The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Veiled Threats

by J. Darksong

4.)

“AAhhhhhhh! Gooodddddeeessss yesss!!” two voices screamed in unison as pleasure blossomed into an indescribable ecstasy of biblical proportions. Blue eyes and green fluttered, staring with wide and sightless eyes, seeing only pure blissful white. Unity. Completion. Perfection. Peace. And then, slowly, eventually, separation. It took several seconds before the two could do more than pant softly, and several more before the long limbed blonde could find the energy to roll over. A wide smile was seemingly etched onto her face, mirroring that of her brown-haired partner.

“Oh my,” Eva said breathlessly, “That was... quite good... whew. I could fancy a cigarette right now.”

“No you don’t,” Melissa said softly, pressing her head up against her lover’s chest. “I’m the smoker, not you.”

“After what just happened, I’m willing to start,” Eva teased, leaning forward to kiss the younger woman lovingly on the lips. “But... you’re right. It’s only temporary, though... an after effect of the mental blending. I’ve still got a bit of you mixed with me, inside here,” she said, tapping her temple lightly, “something I don’t mind in the slightest.”

Melissa giggled. “Well, you’re not the only one. We’ve worked up quite an appetite, and I’ve got a sudden craving for an onion bagel with lox, cottage cheese, and a glass of grapefruit juice. Normally, the thought itself would make me gag, but right now it sounds simply—”

“Delicious,” Eva finished with a chuckle. “Yes, we’re definitely a little bit ‘blended’ right now. Still, it’s only temporary, and shouldn’t last more than a half-hour at the most. So, just enjoy it for as long as it lasts.” She stretched, then sighed deeply. “Breakfast does indeed sound good, but I really don’t want to get out of bed right now. Getting out of bed signals the start of our day, and I’m not quite ready to let you go just yet.”

Melissa blushed prettily. “Well, you know, we wouldn’t have to go very far. We still have take-out in the fridge downstairs. It wouldn’t take but a second to slip a couple of plates into the microwave and zip back here to the bedroom...” Seeing the look on her lover’s face, Melissa sighed. “Or not. I guess you really need to check in with your friend and see if he turned up anything useful on the case you’re working on.” She sighed, lying flat back on the bed. “I suppose it’s useless to ask you, again, to call Mrs. Frasier and tell her what you’re working on? I know you’re not a child, that you’ve been doing the ‘hero thing’ since you were in high school, and that this isn’t the first time you’ve faced off against a powerful and dangerous adversary. Still... I’m worried. You should let everyone else know what you’re up to, in case something happens!”

Eva smiled, leaning forward to kiss her again. “Dearheart, trust me. Everything will be fine. Lacie is going through a lot right now, trying to get a handle on her pregnancy, and Parker and his love are working on something themselves. That just leaves me to handle this. It’ll be fine. Trust me. It’s nothing that I can’t handle.” Her smile turned into a mischievous smirk. “Besides, you know how I am when I come back from a mission. If you think this morning was nice, wait till I rescue the missing girls and bring their kidnappers to justice. Few things get my motor running as hot as dispensing a bit of my own brand of street justice.”

Melissa merely bit her lip, saying nothing. True, Eva always came back extremely amorous after taking down a criminal; using her psychic powers on her hapless adversaries always made her want to use them on Melissa afterwards. Not that Mel wasn’t completely willing and eager. On the contrary, sex with a psychic who could read your every want and desire, could know instantly where and how to touch, and always knew when to tease, when to prolong the pleasure, and when to bring her the greatest possible release... No, the sex was never better than after thwarting criminals.

The problem was that this time she was worried that Eva was facing an enemy that was easily her match, or possibly even more powerful. Eva tried putting on a brave face for her benefit, but after all this time, Melissa knew her too well. Eva was worried, and that worry and concern had transferred over through their bond when they were psychically linked. And while that mental bond had lasted only a few minutes, she knew without a doubt that the redhead that she’d faced the day before worried Eva. Worried her a lot.

Eva frowned, glancing down at her cell. “Hmmm. Two voice mail messages. I didn’t hear it ring this morning... but we were a bit... um, occupied at the time.” Dialing back, she placed the receiver against her ear, as Melissa slid out of bed. “No need to get up, love. Won’t take but a second to check my messages.”

“It’s okay,” Melissa waved her off. “Go ahead and check your voice mail while I head downstairs and warm up the leftovers. Go and take a shower, and I’ll join you, and we can eat breakfast together when we’re done. How’s that sound?”

“Sounds lovely,” Eva said with a smile. “What would I ever do without you, dear?”

“Leave the bedroom before noon, for one,” Melissa said laughing, as she slid on her bathrobe and made her way downstairs. She sighed softly once she was in the hallway, all pretense of merriment gone. She felt torn. On one hand, she’d promised not to tell Lacie Frasier what Eva was involved in, despite her better judgment. Eva trusted her to keep her word, and after working so long and hard to break through the tough, aloof facade that the psychic showed the rest of the world, she was hesitant to betray that trust now. Trust was hard won with Eva. Aside from family and friends, she tended to keep everyone else at arm’s length.

And after all it took to finally be close to her, I’d hate to mess things up, and have her push me away again, just because I’m being paranoid.

On the other hand, Eva could be putting herself in danger. True, she was smart, and resourceful, but she was also extremely self-assured in her abilities. Normally, being confident of one’s skill was a good thing, and one of the things Mel loved about her, but it also made her reckless. The memory of what had happened to them both at the hands of Dr. Matthews was still there, still a part of her. Eva had helped her through it, after a colleague of hers from Midas had helped her through it, but it only reinforced the notion of how easy it was to be caught off guard and taken out. That time, Omega Girl and Super Sonic had taken Matthews down and freed them from his control.

But it could have just as easily gone the other way. We could have all ended up as mindless thralls to that madman, helpless to do anything but what he commanded. She shuddered, and not pleasantly, at the thought. And it’s not the control, or spending the rest of my life in blissful mindless servitude. It’s the idea of being that way for anyone besides her!

Reaching the kitchen, she opened the refrigerator, taking out two containers of food, and a pair of plates. A warm pleasant feeling ran through her as she realized she was making breakfast for her lover. For a moment she considered running down to the corner store for some lox and fresh bagels to surprise her with her favorite, but squashed the urge. Even if they weren’t going in to the office today, Eva still had a long day ahead of her, and having something quick and easy, and being able to spend as much time with her before she left for the day was the priority. The microwave dinged, and she took out the food, sprinting back upstairs with the plates, eager to rejoin her lover in the shower.

Except she found her still sitting on the bed, scowling at her cell phone. She glanced up at her when she entered, and gave her a small smile. “Okay, the last time you looked that way was when I tried making Jambalaya for the first time and asked you to take a taste.” She placed the platters on the end table. “Okay, spill. What kind of news did you get?”

Eva sighed. “The bad kind, what else?” She tossed her cell aside. “Apparently these kidnappers are a bit better funded, and better connected, than I thought. I expected a certain level of... difficulty... in tracking down the missing girls, but this is different. This is...” She sighed, closing her eyes, and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Things have gotten complicated. I don’t intend to let it drop, or give up, by any means... but I’m going to have to be a bit more careful with my approach that I’d originally planned.”

“Um... okay... now you’re scaring me. What exactly did he tell you?”

“Well... knowing Jerry, it’s not what he said, but more of what he didn’t say. He told me that in following the money trail from the ownership of the property where I’d tracked the missing girl to, he’d discovered a very large and sophisticated paper trail with a lot of money coming in from various sources but virtually all of it going out to one source, some genetic research facility. What he hinted at gave me the impression that all of the funding came from a legitimate, if shadowy, source... the kind that often funds certain black book operations that the general public finds out about on MSNBC only months after the fact, if at all.”

Melissa frowned, sitting down on the bed next to Eva, as she put all the pieces together. “Wait a second... you’re not saying...our own government?”

“No, I’m not saying that our government is behind these kidnappings as a way of funding some kind of genetic research project,” Eva said coolly, “and Jerry was very specific in not saying it... particularly over the phone. But from the money being shelled out, the only other choices would be a very well funded criminal organization, or a single individual with several billion dollars to spend just setting up a smoke screen to hide and filter the money trail, and Jerry assured me that he checked both possibilities before coming to that conclusion.”

They sat in silence for several minutes before anyone spoke again. “So,” Melissa said when Eva rose up from the bed, “does this mean you’re going to be asking Lacie and Parker for help?”

Eva shook her head. “Absolutely not. After hearing this news, I most definitely do not want them involved. If things go south, I don’t want to have them all go down with me.”

“I’d rather you not go down at all!” Melissa exclaimed. Then. smirking slightly, recanted. “Unless, well, you know, it’s on me.”

Eva laughed despite herself, walking over and embracing her lover in a deep hug. “Thanks, love. I needed that. And I need you... to be strong, and to be supportive of me. I need to do this, okay? And by myself. My nephew puts himself on the line day after day, risking his life to help other people. Even after he lost his powers, even after he nearly died, he hasn’t stopped. Yes, Anna and I worry about him, a lot, but we both understand why he does it. It’s what he was born to do, Mel. It’s what I was born to do. Great power, great responsibilities, all that jazz.” She looked her lover deep in the eye. “I know you’re scared for me. Truth be told, I’m a bit scared for me, too. But I have to do this.” She sighed. “If you want... I could take away your worry...”

“No!” Melissa answered sharply, pulling away. Realizing how she’d sounded, and seeing the hurt look on Eva’s face, she tried to explain. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you like that. But... if you’re going to continue being a heroine, going out skulking on rooftops and all that... then I’m going to worry about you. The same way you NEED to be out there fighting the good fight, I need to be HERE, worrying about your safety, hoping and praying that everything goes okay and you come back to me safely. If I can’t be out there with you, then the least I can do is to carry the full emotional load for the lifestyle you’ve chosen to lead. Don’t take that away from me, Eva. Please?”

Speechless, eyes glistening with barely held tears, Eva nodded, pulling Melissa back into her arms. “Okay,” she said simply, kissing the back of her neck. “Oh, Goddess... I love you so much. I don’t deserve you... but I’m so damned glad I have you.”

Melissa chuckled softly, tears running down her cheeks. “Oh, my heart, you’ve got it backwards. I’m the one that doesn’t deserve you. But I’m sure as hell thankful that you’re in my life.”

* * *

“Okay. You’re the expert strategist and planner. What do we do now?”

Echo opened his mouth to reply, but chose instead to grab Shinobi by the shoulder and pull her face-down behind a pallet of wooden crates as a blast of laser fire erupted where they’d been standing. “Well, just offhand, I’d say ‘Duck and Cover’ for a start.”

Shinobi rolled her eyes. She slid carefully to the right, peeking out from the side of the crate, then ducked, narrowly avoiding a laser blast aimed at her head. “Damn. Bloody persistent, aren’t they?”

“Well, look at it from their point of view. They went through all the time and effort to break into the warehouse that houses the city police’s old weapon cache before they are decommissioned. They disabled the alarm, and subdued the guards. Now, just when it looks like they’re about to get away with their big score, a couple of fresh faced costumed heroes drop down out of nowhere to ruin all their plans.” He shrugged. “If I were then, I’d be pissed, too.”

Shinobi growled softly. Ever since she’d blown up at him at the end of their last sparring session and walked off, Parker had been increasingly aloof with her. Rather that get angry and force the issue, he’d backed off, giving her her space, which, under the circumstances, was worse than him shouting at her. She knew she’d overreacted, that she’d flown off the handle for no reason, and that she was being completely unprovoked and unfair to Parker. He deserved to know the truth about her past. It was only natural to want to know everything about the person you loved. Her reaction was unreasonable... but she couldn’t help herself. She couldn’t bring herself to explain her reaction, and her pride wouldn’t let her apologize.

A wall was forming between them, and as much as she wanted to reconcile with him, she couldn’t bring herself to make the first move. Parker was as hurt and angry as she was, but he hid his feelings behind a veneer of jokes and wise cracks, which only made her angry and snappish.

What I really want is for him to just take charge, she thought wistfully, glancing at him over her shoulder, to confront me about this... to MAKE me face up to all of this emotional baggage I’m carrying around.

Aloud, she said, “Maybe you can come up with a helpful suggestion on how to get us out of this little pickle we’re in? There are about ten to twelve of them, by my reckoning, and all armed with particle weapons. I’m good, but even I can’t take out twelve targets at once without at least one of them getting in a lucky shot.” Her eyes narrowed. “And since you decided not to wear your, ahem, ‘good suit’ to this little party—”

“I already told you,” Echo growled, “the sonic enhancements in that prototype suit were giving me migraines! It’s not really worth it to be able to run at super speeds and make concussive blast waves if I end up spending the next several hours unable to function!”

“—since you didn’t bring your other suit,” she repeated slightly louder, ignoring his glare, “I’d say we are at a decided disadvantage here. So, unless you like the idea of playing the part of a shooting range target while these guys practice their aim—”

Doesn’t sound so bad, right now, Parker thought angrily, hands clenching and unclenching. Anything would feel better than sitting here with you right now, listening to you harp on every little fault you find with me. GOD! I’m about half a step away from knocking you on your ass! And I don’t even know WHY you’re being such a bitch right now. If anything, I should be the one acting angry and upset.

“—I suggest you come up with something,” she finished, ducking down again as one of the shooters came much closer to striking her position. “And quickly. Their aim is improving.”

Echo sighed deeply. His frustration with everything was reaching its limit. “Alright. Gimmee a second to think.” Closing his eyes, he slowed his breathing and focused his mind inward, trying to drown out all distractions. “Okay... they outnumber us,” he said slowly, thinking aloud, “and they have us outgunned as well. It wouldn’t take much to knock them unconscious, but we’d need an edge... something to keep them from ganging up on us... something to... even up the odds a bit.” He opened his eyes. then grinned. “I got it. Say... it’s really kind of bright in here, don’t you think? For a storage warehouse, it has some pretty good lighting, don’t you think?”

Shinobi ground her teeth. “Who the bloody hell cares about the fucking lighting! Have you come up with something or not?”

“That WAS what I came up with, genius,” Echo said, exasperated. “Fine! Take out one of your throwing knives, and when I tell you, hit that circuit box on the far left. When the power is cut, this place will be pitch black, and they won’t be able to see a thing.”

“Yes, but neither will we!” Shinobi complained, loosing a throwing knife from her belt. “What then? We all stumble around playing Blind Man’s Bluff?”

Removing his elevating rod from his belt, Echo compressed it into a small rod, and listening carefully, threw it across the room, behind a second stack of crates to the far right. As expected, the gunmen all turned, hearing the noise, and several of them fired. “Now!” Echo hissed, gesturing to the knife in Shinobi’s hands.

“Hope you know what I’m doing,” she mumbled as she rose up gently, threw the blade, then ducked back down as the shooters turned back towards their direction again. The blade struck true, piercing the insulated cable leading to the box, causing it to short out. The lights dimmed, then faded completely. A shower of sparks rained down from the severed cable for several seconds before it, too, went dark. The gunmen let out shouts of alarm, some of them firing blindly, illuminating themselves momentarily with the flash of their guns. Satisfied, Parker stood up, then pulled Shinobi to her feet as well.

“Follow me,” he said softly, still holding her hand, “and when I tell you to attack, attack.” Saying nothing, she followed him through the darkened warehouse. They stopped for an instant, and a soft muffled cry then a groan sounded from in front of them before he resumed leading her. They stopped again and he said simply, “Nine o’clock.” Shinobi struck out with a fist, connecting with flesh and bone. A loud cry sounded, then a loud thump as a body hit the floor, and they were moving again. “Six o’ clock,” he whispered as he released her arm, moving silently away. She turned and struck out behind her, again taking out one of the unwary criminals with a single blow.

“Shit!” one of the criminals yelled. “Those capes... they’re taking us out under cover of darkness! We need some light in here! Somebody open a door, or turn on a flashl—uuuugghhnnn!”

Echo chuckled softly, reaching out to grab Shinobi’s arm again. “I doubt anyone will be dumb enough to yell out loud again after that,” he said softly, leading her expertly around a stack of crates. He paused, kneeling down, and retrieved his staff from where he’d thrown it. “But he has a point. If you see anyone with a flashlight, hit first, and ask questions later.” He surged forward with his staff, extending it fully, striking out at a criminal just in front of them, batting away the flashlight from his hands before he could switch it on, then rapping him on the side of the head, bringing him down. “Case in point,” he said unnecessarily, leading her again to the right side of the warehouse.

Shinobi merely nodded silently, extremely impressed. By her count, they’d taken out nearly half of the armed gunman in less than three minutes, all without being able to see her own hand in front of her face! In her ninja training she’d learned how to find blind, how to empty her mind, extend her senses, and block or counter attacks she couldn’t see coming, but what Parker was doing went far beyond that.

He’s using Sonar, she realized, suddenly. My God... he’s using his enhanced hearing to see, to know where everyone and everything in this entire warehouse is! That’s... amazing! It’s one thing to be able to hear a pin drop from across a crowded room, but it’s something else altogether to be able to tell what kind of pin it is, where exactly it dropped, and what position it’s facing, just from the sound! She shook her head, smiling slightly. Wow. That man never ceases to amaze me...

“Okay. Shield your eyes,” he whispered again, gently pressing her down behind a crate. He removed a small round object from his belt pouch. “I’m about to put a little light on the subject. Everyone that’s left is going to instinctively look up at the light, and be stunned, but if we don’t stare directly at the light, we should be fine. There are three on our left, at two o’clock, and four of them in front and to the right. You take out the three on the left and I’ll take out the rest. Ready?”

“Wait. Why are you taking out four of them and just leaving me the three on the left?” she asked, indignantly. “You don’t think I could take them all out?”

“Probably could,” Echo said, as he finished preparing the flashbang, “but since I know EXACTLY where everyone is, and you won’t know until the lights come up, I’m going to take the group further back. Now close your eyes and get ready!” Counting silently in his head, he pulled the pin and lobbed the device up towards the center of the group. A few seconds later, a small explosion sounded, and the entire warehouse grew bright.

“Ahhhh! My eyes!” several of the criminals shouted in shock, firing wildly for several seconds. Shinobi opened her eyes, raising up cautiously, moving towards the illuminated forms at her left. A simple knife-edge fist to the side of the neck took out two of her foes, but the last one, who’d luckily been facing away from the blast when it went off, saw her coming and raised his gun.

“Hold it!” he said, scowling, staring directly into her eyes as he took aim. “You’re not going anywhere, babe. I’ve got you right in my sights...”

Shinobi smiled. Focusing her will through her eyes, she let her small telepathic talent flow, locking his gaze to her own. She sensed his attention waver, felt his thoughts slow down... and then she moved, keeping her movements simple, her body perfectly oriented, approaching the gunman carefully from the edge of his peripheral vision, careful not to break the illusion of what he was seeing. Behind him now, she reached out, sliding the gun from his slack fingers, his consciousness still too focused on her after-image to notice its loss.

“And I have YOU, in my sights,” she said smoothly, touching the man’s shoulder, breaking him out of the trance. The man whirled around, shocked, his hands grasping at a gun no longer there. “Looking for this?” she asked, holding up the weapon. “Nice toy. A pretty useful weapon,” she said, holding her free hand towards his head, “but I’ve got better.” Her hand began to glow brightly as she formed a fist, and reaching forward, she stabbed him through the forehead with her psychic blade.

“You all done over there?” Echo called out from across the room.

“Just finishing up,” Shinobi replied, withdrawing her blade and her mind from the gunman. His eyes crossed and he slumped to the ground soon as contact was broken. She dusted her hands lightly against her costume, letting out a breath. “And that’s that. All things considered, things could have gone much worse.” She turned, and paused, staring at the expression on Parker’s face as he approached her. “Ah. Um... is something wrong?” For a reply, Parker grabbed her arm and held tight, leading her briskly through the warehouse to the main entrance. “Ow! Hey! Watch it! Echo... PARKER! You’re hurting my arm!”

“Good,” he replied tersely, kicking open the front door.

Outside, she pulled away, angrily, and he turned to face her again, glaring back, meeting her angry gaze with one of his own. “Parker! What the HELL has gotten into you?” she demanded. “If you think I’m going to stand here and let you manhandle me, you’re—”

“Shut. Up.”

Veronica blinked. “W... what did you just say to me?”

“I said, SHUT UP,” he replied, emphasizing the words with a trace of his lingering sonic powers. Several of the warehouse windows shattered. “I have HAD IT up to HERE with your attitude, Roni! I’ve been patient. I’ve been understanding. I’ve been civil. I’ve given you more than enough time to cool down, to act like a normal sensible person and just sit down and talk this out. And you know what? I’m tired of waiting! We’re going to talk about what crawled up your ass, here and now, before this goes any further, and before you push me to do something I’m going to regret later.”

Roni opened and closed her mouth several times, unable to find the words. “Parker... I...” She shook her head. “No. Sorry. You’re right. You’re right. We do need to talk. But not here. Not now. We’ve... we’ve got to get those criminals secured and restrained for the police. Hell, we need to call the police and let them know about the break-in and have them come pick these guys up! I... we can talk about this later.” She turned to head back into the warehouse.

“A harpist plucking her strings...”

A gasp escaped from Roni’s lips as her body froze in mid-step. Her eyes widened, and she paused, her mind and body frozen, waiting for the rest of her trigger. Her body trembled slightly, feeling like nothing more than the string of a harp, stretched and pulled tight, virtually vibrating with the need to be ‘plucked’.

Parker walked over to face her, stepping between her and the door. He licked his lips slowly, intentionally drawing it out, enjoying the desperation on her face, knowing that for a change, she was hanging on his every word. He reached out, as if to caress her cheek, then pulled back, shaking his head. “I didn’t want to do it this way, Roni, but I meant what I said. We are talking about this, right here, and right now. The alternative is that we split, we end this relationship and both go our separate ways. Is that what you want, Roni? You may speak.”

“N....nnnnnooo...” she managed to whisper, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

“It’s not what I want either,” Parker admitted, sighing deeply. “I know this is something big for you, something important. You wouldn’t act this way over something trivial. I also know that as much as you want to talk with me about this, something else is pushing you to avoid talking about it at all costs. I was hoping you would be able to make the choice on your own... but since you can’t, I’m making it for you.” He sighed again, closing his eyes. “I know... this is pushing a few boundaries, using my power over you in this way. I just hope when all this is over that you understand WHY I have to do this.”

The tears in Roni’s eyes began to fall then. Her own thoughts were still locked in neutral, but Parker’s words still struck home. She needed to be plucked so badly right now that she could, she would have promised or begged for just about anything for him to finish her descent, to let her fall and slip into the intoxication bliss of mindlessness. Forgiveness would have been a small price to pay to leave the limbo she was trapped in with her need. Finally, his lips began to move, and the words she longed to hear were finally spoken.

“...invokes a tone of pure joy, the sound of her very soul.”

Darkness rushed up to meet Roni as she fell, and she embraced the nothingness that followed with passion. More words were spoken, their meaning lost to her as she soon as she heard them, but that was okay. She was content to sleep deep deep within her own self. Even when her lips began moving of their own accord, speaking in her voice, she remained contently oblivious. After the emotional hell she’d endured of the past few days, to be completely, utterly empty felt like bliss, pure bliss.

“Now, Veronica,” Parker said softly, leaning forward to wipe the tear trails from her cheeks, “tell me about your past. Tell me what you’ve been trying so hard to keep from me.”

And Roni, eyes wide and vacant, nodded woodenly, and began to speak.