"-and there's no still no official word on the motive behind this, but I'm being told by locals that the move doesn't come as a surprise to any of them-"
America's humming easily drowned out the sound of the TV blaring in the background, which was more for the sake of habit than anything else. He didn't often find himself watching the news much anymore; it was often much too gloomy for his liking. Besides, if he ever needed to know something of actual importance, his government would surely make him aware.
Still, he didn't have much else to do. It was one of his rare days off, but his usual pals would be unavailable for a few more hours. That was one of the things that sucked about not living in Europe; the timezone differences were absolutely ridiculous.
"-as for news outside of Washington D.C.-"
America reached for the coffee pot.
"-the old Arrow Corporation building is to be demolished at some point within the next few months-"
America paused.
Arrow… where have I heard that before? The name sounded oddly familiar. And oddly important. However, no sudden memories surged forth, nor did he make any sudden connections.
Arrow...
A sudden burning sensation from his left hand alerted him to the fact that the mug, which he had been unknowingly pouring coffee into, had overflowed.
Cursing, America hastily set the pot aside and grabbed a towel, mopping up the mess as best he could. He paid no attention to his injury; the burn disappeared within a matter of moments, his skin looking as if nothing had happened at all.
Perks of being a nation. He thought with a hint of amusement. Ridiculously fast healing capabilities.
Naturally, by the time he had made his way towards the TV, the story had already ended; the newscasters moving on to some segment about dog impounding. America settled for seeking out information on his laptop, placing the device on his lap once he had comfortably settled into a seated position.
Arrow. Arrow… he thought, raising his coffee to his lips with his free hand.
A quick search, then another click, and he had everything he needed. The article was several years old, but it would do just fine for his purposes.
Arrow Corporation's Major Bust
The Arrow Corporation didn't exactly hit a bulls-eye with this one.
The company's so called "miracle cure" is what most of us expected it to be- comepletely misleading. But for the terminally ill applicants that had signed up for the program, it was their last hope for survival. The ten applicants that were accepted as testers were completely reliant on the success of the cure; if it failed, so would they.
As we all know, not one of those ten made it out alive.
The requirements were simple. Be suffering from an illness that had been declared terminal and be willing to spend a few months as a test subject for the Arrow Corporation's new drug, which was supposed to be the cure for all disease known to man. A few hundred hopefuls signed up, ten were accepted. The ten left their families and their lives behind to live at the corporation during the duration of the testing, where they were promised the best quality care and absolute comfort.
The families of the victims received letters a few months after testing had begun, alerting them to the fact that their family member had passed away under their supervision. Then, complete silence. Concerned families desperately tried to get ahold of the corporation, but their efforts were in vain. The corporation seemed to have simply vanished into thin air.
That explained it. A few of the families had filed for a lawsuit against the corporation, causing a stir in the media, but it was hard to sue a company that had apparently ceased to exist. It made some headlines for a few moments, then died down just as quickly. The attention eventually shifted to the matter of the building that the company had left behind, but it was soon forgotten as well, lost in the whirlwind that was the American media.
Until now, it seemed.
Satisfied with his findings, America changed the channel, content to forget the rest of the world in favor of cartoons.
"Denmark, you dick!"
Denmark's boisterous laughter flooded America's headset, drowning out Prussia, who was yelling something similar to America's outcry. Onscreen, Prussia and America's characters slumped to the ground, much to Denmark's obvious glee.
"I just got money!" America cried.
"Suck it." Denmark replied, immediately followed by his own shout.
"Did you die?" Prussia asked.
"Yeah. Some asshole- Canada!"
"Hey, be nice to my brother." America chided as his character respawned onscreen. "Nice shot, bro."
"Yeah, go Canada!" Prussia said, chiming in.
"Thanks." Canada replied, barely audible over Prussia's continued compliments.
"You guys suck." Denmark said with a groan.
"You were the one that shot first, Den." America reminded him, shifting into a more comfortable position as his character reappeared on his television screen.
Denmark said something inaudible.
"If we get some more people, we could do one of the missions instead of shooting each other over and over." Prussia suggested.
"But shooting each other is fun."
Prussia ignored Denmark's comment. "I could get West to play with us. He's not doing anything."
"Dude, no offense, but your brother sucks at this game." America replied, making his way back towards Prussia's character, who had respawned on another area of the map.
"Japan?" Canada suggested.
"Nah, he hates these type of games."
"Maybe- and I'm dead."
Sure enough, a notification that Canada's character had died appeared in the corner of America's screen, but displayed no information on how he had died.
"What happened?" Prussia asked.
"Someone ran me over with a car. I think it was an NPC."
Prussia immediately snorted, then dissolved into laughter alongside America, the latter laughing at Prussia's reaction more so than Canada's unfortunate death.
"Karma's a bitch, Canada." Denmark replied, his usual cheer returning to his voice.
Canada's reply was drowned out by the sound of America's cell phone ringing, the ringtone muted by his headset.
"One sec, guys."
He took off the headset, rolling his eyes as Prussia immediately shot America's character through the head, the Prussian's laughter blaring loudly from the device.
"Hello?" He said once the phone was by his ear.
"Sorry to disturb you on our day off, sir." It was a woman speaking on the other end, a voice that he only barely recognized as one of the higher ranking officials in his government. "There's an ongoing situation that requires your immediate presence."
"Something wrong?" America asked, a feeling of dread pooling in his stomach.
"It's nothing extreme, sir. Just get in as soon as you can."
America nodded in response, remembering too late that she couldn't see him. It hardly mattered; she had disconnected before he had even moved his head.
Onscreen, his character had respawned and was now at the mercy of Denmark's hatchet.
He picked up the headset, bringing the microphone to his mouth. "Something came up. I'll see you guys later."
"This is the current state of the body."
America instantly recoiled at the sight of the decaying corpse, which was the center image of the presentation in front of them. He wasn't the only one; the officials around him reacted in a similar fashion, one of them turning a rather interesting shade of green, much like the skin tone of the cadaver.
The official continued on, apparently oblivious to the reactions of the others around him. "This was the only remains that we were able to recover from the site. It appears that the other nine have been disposed of much more thoroughly." He grimaced.
One of the others found his voice. "They were under there for years. Shouldn't they be skeletons by now?"
"One would think." The presenting official replied. "However it's clear that whatever the Arrow Corporation has done with the bodies, it's highly unnatural. We suspect there may have been tampering with the DNA, which would explain the green hue of the skin and the other oddities."
"The body seems to be in an eternal state of decay, but never enough to fully complete the process. It's rotting very slowly, or at least the skin is. The internal organs seem to be in a much better shape; they're hardly affected at all, despite the decaying of the skin around them."
"Perhaps chemicals could have been used to preserve the bodies?" Someone else asked.
"We're looking into every option." The presenter replied. "In the meantime, England and Japan have agreed to send over a team of scientists to assist us in the investigation-"
"The governments or the personifications?" Another official. The presenter looked confused for a moment, but resumed his usual expression once the other official nodded his head towards America.
"The governments, but the personifications are accompanying them."
As delighted as he was that he was going to be seeing Japan and England again, America couldn't help but frown. "Sir." he said, speaking for the first time since the presentation began. "Isn't this a tad excessive? The Arrow Incident happened nearly a decade ago, why are we suddenly concerned about this now?"
The presenter looked shocked at America's words, but quickly composed himself. "Because we had no idea about the bodies, boy." He replied in a haughty tone, instantly making America want to punch him in the face. People in his government had a tendency to forget that America was nearly three hundred years old and far from a naive teenager that had made himself at home among the United States government. This man was no exception.
Apparently satisfied with America's lack of response, the presenter continued, appearing rather pleased with himself. "We're taking no chances. These bodies have the potential to create an enormous disaster for us. For one, if their 'cure' was the cause of this, the body may be a vector of transmission, which can put us all at risk. Or, the less dangerous scenario, the Arrow Corporation was playing with chemicals and killed their patients in the process. For all our sakes, I sincerely hope it's the latter."
The man continued on, but America was no longer paying attention, he was glancing around the room, trying to gauge the reactions of the people around him. He couldn't possibly be the only one thinking that the man was completely overreacting, even if the body did sort of look like a zombie from one of those old horror films.
Definitely creepy, but definitely not enough to justify bringing over England, Japan, and their scientists.
This is going to be a long week.