Zed waited until they were outside of her office before looking at Dak. They had anticipated this being a really good opportunity, but they never expected it to go this well, this quickly. It was in the back of both of their minds that they were either really lucky or Zinnia very specifically wanted this to happen once she met them.
"Well, that went better than expected."
"Did it?" Dak asked quietly. "Two days, Zed. We’ve been here two days, and now we’re running part of this place."
"We’re either really lucky, the gods are showing favor for Tyler without directly intervening, or Zinnia is way more powerful than we both imagined. Maybe she planned this?" Zed whispered to his best friend.
"I’ve been thinking the same, too. Let’s head outside. She told us to recruit, and she has to take the dark purple to the Necrams."
Before they could go out, Zinnia walked out. She set several magically resistant bags on the ground. Zed recognized them as soon as he saw them.
"Your office is ready. Let’s talk inside. Recruits are back," she said quietly.
"Hey, boss," 27 called out.
All of them looked at her, which caused some confusion for a second. Zinnia let out a slight laugh.
"Your boss is 69 now. 69 reports to 67, who reports to me. Sorry, old habits. Granted, I am the one who runs the slums now. Seeing as how they’re both here, I’ll let 67 answer your question, 27," she said with a calm but authoritative tone.
"What is it, 27?" Zed asked confidently.
"Well, I brought a prisoner for the extraction, but it seems the winner has already been picked. I think this person is useful, and maybe Zinnia—sorry, what should I call you now, boss lady?" the man said nervously while standing over an unconscious man.
"Zinnia is fine. Everyone knows my name anyway. I don’t need a nickname like this old prick had. D, like he’s some hung, powerful man. Bet he’s using it to compensate for what he’s lacking."
"Well, I think you did a good job following the original assignment. I’ll leave the decision about the prisoner in Zinnia’s hands because I do not know how we would go about this," Zed said while remaining confident.
"Good, because that’s not your call. I guess I’ll be sticking around this area today. Let me go get situated in my new headquarters, and I’ll be back. Keep the prisoners unconscious."
"Yes, boss," Zed and Dak immediately answered.
"Excuse me, I’m going to get established in my new office. Please refer to 69 as your direct go-to, and if he needs further authority, 67 will be available. I’ll be back in a few hours. I expect to see a clean operation running here and a few new recruits," Zinnia said firmly while grabbing her bags.
Zed instinctively went to grab a bag to help her, which ended with him getting a swift punch to the shoulder.
"Don’t touch my stuff," Zinnia scolded him.
Zed winced in pain and nodded. "Sorry, was just trying to be a gentleman."
’This fucking idiot is going to get us killed hitting on the enemy,’ Dak thought. He was annoyed.
"I need a leader, not someone to pamper me. Get your head together, 67. What the fuck are you doing?" she scolded him before leaving the building.
Some of the purple and black level 1s laughed and whispered.
"ENOUGH. No one speaks of this. I’ll make sure my brother doesn’t do stupid shit like this again, even if he is my boss," Dak yelled sternly.
"Apologies, boss! Just thought it was funny, that’s all," 47 answered.
"Yeah... we also have a prisoner for you!" 48 from the trio added.
"I’ll be in my office. I trust you to take care of these matters, 69. Our goal here is to recruit and treat you well. Let’s rise in the ranks together and make Zinnia proud," Zed said charmingly.
’I need to get these people behind me so we can find out more from the top. Zinnia is more powerful than she’s letting on. We don’t know anything about anyone higher than her. She’s the ticket up, but Dak’s right. I have to stop hitting on her... she’s the enemy,’ Zed thought.
He walked into the office while Dak evaluated prisoners. The other members still had about eight hours to bring a selection, and only 55, 62, 64, and 65 were not back with one.
’I hope we don’t have to kill one...’ Dak thought.
The office looked exactly the same, which somehow made Zed more curious about what she had removed.
’How did she have so much luggage for such a small office? Demon art? Did she expand the room somehow? Oh... there’s a cell phone for me and another one for Dak, I’m assuming.’
He noticed a note left on the desk with two cell phones. The rest of the plain office had been cleared. There was a bed and mattress nicer than the cots outside, and a mini refrigerator she had left stocked with blood for the two vampires. She wanted to make sure her leaders were well fed and at their best.
"Zed—burn after reading.
You are now going to have to make several tough decisions, and I need to know you can kill when required. If one of the recruits fails to bring someone back, it’ll be you who executes them in front of the others. Thank you for your help the first day and for your trust in me. Being promoted this high this quickly isn’t normal. Be careful. I’m putting too much faith and trust in you and your brother. You’re also putting too much trust in me, but at least we’ve established a good foundation for this relationship. I want your operation to make my boss think we are the new standard. That is your objective. The cell phone has your required contacts. Do not go looking and snooping above me. I will kill you myself. The same goes for your brother. I don’t want to have to do it. I think you two have potential, and we can go higher and deeper. Best of luck. Zinnia."
Zed paused for a few moments and was deep in thought. The stakes had risen significantly faster than he had anticipated when the King and Queen sent him out on this reconnaissance mission. Part of him thought this might be a good time to just bail, but that would put Zinnia in jeopardy, and part of him actually trusted her. He knew she was a demon, ranked SS or SSS, and hiding powers.
’Oh, fuck. She probably knows we faked the Mojo charm. SHIT,’ Zed thought while grabbing the cell phone.
"Zinnia.
69."
’Some contact list.’ He sighed.