Note that the story's going to be pretty slow-paced from now on as relationships are established.

Also, in response to guest reviewer "rosebud," the celebrity whose voice I think would best fit Lita would be America Ferrera.

"Good news," Flug said. "You won't need stitches."

He'd taken Lita to the lab to tend to her cut. She sat on his worktable while he dabbed the small wound with a damp cloth, cleaning up the blood. 5.0.5. place his enormous paw on her shoulder and gave her a sympathetic look.

"It's okay, Pachoncito," Lita said, giving the bear a small smile. "It doesn't hurt that much."

"You're lucky," Flug said as he rummaged through the first-aid kid. "Last time Black Hat took a drink from someone, he'd ripped the guy's throat open with his teeth."

Dementia huffed from the other side of the lab. "He never takes a drink from me."

"I don't think this is something you should be jealous of, Dementia," Lita said.

"This might sting a little," Flug said, getting out some disinfectant spray.

Lita winced as the chemicals mingled with her wound. "It was kind of weird though. He was aiming for the throat, but he changed his mind at the last minute. Does he do that kind of thing a lot?"

The scientist shrugged as he got out a roll of gauze. "Who knows why Black Hat does anything, really? Maybe it was his way of holding back, knowing how valuable you are." He caught her raised eyebrow. "Do you really think either of us would still be alive if that man didn't have self-control?"

Holding her arm steadily, he began wrapping the gauze around the wound. "I realize how…traumatizing this must be. This is the first time he's used corporal punishment on you, and it won't be the last."

His solemn tone didn't escape her. "Has…has he ever done anything like this to you, Flug?"

Pausing a moment, he reached for some scissors. "You want the short list, or the long?"

Lita shook her head. "Why do you work for him, Flug? You know how I got roped into this, but you know he's not a very nice guy. Criminal offenses aside, of course, he could at least be a little more respectful towards his employees."

He cut the gauze. "I'm not exactly a nice guy either."

"You're nice with me, at least."

Once he'd pinned her bandage into place, Flug stood and met her gaze. "No one in this house is nice, Lita." He looked fondly at the bear. "Except for 5.0.5., of course."

5.0.5. emphasized his point by taking Lita's arm and kissing her bandage.

"We're all here for a reason. You think this was bad?" Flug gestured to her arm. "I've done worse."

"I know," Lita said, massaging her arm. "I watched the tapes."

He shook his head. "Those tapes don't even scratch the surface of the things I've done. Do you see this plane?" He gestured around the lab. "Haven't you ever wondered how it got here? Hasn't my name given you any hints?" He pointed to the plane crash logo on his shirt. "Or even this?"

She shrugged. "So, you crashed this plane. It was kind of obvious in retrospect."

"It's a big plane, Lita." His tone became cryptic. "Haven't you wondered about the passengers?"

Her eyes widened. "Damn, Flug. Remind me never to get on your bad side."

"Oh, I have no intention of hurting you, Lita," he said, waving a hand. "I like you too much. But you have to know, I'm not a good person."

"Good people don't exist. But that doesn't mean people can't do good things." Sighing, she glanced at her bandaged arm. "Today was an accident. I wish the boss had seen it that way."

"Well, then," Flug said, patting her arm, "consider this a blessing."

"It might've gotten worse if you hadn't shown up." Lita cocked her head. "Those comments you showed him. What did they say to get him to give up on me?"

"Oh, you can read them here." He picked up his tablet and pulled up the video from earlier. "To put it simply, your debut as an evil henchgirl was well received."

She took the tablet and started scrolling through the comments. To her surprise, the majority of them seemed to be about her.

Damn, this girl's got some guts!

Shooting her own boss? Now THAT'S evil!

Bout time BH hired another woman!

Feminism, FTW!

"You mean they actually liked me disintegrated Black Hat?" Lita said in amazement.

Flug shrugged. "Villains love watching violence. And thanks to your little mishap, we got more sales than expected."

The idea that some good had come out of her mistake caused Lita to smile. However, that smile was short-lived when she came to the more…obscene comments.

Woo! Look at the curves on THAT cutie!

Nice boobs.

Did Black Hat finally get himself a girlfriend?

Forget the ray! How much for HER?!

I'd pay for HER services any day!

Lita put down the tablet in disgust. "I told you I'd look like a whore."

"Oh." Flug tucked the tablet into his lab coat. "D-Don't pay attention to comments like that. You know how villains are. Even with Rule 10V3, they can still be sort of…inappropriate."

"Glad you aren't like that."

"Yeah, well," the scientist said, his neck turning red. "As Lord Black Hat says, 'being a villain doesn't mean you can't be a gentleman.'" He leaned forward to whisper, "For the record, the outfit wasn't my idea."

"I know," she said, smiling softly.

"Hmm," Flug said thoughtfully. "Dementia's been awfully quiet." He looked back to find that the mutant was no longer in the lab. "That's never good. I better make sure she's not destroying my machines again."

"Yeah, you'd better. Thanks for the bandage. Now, if you don't mind," she said as she jumped down from the table, "I'm getting out of this dumb thing before I freeze to death."

As she picked up her clothes and headed for her room, Lita contemplated the events of the last hour. She really should be traumatized from being made into a snack for her boss, even if he didn't take enough blood to kill her. But honestly, she was more perplexed than traumatized.

He could've taken more from her. He could've made it more painful by biting her neck, like he'd said he would. And yet, he'd chosen a less excruciating method.

But why? Why had he suddenly decided to ease up on the brutality of her punishment? She hadn't struggled. He had no reason to be gentle, if that's what she could call it.

There was something else that puzzled her too. When she had thought he was going to rape her, Black Hat had sounded…disgusted by the idea. How was a demon who murdered and tortured mercilessly, had not even considered rape as an option for punishment? Not that she was complaining. It just seemed…strange.

Well, there was that Rule 10V3 of his to take into account. But sex and love weren't the same thing. Even if he was asexual—she was demi, herself—he still could've done it to exert his power over her.

As she changed clothes in her room, a new thought occurred to her.

Could it be that Black Hat, the master of all villainy, had a conscience?

Her mother's words echoed through her mind: There are no bad people in this world. Just people, who sometimes do bad things.

With Black Hat's track record, Lita had been ready to believe that there was hardly any good in that cold-hearted demon. But if he was one-hundred-percent evil, then why hadn't her punishment been worse? She also remembered their private conversation last night, how he had listened to her open up about her past, and then his sudden allowance to let her call her father.

Don't get her wrong. Lita was not stupid enough to think that this made him a good person. As she'd said, there were no good people in this world either. Except maybe 5.0.5. Black Hat was still dangerous, and he probably saw her more as a piece of property than an actual person. Not to mention that while the pain hadn't been severe, he had still hurt her.

But he was also a person. Which meant that he had a conscience like everyone else. And it was for this reason that Lita did not fear him.

However, if she messed up again, she wasn't so sure how merciful Black Hat would be.

Black Hat sat in his office, watching today's commercial on his laptop for what felt like the thousandth time. After reading the comments praising Lita's performance, he'd decided to watch the part he'd missed while he was too busy reforming. Then he went back and watched the whole thing. Several hours later, the video was still on loop.

He hadn't heard Lita's recovery speech after disintegrating him. The girl was a natural at thinking on her feet, despite the bizarre situation. Given how something would go wrong in nearly every one of Black Hat's commercials, this was a much-needed quality. He shouldn't have been surprised, considering the amount of sales jobs he'd seen on her resumé. A normal person would've freaked out after accidentally disintegrating their boss, but instead, she had kept a cool head and continued on with the commercial.

And yes, he was well aware it had been an accident, especially after so many re-watches. Despite her smile, he could see her nerves in the way her hands were shaking. It was perfectly clear from her weak, trembling grip that she'd never held a gun before. He knew it wasn't an easy weapon to wield, as he'd had to learn to use it when it was first invented. Anyone could pull a trigger, but aiming while holding a weapon of such explosive force was another story. It had been, admittedly, trickier for Black Hat, as he'd had to learn to shoot with one eye. And Lita had obviously not intended to shoot him. It was Dementia who had surprised her, causing the ray to set off.

Lita was lucky this slip-up had worked in his favor, otherwise Black Hat was pretty sure he would've done much worse to her. But the first day's sales were record-breaking, the commercial was going viral, and based on the comments, his latest minion's popularity was growing rapidly. He paused the video to scroll through the most recent comments.

Most of them were praising. Apparently, his followers liked seeing rebellious minions. Lita's gumption was certainly something to admire.

However, the majority of the comments were…questionable. A lot of them were concerning Lita's appearance. Of course, Black Hat was used to lovesick fans complimenting his and his subordinate's appearances, but these were of a…lewder nature.

Look at those tits!

Ooh, I'm feeling tight just looking at that tight dress.

Those legs are smoking!

Black Hat couldn't help but roll his eye. Honestly, you'd think these people had never seen a woman before.

Some of the comments were a bit more negative.

She's pretty cute, but what's with all that leg hair?

Ew! Doesn't this girl ever shave her pits?

Black Hat raised an eyebrow at these. So what if she has leg and armpit hair? Don't all humans? He honestly hadn't paid much attention.

And, of course, there were the comments that really ticked him off.

Did Black Hat finally get himself a girlfriend?

Are she and Black Hat dating?

Ooh! I totally ship it!

He still had no idea what "shipping" meant.

It wasn't until he read the comment about asking for Lita's "services," realizing they weren't referring to her thieving, he slammed the laptop shut. If he didn't need people buying his products, he'd be hunting these trolls down and annihilating them one by one.

He should've never put her in that atrocious outfit. No one would assume this of him, but he was well aware of how unfairly women were treated in this world. He made no effort to remedy that, of course, but he'd seen first-hand how harshly a man could objectify a woman. Of course, Black Hat objectified all of his subordinates, but never sexually. That trashy costume had been a revenge game to make Lita uncomfortable. Seems she'd been right on how she'd be perceived.

But these comments alluding to Lita being a whore awakened old memories of a woman he'd been particularly close to. The only woman he'd ever been close to. He remembered how they'd walk the streets, her soft hand holding his then tiny one, all the men leering at her and shouting countless vulgarities her way. She'd responded to all of them with a polite smile, but even though he'd been a child, he'd always noticed the pain hidden in her eyes.

Black Hat wondered if Lita had read these comments yet, and what she might think of them. Was that same pain tainting her bright blue eyes right now?

He felt a pang of emotion in his chest. An emotion he hadn't felt for a very long time.

Guilt.

The realization was alarming, but he truly felt guilty. Guilty, for forcing her into that outfit, for making her use a weapon she was unfamiliar with, for punishing her for something that wasn't her fault.

Was that why he had hesitated in that moment? When he could've bitten mercilessly into her throat and drained half the blood from her? Because he'd felt…guilty?

With a frustrated growl, Black Hat put his head in his hands, his elbows leaning onto his desk. He had no idea why he was feeling this way! He'd done much worse to others for far pettier reasons! Why was he fretting over hurting this one person? Why did he care that strangers were saying crude things about her? Why did it matter if she was being sexually objectified by others?

Whatever the reason, he was curious about how Lita was coping. Was she traumatized from today's incident? Of course, she is, he thought with a smirk.

Pressing the remote to lower the monitors, Black Hat browsed through the security cameras. The timestamp revealed that it was nearly midnight. Apparently, he'd missed dinner. No matter, he didn't necessarily need to eat anyway.

Flug was working late in his lab, 5.0.5. was curled up in his stuffed animal corner, Dementia was secured in her room—she hadn't broken from her restraints this time—but Lita was apparently awake. She was on her bed, but was still fully dressed and talking on her cell. It seemed she'd taken full advantage of the amendments to her phone privileges. He was ready to unmute the monitor, but then realized he'd only hear one half of the conversation. So, he opened his laptop to pull up her cell recording.

"So the guard was in the very next room," Lita said into her phone excitedly, "and I was stuck in this laser grid like a pretzel! So I told Dementia to pull me up at the count of three, and as soon as I said 'three,' I snatched the thing up and she pulled me up through the skylight! The alarm went off, but I was outta there before the guy could get his gun!"

She heard a laugh from the other end. "Wonderful job, mija!"

She couldn't help but tell her father about the heist the other day. She figured as long as she didn't say what she had stolen, it was okay. Besides, it wasn't like her papi was going to tell anybody, being a thief too.

"I never thought I'd be so happy to see you stealing again!" Ricardo exclaimed.

"Me neither," Lita said, hugging her stuffed goat. "You think Mom would approve?"

"She'd have wanted you to be happy." He sighed. "Though I wish you could've kept your honest life. I do worry about you getting caught again."

"That won't happen, Papi. Don't forget I'm not working alone this time."

"That's what I'm worried about. Villains aren't exactly the most…trustworthy teammates. I mean…you don't expect Black Hat to come to your rescue if you get caught, do you?"

Lita blushed at the memory of him catching her the other day. "Didn't he get you out of jail several times in the past?"

"Yes, but always at a price. That demon doesn't care about anyone but himself."

She touched the bandage on her arm. "H-Hey. Don't forget he might be listening." She shouted into the phone. "Being the pervert that he is!"

"I don't care. You shouldn't be in there in the first place."

Lita shook her head. "If I wasn't, you'd be dead right now."

"But at least you would've been safe."

Still cradling her arm, she said nothing for a long while.

"I swear, mija, I'll find a way to get you out of there."

"Papi," she said slowly. "Don't you go do anything stupid, now."

"I will find a way. Just hold on a little bit longer."

Lita sighed. "Seriously, Papi. Just let me go. Be glad Black Hat is letting me talk to you at all. Let's not push our luck any further, okay?"

There was a soft knock at the door.

"I gotta go," she said. "I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Take care, mija," Ricardo said in a sad voice.

"Te amo, Papi," Lita said before hanging up.

When she saw the time on her phone, she realized she'd been on it for over an hour. So, who could be knocking at her door so late at night?

She certainly didn't expect to find Black Hat standing there.

"Oh," she said, her hand flying to her bandaged arm. "H-Hey, boss."

His expression was neutral as he stared at her, his hands behind his back. She was understandably uneasy, after what he'd put her through today, though not as utterly terrified as he'd predicted. She made no attempt to run, knowing it would be pointless, but kept her gaze on the floor.

After a minute of silence, Black Hat asked, "Shouldn't you be asleep, Miss Ladrona?"

Oh, Lita thought. He's here about the extremely long phone call to my papi.

Despite what had happened earlier, she tried to keep the mood light. "I, um…could ask you the same question, sir."

Black Hat rolled his eye. "Unlike you fragile mortals, I don't require sleep."

She looked up at him in surprise. "So…you don't sleep…at all?"

"Only when I feel like it," he said with a shrug.

"Wow," Lita said as she processed this little tidbit. "You must have a hell of a lot of free time then."

"You have no idea." He glanced at her bandage. "How's your arm?"

Her fingers closed around the bandaged area. "I've…had worse."

He nodded. "At least you're not a crybaby like Flug."

"That doesn't mean it hurts any less," she wanted to say, but held her tongue.

True, it wasn't bad in terms of physical pain. She just didn't like the memory of him crouching over her in a way that she had to remind herself he'd only been after her blood. For a moment, she thought he'd come to finish what he'd started.

"What do you want?" she asked abruptly.

Black Hat made eye contact with her. She didn't avoid it this time. No use looking emotionally vulnerable, even if she had a lesser opinion of him now. Even if he'd softened his punishment, it didn't excuse what he had done.

His eye shut as he inhaled deeply. "I've come, in order to…to…"

The next sound that came out of his mouth was a croak. Lita cocked her head at him.

"What?"

He cleared his throat. "I wanted to a…apo…apolo—gi…apol—"

Those big blue eyes of hers widened, not believing what she was hearing.

"Holy shit!" Laughter bubbled in her throat. "Are you…are you actually trying to apologize?"

"SHUT UP!"

His cheeks became a shade darker. Oh my gosh, she thought, covering her mouth to keep the laughter at bay. Is he actually blushing right now?!

"DON'T LAUGH!"

She wheezed. "S-Sorry! It's just…you…I didn't think…"

She couldn't help it any longer. He just looked so adorable when flustered like that! Black Hat growled at her as she clutched her stomach and burst out laughing. He waited a full minute for her to calm down.

"Have we gotten that out of our system?" he asked tiredly.

"Yeah, yeah," Lita said, straightening up. "You were saying?"

He heaved an exhausted sigh. "As I was trying to say. I came here so I could," he winced, "a-p-p-p—"

He struggled to utter the word. Lita had a feeling he didn't do this sort of thing often. To think, the evil entity who'd brought empires to their knees was stumbling over an apology like a nervous schoolboy.

It was just too cute!

"Sound it out," Lita said sweetly.

He grunted in frustration. "APOLOGIZE! There! I said it!"

The demon turned to leave, but Lita, who was enjoying this too much, wasn't letting him go that easily.

"You know?" she said, crossing her arms and leaning casually against the doorframe. "You've done so much crap to me, you're gonna have to be more specific."

Sending her a death glare, he faced her again. "Fine!" He crossed his own arms. "I'm s-s-sorry for punishing you! Happy?!"

"Hmm." She moaned teasingly. "Didn't really sound sincere."

"What do you want me to say?!" Black Hat threw his hands up in the air. "That today wasn't your fault?! That it was wrong of me to force you into uncomfortable attire?! That I shouldn't have given you a weapon you were unfamiliar with?! That you didn't shoot me on purpose and thus I shouldn't have tormented you for it?! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT ME TO SAY?!"

Lita's smile faded as she took in his words, finding herself too stunned to respond. With a heavy sigh, Black Hat folded his hands behind his back.

"Indeed," he said slowly. "What happened during the commercial…wasn't your doing. You…tried to tell me you didn't know how to use a gun, and I didn't listen. So, perhaps, you…didn't deserve the punishment I gave you."

Lita had every right not to forgive him. He was a villain, after all. Even if he was apologizing, she'd learned the hard way that one apology wasn't enough to fix everything. Especially when, after apologizing, that person proceeded to do the same thing the next day.

But this was Black Hat! He wasn't known for apologizing for anything! Which was probably why this had been hard for him to say. If he was making an effort to do something that he despised doing for her, he must've really felt guilty.

It further confirmed Lita's theory about him not being one-hundred-percent evil.

"A-And so," Black Hat said, stammering, "for that, I am…s-s-s-s—"

"Don't hurt yourself, boss," she said. "I get it."

He released the air he'd been holding in. Not that he needed to breathe, of course.

He gave Lita a warning look. "If you tell anyone about this—"

She held up a hand. "Don't worry, sir. I won't go telling anyone you have a conscience."

His cheeks took on that darker color again. "I didn't come here out of the goodness of my heart, if that's what you're implying! I merely…realized my error and came to correct it!"

"Sure." She gave him a small smile. "Well, for what it's worth, I'm sorry for disintegrating you. Must've been a pain."

"It was," he grumbled before relaxing. "But…in retrospect, I should've better prepared you. Clearly, you need more training where weapons are concerned."

Lita looked at him hopefully. "You mean…?"

He nodded. "Starting tomorrow, consider your weapons-wielding privileges approved. With this happy thought in mind, you should be able to sleep with less difficulty.

"You kidding?" She squealed in excitement. "Now I'm too excited to sleep!"

Black Hat groaned. "Perhaps, you would prefer I render you unconscious?"

With a sadistic smile, he raised his claw.

Lita didn't flinch, only smirked and said, "I have a better idea of how you can help me sleep."

He stiffened at the sultry tone in her voice and the mischievous glint in her eyes. In spite of himself, his eye flicked towards the interior of her bedroom.

Seeing his confusion, and where he was staring, Lita rolled her eyes. "Not that kind of help, you pervert!"

Oh, thank Satan, Black Hat thought, masking his relief. "Then to what, pray tell, are you referring?"

"Oh, trust me." Her grin widened. "You'll approve."

The street surrounding Black Hat's manor was dark, save for the light from the lamps…and the bonfire in Black Hat's front lawn.

Lita watched with sick satisfaction as the skimpy outfit she'd been forced to wear went up in flames in the outdoor firepit. Black Hat glanced sideways at her, admiring the twisted grin on her face.

"Never," she said, giving him a warning glare, "make me wear something like that again."

He shrugged. "In truth, it made you look tacky, anyway."

Gasping, Lita moved to slap him. Without turning, Black Hat grabbed her wrist before she could make contact. Though his grip wasn't very tight.

"Save your energy for our sparring session tomorrow," he said, releasing her. "Remember," he smirked at her, "you'll be allowed a weapon this time."

Returning his smile, Lita moved her hands behind her back. "Then you can expect Hell tomorrow."

He chuckled as he threw his arm over her shoulder. "I'll be looking forward to it."

As they watched the remnants of clothing burn slowly on the logs, Lita didn't comment on the fact that his hand was on her shoulder. Nor did she bother to pull herself away.

Don't worry. Black Hat's backstory will come into play much later. Even though the full series is coming that might finally establish Black Hat's lore, I still won't be changing the backstory I came up with.