Stand by You

XXII

"A Homunculus, named 'Gluttony'," Ling explained.

"Apparently, these guys have connections to a portion of the military senior staff," Colonel informed.

"Just a portion of it?" Ling scoffed. "There's more to that. There's a possibility that Führer Bradley is a Homunculus, too."

Everyone gasped at such heavy news. "There was an Ouroboros tattoo on the eye under his patch!" Ling justified. "He came after us, together with Gluttony!"

"It can't be!" Edward sputtered.

"The head of our country is a Homunculus?" Alphonse gasped.

"Then again...Bradley doesn't have the same sort of inhuman presence as Gluttony," Ling muttered. "His is the same presence as a regular person."

"But then...there's one thing, if the Führer is a Homunculus, how is it that he has a son?" Alphonse gasped. "It said in that book that Homunculi had no reproductive abilities."

"No, his son is adopted," Dr. Knox informed. "He is not the Führer's blood offspring."

"Whether monster or human, either way, this makes it easier for me to drag the Führer out of his seat," Colonel scoffed. "First, we get some information out of this one. I'll take his Philosopher's Sone, too. It may be useful in treating my man."

"Hey, now, Lan Fam lost her arm to obtain him," Ling shouted, grabbing Colonel by the collar. "He's a lead to gaining immortality! We're taking him back to Xing!"

"Just a minute!" Edward piped up into the argument, pushing his way between the two. "We want to get our original bodies back for a long time, ourselves! There's no way I'm letting you run away with him!"

Everyone began to argue. Dr. Knox and I didn't want to take part in this so we wet outside. I escaped first and saw Lieutenant Hawkeye stationed outside the cabin, rifle in hand, keeping guard. When she heard the door open, she turned around and saw it was me. "I can hear them arguing all the way out here," she sighed.

"Seriously?" I laughed.

Suddenly, it became very quiet. Hawkeye, getting suspicious, approached the door only for us to see a giant wind vortex out of nowhere create a hole in the cabin. A giant circle appeared in the cabin and it trembled, wood planks collapsing. The vortex even made an mark on the ground. "What is this?" Lieutenant Hawkeye yelled. "Colonel? Where are you? Col--"

"Lieutenant!" He yelled from the inside. Another wind vortex appeared, this time taking half of Lieutenant Hawkeye's rifle and undoing her hair in the process. Suddenly, Gluttony stumbled out, except he wasn't normal. A giant hole connecting from his mouth all the way to the base of his stomach was there, along with sharp, curved teeth and a giant eye in the center of the hole. Lieutenant Hawkeye pointed her handgun a him and sounds of shifting planks was heard. She pulled out another handgun and held it at the source of the noise. Geez, how many guns did she have on her...?

Alphonse pushed the planks off him, Dr. Knox, Colonel, and Edward. Ling and Lan Fan were nowhere to be found. "Colonel!" I yelled.

"Lieutenant...Clockwork..." Colonel grumbled, ripping off a tiny panda that someone latched itself onto his face. Where did it come from...? "Don't provoke him!" He yelled. "He's out to get me!"