Zilo: I'm so excited!
Chizi: Why? Because we finally updated faster than two months?
Zilo: That too, but I have a slightly important announcement at the end of the chapter!
Chizi: All right. Anyhow, thanks to The Name Is Greed, Rawrzness Wolf, CelestialSands, Beryl Bloodstone, KingofHeartless'09, LeFay Strent, Shinigami's-Neko-GakI, DoctorWhotaliaandtheOlympians, Astrothium, JoRinoaValentine, Chaotic Luna, HylianFox, and shadow346437 for the awesome reviews.
Zilo: Now let's get to the epic word-fight!
14: A Short Fuse's Logical Conclusion
in which the scenery changes a lot
"Do you know where they took Cassie?" I asked Ricky.
He sniffled, then sat back on his heels, wiping his face with both hands now. "No, um, I tried to hold onto her, for real, but one of the guys with guns just made her disappear. They said…" His eyes widened as he seemed to remember something. "They said that Mom would be taking care of her! Joey, do you think Mom's here?"
"Yeah, she is, and she's got a lot of explaining to do," I said grimly.
Ike nodded. "And that's where it gets tricky. Finding your mom in here won't be easy, but she'll probably have Cassie with her in any case. But if we go searching around every room, we're bound to set off alarms. And once they realize the situation, we'll all have rooms of our own here in a blink."
"Not gonna happen," I said firmly as Ricky got back to his feet, rubbing self-consciously at the nearly healed bruises around his neck. "You've can counteract whatever with your own chainletter mojo, right?"
He looked surprised. "Yeah but—"
"Great. If they sent everyone back, we're gonna have to re-yank a few of them over here."
"The colonel?" Riza asked.
I nodded. "And Ed. And Al too. And get Ling back here. There needs to be a ruckus made in this joint."
"So…you've got a plan, Joey?" Ricky asked, sounding hopeful.
"Hell yeah."
They waited, obviously expecting me to share.
"If we can't find Mom we just bring her to us," was all I was willing to share.
"But what if she doesn't have Cassie?" Ricky pointed out.
"Also, that's incredibly vague," Ike added.
"If she's got any shreds of decency left, she will. And shut up, Ike."
Ricky looked nervous and worried. "Joey…just what did Mom do?"
I sighed and shook my head. "A lot. Long story short, she's been a big fat liar for most of our lives and likes to play head games with everyone," I said.
Ricky looked startled. "What?"
"We'll do details later. Ike, you know this place, find us a suitable room for a home base, one with a good amount of space where it's hard to sneak up on somebody," I said, pointing at Ike.
"Your faith in my abilities is astounding, and well-grounded, and I thought you thought I was still potentially leading you into a trap?" Ike said.
"Yeah, well, I can't afford to suspect everyone in my life right now, so you get a pass," I snapped. "Take us there first, then make with the summoning Ed, Al, Roy, and Ling to us. Leave those asshole Homunculi wherever they are."
"All right," he agreed with a shrug. "Everyone holds hands, please."
I grabbed Ricky's hand at the same time that Riza grabbed mine, and we were gone. Amazingly, I could watch the scenery around us shift, like a fading transition in a movie. The white ceiling, walls, and floor changed into blue sky, trees, and what appeared to be the roof of the headquarters.
"I see you have a loose definition of the word 'room'," I commented to Ike as I looked around.
"Outside is the best place to be for this," was Ike's reply. "Besides, Ling's out here."
I twisted around and saw Ling crouching on what looked like the top of an air vent, waving. "Oh. Hey prince. Find out anything useful?" I asked.
"Well, let's see. The place is mostly empty, people get around here with those 'chain letter' things, there are only doors to the outside, not between rooms, and your mother either isn't here or is in a room without a window," he reported.
"Damn. Good work," I commented.
"Did you see Cassie anywhere?" Ricky asked.
Ling glanced at him. "Sorry, but no."
I sighed a little, feeling frustrated. "Okay. She'd probably be with Mom anyway. So here's what we'll need to do." I turned to the others to start relaying my awesome plan, but suddenly they were gone, and the forest was a lot closer. In fact, it was a lot brighter too. And the building's roof had turned into plain old dirt ground.
The hell? I thought, bewildered for a moment. What happened? Did Ike transport us away for some reason? But then… I thought as I looked all around me, why am I alone?
Wait. It's brighter here. Just like…oh dammit, don't tell me I did it again.
I sighed heavily. Now was not the time for my annoying magical powers to be kicking in. "Hello?" I called out anyway, hoping that maybe there was someone nearby.
There was a sudden BOOM off to my left that rattled the ground a little. Startled, I looked up and saw a cloud of smoke slowly rising over the treetops. Warily I took a step back, in the opposite direction, then started taking a few more when bushes and branches started to rattle, like someone was approaching.
The bushes parted, and Envy came half-stumbling, half-flying out. He caught himself on his arms, rolled a few times, then bounced up to his feet.
"Oh shit, not you again!" I exclaimed, backing up some more.
He glanced back at me, and a an annoyed look flitted over his face. "Oh, wonderful. What the hell are you doing here?"
"You're asking the wrong person," I said.
He turned fully to face me, hands on his hips. "Well, you came at a bad time. I'm busy. And since you failed so spectacularly at holding up your end of that stupid little truce—"
There was a flash of blue light from the trees behind him, and suddenly a giant fist made of earth came flying out of the foliage. He and I leaped out of the way, me with a little shriek, as the fist sailed across the small clearing and knocked down a tree.
The bushes rattled again, and Ed came flying out like he'd leaped off a cliff. His focus was on Envy, but quickly swung to me as I jumped up and hollered, "Dammit, Ed, watch where you go shooting off your stupid attacks! You almost hit me!"
"Joey?" he said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"I don't know, I already said! I was busy strategizing when—"
More rattling of trees. Ed glanced back, gasped, and jumped out of the way. I had to throw myself to the ground yet again to avoid three dark projectiles as they shot across the clearing and speared the tree behind me.
Lust walked out of the bushes. "You can't escape, Fullmetal—" she began, but paused when she saw me. "What are you doing here?"
I sighed very heavily. "Anybody else wanna ask me that?"
"Brother!" Al burst into the clearing from behind me, but paused when he saw me. "What are—"
"Shut up! I'm not answering again!" I snapped.
"Still as personable as ever," Envy said, rolling his eyes.
I got up from the ground, brushing off my jeans.
"Joey, what happened? You just disappeared from the house," Al asked.
"And then those freaks showed up with those weapons. If I'd had my powers they would have been nothing," Envy added, scowling.
"A lot happened," I said. "Ling and the lieutenant are waiting, though. I need you guys to come help us."
"What's going on?" Ed asked.
"We made it to the headquarters, and now we've gotta get Cassie out of there, and get some answers out of my mom," I said.
"What about the colonel?" Al asked.
I blinked. "What do you mean? They didn't send him back like you guys?"
Ed shook his head. "They couldn't, for some reason. They were blaming you."
"Me? Assholes. Okay, so then Cassie and Roy. Will you help?" I asked the brothers.
"Of course we will!" Al said instantly.
Ed nodded in agreement.
"Hold on a damn second. If this plan involves getting revenge on those bastards, I want in," Envy interrupted.
I glared at him. "No way in hell. I'm not trying to get people killed."
"You think you can stop me?" Envy said threateningly, taking a step forward.
"Envy, hold on. There's no guarantee you'll be able to return," said Lust, sounding surprisingly reasonable.
Envy snorted. "If you know what's good for you…" he said to me.
"Oh, go die in a fire, you whiny little bitch," I shot back.
Rage darkened Envy's face before I could fully regret my words, so I went on instinct. I grabbed Al's arm, reached out quickly, and snagged Ed's sleeve. Envy had started towards me at a rather frightening speed when he and the forest suddenly faded away, being replaced by the roof I'd been on before.
"Oh, Joey," Ike said from behind me, sounding like an exasperated parent. "Did you really need to cut it so close?"
"Hey, shut up!" I replied intelligently, turning to face him. "Why didn't you zap us out of there?"
"I just did. I needed you all to be touching before I could get you all at once," Ike reminded me.
I didn't have a response for that, so I just glared.
"Where's the colonel?" Riza asked.
I turned back to face her, but Ed had already started to answer. "They couldn't send him back, so they just sent the rest of us," he said.
"So he's still here?" she exclaimed.
I nodded. "He's probably in that prison hall we just left."
"No, Ricky was the only one in there, I checked," Ike said.
"Then where…?" Al asked.
"Maybe with Mom and Cassie?" Ricky volunteered.
"Okay, but why?" Ed asked.
"We'll find out once we get started," I cut in firmly. "Let's not waste anymore time."
"That's right, you haven't explained your brilliant plan yet," Ike said.
"Step one: you send me to that stupid lobby," I told him.
"Now?"
"No, tomorrow. Yes, now," I replied sarcastically.
His brows raised over his glasses. "Okay. And then?"
"And then, once I tell you to, you bring us back. Meanwhile, send everyone else to different parts of the building. They can look for Roy, but mostly stuff needs to be destroyed."
"Even me?" Ricky asked.
"You can kick stuff, can't you?" I replied.
He nodded.
Ike frowned. "'Bring us back'?"
"Yeah, us."
"Wait, so are we just a distraction?" Ed cut in.
"No, you're also a demolition crew. We've got to keep these people's attention divided so they can't just magically transport us to their jail cells or wherever."
"So that makes me mission control. How do you know I can handle that much responsibility?" Ike asked.
"Because if you don't I'm gonna kick your ass," I threatened.
Ike sighed. "All right, then."
"Oh, and one more thing. Send Al with me, too," I told him.
"Anything else?"
"Yeah, fix your tone," I commented.
He raised a brow, but smiled. "Yes ma'am," he said.
I reached out and grabbed Al's hand. "Al, if everything goes all right, I'm gonna need you to put Cassie in your armor, okay?"
"Sure," Al agreed.
I took a deep breath. "Everybody remember to keep a cool head and be observant and crap. Especially you, Ike. Bonus points if somebody finds Roy too."
Riza nodded sharply. "Got it."
Ed clapped suddenly, and I glanced at him as he touched the roof. In a flash of blue light, the section of roof had been sucked upwards into a concrete skull-and-crossbones. "Just making sure everything still works," he commented. "Now I'm ready."
"Yeah, let's get started already, this sounds interesting," Ling said, that mischievous look in his eye that I'd been so wary about originally.
Ike smiled at me. "Let's do it, then."
Once again the scenery around me changed, from the forest and roof to the lobby. The redhead with the stupid name was absently doodling on her hand, but looked up suddenly as Al and I materialized in front of her desk. "Eek!" she squeaked, reaching for a phone.
My hand came down on hers, hard. "Not on your life," I snapped.
"B-B-But, what do you want? Don't hurt me, I'm just a receptionist!" the redhead wailed.
"Good God, will you shut up? You're so annoying!" I exclaimed.
"Joey, I don't think this is getting anything done," Al pointed out reasonably.
I heaved a sigh. "Okay, yeah. Listen, receptionist, the only call you're making on this phone is to my mother. Tell her to meet me here, and Cassie had better be with her."
"B-But Ms. Phoenix said she didn't want to be disturbed—"
"Do I look like I give any sort of damn about what she said she wanted? There's an impromptu demolition going on in here, and if she wants it to stop, she'd better find a way to get disturbed." As if on cue, there was a muffled explosion from some floor above us, and the redhead's eyes turned up to the ceiling automatically.
"Well?" I prompted, drawing her attention.
"I…okay. But you have to let go of my hand."
I gave her a look to not try anything, then released her hand. The redhead picked up the phone and dialed three quick digits. I could faintly hear it ringing, along with a muffled crashing somewhere above us. There was a click, and I could just hear my mom's voice, and I was surprised at how it made my blood boil. "Rabekk'Hah, I said I wasn't to be disturbed."
"Yes, Ms. Phoenix. But your daughter is here in headquarters, with one of the characters, and she's demanding to see you. S-She wants you to bring Cassie as well—" Another muffled explosion, this one close enough to make the room tremble just a bit. The redhead cowered at her desk with a yelp. "And she's got people destroying the building! Please come!"
Silence on the other end. I waited, my crossed arms resting on the desk, my fingers drumming on its surface.
"I'll be right there."
And just as the redhead hung up the phone, my mom was there. She held Cassie's hand in hers, though not so much holding as restraining. Cassie's face was tear streaked, and she had stuck her thumb in her mouth.
Just the sight of that made me want to lunge at my mother and throttle her. My rage rushed up hard and fast, and it scared me for a second. I gripped Al's hand tighter to resist advancing, and he seemed to notice, as his grip tightened a bit as well.
"Melissa," mom said evenly.
"Mother," I spit back, like it was a curse.
Cassie's shoulders hunched, and she looked at me pleadingly, like she wanted to come to me but was afraid to move.
"Rabekk'Hah, you have the rest of the day off," Mom said.
"But—" the redhead started.
Mom's gaze just barely flickered in her direction, and the redhead vanished like a ghost, mid-word.
"I see you've been busy," Mom commented.
"And I see you've been lying," I shot back.
She sighed. "I expected this sort of reaction. I didn't expect you to retaliate quite like this, though." Another muffled explosion caused tiny bits of debris to rain down for a second.
"Funny how neither of us were expecting what we got," was my answer.
"You might be angry, but you should still see reason. By now, whoever you've roped into this will have been resettled into the meditation wing and temporarily relieved of their abilities," Mom said.
"And somehow things are still blowing up," I smirked.
For a split second she looked frustrated, but covered it easily. "Very well, let's put that aside for now. What are you looking for? Answers?"
"And maybe some revenge."
"Ah. That temper of yours, Melissa. You were always so fiery and explosive. If I could have started your testing earlier, it could have been put to good use," Mom said, sounding regretful.
My free hand clenched into a tight fist. "It's so good to hear how much you love me and care about not raising me in a web of lies," I snapped.
"However, your dramatic side took a little longer to emerge," Mom said wryly.
"Mommy, I want to go to Joey," Cassie managed to speak up, sounding scared.
"Not right now, sweetheart. Your big sister and I need to talk before she gets the chance to do anything else rash," Mom said, speaking to Cassie but still looking at me.
I couldn't take this anymore. "Why?" I burst out. "Why would you do this to us? Why lie about all this? Did you lie to Dad too, huh? Did you lie to us all?"
Mom's chin raised. "You don't seem to understand the importance of what you were being trained for, Melissa Anastasia Tempest Phoenix."
I hate that name. "That's not my name," I growled.
"You're my child."
"Yeah, and I see how much that meant to you!"
"Stop being a brat!" Mom shouted, and I shrank back, startled. Mom never raised her voice at me, for anything. "You think that your feelings are somehow more important than this entire operation? You selfish child! You've no idea of the scope of things! This organization is the only thing between the multiverse and disaster! Yet you turn your nose up at it at every turn! Do you realize what could happen if there was no one to police traffic between dimensions? Do you?"
I was stunned into silence. Cassie was starting to cry.
"Of all the abilities on this earth, the most destructive is the power to cross dimensions. Every day, more and more young girls and women are being discovered with that ability. Some are even powerful enough to pass it onto their sons, though that's rather rare. All of these girls, still growing up, with underdeveloped and emotional minds, allowed to enter a dimension of their choosing, with no one to prevent them from altering canon to fit their whims. It equals the collapse of a system, the deviation of timelines, the destruction of relationships, the death of innocents.
"Our only hope is to find these young people, to train them to use their abilities effectively, to teach them what a powerful and dangerous thing it is, and control it properly. And if we are too late, our only hope is to prevent as much canon contamination as we possibly can. For that we have our agents—Manual Reconnaisance Youths, in charge of Summaries and Extraction. Our greatest defense—"
"Bullshit!" I yelled, my voice back.
Mom's eyes narrowed, but I wasn't done. "I don't care what this stupid organization is about or how wonderfully they're saving the world behind the curtain! That's no reason to do what you've done! Don't you get what could have happened to us? You sent some homicidal Homunculus into our home! He could've killed us! Anything could have happened to us! And on top of that, lying and deceiving us for our whole lives? If your organization is so important, you could've told us!"
"And risk you becoming a rogue MaRYSuE? It wasn't my choice to make. Once it was confirmed that you had MaRYSuE potential, my superiors specifically told me that your testing had to be done blind. It was the only way to properly gauge your abilities and your skill in wielding them. It wasn't my choice to lie to you, Melissa. But it would only have been detrimental if you'd known," Mom said.
"Fine! Whatever! But then why this? Look what you've done to Cassie! And Ricky was so freaked out he cried! He hates crying! Even if you had to test me blind, why did you let it turn into this?"
Mom's face was stony. "Nothing's perfect," she said.
"Especially not you," I snarled.
She didn't rise to the bait that time. Instead, she changed topics. "Your father knew," she said. "He worked here as well. He agreed that you shouldn't know the truth at such a young age."
So my dad was a liar too. Wonderful.
"In any case, as a failed tester, you were approved for a memory reset. If you hadn't been so impulsive, you wouldn't have had anything to get so upset about," Mom said.
What?
"A 'memory reset'? You'd wipe my brain? How low will you go?" I exclaimed.
Mom just shook her head, suddenly looking sad. "Melissa, don't you see? A memory reset would have erased this entire week. You'd be—all three of you would be—none the wiser, and you'd be happy again."
"And you'd keep on lying to me, is that right? Everything back to its good old fakery? Am I supposed to want that?"
She sighed. "You still can't see the big picture, or anything past what's in front of you right now," she said, sounding resigned. "I was told to encourage your temper, as it's considered a positive MaRYSuE trait, but now I see that I probably shouldn't have encouraged it so much. You can't see beyond this red haze of thinking I've betrayed you."
"I don't think anything. You have betrayed us, your whole family. If you've got any decency left, you'll let Cassie go," I snapped.
Mom's face hardened again. "That can't happen. You may have failed, but Cassie has shown potential, She's been scheduled as the next to train in your stead."
"I will kill you first." The words were out of my mouth before I could stop to think about them, as usual, and I was surprised to find that I actually meant it. I felt in me the ability to kill my mother if she did anything else to Cassie.
That scared me.
Mom's eyes widened a little at my words. Cassie looked surprised as well, and then even more scared. Al turned to look at me in what I guessed was astonishment.
For just a second, I saw it. I saw me, appointed as a MaRYSuE, traipsing into Amestris for whatever missions MaRYSuEs have. I saw myself getting angry, then enraged. I saw myself swearing death to someone, and using my powers to bring it about.
Am I really capable of that? Murder?
Mom seemed to hesitate, her grip on Cassie's hand loosening. Cassie pulled away and then stepped away from her, looking at us both in confusion and fear.
"Joey…" Mom said, almost hesitantly.
I couldn't talk to her then. I turned my attention to Cassie. She looked at me, then Mom, before seeming to decide. She moved slowly at first, then picked up the pace and raced to my side, throwing her arms as far around my waist as she could. I put my arms around her, feeling the urge to cry again.
"Joey, I might not have made the greatest decisions," Mom began, her voice different now, "but I always loved you. All of you."
Amazingly, that did it. I felt tears spring into my eyes, even as Al unhooked one side of his chest plate, and I handed Cassie off to him. I faced my mom squarely, and since I hadn't been editing my words before, I didn't start now.
"I don't believe you," I said honestly.
I could see that that hurt Mom, and she flinched. Al, with Cassie now safely in his armor, hooked his chest plate back up, and I grabbed his hand. "Get us the hell out of here," I said to the air.
The scenery changed, from Mom's face, to the roof. I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding and let go of Al's hand.
"Joey?" Ike said, his voice full of concern.
"Just save it," I said roughly, turning away.
"Is everyone else okay?" Al asked Ike.
"Yep. They sent your brother back once, but I returned him to a different floor. Riza's mostly just looking for Roy," Ike replied.
"Colonel Mustard was in the room with me and Mommy," Cassie's canned voice said from inside Al's armor.
"He was?" Ike said, surprised.
Cassie didn't answer for a minute, and I heard her start to sniffle. I twisted back around, just as Al was unhooking his chest plate, without me even having to ask. He pried it open, and I reached in and pulled Cassie out. She wrapped her arms around my neck. "Mommy was scary. She wanted me to make him go away, but I didn't know how," she whimpered.
"It's okay, Cassie," I told her.
"Oh, they got Riza. One sec, I'll bring her back," Ike said.
"Just get everyone back up here. We'll come up with a new plan to find Roy," I said.
He glanced at me, and I know my face was red and I still had teary eyes, but mercifully he didn't comment, just nodded.
That slightly important announcement Zilo mentioned
Zilo: I'm going to be taking a trip to my very first anime convention! I'm headed for Tokyo in Tulsa, scheduled for July 20-22! So if you're in the area and going, or want to go, and would like a chance to meet up with me, then shoot me a PM! For more info on the con itself, hit up their website, tokyointulsa(dot)com!