[edit] The notes section of this chapter has been adjusted thanks to some help from Wirewolf

Special thanks to Alana-kittychan for the review last chapter! (As well as ilikepie457 the chapter before, but I'm a terrible author and somehow managed to leave it out of my last update! Sorry ^ ^ ; )

Right:Sorry for the lapse of time between updates. Busybusybusy. Left and you readers have every right to smack me upside the head for not only making such long story arcs but taking so long to post them!

The Element: Part Two of Three

The military response to the hundreds of alerts from concerned citizens throughout both the Northern Territory and Western Australia were quick and overwhelming. Entire settlements found themselves quickly evacuated by the ADF as they scrambled both to clear the area and to work on some sort of understanding of what was going on.

Worse yet, the lower ranking soldiers found themselves in an undefined frenzy on the part of the Western Premier who declared that the prime directive was not so much saving the area, what there was left to save, as it was to look for a bloke by the name of Cody Walters who was last seen on a joyous venture into the bush.

It was entering the sixth hour since the explosive and unexplainable phenomenon had taken place and no one knew how much longer they could risk looking for someone who, if the bodies of some discovered carcasses were any indication, was vaporized in the blast.

They barreled through the landscape until, in a cry almost silenced by the sandstorm enveloping the army Jeep, a scout alerted them to a figure moving up ahead.

A tiny frame was ahead of them, a ripped pink cloth covering her mouth as another covered the mouth of a tiny koala latched onto her neck. The rest of the article was wrapped around the head of a dark skinned man she was dragging to the best of her ability.

They rushed to meet her.

"Just once you should have all this done like the night before, completely shock him," York snickered as he signed the document on his lap Alfred F. Jones and ended it with a star. He looked over the signature again and let out a low laugh. "Oh, man. Pops, your signature …"

"Like fine wine has only improved over time?" Alfred said with a broad smile as he put his signature on the pad before him. "And, yeah, I've thought of doing that before, but have never really gotten around to it."

"Well, you have been only doing it for two-hundred and some years now," the soldier responded before flinging his packet into the finished stack which was almost filled to the brim. "Oh, look, only two left."

"You mind getting them?" Al attempted.

"Aw, geeze, would you look at that?" York whined before wiggling his fingers. "I've got a cramp. I can't."

"Oh, fine," the nation muttered before cracking his knuckles and looking down at the papers on his desk. "I don't see what the point of having fifty kids is if I can't abuse my father privileges from time to time." He shook his head and began to sign the document without even reading it. "Sometimes I'd swear you guys are ungrateful."

The boy merely raised his brows to this and then kicked his army issued boots onto the now cleared edge of the desk. He leaned back and smiled to himself with his signature smug grin.

"So who all is going to be at the plantation this weekend?"

"Uh, hopefully no one, I'm not going to be there," Al responded before flinging the paper over to the finished pile. "I'm spending the weekend in D.C."

"Seriously? Why?" York said with a sneer on his face. "You could come up to the Big Apple. I've got some new shows on Broadway."

Al paused and looked over the rim of his glasses. "Tickets?"

"Of course."

He grunted and made a clicking noise before signing the last document. "Can't, I seriously have to be in D.C. this weekend. I've been running around for months, only seen the Boss once and that was actually an accident, we just happened to both be invited to this thing in LA."

"The funeral?" York said with a smirk. "It was a senator, Pops. Why wouldn't you both be invited?"

The nation gave him a testy look before sighing with relief. "Hmm. I have the feeling I should have read at least one line of this first."

"Why?"

"It was highlighted," Al responded before narrowing his eyes and squinting at the document. His mind was in so many other places at the moment that it took all of his concentration to keep his eyes on the highlighted line. It was why he nearly jumped out of his now appropriately warmed chair when the door slammed open.

Standing in the doorway was a younger boy, looking no more than twelve. His long, untamed hair curled around the frame of his face and threatened to block the view of his eyes which were dangerously magnified by his glasses.

"Ottawa?" York questioned with a tip of his head. "Shouldn't you be at Uncle Matt—"

"I'm Jefferson," the statesman responded with a petulant tone. "Cali's twin."

"Oh."

The child ignored his brother and instead rested his eyes on their father who was returning a rather expectant look to the child in the doorway. "Dad—"

"You can tell Penns I finished," Al responded before making a point to gracefully lay the last paper in the finished pile. "He can get his panties out of a wad now. Oh! And also tell him I did it completely on my own, York made sure of that." He ignored York's snorts.

Jefferson did not seem fazed. "It's not that, Dad," he said slowly. "We just received a call from the Secretary of State. They're mobilizing troops and sending aid immediately over to Australia."

Al blinked, his eyes spinning. "What? Excuse me? For what?"

"There was a subatomic reaction in the Outback," Jefferson said a little haughtily, pushing his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. "They said to call you immediately and for you to head to Sydney."

"Sydney?" Al questioned, already up and grabbing his favorite jacket from the coat rack. "I should go with the Secretary to meet up with Cody—"

"We're sending you to Sydney because … Uncle Cody is in the hospital there," Jefferson said slowly. "Uncle Mattie has already taken off, and possibly Uncle Arthur, too."

By the time Jefferson had ended the announcement, Al had taken off down the hall.

Being debriefed on the situation felt almost as traumatizing as having witnessed the event for himself.

Canada shuttered and sank further into the jet's seat. It was not often that he took a personal jet, himself and his government finding that there was absolutely nothing wrong with a nation to ride with the people of his country. He had to get to Australia as soon as possible, however, and was fortunate to catch his Prime Minister on his way out.

"Well, the Americans have already begun deploying soldiers," one of the numerous men in black suits alerted the Prime Minister and, inadvertently, the near invisible nation in the red sweat shirt sitting beside him. "As part of the Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty."

Matthew frowned to himself. He knew that before they ever brought it up in the conversation.

In a strange sense—and by strange, Canada was thinking from the perspective of a human and not his 'kind'—they were a single family, these countries. New Zealand and Australia were blood related, of course, much like Canada and America were, but they were all under the British Empire's rearing at some point.

Canada knew that while his twin had long since been disowned by the family for his Revolution while Australia was found and 'claimed' by their father nation, America had been overly ecstatic when he met Australia in the First World War. Not long afterward, they began growing close ties both in diplomatic and sentimental senses.

Cody was a man of adventure and a love of his natural environments. Alfred enjoyed dangerous excursions and 'those funny things' the little brother said.

As the men left, the Prime Minister returned his gaze to the nation and frowned.

"We may withdraw some support if it turns out that this is, in fact, a nuclear attack," he said gently. "We have always shared good relations with Australia, but if it's a nuclear war we're looking at and the United States becomes involved with all of its nuclear warheads—"

"I know," Matthew responded with a tight frown. "Al is … notorious for thinking with his heart and not his head."

"It puts us in a dangerous position."

"I'll talk to America myself," Canada said as firmly as he could manage, hugging tighter to the bear in his arms. "For all the good it'll do…"

The polar bear looked up curiously. "Who are you?"

Matthew sighed, suddenly feeling even less secure with his plan. "I'm Canada."

Alfred stared at the window with a growl, ignoring as Samuel sat back down across from him with some coffee.

"It's a good thing you finished your paper work," the boy muttered before taking a sip. "Stop glaring at the window, we're about to take off again. Stopping in Los Angeles keeps us from, you know, running out of fuel and wrecking in the middle of the ocean. I hear that's bad for anyone, even a country."

America turned and faced the state. "Why are you coming? Isn't it supposed to be dangerous? Or something?"

"Because I know how you get," Pennsylvania sighed and revealed he was holding a second cup with that beautiful Starbucks label. "Here, it's your favorite. The caramel and chocolate one."

"It's only served around Christmas," Al said as he gently removed it from his son's hands. "But I guess it is December isn't it?"

"We'll be in Australia soon enough," Pennsylvania responded. "York said he'd keep watch of the house in case anyone showed up. But I think he's really inviting some of his army buddies over to trash the place in a drunken rampage."

"That's my boy," Al responded before looking out the window and taking a sip just as they began to take off again.

Impatiently, the old nation tapped his fingers on the armrest of his chair, his eyes narrowing into a scowl as the Australian turned a half-burned face more toward him. England narrowed his eyes at the former colony and commonwealth before glancing around to all of the machines hooked up to him.

"Just like your idiot half-brother," Arthur hissed as he shook his head. "Here I was hoping that just one of you would be daft enough to blow yourself up! What were you hoping to accomplish? Reach the moon?"

Cody smirked and closed his eyes, apparently amused with the concern his former caretaker still had. Arthur, however, was not amused.

"Damn it all, boy! Did you know about it or not?" Arthur almost shouted.

The two locked eyes again and the crooked smile of the injured nation became a definite frown. "Oi, Artie," he whispered, his words coming out like dry leaves swaying in a wind. "I'd never … never do that to … to my people."

Controlling the shaking his body was feeling, Arthur knotted his thick eyebrows and settled back in his chair. It was enough to calm his nerves at least, to feel as though in the very least Cody hadn't known about the nuclear testing that was taking place in the country's less inhabited regions.

Faintly Britain recalled when he had more of a say in what the country did, and how uninterested or even completely against the testing Australia was when the British government furthered its research in the nuclear divisions within the country. Cody loved his lands too much to even fathom hosting such a dangerous weapon.

This, however, brought up another memory, not of Cody but of Alfred, and it made Arthur's knuckles go white.

He remembered the desolated Japanese landscape and he recalled the look of shock in his former colony's face. He remembered the nation saying I had no idea it was this bad with horrific realization but a significant lack of regret. Arthur was infuriated with that, had made it a point at the next allied meeting to encourage the fellow nations to not let their governments keep secrets from them anymore.

When the burned nation turned his head again, as if to keep Arthur from continuing the conversation any further, the older nation bit his thumb and closed his eyes.

He got that strange sensation … like someone else was in the room when he glanced over to the seat next to him and nearly jumped. After the startle, however, he recalled that it was Canada and rubbed his face. He hadn't gotten any sleep on the way to Australia and now he was sure he wouldn't be able to sleep until he heard again from the doctor.

Still, that was no excuse for not being more kind to Canada, who had nearly as long of a journey to get to the southern continent as Britain.

He began to address his older former colony when the doors burst open.

Arthur didn't even have to look to know who it was.

"Cody!" Alfred gasped, out of breath, before rushing over to the side of his half-brother's bed. He was a sweaty mess and looked like he had just rolled out of the bed before jumping on the plane to get here. "Are you alright? Who bombed you? What happened? I'll go talk to my general—"

"No one bombed him, you git!" Arthur snapped at the foolish younger country.

Shaking his head, Alfred paused and then looked over the bed to see Arthur and Matthew. He made a face at them and straightened up.

"Arthur? Mattie? How'd you guys get here so quick?" he asked. "And what do you mean no one bombed him? Everyone's told me the whole way here that it was a nuclear warhead!"

"We got here faster first of all because you no doubt used another one of your gas guzzlers," Britain hissed, leaning forward in his seat as if he could spit out venom toward the old colony like a viper. "Furthermore, you probably were the last to hear about it since you are always behind in the news—even over what caused this. This is almost as bad as when you almost went to war with Russia because you didn't know the difference between the nation of Georgia and your own state."

"Thanks for coming," Cody added to the conversation between quick, labored breaths as he fruitlessly attempted to adjust himself.

"No problem," Al responded casually before glaring at Arthur. "What are you doing here anyway? It kind of sounds like you're just trying to piss everyone off."

"No, as usual that is your job," Arthur muttered with a rub of his forehead. "The explosion was caused by some rather shady company positioned in that desert of his. They had been developing some uranium enrichment program known as the Separation of Isotopes by Laser Excitation—"

"SILEX, I'm familiar," Alfred responded rather matter-of-factly.

"I am shocked," Arthur said with a raise of his brows. "In any case, supposedly they had been increasing their use of uranium over the years for power plant experimentation, at least that is what they told Cody and he, in turn, told us in the 2006 World Conference. As it turns out, that was all rubbish because what they did was transform uranium-232 into a new element known as Willidium.

"They apparently thought it would be a good idea to test the boundaries of the new radioactive element," Arthur growled before pinching the skin between his eyes. "Good God, Cody. What have you done?"

The nation didn't respond, but America did.

Alfred looked to Arthur then to Cody, and then back. A strange, unidentifiable emotion grew on his face. "When can I see it?"

There was barely a moment for anyone to catch their breaths before they could all physically feel the snap of Arthur's patience. He leaped up and bore his angry eyes at the younger country.

"What? You want to bloody see it?" he bellowed. "What the hell is wrong with you!"

"I know the long term effects of nuclear testing!" Alfred reasoned, stepping back slightly from his former caretaker. Arthur fancied this babbling was something akin to the boy digging his own grave. "I know their effects on the country. If this new explosion is any indication, we might need more than regular doctors to look over Cody's wounds—"

"No worries, mates," Cody coughed, his voice sounding so brittle. "I … a'right."

"You bastard," Arthur hissed at Alfred. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"AL I NEED TO TALK TO YOU IN THE HALLWAY IT'S REALLY SUPER IMPORTANT OKAY LET'S GO!"

Arthur could barely blink before the red flash before his eye scooted the American out the door with him. It took a few seconds, and a few rational breaths, before Arthur registered that it had been Canada shouting and subsequently shoving his twin out the door before things could get any worse.

Letting out an irritated growl, Arthur slumped into his chair again and shook his head.

"He mean …. well," Cody offered from the bed.

"Hush," the colonizer breathed before, at long last, allowing his worry to show to his young brother. "You need your rest, you idiot. No need for you to get worked up over that one. If you think about it … this was really just one of our regular family reunions."

That made the Aussie smile and he closed his eyes tiredly at long last.

"Love ya … Pommy," he kidded.

"Aussie," Arthur responded with a relieved sigh.

[Notes]
*ADF refers to the Australian Defense Force, the military organization responsible for the protection of Australia (incorparates Navy, Army, and Air Force).
*"Jefferson" refers to the theoretical state which, since 1941, has been attempting to be recognized as the area of Northern California and South Western Oregon. Its original secession was denied in lieu of the attack on Pearl Harbor and has never come close to being accomplished again. Since then, our OC!Jefferson has been working dutifully in Al's office, building up favors.
*Australia, New Zealand, United States (ANZUS) is the military agreement between the three countries to the defense of the Pacific Ocean area. An interesting note is that ANZUS ties the military of Australia and New Zealand and Australia and the United States separately.
*Australia was claimed for Britain in 1770, before America's Declaration, but for story sake, I'm taking artistic liberty and saying Arthur was a bit busy with warring with his former colony during this time and did not discover the nation-tan until afterward.
*I hate how Starbucks and Bath & Body have certain things that are only served seasonally ...
*Nuclear energy has been a very hot topic in Australia since the 1950s. Though the British government did nuclear testing on the continent, Australia itself currently has no weapons program.
*Separation of Isotopes by Laser Excitation (SILEX) is an Australian-based program focused on nuclear energy. It did explain itself in a United Nations conference in 2006, but that's where the historical accuracy ends. For all intents and purposes, our version of SILEX is a business, not a government operation, receiving federal aid for nuclear testing. Don't confuse it with its real-life counterpart.

Right: One more chapter to this arc and then we're back to the international scene!

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