AN: The characters and concepts of Fullmetal Alchemist belong to Hiromu Arakawa. This story revolves around the first anime of Fullmetal Alchemist, not the manga. Do not flame because of that small difference, I've read the manga and seen the real anime that follows it, but the first anime is what captured my heart about FMA, so this story is tribute. Enjoy the story. The lyrics are "Wolf" by Saint Asonia, I do not own the lyrics to the song. - Carrie
"When it all goes down,
The savage comes out,
Everyone's a wolf,
Everyone's a wolf.
When the wall's at your back,
You're under attack,
Everyone's a wolf.
We're biting, we're crawling,
Never giving up, never giving up.
We're killing, surviving,
When enough is enough,
Everyone, everyone's a wolf."
Carlina's skin goes cold as she takes a step forward to stand in front of Al. "But my teacher told me never to go anywhere with strangers," Al's voice drifts from inside the chest plate. Carlina tries to imagine the best way to handle the situation. Her thoughts are cut short when the small man with the katana steps around Al. He looks at her for a moment, nearly eye level with the shorter girl, before turning up to Al. "Don't be ridiculous. How old are you anyway?" "Fourteen-" "-Fifteen." The teens answer almost in unison. Their self proclaimed kidnapper smirks at them. "If you're that old, you should be able to think and act for yourselves- am I right? Listen kids, if you ever want to be true adults, then you've gotta learn to act like them-" his speech is accentuated by jabbing his finger into Al's chest plate "-you can't let your teacher run your life forever, right?" Carlina feels Al nudge her in the back. Without glancing up, she takes a small step to the right. "Right," Al answers the man, pounding one fist into the open palm of the other, "I should think for myself."
"Now you're talking... Then we're clear, you're gonna come with u-" the man's sentence is cut off as Al brings the side of his hand down on the middle of their kidnapper's head. With a grunt, he slumps to the ground. "I decided not to go with strangers. That's our decision, am I right," Al's tone mocks the one the other man used earlier. Carlina suppresses a giggle, coming out as a small snort. "Damn right it is." She drops her body a little, bending at the knees and bringing both fists up close to her body. Al also gets into a fighting stance next to her, one hand outstretched and the other close to his friend. They stand close to one another as the group of adults smirk at their defiance. "Well, this should be fun," the woman with the face tattoo takes a step back.
The occupants stare at each other in a standoff. The man with the knife to Dante's throat took the woman toward the side door, out of the way. While the man on the floor recuperates, his collaborators grip their weapons. Grunting, the man with the large maul charges forward to swing it at the pair. Al dodges backward and Carlina rolls forward as the flat end strikes the wall next to where they stood. "Whoa, that was close," Al exclaims. Carlina whips around in time to see the man with the katana emerge from under the table, starting to swing at Al. After a few swipes the man knocks Al's helmet off. Carlina tries to grab the leg of the woman as she runs toward Al. She kicks Carlina's hand away and vaults to land on Al's shoulders. "My, mind if I come in?" She contorts her body and squeezes into the armor. Carlina shifts from foot to foot, trying to stay out of the way as Al fights against the woman trying to control his body. Too late she notices the large man squaring up opposite of Al. Before she can run in, the small man with the katana uses its pommel to smash her in the temple. Everything starts swimming before her eyes. It gets hard to hear, like she's underwater. Someone swings her over their shoulder and it's the last thing she remembers.
In the basement of the Devil's Nest bar, Alphonse and Carlina sit side-by-side in a gray room. Crates and pallets with different bottles line the walls. The teens sit with their backs against one of the crates. Alphonse sits with his wrists and ankles chained, legs stretched slightly. Carlina is forced to sit with her legs to her chest. Her wrists are chained together behind her knees, and her ankles are chained as well. "Sorry about this," the woman, named Martel, speaks from inside the armor, "I know how creepy this has to be...but I'm supposed to keep an eye on you, so you'll have to- bear with me a while." Al responds without a trace of malice, "It's alright, I'm already used to it. Just be careful about my blood seal, okay? If you accidentally touch it, I could die." Carlina roughly hits Al in the side with her shoulder, glaring at him for revealing sensitive information. "What? I don't think she's a bad person," Al gets defensive as Carlina narrows her eyes. "Al they fucking kidnapped us, did who-knows-what to Ed, and could be lying about what happened to Dante, we shouldn't trust them."
Martel's chuckle echoes from inside the chest plate as Al ignores his friend's outburst. "Hey, how did you guys get to be chimeras anyway," he directs the question toward the man with the katana, known as Dorochet. Exhaling from his pipe, Dorochet sighs. "Well, all of us were serving in the military. We were stationed in the East- on assignments. Some were injured, and others, well... Let's just say we weren't useful anymore. So they took us somewhere for experiments." "Laboratory Five?" Al's voice causes Carlina's expression to soften. She leans in to her legs, resting her chin on her knees and glancing at Dorochet as the trio continue to speak. Martel talks about how Greed saved the chimeras and offered them jobs, but mention of the Homunculus makes Carlina's blood boil. For her, an act of good faith doesn't negate the other Homunculi slaughtering her entire family. She winces as the temple Dorochet hit throbs. "Sorry, kid. Just collateral," Dorochet apologizes with a shrug before he continues, "He took us out of the cages and gave us something we could all call home."
Before either of the teens can respond, the door to the room creaks open. A group of men stand at the door. In front stands a slender but built man, with a purple tight fitting shirt under an olive green vest that has a fur collar. He wears circular sunglasses, and has shorter brown hair. Carlina's eyes narrow as she notices the hand on the door frame has a blood red Ouroboros. "That's right guys. See, this place is hand crafted for outlaws, where people who don't fit in on the outside can hide out for a while," the man presumed to be Greed speaks as he leads the group in the room. Behind him is the large mallet wielding chimera, the lizard man they encountered when rescuing Izumi and Wrath, the man who held Dante at knifepoint, and two more men Carlina doesn't recognize. One is a blond man with a goatee. The other is a hulking figure in a trench coat, with a shirt covering the entire lower half of his face, and a brimmed hat on his head. The only identifying feature is a pair of glasses balanced on his nose. It seems Al recognizes one of the figures, as he gently says, "Tucker?" The large figure in the trench coat makes a shaky breathing sound as the name is said. Al's voice gets sharper and angry, "Tucker! Why are you here?"
Tucker raises his hands and waves them in front of him, his voice low and raspy, almost a forced whisper, "You must understand Al, I'm not here by choice, I promise." Carlina squints at the figure in the coat, feeling like something is off. As he moves his head slightly, she realizes Tucker's head is upside down. "If things don't go as planned, the doctor here is the only one who can cure us chimeras," the blond man speaks up. Greed chuckles at this. He steps forward and takes Al's helmet off, "I'll be damned... Just like you said, Dr. Tucker, it really is empty." Tucker waves his hands again, "But- but I'm not the one who taught them how to apprehend you, Al." Greed places the helmet back on to Al's body. "It's a treat to meet you kid. You can just call me Greed. I'm your new friend." Al and Greed go back and forth for a moment about the Ouroboros tattoo. The pounding in Carlina's head forces her to shut her eyes. "That makes you a friend of Envy, Lust, and the others, doesn't it," Al's voice comes from her side.
"I wouldn't say friends... more like sworn enemies, if you want to get down to the grit," Greed responds, which makes Carlina open her eyes once more. "I don't get it," she responds, and the homunculus seems to stare at her for the first time since entering the room. Greed squats down to Al's eye level, "Well Al, that is your name, right? Tell me, how does it feel to have your soul attached to this empty armor?" With the homunculus close, Carlina can better see the violet eyes behind the sunglasses, and the animalistic pointed teeth. Greed uses his knuckles to lightly tap the chest plate as he rises back to his feet, "To exist as a chunk of solid metal, rather than as a soft and cushy human worm. In other words- completely unaffected by weaknesses like hunger, fatigue and old age. You could call that eternal life, couldn't you?" While Al doesn't move, Carlina can hear the anger in his voice. "Eternal life? That's why you kidnapped me? Eternal life?"
Greed straightens up and the light in the room gleams across his sunglasses, "They don't call me Greed for nothing. I want money, I want women, status, and power. I want everything this world is selling, and eternity's topping the list." As the sin is monologuing, Carlina slowly stretches her wrists to untuck them from underneath her knees. Dorochet glares at her from the corner, but she keeps her gaze firmly ahead at the leader of the group. Greed clenches his fists before relaxing, leaning forward toward Al again. "Do you understand? You can help me achieve what I'm going for, Al. And you will help me here. Because if you don't tell me how your soul's bound to that armor, I'll break it apart to find out." Carlina snarls from next to Al, lurching forward at Greed. He nimbly avoids her as she tries to headbutt him, only succeeding in sprawling herself on the floor between him and Al. Carlina rolls her way to sitting on her knees, glaring up at the homunculus. "Don't you dare touch him-" she's cut off as Greed erupts into laughter. "I won't help you, you're a bad person," Al speaks from behind her, and she nods her head in agreement.
Shrugging, Greed stares down at the teenagers. "You can act tough for a while, if you insist. Just remember nobody is on their way to save you two, so you're at my mercy kiddos." Carlina smirks as Al responds, "My brother knows you took me, I bet he's on his way right now-" "-Oh yeah, about him... When I left him, he wasn't feeling so good," Greed cuts off Alphonse, making a thumbs down motion for emphasis. Carlina grits her teeth as Al gasps behind her. "You better not have hurt him," she says in a low voice, glaring around the room at the group holding them hostage. A scratching sounds comes from behind Carlina, as Al finishes drawing a transmutation circle on the ground. He touches it and a giant fist erupts from the ground underneath Greed, lifting him into the air from the force. "You let your guard down," Al sounds smug, "Now all I need to do is use this chain to..." "To do what, exactly?" Greed asks as his arms turn a dark purple, almost black. He flexes and the fist underneath him crumbles into pieces. Carlina ducks backwards into Al to avoid the stone shards. The same purple color is spread to the parts of Greed's torso that were hit by the fist's impact.
As he touches back down to the ground, Greed grabs both teens by the back of their heads and slams them into the ground. Carlina lets out a whimper as her vision swims from the impact. "Now that was a silly thing to do- oh, sorry Marta, I forgot you were keeping house," Greed apologizes to his subordinate. He chuckles and pats the back of each teen's head, causing the throbbing in Carlina's to increase. "I like a kid with guts," he compliments the two as he walks back to the group of men, "but did you honestly think it would be that easy? If you really want to hurt me, you have to do something kind of like-" Greed is cut off at the man with the mallet swings, knocking the top of the homunculus' head clean off at the jaw. With a sickening thud the body falls to the floor in front of the kids. "What did you do that for? I thought he was your friend," Carlina squeaks out, staring up as the man with the mallet simply grunts.
Suddenly Greed's left hand, the one with the Ouroboros, raises off the ground in a 'one moment' gesture. The body teeters back on to it's heels as it stands in front of them again. The top half of the head is still gone, leaving the bottom jaw and teeth behind. Little white crackles of what appear to be lightening bounce around the mutilated part of Greed's body. From the bottom jaw, a skull begins to form upwards. Muscles form and stretch across the skull, followed by skin and the features of Greed's face. With a few groans, Greed places his right hand against the side of his head and stretches his neck a few times. "See? I've got quite a shell too, Al," he grins before turning back to the man with the hammer, "But do it a little cleaner next time, 'kay?" "Yes sir, I'm sorry," the man apologizes with a small nod of the head. Greed puts his thumb against the outside of his nose and snorts, jetting out a small gob of blood on to the floor, "I know what you're thinking. If I've got this body, why do I need your sec-ret?" His voice trails off as the basement shakes and a loud rumbling is heard nearby. In a flash of blue light, a door appears on the wall opposite of where Al and Carlina are. They both sit up eagerly.
"Brother-" "-Ed!" Both manage to right themselves into seating positions as they expectantly stare at the door. It swings open to reveal Izumi, dragging a man by the collar, with Sig behind her. "Ah, fuck," Carlina exhales, knowing the two of them are in for an earful later. "Excuse me for the interruption, gentlemen," Izumi walks forward in to the room. "Teacher," Al manages to stammer. "I'm sorry, who the hell are you," Greed asks with a grin. "Pissed off," Izumi shouts, puffing her chest out and pointing her thumb toward herself. The men begin rushing at Izumi, but she quickly dispatches them one by one until she stands feet away from Greed. Tucker hides by a few pipes around a corner of the room. "Hey, hey, hey... Nice manners. I can see where the kids learned theirs," Greed jibs. "Are you the one who's in charge here? Thank you for taking care of Al and Carlina for a while, but I'll be taking them home now," Izumi steps up, standing directly in front of the homunculus. "I'm afraid that's not true," Greed responds with a smirk. "I see," Izumi sighs.
She uses her right fist to punch Greed in the jaw. A moment passes as her fist stays connected, before she grimaces. "You're just full of surprises," Greed grins as the gray purple substance covers his skin where Izumi's fist makes contact, "Tell me, did you break three fingers or four?" Izumi hops back, clutching the wrist of her hand. "Izumi," Carlina calls out, gritting her teeth. The gray purple skin recedes down into the collar of Greed's shirt. "That's a pretty weird body you've got there," Izumi remarks. "I suppose, I never did bruise very easily," Greed steps back into his relaxed stance. "I see, well I'll just have to try harder then," Izumi smirks. "Teacher, where's my brother, is he safe," Al blurts out. "I should be asking you two that. Apparently you three can't run a single errand for me," Izumi snaps back before turning toward the teens, "You're all in for a long lecture later, so you better get ready." "I'm sorry," Al cringes but Carlina just groans, not looking forward to being dragged in to the lecture with the brothers. Izumi turns back to Greed and claps her hands together, bringing them down on the ground.
Stone moves along the floor before snaking up Greed's body, trapping him in a coil of rock. Carlina thinks she hears Tucker remark about Izumi's lack of transmutation circle, but it's hard to hear over the sound of alchemy. "Not even gonna try," Izumi asks as she straightens up. "I have no intention of fighting a woman, all I want from him is the secret of his transmutation, simple as that," Greed responds from inside the stone cylinder. "And if you get it," Izumi probes. "Well then I'll have the secret to eternal life, and the world on a platter," Greed chuckles in response. "This is getting us nowhere," sounding impatient, Izumi claps again and transmutes a giant fist similar tot he one Al made before. It rushes forward and collides where Greed's head is in a cloud of dust. "You did it," Carlina grins, leaning into Al with relief. Izumi's face changes as the dust clears to show Greed, smiling with his skin shield blocking the damage to his face. "Don't look so surprised. I told you before, I don't bruise easily. Don't you listen, doll?" Greed continues to grin but doesn't resist the stone holding him in place. The men who were easily disposed of by Izumi before begin to stand and slowly surround the Curtis couple. Greed breaks through the stone finally, his hands transformed into the shield material with claws instead of normal fingers. Sig moves to stand in front of his wife as she admonishes him, "Sig, no." "Yes, I've had my fill of doing nothing," he responds as she looks toward the ground.
"It's just, I can't watch... As more babies are taken from me, I can't," Izumi tells her husband, who simply responds, "No." Greed grins, "Give me a break, are you still up for more?" With a yell, Sig charges forward. He grabs the two men in front of Greed by their faces, his hands as big as their heads. Izumi rushes forward, ducking under her husband with her own yell as she swings at Greed. The homunculus dodges, but Izumi swipes at his feet with a low kick. This causes Greed to stumble back. Izumi claps and transmutes a spear, starting to put her full body into stabbing at the sin. Greed dodges the swipes aimed at his head. With a noise from deep in her chest, Izumi starts coughing up blood, a pool hitting the concrete floor. She drops the spear and falls to her knees, wheezing, as Sig is surrounded by Greed's men. "Are we done playing games now? This sort of business isn't my style, but if you don't cooperate, I won't have a choice," Greed speaks deliberately as he grabs Izumi by her collar and drags her up to his level, standing while still holding on to her. "Get your filthy hands off her," a voice echoes from the doorway Izumi created.
Al and Carlina whip their heads around to see Ed standing in the frame, fists clenched. "Brother-" "-Ed" They exclaim in unison, happy to see the last member of their trio. He breathes heavily, as if he ran all the way there. "Now it's the older brother huh? Looks like everyone's here," Greed mocks. Ed scans the room before his gaze lands on Tucker, still cowering in the corner, "Tucker? You too?" Ed looks back at Greed, "You messed up. First you took my brother and my friend, and then you hurt my teacher too?" "Come on, all you have to do is tell me how to transmute a soul into an object and-" "-Shut up! Put my teacher down and let Al go now," Ed cuts off Greed with a tone of command. "Ed, careful, he's a homunculus too," Carlina warns. "I've got a hostage, is everyone forgetting about that," Greed sounds exasperated from his side of the room. "I see, no wonder," Ed says before letting out a battle cry and jumping in to help Sig fend off the group of men. As the sounds of Sig and Ed fighting fill the room, Greed sighs. "Come on, isn't anyone paying attention here? Hello" Greed calls in a singsong voice, shaking Izumi slightly.
She straightens up and grabs the homunculus by the wrists, throwing him across the room. "Teacher," Ed vaults off the heads of two of the lackeys, landing in front of Izumi. Izumi and Ed do a transmutation in unison, surrounding Greed with spikes from the floor that angle as if to impale him. The spikes fly away as Greed bursts out of the middle, "You two just don't get it, I told you, I am the Ultimate Shield." Izumi coughs up more blood and sinks to her knees, as Sig rushes forward to embrace her. Ed and Al call out for her in unison. The men advance forward on Edward as Greed stands up. "Hold it, let's do this man to man," he cracks his knuckles, "I hope you're ready for me to fight back this time, Mr. Elric." "Keep her safe for me," Ed says to Sig as he walks toward Greed, transmuting his automail into a spike, "Don't worry. I'm always ready when I'm pissed!"
Ed swipes at Greed with his spike, but it's blocked by the homunculus' shield. He transmutes stone pillars out of the floor. Greed steps backward to avoid the spikes. With a yell, Ed vaults off the smallest square to dive down on Greed from above. He makes another slash at Greed, which is blocked by the shield again."Not good enough," Greed uses this chance to swing at Ed, causing him to dodge backward and slide away. "You know, you brothers and your friend are being completely dense here," Greed straightens up. "How's that," Ed asks, still in a lax fighting stance. "As three cunning teens who have been diligently pursuing their goals, how can you not be understanding? When somebody like me simply wants to pursue his own," Greed raises one arm in front of his body. "Our goals are completely different from yours," Ed yells back. "You think so? Homunculus are human, we're all really the same, wouldn't you say? I mean, we all live to chase after our own goals, and to Hell with everyone else," Greed moves his arms in a sweeping motion out to his sides. "Not us," Ed insists. "Oh come on, you're looking for the Philosopher's Stone, right," Greed drops one of his arms to his side and puts the other on his hip.
"I don't care about the Philosopher's Stone. All I care about is returning my little brother to the body he was born with," Ed declares, as Carlina slowly rises to her feet next to Al. "But he's far better off staying in the body he's got now," Greed casts a look in the direction of Al and Carlina. She could swear there is a twinkle in his eye upon seeing her free of her chains. "What the Hell do you know? Not everyone's like you," Ed straightens up, "I didn't come here to negotiate. If all you homunculi are mistakes created by alchemists, the results of their sins, well then an alchemist should be responsible for correcting those mistakes, starting right now." Carlina gets goosebumps during Ed's speech, and a knot forms in her stomach when he mentions homunculi being byproducts of the sins of alchemists. "Huh. Alright. I didn't want to have to show you this, since it does get a bit ugly. But since you're getting all serious on me, then I'll get serious too," as he speaks, Greed takes off the vest with the fur and his upper body begins covering itself in his shield.
When the shield fully covers Greed's body, all the hair on his head disappears. His full face, including the eyes, are transformed. His teeth elongate even more to become fangs, and the sclera of his eyes turn red. He bends into a limber stance and motions for Ed to come at him with one of his hands, "This is my true form, come and get it." Ed grits his teeth and rushes forward, pouncing off the ground. He lands with one foot on either side of the Homunculus' head. Using the momentum from leaping off the ground, Ed twists his body and slams Greed face first into the ground. A second goes by before he moves, unphased, "Didn't even hurt." "You're lying," Ed exclaims. "My body's structure and composition are completely unaltered," Greed speaks as he rises from the ground. "So you really are the Ultimate Shield," Ed says, readying himself for an attack. "You've never killed anyone, have you, kid," Greed questions. Ed jolts at the mention of killing, "What's that got to do with it?" Greed stands straighter, "I'm saying you lack the guts to kill. You'll never beat me like that- and you'll never beat the other homunculi either. So I'll help you find the guts now, by showing you some of your own."
Before Carlina can move or react, another man comes running down the hallway. "Greed, the military- they're here!" As soon as he finishes speaking, a shot is fired into his head and his body collapses. Dorochet and the blond man grab a plank and barricade the doors. "So what now," Dorochet asks. "Well dammit, those bastards went and ruined our fight," Greed raises a hand in annoyance. "Well Hell boss, don't sound worried or anything," Dorochet says before pounding is heard on the other side of the doors. He and the blond man both back away toward Greed. "Play it cool. There's no one in the military who can do us any harm," Greed says nonchalantly. The wall by Tucker's hiding corner explodes. The man in red from the Headquarters fight stands in the rubble with Archer, who holds a gray bag of some kind. "Kimblee-" Greed begins to say something to the man in red, but seems transfixed by the bag Archer is holding before undoing his shield, "Bastard, you've betrayed us haven't you."
A crashing sound comes from the wall opposite of Kimblee and Archer. Turning her head, Carlina sees the man with the mallet has smashed through. "It's time to move," he says, as the blond man approaches Greed. "Greed, let's go," he puts a hand on the homunculus' shoulder and steers him toward the hole in the wall. "No, wait," Ed cries out but is interrupted by Dorochet's fist to his face. "See ya kid, it's been fun," Dorochet bends in one smooth motion to scoop Carlina bridal style, running behind the man with the mallet who carries Alphonse. "Ed," Carlina shouts as they disappear through the hole, seeing military officers surround Ed and block him from following. She tries to struggle as the group runs down the hallway, but Dorochet passes her off to the man with the mallet. He now carries Alphonse over one shoulder and Carlina tucked under his other arm.
While running, gunfire is heard behind them. Bit by bit the group grows smaller, as the chimeras and other men are killed one by one. Finally it is Greed, Dorochet, the man with the scar on his face and the man with the mallet. The scarred man has a pistol to fire back at the military, but after a few rounds he gets shot in the head. Dorochet grits his teeth and grips his sword, as Greed says, "Be smart." "Like Hell," Dorochet replies as he darts around the corner with his sword. Some shots are fired, and people can be heard grunting in pain from around the corner. The last subordinate, besides Marta in Al's armor, looks at Greed as he carries both the teens, "Greed, move." "Right," the homunculus says, seemingly reluctant as he follows one of his last men down the hallway. They run around another corner, before the wall in front of them explodes outward. Through the rubble, Carlina sees a familiar physique. "My name is Alex Louis Armstrong, heir to the family trade, but you can call me The Strong Arm Alchemist." "Armstrong," she sighs in relief as their captor lays her and Al down against the wall. He grips his mallet and steps forward toward the Major.
"My demands are simple. You give Alphonse Elric and Carlina Joihanson to me," Armstrong stares down the two men, only casting a cursory glance at the two teens. The mallet wielding chimera only grunts a sound of disapproval before rushing forward with his mallet. The two men begin exchanging blows. Armstrong able to use his fists with their guards against the mallet blow-for-blow. When he punches the man's mallet, the head is transformed into a miniature version of Armstrong flexing. "Behold, a little sample of the artistic alchemy that has been passed down the Armstrong family line for generations," Armstrong grins and flexes his one are in front of him. "Well, obviously I'll need more than this to stand a chance. Maybe some real muscle instead," the chimera speaks, tossing aside his mallet. "Wow, he really can say more than a few words," Carlina jokes, nudging Al as she does. Now that Armstrong has come, her spirits are higher and the idea of being rescued is close enough to nearly taste. That is, until their captor undergoes his transformation. His nails elongate like claws, horns form out of his head and his hair seems to grow longer as his muscles increase. "I, don't know what to say," Armstrong blinks a few times as he sizes up his opponent.
With a yell, the chimera charges at the alchemist. He swings at Armstrong, who dodges, but the punch leaves a hole behind where he would have been. The two men begin to exchange blows. Armstrong is grabbed and hoisted over the other man's shoulders. He throws Armstrong down with a solid thud, as the alchemist lets out a sound of surprise. The chimera grabs him by the throat and begins running his face along the surface of the wall. After a few feet of this, Armstrong grabs one of the horns and shoves, forcing the running to end. He uses the momentum to slam his opponent on the ground before grabbing him by the ankles. Armstrong spins him in a circle before throwing him about twenty feet away, sending him crashing in a heap. Regaining his footing, Armstrong chuckles as the chimera takes a knee, "It's been too long since I've had this good of a battle." "I would expect nothing less from you, Armstrong. Your strength hasn't changed at all from back then," something about the man's words sends a chill down Carlina's spine. She can also see that the sentence had an effect on Armstrong, who seems to be gauging his opponent differently now.
As the man explains he was on assignment in Ishbal, and knows the Major's talents well, Dorochet catches up with them after presumably slaughtering their military pursuers. More military personnel arrive behind Armstrong. Carlina gets a sinking feeling in her stomach. "Come on now, don't waste your lives," Armstrong tries to encourage their captors to surrender. "Alright, I'll gladly take that advice. But pass a message to Kimblee and Tucker, will you? Tell them both they've just wasted theirs," Greed speaks as the large chimera stands and punches the wall next to him. Cracks form and reach up to the ceiling. With a deafening sound the roof collapses in the hallway between the military and the chimeras, with the two teenagers still under the watchful eye of their captors. "Okay, time to go," Dorochet slings Carlina over his shoulder as the other man picks up Alphonse. The group run away through tunnels until they've escaped the city. Carlina and Al find themselves in an abandoned barn of sorts, with no plans, no methods to escape or reach out to their loved ones.
AN: Oh boy has it been a busy few years. I've had a few promotions, taken a few trips. I'm still very much trying to work on this in my sporadic free time. I'm not going to give a timeline or deadline but I have hopes that we will have significant progress soon. -Carrie.