Al and I look at each other, confused beyond reason.
"Changed them? What do you mean? Breda, help us out here." I ask, touching his arm.
He jerks away and looks at me like I'm the one who's crazy.
"He changed them. They are gone."
"But we need to go and save them, Breda. You need to tell us where they are. You have to help us save them all. Mustang, Havoc, Fuery, and Hawkeye; you remember them right?"
Breda looks at me with wide eyes and then they soften as he looks into mine.
"I remember you… Edward Elric."
I keep a groan from erupting from my throat and I sigh, trying to smile and keep calm.
"Yes, Lieutenant, I'm Edward Elric. You know that already. We need to know where everyone else is, your friends and commanding officer. Please quit avoiding the question…" I say, finally groaning to show my frustration.
Al puts his hand on my shoulder.
"Brother, maybe this is too much."
"The metal guy is right. Sometimes too much stimulus can make a patient a little crazier. Maybe if you give him some time-"
"Shou Tucker still has them. He turned them… poor Fuery…"
We look over at Breda and he stands up, walking toward the entrance of the tent.
"I told them I would go back. I will save them…"
"Yes!" I yelped, throwing my hand in the air and standing. "Alright, we've got ourselves a destination. Lead the way, Breda."
"Brother…" Al says with a chuckle on his voice.
We follow Breda as he goes out of the tent and toward the car where Falman is following him.
"What's happened?" he asks, looking a little freaked out by Breda's sudden animation.
"He's leading us to where the others are."
Breda opens the door and climbs in as if nothing is wrong with him and we follow suit, getting in the car. Falman gets in the driver's seat and looks over at Breda.
"Where to?"
"Go." Is all he says.
For once Falman doesn't try to argue and just goes with the flow.
"There." Breda says, pointing.
Falman looks over and turns the car to where Breda is pointing, an old shack coming into view. He parks and gets out along with Breda as he looks at the old shack. He looks back at Al and I and nods slowly, showing us that this is the place. He looks like he is a bit scared to be back but I know that this is the place. This looks like a place that Tucker would conduct horrible experiments or whatever it is he's been doing. From what Breda was saying, it seems like one of the officers may have had a fall in with his chimera experiments. I hope not but with the way Breda is talking, who knows with him…
"It's in there. I remember… I won't go back." Breda says, shying away from the building.
I nod to Al and he looks at Breda.
"It's alright, Lieutenant, you don't have to go there. Brother and I will go see."
We start to go when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn and Breda looks me in the eyes.
"Don't think you're alone."
I nod and turn to Falman. "You need to call for backup just in case we find anything."
He nods and puts his hand on Breda's shoulder.
"Come on, we'll go call for backup."
Breda nods and we turn to the shack. I pull my shoulders back and clap my hands, putting it on my automail and transmuting it into a blade.
"Alright, Al, let's go."
We open the door to the shack and the smell of experimentation hits me like a ton of bricks. I cough at the smells of liquids that has mixed and the crackle of transmutations. The front looks like a normal shack but I know there is a hidden passage somewhere around here. It is the same as when he lived in his old house with Nina and Alexander, so I know there is a secret passageway somewhere.
"Brother, look." I look over at a wall and smile. "Transmutation marks."
"Way to go, Al. Let's just have ourselves a little look see…"
I clap my blade away and clap again to open up the wall. The wall opens and a wretched smell enters my nose. I cough, putting my arm over my mouth and nose as I walk in. I hear coughing and what sounds like choking. I walk in slowly and stop in my tracks.
There on a table, beaten and bruised and shivering was the colonel. He was naked and tied but definitely alive. I breathe in deep and walk closer to the table, Alphonse behind me.
"Is that…"
"Colonel? Colonel, can you hear me?"
Mustang lolls his head a little, his body jumping from the cold of the metal and air. Alphonse makes headway by untying him as I try to get him to answer me.
"Colonel, answer me."
"Do your worst… do your worst to me… Don't hurt them anymore…" he mumbles as he lolls his head toward me.
I untie his arms and turn to Al.
"Go tell Falman that we have found the colonel. I'll stay with him and then we'll go and find the others."
"Right!"
Al runs off and I pull my coat off. I drape it over his naked bottom half and watch over him to make sure he doesn't slip into a coma or something.
"Stop hurting them…" he mumbles again, coughing.
I touch his head and feel the heat from a fever and he is covered in sweat.
"Can you remember me? It's Edward Elric."
Mustang seems to comprehend enough because he looks at me and blinks.
"Fullmetal?" he rasps, looking confused but trying to grasp.
"Yeah, it's me. We've come to rescue you."
"Rescue… my men…"
"We have backup coming."
The sound of multiple footsteps answers my question of whether Falman listened to what I said and called for backup. After the soldiers make sure the colonel is safe, Al comes back with me and we go deeper into the passage.
We come across this room that has a bunch of cages in it and the men behind me begin to spread out. I get halfway down the aisle when I spot an open cage. Transmuting my automail again, I open it and see a shadow ball up in fear. I walk in a little closer.
"Hello? Can you speak?" I ask.
There is no answer for a while and I fear I have just made myself chimera food when a shuffling catches my eye.
"Ed?" a raspy voice says. "Pipsqueak, is that you?"
"WHO YOU CALLING SO SMALL YOU HAVE TO USE A MAGNIFYING GLASS TO SEE ME?!" I growl in response to his comment.
A dark chuckle echoes from the corner of the cage.
"Yeah, it's you…"
A rumbling sound echoes in the cage with me and the man groans. I walk closer and closer and finally see who I am looking at.
"Havoc?"
"Hey…"
"Are you alright? What's wrong?"
"I'm hungry… extremely hungry. I'm too weak to stand, I have a splitting migraine, and I'm skinny as a pole…"
I get down and grab his arm. He's right, he's almost as skinny as when he was at Central. It's like grabbing hold of a skeleton as I help haul him up and out of the cage.
"Man, what I wouldn't give for a cigarette right now…"
"I don't think that's wise right now." I grunt.
Havoc only grunts a response as he concentrates on keeping both of us from falling.
"Is the colonel alright? We could hear him screaming some time ago and then he just stopped."
"He was in the front room tied to a metal table." Another rumble comes from next to me and I look at Havoc. "Man, you must be starved."
"He did something to me, that bastard. I've never been so ravenous in my life. I hope we get that guy…"
"Are the others alright?"
Havoc's bright blue eyes go downcast.
"That guy did some fucked up shit, Chief… Riza is the only one pretty okay, though you won't recognize her when you see her. Then there's Fuery… The colonel is not going to like it. Oh, by the way, did Breda get out?"
"He's the one who helped us get here."
Havoc nods and smiles. "Good job, Heymans… Was he alright?"
"His mind seems to be a little off."
"Probably would be. I didn't hear much of it but Breda saw it happen before his eyes. I don't think he'll ever be the same."
We come upon the other soldiers and Havoc gives me a salute and a smile as the men take him away to help him.
Al comes over to me, his armor shaking.
"What is it, Al?"
He holds up a uniform, dirty and smudged but an Amestrian uniform. The name FUERY etched on the brass nameplate. I narrow my eyes and look up at my brother.
"Where did you get this, Al?"
"From back here. I think something bad has happened to him, Brother."
I narrow my eyes at the blue military uniform and remember that Breda kept saying something about 'poor Fuery' and Havoc just said that Mustang won't like what happened to him.
"Lead me to where you found it." I say to Al.
He nods and goes back down the other hallway to a back room. It's another huge room but instead of cages, it's filled with cells like a prison. Al goes to an open one and points.
"I found the uniform in here."
I nod and go into the cell, looking around for a moment. After a while, I sigh at not finding any clues when something shimmers in my line of sight. I look over and walk toward the makeshift bed. I bend over and grab whatever is reflecting the light. To my horror, I find that they are a pair of round glasses. I gulp and stand back up, looking behind me at Al.
"I think these are Private Fuery's glasses…" I say with a shudder.
Al gasps and I clear my throat to gain some stamina before we venture forward.
"Edward? Alphonse? Is that you that I hear?" a womanly voice says from farther down the row.
"Is that Hawkeye?" I ask.
"I think so… Ms. Hawkeye!? Is that you?!" Al calls.
"Alphonse? Oh, Al, I never thought that I'd ever hear your voice again! We're down here!"
"Are you alright, Lieutenant?!" I ask as I run.
There is silence for a moment. "Let's just say you may not recognize me…"
Worry makes a pit in my stomach and we finally reach the last cell. I clap my hands together and transmute the lock open and open the cell. There in the middle of the floor is a humongous mound of flesh with a head, small arms, and small legs. It was the hugest person I have ever laid eyes on!
"Brother?"
"What the hell is that?" I ask, pointing at the flesh.
The head seems to move and the little arms wave slightly.
"Edward, Alphonse! I'm so glad to hear your voices."
I creep closer and closer until I am almost on it when I realize that there is an animal in the cell on this… thing's lap. The black head looks up, black eyes looking at me and the tail begins to wag just a little.
"Is that you, Ms. Hawkeye?" Al asks tentatively.
"I'm afraid it is, Al. Tucker wanted me useless and so he injected me with something that made me start to get fat every time that I ate. No matter the portion and soon I was unable to move. Fuery stayed with me the whole time but… I know it's not a pretty sight but it's still me."
I look around the cell but I don't see Fuery. If he were here he would have said something.
"Hawkeye, where is Fuery?" I ask.
"Yeah. You said he was in the cell with you…" Al adds.
"Eeeedddd-wwwaaarrrddd…" I hear a mournful and hollow sounding voice echo into the cell say.
My heart stops at the sound and Hawkeye sighs sadly. I look down at her legs with wide eyes and see the animal get up and walk over to me. It grabs my coat in its mouth a little and then looks up at me with hurt and sad eyes.
"Eeeedddd-wwwaaaaarrrddd…." It says, bearing into my soul.
"Tucker fused him… He… He turned him…" Hawkeye says, on the verge of tears. "And poor Breda had to watch it all happen!"
I can do nothing but stare at the creature that used to be Private Kain Fuery.