Chapter 37-3: Balance of Power

[UndeadSweeper]

You are absolutely right! CJ just had her Flower Pot Moment with me. "I never had anyone go from the top of my list to the bottom so fast." - Michael Cross, Rules and Regulations
She has a quick tongue and used Napoleon"s (?) Divide and Conquer tactic to gain secure power. The Colonists, being bitter Grudge Masters, still hold Michael as the cause of their demise and CJ as their savior took sides, took a vote and gave power.
1) Cj's first opponent to subjugate was Tanya; IN HER OWN HOUSE. THE HOSPITAL! She then convinces Tanya to come to her side (Pending her kind treatment to Michael. i.e. She Needs Michael). Tanya might become the Don CJ's Consigliere.

2) The third opponent was defeated by informing Michael that he was her bottom bee-otch, her Underboss. (I'm saving the second thing for last because it gets good.) They want me but I need you. and Michael puts up as much of a fight as a school kid in the principle's office.

3) The second opponent she vanquishes by settling family business. Victor & Saul aren't whacked but they are exiled to Dunbar. The cracks at Ground Zero are mentioned again as the reason Saul & Victor have earned their place in a secure spot and CJ honors her deal to the letter. They have to leave the Colony but they can have Dunbar. Why? Because the secret of Sean's death are revealed. C.J. losses her leg because she thought the Mallers killed Sean. She blames Saul's lie and makes a GOOD point about how he has lost nothing in the latest ordeal. He's gotten back his girl, mother, dog, lucky underwear and now a baby. But hey, who told her to try charge into the hospital? That poor dead woman who followed her in and was shot by Scratch sure as hell didn't. She lost more than a leg. For what reason? Tell me CJ! I want answers!


Just like GrogNaurd says, she's a planner but no leader. Kalani makes a better puppet master. She claims the Colonists trust and revere her and tells Tanya that she has their best interest at heart but then seeks revenge on Saul & Victor. They call her bluff by saying they'll tell everyone that she only did it for revenge, not for them. They capitulate because she says they owe it to her. OWE HER WHAT? Everything she does is for herself! The attack on the Colony was for herself, sending Saul & Victor to ground zero was for her own self interest...

But CJ Corleone is building her own house of cards. Just wait until Freddo, uh Skittles returns, armed with a cannoli. What will Michael, Tonya and the other say about Saul's & Victor's exile? Will they stay? If they leave will the Irwin Soldiers stay? Who gets the chopper? Can that thing even land at Dunbar? Does Pegs go? (I doubt it, as things stand now.)

WOW.

You forgot,

Will our Caped Crusaders escaped the Samurai's web of power? Tuned in next week!

[Witch_Doctor]

Does anyone see multiple splits coming?
Riley & Burt - To hunt for Scratch
Saul & Victor - to Dunbar with any one else who'll join them.
CJ & Peg Leg - At the Colony

It would be a shame for the group to split on bad terms but better for them to split in a Fort Irwin/Boulder model. Don't keep all of your baskets in one egg, because if the SHTF then it would be good to have a safe place to run too as opposed to finding and building a new safe place amidst the turmoil.

Also, seems like there is a new character after all, Max.

[Jannit]

I had another thought about the whole issue of who is staying and leaving.

Bear with me a minute as I try to wrap my head around all of this. If people have to leave and go alllllllllllllllllllllllllll the way back to Dunbar, the fastest way to get there would be by helicopter. It's unlikely that Saul would want to put Lizzy through the possibly dangerous road trip and would probably try to talk Pegs into flying them over. I'm assuming Michael is going along and in the group, Michael would probably have the best claim of ownership on the helicopter. Now, although I said before that Pegs probably wouldn't have any reason to go with Michael, I thought of one: There could be another position open on the Scratch Death Squad.

In this scenario Michael, Datu, Pegs, Riley, Saul, Lizzy, Burt, Victor, Faith and Tanya take the Pelican to Dunbar. Once the people have arrived Riley, Burt and Pegs take off on a hunting trip. This may or may not be known to the rest of the group at the time they leave.

ETA: I forgot Hope (aka Faith in my mind, apparently) in the list. There are likely others as well but I'll add if I remember. Herp derp.

[Witch_Doctor]

Michael[/AUTOLINK], Datu, Pegs, Riley, Saul, Lizzy, Burt, Victor, Faith and Tanya take the Pelican to Dunbar. Once the people have arrived Riley, Burt and Pegs take off on a hunting trip. This may or may not be known to the rest of the group at the time they leave.

ETA: I forgot Faith in the list. There are likely others as well but I'll add if I remember. Herp derp.

Do you mean Hope? LOL

[Cabbage Patch]

The Colony seems to be repeating old patterns of behavior. I can't help thinking that this was how Marcus ended up in charge in the first place.

It's good to hear that Burt and Riley are coming back into the forefront. Maybe they'll become the new dynamic duo of the story, taking over from Saul and Victor.

My guess is that there are fireworks to come when Saul and Victor tell Michael and crew that they're leaving. They probably won't share the fact that CJ has exiled them, which will be confusing for the others, but could help to avoid a complete break between the groups. I can see Michael and his Fort Irwin crew leaving, but I don't know if that includes Muldoon and Roberts. Those two only spent a short time with Michael, don't know Saul or Victor, and their helicopter is at the Colony and will probably be staying there. Burt, Riley, Lizzy and Hope will almost certainly move to Dunbar. I don't see Pegs or Kelly choosing to leave, though I wouldn't put it past CJ and vengeful Colonists to drive them out eventually.

I think that Datu and Tanya will choose to leave, and that will lead to problems with CJ and the Colonists, since they will be considered too valuable to lose. There could also be some problems when the group leaving for Dunbar tries to take some of the heavy weaponry that Michael brought with them from Fort Irwin (50 cal, KOTI).

[Witch_Doctor]

Oh, only since no one else has tinfoiled this out yet... Scratch and gang are at Dunbar!

Noooo, I don't think that is the case. Just want to conspiratheorize before 7oddIsDead, Red Shirt or Grognaurd beat me too it.

[Grognaurd]

We have so many plot developments and everyone seems to be going their own way. We have 11 episodes to resolve most of this. We need convergence, not more divergence.

Wanton Speculation. The sane may wish to skip to next poster

CJ needs to hate the Mallers to join the crusade: The Mallers already had people in The Colony. Their first strike was to eliminate Sean by sending him into a trap and then to kill Marcus. Although it looks like an accident, The Mallers really did kill Sean

Michael is in a bad way with the colony. Everyone blames him for calling the Mallers. As above, the Mallers already had plans. They would have come even if he did not try to call "the nest". Recon teams from the tower had already picked up radio traffic to the south. If the tower picked up on it by accident, than the Mallers certainly would have since they were monitoring everything.

This simple twist helps to unify the survivors against the Mallers.

As Witch_Doctor says, everyone has their Flower Pot Moment. Will this be Victor's? He never even wanted to bring up Sean and told Saul so with the classic Nix Nay on the Hombre.

No one has clean hands and with less than a hundred humans left this is not the time to start pointing fingers. Now is the time to sweep up everybody's droppings and pull together as a team. They are in it for the species and if that is not a motivating enough, then maybe the humanity deserves what they got.

I have similar delusions with the outbreak and the family, but that is a tale for another chapter. Anymore and the people of the forums with good sense will lock me up in the psyche ward at Cain’s General Hospital.

LOL. I so want to write a fanfic where I show up and give an "independence day" speech, kick these people in the ass and knock some heads.

[fredrum]

Was anyone else surprised at how many colonists there still are? I was picturing maybe 20 or 30, but if there were 62 votes and not everyone voted, then how many are we talking?

[Grognaurd]

Final chapter part for 37.

If you haven't done so make sure you wish many happy returns to the new Mr. And Mrs. Wayland!

Yup, she even got the name change in the credits!

/cheer

[Gooer]

God damnit CJ, kicking them out of the colony, and now Burt and Riley on a rampage for Scratch, Michael not in charge, THIS ISN'T GOING THE WAY I WANT IT TO GO! ._.'