3. The Glorious Past

The moment old boy Hector realised through his new life's memories that his surname was not just a fluke and that he was really a direct descendant of George Washington, he quickly tried to feel his teeth. "Oh no, I read somewhere that George Washington had really bad teeth and gums problem. I hope only the name got to me and not his genes."

He touched them with his fingers and tongue. They didn't feel crooked or pained. So he took a sigh of relief, "Good, now let's review my memory and understand where the hell I am and... WHO AM I EXACTLY?"

[MEMORY STARTS (This is MC's past that he didn't live himself but is hardwired in the Universe's timeline and is real. So for MC, it's pretty real.)]

In this world, Hector was born on the 4th of July 1870 and he fought in America-Spanish Wars as a 28-year-old. Those times were pretty easy to rise through the ranks during wars so he reached the rank of Colonel by the end of it. But after that, his career was in stagnation, that was until one fine car driver decided to take a shortcut while an archduke sat in the back. World War 1 was an opportunity to rise for Hector.

By the end of the war in 1918, he had already reached the rank of Lieutenant General. He was tired of the military now, and he had already reached all the fame and glory he ever wanted. Many people knew his name and heroic deeds, So, in the year 1920, at the age of 50, he took retirement and entered politics.

Using his popularity as a famous general, he stood for Senate elections from the state of Illinois and won in 1922. But that was not it, in 1924, he ran for Governor and won again. This time, he became a rising star in the Political space of the country, as his deeds were also talked about on the radios.

The reason was, he was too badass. In Italy, starting from 1919, Mussolini started his fascist campaign, and finally, he became the prime minister of Italy in 1922. This caused a lot of persecuted Italians to immigrate to the United States. This included the Sicilian Mafia.

The prohibition started in 1920, making it illegal to manufacture, transport, or sell alcohol. Despite these bans, there was still a very high demand for them from the public. This created an atmosphere that tolerated crime as a means to provide liquor to the public, even among the police and city politicians. While not explicitly related to Mafia involvement, the murder rate during the Prohibition era rose from 6.8 per 100,000 individuals to 9.7 within the first three months proceeding the Eighteenth Amendment.

The Mafia took advantage of prohibition and began selling illegal alcohol. The profits from bootlegging far exceeded the traditional crimes of protection, extortion, gambling, and prostitution. Prohibition allowed Mafia families to make fortunes, and they started becoming too confident.

As prohibition continued, victorious factions went on to dominate organised crime in their respective cities, setting up the family structure of each city. The new industry required members at all different employment levels, such as bosses, lawyers, truckers, and even members to eliminate competitors through threat/force. Gangs hijacked each other's alcohol shipments, forcing rivals to pay them for "protection" to leave their operations alone, and armed guards almost invariably accompanied the caravans that delivered the liquor.

In the 1920s, Italian Mafia families began waging wars for absolute control over lucrative bootlegging rackets. As the violence erupted, Italians fought Irish and Jewish ethnic gangs for control of bootlegging in their respective territories.

But, those that died and were pained were common citizens. So, being the all mighty Hector King Washington, he smothered the streets with the blood of the Mafia, or any criminal that came in his way. He survived a record 48 assassination attempts, creating a country-wide joke that Hector had basically survived assassinations in all 48 states. (A/N: Alaska and Hawaii became states in 1959.)

He became the first Governor to pick arms and fight side by side with the police officers, killing more criminals than the entire police department combined. He was again nicknamed, the Invincible Governor.

The whole state supported him, as the gangs who were initially welcomed due to liquor, now had become too bullish, often resorting to kidnapping rich folks.

In 1926, he eradicated the entire Chicago Outfit by killing Johnny Torrio and Al Capone. Then, being someone with previous knowledge of the world, he killed off Paul De Lucia, who served as the nominal or de facto leader of the Chicago Outfit for 40 years. In the original world of Hector, Paul was named by a Senate crime investigating subcommittee "the country's most important criminal."

Hector didn't stop until each member of the mob was dead. Nobody raised any questions except one, Herbert Hoover, the current president, sitting at the top. The man was a businessman and his policies didn't help with the start of the Great Depression. People became angrier as the man indirectly supported the Mafia by opposing him. The man underestimated Hector's charisma.

Most of the country knew that by dealing with Chicago Outfit, a huge mob infestation, he had removed cancer that would have plagued the country for decades to come.

Eventually, his deeds scared most of the Mafia away, making Illinois the taboo territory. Now, most of them were focused in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and some other large cities.

But, Hector knew that these Mafia were also one of those responsible for helping the American Economy to recover from the great depression by providing money and jobs in illegal ways. So, he gave a public speech with double meaning words, hoping the smart folks would understand.

"I did not want to raise arms again, I am but an old retired military man. But the agony and cries of the people of my state, the people I am supposed to represent, forced me to. For every innocent's blood spilt, I will make sure ten mobsters fall down..."

This was essentially saying, you can do your business as long as it does not involve kidnapping, extortion and killing. So, in a controlled manner, he allowed Mafia to work in his state, but he never allowed them to turn into the behemoth he just finished.

As the state did not have rules prohibiting the number of terms for governor, Hector again ran for re-election in 1928 and won a third term, mainly due to his extreme popularity, which was a result of his great looks, which instilled confidence among people, his superhuman-like image and finally, his policies that promoted economic activities by providing special concession to factories and other manufacturing agencies. Even after the 1929 market crash and the start of the Great Depression, he remained popular.

Before the election, though, much news came that he might move to New York and run from there, due to the widespread Mafia menace. But those rumours turned out to be false, spread by the current governor of New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt, hoping to scare the mafia to stay silent for a while, as his own election was coming. And it bloody worked, just by using Hector's name, the man got re-elected.

But after three terms, Hector wanted to have some rest and let his second in command and faithful loyal student take over, helping him with the elections. Then Hector went back to his ancestral home of Mount Vernon to relax.

That was until a 50-year-old man, in a wheelchair, came rolling to his home with his wife pushing him.

In 1932, he was invited by Franklin D. Roosevelt to become his Vice President Candidate due to his popularity. Roosevelt also admired him, his policies, work and will, since Hector was older than him. He gladly accepted it, knowing that Roosevelt will be in the office overseeing the entirety of the rebound of the American economy from the Great Depression and World War 2.

Though he knew that it was the World War that really brought America out of the Great Depression, along with some policies of Roosevelt, he still wanted to change some things about the United States, since he believed that the country was supposed to be the beacon of freedom, democracy and justice around the world in the future, something that it failed to become in his own timeline.

With that, Hector King Washington, the only remaining descendant of George Washington, entered the White House. With the name, Washington, again resounding in the halls of the White House and the buildings of Capitol, many people felt anemoiac, nostalgia for a time they had never known. They felt like they were part of a very important administration due to the name.

Slowly, it became a matter of pride and boasting for many to know Hector personally or be in his social circle. Roosevelt, too, won many brownie points for having him in the administration. Both remained highly popular among the general public, as their many policies had really helped the nation.

Later, in 1936, FDR and Hector King Washington stood for re-election and won. Roosevelt, with Hector's help, received 99.49% of the electoral vote total. Roosevelt's 526 electoral votes out of 531 marked the first time in American history that a presidential candidate received over 500 electoral votes in a presidential election. However, this second term saw the slow flames of war growing in Europe. And in 1939, news that shocked the country came.

A plane carrying Vice President Washington to Hawaii crashed in the Grand Canyon. With that, many people in the position of power either became happy or mournful. Roosevelt, fearing the death of his closest friend, had a small heart attack, decreasing his already challenged abilities to walk. He didn't want Hector to be gone right now, since the war was looming over the world, and he needed Hector's expertise since he was a decorated retired general.

People don't really survive plane crashes, no matter which era, it was a fact. So there were close to no chances of his survival. All they expected now was to find his body and lay it to rest with a well deserved grand funeral.

The ordinary people though, were mostly downhearted, because their beloved, humorous, strong, badass, cool, charismatic and favourite politician had most likely died.

[Memory Ends]

"WOOOOH... That's a lot to take in. So I'm in 1939 right now and currently the Vice President. And they probably think I'm dead. Haha... can't wait to see Roosevelt's face when he sees me." Hector laughed after checking the memories. To him, everything he saw was real.

He looked around himself, there were tall rock formations everywhere, with deep spaces in between. He was somewhere at an opening between these tall rock formations. The broad, intricately sculptured chasm of the canyon contained between its outer walls a multitude of imposing peaks, buttes, gorges, and ravines.

"Hmm, I still have no idea which universe I am in. But, this place seems to be just right to test my powers. And... what was the special gift Satan was talking about?" He wondered.

The first thing he remembered was that he was supposed to have super strength and no height damage. Exorcism and simple magic related to hell were common to him and he had felt a connection to the minor hell realms of this universe, so he knew about those powers.

"WOOF!"

Hector's ears stood up as he heard this familiar sound. He looked left and right and tried to feel where the sound was coming from.

"WOOF WOOF!"

He soon realised it was coming from inside a tall rock formation. "Well, only one way to get inside."

He pulled his arm back so it was adjacent to his chest. Then... *BOOM* He punched it with what he thought would be enough to at least punch a hole in the rock.

But... he miscalculated and now the entire rock formation was coming down. *WOOSH*

"DAMN IT... Where are you, boy?" Hector looked for the dog that was making the sound.

It was continuously coming so ignoring the falling debris and the cloud of dust, he ran in. Soon, he felt something hairy and picked it up to run out of the destruction he had caused.

In the end, he and the dog were completely covered in sand. "Argh... now I look like Indiana Jones."

"WOOF WOOF!"

Hector felt something licking his face. He looked, it was a giant, 4 feet tall and 5 feet long white husky dog. He looked like the cutest thing in the world. But he recognised him.

"MOONY?!"