Sue Storm Allows Herself To Be Hypnotized

For a moment, the Invisible Woman hesitated. In her career as a superhero, she had dealt with hypnosis more than most. She knew and respected that ability, whether used by heroes like Doctor Strange or utter villains like the Ringmaster. Yet she couldn't see any apparatus for hypnosis here, no shiny gems, no wafting incense or **** that might make her suggestible. Dr. Stone hadn't even yet offered Sue a cup of tea. So the bolder, more daring part of Sue spoke up and said: "All right."

"Sit with your back straight, please. Hands in your lap," the psychiatrist said. "And close your eyes."

Sue did so. The room was so secure that she couldn't even hear the traffic outside. Just the sound of her own breathing, the light bubble of the tea.

"Feel the tension in your body. Your feet on the floor. I want you to feel that tension flow out of you. Straight down, through your heels," the doctor said, her voice soft and accentless.

The blonde was aware then of the tension in her shoulders, the back of her neck. The weight of her body.

"Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Slowly, carefully. Feel it fill your lungs, and leave. With each breath, more of the tension drains out of you. You slip deeper and deeper into the darkness."

Slowly, carefully, Sue breathed. The little hiss of the teapot was a constant, steady presence. The superheroine felt suddenly warm in her hoodie and exercise pants.

"You're sitting on a chair on the beach. You feel the sun on your face," Moonstone said. "Listen to the crash of the surf. The waves come up to lap at your toes, then recede. As you breathe in, the tide rolls up to your feet; as it rolls away, you breathe out, and the tension flows out with it. Just breathe. Just be. Don't think."

In and out, Sue Storm breathed. It was really quite remarkable, how at ease she felt after a few moments. So much of her life was hectic, so caught up was she in being a wife, a mother, an adventurer, that she rarely had time for herself like this. A moment to just be.

Lost in that imagined place, that chair on some lost and forgotten beach, as the ocean kissed her feet. Sue could imagine the sand as it was swept through her toes, so that her feet sank deeper. Like she was about to melt into the sea.

"Without opening your eyes, tell me...is there anything in the ocean?" Moonstone said.

"There's someone in the water," Sue said, and was surprised at herself. The words had come out spontaneously, instinctively. No filter between thought and action.

"Freud connects water with sex," Moonstone said. "Dreams of the ocean with sexuality. The water rises up to your ankles now. The foam clings to you as it recedes. The heat of the sun warms your body, but you shiver..."

Sue did shiver now, once, involuntarily.

"Who?" Dr. Stone pushed a little. "Who is in the water? Who are you thinking about, when you're all alone?"