Since I can't write tech stuff at all and several of you have been waiting for this, I skipped ahead to the good part of the story, which happens during Ep. 15 of Brotherhood. I LOVE REVEIWS, as always.
Edward was not looking forward to this. Only two days after Teacher beat him into the ground, Winry was going to do the same thing. Man, why did his automail always have to bet busted? Granted it was better than the alternative, but still. It's not like he tried to break the thing. Oh well, he'd just have to take her wrench head on.
They walked up to her flowery storefront and waited until she came out. Putting on his best innocent grin, Edward said, "Hello there Winry. You look like you're in a very generous mood today."
"Hi Ed, hi Al." She chuckled a little. "What are you doing showing up like this?" He lifted his right arm. And here comes the wrench, Ed thought. He wasn't disappointed.
A few minutes later, they were sitting in the back of her shop and Winry was giving him one of her classic lectures as she patched up his arm. "Even Paninya is holding down an honest job now and you two still can't stay out of trouble."
Al looked up at that first bit. "Really? She is?"
She turned away from the prosthetic to face him. "Yeah. She's given up her former life as a pickpocket and earns her money by fixing roofs and doing other odd jobs around town. And what about the two of you, huh?" She turned back to Ed and glared at him. "Made any progress yet?"
Before either boy could blurt out an answer, someone said, "Winry?" from the front of the shop.
"I'll be back in a second," she said before running off in the direction of the voice.
Ed sat up on the bed and both brothers looked towards the front of the shop where Winry was talking with a man who had what looked like a newer version of Ed's arm and leg. Al noticed that they kept pointing of gesturing to the limbs. Maybe they were working on something for Brother together.
All Ed noticed was how close to Winry he was standing. He jumped off the cot and stormed towards the two of them, or started to. Al grabbed him before he got very far.
The armored boy laughed inside. No one even had to call Ed short anymore. They just had to be tall and get Winry's attention. Yep, Brother was smitten, even if he wouldn't admit it.
Once Edward had calmed down enough to be civilized, which took about three minutes, they continued towards the two at the front. Winry noticed and introduced the two parties. "Oh, Ed, Al, this is Tony Stark. I've been working with him on a little project. Tony, this is Ed and Al." Of course, he reacted in classic Stark fashion. He ignored them completely.
This, of course, annoyed Ed. He grabbed her hand and started dragging her down the street. "Come on Winry. You said you needed parts to repair my arm. Let's go get them." And he started to drag her away.
Stark wasn't letting that happen. He'd finally finished the final touches on the wiring and Winry was going to see it. "Then I'll just take these new thrusters back to my shop." Bingo.
Winry jerked her arm away and examined his latest work with heart-filled eyes. He smirked at the kid's face.
Ed was not happy. The tall guy had her attention again and now he was giving him one of those Mustang looks. The smirk annoyed him to no end. "Who do you think you are!?" Then he added under his breath, "Trying to upstage me."
Unfortunately, Tony heard that last bit. "It's not that hard when I'm already upwards of you." He shouldn't have said that. Al didn't move fast enough and Ed's thankfully flesh fist connected with the arrogant idiot's jaw.
Two seconds later, Edward was being restrained by a jerk in a metal suit. "What the heck?" What was the thing? Last time he'd checked, there was nothing this advanced around here. Then his eyes nearly popped out of his skull when the thing started to lift him off the ground. "AAAAHHHHHHHHH! AL GET ME DOWN!"
But it was Stark who responded. "Sure." And the suit dropped him from eight feet up in the air. But to Tony's surprise, he didn't and in a heap. The kid turned it into a summersault combined with a backflip.
He was back on his feet in seconds and had Stark by the collar. "What are you, an idiot? You could kill someone like that!"
Al pulled his brother off the man before starting his own lecture. "What were you doing? You could have hurt Brother!" He was checking the blonde for injuries when Stark noticed something. The kid's right arm was completely metal. And he had come straight to Winry.
It clicked. This was her crush, the Elric kid. Wait, did that mean his leg was metal too? Hmm, kinda short for a fighter, but those had been some pretty nice moves the kid had pulled. He decided to go back to ignoring them.
He turned back to Winry. "We need to try these out and find any glitches." He'd done the same thing with the first Iron Man. It was actually what had won him that battle with his former colleague.
Her eyes lit up again. "Yes! In fact," he eyes slid over to the still ranting boys, "we can test them on a real person."
About ten minutes later, Ed and Al were sitting in the back of Winry's shop again, with Stark and trying very hard not to punch him, in Edward's case. She had just finished explaining the new modifications to the limbs, which included a lighter makeup and a new shock system.
Stark was eying the kid. The system they'd developed needed someone with a lot of power in their body, at least three years of experience with automail to build up the right nerve connections, and a good sense of balance if the person intended to try flying. He might have the power and balance, Stark had seen that much from his moves earlier, but there was no way the kid had the experience needed to pull this off.
He tried to tell Winry that, but she shrugged him off. "Ed's had his automail since he was eleven. He's got more than enough experience. Do you want to try it Ed?"
"Sure." He looked a little excited at the prospect of flying. "Do you have them ready?"
She smiled. "Yep. Let's get them attached."
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