Chapter 7: Quality Roads

The young Eisenhower continued staring dumbstruck as the gruff officer continued to cackle on.

“Sir…” she pleaded, “surely…surely you don’t honestly plan to kick me out over one lousy mistake?”

“Oh, but I do!” he replied with a smirk.

Eisenhower stood still, trying to calm her rising heart.

“I hope you enjoyed whatever fights you had during this war,” the man went on with a snide, “because they’re the last you’ll ever see as a part of this army! Hyeh, hyeh, hy—!”

Eisenhower stepped forward, slamming her fist into the officer’s stomach and smashing him into a wall, silencing the rest of the party.

“What…” the officer coughed. “What’s the meaning of this!”

“Nothing really,” Eisenhower replied as she stepped forward, cracking her wrists. “I just figured if I’m getting kicked out anyways…then I might as well go out with a bang…”

A crowd started forming around them, murmuring to themselves about the surprising amount of rage being shown by the usually cheery Eisenhower. The officer gave a harsh growl, then rose off the ground with a glare.

“You wanna go, punk, huh? Then let’s freakin’ go!”

The two of them crouched down, then charged straight at each other, swinging out their fists.

Then, a small elderly man stepped out from amidst the crowd, grabbing hold of both of their wrists and stopping them cold.

“I apologize for butting in like this,” the man remarked, “but I think it’d be best if you two backed off each other and forget about this little affair altogether.”

The furious officer snarled towards the elderly intruder.

“Little affair?” he spat before pointing triumphantly to himself. “I’ll have you know that I’m the Inspector General Elliot Helmick, and I—"

“And I’ll have you know,” the older man lowered his hand which held onto Helmick’s fist, bringing him down onto his knees, “that I’m General Dox Conner; and this woman you just threatened is one of my most trusted subordinates.”

“Conner…The Dox Conner?”

Helmick looked to Eisenhower, then back to Conner.

“Well…” Helmick mumbled, clearing out his throat, “seeing as you’re a proper authority and all, I’ll uhh…I’ll go ahead and leave her punishment in your capable hands!”

Helmick gave a slight bow, then scurried into the crowd as fast as his legs could carry him.

“Thanks, Conner,” Eisenhower sighed, “you really saved my hide this time!”

“Saved you?” Conner asked with an innocent smile, “Why, I’ve just been told that I’m to be in charge of punishing you.”

“That’s…true…” Eisenhower replied with a nervous laughter, “but it’ll be a light punishment…right?”

“Far from it, I’m afraid.”

Conner pointed to Eisenhower with a sly grin.

“As your commanding officer, I hereby order you to take part in a hellish training camp with me down in Panama.”

Eisenhower blinked.

“I…” Eisenhower stammered “I don’t believe it. Th-thank you sir! But…but why go out of your way and do all this for me?”

“Because you’ve got talent, kid, and it’d be a real shame to let it go to waste just like that!”

He placed a hand on her shoulder, giving a solemn grin.

“People here are going around acting like we’ve just finished the war to end all wars…but personally, I’m not so sure. I fear that one day, this country will be faced with another war even larger than the one we just fought. When that time comes; when the fate of the entire country…no…when the fate of the entire world rests on its outcome…” he gave a squeeze to Eisenhower’s shoulder, “I’ll be counting on you to lead us through to victory.”

Eisenhower gave a soft smile, then rose up into a salute.

“I won’t let you down, sir!”

On the drive back home, Eisenhower daydreamed about her upcoming sessions with Conner. She continued looking towards the future, only to crash back to reality as her car dipped into a ditch and stalled out.

“Son of a…”

Eisenhower got out, then started pushing her vehicle along.

“I swear,” she mumbled to herself, “if there’s one danger this country faces…it’s the lack of good, quality roads!”

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“…that’s right,” Eisenhower muttered in the present as she slid herself along one of her cracked highways, narrowly dodging a cannonball fired off from Grant. “Yes, that’s right…”

She lifted up her head, shooting a bloody smile towards his opponent as sweat continued pouring down her face.

“The only thing I need…is a good, quality road!”

As she spoke, huge chunks of Eisenhower’s roads broke off and lifted into the air. However, the chunks did not dissolve like they did before, but instead flew directly over towards Eisenhower.

Grant looked up, watching in awe as the giant asphalt slabs stacked on top of each other. The cracks between the blocks sealed shut, merging themselves into a new road extending up into the open skies above.

“Executive Power!” Eisenhower screeched, “Interstate Highway System; Space Race!”

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Eisenhower’s Flashback II. Dwight Eisenhower was saved from a court martial after Fox Conner stepped in and saved him, with Dwight later working with Fox in Panama before going on to serve under some of the most famous generals of all time including John Pershing, Douglas MacArthur, and George Marshall.

The scene with Deedee Eisenhower’s car getting stuck is a reference to Dwight taking part in the army’s Transcontinental Motor Convoy, which demonstrated to Dwight how bad the nation’s roads were. This event would later inspire him to push for construction of the Interstate Highway System during his Presidency.