103Metal Limbs and Tea
The first thing Ed felt was the cold hard ground he was laying on as he returned to consciousness. The next thing he could feel was the shackle on his left arm but judging from the jingling to his right heed say his right arm was shackled to.
Ed let out a groan as he opened his eyes and looked around his current prison. Why am I in jail again and what in the name of the Gate did I do to deserve this? Ed asked himself as he noted the red and black tapestries with a fancy looking flame design in the middle of them along one wall and that the room was entirely made of metal. Ed could feel a slight rumble in his room and recognized it was an engine of some kind.
Suddenly a door opened and a man stepped in caring a bowl with steam coming from it. The man wore a cone helmet with leather neck guard, a combination of shoulder pads, an armored collar, a leathern, a sleeveless robe, and heavy boots all in red or black.
"Like the color but the helmet looks kinda' weak." Ed said as the soldier blinked at Ed.
"Umm thanks, I think?" the soldiers eyes were glued to Ed hair as it looked almost like gold. He remembered the general had said something about odd hair but this wasn't what he had been expecting. He almost wondered if it could be used as a weapon as he was sure if it hit the light just right the kid could blind someone.
Ed could see the soldier staring at him while the bowl of whatever continued to steam in his hand and his stomach gave a loud growl snapping the soldier's attention from his hair to his stomach with a look of surprise. Quickly the man moved and set the bowl in front of Ed and stood up when a sway of the ship made the bowl slide back just out of Ed's hands as he went to grab it.
Just then Zuko came in with his ever present scowl while his uncle trailed behind him a cup of tea in his hands and a kind smile on his face. The soldier seeing them stood at attention while Ed's food lay in front of him but he couldn't reach it thanks to the shackles on his arms. Zuko saw the bowl and rounded on the soldier while his scowl morphed into a glare making the man nervous.
"Who ordered you to bring the prisoner food I said he was to be left alone until after my interrogation." The soldier looked even more nervous as Zuko continued to glare at him when Iroh spoke up.
"I did my prince after all are guest would probably be hungry and deserved something to eat." Everyone including Ed, who had been trying to reach the bowl while they were talking, stared at Iroh who simply continued to drink his tea.
"Are you going senile you old lard do I look like a guest or do you chain up all your guests?" Ed's words made Zuko glare at him while the soldier's gaze moved from Iroh to Zuko then Ed and back in the same pattern. Iroh though simply laughed at Ed as he slid the bowl of food to the blond alchemist who grabbed it and studied it closely checking for any sign of poison.
"Consider it a precaution don't need you metalbending the ship now do we." Ed who had started to dig into his bowl looked up at the old man who gave him a wink and rolled a small coin like object with a white lotus on it making Ed's eyes widen slightly before they settled back to his food.
Zuko though heard what his uncle said and turned sharply to stare at him surprise on his face as he asked, "Metalbender? I thought they were extinct?" Iroh nodded to his nephews question as he waved the soldier over and asked him to bring him some tea and another cup before turning back to his nephew.
"True but many people said the Airbenders were extinct but we both know that's not true is it so hard to believe another has survived after all we don't know what happened to them they simply vanished." Ed for his part was listening closely to the story the old man was telling making sure to use it as a reference when he needed to explain his story as while not a perfect cover would most definitely help. That and he was with the same organization that Bumi was part of so he would give him the benefit of the doubt.
The ship shook again slightly harder than normal making Ed hit the back wall rather hard on his right arm which made a muffled clang of metal against metal drawing the attention of his captors. Zuko was already moving the moment he heard the clang and grabbed Iroh as he pulled him away from the Metalbender ready to send out a fireball should he try anything.
"What was that?" were the first words out of Zuko's mouth as he watched Ed for any sign of an attack. Ed for his part was quietly cursing at Truth whom he was sure had something to do with his even if he didn't know how as he had been doing so well at keeping his arm a secret and was trying to come up with some excuse.
Sadly he never got the chance as Zuko once he saw Ed was distracted sent a small fire ball at his arm just hot enough to burn the coat sleeve but not cause any lasting damage to the arm itself. He made sure to do it that way otherwise he would never here the end of it from his uncle if he acutely hurt a prisoner for no reason. What he or Iroh had expected was to find an arm from tips of Ed's fingers all the way down to his elbow as was shown from the burnt off part of the sleeve.
"Your arm is encased in metal that's why it hurt so much when you hit me." Zuko said in a quiet tone as he came to realize some of Ed's strength combined with his metalbending it wouldn't hamper his movements while giving him an edge in both offence and defense. Iroh though noticed at how life like the metal was and the way things moved and were connected and realized that Ed's arm wasn't encased in metal, his arm was made entirely out of metal.
"No Prince Zuko look closely at the hand see how it's shaped and connects to his arm it's more than just encased in metal." Zuko's gaze went back to Ed's arm but at this point Ed had recovered from the unexpected fireball and made his opinion to said fireballs use in ruining his coat.
"What the Hell you could have fried me to dam fire breathing hot headed idiot! Do you have any idea what you could have done if you had missed or made the fire hotter you dumbass!" both Zuko and Iroh recoiled at Ed's slightly expected reaction though not at you loud he would have been. Iroh turned to look at his nephew when his ears stopped ringing and they had gotten Ed to settle down slightly though he was still cursing and throwing insults at Zuko.
"He does have a point Nephew there were safer ways of removing his coat than burning it off." Iroh said in a stern lecturing voice to which caused Zuko to scowl at his uncle before replying,
"We had no idea what he had on him and could have fallen into a trap of some kind as we have him in a metal ship which he can potentially bend in any way he wants to if he wasn't chained up to the point he can barely move other than to feed himself." Iroh sighed but didn't argue with Zuko on this as his Nephew did have a point if he didn't already know the truth behind Ed's abilities somewhat.
With his piece said and his uncle not arguing with him anymore Zuko went up to Ed somewhat cautiously as Ed glared at him and grabbed the rest of Ed's burned sleeve and ripped it off much to Ed's protests revealing he arm up to his shoulder as all he had on under his coat was his black sleeveless tang top. Zuko stared in shock as Iroh's eyes narrowed seeing his suspicion was correct.
Just then the soldier returned from getting the tea Iroh had asked for and saw Ed's arm and the scars around the port. The sight shocked the soldier who despite seeing several horrors from the war dropped the tea tray as he beheld the metal limb. Iroh was almost in a state of tears as the tea fell and crashed onto the floor and sending tea everywhere.
Ed was about to go into another rant when Zuko having tired of his constant yelling sent a well-placed fist to the side of Ed's head knocking the Alchemist out before turning to his uncle.
"Uncle have you seen anything like this before?" Iroh shook his head in no making Zuko turn back to Ed's arm as he grabbed it and started pulling and tugging at it much to both Iroh and the soldiers shock.
"Prince Zuko what are you doing?" Iroh asked his voice containing a slightly angry tone as his nephew continued to pull at the limb.
"What's it look like I'm trying to take his arm off with this we could potentially be able to give soldier who have lost their libs new ones and gain an edge in the war." Iroh frowned at his nephew. While he liked the idea of being able to give people new libs if they have lost or damaged them to the point they can't work anymore he didn't like taking it from someone who obviously needed it but before he could raise his opinion Zuko had disconnected Ed's arm from his shoulder and started to undo the clasp around the wrist.
"Soldier keep an eye on the prisoner when he wakes get either my uncle or myself understood." The soldier snapped off a quick salute and a "Yes Sir," before Zuko left.
Iroh turned to the soldier as well and said, "Please tell me when he wakes first I don't think are guest would be happy to see my Nephew again especially if he finds out just who took his arm." The soldier nodded as Iroh to left leaving the soldier to watch over Ed.
I'm Back and first things first i wanted to apologize for the long update I got somewhat lazy plus this chapter was actually rather difficult as I couldn't get the right feel for it and actually re-writ it a couple of times before i settled for this one even though I still don't quite like it.
Also quick clarification Metalbenders in my story used to exist around 500 years ago as an advanced form of earth bending but the art was lost and most people think metalbenders were their own breed that died out but its not think of it like bloodbending waterbenders do just everyone has forgotten how to do it and the ones who did know died of before passing it down.
hope you liked the chapter and sorry for the log update.