by Lindy
Part 3
Susan sat slumped in the iron chair. She had lost all sense of time since she had been cpatured, her world one of systematic humiliation and pain. She was woken up at all hours of the day and night sometimes savagely beaten, sometimes scanned invasively. The scans seemed designed to hurt rather than extract information; Susan wondered why they did not simply take what they wanted from her mind and then kill her, and shuddered at the idea that the Corps had something else planned for her. She was surprised that she had relatively little of Bester, but was certainly not complaining. Her arms, which were tightly pinioned behind her, hurt like crazy, preventing her from dropping into blissful unconciousness. All over her body she could feel the legacies of several beatings.
She heard sharp footsteps on the other side of the door and she jumped nervously in the chair.
"Stupid!" she told herself fiercely. "Don't let them see you're afraid!" She laughed ironically as she remembered where she was. It was pointless trying to hide anything from the Psi Corps, esecially anything as obvious as her fear.
The door opened and the beautiful telepath walked carefully into the cell. Susan gasped involuntarily, feeling her insides leap as they always did when she saw Talia. Then her face hardened, remembering.
"You again" she muttered. Talia smiled, her eyes glittering expectantly as she observed the bound and helpless woman before her.
"Now, Susan", she said, her voice insinuating and gentle as fine silk, "is that any way to speak to an old friend? Particularly..." she moved over to the chair and breathed in Susan's ear, "...this old friend?"
Susan's heart hammered in her chest, she felt the familiar clench low down in her stomach and her face flushed angrily as she tried to control her involuntary response to the woman.
Talia moved slowly round the chair, her eyes never leaving her prisoner, who kept her own gaze focused determinedly on the floor. Talia ran her hands through Susan's hair, loose on her shoulders.
"Come on, Susan love. You've seen what I can do. Why don't you just tell me what you know?"
Susan raised her head.
"Why don't you just take it?" she asked, looking in confusion at her tormentor.
Talia laughed, a light sound devoid of human wrmth. Susan shivered.
"Because, my dear, sometimes it's so much more fun doing these things, shall we say, the old fashioned way? Besides, the longer you take to tell me, the longer we get to, play together"
Without warning, Talia launched a full scale attack on Susan's mind, grasping, groping, paying no heed to gentleness. Susan cried out in pain and fought her helplessly, pulling on the bonds that held her to the chair. Inch by agonising inch, Talia invaded Susan's head, gaining access to the hidden areas, the private thoughts and feelings and memories, sampling, observing, analysing. Susan moaned with the pain of it, writhing in the chair. Talia thrust her knee hard into Susan as she knelt on the seat. Grinding up hard against the woman, she seized her face with both hands, holding her still, a smile on her face and her eyes half closed as she experienced first hand the agony of her ex lover.
Susan groaned again, her struggling decreasing as she surrendered to the power of the telepath. As her barriers dropped, Talia reached out and seized control of the remainder of her mind. She slackened her grip momentarily, feeling Ivanova gasp with relief. Smiling inwardly, she suddenly intensified her hold and felt the woman buck against her, crying out in agony as Talia repeated the process again and again and again. Susan's face was screwed up pain, her teeth clenched, her lip bleeding where she had bitten it. As Talia watched hungrily, a single tear slid down Ivanova's face onto Talia's thumb.
Without opening her eyes, Susan whispered hopelessly, "I hate you"
Smiling, Talia bent her head and kissed Susan hard. Her eyes flickered wide and as she opened her mouth to protest, Talia thrust her tongue deep. It was not a gentle kiss, Talia bruising and hurting in her desire to control Susan. The Commander eventually succeeded in breaking the kiss, glaring up at Talia with hurt and accusation in her eyes. Talia grinned down at her and regaining her hold on her mind, searched for and reclaimed her mouth. Coming up for air briefly, she commanded,
"Kiss me. Properly"
She sent a warning jolt of pain through Susan's head. Moaning, Susan complied, feeling humiliation preferable to physical pain.
As Talia devoured the woman, biting hard on her lower lip and tasting blood on her tongue, further tears of misery and humilation rolled down Susan's face. It had to be a cruel universe indeed that would send a demon in the form of the woman she had loved to destroy her. She finally relinquished control to the telepath.
Talia felt the sudden change in her and pulled away, leaving her mind and looking down at the prisoner. Susan sat shaking, chained and crying, her lip bleeding and bruises already forming on her face. She smiled again. stroking Susan's face gently. This time Susan did not pull away.
"Yes, my love" she murmured happily. "You belong to me"
Lyta lay in bed in her quarters on Babylon 5, thinking. It had been two weeks since Commander Ivanova's disappearance. Dr Franklin had dressed the bruise on her head, which was now almost completely healed. She ran her hand gingerly over the place, playing back her memory of what had occured.
"Commander? What are you doing here?"
"Get away from me Lyta... I'm warning you... get back..."
"Commander?..."
...Walking forwards... the flash of something... sudden dull pain in her head... falling backwards... the sight of Ivanova staring at her with a wild look in her eyes...
Lyta frowned. That didn't seem right.
...Ivanova staring with a frantic pleading in her eyes...
What?
...A man, dressed in a Psi Cop uniform, holding a gun... Ivanova looking deathly pale...
Lyta sat up, puzzled. It was as if her memories had suddenly shifted. Nothing about that night made sense any more. The pictures in her mind were one big confused jumble.
...The Psi Cop raised his gun... Ivanova screamed to stop him...
Lyta shook her head fiercely. This didn't make any sense, but she was tired, so tired. Putting it out of her mind, the telepath turned over and slept.
Her mind wandered, far from the cell where she lay imprisoned, chained and face down on the floor. Talia's face foated before her, her Talia, with laughing weyes and a kind, gentle smile. The pain receded until it was a far memory in the distance.
...Talia helped her up, the cuffs were gone with the pain. Susan could see stars, the world seemed to spin lazily around them as they stood holding each other close. She gazed wordlessly with a great unnamed longing, deep into the green pools of Talia's eyes. As Talia bent her head towards her, all Susan could think of was the incredible contrast between this kiss and those of the alter ego. So soft, so gentle, so undemanding, seeming to soothe and caress Susan's battered face...
..."Get up"
Susan struggled back to conciousness, desperately trying to clear her senses while holding on to the memory of her dream. She opened her eyes to see shoes inches from her face.
"Didn't you hear me, Susan?"
The voice held dangerous undertones. Susan rolled, finding it difficult to raise herself with her arms held behind her. She managed to push herself to her knees, looking apprehensively up at her ex lover. Her face was set and she looked cold and angry, showing none of the playful sadism which usually punctuated their encounters.
Abruptly, Talia forced her way into Susan's head. Susan gasped, trying to drop her natural defences to ease the pain of this intrusion. Long minutes passed in which Susan kept her eyes screwed shut, flinching as she tried to cope with the pain. When at last the ritual scan was over and Talia had left her mind, Susan sensed immediately a change in her mood. Looking up fearfully, she saw the telepath observing her with a smirk.
"You really loved her, didn't you? It must have been... very hard for you, when I showed up" she laughed in delight.
Susan tried to control the pain hammering inside her skull.
"You're nothing!" she gasped out defiantly, "compared to her. It must be hard..." she contined, knowing she was heading for punishment and not caring, "knowing that no matter what you do, you'll always be second best"
A glint of anger flashed in the telepath'seyes and Susan flinched, expecting pain. Instead, Talia laughed out loud.
"You'd be surprised, Susan" she said, pushing Susan's hair from her eyes. "There are things I have learned which I bet she would never have dreamt of..."
Her hand moved down Susan's face to brush lightly across her lips, leving her in no doubt as to her meaning. Angrily, Susan pulled away from her touch.
"Get away from me! You're not Talia! You're..."
Her protests were silenced as Talia's mouth covered and encompassed her own. Lost in the scent and taste of here lover, Susan felt her body responding as of old, before her mind caught up with events.This was not Talia. Though she remembered kissing these lips, which had been soft, cautious, exploratory, changing to being hot and responsive, this was different. This was no mutally developing sensual kiss, it was all Talia, and her style matched her new personality, harsh, cruel, totally in control. Moaning, Susan tried to twist away but Talia hed her face with icy fingers.
"I am Talia, the new Talia, and you will learn to love me as you did before"
She finally broke the kiss and stood up, a calm, unruffled figure contrasting vividly with the wild haired confused captive below her.
"I will return later to continue our, ah, discussion, Commander"
She turned and walked briskly from the room. Susan closed her eyes in resination and exhaustion, mentally complimenting Psi Corps on finding the most effective way to break her.
This was stupid. A telepath who couldn't even sort out her own mind! Lyta had woken still confused about the night of the Commander's disappearance. She was a little worried; should she tell the Captain of the shifting images... was any of it important, or just some trick of her mind?
As Lyta stood worrying, she felt a presence in the room with her. Kosh. She worked closely with the Vorlon Ambassador, but he still creeped her out a little from time to time. She turned slowly to see him before her, tall and imposing.
"You are... confused"
"Yes" she replied. Maybe Kosh could help her.
"Ahhh..." Without warning a stream of light energy flowed from the Vorlon, hitting Lyta full in the face. She closed her eyes as images flooded past her. Just as soon as it had started, the beam stopped, and Lyta fell to the ground, a little dazed. The presence left her mind, he was gone. She scrambled shakily to her feet. She remembered everything! It was all so clear now... The telepath stood still, her eyes wide. She had to get to the Captain.
"Oh, Christ... you mean the Corps has her?"
Sheridan banged his fist hard on the table.
"Dammit! I KNEW something was wrong!"
He turned to look at Garibaldi, whose face was white. He said in a strangled voice,
"Captain, I'm going after her. It's my fault, I was too quick to assume she bailed, just because it's something I've done so often myself..."
He turned to glare at Sheridan, stopping him before he could speak.
"Don't try to stop me, John. They kidnapped her goddamnit, and I'm gonna get her back"
Sheridan opened his mouth, closed it again, and finally nodded. He patted Garibaldi on the shoulder.
"Just be careful, Michael"