Chapter 3 3. Vote Out

"Leon! Please listen to me-"

Clyde keeps chasing after Leon that is on his way to meet Bethany to deliver his verdict regarding kicking Clyde out from the Fiesty Five.

"There is nothing you can say that can change my mind! I already have the petition in my hand that the majority of Fiesty Five AGREES that you are problematic and useless thus should be banished from Fiesty Five!" Shouts Leon.

His hasted steps shows that there is no doubt in Leon's mind. Clyde is desperately trying to change Leon's mind as they walked towards the H.E.L.P Building, the Headquarters of Super Hero Association where Bethany's Office is located.

"Please Leon, I will literally do anything! Just please don't kick me out from the group. Just give me one more chance to prove I am useful for the team!"

Plea Clyde while trying to slow Leon down, although it was futile.

Then suddenly, Leon does a full stop, but the anger on his face still holds up.

"You know, every time when we are on a mission, you always try to be the smart aleck and gives me command to do this and that when "I", the leader, holds the rights to order a command for the team." Leon comments on Clyde's behaviour.

"And when I issued an order, you had the audacity to question the order and wasting our time arguing with me when we could have done the mission easily!" Leon furiously speaks as he glares at Clyde's panicked face.

"Yea- I know, that was my bad, I apologize for such behaviour. You don't have to worry about it anymore, I won't argue with you again and will listen to your command just please keep me on the team." Clyde apologized profusely.

"Well, we don't have to worry about it anymore since you are out from the team, so good riddance!" Leon then continues his walk towards the building.

"Leon Wai-"

But something stops Clyde before he can even finish speaking.

As Clyde tries to get a grasp of Leon's shoulder, he was stopped by two security bodyguards of H.E.L.P Building.

"What is your business here at H.E.L.P?" Ask one of the security bodyguards. "I need to talk to Leon over there!" Explains Clyde.

"Leon has been summoned by Ms. Bethany in her office. You, however, have no other importance in H.E.L.P Building, so We cannot let you pass through."

Clyde can only struggle with the bodyguard as Leon's figure disappearing from his sight.

The horror paints his whole face white as he knows what will happen if a figure as important as Leon Willburn, the leader of Fiesty Five delivers a verdict to get rid of him, he would be gone instantly in the blink of an eye.

While he is trying to pull himself together, he walks toward a bench outside the building, and sits alone with a defeated expression.

With brisk steps, Leon finally arrived in front of Bethany's Office. After a light knock on the door, a sound of a woman can be heard. "Who is it?". Without missing a beat, Leon responds to the voice "It's Leon Willburn ma'am. I am here to answer your summons."

After a pause, the voice welcomed Leon "Come in."

As Leon opened the door, he can see a woman that sits in an extravagant looking chair, with a wide desk made of glass in front of her. On top of it, a heap of unorganized documents covers the desk from left to right.

Bethany, with angry expression, snarls at Leon as soon as he enters the room.

"You good for nothing! How can your group of "promising" super heroes can NOT even prevent a bank robbery from happening?! I've seen an overweight middle-aged normal cop do better job than you!" Bethany complains about Fiesty Five's performance on the most recent bank robbery case that failed, destroying the image of H.E.L.P super-hero groups.

"You do realize that not only "I" have to explain to the mass media, but also the higher-ups as why would a bunch of super heroes lost to normal people with guns?! Look at what mess did you drag us into?!"

For Bethany, there is never justice, nor there is righteousness, all she cares is that she can sit comfortably while ordering people around, giving her profit in the end. Now she is held responsible for the failure of capturing the bank robber and allowing a million of dollars lost.

Leon tries to find a chance to speak despite being bombarded by Bethany's bickering. When she stops for a breath, Leon finally spoke.

"Well, about that ma'am, I have concluded that the recent failure was caused by none other than one of our teammates, Clyde Aliston, The BuffHero."

Leon then proceeds to show the petition in his hand to Bethany. She stood and took the document from Leon. The petition reads that by the major vote of Fiesty Five, Leon, the leader of Fiesty Five now hereby declare that Clyde Aliston was responsible for the failure of bank robbery case and thereby will be banished from the group.

"Clyde? The guy that you always complained about?" Bethany reaffirms the document given by Leon.

"Yes. Not only on the recent case, his previous behaviour has caused our group a great disturbance that might jeopardize the mission's success. This has been happening for a while now." Explain Leon.

Bethany frowns as she read the document, she knew that this wasn't enough to clear her name of the recent case. Best this petition could do was to keep her seat, but not from punishment from the higher-ups and also mass media demanding explanation from her.

"Well, I understand the situation that you and your teammates had, but despite that I don't think that is enough reason for you guys to fail. We put a lot of trust because you guys are "Super Heroes" you see?" Bethany then continues.

"Fiesty Five was quite a renowned super hero group. In the past year, your group has garnered more points and reputation better than any group there is. Fiesty Five were 100 points away from being a Proficient level team. If you guys didn't manage to cooperate with each other, how can just this mission specifically that failed after all this time?" Bethany asks Leon.

Leon gulps, he knew that this failure was a heavy blow for Fiesty Five reputation for being a cut above other Rookie, Advanced, even Competent level super hero groups.

Now not only that they didn't get a promotion, they would also be responsible and will be penalized for the failure to prevent a bank robbery.

After a brief thought, Leon then answers Bethany's question.

"I have always had suspicion that Clyde has been attempting to overthrow me and took the position of Fiesty Five's Leader. My assumptions are Clyde has been cooperating together with the terrorist"

Leon turns Clyde as his scapegoat and frames him for cooperating with the villains thus giving the robber a chance to escape.

"You can check the bodycam from each of our suit to confirm. You can see that Clyde arrives late, argues about my order, and hindering our movement. Causing confusion in our party that allows the terrorist to escape." Leon continues.

Bethany looks up the recording of Leon's body cam. True enough, Clyde can be seen uncooperative towards the leader and giving a chance for the terrorist to recuperate and gives fatal blow towards the Fiesty Five, allowing them to escape from the chase with the loot.

Bethany realizes that not only this could keep her seat, but also divert media attention away from her or H.E.L.P Organization. Thus, giving her a safe from being punished. All she needs to do was to pin the whole case into Clyde.

"Fine. Let's just pin all of this troubles to him. It's just a single super hero after all, we have many other competent ones. You are now dismissed." Said Bethany while giving a gesture to excuse Leon out from the room.

"Thank you, Ma'am." Leon gives a slight bow and walked out from the room.

A sly smile stretches along Leon face. He finally fulfilled his mission to get rid of Clyde.

"Serves you right. I am now going to crush your entire career as a super hero. I can't wait to see the expression you will have after this." Leon whispers to himself as he walked out from the H.E.L.P Building.