SCARLETT
Scar...
He was in trouble... Fighting someone...
They were on a train...
There were many loud explosions and repulsions...
It terrified her.
EDWARD
He and Al were in the middle of a discussion with General Armstrong when a scream rent the air.
"That came from the infirmary!" "That was Scarlett!"
They quickly moved to the infirmary. Scarlett was sitting up, panting, in one of the beds. Her hands were on the sides of her head. She looked scared.
"Scarlett, are you okay?" he asked, moving in so he was right next to her.
"I... I thought I was back at... I was ready to check for scars..." she said quietly.
"It's okay. Nothing like that is ever gonna happen to you ever again, alright? I won't let that happen." he said strongly, putting his hand on hers.
"What's going on?" the general asked.
"Scarlett was once a test subject at a military-supported lab in Central. Almost every morning she woke up, there'd be a new scar on her body. That's how she got those tattoos, and the blades that are contained inside her body. From being Alchemically mixed with a rare metal called titanium. She's now super-human." Al explained.
"I see."
"I'm the only Ishvalan that went in that lab and came back out alive. All the others were killed. Sometimes, in the night, I'd be listening to their screams. After I was combined with the titanium, sometimes I would watch them... I was only a little girl when it all started, so I've learned to be strong... But even then, some things demand a toll."
"You're a strong young woman." Buccaneer commented.
"So everyone says. I let them think that, but it isn't true. I wind up crying almost everyday. I'm about as weak as they come, hiding my emotions with a blank mask."
"Scarlett." he said, looking fiercely into her eyes. "Stop saying bad things about yourself. I won't let you say that stuff. I've got more bruises than I care to count from you calling me a wuss or a baby!"
"Those are accurate comments."
He didn't dare try to contradict the general. She was a very scary woman!
SCARLETT
They were put to work quickly enough.
Whacking icicles.
She didn't need the blade they'd provided. She formed a long curved blade on her arm and used that to hit the spears of ice down. "Quit whining, Ed. You're not that small." she told him as he complained about not being able to reach. Before he could start up a short-rant, she rapped his skull with her knuckles.
"Ow! Would you knock that off? My whole head is gonna be one big lump if you don't stop!" he yelled.
"You already are a lunk-head." she told him bluntly.
"Huh? Fullmetal?"
They turned around. As promised, one of Major Miles's men had come to pick them up. And they knew him!
"Warrant officer Falman!" they all cried.
There was a little chit-chat, and then they were shown around. It was warmer on the lower levels, like development and where the generators were kept.
One man was called over to investigate noise in one of the pipes.
She heard it too... That's no pipe...
"That's not the pipe..." she muttered, crouching down.
There! Again!
Now she laid down on the floor, pressing her ear to the ground. "There's something down there... Something's coming up!" she hissed, jumping up.
Now the noise was loud enough for all of them to hear. She growled, sliding her glasses down.
The whole floor is shaking... It may be hard to pin-point where this thing is coming up... No...
Wait...
In the instant the floor stops shaking, don't blink...
There!
Her face set in determination, she turned to glare at the point where the thing would come up. "There. That's where it's coming out." she said harshly, pointing to the spot.
"Can you tell what it is by the vibrations?" Edward asked.
"Not human, that's what." she replied.
At that moment, something burst through the floor. Now she could see it, and quickly identified it.
"Oh, shit... It's a Homunculus!" she hissed.
"What? Why is a Homunculus here?" Ed worried.
Huge. Slow. Tired. Lazy. Can go at extreme speeds when he puts his mind to it.
"I don't think it's here for you guys... But it's hard to tell... This thing is so slow that I can't make out it's intent or thoughts!" she cried in exasperation.
Ed and Al ran up to it and started babbling about how they were only looking for a way to get their bodies back.
She felt it coming...
Duck!
Bullets riddled the floor directly behind Edward. "If you were aiming for the Homunculus, you badly missed!" she yelled, picking herself up and glaring at Buccaneer.
"I saw you talking to that thing! I knew you were Dracman spies!"
One-track mind...
She heaved a sigh. "I hate men..." she muttered. "Ed, Al, get away from that thing!" she snapped. "It doesn't know us. But from the slowness, I'm bettin' this is the sin we've never seen... Sloth." she told them as they scurried to her sides.
"Look out!" Ed cried.
She turned to see it moving further into the fort. "Fuck!" she yelled, tattoos flaring. She ran at it.
A neat slice made it stop and turn around. "You don't belong here, and you're not human. That's the extent of my knowledge. I'm betting that you're on some errand for that bearded bastard beneath Central, so that gives reason to attack you." she told it.
"Why... should I... care?... Go dig... a hole..." it said slowly, moving away.
"No!"
She darted in front of it. "Ed! Al!" she yelled.
EDWARD
They moved to help Scarlett. The Homunculus was moving further and further into the fort, endangering the lives of the people in it!
Something was thrown... There was a group of people in the way!
"Hey, look out!" he yelled.
Both he and Scarlett both started running. He put up a stone wall in front of some of them, but his Alchemy was being stretched... He couldn't shield them all!
"Gr..."
He gasped.
Scarlett had used her own body to protect the men! And it had worked!
"Great job!" he shouted to her.
She didn't reply, instead chasing after the Homunculus as it got onto a lift and went up into development.
"Quick! The stairs!" Scarlett was already chasing up the winding stairs. He and Al quickly followed.
The general had apparently been shelling him with one of the tanks. But it hadn't worked, obviously.
"General! Weapons have no effect on him! Scarlett's probably the only thing able to lay a dent on him right now!" he yelled.
As Scarlett darted off to battle the thing, he was interrogated. Many of the questions he couldn't answer...
Finally, a plan was formed, although he and Al were kept in the dark.
SCARLETT
"Scarlett!" Edward yelled.
"Not now! A little busy!" she snapped as she stood in front of the thing.
"Well if you're going to be stubborn, help us get that thing in the elevator!" the general snapped.
"Fine!"
She ran around it so that it was a straight shot from her to the elevator. She braced herself, then threw her whole weight into it. She grunted under the strain.
It was so damn heavy!
It started pushing back...
She yelped as something came up behind her. In that second, it gained a little ground. "Don't stand there gawking! Keep pushing!" The general snarled from the tank behind her.
"What do you think I'm doing, sleeping?" she snapped back. But she put more effort into it as the tank behind her and two others also pushed.
When they finally got to the elevator, they encountered some trouble. The Homunculus had managed to gain a secure foot-hold and was really pushing back.
The only way is...
"General! I'm letting go here! Don't stop pushing!" she ordered.
Before she could get any sass-back, she pushed off of the tank behind her, launching her at Sloth's head. Her right arm-blade came out...
Sloth's body fell to the ground, actually in the elevator, as his head turned to dust. "There..." she sighed, jumping out of the elevator before it could close. "That did the trick..." she murmured.
"And how did you think of that?"
"He's slow, sure. But even he needs a brain to operate correctly. And anyway, a dead body doesn't give resistance to pushing." she told the general.
EDWARD
"C'mon, Scarlett!" he whined.
After getting rid of Sloth, they'd been locked up. Scarlett was already known to be their body-guard, and her special Alchemy was also known of. But she'd consented to them being locked up. She was sitting outside their cell, ignoring his pleas that she bust them out.
"Oh, give it a rest, kid! I'm not getting you out!" Scarlett told him, covering her ears in annoyance.
"Why not?" he asked, upset.
"Because I promised I wouldn't. So I can't. I try to avoid lying." she told him, glaring from behind her dark lenses.
"That's not fair!" he whined.
"Zip it, you big baby! This is worse than when we were in the blizzard! At least then I was able to shut you up, but now I can't!" she sighed. "You're acting like you're three! Should I start treating you like you're three? Would you like that?"
"No! I want you to get us out!"
"No!"
Scarlett reached between the bars and knocked him out.