Chapter 1 The Accident
“Lara! Now!” my co-partner Jane cried. The guy stopped short as I jumped in front of him.
Clapping my hands together, I drew the moisture out of the air and the surroundings and engulfed him with water up to his head. Then, I froze it with a snap of my fingers. It couldn’t be this easy to catch a serial killer.
“Ok, pal. You’re coming with us,” Damion, my superior walked over to him, gun in hand. I was ready to go home, and I was hoping we could do this in one shot, but a part of me knew it wasn’t over; it was just the beginning.
“Not quite,” the guy burst free. He had used alchemy somehow to explode the ice. No one was ever able to break free from my iron hard ice. There was something about that arm, something monstrous, dangerous.
We took off after him. This guy was a killer, who felt no remorse. If he caught one of us, we were done. His arm would blow our brains out. He had killed countless state alchemists, and I didn’t think he’d stop now.
He had disappeared down a street. We stopped and looked around for anything that was out of place. We straining to hear him running, or even breathing, listening for anything that would give away his position. No one could hear anything accept the wind howling against the deserted town.
The next thing I knew, he had both Jane and Damion in his arm. I grabbed the gun from my holster and pointed it at him.
“Shoot, and both of them here are dead,” he threatened, tightening his grip on them.
“Shoot him!” Jane cried.
“You are our best shooter. Take him out!” Damion demanded.
I shook my head. “I can’t!” I sobbed. I couldn’t risk losing them. I didn’t want to take the chance. They were the closest thing I had to a family, and I didn’t want to risk hitting either one of them.
“I’m not requesting this Lara. I’m demanding it!” Damion shouted angrily. When I hesitated, he yelled, “DO IT!” His voice pierced the night air.
I shook my head again. “No.” I couldn’t do it. There was no way they could bring me to do it. Not when both of their lives were on the line.
“It’s an order!”
“Scar, please release them,” I begged. It was so unlike my nature to depend on someone else, and I never have. That is, until now. I was depending on Scar to let them go, and he wasn’t complying. I had learned early that if I relied on anyone other than myself, I was going to be hurt.
“Lara, I order you to shoot him now!” Damion yelled again. Jane kept nodding her head, telling me it would be okay. She tried to hold back the tears I could see glistening in the corners of her eyes.
Scar moved his arm. Thinking he was going to kill both Jane and Damion, I shot. It hit him in the shoulder, but not before he had used his arm to kill both Jane and Damion. The blast of blood barely made a noise, yet I would forever hear that horrendous sound of ripping through flesh.
He took off running towards me as I shot at him numerous times. I dropped to my knees in defeat. He grabbed my wrist and I felt a sharp pain before he was running away from me and from the voices behind us.
I was vaguely aware of the military coming to my rescue. Sobbing, I crawled over to Jane and Damion holding my bleeding arm. I was starting to feel dizzy, and before I knew it, I was laying on the ground in a pool of blood, unaware if it was my own or Jane‘s and Damion‘s.
>>>.~.<<<
When I came to, I was lying in a hospital bed. My superior was talking in a corner of the room to a doctor in hushed voices. They were talking about me, I could tell, but I didn‘t know what about. At first, I was confused; I couldn’t remember anything. Why was I here? What happened?
I cleared my throat to get their attention. They both looked up quickly, as if I had caught them doing something bad, like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar, I thought. Great, it only meant I was in serious trouble.
“Lara, you’re awake, good,” said furor Conoly. “How do you feel?” Why was it they all had to ask that question? One look should tell them I wasn’t feeling good. I was shot, I remembered that much.
“Numb… When will I be discharged?” I replied. I hated hospitals ever since I was little. They freaked me out. I associated the smell of clean hospital air to death. I had spent too much of my time here.
“Just as soon as you’re ready,” he told me patiently.
“Which should be later on today,” the doctor added, “but I will need to run some tests to be sure.”
“Keep me posted. Tomorrow, I want to see you in my office at 9:00,” the furor said before walking out of the room. Thanks for the concern, I wanted to shout after him. He had only come to make sure I wasn’t dead. Other than that, he didn’t care what happened to me or how I was doing.
My doctor came to my side, checking my vital signs. “Your arm was damaged beyond repair. We brought in the best automobilists in the country to make an authentic arm for you. Nice, isn’t it?”
I lifted my right arm and looked it over. “You can’t even tell it’s a fake. The skin matches my flesh.” I was impressed, never in all my years had I heard of such a thing.
It really was quite remarkable. No one would be able to tell I had lost an arm, which was good. I didn‘t need something else to be self conscious about. Whoever did it was very skilled. I was impressed.
Then, reality hit me. “Jane and Damion… Did they… I mean…” I couldn’t finish my sentence; I was afraid of the answer. Though I already knew the answer in the back of my mind, I needed to hear it confirmed out loud.
“I’m sorry, but they weren’t as lucky as you.”
>>>.~.<<<
The next day, I arrived in the furor’s office on time, as a good soldier would do. I was hoping to impress him; this way, maybe I wouldn’t be fired. He gestured to a chair opposite his desk. “Sit.” I did as I was told as obedient as a professionally trained dog.
I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I knew I was in deep trouble and that I wasn’t going to like what I was about to hear, but I could handle it. I had handled bad news before. I mean, I was here after hearing that Jane and Damion were gone, wasn’t I?
“I know this is a difficult time for you, but you have to move on- for Jane and Damion’s sake. It’s what they would have wanted. They wouldn’t have wanted you moping around,” he started in right away. No small talk.
“Yes, sir,” I nodded. I kept my head down and pretended to find something interesting on the floor.
“Now, the other day’s performance is unacceptable. You should have waited for back-up. Because of your recklessness, Scar got away,” his face was filled with pent up anger.
“We almost had him,” I replied, finding an excuse to throw out, though I knew there were no excuses.
“Almost isn’t good enough. I’m sorry, but we are discharging you.”
“What? You can’t do that to me!” I shouted jumping to my feet.
I slid back into my chair as he explained, “I just did. The papers have already been signed. You have been transferred to the Eastern branch of the military. You no longer work for this military branch. Maybe they can handle you.”
I stood up again. “For one mistake?”
“For costing your associates their lives. Because of you, we are down two- now three with you leaving- employees. You basically killed them!”
I shut my mouth fighting back the tears that threatened to fall. I couldn’t argue. Hadn’t I been thinking the same thing? Then said, “What is my new position?”
“I believe you are a secretary for a Coronal Mustang.”
“A secretary?” I cried in disbelief. And the bad news just kept coming! Would I ever catch a break?
“You’re lucky you got that. After your little stunt, no one wanted you. I had to call some buddies in high places to get you that job. You screwed up big time, Lara. Besides, you can always work your way back up.”
“Screw you!” I reached over and punched him in the face with my right arm. I didn’t feel any pain; I didn’t feel anything. I just heard the crack of bone against metal.
With that, I stormed out of the office. Anger boiled up inside me like hot water. I probably shouldn’t have punched him, but it sure felt good. The only silver lining in a very cloudy, stormy day.
I packed my things and headed for the train station, hoping to hop a train to the Eastern Command Center as soon as possible. I had no choice in the matter, so I wasn’t going to sit around and mope about it.
I would have to work my way back up. I would show up the furor and show him what he’s missing. I would show him what a big mistake he made in firing me.
I hopped onto a train and sat in a car that was void of anyone.
Coronal Mustang, you better watch out. I will upstage you. No matter how long it takes.
What do you all think of this one? I love Fullmetal Alchemist, and I really love this story!
