Vigil 01 - Return

"You still possess several unbroken mutants of the Protectors, am I correct?"

"Just one, actually."

"Scour her mind for information. Be careful not to break her like you did the others. I want information, not another mind-wiped slave."

The woman scowled. "Those were accidents, Julius. Failed experiments."

Julius rolled his eyes. Mindshaper was insane. No one had ever changed a person's allegiance without a complete memory wipe before. How many more test subjects would she have to shatter before she decided the Boss was right?

Still, mindwiped ex-heroines proved to bring in huge profits at the Bazaar's brothels, and given enough training could even begin to harness their forgotten powers as mutants. Maybe they could even become enforcers for the Pact.

"Well, cease your experiments for now, and focus on getting information," he said. "I have a feeling this war will last for quite a while."

Chapter Six

"Nnno...not you...not with you..." Faith mumbled, feeling herself crumbling as his fingers rubbed her burning pussy through the thin material of her drenched panties. All the while, the machine pulsed, each pulse a powerful attack that slammed against her failing mental barriers. She felt heat rising to her cheeks, the shame and humiliation sinking in.

The Mentalist's rubbing became more focused, his fingers bending into a fist. She felt his knuckles pressing against her pussy through the fabric, and let out a breathy moan. His ministrations quickened, as Faith couldn't help but stare in rapture as he brought her closer and closer to the brink of orgasm.

The machine pulsed, attacking her mind as her body was attacked by her master. Oh god...oh god...

She was exhausted. She didn't want to fight anymore. Brought so close to climax, she was no longer forcing his hand away, instead grinding herself up against his hand. "More..." she whispered, letting the machine whisper its toxic infection into her mind.

"Oh fuu—"

---

"—uuck!" Faith cried, wave after wave of pleasure reaching a climax as she came hard. She breathed heavily, panting as she opened her eyes. She sighed, feeling a moment of calm wash over her, another day in the service of her Master. Her Master...she shook her head. No. No. No!

She shot up, looking around. I'm at home. I'm at home. Bringing her hand up, she closed it into a fist, before reopening it. I'm in control. I'm in control. Faith shut her eyes, inhaling deeply before letting her breath out slowly. I'm okay. Nightmares of the time she was under the Mentalist's control were a frequent occurrence, but she'd never had any of a sexual sort...until now.

Double-A. She'd thought the effect had run its course, but evidently not. She sighed in exasperation, letting herself fall back on her pillow. If weeks of therapy and mind-healing from Mindtwist couldn't even stop her nightmares, what chance did she have of beating the Mentalist in the future? Faith knew it was a matter of time.

She shuddered at the thought, before shaking her head and scowling at herself. I was careless and stupid. I won't make the same mistake again.

Forcing herself off the bed, she made a mental note to change her damn bedsheets. She could worry about the Mentalist later. There was more work to do.

---

Police Chief Perry stood his usual position at the side of the podium, leaving the sergeant to do all the talking...as usual. Lynn rolled her eyes as she took a seat.

"Alright people," Sergeant Kane said, "Last night, the vigilante Vigil struck again, this time at a gang warehouse. The gang was responsible for abducting women from District 42, though we're uncertain if they're linked to the recent spike in kidnappings. It's still...yes, Detective Lynn?"

Lynn stood up. "Yeah, I flipped a bit through the vigilante's notes before it was...quite rudely taken away from me. It appears she came to a similar conclusion with these gang members possibly linked to a larger, deeper criminal organisation of kidnappers. Many of the missing cases later appeared in several brothels."

"Thank you, Detective." The sergeant looked around at the rest. "I wish to once again make it clear that we don't work with criminal vigilantes, and any you spot should be arrested on sight."

Satisfied with the collective nod of the room's occupants, the sergeant continued, flipping the page to show the boxes of black market double-A found in the warehouse. "Now, our biggest question is...where did this small gang get the money to afford such a huge shipment of double-A? I want Linus and Bill at the crime scene to look for more leads. Chief here has gotten us clearance from the sharks. Scott and Lynn, you two talk to the perps. See what you can flush out from them."

---

Faith growled, forcing her eyelids open as she stared blankly at the numbing light of her laptop screen. As it turned out, rooting out a drug trafficker from the thousands of employees Calypso employed was far, far harder than she'd anticipated. Well...obtaining the damned list was hard too, but that was nothing compared to this. For every single employee she'd been digging up information, scrolling through their social media feeds for any suspicious activity, checking up for news on them. Faith quickly began to realise it was a huge waste of time.

As she felt her eyes glazing over, Faith mentally calculated how much sleep she'd gotten last night. Three. I slept three hours. She briefly thought of a quick nap, but shot that idea down just as quickly, forcing herself to return to the screen.

This...is...so...draining. She swore the unending words on-screen were beginning to meld together as her eyelids grew heavier. She let herself fall back onto her backrest, crunching her fingers around her brown hair. She glanced at the scroll bar to the right of the document. Ten percent? I'm only ten percent through? Ugh.

There must be a better way... Faith thought to herself as she sank in her seat. There were so many refining facilities throughout the city, how could she find the source of all the smuggled...

Of course.

"I'm an idiot." she chastised herself. Either the double-A was seized directly from a heavily guarded, well-defended refining facility, or the trucks containing said double-A were redirected halfway to their journeys. Obviously, the Pact couldn't raid any facility without making major news, so the latter was the answer. The smuggler would need to have access to the cargo manifests. Smiling, she keyed in the filter.

Four hundred results. Still not good enough.

Given the confidential nature of the trucks' contents, it was unlikely for the drivers to know what the contents were. Whoever arranged for their carjackings would need a high clearance level.

One hundred. I can do better.

Faith couldn't find any reports on the specific facilities that had their shipments stolen, but she had an idea. Shutting her eyes, she called forth a very specific memory...

---

"Three...!" Jack warned, his knife held tightly to Mary's neck.

"I'll do it, I'll do it!" she said, her voice betraying her panic.

"Good. Do it."

She walked over to the wooden crate, reaching for a syringe...

---

And pause. In her mind's eye, she read the labelling on the crate. It was intended for a 'research facility A2', a location that according to the city map was located in the southern district.

Hah, bet you can't do that, Mindtwist. Faith smirked to herself. Filter by people with access to that facility, and...bingo. One result.

Doctor Anderson Ghash. One of the researchers who specialised in the psychological effects of double-A. Judging from the many scandals of him being seen at several brothels and a rumoured association with the Pact, there was little doubt he was the trafficker.

It was time to pay him a visit.

Chapter Seven

Calypso Pharmaceuticals Research Facility A2, 11PM

Vigil pulled herself up the ledge, vaulting over to the roof of the building. She was on the outskirts of the facility, a six storey building with quite possibly a large underground section. Fortunately, Doctor Ghash's office was on the fourth storey. From communications in the company's intranet, she'd learnt Ghash stayed at work until around midnight every day.

The barbed wire and sole watchtower guarding the main road made the facility stand out from its surroundings. Dropping her stakeout bag on the floor, she took out her binoculars. Zooming in to the watchtower, she smiled as she recognised the weapon.

---

"That's a variant of the FN-MAG." Angie said. "It stands for...Fabreek Nation-ell, Mit...mit-rail...errr..." she frowned through her mask, fishing her notebook from the haversack they'd brought. Angie was in her vigilante uniform, donning the bright colours of Lightraye.

"Is this really necessary?" Vigil whispered.

"No, not at the moment," her older sister responded with a cheeky grin. She scanned through her notebook, illuminating it with a dim light emitted from her palm. "Aha! Fahbreek...nation-ell...mit-rel-loose dappuu general...?" she said, utterly mangling the pronunciation.

"And...what good did that serve?"

"It stands for general support machine gun, we use it on our ships, it fires at a rate of 650 to a thousand rounds per minute, and—"

"So it shoots fast," Vigil snapped, "Can we please get on with this?"

"Fine, fine!" Lightraye said, rolling her eyes. She closed her hand into a fist, the light from her palm extinguishing as she snapped the book close. "Let's do this shit."

---

Vigil's smile faded, reminded once again Angie was missing. I'll find you, Angie.

Her eyes shifted to the guard. He was dozing openly on his seat, head slumped over the black stock of the mounted machine gun. Vigil's smile returned. "For now," she whispered under her breath, "let's do this shit."

---

Vigil saw him through the window. The doctor was at his desk, entirely focused on a book. Slipping in through a window and ducking behind the extravagant couch, she peered at the open door.

Now.

She shut the door in front of her, locking it before looking up to face the doctor. She drew her stun baton. "No sudden movements, doc, or you'll face...around five hundred milliamperes of electricity." She depressed the trigger, letting the sharp crackle of electricity emphasise her point.

The doctor looked up from his book. If he was surprised, he didn't show it. "Ah, the brave vigilante of our great city. It's an honour to finally meet you."

"Cut the act, doc." Vigil resisted the urge to cough. Whatever his office used as an air freshener was awfully sweet. "I know you're responsible for the trafficking of your product to the Bazaar."

"Why, Ms. Vigil, I have no idea what you're talking—"

She felt his intention almost immediately. "Hands off the silent alarm, doctor." she said. If all else failed, she could always cut her losses and kidnap him. For obvious reasons, that remained a last resort.

"Hmm. Truly remarkable, the mind of a psychic is." the doctor noted, raising his hands up in surrender. "Some might say having such powers makes one...arrogant."

He was hiding something. She could feel it. But what? Better to be cautious, she said to herself, watching him very closely as she closed the distance step by step. It became increasingly apparent the scent of the air was an acquired taste, as Vigil found it surprisingly...nice. She took a hesitant breath, and sighed. It was...relaxing.

"I assumed you found the evidence of my involvement, judging from the strange log-ons of long-unused accounts to the company's network this afternoon."

"So you knew I was coming. Why not run?"

Ghash shrugged. "Testing the aforementioned theory of mine. You see, you could have simply passed the evidence along to the police, but you chose to risk death and injury and come here yourself."

She was at his desk, standing opposite the seated doctor. "And you think it has something to do with me being arrogant?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. I think you're trying to prove something."

Vigil scoffed. She felt like replying, but...that scent...it felt so much better to listen.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, Ms. Vigil. You want to prove something...to who, exactly? The police? The public? ...yourself?"

Vigil shook her head. Not from disagreement, but from lethargy. I mean, I disagree...but...ugh... Maybe another consequence of sleeping for three bloody hours.

"Might that be the result of a failure of yours?"

Vigil growled. "I don't know what you're—"

"Might it be a certain event that occurred around four months ago, perhaps, when you lost to the Ment—"

"Shut up!" she slammed a gloved fist on the desk, the sound echoing through the quiet night. Her eyes widened at her mistake.

"Uhh, Doctor Ghash? Are you alright in there?" a voice called from the door.

Vigil glared at him.

"No, Matthew, everything's under control." he called back, his eyes meeting hers cautiously.

A silence ensued. Why am I letting him dictate the conversation? Her mind was increasingly muddy, increasingly difficult to think.

"I assume you're going to invade my mind, find out the Bazaar's secrets, influence me to stop assisting the Pact."

Vigil let a smile cross her features. "The thought occurred to me, yes. You're not planning to stop me, are you?" she said.

"On the contrary. I'm interested to see where this goes," the doctor said, leaning his head forward for better access.

"Me too." she said, bringing a gloved hand to his unresisting head. Her eyes flashed white, and...

She found herself in the same place. What...?

"Yes, I find that double-A tends to inhibit mutant powers as well."

"No. That's impossible. You didn't—"

"Arrogance as I anticipated, Ms. Vigil. All this while you've been breathing in a recent concoction of mine. It's an aerosol form of double-A." He smiled.

She felt light-headed. Crud. Drug. Ugh...I...I need to get out of here. She stumbled, falling clumsily on the ground. Get up. Get up!

"It's not perfect, of course, which is why direct application is always more effective."

Through blurry eyes she saw him cross over from his side of the desk, holding a familiar-looking syringe in his hands. "No!" she kicked his leg, sending the doctor tumbling to the ground.

She scrambled to her feet, grabbing onto a bookshelf for support as she limped for the window. She heard an undignified snarl from the doctor, and a hand grasp her ankle. Vigil lost her balance, her face pounding into the ground.

Vigil groaned, momentarily stunned as her head rang in pain. Before she could react she felt a foot slam into her stomach. "Argh!" she cried, sharp throbbing pain cutting into her gut. Through blurry vision she saw the man standing before her. She gritted her teeth, throwing a weak kick upwards which he easily dodged and went low, letting his body collapse on hers and knocking the wind out of Vigil's lungs.

She struggled against his weight, thrashing against his body until she felt a sharp, prickling pain in her neck. Vigil stiffened.

Chapter Eight

Anderson Ghash watched the woman in black as her brown eyes widened, darting around wildly as she reacted to the chemical. Her face was visibly flushed, her jaw dropping as she heaved in heavy breaths.

"Ninety-percent pure double-A. How do you like it?"

The writhing woman shut her eyes through her mask, her hands balled up into tight fists. Anderson knew that she was trying her best to resist the serum. Anderson also knew that she would fail.

"I...I..." the vigilante managed through wheezes that betrayed her, "I fucking hate you!"

"Still fighting, I see." Anderson crouched down, leaning close to the vigilante's ear. "You know it's only a matter of time, right?" He whispered in the way in that deep, low voice he knew she'd love.

He brought his hand up to her cheek, brushing her soft skin lightly, drawing a sharp hiss from her lips.

"Stop..." she whispered, near-pleadingly as he felt her shiver.

"Just give in, Miss Vigil. You've resisted far longer than most — most girls would've been on their knees by the time they'd reached my desk." It was a lie, obviously, though she was resisting far more than anyone did. Still, Ghash hoped it'd appeal to her needy ego. "You've fought longer than anyone. You can give in now." he said, stroking her brown hair lightly.

"No..." she murmured, shaking her flushed face as she religiously kept her eyes shut. "F-fuck off. Fuck off!" she snarled, lashing out with a blind punch.

Anderson didn't see that coming, and winced, rubbing his chin as he looked back at her. "Feisty."

---

Fight. Fight! She gritted her teeth, forcing her quivering arm to reach for her shock baton. It was...gone? She opened her eyes in shock, seeing the grinning doctor before her, holding her utility belt.

No...

She let her head relax back on the carpet, staring blankly at the ceiling. The warmth in between her legs was increasingly harder to ignore, and she rubbed her inner thighs together, desperate to address the itch, yet begging herself not to give in further.

"Fuuuck..." she murmured as her actions rewarded her with a dizzying, unexpected wave of pleasure. She froze, belatedly realising she'd blurted it out aloud, before another crippling wave of pleasure washed her shame away.

Vigil's eyes wandered blankly around the room. Everything was shimmering around her, ghostly doubles appearing and vanishing, a pink hue creeping in on the sides of her vision. Her body sang for attention, a continual fog of lust blanketing her mind.

"You feel it, don't you?" he said in that maddeningly addictive voice. "It's interesting, ten doses wouldn't affect the weakest male but give just one dose to a female..."

She panted heavily, desperately trying to focus on his words, trying to break them down, process their meaning, anything to distract herself from the drug that infected her mind.

She felt a palm on her right breast, the man's touch drawing a sharp gasp from her lips, her burning skin feeling his touch even through the uniform she wore. That single touch set her mind ablaze, whatever progress she'd made to breaking the drug's hold on her lost as Vigil was entranced by his touch. She let the doctor's hand run slowly down her belly, leaving a trail of tingles in its wake. Biting her lip to stop a moan from escaping, she shook her head in futile resistance yet secretly begged for it to go lower, to address the fire in her loins.

But it didn't. His hand stopped at her waist, forcing an apprehensive shiver to run through Vigil's spine. A pent-up sigh escaped from her lips, and Vigil was shocked at the disappointment that filled her mind.

Instead, it dipped beneath her shirt, making direct contact with her toned stomach.

"Agh..." she couldn't resist a moan, feeling his rough palm caress her hyper-sensitive skin. "Stop. Stop..." she pleaded with him, feeling the cool air of the room touch her skin as his hand glided upwards, pulling her shirt up with it, exposing her white bra to the elements. She barely resisted, letting him bring her shirt up to her elbows, restricting her arm movement.

F-fight...he's...he's a monster...I can't allow thi—

Her mind went blank as his fingers reached under her bra.