3"So," Al, as the gang had taken to calling the kid, spoke, addressing the blonde leaning against the wall next to him, "you seem a lot younger then the others; how old are you?"
Alois's blue eyes glanced at him before looking forward again, "Eighteen."
"May I ask how you all became chimeras?" the ever polite fourteen year old inquired.
"Us adults were all military personnel, except for maybe Bido; I don't think he ever really said how he got how he is," Martel replied, her voice echoing within the armor. "The short of it is we all got injured at some point, taken to a lab, and became human experiments."
Glowing red eyes looked up to the older teen, "And you?"
"I was 'chosen' to be the next of what soon turned into many victims of a now known serial killer," Alois replied sardonically yet kept her usual flat tone.
Al gave a horrified gasp, "Really?! How did you survive that?"
Blue eyes narrowed the slightest bit, "The military showed up; you'd think everything ended up fine after that, right?" The teen received a nod, "That wasn't the case. They weren't able to catch the killer, but they still brought me in. I thought they were taking me for some sort of questioning and then would let me go home, but I was taken to a lab and had the same fate as the others."
Alphonse looked down to his chained hands, "That's awful." So many things are being revealed that the boy can't comprehend. First the Philosopher's Stone and its use of human lives, Lab 5 that used prisoners for stones, and now the military being behind the creation of humanoid chimeras. "... Did you have families...?"
There was silence before Martel spoke, "... Some of us." This brought the armored soul more sadness for the group, regardless of the fact that they kidnapped him. He didn't really know how he felt about the military after all this; Al knows that not all of the military were bad people, his own brother was a State Alchemist, but the things that have been done by the military have hurt families and uprooted people from their lives.
It saddens the young teenager.
Suddenly the door to the basement of the bar was thrown open, along with a beaten and bruised Bido tossed on the ground, by a teen with gold hair and eyes wearing an entirely black outfit.
"Brother!" Al cried, happy to see his sibling had come.
"Never really crossed my mind that you could get kidnapped," the kid's brother spoke.
"Brother, this guy's a Homunculus!"
Alois watched as the newcomer's eyes widened, "Are you serious?"
Greed looked down at the chained armor in disappointment, "Hey, way to ruin it."
"Don't pout about it too much, sir," the eighteen commented, getting a slight knock on the head from the leader.
"We might be able to get some leads from him on how to get our original bodies back!"
There was a stare-off between the older brother and Greed as the Homunculus showed off the symbol on his hand. "An Ouroboros tattoo," the teen spoke.
"Aren't you observant. I was hoping I would only have to deal with the armored giant."
"Why don't you just ask your partners what you wanna know?"
"Partners?" the embodiment of avarice questioned as Alois cocked her head a bit.
"Yeah, the rest of the Ouroboros gang from the fifth lab," the braided blonde answered. "They had a couple of armor-bonded souls with them as well."
"Ya don't say?" Greed spoke, actually surprised. Seems his siblings had done a lot while he was gone. "Well, ya see, we don't talk much anymore." Gold eyes glared into amethyst, "I've got a little proposal for you— you guys are pretty desperate to get your bodies back, right? 'Cause I can teach you to fabricate your own homunculus in no time at all. In return all I ask is you teach me how to transmute a soul." The chimeras' gang leader had a cocky grin on his visage, "Classic Equivalent Exchange." Greed turned to look at Alphonse, "But I really don't understand why you would want your other body back. Seems like you've got one that's perfect already."
"No, I don't!" It seemed that neither armor nor Homunculus took notice of the dark look on the other kid's face, not like Alois did at least.
"Oh, c'mon, you don't need to eat, don't need to sleep. You don't even need to use the toilet!" Greed held his hands out, "Sounds great to me!"
"That's enough; shut your damned mouth!"
"W'uh oh," the bobbed blonde muttered after hearing the older brother's outburst.
"RRRRRAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!" the teen yelled as he stomped his foot, intense rage on his face. "SOUNDS GREAT TO YOU?! IT SEEMS PERFECT?! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE HELL HE'S HAD TO GO THROUGH BEING STUCK WITH THAT BODY. YET YOU WANNA TRANSMUTE A SOUL?! YOU KIDNAP MY BROTHER AND YOU WANNA TRADE SECRETS WITH MEEEEEEEEEE?! I'M GONNA CRUSH YOU CREEPS, SMASH YOU, END YOU, AND I WON'T GIVE YOU SLIME ANYTHING! In other words there won't be an exchange with you SCUUUUUUUUUM!"
The golden blonde finished his tirade with a sharp point in Greed's direction, who did nothing but clap at the shorter male's performance.
Dolcetto placed a hand on the hilt of his sword, "I guess we're doing this by force again."
"Don't kill him, alright?" the black-haired boss said as everyone moved out of the way. He received a flippant, "Yeah, yeah."
Quick as a blur, the dog chimera found himself on the ground and the teen stood over him. Greed moved forward and took his hands from his pockets, "Roa, get the armored kid outta here; guess we'll dismantle him."
The grey-haired giant replied shortly, "Right."
"Go with him in case the kid's a problem, Alois."
"Got it," the young adult nodded as she followed her larger counterpart out of the room, armored soul over his shoulder. Along the way she snagged the back of Dolcetto's shirt and dragged him with them as well. Once they got out of the line of danger, Alois released her fellow chimera and let him sag to the floor. Al watched the platinum blonde's actions, thinking it nice that she had got her comrade out of a dangerous area.
Those thoughts were quickly extinguished when the mule chimera gave a rough kick to Dolcetto ribs.
"ACK!" the previously unconscious male cried as he cradled his side.
"Wake up," the expressionless girl commanded, unfazed by the ebonette's violent reaction.
"What the hell was that for, Alois?!"
"You needed to wake up."
"Well don't kick me like that just to wake me up! I think you broke a rib..."
"Stop whining and let's go," Alois chided, already a ways ahead of the rest of the group.
The two males watched her back, "She really is related to that woman," Dolcetto commented as slight shudders traveled down their backs.
"GET A MOVE ON BEFORE SHE KILLS US ALL," Martel cried.
"Right!"
After having traveled for about ten or fifteen minutes, Dolcetto sniffed the air, "Something doesn't smell right to me." He kept a hand on his katana, instincts on edge.
"Ya know what it feels like to me?" Roa questioned rhetorically. "Old times."
"I know what you mean," blue eyes scanned their surroundings of the sewers, "my instincts are going haywire right now."
"Oh, yeah, mule's are pretty good at sensing danger, aren't they?" the dog chimera queried, mostly to get his mind off how tense the situation was becoming.
"Basically." Alois sighed before looking at her male companions, "It might be best for you two to head back and see what's up. Like Docetto said, something's not right."
Roa looked at the eighteen year old, "What about—"
"I'll keep an eye on the kid, alright?" She stared at him with wary eyes, truly letting him know that her instincts were getting to her.
The cow chimera was silent before nodding, setting the armored soul and Martel down before turning to Dolcetto, "Let's head back and see if everything's all right."
The shortest of them all was silent but gave his assent. With that both males turned back, Alois watching them as they went.
And an armored fourteen year old began trying to escape.
"Will you stay put?!" Martel cried with obvious strain in her voice, gaining the blonde's attention.
A booted foot slammed into Al's helmet, halting his current attempt for escape. "You should listen to what the girl in you says," Alois suggested, and though it was in her usual flat tone, Alphonse could easily feel the aura she emitted.
It was similar to Teacher's when they wouldn't listen to her orders.
Needless to say Alphonse stopped struggling.
With that done, Alois lifted her foot off the helmet, but heard other footsteps approaching. Turning around, the blonde saw the oncoming figure of their boss.
"Greed," the chimeras greeted, Martel's head popping out from the armor as Alois ran forward to meet the Homunculus.
"Ah, Martel, Alois, glad to see you both are safe."
"What's going on?" the sandy blonde inquired, not noticing how her female counterpart tensed. The two continued to speak of the situation before Alois grabbed the hand of her boss in a tight grip.
Greed paused at the gesture and looked to see the blonde's normally empty expression had scrunched up with narrowed eyes. "What's up?" The avarice being knew how sensitive the girl was when it came to reading situations.
"There's a really dangerous being coming," Alois gritted out. The next sentence is what made Greed stop.
"It's the same feeling I got when I first met you."
Quick as a whip, Greed lashed a hand out and chopped the back of the girl's neck, rendering her unconscious.
"What're you doing?!" Al cried, shocked to see the Homunculus assault one of his comrades.
Martel was just as shocked as the armored lad, "Greed, what're-?!"
"No time," the black-haired male had the blonde up on his shoulders in no time flat, "Now like I was saying, we should really get out of here."
"I can't let you do that," a voice all three of them recognized spoke as he walked from the shadows. The snake chimera gasped and went back into the armor for cover.
Despite how tense he was, Greed asked as normally as he could, "What're you doing here, old man?" Alois had implied that another Homunculus was coming, but all that showed up was this bag of bones.
"It's the Fuhrer!" Al gasped. "Why is he here?!"
"King Bradley!" Martel spoke, just as shocked.
Greed huffed, "What's the most powerful man in the land doing down here?"
"Not that'd you know, but growing old isn't easy," Bradley spoke.
"Huh?"
"This year marks my sixtieth birthday." Despite the words he spoke, the Fuhrer still had a smile on his mustached face, "It's frustrating how your body stops moving the way you want it to." Greed noticed how the leader of the nation stalked forward, blades at the ready, "So I'd like to finish this job as quickly as possible."
The embodiment of greed smirked and dropped Alois beside the armor kid, "Watch that for me, would ya?" Before Al could respond, the avaricious man turned back the Bradley, "And you, if you're so old, maybe you should just RETIRE!" Greed had his hand encased in his human shield and was about to strike.
Until a blade came and sliced through his forearm like a hot knife through butter.
There was a resounding SPLASH as the severed appendage landed in the water. Greed stared at his regenerating arm as Alphonse gasped. There was a loud cackle as the Homunculus grinned at Amestris's ruler, "Well now, seems like the old man has some moves!"
With that said, Greed and Fuhrer King Bradley locked in combat.
"Alois," Alphonse called to the unconscious blonde. "Alois, wake up!"
"Hey kid," Martel spoke softly from inside him.
The fourteen year old paused, "Uh, yeah?"
"If things take a turn down south, act like Alois has nothing to do with us, all right?"
Al gasped, "But why?"
"As much as I want to ignore it, Greed's getting his ass handed to him." The armored soul hadn't realized how pained her voice was as she spoke until now. "Even if the others get back, I don't see anything good about the situation at hand." Martel rested her forehead against her metal enclosure, "And Alois hasn't ever acted like that the entirety we've known her."
"Don't talk like that!" Alphonse knows that the unconscious female wouldn't be happy to hear her friend talk like this. Even if Alois has been near completely emotionless the whole time he was around her, he could see that there was a certain closeness in how she acted towards the other chimeras and Greed.
A certain fondness.
A/N: Done! Hopefully I can get the next chapter written either today or tomorrow ((sadly I have the bad habit of getting on my laptop with the intent to write but end up getting completely sidetracked -_-"))
In regards to Alois's sense of danger, it's said that mules have a heightened awareness for it so I wanted to incorporate that into her character