It was morning on Hat island. The birds were singing, flowers and grass were covered by a layer of sparkling drops of water. A perfect and peaceful picture…

"UGH! Disgusting. What a terrible morning…" – Dr. Slug grumbled as he waited for the coffee machine to be ready with his morning caffeine shot.

He glared out of the kitchen window at the front lawn and the idyllic neighborhood. After a few minutes he held a steaming mug, black coffee, no sugar or cream. He lifted the bottom part of his paper bag, taking a sip of the bitter drink. Slug but two slices of bread in the toaster, got a few slices of bacon out of the fridge along with some cream cheese for his breakfast. While he waited, the doctor decided to do something more than glare at the painfully slow energy-saving toaster and turned on the TV.

[…day at channel 8! Last night there was a robbery of Roseman bank in Virginia. A group of 12 masked men, all armed to the teeth stormed the bank during the late night shift. The criminals barreled in with a modified armored car and quickly took down the guards. The men had not only normal guns but LASERS and other such fancy gadgets. It is suggested they may be part of a bigger crime syndicate or are supplied by a villain/mad genius. They got away with all the valuables and money in the bank, the amount being over 1 billion! After that they got onto their car and sped off. The police chased them but they got away, unfortunately. One of the night guards in the bank was gravely injured and is now stru-]

"Ah… Now this is the life. Causing chaos, panic, showing those pesky policemen who's the boss. I miss my old business…" – Slug muttered as he assembled his breakfast.

He munched on the toast with cream cheese and bacon, thinking about his old lab, making weapons, machines of pure evil and mad genius, selling them for a lot of money and living however he wanted.

"Goooooooood mooooooornin'!" – Clemencia barged in, still in her long-sleeved neon yellow and pink PJs, a rare occasion where she still hadn't put her unicorn hat on.

"Grourl…" – 606 followed, looking half-dead and already miserable.

"Ugh…it's you." – Slug's mood became sour the moment he saw her.

"Good morning to you too!" Clemencia didn't show any indication she heard his nasty response "Man, I'm starving! Cereal time!"

She rummaged through the cupboards to look for a bow while 505 took out a bowl of fish from the fridge and fell face first into it, lightly snoring. Clemencia found the cereal, a spoon, bowl and the milk. She struggled to bring it all at once to the table but for Slug's disappointment, she did manage it and didn't trip.

"It's a beautiful mornin~" – she sung as she poured milk.

[Breaking news! We just received a report that the hero Volt-X fought with the villain Plastenoid in the middle of Rotari square. The battle was intense!] a few pictures of a man in white and yellow spandex suit and goggles fighting with someone that looked like a human-shaped pile of clay [Many shops and nearby buildings were damaged, the square will also need to be restored.] the camera slowly moved and showed all the damage caused [Volt-X was unfortunately knocked out when the Plastenoid used his clay-like body to choke the hero. Thankfully, a quick-thinking retired fireman used a garden hose to chase the villain away and into the sewer system, the authorities are still looking for him. Volt-X was brought to the hospital and will make a full recovery.] the man sighed and looked back up from his script [It's been happening more and more. Heroes are losing and the crime rates have risen… Ever since the death of Ga-]

The remote was quickly snatched from the table and Clemencia switched the channel to the morning cartoons instead of the news.

[Save me, Hero-man!] a pretty girl was kidnapped by a generic bad guy with a moustache [Stop right there, Dr. E' Vile! I will not allow you to harm princess Dainabeth!]

"CLEMENCIA! Why did you change the channel to this stupid kid's show?!" – Dr. Slug shouted, pointing a finger at her.

"Gruu?" -606 woke up and started to sleepily shove fish in his mouth.

"This is not stupid! The Amazing Adventures of Hero-man is one of the best shows of the year! Don't disrespect it!" – she pointed her spoon at him, spilling some mild on the table.

"Give me back the remote or turn the channel back!"

"Nope!"

Dr. Slug tried to get the remote but Clemencia was faster and nimbler than him, she ducked, stepped back, jumped over him and escaped every attempt of the scientist to get the remote. Finally, he collapsed while she was perched on top of the fridge, waving the remote in her hand.

"D… huff… damn you…"

"Sorry, Sluggy but I don't like gloomy stuff like this." She jumped down and walked back to her seat "White Hat is coming soon and I don't want the great morning to be ruined by reporters talking about bad stuff or the thing." – she said pensively, one hand ghosting over to her left thigh.

Slug was weirded out. He hadn't seen the girl look anything but annoyingly happy all the time.

The door opened and White Hat entered the kitchen, dressed in his pristine suit, just missing the coat and wearing bunny slippers. He was fixing his necktie when he entered.

"Good morning!" – he greeted and gave them a wide, pleasant smile, showing as little teeth as possible.

"MORNIN'!" – Clemencia waved enthusiastically, back to her usual self as if what Slug had seen a moment ago never existed.

"The weather is nice, isn't it?" – White Hat looked at him.

"No." – Slug grumbled and got off the floor.

"It's absolutely amazing! Let's go somewhere after breakfast. Maybe stroll around, have a picnic…" – Clemencia chattered.

"That sounds wonderful! Let's do it after we get ready and properly wake up. I don't think 606 will be able to follow us in this state." – White Hat pointed at the half-asleep bear that was trying to eat from an empty bowl.

"No, I'm not coming. I still have to work on my new project and-"

"Come on Sluggy! Don't be a prune!"

"Wha-?! Huh?! P-Prune?! What's that supposed to mean?!"

White Hat smiled at the antics of the two and how cute 505 looked, sipping hot chocolate from his mug.

{The preparations are all ready, sir. We are going to start transporting the new parts soon. We had a bit of trouble with the special agents but the 'pests' were dealt with.} – a man in a dark purple bodysuit, wearing a gas mask said through the screen.

"Excellent." The man in the shadows said "What about the microchip?"

{It is going to come in a day or two. That's what the Plastenoid said on the comm. He just needs to get out of the city and deliver it to us at the drop point.}

"Good, that idiotic clump of mud was useful for something after all."

{What should we do after we receive the chip?}

"Leave him alone, for now at least…" the man grinned manically "Who knows, he may have some more use later. Ah, but if he tries to change something or act smart in the last moment, you can use lethal force. Oh, if that happens leave at least a sample for the scientists to study."

{Yes, sir!}

The screen turned black and the man cackled in the dark room.