Sirena's POV
"He is not leadership material, Sir! I don't want him to be as our team leader!" Ronald seething at the idea of working with him. "As you said, he is impulsive, not capable of thinking his way through a problem and nearly got himself killed, but he was lucky… LUCKY that he had that stinking witch that saved his life."
"Hey! You're the one that tried to style yourself as a leader." Todd yelled back. "You can't even speak normally, and you confuse people with your… Enormous Vocabulary or whatever you call it."
"Who is the one that guided you out of the maze? ME!" Ronald point his thumb to himself. "WHO IS THE ONE THAT MADE THE SUGGESTIONS OF PLANTING THE EXPLOSIVE TO DESTROY THE DEBRIS? ME!" he gets closer to Todd, angry that he is not getting what he wanted. "AND WHO IS THE ONE THAT CHOSE NOT TO CONTACT ANYONE FOR BACKUP AND NEARLY GOT KILLED HIS TROUBLES, HMM??" I step in immediately this has to stop now!
"AND WHO IS THE EGOISTICAL, NARCISSISTIC, ARROGANT JERK THAT THINK THE WORLD HAS TO CATER TO YOUR WHIMS?!" I yelled back at him.
It stunned Ronald that I would step forward and lecture him about his behavior. He is at a lost of words since I know his problem is with Todd, not me.
"And what if you had become a team leader? If you act like that, no one will follow you, let alone respect you. And do you really think Captain Vice would make a mistake choosing Todd? Do you think he'll choose you after the way you conducted yourself as a soldier, yelling at your teammates?" I asked him.
"Sirena, I-" I raised my hand to stop him there.
"Todd needs you, I need you and hell, Kai may need your intellect. I don't want you as leader because you will not handle the chain of command. That Intellect of yours, mister smartypants, can save our lives more than it counts." I had him look at me in the eyes. "Be the man that uses his intelligence to save lives, be the man that can steer our 'Hotheaded Idiot' in the right direction. Instead of bitching and moaning about why you are not in charge. You need to realize that your role in this team is now going to be more important than ever!"
Ronald looked away after what I said, I saw he was getting ready to open his mouth. He decided against it and left us in silence.
"Well said, Lieutenant! I knew you are more capable than what most people have said. Give him time, he'll pull through." Captain Vice announced. "As for the rest of you, rest up! You will get confirmation about your first deployment soon in a few days." With that, he left.
"Sirena, Baby Doll… You just knocked him off his high horse!" Kai smiled in delight. "Never liked the prick, anyway!"
"Guys, he had a point there." Todd speaks up and came over. "He hates me because I got promoted to team leader and I haven't convinced him that the Captain selected me for the role. Especially after last night."
"Yo, man! You should have invited me along! I would bleed those suckers!" Kai protested.
"They wielded magic! And how you are going to do that?" Todd asked which I saw the smile on his face.
"Actually, either you have the drug Kuailax or some method of fighting them. You, my friend, don't have either last night, did you?" I asked he considered it before being in a hurry.
"No…" He looks dumb struck.
"My friend! You need to hit the books more instead of sleeping around with the women & men around town." I gave him a nudge,
"Whoa, Ms. Bossy. Are you trying to hit on me?" Todd joked with me.
"I am immune to your charms, Casanova! Now starting hitting up those books in Perksin's." I know he is maintaining a collection of various books.
"All right! All right!" I've pushed Todd to my favorite place: Perkins's a public library in Beluto that carries the excellent books from the pre-apocalypse world. Hopefully, he'll gain some need wisdom from those books since HE is going to be our team leader after all.