Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Calling of Kurai ❯ No Connections ( Chapter 3 )

Calling of Kurai

Chapter 3: No connections.

 

Disclaimer: Same as before, (Don't own FMA stuff bit, gore warnings)

 

To be honest I hated writing this chapter. It came out okay but it was terrible writing it, which is why it took so long to update. Anyway, hope it's okay.

 

EDIT: Oops, typos! I went through this chapter again and edited, but I don't know if I got them all.

 

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It was getting into the early afternoon and Roy and Riza, along with other members of the military, were still investigating the many houses in the South area. The biggest problem everyone was having was the fact that there didn't seem to be any pattern or purpose to the mayhem. Some of the houses would have entire walls missing while others would be completely untouched, excluding metal objects like gates and cars. So far, only 6 more bodies had turned up, but over 30 women were reported missing. There weren't any similarities between the missing women either. All the women were between the ages of 17 to 33. They were of different social statuses, backgrounds, appearances, and health. Nothing could be connected.

 

Though most witnesses claimed to have heard something, few actually saw anything that could be helpful. All the stories seemed to clash with each other.

 

“It was covered entirely of smooth metal and stood over twenty feet,” One man claimed.

 

“No no,” another man broken in, “it was only about ten feet with the facial features of a man.”

 

“That's right; it looked like a man covered in metal, face and all. It held out its arm and changed it into a cannon!” A third jumped into the conversation.

 

“A cannon? That's crazy talk!” An MP said, voice full of disbelief.

 

“Look at my house; it was shot in with a cannon!” The man defended his statement by pointing at his nearly demolished house.

 

“It grabbed my Setsa in one hand and carried her off. Please, help her, please!” The first man pleaded to the officers.

 

Roy sat down for the first time in hours and rubbed his temples. The civilians wouldn't be much help in all this panic. Riza walked over and stood next to him.

 

“It seems odd that all this occurred during the night, yet nothing was reported until this morning, don't you think, Sir?” Roy looked up and nodded. “It does sound like it's more work of that creature though.”

 

“Yes, I suppose all the missing metal would connect it with that creature. However, it appears that this creature can its size and shape at will. One minute it's seven feet tall and completely smooth, the next it's fifteen feet with the features of a normal man who can change its arm into a cannon.” He yawned and stood up. “I'm going to call HQ and see if Fuery has gotten any information reported in yet.”

 

“I'll continue investigating with the next house,” Riza stated.

 

“Watch your back.” Riza saluted and left to investigate. Roy watched her go before sighing. “Hopefully Fuery will have something that help us solve this case. The sooner we figure out what going on, the better.” Roy yawned again and shook his head. His late night was catching up with him.

 

Walking over to a payphone, Roy called up Fuery at the office. It rang several times before someone finally picked up.

 

“I'm sorry, but due to current events we are not taking calls from outside lines,” the phone operator said, completely out of breath.

 

Roy rolled his eyes. `It sounds like they've been just as busy as the rest of us.' “This is Colonel Roy Mustang. Connect me to Master Sergeant Kain Fuery Immediately.”

 

“Ah, yes Sir, I'll connect you right away.”

 

There was a long pause before someone finally picked up. “Hello?” Roy was glad that he had been directly connected to Fuery instead of another random soldier.

 

“Master Sergeant, I'm calling to see if you've gotten any information.”

 

Roy could hear Fuery sigh deeply over the phone. “Yes sir, we've gotten a lot of information, however I don't know if it will be of any help to your investigations.”

 

“I `m sure that anything you know will help us more than what we have to work with right now.”

 

“Well, I'll start with Warrant Officer Falman's report first.” Shuffling papers could be heard. “Falman said that following the trail of blood left by the first wounded man, they came to a house covered in one inch diameter holes. He believes that the attacker came into the house through a window and attacked by,” he cleared his throat, “shooting spikes out of its body.

 

Roy turned that information over and over in his head. “O…k…”

 

“Sorry Colonel, it doesn't get any better. Falman said that the window that the attacker had entered through was not broken, but instead had been carefully cut out and set to the side. The man and his wife, confirmed to be the Sarah he mentioned, fled the house, unharmed. They ran down the street where the attacker shot more spikes at them. The man was hit and most likely left for dead, the woman is still missing.”

 

Roy shook his head. This didn't sound anything like the houses he had seen all morning.

 

“Furthermore,” Fuery continued, “An eyewitness was said to have seen the couple being chased by the attacker while out for a walk.”

 

“Let me guess. It was a twenty foot tall man, covered in smooth metal, with a cannon for an arm.”

 

There was a long pause. “Colonel is that what people have been seeing in your area?”

 

“It's not the same?”

 

“No Colonel, the eyewitness claims that the attacker looked like a young woman with short dark hair.”

 

“A woman? Falman's report doesn't match anything we've seen down here.” He paused scratching his head. “It may very well be the work of more than one attacker.”

 

“That would make sense with all the other reports, Sir.”

 

“What, Havoc and Breda's reports?”

 

“Well, actually, Sir, Havoc and Breda's reports are very similar to Falman's. The houses they investigated also had the windows cut out. They also found more spikes similar to the ones Falman mentioned. However, the reports from the other cities have very different stories.”

 

“Other cities?”

 

“Yes, last night, East City had a lighting storm, knocking out the power for the entire city and setting over 20 houses on fire. Eyewitnesses' in the city claim that a man, about 6 feet tall with a muscular build, was the seen at the locations where lighting had hit. Also in North City, several people have been killed; some by chimeras, some by a bladed weapon. There was only one eyewitness and he died shortly after. The man claimed that there was a young girl, no older than eight, controlling the chimeras. She was seen with an older man whose face was cover with a cloak.”

 

Roy eyes widened as he heard this report. He couldn't believe all this had happened over night. It didn't make sense. “Was there anything similar with the cases to anything we've seen here?”

 

“There have been several disappearances in both cities, all…,” Roy broke in before he could finish.

 

“All women, right?”

 

“... Yes Sir. I take it you've noticed the same pattern here.”

 

“Of course, it's the only pattern with this case, how could I not notice.” He rubbed his eyes. Fuery had been right; this information did little to help. In fact, it seemed to make his headache worse. “Well, good work so far. I better get back and help the Lieutenant investigate.”

 

“She's not with you?” Fuery asked, a note of panic in his voice.

 

“No, she went to check out the next house while I came to call you.”

 

“But Sir isn't it dangerous to leave the Lieutenant alone?”

 

“What do you mean?” Roy, suddenly feeling exhausted, leant against the side of the booth and closed his eyes a little. He was having a hard time figuring out why Fuery was getting so worked up.

 

“Aren't you worried, I mean, all the disappearances have been women.”

 

Roy paused, opening his eyes, as the thought hit him. Thinking about it logically though, he quickly shook it away. “I doubt the attacker is still in the area. Besides, Lieutenant Hawkeye is more than capable of taking care of herself.”

 

“Are you sure, Colonel?”

 

Fuery still sounded worried. “Don't worry. I'm on my way back right now. I'll check back in later to see if you've found out anything else.”

 

“Yes Sir.” Fuery hung up, leaving Roy to his thoughts.

 

Hanging up the phone, Roy went to leave but suddenly grasped onto the side of the booth. `I must be more tired than I thought.' He again tried to move, his steps unsteady.

Though Roy had brushed Fuery's comment aside so easily on the phone, he was actually a bit more worried than he let on.

 

`She's not with you?' Fuery's panicked voice filled his head.

Roy shook his head as if trying to shake the voice out. `She'll be fine.'

 

`Aren't you worried, I mean, all the disappearances have been women.'

 

Roy gripped the edge of the phone booth, knuckles turning white. `What's wrong with me?' His breathing was getting heavier and the world seemed to be spinning. `Staying up late researching and then all this running around. It's not good for my health.' He closed his eyes, trying to clear his head. `There's no one there to attack her. Even if there was, she's strong enough to defend herself.' He ran the statement over and over in his head, just trying to convince himself.

 

`Are you sure, Colonel?'

 

Roy heard a gunshot and opened his eye, suddenly panicked. The ground in front of the phone booth was covered in blood. Before his eyes, he saw Hughes falling down on the ground, blood gushing from the wound in his stomach. Shaking, Roy looked down at his hands, eye widening as he saw them covered in blood. The smell of blood was so thick, it all seemed so real. He quickly covered his face trying to block out the images. `This isn't real. This isn't real. This isn't real.'

 

Suddenly, everything stopped. Opening his eye, he looked at his hands and then to the ground. He found both to be clean of any physical blood.

 

Shortly after Hughes' death, Roy would have nightmares about his subordinates dying. He could be wide awake and still see them dying, right before his eyes. He realized that he didn't want any of them to die before he did. He made a promise to himself: As long as he was alive, they would be alive; he would make sure of it.

 

Hearing another gunshot, Roy's head snapped up. “Damn it. You better be safe, Lieutenant.” He quickly took off, hoping that everything would turn out okay.

 

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About a minute after Roy left, Riza was found by a Sergeant. He told her that a neighborhood closer to Main Street had been also been attacked but the method was very different. Riza suggested that they wait for Roy, but he said that the situation was urgent, so she decided to go ahead.

 

Reaching the neighborhood, her eyes widened. The lampposts, the houses, the trees: they were all covered in what looked like spider web. There were also several bodies, some moving, some not, covered as well. Riza's eyes scanned the area, trying to see if she could recognize anyone, but it was impossible. Reaching out to examine the web closer, she was stopped by the sergeant.

 

“Wait!” Riza pulled back her hand and looked at him. “The web is very strong. If you touch it, you won't be able to free yourself easily.” He pointed to a small gate that led to a house. “If you'll follow me this way, Lieutenant, I'll show you the inside.”

 

While most of the officers continued trying to find a way to remove the web from the road and examine the bodies for survivors, Riza and the sergeant entered gate and carefully walked up to the house, doing their best to avoid the web. Another officer, a young corporal, was already examining the outside of the house. He turned and saluted to his superiors.

 

“Thank you for coming, First Lieutenant.”

 

“What seems to be the problem here, Corporal?” Riza asked.

 

“According to the couple next door,” he gestured to the house on the left, “they received a call from the man living here. He was pleading for help when the phone disconnected. Fearing for the man's life they came out to see what was wrong, but couldn't find him anywhere in the house.”

 

“Couple…,” Riza thought about this a moment before turning back to him, “Is the woman still here?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“How old are they?”

 

“I'd say somewhere in the late 50's.”

 

Riza eyes narrowed. `Then the attackers did have some sort of preference to who they captured.'

 

The Sergeant stepped forward and carefully opened the door. “Let's go in and see if we can find anything.” Riza nodded, took her gun out, and walked in. The Sergeant followed with the young Corporal close behind.

 

The people who lived here were obviously wealthy. The floors were made of smooth marble and diamond chandeliers dangled from the twelve foot high ceilings. However, despite the amount of expensive things, nothing seemed to have been taken.

 

The house was disturbingly quiet. The young Corporal started trembling and took out his gun, ready for anything. Riza moved quietly from the foyer into the main living room. Looking around there were no signs of an attack to be seen. It was strange to say the least. A gunshot sounded and she quickly turned to look at the panting Corporal.

 

The Sergeant moved forward grabbing the gun from the obviously terrified man. “What's wrong with you?”

 

“I felt something touch my shoulder.”

 

“There's nothing in here to touch you besides us. Don't go off shooting your gun at random things.”

 

“I swear something touched me. What if it's the attacker, or…. or a g..g.host?”

 

The Sergeant gave out an exasperated sigh, “Look around. It was probably the wind or the curtains or,”

 

Riza's steady voice interrupted him, “A spider.” Both men looked from her to the place on the floor that she was pointing to. A spider, about two inches big, crawling across the floor.

 

The Sergeant gave an annoyed glare at the blushing Corporal, who gave a sigh of relief. Riza turned and started for the next room as the two men started talking again.

 

“You don't think that little spider has anything to do with the web outside, do you?” The Sergeant asked aloud to no one.

 

“Little?!” The Corporal's panicked voice caught his attention. “That thing's huge!”

 

The older man laughed at him. “If you're scared of it, kill it.”

 

“No way, it'll bite me. You do it.”

 

“How old are you? Just step on it or something.”

 

“No, keep it away.”

 

Riza turned, aimed her gun, and shot the spider, killing it instantly. She then turned and continued to move through the house, as if nothing had happened, leaving the two startled men behind.

 

They both looked at each other, and then started to look around as well, staying a bit behind Riza.

 

Riza moved through the hall, carefully peering into each room she passed before moving on to the next. The next room she found was a study. Looking in and not seeing anything, she was about to move on but stopped. Something seemed odd about the room that she just couldn't ignore. She walked inside and moved to the desk. Neatly stacked paperwork sat on the desk along with some letter that had been written and moved to the side. Riza smiled, thinking about how different this desk was from Roy's. Her smile left her face as her eyes drifted to a picture near a small lamp.

 

Picking up the picture, she noticed that it was of a woman in her mid 30's wearing a delicate and expensive looking dress. Riza looked at the woman's smiling face as she thought back to the earlier homes. `The woman next door was left alone, but the woman here is missing. What possible reason could these disappearances be for?'

 

Her thoughts were interrupted as a drop of blood hit the frame. Riza's eyes widened as she slowly lifted her head up to see the horrific sight that had been above her the entire time.

 

A man, terrified eyes wide open, was covered in web that stuck him to the ceiling. His arm had come free and blood was dripping down it. The man's weight caused the rest of the web to tear from the ceiling and his body to fall, directly onto her. About to push the man off her, he groaned in pain. He was still alive.

 

“You're…,” seeing the wound on the man's stomach; she pulled off her uniform jacket and tried to stop the bleeding as much as possible. “Hold on, sir. We'll get you to the hospital as quickly as possible.” She reached out and tried to remove some of the web from the man's face so he could breathe better.

 

“Lieutenant Hawkeye, I thought I heard something…” The Sergeant, who had just came into the room, stopping talking at the sight of the man. “Ah, I go send for help, Lieutenant.”

 

“Yes, please do.” Riza continued to remove the web.

 

The man looked up at her gratefully. He opened his mouth and coughed out, “Thank… you…”

 

“You're welcome. Do you remember anything, sir?

 

The man nodded. “Wo…man…, Tanyia…. gone…,” he said before coughing some more.

 

“Your wife?” The man nodded. “Please rest sir. Help will come soon.”

 

The man smiled to her though Riza could tell that he was still in a lot of pain, both physical and emotional. Her jacket was now covered in blood, but the blood itself had stopped flowing as freely as before. She smiled. Though this situation was dire, it showed hope for the future.

 

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Roy had arrived at the neighborhood where he had last seen Riza, but she was nowhere to be seen. Asking around, one of the soldiers said that she had gone off towards Main Street with a Sergeant. Roy got into a car and drove to where the officer said she had gone. He eventually came to a street covered in web. Getting out of the car he looked around, spotting some officers to the side.

 

“What happened here?” He asked a soldier.

 

“There were ten bodies caught in the web, all men. Two are still alive, though unconscious. The others were already dead.”

 

Roy's frown deepened as he looked at the bodies. “No eyewitnesses then?”

 

“Yes sir, one.” Roy's snapped his head up, looking at the officer. “Lieutenant Hawkeye found a man who had seen the attacker, but he's badly injured.”

 

Suddenly remembering why he had rushed over so quickly, Roy asked the officer, “Where is she?” At the man's confused gaze, Roy added, “Lieutenant Hawkeye. Where is she?”

 

The officer pointed towards an ambulance down the street. Roy thanked him and quickly walked towards the car to see if she was still there. Reaching the car, he found a man being treated by some workers. He looked around the car until his gaze landed on Riza's blood-stained jacket. Panic filled him and he desperately looked around trying to find her. He sighed in relief as he noticed her standing by a wall, addressing some soldiers. Having removed her ruined jacket, she was down to her tight, high collar, brown shirt. `It's freezing out here but she doesn't even seem to be bothered.'

 

“Lieutenant,” Riza's eyes snapped over to Roy as he walked over, “here you are. I've been looking everywhere. I was so worried,” he sighed but noticed her questioning look. “What?”

 

“Are you feeling okay sir?”

 

Roy nearly fell over at the statement, but caught himself. “I heard a gun go off and then I saw your jacket. I thought something had happened.”

 

“The Corporal,” she pointed to the officer before continuing, “felt something touch his shoulder and fired his gun. It turned out to just be a spider.”

 

“But, I heard two shots.”

 

“Unlike the Corporal, I don't miss sir.” Roy noticed that the two soldiers paled slightly.

 

“You… you shot the spider?”

 

“Yes sir.” She stated it so simply that the men paled further. “Afterwards, a web-covered man hanging from the ceiling fell on me. I took off my jacket and pressed it against the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.”

 

“Ah, I see. That explains a lot.”

 

“Sorry I made you worry, sir.”

 

“It's alright. Anyway, let's go back to HQ and see if we can sort any of this mess.”

 

“Yes sir.” As she turned to walk to the car, she felt a coat being placed on her shoulders. “Sir, what …”

 

“It's freezing out here. You'll get sick if you don't cover up more.” Noticing that she was about to refuse, he added, “I won't take no for an answer. Think of it as payment for the umbrella.” Smiling, he turned and started for the car.

 

Riza sighed, and then nodded. “Thank you, sir.” She pulled the coat tighter and followed him.

 

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Continuing with their part of the investigations, Havoc and Breda counted a total of 3 murders and 27 women missing. The houses they had been in had obviously been attacked by the same person, spikes being a common clue at all the locations.

 

“This is getting tiresome.” Breda complained. He turned to Havoc, “How about we head back to HQ and see if the Colonel's back or not.”

 

“We could just call, you know.” Havoc turned to him.

 

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” He smirked, “I'd still like to go back.”

 

Havoc sighed and stretched. They had been working non-stop since morning and were completely worn out. “We need to find something more helpful before we can go back.”

 

A voice behind them caught their attention. “Hey, watch it.” A soldier cried out.

 

Havoc and Breda turned to see a soldier with a young short haired woman clinging to him.

 

Breda let out a huff. “Well, you sure like them young.”

 

Havoc let out a laugh. “There's time for that later. Do that on your own time.”

 

The officer kept trying to pull the clinging girl off him. “Hey, she grabbed onto me.” Looking back to the girl, he added, “Could you stop, miss?”

 

The young woman smiled and rubbed her hand up and down along the officer's arm. “You're cute.” The officer blushed at her statement. “But you know what would make you cuter?”

 

“Uh, what?” He stopped talking and started to gag a little, followed by several coughs.

 

Havoc and Breda both stopped smiling. The man coughed a few more times when suddenly several spikes stabbed through him from seemingly nowhere. The spikes retracted and the man coughed up more blood. He looked at the woman as his eyes started rolling back in his head.

 

She smiled cruelly at him, “I think all men look much cuter when they're covered in their own blood.” She looked up at Havoc and Breda, both nearly paralyzed with fear, and dropped the now dead officer to the ground. Her smile widened. “Yay, more cute men for me to play with.”

 

Breda looked to Havoc while grabbing his gun. “I never thought the day would come when a woman said I was cute and all I wanted to do was run for my life.”

 

“Look's like my luck with women hasn't gotten any better.” Havoc stated preparing to fight.

 

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R&R please.