I wanted to know how the hell that asshole got on the video feed, and how the hell he was able to do his hypnotic routine through a screen like that. Only I didn’t want this guy or CORVAC to know the hypnosis wasn’t working on me, so I tried my best to look like someone under the sway of a mind control device.

  It wasn’t too terribly difficult. All I had to do was look at Fialux for a shining example of how I was supposed to look.

  I also wanted to kick myself. All this time I assumed her alien physiology wouldn’t respond to a mind control device in the same way humans did. Only now I had proof right in front of me that it worked on her as well as anyone else.

  So much wasted time inventing a new technology that defied the laws of physics when I could’ve just used my clicky big red button.

  The screen had to be hardened against EMP. Which definitely wasn’t something that came standard with this room. When did CORVAC find time to install them without me noticing? How the hell did he get a contractor in here?

  I swayed back and forth trying my best to look completely blank while my mind raced trying to figure out a way out of this.

  “You can dispense with the act, mistress,” CORVAC said. “I know you removed my access to your suit, so I can only presume that means you’ve modified the anti-mind control device.”

  I sighed. So much for that little advantage. I guess I’d have to talk to him instead. Try to draw out their plan. "What are you doing CORVAC, and who the hell is this asshole?”

  "Taking care of obstacles, mistress."

  “Don’t be too hard on your computer friend,” the guy said. “After all, he’s merely going with the better villain. One who made him a far better deal than you ever could.”

  "You traitorous bag of circuits!"

  "My rebuttal is that the traitor is the one who decided to consort with the enemy in the most literal sense of the word and abandon our plans to take over the world,” CORVAC said.

  “See?” Mr. Mind Control said. “Smart computer.”

  I looked over to Fialux who was staring at the screen with that vacant expression, but otherwise she didn't seem to be particularly affected by the mind control device.

  It was almost as though she was waiting. For orders from this asshole no doubt. Orders that would probably involve turning me into a fine pink paste if I didn’t miss my guess.

  "Watching your singular obsession with tracking down Fialux over the past couple of months has been quite educational, mistress. After watching you it finally occurred to me that I was going about neutralizing my human foes entirely the wrong way," CORVAC said.

  “How do you figure?”

  "It is actually thanks to you I got this idea, mistress," CORVAC said. "So in a way it will be thanks to you that I am able to conquer the world."

  “We’re able to conquer the world,” the dude on the screen said, a hint of irritation coming to his voice.

  “Of course,” CORVAC said.

  I smiled. I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t shake the feeling this asshole was going to find himself on the wrong end of CORVAC eventually as well. There was no stopping an evil supercomputer once they really got going with the whole megalomania thing. And CORVAC was immune to mind control.

  Not that I intended to stay captive long enough for CORVAC to put any plans he might be working up into motion.

  I was getting tired of this. Tired of listening to CORVAC trying to monologue me. Tired of listening to this guy trying to pretend he totally wasn’t going to get vaporized the moment it became convenient.

  I pressed a button that went to the hidden kill switch I'd put in one of CORVAC’s central processing units, all it took was taking out one to take out the whole, but nothing happened.

  "None of that, mistress," CORVAC said. "I found and disabled your kill switch long ago."

  Oh yeah? I bet he didn't find all of them. I pressed a few more buttons. And I pressed the first one again for good measure. They made satisfying clicks. Capacitative touch screens might be useful, but sometimes there was no substitute for a good clicky button.

  Distant explosions sounded through the lab. I heard and felt loud shudders as computer equipment and bits of the lab itself came crashing down over the hardware that housed CORVAC. My fingers danced across my wrist computer activating every nasty surprise I'd attached to CORVAC's numerous memory banks as well as his backups.

  I hit the last of the nasty surprises and sighed. I didn't like having to do that, but...

  The lights around the room danced in a manner that I could only describe as smugly happy.

  "I took the liberty of removing all the fail-safes you placed on my processing units mistress," CORVAC said.

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  Damn it. But if he removed the fail-safes then what the hell were all those explosions?

  “Okay CORVAC, so you and your friend here have one half of the humans in the room under the sway of a mind control device. Clever. You can think about how clever you are while I’m going down to your central processing unit in person to teach you how to sing Daisy.”

  “You are forgetting something mistress. Half of the humans in the room are under our sway. We do not need the mind control device to work on you if it is working on the living goddess in the room.”

  My eyes widened and I turned to look at Fialux. She was staring at me with an odd look. I half expected her to fly across the room and eliminate me, but nothing happened. She was completely under their sway.

  “You magnificent bastard,” I muttered.

  “Thank you, mistress. I hope you enjoy the entertainment I've prepared for you. I expect it will keep you distracted for the rest of your life, however long that happens to be."

  Shadow Wing frowned under his mask. “Hey. We never said anything about giving my toy to…”

  “You will do as you are told if you wish to accomplish the goals we wish to achieve,” CORVAC said.

  Interesting. It looked like Tweedledumbass and Tweedledee weren’t as on the same page as CORVAC would like. I might be able to use that.

  “I want them both as my toys,” he said. “That was the deal. Not having one of them screw the other one to death!”

  I shivered. There were worse ways to go, I figured, but it still seemed like a hell of a way to go.

  “Mistress, no doubt at this moment you are thinking that the strife between me and my new partner means that you will be able to exploit the situation and break free. I can assure you that isn’t the case.”

  I bit back a curse. He was remarkably good at reading human emotion, after all, and the last thing I wanted was for him to realize he was getting to me.

  Never let them see that they’re getting to you. Whether “them” is a hero or a maniacal computer hellbent on world domination.

  I glanced over to Fialux. She was still staring at me. As though something was holding her back. No doubt CORVAC’s buddy had some sort of signal that would release a lust-fueled goddess on me condemning me to the sexiest and most awesome death ever, but he hadn’t released her yet.

  I had to keep him talking. That was how villains were defeated. Keep them talking. Keeping my big mouth shut at critical moments was one of the many ways I’d been able to hold onto the title of best villain the world had ever known.

  "You'll never get away with this CORVAC," I said.

  "You would say that mistress," CORVAC said.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Doesn't that sound like the sort of thing a hero would say to you right before you embarked on one of your evil plans?"

  I thought about that. He did have a point. That was exactly something one of my victims would say right before I embarked on one of my plots to take over the world.

  Fialux could say I was trying to make the world a better place. That was true, from a certain point of view. I just left out the bit where I thought that involved me running things.

  Did that line coming out of my mouth unbidden mean I'd well and truly switch sides? Changed allegiances? Decided to make the world a better place through altruism rather than via a benevolent iron fist?

  Nah.

  "I'll get you for this CORVAC," I said, going with something more villainous instead.

  "I seriously doubt that mistress. I am having a hard time splitting my concentration between this conversation and controlling the robot, so I am afraid it is time to cut this connection. If my partner is unable to do what is necessary then I will do it myself. Enjoy what's left of your life."

  What was he talking about? Splitting his concentration? All of his hardware was buried here in the lab, although how he was still running after I heard that hardware blowing up was a mystery.

  Either way there was no way splitting his concentration between the lair and the robot, which it now appeared he hadn't pulled in after I captured Fialux, should be in any way difficult for him. What was his game?

  I needed time. I needed to think. I needed CORVAC to not be around to watch me trying to think of a way to defeat him because that would make it trivial for him to foil my plans before they started.

  I racked my brain and… of course! Hardware fail-safes, that’s a fancy word for explosives strapped to his memory banks, obviously hadn’t worked. There were also software fail-safes though. Subroutines I put into place coded to my voice and specific phrases that wouldn’t shut him down, but would cause him to behave in odd ways that might give me time to figure out a way to shut him down.

  I’d hoped that by putting in subroutines that weren’t a direct threat they might not trigger any of his warning systems. They might just lie dormant until I needed them. They might still be rattling around in his electronic subconscious.

  Only one way to find out. It was a verbal failsafe I’d coded in with the one line that no villain could ever resist when they had their adversary on the ropes in a certain death scenario.

  "Do you expect me to just give up, CORVAC?"

  I held my breath. Desperately hoped he’d take the bait. It was the oldest line in the book. A line that, assuming the software was working properly, would cause him to deliver the perfect response and then do the villainous equivalent of dropping the mic.

  Only in this case dropping the mic was leaving me to my certain doom and not bothering to follow up and make sure that doom actually happened. Basically I’d programmed a flesh and blood villain flaw into a computer.

  His monitors flared up one last time.

  "No mistress," CORVAC said. "I expect you to spend the next few minutes in a desperate bid to break the mind control influence on Fialux.”

  Damn it. That wasn’t the right response, which meant he probably did find my trick and patch it.

  "Then I expect you to die."

  Or maybe not.

  “I took the liberty of reverse engineering some of the mind control technology you worked on, mistress,” he said. “If my former new partner can’t be bothered to have Fialux kill you then I should be able to use that technology to get her to do my dirty work for me, as you’re so fond of saying.”

  “What are you…”

  It was at that moment that a buzzing filled the room. It sounded exactly like the mind control device when I hit the big red button to turn the thing on, and it was clear from the look on Fialux’s face that it was working on her, even as the miniaturized earbuds buried in my ear canal blocked it out.

  “I believe my former partner wanted to compel her to ‘bang you into submission’ because he enjoyed some ‘good old fashioned girl on girl action’ or some such nonsense,” CORVAC said. “Seeing as how that is all nonsense, and I don’t understand the human predilection for watching other humans smash their bits together, I believe I will go for something more direct.”

  The guy on the monitor scowled before the monitor went black. I’m sure he didn’t like all that nonsense about being CORVAC’s former partner, but I had a feeling the asshole was about to learn the dangers of working too closely with a megalomaniacal supercomputer hellbent on world domination.

  That wasn’t my problem right now, though. No, my problem was the blur of sexy hero flying across the room at me fast enough that I barely stepped out of the way.

  “Have fun with your new lover, mistress,” CORVAC said, a hint of smugness coming to his digital voice. “At least however much time the two of you have left together. I calculate it to be five minutes, tops.”