Once he had found one of the hidden cameras, finding the remaining ones had been a piece of cake.

It took him about 1 day and a half to spot one, then America noted the emplacement and explored around until he found another one.

Sometimes, it wasn't a good idea to put so many monitoring devices, since you would put too many of them near your secret lab, exposing its exact location.

If the nation had let him show himself on one of them to challenge his opponents (and totally not because he didn't see it, yeah!), he didn't reproduce the mistake afterward, using all his skills to avoid being seen.

His enemies were to not have enough time to prepare for his arrival!

Soon, he had arrived next to a building that looked like a big welcoming cottage, nothing like what he had imagined.

He would even think he had mistaken it if he didn't see the sign of the Nature defender's association Travasco was known to collaborate with.

It looked like some small headquarters for their reunions, maybe.

Cleverly, there wasn't any security around the entrance. Why cleverly? Because putting some militaries or security agents in front of sight, in the middle of nowhere, would be hella suspicious for anyone travelling there.

This facade was just looking like an information center on the surface, not attracting attention.

However, that didn't mean there wasn't anyone guarding it, and America stopped himself when he spotted some uniforms hidden in the vegetation.

...Which was perfect for what he wanted to do!

Tiptoeing one of these gentlemen, he quickly put him out cold and started to dress like one of them, hiding the body around. With this, he had an access pass to, he hoped, at least some of the restricted area of the cottage!

He then sneaked toward the entrance, and entered.

The inside was quite cosy, a side with a sofa, another with a wooden table and chairs. He even spotted the essential coffee machine on one counter.

Talking about the counter, there was one looking like it was made for tourists : Leaflets about the associations and their activities, even advertisements to join voluntarily the cause!

He rang a bell on the counter, and waited, making sure he was hiding his face with the cap he had stolen from cameras.

It took quite a time before a young elegant woman with honey and long hair appeared, wearing what looked like the association uniform.

"Hello! Is it for a coffee?"

This question made him laugh internally. She was used to seeing them enter from time to time to get coffee!

But he couldn't laugh out loud, it still was important.

"Hi Miss! That would be really sweet and welcomed! But actually I've business to do with my boss inside, I need you to allow me to enter."

At this, the woman frowned.

"Ah but...I thought you were to not leave your position nor use the front door...and I don't seem to have seen you before. You are on the files right?"

For any undercover agents, it would have been a tricky one. But we weren't talking about any humans there…

America smiled a bit, still pretty casual, and put his arm on the counter to approach his face from the 'receptionist'.

"Hey! Are you sure about that? Have you never seen me before? You can check if you want!"

This seemed to make the woman hesitate, as she was mesmerized by his cerulean eyes.

It was one of the numerous tricks Nation had on their people : one of them was they always looked familiar to them, even if they had never met physically before. He could even at some extent pretend to be someone. The second trick gave this feeling of comfort and trust. Of course, not everyone would fall for it, but to be able to resist a little, you needed to 'know' who you were facing. And that wasn't the case of this proud lady!

"Oh, that's right! Now that I think about it, I think I've seen you around before. I'm sorry Sir, there's a lot of you and I can't memorize everyone!"

"No problem Miss, I'm relatively new and I know newbies aren't as apparent as my superiors….but this task I was charged with is quite important and I want to prove myself worthy!"

The lady beamed, and opened the counter to let him pass.

"Alright, I will not hold you up for too long if it's that important! Go ahead before you're being scolded sir!"

The blond man thanked her and made himself through. Now, was the unknown of "where to go" exactly. He couldn't ask her too many questions or it would conflict with what he told her before, about him working here. So he searched on his own, locating at the same time the other entrance she had talked about before, which was hidden in the woods it seemed. It could be of use later.

There weren't many employees on this floor, but soon, he spotted one elevator with men in uniform guarding it.

Used to the military etiquette, he positioned himself and saluted his comrade.

"Hi Sir, I need to go inside, I've some matters to talk with our boss."

Both looked at each other, before asking America to decline his grade and identity, which he did with the name of the private he had stolen the uniform from. When showing his badge of course, the photo wasn't corresponding, but the men couldn't spot the discordance, and let him enter, not without the conflicted feelings that there was something strange but they couldn't pinpoint what.

"Alright, I think Major General Brodman is somewhere in the 3rd floor, looking at the reserve. Not like we can access any other part of the building with our accreditation."

Interesting, though America. There were at least three floors under him! So much for a small facility supposed to study animals, right?

He thanked his mates, and took the elevator, trying every button to see how far his accreditation went, but it seemed he could only go to the 3rd floor, among a total of 4.

That's where he tried first his exploration, meeting with both soldiers and manufacturing employees. There was quite the activity down there. The 3rd floor was indeed a reserve for material, food stocks, and also scientific and medical tools.

He also discovered there was a hidden road on this floor, leading to the outside it seemed, but wasn't a good escape as the tunnel was quite long and it would take an entire day at feet to reach its end. Contrary to all senses, the trunks weren't emptied but charged with everything people could, in a cooperated way. It was almost...if they wanted to empty the place.

"Shit… I shouldn't have shown myself at all…" whispered Alfred to himself, realising his mistake. They were trying to change location with whatever they were hiding there.

This Travasco guy was kinda a rat, didn't he? They didn't seem to think he would be coming undercover and alone though, and he wanted to keep that advantage for now.

Of course, he avoided meeting Brodman in person, just helping out at some point to lift some materials to look like he was doing something (Like an impostor, niark niark!).

This place wasn't interesting enough for his investigation, he needed to go to the 4rth floor or the 2nd floor.

There was the option to break one elevator and climb up, but well….he wanted to not be spotted that easily you see?

He found his treasure after carefully looking around : a closed safety door. In all logic, it was going upstairs and used if the elevator were unusable.

Fair enough! He would take that!

Do not forget that he had super strength, and he easily broke the entrance while nobody was looking.

And in no time, he was on the second floor.

That's when things got spoiled. After walking around in what seemed like an abandoned aisle, he heard some announcements from the microphones. It was talking in codes, but something told him it was talking about him!

And indeed, he heard voices talking about an intruder and rushed steps from everywhere, just before an alarm was triggered.

He almost entered in collision with a man in white coat pushing a trolley at great speed, that excused himself and then passed his way towards what he thought were the elevators.

He tried his best to avoid people by sensing their presence, another nation attribute that was useful but it was energy consuming with so many people around, andt it wasn't working well as half of them weren't of american nationality.

These bastards had thought about it, it seemed, or maybe it was just a coincidence?

He eventually started running as he heard people calling for him at one corner, pushing with his strength all obstacles in his way.

Shit shit! It wasn't in the plan to be caught!

Using his extrasensorial powers to sense his people around, he tried many corridors here and there, sometimes backing away to escape.

He needed to find stairs quickly and...waaa!

The blond man had nearly collided with a man at the corner. But this time, he didn't push him away with an half-assed "sorry".

Because that man was…

"Italy! What are you doing here dude?! Did ya follow me?!"

Because of the eventful situation he was in, the super-powered nation didn't notice right away something odd about Italy, even when this one immobilized himself and looked at him like he had tatooed the english or french flag on his forehead.

He was about to ask him what was wrong with his face when the brunette started to talk :

"Sir...Mister….America! We...We need to run! To the outside!"

And without losing more time, the young man had taken his wrist and they started to run.

In their escape, Alfred finally found why Italy seemed off : First, he was wearing white clothes and a dark collar with a barcode. Second, he was much more formal, and didn't "Ve" like his friend used to. Finally...his eyes were opened, quite wide! And his traits looked nervous, tired and scared. Well, Italy could look scared quite a lot, but this much…

That's how he concluded that it wasn't Italy with him, but anyway, he sensed that somehow, that man was as much eager to flee this place than him.

Seeing the guy tiring, Alfred changed position to take the lead.

"Hey dude! You know where's the exit by any chance?"

Between 2 breaths, his travel partner succeeded to tell "No..uff...uff...But….there..might...be...a ...Elevator...somewhere?".

Great! He didn't know more than him.

Fortunately, America was an observer and he would start to follow the indications showing the way to the emergency exits.

The method paid when they finally arrived before the closed door. Closed not for long as he pulled it so strongly that he extracted the door from its hinges and threw it on the side.

The simili-Italy's face was priceless as he did, drawing a smile on his face, and he couldn't help the tentation to brag about it.

"Haha! See? I'm the super-hero here! Don't worry bro, they can't do anything against me!"

'So why are you fleeing' was probably the reflexion of the stranger, but he still looked impressed and his face had lit up with the hope he was giving to him.

Their arrival on the first floor had been short, especially because the exit door was just next to the previous one.

It was a shame for the nation that wanted to explore the place and discover what their researches were, and he promised himself he would return….might be with his loyal armed forces or government police, hoping it wouldn't be too late and Travasco wouldn't have escaped.

At this point, his partner was so exhausted that he had decided to carry him on his right shoulder. It could have been dangerous if their enemies were firing at them, but it wasn't the case at all! They were trying to paralyse them with some tazer or anesthesic dots, from what he had seen. Maybe another sign showing they knew what they were facing….

Thanks to his speed and the narrow stairs, they succeeded in putting some distance with their chasers, and Italy bis was put back to his feet.

They continue racing, America knocking out the fewer men of the ground floor, before taking the secret entrance he had seen just before.

Outside, finally! America prepared to have to fight a bunch of other mercenaries or ex-veterans, but no one showed up as they ran further.

And he discovered a few minutes later why, as a familiar voice rang in his ears, near a fir tree.

"So, I see you're having quite fun on your vacation Alfred, but I wonder why you didn't invite me comrade?"

Higher before him, Russia was standing, a mischievous smile on his face, and at his feet, a bunch of bodies he had put all effort to beat up to the pulp.

"Inviting you uh! Sorry, Have to say I don't like sneaky people spying on me during my vacation so...there was no chance. Besides, it seems you can invite yourself quite well so why should I?" retorted the american with a challenging tone, making Russia's smile wider and his face turning terrifyingly purple.

"Arrr..Please Aru! Could you behave at some point?" said China, appearing next to Russia alongside half of the other nations in a tentative to stop them from being dumb.

"Well, I'm half agreeing with Ivan on this. What are all these soldiers doing here and what were you plotting today? We need an explanation, America." replied Arthur with frowning eyebrows. As much as his fellow colony's business didn't concern him at all, it was quite deloyal to bring them on vacation and lie to their face. And that went also for Germany that wasn't amused by the situation.

"Ah...ok guys, you've got me! I will explain...or try. But I'm not sure I can explain everything…Uh, are you okay buddy?"

And at this, he looked at the brunette he brought with him, hiding behind him. The man seemed very unwell and it wasn't only because he was exhausted.

The amber eyes were looking at the hivernal country like if he had seen a ghost.

"Wait a minute...Why is there a second Italy-san!" exclaimed Japan, his jaw dropping as he realised the striking resemblance.

Immediately, all stares went to 'I', who felt himself cornered and made a step back, hugging his arms and making himself as tiny as possible in an attempt to hide from the attention.

It felt like time had stopped for him, until his gaze went to Italy. When the original and the clone made eye contact for the first time, something seemed to break in 'I'.

Suddenly, he felt a pang in his head, the worst pain he had ever felt in his life. It was like his brain was exploding inside his cranium.

Hands on his head, the boy fell on his knees.

That's when he saw the red dots, the blood net coming from his nose that he touched with one hand, before feeling his belly hurt as well. In fact at some point, pain was everywhere, and the poor boy was being reduced to a wrecked ball on the floor. Tears mixed with blood fell from his eyes, unable to try asking for help, words stuck in his throat.

Mere seconds afterward, he passed out and his mind was engulfed in shadows.