[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/DqjRXKJ.png[/img][/center] [b]Washington D.C. April 2nd, 1917 1200 Local Time[/b] "Mr. Speaker! The President of the United States!" Thunderous applause greeted Woodrow Wilson as he started the long way to the triple dais that looked out over the House of Representatives. While there was plenty of applause, there were none of the customary whoops and cheers that had greeted Wilson in the previous four years he had come to Congress to deliver his annual address, something no president had done since John Adams. The solemn mood in the chamber matched Wilson's serious mood. President Wilson, known as something of a stick in the mud amongst Washington society, was usually jovial when he greeted the well-wishers who flanked both sides of the aisle. Not today. There was tension in the air today. Everyone knew what Wilson would say. He would ask Congress to do something that they had never done since the Republic's founding. Wilson waited for the applause to die down as he stood at the podium. He squared his glasses and then glanced down at the notes in his hand before he began to speak. "I have called the Congress into this extraordinary session because there are serious, very serious changes of policy to be made..." At the back of the chamber, two figures watched on as Wilson spoke. To the naked eye, they looked like two normal men in suits and ties. They may be congressmen or some sort of midlevel bureaucrats in the Wilson Administration. They were easily forgettable in every aspect. Which is how the magic worked. Underneath the charms and spells that hid their outer appearance to the world, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson hadn't changed much since the days they had been commander in chief. Even though was Jefferson 174 and Adams 182, they looked no different than they had in the early 19th century, when they were the ones addressing Congress and addressing the issues facing the Republic. "I can't believe this is happening," Jefferson said softly. "I pray Congress will not declare war." "It will happen, Thomas," Adams replied. "German aggression as gone on long enough. Try as we might, this vortex of insanity and war has begun to suck the United States in. Europe burns, the whole world has gone mad--" "And that madness seeks to snuff out this country's shining beacon," said Jefferson. "Armed neutrality, it now appears, is impracticable," Wilson said from the rostrum. "The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. This is why I call upon the Congress to issue a declaration of war upon the German Empire." The entire chamber rose in a standing ovation at Wilson's words. Adams rose, with Jefferson rising to his feet more slowly and clapping less enthusiastically. "Do you not remember the words of your own son, John?" Jefferson said over the applause. "About how the United States should not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy." "Yes," Adams said wistfully. "And we both know where he is, and what he's fighting for." "It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance," Wilson said as the applause died down. "But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts — for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free. To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other." "'Everything that we are and everything that we have'," Jefferson muttered amidst another standing ovation. "That is what we'll lose. Including the lives of countless young men... and maybe even our souls." "You always were melodramatic," Adams said with the roll of his eyes. "This war is horrible and unlike anything we've ever seen, but that does not mean our country's future is at stake." ---- [b]Moscow 0534 Local Time[/b] "Our country's future is at stake!" The door flew open as Andrew Jackson rushed out onto the rooftop of the apartment building. John Quincy Adams chased after the taller Jackson and tried his best to keep pace with Jackson's longer strides. Both men carried revolvers in their hands. "The future of the entire world is at stake!" Adams shouted. Four men in dark clothing came out the doorway and aimed revolvers at the fleeing men. They shouted in Russian before taking shots at the two former presidents. From over his shoulder, Jackson aimed and shot one man flush in the chest. Jackson smiled as he leapt from the rooftop and easily cleared the gap between the roof and the adjacent one. Quincy Adams jumped right behind Jackson and landed on shaky legs. "The Timekeepers, the Bolsheviks," Adams wheezed. "The Romanovs... the mad monk... It's all... all related." "Come on, Adams," Jackson growled. He pushed Adams down and squeezed off two shots above the man's head, taking out two of the pursuing agents with headshots. "We've got to go now!" "We've got to let the Executive Branch know what we know." "And they will," Jackson said as he led Adams towards a fire escape. "But it won't do us a bit of goddamn difference if we die here in Moscow. Now, follow me and we'll get away safely. I let you do the talking when we needed diplomacy, Adams. But now is the time for killing, and this is where I do my best work." ----- [b]Belgium 0211 Local Time[/b] To George Washington, the artillery strike sounded like a drumroll. That was how they did war now. They pulverized the land and hoped that the enemy occupied whatever patch of ground they were currently demolishing. There was no skill or generalship anymore. It was whole-scale butchery of the likes that Washington had never seen. If he were in command, these men who called themselves generals would have been shot or hanged for their incompetence. He'd seen many Civil War battles and was sickened by the carnage, but the battlefields of Belgium and France made him long for Cold Harbor and Antietam. His squad were currently positioned a half-mile away from the battle line, on the Entente side of combat. From the hill they were hidden on, Washington could see the long line and the barren no man's land that they would have to cross. This was the first time he was leading men into battle since the Whiskey Rebellion over a hundred and twenty years ago. "Sir?" Alexander Hamilton said as he came over the hill. "It's time." Washington nodded and followed Hamilton down the hill. The squad he would lead into battle stood at the foot of the hill waiting for him. They were familiar faces, members of the Executive Branch who had once been great warriors in their past life. Hamilton and James Monroe had served with Washington in the Revolution, the intense William Tecumseh Sherman was no stranger to the total warfare that now consumed Europe, and Robert E. Lee was without a doubt the most famous and infamous American solider of the 19th century. Hamilton, Monroe, Sherman, and Lee made up Washington's small squad. "Men," he said with a nod at them all. "I do not know what waits for us on the other side of the line, but I do know our intelligence is solid. The man responsible for this entire dreaded war is not far from where we are, this man who has dominated European politics from behind the scenes for over one hundred years and continues to seek total destruction of Europe in the name of France. If we can succeed in our mission tonight, we can end the past two and a half years of suffering in one single stroke. He has his own elite guard and will be expecting something, which is why we must move fast and strike even faster. Napoleon Bonaparte is many things, but foolish is not one of them. If we attempt to assassinate him, we must not miss. Good luck to all of you, and may God be with us. Now, let's move." Without another word, Washington and his men began down the hill and started the silent march towards the raging battlefield.