Mikhail's benefactor, Augusta E. Feather, was an Old Money estateholder who had worked as a codebreaker for the Government, and who had been recalled into service now, a return she had accepted because she wanted to create a world where her adoptive son can live in happiness. That, and it gave Mikhail crucial connections that he would need in his quest to make a better world.

Now, the two, as well as several bodyguards, were staying at a Government compound in Seattle, and Mikhail himself was watching Alto's Interview on hologram. He was amazed; that man was smart, especially in areas where Mikhail had only the barest of competence in. But the reverse also applied; Mikhail was certain that his intelliegence was [i]unreal[/i] as well, just in different areas like history and politics.

He can beat Alto in an area that the latter didn't care about; Mikhail knew this. But, question is, did he need to? That was the question that the current planned operation was about to answer.

"Are you sure about this?" said the CIA Officer seated beside him and Augusta in a conference room in Seattle. "GanzeCorp is a powerful organization, and a potential ally as well as an enemy; not that we'd call any Corp an ally without reservations. If we go after Alto -"

"Which is the best part," Mikhail was confident, "we're [i]not[/i] going after Alto. Rather, we're just arranging a chat with him in an unconventional way. I've read his body language, his tone, his choice of words in interviews - he's [i]bored[/i]. He's also someone who would be impressed by someone outsmarting him. And I can do that." [i]Okay, I'm less certain than I could be, but whatever happens, I can get him on board with what I'm planning, and that's what's important.[/i]

"This plan depends on putting you, one of our last mobile assets of considerable power, at risk," the CIA Officer, a brown-haired, black man clad in a sterotypical black-and-white suit, said. "You must understand, if we lose you, we might lose even our small chance of wining the war."

"And if you don't risk me," Mikhail said, "we'll have no chance left of victory. So just get me inside GanzeCorp; my plan won't fail, I assure it. And if it does and I'm wrong about Alto...that person inspires so much hope that I can blow myself up and him with it. That would at least remove one major player from the game. Besides, you have the 'Golden Path' Social Engineering Plan, right?" the boy said. The Golden Path Social Engineering Plan was a special strategy that made use of Mikhail and Augusta's intelligence and powers in order to manipulate, create, and alter social and historical trends to create a world without Corporations...600 years from now.

"When a plan that requires 600 years to implement is our last hope, things are truly dire," the CIA Officer said. "But that's not your only strategy, isn't it? I heard about your clone." Yes, a clone of Mikhail [i]was[/i] being grown in a secret lab in the Rockies; said clone had his powers as well. A bit ethically shady, but the clone would be treated as a full human being; Mikhail had made certain of it.

"There is also Plan Andromeda," the boy spoke. Plan Andromeda, aka the creation of an FTL Starship at Cape Canaveral, powered by an engine that contained Mikhail's DNA, and can thus channel the hope of the people inside in order to distort space-time and go to other planets to evade the Corporates' grasp. Also risky, and several corporations had already found out, but been bought off by pointing out that this served as an escape valve for dissidents.

"Point is," said Mikhail, "everything we can do is risky, and the further we go on, the more...the more our chances of making it will vanish. So we need to either contact Alto or take him out of the equation." He was finally agreed with.

[b][i]Timeskip[/i][/b]

It was a simple plan, involving a staged University Parade, a Fire Drill, and, finally, albeit escorted by two bodyguards, just coming up to the Ganze Skyscraper's door and saying:

"Hey, I'm Mikhail Peacemaker and I'm a powered in the employ of the Government. I want to talk to Alto Ganze right now. If you don't, I will destroy this tower. Without killing anyone inside." If he didn't get an answer, he would pull energy from all the convenient hope in the area and begin disintegrating the structure of the building into tiny blue motes of energy.

If he did get an answer, he and his bodyguards would expect to be escorted to Alto's office immidiately, and expect to find Alto himself waiting to meet and greet them. If that was what happened, Mikhail would then say:

"Let's talk; I know you're bored and you lack ideas; you've been getting unoriginal lately. What would you say to a new notion you can work with, in exchange for helping bring down a few of your competitors?"

[@RoflsMazoy]