Supervillain gives regular guy/gal a mind control device

[Strangebuddy]

Been wanting to put a spin on a mind control story.

Our lead is out for a drive when suddenly a drone flies into their windshield. They pull into a ditch only to see a supervillain fighting with a superhero above them. The Villain beats the hero back and then flies down to apologize for their drone wrecking the lead’s car. They quickly hand over some cash and an odd device that they just call “a little something extra”

The lead then runs over to the hero who misreads the entire situation and accuses them of being a henchman. Other heroes show up and grill the poor person, ultimately taking the drone, the car, and the cash into evidence, though the lead hangs onto the weird device.

At the insurance office the next day, they refuse to accept the claim, Even though they pay extra for supervillain insurance. They get so frustrated that they squeeze the device and suddenly the insurance rep goes into a daze and states she’ll do whatever the lead says.

The device then plays a message from the supervillain: it’s a mind control device. Anyone who uses it can gain control over another person once it’s activated. The villain had been having difficulty getting it to work on heroes (as it requires several minutes to scan and create a program for conditioning the target) and was about to toss it but thought it might be fun to let a regular person have it and see what would happen.

Lead then looks at the insurance rep, someone who already treats them like crap and frequently refused claims. Maybe this device has some uses after all.

So the story has two questions:

1. How far will the lead go? Will they just stop with people who wronged them or go mad with power and try to take on even superheroes (after all, a villain couldn’t keep a hero still long enough for the device to work but a regular citizen might) and villains?

2. Was there a reason for the supervillain to give them the device other than the stated one? Maybe they knew lead would go mad with power and take on heroes. They of course are immune to the effect and not only have a kill switch but the device constantly uploads data to them, giving them conditioning sequences for everyone in town.

Alternatively, could it be that the supervillain knows them and was trying to do them a favor?

One idea I had was that it was a sibling: they know lead hasn’t been happy but instead of trying to be supportive, they gave them the device to just take what they want. Could work with parents or relatives: family disowned the villain but they want to help out their child or niece/nephew.

What sort of things could someone get up to with a mind control device in a world of heroes and villains.

 

[Hypoxia]

My usual MC reaction: A fairly serious story needs drama. Every use of MC -- naturally, or with a trick -- should exact some cost from the controller. A stroker needn't bother with the cost, or can play with it; like, after each use, the fucker is themself fucked.

So is this story stroker, comedy, tragedy, farce?

 

[Strangebuddy]

I don’t think there needs to be a direct cost (if it was magic, sure) but more of a long term issue with trusting something given by a supervillain.

For example: if the device is automatically scanning people...wouldn’t the first person it scanned be the lead? So when lead tries to bail on controlling people when they find out they’ve become a pawn for the supervillain, supervillain activates their own device, making them go back to getting more people scanned. In this case, the story is a tragedy though one lessened by the fact the lead got what was coming to them.

Though the cost I always see with mind control stories is the loss of the lead’s empathy and inability to be self-reliant.

I don’t want to drag the author but there’s a series on here where a guy bets a mind control device and the first chapter ends with his girlfriend realizing how dependent he’s become on it, and uses the device on him to get him to forget discovering it. It’s a solid ending...

But then all the subsequent chapters switch to how good of a guy he is and how he’s entitled to all he’s gotten after getting the device, even though everyone he’s had sex with is influenced by the device and his girlfriend is taken advantage of by other people who know how the device works.

A stroker version of the story could just have them using the device on whoever he wants, eventually getting to get the heroes who grilled him into an orgy.

Comedy could be the supervillain encounters them when their safeguards aren’t up and wind up getting controlled, unable to enact their master plan or accidentally coming clean about the whole plan while controlled.

 

[UsuallyPresent]

Alternately the Super Heroes have their villainScan (tm) which starts flagging the use of the device, slowly narrowing down on the location as the signature pf its usage gets better tuned in.


Alternately the green glow it flashes turns out to be superhero radiation - y'know, the fun kind, that doesn't really do cancer so much as making super beings and mutants.


Alternately, there's a backwash when it's used, such that the first person who is controlled slowly gains the ability to control the device user's actions. As they control the protagonist, the protagonist slowly regains the ability to control them, and the cycle repeats.


Alternately, it takes something icky to power it after a few usage. Heart's blood, maybe, or the result of a nasty disease on flesh, or the guts (still radioactive) of old smoke detectors.


Alternately, the user finds their health waning the more they use the device. It is literally devouring their good health to control others. How long does it take for the protagonist to realize the linkage (it's not like using it hurts, they just get a lot sicker sooner than expected, and old illnesses may rear their ugly heads.)


Etc - there are unlimited options here. Assuming, of course, that you want there to be a price, either direct or indirect.