Re: Blood and Iron

Bruno's words were cold and sharp enough to send chills down the spine of the President of the United States who had rushed to answer his call after being told about what was to be discussed.

"Well, hello there Mr. President… I must say you are lucky you caught me on a good day, for if you had kept me waiting on any other, the consequences would be severe…."

The President had plotted to announce his victory in securing a southern neighbor that was stable and in America's pocket, while also reinforcing the Monroe doctrine in the process. But now, that dream was about to come crashing down.

Because the devil had come to collect a debt owed to him, and the signer was the American people, the price to be paid? The soul of their nation. And thus Bruno's words, calling a man who should in theory be more powerful than him, seemed all the more dreadful as he waited silently on the other side of the lien for a proper response.

It took more than a few moments for the President to reclaim his calm, and when he finally did, his voice slightly broke as he tried to muster a proper response to what his aide had told him.

"Is this conversation… I presume to be like the others?"

What he meant from this question was obvious, but he was trying his best to word it in a way that couldn't possibly damn him any further. And as a result, Bruno simply smirked on the other end of the line.

Sitting in his palace's office, wearing the comfortable and humble clothes of a working man, while sipping from a glass of the finest distilled spirits money could buy. A truly paradoxical scene. All the while he spoke like a man who was capable of coercing emperors and kings to sign Faustian bargains to him with the most ecstatic of smiles on their faces.

"But of course, where would the fun be in these little discussions of ours if I didn't at least have some mementos to cherish them by? Now don't play coy with me, you know why I have called right?

Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, Mr. Hughes… That was a very bold, yet very foolish move on your part. I'm talking of course as an innocent and unbiased bystander of course, but when you had your agents turn the Sons of Liberty against their advisors, did you really think they wouldn't be prepared for that?

Did you actually believe that they had fled Mexico without a trace after you invited them there and betrayed them? Congratulations, you have now funded the opposition… The men you crossed are very petty, and vindictive, and they will not stop until Washington is under the Flag of Mexico, or whatever the hell the revolutionaries they are now arming and training to be your enemies will call the country after they have won it…. Not a wise move indeed…"

Charles Evans Hughes could practically feel his blood boiling inside him. Bruno was threatening to outright violate the Monroe doctrine, and the man was flaunting it in his face. He was the President of the United States, and there was nothing he could do…

Because the dirt Bruno had on the United States didn't end with him and his administration. Calls went in and out of the Oval Office daily, and many of them were senators, congressmen, governors, and supreme court justices of both parties.

Not all of these Calls could be used as evidence against the government for corruption, treason, and just general villainous behavior, but enough of such subjects had been discussed in private, that if even a fraction of them were recorded, it would destroy the united states as a whole.

And even if it didn't? Mexico would surely come under the control of a puppet belonging to Bruno, one which he would use to crush the United States who was only now trying its best to modernize its military in doctrine, equipment, and training.

The President thought he had already been granted victory, but in reality the game was still on the clock, and he was wasting his time making speeches while his enemy had unknowingly placed him in check.

There was only one move to play now… And as much as he might hate himself for being the President who sold the United States and its entire government to a foreign entity, the only option was civil war, or occupation by a hostile foreign power.

And neither were better than what Bruno was offering him, thus there was a deeply heavy sigh in the man's voice, as if he had suddenly come to the conclusion that he had lived too long as he finally asked the question Bruno was waiting for.

"What do you want?"

Though President Hughes could not see it, a demonic smirk curved across Bruno's lips, showing he was truly in a state of enjoyment and bliss, as he made his demands clear.

"What do I want? World Peace… But I'll settle for total submission… Whether it's your administration, or the next a year from now… I want you to heed what I say, when I say it, and heed it well, you understand?"

The President of the United States, who seemed like he had aged ten years just now during the extent of this conversation, had to use every inch of his strength to prevent himself from slamming his head on his desk.

A subtle, but noticeable groan escaped his pursed lips before he finally relented to Bruno's demands in the most poetic way possible, almost as if he had only just now realized the kind of man he was dealing with.

"Your will be done…."

Upon hearing this, Bruno accepted the defeat of the United States, whom had been forced to their knees without a single shot being fired. And when he did, he made it known any attempt to outmaneuver him further would be met with severe punishment.

"Good… I'll be in touch at a later time, when I have need of you or your country. In the meantime, I wouldn't dare try to tamper with your office, or inform anyone about what was said here between the two of us. Hell, if I get a single whiff that you are plotting something behind my back, well you should already know the consequences, yes?"

Bruno did not wait for a response, the question was after all rhetorical, instead he hung up then and there, leaving the President of the United States to realize the monumental degree of his failures, and the fullest extent of the contract he had signed with the devil.