as told by Edward Elric
Cavalry Emergency
Things with Esdeath have continued to escalate, with no signs of us getting an upper hand, despite our numbers. I’ve transmuted the ground to give the Majors a shield to protect ourselves from that cryomancer of a swordswoman, but she created a few more icicles and launched them at us with such speed that one of them scraped my automail shoulder despite my attempts to dodge it.
“Damn it…” The Chief Major cursed under her breath. “Major Elric! Transmute a dome around us and don’t stop!” Under her orders, I transmuted the ground to create a dome around all of us, then continued on and added another layer of protection.
As we took advantage of the chance to recollect ourselves, Chief Major Kusanagi looked to us as if she’s preparing a strategy. “That should keep her at bay for a moment. Majors Guile and Armstrong, brace yourselves! I need you to slow her down when she breaks in.”
“I trust that you’ve devised a plan, then?” Armstrong inquired. The Chief Major nodded in confirmation, with Guile charging up energy a second later while Armstrong prepared himself. As the two of them slowly went ahead of us, with Guile behind Armstrong, the dome began to make cracks as a pole of ice started crashing on the second dome from above. Seeing this as a bad thing, Armstrong started transmuting the ground to launch himself and Guile up to the inner dome. As the ice pole destroyed the first one, it started to make its way to the second, making cracks on that one as well. As they got to the top of the dome, Armstrong prepared himself as the ice rod made its way. With all of his strength, the Strongarm Alchemist destroyed the rod of ice with his gauntlets. This was followed by Guile jumping off the pillar, ready to attack.
“Sonic… TEMPEST!” Swinging his arms inwards, he unleashed a powerful wave of crescent energy to blow away the shards of ice in different directions.
“Keep her occupied if you can!” The Chief Major yelled to the two of them as she took out her phone, quickly dialing numbers to make a call. “Batou! Do you hear me?” Nothing came for a few moments before a voice resembling a middle-aged man responded.
“I can hear you, Major. You’re having trouble against something?”
“Yeah. Get the other members of Section Nine to help us fight Esdeath NOW! We’re inside a dome Major Elric has transmuted, but we don’t know how long it’ll hold!”
“We’ll be on our way shortly to slow her down a little.” Their conversation as the Chief Major hangs up the phone and stuffed it into her pocket in a hurry.
“Batou and the others should be arriving here in a few minutes!” I stopped when the cyborg turned to me, prepared to give me another instruction. “Major Elric! Forget the dome! I need you to attack Esdeath with your alchemy to keep her occupied!” I rested and waited a few seconds for Esdeath to attack the two blonde squadmates, something the sadist did immediately. I did what the Chief Major commanded and created stone hands from the ground to attack her. Seeing this, Guile reached for his right pocket to get a Flash Bang to throw at the ground before Armstrong dragged him out of range to jump off the pillar, blinding Esdeath in the process and allowing the stone hands to hit her, destroying a small portion of the dome in the process.
Did it get her? I slowed down on the alchemy as Armstrong and Guile rushed back toward us. Due to the rush of creating defenses against that cruel woman, I stopped transmuting and kneeled down to recover. The other three looked on to see if Esdeath was hit. To our surprise, she walked toward us seemingly unharmed with ice surrounding her body, but the horror lessened as we saw parts of her clothing damaged from the Chief Major’s plan.
Only a small scratch… Sweat came down the Chief Major ’s head, as we had some degree of success in damaging our enemy, but certainly wasn’t enough to cripple her. We stepped back in fear, cornered by one of the strongest Generals in her own world. As we backed into the walls of the dome with nothing else to counter Esdeath, who prepared another spell, the Chief Major noticed something outside the dome. A helicopter appeared in the air piloted by a white-haired muscular man with prosthetic eyes in a shirt with a dark brown coat over that with beige pants, flying from afar toward us with a man with an eye-patch on his left eye out of the window with a sniper rifle. Somehow seeing through the smoke with his left, he managed to make his mark on the parts where Esdeath is most vulnerable: Her legs, the only parts of her that were completely exposed. She stopped, however, and started sniffing the area.
“I can sense it. Someone has followed us here.” The blue-haired woman turned around, something that was enough to freak out the pilot.
How can she sense us when we’re not close to her? This isn’t good. Indeed; He turned to his sniper to give him the instruction. “Shoot. Now!” The man with the eyepatch quickly fired the sniper rifle at her before she knew what was going on. The bullet was too fast for her to dodge, feeling slightly pained when the bullet only scraped the left side of her right calf. We saw the blood leaking from the attack. Damn it! What can actually faze this sadist?
“Let’s do it, Edward Elric!” The bulky Strongarm Alchemist slammed his fists on the ground, generating spikes to get her knees, only for her to dance around them. Gritting her teeth, the Chief Major walked ahead of us.
“I’ll keep her occupied. You three, get to my unit while you can. I’ll be back later.” The Chief Major ran to directly assault Esdeath, seemingly a foolish move, attacking the sadist with punches and kicks, only for our enemy to dodge it effortlessly.
“Eager to die so soon?” The sadist mused as Kusanagi kept on attacking her before she pulled out her rapier. “I respect you for you courage, but this comes to an end. I hope you die, knowing you didn’t stand a chance against me.” We watched as the blue-haired sadist, no longer playing with us, decided to unsheath her rapier and swung it several times, only for the Chief Major to dodge the strikes and step back. She took a flash bang from her vest pocket on her right hand and rushed at the blue-haired woman. As she got close, Esdeath, this time, went for diagonal slashes, which the purple-haired cyborg evaded simply by sliding underneath her, dropping the flash bang at the evil General’s feet. Before Esdeath could do anything else, the stun grenade exploded from beneath the cryomancer, blinding her.
“Shit…!” The sadist reeled over in pain, allowing the Chief Major a chance to grab her.
“This is where your ice shatters, Esdeath.” As our leader held the enemy, I transmuted the ground to get myself, Armstrong, and Guile out of the dome. By the time that sadistic cryomancer recovered, Chief Major Kusanagi took out a detonator in her pocket and pressed it, resulting in explosions surrounding the two of them. As we got out of the dome, two smoke grenades were fired into the dome where Esdeath was, with the smoke coming out seconds later. The helicopter descended to the ground, noticing our location.
“That was a close one…” Guile sighed in relief as he looked back at the dome. “Didn’t think she’d be that reckless to sacrifice herself.”
“It’s like the Major, of course. She’s got a knack for being reckless.” The three of us turned to see the white-haired man with prosthetic eyes and his sniper.
“We express our gratitude for saving us, Batou.” Armstrong told the man. “Had your sniper Saitou not pulled the trigger in time, we wouldn’t have been able to come up with a distraction, let alone escape.” The pilot, Batou, nodded as he briefly checked the area.
“The Major has a back-up body inside the helicopter.” He then turned to the Tachikoma that fired the smoke grenades earlier. “What’s concerning me more is how she was able to know that me and Saito were here despite being far away.” If she was able to sense them inside the helicopter from a distance, spying could be useless on her. Surely, things would’ve worked in our favor if Majors Sakamoto, Zonvolt, and… yes, Ice Jerk, joined us and that missile hadn’t launched. The Homunculi have gotten very smart allies, no mistake about that.
“Does she have some sort of sensory magic or something?” We turned around to see the Chief Major, emerging from the helicopter with a new body similar to the previous one albeit different clothes. approached us.
“How can you shrug off a sacrifice so casually?” I asked the purple-haired cyborg out of the blue, changing the subject.
“Such a nice question to ask after you could’ve been killed, Major Elric.” She lightly chuckled, with her face retaining that steel look of seriousness on her. The Tachikoma from earlier walked to us, ejecting a man with brown hair in a bodysuit from the machine.
“Never thought I’d get on one of those machines…” The man, Togusa, wiped everything off his clothes. He seemed more lively when he got out of the thing.
Little did we all know, a certain figure emerged from the dome, standing on a pillar I transmuted, created several shrapnels of ice and aimed them at me. As they reached their way for me, the Chief Major looked at the ice shards going for me.
“Major Elric, duck the ice behind you!” Before I could understand what was going on, a woman with a blue qui-pao and brown leggings with white boots leapt in and unleashed a large energy ball with her palms, generating wind that destroyed the shrapnels ice. A few seconds later, rocks were thrown at the figure, the first of which injured her a small degree. Seeing the direction of the other rocks, the figure jumped to the top of the dome, revealing that it was Esdeath, having survived the explosion the Chief Major used to take her down. I turned around to see the woman taking on a stance.
“Good to see you arrive on time, Chun-Li.” A smile was on Guile’s face as he recognized the woman in front of me. Seconds later, a blue-eyed, blonde-haired woman wearing a green leotard and an armored flak-jacket, and a grey-haired woman wearing black military armor with undertones of brown and yellow on them, the former of whom he also recognized more than the latter. Cammy and Chief Beifong are here as well…
“That ice could’ve killed you, Ed.” The cop warned me. While I was relieved that she saved me, I could’ve been a goner if I didn’t react sooner.
Beifong approached Armstrong to inform him. “Your sister sent us here to help you all.”
Esdeath jumped down from the dome, with her smile gone. This won’t be good. With more people on our side, we can at least hold this sadist off and turn the tide before she’s able to call in any of her allies.
Rendezvous with the President
A woman in an office suit, not to mention glasses on her eyes, looked to the sky in the front door of a temple in the House of Faith, impatience written on her face. Hurry it up. I need to get to the appointment. If I didn’t have any alchemy or martial arts training, I’d be impatient too; She leaned on a wall to the opposite side, she placed both hands on her glasses to prevent them from falling. What is that President planning? A big team? With many groups doing their own business, I don’t see it being a big success. Now that she mentions it, I’m still wondering what this guy is like, barring the weary speeches about God and stuff I don’t want to hear. Exhausted, she had witnessed an airplane and a mecha fly by, catching her attention. That’s them, alright. Looking down to her uniform, she stood up wiping any potential dirt off clothes as the two air carriers landed, the mecha landing first and the airplane landing a few seconds later. As the woman sprayed perfume on her body to maintain hygiene she adjusted her clothes, as if to look more professional. The two pilots, Charlie and that Selena lady, got out of their respective machines and walked to what seems to be her temple.
“Ms. Lemon.” Nash cool-headedly greeted the lady with the rather weird surname. “Ms. Recital and I are here to see the President.”
“Of course. Captain Nash, Ms. Recital. Right this way.” Ms. Lemon led the two inside the temple, which was a big hallway, with a high ceiling, filled with religious-looking pictures which I would rather question if I myself were there. They first turned right, then turned left after several yards, then turned another right after six yards, leading to a door with a bell. She pressed the bell and waited. The door opened a few seconds later, revealing a middle-aged man with brown hair. This is the President Charlie was talking about? He looks too plain for someone to be leading his country. Then again, the same could be said of our new Führer in Amestris… Whatever his name is, Charlie saluted to him as a sign of respect. Ms. Lemon followed suit, with the purple-haired lady doing the same afterwards.
“Good work bringing them to the Oval Office, Ms. Lemon.” He told his staff member before his eyes switched to the two pilots. “Have a seat, you two.” He welcomed them to take a seat to relax while Ms. Lemon brought two cups of coffee that were on the man’s desk to them. “Care to tell us what you’ve gathered so far during your brief infiltration shortly after the Rocket attacks, Captain Nash?”
“Of course, Mr. President. When I spied on their leader’s temple from above with a helicopter, what I saw was this strange…” He stopped for a moment, trying to find a suitable description for it. “…Ghastly spirit or whatever speaking alongside the Ouroboros’ leader. This… Thing, emitted a reddish orange glow. The other members were seen with them. I escaped before they could spot me.” His story had managed to get the others pondering at what this might imply, the President more so than the others.
“It’s possible that they’re discussing a further aspect to their plans than anything we’ve considered at this point.” He closed his eyes as he took a deep breath before continuing on again. “I have a feeling it may be something that could put many in the Pantheon in danger, all in their quest for supposed immortality.”
Selena, on the other hand, had a face that spelled impending terror to what may come next. “What could that possibly mean?”
“Soul-stealing, Ms. Recital.” Charlie answered in a stern tone. “It is almost similar to a Soulnado performed by the wizards in Outworld. ”
Curious about something, Ms. Lemon raised her hand, as if to catch their eyes on her. “Is there a difference between that and what those Ouro-freaks are doing?”
“There is. And fortunately, they need time to put everything in place before it can succeed, at least according to how they tried to do it in their world.”
After drinking her tea, the purple-haired pilot placed her finger on her lips, finding the whole affair that happened in our whole world disturbing. “What should we do? Prevent the sacrifices from being used again?” That… would actually be a smart idea.
“They’ll refuse to back down even if their souls are used as leverage for the process to happen.” That’s also true. “I suggest we get more intelligence on the Ouroboros threat.”
Smiling, the President also came up with another suggestion. “That’s fine, Captain, but I suggest we look for more allies.” Between them and Alphonse, this will save us Majors the trouble of having to look for comrades ourselves after the fight against Esdeath. I wonder who these people have in mind, though? “The two of you may overpower them by bombing their temples with explosives, but the GUAE’s more powerful members will overwhelm you.”
“Indeed.” Ms. Lemon lightly interjected.
“Ever since the machine criminals attacked the Pantheon in that outbreak a few months earlier, I’ve had this itching feeling to form a team to combat these types of threats besides Shadaloo…” He turned his eyes to Selena, as if to add something else. “And the Ze Balmary Empire.”
“That settles that. Where should we go first?” Selena asked, curious about the whole affair. “We can’t just go right into the enemy territory.”
Charlie stood up and smiled. “I know someone who can help us.” He turned to the President. “…And it’s not Guile. This is someone you haven’t met yet. Follow me, Ms. Recital.” As Selena got up from her chair, Charlie saluted the President. “It has been an honor serving you again, President Bartlet. We will contact you when we find our ally.” The two pilots rushed out of the temple-office to get in their mobile machines to make a trip to… Somewhere. For a politician whose house is in the religious area of the Pantheon, this guy’s not too bad of a leader so far.
The Escalation of Stakes
Things were slightly better on our side against Esdeath, particularly when the ladies led the way in a coordinated attack. Chun-Li and the Chief Major would engage the sadistic General up close, with Beifong bending the earth to shoot rocks at her, then I followed up with stone hands to chase her down. Despite our efforts, it still wasn’t enough to turn the tide fully against Esdeath. It seemed she was more alert now than she’d been the entire fight, as she was reacting so quickly to everything we had coming at her that Saito couldn’t get a good enough read to snipe her down.
This isn’t good. Cammy witnessed what was going on. She’s still giving us trouble despite us being here. She watched as Chun-Li moved in to join the Chief Major to keep our enemy occupied. The Cryo-sadist moved in, rapier in hand to cut the Chief Major’s arm, only for the Interpol Cop to jump in and unleash another energy ball, weaker than the previous one, prompting Esdeath, not wanting to get caught in the attack, to stop in her tracks and moved to the right side. Seeing this as a chance, the Chief Major reached her hands for a holster on her right hip, swiftly turned left, and shot a slightly exhausted Esdeath in her left thigh, crippling her ability to stand up.
If I wasn’t playing around, I would’ve killed them all before any backup arrived. If that man with the ice katana came here, I could’ve been in trouble. A sinister grin crept upon her face as she dodged the Chief Major’s bullets and jumped away from us to create a small wall of ice from the ground to protect herself from us in order to recover. As the stone hands I transmuted destroyed the ice, the cryo-sadist leapt to a light post and created another wall of ice to create another wall of ice to defend herself. Armstrong, who broke away from us earlier, ambushed Esdeath, by launching spikes, but she managed to dash away from that as well.
Frustrated by Esdeath’s attempts to evade us, Batou rushed for his bag to get a sniper rifle to help Saitou. As the Chief Major turned around to see him with the rifle, she formulated a plan. “Chun-Li! Beifong! Come with me and fight Esdeath!” With Chief Beifong and Chun-Li, the three of them ganged up on the cryo-sadist, attempting to keep her at bay with Armstrong joining seconds later.
“Cornering me, now?” Shifting her eyes to her four opponents, Esdeath remained nonchalant. “Brave, but unwise.” Wasting no time, Kusanagi and Chun-Li rushed in to attack her in close combat, only for her to quickly create a few icicles on both sides to impale the two. While Chun-li stepped out of the way unharmed, a few of them hit the Chief Major in her attempt to evade them. Armstrong and Beifong fired spikes and rocks at our enemy, who jumped out of the way. Using this as a chance, two of the Chief Major’s men fired their sniper rifles, with only Saito’s bullet hitting her right heel, further crippling her ability to stand. I’ll have to admit. They’ve given me more trouble than the renegades in my world. Still… They can enjoy their small dominance while they can, because it’s almost up. If she has a trump card up her sleeve, then we’re all screwed unless Ice Jerk decides to arrive and help us; With her grin becoming wider, she creates another ice cage, this time larger than the one before, in addition to being circular, to protect herself.
“Again with this crap…!” Guile gritted his teeth in frustration. Togusa looked around the area until he spotted five missiles, smaller than the ones we saw before, coming behind us.
“More missiles…?”
Cammy turned to the brunette, shocked to hear what he had said? “What? Where?!” He pointed her to where the missiles were. We all turned around and saw the missiles that were coming increasingly closer to us.
“Everyone! Get next to me while I transmute us a dome!” People who weren’t fighting Esdeath got next to me as I quickly clapped my hands and slammed the ground to create a small dome for us to hide in, just in time for two of the missiles to hit the dome instead with the other three hitting Togusa’s Tachikoma.
“Whew that was close…” Batou said relieved. “These guys are ruthless, planning another ambush like that.”
“But those four are screwed since they were distracted fighting Esdeath!” Togusa pointed out. Before we could think of another plan, two white-skinned figures barged into the dome.
“Targets identified. Preparing to eliminate King Bradley’s enemies.” …I want to take that nap once this is over.
Millenium Raid
Apparently, a couple of gunslingers decided to help out Majors Sakamoto and Zonvolt disable the missile by storming a temple in the House of Otherness, Seeing the two being hampered by them. Among them was a man with blond hair wearing glasses, a red coat, black leather pants, and black shoes. He’s actually someone I’ve crossed paths with a few times, and oh, does he piss me off. The goofball aside, two others include a blonde-haired, yellow-eyed woman with a straw hat, and a woman with a white skirt and white vest with a black shirt underneath that one. With those three are another blonde-haired woman, one of them is said to be a massive pervert in the pantheon, wearing a red dress. I see they’ve also brought along that vampire Alucard, whom I’m not on good terms with, and his less aloof subordinate.
The blond man with the red coat went ahead of the others. “Alright, everyone. What we have isn’t much, but let’s do our best to take these guys down and help those pilots destroy that missile before it hits the House of Craft.”
The straw-hat woman had a sad look on her face. “Starrk is not answering, and Mami’s having her own plans elsewhere.” There’s more of them? Wonder why those two didn’t show up to help them.
The blonde woman in red interjected in a cocky tone. “Please. We can do it without them, Rushuna. I alone can take them down!” Alucard’s subordinate, frustrated at the loud volume this woman was emitting, walked up to her and covered her mouth with her arms.
“Shut the hell up, Panty! Do you want the Millennium to spot us and kill our asses?!” Everyone else but Alucard had a sigh of exasperation.
“The distraction could work.” Alucard interrupted the goofy moment before turning to his subordinate. “With that nun and her sister getting deities to safety in their own worlds, we don’t have to worry about getting others in danger.” I find it hard to believe they have a nun amongst their group as well. I dread it to be a corrupt one. Al and I fought that Father Cornello guy back at Reole, and if it’s some servant, I don’t want to hear another speech about God, or some other crap; The one with the white clothes prepared her weapons and stood beside the blonde buffoon. “As long we don’t find ourselves surrounded by too many of those artificial vampires, we’ll be fine, Vash.”
“That’s the spirit, Teana.” The blonde goofball, Vash the Stampede, smiled warmly to the comfort in that statement. “Our friends believe in us and we can’t let them down. Let’s help those pilots disable that missile!” All of the gunslingers walked to the door, with Alucard’s subordinate placing a C4 on the door, with everyone walking to the side before she detonates to blow it down. That Panty girl changed her weapon into a gatling, killing troops left and right. Just as they went inside, several of the troops jumped from the rooftops and landed behind them. Alucard, being behind the group, sensed this, turning around to face the assassins, who fired at him. He turned his head to the rest of the group.
“Go with them, Seras. I will catch up to you later.” The vampires fired at Alucard, only for him to be unharmed.
“Yes, Master!” Alucard’s subordinate, Seras, joined Vash and the others to stop those folks while her master swiftly retaliated. Several of them emerged from closets in an ambush to fire machine gun bullets at Vash and Rushuna, who evaded them and fired back, eliminating them. Another group of troops emerged from behind them and fired with pistol bullets to catch them off guard, only for Panty to step in behind them and fired her gun to shoot them, which unlike Vash and Rushuna, kills them. I wonder how those two were able to hit people with guns non-lethally. Not like I condone killing, I was expecting them to be more ruthless than this, given High Command is putting lives in danger, namely our lives against Esdeath. I hope those soldiers don’t get back up from that… Which is what I would say if that Seras girl hadn’t stepped in and killed the ones knocked out by Vash and Rushuna in a gruesome way I wouldn’t want to watch. They’ve all regrouped and proceeded to go to the next floor, where the room had more area to cover. It looked more like something people would have for a big banquet.
They slowly walked and looked around the area for enemies. Nothing strange happened so far, as no noise was made at the moment. This doesn’t stop them from dropping guard, however; Vash allowed Seras and Teana to be in front of them. As they slowly moved further, troops suddenly started emerging from the ceiling, ambushing them yet again, followed by more troops coming from the stairs, with one of the men, wearing a brown coat and hat with white hair hidden, leading the group. Panty took notice of this and ogled at the sight of the shady figure. Is he a good-looking person? I just wanna jump him and rock his world once this is over! Even Vash, who goofs off as well, was exasperated at the perverted look Panty had on her. Better yet, I can’t believe they invited a girl like her in their group. Teana and Seras gritted their teeth, the former for not being careful enough. “This is bad.” Teana said. So much for not being surrounded… She expanded the barrels of her gun to form energy blades.
The figure stepped in front of the vampires. “I suggest you five turn back before we overwhelm you.”
“Not a chance!” Seras roared. “I’ve killed you and that lady in the past! I can and I will do it again!”
“It’s a shame we have to come to this… Get them.” At the figure’s command, the vampires began their assault on the group. As they got close, some of the vampires were shot from the back, ranging from the back of the head to the back itself.
“Forgotten about me already, I see.” The vampires turned around to see a certain figure in red, having smoke emitting from his gun. A batch of light was on Seras’ face at the sight of him being intact.
Master’s alright. Time to take these assholes out! As her boss continued to fire vampires, she turned to the lesser vampires and rushed towards them, tearing apart a few of them at a time. Some of them started taking pistols out of their pockets and started firing at Rushuna and Vash, the former taking cover behind a garbage can while Vash disarmed six of them with his revolver. Realizing they’re longer firing at her, the blonde lady with the straw hat fired back at the other vampires who were focusing on Vash.
Hacking away at the vampires with the energy blades on her gun barrels, Teana turned her sights to the figure in brown. Good. Time to hit him while he’s vulnerable. She leapt up in the air to take aim, and fired at him. Just before it hits him, a man in white clothes flew to the hall and took the shot for the figure. Disturbance was on her face when she recognized him, in disbelief that this man took her shot. “No way… Coyote Starrk!?”
Hearing Teana’s words, Vash turned around and shot the vampires behind him before he and Rushuna turned to see the guy who took Teana’s attack intended for that shady man, with a combination of shock and horror filling his voice. “Is that really you, Starrk?” The man said nothing, still slightly reeling from the pain of the bullet put on his left shoulder. “How could you team up with these people after everything you’ve been through with us!?” This guy was one of their own? I’ve gotten a few files about this person from HQ, and he always looked so emotionless.
The man in brown ordered the vampires to stop attacking as Rushuna stepped in front of Vash to give the Arrancer a piece of her mind. “After everything you’ve done for Mami and Noel, you decided to align yourself with these people?” Hard to believe this was a friend of theirs. Come to think of it, I’ve heard information about there being a traitor leaving High Command’s ranks. If so, why did they do it? This might be deeper than we thought; I feel sorry for those two ladies who will have to hear the bombshell of this traitor from those two later after this is done.
“So I can accept the company of strong people.” He turned to his former squadmates, consumed by sorrow beneath the emotionless look on his face. “I’m sorry it has to come to this…” He then turned to the mysterious figure. “I will resume my chase for the pilots.” Without wasting any more time, they watched as he flew up to pursue Majors Sakamoto and Zonvolt, building up energy from his chest. The man in brown ordered the vampires to resume their attack on the group, with Alucard, who was more angry than heartbroken, shooting down a small group of them.
“What are you guys doing?” He told the others with a rage that could barely be contained. “This isn’t time to sob over a traitor!” Seras, his subordinate and the first to recover from the stupor, rips apart several more of these artificial vampires. While it did make the others return to their senses, they were still in despair to a degree. The vampire in red turned his eyes to the man in brown. Meanwhile, that Arrancar pointed his gun at Dyenguard.
“Cero… Metralleta.” Crap, they’re screwed now. Multiple blue energy beams were fired at Sanger’s Mech.
Major Sakamoto looked behind herself to notice the blast about to hit Sanger. “Major Zonvolt, watch out!”
Major Zonvolt checked the rear view of his mecha, noticing the blast heading toward him. “These High Command scum just won’t give up.” Turning around to face the blast, he used the sword of his mecha to deflect the blasts, but it was too much even for him. Before he could redirect it to Sakamoto, he was knocked into the temple by a different energy blast coming at him from the side, breaking the windows in the process. The man in brown turned to the Arrancar, surprised at what happened. In a small tower, Starrk, recovering from the sudden attack, saw two armored people landing in front of him.
“Should’ve known you were suspicious…” A certain red-and-yellow-armored man placed his arm over Starrk’s head. “Back away from those two and surrender now if you want to make this easy!” To their relief, he raised his hands, giving up. At least he’s listening. Sighing, he turned to his friend in the bluish gray suit of armor. “Rhodey, help everyone else fight the Millennium!”
“You sure you’re okay here alone with this guy, Tony?” James Rhodes asked him, uncertain of his friend’s plan. “He could—”
“Even if he beats me, it buys some time for the team going after the missile, but the others still need help with those freaks. Get to them NOW!” Without saying anything further, Rhodes flew to the room where the others were and fired energy blasts at the vampires that were overwhelming Vash and Rushuna into a wall, relieving them of the pressure they laid on them. Teana, on the other hand, had less trouble with them, tearing them apart with the energy blades from her gun barrels. This leaves Alucard and Seras to deal with the man in brown, whose face was filled with worry, presumably due to fighting two dangerous vampires at the same time, aware that he won’t win the fight, but decided to fight anyway.
…
Majors Sakamoto and Zonvolt continued to chase the large missile that was getting closer to the House of Craft, unhindered by Starrk’s efforts. “We won’t be able to make it in time!”
“Let’s pick up the pace.” Zonvolt replied as he had his super robot travel faster. Unknownst to them, an energy blast went above him and went for the missile. There’s no way High Command would have incompetents missing shots. Making sure they weren’t being tailed by High Command, he stopped and turned around, seeing a dark blue mecha with a rifle in hand, charging another shot before firing it. Sakamoto turned her head to see the mecha and smiled, recognizing it,
It’s Lieutenant Colonel Smirnov. It’ll be unnecessary for Sanger to throw his sword. Before she moved on with hope, she noticed a few raindrops on her body. The weather is supposed to be nice tonight… She lightly shook her head as she caught up to Smirnov, who fired a third charged shot at the missile, causing it to explode.
“The Missile has been destroyed.” Smirnov confirmed. As he turned back, he noticed the suddenly slightly cloudy weather. “The skies were supposed to be clear tonight…” He looked around the area before witnessing Sakamoto and Zonvolt go back to the temple. Guess I should follow them. He tailed the two back to the temple, where he saw not only Rhodes and the four gunslingers driving off the vampire horde with, but a black lady with white hair and black clothes, a woman who also went with Mr. Stark to that Ultra Wormhole. Is that… Ororo Munroe? At least that explains the weather. While Sakamoto joined the others, Smirnov watched as Tony kept an eye on Coyote Starrk, who did not do anything to fight back. Sanger, meanwhile, noted that the man in brown was nowhere to be seen.
Once he had heard there were no more vampires, Tony brought his hand back to his side, feeling relieved that the Arrancar didn’t retaliate and flew to Rhodes, Munroe and the others. What he saw in particular was Rushuna, torn over the betrayal of a teammate, almost on the verge of tearing up.
“Starrk…” Witnessing this, Vash walked up to her to pat her on the back for comfort.
Poor lady… You’ve done enough. He then turned to Rhodes to give instructions. “Rhodey… Smirnov… Anyone… Take this lady back to her temple.”
“…I’ll come with her.” Vash added. They turned to Smirnov, who approached everyone from afar and opened up the cockpit.
“I’ll regroup with you and Rhodes once I’m done taking them back to their temples, Stark.” Smirnov informed the two armored fighters as the two gunslingers got inside with him, followed by Teana and Panty getting in the right shoulder of the mecha. Once all four of the gunslingers were on the mecha with Smirnov, the lieutenant colonel flew off. Rhodes turned to see Alucard, whose rage was contained. The vampire made contact at the War Machine, looking at him with a glimpse of sorrow in his eyes.
“We’ll make the bastard suffer for betraying them…” He quietly goes to the stairs one without another word, and Seras gave one last frown before following her master to deal with the rest of the army.
“Didn’t expect to see you here, Storm.” Tony blinked his eyes at the woman, surprised. “Thought you were on a mission with the X-Men.”
The black woman laughed. “Mission? I came here at the request of Cammy White.”
“The British woman. Where is she now?”
“She’s joining a few others in the Major’s fight against Esdeath.”
“What!?” Terror filled Major Sakamoto’s face, realizing what was about to happen. “We have to help them immediately. Everyone! Follow me!” Straight to the point, she flew off with the others following suit. Thankfully, we won’t be screwed again.
Mannequin Chaos
Aw, crap… it’s those white-skinned humanoid lesser homunculi Colonel Mustang burned down back at Central, Now they’re terrorizing almost every sector of the Pantheon! Damn it all! A bunch of them had gathered around the House of Celebration, where several deities have been fighting them off. Among the number of the combatants were two Arabs, one male and one female. The male drove away several of them with a tornado, with the female using fire to mix into the tornado, burning the creatures as the fire tornado caught the others close to it, destroying them. Preventing these one-eyed mutants from scattering into the temples is going to be a problem if I make the tornadoes too big. The man backed up, which allowed an orange, wavy-haired young man to come in and cut their heads off with his sword. Grenades were thrown in the vicinity of man, who sensed this and got out of dodge before it exploded, knocking them away. The perpetrators, two cops ―one male and another female― arrived and shot down several of them, only for the ones attacked to get back up and assault them again.
“What kind of zombies are these things?” The female asked as the two of them recoiled in horror, but then it allowed a man dressed in a ninja costume to swoop and decapitate the rest of them at an incredible speed.
“Oh, Cool! Ryu Hayabusa’s here!” The orange-haired man followed up by cutting off the heads of the one the ninja didn’t, which saved everyone else the trouble of doing it themselves and gave the Arab female time and safety to cast fireballs that burned a very small group of them to her left side. Just as they were about to destroy the rest of the puppets, a scream was heard from behind them.
“This isn’t good.” As the ninja jumped around, the arab turned to the woman, extending his hand. “Zia!” The woman, Zia, took his hand and the two of them, alongside the others, rushed to the opposite side of the house to see what was going on. Once they did, they saw more of those mutants surrounding a few of the residents there. The only ones who killed them was a man with a chainsaw wearing a denim coat with a shirt underneath and a pair of pants, along with a man in leather shooting blowing off their mouths with a shot-gun up close. Hayabusa swoops in and decapitates more of the experiments, with the orange-haired young man doing the same near the group. The Arab man propelled himself with a tornado to surround himself with them and created another one to catch them.. Getting at a safe range, Zia casts a fireball at the tornado, causing the tornado to burn the ones caught in it. Swarms of the lesser homunculi arrived from behind them up and surrounded the group in a matter of minutes.
“Time to whip this out…!” He reaches his hands for his backpack to get… A guitar?
“…You brought a guitar to a fight against monsters?” A sneer of dubiousness was on Zia’s face as she watched the boy raise it up.
“Not until you try, miss!” He raised it up and started playing it, and for an ordinary guitar, it managed to knock many of those lesser homunculi away from them. Not bad. The female cop placed a grenade underneath the group, blowing them away from the group, while the male looked around, looking up seconds later to see an airplane and a mecha coming their way.
“Amy? Guys? There’s something coming our way.” Zia and the others looked to the male cop’s direction and gasped.
“Everyone! Take cover!” Hayabusa took an hourglass out of his pocket and flipped it over, causing those freaks to freeze in time, allowing himself and the rest of the deities to quickly take shelter in temples before the airplane flew by dropping bombs. The lesser homunculi caught in the airstrike were instantly destroyed.
Inside the mecha was a certain purple-haired woman, who sighed in relief seeing that no defenders were caught in the blast. “The deities defending the House of Celebrations have hid to safety, Mr. Nash.”
“Take care of the rest, Ms. Recital.” The pilot of the airplane, Charlie, told her.
“Right.” Selena turned to her small robot companion. “Let’s do some clean-up…” She takes out a purple energy whip, slicing the creatures to bits. Charlie, meanwhile, flew to the other side and deployed glide bombs to destroy the cyclops soldiers with precision. Making sure there were no more of those things, he flew next to Selena, who made quick work of the puppets and descended to the ground.
“Cover me while I find our friend.” He got out of the airplane and rushed into the area ahead of her, looking for someone.
That was close… The male Arab stood up, turning to the window to still see everything in smoke. With him was the female Arab and those two cops, the former getting up a moment later, followed by the two cops. As they reached the exit, part of the smoke subsided. “Everyone, get behind me.” Everyone stepped back as he got rid of the rest of the smoke with a small whirlwind, allowing them to see more clearly. As they got out, they checked the area to make sure the monsters were no longer around.
“Man, they sure liberated the house of those things…” The female cop said they continue to inspect the area. With none of the lesser homunculi making noises, it was clear for them to advance. The male Arab looked around the area, spotting Charlie in the distance, as he recognized him.
Wait a second, is that…? Without warning, he ran off. Zia turned around to see him running off to the Air Force Captain.
“Rashido! Where are you going?” She chased her friend to make sure he wasn’t meeting an enemy. As Charlie looked around the area, he turned to see Rashido running toward him.
“Rashid of the Turbulent Wind. It’s been some time since our last encounter.” Seems they’ve met in the past at one point.
Running up to the military officer, the ‘Turbulent Wind’ was surprised to see him, touching his skin. “Is this how you were before you became that Frankenstein soldier?”
Charlie’s face was a little awkward at Rashid’s description before he replied. “Y-yes… I’ll explain it to you while we’re aboard the plane. Now, let’s move.”
“Wait!” The two men turned around to see Zia running toward them. Rashid walked toward Zia and chuckled, placing his hands on her shoulders.
“He isn’t an enemy, Zia. Relax.” The woman looked at the Air Force Captain and gave her a look to assert the male Arab’s claim. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
“We’ve come to look for this man to combat a group of monsters.”
“Perhaps I should come with you as well.” Zia’s offer to voluntarily help them had made Rashid unhappy.
“Zia…” He paused for a moment. “I know you want to help me, but I want you to stay at Osiris’ temple.”
Sensing something, Charlie interrupted. “That deity is in the same house as one of the monsters we’re fighting.”
“In that case, let’s take her to her God’s temple, Ra.” Charlie nodded to the idea.
“Wait a minute. Don’t I get a say in this?” Zia protested, not wanting to abandon her friend to a war with monsters seemingly on his own. “I’ve hosted and battled ancient gods of Egypt before! I was trained for that very thing! If you’re going out there to fight, why should I sit on the sidelines?”
“Because this is bigger than the threat of a single god.” The pink-haired mecha pilot stepped forward, finally expressing herself in this conversation. “An entire army is trying to commit horrifying deeds on a large scale that could affect the Pantheon as a whole. You saw what just happened with those monstruos blancos, niña. That’s a harbinger. You and your dios need to protect each other and help defend the Houses when things start to go south.”
Looking to both Rashid and Charlie, she noted the seriousness on both their faces backing up Selena’s words. Finally, she nodded, walking with the two men to Charlie’s airplane as they got inside and departed the area, with Selena following close by in her mecha.
As he piloted the plane, he took his phone out from his vest and beat dialed a number. “Mr. President, we have our ally on board. The first order of business is to transport a charge of his to a safe location.”
“Transport a charge… so he’s been looking after someone?” Bartlet asked back over the phone.
“Affirmative.” Charlie replied.
“If I’d hazard a guess, you have a place in mind to take this charge?”
“Yes. Someone else they both trust, who may also be able to point us to another lead. I’m afraid I’ll have to make a detour. I’ll call you back when we reach the temple.” Hanging up the phone, Charlie focused on the controls of his plane.
Oncoming Appointment
Al and Teach were in the House of Personality, specifically the area where Armstrong’s sister, and, yes, Ice Jerk, reside in. Teach stopped by the former’s with stern-faced guards wearing State Military uniforms and fur coats protecting the door, quietly backing away as she understood the situation, while Al visited the latter, knocking on his door, only to get no response. He’s away… Our teacher caught up to him, wondering why he’s visited what looks like a stranger’s temple, angry. Ah, man… “Trespassing in someone else’s temple, dear student?!”
Scared by her rage, Al immediately backed away, “N-no…! He’s one of Brother’s teammates! I just stopped by his door because I’m curious about his temple!” Considering how aloof the guy is, I’d wonder what would be inside as well; Teach calmed down, not letting her rage get the best of her.
“I’d punish you right now, but Asami’s temple is a few yards away, yes?”
“That’s right.” Al replied, regaining his composure as he led her to the temple of a certain young woman. She’d invited us there for a celebration once a while back, shortly after some warrior prince helped Greed and Beifong turn back the attack on Republic City by Raditz. After a few moments, the two of them made it to her temple, ringing the doorbell. Just as they backed away from the door, our friend walked up to it.
“Just give me a minute!” The young lady responded, allowing them to wait.
You two have made some good friends here… Smiling, Teach turned to the sky, being at peace for a moment as she closed her eyes. Thank you, Hohenheim… For improving my organs. Hohenheim improved Teach’s health? No wonder she doesn’t cough up blood as often as she did in the past. Just as she looked down, Asami opened the door.
“Hey, Alphonse. What brings you here?” She shifted her attention to our teacher. “And you’re…?”
“Just a passing housewife.” Teach’s reply made Asami light up in surprise.
“So you’re the teacher Ed and Al told us about… I’m Asami Sato. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She turned to the left, heading towards a different direction. “I’m sorry we can’t talk right now, but I have to go see Touta.” Of course… The boy who shared a temple with Korra before the latter moved to her own and gave Asami a reason to throw that party. He was the grandson of Negi Springfield, a man surrounded by many girls and
“Actually, it’s about King Bradley and his new team.” Al’s remark caused the engineer to pause, turning toward the two, eyes narrowed. “I know you want to help Korra, but we can’t look for her when those people are terrorizing innocents in the Pantheon.”
Asami lowered her head in consideration. She wanted to look for Korra, who was missing after the Rocket attacks. She and Touta spent the whole past couple of days together searching through the Pantheon for clues. Everyone can tell how badly she wants to save her girlfriend, and how scared she’s been for Korra’s safety. Still, the thought of what a corrupt Führer like Bradley could have in store for the Avatar, especially with the overlords he serves, unnerved her even more. She faced the two with strain in her decision. “Alright… Come with me.” Al and Teach followed her to her automobile, directing the two of them to board the back seat. “Buckle up.” As they did just that, Asami ignited the engine and stepped on the gas, heading to the House of Narrative.
Shattered Ice
While I continued to transmute protection around us, Batou, Togusa, and Saitou fired machine gun bullets at the white-skinned humanoids. They evaded the gunfire, allowing Cammy to get close and throw a grenade at one of them, knocking it away. The other one kept shooting at the men, a few of her shots managing to hit three of the Chief Major’s Section Nine squadmates, then fired torpedoes at us, destroying the dome.
Seeing this, Chun-Li tried to break away from the fight with Esdeath to get Cammy but a third of those white-skinned monsters, packed with turrets on both shoulders, blocked her from doing so, firing at her. The chinese inspector moved to the right side, getting hit with a few bullets on the left. Even for her, a martial artist known for her quick speed and agility, they were too fast for her to avoid unharmed. While I didn’t get up, I clapped both hands and summoned more stone hands to catch them off-guard, only to damage their weapons. Both humanoid monsters fired a few bullets at Guile, Cammy, and myself, only if it to miss when a third Tachikoma tackled the two android monsters, giving us three time to recover and for me to create a small, but wide wall for us to reach to the other Section Nine Members. Togusa’s Tachikoma, still heavily damaged, fired at Esdeath, who overwhelmed Beifong, the Chief Major and Armstrong with little trouble, having sliced off our leader’s arm in the process. The cryomancer of a sadist dodged the bullets, creating more icicles to finish off the damaged Tachikoma.
My aura has intimidated others in my world, yet these people are not heavily damaged.. On top of that… They’ve still giving me a minor amount of trouble despite sending these Abyssals in to deal with them. Moving far away from the Tachikomas before creating an ice wall, Esdeath gives the three androids directions. “Everyone! Keep your sights on the weaklings! I’m going to prepare my trump card!” While Esdeath prepared a technique that could kill us, the three Abyssals as she calls them, turned their sights on us, two of them firing torpedoes at us, seven to be exact. The third Tachikoma took the missiles intended for the men of Section Nine, another two at the wall I transmuted, one at us and the other at the Section Nine members, and the last three at the Chief Major’s group, in which Beifong stomped on the ground several times to create a huge boulder, allowing Armstrong to transmute that into spike-projectiles to destroy two missiles. Chun-Li on the other hand, casted another ball of ki to protect herself from the missile, getting partially injured in the process. Before the Abyssals could fire more weapons at us, lightning suddenly electrocuted two of the Abyssals, with the third one lacking a torpedo, to be confused. By the time me, Guile and Cammy reached the three men of Section Nine, they’ve already loaded ammo. We looked at the monsters to see two of them being electrocuted.
“What the hell is going on?” Togusa asked, seeing electricity immobilizing two of our enemies. Knowing where the electricity came from, Beifong smiled as two blasts of lava were fired from another angle, one at the third android, who dodged it, and another at Esdeath’s ice wall, distracting the Cryo-sadist from using her trump card.
Lava? Her eyes narrowed, realizing what this meant. She created more icicles to throw at us in desperation, in which Armstrong and I quickly created huge walls to block it. Unknown to her, my eyes spotted something in the distance, as Beifong stomped the ground yet again and manipulated the earth behind her at a precise moment. Hearing the landing step, she turned around to intercept whatever new attack was coming with her rapier, only to find that sword suddenly broken by a set of claws from a certain figure flying at her, narrowly avoiding her chest. Quickly balancing himself with his hand to rotate and land on his feet, he continued going at the shocked General with another attack from his claws, tearing Esdeath’s clothes and giving her minor cuts. She stepped back, covering the blood cuts she received on her abdomen.
“Thought I’d come here unprepared?” The figure smirked, although the form couldn’t allow him. “Got my head cut off by someone before coming here.”
“Tch. Don’t get cocky because you ambushed me, treacherous homunculus.” Esdeath’s face became sharper, with a small dose of anger that our certain ally had got her. The fact that his Ultimate Shield broke her Rapier only made it worse. “Now have a taste of my power!” Taking a step back, the cryo-sadist used her energy to create a giant horn. Just as she was about to propel it at the demon, something had caught the sadist’s attention. Five people were flying towards the battlefield. Realizing that they destroyed the missile meant to destroy the House of Craft, she throws the horn at him, only knocking him back a little despite the lack of injuries. “Abyssals! Retreat!” Hearing this, the third Abyssal fired bullets to give time for its two brethren, damaged from the sudden electricity, to escape before it could. One of them fired a different energy blast to prevent our enemies from escaping. The abyssals countered with two torpedoes, causing the area to explode. Using the smoke as an advantage, Esdeath and Abyssals make their escape, she takes a phone out from her coat-pocket to speed dial. “Bradley, are you there?”
“Is there a problem?” He asked.
“The Majors have disabled the missile. Get Bi-Han to summon a portal for us immediately!” The sadist hastily hung up the phone as she continued to run away, limping from the gun-wounds on her legs. She turned to the Abyssals. “Airport! Carry me!” As Esdeath jumped in the air in a, this ‘Airport’ went to her side and caught her like a princess. As more missiles were fired at them, a black portal appeared before them. The other two Abyssals countered again with torpedoes they left with Esdeath, allowing the portal to close.
“Major Kusanagi! Are you okay?” Major Sakamoto searched the area to see her okay, but with a missing arm. Once that was over, we regrouped. “We’ve destroyed the missile before it could get to the House of Craft thanks to Lt. Colonel Smirnov!”
“Cammy!” The black woman, Storm, rushed to see her. “Good to see you’re okay…” She gives the British woman a hug to comfort her.
“Managed to get that bitch to bleed.” The demon said as he reverted to a familiar form. “Not that I’m big on fighting women, but it looks like the possessions have turned the tide.”
Beifong became slightly agitated by this. I want to have him imprisoned right now… The hardened Chief of Republic City smiled at the rogue homunculus. “That’s not bad, Greed.”
“Hey, Greed!” I walked up to the Homunculus, curious about his arrival here. “I thought you were attending guests at your bar.”
“Circumstances have changed.” He told me. “A buddy of yours told me that the homunculi were shaking things up again.”
Before I asked the details, Beifong explained everything to me. “He told me that the man has blonde hair like yours, styled in a bob-cut, and wore a blue uniform with strange scarves that ran down his shoulders with black spandex on his arms and legs, white gloves, and blue boots, as well as a sword in possession.”
“So you’ve met Major Kisaragi.” Guile joined in on the conversation, summing up Beifong’s description.
“That’s his name?” Greed asked to which the blonde circle-top soldier nodded to confirm.
Meanwhile, Tony, with Rhodes next to him, stopped our conversation for a moment to bring up something else. “The colonels are on the move.” Good news to know.
“Mr. Stark and Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes!” Armstrong exclaimed with a mighty salute. “It’s an honor to have your assistance.”
Rhodes pleasantly returned said salute to the boisterous soldier. “Likewise, Major Armstrong. Now excuse me a second.” He then turned to the side. “Boys! You can come out now!”
Her eyes widened in surprise for a moment, Beifong quickly regained her bearings and followed suit. “It’s fine! Come on out!”
A moment later, two young men appeared and started to approach us. The two sported similar short dark haircuts and faces, one more lean and the other of a wider shape, both wearing grayish blue uniforms with a darker gold-trimmed patch around the shoulders and the same badge insignia on the chest of Beifong’s uniform.
“I assume you saw what happened from your vantage point up above?” The Chief of Police turned to the iron suits.
“Yup.” Iron Man nodded. “That was pretty clever, launching these guys from a higher platform off in the distance so they could come in quickly to attack undetected. I noticed Greed got plenty of height too.”
“Best way to make sure I came in last.” Greed pointed out.
That’s when it hit me. “So that’s what those extra stomps were about…!”
“Amestrian officers really are sharp detectives.” Beifong said while keeping a matter-of-fact tone, although I knew she was complimenting me.
The wider of her two officers, who I recognized now, smiled and put his arm around his thinner counterpart. “So, how’s it feel, Mako? We’re standing in the middle of a group of heroes in the Trope Pantheon!”
Mako, the thin one, tried to put on a front, but couldn’t hold it for long, sighing with a brief smile. “Can’t complain, to be honest.”
“You guys earned it.” Greed turned to the two with praise. “Carried out our plan perfectly.” After this, his face got more serious. “Although, I doubt the old man and Wrath are gonna take this lying down, so we’d better get ready for them to turn up the heat.”
“Agreed. Everyone, thank you all for coming to our aide on such short notice.” The Chief Major told everyone else, who clapped their hands. She then turned to us. “Majors, Section Nine, let’s head back to HQ. We need to rest up and plan our next move.”
“Yes Ma’am!” All of us Majors followed her to go back to HQ. After that tough battle against Esdeath, I’m going to need that rest the most. The rest turned to each other.
“We should head out as well. Chun-Li, you accompany the Chief and her men. Storm and I will be with the Iron Avengers.” Cammy directed, with Chun-Li nodding at this, then turned to Iron Man and War Machine. “I understand we’re expecting company soon?”
Iron Man nodded. “Sergei Smirnov helped out with intercepting the missile. He should be joining us pretty soon.”
“In that case, Chief, then why don’t you guys come with us?” I offered to Beifong.
“Sure thing, bud!” the broader officer exclaimed, answering in his own boss’s stead. Sure enough, she, Greed, Chun-Li, and Mako all glared at him for a moment. He noticed after a beat and shrugged. “What?”
“Bolin, just… nevermind.” Mako shook his head, giving up on disciplining his brother. Speaking of brothers, I’m very glad Alphonse decided to split up, because he, alongside Mustang, the other Colonels, the group Charlie and Bartlet have formed, and even Ice Jerk are getting more folks to our side. I’m sure Hohenheim is investigating to get information on that Bearded Bastard again.
Intersection
After roughly an hour, Asami, Al, and Teach arrived at the front of the House of Narrative, seeing a boy raise his hands. Stopping the Satomobile, the three of them got out of the car, walking up to him for a meeting.
“Hey!” The UQ Holder member ran up to meet them halfway, approaching my brother and shaking his armored hand. “Good to see you again, Al. It’s been a while since we met at Korra’s transfer party.”
“Of course. I really enjoyed the drawings you guys made of the homunculi on the pinãtas…” Al rolled his eyes for some reason. Before that Kamina guy barged in and punched them. Oh yeah… That red-caped buffoon who kept telling us about ‘kicking logic to the curb’ or some crap like that. Who the hell invited that idiot?
Touta lets go of Al’s hand before turning to our teacher. “And you’re-”
“His teacher. A simple housewife.” Teach quickly offered. “Nice to meet you, kid.” She let out her hand so Touta could shake it as he turned to Asami.
“You got these guys to help us find Korra, Asami?”
The engineer sighed. As much as she wanted to do that, she explained to her friend. “Afraid not. You see… I’ve brought these two here because King Bradley, the homunculi, and his team, the High Command, are up to something again.”
Understanding what she meant, the UQ Holder’s face remained determined despite this. “This might make it easier for us.”
Asami raised her eyebrow, puzzled. “What do you mean by that?”
“According to one source, Azula has captured Giovanni, Team Rocket’s leader, in their name. They might know something about Korra too.”
Looks like Mami Tomoe knows something about all this that we don’t. I hear you, Al. Still, that magical girl won’t like it when any of us involved in this fight tell her that the Arrancar has betrayed her little group of gunslingers, especially with that Rushuna woman crying. I hope Vash is taking care of her. He looked at Teach, who looked at the engineer with sorrow, and then to Touta, who turned to the two of them.
“Please, let me help you take down High Command. This way, Asami and I can look for Korra more easily.”
“Very well…” Teacher paused. “We’ll let you help us.” Balling her left hand into a fist, she puts it into the palm of her right hand. “I’ve been itching for a real challenge since the last time I fought them.”
“And I’ll help as well.”
“Thank you, Al.” Asami smiled. “Now, let’s get ready to get the others.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be happening, kiddies!” A female voice suddenly stopped them in their tracks.
“Who’s there?!” Izumi yelled. “Show yourself!”
“Look above you, maggots!” The four of them looked above, and sure enough, a female with strange twintails, wearing a midriff and with white sweatpants, descended from the high fences of the house. They moved away from the area as the woman slammed her foot on the ground. Recovering from the ground, she looked at the four of them, licking her mouth. “A couple of new tasty snacks to eat.” The female turned her eyes to Asami. “That lady with the tattoo wants your head, and I have someone with me that’ll make that happen!” Is this a hitwoman for one of the homunculi? Damn, we’re in trouble if those Ouroboros creeps can have lunatics like her work for them as assassins. Just before they could prepare to fight her, a loud sound was heard. Everyone turned around to see the Satomobile destroyed as a pale-skinned man wearing only pants with no shirt stood next to its remains, looking at them with a very intimidating stare before a twisted grin formed on his lips.
Sweat rolled down on Teach’s face. Just when we get to search for Hohenheim, we have to fight these two crooks. From both sides, the two psychopaths immediately rushed into the four of them, with Al and Asami handling the girl, Teach and Touta fighting the shirtless guy. The pale skinned unleashed a series of fast blows at Teach, who sidestepped, grabbed his hand, and threw him into a tree. The female assassin, meanwhile, laid several kicks on Al, who protected Asami, knocking the former to the side and went for the latter to assault her. While the engineer blocked the assassin’s swift kick, the psychotic lady went for a low sweep kick, knocking her off balance. She raised her right to slam to stomp on her, only for Asami to roll out of it safely and grab her legs. Surges of electricity reached the female assassin, allowing Al to recover in time to land a palm strike on her.
“Thanks, Al.” Asami said as he helped her up and turned to the pale-skinned guy, who let out a maniacal laugh before quickly rushing toward him now, unleashing a fierce punch. Al tried to block it, but the punch had so much force in it that it ended up destroying the left arm of his armored body. Seeing this, Teach rushed to his aid, but before she could do so, Touta, having infused his feet with chi, beat her to him, tackling him before he could land another below.
That kid’s faster than I thought, catching Bryan. The female assassin quickly went for Asami. Turning around to see this, Teach quickly transmuted the ground to create a stone fist at the hitwoman, knocking her away and giving the Chief of Future Industries a chance to rush to her side, angry.
“Can’t believe they sent Juri Han to kill me…” Asami muttered under her breath as Teach reconstructed Al’s armored left arm. Juri’s friend, this Bryan guy knocked Touta to the ground in front of them, with the vampire landing on it. Whatever it is, it seems they’ll have an easier time than we did when we fought Esdeath and those ‘Abyssals’ that ambushed us.
The Prince’s Barrage
While we were busy gathering folks for the homunculi, hordes of goons still remaining in Team Rocket were taken down, killed even. Dozens of machines and guns have been destroyed along the way as a man whose spiky hair stood upright walked towards some facility, looking around. From the looks of things, he was not pleased. Where did those punks take Trunks? He’s looking for that guy with the sword? You know, there have been reports of him having gone missing as well, nowhere to be seen. That must explain why Vegeta, the Saiyan husband of Winry’s friend Bulma, and also the one instrumental in our victory over Raditz at Republic City, apparently decided to storm a Rocket base on his own. He’s currently in the House of Commerce, having beaten up a group of Rocket grunts into submission. And it isn’t pretty. The prince grabbed one of the grunts by the shirt. “I’m looking for a young man named Trunks. He’s got brightly-colored hair, a matching Capsule Corp jacket, and a sword strapped to his back. Do any of you know someone like I just described!?”
Scared to face the prince’s wrath, the heavily injured grunt trembled. “N-no… We don’t.” He took nearly a minute to regain his breath. “Please… Don’t harm me.” The saiyan prince dropped the grunt to the ground and clenched his teeth in frustration and screamed, unleashing a huge wave of energy around the base, destroying it. Minutes after the smoke subsided, he ventilated, thinking about his son. Trunks told me he had something for me and Kakarot… And now these chumps have somehow gotten him? It’s absurd to think a Saiyan like him is a victim of this. He looked around the area. To his surprise, a pink forcefield was activated by a team of five grunts using a machine on the roof of a tower, protecting the grunts from getting hurt and the building from getting destroyed. The Saiyan Prince turned to them. So the punks prepared this for powerful warriors like myself. He flew up in front of the grunts, restraining himself from attacking. “Is there anyone I know among your organization’s prisoners?”
The grunt behind the other four, wearing a scientist suit, walked up to speak to the prince. “I am sorry, but Executive Archer has told us not to reveal anything on the missing deities.” Clenching his teeth in frustration at the scientist’s answer, Vegeta flies off, angrily mumbling what seems to be gibberish.
If they won’t tell me where Trunks is located knowing full well I can beat the hell out of them, then I’ll have to look for my answer in other worlds. There has to be something more to this! There is no way a true Super Saiyan like Trunks should be caught by an ambush from these imbeciles! As veins appeared on his head, he flew into the sky, heading for another unknown location. The GUAG is going to have a lot on their hands thanks to Team Rainbow Rocket attacking the Pantheon.
No Answer
Back at HQ, with Greed, Chun-Li, Chief Beifong, Mako, and Bolin, we have discussed the events of the battle with Esdeath. Except for Greed, that is. He took to sleeping on the nearest bed as soon as we arrived. All I could offer was a nonchalant sigh. And here I thought I was tired.
“I can’t wait to teach some trainees defense lessons after this is over…” Sakamoto sighed as she sat down on a chair. “It’ll be bad if Sergeant Hartmann beats me to it.” That man she described is harsher than even her. I feel sorry for the people who have to work under the bastard. Beifong looked out into the window in the night sky.
“It sure is beautiful out.”
Togusa, having gotten a cup of tea and a rice cake, takes a seat between her and Mako. “Looks like we won’t be around to see the festivities in the House of Food or in the House of Theater.” He yawned as Bolin ate a slice of bread while Guile had natto next to the Chief Major.
I wonder if Winry’s home. I thought. I turned to Chun-Li eating a dumpling soup as she sat to the right of Guile. Then my mind trailed off a little bit. Just what are the homunculi doing this time around? While I want to learn more about alchemy, the time to do so has been hampered since the members of the Ouroboros got here.
“Please excuse me.” Sanger stood up from his seat. “I will be on the lookout for any enemies that try to invade this place.” With no complaints from anyone, he left Mighty Majors HQ to go outside, probably to get on his mech. While everyone remained quiet, a curious Bolin turned to everyone.
“You guys got a plan B or something?” He asked.
Sakamoto felt uncertain, given what had happened earlier during the night. “We don’t know yet. All we can do now is improvise.”
“Say, Guile.” The blonde circletop soldier turned to Chun-Li as she continued on. “Have you heard anything from Charlie yet?”
“If you gave Charlie the same information you’re giving me, he should be making arrangements as we speak. I already told the others before Esdeath ambushed us.” Even though I’m glad those three have things planned out, I thought about Al for a moment. If he finds Hohenheim fast, then we might be able to get some information about the Bearded Bastard. I stood up from the couch.
“Do you mind if I make a call to my wife?” The Chief Major nodded in approval as I went to the phone stand on the desk and dialed the number to call Winry to inform her what had happened. As I waited, there was no response, redirecting me to a voicemail. I hung up the phone. Winry must be asleep. She’ll wake up on the second call. I tried dialing the number again to wait. To my surprise, she didn’t answer the phone again. I tried again the third time. There was once again no response from her temple. I knew this meant one thing. I quietly sat back down on the couch without saying a word.
“What happened, Edward Elric?” Major Armstrong asked.
For a few seconds, I didn’t say anything until I reluctantly opened my mouth. “Winry’s missing.” Everyone looked at me with a worried look of concern.
Batou turned to me. “You think someone took her?” That possibility was very real. “Damnit. How are we going to get her back when we don’t know where she is in the middle of this conflict?”
“Simple.” The Chief Major bore a small grin on her face, not once losing calm. “We could have Mr. Stark contact Peter Parker, who is still looking for Envy.” My eyes lit up. Spider-Man. How could I have forgotten about that web-slinger? I was going to suggest it, but I realized something: If he abandons his search for Envy…
“Won’t that leave Envy free to act out? Who knows where that homunculus could cause trouble?” Mako, thank you for taking those words right out of my mouth.
“Not necessarily.” The Chief Major convinced him. “I highly doubt that our friends would leave a search for that creature to a single man. Still, it won’t hurt to cover our bases with Mr. Stark before sending Mr. Parker on a separate rescue mission.”
So we all watched as the Chief Major made a call to the billionaire. Great… the day I’m away fighting people, and all of a sudden, Winry’s in danger again. Does Bradley have anything to do with this?
END
Trope Pantheon Stories 