Chapter 42
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Note: The characters of Max, 99, Zack, Hymie, Siegfried, Stocker, and Jessica/Gretchen are from the series "Get Smart" including the brief 1995 revival.
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As the american holiday of Thanksgiving approached, americans were coming together less and less. The original tradition, more than four centuries ago, had marked the beginning of the truce between the pilgrims and native americans. The truce did not last forever, but it lasted 50 years, that was more than twice the average lifespan of the time. Now, it seemed unlikely that the truce between america and Antarctica would last nearly that long. The filmmakers did their part to convince people that they could all get along. One movie premiered this November, a true story of people coming together.
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Max and Siegfried met at the park, they began their usual truce behavior.
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Max: I'll frisk you now.
Siegfried: If you frisk me first, how do I know you won't just shoot me after?
Max: I wouldn't do a thing like that.
Siegfried: I would, it's why I wanted to go first.
Max: And why I'd rather go first.
Siegfried: Fine, you go first.
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Max frisked Siegfried, and dis-armed him. Then Siegfried frisked and dis-armed Max. After this, when neither man had weapons, they went to their appointment. It was a wedding, Max's son Zack and Siegfried's daughter Gretchen, were about to be married. They hadn't come together in a normal way, their fathers had been enemies before either of them were born. The first time they met, Gretchen had called herself Jessica, and tried to seduce him as part of her father's plot of revenge against Max. But they ended up with genuine feelings towards each other. And now, here they were. Gretchen was still a member of Chaos, Zack still a member of Control. Max and Siegfried were the heads of these organizations. Yet, Zack and Gretchen were in love, and the two groups were allowing a temporary truce for today, and the wedding. Everyone was here, Zack's mother 99 and his twin sister. Hymie the robot, Larabie. Even Siegfried's twin brother Helmut came for this, as did Siegfried's subordinate Stocker. Stocker started crying tears of joy, but tried to stop himself.
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Stocker: Let me guess, "This is Chaos, we do not cry tears of joy here."
Siegfried: Well, once in a while is okay.
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It was a beautiful ceremony, as Zack and Gretchen swore to always be together, regardless of how their "politics" might differ. As to whether they would raise their children to be Control or Chaos, that was a fight for another day. For today, their families were all here, and not trying to kill each other, that was a good accomplishment in itself. Siegfried gave a toast.
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Siegfried: Let me just say, that I am happy that my beloved daughter has found someone that she truley loves. And I think the groom knows I am not joking when I say, I will murder him if he ever hurts Gretchen. But in the meantime, I have a wedding gift for you all. Right now, Chaos is working on a weapon, that will decimate one of your cities.
99: Which city?
Siegfried: We are still working on that part. But it will be the city with your greatest minds, and most brilliant thinkers.
Max: At least Washington is safe.
Siegfried: Ofcourse, I know that 99 is a congresswoman, and you all live in Washington. So my gift to you, is we won't target the city you live in, at least not right away.
Max: Thank you Siegfried.
Siegfried: Well, I have to keep the children safe, so that they ca raise the next generation of Chaos.
Max: Or the next generation of Control.
99: Let's not fight about that today. Let's just enjoy today.
Siegfried: Agreed.
Max: Agreed.
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Max and Siegfried shook hands on this. They did both want to enjoy this day. And, as heads of their respective organizations, they did need to keep the lines of communication open. Truce talks, prisoner exchanges, they needed to still be able to talk at times.
