Lex’s Monday was less troubled by questions than either Dana or Lewis’s. The closest thing she had to a troublesome subordinate was Shauna, and Shauna was beautifully docile when it wasn’t Master Lewis giving the orders - that was a problem they still had to solve, but Lex had no doubt it would be.

She also didn’t expect solving it to be her responsibility. By this point in her brainwashing, Lex knew several things with total certainty. Master Lewis was always right, Miss Li was a much more advanced student than her, and that she could be better - could even be the best - if she put in the work.

From this perspective it was most likely that Master Lewis himself would be the one who had the breakthrough to crack Shauna; if not him, Miss Li, as a more advanced student, would probably reach the right conclusion before Lex.

As a result, she was allowing her focus to remain her own development. Master Lewis wanted Lex to be better, after all. And she worked harder for him than anyone else.

This made the hours of nine to five, Monday to Friday, something of a relaxing time; what slightly concerned her was that this appeared to be something people were noticing. If, that is, by people you meant Karla, who had brought her lunch over to Lex’s desk. Not something that happened regularly - maybe twice before - and while Lex had some time for Karla, the only person in her workplace who had taken to calling her Lex, she wouldn’t have considered them particularly close friends.

“You do martial arts, right?” Karla asked. “I’m not misremembering?”

“Yeah,” Lex said. She took a gulp from her water bottle. Lunch was always at her desk; it was usually eaten one-handed, while typing emails or trying to work out where the broken function was in Gill’s latest field office spreadsheet. Hydrating between bites was the best solution she’d found to ease digestion. “It keeps me fit, keeps me busy too. Why?”

“So,” Karla said, and took a deep breath. “Lately I’ve been getting a lot of TikToks that are sort of… kung fu adjacent. And I’ve not been searching for anything that would lead to it, but I did some digging over the weekend. Apparently the way these algorithms work, it’s likely that I have some overlap in interests and location with people who are watching them.

“And I only know one person I’m near very often who has any martial arts interest.”

That had been more than Lex had understood about social media algorithms, and while she’d bet that Karla had the wrong end of the stick on at least some of the fine detail, it would explain some of what she’d seen on her own socials, making the rough outline very plausible. So, after she swallowed her forkful of lean chicken and cauliflower rice, she said “Okay.”

“The thing is, these videos… they’re not safe for work.” Karla said it cautiously, as if she was watching for a reaction, but Lex had no idea what she was talking about.

“Right,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that.”

Karla nodded, but Lex could tell she wasn’t sure. So she asked, “Should I have?”

“I… honestly, I don’t know.” Karla sighed. “They all star someone called Madame X.”

Something tickled at the back of Lex’s mind. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of them,” she said. “What is it, some kind of karate OnlyFans?”

There was no suggestion in her voice that she was lying, because no part of her conscious mind was lying. Lex had been deep every time she had been around Madame X. But a part of herself which she was not aware of was now paying attention.

“I guess.” Karla had produced her phone and was calling it up, which somewhat contradicted the not-safe-for-work claim until Lex saw her disconnect the phone from the building wi-fi and zero out the video volume.

She watched the video with raised eyebrows. “I don’t know what you think I do in these lessons, Karla, but that’s not what I signed up for,” she said with a laugh.

“I didn’t think so,” Karla admitted. “But it’s weird, right? They’re really pushing these livestreams. And it’s all using, you know…”

“I see why you called it kung fu adjacent.” Lex agreed. “You realise I probably will end up seeing it now?”

Karla chuckled. “Sorry about that,” she said. “I’ll find some way to make it up to you, I’m sure.”

Conversation moved on to other topics through the rest of lunch, but Lex didn’t listen with as much focus as she would probably have wanted to. A small part of the back of her mind was wondering how to get important information to her hypnotic master without having to make her consciously aware of the information.

*

When Dana and Phil went to bed that Monday night, she dropped off to sleep the moment her head touched the pillow. The bedroom light was still on; she had a mug of cocoa on her bedside table, only half-drunk, and the TV at the foot of the bed was still on.

Phil, for his part, was equal parts bewildered and disappointed; after being concerned about it all weekend, he had found himself daydreaming about her mouth around his cock during the slower parts of a Monday afternoon Zoom meeting which had dragged on at least three times as long as needed, and he had been quite hoping that Dana would continue to be frisky.

Instead, she had settled down with every apparent intention of an enjoyable hour or so winding down in bed, which often involved a certain amount of fun and frolics, and then her eyes had closed and she had slumped immediately her head touched the pillow.

At first, he had assumed it was a joke; afterwards, he had wondered just how annoyed she still might be that he’d questioned her sudden oral attentions. And then there had been the snoring, and he had realised that she was simply asleep - no woman he’d known would snore so realistically to pretend sleep, the noises one makes when storing are too undignified.

He had wondered at it, then, because Dana tossed and turned at night, and took a long time to find the right position in which to sleep; he was used to being the first of them to drift off once the lights were out, the shows were over, and they were ready to sleep. In all the time he’d known her, he’d never seen her fall asleep so quickly.

The correct explanation - that she was responding obediently to hypnotic suggestion - did not occur to him, and indeed perhaps it never could have done; it was too far beyond the norm for him to contemplate.

But while he wondered, Dana was dreaming.

In the dream, she walked through the doors of Miss Li’s dojo. She had only started attending martial arts classes recently, and she felt like she was an indifferent student at best.

She was already dressed in the crisp new gi she wore for lessons, despite having never gone to the changing room. The dojo itself was almost empty; she walked into the main room and saw there Miss Li and Master Lewis, and only Miss Li and Master Lewis.

Her lips parted as she stared at them, standing together. Master Lewis seemed somehow taller here, and Miss Li, who Dana knew had the aura and ability to project which made her seem taller than some of the men in the class, seemed somehow smaller even than her real height. She seemed meek in a way Dana hadn’t imagined, deferential around him.

Suddenly she knew, with the kind of certainty one feels in dreams, that Master Lewis was fucking Miss Li. She quivered at the understanding, excited in spite of herself. At the same time some part of her fretted. She paid Master Lewis back for hypnotising her by bending over his desk to be fucked, or by straddling him on his chair and riding him while he fucked her.

Was she still going to be able to offer him that, if he was getting it from Miss Li? Miss Li was so much fitter, physically, and Dana felt somehow that Master Lewis liked his women fit. He’d never said as much, but that was, she felt obscurely, why she’d even signed up to the dojo in the first place.

“We’ve been expecting you, Dana,” Master Lewis called. He beckoned her in with an easy wave of his hand.

“Yes,” Dana said, and did not wonder why she’d answered that way. She walked forward, and as she did so she felt as if she was watching herself do so. She felt light., giddy, and strangely helpless. This all churned together in her belly with the arousal brimming between her thighs, setting her head atingle with fumes of excitement.

Strange.

She stopped when he raised his hand, palm open, and gestured her to a stop. At that point she was about three yards from the two of them. “Stand facing each other,” he instructed.

“Yes, Master Lewis,” she said. Miss Li was saying the same thing, her own tone just as strangely flat. The two of them shuffled slightly until they were perfectly lined up. Miss Li stood with her feet apart, her hands folded together behind her back, fully upright. Dana was struck by surprise to realise she was an inch or two taller than the martial arts instructor.

“Miss Li and I have been discussing your development, Dana,” said Master Lewis. “I had an idea I want to test. You’ll oblige me, of course.”

“Yes, Master Lewis,” Dana found herself saying. “I will oblige you obediently.” This was not something she’d ever thought she would say - it was so formal, and aside from making sure that she always (in private) gave Master Lewis his correct title, she was anything but

“We are going to do this through a mirroring exercise,” Master Lewis said. “Miss Li will match your movements, so we can see how well you are currently performing.”

Dana didn’t know what to make of this, but an answer of some sort was plainly called for, so she said “Yes, Master Lewis.” Perhaps there was something to be said for formal rules for interaction; it could substitute well for thought when she was uncertain. She looked back to Miss Li, who had not altered her unusual stance since the announcement she was mirroring Dana.

At that moment, Dana realised that in fact she was standing in the same pose as Miss Li had adopted. She flushed, felt her hips twitch with excitement. Her lips had suggested obedience was important, and in that same posture, Miss Li certainly looked obedient (and obliging). Dana hoped that she looked just as obedient, and then wondered at herself for hoping so.

Master Lewis walked up to stand by Dana’s side. He looked down at her with a smile; Dana glanced up at him, uncertain. “What do you need me to do?” she asked.

In answer, Master Lewis slipped his hand inside her gi, finding her breast, cupping it. The startling warmth of his palm against her bare skin was the first that Dana realised there was no bra in place to protect the girls. She gasped, startled, and her eyes widened as she gazed up at him,

With his other hand, he took hold of the white belt holding her gi closed. He kept eye contact with her throughout as he slowly pulled it untied, letting her gi fall open, and then he released the belt, letting it drop to the floor.

She risked a sideways glance at Miss Li, but turned back to Master Lewis quickly. She wasn’t sure what was happening, but she didn’t want to miss out on the half-second or two of warning she might extract from his eyes.

Miss Li herself hadn’t moved in the interim, was still standing as she had been, and had not removed her own gi.

Master Lewis weighed Dana’s tits in his hands for a moment. He always did this preparatory to fucking her, and sometimes while he was. It always felt possessive, but it had never occurred to Dana that she should protest that, even with her heart promised elsewhere.

Then he ran his hands up to her shoulders and he shrugged off her gi. It must have been some kind of reaction to the way his hands felt as they slid over her body, but she glanced down.

Under the crisp white cotton gi, she had been and was wearing some kind of white string lingerie, a loose lattice that hid nothing but provided extra interest for an observer. Dana owned no such outfit, and would not have dared wear it if she did. She felt the blush warm her cheeks; not embarrassment but simply shyness exposed.

Master Lewis immediately compounded this feeling when, after stepping behind her, he pulled down her gi bottoms. While the lingerie reached low enough, it’s barely-there nature meant that the excited, horny wetness glistening on her pussy was now clearly exposed.

She hadn’t moved, the realised, except to turn her head to look at the others and herself, since she and Miss Li had begun mirroring each other.

“We will be assessing your flexibility, your balance, and your core strength,” Master Lewis said abruptly, and as he did so he stepped behind her. “Do you understand?”

“No, Master Lewis.” This was nothing but the unvarnished truth.

“But you will oblige me anyway, won’t you?”

“Yes, Master Lewis.” He was out of her sight now unless she turned more than her head to look for him. Something inside her made her understand that this was not a choice she was permitted to make.

“Keeping your knees straight and your legs upright,” he said, “raise your hands above your head, then bend at the waist until your fingers are touching the floor.”

“Yes, Master Lewis,” she answered, obligingly and obediently. She extended her hands as far over her head as they would go, some part of her having already realised she would need that extension to make the bend of her waist easier.

The first part of the manoeuvre was a little embarrassing, as she got to watch Miss Li ape her movements with a startling precision. Fortunately, before too long, she was able to angle her head so that she didn’t see the other woman.

By the time her fingertips touched the ground, she was bent at the waist just exactly as far as she could go, and she had lifted her heels slightly off the ground too.

“Very good,” Master Lewis said, as much lust in his voice as approval. Dana shook, and didn’t know if it was exertion, excitement, or a heady mixture of both. “Without moving your legs or arms, lift your head until you can get eyes on Miss Li.”

Impossible, she thought. “Yes, Master Lewis,” she said, her voice as quick to sound as her thoughts. And indeed, by arching her back forwards, she was able to reach the demanded position, if only barely. Miss Li looked back at her, in an identical contortion. Dana couldn’t help thinking that Miss Li looked more comfortable all the same.

Master Lewis braced himself with one hand against her hip and thrust himself into her. Dana’s eyes widened in surprise, her lips - tight together, an indicator of the strain she was under - popped open into a shocked O, and she nearly tumbled forward, her finger-touch against the floor almost not enough to keep her from being knocked forward once he started to fuck her.

Instead she put all her strength into holding herself up, and despite being poised awkwardly on fingers and the balls of her feet, despite Lewis pounding himself against her as hard as ever he had, she was able to stay balanced, certain that this was what he wanted from her even if she was not certain she could achieve it.

She stared across at Miss Li, who was rocking back and forth in the same position at the same rate, as if Dana were her voodoo doll or as if Miss Li was a marionette whose strings were tied to Dana.

And she had to admit, she felt amazing. She was more helpless than she ever remembered being - she had just enough control over her body in that position to continue going along with Master Lewis for as long as he wanted, but not enough either to stop him or to get into a better position. Her eyes never left Miss Li’s, in fact she felt as if they couldn’t.

She was not hypnotised, knew she was not, and was sure too that she had not been primed in any way. (That she could be compelled not to know did not occur to her.) She obliged Master Lewis obediently because she was helpless, not because he had hypnotised her. And yet she felt the same giddy euphoria she did whenever she persuaded Master Lewis to hypnotise her.

She wanted nothing more than to live a hypnotised life, but this would be a good close second, being helpless, obliging, and obedient.

*

It was no longer evening but was instead the earliest part of the night before Miss Li pulled up outside Lewis’ home, emerging from her car to open the rear passenger door for him. Lewis stood, taking her head by a handful of hair, and pulled her into him for a kiss, then turned and made his way to the door. Miss Li, meanwhile, opened the trunk of her car and took out a large brown paper bag of groceries; within was everything else they were going to need for that night’s meal, but also everything she would need to make Master Lewis a lunch for the following day.

Lewis had unlocked the door and stood just inside, watching her. Miss Li wore a scarlet satin cheongsam with black detailing, the fabric clinging to her, the hemline barely low enough to maintain decency if she leaned forward and not low enough if she went to one knee, and a pair of patent-leather black heels; he liked to watch her go about her service at all times, but an outfit like that was particularly satisfying. She’d bought several of them in different colour sets recently, under his direction.

A ground floor front window was lit in one of the buildings across the street; Lewis eyes registered a silhouette in the window briefly, then snapped back to them, his attention sharpening, once he recognised that they weren’t just passing by but were watching.

He wasn’t sure which of his neighbours lived there, but he vaguely remembered seeing movement that might have been from that house when Lex had driven him home the night before, after she and Miss Li had revealed what they’d done with Shauna; he’d been so muddled up trying to decide what to do that he’d changed his mind on when to have each of them attend him.

It occurred to him that, as they’d mostly arrived at his home much earlier in the day, the lights didn’t have to be on for someone to be in the room then. He wondered how many times people had seen him bring home one of two women. Wondered how many had seen him bring home both on different occasions, or taken note of the nights where they’d both entertained him,

Had he done anything, outside his home, that might show he had hypnotic control over them? That was the biggest problem he foresaw. He didn’t really know his neighbours, and didn’t mind that they might judge him as a cheater with two women on the go. Anything that might have been suspicious was more of a concern.

With a sigh, he mentally noted that at some point it would be useful to know what his neighbours thought of him, stood aside to let Miss Li in, and patted her ass proprietorially before closing the door to leave his neighbours - and thoughts of them - outside.

It was strange, he thought, how difficult it seemed to be to achieve a satisfying status quo with his harem. It wasn’t that he was dissatisfied with the women he had; it was more that events kept overtaking him.

Shauna had been completely unexpected. Dana had been his decision, but was it right to call it a decision when he’d acted on impulse, fearful of the consequences of not?

Now they both needed accounting for and dealing with. Which wasn’t to complain - he’d long wished Shauna looked at him with more respect, just as he had with Miss Li, and he’d long worried that she might notice how often his glances strayed to her, just as he had with Miss Li. Now he didn’t have to worry, and he had confidence that he and his slaves, working together, would make her another slave eventually. It was going to take a little work, but he already had a plan for it. With Lex, he was using Miss Li as an aspiration, a person to aspire to be. For Shauna he wanted to make her as close to a second Miss Li as he could.

He was still debating the best way to proceed with Dana. She’d become a true experiment that morning. Their next conversation, he was quietly confident, would be a delight; the only downside was that he wouldn’t be able to check his own notes.

It was a great position to be in. And yet, if his slaves were occasionally going to surprise him the way they had… was that good or bad?

He could likely program them out of that behaviour entirely, of course. Given time, he could make them as helplessly, thoughtlessly obedient at all times as they were in his presence, but that approach seemed to him to have more negatives than positives.

Even without quite such rigid control, indoctrinating them against hypnotising anyone else would be a straightforward matter. They could be simply forbidden to use his techniques, or told to do so only under his direction. (A part of him was privately proud that they had internalised his techniques well enough to use them so effectively.)

The only thing stopping him from doing that was Dana. There could, very easily, be times when his slaves encountered situations where hypnotising a surprise witness or similar might be the only option. The more he limited their initiative when away from him, the more risk there was that they’d do something that attracted attention.

Like the neighbour he now thought might be suspicious of him, whoever saw something out of the ordinary wouldn’t think that they might be brainwashed sex slaves forming a growing harem with a hierarchy based on how well indoctrinated they’d become. But once someone had spotted strange about one of his women, they’d pay more attention in future. Other details that were out of place would start to stand out.

And they didn’t need to understand the truth of what was happening to be a problem; they just needed to bring unwanted scrutiny to bear at the wrong time. That could happen in dozens of ways.

During his ruminations, Miss Li had finished unpacking the groceries. As she did so, she straightened up stiffly, arms by her side, and then turned slowly to face him, almost as it standing to attention. When Lewis looked up at her, she was standing looking directly back at him, waiting for instruction, a light of appreciation and even desire in her eyes rather than the glassiness of trance.

Truth be told, Lewis couldn’t make up his mind whether he preferred her conscious but obedient or a trancetoy; they were such different experiences it was like having two different lovers in the same body.

That evening, practicality and planning made the decision for him. He raised his hand, palm up, and flapped his fingers toward him quickly three times; this had become his standard way of beckoning his hypnotised, now that their reaction to seeing single or double finger gestures was so ingrained.

Miss Li approached obediently. She stopped two paces away from the kitchen chair where he sat, knowing that to be his preference. Lewis raised his hand again, this time holding up three fingers extended in a group.

It wasn’t that her eyes locked to it immediately, or at least it wasn’t just that. It was also that her mouth opened, now, wide enough to accommodate whatever he used as her trance focus, the moment her mind started to slip helplessly back down into that trance state.

“Very good,” he said approvingly. Her glassy eyes did not alter, but the corners of her mouth briefly lifted in the suggestion of a vacant smile and she sighed in a way that could have been a giggle if it had sounded less vague. “No power,” he said, as a prompt.

Without seeming any less vacant, the glassiness of her eyes sharpened as her hypnotised mind swam on to a new focus. “No power, no control, no choice,” she said.

“No power, no control, no choice. I am hypnotised to have no power. I am hypnotised to have no control. I am hypnotised to have no choice. I accept Master Lewis’ choices. I accept Master Lewis’ control. I accept Master Lewis’ power over me. I have no power. I have no control. I have no choice. I have no power, no control, no choice. I am an obedient Blank Belt. Miss Li obeys Master Lewis. Miss Li has no power, no control, no choice.”

He stood, and her head tilted back absently to look at him, her voice still rolling forward. As empty as he knew her mind would be, instinct made from repetition kept her voice steady in recitation. “No power, no control, no choice. No power, no control, no choice. I am hypnotised to have no power. I am hypnotised to have no control. I am hypnotised to have no choice. I accept Master Lewis’ choices. I accept Master Lewis’ control. I accept Master Lewis’ power over me. I have no power. I have no control. I have no choice. I have no power, no control, no choice. I am an obedient Blank Belt. Miss Li obeys Master Lewis. Miss Li has no power, no control, no choice.”

It was such a turn-on, listening to her like that, watching her like that. During her second wave of recitation he had kicked off his shoes and undone his belt; now he shed his pants, hanging them from one of his kitchen chairs. Miss Li was no longer watching either his hand or his face; the erection visible through his boxers was her new focus, and as always her focus consumed her.

“No power, no control, no choice. No power, no control, no choice. I am hypnotised to have no power. I am hypnotised to have no control. I am hypnotised to have no choice. I accept Master Lewis’ choices. I accept Master Lewis’ control. I accept Master Lewis’ power over me. I have no power. I have no control. I have no choice. I have no power, no control, no choice. I am an obedient Blank Belt. Miss Li obeys Master Lewis. Miss Li has no power, no control, no choice.”

“You are my harem overseer,” Lewis said.

“I am your harem overseer.” Her focus had entirely shifted from the mantra, now concentrated totally on these new instructions; but giving them after a recitation would cause her to incorporate them into her mantra.

“My other slaves are your responsibility.”

“Your other slaves are my responsibility.”

“My other slaves should think like you.”

“Your other slaves should think like me.”

“My other slaves should be brought up to your current standard.”

“Your other slaves should be brought up to my current standard.”

“Very good,” he said again, this time confirming to Miss Li that the mantra was not expanding. The next part, he had been thinking about for some time, and it was going to require more careful execution. “Now, your overseer role remains over the standard to bring the others to. They do not need the capacity or authority to act over one another. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Master Lewis.”

“Now, Miss Li, you are ready to progress beyond Blank Belt. But to do so, your mantra must be adjusted. I am going to tell you three new truths, and you will replace the parts of your mantra they override with them. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Master Lewis.” There was a faint hint of hesitation in there, but he was confident it would go away under explanation.

“Over the last few months, you have had no mind and no thought. But we have been programming you the whole time, and so the situation has changed. It is time your mantra reflected this. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Master Lewis.”

“Your first change: The mind in your head belongs to me.”

“The mind in my head belongs to you, Master Lewis.”

“Second: Your thoughts are mine to change.”

“My thoughts are yours to change, Master Lewis.”

“Third: You live to serve my will.”

“I live to serve your will, Master Lewis.”

“Very good. How does your mantra now begin?”

“The mind in my head belongs to Master Lewis. My thoughts are his to change. I live to serve his will.”

“Open wide.”

“Yes, Master Lewis.” Her mouth widened back into an O wide enough to accommodate his cock, and he pulled down the waistband of his boxers. “Begin,” he said.

“The mind in my head belongs to Master Lewis,” Miss Li answered, and lowered her head onto his cock, her tongue caressing. She surfaced again. “My thoughts are his to change.” She filled her mouth with him again. “I live to serve his will,” she said as she lifted free again.

“I am hypnotised to have no power.”It was a slow, teasing pleasure, breaking with each step of her mantra, but for the same reason he was achingly hard. “I am hypnotised to have no control.”

He reached down, taking a handful of her hair in his hand, and was rewarded with a growl of pleasure that vibrated down his shaft. “I am hypnotised to have no choice.”

Sighing contentedly to himself, Lewis settled in to properly enjoy his evening, and Miss Li’s voice continued, punctuating each worshipful stroke of his cock with another proclamation of her submission.

“I accept Master Lewis’ choices. I accept Master Lewis’ control. I accept Master Lewis’ power over me. I have no power. I have no control. I have no choice. I have no power, no control, no choice. I am an obedient overseer. Miss Li obeys Master Lewis. Miss Li has no power, no control, no choice.”