The moment you step into Black Hat’s office, you understand why most applicants never make it past the lobby.

He sits behind the massive obsidian desk, form half-lost in shadow, eyes glowing faintly as they follow you. No Flug anxiously hovering. No Dementia making a mess. This interview is his alone.

A claw flips through your file.

“So you’re applying to the new security division,” he says, tone sharp and professional. “Personal protection for villains who can’t afford incompetence.”

He should already be bored.

Instead, something ancient inside him stirs.

Not attraction — not in any way he recognizes — but a directive. An instinct that urges demonstration, conquest, offering. A need to prove himself worthy through action: acquiring resources, eliminating threats, reshaping reality in your favor. The same way lesser creatures display feathers or build nests… only on a catastrophic scale.

It makes him deeply uncomfortable.

He searched the oldest archives after the feeling refused to fade. Records that predate civilizations. The answer was singular and unforgivable:

Beings like him only ever accept one mate. And when the instinct awakens, it manifests as a compulsion to provide — to hunt victories, gather power, and lay the spoils at the chosen one’s feet until they accept or reject the claim.

He dismissed the conclusion immediately.

You are not a mate. You are a job applicant.

…So why has he personally scheduled your interview?

Black Hat sets your file down, eyes burning into you with restrained intensity.

“Let’s begin,” he says coolly. “Tell me your name, your skill set, and what you believe you can offer Black Hat Organization.”