Hey everyone! Stars above, I apologize for the unsaid hiatus. I kind of lost motivation in doing more Hat in Time stuff for a good while, but in honor of its 2 year anniversary, I bring you another chapter of this fic. I may not update too much, but this, as well as other Hat in Time fics that are in progress, will not go unfinished. I'm trying to break a habit of having unfinished personal projects. But thank you all for being so patient with me. :) So I shall not keep you waiting, fellow readers.
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The next morning, Hattie looked over her new gift from defeating the Mafia Boss: a chef's hat. She smiled a little, as it reminded her of Cookie. She puts it on and snaps her fingers, seeing if it had any special abilities. As she did, a sort of fizzy concoction in a glass bottle appeared in her hands. This hat was much like her brewing hat, only instead of potions, they made fizzy explosives.
Hattie smiled, pleased with this. Tucking the bottle and hat away, she headed into her room. Her smile faded the closer she got to the doors. She knew Snatcher was waiting there, prepared to be more malevolent to her. She almost hesitated to step in and see what he had in store for her now, but she shook her head. She had to remind herself that whatever is going with Snatcher and these corrupted Time Pieces needs to stop. One way or another, she will find a way to save her BFF. So putting on a determined face, she stepped into her room.
Snatcher looked up from his book, still showing that endless wide grin. "Well, good morning kiddo~! Are you ready for another batch of contractual obligations?"
Hattie sighed and shrugged. "I guess as ready as I'll ever be." She approached him near her pillow pile and he held out the next contract.
He then added, "Now, since you did a good job around Mafia Town, I decided to change locations for this." Hattie opened the contract and blinked in mild surprise. Now the next task was at Dead Bird Studios.
"That's right! You're going back into show business again! Though your first task is the hardest one of all: not being a nuisance! Hahahahahahahaha!"
The contract's title read, "Security Breach", where she is asked to infiltrate the studio. Security has increased as well. She would also have to try and complete it without getting caught or at least without 200,000 pons for a fine.
Hattie looked up to Snatcher with a mildly confused expression. "But, I'm welcomed into the studio. Why would I need to break in?"
"Because the contract says so. And I want to see if you're as sneaky as you assume you are. Now, get to it, trooper!"
Hattie frowned, but complied. She headed out of her room and to the hatch. "Snatcher" chuckled darkly and followed.
"Let's go see how she'll do after we've increased security."
Hattie's eyes widened as she exited the vent to get in. Thankfully, the front desk or any other penguins or owls didn't see her enter. But ahead, the contract wasn't kidding about there being more security. Starting at DJ Grooves' side of the studio, there were a lot more Moon Penguins than she remembered. Seems at least Grooves was still working on his next movie though.
Hattie mumbled under her breath, "I'm gonna need a bit of help for this." She pulled out her Time Stop Hat and equipped it. She also checked to make sure she had the Cooldown badge on. Equipped and prepared, she began dashing her way through.
If a penguin caught a glance of her, she would quickly activate the hat and get some distance. The penguin that almost spotted her would then look around confused, then shrug. She had to move quick this time. Luckily, she managed to hop onto the conveyor and move to the Conductor's side of the studio.
He was shouting to the owls as he attempted to direct them in this new movie. Hattie hopped down to the pipe to sneak across, but skidded to a stop, seeing an owl just ahead of her. When he turned around though, she was gone. He shrugged and continued keeping a lookout. Hattie was holding onto one of the beams of the platforms above her. She shimmied up and hopped her way across.
She spotted two owls guarding the path. Using her Time Stop hat, she slipped past and ducked her way through to the next conveyor. Panting, she flipped the switch and hopped aboard.
"This is a little harder than I remembered…" She still recalls the layout of the studio. Upon entering Grooves' side once more, she tied the ribbon in her hair as her Sprint Hat. She then zipped past the penguin about to spot her and past a few others until she hopped along the sandbags to the Conductor's side.
As she ducked behind the cardboard teepees, ready to get on the next conveyor, she heard a faint boom and whistling. She looked around, wondering where that came from. When she looked up, she let out a small scream and dove to the side as a homing missile hit the spot she was just standing on.
"Homing missiles? Oh give me a break!" She wasted no time flipping the switch and diving onto the conveyor. Conductor heard the missile too and stopped, glancing back to around where he heard it. He quietly hummed, seemingly non-existant eyes narrowing.
Back on DJ Grooves' side, she saw the fuse boxes were guarded by a Moon Penguin. No way she can get to the first one, but maybe she can hop across to the other side. Taking a bold leap and air dash, she rolled onto the platform. Before the other Moon Penguin spotted her, she switched to her Time Stop hat and slowed down time.
With no way to get across the next row of cameras, she flipped the switch, turning off the power temporarily as she ran across. Both directors certainly noticed that.
"Whuzzat what? Power problems again?"
"Penguins, double check the fuse boxes!"
Hattie landed on the conveyor and flipped the switch. She will be going past the two sets, so she would have to keep low. Though, unfortunately, there were missiles here too. She came too close to being caught just by dodging them.
Now at the end of the conveyor ride, there were too many owls ahead. No way she could get past easily. But luckily, her Time Stop hat spared her the struggle. As she zipped past the owls with her Time Stop hat activated, the owls would've only seen her in the blink of an eye, if they did see her.
All that was left now was the penguin guarding the small narrow pathway. She knew how to get past him though as she hopped up the small ledge and jumped past him once his back was turned.
Hopping along the sandbags, she stopped at the red carpet area and exhaled with relief. No more guards and she can see the corrupted Time Piece sitting at the very end, just near the giant replica of the Annual Bird Movie Award trophy. She pulled it off and she's fairly sure that she got much less than 200,000 pons in fines.
She walked up the red carpet and picked up the corrupted Time Piece with a small proud smile. "No problem."
"Lassie/Darling?!" Hattie jolted upon hearing two voices behind her. She turned around and saw DJ Grooves and the Conductor approach her.
"What are you doing here, lassie? Security got riled up the moment the lights went off."
"We thought you were the shadow ghost that infiltrated the place before."
Hattie's eyes widened. "Snatcher was here?"
"Yes! We thought ye were him. Last time that peck neck showed up, he threatened to destroy our work in our next movies." Hattie frowned as her gaze turned down to the corrupted Time Piece in her hands. Snatcher's worse off than she thought.
"Darling, what is that you're holding?" Hattie looked back up.
"It's...a Time Piece. But a corrupted one, I think. Snatcher made it." The Conductor now looked uneasy. He already had his bad experience with a regular one.
Hattie decided to explain to the two directors what was happening. The more people that know, the safer they might be if they knew what to expect.
"So, you think these things are what is causing him to act the way he is," DJ Grooves questioned as they all sat in the break lounge. Hattie replied with a nod as the two directors looked to each other with a concerned expression.
"A-and...yer going through with these contracts he's giving you?"
Hattie replied, "If I don't, I won't be able to help him. Something's wrong with him and I can't get rid of these until I do those contracts. They're hard, but I've been doing alright so far. I'm already done in Mafia Town." She showed a reassuring smile, not wanting them to worry.
"Well, either way, darling. You shouldn't be doing this alone."
"I have to for the most part though. When Mu tried to help me before, she almost got heat exhaustion when Snatcher placed her at the clock tower, surrounded by lava. ...I don't want anything bad happening to you two."
"Regardless, lassie, we're not gonna let that peck neck push you around more than he needs to." The Conductor placed his winged-hands atop her own.
DJ Grooves did the same gesture atop the Conductor's winged-hands. "Of course, darling. If there is anything we can do to help, we'll do it."
"Aye, we'll help you in any way we can."
Hattie warmly smiled. With them offering her help, she felt more confident in getting through this than she did before. All she could say to them was a simple thank you.
"Now, I should get home and turn in my completed contract to Snatcher...then be ready for my next one." Both directors nodded and allowed her to hop down from her chair and head to the exit. With a warm wave to the two, Hattie stepped out and used her regular Time Piece to fly back up to her ship.
DJ Grooves then looked to the Conductor. "Don't get any funny ideas with those new Time Pieces, darling. You already caused enough trouble for her with the one you had before."
The Conductor scowled and glared at him. "I wasn't planning to, DJ Peck Neck. I want to help the lass just as much as you do."
The two then parted ways, back to their sides of the studio, to continue their movies' production. From the shadows, "Snatcher" made himself known as he showed a dark expression. Moonjumper was faintly visible as he kept his strings tied around the real Snatcher.
"The child got through that one fairly fast. I'm gonna need to up my game a bit if I am to get her soul." His line of sight then turned to the old movie posters from the last award ceremony, where Hattie was the star in them. Moonjumper then showed a dark grin as he hummed and placed a hand under his chin.
"I wonder if she would want to do a rerun of the movies she was a part of before…"