S5, E8 | The One, True Chancellor

“No, I think you’ve lost touch with reality!” Kennedy chuckles, her feet dragging along the ground as she’s forced through the main hallway of the republic’s capitol, shielding her face almost immediately with the expectation of the Californian sun bleeding into the building through the now-parting doors. “Does this little runt ever shut up?” an NDF soldier in heavy armour questions aloud, passing the question to the man whom he walks alongside with a casual reflection.

“She’s Morris’ little sister. Do you really think she’d make this easy on you?” the second guard replies, ignoring the younger sibling’s comments as the teenager pulls her face away from her inner arm, surprised to not find her eyelids shaded red at the intense illumination of daylight. Without a word, Kennedy takes her eyes toward the sky that she’s guided toward, the ropes fashioned around her wrist making it impossible to wriggle away without a challenge.

“The sky is... green?” Kennedy whispers aloud, looking on in awe at the ill colour that the heavens present to her, unsure of what to make of it other than the storm it threatens to cast over the republic. “When did the-?” the teenager asks, only to discover that the men carrying her onward have come to the same stop that she has, a man near the front of the group having already wrapped her restrained around a wooden stake at the centre point of the capitol’s foremost set of stairs.

“Good luck, kid” one of the soldiers behind the republic’s prisoner calls out, taking amusement in the predicament that befalls the young enemy of the state, “let’s hope your sister is as selfless as she is selfish.” Without offering another word, the soldiers who’d escorted Kennedy out to the front steps of the capitol now leave her where she was left, her binds tied to the stake out in the open without any obstruction overhead to protect her from the elements that pose an obvious threat.

“Sorry, little one” a second man calls out, his uniform dawning the insignia of the Angelino Republic, whereas his contemporaries’ had emblazoned the American flag. Visibly apologetic, the man who’d once sworn to the service of Kennedy’s sister retreats with those that he’s meant to serve alongside, taking disgust in the action they partake within where his colleagues take distinct pleasure.

“The little bitch couldn’t aim for shit” Julia groans, sliding her arms into the sleeves of a jacket as she stares through the window of her hospital room. With the left side of her throat heavily bandaged, the chancellor eyes the republic’s downtown with visibly malicious intent, very little of note to offer through her words.

“Send one of your men to fetch Blake and have him post a team around the capitol’s perimeter” Julia carries on, moving past the circumstance that had left her as a patient in her own hospital in favour of what their next plan of attack is, “once word gets back to Jaime about us leaving her sister to die outside the capitol, she’ll do whatever she can to get there.”

“Actually, Blake will no longer be serving as the head of your security detail” Wade interjects, his proclamation being one that earns the chancellor’s full attention, her body turning along with her head as her eyes take to the NDF’s leader. “He, nor those in his ranks, have shown enough competence to be trusted with carrying out duties on behalf of the city or the NDF any further” the man carries on, “for that reason, I’ve chosen to relieve them of their responsibilities.”

“You fired my security detail?” Julia quips back, asking a question that the NDF’s leader has already answered. “I’ve ordered a group of NDF soldiers to serve as your protection from this moment forward. These men have at least proven they are capable of getting the job done when asked” Wade replies, taking no concern over the displeased expression the chancellor returns to him, “from this moment forward, Blake’s services are no longer beholden to this city.”

“You can’t just fire my security deta-” Julia retorts, her obvious dissatisfaction interrupted by the voice of the soul that stands across from her, his interjection proving which of the two holds the greater power over the other. “Ms. Avallone, I can do whatever I please. As the figurehead of the New Democratic Front- and your ticket to Honolulu- I am beholden to no one” Wade declares, his position made unmistakably clear, “if I wish to relieve people of their duties, I do not need permission.”

Though her lips sit slightly apart from each other, the chancellor’s open mouth does not present the man across from her with a retort, but instead complete silence. Instead, Julia presses her teeth together and turns away without a reply, staring back toward the republic she wields the power of whilst continuing to appear incapable of removing her eyes from the sickly glow in the sky.

“How long will it be until the storm?” the chancellor wonders aloud, switching the topic at hand before her pride can present her with the opportunity to show her superior any disrespect or retaliation. “The first lightning strike came in the early hours of the morning. The storm’s coming in from the southeast, so calculations suggest it’ll take slightly longer than usual” Wade answers, watching his subordinate adjust her jacket accordingly, “it should strike no earlier than sundown.”

With a glance at the watch on her wrist, Julia takes note of the smallest hand sitting at the top-most side of the device, the longest hand barely an inch ahead. “If it’s just turned noon, that should give us eight hours or so before we need to send out an ‘immediate shelter’ warning” the chancellor declares, sliding her jacket’s sleeve back to its original position before pulling her long strands of hair out from the coat’s collar, “let’s get this done with.”

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

Staring at the ceiling as the back of his head rests firmly within his pillow, a distraught Blake resides with a blank expression on his face, unable to show more emotion than the loss that comes with having no future of certainty to speak of. “Blake!” his wife calls out from further in their home, the pause that she holds allowing the man an opportunity to reply that he doesn’t take, her voice instead just prompting him to close his eyes and try to ignore it.

“Honey, I need you in here!” the woman calls out once more just seconds later, her voice immediately followed by the repetitive sound of barking not too far off. Again being left with no reply, Blake’s wife carries on with her silence for an even longer period of time, her footsteps drawing closer to the bedroom where her husband still resides, though she does not enter and instead chooses to remain beyond its door.

“Honey, I need you now!” the woman calls out yet again, though her voice sounds much further off than beyond the barrier to their bedroom door, her persistence beginning to annoy the disposed-of security detail, though her distance from the room appears much more odd than it should. “Can’t you leave me alone, please?” Blake calmly asks aloud, his voice barely able to make it past the bedroom door, where he opens his eyes and believes his wife to be.

For a few additional seconds, the man is met with silence as only the barking of his dog fills the air. “Honey, will you get the-” Blake adds on, beginning to speak with the same, calm tone he had initially began speaking in, only for his wife’s voice to call out from further within the home once more, thoroughly confusing the unemployed and scarred individual.

“Honey, please come out here!” the woman proclaims once more, her distance further prompting Blake’s eyes to widen for a moment, only for him to immediately reach for the nightstand. Returning his tuque, sunglasses and gaiter to his head, the man- still in his sleepwear- finally climbs out of bed and makes for the room’s exit, peering around the corner and down the hallway beyond without seeing the woman he’d married.

“Honey!?” Blake shouts, stepping through the door and immediately making for the larger side of the home, stepping through the darkness of a hallway whose every door remains as closed as his own had. Assuming nothing, the unemployed member of Julia’s inner circle continues about his day whilst concealing his identity from the children he anticipates are amidst the process of getting ready for school.

Drawing closer to the barking, Blake rounds the final corner toward his living room before finding the back of a woman’s head standing in the centre of the communal space, staring down at the man’s wife and children, whose hands are restrained to each other’s. “Wha-!?” the unassuming father blurts out, watching the woman’s familiar face turn back to look at him as the shift in her body reveals the gun she holds at the family, though a strike to the head prevents him from finishing the thought.

Hitting the floor hard, Blake’s landing sends a crashing thud throughout the home, disturbing various knick-knacks that line the walls, shaking pinned-up picture frames and triggering the caged-up dog in the corner of the room to begin barking out of anger. “Please, don’t hurt him!” the man’s wife calls out, watching the woman who’d taken aim at her with the pistol glance back and strengthen her aimed position.

“We’ve got no reason to hurt any of you- so long as you do what we say” a voice all-too familiar to Blake’s ears replies, though he fails to pick up on it at first as he struggles to gather his bearings. Without another word, the figure responsible for the surprise assault on the facially-disfigured father grabs him by the neck and leads him up to his knees, the tip of a knife guided up to the skin of the man’s chin from her hand. 

“My glasses! Fix my glasses!” Blake shouts aloud, still yet to collect himself, but adamant that his facial wear be adjusted accordingly. Saying nothing, the person whose hand wraps around the space between his neck and left shoulder keeps her steady grasp on the blade, slowly releasing the man’s flesh from her opposite palm before following suit with his request, gradually correcting the way in which the glasses sit upon her hostage’s face and fixing the tuque that sits atop his head.

“He doesn’t want his kids to see him like... the way he is” Alex remarks, her figure made out more clearly by the man who dawns his best disguise to mask the horrid reality he’s been left to live with, standing just a few feet away from his wife with a weapon directed toward her. “I get it...” the woman doubles down, looking into the glasses that shield the burns the man’s eyes, his only feature slightly-untouched by the flames that had scarred him, “...I do get it.”

“What do you want?” Blake calmly asks, staring into Alex’s eyes before feeling the palm of the figure holding him at knife-point return itself to his inner neck and shoulder. “You know what I want” the familiar voice replies, this time speaking to a man much more capable of recognising the voice that answers his question, watching her figure slowly step around him and drop to a knee, making her eyes level with his own, “and by the sound of it, I’ve only got a few hours to get it done.”

For the first time since his injury, Blake stares forward at the woman who sits upon one knee before him, looking into the eyes of the soul he’d betrayed that very same night. “My sister’s tied to a post just outside the front doors of the capitol. There’s a crowd growing at the bottom of the front steps, and there’s not one little bit of space that the NDF isn’t occupying” Jaime explains, painting the picture that the security detail is seemingly unaware of, “I don’t have time to waste.”

“He was fired last night” the man’s wife remarks, her proclamation one that fails to resonate with either the mother who holds her hostage or the daughter who holds her husband captive. “Fired or not, he knows all the in’s and out’s of that building. And I know for a fact that he knows who to call to figure out which spots they don’t have covered” Jaime replies, still holding her blade against the man’s flesh without plans of retreating without something of value to take for herself.

“Even if you got past them, you’d have no shot at getting your sister free without them catching you” Blake rebukes, challenging the woman’s conclusion, but finding no relent in her presentation. “I have it on good authority that at least a sizeable chunk of the NDF will already have their hands full by the time I get up there” Jaime responds, carefully switching the hand she wields the knife with whilst exchanging her hold on the man with the now-free one.

“What I need out of you is a way to slip through them so- by the time they have other matters to attend to- I’m already inside enemy lines” the deposed chancellor concludes, having already bested her once-ally, and now setting her sights upon fulfilling her retribution, “whatever you do after that doesn’t matter to me. As long as I can get past them before they have the chance to act, you can take your family and head for the hills.”

“You expect me to believe you’ll let me go?” Blake retorts, calling his former superior’s bluff whilst shaking his head, momentarily glancing back toward his family with every opportunity he has to, “you want after Wade and Julia- but I’m just as much of the reason why they got into power as they are. If you want the two of them dead- that means you also want me dead.”

Keeping silent and to herself, Jaime stares into the centre of the man’s sunglasses before letting go of his body, letting her hand fall toward her lap for a moment before suddenly lifting it to rip the covers over his eyes away from his face. “Stop! No!” Blake cries out, pulling back before feeling her hand press against his neck, pulling him back up to the blade and looking him in the eyes as he begs.

“The fact that you can’t envision showing your face to your own children is more than enough punishment to last a lifetime in my eyes” Jaime rebukes, taking her hand away from the man’s shoulder for a second time and slipping her finger into the top of his gaiter, holding it there for a moment. “I’m walking into the belly of the beast today, and I’m willing to sacrifice knocking three birds out with one stone in return for a leg up” the survivor remarks, “give me that and I’ll consider us even.”

“If you really want to protect your kids from seeing you as you are, you’ll take her up on her offer” Alex quips from off to the side, keeping the rest of the man’s family at bay with the firm hold of her weapon, speaking to the man from the heart, “she’ll take off whatever face covers you’ve got left, slit your throat, let your family watch you die and take her chances at getting into the capitol without your help if you don’t.”

With his lip quivering out of fear, Blake pulls his eyes away from the Morris family’s matriarch and steadies them upon Julia’s predecessor, the unwavering line of sight she holds upon him making it clear that Alex’s conclusion is accurate.

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“Even if we’re getting closer to the handoff every day, I’d still appreciate it if you allowed me to run this city undisturbed for whatever time I have left with it” Julia remarks, remaining seated at her chancellor’s desk as her colleague occupies the visitor’s half. “Ms. Avallone, you’ve played pretend-leader for almost a year at this point. I think you’ve had your fun” Wade explains, calmly seated with one leg crossed atop the other.

“Who says I’m having fun with this job?” Julia questions sincerely, leaning back in her seat as the world around the republic’s capitol building grows increasingly green. “Do you think I like spending every day having to step around eggshells just to make sure whatever call I make doesn’t go against the best interest of the NDF?” the chancellor carries on, challenging her acquaintance’s line of thought, “do you think having my every call second-guessed is appealing?”

“I don’t think you care about what is- or is not- appealing so long as it lands you in that beach house you’ve been working toward ever since taking office” Wade responds, a smile carried over his face. “A beach house that I’m no longer entitled to if you end up dead” Julia corrects, letting one arm sit atop her lap whilst her dominant one rests along the side of her chair, “and ever since I got a whiff of Jaime, you’ve been doing everything in your power to get that way.”

“It’s easy to consider yourself untouchable when you’re surrounded by the best that the world’s greatest military power ever has to offer” Wade reassures, the smile only further establishing itself along his face. “It’s unfortunate that such a power’s leadership ultimately landed us where we are now” Julia cuts back, ignoring the sound of hassle that her ears barely capture in the distance of the capitol, “I’m sure the people in charge back then thought they were untouchable too, right?”

“What’s done is done. The world that we live in now- one ripe for the NDF to retake and subject to the occasional acid rain storm every now and then- is all we’re left with and can work for” Wade retorts, ending the woman’s line of thought before it can unravel too far, “and in a few week’s time, the New Democratic Front will begin that process by officially reclaiming Los Angeles- reunited- as its own.”

“Then let’s hope our plan today goes off without a hitch” Julia replies, watching the NDF’s leader grow more comfortable in the give that his chair provides. “Hitch or no hitch- I don’t see a reason why anything about this should sit too heavily on my conscience” Wade rebukes, shrugging in his seat whilst he speaks, quickly fixing his tie as he sinks further into the chair, “I’ll give Ms. Morris credit for where she left this city, but she’s hardly the boogeyman you-”

“Excuse me, sir?” a man in a suit calls out from the office’s doorway, earning the refocused attention of the NDF leader upon his request. “Yes, Patrick?” Wade replies, forced to sit upright just slightly in order to look toward his own security’s high-ranking detail. “There’s an issue at the steps of the capitol that I think you might want to see” Patrick answers, leaving the quip at that for those in his presence to make of.

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“Get out of here you dirty twats!” a man in a windbreaker exclaims, spitting similar vigour to what most of his Angelino peers do, their words directed at the large group that share the space of public gathering with them. “May glory befall the Republic, may she stand in spite of those who did her wrong!” Carly cries out, standing at the forefront of her peacekeeper brothers and sisters at the bottom-most step of the republic’s capitol, their collective voices ringing through the air in unison.

“May glory befall the Republic, may those she loves never stop singing her song!” she continues to cry out, leading those behind her in chanting the anthem that had remained a tightly-kept secret, one for only the ears of those that remained perceptive enough to hear them. Being made privy to this disruption, Julia and Wade join the suited soldiers in stepping out to the steps of the once-city hall, their presence immediately being noticed by the teenager tied to the wooden stake.

“May glory befall the Republic, may justice befall those who smother her name!” the peacekeepers continue to exclaim, crying out with the spirit of the republic’s true underground revolution. “Do you see Jaime anywhere in there?” Julia questions, standing to the right of the NDF’s leader with a few feet of space to spare between them, a quiet shake of Wade’s head making the answer clear.

“May glory befall the Republic, may those she loves forever love her the same!” Carly continues to cry out, her words caught by Kennedy’s ear and bringing a smile to her face, aware that those she’d chosen to stand beside have done much the same- just as their anthem would’ve wanted. “Do you see any of the others in there then?” Julia questions aloud, again receiving no response of valuable use, the united voices of those she’d once guided into a rebellion now defeating those of the Angelino’s.

With a pause, the peacekeepers pull apart along the frontlines and make room for those within their ranks to step forward, revealing themselves to the figures that be. “Fuck yeah” Kennedy murmurs, watching on with a smile from her imprisoned place as three familiar souls step into the public’s eye for the first time in nearly a year.

“Boss!?” one of the NDF’s leaders proclaims, looking back at their commander whilst patiently awaiting his orders. Slightly displeased to find those he does, Wade quietly stares at the rebellion group’s front line before taking his eyes back to the subordinate who’d looked for his approval, nodding in the man’s direction and granting his men permission to descend the capitol’s steps, their collective intent being to arrest the fugitives familiar to Kennedy.

“Live or die, fight with pride- she stands tall!” Chevy, Kayla, and Alex call out, joining Carly and the peacekeepers in putting up a front that the NDF, nor the republic’s forces, truly know the intention of, “heart beating- no retreat in the face of war!” Looking toward each other, members of the republic’s own military take notice of their former commander in the crowd, quietly wondering amongst each other whether or not their allegiances reside where they’re meant to.

“Put your hands where we can see them!” the highest-ranking member of the NDF’s on-duty fleet calls out, aiming his rifle at the Morris’ matriarch, the married couple she’s befriended, and the opposition group’s newest leader with the intent of seeing them stand down. Unwavering in their positions, Carly, Chevy, Kayla, and Alex continue to cry the tune of the republic as their oppressors approach, “glory, glory to the Republic...”

On command, the peacekeepers fall silent at the conclusion of the anthem’s penultimate line, joining the members of the republic that oppose them in staring toward the top steps of the capitol in shock and awe, some unable to believe who they’re seeing whilst others cheer in the long-awaited sight.

“...Or may she fall defiant forevermore” Jaime concludes, loud enough for only the republic’s figureheads to overhear as the occupies the space between them, both sets of eyes taking toward her with surprise and disbelief. “Guar-!” Julia exclaims with widened eyes, unable to finish her thought before her predecessor adjusts her stance and punches her in the mouth, only to follow it up by quickly ducking a sneak attack from the NDF’s leader and dragging her blade against his sternum.

“Ahh!” Wade grunts in pain, clutching at his stomach before falling over, staring toward the desired sight of his former subordinate’s face beyond the backdrop of the ill-coloured sky. With her knife in tow, Jaime stands over her staggered enemies with flared nostrils and an odd composure, her presence only now taken notice of by the two force’s various militants.

With their weapons aimed, the NDF’s soldiers attempt to ascend the stairs once more before finding their efforts interrupted by an unexpected turn of events. Grasping her blade even firmer, Jaime stares at the republic’s fleet of militants and quickly takes the collar of Wade’s shirt into her grasp, pulling his head closer toward her knife as a way of convincing them to stand down, only for shock to come over her own face as the men she once manned the helm of carry past her.

“Put your weapons down!” one of the men at the frontline of the republic’s soldiers calls out, descending the few steps at the top of the capitol as they take aim at the NDF’s forces, surprising the New Democratic Front, the peacekeepers, and the remaining citizens in betraying the current regime.

“What are you doing!?” Julia screams out, pushing herself off the ground whilst holding her jaw, running after the men her command is supposed to be followed by before leaping back, watching the nearest member of the republic’s militia turn their gun against her. Standing by with Wade still in her reach, Jaime stares toward the opposing forces with widened eyes, unsure of whether or not the sight that’s unfolding before her is real.

“What’s going on!?” Alex calls out, struggling to process the sight of the Angelino Republic’s military holding that of the NDF’s back, preventing the superior forces from interfering with her daughter’s mission. Ushering not a single word in response, Chevy and Kayla take each other’s hands and ascend the first few steps of the capitol, drawing closer to the first wave of NDF guards, who refuse to open fire against their republic-serving colleagues despite the danger to their leader.

Relinquishing her grasp on Wade’s collar, Jaime stands upright just a few feet away from where her sister is restrained, realising that the republic’s leader may have changed nearly one year prior, but their loyalty to her never had. “Men and women of the Angelino Republic... Protect Chancellor Morris at all costs!’ Chevy howls from one of the bottom-most steps of the city hall, his voice reaching the ears of the deposed chancellor, the woman’s sister, and those who’d ousted her.

“Yes, sir!” the same soldier who’d turned his weapon against Julia shouts back, his place amongst the frontline taken over by one of his peers, his motivation now dedicated to keeping the faux-chancellor in place. “What’s happening?” Jaime questions aloud, struggling to fully comprehend that the men whose services the once-doctor had stolen from her have now been returned.

“They’re turning against Julia!” Kennedy screams out, watching her sister’s face turn back toward her as the answer is called out. “You bastards! I’m your leader!” Julia wails out, berating the men whose actions are supposed to be dictated by her for their betrayal, the efforts she takes in scolding them doing little to change the fact that she’s now been rendered powerless over the republic, its people, and its military.

“Goddamnit” Wade hisses, speaking through his teeth as he quickly scoots away from the knife-wielding survivor whose leadership he’d disowned once she’d been ousted, reclaiming her full attention as he attempts to create separation between them. For a few seconds, Jaime pulls her eyes away from the NDF’s wounded commander and looks back toward the republic’s front line, their devotion to her made resoundingly clear as they answer her call to action.

“Cut my sister free” Jaime orders the man who’d held Julia at gunpoint, his eyes taking toward her before joining his head in nodding, retreating from the ex-chancellor’s attention and hurrying toward Kennedy’s aid, quickly slicing at her restraints and sparing her from harm. “And here I thought it was just your security detail and closest confidants that were incompetent” Wade grunts, staring at an irate Julia as her eyes meet his own, “it turns out... I backed the wrong horse.”

“You’re not much better looking yourself, asshole” Jaime quips, regaining the injured founder’s line of sight as she slowly closes the distance between them, his retreating crawl the only thing that keeps him from facing the consequences he’s due for. “You were the one that convinced yourself that you were untouchable” Julia angrily bites back, speaking with a striking amount of composure as she grimaces at the man.

“I was under the belief that you were the true chancellor of this city, you wretched bitch!” Wade shouts back, a vein protruding from his forehead as he climbs to a knee, struggling to stand upright once more. “Say no further... That was the only mistake you needed to make” Jaime responds, speaking with the newfound reassurance that her blind sides are covered and her command is as intact as it ever was, each word uttered with the utmost confidence, “this republic has only one, true chancellor.”

Unanimous in their subscription to such a declaration, the Angelino Republic remains at Jaime’s guard, unrelenting in their act as a blockade between the NDF as its leader, leaving the man at the mercy of their true commander. “Perhaps you’re right... Perhaps I underestimated the power you wield over this place” Wade responds, finally making it back to his feet, though partially hunched forward as his hands press against the gash on his abdomen.

Slipping her hands away from the rope that had restrained her at the wrists, Kennedy watches on with the soldiers of both forces at the conversation had amongst the capitol’s top step, the leader of the world’s new direction face-to-face with its prodigal daughter. “One thing- however- that I’m certain I haven’t underestimated is your intellect” Wade continues, watching the returned chancellor’s slow march toward him pause momentarily, “specifically... your common sense.”

Holding his hand out as a precaution, Wade keeps the space between himself and the chancellor as long as he can, pausing his retreat just as she halts her progression. “He’s all talk, Jaime” Kennedy remarks, seething at the NDF’s leader and the gutless display of self-preservation he presents, “do the world a favour and finish what you started.”

“Sentencing me to death would do nothing but sentence everyone else here- yourself, your sister, your family, everyone- to death as well” Wade quickly responds, briefly looking toward the younger Morris sibling before turning his sights back toward her elder sister. “Without me, there is no future for this city. The second I die is the point of no return for your republic, Jaime” the man carries on, explaining himself fluently, “if I can’t have this place, nobody can.”

Taking four steps forward with an increased grasp of the knife, Jaime’s progression is halted once more by a voice she’d not anticipated being worth anything to her. “He’s telling the truth, Jaime!” Julia calls out, her balled fists hanging by each of her sides as the scenario plays out, watching the woman’s eyes fall upon her, “if Wade dies, the rest of the NDF is supposed to fall back and retreat for Pearl Harbor.”

“Bullshit!” Kennedy shouts back, only for her rebellious remark to be discouraged by the same man who’d once held her older sister beneath his thumb. “It’s not bullshit. The NDF’s orders are to retreat for Pearl Harbor, report the city as a lost cause, and authorise a missile strike that would render it inhospitable for anyone- both ourselves or people like you- to live in” Wade hurriedly reassures, wincing in pain whilst keeping himself standing upright, “without me... this place goes away.”

“Jaime, he’s not lying!” Julia cries out, doubling down on the man’s claims beyond what Kennedy can muster. “If you kill him, everyone here dies!” she carries on, remaining stood in the same place the gun had been drawn toward her, the event officially marking the end of her reign over the republic, “maybe you don’t care about that. Maybe you didn’t expect to make it out of this alive, but I highly doubt you’d be willing to kill Chevy and Kayla, or your mom, or your sister for this.”

“She wouldn’t, which is why she hasn’t killed me yet!” Wade shouts back, dissuading his former business partner from speaking any further than she already has, preferring to take over the mantle himself. Trying to catch his breath as he drops to a knee for a moment, the man extends his hand toward Jaime as a gesture to not capitalise on his weakness, pleading with her to afford him the chance to explain himself.

“I’m not going to pretend like I’d be willing to leave you with this city, because I’m not. However, what I would be willing to leave you with is a choice” Wade continues, pausing for a moment as Jaime’s chin lifts, suggesting the woman is willing to at least hear his offer out. 

“I respect you, Ms. Morris. I’m very displeased to see how easily Ms. Avallone had manipulated you, but that displeasure is nothing compared to how impressive the loyalty of your subordinates is” the man proceeds, his hand gesturing toward the armed forces that stand at her every demand, “for every second that I live, I will forever be kicking myself for underestimating just what kind of impact you’ve left this city- and its people- with.”

“Yeah, you fucked up” Kennedy quips from aside, quickly being met with the founder’s agreement. “I certainly did. I underestimated your people, Jaime. I underestimated your replacement’s true pull with this city, and I underestimated you” Wade rejoinders, gingerly lifting himself back off of a knee whilst Julia scoffs at how easily his tune had changed, “but, I’d like you to allow me the opportunity to make this right.”

“How the fuck do you think you can accomplish that?” Jaime inquires, shaking her head with an incredible doubt over her adversary’s claims. “First of all, I can guarantee your loved ones safety. I think assuring you that your family, and the married couple that you’re close with, and anyone else you may have fondness for will be safe is a good place to start” Wade replies, viewing the conversation as one worthy of believing there will be a preferable outcome to.

“And while I can’t stand for the continuation of your- Angelino Republic- any longer, I can stand for allowing you to remain in power whilst the NDF ventures further inland” Wade proceeds, unable to see the scowl emerge over Julia’s face a few paces behind himself, “I’m not going to be able to stay in Los Angeles forever. Eventually, I’m gonna need to leave someone to look after it while we move on with reclaiming the lower forty-eight, and who better for that to be than you, Ms. Morris?”

Pressing her lips together, Jaime stares into the man’s frantic eyes and takes notice of the softening to the gel he’d styled his hair with, allowing for strands to slip out of their previously-fixed positions and hang in front of his eyes. “You’ve already proven your leadership qualities to me, and now- you’ve proven to be the kind of person an army of men and women would stop at nothing less than to die for!” the wounded founder declares, a smile coming over his face.

“I may not value the republic in the way that you do, but I certainly value what it’s become thanks to you! Through it, you have become a leader that the people of the old world could’ve only ever dreamed to fall under the leadership of” Wade begins to conclude, feeling as though his point has been made as resoundingly as it’s ever going to be, winding down to the final stretch, “believing someone like that could simply be pushed out of power was a mistake.”

“Of course it was” Jaime calmly replies, watching the man across from her vehemently nod in agreement with the claim. “Yes, yes! Of course it was!” Wade laughs with amusement, believing himself and the woman who’d given him the wound he struggles to keep from continuing to spill blood to finally be back upon the same page, “I’ll admit that it was nothing less than a terrible, terrible mistake! So please, Ms. Morris... Let me correct that mistake.”

Keeping to herself, Kennedy stands by as her focus turns away from the hunched-over man a few yards away and takes back toward her older sister, unsure of what outcome is to unfold. Worried that she already knows what call is about to be made, Julia reserves her suspicions and holds her breath for seconds on end, feeling the weight of the tension that arises with every tick of the clock that goes without a reply.

Hanging her head for a moment, Jaime stares at the ground before looking back to the knife, her grasp on the weapon releasing just slightly for the first time since launching her attack. Thinking to herself, the chancellor stares out toward the crowd of peacekeepers who she’d earned the trust of through promising for a better future, only to set her sights on the few figures that stand at the forefront of them, considering the comfort that comes in assuring their safety.

Pulling her eyes away from the populous that endures the threat of the storm their green heavens threaten to rain down whenever it pleases in order to bear witness to the outcome of this showdown, Jaime takes her eyes back to the blade that sits in her palm. Parting her lips, the chancellor stares at the ground and lets her knife-wielding hand slowly return to her side, appearing to relinquish her intentions of using it to finish her mission.

“Everyone knows how this is supposed to end” she mutters, afforded the silence by the three figures that stand before her, within earshot of her words as they’re now impossible to ignore. “It’s the only thing that gets me to sleep, it’s the only thing that keep me going, it’s the only thing I’ve been thinking about for so, so long” Jaime doubles down, speaking toward the ground whilst those within her company listen on, one pleased to do so whilst the others have no choice.

“And now that I’m here, it doesn’t even feel like the thing that lulled me to sleep, but- instead- the dream that waited for me once my eyes actually stayed shut” she continues, the remark confusing the three that stand before her, unsure of where her remarks are leading. “Maybe I just devoted so much of myself to it that it no longer even feels real” Jaime proclaims, unsure of which is more likely, “but regardless, I know how this is supposed to end.”

Straightening his stance upright, Wade remains clutching at his wound as the chancellor’s slow approach resumes once more, though her hand wields the knife in a much less threatening manner. “It may not always seem like it, but I’m pretty sure everyone else does too” Jaime continues to declare, a smile beginning to sprout upon her face, “they might not admit it, but they all know the same exact thing that’s coming from all of this.”

“You’re not a stupid woman, Ms. Morris” Wade responds, assuring the woman that her intellect is more powerful than the drive that carries her onward, “you’re not selfish, either. You know what the right call is, and the right call is what’ll offer everyone here the best outcome.”

“The best outcome doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the right call, Wade” Jaime retaliates, shaking her head as she pauses her forward steps, the man’s feet no longer retreating. “In wanting revenge against you and Julia, I’m also admitting that there’s only one way out for me” the woman continues, no longer receiving pushback from the NDF’s founder, “and with all of this dreaming that I’ve been doing, it really feels like the right call is the one that brings me back to reality.”

“Jaime-” Julia calls out, taking notice of the slight shift in her predecessor’s voice, though her call out of the woman’s name fails to prevent her from carrying on. “The Republic was a dream- a great dream- but one that- no matter what- doesn’t survive this” Jaime progresses, taking another step toward Wade, who lifts his chin and awaits the woman’s arrival toward him, “and even if it’s the last thing I do- with or without your help, Wade- I’ll make sure my loved ones make it out of this.”

“You’re making a mistake, Ms. Morris” Wade responds, assuring the woman that the conclusion he believes she’s coming around to is the one she’ll regret for the limited time she has left. “No, the mistake that I made was the one that got me pushed out of power, Wade” Jaime corrects, shaking her head with an increasing smile, “that was the last mistake I will ever make.”

“Jaime, all of this goes up in smoke if you follow through with this!” Julia warns, drawing the same conclusion as her superior and the woman who holds the fate of the circumstance within her hand. “The republic is already doomed, Julia. A pipedream is still a dream, and saving what’s already been sentenced to death is just that kind of pipedream” Jaime retorts, “and maybe it’s too late for my dream to have a happy ending, but I know it’s not too late to do this...”

Firming her grasp on the knife, Jaime closes the distance between herself and the NDF’s leader, who grimaces in preparation and presses his eyes shut, watching the woman’s arm swing back and ready itself to propel forward. “It’s not too late to wake up!” the chancellor declares, lunging forward and piercing Wade’s sternum with the tip of the blade, every last inch of the knife plunging into the man’s flesh before quickly being ripped out, bringing the man to his knees.

Having done as she’d set out to do, Jaime recalls one of their earliest conversations and the irony that’d befallen the vow she’d made to him before departing from their dinner table. Leaning down with the blood-soaked blade in her hand, the chancellor listens to the man’s grunts as the blood oozes from the wound she’d made, getting close to his ear and speaking in a whisper the declaration she’d promised to show him out of this life with.

“Even if it’s upon its final hours, it will die just as it lived like I told you it would...” Jaime hisses, watching the man struggle for air as his face takes toward her, looking the woman in the eyes as his final moments are spent bearing witness to her declaration, “...as my republic.”

Trying to capture a final breath, Wade’s airways fill up before he can utter a response, sending his eyes toward the ground that his body soon collapses the rest of the way toward, his death marking the impending end of the great republic as it stood. With her knife in hand, Jaime stands back toward her feet as smiles come over the face of the republic’s frontline, the sound of cheers shared between both the nation’s law-abiding civilians and its rule-bending peacekeepers.

Pulling in a deep breath without awareness over what is still to come, Chevy, Kayla, Alex and Carly join in the festivities with a nod of reassurance once their friend- the chancellor- looks toward them. Smiling all the same, Kennedy watches her sister’s face take toward her for a moment before their collective attention sets upon the one figurehead that remains, Julia’s sight taking toward the younger sibling at first before settling on Jaime, whose dream has yet to be fully awakened from.

== Dire ==