Chapter 25
The King's Eye
Five of the Amestrisian soldiers raced through the bar's main room. After an intense fight of many bullets, reloading, smashed bottles and broken furniture, most of the chimeras and guards lay dead, though the soldiers had wanted to recapture them, and keep two alive. The two women whom Greed had been with were also present, holding each other in fear.
"Pieces of shit," one captured chimera growled at the man and woman holding him at gunpoint as he gripped his wounded side. "I'm not going back to the labs! I'd rather die!"
A major, who was leading the team, ignored them and confirmed, "Main room, clear!"
"Basement room one, clear!" a sergeant confirmed from down the stairs as he and his partner finished checking. However they missed one area. Both screamed in pain as a katana sliced open their backs in quick succession. They crumpled to the floor, bleeding profusely, as an unwavering Dolcetto landed on the floor with a smirk.
"Pretty strong, aren't I?" He boasted behind him, to the hypnotist following him.
"In front of you!" the older man warned.
The katana-weirder flicked his head around to find himself facing two more soldiers at the door, ready to fire their handguns. Suddenly there was a crash followed by the crunch of bones broken by rubble and a mighty hammer blow.
"Don't let your guard down," the hammer-wielding man warned Dolcetto as he shook off rubble from the hole in the wall as if it was dust.
"Ah, sorry about that," the younger man replied.
"The first level has been taken over. The back exit can't be used either," Roa explained as he picked up the riffle from one of the soldier's warm hands.
"What about the boss?" the bald man asked as he took the offered firearm.
"No need to worry about him. We are to defend this level until he returns."
"Right," Dolcetto commented as they headed towards the hole in the wall to hide for a surprise attack. "I'll just focus on not losing my life in the process."
"Are you dead?" Greed asked Edwina as he stepped back.
The young alchemist was slumped against the opposite wall, her torn-off blade discarded, her clothes ripped, the automail wires exposed, her lip bleeding, her face bruised, and a skid of blood marking the wound to the back of her head. However, the girl was not yet done. Slowly, she moved onto her knees, before straightening up. It took her a moment to steady herself.
"Heh, heh, you sure are lively," the man commented.
With anger overtaking thinking, Edwina replied with another grown and again flung herself at the man, delivering a punch to his chin. Chunks of metal flew off the arm and Greed smirked.
"You're not going to defeat me no matter how hard you try," he told the girl before grabbing her by her face. She cried out before she was winding by being flung into a pile of boxes.
"Well now…" the homunculus said matter-of-factly as he walked over to the girl and swiftly wrenched her in front of him by the front of her top. She hung like a ragdoll. "You better spit out the secret of soul transmutation." When she did not respond, he shook grabbed her with both hands and shook her. "Come on, talk!" The girl gritted her teeth and her automail arm twitched.
She spoke in a low voice. "Thanks for this."
"Hm?" the man questioned, tilting his head to the side.
"The blood rushing to my head is lessening due to the way you're holding me. I can think more clearly now." She moved her eyes to look at her mechanical arm. Winter sure did a good job this time. Even in this state, I can move still move it. My body feels lighter too… She raised her hands and before the homunculus could do anything other than make a noise of surprise, she clamped her hands onto the his right arm and quickly rearranged the carbon before applying heat to the now normal skin, until he felt the searing pain and threw her backwards. Prepared for this, the girl extended her hands and landed on all fours, skidding for a few feet before her legs gave out.
After examining his arm, Greed looked at the alchemist. "Still resisting, eh?" He walked up to the unmoving blonde and raised his hand in a fist. "Enough of this! Just tell me your damn secret!" He swung his fist down, but the girl was ready. Alchemising some spikes onto her metal hand, she used her fist to block the blow. More metal bent and creaked, but it was to take most of the impact. A normal, flesh-and-bone hand would be broken by such a strike.
On the upper level, the exact same thing had happened, only with Roa's hammer and Armstrong's gauntlet-clad fist, with a crackle of alchemy thrown in. Their even strength and Armstrong's gauntlet protected the soldier from breaking his bones.
"See that!" Armstrong bellowed, pointing at the hammer head. Roa looked back at it. The State Alchemist had transformed it into a head-to-hips model of himself. "That is the legendary passed down the Armstrong family for generations!"
Roa, Dolcetto and the hypnotist were lost for words.
"…I guess my normal method won't work here," the ponytailed man said when the rather awkward moment had passed, while removing his jacket. He let out an almighty roar quite unlike his infused animal, as he to transform. His muscles multiplied, his height became a great deal more than Armstrong's, and to small horns morphed onto his head. "You two stay back!" he roared at his friends.
"Interesting…" the Strong-Arm mused at the site, but not for long, as the man swung his fist at him. Armstrong just dodged, and Roa's punch collided with the wall where Armstrong had been standing, smashing it. The State Alchemist responded with a punch to the man's face, digging the spikes on his gauntlets into him, but his smile was cut short. With a look of fury and blood beginning to run down his face, the chimera grabbed Armstrong's wrist. The man's eyes widened and he let out a cry as Roa hoisted him over his shoulders and slammed him into the ground.
For a moment, he was dazed, but as, the chimera charged at him again, he readied himself. As Roa latched one hand around this throat and the other around his left arm, he used his free arm to painfully grip Roa's head – causing his grip on his arm to slacken – and wrenched his left arm free, pulling it back for another blow. He drove it across the gang member's mouth, knocking out a few teeth, before delivering a left hook to his face. The grey-haired man tried to response with a punch of his own after recovery, but Armstrong was quick, and threw him to the ground with a flip just as the fist connected. He gave a small chuckle as he crouched and examined the blood on his fist and gauntlets.
Roa slowly moved onto one knee with the comment, "Mr. Armstrong, you're name suits you well. Your footwork is impressive too."
"I have not felt my blood rushing through my views like this for a while," the State Alchemist declared.
"I participated in the Ishval massacre, so I have trained well," Roa continued, having to blink blood from his left eye. "From what I have seen, you have too. You are a State Alchemist."
The major took a sharp breath. "Former comrades…perhaps we should stop this then. We are both guilty of crimes. I have paid for mine. So should you. I do not enjoy senseless killing, so just surrender! All of you!"
Roa gritted his teeth. "That's an impossible request! We have a job to do."
Just as the bald man opened his mouth to reply again, two more soldiers rushed around the corner. The woman had a handgun while the ponytailed man a rifle.
"Major, please move aside. We have a good shot!" the man asked the alchemist. He did not move. "Major!"
"Don't be foolish!" Armstrong snapped at the duo.
"The Führer is here too," the woman explained.
Dolcetto almost dropped his katana in surprise. "Bradley?!"
"Why would such a high-ranking guy like him come here?!" asked the hypnotist.
"You probably know what this means," the Strong-Arm Alchemist told the chimeras.
"Well, since Bradley was the guy who ordered the massacre of Ishval…he's going to try and wipe us out once and for all!" the katana-wielder's comment became an exclamation at the last part.
"Hmph," the ox-chimera huffed and then crack his knuckles and stretched his arms.
"Roa, he's too strong, even for you!" Dolcetto tried to convince his friend. "Let's just escape."
"Yeah." The hypnotist agreed before quietly adding, "We'll use the hidden pathway."
Suddenly, as the three were about to run, Dolcetto felt a great pain shoot through his back to his chest. The other two turned around to see as the man gasped and looked down. All three pairs of eyes enlarged. There was a sabre sticking out of his chest, blood slowly making its way along it.
"What are you doing, Major Armstrong? You should be fighting" the deep, solemn voice of the Führer asked, almost causal but also slightly reprimanding. He stood almost in shadow, in the hole Roa had made.
"Y-you?" was all the dog chimera managed to grown through gritted teeth as he looked behind him. Before he could say anything more, Bradley drew out the blade, snaked his arm around and sliced him across the abdomen. He fell listless the floor only a moment later, into a small pool of his own blood, his sword landing with a clatter beside him. His were still half-open, revealing his condition.
"Dolcetto!" Roa screamed again, this time his voice full of anger and sadness at the loss of his good friend. He transformed his body further; his hands baring hoof-like claws, his skin darkened and became even more rippled. He charged with a snort like his animal fuse. The hypnotist, who had just came out of shock, turned his gun on Bradley with a yelp, but the Führer moved at an inhuman speed, and sliced open from his head to his groin after only two missed shots. He sank backwards as blood burst forth.
Roa took his change; he reached out with his clawed hand to the man's head, looking to crush it. With almost graceful whirl, the Führer pulled out another sabre and slashed Roa across the chest, throat, and head. Forgetting everything else He fell to his knees, trying to stem the flow. He slumped over only a few minutes later. In this time, Bradley walked over to Armstrong, sheathing one of his swords as he did so, and continued in his reproaching tone, "Didn't I tell all of you to kill everyone excluding the objectives?" The eye-patched man walked past the silent major a few paces. "Again, I must remind you: don't feel sympathy for your enemies. This is why you haven't been able to be promoted." He headed back down the tunnel in the smashed wall, with Armstrong still in silence.
Down below, Greed was surprised by the pain he felt as his fish again collided with the girl's automail. He even saw blood. He looked at his hand. Inside of diamond-hard grey flesh, he saw soft skin
An alchemical reaction? He cursed to himself. Never the less, he re-rearranged the carbon to cover his hand, before testing it against the nearby wall. Hid claws went through it like butter. Thinking nothing of it, he looked back over at the girl. With that steely resolve still on her face, she beckoned to him with a flick of her finger. Greed rushed at her, throwing out a kick. The blonde just managed to dodge, feeling her hair momentarily caught. However, this left her with the opening she hoped for. She clapped her hands and placed one on the man's chest, quickly drawing back as he lashed out with his left arm, not noticing what she had done. She stepped back a few paces and sent another line of spikes towards the homunculus.
"That pattern, again?" Greed asked as he looked at the incoming spikes. "How unfortunate that you didn't realise last time that that wouldn't wor—" two of the spikes pierced his abdomen. "What?" He yelled as the strident pain raced through him, causing him to topple onto his back. After the worst of the pain had past, he moved onto his hands and knees, one hand across his abdomen, trying to stem the flow of blood from the gouged skin.
"Argh…what did you do to my shield? You damn alchemist!" he growled.
"It's pretty simple when you think about it," Edwina told him plainly, now standing up after wiping some of the blood from her face. "You can't make something out of nothing. You mentioned that, although you're a homunculus, your body has the same material composition as humans." Her eyes while the man managed to move into a crouching position. "Carbon makes up a third of the human body. The hardness of carbon changes depending on the intermolecular bonds of the carbon atoms." The wounds on Greed's sides had begun to regenerate. "Such change can alter something as soft and mundane as the graphite of a pencil to be as tough as a diamond." Edwina retuned to a fighting stance as Greed, now healed, ran at her again. "As long as I know how something works, my knowledge of alchemy will do the rest.
"Hah hah!" Greed chuckled. "This makes it more interesting!"
Rather than block the homunculus's fist, she spread her automail hand to catch and cup it, using her all her remaining strength to keep it in place. She then replaced her on the man's chest as she continued talking. "Furthermore, there is something I just figured out!" Greed gasped as the air rushed from his lungs as Edwina elbowed him in the gut before punching him backwards. As the man stumbled backwards, noting his shield crumbling, the alchemist curled her arm in front of her and exclaimed, "That hardening and regeneration cannot happen at the same time!"
Out came that charismatic chuckle before the gang-leader straightened up. "And here I was thinking you were just a hot-headed brat. But you're a bad match to fight against. You're a challenge." His eyes shivered to the vent above him as he heard heavy footsteps outside. "I gotta go now."
"Wha—" she was not able to finish the sentence, for at that moment the two soldiers who had encountered the major kicked the door open.
"There's the teenager!" the man cried.
"And the man with the Ouroboros!" the woman added with a start. "Miss! Get out of the way!" The two opened fire, and Edwina leapt backwards with a start. None of the bullets hit, as Greed bounded towards the vent, punched through it and managed to squeeze his way in. Two more soldiers arrived, one making his way over to Edwina and the other tried to figure out how to get into the air duct.
"Are you alright?" He asked, before hoisting her over his shoulder. "The rest of you, find that man, I'll take the girl to safety."
"Wait!" Edwina cried squirming and kicking. "Put me down!"
"Hey, we're rescuing you! Stop thrashing around!" the man.
"I need to ask that man something important!" Edwina yelled back at him.
"Sorry, but I'm under orders to get you to safety regardless," he carried the still struggling alchemist out of the room. The other soldiers, finding the vent too small headed out of the door as well, continuing their search. Once everyone was gone, Greed squeezed his way back out of the duct. With a grin of victory, he set off in the opposite direction of the soldiers.
Alphonsa inched her way across the sewer floor, her armour rattling as Martel struggled as much.
"Be…obedient!" she growled. She would not admit that she was saddened by the fact that what could have been a new friendship born from a bad situation was at an end.
"No! I…won't…be cut up!" Alphonsa snarled back.
The two immediately found themselves stopping when they saw someone walking along the tunnel. It was Greed.
"Oh, so you two are safe, huh?" the homunculus asked as he spotted the two on the floor.
"It was getting dangerous up there, and as much as I wanted to fight, Roa left us down here," the blonde chimera informed him.
Greed frowned. "Yeah, it really is." He looked at Alphonsa for a moment to add, "That sister of yours sure is troublesome, armour girl." He took another look around. "Since it seems like only us three down here, let's just leave."
Martel and Alphonsa were about to resume their fight when a deep voice behind the trio said, "I'm afraid I can't let you do that."
The homunculus began to turn around, "And who might you—" He stopped. The man had an eye patch, a stern expression, and two sabres on his back. "What? Why?"
"Mr. Führer, if you're here then…is this situation really that bad?!" Alphonsa asked in a high tone.
Just like her comrades, Martel's eyes expanded to resemble saucers as she cried. "The Führer is here?!"
"Hmph," Greed breathed. "What is the most powerful man in this nation doing in a sewer?" He could take a guess, but even if it were true, he did not understand why. He was not affecting Father's plan in any way.
"How old are you?" Bradley asked.
"What kind of question is that right now?" the confused gang leader replied with a raised eyebrow. The armour girl and snake-chimera decided watching was the best option now.
"I'm turning sixty this year," Bradley went on, beginning to walk closer to the other man. "The body doesn't move as well as one ages. I just want to get this kind of work done and so I can home."
"You should retire then, Pops," The homunculus said with a grin, deciding to keep the act going, and began to carbonise his arm. He looked down in shock as Bradley effortlessly sliced his arm, right above the transformation, taking it clean off. Greed backed away in surprise and pain. The armour girl and snake chimera were both surprised and amazed.
"Whoa! You lair, Pops!" Greed said as he placed his hand on the stump to manually help it restore. He had little time to do so. In a flash, Bradley was right next to him and with another powerful swing took off Greed's other arm right at the elbow. Greed yelled again, and Bradley finished of the move with a kick to his chest, sending the man right through the brick wall.
"No time for regeneration," He told his opponent coolly as he stepped through the hole. Enthralled, Alphonsa and Martel crawled to the hole to continue their viewing. Bradley raced at the man as his skin crackled as it attempted to regenerate and harden. He sliced off the regaining flesh once more, halting both processes. "Or hardening to occur!" he finished his sentence before crossing and thrusting his sabres into Greed's neck, piercing right through with ease. He also purposely cut off his eye patch in the process. Blood now pour and trickled from Greed's mouth, the back of his neck, and his still severed and crackling arms.
"Bastard…" the homunculus hissed, his teeth clenched against the never-ending waves of pain.
"I don't have an Ultimate Shield like yours," the Führer yet went on, as he held his opponent in place. Or Ultimate Blades that can cut through anything. With that in mind, you must be wondering how a person like me can survive battlefields of full of flaying bullets and exploding shells, hm? How could I raise to this rank, despite this?" In place of an iris and pupil, Greed noticed a certain symbol on the man's uncovered and scarred right now. "Do you understand?" He leaned in closer to his fellow homunculus, so that the still enthralled Martel and Alphonsa would not hear, his face now full of the sin he represented. "Just as you have the Ultimate Shield, I have the Ultimate Eye."
"I knew there was a reason you worked with us," Greed replied.
For a moment, Bradley smiled. "Well now, Greed. How many times do I have to kill you before you die?"
Author's Note: Another fightful chapter. I did really have trouble putting original content into that type of chapter in a mostly pre-made fanfiction. Although, what am I saying? The vast majority of Shonen is sixty percent fighting and forty percent plot and character development XD. It gets boring after a while, and are usually male-heavy, several chapters-long "Dragon Ball", "Naruto", and "Bleach", style.
Plus my original story (the one I have chosen to focus on, as I have three very different original fiction ideas on the go right now) will have quite a few fight scenes, so I am researching Medieval warfare, combining it with my biological knowledge, and remembering where Hollywood and fantasy writers get it wrong. And a good friend is helping with the other parts :).
Well, I hope you enjoyed it, dear readers. I am trying to speed up my character outputs, but I am feeling a little…uninspiredabout it right now.
Thank you ^_^.