The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

“THIS IS PRECIOUS ROY... AND THE KIDS AT THE PARK THINK I’M A WEIRDO!”

“No, no, Precious, we’re talking about Lice Monkeys—”

“APPLE CIDER!!”

“Um... what?”

“SUCKERS!!!”

“Jerry! How many times do I have to tell you to TURN THAT TELEVISION DOWN?!?”

Jerry sighed deeply, hitting the remote control, cutting the volume in half. “Okay, Grandma, okay! I turned it down! Sheesh!” Muttering to herself, the elderly woman made her way back into her bedroom, leaving Jerry alone again. Jerry merely shook his head. A year ago, he’d nearly lost her, as well as his own life, in a massive explosion that destroyed their house. They’d survived through quick thinking, his late grandfather’s architectural prowess, and a lot of luck. When he and his grandmother were pulled out of the wreckage, still alive, he’d promised himself that he’d never take her for granted again, that he’d enjoy every moment of life they had together no matter what.

Although on days like this, she almost makes me regret it, he thought glumly.

Tapping a few keys, he rewound the video file he’d downloaded from YouTube, playing it again from the top. A quick glance at the monitor on his left confirmed he had time: six minutes, thirty-two seconds remaining. Sending the file through the cable to the sixty inch plasma screen TV on the far wall, he sat back and watched his favorite clips from the now defunct Sifl and Olly Show. Chuckling loudly, he listened to the inane ramblings of Precious Roy, knowing every line by rote, having watched every episode a few dozen times since finding them online a few days before.

“Precious Roy, Precious Roy, making lots of suckers out of girls and boys!”

Jerry laughed again, shaking his head. That is funny stuff! Whew... man. I could watch reruns of this show for days. I still don’t see why they cancelled it. Damned MTV... always canceling the COOL shows once they start to catch on, only to replace them with crap that no one wants to see...

A soft ping from his left broke him out of his ruminating, confirming the program’s completion. Tapping a few keys, he brought up a list of files, and picking the third one, executed it. The screen flashed for several seconds as he scrolled through Unauthorized User warning after warning. Jerry crackled his knuckles with glee. This was the part he enjoyed about cracking a new system the most. “Alright, so you know I’m coming,” he spoke to the screen before him, as his special program continued to breach security checkpoint after checkpoint, despite the red flashing warning prompts. “Now its a race. Let’s see if you can backtrack to my location and stop my probe before I break through your defenses. I’ve covered my tracks pretty well, so it just comes down to who’s better, you or me.” Pausing for dramatic effect, he pressed the ENTER key. “Let the games begin!”

A phone rang. Jerry rolled his wheelchair over to a separate computer display. Line seven was ringing—the house phone line, not one of his dedicated lines. “Hmmm. Wonder who that could be?” Routing the call through to his headset, he spoke. “Hi, its Jerry.”

“Hi Jerry, its Alyssa.”

“Lys! Heya, was wondering when you’d call back. Did you get the decryptor I sent you? Did it work as promised?”

“Yeah, worked like a charm, actually. I was able to get access to everything I needed, and more. You really know your stuff.”

Jerry smirked. “Well, we each have our own talents. By the by, I was hoping to hear from you, to know if you managed to get obtain that backdoor authorization code I’ve been searching for.”

“Quid pro quo,” Alyssa giggled. “You scratched my back, so I scratched yours. Got a pen and pad handy?”

“Always,” Jerry replied. He listened carefully, writing down the long string of numbers and letters, repeating it back to make sure he had it correctly. “Okay, looks like that’s it. Thanks a lot, Lys. It would have taken days, maybe weeks, to find this on my own, even with the resources I have at hand.”

“Don’t mention it.” She paused for a moment. “I don’t suppose you’ll tell me what you wanted the access codes for the Midas City Police network? I gotta admit... the curiosity has been eating me alive.”

Jerry frowned. They’d always held an unspoken agreement never to ask about the little ‘favors’ they did one another, that in the long run, they were usually both better off not knowing. “I don’t suppose you’d tell me why you needed my decryption breaker program?” he countered.

“I... needed to find out a few things for a friend of mine,” she replied smoothly, with only a slight hesitation.

“Same with me,” Jerry answered back. “Just helping out a friend. A couple of things haven’t really added up lately, so I just wanted to check on a few details... and see if the official story matched the unofficial one.”

“Uh huh. Okay, well, thanks again for the program. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do for ya.”

“Same here, Lys. Thanks again. Keep in touch.”

Hanging up, Jerry pondered again. True, it was a bit out of the ordinary for Alyssa to suddenly get curious about his hacker activities, but she’d always been the curious type. It was part of what made her such a dynamite information specialist. Still, we all know what curiosity did to the cat. Moving back to his main monitor network, he frowned. Damn, looks like I should take my own advice... that trace program is good, damned good! They’re keeping pace with my hack, and it cut through the FBI’s security protocols like a hot knife through butter! SHIT! What in the hell kind of Humanitarian Project has a Delta-9 security network subroutine in place?

Jerry sat there, frozen in indecision. Things were starting to come down to the wire, both on his decryptor, and his deflector programs. He could, given enough time, crack the mainframe’s defenses and access everything inside, providing him with a clear picture of what was happening in Midas City. The problem was that the mainframe’s counter systems were just as good, if not better, than his own, and that he had only minutes before his systems’ defenses were penetrated. If he broke the connection now, he would save his system and keep the Argentum mainframe from backtracking him, and knowing who had attempted to crash through their defenses. If he broke the connection, however, the system admins would no doubt remove the bolthole he’d found, preventing anyone from gaining access through it again, and no doubt increase their security even more.

Who says Supers are the only ones who have to make split second life-or-death decisions?

Gritting his teeth, he opened up a second window, and began typing as fast as he could, initializing and executing a second program, hoping to buy himself a little more time, hoping against hope that his hacking skills were superior to whomever was working against him. On the bright side, if it doesn’t work, I’ll likely find out more about what’s going on than I ever wanted to know.

Omega Girl soared high above the city, streaking across the afternoon sky. She wasn’t on patrol yet, per sae; supervision and superhearing were not among her gifts, and at her current height nothing short of a city wide explosion would attract her attention. Still, she flew, reveling in the freedom of the moment, content merely to leave all her troubles earthbound for the moment. She closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation of the air sweeping over her scantily clad body—

—Only to open her eyes in alarm as the wake of a seven-forty-seven jumbo jet missing her by less than three feet set her tumbling. Scowling, she turned, intending to give the captain a piece of her mind, when she noticed the strange way the craft was flying, listing to one side. Tapping the communicator in her ear, she quickly tuned into the airport frequency.

“...Niner Seven Bravo Sierra Niner, I repeat, we have lost attitude control, ailerons completely unresponsive, we’re pretty much steering by rudders alone, and now they’ve gone sluggish as well. Instrument panels says its fine, but I believe we’re losing hydraulic fluid. We’re in trouble here, Approach, I don’t think I can land her.”

Looks like its time to go to work, Lacie said, streaking towards the aircraft. As she drew closer, she became aware of a small trail of mist coming from what appeared to be a small ding in the underside of the craft. Yep. Losing hydraulic fluid alright. Flying up towards the cockpit, she tapped lightly on the glass to get their attention.

“Geez Louise!” the pilot exclaimed.

“Niner Seven Bravo Sierra Niner, please repeat last transmission?” the Approach center answered back.

“Sorry, Approach... think the situation is starting to get to me... I could swear I just saw a girl flying up here beside the plane.”

“Roger that, Niner Seven... would that girl happen to be a hot blonde dressed in all in black, with thigh length leather boots?”

The Captain and co-pilot glanced at one another. “Um, that’s an affirmative.”

“Captain, that would be River City’s resident Super Heroine, Omega Girl. You can relax, she’s there to help. Recommend you switch frequencies to Emergency frequency 153.96. We’ll keep this line open as well. Good luck Captain. Over and out.”

Omega Girl waited a moment for them to switch. “Can you hear me okay, Captain?”

“Yes, ma’am, loud and clear.”

“Okay. I took a look at the back underbelly of your plan, and you are leaking hydraulic fluid. Looks like you took a ding somehow. At any rate, your other controls are likely going to fail soon. Now, I know the principles of aerodynamics, of lift and thrust, but I’m not pilot. I can manually work the controls for you, but I’ll need you to guide my actions. Understand?”

“Yeah, I think so. Really, we don’t have much choice in the matter. So... um... we’re a bit off course. We need to turn the plane to the left about thirty degrees. First, we need to move the left aileron up and the right one down.”

Omega Girl complied, forcing the metal joints to bend as ordered. The plane began to bank sharply to the left. “Okay, now you need to turn the tail rudder as well, to help stabilize us. The elevators still work, so I’m adjusting them manually from here. When I tell you, now, pull the rudder back straight and return the ailerons to neutral position.”

“Roger that, Captain.”

“Okay, on my mark... three... two... one... Mark!”

Moving quickly, Omega Girl brought the plane back level once more. Despite the extreme wind-chill, she found herself starting to sweat. “How are we doing so far, Captain?”

“We’re back on course, Omega Girl. Thanks. Okay... we’re about five minutes from the runway... we need to reduce speed a bit and descend to five thousand feet. You need to adjust the following in this order: flaps, slats, elevators, airbrakes. First, let’s adjust the flaps.”

Lacie followed the captain’s instructions perfectly, bringing the plane into position, just as the runway came into view. She breathed a sigh of relief. They were going to make it after all.

“Shit!” the captain’s voice came through her earpiece. “Oh, shit! We’re losing power. Engines number two and four are out, we’re starting to list to the right again!”

“Captain! What do you need me to do?” Lacie barked back. “How do I fix this?”

“I... I don’t know! Shit! I don’t know... even if you put us back on course, we can’t land with just the engines on the right side working! You can’t adjust everything fast enough to keep us from crashing...”

“SHIT!” Omega Girl growled, shooting past the plane. “Captain, put down the landing gear. I trust THAT still works as least?”

“What? Landing gear? But its too soon! And I—”

“JUST DO IT!” she shot back, turning back towards the approaching aircraft. “I’m going to try and bring her in myself. Omega Girl out!”

Shutting off her communicator to concentrate, she surged forward, taking hold of the nose of the plane, firmly but carefully. Shit! she thought, feeling the metal bend under her hands. Maybe.... this wasn’t... such a good... idea... after all... FUCK... like trying to catch... an egg going two hundred miles per hour... without breaking the shell! Ughh... need to speed up a bit... move with the same momentum as the plane... and THEN start trying to slow her down!

The passengers inside the plan, now knowing something was seriously wrong, were panicked, screaming as the aircraft shuddered and shook violently, seemingly out of control. Lacie grunted with the effort, trying to balance the amount of force needed to control the plane with the amount of stress the thin aluminum fuselage could withstand without ripping apart. Add in the fact that she was working on a timetable, the ground coming up at her faster than she cared to think about, she finally said, “Ah hell,” and HEAVED mightily, pushing up with all of her strength.

Metal groaned, struts buckled, and the plane twisted slightly, deforming under the stress... but held. Seconds later, the wheels touched ground, skipping lightly across the surface like a stone over the surface of the water. Centering herself, Omega Girl thrust herself forward, acting as the craft’s airbrakes, until, finally, the plane came to a complete stop.

Lacie clicked her communicator back on. “You’re down. Is everyone okay in there, Captain?”

“Omega Girl? Yeah... yeah we’re fine, thanks to you. A couple of cuts and bruises, a few concussions, but otherwise, everyone came through it okay.”

“Good.” She looked up at the sounds of sirens, as emergency vehicles approached. “Well, the EMT’s are on their way here, so I guess I’d better take off. You guys’ll be fine, now.”

Just as she prepared to rocket skyward once more, a female voice called out from behind. “Omega Girl! Omega Girl! One moment please!” A young woman dressed in a navy blue suit stepped forward, followed by a man holding a camera. “Sandra Dean, Channel Six news. Omega Girl, can you tell us what happened here?”

Lacie sighed. “Pretty self explanatory, Sandra. That plane lost hydraulic pressure, and started to go out of control. I was in the neighborhood, so I flew out to help. I managed to get it down in one piece, thanks to a lot of help and coaching on the part of the piloting team inside the cockpit. Now, if you’ll excuse me—”

“But Omega Girl, you’ve been gone for so long!” Sandra continued. “For nearly nine months, no one has seen or heard from you. Does this mean you’re back for good? And does your return have anything to do with the recent return of another female Super Hero over in Midas City?”

Omega Girl frowned. “I just... I just took some time off to deal with... personal matters. That’s all. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to be off.” With that, Lacie leaped skyward, streaking off out of sight.

Super Sonic sprinted rapidly to the left, using his enhanced speed to dodge a blast of concentrated cold. The ground froze instantly, covering the concrete floor in a thick layer of blue-white ice. He swore inwardly, using his momentum to bring him back towards his adversary, only to swerve quickly to the right to avoid another patch of slick ice. He cursed inwardly, turning up the volume on his iPod, siphoning more sonic energy. He was going to need it; what had started as an easy battle was rapidly turning into a fight for survival, as more and more of the chemical plant floor became slick, dangerous, ice.

“Stand still, you scarlet clad freak!” Ice Queen’s mechanized voice shouted as she fired another barrage of cold at her target.

Parker frowned, changing his trajectory slightly, leaping over the blast and striking Ice Queen with a solid punch before she could react, staggering her. “Freak? Me, a freak? Hello... I’m not the one who doused herself with experimental cryogenic chemicals. I’m not the one dressed in a freaky metal robotic suit to keep her body temperature below zero degrees Fahrenheit. And I’m NOT the freaky weird lunatic on a one-woman crusade to usher in the next Ice Age!”

Growling angrily, Ice Queen raised her freeze ray, then smiling, lowered it again... and fired, freezing the rest of the ground, covering the concrete in a thick sheet of blue-white ice. She then raised her gun again, taking aim for Super Sonic.

Ah, shit, Parker thought dismally, trying to run over the slick surface. This isn’t going to be pretty.

Moving his legs at superhuman speeds, Parker managed to achieve forward movement, of a sort. Sliding, skidding wildly, arms flailing, he managed to dodge the first blast. His adversary readjusted her arm, firing again, and he swerved to the left. Or rather, TRIED to swerve. Continuing forward unabated, watching his doom arcing towards him, he tried a desperation move. Pushing off with both legs, he attempted to leap over the blast like before. The attempt failed, and instead of leaping, he fell flat on his back. The blast flew over him, striking one of the heavy holding tanks, and he groaned in agony as the impact jarred his injured arm. He continued to slide until he hit the far wall.

Ice Queen laughed, the speakers in her helmet echoing the hollow laugh eerily. “So, that’s it, hmmm? That’s the best you can do? A little ice on the floor and you fall to pieces.” Shaking her head, she raised her gun on last time. “This is almost TOO easy.”

Parker looked around, frantically. Spying the half-iced chemical tank, an idea sprang to mind. Well, kind of a shot in the dark, but beggars can’t be choosers. I’m only going to get on shot at this... hope it works.

As his adversary fired, Super Sonic planted his feet against the wall and pushed, firing a sonic blast behind him to give him an extra boost. Rocketing forward, he raised his broken arm and fired a second sonic blast at Ice Queen in passing. As expected, she sidestepped the attack. The blast continued forward... striking the iced over surface of the holding tank. The metal, grown brittle from the ice, shattered on impact. The ironclad Amazon whirled around at the sound, just as the ruptured tank spilled its contents. She screamed in rage as a wave of super-cooled fluid washed over her, freezing her suit solid, lodging her in a blue-white prison of ice.

Parker, for his part, had no time to enjoy the success of his plan; his momentum had pushed him several feet in front of the ice wave, but it was gaining on him fast. Unable to stop, unable to steer, unable to speed up, he could only hope his trajectory would carry him close enough to the obstructions on the far wall to shield him from the worst of it. C’mon... c’mon... c’mon, you can do it... you can do this... just a little further, a little... little... oh shit, how the hell do I turn to get behind it? With the ice literally on his heels, he reached out with his left arm, catching hold of the tank support. Inertia jerked his arm taunt, and pain exploded through him like a bomb blast as his body whipped around the heavy reinforced tank. He struck the wall hard, jarring his injured arm again. Shudders rocked him as his vision dimmed, then faded in a field of white...

“That’s it, nice and easy,” Tammi whispered softly into the young woman’s ear, “just relax. No more need to fight, the battle is over. Just sit there and relax... relax... and rest...”

“Mmmhhrrrr... naaahhh, have.. to... have to...” the girl moaned, struggling weakly against the fine web of glowing threads binding her. The more she struggled, the tighter the threads became. Half the thickness of a single strand of silk, the deceptively fragile threads nevertheless held her completely immobile. Had the battle before not weakened her, bringing her to the point of exhaustion, had she been at full strength, she still would not have been able to snap the psychic threads binding her.

“Now be a good little meat puppet,” Tammi whispered softly, wiggling her fingers, sending more of the thin wispy tendrils at her captive, this time at her head, watching them instantly take root, sinking inside the young girl’s skull. “I have to go see how Strobe is doing with your partner. Be a good girl, and let my threads wrap around your brain, and when I get back, we tie your mind into a pretty pink bowtie. How’s that?” The girl merely moaned, her eyes rolling back into her head, her body’s reactions merely tightening the ropes within and without. Smirking, Tammi made her way back outside to the alley.

“C’mon, give it a rest, will ya?” Helen yelled out, ducking behind a dumpster, barely avoiding a lightning blast. Pinching her nose, she grumbled. “Oh, yeah, always the FUN assignments. Why is it we never see Nancy hiding behind stinking smelly dumpsters?”

The white haired goddess floating above her ignored her banter, sending forth another wave of thunderbolts. Strobe rolled out of the way, landing on her feet, and focused her powers, sending out a beam of concentrated light. Lightning slid easily to the side and the beam missed, striking a nearby fire escape, slicing through the metal like butter. Tammi, stepping out of the building, shrieked, dodging out of the way to avoid the falling debris.

“What kept ya?” Strobe asked, circling around to a better position. “Thought you were going to be in there all day long!”

“I thought you had things under control out here,” Threads replied back, evenly. “If you needed me, you should have called!”

Lightning scowled, her pure white eyes narrowing at the newcomer. “So, you two are working as a team? No matter. I can hold you two villains at bay ‘til my partner arrives!”

Tammi chuckled. “Sorry to disappoint, babe, but your little partner’s all tied up at the moment.” Wiggling her fingers, she created a strand shaped like a noose, then jerked it closed.

If the girl called Lightning’s expression had been stormy before, the news of her partner’s capture darkened it considerably. “Thunder!! How dare you!! If you’ve harmed one hair on her head—”

“You’ll fry us like catfish, blah blah, blah,” Tammi replied cattily. “Your sweet little ‘youthful ward’ said something along those lines, but just like her name, she was all bark and no bite.”

Damn, I really hope this plan works, Helen thought to herself, slowly pulling out the device the Collector had supplied them with. If these little gadgets don’t work the way she promised, then this woman really will fry us. As mad as she is right now, I bet she could light up the whole cite for a week.

Moving slowly along the wall, making her way behind the floating storm goddess, Helen held the small box tightly in her hand. Tami, seeing her partner in place, went in for the kill. Palming her own device, she smirked. “I just hope you last longer than she did. By the time I finished fucking with her, mind and body, the poor little bitch was writhing naked in a pool of her own juices, just BEGGING me to let her help capture you too!”

Rising several feet higher into the air, the dark skinned, white haired goddess glared down the two women. Hatred marred her otherwise beautiful face, and with a single word, she gestured, sending down a volley of Zeus’ thunderbolts.

“DIIIIIEEEEE!!!”

“NOW!” Tammi screamed, holding up the device. At the same time, Helen raised her own. The lightning bolts arced in midair, drawn into the tiny handheld devices, which grew brighter and brighter as they absorbed more and more power. A split second later, the twin devices discharged, returning the blast back at the girl who’d initiated it. Lightning screamed as she was bombarded with her own power. Moments later, it was all over. Unconscious, she dropped from the sky like a stone, landing hard atop a nearby dumpster. Strobe and Threads glanced at one another and nodded.

“I think you can handle her now,” Tammi said with a grin. “After that, I think she’ll be much more receptive to your light show. I’m going to go back and round up my little puppet-girl, and see how tightly my strings have tied her mind.”

“Alright,” Helen said, pulling the unconscious girl down from atop the dumpster. “Ugh. Let’s make this quick. I can’t wait to drive back to our hotel in River City and take a long hot shower, and see if I can scrape some of this stink off.”

Tammi nodded, growing somber. The mention of returning to River City made her anxious. Despite their success thus far, she couldn’t shake the feeling that trouble awaited them there. Nancy was utterly confident, and even Helen felt optimistic, but she remained convinced that their luck was just about to run out.

Oh well, no sense in putting this off anymore, she decided finally, returning to her bound little puppet. I’m probably just being paranoid. If we plan, and go in prepared, it should be easy, right? After all, we came here to Roseburg prepared, and look how easily we took down these two, even without Nancy’s help. Yeah... we just need to be properly outfitted when we face Omega Girl. Once we take her down, the rest of the list should be easy. She grinned, feeling somewhat better, watching her puppet writhe under her strings.

A little planning. That’s what we need to be victorious. Licking her lips, she added, And to the victor, go the spoils.

Ssss...nnn... iiccc...

Spppprrrr... Sss... nnnn... iiiccc...

“Ssspppprrr Ssssnnnnniicccc”

“Super Sonic! C’mon, kid, wake up!”

Parker opened his eyes, then immediately closed them. “Ahh... shit... dammit... suddenly, being dead doesn’t seem like such a bad deal... it would HAVE to hurt less than this...”

“Always with the jokes, eh kid?” Omega Girl quipped, helping him to his feet.

“Jokes? Who’s joking?” he groaned, cradling his arm. “Dammit... I think I broke it... again!”

Lacie frowned, noticing the lump underneath his left sleeve. “You’re wearing a CAST underneath your uniform?” she exclaimed. “Parker, you’ve always been reckless, but this...”

Remembering where he was, and what had happened, he glanced around. “Ice Queen! Is she still frozen? Did everyone make it out of here in time?”

“Relax, and calm down, everything’s fine,” Omega Girl assured him. “You bought enough time for everyone to get out of the plant, several of whom called the police to tell them what was going on. I heard the call come in over the police scanner, and figured I should stop by and give you a hand.” Glancing around she nodded. “Guess its a good thing I did. Ice Queen can be a tough customer, even under the best of conditions. With a broken arm...” She sighed. “You should have called me.”

Super Sonic glanced away. “I... I figured you were still... um, well... you know... grieving?”

Lacie glared at him for a long moment, then taking a deep breath, she nodded. “I see. Guess I can’t really preach to you when I haven’t exactly been around to help out, can I?”

Parker turned to face her then. “Well, yanno, you had stuff to deal with. I understood... we all... understood.”

Lacie smiled despite herself. “Thanks, Sonic. That means a lot. I wasn’t ready to deal with all of it... I’m still not, really. Being Omega Girl right now... its kind of my way of working through it. Still, I’m glad I didn’t alienate myself from my friends, by being so cold and withdrawn...”

“Speaking of ‘cold and withdrawn’,” he replied, turning back towards the center of the room, “what happened to Ice Queen? I thought you said everything was okay! Did she somehow dig herself out while I was in la-la land?”

“I dug her out, and turned her over to the authorities,” Omega Girl remarked. “They should have no problem keeping her under wraps. Without her suit and her gun, she’s just a nor—er, well, MOSTLY normal young woman.”

“Damn, I need to question her! The main reason I went through all the trouble of tracking her down in the first place as to ask her about the disappear... ances...” He frowned. Damn... I just let the cat out of the bag... Parker, its official. Your mouth may be super sonic, but your brain never seems to leave first gear!

“What’s this about disappearances?”

Forcing a smile, he tried to blow it off. “Oh, nothing, really. Just a little side venture I’m checking into. It’s nothing, really! No need to bother you with it.”

Omega Girl crossed her arms. “Consider me bothered. Now out with it. What’s going on? Who’s disappeared?”

Super Sonic opened his mouth, to persuade, to dissemble, to lie if needed... anything to keep his friend from getting involved in this... but the look in her eyes said it all. “Tch... okay, fine. I know that look all too well. Okay... two days ago, Jerry called me, and asked me to do some investigating into a rash of strange disappearances going on throughout the country, in a lot

of big cities, including here in River City.”

“Disappearances? That’s funny, I haven’t heard anything mentioned about it before.”

“That’s not unusual. According to Jerry, the police are always flooded with missing person calls, in every city. A lot of the time, its someone without family or friends, or anyone who cares enough to make a big enough deal that the cops take it seriously. What makes this case so weird is the fact that all of the missing people are women, from about sixteen to twenty-four, and all of them real babes... and some of the missing were Supers.”

Lacie scowled. “Okay. NOW you have my attention. How on earth could something like that happen? I mean, yeah, there are a lot of us, and all, but you’d think someone would notice if their resident Super just up and vanished without a trace.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Parker countered. “First of all, not every super powered being out there is a hero. There are a lot of bad guys out there, too. We don’t just call this ‘the never-ending fight’ because it sounds good to the press; short of killing them all, there is no real way to make sure these super powered criminals don’t break loose, escape, and go on to threaten the population all over again. We’re not a solution, we’re more like ‘checks and balances’. So... maybe its not that we’ve done such a good job keeping the city streets safe, but that someone else has been quietly picking them off one by one when no one was paying attention. Nobody much cares if Dr. Atom is locked away under lock and key, OR if he’s missing. They only care when he returns with some deadly new invention, trying to destroy the city.”

“Secondly, we all have our own private and personal lives. I don’t know anyone who lives their Super persona twenty-four/seven. Maybe the reason you haven’t seen the Blue Bomber, or Salutation Guy around lately is because they’ve simply taken a break for a while. I mean, you did. So did Silver Girl. Nothing malicious happened to you guys, you just took some time off to deal with personal problems. And even if you HAD been kidnapped, we wouldn’t exactly go to the police or the FBI and have them put out an APB on Omega Girl.”

Lacie crossed her arms. “You have a point. So, if that’s the case, who do you and Jerry think someone specific is behind these disappearances?”

“Because several of the people he’d been tracking as ‘missing’ showed up at the illegal slave auction over in Midas a few days earlier.”

Slave auction? Yeah... I remember seeing that on the news. “Alright. I see where this is going. And you think Ice Queen might have something to do with this slaving ring?”

“That’s what I intend to find out. The trail I was following lead to her, so she’s part of it, or at least in contact with someone who is.” A buzzing in his pocket grabbed his attention, and he glanced at the number. “It’s Jerry,” he said needlessly, dialing him back. “I’m putting it on speakerphone. You have something new for us?”

“Huh? Us?” Jerry asked warily.

“Yes. Us,” Omega Girl said into the phone. “Sonic filled me in on what’s been going on. We can talk about all that later, Jerry, for now, just tell us what you found out.”

“Damn.” Grumbling lightly in the background, he finally continued. “Alright. I did some checking into Midas’ police database, following up on the aftermath of the slave auction bust, as well as cross-referencing their files on the aftermath of that whole Chronos fiasco a few years before. Remember that? Supers being kidnapped, brainwashed, and recruited for some secret purpose. Kinda like what was happening until just recently. Anywho, the official story was that there was so much information to comb through, and so many people involved, that they would be spending the next few years figuring it all out. Guess how much headway the city and state police have made in that investigation after two years? Answer: none.”

“I suppose there are any number of reasons why... too little manpower, too small a budget, too many new current unsolved cases to spend their time and money on. At least, those were the OFFICIAL reasons. It turns out a lot of money has changed hands in the major branches of the state and local government, with no clear benefactor listed. Eventually, however, all the money trails lead back to the same source: The Argentum Project.”

“Argentum?” Lacie repeated, feeling a sudden shiver down her spine.

“You mean that big humanitarian project their working on for world unity?” Parker asked, confused. “Why would they be behind the kidnapping of so many people, normal or Super? And why spend all that time and money to bury the whole Chronos affair?”

“Because the Argentum Project is anything BUT a humanitarian mission,” Jerry said, gravely. “I managed to break into their central mainframe by the skin of my teeth, and let me tell you, their security makes the CIA and NSA systems seem like a walk in the park! A friend of mine helped me crack their encryption codes, and...” He sighed deeply. “Guys... its bad. Really bad. We’re talking total global domination here. I’m not the electronics genius Eugene is... but the main system looks to me like a reworked replica of the machine the Mind Five used a few years back.”

Lacie stood stock still, not daring to move, not even to breathe, as the full impact of what they’d uncovered took root. Parker, seeing her expression, came to the realization a few seconds later.

“SHIT! Gene’s in Midas right now, helping them perfect their damned machines! Fuck, we need to call him, warn him—”

“I wish we could,” Jerry said sadly. “I tried to reach him yesterday when I first started to suspect the Project was involved with all of this. Once I confirmed it, I left half a dozen messages, and even called his emergency number. No response. Whatever is going on down there right now Gene’s smack dab in the middle of it. Right now, he’s all alone.”