L:   "He's literally a supercharged battery," Iremacht commented, shaking his head.

"You were close to that when you were his age, you know," said  Wehrmacht. "I marveled at the amount of energy you had. And still have."

They started walking back to the Mandarian estate. Iremacht walked next to his father this time, which made Wehrmacht secretly happy.

"Like I said, that amount of energy will turn anyone into a war machine," Iremacht said, keeping his voice low so MA and Poldara wouldn't hear. "It turned me into one ..."

"Are you scared for Poldara?"

Iremacht stiffened. "... No. His dads and MA are good guardians." Wehrmacht winced but Iremacht didn't notice and continued, "They won't let Poldara turn into me."

"Poldara might become a militant. Just like you."

"Yeah. But at least he won't become a criminal."

As they neared the estate, Wehrmacht's wing brushed his son's arm. "I know I'm not the best teacher or parent. But perhaps spending time with Poldara will guide you better than I ever could."

M: "Poldara you need to calm down before we go inside, France should be here by now and I don't want you charging in there like Poland's Winged Hussars," MA said as he tried to hold Poldara back from stampeding into the estate, he had one hand holding the hood of his nephew's jacket and his other holding his right-wing.

"But Uncle, I want to tell dads what happened," Poldara whined, trying to yank out of MA's grip.

"They're not going anywhere, I swear to the gods I am never letting  you near my coffee again." MA grunted, then he looked back to the  Germans, "Iremacht, you've had way too much influence on my nephew."

L: "That was my intention," Iremacht smirked, walking past MA and into the estate. He patted Poldara's head as he went, as if giving the kid encouragement.

"Hope it will turn into good influence in the end," Wehrmacht said to MA. He remembered what Iremacht admitted on energy turning into a war machine and pursed his lips. "Try playing it cool, Poldara. Walk in swaggering and confident ... I sound like America right now, huh."

Inside the estate, Germany could hear the militants coming back from the training grounds and rolled his eyes at the noise.

M: Poldara looked downright confused about what Wehrmacht said, MA sharing his expression.  "Out of all the people that would say that, you are beyond the bottom of the list Wehrmacht, do you even know what 'swagger' means?"  the militant commented.

"I don't even know what it means," Poldara said, but he decided not to ask. 

The kid, however, did decide that he was going to calm down a little and he stopped trying to rush inside, which caused MA to finally let go of him.  The Mandarians followed the Germans inside and MA stopped dead in his tracks when he saw who was waiting for them.

"Hello, Orion," greeted a female Slavic country.

"B-Belarus,"  MA said in disbelief.

Belarus smiled and waved at him, and he responded by walking up to her and hugging her.

"Bel, what are you doing here?  I didn't know you were coming,"

"It was a surprise for you, Mandara invited me"

MA chuckled at his brother's sneaky move and just hugged her tightly with arms and wings, completely forgetting about the Germans and Poldara watching.

L: Both Wehrmacht and Iremacht were just as surprised as MA but for a different reason. When the Mandarians had visited Germany, they'd joked about MA's love life. It seemed a lot had progressed since then.

Wehrmacht began to say, "So MA, care to introduce us to your new girlfrie—"

"Yo Belarus," Iremacht interrupted. "Did this guy do his mating flare on you or what?"

"Machty!" Wehrmacht scolded.

"Just wondering." Then Iremacht realized Poldara was in the room and swore under his breath.

M: Both Belarus and MA were utterly shocked by what Iremacht said, more so because they forgot people were watching.  They immediately stopped hugging and took a few steps away from each other, both of their faces flushing in embarrassment.

"No, his wings were hurt when I found him, or, he found me more accurately," Belarus clarified, "he was injured in an ambush when he was fighting Ukraine.  He had actually suffered from amnesia and ended up dragging himself nearly thirty miles into my country looking for help."

"And we've been great friends ever since," MA piped in, "there is absolutely nothing going on between us, right Bel."

"Yep, nothing between us," she agreed, though a flicker of disappointment flashed in her eyes.

Poldara on his end had left to tell his dads what happened today, he didn't care for the mushy stuff that was going on with the other adults.

L: "Absolutely nothing?" Wehrmacht asked. "That sounds like something you always say, Machty, when I press you on Bundeswehr -"

"Shut up," Iremacht hissed. "This isn't about me." He turned back to MA and Belarus. "But I look forward to seeing you two on a date when the celebration starts. Speaking of which, Belarus, since you're here, has France arrived yet?"

"That would be something to ask Mandara," Germany piped up as he walked to the group. "Belarus just got here and I've been in the backyard socializing with the pets for the most part."

M: MA was blushing brighter than a stoplight and suddenly felt really hot in his uniform, he adjusted the collar in a futile attempt to cool off, he was always like this whenever people talk about him and Belarus.

Belarus noticed his discomfort and jumped at the chance to change the subject, "yeah she's here, I think she's with Mandara in his office, she mentioned something about a trading problem but I didn't hear anything else, I don't know when they will be back out though."

L: Iremacht froze for a second. He quickly recovered himself, but Wehrmacht detected the initial tension. His son plastered on a smile, nodded at Belarus in thanks for the information, and started walking towards one of the halls.

"Wait, Machty, where are you going?" Wehrmacht called.

Iremacht just waved his hand without looking back and went searching for Mandara's office. His pace quickened - running would be too suspicious. He needed to get to France. That trading problem was no small issue.

M: Both Belarus and MA saw Iremacht tense as well, Belarus simply found it odd but the resident militant knew something was up.  He had no idea how Wehrmacht seemed to not notice it since he was also a militant, but it was not something he was going to let slide by. He started to follow Iremacht but it was Belarus's turn to ask where he was going.

"Iremacht is up to something," MA said, quietly so he wouldn't alert the young militant, "you talking about the trading issues triggered something for him, and I'm going to find out what."

MA then resumed following Iremacht without another word, but he stayed far behind to remain undetected.

-----

"-I don't understand how they went missing France, there should have been tracking devices on those trucks," Mandara said.

He and France were indeed in his home office, they were discussing the whereabouts of several missing trucks of trading goods.  Mandara was worried, the last time this happened he lost export with Ireland, he really didn't want that to happen again with a country who helped him so much in the past.

L: "Those were a lot of valuable items that I paid for," France said, crossing her arms. She wanted to believe Mandara but the supplies she had bought had been very expensive. Especially the petroleum. "All I know is that several truck-fulls have disappeared and I -"

"Am I interrupting something?" Iremacht appeared at the office doorway. He had caught onto the last part of France's words.

"Oh," France said. Her demeanor was serious before; it was even more so now. "Bonjour Iremacht. I see you're also here for Mandara's Independence Day?"

"So it would seem," Iremacht replied coolly. He eyed Mandara, then looked back at France with a tight smile. "When you're finished, I'd like a word."

Then he walked back down the hall. He hadn't noticed that MA had followed him.

M: Mandara stared at the doorway for a bit, wondering what that was all about, but he shook it off for the more important matter at hand.

"I understand that you paid a lot of money for those goods, France," he said, "believe me when I say that I have no idea where they are.  I promise I'm not trying to scam you or anything, I wouldn't do that after everything you did for me and Thunder during the Cold War.  I swear on my wings I will figure this out and find those trucks, and if I can't, then I promise to have them replaced or completely refund them."

Mandara was so tired of all these inconveniences that kept popping up out of nowhere, all he wanted to do was enjoy his independence day with his friends and family, but it seemed fate had other ideas.

"Please France, I know this is a very important matter, but can it please wait till after my independence day," Mandara begged, rubbing his forehead in exasperation, "I already have so much on my plate with the day alone and I just can't deal with anything else, please."

-----

MA saw Iremacht walk up to Mandara's office, he hid behind a corner to hopefully eavesdrop a little, but as soon as the German was at the doorway, he left and started walking back his way.  There was no way MA could hide in time, so he tried to play it off like he wasn't sneaking around, he stepped out from the corner with a professional posture and pretended to be surprised when he 'spotted' Iremacht.

"Iremacht, fancy seeing you here," he said with mock surprise, "did you come to check out the trade issues too?"

L: France sighed and uncrossed her arms. She knew how much the independence day meant to Mandara and she didn't want to ruin her old friend's day any longer. She smiled reassuringly and said, "C'est bon. It's nothing urgent so no need to fret about it. I want you to enjoy your important day. You look so tired, I should've noticed sooner." She started towards the door. "Take a small break, Mandara. You'll feel much more refreshed."

-----

Iremacht kept his face blank when MA startled him by stepping around the corner.

"Yes, I did," Iremacht replied nonchalantly. "They seem to be handling it fine. I was going to find Poldara now since he wasn't with Mandara. I wonder if he might be with Poland then?"

Iremacht glanced back at the door to Mandara's office and saw France stepping out. He narrowed his eyes but said cheerily to MA, "Ah, it looks like they solved their problem!"

M: "So it does," MA agreed, "now if you'll excuse me."

He walked past Iremacht without another word and simply nodded to France.  When he looked into Mandara's office, he was surprised to find his brother huddled on the ground hiding in his wings.

"Trigger, is everything ok?" The militant asked, kneeling in front of Mandara.

"Trigger is not accepting phone calls right now," Mandara muttered from behind his feathers, "leave a message at the beep."

MA chuckled and sat down, running his hand along his brother's feathers, "well, can you tell him that I was wondering what happened between him and France, and why he's hiding in feather town?"

It was Mandara's turn to chuckle, albeit ruefully.  He then explained, "some shipping trucks have gone missing and France is not happy about it, Trigger thinks she thinks he tried to scam her but he's not sure, now he's hiding in feather town because it is a lot less stressful in here."

MA pursed his lips a bit, this was like deja vu all over again, "well, can you tell him that he's not alone in this and that I'm here to help him?"

"Maybe, but right now he doesn't feel like coming out, so you're going to have to wait." the country said.

MA shook his head in amusement and very slowly pried open his brother's wings a crack, "Then is it ok if I join him, I don't want him to get lonely."

Mandara looked up from his arms and nodded ever-so-slightly, so MA scooted under his wings and they both just hugged each other for a while.