We had been standing on top of the HQ's outer wall for little more than ten minutes, when the captain of the enforcers broke the silence.

"Miss, did she do the thing to you?" He said.

"What are you implying, captain?" I asked, half confused, half almost offended. 

"The thing… you know… you smell like cinnamon…" he answered. 

Oh, the thing. Anastasia’s little introductory ceremony was, apparently, something common among her close underlings. I nodded to the captain, in understanding. 

"I heard that's how she marks her… pets" he said.

"I'm here under the Director’s authority, I'm not Anastasia’s minion, and certainly no one's pet" I replied, unfazed. 

"Come on miss, we're all their pets" the captain said, with a hint of sad conformity in his voice. 

"We each have a part to play in the Director’s plan" I said, waiting for the captain's answer to my little test.

He just nodded. For us, workers of the Administration, being referred to as the Rayne's pets wasn't unusual. I have already mentioned that it is a common insult. What was unusual was to hear it from a fellow worker.

I wouldn't report the captain to Anastasia for disloyalty of course. As far as I knew, chances are that he would end a melting corpse in Bloody Ann's belly before supper (or during supper) if I did. But I will tell the Intel team to check on him for a while.

My gaze went now to the reason I was here. Gathered outside the wall was a massive protest. They asked for a lot of things: the restoration of the power grid in Sector B3; more funding for the schools in Sector A5; the reconstruction of the hospital in Sector E6… I had read the reports, City 43 was in shambles. The riots didn't help at all.

Just as I was meditating on the whole situation, the normal sized gates of the wall opened. Anastasia walked out of them.

I was a little shocked. She was wearing the full Administrator uniform: a black military styled suit with boots, gloves, a number of insignias and medals on the chest and the crest of the Rayne family on the heart. She looked magnificent, almost reminded me of the Director. 

The crowd fell silent as Anastasia advanced towards them until she was just a few normal sized steps from them. Then, she spoke.

"Citizens!" She said "I have heard you!"

The crowd didn't react more than just remaining silent and paralyzed. It was common to freeze in the presence of the Administrators, even more if they were Raynes. Most people lived a lifetime without seeing one of them. 

"Your City is a ruin!" Anastasia continued "Neglected by lazy, ineffective and corrupt bureaucrats, no more!"

The shock of the crowd receded unto isolated cheers, but most remained untrustworthy. 

"My dear sister, your Director, has sent me here to fix your problems" she said "do not worry, I know I'm famous not for my city planning abilities, but my sister is wise and I have come with the best help possible"

Was she talking about me? Oh, that was flattering. 

"But my dear people! You KNOW what I'm famous for!" Anastasia said, energetically. "I know the name you're whispering, know that I love it. Say it!"

A few among the crowd screamed "Bloody Ann!".

Anastasia smiled. "Yes, I have been nicknamed that by people who resented my effectiveness. But they are right. I AM violent, I AM bloodthirsty, and I AM ruthless!"

Silence. I could sense dread creeping in.

"Yet, I have never killed someone that didn't deserve it. My wrath is only directed against those who disrespect the great work my family has done for mankind" she said "and perhaps there's no greater disrespect, no people more deserving of my punishment, than those appointed by us that have failed you"

And here we go, the reason we were gathered here outside the HQ. This sick show of hers.

The doors opened again. This time a tiny sized woman stepped out, chained, and escorted by a guard on each side: Lydia Smith, former Regional Administrator. 

The guards set them besides Anastasia’s enormous left foot.

The crowd's dread fell into silent rage and expectation. They had hated her, they wanted to see her punished, and Bloody Ann would deliver. 

The guards left Lydia's side. The poor woman was a nervous mess of a person. Ann didn't even look down on her. She just said:

"Me or the crowd, asshole?" 

Lydia, terrified, fell to her knees in Ann's boot. She sobbed, begged, and cried.

"Tch, I hoped your last words would be intelligible, oh well…" Ann said.

Her foot came crashing down like a meteor on Lydia's whole person. Some of the bloody pulp that she became splattered to the front rows of the crowd. 

Now you may be wondering "But Beth, Victoria sent you to make sure Ann wouldn't do shit like this". And you're right. I had to talk Ann down from her original plan, which was biting Lydia's limbs off one by one and flickering her torso off to the ground. 

As for this, well…

There was silence and shock in the crowd. Until some pockets of people started chanting… and soon everyone was screaming their lungs out to the chorus of:

"BLOODY ANN! BLOODY ANN! BLOODY ANN!"

----------

"Ahhh what a great evening, right Lilibeth?" Anastasia said. 

We were both in her room now, it used to by Lydia's, so Ann hadn't had the time to "redecorate" as she put it. I couldn't imagine what sort of medieval torture room shit she wanted to have here. Right now it was only a fancy, penthouse room for rich individuals. 

She had invited me here for a "sleepover". Naturally I was not in a position to refuse. I had come with my sleeping clothes in a bag. Ann, however, was already in her pajamas: an oversized black shirt that reached just above her knees. I was pretty sure she was wearing no underwear. 

We were both on her bed. Ann was laying on her stomach, and I was sitting in front of her face. Again, the scent of cinnamon was invasive. 

"It was an interesting evening, Ann" I said. 

"They loved me, Lilibeth. You saw it. People tend to disregard my methods but they ignore the fact that people love gory spectacles" Ann said.

"I… see your point" I said. 

"I doubt it" Ann replied. "Drop the sycophantic pretense, Lilibeth, I already like you"

I was taken aback by her words, but she saw right through me. I was troubled. 

"I'm… it's just… is it really necessary to do all that?" I said.

"You're not saying what you're thinking Lilibeth" She replied.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Think of it, Lilibeth, use your smart brain" she said, crawling a little closer to me "You know my methods are effective, you're just wondering about the moral justification of it all"

I simply had to nod, she saw right through me.

"Say I unleash the enforcers on that protest. How many would have died?. Ten? A hundred? Whatever the number you were thinking it was larger than one" she said. "Is one human life worth more than ten?"

"I… suppose it's not" I replied, still troubled. 

"It's true what they say, I execute more people than all other Administrators. But I still kill less" she said. 

"What? How does that work?" I asked, confused and shocked.

"Take our little Lydia, for example" she said "how many people have died because of gang warfare in City 43 last year?" She asked me.

Of course I had read all about City 43 before coming here. "Five thousand" I said. 

"Aha, and how many died from gang warfare in City 36?" That was Ann's last former City.

"I don't-" I tried to say before being cut off.

"Zero, Lilibeth" she said "because I deep fried all gang leaders on stream three years ago. Because I turned deaf ears to their begs and screams. Because everyone watched me do it" 

"I've … heard of that…" I said.

"Now my tinies in City 36 live safe. Criminals and undesirables fear me. They whisper my name as a curse. They wish me to never have come into their lives. Yet the common folk cheers for me as I walk their streets, they have posters and portraits of me in their houses, they follow me on social media. Did you know that every time I took a stroll out of the HQ in City 36 I had to take an extra phone just for selfies that people asked me to take with them?" She said.

I was silent. I knew Ann was popular among some, that wasn't a shock. What was a shock was that her twisted morals started to make some sense. I repressed the thought immediately. 

"Ah well" she sighed "I'm tired Lilibeth, come sleep with me"

What?

"Ann, what do you-" and she interrupted me again. 

By grabbing me with her mouth.

My whole upper body was completely inside that wet cave of hers. While my legs were left outside her lips. I didn't even bother screaming, nor resisting. If this was the way things were going to be with her, I suppose getting them over quickly was the best I could hope to do.

She was moving, shuffling inside the bedsheets while sucking on me like a pacifier. Her tongue played with me, teasingly licking me, almost caressing my body. All while I remained still and trapped between her gargantuan lips. 

I feel something grabbing my legs. Her hands. I'm being slowly pulled out. She's tucked in the king sized bed, she looked very comfy, cute even. A hair of saliva still connected me to her lips.

"Sorry" she said "I'm a little baby sometimes, I need something to calm my stress" 

What stress could this monster possibly have? I've never seen someone enjoy her work this much.

"Now, to sleep, goodnight Lilibeth" she said. 

"Good ni-" Oh fuck, again with her interruptions. This time by shoving me under her shirt.

My theory was correct, she wore no underwear.