Chapter 222 Stick And Carrot (2/2)

"Wh-what's happening to me?" said Evan as he looked up at Aldrich "Who…who am I?"

"nobody" Aldrich crushed Evan's shoulder, and the bones shattered under his grip He then dispelled Evan co him from the pool of undead

Evan's body crumbled into dust in an instant, and then that dust pile faded into nothingness

"shi+t! Why'd you do that!?" said Silared at Si stare "That all of you are on borrowed time And I'm the bank"

"Well, what do you want from us?" said Eric Glass, the Alter who had healed Minute the A class, Eric was perhaps the most reasonable He, unlike everyone else, was not a combatant and had trained solely to help with injuries

"I can overlook the suffering you all caused nored me And my friends Why I keep you around then, is because all of you are useful And all of you have potential," said Aldrich "Otherwise, Blackwater would never have recruited you You all would have gone into the Dark Six - the superpower of the criminal underworld

I want to use that potential to build up a superpower of my own

If you decide to stay with me, you can be part of that journey" Aldrich motioned to the telescreens and alcohol "You've all see it so far

Otherwise, I can lay you to rest Returned to dust where you belong"

Or, the third option that Aldrich did not say out loud was that he could just all turn them mindless or completely seal their memories as he had done with Fisk

However, the Blackwater students had so anizations that half their worth was theirthem when they were mindless was also so much more of a hassle, he realized

It required directly having to think about h it did not matter as much when he had fewer undead to worry about, on the scale of hundreds, it was a for toto just dispel the

But optiion Aldrich could form was one that was loyal mostly of their own accord Mindless units also lost the potential to experier, and th of their students, but their future

And otten a little softer, influenced by his recent experiences in the Necropolis and experiences with Casimir's loyal subordinates

"I have no real qualms with that," said Eric "I'm here to heal Who I happen to do that for doesn't concern th is all thatas I, uh, ood"

"I can't iine credits will be an issue," said Aldrich "Safety and security -these things I can guarantee"

These words resonated with the students

Back when Aldrich was in Blackwater, he had done extensive research on the Blackwater students to figure out their weaknesses to devise contingencies against

Part of that research involved uncovering their backgrounds Elaine had doneon that side, but Aldrich reed up

Most of the Blackwater students had no such thing as faroomed to be mercenaries, villains, assassins, and the like

Most of theanizations or labs Comparatively feere like Kat ere raised by parents already involved with the criminal underworld

All of theanizations Most of them were treated as disposable tools, tossed away and killed if they could notthey dealt with

One of the reasons why they did not already leave Aldrich was because they could instinctively tell that it was safer being with him than on their own

Deep down, they were scared kids that wanted a place to feel safe Aldrich could, in part, sy he had shared as an orphaned child himself

Aldrich would not hesitate to control the an example of Evan, but that did not mean he could not accommodate them either

Typical stick and carrot style diplomacy

"Think it over," said Aldrich "Most of you will live a life miles better than what you had before, if the empty beer cans and half full liquor bottles are any indication And the alternative is dying"

Aldrich walked past the Blackwater students, leaving theto the control center