5. I'M IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE?!

It took them an hour of fast walking to arrive at the unsightly looking place called Las Vegas. It was a simple little village to be honest, as only 13,000 people live here. Hector quickly checked his pocket for money. He found 120 USD in denominations of 5,5,20,20,20 and 50. It was a lot of money in this era($2,368 in today's value). He entered the first restaurant he saw, it was called 91 Club.

"No pets allowed." he was stopped from entering.

He grunted in exhaustion and took out a 5 dollar bill and handed it to the man, "Come on, kid. Your place is completely empty. I and my boy are too hungry to argue."

The man happily took the 5 dollars and nodded. He was apparently the bartender, and truly the place was empty. Hector then ordered 5 servings of steak. All of them were for Moony. For himself, he ordered a whole roasted chicken with extra super spice sauce.

He had absolutely no damn worries about his ass in the morning because it wasn't normal ass, it was a superhuman ass.

"WOOF!"

"Waiter, bring two more steaks for Moony," he ordered quickly.

But he was done with his meal pretty quickly. So he went to the telephone booth at one end of the restaurant and pressed 00. It was the number to talk to the operator who handles national non-local calls. 0 was for local. After a few seconds, the operator answered, "How may I help you."

It was a sweet female voice. ~hah, Bell System is doing a good job~ he thought and spoke, "Operator, connect me to the specific number I tell you to. It is a special federal government emergency line. 777-420-69."

The operator on the other side tried to connect the call. Once it rang she spoke, "Is this a person to person call?"

"No, station-to-station. You can just leave it here and let me do the talking, it's for your own safety, child." He told her in a serious tone.

She, hearing his old, heavy sounding voice, suddenly felt fear and quickly disconnected herself. After a while, the phone was picked up on the other side.

This number belonged to the Secret Service operator's room in the White House. The moment the phone was picked, Hector spoke a few code numbers and words, "SSC Freedom. Number 1932-70."

SSC was short for Secret Service Code. It was given to most presidents, vice presidents and their immediate families. His was called Freedom. They probably gave him this since he was related to old George.

There was movement on the other side and a lot of noise came. Hector could imagine the storm that took over the White House right now.

"Mr Vice President, your location?" The man from the other side asked. This was most likely not the guy who picked up the phone originally.

"Las Vegas, a restaurant called 91 Club. I will wait here," he said and hung up. Then he paid for the delicious meal and the call and took a seat again. "Waiter, you got any whiskey here?... Bring me the best one then."

"Wuf..." Moony breathed and tilted his head.

"No, you can't drink. I remember you tried it once and kept on running on the beach until you had a heart attack. If it wasn't for Satan, you'd have died much sooner." Hector declined it promptly.

In the background, the radio was running, and the news was being given. As expected, it was about him.

[NEWS]

"Vice President Washington's body was not found in the crash, this has been confirmed by the White House Press Secretary. But it is yet to be known if Vice President Washington is alive since the search for him is ongoing as we speak. But it's nighttime and impossible to see anything in the vast Grand Canyon, and the chances look bleak. Mr Washington, I can only pray for you. If you are alive. May the coldness of the night not bother you."

[NEWS ENDS]

Hector chuckled and silently drank the whiskey. ~Hmm... maybe I can write a book exaggerating my survival. Hah... making money is so easy.~

...

Nevada, Under construction Airforce Base

"He's in Las Vegas? How? The crash site is hundreds of miles away." Roosevelt had landed at the base not long ago and was making sure no officer had a second to rest before Hector was found.

"Yes, Mr President. He contacted the Secret Service and told them his location. We are heading straight there now. Only he can answer how he did it." A 1 Star general informed Roosevelt.

All the tiredness left his body and energy took over. "Then I shall follow. Prepare for departure immediately, General."

Roosevelt was still a bit worried. He didn't know the condition of Hector. He very much valued the man, both as a professional and a good friend. His worry had another reason. Unlike him, only 57 years old, Hector was much older "Sweet 69" as he says. 69 was not an age when people can trek through the desert and be unscathed.

...

Dozens of police cars and countless military vehicles entered Las Vegas, flying the desert dust with so many tyres rolling. The 13000 people of the town were shocked and awakened due to the noise. It was the middle of the night after all.

Many black armoured vehicles were at the front and the first to pull up at the entrance of the 91 Club restaurant. Men with guns out secured the area, covering the whole building's outside, then a few men calmly entered, followed by a man slowly walking in. Franklin was paralysed from the waist down and couldn't walk. Still, he had trained himself to walk short distances with the help of others. Hector had himself helped him by designing some metal braces for him that helped him stand upright.

All these were items Hector had seen in his previous life during the Afghanistan tours. Even during his long time in hell, he had seen many souls of people bringing their prosthetics along. They were just imagery, as these souls felt the prosthetic was like their real limb.

Hector was sipping some nice fine whiskey in the bar when the people started pouring in, scaring the waiter and the manager. Immediately they surrounded Hector, but fools then aimed at the poor Moony, who was cutely eating his steak.

"GUNS DOWN, he's my good boy Moony. He may look big, but he's a highly intelligent dog. Right, Moony?" He asked the dog.

"WOOF..." Moony barked intelligibly and went back to eating. The men there were no threat to him even with their guns.

The people truly believed he was a dog and lowered their guns, albeit they still felt scared. Next, the head of Hector's Secret Service detail came forward.

"Mr Vice President, the paramedics are with us, please let them check you." He requested respectfully. He was quite nervous, as Hector's body was covered in dirt from head to toe, his white hair that was usually shining were now looking dirty blonde from the dirt.

Hector laughed, "Haha, this old boy is just fine, Spencer. How is your wife? I heard she just gave birth yesterday."

Hector sat down and allowed the paramedics to check his blood pressure and temperature as he talked.

Spencer smiled, "Sir, it's a daughter."

*PAT PAT* "Good, I guess you need to take a small leave and go to some baby-care classes. It ain't easy changing diapers."

"HAHA... When did you change anybody's diapers, Hector?" Roosevelt walked in slowly.

Hector laughed and went to give his friend a hug, but at the same time, he helped Franklin to take a seat. "Well, I may have been single all my life, but I did once change diapers of your grandson."

Roosevelt chuckled and asked, "How are you? And who is this new friend?"

"Moony, come here, boy. Meet Franklin D. Roosevelt, he's the big boss of this country." Hector called the white husky.

Moony first sniffed the man sitting on the chair, then suddenly lifted his right paw. Roosevelt confusedly looked and asked, "What?"

"He's shaking your hand, Franklin. He's much smarter than a normal dog." Hector nudged him to shake it.

Roosevelt laughed and shook Moony's paw, then gave a lot of pets. The dog was taller than a man sitting on the chair and it was pretty nerve-racking if one was meeting Moony for the first time. Yet Roosevelt was cool with it.

After the paramedics made sure of everything and a few journalists had clicked pictures and asked questions, it was time to return to the White House. Hector's own home was in the Capitol, an inherited property, as George Washington had bought and built two buildings in the area after he laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol in 1793. Although they were given to the federal government to be used as a government building for 200 years, Hector had still reserved one floor for himself.

...

It took him a few hours to return home.

The radio stations were talking about him since the early morning, the newspapers claimed it/he was "GOD'S MIRACLE" "GOD'S FAVOURED" or "WASHINGTON POWER". Hector laughed when he saw these headlines in his private bath in his home in Washington, DC. It was a giant bathtub, Moony was also there, playing with an inflated duck.

"Well, I guess it is God's Miracle technically, as I derive my powers from Satan and he derives his powers from God himself." He concluded and put the papers aside. It was Monday, 15th December 1939. He had to return to the office for work, and since he knew the future, he needed to do many things to make sure the Unites States worked like a much better well-oiled war machine in World War.

~And I also need to find where the hell I am?~ he sighed and started brushing Moony's white fur.

He was still trying to adapt his mind to being related to George Washington. But thankfully, he knew a lot about the man's history so he had some solace, despite some unsettling details about the man's early history.

George, like most other landowners and founding fathers, owned slaves. Because in that era, creating a nation or any kind of wealth needed huge human resources, people did not like giving money for work, hence, slavery was widespread. All historical monuments, from the Roman Pantheon in 125 AD to the White House in 1792, were built using Slave Labour.

But George Washington, after returning from the Revolutionary war as the General, had a slightly changed mindset. First of all, he stopped purchasing slaves, and also stopped selling, as in his words, selling individuals breaks apart families. Despite having been an active slave holder, George Washington struggled with the institution of slavery and spoke frequently of his desire to end the practice in various private letters, yet publicly, he was silent. Though thankfully, George in his last will decreed that all the slaves he owned be freed after his wife's death. At the end of his life, he became the only slave-holding Founding Father to do so. Hector would not want to have that last name otherwise.

George Washington in his life wore many hats. He was a soldier, farmer, brewer, entrepreneur, politician and visionary. Hector chuckled, ~So he was the Johnny Sins of the old days, though a good Johnny I guess since he only had one son in this timeline. So I'm the Third Generation Washington since George lived. I wonder how rich I am since the man was said to be the richest president in history, with a net worth of 525 million in modern times adjusted inflation, though it's just land rich, not cash-rich.~

"Maybe being related to Abe would've been better." he thought. But anyway, he was cool with it, since he had the wheel of the future of the country in his hands now, and he would surely steer it in the right direction.

[A/N: This is the end of this discussion. MC is a man of modern times and holds modern values of equality. His policies will reflect the same later.]

...

White House,

Hector ended up bringing Moony along, he didn't want to stay away from his little boy ever now. There was not even a single scratch on his body, though a few men had died in the plane crash. His alibi was that he had jumped out with a parachute before the plane hit. The rest were pilots and they couldn't do the same.

He went directly to the Oval Office to meet Roosevelt. He knew the man had many questions. However, when he entered, he saw an old man in United States Army uniform sitting opposite of Roosevelt. Hector felt he had seen this man somewhere before but couldn't pinpoint it.

"Woof..." Moony greeted Roosevelt and took his seat on a sofa in the corner of the office.

Roosevelt laughed, "Hah... good of you to bring him, he's sure to cheer up the mood of the office. Now, come and give me your suggestions, Hector. This is Colonel Chester Phillips. He just proposed the creation of a new department. Here, check this file."

Colonel Phillips stood up and saluted the towering old man, "Nice to meet you, General Washington."

Hector chuckled, "Hah, it's been a long time since someone called me that. Just call me Vice President now."

Phillips nodded, but his eyes were shining, "Quite frankly, General Washington sounds much more inspiring than Vice-President Washington."

He took a seat, taking the file, "Don't push me, Colonel, I might just run to join the Military again."

"So, what is this proposal? Hmm... A top-secret department, Strategic Scientific Reserve... to fight HYDRA... ah!"

There was a sudden silence in the office as Hector stopped reading it. But internally, he was too damn excited, ~BOY OH BOY!... I'M IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE... AHAHA... THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!~

He quickly turned to face Moony and ordered, "Boy, victory howl."

"AWOOOOOOOOO... AWOOOOO..." Moony started to howl as trained.

Colone Phillips and Roosevelt just blankly stared at him in confusion.