Nightmares

To say Will Stronghold was worried about his friend was an understatement. It had been three days since Warren Peace had been in school. His mother had said he was ill, and that he was allowed no visitors and no calls, but that seemed strange and suspicious to him.

“I’m sure he’s fine” Layla tried to reassure him as they sat down for gym. It was another round of save the citizen and she watched as two young innocent looking freshmen were pitted against veteran juniors. Upon closer look she realized that one of the freshmen was the girl that Ethan had pointed out as Dominique La’Fer.

The clock started and an uneasy Coach Boomer gave the whistle to begin the exercise. He had no desire to see if the young girl had inherited her father’s powers. If she had, the little game could turn into a room full of mass hysteria.

Cleo Drivis was blessed with the power to create and control water. Her power had earned her a place in the hero classes, but she was unprepared to deal with the superior talents of the two girls they faced. The first was a shape changer, who could manifest as any animal she chose, and the second was a girl with a scream so high pitched she was sure it hurt Coach Boomer’s ears. They made for a near undefeatable adversary, and as the clock ticked by she became aware of what little chance she had to win, since her partner was being no help at all. “Will you just do something already?” She growled at the soft spoken girl who had been standing by passively as Cleo was beaten into the ground time and time again.

Dominique looked up, anger crossing her golden eyes and shrugged, “What would you like me to do?”

“Save the damn citizen! Or at least keep these two busy so I can… You’re in hero placement, don’t you have any powers at all?” She demanded as she was once again slammed into the side of the gym wall by the pure force of the other girl’s scream.

Dominique rolled her eyes and sighed. “Fine, I’ll save you, and the plastic doll.” A pulse emanated from her form, followed by another and another. With each pulse she took another step toward the ‘citizen’ and watched without emotion as all three girls in the arena as well as all the students and faculty crumpled to the floor, grasping their heads and murmuring sounds of terror. Grabbing the doll she yanked it free from the ropes just as it was about to become mulch and walked back to her side of the gym before ending the pulse of fear that radiated from her body.

Will had no idea what had come over him, everything had gone black around him and once again he was powerless as Royal Pain turned his family and friends against him. And then, just as all hope seemed lost, the world came back into focus and he was once again sitting in gym watching save the citizen. It appeared that the heroes had won, as the ‘citizen’ lay on the ground at the young freshmen’s feet. Squeezing his eyes shut he opened them again and became aware of the fact that everyone else also seemed to be waking as if from a dream.

“Heroes win.” Coach Boomer announced, trying to shake the fear from his voice. It would appear that she was cursed with her father’s powers, a walking nightmare ready to reek havoc on the world. Hero or villain, in the end it wouldn’t matter. Her power was an area effect that could never truly be used for good.

***

Warren was barely aware if it was day or night, or if time had passed at all. She was letting him come out of the fog of pain and torment, which wasn’t a good sign.

“Finally awake I see.” She cooed from the end of the bed.

That was when he realized he was laying down. When had she unstrapped him from the chair, when had he moved? He was missing his jacket but other then that still wearing his clothes, which meant she hadn’t taken his body while toying with his mind.

“This room is where your father use to take super heroes who failed to defeat him. It’s much the same as the detention room at Sky High. Here he would torture them until they begged for their deaths.” Claire told him flatly.

“Then why have you brought me here? I have no intention of begging for anything.”

“This will be where your body betrays you. I am still working on your mind, but I have gained a good deal of control over your basic motor functions.”

“I don’t believe you.” He snarled, moving to stand.

“Take your shirt off Warren, lets see if you are built like your father.”

Before he knew what he was doing he’d pulled the t-shirt up over his head and tossed it to the side. The strong chest and abdomen flexing against the sudden chill on his skin. His breath caught in his throat, he had done as she commanded, but he was determined not to do it again.

“The pants too.” She cooed, a smile dancing upon her red painted lips.

His hands went to the front of his ripped jeans and then stopped before undoing the button. His breath was slow and shallow and his jaw was clenched tightly. “No.” He breathed, forcing his hands to fall to his sides.

“No?” She echoed, amazed at the sheer force of will he was demonstrating. “I said take off your pants.”

Again his hand went to the button of his pants and again he stopped before proceeding, his eyes closing he forced himself to take a deep breath and unclench his jaw. “I will not become your puppet or your toy. “

“I see you are going to be a greater challenge then I believed. No matter, it will only take a little more time before you’re completely under my control.”

“Unless I don’t leave this room. Because you can’t use your powers here either.” It was his turn to smirk, dark eyes opening to regard her with loathing.

“That’s why when all else fails… always keep around some muscle.” She snapped her fingers and two very large men, with muscles bulging under there shirts, entered the room.

Warren struggled as they grabbed him by the arms and hauled him off the ground, but he was no match for their raw human strength. That was the problem with being born with super powers, all the normal aspects of life seemed less important.

“Actually, strip him and chain him to the bed. I’ll continue working on his mind after I have had my fill of his body.”

The two men did as they were told, practically ripping the jeans and boxers from Warren before chaining his hands to the bedposts and his feet to the footboard.

Warren had never felt so helpless in his entire life as he did at that moment, he strained against the chains and the links bit into his wrists. He was a 17 year old Virgin, who was about to be raped by a much older woman.

***

Since the incident with ’save the citizen’ Dominique had been given more then just her space, the masses in the halls had parted at her presence. It might have been nice, had it been respect that caused them to part like the red sea, but it was fear. She knew her last few classes where going to be filled with whispered conversations and shifty looks. It hadn’t even been a week and she had made it clear what kind of outcast she would be at a school full of heroes.

Will saw the crowds parting and knew what it meant. Everyone had been talking about her, about what she had done in the gym.

“That’s the same power as her father has.” Ethan had said as the exited the gym. “The power to make people afraid. So afraid that they end up dying.”

“They shouldn’t let people like her into this school.” Magenta stated, still shaken by what she had seen. “I mean think about it, the girl gets upset and the entire school ends up wrapped in a blanket of its own fears and we all end up offing ourselves. An entire generation of superheroes… wiped out cause she has a bad day.”

After everything his friends had said, after feeling uncertainty himself, he was faced with the chance to speak to the girl who had caused so much trouble. “Dominique isn’t it?” He asked, stepping up to walk beside her.

Will Stronghold was speaking to her, she wished she could say she was surprised, she wished she could say she was honored… but she wasn’t. “Can I help you with something?” She asked without amusement.

“Well, yeah… I wanted to ask you about your power.”

“What about it?”

“Is it always so intense?”

She raised a pale eyebrow and regarded him with golden eyes devoid of emotion. “Intense? I barely put any power behind the attack. That was as weak as the fear waves get. If that was intense… I would hate to see how you would deal with my full power.”

Her answer had stunned him into silence and she took that as a cue to continue down the hall toward her class.

***

Warren closed his eyes, trying to will the fire of his soul to burst forth to protect him from the wondering hands of the woman sitting on the bed next to him. “Get away from me.” He spat.

She felt his muscles flex under her touch, his anger kept him flaccid, but she wasn’t worried about what lay between his legs at the moment. “It would have been so much easier on you if you had just done as I had commanded instead of fighting against my control on you.”

“You will never have control over me. You will be stopped.”

“What? By your little friend Will? Or maybe his mommy and daddy will come to your rescue.” She laughed. “No one even knows you’re missing. Anyone who goes looking for you is told you are sick and cannot have any visitors.”

He paled and then renewed his struggle to free himself.

“But now it’s time to play another game Warren. It’s called pleasure me or suffer.” Her voice was a soft purr as she pulled a small stun gun from her pocket. Pulling the trigger a blue spark of electricity jumped and shuddered from the metal prongs.

Warren swallowed hard. “Give it your best shot. I’ll never give in to you.”

“So brave… and so foolish.” The metal prongs touch his skin just below his navel causing his body to raise from the bed.

He bit back a cry of pain, and squeezed his eyes shut to hold back the tears that threatened to roll down his cheeks.

“Still being defiant are we?” She asked, the electricity running through him again at his inner thigh. “I think you’ll know where I plan on hitting you next.”

He again had to bite back a cry of pain, his body was shaking and the idea of being shocked again was almost terrifying. But he couldn’t give into her, no matter how much pain was inflicted on his body or how badly she tore at his mind. He couldn’t betray his friends, he couldn’t be weak when they needed him to be strong. “When I get out of this room I’m going to roast you alive.”

The stun gun touched his most sensitive area and he couldn’t hold back the cry of anguish that tore from his chest . But with the pain came blackness, sweet bliss that meant she wouldn’t be able to continue his torture.