Iserlohnn - continued

The Demon Within

Tenshi was suspended on a hook against a brick wall by his bound hands. The room he was put in was obviously a prison cell and, although he knew Kenton wanted him alive, he also knew that the white haired man wanted to see Edward dead. When he had been dragged out of the room, Edward had looked pretty beaten up. He had seen Edward get the better of Kenton before. He hoped Edward would be able to defeat him again and escape.

The moment Lust left him locked alone in the cell, Tenshi began trying everything he could think of to break free of his bonds…


When his vision cleared Edward saw he had made it to the Receiving Array in the safe house. He looked around listening and noticed there was no one there. He got to his feet and stumbled toward the dining room. The room was a shambles. It was obvious it had been ransacked but Ed didn’t know how Envy was able to get in without triggering the Ward. Unless he changed himself into me, thought Edward. The guy is a shape shifter. But the Ward was keyed to read the spiritual essence or auras of those that were going to stay there. How the hell did he manage to fool THAT…?

Edward had beaten the Sin to the house but he knew he had to move fast if he wanted to retrieve the disk before Envy arrived. Edward grabbed a chair, put it on top of the table and climbed up it to reach the chandelier. He easily removed the disk from its hiding place and stuffed it inside his jacket pocket.

Edward didn’t bother to put the chair back where it belonged. He made his way to the kitchen and created a makeshift binding for his leg out of clean dishtowels. His shoulder throbbed from the repeated stabbings and his leg ached too. He felt dizzy, nauseous and tired but he couldn’t rest there. The safe house wasn’t safe anymore. He would have to find the others and warn them that Envy had managed to find a way past the Ward. And if Envy could get in, so could the one he worked for.

The pain he could deal with but the other symptoms were making it hard for Edward to focus. He closed his eyes making his way out of the house based on his memory of where things were and he stumbled down the street like a drunkard heading towards Central.


Tenshi had no idea how long he was left alone but it felt like hours. For once he was glad his arms weren’t real because if they were they would have been raw and bleeding and in lots of pain from his endless attempts to free himself. If the rope used to tie him up was normal he would have broken it by now but he was certain it had been alchemically altered since it didn’t even so much as fray when he tried to use the hook he hung from as a means to cut the rope.

Being tied up for hours sucked. What sucked worse was that he REALLY had to go to the bathroom. It was embarrassing but if he didn’t get the chance to pee soon he was going to lose it in his pants. He didn’t care who came in to check up on him. He was getting down from the wall or else!

The door opened and Envy stepped in. The shape shifter cast an admiring gaze at Tenshi almost undressing the little alchemist with his eyes. The lascivious look wasn’t lost on Tenshi, who began to blush in spite of how he felt.

Envy took him down off the hook on the wall. “Be good and I might let you stay on the ground.”

“I have to…go.” Tenshi stammered.

“You’re not going anywhere!”

“No…I…need to…”

Tenshi was too embarrassed to continue but luckily Envy had enough of a clue to know what Tenshi wanted.

“Hope you can do that with your hands tied up,” Envy stated flatly as he led Tenshi by his arm out of the room, down the hallway and to a door under the staircase. “It’s in there. And no funny stuff.”

Tenshi was unceremoniously shoved into the tiny bathroom and the door was shut behind him. He was able to maneuver enough to do what he needed to and sighed with great relief when he was finished. He could hear Envy outside the door. The Sin was getting impatient.

“You done yet?” Envy groused.

“Yeah,” Tenshi responded miserably.

The door opened and Tenshi was pulled out by his arm and taken back to his cell. However, he wasn’t put back on the hook. Instead Envy undid the binding around his wrists and shoved Tenshi onto the cot by the wall. His hands free at last Tenshi attempted to use his powers but was grabbed by his wrists and shoved flat on his back by the lusty Sin.

“I didn’t untie you so you could do that!” Envy snarled. “Tell me where your pipsqueak boyfriend ran off to with that disk and I might let you go…”

“Boyfriend?” Tenshi mumbled confused. “Ed?”

“Yeah, the Fullmetal annoyance,” Envy said. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know! I’ve been here all day remember?” Tenshi responded hotly.

Tenshi’s lilac eyes glared defiantly up at the Sin who held him spread-eagled on the bed. Envy took the time to more closely examine his captive. He hadn’t seen too many people from Xing but he had seen enough to know the women were often slightly built and short. He rearranged his malleable body so that he could hold Tenshi’s hands secure and separate with just one of his own and then used his free hand to explore the struggled body beneath him.

“Get off me you pig!” Tenshi ordered trying to buck Envy off but not having much success moving the much larger man.

When he felt something completely unexpected while groping Tenshi below the belt, Envy’s eyes widened in shocked surprise and he unthinkingly let go of Tenshi’s wrists.

“You’re a BOY!” the Sin declared.

“Brilliant deduction Sherlock!” Tenshi snapped back and, taking advantage of his freedom he quickly pulled the Port Key out of the breast pocket of his uniform and charged it up

Before Envy could stop him, Tenshi was gone in a flash of alchemical white light.


Havoc stood by the Colonel’s car waiting patiently for Mustang to return. A half finished cigarette dangled from the corner of his mouth and he tried hard not to look worried. Armstrong was no ordinary guy. If there was something out there tough enough to take him out what chance did the rest of them have? Alchemy aside, Armstrong could still kick major ass in a straight out fight. Whatever or whoever got him was tough, fast and most likely still out there looking for more victims.

He wondered if it was that Scar guy he heard people talking about. The guy who was out there killing Alchemists in revenge for what happened in Ishbal. He’d killed about a dozen people so far and no one has come close to catching him. He almost got Edward once but was stopped by the Colonel before he had the chance to end Edward’s existence. He’d been spotted in Central City a few times but that was a while ago.

The sight of Colonel Mustang followed closely by Lieutenant Colonel Hughes and Al pulled Havoc out of his reverie. He snapped quickly to attention and opened the car door for his commanding officer.

“You two go back,” Hughes said sounding a bit weary. “I’ll let you know if we find anything.”

Mustang nodded. “Fine.”

He climbed into the car followed by Al. Once the door was shut and they were on their way Al asked, “Where are we going Colonel?”

“Good question. Your place?”

Al pondered the idea for a moment. Edward and the others should have made it to the safe house by now. “Yeah, my place,” he replied casually.

“What are the odds we’ll find your brother resting like the doctor told him to?” Mustang mused.

If Alphonse was capable of rolling his eyes he would have done so but he was able to convey his feelings quite well with words alone. “This is Ed we’re talking about.”

“Which means he’s probably not even home,” Mustang surmised.

“We’ll know that when we get there,” Al said trying to sound optimistic but knowing full when who he was dealing with. There were times when Edward was just too much of a loose cannon. He silently hoped for once Edward did what he was supposed to do and stayed put.


A small woman with jet-black hair and a wild look in her cat-like eyes emerged from the shadowy alley near Central City’s main square. From where she stood she could hear the water spouting from the decorative marble fountain that marked the exact middle of the city. Her keen cat-like senses warned her that her quarry was approaching. The White-Haired Man had told her if she brought him proof she destroyed the little blond alchemist he would give her what she wanted: full control over the body she possessed. Shoushi had wanted that for a very long time. Now she was within sniffing distance of getting her greatest wish fulfilled.


Edward heard the gurgling of the fountain and stumbled over to it. The cold water felt good and tasted even better. His wounded leg was throbbing mercilessly and he could see the makeshift bandage he had on it was blood soaked. He sat down on one of the many benches that surrounded the fountain to rest. He could see the lights of Central City’s main military complex glowing in the distance. As much as he hated to admit it he was going to need help and lots of it to free Tenshi from captivity at Furher’s Bradley’s Palace. He just hoped this was one night Mustang was stuck working late.

As he got up to make his way to headquarters, he stopped to stare at the wild looking woman approaching him from out of the shadows. At first he thought she might be a chimera but she was too human looking to be one of Sho Tucker’s creations. At first Edward wasn’t sure what she wanted but when her small hands suddenly sprouted six-inch metallic looking claws her intentions became obvious.

She wanted to kill him.

He transmuted his Auto-mail arm into the sword blade and prepared to defend himself. Edward was looking for escape options since he knew he was in no shape to engage in a fight. His only hope was to take this into the main street and hope they stopped traffic – literally.

Shoushi slashed madly at him but Edward back flipped dexterously out of reach. He landed near the main street and counted himself lucky that his wounded leg didn’t give out when he landed hard on it. She charged him again but he deflected her blow with his Auto-mail arm. He had no idea who she was but he had a pretty good idea of who sent her to kill him.

Kenton Ares.

This strange creature was probably one of his goons. He had the Sins in his employ and possibly whatever escaped from Lab 5 as well. Ares was recruiting all sorts of people and things to side with him. This girl was no doubt another lost soul he made promises to that he’d maybe keep if she did what he asked of her.

The lateness of the hour was working against Edward. The main drag was strangely deserted and he was beginning to tire. She slashed him with such force she would have taken out a chunk of flesh had she struck the human shoulder with that blow. As it was she shredded off whatever clothing he had hiding his Auto-mail arm and revealed his metallic limb to his attacker. She stared at the metal arm for a moment puzzled then resumed her attack aiming for his midsection.

He eluded getting his guts ripped out and knocked her onto her back with a well-placed kick with his metal foot. She popped up to her feet like she had a spring thrust in the middle of her back and lunged for Edward. At the same moment she lunged he was standing with his sword arm down in a defensive posture protecting his body from her attack. Her leap and his covering move happened at the same time and to his shock and her pained dismay she stood before him impaled on his Auto-mail blade.

Shoushi looked down at the sword that cut clean through the center of her chest and peeked out her bony back. “No…!” came a horse whisper as she slipped off the blade and landed in a crumpled heap at Edward’s feet.

Before he had the chance to kneel down and examine her Edward watched in horror as the body began to morph. A silver ghostly form that moaned in agony rose up from the body and flew past Edward and off towards the light of the full moon. The agonized noise the thing made as it fled into the night made Edward’s teeth itch. That sound would be in his nightmares for a long time to come.

The body stopped changing and relaxed into a shape Edward knew even in the dim moonlight.

It was Princess Katarin.

Edward could see the blood beginning to puddle on the street beneath her back and thinking he had just killed her he slumped to his knees beside her screaming his frustration, sorrow and anger into the moonlight night.
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MORE TO COME I PROMISE!!!