"Hail to the Hostage" - Political Story (COMMENTS WELCOME)

[Reaganfan]

"Hail to the Hostage"

Taking place 13 years after the events of "Vendetta-elect" and 9 years after the events of "Cordell for President", this story finds newly sworn-in President Michael James Tank held hostage in the Oval Office by a Congressman who is denied a place in the cabinet after being promised one during the campaign. I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to leave comments, questions and opinions throughout the thread. When you picture President Tank, btw, I see him as a "Kurt Russell" looking fella:



Minus the "Death Proof" scratches, of course.

As far as the main "villian", Congressman Castone....picture that new actor who really is a big rising talent, Aaron Eckhart:



Without further ado...here's the story....

[Reaganfan]

SCENE OPENS, INAUGURATION DAY. OUTSIDE THE WEST FRONT OF THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL IN WASHINGTON, D.C. VISITORS AND VIEWERS FROM AROUND THE NATION AND WORLD AWAIT THE INAUGURATION OF THE 50TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States.

HAIL TO THE CHIEF PLAYS AS PRESIDENT JOHN W. CORDELL, 63 YEARS OLD, ALONG SIDE FIRST LADY LESLIE CORDELL AND 20 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER ASHLEY WALK OUT INTO PUBLIC VIEW. THEY WALK DOWN THE STEPS MEETING UP WITH VICE PRESIDENT CALVIN JENNINGS, 70 AND HIS WIFE TERESA, 63.

Cordell: Hey Cal, how you doing?
Jennings: Pretty good, Mr. President.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Ladies and Gentlemen, the Vice President-elect of the United States.

THE BAND PLAYS AS VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT MITCHELL NASH, 43 YEARS OLD, WALKS DOWN THE STEPS ALONGSIDE HIS WIFE CRYSTAL, 34. HE MEETS UP AT THE BASE OF THE STAIRS AND SHAKES HANDS WITH PRESIDENT CORDELL AND VICE PRESIDENT JENNINGS.

Cordell: Hey, Mitch. How you doing?
Nash: I'm doing well, sir.
Jennings: Nice to see you, Senator.
Nash: Mr. Vice President, it's a pleasure. I sure hope the Vice Presidency isn't as worthless as a bucket of warm piss as I've heard it is. (laughs)
Jennings: It has it's ups and downs. (laughs)
Nash: Yeah, I'm sure gonna miss Ohio, but I'm ready to get down to business.
Jennings: Absolutely.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Ladies and Gentlemen, the President-elect of the United States.

THE MUSIC PLAYS AS PRESIDENT-ELECT MICHAEL JAMES TANK, 51 YEARS OLD WALKS DOWN THE STEPS ALONG SIDE HIS WIFE EMILY, 39 AND HIS TWO SONS MIKE JR, 11, AND SAM, 7. PRESIDENT CORDELL AND PRESIDENT-ELECT TANK NOD AT EACH OTHER.

SCENE SHIFTS THE INAUGURATION CEREMONY

Chief Justice: Senator Tank, are you prepared to take the Constitutional Oath?
Tank: Yes, sir.
Chief Justice: Please place you left hand on the Bible, raise your right hand, and repeat after me. I, Michael James Tank do solemnly swear.
Tank: I, Michael James Tank, do solemnly swear.
Chief Justice: That I will will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States.
Tank: That I will will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States.
Chief Justice: And will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend
Tank: And will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend
Chief Justice: the Constitution of the United States.
Tank: the Constitution of the United States.
Chief Justice: So help me, God.
Tank: So help me, God.
Chief Justice: Congratulations, Mr. President.

HAIL TO THE CHIEF BEGINS PLAYING AS PRESIDENT MICHAEL TANK, SHAKES HANDS WITH FORMER PRESIDENT JOHN CORDELL.

Cordell: Congratulations, Mike.
Tank: Thank you, John.
Cordell: You ran one hell of a race.
Tank: As did you sir, thank you.

PRESIDENT MICHAEL TANK AND VICE PRESIDENT MITCH NASH WAVE TO THE CROWD.

END SCENE

[Meeker]

Did Cordell lose because of the Bradley Effect?

[Reaganfan]

Did Cordell lose because of the Bradley Effect?

Oh please

[paul718]

And?...

[Reaganfan]

SCENE OPENS TWO DAYS LATER, PRESIDENT MIKE TANK WALKS INTO THE OVAL OFFICE. HE LOOKS AROUND.

Tank: (to himself) Wow.

A KNOCK COMES AT THE DOOR. A SECRET SERVICE AGENT, MID-50S AND SHAVED HEAD, OPENS DOOR.

Tank: Come in, come in, please.
Silver: Agent John Silver.
Tank: Nice to meet you.
Silver: Likewise, sir.
Tank: It's always nice to know the guys who got my back. (laughs)
Silver: Well, Mr. President, I've protected every President we've had the last thirty years.
Tank: Impressive.
Silver: Thank you, sir.
Tank: Well I hate to cut you off, but I'm meeting with my Secretary of Defense-designate in a few minutes.
Silver: I'm no longer here. Take care, sir.

AGENT SILVER LEAVES, PRESIDENT TANK WALKS OVER TO THE OVAL OFFICE DESK. FIRST LADY EMILY TANK SNEAKS INTO THE OVAL OFFICE AS AGENT SILVER LEAVES.

Emily: Hey there, Mr. President.
Tank: Hey baby.
Emily: Whatcha up to?
Tank: This desk...can you believe that 80 years ago, little John-John was playing underneath it as his father worked?
Emily: It's something, isn't it.
Tank: Ah...I still can't get over it. Not after that campaign.
Emily: Honey, John Cordell was a very fierce opponent.
Tank: Yes he was.
Emily: (laughs) Think he got the message?
Tank: Sweetie, I think 48 out of 50 states got the message.

EMILY AND THE PRESIDENT LAUGH AND SHARE A KISS.

END SCENE

SCENE SHIFTS TO CONGRESSMAN TIM CASTONE OF NEW YORK WALKING DOWN HALLWAY LEADING TO OVAL OFFICE. PRESIDENT TANK MEETS HIM OUTSIDE THE DOORWAY.

Tank: Congressman, welcome!
Castone: Pleasure to meet you, Mr. President and may I say congratulations on your election victory. You know, it helped pull many Republicans across the line.
Tank: Ah, well you were benefitical to my victory in New York.
Castone: Sir, by that point you barely had to worry about any states, you and Senator Nash sealed the deal long  before then.
Tank: Well anyways, I just wanted to invite you in the Oval Office and talk to you about your upcoming Senate confirmation.

TANK AND CASTONE WALK INTO OVAL OFFICE AND THE DOOR CLOSES.

Castone: Mr. President...I just want to let you know that your appointing me to be Secretary of Defense...well...it's something that I've imagined and dreamed about for years.
Tank: Well, I don't see any reason why that dream won't come true, Tim. Afterall, we have a majority in the Senate...and I think I have enough of a mandate to push you across.
Castone: I sure hope so, sir.
Tank: Yes, you are a bit more liberal...but the conservatives in Congress could bend on that given that you come from a state which hadn't gone Republican in almost 50 years.
Castone: Indeed, Mr. President.

TANK WALKS CASTONE BACK TO THE DOOR.

Tank: I hate to cut this short, but I have lots and lots of people waiting to see me.
Castone: I'll let you get back to work.
Tank: Take care, Tim...we'll talk soon.
Castone: Thank you, take care Mr. President.

CONGRESSMAN CASTONE LEAVES OVAL OFFICE.

END SCENE

[Reaganfan]

SCENE CUTS TO PRESIDENT TANK MEETING OUTSIDE THE OVAL OFFICE WITH POLITICAL ADVISOR STAN BURCHWOOD, YOUNG MAN, EARLY 30s, DARK HAIR.

Burchwood: Mr. President!
Tank: (laughs) HIYA STAN! HOW YOU BEEN?
Burchwood: Great sir, how are your feet after those inaugural balls?
Tank: Ah...I don't ever want to dance again.
Burchwood: Then be sure not to attend any state dinners with Prime Minister Campbell.
Tank: Yeah...I heard ole' Liz can heat up a dance floor in every club in England...if she went of course.
Burchwood: She's only 62, Mr. President...I'm sure she loves the techno revolution.
Tank: Didn't the techno revolution occur 50 years ago, Stan?
Burchwood: History repeats itself, sir.
Tank: I guess so.
Burchwood: Speaking of 50 years ago, you won the largest landslide in America since Ronald Reagan in 1984...
Tank: Thanks to you, Stan.
Burchwood: As your senior political advisor, I'm already keeping my schedule prepared for the election.
Tank: What election? The mid-terms?
Burchwood: Your re-election, sir.
Tank: (laughs) Ahhh come on, Stan!
Burchwood: Just think sir, if we won 89 million votes with the slogan "TANK: A SOLID LEADER WE NEED"...imagine how many we can win with the slogan "RE-ELECT TANK...KEEP AMERICA SOLID"!
Tank: (laughs) Clever, Stan. Keep that one on ice for now...I've got alot on my plate.
Burchwood: Ah yes, I heard you met with Congressman Castone.
Tank: Yep, yep.
Burchwood: What's he like?
Tank: He seems alright...a little young and eager. I knew I should go with my instinct and my instinct on this guy stinks.
Burchwood: How so?
Tank: This guy was basically thrust upon me as a de-facto Secretary of Defense, and the guy has no Military history, he served on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and has nothing under his belt to prove he has any qualifications to be Defense Secretary.
Burchwood: Mr. President...this guy's old man did help us in the Northeast.
Tank: Yes, I know that.
Burchwood: His father has been a Senator for 20 years...
Tank: I'm well aware of Donald Castone, Stan.
Burchwood: He helped us carry New York.
Tank: We didn't even need New York...we won the entire country. We could have lost all of New England and even California and still won. Hell we lost Vermont and Rhode Island...anything that was close we still won. We scraped by in Illinois and Connecticut, and we didn't have any help there. We took Minnesota.
Burchwood: Former President Iverson helped us there.
Tank: The rest we buried in huge victories. My point is simple...I'm not gonna let some big-time New York Senator force a Defense Secretary on me just because it's his kid.
Burchwood: So who else do you have in mind?
Tank: Senator Weston of Florida.
Burchwood: Keith Weston? Ole' Keith?
Tank: Hell yeah. The guys been on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for years, he served in the Marines, he was a Major! This guy I trust with the National Defense of this country...not some daddy's boy from New York who probably still has a hard-on for raising his own national profile.
Burchwood: (laughs) Come on! Castone?
Tank: His old man never got a crack at the Oval Office after Iverson beat him in the primary. The young son would take it in a second.
Burchwood: Well, atleast I know who you'll support in the primary in eight years.
Tank: GIMME A BREAK, STAN! (laughs)

SCENE ENDS

[Reaganfan]

SCENE OPENS IN MANSION IN ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA. WE SEE AN OLDER MAN, DARK GRAY HAIR, MID-60s, STRONG, DEEP ITALIAN VOICE, SMOKING A LARGE CIGAR. IT IS SENATOR DONALD CASTONE OF NEW YORK. HIS SON, CONGRESSMAN TIM CASTONE, IS STANDING NEAR A WINDOW.

Donald: Hey Tim, pour me a scotch will you?
Castone: Sure thing, pop.
Donald: You know...there is such change pushing through the corridors of Washington.
Castone: How do you mean, Dad?
Donald: Tank, not only was a good Congressman but a good Governor...he left Missouri in good hands...and now he's in the White House. We got a majority in the Senate....those bastards have the House.
Castone: We can win it back next year, pop.
Donald: Didn't I teach you anything, Tim? Mid-terms are disasters for the incumbent party! The Democrats will tear us apart next year!
Castone: Didn't happen to Bush back in 2002.
Donald: Hey...I knew George W. Bush. We used to fish off in those ponds down in Crawford. Speaking of which...where does Tank have his Western White House?
Castone: Western White House?
Donald: (jokingly yelling) Don't be a sciocco!
Castone: How am I a fool, Dad?
Donald: Back in the day, we used to call the castaways of the Presidents the "Western White House". Nixon had one, Reagan had one, Bush had one, Jack had a cabin in Minnesota....(notices Tim walking away) HEY WHERE ARE YOU GOING!?
Castone: Just getting your drink, pop!
Donald: Ah...ah...alright, sorry, son. Anyways...the thing I'm most happy about...
Castone: What's that, pop?
Donald: That son of a bitch Cordell is outta there.
Castone: I'm with you on that one, pop.
Donald: That rat bastard. We kicked his ass eight years ago, and he comes back. Hank Quinn was gonna be one of the greatest Presidents America has ever seen...and Cordell just stole it out from under him. All the scandals and bribes and scum associated with him and his administration.
Castone: Dad, Cordell had three affairs while in office. His approval rating was 16% on Election Day. We got him.
Donald: I could've run, Tim.
Castone: I know, Dad.
Donald: I could've run and got that nomination and I could be sittin' in that Oval Office right now.
Castone: Why didn't you, Dad?
Donald: Huh?
Castone: You'd never pass up an opportunity to become President, especially not when you know the Republican Nominee WILL be President...especially not when the Democrats reluctantly re-nominate a guy destined to lose...why didn't you?
Donald: I felt I could better serve my country in the Senate.
Castone: Come on, Dad. It's me you're talking to. I know you well enough to know there had to be a better reason.
Donald: (pause) Yeah, there was...
Castone: What happened?
Donald: President Cordell found some ties I had to the bosses in the city. Little things...nothin' big.
Castone: Yeah.
Donald: Yeah...and he called me one day and threatened me that he would unleash a media nightmare. If I would've run, I would've been the nominee, and I would've been done...even against a corrupt S.O.B. like Cordell.
Castone: I see.
Donald: (holds up drink) Anyways...salute.
Castone: (holds his drink up) Salute, pop.

SCENE ENDS

[Reaganfan]

SCENE OPENS AT WHITE HOUSE GATHERING IN THE EAST ROOM. HAIL TO THE CHIEF BEGINS PLAYING.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PLEASE WELCOME THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES MIKE TANK AND THE FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES EMILY TANK, ACCOMPANIED BY VICE PRESIDENT MITCH NASH AND HIS WIFE CRYSTAL."

PRESIDENT TANK, WEARING A TUXEDO AND HOLDING A WINE GLASS, WALKS UP TO THE MICROPHONE.

Tank: Thank you everyone for coming to this event tonight, your warm welcome of Emily and I is greatly appreciated by myself, Emily and I'm quite sure that Vice President Nash and Crystal share the same appreciation. Ya know, a few years ago when I left the Congress to become Governor of the great state of Missouri, I found myself looking at what I expected to be a one term deal to lead that state, and then retire from politics. However, the encouragement of good friends like you stressed for me to stay in, and run for another term. After that, I found myself in stiff competition for the nomination of my party, and after receiving it, found myself here in this very home, with the very rare and extraordinary job of leading the United States of America. I can't tell you how thankful I am to have been part of this historic precedent, and how much I look forward to leading America through the next four years. Thank you.

CROWD APPLAUDS AS PRESIDENT TANK KISSES HIS WIFE EMILY.

SCENE SWITCHES TO CASTONE, WALKING TO AN ABANDONED PAY PHONE IN A BAD AREA OF WASHINGTON, D.C. LATE AT NIGHT. A HOMELESS MAN IS SITTING INSIDE THE PHONE BOOTH. CASTONE WALKS UP TO HIM.

Castone: Hey, I need to use the phone.
Derelict: The what?
Castone: The phone.
Derelict: Where's that?
Castone: You're laying in it.
Derelict: This is just my house, man.
Castone: No, it ain't your f**king house, buddy...it's property and it's not yours. Back in the day people used to use these to make phone calls.
Derelict: Boy, I was using pay phones back in 1977 before you were even born!
Castone: Then you should know not to sleep in them.
Derelict: I got no where else to go!
Castone: (angry) Here...you know what? I've got one...two...four hundred dollars. See that? Now look over there. (points to a small motel) See that motel? Take this money and get a room. Shower and go out and get a job tomorrow.
Derelict: But I...
Castone: Just do it, opportunities like this don't come along often.
Derelict: Bless you, young man.
Castone: Now go on, get outta here!

CASTONE GOES INTO THE PAY PHONE BOOTH, AND SEES THE PHONE IS OUT OF ORDER.

Castone: (to himself) Fu**ing figures.

CASTONE WALKS INTO A RESTUARANT, AND FINDS A PAY PHONE. HE PUTS COINS AND IN AND DIALS.

Castone: Hey, Danny....
Danny: (voice on phone) Tim?
Castone: Yeah it's me Tim.
Danny: We've missed you at the meetings...
Castone: Yeah I know I haven't been to the meetings lately....I've been busy making my way into Tank's administration. I'm calling from a pay phone, didn't even wanna use my cell.
Danny: Perfectly understandable, Tim. If you make it to be Secretary of Defense, it can be exactly the thing to make the whole world see the truth and the purposefulness of "the group".
Danny: We need to stress our need to get rid of those countries who serve to invade our freedoms and liberties.
Castone: I know...GET RID of them.
Danny: Remember Danny, I've been with the Secret Service for five years...made my way through the background check....I will be working this week right outside Tank's office...if you ever need...help.
Castone: Understood, Danny. Goodbye.

CASTONE HANGS UP PHONE

SCENE ENDS