Not Over Yet

Part 2

It was strange to say the least. In light of Russia's practical admittance of being the one that locked them in the meeting room, panic had once again seized the globe, only to be pacified very soon after. It seems that a good soul had thought it unusual that the world meeting was running over time, as it usually dismissed pretty early, and had gone up to check on the countries. There the man saw something rather odd: a metal pipe lodged against the door. Even this mortal man could tell that this was no normal pipe and quickly set about freeing the nations. Once they had all grasped what had happened, Arthur could only glare at the cylindrical thing. He was well skilled in dark arts and even he could not pinpoint what exactly was wrong with the object, but he had always suspected Russia's pipe to have been a gift from the devil himself. It gave off the same murderous aura as the Russian. Of course, that made it all the stranger that he had been willing to abandon it for this mission—lest he thought he could just retrieve it whenever he liked. The thought kept him from taking the pipe home with him as originally planned. Apparently he was not going to find out its secrets just yet, Russia's either. But what about Alfred? He was not home, that is what.

One would think that after such a traumatic event they would have all forgotten about the American, but instead it increased their vigor for the search, which ended almost as soon as it began. He was not home. Not Alfred or Jackson were within either their known Virginian or D.C. residence, and just because Arthur was well beyond paranoid at this point, he called their boss. The two were at work and accounted for, apparently developing a new proposal to present before congress. As far as the globe was concerned, they were exonerated, and as much as it did not sit well with Arthur, he had no proof otherwise. Admittedly, he was glad the two had nothing to do with it, though. After all they had been through lately if the duo had been holding another secret he would be seriously reconsidering if they did truly trust him or not. That still left Arthur's quarrelling instincts. They tended to be pretty accurate, so maybe the American two were involved, but as future victims of the Russian's schemes. That seemed pretty plausible. Anything did with Russia at this point, but that still left the question of why he had locked them in the meeting place. Russia had just been outside the building and he had even left his pipe, which Arthur still thought meant it was quite an important task. It made no sense, all of it, and he did not have any more leads to follow. They had pretty much ended with Alfred. Sure, any one of the globe could have technically called Russia's boss and asked, but no one was that personable with the man, unlike the relationship Arthur tried to keep with Alfred's bosses, and he was rather notorious for keeping secrets himself. No one even brought up the possibility, and the search ran cold. The meeting was well over.

The nations naturally dispersed, even if a few did so reluctantly. One of said few was Arthur, who could not make himself hail a cab as he lingered on the streets of D.C. Both Matthew and Francis had recognized this immediately and had originally wanted to accompany him, but he managed to persuade them to go home, though how he did not even know. Everyone was more than a little shaken up after all, and most still doubted Alfred more than a little. Maybe this was all some weird thing that had to do with the Cold War? Was it starting up again!? Arthur supposed that it was possible that they were starting up a rivalry again. The prospect unnerved him beyond belief. Russia lost the first time, so he was bound to be coming back with a vengeance, and Alfred… Well, Arthur could honestly say he never wanted to see him like that again. He had done amazing things during this time in history, but he had been utterly consumed by it all. He acted as if he had a mental illness, and Arthur supposed it was called McCarthyism. He could only wonder what Jackson had been like during this period, and he was not so sure he wanted to find out. The whole mess then had sort of been his fault, too. They were dueling to control the power gap he had left behind when he fell as an empire. No one was left unaffected by it. The resurgence would now tear the whole globe apart as the lord of the east and the lord of the west warred against each other once more.

He suddenly felt the need to check up on Alfred once more. Maybe he could help him retain his sanity this round, but to do that he first had to make sure the American knew he was there for him, and Jackson, too, of course. That warranted another visit, it was of global importance after all. Even if Alfred was not home at the moment, he could just let himself in and wait. Alfred did it enough himself that he could not really complain. It was a perfect plan, or had been. When the entire globe had stormed Alfred's Virginian residence Arthur had been careful about revealing the location of the spare key, some of the nations were weirdoes, and had not had a chance to try it in the process. Still, he had never expected that Alfred would actually move the spare key. The thought crossed his mind that it had probably been Jackson just after he was discovered, since Arthur had not had to use that key where the two had been home, he would have never known. It seemed like something the cautious, and somewhat vindictive persona of Southern America would do. No one could ever say he did not learn from his mistakes. Well, what was Arthur supposed to do now? As tempting as it was to harass the two at their place of work, maybe it was time he go to the airport. His flight was later that evening, but he still did not have all day to dedicate to this—not without some results at least.

"One bomb pop, a cookie sandwich, caramel sundae, and a chocolate cone."

Results located.

"R-Russia!?"

Arthur could not believe what he was looking at. What was Russia doing here—ordering ice cream?! It took a moment for Arthur to realize where exactly here was. Apparently he had wandered into a D.C. park while he had been concentrated on his inner ramblings. The park was not particularly crowded or desolated, but Russia stuck out like a sore thumb regardless in his coat and scarf while he ordered from an ice cream truck. It was still summer here in America, and hot it most certainly was. In the end, Arthur supposed that it could just be the Russian being his odd self, but why was he here? He was bound to have some sort of reason. Every time he had confronted the behemoth he had some sort of reasoning to his actions, which was why Arthur had been in a frenzy all day to try and piece the puzzle together. More than once when the puzzles had gone unsolved it had ended badly for everyone, and he doubted that this was going to be an exception. That left the question of what exactly he was going to do about it. While in the past he had no qualms starting a conversation with the man ousted from his hiding place, he had plenty of them today. Quite frankly he was terrified of him at the moment. The Russian was stepping on, not just pushing, various boundaries and doing un-Russia like things, even the Cold War tension may have very well have come back. There was no way that Arthur was going to start a conversation this round. That left espionage, or walking away. Espionage it was.

While Arthur prided himself in that field, especially so in his people, he needed a little practice in that area and Russia was not the person to be doing that on. The behemoth's strides left Arthur in the dust, he almost lost him right out of the gate, and he was having trouble staying unseen without a crowd to hide in. Thankfully, the giant was recognizable anywhere and he could allow the distance between the two to grow and he could follow flawlessly. That freed Arthur's mind up to contemplate the strangeness of this all. That had been all he had been thinking all day, but it was strange! He could not shake it at all. Something was wrong with this whole day and he knew at least that it was centered on Russia. Speaking of which, really, why ice cream? And four no less? Why not just remove the coat? Even as weird as he was, surely he could see the logic of removing heavier garments when it got hot. As perplexing as that was, Arthur's instincts started to pick up again. He had a feeling as he followed the Russian into a more and more secluded area of the park that he was going somewhere dangerous, or would be. He chalked it up to being it close quarters with the Russian, but he knew there had to be more to it. The hair raised on the back of his neck agreed. This whole situation was off and probably risky. Russia was slowing his pace, they must have been getting close. Now would be the time to leave if he was going to. His nagging instincts were having him do just that. It felt exactly like it had when Russia was in his closet. He was not going to open the closet again—

"Yo, Vanya! What took you so long?"

Mission abort.

"You were the one that insisted that you get it, so hurry up."

Mission abort.

"There was a line, da?"

MISSION ABORT!

"What are you two doing with Russia!?"