Richard Reardon marched through the lab, hearing the soft padding of the hypnotized, girl's footsteps echoing behind him.
Rachel Roth (aka Raven) had proven a much tougher nut to crack than Starfire had. Even now, she still wasn't completely bent to his will, but two hypnotic inductions had gotten him this far. Now all that remained was to get her into a sensory conditioning tank and she would become a masterful work of art like all of the lovely ladies before her. Like her New Tirans companion, Rachel was very powerful, both physically and mentally, who tried to arrest him, but was captured and brainwashed, along with Stargotr. Both girls, helped Richard capture the crown jewel, for his organization, Cassie Sandsmark, aka Wonder Girl and the daughter of Zeus.
But as he led her towards the sensory conditioning area of the lab, it begged the question. Just how hard would it be to sway this Casie , to his side? Cassie was exponentially more difficult than Raven and Starfire. Requiring an ambush of drugs, covert hypnotic inductions, reinforcement, and still she resisted him to the last. It stood to reason that Cassie, would be near impossible without some kind of weakness he was yet unaware of.
Once he and Cassie, that she had been drugged and strip completely naked, arrived at the sensory conditioning tank, he invited the girl inside. "Step inside the water, Cassie. You'll find it the most comfortable spa experience of your life. Of that, you have my word."
"Yes, Mister Reardon." Cassie answered with a soft smile, enjoying the suggestion of a spa as she climbed the steps and slowly lowered herself inside of the tank. Her movements were sluggish, as expected of a girl who had fought and lost against a barrage of drugs. There was no fight left.
Before Reardon could press the button to begin the sensory conditioning process, there was a loud, obnoxious clearing of the throat behind him. He turned to see the annoyed look on the face of his partner, Robert Carver.
"John, before you begin your little pet project, may I have a word with you in the office?"
Reardon sighed, annoyed by the increasingly frequent interruptions and questions that his associate had been raising since the moment Alex's identity had been found. For weeks it had been more whining, more questions, more cowardice.
"By all means, Robert. Cassie, just shut your eyes...and enjoy the water. Feel the temperature rising...feel the steam around you beginning to gather and just relax."
He watched with satisfaction as Jade obeyed his suggestions with a dreamy little grin. Easy enough for a drugged mind to accept positive suggestions and let her imagination take her on a journey. The real work would have to wait.
As the two men left the laboratory, they were followed obediently by Starfire, who was the shining example of everything that Reardon strived to create in his pawns. Absolute obedience without thought, morals, embarrassment, or even memory. She did everything he told her to do without question, as evidenced by the sexy, demeaning wardrobe she was currently wearing on Reardon's orders.
"Are you crazy, John?!" Carver spat as he shut the door to the lab. "Another another one of the Teen Titans and also the daughter of Zeus?. I thought the goal was just to make her forget about anything that might lead back to us and let her go!"
"Robert, I've had just about enough of your naysaying. Throughout the Western Techtronics ordeal, you've been questioning my decisions."
"John, I mean no disrespect, you know that. We've been partners in this a long time, and you know that the way you build something that lasts is brick by brick. This whole thing with the Teen Titans, girls seems like a personal vendetta."
"Personal?" Reardon asked. "I've never met any Teen Titans before. How could it be personal?"
Carver adjusted his glasses after shaking his head at his long-time associate.
"Just because the Titans sent one agent to spy on us doesn't mean you need to take over each of the women that not only work for them now but have EVER worked for him. We've gotten this far by gathering and programming women that are unaffiliated with one another and cover our tracks. Slowly. You've had your foot on the gas pedal for weeks now. We succeeded in pulling off the Titans asault. Brainwashing Raven and Starfire,. was one thing, they were an asset to help us get that particular job done. What purpose does Wonder Girl or anyone else in the Titans serve?"
Reardon stood silent for a moment. His cold expression reflected his consideration of Carver's words, calculating his next five moves in the game of chess he had been playing this entire time.
"All I'm saying is that we've been really careful up to now. We've kept things strictly business with our clients and the liabilities they want us to remove. Please don't go on a power trip with these girls and start getting reckless.
"You're right, Robert. As usual, your voice is a good counterweight. I'll always need a reliable partner in this endeavor. Starfire?" He asked the beautiful redhead behind Carver.
"Yes, Mister Reardon?" her empty voice answered, her blue eyes staring vacantly at Reardon with complete surrender and obedience from countless brainwashing sessions. Truly his greatest work of art.
"I think you're long due for a promotion. Kill Mister Carver for me. Please."
"Yes, Mister Reardon..."
The spectacled man's eyes shot as wide as saucers as he quickly glanced back at Darlene.
"John, no! Wai-ugh!" He wailed as the enthralled assassin immediately contorted herself like an acrobat, taking him down to the ground and breaking his neck with a sickening crack. The whole display of the pretty, woman was juxtaposed by the frightening efficiency that she carried out Reardon's command.
Starfitr made sure that her prey stopped moving before rising back to her feet, adjusting her toga and gazing back up at the man who owned her, mind, body and soul.
"You did very well, Starfire." Reardon smiled at her. "Robert did prove useful in the development of the technology we have here, but I've long grown tired of his lack of vision. You, I think...will serve as a much more able-bodied partner than he has been of late." From now on, your name is Rivka, do you understand.
"Yes Master..." Rivka answered blankly.
"No more loaning you out as an assassin. The Titans and the Justice League are replenishing my ranks quite nicely with the lovely women in their employ, and soon we'll have his whole agency under my control as a dummy corporation. No, from now on, you will be my personal bodyguard here at the lab. And if I need any alternative perspective or opinions, you will give them. A good partner needs a personality, so I'll be sure to install an appealing one in your mind later, once we've performed our work on Miss Powers."
Reardon smiled at his puppet, donning his lab coat and preparing to go out to the lab to begin Cassies's programming.
"For now, Rivka, dispose of Robert's body."
"Yes sir." she robotically turned towards the corpse, ready to perform her duty.
"Oh and Rivka?"
"Yes Mister Reardon?"
"From now on, you will always refer to me as Master. Do you understand?" He commanded with a wry smile.
"Yes, Master." she obeyed, unpausing and dragging the body by the arm.
As Rivka and Robert Carver's body left his sight, Reardon let out a slight chuckle.
"Perhaps I am on a bit of a power trip, Robert. But why should I not enjoy the fruits of my labor? A man must enjoy his work, after all." He whispered as he entered the lab, gazing at the motionless, form of Cassie as she sat, completely naked and docile in the sensory conditioning tank.
While it was true that the beautiful blonde was deeply hypnotized and under his control, she might have snapped out of her trance at the sight of the cold-blooded murder that just took place, so it was for the best that she hadn't seen it.
But intime, lovely Cassie would be just as obedient and eager to kill on his behalf as Rivka and Rachel were.
Reardon operated the machinery connected to the pod Cassie rested in. Suddenly the lab, once so quiet that a Pindrop could be heard, sprang to life with sounds and colors centered upon the sensory conditioning tank that his newest acquisition rested within.
"Cassie, my dear. Open your eyes and listen to my voice...always listen only to my voice."
The blonde woman's eyes fluttered open, still wide and glassy from the trance she remained in.
An equally dressed figure stepped to Reardon's side, and he turned his head in modest surprise to see Linda Danvers, aka Supergirl, who he had previously left sleeping standing up in a deep, meditative trance several minutes ago.
"Master...may I watch?" she asked in a sleepy monotone, turning to see her friend in the water tank. "I promise to not remember...I just want to watch you save my friend like you saved me..."
"Of course, Linda." Reardon grinned at the eager obedience shown by the girl. Perhaps she might be able to further assist in the process of breaking Cassie completely to his programming.