The Mind Element Ch. 08

The gates to the ranch were closed and no one was around, although Chris could see cameras focussed on them. He signalled for everyone to get out of the car. "Uhh ... can anyone hear me?" he said into thin air, feeling a bit foolish. "We're here to see Mr Ness and we're expected, so can you let us in please?"

A voice came over an intercom system he had not noticed before. "There is a metal box next to the gate; it's unlocked. Inside you will find neck collars. Each of you put one on. They will clip on so they can't be removed, but will be released on your departure. Once they ae attached, get back in your car; the gates will open and you may drive in. Proceed directly to the ranch house at the end of the road. Do not deviate or get out of the car until you arrive. You will be monitored and action will be taken if necessary."

"Not exactly a friendly welcome," said Chris.

"Did you expect one?" Carter asked.

Chris went to the box and retuned with three collars. They followed the instructions given and soon the gates opened automatically and Chris drove through. "Fay," he asked, "I can feel this collar thing is dampening my elemental powers and will prevent me using them. Does it ..."

"Affect my ability to read minds?" Fay finished for him. "Not in the slightest. That's a natural skill for my people and doesn't work anything like your elemental abilities, so I guess this collar is useless for that."

"Good," said Chris, "because you I'm hoping you will give me an edge, especially as Ness has no idea what you can do."

Then inside his head, he thought, "What about you? Still there?"

"Yes," replied the Creature. "This ingenious device Ness has developed blocks the external use of our powers, but I'm part of you. So I'm still able to offer you my brilliant advice so you don't mess this up in your usual fashion."

"Remember, I beat you," Chris thought back.

"You were lucky," it replied flatly. Chris made no reply because he suspected the Creature was right.

Chris stopped the car outside the ranch house and they got out and this time there was no delay in the arrival of a greeting party. Down the steps from the house came Randall Ness himself, accompanied by a tough-looking middle-aged man in military fatigues, a similar younger male, and two young women, quite different in appearance. One, in a pretty floral dress, looked a little flustered and was carrying a computer pad; the other was in jeans and a leather jacket and looked as tough as the men. Inevitably, Ness himself was in a smart and expensive business suit, although in that at least Chris was a match for him.

Ness, taking charge as came naturally to him, marched up to Chris and seizing him by the hand, shook it. "Mr Ward! May I call you Christopher? Call me Randall. I've wanted to meet you for a long time."

Chris thought kidnapping and imprisoning Athena, Matsu and Jenny was an unlikely way of showing that, but he supressed his hostility and forced a smile. He was here to negotiate after all.

Ness was still talking. "This is Colonel Baker, an associate of mine, and Sergeant Kelly, one of his men. You will excuse them while they just check you for concealed weapons. The ladies are Miss Samantha Meyer, my bodyguard, and Miss Haley Wood, my personal assistant, who will be recording all our discussions. Carter Jackson I know, although I'm intrigued to know what he is doing here, and I believe this young lady and I met briefly in the Philippines."

"Yes," said Fay brightly, "just before you locked me in a cell."

"Well you had broken into my property, my dear, and the young man with you was armed as I recall, so I think I behaved very reasonably in the circumstances," Ness said smoothly.

"Her name is Fay," Chris broke in "She's my personal assistant. And Mr Jackson is acting as my bodyguard, although I'm hoping I have no more need of one than you do Ness. I've come to negotiate remember."

Colonel Baker nodded to his Master to indicate that their visitors were unarmed. The insincere smile on Ness' face broadened a little more. "Please, please, call me Randall - and, yes I promise you are quite safe while you are here. In fact, if you come inside the house, I have a token of goodwill which I think will please you before we begin our discussions."

Ness turned and stalked toward the house. They all followed. Chris and Carter noted that the Colonel and his associate fell in behind them. They had a distinct feeling of being prisoners under escort. Chris whispered to Fay, "Thoughts?"

"He's not as confident as he's trying to appear," she whispered back. "Ness is still scared of you. And he's worried about not knowing where I fit in," she added.

When they entered the house, which was a good size but not huge, Ness pointed to a lounge area to their left: "We will be conducting our talks in there. I thought a relaxed atmosphere would be best. My wife will provide refreshments shortly but first, Christopher, I thought you would want to spend a short time in there." Ness pointed to a door to the right, near the foot of the stairs that led to the second story. Seeing Chris hesitate he added, "Go on, I promise it's not a trap. The Colonel and I will wait here."

Uncertain, but deciding risks had to be taken, Chris walked the few steps over to the door, Carter and Fay following, and opened it. For a moment he wondered what the fuss was about, but then two figures in orange jump suits and wearing collars the same as his got up from the table they were sitting at and turned to face him and he forgot everything else. It was Athena and Jenny. Neither they nor he said anything. They simply ran toward one another and disappeared into a close three way hug. Tears were shed and said more than words. The Master and Mistresses of Elements were not meant to be parted in this way for so long and seeing each other was overwhelming.

When Chris finally did speak it was to issue a string of apologies and regrets for his failure to protect them, with the girls equally keen to reassure him that it wasn't his fault. Then he got to asking whether they were ok - which they knew meant whether they had suffered physical, mental or sexual abuse. Again, they were able to reassure him that, on the whole, they had not been treated too badly - with the key exception of Ness' partial mind control of Jenny.

Chris was about to ask more about the latter and how Jenny was able to partly resist Ness, when they were interrupted. Colonel Baker entered and told them that Chris, Fay and Carter were needed for the negotiations. They just had time for Chris to make fervent promises to the women that he would get them out of here soon, and for them to reassure him of they were ok and not to worry, before they were separated once more.

As they were escorted out of the room in one direction and Athena and Jenny in another, the Creature spoke to Chris in his mind. "You know what that was about, do you?" it asked smugly, knowing he didn't.

"If you have something to say just tell me," Chris thought, still reeling from seeing Athena and Jenny.

"Ness has just thrown you massively off balance. You arrived keyed up, ready for a confrontation, mind clear for the coming discussion. You are now a seething mass of emotion - I can see it; a most horrible mess. Your mind is fogged; your thinking scattered. When you sit down with Ness your thoughts will still be besotted by those two women; he'll chop you into teeny, tiny bits and have them on toast. You'll be lucky to walk out with that suit jacket still on your back ..."

"Ok, yes, you've made your point. So what do I do?"

"Pull yourself together. Forget about the women except as bargaining chips, and concentrate. I will advise you. After a while find an excuse to take a recess and get Fay to tell you what she's reading in Ness' thoughts. We will find out what Ness wants - and that will be his weakness."

*****

The negotiation ran for about two hours without achieving much, beyond the consumption of the refreshments brought in by Mrs Ness. Randall asked Chris to set out what he wanted. In rough order of priority that was: the release of Athena and Jenny; the return of their and Matsu's elemental rings; no further interference with Chris or any of his lovers and friends; Ness to free his mind-controlled slaves; the ending of Ness' experimentation into mind control and elemental powers. Also an apology for the trauma caused by his actions would be welcome.

Randall Ness was prepared to discuss the return of Athena and Jenny together with a promise to leave Chris and the others alone, provided that the information Chris provided in return was sufficiently valuable. He would only part with the rings if an equally powerful replacement was provided. As to freeing his slaves or ending his investigations and experiments, those were off the table, being his business not that of Christopher Ward. And he would apologise when hell froze over. Haley carefully noted that point for the meeting minutes.

The next item of business was what Chris was prepared to offer. Here he was caught in the dilemma of trying to make it attractive while not giving anything worthwhile away. He talked somewhat vaguely about providing more information about how all the various elemental powers worked. You didn't need Fay's mind-reading abilities to realise that Ness was unimpressed; it was plainly obvious and eventually he voiced it directly.

"Mr. Ward, you seem to be struggling. Let's take a half hour comfort break and perhaps you can return with a more sensible offer. Just to remind you, it was you who wanted this meeting. You are asking me to give up things of great value and I expect a lot in return."

Chris supressed his anger at Athena and Jenny being referred to as "things". He knew Ness had a point; his offer to date had been too vague. He needed something that would seize Randall's imagination. It was clearly time to consult his advisors. He took Fay and Carter outside, where they were less likely to be spied on.

"What's Ness' thoughts so far?" he asked Fay.

"He's still interested but becoming less so," she replied. "He's convinced you know things that could speed up attaining his goals but nothing you have said so far impresses him. He thinks he's on track to master a lot of this anyway, so he has no need to give anything up unless you offer something compelling."

"What is it he wants anyway?" Chris asked. It was a question that had been nagging at him ever since he discovered Randall Ness was behind the kidnappings.

"I'm not sure even he really understands that," Fay said. "Power over people for sure, but I'm not clear on why. I think he is trying to prove something to himself."

"What did you make of it?" Chris asked Carter.

"That I'd like to hit the bastard - very hard and more than once."

"A fair point," agreed Chris, "but it wouldn't get us far, unfortunately."

Then Chris paused and in his head talked to his main advisor and - hopefully - trump card. What, he asked, did the Creature make of it?

"You need to offer him more, a lot more. Something no man can easily resist," came the reply.

"What do you offer a man who already has most things and believes he is close to getting the rest?" Chris thought gloomily.

"You must offer him what I offered you. You would have succumbed, had you not had help - the type of help Ness will never have, as it came from someone who loves you. You must offer Ness immortality. He will not even have dreamed of such a thing and it will become his obsession in time. The rings are the way in. Tell Ness about the Theia stone and that the gems from it can replace the rings. When this has his interest, tell him the stone has other strange powers - the ability to access other dimensions of reality, the capacity to give sentience as it did for me, and the power to grant eternal life. He will not be able to resist."

"But the stone!" Chris protested, "I can't grant a man like Ness access to such power."

"You won't," said the Creature with some relish, "tell him he needs to be physically near the stone - which is true - so luring him to London and onto your home ground, not his. Then we betray and trap him. Your enemy will be crushed and I will claim my reward."

"I don't like all this talk of betrayal and crushing ..." Chris thought back.

"Which is why Ness keeps beating you," the Creature retorted. "It was your idea to do things this way and ask for my advice and it's up to you whether you take it. How much do you want the Mistresses of Aether and Earth back?"

Chris swore, not just in his head, but out loud.

"What is it?" Fay asked.

"I'm about to go back inside and make Randall Ness an offer he won't refuse. I'm mad to do it, but I swore I'd do anything to get Athena and Jenny out of his grasp."

Fay looked at him solemnly, sensing his thoughts and learning what the offer was. From her reading of Ness she thought it would work. "Still your mind, my Emperor, put aside your concerns, concentrate on the man in front of you and he will succumb," she said. Chris nodded to her, grateful for the support. What Fay didn't add was that she just hoped Chris came up with a good idea of what to do after Randall Ness took the bait.

*****

Just over an hour later a de-collared Chris, Fay and Carter left the ranch. They also departed without Athena, Jenny or the elemental rings, but with a commitment from Randall Ness to bring himself and all of those to London, where he would be shown the secrets of the Theia stone.

Once his guests had departed, Ness made his way up to his harem room, followed by his wife Sarah, Samantha and Haley, now free from their respective duties of hostess, bodyguard and secretary. The problem with mind controlling everyone around you was there was no one to offer you independent advice, but he felt a need to talk to someone about what Ward had said and who better than his concubines?

"You were there, you heard ... immortality, eternal youth ..." he exclaimed excitedly when they were inside his 'playroom'. "I was never quite sure of my destiny - I thought I deserved greatness, but I was not certain of the form. But now it all makes sense. My whole life has been building to this point. I shall become almost a god - and surely no one deserves that more than me. My genius will be preserved for the ages. And I shall do good ... yes I will aid mankind and in return they will adore me. It was meant to be."

"Yes Master," Sammy and Haley chorused.

However, as his wife, Sarah Ness, even in her mind-controlled state, felt entitled to ask a question. "But what happens to us, Randall? We will age and die and you will live on."

"Good point, my darling," Ness said expansively; he was in a good mood. "If I am to be something close to a god, then I suppose I'll need immortal wives and lovers and other sorts of servants too. I'm sure with Ward's help I can convert some of my entourage - the ones who are worthy of it. It will give you all something to strive for. Talking about which, I think we should celebrate. You three will suffice - take your clothes off and join me on the bed."

This time all three of them said "Yes Master" in unison and were notably quick to comply. In moments they were naked and helping Ness out of his clothes and shortly after he was lying back on the bed, his arm round his wife's shoulders as he talked to her, while the other two girls were down between his legs, toying, licking and sucking on his hardening cock. Sarah Ness was putting the case that their children should also be made immortal.

"If they're good enough and merit it, Sarah, I'll think about that. Meanwhile, why don't you stick your tongue in Samantha's pussy? I'd like to watch that while I fuck Haley."

Sarah thought that she might have to obey her husband, but he could still be a right bastard at times - who would say such a thing about their own children? She vaguely recalled how much she used to despise him before he literally changed her mind.

But all she said was "Yes Master", then went to Sammy, rolled her on her back and dove her head between the woman's legs and began to lick her pussy. She heard a groan from Haley and knew her husband has just thrust his dick in the young blonde's cunt, fucking her doggy-style no doubt, so he could watch her and Sammy. Yes he was a bastard - but one she had to obey and who it seemed was about to become even more powerful.

*****

To be continued and as we approach nearer the endgame may the most cunning win.