"I’d like to encourage you to found a team if you don’t already have one."
When had that been? The end of last July. She'd been a captain nigh on a year. She'd not been rushing- she maintained her workload in life in order to have money to throw at desires or problems. She'd put up postings about founding a team and had even approached some agents directly. There had never been one visitor, team or otherwise, to the little space she'd made for compatriots. What are the reasons.
The types recruited are very solo flyers.
The current organization is too fractious in its self-policing and internal competition for attention to promote working together instead of working apart.
The idea is bad.
The source of the idea is not well liked, so the idea itself is sound but polluted by association.
The first was verifiable in most of the other Negaverse agents she'd been so privileged to make acquaintance to. There were the ones like Bischofite, whose personal philosophies saw nothing as worthwhile, so they closed themselves off. Ones like Benitoite were too terrified to face themselves and pretended to be team players, to want family, but that was all like a naked man offering someone else a shirt- you just couldn't trust them to be there when you needed them. There were ones like Cinnabar with a shoulder chip like Texas who seemed to think everything was dog-eat-dog, or zero-sum as long as someone else was getting something than she wasn't. Then there were ones like pretty Zircon, stuck for god knew what reason and unpromoted, and so bitter at the whole system and everyone in it.
The second topic, the internal competition and the fears of self policing, tied nicely in with the zero-sum assumptions and practice. It didn't help either that, at the highest tiers, the General Kings and Queens attentions were more a hindrance and a threat than something guiding, nurturing, or even just encouraging. They were recruiting half their 'army' from high schools. How they thought that not being at least somewhat educational, supportive or genial to get the best bang for their buck was mind boggling. Even as much as Zinkenite had specifically mentioned how teams were building and wonderful things, he'd used the other hand to scribble suspiciously, and his comments to specifically demean or assume the worst of any of her questions. It was all no good. Rotten from the top down. Even from the Generals- Bischofite wasted their investments on excuses that it was 'chaotic' and got people mauled by youma, Obsidian was plain mad, that Wolframite of rumor had gotten demoted for direct betrayal to the system.
Everything is all ******** up.
"It is I dare say, something we have to date, done better at than the senshi. Respect, and teamwork."
Bullshit, General-King. I call so much Bullshit.
Was the idea bad?
Stroud stretched back on her chaise, lifting legs to cascade across the length of it. A few smoke rings from her mouth chased the corbeling in the ceiling.
The loyalty to the membership first, to the squad, over the General Kings is probably questionable. The conditioning practices? Considering how little these kids and housefraus are at the rest of everything, and just sent out there to get mentally broken at the sight of blood...small wonder that they all end up loner psychopaths. No, the conditioning would be a boon. The interdisciplinary aspects of inviting mirror senshi, blackened senshi and agents all? Again...I don’t see how that sort of diversification would be a detriment. Having a specialized whole squad that complement each other and now how to work with each others specializations would make so many missions go so much easier. No uncertainties in the field, no hiding information, lesser chance of failure, and adaptability.
The source- herself, was all that was left on that list. Stroud puffed more on her pipe. That is a fair estimation. That might be the problem underlying it all. Fair enough. Maybe someone else can do something similar with more success. Maybe Cinnabar, for all her ‘I don’t want to lead.’ This Brady Bunch of sociopaths only respects and responds to the loose cannons, like Painite. That is fine. ‘If there are hands willing to clasp with mine, I will see them uplifted and never let go.’ There are none that will, a year or two on. I will walk alone and build as I may or as I might.
What comes to my hands was ever what I took, not what was given.
