25
Melody and Alphonse both held their fighting stances against the 'kidnappers'. The white-haired one came first, swinging his large mallet at the two. Al jumped back to avoid it and Melody jumped in the direction of the table, hitting the small of her back on the corner of the counter. She hissed in pain and held the spot on her back that was now throbbing.
She looked at where the mallet had landed and saw a large series of cracks in the plaster of the wall. The man with the sword came up from behind her and grabbed both of her hands and yanked her onto the floor. She fell on her butt with a loud "Oof!" as he went around her and over to Al.
With his sword unsheathed, he began swiping it at the suit of armor, who was carefully dodging them until his sword tip dove for the space in between his helmet and the rest of his body. He used his sword to toss it off of him, and Al's helmet landed near Dante and the man still holding a blade to her throat. The blonde haired woman, seeing as his helmet had slipped off, nimbly jumped up and landed on top of him.
"Hi, mind if I come in?" She asked before she literally twisted her way inside his armor. Al whimpered a little bit as his hands nervously fumbled around his chest plate. "Ooh, nice place you got here." The woman complimented from inside the armor.
"Oh, that's so gross!" Alphonse exclaimed. His hands kept fumbling around his chest plate, looking for anyway to get her out of his armor, "I know I can't feel you in there, but this is so creepy! Get out!" His hand reached for the latch that attached the chest plate to the rest of him, but his hands flung out before he could get it off.
"Oh no, I like it in here." The woman said. Melody stood up at the sight, holding out her knife.
"Back off!" She yelled, starting to charge at them. The man with the sword stopped her knife with his weapon and knocked it out of her hand. He held the blade in front of her face, daring her to try and attack them again. Melody glared before she grabbed his sword and brought up her leg to kick him. He stumbled back, making the blade slip from her grip, letting some small droplets of blood find their way out of her hand. She hissed in pain and brought her hand back to herself, not realizing that the man who had held the blade to Dante's throat was now behind her. The man grabbed her arms in an iron grip that Melody couldn't get out of.
Al's fingers twitched and shook for a second before he began to bring his arms back to himself, fighting off the woman. "Just because you're inside me doesn't mean you can control me!" Al said, "I'm still stronger than you!"
"Oh, don't worry." The woman said, "I don't expect to match you in strength, big guy. I'm just trying to slow down your movements a little bit."
"And that's my cue." The white haired man said. Alphonse brought up his arm and attempted to hit his head, but the man blocked it, grabbed his arm, and tackled him to the ground. Al's body kept shaking as he tried to get out, but found it difficult with two people holding him down. "You okay, Marta?"
"Just a little headache." The woman replied, sounding a bit peeved.
"Now you two are going to come with us." The man said, "The boss wants to meet you."
Edward and Shane ran around town, asking people if they've seen anyone matching Alphonse's or Melody's description. They kept turning up with a lot of 'no, sorry,' or 'haven't seen them, sorry.' The two boys rounded an alley corner and began to go down that street.
"Hey, Ed?" Shane said as they were moving in another direction. "Who do you think those guys were?"
"I have no idea." Ed replied, "I did know that one with the exploding rocks, though."
"Yeah, I recognized him, too." Shane said, "What do you think they want with Al? Or Melody?"
"I don't know." Edward said, turning another corner. He stopped once a thought came to his mind, "Wait, what if they found out about you and Melody?"
"What do you mean?" Shane asked, "You mean, if they found out where we come from?" Ed nodded.
"Think about it, that Kimbley guy is an alchemist, and I know a lot of people that could a helluva lot of damage with information about the gate." Edward said, "What if he thinks you and Melody actually know something about it?"
"But we don't know anything!" Shane said, "The gate thing is just a theory, anyway. We aren't completely sure how we got here. Or how to get back. Kidnapping one of us for that reason is a waste of time."
"But they don't know that!" Ed pointed out, "Whoever's heading this thing probably believes that you and Melody are some sort of link to the gate! It's not true, I know, but that could be what they're after."
"Well, how would they know any of that? What, they got some hidden mic on us?" Shane asked.
"I'm not sure!" Ed exclaimed, "Oh, forget this, we're wasting time anyway!" Ed ran off and Shane quickly followed after him.
Melody squirmed a little bit in her bindings. She and Al had been brought to some basement of a pub called 'The Devil's Nest.' She had her wrists and ankles bound together, and she had been placed next to Al. Alphonse was bound like she was, only he was bound by some solid chains, and she was bound by rope. If that wasn't enough, the girl who turned out to be a chimera was still in Al's body. Al noticed her squirming as she tried to separate her wrists from each other.
"Are you okay, Melody?" Al asked, concerned for his friend.
"Well, other than the fact that these ropes are tight enough to give me rope burns, I'm perfectly fine." Melody replied with sarcastic happiness. She tried to wiggle her wrists out of the ropes, but to no avail.
"What about your knife? Don't you have it on you?" Al asked, Melody stopped wiggling and went into a small depression (A/N: In anime, she would be making the TT^TT face).
"No, I dropped it back at Dante's house." She whined. "Besides talking about my knife wouldn't be much good in this situation." She eyed Al's chest plate, and he knew she was talking about the chimera inside of him.
"Sorry about this." The woman said, overhearing her, "I know how creepy this has to be, but I'm supposed to keep an eye on you, so you'll have to bear with me a while."
"It's alright, I'm already used to it." Al said, "Just be careful about my blood seal, okay? If you accidentally touch it, I could die." Melody looked over at the other people she had found out were chimeras. She didn't know what they were mixed with, but she had learned their names. The one with the sword was named Dolcetto, the big one with white hair and big mallet was named Roa, and the one inside of Al was named Marta. Al looked over at Dolcetto, who was smoking a pipe contentedly. "Hey, how'd you guys get to be chimeras, anyway?"
He let out a puff of smoke before he answered, "Well, all of us were serving in the military. We were stationed in the east on assignments. Some were injured, others… Well, let's just say we weren't useful anymore. They took us somewhere, for experiments."
"Laboratory 5?" Al asked.
"That's right." Marta said, "Greed… He saved us from that damn place and offered all of us jobs working for him, if we wanted."
"Greed?" Melody echoed.
"He took us out of the cages and gave us something we could all call home." Dolcetto said. The door to the room opened with a small creak. Melody looked to see a man with dark skin, dark brown hair, a pair of small sunglasses, a vest with a white fur collar, leather pants, boots, and a few wristbands walk in with a few other people she recognized, including the lizard-man she had seen before, and a tall man with a pair of glasses dressed in a big overcoat who looked familiar, but she didn't remember where she knew him from.
"That's right guys." The man with the sunglasses said, "See, this place is hand-crafted for outlaws. Where people who don't fit in on the outside can hide out for a while." Each one of them filed in, and as Melody got a closer look at the man in the over coat, she realized his eyebrows were where his mouth should be.
"Tucker?" Al questioned, seeing him. Melody whipped her head to him.
"Wait a sec, that guy's Tucker?" She asked, she looked at him again and realized he was the giant furry creature she had seen at Lab 5. The one who resembled a bear, but had the face of a man. "You gotta be kidding! That guy's the freak I saw in Lab 5!"
"Why are you here?" Al asked, his voice hard.
"Don't misunderstand, Al." Tucker pleaded, his voice still nothing but a whisper. "I'm not here by choice, I promise."
"If things don't go as planned, the doctor here is the only one who can cure us chimeras." One of the chimeras said, Melody didn't know his name. Tucker sighed despondently. The man with the sunglasses walked over to them and took Al's helmet from his body.
"I'll be damned." He breathed, "Just like you said, Dr. Tucker," He turned to Tucker with a smirk, "He really is empty."
"But-! But I'm not the one who taught them how to apprehend you and your friend, Al!" Tucker defended. Greed placed Al's head back on his shoulders and went over to Melody. He took one look at her and his smirk grew.
"Well, look at you." He said, he grasped her chin with his fingers and turned her head from side to side, "You seem like a perfectly normal human." Melody's eyes narrowed and she tried to bite his hand, but he released before she could.
"That's 'cuz I am." She said.
"Oh, I wouldn't bet on that." The man said, "You're one of the kids from the other side, aren't you?" Melody's eyes widened, "It's almost a shame I could only grab one of you. Almost." Melody glared at him. "At least you're a girl."
"Back off, creeper!" She growled. She brought up her legs to kick him, but he jumped back before she could. The man chuckled, still keeping his smirk on his face as he put his hands on his knees and looked at Al.
"It's a treat to meet you both." He said, "You can just call me Greed." He pointed his thumb at himself, "I'm your new friend." Al noticed something on his hand, upon closer inspection, he saw that it was a tattoo of a snake devouring its own tail.
"A tattoo of the ouroboros…" He muttered. Greed stood up straight.
"So you know what that is." He said, "Well, this should go quickly, then."
"That makes you a friend of Envy, Lust, and the others, doesn't it?" Al asked.
"I wouldn't say 'friends.'" Greed said, "More like sworn enemies, if you wanna get down to the grit."
"That doesn't make sense." Melody said, "Why be the enemy of your own kind?"
"Well, let's just say we don't agree on certain things involving other things." Greed replied.
"I don't get it." Al said. Greed knelt down so he was eye-level with him.
"Well, Al-That is your name, right?" He said, "Tell me, how does it feel to have your soul attached to this empty armor?" When Al didn't reply, he just 'hmphed' at him. He knocked against the armor once before standing up. "To exist as a chunk of solid metal rather than a soft and cushy human worm. In other words, completely unaffected by weaknesses like hunger, fatigue, and old age. You could call that eternal life, couldn't you?"
"Eternal life?" Al echoed, "That's why you kidnapped me? Eternal life?"
"They don't call me Greed for nothing!" Greed said, his sunglasses giving off a small glare that made him seem a little insane as he spoke, "I want money! I want women! Status, and power! I want everything this world's selling and eternity's topping the list!" He knelt back down to him, "Do you understand? You can help me achieve what I'm going for, Al. And you will help me here, because if you don't tell me how you're soul's bound to that armor, I'll break it apart to find out."
"Wait, if you're just after eternal life, then what was the point in kidnapping me!" Melody asked, almost yelling.
"Easy, once I take everything this world has to offer," Greed said, "I'll go to your world and take everything it has to offer."
"Who said I was from another world?" Melody said, "You don't have any proof to that stupid notion!"
"Oh? Then why did you tell the older Elric you were from another world?" He asked, "As I recall, you told him that yesterday, in the hospital." Melody looked up at him, her face the definition of shock.
"You were spying on me…?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper.
"Just the Elrics, actually." Greed said, "You just happened to be there when you said that little piece." Melody said nothing, "It really is quite interesting, I can't wait to see what your world is like." Melody only sat there, completely still, her face showing how worried she was. Al was unaware of what thoughts were going through her head, but he didn't want her to be too worried. Al looked back to Greed.
"I won't help you." Al told him, "You're a bad person."
"You can act tough for a while, if you insist." Greed said, "Just remember that nobody's on their way to save you. So, you're at me mercy now."
"My brother knows you took us!" Al said, Greed's smirk disappeared for a moment. "I bet he's on his way right-!"
"Oh, yeah, about him." Greed interrupted, "When I left him he wasn't feeling so good." He gave them a thumbs-down. Alphonse looked up at Greed, a small worried sound escaping him. "And your little boyfriend was probably worse." He added, looking over at Melody.
"You bastard!" Melody growled, "What'd you do to Shane?"
"You better not have hurt my brother!" Al said, Melody saw his fingers move around to see he had made a transmutation circle. He activated it and a giant stone fist came up from the floor, punching Greed in the stomach and holding him up there. "You let your guard down. Now, all I need to do is use this chain to-"
"To do what, exactly?" Greed asked, Melody saw that his hands had become covered in something black as he grabbed the fist, squeezed it, and crushed it into pieces. When he stood up, he grabbed Al's helmet and pushed him down so he was face-first with the ground. He knelt down, holding him there. "Now that was silly."
"Alphonse!" Melody exclaimed.
"Oh, sorry about that, Marta." Greed said, "I forgot you were keeping house." In the excitement, Melody had forgotten, too. Poor Marta, her head must be spinning after that. Wait, am I seriously taking pity on my own kidnappers? Melody scolded herself in her head for thinking those things. Greed smirked and patted Al's helmet as he stood back up. "I like a man with guts." He walked back to the other chimeras, Al looked up at him. "But did you honestly think it'd be that easy?" He turned to face them, "I mean if you really wanna hurt me," He held up his index finger, "You have to do something kind of like-" Roa suddenly swung his hammer to cut off the top half of Greed's head. It bounced away from his body as it fell to the ground. Melody shrieked with wide, fear-filled eyes, and covering her mouth in shock. Alphonse's state was only slightly different, he looked up at Roa, who simply placed the heavier end of the hammer to rest in his hand.
"What'd you do that for?" Al asked, "I thought he was your friend!" He watched as Greed's body slowly came back up, still holding up his index finger. When he stood, he was still missing half of his head. His body took a couple steps so it would face them. Both teens watched in awe as his head began to regenerate his skull, then his muscles and eyes and other organs, and then his skin and hair. When it was done, he was perfectly fine. He grunted as he used his hand and pushed his head a little until a large pop was heard. He looked back at the two with a wicked grin.
"See? I've got quite a shell, too, Al." Greed said, he turned back to Roa with an irritated expression, "Hey bud, a little cleaner next time, 'kay?"
"Yes sir, I'm sorry." Roa apologized. Greed turned away and blew some blood out of his nose.
"I know what you're thinking." Greed said, "If I have this body, then why do I need your secret-" He stopped as rumbling was heard and felt throughout the room. A pair of metal double doors were suddenly transmuted in the wall. Greed looked at the doors with an irritated face.
"Brother!" Al exclaimed happily. The doors began to open to reveal the alchemist that made them, but it was not Edward, it was Izumi. She was dragging someone with her and Sig was right behind her. Al faltered, he was happy, nervous, relieved, and scared shitless all at once.
"Excuse me for the interruption, gentleman." Izumi said as she strolled in.
"T-Teacher!" Al squeaked.
"Oh boy…" Melody muttered.
"I'm sorry." Greed smirked, not really caring what was going on, "Who the hell are you?" Izumi took a few more steps before stopping a few feet from Greed. She bowed before coming back up with an infuriated face, pointing her thumb at herself.
"Pissed off!"
Edward ran into an alley, Shane following. Edward stopped when he saw blue uniforms on the other side and held out his arm to stop Shane. He carefully took a second look to see that it was the military's uniforms, each man was carrying a gun. Edward looked to Shane, who nodded before they began to run off.
"Edward Elric." A deep voice called. The two stopped and listened as they heard heavy footsteps approach them, "And Shane Trublood, I did not expect to see you here." Shane turned around and was surprised to see the person talking to them.
"Major Armstrong?" Shane asked. Armstrong nodded.
"You're looking for Melody and Alphonse, aren't you?" He asked. Ed whirled around to him with an angry expression.
"Have you been following me?" He growled. When Armstrong didn't reply, it only made him angrier, "I bet you saw them get kidnapped and just sat there!"
"…We, too, are following these people." Armstrong said, "The safety of Miss Melody and your brother are not our first priority at this time, Edward."
"Yeah, I bet it's not!" Edward growled. Shane looked over at Edward to see him glaring fiercely at him.
"Ed, lay off." Shane hissed. Ed glared at him, "Look, I'm upset, too. But the Major's just following orders." Shane looked up at Armstrong, "What are your orders, anyway, Major?"
"The military is preparing to raid the chimera sanctuary." Armstrong said, "We believe that your brother and Miss Melody are with them."
"Where is it? Tell me!" Edward demanded. At first, Armstrong was quiet.
"Major, it's Melody." Shane said, "She's probably the only girl there, and God knows what they're plannin' to do with 'er."
"…A pub called The Devil's Nest." Armstrong said, telling them where they were hidden.
"Where's the pub?" Shane demanded.
"On the outskirts of the town." Armstrong said, "If you keep heading southward, you should get there before we do." Shane and Edward nodded in thanks before running off.
Melody watched as Izumi beat down another chimera and threw him against the wall. "Hey, hey, hey…" Greed muttered, he looked at some of the chimeras she had just beaten, "Nice manners." He commented dryly, "I can see where the kids learned theirs." Izumi turned to Greed.
"Are you the one who's in charge here?" She asked, she began to walk up to him, "Thank you for taking care of Melody and Al for a while. But I'll be taking them home, now!"
"I'm afraid that's not true." Greed said.
"I see." Izumi said before she swiftly brought her fist up to connect with his jaw. Greed didn't fall over, he didn't even flinch. The two stayed in that position for a few seconds before Izumi took in a sharp breath.
"Well, you're just full of surprises." Greed said, smirking. Izumi glared at him, "Tell me, did you break three fingers or four?" Izumi jumped back, holding a hand with red, swollen knuckles.
"Izumi!" She exclaimed, worried for her. Melody looked and saw that, where Izumi had punched him, Greed now had a strange black coating over his skin. She watched as it slowly retracted back into the shirt he was wearing.
"That's a pretty weird body you've got there." Izumi said, sweating slightly, a bit unnerved by what she saw.
"I suppose." Greed replied nonchalantly, "I never did bruise very easily."
"Oh." Izumi sighed, "Well, I'll just have to start trying harder, then."
"Teacher, where's my brother? Is he safe?" Al asked.
"I should be asking you that." Izumi said. "Apparently, the two of you can't even run a simple errand for me." Al faltered and Izumi sent him a deadly glare, "You're both in for a long lecture later, so you'd better get ready!" She growled. Al shrunk back in fear.
"I-I'm sorry!" He squeaked out, his armor shaking. Melody shrunk back as well, fearing any punishment Izumi may have for her, although she has yet to do so. Izumi clapped her hands in transmutation and put them to the floor. Tucker noticed a key factor about her alchemy right away.
"No transmutation circle!" He exclaimed. Izumi's alchemy made the floor around Greed curl up around him like a snake curling up around its prey. When it was finished, the only thing visible of Greed was his head.
"Not even gonna try?" Izumi asked, seeing as he hadn't moved.
"I have no intention of fighting a woman." Greed replied, he looked over at Al and Melody, "All I want from them is the secret of his transmutation, and the secret to how she got here. Simple as that."
"And if you get it?" Izumi asked.
"Why, then I'll have the secret to eternal life and I'll have two worlds on a silver platter." Greed said.
"This is getting us nowhere." Izumi said as she clapped her hands again. She put them to the ground to make a giant stone fist come up and punch Greed with enough force to make a normal man's head shoot off his shoulders.
"You did it!" Al exclaimed. When the smoke cleared, they saw Greed was still there, the fist coming in contact with the darkened skin. The fist crumbled and Greed smirked at them.
"Don't look so surprised." He said, "I told you before I don't bruise easily. Don't you listen, doll?" Izumi stood and glared at the chimeras that were beginning to surround her. She saw Greed break out of the stone she had encased him in, still wearing his smirk. Sig stepped out in front of Izumi.
"Sig, no." Izumi told him.
"Yes, I've had my fill of doing nothing." He said.
"It's just, I…" Izumi looked to the ground, "I can't watch… as more babies are taken from me…" She looked back up at him, "I can't!"
"No." Sig said, standing his ground.
"Give me a break!" Greed said, "Are you still up for more?" Sig roared as he ran over, grabbing the chimeras that were in front of Greed, Izumi ran underneath his arm and charged at Greed. He dodged, so Izumi tried to sweep kick him. That knocked him back a few steps. Izumi then transmuted a spear from the floor and began trying to plunge it through him. Greed backed up against a wall, and as Izumi was about to strike again, she coughed up a puddle of blood and dropped to her knees.
"Izumi!" Sig cried.
"Teacher!" Al cried. Izumi stay down, trying to catch her breath. Greed sauntered over to her.
"Oh, I guess you've been pushing yourself a little hard there, huh?" He taunted as he grabbed her collar and held her up. He looked over at Sig with his overconfident smirk, "Well, are we done playin' games now?" Sig faltered a little. "This sort of business isn't my style, but if you don't cooperate, I won't have a choice."
"Get your filthy hands off her!" A voice growled, everyone's attention was turned to the two boys who had just come in. One was Shane, holding his knife by his side, the other was Edward, who was the one who had spoken.
"Now it's the older brother and the little boyfriend, huh?" Greed said, "Looks like everyone's here." Edward looked around the room to see how many chimeras he was dealing with, and his eyes rested on the large, coated blob hiding in the corner.
"Tucker." He muttered, recognizing him. Tucker flinched and hid back behind the wall.
"E-Edward…" He greeted nervously.
"You too?" Edward demanded, suspecting Tucker of being a part of his brother's kidnapping. Shane looked around the room and his eyes rested on Melody and her bindings. He looked to Greed and ground his teeth as he glared at him.
"You really screwed up." He growled. Ed turned his attention to Greed and glared.
"Got that right." Edward growled. "First, you take my brother and my friend, and now you hurt my teacher, too!"
"Come on," Greed said, "All you have to do is tell me how to transmute a soul into and object and-"
"Shut up!" Ed yelled, Greed's face fell. "Put my teacher down, and let them go. Now!"
"Guys, be careful, he's a homunculus!" Melody said.
"Hey listen!" Greed said, "I got a hostage here! Is everyone forgetting about that?"
"I see…" Edward muttered, ignoring Greed, "No wonder." He and Shane charged into the chimeras and began fighting them off.
"Come on!" Greed griped, "Isn't anyone paying attention, here? Hello?" Izumi reached up and grabbed Greed's hand and threw him a good few feet.
"Teacher!" Ed called as he smashed two chimera's heads together and jumped over them, Shane still fighting off a couple others.
"Edward!" Izumi called.
"Here!" Edward landed a few feet from her, they both clapped their hands in transmutation at the same time and put them to the floor, surrounding Greed with spikes. A second later, he destroyed the spikes as he stood up, his hands now more claw-like and covered in black skin.
"You just don't get it." He said, "I told you both, I am the Ultimate Shield!" The two alchemists stood up, ready to keep fighting, but Izumi spat out blood and fell to her knees again. Two simultaneous cries of "Teacher!" Got Sig's attention as he ran over to his wife. Shane managed to make it over to them, and he and Edward stayed close, worried for her. Ed noticed that the chimeras began to surround them, and he glared.
"Hold it." Greed ordered. The chimeras looked to him as he stood up and walked a little closer to their group. He cracked his knuckles as he spoke to Edward, "Let's do this man to man."
"Keep her safe for me, okay?" Edward told Sig.
"Yes." He replied, Edward turned to Shane.
"You, too." He said, Shane glanced to Melody, and then to Izumi with some reluctance, Edward noticed, "She'll be fine." Shane sighed and nodded as Edward walked forward.
"I hope you're ready for me to fight back this time, Mr. Elric." Greed taunted.
"Don't worry." Ed said as he transmuted his automail into a blade, "I'm always ready when I'm pissed!"
A soldier walked up to Archer and Armstrong and saluted, "We've completed preparations at the back. The alley is completely blocked." He reported, "We're ready to move in."
Kimbley stood in front of a safe. The body of a dead chimera was behind him, and he grinned maliciously before using his special brand of alchemy to open the safe.
Edward's blade clashed with Greed's skin, causing sparks to fly. Edward jumped back and transmuted the floor to make three large square pillars. Greed jumped back from each one as it was made. Edward used the pillars as stairs to attack Greed from above. Greed blocked it using his hand, he pulled back the other one and made it into a fist.
"Not good enough!" He said as he punched Edward. Edward flew back, but he did a flip to help him get back on his feet. "You know, you and your brother are being completely dense here."
"How's that?" Edward growled.
"Well, as two cunning boys who have so diligently pursued their goals, how can you not be understanding?" Greed asked, "When somebody like me simply wants to pursue his own?"
"Our goals are completely different from yours!" Ed yelled.
"You think so." Greed said, "Homunculus or human, we're all really the same, now wouldn't you say? I mean, we all live to chase after our own goals, and to hell with everyone else!"
"Not us!" Edward said.
"Oh, come on." Greed said, "You're looking for the philosopher's stone, right?"
"I don't care about the philosopher's stone!" Edward said, "All I care about is returning my little brother to the body he was born with!" Greed glanced at Alphonse.
"But he's far better off staying in the body he's got now!" Greed said.
"What the hell do you know?" Ed growled, "Not everyone's like you!" Edward's glare deepened, "I didn't come here to negotiate. If all you homunculi are mistakes created by alchemists, the results of their sins. Well, then an alchemist should be responsible for correcting those mistakes, starting right now!" Greed looked stunned for a moment before smirking.
"Oh, all right." He said, "I didn't want to have to show you this, since it does get a bit ugly." Greed took off his vest, "But since you're getting all serious on me…" He dropped the vest, "Then I'll get serious, too." His skin suddenly began to change into a darker color, covering all the open skin on his upper body, all the way up to his face.
"What the hell…?" Shane whispered, observing the transformation. When the transformation was finished, he didn't look human at all. His skin was black, his eyes were red with purple irises, his teeth had turned into fangs and he no longer had lips, his hands were claws, and he had a pattern of lines ending in circles all over his body.
"This is my real form." Greed said, his voice slightly altered, he taunted Ed with his fingers, "Come and get it." Ed faltered for a second before charging at him, he jumped up, trapped Greed's head in between his feet, and used his weight to slam him head-first into the ground. Edward got up and looked at Greed as he began to get back up. "Didn't even hurt."
"You're lying!" Edward yelled. He had slammed him hard enough to make a hole in the concrete! It had to have, at least, hurt! Greed stood up and faced Ed.
"My body's structure and composition are completely unaltered." He said.
"So, you are the 'Ultimate Shield…'" Edward muttered, getting ready for him to attack.
"We're in deep shit now." Melody murmured to herself. If that didn't hurt, and he can regenerate from losing his own body parts, then how are you supposed to beat this guy? Her thoughts raced in worry.
"You've never killed anyone, have you, kid?" Ed faltered.
"What's that got to do with it?" He asked.
"I'm saying you lack the guts to kill." Greed said. "You'll never beat me like that, and you'll never beat the other homunculi, either. So I'll help you find the guts now, by showing you some of your own!"
Soldiers kicked down the door to the Devil's Nest and fired at the fleeing people. One of the fleeing men went around back to try and run out the back door, but found a soldier knocking it down. He cursed before the soldier shot at him. He signaled for more soldiers to follow him as they ran down the hall and busted open a door to see a body lying on the ground in front of a man with long, black hair in a loose ponytail holding a small bag in front of a safe that was busted through.
Kimbley turned to look at the soldiers and smirked. "Hey."
"Greed!" Someone said as they stood at the door, "The military! They're here-!" He stopped as a bullet was shot through his head and he fell to the ground. Dolcetto and another chimera shut the doors.
"So what now?" Dolcetto asked as the other chimera began to board up the door.
"Well, damn it." Greed cursed, "Those bastards went and ruined our fight!"
"Well, hell, boss. Don't sound worried or anything." Dolcetto muttered. There was a banging heard on the other side of the door and the two chimeras backed up in fear.
"Play it cool." Greed told them, "There's no one in the military who can do us any harm." One of the room's walls suddenly exploded, as the smoke cleared, they saw that on the other side was Kimbley with a malicious smirk.
"Kimbley." Greed said, the smoke began to clear up more, and behind Kimbley was Archer, holding a small bag. Greed gasped, and in his shock, turned back to his more human form. "Bastard! You've betrayed us, haven't you?" Kimbley grinned as a response.
Roa took his mallet and hit the wall to make an exit way. "It's time to move!" He called.
"Greed, let's go." One of the chimeras said as the grabbed his shoulder and pushed him, seeing as he was still glaring at Kimbley.
"No, wait!" Ed called, seeing Roa pick Al up and throw him over his shoulder. Melody was picked up by a bald chimera and thrown over his shoulder.
"Stop!" Shane called, Dolcetto ran up and put them both down on the ground, he punched Ed, and hit Shane in the face with the handle of his sword.
"See ya, kid. It's been fun." He said as he followed the others. Ed and Shane glared and got up as some soldiers came into the room, surrounding the two and pointing their barrels at them.
"What is this?" Ed growled as he stood up, Shane following.
"Please don't resist, Mr. Elric." One of the soldiers said.
"Resist?" Ed echoed, "What are you talk-!"
"Lieutenant Colonel Archer is asking for you and Mr. Trublood." Another soldier said, "Please come with us."
"Are you insane?" Shane growled, "Those criminals just ran off with my girlfriend and his brother, and you expect us to-!" He was cut off as the guns were aimed at him.
"I'm afraid this is an order." The soldier said. Ed glared at the officer, as did Shane, the only difference was that Shane's lip had twisted upward into a small snarl.
Hi! I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry if you guys had to wait long for this! This is chapter 25, and once the whole fiasco with Greed is over, I'm going to end this little story. It's kind of sad that it's gonna be over, but I've come up with what I hope is a decent ending!
-Chibimaker
Reviews greatly appreciated! ^_^