Melanie flew over the town for the mile it took to make it back to Black Hat's mansion while 505 nervously held on feeling both scared and in wonder at his surroundings as he looked around. Flying in one of his Dad's ships was one thing, but being in the air directly was something else.
Unfortunately, the manor was just ahead, so Melanie had to land her scythe on the walkway leading to the front door. She sighed sadly. Melanie had bought herself a few minutes of alone time away from her prison wardens, but she knew that wouldn't last too much longer. If only she knew how to lock them all out of the house…
Melanie's thoughts were interrupted by 505 giving her a bear hug from behind as they reached the ground. She looked back at him and smiled as she dissolved her scythe.
"Did you enjoy the ride, 505?" Melanie asked.
505 nodded enthusiastically and gave Melanie a hug from in front this time.
"You're welcome, 505," Melanie replied. "You're the best thing about this place. I'm glad I can do something fun for you."
505 smiled as he walked to the front door, opened it wide, and gestured for Melanie to come with him.
"Do I really have to?" Melanie asked sadly. "I don't know when I'll be allowed to go outside again."
505 looked away sadly not knowing what to do or how to make Melanie feel better about living there.
Melanie sighed sadly and walked through the doorway into the manor.
"I wonder if we can lock them out," Melanie said with a devious smirk as 505 shut the door behind them.
In a desperate attempt to get Melanie's mind on something else, 505 gestured for Melanie to get on his back for a ride.
Melanie looked at her gray dress and back at him and asked, "Are you sure? I'm wearing a dress."
505 looked at her in confusion clearly not comprehending why such a thing would be inappropriate.
Melanie sighed and said, "Never mind."
505 got down on the ground on all fours and allowed the 14-year-old girl to climb on his back before galloping down the halls.
Melanie held onto his fur and chuckled and smiled. Despite Black Hat's best efforts, there was still one good thing about this place.
While 505 continued his sprint, Melanie silently looked around the hallways she knew she would have to familiarize herself with in her new home until there was a sudden stop in front of the dining room.
505 stopped in his tracks, stood upright allowing Melanie to gently slide off his back, and quickly walked back into the dining room.
"Hey, 505?" Melanie asked in confusion at the sudden stop as she followed 505 back into the room. "Where are you going?"
505 walked through the dining room into the kitchen and walked back out with a tub on top of a cart for all the dirty dishes on the table.
Melanie looked around at the mess 505 had to clean up and sighed knowing it would take forever for 505 to do this on his own the way he usually did. She slyly looked up and down the hallway and shut the door entering the dining room.
"505, let me help," Melanie said setting her knapsack down in another chair she pushed against the wall. "That'll make this go faster."
505 looked around nervously remembering how Melanie got in trouble earlier that day.
"505, don't worry," Melanie reassured as she slid her sandals off and dropped her black cardigan shrug on the ground on top of her belongings. "I'm going to have fun with this, so that if they ask, I can tell everybody I was messing around. Trust me. I'll be fine. Okay? Now, let's move these chairs."
Melanie grabbed two chairs and began moving them away to the wall.
Not wanting Melanie to get in trouble, 505 dashed in front of her and grabbed the chair.
"505, what has gotten into you?" Melanie asked as she moved on to another pair of chairs while 505 finished stacking the chairs against the wall.
505 anxiously shooed Melanie to the other side of the room, pulled a chair up against the wall, and gestured for her to stay there.
"But, 505…" Melanie protested.
505 gently pushed Melanie into the chair and rushed over to the other side of the table to continue stacking the chairs.
Melanie sighed in annoyance as she sat in her spot and looked at the chairs on the other side of the table. It would take forever at this rate. 505 needed help whether he wanted to admit it or not.
Melanie stood up, summoned her wings, grabbed a chair, flew into the air, and began stacking the chairs on the other side of the table by herself.
Not noticing what Melanie was doing, 505 continued his work stacking the chairs on the other side of the table. Then when he was done stacking his chairs, he turned around to see Melanie sitting on top of the pile of chairs she had stacked.
"Looks like I win," Melanie said amusedly from her perch.
505 gasped in shock and looked around to make sure no one else saw. To his relief, it seemed that no one had.
"See, 505?" Melanie said reassuringly as she dissolved her wings and hopped down from the stack of chairs. "No one saw me doing it. Neither of us got punished. We're okay. Now, let's play another game."
505 scratched his head in confusion and curiosity. Chores were games?
Sensing his curiosity, Melanie unleashed her reaper wings, summoned her scythe, flew on the table, smiled, and said, "I make chores games all the time at home. That helps us get them done faster and makes the work much more fun. I see it as a win-win. We get to have fun together and get your work done."
505's eyes widened in excitement. Turning chores into games so they could have fun together sounded wonderful.
Melanie smiled and said, "Let's play another game. 505, get ready to catch these dishes. I'll swipe them to your tub and you have to catch them."
Excited at the prospect of a new game, 505 smiled, grunted in approval, walked over to Melanie, and held up the tub at the same level as the table so the dishes could be slid in with ease.
Melanie wielded her scythe down in front of her with its blade touching the table as if it were a hockey stick. She swung her arms back, and in one fell swoop, swiped the first dish into 505's tub.
505 caught the plate easily and checked it to see that there were no breaks.
"Are we good?" Melanie asked playfully.
505 responded with a thumbs up and backed up holding the tub over his head.
Melanie swept another dish into the tub without breaking it, then another, and another.
Melanie continued her process swiping dish after dish into 505's tub while he picked up the more delicate items until finally the work was done and they both had smiles on their faces.
505 set the bucket of dirty dishes on top of the trolley and pulled the bucket of soapy water and the sponges out of the bottom of the trolley.
"Oh, no," Melanie said dissolving her wings and scythe, walking over to 505, and grabbing the sponge and bucket of soapy water. "I can do this while you get started on those dishes."
505 gave a worried grunt as he looked around nervously.
"Don't worry, 505," Melanie said. "I know how to turn this into a game, too. Do you have any string?"
505 looked at her confusedly, pulled out a spool of twine from his trolley, and handed it to Melanie.
Melanie pulled out a length of twine, summoned her scythe, and used it to cut the string in half twice. Then, she dipped both sponges into the water, placed them on the table, summoned her wings, flew onto the table, and tied her feet to the sponges with the string.
Suddenly, 505 understood. He smiled and grunted in approval.
"You get it now?" Melanie asked with a smile. "I'm gonna go skating. I've always wanted to do this. I've seen this so many times in old cartoons. We have nothing to worry about. If the trio of jerks comes by, I'll just tell them that I'm skating cuz I'm bored. It won't exactly be a lie."
Melanie used her wings to propel herself and began skating forward. She flapped her wings as rapidly as a hummingbird's. She rapidly accelerated as she sped herself to one end of the table flapping her wings in the opposite direction to stop herself from falling just as she was about to slide off the end.
"Bauw?" 505 asked giving a worried grunt.
"Don't worry, 505," Melanie said with a smile. "I'm fine. Go ahead and get the dishes into the kitchen."
505 smiled back and pushed his trolley into the kitchen.
Melanie smiled ahead and focused on her work. She flapped her wings at a slower speed to accelerate herself more slowly than before.
This was better, Melanie thought. The fast speed was fun, but this was much more calming.
Melanie enjoyed the quiet, the only sound coming from the squeak of her spongy shoes on the wooden table and the rhythmic flapping of her wings. She enjoyed the feeling of the soap and water in between her toes and on the soles of her feet and the strong, lemony smell coming from the soap. She also enjoyed the feeling of the air gently flowing through her dress and against her skin as she picked up speed.
And, beyond all that, Melanie enjoyed helping her new friend with his burdensome chores.
It was almost enough to make Melanie forget where she was.
Unfortunately, when Melanie had turned around to go skating to the other end of the table, she saw Dementia climb on the wall and jump onto the middle of the table right where Melanie had just mopped.
Melanie stopped in her tracks and glared at the fact that she had just cleaned that spot.
"OH, FLUG!" Dementia called out to the hallway. "Melanie's doing something good again!"
"What?!" Melanie asked as incredulously as she could muster. "No, I'm not! I'm just having some fun while waiting on 505 to finish his chores!"
Clearly not believing her, Dementia turned to the doorway and yelled, "Hey, nerd?! Is she lying?!"
"I'm right here!" Flug annoyedly yelled as he walked through the doorway while rubbing his head and speeding through the security camera footage on his watch. "You can stop yelling now! Now, let's see...Here, she and 505 appear to be stacking chairs, but here, they appear to be playing hockey with our dinner plates…This is highly suspect…Here we go…"
Flug slowed down a clip to listen to the audio, and after a second of silence, he said, "Yes, Melanie is lying."
"Ha!" Dementia exclaimed pointing her finger in Melanie's face. "I knew it! You're in so much trouble! What did we say about trying to help 505 with his chores?!"
"Well, she did try to lie about what she was doing," Flug said putting his watch back into standby mode. "That's progress, at least."
"She lied to cover up the fact that she was trying to accomplish something good," Black Hat grumbled suddenly appearing in the doorway behind Flug.
"It was more of a half-truth actually," Melanie chimed in from the table.
"That's remarkable progress all the same," Flug said walking over to Melanie. "You may be closer to being a villain than you think, young lady."
A flutter of panic ran through Melanie's spine and she yelled, "Shut up!"
Black Hat felt a migraine coming on at the presence of the Insolent Spirit inside the teenage girl and snapped, "That's enough out of you! Go to your room now!"
"Whatever," Melanie snapped back before she kicked the sponges off her feet, dissolved her wings, hopped off the end of the table close to the door, scooped up all her things in her arms, and stomped away in annoyance.
Once he knew she was gone, Black Hat turned to Flug, unleashed his tentacles for emphasis, and said, "Dr. Flug! Your bear is being a positive influence! You need to go do something about it or I will! Do you understand me?!"
"Y-yes, sir," Flug whimpered out in a panic dashing into the kitchen where 505 was as fast as his legs would take him.
As soon as Flug disappeared, Black Hat returned to his normal form and retracted his tentacles. That was when Dementia tried to make her move.
"So, we're alone…" Dementia began flirtatiously getting as close to Black Hat as she could before Black Hat teleported away and left her alone to sulk.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, 505 was anxiously loading the dishwasher and trying not to look his Dad in the eyes having heard everything that just happened in the grand dining room.
Flug sighed as he walked over to 505, placed a hand on his shoulder, and said, "505, it's okay. You're not in trouble, but I need to ask you to do something for me. If Melanie asks you if you need help with something, please don't let her. Okay?"
505 turned around and gave Flug a questioning and sad glance.
"I know she's just trying to be nice, 505, but Melanie is here to learn how to be a good villain," Flug explained. "Melanie won't become a good villain if you keep letting her help you."
505 reluctantly nodded while staring at the floor.
"Hey," Flug said holding up 505's sad face in his chin. "You can still play with her."
505 smiled and began perking up again. That was when Flug came up with an idea.
"Hey, 505, I have an idea," Flug said. "Why don't you be Melanie's personal attendant/nurse/best friend while she's here? I can have some robots help with the chores."
505 smiled wider and began excitedly jumping up and down.
"Alright, that's what I like to see," Flug said. "How about this? I'm sure Melanie's in a bad mood right now, so why don't you go cheer her up?"
505 nodded happily and galloped away to join Melanie in her room.
Immediately after 505 left, Black Hat teleported in the kitchen almost surprising Flug enough to knock him off his feet.
"Ah!" Flug said falling back against the sink. "Sir?"
"Doctor," Black Hat said without missing a beat. "How did your discussion with 505 go?"
"I told 505 that he could go be Melanie's personal caretaker while he was here and that the Hat Bots could pick up the slack around here so that Melanie won't have any more chances to help," Flug replied nervously.
Black Hat raised an eyebrow and asked, "What exactly will your bear be doing?"
"Nothing much, sir," Flug replied finally straightening himself up. "He'll mostly make sure she stays out of trouble."
Black Hat stood there pondering for a second while holding his chin before giving a response, "That was actually a good idea, doctor."
Flug's eyes lit up in happiness as he asked, "You really think so, Jefecito?"
"Yes," Black Hat replied. "That girl could use all the observation we can get, especially since she has shorted out the cameras in her room and in the hallway leading up to it."
Flug's brows furrowed angrily as he checked his watch and found the information to indeed be true.
"Oh, that little…" Flug began before being interrupted by Black Hat menacingly leaning his head right into his face.
"But I must warn you, doctor," Black Hat said with his face only inches from Flug's. "Your bear has grown a connection to the girl. We can use that to keep her in line, but you need to make sure that connection doesn't outgrow his loyalty to us. You know how I feel about traitors."
"Of course, sir, I understand completely," Flug said quickly in his anxious, high-pitched tone. "I believe we can micromanage how much time they spend together to prevent such a thing from happening."
"Good," Black Hat said finally standing up straight and turning away from Flug to leave the room. "Get the Hat Bots to clean up the mess. And in the meantime, get to work on that brat's sleeping medication."
"Yes, sir, right away," Flug said with a salute as Black Hat finally teleported away.