The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Vengeance, Thy Name Is

Chapter 3 — Test 2 — The Naturals

Claudia resisted the morning light, but from the soaked sheets, she felt like it was a good idea to get up and hit the showers. She could hear Cynthia’s lament of “Aw, man, did I mention how much I hated movie night?”

“Claudia’s here? How?” Brenna asked.

“Huh? Thought we went through this already,” Claudia mumbled.

“She’s wondering how you didn’t end up in a pink skirt and doing chores like a good little mindless maid. Gianna was the only one, ladies. Great job. And I checked with the pink room. She’s figuring it out and she should be back with us by the afternoon,” Anna reported. “And for the record, Claudia here doesn’t seem to be a big movie fan. She and Rhonda tied for second. Of course, Jazzy won. She just won’t melt to subliminals. That was her second clean movie night in a row, so she’ll be shipping out soon.”

“About fucking time! That means I can finally win!” Rhonda exclaimed. “Might have had it this time if Lil Kim over here hadn’t ripped her clothes off in my face. I can resist on screen pussy. On screen. Stupid controllers with ethics don’t do any of the fun stuff anyway. But if I hadn’t given Claudia a little help you’d have to check me for a pulse.”

“I don’t remember anything beyond the classroom scene,” Claudia admitted with some embarrassment. “Maybe I’ll do better next time.”

Everyone gasped. “Okay, that’s seriously hardcore. Anyone awake for that... That’s designed to almost make you a puppet. I think that site actually embeds an address for any girl who sees it to line up and join the party. I don’t think you can do any better for movie night,” Cynthia said slowly, with a stunned look on her face.

“And Gianna woke up!” Cheryl yelled, pointing at Gianna in a short pink dress with a tight neck walk toward the barracks, mincing her way along in stripper heels.

“Dear God, what happened to her?” Claudia asked.

“Our version of KP. Was in the first twenty to pass out, so first she had to sleep with the concession bimbos, then you have to stay with them until you break out and find your way home. And the pink room is miles from here, so she must have only been in there a few hours, then got lucky with the hitchhiking,” Cynthia explained.

“Yeah, I got it my first movie night. Those recovering bimbos don’t go easy on you, either. They love seeing a fallen agent having to go through their form of stupidity. I think I was forced to write a three hundred page novel using only the words like and totally before I realized who I was and headed back here,” Brenna said.

“Yeah, but you were a bubble-headed cheerleader first, so how much of a difference was there?” Anna said snidely.

“Was NOT!” Brenna shouted back.

“Blonde hair, bright eyes, brighter smile? Someone climbed ot the top of the pyramid scam!” Anna countered. Brenna rolled her eyes and clenched her fists to avoid doing something she’d regret for the rest of her life. The thud of Gianna trying to get through the door broke up the argument briefly.

“YOU try to walk in these... these instruments of torture with a free will!” Gianna protested, sitting down on the nearest bed and pulling the heels off her feet with a few muttered curses.

“That’ll teach you to sleep through a movie,” Claudia said with a chuckle.

Gianna’s face hardened. “You got lucky, new girl. You will end up in the pink room some day, and I’ll remember that line when you come back,” she swore, getting back to her feet and running into the bathroom to change into some of her own clothes.

“She has a point there. Might take things we’ve only heard rumors about, but Anna will make sure you end up in the pink room. Part of training. They gotta know that if you’re captured you can escape. Hell, they may use you for deep cover, the way you’re handling things,” Rhonda said.

“So you’ve all ended up like Gianna so far?” Claudia asked.

“Never got as far as the shoes,” Rhonda said with a smirk.

“More than once. Helps build up your resistance. Kinda like getting vaccinated,” Brenna said.

“Well said for a cheerleader,” Anna interrupted. Brenna glared at her.

“What’s with you and Anna? I didn’t think you were any Gomer Pyle,” Claudia blurted out.

“Fucking stereotypes. She thinks I’m some dumb uneducated little clay pigeon for controllers to shoot down, love, squeeze, and call George. Just because I wish there was a college or professional cheer squad that didn’t use bimbos, and just because I love makeup and the color pink doesn’t mean I crave having my will stripped from me!”

“It also doesn’t mean that just because you sneaked your way out of being controlled that you belong here!” Anna sneered as she went out the door.

“That’s gone on since Brenna got here a month ago,” Cynthia explained in an undertone. “You know the whole thing about cheerleaders? Throw me in the air Barbie? Ain’t a cheerleader in Texas with a mind of her own? Break your neck and lead the fight song? All of that? A lot of people here think pretty low of cheerleaders. That’s why they have their own protection force- no one here’s going to help them out.”

“You gotta be one of them to get in. Or at least their boyfriend,” Cheryl added. “My brother found that out the hard way.”

“No one knows the half of it. Those assholes... I was above four-oh in high school, got into Austin on my merits- and I’m from Oklahoma!- and they still let me go there,” Brenna snarled as they headed out. She leaned closer to Claudia and said quietly, “Everyone just calls me cheerleader like it’s some dirty word.”

“Won’t tell them I was on the squad for a year in high school, then,” Claudia replied with a warm smile.

“That’s different. You didn’t want to be a Texas cheerleader. Of course, I didn’t know what that really meant, but I heard enough rumors that when I got the invite I was gonna pass- I got tired of all the name calling, and as you might have seen, it sort of still is a sore spot. But Ally was invited too, and I went to keep an eye on her. She was a year older, but we were in the same class. She got left back in second grade because we moved- well, that’s what my folks told everyone, but Ally got mom’s scatterbrain.

“Not me. I knew from the first second that Texas Elite was out for blood. I might be cute, but I’m not stupid. Everything was too perfect, and I know when guys are checking out my ass in that way they have when they don’t want the girl to know. And that chamber left nothing to the imagination. I played brain dead the first day, but Allison wasn’t playing. She’s like- she was like our dad, very gullible and loyal to a fault. I tried my best to keep her awake by talking about school, our family, all the things back home. Some of the other girls helped ‘cause they were feeling the same things and fighting the same fight, but the smart ones knew that if we were caught resisting we’d be obliterated. You didn’t see their security, and you don’t want to imagine the end result of the lower divisions. I’ve read up on a bunch of ‘em since. They’re the kind they teach you how to wield an M16 over.” Brenna’s smile was feral and bloodthirsty.

“The threat of the wolves circling kept me going in and out. It’s hard to understand, and harder to describe- it’s like you can feel yourself being erased, but you’re enjoying it. It’s bizarre, like a near-death or out-of-body experience. Like watching yourself die. Glad I kept that perspective. That’s what saved me.”

“You’ve got more football player inside you than cheerleader, I can tell that much,” Claudia said.

The words were meant to be a compliment, but Brenna’s face set into hard lines. “That came from after,” she said tersely. “At the end of the first week, Allison came on to me, and damn if I didn’t want her. The program was trying to make you a complete fuck doll, and Allie didn’t care who got inside her as long as something took care of her need that second. Who gives a damn about incest? That woke me up, full force. I came too far in eighteen years to fuck my own sister. I had to run or die, so I sneaked out the back door. There was a van waiting there, and I was too doped up to worry about why. I got lucky though- was just a coach from Oklahoma who picked up some of us smarter ones. Of course, she was just poaching for her benefit. She was better than those hound dogs at Texas Elite, but she was still a witch. At least she respected my resistance. She even tried to explain what was happening to Allison to my parents to see if they’d be able to get her out.”

“Wait. Your parents knew that Allison was being brainwashed and they didn’t do anything?” Claudia interrupted, stunned.

“Yeah, they didn’t know what to do, and then when Allison came home in all that red and black glitter, they didn’t care. They ate up all that bullshit from Lubbock like it was going out of style. It’s a real simple setup when you think about it. They use the girls as weapons, let them sparkle everyone’s eyes as the ultimate accomplishment a cheerleader can aspire to. No one worries, no one wonders, no one cares. Allie was so far gone she even offered me a second chance to be her roommate. Don’t know if she still found me attractive or just had orders to keep me quiet. They taught her some skills, that’s for sure. I was pretty charmed, but I knew she was just trying to put me back to sleep so I wouldn’t spill the beans. Two days later, after Allie’d done her dirty work, I was the quitter, I was the trouble maker, I was the dumb one, I was the one with no future, I was the failure, I was the one who had to be looked after. I ran away that night. Guidance counselor helped me graduate early with some online classes, and I got a full ride at Eastern Michigan.” Brenna’s face got even more serious. “You have to know one thing. Those who know, know, and there’s no turning back once you know.”

“I know- isn’t that why we’re here?”

“Not like that. On general principles, it’s the quick and the dead, and of the quick, those who don’t work for us- I question their loyalties, what they believe, who they are, what they do, so everyone still calls me dumb little miss cheerleader.” Brenna smiled, but it was brittle, as if she would break at any moment.

Claudia didn’t think that would be a good idea, so she sought to push the conversation to its end as quickly as possible to get through it. “So what made you leave Michigan?” she asked after an awkward silence.

“Went from the frying pan to the fire, that’s why. Michigan was crawling with wolves. Makes sense when you think back on it- abandoned factories, cheap mansions, crooked cops, and gangs galore, especially around Detroit. Oh, and you got northern blondes and city black girls and lots of co-eds. Yeah, I reckon you can figure out why the place was crawling with animals. About the only thing I couldn’t figure out was how all of them coexisted. My first semester at EMU, though, I wasn’t thinking about all that. I just tried to get on with my life and put that bimbo who used to be my sister behind me, but then my roommate disappeared at a mall- never came home, and everyone just acted like she was dead and got on with their lives. I asked around, called her parents- it was like they all knew the truth, and it was such an obvious truth that no one talked about it. Didn’t know it right at the time, but that’s just Michigan. Enough gangs with guns and wolves with watches that no one ever asks questions. They just have a funeral without a body, cry a lot, and go back to finding a way out. Since that was supposed to be my way out, I just dropped out. I wasn’t going to be anyone’s prey. Dad even said he’d pay for me to go to college- if I’d stay with Allie in Lubbock, because she was such a good example. That was the final insult. I packed up a few things, and I didn’t care if they stuck an empty casket in the ground under my headstone. Didn’t care anymore. Didn’t have anyone who cared anymore.

“Made my way up to Canada after that. Took up with some other runaways. We did odd jobs and worked our way through online courses. Better a Timmy’s ho than a real one, after all. I had a job offer at Petro Canada- then the Mounties knocked at my door. Lo and behold, Allie followed the backup quarterback to the CFL, and soon the cheerleaders were caught up in a high-end prostitution ring in Toronto. They thought I might know something. The guy who sent the Mountie was one of us, and that’s how they knew to ask about Texas Elite. Should have heard my jaw hit the floor at that. They recruited me right then and there- don’t think I could say yes fast enough.

“So that’s my whole sordid story, and you got a lot of patience for listening to me this long. And for all of that, she still thinks I’m some kind of bimbo,” Brenna concluded, growling the last few words as Anna came back into the room.

“Easy, Bren, you know she just says it so you’ll work harder to prove yourself,” Cheryl said soothingly, putting herself between them to avoid any chance of a brawl.

“Well, we’ll see which one of us is right tonight. But first- target practice!” Anna announced, and the group followed her to the range.

“Holy shit, who taught you to handle a nine like that?” Claudia spluttered, trying not to show her fear as Brenna went through twenty targets in record time with perfect accuracy, then turned back around and shot the crotches off the targets just to show off.

“Coon hunting,” Brenna drawled, playing the Midwestern country girl to the hilt.

“Very funny. What do you have against raccoons, anyway?” Claudia replied, rolling her eyes at the obvious taunt.

“Don’t mind her. She loves shooting things, and when she gets going, it’s her mouth she likes shooting off the most,” Cynthia explained in an undertone. “We didn’t get it until I went online. The wolves who killed her roommate? Brenna didn’t mention that she was there. She chased them down in her own car, ran them off the road, and got written up for a drunk and disorderly. That prostitution ring- come on, they were investigating prostitution in Canada? It’s almost legal there! Argos’ management came after her and sent the Mounties after her. Why, I don’t know. Maybe Allie was still supposed to shut her up. Don’t let those pretty blue eyes fool you- she’s more dangerous than Rhonda and tougher than Anna could ever dream of being, but she only ever shows it on the range.”

“She spent five days being brainwashed. I don’t care what she’s let herself believe, no one can take that much poison and stay alive. The deeply rooted repulsion towards incest shocked her back to life, but that’s all it did. Well, okay, it also gave her the perfect disguise- if it’s actually a disguise. They say the cutest kitties have the sharpest claws, after all. Sometimes I just wonder whose pussycat she is,” Cheryl said quietly.

“You think that’s why Anna gives her so much shit? She’s trying to keep cheergirl Brenna from consuming her?” Claudia speculated.

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “Anna’s not that smart. She’s as fooled by the facade as everyone else here. Likely does think her gun skills come from shooting Bambi,” she replied, walking back to the barracks.

“All right, ladies, seems that the options we’ve given you haven’t gotten you hot and bothered enough for the brass’s liking, so we’re going speed dating tonight!” Anna announced that evening, just when they were getting ready to head to bed. “This drill is only for the best of the best, and I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if all of you came back the next morning in pink tights and stripper heels. If you’re worried or nervous, blame your newest buddy Miss Marion over here. Her performance on her first time out, combined with your solid performance as a unit made HQ think you’re ready to face some natural-born killers. That’s right, we flew in some real pieces of work. Vampires, boobie birds, sirens- hell, I don’t even know what they all found this time. Now, this bunch works for us, so they won’t be playing for keeps, and that also means you can’t just shoot them, cheerleader. This is the kind of scum you will be facing out in the world, and you will have to confront them head on. Magic number is two. Ten minutes each. Now, let’s load up.

The bar was set up with four tables, each with a chess clock. Three men and three women waited in a line, and along the walls were more recovering bimbos looking to pick up a fresh catch for the pink room. “Cynthia, Cheryl, Brenna, Rhonda, Claudia, Gianna, these are Eric, Lucy, Michael, Louise, John, and Jenny. Take your pick and sit down. If you make it through, then you’ll switch,” Anna explained, and behind her drill sergeant bravado was a hint of disapproval. Claudia picked up on the brittleness in her words and listened closely to the next thing she said. “If you’re a real woman of wealth and taste, you’ll know which scum is worth your time and which you’d better leave to other members of your team.”

Claudia thought a little, as did everyone, looking for clues as to what each of the experts had. Eric had on glasses, but given the Beatles fetish the group had, Claudia expected Lucy to be the vampire. The loose sweater on Louise made Claudia think she had a concealed weapon. Knowing her own preferences, she was willing to take a gamble on the forty-year-old redhead. “In case you missed it the first time, I’m Claudia,” she said, not showing any nerves that Tina could try to relax away.

“A confident one. I like that. I’m Louise. What brings you to a place like this? You seem to be above the little bunnies here,” Louise said with expert timing.

“It’s a living. The food’s not bad, either,” Claudia said, dodging the hook.

“Really? I’m more into breasts than wings, if you know what I mean,” Louise countered with a naughty grin.

“Didn’t think you’d need them for dinner,” Claudia replied, fully expecting Louise to reach for her shirt and averting her eyes to be ready.

Louise sighed. “Everyone thinks there must be triple Ds under a loose shirt, because no self-respecting woman would wear such concealing clothing. Were you fantasizing? Sorry to disappoint, my dear. Of course, you could always go for yours if you feel the need,” she said. The command started to take root and Claudia’s fingers undid buttons as she stared in awe at the redhead, but she shook it off at the second button.

“Nice one, Louise. I’m here to watch girls, not hunt cougars,” Claudia shot back, trying not to show any fear, even if she realized that she was way out of her league.

A slow smile spread over Louise’s face, and she glanced at one of the pink room girls waiting nearby. Claudia almost followed her, but stopped just in time. “Really? Is that what you’re here for, then? You like those pretty empty-headed girls? The ones with their brains shut off, floating around in total bliss? They can wear anything they want, and they wear such lovely things to show off their bodies. And they’re not bound by inhibition, or thought, or reason. You must envy them their freedom. It would be a vacation, wouldn’t it? They say bimbo like it’s a bad thing.” Her voice was low and seductive, but Claudia resisted the urge to look at what she so desperately wanted to avoid becoming. She kept her gaze fixed on Louise, not letting herself be drawn in. Fortunately, the bell rang before Louise could ready her next blow.

“Very impressive. I don’t know who you are, young lady, but I’m glad you’re on our side,” Louise said graciously. Claudia scratched her head before returning to the front. She noticed that Cynthia and Rhonda were already behind the bar in bimbo outfits- which was a shocking and headache-inducing clash with Rhonda’s butch look.

“As you can see, four of you survived the first round. We won’t tell you who got who, or how it was done, but you didn’t completely fuck up. Take three minutes to collect your thoughts, then change partners- anyone except who you were with before. Stretch yourself a little.”

Claudia decided to go the male route this time and sat down with Eric. “Claudia,” she said, still recovering from Tina’s assault on her brain. “Let me guess, you’re here for the dancers?”

“Something like that. Of course, if you were grinding that pole, the answer would be yes,” Eric said.

Claudia had to avoid laughing at the pick-up artist’s cheesy line. “I’m sure you say that to all the girls,” she said with a smirk.

“Yes. And then they go do it,” Eric said, lowering his glasses to reveal bright blue eyes that seized Claudia within seconds.

She had to fight him off with every last breath she had, and she gasped out, “I’ve never seen eyes like that!” She could feel herself slipping into the ice blue abyss, and she hung on tight to every scrap of her willpower.

“Would you like me to buy you a drink or just skip to taking you home?” he asked.

She struggled to look away, but then noticed that he had only lowered the glasses, not taken them off. She moved her eyes just low enough to let the glasses filter out some of the light. It restored enough sense to her that she could ask for a drink.

“There something on my face? I’d love to look into your eyes and have you look into mine, but I’m blind without my glasses. Maybe you’re the same way. It’s quite all right. I won’t be offended if you want to keep staring,” Eric said, and Claudia struggled to stay coherent as her vision paled to ice blue. “Now, we were talking about you and stripper poles,” he went on.

She could feel herself stand up and start undoing her shirt. But that broke eye contact, and she looked over at the dark brick wall to let her eyes come back into focus. She could feel sweat all over her body and hear her pulse pounding in her ears as she realized how close she came to slipping under.

“Feeling a little warm? That nice outfit of yours would look just as good on the floor,” Eric said, his eyes back on Claudia. But her survival instincts were now in overdrive, and she picked up the drink and threw it in Eric’s face. He laughed, put his glasses back on, and hit the timer himself, saying to Anna, The day I get a free drink the hard way is the day I give it up! My compliments, Sarge! I had this girl locked down twice, and I don’t normally need to stand up and reestablish contact when I ask a pretty girl to strip. I must be losing my touch.”

“Nah, I’m just gaining mine,” Claudia replied with a smirk as she headed back to the line.

Anna was staring at her with a distinctly non-regulation look of disbelief on her face. “That was a vampire you escaped. I never saw that in all my days. Marion, does the name Eric Drakulic mean anything to you?”

“Umm, that I should be checking for marks on my neck?” Claudia replied with genuine concern.

“Something like that.”

Claudia took a couple of deep breaths, grateful that she had avoided some unspeakable fate, and looked around. Cheryl and Brenna had been scooped up by the bimbos at the bar, but Gianna was standing next to her, body sagging and sweat dripping from her hair. “I wasn’t going to end up there,” she said with an exhausted smile.

“You look like a rag doll- maybe not the kind you’d let a kid near...” Claudia noted.

“Yeah, I’m so... sooooo... no, I’m not giving in, damnit!”

“You fought them off just on knowledge of your fate. That’s good enough for this exercise and a valuable lesson. Claudia here is the last one standing. Get some rest, Gianna,” Anna ordered, and Gianna headed back to the van. Anna turned back to Claudia, all hint of sympathy gone, and snapped out, “How far do you think you can go?”

“About two feet,” Claudia said in a shaky voice. She could feel a headache coming on, and she knew that she’d used up all her reserves fending off two of the naturals.

“That’ll have to do. You’ve done better than the average trainee. You met two of them. Louise usually parlays that charisma into promotional speaking, even if no one ever remembers a damn thing she said. According to my notes, Jenny was a classic boobie bird, and that seems to have been Rhonda’s weakness... not that you could have ever guessed, of course. Lucy- or, as we like to call her, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds- has a way with words. You got lucky not picking her- with your propensity towards hallucinations, she’d have lost you in fantasy in two seconds flat and made us all look stupid for thinking you might be the next big thing. If Cheryl’s lucky, she might get a painting of her dreamscape in the mail sometime this week. Michael von Rawson is one of the few male sirens out there. Cheerleader didn’t think a male voice could sing her to sleep. John’s Mr. Oldschool. Since Cynthia’s old school herself, it was a match made in hell.” Anna rapped out the descriptions of how her team had given in without emotion or emphasis, and there was a mocking smile on her face as she led Claudia back to the van and the barracks.