[3rd POV]
George W. Bush was in a bit of a pickle.
The war in Afghanistan was mixed. On the one hand, the initial invasion force had been a total disaster, 'the worst invasion since the bay of pigs' as the press called it.
Only small groups of survivors were found, most of whom were escaped prisoners who rattled on about how they were saved by Apollo, the target they were supposed to rescue.
Now, the top brass simply refused to send in troops without any intel. Apollo Enterprises was still stonewalling them, and the scout planes they sent reported rubble, with no visible signs of intelligent life.
This was all highly concerning. Afghanistan was a country with a population of 26 million people. There was a distinct possibility that every Afghan citizen was preparing to fight. If that was the case, it would be Vietnam 2.0.
The other possibility was that they all died. Somehow. This possibility was even more concerning to president.
The Pentagon had reported that there was a 90% possibility that Apollo Enterprises was responsible for all the rubble the scout planes reported. American bases in the Middle East picked up on missiles headed for Afghanistan, sent by an unknown party. Apollo Enterprises was the only entity with the means and the motive.
So, the commander in chief was stuck. They had no leads on finding either of their targets.
"Mr. President!" Vice President Cheney said as he burst into the room followed by a team of staffers. "He's back!"
Not needing an explanation, Bush grabbed the remote and turned on the television. On the television was of course, Apollo.
"My fellow Americans, I'll keep this short. Two weeks ago, I made a promise. A promise to secure American greatness, and to deploy our combined retribution upon those who wronged us."
Smiling, Apollo gestured to his left. As the camera zoomed out, everyone saw Artemis holding a trunk. Propping the trunk to the side, she turned the key, unlocking it, but still physically held the lid shut.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Apollo stated while dramatically opening her arms, "I present to you, the one and only, Osama, bin, Laden!"
Startled, one of the staffers stapled his hand instead of the papers. Another fell from his chair. Vice President Cheney spit his drink out, the Pepsi landing on the President. But nobody cared.
Artemis had swung the lid of the trunk open, resulting in an Osama bin Laden tumbling out.
"You there," Cheney pointed to a staffer, "get the FBI over there now!"
bin Laden looked around, collecting himself. After getting used to the light and identifying Apollo, he yelled and charged him wildly. Easily side stepping bin Laden and twisting his arm, Apollo held the terrorist straight at the camera.
"The cretin I hold before you has wronged every American," pulling out a handgun, Apollo forced bin Laden to his knees. "and there isn't a prosecutor in America that would come after me for this."
With the gun levelled at bin Laden's head, Americans across the country held their breathe. Would he do it? Eyes widened in anticipation.
"But we don't do that," Apollo said after a pause, holstering the gun. "We're Americans. We believe in the rule of law, trials, and justice."
Everyone let out a sigh of relief as two Apollo Enterprise security guards came into view and guided bin Laden away.
"Moving onto a different topic," Apollo gently waved his left hand for the camera to see. Artemis walked up beside him while showing off her own left hand. "We're getting married."
.
[Main POV]
That went pretty well. It was a good call to inject bin Laden with a combination of LSD, Cocaine, Fentanyl, and Alpha-GPC. He had played his part perfectly.
Smiling, I thought about his fate. Death was too good for him. The human rights violating treatment in Gitmo was a good compromise for torturing him without dirtying my own hands. After all, I had a family-friendly image to maintain.
Before handing bin Laden over to the feds, I made sure to scramble his mind. I didn't want bin Laden telling the feds something I'd rather they not know, which he couldn't do if he acted as if he were kissed by a Dementor.
I'm counting on you George, don't let me down.
Scrolling through social media, I was slightly annoyed to find that the trending topics were about our engagement, not the capture of bin Laden.
People were already coming up with couple names, including Aporis, Artollo, Apolltemis, Artempollo, Apolltema.
There were some based on Greek mythology. Little did they know how right they were.
"What're you looking at?" Artemis asked while peeking over my shoulder.
Wordlessly, I showed her, leaving Artemis in a blushing mess. Before she could pull away, I put my arm around her, bringing her in for a hug.
Her hair smelled good. Like pine and wildflowers. I wondered what I smelled like.
Continuing to our car, we got into the backseat before settling in.
"Where to my lords?" the driver asked.
Artemis and I looked at each other, our eyes in agreement.
""Cheeseburgers.""
.
Back at the White House, there was silence.
Both targets were retrieved and in America. There was now no reason for War in Afghanistan. Not that there was much left to invade. But the casus belli for the war on terror no longer existed.
This was bad news for the Bush administration. Following the events of 9/11, Bush's approval rating surged to 80%. If they wanted to maintain this for the midterms, they would have to appear as if they were doing something.
"Everyone, leave," Cheney commanded the staffers, leaving him alone with his boss.
"Mr. President," Cheney said slowly, "George, I'm sure you realize what this means."
Bush nodded and indicated for his Vice President to continue.
"We need to widen the scope of future operations…"