Hunting Season Ch. 05

Point of clarification before you begin. Since this is a mind control story, with a lot of mental projection any dialogue with " " around it is spoken in the real world while dialogue with ' ' is in the mental or Astral plane.

I drove through the gate into Dan's compound and parked beside the security building. The guard nodded and pressed the hidden switch to open the door into the screening room. I put the mouthguard he offered me between my teeth and took a deep breath as I laid my hands on the metal bars, bracing myself for what I knew what was coming. My muscles spasmed as the electric current flowed through me and I fought to control my bladder for what seemed like forever. The current finally shut off and the guard waved me forward.

"Just one, he must like me now." I commented drily as we slid into the small electric car for the drive up to the house.

The guard shrugged, he knew better than to venture any opinion on what Dan was feeling because it would likely be wrong and could be fatal. We pulled into the garage, and I waited through the powder storm and rinse cycle, then moved to step out of the car. The guard waved me to stop then offered me a set of high-tech ear plugs which I put in as I saw him doing the same.

The door slid open and Song Bird walked through, followed by another guard wearing a thick set of head phones. She was dressed in my favourite style, business sexy wearing a dark blue silk blouse with a black pencil skirt. The blouse was just a little too tight and the skirt a little too short, just the way I liked it. She had on a pair of blue heels that matched her blouse and her hair was hanging loosely around her shoulders, but pinned up on one side with a blue comb. I saw that she was still wearing the choker that controlled her sonic voice but other than that she looked like any other slightly slutty executive.

She nodded politely at me, then looked up to an observation booth where another guard was making some adjustments on a tablet he was carrying. The guard nodded, then Song Bird tilted her head back and screamed. I felt the waves of sound flow over my body, making my hair vibrate painfully as what was clearly a deafening sonic blast filled the garage. After a few seconds, she stopped and the guard in the booth made another adjustment on his tablet, then gestured for us to remove our hearing protection.

"This is how we deal with someone who can shrink." The driver told me as he slid back into the car and backed out of the garage. I nodded, I wouldn't want to be caught unaware by that blast which was probably on the lethal end of the spectrum. The guard in the control booth waved me over and slid open a pass-through drawer. I grimaced, but put on the mind cage again wincing in pain.

Song Bird gestured toward the door "He's waiting for you." She said in the voice of an executive assistant. I walked down the hall and she fell in behind me with the guard following her still wearing his headphones. Dan made best use of all of his resources, but didn't trust anyone. We got to the same spacious office/reception room where I had met Dan before, and was pleasantly surprised to see he was wearing clothes this time.

"Ben, good to see you again." He said in his typical bellow and embraced me in a crushing hug. I grunted as he patted me on the back, knocking me several steps forward. He laughed "Oh, sorry. I keep forgetting that your power is with the mind, not the body."

"No problem, just no handshake this time please." I replied, earning another booming laugh.

"Ms. Von Meecham, a whiskey for my friend, a vodka for me, and whatever you prefer for yourself." He said as he waved me to the sofa. Song Bird walked over to the well stocked bar and soon returned with our drinks, seating herself on the arm of the sofa beside Dan. I ran an appreciative eye over her well shaped legs and ass, up her narrow waist to where her ample tits strained at the button of her blouse. She smiled, and twisted slightly to maximize the effect of her hourglass figure.

"Like what you see?" Dan rumbled as he slid his arm around Song Bird's waist, idly stroking her thigh through the material of her skirt.

"I am glad that things are working out for you, Danielle." I commented politely. How do you have a polite conversation with someone you kidnapped, brainwashed and sold to a psychopath.

"I am surviving, which is more than I can say for some of the other people who have come through here." She said as she sipped her cocktail.

"Yes, Song Bird here has proven quite valuable. To valuable to be used as a simple sex slave or other low value resource." Dan chuckled and I saw a small shudder run through the blonde woman as she considered the options open to her. "She has helped me plug a hole in my security, and has shown much promise as an assistant. Who would have thought there was a talented mind behind that voice."

Danielle nodded in polite acceptance of the praise. "I made more as a singer than I ever would as an office worker, and it was a better cover. Now that I don't have to worry about that I may as well serve where I am most needed." She said as she patted Dan's hand as it stroked her thigh.

I knew that Dan wasn't using her physically, she was in too good condition to have gone through that experience. But it didn't hurt to butter him up and remind him of your value as often as possible, if you wanted to keep living that is.

"How is our newest project doing?" I asked nonchalantly, I didn't want to give away anything that Dan had not already revealed.

"Oh, Hummingbird is quite safe and secure, but doesn't seem to be very happy. I was hoping you could look into that, since you did such a good job on Song Bird here." He replied and I watched the blonde woman for any reaction. I saw her twitch when Hummingbird was mentioned but there was no spike of anger or resolve. Just a low level feeling of resignation with an underlying sense that she would do whatever it took to survive. I could use that I thought.

I sat my drink down on the coffee table and stood. "I should go see her, can someone escort me there?"

Song Bird slid off of the arm of the sofa as Dan stood. "She will show you where to go, she has been there before." Some would think that Dan was being sadistic, forcing Song Bird to confront her captured team mate. Really, he was too oblivious of any form of compassion or empathy to consider anything like that, it was just the most efficient way to do things.

A few minutes later we were in the elevator headed down to the containment level. She stood quietly beside me, avoiding touching me without trying to make it obvious. I pulled off the mind cage gratefully, taking a deep breath as the headache slowly subsided. "How are you settling in?" I asked politely.

"How can you ask that question." She replied without looking at me. "You know what they do here. I have seen people I know being processed like livestock then sold like a prize racehorse." She looked at me and I could see the anger in her eyes.

"Those are the lucky ones, at least they still have a life. Others are turned into essentially living machines if 'He' thinks they are of use to him." She took a shaky breath to get control of herself.

"Did you know that Weather Witch is here? Buried in the deepest cell, totally cut off from any uncontaminated air or water. She is trucked out whenever he wants a sunny day to go golfing, then shoved back in her hole." She choked back a sob. "The look on her face when as she struggles for one last second of sun or fresh air before being locked up again, its heartbreaking"

"You seem to be doing alright." I said in a neutral voice, holding her gaze as I ignored the daggers of hate she was staring at me.

"I do what I need to, to survive." She snapped back and I saw the conditioning that I had put in her mind during our last session together. She would do whatever it took to survive in this place, I was counting on that.

The elevator door opened and we walked into a familiar room. The door guard gave us a thumbs up after the security scanner had completed its scan of us and the heavy security door on the far wall slid open to show a long hall of blank steel doors. We walked up to one labeled "Hummingbird", ironically it was beside the one Song Bird had occupied just a few weeks before. She keyed in a code and the door slid open.

"He trusts you with the security codes?" I asked surprised.

"Just this one." She replied. "I had to practically beg him for it, but I can't stand the idea of her being alone down here."

I nodded as we walked in to a familiar waiting room, two comfortable chairs, a sofa and a small bar. A place where a buyer can have an intimate meeting with their product if they choose. Song Bird walked over to the bar and mixed herself a drink.

"I am not allowed any further." She said as she settled herself on the sofa and crossed her long shapely legs.

I punched in the security code that Dan had given me and entered the next room. While the first rooms were pretty much identical, the holding cells were customized based on the resident. In this case, the room was pretty much empty as Hummingbird was not in a position to use it anyway.

At my direction, she had been kept in sensory deprivation as part of the softening up procedure. She was naked and hanging in the air in a null field, unable to move but unable to feel anything touching her. Her head was encased in an opaque sphere with a white noise inducer blocking all sounds. I saw her small firm tits jiggle slightly as she struggled, desperate to feel something, anything. I reached out to touch her and she flinched as if shocked. At that skin to skin contact I slipped into her mind.

The city was still there, towering skyscrapers and long streets, but where it had been crazy busy before now it looked like there was a riot going on. Buildings were on fire, faceless people dressed in shabby business suits ran chaotically in every direction. In the background there was a noise of a siren coming from all directions and the sky was dark with thunderclouds as lightning exploded every few seconds. I saw a subway train careen off of an overhead track, crashing down onto the street, there goes that train of thought I chuckled to myself.

I walked along the chaotic street, easily avoiding the random thoughts that ran aimlessly around me. For someone like Hummingbird whose mind worked as fast as her body, having nothing to focus on was pure hell for her. I walked to the center of the city, where I had found her in the peaceful drug induced Zen Garden of her mind last time. She was there again, but the garden was gone.

She knelt on the ground, sobbing as she looked around frantically. The pond was dry and choked with dying fish and plants, the trees were bare and skeletal and even the bench was broken and twisted.

'Please, please make it stop. Help me, please.' She sobbed as she pressed her hands desperately over her eyes and ears, futilely trying to block out the chaos of her mind. I reached out and touched her shoulder and she swung around, eyes wide with confusion and fear.

'Mr. Comber, what is happening? I can't make it stop.' She blurted out as she reached out to wrap her arms around my legs, pressing her cheek against my thighs.

'Hello Hummingbird.' I said as I stroked her head. She didn't respond, too lost in her chaos to realize that I knew her identity. 'Do you want me to help you, do you want the garden back?'

She looked up at me, eyes wide with desperate hope. 'Yes, yes, please, please help me. Please give me back the garden.'

I reached down and pulled her to her feet, wrapping my arm comfortingly around her shoulders. This should be easier than I thought. 'Hummingbird, this is your mind without focus. You are a prisoner, and the man holding you had put you in a state of sensory deprivation. Without something to concentrate on, you mind has run haywire, do you understand?'

She nodded, eyes wet with tears. 'Why, why would he do this?' she sobbed.

'You were a hero, he was a villain, that is what they do. Now, I can help you with this but only if you promise not to try to escape. If you lie to me, and try to run after I help you, this will all come back and I won't be able to help you again. Do you understand?'

She looked around at the chaos of her mind. 'Ms. Stane was trying to help me, teach me how to focus my mind. I tried to do what she showed me but I couldn't, its too loud in here.' She said weakly as she pressed her hands against her ears.

'I know, your mind works too fast for you to be able to control it on your own. I can help you, but only if you promise not to betray me and try to escape.'

'What does the man want with me?' she asked nervously. 'Will he, will he hurt me?'

'He might, he is a very dangerous man. I don't know what he will do with you after we are done. All that I can tell you is that if you don't agree, I will have to leave you like this.' I told her as I looked around. Shit, was that Godzilla over there?

I reached down and grabbed her by the shoulders, her small muscular arms like sticks of oak in my hands. 'Hummingbird, we don't have much time. Your mind is starting to destroy itself, if I help you do you promise not to try to escape and do whatever you are told?'

She looked around one last time, then nodded. 'I promise. I promise not to try to run. I promise to do whatever you want, just make this go away.' She said in a scared but firm voice.

I backed out of her mind then went over to the small table where the collar and sedative injector I had used to capture her lay. I picked it up and fastened it around her neck. She flinched as I tightened it down and the micro needles penetrated the skin of her neck. I slid back into her mind as I slowly dialed up the dosage of sedative.

In her mind the sky started to clear, dark clouds rolling away to let scattered beams of sunlight shine through. The noise of the city receded, replaced by the quiet chirping of birds. I dialed up the sedative a little more, and new shoots of green started to appear through the brown dry grass of the Zen Garden, and a trickle of water bubbled out from the waterfall into the pond.

Hummingbird gave a sob of joy and ran over to hold her dirty hands under the clear stream of spring water. I increased the sedative a little more, and the pond slowly filled bringing the fish and water lilies back to life. Buds began to grow from the trees and quickly bloomed into pink cherry blossoms while flowers pushed their way up through the ruined gardens.

She stood and slowly turned, her eyes half closed in pleasure as she basked in the peace and quiet of the garden. With a wave of my hand, I restored the shattered bench and she gave me a grateful smile as she slid her fingers across the smooth wood. Then I pointed to where the tree had just finished pushing out its pink cherry blossoms and a small glass hummingbird feeder appeared, swarmed by tiny iridescent birds that darted around like miniature jets. I held out one finger and a tiny shimmering bird landed, fluttering its wings. Xin gave a small girlish squeal of delight and held out her own finger for the bird to hop on to as she gently stroked its tiny head.

'This is my gift to you, whenever you want you can come here. You just need to close your eyes and relax, but remember that it can be taken away just as easily.' I said, and she nodded in acknowledgement.

'The price for this is your compliance, your obedience to the man who runs this place. I have no idea what he will ask of you, and it will probably be something that you don't want to do. That choice will always be yours but remember what will happen to you, what the rest of your life will be like if you don't.' I pointed to the horizon. The burning buildings and chaos were still out there, hazy, as if being viewed through a soap bubble.

'I understand, thank you.' She said in a quiet voice.

'No, I don't think you do. I am going to leave now and then we will test your commitment. He will be watching and if he doesn't believe that you are telling the truth then he will have me take this all away.' I said firmly as I gestured to the garden. 'He has many uses for people with powers, and not all of them require your mind to be intact.'

I saw a shudder of fear run over her and her narrow, Asian eyes widened. 'Anything, anything, I promise.'

I backed out of her mind and walked back into the ante-room where Song Bird was waiting. Early on I had realized that I couldn't mould Hummingbird's mind like I had done with Song Bird or Black Bird, it just ran too fast. I was lucky that the sedative I used to contain her actually gave her exactly what she wanted most, peace in her head. I didn't have to break her, she was already broken, all I had to do was show her that I could fix her. A simple demonstration of how bad it really could be was enough to get her as hooked as a heroin addict, and just as easy to control.

I pushed a button for the intercom to the guard station. "Can you please bring down the package."

A few minutes later and the outer door slid open and one of the guards handed me a large box. I turned to where Song Bird sat on the sofa regarding me with a mixture of curiosity and disgust. There were several tests that I could use to confirm Xin's commitment to our agreement, but this one was going to be the most fun. I beckoned her over and handed her the box.

"Xin has agreed that she will do whatever it takes to survive here, just like you. Now you are going to help me test that, get her ready." I told her.

Song Bird opened the package then her face screwed up in contempt. "Really? You're disgusting."

"Hey, I don't make the stereotypes. I just get turned on by them." I replied with a smirk as I walked over to the bar and poured my own drink. I pointed to the door to the cell. "The controls to the null field are on the wall, don't keep me waiting."

With a sigh of resignation and one final glare, Song Bird disappeared into the cell. The clicking of her heels on the bare floor drew my attention to how her shapely hourglass figure swayed in her tight pencil skirt. I sat myself in the armchair and waited, good things take time I told myself as I sipped my whiskey. About half an hour later and Song Bird walked back into the anteroom, followed by Hummingbird who looked around shyly. Song Bird stepped aside, her arms crossed under her ample tits as she tried to convey the level of hatred and disgust she felt for me while still looking like an executives wet dream.

"Your prize, Master." She said in a voice that dripped with loathing.

Xin stepped forward, her hands nervously fiddling with themselves as she glanced up at me then looked quickly away. She was dressed like the stereotypical Asian schoolgirl. A white sailor blouse with a blue kerchief and a blue pleated skirt. There the resemblance stopped, since the blouse was cropped to display her washboard stomach and sheer enough for her dark nipples to show through the material. The skirt came to just below her ass, displaying her muscular legs that were sheathed in knee high white stockings and shaped by the black 4" Mary Jane style high heel pumps she was wearing. Her face had been done up in subdued make up but given that I had never seen her wearing any before she looked delightfully innocent but with a sultry 'tempt the teacher' vibe. A simple shimmering blue headband that pulled her short glossy black hair back from her face completed the look and I nodded in appreciation.

"You know your stuff Ms. Von Meecham" I said appreciatively as I drained my glass and set it on the side table. "Now, kiss her."

Both Song Bird and Hummingbird started at the unexpected command. "You can't be serious. She's just a..." Song Bird started to say before I interrupted her.