Author's note: Arrg. It seems that my summer procrastination is catching up on me: I'm still trying to figure out how to finish this new arc! I have a general idea of what I want it to be, but it's just a matter of getting there. Also, for those who would like to know, thanks to APH I've been getting into romance- so I might just write such a fic in the near future… Oh yeah… DW and FMA are not mine.
Chapter 13: Shock and Awe
A warm wind blew through Garfiel's automail shop, whisking away the pungent stink of grease and smelted metals. Winry Rockbell removed a small gear from the grinder, and puffed away the loose filaments, and filed it smooth. Finally, with a critical eye, she studied her work.
"Perfect," she declared, then labeled the piece and set it among the rest of the pieces. Winry straightened up and announced, "Mr. Garfiel, I've got the wrist and hand gears finished."
"That's wonderful, dear," chimed the muscled, well-groomed man. "Why don't you take an hour off and get some lunch. You got to work so early, you must be famished."
Winry nodded. "Thanks," she said.
Rush Valley was Winry's home away from home. It was a nested in a dry area of Amestris, but for an automailer like herself, it couldn't be more vibrant. She strode down the busy street, glancing this way and that and identifying the different makes of the bionic limbs as she passed. At last Winry came to a diner stand that sold some of the best roast-beef sandwiches she knew.
Just as she got her plate, there came a humming noise, unnatural in sound and growing in volume. Winry looked up, and saw a huge metal something cruising over the valley, casting a dark shadow on the town below. It turned sharply in the air, hovering eighty feet off the ground. From it, came another noise, this time crackling like static but suffused with a wet, grinding sound that had to be a voice, but if it said anything, she couldn't understand it.
Then, higher up, there soared in two more of the things, answering the first with the same strange voice. Winry sat motionless, in total fear of the things. Other people in the valley gathered beneath the things, chattering in wonder and excitement. Winry would have been among them if she hadn't have gotten caught in the Philosopher's Stone war a few years before- a war that was to remain hidden from the people. She knew how dangerous amazing things could be.
Suddenly, the first hovering thing shot a red beam out from its underside, striking a shop, and turning it into ash and rubble. The voice let out what sounded like a cheer, and the other things wheeled around and started blasting other buildings as well. People screamed and fled, running about in a panic. Winry felt her chest being seized and dragged over the counter.
"Get inside, will ya', girl!" the diner cook cried. She was a big powerful woman, not one to be disobeyed. "Yeh'll get yerself killed out there! Into the back with you." The woman pushed Winry around to the other side of the island, where she crouched down, afraid for her life.
'Please, somebody help,' Winry prayed. "Save us, we need your help…"
"HELP! I need somebody! HELP! Not just anybody! HELP! Oh, won't you please, please-"
"-turn that thing down? I can't focus," Envy glared at the companion, one had propping his head up on the desk, the other whapping a pen on it in irritation.
"Sorry, what are you trying to do?" Elisa asked the apprentice, hoping to placate Envy before he became unbearably moody.
"Trying to figure out the quantum chromodynamics' equations. It's not easy," he groused. It was the best use of his time at the moment, since the Doctor was giving the TARDIS some TLC.
"Oh, okay," Elisa nodded. Anything quantum was beyond her; it's not easy to explain to the general public. But Envy's concentration had been hopelessly broken- the bottom of the page he'd been writing in was being adorned in… Julius Ceasar Pac-Man in a break-dancing contest with Darth Vader Pac-Man? If Envy could make that work, then he had to have some grasp of what he was supposed to be studying. He was starting to fill out the scene with a bunch of ninja Pak-Mans cannibalizing each other. She let him to his own devices.
"Elisa!" From deep beneath the floor grate, the Doctor called. "Could you get me my psychic paper? Somebody's put a message on it."
She caught herself before asking: "how'd you know that?" when she remembered the "psychic" part. Finding its wallet in the Doctor's coat pocket, she handed it down to him.
"Oh boy…" the Doctor said, examining the paper. "Somebody is really panicking, this is almost unreadable… they're probably don't even know about the paper…" The Doctor hoisted himself up onto the floor. "All done. Envy! We've been called forth!" He turned to the console and stared the TARDIS up. "And awaaay we go!"
She didn't know how long the attack lasted. Winry huddled behind the counter with the woman, who was called Geraldine, on guard with a frying pan and carving knife. When the noise settled, and the dread humming faded, Winry crept out and stared out into the wreckage.
"Why? What did we do? Why did they do that?" Winry muttered in shock.
Geraldine wrapped a strong arm around her shoulder. "It's alright, dear. We'll rebuild. You better get back home."
Winry swallowed, biting her lip, she nodded and left. She walked back slowly, as if there were wild animals lurking behind every pile of debris. Behind her, a repetition of strange whirring sounds cut though her daze, and she dreadfully turned around to face its source. Starting out from nothing, a big blue box appeared, growing more solid with each whirr, as the light atop it shone brighter each second.
Geraldine was stomping right up to the box, wielding her frying pan, ready to fight. The sounds ended and there was moment of silence before the box's door swung open. Whoever it was that stepped out received a face-full of cast iron, complete with a satisfying resounding go-o-o-on-on-onn-nn-ng-ng-gg-gg-ggg-ggg. The man slammed into the doorframe, slid down, and slumped against dust-covered ground.
"Doctor!" Winry heard a woman's voice cry. Winry's legs were carrying her desperately toward the confrontation. She saw the limp figure being dragged back into the box.
"Treat us like cattle, will yeh?" Grealdine crowed. "This'll show yeh, it will." She raised the pan again, only to step back in terror. Winry stopped dead in her tracks.
From the inside of the box came what could only the bellow of an angry bull. And it was a bull that came charging out at Grealdine, swinging its head and snorting and stamping the dust. Grealdine batted its head, trying to evade those deadly horns. At last she reached a safe distance, and the bull settled and stood guard like a watchdog.
After a few moments of shaky tension, the man came around, groaning. "Yeowch-arrgh. Man, I do not want that to happen again. That was real nasty." Curious, Winry approached the box. The bull turned it gaze to her, as if it was assessing her, then returned to watching the older woman. Winry approached more cautiously than before.
She came to the doorway, and peered in, shocked. What she saw just wasn't possible. The box was too little for its inside. "How- what…?" she asked weakly.
"Ohh, everyone says that," the man said, getting up and dusting himself off. He turned to her with a peculiar look on his face. "Are… you the one that called?"
"Called?" Winry repeated.
"This," the man said. He held out his wallet, open to a piece of paper that had written on it: "Please, somebody help. We need your help."
Winry stared dumb. "That's my handwriting," she said.
The man grinned toothily. "Good. We've made it."
"Fine," the lady with the man said. "But what is this place?"
"Rush Valley," said a throaty voice behind Winry. The bull, turned back to the group. As it did, it turned into a human with long, stringy hair and a very unusual sense of fashion. "It's been leveled."
Geraldine raised the frying pan, demanding to know "what in blazes sort of Hell-fiend are you?" She was ignored.
Winry's eyes widened in alarm and fear. "E-Envy!" and she took a step back. Edward mentioned the heartless shape-shifter several times before. "You- you're all supposed to be dead! What are you doing here? Why-"
"My family has nothing to do with this," the Homunculus cut in. "They're all dead. I'm the only one left, so don't get paranoid. And don't expect the military to be able to do something. They'd just become cannon fodder." Both of the people he arrived with were concerning themselves with the damage done to the town.
"More importantly, tell us what happened here," man asked, turning from the remains of a piece of machinery.
Geraldine stepped up again. "So who do you say you people are?"
"I'm the Doctor, Envy here is my apprentice, and Elisa is the companion."
This time Winry became cross. "With him as your apprentice, how can we trust you?" she demanded. Envy, not wanting to deal with the awkward situation, joined Elisa in her survey of the wreckage.
"Because I'm the Doctor, and I promise you, we'll fix this." The Doctor's eyes glinted with the determination that Winry thought only Ed possessed.
"…And I started to go back to the shop just before you came," Winry finished her tale over a fresh roast beef sandwich. Geraldine got her diner up and running again because "at the end of the day, yeh still got to get folk fed." The Doctor sipped from a many times refilled cup of coffee. When he was further asked about his name, replied "Just the Doctor. That's all." Envy and Elisa sat on the other side of the Doctor, listening in over a piece of pie each.
"Why would aliens just… attack this place and leave?" Elisa said. "It doesn't make any sense. Does it?" She directed the question towards Envy.
Envy pouted, fork dangling from his mouth. "Oh, so now I'm the expert on destructive and psychotic behavior?" Everyone fixed their eyes on him, and he relented with a sigh, staring off into the distance. "Ohh… hmm. Could just be simple vandalism. Or they feel threatened? I don't know why though. Maybe they're declaring their territory for some reason?"
"Well…" Elisa mused, "it's not going to be to long bef-ow!"
Envy stomped on her foot. "Spoi-il-erss," he gritted to her through his teeth.
"Right, sorry," she muttered.
"You know what I wonder," the Doctor chimed in, "is if Rush Valley was the only placed attacked." He drew the sonic screwdriver out and directed toward the diner's radio.
"Yeh'll not going to get anything, Doctor, I've tried." Grealdine said from behind the stove.
"No problem. Envy, why don't you escort Miss Rockbell back to the shop. They're probably worried sick about her." The Doctor completely ignored the look he received from the both of them.
"This is just where a journalist wants to be," announced as Elisa set out with Winry and Envy, "Right in the middle of things."
"If 'right in the middle of things' is so great," Envy grumbled as he stepped over a fallen cornerstone, "then wouldn't be better if you'd have been here when the attack was going on?"
"Er, well… that's true," Elisa said. "Not that we enjoy seeing terrorists attacks or anything like that, it's just more creditable if the reporter can verify things for themselves. So, Winry, you've actually seen the ships that attacked. What were they like?"
"Oh, um," Winry paused, shaken by her abruptness. "Well, they were kind of shaped like stone arrowheads, but made of some dark metal-but it wasn't a polished finish-"
"Could have been residual soot from entering the atmosphere," Envy cut in. He was crouched near the remains of a wall, eyeballing something about the damage.
"What exactly are you doing?" Winry asked, perplexed about the Homunculus's unusual behavior.
"You know the beam you said the ships attacked with? We thought it was a laser, but that's not it."
Elisa propped her elbows across Envy's shoulders. "Wow, En, you really have been paying attention to the Doctor. You're actually looking at things and figuring things out about them."
Envy snorted. "Aren't you supposed to be weak and useless or something? I'm the one escorting you, so don't get cocky."
Elisa slapped him on the shoulder, careful to avoid his sensitive nodes. "So what have you determined?"
"The center of the damage done in this wall lines up with the centers of those," he said, pointing to the holes blasted into the building's other walls. "But, the edges don't- they get narrower as they go back."
"So that means…?" Winry pried.
Envy turned to face them, putting on an it's-only-obvious face, and crossing his arms. "If it were a laser, the edges would all line up." He then clamored over to the remains, carefully selected a piece of debris, and licked it.
"Yep," Envy said, "defiantly super-energized particles. Not lasers." He straightened up, and directly faced Winry. "So anyway, what about the spaceships?"
"Er, well, there were these rows of lights on them, and…" Winry faltered. "If I knew the terms for all the parts, I could describe it better."
"Could you draw the ship?" Elisa cut in. "You said you got a real good look at it." Winry nodded.
Back at Garfiel's, Winry sat at the drafting table, once Garfiel calmed down. He was just in the middle of describing Winry to the local MP officer when she arrived. "Oh where were you? I was so afraid that you were caught in the attack, but the military told us not to leave the shops. Oh Dear, I am so relieved. And who are these people?" He asked, referring to the other two.
"Elisa Grant, and…" Winry faltered, still uncertain about Envy.
"Evan Holmes," Envy finished, wishing that he had shape-shifted earlier. He'd be in hot water if higher command got word of his existence. The Homunculus also had a good idea about who exactly would be heating the water. There was little to keep him from being targeted by the Military as suspect save the Doctor's fierce reputation. Envy shuffled into the array of machinery and avoided eye contact with the MP when the came around to survey the shop. Further, Envy doubted whether the Military even knew of the Doctor; as far as he knew, Father didn't even know of the Time Lord.
When Winry finished, she rolled up the drawing, and handed it over to Elisa. Envy was slumped against the wall, mulling over all the hints and complications of the case.
"Thanks, we'll have the Doctor look at it," Elisa said. "Come on, Envy. Escort me back."
"Yeah, whatever," he replied when his phone went off. "I want to li-ive where so-oul meets bo-ody-y, and let…" "Yeah? Hey Doctor…. We got a schematic. The MP is out and more are coming in…. I know. Hey, did you find anything?... Okay, hold on." Envy lowered his phone and put it on speaker. "Okay, go."
"Alright," the Doctor's voice said. "Rush Valley has been the only town attacked. I got into the Military frequencies, and there have reports of people with automail prosthetics found killed with the automail missing or completely destroyed."
"Yeah? What's that mean?" Envy asked.
"Think, Envy. What would cause an alien to specifically attack human automailers and users?"
"There's no good reason I can think of," Envy scratched the back of his head, thinking. "But you're right, if it's this narrow of a demographic being attacked, then we can nix the petty vandalism.
"Cyborg's rights," Envy said, snapping his fingers. "They're starting to fight for them."
"Right." The Doctor said. "And when that happens, there's usually a resistance."
"Wait, why would people with automail be denied rights?" Envy and Elisa had not left the shop, and Winry was there to hear it.
"For the same reason any group is degraded," the Doctor answered.
"But that doesn't explain anything."
"No. It doesn't." The Doctor said.
An uncomfortable silence spread over the group. At last Winry broke it. "I hope Ed's alright, I haven't heard anything from him."
"He's still a State Alchemist?" Envy asked in a low tone.
"Yeah, why?"
"Elisa, come on. We're coming, Doctor." Envy grabbed Elisa by the wrist and pulled her out into the street.
"W-wait, where'er you going?" Winry ducked out after them. She then abruptly turned back and called, "Mr. Garfiel!"
"Go ahead, Winry! Edward's your friend and Amestris's hero!" the automailer called back.
"Thanks! So?" Winry prodded, jogging to keep up with the other two. "Where'er you going?"
"Don't know yet," Envy replied.
"Is it more safe to go with you guys, or more dangerous?"
"Both," Envy and Elisa said in union.