CHAPTER 9: INSIDE PANDORA'S BOX
Nazi Base – July, 1943
Edward Elric stood frozen, his mind completely locked up and unable to think. It was like something out of a dream, and even then it was beyond any dream he has ever had. He had so much to say, but he didn't know where to start. All he could do was stand there, transfixed at the person who stood before him.
"Brother?" Alphonse Elric walked up next to him, still unaware of what was going on. "Are you alright?" His sibling inquired again when he got no answer.
"Al?" Winry Rockbell was startled again and Al finally turned in her direction.
"Winry!" He gasped.
"Friend of yours?" Lieutenant Stanley chimed in.
"You could say that." Al replied, still in shock. Stanley looked over her, and was the first to notice the dried blood stains covering much of her clothes.
"Are you hurt Miss?" The Lieutenant asked with concern, jolting her a little until she realized what he was referring to.
"No, I'm okay. It isn't mine." Then she remembered. "I hope Lieutenant Ross is alright." She whispered so quietly that almost no one heard her, but Ed did and it seemed to wake him up from his trance.
"Lieutenant Ross?" Ed repeated the name, before focusing his thoughts. "Winry, how did you get here?" The older Elric finally yammered out, the question caused her to break eye-contact with him as she turned away.
"I'm not sure… but I think I saw the Gate of Truth." Ed and Al's eyes both widened.
"What?" Al gasped again.
"These people…" She had to strain to recall. "I don't know who they are or how but they opened it and pulled me in… then all I remember was waking up here… and then you came." The Nazis can open the Gate? Ed thought to himself, but stopped when he noticed that she was trembling.
"Ah…" He walked up close to her, he wanted to hold her and comfort her. "Winry…" She raised her head back up to look at him. "It's good to see you again." She smiled lightly and warmly at him.
"You've actually taken pretty good care of your automail, even after all this time." She looked at his metallic arm and put her hand on it and felt it. "Why are you guys here?" She asked, causing Ed to look away uncomfortably this time.
"It's a bit of a long story…"
"And we don't have the time for it right now." Stanley cut in suddenly, surprising everyone. "I hate to interrupt your reunion but we still have a job to do." The Lieutenant reminded.
"I haven't forgotten." Ed said with annoyance. He turned to look back at her. "It's too dangerous for her to come with us though." The Lieutenant agreed, and waved at one of the other soldiers.
"Franklin, stay behind and watch her. Make sure she's alright." Franklin didn't look too pleased.
"But sir…" He started but Stanley cut him off with a glare.
"Ed…" Winry started, as he took off his army jacket and draped it over her shoulders.
"Winry." He looked her straight in the eye. "When I get back, I'll explain everything." Then he broke out his cocky grin. "I promise."
"Don't worry, we'll be okay." Al also offered. She smiled again at them, and they turned to catch up to the others who had already started jogging away.
"It's just like you Ed." She whispered to herself as she watched them leave, looking concerned. "You always make me wait."
The elevator doors parted, and Stanley and Bannerman exited behind their Sten sub-machineguns as they cautiously and thoroughly checked the room. Ed and Al came out next, and the four relaxed slightly when the coast was cleared.
"That was a long ride." Al complained.
"We must be a couple hundred feet below ground." Bannerman observed. The room was fairly well lit and decently sized. Three sets of double-doors occupied three of the walls while the elevator took up the forth.
"Bannerman, translation please." Stanley requested, and the other soldier took a second to read the three signs placed above the doors.
"Research Laboratories. Gallery and Vault. Storage and Processing." He read off one-by-one from left to right.
"Vault?" Stanley gave the Elrics a questioning look, and both gave their approval. "Let's proceed carefully." Stanley led the way and opened the double-doors in front of them.
Beyond the door, was a catwalk suspended from the ceiling by metal bars. The path was faintly lit by a row of lights but was otherwise surrounded by pitch blackness. The group slowly moved forward, with Stanley taking point, the Elrics in the middle and Bannerman bringing up the rear. They continued down the catwalk for another twenty feet or so when without warning, a series of bright lights turned on in succession. The group was startled and they looked around them in surprise.
"Who turned on the lights?" Bannerman yelped, but didn't see anyone else.
"I think we triggered them automatically." Stanley gestured for the group to calm down. They found themselves perched above a gigantic warehouse, the catwalk was at least three to four stories high off the floor and the room stretched nearly a hundred meters in all direction with grey concrete forming the walls and ceiling. They were all amazed at the sheer size of the facility considering how deep underground they were.
"Brother!" Al yelled, Ed turned and saw him pointing down to the right which their eyes all followed. The sight nearly sucked all the air out of their lungs. Below them, covering the entire right side of the huge room, were hundreds of large glass cylindrical tanks, each of them no less then 10 feet tall and all were filled with a glowing, crimson liquid.
"Red water…" The Elrics muttered simultaneously.
"What?" Stanley said while Bannerman was entranced by the sight.
"Components for making a Philosopher's Stone." Al explained, shaking his head. "But I haven't seen this much of it in a long time."
"Sir!" It was Bannerman this time, and he was looking down to the left of the catwalk, and the others turned their eyes to that side.
"My God…" Stanley declared, as they saw at least a hundred neatly arranged hospital beds. A number of them were occupied, all by women, each with countless tubes going in and out of their limp, seemingly-lifeless bodies. Even worst, they were all visibly pregnant.
"Are they dead?" Al's face became pale.
"No." Stanley answered pretty quickly. "You can see them breath." Everyone focused their eyes, and did indeed notice the chests of the women barely moving and everyone looked slightly relieved.
"They look like they're sedated." Bannerman suggested.
"Al." Ed grabbed his brother's attention. "Do you see that?" Al turned to where Ed was pointing at, and he quickly saw what his older brother was referring to. There were dozens of pipes extending from the tanks to the beds. Intravenous tubes hooked up to the pipes then fed the crimson liquid directly into the "patient's" bodies.
"They're injecting them with red water?" Al noted.
"Why?" Stanley asked, sounding puzzled. Ed's brain started ticking, sorting and digging through all the information he has ever digested.
"Al… do you remember Doctor Marcoh's research notes on the Philosopher's Stone?"
"Yea." Al's brain also boarded the same train of thought. "There were multiple ways to create fake or real stones." His eyes widened as the realization set in. "One of them was…" But he stuttered and couldn't finish, so Ed jumped in.
"Was to inject red water into the womb of a pregnant woman where it would crystallize into a red stone."
"What does that do to them?" Bannerman was referring to the "patients" and Ed gave him a straight answer.
"It'll kill them and the baby." Now both Bannerman and Stanley's face turned pale, and despite being battle-hardened soldiers they looked utterly sick.
"Monsters." Stanley said angrily. Everyone was silent for a moment before Al spoke up.
"Brother… we have to stop them." Ed nodded, and set his sights on yet another set of doors at the far end of the warehouse where the catwalk led to.
"Let's keep going." Stanley resumed walking and the others followed.
"There are the intruders!" They heard someone yell from behind, and turned. Behind them by the first door were a couple of dogs and wolves.
"Chimeras!" Ed identified them as the pack charged towards the four. Stanley and Bannerman raised their weapons and started firing, and two of the chimeras fell under the hail of bullets. The others however, were able to close the distance rapidly. One of them jumped, tackling Stanley hard enough that it sent them both flying off the catwalk.
"Lieutenant!" Al yelled, as he watched the man and the chimera fall and hit the floor with a loud thud. Neither of them got back up. Bannerman screamed in pain as one of the chimera wolves chomped on his arm with its powerful jaws, causing him to drop his weapon.
"Damn, hold on!" Ed thought quickly, clapped his hands and transmuted his automail arm into a sharp blade. He lunged at the chimera, causing it to release Bannerman's arm and retreat. "Al! Go!" He ordered, Al helped the wounded soldier up and they took off for the other doors while Ed held off the beasts.
"Brother!" Al yelled when he and Bannerman made it, causing Ed to glance back and his momentary lapse gave the chimeras an opening to attack, and they leapt at him. Ed however was faster, and he jumped back in time to avoid them. He clapped his hands in mid-air, and touched the metal catwalk with his left hand when he landed, and transmuted a number of steel vines that ensnared the beasts.
"Coming!" He turned and ran before the blue lights had faded. He knew the vines would not hold, he had to refrain from transmuting too much of the catwalk least it collapsed on him. When Ed reached the others he turned and saw that some of the chimeras had broken free and were rushing towards them.
"Al!"
"Ready when you are!" His brother replied. They both stood behind the door in a corridor with Bannerman behind them. They clapped their hands and transmuted a wall of concrete in front of them.
"That should hold them off." Ed said with relief. Al went to tend to the injured soldier. He helped Bannerman retrieve some bandages from his pack, and dressed up his bleeding arm. Ed looked past them and down the corridor. This one was much shorter, and ended with what appeared to be a very large and thick set of steel doors. He also noticed the tingling sensation from before was stronger than ever.
"Okay, I'm fine." Bannerman thanked Al and stood up. The three walked up to the door.
"Think this is it?" Al asked.
"Yea, whatever's behind it; they want to protect it." Ed touched the cold steel.
"How do we open it?" Bannerman seemed stumped, and Ed grinned.
"We don't." Ed clapped his hands, touched the doors and in seconds a gapping hole had appeared.
"Alchemy… very useful." Was all Bannerman could muster as they walked through. They were standing on a balcony, with two curving stairs leading downwards to a lower floor filled with all varieties of equipment and tools. The entire room was in the shape of a vertical cylinder and cavernous, although not as large as the warehouse they were in before. Besides them there was no one else there. But it was the object that was hanging in the middle of the room that caught their attention.
"Brother…" Al stammered in awe.
"Wow…" Bannerman was amazed and Ed couldn't find anything to say. The entire room was basking in the crimson glow of a polygonal stone, it was suspended from a number of cables and struts protruding from the ceiling of the room. The Elrics had seen this light before, and it was absolutely beautiful. They already knew what it was though, the feeling they've experienced before, it was the exact same.
"The Philosopher's Stone…" Ed finally whispered. But something was different about it, and the Elrics also knew right away what it was for it couldn't be anymore obvious. The stone was at least four stories tall.
"It's gigantic." Al exclaimed. Ed turned, and walked down the stairs to get closer to it, followed by Al when suddenly one of the side doors on the lower level burst open. They both froze while Bannerman reached for his holstered pistol.
"Hold your fire!" Colonel Gabriel Mackenzie shouted, putting his arm up as he lowered his weapon and gestured for the others behind him to do the same. Everyone relaxed, and sighed in relief.
"Colonel!" Al said surprisingly, Gabriel nodded at him.
"Fancy seeing you here." Then he looked up. "Holy sweet Jesus." He cursed when his eyes locked onto the stone. "That thing's huge!" Ed moved over, right up to it and slowly touched it softy with his left hand. The stone grew instantly brighter, reacting with him. He didn't do anything but was able to feel its raw power surging through his body before he backed off. He felt completely rejuvenated and energized.
"Brother?" Ed didn't answer.
"I take it that thing is real?" Gabriel concluded, and Ed nodded. The Colonel turned and ordered the other soldiers to secure the room and entry-ways before turning to Bannerman. "Where's Stanley?"
"He didn't make it, neither did O'Reilly and we left Franklin to take care of some business." Bannerman replied; eyes down. Gabriel motioned for the medic.
"Take a look at his arm." He pointed at Bannerman, then turned and noticed the Elrics were discussing something between themselves before they both walked up to the stone. "What are you two up to?"
"We're going to do what we came here to do." Ed replied, not looking back.
"How?" The Colonel asked curiously.
"The Philosopher's Stone allows us to ignore the law of equivalent exchange during transmutations." Al explained. "But some of it is still used up during the process. We'll transmute a new arm and leg for brother first, but if we transmute something big after, such as this entire base, over and over again we'll eventually use the whole thing up."
"Al, you ready?" They positioned themselves in front of the crimson elixir.
"Always am brother." Al said with determination. "Let's destroy this thing." They clapped their hands and moved to press their palms against the glowing object.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." Gabriel's voice caused them to stop, and they both turned to look back. To their surprise, the Colonel had his pistol pointed directly at Ed's head. Two more British soldiers approached them from behind, also with their weapons trained at them.
"Colonel, is this a joke?" Ed was flustered, and Al looked confused. But Gabriel didn't laugh, or smile. Instead, he looked at the brothers sternly. His eyes and weapon did not waver in the slightest as he spoke in a calm tone.
"That stone belongs to us now."
To Be Continued…