The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

“Shit,” Jette cursed loudly, dropped resignedly into her recliner. We were currently lounging in the Gems’ conference room, trying to come up with a strategy. I was feeling a bit better after a bit of rest and liquid refreshment coursing through my veins. The Gems kept a nice supply of Mt. Dew in stock, the real kind with the white label and sugar instead of that artificial sweetener crap. Note to self: persuade dad to buy out the local Coca Cola plant. This stuff is GREAT!

“So... basically, our friends have been turned into Salazar’s mindless puppets,” Amber related, dropping down onto the couch, “and will obey any order he gives them, including attacking us,”

“Yeah,” Ruby replied, shaking her head. “Believe me. I found that out the hard way.”

“Do we have any idea of exactly how he’s controlling them?” Sapphire asked, leaning back in her seat, kicking her booted feet idly against the edge of the couch. Ruby wasn’t sure exactly of what had happened to them, but from the images I’d seen in her mind, I had a pretty good idea.

“He used inducer chips,” I replied, taking another deep drink of pop, draining the bottle with a satisfying sigh. “Small round integrated circuit boards that act as neural suppressers.” I glanced at Ruby. “That little round silver thing you saw on the back of Diane’s head. It was probably fired from some kind of dart gun or something. I believe my sister came across some mad scientist that was selling the technology on the black market a few weeks ago.”

“Okay, that helps.” Jette nodded. “So, basically, we just need to yank those things off of them—”

“Sorry, you can’t do it that way,” I cut in. “Those things fuse directly to the base of the person’s spine when they’re injected. If you just try and yank ’em off, you’ll rip out part of their brain stem with it!” As was usually the case, the solutions were never simple. “The best bet we have is to try and short those control chips out.” I held up a hand before they could reply. “But again, you have to remember... these chips are linked directly into their brains, so I’d suggest being really really delicate and precise, otherwise you might end up leaving them brain damaged.” I took a deep breath. “So... I guess this means I’m going with you.”

“Wait. What?” Amber yelped, jerking around to glance at me. “What do you mean you’re coming with us? This isn’t your fight, Umbra. We’re not asking for your help, here, and we certainly don’t need it!”

“Ah, contraire,” I replied grimly, conjuring a small ball of darkness in my left hand. With my will, I sent it up to the ceiling, to the chandelier. Another impulse of will, and the dark energy spread out, thinning itself out, stroking the multiple bulbs in succession, darkening them all one by one, before returning back to my hand. “I can short out your friends’ chips without frying their brains. My darkness absorbs energy, drains it, instead of simply overloading it. Of the five of us here, Sapphire’s abilities would be a close second choice, but even then there’s no way to know the effect of damaging the chip that way would have on them.”

“I think we’ll just have to take that chance,” Amber said calmly, rising to her feet. “I appreciate what you did for Ruby, and I thank you for helping us understand what we’re up against, but the fact of the matter is, I don’t trust you. I’m not saying that you’re working for Salazar or anything like that. I just mean that I don’t know you. Amanda, Stephanie, Julie, and myself? We’re a team. We’re worked, and played, and trained together long enough to know how we each do things, and to know that we can count on each other at a critical moment if needed. We don’t have that connection with you, a virtual stranger, so, sorry, we can’t let ourselves depend on you.”

The other girls glanced at each other. “Hey, Amber, I know you’re second in command here and all,” Jette said with a frown, “but I really think you need to reconsider. Jimmy is a good guy. He can really help us out here. Besides, it will be a little tricky with just the three of us against all of Salazar’s goons AND out teammates—”

“The FOUR of us,” Ruby stated determinedly, rising to her feet as well. “Don’t think I’m going to sit this one out on the sidelines. I may not be a hundred percent yet, but I’m more than capable of holding my own. I’m going with you guys.”

“Okay, fine,” Amber replied, rolling her eyes. “You can come along, Ruby. And Jette... I appreciate your input, always... but it’s my decision. We can do this without him.”

“Um, Amber,” Sapphire began hesitantly, “I think he has a point. I’m not all that confident on being able to shake off those control chip thingies, yanno? Maybe we should take him along?”

Amber smirked. “Don’t worry about it, Saff, you’ll do fine. I have faith in you. Now then, everyone, we’d better get into costume. We’ve sat around talking about this long enough. It’s time to take action, and get our friends back!” With that, she headed back towards the hallway, Sapphire and Ruby following behind. Jette paused for a moment, glancing back at me for a moment, before sighing softly, her head dropping down.

“Sorry, Jimmy,” she said with an apologetic shrug before following after her teammates.

Of course, I wasn’t going to simply walk away from things the way they were. True, they’d turned down my offer to help, told me point blank that they didn’t need me... but I wasn’t the type of guy to simply leave a lady in distress. Besides, I hadn’t had the chance to apologize to Emerald yet for earlier, and I couldn’t leave until I had the chance to talk to her.

So... I followed them. Wasn’t really hard; even in the moonless night, their color coordinated costumes stuck out like a sore thumb. On the one hand, I could see how that would be useful. My mom, my sister and my cousins were all about the flash, and image, and letting their reputation win half the battle for them. Which was good... in theory. But while most minor thugs and minions would panic and run at the sight of a heroine in all her glory, the tougher, more organized, and more dangerous criminals, no doubt anticipating their arrival, would simply spring whatever carefully laid trap they had prepared.

Kind of like the trap the Gems seemed to be walking into.

Dammit, I cursed silently, sprinting across the street to a large abandoned apartment building across from the warehouse. Had I been leading this little S&R, I would have sent someone out ahead to scout the area. Granted, they were being somewhat careful, having reached the perimeter, near the entrance... but as I climbed stealthily along the fire escape, I questioned whether or not they’d even entertained the idea that Salazar might have set out a spotter or two, knowing they would eventually be coming after him again—

Yep. Called it. Two spotters on the roof.

Cloaking myself in shadows, I crept up behind them, glancing down at the street below. From this vantage point, I could clearly see the Gems making their approach to the front gate.

“Heh. Looks like Dominic called it,” the spotter to my left stated, peering down through a pair of binoculars. “All four of them, including the redhead that escaped earlier.” He chuckled softly. “Must be a glutton for punishment, that one.”

“I dunno,” the second guard, to my right, replied, peering down as well, “she doesn’t look that bad off to me. Maybe she wasn’t as badly hurt when she escaped as we thought?”

A slight smiled creased my lips at that. Yeah. I did that. I so very much rock. Seeing as they were currently occupied with their surveillance, I took the opportunity to send a pair of shadow tendrils into the radios at their sides, disabling them first. Moving silently, I slowly crept up closer to them.

“Look, they’re making their run,” the leftmost spotter announced, leaning forward to watch. From my position, I could see them move, splitting into pairs. Three black clad men were guarding the entrance, all with pulse rifles in the hands. Working together with a fluidity that would have made any swat team or military unit jealous, the girls attacked with a quick and coordinated strike, taking out all three before they could react. Amber and Jette struck first, Amber disabling their guard with a golden cocoon shell around his waist, holding him frozen, while Jette knocked him out with a single punch to the jaw. At the same time, Sapphire sent a wave of energy towards the second guard, apparently stunning him, knocking him off guard as Ruby charged in, downing him with a savage right cross. The third guard, sensing something amiss, had just enough time to glance up and grab the butt of his rifle before a combination of Ruby’s fire and Sapphire’s energy destroyed the weapon. Jerking back in shock, he was completely defenseless from Jette’s follow-up haymaker.

Three guards taken out in as many seconds. I’ll admit it. I was impressed.

“Damn! Those chicks are hot!” the second spotter husked, shaking his head. “They made mincemeat out of Jose’s team. Wasn’t even a contest.”

“You said it,” his partner agreed with a sigh. “Oh well, we all knew they were coming in hard. And we knew Jose’s team was just cannon fodder, even if they didn’t.” He glanced over to the right. “Hmm... looks like they’re about to enter the building. Guess we’d better call in and let Salazar know.“

“You know,” I said casually, withdrawing my shadows, revealing myself to be only a few inches away from them, making them jerk back in alarm. “I can’t really call myself a team player or anything... I tend to work better by myself, all alone. But standing up here, watching my team mates get taken down without even battering an eye—what was it you called them? ‘cannon fodder?’ Man, that’s just plain cold-blooded.”

“Geez!” they yelped, reaching for their weapons. “Where the fuck did you come from? How in hell did you get up here?”

“The hard way,” I said, half-shrugging, cloaking myself once more. “Incidentally, I’d like to know just what Salazar has in store for my friends down there, and I’d like you to tell me. And, we can do that the easy way, or the hard way.” Both men raised their weapons and fired. I sighed dramatically, having already disabled their energy weapons, and conjured a pair of shadow tendrils. “Alright. The hard way it is.”

“Alright, Ruby,” Amber whispered softly, glancing up carefully from behind the wooden crate they’d hidden behind. “this is your show. Where is Salazar hiding?”

“Well, last time I was here, he was up there, in the second floor office,” she whispered back, pointing to the single office with the light on.”

“Good. Then that will be our top priority. If we get to Salazar, we can force him to release his control over our friends.” She sighed. “I’d like to avoid fighting them if possible. If we can keep going like we are, without being seen, we can do it.”

“That’s a really big ‘IF’, Amber,” Jette pointed out. “Okay, we’ve been lucky so far. But we’re kind of outnumbered here. I mean, they’re... um... how many guys does Salazar have here, Ruby?”

“About thirty, give or take,” Ruby answered grimly.

“Thirty guys, Ambs,” Jette continued. “And all it would take is for one of them to spot us.”

“Okay, yeah, it won’t be easy,” Amber admitted. “I never claimed it would be. But we’ve practiced this kind of thing a thousand times. We’ve trained for it. This place is HUGE! The chances of one of those guys spotting us before we can taken ’em down is pretty small. And... even if we are discovered, even if things go bad, this is what we do. If we have to rough up our friends in order to save them, so be it. Once we get Salazar, this will all be over.”

Resigned to their mission, the four made their way quietly through the warehouse, ducking behind crates when necessary to avoid the occasional roaming guard, but otherwise encountering no difficulty. Near the middle of the room, Sapphire raised a hand, silently signaling to stop, and the girls took cover begin a large metal container.

“What is it?” Amber whispered softly.

“Voices,” she murmured back softly. “Just ahead of us. A lot of them. And I think I heard what sounded like a crate being opened. I think we’ve found the shipment Salazar is trying to steal.”

Suddenly the entire area exploded in light. The girls gasped, covering their eyes, momentarily stunned as a group of armed men swept in, surrounding them. “Brava, ladies,” a loud, masculine, strongly accented voice spoke. “You’ve found me! Congratulations on all your hard work.” He clapped his hands, loudly, as he stepped into view. “My question is... now that you have found me... what will you do now?”

“Ambs?” Sapphire asked softly, glancing at their leader.

“Ah, shit,” Jette hissed softly, shaking her head. “Don’t do it, Amber, don’t do it... mother of God, don’t do it...”

“We’re doing it,” Amber murmured grinning savagely, hands clenching tightly. “On my mark... one...”

“Fuck... I knew this was going to happen,” Jette swore softly, tensing, getting ready to make her move.

“Two...”

“Ah, hell,” Ruby groaned, assuming a defensive stance, “and I’m supposed to be the hothead of the group.”

Suddenly, the spotlights surrounding them began to flicker, and buzz, growing dimmer and dimmer, the guards glancing around in confusion as the brightly lit area began to darken.

“Three!” I yelled out loudly, dropping down from my vantage point atop the cargo carrier into a group of armed thugs. A simple smack to the side of the head sent two of them down from the get go. Several of them cried out, disoriented by the sudden darkness, unable to see their adversaries, and shaken by my sudden and unexpected appearance. Salazar, himself, was completely stunned.

“What? What is this? What’s happening?” he yelled, ducking for cover back behind a crate. “What is that man?”

“Backup,” Jette replied with a grin, decking one of the thugs next to her, and moving back to open ground. “Okay Gems,” she yelled, dropping another thug who’d recovered enough to draw his weapon. “Time to shine!”

And shine they did. I took a nice sense of satisfaction that my little ‘diversion’ had helped out in a big way. And I was content to watch them go, seeing them in action, kicking much butt and taking no names. And it was admittedly refreshing seeing Jette and Ruby in action, without being in the receiving end.

“Enough of this shit!” Salazar yelled, suddenly, bringing a slight pause to the festivities. “Slaves! Defend your Owner! Destroy these upstarts!”

And just like that, the tide changed. From seemingly out of nowhere, though actually from behind a couple of crates, Diamond, Emerald. and Pearl emerged, entering the fray. Jette, about to deliver the coup de grace on one of the last remaining gunmen, paused, gasping in surprise, shaking slightly. “Gaaaahh...” she gurgled, shuddering, her eyes rolling back into her head, as if having a seizure. The thug, recovering from his ass-kicking, raised his gun, about to shoot her point blank in the face, so I took him down with a tendril strike to the back of the head.

“Jette? Jette, what’s wrong?” I asked, moving towards her, concerned about what had happened. Then I stopped, pausing a few feet away. Something about the way she was acting reminded me of how I’d reacted back in Midas. Frowning, I glanced around, and sure enough, I spotted her. “Pearl! Stop it! You’re attacking your own teammate!” I extended a shadow tendril towards her, intending to stun her into submission long enough to disable her chip when I was tackled from behind and knocked off my feet.

“Ow...fuck...” I grumbled, glancing up. Above me stood the most beautiful sight—a beautiful young woman with a pixie cut, perfectly shaped and sculpted and composed, seemingly, of glittering sparkling jewels. “And you would be Diamond,” I murmured, getting back to my feet. She came towards me again, swinging, and I dodged, twisting in midstep, grasping her arm, pivoting and twisting as I’d been trained. She flipped, falling face up onto the hard ground... and through it, into the ground. What the fuck?!? Glancing behind me, I watched, mystified, as Diamond emerged effortlessly out of the ground behind me, floating up like a ghost.

Heh. Apparently she can reduce her body’s density down to almost nothing as well as increasing it to her diamond form. Yeah. Good to know. Guess I’ll have to add that little tidbit to her file when I get back home.

She struck again, this time scoring a glancing blow to my side as I dipped away. Despite being as physically hard as diamonds, she still moved with the same fluidity of human flesh. Not to mention hitting her was like hitting a punching bag composed to Adamantium! I was definitely having trouble with her. A simple shadow strike would likely end the fight, but the way she moved, going from solid to ghost form in the blink of an eye, kept me off balance. Plus I had no idea of whether my shadows would even work on her while she was intangible; past experiences told me that trying something new with my powers in the middle of battle was not a good thing.

Glancing over a few feet away, I saw Sapphire, groaning, shuddering as well, as Pearl continued to advance on her. Creating a ball of dark energy, I lobbed it, tagging Pearl from behind, stunning her, freeing Sapphire from being blanked. She groaned, shaking her head, as I sprinted towards her, Diamond hot on my heels. “Hey, Saff,” I yelled, as she glanced over at me, “let’s switch dance partners. See if your vibrations can shake up Miss Sparkle!”

“You got it, Umbra!” she yelled, sending out a focused wave of pulses at her enthralled teammate.

Sighing, taking a moment to catch my breath, I turned back towards Pearl, who wavered unsteadily where I’d struck her. In order to free her, I still needed to disable the chip in her neck, so I formed a tendril from my right hand... which along with my arm, was pulled behind my back by a pair of incredibly strong arms.

“J-jette?” I gasped, feeling the grip tighten.“What the hell?” Her grip merely tightened more, becoming painful, and a prickly feeling ran down my spine as I suddenly understood the situation. Dammit. Salazar got to you, didn’t he? Shit... I should have just stuck with my plan and let you girls do your own thing while I took down Salazar myself... I struggled briefly, trying to get leverage enough to power out of her hold without hurting her in the process, when I felt a kind of fizzy feeling... like soda bubbles in my brain. I glanced to the side just in time to see Pearl, recovered from earlier, raising a hand towards me.

Ahh! Not this time, Pearl! Twisting hard to the right, dropping to my knee, I flipped Jette over my back, slamming her hard into the concrete. Free once again, I sent out a spread of tentacles on Pearl’s general direction, hoping to get lucky, as my vision whited out—and promptly darkened again as I felt her, felt her light pouring into me, recharging my batteries a bit. Mmmm... yeah. That’s better. Hmmm... damn. It’s definitely a neural repressor chip that’s controlling her. Her mind is a complete blank, I’m getting nothing at all from her through the link.

With Pearl down for the count, I turned back towards Jette, who was starting to get back to her feet. Before I could repeat the process, however, a wall of flame swept over me. “Gaaahh!” I yelped, tucking and rolling, cursing repeatedly as my shirt, jacket and pants turned to ashes around me. Not to mention that it was doing my bare skin no good whatsoever. Before the wave had finished passing over me, however, I’d activated my dad’s invention, silently grateful that he’d insisted on having a Neuroweave uniform created, whether or not I ever decided to fully embrace the role as a hero. It no doubt looked impressive—one second clad in a normal shirt and blue jeans just as a fireball engulfs me, only to emerge a second later in a shiny shimmering spandex suit of grey, black and silver, arms crossed at my chest.

Heh. Well, maybe it would have been more impressive if the only ones watching weren’t mindless zombies.

Ruby sent another plume of fire my way, and I flinched, covering my face with my arm. Heh. Not bad. Dad said these things were fire resistant, but I didn’t know he meant fireproof. Kind of makes me wish I’d been wearing the damn thing from the beginning. Backing away, however, I found myself being double-teamed, facing Ruby and Jette both, the latter having picked up a large heavy steel chain, brandishing it like a whip. The other’s weren’t faring much better. Sapphire, at least, was holding her own with Diamond, her vibrations keeping her at bay, forcing her to stay in her intangible form. Amber, on the other hand, was facing off against her lover, Emerald, who continued to attack her mercilessly and without restraint.

“Emily! Stop! Please!” Amber cried, hastily casting another orange amber shield around herself, only to wince as a blast of green laser light shattered it. “For God’s sake, Em, you can’t do this!” In desperation, she cast a small cocoon over the green haired beauty’s arms. “Try and fight it!” Amber urged, panting softly, rubbing at a slight singe mark on her shoulder. “Remember that night all those weeks ago? We swore we wouldn’t ever let anyone control us that way again. Remember? Come on, Em, please! Say something.”

A soft green glow grew inside the yellow cocoon, growing quickly brighter and brighter before shattering the brittle yellow barrier. Amber let out a soft cry as she was knocked backwards. On the ground, she stared up into the face of her lover, as she raised her hands, preparing to destroy her.

“Oh for Pete’s sakes!” I grumbled, rolling to the side to dodge the fire, tackling Emerald in the process, pulling her down with me. “If you aren’t going to even defend yourself, then it’s time to change dance partners!” I conjured a mass of shadows around us as Emerald and I rolled behind a crate, just as Jette and Ruby came up to Amber. Fear and despair faded from her face, replaced with resolution, creating a shield around herself as Ruby let loose with another jet of flame.

Moving stealthily through the shadows, pulling the extremely unwilling Emerald along with me, I released her, just as she let loose another searing blast of light. Grunting, wishing I’d worn my sunglasses, I shielded my eyes, moving around behind her, and grabbed her around the waist, lifting her up off her feet. Thankfully, I was quite a bit taller than her, and with nothing to push off of, she was effectively helpless. “Hold still, Emily,” I whispered softly, created a thin, narrow tendril of shadow, aiming for the small silver disc in the back of her neck. “This won’t hurt a bit.”

The girl shuddered violently in my arms for a few seconds, then sighed, going limp. I was a little concerned that perhaps I HAD hurt her after all. I placed her down against the wall, slapping her face gently. “C’mon, Emily... wake up. Open your eyes.” A soft groan escaped her lips, and her eyes finally fluttered open. Jade green eyes swam blearily for a moment before focusing on mine, then narrowing.

“Wha... what? Where am... YOU!” Growling she leaped back to her feet, hands glowing bright green with energy. “What the FUCK are you doing here? What the hell is going on?”

“We don’t have time for this,” I hissed, glancing around. “To give you the Cliff’s Notes’ version, you, Diamond, and Pearl were captured by Ramon Salazar, implanted with mind controlling chips in the backs of your necks, and turned into his obedient slaves. Ruby escaped, brought back the cavalry, and they are all fighting a losing battle trying to stop Salazar and take down your teammates without hurting you guys in the process. I was in the area, so I decided to lend a hand.”

“Really? And I’m supposed to believe ANYTHING that comes out of your mouth?” she growled.

“Look around,” I replied wearily. “This is the warehouse you guys snuck into. And those sounds you’re hearing in the background are your friends and colleagues duking it out. The only reason you’re not out there with them is that I stopped you from killing your beloved Amber, taking the time to disable your chip and free you from Salazar’s control... a choice I am regretting more and more every second.” A scream rang out loudly, a cry of pain and frustration, very near our hiding spot.

“Amber?” Emerald cried, moving to step back out into the open. I grabbed her arm, however, pulling her back. Immediately, she flashed a glowing hand into my face, growling. “Let. Me. Go. Now!” she hissed. I merely tightened my grip.

“Listen to me, dammit! I know you want to go out there and help her, but you can’t. You have to focus on the real goal here, and that’s stopping Salazar. If we don’t draw him out and disable whatever he’s using to control your friends, then this is all for nothing! And we need to move fast. He’s picking off your friends one by one, enslaving them and using them to help take out the others. Right now, I think only Amber and Sapphire are left,” I frowned as she again tried to pull away from me, “but if you want any chance of saving her and the others, you’ll have to do this MY WAY. You’ll have to follow MY lead if this is going to work.”

Scowling, she glared at me. “And how do I know this isn’t some kind of trick? How do I know you’re not working for Salazar, and this is just a ruse to get us all right where he wants us?”

I sighed, letting go of her arm. “Well... I guess for that, you’re just going to have to trust me.”

“Trust you?” she said in a calm steady voice, raising her glowing hands towards me. “I have to trust you? Sorry. No. I really don’t.“

“We’re losing here, boss lady,” Sapphire reported, ducking down behind the shattered remains of a metal cargo container. Peeking out from behind cover, she sent out a wave of energy at the group, knocking them back momentarily. “If you have some kind of plan, I’d love to hear it.”

“I’m working on it,” Amber retorted, covering them with another gleaming yellow cocoon. “If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know!”

How about running away? Stephanie thought furiously, wincing as a wave of heat swept over them. The shield her teammate had created took the brunt of it, but it was still pretty damned hot. She was sweating, and the effort of using so much of her powers, over and over, was beginning to wear her down. Of course, Ruby, Diamond, and Jette was all panting and breathing hard as well; unfortunately, the one guiding their actions was in control, and something told her that she and Amber would probably run out of steam before the trio attacking them.

“Okay. I have a plan,” Amber replied, showing up the damage done to their shield by Jette, wielding a shattered piece of a heavy iron girder like a baseball bat. “You use your powers to force them back again... but this time center your vibrations on the ground in front of them. It should stun and disorient them long enough for me to cocoon all three of them for a moment or two. Diamond will probably phase through it as usual, and free Jette, and either will free Ruby... but if you’re quick, you should have enough time to shatter the control chips while they’re immobile.”

Sapphire nodded. “Sounds like a good plan. Who should I target first, if this works?”

“Go for Diana,” Amber answered, ducking down as her shield shattered once more, leaving them vulnerable. “If you can free her, then we’ll only have to worry about Julie breaking free. I can keep Amanda locked down long enough for you to free her. After that, the odds are definitely in our favor.”

“Alright then!” Sapphire said loudly, gathering a huge amount of concussive force into her right hand. “Looks like it’s time to shine!” Slapping the palm of her hand down on the concrete, she sent the wave of energy through the ground, causing an explosion of stone, metal, and dirt in the center of her three friends. “Now, Amber!” she yelled, sprinting out from behind the crate, running towards Diana.

“Got it!” Amber yelled, focusing her power, constricting the dust and water particles in the air into a solid binding material, forming a golden cocoon around her former friends in succession, one after the other, leaving only their heads uncovered. She sighed, slumping down against the crate from the effort, hoping only that her teammate was recovered enough to finish the job. “Bring it home, Sapphire!” she yelled, taking a breath, straightening back up again.

Her partner stood a few feet away, staring at her target, her hands hanging limply at her sides. Amber frowned. “Sapphire, now!” she yelled, waiting anxiously. Then, her eyes widened in shock as her blue haired team member turned slowly to face her, her expression completely blank as she raised an arm towards her. “Saff?” she said softly, almost in denial, as the young woman’s fingers spread wide. A wave of energy slammed into Amber, pushing her back, making her insides quiver. She gasped, a sudden weakness overtaking her as the vibration swept through her, lingering on the center of her heat, causing her arousal to suddenly spike. Her eyes crossed momentarily, the memory of the previous night in bed with Emily, and the skillful yet devious way she’d manipulated her sex with that vibrating egg, coming unbidden to her mind.

The moment passed, and she slid to her knees, panting, harsh reality returning too soon. As Sapphire turned to fire again, she hastily raised another shield... only to feel it shatter to pieces in a flash of green light. “Emerald!” she cried out then as her lover stepped into view, dragging a familiar black clad bundle behind her. With a heave, she tossed the unconscious body onto the ground beside her, and raised her hands towards Amber.

“And so, this appears to be the endgame,” Salazar called out confidently, stepping out of the cargo carrier to their left. “If this were a chess game, I’d say you were in check.” He gestured to the circle of costumed crime fighters surrounding her. “You’re outnumbered, outgunned, and simply put, outsmarted.” He held up a small gun shaped device in his left hand and pointed at the black clad Super lying at Emerald’s feet. He fired, and a small silver disc flew out, attaching itself to the back of his head. “You’re all out of moves. I’ve taken all of your pieces and turned them into my pawns. You have no moves left except surrender.”

Licking her lips, she stood up straight, and looked him straight in the eye. “Never. I’d rather die first.”

“Ah, well,” Salazar shrugged. He took a few steps towards the group, confident of his victory. “That’s a shame. As a matched set, I could have gotten a pretty penny for the lot of you. The underground slave markets have all but dried up, thanks to annoying costumed do-gooders like yourself... but there are still a few buyers out there willing to pay an obscene amount of money for mind-wiped Supers, perfectly trained and conditioned for a waiting Master or Mistress.” He laughed. “The money I’ll get delivering these electronic parts to the buyer who contracted me will be peanuts compared to the money I’ll get for selling your enthralled little friends.” He pushed back the right sleeve of his shirt, revealing a shining metallic bracer of some kind. “It’s a shame you don’t wish to go with them... but if you’re committed to dying a martyr’s death, who am I to argue?” Tapping a few keys on the control, he said simply, ‘Kill her.”

Emerald turned then, bright glowing hands raised towards her lover, preparing to strike. A single tear ran down her left cheek as she spread her arms wide. “It’s okay, Em,” she said softly, closing her eyes. “It’s fine. If it has to be... then I’d rather it be you. I love you, baby,” she whispered, closing her eyes.

“And I love you too, baby!” Emerald replied with a grin, twisting at the last second, firing a focused laser blast at her teammate, Diamond. The light struck her crystallized form, and diffused, splitting into a multitude of smaller beams, firing in all directions at once. All of the Beautiful Gems, caught unprepared at point blank range, went down hard, groaning softly. Salazar, also caught unprepared, let out a savage cry of pain, struck by a glancing blow to the shoulder, not enough to put him down, but enough to stagger him. “Your turn, Umbra!” Emily called out, dropping back out of the way.

“It’s Jimmy, dammit... and gladly,” I replied, sitting up, unleashing the shadow energy I’d been gathering for the past several minutes. The entire area went dark as I struck out with six precise tendril strikes, disabling the chips of the five compromised Gems, as well as the controller on Salazar’s wrist. As expected, he’d instantly attempted to activate it as soon as he’d recovered from the sudden attack, scowling even deeper finding his precious console no longer responsive. Cursing loudly, he began trying to back away, moving as quickly as he could in the pitch black darkness, trying to escape while he still could. As if I would let that happen.

“You know, Salazar,” I said casually, reaching out from directly in front of him, taking the gun from his hands, crushing it in my own. “You talk a good game. You try and come off like a smooth, polished, sophisticated kind of crook, as if you were above all of the petty concerns of those ‘beneath you’.” He gasped, looking around frantically, pulling a knife from his back pocket, gesturing with it wildly. “Guess what? You’re the one that’s beneath all of us. For all your fancy talk, and posturing, you’re nothing more than a coward, content to hide behind your gun-toting minions, and then, behind these brave young women trying to bring you to justice. You’re lower than dirt. You’re scum!”

“Where the fuck are you?” he snarled, lashing out with the blade, aiming for where he’d heard my voice moments ago. With a sigh, I grabbed his wrist and twisted, letting the knife clatter to the ground. Withdrawing the darkness back into myself, I brought back enough light for him to see me clearly, a black shadow, clad in a shimmering black, grey and silver costume.

“You’re going to jail, asshole,” I said with an evil grin, forming a shadow tendril in my free hand. “And, for your clarification, in chess, when you maneuver your opponent into a position where he or she can’t move on their own turn, it’s called a stalemate. In other words, a draw.” I struck then, draining away his mind and will. “Think on that while you’re rotting away in prison,” I murmured, letting him slip bonelessly to the ground. “Oh, and if you get sent to the River City Detention Center and end up on C block, tell the Baker Boys Jimmy says hi.“