1. Chapter 1 (1/2)

shadow of the mind

by sapphire

author's note: this is based off of a nightmare i had awhile ago. it starts off in the first victim's pov. then we switch to the bad guy's pov, then to the martian manhunter and batman. enjoy!

i guess it all started when i was driving home from piano class one night. i don't remember what radio station i was listening to, but it was playing this really nice, pleasant song. my car's heater was

oken, and it was snowing outside. i should have felt cold, but something made me not notice it at all. the music was slow and soothing, and i felt very relaxed and comfortable. i noticed that i was driving down a totally new road i'd never seen before. yet, i watched in amazement as i made a turn into a subdivision and pulled into someone's driveway. i remember getting out of the car and going into the house.

i wish i could remember what happened after that.

the next thing i remember is walking back out of the house, along with some other people i didn't know. i went to my car; key in hand, about to unlock it, when i noticed how cold i felt. i looked around, and it had stopped snowing, and there was just melting slush everywhere. yet i felt so cold i had to lean on my car for a second. i looked back at the stranger's house. it's warm in there; i have to go back in there, just for a few seconds… no, wait, what am i thinking?! i don't even know whose house that is, and besides, i'm lost! how the hell did i get here, anyway? i have to- another wave of cold hit me, and it hurt. not totally aware of what i was doing, i turned around and went back to the stranger's house.

i let myself in through the garage, vaguely wondering how i knew where everything was, and how i'd even found this house in the first place. i slowed down, wanting to go back to my car, to go home. but then another wave of cold hit me, and i desperately kept going. that's when i noticed another girl walking beside me. she was blonde, and walking with her back so straight, it didn't even seem natural.

i felt another cold wave hit me, and i clutched my chest, my body curling into a fetal position. it hurt! why won't it stop… i managed to lean on the wall and make a few more steps, noticing that the other girl hadn't noticed me at all, she just kept going, and had stopped at a hallway. i caught up with her and saw a man. he was wearing glasses, and he had these piercing blue eyes. he stared straight into my eyes, a knowing smile on his lips.

"ah, come in. can't leave, can you, girls?"

the other girl nodded, then leaned on the wall, looking fatigued as he stared at her. he opened the door and walked in. the other girl practically dragged herself in, collapsing on a couch just inside the fireplace-lit room. that's when another cold wave hit me, and it was worse than all the others. it felt like it was radiating through my entire body, weakening me. my knees buckled, and i collapsed in the doorway.

i couldn't move, and i just lay there, wondering why neither of the two even noticed my helpless position. i heard footsteps and glanced up. a lady in a red business suit walked into the room, stepped right over me, and continued into the room. as her voice and the strange man's voices conversed, i lay there, sprawled out on the floor, slowly blacking out.

when i woke up, i was sitting, propped up in the corner of the fireplace-lit room. i tried to get up, to run away, but i couldn't move, although i wasn't tied up at all. it was like i was pinned down by an invisible wall, or something. the other girl was in the other corner. the man was sitting at his desk near the fire, watching us. the other girl slowly raised her head and spoke.

"can i ask you a question?"

the man replied in a casual tone,

"i suppose so."

"why are you doing this to us?!"

the man smiled calmly, then looked at me, into my eyes again.

"i want to see what i'm capable of, and to do that, i need to explore your minds. it seems i have already been able to control the body warmth and rational thought of my subjects. now, i want to see what else i can control. rest assured, young ladies, i am not a sexual predator. your bodies will remain pure, all i want is to enter your minds, to explore the sensations the human

ain produces."

he looked into my eyes again, and i felt another cold wave. it hurt so much i gasped, my limbs convulsing as i fell completely to the floor, rolling into a fetal position. but this cold wave didn't stop. my

eath hitched as i kept convulsing, my head snapping back and hitting the wall once. tears gathered in the corners of my eyes as i shut them in pain. the cold felt like it was radiating from my heart, slicing outwards through my skin. i couldn't have screamed even if i'd wanted to, because it hurt so much just to

eathe.

then it stopped, and my body relaxed, exhausted, on the floor. my mind was racing, trying to make sense of what i had just experienced, when i faintly heard the other girl scream. i wondered what she was feeling; it sounded worse than what i'd just felt. i felt like crying as i glanced into the warm fireplace. the other girl's words rang in my ears, "why are you doing this to us?!' i felt like repeating her question as i gazed sadly back at the man. i didn't want to make eye contact again, since that's what started the last wave, but i felt compelled to do so, and i just couldn't look away. but this time, his eyes held a comforting look. it felt soothing, comforting, and warm. i felt warm and relaxed, like i'd felt in my car. i leaned back, feeling limp but comfortable. he was right, it was nowhere near sexual pleasure; it felt more like a relaxing warm bubble bath, warm and soothing. how is he doing this?

his voice spoke loud and clear in my mind, as i stared at his unmoving lips in fear.

"you want to know how? well, allow me to tell you."

dr. ?'s pov:

both the dark-haired girl and the blonde girl stared at me, helpless and scared. i was looking deep into the dark-haired girl's mind, almost overwhelmed by the fear she felt. the question hit me loud and clear. well, i suppose i owe them an explanation, at the very least, since i'd entered their minds and lured them to my house with my new mental powers. turning away from them, i looked into the fireplace, reflecting and preparing to share my darkest memory.

flashback:

all my life, i've been fascinated with the human

ain. i had a degree in the studies of human behavior, but i couldn't hold a steady job because my experiments always seemed a bit too controversially forceful for government standards. one night, my team and i were developing a new weapon. weapons weren't really in my line of classification, but i was the only one who knew how to fix it. it was a state-of-the-art force field generator. when fired, it was supposed to create an electromagnetic barrier around the target, thus effectively trapping them.

i knew one of my coworkers was an escaped convict, but i didn't know the severity of his crime until our roof came crashing down, revealing the entire justice league flying through. my coworker yelled to me, "shoot it! shoot it at them!! what are you waiting for?!"

i'd only seen these heroes on the news before, and they didn't seem like they'd really get caught in a weapon like this, but it seemed to work when i fired it. i was surprised as i watched them struggle to get out. my coworkers had already fled, but if i ran, i'd drop the weapon, and the justice league would be free to tackle me, or whatever they did to people who fired at them.

out of the corner of eye, i noticed the martian manhunter phase out of the trap and fly straight at me. his eyes glowed yellow as he ordered me to drop the weapon. i was so fascinated with his powers that i forgot all about the weapon.

that's when he entered my mind.

once again, he yelled, telepathically this time, for me to drop the weapon. i let go of it, but it was still active. "turn it off!", he ordered, straight into my mind. i looked into his eyes, wondering how he could do that. he'd just forced me to drop the weapon, just by looking at me! if i had a mind like that, i could control people, too!

"i… i want to be like you!"

"shut up, doctor, and turn off your weapon."

i could feel his presence in my mind. the great martian manhunter had wrapped his mind around mine, controlling my body. if he could do that, maybe humans can, too! imitating him, ignoring my convulsing body, i reached out with my own mind, shakily trying to grab onto his mind. he seemed so surprised, he loosened his grip on me.

"i want to be like you!"

i don't know how it happened, but i somehow managed to grapple with his mind, somehow reaching into it and understanding his telepathic powers. he was so surprised; his mental barriers couldn't stop me. i heard myself scream in pain, followed by his own yell as he tried to push me away. the mental bond between us exploded, and i screamed, thoughts rushing madly through my mind. a

ight flash hit me, and i blacked out.

i woke up in a guarded medical room in the jail. they said i'd been attacked by the martian manhunter, and blacked out from the stress, but i knew better. i felt different. i felt like i didn't have to stay here if i didn't want to. i remembered reaching out with my mind. if my mind was somehow equal to the great martian manhunter, then reaching into normal human minds should be easy, right?