Gravity
Chapter 3

Black Hat opened the door to the run down hotel's lobby, and everything immediately went silent and all heads turned to look at him. He glared at them for a moment, then walked over to the reception desk. Everyone stayed quiet, it was highly unlikely for a villain of his class to be in such an establishment.

"Come on, stupid girl!" He tugged on Dementia's leash as she was barking at one of the fake plants on all fours. 

The heavily busted woman who had given Flug directions not 30 minutes ago, kept trying to hide behind her newspaper until the demon started growling at her. Without even looking at him, she dashed into the back and pushed her own boss out in her place. The little mexican man stared at Black Hat in terror. "Hola, S-senior! M-may we b-be of service to you?" He managed.

"Perhaps. I'm looking for one of my employee's that I had sent on an errand, he hasn't returned lately. I tracked him to this town, I'm sure you are familiar with what he looks like, he also had a rather large blue bear with him."

The hotel manager perked up for a bit, glad he wasn't the one being threatened. "Oh si! I remember him, he was here this morning! Had very large blue bear! Si si!"

"And where is he now?"

"Oh, he left not ahhh.... little while ago.... He was going to store, but he checked out his room, he isn't coming back, I don't think, senior."

"Keys to his room." Black Hat held out a hand. It wasn't a question.

"O-of course!" The manager quickly gave them up.

The demon strode out without another word, pulling Dementia behind him. He went to the specified room, he wanted to see what it looked like before they cleaned it, so he could judge how quick their progress would be, and if they had possibly been smart enough to drop the money where he could find it, in hope of forgiveness.

No money. What a shame, he thought, even though if the money had been there, he would have pursued and killed them anway. It was the principle of the matter. That idiot is probably spending it all. He looked around, noticing the large amount of blood and stains in the bathroom, but not seeing too much of it in the actual room. He's starting to heal up, but he'll still be quite weak, with the blood loss, he thought.

Walking back out, he saw a glint in the sunlight. disgusting sunlight... He thought as he picked it up. It was the scientists phone. "Hunh. He didn't even look at anything I sent him... He must really be terrified." Black Hat grinned his demonic smile as he crushed the phone in his fist. "Perfect."

Dr. Flug, while weak, actually felt quite decently, and while Black Hat was still hovering in the back of his mind, he was busy listening to his music, and the bear was also grooving. He had decided to try going to a store in another town, simply because he wanted to get as far from his previous boss as possible first. He was giggling and singing along, he had the same song on repeat since they left the hotel, and no one could tell him to change it, and 5.0.5. certainly didn't seem to mind. A couple signs went by, and he suddenly had an idea. If he wanted to get away, and not be followed, they would eventually have to ditch the van, but they still needed transportation. He grinned for the first time in a while, and military bases certainly do have high tech modes of transportation, he thought. "5.0.5.! We're gonna do grand theft auto.... or should I say, tank?! HEHEHEHEEEE!" He snickered, feeling a bit of a rise in him. He was gonna get to do evil all his own, this would be interesting, to say the least, he hadn't gotten to do anything of the sort in so many years.

He parked the van in a place that could be seen, and covered it with a bunch of plant material. He would of course wait for it to get dark, hopefully nothing would happen til then. Flug thought for a minute. Well I should at least be productive, he started playing with the stuff he had in the back. He had made certain that the bear had grabbed lots of highly potent chemicals. He looked at several of them, and noticed one of them was of Black Hat's venom. He had only gotten to collect that in permission to try to use it for a form of weapon, but he had never really had time for it. Flug let out a sigh, and thought for a minute. He started mixing chemicals together, and put them in a sort of spinning machine to get them to adhere properly together. After a few hours he transferred what he had created into a bottle and put a lid on it. Antidote. Just in case he thought, shivering. Of course if the demon got close enough to inject his venom into him then he'd probably be dead from being torn apart by the rest of him anyway. "Probably a waste of time." He said to himself. "Oh well. Whatever. Not the first time I've made something and decided it would be useless later."

Black Hat was extremely pissed off. They had been searching this filthy god damned city all day! There was not even any hint of his target! As he got more frustrated, he didn't even stop to give Dementia a break, he was just dragging her along now, whether she could keep up or not. She complained of course, but he ignored her, used to it. Darkness was starting to fall...

Dr. Flug got out of the van and looked around. No moon, perfect! "5.0.5., stay here and guard the van! As soon as I get back, load up whatever I come back with the van's contents, hop in, and we'll be out of here!" The bear nodded happily at him, moving items around so they'd be easier to transfer. Flug took his bloodied lab coat off so that he was just in his pants and shoes, then jumped in some mud that was in a nearby ditch, and rolled around until he was covered. "No point in being a nice bright target, and don't want their dogs to have a good whiff of me." He grabbed some of his equipment, and quickly started towards the base. He wasn't exactly a stealth ninja, but he was smart, and decent enough to know how to not get caught, as clumsy as he was. Also the nervousness that he usually felt around Black Hat was mostly gone, without his presence he did have a little more confidence. In and out, real quick. Gotta do this, it'll be just fine, he kept telling himself.

Black Hat continued to grumble as they drove in his fancy black mustang. "DON'T DROOL ON THE SEATS, DEMENTIA!!" He yelled at her, he had never let anyone in his car before, this was all Flug's stupid fault. He couldn't put her in the van, because the idiot had it. They had left the city, and were heading down a dirt road towards another town that someone had given him a heads up on seeing the van on. "DEMENTIA!!! STOP PUSHING THE FUCKING BUTTONS!!!" The insane girl grinned at him and continued to turn the radio on and off, the air conditioning all the way up, and now she was trying to open the sun roof. FUCKING INSANE CHILD!! He was just about ready to turn and put her in her place with some violence when he heard an unfamiliar sound. Looking out the window, he stopped the car and turned everything off. Off in the distance, a few miles away, sirens were blaring, and the sound of a helicopter and guns going off, along with faint crashing noises behind all the trees. He raised an eyebrow. "Really...? It's probably not him, but might as well take a look anyway."

Flug was now extremely motivated. He had the rush of fear, but also the adrenaline rush of excitement as he laughing crazily, driving the huge expedition truck he had just stolen out of the base, running over everything and everyone that got in his way. "WHOOOOOOHOOOOOO! FUCKIN MINE NOW, HAHAHAHAHA!" The vehicle was designed for extreme terrain and off-road mountains with it's 16 huge tires and armor all over it. It even had ramming bars on the front, and a bullet proof glass windshield. As he drove it at high-speed into the woods, it knocked down the weaker trees in his way, and rocked back and forth as he swerved between the larger ones. He had never had this much power under his control before. He skidded to a stop at the van and popped open one of the back doors. 5.0.5 immediately started shoving their stuff in it, it took him less then a minute. The bear got into the seat next to him, the cabin was plenty large enough to accommodate him. Flug floored it, knocking over the van in the process, and covering it in mud from briefly skidding tires. As they started out, Flug suddenly remembered, he had left the stupid vial in the glove compartment, 5.0.5. wouldn't have known about that! He thought briefly if it was even worth going back for. Yes, even little things like that are worth it, you never know, he decided. He stopped the enormous vehicle and climbed out, telling the bear to stay there, it would only take a minute. Retrieving the vial, he shoved it in his pants pocket and as he turned around to head back to the truck, he felt a powerful force knock him back into the muddy ditch. 

"Good evening, Flug..." He heard a familiar voice say calmly. 

The scientists heart went through the roof. SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHIT! He started trying to crawl away, but a tendril grabbed his ankle and pulled him out of the ditch, none too gently. It shook him about at a distance, but the mud had dried on to him, so it started wiping him roughly against the tree's hard bark, which tore at his already damaged skin, and of course ripping his bag off, again.

"This is disgusting, can't you even keep yourself clean?!"

Flug kept as quiet as he could, though the burns from the rubbing bark and blood coming out him did get some painful sounds from him. When Black Hat had finally deemed him, somewhat less disgusting, but still horrendous, he dangled the scientist by the ankle upside down in front of him so their faces were level.

"You thought you could get away, didn't you, idiot?" He said, a fake sweetness to his voice, making it sound even more deadly.

"You even stole my van, with my money, and my property in it. That was really quite naughty of you, and stupid. I found you of course, whatever you were doing in that base over there seems to have gone awry for you, with all those alarms, what were you trying to pull off? I mean really, Flug. You are a moron, and you aren't a real villain, no matter how hard you try to be." He brought a clawed hand to the scientists face, caressing it, then pushing it in to draw a long bloody scratch on it. "You're lucky that I have made this personal, I tied Dementia to the top of a tree so she wouldn't be present, though she might still hear your screams. Where is that stupid bear of yours? I didn't expect you to ditch him... Rather unlike you..."

Flug grit his teeth as the clawed hand when up to is waist, and started drawing another bloody line straight down the middle of his chest, stopping between his collar bones.

"Yes, I think that will work nicely." the demon said, seemingly to himself.

The scientist looked at the line, then it dawned on him. HE'S GOING TO DISEMBOWEL ME ALIVE?! The creature flicked his forked tongue in and out. "Hmmmm I can taste your fear...! Yessss....!" He said with a grin. "I wonder what your insides taste like as well... Let's find out shall we, what should I start with? Your heart and lungs have to be last of course, I'd prefer your organs freshly picked and having you alive is the best way for that. Eeni meeni, miny moe.... Which one, which one...?" He taunted, as Flug began shaking uncontrollably, swallowing hard as the clawed finger went up to his belly button to most likely gauge an opening, his eyes locked on his victims terrified, pleading face. "How about a kidney first, I haven't had those in quite a while, what do you think, Flug, do your kidney's have a delectable taste?"

There was a sudden rush of energy from just beyond the tree line, at the military base, an intense white light, followed by waves of fire. The original blast knocked Flug out of Black Hat's grasp. The demon grabbed a large tree that was bending under the stress, surprised for once. WHAT THE HELL WAS THIS?! 
Flug had landed in the muddy ditch again, and tried to brace himself as another shockwave went by. He had set several bombs in the base so that the military wouldn't be able to follow him when he left, and he had hoped he wouldn't be in range when they went off. He started trying to crawl off again, knowing a third one would go off in about a minute. He managed to get out of the small clearing he had made with the truck, but was again, snatched up.

"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING, FLUG?!" This time, instead of lifting him up, it dragged him on the ground, pulling him as he grabbed at the dirt with his fingertips, trying with no avail to get away. He felt an enormous weight on his back as Black Hat stepped on him with one foot, pushing him into the mud. The demon bent over, grabbing him by his red hair and pulling his face out of the grime. The scientist coughed and spat mud out. A tendril went around his throat and lifted him up by his neck, and he struggled weakly. "You are really starting to piss me off!" He grabbed one of Flug's arms that was pawing at the tentacle at his neck, and fiercly bit into it.

The third bomb went off. The delayed timer surprised the demon, and he lost his grip again. This time, Flug flew even farther, and he immediately got up and started running, he was close enough, he could make it! He heard a cackling in the trees. Dementia of course, perched up in the top of a tree, screeching like a maniac, pretending she was an owl. "HE'S OVER HERE, BLACK HAT!!" She yelled. 

The scientist climbed into the huge terrain vehicle and slammed his door shut, locking it. "FLOOR IT, BLUE!" He yelled.

The bear did so. He had never driven before. He didn't think he'd ever be allowed to. He didn't even hesitate.

They surged forward, tearing out of the forest, bouncing around in the cabin. 

"DO NOT STOP, BEAR, DO NOT STOP, PEDDLE ALL THE WAY DOWN!!" Flug instructed, looking in the rearview mirror. The horrifying monstrosity of black and red that had manifested and was chasing them had him scared out of his wits. 5.0.5. did so, but he wasn't looking at the mirrors, so he didn't know what exactly what was going on, just that he was driving REALLY fast.

Flug looked in the mirror again, unable to tear his eyes away. He had never seen Black Hat in this form before. It looked... Well he wasn't sure how to describe it. It was huge, had claws, mouths and sharp teeth all over it, hundreds of red slit eyes, hundreds of thorned tentacles, and looked like something that couldn't even be put into a horror film. Saliva and some sort of green and red substances were dripping from its many jaws. Evil incarnate, the scientist thought, unbelieving such a form was even possible, he had known Black Hat was capable of shape shifting, but this! 

Even though it was about 6 times larger than their truck, it started slowly, ever so slowly, falling behind, roaring and hissing as it still doggedly pursued its prey.

"Don't stop 5.0.5, don't stop!" Flug said again, though weaker. The bear had finally looked in the rearview mirror on his side, now HE was terrified, and certainly didn't need to be told twice.

Somethings wrong, Flug thought. He was starting to feel strange, every heartbeat felt like fire in his chest. He looked at his body, all of his wounds were reopening, as if they were fresh. They hadn't healed all the way in the first place, but now they were rescinding as if he had never even dressed them. Looking at his arm, he realized, as a slightly green, slimy, almost transparent ooze seeped out of his recent bite wound. Fuck. Venom! 

Flug weakly reached into his pocket, and miraculously pulled out the unbroken vial of anti-venom. Not so useless after all, he thought, but I don't have long, if it even works. The pain was getting worse, and it was getting difficult to breathe, his throat was starting to close up, and his wounds were bleeding profusely now. He pulled a hypodermic needle out of his other pocket, unsheathed it and snapped it to the syringe. His hands barely functioning, he managed to fill it. He slumped over, the paralyzing effect starting on the lower half of his body, quickly spreading up his chest, the feeling of being burned alive the pain was so intense. Flug managed to press the needle into his arm, near the wound, and slowly, struggling, pushed the syringe's stopper in. The pain intensified, and he dropped the now empty containers, the needle falling out. The paralyzation had moved up to his neck and in his limbs. His mind was completely clouded now, he didn't even know if this would work, no one had ever tried to make an anti-venom to the demon's poison before. His eyes closed as he went unconcious from the sheer amount of pain.