In the Mayor’s Office, John Murphy’s forehead was beaded with sweat.

Leo looked at Murphy, his gaze steady.

He didn’t speak, but his eyes offered silent support to the Congressman, who was on the verge of a breakdown.

Just a few seconds ago, Murphy had told the person on the other end of the line that he was going to run for Senator.

A suffocating silence followed from the other end of the line.

Sweat trickled down his temples, dripping onto the collar of his expensive suit.

Finally, a voice came through the receiver.

Daniel Sanders’s voice was unusually calm—so calm it was unsettling.

"Go on."

Just two short words.

But to Murphy, those two words were nothing less than a pardon.

Murphy took a deep breath. He glanced at Leo, who gave a slight nod and made a firm, downward slicing motion in the air with his hand.

"Daniel, I know the party leadership is leaning toward the Vice Governor." Murphy’s voice began to steady as he slipped into his role. "He’s the darling of the Establishment Faction, he has Wall Street’s money, and he has the Philadelphia vote bank. If we play by the conventional rules, I can’t beat him. I won’t even make it past the primary threshold."

"But I don’t want to play by the conventional rules anymore."

"We’ve decided to go on the offensive."

"We’re going to issue a five-hundred-million-US-Dollar municipal special-purpose bond."

A soft intake of breath came from the other end of the line. The number had clearly gotten Sanders’s attention.

Murphy continued, his words coming faster and his thoughts growing clearer.

"Daniel, if things keep going like this, the Progressives will just fade away into nothing."

"Now is the perfect time to act."

"Because of Leo’s recent actions, the eyes of the entire United States are on Pittsburgh. The media is watching us, the Republican Party is watching us, and the supporters of the Progressives are watching us with anticipation."

"We’re going to use this attention to turn this five hundred million US Dollars into a nuke."

"We’ll use the money to launch large-scale infrastructure projects directly. We’ll establish worker cooperatives, we’ll renovate schools in the slums, and we’ll get those unemployed steelworkers back to work, earning a decent wage."

"We’re going to turn Pittsburgh into a true showcase."

"A showcase that proves to the entire United States that ’Progressive policies aren’t just theoretically sound—they’re fiscally viable and, more importantly, politically winnable.’"

Murphy finished in one breath, his chest heaving.

"That’s my plan, Daniel. I’ll use this five-hundred-million-dollar bond as the first step of my campaign, and I’ll use the revitalization of Pittsburgh as my platform."

"I’m going to tell the voters of Pennsylvania that the kid in Philadelphia only talks about ideals, while I, John Murphy, am turning those ideals into concrete and steel."

Silence fell on the other end of the line again.

After a long moment, Sanders’s voice came through once more.

"Run for Senator?"

Daniel Sanders’s voice crackled from the speakerphone.

"Issue five hundred million in junk bonds?"

"And use that money to leverage the entire Pennsylvania election?"

Sanders paused.

"John, we’ve worked together on Capitol Hill for too long. I know you. You’re a good man, an obedient Representative. You know how to play by the rules, how to suck up to the Whip, and how to keep your seat without making any mistakes."

"You’ve always kept your head down in the House of Representatives. Your mind is filled with redistricting maps and fundraising dinner menus, not crazy ideas like this."

"A plan this audacious, this world-shaking... it’s definitely not something you came up with."

"If this were you, you’d be on the phone crying to me about how to save your Representative seat, not talking about some damn five hundred million US Dollars."

"Tell me the truth, John."

"This was that kid’s idea, wasn’t it?"

"It was Leo Wallace."

The hand Murphy was holding the phone with trembled.

He instinctively looked up at Leo, who was sitting across from him.

Leo’s expression was still calm. He even gave a slight nod, gesturing for him to admit it.

At this point, any lie was pointless.

Murphy took a deep breath and clenched his jaw.

"...Yes, Senator." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Murphy’s voice was a bit hoarse.

"He proposed it while we were discussing solutions for Pittsburgh’s financial crisis."

A brief silence fell on the other end of the line once again.

Then, a soft chuckle could be heard.

It wasn’t a laugh of ridicule, but of excitement.

"Now that’s more like it."

Sanders said.

"That kid... he’s interesting. More interesting than I thought."

Sanders’s tone held a rare lightness, even a hint of self-mockery. "John, when I was going on earlier about how he’s incompetent, how he’s all talk and no action, how he only knows how to stir up emotions but doesn’t know how to govern, even when I said he should be thrown out of office... you must have been laughing at me in your head, weren’t you?"

"Here I am, an old man who thought he had a keen eye for people. And what happens? I get schooled hard by a kid in his early thirties. That was a quick, loud slap in the face."

"He doesn’t just want to build a showcase in Pittsburgh; he wants to turn all of Pennsylvania into his personal testing ground."

"Alright, since we’ve laid it all out, let’s not beat around the bush anymore."

"Put him on the phone," Sanders commanded.

Just as Murphy was about to hand over the phone, Leo waved his hand to stop him.

He casually grabbed a sticky note and scribbled a line on it: This is your war. You do the talking.