Iron Maiden vs. The Mind Master Jenny James was a different woman when she returned from her “mysterious” trip to Venezuela. It was true that the CEO of James Industries would often disappear for extended periods of time, but she always had a logical explanation for her activities when she returned. This time, however, she said nothing. What’s more, the usually open and energetic woman appeared to be in a constant state of depression and spent most of her time in her private offices. Her staff was well trained, and did not pry into their employer’s mental state. That did not keep them from being concerned. Inside her office, Jenny was brooding. She had finished rebuilding her Iron Maiden cybernetic suit (version 2.3) nearly a week ago, but had yet to put it on. Truth be told, she was afraid to. She was deathly afraid of what might happen if she did. And so it remained in the corner, untouched. Currently, her attention was focused on a new device she had completed. Outwardly, it resembled the helmet she had on her Iron Maiden armor, and indeed it used much of the same technology. But where Iron Maiden’s helmet sent signals from her brain to the rest of her suit, this helmet worked the other way around, sending signals into her brain. Edward Furlong had managed to modify the helmet to her suit into a device like this one to send signals to the pleasure centers in her brain, but that helmet was destroyed along with the rest of her suit in Venezuela. Still, Jenny understood the principle behind the device and had little trouble in recreating it. Why she would recreate the very device that allowed Furlong to gain such complete control over her was more shameful to Jenny. She had become addicted to it. The signals that were sent to her pleasure centers were of such complete and total bliss that ordinary sexual pleasure paled by comparison. Even now, Jenny craved a taste of the pleasure again. She tried to get over it, but she realized that she might as well forget how to breathe. Which is why she built this device, so she could get a little release from her desires. But she also knew that using the device would only help to further cement her addiction. Either way, she was damned. She held her face in her hands and cried. ---------- Later, Jenny was at her desk in her office when her assistant, Dorothy Gray entered, carrying several files. “What is it Dorothy?” Jenny asked, sullenly. Dorothy spoke as if she didn’t hear the tone in Jenny’s voice. “It’s about this project that Dr. Murphy has been working on for us.” “I’m not really in the mood to look at that now, Dorothy.” “I realize that, Ms. James, but the board of directors (remember them? The ones who have the power of life and death over our company?)” Dorothy added sarcastically, “have insisted that you report on the project’s feasibility or they’re going to pull the plug on it.” That got Jenny’s attention. She had fought for this project for months. She decided she really ought to rouse herself to take an interest in her company’s business again. “What do I need to do?” she asked Dorothy. “You need to go down to Dr. Murphy’s lab and let him show you his progress.” Jenny pushed herself out of her chair. “Very well, Dorothy, I’ll go down there now. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.” “Anytime,” Dorothy replied to Jenny, but she had already left. ------------ “So you see, the device actually allows the doctor to enter the mind of the patient and correct any psychological trauma they may have experienced.” Dr. Murphy had been droning on for quite some time, but this last sentence actually caught Jenny’s attention. “Are you saying that some one could use this to perform ‘mental surgery?’” Jenny asked. “To go in, locate and repair the cause of any psychological problems they’re having?” “That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Dr. Murphy said proudly. “And I finished it yesterday. It’s ready for testing.” Jenny felt the hope drain out of her. “But that could take months!” Dr. Murphy wasn’t a trained psychiatrist for nothing. “You were hoping for a more immediate application?” he asked gently. Jenny wavered over telling her problems to Dr. Murphy. “Please, don’t worry about telling me any secrets, Ms. James. I am a doctor, after all, and anything you told me would be held in the strictest confidence.” Jenny finally relented. Without going into details of how she got it, she described her sexual addiction to the doctor and how it was affecting her life. Dr. Murphy stopped her now and then to ask her a few questions, but mainly listened as Jenny poured her heart out. “And you are hoping this invention of mine can help you? I am confident it will, but I am uncertain about using it on you until we’ve gotten approval for testing.” “I understand, but surely you see that I don’t know if I can last that long.” Finally, Dr. Murphy relented. He had Jenny lie on a table and placed a helmet on her. Wires ran from the helmet to a box. A second set of wires ran to a helmet on Dr. Murphy’s own head. “Just relax,” he told Jenny. “This won’t hurt a bit.” And then he turned it on. Dr. Murphy felt a surge of energy go through his head, setting every synapse of his brain on fire. The experience was very brief and Dr. Murphy felt no ill effects from it and so he decided to proceed. He had little trouble in locating the source of Jenny’s problems. Even though the landscape of another person’s mind was foreign to him, Dr. Murphy seemed to instinctively know how things were supposed to be and how to fix them. It struck him as odd that such complex problems would have such simple solutions (he even marveled at how he knew the solutions would be simple, but they were). Before he knew it, he was finished and taking the headsets off himself and his patient. “How do you feel?” he asked Jenny, with just a trace of nervousness. Jenny paused to consider the question, then her face broke into a big grin. “I feel terrific! I haven’t felt this great in years! Doctor, this invention of yours is going to revolutionize modern psychiatry!” As Jenny rushed off to give her recommendations to the board of directors, Dr. Murphy went back to work on his invention. He was curious about that initial surge he had felt and wanted to find out what was behind it. ----------- Meanwhile, Jenny had practically run back to her office to destroy the pleasure helmet. Now that the cravings she felt had gone, she wanted to make sure she no longer had the device to tempt her. She wanted to smash it with a hammer, but decided it would be best to disassemble it. When it was reduced to its individual components, she took the key part of it and melted it to slag with one of the Iron Maiden suit’s blasters. ------------- Later that night, Dr. Murphy was pouring over his notes. He paused to take a sip of water. Then stopped. There wasn’t a water glass beside him a second ago. He knew he was thirsty and wanted a drink, but he didn’t remember getting up to get it. He drained the glass and looked at it. “I want more water,” he thought. He watched in amazement as the glass rose into the air and floated over to the drinking fountain, filled itself, and then floated back to his side. Dr. Murphy let his breath out, unaware that he had been holding it all this time. He looked back at his notes and confirmed his suspicions. Whatever that surge was, it had increased his mental capacity. And now that he knew what he was looking for, he could see how it happened. But the surge only made a minor improvement in his intelligence and given him some slight telekinetic powers. He saw how he could improve it even more. He gathered up some equipment and hurried to his lab. ------------- Jenny had just donned the Iron Maiden suit when the security alert came to her. She switched on the suit’s communicator. “What is it?” “There’s a disturbance in one of the labs. One of the techs was investigating a massive power surge and it appears someone attacked them.” “I’m on my way,” said Iron Maiden and she snapped off the communicator. When she got down to the lab, she saw that a crowd had gathered. There were medics treating the fallen tech, who appeared to be merely shaken up, and the rest were security. “Do I really employ that many security people?” Jenny thought, but shook it off. She had work to do. “What’s the story?” Jenny asked the senior security officer. “It’s pretty much as we told you before – this poor sap was investigating unusual power reading s coming from this area and got knocked on his can when he went inside.” “Who works here?” The security chief consulted his notes. “A Dr. Michael Murphy.” Jenny’s blood froze. “I want security procedure red alpha instituted here. Seal off the area and stay at a safe distance. Whatever is in there could be dangerous.” The security chief nodded. “Whatever you say, ma’am.” And he turned to issue orders. Jenny cautiously entered the lab. She saw him in the back. It was clearly Dr. Murphy, but he’d changed. His head had grown slightly and he had lost a lot of his hair. Jenny assumed a defensive posture. “Dr. Murphy… Michael…please stop what you are doing and step away from the bench.” Dr. Murphy briefly glanced up. “I cannot be disturbed.” And he made a gesture with his hand. Jenny felt as if she’d been hit with a wrecking ball. The force knocked her out of the lab and against the wall outside. As she was getting up, she heard Dr. Murphy’s voice, this time inside her head. “Too many people. Too many disturbances. There is a better place than this…” Jenny rushed into the lab, but Dr. Murphy had already left. He had made a whole in the wall and was floating off into the night. Jenny snapped on her communicator again. “Stand down from red alpha. The intruder has left and I am in pursuit. Do not attempt to follow me. I want a team in this lab for analysis pronto!” She didn’t wait for a reply but engaged her suit’s jets and took off into the night. Murphy was moving quickly towards the woods to the North and it was all Jenny could do to keep up. She saw him set down about 20 miles out of the city. Then a large, white globe, about 5 stories tall sprang up where he set down. “Guess I won’t have any trouble finding him” Jenny muttered. Jenny landed outside of the globe. Up close, it looked a bit like it was made out of styrofoam and was lit from within. She tried to push her way through it, but found it offered quite a bit of resistance. She had to use every bit of her suit’s strength to get in. Once inside, she found Murphy had his back to her, facing some sort of strange light source. He had changed ever more. His head had grown even more and he had lost all of his hair. Somewhere along the way, he had discarded his clothes. Jenny didn’t want to hurt him, but didn’t want to take any chances, either. She aimed her suit’s repulsors at him and fired. But the energy that should have knocked him off his feet didn’t even touch him. He turned to look curiously at the Iron Maiden. Jenny felt herself being lifted into the air, her arms and legs spreading out like some sort of parody of a Da Vinci sketch. Then her suit split at the seams, its components surrounding her like an exploded mechanical drawing. Jenny watched in fear and amazement as her suit was reduced to smaller and smaller pieces, hundreds of thousands electrical components whirling around her naked body. The man who used to be Dr. Murphy peered to look at Jenny. He felt he should recognize this woman, but the memories of Michael Murphy were being pushed aside to make room for the new entity, the Mind Master. Still, Michael Murphy was many things. He was a kind man. A lonely man. A man who needed acceptance from those like him. Seeing this woman before him stirred feelings of longing in the Mind Master, feelings for companionship. He spoke, the words echoing inside Jenny’s head. “I will make you like me.” “No!” Jenny said. “I don’t want to be like you! I liked you the way you were before – when you were more like me!” Jenny waited for what seemed like an eternity, suspended in the air, in the middle of a hurricane of electronic parts. Then she was unceremoniously dropped on the ground. When she looked up, she saw the Mind Master was holding his head down. His words no longer echoed inside her head. “I – I don’t know how to make myself human again. I don’t have any frame of reference.” Jenny stood up and walked to him. “You have me. Use me. If I can help you, then let me do this for you.” He reached up and held her face in his hands and looked into her eyes. Then Jenny felt a jolt as he entered her mind. At that moment, there was no Jenny, no Mind Master, no Michael Murphy. All were one as the Mind Master joined their minds to reverse the process he had begun. The harder they worked, the harder was the resistance. For a moment, it looked as if all would be lost. And then, they broke through and Michael Murphy’s body and mind returned to its normal proportions. With a jolt, Jenny found herself back inside her own head, looking back up at Michael. They both grinned and embraced. They were excited, elated and exhausted. But both were human. Since both Jenny and Michael were both naked, it wasn’t long before the embrace became a bit more intimate, but the two broke apart, embarrassed, before their caresses became too intimate. “Perhaps this isn’t the best time to do this,” Michael suggested, blushing. “Yes, it might be a violation of your ethics as a psychiatrist to become romantically involved with one of your patients.” Jenny said with a smile. “Besides, I usually like to get to know a guy a bit better, first.” Michael looked around at the sphere that he, as the Master Mind had constructed. “Well, it looks like we’ll be stuck here for a while. I don’t have any dinner or candlelight, but I can offer conversation.” -------------- When the rescue crews reached the sphere the next day, they were in each other’s arms again.