M:   Mandara opened his mouth to respond, but Iremacht had already left, so he turned his attention to Wehrmacht, "I'm still not happy that you let Poldara wander off, I gave you another chance to watch him but you blew it, why, I thought as a father you would be more responsible around him, do you just not like kids anymore or something?"

Belarus huffed and went to stand by Mandara and Poland, also wanting to hear his excuse for this.

-----

Russia and Kaz took Poldara to get some ice cream, then the three wandered in between the games so the kid could have a little fun while he was here. Poldara had calmed down now and was starting to enjoy himself again, though Kaz and Russia stayed very close to him and were on high alert for the teens.

"Ooh, let's try this one next," Poldara said, pointing to a booth. It was a dart game, where players had to am small darts at a target, which, since it was the soviet independence day, was shaped like Ussr.

Russia chuckled, "oh I am going to have fun with this one."

"Absolutely," Kaz agreed, they both hated their dad for what he did to Mandara so they were going to enjoy every bit of this.

L:   It took Iremacht and France some time to find Russia, Kazakhstan, and Poldara. It was easy to get directions because all the humans remembered if they passed by three countryhumans but it took a while because they'd wandered pretty far away. France finally spotted the trio at a dart booth; she and Iremacht stopped to observe them a few feet away.

"Well, that isn't subtle at all," France chuckled when she recognized the shape of Ussr as the target.

Iremacht didn't pay much attention to that detail. Poldara looked happy, so Iremacht just stood there and let the kid have his way with the darts for a bit. France, realizing that Iremacht wasn't moving, decided to go up to them first.

"Russia, Kaz, Poldara!" she called. "We came looking for you. The others want you back at Mandoria's statue."

Iremacht took a deep breath. He smiled at Poldara but addressed Russia, "If you could stay back with France and I, Russia ... I have a few words."

-----

"I wanted to give those two more time with each other," Wehrmacht said. "Previously, it's always been with an adult nearby. I thought maybe if Iremacht was alone with Poldara, it would make him act more responsibly because there would be no other adults to rely on. I know it doesn't make sense - how could you expect someone whose barely out of his teenage years to behave on his own? But I was just hoping ..."

M:   "You were just hoping to make Iremacht a better person," Belarus grumbled, "I hate to break it to you Wehrmacht, but he is not. Sure he is nice when he is near Poldara, but in case you haven't noticed, he is nothing but a nuisance to other countries. Rus has told me about his involvement in the problems in Moscow, he creates unrest for countries to pay him to fix it, he even let it slip that he 'could cause a riot any day' when we were talking about Ukraine! It's time to wake up Wehrmacht because you thinking you can change your son is only hurting everyone around you!"

"Belarus, that's enough," Mandara spat, "this is as much your fault as it is his, you could have gone with them but you didn't, now I don't want to hear another word out of you about Iremacht, understood?!"

Belarus growled at Mandara, then stormed away, giving Wehrmacht one last death stare as she did.

-----

Russia and Kaz looked over to the two, then Kaz pulled out his phone to check the time, "well no wonder, it's almost noon, you better hurry Poldara or we'll miss MA's flyover."

"Ok, just one more dart," Poldara said, he took aim and threw the dart, it hit right in the middle of Soviet's eyepatch, "Yes, I won!"

As Poldara was picking out a prize, Russia walked over to Iremacht, "can't this wait, I came to get away from my capital's unrest, I don't want to talk about it while I'm here."

L:   Iremacht had to crane his neck to stare up at the Russian. It wasn't the best; he hated feeling small.

"I just want to clear things up," he said in a low voice. "I'm pulling my agents out of your city. Any unrest that occurs after that has nothing to do with me." He turned to France. "You can have half your trucks back."

France raised her eyebrow. "Half?" She was not pleased with that offer, but she didn't have as much leverage as Russia did.

-----

Wehrmacht winced as Belarus stomped away.

"Please don't blame her," he said. "It's all on me. I know how volatile Machty is, I just purposefully turn a blind eye because I refuse to believe it in my own son. He's dangerous." He sighed. "I guess this visit has opened a lot of people's eyes."

"Machty seems to be more reserved ..." Germany said slowly, "... around Russia."

"Everyone's more reserved around Russia," Wehrmacht said. "The Mandarians are probably the few countries that can act normally around him."

M:   Russia contemplated the offer, considering what Iremacht's agents had done already, it wouldn't make much of a difference if he called them off.

"That won't change anything Iremacht," The Russian said, crossing his arms, "you and your agents have merely planted the seed of the unrest, now it has grown into an uncontrollable thorn bush. If you really wanted to 'clear things up' then I would expect you to help me trim back the bush."

"Hey guys, look what I won," Poldara said as he and Kaz walked up to the group, the kid held up a plushie of a pink dragon, "it is Empyr, he is the guardian spirit of courage, and it growls when you squish it." Poldara then squished the plush and it made a small roar noise, "isn't that so cool?"

-----

Poland and Mandara chuckled, "well considering he helped save my life so many years ago, I have no reason to be afraid of him." Mandara said.

"He is a big teddy bear once you get to know him," Poland added, "underneath that intimidating mask is an overgrown kid who loves to have fun and pull pranks."

"Though speaking of him, he and the others better come back or they're going to miss the flyover,"

L:   Iremacht was going to retort when Poldara came in and squished the adorable plushie he'd won. The militant's frown instantly flipped upside down.

"It is very cool," he said, poking the plushie. "Wise choice. Empyr suits you well and I'm sure he'll give you even more courage than you already have. Better yet, he can fly too, so think about him when you fly high and break records."

Poldara's entrance had been a much-needed break for Iremacht. Still, he knew there was no escaping the inevitable with Russia and France; he was sandwiched between tensions on both sides - tensions that he wanted to dispel before Poldara picked up on them.

So he said simply, first to France, "All of them back." And then to Russia, "Fine."

France smiled in satisfaction. "We should head back then."