The Black Iron Atronach
Chapter 2
-Hughes-
Sighing softly he sat, staring at nothing as he went over what Harry had told him earlier when he heard the door open as his wife walked in asking "Maes dear, what's wrong? Can't sleep?".
"I guess not." He said, the faintest hint of amusement in his tone as Gracia sat down next to him.
"I know what's in that head of yours," she said as she got settled "you're worried about those boys…aren't you?".
"Yeah," he said sadly "I am…Harry more than the others after I learned about how he got those arms of his.".
"But I thought he didn't want to talk about that." Gracia said confused "How did you get him to tell you?"
"It wasn't that he didn't want to talk about it," he explained with a shake of his head "he just didn't think Elesia was mature enough to know the story…something I agree with completely.".
"What happened?" Gracia asked and he could hear the worry in her voice and see it in her eyes which only grew as he explained what Harry had told him. "How could anyone do something like that?" Gracia asked horrified before a steely strength rose up in her eyes, a look that every mother had "What are we going to do about this?".
"I'm not sure what all we can do to be honest," he admitted "he already has Ed and Al as his brothers, and mentioned a sister as well that made his arms and legs, but I'm not sure how receptive he'd be to an adoptive mother or father due to what his parents did as well as his aunt and uncle. I told him that if he ever needed to talk then my door was always open to him.".
"Plus there's how he'd be treated as a 'state Atronach'," Gracia said with a sigh "I know how the State Alchemists are referred to as the 'dogs of the military' and I doubt he's seen differently…imagine having to endure that at their age.".
"One's age isn't just determined by the number of years you've lived but what you've experienced within those years," he told his wife as he wrapped an arm around her "and no matter how much I wish it wasn't true…those boys have 'lived' and are 'older' than most of the people I know.".
-Harry-
Snarling angrily he looked down at the steaming corpse propped against the wall, faintly hearing soldiers in the background yelling for a medic. "How awful." Al said, horror clear in his adopted brother's voice.
"Looks like a steam explosion," he noted "raise the temperature of water fast enough and it explodes like a bomb. Combine that with the human boy being seventy percent water then you have a highly dangerous weapon.".
Before he could continue he felt the earth shake from several explosive blasts as he turned around to see miniature stone heads shooting out of an alleyway causing him to sigh along with his brothers, "It's Armstrong." They groaned out together before rushing over to help out their friend.
Getting to the alley they saw the Major facing off against Isaac causing them to charge in, Alphonse yelling out "Major!" in panic.
Instead of warning their friend like Al had probably wanted it instead just brought them to Isaac's attention as he turned around and flung his canteen at them where it exploded in midair into steam. Reacting quickly he shoved Ed behind Al while using his power to block it from hitting him, hearing the sound of footsteps running but being unable to do anything to stop Isaac as he was trying to get rid of the heated steam.
"Nice save Harry," Ed said with a grin "now let's go, he's getting away!".
"Come then young Elrics brothers!" Armstrong ordered seriously as they all ran off to try and catch Isaac.
-That Night-
Sighing softly he used his wind powers to manipulate a leaf in the air before the sound of running footsteps and panting distracted him. Looking down from the rooftop he was waiting on he grinned, seeing Isaac returning to the alleyway like he and Ed had suspected would happen.
"Stop right there!" the voice of Ed ordered from one end of the alleyway causing Isaac to grin psychotically while turning. "We figured that you were doing something important in this alley and that you would return to try and finish it," Ed explained "and what do you know…we were right.".
"There's nowhere to run!" Al declared proudly, his giant brother walking into the other alley entrance.
"We have both ends blocked and even the sky isn't open to you," he declared, using his wind power to float in the air above Isaac "so just turn yourself in so we don't have to end you.".
"Who said I was running?" Isaac asked, the man gesturing with his arms spread wide as the alchemy array he just noticed on the ground lit up with a brilliant red light, arcs of crimson lighting shooting out from it while the winds whipped around causing him to lose control of the winds holding him making him fall to the ground.
Before he could react more pillars of crimson light erupted from around the city, forming a giant circle as he realized what it was at the same time his brother did, "An Alchemic Reaction," Al breathed in aw "on this scale? That could only mean…".
"The Philosopher's stone!" Ed said with a fanatical expression causing him to sigh, pained by his brother's obsession with the stone even if he did understand it.
Thrusting out his hand he tried to control the Isaac's blood to use him as a puppet to end the transmutation only for his power to slip off, feeling almost like trying to grip a wet bar of soap. "I can't control him!" he called out "I think the stone is messing with my powers!".
Before any of them could continue the alleyway began glowing with an icy blue light as the water in the air began collection and freezing into an expanding ice pillar. Snarling he ignored the argument between Isaac and Ed and began trying to use his own powers to hold back the ice, feeling the same 'slippery' feel that he had felt before causing him to realize that any alchemic transmutation augmented by a philosopher's stone was immune to his atromancy.
Hearing the sound of metal tearing out of stone he turned as he saw the water in the canal had frozen into a glacier that continued to grow, faintly seeing a cackling Isaac climbing it before he took off running with his brothers. "Stand back boys!" Major Armstrong declared, going through several dramatic movements "And prepare for a demonstration of Armstrong Alchemy!".
"He's all your Major Muscles!" he called out as he, Ed, and Al ran behind their behemoth of a friend.
"Now," Armstrong declared, the man preparing his fist as the array on his gauntlets began to glow "witness the Alchemic Art that has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations!" before punching the approaching iceberg. Instead of being destroyed though the iceberg simply stopped before a new one shot off in a new direction, forming an L while Armstrong gaped.
"What do you think you're doing?" Ed yelled as the iceberg plowed through several buildings "You're just making it worse!".
"Guys!" he yelled, seeing the other ice walls forming around the city, the tops just showing over the buildings "He's turning the small arrays into a massive one! I think they're gonna meet at central command and freeze it over!".
"Damn it!" Ed snarled before turning to the Major "Major," his brother ordered "we're gonna try and slow him down. Can you handle the transmutation circles?".
"Consider them erased! I'm on it!" Armstrong promised with a nod before running to the alleyway.
Running towards the main iceberg with his brothers he heard Ed yell out "Not so fast!" as Ed and Al used their alchemy to create stone pillars to bring them to the top of the iceberg while he shot up using wind. As they landed Isaac used the ice to transmute an attack only for Ed to smirk and call out "Two can play that game!" while doing the same to counter it, knocking Isaac into the air where he hit one of the ice chunks and turned it into boiling hot water.
Reacting quickly he thrust out his hands to make a wind shield and stop them from getting hit with the hot water, giving Isaac enough time to get over and grab Alphonse's face mask and use the steam transmutation while calling out "Too slow!" as the helmet went flying, he and Ed getting knocked down as well by the weight of Al's armor. When Isaac took a step forward though Al's 'dead' body kicked up, Isaac only barely able to avoid getting hit as the man looked fearfully at Al's empty armor. "There's nobody in there!" Isaac said, backing up out of fear before the man's alchemic training kicked in and he could see Isaac puzzling it out "But that could only be true if the soul was bonded to the suit of armor.".
After a moment Isaac's eyes shone with realization, "I see," the freezing alchemist said with a nod "you and your brother lost arms while he lost his entire body." Isaac seemed to hunch over "you fools performed the ultimate taboo! Alchemy's one and only unforgivable le sin!".
At those words he stiffened, remembering the beating that had brought him to this world while his brother froze as well, likely remembering what had resulted in them losing their limbs or body. "Bad mistake bub," he snarled, lighting coursing across his metal arms "there are some lines you just don't cross and you fucking jumped over one. I may not have committed the taboo but I won't let you judge my brothers!" before he charged forward with a yell, Ed copying him as he slugged Isaac in the stomach, his spiked knuckles piercing a little ways into the man while Ed brought his fists down on Isaac's head.
Reacting quickly Isaac slammed his palm onto the ice, causing ice spears to shoot at them as they jumped back and Al ran forward, shattering the ice spears with a swipe while Isaac rolled off the glacier onto the ground below them while they slid down after him.
"You're done," he snarled as he summoned more lightning "there's no water for you to transmute here.".
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Isaac asked with an insane grin "I have all the water I need…seventy percent of my body!" before thrusting his arm out and causing a pair spikes made of frozen blood to shoot at them, pinning him and Ed in the shoulder as he wasn't fast enough to bring up a shield of earth.
With a wince he grabbed his shoulder as he shattered his blood spike, Al doing the same for Ed, as he and his brother dropped to their knees, Ed for the pain and him because the blood augmented by the Philosopher's stone caused him to shudder with revulsion. As they tried to get their breath back he saw the icebergs meet and Central command begin to freeze over while Isaac walked off cackling.
-Hospital Room-
"You know," Al began as he and Ed lay in their beds, the medics wanting them checked out due to any problems of having been stabbed by freaking blood that might arise "we never found out if he had a philosopher's stone.".
"He did," he said firmly "that's the only explanation I can think off as to why his blood had that effect on my and why his transmutations were resistant to my powers.".
Suddenly the door opened and he saw Major Armstrong walk in with a bouquet of roses, the man's sparkle blaring at full power causing him to pale as he knew what was coming next. "Greetings Elric Brothers," the man said softly "when I heard you were in the hospital…I DARE SAY NO MORE!" the man's calm voice gave way to a forceful one in an instant. "And as I suspected," the man continued, completely oblivious to their fear about what was about to happen "you both are in desperate need of my assistance!", Armstrong threw off his shirt with a flourish as he ended. "You need an example of a perfect physical specimen to speed your recovery!" the man declared happily "You see? You're looking livelier already!".
Before the major could continue the muscle bound man was pulled out by his ear, said appendage being pulled by a less than amused Gracia while Maes Hughes chuckled weakly. "Hey there boys," the lieutenant colonel said walking in "it looks like I got here just in time.".
"What are you doing here Mr. Hughes?" Al asked in confusion "Is there something wrong?".
"No, no," Hughes promised them "nothing like that. I just wanted to bring something to Harry here and let him know that the Fuhrer approved his request." Before handing him a box.
"What request?" Ed asked in confusion.
"I requested any notes that Isaac had in his hideout on his transmutations as well as his gauntlet and information about the tattooed array he had." He explained to his brother "I was hoping we could go through it all and not only expand your own library of alchemic knowledge but find new ways to work my powers as well. I requested not only the info from Isaac but for any other rogue alchemists that show up and the Furher liked the concept and approved it apparently.".
"Maybe you can finally learn alchemy then!" Al cheered excitedly causing him to smile faintly but a thought struck in his head. He already knew about his magic from the gate…but could he actually learn Alchemy as well?
AN: Alright people I need some opinions here! I am undecided about whether or not Harry should actually learn alchemy or if he should just stick with Atromancy? What do you think? I also have to pick out a girl for Harry to be paired with and I want it to be an FMA girl so say which one you want in a review.