Chapter 16

It was Pride who created an exit, clapping his hands and making a hole in the wall, sending bits of metal everywhere.

"Doctor!" he shouted, hopping down. "Are you there?"

"Hey Doc!" Ling called, climbing on top of the crunched-up train car. "Where are you?"

"Hold on," Mei said. "I can clear out this rubble."

That was when a screeching noise came from their right. They all turned towards part of the engine room, which had hit the nearest building. A metal plate sat one top of the only opening, but not for long. It was moving, bouncing up and down slightly. Then, it was lifted high enough to slide off, and the Doctor poked her head out.

"Well, that was fun."

Everyone visibly relaxed a little.

"You're missing a tooth," she told Pride.

"Yes, I'm supposed to be missing that one. A new one will come in."

Admittedly, Ling's face as he realized Pride was losing baby teeth was pretty good.

"Is the dalek dead?" Mei asked.

"Definitely not. You can't get rid of one that easily," the Doctor said, climbing out and joining them.

"In that case, we should probably get moving," Ling pointed out.

"Right." The Doctor took the lead. She only made it to the end of the block before turning around towards them, a little sheepish. "Which way to Central Command?"

Pride sighed, though he didn't think anyone had heard. "This way."

He walked in front, not bothering to look back at everyone as he hung a right, and then a left as soon as possible. All of his child roles had been with people living in Central. It had changed over the years, but he was very familiar with the place.

Central was quiet, but not as much as it should be. There were still people around. Stores were empty, as were the streets for the most part, but people were still in their homes. That was obvious from the lights or noise, but some also looked hesitantly out as the group went by. There was even one exchange asking if it was safe to go out now, if other people were wandering around.

Well, they were going to get themselves killed. What else was new?

"EXTERMINATE!"

Pride stopped. The Doctor bumped into him and he shot her annoyed glance.

"EXTERMINATE!"

Yes, he'd definitely heard another dalek. It was still a little ways off, but in the direction they wanted to go.

"We can't go that way now," Pride said. He had no doubt at least the Doctor had heard that dalek.

"Well then." Ling grabbed a rock a broke through a store window. "We'll just have to take a short cut."

He hopped through, heading towards the back of the building.

"Is he actually going towards Central Command?" Lan Fan asked.

"Strangely, yes," Pride confirmed.

"Of course I am. I shared a body with Greed for months. I know how to get to the Command center."

Well, he wouldn't know his way around as well as Pride. He would be surprised if Greed ever knew where he was going, but for now this was the right way, and it would hopefully keep them away from the dalek.

They went out the back of the building, using a door this time, and headed down an alley. Ling and Pride looked around for a moment, before Pride hung a left and Ling climbed the nearest building. He dropped back down, joining them on the other side. They reached Central Park and moved across it. Central Command had the gate shut, but no one was around defending it, so Pride just clapped and created an opening. He may have made it a bit smaller than necessary, so the others could duck to get in. He'd put up with them for hours. The slight inconvenience was well worth it.

Once inside, the Doctor took the lead, taking them to the Fuhrer's office. It looked much different with Mustang in charge. No swords, lots of books, more paperwork, and more seating arrangements for his team.

As soon as Lan Fan, the last person, was in, she shut the door. They stayed where they were for a moment, catching their breath. They'd been moving awfully fast to get here after all.

"So, what now?" Ling asked, breaking the silence.

"We need to make the final preparations for the transmutation circle," the Doctor explained. "And we'll need a way to get in contact with everyone else for the circle. That would be easy if we were a few years further into the future, but we'll just have to make do."

The doorknob started to rattle. Everyone turned towards it, most of them taking a step back. The Doctor took a step forward, staring at the keyhole like she'd actually see something on the other side.

"You locked that, right?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, but a locked door doesn't always do much good," Lan Fan pointed out.

It sure hadn't stopped them.

There was some muffled cursing on the other side of the door, and someone shot it open. But the people on the other side were familiar, and not in a bad way.

"Hi Selim!" Lucy waved. "What are you doing here?"