The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

No. No. No no no no no. Thanks Dad! Of all the times to show up, you picked NOW?!? This can’t be happening! No! I was sooo close! Silver Girl glanced at me, seeing my stricken look, and squeezed my shoulder gently, encouragingly. Which only made me feel worse. She didn’t get it. It was happening after all. By changing things, I had changed nothing.

I suddenly remembered something Parker Albinn’s mom had told me once when she came to visit. A psychic like her twin sister, her talents lay in precognition and telekinesis. “The future isn’t what you think it is,” she’d told my sister and I one night. “It’s a living, breathing, entity... not sentient per se, but... it knows when its being watched. It allows you to see it... but only PART of the whole, only enough to further cloud itself in mystery. Remember this: The more you understand about the future, the more you misunderstand about what you know.“

I hadn’t really understood what her words had meant until now. I’d fooled myself, focusing on making it into the truck intact to avoid fate, not thinking that it all might occur AFTER that point in time. Now, at the moment before the trigger point, I understood. I knew. My dream was about to become reality. I knew it now with a certainty I couldn’t explain. The moment I stepped back off of this transport events would occur to bring about the vision of the future I’d glimpsed.

Oh God... I’m like the man who had a vision he would die in a brutal car accident so he spent his entire life on the top floor of an apartment building away from the city streets... only to perish during an earthquake when the roof of his upstairs neighbor, an avid car collector, came crashing down, and his prized black Porsche landed on top of him. By trying to change fate, I made it ensured it would happen.

“C’mon, pal,” Ruby said with a groan, stepping inside the transport. “You heard the woman. Lean forward so we can release your restraints.”

Maybe it wasn’t too late? Maybe this was my moment... the moment I could change things? I was grasping at straws here, pretty much beyond desperate. And well... it was ether do nothing and hope it all worked out, or do SOMETHING and try and change what was going to happen. Aurora’s words from the cell came back to me then... “If you’ve stopped trying, its no wonder you can’t change fate...” Okay. Fine. I’ll try. Here goes everything.

“Um, no, thanks,” I said, giving her a bland look. “I’m actually quite comfortable right here, thank you. If it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll stay right here until it’s time to leave.”

“Well, it’s NOT all the same to me,” Ruby replied, bristling. “I’m not going to have you skip jail time on some kind of technicality when you tell your lawyer later on about how we violated your human rights by making you sit in the back of this hot airless carrier for hours on end waiting to be transported! Now move, so I can unstrap you! Now!”

“Look, I’m not moving, okay?” I said loudly, letting my voice carry out to the others outside the truck. “I want to stay where I am and wait! If you want to make it official, fine I hereby waive my right to humane and equal treatment in this case, okay? All of you are witnesses. I WANT to STAY HERE! And I’m not trying to pull some kind of stupid legal maneuver to get myself released during the trial!” If I had my hands free, I’d smack my forehead in disbelief. I was asking, hell, begging to stay locked up... and they were just as insistent about making me leave! And it was about 95% convinced it was more for spite than for any real concern about the rules or my rights. If I’d wanted to go back to my cell, they’d be insisting on keeping me here!

And the part that really stuck in my craw? The restraints I wore were stress level tested on a class-A Super at the twenty-ton range, perfect for someone at Stonewall’s strength level, maybe... but not mine. Assuming I even had a strength limit. considering who my mom was. Now that I was out of the detention cell, I was pretty sure I could break free any damn time I wanted to! In other words, I was still here because I WANTED to be here. Yet, these guys were still completely over-the-top paranoid about me trying to escape.

“I’m not being difficult,” I finished, tersely, flexing my hands inside the shackles, just in case I needed them free. “I’m not being contrary. But I am NOT getting out of this transport. Just leave me where I am, alright?”

“No. Not alright,” Jette growled, pushing past the others, hovering over me. Reaching out, she grabbed my by the throat and squeezed, tight enough to be more than a little uncomfortable. “You don’t get to pick and choose what happens here. You lost that right the moment you became a criminal on the run. So now, that choice gets made for you!” I glanced meaningfully at Aurora, who merely stared back, her expression clouded.

“And...if it’s the wrong choice?” I asked, staring my cousin in the eyes, struggling to stay pressed back against the wall despite being unable to use my arms to brace myself. “Because... sometimes making the right choice for the wrong reason... is no better than making the wrong choice... for the right reason... or taking away choice altogether...“

Aurora cracked a smile. I guess she understood that I got her message loud and clear. Occasionally I DO learn from my mistakes, after all. You don’t have to drop a house on me for it to sink in. I crossed a line with her... even though it was with the best of intentions. I’d betrayed her trust, went behind her back... and in the end, it hadn’t changed anything. She was still here, in harm’s way. Had I stayed at her place and simply told her about my concerns up front over breakfast, she... hmm... well, she still would have come with me, still would have done whatever the hell she wanted to do anyway, regardless... but we would have been on better terms, and it would have saved me from getting socked in the jaw. And I would have actually gotten to eat breakfast this morning.

“Alright, enough of this,” Pearl muttered, stepping into view. “You had your chance to do this the easy way. Now we’ll do it MY way!” Scowling, she gestured towards me with her left hand., and...

White.

Pure, soft gentle fluffy-like-a-cloud white.

And I mean, all-over, inside and out, all-encompassing, all-consuming white.

It was kind of like someone screwing off the top of your head, and pouring a few thousand gallons of milk straight into your brain, letting it fill you to overflowing, until it is coming out of your eyes, ears, nose, mouth, each and every orifice... and then pouring in more. I didn’t lose my ability to think, or feel, or reason, it was only that every thought, every sensation, every rationale, was simply WHITE. Imagine a conversation between a pair of Smurfs—the little blue things from the cartoon, and the didn’t-do-so-well-in-theaters movie—except instead of using the word ‘smurf’’ for every other noun, verb, or adjective, insert WHITE. Now, exchange all the articles and pronouns in the sentence with WHITE. Finally, remove the punctuation marks, the periods, commas, and semi-colons, and et cetera, and replace those with WHITE. Now you get just the barest glimpse into what went through my head.

White. White. WHITE.

And then, it was over.

I blinked, frowning, shaking my head as the WHITE blankness before my eyes shattered again into all the colors of the spectrum. I was outside the transport... lying on the ground, on my side. Several women were around me, talking, yelling at one another, and it took a few minutes for the WHITE I was hearing to separate back into audible speech again. Arguing, between two of the Gems and Silver Girl, my cousin no doubt taking offense at my treatment. And the third one... Pearl... kneeling silently on the ground a few feet away, a blank, vacant smile etched into her face. Crap. Not what I wanted. I opened my mouth to interject, to try and tell them to calm down, that it was okay, I was fine... that it didn’t matter. Except my speech center was still covered in WHITE, my brain still needing to drain out a few more hundred gallons before I was back to my usual self.

And then I saw the Lieutenant, scowling, walking towards the group as well, about to put in her two cents worth. Her hand was on the butt of her blaster, not yet drawn, but at the ready. Shit. It was about to happen! This was the trigger point. I was sitting at ground zero. And I still couldn’t talk!

But... I could move. I began flexing my muscles, trying to pull free from my restraints, trying to push off enough to get to my feet. I could almost hear the clock counting down in my head... I had maybe seconds to get to Aurora, to get her out of the line of fire. I felt the metal twisting, felt it just start to give—

“Oh fuck! Look! He’s breaking out of the restraints!” Ruby yelled, turning suddenly in my direction, just as my shackled shattered into pieces, and my arms sprang free.

A multitude of things happened then, all at once. None of them good. Ruby, the hothead, started the ball rolling by sending out a jet of flame towards me. I dodged, rolling to the side, jumping back to my feet, easy now that I was free from the restraints. At which point, Midas City’s finest drew their weapons, yelling at me to freeze, to get back down on the ground. The dark skinned Gem had moved over to protect her defenseless teammate, dragging Pearl back to her feet, while Silver Girl, sensing that things were about to go from bad to worse, had gone full metal. And the crowd outside the , unwilling to miss what was about to happen, rushed en masse through the barricades, past the surprised police, completely collapsing the perimeter.

And me? I couldn’t help myself... with all those guns pointed at me, my shadows kicked up instinctively, shrouding me in darkness. Which, naturally, made all those nervous officers with weapons trained on me, even more nervous. Midas City stand-off I thought glibly, both of my hands up, in what would have normally been a non-threatening manner.

“Hey guys, everyone, just relax, ’kay?” Silver Girl said slowly, stepping into view, interceding between me and the armada of police officers. “Let’s just take a breath here, and think before we act... before anyone does something they regret—”

“She’s got a gun!” someone yelled from the crowd behind the gate an instant before a gunshot rang out... and a hard sharp impact struck me in the back of the head. I gasped, staggering forward, stunned, and knocked off balance. I hadn’t even had time to register the pain when all hell broke loose. A single officer reacted to the gunshot instinctively, firing back at the threat. The closest assumed threat, that is... Me. The other officers followed suit, firing wildly, caught up in the panic of the moment, all of them shooting AT ME despite the fact that I’d done nothing at all. Still reeling from the surprise blow to the back of the head, instincts and training took over, and I spun, rolled, and lashed out with a line of tendrils, stunning five of the shooters.

And I felt both a sense of gratitude and dread as a flurry of silvery sparks flew out from my right side, stunning the rest of them.

“Bastard!!” a deep feminine bellow rang out as a line of red fire blasted the spot I’d been standing on a second earlier. Ruby again. “You’re not getting away! I’ll fry your ass before I let you make a run for it!”

“One, I’m not running. Been there, done that,” I replied, rolling out of the way of her next barrage, focusing on the ground underneath her feet. As she paused to ready another wave, I struck, using her own shadows to impale her. And I admit it, I took great satisfaction in seeing the light drain from her eyes. “And two.. I thought the ‘good guys’ were supposed to ‘subdue’ the prisoner, without killing him? Gee, Ruby, maybe it should be YOU in handcuffs and restraints!”

Whirling around, glancing around for the next attack, I saw Jette and Aurora going at it, and not in a good way. The large, overly muscled Gem had the smaller Silver Girl in a full nelson arm lock. The dark skinned girl, while physically stronger, found my electrum skinned, fully metal cousin an equal match.

“What do you... uhhnn... think yer... doing, Silver Girl?” Jette yelled, struggling to hold her smaller opponent in check. “Thought... we... had... an understanding!” She grunted, rearing back, slamming Aurora hard into the side of the transport. The truck dented inward; my cousin did not. “Stop fighting me, dammit! I know he’s your cousin... but he’s trying to escape! You’re a heroine... family or not.. you have d duty—”

“Don’t!” Aurora grunted, head butting Jette from behind, causing the larger woman to stumble slightly. “Don’t talk to me about duty. I know my duty. My cousin? Has his faults. Lots of ’em. Is he gonna pay for what he did? Yeah... in spades. But all this?” She gasped, turning as Jette tried to slam her into the truck once more, causing the dark skinned Amazon to take the brunt of the impact. “What he told Ruby was right. Subdue. Not kill! And... he’s not even trying to get away! Jimmy can’t fly... but he can jump hella high.. high enough to clear the walls without a running start.” She didn’t even bother to point out the obvious; that he’d broken his reinforced titanium steel restraints, shattered them like glass, a feat even she hadn’t thought him capable of. His mom, Lacie, maybe...

“That’s enough!” Lieutenant Hunter barked, from directly behind me, pulse gun in her hand now. “Go ahead and move! Give me a reason to pull the trigger!” She gestured lightly at me with the muzzle. “Almost pulled it off, didn’t you? You almost escaped. You managed to take down all of my support...” she turned to glare at Aurora, her expression hard with betrayal, “you AND your confederate. But you missed me. You miscalculated. And now you’re going to pay for that mistake.” With almost savage glee, she lashed out with a booted foot to the back of my knees, causing me to fall forward. “You’re quite the criminal mastermind. Planning all this, I mean. You must have really done your research. Well, unfortunately for you, I did mine as well. I know about your ‘shadow powers’. I know you can use them to control people... brain wash them, and make them do whatever you want. That’s why I don’t blame Silver Girl for trying to help you.“

“Wait a minute,” Aurora cut in, glancing from the policewoman to me and back, frowning. “What are you trying to say? That he somehow set all this up? Coerced me? Made me come here and volunteer to help guard him... just so I could help him escape after some crazed gun carrying freak in a mob opens fire on him?” She laughed ruefully. “My cousin is pretty clever on occasion, but he’s not THAT good.”

“Really?” Jette countered, stepping forward. “Are you sure? I heard some of what you two were talking about in the holding cell. He got into your head while you were asleep... twisted your memories. Made you forget things. How do you know you came here of your own free will? How do you know everything today hasn’t happened EXACTLY the way he wanted it to?“

And she turned to look at me then, soft silver grey eyes boring hard into my midnight black ones. Questioning me wordlessly. And, I met her gaze without restraint. I have nothing to hide, ’Rora, I thought back to her desperately. I screwed up with I tried to take the choice away from your to come here with me. I know I did. And I admitted it. But.. that’s all I did. I would never try and manipulate you like this. And I sure as hell wouldn’t risk your life and used you as a pawn in some grand scheme to escape custody! C’mon, cousin... you know me. I could never do anything to hurt you.

“I know,” Aurora answered softly, to them. and to me. “I know this man. And while we get along like oil and water most of the time, I know the kind of man person he is. He didn’t make me do anything.” Her mouth twisted into a wry grin. “If anything, he tried his damnedest to make me stay away. And... got a fist to the face for it.” She shook her head, and turned to face Hunter. “I’m sorry about your men. They’re stunned but not hurt. I helped him to keep him alive, not to help him get away. And, let me say this one last time: He’s NOT trying to escape. He’s said it a bunch of times now, so let me say it as well. He WANTS to stand trial. He wants to serve his time. You saw what he did to the restraints? Believe me... if he wanted to leave, I doubt we’d be able to make him stay.”

And, strangely enough, the same words that I’d said maybe a dozen times today seemed to have an effect coming from someone else’s mouth. I was just about to state as much, when from the corner of my eye, I saw movement. A tall thin lanky brunette dressed in jeans and a Midas City U sweatshirt had apparently scaled the wall, landing next to one of the downed escorts. Our eyes locked, and with a look of pure hatred, she raised the officer’s gun.

My shadows coalesced around me, again, instinctively, alerting Aurora to the danger before the other two even noticed. Eyes widening, she reacted, just as I would have, just as I was reacting, by armoring up, and stepping forward, placing herself between danger and anyone else. As I turned and shoved Lieutenant Hunter out of the way, Silver Girl gently but forcefully pushed Jette out of the line of fire. The movement, however, put her directly in front of me... but a hand’s space too far out of my reach to move her out of the way.

The woman fired.

You know how important moments in time seem to drag on, as if events are moving in slow motion? The PCF pulse weapon fires a beam of multiphasic hypercharged photonic plasma energy... or a big fancy special laser beam for the less technical minded. Light travels at more than 186,000 miles per second. Literally faster than you can blink. And yet... it felt like an eon from the instant the girl fired for the impact for it to strike Silver Girl in the center of her chest. Dead center.

The blast spun her around, and I saw, as in my vision, the look of surprise... surprise and disbelief, on her glittering golden face, as she stepped towards me, staggered, stepped again... and sank down to her knees. I stood there, frozen in shock, as she fell into my arms, her hard metal shell soften, receding back into her even as the life began to fade from her eyes. As she died in my arms.

No. Aurora.

No! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

“NOOOOOO!!!” I yelled, exploding outwards, my inner darkness surging... surging... flowing out of me like a river of black ink. Every thought, every remembered pain, every slight, every hurt I’d ever felt fueling the darkness that had lain quietly just beneath the surface... previously, but no longer, flowing out of me in a deluge in all directions at once. Jette and Hunter screamed, then shuddered as my darkness overwhelmed them. I didn’t care. The shooter just inside the wall, the instrument of my cousin’s demise, went down next. The police officers outside the gate struggling to maintain order, and the crowd of people they were trying to contain fell next, shuddering and groaning as my darkness pierced them, draining their light, covering the entire area in a shroud of darkness. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. Aurora was gone. Gone! I reached out, pulling her to me, cradling her head in my lap...

Not yet.

My vision... I don’t know how to explain it. Maybe it was the tears... maybe its wish fulfillment. Maybe grief has simply shattered my somewhat tenuous-at-best grip on reality. Maybe the sadistic Uber being that governed the manuscript of my existence felt a shred of something resembling mercy. Whatever the reason, I could somehow see through Aurora, into her body.. into her essence. Into her very soul. I see a tiny flickering light... her spark, I realized... growing dimmer and dimmer... and I realized that this was HER, her life force.

What I do next... is instinct. I can feel her spark fading, dying out... and... and... I reach out to it with MY essence... my darkness... my shadows... my own spark, glowing a soft dusky grey compared to her gleaming glowing silver... tendrils connecting us, just as they had before early this morning... but instead of drawing in her life force... I pushed mine out towards her. Didn’t know if it would work... it shouldn’t work... NO! scratch that... don’t want to THINK about all the reasons that it wouldn’t—why it shouldn’t work... focus on the positive. Focus. FOCUS!

C’mon, dammit! Work!

Gaaahhhhhh!! And I feel... something... pain. PAIN! Oh ye gods, the pain! Lots and lots of pain now... feels like.. ripping... my own heart and soul apart...

Doesn’t matter. Focus. Focus. Pray.

Odin. Zeus. Athena...no, Pallas Athena... dammit, anyone listening... please, please, please let this work... gggaaaaaahhh... don’t care... love her... even if it KILLS me... just... let.... her.... live....

And... with bleary vision... I see the flicker of her spark... grow... just a little bit...brighter...

It takes a moment to realize from the view that I’m lying flat on my back.

I try and sit up, to see if ’Rora is okay, if she is alive and well... if what I did worked, or if it was all just a crazy dream. I manage it, but just barely, as the world tilts crazily, and gravity tries it’s darndest to bring me back down to the pavement.

“....” I tried, creaking through a throat gone raw. My head spun, and I was trying really really hard not to vomit. By closing one eye, things settled down enough that my equilibrium could cope, and I could focus well enough to see two or three blurry shifting images of Silver Girl sitting up—alive! Blessedly alive—being tended to by Ruby, Pearl, and Jette. Which brought back the stark reality of my situation all over again. With a loud groan, I managed to push myself unsteadily into a sitting position.

“Ahhh...Ro...rrr... Raa..” I managed as I reached out towards her. To my relief, she looked up at the sound. Forcing myself to my feet by sheer willpower alone, I kind of pushed/shoved/strong-armed my way past the Gems to get to her... not that I was able to do much more than stumble given the near total lack of control over my muscles, but all things considering, being able to still breathe was a blessing. “How ya... feeling.. kid? You okay?”

“Yeah,” she said with a tremulous grin. “Weak, unsteady, and kind of nauseous... but I’ll live...”

“Good.” And with that I sank down to my knees again. And then, facedown on the pavement. Wasn’t feeling too good, but at least we were both able to feel SOMETHING. Taking a deep breath, I let out a soft sigh. Later on, I would deal with the aftermath of what would no doubt be called ‘my unsuccessful escape attempt’ and the consequences of taking out my armed escort. Later on, I’d have time to nurse my wounds, and regain my strength, and contemplate my future. Later on, I’d even take a moment or two to dwell on the mind-blowing fact of what had happened, of what I’d done for my cousin... of the simple undeniable fact that for once, once, in my life up to this point, I’d actually used my powers, my ‘curse’, for something besides chaos and destruction. For something besides death.

“Um...”

I cracked an eyelid, finding Dana Hunter’s tall slender form standing over me. I sighed softly, closing my eyes again. “Can you... just... give me a minute?” I asked plaintively. “I’m totally wiped. I promise you I won’t try and escape. And believe me... even if I did... I wouldn’t get very far... crawling on my hands and knees is about all I’m up to right now...”

She glanced to the side, actually avoiding my gaze. “Yeah, well, um... yeah. I know. I um... I just... wanted to say... um... sorry. Sorry about... you know... threatening to kill you... and all. And.. um, the things I said earlier. I’m sorry.”

I blinked. “Um... excuse me... I think I took one too many laser blasts to the head. Did you just say... you’re sorry? To me?“

She fidgeting uncomfortably, still avoiding my eyes. “Yeah. Um... what happened just now... I...um... I had no idea... no idea of what you were going through. I was out of line... out of control. I blamed you for what happened to my sister... and for my friend... I guess I kind of got swept up in the picture the media has been painting of you these past few weeks..” She sighed heavily, finally meeting my eyes. “All this time... I thought of you as some kind of monster... some depraved thoughtless sick perverted creature that got your kicks by hurting people. I... I let what I read and saw on TV color my opinion of you. And... I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t know...” Ruby said a moment later, as she and the Gems gathered around me. “We didn’t know... didn’t understand, what you were going through... what you were feeling... the guilt... the sadness... the sorrow...” She shook her head again. “I don’t know what the hell that was... that blackout thing... but... for a moment, it was like... I was inside your head... or maybe you were inside mine? Either way, I could feel your pain, your hurt, your... everything...”

“And what you did just now, when you saved your cousin, Silver Girl?” Jette added, placing a heavy hand on my shoulder. “No ‘monster’ would have tried so hard to save another person’s life, even a family member, at the cost of their own. I guess we misjudged you. Badly.” The others nodded. but I shook my head, and pushed myself to my feet.

“No. No, you were all right about me. Not that I don’t appreciate the sentiment but... Maybe I’m not the monster you all believed me to be... but that doesn’t make me blameless.” My strength was returning, slowly but surely, and my vision was clearing. And I didn’t feel the need to puke my guts out anymore. I held out my hands, wrists exposed, as if inviting handcuffs. “I didn’t mean for any of the stuff that happened to happen... then, or now... but it did. Whether by accident, or by a loss of temper, or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time... I’m responsible. I tried to run away from my problems... and made things worse. Hurt more people in the process. So... taking advice from the wisest, but most stubborn person I know,” I said with a grin, “I have decided to stop running. Time to face the consequences of my actions. But,” I added softly, looking at the Lieutenant, “my offer to help your sister still stands... if you want.”

“There’s no need,” a soft but high pitched voice said from behind us. I turned and saw Ellen Hunter, accompanied by a couple of uniformed police, standing there. “I can talk again. I’d just arrived at the station to see my sister when that blast of... whatever-it-was hit. When I came to, I could speak again. That block or whatever was just... gone!”

“Good. I’m glad,” I replied with a smile. “And... Ellen, I’m sorry. Really. What happened... it wasn’t your fault. I was just tired—you have no idea! And.. well, I snapped, and—”

“Yeah, I think she gets the picture, Jimmy,” ’Rora cut in, chuckling ruefully. “Ms. Hunter? If you like, I know a friend of a friend who could kinda check you over, just to make sure you’re really back to 100%. I could make some calls?”

“Oh! Thanks, Silver Girl. I’d appreciate that.” Turning to me, she smiled shyly. “And, um... Jimmy was it? I just wanted to say ‘Thank You’. Despite how things ended up, you did save my life last night.” She reached out and shook my hand before heading back towards the station.

This was definitely a day for miracles. I’d actually defied fate. I’d saved a life. And someone had actually THANKED me for helping them, even after I’d pretty much screwed up her life. I glanced over at my cousin as she finished up with Ellen, then came back to stand next to me. I noted with relief that her strength had seemed to recover as fast as mine.

“Thanks for that. I’d feel better knowing that I didn’t do any lasting damage to her. So... how are you feeling now? Almost back to normal after your brush with death?”

Aurora glanced down, blushing slightly. “Um, yeah. Pretty much. So, um... I guess... thanks for, yanno... saving my life? Not that I had any doubts that you would.” She shrugged noncommittally. “I told you... fate is what you make of it. Plus... like I said, I’m too stubborn to die...”

My eyes narrowed. “Aurora, hon, can you do me a huge favor and turn your metal back on for a second.” I held up a hand, forestalling the obvious question. “Just humor me, please.” The moment her body was shiny once more, I reached back behind her head... and slapped the back of it with about eighty-percent of my strength... an impact against her metal loud enough that several officers drew their guns in alarm, no doubt thinking it was a gunshot.

“AAHHHH! Shit!! The fuck?!?” she cried out, pulling away from me, glaring as she rubbed the spot behind her head. “What the hell was that for?”

“THAT, dear cousin, was for NOT leaving when I told you to!” I growled, glaring at her hard enough that she finally flinched and looked away. “For NOT backing down , or listening to me, even though you had to have known at some point in all of this what was going to happen! You don’t get to stand there and give me the ‘I was right’ speech, considering I nearly ended myself SAVING your butt! Yes, you’re alive... now. Technically we were both wrong, but I was closest by only the most narrow of margins.” I crossed my arms. “And as far as ‘changing fate’... what I saw did came true. I never saw anything about what happened AFTER you died. And you did die... I just restarted your spark with a bit of my own!“

That at least got a reaction. If I wasn’t still so pissed, I would have taken pleasure at her looking so contrite. “Oh, and the next time you do something stupidly suicidal just out of spite... I don’t care if they put me UNDER the jail after the trail, I will break out, track you down and kick yer ass so hard it’ll take an entire surgical team from The Midas Touch to remove my boot! Capiche?”

Properly chagrined, blushing hotly, which turned her silvery golden skin a burnished copper, she managed a quiet nod. Huh. Rendered speechless as well? That’s a first. Reaching out, I grabbed her again, catching her by surprise when I pulled her into a deep hug.

“Oh, and one more thing, ’Rora,” I said, looking her square in the eyes for a moment before I leaned forward, and tenderly, kissed her cheek. “THAT, dear cousin, was for NOT leaving when I told you to... as you damn well should have. Thank you... for staying with me... " I said, cracking a wry smile. “Numbskull.”

She blinked, then chuckled. “Yeah, well, you’re one of talk.. asshole.”

I started to comment, when I noticed a long black limousine pulling up to the outer gate. My dad, and the Mayor... and probably the President of the United States, no doubt. Sighing, I gestured with my chin. “Well... so much for my visit to the big city of Midas. Not sure yet if this one was better or worse than the last one,” I said with a lopsided grin. “At any rate, looks like I’ll be leaving soon. Yanno.. you could still ride back with us. Last time I spoke to Katie, she was psyched about your sister’s band coming to town. They should be there now, actually... so if you wanted, you could take a short mini-vacation from Midas for a while to catch up.” I shrugged, hiding a grin. “I’ll likely be a bit too ‘busy’ to hang out or anything, but I’m sure Nebby and Katie and keep you occupied.“

She glanced away, blushing hotter, picking up the inflection. “Thanks. I appreciate the offer. And... I do wanna come visit you guys. Soon. Really. But... well, now’s not a good time. I was willing to go with you to River City... because you needed me. You were alone. Now? Your dad’s here.” She looked back up at me. “And... truth? I’m... not ready to see Sylvia just yet. Not... just yet. Okay?”

I nodded silently, letting it drop. There were obviously things going on between them that I didn’t know about. I’d seen... some of what was going on inside her head earlier... enough to know that it would probably work out okay, if she had some time to process things. I was still concerned about her, though. I couldn’t really help it. My love for my cousin was just as strong as my annoyance from her. Still.. of the two of us, she definitely had the brighter future.

Lieutenant Hunter and her officers returned just then, holding a new pair of restraints. “So, um... the custody transfer paperwork is all filled out, now,” she said awkwardly, glancing down at her feet. “Guess it’s about time you were on your way. So.. um... we have to... you know...” she gestured to the restraints, “... it’s procedure.”

“It’s okay. I understand,” I sighed, turning around, holding out my wrists while they slapped the cuffs on me. Again. I didn’t bother to point out the obvious—that I’d already shown earlier I could break out of them if I really wanted to. “Oh. One thing, Lieutenant. What ever happened to the girl?”

“Girl?”

“The shooter,” I said grimly, remembering her face all too well. “She climbed over the wall in all the confusion and took one of your officer’s guns.” And tried to kill me with it, only to his ’Rora instead. “Did you catch her? Do you know what her story is?”

“Oh, yeah. She’s inside, in custody,” she replied with a frown. “Name’s Isabelle Ramirez. She’s a sophomore attending Midas City U. She’s also the Maria Gomez’ niece.” She shook her head. “The woman you... killed... back in River City—”

“Was her Aunt,” I finished, the contentment of the previous moment wiped away in an instant. “Lieutenant, I can’t speak for Silver Girl, but I don’t want to file any charges against her. She only did what she did out of anger, because of what I did... and, well, we’re both okay. No harm, no foul, right? She’s a college student, just starting out... she doesn’t need to screw up her future because of me...”

“Yeah, well, sorry it doesn’t work that way,” Dana replied sadly. “She tried to kill you, nearly killed Silver Girl... that’s attempted murder. Not to mention trespassing, illegal discharge of a class three firearm with intent to kill... it’s a really big deal. Even with a sympathetic judge, she’s looking at some serious jail time.”

Great. Another life ruined just be coming in contact with me. As my father and the rest of his ensemble stepped into view, I straightened up, putting aside all my dark ruminations for the moment. One thing at a time. Nodding to Aurora one last time, I stepped forward, meeting my official ‘escort’. “All right. Guess it’s time to face the music. I’m ready to head back... home.”