Once more, I appoligize for the late update. ;-; I've been a depressed mess for the last little while. You'll have to forgive me.
But here is a good long chapter helping to tie up this whole messy business. It'll be ending soon so sit tight and wait for the next story arc. (The romance story arc. :P Yea, for relationships and love!!!)
Anyway, sorry again, I hope you like it.
Chapter 36 - Ambush
"Elric." Roy's voice spoke with a an agitated tone. "This better be good for so early in the morning." Ed's phone call had went out to half the military, including Roy and his staff.
"Trust me, it is." Ed quickly explained the situation at hand. How the same people who blew up Rose's church were threatening to do the same to all of Armestris. Envy was their target. After the briefing was done, the troops were sent down the stairs to under central.
Roy stood behind Edward as they watched the first military-unit section head down. "How do you know they're down there?"
Ed, a determined look on his face, spoke sternly. "I sealed the path to get down there when we came up the last time. Someone opened it again and it was using the same explosives that were used on the church in Lior."
The colonel was surprised. "Smart thinking."
Smart thinking? Edward was prone to doing such things in time of crisis.
"Winry?" Ed spoke quietly into the phone as to make sure no one else heard him.
"Ed? Hey, what's going on?" Winry sounded in a happy tone as she twirled the phone around her fingers. "Is something the matter?"
She could heat Ed breathing, he seemed to be a little out of breath. "Something's come up...and I might not be able to call you again later on today...so I just wanted to call now." He sounded as though the weight of the world was on his shoulders.
"What's wrong...you sound troubled." She could just hear it, Ed was never any good at hiding these things from her.
"It's just..." He didn't quite know how to say it. "Anyway...I just called...and..." He was not prepared to say what he needed to. "I uh..."
Winry smiled. "What is it?"
"..." He swallowed a big lump in his throat. "I just wanted to tell you...I love you. I have to go now, my ride is here." Without another word, the phone went silent.
Winry stood there, rather stunned. She knew it was implied, so she never thought she'd hear him say it. And then it hit her. The talk about the terrorist cult, the sudden trip, the short handed conversation just then; it only could possibly mean one thing. Her eyes welled up with tears, and then, in only a matter of seconds, the tears fell down off her cheeks and hit the floor. Begrudgingly, she hung up the phone and stood there, crying.
She knew that very well might have been the last time he talked to Edward. He was always getting himself into dangerous situations, and he wouldn't have called her to tell her that if he knew it wouldn't have significant meaning. He was going to face them, she knew it.
Ed held his hand over the receiver that was now hung up on the public phone. He sighed a breath of relief. He had managed to tell her without having to hear her cry, or ask why he would be telling her something like that out of the blue. Ed fully realized that he might not come back alive if he needed to face Envy, so tying the loose ends needed to be done.
Even if Ed was good at thinking smart in times of crisis, it didn't mean he had good timing. He watched the last of the troops go down as he reminisced about his phone conversation only a few moments ago. Ed found he was doing that a lot lately. Talking on the phone, and then regretting doing it. But there was no point in worrying about it. If they were going to kidnap Aria, they would have done it anyway, and then Ed and Al would have to catch up with them. On other occasions, such as that, Ed felt his timing was perfect. Even if it still was inconvenient.
"Ready Full Metal?" Roy asked as he stood at the broken hole in the front of the alter.
Ed nodded. "Yeah." He began walking only to feel a presence behind him. He sighed and slowly turned around. "Al, I know you're worried, but you're in no condition to go with us."
Al bit his bottom lip and got a determined expression on his face. "But I have to help. They took Aria! I don't care if I'm in pain, I need to get her back. What if she get's..." He stopped his sentence.
Ed gave him a hopeful tap on the shoulder. "Don't worry so much Al, we'll get her."
His expression became serious. "I'm going with you!"
Before Ed could speak again Hawkeye stood in front of him. "Alright. If you want to come along, you are not to do any hand to hand combat what so ever."
He nodded. "Fine."
She continued. "Furthermore, I feel like you would be nothing more than a burden in your current state, so I'm giving you a military issue firearm." She unclipped her waist belt that held the gun and it's holster. "Should you need to defend yourself, you are to shoot to kill. Understood?" She could sense the hesitation in the young boy. "Should you decline my offer, you stay here, out of harms way." She held the gun out in front of him.
Al nodded and reached out the firearm. "Understood." Taking it in his hands, he clipped the belt around his waist, tightened the strap and was on his way. "Come on, let's go." He said within the broken tunnel. Roy looked at Ed and Riza standing there, slightly dumbfounded. He followed right behind Al.
Ed glanced toward Hawkeye. "You realize you just gave a fourteen year old a gun...right?"
Riza sighed. "I was hoping he wouldn't take it." Sadly, Al called her bluff and took it anyway.
Ed couldn't help but smile. "Al's turned into a cold blooded killer. I guess love really does make you do funny things."
The first Lieutenant walked behind Edward. "Love?"
Ed spoke to her over his shoulder as they, the last two of the group, headed down the long stairs. "Aria...she and Al have this little thing...but she's married...and contracts...it's all just one big messy business."
She smirked. "Sounds complicated."
"It is...uh, Lieutenant...how are you going to protect yourself?" Knowing full well she gave Al her own gun, it left one to wonder what she might do.
She reached behind her back and pulled out a gun that was identical. "I've got backup...plus four more."
Ed became rather scared. "Remind me not to make you mad."
She nodded. "I don't think you're that stupid."
The maze of old buildings and debris laying uselessly about old Central was a difficult trek indeed. Al jumped down from an old chimney, that had once stood tall, laying across a street. The buildings that lined the old street they were on were faded and beginning to crumble. Their once brilliant red brick walls now reduced to a dusty, eroding mess. Piles of brick crumbs lay about the ground around the edge of each respective houses. The air was thick with the dust and stank of abandonment.
There was no telling if there was anyone left after the city was used as alchemic material. Maybe some tried to rebuild, but from the looks of it, even if they did, they didn't succeed. Ed and Al looked around, the area where Envy was wasn't too far off.
"I think that's it!" Ed pointed up ahead. There was the grand hall that he had his final battle with Envy in. Luckily for him, it held a good memory as well. It was the same place Al received his body for the first time in four years.
"Looks about right...do you want to get the others first?" Al looked over his shoulder. The first party that went in wasn't too far behind them, so calling the up would be a good idea.
"Nah." Ed waved a hand at him. "We should make sure someone's here before we call them all over." Ed continued to walk.
Al was hesitant at first but then decided to follow his older brother instead. "Wait up!"
They both quietly approached the door. Ed knelt down and pressed his ear up against the old wooden frame and listened carefully.
"'You'll never get away with this, they'll come looking for me.'" Felix got close to her face. "Say something like that! You make a terrible hostage."
Aria turned her head in disgust, she had been bound to a chair and blindfolded.. "I wouldn't give you the pleasure of seeing me in distress. Besides, losing control and freaking out won't make someone come for me any sooner. If anything, when they do get here, it'll only make them more tense, thinking that I'm in pain or something. So it's best for me to just keep quiet and wait for something to happen."
Felix smiled as he grasped her cheeks tightly. "So you think they're going to come get you? Well you're wrong!" He squeezed tightly.
"Oh well." She brushed him off.
"Why you!" He raised a hand to strike her but was stopped short by Raul.
"Enough!" He spoke in a deep tone. "We don't need any more drama. Now be quiet and take her up to the room prepared."
Felix huffed. "Fine." and then grabbed the back of the chair. Tugging it along behind him, he drug it down the stairs that were leading down off the stage.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow." Aria spoke as she got pulled down each consecutive step. "Lift the chair you ass. Ow!" He came to the final step. "You know, you're only going to make it harder on yourself if you treat me badly. If you're nice, I'll tell them to only give you one life sentence." She said in a smug tone.
"Shut up little girl." Raul spoke from atop the stage. "Or else I'll make good use of you." He referenced to his belt buckle.
A subtle move, but Aria knew what he meant. "Right." She began being silent again. 'I'd better keep quiet...' She looked around, she could see that the other ten members of the cult, plus their leader, were all on the center floor meditating and chanting around a body that was suspended on spikes. 'Envy? Could that be him?' She looked back to Felix. 'Wait...a room? ...he's not going to...oh no...' She remembered that she had skipped out on their wedding night, he wasn't planning on taking advantage of her while being tied up, was he? Her mind panicked. 'Not good...please, hurry.'
"Do you hear anything brother?" Al asked, a tone of impatience in his voice.
Ed nodded. "They definitely are in there. Let's move, we have to inform the others." Ed stood up and quickly moved in the direction of Roy's party.
"Wait for me..." Al struggled a little, but stood up and followed behind him.
The cult's master approached Envy's lifeless body. "Heed my words beast! From this day forth, you shall serve under me and only for me." He pulled a knife from his belt and held it out straight at his side. "From this day forth, you shall have life everlasting! You shall protect and serve your master! I shall be your master! Live again beast!" With that, the cult leader took the knife and cut the top of one of his fingers, rather deeply, and began to draw a transmutation circle on the ground right under Envy. "Rise now!" He touched the circle and activated it. The spikes, that came from the floor, began to recede and go back into their original form. Envy was moved to a sitting position.
Envy's body moved for the first time in months. As the energy from the transmutation died down, and the spikes returned to the floor from whence they came, Envy opened his eyes. He had been drained of all his life force, and sat there quietly. "Red...stones..." He spoke in a drone voice.
"Soon." The cult leader spoke from beneath his shaggy robes.
Then, from the front of the room, an earth shaking explosion was heard in the grand hall and the whole front door was blown open. The leader quickly turned a ran as his followers protected him. As if he was a bat out of hell, he was gone. Soldiers, alchemists and the like, poured into the room, each and everyone aiming gun.
"Go after him!" Roy shouted his order from the back row; he had seen the old man make a break for it. A small division of five men ran after him.
Ed was close behind Roy. "Aria's not in the main hall?"
Roy looked down at him. "Where might she be at?"
Ed shrugged. "Not sure, but I want to take this time to request a search party."
"Right! First section, search the building with Full Metal! The rest of you, subdue the terrorists." Before Roy's order could take effect, each one of the cult members took out a small glass vial and threw it to the ground, causing a great deal of smoke to be produced.
"Hold your fire!!!" Roy yelled as he waited for the smoke to clear. As predicted, when the air was once more opaque, the ten cult members were gone. "Sure enough." Roy stepped forward, closer to the center of the room. "Alright everyone. These guys are armed and dangerous, quite possibly carrying explosives. It's stealth-code-red people, now move out!"
All the soldiers split up to search the building. Ed walked up behind Roy and gave him a tap on the shoulder. "What does 'stealth-code-red' mean again?"
Roy turned to him. "If they're carrying explosives, and they get shot, they very well might explode, killing a soldier needlessly."
Ed swallowed. "You mean..."
Hawkeye chimed in. "Hunt them down, shoot to kill, head shot only." She cocked her gun.
Ed looked back to Al, a worried expression on his face. "Still glad you came along?" Ed clapped his hands together and formed a sword at the end of his automail.
Al gulped. "I have no regrets." He began walking. "Let's go."
Yea! Al the killing machine!
Hehe, not really. But you get the point. Anyway, tell me how you like it.