Edward Elric lounged on the train remembering the conversation that had led to the trip.
"I want you to check out a town called Carthen Fullmetal." Colonial Mustang said looking up from his notebook.
"Why?" Ed had asked bored.
"There is a man who we believe is creating chimera and using them for some kind of underground show. Not only could you stop a lot of cruelty but he is dealing with human alchemy and you could ask him some questions before you return if you like."
Ed sighed and shifted into a more comfortable position. He fell asleep and didn't wake up until the train stopped. Groaning Ed picked himself up and walked slowly out into the streets of Carthen. He looked around, "So were can we find this alchemist anyway Al?" He asked his brother. "I don't know brother, why don't we start by just asking around?" Ed nodded and they walked into a bar called the Rendezvous. Ed walked up to the bartender and asked about the chimeras. The bartender laughed, "So your looking to get tickets for the Arena eh kid? I can set you up." The two brothers looked at each other, "How much?" Ed asked quietly. They paid the man and walked down the street. The bartender had tickets for the next show. It was at six o'clock and it was quarter to six now. They followed the instructions the bartender gave them and arrived at the arena just in time. Ed sat down on one of the benches and settled down to watch the show. In a few minutes a voice rippled over the stands. "Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight we have a classic for you, brains vs. brawn. Coming from the north gate is the Brawn. Coming from the South gate is the Brains. I hope you enjoy the entertainment." The owner of the voice obviously was not a professional but Ed leaned forward intrigued. Two gates opened; from his position on the eastern stands Ed could see them both. "Brother, I don't think this is a show….. I think this is a fight." Al said softly. Ed nodded. From the northern gate stepped out a huge lumbering figure. He looked like a combination between a rhino and a man (me: I leave that up to your imaginations as I have no idea how that works). It tipped back its head and roared. Ed glanced at the other gate. From the darkness slipped a small cloaked figure. A whip cracked out from the gate as it closed and the figure leapt gracefully away. A hand reached up and discarded the cloak. A girl no older than him stood there, she had white cats ears and wore a tank top obviously made for battle and to show a lot of skin, and loose knee length shorts. A tail curled around her ankles and strips could be seen on her skin. (In the pic the ears are hidden)
Trinity kept her eyes fixed on her opponent as he swung his massive head around to glare at her. Trinity held perfectly still and her opponent lined himself up for a charge. He grunted and then began to run at her. Still Trinity did not move. Only when he had almost run her down did she react. She leapt ten feet straight up. Shouts of surprise and anger assaulted her ears but she ignored them. Twisting she landed lightly on her opponent's back and began to use her claws to tear into his back, seeking pressure points that would immobilize her opponent. She snarled when the tough skin of the rhino resisted her claws, and then leaped off him when the attempt failed. Trinity flickered her eyes over her enemy as he charged her. Dodging out of the way again her eyes finally found a weakness. They fastened on the softer skin of his neck and belly. She took a deep breath and roared a tiger's fierce roar at it to make it charge again. This time she took the hit, using the force of his charge to cut his throat and stomach. She landed a few meters away, the rhino-man swayed for a moment then fell, dead. Trinity stood there sadly, "I'm sorry" she whispered. She turned and left the stadium to the ringing shouts of the crowd.
Ed stood there shocked as he watched the girl kill her opponent with apparent ease. Then he frowned, "Why didn't she go for the throat to begin with. It wouldn't have been that hard when she was on his back."
"She didn't want to kill him. She was trying to disable him but they gave her no choice." His brother said sadly. Ed nodded and stood.
"Well I've seen enough. We'll ask the chimeras to see if any can tell us if they were once human and if they were we know he cheated and we can tell Mustang and move on." Ed said moving off. Al followed.
Trinity leaned against the wall of her cell. Her ribs throbbed from the hit she had taken. "Freaking rhino broke my ribs." She muttered sadly. Sliding sideways she curled on the floor.
Hours later a loud crash woke her up. Yawning she sat up, hissing as her ribs protested. Suddenly a guy in a suit of armor walked past following a boy about her height with blonde hair. "Who are you?" She asked confused. They stopped and looked at her.
Ed looked at the tiger-girl, "You're the one who killed the rhino-guy earlier." He said. The girl nodded. "I have a question for you." Ed continued.
The tiger-girl grinned sleepily, "I have an answer I hope they match."
Ed frowned, "Very funny, do you know how you were made?"
The tiger-girl shrugged, "More or less. I remember flashes of my past, before the fighting part I mean. I was human, and I know all the others were once human too, well that is if they resemble humans now. Every once in a while he makes a completely animal one but they don't last long…" The tiger-girl yawned, "If you don't need anything else I need to sleep, that paper means I get to fight again tomorrow, and with broken ribs too, huzzah." When Ed didn't say anything she laid back down and went to sleep.
Ed shook his head, "That was….."
"Different?" Al suggested. Ed nodded and the brothers left.
The next morning Trinity was woken up by an irate man throwing food in her cell. "Eat." He said before moving on. Trinity ate quickly, if she ate too slow they wouldn't let her finish and the food would way her down in the fight. Finishing with an hour to spare she cat-napped for a while before being woken up by the noise from the crowd coming in. Stretching out she readied herself for her fight. The man came by again this time grinning, "Lucky kitty, you get to fight first today. He is getting tired of you." Trinity ignored him, she'd think about it later. Walking down the hallway heavily guarded she emerged into the ring. She watched the opposite end as the crowd jeered at her. A figure twice her size stepped out from the other end. "Shit." She said as she took in his lion-like features. His neck was protected by a thick mane, his reach was longer, he was stronger than her, he was only fractionally slower than her, and she was dead.
Ed walked with Colonel Mustang, "I still don't understand why you came yourself." Ed said.
Colonel Mustang smiled, "I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd help out."
"Bull." Mustang laughed at Ed's dismissal of his reason as the two arrived at the area. "Looks like the first fight has started." Ed said frowning. "We should stop it before anyone is killed." Mustang nodded and the military swarmed the arena. The fight was stopped in seconds. Ed walked down into the arena and saw the tiger-girl from the day before sitting there grinning. She was bleeding from multiple minor injuries and she held her ribs. "You ok?" Ed asked.
The tiger-girl looked up at him her grin grew, "So you were the one who brought them, glad I told the truth last night." Colonel Mustang walked up behind Ed,
He looked at the tiger-girl for a moment, "Would you testify for what happened here publicly." The girl nodded then her eyes grew huge, lunging to her feet she shoved the Colonel out of the way, a boy with lion-like features crashed into her. The pair tumbled to the ground in a heap of claws and teeth. The lion-boy finally held her above him by the throat. The girl struggled vainly then began tearing at her arm with the claws on her hands as the ones on her feet ripped at his stomach. She cut through enough muscle to cause his arm to fail. He released her with a roar and she scrambled away. She faced him in a crouch when, BOOM, an explosion hit him full in the chest. The girl looked at Colonel Mustang. "Thanks, I'm Trinity by the way." She croaked, then she collapsed. Ed stared at the girl then at the colonel. "Well, we can be sure she'll help." Ed muttered. Al nodded and they watched as medics hauled her away.
Trinity woke up in complete confusion. "Where?" She rasped, then the pain in her throat reminded her how she go into the shiny clean room. She looked around and saw a glass of water sitting on a table beside the bed she was laying on. She stopped dead reaching for the glass. Damn, she thought, I can't remember the last time I slept in a real bed. Trinity picked up the glass and sipped it thinking. For that matter I can't remember the last time I drank from a glass, or slept in a real room, or was actually cared for by a doctor. She shifted feeling the bandages restrict her movement. Maybe that was a good thing, some of my opponents would have killed me if I was any slower. The door opened and a doctor walked in, he saw she was awake and smiled, "How are you feeling Miss…." He paused. Trinity frowned then realized he didn't know her name, "Trinity." The doctor nodded, "Miss Trinity." He said. Trinity thought about it for a moment then said, "Much better than I did…..well before that last fight." The doctor blinked and nodded, not really surprised. Neither was Trinity. Before the fight she not only had broken ribs but all manner of cuts and bruises from her last escape attempt. This in retrospect was probably why he was going to kill her. "Well you should make a complete recovery in a week or so." The doctor said, Trinity opened her mouth to complain but he didn't stop, "But you can leave the day after tomorrow. Before then Colonel Mustang will probably be here to check up on you." Trinity nodded and settled back, her hands behind her head.
She woke up a few hours later and was surprised again, she had fallen asleep. She sat up and found more water next to her bed. She thought about the water before, it had tasted funny. "They drugged me." She said grinning. Apparently the doctor knew his stuff. Trinity had no intention of even waiting two days. She wanted to get up and around and leave. She swung her legs out of the bed and stood. She was wearing a hospital gown she frowned at it, where were her clothes? A man walked in, after a moment she recognized him as the Colonel from the day before. She nodded at him and said, "Hello." The Colonel smiled and said, "I'm glad your awake, the doctor said that you'd sleep the sedative off fast." Trinity grinned ruefully. "I can't believe I even got enough drugs in my system to knock me out, I usually notice it in the water. Guess I was really preoccupied." The woman who had flanked the Colonel in studied her with a slight smile. The Colonel chuckled. "Lieutenant, get her some real clothes." Turning back to Trinity he said, "I bet you're ready to get out of here." She nodded relieved. "Well then, why don't we go get something to eat?" He said smiling Trinity nodded again and the Lieutenant returned with a military uniform. "Here you go." She said handing it to Trinity. The Colonel left saying he'd meet her in the hallway. Trinity nodded and changed quickly. The clothes hung oddly from her slight frame and she shifted for a moment, then she realized that they were also comfortable, not well tailored but more comfortable than her old clothes. With a spring in her step she exited the room.
In the hallway Mustang thought about what the doctor had told him. Not only were her ribs broken and the other injuries from the fights he and Fullmetal witnessed, but she has evidence of years of fights, not to mention beatings. On top of that she wasn't fed nearly enough. According to the doctor her metabolism is quick and from what he could tell she would normally have eat at least half her body weight. They weren't feeding her nearly that much. Mustang smiled grimly, they had found the owner of the arena and thrown him in jail. He began to ponder exactly what to do with the girl in question when she walked out of the room. He looked at her for a moment taking in her thin frame, what was revealed by the badly fitting uniform. "Well then, let's go." He said, Trinity nodded and followed him and the Lieutenant out of the hospital.
Trinity followed the Colonel to a restraint near the hospital. "Order whatever you like," the Lieutenant said smiling. "The food is on us."
Trinity looked at them in surprise, they rescued her, treated her injuries, and were now feeding her! "Who are you people? What do you want from me?" She said warily.
The Colonel smiled, "I'll tell you over lunch." Trinity nodded and sat down, she looked at the menu bewildered, she didn't know what half these things were!
The Lieutenant smiled, "Would you like me to order, I imagine you would prefer something with meat." Trinity nodded and set her menu down quickly. The Colonel smiled and after the meal was ordered, Trinity ended up with a fancy named steak cooked rare, began to explain that they were they military. "Which brings me to you second question, what we want with you." Trinity nodded and leaned back. "We, I, think that you could be a great asset to our operations. You would get paid under the military, they wouldn't try to kill you, and you would get a place to live."
"And in return?" Trinity asked.
"You would help us, the higher ups insist that you are given a 'handler' as they don't trust you. You would work with this person to do what your superiors tell you." "And who would I be taking orders from?"
"Me."
Trinity nodded, "That is acceptable." She said then grinned brightly as their food came. "Yum that smells delicious!" She said as the waitress set her food down in front of her. She looked up at the waitress and grinned, "Thank you!"
The waitress blinked, "You're very welcome." She said smiling back.
Trinity dug into her food with gusto, cutting a large piece of meat and sighing with pleasure at the taste, "It's been ages since I've had food this good!" She said cutting another piece of meat. She saw her two companions relax slightly and grinned wickedly. "What. Did you think I was going to eat with my hands?" She asked.
"Well yes actually, although now that I think of it it's obvious you wouldn't, you have been rather sensitive to the need to conceal yourself. From the minute you put on those clothes you hid your…abnormalities. Buttoning the shirt up a little more than necessary to hide the stripes on your neck, you pulled your tail up inside of the coat too. And you flattened your ears in your hair so they can't be seen. Very clever."
Trinity shrugged, "Being known for what I am hasn't really worked out so well for me so far. I decided that discretion was probably the best policy."
The Colonel smiled, "I trust you'll continue this policy unless necessary." Trinity nodded and the Colonel chuckled, "Already your proving the brass wrong, they were sure that you'd flaunt yourself, and that we would have to threaten you to get you to work with us."
"Well that would have been incredibly stupid, I might have hackled a little if I didn't like the terms, after all the military does not own my loyalty in any way. But I am grateful to those who have helped me and I have a feeling that you have more of a part in that than your superiors. I have no intention of serving the military, but you I will help in any way I can." Trinity said sitting back and smirking at the Colonel.
The Colonel smiled back at her, already seeing the possibility of someone who's only loyalty was to him. Even his most loyal subordinates were still part of the military and that meant that others had leverage over them. But this girl had none of that. If he played his cards right, this girl could end up under is sole command. Trinity's smirk widened as she guessed what the Colonel was thinking, yes, this man she would definitely help.