Chapter 27

The ground shook violently to the tune of another earthquake, about 7.1 on the richer-scale. But it wasn't Noah Mahjongg would had caused it, although by the appearance of things Noah had indeed been the cause. Envy was in control of Noah's body and had all the Alchemist's powers at his fingertips. Despite using the body as yet another vassal, all of Noah's powers now belonged to him!

Both company in the bottom of the considerable large crater forgot about their personal quarrel and tilted their glances towards him. Edward breathed out a sense of relief that his new-found friend had come to his rescue. With one broken arm and up against to-date his most powerful adversary, he thought this was going to be his last hooray. But then he felt uneasy when he looked at Noah's face and at the dark blue eyes that stared down at him. That was not Noah. It was Noah's body, but he felt a sinister presence inhabiting his body.

Since becoming an Alchemist, he had come to embrace certain ideologies and feelings about people. He couldn't explain the feeling he was getting about Noah - but this was not his friend. And when he looked at Kaoru's face and saw a thin grin upon his face that confirmed his suspicion about the Alchemist.

"Glad you can join us, Envy," Kaoru said, sensing his powerful ally inhabiting the Alchemist's body. "I see you finally rid yourself of that weak girl."

"I had too," Envy replied from the top of the crater. "It was the only way I could do this!"

And Envy tightened his right fist and slammed it to the ground beside him. And suddenly, a stone hand erected itself out of the ground from beneath Kaoru and clasped around him, squeezing him tight. Edward took a few steps back shocked and dumbfounded. I thought these two were on the same side? He then looked back at Noah, who was now Envy. He morphed into his Homunculus counterpart.

Kaoru gritted his teeth and then screamed out in pain as the stone closed in around him, crushing him. "Stop it!" Edward them shouted. "You'll killing'em!"

"That's the whole point, Edward," Envy said slyly, sliding down the edge of the crater. He approached the others and chuckled in his usual unabated manner. "I'm tried of being the puppet. Did you really think I'd wait around for you to restore your strength and then obey you without question?" Kaoru snarled at him like a rabid dog. "I was biding my time for just such an opportunity."

"I don't understand, I thought you two were partners," Edward said. "He told me your whole plan."

"He told you his plan. Funny how he didn't include me in his dream of conquest. It didn't really matter, 'cause throughout it all I was really using him to get what I wanted. And now it's at hand." He plucked the sword from Kaoru's trapped hand. Kaoru shouted, "No, give it back!" But Envy just laughed.

Envy held the sword in his right hand and looked at the blade as light from a break in the cloud cover gleamed across its rustic surface. "At last, it's mine - Hohenheim of Light's sword. Ever since I heard of its existence and its powerful legacy I couldn't stop thinking about it and its immense power."

Edward stood reeling in pain from his broken arm and said, "And what do you intend to do with it?"

"What else? Use it. But for a more loftier purpose."

"I won't let you," Edward then said.

"And how do you intend to stop me with a broken arm. You can't perform Alchemy in your condition."

"Who says I need my arms to do Alchemy," he said, and suddenly pulled off his boots. He rolled over onto his back and clapped his feet together and then slammed his Automail hand to the ground beside him, creating a stone fist that popped out of the ground and hit Envy square in the jaw, throwing him backwards.

Envy landed and then grasped his chin reeling in the pain Edward Elric's unexpected use of Alchemy had done to him. He never expected that, he never even thought that was possible. He jerked his head back to the other and said, "How the hell did you do that? Alchemy is done with the hands, not with the feet!"

"And who told you that?" Edward said, still seated. He clapped his feet again and slammed his Automail hand to the ground beside him. Another stone fist ejected itself from the ground in front of Envy, hitting him in the face as he tried to get to his feet. Envy somersaulted back and landed on his back. Edward knew he had to do something before Envy found a way to evade his attacks and quickly conjured up a stone cell from the stone and dirt around the Homunculus and encased him inside. This is how he trapped his counterpart inside his mind. But he knew it wouldn't be so easy to stop this Envy.

And he was right, because soon after he built the cell it was blown to pieces by Envy's new-found Alchemy powers. Shards of stone scattered in every direction and at the middle of the explosion Envy stood pissed off. He was angry. But Edward couldn't concern himself with that, and continued his attack, erecting yet another stone cell around Envy, and another, and another, and another, until there were four cells overlapping each other, like the layers of some ancient temple built over the existing ones.

Edward hoped he had stopped him. But seconds later a series of explosions denied his hope as Envy broke free of each cell, throwing stone everywhere. Edward ducked behind Kaoru's entrapment to escape from the flying debris. "Nice try, Edward, but your attempts to trap me are futile," Envy said. "As long as I inhabit Noah Mahjongg's body and possess his power, I remain an unstoppable force."

Edward was starting to believe he was right. But everyone had a weakness. And despite Envy's newfound wealth of power, he failed in one ratio: experience. Edward had been trained in situations like this when he attended the Alchemist school in Central. Granted, he was on the road most of the time on missions for the State and on his own personal quest for the Philosopher Stone, but each mission he undertook gave him valuable insight into other Alchemist's minds and he had stored that information away for just such a case. Envy was different, however, he wasn't an Alchemist, he was just some maniac who stumbled upon a fortunate happenstance - and that, Edward thought, could be the advantage in the fight he was looking for.

But first thing was first, he had get that sword away from Envy. Somehow that thing was amplifying his power to such an extent that nothing he did to stop him worked.

Edward hid behind Kaoru's entrapment and tried to think of a way to beat Envy, but the pain of his broken arm was so overwhelming that his mind could focus on little ease.

"Stop hiding, Edward, there's no chance in hell you're getting outta this one," Envy said.

Suddenly an idea came to him and he looked at his Automail hand. He'd forgotten the new addition he'd made to Winry's work - his detachable hand. Of course if he used his remote access to control it off his arm his arms would be completely useless. No, it was too much of a risk to take. If he lost use of his Automail hand he'd have no way to defend himself from Envy's attacks and he'd be a goner for sure. But then he thought at this point he had nothing to lose.

Using remote control, he commanded his hand to detach from its socket and walk on its own. He just hoped it didn't malfunction like it did before. Al had to restrain him when his delusions that were created by Envy masquerading as his own guilt for what he had done to Al, were credulously compromising his ability to separate reality from fantasy and turned to physical violence. Al used an Alchemy binding spell to hold him down while he went through his bouts. It was by use of his remote hand that he was about free Al's hands that were duct taped to his head when Al brought him out of his mind trap, cutting the tape with scissors. After that, for some unknown reason, his hand went berserk. He hoped the neuro command pathways had rectified themselves and things were working correctly now.

As his hand left his side, Envy suddenly came around and found Edward sitting down unarmed. Envy saw Edward's hand moving on its own and laughed. "Planning on using that trick again, Edward," he said. "You really are outta ideas to save yourself, aren't you? Embrace your fate and I promise to kill you quickly."

"You know, Envy, I'll oughta really give you a hand," and Edward signaled his hand to attack. Crawling swiftly like a spider, it then leapt onto Envy and clamped tightly onto his face like some sort of face-hugger. Envy staggered backwards using a hand to try to pull Edward's detached hand off his face, but his efforts met with little success. Then he dropped the sword and used both hands in attempt to pull it off his face, but the servos of Edwards's hand were retaining their grip and even started to clamp harder.

The sword! Edward saw it laying there unattended. But there was a problem. He couldn't hold it. He had no hands to grasp it.

Suddenly another problem arose and Kaoru started to brake free of his entrapment. Edward quickly got to his feet and fled before an explosion of rock and debris forced him to fall and tumble over. Kaoru once again free reached down for the sword and gripped it tightly in his right hand. Then he looked over at Edward who swallowed nervously. In focusing on one enemy he opened himself up to an attack from another and this time he had no way to defend himself. He had forgotten about Kaoru and never even considered that he'd free himself from Envy's trap. He was so wrong. And now he was royally screwed.

Kaoru looked at him like a man who was intensely angry at the whole world and wanted everyone to know it. Edward thought quickly and used his feet to perform Alchemy and erected a wall between him and Kaoru, but the mad Alchemist just sliced it half with the sword, then shattered it into tiny pieces with one touch of his hand. He didn't need to clap his hands together to use Alchemy, he had the sword which amplified his powers. "Alphonse, if you're in there - if ever I needed you most, I need you now, brother," he said.

And suddenly, almost instantaneously, he got an answer.

But not where he expected it from.

To be continued...