Cardinal sin (2) : A laugh in Vain

8 - The prisoner

When telling people later on about his experiences fighting the Cardinal Sin, Ed would say that flying from solid ground into a window was great fun and possibly the best part of his experience. This was absolute bullshit.

Fullmetal was propelled up, followed closely by either perplexed or amused gazes of the three Cardinal Sin members presently outside—it was a miracle his catapult had worked in the first place. Next, his shoulder and head slammed into what was thankfully a window and not a brick wall. It shattered on contact, guaranteeing Ed a good many cuts right from the start.

He tumbled onto the floor, rolling on the shards of glass that rained inside before, during and after his dangerous landing. Even though his head had hit the glass, at least it avoided the hard surface of the floorboards, which was beneficial.

Groaning, Ed pushed himself up onto his elbows.

"Wow. I guess you're one for dramatic entrances, eh, Mister?"

Elric acknowledged his surrounding; a small room half the size of a typical one. There was a toilet, a bed and a woman manacled to the frame. Her thick, black ponytail was a mess, her clothes worn and soiled looking oddly familiar. Dark eyes watched him, pained, but hopeful and curious.

"You're not allied with the homunculus followers, are you?" asked the woman, unmoving.

Scrambling to stand up through the agony of his severed finger and the sheer amount of cuts covering his body, Edward set himself in a poor defensive stance. "No chances in hell. Who are you?"

"Are you with someone else then?" she asked eagerly. "The police? Military? Random bystander, who has nothing to do with anything?"

"State alchemist," he informed her, still not letting his guard down.

"Thank god!" cried the woman gratefully. "You've got to help me. My name is Second Lieutenant Rebecca Catalina. I'm a soldier for the military under Grumman. They've had me locked up for months!"

Ed faltered. He dropped his hands, eyes wide. "You're Rebecca Catalina?"

"You know who I am?"

"You—You're the one who left behind the note in Xerxes! I could never have found this place if you hadn't left that behind."

"It was found." Rebecca looked like she was about to cry, relieved.

He realized that he was standing around stupidly and this freedom could not be granted to him for too long. Ed rushed over to the bed. With a quick transmutation, he freed Catalina of the manacles keeping her prisoner. They landed noiselessly on the lumpy pillow, and Rebecca rubbed her blistered wrists.

"I thought for sure you were dead."

"Dead? Buddy, the worst they've done to me here is serve me a pile of vomit-worthy substances they called foo—Wait a minute! I've seen you before, haven't I?"

Ed was about to say that they had definitely not met before when he was hit with sudden recognition. A forgettable face from a memory of over two years ago had been foraged from the depths of his mind. He snapped his fingers.

"You're that lady who was visiting Hawkeye in the hospital after the Promise day and kept going on and on about how Central's men were all cowards til' every guy in the room wanted to die."

Rebecca was very offended. She didn't clutch onto those feelings for too long because she, too, had just recalled where she had seen Ed before.

"And you!" she exclaimed. "You're Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. The one who defeated the homunculus guy thing! I didn't recognize you."

"My old look was a little dated, so I upgraded."

This 'new' look had been accomplished thanks to Winry's initiative to fix the red coat so it would fit. The sleeves had been cut clean off, revealing his strong, rolling shoulders and on one of them, the large scar he'd gotten as a child. As for the coat itself, Winry had removed a good portion of the material so it ended just below Edward's waist. The hood had been left there. In Ed's opinion, he looked pretty danged good.

"I like it," Rebecca complimented nodding. "It looks way better than a hospital robe. Is that what you usually walked around in—"

The enemy was now thundering up the stairs, cutting Catalina's sarcastic comment short.

"They're coming." Ed cursed. "Hide!"

"I can handle my own, brat, just you watch."

A frantic turning of the key at the door interrupted Fullmetal's retort. Following a brief struggle, it was swung open, it was flung open by a Cardinal Sin member Ed had not had the pleasure of meeting. Herman, Ire and Vain flocked behind him.

"How'd he know she was in here?" Ire said.

"Because," Herman answered, "her jailer's a dumbass—Walter."

The man at the front squirmed once two stink eyes had been placed upon him. "Shut it," said Walter. "Same would have happened if it was you. She's a pain."

"Damn right I am," Rebecca shouted proudly. "I'm a huge pain, but a pain that is completely done with captivity. You're all impossible to pick up—not that I'd want to. You're all very repulsive, to be honest."

"You did go out with me," Vain remarked.

"Don't flatter yourself. You acted kind and all you had going for you was that you didn't look half bad."

"Hun, you were just desperate."

Wonderful, more enemies were popping up. However, once he recognized the new arrival who'd just spoken, Ed sniggered. "Look at that. The wannabe's here, too!"

Sophronia's temper was tested. This time, though, she didn't have the time to take out her rage by attacking Fullmetal with her alchemic skills.

No, Elric saved them the trouble by engaging in round two first.

He performed a transmutation, and two enormous hands were created from the materials of the walls and wood, making an attempt to crush the people in the doorway. Vain and the others in the back stumbled out of the way and Walter expertly ducked, landing on his back on the floor, nose but mere centimetres beneath the hands.

That's where Rebecca made herself immensely useful.

She threw herself to her knees and jerked up Walter's loose pant leg. From a hidden strap at the enemy's leg, she retrieved a small pistol, which she immediately proceeded to shoot Walter in the arm with.

"How'd you know that was there?!" Fullmetal yelled (it seemed like an appropriate tone of voice for the situation).

"He was my jailer," answered Rebecca, hopping back to her feet and backing up, gun pointed at the doorway. "He wore shorts most of the time. Weapons out in plain sight of me, that idiot!"

The giant hands were now blocking the doorway and Walter moaning underneath them made it impossible for the members of the Cardinal Sin to get past. On the other side, angry faces peeked through what little space the hands did not cover, and there was a lot of cursing.

"Herman," Vain instructed.

"Right, got it," the other answered. Ed knew that Herman would use his alchemy to destroy the wooden hands.

They had two options:

1. Stay and fight as soon as Herman cleared the way.

The result of this? Either a huge beatdown or Ed and Rebecca's deaths.

2. Get the hell out and consider their next moves from there.

That seemed far more favourable.

Rebecca obviously agreed. Though she was perfectly capable with the weapon in her hand, she knew it didn't have many shots in it. Plus, they were severely outnumbered and she had never worked with Elric before.

Retreat was their safest option. While Herman was busy smashing through the wood blocking his path, the Second Lieutenant and the state alchemist slipped out the window, landing with soft thuds on the grass below. At a rapid step, they made their way towards the heart of the town of Torchpit.