A/N: I apologize for the random wait for this chapter… really, really bad writer's block. I am still not entirely satisfied with it. :/ And Hughes is fighting Lust. The winner of the competition was ChibiUchiha723! This chapter is dedicated to you. ^_^ You may now brag about your brilliant detective skills to other people! :P
Chapter 27-
"LUST!" Hughes shouted, lunging for the female homunculus. Lust sent her deadly nails shooting towards Hughes, forcing him to stop his own attack and dodge. Hughes then immediately attempted to attack again.
Lust was puzzled by this. She had never directly impacted the vampire's life- so then why was he so vicious in his attacks? It was as if he had a personal vendetta against her or something. Lust, on the other hand, had just been ordered to kill the vampire, seeing as he would be one of their more powerful enemies. However, killing the experienced vampire was proving to be much more of a challenge than she'd originally thought.
"You seem particularly angry at me, Maes Hughes. Why don't you and me spend some alone time together? I'll ease your anger with a little… reward." Lust spoke in the most lustful and seducing tone she could muster. Her voice dripped with the offer of physical pleasure as she attempted to distract Hughes with her beauty.
Hughes swiped at her with claws nearly as sharp as her own nails. "Your tricks won't work on me," he scowled. "Why would I need a fake like you when I have my own beautiful wife at home?"
Suddenly Hughes paused and tensed, glancing briefly at the wall that separated him and Havoc.
"You can smell it, can't you?" Lust smiled sadistically. "Your friend bleeding to death at Wrath's hands."
Hughes' eyes narrowed, and he disappeared into the next room with incredible speed. Lust casually followed, examining her nails as she went.
"Havoc!" Hughes frowned, ignoring Wrath and crouching down beside the injured officer. Havoc's eyes were wide and unfocused; he was just barely alive, but Hughes didn't think Havoc would survive long enough for him to use his healing technique, let alone long enough to get to a hospital. Hughes then heard Havoc's heart abruptly stop beating. Havoc was dead.
Hughes scowled, trembling slightly in anger. His eyes flickered red for the briefest of moments, but quickly returned to their usual dark brown. He left Havoc's side, standing so he faced Wrath and Lust.
"You… are responsible!" He yelled in rage, and with those words lunged at the two homunculi. They split to either side so that Hughes was in the middle, meaning that he would have his back to one of them at all times. Hughes attempted to keep up with the constant attacks from both sides, but he was not always quick enough to avoid both Wrath and Lust. Slowly, the two homunculi began to injure him. If he wanted victory, he'd need a hand with this fight. Hughes was so mad, so concentrated on his fight with the two killer homunculi, that he never even sensed the twenty approaching humans.
However, the he certainly noticed the humans when they burst into the room with guns, knives and other weapons.
"H-homunculi! Open fire!" the leader shouted uncertainly. The Hunters lined up and pulled the triggers, narrowly missing Hughes. While they were primarily aiming for Wrath and Lust, none of the Hunters would be at all remorseful about shooting Hughes. He was a vampire, after all. The Hunters were his natural enemy.
Three of the humans split off to one side under the protection of their colleague's weapons, heading directly to where Havoc lay. They had first aid kits with them, and as Hughes watched out of the corner of his eye as he dodged both the Homunculi and the Hunters, they hooked Havoc up to some sort of portable breathing machine and started CPR.
Hughes unintentionally held his breath as the humans attempted to resuscitate the military officer, but the sound of Lust yelling soon dragged his attention back to the fight he was currently in the middle of.
"Meddlesome pests!" Lust hissed, annoyed. "Soon you will all be slaves to us. We, the supernatural ones, will rule Amestris!"
Lust sent her nails out, splitting two of the Hunter's guns in half and stabbing one Hunter in the shoulder. The man instantly collapsed. This apparently angered one of his colleagues, as one sharp shooter managed to land a bullet in Lust's forehead, taking one of her lives. She healed in front of their stunned eyes.
"None of you have ever fought a homunculus before, have you?" Lust slowly smirked.
"Amateurs like yourselves will never stand a chance against superior beings like ourselves. Especially when we have the power of the Truth at our command!"
"There it is!" Alphonse shouted as he, Mustang and Falman arrived at the Homunculus' disguised hideout. "Brother did say it was this one, right?"
"It has to be," Mustang replied calmly, still regaining his composure after his fight with Pride. "I can hear gunfire inside."
The three entered, finding themselves at the same forked path Hawkeye and the others had faced not an hour ago. Off to their left an array of gunfire from multiple weapons could be heard; however, Mustang could hear the faint sound of a single gun off to his right if he concentrated. He knew the sound of that gun.
"The Lieutenant's down the right hand tunnel." Mustang commented, staring down the dim path until the darkness covered his view.
"But something's definitely happening up the left hand one…" Al frowned. What if one of his dear friends was lying dead on the ground at that very moment?
"Sir, I'll take the right hand tunnel if you and Alphonse want to search the left hand one for the Lieutenant. I'll bet that Edward's with her." Falman spoke.
Mustang pondered the idea for a moment. "Alright; that sounds reasonable. Remember that our goal is to eliminate every homunculus connected to the Gate."
"Yes sir," Falman saluted, and he headed up towards the fight with the hunters, Hughes, and Lust and Wrath. Mustang turned and strode down the right hand tunnel with Al following closely.
The two travelled in silence for a few minutes until they passed a large hole in the wall, which dropped down into pure darkness. It was impossible to tell how much distance a fall would be. Straight after that, the two walked straight into a portion of the tunnel that was completely covered in dust.
"What the…?" Mustang muttered, and he sneezed.
"Colonel!" Al yelled worriedly, and he pointed to some splatters of blood on the ground. They were from Hawkeye's fight with Gluttony.
Mustang frowned. "Let's keep going." Al nodded and the two increased their pace, nearly running down the tunnel. Unfortunately, when they turned a corner fifteen minutes later, they were going too fast to stop quickly and they smashed straight into Lieutenant Hawkeye.
She coughed, holding her arm lightly. "While it's good to see you, Colonel…" she narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Get off me!"
Edward tried to breathe. To move. To think. Anything would help, but nothing came to him. He was paralysed by the close vicinity of his soul, and indecision held him to the spot. At this rate, he'd never be able to move unless he made up his mind.
Greed casually strode over to where Ed lay painfully on the floor and kicked him a couple of times, just for the fun of it. Edward coughed up blood, the injuries from Greed's beating accumulating and making each strike more painful than the last. Greed picked Ed up by the throat and smashed his head into a wall, laughing. Ed slid down to the ground, his vision spinning.
Vampires were built to handle pain. He was built to handle pain. But Ed knew that if something didn't change soon, Greed would kill him.