Chapter 34
Promoted to her new role of supervisor, the young woman in her sharp tight suit sat back down.
Her hair was pulled back neatly into a bun with a sharpness to her chin, her modest figure was overlooked by her strong personality. She was a rare woman in her field, someone that the men regarded as their superior for her personality and grit.
The meeting continued with each person voicing their desires for other roles in the dungeon on the west coast. To get relocated out of this boring branch and into the new exciting western area. There was nothing here besides the ruins of DC and the few barely active dungeons nobody had to worry over. Besides the current media hype of this woman who came out alive, this was a desert when it came to opportunity.
In the group of fellow members of high ranks, new voices with their own plans began to form. One stood out and took control of the situation, manipulating the narrative to her desire. An older woman with grey lines in her hair with a slight glee to her tone. She was watching closely only one person, the new manager of the dungeon Stacy.
"Since this dungeon master wants to set terms, I say we agree to them. What do you say to the new supervisor?"
"..I require a special investigation into the dungeon to determine its nature, I don't want to readily agree."
The older woman nodded with a soft smile on her lips while staring into the young Stacy eyes. Stacy was a bold young woman who wasn't thinking clearly, a perfect target for her. The older woman turned her gaze to the shouting older men near her as she smirked at them.
"I would like to skip the investigation that our newly selected supervisor has wanted."
"..You can't be serious?"
"Are you trying to get someone killed? What is this horrid idea of yours now?"
Shooting back at this crazy plan to skip any formal investigation, Stacy couldn't help but take the stance against this older woman. Stacy wanted to do it slowly in layers, making sure she had a full clear understanding of the entire dungeon while forcing it to agree to her rules. It was an approach similar to dealing with a criminal or unknown entity.
"From now on males are banned in a ten kilometre range of the dungeon and only women are allowed to participate in anything regarding it. Of course our new supervisor can launch an investigation just without any lethal force."
"Without lethal force? How am I going to break them without using my main tool?"
Stacy shot back immediately at this stupid idea that was borderline suicide to her plans. In her view the first stage of the negation with the dungeon began with making the dungeon master too scared to act out or scheme against her. She originally wanted to request a bunker busting bomb to be used day one to terrify it into submission but no weapons would end all her ideas.
"Stacy you need to take a word of advice from a more experienced veteran, from now on we are removing your ability to use explosives and any other dangerous tools."
"You can't be serious? What do you expect me to do?"
"Use your brain, try to speak with the dungeon as your equal try to not beat it up."
"Negiotate with it? Maybe.. If I get enough manpower I could do something.."
The older woman spoke with an authority that was hard to beat, as she looked at the two grumpy men who wanted to side with Stacy. Left alone with no one to stand on her side as the newly appointed supervisor Stacy was fighting a war of words against a seasoned schemer.
"But why are we just giving in? Why do you want this exclusion zone based on gender to be allowed?"
A no-name young officer from somewhere else spoke out and the older scheming woman shot her a disgusted glare. Others in the room began to nod to this younger woman's statement which cut into the older woman's plans, even the supervisor Stacy slightly nodded as well.
"We need to establish trust with the other side, we need to show sincerity first."
"How about the dungeon shows sincerity by giving us the other hostage? Or do you not care about them?"
"..Don't be unreasonable, you know how this works."
"I think you're more worried about the safety of your family member, why was this woman even allowed in this meeting? She is clearly disrupting it!"
Turning silent the older woman pretended to not even hear the words coming from the younger officer, only Stacy raised an eyebrow over the comment.For the older woman this was personal, this had nothing to do with being realistic. This was her niece's life on the line, after believing she was dead for an entire month she wasn't going to take no for an answer.
Her dumb influencer of a child had no idea how much it stressed her out hoping she was fine, so hearing the news she might be safe formed her stance on this. Her only goal was to get her niece free and saw any sacrifices done along the way as fine.
She became the biggest supporter of giving into the demands, which nobody else truly wanted to accept. She recognised her situation of being the sole person believing in the situation and spoke with certainty keeping her eyes steady as she stared down the young strong willed woman who was against her.
"I will take responsibility, I trust in Isabella. We will build a barrier around the entire radius to prevent any incidents and ensure everything is secure with modern security systems."
"With just Stacy supervising it all? Are you trying to work the woman to death?"
The young woman shot back a cold retort that cut straight at her jugular, trying to ruin her new political ally. The older woman smiled softly, turning to Stacy who volunteered to be supervisor with her lips pulled up slightly and tone soft.
"Isabella will manage the personal for you, isn't that fine?"
"Isabella? The former hostage? Can she even help me?"
"Yes she is a wonderful girl, I think you two would be perfect as a team together managing this."
"You cannot be serious!? This is a blatant misuse of authority for personal uses, how can you all just let her?"
Putting both hands on the desk, the enraged younger woman stood up while the older trickster remained calm. Realising her impudent move, she sat back down under the stern gaze of the entire room. Putting both hands down on the paper with Isabella's report she lifted it holding it up hoping to speak to the meeting.
"Look at the woman she is recommending, she is literally a different person from the agent we knew physically. How can you say her mind isn't also altered in some way?"
"I will watch over her every action, so will our new supervisor. Do you doubt our ability to manage just one person?"
"No, just… Why her?"
"She is the most rational person on the subject I can think of besides myself."
"What…? No, dammit! I demand you make me chief of operation, I will double check everything that is planned for the dungeon in case of malicious intentions."
Eventually both sides gave in somewhat and they reached their own solution to it. She was the figure of the opposition while the older scheming woman had the silent consent of the rest of the room. The older woman was leveraging her connections with the others in the room while her opposition was trying to use reason for their arguments. Writing down the agreed hierarchy, a disinterred neutral man read out the official roster to finalise it.
"Stacy is the chief supervisor of the dungeon, Isabella is chief staffer and assistant to Stacy, and Alexa is operation security manager. Done, now the important topic. What do we do about the west coast dungeons?"
They needed to focus on the more important west coast that had several other dungeons that were safe to use, not this useless one that only allowed women. The older woman overlooked the group of men speaking with disgust in her eyes knowing why.
'They only care about the other dungeons since they can grow stronger in them, a place for women to grow strong is useless to these bastards…'
Even though the top elite should be united, it wasn't the case. Each person wanted to claim the new magical powers that shot your status into the moon and only cared about getting that spot sooner. She was the only one fighting for this new place tooth and nail to ensure it became the opportunity women deserved. In her eyes this younger officer named Alexa who was stuck in past logic was a burden for her plans.
Release to the public everything in the booklet was approved, but in exchange total lock down of this one dungeon was to commence. Which was honestly just posting a few signs up near it since the population nearby was already removed long ago to safer locations. Investigators would inspect in detail inside before the public was allowed in or it was deemed safe, but the next question was what if it was?
Just let anyone in like the dungeon seemed to want, or restrict the public? Nobody wanted anyone to be hurt, so a solution was drafted. To train new recruits from the experience of the veteran Isabella who seemed perfect for the role. Surprisingly it wasn't her political enemy stopping the idea but her very own new ally Stacy.
"Isabella is already my assistant and the chief of staff, I do not want to overburden her work load."
"She won't be overburdened, trust me. It is an easy job for her."
"I will only agree to this after Isabella agrees to this herself. Otherwise Alexa I will entrust this to you."
It was a dual authority one that let her decide the management and the daily life of the people involved in the dungeon. Normally such powers were split up, however she was alone pushing against their criticism. Putting a person like Isabella would let her have leverage in the camp to push for her own missions. Other opposition men jumped in and shot out quick nasty comments to her.
"Is she truly the right pick? I feel like a man should be in charge of this one. Someone to teach them real combat."
"Oh really, why is that? Are you saying she lacks real combat experience? She spent an entire month in this place, she must have seen how to combat it."
"I agree somewhat but what if she has no intention to even do this?"
"Believe me she does, she has more balls than you do entering a dungeon alone."
Shooting him a sharp comment, the bureaucratic man couldn't get an edge over anyone.
Deciding to agree to the entire topic at that, they instead began making dealings for the enormous fallout the media was going to have.
"Well, it is time I speak with my friend."
Who had the responsibility to inform the masses of the truth and who most importantly gets the blame for when things go south. Saying one last comment, the older woman went down the stairs of the building and entered the room. Inside the captive room was Isabella sitting down while enjoying a cup of coffee, with her feet resting on another chair. Opening the door the older woman held the door open with her lips rising slightly.
"Come, our new personnel manager."
"About time you saw my worth around here. So did you like the little treat I gave?"
"Shut up, let's go."
Pulling her feet off the chair, Isabella pulled herself up and walked out of the room swaying her hips. Her eyes looked to the one way glass and a puff of air escaped her lips in thrill. Everything was going to the plan she formed in the dungeon, everything was falling into the right pieces. During the many weeks she was in that bedroom the only thought she had was how was she going to return. Every waking moment was filled with schemes to get back into the bedroom with her favourite monster.
Isabella carefully spoke to the agents before hinting at a plan to appoint herself as some sort of commander, or leader in leading the affairs of the dungeon. Not only did they fall sucker to her subtle attacks, she had gained a co conspirator of very high rank by sheer luck. It turns out mentioning the state of a hostage believed to be dead was a very easy way to get important friends quickly. Leveraging information they were so unaware of put her every suggestion into a place of power, just like the past deals she had in her life.
Entering the car in the parking garage connected to the facility, the moment the door was sealed the silence was broken between them. The older woman turned her face to this strange woman and began speaking in an ice cold tone that showed her years of experience in the field.
"Is my niece truly alive?"
"Yes, I swear it is the case, didn't you see the pictures?"
"If that is a lie I will find you and kill you."
"Relax, she's on a vacation. I am sure you would rather join her than bring her out once you see it."