Prologue

24 Hours after the events of 'Anything and Everything 4: New Horizons'

Hong Kong was burning, but after an entire day of missile bombardments, any city in the world would look as it did at that moment. Much to the surprise of the attackers, the Chinese were putting up little resistance. Perhaps it had something to do with the four million Russians that were coming down from the north to meet them. In just one day after their official entry into the war, The United States of America had effectively leveled most of the Chinese Coast. It would continue until they reached Beijing. They all knew that the Russian's themselves wouldn't stop until they practically ran over the Chinese Capitol and they also knew that the American's wouldn't stop until they had every single person who had sponsored the terrorist attack on Washington in chains.

The group of 30 Black Hawk Helicopters that hung over Hong Kong and continually fired rockets at the city's infrastructure, political, and defense centers were keeping Chinese Moral down and Allied Moral up. The hammer was coming down hard and it was coming in the form of the power of the United States Military, because no matter how bad the economic state of the US was, the Military had never changed. It was still being debated as to if they should launch a ground invasion. In collaboration with the Russians, they were slowly coming to the conclusion that if an invasion from the east and the north were to happen, it would split the massive Chinese Army into two manageable groups. But President Eggert and the Joint Chiefs were still not convinced.

She had justified this war in her mind for two reasons, the phone call that Bernard Waters had placed to the Chairmen of the People's Congress Zhu De and Project Iron itself. The only reasons that the Russians had decided to declare war on China was because of their creation and implementation of Project Iron. But whatever her justification, she was in this and she had to use everything she had to win it, and at the last resort, she would use Nuclear Weapons. But for now, she was going to stick to the massive US Pacific Fleet, the Air Force, The Marines and the CIA.

A few hours after she had addressed the American People and told them what was going to happen, President Eggert had ordered the CIA to unleash their fleet of drones into the Chinese Mainland. Mainly to launch attacks and to survey the landscape of the land that had been somewhat forbidden and they had already positively identified several Nuclear Missile Silos outside of Beijing. It alarmed her and she was still weighing her options on what to do about them, the CIA? Missile Strikes? Invasion? There were so many possibilities. She just needed a little time to choose.

"All reports indicate that the People's Liberation Army has got their hands full with the Russian Army and that is the only reason that there hasn't been heavy fighting in our bombardment zones," Admiral Thomas Rice, the Pacific Commander of Naval and Air Forces reported over the phone, they were in the Oval Office, the Joint Chiefs, The Secretary of Defense and the new Secretary of State, she was sitting at her desk with her fingers clasped together, "I was going to unleash more Black Hawks to completely secure Hong Kong, but I need to send the Marines Corp into the city to have 100 Percent Security, but I need your order and authorization to do that Madam President."

"You say that if we do not fortify Hong Kong, there is a large possibility of the Chinese Army taking it back from us if they decided to split their forces?" Jennie asked, she had been doing nothing but smoothing out war plans for the past day, unless you counted the three hours of sleep that she had gotten, but other than that it was just planning.

"That's correct Madam President," Admiral Rice affirmed throatily, he had been shouting orders, "I'm sure that the Joint Chiefs and the Defense will back me up on it."

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she leaned back in her chair, "Admiral, what is the current complement of Marines that you have assigned to your task force, 10,000?"

"30,000 Madam President," Admiral Rice responded with a slight laugh.

Jennie smirked, that worked perfectly, "Split it into two, I want fifteen thousand to go onto shore first and neutralize the resistance, when it's safe you can send in the other."

She looked up and saw the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of Defense all nodding approvingly at her, looking back down at her phone she smiled, "The order is given Admiral. I expect to have a report back from you at the end of the day, understood?"

"Yes Madam President," Admiral Rice responded.

Jennie could almost hear the smile in his voice, so far, everything was going smooth.

She was exhausted, she was covered in blood and the only reason that she was able to get home without having the cops called on her was the jacket that her friend had let her borrow. Shutting the door behind her, she sighed and hung her keys on the hook. This would be first time in an entire day that Rose Long would be allowed to get some sleep, she had been up for 24 straight hours and she had been running nonstop. And after she had spent those 24 hours, torturing someone, she wanted nothing but to get sleep.

Slipping the coat off of her shoulder, she slung it on the coat rack to the left side of the door and looked around. Jake had called her a little while ago and told her that the Council was still deliberating. At least he had gotten some sleep. So the she owed the cleaner state of her home to one or two people, and Rose knew exactly who they were, she only had to find them, "DJ! Marissa! Come out, come out wherever you are!"

Walking up the hall, she went to the first door on the left, her son's bedroom. Knocking quietly, she put her hands on her hips and waited. Rose knocked one more time, called DJ's name and then she lost her patience. Opening the door, she peeked into the room and she almost keeled over at the sight on DJ's bed. There, in the darkened room, DJ slept, with Marissa. Spying their clothes on the floor, she didn't know what to think. For a moment, she blanked out and stared dumbly at the girl and her son. Yes, she remembered that little thing that Jake had said in the hospital about Marissa and DJ having sex. Even then, it stumped her, she wasn't against her older children having sex, but she certainly wanted them to do it wisely and to use protection.

She'd talk to it about them later. Rose was just to fucking tired to wake them up.

Stepping out of the room, she shut the door and proceeded to walk back to her bedroom. Repeatedly shaking her head to get the image of her son and Marissa out, she flipped the lights on. Shutting the door behind her, she walked over to the bed and sat down. It took a lot out of her to continually press someone for information and it took a toll on her mind to see what she was doing to them. Yes, Bernard Waters deserved more then she had given to him, but he was still another living thing. Shaking her head, she looked down to her shirt and looked at the dried blood that had covered it.

Luckily, she did get all that she could out of that man, but that was only because she had wounded him so bad that he later died of his injuries. She was going to get in serious trouble by the President, but she had done her job and now she needed to get some sleep and Rose could give half a damn about Jennie Eggert. Leaning down, she unzipped her boots, left and right and tossed them haphazardly to the side. She was getting to old to do this full time. Way to old and she knew that she wasn't immortal or invulnerable to age. It scared her, yes, but it was the truth and she had to face it.

Depressed by her own thoughts, she stood up and pulled her shirt off of her body, walked over to the trash bin in the corner and threw the ruined shirt in it. She had lost so many of her better clothes that way. Standing there in the middle of the room in nothing but her bra and pants, Rose knew that she had worked herself so far to the point of exhaustion that she was having all sorts of depressing thoughts. One that had been recurring for the past two years was one in particular, retirement. Most people, Most Americans didn't retire at 47, but most people and definitively most American's hadn't lived the life that she had. She had been considering it for years now.

She'd have a pension, still have her insurance and that pension check alone would be able to allow her family to live comfortably. Not that they didn't already and not that they were lacking money, that wasn't the issue, it was the issue of her own health and her own well being. Walking over to her dresser, she spotted DJ's gun. At least he had done what she asked him to do. Picking it up by the barrel, she disassembled the gun into three pieces and opened the drawer directly under it to put the pieces in it. She didn't know if she would ban DJ from guns entirely, but after Alyssa was shot, he wouldn't be using them for a while. Oh yes, she definitely was going to retire after all of this was over.

Shucking her pants off in two quick motions, she tossed them near her boots and walked over to her closet to quickly pull one of her sleeping shirts off of a hanger and slip it over her body. Reaching back, she unclipped her bra and let it fall to the floor. She'd think it over when she woke up, but for now, she needed to rest. Walking back over to the bed, she piled into it and buried her face in the pillow. Twenty seconds later, she was out.

Murmuring in her sleep when she felt a hand stroke her cheek, Alyssa Long-Sindacco's eyes stirred open and a smile spread across her face when she saw her husband Johnny standing over her with an equally big smile on his face. Stretching out, she grinned and reached up to run a hand through his hair, "Hey there, you know as my husband I would have expected to see you sooner, I was only shot yesterday and this is the first time-…"

"Alyssa," Johnny held up a finger to her lips, "Please shut the hell up."

The Johnny leaned down and kissed her gently, but his gentle gesture turned into something fiery on Alyssa's part when she snaked her arms behind his neck and pulled her closer to him, "Apology accepted, now tell me what you've been doing today?"

"Watching your mother," Johnny said, his eyes widened slightly, the things that Rose had done to Bernard Waters were disturbing to say the least, "You know what, you give that woman a knife, gun and a rope and put her in a room with a suspect and it's disturbing."

"Did she kill whoever this was?" Alyssa asked, frankly she wasn't surprised at all.

Johnny nodded and raised his eyebrows in an admiring fashion, not that he admired what she did, but her reputation did proceed her in so many ways, "And then so, but she got the information that we needed out of him. They sent us home for us to get some sleep, since the kids are with Haley and you are here and I'm the only one who hasn't see you, I thought I'd do you a favor and come by. So, how are you doing Mrs. Sindacco?"

"Oh," Alyssa motioned to the caste that her entire leg was in, "You know, a bullet hole here, a bullet hole there, bing-bang-boom, I'm in the hospital, I'm going through surgery, I've got this horrendous caste on my leg and I'm going stir crazy, so I'm doing pretty well."

Sitting down in a chair next to his wife's bedside, he smiled up at her. He had spent the last day and a half listening to smart remarks from Rose. After being exposed to her that long, he could apprentice it just as well from his wife. Johnny could also appreciate Alyssa's slight censorship of her mouth when compared to that of her mothers, "You know I starting to wonder how your father could ever have gotten along with your father if all she did was sit next to him and make smart ass comments. Your mother is completely insane."

"I was told that she was a perfect goody two shoes before they found out about each other, their identities I mean," Alyssa shrugged, she couldn't really define it, but she could give the definition that both her father and her mother had given her, "When she was pregnant with me, she let her Huntsgirl personality blend with the personality of Rose, and according to both Daddy and Mom herself, the Rose Long that you see today is the result of it."

Johnny nodded, but he was already passing out. Alyssa watched with heavy amusement as Johnny leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. Not long after that, she noticed his breathing settle and his head drop down to his chest. Smirking, Alyssa closed her own eyes and laughed slightly, "Good night Johnny, you big butt headed lump."

Politicians, you never know what you got with them. Jake had always held the Dragon Council to higher standards then mortal politicians, but when it came down to it they were all the same. While war was breaking out all around him and fairly close, he was waiting to see if his species would join in. There were some perks through, he had been allowed a room to sleep in, and that had cut a good majority of the time away, but he was wide awake now and waiting for their final decision.

He was asking something big from them, to openly expose themselves to the world. It was ridiculous to think that they would do it under any other circumstances, but Jake knew that when he mentioned Nuclear Weapons, it had gotten their attention and had opened their minds to the possibility. They weren't foolish enough to think that a Nuclear Weapon wouldn't affect them, if the fall out didn't radiate the waters that came to the Isle of Draco, the explosion ultimately would. There was no magic in existence that could stop the power of a bomb like that. They would be absolutely stupid to not involve themselves in this somehow, "General Long," A guard announced, "They'll see you."

Jake had been pacing in the waiting room like a caged animal, and when the guard had told him those words, he was off like a bandit to the Council chamber for their decision.

Authors Note: I wasn't impressed by this, I had retyped this several times and I couldn't find the exact one that I liked, so I settled on this one. It's simple but it does indeed work. I left out a few things, but I'll get to them in the next chapter. Have any questions, feel free to PM me or I'll respond to your review and thank you for coming to read this.