AN: I... should probably put a TRIGGER WARNING on this. Warning in Comment.

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"There's no death and destruction this time, Bucky. I'll be back before the hour's up," I assured with a smile.

Those blue eyes of his dropped to my lips, narrowing in doubt. Worry weaved together his brows. Unhappiness tugged down the corner of his lips.

If only he'd accepted the craziness that made up my life, he'd have fewer headaches. His own problems gave him more than enough already.

"I'll be here when you're finished," he stated, face turning away. A tap of the space bar started up the lecture, ending the conversation quite sharply.

With a shrug, I slunk my way to my room.

"I'll be back before the hour's up," Eve mocked with my voice in surround sound. "Really now? You think you can get Odinga to keep his yapper shut in thirteen minutes?"

"Depends on how brutal I decide to be, doesn't it?"

The smile on my face couldn't be helped with the excitement pumping through my veins.

Makeup would take too long, so I slapped on the octo mask thing. Let Eve deal with the pimple on my forehead.

Got to be flawless when I was being the Ayers' daughter pawn thing.

I grabbed the first sleek dress I came across in my closet and slipped into it while I decided on which plan I felt like playing out.

"Eve? Mind rendering the Dollhouse?"

"...Are you sure?"

"Why not?"

"It's unnecessary."

"Since when do you care about Odinga?"

"...Not him I'm worried about."

"Might as well be done with dumbfuck once and for all."

Eve gave a soft sigh. "Stainless steel or princess?"

"Hmmm.... Let's play princess. He always saw me as that."

Twisting that image he knew me as, that's going to be fun.

"Ready when you are."

I quickly fixed my hair up to match everything else. A messy floof and a flip, letting the waves naturally curl around my face and shoulders.

"Channel your inner happy princess, Val," I joked to myself, carefully draping my body over a giant beanbag. Legs lounged out to the side. Even tucked a few pillows under my arm.

"Happy princess my ass."

Eve would work her rendering skills and magic me onto a fancy Greek kline couch instead of the beanbag I was half sunken into.

"Make the damn call."

The artificial ringtone echoed about my room, and my thoughts couldn't help but drift to the cracks in my ribs. I could feel them strain and part. They did not like this position. But everything had its reason. A part to play.

"Val, darling. I was hoping to see you grovelling at my doorstep, not over a skype call. I expect more respect than this."

I forced out a giggle, tipping my head to the side. "Oh, Hamadi. This call, for your sake, shall be the last you see of my face."

His nostrils flared. His lips snarled. Didn't like the threat. Definitely did not like how I spoke his first name.

"I'm merely calling to inform you how this will play out," I told him with a smile. "You're currently surrounded. You'll be brought to The Hague and charged for – "

"You will get me out of this mess or I'll take you down with me," he threatened. Grinning ear to ear. "I'll tell them about you. You slaughtered villages at my side!" So very confident he had cornered me. "You Ayers are mine now."

A lazy flip of my hand, dismissing his words. He needed to read that I couldn't care if he tried.

"No wonder Father and Mother are so angry with you. The Ayers will never belong to anybody. Not when governments rise and fall at our whims."

"Your hands are as dirty as mine!"

"You have no proof. Nobody ever has proof we've done anything unsavoury. Your word means nothing against my reputation. After all, you have no idea what I'm truly capable of. But alas, I don't like dirt flung my way. Thus here I am, wasting time on you. This call isn't so much warning you of the men coming to grab you or some ego play you so love."

"Then what the hell is this!?!"

His palms smacked down on the table.

I would have flinched from the aggression he was embodying. Would have if I didn't grow up dealing with such volatile people. Knew just how much they revelled in the slightest show of fear. How we'd pounce on it. And just how frustrating when intimidation tactics fall flat.

I had no doubt if I were in that room, he'd have me black and blue, painted in red.

Still, I couldn't help the little laugh. He was trying so hard to intimidate me that it had taken a turn for the pathetically sad.

The gun he clearly had pointed at my face on the screen was going to do jack shit for him.

We made sure it was loaded with blanks.

A little cornered rat with no idea just who led him there.

"You do well to remember this conversation, Hamadi. We never much appreciated you swallowing our bribes to wipe your own ass. So, as soon as I suspect you'll open your mouth about any of our business or even let somebody else spring a leak, I'll have you added to my collection of dolls."

My hand gave a grand sweep to the side. An excited thrum pulled a happy grin onto my lips.

The little screen at the bottom with the fancy room Eve rendered took a disturbing turn. Limbless bodies dropped from the ceiling. All of them struggled uselessly against the strings that hung them up.

The man on the screen stumbled back, gagging at the sight. His eyes couldn't help but stare at the horrors that filled his screen.

"Is it so difficult to stomach? And here I thought you were so proud of being the baddest monster around. I had thought you saw right through me when you invited me out for a little midnight massacre."

"But – but you fired for the rooftops! You were so scared to kill! I was moulding you to be something great!"

I huffed a laugh.

Scared to kill?

Moulding me?

"I have an image to keep up, Hamadi. How stupid and blind can you be? Then again, you think killing helpless people isn't such a damn bore. A bullet to the head. Really now? I much prefer breaking your kind of idiot who think they're just so powerful. Oh so deadly. Killing is no art. This is art," I bragged, motioning to the dolls at my side. "Bringing a person to accept this as their eternity. Preserved forever to fill the time between the boring hours the likes of you bring about in my days."

I read every crack in the man's body language. How he went from horror to fight. The sodding fool actually thought he could fight his way out.

Well then.

"Don't you recognise one of these faces? I know they're a little difficult to make out after I fed them their eyeballs and whatever else is missing. Most of them prefer the toasting laser we have yet to bring to market. It does quite the amazing job of cooking thinly sliced meat. They don't much like themselves raw."

Another involuntary gag from the man.

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Author's Note:

If you enjoyed this part, please consider leaving a vote. They're very much appreciated. ^^

And a big thank you to TinselA/Bunny Carrot (https://www.fanfiction.net/u/7591081/) and the Anonymous Fifth Beta for Beta-ing this chapter.