The Return

Concluding the story begun in “Severna’s Strugglers” and continued in “Severna’s Slaves”


Leah Ling stood just inside the doorway of the luxuriously furnished room, dressed in her ubiquitous flannel shirt and jeans. In one hand, she held a small canvas bag. In her other hand, she held a pair of sneakers with socks stuffed into them.

She sighed and then walked forward. The plush, thick pile carpet beneath her bare feet would normally have felt like heaven to tread across. But now she she hardly noticed it. Nor when she sat on the posh chaise lounger in the center of the room did she enjoy its near perfect contours and padding.

Detective Farrah Bulloch stepped up to the seated young woman and gently reached out to take the bag and shoes from her.

“Is everything in there, Leah?” Farrah asked.

“Yep,” Leah said, and then absently recited the list of items in the bag: belt, pocket knife, wallet, keys, cell phone.

“Okay,” Farrah said. “Thank you.”

She carried the bag and shoes away.

Leah looked up at the other two women standing nearby.

“This is crazy. I can’t believe I’m doing this, that any of us are doing it,” she said. “But, of course, I had to volunteer to go first. So here I am, sitting before an officer of the law and two amazonians, feeling more naked and exposed than I ever have in my life--at least with my clothes on. And soon, I’ll be even more exposed, when you open up my mind and lay it bare before everyone.”

Her gaze fell to the floor. Before her, she saw the thick soled boots of the two women standing there. In contrast, her own feet sticking out from beneath her jeans seemed small and vulnerable.

“Bare feet, bare brain,” she said. “I guess there’s a symmetry there. Either that, or I’m just babbling.”

“You’re feeling exactly what we all feel,” said Hyperia, the striking Polynesian goddess in her trademark crimson leotard and violet cape, skirt, and boots. “Or at least what we’ll feel when it’s our turn. None of us wants to do this, but we all know we have to. You were very brave to volunteer. But it’s not too late to change your mind about going first. I’ll swap with you, if you want.”

“Thanks, Hyperia. I appreciate that. But no, I think I need to go first, or I won’t have the nerve to go at all.”

“Sure. No problem. But you know, even if you’re going first, you don’t have to be the only one to feel naked and exposed…”

Hyperia undid the belt between her leotard and skirt. Then she unhooked her cape. And lastly, she pulled off her knee high boots.

“There,” she said, wiggling her bare toes. “Now I really know how you feel. And, wow! Why didn’t you say how cushy this carpet is?”

As Hyperia smiled at her, Leah laughed despite herself. Farrah collected Hyperia’s pieces and placed them over by Leah’s. Then she, too, began removing items from her person--belt, watch, phone, gun, and then finally shoes and stockings. She caught Leah’s eye and received an appreciative nod in return.

“That just leaves you,” Hyperia said to the fourth woman in the room.

“When it’s my turn, I will make sure to remove all potentially dangerous items from myself,” said Black Owl. “But until then, I think we are all better off if I keep them at hand. Now, Ms. Ling, if you are ready, let’s begin….”


*****


An hour earlier, three young women--photojournalist, detective, and superheroine--had arrived at the downtown building. Each had received an invitation from Black Owl, the most respected and trusted crimefighter in the city, to come there at that specific day and time. None knew why they had been summoned, but all knew the weight that a personal request by Black Owl carried.

Entering by way of a back alley, and then following a dark path to a freight elevator, each woman had descended down to a sub-basement. Leah Ling and Hyperia had then been pleasantly surprised to find that their ultimate destination was a large, well-lit, and poshly decorated room.

Farrah Bulloch, on the other hand, had worked many times before with Black Owl and knew exactly what to expect from the meeting place. But even she had no idea what the meeting was about, nor why the other two women, who she knew by reputation but not personally, had been included.

With a graciousness that none other than Farrah had expected, Black Owl had offered the women refreshments and requested that they make themselves comfortable. A large table had been set against one wall, and various drinks and finger foods adorned it. The three guests visited it, and then moved to sit in armchairs set in the middle of the room, facing a chaise lounger that remained empty.

Once everyone was seated, Black Owl joined them. She wasted no time getting to the point.
The mood up to that time had been reasonably light and amiable. But as Black Owl spoke, it quickly grew ominous along with the information she shared.

The assertion she made was that each of them in the room, including herself, had likely been compromised by an unknown villain. Thus, none of them could be trusted to be acting on her own accord and of her own free will.

Leah raised her hand to interject. She didn’t understand. What did Black Owl mean by compromised?

Hyperia and Farrah fidgeted in their seats. They had been involved in the hero-and-villain game long enough to comprehend Black Owl’s meaning. But neither felt comfortable explaining it, or the implications it posed, to the inexperienced member of their group.

Black Owl suffered no such issues with comfort or hesitation. She quickly and calmly explained her meaning to Leah:

Unbeknownst to them, each woman present had been programmed to behave and act differently than she normally would. Each of them had been undergone intensive mental conditioning that forced her to act on another person’s behalf and to their specifications. Each one had been brainwashed.

Reading the disbelief on Leah’s face, Black Owl politely held off another interruption from the young journalist by promising to explain how she had reached this conclusion. She began by telling how her crime fighting computer had detected anomalies in her recent work patterns and behaviors. The computer traced these back to a day three weeks ago. On that day, Black Owl had specific memories of where she had been and what she had done that didn’t match with the computer’s tracking of her whereabouts.

She then went on to look at crime trends within the city, specifically on recent nights when she had decided to not patrol, due to feeling tired or just needing a break. On each of those nights, she had originally assessed that no major crimes would take place. And yet, when reviewing them after the fact on the computer, she saw that major crimes had been committed on every night she had stayed in.

Something was definitely wrong with the observations and actions of a woman who could not afford to be wrong and who almost never was.

So she began to research more into the day three weeks ago. And she also began looking into other women who were in the heroine business or who had ties with it. When she did, she began finding discrepancies in the behaviors of the three women in the room.

Leah, close friend of Suprawoman, had lost or destroyed photographic evidence several times in the past three weeks, all of which would have allowed her reporting partner to run scathing exposes on the city’s top organized crime family. These actions had specifically begun within the past three weeks.

Farrah, honest cop and associate of Black Owl’s, had dropped investigations into several criminal enterprises, including a shady brothel that she had been uncharacteristically frequenting. Prior to three weeks ago, she was raring to shut them all down in her bid to clean up the city.

Hyperia, junior superheroine, had failed to report a dozen crises in the five times she had been on monitor duty in the past three weeks. Her reputation up to that point had been flawless, but now her mentor, Suprawoman, was questioning her dedication.

As each woman heard the account of her actions, she balked. Black Owl must have it wrong. She must have jumped to irrational conclusions. It hadn’t happened that way. It wasn’t like that. For each of them, Black Owl presented clear and precise empirical evidence, and slowly, each woman came to believe her.

Someone had gotten to them. Someone had brainwashed them. And now that someone was making them do things they shouldn’t and wouldn’t do in their right minds.

Finally convinced, Leah asked what they all wondered. What did they do now? How did they break free of the villain’s control? How did they go back to being normal?

Black Owl had a plan.

One at a time, with the others observing the process, she would hypnotize each woman. While under hypnosis, the woman could be safely guided to remember what had happened to her, including how she had been brainwashed, what triggers may have been put in place and, hopefully, by whom.

Black Owl could use normal induction methods, or if the women proved resistant--either by their own volition or due to their conditioning--she had technological and chemical means to aid in putting them under. Once each of the women had regained her memories and been broken of her conditioning, Black Owl would turn herself over to the group and give them the instructions and means to hypnotize and deprogram her.

Would it work? What if it didn’t? Would it be dangerous? What safety precautions were in place? So came the multitude of questions from Leah, Farrah, and Hyperia. Black Owl let them vent. Then, in one definitive answer, she told them that she could guarantee nothing, but she believed it would work. And if it did, they all would soon be free of outside influence.

The women digested all that she had said. And then, nervous and scared, but desiring more than anything to be herself--her own self--again, Leah offered to go first.

Black Owl nodded her approval and indicated that Leah needed to remove any items from her person that she could use to harm herself or others--just in case. The instruction diminished Leah’s resolve, but she had already volunteered before the entire group. So she complied and did her best to ready herself for what lay ahead.


*****


Stretched out upon the chaise lounger, Leah exhaled a deeply held breath. She blinked, and then blinked again. Why didn’t she feel sleepy? Just a second ago she was following the pocket watch that Black Owl swung slowly before her eyes, as she listened to the crimefighter’s firm but soothing voice lull her into a trance. She had been just at the edge of sleep, but now, she was wide awake.

Black Owl sat in a chair at her side, but there was no sign of the pocket watch.

“Why did you stop?” Leah asked. “I was going under. I could feel it. But now, I’m not sleepy at all.”

“It’s okay,” Black Owl said. “It’s all over. We’re finished.”

“What? Then why don’t I remember? I thought the whole point of this was to restore my memory.”

“Give it a moment. You will remember everything, including being hypnotized just now. But I put you on a kind of time release, so that the memories will return over a few minutes. Otherwise, the shock of them might upset you or even damage your mind.”

“Oh. Oh, yeah. It’s starting to come back...”

Even with the ‘time release’ in place to ease the shock, Leah grew visibly upset at the return of her memories. More than anything, she was livid at Severna Strickland, who Black Owl had revealed as the group’s captor, brainwasher, and controller.

“I can’t believe it!” Leah said to the group. “I can’t believe I called her ‘Mistress!’ And I happily did her bidding! It’s sick. It’s disgusting. She’s sick and disgusting!”

“You’re right,” Farrah said. “It is, and she is. And believe me, I understand. We all understand. You said you saw all of us there with you in that room, strapped into those chairs.”

Leah shuddered at the mention of the chairs that Severna had to use to bind, gag, and brainwash them.

“You did well, Leah,” Black Owl said in an unusually compassionate voice. “You responded excellently to my suggestions, and I believe you are completely free of that Strickland woman’s control.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

Black Owl nodded, and then turned back to face Farrah and Hyperia.

“Who is next?” she asked.

“I am,” Hyperia said. “Get that Severna bitch out of my head!”

Leah got up and exchanged places with the superheroine.

“I don’t think a standard induction is going to work on me,” Hyperia said. “I’m too wound up to concentrate on a swinging watch. And as for drugs, unless you know the limits of my heightened constitution--”

“No problem,” Black Owl said, removing a small device from a pouch on her belt. “I think this will do the trick. Just keep your eyes on it. No concentration required.”

She held it up and thumbed a small switch on its side. Quickly flashing colors rotated in a swirling pattern, highlighting Hyperia’s face and reflecting in her eyes.

“I’m not so sure this is going to work, either,” Hyperia said. “It’s more annoying than hypnotic, and it’s not making me sleepy...Hey, where did it go?”

“Where did what go?”

“The flashy-swirling thing you had me look at.”

“I put it away once you were hypnotized. It worked, just as I said it would.”

“Really? Then why don’t I remember--oh. Oh, wow.”

Hyperia sat up. She held her head in her hands as, little by little, she remembered everything. When the process was done, she looked up and shared a knowing glance with Leah.

“Well,” said Farrah. “It’s my turn now. Let me trade seats with you, Hyperia. Black Owl, I’d prefer that device over the pocketwatch.”

She lay down on the lounger and did her best to relax.

“Don’t worry,” Black Owl said. “Before you know it, you’ll be awake and fully in control of your own mind again.”

“Thanks,” Farrah said. “But please don’t bother with the time release for me. I already know what happened from their sessions. When I wake up, I want to remember it all right away.”

“Fair enough.”

Nodding, Farrah turned her gaze to the flashing colors and swirling patterns of the device. The next thing she knew, she was awake and the memories associated with her brainwashing had returned.

“That’s all of us,” Hyperia said. “Except for--”

“Yes,” Black Owl said. “Except for me. I’d like Detective Bulloch to act as my hypnotist. In her line of work, she regularly conducts interviews and interrogations. Those skills will come in handy in guiding me toward the desired result.”

“All right,” Farrah said.

“As for the induction, you can use the same device I used on Hyperia and you. Even if I resist, it should prove effective in putting me under.”

Black Owl handed the device to Farrah and walked over to the other side of the room where the other women’s personal items sat in piles. She unfastened her utility belt, took it off, then laid it on the floor. Then she removed her cowl.

“What are you doing?” Farrah asked her. “You don’t need to show us your identity.”

“Detective Bulloch--Farrah--if I trust you enough to hypnotize me, and these women enough to watch, then I can trust you with my real identity. Honestly, after working with you for so long, this is long overdue. My name is Bridget Wyman. I’m sure you’ve all heard of the reclusive billionaire philanthropist. Well, now you’ve met her, as well.”

She finished speaking as suddenly as she had started. The room sat in stunned silence, as she continued removing tools and weapons hidden on her person. Finally, she unlaced and pulled off her boots. She considered for a moment and then took off her padded socks, as well.

“I now feel as exposed as all of you did. Only now you have me at a disadvantage. All of you are free from Strickland’s control. But I remain her brainwashed puppet. I’m counting on you to deprogram me, Farrah. Let’s do it. Let’s finish this.”

Bridget lay down on the lounger. Farrah lifted the induction device and turned it on.


*****


“What’s happening?” Hyperia asked. “It wasn’t like this with you or Leah.”

“Nor with you,” Leah said.

“I know, I know,” Farrah said. “I’ve uncovered her memories all the way through the brainwashing chair. But now, I can’t seem to get her to remember anything after that. I have to keep trying, but I don’t know what’s wrong.”

“Okay, okay,” Hyperia said, trying to remain calm. “You can do this, Farrah. You can totally do this.”

“Black Owl--Bridget--I need you to listen to me,” Farrah said. “You are deeply hypnotized. You have been following all of my suggestions, and you will continue to follow them. I need you to remember. You don’t need to struggle or become stressed. You are completely relaxed and at ease. Just open your mind. The memories are there. Relax and remember. Relax and remember.”

But Bridget did not seem relaxed. She squirmed and moaned, as if she was still bound in Severna’s brainwashing chair.

“Bridget,” Farrah said. “Tell me what’s wrong. Tell me what you’re fighting against. I can help you fight it. I can help you be free of it.”

Suddenly, Bridget opened her eyes. Farrah uttered a surprised, “Oh,” while Hyperia gasped, and Leah jumped back.

“Nothing is wrong, Detective Bulloch,” Bridget said, smiling and training her eyes on Farrah’s face. “I’m not fighting against anything. Your efforts to help me were very good…”

She sat up and swung her legs around in one motion. The balls of her feet alit upon the floor.

“Ineffective,” she continued, “but very good nonetheless.”

Without warning, her arm shot out, and she grabbed Farrah by the throat.

“One move, Hyperia, and the good detective dies.”

Hyperia tensed, but remained still. Bridget stood and took the induction device from Farrah’s hand, while Farrah choked under the strength of Bridget’s grip.

“As it turns out, Mistress knew that out of all of us, I would likely be the most problematic. I took the longest to brainwash, and I resisted her commands the most. But even I have my limits. And she pushed me well past them. Long after you had been released, she subjected me to the chair again. As you can see, the second time did the trick. No silly induction device and half-assed hypnotherapy will break her hold on me. The shame of it is, after breaking her hold on all of you, I will now have to reestablish it. After all, Mistress can’t be without her slaves.”

“Let Farrah go,” Hyperia said through gritted teeth.

“Why? So you can pummel into a pulp? Sure, why not.”

Bridget gave one last squeeze, then tossed Farrah aside. Leah raced to the fallen woman, even as Hyperia rushed the brainwashed crimefighter. Bridget ducked the lunge, then jabbed her fingers into a pressure point behind Hyperia’s shoulder as the heroine passed her. Hyperia cried out in pain and dropped to her knees.

“All the strength in the world and no brain to go with it,” Bridget said. “No matter. Mistress will be your brain.”

Before Hyperia could respond, Bridget swooped down before her and pushed the induction device into her face. Not even realizing that she needed to look away until it was too late, Hyperia succumbed to its mesmerizing effect. She went limp, and her eyes closed.

“Hyperia,” Bridget told the hypnotized heroine. “Secure Leah and Detective Bulloch. I want them incapacitated but unharmed.”

“Yes...Mistress…”

Hyperia rose and approached Leah.

“No, Hyperia, no! Wake up! Snap out of it!”

In a moment, Hyperia held both Leah and Farrah fast. Bridget calmly walked over to them, moving first to confront Farrah.

“She won’t get away with this, Bridget,” Farrah said. “We’re all going to get free again, and then we’ll make her pay.”

“No,” Bridget said, thumbing the on switch for the induction device. “Now be a good little slave and return to your Mistress.”

She held the device up before Farrah’s eyes. In a moment, it was over. Hyperia released the entranced detective, who moved to stand beside Bridget.

“Your turn, now,” Bridget said to Leah. “Don’t bother struggling. Neither Hyperia, nor my device can be resisted."

“No!” Leah shouted, struggling uselessly within Hyperia’s steeled grip. “No! No. N-no. N-nnnn…”

Hyperia released the hypnotized and fully obedient photographer.

“You should be happy, my fellow slaves,” Bridget said. “Be happy that you serve Mistress again.”

Beneath their dull, drooping eyes, smiles formed on the three women’s faces.

“Excellent. It’s time now to call our Mistress. It’s time to serve and obey her again….”