Vigil 01 - Return

"Aren't you tired of this, my dear?" he whispered in that husky voice. "I know you already want it, I can feel your desire." he said, emphasising it with a light brush over her hard nipples.

Oh...she shivered from his touch. At some level she knew he was manipulating her, seducing her, yet...he was so good at it.

"I saw the video, you know. I saw you begging for more, I know hiding deep inside that cold exterior is a little slut aching to be free."

Slut...she felt herself sinking into the sea of lust. Her arms were slack, her body unresisting, and she panted softly, hypnotised at the way he played with her body. She lost herself in his eyes, her mouth agape.

I...I...

"I can't..." she whispered. With immense reluctance she ripped her stare from his beautiful eyes, throwing a desperate glance at the open window just a few metres away.

She felt his hand lightly gripping her chin, guiding her back to look at him. "There's no running away from this, my little slut." He whispered to her, leaning in to softly kiss her cheek.

Vigil felt herself rapidly spiralling out of control. I...I need to stop this. It's...it's just chemicals, just...

She let out a long blissful sigh as he licked down her neck to her collarbone. Fuuuuck...

His wet, warm tongue trailed down, in tandem with him slowly pulling her bra down to expose her soft, pillowy breasts. "Nno...no..." she begged, feeling his tongue drag slowly along her breast, teasingly lapping around her areola, before his lips clamped down, suckling lightly on her nipple.

It hurt. It hurt so much not to go along, not to give in to the crushing pain against her temples promising to turn into pleasure if she would just give in.

Vigil unconsciously arched her back, pressing her breast up into his mouth, her shy moans increasing in volume as he led her down a path of depravity. Give in... It was so much easier, letting him take control. It was so much easier to lose herself. She felt his hands take hold of her right hand, guiding it down, dipping beneath her panties.

"Touch yourself," he whispered hotly in her ear, following it up with a teasing lick along her earlobe.

Touch yourself...his dominating voice echoing in her mind, Vigil ran her fingers up her labia, shivering as she felt the raw heat from her moist pussy.

Touch yourself.

Her thumb pressed against her aching clit as she heard her own shameless moan echo through the room.

Touch yourself.

Her hips bucked against her own hand — finally, her addled mind thought — as she slid her fingers into her folds. Oh yes...slut... She heard her own slutty moans echoing against the walls, as the assault on her body renewed, the man's tongue trailing along the sensitive of her neck, rising slowly into a hungry kiss that locked around her lips.

Touch yourself.

She accepted it, letting his tongue explore her mouth. As he withdrew from the kiss, Vigil stared into his eyes, imagining him railing her, his hard cock sinking into her aching pussy. She needed it. In her mind's eye his strong arms wrap around her, giving him further access and letting his length dip in deeper, and deeper, and deeper, and...

"Ah...ah...ah!" Faith moaned submissively, the drug-fueled orgasm taking her by surprise as sopping juices drenched her fingers and her panties. She panted, her own fingers dragging her lustful body into another crushing wave of a climax, her face locked in a look of submissive pleasure as she peered at the adonis who tamed her.

"Beautiful." he grinned widely. Faith didn't resist, letting him pull her hand out and guide her dripping fingers past her parted lips.

Sweet...tastes sweet. Faith thought dully to herself. The shame was gone, replaced with a numb sense of finality. She let herself sink deeper into it, licking her drenched fingers, letting the taste of her own defeat coat her tongue.

Everything was dimmer, darker, a shell of the explosive glory of her climax. She...she wanted more. She wanted more of the drug, she craved it. It wasn't just an aphrodisiac, it was an escape — an escape for her to take the rest of her inhibitions away before she could fathom her own humiliation. Her humiliation...

Vigil's eyes widened in horror. Too late.

Anderson laughed, seeing the shock in the vigilante's eyes. Sure, he'd assisted at some points, but it was her that led herself down the path of depravity. He almost pitied the girl.

He rose from his crouch, feeling his hard erection aching to fuck the brains out of that slut. But no...that would be too easy, and that could wait. He carefully picked up another syringe from the drawer under his desk, walking back to the girl's side. He waved it in front of her lightless eyes.

"J..just finish this." she said hollowly.

He looked at her and grinned. "No. I want you to do it." he said, placing the syringe in her hand.

Vigil looked down at the syringe.

She could still feel the shame creeping back into her mind, reminding her of her failures, her defeats. I...I don't need to live with the shame anymore. The drug promised to take them away.

She could still feel her lust, the dark part of her mind that craved for more. She loved being dominated, she loved to be taken...I...I can have more... The drug promised to give her more.

Anderson watched the vigilante stare blankly at the syringe, before positioning it at her forearm. As he had expected. He almost felt wistful looking at her crestfallen face, wishing he'd recorded her change from confident, arrogant heroine to a sex slave of the Bazaar.

Vigil looked at the distance.

---

"What are you doing, Faith?"

"I can't do this. I can't live like this anymore. I've been defeated, over and over. Humiliated, beaten, outsmarted, outclassed..."

Mindtwist crouched over her, a grin crossing her features. "I didn't know you memorised a thesaurus."

"I don't want to fight anymore."

Mindtwist sighed, sitting herself down beside Faith. She took her sunglasses off.

"I suppose you're going to tell me to look into your purple eyes, tell me everything's gonna be alright." Faith said.

Her mentor snorted. "I'm a figment of your imagination. I can't do that." She looked in the distance, shaking her head. "Fuck, Faith...you really think you're so god-damned special?"

"What?"

"You're not. All of us have been defeated, over and over and over again."

Faith shook her head. "You haven't been humiliated like I have been."

Mindtwist looked darkly at her. "You'll be surprised." Her look softened as she reached over, taking the syringe from Faith's unresisting hand. "Point is, we get back up and keep trying."

Mindtwist threw a disgusted look at the syringe, before throwing it to the side. "We keep fighting until we win. Until then, we lose again, and again and again. That's part of the deal."

"That's a pretty crappy deal."

Mindtwist laughed. "It is. But we're not doing this for ourselves. We're doing it for the people out there. The ones we care about."

"Angie." Faith whispered.

"And me! Don't you dare forget about me."

Faith couldn't help but smile.

Mindtwist looked wistfully out the window, before turning back. "Get up, Faith. You're all we've got, don't you give up on me."

---

"Mindtwist," the vigilante murmured.

"Excuse me?" Anderson frowned.

A strange smile crossed her soft features. "She was my mentor, back before the Purge."

"Uh...huh." Anderson muttered. This wasn't abnormal. Many of the girls he broke had some sort of mental farewell to their old selves before they embraced their future lives. The way he saw it, it was almost respectful. Man, I'm such a good person, Anderson thought sardonically to himself.

"She was a master in the mental arts, and helped heal my mind after the defeat you reminded me about."

"...Right."

"You know why I'm telling you this, doctor?"

Anderson rolled his eyes, shrugging.

"So you know who to look for to put your broken fucking mind back together." her blank expression warped into a horrifying snarl, as she shot her leg out and knocked Anderson to the ground.

Impossible. This was impossible. She was drugged, she was broken, this was impossible. Anderson struggled in her vicious grasp as she clamped a palm painfully over his face, and her eyes shone white—

Chapter Nine

Calypso Pharmaceuticals Research Facility A2, 2AM

The crime scene was a mess. Detective Lynn nodded at the SWAT team leader who trooped past her as she entered the cleared room. Other than the sole, locked door of Doctor Anderson Ghash's office, the team faced zero resistance.

"M-m-macchew? Ish tat yoo?" mumbled the scientist on the ground.

"Jesus Christ," she murmured, rushing to his side. The man's eyes were unfocused as he muttered incoherently to himself, frothing at the mouth. She shot a glare at a nearby officer. "The hell are you waiting for? Get the medics!"

As the paramedics rushed in, Lynn stood up, walking over to the grey envelope that was quickly becoming the calling card of the vigilante. Picking it up, she peered over at the gibbering doctor, and shuddered. What the hell are you doing, Vigil?

---

It was justified. He deserved every bit of it.

Vigil watched from a distance as the still-shaking doctor was carted into an ambulance. The incessant siren sounds continued blaring into the night, yet they were nothing but background noise as she sank back into her thoughts.

It was messy, but it had to be done. She couldn't have left him to the cops — he would be free the very next day. Faith had learnt that much in this one week. And yet, killing him was out of the question. She needed to get him out of the picture, while still not crossing the line.

But shattering his mind like that...

Vigil exhaled harshly, letting herself lean back against the parapet as she ripped off her sweat-soaked mask. She could still feel a miniscule amount of the drug weakly coursing through her veins — an otherwise-inexplicable soothe blanketing her mind. She enjoyed the cool droplets of rain washing over her face, and she sighed, feeling her aching muscles relax against the hard concrete.

It was done. No point worrying about it. Like it or not, she'd stumbled upon some sort of balance to walk, disrupting the Pact's plans without crossing the line. Whether it was ethical was a debate Faith couldn't let herself fall into. Emotions, feelings, empathy...

"Weakness." Faith murmured to herself. She opened her eyes, reaching for her mask and placing it back on. Taking the doctor down was a direct threat the Pact couldn't ignore. Now to prepare for their reprisal.

Epilogue

Elsewhere...

The doors slammed open, and in walked a beautiful, red-skinned woman, flanked by four of the bar's hostesses. They didn't seem to be escorting an intruder so much as following their leader, and they all had...strange, pink glows in their eyes. It was like the pinkness in the eyes of a victim of double-A, but the colour in their eyes was so much more vibrant.

The room reacted quickly, pistols, shotguns and submachine guns all immediately pointed at the new arrival. The enthralled hostesses raised their own pistols in response. There was a certain tension in the air as both sides watched each other, each waiting for the other to make the first move, but no one did.

The red-skinned woman snorted, and raised her foot to step forward—

And the enthralled hostesses screamed, dropping to their knees, the pink glows in their eyes viciously ripped out as they clasped their heads in pain. They moaned, dropping unconscious to the ground.

The red-skinned woman frowned, before turning her attention to Mindshaper. "Ah. An honour to meet a psychic of your calibre...Mimosa."

---

Mindshaper glared at the woman. Her real name wasn't public knowledge, yet some stranger somehow knew it? She narrowed her eyes, reaching out to probe her mind...running into a thick, impervious mental barrier.

"Nice try, love." the woman winked, before looking away from her.

"What do you want?" asked Julius. Mindshaper turned to look at him. He'd remained seated throughout the entire charade. Julius leaned forward in his chair, his fingers closing in a steeple.

The woman gave a side smile. "I couldn't help but overhear your little...discussion when I was passing by." she drawled.

"Really?" Julius raised an eyebrow. "Through the bustling noise of the crowd, through the loud music, through the noise-cancelling field generators in the walls?"

The woman ignored the question. "I've got an idea that could be...mutually beneficial."

"I assume you've got a solution to the vigilante?"

"Yes...but I want something. In exchange."

"Speak."

"I have a...friend I'd like broken free from Palmer Containment."

Palmer Containment? Mindshaper frowned. Formerly the League's high-security prison for superpowered villains, NovaSec took over after the Purge, using it as a mutant containment facility instead.

"You want us to go up against NovaSec?" Julius scoffed.

The woman giggled. "For a business so reliant on your so-called...Aphrodite's Ambrosia, you seem remarkably ignorant of its source."

Julius leaned back in his seat. "Well, enlighten us."

The woman cleared her throat. "Well, the Ambrosia comes from what Calypso Pharma scientists refer to as yyrtin extract."

"That's common knowledge." Julius remarked.

"What no one else knows is yyrtin extract comes from the genetic material of an...incubus."

"An incubus?"

"Yes! Hot as hell, red-skinned, chiselled abs, sound familiar?"

"I'm afraid not." Julius frowned.

The woman rolled her eyes. "Well. One such incubus is kept in stasis in Palmer Containment. Calypso Pharma has an agreement with NovaSec, allowing them to extract said genetic material for making Ambrosia."

"Intriguing. So if we were to secure this incubus, and rescue your friend...we would be able to restart production of double-A?"

The woman snapped a finger. "Exactly."

Mindshaper saw Julius shoot a look at her, and she shrugged.

"And how does the vigilante factor into this?" he asked.

The woman cocked her head. "The vigilante? Oh, right...let's say a little birdie whispers into her ear of an impending attack by the monstrous, eeeevil Pact, a desperate move to secure a source of Ambrosia..."

Mindshaper scoffed, looking over to Julius. "You can't be thinking about this. We don't need double-A, I can handle the brainwashing instead of trusting this fake whor—"

"Shhh..."

Mindshaper gasped, feeling the woman's finger on her lips. When had she gotten so close? Her tongue tingled, suddenly aching to dip out of her parted lips to taste that soft, smooth red finger. She shivered as she felt soft fingers tracing down her temple down her cheek. Mindshaper tried desperately to stay impassive, but couldn't stop a soft sigh from escaping her lips.

Her eyes...so pink...so demanding...

Her lips...so close...so...

The woman pulled away, leaving Mindshaper flustered and panting. Mindshaper balked, looking around at the bemused, aroused looks of the men around her and giving them a withering glare.

"I trust that demonstration was more than sufficient?" the woman said. Mindshaper felt a shiver of delight at her sexy voice, and flushed red.

Julius cleared his throat. "Yes, yes, it was." he said, barely a waver in his voice.

"That's excellent! Now, to work out our—"

"I want the vigilante. Unbroken." Mindshaper rasped, lighting her mind with a fire to purge anything that bitch may have left in there.

The woman scoffed. "Or...I could have you both. I'm sure everyone around here would be glad to have your stuck-up, cold exterior melting into a soft, submissive little sl—" Her voice cut off into a strangled cry as Mindshaper rose sharply, her shades suddenly gone.

"You forget your place, temptress." Mindshaper spat, her eyes burning in a purple fury. She held her hand up, feeding thought after thought of pain into the woman's mind, drawing a gurgled scream from the squirming red lady. "How does it feel...Lilith?" she said, plucking her name from the woman's mind.

Mindshaper felt the woman's resolve harden, her mental barriers strengthening as her face morphed into a pained, forced smile. "I'm—I'm not—much of a—masochist." she admitted through gritted teeth.

"You—"

"Mindshaper." Julius's voice called from behind her.

Mindshaper snarled, pulling herself out of the woman's mind and replacing her shades. She turned to Julius. "Fine. If you wish to play with fire, be my guest. But I want Vigil. Untouched."

The woman groaned, rising as she rubbed her temples. She laughed. A torrent of pain that would fell the strongest-willed of heroes, and the bitch laughs?

"You...you're an interesting one, Mimosa. Very well. The vigilante will be delivered to your doorstep, untouched." she enunciated the last word mockingly.

Mindshaper huffed, sitting back down. Around her were stunned faces. Good. In the Bazaar, all that mattered was your reputation, and she'd reclaimed her own. Still, with the mischievous look on the woman's face, she knew this was far from over.