Expansion [All Faction Leaders & Teachers]

[stevert]

Stevert sat silently through the whole spectacle. The globe-hologram had dropped Steve's mouth. Cassie's explanation had widened his eyes. Then the guy who had a complaint made him hide a smile. His eyes danced with mischief at the scene of a faction leader or teacher going up against the most powerful free human in the world. He put a hand over his mouth to hide his reaction so that nobody would think he thought the whole war topic was funny.

Steve thought up things that he thought that Cassie was thinking at the time. Oh no you did-NT! He imagined her jerking her finger from side to side as well. He refocused on what was going on when Cassie managed to calmly defend herself and slightly reproach the guy. The effect of which only made the guy angrier. Steve attempted to shrink back in his chair in case Cassie suddenly turned into a rhino or something and attacked the guy.

Robert had spent the whole time silent, listening to Steve's thoughts and laughing at the more humorous ones. He could see Steve's thought of Cassie saying "Oh no you didn't!" It made him laugh, but he had way too much control over his morph to let his jocularity spill out into thought-speech. His attitude grew very serious when a man began to...get fired up about something.

Boy did he have things to say to the guy! But he didn't say anything. He was not the authority in Antarctica and anyways, the comments and questions were directed to Cassie. He enjoyed how she answered the first set, and he filed that away as an example he could use later, and he waited in a calm anticipation for how she'd answer this next set.

[Admin]

Cassie wasn't one to get angry, even now. Dean's anger only made her want to shrink into herself, to back up and try to make peace. She had never been a natural leader, she'd never been the one that people had turned to in a crisis. She had just inherited this role when everyone else fit to take it had died.

When she'd first found people looking to her as the last animorph she'd been surprised. She wasn't the last, not really. She had already recruited Seiya by then along with two others. She wasn't the only one left but she was the only original animorph left. Ax had died and Cassie had been the only one left. The one with the most experience, the only one with the "original legend" still clinging to her. She'd survived fighting the yeerks for years. She must be magic or know something that the others didn't.

She hadn't known how to explain to them that she'd just been a kid and that the only reason they'd survived half the time was because they had hidden in plain sight. It wasn't the same. She couldn't be expected to lead. But they did expect it and she hadn't been willing to let them down, let her friends down. Somehow, instead of dying, it had felt like she'd absorbed their responsibilities one by one. They couldn't be here to live their lives so she had to. She had to do what they would do but couldn't. Would Jake back down from leading? He never had in the time she'd known him. Would Rachel balk at taking on the challenge?

So here she was, years later, and she'd come accustom to carrying her burden even if she felt like it would sit lighter on other shoulders. And yet, there were days like this, moments like this, when she wasn't sure she could do it anymore. Hadn't she given her planet her service? Hadn't she done enough? When would it ever be enough? When she was dead like the others?

So Cassie wanted to back down, slump her shoulders and give the army to Seiya. He knew how to run it better than she did anyway and what did she have on him? A few years? It meant nothing anymore, not in experience.

Cassie turned away from Dean and she almost did it, she almost let her head fall and she almost showed how tired she was and how afraid she was that he was right, that she had no right to be here. But Jake's voice came back to her as it always did in moments like this.

It was years later and she could still remember his exact words. She could remember everything about how he'd looked when he said them, how he had a desperate but resolved look in his eyes, how he'd been holding the pretzel she'd made him buy a little too tightly, crushing it. She could remember how scared he looked, how he looked like he was about to jump out of his own skin and run away and yet there had been something unshakable about him too as he'd stood there and told her one of the many things she'd always kept with her.

"If I give in to fear, then that gives everyone permission to give in to fear. And we all have good reasons to be afraid. Pretty soon we'd be totally paralyzed. We wouldn't be able to do anything because one of us might have some good reason to be scared. That's the difference. A leader may be just as weak or scared or doubtful as anyone else. But he isn't allowed to show it. People say they want leaders to be just like them, but I don't think so. People want leaders to act the way people wish they could act themselves. Marco and Rachel and Tobias and Ax don't want me to give them permission to be scared. They want me to help them to be brave."

So instead of just giving up she walked past Seiya and the Camerons and picked up one of the many rolled up maps she'd put on the desk for later. She grabbed a folder off of the desk next to it and walked back over to Dean and held them out to him without a word.

The map was a map of Cape Town and the surrounding area, the folder had everything she knew on the city. It wasn't much. She didn't live there and she had no contacts in the area. The only thing she'd been able to get had come from the yeerk records on the area but it was more than nothing. It had a list of the local controllers and who was in charge of what. It was a start.

"I thought you could use my resources to help your people...our people. You're my people too Dean."

[Dean]

So Dean was right. He felt like an asshole.

He took out all of his anger about not being able to help his surrogate family combined with his confusion about being at the meeting. It wasn't fair or professional. But Dean hadn't apologized for anything since the war had started and had no intention of doing so now. He had meant what he had said, and plus- backing down now would disintegrate any credibility he had left.

So instead Dean took the intel that Cassie had offered him, giving her a single nod of his head. It was a sighn of respect on Dean's part, but it also showed her that he was finnished. Dean sat down without a word, next to one of the Aimorphs- a blond headed girl around his age.

[Aubrey]

Aubrey stared hopefully at the globe during Cassie's presentation, watching the scatterings of light consume the planet. The expression on her face didn't change; of course she wanted humanity back to the way it was. Back before humans even knew other life forms existed. It had been so much simpler, life--for Aubrey--had been much simpler. But was it even possible at this point? How many humans were already slaves? How many more would become slaves in the next few minutes? These doubts didn't even appear to touch Cassie; she seemed very confident in their ability to reclaim Earth. Aubrey's fingers locked together, and the unease she was feeling bubbled to the surface of her face.

Dean spoke, and Aubrey glanced towards Cassie for her answer. The same thought had crossed her mind, ever since she had learned about the Animorphs. While she was fighting the good fight over in North America, people over in her home country were suffering. She'd heard nothing about what was going on over there; nothing about her hometown or her old friends. Extended family. What had become of them? While she lived in the U.S., it didn't mean she ever forgot about Australia.

She winced as Dean began yelling at Cassie, her eyebrows drawing together in a troubled expression. Cassie appeared unmoved by it, handing over some papers she retrieved from a desk. Aubrey couldn't relate to the way Dean felt--she'd come of her own choice to Antarctica, to the Animorphs. Maybe the fight had seemed less clear, less heroic in the face of Dallas. But she was still here. Even if it was beginning to feel useless and futile.

Dean sat next to her, and she flashed a small look in his direction before glancing back at Cassie. No one else was really speaking, and the Animorph shifted slightly before finally waving her hand to grab Cassie's attention. "Um. Okay, I don't know if I can talk in this meeting. But, what about other places? Like are you going to send Animorphs over to Australia, too?"

[Admin]

Seiya turned and regarded the young woman who had spoken with a cool, appraising look. Based on her record alone Seiya had put her forward as a possible candidate for promotion. When he'd spoken to Matt about her he had also spoken highly of Aubrey's passion and devotion to the cause though some of his stories had led him to doubt her common sense. Still, as far as they could tell, she had acquitted herself well in Dallas under Ray's leadership. And there was the problem. As far as they could tell. They still didn't know much about Dallas. Or at least Seiya didn't feel they did.

He hadn't been the one to talk to Zane nor had he interviewed Aida and Cassie was not as obsessive as he was about keeping records so there were no reports to read or videos to watch save the last broadcast that some aspiring ally had managed to record and store in some way or another.

When Cassie had given him the job of starting these international animorphs she had charged him with finding leaders for them and yet he'd been forbidden to pluck them from the ranks of the US factions lest they grow even weaker in the aftermath of Dallas. He wasn't exactly sure how he was expected to do it. Dean, and his particular situation that put him officially outside the US factions had been a godsend. But he was only one and they'd need more.

So he'd thought of grabbing the Dallas survivors. All of them in fact. Aida was already resettled into another faction and out of his reach but as far as he knew the other four were in Vegas and not officially part of any faction. Their experience alone qualified them as candidates but he wanted to know more about their temperaments, about the choices they had made. Upon reviewing what was to be found of their histories he'd nominated Aubrey as his first choice. She was the one they knew the most about and the one who seemed the safest to promote right now. If things went well with her perhaps they could look to the other Dallas survivors for more faction leaders. It would depend on what Aubrey had say about them.

He looked to Cassie. "We would," he answered when she deferred to him. "Did you have a particular interest in Australia," he asked though he knew she had some familial connection to the country.

[Aubrey]

Aubrey, feeling a tad nervous under Seiya's gaze, brushed the tips of her fingers through the thick of her blonde hair. In his response she heard an answer to something she hadn't asked; Nobody had been sent to Australia yet. At least, not any Animorphs. Aubrey tangled her fingers together, snatching a glance at Cassie before answering Seiya.

"I have family and friends there. Sydney was the town where I was born and raised a good portion of my life. I was wondering, because I've heard next to nothing about the situation over there. Would you guys know anything?" Her light blue gaze held some optimism, hoping that they knew something.

Even if they didn't, perhaps Aubrey could help in some way. She valued her friends from Dallas immensely--more than most people she'd met before the invasion--but Australia was her home country and, she felt, more her battle than America would ever be.

[Admin]

Seiya again turned to Cassie to take over but she just nodded at him. He frowned a little. She was the General here, not him. She was the one that was supposed to make new faction leaders. Still, he would be the one this chapter of the animorphs would be reporting to so maybe she was trying to set the pattern.

Seiya got up and went over the same table that Cassie had before and picked up the next packet of supplies. It resembled the one that had been given to Dean. It contained maps, files on the relevant information they'd been able to gather, and a cell phone.

He walked over to Aubrey and then stopped. For a moment he was at a loss for what to do. He had somehow expected her to stand up when he approached. He always stood up whenever Cassie entered a room. But, then again, people were not like him.

He covered the moment with a tight, slightly strained smile, before holding the packet out to Aubrey. "Well, your history there is what helps qualify you for the faction leader position but you also got high recommendations from Matt and Zane."



From his position a couple of chairs away Matt smiled, seeing the look of shock on Aubrey's face. He wasn't sure if the others could see it but he'd always been able to read people and he'd known Aubrey for a while. He was glad she'd gotten the position, he had spoken highly of her abilities and it made him feel good to know that another member from LA was doing well. It made him feel like he hadn't done that badly training them after all. Even though Rian and Ember were dead now they had both been faction leaders before they'd died. And if they'd lost their lives, maybe it was only to be expected in a war. He didn't like the sound of that but he also remembered what Rian had said to him after Lukas' death. "I don't know if I can ever be to you what you are to me but if you ever need me, I'm just saying I'm there. I have your back ok and I just wanted you to know that."

At the time it had made him feel like he'd made a difference. Maybe not in the war, but in the people who he'd fought with. He'd felt like he'd helped them in some way and, looking at Aubrey, he felt that again. He wondered if she was going to be another casualty, another old friend he'd helped send to their deaths. The thought was unbelievably painful and even as he felt a sense of pride in her accomplishments he felt an overwhelming sense of fear.

He looked over to Dean and the feeling doubled. They were both from Los Angeles and they would both be going off to fight the war on their own. He wondered if Raven had felt this way when she'd sent him and Rian away.

[Aubrey]

Aubrey bit down into the flesh of her lip softly, watching and wondering as Seiya walked away to retrieve the packet from the table. It was the same sort of packet Dean had received just moments earlier, once being promoted to faction leader. Her light blue eyes darted around the room briefly, her thoughts not resting on the obvious answer at first; Was someone else being promoted to faction leader as well? In Australia?

Seiya approached her, and she sat unmoving, staring, as he held out the package. "Well, your history there is what helps qualify you for the faction leader position but you also got high recommendations from Matt and Zane." Aubrey blinked once, then her eyes widened considerably. Her? Faction leader? She suddenly felt her throat constrict up, her mouth sliding open somewhat. She shot an uneasy glance over at Matt, who was smiling that smile she'd always liked.

"Faction leader?" Aubrey mumbled, reaching out tentatively to take the package from Seiya's grip. "In Australia? In Sydney?" The thought had never crossed her mind that she would be qualified for being a faction leader. She'd always assumed it was out of the question, not something she'd ever be able to handle. Her past actions hadn't ever seemed to line up with what she imagined a good faction leader should be. She'd been willing to give up the entire L.A. faction to escape damnation as a nothlit monkey. She'd been the cause of the Dallas virus getting out. She'd literally turned her back on one of her teammates, and left him to be infested on someone else's orders.

A look of dismay flashed across her face, and she moved as if she was going to return the package back to Seiya's hands. Then the image of her father crossed her thoughts, his mouth always split in that wide grin. Sydney. When would she get this chance again? How long would it be until they found someone who knew Sydney enough to fight there? If she refused now, she might never be able to get back. Who knew. The Yeerks had no qualms about destroying entire cities, right? Aubrey ran the tip of her finger along the package, staring a hole into the floor at her feet.

"Okay," Aubrey said quietly, unsure of what to really say. She glanced up at Seiya, then Cassie, the expression on her face lightening. "Thank you."

[Admin]

Seiya nodded to her, a small smile on his face. "You're welcome though perhaps you thank me too soon. Being a faction leader is the worst job. Completely thankless and difficult. But your peers believe in you and you should remember it in the harder times. I'm sure you'll do well Miss Casey."

Seiya looked around at the others who were gathered. "If none of you mind we'd like to move on to discussing strategy in general before we adjourn. However, I have been informed that there is a...halloween party planned for tonight. You are all invited of course."