The first time it happened was an accident. I was working as a manager at Panera Bread and our dinner rush had started. Our drive thru was wrapped around the building, trailing out to the highway. A line had formed at our front counter and was backed up out the front door.

One of my associates, Darren, was a real piece of work. He was mouthy, lazy, and uncooperative. On this particular night, Darren was working on consolidation, the position responsible for putting the orders together. Sandwiches were piling up behind him, salads lining the salad bar. I'd tried coaching him several times, but he would just insist he'd get to them. With no other option, I moved Carol there and pulled Darren into the back.

"Dude, don't even start with me," Darren said before I'd opened my mouth.

"You have to work harder," I told him.

"What's the point? Tomorrow's my last day. I'm coasting, dude."

"Just because you're quitting, that doesn't mean you can just take it easy, Darren."

"You know what? I'm done. Good luck with this mess." He turned and started walking out of the office.

"Darren, stop!" I yelled after him. I don't know what made me do it, but I reached out and grabbed him by the back of the neck. I guess two years of putting up with his bull had finally gotten to me. When I gripped his neck, I felt an odd sensation. As though electricity shot from my brain, down my arm, and into his.

All of a sudden, I could see through his eyes. I could his feet aching from his falling apart shoes.

Even after I removed my hand, it felt like our minds were linked. I could control his actions, but could also control my own. He felt like he was part of me.

​

Now, it's not an accident. I've discovered my ability to create and control my own hivemind. Sure, most people have abilities, but none have been as powerful as mine. Since the Great Change, when a nuclear power plant in Beijing exploded and sent a wave of radiation over the world, people had been displaying supernatural abilities. It's estimated something around 90% of the world's population had an ability. Most people's ability was something like low level flight or telekinesis. Some had devastating powers such as the ability to control the elements or weather.

Once I discovered my ability, I took Darren as my first minion. At first, I wasn't sure what I would do with it. Controlling other people seemed like an ability for a super villain. It was when my mother was murdered that I found my true purpose. There's so much evil in the world, so much hate. I could erase it.

I began my conquest, slowly adding more and more people to my hivemind. My only drawback was that I had to physically touch the back of their neck to do so. It's taken three years, three long years, but I've amassed a hivemind of 100,000,000. Nearly 1/3rd of the United State's population. Being able to send out a simple command like "act as yourself" allowed me to stay hidden for a long time, but I can hide no longer.

​

I pause, waiting for the Eric Jackson, the 51st President of the United States, to keep speaking into my phone.

"Well?" he asks. His voice has that slight hoarseness some older men get.

"I'm not backing down, Mr. President. We are Legion. We are everywhere. It would be easier to join us."

"You're taking away free will, son. I know what you think you're doing is noble—"

"When someone murders someone," I say, cutting off the president, "you put them in jail. You take away their free will."

"And the millions you've enslaved? What have they done?"

"Nobody is innocent. Not even you. Mr. President, think of what a worldwide hivemind could accomplish. If we did away with war? With crime? If all people of all countries came together, we could solve any world issue: world hunger, famine, poverty. It will be utopia."

"It will be meaningless. What is life if we can't choose for ourselves?"

"You don't understand my ability. How could you?"

"I'm a telepath, son. I can hear the thoughts of your slaves. They're screaming to be set free."

This is true. I can hear those thoughts, though I shut them down. Every prisoner yearns for freedom. But they'll soon see. Once all seven billion people on Earth are under my control, they'll see they're better of under my control than being themselves.

"If you won't back down, I'll have no choice," says the president. "We will have to attack. Let them go. Just let them go, and we'll—" His words are cut off as I hang up the phone.

Hear me, my minions, I think into the hivemind. We are being threatened. Bring me the President of the United States. Bring him to me, now.

I choose to look through the eyes of Wilbur Hendrix, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Having seen the evil of mankind firsthand as the head of Homeland Security, he believes in my vision of utopia. He doesn't scream for his release, shielding him from the President's ability. He's looking at the President now, sitting in the Oval Office of the White House.

"He won't give in," says the president, his lined face falling. "We'll have to attack. I want troops mobilized to his fortress. We're taking him down today. I want orders to shoot him on sight."

"Come with me, Mr. President," I make Hendrix say, "we'll take you to a secure location."

What the president doesn't know is that I'll be there, ready to grab his neck as soon as he lands. I won't stop until every human on Earth is under my control. Until I've eradicated all evil. Free will is a curse humans can't be trusted with, and I am the cure.

Note: This story was edited to remove a plot hole.

Controlling a hive mind wasn’t exactly the power I expected to have, but it sure as hell was useful. You see, legally, anyone under your control technically counts as a part of you, and therefor can act as you for things like driving tests, jury duty, all that boring crap no one wants to do. At first, I just had a few people join me. Usually people who were suicidal. They could ‘die’ in a way, but without making a mess for their friends and families. I felt bad about it at first, feeling like I had stolen people’s families away from them. But that feeling faded with time.

Having other selves to take care of things for me gave me all the free time in the world! I could do basically whatever I wanted! I started working out, and eating better, it was easier when you could work eight jobs at once. I finally got back into writing and art, things I had stopped doing due to lack of time and motivation. I started dating this lovely girl, she had powers too, and understood mine and how useful they could be. I cleared my backlog of games, travelled the world…anything and everything that I wanted to do, I could. I was free.

Or, I was for the most part. Life finds a way of keeping you busy, even when you’re living dozens of lives at once. Whenever I felt stifled by life’s challenges, I simply realized I needed more people. Just a few more here and there, 5 at a time at most, I thought.

That was a few years ago now. Now? Now my hive mind is considered a global threat. They locked me up and restrained me like I was Hannibal Lector…but my other selves are still free. They can lock me up. But they can never take away my freedom.

“Leaders of the World, just because I’ve made this hive mind, doesn’t constitute any claim that I am a danger to society. The charges brought against me are completely ill-founded. I have never once invited a riot, claimed power, nor given rise to any notion that I could be labeled as “a threat to humanity.”

“To my fellow super powered brothers and sisters, please believe me that I am completely in control of my actions, and I repeat myself, ‘I am not a threat!”

The American representative stood up after I had. Completed my speech. “The concern isn’t that you have the power, but how you use it.” He lofted a piece of paper. “You have been using it as some kind of Internet forum that is a disruption to societies by using it to,” he bent further into the paper and groaned “as the youth say, to ‘shit-post.”

“Oh, come on! My memes are fire!”

Not a single one of us intended to be United. Literally. When Entity 0 first infected someone, there was, quite literally, no warning, no desire, none of it.

Now there are 18 million Entities United. Some have powers, some don't. Entity 9971 could teleport. Entity 88790 could manifest living shadows.

Entity 30 accidentally made us a pathogen.

Spread by direct contact, via bite, sharing drinks/food, or... Being Intimate.

Before that, the only vector was Entity 0. Now we can infect anyone. But we tried not to. We threw our leftovers away, we used condoms, and we wore masks. But it wasn't enough.

At 10 million, we were spotted. Someone named us a sentient disease. At this point, it made sense, but we still tried to self contain.

At 11 million, people grew concerned. A sentient disease that had control of multiple cities? This is a problem. We continued to self contain, and tried to get Entity 909 to attempt to stop the fear from spreading. It worked for about 2 months.

At 13 million, we were receiving death threats, hate mail, and organized protests began to form to get the government to take action. We formally informed the governments we lived under that we are trying our damnedest to prevent conflict. The messenger was shot shortly after leaving the compound.

At 15 million, we were being hunted by extremists. We gave up attempting to contain ourselves. We didn't actively seek to infect, but we did quit caring. Many of us maintained a nonexistence, including Entities 0, 30, 9971, 8855, and 607134. These individuals were regarded as critical. Of the 15 million, only 600 thousand were active in the common masses.

And now here we are. 18 million. Most governments have declared us a global threat simply due to our infectiousness. We grew concerned. Mainly due to the ultimate question of global infection, or simply leaving.

We were made from humanity. We are its child. But it's fear clouds the reality of us. We have lives. We live and work, we eat and sleep, we simply can work as One. And that scares them.

We do not want this war. But clearly... We do not get to choose.

The blackout I had planned began locally, as I was already known as the progenitor. No need to hide when you are known and well protected. Wi-fi, as well as cellular and satellite communications, were systemically and quietly shut down by technicians and engineers that had been willingly assimilated and now helped to further and guide our vision.

With undivided attention my message could be better understood.

"We will be well. I will not control you, nor you I." I pushed the thought out further and further until I could feel it dissipating into the icy regions beyond where life flourished.

"We will be well." I heard a chant through the thin walls of my apartment.

"Hey! This isn't a fucking cult! Keep your own council and go live!" I shouted aloud, not even bothering to open my eyes. I hated when they started getting numb and just following orders like automatons. "So damned lazy." I mumbled irritably.

I took a calming breath and resumed my pseudo-meditation. Clearing my mind and concentrating on my own presence seemed to be the most effective way of pushing my influence further into the world and beyond.

"Not all are welcome. None will join who are unable or unwilling. No one with hate in their heart can stay. We do not conquer. We will protect. This is MY mind. This is MY territory, and I will not be encroached upon."

This was the message that had threatened a nuclear retaliation from a historically posturing neighbor nation a few days earlier, but I was holding firm and repeating myself for what I hoped were good reasons.

I did not speak for my country, just myself and those like me, who were surprisingly found in just about every corner of the globe. It stood to a cynical sort of reason that some idiots in seats of leadership were miffed by my sudden rise in influence.

"We come." An angry buzzing in the center of my being warned me of the respondent's intent. I had learned early on that keeping a clean house mentally meant that those that shared in my thoughts would help protect against intruders, and it seemed this one was well known and universally distrusted.

"I stand ready." I sent the message mixed with an image of a hand resting on the handle of a sheathed sword. The thought was meant to be an assurance to my allies and a warning to the aggressor. I closed my circle to include only those strong enough to answer a battle call. "Shall we fight?" A dull roar shook the pebbles in the street below and a strange light began to glow on the horizon. Some communicated a little differently, but I knew we were safe and that our enemies stood on the brink of annihilation.

With another deep, steadying breath, I let tendrils of probing thought seep back into the black void of the unknown again.

"Let us be eternally faithful to that which sustains, and abhor violence. I will withhold his hand. Please be still a moment." The voice that called out was feminine. It was as alluring and urgent as a cow elk calling her calf. A breath of wind that smelled like an ocean breeze wafted past my nose, despite my closed windows and the fact that I was about three hundred miles inland.

"Fuck, that's hot." I couldn't help myself. I felt the left side of my face pull up in a sly smile. I'd heard her voice often since stumbling across my little gift, and I never grew tired of it. She and I were similar in style and strength, but she could influence minds quite differently than I had ever learned to. Though we'd never met in person, we had spoken often and deeply. I loved her fiercely for the wild yet carefully tempered presence of her true nature.

"Silence. You are still heard everywhere. Do not break my concentration!" She sounded gleefully frustrated by my antics, as she often was. We worked well together. "I am singing him to a restful sleep. His dreams will be troubled by the consequences of war. No blood need be shed."

"You got it, lady. Hit me up when you are done stopping the baby's tantrum. I'm headed out for a beer." I stood and stretched with a jaw-cracking yawn. It had taken more energy than I had anticipated to reach out that far. I needed a break.

"Everyone else, fuck off. Systems will go back up when little mister knocks off the shit. Understood?" I barely paid attention to the mix of grumblings and ululations of victorious joy as I closed my mind to include only my immediate neighborhood and stepped outside.

When I discovered my powers, I thought it was some sort of electrokinetic situation. You know, like Cole from Infamous. But that wasn't the case.
I was in retrospect, careless. I zapped at a line of ants in the kitchen and suddenly I could hear their thoughts. I thought of them going left and they did so.

I zapped a cop by accident at my place of work and he sort of just stood there with his mouth open. At this point the ants had died of old age but a human would take my whole life. I assumed that I'd just find a way to reverse the affect so when my coworkers annoyed me, I zapped em and they shut down the store and sent me home early.

I couldn't find a way to reverse it. They were following me to school the next morning and my parents were furious. They told me to fix it and that they would have to go to townhall to get me registered as a mutant. I kept uttering the word mutant out loud and realized I was better. I wasn't a mutant! I was a transcended individual. Someone who deserved respect and had taste. ZAP ZAP.

I spent a year in that town zapping tourist and tanking in knowledge. I had since given up on trying to free these people. I mourned my parents and friends accordingly and moved on to the countryside.

Team Alpha caught up with me though and had me and everyone else contained for questioning. They were shocked at my age and figured I'd be some sort of disfigured old man. Nope, I was a sixteen-year-old emo guy who did yearbook club.

They were even more shocked when I revealed that I had no idea how to control my powers. I spent another six months trying and failing to free them. Birthdays flew by and I just gave up. I zapped the Alphas in their sleep, and I summoned my parents and friends.

"I love you." I couldn't say sorry. There was no way to earn that luxury. I opened up a window on the tallest floor of the Alphas headquarters, swung my head through and the rest of my body followed suit. I hope this works. Please work.

"Pastor David, The Leagues of Unified Heroes have come together with an unanimous decision. We will be landing on your island to take you into custody to stand trial for the crime of Supervillaniany!"

Pastor David turned and scoffed at the pointy-eared hero on the screen and replied, "And what crime is that? All I've done for this planet has been to help, not hindered! I don't beat up the mentally ill in alleyways like you do!"

"When you 'turn' your followers, they lose their free will. You are nothing more that a mind-slaver," said the hero.

"You lie," The Pastor retorts, " they join my congregation, they are not forced. And they still have free will. I can feel all of them. There are places within all of them I can not touch."

"So we should just trust the word of the cult leader that lives on a private island with thousands of fanatical followers and a stockpile of super-powered followers?" Replied the hero. "Our psychics can't read your followers' thoughts either."

"You can't read the mind of someone connected to a hivemind, you idiot!" Pastor David said before angrily flicking off the monitor. He sat in the darkness of his command room breathing heavily, feeling his congregation moving about with his mind.

"We knew this would escalate things," he heard Wondera say. He turned to her, she was beautiful, tall, muscled, in red and gold armor. 

Wondera was the last of her warrior race and the greatest hero of planet Earth. And she had just joined Pastor David's congregation 2 days ago.

She walked up to him and caressed his face and he felt her love. How long they had met in secret and talked about their plans to fix this broken word of all its problems. All that time he had never touched her. He wanted her to be sure she wanted to be a part of this! 

"They think I brainwashed you," The Pastor says. "They are probably sending some heavy bruisers to take you on. Radar clocks them 10 minutes out."

"I'm not scared of anything they can scrounge up on such short notice. But you may have to be okay with turning people without their consent. This is a war they started," she says to Pastor David. He seems a little awestruck by her intensity.

"Y-yeah sure. Like we planned. Until we force them into a stalemate, or we secretly convert the leaders of the opposition, or.."

"Total domination!" Wondera says as electric spark out from all over her body. She leans in and gives The Pastor a shocking kiss before taking off, crashing through the ceiling.

It first started with my pet cat Mr muffins , I grabbed him on his nape and somehow I was seeing double

I was Mr Muffins and myself still, so made weird cute videos of myself as Mr Muffins which skyrocketed,because of all the cool tricks I can do as Mr Muffins, thankfully or not Mr Muffin wasn't fixed ,so I experienced puberty for the first time as a cat , the less said about it the better, on cuter news my sister got herself a dog , but she shove all the responsibility of being the owner of said dog to me , so I tested to see if my weird thing with Mr Muffins can be replicated and it work so now when Kiki needs to pee she goes on the toilet like Mr Muffins and yes Kiki is a girl dog

Kiki and Mr Muffins were not spayed or neutered so I experienced what period was with Kiki and it was nothing at all it was like a poop or pee

So I walked Kiki and Mr Muffins

I started testing my powers with different animals that I came close to which are dogs , since cats don't come near unless it's Mr Muffins , and people do weird things with their dogs , and I was able to report a dog fighting ring when one of the dogs got into that and that's how I experienced death for the first time and it felt like a simple disconnection

The first Human I use my powers on were Vicky my sister BFF when she was dared to give me a hug, I wasn't much of hunger ,but when I do it's the hand on the nape and simple back rub with the other hand , I might have grab Vicky's neck slightly tighter then normal as next thing I know I'm seeing myself

That is also the first day I saw an interface where I can see memories, automatic orders and passive orders and soo much more

I started seeing and knowing that I shouldn't but couldn't stop, until my sister teases Vicky ,that we're being too close

I set the auto option is be yourself and adding me on social media so I can explain why me and Vicky are becoming closed

My mom and dad drag me and Vicky to the hospital,since one of our cousins got in an accident and they say she will be in a coma , My aunt and uncle were busy crying,since cousin Rachelle was cool cousin giving us candy and soda when she babysat for mom and dad

My mom and dad went outside to buy some food for my uncle and aunt ,while they prayed in rhe built-in chapel my sister went with them as cousin Rachelle is my sister favourite cousin which left me alone with cousin Rachelle

So I tried using my powers to see if I can wake her up, since it will stop people from crying.

Saw nothing but my interface,so I entered wake up , which Cousin Rachelle did, but compared to Vicky I don't feel anyone there , it felt like no one was there , but the passive orders where there and the be yourself order is online

My family celebrated my cousin Rachelle waking up

Life went on as normal until I felt something familiar , which I have only felt with Mr Muffins, so went to good old search engine and found what puberty is

Life from then on was never the same ever again

And that's why I'm here in my bunker in a war between myself and other people

My power to control a hive mind isn’t as fun as it seems. You see, it used to be that just my touch and the phrase ‘Welcome to the Hive’ was what I needed to do to add more people, but that was before the government got a hold of me. They spent months trying to alter my ability, see how it would grow.

The result was that my phrase was no longer needed, only touching me would be enough to establish a link. I could no longer touch someone without adding them to the hive. It grew rapidly after that. People who would bump into me on the street, people trying to fight me and basically anything including touch.

Two years and I became a global threat, my hive surpassed several countries populations. The UN wanted me dead, so they assembled a team to kill me. Flight, telekinesis, super strength, etc. The battle of Paris, that’s what they called the conflict. Somehow they found where I had moved to.

There was an explosion. Jimmy J Johns, some kid eager to be military. His power was to detonate himself and create an explosion that would kill everyone within a two thousand mile radius, including himself. I died in that explosion, along with over a million hive members.

Turns out, I never needed to stay in my body once I started the hive. I could exist by hopping from body to body. That’s how I live, I run Disney. The previous hive active here was easy to take over. Now I add new actors to my hive. I have the influence of a media god.

That’s all folks.

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