The fox-kin dominator woke with gasp as Chris's will crushed down on her, forcing the connection into place. “Okay, now why did me being stunned make it easier for you to dominate me, but when you're completely unconscious, I still have to give myself a fucking headache to dominate you.” Chris grumbled, rubbing his temple.
The fox-kin whimpered as she struggled against the connection, doing everything she could to try and break it, but finding it just as unbreakable as everyone else. [This- this is impossible!] Nothing could dominate someone so completely!
“Freak out later, I still have three more of you to get through.” Chris ordered, the fox-kin immediately going silent, sitting calmly as she waited for Chris to finish, though internally she was screaming. The corner of Chris's lips quirked upwards as he moved on to the second fox-kin. “Now, you dominate her, then I'll push the connection.” The fox-kin immediately slipped into her friend's unconscious mind, taking over as ruthlessly as she would an enemy, horror filling her at the ease and completeness of Chris's control. Chris pushed the connection on the now dominated fox-kin, frowning as he discovered it hadn't made things any easier for him. The fox-kin still resisted him and his will still strained, leaving him aching as the connection finally clicked into place. “Okay, this is starting to piss me off.” He grumbled, squeezing his forehead as a dull throb beat through his mind. Why wasn't this getting any easier?!? He got both of the fox-kin to help him with the guards, but it didn't seem to make a single bit of difference. “Damn it, why isn't this working?!?” Chris growled in a mix of frustration and pain, the pain in his head shifting from a dull throb to a sharp pounding. He turned to glare at the fox-kin dominator, who froze, gulping nervously under his scrutiny. “How is my domination different from yours?”
“Dude, chill out!” Alex growled, grabbing Chris by the shoulder. “Can't you see how terrified she is?!? At least give her a moment to adjust!”
Chris stared back at him with a bland expression. “You realize she was going to drag me back to her tribe to do who knows what to me, right? Probably make me a slave or something.”
“You mean like you do to everyone you meet?” Alex retorted.
Chris scowled. “When have I turned anyone into a slave?!? I'm not even going to turn them into slaves! Recent experimentation aside, I don't force people to do things they don't want to do. On the one hand, it's cruel, and on the other, it's inefficient. People work better through self-interest. Once I'm done with their tribe, they and the rest of their people will be free to do whatever they like, just like the rest of my minions.”
Alex frowned. “Just because you don't treat them like slaves doesn't mean they aren't.”
Chris just blinked at him. “Alex, my head is about to explode, so I really don't want to deal with you being an idiot right now.”
“I've got it.” Joseph interjected, taking over. “Just having the ability to force someone to do what you want against their will doesn't make them your slave. If that was the case, then little miss dominator here would be enslaving all of us right now, because her ability has the potential to force us to do her will at any moment, and I think you would agree that's not the case. The only difference between her and Chris is how easily they can enforce their will on others, which is a matter of strength, not ability, so do you think everyone with power is enslaving everyone around them? Obviously not. To be enslaved, you have to be actively forced to act against your will, which Chris expressly avoids doing. Admittedly there was some minor enslavement going on earlier, but right now they're just imprisoned.”
“We may have to force them to tell us everything about their tribe too, but it's just a temporary necessity, not something permanent.” Chris added wearily.
“But isn't that a slippery slope?” Alex countered. “If you keep finding excuses to force people to do things, how long until you're forcing everyone to do whatever you want!?!”
“Never, because the slippery slope argument only works when you're doing something that violates your principles, and this is perfectly in line with mine.” Chris sighed. “I'm not ‘slipping’, I'm doing what I believe is right, and I'll continue doing what I believe is right. So unless you have an argument for why I shouldn't do whatever is necessary to prevent myself and the people I care about from being hunted down and controlled by a group of psychics who are clearly willing and able to do so, just- stop, okay?”
Alex grimaced, but he didn't have anything else to say to that, even though he still felt like there was something off about it. But then again, he'd doubted Chris before, and it'd never turned out well for him… “Fine. Just- be careful, I guess.”
Chris rolled his eyes, turning back to the fox-kin. “Alright, now… Beth, Joseph, you want to take this?” He asked wearily. “I feel like my brain is leaking out my ears right now.”
Beth stepped forward, glaring at the dominator. “What were you planning on doing with Chris?”
The dominator gulped, glancing at Chris. [We- we were taking him back to our clan, to- to be examined by our psychics.]
Beth's expression darkened. “By which you mean you were going to pull every bit of information you could out of him before twisting him into whatever tool you saw fit.” The dominator refused to meet her eyes, clutching her dress anxiously.
“How many psychics are there in your tribe, and what are their specialties?” Joseph interjected before Beth could take that line of questioning any further. It was already obvious what the fox-kin were going to do and focusing on it would just get Beth worked up.
[There are four psychic lines in our clan. The dominator line, the projector line, the manipulator line, and the connector line. Each line has around a dozen members.] The dominator quickly answered, eager to move away from her plans for Chris. [The dominators can invade minds to control another's body, the projectors attack the mind to cause confusion or create illusions, the manipulators-] She cut off a she realized she was getting into dangerous territory again.
“Go on.” Beth growled.
The dominator gulped. [The- the manipulators influence thoughts, memories, and emotions to- to alter behavior… and the connectors create telepathic connections between themselves and others.]
“How many people are in your tribe?” Joseph asked.
[Around four thousand?] She offered hesitantly. [We're not a very large clan.]
The whole group froze. Four thousand was small?!? How big did tribes get up here!?! “How large is the snake-kin tribe?” Joseph asked.
The dominator frowned. [Which one? There are several snake-kin clans, some small like ours, others with tens or even hundreds of thousands of members. There must be millions of snake-kin all together, though only their king and the Emperor would know the exact figure.]
“The Emperor?” Joseph proded.
[Of the Kin?] The dominator replied hesitantly. How did they not know this?
“Hold on, we saw a group of fox-kin fighting some snake-kin on our way here!” Zack interjected.
The dominator eyed him weirdly. [Yes, clans will have small skirmishes over resources, but we all bow to the Emperor and fight together to defend our borders.]
“Defend your borders against who?” Beth asked, narrowing her eyes.
[The Hive, the Devil Compact, and the Menagerie?] The dominator explained, still confused by the fact none of them knew about this. Who didn't know about the four empires!?! They spanned the entire Maze! At least the parts of the Maze that were actually worth anything. No one wanted to head down into the dark where they'd have to deal with the underdwellers and their strange magics, only to gain a barren territory where little grew and barely any creatures roamed, only capable of sustaining a few hundred people, if that.
Chris frowned. “If I tried to talk to your emperor like I did with you, what are the odds he'd react the same way you did?”
The dominator paused. [I- don't see how he would react any other way.] Who would simply accept someone telling them they essentially want to dethrone them? To take all their subjects for themselves? The dominator shivered as she struggled uselessly against the connection once again. A person would have to be desperate or crazy to accept something like this!
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Chris let out a groaning sigh, wiping his hand down his face. He foresaw a lot of headaches in his future.
*
They continued to grill the fox-kin, getting all the information they could out of them as they tried to put together a plan of action. First of all, there was no way Chris was going to be dominating four thousand fox-kin, especially not since it turned out that the psychics didn't even help the process. Just the idea of trying to dominate the four dozen or so psychics made him want to take up drinking. Zack suggested they just drop it and move to a different section of the Maze using Chris's portal movement, which was definitely on the table, but it didn't solve the real issue. Chris needed intelligent minions. He could definitely get enough unintelligent minions to create enough portals, but there was no way he'd be able to manage the thousands of portals they'd need to get everyone evacuated on his own, particularly not while fending off the surface races. The people on the lower levels would have been enough, but the surface races had taken that option away from him, so if he couldn't figure out a way to convince the people on the upper levels to join him, evacuating the City would get a lot harder.
Unfortunately, convincing the people on the upper levels ran into the same issue it did with humanity. The people here didn't expect to die. Without the interference of humanity, the races in the Maze had thrived, taming large swaths of territory and developing into true nations instead of isolated tribes. They farmed, they traded, they built cities, they had infrastructure, and they developed, advancing both culturally and technologically. In the lower levels of the Maze, combat was a given. Even if you weren't a hunter or a warrior, you could reasonably expect to have to fight for your life at some point. Here, as long as you were careful and didn't do anything too risky, there was a very reasonable chance you could live your entire life without getting into a single fight. Of course, traveling between clans was still a risk, and you still needed guards and soldiers to keep the cities protected, but the ever-present threat of death that made the connection so alluring to the people on the lower levels just wasn't there. Even worse, psychics were practically a mandatory existence, since they were what allowed the people of the upper levels to domesticate creatures for meat and other byproducts, their abilities helping to control and keep them docile, so no matter where they went, they would run into the same issues.
“So, if dominating them by force is out, and we can't tempt them with benefits, then how are we going to get them to accept the connection?” Zack wondered aloud, scratching his head.
Chris and Joseph shared a look. Before they'd split, Chris had considered how to force the connection on someone he couldn't out will, but it was a method he'd swore to only use if absolutely necessary. “I don't think this counts.” Chris muttered, thankful his headache was down to a dull throb again so he could actually have thoughts.
“Neither do I.” Joseph agreed.
“What doesn't count?” Alex asked, confused.
Chris shrugged. “There's a way to get them all connected whether they like it or not, without turning my mind to mush, but it isn't pretty and I don't think this situation is worth employing it.”
Beth frowned. “Chris, we're dealing with the fate of the City here. I don't think we should be quibbling over methods.”
Chris shook his head. “Beth, it's torture. As in, ‘stick them in a vat of water and let them drown over and over until they accept the connection’ torture. I mean, it'd work, but I don't want to be that person and I'm not sure how reliable they'd even be after going through it.”
Beth looked a bit sick, but she still retorted. “If it's between this and the City-”
“That's the thing though, I don't even think it'd help the City.” Chris stopped her. “If we're just looking for puppets, I can get all the animals you want, but the reason we're looking for people to be my minions is because they have agency. If we use torture to get them, then they're either going to lose that agency, or turn it against us. It'd be better to just use animals. Even forcing the connection isn't all that great. I mean, look at these four! Utterly useless. You couldn't trust them to do anything independently!”
Beth groaned, rubbing her face. “I know, you're right, I just- urgh, this is so frustrating!”
“We might as well try to find volunteers among humanity at this rate.” Joseph muttered. “They'd at least be motivated by the fact it's necessary to save their lives.”
Chris paused. “That- is a good point.” He turned to Alex. “In the game, did these people exist?”
Alex blinked. “What, the Kin?” Chris nodded. Alex scratched his head. “Yeah? I mean, I wouldn't say they were common, but you'd see someone walking around with one as a pet every now and then.”
“What about the empires?” Chris sighed.
Alex frowned. “I- don't remember hearing anything about an empire of Kin in the Maze… the Conqueror may have fought them when he was trying to climb? I don't know, the Kin I knew about were like goblins, just another mob for people to fight and tame.”
Beth nodded. “I highly doubt the elves and doppelgangers would leave entire civilizations around to threaten them while they deal with the City. Just the fact that they could be potential allies for humanity would probably be enough to get them wiped out.”
Chris nodded. “So if these empires want to survive, they're going to need us. And the only way we're taking them is if they're my minions.”
“Okay, but how the hell are we going to convince them of that?” Joseph asked.
Chris considered it for a moment. “We'll start by just spreading the word. Take a few people by force, like so.” He gestured to the fox-kin. “Then send them out to tell everyone they can about what's going to happen and what we can do about it. Then… I doubt the surface races will be able to kill everyone in the Maze instantly, or even particularly quickly, so when they come, our point will basically be made for us.”
“It may even already be happening.” Beth commented.
Chris looked around. “Any dissentions? Contentions? Comments? Concerns?”
Zack shrugged. “Better than anything I could think of.”
Alex shook his head helplessly. “Same. I'm not exactly confident in it though. It just seems too… passive.”
“That's- kind of the point though?” Chris frowned. “The active methods of gaining minions are all somewhat detrimental. You know, forcing them into it or torturing them.”
“I guess…” Alex muttered.
Chris rolled his eyes. “Alright, if no one else has anything.” He turned to the fox-kin. “Good news is you're going free. Yay.” Chris announced in a tone that made it clear he didn't give two shits about their freedom. “The bad news is this is going to hurt.” He chuckled as he sent everything he knew about the surface races, what they were going to do, what he could do, and how to speak human because fuck it, streaming into their minds, their eyes almost immediately rolling to the back of their heads as they passed out.
Alex frowned at him. “Was that really necessary?”
“Nope.” Chris smiled. “But it did make me feel better. Not as good as forcing them to help me dominate every member of their tribe, but eh, I'll take what I can get.”
“Bitch is lucky I didn't give her a thorough demonstration of the space's healing abilities.” Beth growled.
“Well, you know what they say. The best revenge is living well.” Chris commented. “Though… the fact that they need to become my minions to survive does help too.”
“I still don't see how what they did is all that much different than what you do.” Alex grumbled. “They were just trying to protect their people, weren't they?”
Chris paused. “You aren't wrong, but one, I hadn't actually demonstrated a threat yet, and preemptively attacking people just because they have the potential to be a threat is… rude. I even explicitly stated I wasn't there to fight! It's like walking around with a pocket full of money and stabbing anyone who gets within reach. Sure, it's possible they could steal your money, but that doesn't mean they're going to. And two, I care more about me than I do about them. Even if they were absolutely right to attack me, I'm still not going to like them for it, and I see no reason not to take a little petty revenge when reasonable.”
“You're just- okay with being petty?” Alex asked skeptically.
“In certain situations.” Chris shrugged. “Particularly when I'm aware that others in my situation would be a lot more… vengeful.”
“Yeah, if someone had tried to mind control me, you better bet I'd be doing a lot more than just giving them a headache.” Zack agreed. “I'd probably break out Chris's drowning trick, honestly. That sounds nasty.”
“And with how hard a time you gave us over Chris maybe turning you into a slave, I don't think you have a leg to stand on here.” Beth added, giving him a look. “If it'd been you they'd tried to dominate, I doubt you'd be arguing to treat them better.”
Chris shook his head. “Alright, enough of that. I still have a headache and we still have three empires and who knows how many clans to hit.” He sighed, rubbing his head. “This isn't going to be fun.”