The Alphas
Summary:
In the aftermath of an attack leaves the Elric Brothers on a quest to track down a group known as the Alpha Squad. Once a special secret task force, more or less thought to be a rumor throughout the military, now disbanded, the brothers find themselves on another quest that goes against all their morals.
But their not in it alone.
Two members, one once said to be the leading commander, of the Alphas travel with the brothers to combat the one member that sold the team out.
Disclaimer: I do not own FMA! Olivia Landon (an OC) is also the make up of my favorite reviewer, Hitori-chan!
Author's Note:
This story contains the idea of the Chimera experiment, but I decided to put a spin on it. In my story, the experiment had been perfected to the point that the subjects that survived look like normal, average humans, and instead carry genetic traits of the animal merged within them. The only thing that marks the subjects as Chimera are odd scars or markings (for fans of other anime, think the Naruto anime, Naruto's 'whiskers' and Gaara's 'raccoon' marks around his eyes).
Please give a review after reading. I do like to read feedback and I promise my characters are not Mary Sue's by any means. This story does contain graphic violence, harsh language, and ideals that may come off as morally wrong. I do have a special surprise coming in later chapters, so keep an eye out for it!
Now, on with the story!
Prologue
The Alpha Squad
The disturbing retching sounds coming from the usually strong person causes their companion to wince. Something isn't right. Trinity knew, without a doubt, that something bad had happened. Trinity couldn't believe. Five months of endless torture. Five months, the betrayal stinging the mind and hearts of each person involved.
"Zero? Are you alright?" Trinity asks, her eyes softening as she gaze upon the shaking figure moving to stand upright once again.
Gleaming eyes turn to assess the damage of the burning, broken building that once housed the two of them, "I will be fine."
Trinity sighs inwardly, knowing that Zero would never admit being in pain, or being upset, "W-Where do you suppose the others are?"
"Trinity," her eyes turn toward the gleaming gaze, the eerie glow being the eyes depicting the dominance planted in her companion, "Don't you get it. This team...we are no more. What he did to us...we can't be sure we are safe."
"S-So, what do we do now?"
"We split up," Trinity's eyes widen, her companion's face softening at the worried look pointing in their direction, "It won't be forever, but I have to make sure the others are alive and well, and if...if he forced this upon anyone else that we may not know about."
"You think he did this to more than just the team?"
"Our team was never complete enough for him. He was always looking to add additional bodies to the Squad. Let's do what we do best, hide in plain sight. For all we know, this is just the beginning."
"What about Une?
Trinity felt as though the air grew colder, the tension in Zero's body growing tighter, "If Une managed to survive all of this, he will most likely fight for domination over a team that no longer stands together. If it comes to that, you come find me."
"Find you, where?'
A finger taps the top of Trinity's nose, "We have new skills to work with. We might as well get used to them. Now go, get out of here and don't look back."
"But-"
"Take it as my last order as your leading commander."
Trinity sighs, nodding her head sadly, "I understand. I-I'm sorry, Zero."
"No, Trinity. I'm the one that should be sorry. If it wasn't for me, you'd probably be a State Alchemist by now."
The two fell silent and Trinity takes that as her cue. Turning on heel, the young woman, not even on the verge of adulthood, breaks into a deadly fast sprint, leaving behind the only true friend she's ever really known.
Olivia Landon, a well-known Alchemist around Central, sighs as she stands before the large building of the Central Command Center, light brown eyes glinting with indifference. Running a hand through her short brown hair, the ends of her hair fringed as though they had been burnt, she rubs the back of her neck, massaging the tension from her neck. She doesn't normally come around the military, but for some reason, a mutual friend and Alchemist, Alphonse Elric, had sent her a message asking for some assistance. Despite how much she detests the military use of Alchemy, she could never come to say no to a person like Alphonse.
"Landon?"
Her eyes snap up to meet the blue eyes of Jean Havoc, an acquaintance of her own through her familiarity with Alphonse, "Havoc," she greets with a nod, "How are you today?"
"Good. I have to meet up with Mustang and the gang," Havoc says, motioning toward the building.
"Myself as well," Havoc quirks an eyebrow in response, "Alphonse messaged me, said the brothers needed some help."
"I'll escort you, if you want."
Nodding, the pair fall silent as Olivia follows the blonde soldier into the building. Over the past year, Roy Mustang had been elected and promoted to Führer, and even with his promise for a better future, Olivia was easily irritable around the man. She knew he was truly doing good across Amestris, using the State Alchemist build a better life among the people, and granting a sense of trust between the people and the military. Even with that knowledge, her trust wasn't completely there.
It never would be.
Arriving to the office, Havoc opens the door and leads her inside. Smelling a hint of blood, Olivia's eyes snap toward the Elric brothers. Alphonse, for the most part, looked to be untouched, like he fought, but didn't retain any injuries. Edward, on the other hand, looked as though he had the life beaten out of him. His signature red coat, slung over the arm rest of the couch, was tattered and needed to be mended and it looked as though someone had taken a slash at him.
"What the hell ran you over?" Olivia asks, the snark in her voice not even phasing the brothers.
"Give me a break, Landon," Edward groans out as he shifts in his spot next to Alphonse, "Some guy came out of no where and attacked me. He was small but seemed to be built like a tank."
"Apparently he kicked the shit out of you too," Olivia teases, grinning only slightly, ignoring the gaze she could feel from the Führer.
"You try going against a guy that apparently isn't affected by Alchemy," Edward snaps in return, running his gloved hand through his golden-blonde hair, "We were wondering if you knew anything of the sort."
"How would I know? I just got into town from Rush Valley an hour ago," she replies with a shrug.
"You seem to always catch a name or have some idea on a person," Alphonse points out, to which she nods, "We know you aren't a State Alchemist, but you do travel a lot. Have you ever come across a guy, dirty blonde hair, dark brown eyes, about the height of five-seven and has the strength of Armstrong?"
"Not sure. Did he say anything?"
"Said I smelt like something called a Trinity," Edward replies, "That we both did, but for some reason he only attacked me."
Olivia tenses, standing upright, "Alphonse?" the youngest of the two brothers makes a noise of acknowledgment, "Can you sketch a profile of the guy? Maybe I've seen him and can't put a name to it."
Twenty minutes later, Olivia stares down at a sketch of a slightly familiar face, "Hm...S-Samuel Wineman," she murmurs, finally getting the name, "You said that he is built like a tank and attacked you out of no where?"
"Yeah. You know this guy?"
"He was a civilian informant for the Alpha Squad," Olivia states firmly, her finger tracing over the drawing.
"The Alpha Squad?" Mustang's voice cuts in, a single black eyebrow quirked in response, "You mean that rumor was actually true?"
"Alpha Squad?" the Elric's echo, confusion lacing their voices.
Olivia sighs, looking around at everyone in the room, "Promise me, what I'm about to say will not leave this room. Not a single person outside of this room should know about it."
Every person nods in agreement and Olivia sighs, leaning back in her seat, "I told you guys I had been studying Alchemy since I was young, around thirteen or so. I didn't do anything crazy like you Elric's, but I couldn't seem to put an Alchemy book down. By the time I was fifteen, I had become a master at my explosive Alchemy. At sixteen, I was approached to join up with the Alpha Squad, a secret special task force made up by hand-selected individuals by Führer King Bradley."
She pauses, looking down at her hands, "Six of us were on active duty and the other members were only called upon when needed. Those of us on active duty gave up everything, their lives, their homes, even their names, and as such, we were given code names in turn. I was Trinity, the Explosive Expert of the Alphas. I was one of four people within the entire Alpha Squad that could perform Alchemy."
"The six of us were the best at what we did. If one of us had a flaw, or messed up, another was their to counter the flaw, or fix the mess. It was that way with all six of us. Essentially, we were perfect as a team. Not a single mission failed. Not a single death among our squad."
Edward snorts, "If you all we so damn good, then why have we never heard of you guys? Why are you no longer with them?"
Olivia swallows the sudden lump in her throat. She hated thinking about it, let alone talking about it, but she knew, now was the time, "You guys are familiar with the research done by the Life-Sewing Alchemist, Shou Tucker, yes?" Every person in the room tenses, Olivia's light brown gaze growing softer with sorrow, "Führer Bradley was never quite pleased with us. We may have been perfect as a team, but he wanted each of us to be perfect individually as well. He approached the six of us with an offer to join in the experiment that would make us perfect."
"And you accepted!" Edward sneers out, leaping from his seat.
Olivia doesn't bother looking up as she shakes her head, "No. There was only one of us that agreed. The rest of us refused the offer, but upon refusal, we were then deemed criminals by an act of treason. Being a criminal in Amestrian Law-"
"Leaves you with no rights," Mustang finishes, causing the twenty-year-old brunette to nod mutely, "I take it the rest of you were...forced."
"Yes. Five months. Five months of his 'perfected Chimera technique'. Instead of merging the souls and bodies of both animal and human, he extracted animal DNA from the source and used Alchemy as a catalyst to bind it to our human DNA. It left our human bodies in tact, but with it, we gained traits from the specific animal," Olivia raises her hand, splaying her fingers apart, showing off her always sharpened fingernails, "I carry traits of Bear DNA. You noticed when I'm angry, I become exceptionally strong. I am also very protective over children and anyone I deem to be a friend. I have a strong sense of smell, which helps with the explosive part in my life."
She sighs, dropping her hand back to her lap, shaking her head, "When I woke up five months after, I was in a holding cell with a member of my team. Apparently, something had gone wrong in the experiment with my teammate, and the Führer insisted they fix the process. That night, we blew the place up and split apart. I've been living under the name of Olivia Landon ever since, trying to help people in a less-explosive way."
"So, this Wineman-guy? He was a member of your team?" Mustang questions.
Olivia shakes her head, looking up at the man before her, "That's what struck me as odd. See, the Alpha Squad wasn't made up of just soldiers or Alchemists. We had civilians among us too. Wineman was a civilian informant. He would travel to designated places if we needed him to and collected information from the residents. If Bradley did include every person that came across the Alpha Squad, then we have a serious issue."
"Maybe this guy will listen to you and stop attacking people," Alphonse suggests.
"If only it was that easy. I might have seen him a dozen times and spoken with him even less. If Wineman, a pacifist of all people, is attacking people, then I only know of three people that can help us," Seeing the questioning gazes, she shrugs, "The original three members. Zero, Une and Deuce."
"You think they'd help us?" Mustang questions.
"I don't even know if Deuce is alive. Une, I would kill him before I ask him for help. The only person we can go to would be Zero, but..." Olivia shifts uncharacteristically in her seat, "Zero would first kill you before taking orders from another Führer- well-intentions or not."
"Even so, Zero is the only person you know of that can help," Edward states, standing upright. "So, how do we find this Zero person?"
"A place where the stars shine brightly in the night sky and is surrounded by lush forest. A place that people won't bother an unknown person, but instead welcome them. Just get me in the area and from there," Olivia gently taps the tip of her nose, "I can catch Zero's scent with ease."
"Just like that? You're going to help? You hate the military," Alphonse supplies.
Olivia grins cyncally as she stand from her chair, "I hate the military more than anything, but this just went from a simple beat-up-on-a-pipsqueak to something much more personal."
"Pipsqueak? I'll show you a pipsqueak!"
Thanks for reading! This is only the Prologue and I should have the First Chapter up tomorrow, possibly two days.
Next Chapter- Gleaming Eyes and a Fanged Grin: the trio arrive in a small community and come across Zero, who gives them interesting news, but can Olivia convince Zero to go with them? Or will Zero walk away again?
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