Repair
Ch 1: The Blonde Boy
"Thanks," Beasley was at ease before the teenage Providence agent, who was handling a frying pan. "We got it from here."
Rex laughed, placing his foot on top of the beaten EVO while waving the frying pan in the soldier's face. "Isn't that you, Beasley? Here."
He flung the pan into the soldier's hands. "Now when I show up to save your bacon, you can fry me some."
"Heh," The man sighed, tossed the pan away, and took off his mask. "You try fightin' these things w'out that fancy swordfightin' poppin' out of y'all."
"You could never do what we do," Khary, a female Providence soldier stepped beside him.
"What?" Rex raised an eyebrow. "Tell people to stand back as I kick evil butt?"
The two soldier's stared unblinkingly at Rex. Beasley then smiled, "Spend some time at our base to take trainin' and you'll see."
Khary snickered. "He wouldn't last a week at Basic."
"Actually," Beasley smiled. "I wouldn' think he'd last a day. See you next time, hotshot!"
The two soldiers left him behind, and Rex was fuming, "Hey! Next time some EVO tries to eat your brain, don't come crying to me!"
Noah silently approached his friend and watched Rex wave his accusing fist. The boy huffed, and pouted.
"Can you believe those guys?" He snarled.
"Actually," Noah thought. "I've seen the commercials. Providence Basic looks tough…"
Rex gave him a disapproving look, and Noah corrected himself. "I mean, I could handle it… You? I dunno."
Rex slapped the blonde in the arm with a wide smile. "Come on, you know I'd kick your butt."
Noah laughed. "Says the guy who currently 0 and 42 against me at basketball."
"Oh?" Rex faced him directly. "Is that a challenge?"
"Excuse me!" A voice rang through the crowd. "Coming through!"
The two boys turned to see a blonde teenager wrestling his way past Providence soldiers. The civilians saw him, and immediately back out of the way for him to come through, but the soldiers were opposite. One of them was grabbing him by the arms, and forcing him back into the swarm of civilians. Rex could hear Noah gulp at the sight of the boy.
His hair was overly long for a boy, and Rex could have mistaken him for a girl… but that's another story. The boy was clearly irritated, and he easily ripped out of the soldier's grasp and stomped his way to the wreckage. He was huffing and puffing for air, and Rex was assuming that he went through a marathon of suffocation in that crowd from earlier. The boy's gloved hands fisted, and his golden eyes did not seem very pleased. A soldier arrived and grabbed him by his red hood, and was wrenching him back, but he escaped again, and returned to the rubble that was the house.
"Sir, please leave the premises," another soldier urged him, but he shoved the man away with such force Rex couldn't believe a guy like the boy could have.
"Out of the way," the boy snarled. "I'm seriously pissed off that you wrecked a house. Could you at least try to be more considerate of fighting without destroying anything?"
"But sir," the soldier put his hands up in defeat. "This is the best we could do. We'll have the government rebuild your home as soon as possible."
"It's not mine, dumbass," The boy spat. "But it belongs in my neighborhood, and I-"
"Please fix this house, Mr. Elric!" An old lady shouted above the din as she ran past the crowd and to the blonde boy. "I apologize my husband's outbreak, but please fix it! This might be a bit too big for you to fix, but please do!"
Rex could see the woman was not afraid of Elric to plead. Sure, he seemed scary, but he
"Um… yes, ma'am…" Mr. Elric nodded curtly, and glared at the other soldiers. "Move out of the way, I said."
"Please sir," the soldiers ushered him away, but the old lady blocked their way of getting to him.
"Please… allow him to help," She pleaded, and turned to Mr. Elric. "I'm sorry you have to do this in public…"
"It's all right," the blonde nodded. "I guess… it would happen anyway."
The boy clapped his hands together as if in prayer, and Rex and Noah could hear a distant humming emanating from his hands. He placed them on the rubble, and after a few seconds, the pieces of wall rumbled and bits of static ran through it. Out of the rocks shot out long rods of steel, and eventually stone that wrapped around the rods. Everyone watched in awe as the house began to rebuild itself. The blue glow stopped, and the crowd saw an intact house, not exactly the same as before, but decent enough. Mr. Elric backed away from the beaten lawn, and turned to the old lady, who was smiling in awe.
"This is the best I could do," He smiled back. "But as for the lawn and furniture, I can't really do much about that…"
The old lady didn't listen, and she flung her arms around the boy.
"There's nothing to be sorry about," She whispered. "My house is fine…"
The old lady was going back to her house while the crowd was coming through with Providence still cleaning up. They were coming after Mr. Elric to congratulate him and fire questions at him, but Rex transformed his hand into the huge fist and stopped the crowd from coming any further. After much struggling, the crowd gave up and left, leaving the three boys alone.
"Looks like Mr. Little Celebrity needed a little crowd control here," He smiled, and Mr. Elric didn't look to pleased. Noah gulped again, and Rex looked back.
"What did I-"
A big chunk of rock was thrown at his head, and he saw the blonde boy fuming.
"Don't call me short…" He growled. Noah then flailed his arms and placed his hands on the other blonde's shoulders.
"H-Hey…" His voice cracked. "C-calm down, Ed… it's just Rex."
"I know who he is, Noah," Mr. Elric frowned and turned on his heel with a yawn. "I'm leaving."
Rex and Noah watched as the blonde slipped his red hood on, put his hands in his pockets, and left with little thought. Rex snapped out of his stupor, and went running after the boy.
"Hey, Mr. Elric!" He shouted. "Wait!"
The boy stopped and turned around. "Sorry, but I'm not gonna answer your questions."
He turned to the alley and disappeared, leaving Rex and Noah in the dust.
"Who was that guy, anyways?" Rex looked at the blonde. "You sure seem to know him well."
The comlink in Rex's ear lit up, and Six's voice echoed.
"Rex, we need you to return to base."
The boy groaned and turned away from the alley. "Fine… I'm coming."
"So," Agent Six crossed his arms after Rex recounted his encounter with Mr. Elric. "Someone strange boy came to fix up your mess today?"
"Well, he was completely stuck up!" Rex pouted. "He threw a rock in my face!"
Bobo leaned back on his chair sipping on soda. "For once, someone lands something on that face of yours."
Rex glared at the talking monkey and was about to say more, but Agent Six restrained him.
"Well…" Noah sighed. "He doesn't owe you anything at all…"
Rex then recalled something, and looked at the blonde. "By the way, who is this Elric guy?"
Agent Six nodded in agreement. "That's what I'd like to know. We might want to look into this guy a little further."
"Edward, you mean?" Noah asked, and the two nodded. "He's just a kid who lives around the neighborhood, like he said. He's actually new, only came a year ago."
"So his hometown isn't where you live?" Rex asked, and Noah nodded. Agent Six, intrigued by the boy's unknown origin, nodded for Noah to continue.
"Well, what else…" Noah scratched his head. "He goes to my school, actually…"
"Is he in your class?" Rex asked, but Noah shook his head.
"He's in another classroom, even though we're in the same grade. We have never been to the same classes, so I don't see him much." Noah recalled another fact. "But I know he's got top grades. Top of the class, maybe. The teacher love him because he's such a genius, even though he can be stuck-up."
"We've got a smart kid there, huh…" Bobo popped a French fry into his mouth.
"That's not all," Noah added. "He's not part of any clubs, and he hides in the library…. Well, for someone as antisocial as him, he'd have nothing to do but hide away…"
"A loner?" Rex cocked his head. "That's interesting… then why did that old lady for his help?"
"She knows him because he stops by a lot at her house for small chat and stuff," Noah answered. "She's one of the only people he trusts and talks to without getting glomped or insulted. Everyone else either worships him or hates him."
"Why hate?"
"There's another reason people don't talk about him much at school," Noah sighed. "Everyone at school sorta fears him because of his abilities. You saw him put together that house, right? The adults think it's fine because he's nice guy, but the kids all run away because they think he's a bully."
"That why he smashed my face?" Rex asked bluntly.
"Ed's got… a complex, you see," Rex sighed. "He hates being called short or small, or litte."
"Napoleon Complex," Agent Six cut in. "Continue. About his abilities."
"He can put things together by clapping and just touching them," Noah pointed at the picture of the fixed house. "He calls it 'alchemy,' apparently."
"Where does this Edward live?" Agent Six pressed further. Noah shrugged.
"No one knows actually. Even the old lady has no clue."
"We could track him down, right, Six?" Rex looked at the green-suited man, who nodded, and got out of his seat. He slipped out a picture of Edward Elric turning around from the scene.
"One of our agents took this picture," He said. "We'll use this for ID."
"I'm back," Edward Elric closed the door of his run-down apartment behind him. A shuffle of feet in the hallway didn't surprise him as he saw another person arriving at the front door. A gaunt looking boy who didn't seem so far from his age was trudging into the hall. The boy was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, and his long blonde hair was tied into a ponytail. His pale skin glowed when Ed turned on the lights.
"Oh, you're back, Brother," The boy smiled. Ed nodded back and settled down on the couch. The boy looked puzzled at Ed's expressionless face, and sat down with him.
"You don't seem happy," He said, and Ed nodded.
"Providence saw me, Al," Ed leaned back on his seat. "They saw me use alchemy. I bet they're gonna get me."
"Brother…" Al sighed. "You know they'll find us eventually and then get us to join them."
"I can't do that, Al," Ed growled. "Then we'll be dogs of the military again. Who knows what would happen then. Remember our goal, Al. All we want is to get back."
"Right…" Al nodded and looked away. A year has passed since they arrived into this world. Al had decided to give his life up just to return Ed his arm, and Ed attempted to bring him back and sacrifice his alchemy, but ended up being led through the wrong door, only to end up here with his ill brother. They managed to find an abandoned apartment building and claimed it as theirs.
Many things were occurring in the world outside, and Al was quite worried. Chimera-like creatures occasionally stopped by in town to terrorize the town, but special forces called Providence came to take them down. Ed did his best to avoid those monsters from coming after him. From what the brothers gather about the EVO incident five years ago, they were glad they weren't infected with Nanites.
Lately, Al has been getting better, but he hadn't left the building since their first month in this world, and Ed discovered that Amestris was not on the map here. As long as Al found it fit to exercise daily to regain his body strength, he was fine. They kept their existence at a low profile, along with another two.
"Ah, you're back, Fullmetal," A voice behind the door, and an ebony haired man came in. He was quite disheveled for the evening, and he loosened the tie around his neck, and hung his jacket on the spare coat rack they found. Oh, Al remembered. Roy's attempt to regain his eyesight ended up with him coming here a month after, pulling his Lieutenant with him.
"Welcome back, Colonel," Al chirped brightly. Ed merely huffed and didn't answer. Roy sighed.
"Got Providence on our tails? That was very smooth…"
"Oh, shut up, Colonel Bastard," Ed snapped back. "I bet you can't do any better than me."
"Did you finish your homework, Edward?" A blonde woman walked into the room, still in her pajamas. Her hair was tied up neatly, and went into the kitchen.
"Yes, Riza," Ed sighed. "It was boring."
"At least you can go to school, and the Colonel has work," Al looked away. "I still have to get better before I can…"
"Well, we're all home now," Roy frowned and placed his suitcase on the counter. Riza said nothing as she prepared dinner. She set their food on the table, and they ate in silence. Riza's cooking was decent enough for them to not puke, but they had to bear with it for a year. They were a small make-shift family, with Roy and Riza playing as parents, and Ed and Al as the children. It was awkward for all of them, even though it made sense…
The doorbell rung, earning the group's attention, with Roy nearly toppling out of his chair. Riza reached into her pockets, where her trusty handgun rested. It's been a long time since she's shot anything, and she was fearing she was becoming rusty at her skills. Ed cautiously approached the door, and looked through the eyehole, and he gasped.
"Is it them?" Roy asked, and Ed nodded. Riza gulped, and put her gun away. Al looked at the Lieutenant, not sure if they were going to run away or allow them in. Roy straightened up and approached the door, gently pushing Ed out of the way. He opened the door, and pet the glinting shades of a man in a green suit. This wasn't intimidating. King Bradley was far worse than this.
"May we please come in?" The man noted to two other Providence agents clad in armor, along with a familiar face Ed saw earlier. Ed peeked through the door and glared.
"Oh… it's you…"
The boy with googles and red jacket grinned nervously.
"You believe my son is an EVO the same as your agent here?" Roy looked at Rex with cold eyes, sending a chill down the teen's spine. Was this guy a trained soldier like Agent Six? He let his mind drift to the rest of the others in the room. There was Ed, just like Noah and he had seen him that day. Next to him was a boy who didn't look to healthy, must be his brother or something… and then there was woman that made something in his head click. She was quite good-looking, but he knew better to flirt at times like these.
"We can help provide your family with necessities if you allow your son to join our forces," Agent Six offered. "I understand that parting with your son will be difficult, but these are difficult times, and we need as much help we can get to end this war and find a cure."
"I understand this world's condition," Roy answered back, Roy looked at the blonde woman and shook his head.
"But I believe that is not my decision," He said, and looked at Ed. "Fullmetal, it's your choice to go."
Rex watched as the blonde boy tensed and balled his fists. Agent Six turned to him, his expression not changing. Negotiations continued for another hour, until Ed placed his hand down on the table.
"All right," He said quietly, his shoulders shaking. "I'll join your little army."
Agent Six didn't show any surprise or sorrow, but Rex was definitely surprised. Ed's family were quite expectant of this decision. Ed then stood up from the couch.
"Under one condition," He frowned. "I cannot leave my family behind. I wish to bring them with me on board."
"Wait, wha-" Rex was cut off by Six.
"We can accommodate for that." The green-suited man got up, and led the way out of the apartment.
-*-wekjfnmwih
"This looks… different…" Al gazed at the bedroom he was to share with his brother. Arrival to the Providence Headquarters was jarring for the fifteen-year-old boy. It was like Central, except more futuristic stuff. The colors were white and gray and black instead of blue and green and white. Roy and Riza were to share another room, so he was sure they were having a nice time getting settled. Ed was not here yet, since he was pulled away from the group to talk with that "Agent Six." Something about being introduced to a "White Knight…"
A knock on the door made him nearly drop his luggage, and he hastily opened the door. Rex, the teen agent of Providence, was standing at the front door, the wide grin plastered on his face. Al had seen him in the news recently, as Providence's newest secret weapon.
"Hey, there," Rex smiled, and Al nodded back.
"H-hello…"
"Why so shy?" Rex slapped an arm on the boy's shoulder. "We're gonna be pals here!"
"Um… right!" Al smiled.
"So, who's the new kid?" A dressed monkey came into the door. Al looked in surprise.
"Why is there a chimera here?" He asked. Rex then laughed.
"What are you talking about? This is Bobo, my sidekick."
"Sidekick?" Bobo snorted. "More like the one who saves your butt every day."
The two walked into the room, and gasped in awe of the room.
"Hey, it sorta looks like my room, except it has a bunk," Rex pointed at the wall. Al laughed.
"I guess it does…"
A small crash alerted them, as the two boys spun on their feet. Bobo was lying on the ground with a small pile of shattered glass and a slab of wood.
"Oops," Bobo said flatly. Rex then frowned disapprovingly.
"Way to go, Bobo," He sighed. "You looked through their stuff."
"Oh, it's all right," Al smiled. "I'll just have to fix it later."
Al rushed to the EVO chimp and lifted the slab of wood. Rex approached and realized that it was a picture frame. It was a photo of a young girl with blonde hair. Her skin was grease ridden, and her hands were filled with different tools. Also in the picture was Ed, who was not very pleased. It seemed that the two were arguing over something.
"Who could be that be?" Rex pointed at the girl. Al looked up at the agent.
"It's someone from back home," Al mused. "She was a childhood friend."
"Ed likes her?" Rex asked blatantly. Al nodded as he gathered all the shattered.
"Well, I'll have to fix it before Brother finds out you've seen this." Al clapped his hands and placed them on the glass and photo frame. Rex watched as the glass melted together and became the same gleaming sheet of glass again. Bobo watched in amazement of the younger Elric's abilities.
"You can do that fixy thing, too?" Rex asked. Al nodded.
"It's called alchemy," He said. "It's a talent our family has."
"Does that mean your parents can, too?"
"Well…" Al thought. "The Colonel knows alchemy. The Lieutenant never studied it."
"I see…" Rex thought and wondered the potential of Providence gaining more agents. "Wait. Why did you call your dad a colonel?"
"He's not really my dad," Al looked at the door. "Nor is Lieutenant my mom. We're technically adopted, and they are our guardians, so people consider that they're our parents."
"Now this is getting interesting," Rex smiled. Just then, the door slid open, and Ed walked through, with Agent Six.
"Oh, Al, you're here," Ed then glared at Rex, who smiled. "Why the hell are you here?"
"Oh, I let him in," Al laughed nervously. "No need to worry."
"Anyways," Ed tossed a badge to Al to catch. "We're enlisted now, along with Colonel Bastard and the Lieutenant."
"That's nice to know!" Al smiled. Agent Six then pulled Rex out of the room.
"Hey!" Rex shouted. "Where are you taking me?"
"You've just got a mission," The green-suited man said. "It's best you get going."
The doors closed behind the two brothers and Rex left. He began to wonder… They were his age, so he was beginning to think life in Providence would be a lot better than before.
A/N: Sudden Inspiration from just watching Generator Rex, and I know, this is quite hastily done... Currently this is the only story I can update, since I can't access the others. I've already sent a notice to administrator, but it'll be a while before anything gets fixed. XP
