The compound was brightly lit.
That was problem number one. Problem number one of about 30. There were guards patrolling, tripwires set up every few metres not to mention the cannon turrets and rather nasty looking motion sensors. Strange creatures patrolled the grounds, some odd combination of Doberman and cheetah to Edward's best guess while small machines hovered through the air with handheld weapons.
There even appeared to be more security precautions indoors should they make it past the gate. Edward sighed. "...If there's a bubble, I think I'll cry." He said, eyes darting around and searching for any gap at all in the defences. He shuffled slightly closer to Alphonse, the makeshift prosthetic leg he had creaking slightly at the knee joint. It wasn't up to Winry's usual standards at the least, however, it was only meant to be for a day or two while the real prosthetic had been constructed. Pinnako hadn't counted on Edward skipping out.
"I really should have planned this." Edward muttered to himself, ducking out of sight as one of the droids flew a little too close.
Alphonse waited for it to pass. "You shouldn't worry so much, Brother. The truth is, it's over secure, making it easy for us to get in." Alphonse looked forward smugly.
"I think you're overconfident." Edward replied sullenly, "Which is usually my job. What's gotten into you?"
Alphonse merely smiled at his brother, throwing a single rock onto one of the tripwires.
The effect was instantaneous and rather spectacular, Edward had to admit. The rock triggered the wire, resulting in a small explosion which had droids creatures and security guards swarming on it instantly. Not looking where they were going, the creatures set off a few more of the wires, causing all mayhem to break loose. As the humans tried to get the situation under control, Alphonse made a break for it, hoisting Edward (rather painfully) a long by his left arm. The prosthetic creaked underneath him and chafed at the still semi-raw leg joint that Edward had as they darted around the side of the building, pressed themselves against the wall and panted.
"What did I say?" Alphonse whispered, sounding rather out of breath. "Easy."
Edward frowned. "If you ask me," he said, not willing to give up the win, "It was too easy." He denied the fact he sounded distinctly sulky when he said that and began searching for a way in to the actual compound. "But I suppose this is meant to be a trap." He shook his head with a grin.
Alphonse sighed. "You just don't want to admit that I did good."
"Exactly." Edward replied, darting his eyes around and touching a hand to the wall.
Under his grip, a brick shifted and above them a hole about a metre by a metre opened when a fake panel slid to the left.
Alphonse frowned. "So what do we do now?"
Edward grinned. "Well, we spring their trap." He said, leaping up and snagging the bottom of the board with his right arm. He hoisted himself up and slid into the hole that appeared, hastily whispering for Al to come with him. The shaft was made of metal, and up ahead an iron grate announced it was for ventilation. He shuffled down the tube a bit and Alphonse shuffled in behind him.
"Are you sure about this?" Alphonse asked a little too loudly, earlier bravado gone. "What if we choose the wrong way and end up in a furnace or something?"
Edward harshly whispered "Quiet!" Then frowned as he started crawling arm over arm through the tunnel. "This is a trap." He repeated. "That means they don't want us to die yet. They won't even give us the chance of dying until they want us to."
"Surprisingly," Alphonse replied to that, "You're not giving me much confidence."
"Don't worry, Al." Edward kept moving forward, turning left at a side vent because it looked like the way ahead was clogged. "I won't let them so much as steal your lunch money." He swore he could hear Alphonse's disgusted facial expression and nearly started laughing.
For the first time in his life, Edward was almost too big to fit in the cramped space of the shaft. He had to hold his wings tightly against his body in a way that was totally uncomfortable and made one nearly threaten to seize up. Their centre joint still knocked painfully against the sides of the shaft occasionally and it was hard to muffle his angry swearing and annoyance at the hindering limbs. Whoever designed the wings needed to be shot, in Edward's eyes.
Alphonse too was having a hard time, judging by his silence. Coupled with having to look to one side lest he be confronted with a rather spectacular view of Edward's black-cotton clad rear end He was continually knocking his elbows and knees. Being physically bigger than Edward was having its toll on him, even if his wings were only infantile and smaller. But, being the quiet brother, Alphonse held his tongue as he struck his humorous against a grating and was rewarded with an arm-numbing pain. Alphonse was aware that shuffling through the grates like this was sure to create a lot of noise, and was just about to inform his overly-impatient brother of this fact, when up ahead of them, a grate opened and a human head appeared in the hole.
Edward was grateful for his brother's quick thinking as he felt the tug at the back of his mind that was Alphonse raising an illusion. The human head in front of them looked puzzled for a minute, Asian eyes widening as two angels just disappeared before her very eyes. Recognition struck Edward then, the human was the girl who up until recently had been a guest in the avian prison quarters. She gave a bitter laugh.
"I know you're there, even if I can't see you." She said, looking straight through them. Edward hoped that Alphonse had gotten the view of the vent behind them right and then shook his head. Edward, by way of precaution took out the gun that he had thought to bring along and trained it on the girl. He felt furious at being caught, even though he knew he was going to. "I am going to hereby put my life in your hands because no doubt you have something rather nasty trained on me that would not be nice to have fire."
The girl had an interesting way of talking, Edward noticed, almost childlike, but proper. Like she had been well trained to speak that way from birth. Edward remained silent and still and felt Alphonse doing the same behind him. He noticed just how cramped the vent was, and how there was no way of retreat from their position. He very nearly swore.
"My name," Continued the girl, "Is Ran. Do what you like with it." She sighed, looking not at all scared by her predicament. "However, if you choose to call it, I will take you to your comrade, Eagle-who-thinks-himself-a-fowl."
Edward blanched, knowing she couldn't see it and stared at her incredulously at the name. He felt Alphonse bristle behind him and kicked out gently to make sure that Alphonse stayed quiet. Taking a risk, he spoke up. "Why should I trust you?" He kicked out again to stop Alphonse from saying anything at that point.
The girl smiled softly and coaxingly at him. "You know you are walking into a trap, then, Mr. Angel, yet still you come deeper into the compound than escape permits?" She shook her head. "Not trusting me would be as good as your death, Mr. Angel, for it would mean that our trap has been sprung."
"And vice versa." Edward replied quickly. "Your words mean nothing." Alphonse shuffled behind him.
Ran sighed and dropped out of sight. "You have my word that you will have safe passage to your friend's cell, One-of-flight." She sounded sincere, but sincerity meant nothing. "If you are not satisfied by my word, I will let you continue on without notifying a guard. But you must know something if that is the path you should choose."
Edward shuffled over to the vent so he could look down at her, muffling the noise as best he could. He peered into the room and found that to his surprise she was alone, standing in the centre with no one around her. Ran was looking up at him from the ground as if she knew what he had done. Edward checked the illusion and saw that it was still holding strongly. The girl couldn't see him. "We humans had a project years ago after some rather intelligent person had the idea to defeat angels with an angel. This idea came after many years worth of searching through angel genetic data supplied unwittingly by a four year old specimen. The researchers discovered that angels have an infinite amount of amazing abilities stored in their genes, but have strange DNA strands that prevent them from accessing all but a few choice ones." Edward watched her carefully and saw her frown. "Those working on the project called it a gene lock. Two brilliant scientists by the names of Ana Carlton and Shou Tucker found a chemical formula that could unlock the suppressed DNA and created a two-dose injection to use on the angel child."
Edward had frozen at Ana's name.
"The first injection went as planned, Mr. Eagle, but there was an unexpected side effect to the needle. The child wound up sick for a month, in what was recorded to be excruciating amounts of pain. As a result, the child developed a violent fear of injection and the second shot was never administered. Not shortly after that, the head researcher, Nick Carlton developed cold feet about the whole project, claiming that the child was sentient and it was wrong to subject it to such cruelty. He refused to take further part in the experiment, so the people funding it saw fit to silence him and his wife."
She looked up at them very pointedly at that moment. "If the second injection were to be administered to the child, however, there would occur a being that still was bound by the rules of physics... but instead of being governed by them, would control them."
Edward shattered Alphonse's illusion and dropped down through the hole. There was an ache in his chest, right above his heart. He gave a brief consideration to the fact that the girl didn't even jump. "Why are you telling me this?" He demanded.
She held out a needle to him. It was filled with a golden liquid. "Because now you have a weapon against me, Mr. Angel." She smiled. "Do you have the courage to use it?"
He snatched the needle away from her as he felt Alphonse land on the ground beside him, still cloaked.
"Do you trust me now, Mr. Angel?" Ran asked, her face breaking into an unreadable smile. "Do you trust me that what I have given you is in actual fact the second dosage, and not a poison?"
Edward frowned. "Take me to Mustang." He said, "Or I'll try it on you to find out."
She flinched, then regained her composure.
She led the two brothers through a rabbit-warren of tunnels and turns, darting down corridors that seemingly appeared out of nowhere and skilfully avoiding the guards. Edward was finding it hard to keep pace on the leg he had, it was creaking somewhat ominously now, like it was threatening to give out at any moment. Winry had told him when she fitted it that it wouldn't take much strain, he just hadn't realised how little it really could take. Where it was connected to his real leg was also hurting as the structure rubbed and chafed his still raw skin. Ahead of him, Ran darted down another side corridor and he followed effortlessly, noticing that it was the third time the girl had taken this particular route. He wondered if she was trying to get him lost on purpose, or if she was avoiding guards and security cameras.
He suspected the first.
After another five minutes of the quick pace and constant turning, they approached a door with two guards placed on either side of it. Ran darted into the shadows, Edward following her and Alphonse just staying where he was, for he still refused to come out of being cloaked. He hadn't said anything since the brothers met up with the girl, and Edward believed that the girl didn't know he was there. Edward placed his hand in his coat pocket and fingered the small cylinder of liquid there. He shuddered, taking his hand out of his pocket again.
"We need to gain access into that room." Ran uttered quietly. Edward almost didn't hear her.
Alphonse had already spread his illusion over all three of them once more and Edward noticed Ran jump at the feeling of being cloaked. She wasn't as impervious as she had first seen at all, Edward quickly reassessed. Edward also glanced at Alphonse over his shoulder with a slightly confused expression.
"If what she said is true, brother," Alphonse said, "Then can we really trust your illusion control?"
Ran jumped again, and spun, looking behind Edward at Alphonse. He gave a sheepish smile, realising he'd blown his cover. He added a wave to gait her. Ran scowled fiercely and turned away.
Ed, in all honesty, was worried. He was trying his hardest not to show it, but kept jumping at even the smallest sounds as they made their way towards the guarded door. They stepped through to the next room, Alphonse making the guards believe that the door had not been opened at all, and muffling the sound when they closed it behind them. After giving a quick once over of the new room, Alphonse dropped the illusion cloaking them. Edward barely noticed this, caught up in his thoughts and his plans which were mostly being worked out as he went along. He wondered if any of the predictions he'd made were right and turned to face Ran, looking at the human girl. Ran stopped and pointed to the second exit the room had. It appeared to be a small guard house, with a vending machine in one corner and a table on which a pack of computerised cards lay abandoned. There was a monitor in the corner opposite them, which showed an empty hallway through which they had just come.
"Through there," Ran said, still pointing, "There is a corridor. You are looking for the last door on the left, it will be security locked with the password 'traitor'. You will find who you are looking for in there. However, you must go fast and go carefully; I cannot lead you any further than this point."
Alphonse immediately flared up in anger. "You're coming with us!" he demanded fiercely, "If you leave now, this whole compound will know we're here within five minutes!"
Edward looked at his younger brother and was momentarily amazed at his naïveté. "Al, don't be an idiot." He said, "This whole compound knew we were coming and knew we were here the moment you threw that rock. We're only here because they don't want us dead yet." He looked at Ran accusingly, "And if that didn't do it, Ran here took us through every tunnel with security devices she could find."
The girl in question sighed and lowered her head. "It was my part of this trap." She said, "But now I act as my conscience dictates and I let you go forward instead of killing you here. I will spill no further blood." She frowned. "I leave you with a dire warning, brothers angel, if the one with the Gabriel genes in him uses that injection you hold; there will be no place for him in any society. He will breed fear wherever he walks. It is his fate."
Edward looked at her incredulously. "We have to try to end the war." He said, and grasped his younger brother's wrist, dragging him to the door on the other side of the room and darting through it.
She called after him, "Good luck, Gabriel!" And then was gone.
Al stood outside the door as a sentry as Edward went into the cell at the end on the left. The room he entered was reasonably large and dark, however as soon as he stepped in, somewhere a switch flicked on and he was bathed in light.
Edward felt his breath catch in his throat. At the other side of the room was "Mustang!" He breathed, hardly daring to believe that what he was seeing was real. He took slow and shaky steps towards the avian, reeling in disgust at what he saw, and not moving any faster lest what he was seeing would shatter like a dream in the night. The man was about a foot in the air, and nailed to the wall by his black, nearly featherless wings. He was stripped down to a cloth that barely hid his privates, and there were ugly gashes and bruises all over his body, including a nasty one across his chest that looked like it would get infected, if it wasn't already. His hands were manacled to the ceiling above him; the strain of his weight had dislocated his shoulders. His face was slumped forward, his fingers broken and his dark hair matted with dried blood. Edward took to the air and reached up to touch the man's face, which was all too pale. He brushed a lock of hair out of the unconscious man's eyes. "Roy." He breathed again, assured that the man was still alive only by the weak gust of air that touched his fingers when they paused near the man's lips.
There came a small groan from above him, when Edward turned to inspecting the man's chest wound. It was so quiet and he would have thought he had imagined it if it were not for what came after. "Ed... ward?" He heard the man above him whisper and he looked up to meet dull black eyes.
And before he knew what was doing, Edward had kissed him.
A/n: Okay. I'm sorry. I know leaving it there was evil and heartless (Hee. Heartless... Wait, wrong fandom.) But mushy kiss scenes aren't my thing. I can't write them. At all. I am le suck at writing kisses. (However, give me a scene with lots of blood and gore and I'm fine. Funny the way the world works.)
Put your own kiss here.
So now you know what happened to Roy. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW? HE'S NOT DEAD!
-Gets beaten up anyway for torturing him and nailing him to a wall-
Umm... yeah. Next chapter is already about 1/3 written, but it was written AGES ago and my writing was crap back then so I've got a crapload of fixing to do. (Also, the original plot it was written for and the one that finally eventuated are a wee bit different. So I've gotta fix up the gaps.)
But damn. There's only next chapter and the one after to go, folks. (This may become three chapters, depending on how long one of the scenes goes next chapter.)
Leave a little review? -Shakes can and gives the pleasedon'thurtme look-