She Ends It, For Now.

No, Natalie wasn't a **** to her body, to her raging libido. She might be willing to indulge it at times, but that also meant having a hard limit, and constantly being aware of where that was. Natalie didn't want to become the sort of person who could use her powers without care, or make terrible mistakes because she didn't think things through. It was oh so tempting to use her powers for anything, not just for sex. Natalie was a woman to whom the rule of law did not have to apply if she didn't want it to. See something she wanted? She could have it. A car, a building, a person? It made no difference in the end. Natalie could ascend to a throne of gold and silver, and all it would take would be a strewn path filled with the broken hopes, dreams and futures of those she had crushed on her way there.

The ultimate power to control others was in her grasp, but she had to remember that people were not toys. They were not things. Just because she could make them obey her, it didn't mean she should always do that. It didn't mean that she should forget that they were still people.

Part of this was knowing when to stop. knowing when not to indulge herself. Yes, she could have continued, and there would have been no harm to that. But she'd said she'd stop it at a certain point, and if she pushed past that point this time, maybe she'd go a little bit further next time? And then a little further than that? And a little bit further than that too? Until eventually, how would she ever know when to stop?

No, it had to be here and now. There had to be a line. She had great power, but she had to respect it for what it could do, to others, and to herself. Someone who always got what she wanted would soon forget the meaning of limitations.

That was why, even though it made her feel a shred of bitterness welling in her soul, she resolved to keep to her original choice. She reached up, winding tendrils of thought around each of the thieves, John, Frank and Jean, as well as Lyra and Jake. She sent a simple command. ''Stop''.

Not stop breathing.

Not stop moving.

Not stop talking.

Simply stop.

And they did. Each of them froze in place. They were still alive, but their minds were...well, it would be fair to say on idle mode.

For a moment, Natalie gathered her energy, and then brushed herself down, looking for some clothes that she could wear., Of course, her uniform wasn't exactly in a fit shape anymore, so she grabbed something off the shelf, and put it on. Only once she was properly dressed, did she walk back towards the group of thieves, and then, one by one, she looked into their eyes, and their minds, and saw their souls, their thoughts, their worries...

John was the first. He was not a terrible person, she realised looking into his memory, but he was slow and dim. The sort of person who didn't really comprehend right and wrong. It wasn't that he was too stupid for it, but he'd simply lived a life of following his leaders, he'd been told that he was stupid so many times that he'd knuckled under, and given up thinking for himself in any way but the most basic. He wanted money, pleasure, and ****, and that was it. Natalie didn't know what to do about him, if she let him back into the street, he would surely target someone else... someone who didn't have her powers...

John, she decided, was going to have a revelation. He was going to realise how much pain he had inflicted on others over the years, and it was going to tear through the defences, the illusions, and the self-deceptions that he had created. She was tempted to simply crush his mind, to remake him into a whole new person, but she couldn't. Because that would be going further than she was ready to go. She just made sure he wouldn't hurt anyone again, and after that,k it was down to him what he did with his life.

Frank was a snake. A remorseless man, focused on money and anything that brought him joy. As she looked into his mind, Natalie saw that there was little worthy of redemption there. John had not chosen to be evil, but had slipped, step by step, from the path of innocence. Frank had taken a flying leap. There was nothing there that could be saved, so she didn't try. At some point very soon, Frank was going to suffer an accident. Non-lethal, of course. But it would bring him - and his past - to the attention of the police, and at the same time, he would be stricken with remorse, though she honestly doubted it would last. Beyond that, it was out of her hands.

That just left Jean. For a moment, Natalie looked at her. She had a slim, powerful body, bright red hair done up in a ponytail. Natalie reached out for her mind, and saw that it was as she had seen before. Jean liked humiliation, she liked to control, to dominate. The robbery was just a way for her to take something from someone else. Money, dignity, it didn't matter which.

Natalie thought for a moment, and then had a wicked idea. She felt her mouth break into a grin as she began to work. Jean was going to have a slight alteration of history. She'd never robbed anyone before this attempt, and now, thanks to Natalie, the whole thing had been a daydream on her part anyway. She decided that from now on, Jean worked at the store as well. That way, Natalie could keep an eye on her, and make sure she didn't indulge any of her darker impulses.

Not to mention, it meant that Natalie was going to be spending a lot more time with her. Jean would probably be looking for someone to humiliate too.

That was very unfortunate, but for the sake of the world, Natalie would simply have to grin and bear it.

Route End