[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/CAJhOXG.png[/img][/center] [b]Cambridge, England August 14th, 1665 [/b] “Cheese and crackers,” Jimmy Olsen said as he looked at the big blackboard in front of him. “I don’t think I can do this!” “You have to, Jimmy,” the gruff voice of Rip Hunter said from across the room. Jimmy looked over his shoulder. The trenchcoat clad time traveler had two pieces of chalk in his left hand. At Hunter’s feet was the unconscious body of Sir Issac Newton, though at this point still a young student here at Cambridge University. “Jimmy, you have to invent calculus or the universe will implode in on itself!” “But Mr. Hunter,” Jimmy sputtered. “I gotta be at work in a half hour! Cal is going to be steamed at me if I show up late to the press briefing!” “Time is irrelevant, Jimmy,” Hunter said sternly. “Presidents are replaced. But the universe? That is infinite. Now compute, Jimmy, compute and calculate like all of existence depends on it. Because it does!” “Aww, nuts…. That’s what I get for being a communications major! Are you happy now, dad?” Jimmy took a deep breath and began to frantically mark the chalkboard with mathematical equations. [hr] [b]The White House 6:00 AM[/b] Lois’ eyes fluttered open just seconds before the alarm on her nightstand went off. At this point in her life her body was trained to wake up at six no matter what. It made vacations kind of a bummer. She stretched and sat up in the four poster bed. Of course it was no surprise Cal’s side of the bed was empty. She’d never realized he didn’t need sleep until they began sharing a bed many years ago. He always said he liked sleep, he said made him more human, but she always held a suspicion he only did it because of her. She did admit it always felt good to wake in the middle of the night and find him there within arm's reach. But as his responsibilities as both Calvin Ellis and Superman mounted it seemed sleep was a ritual he was sacrificing for more hours in the day. Lois threw back the sheets of the bed and stood up as a gust of air rushed through the room. Cal stood at the foot of the bed still clad in his supersuit. “Good morning,” he said with a soft smile. Lois walked over to her husband and they embraced and shared a good morning kiss. “You smell like smoke.” He kissed the top of her head. “Last thing I did tonight was a fly-by over those California wildfires. I was able to put a dent in it with my arctic breath, but there’s still work to be done. I noticed Diana’s vitals as I flew through the area. I’m sure if she’s on the scene it’ll get taken care of.” “I hope she’s doing alright,” Lois said softly. “I haven’t seen her in so long. Not since before the campaign.” Cal flashed a smile at her. “I’m sure with her profile it would totally be reasonable for the First Lady to invite her to the White House. I'm sure you wouldn’t be the first to do so.” Both Lois and Cal looked towards the door when they heard a creaking outside. In another blur of motion Cal swapped his Superman suit for pajamas. Marie, one of the domestic members of the White House staff, wheeled in breakfast. A mainstay at 1600 Penn, the Ellis-Lanes were Marie’s seventh presidential couple in her long career. “Good morning,” she said cheerfully. “For FLOTUS we got bacon, eggs, and oatmeal. For POTUS, a poached egg and grapefruit. Gotta watch your cholesterol, Mr. President.” Lois shot Cal a look. Food, like sleep, was something he never had to worry about but he did. He and Lois had found out first hand just how much of the job of campaigning for, and being the country’s first couple, involved eating. From hot dogs at the Iowa State Fair, to country fried steak in South Carolina, to the so-so quality of a $500 a plate fundraiser dinner, Lois had eaten her way across the country. It was really the only time she found herself envious of Calvin’s abilities. She had to work hard to make sure she didn’t let all that food get to her, while Cal could just burn all those calories off by saving some airliner from crashing into the ocean. “What’s on the agenda today?” Lois asked once Marie had left them with their breakfast. “Most of the same, but I’m working on my speech to Congress today and meeting with members of the Senate Judiciary to figure out who to appoint to the court.” “When will you announce your nominee?” “During the speech,” Cal said after a bite of egg. “Just one of the things that’s got me nervous about it.” “You’ve done speeches. How many million came to the inauguration?” Cal waved his hand. “That was different. Candidate Ellis was a different person than [i]President Ellis[/i]. This is my first official address to Congress, the campaign is over and now I’m settled in the job. I can’t talk about what I want to do, I have to talk about what I’m doing. And on top of that, half of Congress want me to fail.” “Well,” Lois said with a grin. “Pull an FDR. Welcome their hate. Dedicate your speech to all the haters out there.” “Not very presidential.” “No… but very cool.” [hr] [b]The Oval Office 8:45 AM[/b] “And finally we had an attempted terrorist attack in Mali overnight.” Cal sat on one of the two couches in the Oval Office. Gathered around him were Chief of Staff Pete Ross, Secretary of Defense Perry White, and Vice-President Ron Troupe. On the other couch was Sargent Steel, the old spymaster with one fake hand, looking over a pair of reading glasses as he delivered the president’s daily briefing. The national intelligence community had boiled down the events across the world over the last 24 hours and brought the president's attention to those most pressing. “We say it was attempted because it is believed we had a metahuman foil it. Our best guess it’s the Flash given that, shortly before a suicide bomber detonated in a busy marketplace, the bomb dismantled in pieces at the bomber’s feet and the metahuman in question gave the bomber an atomic wedgie...you know, that thing where you pull the waistband of the underwear up over the person’s head…” Steel pantomimed the act as best he could. Everyone laughed, including Calvin. [i]Yep,[/i] he thought, [i]sounds like Barry.[/i] “The group who are responsible for it, they call themselves Al-Jihad, sent out a tape claiming the attack. Only problem was it appeared to be pre-taped so it made them look even more ridiculous.” Steel removed his glasses with his good hand and looked around at the group. “And that’s all DNI has today. Any questions?” “Just one,” Calvin said before clearing his throat. “Those wildfires in California, are we tracking them?” “Umm… intelligence community isn’t,” said Steel. “We deal with more of the metaphorical fires, sir.” Another round of polite laughter before Calvin continued. “I think it’s a good idea to have some kind of climate brief as well, honestly. We spend all this money on national security, but our nation isn’t that secure if half of the west coast is burning down and the other half is underwater. Thoughts?” “Well, we’re not equipped for the weather,” said Steel. “But DoD is,” chimed Perry. He looked at Steel. “We have our own meteorological department. If you’d like, we can work with DNI on some kind of climate briefing? Any sort of serious issue.” “Anyway we can pledge any more FEMA money to those wildfires?” “We’ve done a lot already,” said Pete. “And with hurricane season along the gulf and eastern seaboard ramping up we have to make sure something is left over.” “Pete’s right,” said Troupe. “Houston was put underwater a few years ago and I hate to see that happen again.” Calvin nodded without comment. Troupe, a Texan, was in a lot of ways the complete opposite of Calvin. White, older, and more conservative. He was the textbook picture of a Washington insider. He’d been a congressman, senator, and governor of his home state along with serving in the cabinets of two former presidents. In political terms he balanced the ticket very well along with Cal. They made for a good photo op, for sure, and they played that up in the campaign. But that didn’t mean they were particularly close or friendly. “You’re right,” Calvin finally said. “Pete, see if we can get Secretary Carlson to send some Forestry Service firefighters out to California to help.” Calvin also made a mental note to take yet another pass through the wildfires tonight after Lois went to bed. He was just very thankful that the Secret Service never put their best team on duty for the late shift. [sub][sub][sub]Help me...[/sub][/sub][/sub] Calvin could hear someone off in the distance screaming for help. What sounded like an explosion followed afterwards. “Gentlemen, if that’s all I need to excuse myself,” he said as he stood. “See you tomorrow, Sarge. Ron, Pete, I’ll be back shortly for our meeting with the senators. Perry, keep me in the loop on the NSC meeting.” With that Calvin disappeared through one of the many doors in the Oval Office that was built into the wall. “He does that,” said Pete. “Umm… I think he had a lot of coffee this morning.” The men shared a laugh. Pete saw movement out the corner of his eye, just enough to catch a glimpse of something very fast streaking over the Rose Garden and flying higher into the air.