Intrusion

[Marcus DuBois]

Alexandrova Vladislavovna
Consulate of Propaganda

Alexandrova entered her office, only smiling at Nik slightly. Not generally a flirt...but with him she could tease. They had been friends for too long for her to feel intimidated. "Aside from bringing the new hires out for you to inspect, how can I help you?

Alexandrova's casual probe was met with the sort of sly smile that Nikolai did not deny. "An idea to run by you. It concerns the Nine. Right now, they're a headline and forgotten. They're military. Or might as well be. The every day person doesn't care about military. I don't blame them. Do you know what sells better than soldiers?"

---

Alexandrova relaxed as she sat down and listened. It was true. The announcement had been met by proclamations and discussion. Carefully planted op ed pieces in sites that ran the spectrum from left to right elicited comments. That was their purpose, of course, a way to gauge the pulse. The initial excitement at what this might mean was there. But absent anything further as grist for the mill, it had already begun to lose steam.

She paused, thinking. Her most cynical and amoral side knew one answer. She threw it out there, her own probe. "War. War heroes. A narrative that shows these men in the light of adulation." Her eyebrow raised. Was this where Nik wanted to go?

---

Nikolai nodded. He liked the idea of war heroes, but disliked the public perception that associated himself as a warlord, a hungry dictator gobbling up domains when they fell. He shook his head. "Superheroes, Lexya," he used to whisper that nickname in her ear once upon a time. "Superheroes are often as popular as celebrities, as influential as politicians, and sometimes even as revered as gods."

He waited for the gears to churn in her brilliant mind. "I want the Nine as famous as superheroes. I want them to walk into the street and people swarm them for their autograph. I want them to be -loved-." Well, almost as much as they loved him.

---

She stopped, a smile forming on her face. Her hand tapped at her keyboard. "In fact, we have strategized something like that, though it had been planned for you. One of our interned writers- Katya Alohkin- had done her work on linking the power to mythology."
stopped, steepling her fingers, considering. "We could shift that strategy to include the Rods of Dominion."

---

Nik thought a moment. He considered his own existence to already approach such standards, but if there were more to glean. He finally nodded. "Very well then. All of us together."

"Finally. I want to do some more mingling in society. It has been too long since I last crashed a karaoke bar." he hinted at a smile, referencing the long-standing joke of his croning escapades.

---

She studied him for a moment. "They might be included- and loved- but no one will be loved more than you. I will make sure of it."

She laughed. "I've heard you sing. If you do decide to go that route, let me know. We will make sure the microphone has auto-tune enabled." She was only half joking. No one had all the gifts. Nik came close. But still.

"I will contact you in a couple of days. In the meantime, if you could find a way to make yourself visible- perhaps in some heroic fashion, it could lay the ground work."

---

He nodded assent. They would reconvene in a few days, and he had no doubts the work would be carried out perfectly.