S8, E2 | With the Snap of My Fingers

“Thank you for your time and your service, sir” Jade remarks, smiling at the man as he climbs out of his seat with a nod, tears streaming down his freshly-cleaned face as he walks for the door. Holding a stare toward the ground as he stands in the corner of the room, Emilio lets the information settle with him as he waits for the newly-returned pilot-turned-captain to depart, only to look up when the man suddenly turns back without warning.

“What will become of their bodies?” the distraught survivor wonders aloud, stopping in the doorway with eyes upon the seated woman, watched on by her predecessor. Surprised by the question, Jade looks at the surface of her desk for a moment as she ponders an answer, struggling to find one worthy of the sacrifice made. “If you’re looking for an honest answer, it’s that I’m not sure we’ll be able to bring them back home” the new leader of Nova Scotia confesses, “I’m sorry.”

Hanging his head, the saddened pilot hangs his head and nods with the faintest smile he can muster, slipping through the door and politely closing it on his way out. Letting a silent breath roll through her lips, Jade pulls back in her seat whilst staring at the top of her right hand as it rests at her side. “I guess I’ll take that as my cue to leave” Emilio comments, stepping forward en route to the door as his successor looks back to him.

“Why would it be?” Jade questions aloud, prompting the man to cease his casual stroll only a few steps ahead of where it had begun, his confused squint finding its way back to the Cumberland leader-turned-voice of the new world. “Because it’s the middle of the afternoon and you’ve got plenty of stuff on your plate” Emilio responds, pointing at the door before watching the chancellor’s eyes take toward it’s direction.

“Are you trying to show me where the door is? Because I know that” Jade responds, lifting both hands off the leather armrests as she holds their palms toward the ceiling, “What I don’t know is why my busy schedule would be your cue to leave.” For a moment, the man stands in silence with eyes on the chancellor, the rest of his body soon turning toward her just the same.

“Because you’re the chancellor, we’re at war, and this is your job now” Emilio explains in quick succession, lifting a finger on his left hand for each point that he offers, “I know nothing more that you haven’t already been told.”

“I don’t want you here because of what you know, I want you here because of who you are” Jade responds, only deepening the confused look that she receives. “Listen, I’m sure most of the people here are people that I can trust, but I just don’t trust them yet” the new chancellor admits, climbing out of her seat to join the man who’d braved the transition period between chancellors, “In due time, I’m sure I will. But until then, I want you around wherever I go.”

“You seem to forget that I have friends to look after and a life to live in all of that” Emilio quickly rebuttals, noticing a lack of concern in the face that stares back at him. “Alicia and Franklin have each other, Jack and Lauren have each other, the siblings have each other, and that girl I hear you’ve reunited with has a new, mostly-damaged boyfriend looking after her” Jade proceeds, waving a hand toward the door as she steps beyond the man, “as for Salem, I’m not really sure she wants anyone looking after her.”

“She doesn’t, that’s why she left a while ago” Emilio replies, watching the chancellor suddenly turn back with a perplexed visage, hearing the comment without fully convincing herself that it means what it’s presented as. “She decided that if she couldn’t be happy in Nova Scotia, she’d never be happy unless it was beyond these walls” the one-time politician clarifies, “she took off with her rifle and she’s not coming back.”

Without a chance in her expression for a few seconds, Jade allows the man’s conclusion to bring her face toward the window that sits behind her desk. “Well that’s a shame. I always thought very highly of her” the new chancellor confesses with a deflated sigh, shaking her head with disappointment before returning her focus to the gentleman at hand, “anyway, your friends are accounted for. As for that life I heard you lived, I doubt there’s much business to tend to on that island anymore.”

“The bartering system doesn’t die just because I can’t cross a bridge anymore. Besides, Courtney and I usually did our bartering here anyway” Emilio corrects, watching the woman approach him with the continued sway of her face. “It doesn’t matter. Your friends are safe and I’d make sure that neither you or Courtney ever had to barter again as long as we keep this place afloat” Jade concludes, unwavering in her stance, “besides, if you really want to look after your friends... There’s no better place for you to keep them safe then right here helping make those calls.”

“Jade, this isn’t the job-” Emilio attempts to again refuse, only for his renewed attempt to fall on deaf ears at the weight of an interjection, one that the new chancellor refuses the chance to proceed. “I don’t care what you do or don’t want, Emilio. If I’m going to lead this community, I’m going to do it my way. I’ve never done it any other way, and I’m not going to start now” Jade explains, “you kept Cumberland together even when I couldn’t, and for that... your help is invaluable to me.”

“If it were invaluable, then I could ask for anything that I wanted and get it with the snap of your fingers” Emilio jokes with a grin, lowering his chin before watching the chancellor’s persistent expression of seriousness accommodate the lifting of her hand as she snaps her fingers. “Consider me your fairy godmother from now on if you please. Name your price whenever you want and you’ve got it” Jade responds, offering him the verbal vow of a blank cheque.

“I always had Archie, and Ollie, and Isaac... and before you make your jokes... Isaac... my new bodyguard... does not count” Jade quips with the lift of her finger, amusing the reluctant, tan-skinned survivor enough for his eyes to bow and lips to part for a chuckle. “I always had them by my side. I was only ever as good of a leader as the people I surrounded myself with” the chosen successor confesses, “they’re in Cumberland and I need a new set of McKee’s. I’m choosing you.”

“If you’re choosing me, then you’re choosing the rest of my friends too” Emilio responds, lifting his eyebrows alongside the rest of his head as he lays in the terms that he assumes would be a deal breaker. Surprised instead, Jade lifts her hand into the air once more and snaps her fingers. “...Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo, asshole” the chancellor concludes to the bewilderment of her well-distinguished acquaintance, their eyes connecting once more as she doubles down, “are we on the same page now?”

With parted lips, Emilio watches the woman’s hand fall back to her side before resetting his eyes upon his superior’s own, the gape of his mouth sealing up like torn pieces of plastic being heated back together. As his shoulders fall, the nearly-free, short-termed chancellor leans his head toward one shoulder, visibly displeased with the answer he wishes not to give, but knowing well enough that it’s what’s meant to be uttered.

= Rise is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and his entity of Pacer1 from the start of Season 3 onwards, including the first two seasons of Rise: Remastered =

“Do I appear like a man who wants to be informed of how this happened?” Gamble questions whilst leaning back in the seat of his desk, both hands pressing the tips of their fingers against each other as the large windows behind the national sovereign shed light upon his figure. “I only want to know who’s responsible, why this was possible, and what we’re going to do to fix this monumental error” the man calmly remarks, looking toward people with equal reservation to each other.

For a few seconds, the man is left without an answer to his inquiry whilst looking at those who stand before him, eyes drifting from one side of the room to the other. “Don’t all of you speak up at once now” Gamble sarcastically remarks, upholding his composure before the only woman in the room steps forward to answer. “Mr. Gamble, you’re responsible” Bristol answers, watching the man’s eyes take toward him a blink once without adjusting their role in the blank expression that he carries.

“You laid out the conditions to the ship’s staff on how the routine was meant to occupy through the night” the woman doubles down, speaking freely without fear over what’s to come of her comments. “When they brought up the need for security, you informed them that those resources were better spent on our electrical infrastructure while we were trying to become energy-independent” Bristol concludes, “you believed there wasn’t a need to fear foreign invaders launching an attack on our ships once the bridge’s connection to Prince Edward was severed on account of the fact that they’d be cut off from mainland Nova Scotia.”

With the slightest parting of his lips, Gamble soon lets his eyes fall just slightly whilst the rest of his posture remains as stiffened and statue-esque as it had been. “Not my finest moment at the helm, I suppose” the national sovereign confesses, looking at the curves in the staining of his desk before raising his eyes to the fleet of men that stand before him, his lips finally parting more thoroughly before his thoughts are interrupted by the sound of ringing.

“Will you excuse me, gentlemen and Ms. Saville?” Gamble queries, watching the men file out of the room in a line as he picks up the phone, watching Bristol assume the rearmost position of the group as he waits to address the caller until the room is cleared of all but his presence. “This is the office of Andrew Gamble” the man greets, listening to the sound of a feminine throat clear as it prepares to speak.

“This is Jade McKee calling on behalf of Nova Scotia. For all matters regarding Nova Scotia, I will be the woman who you will be in contact with from this point forward” the new chancellor remarks, prompting her new adversary to lower his head with a curious gaze. “Has Emilio Vasquez fallen upon ill health in the hours since accusing me of your former leader’s untimely demise?” Gamble questions back, unable to see the grin that comes over his face.

“I’m currently sitting behind a desk that’s situated in a room with the name tag of ‘chancellor’ on the wall just beyond the door, Mr. Gamble” Jade responds with amusement, “for clarification, I’m insinuating that the desk I sit at no longer belongs to anyone else.” With an expressive widening of his eyes for only a brief moment, Gamble feigns impression before returning to his unbothered demeanour, the steady, emotionless tone of his voice remaining perfectly preserved.

“If this is your way of informing me that yet another leadership change has taken shape in Nova Scotia, I’d prefer that you’d call me when one happens that actually lasts” Gamble rebuttals sarcastically, this time earning a chuckle from the woman on the opposite end of the call from him. “I assure you, Mr. Gamble... I’m not going anywhere” Jade retorts, amusing those that share the office with her as she leans against her desk.

“Now, from where I sit, it seems like the fourteen ships that sit at my coastline aren’t going anywhere either” Jade responds, hearing no reaction from the man whose visibly displeased, yet oddly-unmoved expression is kept from her face by the safety of their distance. “If this is a call simply to gloat, I have much more important matters to attend to, Ms. McKee” Gamble proceeds to comment, only for the woman’s quick reply to prevent him from ending the call.

“Mr. Gamble, this call has nothing to do with updating you of my status or gloating. It has everything to do with giving you one last chance to read the room” Jade responds, earning the national sovereign’s interest out of curiosity alone and nothing else. “We know exactly what game you’re playing and you know exactly what game we’re playing. So, at this rate, why not get all the cards out on the table?” the chancellor challenges, nodding to herself as she looks at the company she’s surrounded by, “let’s see who’s really got the better hand.”

With the faintest flaring of his nostrils and the deep press that his lips take to one another, Gamble remains quiet for a moment before pressing the tops of his two primary fingers to the base of his chin. “I’m all ears, Ms. McKee” he concedes, leaning back into his seat whilst the phone presses gently against his left ear, his non-dominant arm laying firmly upon the side of his seat.

“We may not have the arsenal of ships that you did, but make no mistake about it... We have ships” Jade explains, a conclusion that the national sovereign had already come to well before. “We now both have ships, but only we have air support. Aside from a handful of private helicopters, the only side here that can control the airspace is ours” the chancellor carries on, “in addition to this, we’ve also come into a third method of transportation that you cannot account for.”

Sitting closest to the front of the chancellor’s desk, Emilio glances to the side with a bewildered expression, finding himself surprised to discover a similar look upon Isaac’s face. Glancing back, the rest of his group quietly occupying the room hold just the same amount of puzzlement as what’s carried in Courtney’s visage, just as lost as everyone other than the woman on the phone.

Unsure of what’s meant by that, Gamble takes a moment to sit within silence whilst trying to figure out whether or not he can come up with the answer himself. “Enlighten me, Ms. McKee. I’m stumped” the national sovereign replies, only to find an obviously-feigned tone of seduction being given back to him through the phone.

“Oh, Mr. Gamble. I don’t feel like you’re playing seriously” Jade responds in a tone that, whilst intending to mock a sexually-frustrated quip, comes off more antagonistic than anything else, “I’ve shown you mine, and now it’s your turn.” Rolling his eyes, Gamble looks toward the corner of his room for a second before aggravatedly stepping away from his chair, snatching a hold of the desktop phone before approaching the harbour-viewing window in the back of his office.

“We hold the sympathies of a public that will now view you as the uncooperative side that won’t let them go home. We hold your residents within our borders that can very easily go from being refugees to hostages” Gamble comments, bobbing his head as his voice becomes slightly more combative, “now go ahead and enlighten me on this third method of transportation.”

Pouting her lip, Jade pulls back in her seat and looks at the ground, bobbing her head from side to side as she puts on the voice of a little girl, refusing to take the rival leader seriously. “I don’t wanna” she mocks, drawing the ire of the man that begins to lose his patience with the opposing political faction.

“Ms. McKee, if you’re not going to take this seriously, then this conversation has no-” Gamble begins to reply, his tone growing just slightly more irritated in a way that is immediately picked up on. “I wouldn’t expect to continue being able to ship refined oil overseas from your new little plant in Newfoundland for much longer, Mr. Gamble. That’s all I’ll say on the matter for this time being” Jade interrupts, following through on at least giving the national sovereign a glimpse at her hand as advertised.

His aggravated expression turning to one of surprise, Gamble’s face soon quickly shifts from the expression of bewilderment to one of distinctive uncertainty. “I’ll take that silence to mean what I think it means, Mr. Gamble. And let me make it clear, that third method of transportation is one that you have nothing to defend against” Jade carries on, returning to her confrontational tone as she sets the narrative straight for herself, “if you don’t like that I don’t take this seriously, I’d start getting used to it. This is who you’re dealing with now, and I’m not keen on changing.”

Being met with silence, the chancellor waits for a reply that never comes, and after a few seconds, it becomes clear that she’s not going to receive one. Instead, Gamble continues to look at the surface of the water as it reflects the sunlight above, losing himself in thought as he refuses to offer any of what’s said internally to leave his lips.

“I don’t take this conversation seriously because I don’t take you seriously, Mr. Gamble” Jade proclaims, continuing to bite at the hand that has made itself a target through its lack of something to feed on. “This entire war that you’re waging is a joke because you’ve already lost. The second we got our hands on a ship was the second that your only leverage became mute” the chancellor furthers, “you stand no chance of winning, so I don’t take the outcome of that happening seriously.”

“What are you calling about, Ms. McKee?” Gamble proceeds to ask the second her sentence reaches its conclusion, wasting no time in addressing her just as the chancellor wastes no time in answering him. “I’m calling to give you one more chance to surrender. I’ll let you live... albeit, in prison... And I’ll shoulder the burden of getting a new bridge built now that the old one is at the bottom of the Northumberland Strait” Jade concludes, shaking her head as she smiles.

“That’s not going to happen, Ms. McKee. If for no other reason than the fact that I will not allow this fight to end unless it ends alongside my life” Gamble remarks, only to find the muffled laugh of his adversary reacting to him. “In that case, you’re no better than Charlotte in looking after yourself more than the best interest of your people” Jade counters, looking into the air as she speaks.

“This war doesn’t end with anything other than a complete Nova Scotian victory, an absolution of the Prince Edward state, and an admittedly difficult reunification to the status quo” the Nova Scotian leader promises, only for an unexpected smile to come across the face of her inter-national contemporary.

“You’re bluffing” Gamble replies, almost convincing himself of so in the name of furthering the hopes that his vision for the land that hosts his feet as it does for many others, “you may know of the refinery, but you stand no chance at stopping us from becoming independent of your handouts.”

“You say that as if there’s any hope for your nation once the lights go out and don’t come back on” Jade responds, returning her voice to the declarative, yet composed tone that she’d spoken through at the start. “Once that happens, your little party over there will reach the point of desperation. You know you won't win, and at that point, you won’t be able to count on even the people that are closest to you for support” the lone female McKee concludes, “even mutual destruction will fail to be a dependable option.”

“If this call is simply to give me a white flag to wave, I’m afraid that you’ve called for no reason, Ms. McKee” Gamble proceeds, shaking his head as the Nova Scotian chancellor bows her own, realising that no easy victory will be had. “The people of Prince Edward will either live free of Nova Scotia’s strong arm, or the people of Prince Edward will not live at all” the national sovereign concludes, “that applies for them, that applies for my allies, and that applies for me.”

Parting her lips, Jade attempts to rebuttal before hearing the dial tone of the line’s other end, finding the call to have concluded just as their hopes of avoiding any further conflict have. Licking her lips without uttering a word, the chancellor hangs up the phone before immediately finding the man she’d asked to be present before any other to ask the question sitting on everyone else’s mind.

“Please tell me that you know something the rest of us don’t” Emilio politely wonders aloud, letting out a heavy breath as Jack and Lauren stand together in the corner of the room, Alicia, Franklin and the siblings- one of whom with the aid of crutches- remaining just the same directly opposite them. Standing beside Harvey as he sits at the helm of a wheelchair, Katie looks forward just as Courtney does to her left, Isaac seated upon the chair beside the present group’s de facto leader just in front of her.

“I might” Jade responds, climbing out of her chair with both hands pressing against the desk’s surface, her eyes trailing throughout the silent room, “I just need someone to answer a question honestly.”

|

“I heard you knocking the first time, what do you!?” Courtney proclaims, running up to the door before angrily yanking it inward, revealing the man with persistent knuckles that stands on the opposite end of the divider. With a smile on his face, Emilio humorously goes from tapping at the door with his fist to extending each finger as far away from each other as they can reach, his waving hand doing so with an excessive speed purposely intended to be taken lightly.

“Hi, I’m Emilio” the man remarks as he lifts his upper lip above his teeth, speaking with the vocal reflection of a common nerd as he does his best as presenting a gum-heavy smile. “I can see that, why did you feel the need to knock eighty five hundred times?” Courtney questions back, doing so in a normal tone despite her delivery being inspired through the amusement she takes in his presentation.

“I just felt like it, I guess” the woman’s visitor responds, allowing himself entry into her mostly-spotless flat as she steps off to the side, finding surprise at how sterile the place appears. “When I found out they were renovating your apartment, I became curious to see where they decided to put you up in” Emilio comments, gradually strolling further into the temporary quarters with his hands tucked into each pocket, “I guess the protocol is the same as the olden days.”

“When you need someone out of their home, lure them in with the promise of an expenses-paid hotel room. That always does the trick” Courtney retorts, closing the door as she follows the man further in, “might as well not even bother fixing what isn’t broken.” Shrugging, the man with a brown leather jacket over his long sleeved, grey shirt proceeds to spin back toward the tenant, a smile paid back to her before bobbing his head to her.

“How’ve you been holding up?” he wonders aloud, watching the woman’s head lower slightly as she holds each hand out at her side, unsure of whether or not she has a reply worthy of being offered. “I’m still here, aren’t I?” Courtney wonders back, watching the man’s head tilt to the side and lean forward, a brow rising over his left eye.

“I think we both know you could go somewhere else if you wanted to” Emilio replies, watching the woman’s face scrunch with confusion as he lets out a sigh, knowing that her secretive demeanour isn’t easy to fall as he takes a seat in the corner of the room. “I know that most of what you told me at Juliet’s diner was true, but I’m sure there was plenty that wasn’t” the man remarks as he takes a seat, “the stuff you were telling me about where you were when the world went to hell?”

“You know where I was... I told you. I was in Vancouver when-” Courtney responds, only to find herself cut off by the man that cares less to dive into insinuations. “Courtney, I’m a gay man. If there’s anyone that can understand both men and women like the back of their hands, it’s us homosexual folk” Emilio jokes, watching the woman’s mouth close as her attempt to speak falls with the rest of her initial statement, “you’re a beautiful woman that doesn’t have a boyfriend, stand on your own like you’ve got no one to stand for you, and seem to settle here less because it’s Nova Scotia and more because it’s not somewhere else.”

Squinting, Courtney parts her lips and shakes her head, attempting to get something off the tip of her tongue with seemingly very little success. Looking away, the woman instead lets out a laugh before calming her erratic and dismissively visage into one of more acceptance whilst Emilio watches, his arms resting on either side of the comfortable seat as he keeps his lone, lifted eyebrow high whilst waiting for a reply.

“I thought you were a politician... Not a cop” the woman mutters beneath her breath whilst facing the ground, her eyes lifting as high as she needs to look toward him, however. “Either way, I’m not running away from my past like it seems you are” Emilio responds, watching the woman’s eyes again fall, this time with among the guiltiest, sorrow-filled looks he’s seen her take on.

Immediately feeling like he’d overstepped a boundary, Emilio watches the woman continue to hold her thoughts to herself whilst looking for a reply, not wanting to leave her feeling like he’d forced her into sharing. “Listen, I don’t know what happened and if you don’t want me to know, that’s fine” the man concludes, patting the ends of the armrest as he climbs to his feet, “but, with how close you are to Charlotte, I’m sure that she knows a little bit more than what I do.”

Watching her visitor step forward, Courtney feels the weight of his hand place itself upon her shoulder, doing so gently and reassuringly as his voice lowers to a more respectfully personable tone. “I’m sure losing her is something that worries you, and I don’t want you feeling like you might lose the one bit of actual secrecy you may have with her” Emilio explains, apologetic in his delivery, “I don’t mean to come here as aggressively as I may have led on. I just want you to know that you can be as open with me as you can be with anyone.”

Distressed slightly, Courtney lets her chest weigh lighter as she clears her throat, nodding in appreciation to the man that proceeds to let his hand slip away from her, his feet carrying it alongside his person as he advances for the door. Wearing a half-smile, Emilio lets his eyes drift to the entrance before he suddenly stops in place and performs a double take, looking at the mirror in the centre of the halfway between the tenant and the exit.

“What? What’s wrong?” Courtney inquires, noticing the odd shift in the man’s posture as he lays eyes on his reflection, feeling the strange sensation that his eyes are playing tricks on him. Shaking his head in refusal, Emilio fails to find the words as he inspects the figure that he sees back at him, letting out a deep sigh as he, too, clears his throat. “It’s nothing. I just...” the man confesses, squinting intensely at the likeness opposite him, “...it’s nothing.”

== Rise ==