"I don't think you're going to be able to find anyplace open today."

"Let me handle this."

"I'm just saying, most places are closed-"

"Flug, I will find somewhere and get you pancakes."

"You really don't have to do that." Flug said, feeling weird that Black Hat would go out of his way like this just for breakfast. "I don't have to have pancakes. I can just have-"

"Flug, we're already in the car. I'm already driving. We might as well go through with it."

"Yeah, about that, is this a prius?"

"This is just a rental."

"It's...nice."

"Thanks, I absolutely hate it. But it'll do until I find something more suitable. I have very specific tastes and I'm not buying anything that doesn't satisfy me."

That made Flug feel even weirder. Which he was probably doing for no good reason, it wasn't as if Black Hat had bought him. Flug had sold his soul, but that didn't technically mean Black Hat had bought it. It wasn't as if they'd haggled prices. They weren't even talking about him. They were talking about vehicles. Inanimate objects. Totally different.

Like this car was different from Black Hats usual style. Very different. The car was ordinary, and a rather boring shade of gray. So light he could pretty much call it dark white. It didn't give off the same ominous yet refined vibe Flug associated with Black Hat. It was strange after getting so accustomed to riding around in the Hat-Mobile.

Ugh, was that really the best he could come up with?

"Do you just want pancakes now?"

"I prefer waffles."

"They're made out of the same stuff, aren't they?"

"There is a difference."

"Like what?"

"Waffles have pockets."

"I meant taste wise."

"That is also different."

"What's different?"

"The taste."

"How can they taste different if they're made of the exact same stuff?"

"I don't have to explain shit to you." Black Hat said, grinning like he was trying really really hard to appear calm. It wasn't a look Flug liked on him while he was behind the wheel of a motor vehicle Flug was currently in. Matter of fact, he'd been smiling ever since he showed up at Flug's apartment. Like a fucking psychopath.

Which was not entirely inaccurate, and not comforting in the slightest.

"Ok, ok, I'll take your word for it." Flug said, internally going Someone sure is defensive about their breakfast. He'd drop it, it wasn't super important anyways. So the guy has a preference, no big deal. Flug just really didn't want Black Hat to crash the car in a fit of waffle-rage. Maybe that was it. Maybe he was getting annoyed because they might not be able to get breakfast. Flug tried to say he could just have leftovers from the night before, but no, Black Hat had stuck with his "We are getting pancakes or so help me I will drive this car off of a cliff" plan. Ok that smile was starting to get kind of creepy. Was he just, like, super into Christmas? Or was he super pissed and just plastering a smile to hide it? Was he practicing his Jack Nicholson impression? Flug wasn't too keen on finding out definitively and just sat quietly as they drove.

But that left a big gaping hole of silence where a conversation was probably supposed to be. And the radio wasn't on either so it wasn't exactly a comfortable silence. God he wished one of them would start talking. Flug found his mind wandering as he stared out the window, watching the buildings and people whizz past them as they drove by. Black Hat seemed to have a place in mind, or was very good at pretending he knew where he was going. Flug wondered if Black Hat was planning on spending Christmas Day with him. It wasn't as if Flug had plans or anything, but he'd appreciate a heads up every now and again. There was only so much he could roll with and stay sane.

Assuming of course that one could still claim he was sane after all he'd done. Do sane people immediately begin plotting a murderous revenge scheme when they've been slighted? Maybe they did, but they probably never intend to actually go through with it.

Speaking of murderous revenge schemes, were they going to kill Aurelio? Because Flug was 110% down with killing Aurelio. Hey, they needed someone to test the Stun Gun on, and if it just so happened to be the one who'd given them both so much grief lately then so be it. Though, it wouldn't be easy getting to him again. He wouldn't be letting his guard down around either of them anytime soon, and wasn't on his own often. The one place he might be vulnerable was his home, he'd feel safest there, and if they could disarm the security system the only possible obstacles would be his parents. Who often left him to his own devices on the weekends. But then, Aurelio filled the expansive place to the brim. With people under various influences, but there all the same. So perhaps they could find a window of opportunity between those times when Aurelio would be completely alone. If not, they might be able to create one. Flug had to remember that he wasn't on his own this time, he had help. Or rather, he was the help.

He was an employee of the future world dictator. He might have his own plans to deal with him. As Aurelio's former stalker, Flug had a lot of information on him. A few things might be a bit...outdated, sure, but he knew this guy. Clearly he hadn't changed all that much if Flug could still find him within half an hour of looking. And he obviously wasn't as untouchable as everyone thought. Not if Flug, pretty much by himself, could take him down and only throw a single punch. The two of them against him on his own? It was looking like a pretty set game from where Flug sat. If Black Hat gave the word, Flug would stalk him all over again. Only this time out for blood. This time, there would be no "sloppy" mistakes.

He let a calm smile make its way across his face, picturing all that could be done with his new and improved Stun Gun. He was looking forward to seeing the fruits of his labors in the dead, charred, aggravatingly perfect flesh.

Black Hat pulled up to an iHop and parked in the nearly empty lot. "See, I told you I'd find a place."

"How do you know they're open?"

"24 hours a day, 7 days a week." He stepped out, Flug following. "If they're not open that's false advertising right there and I wont tolerate it."

What, was he going to break in and make pancakes himself if they weren't open?

Although he was right. There were other cars in the lot, albeit not many. There were people inside. It wasn't packed by any means, but busy enough to prove the place was open. The two men walked in and were seated instantly. They got a booth, which was nice. Those were always more comfortable and roomy.

There were only about a handful of other people, seated far away enough that their conversations could fade into white noise easily. Flug took note of each of them as his eyes skimmed the drink menu. He already knew what he was getting, it didn't require his attention. His surroundings did. A family of three, two parents and a boy who looked about seven or so. An elderly couple eating off each others' plates, how sweet. A man and two girls, probably his daughters. Two women, mid to late thirties. One old man by himself, a bit of a sad sight. And the two of them, who'd probably blend in perfectly were it not for the fact that one was in a top hat and monocle and the other was...actually still in the same clothes he'd put on last night to go to church.

Ok, maybe they didn't stand out too much since they were both kind of dressed up.

"Hello, my name is Jessica and I'll be your server today," Said the woman who had plastered on a big toothy smile to disguise how much she hated having to come in to work. "Can I start you two off with some drinks?"

"Coffee. Give it to me straight."

"I'll have the, uh, vanilla peppermint latte with whipped cream, please."

"No problem," She wrote their drinks on her little notepad. "Are you ready to order?"

"Can I get a minute?" Flug asked.

"Sure, no problem," Jessica said, sounding like it was very much a problem but she needed this job. "Take all the time you need."

As she resisted the urge to stomp away, Flug skimmed over the menu, flipping between pancakes and crepes. Yes, he loved pancakes, but crepes often came with that amazing strawberry glaze and powdered sugar. Crepes were pretty much just French pancakes when you got right down to it. Oh, but they had so many options for pancakes! Chocolate, cinnamon and nutmeg, tres leches, it was only a matter of time before they broke down and made pancakes out of something like caramel or honey or God forbid butterscotch, oh Mother Mary they brought the cheesecake bite pancakes back! With strawberries and whipped cream oh fuck yes!

But then again, French toast. And bacon. Which he could pour maple syrup on and make maple bacon.

"Hey, they have waffles." Flug jokingly pointed out.

"Mmm hmmm," Black Hat didn't look past the menu to acknowledge him. He flipped through it again every thirty seconds or so, like he was having trouble deciding what he wanted.

Ok, a little awkward. Trying to have a normal meal with you here, guy. It seemed like Black Hat was a little off today. What with the creepy smile and insistence on breakfast. Had he not had a good Christmas? Maybe he wasn't really in the mood for either pancakes or waffles. It struck Flug as odd that out of the two Black Hat would prefer waffles, especially since he claimed not to like sweet things very much. If waffles had anything over pancakes, it was probably that their little pockets or whatever could hold more syrup. Which didn't seem like something someone without much of a sweet tooth would want. Then again, that was just Flug's opinion. And it was just food, why was he thinking so hard about Black Hat's breakfast choices? He was the one who decided on iHop, if he didn't even want anything then that was his problem. Flug tried telling him they didn't have to go, but now that they were here...

Jessica came back with their coffees and they placed their orders. She seemed to have mellowed a bit. Now she sounded like she only kind of hated her life. Maybe she and her coworkers were cracking jokes in the kitchen, trying to keep their spirits up when absolutely no one wanted to be working this early on Christmas Day.

Flug took a sip of his latte, only to reach for the sugar packets. He added in four or five while Black Hat sipped his own coffee, rolling his eye as if to say How do you not have diabetes yet? There wasn't any history of diabetes in his family as far as he knew, but yeah he'd be lucky if he dodged that particular bullet. Assuming his caffeine addiction didn't get to his heart first. Wow, now that he thought about it he really didn't take very good care of himself. He barely ate and when he did it was full of sugar, caffeine, and probably lots of trans fats. That'd be from what was actually food and not slightly more nutritious desert. Last night had probably been his first meal in over a week that hadn't been fast food or frozen.

You know, with all the other random stuff he worried about, it was easy to forget they were going to be planning a murder. Which they should probably do sooner rather than later. Such a heinous crime probably shouldn't be winged. It wasn't something they could just do on the fly. The results would be...terminal.

He he, aviation jokes.

"So..." Flug said, trying to start the conversation off. "Did you have a good Christmas?"

"Fine."

"Did you do anything special?"

"Saw Dem, dropped off your present, and went home to Lil' Jack."

"Oh, ok. How is she?"

"She's grown a few inches. And is starting to tolerate me. I got her a few more branches to wrap herself around, she seems to prefer the thicker ones. The heat lamp is really running up my electric bill though."

"I actually meant Demetra." But thanks for the update on your murder-snake.

"She's fine. Was very concerned about you. I told her you're much better now. Her mother is sick."

"Anything serious?"

"She has some kind of skin condition, or something. I think it had something to do with her immune system? She isn't very mobile from what I remember, which is probably why we didn't see her at all last time we went over. I think she's bedridden most of the time."

"It was a little odd." Flug would've believed Demetra didn't even have a mom, there were no signs of her at all. No photos on the walls, absolutely no one mentioned her, nothing. "Hope she gets better soon."

"Uh huh."

There was a beat, where neither of them did anything but sip their coffee and awkwardly try not to look at each other. Because there are few things weirder than just silently staring at someone. No one knows where to look, nothing you do with your hands is casual, it's just a bad time for everyone.

"What about you? Did you go see your family or something?"

"Yeah, yeah we, uh, we went to mass, we had dinner, exchanged gifts and all that. I spent the rest of the night building that triplane you got me. Thank you, again."

"I thought you might like it."

"I did, it's been a long time since I've made one. And I don't think I've built a lot of triplanes so, that was fun."

More excruciating silence. More unpleasant coffee-sipping. There aren't many other ways it could be described. A thesaurus can only do so much when this level of nothing is happening.

Ok if all they were going to do here was make dismal small talk in between uncomfortable pauses, he might as well just fucking go for it.

"So," Flug proclaimed as he gulped down a mouthful of sweet, warm, sharp peppermint. "We're really going for it."

"What?"

"We're going to...you know, kill someone?" He said under his breath, hoping no one else in the restaurant heard. "That's what you said, right? To make sure the Stun Gun works properly?"

"Obviously." Black Hat scoffed, going back to his coffee. "We aren't testing it any other way."

"Right, right. I knew that. Uh, quick question? Ab-About that?"

"What is it?"

"Who, ah, who is it?"

"What?"

"Who are we killing? Are we killing...Aurelio?" Please say we're killing Aurelio please say Aurelio it would be absolutely perfect if we killed Aurelio. It doesn't even have to be now or soon-ish like just the knowledge that it'll happen at some point is comforting.

"You know, that would be pretty great. I get my assurance that you've made me something lethal, you get your revenge. Everyone gets what they want nice and easy and all that." Black Hat said, sounding terrifyingly sarcastic. He was smiling wide again. Flug was getting that old familiar feeling the man in the black hat was about ten seconds away from flipping the table and wringing his neck. "But guess what? We can't go after him. We can't go after him because we've already attacked him and were witnessed and were even questioned by the police. So, if anything should happen to him, we're the prime suspects. You especially."

"M-Me?"

"Yes, the one who did the actual shooting is usually the person they suspect the most when the guy goes missing. And wouldn't it just be the darndest coincidence that the man you paralyzed with a device harnessing electricity just so happened to die by electrocution? So you see, my dear little Pet, you took him off the market for the foreseeable future." He folded his hands in front of his face menacingly, obscuring his threatening grin. A ray of light caught his monocle and made it shine, almost blinding.

Flug really wanted to ask if Black Hat had ever seen Neon Genesis Evangelion, because he was almost perfectly doing the Gendo Ikari pose. He just looked more psychotic doing it.

Instead, Flug opted for, "Again, I-I'm sorry, about that. It was just-"

"I know, I know. I know why you did it and I'm not mad anymore." Black Hat reached over and held his hand. Flug cautiously gave it a squeeze in return. "I'm not mad at you, because I know that after this, you're never making a mistake like it again."

"You really think so?" Flug was surprised that Black Hat had so much faith in him. He really trusted that Flug wouldn't slip up again?

"I know you'll never mess up again," The look in his eye was cold. "Because I won't allow you to." All of a sudden that hand holding on to him felt a lot more clutching than comforting. Flug tried to pull away but Black Hat held on tight.

"What-What do you mean?"

Black Hat sighed and closed his eye. "Flug, I'm willing to work with you here. I get that you're eager and this is all so new and stuff, but I have to put my foot down. That stunt you pulled with Aurelio? That shit ends. Now."

"Ok but, um, what exactly are you saying?"

"I'm saying you're, ah, you're...uhhhhhhhh...damn, I can't think of a phrase that translates. You're benched, is what I'm saying."

"What does that mean?" Being "benched" was not a saying Flug was familiar with. Like...the kind of bench you sit on? Was Black Hat saying that Flug would "sit this one out" or something?

"Ummmm," Black Hat let go of Flug's hand and rubbed his chin, eye skyward as he tried to explain what he meant. "Ok so, you know how in sports, the players who aren't playing well are put on a bench and do nothing for the rest of the game because they're dragging everyone else down with their poor performance?"

"Ok..."

"Yeah well that's you, is what I'm saying." Black Hat sipped his coffee. "You fucked up, and until you learn to not fuck up you're staying on the bench."

"So...you're saying I'm in time-out?" Flug asked incredulously.

"Flug, come on. I went out of my way trying not to say that. It makes you sound like a child. Which you aren't. You're an adult and this should not be a conversation we need to have."

"Well-"

"No, Flug, I really shouldn't have to explain why attacking a man in broad daylight is a bad thing."

"That's not what-"

"Believe me Pet, I'd love to go and drag him out of his house kicking and screaming right now, but you've drawn too much attention to us for that to be an option anymore. I mean, we could've been on Day 5 of his torture and gradual death, but noooooo. You needed to punch him in the face. Because clearly that was what you really wanted to do."

"I get it!" Flug harshly whispered. "I jumped the gun and ruined our chance! You don't need to keep patronizing me, sir! And I wouldn't talk about 'drawing too much attention' if I was the one person on earth who wears a top hat and monocle as their day-to-day attire!"

Black Hat gasped over-dramatically, with one hand on his chest like Flug just insulted his grandmother. "Excuse you, cadelo, the monocle is because I'm fucking blind."

Flug didn't even know what Black Hat just called him but he felt insulted. "And the hat?"

"I happen to have a brilliant head for hats, thank you very much. Look me in the eye and tell me I don't look good. Go on." He sat back in the booth and waited, taking a large gulp of his coffee. "Go on and tell me. Tell me I am not the epitome of class and style."

"Maybe about two hundred years ago you were," Flug mumbled.

Black Hat scowled like he was just dying to throw his coffee mug at him, coffee included. Flug didn't care. They sat in silence, save for their respective coffee sipping, until their waitress came back with their food.

"Ok, we got the five stack of cheesecake bite pancakes and a belgian waffle, along with a side of bacon strips and a side of scrambled eggs. Is there anything else I can get you two?"

"Ketchup please."

"Ketchup? On eggs?"

"This your first breakfast together or something?" Jessica asked, looking far more alert all of a sudden.

Black Hat gave her a barely restrained glare. "Bring the ketchup."

"Alright, alright," She backed off, looking like this morning just got way more tolerable for her.

"Why do we seem to attract the nosiest wait staff imaginable? No one knows how to mind their own business anymore."

"You can say that again." Flug agreed.

They dug into their plates, a bit of hostility in the air dying down as Flug was overtaken by the sweetness of cheesecake and strawberries in syrup. And whipped cream. And D.I.Y. maple bacon. It was nothing short of a miracle that he didn't have more cavities.

How long had it been since he'd been to iHop? It felt like it had been years. He'd probably been with his parents last time. Were they celebrating something? It might've just been because they all liked pancakes. Flug remembered his mom would make pancakes every once in a while when he was little. And he'd always drown them in maple syrup. By the time he was full there would just be this little pond of syrup left on his plate, with maybe one or two bites of pancake left floating in it. How on earth was he still so skinny?

Oh, right, he only ate an actual meal maybe twice a week. A breakfast of this caliber was something he only indulged in maybe a handful of times a year. Though, with Black Hat around insisting he eat on a more daily basis, that might change.

"What happened to your hand?"

"Huh? Oh, this?" Flug raised his bandaged hand. The one Black Hat had apparently squeezed hard enough to sprain or something. If it wasn't for the fact that Flug could block out his pain, moving his fingers would be such a hassle "I just, uh, I just banged it up. It's nothing serious."

"You should be more careful."

Flug kept his mouth shut but rolled his eyes. Was Black Hat really going to lecture him all throughout breakfast? If he was trying not to treat him like a child, he was failing. And were they really going to do nothing more to Aurelio? Sure, public humiliation and a run-in with the cops was some well-deserved karmic justice, but they didn't really deal in justice now did they? They were supposed to be villains. It was supposed to be villainous vengeance!

Flug supposed that was all he ever really did. Go out for revenge. All his darkest thoughts revolved around making those who did him wrong suffer horribly. He didn't feel that way towards everyone. If he had no current tormentor, his intrusive thoughts were filled with faceless, empty silhouettes. Mere examples, possibilities, rather than fully-developed plans. Blank slates to fill with whomever he directed his talents at. It wasn't as if he had detailed murder-fantasies about, say, the people in his club. Or his other classmates. Even in high school, it wasn't as if he dreamed about killing all of them. Just the ones who made his life hell day in and day out. A few specific people stood out in his mind; Ronal, Giovanni, Ernesto, Rene, Nicole. Troglodyte urchins. He wondered what they were up to these days.

Could they go after them?

"Here's your ketchup, do you guys want your refills?"

"Sure."

"Yeah please."

"You got it," Jessica went off swiftly, but Flug noticed she gave them a kind of sideways glance as she left. A kind of Ooooooooh it's about to go down, I gotta get my phone ready, kind of look.

"What's up with her?"

"It was probably because you've been scowling at your last bacon stip for the past five minutes." Black Hat said. "Either eat the stuff or don't, you need what little protein there is under all that disgusting sugar."

Flug huffed into his mug, emptying it in one last gulp. Shut up and eat your ketchup-eggs. "You never did tell me who it's going to be."

"What? Oh, that. It's not going to be anyone you know. It will be a completely random stranger."

"Oh...really?"

"Yes, choosing a victim at random severely reduces the chances that we will be in any way tied to their death. We have no motive and have had no contact with them, therefore we are the unlikeliest of suspects. The same will be true for future experiments, so as not to form any kind of pattern. This way, it will be virtually impossible to track us down. It's inconceivable that anyone would notice the similarities between what your new Stun Gun does and what the old one did, but even if by chance someone does, there's still nothing connecting either of us to the victim. Add to that the fact that the police confiscated the old one, and I certainly wouldn't know how to make one, we're in the clear. You didn't tell anyone you made another, did you?"

"Of course not."

"Good," Black Hat shoved a bit of waffle into his mouth. "Don't worry, it will all work out. You won't even know their name."

Well...it made sense to Flug. A completely random stranger, with no connection to either of them. Nothing linking Black Hat or Flug to their death. No reason for them to kill Juan So-and-So, they never so much as heard of the guy. There was no logical reason to suspect them. No one would suspect them. Who do you look at first when investigating a murder? The people closest to them; friends, enemies, family, coworkers perhaps. Not the two of them, that was for sure. There was nothing suspicious about them, nothing at all. They were just two dudes, having breakfast together, attracting the attention of restaurant staff everywhere because apparently waitresses have the greatest functioning gay-dar known to mankind.

And yet they never overhear any of the villainous murder plots. Convenient.

"So, ok, alright, um, I assume we aren't going to just do this at one of our apartments?"

Black Hat rubbed the space between his eyes. Where the bridge of his nose would be...if he had one. "No, we aren't. We will take them to a secluded location, and take every precaution to reduce any traces of our presence."

"Oh good, good. But, uh, since it'll be some random person, we-well, how exactly will we-"

"I will find someone."

"Yeah ok, but-"

"Flug, I will find someone." He growled it out as if he took Flug's question as a personal insult. "It's not as hard as you think it is."

"What, are you just going to pick up the first person you see off the street?"

"No, I'm not- Look, I've done this plenty of times before. I know what I'm doing and I do not need the constant questioning of someone who let their feelings for their high school crush get in the way! I will procure someone for us, and you will obediently await my orders. Understood?" It was about then that they both noticed Jessica standing there with two more coffee mugs. Awkwardly smiling like she was just going to pretend she didn't hear any of that. Oh God, what did she think they were talking about?

"Here are your refills." She announced. "Anything else I can get for you?"

"No, thank you. Go ahead and bring the check." Black Hat said, going back to his waffle. He'd only really eaten about half of it, while Flug was down to the last slice of his five-stack. Though he wasn't really hungry anymore.

"For the record, he wasn't my high school crush."

"Then why were you stalking him, hmmm?"

Flug gulped down his coffee spitefully, the burn actually feeling kind of nice on his tongue. Not so nice dribbling down the side of his mouth, where his scars were. Luckily he wasn't flinching from it at all, or he'd open them up. Ah damn it, he'd forgotten to add more sugar. Oh well, it was slightly better for him this way. He licked his whipped-cream moustache away and focused back on his food. He made quick work of what was left of his pancakes, swallowing down the delicious sweetness.

"Look, I couldn't stop myself because Aurelio...it was personal. He made it personal. And I wasn't going to let myself lie back and take it again. Not from him."

"That's still not an excuse."

"I'm not saying it as an excuse. Just an explanation. We're not going after Aurelio, so it won't be personal, and I'm not going to mess it up. I'll just, like, follow your lead or whatever."

"Yes, so long as you follow my instructions, everything will go smoothly."

Flug sighed. It didn't look like he was changing his mind. He guessed he'd have to just wait on the sidelines until Black Hat thought he was ready. He reached for his last bacon strip, his last little piece of food. After this, it was back to his usual bird-like eating habits. His leftovers should last him another week, maybe more. So he could continue to put off grocery shopping.

"Oh, don't look so glum. After all, I never said we were letting Aurelio off the hook completely. I told you that you would have your revenge. We just need to be patient. Let some time pass."

"How long?"

"Give it a year, if we're lucky."

"You want me. To wait. An entire. Year?" Flug asked, feeling dangerously close to him being the one to flip the table and strangle the other.

"No, I want you to utilize the time we can't spend going after your boyhood crush to learn how to be a proper villain. Think of this as a practice run. Just do everything I say, when I say it, exactly as I say it. Commit it all to memory. When the time comes, you'll have acquired the skills necessary to exact your revenge flawlessly."

"You think so?"

"I'll make sure of it." Black Hat said ominously, really starting to scarf down the rest of his waffle. As well as every single last bite of egg. His plates were completely clean, save a few swipes of ketchup and stray waffle crumbs. Flug was done as well, nothing left but a familiar pond of syrup with some pancake crumbs floating around.

The check came, Flug just barely realizing it was too late to split it. Did he even have his wallet with him? This meant Black Hat had to pay. Again. God, this was so weird. He wasn't trying to mooch off of Black Hat and his seemingly bottomless pit of cash, he swore! Would it really kill him to pay for his own food every once in a while? He tried apologizing, but Black Hat just waved him off. Which did not make Flug feel any better about being such a poor excuse of a...friend? Acquaintance? Subordinate? Boyfriend? Whatever he was, he wasn't really pulling his weight in this relationship was he? It seemed he always left Black Hat to do everything. The one thing Flug actually did was a giant screw up that Black Hat claimed to have forgiven him for, yet kept bringing up like a scorned lover. Flug followed him back to the car and got in, quietly gazing out the window as they drove.

Black Hat's hand patted him on the shoulder. "There there, my Pet. We won't waste any time. We start preparations for testing immediately."

"Ok. What do we do?"

"First things first, we will need to secure a location. I have a few places in mind, I'll arrange for us to check them out soon. Assuming you have nowhere else to be?" Flug didn't like the way he said that. It sounded like such a rhetorical question. He probably knew good and well Flug had no prior obligations other than his part-time work and was asking purely out of some strange sense of etiquette.

"And then?"

"We set it up to be suitable testing area. Obviously it must be soundproofed, and sterile. I'm going for a kind of surgical precision thing here, got it? We need a clean workplace, that no one knows about, and can't be traced back to us just in case."

"And after all that's ready, we get our victim?"

"I will get our victim."

"Ok, so...what do I do?"

"You will be coming with me to pick out a location and you will help me prepare it. In the meantime, you can start on the next invention. Pick something from all those sketches you showed me, start on a prototype for the Hat-Bots, get a list together of what materials you need. If that's not productive enough for you, why don't you do some reconnaissance? Go back to stalking Aurelio, learn where he is and what he's doing at any given time. Watch his entire family if you want, just remember you aren't after his body this time."

Careful Hat-Man, if you keep making snide remarks like that I'll start thinking you really are jealous of him.

"That shouldn't keep me occupied for long. I already know about his family."

"Then why don't you share something for once?"

Flug laughed joylessly. "Ok, sure. We got Aurelio, age 22, human puppeteer and general bastard. Avoid skin contact at pretty much any and all costs or you're kind of screwed. His range is 5 meters and his only limits seem to be things he knows how to do. Which is a very broad category. His sister Helena, 26, currently in rehab for her meth addiction. Not an obstacle in the slightest. His dad, kind of a big deal, as far as I know he still works at the largest corporate manufacturer for clothing and accessories that can withstand individual Gifts on the continent."

"He works at Super Styles?"

"Their Latin division, Super Estilos. I don't really know what he does, or at least did back when I was stalking Aurelio full-time, as I was more focused on, you know...Aurelio..." Though not because he had a crush on him. That wasn't it! He just found him...fascinating is all. As in he was a fascinating specimen! Oh God he didn't want to think about this right now. "I just know he's corporate. Anyway, his dad has the ability to phase through any material objects. He can also create temporary holes allowing other people and objects to pass through, but that seems to take a lot of energy. At least, it did back then. He might have improved. And that just leaves his mom."

"His mom?"

"Yeah, but I can't imagine her being much of a threat, comparatively."

"Why not?"

"She doesn't have a Gift." Flug said. "She's just an ordinary woman."

"She's just an ordinary woman?"

"Yeah. So is Helena, I guess she took after her. Aurelio is kind of a Mama's boy, though. He would fight with his dad sometimes and picked on his sister a lot, but he's always behaved for his mom. It strikes me as kind of odd, but maybe we can use that? Maybe we can hold her hostage and force him to give himself up? That way we don't have to risk coming into contact with him?"

"Maybe," Black Hat said, looking like he was starting to space out or something. Like he was already busy formulating a plan. Which Flug was all for, granted that he didn't get lost in thought while driving.

"Hey," Flug reached over and shook him a little. "Keep your eye on the road. We can't do anything if we die now."

Black Hat brushed him off. "I want you to be thorough, and get up to date with all of them. Leave no room for error and make sure you are completely certain all your facts are correct."

"Black Hat, if there is one thing I definitely will not mess up, it is stalking Aurelio Cruz."

"Then prove it, and get me absolutely everything on him."

Translations:

cadelo = bitch (Portuguese)

Notes:

I feel like people may have some questions, especially about the ending here concerning Aurelio's family. It'll be a bit hard to talk about since this story is mainly from the P.O.V. of Flug and Black Hat, and I'm trying to limit how often the P.O.V. switches to keep things more focused. I do plan on doing another from D.J.'s perspective, and I think he and his family will be a good outlet to kind of indirectly explain a bit more about the universe I'm building and how it works. But that won't be for a while, so a few things might take a while to be explained in-story.

If you follow me on tumblr, fallinforaguyfelldownfromthesky, I do try and answer any questions people have. I will try my best to answer questions about anything that was poorly explained or unclear. And then work them into future chapters. You shouldn't have to search through my tumblr and scavenge through reblogged memes and pictures of my dog to understand a fanfiction.