Shackles Ch. 16

"Good girl."

Just about the only thing Trinity hated more than the biting condescension in Radiance's tone was the way her words made her thighs clench together involuntarily. She could blame Pheramona's power for her arousal, of course - even now that the supervillain was barely conscious, her pheromones hung in the air, thick as fog - but after some of their recent experiences, both she and Radiance knew it was something deeper than that.

What Trinity hated most, though, was how hauntingly, devastatingly hot it was that she found the words so humiliating, as they bounced around in her head.

Good girl.

The last thing she wanted was to feel good about this - about standing over the senseless, kneeling body of her partner in crime, who she'd betrayed and tricked not once, but now twice. Trinity would admit to being a lot of things, including a lot of scummy and unflattering things, but she'd been determined never to be a traitor or a snitch. And then, of course, Radiance had taken that choice away from her.

Trinity looked down at Pheramona. It was a minor miracle that the unfortunate supervillain was still upright. Trinity had hit her with such a strong blast of shimmer that she was all but unconscious. Her eyes blazed purple with brilliant sparks, and saw nothing at all. And it wasn't over - Radiance's commands held Trinity there, one hand rested on Pheramona's temple, feeding her a steady trickle of her hypnotic energy. It was incredibly strange, seeing her look so blank and so submissive. It seemed wrong. Pheramona could be kind of a crazy bitch, sometimes, but she had her pride. Trinity still felt sorry for her.

"What's the matter?" Radiance sounded maddeningly smug, but underneath all that was a simmering anger. "You don't look very pleased."

No sharp, witty comeback rose to Trinity's lips. She was too tired and too horny, and she couldn't think. "Just... you've got your money," she said dully, nodding in the direction of the huge cargo cases full of stacked bills. "Are we done here?"

Radiance's lips curled. "I thought you'd want to enjoy your victory."

"Of course not," Trinity growled.

"Well, I do." There was a strange glint in Radiance's eyes; one that Trinity didn't like one bit. "Clearly, this is what I should have been doing to you all along! I think I'm starting to understand you, Trinity. You're reward-motivated. I guess I just needed to show you how rewarding it can be, to be on the side of good for a change. It's just like training a dog. You need to give her a few treats."

"W-what the fuck is wrong with you?" Trinity was shocked at how blatantly cruel Radiance sounded. Why was she being like this? Why, after all they had been through and talked about? But that shock didn't stop her words from burning right through her and making her cunt throb with need.

"I'm just calling it how I see it," Radiance replied. "Once you've got someone holding your leash properly, you're so effective! A little yappy, perhaps, but besides that, you make a wonderful hunting hound. Doesn't it feel good to do the right thing for a change? To be on the right side of the fight? To be a good girl?"

Trinity's head was spinning. She wasn't sure what this new game of Radiance's was, but she couldn't handle it. The effortless superiority on the superhero's face, the implacable authority in her tone, the twisted, condescending praise in her words - it was all driving her crazy. The way her own body was hearkening to Radiance's taunts was even more humiliating than being made to cum from being passed around in a dyke bar.

"You're crazy!" Trinity protested. "I'm a villain, remember?"

"But you don't have to be," Radiance shot back. "Maybe you just haven't been trained properly yet."

Trinity couldn't suppress a moan. "S-shut up."

"I can't tell you how cute it is that this is getting to you," Radiance laughed. "A bad girl with naughty little fantasies about turning good, huh?" Trinity was shaking her head furiously, but Radiance ignored her. "I suppose it makes sense. You want to be part of something bigger, don't you? Everyone does. Why not just keep following my lead, Trinity? I could use a decent sidekick."

The offer was far too ridiculous to be genuine, but knowing that didn't stop the series of images that unfolded in Trinity's head like a montage in a movie. Her, at Radiance's side. Her, wearing a hero costume, like the one she'd taken from Radiance. Her, doing good, and basking in the acclaim of the masses - and in Radiance's mocking praise.

All with the superhero's chain bound tight around her neck.

The shame Trinity felt at her own arousal burned within her chest like hot coals. What was happening to her? Why did she want this? She... she didn't, did she? It was so damn hard for her to think, with her head full of pheromones. Her desires were running wild, and chasing after whatever intoxicating little thread Radiance suggested to her.

"What's wrong?" Radiance mocked. "Need me to call you a good girl some more?"

Trinity squeezed her thighs together as tightly as she could, as a deep, wicked part of her mind savored the pleasure it brought her. It was getting harder and harder not to throw herself at Radiance's feet and start rubbing herself.

Fuck, even picturing herself doing that made her hot.

"N-no!" Trinity whined. "I'm not... go fuck yourself!"

Radiance just laughed at her. "Don't pretend you're not turned on," she scoffed. "I can smell it, Trinity."

That made Trinity blush even harder. Her cheeks were discovering hitherto unknown shades of red. "It's the pheromones!" she insisted, half-truthfully. "Can't you feel it too?"

She was desperate to talk about anything except her own body, and for once Radiance indulged her. The superhero shrugged. "Enhanced physiology," she replied. "Toxins, chemicals - I don't have to worry about stuff like that."

"Tch. Must be nice."

Radiance having even more bullshit superpowers up her sleeve didn't come as much of a surprise. She was, after all, famous for being perfect. That didn't mean Trinity had to stop being bitter about it, though. After another moment or two, though, her thoughts turned to how strangely Radiance was acting. What if she wasn't as immune as she thought? Pheramona's power was more than just some random toxin, after all. Trinity did her best to peer through the fog of her own arousal and inspect Radiance carefully. The hero was breathing hard, her nostrils flaring unusually every few seconds, and her pupils looked a little dilated.

"Radiance," Trinity said carefully. "I think you might not wanna be so-"

"Stop trying to change the subject," Radiance told her, smirking. "We were talking about you, remember? And how turned on you are, more specifically."

"I'm not!" Trinity snapped, but her own voice betrayed her. She sounded high-pitched and feminine, and desperately needy.

"Why even bother to lie about that?" Radiance seemed both amused and irked by Trinity's denials. "Don't you know what you look like? It's pathetic."

"Ngrhh." Pathetic. Why did that one word do so much to her? "Shut. Up."

Even the sound of Trinity's own voice was humiliating to her. It was so whiny; so weak. The way the smirk on Radiance's face danced showed she was just as aware of it. "And now you're repeating yourself," Radiance commented. "'Shut up'? Is that the best you have left in you? Where's that sharp tongue, Trinity? Surely you can do better than that. Than barking like a stupid puppy."

Trinity saw white for a moment. This was too much. The shameful pleasure of humiliation was burning within her hotter than she could stand. Her own powerlessness was torture. Normally, she'd always know what to do. Run, or fight, or use her power, or at least throw out a witty retort. This time, she couldn't do any of that. The need to simply escape was overpowering, but all she could do was twitch and squirm in ways that made her feel all the more pathetic. It didn't help that every little movement made her body rub against itself, leaving her aching to touch herself. She was running out of self-control.

"You want this," Radiance continued. "Just say it, Trinity. You. Want. This. You want to be weak. You want to be small. You want to let someone else do the thinking for you. You want to be mine. You want to be my obedient puppy, because that feels better than anything else in your shitty little life. Admit it."

The worst part was that Trinity couldn't tell if she wanted to or not. She couldn't shake the feeling that it would feel good, somehow. That it would feel like a release, one she desperately needed. Radiance's words felt painfully, ecstatically true, and she wasn't sure how much of that was real and how much was her own overtaxed mind contorting pathetically to what Radiance was telling her.

The only thing Trinity knew for sure was that if she let this go on for much longer, she was going to end up doing and saying whatever the superhero wanted.

"W-what about you?" Trinity said thickly; a last, desperate attempt to spit in Radiance's face while she could still think. "Haven't you got... better things to do? Than... than getting your rocks off... making fun of me? You should see how you look. You're... you're the one pushing me so fucking hard. Trying to make me feel weak. Trying to make me the... the kind of girl y-you like. You. You're the one... who wants this. Who wants... me."

Radiance's face soured immediately. Clearly, Trinity had touched a nerve. The manic glint in her eyes didn't disappear, though. It just became even more twisted.

"Fine," Radiance growled, in a breathy voice. "Fine. Maybe you're right, Shimmer. Maybe you're not enjoying this. Maybe you really are some kind of big, bad, untouchable dominant. That's what you want to pretend, right? You keep making excuses. It's my power. It's the pheromones. Anything, to pretend you wouldn't enjoy being treated this way. Well, you know what? Show me. Prove it."

Trinity wasn't sure exactly what Radiance wanted from her - until glanced pointedly down at Pheramona, still slumped at Trinity's feet.

"What?" Trinity looked down and felt dizzy. As absurd as it felt in the situation, she was overflowing with lust, much of it directed at Pheramona. The supervillain's power was wearing off only very slowly, and its lingering effects were like a magnetic pull, beckoning Trinity towards her. Something deep in her animal brain, worked into a frenzy by the mind-warping chemicals filling the air, was screaming at her that Pheramona was her very purpose. "W-what are you talking about?"

"You've already got her on her knees." Radiance folded her arms. "It shouldn't be so hard."

"That's not the point!" Trinity insisted. "The point is, I don't want to!"

The telltale quiver in her voice betrayed how truly unsure she was. Her desires were a churning mess of contradictions. She was at the point where she'd do just about anything to achieve any kind of release, no matter how degrading, but if she went along with what Radiance was suggesting, wouldn't she be every bit as much of a scumbag as she liked to make out?

"I'm not sure that's true," Radiance mused. "But it doesn't matter. I wasn't asking."

Trinity shook her head violently as Radiance tugged threateningly at the golden chain wrapped around her own neck.

"No," she pleaded. "No way. Radiance, think! The pheromones! This isn't you, it's-"

"Shut up," Radiance said calmly. Trinity felt the superhero's will flow into her through her chain, striking her like a bolt of electricity. Her jaw clamped shut. "That's better," Radiance continued. "Now, listen: you're going to wake up Pheramona, and you're going to dominate her. Use your power on her. Make her do whatever your twisted little heart desires. Just be sure to remember the rules I gave you before. You're not allowed to tell her what's really going on." The smirk on Radiance's face darkened. "And make it humiliating."

Trinity paled at the command. She couldn't believe how twisted it was. What was the point? What was this supposed to teach her? She wondered if Radiance had cast aside all pretenses of nobility, and was simply trying to break Trinity's will for the sake of her own amusement. That was certainly what it felt like. There was little hint of anything but sadistic, manic glee in Radiance's demeanor, and it was impossible to know how much of that was due to the pheromones filling the room, and how much was simply the superhero's own desires beginning to unshackle themselves.

Knowing would have meant less than nothing, however. Trinity wanted to pretend that she wasn't being tamed, but she had already internalized the lesson that there was no point fighting Radiance.

She had no choice but to obey.

Already, the steady stream of shimmer that Trinity was trickling into Pheramona had started to ebb. Not completely, of course - she needed to remain in control, and needed to try and keep Pheramona's power suppressed - but enough to allow the supervillain to regain some semblance of consciousness. Right away, Pheramona showed signs of stirring. Her stamina was truly impressive. Still, even once she'd managed to force her eyes open and tip her head upwards, it was clear that Trinity's power had her in its sway. Pheramona was moving like she was underwater, and when she spoke, her voice was thick and slurred.

"Ugh... you... I... wha..." She swayed dangerously for a moment, before regaining a little more clarity. Her eyes filled with impotent rage as she fixed her gaze on Trinity. "Fuck," she groaned. "I can't believe you beat me."

"Told you," Trinity said breezily. "I don't always play nice."

In spite of everything, it felt a little bit good to rub that in Pheramona's face.

"Damn it." Pheramona reached up to rub her head. "Don't go thinking you're not weak. It's my fault for letting you sucker punch me like that. You pulled out the oldest trick in the book."

"Yeah, and you were dumb enough to fall for it," Trinity snorted. "What does that tell you?"

Pheramona made a displeased noise and attempted to brush Trinity's hand away from her temple. She failed. As weak as a kitten's, her arm fell limply to her side. Trinity was already through all of her mental defenses - but that didn't mean staying in control was effortless. As per Radiance's instructions, she needed to keep Pheramona awake enough to find what was happening to her humiliating. That meant she was only just perched on the precipice of a genuine trance, and all her thoughts were bent towards rebellion.

"That won't work," Trinity told her. "I've got you, Ramona. You've seen what my power does to people."

Pheramona growled at her through gritted teeth, but she seemed to accept her fate. "Fine. You win. Now what? You take all your money? Wipe my memory?"

"Maybe." Trinity felt Radiance's mind control kick in and, against her will, she flashed a smug, wicked smirk down at Pheramona. "But first, I'm gonna have some fun."

Pheramona's eyes widened a fraction. "You wouldn't dare."

"That right?" Trinity laughed, and her laugh was more than a little genuine. Pheramona really still thought she was big and tough and scary, even when she was on her knees. It was so like her. "And why not, exactly?"

"You..." Pheramona's eyes flitted around for a moment. Was she looking for an escape? Or was she simply nervous? That thought brought a smile to Trinity's face. Pheramona was the kind of girl who always needed to get the last word and the last laugh. You had to let her, if you wanted to stay on her good side. Maybe a little humility would be good for her.

"You just wouldn't," Pheramona finished lamely. "It's not your style, Shimmer. You're not that type of girl."

"Sure," Trinity replied. "But you are. Isn't that what you were saying just now? You told me you were going to take advantage of Ra- I mean, of my friend Violet here."

She gestured towards Radiance, and flashed her a slightly sheepish look. It was only Radiance's mind control that had kept her tongue from slipping.

"That's..." Now Pheramona was started to sweat a little. Trinity couldn't help but feel a little gleeful. She might not have been the one at the wheel, but she could still enjoy the ride.

"And me too, I bet," Trinity added. "You've never exactly been one for self-restraint, Ramona. Anyway, that's not all. Thanks to you and your fucking power, I'm all worked up. Seems only fair you help me work out some of the tension. You even offered before, right?"

This time, Pheramona just grunted. Trinity could sense the defeated villain trying to draw on her pheromone power again, probably in the hopes of drowning Trinity in a close-range dose that would leave her helpless. But she couldn't. Trinity wouldn't let her.

"Fuck you," Pheramona spat, once she figured out that Trinity was blocking her.

"You wish." Trinity wasn't proud of that one. It was too cliche. It still felt a little bit satisfying, though. "But not this time, Ramona. It's time to switch things up."

Once she caught Trinity's meaning, Pheramona became a simmering cauldron of rage. It was an impressive sight. There probably would have been steam coming out of her ears, if not for Trinity's power tamping down on her emotions.

And that, of course, was exactly what Trinity had been aiming for.

As Trinity had learned in her various dealings with Pheramona, one facet of the other villain's alpha female complex was that she prided herself on being a 'gold star top'. She always had to take the lead in bed. Her pleasure always came first. She was always on top, both figuratively and literally. She boastfully claimed to have less than zero interest in experiencing the other side of the slash.

That was about to change.

Radiance was forcing Trinity to humiliate Pheramona, and she knew the most humiliating thing for Pheramona would be to take the submissive role - and to get off on it.

"Don't you dare," Pheramona growled. "The moment I get free of you, I'm gonna-"

"Ah, ah, ah!" Trinity tutted, wagging a finger. All she needed to do to cut Pheramona off was infuse her with a little more of her shimmer; just enough to make the words melt out of her head before she could speak them. The other villain's eyes were dancing with sparks. It was a glorious sight - addictive, in the purest sense of the word. "You really don't get it yet, do you? I'm making the rules here."

That was a lie. There was only one of them there making the rules, and it wasn't Trinity. But when she said it, it felt true. When she was standing over Pheramona like this, using her power to dominate her like a cowboy with a wild horse, it was impossible not to feel the old, familiar thrill of dominance, its intensity undiminished by its phoniness.

"Grkkk," Pheramona drooled, in useless protest.

"And the rule is," Trinity continued. "You're going to get me off. And you're going to like it."

Pheramona's eyes widened slightly. There was something endlessly amusing about how offended she seemed to be at the suggestion, like she hadn't taken advantage of people in the same way many times before. Really, all she was doing was giving her a taste of her own medicine. Maybe that wasn't so bad after all. It troubled Trinity, a little, that she found it so easy to feel that way. But she was too horny to think, and she knew there was no point resisting it.

"Now get over here, and get to work," she finished, brushing aside her misgivings.

Trinity started to lead Pheramona over to a nearby storage crate, one of the empty, abandoned ones. Pheramona made a big show of resistance, of course. She growled and grit her teeth and dug in her heels as much as she possibly could. But all Trinity needed to do was exert a little more effort, and she folded. Her limbs disobeyed her, and Pheramona found herself crawling obediently along the ground at Trinity's heel like a dejected puppy. Trinity's enchanted touch was just as binding as any leash, when she needed it to be.