{ 𝐓𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 }

{ 19: Shards }

North Korea and the Philippines tip-toed into a secret base atleast an hour away from the city, which they went to by car, of course.

"Ah.. is this safe?" The filipino whispered anxiously, not wanting to get caught. It'll basically ruin his whole reputation if this gets out. "I dont know," North shrugged as he peaked through the corner, checking if someone is there. "Just wear this mask and hat, for goodness sakes, and follow my lead." North handed him a mask and a hat, wanting for him to be quiet so he could concentrate. Philip felt a bit uneasy but put it on anyway.

North signalled for him to follow and they walked quietly across the hall. Fortunately not much people were around. Philip found it a bit weird. "Why isnt anyone around?" Philip asked. He couldnt hold in the question. "Because theyre busy trying to strike down my jets." The korean replied with a quiet snicker.

Philippines rolled his eyes. North opened this door, and thankfully no one was in there. Their eyes landed on a lone carpet on the floor. "Why would there be a nice carpet? It doesnt even fit the aesthetic of this roo-"

North kicked the carpet and it revealed secret underground doorway, Philip gasped. "Woah.." he said. North chuckled with pride. "Do you hear that?" He held his hand out to signal for Philip to keep still.

"Yeah.." The southeast asian said. There were the sounds of talking, probably around three people in there. "If theres a possibility China is here, then we have to knock those guys out." North handed him a gun that he got from his back pocket. Philip hesistated but took it anyway. "Is this loaded?" He touched it.

"Yes, but just hit them in the head. We dont want anything too noisy." North opened the doorway and there was a staircase. He took a deep breath before walking down, Phil following.

At the bottom there was a door. North put his index finger on his lip to get an idea of the conversation.

"Yeah. Tsk, its pretty stupid of you to enter our country." A man said. "Shut it with your bickering." Another one said. North looked at Philip with confirmation before opening the door, when he got it, he opened it and flung to the nearest man.

"Hey!" The other one said as he pointed a gun to him, North muttered something to himself as he knocked the man out. Before the other one could shoot North Philip flung at him and hit him on the head with the gun, and he fell over. Philip sighed as he punched his stomach.

"China, look at the mess you've made." North said teasingly with a smirk as he took off the duct tape from his mouth. China groaned in pain, as he licked his lips. "Ah.. a whole day without talking and having this on my mouth." China complained. "A little help?" He nodded over to his legs and arms that were tied to the chair.

"I must say, this is a very stupid idea to be taping me to the chair. Is this the only thing America has?" China grumbled. North took out a pocket knife and started cutting the tape carefully, not wanting to cut China's hands.

"Are you not suprised Im here?" North furrowed his eyebrows as he took off the tape, and went to his legs. "No. Id knew you'd come, thanks to dear Pearl. Such a big help." He praised with a sly smirk as he stared at Philip who stood there watching. "Jee, thanks." The filipino rolled his eyes with sarcasm. He hated praise when it came from countries he didnt like, but nevertheless, praise is praise.

"What made you decide to rescue me?" China got up from the chair as soon as North took the tape from his legs, and threw it to the corner, placing the pocket knife back in its case and into the pocket. "The need to see Martial Law, of course." Philip crossed his arms.

"Oh why of course." China walked up to him and placed his hand on his shoulder. "We'll see him as soon as we get out of this mess." He gave a wink and walked up the stairs.