Armstrong greeted Ed and Al, pausing in surprise at seeing the three unfamiliar teens with them, huddled over a map. "You three must be the Triple Threat Alchemist's I've heard so much about. I'm Arnold Armstrong, nice to meet you all."
The three teens waved, going back to stare at the map. Ed crossed his arms.
"Did Mustang send you to babysit us."
"Nonsense, I came over to accompany you." Ed looked at Al. So a babysitter.
"We didn't get permission to go, though." Ed elbowed Al for blabbing.
"So, you're planning to sneak in?! Absolutely not! What kind of example are you giving to our foreign alchemy allies?!" The bald mustached man said, pointing to the three Shallajhe alchemists.
"Heck yeah, we are." Fallen answered.
"Oh, you're Ishvalan." Armstrong said, calming down. Fallen raised a brow.
"Gee, what gave it away?" Fallen said sarcastically.
Crissilly stepped in before things got too weird. "Armstrong, we're planning on going to laboratory 5."
"Laboratory 5? There's only 4 research labs. According to the Registry, it's Brigadier Baswue grand who is in charge of the department."
"Should we contact him?" Al asked.
"That's not possible, because he was killed by Scar a few days ago…"
"Who's Scar?" Fallen asked curiously. By the look on Fullmetal's face, he could only guess he was bad news.
"Someone you don't want to come across if you're a state alchemist…" Ed answered. "See this unmarked building here? This one doesn't show up in the newer maps, it's conveniently right next to the Central Max prison too. How much do you wanna bet this mysteriously abandoned building and the prison have something to do with each other?"
Armstrong wasn't following what he meant. "What does the prison have to do with the research labs?"
"Because that's what the stones are made of."
"?"
Haida looked at Ed. "So you deciphered Marcoh's notes finally."
"What are you saying, Edward." Armstrong inquired.
"I'm saying that the stones are made up of hundreds of human lives. Isn't that right, Haida?" Haida didn't answer.
"When I mentioned days ago the bit about finding the ingredients of a human body in between Marcoh's notes, I noticed how weird you got. So I dug deeper and made the connection that Marcoh used human souls as ingredients for the philosopher's stone."
Haida frowned. "If you knew all that already, then why are you still looking for it?!"
Edward smirked. "I didn't until you just confirmed it yourself right now."
"That smart little shit." Fallen muttered under his breath, grinning. Crissilly just sighed. He just got Haida to admit everything.
"You could have just told us from the beginning." Ed said, making Haida furious. She slapped him.
"Why should we?!" Ed blinked, confused as to why she was so angry suddenly.
"What the hell did you do that for?"
"Why do you care so much about the stones?"
Ed frowned. "I already told you, it's so me and Al can get our bodies back whole. What's with you?"
"Did you know your Colonel lied about your research grant to get the ally program approved?" Ed's eyes widened.
Crissilly covered her mouth. "Okay, that's enough. Before we start a whole international incident over here." Fallen sighed.
"It's a really touchy subject. Haida, you good?" Fallen provide, causing Al to get curious.
"What is your connection to the stones? How come you didn't tell us this? We'd never use something like that to help us get our bodies back if we knew."
Haida pushed Crissilly's hand away, answering him. "Because it ruined our lives!"
"…" Haida glared at them, but after a while, her eyes softened, anger lessening. These guys had nothing to do with this. Why was she so angry again?
… What did Ed and Al have to do with the experiments. There was no reason for getting so angry at them, they were just two broken teens trying to get their limbs back, getting help from some even more broken teens in the cruel system of the military and alchemy…
"…" She hesitated for a moment.
"We didn't tell you because we think there's someone in a higher rank trying to use the stones. And we think someone is trying to use all of us to get their hands on it." She confessed. "I- I hate everything there is about it. But I hate being used as a pawn even more!" She bit her lip. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have hit you. But I don't know if I can really trust you."
"…" Ed was quiet for a while. No one spoke, unsure of how to clear the air and awkwardness of the situation. Finally, Ed let out a small laugh.
"… I know my word alone won't mean much, but we really don't want to use the stone in whatever way you're thinking. Actually, now that we know the truth about it, we decided we're going to find a way to get our limbs back some other way."
"Yes." Alphonse nodded in agreement. "I could never accept trying to get something out of the suffering of others. We just want to find out more about the research, so that we can figure out how to stop anyone from getting hurt again because of it. I'm really sorry if we gave you the wrong impression- ah, wait, please don't cry miss Haida!"
"You made a nice young lady cry, Edward. How shameful." Armstrong chastised. He offered a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry for whatever injustice alchemy has done to you. During the war, I saw firsthand the devastation the stones caused. It indeed is a horrible creation that should be destroyed no matter what, so that it doesn't again fall into the hands of the wrong people."
Haida looked up at him through her tears, standing up. "Sorry, I need to go." She said before leaving in a rush.
"Ah, wait!" Al called out, but only got quiet when the door slammed shut.
"She's not gone." Fallen quipped. "At least, not back to the townhouse. She doesn't have the key."
"She's still outside." Crissilly added. "She's younger, so she was experimented on more."
"?!"
"What?"
Crissily continued. "We lived near the East border before the war. I don't know if you know about the Whestley Suin incident since you're around her age, but to sum up the long story short- we were experimented on in the orphanage as a way to create pure philosopher's stone. Our own mentor led it… She was closer to him then we were, so you can see why she's a bit touchy about the subject."
"I didn't know…" Ed said. No wonder she didn't want anything to do with the stones.
"… I'll go talk to her." Ed stepped out, closing the door behind him. Al looked worried, knowing Ed's people skills were rather- lacking.
Haida didn't look at Ed as he leaned on the wall next to her. The teens were both quiet, not looking, just there. It was a little uncomfortable for Haida, but mostly because she felt bad for blowing up at him the way she did. Even though technically speaking, it was his fault they were all there in the first place…
"- or something like that."
"Huh?" Haida finally looked at him, seeing a sheepish and embarrassed look on his face. He still didn't look at her, but his cheeks were tinted pink.
"You really making me repeat all that." He asked, deadpanned.
"Really, I didn't hear a word you said." Haida replied.
Still a bit embarrassed, Ed turned to face her directly, holding out a small notepad. "I said, let's make a contract together."
"What for?" Haida was beyond confused now.
"Cuz it's the custom here. When you want to make sure someone'll keep their word. You make a contract with them. I wasn't lying about what I said about to stones."
Haida suddenly looked weirded out. "You're not going to make me sign a contract with our blood, are you?" She asked, weirded out.
"What, no!" Ed sweat dropped. "We use stamps!" He countered. "Look, I'm sorry you got dragged into all this mess because of me-"
"- yeah, it most definitely is your fault." Haida interjected, making Ed scramble up his words. He cleared his throat, closing his eyes to save the embarrassment of her stare.
"- but as an alchemist, you know how important it is when we took up our oaths to become state alchemists, even though from different countries. We signed the oath of alchemy and science, so for an alchemist, there's nothing more important than to uphold our end of the contract."
Haida wasn't sure what he was trying to say, but he was right about the alchemist's oath contract. "That's right. Different country, but the oath is still the same."
"So I want to make a contract with you."
"Oh?" She didn't know what more to say, watching him open up his ink stamp. Etched on the brass was his signature. They didn't have a custom like this back in Shallahje.
Ed scratched his nose. "An alchemist's signature is also important, which is why we have special made ink stamps and notepads. The notepad is made of bamboo, sheepskin, and binded with silkworm thread. And the ink is made of crushed obsidian, along with other precious gems, fossil ash and graphite. So it'll last a long even if with time the paper will yellow."
"Oh!" Haida understood now. "I don't have a pen, though."
"You can press your thumb on the stamp, its fine." He raised a brow when Haida laughed at this.
"In my culture, thumbprints is only reserved for when you're getting married. They get your thumbprint on the sacred tree inside of the temple." She pressed her index finger on the stamp instead.
"Really." Ed pressed her index finger on the stamp, before finally pressing it on his notepad. "I won't take that opportunity from your future husband then." He joked, taking out his own glove to press his finger on the stamp, then the notepad.
Haida stuck her tongue out. Hopefully by then, it would be Felix to have the honor. Her cheeks tinted pink at the thought. Curse teenage hormones!
… When the two came back into the apartment, they grinned happily, giving Crissilly and the others a thumbs up.
"Good to see you two made up. Well, if you don't need anything else, I'll have to take my leave. I'll need to report anything I find in my own investigation." Armstrong bid them goodbye.
"…"
"So, we're going to sneak into the lab tonight and ditch the muscle-head, right?" Fallen asked. They all laughed.
"Suspicious as heck. Why does an abandoned building need a guard?" fallen whispered, as they spied on a guard patrolling the entrance to the abandoned laboratory 5.
Edward smirked. "I wasn't planning on using the entrance. We'll go our usual way."
"Um, brother, if we use alchemy to get in the light from the transmutation will give us away."
"Just give me a lift, Al." Alphonse boosted him up. He landed automail first of the barbed wire. Ripping it open, he held his hand out to lift Haida up. Alphonse boosted Crissilly and Fallen up.
"Crap, looks like the only obvious entry is blocked too." Crissilly quipped, looking around. The only door in sight was all boarded up.
Ed noticed something to the side of the entrance, and he got an idea. "How about this?" he pointed to an air vent.
Crissilly and Fallen looked at him, deadpanned. "No one's fitting in there, look how tiny it is."
They all looked at Ed.
…
Haida ended up going through the vents with Ed. She coughed, trying to cover her mouth from breathing too much dust in the air as they moved.
"There's a grate up ahead. We can get out there."
"Okay."
Jumping out the vent, they noted how well illuminated it seemed for an 'abandoned building'.
"Look at that, Ed." They looked back to see a strange transmutation on the ground. "I've seen that before in Goodwright's notes. It's the transmutation for creating a philosopher's stone."
"You seem to know a lot about the stones, girl." They froze, a figure approached them from the shadows. A man dressed in armor and helmet donning Eastern vintage armor and a sword approached them. Haida got in a defensive stance, sensing a murderous intent nearly oozing from him.
"Who are you?" Ed took a step forward.
"i'm prisoner number 48, known as the serial killer 'Slicer'."
"Oh, since when did Central start hiring prisoners to patrol their own buidlings?" Ed countered with a smirk, transmuting his automail to a sharp knife.
"Oh i don't work for them." Slicer raised his sword. Ed couldn't step back in time, his automail getting hit by the sword. Something in his shoulder loosened, and pain shot through. He remembered then what Winry had told him the last time he visited. This new automail needed more care against damage.
'Crap.' He thought.
"If you don't work for Central, then who do you work for?" Haida asked.
Slicer scoffed at her, pointing his sword her way. "I'd kill you first before you'd ever find out, girl."
Ed sent a kick his way. "The fight's over here!"
"That's a cheap shot."
Ed smirked. "Playing fair is for losers. No one whoever wins in history does it fairly."
Slicer laughed at this, reading his sword again. "You're right about that. Too bad you're not one of the winners here. You're going to die!"
Slicer attacked Ed several times. The blonde teen dodged it, but he yelped in pain at being knicked by a hidden blade Slicer took out, knicking him on his side.
Sensing something wrong, Haida extended her hand out, and a red light emerged from her hands, along with a dark viscous liquid that shot out and blocked another blow towards Ed. The viscous liquid hardened upon impact with the blade.
"Whoa."
"I can't use my alchemy for a long period of time, Ed. I'll pass out since I use alchemy with my blood. We need to leave." Haida said, blocking another swing from Slicer.
"I saw that there were more of you. Two other ethnic ones and a tall man in a suit. I hope you said your goodbyes to them prior, since my partner will kill them all."
"There's another one of you?" Ed asked. He managed to kick the swing of the sword away, but leaned back to avoid getting shanked in the cheek from the smaller knife.
Haida shot out a long tendril of her alchemic blood, and it pierced the wall behind Slicer.
"Stop that!" Slicer was suddenly in front of her, punching her square on the face. She stumbled, covering her face against the following blow. Her eyes shut closed when she felt immense pressure on her shoulder. Slicer had grabbed her from the neck, pinning her against a nearby pillar. He had dislocated her shoulder, and was now currently grabbing her arm, puling it at an odd angle.
"LET HER GO!" Ed yelled. Slicer laughed, throwing her aside.
"I'm much faster than you two. While you're more in numbers, none of that matters when you can't even land a direct blow to me." Ed scowled, going in for a round house kick. Slicer blocked his path, guarding his head with his forearm. The sound of Automail on metal helmet echoed across the room.
"!" Ed straightened up. "I know that sound." He stated. "That echo, you're a soul binded to armor, as well."
"Amazing you figured that out just by sound. Yes, i am."
Ed scoffed. "I can't believe someone would be stupid enough like me to bind a soul to armor too."
"Like you?" Slicer asked. Their battled lulled to a pause.
"I transmuted my brother's soul into armor." Ed answered. "He has a blood rune inside his armor too, just like you."
"Interesting. I don't know much about alchemy myself, but apparently the iron in human blood binds to the iron in the suit of armor, which is how I have this new metal body."
"If you know all that, then you know how to make a stone." At this, Slicer went back on the attack. Ed faltered, the pain of his shoulder causing him to be slower and get knicked again. He was only saved from being impaled by Haida's blood shield.
Edward clapped his hands together but cursed when no transmutation happened. His automail was effectively broken now. His automail creaked, feeling heavier. Slicer pinned him down, stabbing his sword into Ed's wounds. Just then, Haida managed to knock Slicer's helmet off.
"If the blood rune is what makes you move, then having your helmet detached from the rest of your armor just leaves you a useless head with a useless body." Haida quipped, holding her own shoulder.
"Who says it's just one body though?" Slicer's headless body armor shot up, grabbing her.
"Meet my brother. The Serial killer Slicer was actually two people."
Haida yelled out in pain again, her dislocated shoulder feeling worse by Slicer's attack.
Ed growled, shaking Slicer's helmet violently. "Stop him or I'll break your blood rune."
"Brother, he's bluffing!" The other brother- the body armor- yelled back.
Ed touched the rune. "You want to find out if i am in real time?" Both Slicer brothers gasped. "Let her go first."
After a while, Haida was let go. She fell to her knees, wincing.
"What is it you want?"
"Tell me about the stones. You know about them, right?"
"Brother, don't say a word! Our employers will kill us if we tell them anything!"
Helmet Slicer sighed. "They'll kill us regardless for failing the mission. You know how they are."
"But-"
"I'll tell you about the stones. And who are making them."
"Your employers right? Who are they?"
"They're h-"
Slicer's helmet was impaled by something sharp.
"My my, such a loose mouth you have."
"!"
Ed and Haida's hairs on the backs of their neck bristled. Two figures emerged from the shadows, a older curly haired woman, and a long-haired teen boy. The teen smiled at the sight of Edward.
"Lust, look who it is, It's our favorite Fullmetal pipsqueak."
"Please! We can still fight! Just give us new bodies and-"
"Stop talking." The teen stomped on the body armor, ripping it apart. Lust, the older woman, smiled. "He's our precious human sacrifice you fool. You nearly ruined our plans had you killed him! Not when it's already in the final stage! How do you think you should be punished?!"
"Envy, he's already dead." Lust quipped.
"Oh." Envy looked disappointed. He looked over to Ed. "Nice to meet you, Fullmetal runt."
"Who the heck are you guys?!" Ed yelled.
"Don't worry about that too much." Envy replied. "You seem to have knack for getting yourself nearly killed. Why can't you just be a good little human sacrifice and play your part peacefully?"
Ed spit at his face. "Fuck you."
Rage twisted Envy's face. A sinister grin etched on it, he turned to Haida. "Oh look, a toy."
"!" Ed's eyes flashed wildly, trying to get up to stop him. "DON'T YOU DARE LAY A FUCKING FINGER ON HER!"
Envy crouched down to get a closer look, his sharp finger tips digging harshly unto her jaw. "You're a pretty little toy, aren't ya? Exotic, clear skin, big doe eyes. Maybe i should wear your skin for a while as my new look. Should we play right now." He leaned in to sniff at her neck, admiring the recoil she did from the action. "How cute, i could just eat you right up!"
"Let go of me." Haida muttered out, glaring at him. She was too exhausted to fight back and use her alchemy.
"Nope." Envy laughed. Haida cried out in pain. Envy had pressed his palm hard on her chest. "Hey pipsqueak." He stuck out his tongue towards Ed, taunting. "Do you wanna see me hold her heart without a single drop of blood on me? I can crush it without even taking it out. Should I?" Envy inquired. His hand started to phase through Haida's chest, causing her to stiffen and gasp.
"Leave her alone." There was no way out of this. He pleaded, wanting to save Haida from the hands of this crazo. "I'm your human sacrifice, kill me instead. Just please, let her go."
"Envy." Lust called out. Envy seemed to stop his taunting at her tone. "We don't have time to play with them today, so some other time. For now, let's leave them alive, since we're in such a gracious mood, and it is our first meeting, after all." Envy made a noise of protest, but obliged, letting go of the raven. "I do want to thank you though, Fullmetal. You gave us a new human sacrifice to add to our plans. The girl. She's a good candidate for sacrifice."
"What kind of shit are you talking about? Human sacrifice? Your plans?"
"Now now, you'll find out soon enough." Lust said, patting his cheek. "Envy, let's blow up this place, to get rid of the evidence in case more nose rats decode to snoop around."
"Alright. What about these two? Should we make them claw their way out of the rubble?" Envy sounded gleeful at the thought.
"That'll be too cruel for now, Envy. Just carry them out. We can't risk them dying now, right when we're so close."
"Got it." Envy laughed. He punched Ed.
Outside Al, Crissilly and Fallen weren't fairing better. Barry the butcher, or rather, the soul of Barry the butcher in the armor was chasing the three of them around, threatening to mince them apart. Barry seemed more concentrated on attacking Al, so the two tried to ambush Barry by attacking from behind, but he was too fast for them, and kept blocking their attacks.
"Hey blockhead!" Fallen called out. "You wanna know how it feels like to get your ass beat by an Ishvalan." Fallen taunted, hoping Barry would get the bait. Crissilly gave him a look, but caught on.
"You really wanna die that bad, kid?"
Crissilly readied himself for Barry's attack. Behind Barry, Al got ready.
"Bring it, blockhead!" Barry lunged at him. Crissilly shout out a tendril of blood alchemy towards Barry legs, holding him in place. At the same time, Alphonse kicked Barry in the head, to their surprise, the helmet came flying off, revealing an empty spot where it once was.
"What the-"
Crissilly and Fallen looked at each other.
"That was a cheap trick, you twerps!" Barry's armor stood up, getting ready to attack again. "But my blood rune isn't on my helmet."
"You're a transmuted soul like me!" Al cried out.
"There's others like me outside?" Barry quipped, curious.
"My big brother transmuted my soul back when we were kids."
"HAHAHAHA, your big brother?!" Barry held his tummy. "What a show of brotherly love. Even if it isn't real! What is real, anyways. You and me, two souls brought back after losing our real bodies- how do you know your personality and memories are even real, and not just fabricated by that brother of yours, and everyone around you."
"Don't try to mind fuck him!" Fallen yelled, defending Al. "He's just a kid!"
"And I'm just a serial killer named Barry. All I exists for is to kill, and that's how I know I'm real."
"I am real! I existed before being trapped in this armor."
"Hahahah, do you really believe that?!"
"I'm a human named Alphonse Elric! My brother loves me and I had a mom named Trisha Elric who we were the world to! I have two other family members even though we're not related by blood, so i know I'm real!"
Just then, the building exploded into rubble.
"Oh fuck, HAIDA!"
"Hey where are you going?! We're not done here!" Barry yelled.
"My brother and my coworker are in there! ED, I'M COMING! HUH?!"
A teen carrying the unconscious bodies of Haida and Ed came from the direction of the rubble, setting both teens down. "They're a little banged up, but otherwise fine."
"Brother!"
"Haida!"
"Hey!" Fallen called out to the mysterious teen, but he was already gone.
"Freeze!" They all looked back to see Armstrong and several other military personnel with guns drawn.
"Aw crap." Barry clicked his tongue, raising his hands up in surrender.