It’s a good thing the midterms are over, because I’ve got even more to try and untangle. I still don’t know what happened to me back in that alley and I’ve been thinking more about Hypnoman. Still no word about that police woman he put the whammy on during that bank heist. I’m guessing they don’t want her talking to the press. If she says too much, it might start a panic or something. I’d argue that brushing this under the rug would have the same result but hey, no one’s asking me.

I’m still not sure what I find so intriguing about him. My best guess is that he’s so…weird compared to the other villains in this city. His MO is something I haven’t seen before. He’s something new, someone who stands out from the muscle bound thugs we usually get, a needle in a haystack.

Anyway, some practice with the gym team outta clear my head. It’s the first meeting of UEC’s Women’s Gymnastics Team since the end of midterm exams.

Lucy was waiting for us on the big blue mat where we do our warm ups.

The room seemed to shift for a second and when I could see clearly again, Lucy was still talking but her outfit changed. She was wearing a black leotard with a white spiral in the center. The girls around me were still listening to her and their outfits were different too, white leotards with a black spiral in the middle. I had the same leotard on, but I didn’t remember getting into it.

“Alright girls. Judging by your new outfits, I’m guessing you saw that little light show in the locker room while you were changing.” The girls all nodded. It took me a second but I nodded as well.

“Good. As of this moment, you are Sleepwalkers, obedient slaves of Hypnoman dedicated to accomplishing his evil plans.”

I felt my heart racing. We belonged to Hypnoman now? That meant whatever Lucy was saying had to come directly from him. I needed to make sure I didn’t miss any of what she said next.

“You will begin training in order to prepare yourselves for infiltrating the mayoral residence. You will practice takedowns and knockouts so as to overpower the guards as well as apprehension techniques. With those, you will bring the mayor’s wife and daughter to our master so they may join us under his control.”

“We hear and obey!” the girls around me shouted. It took me a second to realize I’d shouted it too and that I was so happy doing it. I understood everything Lucy just said but I didn’t feel horrified or even the least bit uncomfortable. All I felt was excitement. The room shifted again and I noticed that Lucy was standing in front of me, looking a bit confused.

“Yo, earth to Nichole, anyone home?” I shook my head and felt my face turn red.

“S-sorry, still a bit drained from midterms.”

“It happens. Go with Anna and Caitlin.”

“Alright.” I still felt pretty embarrassed for the rest of the practice session. When I got back to my apartment that evening I revisited the ‘vision’ I had. I wasn’t just wondering why I felt so giddy about Hypnoman’s scheme but I wondered what he had planned for the mayor’s wife and daughter. Would he have them spy on the mayor for him? Would he turn them into Sleepwalkers like me? I was bathing when I had another idea. Maybe Hypnoman was going to make them start acting coldly to the mayor, make them slowly stop loving him. Bit by bit, they’d come to be disgusted by him and start wanting to leave him for Hypnoman.

And one night, months after they were put under his control, the two of them will wait on the balcony of the mayor’s mansion for us to take them away. Or who knows, maybe he’ll just have the wife divorce him and take her afterwards. I really liked this idea and it only took me a few minutes to figure out why. It was so deliciously diabolical, making the wife and daughter of the most powerful person in engine city lose their love for him and see Hypnoman as being the most important man in their lives.

I could just imagine the mayor asking why the two are leaving him. It'd be like something out of a soap opera. The mayor'll be all like 'but you two are the light of my life, why're you doing this' and his wife'll say something like 'the spark's not there anymore, I've realized how much Hypnoman can offer me and my daughter.' Then his daughter will sneer and say 'it'll be so much more fun having a supervillain for a dad!' They'll both know that Hypnoman's evil, but because of his control they'll see it as appealing.

It was an incredible evil plan, and for some reason, I would’ve been happy to be part of it.