Chapter 3: Backward Step

Lincoln slammed the railing in front of him as Grant continued lying motionless on the ground.

“Fiddlesticks and butter biscuits!” he howled. “I just can’t believe this is happening! Why, Grant would have won by now if it weren’t for all those wonky movements going on.” Lincoln turned to Eisenhower as she gave a friendly wave to the crowd. “Just how on Earth is she causing these movements anyhow?”

Lincoln shifted his gaze towards the arena’s floor, looking over the array of roads in front of him before giving a hard slap to his own forehead.

“Of course!” he moaned. “Eisenhower’s EP has nothing to do with speed like she claimed. In reality…her ability centers on movement!”

“Took you long enough,” Dixie Nixon snickered besides him, “but you finally got it. Executive Power: Interstate Highway System gives Eisenhower the ability to move objects efficiently across her roads. She can use this to move herself along her roads to gain a boost of speed when she runs; but she can also shift herself out of danger, or throw her opponents off-balance whenever they touch one of her roads.”

“Which is exactly what she did to Grant,” Lincoln muttered, “after making him think her roads didn’t affect him!” He shook his head. “Honestly, I never could have imagined that someone as warm and cheerful as Eisenhower could be such a trickster.”

“No one ever does…” Nixon smirked, “…but she’s far more devious than most people realize.”

“That may be the case,” Lincoln agreed, regaining a faint smile on his face, “but she’s not the only President to be chronically overlooked…”

In the arena, Grant got off the ground, brushing the dust from his clothes as he looked to Eisenhower with disappointment.

“You should have gone in for the kill while you had the chance.”

Eisenhower rolled her eyes at his words.

“Don’t lecture me old timer until you’ve actually managed to land a decent hit yourself!”

Grant gave of a crack of his neck, then spat a wad of blood onto the ground.

“You’re fiendishly strong,” he admitted, “but you’re far too green…”

“Too green?” Eisenhower growled softly underneath her usual smile. “You think I’m too green, do ya? Well, I’ll have you know that I’ve had the greatest military training the world has ever seen! My masters include elites such as Marshall, Pershing, MacArthur, and Conner; and my schooling has taken me around the world from West Point to Paris! As such, I don’t wanna hear any petty glib from a backwater bumpkin like yourself saying I’m too damn green!”

Grant shook his head.

“I’ve known plenty of Generals with fancy educations just like yours…some of them were mighty strong…others, pitifully weak. Ultimately then, the only real way to judge the true abilities of a warrior…” he glared at Eisenhower, “…is to see how they handle themselves on the field of battle.”

The scattered weapons around Grant started vibrating as he spoke. They shifted about on the ground, clumping together in a mound underneath Grant’s feet. The ball of weapons continued to grow, lifting Grant into the air as it increased in size. The weapons shifted around within the mound, eventually settling down into the shape of a large horse with legs made of swords and a cannon for a nose.

“Executive Power,” Grant spoke out, holding onto his horse’s iron reigns, “Union Army; Cavalry!”

Eisenhower raised an eyebrow, studying her opponent and his weaponized horse with care.

This new form looks pretty damn agile, she thought to herself, but Grant won’t be able to use its speed to the fullest. If he steps onto one of my roads, even for a second, then I’ll throw him off and hit him with my biggest attack yet! He’ll need to move slowly and cautiously…that much I’m sure of…

And at that, Grant moved out.

His horse started off with a light trot, carefully avoiding the roads as it walked. The trot then gradually rose into a gallop before quickly transformed itself into a full-blown sprint. Eisenhower glanced down, waiting for the horse to touch one of her roads. But, to her surprise, it evaded them with each step.

“What?” Eisenhower exclaimed, then gave a shake of her head. “I’ll figure out how you’re doing this later…for now…” she raised her weapon behind her, “I’ll settle for knocking you off that high horse of yours!”

Eisenhower swung with her tank head as Grant charged towards her. But, just before the weapon landed, Grant’s horse leapt into the air, jumping straight over Eisenhower’s attack.

“…huh?”

Eisenhower looked dumbstruck to the horse as it continued jumping forward. As she did this, the horse tilted its own head towards Eisenhower, aiming its cannon nose directly at her. The cannon fired, its iron shell detonating on impact.

“Gahhh!” Eisenhower screamed as a sea of flames seared across her skin.

She started to fall, but stomped her foot onto the ground, catching herself as she turned back with a glare.

“I’ve got you now,” she muttered, watching the metal horse make its impromptu landing.

But once again, the horse landed without touching any of her roads. Eisenhower stared out; her mouth agape.

“That’s…that’s impossible!”

Before she could react further, the horse lifted its bladed legs and rammed them towards her. Eisenhower clicked her tongue at the incoming attack.

“Interstate Highway System!” she screeched, shifting her body from the blades before moving herself even further to avoid a follow-up strike.

“Oh?” Grant remarked, watching Eisenhower slide back as he leaned deeper into his saddle, “I thought you said you weren’t the type to run from a fight…” Grant gave the faintest of smirks, “…or was that just another one of your lies?”

Eisenhower raised a ticked-off smile from across the arena.

“Oh, I assure you,” she cracked her neck to the side, “I have not taken, and shall not take, a single backward step!”

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Hidden Hand. Most early historians viewed Dwight Eisenhower as a political simpleton and would agree with Harry Truman’s statement that “'Eisenhower doesn’t know any more about politics than a pig knows about Sunday.” However, there’s been a change of perspective regarding Dwight, and now modern-day historians are more likely to agree with Richard Nixon who said, “he was a far more complex and devious man than most people realized.” This revised view of Dwight was popularized by the biography “Hidden Hand Presidency,” which is the basis for the Hidden Hand Party that Deedee Eisenhower leads in the novel.