When the town became closer into view both men realised several things.
One, how far they'd come in just a few days, and how blistered their feet were beginning to feel after all the walking they had done.
Two, they had travelled this far with nothing more than hope that there'd be everything they needed to make a new machine in the advanced looking town.
Three, they were still holding hands.
Flug adjusted his goggles on his head and squinted. He had long since folded his paper bag up and put it in his pocket, and it was almost like his bosses apologies had suddenly melted away all of his insecurities and he felt...good, for once.
The town was large, but seemingly empty from where they stood. There were all kinds of strange looking buildings, some in the shapes of hats, planes that had been converted into homes, and quaint little shops much like the ones back home.
It was welcoming though, and it didn't seem to give Flug that uneasy feeling all of the other 'attractions' had given him. Flug was the one to take the first step this time.
Blackhat looked around himself as he pressed into Flug's back closely. The town seemed almost too peaceful to him, though he could've just been being paranoid, it was kind of unsettling.
There were stalls that were selling things like sandwiches and ray guns, an odd combination that Blackhat would have laughed at, if it weren't for the signs above the stalls that clacked in the wind against wood and stone all around them. There was nobody there to sell anything.
"seems kind of...vacant here, doesn't it?" Blackhat coughed. Flug turned around and jumped a little as if he'd only just noticed it himself.
"You're right...You'd think there'd be people in a village. Then again i'm still not one hundred percent sure how these generated worlds work. Maybe there's just no people because I prefer spending time alone or something?"
Blackhat nodded slowly, seemingly fine with that answer, at least that was what Flug thought, but something still didn't feel right. Mower stomped along heavily behind them, which did make Blackhat feel a little safer, that robot might be designed to survive just about anything.
In the middle of the village the small team came across a giant building, another one shaped like a hat but much larger and sinister than the rest. It seemed less homely, and more powerful looking than any other building they had seen in the village and Flug knew right away that there was something important about it.
As they drew closer a large sign above the door on the building could be seen, with writing on it that read "important info".
Flug's face lit up.
"Important info, see! I was right! There's got to be something useful in here!" he giggled excitedly and honestly, Blackhat had never seen him this giddy in his life, and he couldn't help but smile softly at the sight.
"I guess you were!" Blackhat said with vague praise, not exactly praise but close enough to make Flug's heart and fingers tingle.
Flug entered without hesitation and Mower entered second, leaving Blackhat to be the one to close the door behind them and enclose them all into this strange area which may very well be just a trap or something.
Blackhat strongly promised himself he'd protect Flug from even the most hazardous dangers from now on, and softly closed the door with a click.
The building consisted of nothing but one long hallway. The flooring looked like it was going upwards which told them they were going further up, but there was no stairs, only hall after hall after hall going round and round in a continuous circle. Just like the inside of a hat. Flug and his boss marvelled at the inventions that lined the walls in the hallway, things Flug had finished, and things he had only dreamed of finishing, all the way down to the plans.
"Interesting," Blackhat hummed, picking up a small cube and turning it in his hands.
Flug sent him a cheeky grin.
"Go on! ask me what it does," he bit his bottom lip in anticipation and Blackhat smirked, lifting the cube up in the air dramatically and pretending to gasp at its awesome and amazing cubeness.
"Oh Flug! This tiny cube is simply amazing! You must tell me what it does at once!"
They both giggled and Flug rolled his eyes in amusement before taking the cube from Blackhat's hands. He pressed a hidden button on the side of it and the cube reacted, twisting and turning in on itself before it finally expanded and became a lovely, comfortable looking chair.
"That...actually is amazing..." Blackhat's jaw dropped so wide he thought it'd hit the floor.
"I know right?" Flug winked, before pressing another secret button on the side of the chair and allowing it to return to its normal, tiny cube size.
Everything here was amazing. The whole thing about Blackhat wasting Flug's potential with only the things he wanted him to make hit home badly and Blackhat felt like he could throw up any moment. He hoped Mower had a towel or a bucket on hand or something. All the while Flug gasped, and oohed and aahed at all of the inventions. His inventions, all of the wonderful things he had never been able to make. It was the cutest, most painful thing Blackhat had ever witnessed.
They must've reached the top of the building eventually, but something made Flug stop dead in his tracks and it made him feel cold, and dead like a corpse. A horrible roar rippled through the hall and bounced off of the walls, vibrating through Flug's body and shaking his very soul.
"Bl...Blackhat...please t-tell me you heard that t-too,"
Another roar could be heard from the very top of the building. Blackhat could feel the very walls and floor wobble all around him and his suspicions that something was wrong solidified in his brain like ice and he went cold too.
"I heard that," he trembled, pulling Flug to his side and staring up at the giant door ahead of them. There was something behind it making that horrible noise. It must be guarding something.
"We have to go through that door," Flug spoke up again, though his voice had suddenly changed and his tone was hard and determined. Something inside him had switched, but Blackhat asked him if he was really sure anyway. Flug stared at the ground and nodded.
They tiptoed towards the door and the roaring got louder. The two men put their hands on the door handle at the same time, and pushing it down together they revealed what was on the other side.
And Blackhat wished they hadn't.
The room was huge, too huge to be inside the building. Green slime covered the walls and was dripping down onto the ground and Flug covered his mouth and heaved. Stuck to the walls with that slime were all of the people that should have been in the town, and Flug realised they were people he knew in real life, people that he'd never gotten a chance to talk to because of all of the time he spent in doors.
All of the time he spent working because of...
Blackhat made a terrified noise next to the scientist, as if he were about to start screaming, but covered his mouth also and muffled his frightened whimpers. At the end of the room there was a giant...Blackhat?
Only it wasn't Blackhat at all. He was gigantic, and beast like, like a giant wolf with green fangs that resembled knives in his mouth. This Blackhat towered over them all, with torn clothes and fiery eyes. He snarled furiously at the two and spat everywhere. More slime appeared from his mouth which stuck to the walls and the ground like jelly.
"Jesus christ, Flug, is that how you really see me?!" Blackhat yelled. He wasn't angry, though, just very surprised. Flug grabbed his boss' arm tightly and looked him in the eyes.
"Used to..."
Flug then pointed to behind the creature. Behind it there was a giant glass case with blueprint inside. It must have been the blueprints to the machine.
"We need to get those blueprints!" Flug shouted. Blackhat shook his head quickly and covered his face.
"I...I don't think I can do this Flug, this is too much for me,"
Flug pressed his hands onto his boss' arms and squeezed them gently.
"Blackhat...please! prove to me you're not like that thing. Help me,"
Blackhat stopped, and let his hands drop from his face. The demon looked at Flug desperately, and he could see how upset his scientist looked too.
Blackhat then looked at the monster. That giant...thing, that version of him created inside Flug's mind.
He would destroy it.
"Flug, me and Mower can take this thing on. You go and snag the blueprints while we have it distracted, run downstairs and don't look back, okay?"
Flug nodded before kissing Blackhat hard on the lips.
"That's more like it."
Blackhat pulled away from the other man and stared at the beast with as much hatred as the beast had in its eyes when it first saw Flug enter the room. He called for Mower and Mower joined his side, ejecting several weapons from his back, all attached by poles and wires.
Blackhat grabbed a knife and it disconnected from the robot with ease. It fit perfectly in Blackhat's gloved hand, and he knew exactly what he was going to do. This also caught the attention of the monster, which began pawing at the ground angrily, reading to pounce on the weaker little Blackhat at any moment.
Meanwhile, Flug pushed himself through the sticky slime. He heard gunshots which came from Mower and the beast whaling ahead of him. Flug closed his eyes tightly and hoped it wouldn't notice him as he got nearer to the blueprints with every struggled step. He could hear Blackhat yelling, and the squelching of the ground beneath him. The beast made tremendous thuds with every step it took. Then he opened his eyes again, and he was face to face with the beast.
Blackhat yelled at the top of his lungs from behind the scientist and Flug turned around. Blackhat ran through the slime with ease and took a jump at the beast yelling "don't hurt him!" as he plunged his tiny knife into the eye of the monster several times. Flug began to run as well now, avoiding each giant step the frantic beast took while Blackhat mauled it from above.
Flug then reached the glass case and smashed it without hesitation.
"Blackhat I got!-"
Flug turned back around hoping Blackhat had wounded the beast enough to kill it, only to find that the monstrous Blackhat had shook the real one off of its head.
Flug's boss lay on the ground as Mower kept shooting. The beast jumped up as it took more bullets to its chest and legs, and it crashed down onto the robot in anger, smashing it into thousands of little pieces.
"Mower!!" Flug screamed in horror. The beast lifted itself up again, ready to do the same to Flug's boss, the love of his life, the real Blackhat, and Flug did probably the dumbest thing he had ever done in his life. He threw the blueprints down onto the ground and ran towards his boss as fast as he could, he slid through the slime and to his side, and pushed the demon out of the way before the humongous, disgusting animal's foot connected with the ground.
Flug felt his body become absorbed in immense pain. Everything was blurry and he could barely breathe. He figured he was dying, he couldn't move and every part of his body felt broken.
Blackhat yelled louder than Flug had ever heard him yell before. He heard the beast make a terrible sound and the dripping of blood starting to trickle on the ground near him. He heard something fall.
Then he blacked out.