What's On Your Mind

Radiance tried to shake her head, but even with her super-strength, Tori's telekinetic grip held her motionless. "You've been hot for me since the day you walked into this school, and all the hate and humiliation I piled on you just got you hotter and hotter. Deep down, you wanted someone to tell you that you weren't the golden girl you seemed to be, you wanted me to embarrass you and scorn you and..." Tori took a long, shuddery breath. "And this right now? Me telling everyone just what a dirty little slut you really are, and you not able to stop me? It's the hottest thing you've ever felt in your life."

Tori pulled the other girl towards her, knowing she could use her telepathic powers to make her want to approach but knowing that Radiance wanted to be forced, no longer sure whether she hated Radiance or whether she desperately wanted to be the kinky humiliating domme the other girl needed deep down, but either way, she was loving every second of it as she used her powers to force the other girl into a kneeling position and make Radiance lick her feet.

Starheart was shouting at her to stop, but Tori knew that Radiance didn't really want her to. She could see into Radiance's heart, she could feel the pounding lust inside her mind. She knew that Radiance needed this. It couldn't be wrong, not when she needed it so badly, not when it felt so good and Tori felt that twisted joy in her own mind. The others didn't understand yet, but they would. Tori would show them all, give them all their secret desires and they'd see that this was a blessing. This was a wonderful thing. Hadn't the Professor told her to open up to everyone?

She eroded the barriers of propriety just a little in Paragon's mind, amped up his lust just to the point where he wasn't sure why it mattered if the others saw him kiss Tabby on the lips. Tori felt Tabby's joy, all that long-suppressed adoration finally released as Tabby realized that he felt the same way about her as she did about him, and it was like two stars glowing in the sky. How could anyone ever say this was wrong? She looked over at Tsunami, so overwhelmed by the whole drama that he had barely any thoughts going on in his mind at all, and she plunged deep into his mind, looking for his fondest desire.

And found it. "I'm sorry," she said as he snapped out of his daze and looked at her. "He doesn't. He never will. He's got a girlfriend back home in Iowa, he's never going to think about you the way you think about him." Starheart looked back and forth between Tori and Tsunami, his eyes growing wide as he realized she was talking about him. He'd never even suspected his friend was gay, she saw. His whole understanding of everything he knew about Tsunami was crumbling into an abyss of shock.

Tsunami could see it too. He saw the look on Starheart's face, the look that said things would never be the same between them again, and the sorrow of it nearly broke Tori's heart. She felt him ache with unrequited love, and she wanted nothing more than to heal that pain... "I could make him love you," she whispered. The words seemed too big to speak out loud.

Now they all looked at her in shock, even Voltaic, but she couldn't unspeak them once they'd been said. "I could," she said. "I could adjust his mind, he'd never remember his girlfriend, never even remember I changed him..." They were all shouting now, a babble of anger and fear and concern, but it was only because they didn't understand. Tori would make him happy. How would it be wrong, if he wound up happier than he'd ever been in his life?

But she could sense it now. Words wouldn't be enough to calm that fear and anger away. She'd need to use her powers. She'd need to make them understand. And she could. It would be so easy. They'd all be happy once they understood. She could feel the power gathering inside her...

"Exactly what is going on here?" The voice rang out through the hallway, its carefully educated British tones concealing a scarcely-recognizable Greek accent that lingered from childhood. Tori felt like she'd just had cold water poured onto her brain as the barriers around her telepathy slammed back into place. Silently, she released Radiance from her telekinetic grip. She could feel the hot stares of her teammates beating down on her as she suddenly realized what she'd been about to do when Professor Psyche walked in on them.

"I..." For a moment, Tori tried to think of a lie, something that would explain away the enormity of the crime she'd been about to commit against her friends' souls. But there was really no point in lying to the most powerful telepath in the world. "I'm sorry," she said in a tiny voice. The words felt inadequate, but they were all she had left now.

*****

"So what happens now?" Tori asked quietly, her voice nonetheless echoing in the emptiness of the isolated lesson room deep beneath the school. She felt like she'd never be able to get that tone of shame and contrition out of her voice, not ever again.

Professor Psyche stared at her with sightless eyes. No matter how often she saw them, Tori never quite got used to those blank white orbs, nor to the idea that the Professor was seeing everything by borrowing Tori's eyes with her telepathy. "For now, nothing. I've firewalled off everyone's memories of the afternoon. They'll just have a blank spot in their minds where the whole event was, at least for the present. I'll be working with them individually over the next several weeks, helping them to remember things at a pace that won't cause their minds to fracture under the stress of the revelations." She sighed. "Something to do in my copious free time."

"And me?" Tori asked, trepidation shading her tones.

"You'll just have to live with it, Victoria. That's my punishment, and I think you'll agree that it's much harsher than any detention or demerit. This is a lesson I'd hoped to spare you. I wanted you to learn some other way just how much of a burden it can be, being able to see everyone's private secrets and alter their minds on a whim. Perhaps I was fooling myself. Either way, you've learned it now, and I can tell that it's definitely sunk in. It would do more harm than good to make you forget it now."

"But the things I did!" Tori wasn't sure what she was arguing for. More punishments? She felt like she deserved them. "The things I wanted to do! The things I was about to do..."

"Those are temptations that will be with you every day, as long as you have these powers. I suppose I could keep reinforcing the mental blocks, keep you in a perpetual state of childhood where you never had to live with those responsibilities, but I don't think that would be healthy for either one of us. No, you'll just have to learn how to become the sort of woman who won't do those things." She patted Tori on the shoulder. "I think you're up to it."

Tori wasn't so sure. She was glad the Professor would be there to help if she ever got out of control again... "Professor?" she asked as the thought struck her. "You didn't have anyone...helping you, when you first developed your powers, did you?"

Professor Psyche's eyes stared sightlessly ahead as usual, but somehow Tori could tell that they were looking into the past now. "No," she said quietly. "No, I didn't."

"How did you...did you ever...?" Tori left the question unasked, but it hung in the air nonetheless.

The silence thickened between them for a long moment before she answered the unspoken query. "I wish I could say I didn't have to learn the hard way too, Victoria. You've got such a nice picture of me in your head, it'd be a shame to tarnish it with the truth. But you deserve an answer." She paused. "Not today, though, I think. It's already been rather a lot to take in for both of us, and I don't think you're ready for a tale of my sordid past. We'll talk about it next week."

Tori nodded solemnly. She needed time to take all this in, all the things she found out about her friends, herself, her mentor...was this what growing up felt like? Because if so, it sucked. "Can I go now?" she said.

Professor Psyche nodded silently, feeling the young girl turn and head up the long stairs back to the public portion of the school. She followed Tori up with her mind, the room around her becoming dark as she was left alone in the room with no eyes to see through. Tori walked slowly, lost in thought, and it seemed like ages before she got to the top of the staircase.

Only then, when she was sure nobody could hear, did Professor Psyche allow herself to remember the mental images she'd picked up from Tori's mind, and let her fingers slip down to her pussy as she relived them in her head, over and over again until she came.

THE END