As the self-styled Empress of the City, Severna Strickland owned many buildings in which she had many offices. Each office had an alcove in the back wall covered by a hidden panel. Each alcove had in it a specially designed reclining chair adorned with restraints for keeping an occupant immobilized. One such chair had a young woman seated in it, with Severna herself standing nearby.

On the floor next to the chair lay a streamlined motorcycle helmet, a pair of elbow-length leather gloves, and a pair of knee-high leather boots. The items belonged to the young woman in the chair, who wore a tight leather jumpsuit that covered her from neck to wrists and ankles.

Although her hands and feet were bare, the young woman still wore a helmet of sorts, one that was attached to the chair and contained electronic components. It fed various visual and aural stimuli into her head, to which she reacted with much squirming and groaning.

Severna watched the scene before her intently and with much delight. She had captured and mentally dominated many women over the years, but she never grew tired of it. This particular woman was, as many of Severna's subjects were, a superheroine. Called Blackbird, the heroine patrolled the city streets on a customized motorcycle, fighting against crime and for justice.

Blackbird now fought hard to resist a process that was slowly subverting her will and would ultimately lead to her enthrallment to Severna. It was a valiant but futile effort. Severna had honed her mind-bending skills and technologies to a point where no one had ever successfully resisted them. Still, Blackbird tried, and Severna enjoyed her struggles. For the villainess, it was the best part of brainwashing a sexy female do-gooder into her obedient slave.

The phone on Severna's desk rang. Broken from her blissful reverie, she scowled. If not for knowing that only her highest level staff had access to that number, and every one of them was a woman whom she had personally brainwashed into total obedience, she would have ignored the call.

With a sigh, she walked over to her desk. She turned around, so as to continue watching Blackbird. Only the heroine's bare soles were visible from that angle, but at least Severna could see them kick and twitch.

"What?" she said after picking up the phone. "Uh-huh. Yes. Really? Good. Now listen to me carefully. She is extremely dangerous, far more so than anyone we've ever dealt with. Do not underestimate her strength. Make sure she remains sedated and that her bonds are capable of holding her. I will be down presently."

Hanging up the phone, she smiled. They had captured Curia! Oh, what she could do with an Amazon under her control! And what fun she could have with such a powerful slave!

But none of those thoughts negated her desire to see Blackbird enslaved. She didn't want to miss one second of the heroine's descent into utter submission and servitude. Walking back to the alcove, she saw that the helmet's induction process was nearly complete, meaning that Blackbird's mind was helpless against the upcoming regimen of conditioning it would receive.

"No," Severna said, tapping a button on the helmet to stop the process. "You'll keep for now. Then you'll be a nice dessert when I'm finished with Curia."

With the induction halted and no further stimuli or commands driven into Blackbird's head, her mind began to clear.

"What?" she asked, regaining her senses. "No! Let me out of here! Let me out!"

Severna tapped another button on the helmet, releasing a sweet-smelling, pink mist from underneath it. The sleeping gas worked almost instantly, and Blackbird fell silent.

"See you soon, my dear," Severna said.

Then she turned and walked out of the office.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Inside Processing Lab 1, the intercom buzzed. The technician--a petite, bespectacled woman dressed in a lab coat but no footwear--answered it, asking who was there. Receiving an appropriate response, she opened the door and stepped aside. Two tall, athletic women dressed in shoeless security uniforms pushed a gurney into the room. The smaller of the two stood at five-foot-ten, but the prone figure in their charge dwarfed them both.

Curia the Amazonian Wonder Woman lay on the gurney. Even unconscious and shackled to the table as she was, she cut an impressive and imposing figure. She wore a red, blue, and gold outfit comprised of armored bustier, weighted skirt, and knee-high boots. A low sitting tiara accented her raven hair, while gleaming bracers protected her arms, and a plated belt held her one weapon: a glittering golden lasso.

"Mistress wants her processed as soon as possible," the smaller guard said to the technician, handing over a clipboard with a chart on it.

The technician perused the chart for a moment. No one noticed Curia stir.

"She isn't ready at all," the technician said, looking up from the chart to address the guards. "You need to remove all of her gear and her boots. Come on, ladies. You know the drill."

With annoyed glares at the technician, the guards did as they were told. One took off Curia's tiara, bracers, and belt. The other started working on the boots.

"What's the hold up?" the technician said, noticing that Curia wasn't yet unshod.

"I can't get her boots off without undoing the shackles."

"Brilliant. Why didn't you take them off before you bound her?"

"Look, egghead. We had a hard enough time taking her down as it was. Cut us some slack for not remembering one little detail."

"Fine, fine. Do you have any more sleeping gas?"

"Yeah. One more dose."

"Well, use it on her just to be safe, then undo the leg shackles, then take off her boots, then re-shackle her. Got it?"

All but growling her disdain, the guard did as instructed. From a small canister on her belt, she sprayed a squirt of pink mist into Curia's face. The heroine sighed and fell still. Then the guard moved to the other end of the gurney. After a couple of minutes' work, Curia's feet were both bare and resecured to the table.

"Good," said the technician. "Now bring her over here to the chair."

She led the way to the far end of the room, past various workstations and testing areas. The two guards pushed the gurney after her.

Again Curia stirred, her Amazonian endurance fighting off the effects of the sedative.

At the back of the lab resided a twin chair to the one that held Blackbird in Severna's office. The technician walked over to a console beside it, keyed in some commands, then turned back to the guards.

"It's ready for her."

The guards began unlocking Curia's shackles. When they had opened the last of them, they stepped to either side of the superheroine and got ready to lift her off the gurney.

Without warning, both of Curia's arms shot out, her powerful fists catching the surprised guards in the chest. The two women flew backwards and hit opposite walls of the room. They then slid down to the floor, unconscious. Curia opened her eyes, sat up, and smiled sweetly at the technician.

"You folks really need to learn how to treat a guest," the Amazon said. "It's rude to gas someone and take away her possessions."

She stepped down off the table. Her perfectly toned body stood well above six feet in height, causing her to tower over the diminutive lab worker.

"You look smarter than those other two. I don't have to hit you, do I? You'll help me get out of here, won't you?"

The technician nodded vehemently.

"Great," Curia said cheerfully, gesturing for the technician to lead her. "Let's go."

Once the technician had moved forward, Curia turned to follow her towards the front of the room. But before the heroine could move, a flash of sparkling gold caught her eye. She knew immediately what it was, and her smile quickly dissolved into a frown.

"Oh, no," she said.

"Oh, yes," Severna said.

The villainess stood two yards away from Curia, holding one end of the Amazon's golden lasso. The rest of the lasso reached to and encircled the crestfallen heroine.

"Tell me," Severna said. "Is it true that you are now in my power?"

"Yes," Curia said with a sigh.

"To what extent is my control over you?"

"I have to do whatever you tell me to do."

"Excellent. Does that control continue if I take the rope off of you?"

"No."

"Can I implant post-hypnotic suggestions in your mind, or anything like that?"

"No. I'm not hypnotized. I'm wide awake and in my right mind. I'm just compelled to obey you...however abhorrent I find that to be."

Curia sighed again, and Severna laughed out loud.

"This is quite a useful device," the villainess said. "But not quite so useful as my brainwashing machines. And speaking of those, it's time we placed you in one. Turn around. Now walk slowly over to that chair. Turn back around. Now sit down and place your neck, arms, and legs in the restraints."

Once Curia was seated, Severna turned to the technician.

"Secure her and then begin the process."

"Yes, Mistress," the technician said, moving over to the console and entering the start command.

The restraints closed around Curia's neck, wrists, and ankles. Then Severna leaned over her captive and undid the lasso.

"Don't worry," she said as she wound the golden rope back into a coil. "You'll get this back...once I've brainwashed you into an obedient little slave who mindlessly serves me."

"You'll never do that to me," Curia said confidently. "Nor to any woman ever again."

"Of course I will, my dear! First to you, then to that darling biker chick upstairs, then to anyone else who dares cross my path. You don't believe me? Mm-mm, what delicious defiance. Too bad that it's going to evaporate--along with your free will and all independent thought--as soon as that helmet lowers down over your head."

The neck restraint kept Curia from tilting her head back, but she raised her eyes in an attempt to see the helmet that slowly descended towards her.

"Here it comes," Severna said teasingly. "Almost there. Just a bit further…"

Curia took a deep breath, then flexed all of her muscles. She kept them flexed and began pushing with all her might against the restraints. With the helmet mere inches from the top of her head, the thick bands that held her in place began to creak and groan.

Severna heard the signs of strain and stopped talking immediately. Both she and the technician stared wide-eyed as the Amazon's immense strength bent and stretched the supposedly unbreakable bonds.

The helmet finished its descent, covering Curia from crown to nose. She ignored it and continued her struggle.

Suddenly, one ankle restraint snapped, popping off her leg like a broken rubber band.

"How long until the induction begins?" Severna demanded of the awestruck technician. "How long until she's sedated?"

"It's started, Mistress. It's working. But...I don't know how long it will take."

"Ugh!" Severna screamed.

Gripping the coiled golden lasso tightly, she marched forward, ready to use it once again on Curia. But then she ducked defensively as the Amazon broke free from the other ankle restraint with a thunderous crack. Almost immediately, Curia freed one of her arms in the same manner.

"Never mess with an Amazon, Severna," Curia said through gritted teeth, fighting both the pervasive sedation of the machine and the remaining bonds around her wrist and neck. "We don't give up, and we don't lose."

In punctuation of her statement, Curia broke free from the last wrist restraint. Now only the band around her neck held her. She reached up and began tugging on it. Having uncoiled the lasso, Severna approached her again, but Curia kicked out. Severna backed away, knowing that even a glancing blow from Amazonian legs could send her reeling.

"This won't hold me," Curia said with inhuman determination.

Her fingers sank into the band, which began creaking and groaning as she pulled against it.

"I'm going to break this, Severna, and then I'm going to break you!"

Severna's jaw dropped. She had never witnessed such extraordinary physical strength and unimaginable willpower. She had no idea what to do.

With a sound like an axe splitting lumber, Curia tore the neck band off. Severna gasped. The technician let out a whimper. The villainess and her thrall both knew that an enraged Amazonian superheroine was loose among them, and they were completely at her mercy.

But Curia remained in the chair, beneath the helmet.

Slowly, she lowered her arms and legs back into the positions they were in when restrained. Then she started making quiet mewling noises, as her fingers and toes began to twitch.

It took Severna a moment to realize that Curia's actions reflected the completed induction process. The mighty Amazon had indeed broken free physically, but not mentally. She was now undergoing the brainwashing that Severna had planned for her. She had lost. And Severna, as always, had won.

"Get out," Severna said to the technician. "And take those useless guards with you. Now!"

Pausing only to utter a respectful, Yes, Mistress, the technician hurried over to each of the downed guards in turn. She quickly roused them and ushered them out of the room. Once they were gone, Severna let out a long, wavering sigh. The villainess glared at Curia, but then her gaze softened at the sight of the helpless and stupefied heroine.

"I've never been broken, and I never will be," Severna declared to her unhearing, unknowing captive. "You won't remember much when I'm through with you, but you will remember that."

Severna went to the console next to Curia and leaned against it. With her eyes never leaving the gorgeous Amazon, she kicked off her shoes, undid her belt, and then unbuttoned her pants. She stuck one hand into her panties and began some much needed relief of her pent up stress.

Being an expert at the brainwashing program that she had designed, she knew how to time her pleasure to coincide exactly with the process. Several minutes later, her climax finished just as the helmet rose up off of Curia's head. She put herself back together and then moved to stand over her new thrall.

"Get up, slave," she said.

"Yes, Mistress," Curia said, rising out of the chair. "I obey."

"That's right, you do. And you will forever more. Now, come with me. I want to see what fun we can have with that lasso of yours and a spunky little bird I have tucked away upstairs…."