Chapter 13

Pride and Lilly sat in some over grown bushes, more dead sticks than leaves, and peered over. They were on one side of the factory parking lot, the factory being on the other side.

"Well?" Lilly asked. Pride turned towards her, waiting for her to elaborate. "Well do you think someone's been here?"

"Oh someone has definitely been here, or that lot and the factory would be deteriorating from lack of use. Whether it's the person we're looking for or not is a completely different story."

"Then we better find out," Lilly said.

Yes, he knew that. He couldn't say he cared for people, and certainly not the annoying Lilly or paranoid strangers in this town, but he still had at least a grudging respect for the Doctor. Besides, if they didn't save her, they might end up here forever.

He got up, gestured for her to follow, and moved along the edge of the parking lot, trusting the angle of the windows to keep them hidden. Once they reached the factory, he moved sideways along the wall until he came to a door. He pulled on it. Nothing happened.

"Worth a shot," he said under his breath.

He clapped his hands and pressed them to the door, effectively taking out the lock. The door opened inwards slightly.

"Was the alchemy?"

Lilly jumped so high she was aiming for the second floor. Pride clapped his hands and spun towards the voice. A man was standing there, largely built, if not very tall, with black hair and a beard. Mic.

"Easy there. You wouldn't want to attack an ally, would you?"

Pride had no problem attacking allies.

The last time you killed your "ally" you almost froze to death, and the time before that he stopped you from taking Edward Elric as a container.

Pride mentally shoved the voice that sounded a lot like the Doctor's out of his head. Those two hadn't gone wonderfully, but there were other times it had worked out. But right now, he was physically incapable of doing so and this man might still be helpful, so he wouldn't anyway.

"How do we know you're our friend?" he asked instead. "You could've lured us out here."

Mic opened his mouth. And shut it again. "I-well-er."

"Pride, if he did want us to come out here, I don't think it was for any bad reason," Lilly said.

"I suppose anyone smart enough to trick us would be smart enough to have an answer by now," Pride admitted. "So what are you doing here?"

"Coming to investigate with you of course. I know something's up here. I couldn't get in on my own, but I knew you two would head straight for this place. It was sort of obvious, sorry. Didn't expect you to be an alchemist though. I thought you needed a circle for that."

"Well someone does need work on acting," Pride said. He ignored the comment about alchemy. Pride knew his planet wasn't the only one that used it. It was just possibly less common here, and even in Amestris, not many people knew about circle-less alchemy. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"Come in, of course. My brother's one of the people taken. I intend to help him." He paused. "You two don't have to come though. I don't actually want to put you in danger."

Pride sighed and tired to figure out how to tactfully tell this guy to shove it.

"We'll be grateful for your help," Lilly said. "But we're not leaving. Our friend's disappeared and we're going to rescue her. And," she glanced at Pride, "both of us are older than we look. We've accepted the dangers."

Mic looked them up and down. "If you say so. We'll just have to work together then."

Oh it would be a miracle if they got anything done. "Fine. Let's go then," Pride said, giving up. "Quietly. They might not have noticed us yet."

He slipped through the door into the hall inside. The other two followed, but Mic had to crack the door open slightly more and it creaked. Pride grimaced before schooling his expression and looking around. The hall they were in was crammed with old scrap metal, and spider webs were strung between the cracks. It was dark in here, and cooler than outside. It was clear no one was using this entrance. There was no power in the section. Light was coming in from the open door, but. . .

"Close the door," Pride said.

"What?" Lilly asked. "We'll be trapped in the dark."

Pride shifted to one side and pushed the door, despite her being in front of it. "Just do it."

The door closed. It was extremely dark, but not totally. Pride could see a thin thread of gray light coming from the floor above, a crack between ceiling and wall.

"There's something up there," he said.

"Can we open the door again?" Mic asked. "Only I think it'll be easier to get across this room if we can see."

Yes, any other obvious statements you'd like to make?

Pride waved a hand for him to go ahead. As soon as there was light again, Lilly took the lead, creeping around the metal bars lying around. She tried to climb over a particularly large piece of machinery. The bit she was holding came loose and fell off, crashing into the poles below with multiple clangs. Lilly, for her part, also fell off, and probably would've made a lot of noise as well if Mic hadn't caught her.

She looked at the two of them sheepishly, the sound of a metal pole rolling away in the background. "Sorry."

[Some day, after I finish, I'm going to go back and read all of these and an audience member, rather than a writer. It's been so long since I started, I've probably forgotten some of the specifics anyway.]