Alright I know that summary was dramatic as hell, but I don't take myself that seriously, and you shouldn't either. My royai trash self couldn't even completley keep my ship completley out of this.
There's a little bit of horror in this chapter, but nothing worse than the actual show. Enjoy!
"Ok, I've got one. The first letter is t," Fuery spoke up, looking up at the others in the car. Havoc made eye contact with him in the rear veiw mirror.
"Is it something you can climb?"
"Noit'snotatree," he answered.
Unfazed, he tried another question. "Is it a really big cat?"
"Noit'snotatiger."
"Damn, I thought I would get you with that one."
"You thought he wouldn't think of tiger?" Breda asked, incredulous. Havoc opened his mouth as if to speak, and then closed it again, scowling at the dashboard.
"I'd like to see you do better, then."
Raising his eyebrows at the challenge, Breda looked down in concentration for a moment before asking, "Is it an element with eighty-one protons?"
Silence.
"Aww, c'mon Mustang, help us out a little," Havoc appealed from the front seat. "You know you want to-"
But it was Hawkeye who spoke up. "Connect."
Although he was suprised that she'd joined the game, at first, Fuery visibly panicked as they started counting down together. "Three, two, one, Thallium." He hung his head in defeat.
"The next letter is u."
"Is it something that has feathers-"
Mustang tuned his team out, instead opting to look out the window. Another time, he might be convinced to join in on the road trip games, but this mission was far, far more important. Ever since the promised day, the information Envy had given them had been consuming most of his thoughts. He slowly tapped his finger agaist the car door, a metranome keeping him steady - or, perhaps, a ticking clock, building tension. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
The middle of nowhere was truly an apt description; by this time, they'd been traveling for the better part of a day, and yet the landscape of grass streched on, only marked by the occasional tree-lined creek.
"Oh, your friend the lieutenant-colonel? I dropped him off with Carson in the middle of nowhere! He's probably dead by now, anyway. It's a shame, really, I'd have loved to see what he's done with him!"
Outside, dust kicked up by the car blew past the window, overlaying the empty countryside so that it almost looked as if it was a sepia-toned photograph. The cloudless sky met the uniform grass in a perfectly uninterupted horizon line, strange to someone accustomed to the city - not that Mustang noticed.
"Is it a color?"
"Um, uh-"
"Conne-"
"Noit'snotturquoise!"
"Hold on, wait a minute," Havoc, of all people, interrupted, "there's some sort of building up ahead." The implications of that statement had everybody shifting in their seats; Hawkeye closed her book and tucked it in the bag at her feet, her focused gaze never leaving the windsheild.
A labratory in the middle of nowhere was just about the most lacking description they could have been given, but this was the first building they'd come across since yesterday, and it was in the general location military files had described.
Mustang sat up. This was their only lead. He would be here.
The car stopped.
If it weren't for the crisp-looking concrete building attached to it, the dilapidated structure could've easily been nothing more than a long-abandoned building. As he stepped out of the car, pushing the door shut, Mustang glanced over the dull silver boards, worn by the sun over the years, and the crumbling brickwork that made up the foundation. Hawkeye stood next to him, waiting. He met her eyes and they started forward.
As they got closer, the last, peeling traces of red paint and large doors held together by a frame of sturdier lumber supplemented by an x-shape across them made it apparent that this had once been a barn. Why anyone would ever need a barn this large was beyond him, but then again, he wasn't exactly in his element, here - even if he'd never admit it. Fuery stood still in front of the doors, and Mustang walked over to him as Hawkeye continuted to examine the place. His eyebrows were pinched together in a frightened sort of concern.
"What do you see?" Mustang asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Looking down at his feet, Fuery said, "This place was used for chimeras, right?" and glanced over at Mustang briefly, as if asking for confirmation, even though he already knew the answer. "They were being kept in a barn like animals..." Not knowing how to respond to that, he looked around at the others as a signal for them to come back over. Falman went to fetch Havoc, who had gone around to the other side of the building. Hawkeye looked at him, a silent, "are you okay?"
He turned his head to face the others. Havoc trotted up, followed closley by Breda. "There's a door over on the other side," he said, indicating the direction with a jerk of his head, "and no windows."
"So we don't know what we're walking into?" Falman questioned, but Mustang had already started walking. Breda shrugged, and Hawkeye led them on.
As he approached the door, Mustang clapped and blew it in, allowing him to walk in uninterupted, even as his team hurried to keep up. The first doorway was on the right, only a few feet from the main entrance. He stepped in and paused for a moment, allowing the others to gather behind him, curious, before following him inside. Havoc stayed behind to guard the door in case the facility was less abandoned than it was supposed to be.
A cat scurried away from him as he entered, dissapearing behind a counter. Metal tables, each filled with needles, syringes, bottles, chalk, and cages filled the space, putting Mustang immidiatley on guard, even going as far as to instictivley dip a hand into his pocket for an ignition glove. Slowly, with an air of suspicion, he stalked into the room.
The first cage contained a snake - or, something that appeared to be a snake at first. With muted horror, he watched as it scuttled to the far corner on its two long rows of legs, its antennae twitching as it went. Mustang drew back from the cage, only to be met with furious hissing from the table opposite it, where a rodent of some kind sported patches of thick, almost translucent skin where no fur grew. It didn't appear to have ears at all.
The next table held no cages, but instead an open journal with sketches of rats with gills and feathered lizards. In the corner, he could just make out "Note to self: experiment with exoskeletons" written in cramped handwriting. As he walked to the far wall, the cat he'd seen earlier lept up on top of a stack of spare cages, swiftly changing color to match the white walls once it had reached its perch.
Hawkeye was exploring the room as well. To anyone else she might look just as composed as normal, but he could make out the disturbed shock in her eyes and body language all too clearly. This time, when he reached her, he was the one silently checking on her well being. She looked up at him. "A little shaken up, but determined. I'll be okay."
"There isn't anything in here," he said, just loud enough for everyone to hear him, and left the room.
The room directly across from them seemed to have been used for storage, although it wasn't storing much now; many empty boxes were scattered around haphazardly, as if someone had been looking for something. Whoever did all this must have been running out of materials after their financial support from the military had been cut.
Two rooms down, a whole building to go. They would find him here.
The next room had a door with a heavy padlock on it, but there was no need to break in, as a large window stretched along the entire length of the interior wall. An examination table - human-sized - was bolted to the floor. No one was there, and Mustang didn't bother to spend more than a few seconds looking in. There were still seven rooms left to check.
The second, identical to the previous cell, was empty. He moved on without bothering to tell the team anything.
Third and fourth rooms, empty.
Fifth, empty. He would be here, dammit!
Sixth, nothing. Breathing hard, Mustang rushed across the hallway to the seventh, pressing his hands up agaisnt the glass.
It was empty.
Slowly, dreadfully, he turned and walked to the last doorway, clapped, and transmuted the lock. The door squealed as it swung open.
"Roy?"
Just like every fanfic author, I'm reveiw starved. Please review. I don't care if it's thought out at all, I'd just love to know you read it.
