Entering the gym, he noticed that its occupants were mostly imps and hellhounds with the occasional sinner. The most outlandish of which was a giant reptilian demon who looked like he had never even heard of leg day.
About an hour went by as Damien was following her instructions to a t. And when she wasn't explaining the next set of exercises Millie rambled on about previous missions she and Moxxie had been on. Instead of an annoying droning like Moxxie's earlier history lesson, Millie made the stories sound much more entertaining. He especially enjoyed the comparison of Moxxie to a possum. Cause now that she said it, he can't unsee it.
Millie couldn't tell that the young hell hound was even paying attention though. he was just copying every move she made without question and the only noise he was making was labored breathing.
'Yeesh, tough crowd! Thought I'd at least get him with the possum joke.' The imp looked over at Damien trying to get a read on him, 'I'll get you to crack a smile eventually.'
"So, Damien watcha thinkin about?" Millie said between crunches. " Awfully quiet over there."
"That… I… should… probably… lay… off… the… junk… food!" he hit the ground and stopped to catch his breath.
"Loona hasn't started calling you fat too has she? In my humble opinion she should worry about her own waistline way she packs away pizza n' beer." Millie kept going for another ten then shot up to her feet, "You on the other hand could definitely use a couple more pounds! I can give you some recipes for bulking I got from my older brother. That way you can build ya some muscle."
Millie skipped over to the free weights section. Now that the reptilian was gone, she could start her own training.
"Your small stature however can't be helped."
Damien paused before following the imp over to a bench press, "Wait, are you calling me short?"
"Moxxie pointed it out, but you do seem a tad on the small side for a hellhound Assassin Hun." Millie put in all three hundred pounds on the barbell before doing some presses.
Damien watched the imp lift the bar with ease in disbelief before thinking back to the comments on his stature. It was one thing being called a runt by Loona who just happened to be five inches taller than him at most, but Millie was half his size. did everyone back at the office think this? It's not his fault that everything down here is freakishly tall.
"I'll have you know where I'm from 5'8" is the average height." He tried his best to hide the irritation in his voice.
"Ha! Only if you were human! You must be from a town where all the hounds are short."
'Son of a bitch' he could only grimace and try to move past his slip up, " well, admittedly I don't know many hounds. Loonas actually the first I've ever talked to."
"Like the first lady hellhound you've ever talked to?"
'Damnit I'm not very good at this undercover thing, am I?' he just made things worse, "Uhm …yeah."
"That's the case there's a dalmatian over yonder. Been eying you up since you got here. go on and introduce yourself!"
"I don't think that's a good idea." Damien said, 'what the hell could someone find so interesting about me anyway?
risking a glance at the treadmills he saw not one but three female hellhounds each with red bows in their hair and wearing expensive looking gym clothes. The worst part is that they were not just looking over occasionally they were staring right at him. There was brief eye contact before they started whispering amongst themselves and giggling. The dalmatian with comically oversized ears seemed especially chatty.
Millie noticed his panicked expression, "c'mon not every hound you meet is going to be a psychotic bitch like Loona."
"Yeah no. The misanthropic receptionist is more than enough headache at the moment." he shuddered, "Last thing I need is add preppy gym girls and Dumbo the Dalmatian to the list."
"Shame on you Damien! it is ungentlemanly to make jabs at a lady." Millie put the bar on the rest then started making a pinching motion with her fingers causing Damien to cover his ears in response. "Do I need to learn you some manners too?"
"Did you not just call Loona a psychotic bitch?" he then remembered what the imp had said to him this morning, "And weren't you asking me to be patient with her this morning?"
"touché." She finished the set and started clearing the bar bell "I get that you don't want to talk to them but look at it this way. She could know people that need jobs done. Who better than that cute hellhound she met who works at I.M.P?"
He rolled his eyes, "I can't even fight properly yet. Who the hell would want to hire me?"
"Don't go around talking about yourself like that!" Millie scolded as she put the empty barbell in Damien's hands "Everybody starts somewhere."
"Alright M what are we looking at? How long will it take to get sweet doe eyed Damien to transform into a mean green killing machine?" blitz reclined in his chair coffee in hand looking between his accountant and receptionist "I'd like to say at least two months right? That sounds reasonable."
The other two were still waiting for Damien and Millie to get back but they might as well start the discussion since the majority were already here.
"Well sir, we could actually utilize him in the field immediately."
Blitz slammed his mug down "Stop pulling my cock Mox. The kid said himself he's got no qualifications."
"Damien was being modest. He has proven more than capable with long range implements and anything he can shoulder. His proficiency with handguns does need work but they are very minor issues that can be remedied with a week of consistent range time." Moxxie shrugged, "And if I may be so bold sir, we could have him do the test right now. He doesn't exactly have to be an expert to start in the field."
"We kill humans blitz its not that Deep." Loona added for once being fully engaged in the conversation. "I'm sure as long as long as he follows my lead it'll be a cakewalk."
"Wait! Hold up a sec! Who said anything about you leading anything?" Moxxie gestured to himself and Millies's chair as if she were present, "Were the ones mentoring Damien, not you. Obviously, he'd be collaborating with us. Besides, you cannot even do what is asked of you normally!"
Loona growled with her hackles raised.
"Okay loona lets calm down sweetie." Blitz gently pet her head causing her to calm down. "Yeah, sorry Moxxie but I promised her that once Damien was ready that they would be going on assignments together."
Moxxie fell silent and just watched as blitz kept petting and reassuring his hellhound. "You really need to stop being such a doormat when it comes to your hellhound sir."
The hellhound in question stuck her tongue out at him in response, "Can the runt go on missions or not fatty?"
Moxxie crossed his arms, "He can begin operating under close supervision of a trained professional. Namely myself, Millie, or Blitz."
Blitz smiled from ear to ear, "then we can just go as one big happy family! Since you two are obviously at a fuckin impasse."
"Sir, we cannot be going as one giant group that makes things more difficult! Can't you just rule in favor of reason and let the missus and I oversee the new hellhound. I do not Want Loona's negative traits contaminating my student."
"Fuck you Fatass!" loona was about to pounce When Millie's voice called from the other room.
"Hey ya'll were back!" Millie strolled in and sat down next to Moxxie noticing the tension in the air, "wow if I didn't know any better id say a brawl was about to break out. Moxxie what did I miss?"
"Oh, not much. Blitz is letting loona do whatever she wants again enabling her attitude problem." Moxxie gave his boss a sideways glance, "Apparently he told Loona that Damien would be collaborating with her out in the field instead of the ones teaching him."
"Well, she does kill good." Millie shrugged, "honestly just ask Damien who he'd rather work with."
"And if he says no?" Loona asked, "I don't want to be stuck here while you guys go out and have all the fun!"
"If he says no Me and Mox will take turns working with you. Sound like a plan?"
"Millie!" Moxxie shouted in protest "This is Loona were talking about!"
"Yeah, Loona, our hellhound receptionist who's better at killing than Customer service." Millie put a hand on Moxxies shoulder, "Try an see the big picture baby, more kills per day means more money. And assuming blitz doesn't spend it all we might be able to hire a couple more employees. That way loona gets her full-time field position and you get a receptionist that does their job."
Moxxie and loona looked at each other begrudgingly before nodding in silent agreement. Then everyone started looking through the folders in front of them with the days hits.
"Great glad that's all ironed out." Blitz said thankful that he didn't have to diffuse that bomb, "so where is the kid anyway so we can ask him the Damn question and get the workday started. Got a lot of shitheads to kill today not enough time."
"He's in the bathroom getting Changed." Millie said.
"Ill go get him!" Loona got up before anyone could say anything and rushed to the breakroom.
A/n: End chapter 5