'If I were America, where would I hide a key?' Belarus thought to herself as she paced around the kitchen. Her first thought was that she would keep it on herself, which she hoped wouldn't be the case with America.
Her second thought was his bedroom, so she made her way to the second floor and walked to the master bedroom. When she grabbed the knob of the door and turned it, it clicked and drifted open. 'Finally something unlocked.'
As she walked inside, something caught on her foot and nearly sent her face first to the ground. All over the floor was piles of clothing and trash.
'This place is a pig sty.' She would never find a key in this condition, but if she cleaned up then America would know she was in here.
She quickly skimmed through the dresser, taking only a couple seconds since most of his clothes had been emptied onto the floor.
Her search then brought her to the closet, which was filled with suits, uniforms, and costumes. Some of them she remembered from previous parties, like the Batman and slasher costumes, but others she had never seen before. One in particular caught her attention, a black cloth with a tie, collar, and a headband with brown animal ears on them.
'Is America a stripper?' She thought, but quickly moved her thoughts to other things, a stripping America was not something she wanted to think about.
She finished her search of the closet and moved onto a nightstand, but once again there was nothing. After thoroughly searching everywhere around the room to no avail, she turned her attention to a side door.
As she opened the door, she realized that it was a bathroom. After some quick searching with the same result, she left the bathroom, just to find another door on the opposite side of the room.
She walked to the door and opened it, finding a desk in the middle of the room surrounded by shelves of binders and folders.
'This must be his personal study,' she thought as she walked to the desk, noticing that the entire thing was littered in documents. Seems like the lazy American is actually quite the workaholic.
After searching through the drawers of the desk, she moved back to the main room in defeat. Just as she was about to lose hope, she was then drawn to a brown object hanging off the railing of the balcony.
She moved out onto the balcony and picked it up, instantly recognizing it as his horridly ugly bomber jacket. She dug her hands in the pockets, but it was completely empty.
In anger she tightly gripped the jacket, ready to rip it in half, but stopped when she felt something between her fingers. As she inspected the object between her fingers, she began to get excited when it seemed to be the right shape.
She then rolled back the sleeve, finding a tiny pocket that was velcroed closed. After opening the pocket, she reached inside and pulled out the object, a tiny golden key.
Without wasting any time she sped out of the room and ran all the way back to the storage room, picking the lock again and stepping inside.
Since America was preoccupied for now, she felt safe enough to turn on the light, but when she did she saw the piles of historic relics and other junk surrounding her. 'How did I not run into any of this in the dark?'
She then went up to the second floor again and sat in front of the chest. After flipping it over and placing the key inside, praying it was the right one, she turned it and unlocked the chest.
Now able to solve the mystery of what America was hiding, she opened the bottom, only to be left in confusion as she stared down at a large book.
She took it out and inspected it. The book must be centuries old, based on the yellow discoloring of all the pages, all held within a tan animal hide cover. The tips of the pages, along with the cover, were scorched with burn marks. On top of the burns, the hide appeared to be peeling away, some parts with the top layer completely removed. In conclusion, this book has been through a lot.
Just then, she remembered what America had said to her earlier. 'Oh, that was just some random book from a long time ago, if I remember correctly it got burnt to a crisp.'
There was no way this was a coincidence, this had to be the book that was missing from the book shelf.
With her curiosity peaked, she set the book in her lap and turned the first page.
Property of:
Maska
Alfred F. Jones
The United States
Maska? Now she was really curious. For as long as she could remember, it's always been Alfred, America, or the Hero.
She flipped to the next page and looked at the writing, knitting her eyebrows in confused irritation.
Anpetu ki le - 954
Iná k'ú miyé le wówapi. Iyé k'ú waŋží etka Kanata kȟó. Etka okíwa uŋkítȟa oní. Bl-šni slolyÁ táku uŋ, Iná eyÁ iyé he wawóptetušni.
- Maska
Well that doesn't help. All the work to find the key just to find a book full of gibberish. She flipped to the next page, but it was the same thing. For pages upon pages, it was nothing but this strange foreign language, until she finally found something she recognized.
1000
Männen som kom till Kanata's land lärde oss deras språk. Det låter roligt, men de är trevliga människor... till och med den långa killen med det läskiga ansiktet. Jag gillar killen med det taggiga håret mest, han är mycket kul att umgås med. Den leende är riktigt trevlig för mig och Kanata de tar hand om oss medan mamma är på jakt. Jag vet inte riktigt om de andra två, de är för tysta.
- Maska
She didn't know the language specifically, but she understood that it was one of the Scandinavian ones. If only she had a phone she could translate it with.
The next couple pages were filled with a combination of Scandinavian and whatever the other language was, until she finally found something she could read.
1550 A.D.
The man with the big eyebrows is calling me his younger brother. That's cool, but... I already have an older brother. I don't know where he is though, I think he is with the guy with the curly hair, or maybe the smiley one. I like them, but mommy does not, she calls the eyebrow guy "White Devil." I don't think they are the devil, they are nice to me and make me food (Even if it's gross sometimes).
- Maska
'So this must be when America met England and France, but who's the "smiley one," Russia? And who was his mother?'
Just from one page and she was left with a multitude of questions, hopefully she can translate the previous pages and get some context.
All she knew was that this was definitely the book she was looking for. If the appearance didn't do it, then the pre-1776 dates proved it.
With all the secrecy behind this book, there was no way she was putting it down, so instead she read through the next few pages.
1555 A.D.
Artie is teaching me about magic today! I already know mommy's magic, but now I get to learn how to use a wand and cast spells. This is going to be so cool!
1556 A.D.
Artie doesn't think I'm ready for the strong spells, but I know I am! Mommy, flying mint bunny, and the spirits have all called me a prodigy... whatever that means... I'll show him, I'll become the strongest magic-user ever!
1585 A.D.
I think Artie is setting up a village somewhere near the ocean. I want to go see it, but mommy said no, she really does not trust him. I don't know why though.
1587 A.D.
I got to see the new settlement today! I think it's called Roanoke or something. For years Artie has been living in a wooden house, but now he actually has a village full of people. Mommy and the spirits are really angry though, they think they are taking their sacred land.
1590 A.D.
They're all gone. I don't know what happened, it was just another day in the village, and then...
Mommy sent the Croatoans to help me, but it was too late for the settlers. I left a message on the gatepost and a tree, hopefully when Artie comes back he'll know what it means and come find me.
- Alfred Kirkland
Belarus was astonished, America believes in magic, he could see England's imaginary friends, he wasn't scared of ghosts, and Alfred Kirkland?!
The thing that interested her the most was the tone of the last entry. While the previous ones were lighthearted and very much in line with his personality today, the last one was serious, and had a sense of terror behind it. He may have been a kid when he wrote this, but there are very few things that truly scare the superpower.
She really wanted to ask him about this, but he would probably get mad at her for snooping. He hid this book and key for a reason.
She continued:
1607 A.D.
Artie created another settlement, this one's named "Jamestown." Mom said it was fine for me to go, but I'm worried, she seems a little weaker than normal. Hopefully it's nothing serious.
1609 A.D.
Today I met a boy named Davie, he wanted to find these blue flowers, so I helped him look for them. We couldn't find them, but I made a promise that I'd find them for him. It doesn't matter how long it takes, since we're all immortal.
1614 A.D.
My friend Pocahontas got married today to some guy, John Rolfe I think, hopefully this will lower tensions between the settlers and the Powhatans. And more importantly, calm down Mom.
1618 A.D.
Kanata has come to visit today, he's been staying with the curly haired guy. His name is Francis, and I guess he renamed Kanata to Matthew, kind of like Artie renaming me Alfred. It's been so long I didn't remember him at first. Mom was so happy to see him she nearly crushed him to death in a bear hug.
1619 A.D.
A large ship came to shore and brought a bunch of people. They're like us but darker, apparently they came from a place called Africa. Artie said they were to help pick tobacco, but mom disapproves, she said she's seen this before. The encom- emcomi— en.co.mi.en.da system or something.
1620 A.D.
Up north some more people landed on me and Mom's land. They are calling themselves the Pilgrims, and came to our land for freedom... I guess there's some bad stuff happening in Artie's country. He's been complaining about the Pilgrims all day, calling them "Protestant, separatist little... poopies."
1626 A.D.
I met Davie again, he's a lot bigger now. When I tried talking to him he ignored me, I think he's mad at me for not finding the flowers yet. I asked Artie if he knew where they were, and he said that they grow back in his country. I was upset be he said he would bring them to me during his next trip, Artie's the best!
- Alfred Kirkland
She was about to read the next passage but stopped when she realized just how long she had been reading, seeing that it was nearing sunset.
'How did time go by so fast?' She thought as she put the book back in the chest and locked it. After flipping it over and putting the headdress and tomahawk in as well, she put the chest back in the corner and exited the storage room, remembering to shut off the light and lock the door.
She then made her way back to America's room, going to the balcony and sliding the key into the pocket of his jacket sleeve. Just as she finished, something in the corner of her eye caught her attention.
Out of nowhere, America came streaking out of the tree line with 99% of his clothes missing. As he screamed and ran to the house, Belarus stared down at him in confusion.
"What are you doing?" She yelled to him. America instantly stopped and looked up at her.
In embarrassment he covered his bare chest and tucked into himself. "Um... just trying to not get disintegrated by Tony. W-What are you doing in my room?"
"Exploring, you and your alien have rudely interrupted this tour so I took it upon myself to do the rest myself," she explained.
"Oh... w-wait! My room's off limits, how did you even get in there?!" He questioned.
"The door was unlocked," she answered.
"No it wasn't, I— ohhhhhh wait never mind," he said just as he remembered unlocking it during their little chase.
"Can you throw down some clothes to me?" He asked. Belarus hesitated for a second before an evil grin crept onto her face. "Suuure."
She then walked into the room and went to the closet, before grabbing the strange stripper clothing, walking back to the balcony, and tossing them down to him.
After taking off the clothing that fell on his head, he held it out in front of him to inspect it. "Son of a- why?" He whined.
Belarus gave a wicked giggle as she took a seat in a nearby cushioned wicker chair, before leaning on the railing to look at him. "Because, you chased me all around the yard and house with an armful of water balloons... and a whale."
"Because you threw me into a pool," he argued.
"Because you're whale shot me with water!" That said whale shot water up at her from the pool next to America, almost hitting her again.
"Because you called me weird for being close with my pets, and based on the fact that whale dude keeps trying to hit you with water for insulting me, I would say it pays off to be close."
"Whatever, you either walk in wearing your underwear or that waist cloth," she stated.
"They're basically the same thing!" He yelled.
"Not true, you have a tie," she teased.
"I... fair point," He said as he wrapped the cloth around himself and began putting the tie and collar on.
He then marched into the house and made his way up to his room, meanwhile Belarus stood up and walked to the door to come face to face with him.
Belarus' smug grin instantly disappeared as the doors swung open to reveal a very muscular pair of pecs, accentuated by the tie running along where the muscles met.
She quickly glanced up and down, inspecting the chest, abs, and even the bottom half of his legs.
He wasn't husky like Russia, or bulky like Germany, but still had an athleticism that radiated power.
Before her face got too hot and became noticeable, she looked up to his face, which burned with an annoyed embarrassment.
"You can go now," he stated.
Belarus quickly moved away and walked past him out the door.
"Could've at least let me clean up the place," he mumbled as he looked down at the dirty floor.
Belarus turned around and looked at him, a pang of guilt hitting her. She did technically start it with the pet comment.
"Look... I can help pick up if you want," she offered. America just waved her off. "Nah, you're the guest, go relax, I'll be down in a bit then we can have dinner."
Belarus considered it, but decided to double down on her decision. "No, it's my fault in the first place, the least I can do is make up for humiliating you like this."
America thought about it for a second before a small smile graced his lips. "Are you actually trying to help me?"
A tick mark appeared on Belarus' forehead as she looked at his cocky grin. "Shut up. This is a one time offer for being a bad guest. After this you can die for all I care."
America's smile softened a little bit as he stared at her round, pissed off face. "Well I still appreciate the gesture, so I guess you can go pick up the trash and I'll take care of the clothes. I don't trust you to not cut more holes in them."
Belarus scoffed but agreed and picked up the trashcan before walking over to the nearest pile of garbage and shoveling it in.
As she picked up the garbage, America began grabbing the clothes and folding them. Unfortunately for Belarus, the one time she looked over was just as America was bending down to pick up some more clothes, giving her a revealing view of his underwear.
"Good god, put on some damn clothes!" She screamed as she covered her eyes. America covered himself in shame and quickly grabbed a pair of clothes before locking himself in the bathroom.
"Why didn't you change clothes before?!" She shouted.
"S-Shut up, I forgot ok! Why the hell were you even looking at me?!" He screamed back, his face as red as one of Romano's tomatoes.
"I was just looking up from the trash, I shouldn't expect to see... that. Why do you even have those clothes in the first place?"
"It was France and Spain's fault, Spain wanted a funny picture with everyone but France being France, made it perverted by blackmailing all of us into wearing revealing clothes," he explained as he walked out of the bathroom with an "I love NY" shirt and cargo pants.
"I think I remember that, Russia went but Ukraine ignored it, I don't actually think I got a letter," she recalled.
"Yeah, besides the embarrassment and blackmail it was pretty hilarious, France got turned into a naked midget, England was dressed as a nurse, China looked like a chick, and Russia hid in a sewer wearing a dainty yellow dress," America mocked as he put the black cloth around his waist again and twirled in a circle, the cloth swirling around him.
Belarus would usually beat him for an obvious jab at her brother, but she couldn't find the will within her to care about that. "That's funny and all but can we get back to cleaning?"
America stopped laughing and looked down at her. "Oh... yeah, right."
In no time, Belarus picked up all the trash, leaving America to put away a still large amount of clothes. No matter how much she insisted that she help, America refused to let her, he was going to do his share and he was going to do it alone.
So instead, Belarus took a seat on the balcony to watch the sunset. The pinkish sky with its fluffy orange clouds and calm wind, and the soothing silence... it was a truly tranquil scene. For as much as she bashes him, he does have a beautiful country.
"The sunset is beautiful," she said, her eyes transfixed on the sky.
"That's why the master bedroom faces the west. You can't have a good bedroom if you don't have a good view to fall asleep to."
"That's definitely not true, but I can see where you're coming from." As she stared at the sky, her attention was suddenly brought to the ground as a little gray figure came out of the trees. "Seems like your alien has finally returned."
"He has a name you know, and yeah, he was probably just blowing off some steam."
"How did you two even meet?" She asked.
"I think it was 1947... yeah, in Roswell, New Mexico. He crashed his UFO in the desert... and as the hero I am... I saved him before my government found him. So now he lives with me."
"So is he immortal like other nations' pets?" She asked.
"I have no clue," he answered honestly. "If he ages then it's very slow."
"Are there any other aliens that have come here?" She wondered, slightly concerned of an alien invasion the idiot would most likely cause.
"No, as a gift for taking him in, he set up some transmission doohickey that makes Earth invisible to alien radar."
"Oh, that's good then... wait what about those pieces of shit that turned me and my country into white blobs?"
"That's different, they were heading to Earth before the transmission went up, something about fleeing a dying star or whatever."
"So no more aliens are coming here?"
"Nope, we're completely safe," he reassured. "Though I swear I thought I saw a UFO land at a mansion a while ago, but Tony said it was impossible."
"Did you ever check it out?" She asked, concerned once again.
"I tried, but as I was about to enter it I got a weird vibe and decided not to."
Belarus raised an eyebrow and looked at him. "So you were scared?"
"Well, yeah. It's a haunted mansion full of aliens, I mean c'mon, ghosts and aliens. Maybe even possessed aliens."
"For a superpower you're a pretty big wuss."
America opened his mouth to respond, but kept to himself. Insults only result in him getting thrown into things, whether it's a pool or off this balcony.
"Well anyway, I'm finished here. Let's go have some dinner!" He declared as he went to the balcony and put on his jacket, before walking away and leaving the room. Belarus decided to continue watching the sunset, he could make dinner himself.
A couple minutes later, America poked his head back in the room. "Um... what do you actually want for dinner?"
Belarus thought about it for a second before turning around to him. "Do you have beets?"
"Uh.. yeah, I think so."
"Then I'll have borscht," she answered.
America nodded to her before leaving the room again, only to come back a second later. "What is borscht?"
Belarus rolled her eyes before standing up and following him out of the room.
As Belarus ate her soup, America made sure to give all of his pets their dinner as well. Whale dude got all sorts of small sea creatures, the bowl labeled 'Hero' got cat food, though they were yet to show up, and the bowl labeled 'unicorn' got a couple cupcakes.
Belarus... who was watching from the dining room... seriously began to wonder if America was crazy, until the top half of a cupcake completely vanished.
"What. The. Fuck." She said.
America looked up at her in confusion, but understood when he followed her eyes back to the cupcakes.
"Oh yeah, that freaked me out the first time too," he said as he bent down and pet the air, weirding out Belarus even more.
"Can you, see it?" She asked as she pointed at the air.
"No, I can't. England got it for me on my 200th birthday, but all I could see was a floating collar," he explained.
'Based on what I read in the diary about magic, I'm starting to doubt that,' she thought.
After finally getting food for Tony and himself, the two joined Belarus at the dining room table. Belarus was on one end and America on the other, with Tony somewhere around the middle.
"Why do you have such a big table if you live alone?" Belarus yelled from across the table. America looked up from his food, which was an entire chicken. "It came with the house."
Well... that conversation got shot down. The two were stuck in silence as they ate their food, but Belarus quickly broke it.
"So alien- "Tony," both Tony and America interrupted at the same time. "Tony, what was with that picture of Lithuania you were clutching when America was chasing us?" She asked.
"Ha," America shortly laughed before going back to his food. Tony flipped him off, making America chuckle more.
"Back when Lithuania stayed with Tony and I, Tony sorta developed a crush on him," America said. As he finished speaking, a chicken leg whizzed past his head.
"Aw chill out dude, I think it's cute," he complimented, but Tony would hear none of it and instead crossed his arms and looked away.
"Why Lithuania of all people? He's a pathetic, cat shit bastard," Belarus said, only to receive a death stare from Tony and a nervous one from America.
"What? I'm just saying he's nothing to get worked up over. I dated him before, he's nothing special."
"You dated him?!" Tony screeched, wanting to know all the details.
"Belarus, don't," America demanded, knowing fully well what she was going to say next.
Belarus ignored him and creepily smiled at Tony. "Da but he was insufferable, so I broke all of his fingers."
Tony slammed his hands on the table and stood up. "You fucking what?! I kill you you sadistic fucking bitch motherfuwwmmpphhh fmfpphwwmh!!!" He screamed as America covered his mouth and carried him out to the living room.
A couple minutes later he returned and looked at Belarus. "Seriously?"
Belarus just shrugged. "It's the truth."
"Ok, but Tony likes him. I know you would hate it if I said the same thing about Russia, especially if I said I harmed them."
Belarus scowled at him, because she knew he was right. Even if she wasn't feeling up to it right now, she would defend her brother with her life.
"If you want me to apologize then I'm not going to do it," she stated.
"No, just stop saying things to piss him off," America requested as he grabbed Tony's plate and left the room again.
"He's the one that kept insulting me on the car ride here!" She yelled to him. America then silently came back into the room and sat down before digging into his food.
"Did you not hear me?!" Belarus asked angrily, but America ignored her. "Hey, dumbass!" She yelled again, but America paid no attention to her.
"Stop ignoring me you deaf bastard!" She demanded as she stood up. America glanced up at her for a second before looking back down at his food.
Belarus angrily huffed as she dropped in her seat and continued eating her food. After she had finished her soup she looked up to him again, but now he was leaning on his hand as he looked at her and smiled.
"See, just ignore the person insulting you and they'll eventually get bored and stop."
Belarus gritted her teeth and glared at him. So he had been ignoring her just to teach her some stupid lesson?
"So if I want you to stop being an annoying jackass I just have to ignore you?" She asked, her eye twitching a little bit.
"What are you talking about? I'm not annoying, I'm awesome!" He said confidently as he sat up straight and put his hands on his hips.
"That sentence in itself is annoying, you really are an oblivious fool you know that?"
"I don't know that," he stated.
Belarus frowned a little. "That just proves my point, one of the global powers shouldn't be off in their own delusional world. I'm surprised you've survived as long as you had."
"Hey, I'll have you know I've won most of the wars I've been in. I came out on top in not one, but two world wars," he said as he held up two fingers.
"Vietnam and most of the Middle East would disagree," Belarus commented.
America crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "That's different."
Belarus tilted her head in confusion. "How? It's a war, you either win or lose."
"They were civil wars, and they're a lot harder to fight than normal wars. I'm good at those, but civil wars... that's a different story. It's hard to make out who's the enemies or spies, they can take decades to end, and if you lose then you have to live with the guilt of leaving one of your friends behind to get taken over."
"Then don't fight in them, you really shouldn't stick your nose where it doesn't belong anyway," she argued.
America let out a dry laugh as he rubbed his neck. "Yeah, that would be nice wouldn't it."
A couple of seconds of silence went by before Belarus spoke up. "Then why don't you?"
"Huh?" America looked up at her.
"Just stay out of things, or if you really want just isolate again," she explained.
America slammed his hands on the table and shot up from his chair. "N-No, I can't do that, I have allies to protect, I can't just turn my back on them! What about my allies in the civil wars I was talking about?"
"Didn't you just say it would be nice to get out of them?" Belarus questioned.
"Well yeah, but I'm not gonna leave them, I need to be their hero. Take your sister and the Baltics for example, if I were to leave then Russia would fully take over Crimea and Donbass, and the Baltic trio would be eaten alive," he argued.
"That's not his fault, it's his boss that wants to do that," she snapped back.
"Well whoever is responsible, I have to protect the nations against them," he stated as he lowered back into his seat.
"But why? You're halfway across the world, why not let the European and Asian allies and the UN take care of it?" She asked.
"The UN can't do anything because Russia is one of the main 5 and just opposes anything we say to them," he huffed in annoyance. "And the European allies? I think they learned their lesson from the world wars."
"Whatever, I still think you should stay in your own country," she said.
"Aww, but then you'd never see your favorite hero," he joked.
"That's the idea," she said with a small smile, but quickly pushed it back down.
The two fell silent for a couple minutes until a stifled laugh broke the silence. Belarus looked over at America to see him sniggering to himself.
"What's so funny?" She asked.
America stopped laughing and looked at her. "Sorry it's just... what were we arguing about in the first place?"
"I... don't remember," she responded.
"Haha, yeah... Well anyway, I guess this is a good place to stop for today," he said as he took both dishes and began walking to the kitchen.
"By the way, tomorrow I'm gonna go buy a bunch of clothes, since you don't have any and half of mine are ruined. Are you coming with, or do you want to tell me your size and I'll do it myself?"
"You can do it yourself," she stated. America nodded to her and began walking out of room, but stopped when Belarus called out to him. "Wait, do you think you could get me a phone?"
"Huh? What happened to yours?" he asked.
"I broke it," she stated.
"Oh, ok then," he said as he turned back around and left the room.
Now that dinner was over, Belarus had to find something to occupy the time. Unfortunately America took his jacket so she can't read more of his diary. So instead, she moved to the living room.
When she entered the room, she was met with a chicken bone to the face, instantly reminding her of what her and America's argument was about.
Tony was tucked in a ball on the couch, staring daggers into her and saying "fucking" over and over.
Belarus walked over and sat down next to the little alien, who inched away in response. Belarus was frozen in place, with no clue what to say. She couldn't apologize, because she really didn't care and it would just come out half-assed.
She decided to take America's advice and be quiet, if Romano and Lithuania could become friends with Tony then she was at least capable of being on neutral ground.
Belarus then grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned on the tv, Tony must've not been in the mood for it.
As she flipped through the channels, she stopped on a documentary about the Winchester Mystery House. America may hate the supernatural, but she was all for it.
Tony silently watched with her as a British man interviewed a girl about paranormal events she's witnessed. Why is it always a British narrator in documentaries?
As much as he hated this girl, it was nice to be able to watch a horror movie without someone putting him in a choke hold and screaming in their ear.
After the documentary was over they searched for another movie to watch, eventually deciding on one involving aliens. When that movie was finished, they were about to start a third until America walked in.
"Oh, you guys are still up?" He said, startling them with his presence.
"Da, is that a problem?" Belarus asked.
"No, no problem, you can stay up as long as you want. I was just surprised since it's almost midnight. From what I remember you were almost never awake at this time," America recalled.
Belarus and Tony blankly stared at him until he got the message and left, before looking back to the tv.
After a few minutes, Belarus looked over to Tony and suddenly asked, "can you make me a copy of a key?"
"Why the fuck would you want that?" He asked in confusion.
"That doesn't matter, I just need to know if you can do it," she said.
"I can, but what's in it for me?" He asked.
Belarus stopped to think for a second before looking to Tony again. "I can give you Lithuania's address."
Tony's eyes widened before he jumped off the couch and held out his hand. "You got yourself a fucking deal!"
As Tony set up the materials to make the copy, Belarus was tasked with actually retrieving the key.
She slowly tiptoed up to America's room and cracked the door open, sneaking inside and closing it behind her.
It was almost pitch black, but the moonlight coming from behind the balcony curtains gave her enough light to make out America curled up in a mass of blankets.
After looking around for the jacket, she finally found it neatly folded on his left nightstand. As she opened the pocket, the noise from the Velcro caused America to stir in his bed.
'Shit!' Belarus thought as she laid down on the ground, hoping he wouldn't wake up and see her. Luckily, America seemed to go still again.
She then slowly stood up to leave, but froze when she heard a faint screeching sound from the balcony.
They quietly moved over to the balcony and moved the curtain out of the way, looking out to the yard. Whatever that scream was seemed to get the attention of Whale Dude, because he was vigilantly staring off into the far away forest.
The scream never came back, but she was sure whatever it was is still out there. Maybe she should tell America in the morning.
With that distraction over, she slowly snuck out of the room and made her way to the third floor, entering the lab where Tony had gone.
Now seeing it for the first time, this laboratory was massive. All sorts of vials and flasks lined the walls on top of shelves. There were also a bunch of machines, some loudly running and turning gears, while others looked to be half finished, shut off, or destroyed.
Tony was running around at the opposite end of the room, allowing Belarus to get a good look at all the machines she passed on her walk over to him.
One was a luminescent blue circle on the floor, with a cone-shaped thing pointing at it from the ceiling. The machine appeared to be under construction, with all the wires and pipes sticking out of it.
Another was a small glass cube surrounded in metal reinforcements and a laser cage, all incased in a larger glass box. On the front of the glass was a sticker going across it that read, " !!! Warning! Mochi Has Escaped! !!! Find and Contain Before It Can Multiply!"
'Mochi, like the food?' She thought to herself. Maybe they were referring to that creepy thing Estonia carries everywhere.
She moved away from the box and continued her walk toward Tony, handing him the key when she reached them.
Tony dunked the key in a casting mold and let it sit as he waited for it to dry. About 15 minutes later, the cast had hardened enough for him to split in half and remove the key.
"The copy will be done when you wake up," Tony said as he handed her the key back. Belarus nodded to him and turned to bring the key back to America, but stopped when Tony spoke up. "I expect that address by tomorrow."
"Da, of course," she said as she left the room.
And just like that, Tony had become her favorite person in the house.