MissJudge

Note: This is part three of MissPlacement's story after MissPlacement and MissTake.

Three Weeks Ago

The haze of cigarette smoke and background noise slightly permeated the air of the booth for most of its inhabitants. To get to the booth would've required walking through a thick crowd enjoying a baseball game on TV, so fixated on the sport that next to no one would be paying attention to what was going on in Kelli's booth. And in turn, much of the attention of the booth's occupants didn't extend beyond it, a feat easily achieved due to a charming introduction with Kelli herself.

The infamous street hypnotist smiled at the woman she sat across, just as much as she indirectly smiled at the man she sat next to.

"Are you serious? You got him to bark like a dog? Ned hates dogs," Sally asked incredulously.

"I kept telling old Neddy here that it was possible to discover such a thing as a man's 'inner best friend.' He didn't believe me, of course; very few do, before I show them how such a thing is possible. He lost five bucks on that bet."

Both women smiled at Ned conveniently sipping his beer for long seconds, putting off the ability to confirm or deny.

Sitting next to Kelli was a blushing Detective Ned Ryburn, seemingly following along with the introductory conversation, participating here and there with a few neutral or funny contributions. Truthfully, he was letting Kelli do most of the talking; most of his cognitive effort was spent looking awake, while the rest of him sank deep into the submissively-rewarding state he always loved to actively be in. It wasn't as deep as he wanted, the trance not reaching further than a middle realm between light and medium; if all went well after introducing his law enforcement friends to Kelli, she would find a way to get him to go deeper than ever before in the months since she first found a more proper placement for his mind.

"It's just hard to believe all-business Ned loosening up THAT hard, howling, or barking at the moon at any point."

"And for five more bucks, or the next round, I can ensure she never sees that side of you," she gently ribbed her friend, making Sally almost giggle before enjoying more of her beer.

Across from the performer and her usual assistant was a smiling Detective Sally Saffron, very interested to hear about Ned's new friend. The veil of mostly-genuine happiness keenly hid the suspicion she had about this Kelli. Ned buddying up with such a woman seemed very strange; it could've been totally innocent, but at the very least, there'd be no harm in looking her up after their meeting, and after Lou would finally show.

"You know, to take a bit of the spotlight off of me, five bucks says you can't do that to Sally either. Not the barking thing, but something like that," Ned said, virtually desperate to put someone else under Kelli's assertions.

"I'm not sure she could do that," Sally stated without thinking. It was a few seconds later that she said she probably should've said "should do that," subconsciously curious about what it would take to make it happen, still drawing from notions of quiet audiences for silly stage shows, or vague explanations of Kelli's methods.

"Yeah, I'm not sure I could either," hypnotist smiled, looking around the constantly-audible bar as if assessing the possibility, half-looking around to invest in the agreement with Sally, and half-looking to make sure no distractions could be coming their way, or any threats her way.

"I mean, even under ideal conditions, it can be something of a 50/50 thing. Like the flip of a coin." Handily, she produced a quarter from out of nowhere, flipped and placed it between her palm and back of the other hand.

"Call it," she asked of Sally, softly yet insistently.

Sally wasn't expected to be put on the spot, let alone so quickly, so she chose without thinking. "Heads."

Kelli looked at Sally for a second longer than necessary, checking after to see what the coin turned up.

"You're right, heads, which means you're susceptible to trance. It could've easily gone the other way though; 50/50 like I said."

"Really?"

"Really. Let's try again." Without even looking at her hands doing the coin flipping and catching it, Kelli kept her gaze straight on her intended target.

"Call it," the repetition in her voice was aided by a dash of coyness.

"Tails."

"Sorry, heads again, which means pretty low chances at resisting. But like I said, the chance is still there; it could happen easily, not that it couldn't happen just as easily."

Sally was a bit at a loss for words, trying to keep up with Kelli's weird take on statistical odds.

"And do you think the chances would change at all if the coin was spun rather than flipped?" Kelli asked while effortlessly spinning the coin on the table; she'd cleared the contents of condiments and menus off of it earlier, so the coin spun gracefully, unobstructed, almost exactly like how Kelli's words were spun.

"To watch something spin like the coin feels so different than just flipping it. Different perceptions, different dimensions, perhaps more possibilities than one would think, but all leading to one inevitable possibility, perhaps all lead by the voice so interested in discovering the inevitable."

Sally never noticed the tonal shift in Kelli's voice, a softer sound that somehow drowned out even the loudest screams, making them sound like ever-fading background noise. None of that hardly mattered as neither detective managed to take their eyes off the shiny coin, much to the coin owner's delight.

"And forgetful me, I forgot to ask you to call it before. We'll do that again, and to make it feel a little more familiar, you can extend your hand out a bit to cover the coin, so it can be a surprise when you find that inevitable possibility."

Sally confusedly brought her hand out slowly, and Kelli's helpfully guided it towards the center of the table as she spun it again. Kelli continued to help maintain the secret, guiding Sally's outstretched hand to blind her from the coin, leading the unseeing detective into further explanation.

"What a surprise the inevitable that would be, as surprising as how easily your hand stays comfortably out, despite its heaviness. Tired but straight, heavy but floating, lead by the coin, lead by my voice, following yet too heavy, until it's too heavy that when the coin falls..."

Kelli had been holding up Sally's hand enough that letting it go dropped the outstretched hand on the table, kept soothed by Kelli's hand still above it.

"You might fall as well, hiding the inevitable, but knowing deep inside what it already is. So many directions, possibilities, dimensions, chances, yet everything was leading to this one point. Inescapable, only wanting to know what lies ahead. Do you want to know what lies ahead on the coin?"

The tingling sensation in the officer's hand kept her from delivering any swift answer, so Kelli felt obliged to lift her hand a bit to see where the coin fell on.

"SLEEP!" she whispered sharply to Sally, jolting her hand forward to the inevitable shock induction, shoulders cradled by Ned that had silently shifted to Sally's side of the booth, to keep her body from falling or bouncing off the table.

"Very good Sally, sleep now, sleep deep now. The coin has decided. My voice has decided. MissPlacement has decided where you belong, and it feels so good to be where you belong, right here, sleepy, and growing happy the deeper you go."

Kelli was very pleased at how easily Sally had ended up succumbing, about as easy as Ned, though having Ned vouch for her made to much easier to take, and she imagined having as much programming her new law enforcement pet, as much as her first for sure.

Checking the time, she still had around 25 minutes before the next friend showed up; as tempting and as ego-boosting as it would've been to take multiple cops at once, the divide-and-conquer strategy of giving each new "friend" different meet times worked best, giving her enough time to create a sufficient-enough baseline for established control. She felt she needed it, and every smart advantage she could take; stealing from mobsters was a fairly new type of fear inducing she experienced, not realizing she'd stolen from one until it was too late. Trying to shore up defenses, she'd become a little more paranoid about where threats might be coming from, giving every person and/or crowd more than a once-over to assess opportunities or threats.

Every ten minutes or so, she'd give the breadth of the bar another subtle glance, and the last few times confirmed something a bit concerning. Kelli asked Ned to give a physical description of the friends coming, and one person in the crowd deeply resembled Detective Lou Giatti, who was already there, and had his sights very interested on their booth from across the bar. Impressions from his acquaintances created expected behavior of a fashionably-late, horn-dog, and not a tactical spy.

"Paranoia pays off," she told herself, asking her evening companions to act awake and conversational, waiting for a crowd to pass their table to slip out of sight.

Shifting through the annoying crowd was difficult, like a trout moving upstream, against the current, bumping into too many obstructions, even a cute guy that she didn't mind bumping into for a second as she made her way around to flank the surveying officer.

Lou literally never saw her coming, just feeling a gentle arm around his neck, a sweet perfume filling his personal space, and a strange series of finger snaps pulling his attention away from the view of the booth. A crooning litany turned his attention back towards the booth, no longer staring at his target from a distance, but into her beautiful eyes, up-close and personal, beyond shocked at being compromised.

"Every breath you take, deep breath *SNAP*, you breathe deep with every breath,"

The first breath in her grasp was a helpless breath, deepened as instructed.

"Every move you make, a deep, deep breath *SNAP*, the only every move you can make."

Movement wasn't an accessible thought, only focused on breathing.

"Every bond you break, deeper breaths *SNAP*, breaking from every bond, but bonding with my words with every deeper breath." *SNAP*

Everything surrounding faded but Kelli, bound to suggestions that formed thoughts piercing deep with every snap.

"Every step you take causes a deeper breath *SNAP*, walking deeply into yourself, walking with my voice, following it, trusting it with every deep breath." *SNAP*

Devoid of any other input or will, metaphorical legs brought him deeper into the body she controlled.

"I'll be watching you breath deep *SNAP* with every breath, *SNAP* every move, *SNAP* every bond, *SNAP every step, *SNAP* I'll be watching you SLEEP!" *SNAP*

Sharp snaps, and intensified gaze, and a sleep command finished him off quickly. Kelli couldn't help but giggle into his ear with deepening instructions, using song lyrics all-too-befitting of surveillance to take him under. To any passerbys, it only looked like harmless flirting; flirting with the kind of danger she was, the kind that had cops in their pocket, she nearly rushed the subconscious inquiry of the what, how and why. Lou was in-fact working for Richie McClung, ready to track her movements and inform him of where she could be found. That information changed Kelli's original plans quickly, as they all headed to Lou's house for more refreshments of the mind-control variety, and for MissPlacement to reassess how to utilize a new asset who would still believe he belonged to McClung.

***

Present Day

Detective Giatti spaced out for a moment, his mind drifting off elsewhere while Richie and an associate of his talked business. He was used to standing before some authority or figurehead, waiting to hear their opinion that would decide what he would do next. Oddly enough, a man as infamous as Richie was as authoritative as it got in Lou's circles, controlling more than his official duties or the paycheck derived from them; and as dangerous as he could be with that kind of control, he's the authority that demanded the least of the detective. For a man rather moderately on the take like Lou, he was paid quite handsomely.

Lately though, any payments deriving from Richie paled compared to moments in his life where he was willing to give up more control than he ever thought he could. Lou finally understood how habitual drug users often fell back into their self-destructive routines; when a drug blows your mind better than any barbiturate or sexual act, you'd do anything for it. No controlled substance stood a chance against a controlling substance like hypnosis, one Lou wasn't even aware he was jonsing for.

"Lou," a firm voice from outside his suspended thoughts finally pierced and got his attention. Lou looked towards the waiting face of McClung's assistant, Tara Cunningham.

"Huh?"

"I said 'are we good for Friday?'" Tara asked, wondering why the typically-attentive officer looked lost. As did the silent, observant Richie McClung next to her.

"Yeah, Friday is all set. I double-checked the routes; you won't have any trouble slipping past them."

Richie smiled, happy to slyly avoid yet another "surprise" police sting. Giatti was paid as well as he was for his forethought in being able to avoid usual police interference, without it looking like it happened based on informing. The mob lieutenant kept his demeanor on the satisfied side, but never let his watchful eye deviate from noticing any facial ticks or indicators giving away that Giatti was holding back or hiding anything. Most found out the hard way why that was never a good idea.

"And as for the, shall we say, 'brief' matter of the 'case?'" The assistant spoke again, prompting the last bit of business Richie had with Lou.

"Uhhh..." It took monumental effort to not blank out momentarily, thinking about the beautiful culprit that managed to steal a case from one of Richie's couriers mere minutes after it was practically in Richie's hands. Lou set the file on the table for the assistant to take.

"Yeah, I've got what I could of your thief. Her name is Kelli Kennedy, a.k.a. MissPlacement. Some kind of neighborhood hypnotist, or something. She's sort of got a rep, but a lot of it is vague at-best. Other than the case we know she stole, she might've done something here, maybe was present when something was misplaced there. Read between the lines in all these reports though, and the voodoo this chick has is strong. And she's hard to catch, which makes things difficult."

"But I assume things will be easier for us as we at least have a name," Tara was rather annoyed at the lack of specifics, as if annoyed on behalf of Richie.

"We have a name, but things don't get this vague without the girl having some skill, like probably a lot of tricks up her sleeve."

"Tricks aren't usually a problem for us; leave us what you have, and we'll take it from here," she skimmed the pages, getting ready to advise Richie on their appraisal.

"So..." Richie spoke up for the first time during that meeting. It was something he rarely did, mostly out of fear of being secretly recorded, but also knowing the assistant loved applying pressure as the velvet glove to Richie's iron fist.

"Enjoying all that money your lawyer saved from your no-good ex?"

"D-definitely," Lou stuttered, surprised he brought that up. "Can't thank you enough for that referral."

"Hard-working man like you deserves to keep every cent he can earn. I assume that's what made your mind wander earlier."

The assistant hid their smile, rather enjoying the detective being called out.

"Well, thinking of how to spend that money over the weekend, yeah. Maybe one day I'll be able to save up for a seat in the skybox, like I'm sure you enjoy at the game this Saturday."

The innocuous statement struck the assistant with pause, as if Lou mentioned something that wasn't supposed to be his business. Both Lou and the assistant who looked to Richie's unfaltering, easy smile.

"Or whenever you make it out there."

"Keep up the good work, and maybe one day you'll get an invitation," Richie spoke, just as innocuously.

Silently, Lou nodded and took his leave, aware of how closely he was being watched upon departing, unaware of their expressions.

***

Kelli's seat amongst the crowd of occasionally screaming and jeering baseball fans was strategically sound, but a bit of a pain to endure. The comfortable illusion she created at Lou's house was so much more ideal, when the surrounding spectators were just figments of her hypnotic suggestion. But she tried to keep in the spirit of things, taking the advice of her crack enforcement team of detectives Ryburn, Saffron, and Giatti, ready to corner and take Richie McClung long before he even knew he was taken. Kelli dressed as innocuously as possible, wearing some baseball paraphernalia, but looking more like a student still studying on the weekends, complimented with cosmetic eyeglasses, and a bag filled with a few textbooks.

But more than the books or the game itself, Kelli's attention was centered on her phone, checking text messages delivered from planted assets across the stadium. From Kelli's seat to the stadium skybox, Ned, Sally, and Lou gave text updates, waiting for McClung to appear. Lou's mentioning of Richie's skybox, and Richie's reaction to it, confirmed enough that he would be there to enjoy the game. And rather than consistently play defense, waiting for McClung to act, Kelli sought to be proactive, to neutralize the threat as efficiently as possible. All she had to do was wait for confirmation that he was present, and she'd make her way up to the skybox as well to negotiate a truce between them, by any reasonable means necessary; Kelli grinned at all the reasons she could think to give.

A buzz from her phone brought her attention back to the earlier parts of her surprise attack, a text from Sally:

"BF BFF on the way"

The hypnotist happily deciphered the message as "boyfriend" Richie's BFF/assistant Tara was making her way into the stadium, probably sent ahead to take care of something for Richie's arrival. That was a good sign, and would be even better once either Tara would reach the second checkpoint, or Richie would reach the first where Sally was stationed. A second text followed, this time from Ned:

"BF BFF on the way up"

Tara was on a clear path going up to the skybox, but it worried her a bit that the BF hadn't showed yet, meaning he could've left his assistant to attend the game on her own, or there as another way to the skybox she hadn't anticipated. Hoping, almost praying that she didn't have to abandon the plot and regroup seemed to pay off as two messages came back to back of one another, the first coming from Lou whom was closest to the skybox:

"BF BFF in heaven"

And another by Sally:

"BF on the way."

That was her cue, as Richie had finally entered the building. She was hoping to be right behind Richie, to keep a close eye on him, and maybe to be seen as presence he'd want to indulge.

As she reached over for her bag, she found it out of reach. Looking up, there was a tall, good-looking man in glasses moving Kelli's bag to the floor, as he took the seat next to her, acting totally as if he belonged there.

"The nerve," Kelli thought about the act, until she took a good look at the man. He looked exactly like...like the cute guy that bumped into her from the bar where she met Sally and Lou for the first time. And unfortunately, he looked like he could be Richie McClure's twin, and it was unlikely that Richie had any twin siblings.

The two just looked at each other, but Richie was the only one to smile, looking so unassuming, offering her popcorn from the concession stands.