Another robot suddenly rolled up to the bigger. He looked like a much smaller version of the sentinel. Black Hat followed, his eye twitching with anger. “Who are you?” he snarled at the human.
Carlos stopped, looking at the little robot with a little bit of caution. He then turned his attention to the other being. “I’m Carlos – I’m a scientist. I… wait, haven’t we done this before? Yeah, I think so… Anyway, I’m sorry about your robot. I can fix it, I promise.”
Black
Hat was now outside, watching this with the utmost amusement. He
laughed loudly, smirking widely. This was extremely entertaining!Wha – laughing? Carlos was hearing laughing. Another lap around the front gate of the mansion and Carlos could see a tall figure out of the corner of his eye. He recognized it as the top-hat man he met yesterday. And he was laughing at Carlos getting chased by a possibly malicious robot. That was so ill-mannered of him.
But Carlos had other things to focus on. Like the math problem in his head…
“Hey, robot! Can you do calculations?” he called back to the metal behemoth behind him.
But either the robot couldn’t, or he just didn’t want to talk, the robot didn’t answer him. But instead, he sped up, clawed hands reaching for the human he was trying to catch. Black Hat smirked wider and watched, eager to see the human be caught.
Carlos yelped and tried to go faster. He could practically
feel the inches between the tails of his labcoat and the thing’s claws. Ugh!
Okay – maybe something simpler?“This sentence is
false!” Carlos screeched.The paradox somehow worked. And, to Black Hat’s shock and horror, the sentinel froze and began glitch out before its circuits fried. Now Black Hat was beyond pissed off, shaking with rage.
Carlos slowed to a jog before finally stopping. He bent over with his hands on his knees as he gasped for breath. “Okay… gotta work out more,” he murmured to himself.
Still panting he stood up straight and looked back at the robot. He felt bad about breaking it. He checked his danger meter and found that it was in the orange zone. Not immediate danger, it seemed… he started walking toward the robot, keeping an eye on the meter. He wanted to see if he could reset it and send it back to its charging dock without hurting it any more.
His
mind wandered as he waited for Carlos to finish ensuring everything
was ‘just-so’, and he didn’t quite realise how long it took, only
that it likely wasn’t as swift as it could have been. When the
scientist did emerge, he raised a brow at the regretful note
to his tone, wondering what had set that off. His guess was
incorrect, but his addressing of it possibly covered the correct base
anyway. “The storage area isn’t much of a lab, I know, but you can
transfer your equipment to the lab proper later.”Ahhh,
questions… they were valid queries, it was true, and he took a
moment to mull them over, humming slightly. “You study the weird,
the supernatural included – things many other scientists would
disregard or gloss over. That’s useful – an appropriately
scientific analysis of many such things is sorely lacking, and that
isn’t really my existing scientist’s area.”As for how long? He
paused again, tilting his head as he observed the man, trying to
figure out the best way of approaching the idea. “I didn’t have a
set time limit in mind. I don’t intend to prevent you from
venturing outside, or even from conducting further tests in that
bizarre desert, but I do intend to employ you.”
Carlos lifted an eyebrow at the mention of a lab. “That
would be –“ Carlos stopped himself, as he had to still clear some stuff up
first.
“Um, well, I’m very flattered that you seem to think my work
would be of use to you, Mr Black Hat,” Carlos told him. “But… I’ve just gotta say,
there’s, um… ways to get my attention, you know. You, uh… it wasn’t necessary
to take me in the middle of a field study. I have an email – and I would have
gladly linked you to a profile and résumé
page that… well, that frankly isn’t just my personal blog that’s just full of
personal, non-professional projects that I work on.”
Had he read the study thread about the Literal Rock Band?
Probably. Some people outside of Night Vale probably would think it was
entirely fictional and that Carlos had a far-too-active imagination.
Black
Hat was now outside, watching this with the utmost amusement. He
laughed loudly, smirking widely. This was extremely entertaining!Wha – laughing? Carlos was hearing laughing. Another lap around the front gate of the mansion and Carlos could see a tall figure out of the corner of his eye. He recognized it as the top-hat man he met yesterday. And he was laughing at Carlos getting chased by a possibly malicious robot. That was so ill-mannered of him.
But Carlos had other things to focus on. Like the math problem in his head…
“Hey, robot! Can you do calculations?” he called back to the metal behemoth behind him.
But either the robot couldn’t, or he just didn’t want to talk, the robot didn’t answer him. But instead, he sped up, clawed hands reaching for the human he was trying to catch. Black Hat smirked wider and watched, eager to see the human be caught.
Carlos yelped and tried to go faster. He could practically
feel the inches between the tails of his labcoat and the thing’s claws. Ugh!
Okay – maybe something simpler?
“This sentence is
false!” Carlos screeched.
He
could actually tell that Carlos’ attention had been drawn to his
teeth, though he was unaware of the scientist’s speculation on the
matter. He was used to people staring at his fangs after all, and not
all that many of those people ever claimed to have been wondering
about them. As it happened, though, the type of teeth he bore was his
default, other varieties requiring conscious choice unless he was
turning into something with specific teeth.He’d
begun to walk, briskly striding towards the door – but it seemed as
though his newest acquisition had other ideas. If his words had made
any less sense, Black Hat would likely have irritably dragged him
out. However, the statement seemed sensible, so he paused. “Don’t
be long about it.”
Carlos just hummed as he started putting lids on all his
petri dishes and vials. He lay them in order to be marked later and shut off
his microscope. He was about ready to
go, but paused… Black Hat seemed to have a habit of making people drop
everything and take them wherever he wanted. As intrigued as Carlos was about
Black Hat and his reasoning, Carlos was concerned that he would not be coming
back to his things for a while.
He got the samples and put them in his pockets before
putting his tablet in its case. He slid that into an inner pocket in his
labcoat as well of some of his smaller gadgets. He looked at his microscope and
the substance-analyzer he set up a little mournfully, but sighed and turned
away.
“Alright, I’m ready,” he said as he came back to the other
man(?)’s side. “Um… It occurs to me that while you did say that you brought me here, I’m not sure that I understand
why. Or for how long.” He was starting to realize that this was a presence of
mind that was absent when he arrived at Night Vale, and it made him wonder if
the town itself had something to do with it.
That
confusion was understandable, perhaps particularly if Carlos hadn’t
been following events of a more ‘heroes and villains’ bent. “He’s
not really gotten out all that much, even before coming into my
employ.” He responded, with a slight shrug as he began to lead
towards the door. “Most of his work has been done on behalf of my
company – though I understand he has a few side projects intended
for a wider scope.”His
own smile broadened at Carlos’ words, though he could tell the
scientist’s was one of politeness rather than enthusiasm. Well, that
made sense, considering he’d abducted the man. “Excellent~ I think
some scientific company would do him good. He’s been the only
brainiac in the place for some time, and from what I understand, it’s
better to have someone to bounce ideas from – is that right?”
He’d opened the door by that point, striding out into a hallway that
– unlike many – didn’t possess more than a few of his self
portraits.
Black Hat’s widening smile drew Carlos’ attention to his
teeth. He realized they were just like the ones in the form he took that
stretched across the room – large, sharp, and minty green in color. Did he pick
those teeth on purpose, or were they a staple whenever he transformed? That was
something to think about…
Carlos started to follow him, but he halted when he
remembered something. “Oh – give me a moment, please,” he requested. “I need to
clean up so the samples don’t get contaminated.” He didn’t wait for an answer
as he turned and hurried back into the room to start his clean-up.
Black
Hat didn’t really notice that Carlos had picked up on his body
language – but then, it wasn’t actually something that he was
watching for. He did notice the blinking at the sudden level
of light in the area, but that was fairly expected, as was some form
of frowning. Seemed he’d noticed not only the discrepancy in
location, but also the absence of anything resembling his car. It was
only then that Black Hat realised that perhaps there might have been
something useful in there – perhaps he’d go pick it up at some
point…“Life
energy, you say?” That could be intriguing, though he’d probably
need Flug to determine what profitable uses it could be put to. He
might enjoy science, but that didn’t mean he was actually good
at it. “I noticed you writing about cells of some sort, yes… Heh,
it was Dr Flug who informed me of your blog – he’s living here as
well. Perhaps I ought introduce you?”
Carlos looked at Black Hat, still frowning in confusion. “Dr Flug?” he asked. “Yeah, I’m afraid that I’m
not familiar with his work or… him at all, actually.” Did any of Carlos’ colleagues
know him? It was possible, but unlikely that Carlos hadn’t at least heard of
him before. That was very weird, he thought.
“Um, yes, I’m sure I’d love to meet him,” he told Black Hat
finally, giving him a polite smile.
The
flinch was entertaining, but the rest of Carlos’ reaction?
That was a tad less expected, though the flattery certainly wasn’t
unwelcome. Well, he supposed that the man was a scientist with
interests centred around oddities just such as he. “Heheheh, it can
be good fun, too.” He commented, amused, as he extended his own
hand to grasp the extended right hand and shake for a moment, letting
go shortly after.“Indeed
– your blog was quite an interesting find.” He responded,
inclining his head slightly. “I had you traced from it, so that I
could bring you here.” Admittedly, that was a creepy thing to say
to anyone, but he wasn’t averse to being considered creepy – quite
the opposite. Contrary to Carlos’ probable intentions, though, Black
Hat’s smile grew more fixed at the joke, his posture a little
stiffer. While he had indeed taken that name deliberately, the
circumstances of that were not anything he’d have chosen. “Quite.”No
longer in the mood for dramatic lighting, or lack of lighting, he
lashed out with a tendril abruptly extruded from his back, flicking
the light switch. It became quickly apparent that they were in some
kind of room, likely intended for storage, and that Carlos’ car was
nowhere in sight. “I understand you have particular interest in
studies relating to what some might term cryptids and the more
mystical side of biology?”
The apparent tightness in the other’s posture in response to
the joke didn’t go unnoticed to Carlos. He mentally catalogued the reaction for
future reference – he might need to be a bit more clever when joking with this
person.
The light took Carlos by surprise and he was left blinking
away some very minor sensitivity. He looked around, rubbing at one of his eyes,
and frowned when he realized that his car wasn’t there. He had more equipment
in there – including his Danger
Meter. He really should learn to wear that wherever he went…
“Um, yeah,” he began. “Or, well, I really have an interest
in anything scientifically interesting. It’s just lately one of my projects has
been regarding some strange sort of life energy in Night Vale, and only barely
I found some things that appear as cells…” He paused in his explanation to look
at Black Hat. “You found my blog? Oh – I had no idea anyone would actually come
across it… who told you about it?”
Ahh,
it was definitely amusing to see his newest scientist looking
so discomfited – Black Hat seemed to exude a sense of smugness at
this, one distributed evenly throughout his currently fibrous body.
Hmm, perhaps that might be something to change out of soon, before it
got boring.Thus
far, boring was not one of the words he’d use to label Carlos,
even considering the time he’d spent tap-tapping away. Heh, and he
certainly had manners. That was more than someone with
monstrous mien could ordinarily expect, and while it didn’t
immediately mean anything in his behaviour towards the scientist
would change, it did give him pause for thought.Electing
to return the politeness for now, he chuckled again and responded.
“No, the light doesn’t hurt me – I simply have a taste for drama.
There’s a lightswitch in here somewhere, if you can find it.” Ah,
yes, and an introduction would seem to be in order, wouldn’t it? His
form appearing to melt and distort, contracting inwards, he
re-assumed his usual shape. “The name is Black Hat~”
The sight of Carlos’ surroundings shifting and moving in the
limited light made him flinch in a brief moment of terror and fright. But he
calmed quickly and watched in fascination as the mass formed a well-dressed humanoid
in appearance.
“Willful morphing… oh, that is amazing,” Carlos almost whispered in
awe. He caught himself before he could spend too long admiring the new form
that the being took and quickly he held out his left hand. But he realized that
was the wrong one and traded his phone over so he could hold out his right,
making sure to keep the light on his phone angled down so he didn’t shine it in
the other’s face.
“Carlos Ramon, scientist,” he introduced himself quickly. “Though
I feel like you know more than just that. Um, like I said – pleasure to meet
you.” He smiled at the other – Black Hat.
“Your name is very fitting – I wonder if you chose it on purpose.” There was a
bit of a jovial tone in that sentence, as one of Carlos’ ways to get familiar
with someone was to joke with them – of course Black Hat went by that name on purpose. Obviously! Just like Carlos would answer to any variation of The Scientist.
He
could hear the worry in that soft response as Carlos realised what
his words could mean, and he relished it, chuckling softly to
himself as he watched the human tinkering with what seemed to be a
phone. Ahh, so that was what he was looking for…Multiple
eyes blinked at Carlos from the fibrous mass bewebbing the place, a
variety of greenly-fanged mouths grinning at him. “You’re in my
home, Carlos~” He responded, his tone somewhat sing-song.
They’d not been introduced, but it hadn’t been hard to discover his
name given that he had access to the man’s blog. “So nice to meet
you~”
Carlos was shaken, his mind working to figure out where on
Earth he could possibly be, or what
was happening.
“U-uh, um… Nice to meet you too,” he responded to the
many-voiced mass. “I – I’m so sorry for my outburst a second ago – I was
startled, but I realize that’s no excuse for rudeness.” He was confused, but
that was no reason to not be polite. This was his first interaction with this
being (beings?) after all. “Though… a person with a large vocabulary would say
that you have me at a disadvantage,” Carlos continued. “A scientist would say that you have me at several disadvantages. Is there a light in here? My flashlight isn’t
hurting you, is it?”
The Perfect Scientist 