The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

“Submit to Mistress Mynd.”

Josie came. In spastic waves. Even the thick straps holding her down on the table couldn’t contain her orgasmic gyrations. Again and again. Each climax weakening her resolve to fight.

Her head flew back, as if the defensive barricades she so well built in her mind over 24 years had been battered in and she recoiled from the force of it. Her mental struggle to close them reached across the room and Kate fingered herself franticly as she watched. Both losing themselves in the orgasms they continually yearned for in their one-track-only minds.

“Excuse me, Mistress,” came a voice from the door. Josie’s body went limp as Mistress Mynd released her. “You commanded me to tell you a half an hour before Ms. Trainor’s hair appointment. And then she has a lunch date with her fiancé.”

Fiancé?! Josie felt herself shattering like glass. But she dared not give herself away and lay still.

“I almost forgot. Very good, Debbie. You have pleased me. Attend to your other duties now.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

Mistress Mynd patted Josie’s forehead. “This will just take a moment, dear. And then we will have all weekend to play. I’ll be right over here.”

She walked over to Kate, furiously masturbating. She gently cupped her ears. “Kathryn, you will gather your things, dress and drive to the beauty salon. Once you’ve arrived, katie-drone will go to sleep and Kathryn Trainor will awaken. Make sure to end your lunch date by 1:15. You will return home. Alone. Then, at 2 p.m., katie-drone will awaken and you will return here. Do you understand?”

Kate nodded slowly as she spoke. “Yes, Mistress.”

“Good. Run along now.” Mistress Mynd was speaking to Kate, but her eyes were firmly on Josie. “Oh, and Kathryn. Don’t forget your engagement ring.”

Josie could barely see her as she sleepwalked out the door.

“You sick bitch!”

“Now, now. We’re going to be spending a lot of time together. Getting reacquainted. Don’t worry, Josie ... in a very short time you will worship the ground I walk on.”

Mistress Mynd was stroking her again, up and down. Admiring her. It made Josie seethe.

“Magnificent body you have, dear, for a young woman. Muscular but feminine. Athletic but ... mmmmm ... equally suitable for a red carpet gown. I can’t wait to dress you up for me.”

Josie felt helpless. For the first time since that day at the bank so long ago. All of her training, all of her skills as a crimefighter useless before a foe who had so easily found her weaknesses.

Josie started to speak, but Mistress Mynd pressed her finger to her lips. “Shhhhh. No need to talk. We will have a nice long conversation in your head. But first ...”

Josie lurched into her bonds as Mistress Mynd yanked on the cord between her bound legs.

Twenty-five past 9. Jerry Herman glanced at the clock for the hundredth time. It wasn’t like Josie to miss a workout. He knew her “side job” kept her up at all hours, but if she was deep into something she always let him know. Just in case something went wrong. But there had been no call. No text.

He canceled his other appointments, packed up his gym gear and headed to her apartment. He was the only person she trusted with the keys.

When he got there, he knew immediately that something was up. First, only one of the two door locks was secured. And once inside, everything was just ... off. Her job as a stenographer was strictly Monday-Friday, so her usual Saturday schedule was workout, online research and being a homebody. She should be home.

Josie was fastidious, meticulous. But the dishes weren’t done, the bed wasn’t made. And in her bedroom, neatly folded on the dresser top, were her Saturday workout clothes.

Jerry wasn’t a fool. He knew where the line was drawn with Josie and he accepted it. But it didn’t stop him from loving her, maybe more than anyone. He had an awful, sick feeling in his stomach. She was in trouble. And he knew only one person who could help him.

Deke Smithers hated, hated, hated working Saturdays. He’d much rather be home with the wife and kids. Well, the wife anyway. The kids were grown, only needing him now and then for the occasional supportive hug or the extra $20 from his wallet.

But he was knee-deep in trying to crack two white-collar crimes, which forced him into his office to read page after page of bank statements and possibly shady business deals. Making sense out of the dollars and cents of business fraud was not his forte.

A knock on his half-opened door. It was Jamison. “Cap’n? There’s a guy out here, says he needs to speak with you.”

Smithers looked up, bleary-eyed from staring at rows and rows of ledger tallies. “What?”

“Yeah. Some guy. Says it’s urgent. About somebody named Josie?”

Smithers jumped from his chair, almost bowling over his desk sergeant on the way out. A minute later, he was dragging Jerry into his office, before checking the hallway and locking the door.

“You asshat! What the hell are you doing saying her name in the middle of the squad room!”

“Hey, look, I get it. But it’s—”

“Yeah! Urgent. We’ll I’ve got a few urgent things to do here myself. I can’t help you get a date with her!”

“She’s in trouble.”

Smithers stopped cold. “How do you know?”

“She missed her workout this morning and—”

Smithers threw up his hands. “Are you kidding me?”

“AND ... her apartment is a mess. She just up and left. Or maybe she was ... taken. I don’t know.”

Smithers calmed down, walking back to the security of his desk. He sat down, thinking, leaning back in his chair as was his habit. “What have you got?”

“Well, the only way I could trace her was from the security cam in the garage of her apartment. Two floors, six units, so I know everybody who lives there, pretty much.”

“You broke in and stole—”

“Anyway! The cam is pointed at the elevator and stairs. I saw Josie come home from work at 5:22. Then two hours later, I saw a woman I’d never seen before walk to the elevator. She must have parked right by the garage door because I couldn’t see it.”

“Okay, okay. Then what?”

“A few hours after that, it was 11:40, I saw Josie, that woman and another woman walking out and, I’m guessing, heading for that car. She looked ... kinda strange. Like she was sleepwalking. But what’s even weirder is ... Josie’s car is still there. It’s there now.”

Smithers’ eyebrows went up. He stared off into space. His disjointed thoughts coming out in spurts: “I don’t know what to tell you, kid ... Aw, hell. Anywhere but here ... Maybe I can go poke around her place, see what I can find ... Too bad we don’t know anything else about those women ... I’ll have to take a look at that video myself. That is, if you put it back where it belonged.”

Jerry waited, as patiently as he could.

Smithers grabbed his jacket off the rack and headed for the door before turning. “Well? You coming?”

Mistress Mynd’s arms were spread out across her excessively large mahogany desk, picking up a piece of paper and reading it carefully from beneath her half-lens reading glasses, then checking a list on her computer monitor.

She looked like a busy, successful businesswoman in her plush office, regardless of her spiked, flame-red hair and overdone makeup. And the fact that she was completely nude.

A young woman stood attentively by the desk, holding a tablet, trying very hard to remain still in just a pair of frilly, pink panties, which concealed the four-inch vibrator buzzing in her anus.

“I’ll look at that now, Sandy.” Mistress Mynd extended her arm, her eyes still on the document before her. She took it, glanced at it, then signed whatever it was at the bottom and handed it back to the girl.

“When you have finished with the shipping forms I gave you, you may remove the toy and then dress for school. You have an 11o’clock play rehearsal. You are to drive your car to campus, and once you reach University Drive sandy-drone will go to sleep and Sandra DeMaestri will awaken. I will call you when I need you back here. And don’t go out with that ... boy tonight either.“

“Yes, Mistress.” She curtsied, but her mistress’ eyes were back on what she had been reading and the girl walked out with her ass jutting awkwardly and the new commands already spilling into her mind like an emptying bucket.

The reading glasses clicked on the desk and Mistress Mynd straightened her back, raising her head upward with a look of complete satisfaction. She pushed her chair back slightly and looked down.

“You’ve gotten very good at that. I do believe that in another 36 hours you’ll be an expert ... josie-drone.”

Josie barely reacted.

Focus. It had been her strength. Being able to focus on a myriad of clues to solve a case. To remember the whos and wheres and whys. To act panther-quick during a fight for her life and still anticipate every move, every motivation.

Now that focus was her weakness. For all she wanted to focus on at that moment was pleasing Mistress Mynd and the pussy she was living under.

“Yes. Very good. We have such a busy day ahead of us.” Mistress Mynd moaned, then pulled Josie in even deeper. “Use your tongue, dear.”

Josie didn’t know how long she had been there. Mistress Mynd had flooded her mouth more than once, but each time her only thought, her only desire was to start again.

“We’ll have to get you ready for dear Kate’s return this afternoon. Trust me. You’ll love it.”

She put her hands over Josie’s ears once again. “But first, we’re going to need to empty the balloon, just a little. There are a few more things I want to fill in your mind.”

“Man, there ain’t nothin’ here.”

Jerry had his hands on his hips, waiting for Smithers to at least acknowledge what he said. But Smithers had been a cop too long, and knew too well that clues didn’t just jump up and say hello. He was hunched over, checking each piece of clothing in Josie’s bedroom closet thoroughly, just as he had everything else in the other rooms.

He straightened with a sigh. “Not a hell of a lot. She sure is a neat freak. Let’s go check out that video.”

Smithers headed out and toward the front door, but Jerry’s pace had slowed. Dejected. What if I can’t find her?

“Hello.”

Jerry moved to Smithers, who was squatting down, poking at something with a pencil under the couch.

“What is it?”

Smithers held it up. “A parking badge to Trainor Enterprises. In the name of one Kathryn Trainor.”

“What the hell would someone like Kathryn Trainor be doing in Josie’s place?”

Josie was fucked.

She knew it to her soul. But her soul was helpless. It couldn’t help her FIGHT. All she had was her mind, yet she could feel it gradually slipping away, swallowed up in blackened tendrils of another mind, a stronger mind. With stronger thoughts that were effortlessly pushing away anything of her own to latch onto. Black, and primal.

Josie was BEING fucked.

Her body was rammed forward, then slid back in needy anticipation before Mistress Mynd drove into her again. Her breasts swayed beneath her, knees spread and trembling.

She was on all fours, and Mistress Mynd had entered her that way. Like a bitch in heat. She could hear herself moan and grunt, hear the satisfied gasps of pleasure from behind her and deep inside her hostage thoughts. All the while, being held in a tight, unrelenting embrace inside her mind balloon.

She could feel the balloon being pierced without popping, just as the phallus slid into her and reached inside to depths she had never experienced. But it was a soulless, barren pleasure. Her body reacted to the intrusion with lust and want, but there were no other feelings beyond it but emptiness, like the swirling simple thoughts that spun and broke apart in her head.

“Yes, you’re doing so well,” Mistress Mynd huffed as she rode into Josie again. “You’re body is so easily trained for someone with such a stubborn mind. You may wind up being my favorite drone. For as long as you’re around.”

The orgasms bubbled to the surface, and Josie tried to fight them back, trying desperately not to succumb to the carnal commands of her mistress. But it was a losing battle.

Josie strained out a growl as she climaxed with her mistress, her body convulsing, thick streams cum running down her legs as slowly and as tantalizingly as the willpower that abandoned her.

Mistress Mynd squeezed Josie’s hips as she pulled out—out of her body ... and her thoughts.

Josie’s mind drifted, dreamlike, coming down from the orgasmic high.

“Oh, baby, did I hurt you?”

The concerned voice sung in her fractured memory.

Audrey ...

They had just reached the Trainor mansion when a car pulled out of the long, gated drive, passing them in opposite directions.

“Shit. Hold on.”

Smithers did a U-turn in the street and hurried after the blue Audi.

“She’s in there. Let’s see where she takes us.”

“How about pulling her over,” Jerry said, trying to keep cool but he was sweating. “Give a speeding ticket or something.”

Smithers didn’t even bother to respond. His hemorrhoids were flaring up, and he knew that wasn’t a good sign. But they were never wrong. He knew, just as Jerry did, that Josie was in trouble even if they didn’t have a shred of evidence to prove it. All they had was Kathryn Trainor. Smithers kept his distance, but by God he wasn’t going to lose her in the midday traffic.

The Audi turned into Willow Heights, one of the more exclusive neighborhoods around town. He backed off, just enough, to keep the young heiress from noticing she was being tailed. Then she turned right and stopped in front of a gate. Smithers pulled his old Chevy to the side of the road about 200 feet away, watching the car pass through the gate and upward toward a large, lushly landscaped home. There were a half-dozen cars at the top.

He sat. And waited.

“What do we do?”

“We wait, for now. Nothing else we can do.”

When Kate entered Mistress Mynd’s luxurious bedroom, Josie didn’t see her. Didn’t hear her, as she began to undress. It was dark and suffocating, but her tongue pistoned in and out furiously inside something warm and wet.

As Mistress Mynd stood up, long strands of saliva and cum connected Josie’s lips to the dark, pink sphere of her mistress’ asshole above her. Then breaking.

“Sweet Kathryn. Right on time. So much to do!”

Mistress Mynd stepped away from the gold divan leaving Josie behind—the back of her head flat against the seat and her body leaned all the way back, her nipples pointed straight up, as she kneeled.

“First, get between Josie’s legs and eat her out. I bet she’s just dying for some attention.”

Kate moved quickly, and placed her hands on Josie’s thighs before diving in between them.

“Perfect. Kate and Josie. What a lovely pair you two will make. Look at me Josie. We have much to talk about.”

Josie lifted her head and propped up on her arms, unknown tears slowly drifting down her cheeks as she looked at her mistress blurry-eyed.

“You’re probably wondering, in that empty head of yours, what it’s all about. Hmm?”

There was still enough of Josie—the real Josie—to want to know. But it was important for Mistress to tell her, so it was even more important, for that reason, to listen.

“As you know, your sweet Kate is engaged to be married. Unfortunately, it’s to the son of a business partner of her father, Thaddeus Trainor. A merger of their two children, and their respective empires. This, of course, cannot be. I’ve planned my ... takeover ... for far too long to have this occur.

“I did my best, but with her jet-setting schedule, plus her father’s watchful eye, I’ve only been able to have her under my complete control for an hour here and an hour there. Not nearly enough time to stop ... true love. Are you with me, Josie?”

All Josie could do was breath heavily, her eyes struggling to stay focused on Mistress Mynd.

“But this weekend the young man and her father will both be out of town, giving me ample time to set my plans into motion.”

Mistress Mynd stepped closer to Josie, enjoying seeing Josie pulled in so many different directions—fear, anger, confusion and, most evidently, lust. Kate’s mouth was driving her wild.

“I do have your best interests at heart, my sexy, muscle-bound drone. I want you and Kate together. In fact, I want you together not just here, but everywhere. You’ll be having an intense, whirlwind affair. One that won’t be a secret to the local media, to her friends and, most importantly, to that sniveling weasel she hopes to marry.

“He, of course, will break off the engagement ... once he realizes that Kathryn is a full-blown lesbian with eyes only for the lowly stenographer, Josie Cade.”

Josie wanted Kate. She wanted her mouth and she wanted her mouth on Kate too. Her eyes started to roll back, but Mistress Mynd was far from finished.

“I know you need to orgasm, drone. But not yet. Not until you have received all your instructions. Then you may obey me and cum. And lock in my commands in that bubble brain of yours.”

Mistress Mynd twirled as she crossed the room—the opportunity to divulge her brilliance, even to a half-dead mind, was thrilling.

“Of course, once the two of you are a happy couple, I’ll still be one step away. Or should I say, Kate will be one step away, from seizing control of the Trainor fortune.

“Which leaves us with dear, old Thaddeus Trainor. He’ll have to be eliminated, obviously, so that Kathryn can become the new chairman of the board and control the vast holdings of Trainor Enterprises. And I, well ... I will be there to control her.”

She twirled again, forcing Josie to follow her with her eyes. Eyes that were clouding over with sexual steam as Kate nibbled and licked and sucked.

Mistress Mynd put her hand to her chin and tapped it in mock contemplation. “But what to do? Oh, that’s where you come in, dear. Thaddeus Trainor will have to be removed. Permanently. And I have just the lethal woman to do just that.

“You, naturally, will kill him. Kill him for Mistress Mynd. With him out of the way, I’ll have everything I want.” She paused in front of Josie for maximum effect. “Unfortunately, you will be discovered. Arrested. Imprisoned for the murder of your lover’s father. But I will be free of you, once and for all.

“Now. Submit to Mistress Mynd.”

“I got it. Thanks.” Smithers hung up his phone and let out a long, weezed exhale. “No trace of her phone. It’s either turned off or ...”

“Why don’t we just go up to the house? See what’s going on?”

Smithers looked at Jerry like a scolding parent.

“And do what? Say excuse me, I’m the captain of police. I followed you to this stranger’s home and I wanted to give you your freaking garage pass back? Use your head, muscle boy.”

“So?” Nothing. “What do we do now?”

Smithers was thinking. He got out of the car abruptly, and with Jerry at his heels the two men fast-walked toward the gate just far enough away from the driveway and peeked over.

Jerry rubbed his face hard. “Look, maybe it’s just me. Maybe the bed was unmade because—”

“With Kathryn Trainor? You’re the one who came to me remember? There was only one wine glass. And Josie’s not the kind to have a ‘girls night out’ at one in the morning. Besides ... I think something really is going on.”

“Why?”

“Because we don’t know where the hell she is.”

After a minute, Smithers turned back to Jerry again and deliberately put his hand on his shoulder. “Hang in there, Jerry. One step at a time. I care about her too.”

Another car was approaching, from inside, and headed through the gate. They ducked down.

“I know that girl.” Smithers leaned as the car drove away. “That’s Leslie Symington.”

“What about her?”

“We had a missing persons case about three weeks ago. A girl disappeared for three days and her parents called us in. The father was some real estate bigwig. She shows up the next day, no problem. Took off for Vegas. Needed to blow off steam, or so she said. But we had interviewed the parents for hours.”

“Yeah? So?”

“It was her. And it was totally out of character. No contact. No regret. Even going to Vegas. She just wasn’t the type. It all smelled fishy to me. But, hell, she was home safe and sound so we moved on. And here she is, driving out of the same house as Kathryn Trainor.”

He couldn’t assume Josie was up there. Couldn’t assume she was in a fix, either. But he knew she was. Still, it wouldn’t do her any good to let the inhabitants of the place know they were there.

Fuck it. Smithers jogged back across the street and opened the trunk of his car. He pulled out a handgun and began loading.

“Get in the car.”

“The hell I will!”

“Jerry, I’m not going up there. I have no reason to go up there. I just want to be ready. I’m not giving you a gun and getting you into something neither one of us has any idea about yet.”

Jerry straightened, forcing Smithers to stop and look at him.

“You don’t have to give me a gun,” he said, pulling aside his jacket. “I brought my own.”

Josie was on her stomach. On Mistress Mynd’s huge bed. Her hands were tied to the corners, and Josie wondered why she needed to be restrained at all. She wanted her hands free to touch, to hold her mistress.

Mistress Mynd had just released her hands from Josie’s head as she straddled her back. Josie looked over at Kate, standing nearby, blank and motionless.

“Very, very good, Josie. I love seeing you tied up. Inside and out. You’ve done very well. But I do need a few minutes with Kate. It’s time for her to get her final instructions and then ... and then we will pop your balloon.”

She climbed off Josie, leaving a smear of wetness on her back.

“No ... don’t ...” Josie’s pussy spasmed in weak defiance.

Mistress Mynd patted Josie’s ass and leaned down. “Don’t worry, Josie. I’ll be right here.”

As Mistress Mynd approached Kate, Josie stiffened. Hands were off her, off her pussy, off her mind. She tried to think.

“Don’t worry, Josie. I’ll be right here.”

No!

Josie turned her head, and could see Mistress Mynd cupping Kate’s ears. Kate’s eyes flickered. She grimaced. Why? Mistress Mynd was pleasure. Why was she in pain? But Kate was fighting the thoughts Mistress Mynd was pouring into her. Struggling, refusing.

Josie didn’t want to see her pain. No pain. She didn’t want ANYONE in pain. She shut her eyes, even as Kate began to relax, to accept the commands Mistress Mynd was forcing into her. All Josie could see was darkness, suffering.

“Don’t worry, Josie. I’ll be ... right here.”

Josie was on her stomach. Cold, even though she was dressed.

Her right arm was extended, but not from the rope that bound her to the bedpost. It clutched the arm by her side.

The four men had rushed in, carrying semi-automatic weapons, and ordered everyone to the floor. Two headed for the safe, while the other two guarded the half-dozen people unlucky enough to be in the bank when they struck.

“Nobody move an inch! Just lay there and it will all be over in a few minutes.”

Josie squeezed, and the arm flexed. She looked sideways from the floor and stared at the young woman she clung to.

Audrey.

Audrey’s eyes weren’t scared. They were on fire. Josie bit her lip as she noticed Audrey’s other hand reaching into the purse flung above her head. Josie tried to shake her head NO, her eyes pleading. But Audrey only looked more determined. She reached up with her right hand and dug into the purse, gently sliding out the cell.

Josie’s eyes were wide with fear. She knew she couldn’t do or say anything that would draw attention to them. She couldn’t stop Audrey.

Audrey’s hands fumbled over the buttons. Josie never felt so helpless in her life. Wanting desperately to make her lover, her only love, stop. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t do anything but hold still.

Audrey’s fingers deftly hit the 9, then the 1, then the 1. She did it! But she forgot one thing. As the call connected, the volume was still on high. And the phone’s ring echoed across the room.

The phone was kicked away—“You stupid bitch!”—but Audrey was enraged, leaping up and grabbing at the robber, grabbing for his gun. He pushed her down roughly.

Only then did Josie move. She lunged, trying to tackle the man around his legs, but the second hold-up man yanked her by the hair and tossed her aside.

Audrey jumped up ... and the loud BANGBANGBANG! startled Josie. She tried to get up again, but the man above her shoved her down easily.

“Don’t fucking move!”

The other two men hurried into the lobby—“What the fuck? You shot somebody?” “Let’s get out of here!” “We got it! Let’s go!”

The four men dashed out of the bank as Josie crawled toward Audrey—face down, in a growing puddle of blood.

“No! No, no no! Audrey? Audrey? It’s me! It’s Josie! I’m here. We’ll ...”

She stopped as she turned Audrey over. Her chest was a deep, deep red.

“Hang on! We’ll get a doctor!” Josie pulled Audrey to her, cradling her in her arms and she knelt. She waved away somebody. “I need ... doctor ...” Josie’s tears fell like rain.

Then she looked into Audrey’s eyes. Deep blue and bright. But the light was dimming.

“Oh Audrey ... please ...”

Audrey smiled.

“Oh, baby ...

“Don’t worry, Josie. I’ll be ...” She lifted her hand and placed it over Josie’s heart. “... right here.”

Mistress Mynd was at the edge of the bed, and she flipped Josie over onto her back, so that her hands were crossed above her head.

“There now. Kathryn understands the situation and has accepted it. Now, it’s your turn my lovely. Time to pop your balloon.”

Josie just stared at her, waiting, concentrating. Mistress Mynd ran her hands along Josie’s ribs, then cupped her ears. Josie was ready.

She pulled at the ropes with all of her strength, yanking the ties off the posts with a C-C-Crack, freeing her. But instead of running, she clamped her hands over Mistress Mynd’s and said, “Let’s do this!”

Mistress Mynd’s thoughts entered hers, but Josie’s thoughts attacked first. She could feel the recoil, the pull to break the mental synapse that bound their minds together. But Josie drew her back in.

Their wispy mental images began to take form, and Josie grabbed, yanked, swung at the blackened form in front of her. Josie battered it; she was focused. She could anticipate every parry, every thrust.

She focused, too, on her body on the bed, flipping the black, heartless form under her. And hitting it.

Josie felt someone approaching her, and she backhanded the young girl, sending her flying across the room with a crash! Another image—a scream!—and with a swift uppercut, Josie splintered the woman’s front teeth and sensed her collapse by the bed.

There was more screaming, but Josie ignored it. The black cloud of Mistress Mynd in her thoughts tried to escape, tried break into a million pieces, but Josie held tightly, choking it with her will. They wrestled, internally and externally, poisoned thoughts being diffused by those of pure rage.

There was banging, shouting—as if 10,000 miles away—but Josie kept at it, choking and pounding at the blackness ... until it began to fade.

“Josie! Josie, for God’s sake let her go!”

It was a familiar voice. A voice she trusted. And she relaxed.

Josie Cade looked down at the woman beneath her. Bloodied and gasping for air. She felt hands around her waist, strong and loving hands, lifting her off the bed, now splattered with blood.

“It’s me, Jo. It’s Jerry.”

“Get her out of here. I don’t want anyone to see her like this.”

Jerry swept Josie up in his arms, and Josie could see the heavy concern on Smithers’ face as she floated by.

She buried her face in Jerry’s chest as he led her away.

Trainor Enterprises’ main headquarters was one of the tallest buildings in town. A shining monument to commerce. But inside, it exuded a warmth few office buildings possessed.

Josie took a deep breath inside the elevator, staring at her reflection in the polished, gold metal door. Six weeks. What in the world am I going to say?

As the doors opened, Jerry tapped her shoulder.

“I’ll be right here.”

She headed down the hallway, not even needing to stop at the receptionist’s desk. She was waved along with a kind smile.

“Josie!”

Kate Trainor rushed around her desk and they found each other for a long, heartfelt hug. “I’m so glad you came. I wasn’t sure if Capt. Smithers would get my message to you or not.”

Josie smiled, happily, seeing Kate herself again.

“We haven’t gotten a chance to ... I haven’t had a chance ... to thank you. Thank you for saving my life. Twice!”

“I’m just glad to see you’re doing well.”

“It was rough at first. No denying that,” Kate replied evenly, knowing it needed saying. “I don’t remember everything, but I remember enough. So do those other girls. We owe you our lives, Jo-sie.”

There was a pause after she heard Kate’s voice catch at the end, an awkward moment Josie had hoped wasn’t going to happen. She tried to perk Kate back up.

“So ... when’s the wedding?”

Kate’s eyes widened. “Wow. That must have been really hard to say.”

“Not really.”

“We pushed it back six months. Damage control, you know. But we’re both doing okay. I’m the one seeing the shrink now.” Then Kate winked. “He’s cool though.”

That got them to both laugh softly together.

“You look great,” Kate said, beaming again. “Still keeping those late hours?” She tried to wink again, but all she did was crinkle her nose.

“That’s really part of why I came here today, Kate,” Josie said, a bit nervously. “I came here to thank you for saving my life.”

Kate’s head tilted with interested confusion, which urged Josie on.

“I thought busting heads and throwing crooks in prison was going to help me get over losing Audrey. She was the love of my life. But it became an empty life. Then when we met, it made me see things, feel things, differently. It made me see there was more to life ... should be more to my life than just revenge. I was doing it for all the wrong reasons. Now I’m going to do it for all the right reasons.”

Kate ran her hand up and down Josie’s arm supportively, but it only made them both wish they could hold each other tenderly, the way they always wished they could. Yet they both knew that moment wasn’t meant for them.

“Hey, I’m gonna let you get back to it.” And Josie turned toward the door, keeping her distance from even one last hug.

“Josie, it was great to see you. And thank you.” As Jodie opened the door, she saw Kate as she always wished she’d look, hoped she’d look forever. “Josie? We’ll see each other again. You’re coming to the wedding, right?”

Josie looked down, then back up at Kate with a nod. “Sure. I’d love to.”

Jerry was waiting by the elevator when Josie returned. He couldn’t read her face.

“How’d it go?”

“Good. All in the past now.”

Jerry wasn’t certain. “Everything? Even Audrey?”

Josie had kept her eyes off Jerry, but looked up at him now. “You know, I always thought I had something the ‘Supers’ didn’t have. Now I know. I thought I lost Audrey when she died, but she’s here.” Josie tapped her chest. “She’ll always be here.”

Jerry half-shrugged as he hit the down button. Then felt a tug on his arm.

“Hey,” Josie said with a hopeful grin. “Wanna catch some dinner?”