Chapter 12: Give Me Liberty

A young Madison stared at Monroe with disbelief.

“Wha…what are you doing here!”

“You see,” Monroe explained, “I was pretty bummed after finding out you stole my seat at the Virginia conference last week. So…” she twirled her rifle around and pointed it at Madison. “…I decided it would only be fair to take your national convention seat in return.”

“Stole your seat?” Madison furrowed her brow. “I did no such thing!” She looked to Henry, then leaned closer to Monroe. “Listen! Henry is obviously just using you to get what he wants here!”

“Oh please, baby,” she remarked as she made her way past Madison, “I’m the one using him.”

Randolph bit his nails as Monroe made her way towards the abandoned city below.

“This battlefield they’ve picked is a sniper’s paradise…it’d be tricky to beat Monroe here even if you were in peak condition…but with that illness of yours still going on…”

“…it’ll be fine,” Madison replied, gathering her composure before walking into the ruined city, “I will not fail.”

Randolph and Henry stayed back on the hills just outside the city, listening in as the fighting raged on below.

“Oh my,” Henry spoke as the sounds of gunfire came to a sudden and abrupt stop below, “it seems your fruitless little struggles are finally over now.”

Randolph slumped his shoulders, staring out into the open horizon with a glum expression across his face. He continued staring for some time, then suddenly lifted himself back up.

“Oh, it’s over alright!” he exclaimed, “‘cause we’re finally done dealing with all your nonsense!”

Henry raised an eyebrow.

“What on earth…?”

Henry stopped talking as he spotted Madison walking towards them. Her body was covered in heavy scars and the tip of her nose was partially shot off, but she strode on with firm determination while carrying an unconscious Monroe atop her back.

“I win,” she declared, dropping Monroe in front of Henry’s feet.

Henry stared at his vanquished champion, then back to Madison, tightening up his fists.

“You’re making a huge mistake here,” he hissed. “Uniting the States into a single country…giving greater powers to the Executives…it will bring nothing but disaster to our land!”

Madison stared silently at Henry.

“…it’s entirely possible that our experiment will end in failure,” she admitted, looking Henry straight in the eyes. “But if we do nothing, we are certain to perish.”

Henry gave a sharp snort.

“I swear…I’ll never stop fighting with you! Not until you either give me liberty…or give me death!”

“And I swear in return,” Madison responded, raising her hand, showing its freshly formed Presidential Seal, “I’ll stop anyone who tries to destroy my country.”

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

Back in the present, Madison retracted her trident’s elongated prongs and charged for her opponent. Monroe gave a sharp smirk as she readied up her rifle.

“Trying to get closer to me, baby? How sweet of you!”

She fired off a pair of shots, but Madison effortlessly deflected the bullets away.

“No funnnn,” Monroe moaned as Madison stepped in front of her. “But even if I can’t hit you directly…”

Monroe stepped away as Madison thrusted her weapon down at Monroe’s feet.

“…I can still finish you off with my EP!” Monroe cackled, her smile intensifying as she awaited the activation of Monroe Doctrine against her opponent.

“…the thing about your EP…” Madison spoke as her trident continued downwards before digging itself in the ground, “…is that it only works if I’m actually trying to hurt you!”

Monroe’s eyes widened as Madison pole-vaulted off her trident, wrapping her legs around Monroe’s torso, her body unharmed by Monroe’s EP.

==============================================================

==============================================================

Madison’s Flashback II. …James Madison would go on to narrowly defeat his old friend James Monroe during their election for a seat at the Constitutional Convention, at which James Madison would (after many harrowing struggles) ultimately succeed in pushing for the States to come together and form the United States of America.

Also: James Madison really did have his nose damaged when fighting James Monroe in this election, namely by getting frostbite while campaigning out in the cold.