The Eyes of Mesmeralda

It was another busy night in Mega City, and that meant that the Shooting Star had her work cut out.

No matter how hard she tried to clean up the streets, she still had to deal with muggings and car thefts and fights every night. Things certainly were improving, she knew, in no small part due to her presence - she flew around the city each night, the bright light that gave her her name streaking behind her. It was a symbol of hope, a symbol that there was someone out there, keeping up the good fight.

That brought her some degree of comfort, but it didn't help with the latest issue to befall the city.

Women had been going missing.

She'd seen cases like this before, she reflected ruefully - poor women, falling off the tracks. They normally came from broken homes, and chances rarely came their way. Sometimes she found them, sometimes she didn't. Mega City wasn't unique there, far from it. But this case felt different, because these weren't the sort of women to vanish.

They were respectable women, teachers and nurses and receptionists and the like, with no previous history. The only things they had in common were their ages and their hair colours - they were all mid-20s, with brunette hair, and that was nothing. No, these women were too normal for something like this, and that had caught Shooting Star's attention - women like this didn't just disappear.

Something had to be happening to them.

And Shooting Star was going to find out what.

She'd been patrolling the city via air, listening out for any sign of trouble, any hint of where these women were.

There was nothing thus far, but something was ringing in the back of the heroine's mind - somehow, she just knew that a breakthrough was close. And her super senses were never wrong - she trusted them, completely, and she was always right to do so.

In the distance, there was the sound of breaking glass. It could be nothing, but she couldn't just assume that - it could be the break she was waiting for in the investigation.

She flew to check it out.

The noise, it transpired, came from Mega City's museum. Shooting Star landed on the roof, and looked down through the skylight. She could see a group of people, all women, marching together, and she knew that they weren't meant to be there. They'd already shattered the glass protecting one of the priceless exhibits, and they were going after more.

Time to make an entrance - she opened the skylight, and jumped inside.

Shooting Star landed in front of the villain and her henchwomen. The hero adopted a fighting pose, and it was one that sent fear through the spines of many a bad guy - she was tough, her shapely body wrapped in a dark-blue catsuit, and she wore matching combat boots and thick gloves. A mask covered the top half of her face, leaving her unpainted lips free and allowed her own brunette hair, roughly cropped and shoulder-length, to hang loosely behind her.

She looked like she was ready for business, and many a villain had underestimated her at their own cost.

"I'm not sure those are yours," Star said, addressing the ringleader of the group. She was, after all, the only one even paying the heroine the slightest bit of attention - the henchwomen continued with the robbery, seemingly oblivious to Shooting Star's presence - but even that was barely true.

She reclined on one of the artworks, seemingly enjoying just watching the room.

The room, and the women in it.

The heroine noticed that they were all seemingly identical, all brunettes and all dressed the same way - a simple mask over their eyes, black leotards with an 'M' pattern over the breasts and above what appeared to be a zip in the crotch, fishnet tights and black heels. It was hardly a practical outfit for a criminal gang - hell, it would barely have been appropriate for adult entertainers.

"Oh, but better with me than trapped in a stuffy museum for all their lives - beauty should be with people who appreciate it," purred the ringleader, "and I always appreciate beauty."

"The things in this museum belong to the people of Mega City," Star said, "and this is where they're going to stay."

The gang ignored that comment. The ringleader - well, she sighed heavily, theatrically, before getting to her feet, obscured in the shadows.

"I take it you're this Shooting Star I've heard so much about?" the villain asked, her eyes giving the heroine more than a slight once-over as they glowed in the darkness. "I never imagined you'd be quite so... impressive in the flesh."

Did she lick her lips when she said that? Star didn't like that, not one bit.

"And what do they call you?"

She smiled, and she stepped fully into the light: "My girls call me Mesmeralda."

Star did a super-scan of the villain. She wore a catsuit the same colour as her henchwomen, with a flash of colour provided by the deep green of the snake design that circled its right leg and torso, finishing with the snake's head on her left shoulder. She wore chunky black ankle boots that gave her a few extra inches in height, and which forced even more attention onto her curves. There was just enough of her cleavage on show, and Star noticed a similar zip in her groin.

But it was her face that caught the superheroine's attention more - her long raven-black hair, her black lipstick and, above all else, those green eyes. There was something about them, like they were alive and dancing as she watched back.

"Mesmeralda, you're coming with me to the police station."

The villain laughed.

"I don't think so - I'd rather play with you here."

Mesmeralda took some casual strides forwards - Star didn't like it, but she detected no hostility, and so she opted to wait to see what would happen.

The villain came closer, and closer, and soon they were a few feet apart at most.

Star looked at Mesmeralda, and Mesmeralda looked back at her with those glowing eyes.

"Just look into my eyes, Shooting Star, and let yourself fall away."

Her eyes were stunning, green and vivid and shining in a thousand ways at once, and Shooting Star was suddenly overcome with a wave of... nothingness. A smile wanted to creep onto her face, but she wouldn't let it - she was the hero, she was in charge here. She suddenly knew what Mesmeralda was trying to do, using some kind of hypnotic power, but she wouldn't let her use it on her.

Her super senses started screaming at her - react, do something, react now.

With all the force she could muster, Star closed her eyes, and struck forward. She felt her gloved hand connect with Mesmeralda's body, and she heard a gasp of pain as the villain flew backwards.

Star opened her eyes, and flashed a determined grin at her enemy.

"Those kind of tricks don't work on me, Mesmeralda."

Mesmeralda spat out a little blood as she struggled to her feet: "Ow, you pack a punch, Shooting Star. Good thing I like you, or that might have hurt my feelings."

The villain strolled towards the heroine, deliberate sexual energy in every stride, until she was about six feet away. Shooting Star adopted a fighting stance, but she could see that Mesmeralda was not preparing to fight her, not at this moment.

Still, she wasn't going to let her guard down.

"Seeing as you like me," the heroine smirked, "why don't you do me a favour and surrender now, so I don't have to hurt you again, okay?"

The villain laughed.

"Hmm, that doesn't sound very good, does it? I'm having too much fun to stop now, Shooting Star." She raised her right hand, and clicked her fingers - the heroine noticed that all of Mesmeralda's gang stopped in their tracks and turned towards her.

"It's not very fun if I'm outnumbered," Star said.

Mesmeralda smiled, and she issued an order: "You're right. Back to the hideout, girls."

The women just dropped what they were doing, and headed to the exit.

"You think I'm just going to let you walk out of here? You don't know me too well, do you?"

The villain just laughed out loud.

"I think I know you well enough," Mesmeralda said. "I know that, despite your claims, you've already got a little bit of my magic in you. You're hooked, even if you don't believe it yet."

"Yeah," Star was dismissive, "I'm sure you're right."

"I don't care if you believe me, but I know you're going to let me walk out of this museum and you're not not going to stop me. And you know why, hero? Because, if you stop me now, you won't get to see me again, and you want that, don't you?"

The heroine didn't respond - she couldn't find the words.

"Until we meet again, Shooting Star," Mesmeralda said, smiling and blowing the hero a kiss from her black lips.

Star knew she should chase after the villain, stop her from getting away, but she couldn't. Those words of Mesmeralda had proven completely true - every time she tried to move, the thought of Mesmeralda's face, and her vivid green eyes, forbade her from taking the slightest step.

Until we meet again...

That sentence was a promise, the gestured kiss sealing the deal, and the hope of seeing this incredible woman again kept the hero's legs in place for long enough for her to vanish.

---

Star waited for the police, and filled them in with what little information she could provide. She was slightly frustrated, given that that unexpected burst of weakness on her part prevented her from following Mesmeralda and her gang - although she had interrupted the break-in, she had failed to do much else.

What had that villain done to her, she thought? She'd played with her mind, just a little bit, enough to allow her time to make her escape. It was a good trick, and one she'd be prepared for next time.

She was already looking forward to the next time. She'd see Mesmeralda again, and this time, she would be prepared.

The next time, the villain would not get away.

In effect, she'd been caught offguard, that was all. It was her hypnotic eyes - Star had underestimated them, and they'd proven more powerful than she'd anticipated.

She could picture those eyes now, dazzling and sparkling and dancing at every angle.

Those magical, wonderful eyes....

"Are you okay, Shooting Star?" asked one of the officers. "You seem a little distracted?"

The heroine shook her head, and her mind returned to the room.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. Just thinking about the villain - I'll find her, and I'll bring her to justice."

"We know that, Shooting Star - you always bring the light to Mega City."

The heroine nodded, thankful for the police officer's compliments and trying to think about how she'd capture the supervillain while desperately using every part of her brain power to keep the thought of those eyes from her mind.

—

Shooting Star arrived back at her home, an unassuming flat in one of the city's many skyscrapers. It was the base of her operations - supposedly a home for her when she was living as her alter ego, a part-time librarian running reading circles for the local community, but she found that she went back to that part of her life increasingly rarely as of late. There was too much crime in Metro City - too many criminals, too many villains.

Villains like Mesmeralda.

Her thoughts once again drifted to the villain, and she found herself picturing Mesmeralda in that skintight outfit - her swagger, her smirk, her definance. It was so hot, so sexy, and Star could feel herself getting hot under the collar. How was the villain having such an effect on her? She didn't understand it, and she knew it was wrong, but she was picturing the villain's contactless kiss and she could almost feel it on her flesh.

She went to her room, and activated the switch leading to her secret outfit storage area. She removed her gloves and her boots, and as she was in the process of peeling off her catsuit, her hand drifted in between her leg and rubbed the material. It felt wet, and it felt good.

What was going on?

She stepped out of the material. Her tits were free - her supple frame meant she wasn't wearing a bra - and she could see in the mirror how hard her nipples were. They were never like this.

Somehow, those green eyes seemed to be watching her, spying on her in this most intimate of places.

And somehow, her body seemed to be reacting with sheer pleasure at the thought.

She needed a wash, and a bit of cold water in her face to bring her back to reality.

Star entered her bathroom, and got into the shower. The water was a momentary respite, but it soon warmed up - it was warm, relaxing, and although the heroine didn't want to let down her defences, she could feel it was a losing fight.

Her hands caressed her body - ostensibly to clean herself, but she found her eyes closing and the steam in the bathroom rising. Each touch felt like electric - as her fingers ran over her nipples, a wave of pleasure ran through her.

Another, and another, as she played with herself.

She massaged her tits and she stroked her body, murmurs of pleasure leaving her mouth. Those weren't noises she made, not normally, but this wasn't something she ever did.

Was Mesmeralda making her do this?

Her hand moved between her legs. She pictured the zip on Mesmeralda's costume, there at the crotch - was this was she did?

Her fingers kept playing with her pussy, playing with her clit, and trembled in pleasure as an orgasm ran through her. It was powerful, sapping her energy - she was glad that she was slumped against the walls already, or her legs would have given way beneath her.

Then all was silent, save the sound of the falling water on the superheroine's body.

---

The next day, Shooting Star decided to consolidate her research, bringing together everything she knew so she'd be better equipped to find and defeat the villainous Mesmeralda. This was how she'd be most productive - this was how she'd put things right.

She tried not to let her mind dwell on what she'd done last night, in the heat of the moment. Clearly Mesmeralda's hypnotic powers were a little stronger than she realised - she'd been caught offguard, that's all it was. This morning, with the benefit of a good night's rest, those thoughts were long gone from her mind.

Star took a swig from her coffee and sat at her desk, waiting for the computer to boot up. She looked up at what should have been a mirror, but any reflection was blocked out now by a selection of documents - security camera photos, witness statements, and the images of the missing women. They were all casual snaps, photos taken from the missing women's social media, but when Star looked at them, she only saw judgement in their eyes.

You haven't found out what happened to us yet, she heard those words in her mind, why haven't you saved us?

She would - she knew she would.

She wasn't going to let them down - she would find out what had happened.

Star refreshed herself on the details of the cases. No-one had noticed when Jessica Byers disappeared three weeks ago - it was sad, of course, but things like that sometimes happened in Mega City. The police told her family that they would investigate, with the hope that she would turn up of her own accord.

It happened, sometimes.

But she didn't, and she still hadn't.

By the time Shooting Star got involved, responding to a request by the chief of police, the number of missing women had increased to four. Those names, like that of Jessica Byers, still haunted her - Lisa Preston, Laura Morris, Danielle Hunter. If she'd been quicker, if she'd known earlier, maybe some of those women would still be safe at home.

No, she told herself, that was no way to think. Don't focus on the 'what ifs' - time to focus on what to do.

But, for a long time, it was depressingly little. She, like the police, had noticed the patterns regarding the type of victims - their physical appearances and their ages - but it didn't help the investigation much. She had conducted a super-sweep of the city, and turned up nothing. And every night, after she fought crime and protected the city, she would return home to the photos of the missing women.

Where had they gone? What had happened to them?

She had no answers.

Now, though, she had a suspect. A villain she hadn't encountered before in Mega City - Mesmeralda - and something in the back of her mind screamed that the answer was there.

But, annoyingly, there was nothing she could find about her newest adversary. She checked the press, and then she went through all the backdoors of law enforcement - nobody knew who this villain was.

Star grimaced, and had another sip of her drink.

More details of Mesmeralda would come soon, she thought.

For now, she had another idea that she hoped would lead her to the missing women.

Time to set a trap.

—

It was unusual, Star thought - the night had fallen and, rather than flying around the skies, she was on the ground. It was still heroism, just of a different form, but it felt strange to be an anonymous figure in the crowd, rather than blazing across Mega City, her trademark trail of light behind her to let the citizens know that justice would be there in a moment if crime should rear its head.

For now, though, she pretended to check her phone, trying to look casual as her head kept turning at super-speed to look around for activity.

Star was sitting on her own outside a coffee shop, an overpriced drink to her side. She was dressed casually, some yoga pants and trainers on her bottom and a loose-fitting top over a sports bra. She was trying to look like she was taking a break from a session at the gym, maybe waiting for someone to come and join her.

Whatever impression she gave, there was one key aspect she'd made sure to emphasise - that she was alone.

That was key to the trap, she'd thought, as she saw her maskless reflection in her darkened phone screen. She was young, inconspicuous, and she had brunette hair - in other words, she was exactly the type of woman who kept disappearing around Mega City. And the choice of this coffee shop was because, after she'd marked all the disappearances on a map, it was sitting right at the centre.

She knew this was where the person behind the disappearances was operating, and she was the model of the victims - fingers crossed that someone would try to abduct her, and then she could flip the situation and learn what had happened.

Yet, as she was sitting on her own, something felt off. It was hard to describe - like, there was a palpable sense of no danger in the air.

She didn't like that. If her super-sense wasn't picking up any trouble, it had to be elsewhere. She was always ready, of course, but she didn't like the feeling that whoever was guilty might be one step ahead of her.

In the distance, there was a sound.

There was trouble, she knew it. She couldn't hang around here - after a super-speed costume change behind a billboard on a nearby building, she took to the air.

It was the sound of a smash that brought Shooting Star flying over to the Mega City First Bank. Her super-hearing was always ready to pick out noises like that, because they always meant trouble - and where there was trouble, there was trouble to resolve.

She landed on the building's roof, and saw light inside - there certainly shouldn't be any activity, so she knew something was going on.

It was pretty much the same situation as last night, when the superheroine landed on the roof of the museum and saw the criminal activity underway. Once again, she looked down through the skylight and she saw Mesmeralda's gang hard at work, looting, taking money that wasn't theirs. And Mesmeralda was once again standing over them, coordinating their movements with a smile on her face.

Star felt a pang of weakness in her stomach, and couldn't quite believe it - she thought she was prepared for the villain after being caught offguard last night, but there was something troubling her. Doubt? Fear?