I. Ten Seconds

The veteran and the noob approached the door to the apartment.

"Remember what I told you," said the veteran, a tall, attractive woman of Mediterranean descent.

"Yeah, yeah, got it," said the noob, a younger, smaller, equally attractive woman of Japanese parentage. "Don't ask why she retired. Just focus on getting her to come back."

The veteran nodded, then rang the doorbell.

Soon, the door opened. A pretty, petite redhead stood inside the threshold. Her hair was pulled back into a tight, tidy braid, and she wore lounging attire--tank top, leggings, and nothing on her feet. She warily eyed the women on her doorstep, recognizing the veteran, but not the noob.

The veteran was none other than Olympia, the superheroine who was unmatched in martial prowess, and who possessed enhanced strength and agility, as well as the power of flight. The noob, though the redhead didn't know it, was a junior heroine named, Yokai, who could manipulate bio-electricity into energy blasts and force shields. Neither woman wore a costume and was instead dressed in casual clothing.

"Hello, Blaze," Olympia said. "May we come in?"

"It's plain old Naomi McVie now," the redhead said. "Blaze doesn't exist any more. But, yes, you can come in."

Naomi stepped aside, allowing Olympia and Yokai to enter.

"Shoes off, please."

The guests dutifully removed their footwear, stowing it on a shoe rack placed nearby the door for that purpose. Then, with Naomi leading, the three barefoot women walked to the living room.

Olympia and Yokai took seats on the sofa, while Naomi sat in an adjacent chair.

"I'm pretty sure I know why you're here," Naomi said, when they were all settled. "But why don't you tell me anyway?"

"We really need you to come back, Blaze--I mean, Ms. McVie," Yokai said. "There's an urgent situation that only someone with your powers can resolve."

"There's always going to be an urgent situation, Ms...I'm sorry, I don't know who you are."

"Oh, right, sorry. I'm Yokai."

"Yokai? Hm, yes, I've heard of you. You do the energy blasts and what-not, right? Nice to meet you. But, to your point, there's always going to be an urgent situation. There have been, let's see, six since I left two years ago. Look, I'm not on a sabbatical. I'm retired. For good. There are plenty of superheroines in the city. I'm sure if you put your heads together, you can find a way to end this crisis, and any others that pop up in the future."

"Yeah, why don't we do that?" Yokai said, with overt annoyance in her voice. "Why don't we put it to a committee that will take six weeks just to come up with a resolution stating that we need to find one or more superheroines who might be able to do the job that Blaze could do by herself in two minutes? And while we're at it, why don't we tell twelve hostages to resign themselves to die, because one woman in her prime, who is blessed with amazing powers, decided that she didn't want to save lives any more?"

"Are you done?" Naomi said, with equal if not more annoyance souring her own voice.

"Yokai, please," Olympia said, then to Naomi, "I know you're retired, and I know we can't keep coming back to you. But in this case, your power really is the perfect solution to the crisis."

Before Naomi could respond, Yokai spoke again.

"And why is it that you're retired, huh? Were you injured? Were you getting too old? Neither of those look to be the case. Not making enough money? Maybe. But whatever it was, you sure turned your back on a lot of good people who really need you."

"Oh, Yokai, I told you not to go there," Olympia said under her breath.

"She hasn't been through it yet, has she?" Naomi asked the veteran heroine.

"No, she hasn't. She's young and relatively new."

"Does she know what's likely in store for her?"

"She knows. But knowing and experiencing are two different things."

"What?" Yokai asked. "What do I know, but haven't experienced?"

"Mind control," Naomi said. "Having a villain take control of your mind and make you...make you..."

"Make you do horrible things," Olympia said. "And we'll leave it at that, okay?"

"So, that's why you retired?" Yokai asked. "Because some dirtbag hypnotized you and temporarily made you their puppet?"

"Drop it, Yokai. Just leave alone," Olympia said. "Look, Naomi, you don't need to come out of retirement. But do me a favor, please. Watch this ransom video that the villain sent us, and give us a consultation on it. Your expertise might really help us out, even if we don't have access to your powers."

"Ugh," Naomi said.

"Please. The video is only a couple minutes long. And, honestly, I don't think it will take more than ten seconds for you to figure out a plan. Just ten seconds, I'm sure of it."

"I don't know."

"Just do this for me, Naomi, for old times' sake. Ten seconds. Give me your take on it. Ten seconds, and we won't bug you again. That's worth ten seconds, right?"

"What's with all this 'ten seconds' nonsense?" Yokai asked.

Olympia turned to face her junior partner and leveled a withering glare at her. Yokai closed her mouth, nodded, and looked away.

"Please, Naomi. Ten seconds from you could mean everything to us."

"Yeah, fine, whatever. Show me the video."

"Thank you."

Olympia took out her phone, navigated to the video, and then handed the device to her host. Naomi took the phone and tapped the screen. Both Olympia and Yokai watched her intently as she viewed the video.

"Ten seconds, my butt," Yokai muttered two minutes later, when the video had stopped playing.

"Shh!" Olympia said.

Then the veteran heroine reached over and gently took the phone from Naomi's grasp. Naomi gave no reaction and continued staring at where the phone had been.

"Can you hear me, Naomi?" Olympia asked.

"Yes," Naomi said in a quiet, sleepy voice.

"You are hypnotized, Naomi. Do you know what that means?"

"Yes. I must do whatever you tell me to do."

"That's right. To begin with, I'm going to address you as Blaze, and you will respond to that name."

"I will respond to the name, Blaze."

"What is going on?" Yoaki asked, though in a whisper to avoid another glare or shushing.

"I hypnotized her with the video," Olympia said. "I was priming her with the repetition of 'ten seconds' before she watched it. Earlier, I overlayed subliminal images onto the file. The images show the numbers one through ten, each one second apart and followed by the words, 'sleep' and 'obey.' They played over and over again for the full two minutes."

"And that hypnotized her?"

"Yes, that hypnotized her. Look, Blaze was one of the most amazing superheroines the city has ever had. But she was always easy to hypnotize, and she was extremely suggestible when she was under. Several villains used this weakness to brainwash her. Sometimes, their control would wear off by itself after a while. Other times, another heroine would have to rescue her and bring her back to HQ for deprogramming. She never knew what kind of harm she might do--or might have done--while under the control of a villain. Over the years, it took its toll on her. Until, finally, she'd had enough. And she quit."

"Jeez. Why didn't you tell me all of that going in? And why didn't you tell me the plan was to hypnotize her?"

"Maybe because I knew you couldn't keep your mouth shut. Just like you didn't when I specifically told you not to bring up her reason for retiring."

"Oh, yeah, that."

"In any case, she's under now. So, we can get what we came for. Now, please, keep quiet. Just watch, listen, and learn."

Yokai sheepishly nodded her assent. Then Olympia turned back to Naomi.

"Listen to me, Blaze: You know that you are the superheroine for this job. You know that you can rescue the hostages and apprehend the villain. More than that, you want to do it. Deep down, you desire to do it. It will make you happy, and you will feel fulfilled. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Good. In a moment, I'm going to show you a video. Watch it carefully, and do exactly what it says to do."

"Watch it carefully, and do exactly what it says to do."

Olympia brought up another copy of the same video on her phone, and then placed the device back in Naomi's awaiting hands. She tapped the screen and waited.

Naomi watched the video as instructed. Yokai leaned in and whispered to her senior partner.

"Isn't that the same video? Why the replay?"

"It's got a different subliminal overlay on it. It's using the ten second motif again, but this time it's telling her to wake up and forget everything. Quiet, now, I think it's done."

Sure enough, Naomi blinked a few times and took in a breath. Then, she looked up at Olympia and returned the heroine's phone.

"You don't just need a consultation," she said. "You need me. You need my powers. And that's okay. I'm the superheroine for this job. I can rescue the hostages and apprehend the villain. I want to do it. I'm in."

"That's great, Blaze--I mean, Naomi," Olympia said.

"Blaze is fine. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get suited up. There's work to do."

Naomi rose and walked out of the room. Olympia and Yokai looked at each other, and shared a well deserved smile and thumbs-up.

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

II. Flash

The hilltop overlooking the warehouse district was empty. Then, following a brief flash of light, it wasn't.

Now, Naomi stood there.

In her guise of Blaze, she wore a bodysuit of orange and gold, with matching cowl, mask, gloves, belt, and high heeled boots. She scanned the buildings in the city below. Based on data retrieved from the ransom video and analyzed by her former--now current again--teammates, she identified the one that housed the villain and hostages. Once she did, she took several more seconds to find a suitable spot on its roof.

Then, following a second flash, she disappeared from the hilltop. Almost instantaneously, the same flash occurred in the suitable spot she had chosen, and she immediately appeared there herself.

She expected guards to be present, though she hadn't seen any when she had done her surveying from the hill. Sure enough, they were there.

The eight ninjas guarding the roof attacked her. Against normal opponents, and even against most enhanced ones, they would have won the fight. But the combination of Blaze's teleportation power, extra-human reflexes, and peak-human athletic abilities proved too much for them to handle. She dispatched them quickly and efficiently, without letting any alarm be raised.

Now it was time to get inside the building and free the hostages. This part would be more difficult. The location she needed to teleport to was based on a guess, albeit a highly educated guess, arrived at by cross-referencing the video footage and architectural plans for the building.

If that information turned out to be wrong, the consequences could range from not good to very bad to disastrous. In a best case scenario, Naomi might end up in proximity to where she needed to be. In a less than ideal scenario, she could end up in a completely different part of the building, with no idea of how to get to the hostages. But in a worse case scenario, she could end up embedded partially or fully in a wall or other solid object.

But she had faith in her teammates. And she was willing to take whatever risk was necessary to free the innocent victims below her. After all, she was the superheroine for this job. She knew that she could rescue the hostages and apprehend the villain. More than that, she wanted to do it. Deep down, she desired to do it. It would make her happy, and she would feel fulfilled.

So, with a smile on her face, she took a step forward. When the flash faded an instant later, she was gone.

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

III. Debriefing

"And then what happened?"

"Thankfully, your intel was accurate," Naomi said. "I was able to teleport into the exact room where the hostages were kept. As indicated in the ransom video, there were twelve of them. Generally speaking, I don't like to teleport more than six people at a time. It's not so much a mass thing, but more about keeping all of my passengers safe and accounted for. Anyway, I rounded up the first six, explained to them what was going to happen, and then teleported them out to the hilltop. Then, I went back in, got the second group, and did the same thing."

"But you weren't finished then, were you?"

"No, I wanted to apprehend the villain. So, once I saw that all the hostages were safe and the emergency vehicles had been called in, I went back into the building. Once inside, though, I didn't know any locations other than the room that had held the hostages, so I couldn't teleport around."

"Yes, of course. So, what did you do?"

"I hoofed it through the building."

"Did you encounter resistance?"

"Oh, yes," Naomi said. "All told, I took out two dozen ninjas. Then, with the building clear, I was able to go after the boss."

"Your report indicates the boss was Colonel Kill."

"That's right."

"Prior to this incident, he hadn't surfaced for over a decade."

"Correct. He was older. Pudgier. But no less wily."

"What happened?"

"I engaged him and managed to injure him. But then, he sprayed me with his kill gas. I was able to teleport out of the radius of the cloud, but I still breathed in some of it, enough to make me momentarily sick. By the time I recovered, he had escaped."

"And the injury you inflicted was to his left leg?"

"Yes, he should have a considerable limp."

"Good, that will make it easier to find him. And your lungs are okay after the gas?"

"They're fine, thanks," Naomi said. "The med tech did a full scan of them, and she said there should be no lasting effects."

"Excellent. Well, that pretty much covers it, Blaze. Thank you for your help! There's just one more quick thing to go over."

"Yes?"

"Sleep."

Before she even realized what word had been spoken to her, Naomi's eyes closed in slumber. Her head lolled forward, at least as much as it could within the confines of the hairdryer-like helmet that enveloped it. She sat in something akin to an armchair chaise. Thin metal bands encircled her stomach, wrists, and ankles. She remained in her bodysuit, though stripped of all accoutrements, thus exposing her face, hands, and bare feet.

A female technician stood in front of the bound, barefoot, and now sleeping heroine. She was dressed in a lab coat and held a tablet into which she entered notes. Like the captive she had just sedated with her verbal command, her feet were bare.

"She has taken to the memory wipe and accepted all of our suggestions, Mistress," the technician said. "I am ready to implant the triggers as you ordered."

"Very good," Severna Strickland said from behind the technician.

"After that, shall I release her?"

"No. When you're done, leave us. It's been over two years since I've had the opportunity to brainwash Blaze. I want to have some fun with her before I send her off to do my work for me."

The tall, slender, coldly beautiful woman walked around the technician to stand before the chair. She leaned over and ran a fingernail gently up Naomi's bare sole. The helpless heroine trembled in her sleep, eliciting a devilish smile from her captor.

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

IV. The Recruiter

The League of Heroines could not have been more pleased about the outcome of the mission, nor more grateful to Blaze for carrying it out so successfully. Olympia had assured them that Blaze was the superheroine for the job, and that assessment had been proven correct. The returned-from-retirement heroine had freed all twelve hostages and also destroyed Colonel Kill's network of ninjas. And though the villain himself had gotten away, it would only be a matter of time before he was captured and brought to justice. Those facts put everyone at ease.

Though, in actuality, they weren't facts at all. They were instead a carefully construed misdirection that sent many superheroines on a wild goose chase to find a villain who was actually not at large. He was, in fact, not even alive.

Severna Strickland had planned the entire ruse. And as she always did, she had planned it well.

Naomi, acting as an unknowing pawn, had put the plan in motion. A few day's after her real debriefing with the League--which went almost exactly the same as the test one that verified her successful brainwashing--it was time for her to act again.

It began with her receiving a phone call. She didn't recognize the number, which normally meant that she would ignore it. But this time, something told her she should answer it. So with a shrug, she did.

"Hello?"

"Sleep now and obey...Listen well to what I say."

The commanding, feminine voice was a familiar one, not that Naomi realized it. Nor did she consciously hear the words it spoke. But she reacted to them just the same. She stiffened, her eyes opened wide, and then she spoke into the phone.

"Your slave is hypnotized...And she readily complies."

"Very good, slave. I need you to choose one of the more inexperienced superheroines that you know. Once you have selected her, you will..."

The instructions were given, received, and repeated back. Then, the caller spoke again.

"Awaken now, slave, and forget...All the commands that in your mind have been set."

"Your slave will forget as she awakes...Then, she'll do as commanded, with no mistakes."

Naomi blinked and shook her head, as she roused from her trance.

"Um, hello?" she said. "Is anyone there."

"Sorry, wrong number."

"Oh, okay. No problem. Bye."

Hanging up, Naomi wondered why she had answered the call. At least it hadn't been a telemarketer or a scam, so no harm done. She quickly forgot about it. After all, she did have other things to do. First and foremost, she needed to reach out to someone. She looked down at her phone and dialed a number.

"Yokai? Hi, it's Naomi--uh, that is, Blaze. Fine, thank you. And you? Good. Listen, I know we kind of got off on the wrong foot when we met last week. I apologize for being rude. But, I am glad you stuck to your guns and helped Olympia convince me to go on that mission. Yeah, it all worked out well, which is what matters. So, the reason I'm calling is because I've started a project, and I need some feedback on it. I think you have the right perspective and could really give me the help I need. Would you be willing to come over and take a look at it with me? Really? Great! Oh, Olympia? You know, I would like to get her involved, too. But not just yet. Once you vet it, and we both agree that it would be worthwhile, then I would call her in. Right. My thoughts exactly. When would be a good time for you? Yeah, this evening works for me. Nineteen hundred? Sounds good. See you then."

At 1901 hours, Naomi's doorbell rang. She opened the door and beckoned her expected guest inside.

Without being asked, Yokai shed her shoes by the door. Then, she followed Naomi into the living room and took a seat on the sofa. Naomi sat in the nearby chair. Both women wore casual clothing, much the same as Naomi had at their first meeting. Neither wore socks or stockings, so their feet were bare.

"Tea?" Naomi asked, indicating a tray containing a kettle of steaming water and two cups.

"Sure, thanks," Yokai said.

Naomi poured for both of them. Then, they sipped their drinks and made small talk for a couple of minutes.

"So, what's this project of yours?" Yokai asked once the conversation lulled.

The young heroine yawned, and then uttered an embarrassed excuse me. Naomi laughed it off, and then began introducing her project in a long-winded fashion. Yokai listened intently, although she yawned again, and then again.

"Jeez, I can't believe I'm so sleepy," she said. "It's way too early for that."

"Maybe have some more tea?"

"Yes, good idea."

Yokai finished what was in her cup. But instead of perking up, her eyes soon drooped drowsily.

"I guess more tea didn't help," she said, covering another yawn. "Do you, um, maybe have some coffee?"

"That won't help, either."

"It won't?"

"No, you're going to fall asleep. Very soon."

"What? No, I...I want to discuss...your project."

"That's nice of you. But it's not why you're here. Just relax. Relax, and drift off to sleep."

"I don't...understand...wait...tea...drugged..."

"Yes. A very potent drug. Mistress assured me it would work, even on a powerful heroine like yourself. But don't you worry about that. You won't remember it. Or anything that's about to happen. Just close your eyes. That's it. Good girl. Sleep."

"...S-sleep...zzzzzz...."

Naomi waited a moment, making sure that Yokia was completely out. Then, she spoke.

"Yokai, can you hear me?"

"Yes, I can hear you," Yokai said in a quiet, sleepy voice, much like that of Naomi herself when she had been hypnotized by Olympia.

"Good. Now listen carefully: You must obey me and do whatever I tell you."

"I must obey you and do whatever you tell me."

"Open your eyes, but do not wake from your trance."

Yokai complied. Naomi stared her up and down, noting how attractive the zombified young woman was from head to toe.

"Very soon, I will take us to Mistress," Naomi said. "She will then brainwash you into a submissive, obedient, barefoot slave. You will not resist being brainwashed at all. Do you understand?"

"Yes. I will not resist being brainwashed at all."

"Good. I think that Mistress will allow you to take great pleasure in serving and obeying her. She has done that with me, at least when she lets me remember my enslavement, as I do now. She tells me that she likes how extremely easy to hypnotize and incredibly suggestible I am. And, she loves how sexy I look when I am barefoot. She missed me when I gave up being a superheroine. You see, she had captured and brainwashed me several times before I retired. She is so happy that you and Olympia convinced me to go on that rescue mission. Oh, she would have brainwashed any heroine that took it on. But it was all the better being me. So, I think she'll show her gratitude to you. It won't hurt that you're very attractive. When she puts you in the chair--and you're bound, barefoot, and helpless--I'm certain she will desire you. Once you're brainwashed, she'll probably let you worship her feet. And, she may even allow you to think and act for yourself as you serve her, rather than being a mindless drone. Yes, I think she might do that. In any case, it's time for us to go."

Naomi stood up from her seat, and then moved to sit beside Yokai on the sofa.

"Take my hand," she said.

Yokai did as she was told.

"Teleportation can often be unsettling for the uninitiated. It'll be easier on you if you're not awake. So...sleep."

"Sleep," Yokai said, barely getting the word out before she slumped forward with her eyes closed.

"Good," Naomi said with a nod and a smile.

For the briefest instant, the flash lit up the room. When it faded, no trace of the two superheroines remained. Only Naomi would ever know that they had just been there, and that they had been transported into the presence of their Mistress, to dutifully serve as her barefoot, brainwashed slaves.