China led his team through the closest hallway and into the first dark, empty room. While he scoured the room for potential security cameras and bugs, Australia and Wy barricaded the door with spare chairs, just in case someone happened to come into the room.
"Okay, let us think a while." Malaysia murmured, taking a seat around the table in the middle of the room. "What do we know now?"
"The hideout is underwater so we can easily destroy the place and the weapons by flooding it." the Philippines said, taking the chair next to him.
"The people affected by the doppelgangers are strapped to explosives." Vietnam added. "And they are all probably building weapons."
"Yes, they are." New Zealand said, walking over to the end of the room. There was a world map that was rolled down from the top of the blackboard; there were several yellow sticky notes posted all over the map. New Zealand pointed to one in particular and murmured, "All the supplies they need to build weapons come from these countries that the notes refer to. America, Russia, Germany...several others..."
"See? Mass production." Vietnam sighed.
"How is it that you find information so quickly?" Australia asked New Zealand. "First that poster and now this..."
New Zealand shrugged.
When China deemed the room free of cameras and recording devices, he said in a low voice, "Now that I know my people-my heart and soul- are being captured and treated this way to make weapons to destroy the world, I can not let that happen, aru!"
"So would you let the doppelgangers destroy the world if your people weren't in danger?" Wy asked, placing her hands on her small hips.
China groaned, "You know what I mean, aru."
"Are there any instructions in the room that will tell us how to deactivate the explosives?" Australia asked, shooting a look towards New Zealand, who stared back at him.
No one responded verbally; instead they went to work and rummaged through drawers and scattered papers left on the table. Malaysia and New Zealand sorted through the papers but were disappointed to find that they were merely assembly directions for whatever weapons they were making.
"It can still come in handy though." Vietnam told them as she held Wy up by the waist for her to search for secret compartments in the wall. "It might tell us how to destroy them later."
"I thought we were flooding them place." Wy said, stopping her search for a while.
"Oh, that's right." Vietnam suddenly said. She was quiet for a while, and then she suggested that they keep it in case the flooding idea didn't work out.
While Malaysia pocketed the directions in his backpack, China looked at the door in alarm, completely frozen. He could have sworn he heard something outside the door and he waved the others down at once. With everyone glued to their spot, eyes hovering on the doorknob as if daring it to turn, they waited for a few tense moments.
The doorknob rattled at first, and everyone hissed at once, getting ready to either hide or fight back. Though fighting back would lead to their discovery and perhaps a full-scale battle with practically everyone present in the hideout, there wasn't much they could do since hiding within a split second's warning was physically impossible.
But before the door could swing in and hit the barricade, a harsh voice stopped the person opening the door. "What are you doing? That's the wrong room."
"Is it?" the person asked. The doorknob stopped rattling but the countries didn't dare move. Any slight sound they made would most likely stop the two people out in the hall and they'd come in to investigate. If they were doppelgangers, that would be troublesome and they couldn't be taken out so easily and quietly. But the voices didn't ring a bell to any of them so they assumed they were just some of China's people.
The footsteps went away and blissful silence took over once again. Just to be safe, they stayed frozen like statues for another five minutes before cautiously moving.
"Okay...that was close. We need to think of a plan if we are discovered, aru." China sighed, straightening his posture.
"Don't we just run?" Wy asked, stretching.
"What if we can't run?" Malaysia asked.
While Wy remained silent, China said, "Exactly. We can't always run. If we are discovered and we can't run, then we'll have to play along with them. They won't kill us so we'll be relatively safe, aru."
"Relatively? That sounds convincing." Vietnam sighed. "Actually, I think that if we play along with them, they'll limit our movements enough so that we can't escape. They are very careful."
"Careful, and yet we somehow made it this far." China said pointedly. "Just follow my lead, aru." China beckoned for everyone to follow him. His team exchanged looks with each other and then they gave China a stunned look as he started to tear down the barricade.
"What are you doing?" Australia whispered as China scooted the chairs out of the way. "Are you planning to go out there, mate? That's suicide."
"Our first priority is to save the people." China said, pushing another chair from the door. "The explosives are in the way, but surely we can take them off, aru. The doppelgangers that are watching everyone...we'll have to take them out if we want to get to the people."
China paused his work for a while, and then he rubbed his chin pensively. "Australia and the Philippines, take out the three doppelgangers near the entrance we came through. Malaysia and New Zealand, patrol the other side. Vietnam and Wy, follow me, aru."
By the time the path to the door was cleared out, they split up without another word. Instead, they exchanged glances; they weren't sure when they'd meet up next time, they might not even see each other until the mission was over or until they get captured. Either way, they were sure to meet again.
Australia and the Philippines retraced their steps and sought out the stairs that led to the walkways. Of course, Germany had mentioned that if the doppelgangers could direct a person's hatred towards something specific, and he feared that they directed people's hatred towards the countries themselves.
Australia and the Philippines had no idea of the corrupted people would attack them on sight, even if they had a job to do. Even if they did have a job to do, they stayed hidden behind a large fan-like machine as they scanned for a stairwell.
As time passed, they already pieced together the basic system of the stairwells and the walkways. There were certain paths to take to get to the next level and to get to the first level, they saw a lift that would take them upwards.
That was the problem. Lifts would attract attention, and to ride one discreetly was impossible in a place like that. Or was it possible because the sound of a lift would be normal in a factory type setting that no one would even glance up to see who was riding it. Surely plenty of people ride it all the time and the people wouldn't look because it would be a pain to keep glancing in that direction every time it moved.
"Well, that way will either get us in trouble before we even started or help us out a lot." Australia said to the Philippines. "What do you think we should do?"
"They can't start without us." the Philippines said reasonably. "With those three doppelgangers watching everything, they can't start to get the explosives off."
They exchanged a brief glance and then started looking around some more.
The Philippines saw that there were plenty of things to climb on and jump off of. Surely if they were fast, careful, and precise, they would be able to get to the first walkway using parkour. The only risks were getting caught and missing the destination; she knew that one slip of the foot would cause them to jump the wrong way or fall and draw attention.
She told Australia her idea and wondered if it was better than the lift. Australia, being one of the most adventurous, obviously wanted to do parkour. "It's a good idea." he said earnestly. "Have you figured out a route we can take?"
The route took a mere minute to devise. There was a rail that ran around the work areas and the Philippines said that the rails could be their first step to the walkway. It would take a while to get to the walkway without being noticed because the rail was a mere three and a half foot tall; the walkway was twenty feet above the floor.
But there were plenty of things around that they could use as a stepping stone. Australia pointed out a forklift sitting idly a few feet away from the rails on the opposite side of the room. "We can jump onto the forklift and continue on." he said. "We can gain high ground from that forklift if we get to the top."
"By then, would they spot us?" the Philippines asked nervously. "They'll have to see us if we do that."
"Well, if we do it quick enough the doppelgangers won't see us coming. They won't have the time to brace themselves, you know?" Australia said. "And China's people, well, they're working. They won't leave their posts, will they?"
The Philippines considered the odds for a few moments, and then she said slowly, "I guess we'll have to find that out later."
Australia grinned. "That's how I usually do it. Now, let's see. The rails to the forklift...then where?"
The forklift was high enough for the two of them to jump up to a hook dangling from the ceiling. What the hook was for, it didn't matter. Australia gave the Philippines a side glance and grinned. The Philippines only stared at the hook and then at Australia.
"No, we'll be seen if we use that hook to swing onto the platform." she said at once.
"See any other way?"
"Um, no, but..." The Philippines faltered, lost for words.
Silence. Under Australia's 'Well? What do you think?' look, she sighed and agreed. "Fine. We'll swing from the hook. But if you get injured by it don't come back crying to me. Who's going first?"
Australia brandished his arms towards the rails and the forklift. "Ladies first."
The Philippines raised an eyebrow at first but after seeing China's figure in the background hurriedly trying to usher them on to do their job, she nodded. The Philippines peered out from the fan-like machine and scanned the open area before slinking towards the rails. For a split second, she feared that the doppelgangers would notice such suspicious activities since their had a height advantage but she heard no angry yell or sudden uproar.
Australia trailed after her after a few cautious seconds. They both huddled behind boxes stacked on a wooden platform, hearts beating a little faster and breaths starting to become a little strained. Though they merely snuck out from their last hiding place, they couldn't help but feel overly-cautious and nervous. If they were spotted, it was all over.
They only stayed in their place for a brief second before slinking away again. The Philippines scanned the area in front of her with her eyes before deeming it safe to move on. Australia crouched down at the next hiding spot and glanced behind his right shoulder to make sure they were still safe.
He heard a soft, muffled metallic ring one would hear if someone suddenly jumped on a metal railing or something of the sort. Australia glanced back at the Philippines and saw her leap up to the forklift in such a speed that he was completely reassured that she'd make it to the walkway without any problems.
The Philippines could have sworn she'd slip and fall when she landed lightly on the forklift, but when she found that she was still climbing up and towards the rope and hook dangling down just a few feet away. She would fit her foot on the hook and swing to the walkway and by the time the doppelgangers see her, she would already be heading over to them and giving them a piece of her mind.
The only problem was that they already saw her before she reached the rope.
The Philippines noticed that they had seen her when she swung herself towards the walkway. She landed with a loud metallic clang, so it was impossible to hide her presence; she could imagine China starting to freak out right about then but she pushed the thought of a panicky China away and faced her opponents, who were unusually casual as they approached her.
Australia joined her within a few seconds; the corrupted people from below didn't bother them at all. In fact, they didn't even look up at them; they truly were like robots.
"Only you two?" Dark Cambodia asked, raising an eyebrow.
"What? You make it sound like we're not worth the trouble." Australia grinned, cracking his knuckles as the Philippines slid a foot behind her into a readying stance in case if a fight broke out sooner than she would expect.
"You aren't." Dark Bhutan murmured.
All at once, as if the three doppelgangers were sharing their thoughts, they lunged at once and even Australia had a flash of surprise on his face. He and the Philippines were barely able to block the sudden attacks. The doppelgangers were strong and combined, they were very capable of making the two countries shift backwards in order to avoid getting hit.
It only took Australia and the Philippines a few seconds to realize that the doppelgangers were playing with them. Dark Bhutan and Dark Cambodia would exchange grins as Dark Tajikistan bombarded Australia and the Philippines with swift punches and kicks.
They'd take turns mocking the two, but it didn't last very long. The Philippines must have gotten tired of their antics because she caught Dark Cambodia's ankle when he kicked up at her and, left hand gripping the ankle and the right holding the knee firmly, pressed down until she heard a satisfying snap.
Dark Cambodia's face contorted into deep distaste as his leg snapped in half. This made the other two doppelgangers sneer but they did nothing. Their red eyes, once burning with sadistic glee, mellowed to an intense, collected glare.
They were finally serious.
"Let's go back to what you thought before, shall we?" the Philippines asked calmly. "I wonder if we're suddenly worth the trouble now. What do you think, Australia?"
Australia smirked. "I think we'll find out soon."
Malaysia and New Zealand were watching Australia and the Philippines from the other side of the factory-like room. Though they were supposed to patrol their side, there was nothing to keep an eye out for over there. Truth be told, they found the fight on the other side more interesting.
It was only then when China, giving them the look from his hiding spot on the ground floor, bewilderingly urged them on that they finally shuffled away from the rails and down along the walls of the room.
Many of China's people noticed them, and both countries could see clouded distaste fogged up in their eyes. However, they did not attack them out of cold blood because fear cloaked over their hate in their eyes.
"Fear?" New Zealand murmured to himself as he inspected the faces of the people filing by orderly in the distance. "Those explosives must make them cautious. It keeps their hate under control."
"Isn't that what the doppelgangers are supposed to do? Keep their hate under control?" Malaysia asked quietly.
"There are so many people and only a limited number of doppelgangers. They might not be able to do it all at once. And if they can, then maybe they can enforce some kind of fear into them to prevent them from making reckless things out of hatred."
Malaysia was silent for a moment. With a heavy sigh, he ran a hand through his dark hair and said, "Enforce fear, huh? Don't tell me that our emotion of fear can escape too, can it?"
"At this point, who knows." New Zealand answered grimly.
They didn't want to linger on the possibility that other emotions could gain physical bodies as well; one emotion was already a huge handful.
China was satisfied that New Zealand and Malaysia had been able to get to the other side without being spotted. He noticed that none of the people had attacked them, which was good because it made their jobs so much easier.
The fighting above on the walkway was still continuing, and even though he had no idea who was winning, China decided to go ahead and free his people anyway; he could not wait and miss out on this opportunity.
"But when they figured out that the explosives aren't threatening them anymore, wouldn't they use the hatred they held back on you?" Vietnam asked him quietly, grabbing onto his sleeve before China could get too far from her and Wy.
"It's worth a shot, isn't it, aru?"
China's determined look in his eyes came off seriously. There were many types of determination; there was the foolishly determined (like America), the pervertedly determined (like France), the insanely determined (like Belarus going after Russia), the honorably determined (like Japan), and several other kinds. The kind of determination in China's eyes was the "Let-me-go-so-I-can-save-my-people" kind of determination, one of the most admirable kinds of determinations found in every country.
Vietnam released her grip on China's sleeve and, after a brief moment of consideration, nodded at him. "Fine. We'll free them of the explosives."
China's eyes gleamed and he nodded back at her. "I'll take the left side of the room. Vietnam, take middle. Wy, take right."
The three scattered and began their work freeing the corrupted people from their explosive burden. They kept a wary eye on the fight above every other few seconds to make sure the doppelgangers were occupied enough to not notice them. China would throw a glance towards New Zealand and Malaysia, who were making sure that no other doppelgangers could get into the room by blockading the entrances.
Assuming that they'd use the whistle system from before to alert them all if anything happened, China was sure they were able to hold their ground for a while.
The Philippines panted heavily as she slipped back into her original stance, suspiciously eying the doppelgangers that she and Australia managed to disable by tying them up with their nylon ropes. They made a huge fuss over it, and now that the three were tightly roped together, dangling from the metal rail uttering a steady stream of hissing curse, she and Australia could finally move on.
"Ahh, that last kick shattered my wrist..." Australia sucked in air as he lifted his left arm to examine his battered hand. It was blue and black and purple covered with a flowing river of red blood. The Philippines contorted her face slightly at the sight of Australia's bone poking out of the heavily bruised flesh; it was not a pretty sight.
"Is that the only major wound or are there more?" the Philippines asked him, rushing forward to examine his wrist.
Australia laughed nervously. "Ah, don't worry about it. This is the only thing I'm concerned about. All the other cuts and bruises can wait."
The Philippines quickly created a split for Australia and bounded his wrist to it, ignoring his abrupt grimaces and heavy breathing accompanied by gritting teeth. Finishing up, she sighed and said, "That will do for now. We have to keep going though; can you make it?"
Australia grinned at her, but his grin wasn't as shining as his others. "It's nothing at all. What's a shattered wrist after all?"
The two ran along the walkway and joined New Zealand and Malaysia on the other side. Malaysia was propping a large table across an entrance to a hallway when they approached him; New Zealand was right behind him rolling a whiteboard on wheels after him.
"China might need your help." Malaysia said grimly. "There must be hundreds of people here and only three countries to get rid of the explosives? That will take forever."
"Australia can't really do much with only one hand." the Philippines said, nodding at Australia. "How hard is it to remove an explosive from their backs?"
"They are strapped onto people." New Zealand answered, fitting the whiteboard across another entrance. "It might take five to ten seconds depending on how fast you move."
"It seems like the people don't attack even after you take the explosives off of them." Australia noted, leaning over the rail to catch a glimpse of Wy freeing a young woman. "It doesn't seem dangerous, and one hand is better than none. Let's go help them out, Philippines."
"Go on ahead you two." New Zealand added, briskly walking into a room for more furniture and items to block the entrances. "We'll finish up here. Remember, there's only one exit from this room after we're done, and it's the way we came from. We'll lead them out there and then we'll flood the place, thus destroying everything."
"You know, the doppelgangers chose a very bad place to make a hideout." the Philippines mused as she and Australia thundered down the stairs and towards the lift on the first level of the walkways.
"Maybe there's some sort of advantage here." Australia reasoned.
"Like what?"
Silence.
"I didn't think so either." the Philippines grinned.
China glanced up at the lift as it carried the two down to the ground level. He beckoned for them urgently. "Good, you defeated the do-aiya!" China's eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of Australia's left wrist. "What happened, aru?"
"Long story." Australia said. "Well, actually, no, it isn't. You see, Dark Bhutan is pretty fast, right? So he caught me off-guard and kicked me. Luckily I was able to shift to the side a little so it didn't break my ribs. It caught me at my wrist instead so it could have been worse, haha!"
"That's not something to laugh about, aru." China sighed, but he gave Australia a grateful smile. "I'm just glad to hear you're still up. Even with one hand, I know what you can do."
Australia raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And that is...?"
"Gather all the people who are free from the explosive and lead them out of here, aru." China said at once. "Take them across the street and fill them into the shops and buildings. If they start to fight, break them up. If they start to attack you, find a way to control them, aru."
"You do realize that there's only one Australia, right?" the Philippines said wearily. "How can he keep track of all of them?"
"He's Australia, aru." China said. "He'll find a way. He always finds a way, right, aru?"
"You can count on me, captain!" Australia said, giving China a small salute. He glanced at the people who were freed and asked China in a lower voice, "Are they sane at least? They understand human words, right?"
"Even if they do, they won't understand you anyway. They speak Chinese, aru." China said, waving his hand at Australia as if it was no big deal. "They're sane, for now. It seems as if the hatred in them is gone for now. They're only confused, aru."
"Wait..." the Philippines halted Australia before he could leave them. "If they're sane, why don't you tell them to help free the others?"
China stared at the Philippines for a moment. She stared back. Australia glanced between the two and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Huh...well in the midst of adventure and excitement, some people don't realize the easy way out, huh? You're pretty clever, Philippines."
"Clever? She's brilliant!" China exclaimed. "Aiya, why didn't I think of that before, aru?" He turned to a group of his people and started to hurriedly speak to them in Chinese. Their blank expressions slowly turned into those of disbelief, fear, and then, at long last, agreement before they scattered and got busy.
"Good, good, this is going out great." China said in approval. "Maybe I'll let you have one of the islands in the South China Sea-"
"What do you mean 'let me have'? I claimed them!" the Philippines exclaimed.
"But they're in my sea, aru."
"I'm closer to them."
"They're in the South China Sea, aru."
"But I claimed them."
"So did I, aru."
Before the Philippines could retort back, Australia cleared his throat and said, "Well, I'll be off to help Malaysia and New Zealand. They might need some help, y'know?" He backed away and returned to the lift. As it raised him up slowly, he watched as people bustled about, discarding the explosives carefully by...well, Australia wasn't sure if storing them along the more emptier side of the place was safe enough.
Why waste them and store them away when we can probably use them to break open that glass dome thing to flood the hideout? Australia suddenly thought. He'd have to remember to tell China to save them.
When Australia returned to New Zealand and Malaysia, the two countries were somewhat troubled. "What's wrong?" Australia asked them.
"We just had a thought." Malaysia said slowly. He shot a sideways glance to the blocked hallways on the level they were standing on and then up and down to the levels above and below them. "We've only been in this place, but how do we know there aren't more people in the other places? Only three doppelgangers were here to watch over the people here, but there's got to be dozens more around here."
Australia frowned. "Now that you mentioned it, I saw Dark India and Dark Thailand earlier when I found that glass dome thing. They were in what looked like a library and got some books. I have no idea what that meant."
New Zealand exchanged a concerned look with Malaysia. "I wonder what that was about..." New Zealand murmured.
Malaysia's frown deepened a little. "We should go investigate. China!" He called over the rails and down towards the captain. As China glanced up at him, Malaysia continued, "New Zealand and Australia are going to go investigate something for a bit. We think it's important. Do we have your permission to go?"
"Do you have your supplies with you, aru?" China called up.
"We do now." New Zealand said to Malaysia, who had glanced back at him for confirmation. "I brought out backpacks up here while we were blocking the entrances."
"Yes, we have them!" Malaysia called back down.
China squinted up at him for a moment. Then he sighed and said, "Go, but don't take too long, aru!"
"We'll be back within a half hour. If not, then an hour." Malaysia said earnestly. He didn't stick around long enough to watch China's reaction to see if a half hour or a full hour was satisfying enough. It would soon be late morning, and for all they know, the attack could start at any time. In fact, the hideout in Japan would most likely be the one to worry about the most at that time since the time was ahead of every other hideout.
And then Suzhou was the next to worry about.
"You know..." New Zealand was saying as the three slipped through a blockade, sealing it back up. "What will we do if we find more people?"
"Then we call China and see what we'll have to do." Malaysia said. "But if we can't then I guess we're going to have to find something that controls the explosives. If the doppelgangers are supposed to blow one up manually if someone misbehaves, then how do they do it? Remote control? Whatever it is, we'll have to find it and figure out how to use it."
"Sounds like a plan. Should we capture a doppelganger and torture it for information then?" Australia asked.
"Torture it? Don't they heal though?" New Zealand asked incredulously.
"Kindness, remember?"
"Oh, I forgot about that." New Zealand laughed. "Alright then. Let's go capture a doppelganger."