Author's Note/Disclaimer: This one turned out to be harder to write than I thought it would be. Anyway, things are about to get really fun.
*insert creative disclaimer about not owning Hetalia here* Enjoy.
A few hours after collapsing on Canada's bed, America got back up and walked around; his headache having finally subsided, and the voices of his people came back to him. Remembering England's instructions to "keep an eye on things", America decided to head back to the living room, turn the TV on and check the news.
Nothing interesting seemed to be happening. The news station that America was watching happened to be a local one; only giving reports on things happening in the Ottawa area. America changed the channel several times, looking for a station that would give him international news. Eventually, he found one.
"-information on the two suspects in the roadside shooting on Interstate 81," a female reporter said. "The first suspect is a white male; roughly five feet, nine inches tall. Dirty blond hair, blue eyes and glasses. He was wearing black pants and a black jacket. The second suspect, also a white male, is roughly five feet, eight inches tall. He has blond hair and green eyes, and was wearing green pants and a green jacket."
America looked up at the screen. Those descriptions sounded a lot like Canada and England. At first, America thought it was just a coincidence, but after the reporter gave a description of the vehicle that the suspects had taken off in, the screen went to a live picture of the scene.
In the background, America saw a tow truck hooking up a truck that looked exactly like Canada's. America did a double take, then leaned closer to the screen to get a good look at the vehicle. It had Canadian plates.
"Uh oh…" America muttered.
"The search for the two suspects is still ongoing; if anyone has any information on these men, they are urged to call…"
America ignored the rest of the sentence. He spent a minute looking for Canada's phone, and, once he found it, called England's number immediately.
"America? What's happened?" England asked.
"I should be asking you that question!" America replied. "According to the news, you and Canada are wanted criminals! What's going on here?"
"I'm not entirely sure myself," England replied. "Canada got pulled over, but when the policeman tried to arrest him, Canada fought back. He told me that it was some kind of trap; I guess the enemy's got fake police officers wandering around the U.S. Unfortunately, that's not the worst of it."
"Then what is?" America asked.
"Before we got pulled over, I tried calling your boss," England replied.
"And?"
"He's refusing to meet with me and Canada."
America frowned. "Why?"
England paused before answering. "I'm not entirely sure," he said.
America let out an exasperated sigh. "Did he claim to be too busy or something? 'Cause it doesn't seem right for him to refuse to see one of us for no reason."
"Whatever the case may be," England said. "Plans have changed. Canada and I won't be going to D.C."
"Where are you anyway?" America asked, looking back at the television, which was now showing a news reporter interviewing a driver who had witnessed the scene. "How did you escape the police?"
"We abandoned the car we stole after we came into a residential area in a nearby small town," England said. "When we got out and ran, we hid in someone's backyard. After that…"
"What? What happened?"
"At least for a little bit, we had lost the police that had pursued us on foot. While we were still hidden, I told Canada to find us another car. After he left, the police found my hiding place and started climbing the fence. I went inside the house."
"Okay, what happened after that?"
"Several minutes later, Canada somehow made it into the house without being seen, and he told me he had found a vehicle," England said. "As we made our way out the front door, I noticed the police taking off in the opposite direction."
"They didn't see you?"
"I don't know how he did it, but Canada went right up to the police, and, pretending to be a local resident, claimed he had seen us running down the street. They fell for it, and took off."
There was a pause. "At least, that's what Canada tells me," England said. "I didn't see this; I was hiding in the house, away from the windows."
America chuckled. "I find that kinda hard to believe," he said.
"Regardless," England said. "We haven't had any police tailing us since."
"Where are you now?"
"We're still driving through the state of New York," England said. "Since your boss refuses to see us, we're still thinking of an alternative plan of action. I don't want to risk going into D.C. just to be captured by your government because they mistakenly think I'm harboring a terrorist."
"I can talk some sense into him!" America said.
"No you won't," England said. "You're supposed to be Canada at the moment, remember?"
"Oh, dang it that's right…" America said. "So what do I do while everyone else is busy?"
"Contact Canada's boss," England suggested. "Get the Canadian government to do some investigating for enemy operations on the continent, or something like that."
"All right!" America exclaimed. "I'll do that! Thanks England!" he hung up.
Meanwhile, on England's end, the British nation stared in annoyance at his phone as America abruptly hung up on him. He shoved the phone back in his pocket. Canada, who was driving, briefly glanced over at England as if to ask what had happened.
"I probably should not have suggested that," England muttered, staring out the window.
"What, that he basically take over my government?" Canada asked. "Well, he might as well, seeing as he is supposed to be posing as me. I just hope he doesn't do anything stupid with my country before I get back."
"Well, if he does, you could always return the favor," England said.
"What would I do?"
England shrugged. "Disband the NFL, replace all his Starbucks with Tim Hortons…"
Canada laughed. "I think he'd try to kill me if I tried to get rid of his football," he said. "And there are already Tim Hortons in the U.S."
England sighed. "I was being facetious…"
(-)
It took longer than they thought it should, but the nations finally finished talking to the police and the media. The embassy was now closed off while the police continued to investigate, and the nations gathered around on a sidewalk not far away to discuss what to do next.
"How's Lithuania doing?" Germany asked Russia. "How come only Estonia and Latvia were with you?"
"He is sick," Russia replied.
"Sick how?" Scotland asked, not looking convinced. "There's nothing wrong with his country at the moment."
"Remember Brandenburg?" Prussia said. "He was injected with something that made him lose his status as a nation. He's been getting intense headaches ever since."
"Just headaches?" Italy asked.
Prussia nodded. "Well, 'headache' might not be the right word. These are extremely painful and intense, and the voices of the country's people go silent for the duration of the episode."
"But they return when the headache goes away, aru?" China said. "But, if Lithuania is no longer a nation, why is he still able to hear his people at all, aru?"
"The dissolution of a nation is a slow, painful process," Prussia said. "Our immortality vanishes right away; but other things, like our healing abilities and our connection to our people, disappears gradually."
"You sound like you speak from experience," Japan said.
Prussia nodded slowly.
"How are you still alive then, aru?" China asked.
"He adapted," Russia cut in. "During the Cold War, he became the personification of Eastern Germany, which was under my control."
Prussia shot Russia a brief glare before continuing. "After the Berlin Wall came down, I continued to survive as a personification," he said. "Using the same technicality that Romano uses to survive as Southern Italy, even though the nation of Italy is technically unified."
"Unfortunately, that information does us little good," Germany said. "We still need to figure out how to proceed."
"I suggest we begin by checking on Lithuania," Russia said. "Seeing as Charles has replaced him with a fake, why would he bother keeping the original around?"
"They're going to try and kill him?!" Italy exclaimed.
"That might actually be where Charles is headed next," Scotland said, eyes widening in alarm. "There's no time to waste! Let's get over there now!"
Scotland took off at a sprint towards Lithuania's house. The other nations quickly followed.
When they arrived, Lithuania was waiting for them outside the front door. He wore a gray coat over his regular outfit, and had his hands buried in the pockets. When he saw the other nations coming in his direction, he began walking towards them.
"Lithuania!" Estonia called. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Lithuania replied, coming to a halt in front of the group.
"Are you sure, comrade?" Russia said.
Lithuania gave Russia a terrified look. "Yes," he insisted, taking a step backward.
"Hold it," Scotland said, approaching Lithuania as he spoke. "There's a fake Lithuania wandering around. How do we know you're the real one?"
Lithuania paled. "I'm the real one," he said weakly. He gave Russia and the other two Baltics pleading looks.
"If he is the fake, then Charles and the fake America would be nearby," Japan said. "Everyone be on your guard."
A gunshot rang out, and Lithuania fell to the ground, bleeding slightly from the side of the head. The nations looked to where the shot had come from, and saw another Lithuania, still holding the gun up. A tiny amount of smoke came out of the barrel before he finally lowered the weapon. Russia, Estonia and Latvia grabbed the fallen Lithuania while Scotland, Japan, China, Germany, Prussia, and the Italy brothers charged the other Lithuania.
Lithuania dropped his gun immediately and put his hands up. "The other one is the fake!" he cried.
Sure enough, the Lithuania that Russia and the other Baltics were holding suddenly regained consciousness. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a syringe, stabbing it through Russia's coat and into his arm before anyone could react. Russia knocked Lithuania's arm away, and yanked the syringe out before the fluid could empty out of it. Estonia and Latvia restrained the fake Lithuania while Russia threw the syringe on the ground, shattering it. He crushed it under his boot for good measure.
Meanwhile, the other nations had surrounded the real Lithuania and had begun walking him across the street to join Russia, Estonia and Latvia. Another gunshot was heard, and Prussia cried out in pain. He whirled around, searching for whoever had just shot him. When he saw no one, he swore loudly in German.
"Get inside Lithuania's house!" Germany commanded.
He and the other nations crowded around Lithuania to protect him as they made it the rest of the way across the street. Scotland ran ahead and opened the door. Everyone filed in as quickly as possible. Russia came in last, dragging the fake Lithuania single-handedly by the collar. Scotland slammed the door shut and bolted it.
"Russia, are you all right?" Latvia asked, looking worriedly at the hole in the arm of Russia's coat.
"I'll be fine," Russia said. "None of the fluid actually got out of the syringe."
The other nations breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"Thank God," Scotland said. "The last thing we need is a fake Russia wandering around."
Russia smiled. "There's already a fake America," he said. "It can't get much worse than that; it's bad enough with the real one."
"Russia!" Japan said, almost in a scolding tone.
China rolled his eyes. The other nations merely pretended to not have heard Russia's statement. There were more important things to worry about at the moment. For starters, they still didn't know who attacked them – although they had a pretty good idea – and they didn't know if the attacker was still out there.
"What do we do, Germany?" Italy asked.
"If our attacker is who we think it is, I say we go back out there and take the fight to him," Russia suggested.
"We may end up doing that," Germany said. "However, some of us have to stay here and look after the Lithuanias."
"Latvia and I will do that," Estonia said.
"We need more than just two," Germany said. "Italy, Romano-"
"Hell no!" Romano interrupted. "I'm not babysitting another nation!"
"Fine; just Italy then," Germany said. "Everyone else: get ready."