S4, E3 | The New Democratic Front

“Is that it? Silence?” Jaime asks aloud, staring her prisoner in the eyes whilst waiting for a reply that never comes. “She asked you a question” Blake proclaims, stiffening his arms in preparation to take aim with his weapon, though its power holds little weight against the grenade-wielding internee. Still silent, Travis continues to look the chancellor in the eyes, an unwavering confidence held despite being surrounded by the closest thing to a military on this side of the Mississippi.

Getting nowhere with the sustained eye contact, Jaime pulls her face back toward the nearest window, looking out to the horizon as the choppers near closer, their destination not more than a few blocks from her current confines. Pressing her hand against the frame that surrounds the glass panes, the chancellor’s eyes keep toward the flock whilst her detail raise questions, the string of aircraft beginning to slowly descend beneath the skyline.

“What’s the call, chancellor?” Wilfred wonders aloud, taking the same, readied stance that his immediate superior does, the rifle draped across his chest and prepared to take aim. Allowing the question to reach her ears, Jaime does nothing to answer it with her lips, keeping them pressed together as the final, rear-most helicopter drops below her point of sight, leaving her just as in the dark as the man in the centre of the room does.

“They’re not interested in hurting you” Travis finally remarks, immediately prompting the Angelino Republic’s commander in chief to turn around, resetting her sights on the man. “If you don’t give them a reason to believe you’re hostile- you’ll live” the explosive-holding, surrendered prisoner warns, looking the woman in the eyes with each word he utters, not interrupted once, “they want the same thing that you want.”

“And what is that?” Jaime curiously questions, hearing the man’s declaration out before making assumptions, immediately challenging him to prove the insight it appears he’s come into. With a slight lift, Travis’ chin takes higher, his eyes continuing to look the woman in the face as he begins looking up to her, displaying this posture in a way he hadn’t up to this point.

“Power” Travis replies, not another word needed to get the point across, an answer not only vague in nature, but close enough to the right reply to earn the chancellor’s agreement.

“Get him in the car” Jaime orders, taking her eyes to Wilfred and ushering him to guide the man himself, “you make one move out of place and it’ll be your head I put the next bullet in, got it rookie?” Very suspicious of the prisoner’s motivations, Wilfred bows his head to the chancellor in acknowledgement, playing by her rules as he gently guides the mysterious firestarter to his feet, leading him the way they’d arrived at gunpoint as Blake stays behind momentarily.

“Ma’am, are you sure about this?” the leading militia guidance inquires, taking over the role left behind by Lazarus, though lacking his predecessor's conviction in regards to the woman he’s employed by. “Why, do you have a problem with it?” Jaime inquires, immediately turning back to look through the window. “Well, no. I just-” Blake begins to respond, cut off almost instantly upon his conclusion.

“Do you disagree?” the chancellor queries, again receiving a similar response from her subordinate. “No, ma’am” Blake replies, watching his superior’s head nod as her face takes on the expression of dissatisfaction. “Then why are you here?” Jaime asks back, turning her eyes toward her highest-ranking security detail as she waits for a reply that never truly makes itself heard.

“I’m sorry, ma’am” Blake concedes, bowing his head and turning back, following the shadow of his militia through the door and toward their parked vehicles. Visibly disappointed, Jaime’s eyes take toward the ceiling as she gently shakes her head, a subtle sigh leaving her lungs.

Behind the wheel, Wilfred peers through the rear-view mirror every few seconds, glaring back at the prisoner that occupies the centre of the back row of chairs. In much a similar fashion, Blake holds his weapon in ready position as he sits on the passenger’s side, looking into the mirror on his right at the chancellor, staring at her reflection as she sits in the seat just behind him, voluntarily taking comfort in the seat beside her prisoner.

“If I’m trusting you, it’d be nice if you’d give me something to prove you’re willing to do the same” Jaime remarks aloud, breaking the ice as she stares into the distance, watching the scenery of a dying world pass her by whilst her words meet the ear of the man beside her. Not expecting anything of use- but just assuming it’d be best to at least raise the request- her head rests against the back of her seat as she continues to watch the world glow in preparation for welcoming a new day.

Without a word, the man responds to her request, allowing the coupled hands the chancellor holds in her lap to receive his reciprocation of her trust. Looking down, the palm of her dominant hand holds the spherical ball Travis had used to maintain leverage just nearly a half hour prior, his grenade relinquished in the name of peace and solidarity.

“Should we be ready to fire?” a man whispers into the air of a clean-shaven, dress shirt-wearing man with well-combed hair, hands tucked away in each pocket as he stands at the forefront of a fleet of helicopters. “You should be ready for everything, Joey” the steadfast man replies, only turning his chin toward his shoulder to speak, not one pulling his sight away from the oncoming group of vehicles.

Rolling to a stop, the line of armoured vehicles draws toward the line of foreign aircraft in a peaceful display of cooperation, calmly ceasing their forward progress a few metres away from the invading forces. With the air growing still, the well-groomed gentleman stands by with his hands at each side, waiting for his visitors to emerge from their convoy and face him personally.

“Just give us the signal, Wade” a second man calls out from just behind Joey, his words directed toward the still-calm head pillar of whatever interaction is still to occur. “You’ll know if you’re needed, Ken” the approachable invader responds, still patiently awaiting the departure of whatever authority figure resides within the foremost vehicle.

Taking the lead, the Angelino Republic answers their requested arrival, the backdoors opening to reveal the woman of the hour, allowing Jaime to step back onto solid ground as the former city’s tallest landmark burns in the background. Silent, Wade keeps his hands at each side as he removes them from his pocket, wishing to give the woman no reason to believe his purposes are any less than genuine.

“It’s nice to meet you, Jaime” the man greets, continuing to stand in the open without a line of defence to shield him, the same gesture given by the reason behind his arrival. With a slight squint in her eyes, the chancellor stares at the man ahead of her with a curious gaze, trying to read a man that presents himself as anything but. Still yet to respond, her hands slam the door shut as she embarks on an approach, slowly closing in on the man she knows little behind the motivations of.

“Do I have you to thank for this?” the woman wonders aloud, begging the question in search of an answer before any greeting can be provided. “You have my command to thank for that” the man ahead of her replies, continuing to remain where he’s stood since his landing, “I figured- now that you’ve got that anchor point finished- you wouldn’t need to worry about this thing reaching your republic.”

Her squint growing, Jaime digests the man’s remarks before her suspicions rise further, her hesitancy to trust the man in front of her only building with time. “Who are you and what do you want?” she asks aloud, watching the man step forward with a smile in response, his right hand reaching out to shake her own. “Wade Cordova” the man introduces himself, continuing to stare the chancellor in the face despite her eyes pulling away from his and taking to his hand.

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

Not feeling a need to knock, Julia steps through the door to her brother’s office as he sits behind his desk, a dejected look worn on his face as he presses his hand against the side of his face, staring at a set of papers as company arrives. “What’s wrong with you?” the woman inquires, taking off her lab coat and tossing it over the back of a chair, her sights being left to a glass bowl of jelly beans in the corner of the man’s desk.

“Lost a patient, how about you?” the man half-heartedly replies, brushing off his sister’s presence as he refocuses his sights on the documents in hand. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Julia responds, initially burying her hand in the bowl of sweets before removing it in favour of taking ownership over the entire pot, making herself at home in one of the chairs before the desk.

“You just walked into my office without knocking and nicked all my sweets like you own the place” Chris responds in an unenthused tone. “I kinda do” Julia replies with her head leant toward one side, “besides, we lose patients all the time- what do you care?” With his eyes pressing closer together, the disheartened doctor looks at his sister with a loss for words.

“It’s someone that we know dying, that’s not exactly supposed to be cheerful” Chris replies, watching as the woman across from him tosses a handful of beans into her mouth as if they were popcorn, letting a few bounce off her face and scatter along the ground. “Why not? One less mouth to feed and a few less stories to hear from old people” Julia retorts, holding a pep in her verbal step, “less work and less annoying people? I can’t think of a better reason to cheer!”

Rolling his eyes, Chris shakes his head and returns to his reading, though his ear is soon caught in his sister’s second thought. “Though, I suppose I can think of one thing better to cheer about” Julia quips, pulling her head back as she reclaims her brother’s line of sight, “how’s getting busy with Momma Morris going, milf hunter?”

As if it’d never been asked, the preoccupied doctor brushes off the question as he lays sights back upon the documents in hand, very clearly not wishing to reply. “Hold on, you are still bedding her, right?” Julia reiterates, finally forcing a response from the desk-occupying gentleman. “For fuck’s sake- yes” Chris responds, an obvious vigour contained within his reply, one that prompts his sister to return the bowl of candy to his desk and lift both hands in surrender.

“Geez- take a joke, won’t ya?” Julia remarks, feigning her relent as a set of small knocks emerge from the opposite side of the door, both siblings caught in the request for entry. “Come in” Chris replies with a slightly-saddened voice, shielding it as best he can before the entry parts from its hinges.

“That’s my cue to leave” Julia declares, watching Kennedy stride through the door and stop a short distance away from the pair, watching the visiting doctor retrieve her coat. “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out-” the youngest Morris child replies, looking the woman in the eyes as she turns back mid-departure, finishing her insult as intended, “-it’d be, what? The fifth time this week?”

Irritated, Julia rolls her eyes and walks the rest of the way out of the room, not in the mood to waste her breath in responding to the child’s statement. “She won’t admit it, but that one got under her skin just a little bit” Chris remarks, recapturing the teen’s attention as he sets the documents back upon his desk, “at least you don’t discriminate with who you tear a verbal asshole to. No one’s off limits.”

Though slightly appreciative at the compliment, Kennedy shows no proof of this in her face, eyes taking to the chair her disliked foe had departed from not one minute prior. “My mom wants to invite you to dinner tomorrow night” the young girl confesses, standing across the desk from her mother’s boyfriend, an obvious dislike for the circumstance made evident in her expression.

Though surprised, Chris leans back in his seat as his intentions set upon agreeing, only to take notice of his guest’s displeasure in the idea. With an arm pressing against the side of his chair, the doctor reads Kennedy’s expression quietly before opening his mouth, allowing the girl to answer the first question that comes over his mind.

“Is that what you want?” the man asks, watching the girl’s eyes pull away from the distant corner of the room, setting upon the doctor’s own as the question is left waiting for an answer. Bemused momentarily, Kennedy pulls her head back suspiciously before responding as desired, “no, it’s not” she replies honestly, a remark that prompts the doctor to nod.

“Then tell her I have a new batch of volunteers to train here and I’ll be busy all night- but that I appreciate the offer” Chris concludes, flashing a half-hearted smile at the girl before reclaiming possession of his written reports, only further confusing the child. “Why?” Kennedy queries, again receiving the practising professional’s undivided attention once more, “don’t you want to go?”

“Well, of course” Chris, too, answers honestly, looking the girl in the eyes as he leans further into his seat, slowly letting his chair glide toward her direction, “but as much as I’d like to make your mother happy, I don’t want to make you and Jaime unhappy all the same. If you guys don’t like something, I don’t want to intrude just because- well, just because I wanted to.”

Pulling in a huff of air with a suspicious look in her eyes, Kennedy attempts to speak before letting out a sigh, incapable of putting her thoughts into words as she fails to understand what she’s being answered with. 

“Look, Ken- I like your mom. I like her a lot, actually” Chris continues, doubling down on his stance in as understandable a way as he can manage, “but as important as she is to me, you and Jaime are important too. If Alex wants something- that’s okay, if you and Jaime want something- that’s okay too.”

Stood in total silence, Kennedy finds herself incapable of thought as the answer is left for her to do with what she chooses. Not needing to add anything further, Chris lets the conversation die as he retakes the documents into his possession for a third time, resting his eyes on them as the youngest of the Morris children walks off, not sure what to say or think, but satisfied with the answer she’s been given enough to leave with it.

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“You still haven’t answered the second question” Jaime responds, refusing to lift her hand even a centimetre from where it sits by her hip, not yet satisfied with the conversation’s standing, “what do you want?” Letting his smile fall just a slight amount, Wade bows his head and pulls his hand back, returning to the initial posture he’d introduced himself with, falling back into place as he re-engages with the civil discourse they’d begun the process of.

“In short, the same thing everyone in the world wants. Power” Wade replies, at least putting forth an honest exterior for the woman to judge him by, “it’s part of what makes us human. We create societies and someone always ends up highest on the totem pole. Who do you think those people are?”

As a gentle breeze rolls in, Jaime takes her hands to the blonde locks atop her head, pulling them back into a ponytail before shrugging her shoulders, “the people that make those societies, I’d imagine.” With his lips puckered, Wade lets a slow nod reply to the woman’s answer, in equal agreement as he is in disagreement. “At first, yes” the man responds, his nod beginning to turn into a shake of the head, “but in the long run, it’s the people that can obtain the most power and keep it.”

Her expression unchanged, Jaime remains tactfully quiet, allowing the man before her to continue filling the air with his thoughts, each new word uttered providing her with the insight she couldn’t obtain from her glance toward him alone. “Every new generation has fewer freedoms and fewer opportunities than the ones that came before them because there wasn’t the chance for them to get there first” Wade remarks, “and every new cycle just plays with the pieces the old guard left behind.”

Wearing his thoughts like a badge over his heart, Wade begins to let the cooperative presentation fall aside, the ice broken enough for him to speak with his hands without it holding any unintended intimidation. “One by one, the cycle keeps repeating until wham! Society falls- case and point, the U-S-of-A” the visiting force proclaims, waving his hand around the ruins of the greater Los Angeles metropolitan, “and then a whole new cycle begins.”

“And we’re the ones that start out on top of the totem pole? That’s what you’re saying?” Jaime interrupts, earning a grin across the face of the man across from her. “Partially. I’m saying we’re the ones with the power- and the only way to make sure we stay at the top of that totem pole is to keep it” Wade answers, concluding his point as the chancellor puckers her lips, beginning to nod as her arms cross over her chest.

“And who is we?” the woman replies, curious as to the circumstances her visitor arrives with, “unless you got lucky, I don’t think a couple schmucks like you just found a fleet of choppers and decided to take a tour around the world. Who are you with?”

With his smile returning, Wade looks to the woman ahead of him before taking his eyes just past her, looking to the litany of vehicles that occupy the road to her back. “People a lot more powerful than what you’ve got on your ‘six” the man answers, immediately watching the look of doubt creep in across the chancellor’s face. “And where are the rest of them?” Jaime challenges, not taking the man’s claims as seriously as she had minutes prior, intrigued by the implication he’s set forth.

“Pearl Harbor out on O’ahu island- just west of Honolulu” Wade responds with a wide smirk, his answer implying only one thing, which his immediate opposition realises instantly. Her squint fading as much as her doubt does, Jaime’s head pulls back just slightly as the man continues to speak, his answer having provoked more intimidation than any action he’d taken up to that moment.

“That means you’re-” the chancellor begins to reply, only for her thought to be finished by the man across the cracked road from her, his calmness unwavering as the subtle tensions rise within the confines of Jaime’s head. “-what remains of the American empire, yes- you are correct” Wade interjects, letting go of a deep breath as he redirects attention, “and even though I stand before you without ill-intentions, I do take great resentment for the slaying your people committed against mine.”

“Hold on, we didn’t-” Jaime begins to defend, only to be silenced by the man she knows holds higher moral ground than she does. “You didn’t what? Light a fire in our bunker after we’d given you the chance to leave unharmed? Because I know for a fact who instigated that bloodbath and it was not us” Wade remarks, immediately capturing the highest position of the two leaders, speaking down upon the woman from atop his own.

“We know why you wanted to keep the base for yourselves, and it’s the same reason we wanted it back. We didn’t fire a single bullet until after your people shot first- that’s a fact, and you know it” Wade declares, again speaking to an audience that is nothing less than fully standing in attention.

“We could have sought out revenge for all of it. The bloodshed in Colorado, running off Django and starting a revolution- but we didn’t. We stayed in the shadows, bought our time, and made sure we studied you carefully” Wade continues, finally reaching the point of his visit, “and as it turns out, we’ve come to realise that there’s more to gain from keeping you around than there is from squashing you like the pesky little bugs we used to think you were.”

Beginning to let the gravity of the situation sink in, Jaime takes notice of the circumstances surrounding her, though not outnumbered in boots on the ground for the moment, certainly outgunned, outmanned and overpowered by the faction across from her.

“We led the president directly into a shitstorm- literally. And we did so because we knew how deep the swamp ran, and we needed to pry it out at the roots” Wade explains, his voice remaining calm and low, personable with the woman across from him, “strangely enough, running Django out of town proved to us that you wanted the same, exact thing.”

“And what now?” Jaime interjects, finally breaking the uncontested proclamations being made with her interests set on preparing for what’s still ahead, “where do we go from here?” Slightly annoyed by the interruption, Wade takes it as a blessing in disguise, turning his attention toward finishing the business he’d arrived to set in motion.

“We make sure you follow through on the second half of taking power- keeping it” Wade answers, letting his hands fall by each side as he averts his eyes toward the burning tower in the centre of a dead city. “We already have our issues taken care of. Food, electricity, water, safety- we don’t need you” Jaime replies, met with instantaneous threat the moment she finishes her thought.

“No, what you need is to understand what’s staring you in the face” Wade replies, his entire body turned away from the woman in favour of the inferno-raging carcass of a one city-icon. “This isn’t a request for partnership, this is a ‘work with us, or there is no ‘you’’ deal” the man explains, making it clear that there are no options for the Angelino Republic that don’t involve his force in one way or another, “you either play ball or you don’t. We either take this place in spirit or in name.”

Her power infinitely inferior and such a truth being undeniable, Jaime is left standing with her full attention being set on the man across from her, the expression she wears hiding a deep rage that threatens to burst from within her confines. “And what do you have in mind?” the chancellor asks aloud, watching the smile begin to slowly reappear in the corner of the man’s face, his full focus remaining set on the monolith.

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“We shouldn’t even be out here right now” Kayla responds, sat in the passenger seat with her weapon in hand, watching the road pass by, her fiance taking paths left mostly-untravelled since the earliest days of the catalyst. “We’ll turn back if you’re not up for this” Chevy doubles down, a suggestion his child’s mother refuses immediately, the look of determination worn on the woman’s face with pride.

“I’m pointing out the fact that we should be careful. If we get stopped by someone on patrol, we ought to have a better reason for heading so deep in the city than ‘we wanted to find some wanted terrorists’” Kayla reiterates, saying so in a way that earns a chuckle out of the driver. “I’m not kidding” the woman reassures, an implication her partner had no intention of giving.

“No, it’s just- you’re cute when you’re worried” Chevy jokes, receiving a glare as his passenger slowly lifts the gun into the air, shaking it before her fiance’s face as a playful warning.

Slowly rolling to a stop, the truck finds itself surrounded in three directions by a dead-end, a brick wall sitting to each side and just before them. “Well, there goes that plan” Chevy sighs in disappointment, wearing a frown as he sinks into his seat, the obstruction in his path leaving the trail impossible to finish.

“Not quite” Kayla replies, climbing out from her seat and making for the end of the alley whilst her fiance follows closely behind. “Uh, Kay? Do I need to remind you that the only thing ahead of us is a brick wall?” Chevy calls out, climbing onto the ground whilst leaning against his truck’s hood, “this isn’t Harry Potter. You can’t just walk through the wall and expect there to be more than-”

Disregarding her partner’s remarks, Kayla holds her hand out and gently shoves the wall inward, revealing a door perfectly camouflaged with the rest of the building’s exterior. His mouth agape, Chevy watches his fiance turn back toward him, a devilish smirk worn on the face of the woman soon to bear his offspring. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me” the man murmurs beneath his breath, shaking his head as he throws his hands out in disbelief, following his wife through the concealed entrance.

“The place gave out free drinks and I used to date the bartender” Kayla responds, answering her fiance’s obvious inquiries to her knowledge of the layout, a shrug given as they turn the nearest corner. The playful conversation they take part in coming to an immediate stop, the entering couple fall upon the scene of a few dozen souls all standing in collective silence, each set of eyes taken in their direction as they come across the once-bustling barroom.

Looking back without much to say, Chevy and Kayla stare at the audience with an equal amount of hesitancy to speak as the rest do, as unsure of what to say as the supposed peacekeepers are.

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“Enter” Jaime orders, scrawling notes along a black and white map of the republic and its surrounding, equally-decaying area whilst Julia enters. “You called for me?” the visiting woman inquires, watching the tip of the chancellor’s marker take aim at the seat just before her desk, the distant sight of a still-burning skyscraper lighting the evening sky of yet another day passed over the republic.

As instructed, the doctor takes her seat in the well-crafted chair as the woman across from her continues to scrawl endlessly, finishing the illustration in her mind before capping the felt-tip. “They’re not gone” Jaime confesses, placing the blue marker to the side as she couples her hands atop the desk, looking Julia in the eyes as she reiterates herself, “the government- they’re not gone.”

Obviously taken back, Julia leans further into her seat as she lets the information sit with her, the time to let it sink in not afforded as the news continues. “I talked to them earlier this morning. They want to turn the republic into a sanctuary for whatever people are still alive” Jaime explains, proceeding with what she can recollect of importance, “they’ll make sure we’re fed, well-stocked and prepared for the next time the acid storm rolls in.”

“I- I don’t understand” Julia admits, both arms resting against the sides of her chair as she leans forward slightly, “I thought we had everything taken care of, why do we need them?” Without hesitation, Jaime answers without a pause, answering immediately whilst making it obvious that her back is against a wall. “Because we don’t have a choice. Because I don’t have a choice” the chancellor admits, “we either cooperate or we die. Call it what you want, but I don’t call that a choice.”

Unable to find the words, Julia looks to the woman across from her with an expression of astonishment, quite literally at a loss for words aside from one question that soon comes upon her. “Why tell me this?” the doctor queries, leaning back in her seat once more as the question is left floating in search of an answer for a short moment, one it doesn’t take Jaime long to offer.

“Because I need you to cut off the peacekeepers” Jaime answers, sliding out of her chair before wrapping her hands around the stem of a wine glass, “I need them angry. That other side of the coin you were talking about- They want that.” Tilting her head to the side, Julia leaves her seat and approaches the chancellor, who makes her way to the window to continue spectating the burning of the old city’s most prominent landmark.

“And that’s what you want?” Julia replies, holding her place to make sure her orders are not misunderstood, though surprised to hear the answer that leaves the chancellor’s lips. “It doesn’t matter what I want” Jaime answers, taking a sip from her glass as she stares defeatedly at the distant inferno, slowly coming to grips with the reality she’s now faced with, “we’re all just puppets of the N.D.F now.”

== Dire ==