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61. Imminent Domination - X-Ray Dog

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The girl trembled in her chair like she was afraid. Malik checked himself – she was afraid. She was afraid of him. The thought gave him a little thrill, even after all he had already done. He could still be excited by the look of fear on a person's face and the knowledge that he was the one who had put it there.

He had spent his childhood watching his father put that look on the faces of those around him. Some of his earliest memories were of watching Rishid or Isis try to look brave as he walked into or out of a room. Malik himself had been the chosen child; the firstborn son who received soft words and promises of a bright future. His father took no pleasure in making Malik afraid like he did the others, but Malik started to wear that look when he learned about the sacrifices he'd have to make to be a tombkeeper.

The brands on his back burned with phantom pain. Oh yes, he knew what it was like to look afraid as someone came towards him holding a shaft of metal. This girl was lucky he was only going to brand her mind, where the scars wouldn't show.

"Y-You don't frighten me," she said, the tremor in her voice betraying the lie.

"I don't care whether I frighten you or not," he replied with a lie of his own. He did care, but he had promised himself he would be professional about this. He pointed the Millennium Rod at her. The tip nearly touched her nose.

"You won't get away with this."

He remembered the thrill of watching television when he first left the catacombs, when his father couldn't stop him anymore – cartoons, sitcoms, newscasts, documentaries, reality TV and everything else he hadn't been permitted to experience if he was going to grow into the kind of man his father wanted. So of course, as soon as he broke out, he fell in love with the magic box and all its illicit fantasies. He especially loved cartoons, with their wealth of colour and loud noises. His father would have hated Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse and Scooby Doo.

"You meddling kids…" Malik murmured under his breath. He wasn't so old or jaded he couldn't see the fun in pop culture references. He was just getting better at ignoring them. Revenge took a lot of energy and concentration.

"What?" the girl demanded. "What are you mumbling? Are you casting some freaky spell on me now? My friends will get you if you do anything to us, you know. And for that mater, where is Jounouchi? What have you done with him? Answer me!"

"Shut up." Malik waved dismissively at her. He noted the way her eyes widened and followed the path of the Millennium Rod.

"Wh…" She shook herself and drew up tall, even though her arms were strapped to the arms of her chair so she wouldn't try to lash out at him while he worked on her. Her expression was defiant. He sort of admired it, while at the same time wanting to squash it like a scorpion shaken out of a sleeping roll. "What are you going to do?"

Malik smiled. He knew it wasn't a nice smile. Sometimes a pleasant expression could be the most frightening thing of all. "Don't worry. This won't hurt." He sent his will along the Rod and her head snapped back with the force of his commands implanting into her subconscious. "Much."

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