Shackles Ch. 19

"Stop," Quinn commanded, before Trinity could reach the edge.

Trinity stopped. Obedience was easier than protest, though she did let out a small whine.

"You stop too," Quinn said to Radiance. She callously shoved the superhero's head away to one side. "Do it my way. Sit there and be quiet. Don't bother thinking."

Radiance obeyed perfectly. She simply stopped in the position that Quinn had shoved her to, saying and doing nothing. Her eyes registered perfect emptiness; the expression on her face was transformed from serene to obscene by the way she was streaked with Quinn's wetness.

"I just can't wait any longer," Quinn said breathily. "I'm the worst. I always wanted to open my presents before Christmas, too. But I really, really need to see you wearing one of my little gifts, right this second."

She walked over to where the brainwashing device had fallen when Trinity had slapped it off of Radiance's face, and picked it up. Then, she stepped towards Trinity. Trinity's eyes were locked on the sinister visor in her hand. She knew what it was going to do to her. That fate was perhaps just seconds away now. She found herself holding her breath. Quinn bent down, putting her face close to Trinity's, caressing her chin in a mockery of a lover's touch.

"We can do this the hard way," Quinn told her. "The forceful way. It won't be that hard, obviously. Not with Radiance here to help me. But I don't think you're going to make me do that. We can do this the easy way. You're an easy kind of girl." She laughed. "You're going to be a good girl, aren't you?"

Trinity could only reply with an awkward, twitchy nod. Part of her hoped Quinn wouldn't make her say it. Part of her hoped she would. But Quinn seemed content to just watch her, and enjoy the sight of her broken will.

"Good," Eleanor Quinn said, as she held the visor up to Trinity's face. "Night night, Shimmer."

The visor closed over Trinity's eyes, blotting out all light. With the darkness, other sensations seemed to recede, and she could focus only on the quiet whir of a hidden motor as the visor clamped down around her face, forming a perfect, inescapable seal. Trinity sat very still. She wondered what was going to happen; what it was going to feel like. It didn't take long for her to get her answer.

The black screen embedded in the visor flared to life in front of her eyes with a burst of static. It completely dominated her vision, stretching from corner to corner, and in the perfect darkness that seemed to surround her, it could have been any size. It felt vast. The static was gentle. It swirled in strange patterns, soothing and magnetic. Trinity was reminded of how it felt when she was going to sleep.

Then, the eerie tranquility was broken.

OBEY

The word struck Trinity like a thunderbolt as it was blared into her brain. It flashed on the screen in front of her in block capitals for just a fraction of a second, painfully bright, but the after-image was seared into her retinas for seconds afterward, pulsing in time with her heartbeat. She twitched at the flash, and then was suddenly aware of her muscles locking down and freezing her place. It was just like the electric shock Quinn had hit her with earlier.

OBEY

The second pulse was stronger and brighter than the first, and it was accompanied by a sound - or at least, it seemed that way. Trinity knew that didn't make any sense. Quinn's device didn't cover her ears. There were no speakers. But even so, she could hear it. The word 'obey', echoing in her ears over and over again. She couldn't tell whose voice it was. It sounded like it was coming from everywhere and nowhere. It sounded like Quinn's voice and Radiance's voice and Trinity's own voice. It sounded like every voice in the world.

OBEY

Again. Trinity felt herself seizing up and shutting down. The word 'obey' had stopped disappearing from behind her eyes between the flashes. It was stuck there, permanent, looming over her, accompanied by that itching, voiceless voice. Trinity tried to piece her thoughts back together, but there was nothing for her to hold on to but 'obey'.

OBEY

Trinity twitched again. The sensation of an electric shock inside her head was growing and growing. It turned all her senses into liars. She could hear the word 'obey', even though there was nothing to hear. She could feel the word 'obey' being etched into her skin, across every inch, bigger and bigger and smaller and smaller in infinite fractal patterns that left none of her untouched. She could even smell and taste 'obey', even though that didn't make any sense. She just could.

OBEY

OBEY

OBEY

BREAK

OBEY

That single change in the pattern was impossibly dizzying. The new word beat itself into Trinity's beleaguered brain like the scream of a new god. Break. Break. Break.

OBEY

OBEY

OBEY

The word 'obey' was starting to become meaningless, a mere constellation of shapes that unraveled before Trinity's sightless eyes into nothing more than a collection of lines. But at the same time, it meant everything. Its meaning was all-important. It was all she had.

OBEY

SURRENDER

OBEY

Surrender. Obey. Break. The words all bled into each other now. They were no longer flashing singly, but each over and over again, until every single flashing word looked like a thousand flickering lights crammed into the space of one moment. Trinity couldn't think about anything else. Not where she was. Not who she was. Not even her own name. Just 'obey'.

OBEY

OBEY

BREAK

SURRENDER

OBEY

FALL

OBEY

OBEY

SUBMIT

SUBMIT

OBEY

It went on and on like that for an ocean of meaningless time. For what seemed like an eternity, Trinity thought that her head was going to split open as it struggled to hold all of the words being forced through it. Then, without warning, the sensation flipped completely, and it felt as though her head was collapsing inward under the pressure, her mind and her very self spiraling down into a void. The word 'obey' beat and battered against the walls of her mind like driving rain.

And then, all of a sudden, it just stopped.

Trinity blinked wildly as the visor came away from her face. The room around her was bright, and didn't feel real. But all was as it had been before; Radiance was kneeling quietly to one side, and Eleanor Quinn was looming over her.

"I think that's enough for now," the billionaire announced breezily. "I wouldn't want to fry your pretty little brain all at once. What would be the fun in that?"

Trinity wasn't sure if she couldn't move, or just couldn't muster the will to. Her mouth was dry and her throat hurt, but she couldn't stop her lips from moving, mouthing the same word over and over again.

"Obey," she murmured. "Obeyobeyobeyobeyobeyobeyobey."

Quinn noticed and smiled. "The first part of the process is crude, I admit," she said. "But you know how it goes: you have to break someone down before you can build them back up again. And demolition is always... messy. Right now, you're nothing more than a blank little doll who does whatever she's told."

"Obey, obey, obey," Trinity repeated. Her voice steadily died away into nothing, even as her lips kept forming the word. "Obey, obey..."

"That's right." Quinn laughed. "You know, I like you like this too, Shimmer. It's so much fun! But let no one say I can't be generous. You deserve a treat." She looked around at Radiance. "Did you think I hadn't noticed the way you've been looking at her?"

Trinity didn't respond.

Quinn was undeterred. "Stand up," she commanded.

Trinity stood up. She moved instantly. She didn't think or hesitate. Obedience was immediate and instinctive. The part of her mind that would have served as a filter between Quinn's orders and her own will had been scooped out.

"Here." Quinn took Trinity's arm and guided her into position. "Kneel."

Trinity knelt, and found herself kneeling directly in front of Radiance. Without realizing it, she'd mimicked the superhero's submissive pose.

"Oh my goodness!" Quinn clapped in celebration. "Look at you both! A lovely little matched set. You're adorable, truly." She grinned from ear to ear. "Now, both of you: do it my way. Kiss."

The command made her shiver, but Trinity couldn't disobey. She stretched forward, lips slightly parted, preparing to kiss Radiance. Radiance mirrored her. Trinity looked into the superhero's eyes; there was nothing there. She was blank and glassy. Trinity wondered if Radiance saw the same nothingness in hers.

As Quinn watched, hero and villain pressed together in a perfect, passionless, mindless facsimile of a loving kiss.