Chapter 11: Massacre
"In a little over an hour we will be arriving at our destination." The sudden voice snapped Lt. Cain back to reality, lost in his own thoughts as he stared out the window at the countryside rushing by. "Conventional tactics dictate that we are to strike hard and fast at the enemy stronghold, with nothing held back. I'm sure I don't need to remind you that we are anything but conventional."
Most other times a line like that would have been considered a joke, something to break up the tension before a mission. Not here, not with this man. Like the others in the 'recon squad' he had the rank of private but unlike them he had the camouflage uniform commonly assigned to scouts in forward units identical to the one Cain now wore. Of course no one was a real private, Cain himself had been unofficially demoted so he could move freely without arousing suspicions. The unit commander had made it clear that they were to remain out of sight and maintain their cover, at all costs. He didn't say what would happen to anyone that compromised the mission but Cain knew just by looking at the man that he didn't want to find out.
It wasn't the unit commander's size that kept everyone in line. He was surprisingly a man of short stature, dark hair and wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses that made him appear younger then he actually was, which to Cain already seemed far too young to be leading what was obviously an elite black ops unit. It was his demeanor that kept everyone in line, and to the Lt. it bordered on frightening. At first glance the commander could be mistaken as pompous and arrogant, the way he spoke to his subordinates was always in a tone of unquestioned superiority, even referring to what had to be his superior officers almost in contempt. What set it apart from normal egotism were his eyes. They were focused and sharp, showing an intense drive behind them. The kind of drive that showed he was willing to do anything, anything, to accomplish his goals. Cain was sure that kind of intensity would have normally put the commander in an asylum, but instead the military had decided to put it to good use.
"The infiltration team will cover the assigned sectors on the north, south, east and west ends of the town, at the most likely entrance point the mutants will take." The commander continued, addressing the men that were in civilian clothes. "Lt. Cain." The Lt. sat at attention when his name was mentioned. "You and I will head to the castle directly, ahead of the 801st, but will not initiate contact before them. Our job is simply to observe and assess, and not to become involved in any way until I approve. Am I understood?" He asked in menacing tone.
"SIR YES SIR!" Cain immediately responded. The commander gave a slight nod in response.
"Good." Was his only response. "The rest of you have your assignments, and know what is expected of you." He added as he sat back down. It didn't sound like a reminder so much as a threat of what would happen if those expectations weren't lived up to.
"Everything's set." Winry stated as she finished checking over Ed's arm and shoulder before she connected it. "Are you ready Ed?" She asked. Ed's teeth were clenched and his flesh hand was now a tightened fist but she wasn't going to do anything until she was sure he was prepared.
"As ready as I can be." Ed hissed through his teeth. Winry didn't respond and instead snapped Ed's arm into place. Ed became stiff as a board and his eyes started to bulge but the only thing that came out of his mouth was a garbled geeegghhhh before going limp as the worst of the pain passed.
"That's it? One clank and it's over?" A disappointed sounding voice asked. Despite the residual pain he was feeling Ed was able to gather himself enough to turn and give a death glare at their bodyguard that had been watching along with Al. "After being stuck with you brats for so long I was hoping for something that was worth it."
"Sorry if it wasn't the big show you were expecting." Ed snapped sarcastically as he flexed his new arm and fingers to make sure everything was working. What was he expecting anyway? As advanced as automail limbs were replacing them was essentially the same as changing the tire on a car provided the car itself didn't need repairs or adjusting. Take the old one off, put the new one on, simple. What did he want, lots of light and noise like when alchemy was performed?
"Don't suppose it matters anyway." Juggernaut said as he turned around. "So long as it gets me out of babysitting you shrimps I'm not gonna argue." He added as he started towards the door. Ed jumped to his feet at the sound of the word shrimp but was able to hold his tongue, barely. He didn't want to let Juggernaut get away with that but he was going away so he wasn't going to do anything to keep him around. Al and Winry looked on, amazed at Ed's self control, as he watched Juggernaut walk out the door and shut it behind him.
"Wow Ed, I didn't think you could…" Winry began, sounding impressed.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL HE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO CLIMB A BLADE OF GRASS?" Ed screamed at the closed door, hopping up and down to keep himself from running after Juggernaut.
"…act so maturely." Winry finished, her expression just as flat as her words. Al added a deep sigh in agreement as Ed finished jumping up and down but continued to look at the door like he wanted it to explode. After a few more moments he managed to finally calm down a little and look over at the other two.
"Just wait until I…." He started to growl, still not completely calm.
"Brother, staying angry at him won't accomplish anything." Al told him.
"Besides, don't you have something more important to focus on?" Winry asked him sternly. The look of anger on Ed's face turned to confusion as looked at Winry, then turned sheepish a second later as he realized what she meant.
"Guess I kind of got carried away there for a minute." He admitted, sounding just as sheepish as he looked. Deciding not to reflect on his temper getting the better of him he walked over to Winry's workstation and picked up several spare nuts and bolts. Despite being banged up, dented and in some areas outright crushed Al had lost surprisingly little metal in their fight with Juggernaut and the spare bits Ed held would more then make up for it. "I guess you're going to tell me I should work on being calm?" He asked Winry humorously as he made his way over to Al, trying to lighten the mood.
"It never hurts to try new things." Al commented, eliciting a giggle from Winry.
"Hey! I thought you were supposed to be on my side!" Ed exclaimed in good humor as clapped his hands together. The flash of transmutation filled the workshop and when it faded Al was standing under his own power, not a sign of any damage he had received remained. "And there we go, good as new." He declared as Al stretched his previously ruined knee. "Feeling any better?" He asked his brother.
"Much." Al answered as he flexed his rebuilt hand. Of course he couldn't 'feel' anything but it was always disconcerting to not be able to use one of your limbs. "So what do we do now brother?" He asked. The look on Ed's face became serious, and Al could guess why. Now that the two of them were whole again they needed to concentrate on more unpleasant things, specifically the offer Magneto had given them.
"We're going to have to talk to him again." Ed told his brother, which caught Al by surprise. He didn't think Ed had come to a decision so quickly. "This time we'll get as many details as we can. How he's going to do it, how long it's going to take, and exactly what he wants us to do after it's over. Then we'll start thinking about it." He finished. Now that sounded more like how Al expected his brother to think. Just like a scientist, approach a problem from every conceivable angle before deciding on a solution. Now with both of them unhurt they could put their full concentration towards making that decision.
"Thinking about what?" Winry asked from the side. The brothers turned to look at her, realizing that that hadn't yet told her what Magneto had offered them several days ago. "Just what did he tell you two?" She asked, knowing that they were talking about Magneto. She understood that they had wanted to keep it a secret from everyone who shouldn't know and she had gotten caught in the mix but with Juggernaut now gone there was no reason they couldn't tell her. If her experiences with mutants so far were any indication what she was about to hear would be very interesting.
"You might want to sit down for this Winry." Al told her, knowing that she might have a similar reaction to what Magneto had told them as they did the first time. The confusion was evident on Winry's face but she sat back down at her workstation. "Magneto thinks alchemy can make a big difference for mutants on his world…." He began.
As Al explained the details of the conversation to Winry on top of one of the castle's battlements that faced the town Lt. Hawkeye scanned the horizon with a pair of binoculars. She wasn't looking for any movement in the town itself, because of the distance from the castle and the surrounding woods it was impossible to see anything. What she was looking for would not be coming from the town anyway; it would be from the train tracks that led into the area, specifically the direction that came from Central. There was the occasional train stopping here, despite the remoteness of the area, and there had been a few that had arrived in the past couple of days but none contained the attack everyone knew was coming. There could very well have been spies or scouts in those first several and when she had voiced that concern to the Colonel he had told everyone that he knew that it was a strong possibility it had happened and had shot down the suggestion of sending one of their own men into town to act as their own spy before anyone could even mention it. There was only a small roster of people in the castle and anyone sent from Central was bound to have information on everyone here, making infiltration next to impossible.
Instead he had assigned only one lookout to keep watch as far away from the town as possible. One whose eyes were sharp enough to notice the subtle differences that would show that the attack was immanent, no matter how hard the other side tried to hide it. He had chosen wisely and Lt. Hawkeye was able to spot the smoke from the incoming train before anyone in town or the station itself would be able to see. As with the previous trains she studied the smoke carefully, and soon began to see all the signs that the enemy had almost arrived. The smoke was thicker and darker then the other train's, and wasn't moving forward as fast as the others had either. Everything pointed to an engine that was putting all its energy into hauling very heavy cargo, heavy machines or massive quantities of men and supplies. The type of cargo that had no use in this part of the country, unless it was military and they would have only one reason to come out this far. Lowering the binoculars she turned and began her decent down the stairs at a fast but unrushed pace. If she showed any sign that something was amiss it would arouse suspicions in their guests any they wanted to keep the situation under military control for as long as they could.
Unfortunately for the Lt. her attempts at keeping things secret had been foiled before she had even started. As she was headed towards the main levels of the castle the wall not very far from the door to the battlement began to stretch itself outward, like it was made of rubber instead of solid stone and someone was pushing it from the other side. The rubberized stone kept on stretching until it separated itself from the main wall in a humanoid shape. It held the color and texture of stone until a pair of yellow eyes opened where its face would be with red hair starting to flow from its head, followed by the stone exterior turning to blue skin and white clothes. When Mystique had fully dropped her camouflage she reached up and activated the small radio in her ear.
"It looks like company is coming." She said as she walked out onto the battlement. There couldn't have been any other reason. Magneto had assigned her to watch Lt. Hawkeye's actions the moment he learned she was the acting lookout. In that time Mystique had managed to memorize the pattern of the officer's movements, and while the Lt. did occasionally leave her post it was always at the same time, and now suddenly she had left an hour early. That meant something was happening, and as she looked in the direction she had seen the Lt. so fixated on Mystique saw nothing that seemed out of the ordinary. Still, she knew from experience that military types never broke their routine unless it was ordered or necessary.
"Gather the others and wait for my signal." Was Magneto's only response before her radio went silent. She couldn't help but smile, things were about to get very interesting.
At the same time Lt. Hawkeye had made her way to the Mustang's office. She knocked twice and entered before she could even be acknowledged. Only Mustang and Hughes were inside, Major Armstrong had been tasked with strengthening the castle's walls for the assault, and both turned to her and didn't say a word to her about just barging in like this. In fact that had been the signal they had settled on to make sure that it wouldn't be Mystique. Unfortunately that only meant one thing.
"How long?" Mustang asked.
"Fifteen minutes, twenty at most." Hawkeye responded. Mustang didn't have any outward reaction and simply nodded his head.
"They won't waste time with an infiltration through the woods, they'll go for overwhelming force and speed." He stated. "Find Major Armstrong and Fullmetal, they'll be helping Hughes and myself defend the main road. Tell Al about the passageway and give him a copy of the map, we need to get him into the tunnels as soon as possible. We haven't heard from the X-men and they're due to arrive anytime. If Fullmetal has a problem with that too bad, they'll both be more useful apart then together for this."
"Yes sir." Hawkeye responded with a salute before turning and this time actually running. There was no need to keep things quiet now and time was of the essence.
"Well Maes, let's get out there." Mustang causally said as took his gloves out of the desk drawer and put them on. "They'll be expecting a welcoming committee."
"And we wouldn't want to disappoint them now would we?" Hughes responded as he checked his gun and throwing knives.
Back in the workshop Ed and Al were just finishing up their explanation of the offer Magneto had given them to a wide-eyed Winry. Like the boys she had her own doubts about the sincerity of it and of the promise to not force them to fight. On the other side of the coin the thought of science so advanced it could give them back what they had lost, it made her mind boggle as to what kind of mechanical advancements they had on their world as well. Then again she was reminded of the old phrase 'If it sounds too good to be true….'
"Do you really think he'll be able to give you your arm and leg back?" She asked Ed. "And Al his body?" She asked, turning towards the younger brother.
"To be honest we don't really know." Al confessed. "He never gave any details on how he could do it. Or how exactly he managed to keep himself from getting old."
"Which is why we're going to ask for as many details as we can get about what he plans to do." Ed added. "Between the two of us we'll be able to sniff out any place where the science won't work and call him on it. After that happens it'll be easy to come up with a decision."
"But what if the science does work?" Winry asked hesitantly. Ed and Al didn't answer, just glancing at each other nervously. All three more or less knew the answer to that one. If the science did work then the brothers had some very hard thinking ahead of them. It wasn't a pleasant thought but it was one that would have to wait as their attention was drawn to the door and the sight of a more serious then usual Lt. Hawkeye looking at them.
"Forces from Central will be here in less then thirty minutes." She told them briskly. "Edward will be helping to defend the main road. Alphonse, you'll be meeting the X-Men and bringing them here through a tunnel system the Colonel recently discovered. I'll show you the entrance and give you a map so you can find your way to them. Winry, you're going to have to remain here for the time being, this area is well protected and inaccessible from the outside so you'll be safe. We'll send someone for you if we need a doctor." The three stared for a second, caught off guard at the suddenness of it but quickly recovered.
"What about Magneto and his people?" Ed asked, bringing light to the most pressing concern at the moment.
"Colonel Mustang requested that they not take part in this and to keep out of sight of anyone from Central." The Lt. replied simply. When she didn't continue the kids were able to guess what her silence meant.
"He didn't agree to it did he?" Al asked nervously.
"He only said that they would not start any confrontation." Lt. Hawkeye answered, again not elaborating but giving the subtle hint that Ed and Al should prepare themselves for another fight with the mutants. "Al, please hurry, we don't have much time." She prompted.
"Right." Al said as he started walking over to her. "I'll be back soon." He promised over his shoulder.
"Better make that real soon Al." Ed told him in a mock warning tone. "We don't want to be waiting around for you all day." Al turned and waved in response as he left the room with Lt. Hawkeye. Ed knew that despite the light tone he had put on the words Al knew the seriousness behind them. If he was able to bring the X-Men back here quickly they might be able to find a way to repel the attack without turning it into a bloodbath. In the meantime it was up to himself, Mustang and whoever else was defending the road to stall until that could happen. He just hoped that whoever Central had sent would decide to take their time.
As a matter of fact Colonel Jacobs had no intention of giving the castle defenders any more time then was absolutely necessary for his forces to reach their target. That was where their training for fast disembarkment came in. Even before the train had come to a complete stop specially designed ramps were readied on the cars carrying the vehicles, whose engines were started and ready. As the train slowed to a safer speed troops began to jump out of the still moving cars and start running for the road leading to the castle. The instant the train came to a full stop the ramps clanged to the ground allowing tanks and trucks carrying more troops to roar down them at dangerous speeds. It looked like chaos but it was an ordered form of chaos and the entire 801st had soon left the train and was headed towards the castle where Mustang and the alchemists were holed up.
Most were headed there anyway. A small group of men dressed in civilian style clothes ran away from the road and towards the town, splitting up into four different directions as they entered it before slowing to a fast walk to not attract any attention. The townspeople, focused so much on all the commotion going away from the town, paid little attention to someone who was moving farther into it. One of them happened to pass by a man in a white suit leaning against a building and reading a newspaper. Unlike the other people in this little backwater he had been expecting something like this and was keeping an eye open for anything that would seem out of place. Sure enough a man passed him dressed like ordinary person but with the focus and movement of a soldier. He glared at him as he walked by but between the hat that was placed almost over his eyes and the newspaper he was pretending to read he was able to give the impression that he never saw anything. Once the obvious spy had turned a corner the man calmly folded up his paper, put it under his arm, and began to follow.
On the other side of the tracks things were beginning to take some very interesting twists of their own as Lt. Cain was finding out. He had jumped off the moving train along with the recon squad commander and got his first surprise, not breaking anything when he landed. He didn't have much time to marvel at that as the commander was already heading towards the woods. He started to run after him but the commander stopped suddenly and looked over to the right. Cain was able to stop in time to avoid colliding with the other man but the commander took no notice.
"It appears that Colonel Jacobs has decided to operate outside the bounds of his orders." The commander stated. Lt. Cain looked and caught a fleeting glimpse of what the commander had. It was a single man, but unlike the other soldiers and even the two of them he was dressed in a vastly different uniform. One that consisted of branches, leaves and other shrubbery, making him almost impossible to see, even from this relatively close distance. On his back was a long rifle with a large scope attached. Their orders were to take the mutants into custody alive, injured if necessary but alive, and a sniper was only used when you wanted someone dead, no questions asked. "Let's just see what kind of plot our friend has set in motion." The commander added before taking off in the direction the sniper had gone, followed by the confused Lt.
Back at the castle Hughes, Armstrong and Mustang stood in the middle of the road not far from the castle itself. They were, as Hughes had put it, 'exposed as hell' but that was just what Mustang wanted. If they put up barriers or tried to stop them covertly they risked the main force breaking up and hitting them from multiple sides. With the speed that would be required for the attack to work, added with the anger Jacobs would be leading them with, Mustang knew that it would remain in one group. It would be a large, potentially overwhelming group, but it would still be just that one group.
"And here they come." Hughes commented. They weren't in sight yet, and they couldn't hear the engines either, but all three of them could feel the vibrations coming from the ground caused by the tanks.
"Just be ready when I give the word. I'm not entirely sure he won't just try to run us over." Mustang said as he waited. He wanted to hold off using force on Jacobs' men for as long as possible. Once it got to that point things would spiral out of control, especially with the mutants waiting in the wings.
"We are well prepared Sir. With three alchemists the odds may just be in our favor." Armstrong stated as he checked his gauntlets, the replacement one indistinguishable from the one that Juggernaut had broken.
"That's if the third alchemist gets here before the enemy does." Mustang said irritably, privately thinking to himself that this was not the time for Ed to go off and do things his own way.
Contrary to what Mustang was thinking Ed didn't plan to go off and do things his own way, at first. He actually was going to join the others on the road and help there but an opportunity came by that he couldn't pass up. After getting assurance from Winry that she was ok with being left alone during a battle (the fact that it was in a room of broken, highly advanced machinery didn't hurt) he had headed for the main entrance when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning to look he was able to see the tail end of Magneto's red cape disappear around a corner. He didn't know exactly what the bastard Colonel had told the mutant leader when it came to facing down Jacobs but he was pretty sure 'Move around freely without my knowledge' wasn't it. Deciding that keeping an eye on their guest would prove more useful then going out to the road Ed started to follow Magneto as he made his way along the castle halls. Keeping as quiet as possible Ed followed him through several passages of the castle he hadn't seen yet then up a long flight of stairs. Ed was forced to hang farther back in the stairwell and was afraid he'd loose him if he went to another level of the castle but when he began to see daylight coming from above him he had a guess where Magneto was headed. Sneaking as close to the door as he could manage Ed saw Magneto standing on one of the castle's battlements, staring in the direction of town. As he stood there debating whether to hang back and stay hidden or let Magneto know he was being watched the mutant leader made the decision for him.
"There's no need to skulk around in the shadows Mr. Elric. I had expected the Colonel to try and assign me a handler but I did not think it would be you." He said, not turning around. Ed inwardly scowled at being caught, but figured since it was obvious Magneto knew he was here there was no reason to try and stay hidden.
"Mustang didn't send me." Ed replied somewhat irritably as he walked out onto the battlement. "I wanted to make sure you weren't going to do anything that will make this worse. It looks awfully suspicious when you're walking around by yourself. Somebody had to keep an eye on you."
"And without your brother I see. Curious." Magneto pointed out. Ed grimaced slightly at the not quite accusation that he was attempting something underhanded himself. He didn't want to tell him that the X-Men were coming and began thinking of an excuse for Al not being there when Magneto spoke again. "As I told the Colonel, I will not start any hostilities but I will not back away from them either. If your government chooses to use violence against myself and my people I will respond in kind." He stated with finality.
"There are other options." Ed told him as he approached the mutant leader, who remained motionless. "I don't like the bastard Colonel but he's bound to have a plan up his sleeve, and as much as I hate to admit it they usually work. If you hold off getting involved….."
"Whatever plan the Colonel has it will be insufficient against men motivated by greed and revenge such as they are." Magneto interrupted. "He may be able to slow them down, but stop them? I believe we both know the answer." He paused for a moment before continuing. "As for not becoming involved. Would you be content to hide and let other people fight your battles for you?" He asked. Ed remained silent, and that was more then enough of an answer. Ed wondered if he should do something to stop Magneto now, before things got out of control. On the other hand he had said that he would let Mustang handle things to a point, and that gave the Colonel a chance to defuse things before they started. He just hoped that his jerk of a C.O. was able to pull it off.
Unknown to Ed, Magneto, or anyone else at the castle, Jacobs was already planning to go beyond the point of no return. Jacobs was sure it was only two people who knew about this plan, but he didn't count on the other two men following the sniper that had vanished into the woods. It had been a challenge for the two of them to keep the man in sight and not be spotted themselves, but somehow they had managed follow him until he reached his shooting spot and took his position. Lt. Cain and the commander could see the castle in their line of sight, as well as several prime targets out in the open. Taking out his own pair of binoculars the commander began scanning the general area the sniper seemed to have his rifle pointed in. He saw three men in military uniforms standing in middle of the road, facing the direction Jacobs' attack was coming from. Looking over the castle itself he saw a child with blond hair and a red coat standing behind someone wearing a dark red and purple costume with a cape and head-concealing helmet. According to his intelligence that would be Edward Elric and Magneto respectively, and this lead to a problem. If it had only been State officers he would have been content to let the sniper shoot whoever he pleased, they weren't important. But with one of the mutants as a potential target it jeopardized all the plans that had carefully been laid. True Jacobs was under orders to use less then lethal means to deal with the mutants but after becoming overzealous in Reesembol and turning it into a disaster it wasn't out of the question he would be looking for a way to make sure his troops didn't have the same problem this time. Even if it wasn't the same group of mutants.
"Ready to fire on my order." The commander said in a barely audible whisper as he took his rifle off his back and aimed it at the sniper. Lt. Cain hesitated before following the commander's order.
On the main road the three officers could now hear the engines of the vehicles rapidly approaching them. Mustang was still annoyed that Ed had chosen now of all times to conveniently ignore his orders but there was nothing he could do about that at this point. As the first tank emerged from the woods Mustang stood stock still with a neutral look on his face, his stance mirrored by his two subordinates. More and more tanks and troops began pouring out of the woods but the three remained motionless even as the lead tank bore down on them. For a moment Mustang was sure the driver would speed up and try to squash them flat but the vehicle slowed to a halt and was swiftly imitated by the convoy. That they stopped was the good news, the bad news was that all the troops and most of the tanks had their weapons aimed at them.
"Is there something I can help you gentlemen with?" Mustang casually remarked to the literal wall of weapons he was facing. He couldn't see Jacobs himself and wanted to lure him out into the open and incapacitate him. With no one to lead them hopefully the rest of the unit would stand down. Sure enough the taunt was enough and the turret of the lead tank opened and Jacobs stood up in it.
"I believe you know exactly why we're here Colonel, and that standing aside would be you best course of action." He barked at the other officer.
"Actually no I don't know." Mustang responded calmly, which made Jacobs actually do a double take. "I haven't received any calls from Central command or any official documents lately so I had no idea that you would be coming, let alone what it was for." Jacobs began to turn red with anger.
"Don't you play dumb with me Mustang!" He shouted. "We know several of those renegade alchemists are here and they are to be surrendered to our custody immediately!"
"Well if those are your orders…."Mustang began, to which Jacobs began to smile triumphantly, thinking he had outdone the young upstart. "You'll have no problem showing us the authorization papers, with the Fuehrer's signature of course." Jacobs glared at Mustang. "If you don't have them right on you I can allow you plenty of time to bring them to me. We can wait." He added. Normally egging someone on in a tank wasn't a smart idea but Mustang needed Jacobs to act first. He was confident he could stop the other man in mid order and things would be a clear cut case of self defense, something that would complicate things even more for whoever was behind this conspiracy. For a moment it looked like it was going to work. Jacobs turned even redder and was shaking in anger over Mustang's dismissive words but he was forcing himself to calm down.
"Colonel Mustang, rest assured…" Jacobs began, angry but in control as he reached up and took his radio headset off. "…that I do not…." He stopped as what sounded like a salvo of gunfire suddenly erupted from the woods behind Mustang, Armstrong and Hughes. The only thing that kept the three officers from diving for cover was that none of the bullets were whistling past them. They all looked back to see what was going on then, seeing nothing, turned back to face Jacobs, who now had a look of absolute confusion rather then anger on his face.
In the woods the sniper had watched the exchange between Jacobs and Mustang though his scope, keeping the crosshairs near the back of the latter's head while waiting for the signal the former had given him. When Jacobs had taken off his headset the sniper had shifted his rifle so he now had Mustang dead in his sights and tightened the weapon even farther against his shoulder. He never heard the whispered order from behind them, and was only able to hear the first couple of shots before one of them slammed into his own head.
The commander had noticed the slight movement from the sniper and knew he was about to take the shot.
"Now." He ordered quietly. Lt. Cain acted without hesitation and began firing at the prone man. The two of them kept on firing as fast as they could until the clips of their semi auto rifles ran out, not taking any chances. Stepping closer as they reloaded Lt. Cain could see it was more then enough. Blood was soaking through his camouflage in more then three places, including right next to the rifle. Turning the body over confirmed that the sniper was dead, his eyes wide open in shock.
"What do we do now sir?" Cain asked as looked back down at the standoff, which wasn't going to last much longer.
"What we do now Lieutenant," The commander said as threw his rifle away, sat down on the ground and pulled out his binoculars. "is we stay put, watch to see how this plays out, and appear as non-threatening as possible until it's all over." He waited a moment before continuing. "Lieutenant I know you are new to this but being as non threatening as possible usually involves being unarmed, especially if the other side has a counter sniper." Lt. Cain took one look at the rifle he still held, then at the small army that seemed to be looking right at him, before promptly throwing it into the bushes.
On the battlement Magneto and Ed watched the situation play out before them, unseen by either side. Both could see that Mustang was trying to goad Jacobs into doing something stupid and for a moment it seemed to be working. That was before the gunshots started ringing out from the woods. Like everyone else the two of them turned to see what was going on, not knowing if a second force was going to rush them any second. Nothing else emerged from the woods, not even more gunfire after the initial burst. After confirming that they weren't under attack from two sides they turned back to see the reactions from the people on the ground. One look at Jacobs' face told them everything. Something had just gone very wrong with whatever plan he had enacted, a plan that obviously involved killing someone from the onset. It could have been either of them, it could have been one or all of the three on the ground. Regardless of who the original target was it showed that things had already gone beyond Mustang's control, and was all the reason Magneto needed to become personally involved.
"Wait!" Ed shouted as the mutant leader headed towards the edge of the battlement, all but certain of what he would do. He tried to move forward but again his automail leg had become stuck to the ground.
"I do not intend to act rashly Mr. Elric." Magneto said, not turning around. "They will have a choice to leave or not and it will be their decision that forces my hand." Ed wasn't sure what to do. Magneto had just said he wouldn't outright attack the troops from Central but at the same time sounded sure that would be what happened. Knowing he would have to react in an instant if things went bad Ed slowly brought his hands near each other so he would be able to start a transmutation as quickly as possible.
Back on the ground Mustang and the others now trying to figure out how to salvage the situation when any attempt for control was suddenly ripped out of their hands.
"Colonel Jacobs!" A voice above them shouted. All eyes turned upward and say someone in a strangely colored uniform and face concealing helmet walk to the edge of one of the castle's battlements. "I believe your business here is with me, not them."
"Damn it! What the hell does he think he's doing?" Mustang said under his breath as every gun and tank cannon swerved to point up at the new arrival. There might have been a way to salvage this bloodlessly, one that he admittedly didn't see yet, but that wasn't an option anymore. "Get ready to protect Jacobs and his men." He told Armstrong and Hughes quietly as he took his gloved hands out of his pockets.
"By order of the State you and all alchemists under your command are hereby ordered to surrender into our custody immediately or force will be used!" Jacobs ordered Magneto.
"Colonel don't insult my intelligence." The mutant leader yelled back down, crossing his arms over his chest. "You were going to use force if we surrendered or not, your ill conceived assassination attempt more then proves that. You should count yourself lucky that it did fail, because had it succeed it would have been ample reason to show both yourself and your men no mercy." Magneto took note of the barely concealed look of anger that Jacobs now wore, and the subtle traces of fear shown by his troops. They definitely knew what he was capable of, or thought they did. "However out of respect for my generous hosts..." He nodded towards Mustang and the others " …I will give you this one and only warning. Leave. Now." Mustang silently cursed the other man. Yes he had just offered Jacobs a way out but by talking down to the other Colonel he more or less ensured that Jacobs' anger would override his fear and prevent him from taking that path.
"Traitors hold no authority to meddle in State affairs!" Jacobs bellowed, referring to Mustang but keeping his eyes on Magneto. "And foreigners do not give orders to officers of the State, alchemists or not!" He punctuated the sentence by banging on top of the turret he was in with his fist. It could have been a hidden signal like the one that told his hidden sniper to fire, or it could just be Jacobs venting his frustration on the tank, making the three on the road hesitant to make any offensive movement. Of course it turned out to be the former and the tank's main cannon thundered.
On the battlement Ed watched and listened to what was going on with a growing sense of dread. Magneto hadn't done anything to the forces from Central but at the same time he seemed to be daring them to try something. Colonel Jacobs rose to take the bait and had seemed to lose his composure and was yelling back up at him. Like the ones on the ground he didn't know if Jacobs punching the tank was merely his temper or an attack signal and it threw him off just enough. The cannon fired, too quickly to perform a transmutation, too quickly to even close his eyes and duck. As a result he got a perfect view of the cannon shell as it screamed towards Magneto, then screeched to a halt no more then an inch from his head and stayed there, floating motionless. The mutant leader had not outward reaction except to turn his head slightly, as if examining the projectile more closely.
"Solid copper." He mused after a few moments, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Someone is trying to be clever." He added as his gaze turned back down to Central's troops. Ed could only stare, dumbfounded, at the statement. Someone had been smart enough to make a tank shell completely out of a nonferrous metal to render it immune to Magneto's powers, but he had still been able to stop it. Ed knew that theoretically a strong enough magnetic field could magnetize anything, even organic substances. But that only worked in theory, the sheer amount of power needed meant no one had scientifically proven it could be done, and most likely wouldn't be able to for several decades at best. Yet the man in front of him just showed he was capable of doing it, seemingly with ease.
Despite what Ed and everyone else may have thought catching the copper round like that wasn't exactly easy. Yes he could magnetize almost anything if he concentrated hard enough but to slow and stop a large, fast moving projectile like that had quite a degree of difficulty. He suspected something like this may occur and was counting on Jacobs to be angry enough to want to make the first kill by himself. By stopping that first 'alchemist proof' shell they might just realize the futility of this and leave, though Magneto was fairly certain of what the Colonel's next action would be.
On the ground similar things were going through everyone else's mind, even the ones that didn't understand the science behind what had happened. All they had been told was that they were armed with specially made bullets and tank shells that would render the most powerful of the outlaw alchemists helpless. And now here they stood as the one that these weapons were supposed to make helpless rendered them as inert as regular bullets. Even Mustang, Hughes and Armstrong stood and stared in silence. Jacobs was no exception either but he knew that if quality failed, quantity wouldn't.
"Everyone fire at once!" He yelled, trying not to sound scared. "He can't stop all of them." Whether out of agreeing with their leader or just plain panicking the troops obeyed, all the guns in the company firing at once.
As soon as Ed heard the first sentence out of Jacobs' mouth he clapped his hands together. There wasn't much up here to work with but he would be able to create a shield of high-grade solid steel in front of himself and Magneto. It wouldn't last long against those tank shells but they could at least get out of here. To his surprise Magneto didn't try to get out of the line of fire, even though he knew what was coming. Instead the man threw his arms out to the sides and Ed saw the air around them appear to ripple with what looked like transparent, red tinged alchemic energy. Ed didn't know what was going on or how…whatever Magneto was doing would react to his own alchemy and knowing what had happened when he tried it on Juggernaut he hesitated. That's when the start of the barrage hit them. He saw the first shell explode and flinched, bringing his arms up to protect his face. But while he felt the stone beneath him shake and heard the ear shattering explosion there was nothing else. No heat, no shrapnel, not even the shockwave caused by a near miss. Bringing his arms down he saw just the latest in a long line of amazing sights since he found out about mutants. The field around them wasn't simply catching the incoming rounds, or even repelling them. It was stopping them dead through shear brute force.
The cannon shells exploded when they struck but except for only the brief flash of detonation and the noise that came with it nothing made it through the energy dome that surrounded them. Where the bullets impacted Ed could see sparks and heard the telltale ping of ricochets as they flew off in all directions. All the while Magneto stood motionless, the close proximity to so many explosions and sheer volume of fire apparently not enough to break his concentration. Slowly the roar of fire began to fade, slowing down like water from a shut off faucet until only a few stray bullet strikes continued and then stopped, leaving a deafening silence behind. For a moment neither side made any move and just stared at each other. The troops from Central up in fear and amazement, Magneto down with contempt. After allowing the terror to fully sink in Magneto broke the silence with only three words.
"You were warned." He said coldly. As soon as the last world left his mouth the wall of the castle facing the main road exploded outward, forcing everyone to divert their attention from him. Mustang knew what was going on but didn't know who exactly would be following behind that explosion. At first it looked like only one as he saw a large form, undoubtedly Juggernaut, walking towards them out of the smoke cloud caused by the wall's partial collapse. As he exited the cloud they saw he was carrying the still bound Sabertooth. That was enough for Mustang. They might be able to talk down Magneto and even Juggernaut but if Sabertooth was let loose they would literally be dealing with a wild animal that needed to be killed in order to stop him. While Mustang was fully prepared to do that he didn't want to take that step just yet. Instead he brought up his gloved right hand and began shifting the oxygen concentration around Sabertooth's head. If he managed a controlled but highly concentrated blast concussion he would be able to cause the mutant enough serious brain damage that he would at least be out of the fight for the foreseeable future. It might have worked if not for something hitting his hand with enough force to almost knock him over.
"Colonel!" He heard Hughes and Armstrong shout. He didn't answer them, focusing on what had just hit him. It didn't feel like he was burned or shot, and even though no bones appeared to be broken he couldn't move his fingers, or bend his wrist. Looking at his affected hand he got a glimpse of some kind of hardened, cloudy green slime covering it down to about his forearm. He only had a split second to process that before he felt something hitting his left hand in the exact same way as his right. Looking down he saw his second hand had also been covered with the same vile stuff that encased his right.
"Up there!" Hughes shouted, pointing and pulling out his gun. Turning around Mustang looked up and saw Toad somehow crawling along the wall of the castle as easily as if it was the ground. Looking down at the State officers he flashed them a grin full of rotten teeth before making a hacking noise and sending a ball of slime the same color as the kind that now covered Mustang's hands flying at Lt. Colonel Hughes. Hughes immediately started to back pedal but the slime still managed to hit his gun. He instantly let go of the weapon and yanked his hands back, ending up with only a few flecks of whatever that stuff was on his uniform and a now useless pistol on the ground. The three of them were trying to figure out how to deal with this new problem when the first tank exploded.
Magneto knew Mustang and his subordinates would try to stop him if the government troops did not yield, so a distraction was in order. One that would also prevent them from actually interfering with him when the deception was reveled. Toad had done his job well, Mustang now had no access to his alchemy and the three of them were now concentrated on the diminutive mutant. Even most of the troops from Central were no longer paying any attention to him, either concentrated on the three's problems with Toad or the new threat presented by Juggernaut and Sabertooth. Very few of them noticed when the tank shell that still levitated in front of him turned around and shot towards the lead tank with the same velocity it had been fired at him with. There was a flash of light and out of nowhere what looked like a hand made of thick stone grew out of the battlement and almost caught the shell. The metal projectile proved faster then the stone hand and continued to its target, barely missing its fingers. Colonel Jacobs scrambled to get out of the tank and had gotten all but one leg out of the turret when the shell sailed past him and down into the very hatch he was trying to get out of. The vehicle went up in an impressive fireball and Magneto saw Jacobs thrown by the blast into the woods, only not in one piece. He didn't know if Jacobs was dead or not, but the head of the snake had been cut off, now it was time to deal with the body.
Ed saw the tank shell Magneto was levitating begin to turn and knew what and where he would fire it, back at whoever shot it in the first place, just to prove a point. He remembered the angle the shell had been fired at and after doing some quick calculations was able to determine what its flight path would be on the way back. Magneto's shield was still up so Ed wasn't worried about his plan hurting either of them when the shell blew up. Slapping his hands to the ground he completed his already started transmutation just as the shell finished turning 180 degrees and shot towards the ground an instant later. He couldn't see if he was fast enough and had to depend on the sound of the explosion to tell if he had made it in time. When the explosion came there was a sound of metal rendering, men screaming, and a fireball rising from the ground. Standing back up he looked over the edge and saw the wrecked tank and bodies of the men who had been standing near it. Even worse, he saw Juggernaut toss the still manacled Sabertooth towards a large group of soldiers. He wasn't manacled for long as his bonds ripped and snapped themselves off and flying away from him. Ed saw the crazed look in the mutant's eyes as he descended on the soldiers, fangs and claws bared. Even immobilized like this Ed was sure he could stop him and brought his hands together for another transmutation. Or tried to as instead of his automail hand his flesh hand thudded against something unfamiliar. Looking down Ed saw a small sphere of energy identical to Magneto's shield surrounding his automail hand.
"You will not be interfering Mr. Elric." The mutant leader told him without turning around. Ed started to shout something when the screams started. Looking back down Ed saw Sabertooth tearing into the soldiers like the wild animal he was, paying not attention to how many times he was shot or stabbed with a bayonet.
"Stop him!" Ed screamed at Magneto, who said nothing as he pointed an open hand at another tank. His hand snapped into a fist and the tank instantly crumpled into a giant metal ball. It didn't hold that shape long as the ammunition detonated, turning it into a burning hunk of twisted metal. He then made a sweeping motion with his arm, causing what was left the tank to take off like a cannonball and slam into a truck, which exploded as well. "You don't have to do this!" He shouted as he reached into his pocket. He had a feeling Magneto would take advantage of his metal arm and stop him from using alchemy so he had borrowed a piece of chalk from Al just in case the two of them came to blows. "There's dozens of ways to stop them without killing them, without hurting them!" He knew he sounded desperate and pleading, but right now he'd do anything to stop the slaughter beneath him, which was only getting worse.
After Juggernaut had thrown Sabertooth he had charged at the tank nearest to him, either knocking aside or straight running over whoever got in his way. The force and distance the ones knocked away ensured they had a hard, and in all likelihood fatal, landing while the ones caught underneath his charge were crushed almost flat and died instantly. When he made it to the tank he didn't smash or rip it open, instead he went to the front of vehicle and lifted the entire thing off the ground. The tanks turret swung around in what was obviously blind panic and fired straight into the face of the giant that was lifting it. The resulting explosion engulfed both of them and for a few seconds no one knew what had happened. When the light and smoke faded Juggernaut still stood, his armor undamaged and still holding the tank like nothing had happened. The tank itself on the other hand had the turret sheared off from the force of the back-blast as well as most of its upper armor, rendering a burning wreck. Not slowed by the tank crew's effort Juggernaut marched up to the next tank in the column that hadn't been destroyed and swung the one he held like an oversized club. When he connected it sounded not like the CLANG of metal on metal one would expect, but almost like an explosion or a clap of thunder. The noise was followed by the sight of the second tank literally flying through the air and flipping end over end. It landed with an earth shaking crash and continued to skid along the ground, plowing up dirt and ramming through anything or anyone unfortunate enough to get in its way. Once that was finished Juggernaut lifted his tank over his head and effortlessly ripped it in half, allowing the fire to reach the main gun ammo and causing another explosion that he ignored completely. One half he threw at a third tank, the other at a truck that was trying to drive away. The third tank's front crumpled from the impact, almost flattening completely before it went up in its own fireball. The truck driver tried to swerve out of the way of the second half but it still clipped the back of his vehicle, sending it careening out of control and into a tree. That taken care of Juggernaut turned towards the last tank near him, which was backing up in a desperate attempt to get away. Once the driver noticed the giant looking at them the main cannon and secondary machinegun fired in a futile attempt to dissuade him. Being panic fire the shell hit his arm, leaving him mostly visible when it went off. There wasn't so much as a flinch and with the machinegun bullets bouncing off him harmlessly the tank's engine roared louder as it attempted to add speed. Juggernaut lowered his head and sprinted forward, quickly catching up to the retreating tank and running right through it as easily as he had the granite wall Ed had created. The explosion that followed ignited the fuel tank as he destroyed it, covering him in flaming gasoline. The only thing he did was slow to a stop and calmly look around for what he should attack next, continuing to stand there and burn like it wasn't happening.
Not that far away Sabertooth was surrounded by a growing ring of dead bodies that he was eagerly adding to, and looking like he was having the time of his life doing it. The bodies themselves were torn open, literally, mostly at the chest or the throat. The second of which Sabertooth preferred to do with his bare teeth. The ground was turning literally red and the few soldiers that were left threw their weapons away as they turned and ran in absolute terror. As he finished disemboweling his latest victim Sabertooth looked up to see the others running away and watched for a second, his bloodied teeth forming a cruel smile and letting out what sounded like a cross between a growl and a laugh. He was always up for a hunt and almost gave them an even larger head start then they already had but orders were to take them out as quickly as possible. Figuring it would be a good excuse to get in some target practice he picked up one of the discarded rifles and proceeded to methodically put a bullet into the back of the fleeing soldiers. Some dropped and didn't move, others went down and started screaming. After he fired his last bullet Sabertooth didn't bother to reload, grabbing the empty weapon by the barrel and holding it like a club as he walked over to the nearest soldier that was still alive. He didn't look angry with himself for not killing all of them with just one shot, as a matter of fact he was still smiling. That was because in his mind, fast didn't mean it couldn't be fun. As he reached the first soldier that was trying to crawl away from him he kicked him over onto his back, taking some pride in hearing several ribs break as he did. The wounded solider tried to crawl backwards but the large mutant stomped onto his chest and pinned him to the ground, breaking more ribs in the process. Looking up the soldier saw the bloodied, crazed smile the mutant was wearing and all color drained from his face. Ed looked away, not wanting to see what would happen but couldn't block out the screams that suddenly took a much louder and even shriller pitch.
The only thing that he could say that was going well was seeing that while Hughes, Armstrong and Mustang weren't having an easy time fighting Toad they weren't dead either, yet.
"Yes I could, very easily." Magneto agreed, snapping Ed out of the horror show he had been witnessing. "The X-Men did just that, and as you can see it was for nothing." He gestured with one of his hands and sent a jagged piece of tank armor crashing into, and through, several soldiers. "They will always come back, with even greater numbers and more powerful weapons, again and again. By showing them mercy they will continue to believe they have a chance to defeat you, and will not stop trying." He lifted up both his hands and in response two tanks that hadn't been destroyed yet lifted up into the air, until they were hovering at eye level with the two of them.
"But if you kill them they'll send more anyway!" Ed yelled as he was furiously scribbling a transmutation array on the stone floor. He needed to keep Magneto talking, keep him distracted until he was finished. "You'll prove that they need to send that much force after you, and make them even more determined to kill you!"
"Then they will meet the same fate as the ones foolish enough to try in the first place." Magneto calmly stated as he brought his two hands together. The tanks followed suit and slammed into each other, crushing themselves flat. "If you can not break your enemies' will to fight, you must break his ability to fight, totally and completely. That is how wars are won Mr. Elric." Ed gritted his teeth and was tempted to tell Magneto exactly what he thought about war to begin with but kept quite, his array almost complete. To his surprise Magneto lowered his hands and turned to look down the road the forces from Central had come from. Any soldiers and vehicles that had somehow managed to escape of the first three mutants were now running as fast as they could towards the woods. "Stop them." He stated. Ed couldn't figure out what Magneto was talking about because he sure as hell wasn't going to help kill anyone. Then the answer came.
FFFFFFOOOOWWWWWWSSHHHHHHHHHH
Out of the woods the retreating army was headed for came a rolling wave of fire that stretched from one side of the road to the other, starting at the ground with a height of almost eight feet tall. It swept over the front of the retreat covering them in flames as the ones farther back looked on in horror as the fireball engulfed them. Screams started anew and vehicles began exploding but they went unheard by the ones to the rear, who had turned and started to run away from the fireball. It meant they were running back towards the two that had decimated most of their forces to begin with but at this point fear was making them choose to take that chance. It didn't matter to begin with anyway. The fireball moved faster then any of them could run and soon swallowed up the last of them. The roar the enormous fire emitted started to die down as the wave seemed to lose momentum, slowing down as it burned itself out. After it had finally dissipated Ed continued to stare at the entrance to the woods where it had come from. He knew what had just happened, knew exactly who had made it happen. Sure enough Pyro slowly walked out of the woods, looking around at his handiwork, his face completely unconcerned with the fact many of the black, still burning lumps were once human beings. Ed also noticed something else. It had suddenly become very quiet. There was the crackle of fire and the occasional pop as ammunition cooked off, but other then that there was nothing, not even the screams of Sabertooth's victims. In the space of only minutes they had wiped out the entire company to a man.
"And now to make sure this doesn't happen again." Magneto stated as a smaller version of his shield surrounded him and he began to lift off of the ground.
"My thoughts exactly!" Ed shouted and slapped his flesh hand to the completed array. The ground began to glow and a shaft of light shot from it and surrounded Magneto. Once the light had completely covered the shield Ed completed the transmutation. When the light faded a large sphere of solid oak surrounded the mutant leader, secured to the ground by root like anchors. It wasn't the best solution but Ed was positive Magneto would run low on air before his cronies could save him. Once he was sure the mutant leader was unconscious he'd make a more permanent type of restraint. He was running several scenarios on what the mutant leaders' followers might try, and how to stop them, through his head with he first heard the cracking. At first it just sounded like sticks snapping, then it rose in volume, like branches being torn off in a storm. It reached a crescendo when it sounded like whole tree trunks being broken in half, which was when Ed was able to see the visible cracks in Magneto's wooden prison. With a final crack that almost sounded like the cannons that had just been shooting at them the wooden sphere blew itself to pieces, though the force was only enough to send the debris a couple of feet away. Looking on in amazement Ed noticed Magneto's shield was now slightly larger then it had been, larger then the wooden sphere he had created to hold him, and the shock quickly wore off. He didn't use magnetism to escape, just the simple physics of his expanding and much stronger shield against the wood. While it showed that his magnetic powers did have a limit it also gave Ed something else to deal with if he wanted to stop him. One he didn't have much time to think about as Magneto turned around in midair to face him.
"An admirable attempt Mr. Elric." He said as he made a pushing gesture towards Ed. Ed's involuntary response was to be thrown through the air backwards, sliding along the ground, then back through the door into the castle, which Magneto promptly shut. "Though not nearly enough." He finished and turned back around.
Ed was on his feet the instant he stopped moving and scrambled for the door. He tried to pull it open but it refused to budge. Ed figured that the handle and lock had been magnetized in place, which meant it would take a lot of force to open it. Knowing he didn't have the time Ed decided to go with a more practical solution. If you can't get around an obstacle, go through it. His automail fingers had dug grooves in the stone and he tired to stop himself, which meant the miniature shield was gone and he was free to clap his hands and put his flesh hand to the door, just in case. The door glowed for a second before crumbling into a large pile of sawdust. Running back onto the battlement Ed could see Magneto flying towards the town, too far out of reach for his alchemy to stop him safely. He didn't have time to curse himself for not being able to stop him, or worry about what Magneto might do when he got to the town because the silence that had been so prominent a second ago was gone. In its place were loud crashes and shouting. Looking down he saw Lt. Colonel Hughes leaning against a tree, clutching the right side of his chest. Not that far away Major Armstrong was fighting Juggernaut, ducking and weaving out of the way of the larger man's punches. Closer to the entrance of the woods he saw Mustang facing down Pyro. Toad was nowhere to be seen but Ed did notice Sabertooth making his way towards Hughes, who was too preoccupied with the fight between Armstrong and Juggernaut to notice his approach. Knowing he had to stop the bloodthirsty mutant Ed transmuted part of the battlement's stone edge into a very long rope that he quick-slid down then ran straight for Sabertooth, who had his back to him.