When they know- Two -APH-

America put his coffee down, temporarily debating with himself if it would be better to go outside for this call or if it would be better to stay inside for it. He weighed his options- the streets of DC had people going about their daily lives, how many of them had seen the news report? Did he want to risk the extra attention? At least the damage was done in the café. What would a little oil on the fire do? So he took a deep breath and spoke into the phone.

"Hello, Arthur."

"How did this get out? What did you do?"

"This isn't my fault! I didn't do anything!"

"It was your people! Your news reporters always stick their noses where they don't belong. Now look what happened! THE ENTIRE WORLD KNOWS ABOUT ALL OF US."

"Hold up! How do we know it's 'all of us'? Maybe it's just… us? They only showed our pictures…."

"Have you looked it up online?"

"Arthur, its 8:30 am here. I only saw the news report on the television at the coffee shop."

"Didn't think so. All of us are there! ALL. It's like someone rigged the last world conference... No. in fact… In fact I think they did. I see the ketchup stain on your shirt from after lunch…."

If America could turn anymore pale than he already was, he did. He looked at the news report again that was continuing to go into detail, at this point they were bringing up photos of the others. The Italy brothers, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Austria, Russia, even Prussia.

"We need to have an emergency world meeting. Tomorrow morning."

"Where?"

"Well, considering last time we were in the New York conference room it was bugged, I'll see you in London. Don't be late this time." And then there was a click. America grumbled under his breath as he stood up, throwing away the rest of the coffee.

"Al- America, Is everything going to be okay?" Jordan's voice broke the silence once more. America was almost relieved; he had underestimated how much a familiar, non-accusing voice could do for someone.

"Uh, you can still just call me Al," he said with a smile, trying to keep his spirits up. Hell, he was with his people now. He couldn't be down. He couldn't be sad. He had to be as bright as he normally was- even more so now that he had people to reassure, "And yeah. Everything will be A-OK!" He smiled before turning towards the door, pausing a moment before hunching into his jacket more. He had to get back home as quickly as possible. He opened the door, letting it jingle before hustling towards his house.

-S-

The world conference meeting was, in one word: chaotic. In two words: massively chaotic. There was an air of urgency in the room, yet it seemed as if no one really knew what the urgency meant, how to treat it, or what to do with it. There hadn't even been an order to this conference when it started.

England had gotten there first, and as soon as Francis arrived they had begun talking. Then Germany came into the mix with Italy and then Spain and Romano. And it grew. It grew into nations arriving and talking about what had happened and what to do next, and as the volume in the room escalated, the chaos did as well- all before anyone even took a seat.

But there was one thing that could silence an otherwise unruly crowd. And that was the man who they held responsible for their excitement. America, naturally late to meetings, barely had to step into the doorway before a silence fell over everyone. His brother, on the other hand, was able to easily slip in beside America, unseen and out of the spot light.

"Uh, hey guys…" America said sheepishly, he tried to smile as brightly as he normally did, "Um, sorry for being late."

There was a silence as the eyes stayed on America. Their secret… the secret they had all worked for centuries to keep had been revealed in a matter of seconds, "So, what are you going to do about this?" England crossed his arms, "Do you have any plans?"

"Hold up a minute," the glimmer of defiance twinkled in America's eyes. And anyone who had ever faced off against the American in any form of battle knew exactly how hard he fought when he was defiant, "How come I have to take care of this? How is this all my fault?"

"The meeting was held in New York. We were revealed not days after," England simply replied.

"I didn't see anyone here checking for cameras."

"That's not our job."

"The secret was everyone's job," he shot back.

"Let us stop the blaming," Germany cut in quickly, his voice firm and authoritative, "this involves all of us, it doesn't matter whom or what was the cause. What matters now is that we find a way to stop this before it gets even more out of hand."

"But how can we stop it exactly?" England came back to the center of attention, "Do we plan on brainwashing the entire planet? People know now. We can't do anything about that. Does anyone here realize what this means for us? Alfred! You have enemies who would love to get their hands on America. We all do. Think of Al Qaeda. What better terrorist attack than kidnapping and murdering an entire nation? We should all at least remain hidden. You all know what it means when you kill a nation. Raise your hand here if you want to see the head of a terrorist organization with Ivan's power."

The group remained silent as eyes went to Russia; some of the more skittish members of the conference- such as Italy- squirmed where they were standing. Yes. Russia was intimidating. But would he use that power against them? Well. For the moment, no. He wouldn't. And they all knew that. But would someone else use that power?  Yes. Yes they would.

"Okay, I think I know what we should do first at least," the eyes went to the speaker. America remained tall, his eyes still defiant, but he did have a thought, "Has anyone here read the comic books for The Fantastic Four?"

"Alfred, this is no time for comics-" England chided before America cut him off.

"Let me talk. I have a point," England grumbled as he fidgeted in his seat, crossing his arms, huffing and looking away. "Well, think about it. Right now, people know very little about us and what we do. They know we're the countries, but do they really know what that means? This kind of uncertainty is sure to cause fear in people. There are going to be people who believe we're threats to their society, even though we're their nations. When the Fantastic Four showed their powers for the first time, especially The Thing, fear blinded the people- keeping them from accepting them. Also, like in Spiderman, Spiderman was feared as well because people didn't know who he was or why he was there or what he wanted to do or how powerful he was even though he's aweso-"

"You've been talking for a minute now and I have yet to see a point."

"My point is, in each of those situations, it showed that people are afraid of power they don't understand. As soon as all the different superheroes- you can read this in any comic- are interviewed or show the public what they do, the majority of the public accepts them and stops looking at them as a threat and more as heroes."

"And so what does that mean for us?"

"If we refrain from hiding until people know who we are, what we do, and what our goal is, people will be more understanding as to why we're hiding. Then we won't have journalists stalking us to find the conspiracy! Cause everyone will know there isn't, and the few who still think there is will be restrained by the many! We'll be like superheroes with secret identities and everything! I call the human name, 'Kenny Marsh'!"

"Your human name is Alfred Jones." England grumbled.

"I think I get it," France started slowly, "even though I've never read any of those comics."

"Fine! So even if we do agree to this… absurd idea and analogy, how do you propose we go about achieving world coverage about us without the press twisting our words or distorting the facts?"

"Oh Iggy, you can think of this yourself! It's easy! How did we get into this mess?"

England's head fell into his hand in exasperation, "You can't be serious… do you really think that will make people more comfortable knowing who represents their nations?"

"Of course it will! It's the best solution!" America's bright grin flashed to the rest of those involved in the conference, "We're gonna invite the press to the next world conference!"