"Vine? Vine? Hey! Wake up! Vine!"

"Uhhh...I'm awake, I'm awake. And I hear you. The whole tri-county area hears you. Ooh. What happened? Where are we?"

"What happened is we were ambushed. We put up a fight, but we lost. We were captured and brought inside Eve Ville's lair. And, to be blunt, things aren't looking good."

"Ambushed. Lost fight. Captured. Villain's lair. Things look bad. Got it."

"Do you maybe want to open your eyes and see for yourself?"

"No, I really don't. But, I will. Just give me a moment. I'm working on it. Almost there."

"Seriously, Vine, we may not have a moment."

"Sorry, Blaze, you're right. Time is probably of the essence. Okay. Eyes are open. Situation being assessed. And...I have visual confirmation that we are absolutely pooched to the nth degree. Ugh."

The dark-haired, dark-skinned superheroine known as Vine sat directly across and roughly two meters away from her teammate, the red-haired, fair-skinned superheroine known as Blaze. Vine wore a black, form-fitting bodysuit with no identifying emblem or markings on it. Blaze wore an outfit of similar make and fit, but colored bright orange and yellow, and sporting a large starburst emblem on her chest. Neither woman wore any headgear, gloves, belts, or footwear, those items having been stripped from them upon their capture.

The chairs that both women sat in resembled luxurious chaises crossed with medical exam tables by way of a BDSM dungeon. From head to heels, their bodies were supported, while restraints around their necks, wrists, waists, and ankles kept them immobilized. With their feet exposed and their legs locked into outstretched positions, their bare soles faced one another.

Above each of their heads hung an object akin to a large, brushed-metal mixing bowl, albeit one that looked like it originated in a highly technological and utterly demented kitchen.

As strange and unnerving as their predicament was, nothing about it surprised them. They had been in similar situations before. They had a good idea of what the mixing bowls were for. And they knew what was in store for them if they didn't escape.

So, Vine made an effort to break free. She briefly closed her eyes again and imagined herself made of wood. Wood was strong and durable, more so than her flesh and muscle. Her thoughts influenced the density of her body, and with her newfound strength, she pushed against the restraints with all her might. But the bonds remained intact.

Next, she tried making her body more malleable, as if it were composed of her namesakes. But her attempt to wriggle free didn't work, either. When she took a closer look at her bonds, she saw that they were made of a thick, metallic mesh, allowing them to stretch and contract as needed. So much for her powers helping her out of this mess.

"I'm not making any progress here," she said to Blaze. "How about you?"

"No, I'm not, either."

"Can't you teleport away?"

"That would be my best option. But..."

"Are they dampening your powers?"

"No, it's not that."

"What is it? Are you okay? Are you injured?"

"No, I'm not injured," Blaze said, blushing with embarrassment. "Earlier, when you were still unconscious, Eve Ville...well, she hypnotized me. She gave me a post-hypnotic suggestion that I couldn't use my powers until she gave me permission."

"What? How do you remember that?"

"She didn't erase my memory. She wanted me to remember. But even though I do, I still can't teleport. I'm trying to not follow her suggestion, but I have to. I can't make myself go against it."

Vine wanted to both encourage and berate her teammate. But then she remembered:

Prior to Vine taking up the good fight as a superheroine herself, Blaze had already earned her place as a top-tier crime fighter. She had more victories under her belt than any other heroine in the city. But, she paid a price for her success. She had a weakness, and as her career progressed, more and more villains learned of and exploited it.

Blaze was highly susceptible to mind control. She could be all too easily hypnotized, and while under, she proved to be extremely suggestible.

Eventually, the stress of being constantly brainwashed became too much for her. She retired to civilian life, safe in the anonymity of her secret identity.

But then, suddenly, she re-emerged as Blaze when called upon to help with a difficult case. All of her former teammates cheered her return. The amazing Blaze was back, and the city would be a better, safer place because of it!

All of that ran through Vine's mind in an instant. And it made her more compassionate about Blaze's plight.

"I understand," she said. "I mean, keep trying if you can. But we'll figure another way out of this."

"Okay, thanks," Blaze said with no enthusiasm.

"Do you know if Eve Ville gave you any other suggestions? To make you do or not do anything else?"

"No, I don't think so. I'm pretty sure I'd remember if she had. She took great pleasure in making sure I knew what she'd done to me. And besides, she didn't need to brainwash me while I was hypnotized. That's what these things are for, right?"

Blaze glanced up at the techno mixing bowl hanging ominously over her head.

"Yeah, that's my guess," Vine said with a knowing frown.

"So, any suggestions? Or, uh, any thoughts, I should say."

"Actually, 'suggestions' is the better word. You've given me an idea. Look, I don't have much experience with hypnosis--not on the hypnotist side of things, anyway--but maybe I can hypnotize you and help you counter Eve Ville's suggestion."

"Hm. That could work. But how would you put me under?"

Vine bit her lip as she tried to think of something. Eye fixation seemed like the best bet (it always worked on her), but what could she fixate Blaze's eyes on? As she pondered, her foot began tapping with nervous energy. She didn't even realize it at first. But once she noticed it, she smiled.

"Okay, Blaze, this isn't necessarily the best method--"

But, you're super susceptible and ridiculously suggestible, so if it would work on anybody, you'd be the one, she thought but didn't say.

"--but work with me here, and we'll see what we can do."

"You got it," Blaze said.

"Look at my feet," Vine said, making her voice as soothing yet commanding as she could.

"Look at them. Focus on them. Concentrate on them."

As she spoke, she began rhythmically scrunching and splaying her toes. She thought of a pocket watch swinging back and forth, slowly, evenly, hypnotically. And she did her best to match that imaginary rhythm with her feet.

Scrunch, splay...scrunch, splay...scrunch, splay...

She repeated her previous statements, instructing Blaze to look at, focus on, and concentrate on her feet. Blaze did as instructed.

Now Vine began telling Blaze to relax, to let go of all tension, stress, and fear; to clear her mind, to only see Vine's feet, to only hear Vine's voice.

It seemed to work. Blaze stared intently at Vine's feet--scrunch, splay...scrunch, splay...scrunch, splay--and visibly relaxed as Vine told her to.

The only problem was that Vine began to get turned on. As it happened, she had a thing for both mind control and sexy superheroines. To her detriment, the former desire often enabled villains to put her under their control more easily than they otherwise could have. Much to her enjoyment, she sometimes indulged in the latter desire with some of her like-minded teammates.

Now, with Blaze quickly falling under her hypnotic spell, she needed to not let herself be distracted by incredibly inappropriate daydreams of the gorgeous, hypnotized heroine serving and obeying her in numerous, fantastically erotic ways.

With considerable effort, she made herself shove those arousing thoughts aside. All the while, she managed to keep up the rhythmic motions of her feet, and also not lose the authoritative cadence of her voice.

Soon, Vine's efforts paid off. Blaze's eyelids drooped lower and lower with each passing second. Finally, they closed, and her head lolled forward. It had worked. She was under.

"You are now hypnotized," Vine said, relaxing her very tired feet. "You will do whatever I tell you."

"...I am now...hypnotized..." Blaze said in a soft, sleepy voice. "I will do...whatever you tell me..."

Vine sighed loudly and slumped as much as the chair's restraints allowed her to (which wasn't much).

"All right, my friend, hopefully we can now use your weakness to our advantage for a change."

She wasn't sure if she needed to do anything special to override Eve Ville's hypnotic influence on Blaze. Could she just order her friend to ignore the previous suggestion? Would Blaze take to the new suggestion right away? Or would it take repetition? She just didn't know.

But what she did know was that she needed to get to it. The mixing bowls could activate at any time, and the last thing either of them needed was to have their minds tossed around like so much salad.

Vine opened her mouth to speak, only to be startled by a loud, reverberating thump! that shook her whole body.

She looked up to see that the mixing bowl had suddenly descended and now covered the top of her head. That meant she was nearly out of time. She had to counter Eve Ville's suggestion, so Blaze could teleport away and--

Brilliant, white light exploded out from within the mixing bowl. It immediately transfixed Vine. She remained awake and aware, but she couldn't move. Nor could she speak.

She saw that the mixing bowl over Blaze's head had descended and spilled forth the same blindingly bright light onto her. And she also saw out of the corner of her eye a tall, feminine figure walk slowly towards her. She recognized the coolly confident gait of Eve Ville, even before the villainess came fully into view.

"Well, well, well. Wasn't that a close one?" Eve Ville said, now standing within a meter of both Vine and Blaze. "I truly thought that taking away Beautiful Blaze's teleportation ability would ensure that you ladies stayed firmly under my thumb. But I had no idea that Lovely Vine would try to supplant my hypnotic suggestion with one of her own. Bravo, Vine, bravo."

Vine all but burst with anger. But under the mixing bowl's power, she remained unable to move or speak.

"In all reality, though, it wasn't a close one. I could've engaged my hypno-helmets at any time. And I did just that once I saw that you might actually have a chance of escaping. They're at the lowest setting right now, which is just enough to keep you quiet and still. But in a moment, I'll step them up to the next level. They will then induce you into a hyper-hypnotic trance, which will allow me to brainwash you into mindlessly obedient slaves. What fun!"

Eve Ville laughed, as Vine silently fumed and Blaze stared blankly ahead.

Then, the hypno-helmet lights began to pulse slowly. An eerie buzzing, also emanating from inside the machines, soon started up in time with the pulsing.

To Vine, it felt like she was being fiercely tickled and massaged all over. The paralysis, at least, was now gone. But the bombardment of physical sensations made it hard for her to think or do anything but squirm helplessly within her bonds.

Even hypnotized as she was, Blaze reacted similarly to Vine. She trembled involuntarily from head to toe, as the insanely intense tickle-massage overwhelmed her.

The induction took about 30 seconds from start to finish. When it ended, the pulsing lights dimmed, and the buzzing partially quieted. And the now hyper-hypnotized heroines sat unmoving, their eyes glazed over and their jaws slack.

Eve Ville moved to stand before Vine. She poked the sole of her entranced captive's foot.

"Tell me, what made you think of hypnotizing Blaze? Do you have experience as a hypnotist?"

"...No...I don't have experience...as a hypnotist..." Vine said in the same quiet drawl that Blaze had spoken with earlier. "I thought of...hypnotizing Blaze because...I have a fetish..."

"A fetish? Do tell," Eve Ville said, raising an eyebrow.

"...Mind control is...a turn on for me..."

"Is it now? What does it for you, controlling someone's mind or having yours controlled?"

"...Both...apparently..."

"Well, well, well," Eve Ville said, tapping her chin in thought. "Look how interesting things just got."

Her original plan had been to brainwash her two captives, erase their memories, and release them. They would then unknowingly act as her spies and agents against their superheroine colleagues. Most importantly, when she wanted more slaves, they would capture their teammates and bring them to her for brainwashing.

It was a solid plan, if standard and uninspired. But now, the villainess had other, more enticingly fun ideas.

"When you wake up, you will have no memory of anything that has happened since you successfully hypnotized Blaze," Eve Ville said. "You will continue with your efforts to free her from my control. Those efforts will succeed, and Blaze will teleport herself and you to safety. Once you are gone from here, you will forget everything that has happened--being ambushed, captured, restrained--all of it. You will instead remember that the investigation that brought you here was a dead end. Oh, and as for missing all your costume accessories and being barefoot, you won't even notice they're gone until you are home, safe and sound."

Eve Ville paused, thought for a moment, then continued.

"Once you are home, you will quickly realize that you have a strong desire to hypnotize Blaze. If you try to resist this desire, it will grow and grow until it overwhelms you. Ultimately, you will give into it. You will use the same method to hypnotize her that you used here. Though, of course, you won't think you've ever used it before. The act of hypnotizing her will give you immense sexual gratification. Then, once you put her under, you will slip into a hypnotic trance, as well. You will then contact me at this number..." She rattled off the digits. "And I will give you instructions as to which of your teammates I want you to hypnotize and brainwash into my slaves. Now, repeat back everything I just told you."

Vine repeated everything she had just been told. When she finished, Eve Ville smiled devilishly. Then, the villainess turned to face Blaze.

"Off," she said.

The hypno-helmet over Blaze went dark and quiet, and slowly lifted back into its original position above its subject's head. Eve Ville then turned back to Vine.

"Your friend will slowly rouse from her hyper-hypnotic trance, which is exactly what I want her to do. Rather than having my hypno-helmet brainwash her, it will be much more fun to watch you do it. I know you'll be able to easily hypnotize her again. So, as soon as she is fully awake, you will do just that."

"Uhhh," Blaze said, her eyes opening, as if on cue.

With no change in expression, Vine restarted her regimen of scrunching and splaying her toes.

"...Look at my feet, Blaze...look at them...focus on them...concentrate on them..."

"What?" Blaze said. "What are you doing? It's too late for that! Eve Ville is here! She's going to brainwash us!"

Vine repeated her instructions and kept up the rhythmic motions of her feet. Despite desperating wanting to look away, Blaze couldn't help but watch them.

"No, stop," Blaze said. "Stop, please! S-top...s-s-stop..."

Vine continued with the induction. Scrunch, splay...scrunch, splay. She instructed Blaze to relax. Scrunch, splay...scrunch, splay. Her own sleepy drawl made her words all the more hypnotic. Scrunch, splay...scrunch, splay...

"N-n-no..." Blaze said weakly. "N-n-n-n...zzzzzz..."

"Very good," Eve Ville said. "Now, you will instruct her to do the following..."

Absorbing every word as if it were gospel, Vine mindlessly carried out her orders. She instructed Blaze to forget everything that had happened to them, once she teleported them both to safety. Their investigation had led to a dead end and could now be dropped. And, Blaze would have no chance to resist any future hypnotic induction based on Vine's bare feet. Additionally, Blaze, like Vine herself, wouldn't realize she was barefoot and missing her items until she was well away from here.

"Yes, that covers everything," Eve Ville said when her one brainwashed slave had finished brainwashing the other one.

Still grinning, the villainess turned and walked back the way she had come.

Soon, the hypno-helmet over Vine's head turned off. Then, it slowly rose up to its original position. As it did, Vine blinked and shook her head. Urgency burst forth into her mind. She looked across at her hypnotized companion.

"Listen to me, Blaze. You are no longer under Eve Ville's control. You can use your teleportation power."

She repeated the suggestions several more times, looking nervously up at the mixing bowl above her head as she did. Then she had Blaze repeat the suggestions several times, too. And then, she told Blaze to wake up.

Blaze shook off the trance. She nodded at Vine, took a breath, squeezed her eyes shut, and--

--disappeared in a flash of light. A moment later, she reappeared after a similar flash, but this time she stood next to Vine. She smiled and took hold of her teammate's hand. Then there was another flash, and both heroines were gone.

Inside Vine's apartment, both heroines appeared following yet another flash.

"Thanks for the lift home," Vine said.

"Sure thing," Blaze said. "Thanks for coming with me. Sorry the investigation was a bust."

Vine had seen Blaze many times before and had just worked with her for the better part of a day. But for some reason, seeing the veteran heroine right there, right then suddenly brought forth desires that she didn't know she had until now.

She imagined hypnotizing Blaze, controlling her mind, and making her do...all sorts of things. It probably wouldn't be difficult. Everyone knew that Blaze was very susceptible to mind control. The thought intrigued her, excited her, aroused her. She felt herself grow flushed. She knew she couldn't let this opportunity pass. And maybe the day wouldn't end up being a bust after all.

"Hey," Vine said. "Now that you're here, why don't you hang out for a bit? Have a drink and something to eat. We can catch up and put this dud of a day behind us."

Plopping down on her couch, she motioned for Blaze to do the same.

"It's tempting, but I really should get home," Blaze said. "I have a lot of--wait a minute, what happened to my boots? I don't remember taking them off. But now I'm standing here barefoot."

"I don't know," Vine said. "I'm barefoot, too, and I don't remember taking mine off, either. But, whatever. Look, you're here, so why don't you stay?"

Vine lifted her legs up and planted them on the coffee table, with her bare soles in plain view. Then, slowly, rhythmically, she began to scrunch and splay her toes. Blaze found her eyes immediately drawn to her friend's feet.

"What are you doing, Vine?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all. Why don't you sit down? Get comfortable. Relax."

Scrunch, splay...scrunch, splay...scrunch, splay...

Blaze tried to protest. But she couldn't find the words. She couldn't think of what to say. She couldn't think.

Scrunch, splay...scrunch, splay...scrunch, splay...

"Sit down, Blaze."

Blaze sat. Scrunch, splay...scrunch, splay...

"Relax."

Blaze relaxed. Scrunch, splay...scrunch, splay...

The induction continued until, in not much time at all, Blaze was hypnotized. Vine let out a wavering sigh of pure ecstasy, and then, before she knew what was happening, she slipped into a trance herself.

She reached for her phone and mindlessly dialed a number. Putting the call on speaker, she and Blaze listened carefully to the instructions they were given.

And then, the two barefoot, brainwashed superheroines did exactly as they were told....