N: While they were in the jeeps, swaying side to side, a question, one that he couldn't say earlier because of some duck tape, was on Johann's mind for the majority of the ride, and when they were nearing their destination, he finally looked up from his boots and spoke

"What if Saxon and HRE don't recognise us," the Mandorian asked, "it's been a while since we've last seen them, and what stops them from thinking that we're going to experiment on them?"

M: "Well, considering we're in military uniforms and not lab coats, not to mention Poldara and I are fellow countryhumans, I don't think it will take them too long to figure out that we're here to help them," MA reasoned, "but you are right, everyone's been gone for a long time, I don't know how they will react to us, all we can hope for is that they believe that we just want to help them."

"Uncle, what if I change how your flag looks, just temporarily, then they may be a little bit calmer," Poldara asked.

"Possibly, but I don't know, I think just wearing this will be enough, hopefully," the older Mandarian said, holding up his eyepatch, "I guess we're gonna find out soon enough."

"Alright boys, the mining town is coming up in five minutes, get ready for anything," Russia told them, "we're gonna park the cars a couple of meters away and go in on foot, secure the perimeter, and go in. Remember, the two civilians stay in the middle of the formation, and stay close to the buddy you were assigned with."

N: Wolfgang and Johann complied and nodded, and the next 5 minutes felt like it was going on forever, and only when Russia gave the signal did they actually snap back into reality and followed everyone else as they quietly piled out of the jeeps.

Contrary to popular belief, Johann actually stayed close to his buddy, despite his curious self, and followed them towards the one of the many entrances, only one would actually lead them to their intended target.

M: There were five different entrances so the troops had to be split up to secure and explore them all, Russia and his militant RAF, they took their own troops through the entrances they were sure didn't lead to the hostages, Artemis and another Mandarian lieutenant took the other two entrances, and MA and Poldara led the retrieval team with Johann and Wolfgang.

It wasn't long before the alarm system kicked in, these labs have dealt with law enforcement before, so it was natural for there to be alarms when they entered, that only meant that the soldiers had to work faster to preserve evidence, and make sure that any test subjects wouldn't be terminated. The security guards weren't hard to deal with, they didn't wear any body armor and most of them just surrendered on the spot, but there were still the ones who put up a fight, and had to be eliminated.

When they found the area where Saxon was being held, had the most guards protecting it, so a firefight ensued, the soldiers only suffered two gunshot wounds, and MA was grazed on his arm, so he stayed behind with the majority while Poldara took the rest to enter the holding cells.

There were quite a few cells, clearly Saxon and HRE weren't going to be the only ones resurrected, or worse, created, so they checked one by one to see if there were any other countries, as well as find which one Saxon was in.

N: When they entered the room filled with cages, an eerie sensation shivered down Wolfgang and Johann's spines, worried that something would jump out of the darkness ahead.

Johann and his buddy ventured further in, checking each individual cage. There wasn't anything special, although it was clear that each one looked like it had been occupied.

"I wonder where they all went," the Mandorian muttered to himself as he stared at the unicorn plushie in a cage when he heard a young girl's voice.

Calling out to the man, it cried out for help, so wanting to help, he called his buddy over and jogged over to the far corner of the room, until they reached a dimly lit cage, much larger than the rest.

When he slowly approached the cage, the Mandorian noticed some clattering, and before he could even utter a word to his buddy, his face was suddenly in the bars.

He blinked and saw two brilliantly lime green eyes staring at him, and after a couple seconds he was roughly pushed away, to which his buddy checked to see if he was ok.

"Ja, ja, I'm fi-" Johann began, but when he patted himself down, he noticed that his handgun had disappeared, and he anxiously looked up to see the prisoner pointing the weapon at him, the dim luminosity barely lighting up the flag on his face. A countryhuman.

"FreEeeE- frEE me," the country spoke, however, when he lowered his mechanical jaw, the girl's voice came out, but it seemed to glitch a bit until it settled on a lower male voice, "free me, or you'll die."

M: Johann's buddy instinctively grabbed for his own gun, but thought it better not to make this country feel threatened, so he very slowly slipped it out, making sure that this country saw what he was doing, and tossed it away, hoping the noise would be loud enough for the others to hear.

"Hey, it's ok sir, we're not with the people that have kept you captive," he reassured them, his voice calm and soothing, "we've come here to rescue you and everyone else like you. Please, if you could give my companion back his gun, I promise that we'll free you, and maybe even reunite you with any family or descendents you have."

"Are you guys ok, we heard a thud," Poldara's voice asked, soon followed by his form coming into view of the prisoner, "have you found Saxon?"

"If it is Saxon, then Saxon's just had his jaw removed and replaced," the soldier commented, "be careful, he has Johann's gun."

"Really, sir please put down the gun, we're here to get you out of here, look at me, I'm obviously not with any of the people who work here," Poldara reasoned

N: "No," the country replied firmly, tightening his grip on the gun as he stayed mainly in the shadows, "open the door first."

When the soldier was about to speak, the prisoner shot him in the leg, letting the gunshot echo in the room for a moment before returning his gaze to Poldara.

"Open the door, or it will be his head."

M: Poldara was momentarily shocked, that came out of nowhere, but his instincts kicked in and he snapped his fingers, the gun disappeared from the stranger's hands and reappeared on his own.

"Don't ask, we don't have time for this," he told Johann, "I'll explain later," he pointed to the country, "you however, is that any way to treat the people who have come to get you out of here? My team has traveled hundreds of miles from Europe to Asia just to rescue the countries here and arrest the humans who have put you through so much shit. I get that trust doesn't come easily in this situation, but look at us, we're dressed differently, we speak differently, for fuck sake I am a countryhuman, why in the hell would we be working for these labcoat-wearing monsters?!"

He heard people coming towards them, and saw that it was MA's group, so he quickly explained to them the situation and had some of them take the soldier away to be treated.

"You two keep looking for Saxon and any other prisoners, I'll take care of this one," the militant ordered, sending them off with another soldier. He leaned down to get a good look at the prisoner when his eyes widened, "oh my god, I know you, I've seen your panting in Scotland, your Celtica's husband aren't you? Don't worry, I'm good friends with her, we'll get you out of here, just sit tight while we figure out the code for the lock."

N: "Celtica," he muttered, his eyes betraying his own surprise before narrowing them. Stepping further into the cage, the country watched cautiously as soldiers approached the lock as they slowly tried to figure out the code. After a lot of trial and error, there was a satisfying ping of the lock opening.

Not even a moment to lose, he leapt forward and barged the door open, slamming it against the soldiers as he observed everyone, and now everyone could see him more clearly in the light.

His silver hair a complete mess and his clothes dirtied and ragged, what was the most noticeable thing was his jaw. Completely made from mechanical parts, it seemed to continue down to his neck and disappear behind his vest, and when he opened his mouth, there was no clear sign of anything remotely organic left of the inside of his mouth.

"Who are you," he demanded, his hands balled up into a fist, to which the others noticed a glint of light from his fists; metal rounding off his knuckles.

M: "Trust me, you were long dead by the time I came around, telling you my name isn't going to mean anything to you, but I'll do it anyway for courtesy," MA said, signaling his men to stand down but keep alert, "I am Mandara Army, though my birth name is Derogan. I only know about you from word of mouth and history books, but I wasn't lying when I said I'm good friends with your wife and descendants, I promise I'll explain more, but we can't linger here, the lab hasn't been secured yet so the people keeping you here are still a threat."

He tried to think of something that would prove to this country that he was friend and not foe, and smiled as he thought about it, "Caledonia, I remember something Celtica used to say about you, something that when she was down would always lift her spirits. She told a story of when you first introduced her to Nessie, that the creature was jealous you had another girl in your life, so she snatched you up in her mouth and wouldn't let you go until she promised not to take you away from her. She always said that she never really told anyone but those closest to her about that moment, so, is that enough to prove to you that all I want is to bring you back to her, to reunite you with her?"

"I swear on my wings that we do not wish you harm, but only to bring you home at last."

N: Caledonia's face softened at the story as he looked down at his fist and unballed his hand.

"You should have started off with that, Mandara Army," he spoke more softly, although there was a bit of a rasp from the jaw doing its job, "aig toil (please)...take me out of here."

M: "We will, that's why we came in this first place," MA reassured him, he then had two soldiers step up, "follow these two out to the surface, we have more people waiting and a small station set up to tend to any injuries you have, once we have found all captives we'll take you all to our base of operations. You'll be staying there for a couple of days for observation just to be absolutely sure that you're fit to travel long distances, and we'll go from there."

The two soldiers carefully led Caledonia out of the room and to freedom, and MA had the rest of his troops scour the cells for more countries, he just hoped they wouldn't be as confrontational as the celt.

N: As they searched the cells, Wolfgang could hear gentle 'thumps' further away, so he decided to walk cautiously towards the sound.

When he had finally arrived, his eyes widened in shock before kneeling down. There before him was Saxon himself, lying down and exhausted as the gentle thumps kept on going.

"Saxon, it's me, Wolfgang," the man whispered, to which the country opened his eyes a smidge before instantly backing himself into a corner, his wild eyes staring at the human.

"H-how," the other stuttered, "y-y-you're dead. I'm supposed to be dead. Am I dead?"

"Nein, you're alive and-" Wolfgang began until he stopped, noticing that the thumps began to speed up, to which the Saxon realised that the sound was an actual heartbeat. He could literally hear his heart from outside the cage.

"Guys, I've found him," he quickly called out, keeping an eye on the country the entire time.

M: MA looked towards Wolfgang's voice, his group had just found Japanese Empire and was helping her out of her cell, which was close enough to hear the shout, so jogged over to see what was up.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes, Saxon," he said when he saw the said entity, "I doubt you recognize me, I don't remember when we changed our flag, but it's me Derogan, now Mandara Army, and we're here to get you out."

N: Saxon just stared at MA, trying to make sense of it all, but he just shook his head.

"I don't believe you," he replied quietly, his eyes darting to see if he could find an exit, "you could be that scientists' pet. And you two," he pointed at Johann and Wolfgang, "are supposed to be dead. Nein, it makes more sense that I'm dead too. Dead in this cruel twisted hell."

M: "I suppose it would, but considering that obnoxiously loud beating, I'd think you're probably still kicking," MA muttered, but a smile crossed his face, "you remember when we first met you, back when Mandara and I were still kids, I think my favorite part about that unexpected visit was when we brought home Edel. He kept sitting on everyone in sight and even played catch with you, literally, wasn't that also the day that Celtica got you to start believing in Nessie, how did she do that again, didn't she threaten to make Edel sit on you?"

"Uncle, we found where they are holding HRE," Poldara suddenly said as he ran up to MA with Johann, "oh good, you found Saxon, were there any other countries?"

"One second, Blue-Jay, Saxon needs a bit more convincing," MA stated, he then took off his eyepatch and slid it over to Saxon, "do you at least remember that, the crest of a family that rescued you from harm, well, that family wants to do it again if you'll let us, you just have to trust me."

N: Saxon glanced at the eyepatch then back at MA, deciding what to do, then he turned to Wolfgang, "is he telling the truth?"

"Huh," the Saxon raised a brow, "he literally just showed you proof. Do you still not believe him?"

"Of course not, I'm not a fool," the country replied, "as long as he is a countryhuman, I don't believe him. Now, swear that he's telling the truth."

"I swear on my right arm that he is who he says he is."

Satisfied by the promise, Saxon slowly pulled himself up to his feet, waiting to be freed.

M: "Understandable," MA grumbled, motioning for his men to let out Saxon. He wouldn't show it, but not being believed by the former entity hurt him more than with Caledonia, as he considered the Saxon to be true family, but he knew what captivity did to people, he just needed some time on the outside to clear his head.

"For what it's worth, Saxon, I've sure missed you, a lot of people have," he told him, "you should have seen your family when they heard of your death, so incredibly devastated. Anglo, well, he's been shattered for centuries, now that you're back, maybe you can help each other wake up from your nightmares."

He patted the other's shoulder, telling him to stick with the soldiers and they would lead him out, then followed his nephew and brother to rescue, hopefully, their last captive.

N: When they had finally reached the room HRE was kept in, both Wolfgang and Johann had to take a moment to appreciate the room. With several tanks, most of them empty, and in the centre was a control panel with various tech scattered around, in the brightly lit room, they had to respect the handiwork, even if what happened there was terrible.

HRE was easy to spot, with his large black wings blocking most of the light in his tank, so a couple soldiers went there to see how to free him. However, there was another occupied tank, standing out like a sore thumb in the room of empty tanks, so the pair and the Saxon's buddy went to investigate.

Walking over to the mystery country's tank, Johann read the plaque attached to it:

'Hibernia

Male

Died at least 1500 years ago

Related to subject 0417'

"Huh," Wolfgang hummed as he walked beside Johann, "sort of looks like Caledonia, but instead of the purple, he's half green."

M: "O417 was written on Caledonia's cell, Celtica never really talked about his family, guess this must be his brother," MA assumed, "there are so many more countries here than Russia said there were, what have we found so far, five?"

"Six, Johann and I freed a country that I've never seen before," Poldara corrected it was a youngish girl that looked like a mix between Saxon and JE, with his flag and her tiger markings and body parts. I don't know what to make of it, I think the scientist here got bored one day and decided to play around, damn monsters."

He then took a look at the control panel on Hibernia's tank, it said that he wasn't stable enough to come out of the tank yet, and that he needed another couple of days to be able to survive. Poldara wasn't sure how accurate this was, he talked to his cousin Johann yesterday and he gave a guesstimation that HRE should have been ready by now, and if he was the newest one then Hibernia should have been more than ready to be released.

"I say we just turn off the anaesthesia for now, we'll see how they react and if it looks like they can manage outside the tanks then we'll let them out, if not then we'll have to think of something else."

N: When Poldara had switched off the anaesthesia supply to HRE and Hibernia, and for a moment there was nothing.

Then suddenly thrashing came from HRE's tank, and as they rushed to see, they watched as the German struggled to get everything off him, his eyes wide in panic as he clawed at his mask.

Meanwhile Hibernia was still docile, his eyes only opened a bit, revealing his sunset orange irises as he peered at the people in front of him.

"Looks like he is fine," Wolfgang stated before rushing to the winged country, "however, this one is a different story."

M: Poldara nodded and pushed a button that would let the countries in the tank hear him, "Please calm down HRE, I know you're scared and confused but we're going to get you out of there and out of this facility, you too Mr. Hibernia, but please don't hurt yourselves while we figure out how to get you out of there."

MA tried to vibrate his wings to calm the German eternal, he wasn't sure if he could feel them underwater but he wasn't sure what else he could do.

Poldara had to facetime Johann and have him figure out how everything worked, and once it was explained they drained HRE's tank. He couldn't open the tank until he was sure the older country wouldn't panic, it took a good while to gain his trust, but once he had it he opened the tank and had MA detach the mask and medical sensors.

"Easy there, you're going to hurt yourself if you keep moving around," the militant hushed, removing the oxygen mask, "I will say that it's nice to see you again, you don't recognise me because I changed my flag, but I'm Derogan, son of Mandoria."

N: HRE just stared at MA, all seven eyes open in confusion, until he noticed that he was getting strange looks from the other soldiers. Raising his hand to his face, he quickly realised that he didn't have his veil, and being too tired to summon one, he just closed five of his eyes and only left his 'normal' ones open.

"You've...grown," he pointed out as he was helped out of the tank and quickly wrapped with a towel to dry himself off.

When he tried, and failed, to raise his wings to shake the tank fluid off, his shoulders fell as he reached for his back and felt where his left wings used to be. In turn, his right wings also fell to the floor, "my wings..."

M: "I know buddy, I know, you didn't get your prosthetics yet, it's gonna hurt for a bit but it'll be ok," MA comforted him, pulling him aside to sit him down and help him dry, "a lot of time has passed since ... since you passed, now we have the ability to make you new wings, they won't be perfect and it'll be difficult to learn how to fly with them, but I hope it gives you some peace of mind."

While MA handled HRE, Poldara was holding his phone out so Johann could determine if it was safe to let Hibernia. Everything seemed to point to him being stable enough to remove from the tank, at least long enough for them to get him to the infirmary back at the base, but Poldara wanted to be extra sure.

"Sir, I want to help you out of there, but I know that the tank you are in has been what's keeping you alive since you've been brought back from the dead, like the womb of a mother keeps her baby alive," Poldara told him, "I don't want to take you out of there too early, I don't know if you could sustain yourself outside, so I need to know, did the people here ever let you out at any point in time, or do you feel like you are strong enough to be released?"

N: Hibernia slowly raised his hands and gave Poldara the thumbs up, and although it wasn't certain which question he was answering, the Mandarian took it as the go ahead and emptied his tank.

As soon as the tank was empty, he leaned against the glass container, ripping the mask off his face as he took in some deep breaths. Despite this, the Celt seemed to be faring well, and he gladly watched as Johann went in to help him out.

"The language you speak is English, correct," he asked as his medical sensors were removed, and he smiled, "it's a good thing they made me listen and learn your language in this tank, otherwise I would have not understood what you said."

M: "Yeah, I'm kinda glad too, though I do find it interesting that the humans here were speaking English and not Russian," Poldara commented, "we'll worry about that later, for now, let's just get you out of here, and I do believe we just freed your brother earlier, so at least there will be a small Celtic reunion there."

He and MA made sure the two countries were all dried off and were given some clothes that they brought, though one soldier did have to sacrifice his outerwear since they weren't expecting two people to be in the tanks. The men did a final sweep of the tank room and the cell room, and only when they were certain that there was no one else, did the Mandarian troops head back to the surface, the full moon and many spotlights lighting up the area. There was a large group of scientists and security guards who were detained and being watched over by some of Russia's troops, he and RAF were discussing a few things when they saw the Mandarians return.

"There is a makeshift infirmary in one of the more structurally sound buildings, take these two there for an initial check-up, then we'll take them and the other back to base, so make sure to let them know what cars are, I don't want anyone having a panic attack and possibly hurting themselves," the Russian man ordered.