Author's Note: And now the fun begins! I do not own DW or FMA. Read and Review, please! I beg of you!
Chapter 8 Friends and Enemies
Envy's tongue hung out between his teeth, lips parted in a wolfish grin. The white of one of his eyes turned dead black as seven pupils and crimson irises swam madly in the other.
Then his hyena laugh was cut short by the Dalek's death ray blast. The Doctor tensed at the sight of the Homunculus's green backlit skeleton and Elisa suppressed a scream. As Envy slipped limp to hang from the ladder, currents of energy ran over his body.
"Envy!" Elisa cried in a harsh whisper.
The Doctor jumped onto the landing, and confronted the Dalek.
"It's always Earth, isn't it? There must be some reason, some… thing about humans that always makes you come back, isn't there…?"
Elisa, from her perch on the ladder, flinched when she realized that the skin and body of Envy were moving and gathering like suppressed spring.
"Aarrrggh…" then the mass of crimson and jet coils snapped and lunged through the threshold. Envy was insulted. The Dalek is a mutant race that were pitied by a mad scientist. How dare that thing look down on him, Envy, a being created with purpose? "Bastard! That hurt!"
"What is this?" All that the Dalek could see was the snapping of a whip around its tank.
"They say that your weakness is the eyepiece," Envy said. He raised his arm to show its hands growing talons. "Let's see… ah-haha."
Striking like a viper, the Homunculus plunged his talons into the tube. He gripped the other side of the dome with his free hand, and tightened his coils around the unit. Deeper and deeper he sent his arm like a tidal surge until it found the cavern. Still he did not stop. Even a Dalek could scream in the horrors of dismemberment. Envy was humming "Daisy, Daisy" while he was at it. The Homunculus salivated as he felt organs give way to tearing claws and the blood from ruptured veins splattering against his skin. "I give you peace," he whispered through a soft, archaic smile.
As the Dalek's cries died, Envy let out a satisfied sigh and fiddled around in the tank. The death-ray came loose. "Equivalent exchange." He returned to his human form and picked up the gun. "I'd say it's fair." He flicked his eyes up onto the watching Dalek, then to the Doctor.
"Envy," the Time Lord said, which caused the Homunculus's expression to melt a little.
"You have chosen a companion very much like a Dalek," an on-looking Dalek replied.
"I know what he is," the Doctor replied. "But you, why the interest in alchemy all of a sudden?"
"It is necessary."
" 'Necessary?' Necessary for what?"
"Dalek are supreme. We must retain our greatness. The Dalek must attain alchemy."
"You want to become alchemists? How's that possible? You can't do it alone."
"So who's the rat?" Envy purred.
"All beings are vermin compared to Dalek. Your words mean nothing."
The sound of metal scraping cement interrupted the argument. "I am no rat," said a monotone voice. "And you are not authorized personnel."
"The guard," the Doctor was exasperated. "No way- the screwdriver shut down the circuits. This can't be real."
"Anthony?" Elisa said quietly. She crept up and hid behind Envy without his knowing.
"What? What?" the Doctor said, puzzled. "Since when could androids use alchemy?"
"Androids have never been alchemists. But I am not an android," it said.
"Then what " Envy knew. "You're a bound soul."
"It is a constant battle between the programming and I," the android said. "And I thank you; for it was you, Doctor, who shut down the computer completely."
"Anthony Hobelmann! Is it you? Your voice! It's Anthony's!" Elisa dashed from behind Envy and embraced the android. "It's me! Elisa Grant! From college?"
"Elisa Grant… yes, I remember."
Envy and the Doctor were baffled. "Wha…?" they said.
"Oh, Anthony, what happened?"
"An experiment gone wrong. Something you could never contemplate."
"Let me guess," Envy interrupted, "something that can't be reversed without paying a price higher than you want to talk about. Much higher."
"You, you speak of prices, shape shifter. I wonder- there is a legend, written in the rarest of texts, that there once was a secret race of humans that were not natural. Born of sacrificed souls. They were named after the Deadly Sins, is that not right, 'Envy?'"
Envy stood agape then darkened. "So we're legend, is it?" he growled. "You're hardly one to talk. You went too far yourself, and you're still going. What do you get out of this? It has to be something. Equivalent exchange, right?"
"Freedom from this form. A higher state of being."
"Not to return to normal, right?" the Doctor reasoned. "No one in allegiance with the Dalek would ask for that."
"Human flesh is weak. The death of the body is the death of the person."
"Anthony," Elisa whispered, "what are you saying?"
"I will have many bodies," the Android said.
"Oh, how clear now," Envy smiled, leaning on the tank of the deceased Dalek,
"You want to become a chimera with the Dalek- not one- but all of them. How arrogant.
"It's amazing," he went on, "that Homunculi are still thought of as just legend. With all the time between the Amestris war and now, I'm surprised nothing like us has come up since then, considering how often humans repeat themselves."
"You plan on creating a telepathic link between the Dalek using yourself as the bridge, giving you freedom of movement, and the Dalek alchemy," the Doctor realized. "You really are mad. And you, Dalek- you've tried things like this before, only to reject them in the end. What makes this time any different?"
"We will not fail. We will have alchemy. The Dalek will remain superior."
"Idiots. You're just idiots." Envy sighed. Then he raised the death ray. "But I hope you make this interesting."
"Stop! This is crazy!" Elise cried. "You don't have to do this! Anthony! Envy!"
"Impudent woman," the android said, casting her into the path of a Dalek.
The Doctor pointed the screwdriver at the Dalek, impeding its ability to fire the ray. "you were her friend!" The Doctor's face was strained with anger, advancing toward the android.
"Correct. She was."
"You're no better than Greed," Envy's voice was low. Greed, his younger "brother," was the bastard who abandoned Father for his own filthy desires. Envy shot his arms out to pull Elisa back and out of the way. "Betraying your kind for your own personal gain. The Homunculi may have been psychopaths, but the rest of us were at least loyal to our own."
"You would make a good Dalek, Homunculus named Envy." One of the Dalek stated.
"You said that already. What of it, Squid?"
"You have destroyed a Dalek. A replacement is needed. You would make us more supreme."
Envy snarled. "Never. I am not a dog bred for the sake of you worms."
"RUN!" the Doctor yelled. "They're in their places!"
For a second time, Envy was hit with a blast. He collapsed to the floor and the Doctor rushed to his side. The android clapped his hands, circulating the energy needed for the alchemic transmutation.
"Think about what you're doing, Anthony!" the Doctor pleaded. "You'll never be able to revert!"
"That is not my intent."
"Doctor, help," Elisa gasped. She was trying to drag the limp form the circle. "He's not moving. Why?"
"The Doctor and the Human are not needed. Exterminate!" One Dalek ordered.
The Doctor's screwdriver malfunctioned a second Dalek blaster before the three remaining began to advance. They intended to use their vacuum arms. The Doctor scooped up Envy by the shoulder.
"It's probably interference from the circle's near-activation that Envy's not regenerating. We get him out of here, and…" It was the edge of the elevator shaft.
Elisa and the Doctor did not let go of Envy. As the energy of his regeneration took him, their screams woke the Homunculus up. What they heard next was the screech of torn metal. They found themselves clinging to the wing pinions of a dragon whose claws gouged the wall. The beast was gulping air, steely eyed. Those canned squid were mocking him. Envy wouldn't let that go unanswered. His tail whipped out and jarred the nearest set of elevator doors open, where he clamored out.
"Well, that was a fun trip," the Doctor said once back on solid ground. Envy, now back in human form, and Elisa both gave him a look. "Let's see, the Dalek are after the Homunculus, attempting to become alchemists themselves, and we're a few flights down from where all the fun stuff is happening. Did I miss anything?"
"How about 'dying isn't fun?'"
"Hey! What about Anthony?"
"Oh. Right you are then. Well come on, let's see what we can do next."
"I have an idea. Why don't we wipe those canned bastards out of existence? It'd be a great stress reliever."
"It might not be that easy; they've always found a way to escape." The Doctor led them back to the stairwell. "At the very least we can destroy the circle."
"How?" Envy asked with a grunt. "We don't even know what it's made of, other than paint. Even then, it could be activated."
"And there's still… still…" Elisa faltered.
"You still worried about the robot? Sheesh. News flash, Journo: he doesn't care about you anymore."
"You're heartless." Elisa let out a small sob.
"So is he."
"Enough you two," the Doctor said.
"Fine then. Shouldn't we be going up stairs?" Envy said.
"Not if we want to get to the TARDIS."
"What's in there?" The Homunculus asked. "Apart from the obvious."
"Oh, I'm thinking about that. Thinking, thinking… What would be a good, all-around paint remover?"
"Fluorine? That stuff removes anything. Even snake-poison."
"Not what I had in mind, En. And don't suggest anything that would compromise the stability of the building, please."
A green flash sent down the gap in the stairs lighted their way.
"On second thought, this seems like a good floor to be on. Come on."
Envy scoffed. "Maintenance again? You're brilliant, Doctor."
"Oh, I know. See here?"
"A Tesla coil?" Elisa guessed.
"Yep. Never know when you'll need vast amounts of electrical energy."
Envy whistled. "They sure have changed. But I think I know where you're going, and I want to come with." He watched the Doctor dash around, grabbing this and that, pointing the sonic screwdriver at various devises, and generally fiddle with the coil in a hurried manner.
"What are you thinking?"
"Let's wait and see," Envy said. "I'm curious as to what the good Doctor thinks."
"Done." The Doctor hauled the device out of room and set it on the landing.
"Doctor…?"
Envy smiled and leaned against the wall. "It's me they want. The canned squid can't carry me, so that means that the tin-man will. And take a look at what the stairs are made of."
"Cast iron," Elisa said. "Doctor, you can't!"
The Doctor leapt over the device and charged up the first flight of stairs. "Anthony!" He called. "Stop what you're doing! I know how you feel but you don't know what you're giving up!"
"Hey " Envy cried. "What's with this?" The robot was the enemy and dead-set on killing. As far as Envy could see, there wasn't any point in reasoning.
"What you're doing is insane! Re- Remember what it was like in the Truth? How much more of a toll can you pay? If you do this, you will lose everything that makes you human!"
"Human?" the android stopped on the landing above Envy and Elisa.
"Tch! He's wasting time! All that sympathizing," Envy snarled to himself.
"I have lost my humanity long ago, when I was given this body."
"See!"
The android stared down through the grate. Envy's expression fell. "You are the replacement and the upgrade, Homunculus."
Elisa pleaded again. "Anthony! Stop it! Can't you see what you're doing? I know about the old legends too! I know about the sacrifices it takes to do anything like this! You are human! You can't do this! Th-The people, they have loved ones- just like you," she chocked out.
Anthony was silent. Then: "I have loved ones? Incorrect."
"What?" Elisa asked weakly.
"You killed your own family?" Envy roared. He remembered hearing of Lust's death. To have lost his closest sibling and his best friend. The shock and humiliation he felt when Pride callously announced her death to the world, just after that fruitless battle. The agony of Mustang's flames he knew she felt. The loneliness it all came to. And this man- this… thing felt nothing. To have nothing and feel nothing and not care. No, Envy would not be melded with this bastard. "You had everything… and you were so greedy… you cast it all aside. I may felt that never had what I needed, BUT YOU DIDN'T APPRECIATEANY OF YOURS!"
He shot his hand up, engulfing the android's throat in his grasp, dragging him down the flight. Envy bellowed with every ounce of fury he possessed.
The Doctor directed the screwdriver at the Tesla coil. It was clear that any hope fell to this. Electric current ran through the stairwell.
Envy's body felt like it was liquefying, every particle separate, but rolling as a whole. Somehow- somehow he pushed himself and Elisa back into the maintenance room. His head was swimming and his tissues jittering. He didn't know how long he was there, but he forced himself up from the floor- as much as he could, and tried to blink the pulses of raw color from his eyes. Envy crawled over to the coil's power supply, grasped the switch, and fell flat to the floor. It felt like he would disintegrate. Pushing himself up, he reached a second time, and told his hands to hold tight and his abs to tense. Then he threw his weight into dropping the switch and collapsed on the floor. The hum of killer bees stopped.
Envy pulled himself back to Elisa. Pale, breathing shallowly, but he could feel a pulse. 'Tough woman, for a human,' he thought. "Doctor…?"
"Erg, gah! Oww… yeah?"
"You 'k?"
"Had worse. You?"
"Same. Elisa'll make it. How's everything?"
"Anthony won't. Not with a seal burnt like that."
"Oh. What about the Dalek?"
"Ehh, they probably got fried," the Doctor reasoned. "If they stayed in the circle, the alchemic build up from the attempted transmutation probably got them when the electricity hit."
"Ah. Good." Envy said. "We should probably check," he suggested after a pause.
"Yeah. I agree with that."
"'K." Envy rolled over and pushed himself all the way up. Still unsteady, he made his way up to the Doctor and helped him up. "I don't feel like climbing twenty flights. Let's see if the elevator is working." It was. But the Dalek had gone.
"They teleported out. They've escaped." The Doctor determined, scanning with the screwdriver. "Probably figured that there wasn't any point to stay when they heard you snap. Figured that was the end of their alchemist."
"So they'll be back. Shit! The bastards."
Envy was careful not to act too suspicious- he had quite discreetly stowed away the blaster a certain Dalek was too… scatterbrained… to know what to do with. If the Doctor didn't notice- fat chance- Envy planned on modifying it as a way of teaching himself about the technological advances that had gone on since his time. Good, wholesome stuff; practical things you ought to know about.
"You coming?" the Doctor called out the TARDIS door. Envy stopped fishing around and listened. "You've' earned it." He was talking to Elise. "Also," the Doctor said in a lower voice, "I need someone who can remind me what the better part of humanity is like."
Envy went back to his knapsack. Someone to tease- it might not be so bad, even if she is human.
"Traveling the stars with two maniacs?" Elisa called from outside. "Sounds like a story."