Marvel: Mr. President

Chapter 13: Project Rebirth and Project Manhattan

March 1941,

Hector had returned and had to convince a lot of secret service men not to quit their jobs. Many others tried to ask him where he was but it was swiftly covered under "TOP STATE SECRET". Nobody asked then.

Knowing that the war for the US was just a few months away, he went on a spree, passing acts and some other laws.

The first of them was the Lend-Lease act. It stated that the U.S. government could lend or lease (rather than sell) war supplies to any nation deemed "vital to the defence of the United States." Under the policy, the United States was able to supply military aid to its foreign allies during World War II while still remaining officially neutral.

The next thing was the Absentee ballots Act. This will allow soldiers to vote from the battlefield. This was Hector's secret plan. Since he was going to fight on the battlefield along with all other soldiers, who were they going to vote for? For some fat politician back home or their boss who was there when they needed him?

The next act was something that would change too many things as a lot of people were going to survive this war who otherwise wouldn't have.

It was called OCP, Operations Camouflage Pattern act. According to this, the military was given a uniform that was highly suitable for blending in with the environment, as it had camouflage patterns. They came in a few different shades, for Desert, for Jungles and for Urban Warfare.

Currently, the uniform was a mix of khaki and shaded green colours. The colour would fade after a few washes too. These uniforms were not suitable for the battlefield.

A few senators and congressmen cried that this was wasteful spending, but Hector publicly announced that they will save lives. Then a demonstration for Congress was made as well as public and a few journalists. They were taken to jungles and deserts and told to find where the soldiers were hidden.

Those in the current standard uniform were caught fairly easily from a distance, while those in OCP were not easy to point at unless you went too close to them.

Journalists gave free publicity and praise to Hector, going as far as to announce that he was the best President in these times, with his military experience he made such a revolutionary change.

Unknown to them, he was just coping with things from his previous life. It was basic stuff. But his next agenda was directly related to the war. Pearl Harbour.

...

Currently, the United States Pacific Fleet was under the command of Husband Edward Kimmel, a two-star real admiral, temporarily holding the assignment of 4-star admiral.

From what Hector knew from movies and books, as well as the military academy in his past life, Kimmel was not suitable for his command in Hawaii, he was an officer who went by the books, he lacked self-confidence and the ability to make independent decisions. He could not face a situation that had not occurred before efficiently.

The man was highly confident that if an attack came from the Japanese, it could only be from the sea, and that an air raid was impossible. Hector knew the man was wrong and his career was over.

His dilemma was that he could not remove him either, as he had no reason to, on top of that, he was appointed just a month ago, signed by Roosevelt in January.

~Hmm... I need to make sure no suspicion falls on me.~ He muttered and planned. Finally deciding on one thing. But, he feared that the Japanese were even going to attack the same day now.

He called the Secretary of Defence and conveyed his message. "Have the entire Pacific Fleet and Hawaii base hold a complete mock battle exercise for threats from the sea as well as air. It will be a surprise drill and only the top officers will know about it, even that just a day before the drill. It will start at 7:35 AM sharp, on the morning of 7 December 1941."

The attack occurred at 7:55. This will give them plenty of time to get in position and the fighters in the air.

"Mr President, this will cost us millions." The Secretary of Defence said. [A/N: A million in 1941 equals 18 Million today.]

He seriously scolded the man, "You will not say the same when our men and ships win wars for us. What good is a sword if the wielder does not know how to swing?"

"Understood, we shall commit to it." They agreed, not as if they could reject.

"I shall be there to watch it myself." He added just as they were about to stand up to leave.

All the 3 Chief of Staffs looked at each other's faces. This would just add more pressure to everyone's heads. Unlike other Presidents who were civilians and didn't know much about the military, Hector would be able to find faults.

They quickly saluted and left. As they were leaving, Colonel Phillips entered, despite being a Colonel, all three Chief of Staffs envied the man for his position.

*BAM* The door closed and Hector eased up. Working in hell, he had grown to become very laid back and informal. This was frustrating to him now.

Colonel Phillips looked around, "Where is Moony, Mr President?"

Hector laughed. A few people had come to love the good boy, "He's playing with my new bodyguard. Come, I have something important to talk about."

But before Phillips sat down, he asked with judging eyes, "Sir, did you really kill 50 men with bare hands?"

"Colonel, you know better than anyone, that you don't ask questions whose answers you don't want to know. Perhaps, I will tell you someday, but not today. By the way, I'm not a mutant. I know the government checks every senior officer and government personnel's blood, if you don't believe, you can test as well." He replied smartly. Having SSR and later Shield loyal to him was important. It didn't matter if Hydra infiltrated it, as long he had access to its every level, he was the boss.

Phillips sighed and took a seat, "I trust you."

"Good, now, tell me, does SSR have a codebreaker department, and if they do, how good are they compared to our tri-service codebreakers?" Hector asked him.

Phillips confidently answered, "On a scale of one to ten, they are 7 and we are eleven."

"Hah, overconfidence? You haven't been able to break Enigma." Hector laughed.

"We never tried. It's not on our priority list. We are currently only focusing on Project Rebirth. With that, we can ensure American hegemony everywhere for decades to come." Phillips briefed him.

Hector sighed. He had to be careful with the money or he'd end up messing up the economy. The current GDP was 139 Billion. A fraction of that was their budget. Most of it went to many services. Soon, the Manhatten Project will also start eating up too much. But he needed SSR to play a bigger role.

"I understand that. However, I want SSR to play a bigger role. I need your best people to start sweeping clean the country from Spies. Their main purpose is to steal our technologies, mainly the planned Manhatten Project and now this Project Rebirth. Understand this, Manhatten Project is my priority when it comes to maintaining our hegemony. If our enemies get this technology as well, there is no point in having it.

"I need you to come up with a plan to secure all secrets, filtering the spies from the men even working for us. At the same time, I want your team in Hawaii, I want to know about every single wired and wireless transmission that goes through there. Don't worry, I will increase the Budget of SSR. Lend-Lease act is going to make us big money soon." Hector poured a barrage of orders at him.

Colonel Phillips was a smart man, "Do you suspect the Japanese will attack?"

Hector sighed, "They are going to attack, Colonel, that I am sure of. When? Nobody knows. That's why, keep this task at the top of your priority. Project Rebirth shall go on as it is."

Phillips nodded and walked out after saluting. Tired, Hector sat back, thinking about what to do now. He wondered if he was doing everything right, as he expected to be much busier as the president, but here he was, with free time.

"Hmm... I guess I will play with Moony."

...

Japan, Tokyo,

Ministry of War,

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, a former student at Harvard University who had served as Japan's naval attach in Washington. Yamamoto knew that the United States had far greater resources than Japan, and that his country could not win a protracted war.

So, he came up with his genius plan to attack Pearl Harbour. The location was far enough away that the Americans would not suspect an aerial attack. The ships are docked there in close formations, good for them as they can inflict more damage.

He met Hideki Tojo, the Minister of War. [A/N: He became Prime Minister in October 1941. Currently, it's March.]

"Admiral, how confident are you to be successful?" Tojo asked him bluntly. The attack would require resources that were not small.

Yamamoto confidently nodded with a bow, "I have devised this plan, all we need is to follow the steps correctly. In the course of our preparation, they should not find out about the plan. All the way until our planes are dropping bombs on them, we must not be found out. For this, we need the cover."

Tojo nodded, "I shall inform the concerned department to start peace talks with Americans. Then, when they least expect it, we will strike. With their Pacific Fleet gone, our hegemony in the Pacific will be ensured. Our conquest of the entire Eastern and Mid Asia will be swift and deadly."

"For West Asia... haha... the British Raj has made enough enemies in India. I recently received news that a major Politician, some man with the name Bose, is building an armed force, against the British, and they want our help. If everything goes well, the entire region will burst like a bubble.

"Anyhow, you have my approval, proceed with the plan."

Yamamoto stood up and saluted, as Tojo was also a Military General, "Their tall President is already 71, I don't believe he has enough cognitive capability to lead his nation through this war. The Americans will not even know what hit them."

[A/N: LOL]