S1, E8 | The Vision Beyond One President

“I’m going to go around and ask if anyone has an issue with this” Leon remarks, handing a glass of bourbon to his new direct subordinate whilst standing within the makeshift kitchen as his eyes drift toward the man with his arms crossed in the corner. “I trust that Jaime’s going to be a great vice president” Jay responds, taking his opportunity to speak once the president’s face turns toward him.

“I talked to her for a minute on the steps last night, and she’s got her head screwed on right from what I can find” he furthers, turning his face toward the woman in question, “it’s obviously your call, Leon. But I think you made a good one.” Surrounded by the warm light of the president’s suite, Jaime smiles toward the man she’d been joined in a trip from Los Angeles alongside, raising her glass toward him before setting her sight upon the woman across the room from him.

“I like Jaime and I think she’ll do great” Sidney responds, sitting on a chair in the corner of the room with a half-smile on her face, though her comments are received with less acceptance from the man in charge than her fellow rider’s. “Can you give us a little bit more than that?” Leon questions aloud, leaning against the countertop whilst staring past his newest appointee.

“Why?” the woman rebuttals, furrowing her brows as she stares at the leader of her ballpark-centred community, “you don’t need me to justify your decisions.” Pressing his lips together, the president looks toward the ground before shrugging, letting his eyes lift back to find the woman standing directly opposite him, leaning against the wall beside his suite’s entrance.

“How about you, Velly?” Leon wonders aloud, allowing Sidney’s claim to go unquestioned as he sets his focus upon the neutral expression that finds his eyes. “What do you want me to say, Leon? Do you want me to push back against it?” Velma questions with both hands tucked into the pockets of a jacket that’s tied with a string around her abdomen, “you’re a grown man. If this is your call, who am I to tell you what to do?”

“I’m not asking any of you to push back or argue against my decision, I want to hear your opinions on this” Leon retorts, adjusting his posture as he pushes off the counter, rounding it and walking toward the centre of the room. “I believe in this call, but it’s one that has everything riding on it” the president continues, watching the eyes of his most trusted confidants fall into various distances as he speaks to them.

“There’s no one in Athens that I trust the opinion of more than you three. When I ask for your thoughts on something, I don’t expect you to phone it in and tell me what I want to hear” the man proclaims, watching each set of eyes trail toward him, “I asked for your opinions, so give me your opinions.”

“I don’t have any opinion stronger to offer than what I gave you in all honesty” Jay first answers, pulling back in his seat with a relaxed demeanour, “she seems to think the way you want someone in a position of power to think, and having led a community- or a republic as she wants you to call it- in the past is an advantage.”

“So you have no reservations?” Leon questions back, watching the man’s eyes pull away from himself before setting upon his new vice president, Jaime’s reluctance to get involved in what’s unfolding before her giving the only man in the room other than the president the floor to work with. “She already knows what I expect from her” Jay concedes, continuing to look at the former chancellor as he answers the leader’s question, “as long as she puts Athens and our people first... I’m on board.”

For only a few seconds, Leon looks toward the man in the wake of his conclusion before settling his mind with the man’s opinion, taking it as it’s presented before redirecting his line of sight toward the two women standing on opposite sides of the room across from him. “In all honesty, I don’t see why we’re having this meeting if it’ll change nothing” Sidney confesses, taking the reins to continue with the order that had initially been established.

“I wouldn’t vote against Jaime to be clear, but even if I had the greatest issue with your call- it wouldn’t change anything” Sidney explains, looking the president in the eyes as she questions his intent, “we’re just wasting time talking about something that isn’t going to change regardless.”

“I think if you really wanted to take our opinions into play, you would’ve asked us for them before you offered her the job” Velma finally comments, piggy-backing off the statement the woman off to her right had made whilst the room centres its attention upon her. Visibly disheartened to hear such a conclusion, Leon looks at his close confidant with a frown whilst she takes one step forward, capturing the focus of the conversation.

“No matter what we say, this is still your call to make, Leon. We can’t make it for you, and we’re not here to make you feel better about the decisions you make” Velma carries on, talking without the fear of speaking out of line, “if you’re not as confident in this decision as you say that you are, then turn around, tell Jaime you’ve had second-thoughts and apologise.”

“I’m not having second thoughts, Velly” Leon responds, his declaration the only thing that he’s capable of saying before the woman’s follow-up immediately presents itself. “Then stop asking for our opinions, because they’re doing no good and wasting time” Velma demands, letting her hands hang at her sides as they slip out from her pockets, “the only reason any of this would be worth taking part in would be if it served a purpose to talking you out of naming Jaime vice president. If that’s not on the table, this is pointless.”

“Do you have your reservations about this, Velly?” Leon inquires, less than a second passing before the woman’s unchanged visage parts its lips to respond to his question. “Yeah, I do” Velma answers honestly, not wasting a moment in answering the question whilst Sidney looks toward her without uttering a word, Jay’s head hanging as his eyes fall to the ground.

Puckering her lips, Jaime keeps her face held forward as her eyes fall to the black tiles that line the floor, her thoughts being kept to herself before her critic apologises. “I’m sorry, Jaime. It’s nothing personal... but you’re not one of us yet” Velma remarks, watching the former chancellor’s eyes meet her own as she voices her qualms, “just because she was in charge of a camp somewhere else doesn’t mean that she’s seen what we have to keep this place running.”

“You’re right” Leon answers, his voice not holding reservation like his friend’s does, but his assurance speaks to his understanding of such truth. “I know I am, Leon. I don’t question that she could- one day- understand all of this enough, but today is not that day” Velma remarks, shrugging her shoulders as her hands slip back into her coat pockets, “she’s still second in command now, she’ll have to get used to it and so will I. So may I please go now?”

Bowing his head before extending his hand toward the door, Leon immediately grants the woman her freedom to depart, the door opening with a gust of cold wind sent into the suite as the obstinate woman ventures onto other duties as the heaven’s dark sky takes shape above. “All of this will sit better with her when she’s less surprised by the promotion” Jay comments, looking the way of his new superior with a reassuring comment, “she’s just very protective of this place.”

“She’s right” Jaime confesses, not changing her relaxed and unbothered demeanour as she addresses the man, one arm resting against the kitchen counter she leans against. “I’m not as familiar with this place as the rest of you are, but I don’t have to be yet. Over time, I’ll learn” the chancellor concludes, taking a swig from her glass before nodding as she looks toward the suite’s exit, “but that’s my burden to bear and I’m not going anywhere... So I guess that means it’s time to get to it.”

= Athens of America is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and his entity of Pacer1 from the start of Season 1 onwards =

Hearing the taps of his footsteps echo through the concrete catacomb that surrounds the stairwell, Ken ascends to his office high within the capitol tower in jogging gear, gasping for breath as sweat stains the collar of his t-shirt and runs down the length of its back. Collecting his breath as he emerges from within the echo-heavy tomb with the push of the door, the president halts his hurried pace into a relaxed and brisk stroll whilst his hands press against his hips.

“Which floor did you start at, Mr. Presi-” Betty questions aloud, hurriedly stepping out from behind her secretary’s desk with a smile before catching herself, “Oh, sorry! I’m still getting used to... you know.” Flashing her the lightest smile he can muster, Ken continues to venture through the hallway in search of his office, joined by the worker that easily matches his tired steps.

“Which floor did you start at, Ken?” the woman corrects, watching the president point his index finger toward the ground multiple times without uttering a word. “All the way from the bottom this time? Wow” Betty remarks, surprised at the answer that she correctly assumes from the gesture, “it’s not very often that you start from the ground floor. You usually take the elevator to the twentieth floor and climb from there, right?”

“The fifteenth floor” Ken responds in a hiss-like whisper, speaking through his parted breaths as he collects them, only able to speak in brief, three or four letter sentences. “Elevator was broken... Decided to climb...” the president murmurs, hanging his head as he squeezes his eyes shut, violently shaking his face through the air as he gathers himself, “...dumb decision.”

Bowing her head and remaining hesitant to start conversation that the man cannot handle taking part in, Betty watches the man as his bare legs carry on through the hallway, venturing for his office covered by nothing more than a pair of shorts in spite of the frigid temperatures. “Tell me when you’re ready for me to give you a rundown” she comments as they enter his office, watching the man’s hand roll through the air as he wanders toward his desk, gesturing for her to get it over with.

“Blake Dean is holding a rally tonight at the track centre across the street from the technical school on Tremont. Wallace Sparks is holding one at the institute on Ward” Betty explains, watching the man yank the sweat-soaked t-shirt off his body despite its best efforts of sticking to him. Shirtless and glistening beneath his office’s overhead lights, Ken tosses the shirt into a corner of his room before reaching into a tub of ice and retrieving a chilled bottle of water.

“Across the neutral zone, President Grave is making an announcement to Athens, but he hasn’t disclosed what it is yet” Betty continues, watching the man rip the cap off his plastic bottle and down nearly half of the cold beverage within it. “Rumours are circling around that he’s naming someone new to be a vice president” she proceeds, seeing the confused squint in her superior’s eye as he pulls the bottle from his lips, refreshed and invigorated as he gasps for air, “people are pretty sure it’s that blonde woman he brought with him that first time.”

“Mrs. Morris-Cutler?” Ken questions back, nodding at the sight of his secretary’s nod before looking toward the distant corner of the office, seemingly intrigued at the information he’s given, “that’s a little surprising, I guess.” Regaining his cool enough to start pulling in breaths, keeping them at bay for a few seconds, and then releasing them all over again, the president eventually makes for his desk and presses the palm of his hands against the edge of its surface.

“Does anyone know why he’s putting her in that position?” Ken inquires, lifting an eyebrow at the sight of the woman’s shaking head, “of all people, I’d assume he would’ve promoted anyone of his little group of friends over there.”

“All we’re getting is that he’s naming someone to be his vice president and that it’s almost certainly her” Betty reassures, watching the Free Boston figurehead nod approvingly before pulling his seat from the desk. “So he’s putting the woman that led a capitalist dictatorship that fought the old guard out west into the second-chair of a communist oligarchy that’s trying to avoid fighting the new guard here on the east...” Ken remarks, lowering his voice to the point where he speaks only beneath his breath, “...that’s not in line with his doctrine.”

“I’m sorry, what was that Mr. Presi- Ken?” Betty corrects, unable to hear the man’s conclusion before watching his head lift toward her, his head shaking in refusal as the conversation is taken elsewhere. “Betty, can you send someone to run down to that track centre on Tremont and let them know that I want to hold an emergency assembly down there tonight instead?” Ken inquires, lowering his brows as he looks toward the woman, seeing her head immediately begin nodding.

“Remind them that the President has the authority to demand immediate reservation of any location beyond disagreement if they give our guy a hard time” the president warns, watching the woman confidently march beyond his office and walk off to follow through on his orders. Still drenched in sweat, Ken watches Betty hurry off before letting his eyes fall to the workspace’s surface, his heart beating fast whilst he gathers his breaths, shaking his head as the nerves of his request begin kicking in.

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“Just a second!” Velma proclaims from the other side of a glass door as she washes her hands, unable to see the figure that knocks at her suite’s entrance until after she reaches for a paper towel. Surprised by what she finds when she turns around, the woman quickly dries off her hands as she ventures across the tiny room, opening the door for the woman that remains patiently standing just beyond it.

“Your home is a lot smaller than I would’ve expected it to be” Jaime confesses, lifting her sunglasses onto the top of her head now that the balcony above shields her from the cloudless, winter sun. “This place is still a ballpark no matter what we build inside of it. They were meant to watch a game from, drink a beer, and then leave until the next time” Velma responds, gesturing toward the side of the room that her visitor can see through the wall of glass that makes up her room’s entrance.

“I could barely fit that bed in the corner. I just hope nobody starts a revolution and thinks to shatter that window while I’m sleeping” the facially-scarred survivor carries on, stepping aside to grant the former chancellor entry into her humble abode, “if I’m going to be executed, I’d like to do it knowing exactly who’s coming for me.”

“That surprises me. I always figured there was a reason people dreamed of their ideal death being in their sleep from old age” Jaime responds, stepping into the woman’s home with two hands tucked into her pockets. “I’d like to make peace with death before it comes to me. If I was part of a revolutionary purge, I’d like to know what I did wrong to cause so much fuckin’ hatred” Velma responds, closing the door on the woman’s way in before standing opposite her, “can I help you with something?”

“You can if that’s how you want to look at it” Jaime responds, continuing to venture further into the renovated suite without very much floor to cover, “first of all, you can explain to me why you live in a room that doesn’t seem much bigger than a phone booth.” Amused, Velma grins before strolling to the side of the room that her tiny kitchen sits at, granting the cold air entry as she pushes in the door sitting just beside it.

“Patio access was among the biggest reasons” she admits, closing the entrance once more before twisting its lock, “I didn’t need much to feel accommodated, though. So I never really gave living somewhere bigger much consideration.” Nodding, Jaime leans against the railing that had been installed into the front of the room long before the ballpark became a survivor safe haven, letting out a long breath as the cold air from the woman’s patio door wafts over her.

“So what did you really come here for, Jaime?” Velma questions aloud, retreating to the opposite side of the room from the former chancellor- a distance of no more than six feet- crossing her arms and leaning her back against the kitchen counter. “You know what I came here for” Jaime quickly answers with a grin, seeing the same exact visage plant itself upon the woman who shares her company.

“I’ll answer to whatever you want, whenever you want, and be here when you need-” Velma explains, shaking her head with the same light-hearted expression that keeps from any tension filling the room. “I know you’ll suck it up and bear it, but that’s not what I’m talking about” Jaime interjects, preventing the woman from continuing to explain herself amidst the feeling that eggshells need to be safe from heavy-set feet.

“I don’t know what you want from me, Jaime. I’ll grin, bear it, and hope that you do a great job” Velma explains, continuing to smile as best as she can whilst confessing that she’s unable to see what the vice president is trying to get at. “I want to know how you think this place should be run” the suite-owner’s superior comments, seeing a slight shift in the woman’s expression take shape into confusion.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t think that I was named vice president because Leon just wanted someone he knew could take over if something happened to him. If that were the case, I’m sure he would’ve chosen you for this job a long time ago” Jaime explains, remaining casually leant against the woman’s bar counter with her back turned to the once-glorious ballpark, “I think he chose me because he knows that if something were to happen to him, Athens would need to change.”

“I’m not sure that I understand what you mean” Velma quickly assures, shaking her head at a loss for words as the cross of her arms deepens, allowing the fuzzy, pink fabrics of her sweater to rub against each other as the sleeves run against each other. “Why is Leon in charge of Athens?” Jaime proceeds to inquire, changing the conversation with enough suddenness to provoke whiplash, “this place clearly wasn’t a commune before the Catalyst, so where did this place start?”

“Why are you asking?” the suite’s tenant queries back, watching Jaime pucker her lips and lean her head forward, refusing to speak what her demeanour alone says. Rolling her eyes, Velma stiffens her shoulders for a moment before letting them fall, swaying her head from side to side as she thinks back to the nation’s earliest days. “People started running around like chickens with their heads cut off when people started dropping dead” the woman confesses, “the ballpark opened and people started funnelling in.”

“Keep going” Jaime responds, walking toward the woman’s single-person mattress in the corner of the room before having herself a seat upon it, leaning against her legs as she watches the suite’s resident think back. “We saw signs on the highways and on those virtual billboards telling us not to drink the water, so we did as they said. Slowly, people stopped dropping dead and things got quiet” Velma explains, leaving her statement there for the vice president to read into.

“But people eventually needed to figure out how to stay hydrated” Jaime comments, following the logical next step of such dire straits whilst the woman opposite her begins to nod. “Leon walked out to the middle of the field with an empty bucket. First, he brought out a few pieces of wood he’d gotten from a hardware store a few blocks down the road. Then some cinder blocks, and then a barbecue rack” Velma explains, looking her new superior in the eyes, “then he filled the bucket with tap water and started boiling it.”

“And he sacrificed his safety to assure everyone that they’d be alright” Jaime concludes, getting the gist of the recollection without it needing to be stated, the nod that she receives from Velma doing all that’s needed to align their minds with each other. “How did you avoid the acid storm on that first night?” the once-chancellor asks aloud, looking for insight she still hadn’t been clued into.

“Some people felt the first few droplets and started complaining that they hurt. Then others felt them and starting running to the concourse” the Athens confidant answers, “I’d already been in there, but the second people started swarming like a mob, I decided to head over to the bathroom and stay there to avoid getting crushed.”

Nodding, Jaime lets her eyes fall as she sits with the information, pressing her bottom lip between both teeth as she leans back upon the mattress. “Are you asking because you’re genuinely curious or because there’s a point you’re trying to make?” Velma questions aloud, not interested in wasting her time retreating down memory lane with absolutely nothing to gain from it.

“Athens isn’t successful because people chose to live in a communist community, it’s successful because the people chose to be led by Leon” Jaime concludes, looking back from the ground as she stares at Velma, who remains silent as the vice president speaks. “If he hadn’t risked losing his life in front of everyone, they would’ve stayed as hopeless as they’d been between the Catalyst and him walking onto the pitch” she reiterates, a remark that doesn’t cause much change in the posture of the suite’s tenant.

“They tolerate living in a commune because they follow Leon’s lead. They have this trust in him rooted inside of them” the Angelino native explains, earning very little push back from her new subordinate, “that doesn't necessarily mean it will stay that way.”

“What are you getting at?” Velma questions back, not wasting much time in presenting her request for clarification, and not needing to spend long before receiving just that. “People that show up here and go off to Free Boston do it because most people would want to live in a world where they can own their own stuff and make their own rules” Jaime carries on, climbing off the bed and approaching the woman that stands before her.

“I’m sure some people would prefer a commune society over something more capitalist, but most people wouldn’t. And if it weren’t for Leon specifically being in charge of Athens, fewer people would want to be here than there are now” Jaime explains, “the only ones that actually like the style of life that we live here are either among those few people who like it, or those who are scarred from the alternative that they saw dealing with Free Boston’s anarchist nightmare.”

“I’ll ask again... What are you getting-?” Velma reiterates, unable to finish her thought before the woman that now stands within inches of her interrupts. “If Leon were to die tomorrow and I were to succeed him, it’d be a lot easier to imagine people getting fed up with having to order their stuff a week in advance, living with roommates, and dealing with order limitations whenever we’re low on stock after the fact” Jaime explains, shaking her head with a grin, “I don’t have the pull with these people like he does.”

“Nobody has their trust the way that Leon does... Not even me” Velma corrects, only further proving the point that her new superior had been trying to make. “Which I’m sure is exactly why Leon chose me to succeed him instead of you” Jaime responds, holding more enthusiasm in her words than she had throughout the entire conversation before hand, “Athens existing as a communal nation likely wouldn’t be possible for much longer after the guy that people trust to lead buys the farm. It would need to change.”

“While I wouldn’t want to be the person tasked with succeeding Leon, I’ll play along with the case that you’re trying to make when I ask you this...” Velma restates, pressing her hands together with the tips of each finger directing themselves toward the vice president, “if Leon figured Athens would need to change, why wouldn’t he have appointed me to succeed him years ago like you suggest?”

“Because I’m pretty sure Leon thinks Athens would need to start operating a lot more like the Angelino Republic if it were to continue to exist after he’s gone” Jaime answers, watching the resident’s head pull back slightly at the explanation, “maybe he didn’t realise that until after we were introduced, but now that he knows that... What better person to lead that New Athens than the person who led the republic he wanted it to be modelled after?”

“So what is all of this about then?” Velma questions back, seeing the point that the vice president has come to make before looking to decipher what its importance is. “Other than confirming the sneaking suspicion that I had before walking into your little loft up here, you mean?” Jaime queries, watching the silent nod of approval she receives give her the greenlight to answer, “if there’s a chance I end up being number one someday, I’ll need a new number two. I might as well find out who my number three is now so I can make that a lot easier.”

“You want me to be your vice president if you ascend to the throne?” Velma asks with a deep look of confusion on her face, assuming she hadn’t understood the woman’s point at all. “If that’s how you choose to take it, fine. But what I’m looking for is to figure out who I can trust more than anyone else around here” Jaime replies, stepping back to the countertop opposite the resident’s kitchen whilst speaking.

“And how do you know that you can trust me?” Velma wonders aloud, watching the woman that retreats from her turn back with the shake of her head and a shrug. “I don’t. That’s why I’m interested in working more with you” Jaime answers, already laying out the groundwork for what’s in store with her new position, “I was given choices between two people to trust back in the republic, and I chose the wrong one until I realised who I should’ve been listening to all along was.”

Staying quiet, Velma remains reserved across the room whilst Athens’ new second in command stares back at her, looking her in the eyes whilst she recollects. “Do you remember the first morning that I got here? Do you remember grilling me in Leon’s suite when I told you about that trip I sent some of my people on to Colorado?” Jaime queries, receiving only a nod in return, “I didn’t just send some people, I sent two of my closest friends. A husband and a wife named Chevy and Kayla.”

Velma remains unchanged in her demeanour as the woman continues talking, assuming that something of value is to come from the discourse. “Anytime I needed people I could count on, they were the first people that I looked to” Jaime explains, tucking one hand into her pocket whilst the other moves through the air with her words, “but there was another pair of people... a brother and sister named Julia and Chris that I shouldn’t have trusted.”

“The sister that took over your place, and then you took it back and killed her... The thing we caught on the drone. Okay?” Velma recalls, now taking her turn to receive little more than a nod. “The point is that I had a choice between trusting Chevy and Julia and I chose the wrong one” Jaime concludes, keeping her distance from the obstinate soul across the room, “I know you’ll do what I need you to if I ask. But my point in all of this is that I need a new Chevy.”

Unmoved and unfamiliar with the names she can guess the respective roles of, Velma lets her head tilt toward her left shoulder, though the posture doesn’t take long to be noticed by her guest. “I don’t need you to tell me anything you’re not ready to right now. Other than figuring out whether or not the theory I had about Leon offering me this job was right, I wanted to make how I feel about you clear” Jaime remarks as she ventures toward the front door, “sleep on it and give it some thought. I know you’re not going anywhere, and for my sake... I hope Leon isn’t either.”

Smirking, Velma looks toward the ground whilst Jaime steps through the door, bowing her head on the way out before walking away, heading off to fry bigger fish as the Athens loyalist remains paused within deep thought in her modest, oversized broom closet of a residence. Giving one brief glance toward the front door as she watches the vice president’s figure wander off beyond view, the propositioned figure attempts to free her mind from the burden of their conversation and return to her original duties, tending to her tiny flat just as any responsible tenant would.

== Athens of America ==