The Archway, Part 12 (Patreon)

I apologize, ladies and gentlemen. You'll have to wait till next time for Duchess Cross' conversion. This chapter is mainly narrative, with little action or diaper content.

The pacifier moved in and out. Cross' eyes were full of dull confusion. The machine gun clattered to the floor. Gradually, the crushing pressure on my arm diminished. I slipped from Cross' grip and fell to the floor, woozy and unable to stand from the wound on my leg.

“Cynthia! Hurry!” I called. “Cross is down, but Larry is dying!”

A few minutes later, the situation had calmed down. Cynthia healed both Larry and myself, leaving only minor psychological scarring. Cross seemed to be in some sort of trance, literally pacified by the effect of the beam. Not quite unconscious, but clearly unable to remove her pacifier or make any sort of voluntary motion. Judith was found sitting in the hallway, sucking a pacifier of her own in a similar, entranced state. Naturally, I tried to convert them then and there, but I wasn't able to. If indeed the pacifier ray projected my quantum effect, as I had intended, it must take longer for it to build up than just a few minutes. I decided that Nora would be a lot easier to handle with a dose of the same medicine, and soon our three prisoners were resting comfortably with pacifiers in their mouths, under the watchful eyes of Larry and Cassandra.

Just like that, the battle was over. Special Containment belonged to us.

I wanted to celebrate, but there was so much to be done first. I now had full, unrestricted access to the whole of the facility, home to literally hundreds of Specials. Over the next few hours, my team and I got to work searching and securing our new home. Yesterday, it had been our prison. Now, it was our castle.

Sammy and I  broke into the Main Security Room quite easily, thanks to the keys we had taken from Cross' pocket, not that I really needed them with Sammy around . Inside, we found a spacious set of rooms, including an extensive laboratory space full of various electronic components, and small-scale manufacturing equipment necessary to make more. The schematics for Cross' nullifier beam were still being displayed on the computer monitors.

Cross' private office was next door to it, presumably so that that she could direct her team of Brights without straying too far from the monitoring station. From here, I could search through all the cameras in the building, but unfortunately the actual security system was controlled from the computer on her desk. It was encrypted and protected by a password prompt, so naturally I couldn't get at the records of which prisoners were being stored where, which was frustrating. Nobody can encrypt their computer quite like a Bright. Many of them are known to personally code the operating systems that they use, often making up whole new programming languages for the purpose. Even Suki might have trouble breaking into something like that, if she were up and about. Still, it was no problem, really. I would just have to wait until I could get the needed codes straight from the horse's mouth.

There was also a conference room where Cross had likely held meetings with her senior staff. Hiding under the large conference table, we found over a dozen men and women in beige uniforms. They looked like they had been there a while, and were positioned as though they were performing an earthquake drill. Their eyes were full of terror as I bent down to see them.

“Hellooo.” I greeted them, almost apologetically. I could only imagine what was going through their minds right now.

“Uh...hello.” said one of the senior members of the group. She was well-built woman in her late forties.

“You must have had an interesting day.” I commented.

“...yeh.” she said, casting her eyes downward. If they had all rushed me at that point, there wouldn't have been a lot I could do about it. But of course, all they knew about me was that I had dealt with the small army of Knights that guarded this facility quite handily, so they were not in a position to try anything. “What do want with us?” she asked nervously.

“You guys are the cleaning staff I guess?”

They nodded. “Yes. Cleaning, maintenance, inventory, cooking, and serving. None of us are Specials.”

I hadn't asked, but I had more or less assumed. Knights and Brights aren't usually employed to wash dishes.“Okay. Listen up. Cross' plan didn't work, so I'm going to be taking over around here. You guys don't have to stay here if you don't want to. If you want to head back to Utopia, I won't stop you. For right now though, I need you to do your jobs. When was the last time food was served around here?”

“...this morning...er...Ma'am. We had to cancel lunch and postpone dinner because of the...er...situation.” she said, diplomatically.

“You mean...me?” I asked. They all nodded, not quite looking me in the eye.

I realized that I really wanted these people to cooperate with me. Once I had a few more Specials out of their cells, we could probably run the facility just fine without them, but I couldn't just start randomly opening doors and releasing people who may or may not be psychopathic and have unknown powers. Besides, they already were familiar with the facility, and knew where everything was. I tried to adopt a reassuring tone.

“Right. Okay. I am officially declaring meal service back on for the day. Emergency over, normality resumed. There are a lot of people in this facility who I'm sure could use a good meal, myself included. Once I have things a bit more organized around here, I'll see about arranging for you guys to go home to Utopia. Understood?”

Frantic nodding. These people were terrified. I could only imagine what image of me they had been left with based only on what Cross had told them. Still, I felt a rush at being feared like this. These people thought of me as a dreadfully powerful Knave. Even I wasn't completely sure they were wrong. I wondered if I should just have Nurse Wipes talk to them for a bit. She could probably have them eating out of her hand in a few minutes, literally if necessary. Still, they began filing past me, eyes straight ahead, hopefully returning to their usual duties.

Our next stop was the same cell that we had found Sammy in earlier this morning. Josh Mendelssohn was sitting there, hands cuffed to a steel bench, and a device fitted into his mouth to stop him from generating more smoke. It looked very uncomfortable, and not a all easy to breath through. I helped him remove the awful-looking thing, while Sammy sorted through Cross' keys for the one that opened the handcuffs.

“Aww, that feels so much better!” he said, after furiously re-moistening his mouth. “I guess...you won?”

I nodded. “Thanks for your help, back there. I'm really sorry this happened to you.”

“No prob. You should have seen Cross' face when she tossed me in here! I was starting to think no one was coming. So...is she...alive?”

Next to Josh lay Megan, lying cold and emaciated on the steel bench. It almost made me cry, seeing her in that condition. She looked so sad and unwell, as though she had been starving for weeks. She was skin and bones, wearing the gray, faded remains of what had once been her diaper. I bundled her into my arms and carried her back down to Low Security myself. She was so reduced that my lack of enhanced strength was barely noticeable. Sammy and Josh followed me, cradling the deflated teddy bears. When they had been running around, adorably trying to hug people, it had been possible to forget that they were people. Even if they had once been Cross' shock troops, they still didn't deserve to exist in such diminished forms. I decided to see what I could do for them once my effect had had a chance to do its thing once again. I settled her down in the makeshift infirmary Cynthia and Nurse Wipes had set up in Low Security.

I spent a few hours listlessly pacing the halls of my new domain. I told myself that I was familiarizing myself with the layout while spreading my quantum effect around as much as possible, but the truth was I needed to think. I wanted badly to throw open all the cells and let my people run wild, but I knew that would probably be a mistake. Cross was a monster, that much was clear, but that didn't necessarily mean that everyone who was locked up here ought to be allowed to go free. At the very least, I would need to look over the lists of occupants and only release the Jokers and Oddballs that were relatively safe to release. Some of them would need special precautions to release safely, and some of them might even start throwing lightning bolts around the second they were able to. It didn't make me feel good, but they would have to sit and wait at least one more night.

I wasn't even certain what to do with all the Knaves. I had been told all my life that becoming a Knave basically rendered you incurably evil and psychotic, but given that I had been declared a Knave myself on virtually no evidence, I couldn't trust anything that I had been told. It was even possible that there were no Knaves, and that all these categories were more or less made up as an excuse to keep inconvenient people who needed help locked up. Could I justify keeping people in cells because Cross had judged them to be dangerous? The same woman who had decided that the likes of Megan or Larry were a danger to society? It made me feel sick to think of it. Being in charge is only fun if you're a horrible person. For everyone else, its just a lot of worry and stress.

Having finally made up my mind, I sat down and wrote out my thoughts on Cross' desk (well, I guess it's my desk now). After a lot of proofreading, crossing things out, and re-writing, I took a deep breath, turned on the PA system, and sent  my voice echoing throughout the halls of Special Containment, and into the cell of every one of its prisoners.

“Ladies and Gentlemen of Special Containment, your attention please. My name is Miranda Hubble. I have just defeated and captured Duchess Cross. All of her staff have either fled the building or surrendered to me. I am taking over management of this facility. I ask for your patience during this transition period. I plan to release all of you from your cells, once we have determined that it is safe to do so. I don't know how long that will take, but I will do everything I can to make the process as quick as it reasonably can be. I have ordered meal service to resume, so dinner should be served shortly.”

“Once freed, you will have difficult choices to make. If you choose, you may return to Utopia, or flee into the Wilds, or remain here. Returning to Utopia may be difficult, as it is currently at war with a powerful new Knave named Laura Peterson. Plus, they are the same people who decided to lock you up here in the first place. The Wilds are pretty dangerous and unpleasant if even half the things I've heard are true. You are welcome to stay here and live in this facility, but be warned that my companions and I are in control here, and we will remain so. I'm sure many of you have many impressive abilities. So did Duchess Cross and her staff. Just something to consider. Be nice, and we will get along. The rules here are simple. Don't hurt anyone, don't break anything, don't be a jerk.”

“Thank you for your patience. I'm looking forward to meeting each and every one of you. Good night.”

Sighing, I retired to Low Security for the night. When I arrived, Nurse Wipes was just finishing up securing Cynthia into a fresh diaper. I noticed Larry stealing sidelong glances as Nurse Wipes lovingly cooed over the older woman. I was a bit soggy myself, so I lay down on the changing table once Cynthia had climbed off. Somehow, knowing that Nurse Wipes had once been one of Cross' minions didn't make being wiped down by her gentle hands any less satisfying. As I was taped into a fresh diaper, I found myself wondering what I would do with Cross once the quantum effect had properly ripened.

Soon, one of the beige-suited workers brought in several steaming clamshell containers full of food, and we all sat on the floor to eat. It was hard to have much of an appetite surrounded by the corpse-like unconscious forms of our friends, but I knew we all needed some comfort.

“So...” said Sammy, breaking the awkward silence. “Where are we all sleeping tonight?”

I wasn't really what she meant by that. There were a lot of us here, but there were plenty of bunks in Low Security. Most of the people here could just sleep in their usual quarters.

Cynthia swallowed a forkfull of refried beans. “I was actually giving that some thought while you were gone. Larry and Cassidy have their usual beds, of course, and there are more up in the Barracks, where all the senior staff used to sleep, but I was wondering...”

She trailed off. I looked at her, not sure what she was getting at.

“Could we all just...sleep together tonight?” she asked finally.

I was taken aback. I didn't know what to say.

“I mean...we want Miranda to sleep near Princess Boom-Boom, Suki, and Megan, so they can get her effect back and recover. And we want Cross and other prisoners near her for the same reason, right?” said Cynthia, backtracking slightly.

I nodded. That all made sense. But there was definitely something else.

“So you'll be sleeping with six people, three of whom might be dangerous if that pacifier thing wears off.” she continued.

I glanced over at the three women in question. They were lying on sleeping mats where Nurse Wipes had laid them, still sucking contentedly on their pacis with vacant looks in their eyes. The gun's effect didn't seem to be fading, but of course I couldn't be sure. I'm sure that I am not the first person to wish that The Archway granted instruction booklets as well as new clothes.

“So it might be a good idea to have someone else with me, just in case.” I finished her thought.

There was a great leaning forward among my companions. Larry, Josh, and Casandra were watching with some interest as they ate, but it was the ones I had converted who seemed to be looking meaningfully at me. I got the feeling that I was missing something.

I gave up. “What am I missing here?” I asked.

“We all want to sleep with you!” said Jang-Mi. The others nodded, with varying degrees of sheepishness and eagerness.

“...Whyyy?” I asked, fearing the answer.

“I'm really not sure.” said Cynthia, looking more than a little embarrassed. “I think it might be the whole quantum effect thing. I just...really like the idea of being near you.”

“I'll sleep wherever you want, of course!” said Nurse Wipes. “But, it would be nice to be on hand if anyone needs changing during the night...”

Larry stood up and set his clamshell next to the sink. “Well, you gals can sort that out for yourselves. Personally, I think I'll make do on my own tonight. Far as I'm concerned, a good night's sleep and a roomful of diaper girls don't really mix. Nighty-night, ladies.” He retired to the back area of  Low Security.

“I think I'll uh, retire for the evening as well.” said Cassandra. She left, presumably to spend the night in the barracks. She glanced over her shoulder as she departed, and we all waved at her. I could tell she was thinking about staying as well, but I couldn't bring myself to ask her to stay. She was too confused right now. If I invited her to spend the night with me, I have no doubt she would have jumped at the chance. Still, I would never know if it was the mind control affecting her, or her actual wishes. So far, the only people I had forced to convert to my side had been enemies, and I wanted to keep it that way.

Josh still sat munching his food, watching the proceedings with feigned indifference.

“Josh?” I said.

“Hmm?” he asked.

“Get lost, won't you?”

“Y...yes, ma'am.” He sighed and followed the other two.

I decided to set up my new sleeping quarters in the front room of Low Security. Now that I had visited it several times, including once when my power had been boosted, I guess that it was ripe for conversion, and I soon learned that I was right. The couch, most of the floor, several beds, and part of the wall melted under the strange power the Archway had given me, transforming with sparks of light and a musical chime. Soon, the room was nearly filled wall to wall with a huge crib, large enough to easily accommodate all ten of us. The bars were thick and painted white, with elegant Victorian carpentry. The floor was bright green and full of blankets and stuffed animals. I was impressed with myself. I was getting the hang of my powers.

We loaded our wounded comrades and pacified prisoners in, then Jang-Mi, Cynthia, and Nurse Wipes joined me. It was warm and comfy in between them, with my hand resting on Cynthia's belly and Jang-Mi hugging me from behind. I thought it would feel weird to share a crib with so many people I had known for such a short time, but I discovered that I was surprisingly comfortable. They were all mine, after all, so why shouldn't they share my crib? Suki, Megan, and Princess Boom-Boom were lined up nearby, sharing a blanket. All together, they looked like they had escaped from some old-fashioned German horror movie. The three prisoners were resting comfortably at my feet, still showing no sign that the spell was lifting.