"Please please please I'm begging you I don't wan—"

The pleas cut off with a loud squelching sound, the bodies being crushed by Mr. Woozle. His plasticky arms rose into the air as he made red paste of the failed batch. He smashed it down over and over again at her silent command. The rigid fur was dyed in blood while she watched.

Bored out of her skull.

None of these were going in her collection. She was a woman of quality, not quantity. When she felt like it anyway. There were still plenty of spares for her to collect. Just not here.

Adjusting her stylish head, she turned and left, slightly put out by the lack of new toys. And she had come all this way!

Solvarna was really bad sometimes. The hero population was so inconsistent in how they dealt with her. Sometimes they left her alone, other times they had teams ready for her arrival. And in the remaining cases the locals would get desperate. Those were the most fun. On some occasions she even caused manifestations in the kids. Or adults, but that was rare.

Kids were better when she was out looking for replacements if her old stuff ever got broken. Which it did, as some of the keener eyes had noticed. Never would she allow that to be her end, but still. It was interesting to see them scramble for a response to her after she consulted with Ms. Lunobal about where the right place to strike would be. It kept them on their toes, never knowing what to expect from her.

Three more groups of potential loot. She turned around as they uselessly struggled against a containment field, the joint work of two of her background performers. Many were putting up resistance, giving it their all. And none of it was enough. They had been hopeful for help arriving. Little did they know that said help was already dead.

She even spotted a nascent power among them—uninteresting though, if it was really just fire like she was seeing. That was the thing with these forced awakenings; you could never be sure what you were going to get. Kind of like a mystery gift.

That was what made them so fun. It was always a little race to see if she could get their hands on them or if they managed to join the goodies. And apparently, the kid had more in him than she thought because he started crackling with power and turning into gray ash. Taking a look at him for a brief second, she considered. Then his ash shifted into a stronger form that was completely black.

Hm-hmmm, hm-hmmm. Well… good enough, she decided.

And that sealed his fate. Seven armed helpers grouped up on him and butchered him in moments. One flourish of her hand, and the corpse turned into a doll.

A contented sigh escaped her, the afternoon sun bathing her in its warm light. Yes, this was it. The way she liked to spend her Saturdays. Week days could be decent, but attacking during the weekend, when people were catching their breath from life? That was when she could make it truly hopeless. She loved the expressions on those faces upon realizing she was the one coming for them.

Her heels clacked on the road, punctuating each step. Blue dress fluttering behind her, gusts of wind that made it wave the exact right temperature, all because of Butler's force field. His variation had been her favorite for some time now. A few years if she remembered right. He filtered light, sound, and of course blood splatters before it could annoy her.

The rest of the batch didn't have anything of interest for her to waste more time on. They, too, were flattened not long after. In the meantime, she began to call up her latest addition to see what it could do. Then a bark interrupted her. Frowning, she turned around to see a dog gnawing at the leg of her enforcer.

Like the humans, it met a swift end. Not because she would mind torturing it, she simply didn't feel like it right now. And the incessant whines were like nails on a chalkboard whenever she did, so it wasn't that entertaining.

Gah, she hated dogs.

…Regardless, it didn't take long for her to put it out of her mind after casting another glance at the ruined little town before her. This work was a bit rushed, not set up as much as she would have liked, but it had been a while. She'd been itching to get something done. The past two years had seen a lot of reinforcements from Domini coming to Solvarna, the smallest megacity in the European Federation.

Occupying the land that used to be known as Spain and Portugal at the start of the previous century, it bordered no land-based primebeast territory. Rather, it had only the sea and Apexia as its neighbors. Because of that, it was often considered safe to take certain liberties with state security and organize their country differently. Slowly, a culture of relative leisure with most of the military outsourced to the frontlines. District placement started to become less focused on survival and more dedicated to tourism. The warm climate did this place many favors in that regard. For a few decades, this had lasted.

She had put an end to that.

Trust in the government was at an all-time low, her legend was spreading to the corners of every street. Every bedtime story, she was the bogeyman. They moved their children away from where they thought she was going to be. Her presence was like a dark cloud over this entire part of the continent, and no one had managed to get rid of her. It would never be so easy, since she was good at hiding.

Stolen story; please report.

Gradually, visitation rates had dropped. People didn't travel nearly as much. The civilians lashed out at the government for letting someone like her run around. And yet, what were they going to do? They had one chance, and they blew it. After that, the very air around every family and house had grown heavier.

Despair, she knew it to be. In its purest form, it could bring even the strongest of men to their knees. She loved it.

In her peripheral vision, something drew her attention. She glanced to the right and saw a small featureless box dropping from the sky, seemingly out of nowhere? That was weird. It didn't seem related to Aegis or anything, so what was this? One of her dolls went to pick it up. And she observed from a distance through its eyes.

Hey, it was addressed to her. Curiosity piqued, she decided to open it, and found… a letter. But that wasn't the interesting part. It was what was on the letter. Also, the individual she got it from. One she had met a few times over the years. The one who had killed Novastra not long ago.

Omega.

Rage spiked when she saw the symbol and reference to a previous conversation they'd had. While he didn't say his name exactly, it was enough for her to know. And this sneaky prick thought he could lead her around by a leash, as if she would bite the bait he laid out for her because it was so tantalizing?

If so, he was right.

Not even because she couldn't control herself. She could, though it was hard. Omega may have robbed her of winning Novastra's corpse, but she was doing well.

No, the reason she would go after this intel was because she couldn't ignore it, on the off-chance it was true. That said, it did sound like wonderful news. And for her, there wouldn't even be a time limit.

Going by the name of "Shade," a hero in Apexia had unlocked the ability to control the gatekeys and exit Wanderlust's dimension at will. How splendid!

Think of all the things she could do with that. An entire world to herself, with no one else able to access it. None of her toys could make one so vast and, more importantly, filled with invaluable resources. Riches, new tools, and whatever the thing living in that dimension was.

All she had to do was kill Shade, get her hands on his corpse, and raise him as one of her servants. Once that was done, she was free to use him to her heart's content.

What upstanding young lady didn't like to travel?

Dollhouse grinned from ear to ear.

She was excited.

*******

Thalia glanced down at the box in front of her with a neutral expression on her face, as usual. The laws enforced in her domain didn't allow for emotional changes inside her body, and therefore she was a completely rational being.

The delivery had already been scanned for threats, but by all appearances there were none. Just to be cautious, she mentally wrote a few laws to protect herself from any adverse effects which could kill her by opening it. Luckily, no such thing came to pass and it was truly just a regular box with only a letter in it.

Scanning the contents, she was… not shocked, for she could not feel surprise, but certainly rereading the lines to ensure she had not misread. And no, she indeed hadn't.

Shade, that budding miscreant, was in possession of at least one Wanderlust gatekey, and had the ability to exit the dimension and return to it. The things he could do with that ability, they were unthinkable. Absolutely not something they could allow to go unchecked.

This needed to be dealt with immediately, though it could be some form of elaborate spam mail. Unlikely, yet possible. She turned the piece of paper over in her hand.

Sender, unknown.

Thalia sat, wondered idly about the veracity of the message. The ability to send this letter without Aegis channels and no mundane possibility of being traced was impressive, though they would still be doing a background check and run all their clairvoyant powers over it.

Ideally, this was a golden opportunity for Homeland as a whole. If they could secure this, taking over Apexia was a matter of when, instead of if.

Hence, she decided to prepare another pitch, one that persistent meddler Nar would not be getting involved with. And if Shade said no? In that case, they would have to address the matter of guaranteeing no one else could have it.

Although that might happen regardless, she thought, with all the attention he'd be drawing to himself.

Dame Edict had to go and inform her boss. This matter was of the utmost importance. Assuming they weren't the only one to receive this message, because why would they be, it would be a powder keg for any who did believe it. And that would influence the behavior of the other factions of the city. Including the DHD. Staying ignorant of that was unacceptable by every metric.

Naturally, she wasn't discounting the possibility of Shade dying an early death within the next twenty minutes, but she knew better than to operate under that optimistic assumption. Or pessimistic, based on how he would react to a second conversation where she could truly have time to show him the truth. Having had more time to think about it, he might be more amenable. That wasn't a major factor by any means, but it was one nonetheless.

However, the biggest thing for them to be on the lookout for at the current time was the influence of foreign powers. Homeland had its name for a reason, and they had no intention of letting these outsiders onto their stomping grounds without proper recompense.

And in spite of all that horrible news, Dame Edict remained a solid rock amidst the stormy sea. She wouldn't bend or break due to what one piece of paper had told her. Their leader would hear of this and he would decide on their next course of action. She, in turn, would be there as an instrument of his will.

Glory to Apexia.

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