Not-so-Peaceful Transfer of Power (Ch.1)

Continued from the Prologue...

"I now present you, Samuel Randal, with this Presidential medal of freedom, for your services to the people, and for saving so many lives recently when misfortune struck," said the commander-in-chief, Elena Machtig to her guest, and to the audience and press watching on. Randal himself was much taller than her and had to bend himself down to allow Elena to reach and place the strap of the medal over his head. When done, she joined the audience in a warm applause.

Samuel Randal was also known simply as "Uncle Sam", a moniker given to him by the first journalist to cover his adventures. While cheesy, he had accepted it, and adopted a supersuit to match, emblazoned with bright, shiny stars and stripes. He was a recent phenomenon in the culture, and many weren't sure if such a powerful person could be trusted. Indeed, some said the government should just ask him to stop his vigilante ways, but he had helped so many already that it was a hard argument to make. For years he'd actually had these incredible powers and tried not to get involved, but now felt that he couldn't stand by any longer. He had no desire to rule, though. He just wanted to help.

His rise mirrored Elena's in some ways, and it was her idea to bring him to the White House and reward him in the first place. The move caught her VP, Lilly Alden, and her closest advisor, William, off guard, but they also welcomed the move. They did a deal as well, one that explicitly stated that Sam would always wear the medal, and Machtig's administration would always support his endeavours in public.

William then reflected on her menacing comments directed at the superhero in the past. Perhaps she was just tired on election night when she inferred that she needed to best "Uncle Sam" in some way, or that she was envious of his incredible power. She had no doubt come to her sense, he thought, and decided to get the hero on her side instead and make him an ally.

No doubt about it at all...

It had been 6 months since Machtig had become president, and her administration celebrated the odd win and suffered the inevitable loss when it came to policy. It was the same old story for any burgeoning presidency; yet the people still seemed happy enough. The economy was a little stronger than before, buoyed by the fresh start, and more jobs sprung up; but, in truth, she wasn't concerned about all of that. Not jobs, not the people, not early poll numbers. No, despite what William might have told himself, she was still secretly as obsessed as ever with getting the better of Uncle Sam.

At the start of her reign, though, she did enough to keep up appearances as a hard-working poltican. However, as the months continued to burn away, so did her popularity. The mask began to slip. She ignored important meetings, cancelled talks with dignitaries, cold shouldered business leaders. It had become concering, again, for her closest advisor.

"What is the matter, Elena?" wondered William in the Oval Office, making sure only to ask when no else was present. Another advisor, Rachel, was spending more time with her recently and it irked him a little. "I've stood by you dutifully for some time now but have witnessed a decline. Not a decline mentally or physically, but one in motivation and focus. Your mind is somewhere else and everyone is beginning to notice."

"Is that right?" she casually replied while staring out of the window. She was wearing her usual suit and so pulled down on the jacket to remove any crease, and she also fixed the bun in her hair to make sure it was still fully intact. "But Rachel says I'm doing a great job."

"I'm not a fan of hers, I must say. I know you needed extra staff now as president, but I'm not sure what her job exactly entails?"

"She could say the same about you, William. But, be patient with her."

"People don't have infinite patience, though, Elena. The beginning of our term here has been solid but your behavior will affect us going forward and even for the midterms next ye-"

"Midterms don't concern me, William," she interrupted. "Only him."

"I thought you'd let that go? Apparently not. You haven't been the same since election night, have you?" he replied. "It's like something snapped in your head. This obsession with Sam Randal is unhealthy. You promised him, too, that your position would be to explicitly leave him alone. You said as much during the medal ceremony in front of the whole country. If you go back on that you'll look like a hypocrite. So simply let him be. And let's not forget, he's not the type of person you'd want to turn against. He has all of that power. He can fly. He's super strong. He's virtually indestructible. To make matters worse, the people love him. Let's not stick our nose in his business and he won't stick his nose in ours."

"It's too late for that, William," she replied, turning to face him. "I've already stuck my nose into his business. I guess this is as good as time as any to tell you but I've been quietly working with a Dr. Rath on a special side project. The field he's working in is on the cutting edge. He's determined to a find way to..."
"A way to do what?" asked an impatient Willaim.

"...to strip Uncle Sam of his powers, of course.

William was shocked. "Are you serious, Elena? Why would you even think of doing such a thing? He helps so many people. And you straight up lied to him, to everyone."

"It doesn't matter about that," she replied, sitting back down at her desk. "Soon he'll just be a regular man like you, like everyone else. And anyway, it's probably for the best. In the interest of national security to have someone like that out there is too dangerous."

"Is that what this is really about, national security? I feel there's something else driving you. Is it the dark side of ambition again?"

"Nonsense. It's just part of my responsibility as president to protect everyone."

"You've been ignoring a lot of your responsibilities lately, yet this is the one you have charged yourself with? I mean, does the VP even know?"
"No. I'm leaving Lilly in the dark on this one."
"And how much is this Dr. Rath getting in funding for your project?"
"It's considerable, I must say," she replied, raising her eyebrows.
"And you won't just tell the people?"
"Of course not. Not yet anyway."
"Well, you've just set yourself up for a major scandal!"
"It won't be a scandal because they won't know until it's too late and Sam is depowered."
"I don't think you've fully considered the ramifications of all of this, Elena."
"Maybe not, but I'm pressing forward with it even so."
"This could destroy you."
"Or make me stronger?" she said, staring him in the eye for a moment before dismissing him from her office.

Over the next few months, however, she heeded some of his advice and redoubled her efforts to be, optically at least, a much better president, yet still quietly made trips to a secret facility not far outside Washington to check up on Dr. Rath's progress. By the time the midterms finally rolled around she was actually in pretty good shape and it looked like her party might take yet more seats. But disaster struck two weeks before the vote when someone in her administration apparently discovered and then leaked details of her secret side project, and her funnelling of enourmous tax dollars to something completely off the books. And thus, she was on the precipice of an unexpected political fall.

A panicked William tried to calm the situation and reminded everyone that polls couldn't be trusted these days. Though they knew that might still be the case, something felt off about the whole campaign now. The sense was that more and more scandal was going to come to the fore, sinking certain candidates in key swing districts, with even the opposing party declaring that if they took the two chambers they'd not only shut down the illicit project but fully investigate president Machtig's part in it. Even the word impeachment was being floated about the place.

Elena herself remained strangely calm, telling William there was no need to be worried as the location of the experiments had yet to be revealed. He pleaded with her then to come clean to the public, to take control of the narrative and enact some sort of damage control on the situation, yet still she refused and went about her business.

When the night of the results came through, it turned out that the polls were right and Elena had already become a lame duck president. Finally, she appeared in public and held a press conference where she revealed the location of the infamous lab, and even the sinister nature of the experiment: to remove Uncle Sam's powers.

"You could've done that before," William chided her. "It might have saved you."
"It was a delayed reaction, but it's worked out in the end. We're ready to go," she replied, unmoved.
"What do you mean ready to go?"
"The machine for extracting his powers is now complete."
"Are you still obsessing over that?!" William cried. "It's over now. Once Uncle Sam hears about what you've been up to, he'll soon go to the lab and likely destroy all of the equipment."
"That's what I'm hoping, too," said Elena, packing her things. "Oh, and by the way, thanks for leaking that info to the press about the project."

In that moment a terrible realisation took hold of William. He understood now that she knew he had betrayed her. She actively wanted him to leak the existence of the project. That's why she told him in the first place. She knew it'd force a situation where she'd then have to reveal, publicly, where the lab was and what she was up to. It all had to feel real and believable to Uncle Sam.

"You tricked him!" declared William.

"Yes, how else could I get him to the lab? He's not going to willingly undergo experiments or be studied. He's said as much in the past. Except for that medal ceremony he has almost never appeared in public for anyone. So this was always the plan. To scare him, trigger him, get him to rush to the lab and walk into a trap. He won't see it coming."

"My god, someone has to warn him!"

"It's too late," she revealed. "Knowing him, he's already there, or almost there. Either way, no one can relay the message in time."

"I've made a terrible mistake," said William. "I just never realized how crazy you-"

"Soon," she interrupted, "Uncle Sam will be weakened, and Uncle Sam i.e. this country will be a little safer."

"You just couldn't just let him be better or superior to you in some way, could you?"

She smiled then.

"No, I couldn't. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the lab as I have a superhero to humble. And, by the way, you're fired. Rachel was always the better advisor anyway. In fact, she was the liason all along between myself and Dr. Rath, so she should bear witness to our triumph, not you."

Indeed, she and her young advisor Rachel subsequently took a trip in the Beast a few hours up the road and eventually found themselves in a large facility in the countryside hidden by trees and a long road up to the entrance. Press and protesters had gathered at the gate but Elena paid them no heed. She had now passed the point of no return in more ways than one.

It wasn't long before Uncle Sam arrived, bang on time. Elena allowed herself another smile then.

"So fucking predictable," she whispered.

They opened the rooftop as Sam descended, and he floated down towards them with a scowl on his face, searching for president Machtig.

"You're the one that has created this mess?" he asked grimly, pointing at a large machine in the corner.
"Indeed I am," she replied rebelliously.
"I thought you were a good 'un, but how wrong I was. Well, I'm here to destroy all of your research and this machine. Not just for me but for any other superhero or even villain you decide to strip of their power against their will."

"I understand that," Machtig replied. "I knew you'd want to make sure, in person, that the facility or machine was destroyed. That's why I also turned up. But there's just one catch..."

"And what's that?" asked Uncle Sam, suddenly feeling slightly dizzy.

"This facility IS the machine. The walls, the floors, everything exists to depower you. The building itself is the device that's sucking away your strength as I speak. In fact, this chamber is the center of it, and you unwittingly just flew into it. We didn't even have to do a thing."

Uncle Sam tried to fly out again but the roof suddenly closed over him, and it, too, was siphoning energy from him. Where it was going he didn't know. He panicked and fell to his knees then.

"How are you doing this? he asked. "And why are none of the rest of you affected?"

"It's the medal around your neck," she revealed. "I told you never to take it off, and like a good boy you did what you were told. Through it, this facility is drawing the life force from you, leaving the rest of us unharmed. You can thank the genius that is Dr. Rath for that," she said, pointing at a devious man in a lab coat right across the room.

"But why are you doing this?" he cried while holding his chest, too weak to remove the medal now.

She walked over to him and bent down to talk to him. She preferred this view to the previous one where she struggled to lift said medal over his head.

"Because no one bests me, especially now that I'm the president. I just couldn't bear having you running around the place being more powerful than me, showing off, being insanely popular, so I'd decided to bring you to heel like all the rest of them."

"But," he smiled. "The ways things are going, you'll not hold onto power for much longer. You've been proven as corrupt, and the truth of your schemes will all come out in the end. You might be stripping me of my power today, but I'll strip you of yours tomorrow."

"Is that so?" she replied, staring down at him again.

"Yes, so I will still be stronger in many ways than you, and still more popular. I could even run for office and best you. When it comes to it, this may all end with you going to prison in years to come. That's what you get for only playing the short game, I guess."

Elena looked around the room then and could see the judgemental faces of everyone in the room, all except for Rath and his loyal lab technicians. She remembered what William had said to her before: that she hadn't taken on board the full ramifications of her actions.

"There's still time, though," said Sam, interrupting her train of thought. "Let's turn off this machine and return my powers. I'll forgive you. You're not some monster. I could see that when I first met you. And anyone can make a mistake, even the president. There is another path. Another way," he finished.

"Another way?" pondered Elena, turning to face Rachel, who just shook her head in response. Then she turned to Dr. Rath.

"Is it even possible to re-infuse him with his power again?" asked Elena.
"Theorteically," was the one-word response from the doctor.

The process had finished now, and Uncle Sam was left deflated on the floor, left feeling like an ordinary man.

"Please," he said, "Make the right choice, madam president."

She thought of the future then. Of the people turning on her, of impeachment, of indictments, of losing everything.

"You're right, of course," she said, placing a gentle hand on Sam's shoulder. "There is another way out of all of the this. A choice I can make. One where I remain on top, forever."

He nodded each time, but then stopped when he noticed the malice growing in her ambitious, excitable eyes. Her hand then grabbed the medal of freedom and she tore it from him, placing it around her own neck.

"Doctor," she grunted, "Reverse the polarity and infuse the power into me!"

As she cried out her command, the whole building began to vibrate and a blue hue decended upon the room. At the center, Elena's body was being bombarded with energy and she began floating off the floor. Those present were a mix of horrified and delighted. Rachel herself held her notes tightly and watched on with a sly grin on her face, as her boss, the commander-in-chief, the president, was apparently about to become SUPER!

To be continued...