Author's Note-First off, the disclaimer. I think I've already said that I don't own most of the kids in the last chapter. I only own Abby. Maeva belongs to Mikomi and Theo belongs to Ash the Twisted. And as much as I wish I did, I don't own FullMetal Alchemist. Warning for language and violence and stuff. Thankies for all the reviews so far. –grins and nods- I said I'd get this out soon with more reviews, so enjoy the chapter.
A busty woman in a lab coat stepped in, shutting the door behind her. Her black hair was tied in a tight bun on the back of her head. She turned and looked at them for a moment before walking towards them. "Well, well, looks as if our new arrival has met the inmates..."
Ed glared at the woman, his amber eyes narrowing. He had just met this woman, and already he didn't like her.
Abby gave the woman a cold look, then looked away. Most of the scientists had been scared away by their escape attempts, hence the large amount of new scientists. But this one had stayed. Too bad.
She walked towards him and looked down at him through the bars of the cage, her icy blue eyes studying Ed. She smiled, but even the smile didn't make her seem like the nicest person. "Edward. It's nice to meet you." She continued to smile, showing sparkling white teeth. "I'm Maeva." She looked him up and down, her icy eyes giving him a cold look.
Tsuki looked over at her, then rolled onto her side away from the woman, almost nonchalantly as she closed her green eyes, her head propped up on one hand.
Ezra smirked and piped up, "This, kid, is the hag."
Maeva stopped, her eye twitching as she turned her head toward him, smiling. "I've got something special planned for you, today, Ezra. Don't feel too left out."
Ezra's smirked suddenly disappeared. "I wasn't supposed to be going anywhere today..."
Maeva smiled. "You are now."
Ezra glared at her. "Bring it on, you stupid old hag..."
Ed glanced over at Ezra, then back at Maeva, and smiled slightly, though the smile was a bit of a cross between that and a smirk as he tried to draw attention away from Ezra. Maybe she would forget about the others if they talked. "So, you know me. That means we don't really have to waste much time on acquaintances. How about letting me out of here, or at least giving me my arm and leg back?"
Maeva continued to smile as she turned and looked at Ed. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Edward." She walked towards a table and picked up a clipboard, flipping through the pages.
Ed looked back at Maeva. "Oh, c'mon. At the very least you could let me get up and stretch, maybe walk around a little bit..." he said. "Besides," he added, "those were hard to make. Winry would kill me if something happened to them."
Maeva looked up from the clipboard. Her smile had faded and her face expressed agitation. "Edward," she paused for a moment, her cold eyes glaring at him, "let me ask you a question..." She put the clipboard down and walked towards him, leaning over slightly to look him in the eye.
Ed frowned slightly and blinked. "Hm..?" he asked. Her eyes weren't too unnerving...he had gotten almost used to it, considering some of the people he'd met before. But still..
Maeva's cold eyes continued to stare him down. "Do I look stupid to you?" Her eyes narrowed, almost challenging him.
Ezra smirked. "No, Maeva, but you do look ugly," he called over.
Maeva closed her eyes, her features tightening. "I never asked you, Ezra... For that I'm not going to use anesthetic."
Ezra glared at her and leaned back further against his cage, his knee sliding down, his arms crossed across his chest.
Ed watched, then looked away, frowning. Damn...he was hoping that she wouldn't know about his alchemy. How he could transmute without circles, so long as he had both of his arms. Now what...? His golden eyes narrowed as well. Best find out if what she knew was facts or simply rumors… "Just how much do you know about me...?" he asked.
Maeva smiled and opened her eyes, glaring at Ed slightly. "Enough." She gave him a smug look before walking back over to the counter, giving Ezra a smirk on her way.
Ezra glared at her and stuck his tongue out at her as she turned away from him.
Maeva picked up the clipboard and spoke without looking at him. "For that I should cut your tongue out, brat."
Ezra turned slightly pale and his tongue zipped back into his mouth, before he muttered, "No thanks.."
Ed frowned, watching. That didn't really answer his question. Just how much was 'enough'? He sighed in frustration. If only he had his arm and leg, he would dive right into battle. Even a simple screw would've helped for him to create a transmutation circle. But he didn't seem to have anything that could help...
He sighed, thinking back to his friends and brother. He wasn't sure how long he had been unconscious for, but surely they would know by now. Which reminded him… He closed his eyes. "Well, if you know enough about me, then you should know that I'm a State Alchemist. The military's going to come looking for me, and once you're found, they're not going to show any mercy," he said.
Maeva put down the clipboard and looked over at them before walking to the door and opening it. "It's something we look forward to, Edward," she replied. She smirked and glanced over them, her eyes glinting as she turned off the light and walked out. The only light in the nearly completely darkness came from the small window above the door.
Ed frowned. "Just what exactly is that supposed to mean? Surely she can't be that arrogant..." he wondered aloud. Did she really think they wouldn't be able to find him? He had complete faith in the military's tracking ability, especially if Hughes was put in charge of the investigation. The guy was a bit of an obsessive nutcase, no doubt about it, but he certainly wasn't a fool. So what was with the cocky attitude?
Ezra glanced at Ed, his eyes strangely luminescent in the dark. "They're not going to find you. This place is apparently so remote that even the military doesn't know it exists. But if I can get out of this damned cage, I could probably get you something to transmute with." He looked across the room at the small window, his eyes following the beams of white light that flooded onto the floor. Then he added, "You'd just have to take all of us with you…"
"Of course I would," Ed said, looking over at him. He blinked at Ezra's luminescent eyes for a moment, staring, then sighed and glared at the floor. "And I think I just got an extra boost of motivation. Putting up with that bastard colonel back at Central is enough. The last thing I want to do is put up with a sadistic female version of him..." he grumbled.
Ezra laughed and smirked. "Good then. I just have to wait for the hag to take me out of the cage."
Ed looked around. His eyes were beginning to adjust to the dark, but he could only make out basic shapes. Ezra's eyes were the only details that he could see clearly. "I suppose there's cameras around this place, so you can't exactly tell me your plan. What all can you do exactly? Some sort of alchemy, maybe? Or do you have any automail limbs..?" he asked.
Ezra looked at him, his eyes, the only thing visible to Ed and the others, seemed to glint slightly. "I've got speed. That's all I need."
Before Ed could reply, Tsuki snorted. "Yeah. If the guards don't use a tranquilizer on you again..." she said.
Ezra glared at her, his luminescent eyes narrowing. "That's not funny, Tsuki... That was only one time. I wasn't expecting them to pull out the chems on me..."
Tsuki sat up and looked over at him. "When do they not if you try to resist?" she said, almost hypothetically. She thought for a moment. "Wait, that's right. Sometimes they just use stuff to temporarily paralyze you. Right..." She lay back down with a sigh.
Ezra raised an eyebrow at her, then turned back to Ed. "Either way, when she takes me out I'll get you something," he assured the blonde.
Ed nodded. "Thanks..." he said.
Meanwhile, in the observation room of the lab, Maeva smiled as she watched the screen in front of her flicker. On it was an image of their little lab rats, and their plotting voices sounded through the speaker. "They really think something as simple as that will work, eh?" She pressed a button on the keypad and the steady stream of voices from the room stopped.
A young man in probably his mid-twenties was standing behind her and watching. He had shaggy brown hair that went to about the base of his shoulders, pulled back in a ponytail at the base of his neck. He wore a set of small, rectangular glasses over stunning green eyes. Most would say that his figure was quite handsome, and his skin was tanned. He wore an old white lab coat and a name tag that read 'Theo Greenwood.'
"At least we don't have to worry about my project. I think she's entirely under my control. Perfectly obedient," he said, pointing to a girl with fairly large, bat-like wings lying in a cage off in the corner. One of the wings was covered over her, so it was hard to make her out.
Maeva glanced at the girl, then down at Theo. "The rebellion can be a good thing. It gives me more of a chance to punish him," she said. She grinned sadistically, her cold eyes glinting. "The more he back-talks me, the more pain it is to himself. He's hurting himself. That's the best thing about it."
"I myself don't bother to wait until she does anything. I just experiment on her whenever I get a new idea. Or when I need to get rid of some stress…" Theo said with a shrug. He grinned slightly, maliciously. "Her fear and cries of pain are good to hear, and then as a bonus, I get paid."
Maeva shrugged. "There's that. But you don't get that with the boys. Not unless you really work for it." She smirked. "Boys are more fun than girls. You have to work for the fear."
He rolled his eyes. "I prefer the helplessness. Besides, I don't really know about immediate fear with some girls..." He pointed to Abby, who was leaning against the bars in the back of her cage, eyes closed. "You know that she's managed to scare away just about all of the scientists that have tried to work on her? The only one that actually managed was Doctor Lewis, who retired a few months ago. She hasn't left her cage for the past month because of that."
"We could always send a few volts of electricity through her, see how scary she is then," Maeva suggested.
Theo smirked. "Actually, that was what I was planning to do to Ash for the next experiment," he said.
Maeva smirked as well, her eyes focusing on Abby, "Maybe we should use Abby this time... Make her a little less eager to scare off our scientists..."
The brown-haired scientist shrugged. "If you want to," he said. "I won't stop you. Just let me schedule an appointment for Ash later."
Maeva nodded and smirked sadistically, "This will be quite a shock for little Ezra. I hope he's not too disappointed." She looked at the screen with mock worry.
"And what are we going to do about the boy?" Theo asked, glancing over at Ed. "Have we decided yet?"
Maeva shook her head. "But I know how to get rid of their little plan. Next time, I'll see to it that Ezra's little plan disappears," she said.
Theo closed his eyes. "I suppose so. It's too bad I can't add any prosthetic pieces to the new boy, though. He'd just use it for alchemy.." he said, sighing a bit in disappointment.
Maeva bit her lower lip. "I suppose. We should go down and see to our new project, shouldn't we?"
Theo nodded. "Sure," he agreed.
Maeva pressed a button on the keypad and looked up as the red light turned on before turning and walking out into the hall.
Author's Note-If there's any delay in the next chapter, it's because I may be gone over the weekend to visit relatives. If I don't get the next chappie out tomorrow, then it'll most likely be on Monday or at least Tuesday. Once again, thankies to all that have reviewed! Now to answer them. And remember, more reviews mean faster update time, so please review!
IluvPiratesSavvy-I agree. Just giving fair warning. –smiles and nods-
Pichu172B-Thanks! And yes, Detective Conan does rock. –grin-
Pheonix-maker-Ed ish one of my favorite characters-so easy to torture! –grins and nods-
Ash the Twisted-S'ok. I tend to get swamped in PMs myself sometimes… At least you got this chappie. Thanks for checking it. –nodnod-
Crazyanimefreak15-Don't worry, I probably won't kill Ed… Probably… -glanceglance- But poor Ed ish still gonna go through some torture…
Kayizzle-Thankies! Well, I'll probably have the next chapter up soon.
