Fullmetal Alchemist: Divergent (PG-16)

"Great, a hostage situation," Alexandra said to herself as she got up from her seat and stepped away from the table, initially complying with Major Kuefer's order to withdraw and leave the situation in his hands. You don't have any idea what these brutes are talking about? Yeah, right, she thought. Just like a typical dog of the State, making enemies wherever you go. Don't you love living in interesting times, man?

Instead of turning to flee, however, Alex simply kept backing away from the table, sizing up the thugs who had raided the pub as she slowly stepped back. She discreetly placed her right hand behind her back, as if to scratch an itch; however, she was actually reaching for the Colt M1908 Pocket Hammerless she had tucked into the back of her shorts earlier. Bunch of generic tough guys in robes. Obviously can't see if they have any weapons other than their fists. Leader seems to be an alchemist of some kind, judging from the tattoos on his hands. I could probably pull out my backup piece, take out the leader, and maybe have enough time to take down one or two more thugs before they can react. So many obstructions in the way, though. I need to move to get a clearer shot, and I need to see if I can do it without injuring his hostage.

"Uh, listen, big guy, it's clear that your real grievance is with the one-armed bum over here," Alex said out loud to the leader of the thugs while gesturing accordingly at Major Kuefer, trying her best to discreetly inch herself towards a different spot that would give her a clearer shot at the ruffian leader's head. "Asides from him, none of us here have any quarrel with you and your men, right?" she continued in order to buy herself some more time. "Just let the rest of us all go, and you'll be free to settle whatever business you have with the hobo without any of us interfering."

Even though .380 ACP was one of the weaker pistol cartridges available, a decently skilled pistol markswoman like Alex could still reliably eliminate a target at relatively close range, especially if her piece was loaded with hollow point rounds, which maximized tissue damage at the expense of penetration. Fortunately for her, her M1908 was loaded with hollow points, and even the .380 ACP cartridge still had adequate enough energy to go right through a person's skull. She tightened her grip on the pistol as she readied herself to draw. Your move, big guy. Too bad you're already dead.
 
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As Aria spoke, Isaac watched her carefully. She claimed to be a doctor, but she seemed to need one herself. She was very pale. Although Isaac didn't usually judge others by their appearance, he made a mental note to himself to not let himself get too injured anytime soon.

As for Alan, this was another story altogether. Unlike Aria, he was confident, perhaps too confident in himself. But if his skill matches his boasts, he was more than capable to go on this journey.

But Alexandra was right. They had to get under way. If he remembered correctly on what happened in East City when xylica had an outbreak there, it could potentially spread like wildfire. Isaac also felt he had a personal issue with this assignment. Although usually he would keep his personal feelings out of missions, he felt he had failed the last time he was supposed to bring this disease down, and now he has been given a second chance to ratify his mistake. He will not fail this time. He can't.

"Alright, then as of now you are all under my jurisdiction. I have no idea what dangers lie before us, but I have no intention of letting any of you get hurt." He saw Elia glance at Aria when he said this. Isaac looked over her again as well.

There was a shriek at the other end of a bar. A gang of people stood there, with the pink-haired waitress in one of their clutches. The one with the waitress spoke.

"Now, give me back the amulet you took earlier."

Elias replied back to him.

"Hm? No idea what you're talking about."

He motioned at the rest of them at the table. He didn't want their help, apparently. Isaac sat there for a moment, debating what to do. Although this wasn't necessarily his fight, Isaac was a military man, and he didn't sit idly by while others were in imminent danger.

Alexandra stood up and began backing away from the table. He glanced over at her for a second. She spoke.

"Uh, listen, big guy, it's clear that your real grievance is with the one-armed bum over here," Isaac was pretty sure she meant what she said, until he noticed her slowly moving to plan something, perhaps get a better angle? She was clever, to say the least.

Isaac had a far different idea on what to do. It was risky, but he figured not doing anything would be worse. For the moment, though, he would wait until Alexandra and Elias made their moves. Isaac took a drink from his cup. In his coat pocket was his four Stampers he used in Alchemy. Although me might not be able to apply those stamps to anything in enough time, Isaac can still use the two rock wristbands he has. They already have the Earth Stamper applied to them for quick Alchemy, primarily in weapon creating. The other two Stampers he had was his Silicon and Oxygen stampers, and his Transmutation Array stamper. At the moment, the Silicon stamper would me useless, as they are in a wooden pub. The oxygen stamper can be remotely applied, however, to the wood any try to make something out of it. The risk was the high concentration of carbon also in wood, making this a possible mistake. Isaac's best chances lied in his Earth wristbands, or his Transmutation Array Stamper, which he could try to apply to the thugs.

Isaac waited for the others' moves.
 
Aria stared in admiration as soon as she heard the word 'prodigy.' She figured he must be very confident in himself, which she respected of course, and she had no doubt his skills would certainly match up to his words. Why wouldn't they? She reasoned there was no need to fluff up one's abilities in this situation.

She did feel Elias' glance, making her shift uncomfortably. Honestly, she was confused as to why; affection, or simply because she was out of place? She hoped it wasn't the latter. Out of everyone, he seemed to be the nicest. And she liked nice people, oh yes she did.

The sudden shriek caused her to emit a shriek of her own. Quickly swerving around on her chair, she noticed the pink-haired waitress locked in the arms of a rather large man, and she felt her throat close up at the sight of the helpless girl surrounded by similar looking men.

"Hm? No idea what you're talking about," Elias said casually, making a gesture that clearly wanted everyone else to leave.

"Uh, listen, big guy, it's clear that your real grievance is with the one-armed bum over here," Alexandra called out. "...Just let the rest of us all go, and you'll be free to settle whatever business you have with the hobo without any of us interfering." As she was talking, Aria did notice her hand quietly reach back and the faint movement of her feet. Even Isaac chose not to leave - he had that same, oddly determined look like Alexandra, like Elias, as if they were all planning to -

"Oh, no," Aria moaned as she stood up, shaking her head at both of them, "no, no, no, no, no, not here. Don't fight here. There are others here, they might get hurt," she said. She turned to the waitress, who had been so kind to her before. It wasn't fair at all. What had she done? Why were people so ruthless? "Please, perhaps we can arrange a sort of compromise without having to harm anyone," Aria pleaded, grabbing her bag. She would never forgive herself if the worst case scenario happened to the waitress.
 
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Examining the reactions, Alan was not satisfied with the others making assumptions about his cockiness, although he did boast quite a bit. At least Alexandra allowed us to move off that topic onto more pressing isssues. They had to begin. Feeling a bit funny, Alan simply narrowed his eyes, ready to use everything in his power to make sure that people didn't die....people didn't deserve to die like his grandpa, and he had to change the world.

"Alright, then as of now you are all under my jurisdiction. I have no idea what dangers lie before us, but I have no intention of letting any of you get hurt." He saw some people gaze at Aria when he said this. Alan lazily dragged his eyes over to Aria.

There was a high pitched scream at the other end of a bar. A gang of quite a few people was around, with the pink-haired waitress as a hostage. The one with the waitress spoke.

"Now, give me back the amulet you took earlier."

Elias simply said.

"Hm? No idea what you're talking about."

He motioned to the group. He obviously did not want to be helped in this situation. Chuckling, Alan simply rose to his feet and stuck his hand into his backpack, putting a hilt into a slot, and ready to pull it out at any moment.

Alexandra stood up and began backing away from the table. He glanced over at her for a second. She spoke.

"Uh, listen, big guy, it's clear that your real grievance is with the one-armed bum over here," Alan simply observed her as she noticed that she was packing weapons like a madman, he wondered if it was legal....although they were well concealed. Alan then saw her reach for another gun and move away for some leverage.

Although Alan was ready to attack, he knew that he couldn't use strong alchemy without endangering other lives. He would wait for an attack and then strike, but as for now, he simply left the hilt in the hole, taking a sip of water as he heard Aria's pleading. Simply looking at her in a way that said, "These people aren't in the mood for the type of negotiation that you are intending to do."

Knowing that he could not use lightning as the beer would easily explode and ignite due to the compostition of his focused electricity, and he didn't want to risk his explosion deconstructing the carbon in the wood, he decided to simply hold his cup, and use the remaining water inside to shock the thugs if they attacked.

Alan simply stood back, looking for a place in which he could have an easy opening against the thugs in case worse came to worse.
 
If she didn't have a large surplus of weaponry on her, Elias might have jumped at Alexandra for calling him a hobo and a bum. Part of the reason Elias had asked the others to leave was related to his alchemy, and the fact that none of them seemed to be taking the order and leaving was just making things more problematic in his opinion. He didn't look back to double check, but with Alexandra's speech, it was probably a safe assumption that she had a plan to attack if necessary. As for the others, they were probably on standby, aside from Aria who seemed to be foolishly asking for them to settle the dispute through compromise. Not all people were that easy to deal with... particularly after you'd just stolen from them. He reached his hand into his shirt, and the sound of chains moving could be heard - a sound that could also be heard when he moved too suddenly.

The problem remained that the bandit had a hostage. The girl herself didn't look scared anymore, however, and seemed to be trying to reach for her necklace despite having the man's arm around her neck. She was beginning to black out from a lack of oxygen, likely, but why the necklace? Looking a little closer, he suddenly noticed something interesting about it. It was crafted to look like a transmutation circle? Was she an alchemist as well? By this point, the majority of the customers in the tavern had fled, leaving all but the motley crew of bandits and Elias' group.

"Do you really have the time to keep stalling? The amulet or her life, make a choice." The man stated, and waved at his cohorts to approach the group with his free hand. As they drew closer, it became obvious of a number. Eight of them in all, and they all seemed to have handguns equipped. Footsteps behind gave away the presence of five more trying to flank them. The timing never better, the waitress seemed to have found the energy to grab her necklace, and pressed the transmutation circle against her attacker's arm. Blue electricity signaling a transmutation occurred, and the man's arm very quickly turned red, before blood began to ooze from the limb. "****! That's hot!" The man shouted as he dropped the girl, who seemed to have been anticipating the drop as she pushed the transmutation circle against a rusty pipe that seemed to run down the middle of the room, the blue electricity erupting again before the pipes burst, filling the room with steam that made it hard to see.

Unfortunately, the hissing of the pipe also made it difficult to hear the footsteps of the bandits which were now swarming in on the group. Apparently having noticed the guns on Alexandra, six of the eight in front of them began to fire on her, although with the steam their accuracy was a little off. The five behind approached the others. Elias in the meantime, ran into the steam, the sound of a chain rising along with blue lightning as he pulled a metal plate out of his shirt, running his hand over it as he pulled it towards him with the chain it was attached to. Pulling the plate into his hand, it had already finished it's transmutation into a small blade. Picking up the waitress, who seemed to be stunned from everything that happened, he set her aside just in time to dodge a knife attack by the leader of the bandits. He was using his uninjured hand, and getting a better view at the other arm, it was probably safe to say the girl used water with her alchemy.

In the meantime, the two bandits that had been previously unaccounted for were approaching Aria, intending on back her into a corner. However, they suddenly fell one by one as small daggers erupted from the steam, hitting them square in the back of the head. Taking the time to throw the things had distracted Elias from his current fight, and he suddenly found a fist to the side of his chest that had three blades sticking out from between the fingers. He stumbled out of the clearing steam, holding his side as blood came from the three wounds. It was not a good day. "Miss Troy!" He suddenly shouted, thinking this woman was his best bet at this point. "Execute him!"
 
"You know what, big guy? I don't really like either of those options," Alexandra remarked as she finally settled into a spot where she could safely take out the bandit leader with a single headshot. She was just about to draw her Colt M1908 Pocket Hammerless from the back of her shorts and open fire when the waitress did something totally unexpected by using alchemy to free herself, busting both the bandit leader's arm and the conveniently exposed steam pipe running down the center of the room. The Angel's Light was in the process of undergoing renovations, but it was still largely business as usual until the arrival of these particular ruffians.

Alex suddenly found herself under fire by six of the thugs, though their accuracy was truly abysmal, especially with all the steam obscuring their aim; she had known Ishvalan insurgents who could shoot straighter in the middle of a raging sandstorm. She had to defend herself, and with a single swift motion, she pulled out her M1908, drew the wz. 35 Vis from her right cross-draw shoulder holster, and began providing covering fire for Major Kuefer as he charged into the steam to take on the rest of the thugs at close range. The difference in skill levels between Alex and the thugs was quite evident, as she managed to hit home every single time while they struggled to get even grazing hits on her. However, considering the relatively small magazine size of her pistols (eight rounds for the Vis, seven for the M1908), she could only take out a few of the thugs before she had to reload. She had actually managed to down four of the six firing on her before she finally ran dry; she tossed her empty M1908, transferred her Vis over to her right hand, and pulled a magazine from her belt in order to reload.

Alex had just racked the slide on her Vis when she found herself tackled from behind by one of the five other thugs sent to outflank her and the other members of her group in a vain attempt to disarm her, which sent her crashing into a table. Her grip on her sidearm remained firm, though, and the thug did not have enough time to follow thorough with his attack before Alex got back up and pistol-whipped him right in the temple. She lined up a shot at another thug and resumed firing, taking down the remaining four members of the flanking group with four shots.

With that particular threat neutralized, Alex turned her attention back to what was left of the main group of thugs. Six of them were already dead, four by her hand and two by Major Kuefer's, leaving only two thugs and their leader for the group to deal with. Even with much of the steam starting to clear, the aim of the surviving thugs was still rather dismal, with most of their shots missing Alex by a wide margin. While one of the thugs did manage to hit Alex, it was merely a flesh wound on her left arm; she grimaced only slightly as she put the two thugs down for good with two more bullets from her Vis. "I probably needed a new blazer anyway," she remarked to herself as she glanced over at her wounded arm.

Just then, Major Kuefer stumbled out of the steam cloud with a grievous wound to the right side of his chest. Needless to say, the situation for him was definitely critical, as he was about to pass out from blood loss any second now; depending on where he was hit and how deep the wound was, he was possibly dealing with a punctured lung as well. "Miss Troy! Execute him!" he called out.

"You don't need to tell me twice, Major," Alex said. However, instead of walking directly into the steam cloud to deal with him in person, she realized that she could use her alchemy to neutralize the threat. She simply dropped to one knee, set her pistol at her side, clapped her hands together, and touched the ground. The bandit leader noted the bright blue glow of a transmutation in progress and moved to counterattack with his own alchemy, but it was too late for him. He soon found himself impaled on several earthen spikes that had ripped through the pub's floorboards and into his exposed flesh; by sheer chance, the largest of these spikes had actually gone through his groin and hip and out his lower back.

If the bandit leader wasn't already dead by the sheer trauma of this event, Alex made absolutely sure of it as she picked up her gun, walked over to the corpse, and shot it in the head twice. The slide of the Vis locked back, indicating that it was empty, just like the bandit leader's head was now. 9mm Parabellum, while not quite a man-stopper like the .45 ACP cartridge that Alex's M1911A1 used, was far more than sufficient for the simple task of blowing people's brains out. "You had your chance to settle this all nice and quiet-like, big guy, and you blew it," she said to the corpse. "That's what you get for not listening to me."

Alex pulled another magazine from her belt and reloaded the Vis once more before holstering it. She sighed as she walked back over to where she had dropped her M1908. "First day working for the State again, and this happens," she said to herself as she bent down to pick the gun back up. "I should have brought the violin case with me today." She looked around at the pub's devastated interior. "Eh, they're still doing renovations. If they complain, they can go bill the State."
 
Isaac Graanz evaluated the situation. This team had been put together because of it's advanced skill and expertise in the field, but he was certain that they were all capable alchemists as well. In reality, Isaac had the feeling that he wouldn't need to move a finger during the whole battle. He figured he'd let the others get to work.

Alex was a handful with her weapons, and the Major handled himself pretty good. All the while, while the Colonel sat down watching, he had his hand in his pockets fiddling both his Oxygen and Transmutation Array Stamper. When the pipes burst and the steam hit the room, Isaac didn't give a moments hesitation as he felt gunfire and footsteps approaching. He heard return gunfire, and assumed that was Alex taking on some of them, but closeby were five or so more thugs after them.

Isaac moved fast. He took out his Transmutation Array Stamper and stamped it right on his palm, and grabbed one of the thug's heads. He was dead in an instant as his head exploded, blood and brains hitting around. Next, Isaac rolled up his sleeves and clapped his hands together, and the two rock wristbands, which already had his Earth Stamper applied onto them, created two swords which extended from his wrists. Isaac grabbed on two them and sliced at another one of the bandits, the first strike cutting off the man's gun hand, and the second one cleanly decapitating him. Isaac moved to the side to barely dodge a rogue bullet, and noticed it fired by a figure in the smoke. Before he could fire again, Isaac dived in at his feet and used his Oxygen Stamper to stamp the wooden floor next to the bandit. It was a longshot, as he wasn't totally sure of the effect. He planned to make a wooden pike appear and impale him, but the resulting transmutation caused the wooden floor beneath the bandit to collapse under him and cause him to fall underneath, hitting his head as he went down, unconscious or dead. It wasn't the intended result, but it got the job done nonetheless.

Isaac looked around the pub. Everyone else seemed to be alright, minus Major Kuefer's injuries. He watched as Alex finished off the head bandit with a shot to the head. He sighed, looking around for anymore targets, but they all seemed neutralized. His attention turned to the Major. He seemed to be injured. It looked like it might be Aria's chance to show what she can do.

What surpised Isaac the most was the fact that the waitress was an alchemist. He walked up to her, eyeing her, a mixture of suspicion and surprise. He offered her a hand up.

"Are you alright ma'am? Quite a sticky situation you found yourself in."

He didn't smile, but was polite nonetheless.
 
Chuckling, Alan brought out a kunai and threw it at one of the thugs' necks and it hit him in a vein, and upon impact it sent electricity through the body, causing his body to vibrate in response for about 1.5 seconds before the thug fell to the ground, obviously comatose if not treated.

Alan's usually relaxed eyes had a look of determination and pennance, as if he was praying that the souls go to Ishvara. Even though he does not worship the god, he wants to believe that his grandfather is in a better place, and whenever he kills, says a short prayer saying that, "As my grandfather is with you Ishvara, let these souls go with him."

Seeing another two thugs come behind him, Alan quickly removed his gloves, and then put his hands on the man's chest, his tattoos heating up and emitting black lightning as Alan knew that the man's vena cava had singed due to the boiling of the blood and was now just taking up useless space as it could not carry blood back to the heart. Alan then used his alchemy to bring out the iron in the blood as a sharpened edge. As Alan pulled his hand towards him, an iron point could be seen jutting out of the man's chest, the man then fell to the ground.

Alan then jumped back to examine the other two thugs that were with him, and he simply snapped his fingers as a lightning whip came from his hand, and went toward the thug which was about a quarter of the way across the room from him, hitting the man, and causing him to receive the edge of the lightning whip, the man convulsed due to the electricity surging through his body and fell to the ground with singed skin, and the man would die in the next few minutes as the brain had shut down due to the overcharging of electricity.

The other man came close to Alan, and trying to test his hand to hand combat tried charging straight at Alan, which was a pretty stupid thing to do against any enemy, but Alan simply grabbed the man's fist and used his own energy to force the man in a position in which he flipped over and landed on his back, with Alan putting his hands on the man's chest in order to use alchemy on the valves inside of the heart, causing them to be coated in iron, and for the valves to always being closed. As no blood could flow, Alan grabbed the man's neck and then caused the carbon dioxide going down his windpipe to turn into carbon monoxide. Alan then kicked the man in the stomach, causing him to fall down and slide to a table, knocked out, obviously dying.

He saw the other two fighters finishing, seeing how incredible they were, especially Alexandra, and then Alan said, "Were we allowed to kill?"

But what was truly on his mind was, "This Troy woman....she's skilled. I wonder where she trained?"
 
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