One of the inconveniences of being President is that I could not access the traditional meeting directly, so I was trying to scrape together my votes to go against the March deadline without arriving in person. My secret service detail was all Hydra, but there was too high a risk that it would be seen that Konstantin and Salcedo and I were meeting in the same place.

Now I was calling Konstantin to try and convince him to my side. I expected it to be easy – We had paved the way for Konstantin to the palace coup in Russia. I stood in my campaign office, the secure line against my ear, and expected it to be a short conversation.

"No," Konstantin said once I had asked him to vote to release me from the commitment in the round about way that we did whenever I was on the phone at home.

My ascent to the Presidency had yielded a great deal of power to Stern and the final range of coups were questionable. In Western Europe, we were relying on the Baroness who, I will be candid, was not a great choice. In Eastern Europe, we had the remnants of Strucker's organization but after the fall of Sokovia, we were in a difficult place and viewed as somewhat less reliable or more in with the Russian government, so I was surprised at Konstantin, "What do you mean, no?"

"You promised me two years," Konstantin said, his voice rough from age, "March is two and a half years. I cannot live forever, I want to leave a safe legacy for my sons."

"Konstantin," I said, my voice as gentle and soft as I could make it. I looked out over the packed up boxes of the closing campaign and took solace in my victory. "I understand your concern for your sons, but this is such a risky bet."

"The ascension is always going to be a risky bet. Your patience will not necessarily change that." Konstantin said, his voice measured. "I am not sure I can hold on much longer. I am not as good at playing the grinning populist as you are and the Russian people are starting to stir again. And even if I can, for me to go down if we lose than for my sons to go down for it in three or four years. You promised me the money to pave over that flaw – Can you give it to me without the ascension?"

I grimaced and stared at the wood door of my office. I could not. There was no way to get the money I had assured the puppet coup leaders was coming through popular assent – Not with the CfL putting pressures on all our elected officials. I knew how hard it was to hold together Hydra and each of my subordinates were doing that on each step down.

"No, I cannot Konstantin. But if we fail, your sons may also pay the price."

There was a heavy sigh on the other end of the line. "I know. But I think I am better suited to this and I think you know I am better suited to this."

"Yes," I sighed, pinching my nose. If my puppet states crumbled, well, that would be it for my claims to the head of Hydra. With my new position, there wasn't even a guarantee that I could retain control of the existing hundred billion, which we had already carved up somewhat to donate to Asgard. Luckily, I could probably move that particular treaty through the floor. "Thank you for your input Konstantin, it has been most illuminating."

"Of course," he said. "The patsies are lined up?"

"Yes Konstantin," I said. We had been maneuvering Coulson and his team into place for some time, the trail would lead to them when the time came.

"May victory come to us soon," Konstantin said and hung up the other end of the line in lieu of a 'hail hydra.' Sensible, no need to be too exact on a phone that might be hacked. It was unlikely, I had done the run through to check it myself, but it was still possible. Anything was possible.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

----

Andromeda had written a message for me at home, we need to talk about the talk. We passed notes whenever we didn't want Persephone to hear, but she could also read at this point, so they still needed to be sufficiently vague if they were going to last over the phone.

Talk about the talk? I thought we had agreed to very forthright early discussions of sex. I walked to where Andromeda was playing with Persephone and held up the note, "Thought we already discussed sex?"

Andromeda laughed, "Not that talk," she leaned down and kissed our little girl's forehead. Persephone was getting so old now, I'd been a father for half a decade, and I was not enjoying the experience.

Alright, what other talk was there? No, she couldn't mean the Hydra talk. She could totally mean the Hydra talk, this was Andromeda we were talking about. I resist the urge to sigh, the girl was five. She did not need the talk. But I motioned to her and we went to another room with a whiteboard and started writing to one another. I stepped up and wrote, Hydra?

Andromeda nodded.

She's five, why do we need to tell her?

Andromeda stepped up to the board and erased my writing replacing it with, Ascension is coming. She'll have trouble understanding if we don't explain. Andromeda put the cap back on the pen as if that settled everything.

It did not settle everything. I cannot emphasize enough that my daughter was five years old. I held out my hand for the pen as I erased everything. Ascension is not Persephone's problem, she is five.

Her daddy is about to become most powerful man in the world under false pretenses but that's not her problem? Andromeda wrote back.

What if she lets something slip? Hydra joke much more serious gaffe as president.

Andromeda glared at me and shook her head, needs to know you're doing it for the right reason. Very smart, understands what presidency means popularly.

I grimaced. My daughter was unnaturally smart, she probably did understand that the president was supposed to represent the people. Heck, I said it in some of my speeches while I angled at the crooks and gangsters of the Washington Swamp. Huge security risk. Will not need to understand immediately. Too close to Gert/Molly.

Andromeda frowned, What's wrong with Gert/Molly?

Andromeda had once lied to me and taken me completely off-guard, but apparently Gert had kept her politics more tightly since our discussion or it would be a problem. Nothing, Gert/Molly are good – but brainwashed, like parents, wouldn't understand immediately. Andromeda could be made to remember her views were unpopular, but you had to actively point it out. To her, the most natural thing in the world was to believe that the world should ruled by a narrow elite. Anyone who didn't believe that was engaging in false consciousness. People like the Yorkes who sacrificed children to achieve their economic and social ends were understandable and supportable in that context. People sincerely committed to universal human equality, rather than verbally as the Yorkes were, were not.

Andromeda capped the pen and chewed on it for a moment before making a concessionary gesture and wiping the board, "Not right now then," she said, not hiding the fact that she was grumpy.

I reached over to her and touched her arm and she didn't pull away. We kissed and I said, "You're a great mom. Soon we'll be able to tell her everything."