"Let's see," Melanie said, twirling the water bottle on the table with her fingers. "If I could have anything I wanted, it would probably be the paperwork to legally emancipate myself from my family so that I could go ahead and live my own life forever. That and whatever machine Dr. Flug uses to hop dimensions. There are so many places I'd like to visit, like the land of Ooo or wherever the Kids Next Door live. That would be so cool!"

505 grunted in approval.

"So, how about you, 505?" Melanie asked. "If you could have anything you wanted, what would you ask for?"

505 opened his mouth to speak but then he shut it. That was a question he never had considered. His life with Flug, Dementia, and Black Hat was all that he knew. He had never thought about wanting anything else. No one had ever asked him such a question.

505 sat still with a thoughtful look in his eyes.

Was there anything else 505 wanted in his life? He had his Dad and a job he loved to do. His life couldn't be any better.

Or, could it? Dementia and Black Hat were cruel to him all the time and his Dad was the one to protect him. Maybe if they weren't around or just weren't so mean, but was that even possible?

This was a hard question to answer.

505 sat in his spot pondering.

Melanie smiled and said, "Tough question, huh? I bet no one around here has ever asked you that one before. It's okay. You can think about it."

505 smiled warmly and nodded his head.

"So, what do you want to do now?" Melanie asked tracing her finger around the edge of her plate. "Dr. Flug isn't back yet, and I'm not exactly ready to go back to class…Wait! I have the most amazing idea ever! Why don't we go explore the island?!"

505 sat up excitedly but then visibly hesitated.

"Please, 505," Melanie begged. "Dr. Flug doesn't need to know…"

"Too late," Flug's voice rang out through the dining room.

Melanie and 505 turned to see Flug entering the dining room.

"Dang it!" Melanie muttered to herself.

"Don't complain," Flug chided. "You know that leaving the manor without permission is forbidden."

Melanie leaned back in her chair and complained, "Dios mio! Why do you gotta be such a buzzkill?!"

"I'm not finished," Flug added. "It is fair that since Black Hat Island is your new home you should get to know the place. So, under supervision, I will allow you to go outside for a little while as long as you pass a little challenge that I have set up for you first."

"Oooooh!" Melanie said springing up from her chair and cheerfully hugging 505. "You hear that, 505? You and I will get to go outside!"

"You have to pass my challenge first," Flug reminded her.

"Yeah, yeah," Melanie said confidently letting go of 505 and standing on her chair while 505 stood next to her waiting with just as much anticipation. "So, what do I do first?"

"Just one thing," Flug said with wickedly smiling eyes. "You have to get the key from Dementia."

Melanie deflated a little bit and asked confusedly, "The key to what?"

505 grunted in affirming confusion.

"The security key remote to unlock the security system in Black Hat Manor," Flug replied, pulling out the remote from his pocket and pressing the button.

In an instant, the emergency lockdown system engaged all over Black Hat Manor. The windows and doors were all sealed, and Melanie could hear them lock into place.

Melanie sighed and said, "So, all I gotta do is get the remote from the lizard lady? That sounds easy enough."

Flug chuckled loudly and said, "We'll see about that."

Just then, Dementia popped into the room with the security remote hanging around her neck on a string.

"Oh, Melanie!" Dementia called, fiddling with the remote in her fingers. "Do you want to go outside?"

"Duh!" Melanie said summoning her nun-ja gear and her scythe. "Let's do this!"

"Alright!" Flug said, opening a timer app on his watch. "You have three hours. Now, go!"

Melanie immediately lunged for Dementia. Dementia jumped into the air and swung on a chandelier. Melanie climbed onto her scythe and flew towards Dementia only for her to swing away at the last second and fall in 505's direction.

"Grab her, 505!" Melanie yelled.

505 tried to catch Dementia as she landed only for Flug to yell at him.

"No, 505!" Flug yelled. "Melanie has to do this herself."

505 whimpered and crouched down as Dementia ran past him into the hall.

Melanie gave 505 an understanding look and flew into the hallway.

"Good luck, Melanie," Flug said, pointing to the cameras. "I'll be watching!"

Melanie sighed and continued her chase.

For the next few hours, Melanie chased Dementia up and down the halls.

Melanie slowly grew frustrated. Fighting Dementia in a closed space was one thing but chasing her in the labyrinth that was Black Hat's manor was something else.

Dementia's insults and her ability to camouflage didn't make Melanie's task any easier.

"You'll never catch me at this rate!" Dementia mocked. "That's what you get for being a dumb hero!"

Melanie growled in frustration. Dementia had kept this up for almost three hours and the taunts only grew worse.

Melanie stopped to catch her breath in yet another large storage closet with yet another blocked door to the outside.

"Not giving up, are you Melanie?" Dementia's mocking voice rang out from the hallway. "We're having so much fun!"

Melanie grimaced in annoyance at the voice. Then suddenly, she had an idea.

First, Melanie turned invisible. Next, she sent out electric pulses causing her tracking bracelet to short circuit and she waited.

From the dining room, Flug's watch buzzed to notify him of the tracking device being disabled.

"Dios mio!" Flug exclaimed in frustration as he called Dementia through his watch. "Not again!"

"What is it, nerd?!" Dementia barked from the other end of the line.

"Dementia, you need to find Melanie," Flug replied, ignoring her tone as he usually did. "She broke her tracker again."

Dementia chuckled maliciously and said, "I'm on it! I'll find the hero right away!"

"You still can't harm her," Flug reminded her.

"Awww!" Dementia groaned. "Why can't you ever let me have any fun?!"

Flug rolled his eyes and sent Dementia a message through the watch.

"Melanie's last known coordinates are here," Flug said. "Go look there first."

"Okay, nerd," Dementia said with an evil chuckle as she dashed off to find Melanie.

Dementia ran through the halls and climbed on the walls, trying her best to be stealthy and find the girl.

After only a minute, Dementia reached the closet where Melanie was last seen. Unbeknownst to her, Melanie was invisibly waiting in the corner.

"Oh, Melanie!" Demenia called, cracking her knuckles in malicious excitement. "Are you breaking your tracking device again? You know that means I get to discipline you, right? Hahahahahahahaha!"

While Dementia made her threats, Melanie snuck up behind her.

"Gotcha!" Melanie yelled.

She shredded her invisibility and tackled Dementia to the ground.

After a few moments of grappling on the floor, Melanie managed to grab the remote.

"Got it!" Melanie exclaimed as she snatched the remote away from Dementia. "Woohoo!"

Melanie hopped on her scythe and flew into the air before Dementia could get the remote back. She was doing a little victory dance on her scythe as Flug and 505 entered the closet.

"505, guess what?!" Melanie said cheerfully. "I got the remote! We get to go outside now!"

505 smiled and danced along with her, holding her bags in his arms.

Unfortunately, that was when Melanie noticed the alarm ringing on Flug's watch.

"Good job, but it looks like you ran out of time," Flug said, turning off the alarm.

Melanie stopped her dancing mid-move and pathetically squeaked out, "What?"

"Bauw?" 505 asked.

"Hahahahahahaha!" Dementia laughed maliciously. "Better luck next time, loser!"

"What are you talking about?" Melanie protested as she dissolved her scythe and landed on the ground. "I got the remote to deactivate the security system. That was the deal!"

"Yes, but you had three hours and those three hours are now up," Flug explained, coldly snatching the remote out of Melanie's hands.

505 grunted sadly and deflated onto the ground next to Melanie.

"So, what?!" Melanie protested some more. "I got the remote from Dementia!"

"But you were supposed to get this remote within three hours," Flug exclaimed, pressing the necessary buttons to deactivate the security system. "That was the test."

Tears of frustration nipped at the edge of Melanie's eyes and threatened to make an appearance.

Melanie angrily balled her hands into fists and said, "I don't care. I want to go outside!"

Melanie then dashed to the closet door.

Unfortunately, a wall slid in the doorway in front of her as Flug darkly chuckled to himself.

505 looked at Flug pleadingly, but his Dad wasn't paying attention.

Melanie turned around angrily as Flug said, "Now, now, Melanie, you remember what your parents said. Don't you? You have to listen, or there will be some negative consequences for you. How would you like to be put to sleep an hour early?"

Melanie turned away and angrily tried to phase through the door to go back to the hallway, but just like before, she was having trouble.

"Melanie, you need to stop that right now or you will be going to bed at 9," Flug said.

505 made sad grunts and grabbed Flug's arm to beg him to let Melanie go.

Meanwhile, Melanie ignored Flug and focused on her desire to see the outside world.

"I can do this," Melanie said quietly to herself, backing up in preparation to run for it. "I can do this."

Then without another word, Melanie dashed across the room towards the door.

Dementia saw what she was doing and said, "Nerd! Look out!"

Flug and 505 turned back around just in time to see Melanie run to the door and phase right through it.

Melanie emerged on the other side of the door and stopped running. She paused to catch her breath and laughed in surprise. She could scarcely believe it. She had done it. She had run through a wall.

"I did it," Melanie whispered to herself in a prayer. "God, I finally did it."

Unfortunately, her revelry was cut short when she heard slow clapping. Melanie looked up in surprise to see Black Hat slow clapping.

Immediately, Melanie froze in her tracks and stared Black Hat down suspiciously.

Outside her notice, Flug opened the door and watched the scene with both 505 and Dementia.

"Well done, Melanie," Black Hat said condescendingly finishing his clapping. "You're finally showing some of that power your grandfather told me about."

"Yeah, whatever," Melanie said, turning to walk away.

"It really is a shame, you know," Black Hat said, teleporting in front of Melanie. "When you were a baby, your grandfather performed his blessing ritual on you, and he went on and on obnoxiously about how much power you had. It was 14 years ago, but I can still remember him telling me about all the abilities you have…"

"Good for you," Melanie said sarcastically turning away from him again and walking in the opposite direction.

"As a Reaper, you can open portals to the afterlife, you can sense when someone is dying, you can absorb the life source of any human, you can control any soul to do your bidding," Black Hat listed off. "You can resurrect and reanimate. You can fight with a scythe and summon those wings. You can communicate with the dead. You can even hear the souls of the dead moaning within these walls. Can't you?"

Melanie paused fearfully. How did he know that? How could he possibly know that? She could turn off the hearing at will, but when she listened, she could hear all the souls of all the lives that Black Hat had taken. It was a choir of moans that fueled her rage.

"You can tune them out, but you've heard them ever since you arrived. Haven't you?" Black Hat asked, maliciously stepping in front of Melanie which prompted her to take a step back. "I know because in a partial sense you're the same type of creature as I am. If you fully embraced it, you could be so much more powerful. As a demon, your limits would be endless."

"Leave me alone!" Melanie yelled, turning and running in the other direction.

Unfortunately, Black Hat just appeared on the other side of her, leaned towards her to get as close to her face as possible, and continued, "There are some things you can already do with your grandfather's powers, but you stick to the light side of it. You can leave your body, you can telepathically create electric pulses that short out technology or control it, you can walk through walls, you can summon the dead with your screams, you can turn invisible, but think about what you could do. You could make illusions to break your victims down, you could possess, you could use telekinesis, you could teleport if you learned how, you could manipulate minds to do your bidding, you could regenerate from every wound, you could be invulnerable, you could make barriers to protect whatever you wanted, you could change your shape, you could control the fires of Hell itself! You could be almost as unstoppable as I am!"

Melanie began shaking in fear as insecurities that she had buried began rising to the surface with a vengeance. She knew Black Hat could see them and started to panic.

"No!" Melanie yelled, summoning her scythe, and attempting to fly away. "I'm not a demon! Just leave me alone!"

"You have no idea the kind of power you are suppressing!" Black Hat said, appearing in front of Melanie again. "You are a Nephilim, part human and part fallen demon. Your grandfather told me that you had as many powers in you as your older sister does if not more. You ignoring those abilities is an absurd waste that needs to end. Your grandfather sired you to be something more. It's a part of who you are!"

"So, what?!" Melanie fired back. "Who are you to tell me what I can and can't use my powers for?! My soul doesn't belong to you. Remember?!"

Black Hat stood silent for a moment.

Thinking she had won, Melanie turned her staff around and tried to fly in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, she didn't reach a far distance before she felt resistance on her scythe. Melanie turned around to see that to her horror Black Hat had grabbed the end of it. In a panic, she tried to accelerate forward, but Black Hat simply responded with a smirk as he snatched the scythe right from under her.

Melanie fell to the ground in surprise as Black Hat held the scythe in his hands. Dementia laughed from the doorway while Melanie sat there dumbfoundedly.

"I may not own your soul, but there is still plenty that I can do to you without owning it, you little brat!" Black Hat said, threateningly dangling her scythe in front of her. "Now, if you want it back, you need to prove to me that you deserve it. Show me what you learned today."

"What? What did I…?" Melanie stammered out.

"You should have learned that a real villain doesn't care who or what gets in their way," Black Hat interrupted. "You want to get your scythe back. Then prove to me that nothing will get in your way, not even your petty morals. Use one of your repressed abilities to get this scythe back."

505 whined fearfully and shook fearfully where he stood. Dementia giggled to herself while Flug watched intently.

Melanie prayed inside her head and didn't move from her spot, partially in fear, partially because she didn't know what to do. Without her scythe, there wasn't that much she could do.

But she wasn't about to give up.

Melanie glared as she summoned her wings and turned invisible. She flew towards Black Hat and was about to snatch her scythe back, but he pulled it out of the way at the last second.

"I said to use one of your suppressed abilities, not one you already have! Try again!" Black Hat snarled.

Melanie turned visible and dove for her scythe again. Black Hat again pulled the scythe out of her way. Melanie dove again and again but Black Hat simply walked backwards and easily avoided Melanie.

"You must not want this scythe back very badly if that's all you're doing," Black Hat mocked. "It's a pity too. It's an interesting weapon. I think we should keep it for testing. What do you think, Dr. Flug?"

"I'd be inclined to agree with you, sir," Flug said, stepping out of the closet to stand next to Black Hat. "Reaper weapons are quite unique. They're formed from the soul fiber of those who yield them and grow in size with their users, so each weapon has its own specialties based on the strengths of the user. Perhaps I should examine it to figure out Melanie's strengths and weaknesses."

"Good idea, doctor," Black Hat replied with malicious enthusiasm as he handed the weapon over to Flug. "Why don't you take it to your lab?"

"No!" Melanie yelled anxiously trying to grab the scythe out of Flug's hands only for him to hold it above his head. "That's my scythe! You can't have it!"

"Sure, I can," Flug said with a cruel smirk behind his voice as Melanie did her karate leaps to try to scale the distance. "It's not like you can stop me. What are you going to do about it?"

Melanie paused her jumping and remembered something important. She shut her eyes and focused.

While everyone watched, the scythe dissolved out of Flug's hands and reappeared in Melanie's hands.

Melanie opened her eyes, looked at Black Hat and Flug, and gave them both a smirk.

"There, are you satisfied?" Melanie asked.

Melanie didn't wait for an answer. She looked down and tried to walk past Black Hat and Flug.

But just as she walked by, Black Hat grabbed the corner of her Nun-ja garb and picked Melanie up in front of him. It happened so fast that Melanie was surprised she didn't get whiplash.

"NO!" Black Hat screamed in Melanie's terrified face. "NO, I AM NOT! YOU DID NOT DO WHAT I ASKED! YOU DID NOT USE A REPRESSED ABILITY! TRY AGAIN AND THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU SASS ME, YOU LITTLE BRAT!"

Black Hat tossed Melanie on the floor like a rag doll. She immediately got to her feet and tried to run in the opposite direction only for a wall to fall in front of her.

Dementia laughed loudly. 505 whimpered.

"That wall is 10 feet thick," Flug said mockingly. "You're new at phasing, so I wouldn't recommend it."

Melanie turned around slowly and Flug said, "You need to do what we ask, Melanie. There's no getting out of it."

Melanie glared angrily and said, "And if I refuse? I'm not a demon! Each of us have a free will and we choose how to use what we're given. I gave my soul to God! Not to you! You can't tell me what to…"

Melanie paused mid-sentence, and her eyes widened in terror. Flug pulled out a syringe filled with an unknown clear liquid and leaned menacingly against the wall.

"W-w-w-what are you doing with…?" Melanie stammered out fearfully.

"If you won't show us your repressed powers, we're going to have to give you a more thorough examination to find those hidden powers," Flug explained before gesturing his head towards the syringe. "And before we can do that, we need to get you to bed."

"But…but you told my parents…" Melanie stammered out timidly.

"That we wouldn't harm you," Flug interrupted stepping closer to Melanie until he had her backed in a corner. "And we're not. When I'm done giving my examination, I will put you back together again just as well as before. After all…"

Flug leaned forward and held the syringe up as his goggles gleamed menacingly in the light, "you're too rare a specimen to let die."d

In a panic, Melanie summoned her wings and flew against the ceiling out of Flug's reach, but just as she did, Dementia tackled her to the floor. After a brief tussle on the floor, Dementia restrained Melanie and held her in place.

505 watched helplessly while Melanie struggled fruitlessly to break out of Dementia's grip.

"Got ya, traitor!" Dementia squealed happily.

"NO!" Melanie yelled with frightened tears poking at the corners of her eyes. "LEAVE ME ALONE! LET ME GO!"

"If you don't want to be examined, Melanie, all you need to do is to obey Lord Black Hat," Flug explained calmly while sinisterly rolling up Melanie's sleeve. "Using one of your repressed powers shouldn't be too hard for you. I mean, you did tell me just yesterday that you could summon a portal to Hell. Just use that one."

"That's one I'd love to see," Black Hat added with a sinister smile.

"I can't…" Melanie lied. "I…I…I don't know how…"

"I think we both know that's a lie," Flug said, uncovering his syringe. "But you're the one who insists on being stubborn."

"I won't do it!" Melanie snarled, trying to appear brave. "I'm not a demon!"

"Last chance, grand-niece," Black Hat said cruelly. "Use your repressed powers or go on the examination table with all the doctor's other experiments."

"No…no…please…" Melanie begged, still trying to fight Dementia's grip. "I can't…I don't want to be a monster…"

"Yes, you can, Melanie," Black Hat said. "That's lesson number three. When you let go of faith and morality, you can do whatever you want. Do it, Flug."

"No, no, no, no, no," Melanie muttered as Flug looked for a vein on Melanie's arm. "Stay away from me! Stay away!"

The lights began flickering as Melanie's eyes began glowing. She kicked her legs out which caused Flug to back away.

"Seen it," Black Hat said sarcastically.

Melanie then phased through Dementia's arms, turned invisible, and tried to run for it, but Black Hat raised his hand, telekinetically grabbed hold of Melanie, turned her visible, and pinned her against the wall.

"Pathetic," Black Hat snarled. "I expect more from someone who shares my blood."

Melanie struggled against Black Hat's grip but it firmly held her in place. She could move her arms but she couldn't move her legs. She was trapped.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Melanie yelled desperately. "Please let me go!"

"Too late for that," Black Hat said. "Flug!"

"Yes, Jefe!" Flug said with a nod as he approached Melanie.

"No, please!" Melanie cried. "Leave me alone!"

"Goodnight, Melanie," Flug said as Dementia grabbed Melanie's uncovered arm and held it up.

In her final act of desperation while Flug's syringe approached her arm, Melanie prepared her free hand for a palm strike.

Once Flug's face was inches from hers, Melanie pulled her hand back and yelled, "I said piss off!"

Melanie threw her arm forward to strike, and fire came out of her palm and caught onto Flug's coat.

Melanie's face froze in complete shock.

Flug screamed and instantly ran into the closet. Dementia let go of Melanie's arms in surprise. 505 ran over to assist Flug.

Black Hat cackled maniacally as he released Melanie from his telekinetic hold. Melanie stood in place and stared fearfully at her hands.

"Now, that's what I'm talking about," Black Hat said with a wicked smirk. "Good work, grand-niece. It looks like you have promise after all. It seems the fires of Hell reside in your veins as they do in mine."

Melanie shook as her eyes filled with tears and panic while Dementia maliciously cackled.

Smoke filled the hallway as 505 sprayed Flug down with a Fire extinguisher in the next room.

Once the fire was out, Flug stumbled into the hallway, pressed a button on his remote that cleared the wall away, and said, "I think it's safe to say that lessons are done for the day. You may go to your room now, Melanie."

Melanie's Nun-ja garb dissolved back into her normal clothes.

505, who was still carrying Melanie's bags, approached her and tried to gently put her hand on her back to comfort her, but before his paw could touch her back, Melanie snatched her purse from 505 and took off running down the hall before she summoned her scythe and flew away.

505 called after Melanie and then put her satchel on before he got on all fours and ran down the hall after her.

Dementia chuckled maliciously and yelled after her, "See you later, traidora!"

Flug smiled in his burned coat and said, "That went better than we planned."

"Yes," Black Hat said. "You did your job correctly for once."

Flug shrugged and sighed sadly while Dementia laughed at his misery.

Black Hat placed his hand on his head to soothe his migraine and said, "We've made good progress today, doctor. Now, I need to rest my head. Tend to the girl. If I recall correctly, her tracker is still broken. Isn't it?"

Flug paused while Dementia giggled and said, "Oh, goddamn it!"

Flug then took off down the hall to see to Melanie.