Hi everyone !
First of all, I apologize for last week, and for not answering to your reviews, but I want you to know that they really warmed my heart. Thank you for your kindness and support. Things are still... complicated, for me, at the present time, to be honest. I'm still going to do my best to keep the schedule I had planned, but delay might happen again. I'm sorry in advance.
I'd like to thank Guest, Miri, Cat and CaptainShort19 for their reviews. You guys rock.
It was a Thursday evening. Tuxedos and elegant dresses were everywhere, jewels were shining in every direction, and the amount of wealth of all the guests combined was more than enough to buy a country and still have spare. It was a fabulous demonstration of riches and power, and it was already commonly agreed that this was the evening of the year.
One might notice that only a certain part of the population had been invited, and that, basically, the people reunited here were the ones ruling the United State, politically and financially.
To make sure it would be secured, the location had been kept secret until the very last day. It was situated miles away from the nearest town, but the scene, the sight around and the global setting were simply stunning. Whoever had been in charge of the organization had done things extremely well.
A dozen of cameras were already rolling, transmetting the event all around the world for all to see. The statistics showed that millions of persons were already watching in curiosity, and a good number of nations were watching too. Trump's excited tweets about how he had a solution to actually keep his promise to "Make America Great Again" had raised the curiosity of a good portion of the world.
Then, the vice president asked everyone to sit, and it went quiet for some time. A couple of important people came to address some issues or just to make a speach no one actually listened to, but applaused politely nonetheless.
Trump finally arrived and the crowd cheered with a bit more enthusiasm. He seemed thrilled by the event, and as confident as ever if not more. He started one of his usual speeches that he was probably alone to follow or even understand.
Backstage, Alfred was finishing with the staff evacuation. Almost all the equipment was already automatic and directed from a further station, anyway. He only had to show a fake card to prove his authority and invoke some presidential decision to convince everyone to leave. He could handle what was left on his own.
When the last technician left, Alfred sighed and checked his image one last time. Brown wig to hide his real hair, check. Brown lenses to mask his eyes, check. Adapted outfit, check. He was ready. With a last deep inhale, he watched his president as he finished his speech.
Said president was ending his scene time with his usual lack of decency. With a grand gesture, he indicated the screen behind him.
"And there it is ! You're going to watch, and it has never been done before, first world premiere, the beautiful, really amazing, solution that I have personnally found to give America her glory back ! No more Obamacare, no more stupid Green Deals, or immigrants, or whatever idiots aggainst true America rights !"
A vibrant applause welcomed his gesture, and he left the scene as the screen lighted up. A simple powerpoint started. Short messages, all with sourced graphics or images.
American health care system is failing so hard that people die simply from being poor.
Industrial food companies poison Earth and humans for profit only, regardless of the consequences for the future.
Racism is so rooted in the American system and culture that people die because of the colour of their skin.
Gun lobbyists feed on fear for the only sake of profit and hatred, preventing honest citizens from realising than the less guns there are, the less murders can be committed.
Graphics, sentences and images were following neatly, calmly, inevitably. In less than three minutes, the public started to boo the display, without anyone being able to stop it.
Everywhere around the world, the hearings were exploding all precedent records. Nobody understood what was happening. Trump could not have approved of this, and still, it was airing. It made no sense, and more and more people joined the live to see what was happening.
-o-oOo-o-
Far away, in Moscow, Ivan felt a shiver down his spine while watching the show. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. Alfred was up to something - after all, he had more or less confessed he did - but the Russian only started to realise how dangerous said something might actually be.
Throwing all caution to the wind, Ivan spend the next minutes to study the environment he could see, determine the time difference and call in a couple of favors to know where the event was happening exactly. It was in times like these he patted himself on the back to always keep good relationships with all sorts of friends.
Once he got the precise location, he used the special ability nations possessed to teleport themselves, and appear in the close perimeter of the event. Ivan sighed in relief. Luckily for him, no security guard was around.
It only took him half a second to realize how bizarre it was in itself. Such an event should normally implied nothing short of a small army of security guards. But no one was there. It was only desert on end around the scene, which should never have happened. Alfred was too smart for leaving his entire ruling class unguarded. Ivan got carefully closer to the backstage, careful as to not let himself be seen, and only get more uncomfortable as he approached.
Russia carefully hid behind a curtain, and watched the last slides appear on screen.
Most politicians abandonned you. They only care about their own wealth and power. Their greed has become more important than your needs.
The financial and political elites will never surrender their power and privileges. They will continue to fuel your fears to make you believe you have to obey them.
Russia felt a shudder down his spine. He could feel in his guts that something was about to turn very bad, very soon, and he had learned long ago to trust his guts when imminent danger was at stake. The obvious absence of any kind of staff behind the scene didn't make him feel better. Ivan carefully hid himself on one side of the scene, just behind a camera.
He was still pondering about what game Alfred was playing, when the screen turned white and someone walked on the front scene with a mic. Ivan's blood ran cold.
The fake hair and the lenses were good, but there was no mistaking Alfred Jones with his signature bomber jacket. Ivan mentally corrected himself immediately. With the way he walked and his jacket, there was no mistaking America if you were a nation used to working with him.
The thought made him even more nervous than he had been. Nations had an unspoken rule about not going public, a rule all of them obeyed with good reasons. What Alfred was doing was dangerously close to a line none of them would ever dare to cross. Ivan stayed hidden, however, and decided he was going to wait and give his former nemesis a chance to prove himself.
The Russian nation froze suddenly. Former nemesis ? Since when had he stopped thinking of Alfred as his opponent ? Before he could think about it, though, America started talking and Ivan's attention focused on his voice.
"You see" Alfred started, calm and serene, "this country is now an oligarchy in disguise, and there's nothing most of my people can do to change it." He was staring strait at the nearest camera, his gaze determined and posed, but otherwise unreadable. "Tonight, I will give you the chance to start again. To start a new democracy, a better one, where respect is key. Respect for yourself, for your neighbour, for our planet."
Then, he smiled.
Ivan recognized that smile instantly. He had seen it more often than not in all his years of war. It was the smile one made when one was so desperate they were about to do something crazy and find peace in the embrace of death afterwards. Alfred moved his other hand, and Ivan's face went white when he got a glimpse of the little remote control America was holding. Alfred wouldn't...
"My name is Freedom, and I'm done being a stupid pathetic brat."
Alfred pushed the button, and all hell broke loose.
The bombs buried under the seats exploded one after the other in a chain reaction after Alfred sent the signal to the first detonator. A concert of panic screeches rose and died in less than a minute as the explosions ended the life of every single person present at the event. The smell of blood, powder and other war scents saturated the air in no time, accentuated by the sight of body parts falling about everywhere in a thunder-like sound.
Internet seemed to stop for a short, shocked second, then drove into absolute chaos. The entirety of the United States' leading class had been erased in a fraction of second by one man no one had ever heard of. A couple of cameras were still emitting images, as if they had been placed to avoid being caught in the explosions.
Ivan had half a mind patting himself on the back for choosing to stay close to one of these cameras, but most of his brain was focused on protecting his ears from the noise, avoiding the flying debris, and keeping Alfred in his sight. The young nation had his eyes close, a tired but satisfied smile on his face, and his arms were wide open.
Russia was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that Alfred had all but assassinated his leading class in cold blood. That was most definitely not what Ivan had thought when the blond had admitted being up to something the previous night. Now, all he had to do was to wait for the cameras to go off, and then grab the idiot to ask him what the fuck he had been thinking.
It was when he had reached his decision that Ivan heard the gunshot. Only a particularly skilled and experienced sniper could have a chance to reach their target in the middle of the chaos.
The bullet went straight to Alfred's chest, who collapsed on his back.
Ivan stayed motionless, unable to move. He barely registered the camera going off beside him. Someone had just killed Alfred. Someone had shot him in the middle of this carnage, aiming for his heart.
The Russian nation didn't get the time to shake himself in time, and when he finally managed to awake from the shock, a silhouette was standing on the scene, near to Alfred's lifeless body. The stranger was wearing black, their body lithe and almost fragile looking, but the sniper on their back indicated they were responsible for the shot. A hood kept their face and hair hidden from view, and they leaned to check something on the American nation.
Whatever they were looking for, they seemed to find it. When the sniper moved to drag Alfred, the slight curves on their body made Ivan realised it was a female. Not that he would be more likely to spare her for shooting Alfred. A wave of fury washed over him at the sight of the young nation being dragged like some heavy bag in the now macabre and silent scene.
However, he wasn't stupid enough to attack her now. The place would soon be crawling with people, and he didn't fancy being caught in a fight when more journalists would arrive. So he followed silently.
The sniper put Alfred's body in a black car, and started to drive away. Ivan cringed at that. In the middle of the night, with the deadly silence and the remote location they currently were, there was no way he could follow them with another vehicule without being seen.
That left him with no other option than making small nation jumps, but it would be risky and exhausting. And he had to keep enough energy to jump back to Moscow afterwards. Russia sighed, but prepared himself to do it nonetheless, and obstinately refused to think about his reasons to do so.
-o-oOo-o-
Two hours later, the sniper parked her car in a small house in the middle of nowhere. She opened the door with a key, and brought her victim inside.
Ivan appeared behind the house, and gave himself a minute to gather his breath and calm the headache he could feel roaring in his mind. Nation jumps were not supposed to be used like some comic teleportation skill, and he was paying for it now. However, he was stubborn enough to push it in the back of his mind for a moment. He had more important things to do.
Russia entered the house silently, decades of spying habits coming back without even thinking, and stood behind the door leading to the living room, the only one with lights on. The door was slightly ajar, and he risked a peek to see the sniper setting a few things on a coffee table, while Alfred was tied up to a chair.
That made Ivan frowned. That particular display meant the sniper knew about Alfred's particular condition and was waiting for him to come back to the land of the livings. Which, considering that the shot had been neat, would probably not take long. Ivan retreated behind the door and pondered his options for a couple of minutes, before setting on waiting. He would see what the woman's objective was, what Alfred's reaction would be, and act accordingly.
-o-oOo-o-
Alfred came back to consciousness with a sore feeling around his heart, and if he wasn't so damn tired, he would have snorted at the irony. At least, it was fitting. He took a couple of seconds to gather his thoughts and memories before slowly opening his eyes.
"Rise and shine, boy" a voice immediately welcomed him, with a hint of sadistic irony. "How was death ?"
Alfred cringed at the voice, remembering who he was with. He yawned, noticing in the process that he had been tied up to a chair, and rolled his eyes.
"I've seen worse" the young nation answered with an aborted shrug. "Pretty sure you can take off the hood now, Natalya" he added sardonically.
The sniper snorted, but took off the piece of clothing to reveal the pale face and ash-blond hair of Belarus. She had a satisfied grin on her lips, and Alfred noticed mentally that she looked a bit like the Cheshire cat. If said cat was more into torturing the mices he caught. Which, knowing him, might not be completely unlikely.
Alfred turned back to the present, glanced at the ropes around his body, then back up at the Eastern nation. "Why the ropes, by the way ? I don't think they were mentionned in our agreement."
"They weren't" Nataly nodded. "I help you killing all those capitalist pigs, then I kill you in front of everyone to make humans believe that you are dead too. I have to say that it was very satisfying" she all but purred.
"Glad you enjoyed it" Alfred replied with the enthusiasm of someone discussing the weather. "Still, I don't see why the rop-" he stopped himself, finally understanding what it meant. The American nation sighed loudly one more time. He should have known better.
"Of course" Alfred said. "Killing me once, with one clean shot... it's not enough, is it ?"
"Got it in one" she grinned, her eyes gleaming with sadistic joy. "You fucked my brother and took all his time and attention away from me. That is not something I will forgive."
Alfred raised an eyebrow. "Does it really count when I was manipulated to think it was someone else ?"
Natalya glared at him and stood up, a knife suddenly in her hand and death threats in her blue-grey eyes. She took one step toward him, and raised her weapon. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy tearing you appart" she said in a cold chuckle. "I will make you suffer until you beg for my forgiveness and the mercy of death, and even then, I will no-"
The rest of her sentence got lost in the noise of the door bursted open. Both nations turned their head to see the newcomer, and surprise crept on their features.
Russia was standing in the door, his arms crossed.
"Big brother !" Belarus exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're here, I was about to... to..." she stopped herself and took a step back. Ivan's lilac eyes were burning with barely-contained fury, all of it directed toward her. Somehow, for a reason she couldn't fathom, her beloved brother was mad at her. Really, really mad.
"Natalya" he said slowly. "Get out. Now."
Belarus wanted to protest, but the the threat she read in Ivan's eyes convinced her to keep her mouth shut. She left without a word, and jumped back to her own country, leaving the two nations alone.