Ch. 8 Scar

There was another thing to think about, that they had discussed before the kids arrived, and that was the news of a killer being on the loose. Roy glanced down at the most recent file on his desk and frowned some. These kids didn't need anything else to worry about. They would worry about Scar, a man said to have it out for State Alchemists.

Riza glanced at Roy, noticing his expression as he stared down at the file. "Sir, is it alright to keep this from them? If he goes after Edward, she's bound to come at us for answers." She spoke calmly. Roy leaned back in his chair. "We'll handle the situation when it comes. For now, let's leave them be." He said calmly, moving his gaze to the window. "Those kids have enough on their plate." He spoke. "But sir, if he's here in the city.." Riza pressed. "We can handle him, Hughes is also with them if anything happens." Roy spoke calmly.

Riza sighed softly. "So, where do we go from here?" she asked the Colonel. Roy rubbed his temples as  Riza spoke. "That depends on the kids. I want her to trust us, and yet here I am giving them only two choices. Stay with Maes or be stuck with us." Even if it hadn't been spoken, he could tell she was a smart girl. He sighed and leaned back in his chair.  Riza gave him a small smile as she walked over to his desk. "Yes, it two choices, but both of them are for their safety. Sometimes you have to make the tough choice by limiting their options so they can choose the best one for them. They're still kids, after all." She told him gently. Roy smirked and nodded to her words. "Right.." He sighed inward. "Whatever hell they've seen, they're still just kids." He reminded himself quietly, turning in his chair to look outside his window. "It's our job to protect them."

Looking out the window as well, Riza shook her head. "It's tough to remember that sometimes. But, from what I've seen, you're trying your best. Whether they see it or not, is up to them." She was reminded with the way she grew up somewhat, it wasn't exactly what one would call normal. Roy nodded and crossed a leg over the other, resting a hand under his chin and thinking over everything that was happening. He turned to Riza. "Should things get out of hand, that girl will need someone to lean on. It'll be harder for her to come to trust me of all people. I understand that now."

Outside, Maes kept his distance as he followed the teens, never intruding into their discussion, but making sure he could still see them. He couldn't even hear what was being said, but that was fine with him.

Edward nodded his head in agreement with her. "True, it would be more relaxing that way too." He agreed, stretching his arms overhead. "Do you want to tell them how you're different? Or would you rather keep it to just our family?"  Coming to a statue not far from the steps of the building, Nova lowered her head as he spoke. She placed a hand over her face and shook her head after a moment. "I'd rather them not find out the hard way.." She murmured. " ..but I'm scared to tell them. "

Edward chuckled softly, giving her a smile. "We're all tense and defensive, but in the end, it's your secret to share, Nova." He spoke softly.  Nova nodded some and smirked. "Yeah.." She murmured, slowly letting go of his hand. "I don't trust the Colonel yet, but I have a soft spot for that Maes guy. He's got a family, and he's willing to take us in... I'll tell him first." She smiled.

Edward smiled, nodding his head. "Yeah, he does seem like an alright guy, maybe he can be a good person to start trusting." He mused. "Want to go back and tell them what you've decided?" Nova nodded lightly. "In a minute.." She murmured. However, before that minute could pass, she caught scent of blood and a stranger. "Edward.." She murmured quietly. Edward was about to ask what was wrong when an explosion blasted next to them, sending debris around them. "What the hell!?" Scar stalked towards the trio, his left hand clenched as he glared at the smallest of the three. "You, you are the Fullmetal alchemist, Edward Elric, are you not?" he asked slowly, his red eyes hidden behind his sunglasses.

Coughing, Maes cursed under his breath. This was not good. Knowing that they would be needing help, Maes sent one of the quivering personnel to fetch Roy,and Hawkeye. Hopefully nothing drastic would happen before the trio arrived. Nova coughed and looked up to see Al before blocking them from some of the debris. "Al.." She murmured, her eyes wide. He nodded to her indicating he was alright. Nova glanced at the man how came towards them and instinctively grabbed Edwards hand and ran. "Run!" Al followed close behind. Edward stumbled when Nova grabbed him, but was able to keep pace with her. "What the hell is going on? Why is he targeting me?!" he complained, but more so, he wanted to face this person. "Nova, what about this guy is setting you off?" Maes was following behind the person, mentally grumbling about being out numbered with alchemic freaks. He wished the others would hurry up already, he wouldn't be able to take this guy on by himself.

"He stinks of blood and death." Nova said. "I saw the tattoo on his arm, his hand will destroy anything it touches. I've seen it before." Nova said to him as they ran, having read about those markings while studying.  "If he manages to touch any of us, we're done for!" Scar didn't stop as he continued to chase his prey. The girl with the alchemist was different, something about her knew whether was. "But how..." he mumbled to himself, slowly recognizing her. If she was with them...

Edward frowned at her words. "But we can't continue running either. We will have to stop and fight him eventually." He told her seriously. He knew he didn't want to fight someone out to kill him, but he also knew he didn't always have a choice. Clapping his hands together, he touched the walls around them, causing them to close behind Al, and blocking the way. Nova shook her head. "It'd be suicide!" She said, glancing back as he dissents alchemy on the walls of the alley. "We can't fight in an ally anyway, so just keep running until we hit the main road."

Edward grumbled under his breath, but continued running, making similar walls every few feet to slow the guy down. Scar was growing impatient and irritated each time he had to go through a wall that blocked his way. Whatever they were playing at, he was going to make sure the sinners would pay.  Once the main road came into view, Al went on the offense and tried to attack the man from behind, and Nova quickly glanced around to see If there was anything related to 'nature' she could use to help them.

Edward clapped his hands together, slamming them onto the ground, trying to make a cage or something around the guy. Scar heard the crackle of Alchemy and readied his left hand. The hand his brother sacrificed giving him. Seeing a wall form when the boy didn't use alchemy in a typical way, he knew the boy was an abomination. "Your tricks wont work on me." He warned, destroying the construct. He heard the clang of metal and caught sight of the metal person. "I have no quarry with you. I just want the Fullmetal." He stated. Alphonse went to strike him once more, ignoring his words. Edward was his brother, he wasn't going to just stand by and watch.

Nova drew her alchemy sign near a large tree and placed her hands on it, using her alchemy to create a tangle of branches to wrap around the man. "Alphonse, don't let him touch you!" Nova warned. Scar growled when branches started entangling around him. Activating his own form of alchemy, he destroyed the branches and caught the metal boys arm, shattering it before it made contact with him. "You. You're hollow." He murmured in surprise. Seeing Scar distracted, Edward punched him in the face with his mental arm, causing Scar to stumble back. "Get away from my little brother!" he yelled, clapping his hands and slamming them onto the ground, creating blocks around Scar's arms and legs to try and keep him immobile.

Al gasped and stumbled back a bit, falling to his butt.  "Al!" Nova called, mentally cursing since her branches didn't seem to do much of anything. Fine then, she'd just have to use her teeth. Nova hurried behind Edward, knowing his blocks wouldn't stop this guy for long. Before she knew it, she had pushed Edward aside to receive any kind of damage Scar would have inflicted after getting free, if he managed to do so. Edward was about to clap his hands again when Nova pushed him out of the way.

Just as he fell, Scar released himself and stretched his hand out towards him, only to swipe at Nova and grab her arm.  She grit her teeth as she felt the surge of destructive energy course through her arm and dropped to the ground when the man released her, holding her bloodied arm, her beanie on the ground as well and her fuzzy ears revealed. Edward yelled out and transformed his automail into a blade as he went to attack Scar again. Gun fire sounded and Scar staggered back. "Seems like it was smart for me to take the high road, after all." A voice laughed as a blonde haired woman jumped down from the building behind him. "You guys okay?" She asked, looking around cautiously as Roy made it to the scene.

Al was for one happy to see her, even if he was minus an arm. "First Lt. Hawkeye, Colonel!" He called, surprised. Nova slowly pushed herself up to her feet as Scar was distracted and bit  fiercely into his arm. It wasn't over yet, and she wouldn't be letting him use that arm of his for as long as she could. "You?" Edward was surprised ad he saw the woman, he didn't think they would have caught up so quickly, but he was glad. While Nova had his arm, he moved to secure his feet with stone. Seeing Nova's beanie gone, the woman acted quickly when she saw Scar's other hand moving towards her, ready to shoot him. "Step back, Nova!" She called to the girl, aiming her pistol at him.

Scar yelled out in pain and gritted his teeth as he was ambushed by the animal child, and the alchemist. "Damn you! All of you!" he yelled in anger, tying to get the wolf girl off his arm by shaking it and tried moving his legs only to find him unable to. Being a wolf had its flaws, she'd admit, for right now Scar was the only person she could see as her instincts kicked into high gear. This was part of what she had told Edward about before they came back to Central. Her jaw locked as the man tried shaking her off of his arm, refusing to let go.

If she let go, he could easily break free and attack them again. Edward felt his jaw lock as Nova refused to budge, despite what the First Lt. told her. Going up to Nova while  Riza distracted Scar by coming up to his other side and kicking him, he grabbed his friend with is metal arm. "You need to let go, Nova. You've damaged his arm enough!" he told her, also concerned about the blood on her arm. "Come on, we need to get to Al." Seeing Riza, Maes loaded his gun and shot Scar through the shoulder -the opposite one that Nova was shielding. "You're surrounded, Scar." He stated, seeing Roy finally making it onto the scene.

Scar gritted his teeth, the pain the animal's teeth, plus the bullet wound becoming too much for him to continue as his arms dropped. "You will all pay..." he vowed darkly. He would make it out of there alive, as soon as the mutt released him. Nova blinked back into reality at Edwards voice and finally let go when Scars arm dropped. She unlocked her jaw and withdrew her teeth from his damaged arm and took a few steps away from the man, wiping his blood from her mouth. Roy stood ready to set him ablaze before noticing the skin and eye color, his eyes widen some, then narrowed. "Surrender yourself now while you still live." He said to the man.

Scar glared at the heretics around him. Hearing the threat, the man smirked, shattering the stone before blowing the area around him up, creating a smoke cover for his escape. He heard gun shots but avoided them as he ran into the alley, out of sight of the others before making his way into the sewers. Edward passed a handkerchief to Nova so she could use it before shielding her from the smoke. "Damn bastard." He cursed. Coughing at the smoke, Riza waved a hand in front of her face before it cleared. Seeing as the man had vanished, she sighed in irritation before seeing the beanie and picked it up. Walking over to Nova and Edward, she held the hat out. "Here, I think you would want this back." She smiled at her. She could vaguely hear her brother giving orders for the MPs that arrived to search for Scar, allowing their small group to be alone for a moment.
Nova shyly took the handkerchief before being shielded from the smoke caused by the explosion.

Hearing Ed, she frowned some, gripping her arm. "He'll be back.." She murmured, then she cleaned her mouth and glanced up at the woman holding her beanie. Nova blinked and nodded lightly, taking the beanie. "I could've held him longer..It would've kept him from escaping." She said, lowering her head.