"Alfred!? ALFRED!!!" Arthur yelled, gripping his friend's body and holding it closer to him. His elbow screamed with pain, but he ignored it. "Get up! You can't be dead…"
"Of course he isn't. Bullets don't kill nations," Wren said. That smirk was practically stuck to his face. "Those were specifically designed to paralyze." He walked toward the pair, the strange liquid still swirling in the glass he was carrying in his unarmed hand.
"You stay away from him," England warned; a determined fire in his green eyes.
"And what will you do about that?" The Black Rose leader scoffed. He quickly shot him once in the stomach. This froze him in place, but he was still conscious and could talk.
"Stop!" Arthur continued to shout as he inched closer to America. "Stop right there!"
Wren paid him no heed and knelt next to Alfred. He put his gun away in the waistband of his pants, and then started to explain how he found out about America's plan. "You see, first, I knew something was fishy when the vehicle didn't return within the time they all usually did. Also, a few other nations were missing. Besides, our GPS told us that exactly where the van went. After checking the hotel records, we found out that the missing countries just regrouped with Alfred and met at a hamburger restaurant before coming here, as well. It was so easy to find out." He looked up thoughtfully. "Just now, I shot Japan and the guards have him right now. The others, well, I just tricked them into going into one room and they're all stuck in one huge cage now. I have a bunch of guards watching them, but they all seem to be afraid of this one fellow with a pipe. Well, it's no big deal. It should hold them all."
England couldn't blame them for making those sorts of mistakes; after all, he probably would have made the same ones if he had been with them.
Wren bent down and parted Alfred's lips slightly. With precision and care, the man tilted his cup over, and the liquid inside of it was poured steadily down into America's throat.
"Is that a drug?" Arthur asked, as Wren pushed the unconscious country's head up so he would be sure that it all went down.
"You could call it that, yes," he replied. "This will force him to do my bidding."
Arthur glared at him. "He'll never do your bidding, no matter what you give him."
"Oh, if you say so, Arthur," Wren said mockingly. "I'm sure you're right, like always."
England could almost feel his blood boiling. "You twat. You think you know everything, but you're not going to get away with this."
Wren wasn't paying attention to him. He started to monologue yet again, but this time it was about his evil plan. "My plan is to have America use his nukes and bomb major cities. He'll be my little pet as I rule the world and then I'll dispose of him once I'm finished with him. I'll start a revolution of the whole world! Then, all the countries will be weakened enough to be killed off, execution-style." He watched for a change in Alfred's eyes and then smiled. Putting a finger to his lips, he murmured something into America's ear. Just as he finished, the nation snapped back to an upright sitting position.
Suddenly, Alfred wrapped his arms around Wren and laid his head against his chest. Arthur could see his face and it was without emotion; furthermore his eyes were still glassy. It was as though he was a moving corpse.
"Oh, Alfred. You're so cute." The leader smiled cheerfully. "You love me, don't you?"
"Yeah." His voice was hollow and meaningless.
"This man, you know; the one in the chains? He's so horrible to me. I had to lock him up because he tried to kill me! Won't you punish him?"
Alfred's eyebrows furrowed in anger at Arthur. "You hurt Wren?" he asked, letting go of the conniving man and advancing upon his former friend. "You'll pay for that."
"America, stop it!" You're under a drug. You remember me, don't you!? I'm England!" the shorter country shrieked at him as he came nearer and nearer with murderous intent in his eyes.
"England?" Alfred looked confused for a moment when he heard the nation's name. He stopped walking.
"Does the Revolutionary War ring any bells?" Arthur said anything that came to mind. "Let's see, you've hated tea since the Boston Tea Party. You love coffee and hamburgers and fast food. You wanted to call me big brother since I found you and you chose me over the frog, France." His face softened at all the memories, even the bad ones. "But I told you to call me England, instead. Then, you gave me a ridiculous nickname –"
"I…Iggy?" America spluttered, his voice almost back to normal and some light returning to his eyes. "Iggy, I'm so sorry! Please help me –"
"Both of you just shut up!" Wren shouted, pulling out his gun and shooting both of them. Alfred fell unconscious again because of his previous injuries, but Arthur gritted his teeth as pain raced through his body once more.
The Black Rose leader then pulled out a sort of communication device and called the guards in to move Alfred to his room. England wanted to laugh at him because he knew that he was too weak to move him himself. And he was just such a stereotypical American villain; it was as though he had walked out of one of Alfred's silly comic books.
"I'll get you, Arthur," Wren swore after the guards carried America away. He followed them and the door shut behind him once more.
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A/N: I'm really sorry it took this long to update...x_X I actually got writer's block along the way. This chapter is pretty short and crappy, so I'm sorry about that, too. I'll try to update more often, as long as the writer's block isn't too severe. And thanks to all of you for the college information. ^_^ It was really helpful!
