America loaded up the unmarked van with all the necessaries for the mission.
First was the computers, so that mission control, aka Romania and Norway could keep in touch through special headsets and video monitors. Next was the special chisel and gem polish, so that he would be able to remove small pieces of gem without defining the whole thing too badly. Last was the fake IDs, giving the American and his partner access to the Russian containment facility, where the gemstones were being kept.
All without Russia knowing the slightest.
"Time to roll." his partner announced. The woman was young with dark skin and short hair pulled back and hidden under a cap.
She seemed familiar for some reason, but America could not put his finger on it. England himself had assembled the operation, picking only those that he most trusted to carry out the mission while he was unable to do so. England's whereabouts were being closely monitored by Russia, and they all agreed that it would be safest for him to stay out of the spotlight for a while.
The team pulled up to the first line of defense. Russia had stored the gemstones in a high-security military base. To even get within a mile of the facility, security clearances were needed. The only way to get in was through the designated security stops, where their IDs, along with their van would be checked. Everywhere else was surrounded by barbed wire and guards; all of this while cameras secretly recorded their every move. It was state of the art. Only the elite could ever think of stepping foot here.
Good thing they fit those standards quite nicely.
As they pulled up to the first checkpoint, he and his partner quickly pulled on pairs of dark sunglasses and serious expressions. Both were already dressed in business suits, complete with expensive ties and loafers. Romania and Norway hid in the back, watching the feed from secretly enabled spy cameras in their glasses.
"Identifikatsiya." a man asked in Russian from the bulletproof booth he sat in.
America and the woman did not even bat an eye as they pulled out matching leather wallets, showing the man the professionally faked IDs inside.
He raised an eyebrow. The couple did not look Russian. Maybe they were representatives here to discuss the mysterious events that had been centered around the personifications of allies in the past two weeks? That's funny, he did not remember ever being told to expect foreigners coming to the facility.
Just as he man in the booth began to tell them to wait while he placed a phone call to his higher ups, he suddenly felt a wave of dizziness fall over him. He stumbled, the phone that had been mounted on the wall still in his hand, and fell to the floor, unconscious.
"Good job Roma." Norway muttered under his breath from the back of the van.
The switches began to glow a faint green inside the booth, before the gates opened, and the van was ushered in.
The next person to meet them was a lean male worker in military attire and a clipboard. Three German shepherds were held back by handlers as they walked along the premises if the van, sniffing.
The worker asked for identification once again, and the team was happy to see that, once again, their little charade worked. The worker was not without suspicions however. Visits from an agents with American names such as Alfred F. Jones, and Tamika Flynn were never a good sign.What kind of game were they playing?
He started to order something in Russian about checking the van when he, along with the handlers, began to feel a nausea similar to the man in the booth. Then, after a moment of dizziness, it passed. He shook his head. What was he doing, again?
Whatever it was must not have been too important, because the worker rounded up the handlers, and let the van drive by, as if it had already been checked.
"All according to plan." America murmured as they successfully crossed through the last checkpoint and back behind the building, where there were less prying eyes.
"Alright." Norway said, taking out two earpieces for the dual to use. "We'll keep in touch from here. You're going to give us visuals using the cameras in your glasses. Don't lose them. Back here we'll guide you through the building, and unlock the restricted areas from the outside. You have about ten minutes before the workers will be alerted that your cards are invalid. If you two aren't out by then- "
"Yeah, yeah." America said, waving his hand. "Flashing lights, blow horns, the Russian mafia, I got it."
"You have to be more careful than that, sir." Tamika scolded.
America tapped his foot impatiently. "I just wanna go already, we're wasting time. England's probably running out of medicine as we speak!"
Medicine, the word America used to refer to the special elixir that was currently the only thing keeping England alive. The others nodded solemnly in agreement as they made last minute adjustments to their gear in silence. England needed gem and blood samples for his elixir to take on its healing effect, and it was quite clear that he wasn't getting the latter. If this mission didn't succeed, everything England had tirelessly worked on was in vain. Not even Romania or Norway was knowledgeable enough in curse reversing as he was. This was their last chance to fix things.
They walked fast, and looked straight ahead, not wanting to make eye contact and draw unnecessary attention to themselves. America swiped his security clearance card at the elevator, while Tamika scanned the room so Norway could examine the feed.
"Good." He narrated in a hushed over their earpieces. "Now once you get into the elevator, there will be an eye scanner in the top left corner. Take off your glasses, and look into it for three seconds while it scans your retinas. Romania hack to system from the information your cards extracted and disable the security before the elevator goes into lockdown."
America clenched his fists as the elevator's doors began to close, then pressed the button to take them down to -4B level.
"Calm down, sir. " Tamika said, folding up her glasses and looking directly into the small mounted camera. "Romania will make sure the security feed is looped. We won't even be on camera."
"Its not that." He murmured as a red laser was aimed down from the roof of the elevator and over their faces.
She didn't respond as the laser was finished scanning them and clicked off.
The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open. The dual stepped out into a series of hallways composed of smooth, cold gray walls. The air was frosty, the hum of central air echoing through the empty corridors.
"I thought there would be more people down here." America mumbled, looking around cautiously.
"Weren't you listening before at the briefing?" Tamika said, emotionless as a worker dressed in navy blue walked past them. "The Russians keep actual human intervention to a minimal; for search reasons, of course. Almost everything is electronically operated. I've broken into operations like this before, the main reason for all this is so that information is less likely to be leaked to the general public."
"Looks like Russia's been trying keeping us in the dark about all this. He wouldn't even disclose the location to the others. I bet the workers here don't even know what they're protecting. "
All was true. Russia had taken every measure available to keep England from ever having contact with the gemstones. Even though he had said nothing to make it apparent that he was now working with England, Russia suspected America for conspiring against his ruling. Despite his blatant disregard to any accusations relating to the curse being used for his own personal gain, Russia's wealth and power had been accumulating more and more as he began to weasel his influences into the Chinese government. The situation was turning into a power play, and Russia was profiting greatly from it. That fact fact made him even more eager to keep it that way, thus rejecting England's proposal to study the bodies, or, "gemstones" as they had been more recently dubbed.
He would not even release information to Japan, who decided not to take England's side.
She nodded. "He's a paranoid man. Paranoid men do paranoid things."
They came to a thick metal door at the end if the twisting corridor. A small, frosted window on it bore the words: CAUTION: LEVEL 7 MILITARY PERSONNEL ONLY in Russian. Tamika swiped her card on a pad mounted on the wall, and they heard a faint click from inside the room. America checked his wristwatch.
"And the ten minutes begins... now. Lets go."
Frosty air stung their skin as the pair of agents stepped into the containment room. They found each of the gemstones, spread out along the walls, covered in tarps, separated by glass cases. Tamils shut the door behind them as America pulled on a pair of throwaway gloves and a box of Ziploc bags. He got to work immediately, chipping off chunks of heavy gems from the statues, trying not to look direcrly at their lifeless eyes, or tgink about the people he had once known.
Don't worry guys, he thought. I'll save all of you. We'll find a way, I'm the hero after all.
"Hur...up." said Norway, his voice crackling with static. "Fi...in...eft."
"Repeat that?" America said, pausing to fix his earpiece.
"The thick walls down here are interfering with the signal." Tamika explained, tapping here's repeatedly.
"Car...ired...hur...up!"
"What?" he asked again, placing the last bag in his jacket pocket.
"The card's expired!" Tamika said. "We have to go, now."
"Shit! Why didn't you say anything, ice cube!"
They flung open the door and ran. Footsteps echoed on the smooth concrete floors in the distance. A worker let out an exclamation of surprise as he chased after them, into the elevator. Luckily, the door shut just in time, and the two were momentarily safe. Hurry up. Hurry up.
The doors let out a ding as the Americans dashed to the exit.
They were going to make it! Just a little farther-
Slam! The heavy doors shut with a deafening echo. Suddenly, a horrible sound, much like blow horns, filled the air as it suddenly became dark, red emergency lights flashing and spinning. Voices began to shout out loudly over the alarms, and the footsteps grew closer.
"Crap! We're trapped!" growled Tamika, clenching her fists. "This is the Strexco. incident all over again!"
"Hey! Operator!" he cried into his earpiece. "A little help here?!"
The voice came back through the muffle of static, but still clear enough to decipher. "Well maybe if you two had picked up the pace we wouldn't be in this situation right now!"
"Well-"
This time Romania's voice came over the frequency. "Just shut up and get out of the way."
Suddenly, the doors, along with the whole north wall, exploded in a green eruption. The oncoming workers who had just a moment before crossed the into the room where blown back, smacking against the walls. Tamika and America, who had been crouching in down for protection, sprung to their feet and dashed towards the smoking hole in the wall, where, amongst the chaos, the blurry shape of the unmarked van had appeared.
The back doors were flung open by Romania, as he shouted to them and waved his arms to usher them in. Just as America had pulled his leg in and closed the door, he heard the metallic ching of bullets bouncing off the door. The van sped into motion, everyone in the back being tossed around like rag dolls.
"Wait!" shouted America over the commotion. "If we're back here, who's driving?!"
"That would be me." Norway said, knocking on the window that allowed him to see the back of the van. "Now hang on tight."