A couple of phone calls, and a few minutes worth of rummaging through Jade's dresser later and we're on our way back to that damned facility. I'm not exactly Jade's size, but everyone has a couple of outfits laying around that doesn't quite fit them but did, or that they wished would have, or a gift they never went through the trouble of returning. That said, it's not as if I really had much of a selection to choose among.

The tight black leather pants make me feel stronger and sexier than I actually am, but they also provide at least a little bit of a stronger and sexier image. Anything I can get going for me by this point is a good thing. The frilly green top is just a little loose on me, but not enough to make me look or feel formless. Really, the clothing doesn't matter past the point that there are clothes on my body and they are actually covering up my skin. Those school girl clothes barely even qualify as clothing and are probably illegal to wear outside in most cities. More innocent hookers might even blush, but that is pushing it.

It feels like forever between getting dressed and getting to the facility, but we get there quick enough. Considering that right now I would probably be getting a nice little reeducation if not for Nightshade I'm doing pretty well. I could be doing better though, and I hope I will be soon.

There's only one cop car when we finally arrive. Considering that us supers aren't even supposed to be the law, this is sort of unimpressive. One of the officers steps out of her car and towards us. We must look pretty silly. Jade is all dressed up like some sort of medieval archer, Nightshade looks like a ninja right from some bad action movie, and I… Well I look like a normal gal out for a night on the town, except for the fact that I'm silver as silver gets.

For a moment, I'm almost afraid the officer will admit to being an agent of the SS, whatever SS stands for, and will shoot some sort of paralyzing bullet… but she looks fine and her hands don't move anywhere near her sidearm. "There was some kind of explosion down on 5th. Everyone's been called there, but they said they could spare us."

Well it's good to know that saving the world from women who can bend a mind better than I can bend a paperclip is at least on the police radar. "Thanks… Every little bit helps. I hope that the fire ends up being harmless. Either way, I really appreciate your showing up. So… do we have a plan?" Laughing nervously is not the best way to boost others confidences, but it's also a really hard thing to resist doing when you're feeling nervous and outclassed. "Or do we just go in and split up whenever we see a fork in the path?"

"Nightshade goes in first. She'll try to set up things for the power to go out when we want it to. Also, she'll see if they're still there or not. The police will stay here in case anyone wants to flee. You and I will go in once Nightshade gives the okay. Sound good?" Jade smiles in her ever so confident way and faintly readjusts her hat.

It's hard for anything she says not to sound good.

"Sounds great…" Just incase, I pop a couple of sparks out of my fingertips and let them swirl around in an idle gesture. Just incase something comes through that door… "Thanks again for saving my melted head, Nightshade… Sorry I gave you any trouble. Break a shadow or something!"

She just gives a look that I think says "uh-huh" but can't be sure… and then disappears into the entrance. There's no sound, no shadow… Not a clue she even went in.

Nothing happens, for entirely too long.

I know I'm supposed to be on heroine duty, but every moment that there's no word from Nightshade I feel just a little bit more nervous. Those sparks can help, but only maybe. With a sigh I turn to look curiously to Jade and try to start up some kind of a conversation. "How'd you meet up with Nightshade anyway?"

"Oh, private hero business really…" Jade shrugs and even though the cops are beyond twitchy, she manages to pull off nonchalant. Her bow is out and I'm sure she could have an arrow ready before I could fire off a spark, but she still somehow looks so calm and unfazed.

Jade is a hundred times the heroine I'll never be.

"If you ever need some work, I know someone who can hook you both up…" I used to have a little stash of business cards in my old uniform, but of course that is back in the showers and probably long gone by now. Damn it! That suit really means a lot to me! Something about that is making something in my mind click, but just what isn't quite clear. Why could that detail be standing out as so important? Sure, the uniform my ex made me was special, but it wasn't that special. Maybe it has to do with what was being done to my mind so stealthily before…

Nightshade is in there and she doesn't even know what the hell those women can do! "If you see anything unreal, don't believe it… A girl named Glimmer helped me see my brains melting out my tits, and when Whisper tried to make her rub my brains all over herself she made Whisper see some bats… If you see a short girl mumbling with no words, be sure to shut her up before she makes it so you can't…"

"What do you mean?" Jade looks over at me, maybe looking just a little concerned. "That's right… What is in there? I only saw a few people, and they were just guards I think."

"I know they had a classroom… and these women, with a black SS on a white uniform - like the woman you saved me from, Caress… and then there was Whisper, Glimmer, and Aura was the woman who hauled me off. I think that the whole place is some sort of reeducation center, and they were the special ops. Of course, these straws that I'm grasping at are curly straws, but… shit. I wish she would have asked me for details before she went in there…" I shiver and make the sparks orbiting my fingertips poof away so I can make all new ones, another of my little nervous gestures. "Gods… If only I hadn't been so freaked out by that picture!"

"She should be fine." What little worry I saw in Jade must have been an illusion because she seems calm as ever. How can she keep such a strong face and be so emotionally sound during so much worry? Even when I used to do heroine work before I was still emotional.

Before too long though, the lights in all of the windows go out. Nightshade's sign. It's time to head in after her and hope that she's fine. I nod to Jade, and she nods back. Without another word, we start moving in.

The whole place seems so… empty! There's nothing anywhere. It doesn't just have an empty feeling, but it feels desolate. Evil and empty and quiet. It's like everything is gone already and this is nothing but some stupid empty building and we came out here for absolutely no good reason!

"We're too late… Damn it!" There still might be something, some sort of clue… "We have to look for any signs of them! Maybe we can track where they went to relocate."

"Maybe…" Jade shrugs again, still holding her bow. How she can seem so disarmed even while armed makes me very curious. We end up walking for quite awhile more, and there's still no sign of anything. There's absolutely nothing to give us any clue as to what happened before they cleared out. As soon as I was stolen away I'm sure they moved everything far away. I'm sure their contingency plan was fool proof…

Damn do I feel like a fool.

After what feels like forever we finally meet up with Nightshade… Who of course, has also found nothing. "Sigh…" Nightshade sighs as she starts moving away. "Lets keep checking… This place is freakin' empty."

"Maybe… or maybe there are hidden doors! Or something else! There has to be something, they can't just disappear without any trace whatsoever!" This can't be the end of this. The SS girls won't stop haunting me until they've finally caught me. That means that I need to try and catch them first. "We can't just give up, they have to be somewhere!"

Jade nods faintly and looks around for a moment or two. "Well… Then let's split up. Search carefully, room by room." She heads off on her own, and Nightshade disappears from view too but it's hard to really see her do anything when she's in stalk mode.

If I were Jade, I can really see where Nightshade would start to really piss me off or at least get on my nerves. Either way, I go off on another path and start to move. Feeling walls, feeling floors… There has to be a trap door, or something! To get a better view I move a couple of sparks in front of me. They don't provide excellent light, and everything is tinted silver ever so slightly but it's not as if I'm not used to that.

This is definitely bad… and I realize that all the more when trailing the floor with a spark it comes across a white boot that looks exactly like one of the ones from my old uniform. "Hello Silver… When I saw the picture I really wasn't sure that I was ever cute as you are now, but sure enough, here you are, ravishing as ever."

That voice, is my voice. It's my exact voice. It's not just similar, that is exactly my voice! It sounds maybe a little huskier, maybe a little bit more sultry, and maybe just a bit older than my own but there's no debating who this is.

My blood runs cold and my whole body instantly feels like a block of ice. Slowly, so as not to alert who I can only assume is this "Domina Argenti" I trail the spark higher. Her legs above the boots look just like mine, exactly like mine. The boots go a little bit higher, and her skirt is just a little bit shorter than mine was, but it still looks cute on her.

That, by the way, is a stranger thought to think than you can imagine.

The top is nothing like my old uniform, though it is still the same white color it's simply less fabric and only covering what it absolutely needs to before flaring out into shoulders that lightly curl up. It looks to be backless, but I can't tell from staring at her front. Her face is exactly like mine. Well, it's exactly the same as mine, except that instead of looking afraid, she looks positively delighted. Her grin looks so sexy, like something I can only imagine having had the first time I sparked Windy. Her hair is up, with two locks of hair hanging on either side in front of her face. She looks cute with her hair up. I wonder if I would…

I make the spark fly back over to me before making it poof, and instantly fall into a defensive pose. This doesn't feel right, at all. "What picture?! What the hell do you mean, you weren't sure if… Back up a couple of steps, would you?!"

Domina doesn't seem fazed for a single moment. Instead, she just ever so faintly smirks. "Calm down dear… I don't want to hurt you. I've never wanted to hurt you. Besides, hurting you would be a silly thing to do. After all, you are me. Well, you were me, anyway. Things have rather changed, and I'd like to think for the better. Now, calm down Silver, or I'm going to have to make you calm down, which I'm know you know I can do."

"If you can calm me down, then I'm sure I can calm you down just as much!" It feels strange to gesture about with no gloves over my hands, but I fling my right hand forward and fire off five sparks right at that damned self confident bitch's face. They fly through the air with pretty little trails of light behind them, sizzling and sparking, and just as they're about to hit she raises up her hand and the spark bounces off of her glove! It must be the same stuff as those SS girls were wearing!

"Really, Silver. Really. Don't you think I would be at least a little prepared. Sigh. You didn't even look to the ceiling when you noticed I was here. I didn't remember myself being so inept!" She laughs, and her voice has a velvety richness that I know mine has never had. It flows through me and hits my spine, making me shudder in a way that I know has nothing to do with any special powers.

My mind can't quite wrap around why I should have looked up though. What could be so important about looking up? It's not as if she has her own Nightshade ready to drop down on me, does she? With a shrug, I humor her and give a glance up.

I don't know how she managed to dim them, because the room wasn't this bright a moment before, but the ceiling is absolutely packed with sparks… just like when I took down Yanta. It's exactly how it looked when I stopped that damned witch! Before I can try to run to the doorway or even flinch I see her hand moving and the sparks fly down from the ceiling to not fly inside of me and silver me up, but surround me, standing like small pieces of bars in some sort of cartoonish prison, all around me.

Domina steps closer and sighs, pulling off the glove on her right hand and making another spark pop out. It slowly moves right for me, and hovers right between my eyes. With how close it is it's impossible for me not to cross my eyes. "Really. It's like you don't even know what you would do if you met yourself in an empty facility after a botched attempt to hire a group of slavers to reign you in. I'm disappointed…"

Her voice doesn't sound disappointed though, it sounds… absolutely delighted, and dripping with desire. I have to admit, when I looked over her body with that spark it made me feel a little bit warm, but that's only natural, right?

After all, she's dressed to kill (hopefully not literally) and it's nice to see a body that isn't mine with silver skin. So many nights I used to lay awake in bed and play with my sparks, just wishing that I could run my hands over another woman's body that had the same shining, shimmering skin tone…

"Sorry, Domina Argenti, I'm not exactly used to facing off against a doppelganger…" I have no clue just what she is, but if she's not about to explain I'll just expect the worst. The way that spark in front of my face and all of the sparks around me twinkle makes me squirm and shift, as if I can avoid the silvery light that they cast over me. As frightening as this is, it's something right out of a midnight fantasy. A strong, powerful woman, with beautiful silver skin, silver hair, silver eyes… and she wants me…

"Just Domina, Silver… It's Latin, in case you're curious. In some circles I was floating around with for awhile Latin wasn't quite so dead a language, and Silver Girl just felt like a little girl's idea a name… and it's not as if I'm much of a heroine anymore, but I'm sure you guessed that much." She leans closer, so close that but for the sparks between us we would be touching…

My body needs to be fought with to manage the faintest of nods, but it works well enough. My whole body is quivering right down to my core, and my blood is once again pumping like fire. Every little bit of my skin feels alive, and all of those sparks are oh so close to me. Just a small little thought, a little motion, and I'd be shaking like Silhouette…

A moan slides out from my lips even with how much I try to fight it. "I gathered that much… After all, heroines don't hire slavers to hunt after themselves. Are you going to explain, or just spark me up and have your way with me…?"

Oh, if only my voice didn't sound so hopeful for the later.

She grins, ear to ear. It's hard to make her out past the spark, though not because the spark is bright. It is bright, but I can see past its rays of light and the small little spark of silver energy at it's core without too much trouble. The trick is keeping it in my vision so I can be ready when it moves the slightest bit…

"Oh, I know how much you'd love for me to just spark you… To run my identical silver hands over yours, over your arms, down your back, to bring you in so close for such a strong and passionate silver kiss that would leave you drenched and mindless… So why not a taste…?" She sighs, a sigh that sounds like something that should only be heard during the heights of passion, and closes her eyes.

Her sparks move so fast, she was only letting me see them move before. Several sparks from in front of me, behind me, to my left and to my right thrust into me before I can even shudder or gasp. Spark, spark, spark, spark, spark, spark… It feels so… so…

Silver energy, that sweet seductive sizzle that feels so hot and yet so cold at the same time, teasing every little nerve, laces its way through my body. Every single hair on my skin raises up and my ass tightens with a surge of wetness between my thighs. Nothing has ever felt like this before, and it's so hard to even think of how to describe. Lacing through my nerves, through my flesh, through my soul, it's like these few sparks know just how to touch me on a level that no one has ever even thought of touching me before and I'm not surprised when I let out a sharp cry and fall to my knees.

It feels so fucking good!

"Just like how someone else's hands will always feel better than your own, even if they are your own… My sparks feel so much better. Not to mention I know better how to use them. Mmm, each sound, each shudder… I can smell our scent, I can feel it through my sparks… You taste so divine, so familiar but…Mmmm…" My brain can barely focus, body still shuddering in the aftershocks of that silver pleasure, but standing over me, Domina shudders in just the same way.

I can just imagine it, the two of us unclothed and identical, writhing against each other as sparked fingers caress over silvery skin… Tracing over innocent and tender places alike, stroking over identical silver lips, sliding in to wet, dripping silver flesh… Sparks making us cry out and scream, moan and whimper in absolute bliss…

"Mmm, but Silver, that's not why I'm here, or I would have just plucked you away from The Lady myself… It took a lot to resist paying her a visit as it was. But no I sent the Slut Squad after you, and I was very pleased with the results, until Jade and Nightshade had to show up." Domina sighs and slowly kneels down. The sparks between us part and she slides her right hand through my hair, stroking my scalp in such a perfect and tender way that makes my whole body quiver. It's so hard to even move, I can still feel little jolts flowing over me… "But now, they wouldn't even hear you if you screamed, it's not like you were smart enough to bring walkie-talkies…"

That would have been a good idea, a really good idea, but I wouldn't want to give up this feeling. Her skin feels just faintly metallic in the most arousing way anything has ever felt yet also infinitely soothing. "I was going to have them reeducate you, turn you into the perfect little girl for me… Our mother tried, but she never understood us… She never knew the pain we went through, being so different… She never knew to encourage us to use our powers…"

"Domina…" I whimper as she sends a single spark through a fingertip right through my scalp, sizzling over my brain in ways that feel impossible. Every little part of my brain feels alive, and my eyes shut tight as all I can see are silver sparks cascading over my eyes. My body arches and I cry out again as it spreads down my spine and out through every nerve along the way. My nipples feel harder and tighter than they've ever felt before, aching, so sensitive for some kind of touch…

"Shhh, Silver… Domina isn't done talking yet… Now, as I was saying, I was going to be the kind of mother that we always needed, that we always craved, but that we never got. I was going to be your perfect older sister, and your perfect lover, always ready, always waiting, always providing you with everything you ever needed…" Her arms stroke down along my face, my neck, and my sides before grasping my hips and pulling me tightly against her.

My whole body feels so sensitive and I can feel her warm, smooth flesh so easily through the frilly top. I can feel the material that just barely seals away her silver skin from view, and it feels so good to arch myself against, nipples singing out at the feeling, mind moving so, so deliciously slow…

One of her hands moves around my waist, her arm pulling me close as the other slowly strokes up my back and threads its way back through the silver strands of my hair. The whole world, every touch, every thought, feels oh so silver. I understand now how Silhouette felt… "See, I'm you… The future you. An alternate future you, now that I've come back and altered the time line… See, you were going to do something monumentally stupid, or you were, and it was going to ruin the best thing you ever had going for you…

"But instead, I'm here to help you… Yanta's mind might never have been able to recover from the abuse we gave it, but it still was full of so many magical secrets. She taught me time travel, teleportation… so much. It wasn't hard to find the funds to hire the Slut Squad to suck out your mind, and deliver you to me. Your new friends got in the way, but that's not a problem anymore, is it?"

Her words sizzle through my ears and feel almost just like those sparks. It's like I can taste her words in my mind and each one makes me shudder against her which makes me grind myself against her and feel more and more friction. It feels so strange to say her… It feels like I should be saying me…"N-no…"

"I didn't think so…" My mind feels five steps behind her words. Slut Squad. SS. Oh, that's what it stood for… Her fingers stroke through my hair again, and each fingertip is sparking ever so slightly, just enough for me to feel it sizzling across my scalp and down into my mind.

Everything is so silver, is so sizzling, is so perfect… All I can feel is her body through our clothes. All I can feel is my body through our clothes, my body pressing to mine, and my body pressing back against mine… "Good little Silver… Sarah… No need to go by that silly name anymore, just my little Sarah… My little Sarah to raise anew, to teach what it means to have our power, to show such sweet, loving companionship… No one leaving you, no fear of your mind ever getting harmed again… Everything you could ever want."

It's so true… She's everything I could ever want… I can feel it burning through me, like sweet blissful truth, nothing else has ever been so true before… Sizzles, aftershocks, nothing has ever felt half as good as this feels, not at all…

"Now my sweet little Sarah…" Her hand slides down my back, sizzling and sparking more as it passes over my waist and grasps at my ass through the tight leather, pulling me closer as I feel my whole self tighten up again. It's better than anything I could have ever imagined as those fingers slide down, grazing my thighs as a spark bursts against me.

It almost feels as good as when she moves her other hand, and the rest of the sparks that were forming that cage around me thrust into me one at a time. Every spark that hits me feels like its sparking away everything but those silver sparks of sparking bliss so silvery and sparkly and sparktacular… So spark hard to think or…

"And now Sarah… We're going to go far away from this place… Before you can ruin everything with your pretty little sparks… That sounds good, doesn't it? To just come with me…" The word come feels like a silver spark… Oh, that's because another jolts into me as she traces the leather over my crotch. It feels so good and makes me scream, shuddering and grinding into her like a whore. Every little nerve on fire, sizzling so hot and so cool, it feels better than anything…

"Uh-huh…" How could I refuse? I know I should… I know I need to… If I could just stop shaking long enough to reach up my hand I could spark her and end this. That's it. I just need to move, to move just a little more… but I don't want to.

Slowly she stands and pulls me up with her, smiling almost like my mother used to, only more sexy, more powerful. "All right then Sarah, it's time to - fuck!" In a flash of light so bright it almost actually hurts my eyes Domina disappears and an arrow whizzes just by my face and smashes into the wall behind where Domina was standing.

My mind might still have just barely been resisting her, but my body feels like Jell-O. I turn to try and see if the arrow came from Jade, but all I can see is almond skin and a green suit. Jade can be green, can’t it?

I hit the floor, and everything turns silver.

Everything is silver. The air is silver. My thoughts are silver. Existence itself is silver in a way I’ve never felt before, even after one of my stay up all night sparking myself sessions. This is different, it’s like… It’s like I can feel her inside of me, sizzling through me, tasting me, smoothing me over and touching me in ways too intimate for someone I just barely know…

But a part of my mind immediately speaks up, making me shudder and squirm in the almost liquid world that feels like mercury looks. Little waves move through the world, sending waves of pleasure through my mind, but it’s so hard to focus on anything.

It’s like there’s nothing to focus on, besides the pleasurable confusion itself. Is this overload? Is this what it really feels for my brain to just finally give up?

Spark… Sizzle… Flash…

Between each crevice in my brain. Every thought is supposed to be an electrical impulse, but I never felt those impulses. I’ve definitely never felt those impulses as pure silver sparks of bliss.

Sizzle… . spark, spark, pop, fizz…

It feels like someone is pouring liquid silver energy all over my brain and it’s crack, snap, and popping everything better. Those words she said, all felt like they were something right out of a masturbation fantasy. Of course they were, she’s me, she knows how to press my buttons, she knew how to make my guard drop enough so she could take advantage of me, but I was still able to resist, I just didn’t want to.

But can I believe I would have sparked her when she was promising to make one of my fondest fantasies come true? I’ll admit I’m not the strongest, but even I should have enough impulse control to resist that, right…?

Sizzle, sizzle, fizz-fizz buzz buzz-zzzzzzap…

I have to resist it though! I need to stay me, I need to stay Silver… I’m not Sarah anymore… I don’ want to be Sarah anymore! The Lady changed that! She made it so I wasn’t just dressing up as Silver Girl. I am Silver! I don’t want to loose that, don’t want…

Fizzle, fizzle, snap snap pop…

“Silver…” Silver… That’s who I am… A voice, reaching through that liquid, that liquid that threatens to tear me apart and make me back to just Sarah, some young thing to be retaught her life… “Silver, wake up!” I need to wake up, I need to… Do something… Not just…

Pop, pop, fizzzzzzz…

That voice, it’s the only anchor my mind can grab to stop itself from floating away… Don’t want to lose my mind… Worked too hard to try and keep it whole… .

Spark, Sizzle, Flash, Fade…

It’s time to wake up.

Whimpering I try to make my eyes work as they flutter back open. Maybe they already were open, but they feel like they’re opening anew so they may as well have been closed. Jade is standing over me, and she helps me stand even if I am just a little wobbly. Without her, my mind would be in Domina’s hands…

I’d just be her little Sarah, which should be more of a frightening thought.

“Damn it Jade, what would I do without you…” I would tell her that I owe her again, but it really feels gratuitous by now. Without her I’d be enslaved six ways to Sunday. I owe her my mind.

“You would fall, and suck, and die.” Jade nods again as she lets her bow lower down from being held at alert. I have no clue where Domina went off to but she’s likely not to come back. Jade probably wouldn’t be able to resist much in the way of sparking by Domina, but she’s one hell of a shot. I don’t think she’d have to be able to resist.

Still… . “You could be a little bit nicer…“ After my body evens out I prop myself against the wall and shudder. Shit. This situation feels like every five seconds something somehow gets infinitely worse. Next I know there'll be two Dominas, three of each of the Slut Squad…

No. No, that sounds too bad even to happen to me, and that's saying something.

Either way… This is still bad. "My sparks won't work on her… Just like caress, those clothes she was wearing, they just made my sparks bounce away." There's no way to tell her just what happened between myself and the Domina. There's no way I can rationalize having done that, having let her use me like that… and I don't want to. It was a slip, it was just a screw up. That must be all. "She said she was me, from the future…"

"The future?" Jade asks slowly, and I'm not sure if it's because she doesn't believe me, or if she just wants clarification. Either would make sense even if the former would hurt like hell. "What do you mean?"

"Domina. She's me…" My whole body is starting to shake. How is a girl supposed to react in a situation like this? I'm not sure if I'm going to pass out or cry. "From the future… Don't know how far, but you saw her, she didn't look that much older than me… She could just teleport, she can time travel, and she can block my sparks! She'll find me again, and I… I can't stop her!"

"… I… I don't know what to tell you…"

Even Jade doesn't know what the hell to do, and she's the sort of heroine I've always wanted to but will never manage to be. It's not very encouraging. My breathing keeps getting quicker, and it feels like the room is tremendously smaller than it really is. Which way lead to this room? The outside is way, way too far away. "What am I gonna do… We need to get out of here, there's probably nothing here anyway I…"

"Okay… I really don't know what to do though…" Jade helps me along, and without her I'd probably lose it and just start screaming and running like an idiot. This is just too much. Everything is just too much and I'm not cut out for it!

The only response I can really give is a nod. My voice is definitely not trustworthy right now. A doppelganger or some sort of evil twin cropping up from the woodwork is one thing. Myself, from the future, comming to take me away to stop me from making the biggest mistake of my life and to become some cute little toy? What the hell could twist me up bad enough to turn into her?! I have to admit though, I aged well…

After a very deep breath I try to respond, and my voice comes out shaky as my breath, but at least it works. "Sorry I got you involved…"

"What do you mean? Why are you sorry? I'm helping you, and if you're right about some kind of reprogramming facility… Well… We need to stop them, don't we? We can't just let them continue doing that." Jade nods in a very sure of herself kind of way and stays close in a way that feels like it's because she's worried I'm about to lose it.

From nowhere Nightshade is walking on my other side, and its a startle enough to make me scream but right now my screams are reserved for Domina, and she's far brighter than the red lipped ninja. She's a bright flash, a shining light… that used to be a shining beacon of hope.

"Yeah… I mean, granted, we do have to stop them, and I know I'm right, but… I don't see how we'll be able to pull it off. No leads. If they can block my sparks, they'll be ready for your bow next time, and they might start using better lighting for our shadowy friend here…" I jerk a thumb at Nightshade and try as I might, I can't hold in the defeated sigh. It's just not possible. "Unless anyone has any ideas, we just have me as bait."

"No. I don't have any ideas, and believe me… I have more than one kind of arrow." Jade smiles and looks even more confident than before.

Even Nightshade is smiling, and something about that almost feels insulting. "And I can hide even in the brightest of light."

"And I'm useless…" There's no other way to really sum it up. There's nothing that makes me a vital part of this effort, or even a useful part of this effort. "She's me, and older, so she knows me well enough to counter anything that I would do… She's immune to my sparks… The Slut Squad is too, which by the way, is what that SS stands for… and I'll be damned if I ever made all that good of a heroine in the first place. So, what the hell are we supposed to do now?"

"First…" Jade's hand pulls back, and I have no clue why until she slams her fist into my shoulder. Ow! That really hurt! "Useless? What the hell kind of thinking is that?"

"Damn it Jade, that hurt!" I grab my shoulder and rub over the bruise I can already feel forming. It doesn't do anything, but an idle motion is better than no motion whatsoever. There are no cues for how to act in a situation like this. None at all. It's true. There's no way little Silver can do a damned thing to help. They'd be better off if Domina had managed to spirit me away.

Maybe we'd all be better off.

"It's logical thinking! I'm more effective when my brain is melted into place!" It would make me upset if it wasn't true, but it is and I'm already way too upset to get any more upset by a truth that's clear enough that I can see it…

"Huh?" Jade blinks, more than a little confused. She doesn't know; of course she wouldn't know. No one outside of Chronos would know, but they all should. Every last damned one of them… "What do you mean?"

An emotional dam can only take too much and this is my damned limit! Everything has been way too much ever since I joined Chronos. I can't measure up with my fellow agents, all of the supers I meet on patrol outclass me a million times… Maybe I should be Sarah again, I'm a disgrace as Silver! "The only way I was able stop that witch Yanta is because The Lady made it so my head would work right! I've never been good at all of this, but I managed to make my due when I wasn't in the big leagues, but now…? My only real victory was only really because my head had been cracked in fifty million pieces, glued back together, and then trained to function under the pressure. I'm not all that brave, I'm not all that tough, and I can't do this!"

Offensive a word as it is I feel hysterical, so hysterical, and m voice keeps getting higher and higher pitched. I try to fight off the tears but they flow on their own even as my arms wrap as tight around me as they possibly can.

"What are you talking about?! Stop that! Stop sobbing!" Jade doesn't have any answers at all, but she still can't let me cry and it's not fair! Her hands grab my arms and pull them away from me, taking away all the false warmth and feelings of protection they had going for them. If she'd hug me after that, it's not like I'd mind but I just… I feel so fucking vulnerable!

"What should I be doing?!" The tears start to stop, which actually makes me angry. How dare she tell me to stop crying! A glare covers up my face and there's no way in hell it's going to leave! "I should have never gone back on patrol! She was right, I'm no good at it anyway!"

Jade looks like she's getting frustrated, and I can't blame her, but it doesn't mean I'm any less pissed off or broken down. "Who was right? God damn it woman! You have a gift, and you want to use it to help people! What's wrong with that?! Going on patrol didn't bring them, they would have gone after you anywhere if they were paid to!"

She's right, of course. God damn it she's right. Domina, oh wait, I hired them to hunt me down, and melt my brains to mush so that I could be retaught and reshaped. Domina can say it's so that she could be the mother I never had all she wants, but there's so much more to it.

None of it is especially good.

"The Lady!" I can't even remember her name… It hasn't been neccesary, and it's not as if I would ever call Her anything else. She calls me Silver, I call her The Lady, that's just how it's worked. "I… I guess you're right… You are right, of course, I just… I don't know…" My tears finally dry up and I just look down, staring at the floor that quickly becomes ground as we move out of the building. I feel so ashamed… "Sorry…"

"What lady? What… are you…" Jade sighs and wraps her arms around me, pulling me close to her in a hug. All of the last of my tears slide down my face as I sniffle and press closer. Her warmth makes me feel safer, but it doesn't make the fear go away. "I know things are bad and all, but they need to be stopped. We'll figure something out, okay?"

There's no way she can know about The Lady… It's just not appropriate conversation, not here out in the open, anyway. "Just… Never mind. It's not important." Limply I reach up and hug her back, nodding along with her words as best as I can. Slowly my breathing is turning back to normal and that's a nice thing to feel. "We'll stop them… I just wish I knew what to do. My sparks bounce off, and seeing in bright light isn't going to be especially helpful, so essentially I'm down to limited fighting prowess. It's not like I have any edges on strength or speed…"

"So I'll watch out for you! Or we'll figure something out. Something… Just don't worry." She holds me so close against her, against her so tightly wrapped up in green like she was some sort of Christmas present body. Nightshade doesn't say a thing and just watches, but that's okay. I'm just basking in this wonderful heat… She really is so lovely and so sweet.

I squeeze her just a little tighter for a moment before loosening my grip and just resting against her. Maybe things can be okay, as long as I stay close to jade. "I don't… You're like a guardian angel in green. That's two I owe you now, three if you count getting me out of that facility the first time… " A smile slowly works its way over my lips before turning into a grin. Not the sort of grin that Domina had, just a happy go lucky sort of grin. "I know a place with great milkshakes!"

"Heh… Sounds great." Jade grins back and the warm feeling that tingles through me is enough to make me want to pin her down right there. Sure, Nightshade and the police officers near their cars might mind, but I could spark 'em a few times and they'd just sit back and enjoy the show!

That was just a joke, but it's sort of scary to think that Domina probably thinks the same things in the same ways and isn't joking at all.

Nightshade is actually telling the officers that the building was empty though, so they would all be in rather short range of each other… "Nightshade, you want to jo…" At first I'm confused as to why the hell Jade cut herself off, but a glance tells it all. Nightshade has disappeared off into the night, to wherever people like Nightshade go.

"Invest in a nail gun to keep her feet down. I'll pay half." At first I just giggle but it breaks into a laugh, and either the stress is getting to me or Jade makes me feel safe enough that I can let myself feel better, if only for awhile. "Any clue what she's up to?"

"No, she just really doesn't go much for 'social' outings." Her grin turns into a smile and if that doesn't make me melt even more… "Lead on silver leader, take me to these wonderful milk shakes!"

"Hmph, all right green thirty six!" A geek and measurement joke as one joke does seem as if it would make the universe explode like matter and antimatter, but lucky for me that doesn't seem to be the case. To try and make sure Jade gets my joke I look over her purposefully and then start to lead off to that diner Silhouette showed me.

It really does have the best shakes.

Jade doesn't say anything though, and it's clear enough by the look on her face that she's definitely confused. "Star Wars reference or something?" Its a hessitant grasp at best but… She tried. That means something. At least she didn't groan.

"Yeah, and a really bad reference to well… your endowments. Sorry, I'm just a little bit rusty on social gatherings with friends who aren't crop dusting my head." It actually is a pretty silly thought. Before I met Dust I'd never had anyone toy around with my head at all, and ever since my whole life has turned into a game of capture the flag with my brain. It's impossible not to laugh at a joke like that.

"You keep saying that, that your friends mess with your head… You worry me Silver. You don't stay with these people, do you…?" She sounds really worried, and it almost makes me feel guilty. She's just being silly and doesn't understand the situation.

"Of course I do! It's perfectly safe Jade. It's just playing. The Lady would never let anything happen to me…" Even if it'll probably only make Jade more worried, a dreamy sigh is impossible to hold back. The Lady has been so sweet to me, and sure, some of her toys might have been trying to turn me into a dust bunny or a pinked up ditz, but she still took care of me, especially during the crisis with Yanta…

Just thinking about it lets me remember how it feels to switch to that sweet, sweet lowercase…

"… Maybe you shouldn't go back there tonight. Let Mystic take another look in your head just in case Silver…" Lucky for us we weren't too far for the diner. More lucky for me I guess. Jade would probably be happier if we were closer to Mystic, but I want a damned milk shake!

Even knowing Jade just doesn't understand, that doesn't stop me from frowning. "Or maybe you should come with me?" I reach out to hold the door open for her and try to lighten up the frown. After all, she said she would look after me, but… I really should go back to Chronos tonight. It'll be ice to sleep in my own bed again. "There's a good chance that I won't remember my own damned name if Mystic starts poking around in there again…"

"Huh? No… She can just look, make sure it's safe…" Jade winces a little as she starts to step in. "I don't like the sound of that… I don't think I'll be going with you Silver, and I don't think you should go back either." Her smile turns sad as she leads me over to a close little booth for two.

For a second I consider explaining it all to her, but that just sounds silly. "I… you just don't understand!" With a huff I sit down and wiggle into the booth to try and get comfortable. "They're my friend… and no, not like I though the Slut Squad were my friends earlier. We're like family… sort of."

"A family of mind thralls?" Her voice is joking, but it still makes me wince. "So what kind of milk shakes are good here?"

"Don't say it like that…" She's right though, and I know it, but the way she says it still sounds sort of mean. So what if we're all sort of owned, it's not as if The Lady treats us like possessions. We're people. Sure, sometimes we're more like pets, but She takes care of us! "All of them are good, but the Oreo one is definitely the best out of all of them I think…"

The waitress comes by, and we both order an Oreo milk shake. It tasted really good the last time I was here after all, so there's no reason why not… "I love Oreo Milk Shakes, they are like heaven in a drink form… and why shouldn't I say it like that? Silver, I'm really worried about you…"

With a weak little laugh that I meant to be stronger I smile brightly in one of those please-let-me-drop-it sort of ways and slump in the booth. I wish that the waitress had been a replicator. You can always hide behind food when you don't want to talk, it's like some sort of magical shield against anger, frustration, and if you eat enough of it you even feel better! Nothing says comfort food like vanilla ice cream and yummy cookies smashed and whirled to perfection. "It's more than just that Jade, it's… I don't know. Really, don't mind me, it's just stress, I must be hormonal or…"

By this point, I'm willing to grab onto any weak excuse I can find.

Jade reaches out and takes my hands into hers. It's a startlingly personal gesture that I hadn't even been hoping for. I feel so silly, she means so much to me and I hardly even know her… but her eyes look so worried in a pure, truly concerned way. "Silver… Silver, i think they're using you like the SS girls were… Let me help you."

I stare at those hands, and then slowly look up to Jade's face. "I… I don't know. I want to talk about this to Her, to Dust, to Pink, but if I do I know I probably won't want to think about this anymore…"

"No… Don't talk to them about it then! Stay here, focus on me. We'll take you to mystic, okay? She can help you. She's very good at it. You won't have to be owned by anyone!"

"What if I like it?!" Everything is so damned confusing! Do I like it because I was made to like it, or do I like it because The Lady made me like it? Did I really always want to be turned into some mind fucked heroine whose kept like some kind of a pet for when my skills are useful?

I don't know what to think. With my head so screwed up, so violated, so twisted, I'm not even sure I can call it mine anymore. And talking to Mystic still runs the risk of tearing my mind to shreds… I don't want to feel that again, never again… "I… I should just go back, I'm sorry Jade, really, I'm just sorry I got you involved in this…"

Jade's hands just tighten on mine. She really doesn't want me to go! She's a heroine, so its probably not personal, but it still makes my heart skip a beat. "No! Stay! Don't go, don't go, please. Don't let them do whatever they're doing. Mystic can help you, or someone else… or… don't go!"

If I don't go back now, will I ever go back? Do I really want to? Even whenever I want to be close to one of them, they always need to be somehow toying with my mind, somehow toying with me.

I care about all of them, from Dust to The Lady, but… "All right. Just… promise you'll stay close. You're the only one who makes me feel safe right now, I'm just so afraid…"

"See? That's good… Just stay with me, we'll stay close, we'll finish our milkshakes and go straight to mystic and we'll get all that bad stuff out of your head."

"Okay, I'll stay with you… She'll be worried though… Even if it all gets cleared out, that won't be the end of it." I know it won't… I know even if Mystic does fix my head, I'll never be able to stop flinching when I see a girl with a lollypop, or pink lipstick, or every time I feel just a little extra bit itchy anywhere. Either way I'm not safe, but I trust Jade… She was there for me after what the Slut Squad did to my head even though I was acting absolutely horrible. Even if that didn't mean anything extra to her, it means a lot to me. "But I don't want them to be my enemies!"

"Silver… if they want to use you… Maybe they should be enemies? They aren't your friends. Don't you understand that? This Pink, this Dust, this… Her… Not your friend. NOT. Your friend." She smiles and nods, as if that's the end of it, but it's not even by a long shot.

"I know I should understand that, but it's… It's all just so confusing! i care about them, I would more if they'd just let me think more when I was around them, but I care. It's not because I was told to. Dust doesn't seem to give a damn about anybody and I doubt that The Lady took any special time on me. I saved so many of their minds and…" With a sigh I bow my head. This doesn't sound very good what with the latest thoughts that have passed through my head. Maybe Mystic knocked something loose in there. "I gave her Silhouette…"

And then she gave her back, as my pretty kitty, collared and waiting for me. She's still back in my room, cute and meowing and likely worried sick about me. A cruel organization would have just killed someone who got in their way, right? "What?! You gave them someone?! What are you talking about? Concentrate, hard. Tell me what this place is!"

I know I should just answer but… "My kitty… I miss her…" Oh, sniffling right now isn't very productive, but it's harder to stop than it sounds. My head hurts so much… . This is wrong. Talking about all of this to Jade is wrong and I know it, but she saved me! She really cares! she's not just pretending!

"Chronos… The lady, she recruits supers. We recruit others, do jobs for cash, you know, training… It's pretty nifty, really. We play all we want, but it doesn't really matter, because in the end, we're all hers…" Saying it out loud makes it sound worse, but it didn't sound that bad before I went out on patrol! It was my life, it was just the way things are! "and it's all perfectly legal… We all sign a huge mess of contracts, signing everything over to her."

"Recruits supers? Chronos… Why haven't I ever heard of this place? Your kitty?" And my pillow, and the last time Pink convinced me to wear her gloves, and Dust's chalky taste… and Her legs, and the clicking of that Newton's Cradle…

All of these images and feelings keep going through my head, like they're laced up with all of my thoughts. It's hard not to flutter my eyes and moan. "Silhouette… I gave her to The Lady, and She gave her back as my kitty… if She didn't want you yet, then you wouldn't know and Mmmm those legs…"

"Legs…? What legs…?" Jade looks so confused… She has really good legs too, well, a great everything really, shapely and pretty with that long flowing black hair. Her worry makes her look even prettier. "Who is this woman?"

"Those legs, Her legs, they're so powerful…" I lean against the table and squirm. My head is swirling, twirling, whirling… "She's The Lady, She's…" Didn't Pink tell me Her name when I still thought Pink's name was Tiffany? What was it anyway…? Maybe if I try really hard I can remember…

"Look… Stop. Stop thinking about those legs or whatever you're thinking about…" It almost sounds like she's begging me, with those kissable lips on her beautiful face, like some sort of avenging angels. Even the curve of her shoulder is perfect.

With a smile I lean in just a little bit closer. If I can't think about that, then Jade can be a yummy place to switch the conversation to. "You're so lovely Jade… Has anyone ever told you just how beautiful you are? You really are…"

"Yeah… people tell me all the time. mostly creepy band guys who have cats, but still, I know…" It's a joke, but I can still tell she's just trying to change the direction of the conversation.

A new topic would be more helpful though.

"I have a kitty, but I'm not a creepy guy, and I'm definitely not bald…" My own joke isn't all that funny but laughter helps me feel better. "It's true though… and you're so skilled and…" Going on dreamily like this is already making me feel better.

Sure, it's embarrassing and she'll probably never want to see me again in her life, but Jade's reactions are much nicer than when Dust would just say "yeah, I know" and hold out her feather duster, or when Pink would just shut me up with a mind numbing kiss, or…

"Silver… It's okay, calm down, I'm not going to let them hurt you. We'll get them out of your head, and then we'll save everyone they've done this to. We'll take Chronos down, and the Slut Squad and everything. This can't go on, okay?" Can she really protect me? Can anyone protect me if we try to take down Chronos? The Lady has more than just recruiters, She could do things worse

Of course, there's no sense in scaring Jade. Maybe she's right. Maybe she can protect me. I'm not so sure… "I'm fine, I'm just fine." Laughter doesn't work to make me look any more fine, but it sounds a lot closer and that even makes me feel better. "I'm not that worried, really, with you here… And no one's really hurt me, so I guess that's something to be thankful for…"

"But they have! If they've twisted your mind like this, if they've made you think things and… You deserve better! You don't deserve to be some pawn or something, Silver! Come on, let's go to Mystic, okay?"

Go to Mystic, and never go back to Chronos… Take down Chronos… It's the right thing to do, and even though this migraine just might kill me it's what needs to be done. "Okay… All right, let's hurry…" If I'm going to be this honest with Jade, I need to tell her everything. There's no holding back now. Rising, I motion over to another booth with a sigh. "I half lured you here for not-so-innocent reasons. That was where I caught Silhouette…"

"Huh?" Jade follows my finger and looks at the booth. "Where you caught her… What were you going to do to me?" She gulps, and I hate knowing I made her so worried or at all frightened of me.

This migraine doesn't quite feel like a migraine anymore… I can almost imagine pink lips smiling against my head, Pink's lips that always made me feels so nice… Legs tightening around my head… Dust swirling…

My teeth close around my bottom lip as I whimper, and try to fight it off. No! Jade is helping me, and she's doing it out of the goodness of her heart! I can't do this to her! Not to Jade! That's the big mistake I made, that Domina came back to fix. It has to be. Silvering Jade and after Jade I'd need to get Mystic, and then Nightshade… I'd wreck the one mind that didn't expect anything out of mine.

I can see that turning me into one sick twisted bitch if it went on long enough, happening again and again and again. Silhouette would be more than just the start of something worse and worse. I can't see The Lady letting me go back to grab myself into the future, but well… Strange things happen? "I was going to deliver you to her… The lighting in here is great, you never would have noticed the sparks under the table until they hut you, and by then…"

"What does your power do…?" That's right, Jade doesn't even know what my sparks do. She saw me create some of them, but she never saw them in action. Hell, even I didn't know the full extent until Windy told me what I was capable of. I just thought they looked pretty and felt good.

"Oh…" My body quivers and it's so hard not to just try and nuzzle against those lovely legs that really are only inside of my mind. Somehow that makes it feel even better. "It feels good… overloads your mind, and makes you feel all silvery inside…"

"Yeah… That doesn't sound like much fun… Come on, we don't need to wait for the milkshakes, okay?" Jade is speaking but I just feel those thighs squeezing my mind, making my brain ooze silver…

"I can feel her… squeezing me and… oh, her smile always made me feel so…" I nod though, I heard, I just… responding to Jade doesn't feel as important.

"Okay… Okay, come on…" Squeezing, squeezing so tight, sweating silver inside of my brain, my mind… So tight… Whispering in such sweet seductive voices, it's impossible to not listen, impossible to steel myself away from how those voices feel in my head, it's like Her, Her power over me, concentrated, in my head… Maybe all of my programming wasn't knocked loose, just got the pause button hit…

Keep her there… seduce her… make her drink the milkshake… make her one of us… take down Chronos? How could you ever dream of it…?

"N-nnno, come on, please, let's drink, please, just… I'll be okay, I'll be okay, promise. I'm just dizzy, just, just dizzy, promise… I've had a stressful day…" It's hard to collect myself and present a clean image but I try. My smile is desperate and I'm shaking just a little but I must look better than I feel… I just have to believe that I look better than I feel, losing against those voices in my head and loving it… "Please, Jade…"

"… . Oh… Kay…" Jade doesn't get up, and she stays just as worried, watching me as our milkshakes are put down on the table…

I sit up, wiggling to look a little taller in so doing, and smile. Calmly. It feels nice to feel calm… My eyes feel a little better, and I grab the milkshake over to sip it for all it's worth. "See? Sorry, just… You ever saw yourself, and almost gotten enslaved by yourself? It makes your head all wonky… Come on, drink up!"

They do taste really damned good.

"No, I can't say I've ever been almost enslaved by myself…" She laughs, but it's a nervous laugh, and that's almost not a laugh at all. "But let's drink quick, i want to get you to mystic, okay?" Those legs tighten around my head again, squeezing… Fingers moving over my brain, thighs holding my mind still… So firmly straddled…

good girl…

I try to keep my squirms to my lower half, that Jade can't see past the table, and start to pop out sparks under the table… but… I don't want to do this! This has to be what Domina didn't want me to do… but She owns me, mind, body, soul, and more… "Promise, you can get it all cleared out…"

"I promise! I'll get your head perfectly clean!" Jade sounds happier as she sips on her drink, and that makes me feel so happy… Seeing her smile makes my chest feel so warm. is this love, lust, a fling? Something else? I don't care, this… I just… "Mmm, this is really good!" My mind is still straddled so tight, so… pinned down against satin sheets inside of my own skull, between Her pretty, firm thighs…

"Oh… Jade, I…" My face can't convey the emotions I'm feeling, the feelings, the horror, the… With a sigh I close my eyes and make the sparks rush forward to her legs… This'll all be over soon, I'll repeat the same mistake Domina made… "I'm so sorry…"

Jade makes a little triumphant sound though, and when my eyes open… She's grinning! Her ankles close on my waist and… Jade's legs were up! She was ready! "Bad Silver!"

I stare at her with wide, almost scared eyes and let my hands drop to grab at her ankels. "What…?" I'll spark her up this way. Either way, with those legs on my mind, it's not as if I really have all that much of a choice! Jade's legs fall away though, resting back on the ground audibly and her bow is out, with an arrow pointed right at my face. "Bad. Silver." I can practically hear the tisk in each word. I feel so ashamed, I just… This isn't my choice!

"I don't want to! I really don't, I swear I don't! I don't, I don't, I don't!" My eyes focus on that arrow, so afraid. She could kill me right here and now and I wouldn't really blame her… maybe she should. "She's in my head, She's… Oh Jade, just… I don't want to betray either of you!"

My mind keeps on oozing silver, mind grinded from between those firm legs, petting my mind, riding it and… "I'm sure…" Her arrow doesn't even quiver, it's perfectly straight…

Oh god I don't want Jade to kill me!

"I don't!" My head feels so fucked up, straddled, oozing out and grinded and… Mmm… "Please Jade, please believe me! You need to, I just… I can't stop! It's so… so strong it's…" I grit my teeth and whimper, sniffling hard as I can. "Put me out, somehow, please!"

"So you want to be out?" My mind is just too straddled, mind being pinned, and its screaming for joy in that sweet pleasure and bliss and goo just dripping and shuddering and covered with mind numbing brain cum that makes it harder and harder and harder to do anything but just let my head lull or… "What do you expect me to do, arrow you unconscious?"

"Oooh, either that or you… Or I'll… Oh…" I lower myself down and nuzzle against the table. It's so cool, it feels so nice against my skin, feels nice to smile… "I'm sorry, it feels so good…"

The arrow quivers, but mmm my mind is doing so much more than quivering… "Don't do it Silver… Don't… Just stop… Relax… We'll go get you fixed…"

"Oh god I don't… but I doooooo and I…" There's only one thing left for me to do, that's not silvering Jade… only one last thing to do. If I fuck it up, I just end up as a pawn, but aren't I a pawn right now? Aren't I just some stupid, silly, ridiculous wannabe heroine who can't even protect herself from herself?

I reach my hands up, and Jade's arrow quivers… but I'm not aiming for her.

I put my hands on either side of my head, and spark. Spark. Spark… Spark!

Shuddering, coating, silver shining and making my brain pulse and quiver and forcing those legs away, forcing them off of my mind as I cry out and moan, head arching up off of the table only long enough to smash back down before everything just melts away into memory…

Spark… Sizzle… Flash…