"Too much talk."
Vance said it mildly, and drew the power back into himself.
Speak to them nicely and they would not listen. They had to be knocked about a little before they would settle down.
Vance's move had brought the hall to a standstill. The few who had been quietly watching to see what would happen were all looking at him now with astonishment in their eyes.
The men on the floor had their freedom back and were sucking air through their teeth and crying out with the pain.
Vance had moved far too fast. Their Pokémon had not reacted at all, and by the time they did it was over.
Still, Vance had only meant to teach them a lesson and had not done them any real harm — cuts and bruises at worst. They got slowly to their feet, the arrogance gone out of their eyes, no longer daring to take the young man lightly.
Thick-skinned as they were, they understood now how frightening Vance was.
To have pinned them before their own Pokémon could so much as react, his strength had to be a long way above those Pokémon's.
Reckoning it out, that put Vance at Gym-class, far above any of them.
*If you're a Gym-class Psychic, say so at the start. Why go about it like this?*
The men who had just been knocked about grumbled it inwardly. Had they known Vance was a Gym-class Psychic, they would never have carried themselves so insolently, or run their mouths the way they had.
They had judged a Trainer's strength by his Pokémon without thinking about it, as everyone did, and this time it had caught them out. Here was a fellow stronger than his own Pokémon. Very strange indeed.
"Heh." Seeing the looks turn from contempt to respect, Vance smiled. A tree wants pruning if it is to grow straight; one thrashing and they were well behaved.
"I am Vance, and I am about to take up the post of Branch Chief of Dark City. Has anybody else an objection?"
He looked round the hall. Not a sound.
The men who had been knocked about kept their heads down and did not dare speak.
"Nobody is speaking, so I shall take it that nobody objects. If any of you truly does not want to go to Dark City, that is allowed — go and say so to the organisation yourselves. Saying it to me is no use. Once we are in Dark City we shall be colleagues, and we sink or swim together. I hope we can put our backs into it and do the work well."
Vance went on, and the men below him wore the look of an audience listening closely.
Just as he thought. Show them your strength and everything got easier.
"Now then — which of you does not want to go? You may leave; go and settle it with the organisation yourselves. The rest I shall take as willing to stay. Five minutes. I am giving you five minutes. After that, those who are staying will come up and introduce themselves, so that I have some idea of you, which will make the work ahead easier."
With that Vance came straight down off the platform, found a seat below and sat waiting for them to come up.
The hall was silent. Five minutes went by quickly, and not one man walked out.
"Who's first?"
Vance called. Since nobody had left, they were all staying.
"I'll go."
A tall, thin man stood up and came to the front.
"Sorrel. Three Elite Pokémon. At present a Squad Leader at headquarters; ordinarily responsible for collating intelligence."
That said, he looked at Vance.
Vance gave a slight nod to show he had it.
Then Sorrel went back down, and another man came up.
Vance listened to them all, nodding from time to time.
They kept it short, none of them dragging it out, and the hundred and more of them were through their introductions quickly.
Ten were of Elite strength, some forty of Advanced, and some sixty of Intermediate or below.
Several of the men Vance had disciplined were Elite Trainers. No wonder they had tempers on them.
"Very well. I know something of you all now. That will do for today. If anything comes up, you may get in touch with me."
With that Vance looked over them once and left.
A hundred-odd men were quite enough to set up a base of operations in a small city.
Giovanni's office. Vance had come here again, to report on his work, more or less.
"No trouble with those men?"
Giovanni said it idly, turning the pages of a book.
Vance knew of course that he meant the Trainers, and answered, "No trouble."
There had been a little trouble at the start, but once he had shown them some muscle there had been none.
Giovanni raised his head, looked at him a moment, gave a slight nod and went back to his book.
"When you set out for Dark City is for you to decide. I said before that the timing is yours."
"Sir."
"If you want to work your way into a high place inside the League as well, that is your affair. And if anything comes up that is beyond your strength, you may go to Blaine at Cinnabar Island for help."
Giovanni added it.
"Understood, sir."
"Good."
A few more words and Vance took his leave.
Two days later Vance appeared with a crowd of men at a Team Rocket base east of Dark City.
Team Rocket's strength in Dark City had been badly mauled, but a few of the bases were still standing.
"Branch Chief."
The Team Rocket members who were left came before Vance and greeted him respectfully. There were twenty-three of them all told, including two Elite Division Commanders; and with the hundred-odd Vance had brought with him, the meeting room at the base was packed.
With the intelligence in hand it had been easy enough for Vance to get in touch with them, and he had made his arrangements quickly, which was why they were all here today.
Vance sat at the head of the room and listened quietly to the two Division Commanders' reports, putting the information together.
Ambrose and Emery sat beside him and listened with him.
By strength neither of them had any business sitting there, but they were Vance's own men now, and that qualified them.
"Very well, I have it. Thank you both."
Vance nodded as he said it, and then set out his arrangements for them all.
He had drafted all this in his head already; the arrangements had been made long since.
"Our situation is out of the ordinary, so for the time being I am dividing the work of building the branch into four parts: combat, intelligence, logistics and construction."
Every face was serious. This bore on where they would stand from now on, and a fat post would make life very comfortable.
"From what I know of you, I am setting up six divisions and eighteen squads for the moment, three squads to a division. The six Division Commanders will be Ambrose, Sorrel, Fenwick, Jessup, Talbot and Orin."
"The eighteen Squad Leaders will be........."
Vance named the Division Commanders and the Squad Leaders one by one. Giovanni had given him a free hand, so the decisions were his; once made, the list had only to be sent up.
Nor had Vance played favourites too badly. Ambrose aside, the other five had all been properly weighed up. Orin was one of the two surviving Elite Division Commanders of Dark City and had five Elite Pokémon, which was why Vance had kept him on as a Division Commander.
The other surviving Division Commander had only one Elite Pokémon left, so Vance demoted him to Squad Leader.
Among the hundred-odd men he had brought there were plenty of formidable people, and a division was not going to fall to him.
Of the remaining four, Jessup and Talbot were two of the men Vance had disciplined; but the two of them were genuinely strong, so Vance did not hold it against them and made them Division Commanders.
With the Division Commanders and Squad Leaders settled, Vance divided up the rest of the men and had the first rough shape of a branch organisation built.
The six divisions were mainly responsible for combat and intelligence.
Logistics Vance gave to Emery, and construction to a Team Rocket member called Bexley; and he filled out the ranks under both of them.
The Dark City branch was up, more or less, and had its basic functions. Anything finer would have to come along slowly.