The Intern

“Seriously? A work project at 11 p.m. on a Friday night? The things interns put up with for a decent job recommendation!”

Tammy Burnett thought the words but didn’t say them to her boss, Assistant District Attorney Julia Chang. Instead she forced the same smile and cheerful enthusiasm that, along with a top-of-her-class pre-law degree, had earned her the internship in the DA’s office.

“Sure, I can swing 11 o’clock,” she said. “No problem.”

“Great,” Julia said. “Given that’s it’s after hours, you can dress casually. T-shirt and flip-flops are fine.”

Tammy bristled at the last statement but, again, kept her thoughts to herself. In her first week on the job, she’d misinterpreted Casual Friday as actually being what it sounded like. Arriving at the office that Friday morning in jeans, a T-shirt, and flip-flops, she’d been taken aside by Julia and reprimanded over her inappropriate clothes. Casual to lawyers apparently meant not formal wear.

“Got it,” Tammy said.

“All right. I’m heading out. See you tonight.”

“See you tonight.”

Turning away as Julia left, Tammy rolled her eyes. Someday, she hoped, when she was a big corporate lawyer, or maybe a judge, this would all be worth it.


* * * * * *


The clock on the receptionist’s desk read 10:59 p.m., as Tammy passed by it. Seeing the office suite half lit and completely empty unnerved her just a little bit. She walked through it feeling slightly on edge, hearing only the soft rhythmic thwick-thwack of her flip-flops as she went.

When she got to Julia’s office in the back, it was well lit, and she heard Julia typing speedily away at her workstation. Familiarity replaced alienness, and she began to feel better. She knocked on the door even though it was open.

“Come in,” Julia said without looking up.

Tammy saw two pairs of sandals just inside the door. She raised her eyebrows and wondered if uptight little Julia was taking casual all the way to going barefoot. Tammy kind of hoped she was. For one thing, it might show that Julia could unwind a bit and act like a normal person, rather than just a slave-driving boss. For another thing...Tammy found Julia attractive and thought she would probably look sexy in bare feet.

All of that notwithstanding, there was the second pair of shoes by the door. They were a different size than the first pair, so only one likely belonged to Julia. Was someone else there, too?

“Are you coming in?” Julia asked, this time looking up from her work.

Tammy realized she’d been standing there for several seconds, lost in her thoughts.

“Yeah, sorry. What do you want me to start on?”

“Organize these files, please. Alphabetical for this pile, numerical for that one. I’ll be finished with this email in a minute, then we’ll head over to the conference room to start on the project.”

“Okay.”

Pushing all distractions from her mind, Tammy began sorting the indicated files. She had finished the alphabetical stack and was working on the numerical one when Julia stopped typing.

“All right, Tammy, let’s go.”

Julia stood and walked around the desk. Tammy suppressed a desirous smile at seeing her boss in a low-cut blouse, tight jeans, and bare feet.

The two women headed towards the other room. Through its frosted glass wall, Tammy saw a figure sitting in one of the chairs.

“Who else is here?” she asked, remembering the second pair of shoes.

“An outside contractor. I’ll introduce you.”

Tammy had a hard time reconciling a contractor who would walk around barefoot on a job. Maybe the person was a friend of Julia’s? Or maybe the shoes belonged to yet someone else? So far the night had brought a couple of surprises. Who knew what else was to come?

Opening the door, Julia motioned Tammy inside. Tammy walked in, and Julia followed her.

The most gorgeous woman Tammy had ever seen sat at the large conference table. She swiveled in her chair to face the two women who had just entered the room, then stood. Lush, golden-red hair framed a heavenly face above a lithe but curvaceous form. Tight black leather covered her upper body sparingly and her lower body down to the ankles. Her smooth, unblemished feet were bare.

The woman had intoxicatingly beautiful eyes, which quickly found and held Tammy’s.

“Is she the one?” the woman asked staring intently at Tammy. “She’s adorable.”

“Yes, Ms. Mesmer,” Julia said. “This is Tammy Burnett. We’ll use her for the test.”

“Very nice,” Ms. Mesmer said.

Tammy knew that name. No one who worked in the DA’s office couldn’t know it. Ms. Mesmer was a criminal mastermind with a reputation for bending the will of any woman she desired to her own. Everyone in the city knew who she was by name, but not what she looked like, nor how to find her.

Yet Tammy’s boss addressed the arch-villainess in a familiar tone, right here in their workplace. She addressed her in the same breath that she spoke Tammy’s name and mentioned some kind of ominous test.

There was only one thing to do: Get out of there!

But Tammy couldn’t move. All she could do was stare at Ms. Mesmer. She found herself enraptured by the woman’s eyes. Try as she might, she could neither pull away from the woman’s entrancing gaze, nor do anything else.

“Your pretty little intern is trying to break free,” Ms. Mesmer said.

“As if she could,” Julia said. “It’s impossible to do, as I well remember.”

“True. But unlike our mistress, I don’t care for struggling. I prefer my playthings to be relaxed and content.”

Playthings? Tammy’s mind screamed the word. For once in the presence of Julia she wanted to speak out--to shout, to raise hell--but now she couldn’t. Her body shuddered, but otherwise she stood rooted to the spot beneath the overpowering stare of Ms. Mesmer.

“Listen to me, Tammy,” Ms. Mesmer said.

And Tammy suddenly found that everything else in the room faded away, diminishing her world down to only that silken voice and those irresistible eyes.

“Relax,” Ms. Mesmer said. “Let all fear and nervousness leave you.”

Despite herself, Tammy found that she felt calm and soothed. She knew that she was under Ms. Mesmer’s control, but that knowledge no longer bothered or stressed her.

“Good. Until I say otherwise, you will obey me. You will do everything that I tell you. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Tammy said.

Ms. Mesmer turned to Julia.

“Where do you want to conduct the test?”

“Have her sit in that chair in the corner. We’ll have more space over there.”

“Tammy, go sit in that chair in the corner.”

With slow, even motions, Tammy walked over to the indicated chair and sat down in it.

“Keep her incapacitated until we’re ready,” Julia said.

“When I snap my fingers, you will sleep,” Ms. Mesmer said to Tammy. “When I snap them twice in a row, you will awaken.”

Ms. Mesmer snapped. Tammy’s eyelids drooped closed and her head lolled back against the chair’s headrest. Julia then walked over to her, pulling along another chair. She placed the second chair close to Tammy’s, so that it faced the sleeping girl. Then she lifted up Tammy’s legs and stretched them out over the impromptu footrest. Finally, she took off Tammy’s flip-flops.

“Is a barefoot subject a requirement for the test?” Ms. Mesmer asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

“No. It’s a personal preference.”

“Interesting that it’s one our mistress shares. I wonder...did she instill it in you, or did you have it already?”

Julia hesitated before answering.

“I...don’t know,” she said.

“If you don’t know, then she doesn’t want you to know. No matter then. Let’s get on with our work.”

Nodding her agreement, Julia walked around to the back of the room. She lifted a sealed box from the floor to the table and began opening it. When it was open, she carefully took out a small device cradled in hard foam. She then removed the protective packaging from around it and held it up to see.

A small metallic helmet gleamed beneath the room’s fluorescent lights. Small inlaid wires and LEDs covered much of its surface, while its interior was filled alternatively with cushioning pads and electrodes.

Inspecting the helmet for any damage and finding none, Julia carried it over to Tammy. She then gently placed it on the intern’s head. Taking out her phone, she brought up a remote control app and tapped a command into it. In response, a few lights on the helmet turned on, as did small servos inside it that quietly whirred as they moved.

Tammy stirred in her sleep and wrinkled her brow. But she did not awaken.

The helmet shifted slightly, its servos allowing it to reposition itself for an optimal fit on its wearer’s head. When it had finished several seconds later, it rested snugly but not tightly over Tammy’s entire scalp and ears, with its internal electrodes placed perfectly upon her temples and other various points along her cranium.

Julia went back to the box and retrieved four bondage restraints from it. She then took them over to Tammy. One at a time, she secured the girl’s wrists and head to the first chair and her ankles to the second.

“That isn’t necessary,” Ms. Mesmer said, watching Julia work. “I can keep her immobilized once she’s awake.”

“Yes, I know you can,” Julia said. “But in order to conduct a proper test, I need her mind free of your influence.”

“I can give her back free will and simply have her unable to move.”

“It’s better this way.”

“Fine,” Ms. Mesmer said with a pout born of giving up control over a thrall.

“Everything’s ready,” Julia said. “Wake her up.”

Ms. Mesmer nodded and then walked over to stand in front of Tammy. She snapped her fingers twice.

Tammy opened her eyes, raising them up to find and be held by Ms. Mesmer’s.

“Tammy,” Ms. Mesmer said. “You will no longer need to obey me. Your mind is your own.”

Tammy blinked and shook her head. Ms. Mesmer turned and walked away, keeping her hypnotic gaze away from the now clear-minded girl.

“What’s going on?” Tammy asked fearfully. “What are you doing?”

She fought to get free of the restraints. Julia put an authoritative hand on her shoulder, and Tammy paused in her struggles.

“It’s all right, Tammy,” Julia said. “We’re not going to hurt you. We need your help, and once you give it, we will let you go.”

“What kind of help?”

“All you need to do is sit there and relax. Before you know it, we’ll be finished.”

“Finished with what? Why am I tied up? What’s on my head?”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to calm her down?” Ms. Mesmer asked with her back turned. “Or at least keep her from speaking?”

“I’m sure,” Julia said, then to Tammy, “I can’t answer your questions right now. But I assure you they won’t matter in a few minutes. I know you’re scared--believe me, I know--but I promise that you’ll be fine. And it will all be over soon.”

Unassuaged by Julia’s words, Tammy began struggling anew. But the straps held, and she could do nothing but squirm about in her seat. Stepping away from her, Julia lifted her phone to her mouth and spoke into it.

“Portability test number one. Friday the 10th, 11:15 p.m. Subject: Tammy Burnett, age 22. Begin brainwash.”

“Brainwash?” Tammy asked in abject terror. “No, no! No, please! No, n--”

Julia tapped a button on her phone. With a rising hum, all the lights on the helmet turned on. Tammy’s eyes went wide as several of the electrodes sent impulses that tickled and itched at the same time across her head.

“No,” she said, desperately but futilely trying to escape her bonds. “No, please! Julia! Julia! My head! My head! N-no...n-nnn…”

Her eyes rolled up in their sockets, and her hands and feet shook.

Julia watched, fascinated by but also uncertain of the process. It was one that she had never been through. Her mistress had secured her obedience through Ms. Mesmer’s hypnotic control alone.

“It doesn’t hurt the girl,” Ms. Mesmer said, either recognizing the uncertainty on Julia’s face or perhaps just wanting to provide commentary. “At least not if it works the same as the machine it’s derived from in Mistress’s office. The induction is disconcerting. But after that, the experience is extremely pleasurable.”

True to Ms. Mesmer’s words, Julia watched as Tammy’s struggles lessened. Soon, aside from occasional twitches in her fingers and toes, she lay quiet with her eyes closed. Then, a smile spread over her face, and she began to moan softly.

“Yes,” Ms. Mesmer said knowingly. “Yes, there she goes. Blissfully brainwashed into complete submission and total subservience to her new mistress.”

“It does seem to be working,” Julia said. “Of course, we won’t know for sure until the process is done.”

“It won’t be long now.”

Less than a minute later, the helmet’s hum faded out, and its lights blinked off. Tammy began to murmur quietly, although her eyes remained closed.

“Tammy,” Ms. Mesmer said.

Tammy opened her eyes. She stared straight ahead, as if in a daze.

“Can you hear me, Tammy?”

“Yes,” Tammy said.

“Who are you?”

“I am...the willing and obedient slave of Severna Strickland.”

“And who is Severna Strickland?”

“She is my Mistress, to whom I am wholly devoted and completely submissive.”

“Impressive,” Julia said. “The portability of the device doesn’t seem to limit its effectiveness.”

“No, it certainly doesn’t,” Ms. Mesmer said. “Of course, I prefer to enslave a woman myself, without relying on a machine. Even if I’m doing it for Mistress, it’s still more fun my way.”

“When Mistress lets you, you can use whatever methods you prefer. But she wants to ensure that she has other, equally reliable means to bring women under her control when she can’t be there to do it herself. I believe this test shows that she now does. We can report back our success to her. She will be pleased.”

“And what do we do with the girl?”

“Mistress said you can do with the girl whatever you want for the rest of the night.”

“Really?” Ms. Mesmer asked in a hopeful voice.

“Yes,” Julia said. “As long as we erase her memory of what we’ve done to her, and leave her permanently obedient to Mistress, she is yours to enjoy. She is your reward.”

“And what about you?”

“My reward, when it comes, will be to forget that I am Mistress’s brainwashed thrall.”

“I like my reward so much better,” Ms. Mesmer said.

She moved over to Tammy and knelt down beside her. Slowly, savoring each second, she began caressing the girl’s skin with her fingertips. Goosepimples erupted over Tammy’s flesh. But she neither moved, nor said anything. She simply sat and gazed at nothing, as Ms Mesmer indulged in her own delight.

“So much better….”