Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Equivalent Trade: When Alchemy Goes Terribly Wrong ❯ Chapter 12
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Phoenix Hoshika 
Anime/Manga: Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Psychological / Comedy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.12.2006 | Updated On: 06.12.2006 | Pages: 4 | Words: 4.7K | Visits: 303 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Psychological / Comedy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.12.2006 | Updated On: 06.12.2006 | Pages: 4 | Words: 4.7K | Visits: 303 | Status: Completed
Equivalent Trade: When Alchemy Goes Terribly Wrong
By Phoenix Hoshika
Chapter 12
It was a little after two o'clock in the afternoon when Alphonse decided to take a break from his research. It was the same as before, same research materials as before and not even the newer findings on medical alchemy provided him with any clue on how to help his brother. Closing his eyes for a moment as he walked down the street he couldn't help but feel a great deal of guilt. "That array I destroyed in the catacombs. If only I had realized what happened to him sooner I could have reversed the change before I destroyed it." Alphonse thought as he recalled every detail of the transmutation circle Edward had used to restore him. They had both made detailed notes on it in their journals even though they could recall what it looked like without the notes as reminders, particularly Alphonse who could recall every line and symbol precisely. "There was something strange about it the way it glowed. It would be easy enough to duplicate the array with enough space, but whatever power was fueling it is the key to making it work. We have to figure out what it is. Instead of just going over research on biological alchemy we should look for ways to boost alchemic reactions." Before finding out the true nature of the Philosopher's Stone the siblings were obsessed with finding it convinced its power was the only hope they had, therefore, abandoning research on any other alchemic boosters believing they would not be powerful enough.
Spirits slightly lifted Alphonse turned around to head back to the library, but was confronted by a tall muscular man in a black suit and sunglasses. Alphonse didn't know what was going on, but the situation felt too much like deja vu to him.
"Wait." The man said when Alphonse had started to walk away.
Pausing to look over his shoulder at the man the bad feeling he had only deepened.
"I just want to talk to you for a minute." The man in black said wearing a fake smile.
"My master told me never to talk to strangers." Alphonse said before running away and sure enough the man gave chase. Ducking into an alley Alphonse clapped his hands together quickly transmuted a cage around his pursuer as he soon as he entered the alley.
"You know alchemy? But how did you…? Oh, never mind. Just let me out of here kid so we can talk about this man to man."
"Why were you chasing me?" Alphonse demanded.
"Our boss wants to have a word with you, that's all."
"Who? Who wants to have a word with me?"
"Come with me and find out."
"I don't think so mister."
"Is that so? Well I don't think you have a choice in the matter." The man grinned and before Alphonse knew what was going on another man in black had snuck up behind him covering his nose and mouth with a white cloth, the chemical that it was laced with immediately causing him to lose consciousness.
"Three, you moron! You were in charge of investigating this runt. Why didn't you know he could use alchemy?" The second man in black asked his caged partner in crime.
"Come on give me a break. Out of all the kids we've rounded up for the boss how many of them were potentially dangerous?"
"Dangerous to a moron like you perhaps." The second man in black said scribbling a transmutation circle on a small piece of paper then placing it on the cement bars. There was a flash of light and the cage crumbled away freeing the man called Three. "Thanks." He said dusting himself off.
"Whatever, we almost lost this one because of your bumbling; now tie up is feet. I'll make sure his hands are bound properly so he can't use alchemy." The second man in black said as he placed another transmutation circle on a garbage can turning it into a chain that he then used to bind Alphonse's hands.
"He can do it without using those circles you're always drawing One." Three commented as he used the rope he was carrying to secure Alphonse's feet stopping momentarily to clap his hands together.
"Yeah, the kid must be some kind of prodigy to pull something like that off, but enough chit-chat, we need to get him in the car before anyone sees us." One said picking Alphonse up and taking him to the black limousine that was waiting by the curb.
"Damn it!" Edward exclaimed sitting up in bed fully clothed. The last thing he could remember was finishing lunch. He and Alphonse were going to return to the library right afterward, but after they left the restaurant there was nothing. "This has been happening a lot lately." Edward thought removing a bottle of pills from a hidden compartment in his suit case. "It figures these damn things wouldn't help any.” He thought as he went into the bathroom and flushed the remaining pills down the toilet. Brawly the old doctor in Farmland had prescribed the medication to him as a possible short term solution, but after nearly two months of secretly popping the pills during each meal Edward had it with the medicine. He hated taking any kind of drug for anything and the fact that the ones he had been forcing himself to take weren't working only irritated him even more. "I'm sort of surprised Al hasn't said anything to me about it, maybe he already knows? I sure hope he doesn't. It's my problem and I don't even want to know." Edward thought as he braided his hair. He had just enough time to make it to Mustang's office to finally meet with him, hopefully.
Alphonse slowly opened his eyes as the chemical's effects wore off. He was tied to a wooden chair in a large room. The lights were out and heavy velvet indigo colored drapes covered the windows. Alphonse groaned as he tried to squeeze out of the ropes to no avail. Edward was always able to escape such predicaments. Alphonse believed his brother had only acquired such a skill for potential jail breaks and was at that moment wishing he had paid closer attention. The door on the far side of the room opened and four people walked in. Slowly a lone figure walked over to the drapes and pulled them open just enough for a small amount of light to enter the room making the four figures visible. The person who had opened the drapes was a beautiful tall woman with waist long wavy black hair and blue eyes. The other three figures where men dressed in black one of which Alphonse recognized. They all stood uniformly side by side blocking the door.
"How are you feeling?" The woman asked looking out of the window.
"I'm feeling okay." Alphonse replied. "Who are you people?"
"I thought you would have figured that out long before now, sweetie." The woman said turning her attention toward him.
"Well then if you all are nothing but a bunch of common criminals what do you want with me?"
The woman's eyes flickered with anger. "Common criminals!? I assure you boy there is nothing common about my crime syndicate." The woman said walking over to him, the heels of her shoes heavily clicking against the marble flooring.
"Oh, I get it now; they must be looking for recruits." Alphonse thought struggling against the ropes. "I have no intentions of joining you." He said firmly.
The woman immediately began to laugh. "You silly little boy I would never dream of asking someone your age to join my gang. You'd have to be at least fifteen for that."
"But I am fifteen! How old does she think I am?" Alphonse thought wanting to laugh, but kept a straight face. "I don't think she knows anything about me so why go through all the trouble of bringing me here if she isn't looking for recruits?"
"No, my dear. I had my men bring you here for another reason entirely." The woman said leaning over and tilting his face up toward her own. Alphonse sweat dropped. "One, Two, Three you are dismissed. Close the door on your way out and I want no interruptions. Do you understand? None whatsoever."
"Yes, Miss Natalie." The men said in unison before exiting the room.
"I hear you know alchemy well enough to not need a transmutation circles so I'm afraid I can't untie you." The woman said pacing around him.
"Are you afraid I'll run away?" Alphonse asked coyly.
"Are you trying to tell me you aren't afraid?" The woman asked smiling.
"You aren't going to hurt me right?" Alphonse asked in an up beat tone.
"Maybe a little." The woman grinned. "Scared yet?"
"No. Are you?" Alphonse replied flirtatiously.
Natalie laughed again as she slowly paced around the chair until she was behind him. Wrapping his hair around hand she gave it a hard yank pulling his head back. Leaning down she still wore a smile as she spoke. "Now why would I be afraid? I'm not the one all tied up. I could torture you to death if I felt like it."
"Even if that is what you decide to do what about before that?"
An evil smile came across Natalie's face. "Just don't start crying. That's annoying."
Edward stood outside of Mustang's door five minutes early. He was ordered to be there at three o'clock sharp and he had no intentions of arriving early. "Awe the hell with it," Edward thought flinging open the door and barging into the office. Mustang had his head down obviously sleeping until the door suddenly opened startling him.
"What the hell!?" Mustang uttered popping up knocking a stack of papers on the floor as he was jolted out his nap. "Are you that anxious for a reprimand?" Mustang asked angrily as he restacked the papers he had knocked off his desk when he woke up.
"What do you want me to do now?" Edward asked irritated.
"The first thing you can do is tell me what brought on the sudden change in gender."
"This wasn't my choice okay? The bastards underground did this too me."
"And how pray tell were they able to get their hands on a feisty little runt such as yourself?"
Edward nearly popped a vein at being called a small twice in once sentence. He would have thrashed Mustang on the spot if it didn't mean big trouble for him and his brother later on. "Are you making fun at the fact I was captured and used a guinea pig?"
"No, I would never do anything like that." Mustang said seriously. "I'm making fun of the fact you screwed up and turned yourself into a woman." Mustang said unable to contain is laughter any longer. "What's even funnier is that you thought I'd buy a dumb story like that." Mustang said as he continued to laugh.
"Okay, so I'm not an expert liar like you, but my brother is free and that's what counts."
"So you're telling me you are going to live the rest of your life in that body?" Mustang asked seriously. Edward gave no response, but he could tell by the look in Edward's eyes that he was going to do everything in his power not to. "Just don't get caught okay? I don't want to be the one to throw you in prison for performing an illegal transmutation. Here is your next assignment." He said handing Edward a folder.
Skimming over mission details Edward's eyes grew large. "You're sending me to Rush Valley?"
"Yes, and once you're finished there you can do whatever you want. With things so slow lately you probably won't have another mission for months unless this one turns out to be something bigger. Is that a problem?"
"No sir." Edward said in an unenthusiastic tone.
"Good. Dismissed," Mustang said returning to his paperwork.
Edward left Mustang's office downcast. He wanted to get the assignment over with as soon as possible. The mission was to look into the rumors concerning chimera sightings in the city during the past month. Edward hoped it was just some idiot alchemist and nothing like the trouble they experienced with the homunculi. When he arrived at the library Alphonse was nowhere to be found and figured he had returned to their hotel room, but he wasn't there either. Normally Edward would be annoyed that he wasn't able to find his brother, but for some reason he had a bad feeling. Alphonse was usually close by or at least able to be found when he knew they were likely to be on the road again. Leaving the hotel Edward was going to check the park to see if Alphonse was there feeding the birds or something and other places he had found him feeding or attempting to abduct stray animals. His heart nearly jumped out of his throat when a military car came to a screeching halt as it pulled up to the curb beside him.
"Get in." Mustang ordered opening the back door. From the looks on everyone's faces it must have been serious so Edward asked no questions or made any hesitation to get into the vehicle beside Mustang. Hawkeye sat on the other side of him and up front driving to Edward's surprise was Armstrong and beside him sat a quiet Denny Brosh.
"What's going on?" Edward finally asked.
"It seems your brother has been kidnapped again." Mustang informed.
"Wha-!?" Edward said suddenly feeling his insides catch fire.
"He was to meet me at the train station a half hour ago." Armstrong said.
"He was supposed to what!? Why didn't he tell me he was supposed to be meeting Armstrong today? More importantly why was he meeting Armstrong?" Edward thought becoming even more upset than he already was. "How did you guys find out he was kidnapped?
"I saw the men that took him." Brosh said finally speaking. "I was out riding my bike and saw two men dressed in black shoving a boy into black limousine. At first I though it was you from how he was dressed, but I guess I was obviously mistaken. What happened to you Ed?" Brosh said turning around to get a better look at the teenager to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
Edward could feel a vein in his forehead popping. "Never mind about what happened to me just finish telling me what happened to my brother!" Mustang couldn't help but snicker at Edward's unruly anger even though he was trying not to.
Turning to face forward a slight frown crossed Brosh's face for a second before he continued on with his story. "They took him to a mansion just outside the city. From the looks of things they're some kind of organized crime syndicate."
"Not just any crime syndicate." Mustang chimed in. "They just might be the ones behind the-."
"Sir!" Hawkeye spoke up interrupting Mustang who had almost revealed a most troubling fact behind Alphonse's abduction. In the past few months young men between the ages of seven and thirteen had been kidnapped between there and Central and would show up a few days later in their home towns. Upon questioning the victims would clam up, start crying or both making it impossible to track down who ever was responsible for the kidnappings. Only one boy was willing to speak about what happened to him and due to his story they could only assume that the other abducted children were molested as well, that was if the boy was telling the truth. Everyone firmly believed the boy was making up the beautiful woman because he was too ashamed to admit that the men who nabbed him were the molesters, especially since when his mother took him to the hospital for a routine examination he wouldn't let the male doctor anywhere near him.
"I won't bore you with the details, but this syndicate has been causing a lot of problems lately." Mustang said so not to arouse suspicion.
"So, you're saying an anti military faction has my brother?" Edward asked becoming afraid for Alphonse's life. What if they found out he was a State Alchemist? Would they kill him right away as an example or would they try to use him?
"Don't worry, we'll get him back." Mustang said. He was very worried about Alphonse himself and was just hoping nothing had happened to him.
"Why couldn't they have used a bigger car?" Edward thought squirming slightly. Despite his worry and the seriousness of the situation Edward was none too pleased about being squished in the back seat beside Mustang and despite the straight face she wore Hawkeye was happy as a bug in a rug in her uncomfortable corner of the back seat. Mustang stuck in the middle was sweating nervously believing one of his worst nightmares had come true, being stuck between two women with no way out.
Once out on the country side Armstrong turned the car off road and into some bushes before bringing it to a stop. "Sorry about the bumpy ride." He side looking over his shoulder at the passengers in the back. Everyone had ended up popping out of place as while the car jumped along the bumpy terrain. Mustang had ended up smacking his head on the roof of the car and so had Edward who basically found himself in mid air for a second as the car rolled along off road and lay dizzily across Mustang's lap feeling as if he would vomit. Hawkeye had managed to stay in place by grabbing onto Mustang's arm. She sat with her face buried in his shoulder for moment before straightening up and asking if everyone was alright.
"I'm fine." Mustang grumbled rubbing his head.
"I'm used to it." Brosh replied. Armstrong looked his way with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, look a bird." Brosh said in attempt to draw attention away from himself.
"Get a hold of yourself, Fullmetal." Mustang ordered, but Edward didn't respond. Pulling him up the general gave his shoulders a good shake. "Snap out of it already." Mustang said sounding much angrier than he actually was.
Edward could hear the man yelling at him but he couldn't do anything about it his entire body felt like jelly. Loosing consciousness his body went completely limp. "Edward, wake up now! You're brother is depending you! This is no time to slack off!" Mustang continued to bark orders not knowing what else to do.
"Pass her to me." Hawkeye said and Mustang handed her the unconscious teen over faster than anyone could blink. "She's unconscious." Hawkeye said stating the obvious before smacking Edward and other than leaving a red mark on his face Hawkeye's heavy-handed slap did nothing.
"We'll just have to leave her." Mustang said opening the door.
"All by herself sir," Brosh asked not thinking it would be a good idea to do so.
"If you're concerned then you can stay behind and baby-sit." Mustang said as he got out the car.
"Hmm, I agree. I am not comfortable with leaving Ms. Elric here alone in her present condition. Look after her while we retrieve Alphonse." Armstrong said getting out of the car.
"Yes, sir." Brosh replied then sighed. He really had his heart set on helping out with the rescue of the younger Elric.
Hawkeye carefully positioned Edward on his back before going to the trunk of the car and pulling out a vest loaded with bullets and a shot gun.
"The mansion is right on the other side of that hill. Which will make our mission a little more complicated since they'll see us coming so me and General Mustang will go first." Armstrong informed.
"We're counting on you to watch our backs." Mustang added and Hawkeye nodded with a determined look in her eyes. It shouldn't be that difficult for them to over take gangsters, but one could never be too careful.
As Armstrong and company were starting their assault on the mansion as Alphonse was tearing down the hallway looking for an exit. Natalie had gotten a bit too carried away and untied him. The more he ventured into the mansion the more he felt as if he were in a mad house. One door he opened just as someone was getting shot in the head and the one after that lead into a ballroom where people were having dinner and being entertained by a live band. Alphonse sweat dropped and closed the door and started running again as he was still being perused by One, Two, Three, and the men who just offed the other guy. Turning a corner Alphonse stopped in his tracks as the wall started to glow and crack suddenly breaking apart and falling on top of him.
"Alphonse Elric, we are here to save you!" Armstrong declared flexing his muscles as he struck a pose. The men chasing Alphonse came to a dead halt as they beheld the Strong Arm Alchemist. Without further words Armstrong punched the ground causing it to ripple and rise knocking the gangsters off their feet and unconscious.
"Colonel," came a muffled moan from under the rubble.
"Alphonse Elric? Is that you?" Armstrong called looking around
"Here, I'm under here!" Alphonse called.
"Looking down Armstrong realized the sound was coming from below his feet and immediately started digging.
"Have you found him yet?" Mustang asked snapping his fingers and crispifying about fifty armed gangsters as Hawkeye shot the ones that got away. The reply was Alphonse groaning his head and arms uncovered. His eyes were swirling from lack of oxygen and pain.
"There you are! We have found you!" Armstrong said yanking him from the rubble and wrapping him in a bone crushing hug.
"AAAAAAAAAAAGH! Colonel please let me go!" Alphonse pleaded his arms flailing in the air as he struggled to get free.
"Maybe it's a good thing I was left behind." Brosh said out loud as he listened to the explosions and noises of what sounded like a small war going on.
Moaning Edward sat up. "Alphonse!"
"Woah, take it easy. Brosh said turning around. "Colonel Armstrong and everyone have already gone to rescue your brother." Brosh said as another explosion sounded. "And from the sound of things they should be back soon."
"I'm going." Edward said jumping out of the car.
"Edward wait!" Brosh said chasing after him.
Alphonse sat on the ground panting heavily. Reaching behind his head he pulled his pony tail loose letting his hair fall over his shoulder.
"AL!" Edward yelled seeing him on the ground a small distance away. In no time Edward was kneeling on the ground beside him. "Are you okay?" He asked relieved to see his brother in one piece.
"I'm fine." Alphonse assured.
"How could you let yourself get kidnapped like that? Did they do anything to you?"
Alphonse's turned away as he felt his face grow hot. "I'm sorry." Was all he could bring himself to say as military police by the dozens rushed by.
After speaking with Armstrong Alphonse sat nervously in Mustang's office who was peering over at him, impatiently tapping his fingers on the clean desk top.
"Did you want to talk about what happened in the mansion?"
"There's nothing really to say, sir."
"Oh?" Mustang said taking a sip of water. "That's not what Natalie had to say." Alphonse's face turned a deep red. "I hadn't even started the interrogation good before the woman confessed every little detail of her exploits to me."
The day before;
Mustang looked at the dark haired woman across the table from him with contempt. "We can do this the easy way or the hard wa-"
"Okay I'll tell you everything!" Natalie interrupted bawling like a baby.
Mustang sighed and after all the trouble he went through preparing a threatening speech she just confessed everything to him on the spot.
Alphonse sat in silence feeling as if the air in the room had become sparse. "I think I'm going to be sick." He thought as Mustang repeated everything Natalie had told him about her encounter with him.
"So, is what she said true? Did all those things actually happen?"
"I, um… My brother is waiting for me." Alphonse said getting up and running out of the office.
~*~ To Be Continued ~*~
Author's Note: Natalie and her henchmen One, Two and Three are a parody of a Nagisa Tezuka and her lackeys from Koko wa Greenwood. (Here Is Greeenwood). Nagisa is a bastard, but is always good for a laugh and the best villain in the series. I was going for a mirror effect with Natalie, but I think she ended up coming out a bit more sinister than Nagisa.
Now on to the questions;
Ellen Tee wants to know: "Does Ed love Al?"
Answer: Nani? What do you mean? I thought the answer to that question was obvious.
By Phoenix Hoshika
Chapter 12
It was a little after two o'clock in the afternoon when Alphonse decided to take a break from his research. It was the same as before, same research materials as before and not even the newer findings on medical alchemy provided him with any clue on how to help his brother. Closing his eyes for a moment as he walked down the street he couldn't help but feel a great deal of guilt. "That array I destroyed in the catacombs. If only I had realized what happened to him sooner I could have reversed the change before I destroyed it." Alphonse thought as he recalled every detail of the transmutation circle Edward had used to restore him. They had both made detailed notes on it in their journals even though they could recall what it looked like without the notes as reminders, particularly Alphonse who could recall every line and symbol precisely. "There was something strange about it the way it glowed. It would be easy enough to duplicate the array with enough space, but whatever power was fueling it is the key to making it work. We have to figure out what it is. Instead of just going over research on biological alchemy we should look for ways to boost alchemic reactions." Before finding out the true nature of the Philosopher's Stone the siblings were obsessed with finding it convinced its power was the only hope they had, therefore, abandoning research on any other alchemic boosters believing they would not be powerful enough.
Spirits slightly lifted Alphonse turned around to head back to the library, but was confronted by a tall muscular man in a black suit and sunglasses. Alphonse didn't know what was going on, but the situation felt too much like deja vu to him.
"Wait." The man said when Alphonse had started to walk away.
Pausing to look over his shoulder at the man the bad feeling he had only deepened.
"I just want to talk to you for a minute." The man in black said wearing a fake smile.
"My master told me never to talk to strangers." Alphonse said before running away and sure enough the man gave chase. Ducking into an alley Alphonse clapped his hands together quickly transmuted a cage around his pursuer as he soon as he entered the alley.
"You know alchemy? But how did you…? Oh, never mind. Just let me out of here kid so we can talk about this man to man."
"Why were you chasing me?" Alphonse demanded.
"Our boss wants to have a word with you, that's all."
"Who? Who wants to have a word with me?"
"Come with me and find out."
"I don't think so mister."
"Is that so? Well I don't think you have a choice in the matter." The man grinned and before Alphonse knew what was going on another man in black had snuck up behind him covering his nose and mouth with a white cloth, the chemical that it was laced with immediately causing him to lose consciousness.
"Three, you moron! You were in charge of investigating this runt. Why didn't you know he could use alchemy?" The second man in black asked his caged partner in crime.
"Come on give me a break. Out of all the kids we've rounded up for the boss how many of them were potentially dangerous?"
"Dangerous to a moron like you perhaps." The second man in black said scribbling a transmutation circle on a small piece of paper then placing it on the cement bars. There was a flash of light and the cage crumbled away freeing the man called Three. "Thanks." He said dusting himself off.
"Whatever, we almost lost this one because of your bumbling; now tie up is feet. I'll make sure his hands are bound properly so he can't use alchemy." The second man in black said as he placed another transmutation circle on a garbage can turning it into a chain that he then used to bind Alphonse's hands.
"He can do it without using those circles you're always drawing One." Three commented as he used the rope he was carrying to secure Alphonse's feet stopping momentarily to clap his hands together.
"Yeah, the kid must be some kind of prodigy to pull something like that off, but enough chit-chat, we need to get him in the car before anyone sees us." One said picking Alphonse up and taking him to the black limousine that was waiting by the curb.
"Damn it!" Edward exclaimed sitting up in bed fully clothed. The last thing he could remember was finishing lunch. He and Alphonse were going to return to the library right afterward, but after they left the restaurant there was nothing. "This has been happening a lot lately." Edward thought removing a bottle of pills from a hidden compartment in his suit case. "It figures these damn things wouldn't help any.” He thought as he went into the bathroom and flushed the remaining pills down the toilet. Brawly the old doctor in Farmland had prescribed the medication to him as a possible short term solution, but after nearly two months of secretly popping the pills during each meal Edward had it with the medicine. He hated taking any kind of drug for anything and the fact that the ones he had been forcing himself to take weren't working only irritated him even more. "I'm sort of surprised Al hasn't said anything to me about it, maybe he already knows? I sure hope he doesn't. It's my problem and I don't even want to know." Edward thought as he braided his hair. He had just enough time to make it to Mustang's office to finally meet with him, hopefully.
Alphonse slowly opened his eyes as the chemical's effects wore off. He was tied to a wooden chair in a large room. The lights were out and heavy velvet indigo colored drapes covered the windows. Alphonse groaned as he tried to squeeze out of the ropes to no avail. Edward was always able to escape such predicaments. Alphonse believed his brother had only acquired such a skill for potential jail breaks and was at that moment wishing he had paid closer attention. The door on the far side of the room opened and four people walked in. Slowly a lone figure walked over to the drapes and pulled them open just enough for a small amount of light to enter the room making the four figures visible. The person who had opened the drapes was a beautiful tall woman with waist long wavy black hair and blue eyes. The other three figures where men dressed in black one of which Alphonse recognized. They all stood uniformly side by side blocking the door.
"How are you feeling?" The woman asked looking out of the window.
"I'm feeling okay." Alphonse replied. "Who are you people?"
"I thought you would have figured that out long before now, sweetie." The woman said turning her attention toward him.
"Well then if you all are nothing but a bunch of common criminals what do you want with me?"
The woman's eyes flickered with anger. "Common criminals!? I assure you boy there is nothing common about my crime syndicate." The woman said walking over to him, the heels of her shoes heavily clicking against the marble flooring.
"Oh, I get it now; they must be looking for recruits." Alphonse thought struggling against the ropes. "I have no intentions of joining you." He said firmly.
The woman immediately began to laugh. "You silly little boy I would never dream of asking someone your age to join my gang. You'd have to be at least fifteen for that."
"But I am fifteen! How old does she think I am?" Alphonse thought wanting to laugh, but kept a straight face. "I don't think she knows anything about me so why go through all the trouble of bringing me here if she isn't looking for recruits?"
"No, my dear. I had my men bring you here for another reason entirely." The woman said leaning over and tilting his face up toward her own. Alphonse sweat dropped. "One, Two, Three you are dismissed. Close the door on your way out and I want no interruptions. Do you understand? None whatsoever."
"Yes, Miss Natalie." The men said in unison before exiting the room.
"I hear you know alchemy well enough to not need a transmutation circles so I'm afraid I can't untie you." The woman said pacing around him.
"Are you afraid I'll run away?" Alphonse asked coyly.
"Are you trying to tell me you aren't afraid?" The woman asked smiling.
"You aren't going to hurt me right?" Alphonse asked in an up beat tone.
"Maybe a little." The woman grinned. "Scared yet?"
"No. Are you?" Alphonse replied flirtatiously.
Natalie laughed again as she slowly paced around the chair until she was behind him. Wrapping his hair around hand she gave it a hard yank pulling his head back. Leaning down she still wore a smile as she spoke. "Now why would I be afraid? I'm not the one all tied up. I could torture you to death if I felt like it."
"Even if that is what you decide to do what about before that?"
An evil smile came across Natalie's face. "Just don't start crying. That's annoying."
Edward stood outside of Mustang's door five minutes early. He was ordered to be there at three o'clock sharp and he had no intentions of arriving early. "Awe the hell with it," Edward thought flinging open the door and barging into the office. Mustang had his head down obviously sleeping until the door suddenly opened startling him.
"What the hell!?" Mustang uttered popping up knocking a stack of papers on the floor as he was jolted out his nap. "Are you that anxious for a reprimand?" Mustang asked angrily as he restacked the papers he had knocked off his desk when he woke up.
"What do you want me to do now?" Edward asked irritated.
"The first thing you can do is tell me what brought on the sudden change in gender."
"This wasn't my choice okay? The bastards underground did this too me."
"And how pray tell were they able to get their hands on a feisty little runt such as yourself?"
Edward nearly popped a vein at being called a small twice in once sentence. He would have thrashed Mustang on the spot if it didn't mean big trouble for him and his brother later on. "Are you making fun at the fact I was captured and used a guinea pig?"
"No, I would never do anything like that." Mustang said seriously. "I'm making fun of the fact you screwed up and turned yourself into a woman." Mustang said unable to contain is laughter any longer. "What's even funnier is that you thought I'd buy a dumb story like that." Mustang said as he continued to laugh.
"Okay, so I'm not an expert liar like you, but my brother is free and that's what counts."
"So you're telling me you are going to live the rest of your life in that body?" Mustang asked seriously. Edward gave no response, but he could tell by the look in Edward's eyes that he was going to do everything in his power not to. "Just don't get caught okay? I don't want to be the one to throw you in prison for performing an illegal transmutation. Here is your next assignment." He said handing Edward a folder.
Skimming over mission details Edward's eyes grew large. "You're sending me to Rush Valley?"
"Yes, and once you're finished there you can do whatever you want. With things so slow lately you probably won't have another mission for months unless this one turns out to be something bigger. Is that a problem?"
"No sir." Edward said in an unenthusiastic tone.
"Good. Dismissed," Mustang said returning to his paperwork.
Edward left Mustang's office downcast. He wanted to get the assignment over with as soon as possible. The mission was to look into the rumors concerning chimera sightings in the city during the past month. Edward hoped it was just some idiot alchemist and nothing like the trouble they experienced with the homunculi. When he arrived at the library Alphonse was nowhere to be found and figured he had returned to their hotel room, but he wasn't there either. Normally Edward would be annoyed that he wasn't able to find his brother, but for some reason he had a bad feeling. Alphonse was usually close by or at least able to be found when he knew they were likely to be on the road again. Leaving the hotel Edward was going to check the park to see if Alphonse was there feeding the birds or something and other places he had found him feeding or attempting to abduct stray animals. His heart nearly jumped out of his throat when a military car came to a screeching halt as it pulled up to the curb beside him.
"Get in." Mustang ordered opening the back door. From the looks on everyone's faces it must have been serious so Edward asked no questions or made any hesitation to get into the vehicle beside Mustang. Hawkeye sat on the other side of him and up front driving to Edward's surprise was Armstrong and beside him sat a quiet Denny Brosh.
"What's going on?" Edward finally asked.
"It seems your brother has been kidnapped again." Mustang informed.
"Wha-!?" Edward said suddenly feeling his insides catch fire.
"He was to meet me at the train station a half hour ago." Armstrong said.
"He was supposed to what!? Why didn't he tell me he was supposed to be meeting Armstrong today? More importantly why was he meeting Armstrong?" Edward thought becoming even more upset than he already was. "How did you guys find out he was kidnapped?
"I saw the men that took him." Brosh said finally speaking. "I was out riding my bike and saw two men dressed in black shoving a boy into black limousine. At first I though it was you from how he was dressed, but I guess I was obviously mistaken. What happened to you Ed?" Brosh said turning around to get a better look at the teenager to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
Edward could feel a vein in his forehead popping. "Never mind about what happened to me just finish telling me what happened to my brother!" Mustang couldn't help but snicker at Edward's unruly anger even though he was trying not to.
Turning to face forward a slight frown crossed Brosh's face for a second before he continued on with his story. "They took him to a mansion just outside the city. From the looks of things they're some kind of organized crime syndicate."
"Not just any crime syndicate." Mustang chimed in. "They just might be the ones behind the-."
"Sir!" Hawkeye spoke up interrupting Mustang who had almost revealed a most troubling fact behind Alphonse's abduction. In the past few months young men between the ages of seven and thirteen had been kidnapped between there and Central and would show up a few days later in their home towns. Upon questioning the victims would clam up, start crying or both making it impossible to track down who ever was responsible for the kidnappings. Only one boy was willing to speak about what happened to him and due to his story they could only assume that the other abducted children were molested as well, that was if the boy was telling the truth. Everyone firmly believed the boy was making up the beautiful woman because he was too ashamed to admit that the men who nabbed him were the molesters, especially since when his mother took him to the hospital for a routine examination he wouldn't let the male doctor anywhere near him.
"I won't bore you with the details, but this syndicate has been causing a lot of problems lately." Mustang said so not to arouse suspicion.
"So, you're saying an anti military faction has my brother?" Edward asked becoming afraid for Alphonse's life. What if they found out he was a State Alchemist? Would they kill him right away as an example or would they try to use him?
"Don't worry, we'll get him back." Mustang said. He was very worried about Alphonse himself and was just hoping nothing had happened to him.
"Why couldn't they have used a bigger car?" Edward thought squirming slightly. Despite his worry and the seriousness of the situation Edward was none too pleased about being squished in the back seat beside Mustang and despite the straight face she wore Hawkeye was happy as a bug in a rug in her uncomfortable corner of the back seat. Mustang stuck in the middle was sweating nervously believing one of his worst nightmares had come true, being stuck between two women with no way out.
Once out on the country side Armstrong turned the car off road and into some bushes before bringing it to a stop. "Sorry about the bumpy ride." He side looking over his shoulder at the passengers in the back. Everyone had ended up popping out of place as while the car jumped along the bumpy terrain. Mustang had ended up smacking his head on the roof of the car and so had Edward who basically found himself in mid air for a second as the car rolled along off road and lay dizzily across Mustang's lap feeling as if he would vomit. Hawkeye had managed to stay in place by grabbing onto Mustang's arm. She sat with her face buried in his shoulder for moment before straightening up and asking if everyone was alright.
"I'm fine." Mustang grumbled rubbing his head.
"I'm used to it." Brosh replied. Armstrong looked his way with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, look a bird." Brosh said in attempt to draw attention away from himself.
"Get a hold of yourself, Fullmetal." Mustang ordered, but Edward didn't respond. Pulling him up the general gave his shoulders a good shake. "Snap out of it already." Mustang said sounding much angrier than he actually was.
Edward could hear the man yelling at him but he couldn't do anything about it his entire body felt like jelly. Loosing consciousness his body went completely limp. "Edward, wake up now! You're brother is depending you! This is no time to slack off!" Mustang continued to bark orders not knowing what else to do.
"Pass her to me." Hawkeye said and Mustang handed her the unconscious teen over faster than anyone could blink. "She's unconscious." Hawkeye said stating the obvious before smacking Edward and other than leaving a red mark on his face Hawkeye's heavy-handed slap did nothing.
"We'll just have to leave her." Mustang said opening the door.
"All by herself sir," Brosh asked not thinking it would be a good idea to do so.
"If you're concerned then you can stay behind and baby-sit." Mustang said as he got out the car.
"Hmm, I agree. I am not comfortable with leaving Ms. Elric here alone in her present condition. Look after her while we retrieve Alphonse." Armstrong said getting out of the car.
"Yes, sir." Brosh replied then sighed. He really had his heart set on helping out with the rescue of the younger Elric.
Hawkeye carefully positioned Edward on his back before going to the trunk of the car and pulling out a vest loaded with bullets and a shot gun.
"The mansion is right on the other side of that hill. Which will make our mission a little more complicated since they'll see us coming so me and General Mustang will go first." Armstrong informed.
"We're counting on you to watch our backs." Mustang added and Hawkeye nodded with a determined look in her eyes. It shouldn't be that difficult for them to over take gangsters, but one could never be too careful.
As Armstrong and company were starting their assault on the mansion as Alphonse was tearing down the hallway looking for an exit. Natalie had gotten a bit too carried away and untied him. The more he ventured into the mansion the more he felt as if he were in a mad house. One door he opened just as someone was getting shot in the head and the one after that lead into a ballroom where people were having dinner and being entertained by a live band. Alphonse sweat dropped and closed the door and started running again as he was still being perused by One, Two, Three, and the men who just offed the other guy. Turning a corner Alphonse stopped in his tracks as the wall started to glow and crack suddenly breaking apart and falling on top of him.
"Alphonse Elric, we are here to save you!" Armstrong declared flexing his muscles as he struck a pose. The men chasing Alphonse came to a dead halt as they beheld the Strong Arm Alchemist. Without further words Armstrong punched the ground causing it to ripple and rise knocking the gangsters off their feet and unconscious.
"Colonel," came a muffled moan from under the rubble.
"Alphonse Elric? Is that you?" Armstrong called looking around
"Here, I'm under here!" Alphonse called.
"Looking down Armstrong realized the sound was coming from below his feet and immediately started digging.
"Have you found him yet?" Mustang asked snapping his fingers and crispifying about fifty armed gangsters as Hawkeye shot the ones that got away. The reply was Alphonse groaning his head and arms uncovered. His eyes were swirling from lack of oxygen and pain.
"There you are! We have found you!" Armstrong said yanking him from the rubble and wrapping him in a bone crushing hug.
"AAAAAAAAAAAGH! Colonel please let me go!" Alphonse pleaded his arms flailing in the air as he struggled to get free.
"Maybe it's a good thing I was left behind." Brosh said out loud as he listened to the explosions and noises of what sounded like a small war going on.
Moaning Edward sat up. "Alphonse!"
"Woah, take it easy. Brosh said turning around. "Colonel Armstrong and everyone have already gone to rescue your brother." Brosh said as another explosion sounded. "And from the sound of things they should be back soon."
"I'm going." Edward said jumping out of the car.
"Edward wait!" Brosh said chasing after him.
Alphonse sat on the ground panting heavily. Reaching behind his head he pulled his pony tail loose letting his hair fall over his shoulder.
"AL!" Edward yelled seeing him on the ground a small distance away. In no time Edward was kneeling on the ground beside him. "Are you okay?" He asked relieved to see his brother in one piece.
"I'm fine." Alphonse assured.
"How could you let yourself get kidnapped like that? Did they do anything to you?"
Alphonse's turned away as he felt his face grow hot. "I'm sorry." Was all he could bring himself to say as military police by the dozens rushed by.
After speaking with Armstrong Alphonse sat nervously in Mustang's office who was peering over at him, impatiently tapping his fingers on the clean desk top.
"Did you want to talk about what happened in the mansion?"
"There's nothing really to say, sir."
"Oh?" Mustang said taking a sip of water. "That's not what Natalie had to say." Alphonse's face turned a deep red. "I hadn't even started the interrogation good before the woman confessed every little detail of her exploits to me."
The day before;
Mustang looked at the dark haired woman across the table from him with contempt. "We can do this the easy way or the hard wa-"
"Okay I'll tell you everything!" Natalie interrupted bawling like a baby.
Mustang sighed and after all the trouble he went through preparing a threatening speech she just confessed everything to him on the spot.
Alphonse sat in silence feeling as if the air in the room had become sparse. "I think I'm going to be sick." He thought as Mustang repeated everything Natalie had told him about her encounter with him.
"So, is what she said true? Did all those things actually happen?"
"I, um… My brother is waiting for me." Alphonse said getting up and running out of the office.
~*~ To Be Continued ~*~
Author's Note: Natalie and her henchmen One, Two and Three are a parody of a Nagisa Tezuka and her lackeys from Koko wa Greenwood. (Here Is Greeenwood). Nagisa is a bastard, but is always good for a laugh and the best villain in the series. I was going for a mirror effect with Natalie, but I think she ended up coming out a bit more sinister than Nagisa.
Now on to the questions;
Ellen Tee wants to know: "Does Ed love Al?"
Answer: Nani? What do you mean? I thought the answer to that question was obvious.