Recruitment

Mercer pulled Deus toward him in a rush, nudging his arm into his side as he ordered out. "Introduce yourself to the boss!"

"Hmph," Deus sighed as he answered. "My name is Deus... I came here with Droh."

"Deus," Elias repeated, assigning his name and face to memory. "I suppose we'll be working together shortly, so it's a pleasure. To think that little brat had any friends left... Especially one of such curious background."

Everyone within the room stared expectantly at Deus as if he were some sort of fine art to be marveled at. Elias spoke up, drawing everyone out of their daze. "So, you even managed to bring this person into the mix, Mercer… I'm quite impressed."

"Ah, yes… I only did what I thought was best!" Mercer spat out as his cheeks burned bright with excitement, his heart practically bursting from his chest at the opportunity to gain favor. "I live to serve, of course!"

Perhaps he wasn't even interested in making nice with Elias, but he was certainly eager to do anything he could to grow closer to the man's clan and it's backer.

"Mhm." Elias gave Mercer a half-eager glance and sighed, losing interest rapidly as he moved on. "Yes, I appreciate the sentiment... But enough about that, I believe it's time we go into exactly why we're all here, and what sort of score you should all be looking forward to."

"Yes, of course." Mercer interrupted. "But you will tell mister Roland about my efforts, right?"

Elias turned to stare at Mercer, showing a slightly annoyed face as he simply waited in silence.

"Ah, forgive me... I misspoke."

"Indeed. As I was saying, every single one of you is here because you were hand-selected and recruited from among Mercer's and my connections. You're each highly skilled at what you do and should be of use toward our end goal. I will warn you now, this will most likely pit you against some rather dangerous people... But the reward is well worth it for those willing to risk it. So, who's in?"

One of the men who was sitting with Mercer spoke up. "What sort of job is it, first?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that until after you've agreed... You see if you hear about it and decide to run away and blabber about it, we'll just have to make do without you—if you get what I mean." He answered in a somewhat threatening tone. His eyes shot around the room. "You see, we sadly can't risk any sort of information leak. So, you either accept now or you walk out of this room and never come back. It's as simple as that."

Droh's eyes lit up for a moment as he prepared to speak, only to be interrupted by Elias he had keenly noticed his movements. "And yes, you've already accepted Droh, unless, of course, you want Roland to find out about you."

"Tsk." Droh spat out in frustration, rubbing his forehead as he spoke to Deus. "Sorry, it seems I've no choice…"

"Mhm, that's fine, we were going to do it anyway, right? I'm in." Deus replied with a grin, taking everything in strides.

Elias looked at Deus with a smile, clearly quite pleased with the man's resolve. "How excellent... Now that's loyalty. I look forward to seeing you in action, mister Deus. I only hope you're deserving of the praise this city is showering you with… Would be rather disappointing if you were just another nobody who wound up getting in over their heads and ending up dead."

"Oh don't worry, as long as you leave Droh alone after this, I won't let you down. Hell, you may even have an opportunity to see just how good I am... If you get what I mean. " Deus rebutted, keeping pace.

"Wonderful…" Elias exhaled out, noticing the clearly veiled threat but not reciprocating. Looking around the room, he noticed that not a single person had opted to leave, instead, they all stayed behind, volunteering themselves for the job. "Alright, since you've all staked your lives on this, I might as well explain."

"You see," he stepped into the center of the room, approaching the table that Mercer sat at. "We're going to be hitting a gathering zone. Valuables ranging from rare metals to powerful weapons are going to be littered around this place, the only concern will be those damn centipedes and the City Lord's salvage team. We'll hit them fast and suddenly, taking down their heavy weapons, which will leave them with only a few spare ground forces."

Everyone's mouths fell open in shock, it was quite the risky heist, but the payoff would be astronomical. Enough to build an entire clan off of.

"At most, the threat level should be moderate, but Direfell's primary strength shouldn't be allocated anywhere near. It's more so a silo than anything. Most people shouldn't even know of its existence, hence the lack of defenses required."

"Pardon me," one of the men spoke up in concern. "Say we hit this place... Even with a small salvage team, their defenses should outnumber those in this room by some amount. I may have a weapon but I hope you're not expecting me to go out of my way and risk it."

Elias shrugged as he explained. "Don't worry about their main fighting force… I've used my authority within the clan to get my hands on some weaponry for us, along with a desert ship and a full squad, near platoon in size. We'll use it to sail across the desert, letting us strike before any reinforcements can even arrive. If everything goes well, we'll each walk away with a small fortune… And, of course, an in for the clan, if you wish to join. Well, everyone but Droh here, that is." Elias said with a chuckle.

"Hold up." Another one of the men spoke up in doubt. "You do realize we'll still be making an enemy out of a Territory Lord for this, right? Even your clan can't protect us from that… Especially not long term. Sounds too risky…"

"Oh please, don't overestimate your value, you and I both know that those City Lords don't give two shits about any of us… In truth, we'd be making an enemy out of a few random soldiers, at most a platoon leader or something, not the entire damn military… Especially if we don't leave behind any witnesses."

The few men who had spoken up all nodded in agreement.

"See? I'm not the only one who knows how this all works, it's quite simple. So, I would ask who's in… But you've already agreed, so the right question is who's ready to get started?" Elias asked around the room with a twisted smile.

"Quick question," Deus spoke up, to the surprise of everyone in the room, including Droh's. "You say we'll all walk away with a small fortune… But isn't that just talk? What exactly is so valuable that your clan can afford to let us each walk away with a significant chunk of it? Also, don't pretend like we'll all be returning alive, especially if we openly confront the military."

The room went silent, no one knew whether to agree with Deus or to silently mock him. They stared at Elias as if waiting for approval.

"Hah, see? I knew you wouldn't disappoint. Yes, I won't lie, I don't imagine even half of you will return alive, but with risk comes reward."

Deus shot back. "But with risk also comes the chance of no reward. We all know you hold the highest value here amongst your clan... Why wouldn't they just get rid of the excess baggage once things are done?"

"You ask too many questions..." Elias murmured out, his twisted smile changing into something else entirely. "My clan doesn't need to use such underhanded techniques to destroy someone. Our strength is comparable to a dozen other clans combined, so why would we waste our time doing all of this just to cheat a few mercenaries? You could say this is a sort of... Recruitment process."

"Recruitment?" Mercer repeated in glee, revealing his thoughts on the matter to everyone present without making any attempt to hide it.

Deus wasn't fully satisfied. "You're using us... Why else would you recruit third-parties rather than dig into your clan's resources."

Elias finally grew too tired with the questions as he shot back. "Of course I am, why wouldn't I? You act like you don't even know how Midnight works. Hah! Survival of the fittest, my friend. You either use others, or you get used, that's it." With a sigh, he finished his thoughts. "At the very least I can confidently say that my clan and I had no interest in backstabbing any of you present here, at the very least. What I promised is true. Wealth, power, and an in. Just like that."

"It can't be as simple as that, surely." Deus wasn't fully convinced. It wasn't even that he was interested in what Elias was selling, but if he was going to back Droh's play he wanted to make sure he knew the full truth.

Everyone in the room had all decided to back Elias here, except Droh and Deus who just stood there as Elias finally barked out. "You're a fool, but you're also a useful fool. So, just shut up and let me use you, and you'll get out of this alive and rich. Fair enough?"

'Who does he think he is?' Deus cursed to himself as he simply stood there in silence. 'I've got to get Droh out of here as quickly as possible... No wonder he was on the run.'

Elias, noticing his silence, finally calmed himself and composed himself, turning his attention back toward the group. "Alright, since that's over… Let's figure out the specific details and positions you'll all be taking."