Attention {Paperhat}

~ Chapter One ~

2:25 a.m. was a normal time for Dr Flug to still be in the lab, sitting in his squeaky office chair and working on some new invention for the monsterous, evil entity that was Black Hat. It was also normal for there to be more than twenty empty cans of Red Bull cluttered on the table and several still under said table, waiting to be opened. Not to mention the still warm coffe maker sitting on another table across the room.

With a sigh, Flug slightly lifted his bag to take a sip of his warm coffee, before putting the cup down to the side of the table, slipping his bag back down, and picking up his screwdriver. He'd been working on these damned things for nearly a week now and his fingers were numb from all of the tiny parts he had to put together. They were tiny, spider-like bots that could be subtly snuck into any hero's home and fire lasers at them from under couches, behind bookshevles... The locations were damn near endless. Not only that, but if they were caught, they had a defense mechanism that Flug had been re-designing for what felt like forever.
Each one could send out small spikes from their bodies and if the hero was gripping them tight enough, which they would most likely be, the spikes would dig into their hands and they would be forced to drop the invention.

He was nearly done with another bot, when there was a loud crash from outside the lab. Flug jumped in his seat and his heart began to pound against his chest. What happened now? Who caused it to happen? Would he get blamed? Letting out a heavy breath through his nose, Flug put the bot and the tool down and stood up from his chair. He quickly made his way over to the lab doors, cracking one open to look out into the hall.

"5.0.5? Demencia? What happened?" he asked as he slipped out and looked at the broken vase on the floor.

"5.0.5 did it!" Demencia shouted, pointing an acussing finger at the blue bear. "He knocked it off and now he's just staring at it!"

"W-Well you're not really doing anything either," Flug muttered and walked over to stand beside the bear who was now whimpering and staring down at the pieces scattered on the floor. "I'm sure he didn't mean to do it. It-... It's not that big of a deal."

"What is not that big of a deal?" a raspy voice growled and Demencia clasped her hands together and flashed a toothy grin.

Please kill me now Flug thought as he flinched and looked down at the floor.

"5.0.5 broke a vase!" Demencia answered Black Hat as she skipped around Flug.

"D-Demencia, it was an a-accident! Accidents h-happen!" Flug said as he looked up.

Demencia stopped skipping and stuck her tongue out. "Yeah, well, he still did it. And the guilty party needs to be punished!"

"Guilty party, eh?" Something in Black Hat's voice changed and sent a shiver down Flug's spine. "Doesn't a party consist of multiple people?"

"Yeah, but-"

"To me, it seems like two of you here deserve to be punished. 5.0.5, of course, for breaking the vase in the first place, but Demencia, what did you do to stop it?"

"I-"

"Shut up! You did nothing, correct? You let it happen when there was a slight chance that you could've stopped it. Flug!" he turned to the trembling scientist. "What's the percentage that Demencia could've stopped the vase from breaking because of 5.0.5's foolishness?"

Flug swallowed the lump in his throat. "U-Uh... M-M-Maybe a 55% chance? Perhaps e-even higher if she-" Flug stopped when Black Hat held up his hand.

"That's enough. See, Demencia? You could've stopped it, but you didn't."

Demencia's face turned red. "W-What about Flug!? He didn't do anything either!"

"Flug has been in the lab working! Granted, he could've picked up the pieces of the vase, but he was not involved in the breaking of it! Who's to say that you didn't help? Flug, where's Cambot? That damned thing must've gotten something on video, correct?"

The young man quickly nodded his head. "Y-Yes, sir! I-I'll go find it now!" He turned on his heel and ran down the hall. He could hear the arguing growing louder behind him.
He pulled out his phone and checked the tracking device he had installed in the bot. According to it, Cambot was in the living room. It was probably hiding from the others so that it could keep its tape.

"Cambot?" he called out as he walked into the living room. "You can keep your tape this time, I promise! I just-"

There was a small whiring noise and Flug spun around to see Cambot trying to sneek out of the room. It suddenly took off back down the hall that Flug had just come from and with a groan, the scientist took off after it. The halls were dark and it was hard to see anything other than the flashing lights on the back of Cambot's main piece.

"Stop it! Come back here!"

With a grunt, Flug lunged forward and grabbed one of Cambot's extentions, bringing it to the ground with him. The bot made a few disgruntled noises before it gave up and went limp on the ground. Flug sighed and pressed the eject button on the side and slid the tape out.

"Sorry pal," he said and stood up, straightening his shirt and brushing off his pants. "But he'd most likely kill me if I didn't come back with something."

Flug held the tape tightly in his hands as he continued down the hall, not stopping for fear of making Black Hat wait much longer. As he turned the corner, he ran right into another body, this one much stronger and sturdy than his own. It sent him stumbling back and tripping over his own feet to fall on his ass.

"I-I'm sorry! I wasn't-"

"You weren't looking where you were going. Get off the goddamn floor, Flug."

He quickly scrambled to his feet and glanced up at his boss before quickly holding out the tape. "I g-got the tape...?"

Black Hat snatched the object from Flug, who flinched and took a step back. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath, even Demencia. She was standing behind 5.0.5, apparently using him as a kind of sheild, even though the blue bear would run at the first sign of danger and leave Demencia and Flug in the dust.
Black Hat whirled around and glared down at Demencia, who had slowly been backing up and making her way down the hall.

"You should pray that I don't find anything on this tape," he growled, then turned back around and quickly walked past Flug, turning down another dark hallway and disappearing.

No one said anything, the only sound was 5.0.5's quiet whimpering. Flug swallowed the lump that had slowly been forming in his throat and glanced over at Demencia, who seemed like she was back to her normal self.

"At least we're not dead?" the girl offered, giggling.

Flug rolled his eyes. "Yet."

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I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory

I'm so tired and I feel like shit. I hope you enjoy this because it took me forever to write. If this gets good feedback, I'll start working on the next chapter ASAP. Until then...