With Dementia out of commission for a few days, Flug set five of the Hatbots into combat mode to train Lita. When Black Hat passed by the gym, he found her and the bots engaged in a bo staff battle. He stopped in the doorway, watching her staff click with theirs with every block. One Hatbot managed to hit her shoulder from behind, but she quickly recovered and spun around, swinging her staff below to knock the robot over. Her technique was sloppy, but her reflexes were swift.

Black Hat felt a mixture of awe and frustration as he watched her. Her admission to having enjoyed observing his wrath yesterday had been…interesting. On one hand, he'd been thrilled that she had a deep-rooted sadism within her. On the other, he'd been disappointed that he had failed to frighten her once again. Even Dementia, who was crazily obsessed with him, feared him to some degree! And Flug, who had his own sadistic pleasures, cowered in the presence of his boss!

But Lita…Black Hat couldn't figure her out! How could she shrink from Dementia, yet not from him? How could she insist there was no such thing as evil, yet still took pleasure in others' pain? And how could she wear a turtleneck during a workout? At least this one was blue rather than black, so the fuzz wouldn't stick as much.

Lita was so focused on the Hatbots, she had not yet noticed her boss standing in the doorway. Grinning mischievously, Black Hat decided to take advantage of this. Dissolving into his shadow on the floor, he slithered up behind her. Then, materializing, he let out a roar, buzz-saws, tentacles and crab claws coming out of his mouth.

What he got instead of a scream was a hard blow to the face, knocking him to the side. Once Lita saw who she'd hit, her mouth dropped open.

"Boss!"

The Hatbots dropped their bo staffs and gave shaky salutes. Glancing around, Lita realized she was the only one holding a weapon now.

"Shit."

Black Hat stood back up, his face returned to normal as he glared at her.

"S-Sorry!" Lita stammered, holding her staff behind her back. "You s-startled me, sir…and…r-reflex and…"

Growling, Black Hat reached behind her and snatched the staff from her hands. He then raised it above her head. Lita tried backing away but he grabbed her wrist with his free hand. She was so sure he was going to strike her.

Scowling, Lita wrenched her wrist away through his thumb. "It's your fault for sneaking up on me like that! What did you expect?"

He snarled as he brought down the bo. Lita raised her arm to block it, but it never made contact. Black Hat held the staff out to the side.

"You're gripping it too hard," he said gruffly, spinning the staff loosely in his hand. "You need to let the staff move by itself."

Lowering her arm, Lita watched as he gracefully moved the staff from one hand to the other, before holding it out to her.

"R-Right," she said, taking it. "It's, uh…been a while since I used a staff. Well, my mom and I used brooms, but…"

She trailed off as he moved behind her and lay one hand on her shoulder.

"Don't stand so squarely," he commanded, pushing her right shoulder forward. "Keep a sideways stance with one foot forward. Otherwise, you'll be hitting yourself more than your opponent."

Lita silently obeyed with her right foot.

"Now," he said, moving one hand down her right arm, "let's start with the basics. Make sure you're holding the center of the staff. Again. Don't grip it. With time you'll realize the staff has a mind of its own."

Nodding, she positioned her right hand to the middle of the staff.

"Focus your gaze on one of the ends," he said, lifting her chin up with his left hand. "Now, I want you to draw a figure eight."

She didn't flinch as his gloved hand closed over hers. She trusted him, at least in this. He sounded like he knew what he was doing. His directions were certainly clearer than Dementia's, whose teaching method was mostly shouting "Hit!" "Punch!" and "Kick!"

"Let it drop to your left, slowly," Black Hat said, guiding her hand with each movement. "Follow the end with your eyes. Bring back up, let it drop to the other side, come back around, let it drop, and just keep going. Don't take your gaze off the end!"

They continued making slow figure eights in the air. Eventually, they became faster and Black Hat felt she was ready enough for him to let go and back away. Already, her balance and grip had improved.

"Once you've gotten used to one hand, you can start using both," Black Hat said.

"Where'd you learn this?" Lita asked, switching over to the left hand once the right one had gotten tired.

"Left foot forward!" he exclaimed before answering. "Beijing, third century."

The staff flew out of her hand as she turned to him. "Third what now?"

"You didn't grip hard enough!" Black Hat shouted, stretching out his arm to retrieve the staff.

"But…third century?!" she said, walking up to him. "I mean I know you're immortal, but…just how old…were you born this way or—?"

Sighing, Black Hat tossed the stick aside. "Perhaps that's enough of the bo staff for today." He pointed to the hanging rings. "You may spend the rest of your training period on gymnastics."

"Fine," Lita said, running towards the rings.

"Assuming you can do that without supervi—"

Leaping up, she gripped the rings and swung her legs forward, tucking them in as she rolled upward. Black Hat shut his mouth as she hung upside-down, her long ponytail dangling as she extended her legs upward. She caught his stunned expression.

"What?" she said, her arms shaking slightly as she held herself in place. "This is how," she said, dropping her legs to swing herself forward, "I stayed in shape," when she was right-side-up, her legs swung sideways into a split, "at home."

Black Hat blinked, amazed not only at her flexibility, but her ability to follow directions. When he'd tried to train Dementia, she'd been too busy ogling at him and copping feels to listen. And while Flug was a better listener, he was also a nervous wreck and often messed up as a result. With Lita, he had simply needed to point and she followed. He wasn't used to such diligence.

"Am I doing it right, sir?" Lita asked, her legs now straightened as she started on some dips.

Shaking his head, he replied, "Yes, yes. Very good. I'll, um…leave you to it, then."

The next few days were…strange for Lita. For some reason, Black Hat had the sudden compulsion to pop up in random places, trying to scare her with some gruesome shapeshifted face. Around the corner, in a closet, in the refrigerator, in her computer screen, in the bathroom mirror. That last one had resulted in her smacking him with a wet towel.

The first few times had made her jump in surprise, but after a while, it just became bothersome to a point where she'd just walk past him or close the door on him, depending on the situation. A few times she had struck him out of reflex. Fortunately, he never punished her for it. That may have been due to the fact that she had run away before he could.

But Black Hat's apparent need for annoying her wasn't the problem. It was Dementia. Though she was still recovering, her broken right arm in a splint, whenever Lita came across her, the lizard-girl would send her a furious look. One evening at dinner, Dementia had taken her chicken leg between her teeth and snapped it in two, all while glaring across the table at Lita.

Lita had decided to eat the rest of her meal in her room.

But other than the jump scares and stink eyes, Lita wasn't having much trouble settling into the household. Cooking was still confusing, but thanks to 5.0.5.'s help and Dementia's injury, there were no more explosions. And despite the daily need for an ice bath, she was starting to get used to the long, vigorous training sessions.

It wasn't until her seventh day that she ran into trouble. She was vacuuming the carpet in the hallway when she heard Black Hat shouting.

"YOU STUPID BEAR! LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

Switching off the vacuum, Lita went to investigate. She peered into an open doorway leading to Black Hat's trophy room. Her boss, who had grown twice his normal size, was looming over a shivering 5.0.5. Between them on the floor were colored shards.

"THAT VASE WAS MING!" Black Hat shouted, his voice lower than its usual tone. "WORTH MORE THAN IT TOOK TO MAKE YOU! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT IT TOOK TO STEAL THIS THING?!"

Whimpering, the bear dropped to the floor and covered his head with his paws.

"YOU STUPID, DIM-WITTED, FAILED CREATION OF SCIENCE!" The demon bared his sharp claws. "I OUGHT TO RIP OUT YOUR INTESTINES AND TWIST THEM ROUND YOUR NECK!"

Lita's hand flew to her mouth. She knew it would be unwise to intervene, especially after watching Dementia get punished. But that had been different. 5.0.5. had been the only one in this madhouse to be consistently nice to her from the beginning. He didn't deserve to be punished for something that was clearly an accident.

As Black Hat raised his claw, Lita charged into the room, shouting, "Stop! Don't hurt him!"

He whipped around, his eye glowing red as it glared at her. This caused Lita to stop in her tracks.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Black Hat shouted, his voice shaking the room so hard the painting tipped out of their upright positions.

Lita's hands trembled as she gazed up at his monstrous form, remembering what he'd done to Dementia. As fun as that had been to watch, she didn't want the same thing happening to her.

Then she glanced at 5.0.5., not wanting the same thing to happen to him either. She knew he was indestructible, but any severe injury was still bound to hurt.

After deciding which scenario she preferred more, Lita took a deep breath and faced the demon boldly. "It was an accident! He doesn't deserve to be punished!"

Black Hat let out a demonic growl that sent a chill up her spine. "THIS DOESN'T CONCERN YOU! LEAVE NOW BEFORE I EXACT THE SAME PUNISHMENT ON YOU!"

Scowling, Lita crossed her arms. "Go ahead! Choke me with my own intestines! Just leave 5.0.5. alone!"

5.0.5. squeaked in protest while Black Hat stared at her in disbelief.

Once again, any fear he'd smelled from her had diminished as quickly as it had come.

Gritting his teeth together so hard that they cracked, Black Hat swept Lita up, his hand large enough to encircle her completely.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" He roared into her face, sending her hair flying back. "WHY AREN'T YOU AFRAID RIGHT NOW?!"

Refusing to back down, Lita continued to glare at him as he tightened his grip. "I'm not…afraid…of dying!"

He brought her closer to his face, so that she was but an inch away from his enlarged red eye. "EVERYONE'S AFRAID OF SOMETHING!"

Her brow furrowed further. "Even you?"

He blinked, surprised at this response. "What?"

While his voice still held its demonic tone, it had dropped in volume significantly. Lita managed to pull one of her arms out of his grasp and used it to lean herself forward.

"You said everyone's afraid of something. What are you afraid of?"

Silence fell as he held her there, the two of them engaged in an intense staring contest. Honestly, Lita didn't care if he killed her right then and there. After all, he'd be the one losing a valuable thief. Besides, if she couldn't protect her father anymore, at least she could die protecting another.

But Black Hat couldn't kill her, or injure her as severely as he had done with Dementia. Lita wasn't as durable. He needed her physically able enough to steal. If he were to kill her, all that talent would be wasted.

Did she know that? Was that why she was unafraid?

Finally, he released the woman, dropping her to the floor. She yelped from the impact and struggled to rise as her boss shrank back to his normal height.

"Since you're so inclined to defend this," Black Hat said, glancing at 5.0.5., "pathetic excuse of a henchman," he looked back at her, "you'll be completing his list of chores for today." Grabbing the front of her turtleneck, he lifted her onto her feet. "All of it!"

"Fine," Lita said, swiping his hand away. "Just let the Hatbots know I'll be missing our training session this afternoon."

He watched in bewilderment as she straightened out her turtleneck, acting as if she'd merely tripped. Growling, Black Hat snapped his fingers, magically reforming the Ming vase and bringing it back onto its pedestal. Lita crossed her arms at this.

"If you could've done that this whole time, why—?"

"JUST GET BACK TO WORK BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND!"

Holding up her hands in surrender, Lita walked casually out of the room. Black Hat glanced down at the bear, who was staring up at him in confusion. A scowl from the demon convinced 5.0.5. to rush after Lita.

Wanting to release his urge to destroy something, Black Hat cried out furiously as he extended his arms, smashing through the walls on either side of him.

"That woman is getting on my last nerve!" he exclaimed, shrinking his arms back. "First, she takes pleasure in the suffering of a colleague, but then prevents the suffering of another?!"

He stomped his foot so hard, his prized medieval shield fell off the wall.

"Why isn't she afraid of me?!" he said, grabbing the shield so he could look at his reflection. "WHO WOULDN'T BE AFRAID OF ME?!"

He ended up crushing the shield in his hands. Unfazed, he tossed it aside, wedging it into an ionic column. He could always fix it later.

"I could've killed her," he muttered, closing his fingers around what he imagined to be Lita's head. "I had her in my claws. I could've crushed her into a pile of dust!"

Growling, he smashed his hands together.

And yet…she had stood her ground, looked him directly in the eye and called him out on his bullshit. She'd even dared to suggest that he had fears!

Strange. No one had ever asked that of him before. Therefore, he'd never had a reason to think about it. Was there something he was afraid of?

Black Hat shook this thought out of his head. "What do I have to be afraid of? I'm invincible!" He looked to the open doorway. "It's her who should be afraid! And I'll find out what it is," he said, pressing his fingers together in determination, "one way or another."

When Lita entered the gym the next morning, the door slammed shut behind her.

"Miss me, girlfriend?"

She spun around, coming face-to-face with Dementia, who was leaning leisurely back against the door.

"D-Dementia!" Lita stammered, glancing at the lizard-girl's splint-free arm. "You're…you're all better!"

"Yup!" she exclaimed, flexing her bare right arm. "The Nutcracker's back in business!" She kissed the muscles. "But, just to make sure she's really repaired," she said, her eyes moving towards Lita, "what say we have a little lesson in…boxing?"

Lita gulped, not liking the tone of her voice. "Um, sounds good." She glanced around. "Err…where do you keep the boxing gloves? Oh, wait. I've got some in my room."

She reached for the door bar, only for Dementia to spread herself out fully against it.

"Oh," she said with a toothy grin. "We won't be needing gloves."

Taking a step back, Lita said, "Um…okay. I can go bare-knuckled. So, uh…where's the ring?"

"This is the ring," Dementia said, stalking towards her.

There was a crazed look in the lizard-girl's mismatched eyes, one that caused Lita to raise her fists readily.

"You thought you could get me in trouble, huh?" Dementia said, raising her own fists. "Thought you could get rid of me, huh?" Her teeth gritted together as she scowled. "Thought you could have my honeybun all to yourself, did ya?!"

The right hook came fast, but Lita ducked in time.

"Well, Nutcracker ain't too happy about that!"

"Not this again!" Lita shouted, jumping away from the left hook. "I already told you! I'm not interested in the boss!"

Dementia huffed. "You think I'm an idiot? You think I don't see ya all over him like sauerkraut on wheat?!"

"Sauerkraut on—?" Lita said, blocking her jab. "What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Come on! Every time I turn around, he has his arm around you!"

Dementia swiped both arms in an attempt to grab her. Lita rolled out of the way.

"How is that my fault?!" she said as she came back up. "He's the one putting his arm around me! And he only does it to mess with me!"

"Well, I don't see you discouraging him!" Dementia shouted, whipping her fists out rapidly.

Lita backed away to avoid the next round of punches. "He wouldn't be interested anyway! What about Rule 10V3?!"

The lizard-girl laughed. "We're villains! Rules don't apply to us!"

"And it's not my fault you got in trouble! You were the one who exploded my spaghetti!"

"Ha! I improved it!" She lunged forward, only for Lita to step to the side. "Who puts paprika in spaghetti anyway?!"

"I can't believe you're getting this worked up over Black Hat! What do you even see in him? The guy fucking broke your arm!"

"I know!" Her eyes gazed up dreamily at the ceiling. "And it was…amazing!"

"But that's abu—" Lita cocked her head. "Then again…is it really abuse if the victim is a masochist?"

Suddenly, Dementia caught her off-guard with an uppercut to her chin. Yelping in pain, Lita backed away, moving swiftly from side to side to avoid Dementia's blows and kicks.

"You wish Black Hat would break your arm!" the lizard-girl said, cackling maniacally. "You just wouldn't last as long!"

Lita found herself being backed into a corner. Dementia was moving too fast for her to keep up. She cried out as the mutant's foot made contact with her ribs, forcing her to bend forward. Grinning in triumph, Dementia grabbed her chin with her left hand. Lita attempted to pull away, but her grip was too strong!

"You're a tough cookie," Dementia said, raising the Nutcracker. "But you're still breakable."

When Flug entered the kitchen to get some apples for his experiment, he found Lita sticking her head inside the freezer.

"Lita, I didn't think it was your turn to make—"

"Ow!" she cried out, hitting her head on the freezer door.

"Oh, geez!" Flug exclaimed, rushing towards her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" Lita yelled, turning her face away from him. "Nothing to worry about! You just startled me!"

He raised an eyebrow as she buried her head further into the freezer. She appeared to be holding something up to the left side of her face.

"You…sure?"

"Yeah, great!" She waved her free hand back at him. "Go on! Nothing to see here! I'm just peachy!"

Not buying her act, Flug gripped her shoulders and spun her around. The item she held over her left eye was a cold compress.

"What happened to your eye?" he asked.

"Nothing!" Lita said, attempting to cover it up with her other hand in vain. "I just…really like the feeling of ice on my…"

She trailed off as Flug crossed his arms, staring incredulously at her. Sighing in defeat, Lita slowly lowered the ice pack, revealing the swollen purpleness surrounding her left eye. Flug gave her a sympathetic look.

"Was it the boss or Dementia?"

"Dementia," Lita murmured. "Revenge of the Nutcracker."

"Ah." He raised his hand towards her face. "May I?"

Nodding, she allowed Flug to touch her face and examine her eye. "Any problems moving it?"

"No," she replied quietly.

"Any dizziness or headache?"

"No."

He held up two fingers. "How many fingers do you see?"

"Two."

"Good." He dropped both hands. "Well, there doesn't appear to be any bleeding in the eye, so you shouldn't need any medical attention." He leaned forward to whisper. "Which is good, because I'm not a medical doctor."

Lita blinked. "What do you when someone's really injured?"

Flug shrugged. "I patch it up as best I can. On rare occasions, we have a retired member of the organization working at the Hat Island Hospital." He rolled his eyes. "Instead of removing people's organs he's switched to fixing them. Sad how the mighty have fallen."

She crossed her arms. "You do hear yourself sometimes, right?"

Ignoring her question, Flug reached into the fridge and pulled out a plastic container of pineapple chunks. "Here. You'll want some Vitamin C. It'll help the swelling reduce faster, and strengthen your blood vessels to reduce any future bruising." Taking her hand, he moved the ice pack back over her eye. "Apply ice every hour for fifteen to twenty minutes. Then tomorrow, do the same with a warm compress."

"For someone who's not a medical doctor," Lita said, taking the pineapple chunks, "you seem to know a lot about this."

"Well," he said, rubbing his arm anxiously, "let's just say I know a lot of first aid from experience."

That sentence led her to a disconcerting conclusion. With Black Hat's supernatural powers, Dementia's superhuman strength and 5.0.5.'s indestructibleness, the only other human in this house…was Flug. While he wasn't harmless, he lacked in the physical strength to defend himself. There was no doubt he'd had to treat a few injuries of his own as a result of Black Hat's and Dementia's tantrums.

She didn't have the heart to ask.

"Thanks, Flug," Lita said. "Could you…do me one more favor?"

"Depends," Flug said, closing the fridge.

She looked at him seriously. "Could you not tell the boss about my shiner?"

He blinked in bewilderment. "Um…I won't say anything, but…he's bound to find out sooner or later. Even if he didn't see it happen on the cameras, it's kind of hard to miss!"

Thinking, Lita put down the container and compress and reached back to pull the tie out of her hair. She then swept her hair to the side, brushing a chunk in the front over her left eye. She then retied the ponytail so that it was hanging over her left shoulder.

"There," she said, brushing the hair further over her shiner. "He'll never notice."

Flug shook his head. "You're being ridiculous. You can't hide that thing forever. Besides, what would be the point in—?"

"Just don't tell him about it!" Lita snapped, picking up the container and compress. "Okay?!"

Holding the pack over her eye, she stomped out of the kitchen.

"I don't see what the big deal is!" he called after her. "I get black eyes all the time and no one's ever said anything!"

"That's because you wear that stupid bag, genius!"

He paused. "The point still stands!"

While doing her chores that afternoon, Lita kept her head low in case Black Hat was watching the cameras. Even though her hair covered her shiner, she didn't want to take any chances. She was so emotionally drained by dinnertime, she didn't feel like eating. She especially didn't want to encounter Dementia in the kitchen and give her the opportunity to gloat. So, once seven o'clock hit, she put away the cleaning supplies and headed straight for her room.

She almost bumped into Black Hat as she turned a corner.

"Retiring to bed?"

She backed off, but didn't scream, keeping her head lowered.

"Err, um," Lita said, moving her hair further over her eye. "Yeah. I've, uh, finished the chores you asked me to do today, sir."

He looked down at her curiously. "No supper?"

"Not hungry, sir," she said, trying to move past him. "Buenas noches."

Her actions made him frown. Something was…off about her. Usually, Lita would look him straight in the eye while addressing him. And yet, her head was down, her hand over her face, as if she were trying to hide something.

She appeared…guilty. And though the scent wasn't rich, she still emanated more fear than he'd smelled from her all week. Black Hat's grin returned at the thought that she had done something she wasn't supposed to do and was afraid he'd find out. Now was the perfect opportunity to scare it out of her!

Spinning around, he quickly snatched her arm, pulling her back to face him.

"If there's something you're hiding from me," he said as tiny bugs started crawling out of his gums and all over his teeth, "you're wasting your…"

Then his smile fell when he realized she wasn't looking at him, missing the disgusting display in his mouth. Only the right side of her face was showing as she kept the other side turned away. Also, he was just now noticing that she was wearing her hair differently today. Her ponytail was hanging loosely over the side, rather than in the back like usual.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about, sir," Lita said, trying to pry herself out of his grasp. "I'm n-not hiding anything."

She was stammering too. Clearly, something was making her uneasy. But she was never uneasy in front of him.

"Then look at me," he said with a frustrated growl.

"S-Sir?"

He gave her arm a firm shake. "TURN AROUND AND LOOK AT ME, WOMAN!"

Lita hesitated, then moved her head slowly, but still keeping it low. As he got a better look at her, Black Hat's grip loosened slightly. Her hair was covering half her face, and through the strands he could make out the color purple.

Curious, he slowly raised his free hand towards her face. Lita recoiled, turning her head away again.

"I'm not going to strike you," he said in an annoyed tone.

She shook her head. "That's…not what I'm w-worried about, sir."

He reached for her hair.

"Don't!"

Black Hat growled in frustration. "For hell's sake, woman, I just want a look at you!"

Lita shut her eyes, knowing he wasn't going to let her go until he saw. Flug had been right. There was no point in trying to hide it.

Hanging her head in defeat, she slowly turned back towards him. When Black Hat raised his claw towards her face, she didn't recoil this time and allowed him to move back the loose strands.

Her swollen eye was now exposed. Lita opened her eyes to see her boss staring at it in confusion.

"I know I didn't do that," he said quietly.

Despite the fact that he'd seen it, she covered the shiner with her free hand. "D-Dementia…b-boxing."

"Ah," he said with a smirk. "Well, as the old saying goes: no pain, no…"

He trailed off when something else caught his eye. In grabbing her arm, the sleeve of her turtleneck had moved up slightly, revealing some discoloration above her wrist. His face fell as he used his other hand to roll up the sleeve.

The black eye wasn't her only injury. Her olive skin was covered in splotches of purple, brown and yellow. Fresh bruises, and faded ones.

"And…these?"

Wrenching her arm away, Lita hastily rolled her sleeve back into place. "B-Bruises are…expected when…sparring."

His eye fell to her now concealed wrist. "That's quite a lot of bruising."

Not that he really cared that she was hurt. He was just…surprised that she'd sustained so much injury and hadn't said anything about it.

Tearing her gaze from him, Lita hid her arms behind her back. "It, um…won't happen again, sir."

Now he was truly curious. She didn't appear to be in pain. Rather…embarrassed. But for what?

Her recent habit of wearing turtlenecks made sense now. She'd been trying to cover up her injuries, which probably didn't limit to her arms if she'd felt the need to conceal her neck. And she'd changed her hair to hide her black eye. But why? Why go through all the trouble? Why did him seeing her injuries scare her more than him threatening to kill her?

As he continued to observe her, Black Hat slowly started to understand.

She wasn't hurting from the injuries, but from the fact that she'd been injured in the first place.

But of course. While Lita was skillful, she wasn't indestructible like Black Hat and 5.0.5., nor as durable as Dementia. She was human like Flug, and just as vulnerable. And that's what scared her. Being perceived as vulnerable.

This theory would explain a lot. Why she frequently stood up to him, even though she was outmatched. Why she had been ready to accept his punishment rather than look like a coward and run away. She didn't want to appear weak, which was, ironically, her own weakness.

Black Hat smiled to himself, thrilled that he'd solved at least one piece of the puzzle that was Adelita Gris.

"I'll…do better next time, sir," Lita said, still not looking at him. "I'm just…not used to dealing with Dementia's brute strength."

That smile left as quickly as it had come.

Black Hat…didn't like seeing her like this. The strong, bold woman he'd come to know over the past week had been reduced to this nervous, shameful victim. And frankly, the reason was silly! Did she really think he was going to berate her for a few bruises? Like he cared if his subordinates got injured in the line of duty!

Then he found himself stricken with a strange compulsion. A compulsion to do something… something…questionable.

"But now that I've got a better idea of her fighting style," Lita continued, "I should be able to get through our next session without a…"

Suddenly, she felt something cold on her chin. It was Black Hat's finger. Slowly, it lifted her chin up so that her gaze met his. His mouth wasn't grinning or frowning, but in a small, straight line. It made him appear…serious.

"Villains are not invulnerable, Miss Gris," Black Hat said.

She pursed her lips, astonished by his sudden soft tone.

"Even the best villains get injured from time to time," he continued. "Even if they win the battle, they may come out with a few…scratches."

His one eye moved to his left. In the direction of his monocle.

"But that," he said, looking back at her, "does not make them any less strong. What makes a villain strong is that they never stop fighting, despite how many hits they've taken." He gave a small smile. "And based on the fact that you're still walking, and your organs are still intact, I'd say you did just that."

Both of them were silent for a long while as his eye stared into hers. Lita remained still, having not expected these words to come from Black Hat's mouth. And said so sincerely too. His finger didn't feel so cold anymore as it held her chin gently.

Then, realizing he was still touching her, Black Hat lowered his finger and cleared his throat.

"That being said," he said, placing his hands behind his back, "the next time you receive an injury, don't feel the ridiculous inclination to cover it up. After all," he said, tapping his monocle, "battle scars are nothing to be ashamed of."

And with that, he walked past her, leaving her frozen in astonishment. Raising one hand over her shiner, Lita turned to watch Black Hat's back as it disappeared around the next corner.

"Huh."

When she turned back, she found Dementia in her face.

"Ready for Round Two?" she said chipperly.

Lita screamed as she scrambled backward, her fists flying up to defend herself. Dementia let out a cackle that was much lower than her usual one. Lita then watched in confusion as Dementia's skin turned inside-out, morphing into Black Hat.

"Aha!" he cried, pointing at her triumphantly. "Got you at last!"

She stared at him for a long while. Black Hat expected her to scold and or punch him. What he hadn't expected was for her to burst out laughing.

He cocked his head at her. "What's so funny?"

"You…" She struggled to breath as she continued to laugh. "You… ¡Hijole! You…you got me good!" She clutched her stomach, bending over. "I was…when I thought…I was so scared!"

Crossing his arms, Black Hat sighed in exasperation. "You are by far the strangest mortal I've ever encountered."

Finally calming down, Lita wiped away a tear. "Guess that makes us even then." She went up and punched him playfully in the shoulder. "You're the strangest being I've ever encountered."

He raised an eyebrow at this casual action.

"Thanks for, uh," she said, blushing slightly, "cheering me up, boss."

"Don't mention it," he said, narrowing his gaze at her. "Ever."

She caught his drift and knew not to push it any further. "I'll, uh…see you around then."

She walked past him, deciding she might have dinner after all. Black Hat dug his claws into his arms, resisting the urge to watch her leave.

What had possessed him to do that? Comfort her like that?! Villains didn't comfort their subordinates!

I had to! Black Hat thought. She was being pathetic! I can't have my henchgirl be pathetic over something so insignificant as a black eye!

Yes, that was it. He just wanted her to be able to do her job without getting hung up on minor injuries. It had nothing to do with wanting to cheer her up.

Well, at the very least, he'd gotten a good scare out of her. And had finally uncovered one of her insecurities.

"So, you're afraid of being seen as a weakling, are you? Interesting," he said quietly, his teeth showing as he grinned. "Now that is something I can use."

I'd actually written that last scene earlier on, but then realized it might be better used later. Then it was just going to be about the bruises on her arm, but when the scene made me realize something about Lita's character, I figured she'd make more of an effort to hide her injuries until they were no longer unnoticeable.