Meanwhile, back in the lab, the blood transfusion was done. 505 had bathed Melanie from head to toe, put her underwear on her, dressed her in a red dress with a black ribbon he tied into a bow in the back that he had made himself, and was now blow-drying her clean hair.
Flug watched him work, amazed as always at 505's level of gentleness, while waiting for Melanie to wake up.
That was when Demencia burst into the room and called out, "Hey, nerd! Black Hat and Lord Reaper want to see Melanie now!"
"Now?" Flug asked in annoyance.
"Yeah, now," Demencia replied. "Get moving or I'll tell Black Hat!"
"Alright," Flug snapped before turning to 505, who had just finished blow-drying Melanie's hair, and saying, "505, can you carry her to the gurney? Please be gentle."
505 nodded. He picked her up and carried her to a gurney across the room. After Melanie was gently laid on the gurney, Flug strapped in her hands and feet and the four headed up to Black Hat's office.
Several minutes later, Doctor Flug, Demencia, and 505 pushed Melanie into Black Hat's office.
Lord Reaper noticed, summoned his wings, and flew over to Melanie immediately.
Black Hat quickly teleported over to join him.
Lord Reaper looked over his sleeping granddaughter in concern while Black Hat watched silently.
"As you can see, she is quite safe," Black Hat said.
"Poor thing has had quite the day," Lord Reaper said, summoning Melanie's scythe over her and allowing it to dissolve back into her soul. "She needs her rest. May I ask why she is being restrained?"
"After the behavior she's been showing lately, I imagine it to be necessary," Black Hat said.
"And pointless," Lord Reaper said. "I can see in my visions that my little lovely has learned how to phase. This is the gurney she phased through. She always struggled with that. I'm so proud."
Lord Reaper adjusted Melanie's head on the pillow and pulled the blanket more evenly over her sleeping body.
"Be impressed when the task is finished, Reaper," Black Hat added.
"What do you mean?" Lord Reaper asked, moving some hair out of his granddaughter's face. "Can't I be proud of the progress she makes along the way?"
Black Hat sighed and replied, "So long as it doesn't distract you from what needs to be done. Flug! Do you have anything to wake the girl?!"
"I can do it, Black Hat," Lord Reaper said. "All I need is a cup of water."
Black Hat glared right at Flug, giving him a command without the use of words. That send the doctor rushing out of the room to follow those orders. After a couple of minutes, he returned with a paper cup of water, taking several deep breaths from running.
Lord Reaper then telekinetically picked up the water from the cup and held it over Melanie's forehead.
"I can heal through water," Lord Reaper explained. "It's a gift all angels have and one I managed to hold on to after my fall. Black Hat did not."
Black Hat glared, lifted a brow, and said, "Do not compare me to one of those!"
Lord Reaper shrugged and said, "I suppose that would be inaccurate. God made angels to be messengers. He created us to be little g gods. That's why we have much more power."
"Oooooh, so mi bon bon is a god?!" Demencia said, practically swooning where she stood.
Black Hat rolled his eyes and asked, "Are you done yet?"
"Almost," Lord Reaper replied. "You are too impatient, Black Hat."
Just then, Melanie began to stir.
"There, we go," Lord Reaper said with a smile.
"Flug, elevate the bed so she can look at us," Black Hat ordered.
"Yes, Jefe!" Flug said, pressing a button on the side of the gurney so that it raised just enough for Melanie to see everyone without having to move her head while he moved out of the way.
Melanie then opened her eyes and began looking around tiredly.
Lord Reaper telekinetically placed the water in the paper cup Flug was still holding and said, "It is done, Black Hat."
Melanie looked at her grandfather and asked, "Papi, what are you doing here? Where am I?"
"Back in my presence again, it would seem," Black Hat interrupted. "Like a bug."
Melanie looked at Black Hat wearily and asked, "Why?"
She then looked down at her restrained body and asked, "And why am I wearing a dress?"
"One thing at a time, Melanie," Lord Reaper said reassuringly.
"But what's going on?" Melanie insisted.
"You're here to speak with Lord Reaper," Black Hat interjected. "He seems to care for you, in a way I find disgusting."
"If you don't like it, why don't you leave?" Melanie asked, unaware of the level of sarcasm in her tone.
In most cases Black Hat would strike her down and or torture her, but instead and almost uncharacteristically, he decided to leave with little to no argument.
"Lucky for you, I have more important business to attend to," Black Hat said while walking by, prompting Demencia to follow behind him.
Black Hat and Demencia then left the room.
Flug stayed behind. Black Hat and Demencia listened from a tablet outside the room.
"Would you like me to stay, Lord Reaper?" Flug asked.
"Of course," Lord Reaper replied. "I need your help. Black Hat would like you to ask the questions written on his desk over there if you please."
Flug nodded and walked over to the desk to retrieve the list of questions.
Meanwhile, Lord Reaper phased Melanie through her restraints, telekinetically picked her up, teleported onto the gurney, and landed Melanie in his lap.
"Melanie, I need you to help me answer some questions, okay?" Lord Reaper said.
"But why?" Melanie asked.
"Because we want to help you," Lord Reaper explained before turning back to Flug and asking, "What do you need to know Dr. Flug?"
Flug adjusted his lab coat as he looked at his list and asked, "Yes well, for starters. Where did you last meet your Nun-ja friends?"
"Before I came here obviously," Melanie replied sassily. "As for where, we met at many different places, none of which I feel like specifying."
"So you and your friends have multiple meeting places is what I hear you saying," Lord Reaper said, rubbing Melanie's head affectionately. "Interesting, don't you think, doctor?"
Melanie's eyes flashed in a panic, and she said, "No, I didn't mean…"
"Flug, make note of that, will you?" Lord Reaper interrupted.
Flug wrote down a note with pencil on his pocket notepad in a routine manner and said, "I always am. I wonder if they know where you are."
Melanie looked askance, refusing to look at Flug or her grandfather.
Lord Reaper looked at Melanie who refused to look back at him.
After studying her face for a few moments, Lord Reaper looked back at Flug and said, "I'm willing to bet they do."
"No, they don't!" Melanie lied desperately as she tried to conceal her tears.
Lord Reaper gave Melanie a comforting hug and said, "Your reaction indicates otherwise. Wouldn't you say, Dr. Flug?"
Flug continued jotting down notes in an uncaring manner and said, "Definitely, though this might present us with an opportunity."
"How do you mean?" Lord Reaper asked with a twisted smile. "Are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"I believe we could lure another Nun-ja here if they believed they had a chance to 'rescue' Melanie. They might even be more cooperative than her," Flug said much to Melanie's panic.
"I like this idea, but we don't know the first thing about how to find them," Lord Reaper said, rubbing his chin. "How do you suppose we…?"
"NO!" Melanie interrupted in a snarl.
"Huh?" Lord Reaper said in surprise.
Melanie phased through Lord Reaper's arms, hopped on the floor, and snarled, "I said no! If you think I'm going to be your bait, then you're all even stupider than you look. I hate every one of you! Except 505. And I'd rather die the most gruesome death imaginable than help you hurt any one of my sisters! They're my family, and my loyalty is to them! You won't find them, and you won't use me to do it! I don't care what you bastards try to do to me!"
"We don't need to find them," Flug said, looking back over at Melanie apathetically. "We just need to let them come to us."
Lord Reaper smiled and said, "That sounds like an excellent idea, Doctor Flug. I think it's safe to say the interview is over for now. We just have to keep our eyes open. If we're lucky, we might even catch Kasumi."
"No, you won't!" Melanie let slip out before pulling her hands over her mouth.
Lord Reaper smiled smugly.
Flug loomed over Melanie as menacingly as he did before and said, "I'm sure Lord Black Hat would love to see your sensei again. According to him, Kasumi Yamaguchi has been missing for 20 years."
Without another word, Melanie dashed out of the office and into the hall. 505 followed her.
Unfortunately, Melanie quickly found herself tripping and falling to her chest. Upon inspection, she tripped over…green hair. The sight of the green hair was followed with a mischievous giggle from Demencia. When Melanie looked up, there stood Black Hat.
505 shivered where he stood, wishing he could help while knowing he was powerless.
While still on the floor, Melanie scoffed and said, "I knew you couldn't be far. What do you want with me now?"
Black tilted his head, cruelly smiled, and said, ""Then maybe you'll finally realize that escape is impossible. But that's besides the point…"
He reached down and grabbed her face, lifting her up to him before continuing,"What I want from you is simple. To play bait for the Nun-ja."
"NO!" Melanie screeched, unleashing her scythe and using it to open a portal to heaven to separate herself and Black Hat with a portal to Heaven. "Over my dead body!"
Melanie then rode her scythe to her room as fast as she could.
As soon as she arrived, Melanie locked the door, grabbed her purse, ran to the bathroom, locked herself in, sat in the bathtub, and pulled out her phone. She quickly pulled out her app, pressed the group call function, put in her headphones, and began singing the specific, disturbing song she and Sensei Lucy had chosen as a code should a situation like this arise.
"It took so long to remember just what happened," Melanie sung in a shaky voice. "I was so young and vestal then. You know it hurt me. But I'm breathing so I guess I'm still alive. Even if signs seem to tell me otherwise. Got my hands bound and my head down and my eyes closed and throat's wide open. I do unto others, what has been done to me. Do unto others, what has been done to you. I'm treading water. I need to sleep a while. My lamb and martyr, you look so precious…"
Meanwhile, back in the hallway, Dementia was hissing and hiding behind Black Hat while Lord Reaper rushed out of the room with Flug behind him.
Lord Reaper held out his hand, shut the portal to heaven, and turned to face Black Hat with his arms crossed.
"Black Hat, why were you manhandling my granddaughter?" Lord Reaper asked pointedly.
After shielding his eyes from the heavenly light, Black Hat glared at Lord Reaper and asked, "What does it matter?"
"You told me you weren't going to harm her!" Lord Reaper argued. "What are you trying to do?"
"I said I wouldn't kill her!" Black Hat retorted. "Demencia! Flug! Get her now!"
"Leave her be," Lord Reaper said, walking in front of Black Hat. "What else do we need her for? You're going to burn her out. She needs rest."
Black Hat clinched his fist and said, "I want the Nun-ja in my hands, so I can eradicate them! And if that parasite is the key, then so be it!"
Flug shyly cleared his throat and said, "My Lord, maybe Lord Reaper is right about her requiring rest. Perhaps she can be convinced in that time to be more c-cooperative."
"My thoughts exactly," Lord Reaper said. "What do you say, Black Hat?"
Black Hat's eye twitched and he replied, "Do you realize how long I've waited for an opportunity to catch Kasumi Yamaguchi? That traitor has evaded my grasp for 20 years! This is the first opportunity I've had to catch her! I'm not losing that because of your little…"
"You won't," Lord Reaper reassured. "But my little Melanie is not as physically formidable as you and me yet. Her body has been weakened significantly by today's events. She can't continue under this pressure. We need to let her rest so that she can be of use to us later. Besides, she's still a student. Isn't she? What can she possibly learn if she's constantly being bombarded? Let her rest for now and we can figure out how to continue in the meantime. What do you say?"
505 anxiously watched with Flug while Dementia was chomping at the bit to chase after Melanie.
Black Hat pondered and looked askance.
"Well?" Lord Reaper asked.
"Very well," Black Hat said, waving his hand. "Just keep her from escaping."
"Yes, Jefecito," Flug said with a salute. "Come on, 505. Let's go check on Melanie."