[center][img]http://s24.postimg.org/7w8sidrl1/The_Executive_Branch.png[/img][/center]

[b]Washington D.C.
1928[/b]


James Madison always preferred to arrive in Washington by train. The Executive Branch could afford to retrieve him in any number of ways, from automobile and aircraft to astral projection and teleportation, but this was how Madison wanted to see the city. The path the train took towards Union Station offered a perfect view of the capitol and the White House. He wanted to see the town and how much it had grown since its inception, when it was just stagnant swampland on the Potomac. Of all the presidents, Washington was truly his city. In a room with just two other men, he brokered the compromise that gave the South the capital. On the House floor, Congressman Madison guided the Residence Act through Congress. The city was named after the Old Man, but it owed its existence to James Madison more than anyone else.

And he very nearly watched it destroyed. That was another reason he wanted to see the view of the city from this vantage point. In 1814, he sat on horseback from a hill not far away and watched Washington burn. He saw the White House burn, Capitol Hill would have burned with it had it not been still under construction. This city, his city, it burned because he failed his country as president. His beliefs of small government, Jeffersonian they would later call it, had led to a toothless federal response to British aggression and a ragtag army in the War of 1812. The British Army tore through American forces at the battle of Bladensburg and gleefully marched into Washington, burning everything in sight. 

"Next stop Union Station! End of the line!"

The conductor snapped Madison from his trance. He checked his watch. They would be coming up on the view in just a few minutes. He shifted in his seat and looked around the train car. Nobody made mention of the fourth president of the United States being among them because of his ability to change his appearance, shapeshifting they called it, allowed him to look like a normal man with a forgettable face. Besides, he doubted they would recognize him even if he wasn't disguised as a normal person. Most of his fellow commuters were men in suits coming into the capital for business. Most of them were engrossed in papers, the few that weren't talked of bonds and stocks and business. Madison felt pride in the state of the country at the moment. After the Great War, the United States stood as the top economic power on the planet and continued to grow in a boom that had no precedent. Madison was also wary. This new kind of business was dependent on the consumer and credit, dependent on the people having money to purchase the items they needed. Jobs and whole industries needed the public appetite to continue to be insatiable to stay afloat. He'd seen many booms and busts, many panics and depressions since his revival in 1870. As unprecedented as the growth of the 1920's was, the fall that followed it would be just as unprecedented.

The train rose over the hill and Madison watched the city appear down below. He liked to be reminded that while his error was costly, it had not been fatal to the country. America was stronger than even the most forward thinkers of the 18th century could imagine, and Madison was dedicated to seeing it stay that way. He'd blundered once before, but he would not do it again.


--- 


[b]
Executive Branch Headquarters
Smithsonian Institution[/b]



"Mr. Madison, welcome home."

Alexander Hamilton's handsome face and sparkling blue eyes greeted Madison at the entrance to the museum's subbasement. Madison felt a sense of warmth and affection overcome him at the sight of Hamilton. The two men had a complicated history when they were alive, first as allies that wrote the Federalist Papers and defended the Constitution, then later enemies when Madison feared the federal government was becoming too big. It wasn't until a decade after Hamilton's death that Madison saw the need for a stronger federal government, the type of government Hamilton had argued for. Since their rebirth, the two men had become something akin to friends... or at least as close as standoffish Madison and workaholic Hamilton could be.

"Mr. Hamilton."

The two men shook hands and Madison followed Hamilton through the doors. Inside as a cacophony of key clacking. A dozen secretaries were busy typing our reports and missives on large typewriters. Their desks were arranged in a semi-circle facing a large map of the world. Several spots in the map had pins stuck in them, pieces of yarn stretched across the map to link pins together. Hamilton kept walking, Madison following in his wake, down the corridor. 

"I know you were convalescing, sir, but the matter we're faced with requires an agent with experience and skill, and you are the only one I fully trust with this matter."

They entered Hamilton's office, a spartan layout with just a desk and typewriter and two chairs. Hamilton's desk was neat and orderly, the only thing on it a tidy stack of papers. Hamilton took a seat while Madison followed suit.

"Have the Founders come out of seclusion yet?" Madison asked.

Hamilton shook his head. Ever since the War, Washington, Adams, and Jefferson had been in hiding. Rumors abounded that the three men had died or that the strength it took to finally destroy the Timekeepers had rendered them comatose. Whatever the reason, Hamilton had been running the day to day operations of the Executive Branch for close to ten years at this point. While there was no one better suited, it unnerved Madison to think the Founders would be out of touch for this long.

"Every day I try to make contact, and every day I only hear silence." Hamilton pulled something from his stack of papers and handed it to Madison. "But this is for you"

Madison skimmed it before looking up.

"Germany?"

"Yes," Hamilton nodded. "There's an election this year. Our intelligence tells us that a potential coup or rigged election may be in the works. Germany is a mess, Mr. Madison, financially and politically. We need a stable Germany to prevent another European war. We want you to observe, report, and if need be dispatch anyone who attempts to influence the elections in any undue ways."

"It says I'll have a partner." Madison raised an eyebrow. "Agent codenamed Tiger. I'm not familiar with him."

"A new addition," Hamilton said with a smirk. "We lost a lot of good men during the War so we had to recruit. Tiger is Woodrow Wilson, and he is something of a natural when it comes to deception and espionage. I believe two shall get along famously."