Black Hat showed up within fifteen minutes of the phone call. He thanked Flug for the coffee, which was thankfully still warm, and gave an oddly optimistic grin. It was strange to see a man who could be so menacing in Flug's mind look so giddy.
Flug gulped down his mocha macchiato, slightly burning his throat. It was a good burn, though. The burn of a warm beverage going down your esophagus and into the pit of your stomach. Nothing like the stinging burn of alcohol, like broken glass being poured down your trachea. It was worse the morning after. Like all the glass shards had decided to travel back up and lodge themselves in your larynx.
"So, Flug," Black Hat said, finally getting the conversation underway. "You said you wanted to see me in person?" He looked giddy with anticipation. Like, Oh boy! The first henchman in my eeeevil black market Amazon!
"Yes. Yes I did." He took another swig of macchiato, relishing in the faint taste of chocolate it always left him. "I want to make sure I have everything you're asking of me perfectly clear. You mind if I ask?"
"Oh no! Ask away, please!"
"Ok, just to get in out of the way," Flug said. "You're aim is to be a villain, correct?"
"Not just any villain, Flug. The greatest villain in the-"
"Not so loud!" Flug whisper-yelled. "You'll be caught before you have the change to actually do anything!"
"The greatest villain in the world!" Black Hat whisper-yelled back at him. Holding his fists up a little high, for dramatic effect, Flug guessed.
Why am I not refusing this moron right here and now? I need more proof of this being a terrible decision?
"Yeah ok, ok. And you want me to help you accomplish that, by designing…" he trailed off, leaving Black Hat to fill in the blanks.
"Weapons, tools of destruction, I've been thinking security systems and the like would be a good service to provide, perhaps luxury and comfort items if you can. My main focus would be in the weapons department. I feel like that is a market where there will always be a buyer. I also feel it would be good to expand into as many demographics as possible to maximize profit."
"How do you plan on getting your name out there?" Flug asked, accepting what he would be asked to do.
"Hmm?"
"I mean, you'd be a newcomer. A complete unknown. Do you already have potential buyers in mind?" Before Black Hat could open his mouth he interjected. "I mean specific people."
"As a matter of fact, yes." Black Hat said. He paused as he took a sip of his own coffee. "I wasn't traveling the continents just to expand my worldview. I was also working very hard to form connections and pacts with other villains."
"Really?"
"Yes, really. Many wrote me off, yes, but I did find a few willing to take me into consideration. I still keep in contact with them. Mainly small talk, since I'm not doing anything right now."
Flug considered this for a moment. Black Hat spoke again. "So, yes, I do have clients in mind already! All that's necessary is for us to begin production and start getting our name out there, as you put it."
"Ok, ok," Flug said, putting his hands up as a calming gesture. "Sorry for doubting you, I just w-wanted to be sure." Damn it…
"Flug, are you gonna freak out again?" Black Hat asked. "You did this last time, and you did not look well."
"No, I'm n-not going to freak out. It usually doesn't get that bad."
"Is it the coffee?"
"What?"
"Is it the coffee that makes you freak out like that? The caffeine? Should we pick a different meeting spot? Would you prefer tea?"
"No no no the coffee is f-fine." Flug spoke slowly to minimize his stutter. While the caffeine may be making him more excitable and more prone to "freaking out" as Black Hat put it, it was in no way the cause. "Trust me, my stutter is something I've been dealing with for a long time. It's not the coffee."
Black Hat looked at him skeptically.
Hat Man you will have to pry my dark bean life-juice from my cold, dead hands.
"It's a response to stress, or anxiety." Flug went on. "Yeah, maybe coffee could be making it worse, but it's not the reason it happens. See, not stuttering."
This seemed to relax the man in the dark suit and red dress shirt. And what seemed to be a light grey vest underneath. Wow, what workmanship. Who was this guy's tailor? For that matter, did this man own any other clothes? He'd only see him around a few times before he'd approached him, but Flug wasn't convinced he'd seen Black Hat wearing anything else besides this same suit and top hat.
Maybe he just owned multiple sets of the exact same outfit?
"So, Black Hat," Flug said, getting the conversation back on track. "It would just be you and me."
"So far, yes." Black Hat said, looking away a bit. Maybe he was embarrassed about his glorious future empire of villainy only having one member; Himself.
And Flug, if he accepted. So the boss plus one.
Totally worthy of taking the underworld by storm.
"Do you have anyone else in mind to join?"
"Not really." Black Hat admitted. "No one else seems likely to join. No villainous tendencies in any of them." He said disdainfully.
"Really?" Flug asked, mildly surprised. He could think of a few people he could see turning to the dark side. No way was everyone in their school completely morally good.
"It's not enough to just be in the morally grey area, Flug." Black Hat said, like he had been reading his mind. "I'm talking real evil intent. Truly malevolent, deep down. Deep in one's heart and soul. Naturally, without having to think about it or consider their thoughts before they become actions. Pure villainy."
Both men sipped their cooling coffees while Black Hat's last statement hung in the air like a dastardly set of laundry.
What the hell kind of analogy was that?
Pure villany…
"It cannot be taught. Cannot be learned. Or unlearned." Black Hat continued. "As I've heard it said, you either have it or you don't. Naturally, I have it."
Well I would hope so, Flug thought. Or else we aren't going to make much headway with your little plan of world domination.
"And you, Flug. You have it."
Flug tensed a bit, taking care to not do something stupid like choke on his coffee or almost do a spit-take.
"W-what makes you say that?" He asked. "I'm just...an average guy."
"Oh, is that so?" Black Hat asked, grinning widely. Stretching his lips further apart than any normal man should've been able to. His teeth were sharp, fang-like, almost needle-like. He asked in a mocking tone, "You're just an average person?"
"Yep. Yep. Yes. Totally. C-c-completely normal. Average, everyday guy, Rocinante Flugslys." He said quickly and nervously.
He was genuinely surprised he didn't stutter through every word, even those as short as "yep" and "yes".
Black Hat fixed him with that mocking stare. The eyebrow raised so far it was nearly hidden by the brim of his top hat, the slight smirk that just begged to break into a full blown smile, and the unmistakable body language of someone trying very hard not to laugh.
This man was showing all the signs of knowing something that someone (Flug) wanted to keep secret.
But what? Flug's mind raced through the possibilities. What could there possibly be that was incriminating? Or maybe just something embarrassing?
Black Hat had only appeared in his life no more than a month or so ago at most. And that was just passing by each other for the most part.
Unless...Black Hat had...stalked him?
Ok, factoring in that as a possibility, what could he have found? Flug had no close friends to be off spouting dirty secrets about him. He wasn't even that close to his parents anymore after moving out. He didn't do much that made him stand out, let alone anything an aspiring villain would think noteworthy.
Why was this man even interested in him?
Oh yes, that was right, pure villainy. Which he apparently thought he had.
"Look, I hate to break it to you, but I think you have the wrong guy." Flug said. "I mean, I've never done anything evil in my life."
"Really, Flug? Never?" Black Hat asked, his smile never wavering. He leaned over the table, getting his face as close to Flug as he could. Flug was too transfixed to lean back. Something about that look in his eye made his body freeze.
"Not even back in flight school?"
All the color drained from Flug's face.
"Have you really never done anything evil?"
Black Hat leaned back down in his seat and finished off the rest of his coffee, black as his hat. Leaving Flug in his own personal bubble to rack his brain.
He knew.
How did he know?
How did he find out?
Who was left to tell him?
Julio would never-
"Hey, boys!" A cheery female voice called from above, jarring Flug from his internal mental collapse. "Looks like you're done!"
A waitress, who seemed around Flug's age but with skin much lighter, stood above the two men. Her hair was dyed two tones. Her bangs, which were cut choppily and covering her right eye, were a bright fuschia color. The rest of her hair seemed to be a sort of neon green pulled back in the longest ponytail Flug had ever seen. How long was this woman's hair?
The waitress picked up Black Hat's and Flug's cups, only then noticing then that he still had a bit left. "Can I get you two a refill?" She asked with a large peppy smile. Flug caught a brief glimpse of what looked to be sharpened canines.
"No thank you, just the check please." Black Hat said, morphing his face into a calm expression of relaxed elegance.
"You got it! Be right back!" the woman said as she turned. The skirt she wore with her uniform was a bit short. Flug noticed it flitted up a bit as she eagerly strolled away. He faintly wished he wasn't thinking about how he'd look in a skirt that length.
Please, can I just be satisfied with my panties?
Flug stared back at the man across the table from him. He decided he would feign ignorance, to see how much he really knew.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He said, putting on a brave face. As if that helped when his face was as white as notebook paper. He decided to start cleaning the lens of his glasses, it was casual enough and he could do it through muscle memory alone, so his hands hardly shook. Even with doom on the horizon.
Black Hat looked back at him with an expression of mock sympathy. Like a parent who caught their child lying and was about to give them their punishment. "You don't?"
"No, you'll have to tell me." He said, laying the bravado on thick.
"Why, the incident three years ago, Ro-ro...Rosh- no that's not it, Ros-Rosi...Rosin…" He tried in vain to form the syllables of his potential compatriots name. "Roshin...Flug." He gave up. "What happened back at the air base, Flug."
Oh God he DOES know! How did he know about that? How did he find out? I thought I'd been able to erase all data of my involvement as anything else except an unwilling participant. There shouldn't have been anything available proving me to be responsible.
For the death of thirty people.
"Flug," Black Hat said, extending his hand across the table to grab ahold of his. He held it firmly, but not painfully. Flug didn't have the willpower to wrench his hand free. He kept his eyes downcast, so all he was looking at was his hands on the table the table. He could vaguely see Black Hat's hand clutching his own, the one holding his glasses. He was holding them so hard he was scared he might accidentally break them. Black Hat was stroking that hand with his thumb, like he was actually trying to help him calm down and loosen his grip.
It was at this moment that Flug realized that Black Hat was wearing gloves. They were almost the exact same ashen grey color as his skin. Not unlike the soot of a fireplace once the fire burned out. The fabric felt soft on his bare skin. He was stroking gently, like one might stroke a a small animal to coax it into relaxing. It must've helped, as Flug's death grip on his lenses released and he allowed Black Hat to continue stroking his limp hand.
"It's ok. I know what happened. I know what you did." He grinned. Flug didn't need to see it to know. It was something that made itself known audibly. A grin far wider than should've been anatomically possible. He sounded pleased. Like his pet had just performed its first successful trick.
"So, what?" Flug asked, he was too drained for his throat to be able to constrict. He didn't have the energy to be afraid. His body was too numb to react. "You're going to blackmail me into working for you? Why'd you even ask me if that was the case? You like seeing me squirm?"
"I admit, I'm starting to." Black Hat said, that grin never leaving his face (probably). "But no, I am not blackmailing you. I have no intention of ever telling anyone, in fact."
He pulled his hand away, sitting back in his chair. The grin had gone down to a simple smirk on his face, but that pleased look in his eye had not faded in the slightest. Flug caught a glimpse of it as he put his glasses back on.
"Just thought you might want to know that I knew."
"How did you find out?" Flug asked,peeking up at the man across the table slightly. "I had gone through the files myself. No one should've known."
"I believe I mentioned that I have been making connections with villains?"
"Yes."
"Well, one of them happened to be a bit more experienced than you."
Flug almost laughed at that. "And what? They just did that for you? As a favor?"
"A favor I had to pay back." Black Hat said darkly. Flug could practically hear his scowl.
"How? You promise them a discount once you get me to work for you?" He said sarcastically.
And in that moment, Flug knew he had said the wrong thing. It was like the air itself changed and shifted with the mood. Like right before lightning strikes, when you smell the ozone and everything else seems to slow as pure energy streams down towards the Earth. That's similar to the feeling Flug got. Although it wasn't lightning he was feeling, it was definitely some sort of energy barely being constrained.
His eyes went back to the table. Flug heard Black Hat get up from his seat. Although he tensed, he made no effort to move. He felt Black Hat's presence looming over him, like a dark malevolent force just waiting to be unleashed.
"Don't mistake me for some powerless peon from some backwater country of *******." He whispered into Flug's ear. Most of what Black Hat spoke was English, which Flug took to mean he was too pissed to even bother with Spanish, except for that last phrase. That, Flug assumed based on the guttural sound of it, was something from Black Hat's native tongue. He didn't know what it was but it probably meant something insulting. "Just because I favor working from the shadows doesn't mean I'm incapable of stepping into the limelight myself. I am not to be taken lightly."
"Alrighty boys, here's your check!" the same voice from before rang out. Their waitress plopped a piece of paper down on the table. If she found anything odd about the scene in front of her she didn't show it.
"Hope to see you boys again real soon!" She called as she made her way to her next table.
Black Hat stood up so he wasn't bent over Flug anymore and tossed something onto the table. From the sound of it, Flug assumed it was money. Black Hat grabbed Flug's arm tightly and pulled him to his feet. Flug did not resist.
Black Hat led the young man with light brown hair and spiderweb-ing scars out of the coffee shop and out into the street. Flug still did not look at him. He kept his head down and focused on not stumbling, lest the suited man before him become angrier.
They stopped abruptly about halfway down the block, causing Flug to nearly crash into the villain. No need for the "aspiring" anymore, he's clearly already committing crimes.
And so have I. I'm a murderer. Flug thought.
Flug raised his head a bit, and found himself at the passenger side door of a shiny black car that looked a little too much like a compressed hearse for his liking. As Black Hat pulled out his car keys and unlocked it, he realized that it was HIS car.
He opened the passenger door. "Get in."
Flug obeyed, and immediately put on his seatbelt.
His top-hatted companion (not his boss. Not yet) got in shortly after, and began driving. Where it was they would be driving to was a mystery. One Flug didn't think he could handle knowing right now.
So he mainly stared out the car window. The tint making everything seem hazy and dark.
"Flug," said the man Flug was trying to avoid talking to. "Look at me."
The scarred man turned his head meekly, facing the driver. His eyes were focused on the road, and he was speeding. Flug wondered vaguely what would happen if they got pulled over.
"Do you have anymore questions?"
It took Flug a moment to respond. "No, I think I've questioned enough for one night."
Black Hat nodded. "You are uncomfortable that I know about the plane crash."
"I didn't want anyone knowing."
"You may find it very hard to keep things from me."
"What, I still have a chance?" He asked in a rare moment of confidence.
"Well, you still haven't given me an answer." Black Hat pointed out. "If you say no, I'll have no reason to check up on you."
Crap. How long was this going to go on?
Flug knew he should say no immediately. Why had he even had to consider it? It was villainy! He was no evil genius! He wouldn't even say he was a genius. That was what everyone else thought of him.
Another opportunity to let those around him down.
Seriously, where was his future if he said yes? Working for a crazy supervillain who aims to take over the world? Shut away building weapons of mass destruction (oh and luxury items, because this man wants ALL the bases covered!) for the evils of the world to buy and use on innocent people. Like the innocent people he mercilessly killed for petty revenge against only eleven bad seeds.
"Also," he said. "I do not appreciate being lied to."
Flug felt tired. These last few days had been an unwanted rollercoaster of turmoil.
"I'll let it go this time," Black Hat continued, talking to his unresponsive passenger. "But, even if you say no, I would...appreciate it if you were honest with me."
Flug didn't respond. He was too focused on not being a part of this conversation.
This man, Black Hat, was a villain.
He was a villain, and he wanted Flug to join him.
And he had very obviously done some digging into his past, and if was able to find out about the plane then who's to say he didn't know other things?
Whatever those could be.
The thought terrified him.
Wait, does he know that I'm gay? And that I like to wear women's underwear? Oh swEET JESUS DID HE LOOK INTO MY SEARCH HISTORY?!
It was at that point, Flug attempted to turn off his brain. He refused to give the thoughts swimming about in his head even a moment of his attention.
Unfortunately, he became aware of a matter that demanded his attention. One that couldn't be put off.
"Uh, s-s-sorry to bring this up," he awkwardly said. "But I left my bag back in the Robotics Lab. Can we go get it?"
The driver grunted in annoyance, but he turned onto the road that would lead them back. The sky had gotten dark since Flug had called him, hard to believe they had only been talking for such a short amount of time.
Actually, what was the time?
As they pulled into the student parking lot, both men exited the vehicle. No words were exchanged as they walked briskly down the path to the Robotics Lab, Flug in the lead.
They made good time, what would ordinarily be a peaceful eight to ten minute stroll became a five or six minute fast walk. Flug's sneakers were largely silent on the stone path, while Black Hat's white wing tipped shoes (which were really nice, not that Flug was looking) echoed loudly throughout the mostly empty pavillion.
Another question occurred to Flug. Even though he had sworn he wasn't going to be asking anything else tonight. He stopped walking in the middle of the walkway to ask it. Black Hat looked annoyed as he stopped next to him, but Flug didn't let that stop him.
He shouldn't ask this out loud in such an open space. There was a greater chance of being heard. Even when no one's around, someone's around.
"Why are you here?" He asked in a low voice. It still sounded loud to him. It echoed off the bare walls threefold with no students to muffle it. "Why enroll in a school for heroes?"
"You think there's one for villains?" Black Hat asked in a monotone drawl. "I am here to study. Learning about my adversaries first-hand is primordial to defeating them."
"Is that Portuguese?"
"Yes, why?"
"I think 'primordial' has a different meaning in Portuguese than it does in Spanish. In Spanish it means old. Like, since the beginning of time old."
Black Hat sighed in aggravation. "What I mean to say is important, supreme, paramount."
"Ah, the word is importante."
"Ah, importante. First-hand knowledge is importante if I am to succeed."
Flug nodded, and resumed walking. "I know what you mean."
"Hmm?"
"In my Engineering Club. Our project right now is to design a device capable of trapping some of our Gifted volunteers."
"They have gifts?" Black Hat asked in confusion.
"Yes, Gifts. Things like that already exist, yeah, but we've never done it before. As we met our subjects all I could think of was how to use what I knew about them against them, and we've been having them show us what they can do so that we can capture them even easier."
They reached the Robotics Lab, and Black Hat suddenly grabbed onto Flug's shoulder. Tightly. Flug turned, alarmed at the sudden sensation.
Black Hat was grinning again. Apparently Flug had gotten him back into a good mood.
"Flug, you really mean to tell me that your first instinct in meeting your subjects was to devise ways of defeating them based on what you already knew, and you've had them show you the extent of their abilities so that you could bring them down even easier?"
Flug's face fell as he began to understand what Black Hat was getting at.
"And you say you don't have pure villainy in you."
He chuckled darkly as he gave Flug's shoulder a few light pats. Then walked past him into the Robotics Lab.
Flug followed slowly behind.
Notes:
Hey, It's Fallin again! Are you enjoying my story? I think it's good to have a balance between humor and actualy plot development. Do you guys prefer to laugh or feel? Wow, not as many translations needed for this chapter.
Translations:
primordial = paramount (Portuguese)
importante = important (Spanish)
