A/N: Hey guys, here is the next chapter (finally), posted on none other than my B-day, I hope you all enjoy it.
(Earlier with Al)
It was several hours into the search for Connors and so far, Al had had no luck in tracking down the rogue alchemist. He began heading back to Headquarters, however a conversation that was quiet yet audible enough for Al to hear drew his attention. The two speaking were both men who were quite scruffy and dressed in tattered clothing, implying they were very poor at best.
"Did you see that creepy mad scientist guy again?" One of them asked in a reassuring tone.
"Yeah, luckily I don't think he saw me but he was carrying off some kid, I'd really hate to be in his position."
Cautiously, Al approached the two, though the noise of his armour alerted them to his presence, "Can we… do something for you?" The first man asked in a slightly nervous tone, obviously a little intimidated by Al's size.
"Yes, I was wondering if I could ask you about the person you saw?" Al asked the second of the two men.
"I don't know why you want to know about a fella like that." The second man stated, "But I guess if I was to describe him, he had a lab coat with the right sleeve rolled up, brown hair and glasses, that enough for you kid?" He asked, taking note of Al's child-like voice.
"Well, yes and no, it's definitely the person I'm looking for but could you also give me a description of the person he carried off?" Al asked, even if Connors himself couldn't be found, a way to identify his latest kidnapping victim could at the very least lead Al to Connors' last known location.
"Yeah," The man answered, "he was a blond kid, hair done up in a braid and he had like a red coat on."
It instantly dawned on Al just who the man was describing, "Did you see which direction he went in?!" He half-asked, half-demanded, grabbing the man by the shoulders.
"Yeah I did! Now could let you let go?! It feels like you're gonna break my collarbone!" He shouted back.
Immediately realising he was unintentionally hurting the man, Al let go, "Sorry." He muttered apologetically, "But I was being serious, I really need to know where he went."
"You're with the military, aren't you?" The first of the two men asked, looking Al over suspiciously.
"Uh…" Al's surprise at the sudden question clearly blew his cover as the man gave him a knowing look, "Yes." He confirmed, deciding not to waste time he could use looking for Ed.
"At least you're honest," He stated, "we'll help you out I guess."
"Thank you." Al said gratefully, "Just give me a minute and I'll be ready." He continued, knowing who he needed to contact.
Headquarters
"So your brother has been captured and a couple of homeless men are claiming they might know where he and Connors are?" Mustang spoke into the phone, Al had contacted him only a few minutes ago and had explained the situation to the Colonel.
"Yes Colonel." Al confirmed.
"Fine then, I'll be there in a bit." He said, calmly putting the phone down before standing up and walking out of his office, "Ah, Lieutenant," He exclaimed, noticing his favourite subordinate, "Grab my Ignition Gloves, we're moving out."
"For what reason sir?" Riza asked, though by the sound of her tone she already knew it had something to do with the Connors case.
"Fullmetal has been captured and per information his brother got from a couple of eyewitnesses, Connors took him to a derelict warehouse on Truman Street." Roy explained.
"I see," She said, her expression briefly flashing with worry before she continued, "I assume only the two of us will go initially to avoid wasting time?"
"Sharp as ever." The Flame Alchemist complimented, as he began to walk away, "Contact a couple of troops for a raid team, I'll get us a vehicle, don't keep me waiting."
"Of course not sir." Riza answered.
Luckily, it took less than half an hour for the two to get prepared as they drove through the streets of East City towards the derelict industrial sector where the warehouse was supposedly located. It was easy to find given the fact that Al was standing in front of one the warehouses with the two men that Roy presumed were the armoured boy's informants.
"Hello Colonel Mustang." Al said, clearly eager to begin the operation as soon as possible, for obvious reasons.
Roy acknowledged Al with a nod as he turned to address the two men, "You're sure this is the right place?" He asked sternly.
"Yes sir." The two replied somewhat nervously.
"Then the two of you may want to stand back." Roy advised, slipping a pair of Ignition Gloves on as he began to walk towards the door. The two men were quick to heed the suggestion as they retreated into the backstreets.
"Ready?" Roy asked as he primed his gloves, Riza stood next to him with her pistol at her side, fully loaded. Al stood behind the two, ready for the moment when they would rush in to the abandoned building. Snapping his fingers, the doors where blown clear with a burst of flame alchemy.
As the smoke began to clear, the three advanced quickly but cautiously, taking care in case Connors had rigged the place. However, the sight that awaited the three was much more shocking than they could have imagined. Connors was sat on the floor, in an obvious state of shock, if the incoherent mumbling was anything to go and kneeling in front of him was a humanoid lizard, seven-foot-tall with its fingers and toes tipped with claws, clearly a chimera judging from the ripped clothing.
Riza raised her pistol and Roy primed his Ignition Gloves, ready to dispatch the likely unpredictable chimera. However, Al noticed something about the chimera, its eyes were golden. "Wait!" Al cried, ignoring the questioning looks he earned from the two, he asked a question he desperately hoped he was wrong, "B-big brother?"
Much to the shock of the three, the creature began to speak, in a rough, inhuman voice, "A-Alphonse…"
During this time, Connors had managed to regain his composure and rushed as quickly as he could towards the transmutation circle etched on the floor. Slamming his hand on it, causing a bright light to illuminate the cages that the remaining lizard chimeras were being kept in, "Connors, what the hell are you doing?!" Mustang roared.
Connors turned to face the Flame Alchemist, displaying a triumphant grin, "You will be the first to be shown the face of the new world." He answered cryptically, it was then that the group noted in horror that the cages keeping the dozen strong chimera restrained had at the very least, partially disintegrated. Riza and Roy watched the large group warily, both raising their respective weapons in anticipation of what the creatures would do.
It didn't take long for the monsters to realise they were no longer being held back, several of them abandoning the half-chewed goat carcasses in favour of fresher meat. Riza quickly picked off two with a headshot each before her attention was diverted by Connors, who attempted to escape through the gaping hole created by the group, she fired a bullet at him, nailing him the knee. Connors cried out in pain as he hit the ground, even so he was determined to get away despite his injured leg and tried to crawl along using his one good arm. Luckily, reinforcements had arrived on the scene and they proceeded to surround Connors, restraining the former State Alchemist.
Two of the chimera attempted to lunge for Riza while she was distracted, however they gave of shrieks as they were quickly engulfed by Mustang's Flame Alchemy, leaving nothing but charred corpses, "You should be more careful Lieutenant." Roy said in playfully cocky tone.
"I could say the same thing to you." Riza retorted, aiming her gun at the roof just a little to Roy's right, firing off three bullets. There was a series of grunts followed shortly by a crash as three chimeras landed dead on the warehouse floor, each with a bullet hole in their skull, evidently, the creatures had been attempting to ambush the Flame Alchemist from above. Roy's only response was to grumble indignantly at his lieutenant showing him before setting to work incinerating another group of three chimeras that had resorted to charging at the group head-on.
Al had already set to work via crushing the skulls of four smaller chimeras. However, he was soon set upon by the largest chimera (1). The creature stood nearly a foot taller than Al and demonstrated its superior strength by backhanding Al, causing the armoured boy to crash into a wall. Al barely had time to think as the chimera was soon upon him again, opening its maw as it got ready to bring its fangs down in a potentially armour-crushing bite, a swift kick to its jaw spared Al from finding out. However, the blow only succeeded in pushing the chimera back briefly as it lunged for Al again, this time cutting into the metal of his bicep on the right arm, causing a deep gash, though Al's arm wasn't severed.
Al was able to deliver an uppercut to the fierce creature, staggering it briefly before Al was able to land more blows to the chimera. However, his onslaught was stopped as the chimera let out an enraged snarl, lunging forward with a right-handed vertical slash, Al managed to block the attack with his own hand, causing their fingers to interlock. Sensing it wasn't getting anywhere, the chimera went for another swipe, Al blocked it in the same manner as the previous strike, essentially putting the two into a stalemate. However, a loud creaking sound alerted Al to a sudden problem, Al's arm right arm was beginning to bend backwards due to the chimera's impressive physical strength putting strain on the already weakened metal.
Despite the chaos, Ed hadn't even moved, continuously examining his body as he still attempted to recover from the disgusting feeling that he had wanted to devour Connors. Finally, Ed chose to look up, where his eyes landed on Al, struggling against the largest chimera. Now, Ed may have still been sick to his stomach but his brother was currently in danger and as such, he charged towards the grappling duo with a battle cry. Despite the fact that the chimera was bigger than Ed, given that the Elric brothers were currently of equal height, it was still blindsided when the State Alchemist grabbed it around the waist and smashed it against the wall. Naturally, the chimera became enraged as it shifted its focus to Ed as it furiously exchanged several blows with the young alchemist. Despite the depth of the cuts to both parties, they were quickly healing, the only way for one of them to go down would be to kill the other. Luckily the creature's bloodlust soon made it uncoordinated, allowing Ed to find an opening after blocking a swipe and dug his claws into the chimera's windpipe. The creature stopped, coughing up blood, a gurgling sound was created as it struggled to breathe. Eventually, the chimera went limp, once Ed was positive the brute was dead, he kicked it off his claws, flicking his wrist to get the blood off his claws.
After a tense moment, Al finally spoke up, "Ed?" His brother turned to him, his mouth curling upwards. It took a moment for Al, to realise, but Ed was smiling at him.
"Hey Al." Not a moment after he made the statement, Ed's eyes closed as he fell to the ground, the exhaustion of undergoing his transformation and the adrenaline rush wearing off finally taking its toll on him.
"Ed!" Al cried with worry, rushing to his brother's side, soon being joined by Roy and Riza shortly thereafter. That was when the trio noticed something, Ed was beginning to change, his claws, snout and tail beginning to regress. His scales turning back to skin, his hair grew back in un-braided locks and his body shrunk. Leaving Ed in nothing but tattered pants lying on the floor.
"Colonel?" Riza asked, her questioning tone clearly asking what they were going to do.
"We can't allow anyone to know about this." Roy stated, Al suddenly stood between him and Ed.
"You're not going to hurt Ed." Al said in an unusually aggressive tone, surprising the two soldiers as it would take a lot to get Alphonse even a little cross.
"Easy Alphonse." Roy said in a calming tone, putting his arms up in a surrender gesture, realising Al assumed that his previous statement meant killing Ed, "We're not going to hurt Fullmetal, but consider the implications if Edward becoming a chimera was made public knowledge. At worst, the public would cause an uproar and the incident would likely shatter their trust in the state military at best he could become widely known as the only living successful human chimera and he'd likely then be carted off for experimentation." At Roy's explanation, Al's hostility lessened, "Therefore this incident must remain confidential."
"And how do you propose to do that Colonel Mustang?" A new voice rung out.
"I don't see why I should-" Roy began in an annoyed tone, though his breath hitched in his throat when he saw who it was. The newcomer was an imposing figure, with a full head of short-cut black hair, a thick moustache and only his right, blue-tinted eye was visible as his left was covered by an eyepatch. There was a sword attached to his waist but his most distinguishing feature was the four stars on the epaulettes of his standard issue military coat. Even if the trio were not aware of the fact that only one officer in all of the Amestrian government bore four stars, they knew the man's face well enough, he was Fuhrer King Bradley, the leader of the Amestrian government.
"F-Fuhrer!" Roy exclaimed in surprise, "Sir, what are you doing here?"
"I was coming to check up on the progress of the Elric brothers." Bradley explained, "It is indeed true that Edward Elric's newfound condition must be kept a secret, you may leave it all to me." The group were visibly shocked by the senior officer's offer, "However…" Bradley continued, garnering the group's attention once again, "If Edward Elric still wishes to remain in active service to the military, he needs to get a handle on his new powers. I will leave it to your discretion, for now, take him to a doctor but I would suggest using an alias so no one questions the sudden disappearance of his automail." With that, Bradley began to walk away. Before he was out the door, he turned around to address Roy, "But Colonel, understand one thing you will not attempt keep secrets from me again, is that clear?" At Roy's nod, Bradley prepared to leave once again before Al spoke up.
"Uh… Fuhrer?"
"Yes?" Bradley replied, facing the youngest Elric brother, his expression still stern from addressing the Colonel.
"Thank you, sir." Bradley didn't respond for a moment but then smiled kindly at Al.
"No need to thank me Alphonse, I simply have the best interests of the military at heart." Before any of the group could question Bradley's somewhat cryptic response, he was already out the door.
Curt Connors was bored, it had been several hours since his arrest and during that time he had been brought to the medical bay in East City prison. He currently had his one good arm handcuffed to the metal frame of his hospital bed, the leg that had been shot was in bandages and still hurt after the surgery to have the bullet removed. He knew that for his 'crimes against the state', he would likely be executed. After making a name for himself as an escape artist among the military, he never thought he would be caught and in this instance the thought of death scared him. Though the fools in the state's upper crust wouldn't get the satisfaction of seeing fear cross his features or so he liked to believe.
It was then that he heard the medical bay's door open, assuming it was one of the nurses, he opted to ignore the source of the footsteps that approached his bed.
"Curt Connors?" A distinctly male voice asked, which Connors thought was strange considering the nurse on duty was female. He turned to his apparent visitor and his eyes widened in shock. Fuhrer Bradley was standing over him.
Clearly, the Fuhrer had noticed Connors reaction and held up a hand as a calming gesture, "At ease."
The order did the trick though Connors had to point out one error with the Fuhrer's statement, "I'm not in the military anymore."
"Oh, I am well aware of that." Bradley replied.
"So, to what do I owe the displeasure?" Connors asked dryly, purposefully getting the saying wrong, "Come to personally execute me?"
"No, I'm not here for something like that." Bradley stated, upon noticing Connors' bewildered look, he continued, "I have a proposition for you."
A/N: And done! Thank you for reading guys, feedback is appreciated and I hope you guys have an awesome day, with that, I'm out.
