Hypnotized Hero
Chapter One
By CalamityBrain
“It’s important for you to obey.” The little robot with the glowing gem began. “Just listen, look here and obey.” Corette landed on the small hovering bot, taking it out before it could flash a wave of energy from the small crystal held within. Her teammate Dara gave her a thumbs up and headed back into the action. Taking out the little bots along with Corette. Their leader Oracleia was dodging blasts from Master Paragon’s staff, which had an even larger matching crystal mounted on top, with a series of smaller gems along the body. The police were only just arriving to secure the scene and keep pedestrians from getting to close. Despite the danger there were always people trying to capture footage on their cell phones.
Corette could see another little bot make a bright purple flash at a group of people that has strayed too close, cell phones out and recording. All at once they dropped their phones, swearing allegiance to the Master Paragon, and heading towards Oracleia. Dara was busy taking out more of the little bots before they could spread further. Master Paragon had thrown a half dozen or so into the air once the heroes began the fight. They were still on the street outside the jewelry store the hypno-villain had been robbing, and despite the broken glass from the window, the hypnotized pedestrians came rushing forward, piling onto Oracleia and pulling her away. Corette rushed in, pulling people off her mentor, trying to get them away without hurting them. In the mayhem Oracleia managed to get Corette’s’ attention, holding out a small bag for her to take.
“Keep it away from him it’s what he was after.” The heroine commanded, struggling with the crowd, trying to focus her energies into clearing their minds from the mystic energy that had taken them. Corette grabbed the small bag and backed out of the fight, heading into the ally behind the store. She tucked the gem into a pocket on her belt, and began to climb up a ladder to the roof, trying to get away from the action, and keep whatever treasure Paragon had stolen away from him.
Something grabbed her ankle and she was pulled forcefully off the ladder onto the hard ally pavement below. “Not very nice of you to try to take my toys away from me.” Paragon remarked, pulling out his staff and pointing it toward Corette. “You’re just a fledgling hero aren’t you? Do you even have any powers of note, or are you just one of the bodies they throw into the program as fodder for people like me?”
Corette blushed angrily, she was technically superhuman, but didn’t seem to have any unique abilities beyond a bit of extra strength, stamina and fortitude, as well as the ability to sort of hover when she really focused. She was younger, and new to the program, and even with years of training she might never develop real powers of her own. That wasn’t her fault, she didn’t ask for this. By law any human displaying any sort of “super” genes was required to take part in the heroes program, and those like her tended to work as nameless sidekicks and helpers to the real heroes like Oracleia.
Corette couldn’t think of a reply so she just lunged forward off the ground, but Paragon had jumped aside, grabbing her arm and twisting it behind her. Whether born a super or magically enhanced, he was definitely stronger than she was and her arm ached at the odd angle. He held her with one arm and the tip of the crystal staff was placed up against her head. She didn’t move, just closed her eyes tightly, but opened them when she heard her mentor’s voice.
“Let my friend go, Paragon! Your beef is with me.” Corette had trained for dealing with him, sort of, maybe a little, and tried to take deep breaths calming her mind, focusing herself on being mentally shielded. She couldn’t stop the energy from his magic staff, but maybe she could fight it off better if she prepared. That was the working theory anyway, so far none of them had the opportunity to test it.
The villain smiled politely as he spoke “I disagree my dear, she took what I worked very hard to steal and I want it back.” The staff pushed harder into Corette’s temple. “Not one step closer or she gets a concentrated dose of my power.” Corette couldn’t focus, she knew the effects could last for months on regular humans, and weeks on a super like herself. She didn’t want to lose weeks to the power of the crystal, she would be put in quarantine longer than that and lose too much time. She couldn’t afford to lose time, if she didn’t train she would never be better, and maybe never develop her own abilities or skills. She would be useless fodder. Corette could hear Dara yelling at the pedestrians, keeping the hypnotized mob at bay, frustrated but most likely not causing them any long term harm.
“Let me take what I want and I’ll let her go.”
“Not going to happen, Parry. Let her go and I’ll go easy on you.”
The villain sighed, whispering a one word incantation under his breath Corette found herself, still in his arms falling down suddenly, into a black inky void. The light above suddenly extinguishing, and just as suddenly light from below appearing. They fell and landed roughly on a metal floor. Corette managed to roll away but they were in a strange room, and Paragon, more ready for the fall, still had his staff brandished in her direction when she turned around.
“Where are we? What just happened?” She demanded, taking a step away from him, but not seeing any obvious escape routes.
“Do you want me to blast you with my staff?” Paragon demanded, the crystal glowing menacingly as he asked. At her hesitation he continued. “You’re all alone here, we are magically shielded from being found even by the likes of Oracleia, it will take hours for her to locate us. You already know you’re over-powered, it was so easy for me to grab you in the ally. Take a moment to think about your situation before you act.”
Corette stopped, would fighting really help in this situation, she didn’t know where she was, and she wasn’t sure she could take him on in a fight. Before she could answer Paragon said another word, and a small bot came from an opening in the wall, hovering just behind him, crystal glowing, at the ready.
Corette stood, out of her crouching ready position. Fighting was not a good strategy here. “Please don’t.” She whispered, a bit ashamed at herself for it. Another menacing little bot had come out of the hole, hovering behind his other shoulder.
“What was that?” Paragon’s polite smile seemed just a bit smug, which she did her best to ignore.
“Please, I don’t want those things in my head. Let’s just agree to not fight, alright?” She held her hands up.
“You’ll agree to not fight, and that I am very much in charge of this situation. For the duration of your stay with me here you are going to be my prisoner. If you accept the situation than hand over my bag, otherwise you are going to get hit with all my power, right here, right now.” When she again hesitated, he continued. “It’s only going to be a few hours, come now, we can get along for that short amount of time. I have no intention of keeping you any longer than it takes for her to find you. That seems fair, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Then, accept these conditions and agree to be my prisoner while we wait.”
Corette sighed, but she couldn’t see any other way out of this. She began to reach for the pouch on her belt but his voice stopped her.
“Oh no, Freeze. I don’t trust you not to pull something funny out of there, you types always have some sort of gadget or spell ready.”
“Says the guy with the portable hole in the ground.” When he pointed the staff threateningly, she hastily continued. “You asked me to hand it over, how would you like this to happen?” He gestured behind her, and she looked to see a pair of metal cuffs dangling from the wall. “Seriously?”
“It’s either that or let me hypnotize you.”
“We agreed no magic crystals!” Corette exclaimed.
“Not with the crystals, but my voice. The old fashioned way...” Paragon explained.
“What you mean like…hypnosis…hypnosis? Like dangle a watch in front of my eyes kind of thing? That doesn’t actually work, that’s why you have magic crystals.” Corette scoffed, but Paragon continued to smile at her.
“Well if you don’t believe it will work than there is no harm in letting me try then, is there?” He seemed genuinely excited, and Corette was unmoved. There was no way he could just talk her into hypnosis.
“Yeah ok, sure I’ll just stand here and be hypnotized, but for the record I do not believe this is going to work, even a little bit.” She said.
“Just agree that you’ll follow along with what I say and allow me to hypnotize you.” The villain said.
“Yeah,” but seeing he was still waiting she continued. “Yes, I will follow along with what you say and let you try to hypnotize me.” She had to fight to not roll her eyes at the whole idea, but maybe this would buy her some time.
“Ok my dear, just follow along, and take a deep breath in, hold it for a moment, that’s right, and then release the breath. Release everything and hold it just for a moment before allowing yourself to breath back in.”
He lowered his staff, but still kept it in his hand, watching her follow along with his suggestions. “That’s right, just breath in and hold. Exhale and hold. Become aware of your breathing, of how to circulates through your body. How it slows, and as it slows your own rhythm slows down. Your heartbeat might also naturally slow a bit. Just like meditation. Just slow your breathing. Focus on your body, on what it’s doing. Very good.”
He went on guiding her through breathing for some time, until she seemed genuinely focused on it.
“Now, since we are just trying this, there is no pressure, no need to feel any specific thing, no need to focus on any one ting, even your breathing will become a natural pattern that your body just follows. You don’t even have to focus on my voice or my words. My words can just become something you know. Something you barely have to process in the background of your mind.”
Corette was feeling a lot calmer, slower, and focused, though a part of her was still on guard, listening for any funny stuff, at the ready to fend off any suggestion or idea she didn’t like. So far it was ok.
“You may find as you stand there, slowly relaxing, it might become easier to want to sit down, maybe lean up against the wall, and just allow yourself to relax a bit more fully, and that’s ok, if you need to open your eyes to do that, than you just can. It’s easy and natural to want to relax.”
Corette thought it was silly to say that, of course she could, she was doing it right now. Opening her eyes, she hadn’t really meant to close them anyway, moving to sit and lean against the wall. Paragon was staying in the middle of the room, not approaching, he even sat down a moment after she did. Cross legged, relaxed, still holding his staff, but much less threatening than before.
“You already know that help is on the way, and will be here for you soon, so for now, just relax. We’ve agreed not to fight, you can just listen to me. Doesn’t it feel nice knowing that for just a little while, all you have to do is sit and listen? You’re already doing a good job.”
It did feel nice, the constant fighting, vigilance and training made for little time to actually relax. She had only just been paired with her mentor Oracleia, and her workload felt like it had doubled. She had to always be on point, always ready, always analyzing.
“Shhhh, you don’t need that right now. You don’t need it think about whatever it is, just for this moment you can let it go. It will come back, it always does, but just in this moment let yourself be. Can you do that for me?”
Corette found herself nodding. Se supposed she could just relax, just for now, when it was ok to.
“It’s safe right now, in this moment. I am over here, you are over there. We’ve promised to be peaceful and since we will both trust each other in this moment, we will both be perfectly safe. There isn’t any need to fight when you already know help is on its way, when you already know I have no desire to waste energy like that if I can help it. That makes sense, right?”
Again, Corette nodded along, occasionally murmuring a noise of agreement. Her breathing had slowed down significantly, and she felt a lot more relaxed than she did at first. Since she felt as though she could open her eyes at any second if she wanted, she still felt safe, as if she was just following along, nothing more.
“Now then, what is it that I can refer to you by? What name may I call you?”
“Corette.”
“Just Corette? No superhero title?” Paragon asked.
“No, we don’t get cool titles unless we are unique or strong enough to stand out. Otherwise we’re just sidekicks and trainees, helping in the background.”
“That’s ok Corette. You must work very hard to keep the city safe, don’t you?”
“Damn right I do.”
“That’s exactly right. You work very hard Corette, so just for now let yourself relax, let that go. Just in this moment let it all just fade away so you can just be. Just be, Corette. Find yourself, find the center of yourself and just be, with no expectations. Very good. I had no idea you were so good at relaxing like this”
The little murmurs of praise were beginning to make Corette feel nice. Seldom was any praise given to her during a battle. This wasn’t so bad as far are being captured went.
“Now, since we are on a first name basis, you may call me Master if you like.” The way he said it, with a smirk in his voice made her chuckle.
“You know that’s not happening, Parry.”
The villain chuckled. “It was worth a try, it’s good to see you’re completely able to keep yourself safe and in check like this though. However, please do at least call me Paragon, won’t you? I’d feel much more respected if you did. Will you do that for me, Corette?” He asked politely, and Corette for her part couldn’t really find anything wrong with the request.
“Ok Paragon. That’s fair.”
“That is fair, that’s right. Thank you Corette, you’re doing a great job.”
“I am doing a great job, I am really good at this.” She stated proudly.
“Now, I want you to think about how good it feels not, to know you’re doing such a great job. Find that feeling somewhere within you and let me know where it is, what does it feel like?”
“It’s warmth, it’s in my chest and it’s like a glowing warmth.”
“That’s perfect Corette. You did that so quickly; I am proud of you. Can you imagine if that glowing warmth was part of your heartbeat? If it became larger with each and every slow beat of your heart, and if it spread throughout your body in your bloodstream?”
It took her a moment to answer, but the tiny affirmation that left her lips came with a smile.
“Good job Corette. Each and every beat of your heart is spreading that happy, glowing warmth throughout your entire body. Just feel as good as you can imagine Corette. You’re doing so well.”
She smiled brightly, leaning up against the wall, sighing happily, Paragon let her enjoy the feeling, and building it for a moment before continuing.
“Now you said you’d hand me my bag, didn’t you? Since I agreed to help you feel so good with my voice and not my crystals, you promised you’d give me my bag and everything, inside didn’t you?”
Corette reached toward her pouch and unzipped it but hesitated, her brow furrowing slightly in thought.
“If I give you your bag are you going to stop making me feel this good? I’d like it for longer please.”
“Of course, of course, there is no need to stop feeling good just because you are doing as I’ve asked. In fact, you might notice how that good warm feeling builds and becomes a little stronger once you hand me my bag. Why don’t you try and see?”
Corette reached into her pouch and found the velvet bag, it felt like there was a hard-lump inside, probably a jewel or crystal of some kind. She held out her hand but really couldn’t be bothered to move any further.
“I am going to get up and come get my bag Corette, is that ok?”
“Mmmhmm. I don’t want to move, just…just make me feel good please...”
“You’re an amazing hypnotic subject Corette.” Paragon continued his patter as he stood, telling her how good she was doing and how much better she would feel once she handed him his bag. He stepped closer but didn’t take it yet. He continued to build the idea that she would feel even better when handing him the bag, until she eventually made an impatient noise, wiggling her hand at him.
“Please take it. You said it’s yours.”
“That’s right Corette.” Gently his gloved hand reached and grabbed the bag from hers. Her hand dropped back to her lap and she sighed, feeling delightful afterward.
“It feels good to do as I say, as we agreed, doesn’t it?”
“It feels kind of good, yea.”
“And you’d still like to continue feeling safe, relaxed and hypnotized by me?” The villain asked, sitting back down, cross legged but close enough to each out and touch.
“Yes, I want to be safe… and feel good and relaxed please. I…I never get to feel relaxed, all I do is train...” Corette made a face but slowly eased back into a more relaxed feeling as Paragon spoke.
“It’s ok, I understand. You have to train, they put you right out there on the front lines, helping heroes and working hard. It doesn’t seem fair at times, but that’s your life there. Training and fighting. Isn’t that right?”
“Yeah, I don’t always like it, it’s so stressful. I want to be better, have some kind of power, that would make it easier for me, but I can barely hover for long.”
“You can hover? Like flying?” He asked.
“It’s not like flying,” She said, a little frustrated. “All I can do is lift off the ground for a moment. I can’t even use it to protect myself from falling because I have to think so much about it to even do it.”
“Why don’t you tell me how it works, what kinds of things do you think about?” He asked.
“I have to do like a self-meditation, which I hate, and I have to concentrate as hard as I can on pulling myself up into the air. I get a headache and it sucks.”
“I see,” Paragon continued. “Why don’t you stop thinking about that right now. Right now, you’re here to feel good, right? Just relax, be safe and feel good while you wait for your teammates to find you.” At her murmured acceptance he went on. “So right now, I want you to imagine yourself just relaxed, like you are lying in a pool, floating in the water, suspended, effortlessly, weightlessly floating on the surface. That feels so good, doesn’t it? Let yourself sink into that feeling, of being weightless and drifting along the surface. I want you to let everything that isn’t us, that isn’t this moment of safely floating to just fade away with each exhale. It’s ok. I am right here, help is on the way soon, and you can just for now, just for our moment let it fade away a little further than it was before. It’s easy to do, you already know how, don’t you?”
Again, she murmured a noise that sounded like acceptance and he continued for a while. Just talking about a safe relaxed floating feeling, the lightness she felt, the ease of just being on the surface, nothing below her, hovering and gliding. Corette felt the warmth within her spread and she allowed herself to relax much more than before. There was no reason to worry, help was on the way. They trusted each other right now. It was so easy to just slow down and listen to his voice go on and on. And just for a moment she felt completely at ease for the first time since she had been put into the program years ago. It felt like she had been listening to his voice since forever, and yet it also only felt as though moments had passed by. She was safe, warm, floating. His voice was coming from just in front of her.
“Now Corette, in a moment when I tell you too, I want you to open your eyes for me and just calmly, easily gaze around the room. Everything will still feel good, and you’ll be able to calmly and easily see what’s going on around you. Can you do that for me?”
“I can do that.” She said, sleepily.
“Ok my dear, just open your eyes and look down here at me.”
Corette slowly blinked and opened her eyes. Master Paragon was sitting on the floor, cross legged just below her. The room as was still the same, even the little bots were still floating lazily in the air on the other side. Idle and relaxed, hovering like she was.
“Now I want you to feel yourself becoming, very slowly, very easily heavier. Sink down to me Corette.” Focus on how your limbs feel a little tiny bit more solid. A little more full, and a bit heavier. Like your mind when it gets so heavy and full of my words.”
Corette felt it in her legs first, which began to drop, and her torso, and arms. Her head felt very heavy but still somehow suspended, as she slowly sank back down. Touching the floor. “When you feel that you’ve safely landed, I want you to drop deeply and heavily back into a nice easy trance for me, ok?” Corette sank back to the floor, and slumped forward, Paragon catching her and gently propping her back up into a sitting position.
“Corette, you’re coming back to me now, coming back to awareness, more and more awake, and much more energized than you were before. I am going to count you up from one to four. Each number bringing you back, back to being fully awake, fully aware, and able to think clearly. One. You’re feeling very good, knowing you’ve accomplished so much in our time together. Two, your energy is coming back, and your thoughts are returning to their normal pace. Take a deep breath at three and let yourself feel good as you wake up. Finally take as much time as you need to fully awaken at four. Feeling good, aware, refreshed and energized.”
Corette blinked and opened her eyes, feeling a lot more clear-headed. She yawned, and stretched her arms, her mind replaying the daze she was in just moments before. She had never liked meditation, and before today thought hypnosis was a joke. Reflecting back, she was really surprised at how relaxed she was able to feel.
“Holy shit!” Corette’s mind backtracked to the memory where she was glancing down at Paragon. She remembered being at a much higher angle and looking down at him from the air.
“Mm?” Paragon inquired politely.
“I think I was. Was I? Did I float?”
“Mmhm.”
“No I mean did I actually float…? Or, did you magic me to float, or was that me?”
“All hypnosis is self hypnosis, I simply guided you to where you wanted to go.” Paragon replied.
“No, listen: was I hovering? Like, by myself? Did I do that?” She asked.
“Yes. Yes with your own abilities. Yes by yourself. Yes you did that. You said you could.” He replied.
Corette stood up, and Paragon followed suit. He seemed a bit amused at her reaction but remained silent, observing her.
“But I can’t do that.”
“You told me you could hover.”
“I told you I was no good at it, that it was a strain every time. That time I was just…able.”
“Good to see I can still sweep a girl off her feet.”
“No, you don’t get it. I’ve always tried to get better. I’ve worked and focused and trained. Watching the real heroes. Trying to fly like they fly and they make it look so easy. I’ve always struggled.”
“Well, stop trying to fly like they fly and just let yourself float like you float, and fly like you fly.” He replied.
“Paragon, I didn’t know I could do it like that. You swear you did nothing, no spells? No hallucinations?”
“I swear it my dear. You can hover, float, maybe even fly all on your own. All I did was help you focus on feeling good.” He replied. “Now it’s been a couple of hours. I am afraid Oracleia has located us and is beginning to break the seals on my barriers. I believe I have rested long enough for one of my ‘portable holes’ as you call them to be fully recharged and functional again. I think it’s time we put you in those lovely shackles, don’t you?”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s either that or you can explain to her how you handed over my gem bag without a fight, and you let me whisper sweet nothings into your year for two hours.”
“Two hours!? It hasn’t been- oh, yeah, I guess it would keep the questions down.”
Paragon pointed his staff at her again. “If it helps, I am not giving you a choice, and you’ll have to tell her I forced you into the shackles.”
Corette eyed the staff wearily, but she didn’t exactly have a good explanation for what had happened between them. “Ok, but no funny stuff.”
“Like getting you to float without realizing it?”
“No other funny stuff!” She replied, stepping toward the shackles. She attached one to her wrist before looking at him. “Please, I need them to not know about this. I don’t think it would go over well, I don’t know how to explain it.”
“Ask me nicely again, but use my full title and I promise it will be our little secret. But do put on that other shackle first, they are very becoming on you.”
Corette rolled her eyes, but she did place the other one around her wrist.
“Please, ugh, Master Paragon, don’t tell anyone what we did. And… thank you.” She finished in a much smaller voice, not making eye contact with him.
“I do so love it when a beautiful woman thanks me while putting shackles on just to please me.”
“The shackles are for me!” She spat at him. Immediately his eyebrow waggled, and he grinned at her. “Not like that! Oh my god, just promise you’ll keep your mouth shut alright?”
He chuckled as he replied. “Relax Corette, I won’t mention it. It’s just for us. Besides, I don’t plan on being here when your team arrives. I don’t have enough energy in my staff to make kitten sleepy. I have to go recharge and fight another day.”
“This whole time?” Corette actually yanked at the restraints to get at him but he laughed as he took steps away from her.
“Oh yes my dear, I had a narrow escape from her right before I caught you, wherein a few of the boys in blue were suddenly very eager to subdue her for me. You’ve been safe from me since before I even caught you.”
With that he spoke a word of incantation, and a black hole formed under him.
“You motherfu—”
He almost heard Corette cursing at him, but the hole closed as fast as he fell through it.