Chapter 10: ...Vengence of God...

"Sometimes, I just don't know what I'm go do about that girl," Lloyd forger said aloud as he walked climbed up into hospital. He had come home late, after everything he had been through the previous day. He had said hello to her, apologized about being late, and brought her a sandwich for dinner. At first she had been happy, and started eating the dinner. Seeing her smiling face, he wondered what would drive a man to turn their own daughter into a science experiment. He had remembered the site of what had been Nina Tucker as he looked at Anya, and thought what she might look like as a chimera.

The girl then threw up the sandwich, and ran to her room. He spent the next ten minutes cleaning up, and had just gone to bed. Everything had just been too much, and he had actually woken up a bit late this morning. Anya had been up to, ready to study, but here eyes were sunken into her head, and the rings underneath them were incredibly large. She probably hadn't gotten any sleep the night before. He had managed to put her down to bed, and locked the door, while also taking the study materials for the day.

'No use having her study when she would clearly be bad at it," he thought, before checking to see the previous days work, "Huh," it had been a chemistry test, like the previous one out of fifty, 'Twenty-One?'

"How can a little girl be so bad at spelling and history...but be actually fairly advanced at math and science?" He asked himself. She would still misspell stuff, but she seemed to have a fair understanding of things like basic chemistry, and a near teenage understanding of mathematics and geometry, "Was she raised in a lab or something."

"Dr. Forger," Lloyd was taken out of his musing by the sound of a familiar voice. He placed the files of Anya's work back under his arm, and smiled as he saw Edward Elric standing there. The boy, yesterday had reminded Twilight that was undeniably what Edward still was, raised his hand weakly in a short wave. Next to him stood the hulking suit of armor that he had only just learned was Edward's little brother, Alphonse. He had been expecting Al to actually be...shorter, but he supposed this might partially explain Edward's issue with his height. Being an older brother but much shorter could not be good for a young man's ego.

"Ah, Edward, good to see you," he waved back. He walked up to the two, and slowly took his coat off, "Thank you for coming in promptly. I know it might have been difficult with everything that happened yesterday, but seeing you this early should allow us to discuss...yesterday with the time and care that it deserves."

Ed nodded at that. He wasn't smiling, and his strange gold eyes, something that Twilight had noticed before but only now recognized as truly strange, were cast downward in apparent defeat. From the familiar circles under his eyes, Twilight could guess that Edward also hadn't a good night's sleep. Which, considering what they had just been through, made complete sense.

'Must have been some awful nightmares.'

"Thank you for helping us yesterday Dr. Forger," Twilight was still offput by how high pitched Alphonse's voice was. It didn't seem like it should be physically possible for something that size to have such a childish tone, but he would have to ask about it later. In all honesty, from their small amount of interactions, the mix of the voice and the armor made Alphonse quite endearing.

'From what Twilight could remember from Shou Tucker's ranting, these boys had also performed human transmutation,' he looked over the boys for a moment, a small fear building in the back of his mind, 'But the way they acted...' he wondered, looking the boys over as he opened the door to the stairwell up to the third floor, 'They clearly didn't do something like make a human chimera,' he looked over Alphonse, 'Perhaps they tried it on themselves, and caused disfigurement? That would explain Alphonse having to hide his body in armor.'

'...Well, I'll guess I can get more answers upstairs.'

"So," Lloyd said "I want to first thank you for beating Shou Tucker yesterday."

"What?" Ed's eyes opened slightly more widely, as he sat in the chair right in front of Lloyd's desk, as Alphonse moved slightly to get a better look at Lloyd. On the chair at the window desk was Alphonse, who Lloyd had allowed to join the session upon Edward's request. It was not exactly professional, but it would probably help Edward open up after the previous day "Aren't you a doctor. Isn't "Do no harm" your most sacred oath."

"It is," Lloyd nodded, opening up his drawer, and then placing a hand gun on the table. It was the exact same make and model as the one he had borrowed from Franky, standard issue side arm, and would be close enough in every detail that there was no way Ed or Al would have been able to spot the difference, "I am saying thank you because had you not done it, when I arrived yesterday I would have shot Shou Tucker."

The room was silent for a moment, both Ed and all moving back slightly at the announcement. And for all that Lloyd Forger was a lie for his country, Twilight meant every word of it.

"Shou Tucker's crimes are unforgiveable," Lloyd continued, squeezing his knuckles, "Had I been alone, surrounded by nothing but horror, I would have reacted violently in a way a doctor such as my self shouldn't. Your actions and presence gave a secondary outlet to allow me to regain my self control," he then looked specifically at the giant suit of armor to his right, "Of course, it was very good that you were there too Alphonse. You kept Edward from also going too far."

"I just wanted to keep Edward from doing something he would regret," Alphonse said, and Lloyd nodded at that.

"You protect each other, that's a very healthy thing for you both to do," he then looked out over the two brothers, "And don't worry, I'm not saying that Shou Tucker's life is precious or anything," he waved his hand, "he committed a horrific crime, and he will likely die for it after he is court-martialed in Central. No one else will be harmed by his experiments."

The two brothers remained silent. They both tried to avoid looking Lloyd in the face, and Twilight made a guess about why.

"You aren't sure it would be good even if the military kills him?" He asked, and noticed slight jumps in the two's postures. They looked at one another for a moment, before returning their gaze to Lloyd.

"No, its not that," Alphonse seemed at a loss for words, "It's just, we are worried about Nina..."

Twilight felt something shift in the pit of his stomach, and Dr. Forger nodded his head at the question. Of course they were worried about the chimera that was once Nina Tucker.

"From my understanding," Lloyd finally said, she will first go to Central for the Court Martial to be used as evidence against Shou in his trial. One look at her and the rest of the evidence should be enough to convict him immediately," he then shook his head, "But after that...I don't know what the military can do. Reversing a transmutation like that must be very difficult," he had to force himself to look both of them with conviction, "It is...it is likely that with the amount of suffering she is experiencing in her form, and with no knowledge of how to return her to her original state, they will put her down in an act of mercy," and as much as Lloyd hated to defend the Amestrian military, he couldn't help but believe that was the only humane thing they could possibly do. The way poor Nina could barely move besides her mouth, the strange way the back of the creature twisted, to let it live with no hope of recovery would be inhumane.

"Put her down...kill her," Edward spat out. Lloyd recoiled slightly, but readjusted, as he looked Edward in the eyes. For a moment, the three just stared at one another, before a great frown covered his face, one not of anger but of sorrow. And from the posture of the suit of armor, Alphonse was likely in the same mood.

"Sometimes, its so easy as an alchemist to just smash things together carelessly," Ed finally spoke aloud, his eyes focused on his knees while his fists clenched tightly as the tried to contain himself, "Dr. Forger, our Alchemy teacher taught us something very important about alchemy. It was the thing drilled into us more than anything else," and then, as if from memory, he recited a mantra that he was sure their teacher had made them copy down line by line. In this recitation, he was joined by his brother, and together they said in unison, "Alchemy is the deconstruction and reconstruction of matter in new forms based on the comprehension of natural laws. These world flows by obeying these laws. Death is one of these laws."

"You must respect the flow."

'Accept death,' Twilight looked over the boys who were by all rights still children. He had become a spy to make sure that war would cause no more children to have to have this lesson drilled into them like he did by the death of his parents, but it seemed that even now there were children learning it despite his best efforts, 'How young were you when you learned this. Eight, Nine?'

"But it's still so hard," Ed moaned, "To accept death, that the world is cruel and that good people will suffer and die and disappear forever," Lloyd nodded as the boy rested his face in his hand, "I just don't want to accept it...but because we didn't..."

"Does this have to do with what Shou Tucker was saying yesterday?" Lloyd asked, and immediately, the two sat up in shock. Discomfort was clear across Ed's face, and, despite the fact that he couldn't actually see Al's, he guessed that he was uncomfortable about the question too, "If you don't want to share, I understand. This is a process, and we can talk about it later when you both become more comfortable," he lowered his arms to be open towards Edward, trying to coax him into giving him more information, "Of course, we can try and make it more comfortable for you to discuss it now, if you would like that?"

Ed stopped looking at the ground around his feet, and turned to look outside the window. There were a few raindrops hitting the window, but they weren't coming down too hard. For a moment, he just continued to watch as the rain began to fall, and then he looked back at Dr. Forger.

"Could we go outside," he finally asked, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, "I think the rain might help a bit, wash away some of this crud."

'Perhaps a bit crudely put,' Twilight considered, remembering the text of the psychological books he had read as part of his training for WISE, 'But giving him support will continue to build trust, and will continue to build up the agent as a person of comfort to relay information that will be valueable in the future.'

"That sounds fine," Lloyd got out of his seat, and so too did Ed and Al. Lloyd led them outside of his office, and began to walk to the main staircase. As they did so, they passed the main desk on the third floor. There were only two people working at the desk, Marsha Strauss and the lady who Twilight had met the last day he had had a session with Edward, Yor, "Hello, back delivering files again, Ms. Briar?"

"Yes," she answered flatly. Marsha smiled when she heard Lloyd's voice, and she looked up as Yor continued, "It seems the hospital was short staffed for today, and there was a request for someone from headquarters to come and assist her with some administration issues," she barely even blinked at that, "I thought it would be good and try to make some new connections."

"Very nice dear," Marsha said quickly, before leaning forward, and whispering in his ear, "This one's just a bit strange. Nice, but strange," she then leaned back quickly as though to make it seem like she had said nothing at all, "What are you three dears doing out right now. I thought your session was supposed to go to the top of the hour."

"Edward would like to get some fresh air," Lloyd pointed back towards the shorter of his two patients, who nodded. Marsha's face assumed the look that many older female relatives always gave their younger male wards. One of exasperation at the foolishness they were about to undertake.

"Really, when it's raining," she groaned.

"I'm sorry," Edward said, trying his best to be polite to this older woman, "I just think it would be good for the rain to wash away some of my doubt."

"...," the older woman stared at Edward for a moment, and over the seconds, Twilight could see that her exasperation was being replaced by a slight indulgent sadness. She then shook her head, and said, to her self more than any one else, "Boys," she then reached beneath her desk, and said, forcefully, "I insist you take an umbrella out there, I won't have one of my doctors catching a cold."

Lloyd took the umbrella, and nodded an affirmative. He then waved as the three of them headed through the doorway to the main staircase out of the hospital. Just as the door closed, Lloyd could hear the third floor hallway begin to ring with the sound of the floor's telephone.

"So, is the rain washing away your doubt?" Lloyd asked, it not having been but a moment after they had gotten outside.

Lloyd himself held the umbrella as they stood out in the rain, while Edward and Al stood without its protection. The giant in armor and the teenager just stood there for a moment, allowing the water to drip over them. They had actually walked out fairly far from the front of the hospital, so far that they were standing on the sidewalk of the main street rather inside the courtyard. There were almost no passer byes however, and the rain did seem to offer some kind of calming presence to the brothers. Finally, Edward turned to Lloyd, and, while remaining sad, looked him directly in the eye.

"Thirty-five liters of water," Edward began, like before, reciting from memory something that had likely become a mantra for him, "Twenty kilograms of carbon, four liters of ammonia, one and a half kilograms of lime, eight hundred grams of phosphorus, two hundred fifty grams of salt," Twilight felt his guard loosen suddenly from the shopping list of materials, "One hundred grams of saltpeter, eighty grams of sulfur, seven and a half grams of flourine, five grams of iron, three grams of silicon, and trace amounts of fifteen other elements," throughout the whole list, he never stopped looking Lloyd in the face, "That is the elemental make up of an average adult human body."

"It seems," Lloyd tried to process why he had been told that, and then remembered where their conversation had ended in his office, "That you might have some experience with this formula."

"Yeah," Ed looked to the ground, shame dripping along with the rainwater from his body, "We do have some experience with-"

"EDWARD ELRIC!"

The conversation stopped, and Lloyd turned back to see Marsha Strauss running out of the hospital, with a pistol in her hand. Right behind her was Yor Briar, who was keeping up remarkably well while wearing high heel shoes. The two women ran up, Marsha clearly not used to still running around, her gun still held to her side.

"Edward Elric," she panted, looking at the young alchemist, "Please come inside. There is an emergency."

"What's going on?" he asked, and Lloyd slowly placed a hand on the young man's shoulder. He didn't speak up yet, but if Marsha, a woman he had only ever seen riding a desk had panicked and run out wielding her service pistol, then something must really be wrong.

"There's a killer on the loose," Yor spoke up, in more control than the woman she had joined in running to meet Lloyd and the Elrics, "He's reported to be targeting state alchemists like e-"

"Edward Elric," the voice was low, but somehow loud and clear for the entire group to take in, and Twilight could feel a chill run up his spine, "The Fullmetal Alchemist."

Somehow, Twilight just noticed the extremely tall man standing but two feet away from their group. He had dark skin and a jet of white hair sticking out of his head. He wore a plain shirt, with a brown jacket over a pair of black pants. On his face was a pair of sunglasses that were by every measure completely useless. Firstly, because it was raining, and there was no need to block at the sun. And secondly because the large X shaped scar upon his forehead meant that no one would actually need to see his eyes to create some kind of profile for identification.

But that didn't matter, because the presence of the group had changed, where once there had been only a slight worry, now there was a blooming panic that Twilight could see around him, particularly in Marsha Stauss. She quickly pulled up her pistol and aimed it directly at the the man. However, before she could even attempt to pull the trigger, a large brown hand suddenly slammed into her face, and a flash of blue lighting sliced across Lloyds vision. And then Marsha exploded in blood, here eyes gone and blood erupting from her mouth and sockets. Her body fell to the ground in a heap, as Lloyd finally came to register what had happened.

"Lieutenant Strauss!" Lloyd screamed, as Yor stepped back in horror, and Edward and his brother froze in shock. He then saw the assailant pull back his hand, and then take aim at Edward's head. Realizing what was about to occur, Lloyd snapped at the closing lever of the umbrella, and immediately cause the top to collapse into a thinner weapon. He then swung it in an arc towards the murderer's head, trying to catch him before he could hit Edward. Unfortunately, the scarred man dodged the strike, sliding away from the strike. Fortunately, it had meant that he hadn't been able to attack Edward.

"ED! Come on!" Alphonse suddenly pulled his brother back, giving Lloyd more room. He charged forward kicking, right over Stauss's corpse. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught where the pistol had landed. He maneuvered his foot, and caught the pistol with the toe of his shoe, before kicking it up into his hand. He then moved his arm to aim it at the scarred man-

Who was right on top of him. It took all of Twilight's instinct to jump in a mix of backwards and to the side, and thus, he was able to get out of the arc of the murderer's swing. However, the swing caught both the umbrella and the gun, and blue lighting again shot across these objects. Suddenly, both of them were in pieces, and the change in weight caused Twilight to mistime a step, and suddenly fall backward over Marsha's corpse. He quickly began to force his way up, only to feel a shadow come over him.

"All who stand in the way of the vengeance of God," the man's right hand again began to shine with blue light, "Will meet the sting of his venge-"

And then the scarred man was flying backwards.

Lloyd blinked.

"Wh..."

He looked upward, and saw a deeply muscled leg sticking out. He followed the leg upward, continuing to crane his neck, until the leg came down and Lloyd was almost looking backwards at Yor Briar, standing there, a look of rage upon her face.

"What?" Lloyd Forger looked at this woman, who had seemed perfectly normal before, land a kick that he hadn't seen many trained spies manage to pull off. Just as he was thinking about that, however, he saw the scarred man return to his feet. That man was then, in less than a second, again charging forward. Yor got into a stance, and then just when swung a kick out. This time, the killer was the one dodging an arc of an attack, and then, just as it seemed he would have another opening to strike at Yor, Yor planted the foot of the first kick, and then followed with the second. This time, while the scarred man was still able to dodge the flow of the kick, he was kept away.

'Incredible,' Twilight looked over the woman's form, 'she must be some kind of master of martial arts,' he watched as her fluid movements allowed her to control her body perfectly to keep herself in this fight-

"WAAHHHAA!"

Until she slipped as the second leg landed. Twilight felt his eyes widen, wondering if the water had caused her to lose her grip, only to have his jaw drop as he looked at her foot. The heel of the second kick had completely disappeared. During the second kick, the scarred killer had used his destruction capability to destroy Yor's heel, and cause her to misplace her balance and fall over.

'This kind of fighting,' even after everything, Twilight couldn't help but admire the skill of both of these fighters, 'is beyond anything I've ever experienced before.'

And for the second time in two days, Agent Twilight felt very small.

Before Twilight could allow his pity to overwhelm him, however, he saw that the murderer was charging towards Yor, blue lighting shooting all through his right arm. Thinking quickly, realizing there was no way Yor could dodge, Twilight dove, wrapping up the surprisingly muscular woman, and rolling the both of them away. They rolled several times, and kept rolling as Twilight felt the ground rumble after seeing the Scarred Man's hand slam into the ground where Yor had been laying not a second earlier. The ground and cobblestones shot upwards into the air, pieces of debris flying as the destruction spread around in a spider web fashion.

"If that had hit me..." he heard Yor question out loud, and Twilight couldn't help but agree. Perhaps, despite everything he had seen, this woman was still just operating on some innate instinct, and not prepared for a real fight like this. After all, she had just seen a colleague murdered, she had probably been operating on adrenaline and rage, and was only now coming down to Earth. It wasn't like Yor fought people with any regular occurrence or anything.

"Fools that lack a fear of God shall be shown the-" and again, the murderer was interrupted. This time it was a column of stone shooting out of the ground all the way from the main road. The scarred man destroyed the column without a second thought, and turned to see Edward Elric standing there, with Alphonse standing behind him.

"This guy is after me!" Edward shouted, "I'll lead him away from the hospital. If we go inside we might get other people hurt!" and then the young man turn and ran. And as Edward had expected, the scarred man charged after the brothers, his targets clearly more important than Twilight and Yor. For a moment, Twilight simply laid there, holding Yor in the position they had rolled away from the strike in. And then he realized that, and quickly let go.

"I...uh," he said, finally feeling the adrenaline leave his body. He noticed a bit of a blush on Yor's face, probably because his hand had been around her wasted during the roll, "Thank you for saving me back there."

"It was...no...," Yor looked away for a moment, her eyes on the ground, "I was running on instinct," she shook her head, "I was so mad when Marsh-," she stopped, and looked at the body of Marsha Strauss, laying there. Yor's eyes constricted to pinpricks at the sight of the body.

"What happened!?" one of the other doctors from the bottom floor had come out to see what the commotion was about, and his eyes were filled with horror as they focused on the corpse of his colleague laying in the middle of the entrance courtyard. Twilight got up, and then looked back.

"The Alchemist Serial Killer attacked us and killed Lieutenant Strauss!" he turned, and listened to distinctive sounds of crashing, "You all bring Marsha's body in, and alert the authorities. I'm going after them, to make sure I can identify where he and the Elric Brothers are."

The other doctor gulped, and then nodded as he looked over the body. A few other orderlies emerged, and they rushed to retrieve their colleagues corpse. Twilight pushed himself to the main street, and then followed the chaos as best he could.

"I'm coming with you," Twilight looked back, and saw Yor Briar next to him. She looked back at him, and then reached into her coat on the side, and pulled out a standard issue pistol, "You don't seem to have yours and Marsha's was destroyed by that killer. If we need to reengage him, I will have a weapon to try and protect us."

Twilight nodded, and only just noticed that Yor had taken off her shoes to allow her to avoid the awkward task of running with one foot in a heel, and one foot without. Despite everything, the sounds of the fighting meant that Edward and Alphonse were likely still alive, and that meant that he still had a chance to save the two young men he had just become surprisingly attached to.

'Hang on Ed,' Lloyd Forger thought, 'I'm coming.'