No author's note here.
The silence is so loud.
Black Hat had never heard this much silence for the entirety of his existance.
He sat there looking at the amount of orders that people made for the Shifter. More than 1000 people had received while atleast 3000 people were waiting for theirs.
He could see 5.0.5 cleaning his room with a vacuum cleaner. He smiled. He remembered when the vacuum cleaner was invented. He used the first one itself! Ah,the good old days.
He thought how humans would always try to find a solution to a problem. Always! If they couldn't do it, they have to find an explanation why they can't. Another thing he liked was that there were some humans they did awful, awful things. Killing other humans? They did that. Make mass weapons of pure destruction? They did that. Make things that were incredibly stupid yet others thought that they were cool? Yep. That happened.
Some humans as an individual would do many sinister things. Flug was an example. Although he would care for 5.0.5 as a son, he would like to do inventions that killed people, tortured Mojo Jojo (which made many people aware of his true nature) and sometimes experimented on other fellow humans.
Speaking of Flug, he seemed to have ditched the paperbag once and for all. When Black Hat oversaw him, he was no longer wearing his signature paperbag. When asked, Flug said that he was tired of the bag as it felt like it was ingraining towards him.
Then the phone rang.
Black Hat picked up the old fashoined house phone and spoke into it.
"Hello,Black Hat here. Who is this?"
"Hello,there Black Hat." said a stern, serious of a police officer. "This is Officer James from the local police department. We need to talk about one of your employees, Demencia."
What?Black Hat thought. What did she get to this time?
"How is she?" Black Hat asked.
The officer on the phone sighed. "She is currently in the hospital."
"What happened?"
"She was stabbed 12 times in the stomach, arms and legs." Another sigh. "She managed to walk herself into the hospital before she passed out."
Stabbed? 12 times? It's impressive whoever they were able to do that to Demencia but Black Hat was surprised to hear that information.
"Anything else?" Black Hat asked.
"There is one more thing to say."
"Yes?"
"We believe we know who it is."
Black Hat grinned. Whoever it was, he should get punishment for whatever they did to Demencia.
"However,we don't know who it is."
Black Hat smile faded. They did not who it was? What blasphemy was this?
A sigh comes through the phone. "We believe it is the work of a serial killer. "
"A serial killer?"Black Hat said. Black Hat knew a few in his existence. Examples?H.H.Holmes,Jack The Ripper and others. What name did they give this one?
"What's his serial killer name?Every serial killer has a name towards the police." Black Hat asked.
"We dubbed him, 'The Hysteria Killer'. He got his name due to the panic it caused towards the public." the officer said.
"Does he have a signature?" Black Hat asked.
"He does. Every he has killed,he would place a strip of duct tape and on that tape,there is drawn a white smile." Another sigh. "He has only killed around 4 people and Demencia was the fifth victim. She however,survived."
"So,do you think he will come back after her?" Black Hat questioned.
"Maybe,he hasn't done any activity yet. His attacks seemed to be almost random. Due to this,we can't determine if he will kill with a pattern or more randomly."
"Ah. I see. I'll call again soon. Goodbye." Black Hat said.
He put the phone down.
Well,there exists a serial killer in the city of heroes and villains. Whoever it was, can not only avoid the public eye but, could not be seen by the heroes that guard the city.
Shit.
He needed to say it to Flug. If he had to.
But what would be Demencia's condition? Bad, fine or critical?
Might as well go there himself. He's gonna call Flug.
-Later-
The heart monitor beeped.
Again.
Again.
And again.
Demencia was in a coma (Black Hat could sense it)and had an otherwise normal patient's uniform. Her hair was cut short but you could see that the red and green hair separated.
Flug was talking towards the doctor while Black Hat was mostly surveying Demencia. 5.0.5 was at home cleaning the home and with the security system,it wasn't going to be infiltrated.
Black Hat was looking at Demencia when Flug came over.
"Sir,she's will be in a coma for a month at least due to severe blood loss and several broken bones." Flug said.
Black Hat sighed. Not only did he lose one of his lackeys,he had a serial killer on the loose in his own town. So what happens now?
"Let's go. I need to get some air."
-Later-
Black Hat didn't do much for the first day.
All he did was simple: Do paperwork, check on Flug,prank on 5.0.5 and do more paperwork.
Black Hat thought that without Demencia apparently, was that the mansion seemed more empty than usual.
Flug seemed otherwise fine with the change at first but you could see that he was worried. Demencia was his creation,and even though he didn't like her at all after that,he still praised her as his first genetically modified organism.
Black Hat also didn't see any difference for 5.0.5. In fact, the bear seemed happier that Demencia. The keyword here is seemed. The bear actually missed Demencia. Imagine that 5.0.5 and Demencia were brother and sister that always fought each other. Now imagine that,one of them goes somewhere for a while. The other would be missing the fights they had.
That was the situation that 5.0.5 had. So Black Hat could understand that.
All he needed was something to do.
He hadn't done a lot for the past day, he might as well do something tomorrow.
Black Hat now sat at his chair,thinking.
He was mostly thinking about this 'Hysteria Killer'. What was it that made him special? What kind of moral did he have? Motive? Black Hat felt he was a detective trying to solve this case.
He thought about it. There was something that he felt nostalgic over but yet it's been 30 years since he last used it.
Walking towards one of the storage rooms he had, he walked past old inventions, 5.0.5's cleaning supplies and other old things, he found what he was looking for.
A board that would help in solving murders.
He got it from a friend of a friend that was a detective. He mostly used it for analysis on serial killers such as Ted Bundy, the Killer Clown and the Zodiac Killer (which he gave up after a year).
Bringing towards his office, he placed beside his desk. Soon,he opened one of the drawers and took out a few pins, several coloured strings and a laptop.
Now, (insert some music from CSI)Black Hat then began researching. This was his past time. Analysing humans. He was otherwise fascinated by this humans that would awful, awful things like killing other humans in insane ways for crazy motives. He was also impressed that these humans would sometimes disappear in the wind. Gone. Untraceable. He would try to solve these kinds of incidents. Sometimes, he would solve the case but won't turn in the suspected killer. Other times, he would not solve these cases, yet this only happened on a few occasions.
Ever since the humans had created technology, he was pretty hooked with computers and gadgets. It also made looking answers for questions or guide for doing something much easier and without much effort. Now, he was repeating what he hadn't done in a few decades.
Asking around on this site called 'Reddit'(Yes,he has been looking on the Internet,I know.),he was able to talk enthusiasts that were interested in the Hysteria Killer,or THK for short, seemed to have a pattern. He kept researching and mostly putting all the points together on the board he had.
This eventually became his new routine:Wake up, eat brunch,check on Flug/disturb 5.0.5,do investigation, check on Flug and then sleep.
This went for around a week or so before Flug took notice.
Flug was walking past his boss's office when he noticed that Black Hat was looking at the laptop he gave him. He didn't mind much about it until he saw his boss doing it again the next day. Following this, Black Hat stood up from his chair and started putting pictures on the board (located next to his desk)with pins. Flug wasn't so sure why his bosses was doing it but he was curious. So with all the courage he could muster,he walked in.
"Jefecito, what are you doing?" Flug asked.
Black Hat turned around with a look of "I'm very fucking busy right now, so please go away."on his face. He promptly turned back to the board.
Flug proceeded cautiously to beside him. Looking at the board,he saw it more or less an analysis on The Hysteria Killer. It included the victims,how they were killed,and other information.
"Sir,why are you interested in this killer? Aren't you supposed to the police?"Flug asked.
Black Hat looked towards Flug and grinned. "Humans are quite interesting to see, aren't they,Flug?"Black Hat said.
"What do you mean,sir?"
"I mean look at you,Flug. You are the creator of mass weapons of pure destruction and chaos. Some humans would destroy others with atomic bombs. But the most interesting are these serial killers that would kill and torture others for their own amusement. Not only that,they would do impressive ways and sometimes are never caught."
"So?"
"This killer is one of the smartest I've seen. Not as smart Jack the Ripper but somewhere up there. So-"
"What I am trying to say is why the hell are you this?!Why?! This isn't you!" Flug suddenly shouted.
Black Hat was surprised yet soon went back to his calm state. "The reason I am doing this is kill that bastard who not only kidnapped one of my employees yet manage to torture and nearly killed her."
Black Hat then turned to face Flug and spoked sternly: "Now how about you,go back to work."
"Y-yes,sir."
Flug soon walked out of the office.
'What's with him?Black Hat thought. Flug seemed to be different nowadays and he dared to get angry at him? Something was amiss.
Black Hat sighed and went towards his desk. He felt tired. Might as well take a quick nap.
Well,that's that.
I'll be taking a small break for a while so I won't be uploading any chapter for a few weeks.
See ya next time. :)