Mastermind

=== Overview ===
Before appearing in OverDrawn, Kurt hypnotizes Herakles to keep him safe from Daor, an ancient weapon with an equally primeval spirit. Then, they set off to hunt down more relics. 
=== Included Characters ===
* Herakles the Elk
* Kurt the Butterfly
* Daor
== Mastermind ==
The mind is a strange thing. Some would call it both strange and wonderful; as far as Herakles the Elk is concerned at the moment, it is just plain strange.
He looks at the dagger in his hands, dark steel with a small bronze guard and white linen wrapped around the hilt. He feels a sense of peace. What can it do? Who cares? This is Daor, the Slave Blade, and he knows that it has a long and storied past, but he cannot muster the curiosity to even form a thought in question. It will become what he needs it to be; he knows that much, and what more could he need to know?
“How’s it working?” Kurt the Butterfly asks. His wings, Indian red spiraling through burgundy into black, wave back and forth, soothing, hypnotic.
“Hmm?” Herakles asks. It takes all his effort to even muster that questioning noise. What does it matter, what Kurt might be talking about?
Kurt takes a step back, his orange eyes narrowing in annoyance. The sedative cloud seems to lift a bit, and Herakles feels a little more awake, a little more real.
“The hypnotism, dummy. Are you curious about the spirit trapped in Daor?”
“No,” Herakles says, wide dark antlers dipping with his scrunching eyebrows, “should I be?”
“No!” Kurt says, “The spirit in Daor lures the wielder into thinking about it and what it might be able to do, which gives it power – eventually, enough power to enslave the wielder’s mind to its will. It seems my hypnotism is working, but it’s too broad. I need to focus it in on Daor in particular, not just quell your inquisitiveness in general.”
“Okay,” Herakles says. He has the distinct feeling that they have gone over this before. He is usually fairly bright (despite what people tend to assume when they see his towering, muscle-bound frame), but right now Kurt’s wings are messing with Herakles’s mind, and his memories are blurred.
“This is the tricky part,” Kurt says, and takes two steps toward Herakles, and Herakles blacks out.
*
He comes to sometime later, and now he can see Kurt clearly, bending over their campfire. The woods are tall around them, and it is either early morning or late afternoon, depending on which way is north.
Kurt must sense that Herakles is awake, because he turns to face him.
“Hey, buddy. Sorry for knocking you out, but I think you’re good to go now.”
“No problem,” Herakles says, sitting up and stretching. His joints pop satisfyingly, and he gives a loud yawn. “I feel fine.”
“So, just to check,” Kurt says, counting off points on his long, glove-clad fingers, “any urges to investigate Daor?”
“Nope.”
“Good. Any urges to kill me?”
“Not yet.”
“The feeling is mutual. Any urges to take over the world?”
Herakles leaps to his hoofed feet, pumping his giant fist into the air. “Together!”
“Together!” Kurt echoes, taking flight to fist-bump his old friend. This has been the proof of concept for Kurt’s master plan: Now they know that Kurt’s hypnosis can counteract cursed artifacts. With Herakles’s strength and speed wielding the old, powerful weapons, and Kurt’s homemade armor and arsenal of firearms and mental blasts allowing him to stay close enough to Herakles in a fight to protect him from the curses, they’ll be unstoppable.
“Now, all we need is more artifacts,” Kurt says, “and I think I know just where to find them…”
Category:Fanfiction
Category:OverDrawn