The Archway, Part 16 (Patreon)

This will be the last episode of The Archway for a little while. I'm sure some of you are eager to see other storylines be updated as well. Still, I couldn't pause until I had finished the long-awaited Duchess Cross scene. As always, thank you and I hope you enjoy.

Finally, I was ready to drop the bombshell I had been sitting on for days.

“Before we begin the sentencing, there is something important I need to take care of. As  most of you are probably aware, the abilities the Archway gave me include a significant degree of passive mental influence over others. You've met some of the people I have converted. They are now completely loyal  to me, whether I choose to make them that way or not. However, even just being around me exerts a degree of influence over your thoughts and feelings. Those of you who have had less direct contact with me will only have experienced a very light form of the effect, but to my knowledge, none of you are immune.”

The crowd of non-converted Oddballs began muttering among themselves at my words. I suspected that most of them were still basically untouched by my quantum effect, but it was impossible to know for certain how many of them were being unconsciously influenced into seeing things my way. There was a big part of me that loved having so much power over other people, that loved knowing that everyone around me would do and say and believe anything I told them. I refused to let that part  of me win.

“I haven't found a way to stop doing that. You may have noticed that I've been mainly keeping to myself the last few days. I've been trying to limit the exposure you have to my influence, because I don't want to become a Queen. If I control the thoughts of everyone in this community, that doesn't leave you much room to use your own judgment, or express your own desires. A democracy of people under mind control is basically just a dictatorship. So, I have devised a temporary solution. Nora, please come forward.”

Nora stood up from the play-pen she had been sitting in. My heart began beating faster as she did. I had converted her a few days before the trial, to be certain that her new abilities would work as intended. She now had two feathery wings sprouting from her back, one bright red and the other shimmering green. She was wearing a sparkling golden tank top and a thick, rainbow-patterned diaper. Her large pacifier was still in her mouth, but her eyes were downcast and sad. With a fluttering of wings, she floated through the air and landed in the center of the room next to Cross. She tugged her pacifier from her mouth with a loud pop and took a deep breath. She addressed the crowd in a gentle but sorrowful tone, in marked contrast to her fanciful appearance.

“Before I met Miranda, I was a Knave.”

There was a murmur of apprehension among some of the crowd at this announcement. Some even stood from their seats, so they would be ready to run. To a Utopian, “Knave” was the very worst thing a person could be. The villains of our storybooks and cartoons were almost always Knaves. To say that you used to be a Knave was not only absurd, it was more than a little threatening.

“The Archway gave me the power to control people, just by speaking to them. It also gave me the desire to use that power to make myself the most powerful person alive, and removed any kindness or honesty from my nature. No one alive could tell me 'No', and there was nothing I wouldn't have done for more power. I could talk to someone for a few minutes, and completely re-write their entire mind. If I used my power on the same person more than a couple of times, they would build up a resistance, but the suggestions I implanted could still influence their mind years later. I hurt a lot of people before I was finally captured. I had a cult of over a hundred followers, some in high political positions. I don't know where all those people are now. I hope they've gotten the help they needed...after what I did to them.”

More murmuring, but more relaxed now. Those who had stood sat down again. Nora's face was so full of guilt, it was impossible not to feel sorry for her, even as she described the monster she had once been.

“I've been kept in a cell the last six years, until Cross became desperate enough to use me against Miranda. I nearly turned her into Cross' slave, but she was able to escape, and capture me in the process. I know that to many of you, Miranda must seem a lot like I what I used to be. You can see how she has transformed a lot of people, myself included, into her servants. We are loyal to her, and obey her will...and we bear her markings.” The angelic woman turned slightly to display her diapered rear to the crowd, as though she was worried they might have missed it.

“The truth is, being converted by Miranda was the most wonderful experience of my life. Even though I wanted to serve her even before she transformed me, it was different afterward. I was free from the hunger for power that the Archway had cursed me with. For the first time in years, I've been able to talk to other people as people, and not just as potential new recruits. I've been able to laugh and cry and have real feelings again. I know that not all these new feelings come from me. A lot of them come from Miranda's power, like how I feel like Miranda is the most wonderful person alive, or that diapers are the best thing ever invented, and I can't imagine living without either of them. We all feel the same way.”

She directed attention back to the playpens, where my collection of faithful friends and just-as-faithful former enemies enthusiastically nodded agreement (except Suki, who never did anything enthusiastically, and Jang-Mi, who was napping again).

“So, I admit I'm in a weird place now. You see, as much as I love Miranda and want to serve her always, Miranda herself doesn't want that. She wants to be free, and she wants all of us to be free as well. That was the sacred wish that she shared with me as she converted me. It was a strange but beautiful feeling. It was like my soul was turned inside-out. So, thanks to Miranda, I have a new purpose in life. Instead of controlling and manipulating people, my purpose is to liberate. My voice now has the power to counteract any form of mind control. That includes powers granted by the Archway, but also subtler things. I can free you from the chains of culture, from all the biases and unchallenged assumptions that have been seeping into your minds since childhood. Since I've been speaking to you, you might have noticed the effect already, but speaking only gives you a taste of it. To get the full effect, I have to sing.”

I mentally braced myself as my diapered Angel of Freedom took a deep breath and bowed gracefully. I had felt the effects of her song already a few times. Unlike her previous powers, her new ones did not seem to weaken with repeated use. If anything, the effect had never really left me. I hadn't been aware, before I had converted her, that my powers were affecting my own mind as well as everyone else's. I guess I should have known, given how much I had changed recently. The diapers had gone so quickly from being humiliating to being mundane to being utterly delightful. I had thought it was adorable and bizarre when Princess Boom-Boom had thanked me for turning her into a diaper-wearing imbecile, but now I understood why she felt that way.

It had been a rude awakening when the spell had suddenly lifted. I had looked down at my diaper with new eyes. It wasn't what it had been to me when I was first potty-trained, a source of shame and a symbol of immaturity. It wasn't what it had become over the last week either: A source of pleasure and comfort, as well as a weird badge of authority. For the first time, I became fully aware of the aura of warm, tingling joy that had slowly built up around my diapers, so slowly that I hadn't really noticed. It was still a wonderful feeling, but it no longer dominated my mind. Thanks to Nora, I could choose freely whether to reject those feelings, or to embrace them.

I had looked at my converts with new eyes as well. The combination of possessiveness and affection I had been feeling had lost its hold on me. I could now look at these women, not as useful servants or precious treasures or even as my friends, but as human beings. They were still wonderful in so many ways, but they were not truly mine as the Archway's power would have had me believe. I had transformed their lives, and because of that I was now responsible for their happiness and well-being, even if the change might have been for the better. But I was also responsible for making sure that their desires and opinions were treated with respect.

Nora's voice rose. Her voice had been good to start with, but the transformation had granted her near-perfect pitch, just far enough from true perfection to give it warmth and sincerity. The tune wasn't familiar, and the lyrics made little sense, but Nora was belting it out for all she was worth.

“I waaa-nt, something else...to get me through this...semi-charmed kinda liiife! Baby, Baby I waaant...something else...”

As the strange melody filled the make-shift courtroom, the crowd began stirring. People were looking at one another wide-eyed and discussing furiously, as the spell of my quantum effect was lifted. The converted were the most affected. Cynthia, Megan, Sammy, Nurse Wipes, Suki, and especially Princess Boom-Boom began talking among themselves with great intensity, and occasionally with raised voices. Even Jang-Mi was suddenly up and alert. I was very worried about what they would decide. I could only imagine what they were feeling, now that they were faced with their own genuine, unfiltered thoughts. Using Nora's power in this way had not been an easy choice for me. This was now my trial, as much as anyone's. They might be horrified by what I had turned them into.

“not listening when you say...Goodbye!”

No one was more affected by the beautiful song of liberation than Duchess Cross. Her face darkened with rage as Nora sang beside her. I wasn't  worried. Even if all my converts decided to turn their backs on me, I still had a truly insane degree of strength at my disposal. I was grateful that I had such an extreme advantage, or Cross might have had the audacity to...

...to leap at me like an angry wolverine, which is what she did. Before I could react, she had launched herself through the air and punched me in the forehead with the force of a wrecking ball. The stack of plastic building blocks that formed my judge's bench shattered under me. Colorful toys scattered across the floor. The blow was barely painful at all, but Cross wasn't finished. She struck me again, sending me streaking across the storeroom like a cannonball, destroying all the crates in my path. I got to my feet as fast as I could, but Cross was too quick for me. I threw punch after punch at her, but she dodged or redirected the immense force of my fists with ease. I had thought that having the strength of so many Knights would make me invincible, but Cross quickly showed me the error in my reasoning. No matter what I did, Cross was always two steps ahead. I stumbled and tripped over the blocks on the floor, while she danced effortlessly between them. She ripped me off my feet again and again, slamming me against the concrete floor with whip-crack speed. Despite the unbelievable toughness my new powers granted me, I was losing the fight. Cross had skills and experience that my greater strength could not account for, and I suspected that her enhanced intellect played a large role as well. If there was a way to win, she would find it. If there was an opportunity, she would pounce on it.

Cassandra came to my rescue, but she barely did better. Cross seemed totally unfazed by the fact that either of us could have flattened her with one punch. Our fists just couldn't connect, so it didn't matter, and no amount of strength could save us from being juggled like a pair of bowling pins. There were shouts of confusion and dismay from all around me, but the battle was happening too fast for anyone to respond. Considering that my powers were no longer affecting their minds, it was even possible that they would choose to support Cross over me. I hated myself for being so overconfident. Clearly, even with the strength to lift a small mountain, I am no kind of fighter. I lobbed yet another unstoppable punch at her, but she shifted a few inches and I struck Cassandra by mistake, sending her barreling across the floor with a sound like a thunderclap.

Cross seized me by the head, and was jerking me back and forth, too fast for me to counterattack. She screamed at me as she choked me and tried desperately to snap my neck.

“Die! Die! You disgusting, monstrous freak! Die!”

Something long and gray wrapped around her like an angry blanket. I fell against the floor and gasped for air. As my vision cleared, I saw that a woman in a prisoner's jumpsuit had suddenly stretched her body to over thirty feet in length. It was Sara Moses, the same woman who Cross had stored in a tiny tank to prevent her from escaping. Now, she was encircling Cross like a boa constrictor. Cross struggled to free herself, but the woman's elastic body just stretched like taffy in her powerful arms. Cassandra was soon back, pinning Cross' arms to her sides in a mighty bear hug. Sammie appeared beside me and helped me to my feet.

My friends surrounded me. Cynthia laid her hands on me, and the bruises and welts were swept away,  as though by a cool breeze. In truth, I wasn't hurt very badly, but it felt good all the same. At least I knew they were still on my side.

“Are you okay, Miranda?” she asked her voice full of concern. Jang-Mi and Megan were next to her. Larry, Suki, Princess Boom-Boom, and Nurse Wipes were right behind them.

“I'm fine.” I said, still breathing hard. “But I think Cassandra might be hurt.”

“Aah, I'll live. Don't worry about it. You have to expect that kind of trick when you fight a Duchess.” said Cassandra, hefting Cross off the floor. Cynthia reached out to heal her anyway.

A blue glow surrounded the Duchess. Megan levitated her out of Cassandra's arms and into the air. Sara released her and returned to normal proportions on the ground as Cross began screaming and flailing around uselessly in mid-air.

“You shouldn't have tried a stunt like that.” said Cassandra, speaking loudly so that she could be heard over Cross' obscenities. “What we have done if she had killed you? You're all we have here. We could have all ended up like Princess Boom-Boom when I shot her with that awful nullifier!” She turned to Princess Boom-Boom who was standing with an uncomfortably serious look on her face. “Sorry about that, Sonia.”

She nodded. “It's okay. I didn't even think about that until just now. Why did you have to turn me back, Miranda? I loved being Princess Boom-Boom. I got to play all the time, and hug people, and I didn't have to worry about anything. This sucks.” It felt weird to hear her talk like that. I had become so attached to the new persona my powers had granted her. I had known that her real self was still in there somewhere, but I had had no clue what she was thinking.

I sighed. “I'm sorry everyone. I wish I could could give you back your free will permanently, but Nora's power will wear off soon, and she can't be singing all the time. I don't know if you'll get to retain any of the effects. I just have to know...do you hate me for what I've turned you into?”

There was a long silence. I hung my head in shame.

Nurse Wipes was the first to speak. “I mean...if you had told me two weeks ago that I was going to spend my life wiping other people's butts, I would have been horrified and disgusted. But after being Nurse Wipes, I don't really want to go back to being Doreen Pratchett. I haven't had a moment of stress or unhappiness all week. It's...bliss.”

“I was right to sign up with you when I did.” said Cynthia. “I get to actually help people now. I feel like my existence has real purpose.”

“Serving you has been...challenging at times, but working for Cross was no better.” said Suki, in her usual affectless tone. “At least I now have interesting projects to work on, and if I'm being honest, I have enjoyed many aspects of our time together. I find this mode of existence...adequate.”

Larry summed up the general sentiment. “Look, this is a really weird, fucked-up situation we have here. The whole diaper thing is only part of that. With Laura out there turning people into monsters and destroying everything, it feels like our world is coming apart at the seams. But it seems like  you really want to help make the world a better place with your weird, screwy powers. And you really care about people. That's important. I think you have the best chance of getting us through all this. So, I'm behind you.”

My vision blurred. I felt so grateful to have so many friends. The guilt of what I had been doing was getting to me. Despite what Cassandra had said, I was glad I had used Nora's power in this way. Despite what the Archway had saddled me with, I wanted to do right by people, and that meant giving people real freedom, as much as possible.

I heard a crackling, hissing sound nearby. I looked up to see that Duchess Cross holding yet another of her little devices in her hand. It was emitting an electrical crackle and a thin trail of smoke. She looked at it with eyes full of rage. In the gallery, a thin, elderly woman I vaguely recognized from the files as Pattie Simmons was putting her new sunglasses back over her eyes. Whatever Cross had been planning to spring on us, Pattie had just microwaved it.

“Would you please just turn that horrible bitch into a diaper baby already so we can all move on with our lives? Some of us still need bathroom breaks, y'know!” she called in a harsh voice.

I looked around at the assembled crowd. There was a general murmur of agreement.

“Fucking go for it!” someone else shouted.

“Whatever you do to her, it ain't a tenth of what she deserves!” called someone else.

The crowd began cheering and shouting. It was clear that most of them had come here hoping to  see Cross get her comeuppance.

Princess Boom-Boom, or Sonia as she was currently, put her hand on my shoulder. “You've got this. Make her even more ridiculous than you made me. Then we can go back to the crib and play!”

There was so much I wanted to ask her in that moment, before my powers reasserted themselves and she was left as a giggling idiot once again. But then she leaned forward and kissed me gently on the cheek, and the blush that ran from the top of my head to the tips of my toes drove all questions from my mind. I turned, stiffly, and tried to block out all the distractions around me as I looked upon the woman glowering at me from Megan's telekinetic field.

I took a deep breath, concentrated, and embraced the part of myself that I had been holding back  ever since we had first captured her.

“Duchess Cross, you have been defeated. Utterly. You have lost. And you deserved to lose. It is time for me to be put you in your rightful place. You are a Loser, now and forever. You will always know that were completely and utterly beaten, and you will forever be a Loser in every sense of the word. You will be pathetic, wimpy, and utterly submissive from now on. Anyone and everyone will be bossing you around. A Loser like you can never even dream of standing up for herself in any way.”

The musical chimes and sparkling lights that accompanied my powers surrounded Cross as she continued to thrash in the air. My words were sinking into her mind, molding her thoughts and feelings like soft clay. But I was far from finished.

“As punishment for the crimes you have committed against all of us, you are going to lose all the advantages that you have failed to use for constructive purposes. First, your strength. You used it to bully and intimidate others instead of helping and protecting them, so now you will lose it. You will be a complete and utter weakling. Every muscle in your body will be as soft and squishy as a marshmallow. Your combat skills are going bye-bye too. You can be physically dominated by literally anyone. The instant you suspect anyone is unhappy with you, you will be fawning at their feet like a total wimp. You won't even think about trying to harm another human being ever again, because you know that you're just a Loser, and that's all you can ever be.”

I felt her strength become mine as I spoke. As her toned muscles softened, mine swelled with power. Her bottom lip quivered as her willpower faded away.

“You have also abused your intellect. You used it to control and trap people, when you could have used it to help those in trouble. So, I'm taking that away as well. From this day forward, you are going to be really, reaaaally Stupid. You are going to be a Ditz, a Dumb-Dumb, a Dullurd. You will think about things only in the broadest, simplest, most straight-forward terms. You don't even have to know what nuances or details are anymore. Your mind will be full of the here-and-now, the feelings and sensations of the present. No more thinking, or focusing, or remembering, or planning. Those things are only for smart people, not you. You won't understand most of what other people say, so you should just wait until they tell you to do something. You don't need to understand their reasoning, you just have to obey them like a good little Dimwit. Everyone is so much smarter than you, after all. You know that everyone else's ideas are wonderful and brilliant, even if you can't possibly understand them. You obviously can't argue with anyone in a coherent way, so you'll just nod along with whoever is talking to you. Trying to figure things out for yourself is just a waste of time. You will walk, talk, and act in the most silly, idiotic manner you can imagine. If you ever find that you are trying to think about something, you'll just laugh at yourself and give up. Thinking just isn't your thing.”

“Nooo...” she muttered weakly as my words came true. Her mouth dropped open. Her eyes lost all focus. She shook her head, trying to shake out the warm fog of stupidity that was now replacing her cold, calculating mind. Meanwhile, I felt her brilliance wash over my mind like a raging river. For the first time, I felt fully and totally aware of everything happening around me. The world seemed so clear. Everything felt so much more complicated, and yet it all made perfect sense, and if you were only willing to think for a moment, it was all obvious. My memories became sharp and clear, every word recorded perfectly and ready to be recalled in an instant.

“You have wielded the respect and authority you have been given to make others miserable. As such, you are sentenced to lose every bit of your dignity. From now on, you will have no potty training whatsoever. You will fill your diapers over and over, without the slightest trace of self-control. You won't even think about asking anyone to change you. That kind of thinking is way above your pay grade. Your diapers will be changed whenever we get tired of smelling you, not when you want them changed. You're going to be a great big Stinky-Pants from now on. In fact, that will be your name now. Duchess Stinky-Pants. Even in your own head, you will have no other name. You will talk about yourself in the third person, and you will always call yourself Duchess Stinky-Pants. If anyone calls you Sylvia or Cross ever again, be sure to tell them that those aren't your names anymore. If they doubt you, just show them how much your new name suits you.”

A loud gurgling noise came from Cross' belly. A smile formed on her lips as a long, whistling fart escaped her butt. Her drab uniform began wadding itself up like a hamburger wrapper,  until she was naked except for a white tank top and a Capital-D Diaper that dwarfed even the ones worn by Princess Boom-Boom. Her ass ballooned behind her like a glossy plastic flag of surrender, and the word “Loser” was proudly displayed across her padded rear. The leak guards ruffled up around her waist and legs. Her legs were forced apart by the unbelievably thick padding expanding between them. It was obvious that her days of walking and running were over, she would only be able to waddle and toddle in her new pampers. With a loud squelch, she began pooping in her pristine diapers, noisily and plentifully. She sighed in ecstasy as her already comically oversized pampers expanded still further. On her white tank top, the words “Stinky-Pants” appeared in bulging purple all-capital letters across her breasts.

But I still wasn't finished. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I finished my new creation.

“But don't worry. You'll still have lots important work to do. Being cute and cuddly is going to be your job now. Everyone around you is just so smart, and beautiful, and wonderful in every way. It's only natural that you'll want to give everyone you meet lots of big hugs. You exist to embrace and cuddle and be embraced and cuddled. You'll be soft and affectionate and adorable. It'll be like community service. You'll make up for all the pain you've caused by bringing joy and laughter to those around you. You'll be sweet, and joyful, and always, always obedient. Your dumb little head will be full of nothing but smiles and rainbows and big, smelly diapers.”

The smile on her face grew until she was beaming. Her body grew softer and chubbier. Her belly stuck out slightly. Her legs lost their definition, and began jiggling as she joyfully kicked her legs in the air. Her breasts grew until they were ideal for giving hugs. Duchess Cross was gone, and Duchess Stinky-Pants was ready to launch her new career.

Megan gently set the newly-dubbed Duchess Stinky-Pants to the floor. She immediately ran over and gave me one of the hugs for which she was now perfectly designed. “Ooooh, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!” she gushed as she pressed herself against me, mashing her pillowy new breasts against mine. Despite the stink rising from her diaper-butt, and even despite the fact that she had tried to murder me not ten minutes earlier, it was an awesome hug. I savored it for a long pause, then peeled her off of me and gently pushed her toward the audience, who were staring in awe at what I had just created.

“Tell the nice people about yourself, sweety.” I ordered her.

“Hiiii, everybody! My name's Duchess Stinky-Pants! I, like, usta be a big, horrible meanie-person, but lucky for me, Mistress made me all, like, totally stupid and stuff! I know you guys are probly like, still mad at me,and its totes okay if you want to like, spank my big stupid butt or something! I like, totes deserve it! Mistress is sooo smart! That's why she like, put me in these totally awesome diapers, see? Hee hee, my butt is like, sooo big now!” She sniffed the air thoughtfully. “Like, what's that smell?”

I patted her on her bulging rear as she left to mingle with the crowd. Farts escaped from her butt with almost every step. The audience watched and cheered as she happily ran from person to person, tripping all over herself in her eagerness to give every single person she saw a big hug. Some shrank away from her, still frightened despite what they had just seen. Others shrank away from her smell. But soon enough, her effervescent new personality began to win them over, and soon she was giving out hugs like they were going out of style.