Chapter Twelve:
The car ride to Harding's hiding place was thick with tension. None of the agents or the alchemists were strangers to this sort of tension, however. It was the tension created from everyone in the group doing the exact same thing: running through all of the worst-case scenarios they could envision. As usual, they were separated into two cars, with the only difference from previous trips being that the alchemists were riding in the second car. Hotch had been of the opinion that Harding might foresee them coming and choose to ambush them, knowing that the alchemists usually traveled in the front car. So, Hotch had suggested they travel in the second car, just in case. The alchemists had simply agreed.
It was quiet in the car when a sudden ringing noise startled everyone out of their pre-mission thoughts. Rossi pressed a control on his phone and a familiar voice called out a greeting.
"Hey everyone, I've got both cars patched in. I'm watching the live feed from the cameras surrounding Harding and the buildings next to and across from it. So far he hasn't done anything exciting. No movement, no strange lights, not a peep from him. I've got a couple of the cops here watching the feed from when Prentiss left up to when I started, just in case he managed to sneak out, but so far I've got a whole lot of nada." Garcia sounded slightly annoyed at that.
"Thanks for the update, Garcia. You do have a camera that's got the alleyway opening in its sight, right?" Rossi asked. He knew already that she would have, but it didn't hurt to double check.
"You wound me, Rossi. Of course I do. A storage place across the street from it has one aimed right at it." Garcia scoffed in a joking manner.
"Thanks, mama. You're the best," Morgan's voice sounded over the phone.
"Of course I am. I'll call you back if Harding moves. Stay safe."
"Always do, baby girl." A series of beeps indicated the end of the call as soon as Morgan spoke. Ed and Mustang couldn't help but wonder how much easier it'd be if Amestris had access to the same technology. Ed was curious to know how hard it would be to get someone to give him the information to make some of the technology available before they returned to their own dimension.
The car slowed down as they turned a corner and both alchemists readied themselves for a fight as the cars slowly drew to a stop, nearly a block away from their target. The group gathered just in front of the first car, all facing towards the building where they knew Harding was supposedly located.
"That's the target building, the grey one with the red door," Hotch indicated as he spoke. "Now, the alley is blocked at both ends by security fences and locked gates. I had Garcia contact as many of the buildings' owners as she could and everyone has said their buildings are locked and that the gates and fences were still intact as of yesterday. The only opening we know of is the alley closest to us. I know Garcia said that she hadn't seen anything suspicious yet, but is there anyway Harding could've left the building and avoided the cameras?" He directed the last question at the two alchemists.
Mustang took the first initiative. "There's the possibility that he made a tunnel that helped him escape underground but he would have no clue how many cameras we'd have access to. Fullmetal, what do you think?" He handed control of the conversation over to his subordinate, who was deep in thought.
"Garcia said that she didn't see any flashes of light, right?" Without waiting for a response, he continued with his train of thought. "I suppose he could've used our idea and just blown some holes through the adjoining walls until he got out, but Garcia would've captured the lights on film. Those windows would've done fuck all to block the light of the alchemic reaction. Do her cameras cover the rooftops as well?" he asked, this time wanting a response. When none were forthcoming, he knew his answer. "Can one of you call her and find out?" JJ nodded and stepped aside to make the call.
"What are you thinking?" Morgan asked, his brows furrowed a bit as he tried to follow Edward's logic.
"Well, assuming we don't have any camera coverage, he could've used the rooftops to move about unnoticed," Edward explained just as JJ finished up her phone call.
"Garcia says that none of the cameras cover the rooftops."
Edward swore softly and rubbed his hand over his face. "Okay. We can't do anything unless we know for certain he's in there, right?" Hotch nodded in answer to his question. "Fine, I'll get us that confirmation." Mentally preparing his tracking array, he clapped his hands together and activated it. He forced the energy to go outwards in every direction. As he suspected, the buildings were empty, including Harding's hideout.
Suddenly, a colour flared in response to his energy. Spinning, he ended up facing in the opposite direction. There! Harding was right there! Somehow he'd gotten behind them and was four buildings away from where they had expected him to be. The rogue alchemist was about to kneel on the ground when Ed realised where he was and what he was about to do.
"Mustang! Four down, on my right!" Edward yelled as he ended his transmutation. Pushing the sleeves on his left arm up, he activated his absorption array just as he heard two quick snaps and felt heat rush past him. He looked up, just as Harding took cover, the fireballs hitting where he'd been standing just a second before. The agents took cover behind the cars, and Edward crouched down next to Mustang and Hotchner. "He has a Stone. I could sense its energy this time, and it's powerful." He clapped again and transmuted his signature blade.
"Shit. At least we've got confirmation now."
Edward scoffed. "Yay for us. Now the plan's all screwed to hell. Now we've gotta figure out a way to get the Stone from him while he's in the open and has the tactical advantage."
"You were actually going to follow the plan? I thought you would've just fallen back on your go-to plan. You know, blow shit up and hope the bad guy gets caught under it." Mustang smirked as he tugged on his glove, ready to snap at the slightest movement from Harding.
"Oh, ha ha. You're hilarious. Although now that you mention it…" Ed replied in a thoughtful voice as he moved into a lax version of his fighting stance.
"You are not blowing up any buildings here," Mustang informed him sternly.
Edward pouted as Hotch signaled for the agents to spread out, trusting them to make the right call. All of the agents had one eye trained on Harding's last known position and the other trained on the alchemists. It was a silent pass over, but everyone knew that Edward and Mustang were calling the shots now. After ten seconds of tense silence, Edward's infamous lack of patience got the better of him.
"Come on Harding! This is boring! We just want to take you back to Central, although we may have to make a small side trip first. Apparently you pissed Truth off when you skipped dimensions and it wants a little chat with you. What do you say? We all know you can't beat Mustang and you sure as shit can't beat me."
As much as he would've liked to do otherwise, Mustang stayed quiet. He knew that Edward was just trying to goad Harding into revealing his position. While not the most tactically sound option, it was classic Fullmetal – loud, brash, and showy.
Edward had his head cocked to one side as he strained his hearing to try and hear if Harding moved. He was about to attempt to provoke Harding again, when something moved in his peripheral vision. Allowing his finely tuned combat instincts take over, he lunged at Mustang and shoved him to the side, forcing him to the ground moments before a boulder the same size as he was smashed into the space where they had just been. As he scrambled back to his feet, he glanced at the rooftops just in time to see Harding lean over to see if his attack worked. With a quick clap, he slammed his hands onto the boulder and created sharp projectiles that he aimed straight for Harding. A series of snaps and fireballs quickly followed his attack, letting him know that Mustang had recovered and rejoined the fight. Edward groaned in frustration as Harding dodged or blocked everything and took off running along the rooftops.
Edward followed no more than a second behind him. Trusting Mustang and the others to follow him, he turned his attention to the fleeing alchemist. He could see a cut on Harding's arm, his sleeve soaked with blood, which gave him a small feeling of pride that quickly vanished when he saw the red-light flash across Harding's wound and heal it. Growling as he ran, he utilised every ounce of his training and experience to dodge Harding's continuous attacks. It didn't take long for Edward to realise that Harding must have prepared earlier, since he had apparently gathered numerous small objects which he then used the Stone to turn into larger weapons to throw at him and Mustang.
Edward noticed after dodging several of those attacks that Harding was only targeting Edward himself and Mustang, ignoring the agents completely. Clearly, Harding had decided to take on the two biggest threats first and he really hoped that that decision would come back and bite Harding on the ass. Ed and Mustang continued their own assaults, Mustang snapping and Edward barely slowing down to touch the ground to send up more projectiles, spikes, or stone hands, but Harding was far enough ahead that he had a few seconds to keep dodging or destroying each attack.
Secretly, Edward was glad that he kept using the Stone. He knew the Stones had a short lifespan, and if they could force Harding to use it up, the Stone would rebound on its user. From personal and professional experience, Edward knew that a rebound was never in the unlucky alchemist's favour. That's when Edward noticed a new problem for Harding that might work in their favour. Harding was running out of rooftops. He was going to have to take a stand, which would give Edward a chance to close on him and perhaps steal the Stone.
Harding seemed to have noticed that he was at the end of the row of buildings as well, and exactly as Edward had hoped, he had decided to stop running and simply fight them from the rooftop he was currently standing on. For the next few minutes, it was simply an exchange of attacks, dodges, and blocks, leaving the fight at nearly a standstill. Edward was unable to get any closer to the building, but Harding was unable to get past the combined defenses of Ed and Mustang. After several minutes of this, Harding suddenly changed his attack patterns and sent a large wave of sharp projectiles directly at the agents.
Ed reacted quickly, clapping and slamming his hands into the ground and sending a wave of alchemic energy racing along the pavement and causing walls to rise from the ground to shield the agents and stop the attack before it landed. Unfortunately, that left him wide open and the next thing he knew, a stone pillar created from the side of the building slammed into him, sending him flying before he crashed into a building behind him. He heard people yelling at him as he fought to get air back into his lungs. Coughing, he rolled onto his hands and knees, trying to assess the injuries he'd sustained.
Thankfully, he didn't appear to have many, as his automail seemed to have taken the brunt of the impact. Still, he didn't get out quite unscathed. He could feel blood running down the right side of his face, and the ache in his head just above his eye made him think that the old scar had reopened. He was also certain that at least two of his ribs were bruised or broken, and his shoulder port hurt like a bitch, but Truth kept its word because the automail itself wasn't damaged. His right leg had a decent sized gash on it, and he had a variety of other scrapes and bruises – no doubt he'd be a lot of pretty colours in the morning.
Standing up, he gingerly put weight on his left leg and was pleased to find that it was able to take his weight. The next thing he did was to take stock of his surroundings, particularly how the fight was going. The agents were still using the cover he had transmuted for them to line Harding up in their gun sights, ready to fire once they had an opening. Mustang was still sending his flames at Harding, but the older alchemist's attacks seemed to be getting slower and less powerful for some reason. Then it clicked in Edward's mind.
"Mustang! Activate your array, you idiot!" He ran forward to take his position up again. "I'll give you some cover but hurry up!" Ed clapped his hands together and slammed them into the ground again, but this time, he was taking no prisoners. He didn't like it when people refused to fight fair, so now he wasn't going to either. Instead of creating one stone pillar to knock Harding off the roof and to the ground, he created four – designed to hit him from each direction. While he was doing so, Mustang yanked up his shirt and activated his absorption array.
Ed could see the immediate effect it had on him. Harding used the Stone to stop Ed's attack, but something was immediately apparent. The Stone's reaction time was slightly slower, and Harding had nearly been hit by the pillars.
Mustang resumed his attacks, but his mind clearly wasn't on the fight. "Ed, are you okay? What are your injuries?" Mustang asked, concerned as he sent a large fireball at Harding.
"I'm okay. The Stone's getting slower though. I think it's running out of souls." Edward ignored the second question. His injuries were nothing major. He'd had worse after all. "I don't think it will take much longer before the Stone rebounds." He followed Mustang's fireball with several transmuted spears.
"That's great. What are your injuries?" Mustang wasn't deterred. Obviously, Ed wasn't hurt that badly, since he was fighting alongside him. However, Mustang was also aware of how ridiculous the kid's pain threshold was.
Edward sighed. He knew Mustang was a stubborn bastard and just decided to get it over with. "Nothing major. Couple of broken ribs, a gash on my leg, and my shoulder port feels like someone slammed a stone pillar into it." He sent a surge of alchemic energy up the wall of the building to create a pair of stone hands to squash Harding like a fly, but the arsehole destroyed them before they could make contact. "I'm going to inform Hotch and the others about the Stone so they know what's happening. Give me some cover."
"Hold on, why don't you use the gear they gave you?" Mustang asked, remembering the gadgets they'd been given before they left the police station.
"Because they broke when I was hit." With that, Ed took off in the direction of the agents, weaving through the various obstacles left by the ongoing fight. He was reminded why he hated having broken ribs as he was running over to the agents. He was going to break Harding's ribs and make him run from here to Amestris as payback once this was over. He reached the agents and ducked behind the wall before holding up a hand to stop any oncoming questions.
"Before you ask, I'm totally fine. The Stone's losing power so if you can start taking well aimed shots that force him to use it more, that'd be real handy," Edward said as he wiped a mixture of blood and sweat out of his eyes. "Just try not to hit us, okay?" He flashed them a grin and took off to rejoin Mustang, who was still trying to land a successful blow.
"Damn kid. What does he take us for?" Morgan said as he aimed at Harding and fired off a round which Harding destroyed with the Stone. The other agents followed suit, each firing a round once they had Harding in their crosshairs.
Ed used the distraction the agents offered to create another set of stone hands, this time hoping to simply grab Harding's wrists and force him to drop the Stone. His plan half succeeded, as one hand managed to snag Harding's right wrist and judging by the audible snap of bone and yelp of pain, broke his wrist. Edward felt a feral surge of pride run through him at the sound and pounced on Harding's momentary shock from the pain to transmute another stone hand to grab the other wrist, but Harding recovered enough to use the Stone to destroy it before it could. But in the same moment, one of the agents fired a round and Mustang sent a stream of fire straight for Harding.
Harding managed to deflect the bullet before realising his mistake. He moved a second too late, and the fire engulfed him just as he activated the Stone to deflect it. His screams sent shivers up Ed's spine and he kept screaming for several seconds even after he put the fire out before he fell silent. The only thing holding him in place was the stone hand latched onto his wrist.
"He could be playing possum," Ed ventured after several minutes of silence, still poised to launch another attack. "It could be a trap."
"He could be and it could be, but I doubt it. That attack landed, and it was one of my stronger attacks. Even extinguishing it as early as he did wouldn't have helped much; he'd still be severely injured," Mustang said confidently, lowering his hand.
Edward followed his lead and moved into a relaxed version of his fighting stance. He trusted Mustang's judgment when it came to military and tactical matters – well, most of the time, anyway – but he knew better than to lower his guard completely until the threat was completely eliminated. That was something he'd learned the hard way, after his fight with the Slicer brothers in lab five and the fight with Envy in Gluttony's stomach a few months later.
"Is it over?" Hotch asked, moving out from behind the cover Ed had transmuted for them. The other agents seemed to be following Mustang's lead and had relaxed some, lowering their weapons for the moment.
"Why don't you bring him down, Ed? That building –"
Mustang was cut off by a sudden flash of reddish-purple light suddenly coming from the rooftop near where Harding was slumped over.
"What the –" Mustang gasped, bringing his hand back up to snap, but Ed grabbed his arm to stop him. Mustang glanced over at his subordinate.
The blond had dirt and blood streaked across his face, and his jackets and shirt were torn in several places. But the thing that caught Mustang's attention immediately was the teen's face. His mouth was open in shock and his golden eyes wide in shock and surprise. "What is it, Ed?"
It took Ed a couple of tries, but eventually he answered, his eyes fixed on the rooftop.
"It's a rebound, Mustang. The Stone has reached its limit. It's rebounded back on Harding…and it looks exactly like the reaction from that night."
A/N - As promised, the revised chapter 12! Please let me know what you think!