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Between Good and Evil

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Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by Meeper

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Credit for raps, story plan and plot go to Meeper, the commissioner.

www.furaffinity.net/user/meeper23

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"Urgh, dude, I'm so bored!"

The TV may have been on but that was not enough, most of the time, to entertain Mordecai and Rigby, a blue jay and raccoon duo. The raccoon's back end was up on the sofa, his shoulders and arms flung across the floor, though it could not have been said to be the most comfortable of positions. His jaw hung slack as he groaned in turn, agreeing with Mordecai.

"Uh..."

"Yeah!"

Mordecai leapt to his feet, black claws lightly digging into the sofa cushions, which already had a rip in them from being treated a shade too roughly by the pair. That Rigby had not said anything for him to respond to in such an exuberant manner was by the by.

"We should do something! Not like we've got work on yet! And who wants to be sweeping leaves or clearing the paths at the park anyway?"

"Urgh, yeah, those kids leave their rubbish everywhere!"

That had Rigby's attention, jumping up to meet Mordecai head-on, the two of them in agreement over one thing, at least. That it was them, most often, who made a mess of the park where they were employed working and living on-site, was not something that they took any time at all to mention.

"So..." Mordecai tipped forward, his foot on the arm of the sofa and his other pressing back down, indenting the sofa cushions as he leaned on his knee. "What do you say about taking on MesMordo as a superhero_again, Rigby? But you all know that it's only the _hero that wins!"

The blue jay smirked but he may as well have already been set up to fail, throwing his head back and howling even as the raccoon's lips pressed together in a silent expression of glee.

"Ooohhh!"

That Rigby was so quiet, for once, should have been his first warning sign but, of course, that wasn't something that Mordecai was focusing on. He was far more intent on just how he was going to play off the game, vaulting over the back of the sofa with his left leg first, rambling on about where the masks were, whether he should wear his cape again that time or if it was "just too tacky".

"No - of course not! Capes are always for the heroes!"

But what he did not know was that the raccoon had more than one trick up his figurative sleeve, considering that neither of them usually had any need for clothes with fur and feathers. Mordecai should have watched out.

The game was on.

_ _

*

"Mr. Rigbinder, you're going away for good!"

MesMordo strutted, his shoulders pushed back as he hauled the raccoon along, the unmasked Mr. Rigbinder muttering under his breath, although he did not truly have the strength in him to spend many words. His black and yellow outfit was reduced to a mere pair of swim briefs, allowing him a good range of motion but not room for all that much modesty. MesMordo did not have his cape as yet but his red and white outfit complemented the blue hue of his feathers nicely, his black beak clamped together as he half-marched and half-dragged the semi-limp body of the raccoon to his cell.

"You thought that you had bested me in that fight," he boasted, pride getting ahead of him - which was strange, for a superhero. "But you didn't! And why is that? Why, good always triumphs over evil, Mr. Rigbinder! And with my twisted past, there is no way that I could not win!"

Mr. Rigbinder grumbled and muttered, the blue jay smirking down at him with his mask still in place. It was one thing that set them apart, an item of power and control that, once gone, was stripped away for too long.

"That's what you think..."

He was forced up onto his feet, a passive player in his own life, though it was not as if he had any choice in the matter of getting to the cell itself. The cold, metal bars rose firmly and he baulked, sucking back as if that would be all it took to find some kind of escape, the blue jay's fingers tightening on his arms. Although he had handcuffed him tightly, metal digging into Rigby's wrists as if the cuffs were a size too small, MesMordo was confident in his own ability, nodding with a little grunting "hm" of self-congratulation. Another villain put away - and this time for good! There would be statues erected in his honour! He surely deserved another statue, like the big one in the centre of the park.

The raccoon stiffened minutely, the cell door swinging open before him, breath caught in a lump in his throat, too tight against the hammering of his heart. It was now or never. And, unfortunately for MesMordo, neither the raccoon's legs nor his ankles had been bound.

"Yahhh!"

Quickly! With a feral war-cry, the raccoon twisted suddenly, giving the blue jay not a moment in which to react as Rigby stomped his foot, flattening his toes against the stone floor. The scream the blue jay gave echoed and bounced off the walls, assaulting both of their pairs of ears, but the raccoon was not so slow as to allow such a chance to slip by him, squirming free, though the blasted handcuffs were a problem indeed.

"Give it up, MesMordo - you'll never see me behind bars!"

"But I...unff...already put you there!"

That was true: it would hardly be the first time that Mr. Rigbinder had been tossed into jail but it was one time that MesMordo had vowed to make sure he stayed put. The blue jay growled through the pain, throat and beak vibrating lightly as the sound trembled through his windpipe, foot aching, the raccoon turning on his tail. Mr. Rigbinder knew where the exit was, alas, and Mordecai had to stop him!

The raccoon's balance was off, however, considering that he still had his hands too tightly cuffed behind his back, and the blue jay swept out his leg right in front of the raccoon in the nick of time. There could be no way for Mr. Rigbinder to avoid even such an obvious ploy as he ran smack into that leg, the one belonging to the foot that he had stomped, for that was too painful to balance on alternately.

"Ahhh!"

Mr. Rigbinder screamed as he, comically, went flat-out on his front, sprawling on the ground and blinking, cursing, at how he had got there.

"Curse you, MesMordo!"

"And haven't we heard that all before, Mr. Rigbinder no-binder."

Whatever that meant was in the blue jay's head only as he howled and pressed his foot down over the raccoon's face, utilising Rigby's greatest weakness against him. There was no need, after all, for something as rash as a hypno-attack, when they needed to recharge between uses, when he had his feet, draining the raccoon's power from him, moment by moment, the villain's eyelids fluttering.

"Argh... No... No, not again..." Mr. Rigbinder fought the draining of his body and his power, even his strength, every bit of the way, regardless of how his eyelids became heavier and heavier by the second. "No... No, you won't take me..."

But it was, yet again, something that he had no say in the matter of, the blue jay pressing his foot more heavily around the raccoon's muzzle, the tiny, short claws biting in lightly to the side of his snout. He wrapped his foot around as much of Mr. Rigbinder's face as he could, half-covering one of his eyes, though it was each heady gulp that the raccoon took of his foot that did him in. there was no stopping himself from breathing, after all, and he had to keep breathing in that foot, the sapping of his strength dragging him further and further from reality.

"No... Must...stay..awake..."

"All this for the Simply Awesome Stone," he mocked him, waving as the raccoon slipped deeper and deeper into a brainless stupor, though was not yet unconscious. "Do you think it was worth it? Villains are all the same!"

Well, a superhero like him may have thought that, even if it was not true. He fought and fought but he could not bear through it, as much as he wanted to. He was fading and fading fast, the darkness of unconsciousness closing in as his toes stopped wriggling, legs going completely limp. Every bit of strength that he had had was sapped from him passively, for he may well have been doing nothing at all for all the effect he had over his own fate.

Down and down and down... His head fell slack against the stone floor, on his back with his arms pinned under his body, still cuffed together. The blue jay did not let up for a while, even as Rigby's body stilled in sleep once more, releasing him only after he had pulled up his eyelid to check that he really was knocked out. Hey, a superhero like him, a simply awesome superhero, couldn't be too careful!

Care, however, was not something that MesMordo was so apt to take, regardless of how he might have liked to think about things.

"Time for good to, once more, triumph over your evil, Mr. Rigbinder! You're going to jail!"

The blue jay took a moment to pose, a foot on the raccoon's chest, pushing down, though he didn't want to squash all the air from his lungs even in a moment of dominance like that. He curled his arms and flexed, fists on either side of his head, howling out his triumph.

"OOOHHH!"

Hauling the raccoon up by the scruff of his neck, he hauled him into his cell, though Rigby was heavier than MesMordo remembered, at least from times before. Dumping him on the ground beside a narrow bed made up with bland, grey sheets and a mattress so thin that it may as well have not been present at all, the blue jay shook his head.

"Crime never pays, Mr. Rigbinder... Maybe one day, even you will learn that."

Rigby's eyelids fluttered and he groaned.

"Unff... Oh..."

The blue jay's eyes widened sharply, beak falling open. Was Mr. Rigbinder already fighting back against the power of his foot? Unbelievable! It would have been admirable if Mr. Rigbinder had not been a supervillain but, well, that was not something that could be helped.

"Better give you another dose to make sure you don't pull any ill-minded escape attempts. Your handcuffs won't be coming off either, villain! They're infused with the bonds of binding and there is no escape from such a thing - not even for you!"

He laughed, shaking his head, the raccoon slumped on his side, legs apart though his knees were bent. He lay as he had fallen, cheek squashed to the cold, stone floor, a little drool marking the edge of his lips on the side of his muzzle that was to the ground, helpless as he swam in unconsciousness, the blue jay's foot pressing down, once again, to his face. His snout was covered, the heel of the blue jay's foot digging into the softer flesh of his cheek, MesMordo taunting him, hands spread as if to show his complete and utter dominance and power.

"Ohhh, you thought you had won,

But I'm still not done

And you're lying here

For another dose of fear!"

The blue jay laughed out loud, the raccoon's body shuddering. Oh, the humiliation. He could not have been sure where he was in the world, swimming and drifting somewhere in the space between consciousness and unconsciousness, but that was only because MesMordo's terrible rapping had brought him back. He could do a better job than that if he was conscious... Alas, Mr. Rigbinder was, once again, powerless, that foot adjusting itself to press along the length of his snout, close to his nose so that he got an even bigger dose of strength-sapping inhalation.

Darkness. Sometimes it was a better friend to him than any kind of reality.

"Beat down in defeat:

MesMordo got you beat!

All it took was a foot

And now you're caput!"

MesMordo laughed, bending down to make sure that Mr. Rigbinder heard him quite clearly. There were some things that the raccoon deserved to hear loud and sharp as his humiliation drifted in complete, blank unconsciousness.

"You tried to get the loot but made out with my_foot_! Wooooooooo!"

Throwing his head all the way back, his throat bare and exposed, MesMordo showed off his victory, posing with his foot on the raccoon's face, though his triumph was only for him to see. That was no matter as it was not for anyone else to concern themselves with as he fist-pumped the air, a grin stretching his beak wider and wider.

"Victory is sweeter when it was taken..."

That may not have made sense but, like so much in the game of good and evil, it was not something to linger on.

With the raccoon down and out for the count, he was more confident about locking him up in his cell. The metal door to his cell ground back into place with an obnoxious scrape and clank, turning an oversized key in the lock, though the fact that it was more of an old-fashioned prison was something that MesMordo thought all the more fitting for an evil and_dastardly_ villain such as Mr. Rigbinder.

"Supervillain?" MesMordo scoffed, curling his fingers around the bars, the sleeping raccoon sprawled out on the floor, completely unknowing. "There's nothing super about you."

With that, he left, turning his tail and whistling a tune to himself. A victory celebration was in order for the superhero who had triumphed over evil for the good of his city!

*

Alas, villains were not so often the kind of creatures that liked being locked up for long periods of time. No, being put into jail and left there alone with little else to occupy his time only allowed Mr. Rigbinder to ruminate on what he would do for revenge, the raccoon sitting on the edge of his own bed at home, out of prison, and swinging his legs back and forth.

"Curse you, MesMordo..." He grumbled, head hung low, though a fire gleamed in his eyes, burning up from the pit of what was left of his soul. "For I am coming for you... For this, you will atone!"

How he escaped? Oh, that was not for him to tell the secrets of his trade of being a supervillain, the remnants of his maniacal, echoing laugh resounding off the bare walls of the prison as he made good his escape. The guards that had been on duty, well...they would sleep for a long time but not be harmed in any way. That was unless one counted humiliation as _grave_harm!

MesMordo sprawled across the sofa in his plush superhero pad that no one but him knew about - more of a fortress of extravagance with a chocolate fountain and superhero jacuzzi than a fortress of isolation. Yet even he knew when he was needed, leaping to his feet before his mind had even registered the blaring alarm going off in every room of his home and hideout.

"No!" He gasped, hands going to his beak and face, dragging down the feathers as he tugged his lower eyelids down. "And I was just about to get my jacuzzi on! That alarm can only mean one thing - and that's that Mr. Rigbinder is out of jail!"

But the superhero was ready for him, donning his red and white cape, struck through with squares of colour, with a flourish, his mask sliding into place, tied with straps at the back of his head that trailed down against his neck. To complete his outfit, a longer pair of swim-trunk like shorts went on, though they did not cover much of his legs and showed off the muscle there: only befitting of a superhero like him.

Mr. Rigbinder would have a hideout just like him, as Mordecai took to the skies again, making use of flight at the eve of the day in open space. The coast beckoned him, gulls calling, but he could not lose himself in moments of pleasure and joy, not even then - not even with how good the breeze felt on his feathers. Flight as a blue jay was one of his greatest powers and yet he rarely had the chance to employ it, for it was a superpower that required more space in which to truly utilise. If he was flying inside, he may as well have merely sunk back onto his heels and flung his body into the air in a jump for how much more quickly it would get him to where he needed to be in a fight.

"Where are you, Mr. Rigbinder?"

He scoured the city, though the raccoon had to be somewhere where no one would suspect him. Somewhere too close to the city centre would be obvious, especially with all the comings and goings from his hideout. No, even though the raccoon was not smarter than him, he was smart and he would not want to be caught so easily. Thus, he patrolled, keeping low and close to the buildings so as not to be detected, eventually flying down to the docks where transport ships streamed in and out, keeping up a supply of trade. Amongst them was a cruise ship too but his eyes alit on the storage containers, shipping containers, further down.

"Got you..."

It was a hunch but it was a hunch that paid off as he locked onto a batch of containers that seemed to be stacked too closely together - and since when did they stack them so high anyway?

"They'll have no need to move those when they're already called for - huh, Mr. Rigbinder?"

With a smile and a little grunting "hm", he plunged down, pressing himself flat to the shipping container as if to escape searchlights that were not even there. Yet he had to be sly, had to be stealthy, easing along the side and watching his every move, his cape fluttering to the side when caught by the ocean breeze.

Getting inside was not as difficult as it could have been. Laser-vision was not an often-used skill of his but it was still something that MesMordo kept in reserve, growling deep in the back of his throat as his eyes glowed red-hot, ever so lightly singing the feathers closest there.

"Aaarrrhhh!"

It was a warbled cry that had no real meaning to it, though he could not have known what was happening on the inside. After all, he could not use two abilities, not like his hypno-powers too, at once, not like that, therein rendering the superhero, beloved of the city and praised for his ever so great feats, one with a flaw too.

Inside, Mr. Rigbinder stood before a wall of screens showing views across the entire city, the walls built up to look like the concrete inside of an industrial unit, ensuring that MesMordo would not be able to see him through the walls anyway even if he had used his X-ray vision.

"You shan't win this time, MesMordo..."

He grinned, tipping his head slightly forward to tie his black and yellow mask back into place, easing into the contrast nicely with his brown fur. It was good to have it back where it belonged, the straps hanging down from the back of his head, the knot nice and snug. It disguised his identity, struck fear into many a heart, yet his sights were already set on greater prizes than the Simply Awesome Stone.

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"You will not win, MesMordo, for Mr. Rigbinder is back to full power!"

Cackling, his eyes strained, bloodshot, as he laughed wickedly, contorting as his lungs struggled to keep up with the force of his laughter, for he was not finished yet. His cries of victory, even if they were ahead of his time, echoed off the walls, the machines whirring away, blinking where the small lights had been placed, though not even Mr. Rigbinder knew what they were there for. Really, they were just for show. His arch-nemesis, however, did not have to know that even as he busted down a door, having entered Mr. Rigbinder's hideout from a different section.

"Ooooohhhhh!"

Mordecai howled out his entrance, his wings lifted as if to make himself look larger and more intimidating than ever, his fingers folding back until just the one pointed directly at the rabid raccoon who sought so much mischief in his life of crime.

"Mr. Rigbinder! You broke out of jail but I've come to put your sorry tail back where it belongs!"

Mr. Rigbinder turned slowly, his lips already stretched into a wide, crazy grin - so wild, in fact, that Mordecai could not help but take a step back without even thinking about it.

"Is that so?" He giggled, standing tall, though he was still much shorter than Mordecai and that could not be helped. "Well, MesMordo, you're going to have to defeat me before you're dragging me off anywhere! I'm at full strength and not so easy to defeat, feather-brain! Yahhhh!"

The raccoon lunged, his mouth agape, spittle flying, wild in the moment that mattered the most. There was no option for Rigby to lose, desperation on his side, his feet moving quickly, body connecting with that of the blue jay. But Mordecai was ready for him, despite his surprise attack, catching him by the shoulders and shoving him back. The raccoon was not so easy to keep in place, however, and Mordecai growled, forced back and back, his legs stiff and braced but feet sliding as he was shoved bodily towards the wall.

"Ah... Your...strength!"

So, Rigby had been right: even his super strength had returned as the supervillain used every last ounce of it to his advantage, dominating the moment, forcing MesMordo back and back and back. His eyes were even more feverish with villainous greed in the moment as he laughed, forcing out breath in a puff of a grunt, teeth clenched to bear down on MesMordo with ever-greater force, hands on the blue jay's chest for extra leverage.

Whoa, he's gotten better...

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MesMordo could not win the battle like that, however, twisting sharply and suddenly to the right and wrenching himself free with a great bodily effort. It did not come without a rip of pain, the raccoon's fingers digging into the pressure points of the blue jay's chest as he forced the bird back enough to break free. Not wasting a moment, Mordecai leaned back on the leg furthest away from the villain just to snap the other up and launch his foot into Rigby's stomach. The raccoon, however, had to have been braced and ready for him for he merely sailed back, taken off the ground with the force of the kick but not losing his balance or composure in the slightest.

"That trick might have worked before, MesMordo, but I'm stronger now!"

Rigby levitated, his hands spread to either side of his body and his feet flat as if he was still standing on an invisible platform. His eyes glowed with hypno-power and Mordecai leapt out of the way, seeming to fall in slow-motion in his haste to get out of the line of fire. The beams blasted across the ground, rings sweeping out and out and out, larger as they got further away from the raccoon. Rigby howled, shaking his fists at the bird, his dominance in that moment absolute.

"Yes! Fear me, MesMordo!"

The blue jay took advantage, however, slipping in behind the beams to get behind the raccoon before he could turn sharply. It was a heartbeat of a moment in the thick of the fight but one that served MesMordo well as his arms went around the raccoon's neck, pulling him in tight in a sleeper hold. Of course, with the difference in their sizes and the raccoon being much smaller, there was no need for the blue jay to leap onto his back to use his weight to his advantage. Though he could use Mr. Rigbinder's weight to his disadvantage, hefting him bodily up from his levitating platform, using only his arms and hugging him in tight to his chest, wing-arms bulging with muscle.

"Give in, Mr. Rigbinder! You're finished!"

"Agh..." The raccoon twisted, eyes rolling back into his skull. "No... Never!"

He would never give up, not when he had the power of villainhood on his side! He kicked back, sinking his heel into Mordecai's stomach as he hung there, and the bird could not help but drop him, reacting to bodily sensation and pain over his desire to see the villain back behind bars where he belonged.

"Unff... Dude, like, too hard."

But Rigby was not about to apologise for that when there was so much at stake, pressing his advantage as the doubled-over blue jay poised at the perfect height for him to get him down on the ground. Using his levitation ability again, which he had lost control of when the blue jay had choked him in the sleeper hold, he used his powers to launch up onto MesMordo's back, bearing him down to the ground on his front, chest connecting solidly with the hard floor.

"Oof!"

"There's no way for you to win, MesMordo!"

Cackling, Rigby latched onto the blue jay's leg even as Mordecai fought, still striving to get his breath back after the deep kick to his gut. He bent MesMordo's leg back and back in a single leg Boston crab hold, the blue jay screaming.

"Arrrrgggghhhh!"

He could not hold the cries back, pain exploding in his lower back and across his groin as his leg was so brutally wrenched back. From the outset, it should have been a simple hold to get out of but, alas, it was not so easily done, no matter how he may have liked it to play out. Twisting and rolling his hips to the side only made the pain lancing down his inner thighs all the worse, banging his fists on the floor as the raccoon wrenched on him harder still, bearing through the strain in any way possible.

His arms... Yes, he still could use his arms! If his lower body was out of action while caught up in the crab hold, he'd use his arms! As if he was doing a push-up, he got his hands under him and pressed up forcibly, sending the raccoon flying where he had been sitting on his back, a scream ripping from his lips.

"Yahhhh - MesMordo!"

"Fiend!"

MesMordo followed him, the raccoon crashing to the ground, not able to reach for his powers swiftly enough to keep the advantage. In a moment, the blue jay had dropped to join him down there, his legs around the raccoon's neck in a scissor hold, pressing down and down and down on his instep.

"Unff... Ack!"

Rigby twisted and twisted and yet he could already feel himself fading. He'd hardly had any time to recover from the sleeper hold and yet he was in another around his neck? He trembled with outrage that he didn't want to contain, toes wriggling, fighting, seeking purchase on the large, square slabs of the base of his hideout floor.

Closer... Closer... Even as the blue jay's legs pressed down more and more fervently around his neck, he had to fight, had to find something to push off, anything at all to get out of the scissor hold. The blue jay only laughed, however, tightening where his legs were crossed, pushing down, cutting off the raccoon's air supply, forcing him to feel just how weak and helpless he truly was.

"Ohhhhh, snap!"

The blue jay snapped his fingers, beak bobbing to a tune that only he could hear.

"There was Mr. Rigbinder,

Caught up in a real winder,

All you can do is yell out "please"

When I tighten my legs and give you the squeeze!"

Mr. Rigbinder screamed right on cue as the blue jay laughed, though not all was lost. For the blue jay had been distracted by his rap, even if only a tiny fraction. All it took was a moment for evil to slip through the net as he got his hands up around one of the blue jay's leg, seeking a pressure point on the rear side of MesMordo's knee. It took some groping, the blue jay not realising what he was doing until it was too late.

"Argh!"

When Mr. Rigbinder's fingers dug into the pressure point, pain lanced through him, forcing him to loosen his grip enough that the raccoon could wriggle free, pushing off with his hands too.

"Take that, MesMordo!"

The raccoon leapt, coming down on Mordecai with his elbow pounding into his stomach, driving in hard and deep, MesMordo twisting, spittle flying with a gut-wrenching cry.

"Unnnnffff.... Oooff...."

There was no way to recover from such a move so easily but he could turn his face up, beak levelled, his eyes glowing white with hypno-beams. They forced Mr. Rigbinder to give him more space even as, on all fours, MesMordo clutched at his stomach, driving the raccoon back and back as they blasted through the equipment he had there, shattering the screens.

Bang!

_ _

Electronics sizzled as systems were fried, screens fizzling or going black, Mr. Rigbinder whipping around for another try, though he could barely advance a few feet before he was forced back. With enough time to recover his breath and the sensation in his stomach, though it was not a pleasant reality for him to return to, he stood tall and proud once more.

"What you forget, Mr. Rigbinder, is that good will never fall to evil. We are concrete! Not just an idea like you are!"

He thought he'd pulled that line from some movie or another, but it worked as well as he could have liked, the scowl plastered across Rigby's muzzle deepening darkly.

"I'd like to see you try, runt! Come here - ka-pow!"

With that cry, the raccoon launched himself forward with his levitation ability, yet that in itself, for that moment, was his undoing as MesMordo responded with his hypno-beams. Throwing the raccoon off-course with them was just enough for him to snatch back the upper hand, or wing, in his case, slamming a foot into the raccoon's stomach in the next moment before he had a chance to regroup and recover.

"Wham!"

The raccoon sprawled, struggling to get back to his feet, but MesMordo had him in his arms already, turning the struggling, scrapping Mr. Rigbinder upside-down, setting him up for a piledriver.

And yet...he took a moment longer than he should have. His body ached and he'd taken more strikes than he should have already, weaker than he should have been. MesMordo shuddered. He had to finish it once and for all even as Rigby spat and howled, fighting to get into a position where he could either twist free or use his hypno-powers again.

"Yarrrggghh! You're not going to win this one, MesMordo!"

Sometimes desperation for evil deeds, after all, was the greatest driver of all. The blue jay took a deep, steadying breath, reaching deep to his core for the strength that he knew he had there.

"This is my most extreme move yet..." He said with a grunt that betrayed his hesitation. "But I have to stop you! Forever!"

The fight was taking more out of him than expected as he lifted the raccoon higher, but Mr. Rigbinder clocked onto what he was doing with a squeal.

"Nooo! No, don't do it! Don't piledrive me! No, no, no, no, please! I won't do anything to you! I promise! Noooo!"

For a piledriver would slam him head-first into the floor and who knew what the outcome would be of something so extreme, his heart pounding, sweating heavily, mouth dry with fear. The blue jay's hands on him trembled, clutching the raccoon to his chest even as his legs threatened to buckle.

"If you surrender...and give up your life of crime...I won't do it."

It was a struggle for him, but he had to do something, had to make the offer before resorting to something that would hurt them both. Yet they both knew what the result would be, truly, even if they had to play by their own "rules" of good and evil, the game as it should have been all along.

"Never! I could never give this up, feather-brain! You runt! Fake excuse for a superhero!"

He forced MesMordo's hand but it was with a heavy hand that he landed the piledriver, dropping heavily back, slamming the raccoon head-down into the ground. His head connected with a gut-twisting slam and MesMordo grunted too as his hind end bounced off the ground, his legs not positioned for a clean drop - but what was clean and easy in a fight like that? Aching through, he pushed the raccoon off him, where his body had half-sprawled across his legs, not moving, as limp as he had been when he had been unconscious. But that simply was because he was knocked out cold.

"That's it then..."

His breathing came in ragged, sharp pants as he got back to his feet, dusting off his feathers, though he did not take all that had come to pass lightly.

"Now... Now, you'll return to jail where you can't hurt anyone or take anything from anyone."

MesMordo gulped, running his fingers back over his head.

"And I could've lost that fight too... Heh, wow..."

Unknown to him, however, the raccoon was not unconscious but merely biding his time. He kept his features carefully slack and blank, giving the bird every impression that he was knocked out, though he clung onto his reality with the force of one who knew that it was all that they had left. His telekinesis, of course, was more useful for subtle things - like stopping his head from hitting the ground at the last second - yet acting like he was unconscious was harder than one could have expected. He just had to stop the bird from putting his foot on his face again, sapping his powers, and he'd have control back where it belonged.

"Beep-boop-beep-beep-boop."

Ah. That had to be the bird dialling into the police headquarters, the slimy do-gooder. It was all Mr. Rigbinder could do to remain as he was, waiting and biding his time. It was not his usual style, that much was fair, his body aching and thrumming with energy to get back into the fight and the fray of wrestling.

He cracked open an eye. The blue jay stalked back and forth, too close to him, on the phone, jabbering about how he had cut down the terrible Mr. Rigbinder again. He smirked minutely, wiping it off his face the moment the expression made itself known. Perfect.

All it took was a well-timed sweep of his tail to trip MesMordo, leaping up to his feet as the blue jay fell, trading positions with him as quickly and neatly as anyone would have liked. The communications device with a long antenna flew out of Mordecai's hand and shattered on the floor, though there was no one on the other end that would be able to help him anyway, not even if they'd known where he was.

"What the..."

MesMordo groaned, head pounding, trying to sit up, but there was no time.

"Ki-yah!"

Without allowing the blue jay to come entirely back to his senses, he leapt and kicked MesMordo straight in his chest, knocking him right onto his back, splayed across the ground as if he had been pinned there by a giant hand. The blue jay grunted, head spinning, but Mr. Rigbinder wasn't taking any chances now that he had the upper hand, sitting on him and pinning his arms down by his sides.

"This is for you, MesMordo! For all the times you've stolen from me what was rightfully mine all along! Oooohhhh!"

He howled as he let loose his hypno-powers in full force, the circles spiralling from his eyes, connecting with Mordecai's and rendering him helpless in a single moment. There was nothing that could come back from the full-force of those hypno-beams at close proximity, the blue jay's struggles weakening instantly, fingers aching as if it took too much effort even for him to move those.

"Unff... Mr. Rigbinder..."

Even Mr. Rigbinder did not expect the blue jay to be so weak so quickly, maintaining his hypno-beams as the white, glaring rings ploughed into the blue jay again and again. He squinted at the superhero, leaning down, his hands at his nemesis' throat.

"How can you not be under my control already? There's more than enough power in my hypno-beams to control a city! There's something more here... Reveal your secret, MesMordo!"

Oh... Oh, how MesMordo tried to twist, groaning and twisting and contorting, his tail-feathers flicking back and forth, body riddled with a desire to do as he was told. Yet he was pinned, pinned and trapped right where the supervillain wanted him to be, panting with all the breath he had left in his body, though there seemed to be nothing that he could do to evade such grip.

"Unff... It's..."

No! He had to fight it! And yet he could not, the hypnosis controlling him, his eyes going white. He could not fight back even that last little bit, his resistance merely symbolic while the raccoon could have held him there otherwise until both of their bodies reverted to crumbling dust.

"You... You have to unmask me."

He hated admitting it out loud, the power that his mask held. Mr. Rigbinder's eyes gleamed, the hypno-rings faltering ever so slightly - not that that mattered. There was more than enough hypno-power in the blue jay to keep him frozen for as long as was needed.

"Yes? Is this the key to your strength?"

His beak moved without his consent, MesMordo trying to push the words back into his throat as they spent themselves, tongue wriggling.

"No... Yes... Yes, it is..."

"I knew it!"

"I... Yes... The mask... When it's gone...I can be completely controlled by your hypnosis."

"And then this..." The raccoon laughed, lifting his foot and wriggling his toes near MesMordo's face. "You and I are not so different, so-called superhero, fallen superhero. For this too is your weakness, isn't it? My foot domination?"

MesMordo shuddered but his hypno-power was too strong, no matter how much he longed to keep the words to himself. He tried clamping his beak shut, but they were coming, his silence noted as Mr. Rigbinder doubled-down on the force of his hypno-beams.

"Talk!"

"Y-yes..." He had to, could not resist.

"Then let it be done!"

Slowly, the raccoon unmasked him. It could have been a swift cut and unveiling of his true weakness, but the raccoon wanted him to feel every second of his strength being sapped from him, easing from his bones as it had for Mr. Rigbinder too. Rigby laughed cruelly as he untied the mask, letting the blue jay feel the straps sliding against his feathers.

"No... No, please! Please, don't unmask me, please, don't do it! I'll do anything! Please, don't do it!"

But the deed was already in process as Mr. Rigbinder smirked, lips tight even as they pulled up wickedly on one side.

"Is that what you say? But I'll already have you under my complete control and domination once I remove your mask. Quiet, it'll all be over soon... Though I'll have to remember just how it feels to see you beg, MesMordo of nothing! No one will be championing you as a superhero after this!

The mask was dragged away with terrifying slowness, the blue jay able to feel every last second of the straps slithering off his face. They even dragged over his beak as the raccoon tediously removed it, revealing the power in his unmasking.

"Unlike you, I don't need time to use the power of my foot!"

Mr. Rigbinder laughed and threw the mask away, bundled up into a scrunched-up ball of fabric, completely hiding the power that it held. That was, of course, when it was on MesMordo's face. It wouldn't give anyone any power at all on the ground, though Mr. Rigbinder noted where it landed in case he wanted to keep it for his collection later, forever rendering MesMordo helpless and at his whim. It was, after all, a very "supervillain" thing to do.

"Now... Time to go sleepy-bye-bye, MesMordo MesMorFool!"

Not the cleverest nickname and tease for him but the groan of complete and utter abject humiliation from MesMordo told Mr. Rigbinder that he was more than on the right track there. His foot came down a little harder than necessary on Mordecai's face, the blue jay letting out a soft grunt.

"Oof..."

But that was not going to dissuade the raccoon as he forced the helpless blue jay to breathe in his feet, sapping the power from him, bit by bit. With MesMordo as he was, it was not a slow grind or a slow fall, the bird falling and falling, flight stripped from him.

"Oh... You...ah...got me..."

His head spun, struggling and spinning mentally, clinging to his reality even as it slipped through his fingers. There was nothing more that he could do but fall, a bird with his wings clipped. He could not hang on to consciousness, no matter how hard he clawed at it, his eyelids heavier and heavier, a yawn on his beak, though that only made him push it up against the raccoon's foot. The toes wriggled on his beak, one blocking one of his nares (those were the holes in his beak that he breathed through) so he was forced to take gulp after gulp of that foot, the essence of humiliation dragging him down.

"No... Can't...hold...on..."

Yet it was not for him to remain awake as he exhaled deeply, the raccoon swapping one foot for the other, just to make sure the blue jay had as big a dose of humiliation as he could possibly give him. There was no point, after all, in doing half a job, even if he was a supervillain and, possibly, that could be expected of him. What MesMordo was there to do was to subvert all expectations.

Blacking out, the blue jay's body relaxed, though the embarrassment of having fallen so low would remain when he woke again.

"Ooohhhh!"

The raccoon howled, flinging his arms up high in triumph, a foot on the blue jay's head in triumph, posing and taking his due.

"MesMordo revealed

With this foot - your fate is sealed!"

Rigby puffed up his chest, grinning widely.

"See, you're not the only one that can rhyme, MesMordo! Maybe the supervillain isn't all that bad after all!"

He shifted, his other foot on MesMordo's chest, though he did give the blue jay the tiny mercy of moving away the foot on his face so that he was standing on the ground. Harming him was not what he wanted. A good dose of humiliation, however, as he imagined the applause those of the dark underworld would give him for bringing down their greatest enemy, was something that he was more than keen to elaborate on however he wanted.

"Think you're so big and tough, do you?"

Rigby jeered, digging his heel a little harder into MesMordo's chest, holding his pose.

"Yeah, well, you don't look so tough now, do you? One little mask and you're gone... And look how I managed to fight back without _my_mask! Who's the tougher super now, hm?"

Rigby scoffed, fetching MesMordo's mask only to dangle the crumpled, tangled fabric over his face, jiggling it back and forth.

"Come on then, birdie, feather-brain - come get it! Think you're tough enough to take on the great Mr. Rigbinder? Well then - this is what you get!"

Humiliation. Debasement. Inner turmoil. All of those were things, very much so, were part of what he could deliver to MesMordo, though he had the blue jay right where he wanted him.

"Your power is in my hand, useless hero - where are your fans now! Everyone knows that evil is the true way!"

Mordecai blinked lightly, grunting as the raccoon shifted to his stomach, doing another victory pose, this time bending over slightly to flex his arms while they hung down, something of a gorilla-like pose that made him seem bulkier and more intimidating than he actually was. There was no one that he was posing for, however, taking his pleasure in giving the blue jay more than a little dose of his own medicine, Mordecai's vision blurring as he blinked and tried to come back to the waking world.

Must...fight...off...Mr. Rigbinder...

_ _

"Ah-ah-ah - just what do you think you're doing? I still have more poses to take from you, weak superhero. You did it to me so consider this...a little revenge, shall we say?"

Rigby smirked. What did that bird think he was doing, trying to wake up like that? He was weak, so very weak, and he was there to show him just how weak he was.

Pushing his foot down on the bird's face once again, he spread his toes out so that MesMordo got a heavy dose of his foot, grunting and groaning, pushing weakly up against the raccoon. There was not enough strength left in even the great MesMordo, however, to make anything of a difference, trapped and forced down where he could not even raise his head, slipping all the way back down into less than blissful, frigid, unconsciousness.

"There, that's better. It's time you got a taste of your own medicine, MesMorFool!"

Rigby took pleasure in the blue jay's humiliation, squeezing his toes down over his beak, ensuring that he wriggled them back and forth. He could not have quite said how to make sure the bird was out for the count but he wasn't taking chances now that he had MesMordo down where he wanted him.

"Naptime for you, MesMordo!"

MesMordo drifted, letting out a softer, longer moan as if he was completely gone that time. In all reality, he didn't know what he was, the power of the raccoon's foot unlike anything that he had ever experienced before. He drifted and floated aimlessly in fuzzy darkness, only knowing that he was helpless, wanting to move his limbs but not even finding them under his control anymore. He could not move as the raccoon poked at him, dreary and faded, Mr. Rigbinder doing all that he needed to in that moment.

"Hm... Try to fight it, MesMordo, if you want to feel even more helpless."

He grinned.

"Tried to fight,

Wouldn't stay put,

Now you can't do a thing

Against my foot!"

Once more, he posed with his foot ground down over the bird's face, covering his eye, though his view of the world was already shut out in sleeping loss of control. Mr. Rigbinder peered down his body, however, trying to move to do another pose on MesMordo's stomach but noticing something else instead.

"Oh, what are you hiding?"

The bird's feathery hand lay on top, his legs bent, feet on the ground. He could have gotten into position but that pesky arm seemed more in the way from the angle that Rigby was currently at - and he couldn't have that! It was merely an excuse to him to move and position the fallen superhero exactly as he pleased though, shifting Mordecai's hand with his foot so that it fell off to the side. He wouldn't want to waste using his hands on such a creature, after all...

Using only his feet, chuckling throatily and wickedly, he positioned the blue jay so that he was spread-eagled and helpless, even his legs sticking out at the aforementioned angle. The blue jay's beak fell slack, uncaring and unknowing even then, though he most certainly would know when he woke again, even if he would still be under the raccoon's control.

"Wooooo!"

Mr. Rigbinder howled as he posed on top of Mordecai's stomach, having positioned his nemesis to his satisfaction, the blue jay's tail-feathers fanned out under his body, pointing down between his splayed legs. The superhero under him seemed to flinch and grunt but was nowhere near waking up, not as yet, leaving Rigby to take his amusement from him, even setting drone-cameras to float around and document the bird's absolute debasement for all that could not be there to see him win.

He stood between the bird's legs, showing off his muscles (as small as they were), changing his pose so that he stood with one foot on Mordecai's stomach, his back to a camera as he half-turned his head. Everything was designed to make him look as powerful and as impressive as possible, a smirk on his lips, taking careless pleasure in his power. That was what being a supervillain was all about for him, after all, finding the great end that would be a step up to greatness higher still, all of the great, great greatness that was up in the great, great world for him to take for his great self!

"Oooohhh!"

If superheroes thought themselves great, they had a reckoning coming for them.

However, the bird could not stay asleep forever, Rigby distracted with pose after pose, showing off his strength, his power, his prowess. It was fair to say that he was too wrapped up in himself to care but Mordecai was not subtle at all as he struggled, once again, to rise. Mr. Rigbinder rolled his eyes as if the very act of Mordecai trying such a thing annoyed him, his frustration merely at being distracted in such a manner.

"Such a shame..."

But there was a grin on his lips as he launched yet another hypno-attack, rings blasting from his eyes even as Mordecai blinked back to consciousness. Propped up on his hands, he tried to sit up further but found himself powerless to do so, seeing only a blaze or white as the raccoon's hypno-rings sank into his eyes, leaching away anything that may have been present of his mind in that moment. Well, he could still think but the ability to do anything for himself, well...that was gone as if it had never existed in the first place.

"You... No... You can't do this."

"Oh, but I can! A big superhero can't do anything to stop the great Mr. Rigbinder! My reign of terror will last forever! Look - you can't even fight back for yourself."

Blasting the bird with his hypno-powers, Mr. Rigbinder doubled over in laughter, nearly losing control of his abilities, as the avian was forced to dance, his arms going up and down as if he was doing a demented sort of jig, his legs entirely out of sync. But he couldn't stop, huffing and puffing and crying out for mercy - mercy that Mr. Rigbinder most certainly was not at all willing to give after just how the superhero had treated him. Fair's fair, right?

"Come - fight me! If you think you're the superhero that the city needs, it should be a piece of cake for you to take on Mr. Rigbinder again!"

Although it would have been a very normal thing for him to do, the problem was the hypnosis washing over him. Whereas his limbs felt light and easy as if they could move freely that in itself was a deception, the control holding him back, holding him in place wherever it was that the raccoon wanted him to be.

He tried to say "no", tried to shake his head, but all Mordecai found himself doing, to his horror, was nodding and grunting, putting his hands up as if preparing to wrestle. His legs did not bend, however, Rigby failing to give his body that command through the mind-body linking control of hypnosis, leaving him vulnerable from the get-go.

"Under my control, you can't do anything without your mask," Mr. Rigbinder taunted him. "You thought you were so powerful but all it took was a foot and the loss of your mask to bring you beneath me again!"

The blue jay shivered, trying to back off, though his feet were rooted in place - well, except for when Mr. Rigbinder forced him to move. The raccoon grinned madly.

"Grapple!"

His body jerked into motion as if he was a puppet controlled by the puppeteer's strings, though Mordecai had no idea whether his limbs were so jerky because he was trying to resist or if the raccoon was deliberately making him move like that. There was no way to tell, as much as his gut twisted, heart loathing every second of it.

"Yahhh!"

That was Rigby, pounding a fist into his stomach, sinking it home as he howled, doubling over, though he hadn't even had a chance to put his hands on him in any way to grapple. Yet the hypnosis was very much still in effect as the blue jay grunted, shaking his head, forced to grab onto the raccoon and weakly grapple him, though he could no longer get any proper grip on him, regardless of how much he wanted to behind the layer of Mr. Rigbinder control. There was nothing for him, nothing he could cling onto, his eyes wide and strained while the raccoon took complete advantage over him.

"Oooohhhh!"

Mr. Rigbinder pointed and spun, a grin on his lips. To have control... Who would not want that? It was easy to flip away from the grapple, spinning on one foot, and turn back to MesMordo, showing him just how easy, so very easy, it was to break away and come back again. He didn't need to fix himself in the grapple to win, so weak had he rendered MesMordo, his hypno-beams slamming into the bird yet again to knock him back a step.

"What's the matter, MesMorFool? Can't fight back? Go on - try! You superheroes are all the same!"

Cruelty rang through the raccoon's tone as he laughed and laughed, barely putting any effort into the grapple as Mordecai desperately scraped and scrabbled against him with his hands and arm-wings. He just couldn't seem to get any sort of grip on Rigby, the raccoon slithering out of his grasp every time, hands on Rigby's shoulders, the crook of his elbows, the back of his neck, failing every time.

"Is that all you've got? This is your real strength?" Rigby laughed, bearing down on MesMordo, grappling palm to palm, their arms bent but the raccoon clearly winning, shoving him back and back. "Scream for me! Tell me how much you can't take it!"

MesMordo yowled, a broken sort of cry that bounced off the walls, but that still was not about to call halt to proceedings, broken down to such a point that his legs shook, knees acting as if they were about to clack together obnoxiously. He groaned and buckled, slowly, so very slowly, able to feel every last moment of his humiliation, how he was forced to his knees, in excruciating detail.

"How much strength do you think I'm using here, MesMordo? I couldn't even squash a fly with this - and you are weaker than a fly!"

Rigby laughed and laughed as the bird fell to his knees, trembling in place, though there was nothing that he could do as he knelt there, his back bowed and chest leaning further and further back, trying to evade Mr. Rigbinder with what was left of his strength. Only, Mordecai did not feel that he had very much strength there to play at all, his hands shaking terribly from the little force Mr. Rigbinder laid down over them, the raccoon dominating even from his shorter height. Something in the bird's stomach twisted, fury at being bested twisting up against a resolute determination to keep going. He was a superhero, after all! He couldn't give in so easily!

"Yaaahhh!"

Mr. Rigbinder put all of his strength behind the thrusts of his palms, still palm to palm with the bird, yet using his real strength against MesMordo was too much for the bird. With a scream, he shot back, leaving the ground entirely not of his own volition, flying through the air and smacking into the wall with a shuddering thud. He slid down in slow-motion, time seeming to drag out his debasement all the more, head spinning, limbs aching. But the fire of resistance still burned within Mordecai as he groaned, sprawled and yet struggling back to his feet already, getting his feet under him, pushing up off his arms and hands, even using the wall for support.

"I'll...never...give in...to you..."

Rigby laughed, spreading his hands wide.

"And what makes you think you've won, MesMordo? This is your true fate! The control of Mr. Rigbinder will be legendary to all! Oooohhhh!"

Beating his chest, he cast forth his dominance so easily, MesMordo ducking his head, one shoulder thrust forward as he charged. And yet he just didn't seem to be able to pick up speed, the air itself clawing at him and dragging him back, as if he was running through quicksand. It sucked at him, taking all strength and power and energy out of his stride, his battle-cry dying on his beak as he faltered, Rigby laughing and holding his paws up high.

"You'll never take an Irish Whip, MesMordo! Feel my wrath- ahahahahaha!"

There may not have been a wrestling ring for Mr. Rigbinder to utilise there (hey, if he wanted to humiliate Mordecai all the more, he'd consider it for next time) but his power of illusion would more than suffice for such a devastating move. Pulling on his power, he drew a line of rope between his hands, stringing it out for the bird to crash straight into, bending back and back and back. It did not snap but contained energy as Mr. Rigbinder pulled Mordecai along with it, pausing for a moment for the bird to realise the futility of his situation for a brief, jaw-dropping moment before he was fired out of the rope back at the wall as if from a slingshot.

"Yaaahhhaaahhh!"

Mr. Rigbinder posed as the blue jay sailed straight back into the wall from which he had leapt off, a grunt of pain rising from his beak. The force of his impact could be felt through the floor but, in the depths of Mr. Rigbinder's hypno-powers and control, Mordecai could not tell whether it actually hurt or not. The wall cracked where he had slammed into it and yet he got back, shaking, to his feet again, his fists levelled, fighting back against the forces of evil the only thing left in his mind.

"Must...keep...going..." He panted harshly, though it took a lot of energy just to keep his beak levelled. "The city...needs me!"

"The city never needed you!"

The taunt was enough to throw the blue jay back into motion, running back, a scream on his beak.

"Aaaahhhh!"

But screaming would not be enough to take down Mr. Rigbinder, as much as Mordecai may have wanted it to be so. The raccoon met him halfway, leaping into the air, though the strike to his chest or gut or lower still did not come, Rigby instead lashing out with his whole arm across MesMordo's throat.

"Aaaooofff!"

It struck hard, the clothesline completely wiping out the blue jay who toppled to his back like a bag of bricks. Blinking, he stared up at the ceiling, willing his limbs to work again, though all he could see was the bare ceiling of Rigby's hideout, head spinning and spinning, the world turning around him. Still, he could not give up, as hopeless as his situation and his twisting humiliation was and could be.

Up. He had to get up.

"Don't bother MesMorFool, you're already beaten."

As he lay there, head ringing, Mr. Rigbinder leaned over him, tapping the side of his snout. There was nothing, however, that could hide the smirk from his lips.

"This next one... Oooohhh, yeah, it's going to take a lot of air out of you!"

Yowling, the raccoon bounced on the balls of his feet with excitement, tapping his elbow twice before launching himself into a full-bodied elbow drop directly onto the blue jay's stomach. He didn't have a higher position to jump from for it, like the ropes of a wrestling ring after his illusion power had timed out, but that did not matter as he drove his elbow forcibly into the blue jay's belly. Mordecai howled, his body buckling from the light jump, twisting and contorting, despite it not hurting all that much.

Why was that? He had to admit, despite the force of everything, nothing had hurt very much and, too late, he realised that that was another feature of the raccoon's hypnosis, the tricky devil of a supervillain. He was not using all that much strength at all, not in comparison to how their battles of good and evil would usually play out, the wall cracking solely due to disrepair and being a fake wall inside a shipping container. It was there for looks and not function and the pain was merely the aches building up in him as the raccoon beat him up, figuratively, by doing exceptionally little.

His body, however, reacted as if he was sore and pummelled, howling as his stomach bowed in from the elbow drop, his whole body moving around it. Mordecai let out a deep, long groan as if he had been seriously injured, imagining just how his gut would wrench if Rigby had actually done a proper elbow drop on him, perhaps even using his powers of telekinesis to put even more force behind it.

That wasn't a good thought to imagine, not even as Rigby acted out his humiliation, taking advantage however he wanted as he relished and championed in the power.

"Aha!"

Grabbing the foot, ironically the one that MesMordo has used to knock out Mr. Rigbinder earlier when he'd been locked up in prison, Rigby howled and dragged it up, the blue jay on the ground helpless to his every whim.

"Your foot is useless now,

Now time for you to take a bow!"

He yanked at MesMordo's leg as if he was going to step between and go for a sharpshooter but, to the blue jay's shock, merely tickled his foot.

What?

That didn't make sense but he couldn't find the words to say anything at all as peals of laughter burst, entirely unbidden from his gaping open beak. His stomach ached as he twisted and tried to get away, but all it took was another dose of the raccoon's hypno-power, rings covering him completely as Rigby's strength grew and grew, to have him trapped in place, more or less. He was allowed to thrash within the extent of the hypnosis as he squealed and tried to yank his foot away, howling and writhing, tears streaming down his face.

"W-w-what i-i-is th-th-this?"

It was all MesMordo could do to get those words out through his laughter, writhing and trying to get up, though Mr. Rigbinder's maniac howl of cackled laughed cut through his.

"Submit, submit! You will surrender!"

Of course, that did not come entirely with his hypno-powers behind it, wanting the blue jay to submit naturally, to give in, to acknowledge him as the superior of the fight. There was no way out of it, only to push through it, gasping and panting, heaving and gasping all over again. His gut twisted, mirth pulsing through him, though there was a part of the hero that could not help but admire the raccoon's tactic in rather inventive humiliation.

He's gotten better!

_ _

But better at what was another question entirely as he whined and howled and twisted, trying to resist. If he resisted for too long, the raccoon would only overpower him once again with hypnosis, jerking his body and mind to the will of Mr. Rigbinder, so it was futile in the end. But was there power to be had in his resistance?

He wriggled and writhed, Mr. Rigbinder allowing him to twist over from his stomach onto his back, though he should have wondered just why that was allowed. It was hard to think, however, as his stomach wrenched and laughter bid him to cry, squeezing out more and more tears of mirth from the corners of his eyes. If there was any pain to be had there, it was present more so from the tickling and laughter than it ever had been from wrestling and being tossed around as if he weighed nothing at all: a cruel humiliation indeed.

Yet he could not bear through it even lying on his back, beating his fists on the ground on either side of his head, screaming and wailing and blasting out peals of laughter without an ounce of control.

"Ahahahahahaha, alright, alright, alright!" There was no other choice left to him. "I give in, I give in! I surrender!"

Mr. Rigbinder grinned. Oh, the power... The power of a supervillain! Taking it all in with the pride that he well felt was due to him, he posed with one foot up on the blue jay's chest as if he was standing on a pedestal.

"Oooohhhh! Behold, the victor!"

Mordecai was only glad that the raccoon had let go of his foot, slumping back, chest heaving, his feathers ever so lightly damp from sweat. For he could not have helped the reactions of his body in a moment like that, his lungs aching from laughter, his foot still tingling as if the ticklish dance of Rigby's fingers was still present. Really, it was a wonder that anyone had not heard him laughing that hard too and come to investigate but it was not something that either of them wanted to expend all that much mental energy on at that moment.

"Victory! Victory!"

Rigby fist-pumped the air, posing, flexing, changing position, his foot bearing down into the blue jay's chest, though he was so light that he could not hinder MesMordo's breathing unless he really put some effort into it.

"Dance for me, puppet! A victory dance for the supervillain of all evil!"

Rigby laughed and pointed for dramatic effect, his hypno-powers beaming forth once again, rings enveloping the blue jay as if they had substance enough to yank him back to his feet. Of course, the hypnosis was purely mental, working from the inside out rather than the other way around, and he clambered up with his eyes a little glassy, Rigby implanting what he wanted done into his head.

"What the..."

Images flashed before the blue jay's eyes and his legs and arms moved within his consent. A victory dance for Mr. Rigbinder and a dance of defeat for him!

"Oooooohhhhh! Oohhhh, this one goes out to the great Mr. Rigbinder to all you people out there! Oooooohhhhh!"

Mordecai had no idea what he was doing but his legs kicked out, spinning and flipping like an acrobat on stage, head over heels in a cartwheel and then doing a backflip, posing with his hands tucked up under his armpits, nodding at Rigby's supremacy. The raccoon clapped but such as how was not enough for him as the blue jay was forced to dance an Irish jig too, his legs kicking out, bouncing and shifting his weight rapidly from one foot to the other, his body seeming to know all the steps though he had not seen such a jig ever before.

"Ahaha - what a wonderful defeat it is!"

Mr. Rigbinder smirked and clapped to his own victory, eyes gleaming.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Mordecai no longer had any control over his words either. "I've lost to you, Mr. Rigbinder, the strongest, most powerful supervillain of all! None can compare to your wrath and your strength, your evilness of all evil!"

"Yes, yes - excellent! Now... Rap it! Bow to me! Prove your weakness to me, scrawny feather-brain!"

MesMordo's eyes widened, shifting into a stance that a rapper may take, one hand held up near his beak as if to speak into a microphone. With his legs bent slightly and his shoulders slumped and rounded, he shook his free hand in the air.

"Yo, yo, yo!"

I came to the hideout for a fight

But this here Rigbinder put me out like a light!

Mr. Rigbinder is the strongest, had me beat,

Now I beg for mercy as I bow to his feet!"

Humiliation burned through him to say such words, crumbling the last bit of resistance in his chest that he'd thought he would be able to hold onto. For the final words, he bowed all the way down, the rap completed, his beak at Mr. Rigbinder's feet as if that was just where it was meant to be. Yet the raccoon's eyes had drifted away, mind on other things, despite how he both languished and relished in the power held over the blue jay, dominating him to every extent that he could have ever hoped possible.

Ah... His hypno-powers did not last forever and the power of his foot too would have to be replenished, overpowering the blue jay, if that was the way he wanted to go. Yet Mr. Rigbinder wanted to bring the creature down to his knees in an even more carnal and debasing fashion, using the power of his raw body against MesMordo to prove his utter surrender and overpowering.

"Now, tell me, what wrestling hold will knock you out? What is your weakest, MesMordo, what makes you quake with fear?"

Mr. Rigbinder giggled, hands trembling with anticipation of mad pleasure in what he was to take from the bird, struggling openly, twisting his head back and forth even as he had to say.

"Ah... No... Yes... The sleeper hold, the sleeper hold!"

Rigby needed no more information than that as he jerked the bird up into a sitting position with his legs stretched out with his hypnosis, smirking as he locked his arms around his neck.

"Sleepy time now, superhero... But there'll be no good dreams left for you!"

The bird fought it, the pressure on his throat bearing down on both pressure points and his windpipe, closing off his air supply as he hacked and gagged, eyes bulging comically. No, he couldn't let it, had to hold on...

"Give in, MesMordo, you're so weak, so very weak... Out like a light!"

The limit on the hypnosis, the draining of MesMordo's power eased off, but there was no time for him to fight back as his strength was taken from him in another way. He would have to be put fully under hypnosis again, the rings that bore straight into his mind for complete control and not just comical dances and the like, the surface-level stuff that lighter nuances of hypno-power could be used for, but the sleeper hold did the trick.

Down and down... Blackness welcomed him.

"MesMordo the hero,

More like a zero!

He put up a fight

Out like a light,

Pathetic at best:

Now, it's time for his rest!

Struggle all you want: in too deep!

My taunts will put you straight to sleep!"

Mr. Rigbinder laughed, shaking his head, the bird weaker and weaker in his arms.

"To sleep...sleep...sleep..."

His tone grew softer and quieter each time, MesMordo finally falling completely asleep in the hold. Who needed hypnosis when such things were possible otherwise?

Of course, the acting battle was not over yet, however, as Mr. Rigbinder set the blue jay up in a seated position on a wooden chair, though it would not be the most comfortable of rests for him. He needed nothing more to humiliate him after toying him in and out of consciousness, the blue jay blinking and groaning, slumping forward without falling off the chair, trying to come back to the waking worlds.

"Urrff... Mmmph..."

Words were hard, swimming his way back up through the fog of unconsciousness, forcing it to submit to him, in any way that he pleased. The blue jay, however, only opened his eyes to Mr. Rigbinder poised and ready.

"This one will last longer, MesMordo, now I've had a chance to recharge! Ahhhaaaaoooohhh!"

He howled and let the full force of his hypno-powers rip from him as he blasted them straight into the bird's head. MesMordo didn't have a chance to react as he was hypnotised, eyes glazing over, his mind abjectly controlled again, every cell of his body under the power of the supervillain who had brought him down so low.

Not wasting a moment, Mr. Rigbinder leapt and came down with one foot on MesMordo's chest, knocking the chair over backwards. It connected with the floor with a sharp rap but harmed neither of them, leaving Mr. Rigbinder free to pose as he liked, his foot on MesMordo's chest, heralding his victory once again.

"Oooooooohhhhhhh!"

Kicking the chair away, he let the bird sprawl half on his back and half on his side, legs twisted away, though that was not about to bother Mr. Rigbinder and the control he gleaned. He put his foot on MesMordo's stomach, turning first one way and then the other to prove his control, toes curling lightly into the flesh of the bird's belly. Finally, his foot posed on top of Mordecai's face again, draining him with the power of his foot, even if it was mildly inadvertent at that time. After all, Mr. Rigbinder was just enjoying the fruits of his labour.

The blue jay was dimly aware of what was happening to him but could not fight back, not frozen stiff but limp and yielding under the effects of hypnosis. He lay there, his legs falling flat so that he lay simply on his back, chest rising and falling softly and gently, breathing, but only barely. He didn't need to take in any more breath than that, but the raccoon still had him right where he wanted him, putting his other foot callously on the blue jay's face, letting him feel the effects when doing anything against it was out of the question.

"Worship my feet, fallen hero," Mr. Rigbinder said imperiously, his head thrown back as if he could not even bear to look at the beaten blue jay for a moment longer. "Massage them. They're tired after stomping all over you!"

MesMordo could only obey, panting lightly, trying not to breathe in any more of the raccoon's foot than he felt he had to in a moment like that. Yet he still had to breathe as he massaged the sole, using his thumbs to dig in and feel out the muscle there. The skin was a little tough beneath the fur, especially considering that Rigby went barefoot most of the time, but MesMordo could not say anything against that as he kneaded and massaged, his mind so caught up that he barely even realised what he was doing, why it would have been so out of comment for him.

Resistance? He blinked, swimming up through the fog. What was that again?

He could not think of that, the white blandness of his mind drifting in hypnosis. It was like being unconscious but not really, not sure what or where he was as he worked between the raccoon's toes, letting them wriggle against him. He grunted in the back of his throat, nodding once, knowing that he was doing a good job, Mr. Rigbinder using his tail to drag in the earlier discarded wooden chair to sit on. All the better to lift both of his feet together and rub them against the bird's beak, mocking him without saying anything at all.

"And the arches! Leave no spot untouched!"

Mr. Rigbinder took full advantage of the moment for a foot massage that had him quivering in place, tension seeping from him like water being poured down the drain. He sighed heavily, relaxing fully, wriggling his toes while the bird worked over the arches, as directed, fingers carefully playing over any parts where the bone was closer to skin and fur. His heels could take more, however, and Mordecai really leaned into massaging and worshipping those, not pulling the raccoon's feet away from his face even to deliver the humiliating debasement that he had been ordered to give.

One foot and then the other, then both together. No spot, as ordered, was left untouched as the strains of villain-hood were worked from Mr. Rigbinder's soles, the power of his feet helping sap MesMordo of his strength and energy even then. The bird wrinkled his beak and face once, as if returning to another kind of reality, muttering something under his breath, but Mr. Rigbinder was quick to take back control of the situation.

"You neglected to praise my feet, fool! Do it again!"

MesMordo groaned.

"Oh, Mr. Rigbinder, your feet are glorious, amazing, so powerful. The heels are round and so strong, the sole tough after walking for so long. The power of the arch is divine and the balls of your feet are so flexible and agile. It is no wonder that you could best me with an instep like that, every part of your foot utterly dominating to me."

His words came out in a monotone, blending softly together, but he was vaguely aware of what he was doing and saying, a part of him, deep inside, grunting and gasping, reeling, from reality. It was humiliating, yes, but it could have been worse and that in itself was something that MesMordo had to cling to. It could have been worse than being forced to worship, forced to praise, the very thing that had brought him down so low, to his knees and failing, fading even then.

The hypnosis, however... He'd felt that fading before, however slow it had been to time out. His own hypnosis, when he'd cast it on Mr. Rigbinder, would not have lasted forever either, though there seemed to be something stronger in the raccoon that kept it active for longer. What MesMordo had to do was to wait it out as he spoke of the greatness of Rigby's feet, how strong they were, how powerful they were, the hypnosis planting the same words in his mind over and over to use.

"Better... Ahahahaha!"

Mr. Rigbinder threw his arms up, dominance vibrating through him with each and every beat of his heart.

"Kneel to me! Your superior in all ways!"

A little more. He only had to hold out a little more, he was sure of it. MesMordo, however, could not resist the power of the hypnosis pulling him forward, onto his knees, the hard floor pressing up against him. He bowed forward, as directed, his arms flung out before him, the raccoon taking his delight where he was offered it.

"This is better for you, MesMordo... Maybe I should keep you here to worship my feet?"

Although the avian made a face, Mr. Rigbinder did not notice, tapping his fingers together with a plan in mind.

"Yes... Sit. Sit on this chair!"

He leapt aside with a flourish, gesturing, though the hypnosis was enough to get MesMordo seated and in position. Mr. Rigbinder's lips quirked in a smirk that seemed permanently fixed to his face by that point, near enough bouncing from wicked joy as he tied up the bird's hands behind the chair. In such a position the avian would not be able to free himself even if he did break free from the hypnosis as it eased and eased: the perfect plan!

"Now... Tell me..." Mr. Rigbinder grinned widely, showing too much of his teeth. "What would be the most humiliating way to knock you out? So that you will be out for a long, long time, of course. I wouldn't want you waking up too soon! Your humiliation as a fallen superhero of no city is not yet over!"

MesMordo grunted, a little of his old fire alighting in his eyes, though he could no more still fight back against the hypnosis than he could free himself. His hands did not even tug at the rope binding them to the chair, pulled down the back side of the chair towards the legs and securely lashed off there.

Where did he learn to tie such good knots?

_ _

Maybe that was something that he would have to ask of Rigby later as he squirmed in place, panting through his nares, beak clamped closed, the hypnosis worming and wriggling the words from him.

"Ah... No... Yes..." He gulped, words spilling forth like a deluge that could not be called halt to. "Chloroform... Ah, yes... I won't wake up again for a long time if you used chloroform."

The raccoon laughed, tail lashing the air.

"Ooooooohhhhhhh!"

What that howl meant neither of them would know, however, MesMordo's lips still moving, talking over the howl.

"But you'd have to use your feet instead of the cloth," he continued, hating how he couldn't stop the words from spilling from his beak. "That way, the effect will be doubled."

"Yahhhh! You'll never get out of here, MesMordo, not with my mighty hypnosis forcing you to reveal all of your secrets!"

That was a task, after all, that Mr. Rigbinder was more than happy to take on, fetching the chloroform from another room, leaving him alone for a moment that was enough for the gears in his head to crank and turn, grating against one another. MesMordo shuddered, hoping that it was not a concoction that would cause any long-term damage, considering how Rigby was prone to grabbing things that he shouldn't. It was not as if he had any choice in the matter however, but he could claw and pull himself, slowly, so very slowly, back to some sense and semblance back to reality.

"This will be the last you will remember of your freedom, MesMordo, broken down under a supervillain's control!

The bird tried not to look too awake, not even as the hypnosis released its hold on him, bit by bit, coming back to his senses so very slowly. He had to look hypnotised though, slumping and nodding, keeping a glassy look to his eyes the best he could. There was no other way he could fool Mr. Rigbinder, his captor.

The raccoon was out while he struggled, rummaging around in another room of the shipping container hideout complex. Quickly, quickly! There was a little life in his fingers again as they twitched and Mordecai grunted as he strained to get his fingers around the knots, twisting and pulling. Yet they were too tight as he fought, not wanting to get chloroformed, panting and heaving, his chest gulping in lungful after lungful of air.

"Aha! I see my jailbird is trying to escape!"

Mr. Rigbinder returned, revealing the bottle of chloroform with a flourish. MesMordo howled, but couldn't control his body enough as yet to escape, lucid fear wrapping around his brain.

"No, no, no! Stop, don't do it!"

It was all he could do as the raccoon stood on one leg to pour chloroform on first one foot and then the other, wasting a lot in the process but ensuring that both had a good coating, soaking into the fur. Aside from a cloth, they were the perfect vessel to transmit the foul-smelling liquid to the blue jay's beak and send him straight off to sleepy-sleep-time-dreamland.

"It'll all be over soon, MesMorFool," he chuckled, though there was a hint of glee tangled in his tone. "You can't stop it, so why don't you just give in? You said for yourself how weak you are, how powerful I am..."

MesMordo fought and snapped his beak but his hypnosis powers, even from earlier, had not had the chance to recharge while he had been under hypnosis himself. He couldn't do anything with his arms bound, weakened and faded, only begging, pleading against his better judgement.

"Please, don't do it, don't chloroform me! No one will know, I'll do anything, I'll never come after you again, just don't knock me out!"

"Oh, you think begging will get me to stop? When you never stopped when I pleaded with you?"

A true tease would not have come with such a bite of venom behind it as the avian rocked the chair, Mr. Rigbinder climbing up into his lap despite the unstable surface. A little bit of his telekinetic powers had the chair ratcheted down firmly to the floor again, stiff and still as much as the blue jay strove to thrash. Though he could not even get his feet under him as he flopped about uselessly, a little of the hypnosis lingering, affecting both his muscle control and memory.

"Give in, MesMordo. There's nothing more you can do. Wouldn't it be so easy to slip off into sleep, sleep, sleep..." The raccoon wiggled his fingers under Mordecai's beak, scratching his chin as the blue jay reeled, fighting back even then. "Easy to slip off when you don't have to fight anymore? It must be really, really tiring to fight all the time. But a superhero who's fallen is one who's given up the fight anyway."

He must have picked that up too from some comic or another as MesMordo growled, fighting to his last breath, the scent of chloroform making him light-headed already.

"P-please," he choked out, tears clogging his throat. "No... Don't..."

Mr. Rigbinder only laughed, putting his shoulders down into the bird's lap and feet up on his shoulders, head lifted so that he could watch just how the great superhero faded at last.

"Oh, look how pathetic you are! And, now, you fail! Ooooohhhhhh!"

With that, his feet closed in on either side of the bird's beak, enveloping him in both the power of the raccoon's feet and the overwhelming scent of chloroform, the drug rendering him tired, slipping away, almost immediately. Although it was a foul smell in its presentation, it was ether-like and sickeningly sweet too, though MesMordo could not have said just where Rigby had gotten it from.

"No... Must...hold...on..."

He fought and fought every second, sinking, the push of the raccoon's face around his beak too much to bear. He had to suck in a breath, no matter how much he tried to hold his breath, breathing in that scent, breathing in Rigby's feet, again and again, his fate more than set and sealed. His eyelids fluttered, his world narrowing to the aroma and the pressure of those soles around him that he had been made intimately acquainted with.

"Give in... You're so weak, MesMordo, you don't need to hang on like this any longer. Don't bother trying."

But he had to. It was the only thing left that he could do, grunting and grumbling under his breath. His head sunk a little, slumping forward against the raccoon, an ache in his shoulders, yet it seemed harder and harder for him to do anything at all. Sitting up... Why would he do that when he was so tired, so very tired? The blue jay fought not to yawn as the sickly aroma flooded his sense, taking him down, taking him away, too sweet to be pleasant as his senses faded from him.

"Unff... No... Can't... No..."

Yet it would have taken an even more powerful and awesome superhero than he was to sustain himself through the battle-power of chloroform and feet alike, the raccoon directly exploiting his weakness. But his last thought as he slipped away into mumbling unconsciousness was that the raccoon's weakness was known to him too, even though he only knew that it was his feet too that would sap and drain every last bit of power to him.

It was one little thing that he could hold in mind when he once again awoke.

Unconscious, the blue jay slumped forward as the raccoon wriggled backwards off his lap and the chair, standing on the floor with his hands on his hips, posing. It was his victory, after all, to enjoy as he willed, the smell of chloroform not making him light-headed at all. Maybe he was just more powerful than Mordecai ever was? His chest puffed out, bullying pride sloughing through. Maybe he had just needed to realise it!

"MesMordo has fallen once again!"

He spun around one-hundred-and-eighty degrees flinging his arms up in the air.

"Never again will the fallen superhero protect the city! The city is mine, all mine, mine! Ooooooooohhhhhhh!"

He howled, head thrown back, relishing in the moment.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Yet such moments were oft to be broken into by a more callous shade of reality that they sought to escape from.

"Aw, dude!"

Mordecai sat up, tied to a wooden chair in their bedroom, their game at an end as the boxes that made up Rigby's "hideout" littered the bedroom. Dials and "blinking lights" had been drawn on them, though it was really the power of their imaginations that took them away into the world of MesMordo and Mr. Rigbinder, finding their own kind of escape from reality however they pleased. The bed was a mess of bedsheets that had not been made up tidily that morning and the bottle of chloroform was just lemonade that Rigby had dissolved a sickeningly sweet fizzy sweet into, making the smell almost overpowering. It also had the lingering effect too of making his feet sticky as he grunted and knocked off the alarm with a growl and a closed fist.

"No! Damn it!"

But there was nothing either of them could do about the real world calling.

"That's the alarm - we've got to get to work!" Mordecai groaned. "Damn, and that was just getting good!"

That the story was progressing was all well and good but, alas, they still had things to do, as much as they would have preferred to skive off work for another day.

There would be time though for the battle between good and evil to continue another time, wearing their outfits for the day while their supervisor scowled and shook his head.

"Darn those two..."

But their fun, for the time being, at least, was good, clean, fun.

Superheroes and supervillains would always rise up against one another.