Empire

Chapter 43

Russia's POV:

I sat down, looking at the two dying bodies in front of me. If I were to guess, they haven't got long with the frequent drug use. And I'm the one feeding it to them. To be honest, I have been getting into some of the drugs myself.

It's only right to poison myself when I'm poisoning others. I stood over France and loosened her restraints. She was still asleep and I would tighten the restraints later. The restraints tend to slow the blood flow which makes it difficult for the drugs to work. So it was normal for me to loosen them.

I picked up a small needle filled with a depressant. Without really thinking, I stuck it into my arm and injected the liquid. I felt a sense of relief and I slumped down into my chair. I looked upon the shallow-breathing bodies laying in front of me.

Suddenly the door began to open and I quickly threw the needle into the bin. England walked in. He seemed nervous and severely pale. He sat down on the ground next to me.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Uh... Ukraine may not be... sain," He muttered.

"Tell me about it," I mumbled.

"He was going to kill Canada and then he threw up," England explained.

"Threw up? Let me guess, it was some kind of radioactive liquid," I joked.

"Yes!" He said.

"Knew it," I mumbled in victory.

"I think he's dying," He muttered in shock.

"Nah, he is Radio-immune. Sometimes when he is stressed he throws up. He'll be fine," I brushed it aside.

"This is normal?!" He shouted.

"Keep your voice down, and the answer is sort of." I sighed.

"Sort of?"

"Well, usually he doesn't throw up radioactive liquid. That is something that happened to him years ago but never since. It's possible that Nada poisoned him or that during his time in the Australian Empire, someone built another cooling plant" I explained.

"Why are you so f#cking calm!"

"You need to calm down or we'll get in trouble," I managed to calm him down.

"I don't understand any of this. I was unconscious for so many years and now this?" England murmured.

"You will get used to this. Unfortunately."

We sat quietly together for a while. Kind of contemplating everything. I tried to think back to the happier days when everyone was in charge of themselves more or less. I know that everyone is a little corrupt but this is going way too far.

"Do you have any drugs to make me forget all of this?" England asked in a sigh. He looked tired and ran down. As much as I wanted to help him, I wasn't going to let him turn out like me.

"No," I lied.

England just sighed and looked over at France. I looked down at him, sitting on the floor. I felt bad for him. He had seen too much, yet, at the same time, not enough.

When I first saw him, I thought this Empire was going to eat him alive, but now, he seems to have a fighting chance.

Ireland's POV:

If I was told to identify where I am on a map, I wouldn't be able to tell. Wherever I was, it didn't seem right.

The room I was in seemed empty aside for a small desk in the very corner. Aside from the awful and tacky wallpaper, the place seemed rather neat and homely.

But how did I end up here?

I was talking to Australia as we were walking to his office. We entered and I sat down on a nice couch. Australia told me that he had printed something out and needed me to go collect it from the printing room. So I had agreed and walked off before asking where the printing room was.

So I got lost. Very lost. But, adventure doesn't come without its challenges. I walked up to the desk and saw several neatly stacked documents and there was what looked like some kind of blueprint.

The documents seemed to discuss a form of AI which has the ability to regulate nuclear energy and send it to a remote receiver. In other words, the regulation of a nuclear source powers a weapon that looks like it could wipe out earth.

I picked up the blueprint to take a closer look, but a door seemed to open and someone walk in.

"What are you doing?" Japan asked.

"I was just looking for the printing room," I explained calmly.

"It's in the next room over. But more importantly, why are you looking at confidential blueprints?" Japan asked, clarifying her previous question.

"They just caught my eye, I guess." I answered

"How much do you understand of the blueprints?" She asked. I just shrugged in response.

"I know you looked at it. Tell me what it is," She demanded.

"It's a doomsday device," I answered.

"You know your stuff. Look, the weaponized AI is so close to being fully complete. Australia aims to fire that thing at New Zealand, but according to the maths, it would wipe out the whole world. I need you to sabotage it. It's on the top floor in the danger marked room," Japan said before leaving.

How dare she!? Not even Australia's wife thinks that he is a good person. Planning to ruin all that he has worked for. My son is not evil. He is good, with only good intentions.

I walked into the next room as Japan had said, where the printing room was. I found a stack of freshly printed pages and I quickly scooped them up and headed back to Australia. I knocked on the door, but I let myself in anyway.

"Here are the papers," I explained.

"Good," He mumbled.

"Hey... How often do you get people sabotaging your machines?"

"Too often. It's bloody NZE," Australia grumbled.

"What if I told you it wasn't? And that I know who it is?"

Australia looked up from what he was doing and looked me in the eyes.

"Go on," He commanded.