Names:

America—Alfred Jones

New Mexico—Manuel Jones


July 21, 2025

Seoul, South Korea

"Woo-hoo! Celebration time!" South Korea was dancing like a madman, a wild grin on his face. Next to him, North Korea looked torn between being embarrassed, wanting to punch his younger brother in the face, and being excited for the occasion himself. America didn't blame either of them for their actions.

It was finally time to unite North and South Korea. Japan and China were both here for the occasion, the former to protect his interests in the Yellow and Japanese Seas (apparently he owned the island of Jeju, which would be given to Korea once they were unified or something; America hadn't really been paying that much attention), and the latter because North Korea was his territory. America? Why, because he was the hero, of course!

But in realistic terms, South Korea had asked him to come to make sure that China and Japan didn't both gang up on him. America didn't mind and actually completely understood; after all, he and his allies were the only reason Japan hadn't annexed him already (well he had lost his friendship with Japan in the process but come on he was the hero and you can't please everybody). The two Asians also looked slightly uncomfortable in the situation as well; both were certainly not happy with the situation, but Japan had been pressured into allowing this and China was facing an imminent North Korean rebellion. This was the easier option for both of them unless they wanted to face some very unpleasant days in the coming years.

However, the two Koreas had been very happy about the arrangement. Though both had their disagreements about politics and other formal business, they both loved video games and Korean dramas. To top it all off, they hadn't seen each other in such an informal setting since the 1940s, almost a century ago.

Things were just getting finalized, and now that the merger was actually going to happen, they needed to finalize a few things, such as government and trading agreements, as well as formal admission into the UN.

Come on, guys! It's time to party!" South Korea laughed, pulling out a bottle of Soju[1] from who-knows-where. "Relax a bit!"

"Young Soo…" China groaned, facepalming. America laughed at the scene, but yanked the bottle out of his friend's hands. The young adult pouted, and Alfred gave him a sympathetic look.

"As much as I hate to pass up on a good drink, England would have my head if he found out I was drinking during official affairs again. How about later?" He compromised, then brightened more. "Hey, I can invite Washington and Virginia[2] over, too! We can have this huge Korean-themed party! It'd be awesome."

"America, we're here to discuss Korea's unification, not the after-party," Japan put in, folding his arms and sending him a low, almost annoyed look. "We can start by discussing the best way to instigate capitalism in North Korea. He's been living under communism for over a century; it'll be a tricky transition."

"Excuse me?" China put in, looking offended. South Korea and America shared a look. "Last I checked, Korea was becoming communist. We should be talking about transitioning South Korea."

"And this is why I wanted you here," said country muttered in English to his old friend, switching from the Korean they had been speaking for the meeting. America sighed, eyeing the bottle of Soju still in his hand.

"I think I might just take a shot of this," he replied quietly, also in English. "Can't we go just one day without fighting?"

"Come now, this is Japan and Aniki," South Korea responded with a chuckle, though his eyes betrayed a sense of disappointment. "They always find a reason to fight."

America let out a puff of air. "You're right about that. Japan's the prime example of being passive-aggressive, and China always rises to his taunts. People like them just don't mix well. It was only a matter of time."

"Korea is to be capitalist!" Japan announced as they spoke, crossing his arms and planting his feet firmly in the ground. It was quite a change from his usual personality, actually, where he preferred to work more behind the scenes.

This is something he's determined not to back down about, America mused. It reminds me of how we fought back in World War II. His eyes flickered back to the alcoholic beverage in his hands. This bottle is starting to get really tempting…

"Japan, you don't have much of a say in this," China responded to his younger brother's words. "North Korea is my territory. You're lucky I'm willing to participate in this event at all."

"South Korea is capitalist. You aren't taking that away from him."

"And North is communist. You aren't taking that away from him, either."

"Capitalist!"

"Communist!"

America groaned audibly and took off the cap of the soju bottle, taking a small swig from it. He savored the light, slightly sweet taste, not wanting to actually get drunk (yet), and set it down on the nearby table.

"Yeah, I'm a hypocrite," He spoke to South Korea as the Asian nation made a move to protest, switching back to Korean. "Excuse me." He turned to the two fighting brothers, who stopped as he stepped in between them. "I know you both, like, really want to have a say in this, but you really don't. The Koreas do. So let them choose!"

There! China and Japan couldn't object to that without sounding like oppressors to the Koreans! America felt a surge of warmth, though he didn't know whether it was from the alcohol or the fact that he had trapped his rivals in a corner.

"Fine," China spat out, crossing his arms. Japan shrugged.

"If you so wish, アメリカ[3]," he replied easily. America ignored him and turned to the two Korean brothers, silently asking for their opinion.

"Capitalism!" South Korea cheered, raising his hands excitedly. He then silenced as he seemed to remember North's presence, and turned to him expectantly. The younger of the two brothers seemed uncomfortable at all of the attention that was being put on him.

"Capitalism… sounds nice," he murmured, voice barely above a whisper as his face reddened. "I mean, after what happened last time…"

"Then it's decided," America nodded, feeling satisfied as he sent a triumphant look at China, who scowled. He grinned at South Korea, and they gave each other a high five. "Now, about entering the United Nations…"


November 23, 2026

Benghazi, American Libya

"This city really has come a long way from the days of ISIS," Alfred remarked, sipping from his mug of coffee. "They've completely rebuilt since 2015."

"I suppose so," New Mexico replied, who was standing next to the window that showed the city beginning to wake up in the early morning. The young boy—just under twelve years of age—seemed to be swallowed up in the light brown wall. He had dark brown hair that curled inwards at its ends, and the same color of eyes. His skinned was also dark, and he wore a faded evergreen shirt and a dark red scarf. "I never saw it back then."

"I only had a couple times, too," Alfred shrugged, sipping again from his drink as he waited for it to cool. He was still waiting for the caffeine to kick in and give him the energy he needed for the day. "Bit too dangerous for an American like me to stay long or visit often. Still, you can see the difference."

Manuel shrugged. Alfred sighed, giving up on trying to communicate with his son. New Mexico was quiet and tended to stay in the background. It was hard enough trying to find the boy, much less try to get him to actually pay attention to what was going around him (unless it was aliens or science. Then he nerded out). He and his son looked completely different, too, with Manuel's dark features contrasting sharply with Alfred's much lighter ones.

But his fourth youngest son[4] was going to be needed here for a while. America hated that he was leaving young Manuel to fend for himself in this country halfway across the world, but he didn't have much other choice. With Texas and Massachusetts busy on another project, New Mexico was the next best pick he could think of for studying the virus and any possible mutations it might produce. Despite his young physical age, the kid had already proved himself a genius in the Manhattan project[5] and in other governmental assignments. The problem with that was that Manuel was extremely shy and introverted. But he had to put someone he could trust on this project. So here he was, helping out his son for a couple weeks, acclimating him to the environment, and then he was set to return to New York in early December and leave his son with Libya.

Damn it, he had a bad feeling about this.

Alfred was wrenched out of his thoughts, however, when the front door of their house (they had been given an actual house instead of a hotel room, courtesy of the American government) opened suddenly. Manuel turned around, surprised but not frightened. Neither of them were. The security was too tight to let anyone unsavory enter without warning.

"Come in!" Alfred called, feeling too lazy to actually answer the door.

First in was Romano, looking completely exhausted. He had dark bags under his eyes and his clothes looked as if he had just shoved on the first item his hands had fallen on when he had woken up. Behind him was Libya, who was looking much better than he had been when America had last seen him back in 2018, in a semi-formal dress shirt and slacks.

"Yo, burger boy!" America's eye twitched, but shrugged off Romano's insult, more than used to the Italian to know that it was his way of a polite greeting. "We need to have a talk. Eritrea. New Abyssinia. Trouble."

"Excuse me?" America blinked, then chuckled as he stood up to meet his unexpected guests. "Dude, you look even more tired than New York during the holidays! What's happened?"

Romano short him a dark look, and the blond held up his hands in surrender.

"We need to talk about the war that took place two months ago," Libya explained. "Eritrea was recently annexed by New Abyssinia, remember? Romano's found something off about them and he wants to talk to you."

"Alright," America nodded. Noting Romano's look, he motioned to New Mexico. "Hey Manuel, can you do me a favor and grab Romano a cup o' jo?"

"Cup of coffee, Dad," the pre-teen corrected, but moved to the kitchen nonetheless.

"Who's the kid, America?" Romano asked, taking a seat at the dining room table. Alfred and Ahmed followed him.

"New Mexico, one of my sons," America replied, taking a long drink out of his mug, noticing that it had cooled enough to not scald his tongue.

"He's staying here with me to keep an eye on the virus," Libya continued. "Haven't I told you about this already? Maybe I was talking to Veneziano."

"If you were, than my fratello probably forgot about it," Romano sighed. New Mexico returned to the room with a cup of coffee and handed it to him. The Italian nation took it gladly and downed a large gulp, despite the fact that it was scalding hot. "Anyways, you've heard about the war, right? Didn't you say that you sent spies there?"

"They got found out recently and I had to get them home, but I had them there until the first couple battles, yes." America's voice hardened at the thought of New Abyssinia. How could it not?

"Then you most likely know what I mean when I say that this wasn't any normal war."

"Yep. Those men were much too agile and deadly to be human. They overran Eritrea with surprising ease, despite the fact that she had been preparing for years in the case of an occasion like this."

"Well, this war happened much too soon!" Romano exclaimed, slamming a fist on the table. "I'm not ready for something like this!"

"Yes, I know what you mean," America nodded, eyes flickering over to New Mexico as he took a seat. "They mutated the virus. In a way that actually affects other humans. It's the only explanation." He rubbed a hand over his face. "Just… how could they?"

"He's totalitarian," Romano replied, drawing a hand over his face and rubbing it tiredly. "Why wouldn't Ezana want a mutated virus that gives him super soldiers? I mean, wouldn't you want a couple thousand Captain Americas in your army?"

"We developed a vaccine, though," New Mexico spoke up quietly as America muttered 'They're more like Winter Soldiers' under his breath. The state seemed unsettled by the other three's despondent moods. "We developed a vaccine," he repeated, as if doing so would reassure them further. "So we can handle it. Right?"

"Sorry, ragazzo," Romano replied, downing another large gulp of his coffee like it was liquor. "You're mistaken. I've been up for days researching this. Let me tell you both what I found, and why I had to come right away."

America nodded seriously, placing a hand on his chin and leaning forwards. This wasn't time for games.

"Through testing, I found that there is something dangerous about this virus," Romano began. "More so than your standard disease. Most of those who are affected are paralyzed completely within 24 hours of infection, have a chance of brain damage or memory loss, and attain green eyes. However, some people aren't affected, thanks to a very unique mutation in their DNA. When we found out, I took a sample and ran some tests. Then… I realized…" his eyes fell to his hands, now clenched on the table. "This virus is catastrophic. It's like nothing my scientists have ever seen. And even worse… If not treated with the vaccine, it can evolve into something more."

"But we have the vaccine. We should be safe. What's the catch?" America questioned.

"You don't understand, Alfred. You see, we don't think the virus we've been dealing with isn't the virus that gave New Abyssinia's soldiers their superpowers," Libya picked up. He looked the younger nation dead in the eye. "It was only a lead into the actual problem!"

"Then what did New Abyssinia do?" America asked, a sick feeling rising in his stomach.

"The Eurasian Union's stolen vaccine has to have something to do with this," Romano replied, also raising his eyes. He looked unnaturally pale, and suddenly America understood why he looked the way he did. "Well, we think. It's only a theory for now. I'll need hard evidence to confirm it."

"Russia's vaccine?" America echoed, feeling utterly lost. "What's going on?"

Suddenly, Libya's phone rang, and they all jumped. The African's eyes widened in surprise and he picked up the phone. A hurried male voice suddenly picked up, and he had no time to respond as the man on the other end instantly began talking, too quiet for the other three inhabitants of the room to make out any actual words.

"You're not serious," Libya finally spoke, voice airy with shock once the voice stopped. "Saudi, I got America and Italy in the room with me. What's going on? Tell me. Slower, this time."

The voice spoke again, but this time slower and somewhat more controlled. America and Romano shared a look. Saudi Arabia? What did he want to do with an Italian territory?

The voice stopped again, and Libya nodded to himself, pale and even shaking slightly.

"I got it. I'll tell them. America for sure will be able to help you. We'll see what we can do. I'll call you back." He waited for a reply and then hung up, looking at them seriously. "Thirty minutes ago, New Abyssinia declared war on Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, and Djibouti. Basically all of his neighbors at once. Threats of war from the Arab League aren't affecting them at all. Saudi Arabia was asking me to contact you guys for aid, since I'll have a better position, being Italy's territory and therefore part of NATO."

The mood fell even further, if that was even possible. Italy and America shared a look, before the former sighed.

"It was only a matter of time," he murmured, more to himself than to the other nations.. "But if the Eurasian Union's vaccines were stolen for a reason, why does the virus still exist? If New Abyssinia just wanted the vaccine, he would've used it and wiped out the virus, at least in his own lands. And if the virus and Eurasia's vaccine are connected, what is that connection?"

"We're going to have to figure that out on the fly," America responded, standing up as an idea began to take form in his head. "Libya, you said the whole Arab League's been talking to New Abyssinia? Have they had any recent meetings?"

"Y-yes. Just a couple days ago, in fact," Libya stammered. "Emergency ones in Yemen and Egypt."

"Good," America nodded. "We were having a NATO meeting in a week as well, so most of our members should be free. I'll invite anyone else who can come."

"Dad, what are you doing?" New Mexico asked, looking up.

"I'm going to have to leave you here a bit early, alright?" America forced a smile. "I know you'll be able to hold the fort here on your own for a couple days. We're calling an emergency World Meeting."


[1]- A Korean alcoholic beverage

[2]- These states have the fifth and sixth highest Korean populations in the states. I chose them because the two with the most, California and New York, are diversity central and thus have dozens of native cultures competing for attention in them. The third and fourth, Massachusetts and Texas, are currently a bit… busy.

[3]- America in Japanese (Google Translate)

[4]- Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands being below him. He's the youngest accepted state.

[5]- The codename for the project that created the first nuclear bombs in World War 2. The testing took place in New Mexico.

World News (August 8, 2024 to January 2, 2027):

1) TotalCryptLocker ransomware has become the most dangerous computer virus of 2025

2) Antivirus products are now attempting to deal with the new ransomware

3) New Abyssinia's operations have been affected by Ransomware

4) It's been reported that the creator of Ransomware is programming underground in Africa

5) Unified Korea leans toward capitalism

6) New Abyssinia accuses Eritrea for developing the TotalCryptLocker virus

7) New Abyssinia declares war on Eritrea, quickly overrunning and annexing the country in suspiciously quick battles.

8) New Abyssinia has been threatened with war by the Arab League if they continue their conquest of Sudan, South Sudan, and Kenya

9) NATO sends sanctions to New Abyssinia for mutating the virus

10) Rebellions in New Abyssinia are quickly suppressed by troops with inhuman powers

11) New Abyssinia has ignored all threats and has attacked their neighboring nations

12) The Arab League sends one last warning to stop their offenses

13) The Arab League and United Middle East Coalition rush to Yemen and Egypt for emergency defense

14) Italy starts sending troops to defend Libya