Gravity
Chapter 2
The darkness felt as if it were swallowing him, and the tendrils inside him were wriggling with ferocity. Flug could barely even think, his mind was all a haze. He let himself go limp, resigned to the fate his boss had determined for him. It was this, that most likely saved him. For some unknown reason, the tendrils delicately removed themselves from his insides, and then from around his body and he fell to the floor. He was still conscious, but barely, it was taking all his energy to just breathe.
Black Hat knew that the scientist wasn't dead. It felt like he was fighting himself, his reasoning. Part of him still demanded that he break the human into as many pieces as he could, but the other felt something... He wasn't sure what it was. Was it pity? No, it couldn't be, he was a villain that had no moral feelings or obligations, no connection to such things! Against his better judgement, from his evil side anyway, he allowed the candles to relight dimly, enough so he could see better, his night vision wasn't in color after all.
Flug was laying on the floor in a growing pool of his blood, feebly gasping for air. His arm with the severed hand twitching, but he didn't have enough strength left to clutch it to him. His goggles and paper bag on the floor next to him, also soaked in blood, broken and ripped. The demon continued to stare, it wasn't like he hadn't witnessed his own atrocities before, that was nothing new to him, but again, for some reason this disturbed him greatly.
Before he could think about what he was doing, he used his power to reattach the scientists hand, and renew the bones in it, as if it hadn't been damaged, but he didn't heal the other wounds, only what was life threatening. Using a tentacle, he grabbed him by the scruff of his lab coat and sat him up against the wall and floor, contemplating what to do next.
Flug couldn't believe he was still alive, he had thought for sure that that time he was a goner. Better not get my hopes up just yet, he thought slowly, mind still foggy. He just sat there, focusing on breathing, not daring to look at his boss. Just give up, give in, maybe if you show you are willing to obey him without question and not put up a fight for anything he'll let you live, he thought. But then again, the chances of that were slim. Once the boss decided to fire someone, that was it, there were no second chances from what he'd seen through the years.
Black Hat was still arguing with himself about what to do with the situation. He'd never let anyone he had developed feelings for live. That would defeat the whole purpose of his evil being, but he had also never had this much trouble with himself killing someone. He actually didn't want to, which was not something he had ever felt before. The others had all felt like necessities, and while difficult, he still did it without remorse. This was so different. He didn't have to do it, did he? If he didn't want to, he could choose not to, couldn't he? He put a hand over his face, all this conflict in his mind was giving him a headache, which normally was only caused by Demencia.
"Flug. I really don't know what to do with you." He finally admitted.
Flug was starting to regain some of his strength from resting, and having his hand fixed. He swallowed, almost too terrified to say anything.
"I...I... I could.. maybe, j-just... l-leave?" He managed in a whispering stutter.
His boss turned around and slowly went back to his window, letting only the one window's shades back open, and the door to his office. "GET OUT!" He shouted, a slight quiver in his dark raspy voice.
The scientist flinched, but struggling, managed to stand, and as quickly as his damaged body would allow him to, limped out, leaving a blood trail. Once he was out, he headed towards his lab, where 5.0.5. was washing some of his equipment for him. The bear turned as he entered, then let out a concerned bark, running over him and helping him to stand.
Flug looked at the bear, who was so innocent, in this hellhole. He had only been ever kind to him, and in turn, received the same. Everyone else was cruel to him, but this bear that he had created, was not evil, and cared about him. "5.0.5. get me to the van, we're leaving!" The bear was confused, they were going out with him in this state, and without the boss? They never went anywhere without the boss! "Just do it, hurry!"
The huge bear carried him to the garage next to the lab, where the van was, Flug grabbing a few things here and there as they passed by. He wasn't going to leave all his work there, after what he had been through to create it. Before 5.0.5. got in the van, the doctor directed him from the drivers seat to get his blueprints and some equipment from the lab. The bear came back with them, and shoved himself and the rest of the boxes into the back, and closed it.
"Arooo?" He whimpered. He liked going on car rides, but this was really strange, and didn't feel right.
Flug, who was still losing blood, cut a few wires and twisted them together in the vans dashboard. The garage door opened. He had installed that years ago, but never thought he would actually use the remote door opener, since Black Hat was the only one who had the keys, and Flug was not allowed to open the door or have the keys. He wasn't allowed to leave without the boss either. Before he could change his mind, he floored it, jolting the bear in the back. It was a good thing the back doors had extra locks on them, or he would have flown out.
"AWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOO!!!??? ARRRMMMPHHHHH!!!"
The scientist, who was still losing blood and in immense pain, didn't slow down until they were nearly on the other side of town, but he didn't stop. He looked back in the direction they came from, and the sky was dark, as if a storm was brewing. SHIT, he thought. The boss must have changed his mind! Again he floored it, taking an underground tunnel. Hattville had a population as such, that while they had the normal roadways above ground, they also had one below town, to save traffic time. His boss knew he hated going in the tunnels, he claimed he had claustrophobia, but this would be the last place he would expect him to be, and he was much more scared of his boss then he was of tunnels.
He continued driving, and when they got out on the other side, which was in another city entirely, about an hours drive away from Hattville, he finally allowed the vehicle to stop. He looked again, and while it was raining, nothing else seemed out of the ordinary, for the most part. Where are we though... It had been so long, since he had been anywhere, years in fact, he always was stuck in the lab. He took a map out of the glove compartment and used a flashlight that 5.0.5. handed him to look at it. Holding the small flashlight in his still bleeding mouth, he tried to figure out their location. He could barely see it without his goggles on, which he had built a prescription glasses into the lenses.
He gave an exhausted sigh, and put the map away, and just sat there for a minute, trying to get his bearings. Man, I hurt all over, he thought, and what's more, I don't have my goggles or my bag, I'm like, totally helpless, as if I weren't helpless enough in the first place!
"Arrrrrrr?"
5.0.5. was looking at him from the back cabin, appearing worried and shaken up.
"It's alright, for now anyway. We need to find a place to stay though." Flug sighed again. "But we don't have any money, so I guess we should just keep driving and stay in the van? But if he's looking for us, the van is a huge give away." With that thought, he quickly got out of the van, limped to the front, pulled up the hood, and quickly disabled the tracking device. He'd nearly forgotten about that. Hopefully the boss had too, though not likely.
Getting back in, the bear suddenly started handing him stacks of $100 bills from somewhere.
"5.0.5.!? What the-?!" Flug turned around to look in the back, and the bear was pointing at the contents. The shrink rays, all of them, the things he had asked the bear to grab when they left, and money. LOTS of money. Flug's heart almost stopped. The boss must have been planning to deposit the money into the safe when he went to ship the guns!
"OH SHIT! We stole a hunk load of his money too?! God dammit...!" The scientist curled into a fetal position and started to quiver, even more prone to anxiety without his bag. After another minute he stopped, trying to slow his breathing down. "Phew... okay... maybe this isn't such a bad thing, because now we can afford somewhere to stay. Try to think positive. It's not like things could possibly get any worse then what they were when I was in his office. It will be ooookkkaaaaayyyy..."
Flug turned the van back on and started driving again. Only now did he realize how hard it was to see the road, before, the adrenaline of getting out of the situation, anywhere and anyhow, had been controlling him. He managed to get them to what looked like a run down motel, which he chose instead of a fancy one because he knew better then to try one that was actually decent in the current situation.
After they got checked in, he parked the van in their underground parking garage (another reason he had picked this hotel), and he carefully snuck 5.0.5. into the room, which wasn't too difficult because it was on the end of the building, away from the office and the other rooms.
The bear looked at the room with interest. The hotel was shabby, but the rooms weren't half bad. Microwave, shower, bed, TV, no flea or bedbug infestation... (The bear checked that, he could smell bugs a million miles away.)
"Okay. I'm gonna get cleaned up. Sort of. Make sure you stay quiet, okay? Also, if my phone rings, DO NOT ANSWER IT! Oh, and you can watch TV if you want." The bear sat on the floor grabbed the remote, and happily complied, turning it to some channel that had people cooking on it.
Flug went into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. A mess would be an understatement, in fact, I should probably be in a hospital right now, he thought, I'm lucky the boss didn't use his venom, or I'd absolutely be dead by now. God dammit, he hated mirrors, he thought, for one he didn't like his appearance, and for two Black Hat often found it hilarious to manifest FROM mirrors to scare the shit out of him. He ran a hand through his curly red hair, which was matted with blood. Ugh. As if he didn't have enough scars from his accident with the lab fire... Man I hope these things will heal up if I wrap them up properly, I probably need stitches or something, but I can't do that. He daren't check into a hospital. They needed to disappear, which was hard enough since he had taken the company van, the shrink ray shipments, 5.0.5., and all that money. He knew Black Hat would probably still find him, but he couldn't help but try to escape, he wasn't giving up yet.
After he took what turned out to be a painful but much needed shower, he realized he didn't have anything to really wear, since his clothes were all torn up and covered in his own blood. But there was an over-sized bathrobe hanging on the back of the door, so he put that on. The motel was decent enough to have nice rooms, but crappy enough so that they didn't question him coming in with all that blood on him. Still weird though. He took the first aid kit that he had brought out from the van earlier, and tried to patch all his holes up, even though he knew they'd probably just bleed through with how deep they were. Oh well.
5.0.5. was still watching TV, still on the cooking channel. It wasn't something he got to do often, he was usually too busy cleaning, cooking, and etc. for them and the boss. Former boss, Flug reminded himself. He laid down on the bed and took out his phone. The voicemail box was full, and there were about 100 texts on it, along with an uncountable amount of missed calls. He closed it again without looking or listening to any of them. He'd have to get rid of the phone, just in case. And he absolutely wasn't going to use it, he wasn't looking back, or going back, no matter what, it was too late for that after what he'd done with the van. Black Hat's words still echoed in his mind and stung him, about how he was just a little nerd, a maggot, and not a proper villain. It wasn't the first time he had been told those things by him, but this time they actually seemed to pierce him through to his heart.
It doesn't matter what he thinks, he thought, staring at the TV, but not really watching it. But he's right, another part of his mind said. What did he say about having feelings for him though...? What the heck was that even about?
5.0.5. came over and got into the bed next to him with a large thump, and he was surprised the bed didn't break from the weight. The bear snuggled against him and fell asleep, snoring softly. Flug didn't mind. "At least I still have you..." he whispered, before falling asleep himself.
About ten minutes after Flug managed to drag himself out of his office, and took off, Black Hat exploded. FUCKING DAMMIT! WHY DIDN'T I JUST KILL HIM?! HE HAS TO DIE!!! FUCK I EVEN REATTACHED HIS HAND, SO HE WON'T BLEED TO DEATH!!! Demonic energy and tendrils manifested about him, ripping shelves, crushing his desk, anything with in reach was destroyed. Clenching his fists with claws digging into his own palms, he tried to compose himself. It took nearly an hour before he was back in control again, and somewhat calmed down, though still breathing heavily, and quite angry with himself. "It's not like he could have gone far anyway, in his condition, I will just find him and finish him off..."
Leaving his office, he looked about. Demencia was still running all over the place, but she had heard her bosses 'tantrum' and was smart enough to avoid him, as crazy as she was. 5.0.5. nor Flug were any where to be seen, though he followed the trail of blood to the lab, and then to the garage, and saw the van was gone. "He actually took the van?! He must not be as injured as I thought..." Then he saw the bear paw prints in the blood. "I see, so the bear is helping him. There is no way he could get most of his things and get away on his own that quickly. Well, the bear can easily be replaced."
"DEMENCIA!!!" The lizard girl dropped down from the ceiling in front of him, standing and saluting with her tongue out, cross-eyed.
"Did you see them leave?!" He asked.
"YUP!!!" she replied, keeping her stance and facial expression the same.
"Did they remove anything from the van, or just put things in it?"
"NOPE, THEY JUST SHOVED STUFF IN IT AND TOOK OFF, VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!" The crazy girl made vrooming noises and pretended she was driving like a maniac.
Black Hat rolled his eyes, for what was probably the millionth time at her. They took the fucking money too. That settled it, he'd been deciding whether to just let Flug and the bear go, because he could always find replacements for them, and he was gonna kill Flug anyway, but they had stolen his money. No one stole from him. Flug would die, oh yes, and painfully at that, his greedy, evil nature winning him over. So much for having a soft side, now he was certain he was going to get rid of that.
Flug opened his eyes and stretched, and then winced and yelped in pain. Glancing around, he was confused, then he remembered the events of the day before. God dammit... He had been hoping it had been a nightmare or something. 5.0.5. was still sleeping on the bed, on his back, with his feet in the air, twitching one foot paw as if he was dreaming about something.
Flug gave a small happy grunt. Hmph. That bear was always so cute. The scientist went and looked at his clothes, which were still damp. They still had a lot of blood stains on them and were torn in several places, though 5.0.5. had washed what he could out in the bathtub. He took a hair dryer to them, trying to get them at least dry enough to wear, because he wasn't going anywhere wearing nothing but the hotels cheap bathrobe. His bandages were soaked through with blood, but when he changed them, he noticed while they were still mostly open wounds, they had at least stopped their intense bleeding, and were just oozing now. He wondered how many times he would have to change them, but flinched when he heard a knock at the door.
"Y-yes?"
"Senior, we have free breakfast in lounge! Pet bear can come too!" A heavily accented voice replied.
They knew he had 5.0.5. with him? And they still hadn't kicked him out? Even more weirdness.
"O-okay! Thanks!" He replied. He looked in a few drawers, to see if there was something he could cover his face with, and indeed there was some paper bags next to the tiny fridge. He cut two eye-holes in it, and put it on. "Well, it's better then nothing!" He sighed, relieved to at least have his face covered again.
They went to the lounge, and he was sure people were gonna stare at him for the blood stains on his clothes, let alone having a giant blue bear with a flower on it's head. However he was ignored, for the most part, other then the employee's. It turned out the hotel he had randomly picked, was one that was frequented by villains. That's why it had looked shady, but had at least been decent inside. The other customers were just as messed up as he was, some looked okay, but quite a few of them had torn up or bloody clothes, and most were either glaring or bragging to each other.
The lady checking people in, was reading one of the cycling villain's news papers. She looked at Flug with little interest, then back to her paper, tossing her long dark brown hair behind her.
"Um, E-excuse me, miss?" Flug tried.
"What do you want? Man, is that all your blood, or you kill someone recently? Hope it was my ex!" She said with a laugh.
Flug shrugged. "Well, maybe I did, maybe I didn't. Either way, could you tell me where the nearest store is?"
"What kinda store? You need weapons, honey? I sell those ya know! Ya wanna take a look in the back?" She winked at him.
The scientist tried to ignore the large busted ladies attempt at flirting with him. "No, I just need to get clothes, food, some gas, the usual sort of things. Not really villain related items."
"Ya suuuuurrrreeeee? You look like you could use some, I doubt that bear will protect ya, he's too cute! Hilarious to see such a cute minion! Hah!" She prodded his chest, and he winced, it was still sore from having the tentacles inside him.
"No, thanks, I'm fine." Flug said, moving her arm away. He already had a few weapons in the truck, and all those shrink rays too. Besides, if he needed weapons he could probably go to a scrap heap and build whatever he needed from there and it would be ten times better then what this bimbo had.
"Alrightttt! There's a store ya can get pretty much whatever ya want a few miles that way down the road. Just be careful, little scientist, one of the big villains might take advantage of ya situation and kidnap you and that bear, ya best get back home to yer boss!" She giggled madly and went back to her paper.
Leaving, Flug shook his head. Of course everyone could tell he wasn't a REAL villain. He was just a dorky henchmen of a scientist. He hoped no one had actually recognized him, Black Hat was extremely famous in the villain world, and he was sure that people had seen him in the commercials for the inventions when they were aired. The bear followed him happily, trying to offer him some of the food he had gotten. Flug declined, he really didn't feel like eating after all that, plus the holes in his cheeks were still open, and he didn't want to infect them by eating. They got in the van as the bear was stuffing the last of the muffins in his mouth.
"Well, here we go. Maybe he'll forget about us eventually. Time to start over, 5.0.5.!" The doctor said, even though he didn't feel as if there was any hope, he wanted to keep a brave face for his only friend.
"ArrrrrRRRRROOOOO!!!" The bear exclaimed happily from the back. This was the most fun he had in ages, and his fears about Black Hat coming after them had been forgotten to him.
As they drove out to the road, with the radio blasting 'Weird Science' and windows open, Flug threw his phone out the window, still leaving all the calls and messages unanswered. It landed in a puddle, as it continued ringing.
