Long Winding Road
EdxOC & AlxOC
Edited: 8/3/12
Mikayla sighed heavily over the phone. It was too early to deal with her cocky boss. "Seriously?"
"Yes Silver Katana, I'm very serious. You and Fullmetal are to head west and shut down that laboratory," Roy said. She could almost hear him smirking over the phone. "Think of it as a training mission."
Mikayla rolled her eyes, "Yeah, whatever. I'll make sure to tell Ed."
She wrote down the details of the mission on a piece of paper before hanging up.
"Great, just fantastic!" she muttered, slumping down in the kitchen chair.
With a yawn, she headed to her room, passing Kane as he headed to the kitchen for his morning coffee so he could stay awake while he trained her and Nami, and started to pack up - careful not to wake Reena.
She stepped out of her room with her duffel bag slung over her shoulder. She smiled at Nami who had just arrived before turning her attention to Kane.
"Sorry Kane I can't train today... or for a while. Mustang just called and he has a mission for Ed and me," Mikayla sighed, bending down to tie her shoes.
Kane nodded, "Ah, I see. Well don't get yourself killed. Are you taking Reena?"
Mikayla rolled her eyes, "Thank you for your concern and no I'm not. I don't feel like waking her up, because she'll be grumpy so I'll leave her here. I left her a note so if she wants to meet me where I am, she can."
Mikayla left the house and headed to Pinako's house where she knocked on the door and waited for an answer.
"Hello Mikayla, you're here early," Pinako greeted.
Mikayla smiled politely, "Yeah, I was wondering if Ed was up."
Pinako shook her head, "No, but you can go wake him."
Mikayla nodded and headed to Ed's bedroom - suddenly feeling giddy. When she pushed opened the wooden door she found the blonde spread across the bed on his back - his hair loose and his bangs spread everywhere. She shook her head as she heard him snore loudly and scratch his stomach.
Why are you so adorable? She wondered to herself.
She placed her duffel bag on the floor before advancing towards the bed.
"Ed you need to wake up," she said, placing her hands on his shoulders and shaking him lightly.
He groaned and turned to his side to face away from her. "Five more minutes."
She shook her head and yanked the covers away from him - revealing that he was only in a grey t-shirt and white boxers. She felt her face burn as she shook his shoulders again.
"Get up, we have a mission." She said.
He turned towards her - golden eyes half-open as he grumbled, "Fine. We can talk after I shower."
She nodded; quickly grabbing her duffel bag as she almost sprinted out of the room, trying to squash the image of him in his boxers out of her head.
[Ten Minutes Before]
Nami had been awake for a while, staring at the envelope Michelle had given her. Should she open it just yet? She shook her head and sighed, slipping the envelope under her pillow and getting dressed for the day. She grabbed her gloves and slipped on her shoes before leaving.
Nami arrived at Kane's in a few minutes and knocked on the door. The door opened to reveal a dressed and awake Kane.
"Morning Nami," he greeted, letting her inside.
"Morning Kane," she said, entering the house. She nodded to Mikayla and took a seat at the kitchen table where she usually waited until it was time to begin training. It was a few minutes before she heard the door close and Kane come in the kitchen.
"Are you ready?" he asked. "We have a long day."
Nami nodded, standing up. "Let's go."
The two of them arrived in the backyard. Nami stood in front of Kane while he sipped his coffee, watching her.
"Alright," Kane began. "You are going to work on your control."
She nodded.
"Control is the key to any form of alchemy, especially flame alchemy. If you can't control the flames, you will never be a flame alchemist," he continued. "I want you to create a flame, and do each one of these tasks I'm about to give you, never letting the flame go out."
"How many tasks are there?" Nami asked.
"Very few," Kane answered. "I will test your intelligence later. For now, control. And," he pulled out a piece of paper, "this is your task list. Good luck, you have four hours."
Nami took the sheet and nodded, watching Kane disappear into the house. She turned away from the house and snapped her fingers, creating a small flame. She looked at the first task on the list. She blinked. It was a workout circuit for the most part.
She ran her mile and did the sit-ups and push-ups - luckily the flame never went out - and gathered firewood. Finally, she looked at the last item on the list.
Go give the firewood to Pinako.
"Really Kane? Really?" Nami muttered, grabbing some firewood before starting off to Pinako's house.
[Meanwhile]
The two teens arrived in a small town out west called Rothen. They decided to relax for a bit and devise a plan, before going out to the laboratory.
"I think we need to do more research on this laboratory," Ed suggested, plopping down on the couch in the hotel room.
"Yeah, Mustang didn't really tell us much about the place. He just told us that they were going against policy and that we need to shut it down." Mikayla said, placing her bag on the bed that she had claimed.
She wished she could have had her own room, but Ed insisted that they share a room to save money. She wasn't worried about him trying anything... it was just awkward.
"We need to actually go in and find out what we're walking into," Ed muttered, going into though.
Mikayla looked up at the ceiling for a moment in though before smirking, "Dude I totally got a plan~"
Mikayla and Ed innocently strolled into the forested area outside the town. The plan was to either:
1. Act like students doing a report and ask for information on the base. Or,
2. If number one doesn't work then they would just sneak in.
They walked up to the eerie looking building and were stopped at the gate by two guards dressed in blue military uniforms.
"What are you two kids doing here?" One of them demanded.
Mikayla twitched at the term 'kids' but let it slide. "We're here to collect some information for our school science project. We wanted to know what the laboratory does."
The two guards gave them a hard look while the teens gave them innocent smiles before being let through.
"I can't believe that worked," Mikayla muttered.
"Me neither," Ed whispered back.
Nami arrived at Pinako's and set the firewood with the rest. She knocked on the door to let Pinako know she had brought some wood, and was surprised to see Al answer the door. She remembered the last time they met and rubbed the back of her head.
"Um, Alphonse," she greeted. "Is Pinako here?"
"Yeah, come on in," he said, smiling and opening the door. Nami stepped inside, careful to keep the flame alive.
"Where is she?" she asked, looking around.
"Upstairs, but she'll be down in a second," Al answered. "What are you doing here?"
"Kane sent me on some errands, and I have to keep this flame alive," Nami said, gesturing to the flame. "It sort of sucks."
Al chuckled and at that moment Pinako entered the room and engaged in a conversation with Nami. He turned and headed upstairs, taking one last glance at Nami before disappearing from their sight.
Kane sat the kitchen table as he looked over a document that he just got in the mail. According to Roy, Amestris and Areguro were currently in a state of disagreement over political views and natural resources and a war might be started because of it. Kane knew that the Areguro was a strong nation but he also knew that his country was too especially, with Xing as its ally.
If a war starts, then all alchemist must join the battle. He thought wearily. The last time I fought was in the War of Ishbal... I really don't want to repeat that...
"Alright, I better go," Nami said. She had been chatting with Pinako and it was getting late.
"Alright, thank you for the firewood," Pinako nodded. "Tell Kane I said hello."
"I will, bye Pinako," Nami turned and left, heading back down the road, flame in hand.
Al appeared a moment later. "Where's Nami?" he asked.
"She just left."
"Oh. Alright."
Nami arrived back at Kane's just before her time was up. She walked up to Kane who was sitting on the stairs in front of the house.
"All done," she said. Kane looked up.
"Well done," he nodded. "I didn't expect you to do that so easily."
"I had some difficulty," she lied. She then noticed his troubled expression. "Is something wrong?"
To Kane, Nami was a civilian. He would not and could not tell her about an impending war. He stood up and stretched on his arms. "Nah, nothing just a little tired. While you were gone I trained Reena and boy does that child have a lot of energy."
Nami nodded. "Then I'll be heading home now."
"Alright, dismissed."
She turned around and headed towards where she was staying. Once she was out of sight, she shook her head. She highly doubted he was telling the truth, but she wouldn't dig up any dirt just yet.
Mikayla and Ed were able to tour only certain parts of the laboratory - the front lobby.
"Why can't we see more?" Mikayla asked curiously.
The director - Roger Bens - frowned at her, "Because this is a military base. This is no place for children to be."
"Sir, I'm not child." Mikayla said, trying not to glare at the man. "I will understand anything you tell me about this base."
Roger scowled, "You two should leave."
Ed and Mikayla exchanged knowing looks.
"Um, I need to use the restroom. Is it okay if I use it before I leave?" Mikayla asked.
Roger rolled his eyes and gestured down the hall, "Fine."
Mikayla smiled and trotted down the hall. When she was sure no one was following, she continued passed the bathroom and tried to get a feel of the layout of the base. So far she wasn't having any trouble.
"Staff only, huh?" She muttered, looking at the sign that hung on the mental door.
"What are you doing here?"
Mikayla spun around and came face to face with a young scientist - according to his name tag, his name was Joshua.
"I-I got lost on the way to the bathroom," Mikayla said quickly.
Joshua glanced at the metal door behind her before returning his piercing green eyes to study her. "You should go."
Mikayla mock saluted, "Will do!"
She then power-walked down the hall and back to the lobby. The two teen left the base and waited until they were a safe distance away to talk.
"I think I know where their hiding all their secrets." Mikayla said, "We'll have to sneak into the base if we want to take a look."
Ed nodded, "We'll go late tonight."
It was around midnight when Ed and Mikayla sneaked back to the military laboratory.
"How are we getting in?" Ed whispered, his eyes watching the guards patrol the area behind the bush they were hiding in.
"Hmm," Mikayla muttered, eyes roaming the area around them until she found a vent. "That vent. It amazingly looks big enough for us to get into."
The two eventually timed it just right so when the guards' backs were turned, they sprinted towards the barbed wire fence - making sure to keep out of the light from the guard tower. They found a hole in the wire that was tight to get through but they managed it.
"I'll boost you to the vent," Ed said.
Mikayla nodded and once she was leveled with the vent she used alchemy to remove the bars on it. She grabbed his hand once she was comfortably inside (if you can even get comfortable in a vent) and heaved him up.
"Dude, you're heavy!" she grunted.
"Oh shut up," he grumbled once he was inside.
It took a while for them to navigate the vent system but they somehow managed to get behind the metal door Mikayla had found earlier. She kicked open the vent bars and quickly dropped down into the empty room, Ed following close behind.
"What is that?" Mikayla muttered, peering into a cage. The creature was small and chubby. It had the features of a dog and several different animals- it was hideous.
"Chimeras," Ed whispered, clutching his fist. "This base was going against the code and creating chimeras..."