Out in the real-world, Maria had to try to compose herself. She was so pleased with herself, she couldn't stop smiling. Her plan was working! Everybody underestimated how powerfully a situation could change a person's brain. That was the reason she saw so many villains fail before. They engaged in mind control, and thought that would change a person. But that never lasted, and the hero would return: angrier, and more nobler, than ever.No, the secret to changing a person was patience. Change a person's habits, change their thoughts, you change their world. To do that, you just had to change their situation, and wait. In the virtual reality, Maria could set the situation, and she could affect the perception of time. And Maria planned to do that.
Maria wanted Sue to be a slutty stripper. Even if she left the virtual reality world somehow, and Maria knew she would eventually, she wanted Reed to have no interest in the Sue who returns. That Sue would have been a stripper for so long, she had no other way of acting and would feel uncomfortable not acting like a tramp.
Maria knew that in the virtual world, Sue would have to make her own decisions that would put her in the degraded position. But once she was some slutty stripper, Maria would affect Sue's perception of time so that a day in the real-world would be a year in the virtual world. Imagine how Sue would be after having been a stripper for 30 years?
And Maria was stacking the deck to make Sue make the decisions that would make her meet her destiny. In the virtual world, people will be relatively nice to her and things will work out okay whenever Sue makes a decision that is a step in the direction of being the slutty stripper. But every time she makes a different decision, things will backfire horribly.
If she decides to use her powers to fight crime, for instance, innocents will be killed and other heroes will blame her for the debacle. If she decides to try to get a job that doesn't emphasize her looks, such as a janitor, her employer will always treat her like scum until she quits. If she meets a nice guy and decides he would be a good boyfriend, as soon as they start dating he would change and treat her worse than the ex-cons she has to provide alibis for she will normally date. People would only be nice to her when she acted ditzy and trampy. When she acted any other way, people would be rude to her. Maria knew that Sue was an extrovert and needed to be liked, so there was no way she could hold off acting any other way for long.
************
Meanwhile, Sue was shopping for some new clothes. Rocko wanted her to buy sexier clothes, but she wasn't sure she should. She did need to buy at least one pair of high heels, she knew, if for no other reason than to practice walking. But she could do that at home. Maybe she buy a nice pants suit just in case some other job opportunity came along, she thought. Well, can't hurt to try some on.
The first pants suit she tried ripped as soon she zipped it up. It was bizarre, as it was not even particularly tight on her, and it looked well made.
Embarrassed, she put on her old clothes and told a sales lady about the rip.
"Well, I'm not surprised," she said. "From your figure, it is clear that most of our pants suits wouldn't fit you unless you spent a small fortune tailoring it for you. But we have skirts that may work. Mostly the tight, short ones, I think, given your figure."
Sue sighed. "I guess I can try them. on. I'll be in the waiting room."