Aida and the others watched on carefully, prepared to save anyone if they ended up in a dire situation. Little White's skill was perfect for this as he could somewhat control the Enrageds and also had the ability to move instantaneously. The three of them efficiently killed any Enraged that nearly landed a blow on a person from the base with a stab to the carotid. As blood splashed onto Aida's clothes, dyeing it red, she began to look more and more like the devil.
This first battle ended after 30 minutes and everyone was laying on the floor gasping for air. Aida, who was still standing atop the truck, glared down at them.
Seeming to sense the evil gaze, all the people immediately stood back up in attention like soldiers. Aida looked away, "Let's keep going."
"Yes boss!" Everyone shouted in an unplanned unison as they quickly went back into the vehicles and they continued to drive into the city.
"..." Aida was speechless. She had never seen them so unified before, and when had she ever been asked to be called their boss?
Shaking her head to rid herself of these thoughts, she continued to look forward towards their destination. Today, they were going to rob a food bank. The biggest priority for her to address before she leaves is to enable the base to sustain itself even without her around. The base's lack of food was certainly the biggest concern for her.
Along the way, there were many other Enraged and Reapers that approached them. Once again, she and the others got rid of the Reapers while leaving the Enrageds for them to deal with.
As they reached the food bank, they stopped. Half the people were to break in and grab the food while the other half would stay outside and watch the area for approaching infected. This time, Aida warned them, "I won't help you so make sure you help each other. When you see a Reaper, work together to defeat it. Only the strong survive."
Aida had no intention to coddle them. They had to fight on their own. She then turned to Lackey 1 and said, "Take note of their performance and promote the ones who perform well to become team leaders."
Lackey 1 nodded and began to observe the fight carefully. He had previously been a part of a gang that believed in stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. They often had high stakes missions where they would sneak into the mansions of rich people and steal from their safes, scuffles with armed guards were often inevitable. A good and trustworthy leader was indispensable during those missions.
Watching each person carefully, he saw a tall man who looked like a giant working with a group of 5 to take down a strength based Reaper. This tall man also had a strength based enhancement, so he pitted his own strength against the Reapers while allowing the others to attack the Reaper from behind. Despite his efforts, the others were hesitant and largely hid behind him for protecting without attacking. Lackey 1 shook his head, clearly this leader lacked charisma to move his people.
He moved on to observe a different group. Lackey 1 noticed that many were unable to get organized and continued to fight as individuals. While they were able to hold the Reapers back using their strength, they were unable to defeat the Reaper.
Within the chaos of the battle, only one of the organically formed teams had demonstrated order. It was a team of one man and 5 children. The man was zooming around the Reaper with super speed while he called out to each child to hit it with different attacks. Surprisingly, all the children were from the slums and had elemental powers. Due to their proper organization, they ended up being the first group to finish off a Reaper. They then went on to help the next group.
Inside the food bank, there were many screams of fear and agony. Aida rolled her eyes as she hopped off the truck and walked into the building, leaving Rose, Little White and Lackey 1 to look after the people here.
The moment Aida stepped in, she smelled the stench of rotting flesh. Wrinkling her nose, she quickly walked past the rotting dead bodies and towards where the people from the base were.
Instead of venturing deeper into the building, the people from Green Base were running towards her in fear, tripping over themselves and each other as they did so. There was a single Reaper chasing them from behind. In their fear, they almost trampled over some of their companions.
Aida stood there with her arms crossed, "If any of you dare to continue running away, you can stay here in the city to live out the rest of your days."
There was a delayed reaction as they processed what Aida said before they all turned around with renewed purpose, collectively glaring at the Reaper chasing them. Someone from the crowd screamed, "Get him!!" and they all charged towards the Reaper, trampling the poor unsuspecting victim. Clearly Aida was far more terrifying than a Reaper was in their mind.
After killing the Reaper, they continued to charge forward, removing every obstacle in front of them with ease and finally reaching the food storage. Aida shook her head and calmly walked along. As she looked at the dead Reaper, she apologized, "Sorry man, no hard feelings."
Entering the food bank, she saw the people trying to pry it open. Since the outbreak, it appears none of the Variants nor humans pre-infection had been able to reach the center of the city where the food bank was located and acquire the food. This was exactly what she had hoped for. After the door was successfully opened, Aida peered in and surveyed the warehouse. The supply of food should be able to sustain the base for a while until their own crops successfully grew.