In the presence of Black Hat, Melanie shivered violently before she regained her composure, summoned her Nun-ja garb with her hood down, summoned her scythe, stood firmly in her weak stance, and said, "I don't care what you do to me. I'm not t-talking. Grand-uncle or not!"
Melanie struggled to stand firm against the drugs she was recovering from, but she did her best.
"You're braver than most, but you're still a foolish child," Black Hat said, raising his hand.
An invisible force instantly ripped the scythe out of Melanie's palms into Black Hat's hand with the other hand behind his back.
"There is no need or use for such crude implements here," Black Hat said. "Because I know you're going to tell me everything. Your choice is whether you do it willingly or not."
Melanie's eyes flashed in panic, but then she smiled to herself, stepped forward, and said, "We all know Nun-jas die with their secrets. Do your worst. Just tell my Papi, Lord Reaper, and my grandmother, Santa Muerte, when you see them to go eff themselves for binding our family to you. Go ahead and kill me so I can wake up by God's side."
Unexpectedly, Black Hat began chuckling to himself. Melanie looked at him anxiously and confusedly as that chuckle evolved into wild laughter with a lightning strike appearing behind his red glass window.
"I'm not going to kill you, child. Simply change your mind," Black Hat explained, pointing to his cranium to exemplify his point and drooling a bit as his grin and eyes grew wider while doing so.
Melanie bravely stood her ground and asked, "And how do you plan on doing that, 'granduncle'?"
Black Hat scoffed at her impertinence and said, "If you refuse to be my warrior, you will be my tool. Dr. Flug now has a device in the workings, a chip that once implanted could make you follow orders without fail…"
Melanie's eyes flashed in panic, and she looked at the floor to avoid looking up at Black Hat, a move that didn't happen outside his notice. It was too perfect.
Black Hat took a seat at his desk and continued, "Of course, this can all be avoided if you cooperate with me. There is already a similar device in you as we speak."
"I knew it!" Melanie said closing her eyes and searching for it telepathically.
"I believe my offer is more pressing in concern for you at the moment," Black Hat reminded her.
Melanie smiled. She found it. Her mind got a telepathic hold on it and began telling it to get out of her neck.
Melanie opened her eyes, smiled, and said, "Shut up."
The tracker then shot out of her neck onto the floor in front of them.
Melanie squealed in pain as blood poured out from the nape of her neck onto her body. She groaned and screamed in pain at the exit wound as she held her hand over the wound. She did not think this through, but what choice did she have?
Melanie didn't look up to see Black Hat's surprised expression. Instead, she turned around, kept holding her hand over the wound, gritted her teeth, summoned her wings, and began flying towards the door.
A few ghosts appeared before Melanie and reached out to her, but she waved them away.
"No," Melanie said, waving them away pitifully. "I can't help you. He has my scythe. Please just leave me alone."
The ghosts stopped raising their hands to her, but they didn't leave. They just stood there and watched her fly.
Dementia threw open the door and said, "Hello there...wait, what did I miss?"
Flug walked into the doorway, saw the blood dripping down Melanie's neck, and screamed, "Oh, dear God!"
Melanie kept flying through the doorway and continued flying down the hall while everyone watched in shock.
It took a second for Black Hat to gather his thoughts and give out commands. This might have been a bit more complicated than he thought. He needed some specialized assistance.
"Dementia!" Black Hat yelled, breaking everyone's stupor. "Go after the girl and take her to the lab! Flug, tend to her wounds! I have a call I need to make! Now, go!"
"Yes, mi bon bon!" Dementia squealed joyfully.
"Yes, Jefecito!" Flug said with a salute as he and Dementia caught up to Melanie down the hall.
"Stay away from me," pleaded Melanie as Flug grabbed her arm.
With a wave of his hand, Black Hat closed the door, leaving him in a room of blood and silence. He then outstretched his hand, slowly rolled his wrist, and muttered unknown words as the blood morphed into a summoning circle to bring forth the assistance of Lord Reaper.
Soon, a void opened, and a voice rang out, "Black Hat? It's been a while since you summoned me like this."
"Yes," Black Hat said. "It seems that I'm having complications with your granddaughter Melanie de la Muerte…"
While Black Hat continued his explanation, Flug and Dementia dealt with Melanie. Melanie flew off the ground weary from the loss of blood, trying to fight Flug who was holding her hand and Dementia who was holding her other hand and trying to pull her to the ground.
"Let me go!" Melanie yelled, pulling against the grips on her hands.
"Melanie, you're seriously injured," Flug pleaded. "Please, let us heal your wounds."
"But you'll hurt me again!" Melanie cried with tears in her eyes.
Flug gripped Melanie's hand tightly before pulling her close to look at her eye to eye and saying, "Let me help you. Please. Do you really want this to be the place you die?"
Melanie shook her head sadly and relented. She phased her hands out of Flug and Dementia's grip and landed on the ground, dissolving her Nun-ja garb as she did so.
"Thank you," Flug said with audible relief. "Dementia, take her to my lab."
"Do I have to?" Dementia protested. "She's a hero! We should let her die!"
"If Lord Black Hat wanted her dead, he would have killed her already!" Flug retorted. "Now, help me get her to the lab or I'm going to tell Black Hat that you disobeyed him!"
"Fine!" Dementia cried out as she picked up Melanie. "Let's go!"
Flug ran down the hall and Dementia followed him. Along the way, they ran past 505.
At the sight of Melanie bleeding, 505 visibly panicked and followed behind them.
The four quickly made their way to the lab. Dementia placed Melanie on the operating table, and Flug immediately washed his hands and prepared his supplies.
In between sharp breaths of pain, Melanie looked up to see 505 and said, "505, I hurt myself getting a chip out of my neck. Could you please stay with me?"
505 nodded and held Melanie's hand with tears poking at the corner of his eyes.
Flug walked over with his supplies, patted the bear's shoulder, and said, "Move along now, 505. I have to help Melanie."
505 backed away but instantly came back to tie Melanie's hair up into a messy bun with her green scrunchy so that Flug could reach her neck injury more easily.
"Please let 505 stay," Melanie pleaded between gasps of pain. "Please."
Melanie looked back up at 505 and reached her hand for him.
Flug gently grabbed Melanie's hand and moved it back down onto the table before looking at her, looking at 505, pausing for a moment, sighing, and saying, "Alright, 505 can stay, but he needs to stand back. Please 505."
505 nodded and stepped back while Flug got to work on Melanie.
Before he began, Flug put Melanie under with a syringe to ease her pain. She fell asleep instantly.
With Melanie now asleep and motionless, it was simple enough for Flug to stop the bleeding and clean and patch up the wound.
Flug then set Melanie up in the gurney bed she was in before to receive a blood transfusion. 505 hovered over her the whole time.
When it was safe to get close to her, 505 walked up to Melanie and held her free hand.
Flug felt compelled to interfere, but he allowed him to do it to put his mind at ease.
"Be careful, 505," Flug said. "Melanie lost a bit of blood. This blood transfusion will help her feel better, but she will need her rest."
505 nodded while he kept holding Melanie's hand as the blood transfusion continued without any issue.
Just then, Black Hat appeared in the lab and asked, "How is the girl?"
Flug jumped where he stood while 505 continued staring at Melanie. Black Hat watched the girl with interest.
After recovering from his initial shock, Flug replied, "She's making a full recovery, Black Hat, sir. I have cleaned and bandaged her wound and she is now receiving a blood transfusion. I put her under so she could rest."
Black Hat studied Melanie's sleeping body and asked, "When will she be on her feet again?"
"She can be within an hour or two, sir, but I highly recommend that she rests," Flug replied nervously.
"That's fine by me," Black Hat said, turning away dismissively. "Just be prepared to bring her to her grandfather in my office when he comes."
"Wait, you mean Lord Reaper is…?" Flug asked anxiously.
"Coming here, yes," Black Hat explained. "I've told Reaper all the basics of what is going on. Apparently, Blanche La Faucheuse has not told anyone outside her immediate family what Melanie has done."
"Master of my life, why are you calling him here?" Flug asked gingerly. "What do you plan on doing?"
Black Hat turned to Flug and replied with a surprising amount of calmness, "I plan on enlisting his help in getting his granddaughter under control. This girl has proven to be a bigger handful than either you or I anticipated. And since my business relationship with Lord Reaper and Santa Muerte precludes me from simply disposing of her and the Institute is not going to be open until August, I'm getting his help to deal with his problem child. If anyone would know how to do it, it would be him. He takes an active part in the upbringing of each of his spawn."
"Very well, sir," Flug said. "Is there anything you need me to do?"
"Get her looking presentable as much as possible," Black Hat ordered. "Clean her up and get her into some clean clothes. Her grandfather has a paternal bond with every one of his descendants. He doesn't know everything and won't be happy when he figures out what happened to Melanie."
Flug saluted Black Hat and replied, "Yes, Lord Black Hat, sir."
Flug turned his attention back to Melanie while Black Hat took a closer look.
"I never expected this child to be so reckless," Black Hat said. "Even for a hero, this level of recklessness is unusual and dangerous."
Flug's gaze softened towards Melanie, and he said, "I don't believe she'll be so stubborn forever, Master Black Hat. She is still a child after all."
Black Hat leered at Flug and said, "Regardless, I want her monitored at all times. If she seems like a threat to herself, then do what you have to, or your face won't be the only thing I disfigure."
Flug gulped and said, "Yes, Jefecito."
Black Hat turned around, walked away, and said, "I'll go wait for Lord Reaper. You keep monitoring the girl and make her look presentable however possible that is under the circumstances."
Black Hat then teleported away, allowing Flug to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Flug looked back at 505 who was still holding Melanie's hand and watching her as if nothing had happened. 505 didn't even react to Black Hat's presence. That was unusual even for him. Thankfully, Black Hat hadn't appeared to notice.
"Hey, 505?" Flug asked.
505 finally looked back over to Flug without letting go of Melanie's hand.
"Hey, buddy! I need you to help me with Melanie," Flug explained. "Can you do that?"
505 smiled and nodded his head eagerly.
"Okay, first, after the transfusion is done, we need to give Melanie a bath," Flug said. "Then after her bath, we need to change Melanie into clean clothes. But before that, I need you to pick out some clean clothes for us to change her in to. She needs clean underwear, a clean bra, and a clean shirt and shorts or pants. Maybe even a jacket. If you want, you could even see if one of those dresses you made fit her. I think Melanie would like that a lot. What do you think?"
505 nodded his head enthusiastically.
"Good, 505," Flug said, rubbing his shoulder. "Now, could you go ahead and pick those clothes out for me? Melanie's blood transfusion will take about an hour so I can't leave her to do it myself."
505 visibly hesitated as he looked down at Melanie. Flug could tell he was afraid to leave her because he didn't want her to be afraid.
That compassion was one of the reasons Flug loved 505 the most. But right now, it was also the one thing that was keeping 505 from carrying out his mission and that was a problem.
"She'll be okay, 505," Flug reassured. "Melanie will be right here when you get back and she'll never know you ever left."
505 hesitated some more and looked back at Melanie.
Flug looked around the room to think of an idea when he found one of 505's stuffed animals sitting on top of his computer.
Flug walked across the room, picked up the stuffed animal, walked back, and said, "Look, 505. It's the stuffed cat you made me. You put so much love into making this toy for me that I feel that love whenever I hold it. If Melanie holds this stuffed cat, she will feel your love and won't feel scared. It'll be like you never left."
505 flashed a wide smile as he took the toy from Flug, laid it on Melanie's chest, and draped her arm over it.
Satisfied with the arrangement, 505 patted Melanie's head, gave Flug a goodbye wave, and set off to find Melanie some clean clothes.
Once 505 left the room, Flug looked at Melanie with a sigh, covered her with a blanket, propped her head up on a pillow, and set about his work while monitoring her and getting his mind off his own feelings.