Mustang never liked prisons.
They were the place of the rotten and the forsaken, but they were also reminders of how fall people could fall. Kimblee was a fine example of that.
But, as Mustang walked the halls of the prison, ignoring the voices and screams of prisoners and madmen, he could only think of how strange someone had voluntarily come here.
He looked to Hawkeye, who was keeping pace next to him. Since the end of the fight with Father, she had cropped her hair short, as it was when they first met. It would bob with her as her russet eyes would match their color and flair.
Mustang had long a go decided he loved that look. "Run it by me again, Hawkeye," He said as she turned to look at her superior officer, "You said he just climbed out of a canal?"
Hawkeye nodded, pulling a small report from a file. Her eyes flashed over it as she spoke to her Colonel, following him down the halls of the prison. She wasn't uncomfortable here, despite the wolf=whistles and vulgar calls by the inmates. The Colonel was here, after all. "Scared the hell out of the market this morning, sir. People said it just stood there for a moment, presumably getting it's bearings before making its way and sitting down in a cell."
Mustang scowled, his brow furrowing in concentration as he turned a corner, looking forward at the heavily guarded cell at the end. "You said, "it', Hawkeye."
"Yes, sir," Hawkeye nodded as the soldiers saluted, one of them moving to open the door to the cell. It was like Kimblee's had been, with a second door behind the bars leading to the cell. Hawkeye gripped the files a little tighter as the solider opened the door, the rest taking out their sidearms and aiming them at the door. "The warden said it would be obvious when we met it, sir."
Mustang raised an eyebrow before turning to the dark abyss inside. The inside of the cell was bitch black, but he could make out a pair of large boots in the faint light. The rest of whomever or whatever was in the cell was sheltered in darkness, but if the boots were any indication, they were big. "I'm Colonel Roy Mustang," Mustang said into the prison. He waited for a reaction.
He certainly got one.
A yellow light suddenly came on from close to the ceiling of the cell, and then it turned towards him. The light was oval-shaped, but there were spots there it looked like metal bars were blocking it. With a shock, Roy realized what the light was.
It was the thing's head.
There came a strange noise from within the cell, and Mustang was unsure whether it was the creaking metal or something else. It was a haunting, unearthly echo, but was also like a sad, familiar song. He didn't have long to ponder what it was, however, before the thing in the cell stood, and stepped into the light.
Mustang was wrong. This wasn't a big thing.
This thing was titanic.
It reeked of sea-salt and kelp, no doubt from the dirty diving suit it wore. There were faint markings on the armor, burns and scrapes, but also bullet marks. They only marked a small part of the suit, however, as most of it was made of some sort of cloth. Whatever it was, it looked as dirty and battle-scarred as the rest of the thing.
Mustang's head trailed up the massive things body. It was built like a tank, every inch of the armor moving as if filled entirely. Secretly, Mustang hoped that it was Armstrong in that suit, and that this was all some prank he'd be cross at them fro later.
Internally, however, he knew that Armstrong wasn't even close to how big this monster was.
The noise came again, and the thing lifted a gloved hand. Roy's eyebrows lifted slowly, admiring the golden emblem on the back of its hand. "A horseshoe with feet?" He said aloud, looking to Hawkeye for some information.
She didn't disappoint. Already, she was scanning the report, and nodded when she tapped the page, finding what she had been searching for. "A Xerxian symbol: Omega. Usually symbolizing the last, the ultimate."
Roy smiled faintly, looking up at the thing's face. Or at least, the glowing yellow portal that was where it's face should be. "I assume it's your name. Bit pretentious, if you ask me."
There was a rumble from within Omega's diving suit, the haunting echo returning. Roy's smile vanished as he looked sternly up at the monstrosity's face. "So, Omega, mind telling me what you put yourself in here for?"
Omega said nothing, but the haunting rumble returned. It lifted a gloved hand to the other one, and popped the glove off.
Roy scowled.
It was empty inside.
Mustang couldn't help a familiar pain growing inside him. Someone had done to Omega what the doctors in Lab Five had done to Barry, or what Fullmetal had done to save Al. Hawkeye seemed to be sharing his thoughts, scowling herself as her eyes narrowed sadly. "I'm sorry," Mustang said, taking the glove from Omega's hand and locking it back in place, "I knew some people who had bodies-" He stopped himself, realizing what he was saying as he fixed the glove into potion, "Well, they were like you."
Omega rumbled again, leaning closer. Mustang was faintly aware of a strange tingle on the back of his neck. Omega was eerie enough, but right now, if felt like Omega had looked into his soul. "However," Mustang said, not backing down, "That doesn't explain why you're here."
Omega looked around, as if he was searching for something. At first, mustang suspected that's why it was here, but then Omega looked at a guard, and did something unexpected.
It reached out a massive hand, and, pulling the poor guard close, Omega punched the guard in the face.
While the other guards squeezed their triggers and Hawkeye was pulling her gun from the holster, Mustang raised a hand. His eyes narrowed, watching the guard shiver and look at him pleadingly, blood running down his face from a broken nose.
But then, once again, Omega surprised them.
Reaching out a dirty finger, Omega wiped it through the blood and turned to the stale white wall next to it. Slowly, a word became apparent as Omega finished, releasing the guard.
MONSTER.
Mustang crossed his arms. "So, you call yourself a monster, so you lock yourself in prison?"
Omega nodded, an affirming rumble coming from within its hollow armor.
"Do you normally go around punching people in the face and writing stuff with their blood?"
Omega paused, but shook its head.
Mustang smiled. "Then you're not a monster. Like I said, we know people who were like you." Mustang smiled, confident and fiery, "We can help you return your soul to your body."
Omega rumbled and tilted its helmet, scratching it.
Mustang blinked, surprise coming over him as he stepped forward. "Wait, so you don't know what happened to you?"
Omega shook its massive head once, slowly.
Behind him, Hawkeye let a faint curse slip into the still air. "Your soul," Mustang said sadly, hands at his side as he looked up into Omega's face, "has been bonded to this diving suit. It was likely ripped from your body, or pulled back following your death."
Omega raised a hand to it's face, then threw it's head back, and let loose the most horrifying, blood-curdling roar Mustang had ever heard.
It rang off of the walls of the prison, Omega's light turning a dark red as he howled in misery and pain. It's fists shook, the cloth squeaking at how tight his grip was as the very stone under Mustang's feet shook.
It was the saddest thing Mustang had ever heard.
It wasn't a scream of hatred, or defiance, or fury. It was pain, indescribable, and loss, unfathomable.
Omega lifted a hand and pulled it back, the brought the back of his massive fist to bear on the wall to his right. As he pulled his fist from the cracked stone, his symbol as discernable, imprinted into the stone.
Mustang got the sinking feeling that Omega was possibly the strongest creature he had ever seen. It howled more, falling to its metal knees as it gripped its head, red light burning hotly. He scowled in return. "I'm sorry, Omega." He knelt down before the creature as it's arms and head fell, looking at the pale stone of the prison, and then, against Mustang's better judgement, he placed a hand on it's massive shoulder.
The light faded to yellow as Omega looked at Mustang, and Mustang briefly felt the feeling of being exposed return. "Look," he said, looking sternly into Omega's face, "We know some people who can help you. We can get you a place for you to stay until they get here. Will that be okay with you?"
Omega, silent for a moment, nodded. It stood, massive boots clomping on the stone as it drew itself to it's towering height. Mustang followed him before turning to a guard. "Escort him to Central Hospital. Keep him hidden. The last thing we need is people thing the government is still hiding things from them." A guard nodded, and the four of them surrounded Omega, leading him away. For every one step he took, they had to keep two just to match it's massive strides.
Hawkeye went to Mustang's side as the two watched him go. "What do you think, Hawkeye?"
The blonde scowled. "I think someone is going to pay for putting him in that suit." Her knuckles were white as she gripped the file tightly in her hands.
Mustang nodded in assent. "True. But why can't it speak? What's with the funny light?"
"Maybe it's not for Omega's sake," Hawkeye said, looking to her CO as the giant looked to the guard who's nose it had broken. The man flinched a little, worried about a second blow, before the light turned a faint green and Omega patted the soldier's head with it's hand, the soldiers buzzed head fitting neatly in Omega's massive hand.
"Maybe," Mustang nodded, watching them until they turned the corner. "Did Omega have any possessions when it came in?"
Hawkeye nodded, pulling a large photo from the file and handing it to Mustang. Taking it one hand, Mustang's eyes went wide. "It's a drill," he said, gaping at the massive, bronze drill in the photo. His eyes narrowed on dark spots all over the drill. "Are those spots-"
"Blood, sir," Hawkeye said, looking over another report as Mustang drank in the image of the massive drill, "Human blood. They also found bone fragments on the drill as well, sir. They're human as well."
Mustang scowled, looking at the mark on the wall where Omega had left his print. "Get some people down there to check out the drill. See what else you can tell me."
Hawkeye nodded. "Yessir. Anything else?"
"Yeah," Mustang said, smiling with a furrowed brow, "Get me a phone. I have a phone call to make."
A/N: I might continue this, I might not. We'll just have to see. I just had to flesh out that bit, since it was nagging me all day.
For those of you wondering, yes, there is a Rapture in the FMA world. It won't be the same as the one in the Bioshock verse, but a lot of it will work the same. Omega is a good example of that. Instead of being welded into the suit, Omega is a soul locked inside the suit. His voice and lights, however, are most likely to some conditioning prior to being placed in the suit.
Anyway, we'll see where this goes, shall we?
-JP
