WARNING: THIS CHAPTER ADDRESSES ISSUES OF HOMOPHOBIA AND TRANSPHOBIA THAT MAY BE TRIGGERING FOR SOME! THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED SUCH MATTERS, PROCEED WITH CAUTION!
Lita had never been in so much pain. As she slowly came to, she found it difficult to move her left arm and leg, and her right side was screaming. There was a steady beep in her ear that was too slow to be her alarm. Opening her eyes, she found herself in her bedroom. Only she wasn't entirely on her back, but reclined somehow.
Confused, she craned her head to see Flug sitting in a chair beside her bed, looking at his tablet. Upon hearing her groan, the scientist looked up and gasped.
"You're awake!" He nearly dropped his tablet as he stood up. "Oh, thank Einstein!" He bolted out the door. "Boss! Dementia! 5.0.5!"
Lita attempted to prop herself up on her right elbow as she assessed the situation. She was lying in some sort of hospital bed, dressed in a blue hospital gown. Her left arm was in a sling and after flinging the blanket off her, she saw the lower part of her left leg wrapped in a bandage. The ache in her right side caused her to lay back down. Gently patting her abdomen, she felt the texture of a bandage beneath the gown. As she did this, she noticed a small band-aid inside her right elbow.
Following the beeping sound, she found a heart rate monitor on her right side. It was attached to five electrodes on her chest.
Before Lita could recollect the events of last night, the door burst open and Flug, Dementia and 5.0.5. came rushing in. Along with an auburn-haired, bespectacled woman she didn't immediately recognize.
"You live!" Dementia cried, jumping onto the bed.
Lita was nearly suffocated by Dementia's and 5.0.5.'s hugs.
"I thought the point of this was to not kill the patient," Andi said, gently pushing them off.
"Where…?" Lita looked around. "What happened?"
Flug gently took her free hand. "You were shot. Three times. In the arm, leg and hip." He pointed to the band-aid on her elbow. "I know you don't like needles, but we had to do a blood transfusion."
"Oh," she said simply with a nod. "That…explains things."
5.0.5. grunted something unintelligible to most of the people there.
"He wants to know if you're hungry," Flug translated.
"Oh, yeah," Lita said. "A bit thirsty too."
"Broo!" 5.0.5. exclaimed before rushing out of the room.
"He's getting you some banana juice," Flug said. "And some chocolate syrup to go with your pancakes."
Lita smiled at how well 5.0.5. knew her, while Andi stared at the scientist in bewilderment.
"How in the name of Jane Goodall are you able to understand what that bear says?" she asked, pointing her thumb towards the door.
He was about to answer when Dementia said, "Eh, we stopped questioning it ages ago."
"Actually," Flug said, narrowing his eyes at the mutant, "when I created him, I modeled his brainwaves off of mine. It was entirely unintentional, but it sort of created a mental link between us. Nothing fancy, but I can at least decipher his grunts."
"You created him?" Andi said in awe. "That's…that's amazing!" She smiled sheepishly. "You know, when I first saw that bear in your commercials, I kind of screamed like a fangirl. I was a huge Care Bears fan when I was a kid."
"Really?" Flug said, forcing a surprised tone. "What a, uh, unexpected coincidence."
Andi opened her mouth to speak, but Dementia popped up between the two of them. "This nerd still sleeps with a teddy bear!"
Flug growled furiously and was about to pull out his gun. Then Andi stepped around Dementia and whispered in his ear.
"So do I."
The scientist let out a tiny squeak as he tapped his fingers together. Lita looked between the two of them, utterly bewildered. She was only just noticing that this woman was wearing one of Flug's lab coats over her bloodied scrubs.
"I'm sorry, but…who are you?"
"Right. How rude of me." Andi walked up to Lita. "Andrea Espinosa. We actually met a couple months ago."
"Oh, yeah!" Lita pointed at her. "The makeup aisle. Andi, right? You didn't tell me you were a doctor."
"Not officially. Still on the internship."
"Our usual doctor was terminated," Flug explained. "Word got out about his involvement in our organization."
Andi shrugged. "My coworkers pretty much sacrificed me because I can keep cool under pressure. And so your boss wouldn't burn down the hospital."
Lita blinked. "He said he'd do that?"
"More like shouted to the heavens, but yeah. Almost didn't let me operate on you. Wouldn't let go of your hand, insisted he go in with you."
Lita gave her an incredulous look. "My boss? That sure doesn't sound like—"
"We were all a bit stressed out at the time!" Flug said hastily.
"We thought you were gonna die!" Dementia exclaimed.
"Almost did," Andi said bluntly. "That bullet that hit your shoulder was just a centimeter from your heart. That suit you were wearing must've lessened the force of the bullet's impact somewhat though, as the one down there was close to shattering your hipbone."
"Was the suit ruined, Flug?" Lita asked.
He waved his hand. "Easy fix. I'll work on making something much more bulletproof this time."
"Whatever you made the first suit with saved her from much more serious injuries," Andi said to him before turning back to Lita. "He may not have an MD, but he was certainly a big help in the operating room. Most other interns I see hardly know their forceps from their scalpels."
Laughing nervously, Flug rubbed the back of his reddening neck. "I-It was n-nothing. I mean it's not like I've never…"
The door flung open again and everyone turned to see Black Hat rushing in, his new trench coat flying behind him. Pushing Dementia aside, he leaned towards Lita and cupped her face in his ungloved hands. They moved all around her face, pinching her nose and ears.
"Hey!" Lita said as he stretched her eyes open with his talons. "Boss, wha—?"
"You're alive?" he said breathlessly, his claws settling on her cheeks.
"Yes, I'm… Boss, your hands are freezing!"
Realizing what he was doing, Black Hat retracted his claws and placed them behind his back. Lita had never seen him like this before, as if he was…worried.
Somehow, it was easier to picture him behaving the way Andi had described.
"Yes, well…good." Without taking his eyes off Lita, Black Hat asked, "How soon do you think it will take for her to recover, Doctor?"
"W-Well, sir," Flug said. "I-I'm no expert on these matters, but I think—"
The demon craned his head towards Andi. "I meant her, you idiot!"
Astonished that he was addressing her as a doctor, Andi replied, "W-Well…as long as the wounds don't get infected and the stitches remain intact, she should heal within two weeks, at least enough that she won't need constant care. Though due to her leg and hip injuries, I strongly recommend she refrain from any extraneous activity for the moment. At the very least use a cane when going to the bathroom."
Much to everyone's shock, Black Hat summoned his own cane out of his shadow and leaned it against Lita's bedside table.
"Leave us," he gruffly commanded.
Flug gently ushered Andi out of the room, harshly dragging Dementia by her ponytail. Black Hat and Lita were silent for a moment as they stared at each other. He kept his claws behind his back, resisting the urge to touch her again.
"So, this would be what?" Lita said, glancing down at her sling. "The fourth time you've saved my life now?"
Black Hat tilted his head. "Fourth?"
"You caught me that time I fell from the ceiling, that time I fell off the ladder, the alley incident, now this."
Though she couldn't see them, his claws clenched closed and then opened again. "Don't mistake me for a hero, Miss Ladrona."
She didn't mention what Andi had told her. Or that she was just now remembering that he had been holding her hand while in the hospital, whispering to her that she was going to be alright. Or had she been dreaming that part?
"Well, thanks anyway," Lita said, doing a half-shrug with her good shoulder. "Sorry, this is probably an inconvenience for you."
"This wasn't your doing," Black Hat said quickly. "You were overpowered by several rounds of bullets. You were lucky you were only struck by three."
She hung her head guiltily. "They wouldn't have shot me if I'd been faster."
"You wouldn't have been there in the first place if I hadn't…"
He stopped himself, flexing his fingers. He didn't want to admit that he blamed himself for this incident. He should have never sent her on that dangerous mission. At the very least, he should've accompanied her, ensured her safety.
She had no idea just how scared he had been, holding her near lifeless form in his arms. Black Hat could do many things, but he'd never possessed the power to heal others. That had never been an issue for him, until that moment.
If they hadn't made it to the hospital in time, if they hadn't been fortunate enough to find Andi, Black Hat wouldn't have been able to save the one person he cared about in this world.
"Let's not," he said, slowly relaxing, "point fingers, and be satisfied that everyone survived this ordeal."
"And you got the battery, right?"
"The what?" Black Hat took a moment to remember. "Oh, yes, the…battery."
He had quite honestly forgotten about the reason he'd sent her on that heist in the first place. He was certain it was still on the floor of the van somewhere. He had been sure to teleport that back into the garage before they'd left the hospital. He would go and retrieve the nuclear battery later.
Lita grunted as she attempted to sit up. "It…shouldn't be long until I'm ready to…"
This time, he did touch her. Only to get her to lie back down.
"You're not going anywhere while in that condition," he said firmly, retracting his claw as quickly as he could. "You'll slow the others down."
She groaned. "I gotta do something, boss! I can't just lie here all day doing nothing! I get bored almost as easily as you, remember?"
Black Hat was bewildered by her behavior, that she was more concerned about boredom than her actual health. Didn't she realize she had nearly died last night?
"I'll bring you some paperwork," he said, "if you're so insistent on making yourself useful." He thought for a moment. "In fact, I'll move your desk in here for the time being."
A snap of his fingers brought her desk into the corner of her room. The walk from her bed would be reasonably short.
"Better than nothing, I guess," she said in a disappointed tone.
He knew she would want to get up, leave the room. The woman couldn't sit still for too long. But if she was to recover without a hitch, Black Hat had to lay down the law.
"You will remain here until Dr. Espinosa deems you fit for duty."
Lita cocked her head. "I thought she wasn't an official doctor yet."
"If I say she's a doctor, she's a doctor." He huffed. "Do what she says. You'll heal faster if you cooperate."
She leaned as far as she could towards him. "Are you okay, boss?"
He clenched his claws again, keeping them as fists. "Peachy." He turned his back to her. "I'll send someone in to watch over you."
"I don't need to be babysat."
"Your opinion on the matter is inconsequential," he said without looking at her. "Now, rest up."
Then he strutted out of the room, resisting the urge to glance back. Lita frowned at his demeanor, which was much colder than usual.
In truth, he had been battling with his emotions the entire time alone with her. Between his desire to take her in his arms and never release her, and the fear of showing that he had made her weak.
The rest of the crew came in a few minutes later, 5.0.5. carrying a tray of pancakes, banana juice, chocolate syrup, and a vase holding a single daisy.
"Thanks, Pachoncito," Lita said, her good arm collapsing beneath her. "Don't know how I'm gonna eat all that though."
"Ooh, ooh!" Dementia said, grabbing a remote attached to the side of the bed. "I got it!"
As she pressed a button, Lita's bed slammed all the way flat. The action was so abrupt that Lita let out a shriek.
"Oopsies! I meant to press this one!"
The bed lurched forward, so far that Lita was bent over her legs. Before Dementia could fix it, Flug snatched the remote from her and shifted the bed backward so that Lita was sitting upright.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Y-Yeah," Lita said, rubbing her back. "Just maybe a cracked spine, nothing to worry about."
"Well you're not paralyzed, so that's a good sign," Andi said with a yawn. "Um…not to be one of those abductees who complains, but…I've been up all night and if Lita's awake now…"
Flug was instantly at her side. "Yes, yes, we've thought about that! We cleaned up the guest room across the hall for you! Don't worry, we disabled the traps!"
Andi gave him a weird look before looking down at herself. "And, um, you wouldn't happen to have anything clean to wear, would you?"
Her scrubs were still covered in Lita's dried blood.
"I guess you could borrow my clothes," Lita said. "Though…I don't think you're my size."
Not only was Andi taller, but her bust was much bigger. And her hips were wider, so she'd have a hard time squeezing into Lita's pants.
"What about my clothes?" Dementia said, raising her hand. "We're the same height!"
Andi gazed down at the mutant's ripped up attire. "I'm not sure that's…appropriate, if I'm going to keep checking up on Lita." She looked the scientist over. "You know, Doctor, since you're slightly taller than me, do you think you could…?"
Flug's neck reddened. "Y-You…t-try on m-m-my clothes?"
He didn't like the idea for two reasons. One, he worried that Andi wearing clothes made for men would be too upsetting for her. Two, his unknowing ex-girlfriend would be wearing his clothes. Wearing his lab coat was one thing. He didn't think he'd be able to handle seeing her in his shirt and pants.
He was about to offer to get the shrink ray to use on Lita's clothes, when Andi said, "That's not too weird, is it?"
He then realized how suspicious he would look if he said it was.
"N-No! Not at all! A-After all, m-men's sizes are bigger than w-women's and it might fit your…" He stopped himself before he could gesture to her breasts. "Y-Yeah! W-Why not?"
They stood there for a long while.
"So, uh…" Andi shifted onto the balls of her feet. "You gonna show me your closet?"
Andi in my closet. In my room.
"S-Sure!" he squeaked. "F-Follow me!"
He bolted out of the room, determined to get there first in order to hide all the photographs incriminating his identity. Confused, Andi walked after him.
"Did I miss something?" Lita asked.
Dementia shrugged. "Fluggie's been acting weird all morning. I mean ya know, weirder than normal." She leaned forward to whisper. "Between you and me, I think he's got a crush on the lady doc."
"Ah," Lita said with a nod.
As 5.0.5. set the tray on Lita's lap, Dementia pulled out a stack of magazines from her hair.
"I got ya some of my old magazines, so ya don't get bored! Has a lot of quizzes, gossip articles, makeup tips, which you could really use! Not that ya ain't cute, kid, but you know nothing about makeup!" After flipping through them, the mutant pulled out a torn, soggy one. "Eh, sorry. The front page was shipping Black Hat and Penumbra as a couple."
She stuffed the entire issue into her mouth. Lita raised an eyebrow at how eerily thoughtful the lizard-girl was being.
"I thought you'd be having a field day," Lita said while 5.0.5. started cutting the pancakes into smaller pieces, "seeing me like this."
"Usually, I would." Dementia's voice grew quiet as she set the magazines down on the bedside table. "But…you almost died this time."
"Then you'd have no one to be jealous of."
"And no one to beat up as much as I want."
Lita smirked. "Is this your way of saying that you like me?"
Trying to appear detached, Dementia pouted and crossed her arms. "More like I don't want ya dying at anyone's hands but mine!"
"I'll take that as a yes."
"So…get better soon so I can get back to beating you up again!"
The mutant punched the older woman in her good shoulder, but not enough to hurt. Lita only giggled, knowing that deep down, Dementia cared.
As the days went by, Flug, 5.0.5., Dementia and Andi took turns keeping Lita company, the latter two assisting her in going to the bathroom when needed. Andi had taken the sling off, as it was only to prevent the patient from moving her shoulder and it was actually dangerous to wear it for too long when nothing was broken. Overall, Lita was slowly recovering, though often complaining about how she was lying in bed all day. The paperwork and magazines didn't provide enough distraction.
So, everyone else had started coming up with ways to entertain her. 5.0.5. would bring his laptop with his multiplayer video games and then download the same games onto her laptop so they could play together. Flug brought books from the library. Dementia would bring her guitar and perform private concerts. Flug had put a stop to this after Lita had screamed that they just pull the plug on her.
5.0.5. and Dementia had taken the habit of joining Lita for meals, since she couldn't make it down to the kitchen. Flug would've also joined, but after Andi had requested to eat someplace quiet—Black Hat didn't want her wandering around unsupervised—he had no choice but to accompany her to the kitchen. This alone time with her three times a day was both endearing and nerve-wracking. He made sure to sit as far away from her as possible. But that still meant being forced to look at her for the rough half hour it took for her to eat.
She was absolutely fetching in his lab coat. And his old NASA shirt fit her like a glove. He dreaded at the thought of washing all of it later.
"How the hell are you such a bad guy," Andi said, stuffing the fettucine alfredo into her mouth, "yet such a terrific cook?!"
Flug laughed nervously as he stirred the pasta with his fork. "O-Oh, this is nothing c-compared to what 5.0.5. makes."
Swallowing, Andi leaned onto her elbow, pointing her fork at him. "Gotta hand it to ya. This is the best kidnapping I've ever had."
He looked up at her, genuinely shocked. "You, uh…get kidnapped often?"
Leaning across the table, she whispered, "My parents were superheroes."
Flug had known this detail, but had actually never known that she'd been kidnapped by other villains before. It did explain her nonchalant behavior towards this situation.
"Who?" he asked, feigning innocence.
"Doesn't matter." She waved her hand. "They were killed years ago by some missile crashing into their house." She tilted her head. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
Flug returned his gaze to his untouched dish. "W-We s-sell a l-lot of missiles of all s-sorts to our clients."
This one he'd just so happened to have launched himself. He'd never really learned her reaction to it though.
"Suppose I have you to thank for it then." She snorted. "They were shitty parents. Even if they were alive, they wouldn't bother coming to my rescue." She stabbed her pasta with her fork. "They disowned me as a teen."
Again, Flug pretended to be oblivious. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Been living with my uncle, who is not a hero and is a lot more accepting." Her smile returned. "But seriously, the villains who abducted me before didn't feed me such scrumptious food or put me up in a fancy room! You'd think I was staying at a hotel!"
"A hotel with rules, if you'll remember," he said, trying to sound authoritative. "You're only here until Lita gets better. After that, you're not to tell anyone of your experience here."
Andi shrugged. "If anyone asks, I'll tell 'em you tortured me into doing your bidding. What's more believable? Electroconvulsive shocks or alligator pit?"
"We don't keep gators," Flug said casually. "Just a gigantic snake and Dementia."
"Noted." She paused to take another bite. "So, I know I'm not supposed to wander around without you guys, and pretty sure most of your stuff is classified, but…" Glancing around, she leaned forward. "There anything interesting and unclassified you can show me? Like maybe some old inventions of yours?"
Flug nearly dropped his fork. "Y-You w-wanna see m-my work?"
Andi nodded. "As one curious scientific professional to another."
He should've said no. He was already taking a risk spending so much time alone with her. If she got a look at his work, how long would it take for her to figure out who he was?
Then again, the egotistical side of him wanted to know what someone of equal—if not more—intelligence thought of his work.
"I, uh," he said, twirling his pasta with his fork, "w-would have to ask my boss. But…I think it'd be okay to show you some items we no longer have on the market."
He lifted his bag slightly so he could finally take a bite.
"Okay," Andi said, sitting back in her chair. "It's a date then."
At that, Flug swallowed his pasta before he could chew it. Dropping his fork, he coughed and brought his hands to his throat as he struggled to breathe. With the swiftness of a doctor in training, Andi stood from her seat, stepped around the table, got behind Flug and proceeded to perform the Heimlich maneuver on him.
It took three compressions on his diaphragm, but eventually the ball of pasta popped out of his mouth and dropped out from under his bag. Flug took in a gulp of air, relieved that he was once again able to. Andi's arms lingered around him for a moment, feeling the sensation of holding him strangely familiar. Curious, she slowly slid her hands to his arms, trying to place where she knew them from.
When Flug looked up at her, Andi backed away with a red face. "S-Sorry, that was…unprofessional. I mean…" She rubbed the back of her neck. "You are, uh, technically my captor, right?"
"Y-Yes," he said, turning back to his dish. "Q-Quite right."
Shaking off the embarrassment, Andi returned to her seat. "Still gonna hold you to that promise of showing me your gadgets."
"Right," he squeaked, resisting the urge to meet her gaze. "C-Can't wait."
As they continued eating in silence, Andi kept glancing up at the scientist every other minute. Why had that moment felt so familiar? Had they met before? After all, no one knew what face was under that paper bag. Had she…had she held him like that before? Performed the Heimlich maneuver on him before? Maybe he'd been a patient or random stranger she'd helped once, when he hadn't worn his bag and she would've had no idea.
Then another thought occurred to her.
The first time she had performed the Heimlich maneuver outside of first-aid training had been back at the Hero Academy. Her roommate had choked on a sandwich during lunch. She still laughed at the fact that since that day, he wouldn't even look at a sandwich.
She returned her gaze to him, thinking of the possibility as he slipped his bites beneath his bag. But she quickly shook the thought out of her head, as that boy had died in a plane crash over a decade ago.
"Well, your wounds are closing up nicely," Andi said after checking Lita over. "Should be fully healed within a week, though there might be some scarring."
"Your first scars!" Dementia said, nearly knocking the wind out of Lita as she slapped her on the back. "You're officially one of us, Little Lita!"
"Can I get out of bed anytime soon?" Lita asked with a groan. "Or at least slap Dementia back?"
Andi thought for a moment. "You could try walking around a little. Of course, I'm no physical therapist, but as long as you don't do anything crazy…" She looked sideways at Flug, who quickly turned away so she wouldn't notice him staring. "You guys will keep her from doing, um…whatever it is you have her do, right?"
"Oh, um, sure," Flug said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Though, uh, I've started work on some lightweight bulletproof material so this won't happen again."
"Seriously?" Andi turned to him fully. "How are you going to accomplish that? Unless you plan to put her in full body armor, which won't allow much for flexibility—"
"Oh, I've taken the typical cloth used for bulletproof vests, ballistic nylon, and considered using the shrink ray to shrink steel into thin plates woven within the cloth, so the steel will be small enough that she'll hardly feel it—"
"But keep its molecular density so it'll be strong enough to withhold against bullets?"
Flug squealed internally, happy that someone actually understood what he was talking about. "Y-Yes! That's, um, only a theory at the moment though."
"That's a hell of a theory, Dr. Flug! Oh, which reminds me. Has your boss said anything about letting me see your inventions?"
"Oh, um, I haven't exactly…asked yet. B-But I'm sure he'll—"
"Great!" She grabbed his hand, causing him to stiffen. "Looking forward to it!" She yawned. "Now, if everything's alright in here, I'm going to turn in early tonight." She turned to Lita. "I'll be right across the hall if you need anything."
As she walked out the door, she waved to everyone. Flug nervously returned the wave. Once the door was closed, Flug faced his two comrades, who were staring at him incredulously.
"What?"
"There something you wanna tell us, Flug?" Lita said, cocking her head.
"I, uh…" Clearing his throat, he pretended to check the heart rate monitor. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Dementia scoffed. "Oh please, Fluggie! It's very obvious that you're into her!"
His neck reddened. "I-I am not—"
"Fluggie and the doctor sitting in a tree!" the mutant sang, making kissy faces. "K-I-S-S-I-N—"
"Shut up!" Flug cried, throwing himself over the bed to strangle Dementia, his knees digging into Lita's stomach. "You don't know what you're talking about! I've never seen that woman before in my life!"
"Flug!" Lita wheezed.
Realizing where he was, Flug apologetically crawled off Lita's stomach and the bed.
"All we're saying is that the two of you seem to be really getting along," Lita said, massaging her injured side. "Not that we're judging or anything. And… Wait. We never asked if you'd seen her before. And…" She was starting to really think about it. "When I was talking to her at the body shop, you were hiding from her."
Flug gripped his hands into fists. "I was not! I-I was just looking for…eye shadow! Yeah! Nothing to do with you talking to Andi!"
"You call her Andi?"
He tensed further. "No!"
"Hey, wait a minute!" Dementia tapped her chin. "Didn't you used to go around with someone named Andi? Around that time you created 5.0…?" She gasped dramatically. "Holy shit! Does he look like a fucking Care Bear because—?"
"SHUT UP!" Flug shouted, whipping out a ray gun from his lab coat.
"What's she talking…?" Lita's eyes widened. "Hold on. Is she the lost love you're always—?"
"DROP THE SUBJECT!" He pointed the gun at her. "NOW!"
Unfazed by his threats, Lita crossed her arms. "Flug, you realize if you don't tell us, we're just gonna ask Andi about it."
Flug paused, realizing the danger of them bringing it up with her. "Oh, fine!" Sighing heavily, he tucked his gun back into his coat. "Yes, okay? Yes, I know her. Or…at least I used to. I knew her back when she was Andy with a 'y.'"
It didn't take long for Lita to catch on. "You mean she's…?"
He nodded. "She's a transwoman. But she was still in her male body when we met at the Hero Academy." Lita opened her mouth. "Yes, my parents were heroes and were grooming me to become one too.
"Anyway, even where heroes were concerned, people back then weren't as…" He gripped his arm as he reminisced on this painful period of his life. "Educated. The two of us had a lot in common. We were both geniuses who had skipped a few grades, powerless kids coming from superpowered families with high expectations. She was trans, I was a…closeted pansexual. That means I'm—"
"Attracted to all genders."
Flug looked at Lita, surprised that she actually knew what that meant.
"I learned about a lot of different sexualities while I was questioning," Lita said with a shrug. "I'm demi, so…I get it."
He chuckled slightly. "Few people do. It was a hard and confusing time for me. I knew it was normal to start feeling attraction during puberty, I just…felt it for more than just the opposite sex." He held up his hands defensively. "Not like I want to have sex with everyone necessarily! You, Lita, for example, I f-find very attractive, b-but…you know, I don't want to—"
"All good, Flug," Lita said with a small smile. "I kind of see you as the big brother I never had."
That caused him to relax a bit. "I've…never had a sister." He narrowed his eyes at the mutant. "Unless you count this thorn in my side as an annoying little sister."
Dementia stuck her tongue out while Lita just laughed.
"Anyway," Flug said, twiddling his fingers, "I kept it to myself, thinking it was just a phase or some delusion, until…well, Andi and I were roommates, and the same age, and on the same intellectual level, so we got…close." He sighed happily. "I was just…so overjoyed when she first confessed to me that she felt like she was supposed to be a girl. How she felt confused and out of place all the time…just like I was. See, I never really cared if she identified as a boy or girl, because…she was the smartest, most wonderful person I'd ever known."
Even Dementia was tearing up at this. "So…so romantic!"
But Lita sensed this story didn't have a happy ending. "What happened?"
He looked down at the floor. "We got found out. Our parents were called. We got expelled for homosexual misconduct." He grunted angrily. "Even though it wasn't technically homosexuality since she's a girl, but not like they cared since biologically she was still male!" He wrapped his arms around his body. "We were separated. I got shipped off to military school. We never saw each other again."
"Until a couple years ago!" Dementia exclaimed, holding up a finger. "When they started sneaking around and smooching behind the boss' back!"
"You better not bring that up around Andi!" Flug shouted with a glare.
"Why?" Lita asked. "Doesn't she know who you are?"
Flug looked down again, this time guiltily. "She remembers…who I used to be, but she doesn't remember knowing me as Dr. Flug. You see, I didn't expect to run into her here on Hat Island. But when I did…I couldn't stay away. We caught up and…well, pretty much picked up where we left off. It was a little easier for her, now that she was away from her abusive parents and already in the middle of her transition. And…yes, 5.0.5. wasn't…exactly an accident. I…I sort of made him for her. But then…Black Hat found out about us."
His voice grew quieter. "You…you know how he feels about villains involving love. It was either let him kill her, or…I break things off with her. So, I wiped her memories of our time together in order to protect her."
This entire time, Dementia had been eating popcorn. No one questioned where she'd gotten it.
"If Black Hat didn't want you to…" Lita bit her lip. "How come…how come he let her…?"
Flug caught onto what she was asking. "She's changed so much in appearance that he probably didn't recognize her. But I did." He muttered under his breath. "I'd know her anywhere." He rubbed his arm. "P-Please don't mention any of this to her."
"We won't say anything." Lita eyed the other woman. "Right, Dementia?"
Dementia paused in her chewing. "What?"
Lita sighed. "We won't say anything, but…how long can you keep something like this from her? I mean…the two of you were in love once, weren't you?"
"That's…" He hugged himself tighter. "That's the problem."
Dementia's mouth dropped open, causing bits of popcorn to fall out. "Oh my fuck! You're still in love with her, ain't ya?! Damn, Flug! I knew ya had it bad but not that bad!"
"How I feel doesn't matter!" Flug shouted. "It's better that she doesn't remember me! I…I could never ask her to give up everything for…" He hung his head. "She's…too good for me."
"Aw, Flug," Lita said, stretching as far as she could to lay a hand on his shoulder.
He shrugged her off, but she could tell he appreciated the gesture.
"So, uh…if you were sent to military school after…" Lita struggled to ask this gently. "How did…how did you end up here?"
Now that he'd revealed his biggest secret, Flug felt there was no point in hiding the rest. "You know how well people like me do in military school, right? Of course, I hid my identity as best I could, but…I don't know, it was like they could smell it! Or maybe it was because I was weaker than everyone else, who knows?! Anyway, it was a lot worse than at the Hero Academy because at military school…swirlies and wedgies are like an initiation!"
He shut his eyes, trying to stop himself from crying. "I wrote home to my parents about it, but all they said in return was for me to toughen up and take it like a man! My brother was a little more sympathetic, but…he also said I needed to start standing up for myself."
Having lost the strength to stand, Flug sat on the edge of the bed. "Finally, summer break came. I had to get on a plane, but I dreaded going home. After all, things hadn't been…pleasant before I'd left. I almost considered running away when I had the chance. But then…I spotted someone else on the plane. Someone…who had hurt me back at the Hero Academy. And Andi."
Gripping the sheets, he continued, "I…something snapped inside of me. I wanted…I wanted to hurt him. To make him pay for hurting me. For hurting Andi. And…I didn't care if I went down with him."
His hands began to shake. "It was…it was so easy. They thought I was just a harmless, curious teenager that had wandered into the cockpit. They didn't see the fire extinguisher coming when I bashed their heads in. I…I'd studied planes enough to know how to work the controls. More importantly, how to crash it."
Lita glanced up at the ceiling, thinking of the plane that was embedded in the roof. Wincing, she scooted as close to Flug as possible without hurting herself too much. He didn't object to her hand resting on his.
"It was by chance that I crashed into Black Hat's roof. He found me close to death, had me fixed up. Well…" He scratched the side of his paper bag. "As well as he could, anyway. I explained what had happened, he gave me a choice. He could finish what I'd started and…you know, kill me. Or, I could work for him. Apparently, he had done his research, found out I was a child prodigy who had been rejected by his heroic family. He thought I had promise as a villain. I think you know what my decision was."
The scientist glanced sideways at Lita. "He doesn't care that I'm pansexual, you see. If he disciplines me, I know it's because I made a mistake, not because of what I am."
"That doesn't make it okay, Flug," Lita whispered.
"I know. But I still prefer this over living with my parents. Black Hat doesn't pretend to be a good person, unlike them. At least as a villain, I can take care of anyone who tries to put me down."
Even if it means living without the woman I love, he finished in his head.
By this time, Dementia had put down her bag of popcorn, having lost her appetite. Lita was at a loss for words. She felt a mixture of sadness, anger, and pity. After all, she knew what it was like to be treated like an outcast. Heck, everyone here was an outcast of some sort. Black Hat had been the son of a prostitute. Dementia had been abused in a mental hospital for who knows what reason. And Flug, his only crime had been falling in love with the one person he'd ever truly connected with.
It was no wonder they'd all turned to a life of crime. The world had been cruel to them. Why shouldn't they be cruel in return?
"I've been bullied too," Lita said softly. "Not for the same reasons, but…I get where you're coming from. Or at least…I get why you do this."
After looking at her for a moment, Flug snorted. "You know what's ironic? Before I became a villain, there was something I didn't quite have that I get to have now."
"What's that?"
Flipping his hand over, he squeezed hers. "A family."
Beaming with joy, Lita threw her arms around the scientist. Dementia subsequently did the same, nearly suffocating them.
"You're still the annoying little sister, Dementia!" Flug wheezed.
"Still a sister!" Dementia said proudly. "Which means I get to do this!"
She pulled Flug apart from Lita and pinned him down to the bed. Before he could say anything, Dementia began tickling his sides.
"S-S-Stop! That, ha-ha, stop! Li-ha-ta, h-help!"
Ignoring her injuries, Lita hooked her arm around Dementia's neck, cutting off her windpipe. The mutant elbowed her in her good side, forcing her to let go. Not giving up, Lita shoved Dementia off the bed, only for her to jump back on and tackle the smaller woman.
This continued on for several minutes, like three siblings wrestling each other. Their attacks were playful, neither one intending to inflict any serious pain. Their current situation wasn't perfect, perhaps not much better than where they were before, but they at least had each other. That made their lives of crime worth it.
Even though I'd come up with this backstory way, WAY back when, this was still emotionally taxing to write.
Yeah, I went with the theory that Flug comes from a heroic family, especially after reading "Aerospace Accident" by supercasey (it's posted on ArchiveOfOurOwn, read it if you're into Trans Flug/Flug Being Black Hat's Son, it's really good). Just seems like it'd give him an extra push towards villainy.