L:   With the laboratory destroyed, Iremacht began the journey back to Germany. He had missed several texts from Bundeswehr while carrying out his plans, and he opened them in the car.

[What are you doing in Poland now??] - Bundeswehr

[Pol is talking to G, ur in trouble. the hell did u do??] - B

[what was in that building, Machty] - B

[a plot to kill us] - Iremacht

[to kill u??] - B

[all of us. that building housed secret research. Pol doesn't know yet but he might find out soon if his investigators come up with evidence] - I

[Machty ...]

[I wouldn't blow up gov buildings for fun, Bundie. I'll fill u in first before I eventually tell UN] - I

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"I'll have Bundeswehr talk to him," Germany sighed. "You do know that Iremacht can literally put his base in any country right? I'm pretty sure he has several houses all over the world. He might be here right now, but he's a parasite that I can't control. Not even Wehr can get to him half of the time."

------------

TU gave Prudoria a concerned look but led him to the underground training area. It was built to sharpen all sorts of combat skills and stamina and had the tools and weaponry to do so. Schwitzy stood on a mat in the center of the room and got right down to business.

"We'll do what we know first," she said. "Activate your force field right now. And I want you to repeatedly turn it on and off, like flicking a light switch."

M:   "I don't know how to control it," he grumbled, "it doesn't activate on command, it only happens when I'm really scared. However, I was able to remember something else that I can do on command."

He looked around for a test dummy or something of the like, when he spotted one he shouldered past Schwitzy and brought it over to the middle of the room. He walked back and had the germans stand to the side so he didn't hurt them.

Standing a good thirty feet away, he cupped his hands together like he was holding a bug or small animal in them. Closing his eyes, he concentrated hard and slowly brought his hands apart, a small blue sparkle appeared, and the longer he concentrated, the larger and more condensed it became until it was more of a flaming orb.

Prudoria opened his eyes and stared determinedly at the dummy, then with his lion-like growl, he fired the orb at the figure and it was engulfed in a small explosion, scattering debris everywhere and only leaving a burn spot on the floor where the dummy stood.

The country doubled over slightly, panting at exerting so much energy, but soon recovered and glanced at the cousins to see their reaction.

L:   TU took several steps away from Prudoria after he incinerated the dummy. His jaw hung slack as he stared at Prudoria's hands, unable to believe that a giant energy beam had just blasted out from them. Who - WHAT the hell was this man? How had the humans created someone like him?

He's a weapon, TU thought. A living weapon.

Schwitzy was also regaining her composure from the surprising ability. She soon became stern like before and said, "Impressive, that you can do this on command. It will be useful. But you're not making any progress sticking to things you already know. Activate the force field. That's the only thing I want to see you master today."

M:  Prudoria growled at Schwitzy, "nothings ever good enough for you, is it?"

With a huff of annoyance, the country sat down and closed his eyes to concentrate. He sat there for several minutes, trying to make his shield go up, and at a few points, it would flicker on and off but never stayed.

Eventually, he opened his eyes and gasped, unable to hold any longer."I can't," he sighed, "I can't do it, it takes too much energy."

L:   "Maybe we should take a break?" TU suggested. "How about we work on combat training instead? I can help Prudoria with that."

Schwitzy stared a little longer at Prudoria before sighing and saying, "Fine. That fire blast took a lot of energy out of you too so I'm not surprised your magic battery is low. He's all yours TU. But after dinner, I expect more progress to be made. I have to greet the new staff right now anyway." With that, she left the training room to the boys and headed back into the main estate.

"I told you," TU said to Prudoria. "Schwitzy's not easy to impress. I don't think she'll ever be impressed because she'll always expect more the next time." TU gave an experimental jab at a punching bag. "In a way, it keeps Machty and I going though. Being the top criminal entity in the world means we need to be kept on our toes at all times to avoid someone usurping our power."

TU suddenly stopped talking and his arm halted mid-punch. He realized he'd just revealed to Prudoria that they were criminals.

M:   Prudoria didn't seem fazed by TU letting the cat out of the bag, he raised a brow and simply hummed.

Walking over to TU, he took one look at him and said, "your stance is wrong, you want to keep your shoulders loose so you don't put strain on your muscles when you punch. You also want to keep your legs a little more spread out so you have more momentum in your swings and have better control of your center of gravity if you take a punch, that way you don't get knocked down."

He smirked at TU, "I was created as a weapon remember, I learned a thing or two at the facility," he then moved the insurgent's limbs so they were positioned correctly, "see how that feels."

L:   "Well, well, looks like I don't have much to teach you," TU grinned. He breathed out in relief when Prudoria didn't react to his slip-up.

He followed through with the punch but he already knew that it would create far better impact than his casual test punches before he even moved. He was a professional fighter; he was very familiar with what the optimal stance was in any situation and Prudoria had nailed it.

"In that case, what weapons do you know how to use?" TU gestured at the far wall, where dozens of different kinds of guns and melee weapons hung. None of the guns were loaded and most of the blades had sheathes on. There was another wall with targets for knife throwing, as well as a separate room for shooting.

M:   "Not much, we didn't get that far in my training before I escaped," Prudooria admitted, "but I'm a fast learner, and while we were in the library I was able to pick up a few things about swordsmanship."

He spotted two twin sabers hanging on the wall and felt very drawn to them like his Prussian genes had reawoken and felt the need to connect to the one thing they remembered the most. Prudoria took them and tied the connecting belt to his waist, slowly unsheathing the swords, he stared at them for a moment, then he went to attacking a few dummies. He moved like he had been doing this his whole life, stabbing and slicing like nobody's business.

His one silver eye glowed the entire time as well, his blue eye remained dark though, it was as if he was connecting with Prussia himself as he trained.

L:   TU did not expect Prudoria to go for the twin swords without trying the daggers or even the single swords first. He also did not expect Prudoria to go flying around in confident blurs and swings, fully immersed in the art of the sword.

TU grabbed two axes off the wall and turned them around in his hands to get a feel of the weight. Normally, he wouldn't go straight into training with real weapons. He had a feeling, though, that Prudoria could handle himself. TU approached him and pointed one axe at Prudoria.

"Let's dance then," he said. "No killing blows, obviously. We fight until we're pinned."

M:   Prudoria smiled wildly at TU, definitely seeming to enjoy the suggestion, "wunderbar, I would love to dance with you, you're fortunate that my wing is injured, otherwise, you wouldn't stand a chance."

It was blatantly obvious now that the country was channeling his empire counterpart, his mannerism, the crazed and bloodthirsty look in his eyes, it was all Prussia, and he was engineered to be able to do that. Since he was created from two dead countryhumans, he was created to be mentally and spiritually sensitive to those countryhumans, and could channel them, per se, either on command or when certain external variables trigger them.

Prudoria couldn't become Prussia or Mandoria, he couldn't hold their memories or speak as them, he would just take on their personality and experience, so he could be benevolent and wise one minute, or in this case, flamboyant and eager for a fight.

"I find it curious that you would choose axes over anything else," Prudoria scoffed, "my swords would hit you before the blades came into contact, nonetheless, why don't I lead this dance, hm."

With that, he jumped forward and brought his blades down upon TU, just barely missing as he dodged away.

L:   TU rolled to the side and used his momentum and strength to swing his axes at Prudoria. It collided with his swords with a vibration that shook with power. Just as quickly, TU sliced his axes past the length of the blades, the screeching sound of metal against metal echoing through the room. He used that fluid motion to hop away and put some distance between him and Prudoria.

"Axes," TU said, "hold far greater weight than swords. I'm a man of strength, hence I deal the maximum damage with axes." He got into a defensive stance, his eyes scanning Prudoria's every little movement. "You just might be able to beat me. If you're fast enough."

------------

On the border of Germany and Poland, Iremacht caught word that a certain militant entity was waiting for him at one of the checkpoints. He rubbed his temple, torn on whether or not to show himself to Bundeswehr. He wasn't worried about traps; his unlikely friend had never set any up for him in his career, preserving their trust. Iremacht was worried about telling Bundeswehr too much, of unnecessarily bringing him into danger.

In the end, he decided to make the detour. Bundeswehr awaited him in one lone car a few miles away from the nearest patrol station. They met face-to-face at the middle ground.

"Why do you always look so dapper?" Bundeswehr commented. "You don't look at all like you just came back from blowing up a building."

Iremacht scoffed. Feeling his face start to warm, he quickly said, "I need to get back to my cousins as soon as possible. Let's make this quick."

"Alright, alright. I'm just looking for answers to why you did it, that's all. I need to satisfy Germany with some kind of explanation."

"There was criminal activity in that building that wasn't under my jurisdiction, so I got rid of it. They disguised themselves underneath a government facility so naturally, the whole thing had to go. I did Poland a favor." Iremacht groaned. "Why on earth I willingly give you all this information is beyond me ..."

M:   "You underestimate me Third Union," Prudoria said, "I have Prussian and Mandorian blood coursing through my veins, and thus I can draw upon their power, you are not just fighting a 13-year-old experiment, you are fighting two powerful countryhumans who had thousands of years of experience. Enough of my rambling though, I should be showing you rather than just telling."

He flared out his wing to distract TU, then jumped at him again and almost forced him to the ground, though since TU was also an experienced fighter, he didn't go down completely and the two carried on fighting. They went back and forth for nearly half an hour, they were fairly evenly matched as they both were able to hit each other a few times, though neither could pin the other down.

"You're pretty good," Prudoria admitted, his silver eye starting to dim as he was growing tired, "I guess I either underestimated you or overestimated myself, perhaps we shall just call it a draw?"

-----

 At that moment in Mandara, Poldara was still deciding on whether or not he should call Iremacht yet, he heard from his dads about what happened in Poland, and Zalia was pissed off about Iremacht picking on Belarus, he didn't know if it was the right thing to do letting the criminal entity get ahold of such important information.

"Well, no turning back now," he said to himself, "I told him I would call back, so I have to do it either way." With that, he once again picked up his phone and dialed Iremacht, hoping to god that he was in a good mood today.

L:   "Hey, if it keeps you out of prison for another day, I'd say it's worth it," Bundeswehr said, playfully nudging Iremacht. "I'll relay that to Germany. Hopefully, he can calm Poland down. I do wish you wouldn't involve bystanders in your fights so often, though. You cost Poland a lot of money and casualties."

"Hm," Iremacht grunted, looking away like a child being scolded. "If that's all, I'll be - "

The vibration of his phone in his pocket startled him. He pulled it out, saw it was from Poldara, and tsked in annoyance.

"He calls me now..." Iremacht grumbled and answered the phone. Bundeswehr crossed his arms and stood by. He had every intention to listen to the conversation.

"Poldara!" Iremacht said in mock cheer. "You'll probably have noticed that I've made progress since our last conversation."

---------------

TU's arms were getting tired from swinging his axes too. He wasn't much of a melee person; he could lug around a machine gun all day just fine but this swash-buckling was taxing. He lit up when Prudoria suggested a draw.

"Great idea!" TU said breathlessly, wiping off some blood that oozed from a graze on his arm from Prudoria's blades. "You're not so bad yourself. A natural, really, with those twin swords. I think we found your weapon of choice. I'm sure that's gonna please Schwitzy."

He hung his axes back on the wall. "It's almost time for lunch. Let's patch up and head to the kitchen. That workout's got me starving."

M:   "Yeah ... progress," Poldara said through gritted teeth, "you sure have a strange definition of progress, bullying my aunt-in-law because Zalia wanted to help you out. I understand that in your line of work you can't trust anyone, but Zal isn't like you and your cousins, she really did want to help, she turned in a bunch of files to me that she was originally planning on giving to you."

Poldara leaned back in his chair and prepared for what was to come, "so here's the deal, I know I said I needed 24 hours, but clearly, things can't wait that long. I'll give it to you bluntly, stop messing with Bel and I'll give you the information, simple as that."

-----

"Yeah, sounds like a plan," Prudoria agreed, hanging up his swords, "I can't wait to see what you guys cook up this time."

Before they could actually leave, a mischievous smirk spread across the country's face, then when TU's back was turned, he surprised him with a sneak attack and knocked him to the ground, restraining his arms and holding his head down.

"Pinned ya," he giggled, "guess that means I win."

L:   "OI! YOU RASCAL!" TU tried to lift himself up but he was firmly pressed to the ground. He growled a bunch of curses but it didn't make things better so he sighed, "Fine. You win. Dirty cheat." Then he smiled. "But I like your style."

-----------

Iremacht smiled. "Perfect. That's all I needed to hear. I'll tell you where to leave the files. Someone will pick them up. Once I get them, I'll be out of Belarus. Oh and tell Zalia ..." Iremacht's grin turned down and his voice went low. "... that infiltrating my bases and my ranks isn't helping. And if this is a scam, Poldara, I will show no mercy to her Smoke Wolves in Belarus."

Bundeswehr tilted his head curiously once Iremacht hung up.

"Damn, you've got beef with the Mandarians too?" He shook his head in disbelief. "Who have you not pissed off? What are these files anyway?"

Iremacht held up his hand. "That's where I draw the line for now, Bundie. Neither you nor the rest of Germany is in danger right now, so don't worry about it." He checked his watch. "I better get going."