Early the next morning, Dr. Flug and Dementia were in Black Hat's office waiting for the arrival of Melanie and her family.
Flug was setting up a powerpoint while Dementia was struggling to stay in her chair in violent anticipation of the little traitor.
"Oh, when will she get here?" Dementia said crawling around her chair impatiently. "I can't wait until I get that girl…Wait, what's her name again?"
Flug rolled his eyes impatiently and said, "Melanie. And you can't kill her. Her family's too important…"
"Why?" Dementia asked.
Flug sighed and said while turning on the overhead projector for the umpteenth time, "Fine. Let me explain it to you…again…"
Flug pulled down a white screen as a family portrait of Melanie and her family came into view.
"This is…" Flug began before being unexpectedly shoved out of the way by his boss.
"No, let me explain this, so we all understand the first time," Black Hat said pulling another reel of film out of his eyelid, pushing aside the first projector, conjuring a new one, setting it up, and gesturing his cane at the projection on the white screen.
"Yes, Senior Black Hat," Dementia said giving him her full attention as Flug got to his seat and rolled his eyes.
"The girl in question is Melanie de la Muerte," Black Hat began gesturing his cane towards all the corresponding characters and telepathically making the slides change at the appropriate times. "She is the third born daughter of her parents Senior Santa Muerte and La Faucheuse. Her parents come from very prestigious families that have served our organization for generations.
"Her father is the only child of Santa Muerte, the dark matron saint of criminals. Santa Muerte started out as a poor single mother struggling to feed her son after the death of her husband, but she grew into a powerful witch who made deals with dark forces to gain powers that allowed her to be a godmother to the criminals in her village and the villages beyond. Now, thanks in part to our organization, her operation has expanded immensely. She is worshiped all over Mexico and the southwest United States as the matron saint of criminals who offer her money, resources, and loyalty in exchange for her healing and protection for their missions…"
"Oooh," Dementia said marveling at the photograph of Black Hat with Santa Muerte and her son. "She looks scary…"
"Indeed," Black Hat said changing the slides. "Her son, Carlos de la Muerte, is her second-in-command. In the 1980s, he attended a university with Blanche La Faucheuse. Her family name in English means the Reaper. That's because Faucheuse comes from a long family line of grim reaper-human hybrids.
"About 300 years ago, a grim reaper fell from grace and was banished to earth. He found himself in France in the company of a young woman who was a thief on the streets. They, of course, fell in love, got married, and worked together as a thief duo robbing the wealthy of France. But after a while, as their family grew, their aspirations went bigger. With the help of our organization, they expanded their operations to become a family-run network of spies and assassins who have played a hand in multiple historical events over France's history. Since then, their operation has expanded and their many children passed down the original reaper's abilities to all their descendants.
"Senior Santa Muerte and Blanche La Faucheuse met in college. They, of course, fell in love and got married after their college graduation joining their family businesses together in a large merger…"
"So," Dementia interrupted. "What you're saying is that a supernatural entity and a human can be together!"
Dementia floated around the room in a cloud of happiness while Black Hat sighed and continued ignoring her antics as the slide show kept continued to reveal a young woman who heavily resembled her grandmother Santa Muerte, "The oldest daughter is Iliana, age 27. What she lacks in Reaper abilities she makes up for in her business and witchcraft skills. She works directly under her father in the chain-of-command of Santa Muerte. She is cunning, tactful, manipulative, witty, and ruthless. She is set to inherit the Santa Muerte role after her grandmother retires. Iliana is a rising star and a competent young villain to be watched…"
Dementia gasped and fell back into her seat angry at the praise Black Hat was giving this woman.
Black Hat changed the slide to a photograph of a younger woman holding a scythe who looked almost exactly like her Reaper mother except for her completely black hair and said, "The second-born daughter is Lunet, age 21. She's the most talented Reaper out of all her sisters. She's silent, intelligent, swift, strong, and focused, the perfect weapon for political espionage. She is currently on her summer break from the university she attends in France, but she's expected to begin her apprenticeship under her mother as soon as she graduates."
"And she also writes really good poetry on her online blog," Flug said while Dementia sat still grimacing at Lunet's beauty as well.
"Indeed. The youngest is Dita, age 8," Black Hat said changing the slide to a photograph of a young girl with very short black hair trying to set a fire with a magnifying glass. "She's…"
Dementia squealed at the top of her lungs and hopped up and down in her chair interrupting Black Hat, "OOOOOOoooooooh, I remember her! We played in Flug's lab at the party! She was so much fun! She's my favorite! Is she coming today?!"
"Hopefully not," Flug interrupted. "I still have scars from last time…"
"SILENCE!" Black Hat yelled in frustration. "As I was saying, she is a clever and mischievous child with demonstrated magical abilities as both a witch and a Reaper hybrid. She's wild, energetic, and hard to control around people. She has already developed wicked tendencies, unlike her sister…"
Black Hat changed to the final slide which was a picture of the traitor in question at their organization's party looking bored and disinterested with her headphones in and said, "This troublemaker is Melanie, age 14. From what her parents have told me, she is gifted as a Reaper though not at Lunet's level, studious in school though not always at the top of the class, skilled in various creative pursuits, outgoing with her circle of friends, emotionally-independent, outspoken at times, argumentative at others, but mostly apathetic towards her family's business. Not too different from any other teenager. The girl had proven to be an underachieving black sheep in such a talented and ambitious family until last night."
The slideshow reel ended and disappeared as Black Hat continued, "Last night, around 9 pm our time, Melanie de la Muerte was unmasked breaking up the robbery of our associated villain Wesley Jagger. According to him, she was fighting him and his men as a Nun-ja with her Reaper abilities amplified by her Divine Connection. She gave the men heavenly visions that humbled all of them into repentance except for Wesley himself. Despite his smaller time villain status, this offense is a serious one. It's unacceptable for any card-carrying Black Hat Organization members to have children that turn into heroes. We must get this problem child back in-line by any means necessary or we will lose our credibility with our clients."
"Let me at her!" Dementia cried. "I'll make her pay for betraying us!"
"Dementia, I told you already that you can't kill her," Flug reminded her.
"I won't kill her," Dementia whined. "I'll just beat her into submission."
"Reapers are strong and fast," Flug replied with a hidden smirk. "I'd like to see you try."
Just then, a notification buzzer rang on Flug's wristwatch device.
"Oh, the De La Muerte family has arrived," Flug announced. "Shall I show them in?"
"Yes, bring them straight to my office and keep an extra eye on that little brat," Black Hat ordered as he looked out his window angrily at the rising sun. "Make sure she doesn't try anything."