Cold, strong wind blasted at them as the airplane flew through the bright sky. America grinned, adjusting his goggles. It was four in the afternoon in Los Angeles, and he found it odd how they 'traveled back in time'. So it was possible after all, just not necessarily the way he thought.
"So we're parachuting down from here in a few minutes!" America called to the others. "Whenever Germany's pilot gives the signal, we'll jump, got it guys?"
Germany had sent a pilot with them to take them to the Los Angeles Hideout and back, so long as they made it out alright. America told the pilot that if they didn't make it back within twenty four hours, he'd go ahead and return to Germany without them. "We can't risk your safety like that, sir." America had told the pilot earnestly.
Canada made his way to his brother by the open hatch and said, "America, do you think we can do it?"
America blinked at Canada. "What?" he yelled.
"Do you think we can do it?" Canada called, but his voice was still too soft.
"What?"
Cuba shouted, "He asked if we could do it, you deaf American bastard!"
"What?"
Canada and Cuba gave up; there was no point in trying to communicate with America. As Canada returned to his seat, America peered down at the ground and took a deep breath. Soon, they'd be running about the city, charging towards the hideout, and then somehow they were going to sneak in without attracting any attention (this part was one of the few parts America worried about), and put a heroic stop to the doppelgangers.
America hoped that because of the Best Buds Group, his doppelganger wouldn't be as strong, but he had to ask himself; did he really forgive the members? Or was it just a self-satisfying facade to make him feel better?
What kind of person am I? America thought miserably.
A hand rested on his shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. America turned his head a little to see Sweden staring back at him. America gave him a small smile. "Yo, what's up?"
Of course, Sweden didn't say anything. America laughed and gave Sweden a pat on the back. "Okay, I'll cheer up. Now, I think it's about time to kick some ass, am I right?"
Sweden gave America a small nod and America grinned at him. "Alright men!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "I know you're scared, and I know you're wondering if we'll save the world...or at least part of it..but know this, okay? We are all heroes, and no matter what happens, don't blame yourself, because it's not your fault."
America gave his team one last sweep of his eyes and then he glanced at the pilot, who gave them the signal. "Alright then men. This is our stop." America turned his body towards the hatch and peered back down at the ground. He gave the pilot a thumbs up before jumping. "Thanks dude, you're awesome, you know that?"
America didn't know if the man spoke English, and he didn't really care. He just wanted to know that his work was appreciated. After his thumbs up, he took a huge breath, crouched, and leapt into the air outside of the plane, and yelled, "FOR JUSTICE!"
As America dove through the sky, Mexico leaned over the hatch and murmured, "He's all about justice, isn't he?" He inhaled sharply as a hand pushed him on the back and he yelled as he plunged through the clouds, after America.
"You talk too much!" Cuba called after him. He smiled at Canada and said, "That guy, huh? See you!" And he jumped down after America and Mexico with a whoop of joy.
Sweden gave Canada, Molossia, and Cameroon an expecting glance. Cameroon weaved in between Canada and Molossia, gave Sweden a small nod, and leapt after the others.
"Uh...you first." Molossia muttered to Canada.
Canada bit his lip.
"It's safe, don't worry." Sweden said, throwing an indifferent look outside.
Canada trusted Sweden's judgment and made himself jump off despite all the tiny voices in his head disagreeing with his inevitable decision.
As Canada let out a yell, free falling to the ground, Sweden fixed his eyes on Molossia. Molossia blinked. "It's my turn? Why don't you uh, go first, hm?"
Silence.
Molossia yelped as Sweden grabbed his arm and flung him over and out. And then Sweden jumped after him, unfazed by the terrifying light feeling in all of their chests that made them feel uneasy, unstable. They weren't on solid ground for goodness' sake.
America glanced around him and laughed. It had been a while since he felt so free and spirited. Just falling down made him grin like crazy. He heard calls for his name, and he knew why they called. They were probably wondering when they could open their parachutes and glide down to safety.
Ah, killjoys. America thought, smiling to himself. He reached back, prayed that his parachute wasn't going to fail, and pulled on the string.
The parachute exploded from his back and he let out a grunt as it caught the air and jerked him up with such force that he felt a small burst of adrenaline rush through. That or a brief 'Holy crap, I'm going to die!' feeling. Either one worked.
One by one, the rest of his team followed his lead and they all hung in the air, slowly descending.
America wondered if anyone would get caught by buildings or telephone poles. He had to admit, it would be pretty funny, but he hoped that they would all land in the same general area on the same ground level. It would make his job harder if half the team was on a multiple story building while the other half was on the streets.
When everyone was on the ground safe and sound, America stuffed his parachute into the backpack it came with and motioned for the team to follow him. "West Jefferson Boulevard?" America murmured to himself. "Okay, we're not too far. Just a couple of blocks. Man, that's good aim Mr. Pilot has." America shaded the late afternoon sun out of his eyes as he watched the plane fly past them.
"Where to now, America?" Mexico asked, brushing imaginary dirt from his hands.
America grinned and pointed west. "Onward!"
"This place is huge." Canada whispered.
America had led them inside a warehouse in a field among many other warehouses. They had a feeling that many of them were used, but America said that according to the information Germany had got for them, there was only one that was occupied.
"That or Germany didn't think there would be more than one place. Oh well." America shrugged. "If they use the other warehouses, it won't take us long to get to them. They aren't too far. Now come one. Let's see what's in there."
"Don't you think they have security cameras, America?" Cameroon asked quietly as they followed America into the shadows.
"Yeah, but if they saw us, don't you think they'll be out looking for us by now?" America asked pointedly.
"These are doppelgangers though. They might be waiting for us to come to them."
America stopped and said, "You're right. This could be a set-up!"
"What do we do, sir?" Molossia asked nervously.
America tapped his chin for a moment and then he glanced at Sweden. "You know, we can turn the power off. That way they don't have cameras, motion sensors, or whatever else they might be using to detect intruders."
"And how?" asked Cuba skeptically.
America flashed him a smile. "Our armies are still on stand by, right? Well guess who tipped them off that we'd be having a final battle here? I have some of them near by and they can send out an EMP and we're good to go."
Mexico raised an impressed eyebrow. "You're not as dumb as you look America."
America looked torn between an offensive look and a proud look. He settled with a small smile and slipped off his backpack, unzipping the first zipper. Balancing the backpack on one knee, America fished for a walkie-talkie and muttered something in to it.
Seconds later, they heard several doppelgangers inside the warehouse alert each other of the sudden blackout. America grinned as he zipped up his backpack, keeping the walkie-talkie in his right hand, and slipped it back over his back. "Follow me, men." America whispered, and they followed him to the back of the warehouse and through a side door.
There were boxes that blocked their view at first when they came through, but that was good because it also blocked the doppelgangers's view. America was right about their tactics on figuring out if an intruder was lurking around; America pointed out motion sensors on the ground and on the ceiling.
America peered over the last box and he received a cold chill the moment he did. The doppelgangers present were hastily fixing the blackout problem and they needed to for the nuclear weapons delivery, else they wouldn't be able to lock onto their targets.
America knew all too well that one bomb could destroy a city or two, but how many weapons did they have to destroy three whole countries? Or were they only attacking the capitols?
No, if it's only the capitols, then they wouldn't need this much. America thought somberly. Maybe just major cities...if they're going to destroy the world, they need time and supplies. There's not enough nukes to destroy the world anyway, so the majority of the world should be okay for now. The doppelgangers only want to destroy- I mean, weaken the superpowers. It will takes years and years to build more nuclear weapons and use them, and if they use them, that will cause debris to fly into the air and who knows, we wouldn't see the sun for years! But then again, they won't be rash and use them all at once; they have normal weapons too, not just nuclear...aw, my head hurts now...I have to stop thinking.
But he couldn't help but wonder. He guessed it was safe to assume they would be hitting the major cities first-no, wait, why would they hit empty cities? Wasn't their goal to destroy the majority of humanity, only keeping the government officials and a few hundred citizens of each country safe to keep the country alive? If so, then they'd be attacking the larges human bases that everyone evacuated to.
"America, time's running out. What are you doing?" Cameroon whispered to him.
"Huh? Oh, sorry. Just thinking...ow..." America rubbed his head a little to keep his headache from getting worse, as if rubbing it would help much. "Alright, we need to alter the plan just a little bit. Since the power is off, but only for a few minutes, depending on how fast the doppelgangers work. We're still going to search around and see how many weapons they have here. After that, come back to me and me and Sweden here will figure out the next step, got it?"
"And if we're found out?" asked Canada.
America bit his lip. "If that happens, then we fight back. It's the only thing we can do, so try not to make yourself noticed."
His team nodded solemnly. America gave them a weary smile. "What's this? You guys look depressed. This isn't the end...this is only the beginning."
Russia's team was the next to go. Omsk wasn't as far as Suzhou or Los Angeles or Kawasaki, but there was a long road ahead of Team Three, and there was no time to spare.
Germany watched from the porch as the cars drove away. Four teams were now sent away, and there were three teams left in his house; his own, France's, and England's.
The house was noticeably quieter, but it was also noticeably tense. Italy, Belgium, Finland, and Spain had tried to cheer everyone up, but the brief moment of laughter was short-lived and things returned to its usual foreboding gloom.
"We all look like we're ready for a funeral." Hungary said softly in the living room.
"We might as well." Austria said, taking a small sip of coffee.
"Pessimistic much?"
"No, just realistic."
Silence.
"Well that's depressing." Switzerland scowled.
Japan was an hour ahead of China, and he knew that if it was seven at his house, it would be six at China's. Out of all the teams, he had the least time and America had more time. In fact, America's team would be traveling back a day. He wished that he had time like America, but unfortunately, he didn't have much.
He wasn't even sure when they'd attack.
"Please be as quiet as possible." Japan whispered to his team as he led them through the city. "We must infiltrate silently."
"Like, how?" Hong Kong asked.
"I've gone and researched the building of the hideout and I have the blueprints. I studied them and saw that we can slip in the air vents easily and use it to our advantage." Japan said, circling around an abandoned van on the street.
"Air vents?" Seychelles asked. "Are you sure they're big enough?"
"I'm quite sure."
Japan's team consisted of his siblings, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, and Hong Kong, but it also consisted of Seychelles and Greece for certain reasons. Germany thought Greece would work better with Japan, since they were good friends, and Seychelles didn't mind being teamed up with some of the Asian siblings.
"How are we going to get into the air vents though?" Taiwan asked.
Japan didn't answer right away; he left Taiwan's question to linger in the air just for a little bit longer before replying, "The building has several secret tunnels and passageways. There's bound to be one we can use."
"Ooh, so we're going to be all ninja, right Japan, da-ze?" Korea asked eagerly.
Japan gave Korea a small, wry, smile. "Of course."
Korea grinned. "Awesome. Did you know ninjas origi-"
"Please stop it."
The air vents were roomy like Japan promised, but Japan couldn't help but feel anxious seeing that every time they moved forward, someone would bump into the wall with their shoe and make a loud clang that was sure to attract the attention of a doppelganger or two.
"Please be quiet everyone." he whispered for the umpteenth time.
"We're trying to, but with everyone here, it's hard to." Seychelles whispered back. "Ow, you just kicked me Thailand."
"I'm sorry, ana."
"It's fine. Um, Japan, why don't we split into groups? Not only will it be faster, but it would be a comfort for us all." Seychelles suggested thoughtfully.
"I'm glad I came prepared then." Japan replied. "Korea, can you reach into my backpack?" A hand tugged at the backpack from behind and Japan said, "Good. Now open the first zipper up; there should be maps of the building around there. There are diagrams and paths that I marked down for the air vents, the sewers, the actual building, the foundation, the-"
"Okay, we get it, da-ze." Korea whispered at once. "Just stop talking and let me get the maps."
It took a long minute for Korea to get the papers, and in that minute they all had heard doppelgangers speak underneath them. They recognized Dark Mongolia talking to Dark Egypt, and he was saying how Dark Japan wasn't back from his infiltration in Germany. "He must have been captured." Dark Mongolia said in a business like tone. "If that's the case, I'll take over for him."
Dark Egypt nodded, something his original often did. As they walked away, Taiwan whispered, "Why is Egypt's doppelganger here? He's nearly halfway around the world."
"There are a lot of countries who aren't particularly close to a certain superpower, so they probably got assigned to random ones. And the superpowers that are closer to them are probably full of doppelgangers already and so they go to the divisions who don't have as much." Japan explained.
"That or they are needed for special abilities, da-ze." Korea added. "Maybe Egypt and Dark Egypt can summon serpents and snake monster things, da-ze."
"That's, like, legend." Hong Kong whispered. "You can't believe everything you, like, see or hear."
Korea finally passed the maps backwards to the others and zipped Japan's backpack up with several sudden tugs.
"Korea, take Hong Kong and Seychelles. I'll take the others. When we get to the end of this vent, over there." Japan pointed ahead of himself, but he doubted that they could all see the end. "I'll take the right path, Korea, lead the others to the left. From there, we'll look for the place where they store the weapons. When you find it, disable them. When you find doppelgangers, dispose of them quietly."
"Dispose, ana?" Thailand asked.
"Yes. Dispose. Disable them somehow whether with ropes or sword or anything you can think of and make sure they don't go anywhere. Lock them somewhere, tie them somewhere, anything." Japan clarified. "Good luck everyone. I wish you all the best of luck."