Alright, I'm back with another quick update! I love to steal an hour and indulge myself and write this. We're almost to the end now!
Ed couldn't really think clearly at the moment, anyways. It's started to rain- a cold, late autumn rain- and Banks slid into the driver's seat of the car, flicking on the headlights. He was having a hard time taking his eyes off his friends lying motionless in the street.
Banks made a u-turn with the car, driving in the opposite direction he'd come.
"No point in bringing them with us anyways. They'd probably die on the way." Banks muttered, flashing Ed a grin. "Does that bother you, Eddy?"
"Not as much as the fact that you're actually a Drachman spy." Ed was looking around the car. He couldn't clap, he had no weapons. Unless he used the car as a weapon. but cars weren't dangerous...
An idea floated into his head, and he moved his hands.
"Uleg! Ischtz Frieze!" the drachman in the back screamed, leaning forward and pressing the cold metal of his gun barrel to Ed's temple.
"What the hell, Elric!?" Banks shouted, glaring.
"Easy! Calm down, I was just trying to put my damn seatbelt on!" Ed retorted, reaching over his shoulder and grabbing the seatbelt, glaring at the Drachman behind him while he clicked the buckle into place. He was the only one in the car wearing a seatbelt.
"You're thinking about that at a time like this!?" Banks snarled, looking disgusted.
"Seatbelts are really important. They can save your life, you know."
"A seatbelt isn't gonna stop Ivanov from putting a bullet through your thick skull!" Banks flicked the headlights onto a brighter setting and turned on the windshield wipers. The rain had picked up now, it was really starting to be a downpour.
"So. You're taking me back to Drachma? you really were a traitor this whole time?" Ed inquired, trying to distract the man.
"I wasn't a traitor. I was never a Drachman agent in the first place! It wasn't until you fucked the whole damn trial that I even met these foreign fuckers- it's out of necessity we partnered up. You made my country turn its back on me- so I have to turn my back on it. You ruined my whole career, you brat- I had to do this to survive!" Banks banged on the steering wheel with his hands for emphasis.
A car was following them closely from behind, and it flashed it's headlights at them. Ed observed in the rearview mirror. If he could get a way to signal for help, anything...
Banks followed his eyes. "Don't bother, Elric. That's Dmitri- he's following us until we cross the border. He can't save you now. Nobody can."
"So- you're taking me to Drachma. Don't you think they'll be smart enough to shut down the borders?" Ed asked quizzically, raising an eyebrow. He crossed his arms.
"They will close the northern borders. We're going through Creta, if you must know, you little shit. In two days we'll be in our new home- I'll be a Drachman General in exchange for my cooperation and services, and you, in exchange for your cooperation, will be serving under me as the very first Drachman Military Alchemist. It's quite an honor, really. And as your commanding officer, I'll have the ability to discipline you as I see fit. The Drachman military doesn't subscribe to such niceties as we do... I thought you fucked my career over, but to be honest, Fullmetal- you might've just made me into one of the greatest Drachman leaders of all time. How's that feel?"
Ed shrugged. "I dunno. Seems sketchy to me."
The rain was driving now, it was hard to see even with the windshield wipers on the highest setting. The street lights in this part of town were mostly out, anyways, so it made driving even more of a challenge. Despite this, Banks was still doing 60 miles an hour.
"It's the perfect plan. How can you not see it!? You'll comply, Ed- or I will beat you to death, you understand me!? I'm not letting you ruin this for me too." Banks hissed, shooting him a glare. "Like it or not, we are destined to work together. You might as well swallow your pride and survive. Who knows. Maybe you'll like being a Drachman better than being an Amestrian soldier. This plan is already put into place, so you just have to accept it."
"It's a solid plan. You've been hunting me for three weeks now. I'm not saying it's a bad plan or anything. It's just got a few problems with it."
"Problems? The hell are you talking about, kid!?"
"Did you know that cars are actually really dangerous?" Ed asked.
"Of course I know that! I just ran down your two best buddies and killed them with this car! You're not making any sense, your damned brat!" spittle flew out of Bank's mouth as he was yelling. He was getting irritated and distracted. That was good.
"You're annoying. Shut the hell up, that's an order." Banks barked, putting his foot heavier on the gas pedal in irritation.
Ed checked the rearview mirror. They were doing 65 miles an hour and the car was still following them very closely- practically on their tail.
He racked his brain on how to get out of this situation, but he was coming up empty with everything except plan a. He'd put it off as long as he could, they'd been driving for at least twenty minutes now, and he couldn't wait any longer. It was time for him to get himself out of this.
He was quiet for all of two minutes before he turned and looked at Banks. "Don't you want to know what's wrong with your plan?"
"I thought I told you to shut up." Banks growled, not taking his eyes off the downpour on the road ahead of him. "And there's nothing wrong with the plan."
"Yeah there is."
"What!? What could I possibly have forgotten, you annoying two foot tall brat!?" Banks shouted, eyes bugging out as he got worked up and screamed, a vein bulging in his neck as he turned to look at Ed.
Ed grinned. "You forgot I'm the goddamn Fullmetal Alchemist!" He raised his automail foot off the floor and thrust it forward at the dashboard with all his strength. The metal limb broke right through the dashboard on impact, the sudden, harsh collision setting off both airbags in the front seat.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
The airbag in the passenger seat sent Ed's automail leg recoiling back- it hit him in the chest rather painfully. The airbag from the steering wheel hit banks in the face- the car swerved to the right, losing control. The nose of the car jumped the curb and clipped a light pole, starting to roll horizontally- the car behind them had no time to move- they were following too closely- and hit them full speed as they jackknifed, flipped end over end, ahead of them.
As their car rolled, Ed caught sight of a Drachman from the backseat for a brief, wobbling moment before the world was spinning again.
When the crunching of metal being crushed finally stopped, Ed found he was hanging from the roof of the car. They were upside down, half on the sidewalk and half in the road.
Ed tasted blood. He was sore- bruised, but not dead. Somehow not dead. That had to be good, right?
His flesh arm hurt pretty bad- both from where the seatbelt had dug into his skin keeping him in place, and his flesh wrist. He looked to his left- Banks was slumped over the steering wheel, unmoving. There was a bloodstain on the cracked windshield in front of him. Ed could clearly see the circle where the airbag hadn't been able to stop his skull from smashing into the windshield. He was still breathing rather raggedly, Ed noted- but he was definitely down for the count.
Ed cast a glance over his shoulder from where he was hanging- there was only one Drachman in the back seat, and he was hanging half in and half out the back window. Not a threat either. He unbuckled his seat belt, punching through the passenger side window with his auto mail hand and crawling out, rolling onto the pavement and gasping.
He allowed himself ten seconds to breathe before he was forcing himself to his feet. His chest was sore, he had a bloody nose, and his wrist hurt like hell- but he was alive. And he could walk.
The only light in the road ahead, aside from the flickering streetlight, was from the small fire starting from the other car that'd flipped. Ed didn't have time to deal with that, anyways. He had to get back and help Hughes and Mustang.
He paused, though. There was a body in the middle of the street- the other Drachman who'd been riding with them. Not wearing a seatbelt. He'd been ejected from the car. Ed stumbled over to him, limping slightly. His automail leg had not liked the fight they'd had with the air man had been ejected, and he was no longer alive.
Ed swallowed. It'd been his only option, he reminded himself. They'd attacked him- and he hadn't killed them directly. Not really. He'd just tried to get away.
He turned, limping down the street. "I owe you one, Bastard." he muttered under his breath. "Seatbelts really do save lives."
If Ed had looked back at the crash scene, he wouldn't have been able to see fifty yards ahead in the dark.
But fifty yards ahead in the dark- a subterranean dweller had heard the massive ruckus of the car crash above. The manhole cover slid out of place as the wiry built, black clad figure ascended from the sewers and took in the carnage with glee, moving to drag the survivors underground with him. They were already unconscious- easy prey- but they'd satisfy him for tonight all the same.
"-ustang! Colonel!"
Roy was under water. Everything was murky and his head fucking hurt, and still, people were yelling at him.
"Wake the hell up, Mustang! You're not allowed to die!"
Leather hands shook him roughly.
Roy groaned, his eyes blinking open painfully. "Alphonse?"
The hulking metal behemoth in front of him looked nothing like the Al roy was under to. Rather than the large, friendly metal child, he was met with a blood-streaked suit of terror. Roy could hear the boy's metal rattling from the way he was shaking.
"Oh thank goodness, I thought you were dead!" Alphonse managed. Roy knew a suit of armor couldn't physically cry, but it was as close as he'd seen it.
"Where's my brother, Colonel?"
It all came rushing back to him, then. The car hitting them- someone talking to Ed- passing out.
"Oh fuck." He tried to sit up too quickly and blacked out for a second- Alphonse's gauntlets kept him from sinking back to the ground.
"Hughes!" Roy craned his neck, looking behind him.
"I'm here." Hughes answered, picking up his head to meet Roy's eyes, though his voice sounded strained.
"Are you alright?"
"His leg is broken, but I fixed uit." Alphonse piped up. "Now where's Ed?"
"He's been taken." Hughes looked to be in pain but stable, and Roy tore his mind back to the moment at hand. "Alphonse- I need you to find a payphone and call Hawkeye. Tell her we have an Alpha Delta Bravo. We need roadblocks and the team to deploy and search the city. Then I need you to call 911 and get an ambulance for Hughes..."
Roy was leaning forward, dragging himself to his feet.
"What about you?" Al asked hurriedly. "Are you broken?"
"I'll live. I have to help find Ed..." he stood, the world pitching and bucking nauseatingly beneath his feet. He stumbled but stayed on his feet, swallowing back the urge to vomit.
"I don't know if I should leave you..." al sounded lost.
"You have to, Al." Roy forced a calm, reassuring smile to the child trapped in the armor. "Hughes needs help. I'll stay with him- go do what I told you, alright?"
"Okay." Al chirped, before he was clanking off through the night to follow orders.
Roy had had an easier time walking while he was drunk than he did at the moment. It felt like his head was full of electricity, shocking and jolting him repeatedly.
He managed to stumble his way over to Hughes, nearly slipping on a pile of spaghetti in the street, before he crouched down beside his friend, looking at the damage.
"Hughes- how bad is it?"
"Leg's broken. Hurts like hell. Alphonse was kind enough to splint it for me, though, I should be fine..." Hughes grit his teeth, looking down at the split with strain evident on his face.
Roy idly wondered what Alphonse had made the splint from, before he realized that in his anxiety Alphonse had pulled up a small 8 foot tall sapling from a nearby planter in the sidewalk and snapped it in half, using it as a scaffolding to hold the older man's injured leg in place and tying it together with strips of cloth from his shredded uniform coat.
"How.. how about you?" Hughes asked, face still tight with pain.
"Concussion, maybe. I'll live." Roy admitted, falling silent.
For a moment, the only sound was the driving rain on the pavement around them.
"They got Ed, didn't they?" Hughes spoke quietly.
"Yes, they did."
"Get him back, Roy."
"I plan on it."
"They're gonna take him to Drachma... call Armstrong. He can put out a bulletin... shut down the border..."
"I know. I'm already thinking all of that through. Relax." Roy passed his friend's shoulder comfortingly.
Sirens began to blare in the distance.
"Ambulance is almost here, Hughes. Stay awake."
Hughes barked a dry laugh. "Couldn't pass out if I tried, you shithead." he cursed weakly, letting Roy know he really was in a lot of pain.
An ambulance rolled up a moment later- the flashing lights illuminated the night, and Hughes was loaded up and taken away just as a black car pulled up and Hawkeye bolted out of it, with Cain Furey holding a radio not far behind.
"Sir?" she sent far too long examining his face.
"Someone's taken Ed. Black car. Has some dents in the hood. Armed and dangerous. Suspected they're trying to get him across the Drachman border..." Roy's head felt like someone had driven a red hot icepick through his skull and he gasped, stumbling and nearly going to his knees.
Hawkeye's eyes widened. "Sir!"
Roy caught himself, taking a ragged breath.
"It's fine, I'm fine..." he managed to bite out, just as another car pulled up and Havoc, Breda and Falman clambered out.
"We got the call. What's up!?" Havoc's face changed from urgency to one of concern when he saw Mustang. "Hey Boss, you aren't looking so good."
"They have Ed. Hughes is down for the count... Furey, I need you to call Armstrong and get the Drachman border locked down."
"On it, Sir!" Furey was already getting to work with the radio he cared in his messenger bag.
"You really need to go to the hospital as well, Boss." Breda spoke gently. "You've got a nasty concussion..."
"I'm not going anywhere until we have Fullmetal back!" Roy snapped, and everyone fell silent. "They've already had him for an hour, who knows how far they've gotten by now..."
Havoc craned his neck to look behind Roy, frowning. "I think that's him."
"Now isn't the time for pranks, Havoc." Hawkeye said harshly.
"I'm not joking- look!" Havoc pointed.
Everyone looked. In the distance, ambling by the warm glow of the streetlights, was a small, limping form.
"Cheif! Is that you!?" Breda called, as Ed continued to limp closer. He was probably twenty feet away by now.
"No, it's the fucking girl scouts. Yes it's me you moron!" Ed snarled, stumbling over to the group.
It wasn't really his fault he was in a bad mood. He'd been kidnapped, nearly run over, in a car crash, and then had to walk forty minutes in the freezing rain to get back to where he'd been taken.
His head and flesh wrist were throbbing, and his automail leg had been tweaked somehow- probably when it'd taken the full impact of the airbag- so that walking was beginning to really hurt like a bitch. Needless to say, he was not in a good mood.
"What happened!?" Hawkeye was already darting forward, trying to deal with the large amount of blood on Ed's face.
"I had to take care of shit, that's what happened." Ed growled, though there was less bite to his voice.
He looked around, annoyed. There was spaghetti and meatballs still strewn around the street- when he saw Mustang standing where he was, an expression of pure relief crossed his features before it was gone. He nodded towards his superior, stepping forward.
"Glad to see you're still alive, Mustang."
"How did you get away? Shit, you're covered in blood..." Havoc was trying to scrub at him, though Ed batted him off.
"I have to admit, you're a bastard most of the time, Mustang. But you were right about one thing. Seatbelts really do save lives."
Roy paled even further when he realized what Ed was saying. "You crashed the car!?"
"No. I crashed both cars. Indirectly. So... this kinda isn't my fault, but everybody else might be dead."
Everyone looked at Ed in slack-jawed horror, and Ed put his automail hand up, trying to backtrack. "Might be! I said might! I'm not sure- Banks was still breathing when I left, but I had enough crap to deal with getting back here to make sure you idiots were still alive. I didn't have time to help them. And they didn't really deserve it."
"So you were just involved in a two car crash with fatalities, and you walked back here to tell us about it?" Breda asked, trying to clarify.
"Yeah." Ed didn't seem bothered by this at all.
"What are your injuries?" Hawkeye demanded, eyes going steely.
Ed visibly shrank. "Um... bloody nose, my arm hurts, and my automail is tweaked, but I think I'm good."
"You're good? You expect us to believe that, Ed?" Falman looked aghast.
"Yeah! I was wearing my damn seatbelt! I was the only one, too, or that other guy might still be alive." Ed admitted.
A second ambulance had pulled up on the scene, and Hawkeye nodded to Roy.
"Sir. You and Edward are both going to the hospital to get checked out."
Roy's head was still throbbing. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That might not be a bad idea..."
"But I'm totally fine!" Ed took two steps backward before his automail leg gave out, sending him crashing to the pavement.
"Oh for fuck's sake!" Ed swore loudly, landing on a meatball in the street and crushing it. "This day sucks ass! I just wanted to go eat spaghetti with Hughes, dammit!"
"Calm down, Fullmetal." Roy groused. "We're going to the hospital, then we're going home."
"Where is Hughes, anyways?" Ed looked around the empty street, confused. "Is he alright?"
"Broken leg. He's already at the hospital- you can ask him yourself when we get there."
A medic had wheeled a gurney over, and Roy nodded to where Ed was on the pavement. "He's right there."
"This one's for you, Sir." the EMT remarked, looking at his skeptically. "You look like you have some head trauma, and I think you're about to fall over."
Roy sighed, sitting down on the gurney as instructed.
Breda and Havoc were helping Ed limp towards the ambulance, and Ed plunked himself into a seat on the side of the ambulance as the gurney was loaded on.
"So- the good news is, I took care of everything." Ed admitted, beaming as the doors to the ambulance were closed. The siren started to wail as they were heading off down the road towards the hospital. "The bad news is- I think I'm gonna get hit with a lot of paperwork for this.".
What do you think? I love the idea of Ed using Mustang's advice in wearing a seatbelt and cleverly escaping like this. What was your favorite part?