I think you know

This chiller uses characters from my comics.
==Prologue==
This scene occurs in a separate issue and is set-up for the main story.
“Mind if I play through?” a female voice asked.
Super Creature kept his gaze on Professor Cerdis, but some of the others turned to see The White Tigress.  Next to her was Joey Simon, who had mostly recovered from his injuries.
“I have no objections,” replied Super Creature.
“I certainly don’t,” agreed the grinning Cerdis.
The Sadist was stunned by Joey’s appearance.  “Joey?”
“Yeah, it’s me!” Joey told him.  “It’s really me! I’m here!”
The assembled heroes realized what was happening. Ultra Kate rubbed her eyes and breathed, “Sweet mercy pie…”  Cerdis was something else.
The Sadist bowed and held his head, indicating pain. “I think he’s trying to come out of it,” observed White Tigress.
“Come on, bro, you got this!” encouraged Joey.  “Snap out of it!  It’s okay; we’re here to bring you back.”  The Sadist remained still and silent.  “Bro?”
“This sudden shock, and the resultant conflict between his desire and my control, is too much for him,” remarked Cerdis.  “He’s nearly catatonic right now.”
Addressing The Sadist, White Tigress offered, “This reminds me of that time you two were on that show together.  Your character had that line about someone breaking Joey’s character.”
At first there was no response, but then The Sadist faintly let out a soft chuckle before saying, “Yeah… that was fun…”
Tigress rarely used her teleportation device, but now she used it to appear at The Sadist’s side and then bring him away from Cerdis and to Joey as soon as possible.  “I got you, bro!” Joey told him. Tigress removed his mask, revealing his identity as Lex Simon.
Cerdis asked, “I assume you’re going to take on the responsibility of his recovery.  How confident are you?”
“We’ll be okay,” White Tigress replied. “They say that G-d has mercy on idiots and puppy dogs, and in case you haven’t noticed…”  She glanced at Lex. 
The dazed Lex breathed, “Classic Tabitha…”
Tigress gave a “Well, that’s one of those things…” smile.  Super Creature and Hurbator had amused smirks as well while Lady Darkphoenix just stared in astonishment.  Cerdis asked, “What did he just say?!”
Tigress responded, “He said, ‘Classic Tabitha.’  What of it?”
Cerdis grinned in amusement.  “Every time he opens-”  He stopped when he saw Joey looking confused, and soon he had a realization.  “Oh… my… gosh.  You two didn’t know before now, did you?!  Well, Joey, this is historic!  Your brother is the first person in recorded history to be smarter as a near-catatonic shell of his former self than he is normally!”
White Tigress offered, “That’s all the more reason for us to have him.”
“Hmm?”
“Such a fascinating subject should be cared for by someone who can document his recovery properly, wouldn’t you say?”
“When we first met, and you were unfazed by my correct deduction as to your identity, I decided you had the best poker face I’d ever seen.  Now I think you have one of the best minds too.”  He removed a file from his lab coat and tossed it over.  “Here’s a copy of the documentation from Lex’s case.  I’m sure you’ll bring me the documentation of his recovery somehow.”
“I’m sure that will be easy,” she replied, implying that he’d be back in jail soon.
“Well, it’s been-”
“Why us!?” interrupted Joey.
Cerdis gave him a look of aggravation. He continued, “Was it because of the scandals?  One of his scandals?  One of my scandals?”
“Hmph.  I suppose it wouldn’t be right for a scientist like me to leave you ignorant about something like that.  I’ll admit that the scandals brought your names to my attention, but the truth is I targeted you two on a whim.”
“Wha-What?”
“I wanted to see if I could accomplish something. Acting on a whim, not caring who was affected, feeling like you can do whatever you want with no restriction…you know all about that, don’t you?”
White Tigress gently tugged on Joey’s sleeve.  “We should go.  Cover Lex’s eyes and close yours.”
He obeyed and she teleported the brothers to a garage with a black car. “Okay, we’re here in Karasburg.  I didn’t want the trip to be too jarring.  You two get in the back and I’ll take you to St. Elizabeth’s.”
Joey observed their deliverer, looking into those familiar eyes.  “You… You really are her, aren’t you?”
She smiled.  “Mmm-hmm.  I think you can understand why I hadn’t told you guys earlier.”
“Yeah.”
“He’s pretty addled right now, so if he doesn’t remember, we can reveal my identity to him later.  Right now we should get him checked out.”
After The White Tigress had teleported away with The Simon Brothers, Professor Cerdis had asked, “So, where were we?”
....
Early the next morning, Lex awoke.  He realized he was in a hospital bed.  He looked over to see Joey asleep on the visitor’s couch in the room.  There was also a white carnation and an orange carnation lying on the windowsill.  He felt a secure peace and fell back asleep.
==Main story==
People were surprised when Tabitha Thomas and Joey Simon brought a nearly unconscious Lex Simon to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Karasburg.  Perhaps even more surprising was how reserved Joey was as he sat in the waiting room.  He gladly spoke to any fans who approached him, but for the most part the normally brash and obnoxious young man sat quietly and tried to rest.  Tabitha kept mum as well, merely noting that Lex was sick and had met up with the wrong people.
Tests showed that Lex had no neurological damage, but it was decided that he should stay for a couple days because he seemed to be in poor shape.  He seemed better a few hours after his arrival, but a day later he began vomiting.  Tabitha reflected that while Lex had been drugged during Cerdis’s control process, those drugs were most likely out of his system by now.  It was most likely the vomiting was psychosomatic, a result of his mind wanting to purge his system of Cerdis’s influence.  Tabitha posted a video of him vomiting to show how sick he was.  Her comment about him meeting up with the wrong people made a lot of people think that someone had gotten him involved in drug use or something similar.  The trio was content to let people think that because it was close to the bizarre and incredible truth.
Luckily they wouldn’t have to worry about Professor Cerdis bothering them again.  He now viewed the brothers in much the same way a child views a toy he or she has tired of playing with.  He generally had a “No encore performances” rule, and so it was like the brothers were now immunized against him.  Tabitha read through the file the corrupt scientist had given her concerning his domination of Lex’s mind, how he treated Lex’s psyche as his own personal nonogram.  The amoral scientist had been thorough, using two different mind-control drugs and three different devices.  Tabitha noted that the report appeared to have been written with the notion that someone else would read it.  The fact that he’d had a copy on his person was further evidence of this.  He knew that Tabitha would take interest in the case, discover his involvement, and end up reading the report.  She shared the report with Joey.  They agreed that Lex could read the report if he wanted, but not all at once.  Some parts would have to wait until she thought he was able to handle it.   
Joey and Tabitha visited Lex in the hospital during the day.  At night, she also paid him secret visits as The White Tigress.  Lex hadn’t remembered his realization of her secret identity, so she and Joey informed him (while leaving out how he let it slip in Cerdis’s presence).  As she watched him sleep, she noticed him softly mouthing words.  She realized that he was repeating messages he’d heard as part of his indoctrination.  She spoke with Cerdis, and the fiend confirmed that yes, this was a side-effect of his techniques.  The subject would mouth what he or she had heard during sleep even a few days after his control over them had worn off or been negated.  White Tigress shared this information with Ultra Kate and Karate Kate, and they agreed that it might prove useful at a later date.
After a couple days Lex’s health had improved and Tabitha felt it was okay for him to be checked out of the hospital.  It had been decided that the brothers would go home for a day or two to get packed, then come back to Karasburg and rent an apartment below Tabitha’s penthouse for two or three weeks, allowing the three to meet together freely during the recovery process.  When Tabitha had first befriended the Simon Brothers, people wondered about her mental state.  Some people feared she’d become corrupted, but that didn’t happen.  Instead she served as a stabilizing and positive influence, and it had been noted that they were less obnoxious around her than any other time.  Many agreed that if she had had a greater influence, the brothers wouldn’t be in as bad a state as they were.  There were still people who were critical, as though her showing humanity toward the two was some horrible thing, but Tabitha merely noted to herself that self-righteousness and hypocrisy were sins too and took it all in stride. 
Tabitha laid down some rules.  The brothers were to have a minimal amount of caffeine and absolutely no alcohol (She noted that Joey shouldn’t be drinking anyway).  She also restricted their time online.
“I feel like my arm’s been sliced off,” Lex noted one day.
“I can understand that,” responded Tabitha.  “It’s just that I think it might have a detrimental effect right now.”
“Yeah.  I get that.”
On Lex’s first day out of the hospital, Tabitha gave him a shot glass full of her special antidote.  She also provided him with a bottle of antidote and instructed him to take a shot of antidote mixed with coconut water, tonic water, or ginger ale three times a day for the next seven days.  The initial dose of antidote should have neutralized any drugs still in his system, so the diluted doses were simply a psychosomatic remedy.  Sure enough, Lex didn’t experience any more vomiting. Tabitha provided the brothers with medicinal fruits, herbs, and beverages the first week of their stay.  They had to go to the bathroom more often, but their health and demeanor improved.
Some of the medicinal herbs were especially bitter, which gave the brothers an idea.  They had a bitter herb eating contest, which Tabitha filmed to put on both their channels.  At the end she informed them that there were a couple fruits that could have been eaten beforehand to dull the bitter taste, but she hadn’t told them before because she felt they could take it.  They gave her a look before laughing and saying of course they could take it.  It was good for the three of them to have fun together like they used to. 
With their physical health improving, their psychological, emotional, and spiritual health became center focus.  Tabitha considered giving Lex a treatment with ibogaine, the hallucinogen sometimes used in treating drug addiction, but rejected this because not only was there the possibility of negative side-effects, but she also felt that counselling would be effective enough on its own.  Tabitha had told Lex early on, “I don’t just want to help you recover from what Cerdis did.  I also want to discuss your scandals.  Before you say, ‘Hasn’t enough been said?’ I don’t mean like that.  I want to have a heart-to-heart talk about everything, like a friend or a sibling.  I know it might be uncomfortable, but I feel it’s best for you.  It’s like cutting open a boil to drain infection, or eating those bitter herbs to regain health.  It’s because I care about you.”
There was a pause and then Lex began laughing awkwardly.  Many people would have been insulted, but Tabitha knew this was one of his defense mechanisms.  She asked, “You understand, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.  Whenever you’re ready.”  One of the things Tabitha Thomas was known for was lack of inhibition when it came to crying.  Whenever she was especially happy or sad, the tears flowed freely.  Now her eyes shone like a mirror.  “I’ve wanted to have a heart-to-heart with both of you for a long time because I’ve been afraid for you.”
The brothers were stunned by this comment.  Here was someone who risked her life on a nightly basis, and she was afraid for them.  She had stood up to Professor Cerdis with no hesitation, and their misdeeds had caused her to fear.
She turned to Joey.  “Don’t think I’ve forgotten you.  You have some things to answer for too.  You’ve done some things that hurt people, including people close to you.”  She looked away as her tears started flowing freely, a result of her having to address someone she cared about in this way.
Her tears made Joey feel like a knife had been jabbed in his heart and twisted.  “I… I haven’t done everything people’ve said I’ve done.”
“That’s good.  Still, you’ve done some things that weren’t right.”  She wiped away some tears and, feeling that a little lightheartedness might be a good approach, she jokingly told him, “You poisoned your neighbors’ water supply, burned their crops, and brought a plague upon their houses, and on top of all that, your rap career is atrocious.”
Lex gave another laugh.  Joey grinned and stated, “I gotcha.  We’ll talk sometime.”
“Good.  I’m holding you to that.”
Since then Lex had reflected on his friendship with Tabitha.  There was an expression that a real friend would let you know when there’s dirt on your back.  Some of the people Lex had considered friends weren’t like that, instead laughing along with and even encouraging his bad behavior.  They were enablers and hangers-on.  His advisers were like that too.  Scrolling through his messages, he saw a number from Tabitha expressing both disapproval and concern, and asking him to talk with her.  He sighed.  He had said before that he hated cleaning, but he was going to do some serious housecleaning as far as his life was concerned because he was starting to see who his real friends were and who actually cared about him. 
One summer afternoon, before his life took a downward turn, he and Tabitha were at her place playing a monster-catching game.  He had his handheld device while she had hers.  Suddenly she ordered, “Switch with me.”  He waved her off at first, so she playfully scolded, “Get over here!”
He went over to see what the deal was.  He handed her his game, took hers, and gaped at what he saw.  She had encountered a Sparkling White Dragonfairy, one of the rarest monsters in the game.  He sat down and, heart pounding, began the process of catching it.  He managed to capture it after a couple minutes of trying.  He sighed in relief and then chuckled.
“Did you get it?”
“Yeah!”
“Whoo-hoo!  Give it a cool name and I’ll see what else you have.”  She looked through his menagerie.  “Oh, you have a Kamantis Fighter!”
“Take him!  Whatever you want!”
They made the trade, saved their progress, and exchanged games back.  For a full minute, Lex sat looking at the screen with a stupid grin on his face.  Finally he told her, “That’s awesome! Thanks!”
“You’re certainly welcome.”
She could have caught it herself just to have bragging rights, or use it to demand his rarest monster in return, but instead she let him catch it because she knew what it would mean to him.  He was happy to let her have any of his monsters in return.  If only one person were getting or giving something in a relationship, there was something very wrong.
There are always those who prey upon others.  Professor Cerdis had heard of the brothers’ scandals and did some research about them in curiosity.  While watching a video about an incident involving Lex, he thought, “This boy has no scruples.”  Then, while looking through the comments section, he got a wicked idea.  He eventually approached Lady Darkphoenix with a print-out of an article about Lex.  “Brenda, what are your thoughts on this lovely gentleman here?”
He handed her the article.  Upon realizing who the subject was, she gave a halfway-amused, “Oh, it’s this guy again!” snort.  “I agree with the comment someone made that he was both insensitive and stupid.  That guy needs some help.  He has a nice body, though.  Why do you ask?”
“I just wanted to ascertain your thoughts.  You see, I have a notion in my head.”
She realized his meaning.  “Are you saying what I think you are?  We’re going after Simon?”
“Precisely.  He’ll be a source of data for me and a source of energy for you. It’s not often that you get to feed from a cele-”  He stopped to clear his throat, and it seemed to Darkphoenix that it was an attempt to stifle a chuckle.  “-feed from a celebrity.”
“It’s far out, but I’m sure you can do it, Professor.”
“I appreciate the confidence, but then again, you should have confidence that I can do it.”
“I’m sure you’ve done research to know that he doesn’t live alone.  His housemates would need to be dealt with somehow.  You could try to grab him when he goes for a jog, but the paparazzi might be there too.”
“I thought about all that.  I plan to abduct him from home, but I need to formulate the proper plan.”
“We’re really doing this, huh?”
“Indeed, we are.”
Cerdis retreated to his quarters.  He performed the Kuji-In and then began pondering how to abduct Lex Simon.  It wasn’t too long before he came up with the solution.  He congratulated himself on his plan’s simplicity.
A few nights later, he had Lady Darkphoenix park close to Lex’s mansion.  He discreetly used a scanner to determine which rooms were empty.  Lady Darkphoenix then teleported into an unoccupied room and exited into a hallway.  She soon encountered one of the house’s occupants.  He was surprised to see this strange woman, but she nonchalantly gave a casual introduction.
She held up one of the bottles of soda she was carrying.  “I got Lex his soda, but this being my first time here, it’s easy to get lost.”  Her comment made him assume that Lex had invited her.  He told her where to go, and she thanked him and gave him a kiss on the cheek, leaving a good impression. 
She went to a certain room and there was Lex playing video games with one of his friends.  Darkphoenix called, “Hello!”
Lex was surprised to see a strange woman, but he didn’t mind.  “Well, hello!”
“I was told I’d find you here.”
Her comment made Lex and his friend assume that someone else had invited her.  Meanwhile, the others assumed Lex had invited her. No one questioned her appearance or compared notes, instead relying on their own assumptions.  That was the simplicity of Cerdis’s plan.
She held up the bottles of soda.  “Hey, mind if I hang out with you guys?  I brought enough soda to go around.”
“Sure, go right ahead!”
There was a Japanese legend about a wealthy and powerful figure who had a number of samurai retainers.  He had so many servants, and so many people coming and going, that he thought nothing of it when a servant boy he’d never seen before brought him his nightly medicine.  However, neither the boy nor the medicine were what they seemed, and the deception left the lord open to be preyed upon by a demon.  Such was the case here. As Lex drank more of the soda he’d been given and more time passed, the drowsier and more detached he became.
Lady Darkphoenix eventually suggested she escort him to his room and he complied.  Once they were inside the bedroom, she flicked on the light switch and then closed & locked the door.  Since his back was toward her, she had the chance to place a small spy camera on his dresser.  Due to a combination of having little shame and having ingested a doped drink, he began undressing in front of her.  She silently observed, and as she did so her look was a combination of a patron in a museum drinking in a work of art and a customer at a butcher’s shop surveying a piece of meat.  As he finished disrobing and pulled on a pair of shorts, she gazed upon the muscles of his arms and legs.
“I think I read a bad fan-fiction like this once,” a voice interrupted.
Lex nearly fell over, just barely managing to brace himself against the chest of drawers in time.  Darkphoenix was startled too. She had been so focused on Lex she hadn’t noticed Cerdis teleport into the room.
“He’s a fine physical specimen, so I understand your observation.”
“Who are you!?” asked Lex, taking a couple steps toward this sudden intruder.  He then had to lean against his bed for support. At this point he was having trouble keeping his eyes open.
“Tired, aren’t we?  I know from some of your videos that you’re quite athletic, but right now those muscles of yours are becoming more enervated with each passing second.  Your consciousness grows dimmer as your system is devitalized.  I wonder how much I’m saying is even registering in that lump serving to hold your ears apart.  To answer your inquiry…”
Lex collapsed onto his bed and lay still.  Professor Cerdis checked his pulse and eyes, then finished, “…I’m the one who owns your life from now until whenever I decide to release you from my servitude.”
He went over to Lex’s discarded pants and took his smart phone and wallet.  Then he took the unconscious Lex and teleported away with him.  Lady Darkphoenix put Lex’s discarded clothes in the hamper, turned off the light, unlocked and opened the door before setting it to lock again when closed back, and then went back to the video game area.  She hung around the house for another hour before leaving.  Around six o’clock the next morning, she teleported back into Lex’s room, picked out a fresh outfit for him to wear, unlocked & opened the door, and teleported back to the hideout.  Any housemates who saw the open door & unoccupied room understandably thought that Lex had gone on a jog or otherwise had some business to attend to.  In reality he had spent the previous few hours being subjected to one of Cerdis’s devices and was currently in a hypnotic mind-control state.
Cerdis had decided in advance that he didn’t want Lex to see his face until he was well into the control process, and so he stood behind where Lex sat.  He told Lady Darkphoenix, “Hand me those clothes and then you may retire to your quarters if you wish.”
“That’s… considerate of you, professor,” she remarked in surprise.
“Just as long as you come if I summon you.”
“Yes, sir.” 
Cerdis handed Lex the clothes and instructed him to get dressed.  He then spent much of the next few hours setting the groundwork for Lex’s indoctrination.  He told Lex that he had work for him to do, and that it would be like playing a part in a movie or a TV show.  Lex agreed to do whatever he suggested.  During this period he allowed Lex to check his messages periodically and even respond to some.  He had him tell his friends that a new opportunity had come up for him and he’d be greatly involved in that, so they wouldn’t be seeing very much of him for a while.
Before the hypnotic state could wear off, Cerdis administered his new creation, a drug he called the mind influencing pill.  The little white pill caused a subject to enter a black-out state in which they would agree to do whatever was suggested, making them extremely susceptible to mind control.  It dissolved quickly, took effect immediately after ingestion, and lasted around thirty minutes. It could also be used in conjunction with the indoctrination drug.  He subjected the enthralled Lex to a lengthy treatment with the hsi-nao device.  Then that evening he rendered Lex unconscious in order to have a session with the CPL device.
Lady Darkphoenix remarked.  “You’ve really made a day of it, haven’t you, Professor?”
“That I have.  After all, you have to give stars like him special treatment, right?”  He let out a chuckle.  “As I said, he’ll be a good source of data.  Besides, there are things I wish to accomplish.”
Early the next morning the amoral scientist had the controlled Lex return home to get some things, like clothes and his checkbook, and then return to the rented house he was operating out of.
“You’ve made it clear to your associates that you’ll be preoccupied for the next few weeks, correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Very good.  Brenda will escort you to your quarters so you can get some rest.  We will conduct more sessions tomorrow.  Have you any objections?”
“No, sir.”
“I didn’t think so.  There’s a good boy.”
Over the next couple weeks a number of sessions were conducted.  Cerdis administered most of the drugs through ingestion or inhalation.  The few injections he gave were in areas of Lex’s body that wouldn’t be seen in public, such as his back and hips.  Even though he didn’t plan for Lex to be out in public often during this period, he didn’t want to take unnecessary risks.  He also agreed that it would be a crime to do anything to mar those arms.  He had Lex continue his exercise routines so he’d stay in shape and thus be as useful to him as possible. There were also sessions in which he used psychology to help bend Lex to his will, saying that he could cast his cares behind him.  Lady Darkphoenix, in human form, stopped by Lex’s house every couple of days to pick up his mail and anything else he needed.  The housemates didn’t suspect her of any wrongdoing.  Cerdis’s manipulation of Lex was so skillful that there were times in which he was in his total control and times in which he didn’t realize he had been controlled at all.
One morning Lex woke up feeling both tired and disturbed.  For some reason he had a sick feeling that that something was wrong with Joey.  It was like he’d had some horrible nightmare that he couldn’t quite remember.
He realized that he had been awoken by notifications from his smart phone, which sat close to his bed.  Still feeling fuzzy-headed, he went over to where it was and picked it up.  Before he could check his missed messages and calls, the phone started ringing.  Seeing it was one of his best friends, he answered the call.  “Hey, what’s up?”
“‘What’s up’?!  You don’t know?!”
“No, I just got up.  I haven’t even checked my messages yet.  What happened?”
“Dude… Joey’s in the hospital.”
“What!?!”
“Apparently some thug beat him up and then dumped him close to the Sebastian Center.”
Lex’s world froze at that moment.  The unexplained feeling of Joey being in trouble had turned out to be justified.  For several seconds the normally boisterous personality stood in stunned silence. 
“Lex?”
Lex began to gag, but then he swallowed down the nausea that threatened to send his stomach contents through his throat.  “Is he at Sebastian Center?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll be right there.”  He nervously hung up and then, as he had already become accustomed, unthinkingly swallowed the vial of medicine that had been left for him near his phone.
The process of slipping on some clothes and then speeding to the medical center was a blur.  The next thing he remembered clearly was seeing Joey in his hospital bed, his arm and cheek broken.  He had never seen his younger brother so alarmed in his adult life.  He questioned Joey about what had happened, but he was clearly traumatized and didn’t want to talk.
Lex was instructed to go to a small office.  He was soon joined by someone who had convinced one of the higher-ups to let him use this office for a day or two.  There was something familiar yet sinister about him, calming yet unsettling.  Lex didn’t ponder this since he felt overwhelmed by everything.
“Hello,” Professor Cerdis told Lex.  He gestured to a bottle on the desk.  “Here’s a sports drink if you’d like.”
“Thanks.”  He took it, but was so distracted at first that he tried to drink it with the cap still on.  It was hard for Cerdis not to smirk.  Lex opened the bottle and began to down its contents.
“What have you been told?”
“Nothing yet.  I got the call as soon as I woke up.  I haven’t even checked my messages yet.”
“Why don’t you give them a quick check so I won’t be repeating too much, and to see if you have any questions?”
Lex obeyed.  As he started to go through his recent messages, Cerdis observed.  “It’s possible the attacker was someone who was angered by something your brother had done.  It’s most likely that this was about one of his controversies instead of one of yours.”
Just like a simple wedge and hammer can rupture a log, Cerdis’s words were subtle, yet calculated to affect Lex’s psyche.  For several seconds Lex was paralyzed by dread, but finally he was able to focus on the task at hand.
Most of the messages were reports of Joey’s attack and questions about the brothers’ condition.  As he checked the messages, he drained the entire bottle of sports drink out of nerves.  Finally he reported, “It looked like he had a broken arm and a busted-up cheek.”
“That’s correct.  You needn’t worry about your brother’s recovery.  He’ll receive excellent treatment.  I’m sure you’ll help in any way you can because you wouldn’t want anything else to happen to your brother, right?”
“Right.”
The dazed Lex felt lightheaded.  As he rested his head in his hands, Cerdis told him, “Go ahead and rest now.  You may visit more with your brother later on.  Right now, however, those muscles of yours are becoming more enervated with each passing second.  Your consciousness grows dimmer as your system is devitalized.”
It took Lex a few seconds to absorb this, and after he did he asked, “What-What did you say?!”
“It’s about the same thing I said when we first met. Your brother will receive proper treatment while I continue working on you.”
Lex passed out.  Cerdis checked his pulse and eyes, then teleported him to his hideout to begin a new mind-control session. Joey’s visitors were soon informed that Lex wasn’t feeling well, so he’d probably be there at the hospital for a while, and they shouldn’t be concerned if they didn’t see him anytime soon.  Hours later, Lex visited a sleeping Joey before leaving the hospital and driving away.  Those who saw him noted that he must have been unsettled by what had happened since he appeared to be in a trance.
Lex stopped coming back to his house after that.  The messages his housemates received led them to believe his absences were a combination of him throwing himself into his work and the trauma of Joey getting assaulted.  Cerdis continued subjecting Lex to his various mind-control techniques, rinsing away his remaining willpower like rinsing sauce off a plate, until he was sufficiently in his thrall.  The figure who had been so rebellious and brash agreed to serve as a henchman under the codename The Sadist.  He obeyed Cerdis’s orders and allowed Lady Darkphoenix to feed on his energy as needed.  Cerdis maintained his control with the occasional hypnotic trance or a session with a device. Lex was allowed to visit Joey on occasion, though his visits felt and seemed like sleepwalking due to his subdued condition.
Tabitha had half-expected to learn that Cerdis had subjected Joey to some degree of mind control as well while using him as a test subject for his bone-healing drug, but this turned out not to be the case.  It made sense since it would be risky to do something like that in a public hospital.  There was also the influence of Specter, whom Cerdis had teamed up with partway through the situation.  Specter brought up the point that Cerdis shouldn’t stretch himself too thin or do anything to risk unwanted attention, and thus he should be content with having The Sadist as his only mind-control subject for now and keep his word that Joey would be taken care of properly.  Cerdis noted that he’d always intended to keep his word about Joey, but he would go along with his other suggestions too.  Specter’s influence and actions had been helpful in minimizing the damage from Cerdis’s numerous demonstrations. 
Tabitha wrote reports of her treatment of the brothers and shared them with both Cerdis and the Super Kates.  She also talked with the brothers, either individually or together, and listened as they shared their nightmares and thoughts. 
Lex had a doozy of a nightmare one night.  He dreamed he was walking through an eerie, thick, and foreboding forest. The silence as he walked along was disturbing. Finally he came across a shocking sight that filled him with horror.  Hanging from one of the trees was Joey’s fresh corpse.  His neck was bruised from the rope, his head was fallen to one side, and his face bore wounds as if he had been attacked by someone who hated him.  Lex felt hands cover his mouth, preventing sounds from escaping his throat.
As he continued to stare in sick fear, Joey’s lifeless eyes moved and met his gaze.  The corpse then raised his head and asked, “How could you do this?”
Lex was jolted awake by this horrible vision. After calming down for several minutes, he arose from his bed and slipped into Joey’s bedroom.  Upon seeing that the sleeping Joey was okay, he sat down in the bedroom chair and closed his eyes to try to rest.
After a few minutes Joey sensed that someone had entered his bedroom and awoke.  He saw someone sitting in the chair and had a startled reaction.  Lex, in turn, had a startled reaction to his reaction. The two brothers stared at each other for a few moments, Joey in alarm and Lex in startled confusion.  After realizing Lex didn’t mean any harm, Joey asked, “Bro?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
Joey looked over at the clock radio, then back at Lex. “What do you want?”  Lex sat in awkward silence, not knowing how to answer at first.  “What?”
Lex cleared his throat and then jokingly offered, “Well… I have to make sure you don’t wet the bed like at Grandma’s house that one time.”
Joey stared in confusion for a moment.  When he determined that that was what Lex was going with, he went along with it, snorting, “You wet the bed too!”
“I don’t remember that, bro.  I think it was all you.”
“Dude, you’re full of it!”
Joey threw a pillow at him and Lex threw it back. They had a playful scuffle, and afterward Lex returned to his own bedroom.  Both brothers drifted back to sleep, and the night ended with neither additional nightmares nor bedwetting.
Lex told Tabitha about it the next day.  “I appreciate you telling me,” she told him. “That’s a horrifying dream, but it’s no wonder you had it.  A lot of things are coming up, and you have a lot of things to deal with.”
“Yeah.”
She noted, “You said you went to check on Joey. That’s nothing to be ashamed about. You two had have problems before, and you have a rivalry that sometimes heats up a little too intensely, but when it gets right down to it, you really do care for each other.  Like I’ve said before, we all need to take care of each other.”
Tabitha shared pieces of Cerdis’s report with Lex as she saw fit. One day, while he was looking through part of the report, she noted, “I know that Cerdis exploited your negative emotions to help take control of you.”
“Yeah, I remember that,” acknowledged Lex.
Joey asked, “What?  You remember that?”
“Yeah.  I’m remembering some things, but they’re fuzzy.”
Tabitha told him, “It’s likely you’ll remember some more as time passes.  We’ll address things as they come up, okay?”
“Yeah.”
“What happened to you is a lot to take in.  Cerdis was very thorough in your case.  I think he was more thorough with you than any other case.”
Lex held up his index finger and announced, “Number one!”
She chuckled.  “Yep!  You were the MVP as far as that goes.  If nothing else, the report of your indoctrination proves one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“You actually do have a functioning brain.”
Lex gave her a look before smiling and declaring, “I knew it!”
“We all had our doubts,” added Joey.
The brothers bantered forth and back for a while, with Tabitha chiming in with wisecracks of her own.  Lighthearted moments like that were a big help.
A number of people in the building had been concerned when they learned the notorious brothers would be staying there, but they were relieved when they didn’t act like the unholy terrors that had caused so much trouble back home, and expressed appreciation to Tabitha for keeping them in line.  The three engaged in fun yet harmless antics, such as playing video games and having water gun fights, in the midst of their recovery, and also made use of the building’s gym and pool.  The brothers had to care for themselves, which wasn’t something they preferred, but it wasn’t so bad. It also reminded them of old times.  They posted some videos and messages to let their fans know they were doing well.  Tabitha went to her job as a hospital receptionist in the afternoon and stepped out as The White Tigress in the evening.  The brothers agreed that if duty called during one of her visits with them, she should go attend to it.  Now that they knew her secret identity, she was able to share stories about her exploits as White Tigress as well as stories from her civilian life. 
Joey’s bones and wounds had healed well thanks to the experimental medicine he’d been given under Cerdis’s instructions, though his strength wasn’t 100% returned yet.  One morning the brothers and Tabitha were having breakfast together.  Lex watched Joey pour himself a glass of milk for bone and muscle health.  He stared in thought for several seconds.  Joey noticed this and asked, “What?”
“You never did answer my question,” replied Lex.
“What question?”
“When I came to you in the hospital.”
Joey’s expression suddenly became fearful, showing that something traumatic had come to mind.  He flashed back to the night he’d been attacked.  He came home and went to his bedroom, but found that the light switch wasn’t working.  He entered the dark room and went over to his lamp.  Once he got close enough to the table he saw that the bulb was sitting on the nightstand, explaining why the lamp wasn’t working. Assuming it was a prank by one of his housemates, he chuckled in a mixture of disparagement & amusement before remarking, “Okay, you got me!”  He took off the lampshade and screwed the bulb back into the socket.  He had just returned the lampshade to its rightful place when he heard a popping sound and felt a sharp pain in his back.  His shock soon gave way to an increasing feeling of dizziness and drowsiness.  As he rested against the nightstand, his unseen assailant then shot two more darts into his back. He found himself sinking to the floor as he plunged into unconsciousness.
Joey woke up sometime later in what appeared to be some kind of garage.  He was in a kneeling position with his hands and feet chained to some kind of pole.  He tried to pull them free, but the chain held tight.  His heart beat faster as his confusion began to turn into fear.  A figure soon stepped into sight, a figure he recognized.
“Lex?  What’s going on?”  Lex didn’t respond.  Thinking this might be part of a prank, Joey told him, “I admit it- you got me, bro.  I’m gonna get you back, though.”  Lex continued to look at him blankly, causing his nervousness to increase.  “Bro, come on…”
“Not a prank, bro,” a voice behind him stated. 
Joey hurt his neck whipping his head around to see who had spoken.  It was a blond man wearing a lab coat and a sinister grin. “I’m not at all surprised you had that thought, though.  In fact, I would’ve bet money on it.”
“Who are you?!”
“Your brother asked me the same thing when we first met.  I think I’ll keep my name a secret for now.  For one thing, I have quite the reputation, but I’m not sure you’d recognize my name no matter how infamous it is since I’m not some vapid entertainer like yourself. Instead I’ll focus on what has happened and what’s going to happen.  I’ve been working on your brother for the last couple of weeks.”
“You mean ‘working with’, right?”
“No, ‘working on’ is the proper term.  What I’m about to reveal is astounding, but true.  Have you heard about how Ultra Kate and Karate Kate, the Super League of Justice, and the like have had to deal with instances of mind-control?”
“Um… yeah.  What about it?”  The corrupt professor looked him in the eye for several seconds, and to his delight he saw the light come on in Joey’s mind.  “No… there’s no way…” 
“It’s nice to see that you have some mental function.”
He turned back to Lex.  “Lex, this has-”
He stopped when he realized, to his horror, that Lex was looking right through him, a sign that he was entranced.  His mouth went dry.  Cerdis announced, “He’s helpless before my techniques, as are most people.  He hasn’t been harmed, and I’ll continue to treat him properly. I had him bring you here because I had one last test for him.  First, I have a dose of painkiller for you.”
He took out a hypodermic syringe and injected its contents into Joey.  “This will render you unconscious shortly, which will also serve to remove any trace of hesitation from your brother’s mind.”
An irresistible feeling of drowsiness sunk into Joey’s brain.  As he began to struggle to keep his eyes open, he saw Cerdis walk over to Lex, hand him a rebar, and tell him, “You have your instructions.”
Joey, now on the verge of passing out, pleaded, “Lex… bro… please… don’t…”
“Start with the side of the face,” Cerdis told Lex, unconcerned with Joey’s pleas.  “Maybe a blow there might get him to shut up for a change.”
Joey fell unconscious and thus didn’t know what happened next, which was Cerdis standing close to the wall and then dabbing as a signal for Lex to begin the attack. When Joey woke up again, it took him some time to remember what had happened.  He became agitated and a nurse came to calm him down, causing him to realize he was in a hospital room.  Feeling some pain in his arm and face, he looked at his arm to see a cast, and then looked at a nearby mirror to see a bandage on his cheek.  He stared in horror as he realized that last night’s events really had happened. 
The nurse explained that he had been found dumped on hospital grounds during the night and had been taken in for treatment. Joey, in his stunned state, nodded that he understood and said he didn’t need anything right now.  The nurse left so he could rest, and he reflected on the horror he had experienced.
His thoughts were eventually interrupted by someone rapidly approaching.  He looked up to see Lex enter his room.  He stared at his older brother in alarm, but he soon realized that Lex was alarmed as well.  Lex took in the sight of the injured Joey, a genuine look of stunned horror on his face.  Then he asked, “Who did this to you?!”
Joey was in shock.  Lex apparently had no memory that he had attacked him under someone’s command.  Someone had actually taken control of his brother to that extent.  Badly shaken up, he turned his head away.
“Joey?” asked Lex in unsettled confusion.
A nurse instructed Lex to go to a small office to hear more about Joey’s case.  Joey continued to stare ahead in sorrow.
During his hospital stay, he received treatment which caused his wounds to heal rapidly.  Eventually he was freed by The White Tigress, who had found out what had happened to him.  It didn’t take long for her to convince one of the higher ups that he should release Joey into her custody and provide her with a copy of his documentation.  Joey told her the story of what had happened and they went on to rescue Lex.
In the present, Joey replied, “I’m… I’m sorry I couldn’t do that.”
“He was in shock,” agreed Tabitha.  She arose from her seat.
“Yeah, but…”  Lex paused and then rested his face in his hands, clearly beginning to feel overwhelmed.  “You… You can tell me now, can’t you?”
Tabitha replied, “I’d say it’s very hard for him. Besides…”  She set a trash can next to his chair.  “…I think you already know the answer.”
Lex’s arms tensed, and then in a flash he took the trash can she had set beside him and began retching into it.  She placed a comforting hand on his back.  “You weren’t in control of yourself.”
“She’s right, bro,” Joey agreed, putting a comforting hand on his back as well.  “I know you… I know you wouldn’t…”  Trying to find something to say, he stated, “Let me tell you, it didn’t even hurt.”
Lex laughed nervously while continuing to retch. Eventually the retching stopped and he rested his head on the edge of the table.  “I… I can’t believe I really did that…”
Tabitha told him, “It may sound sadistic, but I’m glad you reacted the way you did.  I say that because I’ve seen people hurt the ones closest to them on purpose, hurt them and not even care.  I know this has to be a hard thing to deal with.  Would you like us to stay, or would you like to be alone right now?” 
“No, don’t leave me.”
“Okay.”
They spent the morning conversing and listening.  It was an intense way to start the day, but now that the truth of the attack against Joey was out in the open, the healing process could continue. Tabitha eventually left, leaving the two brothers alone.  When she returned, the two were reminiscing.  They were still unwell and shaken, but they were in better spirits.  It would take a while for them to recover from this ordeal, but they had established a firm foundation.
The brothers decided to stay an additional week.  After discussing it with them, Tabitha decided to call a certain someone, who jumped at the chance to meet with them.
“I must say I’m pleasantly surprised that you called me,” Damien Sunn told Tabitha as he entered the apartment.
“Well, I don’t approve of your methods overall, but there were a couple factors that led to me calling you.  For one thing, there are times when you make it clear that you have talent as a writer, talent at capturing a subject’s story.”
“Thank you for that.”  The proud rag reporter took a seat.  “You said this would be a different kind of interview.”
“Yes.  This will be sort of off the record.”
“Meaning what?  You want parts of it to remain classified?”
“No, you’re free to tell the whole story.  We just want it told anonymously.”
“Oh?  So what you’re saying is you want me to tell their story, but you don’t want me to reveal that it’s their story.”
“Exactly.” 
“I must say that’s an odd thing to do.  Normally people contact the press when they want something to be publicized.”
“Well, there’s another reason I thought of you, and it should shed some light on what’s going on here.  You’ve interviewed Professor Dante Cerdis before, so you’re familiar with him and his modus operandi.”
“You know about that, huh?  Yes, he’s quite the figure.  He’s really something else.”
“That’s for dang sure.”
Damien observed the Simon Brothers, and then he rubbed his forehead as a realization hit him.  “My gosh…”  He took out his recorder and turned it on.  “Okay, you guys have the floor.”
The brothers shared their story, with Tabitha offering commentary every now and then.  They said nothing that would betray Tabitha’s secret identity.  Damien was professional, but clearly taken aback.  Afterward he noted, “It’s an amazing story.  I’m surprised, but not shocked, since that’s exactly the kind of thing he’d do.  Now that I have the pieces, it all fits together perfectly.  I can’t blame you for wanting to keep this anonymous because who would believe that something like this happened to these two?  I’ll keep their identities a secret when I write the story, but there is one consideration.”
Tabitha offered, “Are you referring to the chance that Cerdis might brag and reveal the identities of who he dealt with on his own?”
“You thought about that, huh?”
“Mmm-hmm.  We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
“Very well then.  I promise that I’ll do right by you.”
“We appreciate that.”
“May I see those reports you mentioned?”
Tabitha let him read through the reports of Lex’s re-education and Joey’s medical treatment.  Afterward he took out his laptop, went to a different room, and began to write the story.  When it was finished, he showed it to the three for review.  Even Tabitha admitted he had done a good job, being objective and conveying what had happened without revealing the subjects’ identities.  Damien had his moments.
“This story’s done,” noted Damien, “but since I’m here, it would be a waste not to have something on the record from you guys.  You are notable figures, after all.”
“It’s their decision,” shrugged Tabitha. 
The brothers agreed to this and spent some time talking with the reporter.  Tabitha took the time to slip out of the apartment and go for a walk.  It was just as well since the brothers had high praise for her (both in her civilian form and her vigilante form) and compliments made her blush to the point she felt more like The Scarlet Tigress.  She reflected that the recovery process had been rough in places, but it was already bearing fruit.  Lex and Joey were already much better than they had been, and she was confident that they’d continue to improve.  She reflected, “When you drugged Lex, you talked about how weak he was before you, but he and Joey are going to be stronger than ever.  Even if you reveal what you did to them, people are going to see how they’re recovering.  You lose, Cerdis.”
==Story notes==
*There are some differences between the original concept for the story and the final version.  Here are the major ones.
:*The original story was much shorter, with practically no description of how Lex became enthralled.  A result of this, and one of the reasons I rejected the original version it as a creepypasta, is it was way too in-universe.  You can’t just jump into talking about a subject recovering from mind control because the reader will think, “Oh, is THAT all?!”  There are times when I’ve effectively had elements of my comics in my creepypastas, but without proper set-up and the right style, in-universe elements can be confusing. 
:*The setting was originally Lex’s mansion, with the opening noting that they had put black screens on the windows for privacy and the house had been uncharacteristically quiet.  However, I decided that the story would be better set in Karasburg, where The White Tigress lives and operates.
:*There was a scene in which some of Lex’s friends (his real friends, not leeches or hangers-on) are visiting him and his scummy manager makes an appearance.  The manager wants him to start making videos again as soon as possible while Tabitha wants Lex to continue his recovery.  The manager gets into an argument with her and suddenly she whirls around.  The sudden movement startles him, but then he becomes really scared when he sees why she turned around so suddenly.  Lex had started toward him, bloodlust pouring from him like fumes from a broken bottle of vinegar.  He’s angry at his manager, someone who exploited him and didn’t really care about his well-being, for chewing out Tabitha, someone who had helped him.  Tabitha, holding back Lex’s arms, tries to calm Lex down, telling him this isn’t what she wants.  Joey talks with him too and finally Lex goes into another room to cool down.  Tabitha tells the manager, “If that boy means anything to you, please leave.”  The manager does, leaving the friends stunned at what they’ve just witnessed.  Tabitha goes to check on Lex and the friends ask Joey what happened.  Joey doesn’t go into detail, merely saying that Lex got involved with someone who turned out to be responsible for hurting Joey, and that combined with other things had put him on edge.  With the change of setting, I didn’t feel there was an organic set-up for this scene.
:*Cerdis’s line before drugging Lex unconscious was originally commenting on how he’d feel the drug taking effect in his stomach before the rest of his body.  I decided that the changed line, about becoming weaker and losing consciousness, would be better.
:*Originally Lex would have used a Taser to ambush Joey.  I rejected this because a Taser doesn’t knock people unconscious.
:*The biggest reason I rejected what I had written of the original first draft is I felt it was too brutal.  While the attack wasn’t shown (just like it’s not shown in this version), Joey was conscious and pleading when it happened, and the weapon was described as a metal rod (implying it was bigger and heavier than a rebar).  I felt that sedating Joey would not only tone down the brutality, but also make logical sense since, as Cerdis noted, it would make Lex less reluctant.
:*It wasn’t made clear to Joey in the original that Lex had been mind-controlled; he just knew that his brother was under Cerdis’s influence.  It wasn’t until White Tigress freed him that he knew for sure.  This would have been unnecessarily cruel and besides, Cerdis is one to brag about his achievements, meaning it makes more sense for him to explain to Joey just what was happening.
* There are also changes related to this version.
:*I had originally intended for a number of flashbacks concerning Cerdis’s machinations to be spaced throughout the story, but in the end I decided it would be best to have the two major flashback scenes.
:*The line “The few injections he gave were in areas of Lex’s body that wouldn’t be seen in public, such as his back and hips,” originally ended after “in public”, but I then I figured it would be better to elaborate so people didn’t think Cerdis was injecting him in inappropriate places.
:*I added a description of Lex feeling nauseous and drinking some anti-nausea medication since previous stories had established that Cerdis’s victims feel nauseous as a result of his drugging.
:*I had initially rejected the scene with Lex’s nightmare and subsequent visit to Joey’s bedside, but I decided it would be better to include it even though parts of the scene are gruesome.
*I gave The White Tigress a black car as a joke.
*The medicinal fruits, herbs, and beverages were inspired by items in the Pokémon games.
*Brenda Gregory alias Lady Darkphoenix, Professor Cerdis’s assistant, was also one of his test subjects. One of his experiments gave Brenda the ability to turn into an umbrakinetic monster resembling a cross between a woman, a phoenix, and a panther, but it came at a cost.  An unforeseen consequence is that she needs to spend a certain amount of time in her monster form and drain energy from a living creature or she’ll become deathly ill.
*At one point Brenda alias Lady Darkphoenix notes that Cerdis is treating her with more consideration. Not too long before this story, Cerdis was severely injured and only lived because Darkphoenix was able to teleport him to a hideout for medical treatment. Cerdis became kinder toward her after that.
*The mind influencing pill was inspired by the brainwashing pill from “Smart the Assassin” a season one episode of the 1960s spy comedy Get Smart.
*St. Sebastian is the patron saint of athletes and soldiers.  The implication is that Sebastian Center is a place that treats sports injuries, combat-related injuries, and the like. There’s also an implication that one of the higher-ups helped Cerdis because he felt that letting him do one or two things was a small price to pay for being allowed to use this experimental drug that might help who knows how many people in the future.
:*When it comes to Tabitha convincing that same higher-up to release Joey, I envision her nonchalantly standing in the guy’s office while casually displaying her claws. 
By Raidra
Category:Stories
Category:Raidra
Category:Horror stories