The boots of my power armor clank and thud against the concrete floor . I take a hit from my cannabis vape and let the vapor curl out of my mouth , getting entangled in my face mask and twisting into the air , vanish . Mentally , i check my right and left . My wings , made of titanium-carbon alloy and welded to my suit , take up space behind me .

"How·s your knee ." I ask the interogatee . Thirty minutes ago i nearly shot it off . Grazed him on purpose .

"It·s- it·s- it·s f-fine ." He stammers . Na is a good medic . Did a good job bandaging up the gash from my bolter .

"Now this time when i touch you , you·re not gonna flinch , am i right ." It·s more of an order than a question .

"R-right ." He says , trying to inject confidence into his voice .

"Now we·re gonna start again . Close your eyes ."

The interogatee closes his eyes .

"Now i want you to focus on the backs of your eyelids . There·s a lot of tiny muscles in the eyelids , and i want you to focus on them as you relax them one by one ." Metering my voice out slowly so he doesn·t have a panic attack . "Good . I can see your eyes fluttering , that means you·re doing it right . Relax . Keep relaxing . One by one . Thaaat·s it ." I coddle .

Hardcore bass thumps in the background , reverberating thru the thick walls .

"Good . Now i·m gonna pick up your hand again , and this time , yu·re gonna just let it hang there like it·s dead . Or else yu·ll be dead . Capiche?"

The interogatee just nodded . So the relaxation was working .

"Good . Now i·m gonna pick up your hand here in three...two...one..." I pick up his wrist . It hangs limply just like we talkt . "And when i let go , you·re gonna let it all wash out . Yr hand·s gonna drop in three...two..."

I drop his hand a second early , and he goes down like a light . Loose in the saddle , arms hanging at his sides , total drop . Purrrfect .

"Alright yr doing great , kid . Sit up ," i tell him , pulling him up and shaping him like warm clay . "Nice and tall , come on ."

The interogatee sat up straight .

"Nice job , yr doin· great , kid ." I didn·t really give a shi about him one way or the other , i just wanted the codes . "Now we·re gonna do a little exercise ."

Na stood at the sideline of the room , dressed in leaf green and yellow-and-black construction stripes . Her arms were crossed across her chest , her face showing rapt attention to the display .

Crøs stood at the doorway . Crøs was a cyborg , a massive clanking mix of human and machine . Weilding a flamethrower .

Ha and Ki were trading snipes , whispering back and forth to each other . Sometimes texting each other side-by-side , evident in the synchrony of their typing . Ha was a stand-up crew-cut retired Marine . Ki was a pithy hacker girl in black and neon .

In the front room , Sa was spinning beats to a bar full of ravers , dressed in emerald green cosplay armor . In between us was the office , where Lo worked . You remember Lo .

That·s all neither here nor there .

"Alright , i·ve got your trust now , alright? Yr doin· what i tell yu to so i ain·t got no reason to shoot yu . Now we·re gonna do another exercise . This time , when i tell yu to , yu·re gonna open yr eyes and then close them on my command ."

Na let out a low whistle .

"And when yr eyes close again , yr gonna go twice as deep as yu were before , now open your eyes ," i give him about a half-second to admire the grain of the cloth blindfloded around his face . "Close ·em . Close yr eyes , that·s it . Deeper than before . Good , i see the tension rolling offa yu , yr gonna notice that the deeper yu go , the less yr knee hurts . The subconscious is a strong organ , now yr gonna let it do the work and just let that pain go away along with the tension rolling offa yu ."

I could read it on his face , the kid was falling for it . Hypnosis was so much less messy than torture .

"Good , stay with me . We·re gonna do the same exercise , except this time yr gonna go ten times deeper . Alight ready? Open ... and close . Down ya go ." I·m picking him up and setting him in upright . My actual hands are in the wrists of my power armor . The giant mechanical extension grips him like a tiny bird . "Up straight , there ya go . Okay one more time for me , ya ready?"

He murmured , nearly sleeping .

"Deeper than yu·ve ever gone before . Open wide(!) ."

I give him a whole two seconds to admire his blindfold , "Drop down ." I don·t even mention the eyelids . Down he goes like a sack a potatahs .

"Alright ," i ration with him , "sit up straight now or i·m gonna shoot yu . Thaaat·s better , hold it just like that . Yu·re doin· great , yu don·t even mind the threats now because yu·re safe now , yu·re doing good and compliant and working great ."

I think i·ve reached the threshhold . I motion to Ki , it was her turn .

She pulls out a fucking car battery , jumper cables and all . "Aight , now this is gonna go one of two ways ." I watch her put on nitrile gloves . "Yu tell me what i want to hear , i fondle yr cock . Yu lie to me , i taze yr gonads . We clear?"

"Clear ," he says , deep in trance .

"We·re gonna start with the simple ones . Who is yr daddy and what does he do?"

"My...what?" The poor bastard stutters . They always take it literally .

Ki taps the gator clips together to get a satisfying crackle , unbuckles his belt , pulls down his drawers , and zaps his balls .

"Aieee!" He screams . It would take a lot of hypnosis to be able to sit thru that .

"Who do you work for?" She speaks clearly .

"The- th- th- the Cagey Bee ."

"And what do you do there?"

"I·m a- I·m a- a- courier . I·m a- a runner ."

"What do you run?" She crackles the clips together . A strange smell lingers in the air .

"I- uh- flash drives . I don·t know what·s on ·em , they just gimme the envelope ."

Ki uses a gloved hand to cradle his balls and another to work up his flaccid member . "Yu got one of those envelopes on yu Ka?"

"I- I- uh-"

I step in . "Hold it , hold it . Yu·re coming out of trance . Look at me ." I wheel the chair around so that everyone is behind him . Pull the blindfold off , let him see my mask , the metal broad-wide collar , the pair of fucking jet wings grafted to my body . "Eyes up here ," i tell him , raising my hand a safe distance away from his face . It drops straight down and so does he , loose in the saddle hangin· there like .

"Up again ," i order , "Uuup(!) ." Raising my hand at the same pace as he raises his sagging head . "Down ." Down goes hand and interogatee both .

"One more time , deeper than ever before ." I bring my hand up , letting it hang weightless at the top of the parabola , and down it goes .

Na looks away and kisses her teeth . Crøs doesn·t move a muscle unless he tells them to . Hardcore bass turns to thin oscillators as Sa switches to trance music , the sound penetrating multiple walls . A fitting choice .

I nod to Ki .

"I want yu to imagine that flash drive ," she suggested , switching gears , "don·t tell me where ." Her eyes dart over every feature , analyzing every crook of the eye , the crow·s feet at the corners of his mouth . "Just picture it . Safe and sound . Can yu do that for me?"

I can hear her copying my speech patterns . I got them from someone else , after all .

The guy nods , weakly .

"Don·t think about where it is or what condition it·s in or all that . Just try to imagine what it might look like . Was it a USB key? Was it an SD card? What shape was the envelope when yu got it?"

She got to work polishing his rod . Cradling his nuts , working sterile nitrile over elderly flesh . The guy was sixty , we found him smoking crack in an alcove built into a church . His fucking jacket is made of kevlar and is locked with a combination zipper . Nearly dulled a pair of fabric shears on it .

"Yr safe . Yr sound . Sleep , ok? Sleep deeply . And deeper . Wondering about what·s in it ."

The interogatee was almost catatonic .

"Focus on what i·m doing ," she tells him . Turning to Na , she motions at the thermostat , twisting her arm in a universal message of Crank It . Na turns the dial and the fireplace leaps to life . "Here , i touch yr face ."

Ki gently takes her index finger and traces it like a breeze over the guy·s face . Gently tracing skimming circles around his eyes , his cheeks , his neck . He gasps when she touches his neck , so she goes for the throat . Tracing , the backs of her fingertips . The old guy starts getting a stiffie .

"Yu feel so good but there·s one thing bothering yu , one detail that·s drivin· yu nuts ." She continues ministrating , back and forth , finding his erogenous zones and exploiting them . "Yu feel so good but yu·d feel even better if yu just knew what color it was ." His dick starts twitching so she goes lighter . "Yu feel like yu could cum except yu don·t know what color it was ."

"Color..." he adds semi-helpfully .

Ki sees her entry point and she goes for it . "If yu could just know what color it was then yu could cum but yu don·t know what color it was so yu can·t cum ." She traces spirals up his hardening member , arcing trails that light up his nerves .

"Wanna... cum..." the guy adds . Good , good . This was all working out .

Ha blushes , turning his legs to divert attention . "I·m gonna...ah...check the perimeter ," he tells us . Crøs lets him out into the hallway .

"Yu·re feeling so good and yu just wanna cum and yu just need to know the color so yu can cum ," she iterates , now stroking a fully-erect phallus . She looks at me . "Do the thing again ."

I step in between them , kneeling down on one knee to meet eye level . "Alright hero , it·s your time to shine . Yu know that going deeper means more pleasure . Pleasure knows that yu want more pleasure . Imagine the color red . Bright firey red . Fire like the feeling between yr legs , visualize it , see the color . Red . Can yu do that for me Ka?"

"Red..." he mumbles .

"Now that color is getting colder . It·s turning orange , autumn orange . And every time the color changes yu go deeper into trance , deeper into pleasure ."

"What color was it?" Ki injects . "Was it blue? Or orange ?"

The guy was clearly getting worked up .

"As that color cools to pale yellow yr gonna feel softer like chamomile and life-everlasting flower ," i continue , "like a calm spring day . Or a frisky spring day . Every time the color changes yu go deeper , deeper now to green , grass green , traffic light go . Feeling yr whole body as it gets powered up , feel that life energy as we take it now to blue ."

"Was it white? Or black?" Ki continued asking questions and working him up .

"Cool blue . Pale ocean blue . Cool yu , like a breath of fresh , Violet , down yu go , blue to violet like a luxurious carpet in a high-class hotel . More relaxed than yu·ve ever been before . So relaxed yu wanna let right in ."

"Perimeter·s clear ," Ha informed us . Crøs let him back in .

Na still stood , arms crossed , kissing her teeth . She·d heard stories about the Twin Angels That Come From Heaven , tho seeing us in action was a whole ·nother matter .

"Ready now , the color goes away entirely and so does every ounce of resistance . Yr mind·s a clear pond with a boiling element in it .

By now , those of us in armor were sweating , with the thermostat . That coat looked pretty heavy .

"Yu just wanna get off . You need to know!" She followed his trance style like a pro , never mocking or lying , throwing in as much believability as she suspected he could take . By now he was shuffling in his seat , trying to get away from skillful hands that kept him at the throbbing brink and held him there .

"It·s too hot ," she orders .

"Too...hot..." he repeats feverishly .

"Gotta . know ." she orders .

"Gotta...know..." he repeats .

"Gotta get off ," she leads .

"Gotta...get...off ," he pants , twisting in his seat , his eyes fully lidded .

"Gotta get it off ," she interjects .

"Get it...off..." he follows .

"Take yr jacket off ," she orders .

His lidded eyes open slightly as he fumbles with the lock .

"Gently , carefully ," she orders him , stroking slowly and gently .

He exhales a deep breath full of tension and screws in the combination .

"Good . Yr gonna make it . Yr gonna cum ." Ki wove the two thoughts together seamlessly .

"Gonna...cum..." he repeats as he tugs on the zipper , hard at first then exhaling another breath and unzipping it in one go . I motion to Na to cut the thermostat . It was hot as balls in there .

The guy sheds the jacket and throws it on the floor . I glance once at Ha and he·s on it , checking every pocket , the seams , looking for stitched-up holes or any evidence whatsoever . Sa is blasting long oscillating dubstep thru the club walls .

"Got it ," he confirms , tearing the inside lining open with a switchblade , pulling out a cardstock courier·s envelope . He tears it open like it·s Christmas morning , pulls it out . Shows it to the guy . He cums right then and there , a few excited beads shooting out the tip of his aging member .

"What·s on it?" Na asks , leaning against the bulkhead .

"Nuclear disarmament codes ." She looks at me , and to the rest of us . "Let·s go ."

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