Meeting The President

It was early the following when Cole arrived at the White House. He and his squad members entered without weapons and after an extensive security check, more for Cole specifically, they were lead into the Oval Office.

There, the president was sitting at her desk reading over the file about the known Pandora's Kings again.

"Madam President, this is Lieutenant Cole Anderson that you asked for earlier." One man said as he promptly left the room.

"Please take a seat Lieutenant, you four also," She replied as she put down the file in her hand and smiled at her guests. Currently in the room, other than the president and Cole, with his squad, were two of the president's advisors. Mainly the financial advisor and military advisor.

"Let's get down to business." The president, Sarah Parnell, said as she looked right at Cole after he and his men took seats in available places.

"Mr. Anderson, I would like to ask you a few questions regarding recent events. First, Are you one of Pandora's Kings?" She asked.

"I am." He replied quickly not feeling the need to lie.

"Do you possess supernatural powers?" She asked next.

"I do." He said as his body gained a red aura when he created a small fire on his palm before dispersing both the fire and aura.

"I see..." She said as she closed her eyes for a few moments before opening them again.

"Can you tell me about your powers? How you obtained them and if there is a way to duplicate the effect?"

"I can but I don't know much about them myself, I'd need to practice controlling it more. As for your second question, I don't know exactly how I obtained them. I simply woke up with information in my head and the power already in my body." Cole said calmly while picking up a cup of coffee on the table and drinking it some.

(You really like your coffee) Samuel remarked making Cole smile as he held the cup in his hand.

"Well, it's a good drink in the morning. Plus this coffee will be higher quality than the coffee I normally drink." Cole replied within his mind he heard the president speak to him again."

"Then can you tell me what you do know?" The president asked with a slightly deeper tone as she squinted her eyes slightly.

"I suppose I can. You probably already looked at the report I gave before I was detained up north. In short, I can control the fire element that's created from my body." He said, simply repeating what he had already reported.

"And you are able to share portions of your power according to the report, correct?" The president asked, causing everyone to look at her.

"That is definitely one of the abilities I now possess," Cole answered again as he nodded.

"Then can you show me how it's done?" She asked causing the secret service around the room to move a bit closer to her.

"I have a vague understanding of how to do it..." he said he looked over at his most loyal squad member. "Kyle stand in front of me for a moment."

"Huh?" Kyle answered with an extremely puzzled face before quickly standing in front of Cole after everyone shifted their gaze at him.

Seeing his squad member getting nervous he quickly stood up and patted him on the shoulder. "Relax, just act casual." He said as he removed his hand from his shoulder while his body was covered in a red aura again.

A bit confused on how to proceed, Cole decided to listen to Samuel's advice.

(Focus Cole. Remember what I mentioned to you yesterday)

Hearing those quick words, Cole thought back to the previous day when he had asked about how to create clansman. Slowly replaying that conversation in his mind, he let the aura thicken around his hand before crimson flames covered the aura.

After Samuel confirmed that he had done his part correctly, Cole held out his hand towards Kyle. The only words he told him were simply "grab my hand."

While fairly nervous as he concluded he was basically a test dummy. Kyle put trust in his squad leader. Through all the years he has been with him, he has never done anything to them with the intent to harm. Reaching out his hand with complete trust, he grabbed Cole's hand as the red flames began to shift onto his hand and disappear as a red aura spread up his arm and around his body.

Feeling the flaming aura on his body. Kyle felt like he was going to be burned alive but surprisingly he felt the same flame that had disappeared, enter his blood and travel straight into his heart, gathering together into a condensed ball of fire that sat quietly within him.

With the condensed fire in his heart, he felt no more discomfort from the aura around his body, instead, he felt like he had become one with it. Feeling the power coursing through his veins, Kyle smiled and clenched his fists a few times before the aura disappeared.

"Congratulations, you are my first clansman Kyle," Cole said as he sat down again and pulled out a cigarette before pausing, just as he was about to light it. he turned his head to the president who quickly shook her head.

With a sigh, Cole burned the cigarette to ash as he laid back against his seat. Kyle had stepped back to his previous position behind Cole while James and his teammates all punched him in the back lightly with stares of moderate jealousy.

"That was interesting, so now this young man shares the same power as you?" She asked as she stared up and down at Kyle, who tried to remain unbothered by the president's scanning eyes.

"More or less" Cole replied before not saying anything else.

(Nice, you can't reveal anything else to her or you will lose the upper hand) Samuel said approvingly.

"Then, let's get onto the more serious topics." The president said as she squinted her eyes a bit more, turning her gaze into a glare.

"I would like you to become a special military unit comprised of people with your power, you will be given a base to stay and whatever you need. Your rank will outrank most personnel and anyone in your unit will have higher ranks than normal soldiers. Your goal will be to find these other kings and determine if they are a threat to the nation. If they are, then you will eliminate them." She said as she linked her fingers above the desk.

"I refuse!" Cole quickly answered with a pout.

"Why is that?" She asked in response.

"First, as a King, I'd rather have an organization that is under nobody else's control but my own. We can that takes jobs from the country, like mercenaries. Though I will mostly take jobs that involve other kings, I can accept other requests as well.

Secondly, I want money from the government to create a base of operations. I expect at least a few hundred million to make things easier for my people, that money will go towards food, travel, and other things." Cole said, causing the president to immediately chime in with an annoyed tone.

"Why should I agree to your terms? I can easily just send the military in the event any kings act out of control. I can't simply give you hundreds of millions to fund an organization that can easily turn on us. I can't trust you at all." She said as she wondered where Cole's mind was, even with his military accomplishments, she personally didn't know what he was like, and giving money to a possible enemy would be idiotic on her part.

"I feel you are underestimating us kings, madam president. The kings all have powers strong enough to wipe out cities if they choose to." Cole said as he looked at her with a smile that wasn't entirely a smile.

"Even if that is true, I don't know what you'll do in the future, you are an unknown element at this time and I simply cannot accept your terms because of that." Sitting back against her chair, she pressed a button under the desk while speaking while locking eyes with Cole.

"Thank you for meeting with me Lieutenant, we will contact you again if the need arises." She said as people began to enter the room and motion them to the door.

"Alright then madam president, just know that next time my asking price will be higher, a lot higher!" Cole said as he stood up and walked out of the room followed by Kyle and the other young men of their squad.

"We have the strongest military in the world, I don't think you kings will be able to run wild in my nation." She mumbled as she got up and stretched her arms.

"I'm done for today unless it is extremely important I don't want anyone interrupting me tonight." She said as she walked out of a side door to the Oval Office surrounded by a few secret service members.