Charlie noticed Neville speaking to a small group of Georgia officers. He was leaning against the railing of a fence looking smug and all proud of himself. When she got close enough to hear what he was saying she could barely contain her groan.
Neville was spouting off on one of his favorite subjects, himself. He was telling tales of his heroism and bravery in the face of Monroe's apparent madness. God he was making himself sound like something myths and legends were made of. To hear him talk he was the bravest of the brave, smarter than anyone, extremely loyal to his men and an exceptional leader. He talked of all of the successful missions that he led and the tight scrapes he had to get out of with nothing more than his wits.
Charlie wanted to throw up a little bit. She new what he was doing. He was trying to get these men to think he would make a better general than Miles. She knew she should probably keep her mouth shut and walk away. Oh well, that is one lesson she hasn't learned yet.
"From my own personal experience your success rate is crap. Let's see, you failed to capture my dad, an unarmed man I might add, alive, kidnapped my kid brother, Miles locked you in a closet when he too Nora and Aaron right out from under your nose, we blew up your Humvee and took you prisoner, am I forgetting anything?"
Neville's eyes began to narrow and Charlie could tell he was close to loosing it. She should probably back away, but she just couldn't help herself. He made it too damn easy.
"If your such a great leader, why would your own son leave your command and join the rebels and why does he hate you so much? I'm sure it's because of your winning personality or great moral character. Could it be he hates you because you like to beat up on defenseless kids, or threatened to shoot me in cold blood. Or maybe it's because you disowned him for not wanting to slaughter innocent women and children in a rebel camp."
Charlie stepped closer to Neville and got right in his face.
"You're not with the Georgia Federation because you feel some sense of duty or because you want to see the Monroe Militia destroyed. You're here because you were saving your own ass, it's what your best at. You thin you could lead this army better than Miles, why don't you tell these guys how you sacrificed all of your men to save your own skin on the river. Yeah these guys should really look up to you. You'd betray all of them if suited you. Oh and by the way, exactly how many times has Miles kicked your ass in the past few months?"
Neville's eyes started to but out and his face contorted in rage. He grabbed Charlie by the throat and squeezed.
"You little bitch. No-one talks to me like that. Do you understand! I'll…."
Before he could finish Miles fist slammed into Neville's face.
He released Charlie, but Miles kept punching. Finally when Neville lay almost unconscious on the ground Miles stopped. He then leaned over, grabbed Neville by the shirt and growled. "Do you have a learning disability Tom? I told you Not. To. Touch. Her. EVER!"
Miles released Neville and turned to Charlie. "You okay?"
"I'm ;fine Miles," Charlie croaked out.
Neville's little fan club walked away and he was left to bleed on the ground.
Charlie looked down at Neville and gave her biggest smirk, the one he loved so much, then turned to follow Miles to the command tent. As she walked Nora fell into step beside her. Nora stopped her before they went inside. "You did that on purpose didn't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about Nora."
Nora coked her head to the side and stared Charlie down. Charlie couldn't help but smile a little bit, then shrugged. "Okay maybe. If I can't kill him, well then watching Miles kick his ass, over and over again is a close second."
Nora looked at her with a shocked expression on her face but before she could say anything Miles yelled from inside the tent. "Will you two get in here!"
"Yeah?" Charlie said as she and Nora entered.
Miles walked over to Charlie and tilted her head up and inspected her neck looking for bruises.
"You know if you're going to egg him on like that, don't stand within choking distance."
"You KNEW!" Charlie exclaimed.
A small smile spread over Miles' face.
"You're encouraging her?" Nora couldn't believe it.
"It's kind of a win, win. We can't kill him yet, so Charlie gets to get under his skin and I get to beat on him. It makes us both feel better."
"I don't believe you two."
"Come on Nora, you can't tell me that you don't enjoy it just a little bit."
Nora tried to hide her smile, but it wasn't working. "Okay fine, yes I enjoyed it."
Turning serious, Charlie turned to Miles, "We are going to have to watch him closely. He was talking about how he should be leading the army. I think he's gunning for your job and trying to find officers to back him up."
"That's all we need, Neville with an army of his own. He'd be as bad as Monroe." Nora muttered.
"We'll figure it out, we always do." Charlie stated. Then she looked at Miles, "Than you, for having my back."
"Any time Charlie, just do me a favor and give it a few days before you do anything like that again. My hand is starting to get sore."
