Western Org Senior Chief and Allied Guardians Labeled as Deserters
Published August 26, 34AE at 8:37 AM EDT

In a published written statement, the American Protection Organization has officially declared Senior Chief Yara Ali of the western division and dozens of other high-ranking guardians to be deserters after their sudden disappearance last week. The affiliated guardians include Ali's twin brother, Chief Omar Ali of the San Diego branch, and several captains and vice captains stationed throughout the west coast.

While the APO did not specifically mention any motives behind the group's disappearance, their statement declared that the group had abandoned their posts without authorization and were now listed on official records as AWOL. In addition, the APO permitted non-meta law enforcement to detain the deserters using "any means necessary," should anyone come across them. The aggression behind this move seemingly confirms several rumors that the group has turned against the APO, and reignites concerns on the possible return of the terrorist group Exodos.

The battle against Exodos was the first war front involving meta-humans the world has seen, and was the first of many altercations against meta-humans on United States soil. While the disputes only lasted several months, they sparked concerns across the country about the capability of the APO and the current laws meant to regulate meta-humans. These concerns were only elevated when the attack on Los Angeles City Hall in March was confirmed to be the work of meta-humans, most likely those affiliated with Exodos.

Yara Ali's desertion is the latest in a string of guardian-related incidents over the past several months. In March, the APO confirmed that former Capt. Camilla Wyatt had been a member of Exodos for several years, and was killed while resisting arrest and holding her roommate hostage. Her roommate, award-winning actress Elsie Bates, was then declared missing in May. The APO suspects Bates is being held captive by Wyatt's former squad members, and that they are being assisted by Japanese guardian Capt. Hitomi Andou, Wyatt's second cousin. Their whereabouts are still under investigation.

Earlier this month, pop singer Jordan Song, along with his brother and former singer Minyoung Song, were both reported missing by friends. Both brothers are known to have close relationships with Bates, Jordan Song as her friend and former boyfriend, and Minyoung Song as her current manager. Shortly after, Elsie Bates's younger sister Beverly Bates was also reported missing by her family. The APO believes their ties with Elsie Bates make it highly likely that their disappearances are directly related to Bates's capture, but no further information about their investigation has been released.

In response to these incidents, several politicians and federal agencies are calling for a restructure of the APO, especially for their western division. Many have proposed for the promotion of Dr. Bridgette Hester, the current supervisor for meta-human corrections. She is primarily known for overseeing the federal meta-human prison on Farallon Islands, a facility rumored to have unparalleled security.

Another popular contender for a promotion is Capt. Amira Pala, most recently known for her outspoken criticism against the AWOL guardians, of which includes her sibling, former Third Officer Nakia Pala.

Neither Hester nor Amira Pala responded to our requests for comments at the time of publication.

---

Camilla

26 AUG 34AE, 0545

Exodos Hideout, Lake Clark, Alaska

As unbelievable as the article seemed, Camilla didn't bother reading it for a second time, not even to make sure she was understanding it correctly. Her meta-abilities may have been temperamental but her reading comprehension was perfectly fine, and it would be a waste of time to confirm what she already knew. And what she knew was that Hester and the higher-ups of the Org were feeding the public lies, and the public was eating it up out of fear and anger. She couldn't fault innocent people for their naivety, but she could still be disappointed by it.

Absentmindedly, Camilla's eyes drifted to the time in the corner of the computer screen, then faltered a bit when she realized she had been there for over an hour. Since the communications room wasn't exactly a hotspot for activity so early in the morning, she hadn't noticed the passing of time. The only other people there were a few former guardians working quietly on the opposite side of the room, stationed there by Senior Chief Ali to monitor the media traffic of the outside world. They hadn't noticed when Camilla snuck in earlier, trying to find a way to kill time when she couldn't sleep, and that was exactly how she liked it.

But her stomach was beginning to grumble in protest, and Camilla knew it was only a matter of time before it would start growling loud enough for the other guardians to be alerted to her presence. Without much of an option, she began closing all of the news articles she had opened and read earlier, taking a few extra seconds to skim each of the headlines one more time. It was the first time she had access to the outside world since March—Exodos hadn't exactly been willing to give her certain privileges—and looking back at how recent events unfolded was... telling.

Camilla's cursor paused when she reached the article about Blaire, and how the woman announced to the world that she no longer recognized Camilla as her daughter. When Elsie had initially told Camilla about the article, Camilla had been nonchalant. Blaire had done nothing but make Camilla's life miserable, and Camilla hadn't thought of the woman as her mother in years.

But when Camilla read the article for herself, she couldn't help but feel disheartened. Realistically, she knew there was no way that Blaire and her narcissism would ever change, but a small part of Camilla had still held out hope. And it was that sliver of optimism that had vanished when she realized how easily Blaire was willing to abandon her for the sake of saving face.

Camilla clicked out of the article before a wave of melancholy could completely take hold of her, and she mindlessly exited the rest of the pages as fast as she could. Once she was done, there was no point in sticking around, and she quietly stood up and began her stealthy retreat to the exit.

Unfortunately, the other guardians in the room noticed her almost immediately, and she didn't need her abilities to hear the low whispers that followed her out the door and into the hallway, only cutting off once the door closed behind her. Maybe they were doing her a favor by speaking up; after all, she hadn't been able to use her abilities since she encountered Senior after their jailbreak.

Once she was outside of the communications room, Camilla was still stuck in the maze of tunnels of Exodos's hideout. But the empty hallway still felt relatively liberating, and Camilla let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. She figured she should have been used to the burning stares and muttered gossip from the other guardians after years of practice, but this time was different.

Before, their whispers and glares were always filled with hate and spite over Camilla's successes. Now, their hushed chatter and stolen glances were filled with hesitant concern and unrequested pity. Camilla could feel the difference even without her abilities, and contrast made her uncomfortable and vulnerable. She was like a specimen under a microscope, as if she never left Farallon and Hester's sharp eyes. And after nearly a week of this, she was exhausted.

Suddenly, her stomach let out a low rumble, as if reminding her to get her priorities straight. Right; she should just hold off her anxiety and self-consciousness until after she ate. Camilla sighed irately in reply, then obediently continued down the hallway. With any luck, it was still early enough for the cafeteria to be mostly empty.

Unfortunately, her luck was evidently as reliable as her abilities because Camilla was a few feet from the entrance to the cafeteria before she was spotted by a familiar figure. At the sight of Lee waiting in the hallway, leaning patiently against the wall, Camilla knew there was a small chance that she was the one Lee was looking for. Still, she didn't want to take any chances at all, so Camilla immediately turned around and headed back the way she came, ignoring her empty stomach's protests as she did.

"Camilla, wait," Lee's voice inevitably called out to her.

But Camilla didn't stop. Instead, at the sound of Lee's hurried footsteps behind her, Camilla clutched the hems of her long sleeves, as if they would roll up on their own to reveal the horrors beneath. Only when Lee planted herself in Camilla's path did Camilla pause, and she glared at Lee in response.

"I just want to talk," Lee hurriedly explained.

"How'd you know I'd be here?" Camilla asked instead of answering.

Lee's surprised pause was telling, but she glossed over it quickly.

"I mean, you'd have to eat eventually, right?" Lee said slightly humorously.

"It's six in the morning," Camilla responded without missing a beat. "Were you planning on waiting here for hours until I showed up?"

Lee shrugged. "I didn't think I had to wait long. The cooks said you normally tried to beat the morning rush, and you were usually up early when you were on my squad."

She would actually be up late, but Camilla wasn't about to correct Lee on that tiny detail.

"What, you don't have anything more productive to do? Or did Senior assign you to get me to cooperate?"

"She doesn't know I'm here," Lee insisted. And, at the sight of Camilla's doubtful expression, she continued. "I won't lie to you, she does want your help. But she also thinks you're too stubborn to be reasoned with, and she's not interested in wasting resources on the off-chance that you decide to have a change of heart."

"At least she's got that right," Camilla muttered bitterly.

"I'm here because I know she's wrong," Lee continued. "I know you're a good person, Camilla. You'll want to do the right thing."

"We're not friends," Camilla said sternly. "You didn't really know me before, and you definitely don't know me now."

"I—maybe you're right," Lee eventually agreed. "But I want to try, Camilla. Can you at least let me do that?"

As much as Camilla would rather take the opportunity of her faked death to never have to deal with the Org ever again, she knew that Lee had a point. Hester was destroying innocent lives, and her actions would only get worse with time. There was no way Camilla could ignore that, especially not when she was no longer innocent herself.

"Why do you even need my help anyway?" Camilla said instead. "My abilities are useless now."

"You're more than just your abilities, you know," Lee said. "You're still a leader, even now. People look up to you."

At that moment, distant chatter suddenly echoed through the halls, and a group of guardians rounded the corner behind Lee a second later. Their upbeat discussion froze when each of them locked eyes with Camilla, and the air echoed with silence. It wasn't until one of them had enough sense to break it with a rough salute to Lee that the rest of them quickly followed, and they all immediately hurried inside the cafeteria and out of sight.

"They look up to me, huh?" Camilla repeated bitterly.

"They're... cautious," Lee said instead. "After your... confrontation with Senior, they're just not sure how to act around you." She nodded down the hallway where the group of guardians had just come from. "Wanna take a walk? I'd rather not be here for the pre-turnover breakfast rush."

Neither did Camilla, and they immediately headed through the maze of hallways to put as much distance between themselves and the imminent flurry of activity. They walked in silence until they reached the portion of the hideout that acted as a storage space, and a quick search around the area proved it to be empty and private.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about all of this sooner," Lee spoke first. "About the corruption within the Org, and how some of us were trying to stop it. I just... we weren't sure if we could trust you."

"The feeling's mutual," Camilla replied monotone.

Surprisingly, Lee chuckled meekly. "I noticed, now more than ever. But... from what I understand, I don't blame you for feeling that way."

"And how did you get roped into all of this?" Camilla quickly changed the topic before it got too personal.

Lee let out a long breath as her gaze drifted to the ceiling, searching her memories.

"It was a couple years ago," Lee recalled. "I was stationed in San Diego, and there was a time when there were an alarming number of reports of civilians disappearing. When I looked into it on the Org's side, they had kept guardians from participating in the investigation, citing that it was out of our jurisdiction. Which, as you know, is a load of crap. The Org is a federal agency meant to assist in keeping the peace regarding state and municipal matters."

Lee shrugged. "But apparently, that only applies to crimes in progress, and not to investigations. The Org couldn't help unless the disappearances became a federal investigation or a guardian witnessed the crime.

"So I did research on my own time," Lee continued. "I wanted to at least find out if there was a pattern to the disappearances so my squad could just so happen to be in the right place at the right time when we did our rounds. What I was doing wasn't exactly allowed though, so I kept what I found out to myself. I guess I didn't do a good enough job though, because I was ordered to report to the base chief not long after."

"Chief Ali," Camilla finished, already having an idea of where this was going.

Lee nodded. "Apparently, my private investigation had raised some flags on his end because he was also keeping tabs on the disappearances. He had a feeling that the Org, maybe even Hester, was actually the one responsible. I ended up helping him and a few others secretly investigate; that might have been my audition of sorts. Eventually, he and Senior must've trusted me enough to recruit me into the Alliance, and I got reassigned to Los Angeles not long after to keep an eye on things there."

Camilla didn't know much about this so-called Alliance, aside from what Elsie's sister and the Song brothers mentioned when they swapped stories shortly after they took over Exodos's hideout. All they were told was that it was a secret group of guardians who tasked themselves in keeping the Org in check. In short, they were meta-vigilantes. But Camilla kept her comments to herself.

"It's similar to how we brought in Elsie's sister," Lee continued. "Did she mention that?"

Bev had mentioned how she had been suspicious of Elsie's disappearance and started her own investigation, potentially alerting the wrong people in the Org about her activities. Thankfully, in her opinion, the Alliance stepped in just in time to keep her out of harm's way. While the Alliance offered her a place to lay low and stay away from the action, Bev had insisted on tagging along and doing what she could to help Elsie and other innocent victims.

Of course, Elsie hadn't been too happy about that, as Camilla was well aware.

"I'm familiar," Camilla said briefly. And, because she still had manners, she added, "And... thanks for helping the Songs too. I had gotten them into this mess, and I couldn't even get them out of it."

Like Bev, the Songs had gotten on the Org's radar in a dangerous way, and it was the Alliance that provided them protection.

"This mess isn't your fault, Camilla," Lee insisted. "This is all Hester and the Org. I know it may be hard to accept, but you're a victim in this. There's nothing you could've done."

They were getting into personal territory again, and Camilla wasn't about to wade through that.

"And Perez?" Camilla quickly asked, making her voice sound slightly offended. "You trusted him more than me?"

Thankfully, Lee played along. "I'll admit, he's... to put it nicely, an asshole. His personality may be terrible, but his morals are actually pretty decent."

"I'll take your word for it," Camilla muttered.

"Or, you could see for yourself," Lee suggested. "You may not be able to use your abilities, but we could still use you. The other guardians really do respect you, Perez included, especially after the war. They'll follow your lead, even if it doesn't seem like it now."

"Because they're scared of me," Camilla added.

Lee sighed. "It's not like that. Think about it from their perspective. By the time the war started, most of them knew that the Org they were fighting for was full of lies and corruption. And then during the war, they all learned that you were more than just the Org's mascot; you were someone who wasn't afraid to lead them from the front lines and do everything in your power to protect them.

"Then when City Hall happened, and you were out there risking your life for hundreds of strangers, they knew that the Captain Wyatt from the war wasn't just a one-off—that was the real you." Lee gestured to the bleary cave walls that surrounded them. "And now you're here: back from the dead and still trying to do what's right."

"So you say," Camilla snapped. "And what, you want to use my image to influence them? That sounds manipulative to me."

"You'd be leading them," Lee corrected. "But if you'd rather not, that's fine too. We just... we at least need to know what Hester's up to."

"You can talk to AJ, can't you?" Camilla said. "You two were Academy classmates. Or how about all of those Exodos members that you imprisoned in their own hideout? Have you tried asking them?"

While Camilla wasn't an Exodos sympathizer, the Alliance had essentially raided their home and locked them in their own basement. It was a low blow, especially since the majority of those Exodos members weren't that bad. Sure, they hated Camilla and her friends, and they did have them in confinement, but most of them didn't seem like cold-blooded killers. Or maybe Camilla just had more ill feelings towards guardians than Exodos.

"We're... not really on good terms with any of them right now, AJ included," Lee admitted.

Camilla scoffed. "I can't imagine why. So am I the easiest target?"

"You're the most valuable," Lee said. "For some reason, Hester was—is—obsessed with you, and we don't know why. She's had several metas with unusual abilities, and she knew of even more; our Alliance recruited a few before she could get to them, and we're pretty sure Exodos did the same. But she always seemed to be focused on you."

This was news to Camilla. She figured Hester was equally cruel towards everyone, based on what she knew from AJ. But if what Lee was saying was true, the only reason Hester would have hated her in particular was because of Camilla's difficult personality as an Academy student.

Belatedly, Camilla realized that she had begun to fidget with her fingers while she had been thinking. She had picked up the habit of running one of her thumbnails along each of her fingertips on the same hand ever since she had regained consciousness. Whatever Stein had done to her left some of her nerves numb and desensitized, including the ones in her fingers, and she initially would repeat the motion to test her sense of touch. The sensation was so unusual that Camilla had continued to do the motion when her mind was too occupied to keep herself from doing otherwise, and it eventually became her tell for when she was lost in her mind. 

It wasn't until Camilla noticed Lee's gaze on her hands did Camilla force her fingers to still. But before she could stuff her hands in the pocket of her—or rather, Elsie's—hoodie, a sudden understanding came to her. Whatever Stein had injected her with was derived from her dad's research, which was based on Camilla's genetics. If Hester knew that as well, it was probably why Hester was so obsessed with her in particular.

Suddenly, Camilla became acutely aware of how little she knew, not only about Hester but about her own dad. She may have been young when he died, but she knew he was a good person—he had to be. Still, she couldn't completely get rid of that hint of doubt that nagged at her.

Camilla felt her jaw tighten. No, he was a good person, and she was going to prove it. And if Hester and the Org were using his research to hurt innocent people, Camilla couldn't let that happen. It was the least she could do after all the harm she's caused.

"I'll help," Camilla finally agreed. "But the second I suspect I can't trust you guys, I'm out. And I can't speak for the others."

Lee's eyes widened at Camilla's sudden acceptance—Camilla belatedly realized Lee knew nothing about Camilla's train of thought—but she quickly regained her bearings and nodded.

"Of course," Lee said. "I'll let Senior know. Thank you."

Camilla huffed. "Don't thank me yet. I haven't done anything."

Lee shook her head. "That's not true. You're at least trying to trust us, and that's already more than we deserve from you."

Camilla knew Lee was about to try and pry again, and deflection was probably the safest course of action.

"Alright," Camilla said tersely, finally stuffing her hands in her hoodie pocket. "Then let me know when Senior wants to talk."

But just as Camilla turned to leave, Lee's hand suddenly grabbed her shoulder, and Camilla couldn't help but instinctively flinch away and spin around.

"What?" Camilla snapped, glaring at Lee.

Lee's eyes were wide with shock and her hand was frozen in the air between them, but only for a moment.

"Sorry," she blurted out, then quickly dropped her hand to her side. "I just... that day... I felt what you felt. We all did, even if it was just for a moment. And now, we all know just how terrible things were over there. Sure, none of us could ever completely understand what happened over there, but you at least gave us a start. So... thanks for that."

Camilla narrowed her eyes even more.

"You're thanking me for making you suffer?" she asked.

"I'm thanking you for... enlightening us," Lee corrected. "Yeah, maybe your methods could use some work, but you definitely got the point across." She shrugged. "Besides, I know you're not one to normally share your feelings, so I'm grateful that you finally decided to do so."

Camilla had never particularly trusted Lee's optimism and positive outlook, and she wasn't about to start now. So instead, she kept her mouth shut.

"And on that note..." Lee continued, as expected. "This may be a stupid question, but is there any way I can help you? I meant what I said before, back when we were in Paris. I want to be a friend to you, if you're willing."

Camilla's initial reaction was to brush Lee off completely, just as she had done before. But she was so tired, mentally and physically, and when she tried to think of reasons to dislike Lee she could only draw a blank.

It wasn't Lee's fault the Org was corrupt, and Lee had never actually given Camilla a reason to doubt her trustworthiness. And as much as Camilla would rather keep everyone at a distance, if she wanted to fix her mistakes without her abilities, she was going to need allies.

With a soft sigh, Camilla let her glare melt away, and her gaze lowered.

"I'll think about it," Camilla said quietly, then hesitated. "Thanks."

While her answer probably wasn't what Lee was hoping for, Lee thankfully didn't press for more of a commitment. Instead, she gave Camilla a slight smile.

"That's good enough for me."

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As always, thanks for reading and voting!!