The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

For the hundredth time, Sebastion Stodder looked around the lavish confines of his cell. There wasn’t much else for him to do.

He was almost disappointed by what he saw. It just didn’t look the way a cell ought. Hell, the room was better than Sebastion’s own quarters. His own little dorm certainly didn’t have such an impressive view of the outside. Didn’t make it any less a cell. Normal rooms didn’t have bulletproof glass.

The sun was particularly warm and bright today, barely a cloud in the sky. It was beautiful out. The window was practically a torture. Didn’t keep him from looking outside.

“Have you been listening to a word I’ve been saying,” a sharp voice cut into his daydreaming.

“I—” Sebastion started.

“Of course not,” drawled the voice, “If you could actually keep your head on straight for more than fifteen seconds, I wouldn’t need to be here.”

The speaker was William Henry Mason esquire, a stern, hawkfaced man of middling years. He was Sebastion’s advocate for the upcoming hearing. Not exactly his lawyer. He wasn’t headed for courtroom, but the Brotherhood did believe that someone should speak for the accused. At least when the defendant was one of their own.

Sebastion wondered what he’d ever done to deserve this. Damn the Brotherhood, anyways, with all their promises of wealth and glory. Same to their hardass teachers, if you could call them that. Those bastards threw him off into the deep end then acted shocked when he couldn’t manage the impossible. What the hell had they expected, anyways. They were the ones that should have been exiled to that boring, dead end duty.

Most of all, he cursed that damned girl. If only he’d never laid eyes on her.

All he’d wanted was a little break, a tiny reprieve from the tedium they’d stuck him with. Was that so bad? Who could blame him for taking advantage when some cute young thing showed up all hot and eager. Ok, maybe he should have suspected something when he woke up, but she was good, real good. It was hardly the first time he’d been tired afterwards.

“In a way, your little... incident at the harbor is fortunate. Better pray that it’s enough.”

“What, but—?” Sebastian started. Fortunate? It got him stuck with that stupid desk job in the first place. He wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for that.

“Yes, I do believe the council will settle for a charge of gross negligence,” Sebastion winced. That would just about kill any last dreams of a future here. “But, fortunately they don’t consider you competent enough to warrant treason charges.”

“T—, Treason?” said Sebastion. How could they possibly think that? What in the hell had he done to deserve that? Sure, he’d tried to cover it up, but he was careful. He went back twice and doublechecked everything. Nothing missing, nothing broken, no harm done, right? So why not save himself the embarrassment?

“A data dump. A full, backup dump of the records, and you just let her walk in and take them. Yes, boy, it’s a distinct possibility. You had one simple job to do, and you couldn’t even manage that.” He paused a moment to regain his composure. This was the most riled Sebastion had ever seen the man.

“Not that you could ever stop a real attack,” he continued, with emphasis on the you, “but even you should have been able to raise an alarm.”

Sebastion mumbled a reply. What was the point? They were determined to screw him over no matter what he did.

“Fortunately, I don’t think you have to worry too much. One look at your record, and no one will doubt that your failings were incompetence rather than disloyalty.”

“What are you doing,” Jessica asked the maid. Lisa was perched on a stool in front of the laptop, typing away at who knew what. The stool was used out of necessity. The maid’s poofy skirt would not handle a normal chair very well, and she was under strict instructions to maintain her uniform. This was the most recent uniform, one of several that Conrad had bought, each a variation on the classic maid look, just different enough to add the spice of variety. Honestly, Conrad spoiled her. The girl was lucky that Jessica handed control over her finances to him. Were she in charge of spending, Lisa would not have enjoyed such frivolities. Not that Jessica complained when her own gifts from Conrad arrived.

Lisa jumped up from her seat, quickly shutting down what she had been working on. Surely it wasn’t that nonsense from earlier? Jessica thought she’d outgrown that silly obsession. Time she put a stop to that.

“Do you have no chores left to perform? I can always find additional duties for you.”

“Yes ma’am, I mean, no ma’m,” said Lisa, “I was just taking a quick break in between, ma’am, I didn’t mean to slack off.”

“See that you don’t,” Jessica said. Lisa’s skin flushed a rich crimson, and her breathing quickened slightly. The girl actually enjoyed the reprimand, was excited by it, even. Jessica had to admit, the girl did look rather fetching. She especially enjoyed the heaving of her lush bosom. Today’s uniform was particularly thin in front, and Jessica could see those delicious nipples standing at attention beneath the flimsy fabric.

That settled it. The girl was getting out of hand, and it was time for additional encouragement. Encouragement Jessica would find most enjoyable.

At her orders, Lisa dutifully followed into the living room. The recliner would be a particularly comfortable place for the lesson, but not quite yet. At a harsh word, Lisa was on her knees, staring up at Jessica. She could see the desire written across the maid’s lovely face.

“You’ve been a bad girl, haven’t you,” Jessica said. Lisa eagerly agreed.

“Yes, mistress, I’ve been a bad, bad girl. I’m sorry mistress.”

Jessica let her continue for a minute, allowing the remorse to sink in.

“But you can change, can’t you?”

“Oh yes, mistress, yes,” said Lisa. Her skin was totally flushed now, a small trace of perspiration making her smooth skin glisten. Jessica was particularly drawn to the way that cleavage shone. Though she was making an effort to remain still, Jessica could see her writhe slightly in discomfort and the unfulfilled need stoked by the scolding. She let her squirm for a while, until the maid’s eyes were wild with desire. With a smile, she allowed Lisa to touch herself, though she remained kneeling. Positive reinforcement was important, after all.

“I think you can be a good girl from here on out, don’t you agree?” she said. “Tell me what you will be?”

“I’ll be good,” Lisa said, fingers plunging in and out. “I’ll be a good girl.”

Her eyes were locked onto Jessica’s, and it was clear the girl believed it. There was an intense, utter look of devotion in her expression that left no doubt as to Lisa’s sincerity. Still, further demonstration wouldn’t hurt.

Jessica stepped back from the kneeling maid, sprawling herself onto the recliner. Her legs parted, hiking up the short but exquisite dress she wore. There were no panties, Conrad preferred her without them. All it took was a curt, dismissive wave to send Lisa between her thighs.

God, that girl had an amazing tongue. Jessica leaned her head back, eyes closing involuntarily. Oh yes she did.

“Who is she?” The monitor showed a blurry image, taken from the security footage. The young woman in the picture appeared disturbingly innocuous. Most of the shot was of her long, brunette hair. Attractive, but so were any number of girls. This shot, caught her from the side, at least offered a solid profile of her face. Her clothes were rumpled and askew, evidence of her tryst a few minutes prior. They’d interviewed the man, but he proved useless.

“We’re not sure sir,” the officer told Hubber. “We’ve been searching the database, but no matches yet.”

“And our spies?” He knew what the answer would be, but had to ask anyways.

“Her description has been circulated, even the pictures to our more trusted agents. A few false leads, but nothing that panned out.”

“How in the blazes did she get this far? The system was supposed to be secure.”

“She had a login, sir, a high level one,” he said.

“Whose?”

The officer broke eye contact, looking around nervously.

“Nobody’s, sir. An administrative password, an older one. There were any number of people who knew it.” Hubber suppressed a snarl. There was no shortage of smart people in the Brotherhood. He wouldn’t be here if that wasn’t the case, but it amazed him sometimes just how idiotic those intelligent people could be. Unique, traceable logins should have been an absolute no-brainer on a secure system. Did anyone besides himself have even the slightest inkling of counter-espionage?

“Find her. Keep on it until you’ve found our missing data. I want to know who sent her, who they’ve been working with, and above all, how the hell they did it.”

He turned and strode away. He was not about to watch years of effort wasted right before the final push. Not when they were so close. Fortunately, their thief would find the most critical records missing. One of his first tasks after rising to the directorship was a massive purge of the main records. Those idiots had actually been keeping top secret data inside the central database.

No matter how many times read, the words on the screen remained cryptic as ever. Derrick Stone, first lieutenant in the Guardian Defense Force, refreshed his browser out of habit, just to see if anything changed. He furled his brow as the same enigmatic message appeared.

For several years now, he’d been a member of what the rest of the controller population referred to as simply The Guardians. Joining hadn’t made him popular with those same controllers, but Derrick was never one to shirk away from doing the right thing. He’d never really regretted his choice. They were doing good work, important work. Why wasn’t that a comfort anymore?

It was those blasted emails from Lisa, the last of which he’d puzzled over the past twenty minutes. They had been growing ever more erratic, and he was getting worried. The letters were getting more crazed by the day, full of rambling warnings about how “they” didn’t want her looking into this anymore. Given the state of those messages, Derrick should have been worried about her mental health. Except... except there was no way she’d faked all those documents. He still wasn’t seeing whatever bogeyman had concerned her so, but there was something about them. A nagging hint that concerned him.

Concerned him enough to kick it up the ladder. That was where things really started to get dicey. It wasn’t long afterwards that the memo came shooting back down the ladder, dropping onto his head like a bomb from the heavens. “Back off!", was the heart of its message, for all that it was couched in officious jargon. “Back the fuck off now!”

“What’re you up to?” Asked a voice from behind.

“Letter from your girlfriend back home?” the voice chuckled, “Or maybe it’s a boyfriend.”

It was his roomate. Though the government sprung for all the latest equipment, training, and all the high tech gadgets they could ask for, they were terribly stingy when it came to living quarters. At least for newbie officers. Joseph Moretti, Big Joe to his friends. Despite the constant ribbing, Derrick was definitely counted among those. At just under six and a half feet tall, the hulking brute of a man made an interesting pairing with the relatively diminutive Derrick. (Relatively. he was almost six feet tall himself). The two struck up an unlikely friendship after a particularly nasty day of training, and had maintained it ever since.

“It’s nothing,” Derrick said, “just reading something, that’s all.”

“Fine, don’t tell me. Anyways, you’ll have me out of your hair soon enough.” Derrick noticed a note to his friend’s voice, an agitation covered by his brash entrance. Derrick turned around, to see Joe holding up a slip of paper.

“What’s—?” Derrick started.

“Transfer,” said Joe, “I’m getting shipped the fuck out of here first thing next week.”

“Where?”

“Texas,” he said, “The fucking border division. Technically, I’m getting promoted, or at least on the fucking fast track for it, but man, fuck that place.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Derrick said.

“Tell me about it,” Joe plopped down on his bunk, leaning back against the wall, “What the hell do I know about scanning for some ugly ass drug smugglers humping their asses across the desert.”

It’s me, Derrick realized. It’s because of whatever the hell I stirred up. Come to think of it, his buddy Carlos had been shipped out for duty slightly early, and Elisha’s unit just got selected for an oversees training mission. They were isolating him, moving away his friends and allies. What in the hell had Lisa gotten into?

Derrick looked at the screen, then to Joe. Maybe Lisa was in even deeper crap than he’d realized. Still, did he dare bring anyone else into it? Fuck it, if he couldn’t trust Joe, he might as well give up now.

“All right,” he said, “You want to know what I’ve been reading the past couple days?”

Elizabeth’s masters were unhappy, so therefore she was unhappy. She’d just returned to the main office after a long road trip with the diplomatic teams, helping them shore up the last of their alliances. Many times, Elizabeth had served as a personal incentive, one last sweetener to help close the deal.

Even if some of their tastes sometimes ran to the extremes, Elizabeth hardly minded. Her body was there to be used. And if these men loved the novelty of a fully powered adept at their most intimate beck and call, that’s what she was there for.

That was hardly the only use her masters had for her. Elizabeth’s talent as a scanner were put to the test. These were delicate, delicate operations. Even some of their staunchest allies didn’t realize the full scope of their burgeoning network. The absolute last thing they needed was eavesdroppers, or even random interlopers, to foul up negotiations. That called for some serious counter-surveillance, and Elizabeth’s skills was second to none.

As always, she was proud to contribute to their cause. So if the trip left Elizabeth exhausted, it also left her quite pleased with herself.

That didn’t last long. Upon her return, Elizabeth was quickly reclaimed by Master Hubber, and therefore thrown into the middle of his fruitless investigation. She’d done her best to ease his spirits. That, at least, had been pleasant work. Not that she would ever be dissatisfied with any Brotherhood member that allowed her to service them, but Master Hubber was a particular favorite. Elizabeth did good work, but it wasn’t enough. He wouldn’t be satisfied until the intruder was caught, so neither would she.

They were in the security office again this morning, and she followed three steps behind as he swept through the room barking orders. As usual, there was no good news to be had. None of their agents recognized the mysterious intruder, and the entire search had been nothing but a mess of dead ends. It was like the girl had appeared out of nowhere. Worse, all evidence suggested that she had help from the inside. High level help.

As Master Hubber stopped at yet another desk to hand out orders, Elizabeth looked around. It wasn’t exactly out of boredom, not quite, but at the same time, there was a definite unease. She was here to help her master, but outside of relieving tension there had been nothing for her to contribute.

The cubicle walls were covered with the usual office knickknacks. A few mundane posters, some tacky comics that lacked any sort of humor. Not that she’d ever say so to him. Even a lowly office worker in the Brotherhood was infinitely above her, no matter how poor his taste. The rest of his desk was unkempt and scattered with papers, many with half forgotten notes scribbled along the margins.

The only thing that looked terrible out of place was a large, grainy black and white photograph pinned near his computer’s monitor. Naturally, that was the only thing interesting enough to draw Elizabeth’s attention. It only took her a few seconds to recognize the location. Heck, she even knew which camera it came from. The only curious part was the person in the picture. Hmm... it didn’t look like anyone from the Brotherhood. Well, maybe a bit like Anne, that cute little slave they’d brought in for training last month, but no, now that she looked at it the jawline was all wrong. Then why did she look so familiar.

No, it couldn’t be.

Could it?

“Lisa?” Elizabeth said. Conversation suddenly ceased, all eyes turning towards her.

“What did you say?” Hubber asked.

Elizabeth told him.

Lisa was being disobedient. She hated it. All she wanted anymore was to be a good little servant for Miss Jessica and Master Conrad, but this was too important to let go. The Brotherhood had to be stopped. No matter how much she wanted to slip away into wonderful obedience, Lisa couldn’t rest until her goal was complete. At the moment, she was painstakingly cross referencing property listings with supply invoices. Personnel assignments and major equipment transfers had been cunningly excised, but they had forgotten about shipments of basic staples. Food, toiletries, cleaning supplies, all of those had to be bought, and they at least gave a picture of how much a building was being used.

There were several anomalies, buildings whose supply use was well below their stated occupancy. By cross referencing gaps in the records of a few critical researchers, Lisa could figure out who was working where. Or at least get an idea. It was tough to be exact. Even so, she was starting to get an idea of where they—crap, Master Conrad was coming, she could hear his footsteps approaching.

Lisa hurried to shut everything down. She didn’t want to be caught slacking again. With the computer closed, Lisa hurried over to the unkempt corner of the room. She’d deliberately kept this one untidy, just so there’d be an excuse if someone came by.

When he came into the room, Lisa immediately turned and curtsied to him. There was no subterfuge in that. Face to face, it was hard to think of anything besides eager obedience. Inside, Lisa cringed at her deception, sure that his piercing eyes would see right through it. The last thing in the world she wanted was to disappoint him. It didn’t help that he was so stunningly gorgeous. If he permitted it, Lisa could have spent hours just kneeling and staring at him.

“How may I serve you, master?” Lisa said.

“Oh, by all means, don’t let me interrupt your work,” he said with a smile. Reluctantly, because it would mean turning and looking away from him, Lisa went back to work dusting the bookshelf. As little as she liked it, there was no real question of disobedience. An order was an order.

It was slow, tedious work. The feather duster was a beautiful accessory to her uniform, but it wasn’t made for efficiency. Lisa was so focused on her job that she didn’t notice Master Conrad’s footsteps until he was right behind her. A little push, and her skirt was flipped up above her behind. Lisa smiled. She loved this part.

He pushed inside her hard and fast, with little in the way of warning or foreplay. That was fine by Lisa, she was already excited enough by his presence, and she’d take him any way he wanted. Lisa braced herself against the shelves, knocking the books onto the floor. No matter, she could clean that later.

“That’s right, take it slut,” said Master Conrad. “You’re nothing but a cock hungry slut, aren’t you?”

“Oh yes,” Lisa cried, only too happy to agree with him as long as he would fuck her. “Give me that big thick cock, Master.”

After a few moments of this, his pace slowed down. He said something else to her, but Lisa couldn’t quite make it out. The room seemed to pull away somehow, and the only thing left in the world was herself and her Master.

He was still speaking, but she couldn’t quite make out the words. Except that she could understand them. Somehow she knew that she understood them perfectly, even if she couldn’t consciously tell what they were.

“Yes, master, I want to slave,” she said, repeating the words she couldn’t exactly hear.

“I am a needy little slut.”

“I want to serve.”

“I obey.”

The words continued again and again, always just out of reach, even as they sunk ever deeper into her. He said something else, and her world erupted into a white hot all encompassing climax, drowning thought and reason. For a few seconds, she simply existed, lost in the blissful release.

Lisa came to as Master Conrad pulled his cock from her. The evidence of their coupling trickled down her leg, and Lisa smiled at it. The last few minutes were a blur, but an intense one. Master Conrad was always the perfect partner, even if she would be sore for a while afterwards. It didn’t bother her that she couldn’t remember everything. That was to be expected after spending time with such a mind blowingly good lover as Master Conrad.

It took a few minutes to collect herself. She lay there, books and knickknacks scattered across the floor as she slumped against the shelves. Eventually, she pulled herself together enough to rise. There was far too much work left for her to lie there relaxing.

“That was incredible,” Jessica said, snuggling closer to her lover. She couldn’t help but run her hands down his chest as she reveled in her closeness to him. How much she loved these moments, where there was nothing to do or worry about besides lying in the arms of her love, her prince charming.

They began talking, and in time, the conversation turned towards Lisa.

“You know,” she said, “It really does make things so much easier to have a maid around.”

“I told you it would,” he said, lightly stroking her face, “and she’s just the perfect little maid, isn’t she?”

“Mhmmm. And maybe once there’s some little ones around,” Jessica said with a coy smile, “she’ll stop frittering away so much time and be a bit more dutiful.”

“Hmmm?” he said.

“Oh, you know. She’s always nattering away at my computer, wasting her time when she could be working. I’ve tried to punish her, but she keeps on doing it when she thinks we’re not watching.”

“What?” he said again.

“Lisa!” Conrad roared as he stalked through the hallway towards the small room, little more than a closet, that they’d converted into a servant’s bedroom. That little bitch, Conrad thought, how dare she have even the slightest shred of free will left. After so much time and effort, he’d finally thought her broken.

How he’d savored that moment, when he’d finally thought her broken. It was so easy to picture her, down on her knees fingering herself like the little slut she was. The stupid bitch had confronted him, too.

“You did something to me,” she’d said to him.

“Down”, he told her, and her knees hit the floor like a rock.

As she knelt helplessly before him, her fingers automatically slipped up her dress. He’d known then that she was his, even if she wasn’t ready to admit it. And damn she made a fine piece of ass. Down on the floor with her tits half hanging out of that hot fucking dress he’d stuffed her into. Knowing that she was his, he hadn’t been able to resist gloating a little.

“Damned right, I did.”

“How? We blocked your powers.”

“There’s more than one way to control someone, you stupid slut,” he told her. It was true, though most of his peers would have laughed at him if they’d known how much time he spent learning hypnosis. Well fuck them anyways, those assholes already laughed when they thought he wasn’t looking. He knew what they said about him. “Barely a controller,” those fuckers said, just because he never lived up to his father’s strength. Well he’d show them, he’d learn every fucking trick there was, and then see how much those jackasses laughed.

“But, the blocks, you weren’t allowed to harm us.” Conrad laughed, that was the easy part.

“You like being my slutty little maid, don’t you?”

Lisa immediately nodded, an involuntary smile running across her face.

“Oh yes, master,” she said, “I love it.”

“There you go. I make you into a slutty little slave just like you want me to. Where’s the harm in that?”

Her eyes brightened as he called her a slave, and skin reddening even more. Her fingers picked up their pace. What a fucking slut. He really was doing her a favor.

“And Jessica?” She managed to ask between ragged breaths.

“She’s a bit harder. Don’t worry, though, she’ll join you eventually.” That was the hard part. Not only was hypnosis slower, but it was far more limited, especially when the other person didn’t want to do something. It was easy for a stupid slut like Lisa, fresh from the Brotherhood complex and loaded with buried compulsions. All he had to do was bring those to the surface and she was his.

Jessica, on the other hand, had no such weakness. With her, it was slower, playing on ideas of romance and fairy tale bullshit. So with a little work he became her prince charming, and Lisa her maid. Because every princess needed a maid for her palace, right? In the end, she’d be a slutty little princess for him, growing more and more dependent until he could maneuver her into a Brotherhood training center. Then let’s see how much of a little ‘princess’ she was.

Everything was going perfectly. That bitch Lisa was nothing more than his eager plaything, and that stupid slut Jessica thought she was head over heels for him. The only hard part was convincing himself that it was in their best interest. That took weeks of self delu— no, even in his own mind he shouldn’t say that. Rather, he had to convince himself beyond a shadow of a doubt that they would both be better off owned by the brotherhood. He was only a couple more weeks away for Jessica, probably, but eager little Lisa was just about ready. Or so he’d thought. How the hell could she still resist him?

She was unclothed when he arrived, kneeling on the floor in front of her bed. There had been no time for her to dress, and she was quivering from his obvious displeasure.

“What the hell have you been doing,” he yelled. Lisa shrank back. Conrad felt like wringing her stupid fucking neck. If only he wasn’t prohibited from doing harm. At least she was scared, as she damned well should be.

She started to stammer out an explanation, but he wasn’t in the mood to hear it.

“You know what, come here,” he said, turning and heading downstairs. He didn’t check to see if she was following. Of course she would, if she knew what was good for her.

“Delete it,” he told her once they were down by the computer, “Get rid of the whole damned thing.”

She hesitated, she actually hesitated before carrying out an order.

“Please, master, I’m just trying to—”

“Shut Up!” he said. There was no more protest, but neither did she move to obey. She looked up at him, puppydog eyes pleading, a faint tear trickling down her cheek. Conrad didn’t allow a single trace of emotion to slip through his unflinching gaze. It’s for her own good, he thought to himself when his own programming tried to respond to her obvious anguish.

“What am I?” he said.

“My Master,” she whispered.

“And what are you?” he asked.

“Your humble slave,” she said.

“Delete it all,” he said again, voice low. Their eyes remained locked, a tearful plea in her stare, and then it was over. Her eyes lowered, and she nodded in submission. She was his again. Turning to the computer, she pulled up the folders and cleared away everything. A quick trip to the recycle bin, and they were gone for good. Then she pulled open the browser and logged into her email.

“Stop,” he said. “What are you doing?”

“You said to delete it all, Master, I’m deleting the attachments,” she said. Attachments? Oh no, no no no.

“What have you been up to,” he said with a gnawing horror in the pit of his stomach. “Tell me everything.”

This time he actually listened.

“The Guardians,” he said in disbelief once she’d told him, “You’ve got the fucking Guardians in on this.”

“He says they didn’t believe him,” she said, trying to be helpful.

“I read the damned messages,” he said. Just think, he told himself, just think this through, there has to be a way out. Ok, the Guardians, right? Then he just needed to get ahold of Ron. He’d be able to sort things out.

The programming in Conrad’s brain rebelled at this thought, pushing back against it and trying to drive it from his mind. Conrad resisted. He wouldn’t be contacting anyone, Conrad reassured himself, he’d just offer Lisa some suggestions. If she chose to follow them and contact someone, that wasn’t his fault. That helped somewhat, but not entirely, not enough for him to actually voice his plans.

Ron is one of our most loyal agents, he continued to remind himself. If ordered not to contact anyone else about his instructions, he’d obey. Probably. At the very least, it was plausible enough to mollify the objections.

“Ok, we’re going to send that Derrick of yours another message. Here’s what I want you to say.”

The trip was quiet, neither of them had much to say. The radio droned on with a meaningless blather that Derrick did his best to ignore. Some oldies station, chosen by his passenger. Derrick resisted turning to look at the man. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust him, exactly. After all, Lisa had vouched for him well enough. He just wasn’t happy about suddenly having someone new thrust into the situation, especially when he was forced to leave behind everyone he was sure of.

Derrick told himself that he ought to be happy. Finally, someone was listening to him, someone high ranking. Not only was this guy listening, but he’d even offered to help. It worried him a bit that there was a Temple contact for Lisa to get him in touch with. Not a spy, or so she claimed, but Derrick wasn’t happy to find anyone in the chain of command accepting covert messages from the outside. It had certainly came in handy, but it made him uncomfortable.

Ah well, he could talk to Lisa about it when he saw her.

Lisa tried not to pick at her clothing. It felt wrong to be out of uniform, even if Master Conrad ordered it. He’d insisted she wear normal street clothes tonight. Lisa understood the reason, but that didn’t make it feel any more comfortable.

They pulled into the lot, at the edge of a distant unused park. It was dark and quiet, abandoned at this late hour. Conrad wanted no witnesses. Lisa stepped out of the car, smoothing out her skirt though the light autumn breeze just ruffled it again. They were alone, just the three of them, bathed in the soft glow of a lamppost on the edge of the woods.

A cool gust of wind swept through the lot, rattling the dry, fading leaves. Lisa shivered, wrapping her hands around her. She wished she’d thought to bring a pocket warmer or something along in her purse. Or at least maybe some gloves.

She wasn’t happy. Not with the cool night air, not with the secluded lot, and above all, not with the secret meeting. What was Master Conrad thinking? Derrick would never accept that Lisa was Conrad’s eager slave. She’d tried to explain that to him, but he’d been completely unwilling to listen. Commanded to be silent, there was little Lisa could do, no matter how bad of an idea this was. Miss Jessica might have gotten through to him, but there was little chance that she’d make the effort. These days, Jessica wasn’t very interested in disagreeing with Master Conrad.

A light spilled across the lot, and Lisa shrank back from it. It was gone in a second, but the growing rumble of tires on asphalt warned her of a car coming before it pulled back into view.

Two figures stepped out, obscured by the bright glare of the headlights. The sudden darkness after the lights blinked off did little to clarify, at least until her eyes adapted once more to the dim surroundings.

It was Derrick.

Lisa was hit by a sudden bout of nervousness. How many years had it been since the last time she’d seen him? What the heck was she supposed to say? ‘Hi, been a while. Oh, and by the way, I’m Master Conrad’s servant now.’ Somehow, Lisa didn’t think that would work.

“Um, hi Derrick,” she said, stalling while she tried to think of something. His face was guarded, wary as he looked back and forth at the three of them. After all these years, he still didn’t trust her.

“So, uh, this is,” she started, gesturing towards Conrad. Don’t say Master. Don’t say Master.

“Conrad,” Master Conrad said, saving her from having to suppress her natural inclination. He stepped forward, reaching his hand out to shake. He took Derrick’s hand in his, clasping it firmly. Curious to see how Master Conrad would handle the meeting, Lisa watched closely. Their eyes met for a second, searching one another’s face, and then Conrad nodded slightly towards the man behind Derrick. Lisa didn’t know what Derrick sensed, but his eyes widened with shock and anger. It didn’t last long. Before he could do anything, his face scrunched up as he clutched his head and collapsed to the pavement.

“That takes care of that,” the man told Conrad.

“You’ll have to take them to— take them to,” Master Conrad couldn’t finish the sentence, his usual eloquence lost as he stumbled over the words.

“They sure did a number on you, didn’t they?” the man said, sneering at Conrad. “Yeah, I’ll do your dirty work and take them in for processing.”

The condescension was dripping from his voice. How dare he disrespect Master!

“What about the snot nosed brat,” he said, kicking Derrick lightly with his foot.

“Take him too. If they rush it, we might get him broken and back before anyone suspects,” Conrad said.

“Especially if his stupid little girl sits at his side begging him to give in,” he nodded his head towards Lisa.

Derrick! They were going to use her against him. She was fine with the prospect of her own slavery. Looking forward to it, in fact, but not Derrick. It wasn’t right for them to take him like that,? Yeah, she was obedient, and would gladly take orders. Just, not this. Not like this.

Lisa was clutched with indecision. There had to be something she could do. Begging wouldn’t work. Master Conrad was so firm in his desires, Lisa knew she would never sway him. But what other options were there? Even if she could have used her powers, she probably wasn’t a match for someone that could disable Derrick so easily. It was a moot point, though. Master Conrad had forbid her to use her abilities, and even if he hadn’t they were heavily muted thanks to all those sessions where he helped make her a better servant. Physical force was right out. She could hold her own in a fight, but not to the level the Guardians trained at. Besides, he was so much bigger than her. Even if he was well into his middle years, she was no match for him.

Her anxious fingers fiddled with her purse as she watched Master Conrad and the other man discuss specifics of how to proceed. Jessica was watching as well, but if she felt any of Lisa’s indecision it was hidden behind a mask of adoration. Then Lisa’s fingers brushed against something, and object she’d put there weeks ago. One she’d forgotten about.

Her hands wrapped around it, taking comfort in it while she wondered if she dared use it. Lisa looked at Master Conrad, at Jessica watching him like a lovestuck puppy, at the sneering man. Above all, she looked at Derrick. Slight spasms shook his body, silent convulsions as he lay face pressed to the dirty pavement. Then one more time, she looked to Master Conrad. Lisa made up her mind.

Master Conrad looked at her as she approached, but only briefly. Dismissing her appearance, he turned back towards the other man, but didn’t bother to send her away. Lisa strode next to him, her face a mask of innocence as she smiled sweetly towards her master. Before anyone noticed, before she had time to back out, she pulled it from her purse and jabbed it into Master Conrad’s side. His body shook as the stun gun she’d ordered weeks ago discharged into his flesh. There was a brief widening in his eyes before the spasms took away his muscle control.

Almost, Lisa’s mind rebelled at doing this to her Master, but then she saw Derrick twitching on the ground beside him. She wouldn’t let anyone hurt Derrick, not even Master. Before the other man could react, Lisa spun on him and fired the probes into his gut. There was a grimace of shock and pain, but he didn’t collapse. His eyes closed, clenching in concentration, and then he opened them once more. The sneer was back.

A weight settled on Lisa’s mind. She could feel it enveloping her head. Of its own volition, her hand shot open, and the stun gun clattered to the ground. Her foot lashed out, kicking it hard over to the curb.

The man just laughed. He could see, and sense no doubt, her surprise.

“A taser? Did you really think that would be enough to bring me down? I’m almost insulted. That sort of stupid trick is useless against anyone even halfway competent.”

Lisa’s eyes shot towards Master Conrad. He was trying to rise, but it was a slow thing, he was still shaky from the effects.

“As I said,” he continued, seeing her look. “Anyone even halfway competent.”

“Please,” she started to beg. He paid her no mind.

“A nice try I suppose, at least for a stupid little girl like you, but quite useless. It’s over now.”

“Not quite,” came a voice from behind him. An arm swept across his throat, and suddenly there was red everywhere. He gaped, gurgling loudly as the bright red blood gushed from the wound at his neck. Lisa’s mind felt empty as the presence evaporated. Feebly clutching his ruined neck, the man dropped to the ground. His throat gurgled as the life bled out of him in the desolate parking lot.

Derrick stood behind him, legs shaky from his ordeal, but standing as firm as he was able. In his right hand was a combat knife, blood still dripping from the life it had just taken. Lisa looked across at him.

“Derrick, I—” she stumbled over the words, not sure how to express it. The sudden noise of an engine turning over ended the moment, sparing her the effort of finding the words. Turning, she saw Jessica’s car peeling out from the lot with Conrad at the wheel. Lisa looked around, but Jessica was nowhere to be seen. He’d taken her.

Lisa’s head swam, dizzy from the shock. She barely noticed when she sat down to the ground, arms wrapping around her knees. A pair of arms reached around her, holding her close.

“It’s going to be all right,” Derrick said, comforting her as best he was able, “We’ll get her back, I promise.”

Elizabeth scrolled through the contacts, watching as each name move past. They were a reminder of a past life, an inferior one, but it was by looking back that she could best serve her masters. Then the names stopped scrolling. She’d found the one she was looking for.

Lisa. Friend, protege, and now enemy. The one that managed to slip through the cracks, the one missed by a massive Brotherhood manhunt, a manhunt based upon the Temple’s membership list. A list which had not included trainees. Someone’s head would roll for that.

Now she was loose. Working against Elizabeth’s masters. Trying to harm them.

It wasn’t too late. All Elizabeth had to do was catch her, and they would be together again. This time serving a more worthy cause.

Elizabeth began composing her message.