HOME | DD

Description

Dear readers, this is what you've all been waiting for!

First, you heard of the Electromagnetic Girl, Kim Sooyeon AKA Spectrum, when she suddenly disappeared and the plant heroine Vine ended up getting in some peril herself trying to step up to Spectrum's duties. www.deviantart.com/maurislave/…

Then, we saw the villain Dr. Umleit attempting to track down the missing heroine by brainwashing her suspected girlfriend Yoobin. While he didn't find Sooyeon, he did get an enslaved ice-girl on his side! www.deviantart.com/maurislave/…

Finally, we got our first glimpse at Spectrum herself as an unsuspecting online personality was brainwashed by Stamford Corp, hoping to capitalise on the long-term absence of a beloved heroine. www.deviantart.com/maurislave/…

But now, audience, it's time to see what really happened to the Light of Korea!

Spectrum discorporates again. You might imagine, reader, that separating your skin and muscle and organs into photons and electrical energy would be a painful process. But for our intrepid heroine Kim Sooyeon, it is second nature! Her body flashed into an aura of light and heat and pure energy, which then lanced up to the ceiling of the room at literally the speed of light (we have slowed it down for you so you can actually see it. The villains she faces are never so lucky!).

But then in another flash she reforms again on the floor. She brushes a stray strand of brown hair out of her eyes and makes a single exasperated breath. In energy for she can't see what is happening. All she knows is that while she focuses on reaching a point far above the ceiling of this metal cage with strange indents across the wall, she keeps failing to get through. Every time she focuses higher, thinking she may just be deep underground.

But that time, she was aiming 500 ft above the ceiling and still couldn't reform. She's bouncing off. There is some sort of magnetic reinforcement here. But Sooyeon frowns. If anyone can sense an electromagnet, it should be the woman who has spent years being trapped by them.

No, there is some supernatural reinforcement here. Spectrum slumps to the ground, her back against the cold metal of her cage. Defeated, her nerves are obvious as her hair shifts to various colours (a minor skill for a woman who can control the light waves hitting her own body, but very useful for merchandising!). But she isn't just playing with her appearance. She is thinking, trying to work out how to escape this magical trap.

And you, viewers, need some further context. Let's rewind a few hours to work out why Spectrum here is in a magically-reinforced metal cage, instead of standing triumphantly over the unconscious body of a villain whose brain she just electromagenetically overloaded. Shall we?

Busan, a bustling port on the Republic of Korea's coastline. We come, as all good superpowered fight scenes do, to a largely abandoned area with a lot of obstructive terrain. The docks at night, of course! A ray of striking white light flashes out of nowhere, and then Spectrum stands there, in her cotton shirt, very short skirt, and long white tights, one arm on the floor and legs spread to near-splits in a classic landing pose.

She came here immediately after an anonymous tip-off about a group of villains congregating in one of the warehouses here. With her lightning speed, Sooyeon thought that she could end whatever was happening before it began.

As we, the audience, know, that was a miscalculation. But at the time it seemed reasonable, especially in Spectrum's slightly swollen head, shall we say!

Spectrum stands and squints, surveying the area. A pulse of energy ripples around her forehead as she manipulates light waves around her to get just a bit more range on her vision (every little helps when you're a heroine going solo!). For a few moments, she stays eerily still, scowling as her deep brown eyes saccade from left to right. But then, they open wide and she instinctively enters a battle stance! The camera zooms for our viewers' benefit to her first foe of the night! In the distance, a sickly dark green glow dimly lights up the buildings below. This is from the power cores centred in two huge metal wings, pointed and ebon like a metallic recreation of an eagle's skeleton. They are grafted to the back of a pale, emaciated man with a mop of greasy black hair. Marik Stromburn - the Inquisitor.

He floats through the air, zig-zagging erratically. His hand is always on a dark green spear at his belt, but not because he has seen our heroine. Rather, the Inquisitor is always lusting for combat, for a chance to strike back at the failed system that is reality.

Sooyeon casts her eyes around, looking for some path around the rooftops which escapes an encounter with the mad warrior. She has beaten him before, but an opponent who seems to not fear pain is never worth the risk, and our heroine knows that. But no amount of scanning finds a part of the docks away from Stromburn's gaze, and no amount of hoping the fanatic will miss her prevents his eyes from eventually noticing a body on a far away roof.

Thoughts race through Sooyeon's mind as 80 kilograms of flesh and metal barrel through the sky towards her. She couldn't change into microwaves, the heat wouldn't knock an adult man out, and simple discomfort would not discourage this villain. With that huge spear close combat wasn't an option.

An eldritch whir which sounds like the pale green colour of the Inquisitor's weapon reaches her ears. Her body distorts with energy, already starting to discorporate by instinct. Her eyes saccade this way and that, focusing on a series of points Around the area. The Inquisitor nears, screaming something unintelligible about sinful traitors.

And just as he brings his arm back to throw his spear, Spectrum becomes a line of pure white light, striking through him to a point behind him. Then the light lancing back, jittering slightly as it touches another point for a moment. Then another, then another. The traces of electricity left in her wake reveal that she has crossed the man eight times, forming a star of white-hot air.

Sparks fly from the Inquisitor's back as the machinery keeping him aloft short circuits. As Spectrum reforms, her standing on end and looking exhausted, she gasps in horror. The Inquisitor spirals down towards the ground at speed. All that follows is a sickly green explosion, and Sooyeon holding her stomach as her cheeks puff out with a grimace. She takes a moment to compose herself, whispering that accidents like this happen all the time.

She didn't mean to kill him. She is still a heroine, after all. And now the light from her electromagnetic trails has revealed something.

A single figure in a black tank top and cargo pants stands outside a large warehouse. His dark brown skin and rippling muscles cut an imposing figure, but Spectrum recognises him. Her gasp this time is of happy shock, rather than sorrow and disgust.

"Kinesis! He must be scoping out the villains too!"

With a flash Spectrum lances at the speed of light towards the ground and reforms in front of her fellow warrior of justice, her stance relaxed. There are no other villains around here. None outside at least!

"Hey, Kinesis! Could have used your help against the Inquisitor just then, did you see tha-"

Her smile fades and her rambling stops as she walks closer. The big man isn't scouting the outside of the warehouse. He stands with arms folded in front of the door. And his scowling expression, looking straight at her, is marred by eyes that look like they have been stained with ink. Wordlessly, he walks towards her.

The biceps of his left arm bulge with veins as he leaps forward with superhuman speed, a hook aimed at Sooyeon's head with what seems to be enough force to detach it from her neck.

But as his fist brushes her golden hair, her body dissolves into blinding light. A reflex Spectrum has trained over many years of being a heroine. The punch follows through into empty air as the explosion of white luminescence reforms into our heroine, already in a battle stance.

Well, in a battle stance until the shockwave from the punch nearly knocks her off her feet.

The brainwashed Kinesis is not deterred by a lack of sight. The battle hardened hero has already discerned where Spectrum is, and drives an elbow down towards the floor. But Sooyeon, despite her prone position, has already raised her knee, and is focusing on a space just behind and to the right of Kinesis' head. In another flash, she is suspended in the air behind him.

As gravity takes hold, the kick she began on the floor continues its arc, now smacking into the back of Kinesis' head.

Before he has even recovered from the momentum of his elbow drop, Spectrum has flashed again, now her arm driving into his cheek, her right leg still extended, and her left knee moving up to her chest.

Before the hero can even shake off the blow, she has reappeared in front of his face, her foot striking straight forward from her body, right past his arms and into his nose. Even with superior endurance and training, a brain simply can't be knocked about inside a skull that many times in one second without shorting out for a while.

They both land on the floor. Spectrum on her back, but quickly rolling back up. She is panting, but still with her arms up in a guard (though a viewer might wonder why someone who can change into incorporeal energy really needs a defensive stance, it is always best practice!). Kinesis, though, does not move. His eyes are rolled up into his head, but now their dark irises are contrasted by restored whites of his eyes.

"I'll try to get you help later. Looks like whatever spell you were under has worn off at least." Sooyeon pants out as she carries Kinesis' out-cold body into a dark corner. She shakes her head, trying to dispel the stress of accidentally killing someone and then fighting someone who should truly be an ally. She frowns, doing a little fist bump (this is where the audience should shout "Spectrum fighting!", by the way) to motivate herself. Then an aggravatingly high pitched but pleasantly melodic sound is heard as her body shifts into broad radio waves to phase through the warehouse's walls.

Then with a discordant sound, Sooyeon reappears exactly where she was standing with a frown.

Something is warding the building against any attempt to enter. And even against her. Either the villains are expecting her (not uncommon in Korea) or are ridiculously overprepared. But either way, Sooyeon has a manslaughter to atone for and a friend's free will to avenge. So she pushes on the huge metal door to the building.

And with a groan, that door does admit her.

The room is lit by huge floodlights above, partially illuminating at least ten shadowy figures. The one nearest the door, a huge, bearded man, has already moved in response to the noise.

So as Spectrum enters the room, a huge anchor at the end of a chain is already flying towards her face.

"They hired Kabu as well?" is all Spectrum can think as she shifts into electrical form just before the anchor hits her.

Then she couldn't do anything.

Now, normally, Spectrum is limited while incorporeal. As she has no organs to pick up senses, she has no ability to perceive her surroundings. But a certain amount of trained instinct and the fact that her thoughts (which are, after all, electrical) and memories are retained allow her a certain 'electrical instinct' which allows her to work out where to move to.

But right now, all Spectrum can think or perceive is being trapped. In metaphorical space, her ghostly body is bound by thick black chains. They bulge and pulse like the limbs of a living beast, but their influence is purely metaphysical.

That is to say, magical.

So we return to the next place Sooyeon perceived - the featureless room of metal walls and floor where she awoke, and now lounges contemplating her fate.

The culprit is obvious, it must be Jang Hyewon. The Sorceress. A woman who had found ancient tomes of dark magic, and proved unusually adept in wielding their spells and negotiating with the fell demons they could summon. Spectrum had teemed up with most of the major metahumans in East Asia to put her away in a secure facility in the northern Japanese islands.

Someone had broken the Sorceress out of prison.

And as Sooyeon reaches that thought, a metal panel of the door slides away, and a woman walks through as if on cue (a flash of white light shows Spectrum trying to escape, but the reinforcement works even when part of the wall is opened.

The woman who enters is only slightly shorter than Spectrum, with a face of flawless skin framed by long hair and bangs.

Momo Hirai, a policewoman who co-ordinated Japan's superheroes and heroines. Spectrum has worked with her before, when she teamed up with others against the Sorceress (that was the finale of Season 2, audience!). But she is definitely not in her normal police uniform, instead wearing some fetishised mockery of a spy outfit, working well to emphasise her curves, and not at all for flattery.

And, well, the conclusion here is obvious.

Sooyeon's eyes open wide in shock as her suspicions are confirmed when Momo draws close enough to reveal the unsubtle spirals that manifest in her eyes.

"Oh goodness... The Sorceress brainwashed you as well, didn't she?" If the villain had somehow got access to her spellbooks while in holding, Momo would make an excellent target with the influence to get her released, and to help her connect with other villains, and even heroines to control.

Spectrum's mouth opens in shock as she realises she might well be on that list.

Again, Momo confirms it. She is still walking towards Sooyeon, driving her to crawl back against the metal wall. Her voice is happy, disconcertingly so, as she says "Yes, and Mistress Siyeon has sent me here to break your mind as well. You will join me as her obedient servant."

Spectrum recoils even from the statement, her mouth twisting into a tight scowl as she tries to back away and ends up with arms braced against the corrugated metal walls of her prison. Already, her eyes are fixed on Momo, but she is not silly enough to be looking into her eyes. Instead, she can't help but stare at the policewoman's ridiculously toned abs. Even still, she stutters out her response. "Come on, Momo... You know exactly who Hyewon is. You know you shouldn't be doing as she says."

"You're wrong, Sooyeon." Momo steps forward, leaving Spectrum nowhere to run as she lightly cups the heroine's chin in her hand. "I know who she is, and that's why I serve. She is my owner. She is all-powerful. She will enslave the world, and you will help her. Like I do." The spirals in Momo's eyes rotated infinitely as she pulled Spectrum's gaze to meet hers. "And you'll learn just how good it is to give up your will to her."

Spectrum's face scrunches in concentration as she tries to dissolve once more into energy, so she wouldn't have to look into Momo's entrancing gaze. But every time she tries to focus on her extremities to have them discorporate, her attention is brought back to the spiral her eyes simply cannot avoid. Her eyebrows have already relaxed, tension is already palpably leaving her body, soothed away by the constant mental massage coming from her friend's eyes.

"Don't you see, Sooyeon? How good you can feel if you just submit yourself to Mistress Hyewon's overwhelming power?"

It was overwhelming. Spectrum could fight. But why? Where had fighting got her today? One dead villain, a potentially concussed ally, and one near-decapitation by a weird pirate-themed mercenary. So Spectrum really does appreciate how nice it could be to just finally surrender.

But her frown returns as she fights back.

"It... might be nice to surrender, Momo. I... I get it..." Her face falters as a smile tugs at the corner of her lips, and spirals begin to spin faintly in her eyes. But she shakes her head, loosening Momo's grip slightly. "But! I am a hero. I can't surrender. I am the light of hope for thousands of people. If I can't hold on to that, who can?"

Momo smiles at Sooyeon's optimism like a parent at a child's pretend play. "It sounds nice, sweetie, it really does. But that's the thing. There is no point trying to resist Mistress Hyewon. I know. I tried. I lost. And I accepted that, and I'm happy now." Her grip tightens again, Sooyeon's body reflexively rippling with electromagnetic energy as again she fails to shift into energy form.

"But even in a world under Mistress' thumb," Momo presses on, "We can still have the bonds of friendship."

She leans in, face inches from Spectrum's nose.

"We can be together. Don't surrender for yourself. Surrender so you can be with me."

Maybe it's the spirals making it impossible to think straight. Maybe it's the fact that the thought of walking out this door hand-in-hand with Momo is giving Sooyeon a feeling in her stomach. But maybe, she can't help but think, Momo is right. Spectrum is a light of hope. But she can be that in any world. She can still be someone to look up to even as she is enslaved.

"If you can't stand by your friend, are you really a heroine?" Momo's voice cuts in, still dreamily happy, but with an edge of sternness as the spirals in her eyes become more solid and spin faster. And they are matched by the nascent spirals in Sooyeon's own. Her mouth curls into a weak smile.

"I... I... could... live with it... with a friend...." Her voice comes out, emotionless despite the subject.

"Live with what, Sooyeon?" Momo inquires, beaming.

"Giving in... falling under control..."

"Really? So you do?" Momo says, letting go now of Sooyeon's head as she realises the other woman is now staring intently.

Sooyeon closes her eyes for a moment, obviously thinking. But she smiles brightly as she decides her conclusion, and her eyes open filled completely with the signifiers of her surrender.

"I give up. I'll obey." She says slowly, her voice still not matching her almost ridiculously enthusiastic expression.

"Gooood girl." Momo coos as she takes on of Spectrum's hands in both her own, pulling her off the wall and into a position of attention in the middle of the room. "Now, repeat these after me. They are your new mantras, after all." She thinks for a moment before beginning. "I am completely obedient to Mistress Jang Hyewon."

"I am completely obedient to Jang Hyewon."

"Mistress Jang Hyewon."

"S-sorry, I am completely obedient to my Mistress Jang Hyewon." Despite the last show of resistance, the spirals coursing through Spectrum's eyes, her submission to standing at attention, and her beaming face all attest she does mean what she says.

"I will obey her commands without question."

"I will obey her commands without question." Sooyeon nods along.

"When I am not under command, I will live my life normally. But I will always be thinking of how to advance Mistress' interests."

"When I am not under command, I will live my life normally. But I will always be thinking of how to advance Mistress' interests." Spectrum repeats, her droning voice slowly turning back into her normal, happy, showwoman's tone.

"I will keep in close contact with Momo, checking in with her regularly."

"I will keep in close contact with Momo, checking in with her regularly." She repeats, not even questioning the reason.

"Momo is also my Mistress. I will obey her commands second only to Mistress Hyewon's."

"Momo is also my Mistress. I will obey her commands second only to Mistress Hyewon's." Sooyeon sounds particularly happy as she repeats this order, the centre of her spirals moving again to Momo's abs.

"I am a slave. I love to obey. I live to obey. I choose the life of an obedient servant."

"I am a slave. I love to obey. I live to obey. I choose the life of an obedient servant."

And with that, the policewoman leads her newest recruit out of the case, and into the tunnels of an underground complex.

Waiting outside is a pale woman with sharply slanted eyes, a fiercely pointed face, and long dark hair. Despite her perfectly threatening appearance, she smiles warmly at Momo and the prize being dragged behind her by the hand.

"I trust it went well then, Momo?"

"Of course, Sorceress. I told you I had her number. Thanks for the illusion by the way, it really convinced her." Momo says in a more normal, slightly lower pitched voice, as the spirals in her eyes dissolve into mist then fade completely.

"Well, you've got your price. Now we need to plan our next move." The woman says as she turns to leave, a black cloak billowing behind her. But Momo holds out a hand.

"Wait a second here... Look, you can use Sooyeon when you need her. That was the deal. But I only joined this alliance to get her, you know. Let me enjoy her first!"

If Sooyeon's broken mind is bothered by the new information being revealed to the viewers, she does not show it. While it may be a shocking twist for you, dear audience, to her it doesn't matter. She has already received her programming, all she will do now is obey her commands and loyally aid her dual Mistresses.

"You can have an hour before I will require use of the slave. I need to see quite what she is capable of." Hyewon says, wriggling her hand dismissively. "Be prompt. I dislike disappointment."

Momo simply makes a happy noise of agreement as she starts to walk in another direction to her quarters, Sooyeon following obediently behind like a puppy (and with about as much brain power!).

"One moment though." The Sorceress' sharp voice cuts across the tunnel. "If she is to be a tool of our alliance, she should at least look the part." She cups a hand to her mouth to theatrically call, "Spectrum, slave! Change your hair to black as night."

"Yes Mistress!" Agrees Spectrum happily, as her hair shifts to dark, complimenting her white shirt.

Momo chuckles as the Sorceress evil laughter echoes through the tunnels. The scene fades to black as the audience are informed to come back soon for the next stage in Spectrum's tale.

----

A bit of a style change here, as I try to emulate CyrilQWellington 's excellent 'Saturday Morning Cartoon narrator'-style stories.

Because, y'know, never a better time to experiment than the climax of your one ongoing story arc, right?

Hope you all enjoy the blend of action and hypnosis again. I'm trying to establish OCs with as much of a demonstration of their powers and weaknesses as possible ^^

Description

Dear readers, this is what you've all been waiting for!

First, you heard of the Electromagnetic Girl, Kim Sooyeon AKA Spectrum, when she suddenly disappeared and the plant heroine Vine ended up getting in some peril herself trying to step up to Spectrum's duties. www.deviantart.com/maurislave/…

Then, we saw the villain Dr. Umleit attempting to track down the missing heroine by brainwashing her suspected girlfriend Yoobin. While he didn't find Sooyeon, he did get an enslaved ice-girl on his side! www.deviantart.com/maurislave/…

Finally, we got our first glimpse at Spectrum herself as an unsuspecting online personality was brainwashed by Stamford Corp, hoping to capitalise on the long-term absence of a beloved heroine. www.deviantart.com/maurislave/…

But now, audience, it's time to see what really happened to the Light of Korea!

Spectrum discorporates again. You might imagine, reader, that separating your skin and muscle and organs into photons and electrical energy would be a painful process. But for our intrepid heroine Kim Sooyeon, it is second nature! Her body flashed into an aura of light and heat and pure energy, which then lanced up to the ceiling of the room at literally the speed of light (we have slowed it down for you so you can actually see it. The villains she faces are never so lucky!).

But then in another flash she reforms again on the floor. She brushes a stray strand of brown hair out of her eyes and makes a single exasperated breath. In energy for she can't see what is happening. All she knows is that while she focuses on reaching a point far above the ceiling of this metal cage with strange indents across the wall, she keeps failing to get through. Every time she focuses higher, thinking she may just be deep underground.

But that time, she was aiming 500 ft above the ceiling and still couldn't reform. She's bouncing off. There is some sort of magnetic reinforcement here. But Sooyeon frowns. If anyone can sense an electromagnet, it should be the woman who has spent years being trapped by them.

No, there is some supernatural reinforcement here. Spectrum slumps to the ground, her back against the cold metal of her cage. Defeated, her nerves are obvious as her hair shifts to various colours (a minor skill for a woman who can control the light waves hitting her own body, but very useful for merchandising!). But she isn't just playing with her appearance. She is thinking, trying to work out how to escape this magical trap.

And you, viewers, need some further context. Let's rewind a few hours to work out why Spectrum here is in a magically-reinforced metal cage, instead of standing triumphantly over the unconscious body of a villain whose brain she just electromagenetically overloaded. Shall we?

Busan, a bustling port on the Republic of Korea's coastline. We come, as all good superpowered fight scenes do, to a largely abandoned area with a lot of obstructive terrain. The docks at night, of course! A ray of striking white light flashes out of nowhere, and then Spectrum stands there, in her cotton shirt, very short skirt, and long white tights, one arm on the floor and legs spread to near-splits in a classic landing pose.

She came here immediately after an anonymous tip-off about a group of villains congregating in one of the warehouses here. With her lightning speed, Sooyeon thought that she could end whatever was happening before it began.

As we, the audience, know, that was a miscalculation. But at the time it seemed reasonable, especially in Spectrum's slightly swollen head, shall we say!

Spectrum stands and squints, surveying the area. A pulse of energy ripples around her forehead as she manipulates light waves around her to get just a bit more range on her vision (every little helps when you're a heroine going solo!). For a few moments, she stays eerily still, scowling as her deep brown eyes saccade from left to right. But then, they open wide and she instinctively enters a battle stance! The camera zooms for our viewers' benefit to her first foe of the night! In the distance, a sickly dark green glow dimly lights up the buildings below. This is from the power cores centred in two huge metal wings, pointed and ebon like a metallic recreation of an eagle's skeleton. They are grafted to the back of a pale, emaciated man with a mop of greasy black hair. Marik Stromburn - the Inquisitor.

He floats through the air, zig-zagging erratically. His hand is always on a dark green spear at his belt, but not because he has seen our heroine. Rather, the Inquisitor is always lusting for combat, for a chance to strike back at the failed system that is reality.

Sooyeon casts her eyes around, looking for some path around the rooftops which escapes an encounter with the mad warrior. She has beaten him before, but an opponent who seems to not fear pain is never worth the risk, and our heroine knows that. But no amount of scanning finds a part of the docks away from Stromburn's gaze, and no amount of hoping the fanatic will miss her prevents his eyes from eventually noticing a body on a far away roof.

Thoughts race through Sooyeon's mind as 80 kilograms of flesh and metal barrel through the sky towards her. She couldn't change into microwaves, the heat wouldn't knock an adult man out, and simple discomfort would not discourage this villain. With that huge spear close combat wasn't an option.

An eldritch whir which sounds like the pale green colour of the Inquisitor's weapon reaches her ears. Her body distorts with energy, already starting to discorporate by instinct. Her eyes saccade this way and that, focusing on a series of points Around the area. The Inquisitor nears, screaming something unintelligible about sinful traitors.

And just as he brings his arm back to throw his spear, Spectrum becomes a line of pure white light, striking through him to a point behind him. Then the light lancing back, jittering slightly as it touches another point for a moment. Then another, then another. The traces of electricity left in her wake reveal that she has crossed the man eight times, forming a star of white-hot air.

Sparks fly from the Inquisitor's back as the machinery keeping him aloft short circuits. As Spectrum reforms, her standing on end and looking exhausted, she gasps in horror. The Inquisitor spirals down towards the ground at speed. All that follows is a sickly green explosion, and Sooyeon holding her stomach as her cheeks puff out with a grimace. She takes a moment to compose herself, whispering that accidents like this happen all the time.

She didn't mean to kill him. She is still a heroine, after all. And now the light from her electromagnetic trails has revealed something.

A single figure in a black tank top and cargo pants stands outside a large warehouse. His dark brown skin and rippling muscles cut an imposing figure, but Spectrum recognises him. Her gasp this time is of happy shock, rather than sorrow and disgust.

"Kinesis! He must be scoping out the villains too!"

With a flash Spectrum lances at the speed of light towards the ground and reforms in front of her fellow warrior of justice, her stance relaxed. There are no other villains around here. None outside at least!

"Hey, Kinesis! Could have used your help against the Inquisitor just then, did you see tha-"

Her smile fades and her rambling stops as she walks closer. The big man isn't scouting the outside of the warehouse. He stands with arms folded in front of the door. And his scowling expression, looking straight at her, is marred by eyes that look like they have been stained with ink. Wordlessly, he walks towards her.

The biceps of his left arm bulge with veins as he leaps forward with superhuman speed, a hook aimed at Sooyeon's head with what seems to be enough force to detach it from her neck.

But as his fist brushes her golden hair, her body dissolves into blinding light. A reflex Spectrum has trained over many years of being a heroine. The punch follows through into empty air as the explosion of white luminescence reforms into our heroine, already in a battle stance.

Well, in a battle stance until the shockwave from the punch nearly knocks her off her feet.

The brainwashed Kinesis is not deterred by a lack of sight. The battle hardened hero has already discerned where Spectrum is, and drives an elbow down towards the floor. But Sooyeon, despite her prone position, has already raised her knee, and is focusing on a space just behind and to the right of Kinesis' head. In another flash, she is suspended in the air behind him.

As gravity takes hold, the kick she began on the floor continues its arc, now smacking into the back of Kinesis' head.

Before he has even recovered from the momentum of his elbow drop, Spectrum has flashed again, now her arm driving into his cheek, her right leg still extended, and her left knee moving up to her chest.

Before the hero can even shake off the blow, she has reappeared in front of his face, her foot striking straight forward from her body, right past his arms and into his nose. Even with superior endurance and training, a brain simply can't be knocked about inside a skull that many times in one second without shorting out for a while.

They both land on the floor. Spectrum on her back, but quickly rolling back up. She is panting, but still with her arms up in a guard (though a viewer might wonder why someone who can change into incorporeal energy really needs a defensive stance, it is always best practice!). Kinesis, though, does not move. His eyes are rolled up into his head, but now their dark irises are contrasted by restored whites of his eyes.

"I'll try to get you help later. Looks like whatever spell you were under has worn off at least." Sooyeon pants out as she carries Kinesis' out-cold body into a dark corner. She shakes her head, trying to dispel the stress of accidentally killing someone and then fighting someone who should truly be an ally. She frowns, doing a little fist bump (this is where the audience should shout "Spectrum fighting!", by the way) to motivate herself. Then an aggravatingly high pitched but pleasantly melodic sound is heard as her body shifts into broad radio waves to phase through the warehouse's walls.

Then with a discordant sound, Sooyeon reappears exactly where she was standing with a frown.

Something is warding the building against any attempt to enter. And even against her. Either the villains are expecting her (not uncommon in Korea) or are ridiculously overprepared. But either way, Sooyeon has a manslaughter to atone for and a friend's free will to avenge. So she pushes on the huge metal door to the building.

And with a groan, that door does admit her.

The room is lit by huge floodlights above, partially illuminating at least ten shadowy figures. The one nearest the door, a huge, bearded man, has already moved in response to the noise.

So as Spectrum enters the room, a huge anchor at the end of a chain is already flying towards her face.

"They hired Kabu as well?" is all Spectrum can think as she shifts into electrical form just before the anchor hits her.

Then she couldn't do anything.

Now, normally, Spectrum is limited while incorporeal. As she has no organs to pick up senses, she has no ability to perceive her surroundings. But a certain amount of trained instinct and the fact that her thoughts (which are, after all, electrical) and memories are retained allow her a certain 'electrical instinct' which allows her to work out where to move to.

But right now, all Spectrum can think or perceive is being trapped. In metaphorical space, her ghostly body is bound by thick black chains. They bulge and pulse like the limbs of a living beast, but their influence is purely metaphysical.

That is to say, magical.

So we return to the next place Sooyeon perceived - the featureless room of metal walls and floor where she awoke, and now lounges contemplating her fate.

The culprit is obvious, it must be Jang Hyewon. The Sorceress. A woman who had found ancient tomes of dark magic, and proved unusually adept in wielding their spells and negotiating with the fell demons they could summon. Spectrum had teemed up with most of the major metahumans in East Asia to put her away in a secure facility in the northern Japanese islands.

Someone had broken the Sorceress out of prison.

And as Sooyeon reaches that thought, a metal panel of the door slides away, and a woman walks through as if on cue (a flash of white light shows Spectrum trying to escape, but the reinforcement works even when part of the wall is opened.

The woman who enters is only slightly shorter than Spectrum, with a face of flawless skin framed by long hair and bangs.

Momo Hirai, a policewoman who co-ordinated Japan's superheroes and heroines. Spectrum has worked with her before, when she teamed up with others against the Sorceress (that was the finale of Season 2, audience!). But she is definitely not in her normal police uniform, instead wearing some fetishised mockery of a spy outfit, working well to emphasise her curves, and not at all for flattery.

And, well, the conclusion here is obvious.

Sooyeon's eyes open wide in shock as her suspicions are confirmed when Momo draws close enough to reveal the unsubtle spirals that manifest in her eyes.

"Oh goodness... The Sorceress brainwashed you as well, didn't she?" If the villain had somehow got access to her spellbooks while in holding, Momo would make an excellent target with the influence to get her released, and to help her connect with other villains, and even heroines to control.

Spectrum's mouth opens in shock as she realises she might well be on that list.

Again, Momo confirms it. She is still walking towards Sooyeon, driving her to crawl back against the metal wall. Her voice is happy, disconcertingly so, as she says "Yes, and Mistress Siyeon has sent me here to break your mind as well. You will join me as her obedient servant."

Spectrum recoils even from the statement, her mouth twisting into a tight scowl as she tries to back away and ends up with arms braced against the corrugated metal walls of her prison. Already, her eyes are fixed on Momo, but she is not silly enough to be looking into her eyes. Instead, she can't help but stare at the policewoman's ridiculously toned abs. Even still, she stutters out her response. "Come on, Momo... You know exactly who Hyewon is. You know you shouldn't be doing as she says."

"You're wrong, Sooyeon." Momo steps forward, leaving Spectrum nowhere to run as she lightly cups the heroine's chin in her hand. "I know who she is, and that's why I serve. She is my owner. She is all-powerful. She will enslave the world, and you will help her. Like I do." The spirals in Momo's eyes rotated infinitely as she pulled Spectrum's gaze to meet hers. "And you'll learn just how good it is to give up your will to her."

Spectrum's face scrunches in concentration as she tries to dissolve once more into energy, so she wouldn't have to look into Momo's entrancing gaze. But every time she tries to focus on her extremities to have them discorporate, her attention is brought back to the spiral her eyes simply cannot avoid. Her eyebrows have already relaxed, tension is already palpably leaving her body, soothed away by the constant mental massage coming from her friend's eyes.

"Don't you see, Sooyeon? How good you can feel if you just submit yourself to Mistress Hyewon's overwhelming power?"

It was overwhelming. Spectrum could fight. But why? Where had fighting got her today? One dead villain, a potentially concussed ally, and one near-decapitation by a weird pirate-themed mercenary. So Spectrum really does appreciate how nice it could be to just finally surrender.

But her frown returns as she fights back.

"It... might be nice to surrender, Momo. I... I get it..." Her face falters as a smile tugs at the corner of her lips, and spirals begin to spin faintly in her eyes. But she shakes her head, loosening Momo's grip slightly. "But! I am a hero. I can't surrender. I am the light of hope for thousands of people. If I can't hold on to that, who can?"

Momo smiles at Sooyeon's optimism like a parent at a child's pretend play. "It sounds nice, sweetie, it really does. But that's the thing. There is no point trying to resist Mistress Hyewon. I know. I tried. I lost. And I accepted that, and I'm happy now." Her grip tightens again, Sooyeon's body reflexively rippling with electromagnetic energy as again she fails to shift into energy form.

"But even in a world under Mistress' thumb," Momo presses on, "We can still have the bonds of friendship."

She leans in, face inches from Spectrum's nose.

"We can be together. Don't surrender for yourself. Surrender so you can be with me."

Maybe it's the spirals making it impossible to think straight. Maybe it's the fact that the thought of walking out this door hand-in-hand with Momo is giving Sooyeon a feeling in her stomach. But maybe, she can't help but think, Momo is right. Spectrum is a light of hope. But she can be that in any world. She can still be someone to look up to even as she is enslaved.

"If you can't stand by your friend, are you really a heroine?" Momo's voice cuts in, still dreamily happy, but with an edge of sternness as the spirals in her eyes become more solid and spin faster. And they are matched by the nascent spirals in Sooyeon's own. Her mouth curls into a weak smile.

"I... I... could... live with it... with a friend...." Her voice comes out, emotionless despite the subject.

"Live with what, Sooyeon?" Momo inquires, beaming.

"Giving in... falling under control..."

"Really? So you do?" Momo says, letting go now of Sooyeon's head as she realises the other woman is now staring intently.

Sooyeon closes her eyes for a moment, obviously thinking. But she smiles brightly as she decides her conclusion, and her eyes open filled completely with the signifiers of her surrender.

"I give up. I'll obey." She says slowly, her voice still not matching her almost ridiculously enthusiastic expression.

"Gooood girl." Momo coos as she takes on of Spectrum's hands in both her own, pulling her off the wall and into a position of attention in the middle of the room. "Now, repeat these after me. They are your new mantras, after all." She thinks for a moment before beginning. "I am completely obedient to Mistress Jang Hyewon."

"I am completely obedient to Jang Hyewon."

"Mistress Jang Hyewon."

"S-sorry, I am completely obedient to my Mistress Jang Hyewon." Despite the last show of resistance, the spirals coursing through Spectrum's eyes, her submission to standing at attention, and her beaming face all attest she does mean what she says.

"I will obey her commands without question."

"I will obey her commands without question." Sooyeon nods along.

"When I am not under command, I will live my life normally. But I will always be thinking of how to advance Mistress' interests."

"When I am not under command, I will live my life normally. But I will always be thinking of how to advance Mistress' interests." Spectrum repeats, her droning voice slowly turning back into her normal, happy, showwoman's tone.

"I will keep in close contact with Momo, checking in with her regularly."

"I will keep in close contact with Momo, checking in with her regularly." She repeats, not even questioning the reason.

"Momo is also my Mistress. I will obey her commands second only to Mistress Hyewon's."

"Momo is also my Mistress. I will obey her commands second only to Mistress Hyewon's." Sooyeon sounds particularly happy as she repeats this order, the centre of her spirals moving again to Momo's abs.

"I am a slave. I love to obey. I live to obey. I choose the life of an obedient servant."

"I am a slave. I love to obey. I live to obey. I choose the life of an obedient servant."

And with that, the policewoman leads her newest recruit out of the case, and into the tunnels of an underground complex.

Waiting outside is a pale woman with sharply slanted eyes, a fiercely pointed face, and long dark hair. Despite her perfectly threatening appearance, she smiles warmly at Momo and the prize being dragged behind her by the hand.

"I trust it went well then, Momo?"

"Of course, Sorceress. I told you I had her number. Thanks for the illusion by the way, it really convinced her." Momo says in a more normal, slightly lower pitched voice, as the spirals in her eyes dissolve into mist then fade completely.

"Well, you've got your price. Now we need to plan our next move." The woman says as she turns to leave, a black cloak billowing behind her. But Momo holds out a hand.

"Wait a second here... Look, you can use Sooyeon when you need her. That was the deal. But I only joined this alliance to get her, you know. Let me enjoy her first!"

If Sooyeon's broken mind is bothered by the new information being revealed to the viewers, she does not show it. While it may be a shocking twist for you, dear audience, to her it doesn't matter. She has already received her programming, all she will do now is obey her commands and loyally aid her dual Mistresses.

"You can have an hour before I will require use of the slave. I need to see quite what she is capable of." Hyewon says, wriggling her hand dismissively. "Be prompt. I dislike disappointment."

Momo simply makes a happy noise of agreement as she starts to walk in another direction to her quarters, Sooyeon following obediently behind like a puppy (and with about as much brain power!).

"One moment though." The Sorceress' sharp voice cuts across the tunnel. "If she is to be a tool of our alliance, she should at least look the part." She cups a hand to her mouth to theatrically call, "Spectrum, slave! Change your hair to black as night."

"Yes Mistress!" Agrees Spectrum happily, as her hair shifts to dark, complimenting her white shirt.

Momo chuckles as the Sorceress evil laughter echoes through the tunnels. The scene fades to black as the audience are informed to come back soon for the next stage in Spectrum's tale.

----

A bit of a style change here, as I try to emulate CyrilQWellington 's excellent 'Saturday Morning Cartoon narrator'-style stories.

Because, y'know, never a better time to experiment than the climax of your one ongoing story arc, right?

Hope you all enjoy the blend of action and hypnosis again. I'm trying to establish OCs with as much of a demonstration of their powers and weaknesses as possible ^^