Exercise

Tony offered a boxing ring when Edward mentioned something about getting stiff. After, of course, he'd considered teasing the young man, then decided against it. "You may not want that," Alphonse had said, shaking his head.

Winry agreed. "You haven't seen the way they fight. They need a lot of room."

Landscaping aside, the only good place for this was outside. Happy volunteered to go with them and watch to make sure they didn't destroy anything. Tony'd mostly forgotten about it until his cell went off. Triggering the mic, he asked, "What did they destroy?"

"You've gotta get out here, boss."

"Hap, I'm busy."

"Busy, you're always busy. Come and see this. Now."

Tony rolled his eyes. "It seems I'm wanted outside," he announced to the bots and Winry, who waved absently over her shoulder as Tony ran up the stairs. He slowed down as he entered the foyer, walking through it with his head tilted sideways to peer through the glass looking out over the driveway.

He blinked, blinking again as Edward flew across the asphalt, body folded in half as he took a blow. Crashing into a bush, Edward struggled to get out of it as Alphonse took a running start after him. "Shit!" Edward managed to get to his feet, catching a blow on his leg.

Tony recognized the sound of a hit on metal as he pushed through the doorway. He blinked again as Edward punched Alphonse, who leaped backwards, still catching the blow to his shoulder. "See?" Happy glanced sideways at Tony, waving a hand at the combatants. "Do you see?"

"Yeah." Tony nodded thoughtfully as the two brothers went at it, hammers and tongs. They smashed through the landscaping, overturned some boulders – Tony didn't want to think what kind of force was involved with that, even if his mind automatically started the calculations. "That's um." He fingered his lip.

"They're pretty good," Happy said, folding his arms.

"They're destroying my landscaping," Tony replied, then raised his voice. "Hey! Elrics! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Curious, Edward looked over, and Alphonse took advantage to clock his elder brother one last time. While Edward tumbled to the ground, Alphonse smiled brightly, trying to fix his shirt, hanging in tatters off of one shoulder. Bruises marred his body, just starting to bloom from the fighting. Edward scrambled up, dusting himself off. A glint of metal showed in the tear of his pants leg. "Sparring," he said, shrugging.

"You're destroyed my landscaping," Tony said, jerking his eyes away from the steel? Iron? Metal gleam. "Who's gonna take care of that, hmm?"

Alphonse rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "We will?" He winced, with a sidelong look at Edward. "Well, I will?" He turned in place, sweeping his gaze around, then squatted down.

Tony wasn't sure what happened. A heavily-reverberating chime, like a bell, but deeper, tickled his ears, but it was the blue flash, like lightning, or electricity, that made Tony take a step back. When the light died down, the boulders were upright, the plants looked…flourishing, and Alphonse Elric got to his feet, dusting his hands on his pants. He offered a lopsided smile.

Nonplused, Tony turned to Happy, then back to the brothers. "Did you," he started to ask Happy, then frowned at the Elrics. "What did you do?"

Edward grinned, a proud expression. "Alchemy," he and Alphonse said together.

"Alchemy." Tony pursed his mouth. "That's turning lead into gold."

"Illegal," Edward said, sounding bored.

"Making jewels grow larger."

The brothers exchanged a glance. "Never heard of that one," Alphonse admitted.

"The precursor of modern chemistry. So how is it you're able to do," Tony waved his hand toward the landscaping, all set to rights, and gleaming like it'd rained for a couple of days. "That?"

"We're alchemists," Edward shrugged. "Well, I used to be one."

Alphonse favored his brother with a fond, sad smile. "Yeah." Edward chucked Alphonse's shoulder, and the smile broadened.

"So. I think we'd better have a talk about this alchemy." Tony beckoned at them, wrinkling his nose as they approached. "Whew. After you get cleaned up. I'll order us some food, and we'll talk."

"Okay," Edward shrugged, leading the way into the house.

Happy caught Tony's arm as he started to follow the kids. "Are you sure they're safe?"

"Safe? Maybe? I don't know. But they're my responsibility." Tony quirked his mouth sideways. "And I'd better find out what they can do and what they can't, before something else happens."