Hero & Witch Pt. 03: Heroine Rise

The red-haired therapist look over at Jon for a moment to see his dulled expression and almost dumb smile that exhibited how deeply under he was and happy to be there.

"How dare she even think to try to take that away from him," she thought to herself. "How dare she even think..." she mused, which stuck out in Sabrina's mind longer than she expected it to, long enough to kickstart mental gears in her head. Sabrina's thoughts were still centered on neutralizing the situation completely, and especially Jesse. The how started to become a unique opportunity full of interesting possibilities.

She gripped Jesse's cellphone in one hand, and caressed Jon's face with the other. His glassy eyes found hers to be so close to his face. She simply told him to "follow" and he was guided out of the chair to take slow steps in-sync with hers, still staring point-blank into positively twinkling blue eyes. She guided him behind her desk, to his knees while he looked up at his controller adoringly, possibly the most familiar position for Jon when it came to Sabrina.

"Close your eyes for a moment, Jonathan."

He did so, easily for her.

"I want you to help me with something. I want your mind to help channel your inner hero, help bring Striker to the forefront. But not just yet," she told him, trying not to move hastily. "Striker will come to surface to see Scryer momentarily; it will be so similar to their last meeting. In fact, your mind can think of it as lost footage; a memory considered lost that I helped you recover. But this moment is special, because with all your concentration, you get to re-write the script a bit."

There was a sign of hopefulness on Jon's face, a nice surprise instead of the confusion she half-expected from her instructions.

"In this regained scene, Striker will awaken, still deeply under the spell of Scryer, totally at her mercy and disposal. Upon awakening, Striker will be granted an opportunity. If there is a special fixation, fetish, or something captivating that Striker, or Jonathan has always wanted to indulge himself in, but never gotten the chance to, Scryer will grant him whatever his heart desires. It is a gift from your sorceress, for being such a good boy, and it is granted to you on the condition that you will continue to be exactly that, complaint without question."

Involuntarily, Jon closed his eyes even tighter, already beginning to imagine something he always wanted, but never told any lover.

"Do you like that idea Jonathan?"

"Yes..." his sleepy voice trailed off.

"This scene will take place in your mind, while you whisper to me in narration what is happening. You can speak softly, but clearly enough, because you know your Mistress wants to hear about your special fantasy."

"Yes..."

"When I snap my fingers, you will imagine the scene and begin narrating as instructed. Are you ready?"

After a final "yes," she snapped her fingers, and waited for him to recant what was going on in his imagination. She meant for this to be background music, to let his mind go deep into a fantasy, well-distracted while she decided what to do with Jesse and her phone, but she underestimated how rapt listening to him made her.

He spoke of the previous night so vividly. The sexual musk of the previous night was all he smelled other than Scryer's perfume. The background was non-existent and didn't matter. It was merely the vigilante and enchantress together, him kneeling and her seated on the single prop to be present - a broomstick that she comfortably sat on, a point which Sabrina quietly snickered at. Scryer was dressed nearly as identical as their night, except for the stockings she wore with pretty patterns and jewels woven into them. She loomed over him in approval, and allowed him to worship her legs.

Sabrina's ears perked up at that point. She listened with curiosity as he gently caressed her legs, and the soles of her feet, kissing all over the silky material with his eyes open, licking at some of the bare parts of her legs. Scryer's hands rested on her knee, and she'd occasionally caress his head, scratching his scalp like a pleased pet owner.

Once he got to talking about taking her toes into his eager mouth, she, Sabrina, had modified her suggestion a bit to where he would no longer narrate, but act out the scene in-front of her. It crossed her mind that just from the position she'd started this, maybe their position had rigged how or what was supposed to play out. Sabrina couldn't complain at that point as she'd never had the pleasure of being pampered by a man like that, and would have thought it too weird to try under different context. But feeling him suck at her toes almost methodically, careful to not ruin the stocking with his teeth, to suck on the smaller toes like he did her nipples. He moaned while having her big toe in his mouth, as if he enjoyed the flavor of it, or of his submission to her.

At that point, both Sabrina and Scryer were convinced that their submissive would be allowed to continue that fantasy at a later time, for how wet his treatment made her, and also for how it cutely tented his pants. "I might have to implant more backdrops like this in the future," she thought to herself. After saying it, she took a good look at Jesse who was still under, and finally came up with a plan for the interloper.

She wiggled her toes for Jon, to make his attention even more livelier while she got the miniature SD card out of Jesse's phone, where the recording she tried to make in secret was kept. Inserting it into her office desktop, she made a few file switches, and searched the phone for some potentially useful information. When she'd completely her task, Sabrina had told Jon to stop his worshipping and wait quietly for her, while she made her way to Jesse.

"Jesse, can you hear me?"

"Yes," came a reply as sleepy as Jon's.

"I want you to listen to me very, very carefully. I have some important things I'd like you to do for me. This is something you can do for me, the one whom you trust. This is also something which you can do for Jonathan, the one you seem to care so much about. Jonathan especially wants you to listen, so you will."

Jesse heard the name of her interest spoken, and confusedly tried to shake herself from trance, but was interrupted by a collection of sharp finger snaps and equally sharp whispers of "sleep" in her ears. She did double the amount that she was used to, for a subject she recently just made, and one she had plans for.

* * *

Jesse got back to her office sometime after lunch. The details of it were fuzzy to her. Her stomach didn't feel quite satisfied, but got filled with something quick to satiate her. She'd most likely be looking forward to a big dinner to make up for the loss. Her mind was more set on her phone, or more specifically what was on it now. She told a few subordinates who would usually come to her with concerns not to disturb her for the afternoon.

Plugging in a set of earphones to her smart phone, she went to the recording section of her phone, looking for the recently made entry. Pulling it up, she fast-forwarded to the point of Sabrina's relaxation exercise, guessing by the time she stared and how long it took to get to her point of interest. Jesse heard Sabrina's voice in isolation, surprised of the quality of the recording. Having it hidden in her jacket pocket, she expected some of what she heard to be muffled. What came though her earphones sounded like professional-quality. How well the recording sounded lead Jesse to think about how nice Sabrina's voice sounded, almost as if she was re-living the experience again.

Jesse couldn't tell if it was just the prior session or a lack of food which sometimes made her sleepy, but there was a drowsiness coming over her that she fought. Jesse fought it hard enough to the point of turning off the recording. She'd planned to listen and see right away if there was anything on the level of incrimination that she could take to Bevy to inquire about Ms. Marks' ethics. With how she felt then, Jesse wasn't worried; she knew the quality was good, and that if there was anything to find, she'd come to it eventually.

It was later in the evening, after dinner with a few friends, that she filled her appetite nicely, and settled in with giving the recording another listen. Instead of skipping, she started from the beginning, trying to think of how she'd present her issue about Sabrina to their superior. "It should be easy," she thought. "Something worth termination would have its own draw. I don't even have to be the kind of 'salesman' the red-head was to get her rather cushy job. And if Bevy won't act, or if she's got something on him, I can always go over his head."

In all of this thinking, Sabrina noticed even more how Sabrina's voice was the dominant voice playing. Jesse seemed to remember more back and forth between them as she gave her story to the therapist. "Maybe I got the timing wrong," she thought, as Sabrina's voice was already in speaking about relaxation, drawing out her suggestions in a way that left Jesse feeling languid. She could swear there was some ambient music playing in the background too; maybe something Sabrina turned on in her office while she was distracted.

Jesse happened to look over at the clock and realized her error. "Trying to listen to something relaxing this late after a big meal; good thinking Jesse." She already happened to be in bed as she listened, so she simply rolled over in it to turn the lamp off, dreamily unaware of the recording still running, playing through her earphones still.

Jesse woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and happy, even when realizing she'd slept through the recording that'd played into the night. It was a combined happiness of knowing she had something on Sabrina, and reaping the benefits of listening to her voice; her consciousness seemed to only care about the former.

For the next few days, Jesse had gone into a routine. Part of her afternoons would be spent listening to a small portion of Sabrina's relaxation, only to just avoid falling asleep to it, which would put prime her to give it her full attention later on, listening to the recording in bed, listening carefully to each word, looking for the exact words to bring her down. Jesse found those words without even realizing, as she was the 'she' to be brought down. The pretense of why she made the recording in the first place was always there, but internally, the best part of her day was any excuse to slip into the comfort effortlessly constructed by the voice playing on her phone.

Jesse had seen Bevy at some point the next week, bringing up intended business, yet somehow managed to have that one important matter escape her, for some reason. She certainly tried to remember exactly what, attempting to wrap her mind around the slippery what for a few minutes before Bevy stopped her. "Don't wear yourself out, Jesse. Just let it come to you; you can always bring it up later." She took his advice, and the issue did come back to her easily less than an hour later, but she still found some reason to put it off, still confident in what she had.

Jesse had even run in to Sabrina near the therapist's office at some point, and was invited in. She was all smiles with the red-head, trying to conceal a smile of "I know something you don't know - your ass is mine." Sabrina smiled back just as easily, happy to commend her on her last session, complimenting her on what a good subject she ended up being, how she could still notice her taking advantage of the deep breath exercises from time-to-time. It elated a part of Jesse to hear that.

Jesse was confused at some point about talk of another session in the future; Sabrina seemed not only adamant about it, but excited in a mellow, matter-of-fact kind of way. Jesse tried to pay attention, but the details seemed rather uninteresting, so ended up half-listening to Sabrina as she outlined what the next session might be like. It still sounded nice just to listen to her, and she still wanted to keep up the pretense of good relations. A few words stood out in her talk, like they were being repeated. "Relaxation," of course was one. "Deep" was maybe spoken the most, which might be typical of the therapy-types, she thought, but still weird.

The weirdest though had to be her speaking of "concentration." It was less how many times she said it, but how she said it, drawing the word out like trying to say someone's name seductively or with emphasis. It just stood out; Sabrina even paused a few times before saying it. She paused so much Jesse herself ended up repeating the phrase with her. Both of them knew exactly what tenses to use in the context of each sentence. "Concentrate," "Concentrating," "Concentrated." Sabrina looked so happy to see this happening, and Jesse couldn't see why, nor did she realize her facade morphed into something more genuine.

"I think you're really ready for this," Sabrina told her potential patient. Sabrina departed soon after, leaving Jesse confused, and strangely looking forward to see what she was talking about, while she was still employed there, of course.

Jesse went back to her own office, feeling like she was forgetting something. Sure enough, her cellphone was missing from her person. She'd gone back up to Sabrina's office to see her at her desk, and her smartphone laying near Jesse's end of the desk.

"I was hoping you'd remember this," Sabrina told her. "I was about to come look for you to give this back."

"Thanks," the blonde responded. "I would've been lost without this today."

Sabrina somehow managed not to smirk. "Don't worry; I would've made sure this got back to you immediately. Believe me, I know how important these things are."

She didn't bother agreeing with Sabrina to prevent any hint of just how important, and thanked her.

Jesse's days went on as normal as ever, with work, outings with friends, and the occasional time spent to analyze the recording of Sabrina. Every night became one of better, deeper sleep as she listened. With each passing night, the idea, the pretense of why she was listening to Sabrina, was slowly, carefully undone. Sabrina's voice told her in her sleep how the only reason she needed, wanted to listen, was just for the pleasure of listening. She didn't even need to be told that no voice affected Jesse like Sabrina's could, but she did enjoy hearing that. The entire plot of trying to sink Sabrina was eaten away, "cured" as Sabrina told her. Jesse and Sabrina both understood that she went in listening to the hypnotist for a negative reason, and Jesse's subconscious was so grateful that, given time, all that would be left was a positive reason. "More positivity in your life should be a good thing," Sabrina told her cheerfully on a nightly basis.

Those weird words from Sabrina's session outline appeared again in the seemingly new recording, especially "concentrate." Thinking about the word, hearing it spoken by anyone, particularly Sabrina, made her feel..."empowered" was the only word she could come up with. Every morning, she felt empowered, and throughout the day, if she happened to hear the word. She couldn't understand why, but she rode the wave of empowerment all through her day. One day, while taking care of an errand at the bank, she even got to use it.

She was waiting in a long line for a teller, when she got a call from a friend. She made her greetings over the phone in a quiet enough voice, when Jesse felt part of her mind detach a bit. Not only detach, but seek out something in the mind of someone else. Whatever it was, it set her off. Jesse maintained a normal composure, but her friend on the line could tell something was wrong. When asked about it, Jesse quietly responded,

"I feel like something's...up."

"Concentrate," her friend told her. Jesse kept her phone up to her ear to look unassuming as usual, while her friend told her to concentrate and to encourage her. What Jesse felt in another bank patron nearby was a plot, a nervousness of something about to go down soon. She peered into his mind, looked at the thoughts of what was bound to go down. What she saw was four armed, masked men enter the main entrance, ready to take the bank and everyone there for their worth at gunpoint.

Jesse took a deep breath as her friend instructed, and concentrated on the man with the plot. She concentrated on his mind, beginning to cloud and muddle the thoughts of the man, blinding his entire plan from his mind, leaving him confused as to why he was even there. A screeching sound from outside sounded like a car parked outside. She felt into that car, the minds of four, determined men preparing for something. Even quicker than the man inside the bank, Jesse's power went to work on all four men almost simultaneously, as if someone trapped smoke full of forgetfulness in the car. Their minds and bodies sagged, all of them almost lolling, except for the driver. With Jesse's insistence, the driver had enough frame of mind to pull away from the bank and into traffic. The confused man, filling out a phony bank application, also left the bank. Jesse hoped that these men would meet later and come to the conclusion that robbing that bank, any bank would be no good, for reasons unknown. Just something that they would all, unquestioningly agree with.

When it was Jesse's turn to come to the counter, the teller almost had to yell to get her attention. She told her friend, "I'll call you back." After making a money transfer like she originally intended to, she walked out of the bank, calling her friend back, feeling a spring of happiness that she just had to share. She told her friend every last detail of what happened, how she looked into the minds of "dastardly men" as she called them, and thwarted their plans permanently, before they ever happened. Her friend knew everything she was capable of, so she had no problem revealing everything to her.

"I'm so jealous of that power," her friend told her. "But I guess that's just a day in the life of the great psychic heroine Psiana," her friend told her, sounding like she was trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, I'm Psiana," Jesse told herself, with conviction.

"Well don't overwork yourself on patrol tonight."

"Not to worry, friend. I do it all from the comfort of home anyway."

"Thanks for the extra jealousy," her friend giggled.

"Take care."

"Bye."

* * *

Sabrina set her phone down and spoke to herself in Scryer's thickly accented voice. "I'll be seeing you soon, Ms. Heroine."

The red-headed witch smiled to herself, while running her fingernails into the scalp of her prized hero, worshipping her stockinged legs again.