Disclaimer: this is a work for fiction intended for adults. Please be aware of the differences between fiction and real life, and always practice safety and informed consent. This work cannot be reposted or reproduced without author permission. Copyright © Prospero Nox 2022.
HOTTER
“...and burn brighter now, Lady Inferno.”
Unease rippled through her, but the Doctor’s calm, soothing voice kept it quiet, distant, like dragonfly wings rippling the surface a vast lake.
“You can trust me. Remember, we’re working toward the same goal. Go ahead and increase your power now.”
The goal...yes. In her hazy, relaxed state, Lady Inferno couldn’t recall it precisely, but she knew it was important. She channeled more heat into her outstretched hand, and the flame in her palm grew, turning from dark copper to deeper red...
“That’s it. Keep increasing. Remember, this is what you want. You’re doing well. Burn brighter.”
Lady raised her upturned palm, and the flame grew hotter still.
“Now look before you. There’s a wall. Do you see a metal wall?”
She blinked lazily. The world, which had faded into foggy contours, refocused. A wall took form… “Yes.”
“You want to destroy the wall with your power.”
Yes. She wanted this. This was the goal.
“Burn the wall. Trust me. This is safe. I’m here to help.”
Lady’s hand moved toward the wall, but sluggishly, as though she slogged through molasses.
“You can do this. It’s safe. This is what you want.”
Yes. She pushed through the unease that had begun to buck and pound at the back of her mind. This was what she wanted.
“Touch the wall with your power. Trust me.”
Her hand shook with the effort. The wall was so close…
“Touch it now, Lady Inferno. Use your power to destroy it. Touch—”
She touched the wall.
Relaxation flooded her body. Her limbs turned heavier. Her eyelids lowered. She’d touched the wall. The unease was gone. But... something ... something was still wrong... ?
She blinked dazedly. Something about the wall...
“Alright. I’m going to wake you up, now. I’ll count to five, and with each number you will regain awareness, until you’re fully in control of yourself again. One...”
By the time the Doctor said ‘five’, the world had come back into crisp focus. Lady Inferno stared a second longer at the spot where her hand touched the intact wall, then she sighed.
“Guess twenty-ninth time wasn’t the charm, either, Doc.”
A grim-faced Dr. Winston sank into the leather chair behind his desk. The edges of his receding grey hair were slick with sweat, and sometime during their session—Lady couldn’t remember clearly—he’d taken off his thick jacket and gloves. He reached for a whisky glass on his desk and drained it in a long gulp.
“Your resistance to relinquishing control of your power is too strong, You go into trance easily enough, and we can even increase your power beyond usual levels. But when it comes to actually using it...”
Right.
As the office door opened and bundled-up city officials strode in, Lady Inferno glanced to the observation room window above it. Several red-nosed clerks milled behind the glass, mitten-encased hands penciling notes on thick paper. Most tablets had long quit working, and ballpen ink was unreliable in the ever-more-frigid weather.
The Mayor strode to the desk and glowered at Dr. Winston.
“Your mind-leading technique was touted as infallible! You’re supposed to be an expert!”
“It is! I am—but a Super’s mind and locus of resistance are very different—”
“I need results, not excuses.” The Mayor’s scowl was obscured by the woolen hat pulled low over his forehead. “Lady Inferno, the city’s been trapped in Arktik’s damned Ice Dome for two years. We’re running out of resources, and we haven’t been able to melt, shatter, drill, or damage the Dome in any way—”
“I’m aware.” Did he think she was enjoying the dwindling sunlight, the failing governance, the ever-present panic? “I’m trying .”
“You’ve been trying for months.” The Mayor glowered at Dr. Winston, who sputtered.
“Mind-leading isn’t a blunt tool. I can’t simply take control of Lady’s body and use her powers. This requires trust, cooperation—”
“You’re not cooperating?” the Mayor snapped at her.
She narrowed her eyes. “As I’ve already explained, when a Super learns control, our minds automatically calibrate how much power we can use. We can only control and channel our abilities after these safety limits are in place.”
“Like a speed-cap on a car,” Dr Winston put in. “In theory, the engine could make the car go faster, but the system won’t allow it to exceed a certain speed. A Super’s power works the same way: once their mind has set usage boundaries, it won’t break them.”
“ I can’t melt the Ice Dome with my regular power,” repeated Lady Inferno. “That’s why I agreed to these...techniques. To help increase my heat beyond the safety limits.”
“Perhaps you need better techniques, then,” said the Mayor. “Do you remember the supervillain gang defeated last month during the bank district rampage?”
“I led the team who caught them,” said Lady Inferno, wryly. “So yes, I have some recollection.”
“Commander Trance was among those we caught, and she offered to assist us break the Ice Dome, in exchange for a shorter sentence.” The Mayor glanced to the sputtering Dr. Winston. “As you said: a Super’s mind is different. Maybe it takes another Super to help.”
“You can’t trust a villainess!” railed the doctor. “I just need more time. This is about your reelection—”
Lady Inferno rolled her eyes as the two yipped at each other, and she glanced again to the office wall. The same wall she’d tried to touch with her trance-increased power twenty-nine times. In vain.
Oh, what the hell. If she didn’t blast the Dome, they’d all turn to icicles within a year, anyway.
“I’ll do it,” she decided. “Get the villainess in here and let’s get to work.”
The supervillainess who called herself Commander Trance strode in confidently, an hour later. Electronic manacles encircled her wrists and four guards flanked her, but as she saw Lady Inferno, her full lips curled. She winked, tossed some exaggerated hip-swaying into her stride, and learned forward to whisper:
“So, you and me, hm? I’ve been fantasizing about getting my hands on you for a long time.”
Lady Inferno eyed her seductive stance. “Funny. Me too. My hands melt human flesh, though—what can yours do?”
Commander Trance threw her head back and laughed. The guards twitched uncomfortably, glancing around as though eager to escape the room.
“Oh, we’ll have fun, lamb, you and me.” She grinned hungrily, eerily pale eyes glinting. " Incandescent fun, if the rumors about you are true.”
“Delightful,” said Lady Inferno. “Now that we’ve broken the ice, shall we see if you can help me break the Ice Dome?”
The villainess laughed again. “You’re funny. Didn’t expect that.” Her gaze roved over Lady Inferno’s red-gold-and-blue tracksuit. “I expected the hotness, though. Honestly, it’s a blessing your power lets you survive without bundling up in frumpy coats, like the rest of us. Would be a crime to cover that body.”
Lady Inferno’s eyebrows arched. “You’d know all about crimes, I suppose.”
“Even I’d never commit one so heinous.”
“Enough,” came an irritated voice from the observation room. The Mayor waved his hands impatiently. “Get on with it. We’re not getting any warmer here.”
Commander Trance grinned. “Maybe you’re not. I’m just about simmering .” She eyed Lady Inferno. “Shall we get started, my lady? Oh, I know you’re not mine yet,” she added, as Lady opened her mouth. “But believe me, you will be, very soon. Mine, in my power, at my service...unresisting.”
“You’re confident,” remarked Lady Inferno.
“Does that bother you?”
The heroine shrugged. “We’re all counting on your success. It’s just as well that you’re enthusiastic about the effort.”
“Oh, you’ve no idea how enthusiastic. To think that in a few minutes you’ll be my helpless thrall…”
“And you’ll only command her to break the Ice Dome,” the Mayor snapped, from the observation room. “That’s all! Otherwise, we’ll reactivate your inhibition manacles and toss you out in the cold!”
The villainess cut him a brief glance. “Touchy.”
“Are you done flirting?” asked Lady Inferno. “The Ice Dome isn’t getting any smaller.”
“Lamb: this, what we were doing here,” Commander Trance wave a manacled hand between them, “it was flirting on both sides. Just FYI.”
“Get to it,” the Mayor bellowed, and Lady Inferno waved out the guards, until it was just her and Commander Trance, standing a few feet from each other in the spacious office.
As the manacles on the supervillainess buzzed and fell off, she laughed quietly.
“Let’s heat things up, then, shall we?”
Lady Inferno thought she could pinpoint the moment when, after the inhibition manacles deactivated, the supervillainess began using her powers. Commander Trance’s pale eyes went from normal to opalescent, her irises glowing with faint reds and turquoises, verdant greens and citrine-yellows. The colors danced in an unfathomable pattern and soon expanded into the room, dancing up into the air around a vivid, electric whirlpool of gleaming colors.
Lady wasn’t sure how quickly the playful cloud had expanded. But it surrounded her now. Though she still saw the office, the walls, the stout, bundled-up supervillainess standing before her, dancing opalescent gleams muddled up her vision.
She felt them, too: an impossibly brief, electric tingle where each flitted against her skin.
Commander Trance smiled. “Hi.”
She wanted to make conversation now? Lady Inferno rolled her eyes. The colorful cloud made that hard: it was as though her ocular muscles had trouble responding, with so much visual noise.
She blinked and kept staring, silently, at the villainess. That wasn’t easy, either: the colors tried to lead her astray. Should she follow them? She was trying to get mind-led, after all...
“You look pretty dazed there. Are you in a trance now?”
Was she? Her consciousness certainly felt...altered. But it wasn’t the same heavy relaxation from Dr. Winston’s trance. She felt...well, she didn’t know how she felt. This was hardly her expertise, damn it.
“So, you want to hear my plan?”
Lady Inferno blinked again. Did the villainess talk this much during all her evil psychic takeovers?
“We’ll go out on the balcony right away,” Commander Trance went on. “I know Doctor Yappy wanted you to “practice using your increased powers”, but I don’t see the point. Once you get a fireball hot enough, we might as well point it at the Ice Dome. Using that much juice just once might wear you out.” She smiled. “He didn’t think of that, of course. Can’t see this from the perspective of a Super.”
Lady Inferno smiled back. The villainess wasn’t wrong. Maybe this whole idea of getting a Super to mind-lead another Super had merit to it. This plan might work.
Excitement began to pulse inside her, its rhythm oddly aligned to that of the dancing sparks.
“What a beautiful smile, my lady. You’re mine now, aren’t you?”
Lady Inferno tried to roll her eyes again, but her ocular muscles refused to obey. Commander Trance’s powers were certainly affecting her body. That was a good sign...right?
“Are you sure you’re not in a trance?”
She wasn’t sure at all. She certainly felt light and floaty, and more than a little hazy…
Commander Trance stepped closer. “You know this requires your cooperation, right?”
The colorful whirlpool spun faster, leaving Lady Inferno’s head light and heavy at once. Like she was half-asleep, teetering on the edge of a precipice, most of her body already tipped over into the abyss and only the tips of her toes still touching the ground—
“That’s how these sessions go, right? Question and answer. Give and take.” Commander Trance’s voice was sultry, her smiling lips just inches away. “I tell you things, you tell me you can hear them. I ask, you confirm. How else can we be sure my power is working on you?”
Lady Inferno might’ve smiled, but she wasn’t certain. She couldn’t feel her body; the tingling sparks had numbed it.
“Should I tell you how I know you’re in trance now, lamb?”
Lady Inferno blinked. What...?
Wait... she was in a trance? That…made sense. It didn’t feel like the other trances, but she felt...disconnected. Odd. Light—
“Your stillness was the first hint. You see, when I put my victims in trance, they become unable to move without my command... Can you move?”
Lady Inferno might’ve tried to move. But the dancing sparks moved instead. Her body responded only to them, not to her own commands.
How strange this was. How unlike any mind-leading she’d experienced before.
For the first time, a sliver of fear wormed its way through her. Commander Trance smiled.
“Ah. A tiny frown. Let’s fix that. Take a deep breath, my lady. There you go. That feels better. Relax. Your worries don’t matter at all.”
Lady Inferno exhaled. The fear was gone. Her worries...irrelevant.
How fascinating.
“Aside from motionless, my victims also can’t speak in trance, without my command. Can you speak?”
Lady Inferno wanted to say she could. But nothing came out. Commander Trance smiled again, and Lady Inferno smiled back.
“Good...so you’re in a trance now.”
She was in a trance.
Good. Yes. The whirling colors were supposed to put her in a trance. This was good. This was the plan.
“The last step is making sure you can’t think without my command. How do you feel about that?”
How did she...? She’d nearly forgotten the question. How did she feel...about not being able to think?
Well…
It was…
It was, decidedly...
“It doesn’t bother you,” said the villainess. “Say it: being mindless doesn’t bother you.”
“Being mindless doesn’t bother me,” Lady Inferno said. Her voice was quiet, but clear. Calm. Convinced.
Huh.
“Of course it doesn’t bother you, dear.” Commander Trance touched Lady Inferno’s cheek, penetrating the numbness with an electric jolt. “You’re under my control now. Say it.”
“I’m under your control.” Lady Inferno smiled as Commander Trance giggled. Immature, but she couldn’t begrudge the villainess satisfaction at a job well done. Bespelling Lady had been the plan, and it had worked. She couldn’t move or talk, and she complied with instructions. An excellent trance, by Dr. Winston’s standards...
“Do you know why the old man failed to make you use your powers in trance?” the villainess asked. “He tried to make you cooperate. But I don’t care about your cooperation. I want your surrender.” She leaned closer, her lips a hair’s breadth from Lady’s. “You’re not going to ‘let me in’ or ‘trust me’ or nonsense like that. You’re simply going to...submit.”
Elation danced more swiftly through Lady Inferno’s body.
“There’s no trust,” said Commander Trance. “No team. No ‘if’s or conditions. There’s only my power, and your submission. Your body and mind are strong, Lady Inferno. But my power darkens any mind and drains any will. Go to your knees.”
Lady Inferno was suddenly staring up the dancing opalescent cloud that swirled about the villainess’s smiling face.
“You will submit. Tell me.”
“I will submit,” agreed Lady Inferno.
“You’ll stop thinking on my command. Say it.”
“I’ll stop thinking on your command.”
“Good. But not yet.” Commander Trance chuckled. “Like I said, we need to be outdoors. Can your power create a bubble of warmth around us so I can survive outdoors? Answer fully and truthfully.”
“Yes.”
“Can you maintain that regardless what else you do with your powers?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Create that bubble, then blast a hole through the balcony window so we can step out. Oh—stand up, first. Love you on your knees, but it makes logistics hard.”
Hazy, warm joy flowed through Lady. Its thrum was familiar: she felt this whenever she summoned her powers. Yet the rhythm of that thrum remained, oddly, synced to Commander Trance’s cloud of colors. As though they led her, and not her own mind.
Well, that was...expected...?
Commander Trance gave her instructions. Lady complied. She’d never used her powers on command before, but...it was alright. This had always been the plan. It was—
“Stop rationalizing.” Commander Trance stepped over a pile of debris onto the icicle-covered balcony. “You’re not obeying me because you agreed to this plan. You’re obeying because I have overridden your mind. The only reason you’re still able to think is because I’m allowing it.”
Huh.
That was..
It was...
“Now to the heroic part.” The villainess glanced down at the dark, deserted streets. “This place needs help, alright. Dear, you’re going to ramp up your power to a thousand, and blast through the Ice Dome. Do you understand what I want?”
“Yes.”
“Can you do it?”
“I...” Lady had to answer fully and truthfully. “I’m not sure. It’s never worked before. My mind...resists.”
Commander Trance threw her head back and laughed.
“My lamb, your mind is soft like dandelion puff. And if I command it, the little dandelion puffs will blow away on the wind, and there will be nothing left but my eager, beautiful, unresisting thrall. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now face the Dome and start powering up. Oh, but make sure you’re not frying me to a crisp. Direct your heat outward at all times.”
Lady Inferno turned, facing the rest of the city. On the villainess’s command, she held up her hands and began channeling. Her power burned hot, hotter...yet…not enough…
“Take off your clothes. I want nothing hampering your heat.”
Distantly, Lady Inferno found this an unnecessary step. Her powers worked fine when she was clothed. But by the time she’d finished the thought, she already stood naked at attention, facing the city with palms raised and glowing with power.
“Gorgeous,” breathed Commander Trance, behind her. “Let me help you ramp up that heat.”
Sudden, electric touches sparked on Lady’s breasts. She gasped.
“Yes, my soft-minded pet.” Commander Trance chuckled huskily. “Feel that. You want me more than anything. You want to please me. To feel the pleasure I give.” The touches moved over her abdomen, down to her tingling pussy— ooohhhh . “That’s right. Let’s get you hot. Spread your legs wider.”
Arousal coursed through Lady’s pussy, pulsing in the same rhythm as the opalescent sparks. The world took on a hazy, pearly tinge. There was nothing but the sensation between her legs. Nothing but her need for Commander Trance’s touch. Nothing but her craving for pleasure—
“You won’t climax until I command it. But the hotter you grow, the hotter your power will burn. There’s no limit to it. Tell me there’s no limit to how hot I make you.”
“There’s no limit to how hot you make me,” moaned Lady Inferno. The flames in her hands turned from vivid red to yellow, then orange—
“Harder.” The touches between her legs grew faster. “Hotter. More.”
Lady Inferno bucked.
“Steady! Face forward. Keep ramping up your power. On your knees.”
She fell to her knees.
“Legs spread. Tell me you obey.”
“I obey.” Arousal shook her body. Her flames grew brighter orange, then faded into pale yellow...
“Beg me to put my fingers in you,” ordered Commander Trance, and Lady Inferno babbled desperate pleas, as lightning heat struck deeper and deeper into her pussy, making her rigid with need. The flames in her palms grew so hot, they lost color and became nearly the same pearly shade as the rest of her world—
“Orgasm now, and channel all that heat into the Ice Dome.”
—the world exploded into searing, blinding white.
Light hurt her eyes. Her eyelids felt like sandpaper. Machines beeped nearby, and distant voices buzzed.
“Take it easy.” A nurse came into Lady’s view. “You’re still recovering. Just wanted to check if you’re up for visitors, this time. Lots of people waiting to see you and say thanks…”
The nurse gave her water, and in the time it took to finish a small glass, Lady remembered bits and pieces of the last days. She was in a clinic. The city was free. The Dome melted. And she was slowly rebuilding her energy after expending most of it on her giant fireball.
Good news all around.
“Visitors,” she muttered. Her voice was a hoarse croak. “Sure. Why not.”
The Mayor appeared in the doorway, and she managed some grunts in response to his effusions. Cameras flashed. Headlines emerged. He promised her every city honor and waved to the news crews, until the nurse decided to usher them out.
The Mayor checked that the news crews were gone, before stepping closer to her bed. “About what she did,” he whispered. “Rest assured all of us in that observation room are discreet.”
She…?
“Huh.” Lady Inferno licked her parched lips. “Don’t remember much. Just...well, mostly…I remember...”
She drew a blank. It felt like she should recall something of her experience with Commander Trance, but when she grasped at the memories, they faded like...dandelion puff in the wind.
“Er. Well.” He cleared his throat. “Probably for the best.”
“Did I hurt anyone?”
“No, no, nothing like that. She just, uh...well, supervillains. She took...liberties. We’ll prosecute her, of course, but she’s vanished.”
“Imagine that.”
“Yes, well. Rest assured, she’ll be brought to justice soon.”
Ha.
He left and Lady relaxed back into the pillows. As the nurse’s uniform materialized beside her bed again, she mumbled, “No more visits.” She needed to think. Try to remember. Even a little hint of a memory…
“Aw, lamb. But I’ve been looking forward to this all week.”
Commander Trace grinned down at her. An odd gleam sparked in her pale irises. Then another. Vivid greens, then blues, then reds...
“You’ve surrendered to me, remember? You’re mine."”
Lady Inferno blinked. Hers...? That wasn’t....is that what the mayor meant...?
“And I promised to make you stop thinking, too.” The villainess leaned closer, until her eyes and their storm of colorful gleams took up Lady Inferno’s entire vision. “Remember that?”
Did she...?
“It’s okay if you don’t remember. I’ll remind you. Here: tell me you’ve surrendered.”
“I’ve...surrendered,” sighed Lady Inferno. The words seemed right. Yet...odd? When had she surrendered? How had this...
“Stop thinking now,” said Commander Trance, and all color and noise drained abruptly from the world.
Animation fled the superheroine’s wide eyes. Their sparkling green shade became duller. Her gaze lost focus, and her mouth fell open slightly. The elation in her expression drained out, replaced by blankness.
Commander Trance giggled. “Perfect. You’re perfect.” She touched the woman’s cheek. “You’re my beautiful, obedient thrall now. Say it.”
“I’m your beautiful, obedient thrall.” Lady’s stare remained glassy and fixed, and her mouth moved just enough to speak the words.
Commander Trance missed her flirty little spark, the gleam of clever humor in her eyes. But first things first.
She grabbed the woman’s limp hand and put it over the metal bed railing. “Use your power to melt that railing.”
The metal was a puddle on the floor in seconds. Commander Trance clapped her hands.
“Delightful, my little thrall! You’ll use your power however I command, won’t you? Say it.”
“I’ll use my power however you command,” the thrall droned.
“Perfect,” Commander Trance leaned down to press a kiss to the woman’s slack lips. “We’ve got some exciting times ahead, hot stuff. So let’s get going.”