you didn’t have. I’m sure that was enough for Michaelsson to really destroy him. I never thought I’d hope someone was dead and buried in a ditch,” Claudia said.

“Oh, Reed. Damn, damn, damn. This ends tonight. Come on. I have a friend we need to visit. Well, friend as long as you keep that gun cocked and to his head,” Collins said through gritted teeth.

“Michaelsson? Sir, you think he’d let even you live? His file indicated that he broke anyone with knowledge of what had happened. Red’s nothing more than a puppet with hypno hair, a human troll doll. And I don’t have the protection of a Great Lakes pedigree to protect me. Sir, with all due respect once more, what the hell are you getting me into?”

“The truth. The truth of sixty years,” Collins said sadly. “Red was coaching high school until 2001. Then he suddenly quits his job and hooks back on with Great Lakes after Geoff Cleveland does a speaking engagement at his school. That equals four, but the detailing on this car was extremely expensive, and I’d rather you not throw up on it. And then there’s nothing more about Reed O’Rourke and no one ever has any hint there’s any trouble at Great Lakes. But let me spell it out in football terms, and see if you can translate it into Wealth and Taste. In 2000, we’re 11-2 and win on New Year’s Day, with the only losses being the national champs and at Northern State. 2001, we’re 4-8 and win only once in conference. 2002, 2-10, with only one conference win. 2003, 4-8. 2004, undefeated and third in the polls only because they hate our conference.”

Claudia did the math, and only her supreme willpower kept her from disobeying Collins’s order not to throw up in the car. “He had to take leave of his crown to put out the fire. He broke Red, broke anyone else who knew, diffused his power to controllers to focus on tightening his overall grip, and built a bomb. The doctor Rhonda talked to... he saw it coming. The vermin only escape when the tower falls.”

“That sounds like old Nikola. I was suspicious. The pattern seemed strange. But I thought he was merely hiding his own frailty while slowly shifting power to his son Nick. But we have to confront him directly. I know him personally and I know his old strength, the one which will be the end of him. He won’t attack justice, not if it means his end in a bloody firefight. Above shame, above honor, is dignity,” Collins said, spitting the last word. “The ethics are still there, still well taught, still doing great things for the world. But even a Class 1 can start a Class 6 operation if given the motivation to do so. One wrong move, and you have Salem. Two wrong moves start a war. Three wrong moves create the cesspool of Hollywood. Four wrong moves, and Hitler wins World War II despite being dead for decades.”

“’Four acts of shame destroy everyone’s name.’ I read some of his work before, and Brenna and Cynthia could likely recite by heart right now,” Claudia said.

“And Isaac already has three. One: Cleveland ran amok until Spiral I caught him through dumb luck. I don’t want to know how long he was going before that. Two: Isaac abused his power to flash bury him and bury his secrets with him. Three: he made this campus such a chess board and so full of traps that if someone takes it away, the fourth sin will happen and his controllers will break out. But if he dies naturally now, four happens as well: his power base solidifies again under Nick, nothing is ever spoken of again, and more of his people have free reign to do as they will, knowing now that they’re protected.”

“Who says they haven’t started already?” Claudia said grimly.

“I know what you’re saying. We’re here now to make sure that if anything did get started, we’re finishing it. Text your unit. Tell them they have thirty minutes to get to the UP Visitor Information Center on the main highway northbound. If we don’t meet them in ninety minutes from that time, we’re to be disavowed as killed in action, and they should rendezvous across the border at the nearest Do-Right post. I’ll copy General Marion on the same message and let him know to contact all parties affected by the subversion of their operatives. Claudia Marion, are you ready to face the devil?” Collins asked.

Claudia met his gaze, wrapping up all her fears and hiding them away where no one could use them against her. “Yes, sir.”