Chapter 12: Caging the Animal
When the first tank had exploded Mustang, Armstrong and Hughes had not turned to look at it. It was too late to stop it from happening and doing so would do nothing against the burning shrapnel that was flying everywhere. Because they didn't turn to look they didn't notice the half dome of red that formed in front of Jacobs' tank the instant before the shell hit, or how the shrapnel was deflected off it and away from them. All of them being veterans of Ishbal they didn't question why they weren't hit and instead focused on the objective at hand. That objective being the short mutant that was clinging to the wall of the castle more like a fly then his amphibian namesake. They expected him to cough up more of that disgusting slime but he managed to surprise them buy jumping off the wall. Not just jumping down, jumping off it like it was the floor, flying clear over their heads, and landing in behind them in a crouch.
"Colonel get back!" Hughes shouted as he and Armstrong put themselves between Mustang and Toad. Mustang started to protest. "You're not exactly in the best shape to fight now Roy." His best friend reminded him. Mustang looked down at his slime encased hands and realized he was right. He could fight without his alchemy but without even the use of his hands he was almost worthless now, and he needed to rectify that.
"Just keep him busy for a few seconds Hughes." Mustang said as he took a couple of steps back and slammed the two chucks of slime together. All he got was a dull thud and not even a chip for his effort. (It looks like that is going take a while.) He thought to himself.
"We will give you all the time you need sir!" Armstrong promised and brought up his fists. Toad shifted his gaze to the Major, then snapped his head back towards Hughes, mouth wide open. Hughes prepared to dodge another slime ball but Toad decided to add yet another surprise onto the long list that had been growing since the mutants arrived as his tongue shot out of his mouth and wrapped around Hughes' neck like a whip. Hughes and the others didn't have time to reflect on just how disgusting what had just happened was because Toad stood and spun his entire body around. Hughes, much to all of their surprise and his especially, was easily yanked off his feet and swung in the direction Toad had aimed himself. Just before the tongue would have snapped like the whip it was imitating, and Hughes' neck along with it, the appendage let go of the Lt. Colonel and sent him flying into the woods. There was a loud rustling of branches as Hughes crashed through them followed by a loud thud. To Mustang and Armstrong's relief that thud was immediately followed by a loud 'SON OF A ….!' telling them that while Hughes might not be in the best of shape after that landing he was alive and conscious. Unfortunately they had their own safety to worry about as Toad leapt into the air again and was aiming right for them. They split up and the mutant missed them both but the ground cratered slightly underneath his feet when he landed. Ignoring Mustang Toad turned to face Armstrong, who was reaching to restrain him, and leapt straight up this time. He only jumped up as far up as Armstrong was tall but he did spun as he did so, aiming a kick that would have, given what had happened to the ground, shattered the Major's jaw.
Would have…if Armstrong had not twisted his upper body and leaned back to make the kick miss him completely. Not about to let an opportunity pass by he grabbed Toad's ankle, yanked him upward so he would have an easier target, and punched him in the stomach. So not to cause any permanent injury Armstrong let go when the punch landed and the force was more then enough to send the mutant flying. When his flight ended he began tumbling end over end, arms and legs flailing like rag doll that had been thrown aside, his face more then once slamming into the ground. He finished the skull-smacking tumble with a long, face first skid that brought him to the edge of the woods. He slowly lurched to his feet coughing, just as much from inhaling all that dirt as from the punch itself. He fixed the two officers with an angry glare and a sneer that slowly changed to a toothy smile as he glanced to the side.
"Have fun." He stated before turning around and jumping into the woods. Mustang and Armstrong looked to the side and saw why Toad believed he didn't need to bother with them anymore. Slowly walking towards them, with patches of still burning gas dotting his frame, was Juggernaut.
"Sir I'm afraid I need to ask you to seek cover until you can free your hands." Armstrong stated as he removed his uniform jacket.
"Don't apologize Major. I intend to fix that very soon." Mustang answered as he turned around and held up his hands in a surrender position, looking at one particular widow. After two seconds ticked by and nothing happened Mustang began to worry. They hadn't been able to take into account the slime that encased his arms but he was sure Hawkeye would be able to figure out what he wanted. He had given orders to shoot to wound and she hadn't fired on Toad but he figured she was showing restraint until it was absolutely necessary to do so. Now that she wasn't doing anything to free his arms he knew something was wrong.
FFFFFFOOOOWWWWWWSSHHHHHHHHHH
Of course now would be the time for the universe to give him another life or death situation to deal on top of the ones he already had. Looking away from the castle he saw a giant, rolling fireball envelop what was left of Jacobs' fleeing unit. He didn't have time to consider what was going on with Hawkeye now, she could take care of herself. Right now he needed to get his hands free and stop Pyro before he turned that flame against them.
The reason for Hawkeye's lack of support turned out to not be because of restraint but because of her own immediate problems. The Colonel had given her the assignment to provide support and she had chosen a window that provided both the best view of the road and the best cover. At first she had kept the crosshairs of her scope on Jacobs, Mustang's orders not to kill unless it became necessary at the forefront of her mind. Things seemed to be going well until she heard gunfire off to the side. She quickly moved her position to take care of what sounded like a sneak attack but the angle was too shallow to allow her to see the area where the shots were coming from. As it was they were lucky, no one on the road was hit and Jacobs looked surprised and that told her that gunfire had actually foiled something. After that things started to go south. She heard Magneto talking to Jacobs, goading him into doing something so he could respond with deadly force. She could shoot Jacobs now, but that would cause the other soldiers to panic, resulting in the opportunity Magneto wanted. It was a moot point anyhow; Jacobs took the bait and had the tank he was in fire at Magneto. There was no explosion and from the looks on everyone's faces Magneto was somehow able to remain unharmed. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to dissuade Jacobs, who had his entire company open fire. This time there were explosions that shook the castle but the roof above her didn't come crashing in, and no debris were falling to the ground. The barrage slowed then stopped but she didn't have time to focus on the Central troops as a shout of alarm came from Lt. Col. Hughes and Major Armstrong. Shifting her gaze back to them she saw the Colonel staggering but no sign of an attacker or blood. What she did see was his hand and arm covered in some kind of green substance. She didn't have much time to think about it as a second glob of, whatever it was, flew down and hit him on the other hand. She could tell whoever was using that stuff was above her from the angles it had been…shot?...flung?... Lt. Col. Hughes confirmed it by pointing to somewhere over her head and then aiming his gun, only for a third glob to hit his weapon and knock it out of his hands. Hawkeye knew it had to be one of the mutants and was about to go upstairs to stop them when she heard it.
It was a very quiet creak of moving wood, one that was coming from right behind her. She had locked the door before setting up her shooting position and that sound could only mean one thing, someone was trying to sneak inside the room. Staying calm and remaining motionless so not to give any indication she had heard anything she closed the eye she had on the scope and opened her other one. Glancing at the glass in the window she was aiming out of she got a surprise when the reflection showed that not only was the door wide open the intruder was slowly making their way towards her. What wasn't as big a surprise was that it was a certain blue skinned mutant who was approaching her, holding a two by four piece of wood like a club. Mystique would rush and attack her before she could get ready if she knew Hawkeye was aware of her presence. Instead she tightened the rifle against her shoulder, giving the impression she was preparing to shoot something outside. Taking her steadying hand away from the barrel Hawkeye reached up to the scope to make what looked like a routine adjustment, all the while watching Mystique's movements. The mutant gave no indication she thought Hawkeye was up to anything. In fact she was smiling as she brought up her club to swing it when she got close enough, but she didn't hurry her approach, taking small, very light steps as she did. She was going to a lot of effort to remain quiet and get close in, Hawkeye noticed as she lowered her hand, instead of just shooting her when she got the door open. Her breathing was very controlled and she was now barefoot so that her steps would make even less noise. What Mystique hadn't counted on was that the wood covered floor of the room giving off that soft creek when she entered. It was barely audible even to her and she was sure Hawkeye would never had heard it with all the noise outside. What she forgot was that a sniper needed to be completely aware of their surroundings at all time. If there was a noise and you did not know exactly what had made it, no matter how slight, it could be the enemy closing in. It was a lesson that had served Hawkeye well in Ishbal and would now serve her well again and moved her hand not back onto the rifle but inside of he uniform jacket, out of the mutant's sight.
Mystique watched the Lieutenant for any signs she had spotted her, but there was none. There was no change in stance, no tensing up of muscles in preparation for sudden movement, not even any change of breathing. She had the other woman dead to rights, and would have taken full advantage of it if she could. But Magneto had made it clear that if they needed to fight the State officers who were stationed at the castle there was to be no killing. Injure them if it was necessary to incapacitate them but nothing more then was required. Unfortunately Lt. Hawkeye had proven she was indeed a dangerous opponent and would 'require' quite a bit more then a regular human. Mystique full intended to follow her orders to the letter. What she had in mind would not kill Hawkeye, it wouldn't even result in permanent injuries. How long it would take for the Lieutenant to fully recover, that was another story. She heard things becoming worse outside, and in response Hawkeye tightened her brace on the gun and reached up to adjust the scope. She should rush in now while the other woman had one hand off the weapon, but that meant she had one hand free if she didn't go down first swing. Finished with the adjustment the Lieutenant reached to re-steady the rifle and leaned forward slightly. It looked like she was aiming for something directly below her and that suited Mystique just fine, it meant she was that much more exposed. What didn't quite suit her was the three sharp cracks that came out of nowhere accompanied by three holes bursting out of the back of Hawkeye's jacket. It suited her even less when, despite her flinching away, one of the bullets caught her in the arm.
"DAMN IT!" She cursed, both because of being shot and that Hawkeye had known she was there all along and had fooled her into thinking she was oblivious. Well with her cover blown there was no need to be sneaky anymore so she lunged at the state officer.
Hiding her hand as she reached into her uniform jacket had been the riskiest part of Hawkeye's plan, if it appeared like she was reaching for anything but the rifle it would look suspicious. So to make sure the mutant couldn't she leaned forward slightly, hiding the entire weapon from Mystique's view. Only then did she reach for one of her pistols. Not able to draw the weapon and turn in time Hawkeye went for the more direct approach and fired through her jacket. Hitting the mutant at this distance should have been easy but between the very odd angle the weapon was at and compensating for the extra weight of the holster she would be lucky if she got a grazing hit. As it turned out she did send one straight into Mystique's arm and got what she wanted to begin with, the mutant paused and gave her an opportunity to turn around. She brought the rifle up and blocked Mystique's swing and started to push back hoping to get the mutant far enough away from her to bring her guns into play. Mystique responded by kicking Hawkeye in the stomach, slamming her against the wall next to the window she had been sniping out of. The wind was knocked out of her but Hawkeye still had the presence of mind to keep her eyes on her opponent as Mystique brought the two by four down on her head. She turned to the side to avoid the blow then swung the butt of her rifle at the hunk of wood that had nearly hit her. Dropping her rifle and going for her handguns would only give Mystique another opportunity to swing so she decided to deny her the full use of her weapon and splintered the wood with one hit. She found out that Mystique was no stranger to adapting in combat either as the moment the weapon broke she dropped it and lunged at her. She grabbed the barrel of the rifle with one hand and used her wounded arm to grab the gun near the trigger. The two women tried to wrest the weapon from the other and Hawkeye was able to notice that while the mutant appeared to be naturally stronger then her Mystique's wounded arm caused her grip on the lower portion of the weapon to be significantly weaker. Setting her feet and squaring her shoulders Hawkeye took full advantage of that by pushing on the lower part of the weapon as hard as she could. As she expected Mystique's wounded arm couldn't handle it and she was able to ram the butt of the rifle into the mutant's stomach. Mystique grunted and bent over slightly but she was able to keep her grip on the rifle. A second blow to the stomach convinced her to let go of the weapon. Hawkeye immediately followed that up by swinging the rifle butt upward, catching Mystique across the face with a very audible CRACK. The mutant stumbled backwards as a result of the blow and Hawkeye brought the rifle down level to her stomach. Bringing it to her shoulder and sighting it would take too long and it would be nearly impossible to miss at this distance even firing from the hip.
She didn't want to kill Mystique, yet. The blue mutant had the chance to just shoot her in the back and be done with it and she hadn't and what she did know about the other woman's personality is that she would have been more then happy to take the 'in the back' route without a second thought. But she hadn't, and that told Hawkeye someone had specifically told her not to. Even then she didn't use a gun, which she could have easily stolen, but a piece of wood. It was apparent that Magneto didn't want her dead, and against her better judgment she decided to honor that by not trying to kill his subordinate outright. A shot to the stomach was by no means pleasant, but it wouldn't be instantly fatal either and in all likelihood wouldn't be anyway with the medial resources they had. More importantly it would keep the mutant incapacitated for the remainder of her stay. Mystique was still trying to recover her wits as Hawkeye squeezed the trigger of her rifle, and got a flat sounding click in response. 'Misfire' flashed through her mind and she reacted accordingly, reaching for the bolt to clear the defective round then load and fire a new one before Mystique could recover completely. She didn't even get past step one as her hand landed not on the handle of the bolt only on the wooden stock of the gun. There was no possible way for her to have misjudged the distance in a motion she could do in her sleep, and feeling around the area without taking her eyes off Mystique she realized that the bolt wasn't open or broken, it wasn't there period. The surprise must have shown on her face, despite her best efforts, because Mystique was now smiling at her in amusement.
"Loose something?" She taunted, holding up a hand and showing her the bolt from the rifle. "Someone really should be more careful with their toys, you never know when they might break." She mocked, swinging the bolt back and forth like a person teasing a dog with their favorite treat. Hawkeye narrowed her eyes, midway between being angry and impressed that Mystique had been able to remove the bolt completely without her noticing it. In response the mutant threw the bolt out the door, far out of either of their reach. "I've always enjoyed getting up close and personal anyway." She remarked as she took a small knife out of the confines of her clothes, snapped the blade open, and rushed at Hawkeye.
The Lieutenant knew that Mystique was counting on her to use hand-to-hand combat with the rifle as a club. A situation that would give someone fast and wielding a knife the advantage. Hawkeye had absolutely no intention of obliging the mutant and instead took a different approach, throwing the rifle right at her. There was no way it would have injured her, and Mystique seemed too sure footed to stumble over the weapon when it fell to the ground. However the mutant still had to contend with the useless rifle actually hitting her, and the split second she would need to bat it out of her way. In that split second Hawkeye was able to draw her pistol and come up with a plan to end this fight. She didn't waste time aiming the weapon, it would have been impossible to properly aim it in the short amount of time anyway, and instead let Mystique finish her sprint at her. The mutant slashed at her with the knife, which Hawkeye deftly avoided. Before Mystique could try again Hawkeye grabbed her wrist, twisted it hard to make her drop the knife, and jammed the gun into the blue mutant's chest. The gunshot was quieter then normal with Mystique's body acting as a silencer but there was nothing abnormal about her face as the bullet passed through her. Her eyes widened in pain and shock as she gasped for air, a gasp that quickly turned to a gurgle as blood started coming from her mouth. Knowing the bullet had done its job Hawkeye let go of Mystique and backed away as she collapsed to her knees, doubling over and clutching her chest.
"You can now do one of two things." Hawkeye calmly informed the wounded mutant, gun still trained on her. "You can keep trying to fight me and bleed to death on the floor. Or you can give up and let me stabilize you so we can get to you Winry." In response Mystique gasped again and almost fell face first onto the floor. Hawkeye was debating whether to help her regardless if she had surrendered when Mystique jumped up and slashed at her again with the knife she had retrieved while pulling the sick act. Even caught off guard Hawkeye was able to avoid the worst of the attack but the knife still managed to open a deep cut across her cheek. Not feeling any pain Hawkeye instinctually swung the butt of her pistol and caught Mystique in the jaw. It stunned the mutant significantly enough for Hawkeye to follow up with a punch that landed square on Mystique's nose. She didn't feel the nose break but her punch was enough to send Mystique staggering back and enabling her to get a bead on her with her pistol. Mystique regained her footing and looked at the Lieutenant, and more importantly the gun she had aimed at her.
"Awwww. Looks like someone is mad that they fell for the oldest trick in the book." Mystique taunted, trying to get Hawkeye to lower her guard and leave herself open again. The gun didn't move and the Lieutenant's eyes didn't shift from their target. "A shame really, since that's going to leave a really ugly scar. And on such a cute little face to, what a waste."
Hawkeye ignored Mystique's taunts and creepy flattery and concentrated on what was important, winning this fight. She had bought some time but now she was in real trouble. Here was another mutant that could heal injuries quickly and short of killing her that meant…wait a minute. The arm where she had shot Mystique before, it was still bleeding. And the mutant still held it like it was in pain. Shifting her eyes Hawkeye saw it was the same for the hole in her chest. It wasn't bleeding as badly as it should be but it was still bleeding. But if injuries were permanent to her then how…..?
"I see you're impressed." Mystique remarked with a proud smile. Hawkeye mentally cursed herself for allowing her surprise to show on her face, again. "Being able to rearrange your internal organs really comes in handy don't you think? Doesn't give the person shooting at you anything to aim at." She added with an arrogant smirk. Hawkeye didn't immediately respond, not wanting to give any indication of what she was planning, what she had just learned. It may have been a ruse to make her waste the last of her ammunition but the only option Hawkeye had left was to use the hint Mystique had inadvertently given her.
"The enemy always has something to aim at." She said coolly as she lowered her weapon. This time confusion crossed Mystique's face and Hawkeye took her chance, quickly raising her gun and firing before the mutant could react. Her aim was again dead on and struck the hand holding the knife. Hawkeye saw the bullet pass all the way through and with a shriek of pain Mystique dropped the weapon. Instead of trying to retrieve the dropped knife Mystique grabbed her wounded hand, and Hawkeye could see that because of the bullet wound to that arm the grip wasn't that strong. "Bones are apparently what I need to aim at with you." She said, seeing the pain and distress on Mystique's face was genuine and not a ploy to disarm her.
"You stupid little bitch!" Mystique snarled, glaring at the other woman. Hawkeye's face remained completely neutral as she lowered her gun again and fired her last bullet. Mystique yelled in pain again and fell to the floor, this time against her will. No sooner had she finished falling then she grabbed her ankle, which now had a bullet lodged in it.
"I can do this for as long as you want." Hawkeye warned Mystique as she dropped the empty clip from her gun and put in a fresh one. This time Mystique laughed at her words.
"You wouldn't." She sneered, sure that the human wouldn't have the guts to keep on putting rounds into a down and crippled opponent. Her call was immediately answered with another gunshot and a searing pain in her other foot. She looked at the Lieutenant's calm face with a shocked expression of her own. Turning her attention towards her lower extremities she expected to see something that only vaguely resembled a foot but to her surprise except for a long gash across the top everything was in one piece.
"I'll do whatever is necessary to make sure the others around me are safe." Hawkeye calmly stated. Mystique turned back and saw the gun was still trained on her. "Whether I want to do it or not." She added. Mystique had no trouble translating that one. The shot in the foot had been her final warning; if she made Hawkeye fire again she was in for a world of misery. She might hate herself for doing so but the Lieutenant was fully prepared to take those actions without hesitation. Part of her wanted to keep goading Hawkeye to shoot her even more, just to make that self hatred pile up but another part of her respected the other woman for willing to go to such lengths. Besides, being shot was never a fun experience and she had enough of it for one day, these things were starting to really hurt.
"I knew there was something to like about you, and not just because you're another pretty face." She said with a grin. Hawkeye just glared back down at the other woman. "All right all right. I officially give up." She groaned as she sat herself up against the wall. Hawkeye didn't lower the weapon. "You don't trust me. Smart. But I am sitting here bleeding and I really don't want to have to crawl to wherever that girl Winry is." Hawkeye frowned. Yes she couldn't just let Mystique bleed to death but she also had to help Colonel Mustang and the others.
"The situation outside requires my help." She stated, even though there weren't any noises coming from the window anymore.
"No it doesn't." Mystique told her flatly. Hawkeye's eyes narrowed and her grip tightened on the gun. "We were all told to keep you occupied but not seriously hurt. Come on you're a smart girl, you should have figured it out by now."
"I figured it out the moment I spotted you." Hawkeye told her. Mystique blinked in surprise. Guess she was smarter then she gave her credit for. "But what about Sabertooth?"
"Juggernaut said he would keep an eye on him. Your boys in uniform are perfectly safe." Mystique promised her. She knew she shouldn't trust the blue mutant, but her actions proved she was telling the truth, at least when it came to what she was doing.
"All right." Hawkeye finally said, putting her gun back in its holster. She really didn't want to put her trust in the other mutants but her conscience wouldn't let her have Mystique just sit there and die. "Stay here until I get back. Move and you'll get worse." She warned.
"Don't worry. I couldn't go anywhere if I wanted to." Mystique groaned and grabbed her ankle. Even though she still didn't trust her Hawkeye nodded and began to leave the room. "One last thing." Mystique added. Hawkeye stopped at the doorway and looked at the wounded mutant. "You don't happen to have a twin sister with a better sense of humor do you?" She asked with a mischievous smile. Hawkeye frowned and left the room, shaking her head in disgust. "Complete and utter stick in the mud." She chuckled as she leaned back against the wall and waited for her medical attention.
Outside things the other state officers would have had trouble believing Mystique's statement that the mutants weren't trying to seriously hurt them. Most of all Hughes, who was picking himself up off the forest floor and brushing off various pieces of the branches he had crashed through during his fall. It sure didn't feel like Toad had gone easy on him with that throw. Then again he realized he had another aspect of that he had to deal with.
"I'm going to need a dozen showers after this." He mumbled as he wiped off some of the slime that had been left on his neck by Toad's tongue. His thoughts of disgust were cut off as he heard a slight rustling in the leaves above him. He brought out one of his throwing knives and prepared to throw it where the noise had come from but he couldn't see anything in the trees branches. "Great, now I'm jumping at shadows." He berated himself as he lowered his knife and began to turn away. Then without warning he quickly turned back around and threw not one but several knives at the spot where the noise had come from.
"YAAAAAA….. OW… OW …OW!" He heard Toad shout before more branches began to rustle in a way that indicated movement, downward movement. More shouts accompanied them before Toad finally fell out of the tree he was hiding in and landed in an undignified heap on the ground. He didn't have a knife sticking in him anywhere and there was no blood so Hughes guessed he was able to spook the mutant into falling without actually hitting him. Unfortunately the fall didn't stun him because he was back on his feet and leapt towards Hughes, aiming a flying axe kick right at him. Luckily Toad's descents weren't as fast as his leaps so Hughes was able jump back out of the way in time. At first he intended to kick the mutant in the face once he landed but when his kick hit the ground it landed on not only shattered but also cratered slightly. Hughes' stunned reaction gave Toad enough time to place his hands on the ground, spin himself and land a kick to the right side of his chest.
"Guuhhhhhh!" Was the only sound Hughes could make as the breath was forced out of his lungs and he again was sent flying through the air. He didn't go that far this time as his back slammed into a fairly large tree. He could feel that several of his ribs were broken and the quick double blow between the kick and hitting the tree was enough to make him feel like he had just been run over by a car, twice. Despite that he knew he couldn't slump down and black out like he desperately wanted to. Now that he was hurt a harder follow up blow was bound to be coming. Raising his head he saw, sure enough, Toad running right at him. This time instead of a downward blow Toad leapt forward and went for a straight forward flying kick. Ignoring the pain in his chest Hughes ducked and dived out of the way, causing Toad to miss him and rip out a large chunk of the tree instead. Hughes turned and waited for Toad to attack him again but instead the mutant stood straight up and spun a kick into the other side of the tree. The force of the kick put enough force on the weakened section of trunk that it snapped like kindling and began to fall, right towards Hughes. The Lt. Colonel scrambled out of the way and managed to avoid the being hit as the tree shook the ground when it hit. Looking from the downed tree to the person who caused it Hughes saw Toad smiling proudly.
"Pretty neat huh?" He asked. "Not every day I get to do something like that." He bragged before spitting another glob of slime. Knowing that Toad was trying to distract him Hughes had slipped another knife into his hand and was ready for whatever came next, tongue or slime. His weapon intercepted the glob halfway, turning it solid and rendering it a slow moving and easy to avoid chunk. Not amused at Hughes' cleverness he shot his tongue at the Lt. Colonel to grab his throwing arm before he could get another knife out. Even though Hughes was still in the middle of drawing the weapon he wasn't going to be fall for the same thing twice and turned to the side, allowing the slimy appendage to pass him and smack into a tree that was right behind him. Hit with a sudden flash of inspiration Hughes didn't throw his now ready knife at Toad while he was open or run now that he had the chance. Instead he turned around again and stabbed the mutant's tongue with it, pinning it to the tree. "GGRRRRAAAAGGGGTTTTHHHHH!"
Hughes ignored Toad's garbled scream and watched as the mutant instinctually grabbed his tongue and tried to pull it back to him. It didn't work, Hughes had buried the knife to the hilt to make sure Toad wouldn't be able to pull the tongue back without ripping it in two. On the other hand there was nothing to stop Toad from just jumping over here, drive him off and pull the knife out himself. That lead to part two of his plan, one that he had just made up and was sure he would regret. Doing his best not to think about it Hughes grabbed the tongue with both hands, somehow managing to keep the contents of his stomach down in the process, and yanked on it as hard as he could. Between his small size and being caught off guard Toad was pulled off his feet and through the air towards Hughes. He let go of the tongue, set his feet, and close-lined the mutant in the face with his good arm when he got close enough. He knew there was a risk of breaking his arm but the way things were going he needed to put Toad down, now.Toad almost did a back flip when the blow landed, with his goggles flying off his head, and while Hughes had to admit the reaction was kind of funny the way the mutant bounced off the ground he was afraid he might have accidentally killed the other man. Even though his eyes were closed Toad was now making a dazed gurgling noise and when it persisted for several seconds Hughes was sure it wasn't some sort of weird death rattle and that gave him reason to head back to the main road. Even if Toad did wake up in the near future Hughes doubted he'd have enough cognitive skills to get his tongue free and come after him.
"Uggghh. I just had to think of that didn't I?" Hughes asked himself, looking down at his hands. That was bar none the most disgusting thing he had ever done and knew there was a whole lot of hand washing in his future. (Wash? After this I should probably boil them.) He thought to himself as he crouched down to wipe what was left of the slime onto the grass. That made him acutely aware of his more serious problem as the right side of him felt like it was on fire. He hissed in pain but made sure he got as much of the crud he could off his hands before he stood up and grabbed his right side. Now that he had time to think about how badly he was hurt he was surprised he had actually been able to finish that fight because the pain in general was getting worse and it started to hurt just to breath. Whether Toad had done that with his kick or he had made it worse himself Hughes didn't know but what he did know was that he had to get back and help Mustang and Armstrong any way he could, even if it was just as an extra set of eyes. As he made his way out of the woods towards the road the first thing he noticed was the smell. There was a lot more smoke in the air and it wasn't just metal and wood burning, there was an overwhelming scent of burnt flesh everywhere. He began to think he was too late but as he finally exited the woods he saw that he was wrong, kind of. It was too late for Jacobs and all the soldiers he brought with him, most were now blackened lumps lying on the ground. The Major and the Colonel, on the other hand, where alive and currently engaging Juggernaut and Pyro in single combat. Explosions and fire roared from where the Colonel was fighting Pyro while Armstrong dodged Juggernaut's punches and surprisingly responded with some of his own, which oddly enough exploded when the landed. Knowing that trying to help either of them would just make him a liability Hughes leaned against a tree and watched the fight unfold, unaware of the form that was stalking him through the rows of wrecked vehicles and dead men.
When Sabertooth had seen Colonel Mustang's buddy stumble out of the woods looking as trashed as he did it presented an opportunity too good to pass up. Sure he was under orders not to hurt this particular bunch of military idiots that badly but no one could blame him if he went a little overboard when protecting the others in the Brotherhood. Really, when he had picked up that rifle and aimed it at Pyro what else could he have done? He couldn't just sit by when four-eyes seemed bound and determined to kill his teammate now could he? Of course, Hughes was just standing there watching the fun and not doing anything but with everyone occupied at the moment he was confident he could gut the bastard and plant a weapon on him before anyone was the wiser. No one would believe him but they wouldn't be able to prove a damn thing. It was a nice little challenge now that he thought about it, baring his teeth in excitement. That excitement died as the wind behind him picked up slightly and he got a whiff of something other then dead meat and burning metal. Taking a few deep sniffs told him what he needed, the Elric brat was behind him and closing fast. He growled at the fact the kid had just ruined such a nice set up but at least he'd get a little payback for what he did earlier. Deciding to throw tact to the wind he turned and charged Ed at full speed.
Ed didn't know if he'd be able to take Sabertooth completely by surprise, so he didn't bother trying to be quiet. In fact it was probably best if he was able to take the mutant's attention away from Lt. Col Hughes as quickly as possible. He almost yelled at Sabertooth but before the words could get out of his mouth the mutant turned around and started running towards him on all fours like the animal he was named after. That threw Ed off because of the speed he was coming towards him at but that just meant he had to react faster then originally planned. Clapping his hands he readied a transmutation and stood his ground, certain that Sabertooth would take one of two courses of action. Once Sabertooth got so close that any sort of arching leap would carry him over Ed's head or be easily avoided the young alchemist knew exactly what was coming. Sure enough when Sabertooth was no more then thirty feet away from him he leapt straight at Ed in an attempt to tackle him to the ground. Making sure he timed it just right Ed didn't move and waited until the very last moment before placing his hands on the ground, creating a brick wall right in Sabertooth's path. Ed fully expected to hear a crash and cursing from the impact that was sure to happen but the only thing he heard was a light tap on the wall and some scratching. That scratching was moving and Ed knew what was going on but had only a split second before Sabertooth threw himself over the wall and tried to come down right on his head. Ed jumped aside and Sabertooth landed on his feet, not even stopping to regain his balance before slashing at Ed with his claws. Ed ducked and moved to the side but Sabertooth just turned and slashed again, missing when Ed ducked and digging deep groves in the brick wall he had created. Taken full advantage of the opening Ed punched Sabertooth in the jaw, this time not only snapping the mutant's head to the side but actually made him stumble and almost fall.
"Fuuuttt ddee feeaallll?" Sabertooth tried to shout through a completely shattered jaw. Sensing an advantage Ed threw another punch with his metal fist but this time Sabertooth slapped the blow aside and threw a punch of his own that struck him in the chest. Rolling with the punch prevented anything from being broken but it still sent him end over end. Quickly recovering and getting up Ed set his feet in a fighting stance, ready for Sabertooth's next attack. To his surprise Sabertooth just stood there, forcefully pushing the pieces of his jaw back in place rather then wait for his healing factor to do it for him. Once he got it more or less back into one piece he looked at Ed and gave him a feral smile. "So, the runt finally decides to fight for real." He stated as he stretched his claws, making them pop. "Now we get to have some fun!" he shouted and ran at Ed.
"We'll just see how much fun you have!" Ed shouted back and broke into his own run. Sabertooth laughed and brought back one hand as they got closer and began to swing it when Ed stopped dead in his tracks and stood perfectly still with a knowing smile on his face. Suspecting a trap Sabertooth pulled up short and skidded to a halt.
"What? You decide to throw one grown up punch then you chicken out?" Sabertooth snarled. "So much for being the big bad State alchemist."
"I never chicken out." Ed said, that knowing smile still in place. "And I can be really bad when I put my mind to it." He added and clapped his hands. Sabertooth growled again and tensed up, watching and listening for where the transmutation would come from.
"Take you best shot runt." The mutant growled. "I ain't going to fall for the same trick twice."
"Yeah we kind of figured that." Ed admitted. "That's why we had to come up with some brand new ones." He finished quickly before slapping the ground. Sabertooth prepared to move the instant he saw the flash but the only warning he got was the sound of stone shifting before the wall behind him started firing bricks like a shotgun. The first one hit him between the shoulders, was a complete surprise and made Sabertooth stagger forward. The second one hit at the base of the spine, making him inadvertently stand straighter. That set him up for the third brick, an Ed Elric special that had an iron center covered by a thin layer of rock that looked like brick and flew three times faster then the first two. That hit him dead center in the back of the skull. He staggered forward even faster, almost falling to the ground. Ed didn't know if it was going to be enough to knock Sabertooth unconscious but in a way he was kind of glad it didn't. The way he was hunched over and moving towards him meant he had the perfect opportunity to pivot and kick the dazed mutant in the face as hard as he could with his automail leg. Like before he held nothing back and this time the kick made Sabertooth stumble and stagger backwards, complete with teeth flying from his mouth along with the blood from both it and his nose. But in a show of the potency of his healing factor, or just how tough a bastard he actually was, Sabertooth remained standing turned his attention back to Ed.
"Gut ya…squash ya…" He growled. The words held a real threat but Ed could see the mutant's eyes were now cloudy. Those clouds would fade completely if he gave them a chance, then he'd be back at square one. Not willing to give Sabertooth a second wind Ed rushed forward and took the initiative. Putting all his muscle behind it he drove his automail elbow into the center of Sabertooth's chest, ignoring the embarrassment of having to jump to hit his target. He heard and felt bones shatter while Sabertooth's eyes widened in surprise as he coughed up more blood.
Normally Ed would have been concerned about the damage he was doing to his opponent, not this time. Between everything he had seen and been told about this guy two things were very clear. While he was faster and far stronger then any normal human being he was still made of the same materials. His flesh, blood and bones were no different then any other person's. Which meant they could be damaged in the exact same way as any other person he fought. Second, and more importantly, so long as Ed didn't cut the mutant's head off or completely destroy his brain whatever he was able to dish out, no matter how brutal or damaging, Sabertooth could take. If the fact that he had suffered two blows that were sure to have shattered his skull and caused massive (not to mention certainly fatal) brain damage within a matter of seconds of each other, not to mention having most of his face and ribs smashed to pieces along with the internal collateral damage, and only look slightly punch drunk afterwards didn't prove it nothing would. And he would need to fight like that if he wanted to actually wear Sabertooth down to the point he could recapture him. First thing though was that he needed to get the maniac away from him so he didn't get caught up in his own trap. To do that he decided to take a page out of Wolverine's book, even it meant recalling his first embarrassing encounter with him.
Grabbing what was left of Sabertooth's burned and shot up vest Ed began to fall backwards, tucking his legs to his chest. Usually trying to flip someone of Sabertooth's size and ferocity would only get you mauled but with the half second opening breaking the mutant's ribs had given him Ed was able to follow through with no problem. To put as much distance between him and the soon to be healed Sabertooth he kicked as hard as he could with both his flesh and automail legs, that latter of which he could feel doing even more internal damage, sending the mutant flying through the air and skidding along the ground. Knowing that he couldn't give Sabertooth any time to recover Ed didn't stand to perform his transmutation, he clapped his hands while rolling over, took a quick glance at where his opponent was, and slapped his hands to the ground once he was on his stomach. Unfortunately even with such a sliver of time to work with Sabertooth had recovered enough to look back at what Ed was doing. Once he saw Ed clap his hands he reacted instantly and leapt forward, the distance and speed hampered slightly by the damage had already done. Even then he was just fast enough to avoid the rounded walls of rock that grew from the ground and closed together, forming a dome of rock meant to be his prison. Even then his heel was clipped and he was flipped over onto the ground. He didn't stay there for long, getting to his feet and turning towards Ed.
"Too slow runt." He taunted.
"Damn it! Can't you just stand still for two seconds?" Ed growled as he got to his feet, ready for Sabertooth's next inevitable charge.
"Sorry shrimp but you want to win this you've got to make sure I don't see it coming." Sabertooth replied as he started circling Ed. Ed said nothing in response and clapped his hands again but didn't reach for anything. Curious to see what the runt had in mind Sabertooth decided to take the direct route and started running right at him. Ed put his hands to the ground in response and the area between him and Sabertooth lit up, then seemed to come alive. All manner of obstacles sprung from the ground, spikes, hands trying to grab him, fists trying to punch him, even more bricks launching themselves from hidden holes. Sabertooth ducked, dodged and leapt across the living minefield, watching the surface of the ground for any kind of movement, no matter how slight. With his superior eyesight, hearing and reflexes he was able to ID the type of threat as it emerged from the ground, no matter how fast, act appropriately, and ID the next one before he was finished dealing with the first. Ed watched as Sabertooth maneuvered his way through all the traps, determination and not worry visible on his face in contrast to the mutant's savagery.
When Sabertooth had got within pouncing distance he decided to forgo the song and dance routine he was in the middle of, as interesting a workout as it was, and go straight for the kill. He leapt into the air, keeping one eye on Ed, one on the ground in front of him in case there was one last surprise in store. Suspiciously Ed calmly stood up and watched Sabertooth as he headed for him with that same look of determination, not even trying to evade. Sabertooth didn't see him holding a weapon and when he was almost within arms reach he began to wonder if Ed had given up. The instant after he thought that Ed dove to the side and threw something brown at him, something that even he wouldn't be able to dodge, not at this range. He heard the sound of glass breaking and his world went dark as something covered his eyes, and didn't come off.
"Graaahhh!" He yelled as he landed face first on the ground with a loud thud, missing Ed completely. He got up snarling, trying to shake whatever was on his face off but it was stuck there.
"Guess that means you're not going to see anything coming now are you?" Ed shouted in triumph as Sabertooth struggled to get the glue bomb he made out his eyes. He knew that Sabertooth had gotten wise to his basic attacks using alchemy so when he had created that obstacle course he had also covertly formed a small glass ball containing the strongest glue he could formulate underneath one of his hands. All that he needed to do was palm the ball when he stood up and wait for Sabertooth to get close enough so he couldn't miss. Sabertooth had obliged and now the braggart had a face full of glue that left him blind and at a serious disadvantage. Unfortunately in his moment of ego Ed forgot about one thing while taunting him. Something only realized after Sabertooth had swung his arm around and backhanded Ed with his fist. Ed's world got fuzzy as he spun and fell to the ground but he was conscious and still had all his teeth, which was a plus. However…..
"No but my ears still work pretty good!" Sabertooth shouted as raised his boot to stomp on Ed. Rolling out of the way Ed stood up and ran several yards away from Sabertooth before turning around. He clapped and put his hands to the ground before the mutant could find him again. Sabertooth jumped at the sound of more earth shifting around him but whatever Ed had made they were out of arms reach of him and didn't appear to be moving. That didn't matter because the runt could just try that brick routine again so he remained on guard for anything that might come this way. What he didn't know thanks to being blinded was that Ed had created several large statues of himself, holding equally large megaphones, out of hollowed rock and what was coming he could not dodge.
"HOW ARE THEY WORKING NOW?" Ed shouted at the top of his lunges into the tube he had created to connect the four structures underground. His amplified voice blasting out of all four would have been near deafening for someone with regular hearing. For someone with heightened senses…
"YAAAHHHH! You half pint son of a bitch! I'll get you for this! Nobody does this to me and gets away with it!" Sabertooth yelled as he stumbled out of the megaphones blast area, clutching his ears and staggering like he had just been physically struck. At this point Ed could probably skip to the last part of his plan but he needed to make sure that Sabertooth would not be able to avoid it. For that he needed him immobilized.
"You need your eyes more then you think!" Ed shouted as he brought his hands together. "You need to see the blood, see the pain that you've caused and the terror you create! You have to see it to enjoy it, to revel in it!" He shouted as he put his hands to the ground hoping that being so loud and the ringing Sabertooth was bound to have in his ears would drown out what he was doing.
"So I like to have a good time, sue me!" Sabertooth responded, angry but still trying to get a fix on Ed. If the runt wanted to get self-righteous and give his position away after pissing him off even more that was fine with him. All he needed was one last check to make sure. "Maybe if you weren't such a weak little runt…"
"STOP CALLING ME RUNT!" Ed screamed as he cut him off. Bingo. Now he knew exactly where Ed was and sprinted in his direction. He didn't need his eyes to finish this fight. All he had to do was keep an ear out to make sure he didn't get clap happy and start sniffing the air to make sure there wasn't any extra piles of dirt, stone or metal that weren't there a second ago. He was thinking about thanking the runt for not moving when he suddenly ran headfirst into something that had no give to it whatsoever. With the speed he was going at the blow rattled his head and actually knocked him onto his back. "I hate it when people call me little." He heard Ed say calmly through the daze he had put himself in. Then he heard the clap.
"NOOO!" He shouted as he sat up, but it was already too late. He felt the ground underneath him change from rough soil to cold and smooth metal. He was trapped; the runt had actually managed to trick him into falling for it! Grabbing the upper portion of the glue stuck to he face he pulled as hard as he could, not caring that hair and skin was coming with it. It took a couple of seconds but he eventually got the lump of glue off his face and was able to take a good look around him. The floor around him was solid metal, but there were no walls around him. Wait…the air looked slightly distorted and he couldn't feel a breeze. He was surrounded by glass, even above his head! Turning towards where he had last heard Ed he saw the young alchemist looking at him, standing behind the glass wall with his hands clapped together.
"I figured you should see what happened." Ed told him with a new tone of superiority in his voice. He couldn't kill Sabertooth, no matter how desperately he wanted to, no matter how much he deserved it. He would have to settle for rubbing his nose in the fact he had just been beaten, been humiliated, not by someone stronger, more powerful or more vicious then him, but by someone who was smarter. "Dogs can't smell glass so I figured you wouldn't be able to either. Good thing I made it thick enough though." He said with a smile, glancing at a section of indented and spider webbed cracked glass.
"BASTARD!" Sabertooth howled as he rushed towards Ed, his shoulder down. Ed doubted that he would be able to break through glass as thick as this very quickly, but he couldn't take any changes either. Putting one hand on the wall in front of him Ed watched as the glass began to glow, obscuring his view of the charging Sabertooth. When the glow faded the glass that had comprised the walls and ceiling of Sabertooth's cell had been replaced with the same substance as the floor. High gauge steel, several feet thick, now surrounded the crazed mutant from all sides. He had placed a small window on each side with very thick bars to allow Sabertooth to breath, as well as a small hatch at the top so they would be able to drop food and water to him if they needed to. All the openings were barely big enough for Sabertooth to squeeze his hand out of, let alone the rest of him, in the unlikely event he could destroy the bars.
"This time you're not getting out." Ed promised, determined to make sure Magneto didn't even think about releasing him. Finally done Ed turned around and started walking towards Lt. Col. Hughes.
"YOU'D BETTER PRAY I DON'T GET OUT OF THIS WHILE YOU'RE STILL AROUND RUNT!" Sabertooth bellowed. "CAUSE IF I DO I'LL MAKE YOU WISH THAT I KILLED YOU RIGHT HERE AND NOW! I'M GONNA MAKE SURE YOU SEE ME USE YOUR SKIN AS WALLPAPER AND BONES AS TOOTHPICKS! I'LL MAKE YOU WATCH WHEN I YANK YOUR GUTS OUT THEN EAT THEM. I MIGHT EVEN FEED SOME OF THEM TO YOU! YOU'LL BE BEGGING ME TO LET YOU DIE WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU RUNT! YOU HEAR ME? YOU'LL BE BEGGING ME TO LET YOU DIE!" Ed didn't respond to the yelling, he had been threatened before and they were just threats so he wasn't about to let it get to him now. Then again he felt a shiver go up his spine as he realized that Sabertooth would have every intention of keeping those promises.
Hughes had been unaware of the fight between Ed and Sabertooth until he noticed the flash of Ed's first transmutation out of the corner of his eye. After calling himself an idiot for being so focused on Armstrong fighting Juggernaut and his own busted ribs he lost awareness of what was going on around him he focused on Ed facing off against that monster. It had been a brutal fight but Ed had managed to trick Sabertooth into almost knocking himself out and putting him in a cage that looked just as escape proof as Al's restraints.
"Well that's probably the worst of them down." Hughes remarked as Ed made his way over to him. "You doing ok?" He asked, taking note of Ed's swollen jaw.
"Yeah. He didn't manage to hit me that hard so I guess I got lucky." Ed answered, rubbing the injured area, and hissing when he felt some loose teeth. "What about you?" He asked to keep Hughes from saying anything else about him.
"I'll live." The Lt. Col answered. "Though I probably won't be doing any heavy running for a while." He amended and clutched his side again.
"Well at least you'll get some time off to be with Elicia." Ed told him, the only positive thing that could come out of being banged up like this. Hughes gave a half smile and short laugh at Ed's statement, both of them knowing that would be the outcome only if they survived all this. "So how are we doing?" He asked looking towards the other two fights. Hughes opened his mouth to answer when a loud explosion followed by gigantic fireball shot skyward from where Mustang and Pyro were. The two watched slightly dumbfounded as the fire began moving and twisting on its own. An instant later they heard Juggernaut shouting and turned to see the now helmetless mercenary lift Major Armstrong over his head by the neck and throw him to the ground, causing it to shake. Armstrong managed to slam one of his gauntlets down when he landed, and the ground underneath Juggernaut began to collapse, causing him to almost fall from being off balanced so quickly.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Hughes answered, not truly able to tell which way either fight was going.
