January 30, 2027; 23:30

New Abyssinian Wilderness

"They're gone, sir."

New Abyssinia nodded, watching the red blobs of the American and Italian soldiers race off into the jungle. He shifted in his seat a bit, taking his feet off of the table, as Metoaleqa[1] Selassie commanded one of his soldiers to go and fetch the guard who'd been knocked out by the incoming force. One of the researchers, the one who was piloting the long-distance drone that had been tracking the Allied forces while they were in Abyssinian borders through infrared, glanced over to him, subtly asking if she should continue. Abyssinia nodded, then turned to fully face Metoaleqa Selassie.

"We speak nothing of what happened here today," he announced firmly. "Weyzerit[2] Bekele is not to be punished for her actions; she was never in the testing room. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" Metoaleqa Selassie saluted sharply, though Abyssinia could feel the confusion brewing inside the officer and the researcher. It was almost unnerving. Abyssinia was so used to people not questioning him, either because they knew who he was or were subject to the mutations that had become so common in his country. Here, though, he was only a high-ranking Balambaras[3] from the capital. Influential and powerful? Very. But perhaps not feared.

Not yet.

"Bring in my assistant," he told the Metoaleqa. "And make sure we are alone."

"Sir, yes, sir!" The man marched out of the room, the researcher following and leaving him alone with the computers. New Abyssinia idly watched as blob-America and his team crossed the outer boundaries of the base for a minute or so until the door opened.

"You were right as always, Alemayehu," Ezana commented, turning to see the boy walk inside. He was 17 now, quickly approaching manhood, and wore an officer's uniform. He bowed slightly at the elder nation. "I really didn't think that America would take the bait."

"I'm glad I was able to be of assistance," Alemayehu murmured, eyes flickering to the infrared sensor. "Did Layla really help them?"

"Yes," Abyssinia said. "Good for her, too. She made the right choice with the information she was given. I think I like her."

"Will she be punished?"

"No. She'll probably leave and join the rebels at some point, and I'm sure my dear younger siblings will find some use for her there. For now, I'll just keep her from causing any more harm."

Alemayehu let out a breath, shoulders relaxing slightly. Ezana shook his head; he was too attached to his cousin for his own good. Honestly, Ezana really just ought to have the girl executed.

But he saw something in her. He wasn't really sure why, but he saw Lebina in her compassion, Rihana in her ingenuity, and Merille in her willingness to do what she thought was right. And perhaps because of that, he had gotten a little too attached to her as well, without ever meeting her face-to-face.

The fact startled him. Damn. He was too attached to her. Ezana made a mental note to run her out of the country in a year or two, before he started second-guessing his actions. He did not need to be reminded of his familial connections right now.

"And so Phase III begins," he announced heavily, sitting up with a grunt. "Have you seen anything?"

"Nothing that I have not already informed you of."

"Then we continue on as planned. We'll aim for the oilfields in Dammam next, and try to put some pressure on Saudi Arabia. Once they're distracted, a surprise attack on Benghazi will allow us to take the city and the American researchers stationed there. If you see anything that objects to this, inform me immediately."

"Yes, New Abyssinia."

"Ezana, Alemayehu. We know each other too well for such formalities."

"You are my country, sir. It's my duty to be formal." But there was a teasing spark in his eyes that let Abyssinia smile. "We must put humanity on the right path before our destinies are set in stone," he said, reciting the saying that had become so familiar to his lips. "The dice will start to roll."

"And we'll just have to hope they fall in our favor," Abyssinia finished the saying with a sigh.

He hated leaving things to chance.


February 10, 2027

Rome, Italy

"Alright. Let's get to analyzing these samples. What has your team found so far?"

Lovino blinked as Alfred's words carried across the room, then realized that they were directed on him. He shook his head as if to try and clear away the fog surrounding it, and nodded. Ever since the mission into New Abyssinia, he'd gotten perhaps twelve hours of sleep over the last two weeks, and was running purely on an unholy mixture of coffee, Red Bull, and adrenaline. Their research had progressed in leaps and bounds since the mission, but Lovino knew he was nearing his limits.

Then again, Alfred looked only slightly better off than he was. He'd been on the phone with his states for days (usually at odd hours in the night, too. Thank you, time zones), continuing to upgrade the Spider Gear.

"Lovino?"

"I'm doing it!" Lovino snapped, shaking himself again and willing himself to focus. He'd been sitting a microscope, looking over a sample of the mutated Vipeaira (deceased and unable to replicate, of course), and pushed his wheelie chair across the room and towards the computers on the other side. Feliciano was already there, in the midst of a complex coding spree and about to nod off, while a video feed on another computer hosted that New Mexico kid, who had opted to stay in Benghazi and study the live patients in the city.

Alfred folded his arms and leaned tiredly against the wall, yawning. Lovino resisted the will to do the same, and booted up and unlocked his computer to debrief his ally. Feliciano stopped what he was doing—some kind of complex coding was running across his screen—to watch.

"This will take more time than you're giving us so far, Burger Boy," he scowled as he pulled up his and his scientists' research. "We've shortened the time it'd take to understand the virus, sure, but we're still working on it."

"We've made some progress, though," New Mexico spoke up. "At least, I have on my end. I assume you've been getting my emails, Romano."

"You mean the ones badgering me every two hours?" He muttered discreetly under his breath before raising his voice. "Yes, I've gotten them."

"What do you have so far?" Feliciano asked innocently, slightly more aware with the start of their conversation. Lovino resisted the urge to glare at him. "Is it pasta?"

He hasn't done anything, you're sleep-deprived. He hasn't done anything, you're sleep-deprived. He repeated this mantra in his head several times to try and reign in his irrational anger.

"Let's start with Mex first," Alfred put in, thankfully saving him from needing to immediately respond. "Any progress on the original virus?"

"We made a breakthrough during the time you were out in Diego Garcia," New Mexico replied. What was his human name again? Lovino couldn't remember and he didn't put in the effort to care. "We've uncovered more information. Dirty water and expired vaccines are suspected to be the cause of Vipeaira. Unlike most viruses, however, their are... sensory side effects, like kind of like a drug. It's like being high. Dopamine gets released in the brain, decision making is heavily affected, and so on. You get addicted to it, you don't want treatment, and by the time the physical symptoms start manifesting you fight anyone who tries to touch you. And in some field observations, just a few in villages near the front lines, if left untouched for a long period of time, it can evolve into this new mutated virus, the one that causes the super soldiers. We're calling it the Vira Estheman Virus, or VEV."

Lovino nodded to himself, remembering what he'd been told in the state's emails. He had to admit, the kid was good at what he did and with the resources he had. Scary good.

"That makes sense. Mostly," he replied. The two (three, if you counted New Mexico turning on the screen) men turned to him. "What we've discovered runs mostly parallel with that. Eurasia's vaccine, you see—" he pushed away from the computer and back towards his desk and microscope. Bending down, he opened the mini freezer under his desk to pull out a test tube. He pushed himself back to his computer and tossed it to Alfred, who caught it with a slight fumble. "Was made way too quickly." He chuckled airily. "Always knew the communist bastard was good for nothing."

"What about the mutated virus? VEV or whatever. What do you have on that?"

"Then buckle in," Lovino waved a hand at him. "This part is a bit complicated. Certain people, you see, with a very unique strain of DNA, can withstand the major effects of the Vipeaira Virus. However, that isn't anything new. We've seen people withstand diseases in this way before, like with the Black Death. The real trick is in Eurasia's vaccine."

Alfred eyed the clear bottle of liquid, holding it up to the light. "But you just said that his vaccine was made far too quickly. What use does it have?"

"Everything. When combined in the right conditions with the original Vipeaira virus, it mimics the unique strain of DNA, prompting the virus to mutate into VEV. It first happened naturally with those who had the unique DNA, but then New Abyssinia heard about it."

Everyone froze. Even Feliciano, who had only been barely grasping at the basics of the conversation, seemed to understand what he had just implied.

"At first, the mutation only occurred in those who haven't yet started showing symptoms of the original Vipeaira. In cases like that, the virus is just sitting around in the bloodstream, just waiting for its chance to attack and replicate. As you probably know firsthand by now, the side effects of this mutation are super strength and speed; the same stunts you'll see being pulled by Abyssinia's super soldiers."

"So it wasn't Ukraine or Iran who stole Eurasia's vaccine," Alfred realized. Peh. Took you long enough. "Our suspicions were right. It was New Abyssinia."

"Mm-hm," Lovino hummed. "Don't know how yet—get your government on that, by the way—but New Abyssinia figured out that he could bypass the side effects of the Vipeaira virus and get straight to VEV by injecting Eurasia's vaccine first, before you even touch Vipearia, because even if you didn't have the unique strain of DNA, the vaccine and virus will combine and mutate into VEV before Vipeaira does any damage. The affected patients, if what our observations report is true, can become mindless and addicted to the virus. For those affected with Vipeaira, the proper vaccine exists, but for VEV…"

"We have nothing…" Alfred caught on, horror seeping onto his features. "New Abyssinia knows he could take over the world with these soldiers. That's why he's been acting so confidently."

"And New Abyssinia will continue to inject more and more men with Eurasia's vaccine, and then with Vipeaira," New Mexico spoke up, sounding frightened. "A foolproof way to build an invincible, completely loyal army. How are we going to beat them? The Arab League and NATO are at their limits just trying to slow him down."

"That's the problem right now," Lovino sighed. "But if we can figure out how to separate VEV from the bloodstream and remove it, then we will hold a chance at winning this war."

Alfred sighed. "I'll get NATO's best on it. We don't have much time…"

"Also…" Everyone's attention returned to Lovino, who ignored them to study the research documents on his computer. "There's a missing piece here. I think New Abyssinia took some parts of the virus out of these samples, or maybe there's a third disease we don't know about. There's nothing here to even hint at how well the soldiers obey a higher command."

"We'll have to think of something," Alfred replied.

"Don't worry!" Feliciano tried to cheer them up. "We'll have to win eventually!"

"I hope so, fratello," Lovino sighed. "I hope so."


A/N: Beware of filler… I had no idea of how to otherwise paint the Allies' situation. I'm sorry.

March 16, 2029, 14:00

London, England

New Abyssinia—Safe: Addis Ababa; Mogadishu; Asmara In Danger: None Fallen: None

Front Lines: Cairo, Egypt; Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia; Tripoli, Italian Libya; Rabat, Morocco

Allied—Safe: New York, USA; London, England; Berlin, Germany; Rome, Italy; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia In Danger: Benghazi, American Libya; Alexandria, Egypt; Tunis, Tunisia; Algiers, Algeria; Dammam, Saudi Arabia Fallen: Kenya; Sudan; South Sudan; Djibouti; Oman; Yemen; Marrakesh, Morocco; Tobruk, American Libya; Beni Suef, Egypt

"Well, we've been at a stalemate against New Abyssinia for over two years now. We need to think of a better way to fix that," Germany spoke, addressing the 'Allied' Powers. Gathered around the table were the countries not yet taken over by New Abyssinia. Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt had all made it to his crucial war meeting, but were covered in bandages from having more than two thirds of their countries overrun. Saudi Arabia, sitting nearby, was also injured.

Then, of course, there were the Allied Powers. NATO had made sure that the majority of the nations were present, including America, England, France, and the Italy brothers. Despite the meeting having only started fifteen minutes ago, Veneziano was already fast asleep. No one moved to wake him, though. He'd been pushed far beyond his limits to try and hack into New Abyssinia, so they let it slide this one time. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Estonia's eyes hadn't left his laptop since he'd sat down, and every so often Nigeria, sitting next to him, would lean over and mutter something, in which Estonia would either nod in agreement or shake his head to. Venezuela sat couple seats down from America, looking slightly uncomfortable, being the only Latina in the room.

"We're holding them off, but in the long run, we're going to lose," England sighed from his spot to Germany's right. "My mini barrier project has been helping us, but it won't last forever before New Abyssinia figures out a way around it."

Germany nodded, remembering Arthur's life-saving invention he'd brought to the war effort a little less than a year ago. It was a small, energy-powered shield, and had enabled their soldiers to withstand the blows from the New Abyssinian soldiers, and with Eurasia joining the war effort just a short time later, the New Abyssinian advance had slowed to a crawl in the deserts of the Sahara.

"Our people can't hold much longer, either," Algeria spoke up. "Your humanitarian aid had been helping, but the bombing raids are starting to really affect us."

"Alright," Germany sighed. "Let's hear everyone's reports. Saudi Arabia, you can start."

"Thank you," the Arabian nation nodded, and stood up. "I've lost most of my access to the Red Sea. Eurasia, your troops have allowed me to keep control of Mecca and Medina, and for that I'm grateful, but we're not going to be able to keep a hold of them for long. Already New Abyssinian troops have camped outside of Medina. Losing either city will be a great loss of morale, and is something I refuse to let happen as long as I have a single unbroken bone in my body."

"I've lost everything," Egypt sighed, hissing in pain as he spoke. "Except for the Nile Delta and the Suez Canal. Again, I won't be able to keep in control of it for much longer unless I receive more support. My people are on the edge of revolt, and only the threat of New Abyssinia keeps them from doing so."

"Libya is nearly lost," Romano spoke up. "America and I are evacuating Benghazi as we speak, and expect to lose Tripoli within the next 72 hours."

Germany scowled to himself. Tripoli had been a crucial port city during the war effort. Losing it would be a major blow. They had already lost some of their oil reservoirs in southeast Saudi Arabia and Libya, and more near Dammam were under siege. More resources for Abyssinia, less for them.

"And we've been experiencing bombing runs over Naples," the Italian continued. "But the planes get closer to Rome every day, despite our own airforce fighting some of them off. Veneziano and I are considering having to evacuate the Vatican; New Abyssinia will hold nothing back for the sake of religion."

"I have…" Greece yawned in the middle of his sentence. "Also been experiencing bombing runs over Athens."

"As have I," Spain spoke up. "In Murcia."

"And I in Lisbon," Portugal added. "My guess is that he is bombing our important cities, just to remind us of how close he is to us. To remind us he's there and waiting."

Germany ran a hand through his hair, feeling himself begin to sweat worriedly. This war had done nothing to ease his stress levels, especially after the failed Libyan campaign.

"America, Britain, Venezuela," he announced. "Let's take a leaf out of New Abyssinia's book and put your pilots in the sky. Begin bombing runs over mainland Ethiopia. We need to show New Abyssinia we aren't giving up. Try and target Mogadishu and Asmara, and move more inland when possible."

"If you say so," Venezuela spoke up. "But with the pilots and defense soldiers on the other side having such a high reaction time, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do. My airforce may be good, but it's still less than a decade old."

"They are only human, after all," England added. "But America and I have experience on our side. We'll do our best."

"Yeah we will! The hero will come to save the day!" America cheered, fistpumping. That earned some disgruntled murmurs from the crowd, but it was nowhere near the level it would have been in a usual World Meeting. Germany was honestly just awed that America could still find the energy for such frivolous actions..

"Eurasia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, and Jordan, try to coordinate an offensive past Medina. Make sure the city doesn't fall into enemy hands," Germany turned to the Middle Eastern nations.

"I will make New Abyssinia cry for his mother, da?" Russia chuckled wickedly, and Poland and Latvia, sitting next to him, scooted away.

Germany nodded.

"Now, onto the specifics. Egypt, we need to keep control of the Nile Delta. Here's what we're going to do…"


[1]- An Ethiopian rank of command in the army, roughly equal to the rank of lieutenant. Often they are the leader of a platoon.

[2]- Title for an unmarried woman, equivalent to 'miss'

[3]- Commanders of the guards, artillery or cavalry of a traditional Ethiopian armed force, a man entrusted with important military commands.

World News (January 31, 2027 to March 16, 2029):

1) UK's new mini barrier shield technology is able to withstand the inhuman punches of New Abyssinian troops

2) Eurasian Union joins the war as they consider New Abyssinia a threat to the Russian Federation

3) New Abyssinia has nearly conquered Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, and Mauritania.

4) Italian Libya is falling

5) The antiviral program is abolished in Libya

6) Italy moves its base of operations to American Libya

7) The entire world starts discussing whether or not to intervene