The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

10:00AM

Ivey tossed and turned on the small couch in the Chief’s office, mumbling softly in her sleep, her eyelids fluttering wildly in the midst of REM sleep. She was in the midst of a very intense and vivid dream. She was running naked down a dark alleyway with someone chasing her, laughing manically all the while, getting steadily closer. The end of the alleyway beckoned to her, and she ran with all her might knowing freedom and safety lay just beyond the threshold, but the more she ran, the further away the exit seemed to stretch. A dark shadow descended upon her, swooping down through the night sky like a bat seeking its prey.

She cried out as the fiend chasing her in her dream grabbed her from behind, lifting her up off the ground with one hand. Dr. Thornton, now a giant, lifted her up, his face twisted into a wide misshapen grin as he chuckled loudly. Cold skeletal hands grabbed her bodily, lifting her more than thirty feet into the air to be inspected.

“Well, well, what have we here?” the demented doctor chortled, holding her up by her arms. “Dr. Ivey. Well, and aren’t you a sight for sore eyes! You managed to escape my clutches didn’t you? You were just sooooo clever, the way you outwitted my poor hapless minion, using her own perversion against her! Not exactly an ethical move... but then again, desperate times call for desperate measures, eh, Doc?” Ivey groaned, aloud and in her dream. She remembered her desperate escape from that warehouse of torture all too well, and how she’d nearly gotten stopped at the very last door leading to freedom. Ah, but the great Dr. Ivey Parkinson is too smart, too clever, and too resourceful to be held down by me for very long, right? WRONG!” he responded with a snarl, shaking her briskly like a rag doll.

A lime green body stocking formed over her naked body, as the demented doctor dropped her neatly into a large patch of dirt. “You’re a plant, Ivey, he said with a chuckle, as leaves began sprouting from her costume. “And I meant that figuratively, not literally. You’ve still got a bit too much brain power to call you a vegetable. For the moment, anyway!” Reaching down, he plucked her up out of the ground like a flower.

“You’re a pet,” he said with a sneer, as a tight leather cat suit appeared on her body now, complete with a long slinky tail and a set of cat ears on top. “A cute fuzzy little kitty that’s been declawed, and tamed, and now only knows how to purr when her Master strokes her the right way.” Ivey tried to protest, but could only purr and stretch as wave after wave of pleasure bombarded her at Thorton’s touch, which abruptly stopped.

Ivey gasped in surprise, looking down at herself. She was dressed in an old Fifties’ style pinstripe gangster suit, and a fedora, with an antique Tommy gun in her hands. Her face was likewise painted up like a marionette, with a long scar running from her left cheek, and thin but strong ropes hung from her wrists and ankles. “But most of all, Ivey... this is what you REALLY are!” Thorton shouted, dangling her from his fingers, making her move and jump as his command. “A puppet. A helpless little puppet. And I control your strings, don’t I?”

“Yeah, you said it boss,” Ivey replied in a flat monotone. “Youz iz da boss. I am just da dummy. You pulls da strings,” she said, raising her Tommy gun as a bunch of uniformed police ran into the alleyway towards them. She fired, cutting a wide and bloody swath through them, then blew lightly on the barrel. “And I dance to yer tune.”

Dr. Parkinson gasped, sitting up, fighting for breath, wide eyed with her heart thundering loudly in her chest. She shuddered at the vividness of her dream, as if she could still feel the ropes around her limbs, and the metal of the gun in her hands. Like all dreams, this one was already starting to fade, the details beginning to evaporate like mist in the light of day, but the important details, the words Thorton had used to taunt her, and the transformations she had gone through in her dream all stuck with her.

“A plant. A pet. A puppet,” she said softly, hugging herself tightly. “And taunting me about how clever I was in escaping him before. Shit... he’s using me. I’m here, in police headquarters, helping them track him down... which is exactly where he wanted me to be!” Tossing back the blanket, she rose to her feet, and glanced around outside the office.

Good. It’s pretty much empty, except for the dispatcher and the desk sergeant. Every available person must be busy scouring the city for those transmitters. She sighed deeply. I have to go. I can’t stay here. Whatever Dr. Thorton is planning, I can’t let him use me to hurt innocent people. I have to stop him somehow. I have to end this before he makes good on this threat. She glanced at her watch, and frowned. Ten thirty-one. A little less than fourteen hours to go. Grabbing her purse, she carefully opened the door, praying and hoping that the hinges were well oiled. When no one glanced in her direction, she let out a sigh of relief. Ducking down, she half-crouched, half-crawled her way past the sergeant to her car outside.

12:02PM

Barb woke from her nap to the gentle tickling sensation of someone or something licking her toes. Giggling, she pulled her feet up, only to laugh fully as that playful tongue assaulting her pretty peds followed her. “OOoohhhehehe... Master... you’re certainleeehehehe in aahahahaha... plaaaaheheheheful mood todaaaaheeeheheheh..” Pulling back the covers, she gasped, then frowned. “Dammit, Laurel!” she cursed, kicking out at the dark haired Rottweiler grinning up at her from the foot of the bed. “How many times do I have to tell you and Hardy to STAY OFF THE BED!” The other guard dog merely sighed from his perch in the corner of the room, raising an ear at the sound of his name being called. Sighing deeply, Barbara leapt out of bed, bypassing the stacks of clothing all around the room to walk, naked, down the stairs to the main control room.

“Good morning, Master mine,” she said with a sleepy grin. “Hard at work, or hardly working?”

Jacob Thorton merely grunted a reply, studying a large stack of papers in front of him, some typed, some handwritten, some done in crayon. “Mmmm... should go with... but not that one... Born on a Sunday, Crawled on a Monday... yadda yadda yadda... uh huh...yeah. Yeah! Aha! Got it!” he said suddenly, knocking aside the huge stack of papers, holding onto a single sheet. “This is the one I was looking for, Barb. This is it. I knew it was in there somewhere.” He frowned, glancing around the room. “This place is a fucking pigsty, Barb. There are papers strewn everywhere! Remind me to have the maid tortured to within an inch of her miserable life, and driven insane!”

Barb frowned slightly. “Um, you already did that, Sir. Lulu is down in the basement right now, crying and talking to a baby doll’s head in Spanish.”

The Doctor blinked, scratching his head. “Huh? Yeah, I suppose she is isn’t she? Oh well... in that case give her a raise. She’s obviously right on schedule.” Holding the paper tightly in hand, he reached over and switched on the computer. Tapping a quick series of keys, he chuckled evilly as the screen changed to show the main menu of the police department’s dispatch office. “Excellent! Looks like the mole I planted down at police HQ managed to do her job after all. I’m in! And this,” he said, handing her the sheet of paper, “is the code I need to hack into their communications. Read it off to me, Barb!”

“Sure thing, Dr. T,” she chirped happily. “Let’s see... it says... ‘Up, up... down, down... left, right, left, right... the letter ‘B’... the letter ‘A’... then ‘Start’.” Barb blinked, looking down at the paper again, shaking her head. “Um, Doctor, I don’t think this is the right code—”

“YES! That’s it! I’m in the system!” Thorton cheered as the screen changed, giving a list of names and serial numbers along with wave files. He clicked on Barrows, and the Chief’s voice began playing through the speakers.

“...see how it’s coming with that jamming device, Nash!” Ed’s baritone voice barked over the radio. “We haven’t got all day, you know. I’d like to get your little project plugged in down at the TV station before Thorton gets wind of it and comes up with something to counter it!”

“Sure thing, Chief, I think I’d just about got it... yeah! That works!” Nash replied back. “Okay, I’ve nailed his frequency. I’ll head out to the TV station right away.”

Thorton nodded, frowning slightly, clicking off the speakers. “Hmmm. Seems like Chief Running Mouth actually grew something resembling a brain. A jammer device set to interfere with my carefully placed little transmitters might just through a sizable monkey into my plans.”

Monkey? “Um, Doctor T? Don’t you mean a monkeywrench?”

“What?”

“You said the Chief was about to throw a monkey into your plans.”

“Wh... now that doesn’t even make any sense!” The demented doctor said with a scowl. “A full grown monkey is pretty heavy, fifty or sixty pounds. That fat old fart couldn’t throw something that heavy without throwing out his back.” He blinked, grinning. “Oh! Now that would be a sight to see. Yes... yes... very clever, Barb. I’ll have to see about having a money sent from the zoo to the Chief of Police’s office. Good work! Now, do me a favor and make a call to the TV station, and let out little watchdogs know company is coming.”

Barb blinked, then shrugged, grinning. “Sure thing, Dr. T! You know I live to serve! So... do you still need this code or can I throw it away now?”

“Better hang onto it, Barb,” he said, putting on his cap, and placing a pair of sunglasses over his eyes. “When I get back from this little errand I’m about to do, I’ll need it to play Contra later.” Leaning forward, he kissed her cheek, then slapped her ass lightly, before heading outside.

“Contra?” Barbara said, distantly, staring at the paper again. “Huh. I thought that passcode looked familiar...”

12:20PM

Ralph Stockwell opened his eyes, groaning deeply. His head felt thick and fuzzy, like he’d spent the night drinking tequila. Which, of course, he hadn’t. He and Angelo had worked the late shift for security at the TV station, just a normal, somewhat boring, routine night with no problems. Not that they were really even needed on the property on the graveyard shift—the modern station was practically computer automated. Yet, the high ‘mucky-mucks’ in the corporate HQ insisted on have a ‘human presence’ just in case of a power outage or something. Which was unlikely, Ralph mused, considering the three backup generators and redundancy circuits hardwired into the alarm system.

Damn. Can’t believe I fell asleep on the job, he thought fuzzily, trying to shake loose the cobwebs. Even with a shift as boring as this one, I can usually handle it okay. Ugh... my throat is dry, and kind of sore. Maybe I’m coming down with some kind of flu bug. Huh. Guess I’m just lucky I woke up before my relief arrived on the scene...

The phone rang, and he answered it on the first ring. “Cable Two Dispatch service, security office. This is Ralph, what can I—” Eyes widening, then glazing over, the security man nodded silently, listening carefully. “Yes... yes, of course... yes, I understand. I will obey.” He hung up the phone, then blinked, shaking his head, slightly dizzy. “Whoa... head rush. Must have stood up too fast.”

Walking over to Angelo, he shook his partner awake. “Hey, Angelo, wake up!” The Hispanic security guard snorted loudly, jerking awake, wiping a trail of half dried fluid from his cheek. “Geez! Sleeping on the job, Angelo?” he chided. “I guess these twelve-hour shifts are getting to be too much for you, pal. You’ve got drool all over your face!”

“Ehhn,” Angelo groaned, trying to clear the cobwebs from his head. “I really fell asleep? Sorry, man... I don’t know what to say.”

“Nah, forget about it. It happens. And Jim and Fred are late checking in. Anyway, we gotta go out to the front gate. I just got a call from... from...” He frowned slightly, trying to remember. “From Corporate. Yeah... Corporate... Anyway... we’ve got a report of some... college pranksters heading this way dressed as police officers. Some kind of fraternity initiation, they’re gonna try and get bully their way in here and screw with the equipment or something.” He shook his head. “Young people these days... I can see why they call this generation, ‘Generation Zero’!”

Angelo merely shrugged. “Pretty dumb of them to try something like this in broad daylight. If they were smart, they should have tried this shit last night.” Grabbing his coat and belt from the back of his chair, he suited up. Ralph smirked at him, doing the same.

“C’mon. Let’s go put the fear of God into ‘em!” Ralph said, grabbing his night stick. “Let’s go kick some ass!”

Angelo nodded, frowning slightly, as his partner headed out the door. Most of last night was a bit fuzzy, but something about the notion of ‘kicking ass’ made him wince slightly. Following close behind the older guard, he wondered idly why his own ass was so sore.

1:07PM

Eddie Barrows grunted loudly, forcing his way back to his police cruiser through the virtual mob of panicked, angry, and unruly citizens, ignoring the rude inappropriate remarks of a young redhead, no more than twenty years old, and the threats issued by an older bearded gentleman in a double breasted suit. He’d expected this the moment Thorton had made his damned stupid broadcast the night before, which unfortunately appeared to be running nonstop on every local channel. If he could have spared the manpower, he would have sent a squad of officers there hours ago to shut it down, but even then it would have been too little too late. Word had been spread. The damage was done. And the end result? Crowds of panicked angry people blocking in him and his men, slowing down a search that was a virtual race against the clock.

And where the HELL is the National Guard! he thought, fuming. The Mayor swore he’d spoken to the governor, and that they’d be arriving by noon to help with crowd control, freeing up more of his men to search for the devices. It’s after one PM now, and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of anyone! What the hell is going on?

1:07PM

“Yes, yes, Colonel Jessup, I’m very sorry about the mix-up,” the grey haired uniformed man explained patiently, “but it couldn’t be helped. The entire town is in a bit of an uproar still after last night, and in the confusion, I forgot to notify you and your... your team? Battalion? Squad? Whatever... I forgot to let you know that the crisis has been averted.”

“Well, Chief Barrows,” the grey hared colonel scowled, “I intend to make a formal complaint about this to the governor himself about this. We mobilized as soon as we got the orders, called in every reserve member we had available, and busted our collective humps getting here in record time to help you secure your city and help hunt for this madman. And now that we’re here, half a mile from the city limits, you tell me, ‘Sorry, my bad. Everything’s okay now, just go home’?”

The policeman merely shrugged. “As I said, we’ve been very busy. You have no idea what kind of problems we’ve been having! Dr. Thorton may be mad, but he’s a bloody genius. It was sheer dumb luck that we caught him when we did, before he could carry out his evil scheme!” He sighed. “Communications are still spotty at best thanks to the make shift jamming device we plugged into the TV station’s transmitter to block his brain warping devices. That’s why I had to come all the way out here to meet you in person.” He frowned, crossing his arms. “Do you think I wanted to drive all the way out here to meet you in person instead of just phoning it in from my office? I’ve been awake and on my feet since ten o’clock last night, Colonel. So, if you think you’re irritable about having to be here, then imagine how I’m feeling!”

The two grey haired men glared at one another for several moments before the Colonel sighed and turned away. “Alright men. Load ‘em up. We’re pulling out and heading back to base.” To give them credit, the two thousand khaki and brown clad men and woman turned back around and returned to their vehicles without a word of protest. Dr. Thorton, disguised in police dress blues, watched them leave, his face showing wearied exhaustion and impatience, despite the almost sexual thrill he felt at having bested his adversaries yet again. Once the last vehicle had pulled out of view, he allowed himself a smile. “Almost too easy,” he said taking out his cell phone. “And we can’t have that, now can we?”

The caller answered on the second ring. “Chief Edward Barrows here,” the deep raspy voice responded.

“Ah, Big Chief Rain In Face! Just the man I wanted to talk to!” Thorton chuckled. “How’s tricks?” He pulled the phone away from his ear as the angry man let out a barrage of foul language. “Chiefy, Chiefy, Chiefy! You need your mouth washed out with soap! Geez Louise, do you kiss your ex-wife with that mouth? Hmmm... oh, I guess being that she’s your ex, the answer is probably no.”

“Goddammit, Thorton! How the HELL did you get this number? And what the hell do you want? ”

“Oh, not much, Chief. Just wanting you to get a clue... though the way you just went off, maybe you need to get a grip! I thought you might be thirsty for information about your extra troops! It seems somebody dressed up as you and stopped the Nation Guard at the border, and turned them away. Said something about the crisis being over, and not being needed...” He pulled the phone away from his ear as Barrows let loose with another barrage of cursing.

“Wow... quite a vocabulary you have on you there, Chief,” Thorton continued a few minutes later. “Well, I didn’t mean to rain on your parade or anything, but I couldn’t let you call in a bunch of strangers to ruin our little game! It’s supposed to be you against me, Eddie. If you’re too much of a washed-up old has-been to take down one measly little ol’ guy, well, then maybe you should retire!” He broke into laughter.

“Damn you!” Thorton replied, seething. “I was depending on that extra manpower! With all my people spread over most of the city searching for those devices and trying to keep the city from rioting, I can’t even spare a meter maid to go searching for you!”

“Boo hoo hoo. Cry me a river, buddy,” Thorton responded unsympathetically. “If I made things too easy for you, Eduardo, then it wouldn’t be nearly as fun, now would it? Anyway, I gotta hang up now. You know how it is... places to go, people to maim and kill, and all that. Just wanted to let you know about the military support. No hard feelings though, right? It’s all water under the bridge, right, Edmondo?” Laughing again, he hung up before the Chief could retort. Shaking his head, he sighed softly. He’d practically pelted the man with clues to where he needed to go to find him, but perhaps he was giving the Police Chief too much credit.

“Well, he did think to try and jam my signal after all,” he said to himself, sliding back into the purloined police cruiser he’d stolen. “Maybe he’ll get the message.” He shrugged starting the car. “Oh well. No matter how many people show up for the finale, it should be one HELL of a show!”

1:18PM

Chief Burrows barely restrained the roar of anger and frustration welling up inside him from coming out. He had always considered himself a tolerant man, a good Christian man, and despite more than thirty years on the force, dealing with criminal, drug dealers, pimps, and the lowest of the low, he had never once hated any of them. He’d felt disgust, and anger. and rage, and pity... but until now, he had never felt hatred against another human being again.

And he fucking HATED Jacob Fucking Thorton.

“Chief, we just got a call from Anders back to the station!” a detective yelled, trying to be heard above the angry crowd around them. “Dr. Parkinson is gone! They went to check on her and see if she was ready for lunch, but she wasn’t there!”

“What? Are you shitting me?” Barrows yelled. His scowl deepened. “This is great. Just great. The one person I was counting on to help me find that psycho once all this craziness is over, and she’s missing! So... what happened? Was she abducted? Did someone manage to get past the dispatcher and the desk sergeant somehow?”

“No, Chief. From all accounts, it looks like she left on her own. She just... snuck out.”

The Chief groaned in frustration. Yet another hitch in his plan to try and stop that madman from destroying his city. It seemed that everything that could possibly go wrong today was going wrong.

Dammit. I only hope to God that Tervais’ little gizmo works. Right now, he’s the only thing we have going for us.

2:32PM

Nash Tervais glanced around the empty parking lot of the TV station, pulling up to park at an empty space at visitor’s parking. It seemed a bit off that the place was deserted, even with half the population trying to flee the city. Indeed, what should have been a twenty minute drive had taken more than two hours thanks to the traffic congestion. Still, considering that Doc Thorton had used the TV station to broadcast his fake new announcement, he found it odd that the evil psychopath didn’t have guards stationed there.

Whoops. May have spoken too soon, he thought to himself, as two men in guard uniforms approached. Holding a suitcase with his equipment in one hand, he dug into his pants pocket and pulled out his identification. “Hey, guys. I’m Nash, with the JCPD. I guess you’ve probably heard about that business that’s supposed to go down tonight at midnight. I need access to your transmitter. I just may have a way to prevent the worst from happening.”

The two guards glanced at one another. “Um, well, sure officer. Anything you say. It’s just me and my partner, Angelo here. And we’re always happy to cooperate with the law, ain’t we Angelo?”

The young man nodded. “We sure are. Come on, Officer,” Angelo said, pushing open the station’s side door. “The control room is on the first floor, just beyond the guard station.”

“Thanks. Good to know,” Nash said, following Angelo, with Ralph bringing up the rear. Frankly, I’m surprised that you two haven’t fled with the rest of the town, but I am glad you’re here. Saves me some time from having to find my waaa—nnnggghhhhh!!”

Nash shook hard, shuddering, before falling to the floor, stunned. Ralph, still holding the Taser, blew lightly on the ends. “That should take care of him for a while. “C’mon, Angelo, you grab his feet and I’ll get his hands. Once we get this mook locked up, we can call Corporate H.Q. and let ‘em know we’re on top of things.” As the outside door closed behind them Ralph chuckled again. “Heh. Who knows? We might even get a raise.”

4:47PM

Ivey took a deep steadying breath as she walked over to the entrance to the building before her. Despite her frantic and hurried escape from a building she’d never been to before in the middle of the night, she had managed to unerringly find her way back here with little effort. Which only proves to me that I was right to come back here. Plus the fact that this location is far away from any of the marked locations on the map where he planted those brain scrambling devices of his. If there’s any clues as to where Dr. Thorton is, and what he is up to, I’ll find it in here. Taking a Maglite out of her purse, pushing open the heavy half-rusted door, she slipped inside the warehouse.

Walking through the abandoned hallway, she shuddered slightly in memory. Less than a day ago she had run down these very hallways for her life, having tricked her way out of a most dire and desperate situation. Or so she had believed at the time. If he put all the time and effort into turning this place into temporary headquarters to work me and those other girls over, then he must have left behind a clue of some kind to what his ultimate goal is, or where he’s hiding out. For all I know, he could still be hiding around here somewhere. Musing to herself, she almost didn’t notice the wall until she was nearly on top of it.

“Wait... what? What the devil?” she paused, staring intently at the concrete wall before her, lined with pieces of junk and debris. That can’t be right. I’ve gone through two sets of double doors since coming in here... but I remember running through three sets to exit. This wall... shouldn’t be here. Shining her flashlight along the center, and peering carefully she could just make out the barest hint of a seam. Kicking aside some of the debris, she pushed hard against the wall... which split apart, revealing a hidden entrance.

Aha! I knew it. Now THIS looks familiar, she thought to herself, scanning the hallway with her flashlight. A metal staircase lead down to the lower floors, and a bunch of old abandoned equipment. Down there she spotted that familiar hallway, with the six doors that had held her and the doctor’s other... patients.

“Hehheh... Very nice, doctor. Nice to know you still have a sense of humor.”

“AHHhhh!” Ivey screamed, leaping back, only to let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, it’s just you again. Damn. For a moment I thought you were the real Jacob Thorton.”

“Well gee whiz, Ivey,” the ghostly shadow harrumphed, crossing his arms, “if I didn’t know better, I’d say you weren’t glad to see me!”

Ivey sighed, rolling her eyes. “The last thing I need right now is a bunch of color commentary from a disembodied figment of my imagination. Besides, you said it yourself. You’re not really here to help me at all.”

“Not help you?” Thorton’s shadow said in mock sadness. “Oh, how you cut me to the quick! I have been more than helpful. Who was it that told you where all of those nasty little devices were hidden, eh? If not for my help they would be spread over the entire city searching and NOT finding those devices. And so, when I show up again, to give you that slight little nudge you need to get you going in the right direction, you give me attitude?” He sighed dramatically. “Well if that’s the way you want it, then I guess I shouldn’t advise you to check inside the room they held you in originally, before you were strapped down for Alice to play with, hmm?”

“Huh? Room? You mean this one?” Ivey asked, peering inside a room to her left. Glancing inside, she finds the bed that she had awoken on the day before and notices a small manila folder on the floor sticking out from underneath the corner of the bed. “Hello, what’s this?”

Opening the file, Ivey started in shock at her own picture. The file was a complete dissertation of her life, her likes and dislikes, her deepest thoughts. It read almost like a professionally done psychoanalysis of her mind, taken while she was under hypnosis, except that the file contained papers, snippets of her life taken from years ago, her work history, her college transcripts, her high school and elementary report cards. She shook her head in disbelief. “I... I don’t understand. Wh... how...where did this... I don’t—”

“Quit dissembling, Doctor,” Thorton’s shadow said with a frown of disgust. “The answers you seek are staring you right in the face, but you still can’t bring yourself to ask the right question! The real question you need to ask yourself is, ‘Why did he let you go?’ Think about, Doc. He knows everything about you, he’s smart enough to put all of this together, and evade the cops for all this time. And yet, he had you for more than a week and simply let you go with nothing worse done to you that gifting you with me?” He sighed softly. “Ask yourself this one question, and let the pieces simply fall into place. What is Dr. Thorton’s overall objective. What’s his goal?”

Ivey sighed, closing her eyes. As much as she hated to admit it, the annoying specter in her mind was right. She had been avoiding asking herself the incident in the police station. She hadn’t wished to dwell on the fact that Jacob Thorton had dug around inside her head for eight days. She’d seen all too well how he’d treated his other captives, warping their minds, using them as cannon fodder, or test subjects for his unethical experiments. So, why had she been spared? Why had he let her escape? Obviously, he’d let her go to serve as part of his overall scheme. But... was there more to it than that? Why her? He had plenty of people under his control to serve as messenger, or agents... so why go through all the trouble of capturing her, learning all about her, going so far as to create a detailed file on her... just to let her go?

And then, suddenly, she knew.

“It’s... me,” she said, barely daring to believe it. “Incredible. Insane. And yet... undeniable. He did this... all of this... just to draw me here. He wants a confrontation with me.”

“Ding ding ding! She finally gets it!” the Shadow commented drily, leaning against the doorjamb. “You’re what he’s after, babe, something you’ve known deep inside all along, but just couldn’t bring yourself to acknowledge. Remember, kiddo... Doc Thorton may be insane, but there is a method to his madness. You two have history, and he’s planning to settle things by having it repeat itself.” The doctor’s form began to shimmer slightly before fading from view. “Well, looks like my work here is done. You’d best be moving along, Ivey. He’s waiting for you... at the same place you and he had your first confrontation.”

Ivey sighed softly. She knew exactly what he meant. And strangely enough, it made sense, in a warped kind of way. I only hope I come through it better than I did back then...

7:44PM

Nash Tervais was in a world of trouble.

Things had gone horribly horribly wrong from the moment he’d stepped inside the TV studio... and had gone steadily downhill since. Ralph and Angelo were undoubtedly under Thorton’s control; that much had been confirmed when they’d tazered him from behind, drug his unconscious form down the hall, and tied him, bent down, over the side of their work desk. If that hadn’t been set off the warning bells, the way they’d reacted after making a phone call, talking to someone they kept referring to as ‘Corporate’, by jerking down his pants and underwear had his brain clamoring ‘Warning warning, Danger danger!’ even before the two stooges decided to reenact that scene from Pulp Fiction.

“C’mon boy!” Ralph said, pushing his partner aside, sliding his trousers down. “You can do better than that! You gotta make this boy squeal!!” He laughed, stroking himself hard, as he moved in behind Nash. “C’mon boy. Let’s hear it. C’mon and squeal for me. Squeal like a piggy!”

“YEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Nash squealed closing his eyes, trying to hang onto the thread of hope that someone would come after him soon enough... that eventually someone would come to save him. He only hoped he would still be sane by the time they arrived...

9:02PM

Eddie Barrows grumbled softly in his sleep, After being up more than thirty hours straight dealing with the current crisis, he was exhausted. Leaving the operation in the hands of Captain Richards, he had finally taken a short nap to recharge his batteries a bit and clear his head. Unfortunately, the sleep he was getting was anything but restful. In the mother of all bad dreams, he found himself, chained up and helpless, hanging from a wench over a pot of boiling oil, being taunted by his nemesis, forced to grin and bear it as Thorton laughed at him.

“Poor ol’ Eddie,” Dr. Thorton said with a sneer. “So close, and yet so far away. You could have caught me... could have ruined all my plans... but you were just too STUPID to put it all the clues together.”

“What clues?” he yelled desperately, struggling in his bonds. “I don’t understand!”

“Wah! Wah! I don’t understand!” Thorton taunted him. “Why don’t you cry me a river, pal!” He hit a switch, and the crane dropped him into the vat. “How’s that for understanding, Eddie? Heh heh heh. An entire vat full of understanding for ya! Now die! Drown in your own ignorance!”

Eddie flailed around aimlessly as he sank, the heat melting his chains, yet somehow not harming him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t breathe, and as he sank deeper and deeper into the murky depths, he reached out, grasping for anything to pull himself afloat, he saw them, saw them all—his men, the police force, and the citizens, all floating face down in the muck, all drowned, along with him—

“WATER!” he gasped, sitting up, wide awake. His head was damp with sweat, his eyes wide in terror, and he could almost feel the fluid filling his lungs. Worse, however, was the slow but steady flow of words from his subconscious back to the forefront of his mind: “...Big Chief Rain in Face... washed out with soap... thirsty for knowledge... rain on your parade... all washed up... cry me a river... water under the bridge... He slapped his forehead, “Water. All of the bullshit he was taunting me with... he was giving me clues to his location!” He laughed maniacally for several minutes, shaking his head. “Damn. Looks like I really did need forty winks to clear my head.” Getting to his feet, he pulled on his holster and jacket, and grabbed his cap, heading for the front door.

You wanted this to be mano y mano, Thorton. Well, with my men scattered all over the city, and Dr. Parkinson off to who knows where, it looks like you’re going to get your wish after all. Slamming the car door, he started the ignition and peeled out of the driveway. One way or another, Thorton, we end this tonight!

10:26PM

Barbara nearly jumped as Doctor Thorton entered the room. She rose to her feet, sliding her left hand behind her back. “Hey! Dr. T! You’re back! Um... how’d it go? Is everything all set for your big showdown?”

Jacob raised an eyebrow but shrugged, continuing over to his unwitting accomplice, pulling her into a big hug. “Just about. Only one or two more little tweaks, and I’ll be all set.” He grimaced slightly, clutching his chest. “Whoo... that was... kinda intense. Guess I shouldn’t have had that seven layer burrito for dinner.”

Barbara pulled away, frowning. “C’mon, Doc. We both know it’s not the burrito that’s the problem here. It’s your heart! We need to get you to a doctor. Or better yet, let me bring a doctor here to you—”

“Now, now, Barb, we’ve already been through this,” Jacob chided her gently. “Things will go just as planned. It’s the way I set the stage, and it’s the way I want things to play out. You know the old saying—the show must go on! Now... buck up, Babs. We’ve got very little to do, and lots of time to do it in!” He frowned, slightly, considering. He glanced down at his watch, then nodded. “Yeah. That’s right. Plenty of time to do it in.”

Barbara pouted. “I just don’t see why you have to do this yourself! I mean, we had little Miss Goody Two Shoes, right in our grasp, but we let her go! We should have just killed her and been done with it!”

“NO!” Jacob snarled, glaring at Barbara, who immediately quailed under his gaze. “She is the lynch point around which my entire plan revolves! She IS the plan! And nothing is going to interfere with that plan... nothing! Do you hear me?”

Barbara nodded. “Y-y-yes Sir!” she said, gulping. “Anything you say. “’

“Good. Glad that’s settled. Now... what are you hiding behind your back, Barb?”

The naughty nurse stiffened. “Behind my back? Oh, nothing... nothing at all.” Seeing her Master’s frown, she swallowed. “Just kidding. Tee hee! It’s well... um... it’s a surprise!” she finished lamely.

“A surprise?” Thorton repeated, arms crossed at his chest. Grabbing Barbara roughly by the neck, he stared deep into her eyes. “Barbara, dear, you know how I feel about surprises.” His expression changed abruptly to one of glee. “I absolutely LOVE them!” he squealed, giving her a big passionate kiss, before releasing her. “Ooohh! This is so exciting! I wonder what kind of surprise it is... a good one or a bad one? Oh, the suspense is killing me! But... I’m going to wait. It’ll be much better that way, I’m sure.”

“Y-y-yeah,” Barb replied, smiling slightly, “I hope so. I um, hope you like it.” As the doctor walked away, she let out a soft sigh. Taking the gun from behind her back, she smiled evilly. “But whether you like it or not, Doctor T., I’m going to love it! You can punish me any way you want when this is all over... but there’s no way in hell I’m letting you take my Master away from me!”

11:43PM

Ivey parked her car on the side of the road leading up to the City Reservoir, and walked over to the main gate. As she’d expected, it was unlocked. Sighing deeply, marshaling up her courage, she slipped inside, moving around the side of the main building. A light beckoned in the distance, and again, as expected, a car sat on the far end of the area, near the drop off next to the perimeter fence. A sense of deja vu swept over her as she drew closer; the demented doctor had gone so far as to have the same music playing as the last time.

“Dr. Parkinson,” Jacob Thorton called out to her from the seat of his red Pontiac convertible, without even turning around. “How good of you to come. Are you here to make unfounded accusations against me again and try to get me fired from my job at the University? Oh wait... you already did that, didn’t you?”

Ivey sighed. “Look, Dr. Thorton, I’ve apologized to you about that a thousand times already. I know... I was wrong. I listened to the wrong people, and jumped to the wrong conclusions—”

“You accused me of having an affair with one of my students,” Thorton cut in, finally turning around to face her. Ivey winced; he’d dressed up as he had been that night, wearing the same tweed jacket and slacks he’d worn all those years ago. “Two of the empty brained little twits that I was failing tried to seduce me into giving them a better grade, and when I refused, went with their back up plan to destroy my career. They told you that I was bringing them up here, to ‘Look-out Point’ to have my way with them, knowing how much of a ‘square’ you were, and how you’d feel it was your civic duty to bring campus security and the police to catch me in the act.” He sighed. “And so you did... catch me fighting back against two evil little vixens who had ripped their own clothes and were hamming it up for their audience, to make me out to be the bad guy.”

Ivey remembered the incident only too well. Katie and Sarah had seemed so distraught, so frightened, and so grateful when she and campus PD had shown up that she hadn’t bothered to listen to her former Professor’s claims of innocence. It wasn’t until afterwards, during his trail, when the recordings he had wisely made at the start of the night revealed the two girls’ devious nature, that she’d realized her mistake. The University had immediately expelled the two girls and offered him his job back, but the damage done to his reputation was a lot harder to undo. He’d quit the University a year later and gone into private practice. When they met years later, he’d acted friendly enough, as if he hadn’t held a grudge against her, but now it seemed that the animosity towards her ran deeper than she realized.

“Of course,” Thorton said lightly, opening the door, sliding out of the car, “you weren’t the orchestrator of my humiliation, so I can’t really blame you. You were just a dupe. The real culprits were young Sarah and Katie Marshall. And frankly, considering how they used you, I’m surprised you’re not as angry at them as I was!”

“Okay, well, yes, I was angry at them for using me that way,” Ivey admitted, circling around the car, trying to keep her distance from the insane psychiatrist. “I wanted to confront them after the trial, but after playing the tapes you made, they disappeared.”

“Oh? Did they now?” Thorton asked, thumping the trunk of his car loudly. Ivey gasped in shock as the trunk opened, and lifted up, revealing two blonde figures tightly tied and bound in rope. Both girls had bright red rouge layered on their cheeks, and a bright pink baby bonnet strapped to the top of their heads. Each girl also had a small pink pacifier in their mouths, which they suckled on lightly, even while unconscious. “Well, Dr. Parkinson, you’re in luck. I managed to find your two former classmates, and ‘convince’ them to attend our little reunion. Isn’t that swell?” He reached in and pulled out both girl’s pacifiers, waking them instantly.

“Katie? Sarah?” Ivey said in horror. “My God! What has he done to you?”

“Mama?” Katie said, frowning slightly. “Mama Ivey... blulululul.. tee tee hee...” Her face scrunched up for a moment, then she laughed. “Tee hee.. .I went poopy! Hahaha”

“Me want baba” Sarah said, wiggling in her bindings. “Baba! Me want baba!” When no one responded, her mouth turned down, and her eyes went wet with tears. “Waaaaahaaaaaahhhh!!” she screamed, crying pitifully, going into a full blown tantrum. After a few seconds, Katie likewise began crying. Thorton rolled his eyes, listening to them for a few more seconds before slamming the trunk back down again.

“Not really much of a confrontation, but I think the message was received,” the psychotic psychiatrist quipped, chuckling. “So, Ivey... any other unresolved issues you’d like to deal with before we get to the heart of the matter?”

“FREEZE!” Chief Barrows growled, stepping out of the shadows with his service revolver drawn. Stepping up, he grinned at his quarry. “Get your hands up, Thorton! And do it nice and slow. " He cocked his weapon. “And do me one last favor. Please, please, PLEASE... try and resist arrest. Try to run. Try to fight, or escape. Give me an excuse to empty my entire cartridge into your diseased brain and put you into the ground for good!”

“Whooo hoo!” Jacob said with a smirk, raising his hands above his head. “Someone’s getting awful vicious in their old age! That was actually pretty good, Chief... kind of a compilation of Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, and Shemp Howard.”

“Shut up, you maggot!” the Chief barked, slamming the butt of his gun across Thorton’s forehead, sending the doctor down to his knees. “You can make all the damn jokes you want once I have you locked up back at the station.” He smiled, chuckling softly as he took a step back, holding his gun with one hand, and reaching for the handcuffs with the other. “Face it, Thorton. You screwed up. And I’ve finally got you right where I want you!”

“Really Chief?” Thorton rasped, rubbing the line of blood coming from his forehead. “Well, from where I sit, I think it’s me that has you right where he wants him!”

Edward Barrows glanced down at the pavement where he stood, only now noticing the white chalk marked ‘X’ on which he was standing. His eyes widened as a loud report sounded followed momentarily by a blinding pain in the middle of his chest. He fell, propelled backwards as a second shot rang out, hitting his shoulder, and a third taking him in the upper thigh. Hitting the ground hard, he groaned, spitting up blood, as he fought to stay conscious.

“NOOOOO!” Ivey screamed, rushing over to the fallen policeman. “Chief! No! Please, hang in there!” she said wringing her hands uselessly, not sure what to do. She glanced up hearing Thorton’s mocking laughter as he bent down and retrieved the Chief’s gun. “How? How the hell could you do something like this?”

“How?” he said with a slight frown. “Well, it’s kind of a secret I suppose... but I’ll tell you. I’m the kind of guy that likes to peak at his Christmas presents, and skip to the end of the book to see if the hero lives or not. I like to know ahead of time, so I can decide whether or not to waste my time.” He shrugged. “I set the stage for all of this, gave both you and the Chief enough clues to get you out here... but it was still a question of whether or not you’d actually show up. So... I read ahead in the story.”

Ivey blinked. “Huh? What story? What are you talking about?”

“THIS story,” Thorton said with a smirk. “And it wasn’t easy waiting all this time, you know. The author is one of those lazy ne’er do wells that always complains about ‘not enough time to write’, then spends all his time playing video games.” He sighed dramatically. “And personally, I think he rushed the ending a bit, trying to tie up all the loose ends into a nice pretty bow. Hah! Life is not neat or pretty! It’s messy and chaotic. and unpredictable!” Putting on a sardonic grin as his mood shifted once more, he gestured down at the blood stained ‘X’. “Anywho, after reading this far ahead in the story to know the Chief would be showing up, I planned ahead. My dear sweet Barbara is there, hiding on the top floor of the building with a sniper’s rifle. Say ‘HI’ Barb!”

“HI BARB!” she yelled from atop the building, standing up to wave. Thorton, still grinning, turned around and shot her once, in the chest, causing her to drop to the ground below with a solid thud. Ivey screamed again, totally in shock at the carnage being tossed out around her so casually.

“You... you monster! You killed her? She was your lover... you’re most devoted sidekick! Why the hell did you shoot her?!?”

“Because, my dear, Ivey,” Thorton replied, ejecting the empty bullet casing, and arming it with a new one, “she planned to shoot you next. She was just waiting for you to stand back up again so she could pick you off... or if worse came to worse, blow your head off up close and personal once I called her down from her perch.” His eyes narrowed. “She planned to betray my wishes and kill you, to prevent me from going through with the final part of my master plan.”

“Alright then!” she snarled, getting back to her feet. “So what IS your master plan, then? What is this grand scheme that you’ve put all this time and effort into? What the hell do you want from me?”

Thorton grinned widely. “Finally! I thought you’d never ask.” Walking over to her, he pointed the gun straight at her chest. Then, he reversed his grip, and placed it into her hands, and backed slowly away. “In the simplest of terms, my dear Doctor Parkinson... I want you to kill me.”