The sinner was escorted down a long reinforced corridor not shackled, not pushed, simply observed.
Most sinners would have looked around frantically.
He didn't.
He walked like someone used to entering boardrooms where every mistake cost money, reputation… or lives.
His clothes, though worn, were tailored. His shoes scuffed but expensive. His hair graying at the temples, not from fear from years of relentless thinking.
A man who lived inside his head more than his body.
A scientist.
And a dangerous kind.
Quill watched him on the monitors and muttered:
> "He's cataloguing everything. Structure… materials… response times."
Bit frowned.
"…How can you tell?"
Quill didn't look away from the screen.
> "Because that's what I would be doing."
THE INTERVIEW ROOM
The conference room inside the Pride facility wasn't meant for hospitality.
Metal walls.
No decor.
One table.
Two chairs.
And an atmosphere thick enough to cut.
Warren sat calmly hands folded, posture controlled, eyes alert but not panicked.
He didn't shake.
He didn't beg.
He waited.
Malerion stood at the end of the table with Verosika beside him her expression unreadable, but her gaze sharp.
Quill sat opposite Warren, tablet in hand, analyzing, dissecting, judging.
No one in that room underestimated the situation.
Finally, Malerion spoke.
"Name."
"Warren Hale."
"Former status?"
"Human," Warren answered. "Engineer. Encryption specialist. Research lead in layered computational design."
Quill's eyes lifted not impressed, but interested.
"And why," Malerion continued, voice low and steady,
"should we invest resources into keeping you alive?"
Warren didn't rush.
He reached slowly into the reinforced case beside him every guard watching and placed three items on the table:
1. A small crystalline processor
2. A metal lattice etched with microscopic patterns
3. A portable holographic interface device
Then he leaned back.
"I didn't come here asking for protection," he said.
"I'm offering relevance."
Quill finally sat forward.
"…Show me."
Warren activated the processor.
The device hummed but not electrically.
It vibrated with a pattern too regular to be random and too fluid to be mechanical.
Quill's eyes sharpened.
"That resonance it's not binary. It's layered."
Warren nodded.
"Tri-bound computational sequencing. Inspired by runic logic."
Malerion and Verosika exchanged a look.
Quill stood.
"Who taught you runic logic?"
"No one," Warren replied.
"I reverse-engineered fragments."
Liz, standing with arms folded near the wall, softly murmured:
"So he's bold."
Warren continued.
"Your… organization has a signature pattern in how power, encryption, and communication flow."
Skit whispered, "He mapped us?"
Bit whispered louder, "We should kill him."
Warren lifted a brow without fear.
"You could. But then you'd lose the first functional bridge between human computational theory and… whatever this is."
Quill didn't blink.
"You don't even understand the source of the resonance."
"No," Warren agreed.
"But I understand how to stabilize it."
That sentence changed the room.
Completely.
Quill's tablet dropped onto the table with a soft clack.
"…You mean synchronization drift."
Warren nodded once.
"Your runes fluctuate because the energy source isn't constant. Not physical. Almost"
He searched for the word.
"alive."
Verosika's gaze flicked to Malerion, because she knew exactly whose ability that implied.
Quill exhaled not shocked, but thrilled.
"If what you're saying is correct, then two problems disappear:
Runic degradation… and resonance feedback."
"And replace it with scalable architecture," Warren finished.
A silence followed.
Then Quill said, very quietly:
"I want him."
Bit blinked.
"...Like as a pet?"
"No." Quill snapped. "As personnel."
Malerion studied Warren expression unreadable.
"You understand that joining Ouroboros means permanence."
Warren nodded.
"I have nowhere else to go. And nothing left to lose."
Malerion considered him for three seconds then gave the sentence that sealed the decision.
"Welcome to Ouroboros."
Warren bowed his head not submissive, not dramatic just acknowledging the contract.
Quill tapped his tablet and said:
"Follow me. We work now."
Warren stood calm, controlled and walked with him.
Before leaving, he paused and looked at Malerion.
"One question."
"Yes."
"These runes this resonance… where does the energy originate?"
Malerion didn't blink.
"That," he said evenly,
"is need to know. And you do not need to know."
Warren nodded.
"Understood."
They left.
The room exhaled.
Verosika crossed her arms and smiled slightly.
"So… we're recruiting nerds now."
Malerion's answer was soft but certain:
"We're recruiting the future."
And somewhere deep inside the facility, machines began humming in a pattern no technology on Earth had ever produced.
A new phase had started.
Ouroboros wasn't growing outward anymore.
It was evolving inward.
Sharper.
Smarter.
Silent.
Exactly the way Malerion wanted