You think nobody knows you better than yourself, that is true, but who's side are you on?
Basch stood in his kitchen, wearing the apron wearing the flowery apron Lili had so kindly made for him. He felt almost silly, standing there in the kitchen with a pink frilly apron on and baking cookies. Even so, Lili made it for him and he knew it would be heartbreaking for her if he didn't wear what she'd made for him. Although, he always questioned to himself why she always made him such girly things, and if she simply did it as a joke.
He didn't really care, there was nobody to see him here in his heavily protected home. Automated defense turrets patrolled the grounds outside his house and scanned any life forms above the size of a small bunny-rabbit and then they'd show up on his cell phone. He'd simply bring it up, decide if the target was hostile or not, then set the turrets to stun, injure, or lethal depending on who it was.
Only he and Lili knew how to deactivate the security system. The code for manual disabling the system was constantly changing, to avoid the code becoming known to the outside. Although, something was off today, as though things seemed too peaceful. His phone hadn't gone off once, which was strange, it usually went off a few times each morning for stray dogs or something of the sort prancing through the meadow, but today he hadn't felt his phone vibrate at all.
He slid it out of his pocket, observing the screen, seemingly, nothing was wrong. He observed the screen carefully, the yard looked perfect and it didn't look like anybody entered. It was the same as always, the same flowers, the same trees, the same small animal scurrying about, the same grass flowing with the wind.
He was about to put his phone away, when he noticed something was off: the grass. As he glanced out of the window ,he observed the direction of the wind, going in a different direction than the wind was pushing the grass on his phone. He didn't need the sensors to alert him that something was wrong, very wrong. Someone had cut the security wires connecting with the cameras, disabled the turrets before they sensed an intruder near the manual box, and walked all throughout the yard without any civilians noticing. But the only one who could do that was Lili and himself...
He thought to himself, putting his phone back in his pocket and shrugging, making it look like he had abandoned any thought of an intruder and went back to his cooking. Although all the while in his head he was thinking on who could have done such a thing. Who would want (And more importantly, be stupid enough) to break into Basch's homestead?
Alfred? No, he wasn't one to pick a fight, or invade his home without a good reason. Despite his knack for intelligence-gathering, he would never invade Basch's territory without first trying diplomacy for what he wanted. Arthur? He'd quarreled with said Black Sorcerer at times before during his early days of like as a Templar, when he lived with France, but the man had never realized who he truly was and Basch had always kept it that way. Francis? He'd attempted to sneak in for pranks and seducing his little sister before, but was quickly deterred and his cowardly makeup would make it unlikely for him to try and do such a thing… He continued scrolling through all the countries in his head, but he heard a voice from behind him that made his heart run cold…
"I totally know what you're thinking ol' Baschy," that voice… no… how it that possible? Not even America has the technology to… "Could it be Alfred, the snooping America? England, the Black Sorcerer? Francis, the roaming Perv?" He went through all the possibilities in his head, his supercomputer of a brain coming up blank with possibilities, it was impossible though, the voice he was hearing was his… It was different, more snippy, almost like a teenage girl, but definitely his. Then, he heard another voice that caused his now cold heart drop and shatter.
"Oh, he knows what you're thinking even now, we know all about you!" it was Lili, her voice, but full of malice and hate, he'd never heard her talk like that. He dared not turn around for fear of what he would see, rather than the fear that they would shoot him. "And now you're questioning how your dear-sweet Lili could be involved in this and you've decided this can't be your Lili, just listen to my voice!" She cackled evilly, the sound similar to an old witch about to cast a spell and turn one into a toad.
The other spoke ahead. "Now since we're about to kill you, and your precious little sister…" he heard the sound of a gun loading, dammit, he'd missed his chance! They hadn't been armed before! They were using the power of their voices to surprise and instill fear in him and he'd fallen for it! "I guess we'll explain things to you~ Leisl, sister dear, would you be so kind to attend to Lili while I'm explaining things to my old friend over here?"
Basch regained his sense of battle strategy as his eyes darted from surface to surface in the room looking for anything mirror-like. His eyes finally landed on the only thing available, which was a clock Lili had put near the stove. Basch had said the surface was too reflective to tell time because of where she put it, but she said it looked best there. Now he thanked her, for he could see his assailants perfectly, although that just caused his heart to stop.
They were… him… and Lili… but different. His double's hair looked similar to the Polish fool Feliks, and he was wearing a blue outfit with purple outlining, something he wouldn't becaught dead wearing, but he seemed to relish its almost girlish look. His nails were also painted, another feature that made him want to vomit, and his legs were overly exposed through his clothing. Then, his eyes, they were…Black, black empty holes, as were Lili's (or Leisl as she was apparently called).
Leisl looked nothing like her normal self. She was an almost slutty black outfit, revealing her young cleavage and a slit going up her dress to her hip. Her hair was a lot like Lili's, but it seemed sleeker, as though the hair itself was evil and set itself in a position to represent that. She wore heels, with thin flowery stockings leading up her leg and she had the same thing on her arms, as though she was wearing a funeral gown, but if anyone was going to have a funeral, it might be him and Lili.
She motioned slowly to him, curling her finger up at him after he said that, and he bent over closer to her face. He kissed him, not a simple peck like a brother might give a sister, but a completely open-mouthed kiss as though between lovers. Then he made a realization that they were, and the fact that he'd called her sister made him want to vomit at his double's incest toward his sister. Then, the way she ordered him to do it, as though despite his height and obvious power, being his double, he was the submissive one, forced him to keep his lunch down.
"Of course Voss, darling~" she said, running a finger along his enticed face. "The little brat won't even know what hit her." She walked up the stairs and Voss watched her as he flashed a revealing view of her rear-end for him to stare at. Then at the moment of equal distraction for the both of them, he grabbed a nearby knife that he'd used for the cookies, when he cut open the packet. It wasn't much, but it'd have to do.
His double turned around, he had an almost glossy-look in his eyes, as though he was thinking about what the newest shoe designs were instead of his predator-turned-prey before him. "Now then," he said, pulling the trigger back. "I said I'd explain, but I'm sure you've figured it out on your own by now, with you looking into that reflective clock next to you and everything. We're you two, and yes, there's more of us, every single country. We're here to take over you all because you're weak and yes, we decided to attack you first considering you'd stay neutral and stockpile guns the whole war. The under pressure from other countries participate in the war once everyone else was tired and have a critical advantage over the other side."
His eyes widened, that is exactly what he'd do in any war like that. He'd never had to implement that plan before, but he'd always kept it handy with him. Voss was also right on his suspicions. He'd subconsciously known as soon as he saw them what they were, but couldn't get the thought into his brain from shock. Then he held the knife in his hand, out of sight from him. He might be able to anticipate his thoughts, but he'd never be able to anticipate a variable factor such as an available stray knife, and despite all the advice he'd gotten about bringing a knife to a gun fight, he just never learned.
"Now," he said. "I think it's time to clean out an infestation…" he went to release the hammer, but Basch was quicker, his years of training and honing his skills in extreme compared to the apparent go-lucky man standing behind him. The knife slammed into the hole of the gun, and going against all that cartoons teach us as children, the gun did not explode in his face, only spit in two from the blade and caused the man a great deal of shock.
Basch ran forward, leaving no room for error, and jumped on top of the counter. He took two dashing steps toward him then leaping through the air, planted his foot on the chest of his double and as he fell to the ground, before he could call out to help, Basch untied his apron, strapping around his neck in a brutal choke, similar to a garrote. The man was slowly choked into unconsciousness and as soon as Basch was certain of it, he untied the apron, and kicked his head for good measure.
He wasted no time warning Lili, he took out his phone and pressed one of the main buttons on his screen that he used only for emergencies, it would tell his sister that something was only prayed that Leisl hadn't already arrived in his sister's room to kill her. This warning would help her, allow her to draw a weapon before her assailant arrived, but the shock of who it was might be worse than anything. Lili wasn't good with guns to begin with and at the thought of killing a man she shook with fright, no matter how much Basch had explained to her how it was necessary. She'd been fine with the shoot-to-incapacitate idea, but to think how she'd react to having to shoot herself, even if only incapacitation.
He carried his body to an empty closet and simply threw him in, locking the door. He then threw up one of his chairs against it, it was old-fashioned, but it'd hold him. He darted up the stairs, running at his top speed that he had honed with his years of training and it was now going to use in a real battle-scenario. He ran up the stairs, and immediately running straight for her room at the top, the door was opened already, but there had been no sounds of screaming, and if she was dead, Leisl would have already come down to tell Voss, or was she sick enough to toy with the dead body?
He shook his head out, such thoughts would do him no good. He cursed at himself for not bringing any weapon with him, but he hadn't had any time, Lili could have been dead any second and taking a detour for anything that was not absolutely necessary would only push the possibility of her death that much farther. He ran and slammed open the door to a bloody floor and a body laying on the floor, twitching.
But the body wasn't Lili's it was Leisl's on the ground from a gunshot to the side of the stomach, not fatal if treated, but it hurt like all hell. Then as he looked up he saw Lili standing there, shaking in fear of what she'd just done, the gun fallen from her grasp and her eyes wide with horror at her double. Basch quickly ran over and held her, comforting her and even proud of her and what she'd done.
Behind her sat the opened drawer that housed the gun and an extra cartridge of ammo. The cartridge was still there, it had not needed to be used, and the gun lay on the floor, it's first bullet to be shot lying in Leisl. The way she was laying indicated that Lili had simply turned around and shot blindly when she came in, knowing that if it was Basch he'd have given her the safe signal that only they knew. They obviously underestimated her ability to shoot someone as well, or else she'd have used the code.
Lili herself had calmed down to a point where she was no longer shaking, but her eyes had tears streaming out of them, from the traumatic experience she'd just had, watching another her fall to the ground, bleeding out slowly. All Basch could do was hold her tight and comfort her. "It's going to be ok," he said. "You're going to be ok, I promise." He couldn't bring himself to say anything else, or explain anything because she wouldn't be able to comprehend it at the moment. Then if she did it would only frighten her more.
She held onto him tight, as Basch let her cry as she needed to, then pulled away slowly and wiped her tears away, smiling the best he could. "It's going to be ok Lili," he said. "I promise." It was a good thing she couldn't tell how much he was lying right now…