Hephaestus

Part XII - A New Leader

As soon as they were in the cabin and the door close behind them, Melanie's well held Hospitality persona exploded right in front of Layton.

"What was all that about!?" She demanded. "Why didn't you tell me this is what you planned to do?"

Layton tried to calm her down so he could explain himself to her.

"Melanie, if you'll just give me a minute." He started. "And I'm sorry I couldn't let you know what was going on, but a large part of this was that your reactions had to be genuine. Please understand that part of this. As you yourself have already pointed out, Hes is no fool. If you were just...playing a part, he would have suspected something was up. He already smelled a rat. And a large part of why this worked was because your reactions WERE genuine. I mean, no offense, Melanie, but you just aren't good at hiding your emotions sometimes." He pled his case to her. "So I sorry I couldn't tell you the plan this time, but it was because you were a part of it."

"So you're plan all along WAS to give him control of Snowpiercer!?" Melanie asked.

Layton smiled back at her. "Exactly."

Melanie stopped suddenly and fell into just staring back at him in disbelief.

"Just listen for a minute," Layton said calmly. "Think back to when I first took control of the train. How good was I at the job?"

Melanie kept silent, not answering the question.

"Be honest." Layton offered.

Melanie sighed before answering him, remembering what his first days HAD been like. "I was pretty sure we weren't going to survive a month."

Layton started to continue on in his explanation, but stopped suddenly as he processed her answer. "Really? A month?"

Melanie nodded. "I think I seriously considered killing you once just to stop you."

Layton frowned slightly at her assessment, but then continued on. "The point is, I HAD experience leading people, Melanie. It was part of my job before the freeze. I helped control things in the Tail. It was part of what brought me to where I am now. I know how to work with people."

Melanie's expression acquiesced to that fact with a slight nod.

"You always told me the job of leading the train wasn't a job for the prestige of being the leader of the train. You warned me it was a thankless job with long hours where at the end of every day, more people hated you than cheered for you."

Melanie's look softened slightly as she listened to him, starting to understand his point.

"Hes is just like I was then. Except we've already established Hes is not a people person. He wants to lead the train because he thinks it will make him someone on this train to the others."

"How do you know what he's thinking?"

"Because I came from the same place he did, Melanie. The Tail made you nothing. It stripped every scrap of dignity away from you. No matter what small sense of pride you may have had in yourself when you jumped on the train, the living conditions in the Tail would find that one small thing you held onto so tightly and rip it right out of your arms. That place existed to crust your spirit. That's why so many in the Tail turned to Kronole. Because it made it possible to survive in that place for just one more day.

We had no purpose.

The drug made us stop caring that we didn't."

Melanie sighed again as she crossed her arms in front of her. "So now what?" She asked.

Layton lips slowly turned up into a small smile. "Hes was never going to stop until he got what he wanted. So maybe the 'way' to stop him, was to give him the same dose of reality you gave me. Because trust me, it leaves a very bad taste in your mouth you don't soon forget."

Melanie studied him for a moment longer. "It's your plan, Layton." She finally said. "I just hope you know what you're doing."

Layton echoed her earlier sigh. "So do I."

That same night Layton met with his top governors, to make them all aware of the change on the train. He carefully laid out to them what had transpired that brought about the change in leadership of the train in a slightly abbreviated version.

Once he was done, more than a few spoke in direct opposition to Hephaestus taking control of the train, stating there was no possible way the dull-witted metallurgist could run Snowpiercer.

"What sort of disaster are you setting us up for now, Layton?!" One of the Third class governors spoke up quickly. "It was hard enough on everyone when you became leader of the train. Cavill wasn't the best leader, but she kept order. It was pure chaos in Third when you took over. Now you're going to let a...a blacksmith run the train? What's next? We build a snowman and put him at the helm?"

Several of the other snickered at the man's comparison to the train's new leader, but Layton faced the man down.

"Underestimating Hephaestus will be your first mistake, Mr. Bollen." He warned the man. "He's not some slow, dull-witted Tailie. Hephaestus is very intelligent and even more cunning. The fact that he managed to manipulate himself into getting control of the train should solidify that point.

My advice is to do just what I suggested here tonight. Treat him with the EXACT same type of respect you gave me when I first started in this role."

Several around the table grumbled at the order, but also nodded in agreement to it. Several others barely kept the smiles off their faces, remembering what Layton's first days as leader had been like, and the 'respect' they doled out to him.

"So like it or not," Layton went on, "Hephaestus is now Snowpiercer's leader. And he is in charge of the train. But remember always that Snowpiercer is not a monarchy and we don't have a king. It's a democracy. And just like with me, he'll have to learn the rules."

The comment got even more knowing smiles and nods of understanding from those around the table before the group began to disperse back to their own areas.

A few Layton detained, having them wait for the others to leave before he gave them additional instructions on how to deal with Snowpiercer's newest leader if problems arose. Like with his own transition, Layton had no intention of abandoning the train to Hephaestus any more than Melanie had abandon it to him. But he was also determined to make sure the metallurgist learned exactly what it really meant to lead Snowpiercer.