Chapter 2

I looked down at Killer Clown, actually Connie Dee, 26 yr old white female, 5’ 8” in height and a solid 140 lbs. She was strapped to a chair in the middle of the holding cell, naked and washed clean of makeup. Her breasts were a perky B cup and the hair on her pussy was dyed a distracting hot pink and orange to match the hair on her head.

“Carpet has to match the drapes you know.” She piped up with a smile as she saw where I was looking. It wasn’t the first thing she had said but it was consistent, she didn’t care that she was naked and restrained in a bare room. It was just another Tuesday to her apparently.

“Sooooo, what is this place?” she asked politely. “I’m not getting jail vibes and it sure isn’t Marhak unless they changed the admissions program. Is this one of those new ‘boot camp’ things I heard of because if so I want some kick ass boots.”

The two armed guards standing behind me were silent, intimidating in their anonymity, at least to me but obviously not to her. I was wearing a lab coat and making notes on a clip board, playing the stereotypical role of the psychologist sent to analyze the mental patient. The clip board was covered in pointless scribbles as I used the distraction to try to work through her surface thoughts and emotions.

‘He’s kinda cute for a guy, maybe I won’t mess up his face.’ I heard in my mind. ‘Wait until he approaches and kick him to the left. Spin to intercept the guard on the right when he moves to catch him and break his foot with the chair leg... ‘ It went on, scenario after scenario of how she was going to kill us like she was writing a grocery list. I probed deeper but the sound of the circus I encountered last time I was in her head blocked any further sensation. The interesting thing was that there was no anger, no animosity in her, just purpose. She just wanted to kill every man she encountered, I needed to figure out why.

I stepped forward and to the side, avoiding the kick that she had planned. ‘Dammit, cute and smart.’ She thought. I reached down to take her wrist just behind the cuff that held her arm pinned to the steel chair. On the pretense of taking her pulse I slid into her mind.

The circus was there, as chaotic and frenzied as I remembered. Lights flashed, bells rang, thoughts represented by faceless people rushed back and forth aimlessly. There was no flow, no structure, even the carnival games were scattered at random. I masked my appearance, faceless like the rest and moved through the chaos. There was one recurring theme, everything was related to violence. The target shooting game used a real machine gun, spraying bullets and destroying the booth only to have it re-appear intact as I approached. The water shooter used a flamethrower instead and exploded in a bonfire of heat then resumed its normal appearance only to do it again. Each stall was occupied by a man barking at the crowd, and each man had the same face.

He was about 30yrs old but looked older, his face creased with frown lines and stubbled with several days growth. His clothes were dirty, a work man’s clothes, and his voice was hoarse and rough. ‘Come try your luck, its about the only thing you are good at.’ He grunted aimlessly ‘Give it a shot, it’s not like you have anything worth losing.’ I moved over to the big top tent and joined the surge of faceless thoughts pushing inside. The same man was there as the ring leader, using his whip to force sad animals through their acts and bellowing curses and threats with the same hoarse gravelly voice. A tiger snarled at him but was beaten down by several other versions of him with clubs until it rolled on the ground crying in pain. A bear shuffled along pushing a ball, ignoring the lash of the whip as if he was unable to react to anything anymore. The chaos of the crowd ignored the act, swirling around aimlessly but staying well clear of the three rings where the ringmaster held sway.

This isn’t what I wanted, this is who she was and I need to find out what made her like this. I left the tent and moved to the edge of the carnival, where the shadows were lingering. I saw a light through the window of a trailer, not bright and flashing but yellow and warm. I walked over and heard muffled shouting coming through the thin metal walls.

‘How the fuck am I supposed to eat this shit!’ I recognized the rough voice and glanced in the window. He was there, sitting at a small table yelling at a scared woman as he swept a plate off onto the floor. ‘I have been working all day and you have been sitting on your ass in this fucking trailer and this is the best you can come up with?’ He stood up and the woman flinched, not moving but just stiffening for the blow she knew was coming. A loud slap and a soft suppressed grunt of pain as I expected. What I didn’t expect was when the blows continued. A brutal beating on the helpless woman who took it as quietly and passively as the bear in the big top tent did. When he was done and the body was lying bleeding on the floor he called out.

‘Connie, you had better be ready. Your show starts in 10 minutes.’ He yelled and I saw Killer Clown walk out from the back of the trailer. It was Connie Dee alright, dressed as a circus clown very similar to the outfit she wore when we took her down. Her hair was in two pig tails, half orange half pink, and she was in full clown makeup. She walked through the small trailer, not purposefully or quickly but in a normal pace as if nothing had happened. She looked down at the woman lying on the floor, then lifted her hand. A gun appeared and she screamed a scream of pure fury and shot the man in the forehead.

Nothing happened, a hole appeared in his head but he remained standing then stalked over to where she stood and backhanded her hard across the face. ‘You had better make them laugh, make them laugh until they puke understand?’ he grunted.

‘Sure dad, you can count on me’ she replied in a perky voice and she stepped over her mother’s bleeding body and headed out the door.

I pulled out and stepped back, only a few seconds had passed in the real world but I now understood somewhat why she was who she was. Connie Dee was killing men because she couldn’t kill her father, at least not in her mind. So, what do I do with this? How can I make her not want to kill her father and correspondingly not want to kill any other men she meets? I wasn’t being altruistic, she could sit here until she rotted for all I cared. Dan was the one who wanted a double payday which meant I needed to make Killer Clown useful somehow, make her marketable.

Shortly after I sat in the lounge, nursing a coffee as I tried to turn the situation over in my mind then looked up at Xin and Grace came in.

“Ben, when did you get here?” Xin blurted with exaggerated surprise, trying to pretend that nothing had happened last night and she was surprised to see me. Grace glanced at her, then at me, then frowned her now usual disapproving look. She had been an investigative reporter when we first met and knew full well what Xin thought of me. The charade didn’t fool her at all, but she ignored it for Xin’s sake.

Xin dashed over and hugged me, surreptitiously flicking her tongue over my ear. She was wearing her usual athleisure outfit of leggings, runners and a sports bra with a running jacket zipped up halfway. Her hair was in a ponytail and her lack of makeup made her look even younger if it was possible. She plopped down beside me and snuggled up, cuddling my arm.

“Whatcha workin’ on? Whatcha thinking Brain Boy?” she blurted in her usual machine gun staccato voice. Fuck, that’s it. I’m getting business cards with the name Mesmer on them before this gets too out of hand.

I sighed. “I’m trying to figure out Killer Clown. Her mind is a three-ring circus, literally and I can’t think what to do with it.” I replied. “There’s too much chaos in there to even begin trying to fix it.”

“Why not give her an injector collar like mine?” Xin chirped up helpfully. “This little beauty really works for me, thanks to you.” She stroked the leather choker that circled her neck, gently touching the small injector box. Xin suffered from ADHD to the power of 100. Her mind ran as fast as her body and she was constantly fighting to keep her thoughts in order. The drug injector box that I had used to keep her metabolism from burning out the sedative needed to capture her had an added benefit of slowing her mind down to a manageable level. She didn’t hate it, she loved me for giving it to her.

“Killer Clown is not you.” I said patting her knee. “You were able to focus your thoughts when you needed to and wanted to get better. She doesn’t, she thrives on the chaos.”

Another reason was because Xin was a mathematical genius and worked at solving problems that would have otherwise required a supercomputer. She gave Dan a fully legal income stream, and therefore had value. I don’t think Dan was up for some charitable mental health intervention without some form of compensation.

Grace snorted disdainfully. “I guess mind control is good for something after all.”

Xin shot her a look, partially of confusion and partially of pity, missing the biting sarcasm completely. “He’s not controlling my mind, he fixed it. I wish I could show you.”

I thought popped into my head, maybe this was a way I could get Grace off of my back. “Well, actually we can. I can bring Grace in and you can show her your garden if you want.”

Xin clapped her hands girlishly like she had just been invited to a party. “Oh that’s great. Please Grace, let me show you. It’s so beautiful.”

Grace looked apprehensive, but Xin’s pleading won her over and she agreed. We joined hands and I pulled Grace’s consciousness into Xin’s mind. Grace gasped as she looked around at Xin’s mindscape. Picture Tokyo, Beijing, New York and Calcutta all at once. Thoughts wandered quickly and purposefully, but there were so many that the overall effect was chaos. Trains, cars, busses, planes, everything flew past at high speed and Grace pulled close to me to avoid being swept away in a raging river of consciousness.

‘Is this how she lives?’ She exclaimed in shock as she stared around at the barely organized chaos?

‘Xin’s mind moves as fast as she does. It has to in order for her to be able to run at the speeds she can, unfortunately unlike her body it doesn’t slow down. She was always on the edge of flying apart as one thought tumbled over the other.’ I replied, taking her hand and leading her through the crowd to the edge of a hazy bubble nearby. ‘That’s why I gave her this.’ We stepped through the bubble and were suddenly at the edge of a Japanese Zen garden. A stream trickled past grassy banks, overhung with shady trees. Bees and butterflies flew through the air, alighting on flowers of all different colours and sizes. Grace ducked as a humming bird buzzed her head and I heard Xin laugh. She was sitting on a wooden bench next to a colourful glass hummingbird feeder that was surrounded by darting, colourful birds.

‘Sorry, sometimes they get protective when stray thoughts slip past the barrier.’ She said with a giggle and waved us over.

Grace and I followed a manicured gravel path and settled ourselves on the bench beside Xin. Grace looked around in wonder at the peaceful beauty of the garden, then at the hazy outline of the city beyond the barrier. ‘So this is what you mean by your oasis.’ She said somewhat breathlessly.

‘Yes, Dan says the injector slowed my mind down enough for me to be able to create it. He helped me manage it, taught me how to design it and even expand it a bit. It’s my favorite place in the whole world and it’s thanks to him.’ She replied, then pulled herself up to kiss me on the cheek.

The kiss lingered and her hand slid over my thigh to rub my crotch. She pushed herself up off of the bench and stood before me, her eyes looking at me hungrily. Her outfit shimmered, shifting from her leggings and sports bra to the white negligee she wore last night. It shifted again, a familiar sexy schoolgirl outfit, then a set of fishnet stockings heels and a corset, finally into an elegant blue and silver gown with her now long hair in a fancy updo. She looked like an Asian version of Tina Stane and she had grown as well, standing at least 6’ tall.

‘Ben, let me thank you again. I have loved your body, now let me love your mind.’ She murmured in a husky voice as she leaned down, long dangling earrings swinging as she seductively pressed her lips against mine.

‘Uh, I would love it, but we have company.’ I murmured around her probing tongue, and she stood up quickly flushing with embarrassment. Her image quickly shifted again and she now looked like an awkward teenager who had been caught trying on her big sister’s sexy clothes.

‘Oh crap, sorry Grace. I’m not used to having other people here with me besides Ben.’ She stammered.

Grace shot me an angry look. ‘Don’t apologize. I know how hard it can be to control yourself when this asshole is in your head.’ She said scathingly.

Xin started, her head twitching in response to Grace’s tone. ‘Wait, what? You think he did this to me, that he is making feel like this?’ Xin’s mental image grew again and was suddenly clothed in her original Hummingbird costume of an iridescent body suit and visored helmet. She stormed over to where Grace sat on the bench and loomed over her in anger.

‘Ben saved me, he saved my life!’ she snapped. ‘You have no idea how hard it was, just having a conversation with you, just trying to be normal. You saw what my mind was like, imagine living that every day. Ms Stane tried to help but it didn’t work, I couldn’t focus long enough.’ She looked over at me and smiled. ‘Ben brought me here, gave me this. Yes, it wasn’t his intention at first, but he didn’t need to stay or help me anymore after he brought me in. But he did, he taught me how to come here whenever I needed to, and not just with drugs. I can have peace anytime, hell I haven’t even needed to dose myself in weeks.’ She turned back to Grace, glaring at her. ‘I don’t know what he did to you, but don’t you dare accuse him of hurting me!’ I reached out and took her hand and she jumped a bit. ‘Xin, look around. Don’t bring anger here.’ I swept my arm to encompass her garden. The trees were wilting like they were in a drought, flowers hung limp on their stalks as the stream dried up and the hummingbirds darted around frantically in fear.

Xin gasped, then closed her eyes and took several deep calming breaths. The garden sprang back as she forced herself to calm down, but when she opened her eyes they still flashed with anger. ‘Get out, get out and don’t come back.’ She growled to Grace through gritted teeth.

Suddenly we were back in the lounge, sitting on the sofa. Only seconds had passed in the real world but the mood had changed like a badly written soap opera. Xin leapt to her feet and stormed out of the room without looking back. Grace started after her, then looked back at me angrily and turned to leave through another door. Shit, why was this my fault again.

I sat in the hot tub, trying to figure out how I could get past Killer Clown’s chaotic mind and also what I was supposed to do about Grace. Why was it my fault? Well, of course it was my fault but that’s nothing new. Why did Tina insist that I fix something that was so completely broken. The intercom beeped beside me.

“Ben, can you please join me in the briefing room?” I heard Tina say through the speaker.

A few minutes later and I walked through the door and froze. The room was full of people, many of whom I recognized as the hired guns Dan employed as muscle for his snatch teams. I noticed two of the women who were with us when we nabbed Killer Clown and a chill ran up my spine stopping at a still sore spot between my shoulders.

“Another target already? I haven’t even made any progress with the last one.” I stammered in what I hoped was an annoyed tone.

“No target yet Ben. I asked you here on behalf of them.” Tina replied and stepped aside to allow a tall muscular man to take her place. I recognized him, Brad, Brett, something like that. He was the Dan’s chief of security and head of the group. I craned my neck to meet the gaze of his hard grey eyes. He was in his early 50’s but didn’t look a day over a very fit 40, with a close-cropped greying beard and full head of hair. His build was not as massive as some of the others but there was no doubt he could have turned me into a pretzel without breaking a sweat.

“Mr. Comber, I asked Ms. Stane to call you here so we could thank you.” He said in a strong voice.

“Uhhhhhh” I muttered in reply.

A woman stepped forward, lean but with broad shoulders and well muscled arms. Her brown hair was in a ponytail and I struggled to keep my eyes off of her tits that pushed against the dark t-shirt she wore. “Wait, I know you. You were the medic on the last job.” I exclaimed.

“Yes, and thanks to you Sharon pulled through.” She said and extended a hand.

“Sharon, the one who was stabbed? She’s alive?” I replied, awkwardly shaking her hand after she took mine in a strong grip.

“She will have a hell of a scar and need to wear turtlenecks for the next little while, but at least she will be able to do it.” She said with a smile, clasping my hand in both of hers and pumping it quickly.

Brett, that was his name, clapped me on the shoulder. “And I don’t have to tell her son that his mom is not coming home so I owe you thanks for that.”

“Wait, son?” I blurted and he laughed a short barking chuckle.

“Yes, we do have lives outside of this compound you know. I have a daughter who lives with her mom, but I am taking her to Disneyland on my next leave rotation. Thanks to you, Sharon will also have that chance.”

He stepped back and put his arm around my shoulder as he motioned to the welcoming but still scary faces behind him. “We get paid well to do what we do, and part of expectation of that pay is we may be expected to die doing it. Each of us accepts that, but it’s not often that the VIP we are working with goes out of their way to help us. Usually it is considered ‘collateral damage’ at best and most of the time an ‘unexpected operational expense’.”

I looked at all of the faces, male and female and realized I had seen most of them before. My usually perfect memory flashed them up now that I wasn’t surprised and terrified, but I had never really considered them as people. “Uhhh, thanks but I didn’t really do anything.”

“No, you saved her life.” The medic said, Dawn, that was her name. “She was bleeding out and would have been gone in seconds if you didn’t slow down her heart. Then you told Ms. Rodriguez to evac her which saved her even more trauma because we didn’t have to drag her down the stairs. When we got to the van, Ms. Stane authorized the dust off from the helicopter on standby and we got her to the hospital.”

Tina walked up and handed me a small box. “As a token of their gratitude they got you this.”

I turned the box over in my hands, looking for a lid. It was a solid shiny black block, about the size and weight of a deck of cards but with no visible edge or hinge. Just a heavy block of shiny black plastic, metal? I couldn’t figure out the material.

“Uhhhh, thanks.” I murmured confused and Tina gave a small chuckle.

“Put it in your pocket, you breast pocket would be best.” She said and I complied, sliding it into the pocket of my jacket.

“Now, tap it and say ‘Oh Shit’” she continued as she stepped back with a smug grin on her face.

“Oh Shit.” I said as I gave the block in my pocket a double tap. Then I gave a startled squawk of surprise as it exploded in a cloud of black glitter. The glitter then began to move, sliding over my chest and up my neck like a million tiny black spiders. I scrambled back, batting at the swarm and I am not ashamed to admit squealing like a scared girl.

“Relax, they are nanobots.” Tina called out and within seconds I was wearing a tight fitting black vest with a high collar. I looked down, the vest may as well have been made of spandex the way it moved with me, wrinkling and flexing like a tight fitting sweater.

“Now?” Brett asked, then when Tina nodded he pulled out his pistol and shot me.

I staggered back like I had been punched hard. My breath whooshed out and I clutched at my chest where I expected to feel blood spurting out. Instead, there was just a sharp pain and I pulled away a flattened bullet, held fast by the material of the vest.

“It is proof against anything up to an assault rifle, and knives as well.” Tina said somewhat proudly, plucking the misshapen hunk of metal from my shaking fingers. “Now, tap it again and say ‘I’m Safe’”

Slowly I tapped my chest and said “I’m Safe” and the nanobots quickly flowed back into my pocket and reformed the small block shape. “Oh Shit” I said, tapping it again and the vest re-formed. I looked it over wide eyed, then glanced at Tina waving my hand over my crotch. “Can it be a bit longer?”

The room erupted in laughter and Tim pulled me into the crowd. People shook my hand and patted me on the back, uttering words of thanks and other comments as they introduced themselves. When the introductions were done Tim told me that they were going to have a celebration at the pool house tonight and invited me to attend. Given my belief that it’s always a good idea to be friends with people with guns, I accepted.

Later that evening I was sitting on a sofa in the pool house. It was set up like a small bar and was crowded with dangerous people drinking and talking in a language I barely understood. Both men and women filled the room and spilled out onto the patio, drinks in hand chatting and enjoying themselves. Dawn the medic was beside me, wearing jeans and a form fitting t-shirt, her short brown hair held back by an athletic headband. Tim sat in a chair at the end of the coffee table and Grace sat in another beside him. She had been invited given her role in saving Sharon and looked beautifully overdressed in her sun dress and sandals, not that she looked at me at all. Across from me was another woman from the job to catch Killer Clown, Emily I had learned her name was. She was sporting an impressive shiner and bruise on her cheek from where she had been punched in the final seconds of the struggle. She winced as she took a pull of her beer.

“Looks like it hurts.” I said awkwardly, not knowing how to talk to this crowd.

She smiled, “I’ve had worse.” She pulled up her sleeve to show a large bandage wrapped around her forearm. “I’m just glad that bitch didn’t give me rabies. Still, I’m better off than Janet. She has her jaw wired shut after that kick. Whatever you do to that whack job, please make sure it hurts.”

I nodded in reply, not sure what to say then she pushed herself up from her chair as she drained her drink. “Now, if you’ll excuse me there is a drink and a Tylenol calling my name.”

She had just left when someone else plopped themselves down across from me, banging their beer bottle on the table. “So, you’re the ‘Brain Boy’ right?” She said in a loud brash voice.

Fuck business cards, I was getting a shirt with ‘Mesmer’ printed on it. Maybe Tina could add it to the vest.

I looked up at her and felt Dawn tense beside me. She was large, at least 6’ tall with broad shoulders and close-cropped hair. Her face was strong and square with almost no makeup and she wore a loose t-shirt and comfortable pants. Butch was the best way to describe her, she could be Brett’s twin sister.

“Alright, hit me.” She continued, not waiting for a reply.

“What?” I asked, somewhat surprised a the brusque treatment.

She took along pull from her drink, emptying the bottle. “Hit me, make me cluck like a chicken, forget how to us a chair, speak fucking French, whatever.”

She put her empty bottle down with a bang and reached across the table. With a schoolyard bully flourish, she picked up my scotch and downed it in one shot banging the glass down beside her empty bottle. “Do your worst.” She said with a cocky grin.

I glanced over at Brett who just shrugged and leaned back in his chair. I leaned forward, taking her hand in mine then cupping it in my other hand affectionately. “How about I do my best instead.” I murmured seductively as I gently kissed her fingers.

She snorted and rolled her eyes, and with that distraction I dove into her mind. I slid right into her subconscious, finding her image of the ideal partner. Surprisingly, it was a man and I morphed her image of him and me until we matched in her mind. She gasped in shock, her eyes widening and pupils dilating with arousal as her dream man now sat across from her.

I followed that arousal to her strongest fantasy and brought it to life in her mind. I was standing, in a tent? The air was hot and dusty with the smell of diesel and sewage drifting through it. Outside there were muted voices and engines, a helicopter buzzed overhead. It looked like Iraq or Afghanistan, or any other shithole I made sure I was rich enough to never have to visit.

She was standing in front of me, wearing a sports bra and practical underwear. Her hair was longer, brushing her shoulders in dirty blonde waves and her tits had swollen to porn star size and firmness. Her figure was still powerful, but much more curvaceous than in reality, but hey this was her fantasy.

“Don’t worry Scott, she won’t find out. And by the time I am done with you, you won’t care if she did.” She said in a firm commanding voice.

“I don’t give a shit what she thinks.” I replied in her mind. “I just don’t know what I was waiting for all this time.”

She reached out and took me by the shoulders, pushing me down on an aluminum camp cot. My shirt and pants disappeared just like her bra and underwear, but oddly we still both wore our combat boots. My cock had assumed porn star proportions and was already rigid as a flagpole by the time she moved to straddle me. There was no seduction, no foreplay, this was just two people snatching a rare moment of privacy to fuck like animals. She climbed on and started riding me going from 0 to 60 in two seconds. I reached down with my mind and stimulated her pussy in the real world, tweaking the nerves to match what she was doing in her mind.

“Uunnnnggggg” she moaned, her eyes sliding half closed and her hand tightening in my grip. In her mind she bounced on me hard enough to make me thankful the aluminum cot was a mental construct because I was sure a real one would have broken. “Fuck me Scott, fuck me with that cock of yours.”

“Oh my God Chantal, oh my fucking God!” My voice said in reply as my hands reached up to grab and squeeze her massive tits. She bucked and ground her hips on my crotch, moaning and groaning as she did. Those moans and groans came out of her mouth for real as I made her feel everything that was happening to her in her mind.

Suddenly the scene changed, we were now in what looked like a jungle on a bed of ferns. The air was hot and humid and sweat popped out on my body in response. I was taking her from behind now, and harder than I had ever done in my life.

“Harder, harder, fuck me like you mean it.” She growled and I was sure my pelvis would crack if this was the real world. I reached down to grab her hair but my hand passed through it, that isn’t what she wanted. Instead I got a good grip on her hips and pulled her back as I thrust my massive cock deep inside her hot pussy.

“Yeah, just like that, shove that cock inside me.” She moaned as she looked back with lust filled eyes.

I pulled out of her fantasy, she didn’t need me there anymore. Instead, I focused on dialing up her arousal. She wailed and howled as I stimulated her ass and pussy as well as her tits, flooding her with pleasure. I glanced up and saw that we had gathered an audience, everyone in the bar was crowded around watching Chantal moan and groan in her chair. Some were amused, some were shocked, many had expressions of smug satisfaction.

“Aaaaahhhhhh” she wailed, slapping the table with her free hand and dragging her nails across the polished surface. Her chair creaked as she squirmed her powerful body in response to my mental stimulation, acting out what she was going through in her mind. “Nnnnnggggghhhhhh” she moaned.

Alright, time to end the floor show. I pushed her to orgasm and her mind exploded in flashes of light. She threw her head back and wailed, a long continuous scream of ecstasy. I dragged her orgasm out, pumping her again and again until her lungs were empty, her mouth gaped soundlessly emitting only strangled squeaks. Finally she collapsed, her head falling to the table with a thud as she gasped for breath.

I released her hand, gently laying it down on the table and leaned back with a smile on my face. Dawn reached out and put two fingers on Chantal’s neck to check her pulse, then laid the back of her hand on her flushed face. She looked over at me then stood up, cocking her thumb back over her shoulder. “The line starts here ladies.” She announced and the bar exploded in laughter.

“Thanks, I’m here all week. Don’t forget to tip your servers.” I called out, then leaned over to tap Chantal firmly on the head. She looked up from the coffee table, her eyes slowly swimming in to focus as she wiped drool off of her chin with the back of her hand.