Prologue-Canada
Canada ran. She had no other choice. She had to leave her boss behind- trapped in the rubble and flames. She wouldn't wish that fate on anyone- Nation or mortal. She kept her head down and pulled her hoodie over her head. Trying in vain to protect her face.
"Quebec? Ontario? Anyone!" She cried, straining to hear her provinces' and territories voices.
"Big sis!" The voice was clear and pure English- and coming from up ahead. She found the girl hiding under a box, her green eyes full of fear. "Sis, what's going on?"
"No time Ontario, come on!" The older woman grabbed her sister's hand and took off again. Ontario was trying her best to keep up with Canada, but she was smaller and kept tripping.
Canada only stopped when they found more of her precious ones. They stopped for Quebec, Nova Scotia and Manitoba. When they ran again, dizziness pushed at Mattie's head, but she kept going. She couldn't show weakness- not now!
Buildings crashed all around her, and people screamed in pain. She tried to block it out, but it had gotten harder. She'd relaxed her security over the years, which had been a stupid mistake. She had to get the provinces out of here- but their homes weren't safe anymore. They had to keep running. There had to be somewhere to stay…
It was when Mattie collapsed that they finally stopped. They were in the heart of Ottawa now, right outside what remained of Parliament Hill.
"Mattieu, please. You must get up!" Quebec begged. Mattie waved off her pleas. It hurt too much to reply. She'd never known that it would hurt this much- loosing this many people. Her country was being destroyed- but surprisingly not with nukes.
"Mattie, for once the frog wanna be is right. We have to keep moving." Ontario agreed with her sister, which was a rare occasion.
Again, Mattie ignored the provinces. There was a cold presence…almost like winter. Canada closed her eyes and smiled. Please, you have to protect them…
The smoke laden wind turned to ice, and hit the provinces hard. In a flurry of snow and ice they were whisked away, with Ontario screaming for her to help them. Thank you, General…
She forced herself to stand. There was no time to be weak. She ran into the building and found what was known to be her office. It was one of the few rooms still intact, which relieved her. She could fight back from here. Now where had Arthur left that switch…? She hopped over the desk and began searching it over. Wasn't it on the arm of the chair?
She smiled as her hand hit the switch. She flipped it, and a hole opened up in the floor behind her. She hopped down, and slid down the tube. She bit back the urge to scream and giggle like a little girl, but allowed herself a smile.
She rolled out of the tube and stood up. Putting that clothes changer thing in the tube had been America's idea, but it saved her some time. She was now in a modified version of her winter WWII uniform, which made her stick out from the other army officials running around. They all wore jungle green, while she was in black and red. She straightened up and walked over to the War General.
"Who attacked me?" She asked.
"We can't tell- our signals were jammed while we were shot at. But we know it was from Europe- around Russia."
"It couldn't have been Russia. She doesn't acknowledge me too often, and she has nukes."
"…Miss Williams, are you okay? You look like you're going to pass out."
"I'm pretty sure I will soon enough…"
"…"
"I'm fine. Its only a little worse than Dieppe was." Which was a lie. It was at least five times worse than Dieppe, but she didn't want him to worry, "Oh wait till Papa and Dad hear about this."
The General cracked a smile," You know they'll send aid without their boss's permission, right?"
"Yeah… its mon Papa et my Dad. They will. But for now, lets try to find the bastard who blew me up, eh?"
"Right."
"…by the way, any news on my twin?"
"Someone bombed his major cities, and assassinated his President."
"Great- it's the Blitz plus Lincoln's assassination rolled into one. Al isn't going to like this one."
She saw how torn up her brother had been after Lincoln, and he cared for this new president- not as much as Lincoln, but it was enough to make Alfred angry. And he wasn't very forgiving when he gets angry.
She opened her phone and texted her fathers. She was still able to get a signal, which somewhat of a relief. She simply said to turn on the news if they hadn't already. There was no denying it now. The date was December twentieth, twenty-twelve.
World War Three had begun.