The man watched her for a moment, then suddenly whipped his head toward the window. In an instant, the cheerleaders were reminded that the scene before them was not just a movie they were watching, but rather, real life. They quickly ducked down out of sight.

They waited for a moment, expecting the man to come charging out of the house at them. Alicia could feel Chase bristling for combat. But the man didn't come. Apparently he didn't see them.

“H-holy shit!” whispered Caitlin, “Did I really just see that?!”

“Him stick Yeerk on neck, make cheer mom still!” said Chase, in disbelief.

“So...so he's the one doing this. He's controlling the Paranske Falls cheerleading squad,” said Alicia slowly. She had still been hoping to discover this was all some kind of misunderstanding. With that rug now pulled out from under her, she was struggling to find her footing again. “His daughter's a cheerleader, so that would explain how he got close to them. But...but why? Why go to all this trouble, just to hypnotize a bunch of cheerleaders?”

“Why do you think?” asked Lindsey darkly.

Alicia suddenly felt numb all over. “Let's go find the daughter. If he's only just getting around to mind controlling his wife, maybe he hasn't put one of those things on her yet either.”

They circled the house, exercising great caution as they looked in the windows. When they reached the backyard they heard some pop music overhead, coming from an open dormer window.

“That must be her,” said Alicia, craning her neck. If they could climb up, there was enough room on the roof in front of the dormer for them to sit and look in. “But how do we get up there?”

Lindsey nodded at an ivy-covered lattice. “There.”

Caitlin was seriously doubtful that the lattice would be strong enough to hold them, and required much encouragement before she would set foot on it, but she did. She was not the only one that fear was seeping into, however. The cover of night should have made them feel safe, hidden, in their activities, but the full moon felt a whole lot like a spotlight. They reached the roof, knelt in front of the dormer, and looked inside.

The cheerleader they found there was Serena. She was sitting on her bed with her back against the headboard and one leg crossed over the other, writing in a notebook propped up on her thigh. Her free foot absently bobbed in the air to the music her Alexa was playing. A textbook lay open at her side. It looked like she was doing homework.

“She doesn't act like she's been robotized yet!” noticed Alicia hopefully. “Should we show ourselves?”

Chase nodded. “Her know dad. Might know how free friends.” She knocked on the open window.

Serena looked up in surprise. She looked at the Sunnycrest cheerleaders, then at her bedroom door to make sure it was closed. She went to the window, an expression of confusion on her face. “Sunnycrest?” she asked, perplexed. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We have something really important to tell you,” said Alicia seriously. “Can we come in?”

“What is this, a prank?” asked Serena skeptically. “You guys, it's late, I have homework to do...”

“No, not prank,” insisted Chase. “Friends at much risk.”

When Chase was serious, it was very convincing. No one, even someone like Serena who barely knew her, would take her lightly when she used that voice. “Friends? My friends?” asked Serena, looking at her. “You mean, my squad? What's wrong?”

“May we come in?” asked Caitlin. “It's a long story.”

Still confused, Serena let them in. She sat back down on her bed, on the edge this time.

“Have you noticed anything...odd about your squad lately?” asked Lindsey.

The question piqued Serena's curiosity. “Well, now that you mention it...” she said, “they have seemed a bit...distant. I can't describe it, but...they're just not themselves. I thought it was just my imagination...” When she spoke this last sentence, the strong young woman looked uncharacteristically forlorn. Alicia felt compelled to sit down on the bed next to her, so she did. Serena looked at her, then around at the others. “Is something going on with them? Please, tell me.”

The Sunnycrest cheerleaders did as she requested. Serena remained quiet as they told the story of everything they had witnessed so far, her bold face drawn in a look of silent, tense concern.

“I know it sounds insane,” Lindsey concluded, “but it's true.”

Serena shook her head. Over the course of the explanation, Alicia had wrapped a gentle, comforting arm around her shoulders. “No...it actually kind of makes sense...So that's what dad's been doing...”

“Does your dad make mind control stuff at his lab?” asked Caitlin.

“No,” said Serena. “Cerebral Solutions develops technology to improve brain function. You know, for people who are disabled or get brain injuries. But my dad is their project leader, he designed most of the tech they use...it's not hard to imagine that he could modify his inventions for...for other applications.”

Three loud, sharp knocks on the door nearly gave them all heart attacks.

“Serena? What's going on in there?” asked her father's voice, muffled by the door.

Something about the calmness in his voice made goosebumps rise on Caitlin's skin. Lindsey was nearest to the door. She silently reached over and locked it.

“Nothing, dad!” Serena nervously replied.

The doorknob turned. It met the lock, and didn't try again. Her dad said, “I thought I heard voices. It's a little late for you to have friends over, especially on a school night.”

“It was probably my computer, dad. I was listening to a podcast. There's nobody here!” Serena answered, trying to sound innocent.

The doorknob turned again, more violently this time. The lock frustrated her father. He kicked the door once, then twice.

“Dad!” she cried, as the kicking continued. “Stop!”

“Leash, Cait, Lin,” said Chase, nodding at the window. “Go out. I fight.”

Alicia, Caitlin and Lindsey didn't need to be told twice to get away. “Sure, Chase. Give him one for me,” said Caitlin, throwing a leg over the windowsill.

Chase looked at Serena. “You too, Sir.”

The kicks continued. It sounded like the door was splintering. But Serena looked reluctant to leave. “You're going to stay here and fight my dad? But that's crazy...This whole thing is crazy!”

Alicia, the last one out the window, looked back in at Serena. “Chase can take care of herself, Serena! Come on!” She started down the lattice.

Serena made no move to follow her. “But it's my dad...Maybe I can somehow talk some sense into-”

The door gave way. Serena screamed and backed against the wall. Her father lurched into the room, breathing heavily from his exertion.

His eyes fell on Serena first, then slid over to Chase. “I thought I saw someone snooping around here. Where are your friends?”

“Not tell,” said Chase.

He turned his gaze back on his daughter. “I suppose she told you everything.”

“Yes, did do,” said Chase, raising a threatening fist. “Now let cheer free, or I hit.”

The man chuckled. “No, I'm afraid I won't be doing that. I'm dismayed that my secret has been revealed, but not so much that I would throw away everything I've worked toward. I'll just have to bring you two under my control as well!” He lunged at Chase, reaching out to grab her.

The middle aged man was not in the best of shape, but he was large, and ordinarily he probably would have been able to overpower a teenager. Not in Chase's case. She easily dodged him to the right, then grabbed his outstretched arm and gave him a flip. The world spun around the man, and before he knew it he was on his back.

It happened so fast he almost didn't realize that this ordinary-looking girl was the one who put him there. He pushed himself up sorely, and gave her a look of disbelief.

“You give up,” said Chase. “Bad plan of hurt cheer is done. You not beat me.”

But the man didn't heed her warning. He charged at her again, this time looking to tackle her. Chase slammed a spinning kick into the side of his head, throwing him against the wall. His heavy body punched a hole through the sheetrock, sending white dust flying. Serena was astonished.

A scream was heard from outside. Alicia. Chase ran to the window and looked down. She gasped.

Serena's dad called for reinforcements. The other Paranske Falls cheerleaders had gathered below, illuminated by squares of light from the downstairs windows. They looked up at Chase with blank, emotionless expressions on their faces. Alicia, Caitlin and Lindsey were slumped in their arms. They looked unconscious.

“No!” shouted Chase. She moved to climb out the window, but felt rough, masculine hands grab her on shoulders.

Serena's dad. He pulled her back into the room and threw her against Serena's dresser. Chase hit it hard, back first.

He ran at her and threw a punch at Chase's face. She moved her head to the side at the last second, causing his fist to collide with the dresser instead. If he felt any pain, he didn't register it, numb to anything but desperation at stopping her from foiling his plan. He pulled his fist back and tried again.

Chase caught this punch with one hand, and with the other, rocketed an uppercut into the man's jaw, knocking him back on his heels. She jumped up to her feet and hit the imbalanced man with a right hook, spinning him around so he faced Serena's bed.

Chase grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar, then brought his face down on the bed's heavy, wooden footboard. A deep, solid crunch filled the room. She let go of him and he collapsed to the floor in a heap, out cold.

She was about to rush out the window and save her friends, when something about the man's body caught her eye.

She crouched down to inspect it more closely. Once she did, a sudden sinking feeling took her.

Makeup had been used to conceal it, but at this close proximity, she could see it clearly: A sticker on the back of his neck.

Chase looked up just in time to see Serena, standing on her bed, swing a baseball bat against her temple.

.........

It was some time before Chase blearily opened her eyes. Her head was swimming, and when she tried to turn her head, a throb of pain in her temple threatened to send her under again. She forced herself to stay awake.

When her eyes focused, she saw she was in a room with concrete walls and a concrete floor with a round metal drain in the center. Two squashed, rectangular windows were set in the wall she was facing, high up near the ceiling. A basement. Perhaps Serena's? It was still dark outside. She had probably only been out a couple hours.

She was sitting in a metal folding chair, with her hands tied behind the backrest. She tested her bonds. Handcuffs, not rope. She had one pair of cuffs on each wrist, both of which were then connected to the bars of the backrest. Her ankles were handcuffed, in a similar way, to the chair's front legs.

She tried to look around again. This time, it was easier. Caitlin and Alicia were seated to her left and Lindsey to her right. They hadn't come to yet. They were confined the same way she was, except their legs were free. Clearly Serena had recognized Chase as the biggest threat. She also saw two of the Paranske Falls cheerleaders standing behind them as stoic, unmoving sentinels.

“Leash! Leash!” Chase whispered. “Cait! Lin! Wake up!”

No response. Chase struggled with the handcuffs, tried to break them. Couldn't.

She heard the basement door open behind her, and stopped. “No need to give up on my account. Go ahead, keep struggling if you want,” said Serena, amused.

Serena walked around Chase and faced her. She crossed her arms in a domineering way. At her side was her father, looking just as blank as the cheerleader sentinels. “Sorry if I kept you waiting. I came as soon as my squadmates saw you awaken.”

Chase looked from daughter to father and back again. “You bad guy. Not dad.”

Serena regarded her with amusement. “You're an interesting one. Your broken English, and the fighting ability you showed in my room...what's your story, anyway? Are you some kind of kung fu master? Were you raised by monks or something?” She laughed.

“No,” said Chase guardedly. “Am just cheer.”

Serena laughed coolly. “Well, I'm just a cheerleader too. I'm not, as you put it, a bad guy.” She gestured from her father to her squadmates. “Everything I'm doing here is for the good of my squad.”

“So, you do! You put patch on cheers!” spat Chase, making her disgust plain to see. She struggled with her handcuffs openly. “Why do?! Why would do such thing to team?! Team who trust their cap!”

Serena smiled. “Why? Isn't it obvious? Didn't you see us at the game tonight? We were perfect. Absolutely perfect. No squad could have such impeccable timing...unless they shared one mind. My mind.”

Chase was shocked. “That worth? For that, do this? For that, hurt cheer?”

“Hurt?” asked Serena, confused. “What makes you think I'm hurting them? They're completely unharmed. The patch causes no pain or discomfort. All I need do is affix it to the skin over the brain stem, and I can assume control. It's brilliant, really.”

Serena hugged her father, and rested her head on his arm. “Of course, I can't take all the credit. I had help from my father, in a sense. Not his willing help, but his help nonetheless. Isn't that right, dad?” She looked up at him and smiled. The man had no reaction. His forehead was bandaged and his face bruised from his fight with Chase. “He's the one who created this technology. I merely modified it for my own purposes.”

The cold teen, an evening chill of a girl, let go of him. The bare-bulbed ceiling light reflected off her shining hair. “No, I don't have his genius. I recognized potential in his work that he did not, I seized an opportunity that was within my means to seize, but that doesn't make me a genius. I also don't have his security clearance. Concept is one thing, but actually constructing one of these patches would never have been possible without access to his lab equipment. Yes, I owe a lot to daddy. A lot indeed.”

“Talk wrong!” Chase retorted. “Patch not give cheer 'ow' hurt, but still give hurt! Take glad, take smile! Take brain! That big, big hurt! Big hurt for friends! And hurt pa too! You bad cheer, bad cap!”

This comment caused a flare of anger to push aside Serena's calm demeanor. Her aggressive eyes seemed to become spears to attack Chase with, making the fighter recoil slightly in her chair. “I am NOT hurting them,” Serena said in a heated voice. “I am not. I told you already, what I am doing is for good. Their good.”

And then, she recovered. She pinned Chase with a cold, elegant smile. “Before this, my squad missed cues, misjudged timing, forgot patterns. They made small mistakes that should have been easily avoided. It made me very frustrated, Chase. It was frustrating that their mistakes were out of my control. It was frustrating that I had no choice but to stand back and watch them fail themselves. I clearly saw how good they could be. I saw the physical ability and the raw potential they possessed. I saw all the pieces were there for a state-caliber squad. And one day, I concluded that all they just needed was someone a little more capable in the drivers seat.”