Stand by You

I

Sword drawn, I stood there, panting as beads of sweat rolled down the sides of my face. The fiend in front of me growled as it put one paw in front of the other, approaching me tauntingly slow. The beast I was fighting was a Chimera, a lion crossed with some sort of unidentifiable reptile. "Is this the first time you've seen a Chimera?" The man I was battling smirked.

"Did you create that...with your Philosopher Stone?!" I growled, swallowing as I gritted my teeth, eyeing the ruby stone on the man's finger. "For a priest, you really do create demons, Father Cornello."

The Chimera roared as it swiped at me with its massive paw. I took a step back, bearing my teeth as the razor-sharp claws cut open the back of my hand through the thin white gloves I wore. The blade of my sword shattered, leaving the hilt. Father Cornello laughed at me. "I got you disarmed now, soldier," he smiled evilly. "So why don't you bow down and beg for mercy? We'll see what God has to say about you."

"You may of disarmed me with that fiend," I smirked. "But I don't think you were expecting this!"

I clapped my hands and slammed them onto the ground. Blue sparks traveled like cracks on the concrete surface and reached the wretched thing, stopping at its vitals. A outline of a clock appeared as it ticked loudly, counting down from three. After three loud ticks, the clock exploded. The Chimera roared in pain as its vital organs blew up, its blood pouring from the wound. It collapsed, dust flying up as its huge body hit the ground.

Father Cornello watched in shock and horror at the creation he had made that I destroyed. He slowly turned his head at me. "G-Gloves...explosions...a clock symbol...could you be the Clockwork Alchemist?!"

"That's right!" I giggled, ripping off my shredded and bloody gloves and revealing the tattooed transmutation circle on the palm of my hand. I held it over my face, covering one of my eyes in the process. "I am Evelyn Joyce, the Clockwork Alchemist within the military!"

I pointed my uncovered finger at Father Cornello. "Now since I've taken down your Chimera, come down and face me as well!"

He growled and clapped his hands together, creating a gun from the perch above me but I sent sparks after him and blew up the gun. He transmuted the broken pieces of the gun again but the broken pieces of the gun exploded, emitting red light as it fused into his arm. "What the...?" He cried before growling. "Never mind that!" He yelled as he slammed his left hand onto his deformed arm, masking him grow bigger and buffer, ripping his shirt in the process "I am...the Emissary of God!" He screamed in a much deeper voice.

He jumped down and threw a punch at me, but due to his enormous size he was much slower now. "My word is the word of God!" Father Cornello screamed. "My fist is the fist of God!"

I grunted as I dodged his slow punches. As he threw at me an undercut, I crouched down in a nick of time and placed my hands onto the ground, sending sparks up to his chest and blowing him up. He roared as he stepped back, suffering a mild burn since the explosion I sent at him was meant as a distraction, not to kill him like the Chimera.

I dove between his legs and sprang up, tackling him from behind as I held him down. "You are now under the custody of the military!" I shouted as I grabbed his left hand, yanking the ring off.

But, just as I had the gold band of metal between my fingers, the Stone rolled off and fell, landing on the ground and crumbled into dust. "Wha...? It broke!" I gasped. "Was it a phony all along...?"

"I-I don't know!" Father Cornello yelled, sitting now as he leaned back, hands covering his face for protection. "I don't know! Spare me! Please! I was wrong!"

"Tell me, old man!" I shouted, pulling out my second sword on the sheath and pointing it at his throat. "Where did you get that Stone? And whomever you got it from, are they producing anymore of these?"

"Please!" Father Cornello begged, ignoring my questions. "I can't do anything without the Stone! Spare me!"

I narrowed my eyes at the withering man underneath me. "Fine...if you won't talk to me, then the military will. Even the most persistent of people give in and confess."

*~*~*~*~*~

I threw Father Cornello down on the ground, handcuffed, as he squirmed. I brushed my hands together to show that I was done as the military police, which I had requested, were in front of him, ready to hoist him up and take him under custody. I held my sword above his neck and he stopped moving. A familiar face pushed trough the stiff soldiers and grinned at me. "Major Joyce, you got him?" Asked the Colonel Mustang, as known as the Flame Alchemist or Roy Mustang with close friends.

"Yup," I nodded as the writhing man underneath me shifted to get comfortable.

"And the Philosopher's Stone?'

"Fake. It broke once I had confiscated it from him. I tried inquiring him to see where he got it, who he got it, and if they were making any more of those, but he wouldn't talk. I was hoping you could get him to speak."

"Speaking of which...who are you pointing your sword at?"

"Who? Why it's the man--?"

I looked down to see that, indeed, I was pointing my sword at empty space. I gawked. "He got away?" I cried. I clenched my fist as my face darkened. "Oh, that fatty isn't going anywhere!" I growled as a scary aura surrounded me, causing the frightened soldiers to step away from me. "I'm going to tear this city down, looking for him! Once I have him. I'll make him sorry for running away from me--"

Colonel Mustang placed a hand on my shoulder. "That's enough, Clockwork," he said. "You've done enough. Let's get you to the medical tent to patch you up. Anyways, you know that one of your gloves is nearly in shreds?"

"Hm?" I asked, holding up my other gloved hand as pieces of my metal hand poked through the holes. Through the holes, you could see portions of the transmutation circle I carved into the metal palm. "Oh, I see! Nah, it's fine. I'll replace the glove once I have the chance."

I threw my arms to the back of my head as Colonel Mustang escorted me to the medical tent so I can receive bandages for my hand and to get any other injuries that I received from fighting Father Cornello treated.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I hope you all like the new introduction to the story!
A little fact: Evelyn Joyce's last name regards to the Berliner-Joyce XF3J, a fighter plane. I decided to follow the trend of Mustang's subordinates named after military vehicles! (More on the last name released once I have the OC profile up)