Will glances at the GPS, tracking the time until they get back to the crime scene. "Can we go any faster?" he asks, the heavy air in the car and Mustang's unease about this stone rubbing off.
"It's sort of pouring," Seaver says pointedly, and he winces. The roads are steep and winding, and even though they're in a hurry, the sky has opened up, making the already somewhat treacherous roads worse.
"Sorry," he says, his foot bouncing.
"I know," she says, daring a glance at him, then down to the GPS. He wonders if she's checking her route or if she's watching the minutes seem to stay stuck on three, like he is. He swears it said three minutes until they arrive three minutes ago.
There's a sound of crashing, and he frowns. "Was that thunder?" Will asks, trying to make sense of the red spark he thinks he saw ahead. "Lightning?" He tries to look through the trees, wondering if they just missed an odd lightning strike.
"It's alchemy," Mustang says in a tight voice from the back. Will turns in his seat to look back at, almost surprised to see him leaning between the seats to have a better look through the window. "That light—that was an alchemical reaction," he says. " Soul alchemy. I think we can safely assume that we're dealing with a red stone." He looks grim as he says it.
"How can you be sure?" Will asks, not quite shouting in the confines of the car, but he's pretty sure that Mustang's hearing is still not quite back online.
"The color," Mustang says. "You don't forget that color."
Will thinks of the glow on Mustang's wrist, matches it to the glimpse of something he saw through the trees.
"We're almost there," Seaver says, but he doesn't feel the SUV go any faster.
"Drop me off," Mustang says. "If you can grab your colleagues, do so, but then get out there. As fast as you can without driving off the road."
Will isn't sure if Emily could actually hear him or just read his lips, but she says, "We're not leaving you." She and Will both start pulling out their guns, preparing for the worst.
Mustang meets her eyes, gaze bleak and uncompromising. "I'm not explaining to Ed why I let you die facing down Kimblee. You will flee. I'd tell Maes to do the same."
"But would he do it?" Seaver challenges, turning down a path that's more dirt than road and is quickly becoming more mud than either.
Mustang doesn't answer her, and Will doesn't think it's because he knows Hughes would leave.
"These are our people out there too," Will reminds him. "We ain't just going to leave ya'll."
"Kimblee is not your fight," Mustang says, voice tight with what sounds like anger.
"There!" Seaver interrupts as the headlights illuminate Reid and Hughes crouching in the muck like some sort of oddly perfect tableau out of a horror film, Kimblee over them in the doorway of the barn. Will would swear he sees the man grin, not a happy smile, but the kind of grin that someone wears before they do something truly terrible.
"Hold on!" Mustang yells, with barely enough time to brace before an explosion rocks the SUV. All of the windows on the front of the SUV break, and only one of the headlights remains, lighting up a giant stone wall that leapt into being between Reid, Hughes, and Kimblee. "Out!" Mustang shouts, getting out himself, running into the dark.
"Colonel Mustang! Is that you out there?" Kimblee yells through the rain while they all get out, stumbling into the rain, disoriented from the shock the SUV took. Seaver runs around the back of the car to meet him and Emily. "Haven't you learned anything, colonel? You're useless in the rain!" Kimblee's cackle seems to carry even through the heavy rain, and thunder rumbles overhead.
Blue-white lightning jumps across the ground, racing toward Kimblee, and he just manages to jump away as the ground beneath his feet begins to rise up and toss him about. Will isn't sure if he imagines hearing the clap before Kimblee slams his hands on the ground, but he doesn't imagine the explosion that nearly blows all three of them off their feet. It blows out the remaining headlight on the SUV, leaving them in almost total darkness.
"Come out, come out, Colonel," Kimblee taunts. "I've always wanted to test myself against the Hero of Ishval…"
"We should try to get to Reid and Hughes," Seaver says low into his ear. "They looked like they were in a protected position. I don't know if the car will drive, even if it were safe to start it again."
They creep quick and low to where they think they last saw Reid.
"Oh, Colonel Mustang…" Kimblee calls out in a singsong voice. "It looks like you've learned some new tricks. Come show me what the Fullmetal brat taught you. I'm sure that I can kill you, just like I killed him."
Even Will can tell the taunts are meant to make Mustang respond, but the final one works.
"He's not dead!" Mustang snarls, blue-white lightning lighting up the area again, enough for them to see where Reid and Hughes are and move toward it, getting behind it just in time for half of a front wall of the barn to get taken out, along with the ground shuddering.
"Reid!" Emily gasps with relief.
"We're okay," Reid rushes to assure.
"Where's Rossi?" Will asks.
Hughes shakes his head. "He was in the barn with us when Kimblee showed up. We haven't seen him since."
"How did this even happen?" Seaver asks, putting her hand on the wall of stone they're hiding against.
Will sees the dim red glow before Reid even opens his palm, revealing what's undoubtedly what Mustang called a "red stone." "The stone's real. And it works," Reid says.
"We need to get it to Roy," Hughes says, low and urgent.
"But Reid can use it?" Seaver asks. "Wouldn't two alchemists be better than one?"
Another explosion makes the ground tremble on the other side of the stone wall, and Will would swear he feels it shift. "How sturdy is this?" he asks.
"I… I don't really know. I tried to calculate the carbon and silicate percentages in the ground here to create a barrier that would protect us from a pretty severe explosion—"
"Reid!" Emily snaps, not mean, just trying to get him to focus. Reid looks ghostly pale in the dim red light of the stone, eyes wide enough to see the whites.
"I don't know!" he snaps back. He closes his hand around the stone and puts both his fists next to his head, curling up. "There's so much information, and so many calculations, I'm just not sure."
"Calculations?" Seaver asks.
"As Roy and Edward are fond of saying," Hughes says, risking a glance around the side of their stone protector—not that Will has any idea of what he sees in this pitch blackness. "Alchemy is a science. It's not magic. But I don't know what someone who isn't an alchemist using the stone will do to so someone or how much you can use it before you trigger a rebound."
That doesn't sound good. "What exactly is a rebound?" Will demands, then they all flinch and hide as another explosion goes off. This one leaves Kimblee coughing, so it must have been closer, more dangerous for him.
The cough trails off into the kind of laugh that causes the hair on the back of Will's neck to stand up. "Oh, you have learned some new tricks," he says.
"Stay away from them!" Mustang shouts, and Will pulls up his gun. Emily and Seaver mirror his motions, getting into a defensive position around Reid and—to a lesser extent—Hughes. More lightning chases across the ground, ending beneath the SUV and blowing it up properly, setting the gas tank alight. It brings light back to the area, but Will's not sure if that's a positive.
"Now!" Hughes hisses, grabbing Reid's arm, dragging him around the corner of the stone. Will wants to protest that the wall they're behind is defensive, but it's really only a minimal defense, protecting them from one direction, and Kimblee was obviously coming for them. It isn't going to be enough for long. He and Emily trade a look, but Seaver doesn't waste time, following them, leaving Emily and Will bringing up the rear.
"Very cute, colonel," Kimblee says. "Lighting a fire even in this downpour. You are truly an artist with flame."
Another crash sounds, shaking the earth, and they make a dash for the barn. They make it in and immediately start moving away from the door.
"Why the barn?" Will asks, seeing another stone monolith rising from the floor, rain pouring in around it. "It looks like this whole place could fall collapse."
"We need Kimblee in here," Hughes says, moving deeper without any regard for whether or not anyone but Reid is following.
"That makes sense!" Reid says, sounding almost surprised. "It's dry in here—well, mostly. He can use fire."
"Exactly," Hughes says, his voice hard. "It looks like Roy's picked up some tricks from Edward, but fire is what he specialized in, and it's what he knows how to fight best with. We need to be where he can make use of that. Kimblee's going to come after the stone, so we have to lure him in here." He points to the floor as if to make his point.
There's a groan in the barn, then lightning strikes, so close that it blinds them for a moment and the building shakes with the crash of the thunder.
"Rossi?" Seaver asks, seeming to recover first, making her way toward the groan.
"JJ?" Rossi asks, sounding disoriented. Seaver locates him and pads over to him on surprisingly light feet. Cautiously, the rest of them follow her, moving deeper into the barn, trying to keep an eye toward the doorway, but not a lot of light is coming from the flaming car, and everything is cast in shadows.
"It's Ashley Seaver," Seaver corrects, crouching at his side. "JJ is with Elric and Morgan, remember?"
He begins to try to push himself up, but she puts a hand on his shoulder. "Stay still," she tells him. "You might have a concussion."
"Shit," Will says, fumbling for his phone. "We need to call for an ambulance. And backup."
"What good will backup do against Kimblee?" Hughes asks, the question even enough that he's sure it's sincere. "Just more people for him to use as target practice."
The barn shakes with another explosion, dust pouring down from the rafters, and the barn groaning worryingly.
"It doesn't matter," Will says with a sigh. "No signal." He puts his phone back in his pocket.
"Crawford told us at the beginning the signals here are spotty, especially during storms."
"I've got the stone?" Reid says. "Maybe I can do something—"
"No," Hughes cuts him off firmly. "The less you use that the better."
"But why?" Reid demands, and something in his voice is just a tiny bit… off. Not hysterical, but not rational.
"Because rebound kills alchemists," Hughes snaps back at him. "I don't know how long or how much you can use it before it stops doing what you want it to and kills you. It needs to be in the hands of a real alchemist."
Reid folds his arms defensively for a moment, but then seems to shake himself. "I feel like… I feel like I did…" he trails. "Maybe someone else should hold onto it." He holds out his open palm to Hughes. That red glow seems ominous in the darkness of the barn.
For a long moment, Hughes stares at it, then reaches up to close Reid's fingers over it. "No," he says, like he wishes he didn't have to. "I don't know how to use it at all. Neither does anyone else. It's best if the one person other than Roy who can use it, holds onto it till we can get it to Roy. But only until we can get it Roy, and only use it if there's no other choice."
They hold eyes for a long moment.
"Guys, I don't want to be an alarmist," Seaver interrupts, drawing their attention to her, "but I don't think we can move Rossi."
She holds up a hand, and there's just enough light coming in from the burning car to glisten off what must be blood.
"We really do need an ambulance," Will hisses, biting back a curse.
"I'm fine," Rossi says.
"No," Seaver tells him, "you're not. You can't move unless we don't have a choice."
"Do we have a choice?" Will asks sincerely as another concussion shakes the barn. More dust falls from the rafters, raining down on them, and the barn groans again.
"Maybe…" Reid begins hesitantly, then continues more firmly. "Maybe I can reinforce the barn?"
"Is that safe?" Seaver asks.
Hughes and Reid both exchange looks. "You said not to use it unless we didn't have a choice…" Reid begins but glances around pointedly. "We're all probably dead if the barn falls down around us, and if Mustang needs to be in here…"
Looking away, Hughes says, "Do it," almost like he's angry.
Reid doesn't wait for further permission, crouching down to the floor, putting his hand on it, and that red that glows like Will thinks hell must, begins to shine around him, then spreads around the floor before creeping up the walls. The barn creaks and groans as it straightens, settles, making the entire interior glow that hellfire red.
"Guys," Will says, staring at the front of the barn as some of the beams seem to get thicker, as if by magic. He pulls his gun up and aims. "We got problems."
Kimblee stands in the doorway. Will doesn't warn, doesn't wait; he pulls the trigger.
Next time I tell you to shoot—shoot.
Will doesn't need to be told.