Edward, Alphonse, and I all sat inside the train heading to the North on some sort of assignment or something. Edward and I sat together while Alphonse sat in the seat across from us. Edward drummed his hand on the window panel next to him while I clung onto my seat, ignoring the searing pain from my injured shoulder with all the tension as I did my best not to hyperventilate in front of my boyfriend when the train isn't even moving yet. When the train whistle blew and the vehicle jerked forward, I squeaked and squeezed my eyes tightly, clawing the seat underneath me.
That's when I felt something warm wrap around my gloved, sweaty hands. I opened my eyes slowly and trailed them down to my hand, seeing another gloved hand grasping mine. I followed the arm that belonged to the hand and saw that it belonged to Edward. He smiled at me, "Hey, it's going to be alright."
I opened my mouth to speak but the train lurched and I squealed and clung onto Edward. He stroked my head, still clasping my hand and I heard him laugh softly as he kissed my forehead. I ignored it as I buried my red face from embarrassment of him discovering my childish fear as we rode on the train.
*~*~*~*~*~
As soon as we checked in at the station in North City, we dashed right out of the tram station and into the world of white. "Snow!" I squealed.
Outside, snow fluttered down from the grey skies above onto the road, cars, steps-anywhere where it could touch down and land. Me, wearing my beige overcoat with pockets and a red plaid scarf with a matching long-sleeve underneath, khakis, and brown clogs, Edward, in his signature red coat with the inside lined with soft fleece and Alphonse having no appearance change, all wandered in the white wonderland. Until Edward slipped down the icy steps and shrieked as he desperately tried to get his footing back while he slid down the stairs on his bottom.
"Ed, are you okay?" I laughed as I held a hand out to help him up.
"I'm fine!" He scoffed, swiping my hand away as he got up, red with embarrassment as he was rubbing his lower backside.
Alphonse, Edward, and I decided to take a short break and enjoy the snow as we settled down on a bench and watched as the snow fluttered down from the sky, the flakes landing in my hair and dotting it with white. "All this snow is amazing, huh?" Alphonse admired.
"Yeah, you barely ever see this in Resembool," Edward grinned.
"Hey, remember that one year when there was a huge system that went over Resembool?" I leaned over in my seat, facing the two brothers, smiling at the memory of me helping Grace tread through the snow that ended with me carrying her on my back.
"I remember!" I could tell Alphonse was grinning with us voice. "We had a huge snowball fight!"
"And we made a snowman too," Edward added.
"That's right!" Alphonse was all excited now, and seeing him like that made me happy. "When I was little, I had no idea we would ever come this far north," Alphonse gushed.
"Yeah, and here we are," Edward relaxed in his seat. "So, what do we do? There's still some time before the train to Briggs leaves."
"Go have something tasty to eat," Alphonse suggested.
"I'm not that hungry," Edward sighed. "Let's go have a look anyhow."
Edward jumped off from the bench and took off running. "Careful, Brother!" Alphonse warned. "You're gonna fall again!"
"Oh, shut up!" Edward yelled, still embarrassed about his fall earlier.
*~*~*~*~*~
We went on our train ride to Briggs, which was relatively smooth minus me having a small panic attack on the train again but Edward was there to help me through it. After getting off the train, which hitchhiked a cart in which the man driving it offered us a ride to Fort Briggs. Edward sneezed out of the blue, failing to cover it with his arm. "Ew!" I squealed, wiping off the spit and germs from the sneeze.
"Brother, are you getting a cold?" Alphonse asked, concerted.
"This is Briggs all right," Edward sniffed, rubbing his red nose, sounding congested. "It's so cold!"
"We're here!" The man called.
We got off the cart and surveyed the area. The entire road and mountainside was covered in, at the minimum, a half-foot of snow. There was a fenced off area but with an opening the size of a doorway, which I guess acted as the entrance in.
"If you follow this mountain road..." The man instructed. ""You'll get to Fort Briggs."
"Thanks!" We chorused.
"You there," the man stopped us, pointing at Alphonse. "You in the armor."
"Me?" Alphonse pointed to himself.
"Is that automail?'
"No...?"
"Then you should be good. I should warn you that beyond that fence is military territory. Stay on the road and you won't die."
The man rode off in his cart and Edward and Alphonse were staring at him, confused at his words. "What was that all about?" Edward questioned.
"I don't know..." Alphonse replied.
"In any case," I sweatdropped. surveying the sight ahead of us. "How are we going to be able to tell where the road is in all this snow?"
*~*~*~*~*~
A blizzard struck as we went up the mountain. I couldn't see beyond a few feet in front of me and the rest was a white, swirling, flurry. Edward, all bundled up inside his coat, screamed in frustration we lost the road ahead of us, his screams being carried trough the howling wind. We had no choice but to pursue froward. If we stopped now, we will surely freeze to death. I had both of my arms wrapped tightly around my body as we dragged ourselves through the thick snow. "They say that the weather in the mountains is highly variable, but I didn't think it changed this quickly," Edward yelled through the wind.
"What do we do, Brother?!" Alphonse asked. "We completely lost sight of the road."
"Relax. Our teacher, Izumi, said that she got tossed out here at Briggs Mountain for a whole month during her training period, and she made it out alive."
"No way! There's no way she could have survived in this for a whole month!"
"But she said she killed some bears!"
"When the bears around Briggs rear up, they're taller than six feet! There's no way she could have killed them!"
"Hey Alphonse," I shivered. "By any chance can I crawl inside of your armor please?"
"But it's just as cold in here as it is outside," Alphonse pointed out.
"At least it'll break the wind for me!" I yelled as two heavy footsteps sink into the snow behind us.
We slowly turned around and saw a menacing figure, white clouds of smoke coming out of their nostrils as they had their teeth bared at us.
"BEAR!!!" I screamed as we scrambled through the snow.
The figure took a step forward, revealing a muscular man with a automail arm that resembled a animal jaw and used it to strike the area we were just in. "That's no bear!" Edward yelled.
Edward gulped as he transmuted a blade from his automail and I drew my sword with my left arm. The man reached under his metal limb and shot something at me. It turned out to be a net which entangled me and Alphonse inside of it. Alphonse squirmed while inside the net as I used my sword to cut our way out. "Al! Eve!" Edward yelled at us before turning back to the musclehead he was fighting. "Wait, is that a military uniform you're wearing?" He asked.
"Huh," The man observed him. "You have automail too? The ordinary sort."
"What about you?" Edward challenged. "You've got that tacky-looking thing on!"
"You're a fool not to see the beauty of this mechanism!" The man flexed his automail weapon arm. "The Combat Automail M1913-A Crocodile!" He pointed the weapon at Edward. "Surrender peacefully, unless you want to get torn to pieces, you miserable Drachman spy!"
"Spy?" Edward yelled. "What are you talking about? I'm--"
The man ignored him and swung his heavy weapon arm around at Edward and they jumped around in the snow, dodging each other's attacks while trying to strike one another. After man twists and slashing, I managed to cut through some of the tangled ropes. "Got it!" I cheered before a surging, tightening feeling crawled up my arm. "Ow!" I gritted my teeth as I clung onto my automail arm with my other arm in order to soothe the pain.
"Eve!" Alphonse warned. "You shouldn't push yourself too much on your injured shoulder!"
"That's the funny thing...this is my automail arm!" I informed Alphonse. It hurts so much...and I can't move it very much either! I thought.
Once Alphonse and I climbed out of the hole in the net that I made, we turned to see a screaming Edward with his arm clasped between the jaw-like grasp of the weapon automail. I could hear an engine running like a chainsaw. Edward screamed, "Why didn't my alchemy work? Isn't this iron?"
"Brother!" Alphonse yelled. Clapping my hands together, I sent a spark through the snow and brought up the soft mound that the man was standing on on him, blinding him even more than the blizzard did. As he shook the snow off of him Alphonse too his metal head off of him and threw it at the running engine, getting the hair portion of his helmet tangled in the gear, causing the engine to malfunction and allowing Edward to free himself from his grasp.
"Are you okay?" I asked Edward as he ran back to us.
"This is bad," He muttered, rubbing his bladed automail arm. "I won't get to die in the snow, because Winry is gonna kill me first!"
"Not bad, kid," The man smirked. "You did pretty well with normal automail. But it ends now."
"Wha--" I spoke but I heard guns clicking behind me. With the blizzard coming down, I could clearly see soldiers dressed in white with googles on surrounding us, handguns pointed at our heads. We had our hands in the air.
"The Briggs Mountain Guards?" Alphonse asked.
"Hey, are we getting guns stuck in our faces again?" Edward sighed.
At this moment, I noticed the background. A very, very, very tall wall. I kid you not. In front of us was a huge metal wall covered in ice from the recent and constant blizzards. "Ed! Al!" I hissed.
Edward and Alphonse looked up and took in the sight of the huge wall. "A wall?" Edward sputtered.
"What's going on here, Captain Buccaneer?" A booming female voice echoed from high up.
"I'm terribly sorry for the disturbance, General Armstrong!" Buccaneer had his arms behind his back in a respectful manner as he faced the woman from high above. Looking up, I saw a woman with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes and plump, pink lips accompanied by another soldier with tan skin and silver hair, wearing sunglasses.
"Armstrong?" Alphonse whispered.
"That's who Major Armstrong said he would introduce to us?" Edward asked. "Olivier Mira Armstrong, Major Armstrong's older sister?"
What's going on? Who Major Armstrong back at Central wanted Edward and Alphonse to meet? I suddenly regret choosing to stay in the hospital room as Edward insisted that I'd be safer in there at my current state. "Who are you?" General Armstrong ordered.
"I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric!" Edward introduced.
"And I'm his bodyguard, Clockwork Alchemist, Evelyn Joyce!" I added.
"I am here by referral of Major Armstrong of Central to meet the general in charge here!" Edward continued. "But first, I would like you to call off your guards!"
"Frisk them!" General Armstrong barked.
"Hey!" Edward cried. "I'm not a shady character!"
"I don't know that," General Armstrong pointed out. "Anyone can claim to be someone famous."
As the guards outside patted us down for any weapons the soldiers pulled Alphonse down. "Whoa, he's hallow!" They yelled.
"Oh, you noticed..." Edward rolled his eyes in a sarcastic manner.
One of the guards searching Edward's suitcase pulled something out and brought it up to the general. "General!" He yelled.
"That's a letter of introduction from Major Alex Louis Armstrong!" Edward explained as General Armstrong examined the letter, turning the letter over, and scoffing, "That's from Alex all right." She tore letter in half and that half into half and so on.
"You're not going to read it?!" Edward cried.
"Letters of introduction are meaningless to me," she stated, throwing the bits of paper into the wind and letting it carry the pieces away. "I don't care about anyone else's appraisals. I judge people with my own eyes."
As I followed the bits of paper, I finally took in the mass of the metal wall that rose taller then I could ever imagined and seemed to stretch onward to infinity. "Awesome..." I breathed. "It's huge! What is this?"
"Enter, Fullmetal Alchemist along with your bodyguard Clockwork Alchemist."
"That's amazing!" Edward gawked. "That wall is really, really, really tall!"
"Quit gaping like an idiot and start walking!" General Armstrong glared. "Before I tear your body apart limb from limb!"
That aura she gave off made me fear her even more than the bears up in the mountain that I thought about earlier. I felt like her prey underneath her and Edward shrieked at her harsh nature. "I will warn you upfront, I'm not going to treat you all like children," she continued. "This is the mountain fortress, Briggs. It's a world of survival of the fittest."
As they let us in, noting our cold state, we were escorted to the medical ward in which there a doctor tended to us and gave Edward and I warm rags to put on our automail limbs. After taking one look at our metal limbs, she sighed, as if she already knew what the problem was. "Both of your automail limbs weren't working because of exposure," she stated.
"Exposure?" Edward asked.
"Yes, what we call chilblains. You two were very close to getting frostbite. If you two walk around out in a snowstorm for a long time, the flesh that is in contact with you two's automails will get frostbitten. Also, if you both don't switch out and apply lubricant, you both won't move as well."
"That Buccaneer guy's automail is different?"
Buccaneer appeared in the room, surprising me as Edward was just talking about him. "It's no use, Doc!" He complained. "This head is stuck so tight, I can't get it out."
He presented the jaw-like automail weapon arm he used to fight us earlier, and the gears were still tangled from the hair portion of Alphonse's helmet. "My head!" Alphonse cried.
The doctor removed the automail limb off of Buccaneer and began tinkling with it as she continued to lecture us both, "Up here, your automail has to be flexible and lightweight, as well as being resistant to the cold. After some trial and error, we came up with this automail, a combination of duralumin, carbon fiber, nickel, copper, and so on."
"Usually, you'd think it's just iron," Edward sighed. "No wonder I couldn't destroy it."
"Hey Doc," Buccaneer called from the back. "You're not planning on telling them both everything, are you?"
"Oh, why not?" She asked. "They are both State Alchemists."
"For real?" Buccaneer said in disbelief.
Edward and I pulled out our pocket watches simultaneously. "They got the silver pocket watch," she stated.
Buccaneer narrowed his eyes at us, still not believing the sight as Edward smirked. "If you both are planning on staying in the north long, change your automail to a cold-weather regional model," she poured Edward a cup of coffee and handed to him. I made grabby hands at it and Edward handed it to me and I took a sip, gagging at the nasty flavor and how weak it was on the caffeine level and handed it back to Edward. "Do you both have a mechanic?" She asked.
"She's in Rush Valley," Edward replied.
"She let her customer come up north without explaining to you all of this, or providing you with a replacement?"
"No, I didn't tell her I was coming up north."
The doctor eyed me and I put my hands up in surrender. "I was hospitalized for a while and was on a train to up here as soon as I was discharged," I defended.
"If you either of you want to stay alive, have her provide you with a replacement, even if she has to come up here," The doctor suggested. "And you get in touch with your mechanic or have him ask his mechanic to provide you with automail as well."
"Okay," Edward rolled his eyes, finally sipping the coffee which had cooled down.
"That coffee with be 100 Cens," The doctor smirked, holding her hand out for the tip as Edward choked and nearly spat out his coffee.
"100 Cens?" He whined, fishing through his pocket and tossing her a coin. "It's not even as good as the one back in the Eastern Command Center..."
"You can say that again," I crinkled my face, still trying to get rid of the nasty flavor.
"It's your fault for letting your guard down," she smirked. "So, what are you doing here, with your normal automail, unaccompanied, and bypassing the Command Center?"
"I even brought a letter from Major Armstrong, asking for your help!" Edward yelled. "That lady general wouldn't even listen to me, and said that she would tear my arms off--"
The door opened and General Armstrong appeared in the room, shocking me again. What's up with people today and awkward timings? She was also accompanied by that soldier again. "Hello there, Little Red Runt," She grunted.
Edward deflated, "Little Red--"
"What is it?" She demanded. "If you have a problem, speak up!"
Alphonse screamed and we turned around, seeing the doctor with Alphonse's helmet. Or, at least most of it. The hair portion of his helmet was nearly gone save for a little stub at the top and the tips of it were all matted. "My hair!" He shrieked, putting his helmet back on and watching what remained of his hair stood limply on his helmet. "It looks awful..." He slumped in the mirror.
The General, seeing that we were tended too and sat down in a chair, gripping her sheathed sword just above the hilt and had one leg on top of another. "So then, I've heard that you three are close to my brother Alex," She said. "Is he doing all right?"
"Yeah..?" Edward responded.
"He's just as muscle-bound as ever," Alphonse added.
"He's doing great!" I grinned falsely, causing the General to growl and for all of us to take a step back at the way she was acting.
"No matter, do not mind him," She returned to her professional demeanor. "Tell me why you would bypass the command center to meet me. Tell me everything, including the reason why your armor is empty."
"That's something we'd prefer not to have others hear about," Edward looked away from the general.
"There's no reason to worry," the Doctor assured. "The folks around here have all sorts of things to hide. Having things we'd prefer not to have others hear about isn't unusual."
"But if this gets out, it could get me court-martialed," Edward stammered.
"I've done some things like that myself," General Armstrong boomed.
Alphonse and Edward began whispering to each other which made the general annoyed. "What are you talking about?" She demanded. "Get on with it!"
So then Edward and Alphonse began to fill her in with their journey, leaving out parts here and there, but basically told her that they were trying to get their bodies back, even handing her a picture of some sort. "I see," she nodded. "So that's why you're looking for this girl with the black-and-white cat, is it? Understood."
"So will you work with us?" Edward nervously smiled.
"I'm not done," she interrupted. "I understand that you are a couple of butterfingers, who don't think about anything too deeply and spread trouble around with you're careless actions! And you're 'bodyguard' is doing quite a terrible job at keeping you in check. I don't want anyone like that inside my citadel. Honest to goodness, how can the folks in Central let these two run around loose along with an incompetent bodyguard?"
Ouch. That hurt. The obvious insult towards me actually stung quite a bit. "Get out of here, this instant!" She yelled. "...or so I'd like to say, but I'm interested in alkahestry. You two are acquaintances of this alkahestry girl, right?"
"Yeah, I guess," Alphonse replied.
"It's a technique not found in this country. I want it. You can never have too many techniques, especially here in this land where we adjoin the great Drachma. Depending on how it's used, alkahestry could be a fine weapon."
"Wait, just a minute, please! Alkahestry is an art specialized for the medical field. For you to--"
"Silence! You're just dogs, yapping within the country's interior! Don't forget that your peace and security is protected by those of us who are here on the borders. I am the one who draws the national border in the north. I will take any technique I can, if it will help me. Let me take care of finding the alkahestry girl. You three stay inside the fort."
The General slammed her sheathed sword on the ground while standing up, striding over to the door. "Also, Major Miles..." She added.
"Yes, sir!" The accompanying tan soldier saluted at his call.
"Put them to work," she ordered. '''If a man will not work, he shall not eat'."
"You have a point," We all mumbled.
*~*~*~*~*~
"Say what kind of work are you going to give us?" Edward asked Miles as we four went down the corridor. We received no response. "When the Doc said folks here have all sorts of things to hide, so have something to hide?" Edward moved on to another question. Still no response. "It's no fair, if you guys ask all the questions, and never answer any," Edward complained.
Suddenly, Miles stopped. "You really wanna know?" He coldly asked, taking off his sunglasses and revealing red eyes at us.
"Red eyes?" I sputtered.
"You're Ishvalan!" Alphonse cried.
"But how?" Edward stammered. "We were told that all the soldiers who cane from Ishval were purged before the War of Extermination. "
"I do indeed have Ishvalan blood flowing through my veins," Miles confirmed. "However, my grandmother and my father, not to mention his wife, are all of a different race. The color of my eyes and skin must be because my grandfather's blood runs strong. Amestrisian, your people really did a number on my ancestral land of Ishval."
Edward gulped before sighing and countering, "It's you Ishvalans who burned down our countryside, and killed the parents of two of our childhood friends."
"Whoa, Brother!" Alphonse warned.
"Ed, please--" I beg for him to keep his mouth shut for once.
As Miles and Edward engaged in a stare down, Alphonse and I stood there nervously before Miles began to chuckle. "I'm sorry," he gave a small smile. "That's the first time anyone has ever given a comeback like that."
"You were testing me?" Edward sassed.
"That was rude of me. After the civil war, I've often been looked upon with pity. To be honest, I've gotten fed up with it. But you're different."
"Well, I've had an Ishvalan try to kill me, nearly kidnap me and reconcile with me. So I've had a pretty rich relationship. Besides, people should get beyond race, and talk about each other as equals."
Miles smiled at us before putting our sunglasses on and escorting us more into the fort. "Major Miles, were you on active duty during the War of Extermination?" Edward asked.
"Yeah," He replied, pushing a button to a door to an elevator. "I've been General Armstrong's adjutant since those days. The War of Extermination started right after I was posted here, and many of my relatives, including my grandfather, were killed in the east. I was barely outside of the military's purge terms, so I was spared."
"Didn't you hold any grudge against the military?"
"You really do ask whatever you like, don't you?"
"I can't stand being so ignorant. If I've offended you, I apologize."
"An 'ignorant' State Alchemist, huh?"
The elevator door opened and we stepped inside. Miles pushed another button and the doors closed and we began going down. "I resented what the military did," he admitted. "Meanwhile, I had doubts as to why the General kept me on as her adjutant. By having me, someone with Ishvalan blood around, it could have caused discord among the soldiers here. So why didn't she get rid of me? I once came right out at the General about it. 'Briggs here is a land that must not fall, no matter what happens. Each of us, down to the last soldier, must move with strength, and yet with flexibility, executing my will as leader in all things, as one stalwart force. In short, we have no time for discrimination. With the blood of various peoples that flows within you, and their various sets of values, you are able to see this country from various angles. I was born and raised in Amestris, and in order for me to be a leader, I need people like you. Now shut up and follow me, Miles!' is what she told me. Her words were perfectly rational, and without deception. When I asked her, 'Even so, if the Ishvalan blood within me is unable to forgive what the military has done, what then?' What do you think the General said? 'Very well, come at me. As a representative of the armed forces, I will accept any challenges at any time.' That's what she said."
"Wow, what a scary lady," I muttered.
"Did she say it because she had her troops lined up behind her?" Edward commented.
"No, she was serious," Miles corrected. "'I'll kill you one-on-one!' That was the look in her eye." We trembled even more, now getting a first-look of her wrath and harshness.
*~*~*~*~*~
Miles had took to the top of the fort. It was nighttime and it seemed colder than during the blizzard. There were even icicles as long as my arm hanging from the ceiling! As we were walking, Miles asked, "You know the law around here?"
"Survival of the fittest," I sarcastically replied.
"That's right," Miles answered. "Those without power die, while those with power survive. The truth never changes 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It truly is simple. Be you buck private or top boss, regardless of race, ethnicity and gender, it makes no difference."
Edward slipped and began to stumble forward and one of the icicles fell and shattered just right behind Edward. Edward glanced at the shattered ice, horrified at how close he was at hurting himself. "Survival of the fittest in action," Miles commented. "Your luck is strong, so you survived." Miles now took into account at how big the icicles were above us. "The icicle scrapers are slacking off," He ordered. "That's your job now. I'll tell one of my men to show you inside once you're done.
Miles pointed to some ice picks and sent us to work. As Alphonse chipped at the ice without much of a problem, Edward and I had some trouble. "Damn, I'm too short!" Edward cursed.
An idea struck me. "Wait, Edward, I have an idea!" I said.
"What is it?"
"Bend down."
"What?"
"Bend down!"
Edward bend downwards and I climbed on top, sitting on his shoulders as he stood up, wobbling and I chipped at the ice. "Aha! It worked!" I squealed as Alphonse and I resumed chipping at the ice. Edward began to shift a bit, causing me to miss some of the spots I was chipping at. "Edward, I'm not too heavy on you, am I?" I asked.
"Nope...not a problem," Edward puffed.
"Don't lie to me because you think I get offended if you call me heavy Ed. This is serious. If you get too tired, you'll drop me and I'll fall down from the fort," I threatened.
"Huh? It can't be!" A familiar voice spoke.
Perking up at a familiar voice from a comrade from a team I used to work with, Alphonse and I turned in the direction of the voice to see Falman. "Warrant Officer Falaman!" I gasped.
"The Elric brothers! Joyce!" He gasped. "What are you all doing here?"
"What about you?" Edward huffed. "I thought you were at the Northern Command Center." He lost grip and I slipped off his shoulders, screaming as I landed on the cold metal floor. My head rang as my skull made contact with the metal.
"Eve!" Edward gasped, bending down. "Are you alright?"
I was seeing double but I slapped Edward's hand of help away from me. "No thanks," I hissed, getting up while holding my head. "Be lucky I didn't fall off the fort or else I would've killed you."
"Anyways, the Northern Command Center bumped me up here," Falman explained.
I noticed his shoulder, seeing a metal badge. "They made you 2nd Lieutenant!" I congratulated.
"But why are you knocking down icicles?" Edward asked.
"If you're doing such bottom-rung work, that means..." Alphonse started.
"...you're off your career track," Edward and Alphonse grinned darkly.
"Don't say that!" Falman sobbed comically as he ran away and Edward and Alphonse laughed. I knocked the two of them over the head.
"Don't say that!" I scolded. "I used to work with him!"
*~*~*~*~*~
Falman showed us to a room where a bunch of mechanics gathered and were fixing up and building tanks. "This is the development level," He explained.
"Wow!" Edward admired. "What is this?"
"It was General Armstrong's idea. They gather the country's latest technologies and develop them into weapons."
"Including combat automail?"
"Yeah, over here now."
Falman lead us to another part of the sector where giant, wide pipes ran all over the room. "This is Briggs' lowest level," He informed.
"Sure is warm, not at all like up above," Edward noticed.
"All the fort's lifelines come through here. Even if the fort's upper levels are attacked, it's no big deal down here in the heart," Falman continued.
As Edward, Alphonse and I looked around, a mechanic shoved us aside. "Hey, move it, you're in the way!" He barked. "Stop staggering around!"
"Sorry!" I apologized.
"Hey Bobby, over here!" A mechanic from another part of the room yelled. "This is the pipe."
Bobby put his ear on the pipe, listening for something. "It sounds like..." he muttered, bending down and placing an ear on the ground. "It's coming underground."
"What?" The other mechanic gasped.
"It sounds like someone's digging through the rock..."
"Don't tell me those Drachma goons are digging a tunnel under the fort!"
"It's close!"
The entire room began the shake and the ground cracked and the mechanics from away in time that the ground broke and something emerged. It was an extremely muscular male with red circles over one of his eyes and a line connecting it to other circles on his arm. He appeared to be wearing a skin-tight overalls, exposing the entire upper half of his body and wore broken handcuffs on his wrists. On his back was the Ouroboros tattoo. "A Homunculus!" I gasped.
The Homunculus suddenly slumped over and began snoring. "Don't fall asleep!" Edward and Alphonse yelled.
The Homunculus jerked up, awakened by Edward's and Alphonse's yells. "What?" He spoke.
"Oh, you know, 'Father' in Central told you about us, right?" Edward said.
"Yeah, we're just here looking for a way to get our old bodies back," Alphonse added.
"Who are you?" The Homunculus asked. Edward and Alphonse looked very confused. "Dig a hole," The Homunculus grumbled. "What a bother. Ah, what a bother."
Suddenly, a bullet landed behind Edward and he jumped. "Aha!" Buccaneer snarled. "You were all spies from Drachma!"
"No, we're not!" We pleaded.
"Then why are you speaking with the intruder like you know him?" He demanded.
"No, we weren't!" Edward shouted.
"Your lies won't fool me!" Buccaneer scoffed.
"I'm not lying!" Edward groaned. "We never met that guy!"
"This is in my way," The Homunculus mumbled, picking up a pipe that he dislodged when he dug his way up and throwing it. Screaming, Edward, Alphonse and I ran away before the pipe landed on all three of us.
The Homunculus began to lumber around, saying, "This place is big. Where is this? Do I not have to dig anymore?"
"Fire!" Buccaneer ordered and soldiers above began raining gunfire on the Homunculus but, as expected, it wasn't very effective. "The guns have no effect!" He gasped.
The Homunculus pushed a lever, making the platform he was on rise up. "This is bad!" Buccaneer yelled. "That leads to development level! Alert development level! Investigate the hole he came out of! There might be others accompanying him!"
"We're going after him too!" Edward shouted as Alphonse and I followed him and soldiers up the stairs and back onto the development level, sirens blaring through the fort. As we reached the development level, the Homunculus was throwing debris around, some of it flying and about to land on soldiers. Edward clapped his hand and slammed them on the ground, creating a giant hand to act as a shield for the oncoming debris.
General Armstrong sat on a tank and we ran up to her. "It won't work, General!" Edward yelled. "No matter h0w many times you kill him, he won't die!"
"It won't die?" She stood up, gripping her sword.
"What do you mean?" Buccaneer demanded. "How would you know something like that?"
"Well..." Edward gritted his teeth, not wanting to reveal about the existence and motivations of the Homunculi.
"I don't appreciate you acting dim!" General Armstrong shouted, slamming her sheathed sword on the tank. "Answer as many of my questions as you can! How do you know that thing? Are you a spy from Drachma?"
"No!"
"Then is that a spy?"
"Probably not!"
"Does that thing know you?"
"Probably not!"
"What is that thing?"
"I can't answer that!"
"Whose orders is that thing acting on?"
"I can't answer that!"
"Why can't you answer?"
"You'll have to guess."
"Last question. Are you on our side here?"
"I wouldn't want to see anyone here get killed."
"Tell me what that thing is made of."
"His body's structure and computational elements are probably the sane as a human. "
"The same as a human, huh?" She turned to Buccaneer. "Buccaneer, bring me some tank fuel!" She ordered. "We're going to douse it!"
"Yes, sir!" He saluted.
"I told you, that won't work General!" Edward repeated. "Even if you set him ablaze, he won't go down that easily!"
"I learned from the last attack that we can't kill it. In which case, we'll just have to shut down its functions. We're going to hit it with something even stronger than fire." She smirked at all three of us. "Let me show you the Briggs way."