Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The hazed screen made Black Hat squint and he silently cursed himself for leaving his glasses elsewhere.

Snatching the small device from his employee’s hand he pulled it closer to his face, an unwelcomed snarl forming over the dark entity’s lips. The pixelated screen seemed to dart between pink and green as he focused on whatever was present on the phone, eventually having to pull it back so that he wouldn’t get a headache whilst Doctor Flug shifted from foot-to-foot, seemingly antsy and wanting Black Hat to hand his phone back.

He huffed.

“Flug, where are my glasses?” Black Hat glanced up as the scientist jolted and quickly shoved a hand into his lab coat, checking a few more times and pulling a black glasses case from his bottom pocket. The item was handed to Black Hat quickly and the eldritch praised himself for leaving spare pairs in separate parts of the manor, mostly for his minions to pick up and deliver when needed.

Opening the case, Black Hat removed the circular frames and slipped his monocle off, placing it on his desk once again. The glasses were adjusted to his liking and he turned back to the phone, turning it on and looking at the page that was pulled up on screen. He was immediately interested at the title that read:

‘Forcefield scientist to-be hired by anonymous villains’

He let the screen roll down further and the fibres in his core began to grind in annoyance with each word. The article was written by a member of the villain community, a low-income minion for one of the higher-off villains that Black Hat was well acquainted with. Its description was that of an interviewing format and the tipsy-topsy information that Black Hat wasn’t quite sure was true or false. He tapped on the screen once more and anger swelled in his chest whilst a too-familiar scenario was depicted on screen, his eye scanning the photo of wreckage and horror at an unsteady rate.

Well, hello again Doctor.

It seems you have created yourself a well-known visage in a matter of days.

Black Hat mused silently and his mouth twitched at the realisation that someone had seen the exchange last Friday with himself and the human inventor. And that someone had researched into the human inventor that Black Hat was so interested in hiring. Somehow this someone had seen the potential behind their awkward mannerisms and it had led to that someone actively pursuing the inventor and hoping to force them into working for their own business.

The phone broke in his grasp. Black Hat’s claws dug through the glass cover and pierced into the metal casing- ripping apart the wiring inside. The glass dug into his skin, the shards threatening to tear at his callous palms and for blood to drip down from the shallow cuts. A few wires shocked him amidst his uncontrolled waves of anger.

“Flug.”

Venom dripped from beneath Black Hat canines and the scientist ignored his wrecked phone in exchange for his boss’ change in demeanour. The doctor wasn’t a stranger to Black Hat’s sudden mood swings nor his dangerous and reckless actions.

“It appears we have a competitor, don’t you agree?”

Flug muttered a soft agreement.

“Grab Demencia and 5.0.5. It seems our plans have been forced to move to a closer date and we must take the time we have to capture our dear Doctor as of present,” Black Hat chuckled lowly and dropped the dismembered mobile on his desk. He proceeded to remove the glasses from atop his high cheekbones, where they had remained balanced, and Flug gulped at the hollow hole bearing at him- the teeth sticking out with shards of malleable bone and veins pulsing from inside the eye socket. He nodded silently and turned, hoping to exit the room before Black Hat lashed out at him for his slow actions, and all but bolted from the gothic room.

Flug stopped outside the door, closing it firmly and nodding slowly. Heading downstairs to find his fellow minions in their usual habitats he trembled lowly as he descended the staircase and wrung his wrists to calm his anxiety, hoping to find Demencia and 5.0.5 before Black Hat truly lost his temper and showed his true eldritch form from behind his smart clothes and grey skin.

His anxiety was not okay.

The Doctor continued his descent and left his terrified thoughts to simmer at the back of his mind, hoping that Black Hat wouldn’t do anything too dramatic whilst he searched for the assassin and large bear. It would not be a welcoming sight for the three to return and find Black Hat’s office in tatters due to his uncontrollable temper and the childish tantrums he threw over things he wanted.

And boy, did he want this new scientist.

Flug felt almost hurt that Black Hat wanted a new, different scientist and that his inventions no longer lived up to the eldritch’s expectations. However, the advantage was that with a new scientist Flug would have a larger access to free time and other activities beyond his work and mechanical engineering.

Maybe he would finally have enough time to study astronomy or start the ukulele as he once aspired to do.

But, having worked with Black Hat for such an extended period of time, Flug was shot with a sense of reality and he realised that the eldritch would most likely not lessen up on his workload despite the new employee.

In fact, Flug would most likely have to teach the human the ups and downs of working for a villain, no less a villain with Black Hat’s status in the Villain community. He was probably going to be the employee that would teach the human what to not touch, not move and where to not enter, too. The idea that the human would stumble over Lil’ Jack, Black Hat’s pet snake, was surely chilling. He supposed that another disadvantage was the ton of new work that was going to be shoved on to his shoulders with this new Doctor being ‘hired’.

Flug was torn at whether he was truly excited about sharing his workshop with another set of hands.

Sure, he was excited to see what their ingenious mind could create and to what limits it could be stretched to. He was also eager to work on related projects with them, but he was a person of solitude and having another person in the lab was not his definition of solitude. It was the exact opposite, actually.

Truly, he felt a little in over his head.

A cackle cut Flug’s pessimistic train thought and he was startled when a force landed on his shoulders with unsteady motions. Flug groaned and stopped the girlish shriek that rose from the back of his throat, swatting the teenager on his back with a lacklustre force that had her laughing from the playful actions. She swung around and sat on Flug’s shoulders, freezing as he tilted to the side and regained his balance.

“Demencia, now is not the time for this!”

The girl shrieked joyously and used Flug’s shoulders as leverage, jumping from his frail body and landing in a crouched position before him. Her eyes gleamed maliciously as the scientist toppled over and landed on the ground with an ungraceful ‘thwump!’ She cackled once again at the dishevelled person before her.

“Sorry-not-sorry, Doc! It was just too tempting,” Demencia grinned and stood to her full height. She gripped the poor scientist’s arm and tugged him up for the ground, almost ripping his arm from the arm socket. Dusting his chest as a playful taunt, she patted the paper bag softly and stepped back with a hum. She nodded.

“Perfect! You can’t even tell that you fell over,” she shot him a double thumbs-up and her grin widened at the unimpressed stare Flug directed her way. He seemed to give up and dragged a gloved hand down the front of the paper bag, shooting her another glare from above his yellow gloves.

“Are you done yet or do you wish to keep ignoring the fact I am trying to inform you that Black Hat wants you, 5.0.5 and I in his office?” Flug muttered out bitterly and remained passive as Demencia’s expression switched to a mixture of utter devotion and averted her full attention onto the scientist’s feeble form. Her eyes were comically wide and held a psychotic gleam that she would consider a ‘loving gaze’.

“What are we waiting for then, Flug? Let’s go see my handsome Blacky!” She announced loudly and scaled the wall at an alarming rate, swinging from the great rafts and beams that blended into the black ceiling. Flug could only watch as she jumped from the ceiling and landed on the landing, waiting for the scientist to walk up the stairs at his usual profligate pace.

Once at the top of the stairs, Flug was grabbed by his shirt collar and dragged by the lizard mutant to their boss’ office, luckily bumping into 5.0.5 on the way. The blue bear meandered behind with a concerned look expressed across his muzzle as Flug’s paper bag started to turn pale from lack of oxygen. He ended up cutting in when Flug’s pupils rolled to the back of his head and picked the skinny scientist up, following Demencia as she jumped excitedly and spouted loud declarations of love and interest.

Black Hat’s door was open.

The three entered.

“5.0.5,” the eldritch’s gravelly voice cut through the tense atmosphere in the office. The blue bear’s ears fell flat against his skull as Black Hat looked up from the paperwork on his desk, having moved the destroyed phone into the waste bin under his desk.

“Prepare the bedroom beside Doctor Flug’s and ensure it contains all the needs for a human to live here with no escape. And Demencia-!” The dark entity threw a bag at the redheaded teenager, which she caught with ease, and then a rope of chains. Demencia stared at the collection of items and realisation clicked, her mouth twitching into a devilish grin.

“Tie the chains around your waist. It appears we have more urgent matters than I thought and we have a set of competitors after our precious human Doctor,” Black Hat clarified briefly. He nodded to her, “So it seems that your job of ‘collecting’ our new employee has been moved to today. Do not dawdle.”

He nodded at the young woman and let out an incensed sigh as Demencia bolted from the room with unreasonable stamina. She cackled insanely at the prospect of a chase or from the idea of a new face around the manor.

“And Doctor Flug,” he faced the shaky scientist who clung to 5.0.5 as he regained his breath. “I expect you to set up the lab for our new arrival and have a place ready for them to start work. Also, in case of a possible breakout from the new Doctor, have the alarmed system ready with the paralysation rays. None of the death rays today, but maybe tomorrow. I will confirm whether they should be reactivated tomorrow or not.”

Black Hat nodded in agreement with himself, waiting for Flug’s compliance, and glared at the two minions.

“Now get the fuck out of my office. I’m tired of looking at your faces.”

__

Demencia jogged along the sidewalk with an ever-present grin etched into her angular features, her sharp eyes scanning the area with utter precision and a thin tongue flicking from between her lips. The brown sack thrown over her shoulder seemed to smell of slight rot and decay, but only that of common mould, and the chains around her hips clanked together with her steady footsteps.

A squeal escaped her and she hopped over a crack on the pavement, reciting the well-known ‘step on a crack, break your mother’s back’ rhyme. Demencia may not have been raised by the woman who birthed her, but the lady must have been freaking awesome to bring someone life Demencia into the world. So ultimately, the teenager concluded that the woman did not deserve a broken back.

She stopped at a crossing.

The light blinked a few times and the pedestrian crossing turned green.

Demencia crossed with a skip in her step.

She was excited as heck with Black Hat assigning her a mission. A mission to retrieve their new partner too! The excitement boiling in her stomach had Demencia screeching excitedly as she entered the familiar neighbourhood of her unfamiliar acquaintance. Not only was she going to meet a new person, a new cool person who could build awesome shit and tell physics to fuck itself, but when she did collect them- she couldn’t help but imagine how Black Hat happy would be!

The tall, dark and eldritch villain would surely praise her and inform Demencia of all her achievements. Oh, and the dark entity would most definitely sweep her off her feet and profess his undying love for the lizard mutant. He would pull her close and kiss her with his cold lips, perhaps nipping at her lips with his gorgeous green teeth- maybe he would even draw some blood-

Demencia screamed into the bare neighbourhood and a dog howled in response.

She stopped in front of a familiar house and a twisted smile graced her lips. The brown bag felt seemingly lighter and the chains turned silent as she ensured the bag wouldn’t fall off her back, tying it in place with a piece of string, and crawled forward on all fours.

The brick layout helped her with grip as she scaled the wall, seeming to climb it with an unseen grace and ease that normal humans could never muster. An open window caught the woman’s eye and she hopped from one ledge to another, balancing easily and cracking the window open to a wider size. Her body contorted and slithered through the gap, landing in an empty bedroom with trinkets scattered over shelves and any seemingly spare surface.

She stared at the disarray of photos, holiday souvenirs and items of interest.

Demencia quickly confirmed that the human really liked taking photos or generally hoarding photos of themselves with others. The number of familiar shaped faces, identical family members and unfamiliar strangers staring from the separate picture frames was slightly unnerving. Supposed she was in your shoes, it would probably cause a sense of fondness or security at having the faces of multiple friends and family members watching you.

And in each photo there seemed to be one familiar likeness.

Your smiling face.

The smile plastered over your cheeks seemed to be similar yet very different in each photo.

In a dark photo, obviously altered to show each face, you had an excited grin that radiated delight. Your eyes were very much crinkled around the edges and displayed your exhilaration. You were surrounded by strange faces and each person was waving at the camera with a large fire in the background.

Another photo was you sitting with two similar featured adults on a living room sofa. You were smiling peacefully and held a sense of mirth in your eyes, seemingly having just stopped laughing from what it seemed.

The photo in a white frame was a photo of you holding a reward, your eyes closed and a wide grin held in place. It was very watery but the smile was that of genuine joy.

Demencia grabbed the white frame and chucked it into the brown bag over her bag. If the human was to come back with her, it was best to grab some of their clothes, personal items and sanitary products. Their phone and any other electronics were to be abandoned and left in their house, for if there was nothing to track them down it was easier to manipulate them into working for Black Hat without the hope of help arriving!

Demencia stifled a cackle and swept a series of important-looking books from a shelf. She raided the nearby wardrobe and stuffed shirt after shirt, jumper after jumper into the brown bag. Shuffling through a few draws she almost started crying from laughter at the discovery of their underwear draw and shoved them into the deepest depths of the sack. It was becoming relatively heavy and she tossed a few more items in from here and there. Demencia even stumbled over the vaporisation gun that Black Hat had made her deliver the other day!

For she had promised to deliver, not to keep her nose out of her boss’ business.

Leaving the gun in its position on the human’s bedside table, Demencia caught sight of two figurines sitting on the windowsill. Moving over to analyse them, her leg caught on the bedside table like a cruel joke, and the alarm clock tumbled off. She paled.

Moving to grab it, the clock fell onto the carpeted flooring and out of her reach by a few nanoseconds. Its deafening beeping had her stamping on it without a second thought and the creaking of stairs caused the redhead to freeze, taking in the situation and to scurry towards the nearest hiding place- above the wardrobe.

The sound of footsteps accompanied the blaring silence and light breathes she took.

Straining her ears, Demencia listened as the human walked along the landing and checked the additional rooms. The sound of doors opening and shutting had her on edge, ready to pounce or attack the Doctor that was investigating the beeping and thumping she had previously caused. Finally, the bedroom door swung open and the human peered in from the doorway that was, thankfully, situated next to the wardrobe. They seemed confused, seeming unperturbed as they walked further into the room and stared at the destroyed alarm clock on the floor.

You wrinkled your nose in bewilderment.

Your alarm clock had been fine earlier this morning and had most definitely not looked like a mauled bear trap when you had awakened. In fact, the alarm clock was seemingly brand new and was a new addition to your bedroom. You had originally just used your phone as an alarm but the machine had been recommended to you by a close friend, so you had purchased it after their high praise.

So how had it ended up trampled and on the floor of your bedroom?

Kneeling before the destroyed clock, you unplugged it from a nearby socket and collected the jumble of wires and coils. Rising from the floor, you kept it a safe distance away from your face and turned to take it downstairs- possibly questioning how it had ended up in such a state.

Yellow flooded your vision.

The alarm clock fell back onto the floor as you were caught in a staring contest with the creature perched above your wardrobe. They were bristled and sat in a rigid stance, ready to pounce if threatened. Their red hair was extremely volumized and could be considered more of a mop than actual hair.
A hand clamped over your mouth as you tried to hide your surprised scream.

WHAT THE FUCK-

They used your vulnerability as an advantage.

The creature leapt from the wardrobe roof and tackled you to the floor with maniacal cackling, manhandling you at such a rate that you just knew that no matter what you did, you would end up with more than one or two bruises by the end of the night. In the stance of a slip on the attacker’s behalf, you kicked a leg out and luckily caught them right in the face.

You froze.

A young woman stared down at you as she wiped away a trail of blood gushing from her nose, unbothered by the red liquid pouring out of her nostrils. The red hair you had noticed earlier was actually dip-dyed a light green and something clicked as you compared the image of your attacker with the new ‘post-lady’ that had yet to return for another paper route.

A question bubbled on your tongue.

Two chains trapped your arms against your sides and the question died in your throat as the woman pinned you to the floor with her knees. She cackled at your squirming and wrapped the chain around your hands, down to bellow your knees and pulled it tighter. You grunted in response.

“Man, that was easier than I expected, huh Doc?” Demencia chortled and rolled you on to your back, pulling you up into a sitting position despite the chains digging into your stomach and restricting your breathing.

“Kind of expected you to pull out one of your cool and crazy inventions to fight me off,” she pouted lowly, “But oh well! The easier you are to catch, the quicker it is to take you back to my beloved~” The woman purred and squatted down, gripping your waist and hauling you off the ground with a strength you had never experienced. The fluidity of her movements caught you by surprise.

Her shoulder dug into your stomach and you moaned in pain, “You could at least-!” A wince of discomfort from the sharp shoulder stabbing your liver, “-Take me out to dinner first,” you joked and tried to squirm out of her arms, hoping the joke gave you enough of a leeway to surprise the woman and escape.
Demencia stopped midway through her step.

“Was that a joke?!”

Well, you were not expecting her to be so excited.

“Oh my gosh, it was a joke! That’s awesome. You actually have a sense of humour, unlike Flug who- mind you- is as interesting as an anxiety-ridden scientist can be,” Demencia explained with good humour. Her pitch had increased by a good three or four octaves. “You have a sense of personality and you like jokes and memes- and you can cook! And- And make awesome forcefields too,” she spouted out at an unbelievable rate. You tried to keep up.

“How do you know about the forcefields?” The question tumbled from your lips at a frenzied rate as panic settled in your chest. This woman was obviously a villain and if a villain knew about your skills, there was only two things they would want from you:

1) In exchange for your business you would be allowed to live, however you would lose any attachment to the forcefield or future products.
2) You were to be killed and all your experiments, inventions and plans were to be stolen by the boss villain.

Demencia let out a happy sigh and added a little skip to her step as she descended down your stairs. “Black Hat gave Doctor Flug, Black Hat Incorporation’s scientist, the forcefield you created and we studied it, tracked it and gave the report to him,” she elaborated and your blood ran cold.

“Let’s just say my Blacky is very interested in your-!” The mutated woman continued talking in a lovestruck tone but you couldn’t pay attention as your breathing increased and your anxiety pitched.

Oh fuck.

OH fuck.

OH FUCK.

THAT WAS WORSE THAN A AND B COMBINED.

“Before I forget, I’ve got to grab the HaT-Cam from the kitchen. On the same note- you wouldn’t happen to have any spare inventions lying about, would you?” Demencia asked you impishly and you stiffened. Her shoulders squared slightly and a hearty laugh filled the corridor.

“YOU DO! I WAS ONLY JOKING, BUT YOU DO!”

You smiled weakly at her obvious excitement.

Oh, you were so dead.

“C’mon Doc, let’s grab the camera we installed in your kitchen then we can collect your inventions and take them back to Black Hat! I’m sure he’d love to see what you work on in your free time and hey, maybe we can hangout after you’ve gotten used to life in the manor,” Demencia offered with an eager chirp. She shoved you higher on her shoulder and guffawed when a broken wheeze escaped you.

“A camera?! And life in the- the manor?” You asked with a sense of inner dread, groaning as she altered you on her shoulder again. The woman stopped in the far right of your kitchen and extended an arm up, snatching an object from one of the darkest corners where no light hit the wall. Opening her palm, a small spy cam in the shape of a hat sat with its legs folded in and a green light forming a shadow on Demencia’s pale skin.

“Yup! Black Hat wants to hire you, isn’t that great?!” She proclaimed ecstatically and pocketed the robot nonchalantly. “Another scientist with skills like yours, we’ll definitely keep position numero uno in the villain market!” You stared wide-eyed and mouth-agape as Demencia began checking other rooms, most likely for your inventions and workshop.

“Are you serious?” A sense of hysteria hit you hard.

Screw being a happy-go-lucky citizen.

You wanted out.

Writhing on Demencia’s shoulder, the chains tied around your body seemed to constrict with every abrupt movement and her hands gripped your side tighter. She seemed to acknowledge your discomfort with little interest and continued with her exploration of your home, bagging some of the items on the way. Your wriggling soon stopped and with a heavy heart, you accepted that perhaps you had no choice in whether you would stay or go.

The sound of a door clicking and swinging open caught your attention.

Demencia gasped.

You paled.

Light shone through the large window panes of your workshop and reflected off the series of forcefield duplicates scattered all over your desk. Your plans and ideas were portrayed on blueprint after blueprint, each pinned to the walls with blue tac and colourful tacks. There was even a print of your most recent discovery behind the fictional idea of holographic computers that were interactive and could form a hologram apart from the screen, switching between different tabs with a single flick of the wrist.

Demencia was chucking everything into the sack in seconds. All your neatly planned and organised files, notes and blueprints shoved into the bag without a care- your projects and tools pouring in soon after. The clinking of metal and all your ideas made bile rise up the back of your throat, clearly uncomfortable at the idea of all your hard work being manhandled so carelessly.

“Ooh, what’s this?” Demencia tugged at the box next to your window, clearly interested in the jumble of blueprints and paper. She shuffled through the bits and shifted you once again, making the bile rise. One certain blueprint seemed to catch her attention specifically and she unrolled it, squealing at the diagram of two anti-gravity boots you had scribbled down whilst half asleep.

The pattern continued as she unrolled another scroll, squealed and shoved it into the brown sack until the whole box was empty.

“Dang, you have such wicked ideas! I’m so excited to see what Black Hat will think,” the redhead shrieked and picked up her speed. She swung the bag back over her shoulder and leapt through the closed window, shattering the glass and causing a scream to erupt from your throat.

WHY COULDN’T SHE JUST WALK THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR LIKE A NORMAL VILLAIN?!

You were mentally screaming the entire walk back through your neighbourhood, your heart pumping with adrenaline as glass shards flaked from the woman’s air and she skipped happily into the darker area of town. The black streets seemed to welcome her with open arms, her eyes scanning the area with a familiar fondness until the dark streets eventually turned light and you watched as normal suburban homes passed by in a blur.

With furrowed eyebrows, you tried to read any of the passing road signs before Demencia stopped in front of a house. She managed to twirl you around to face the monstrosity that was a large manor decked to the nines in black and shaped into the form of a common top hat.

“Like it? This is your new home! I’m sure Flug will be super happy at having another scientist to nerd out with,” she giggled out and hopped over the iron gates with ease. The spiked tops seemed to catch at her tights and a new hole added to the ongoing collection. You let out another shriek when she landed on the other side with you and your belongings in her arms.

The desolate garden added to your dread as she pounced up to the house and opened the door without a problem. Her eyes seemed to widen in suspense and she all but bolted up the stairs after dropping your belongings next to the open entrance.

A set of large black doors awaited at the top.

You dreaded what would come next.