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Open The Chimera Project IV

"... Are you with us, or against us?"

When Brandon completely regained his consciousness, he was lying on his side, and his back throbbed with a dull pain. He had a vague memory of something different, of blue skies and white clouds, but he dismissed the thought immediately. He still appeared to be in a jail of sorts, with gray walls and gray bars. Something was different though; unlike his previous cell, the one he was currently in was brightly illuminated, and the harsh light burned his retinas. Brandon squinted and sat up. What was he doing here again?

Still groggy, Brandon surveyed the room. There were a few others around him, also in cells, but what particularly caught his attention was the strange doctor in the blood stained coat standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by soldiers.

"All of you... a second chance..." The doctor said something, but Brandon couldn't concentrate enough to figure out what was going on. There was something bothering him in the back of his head, and he could feel a migraine coming on. Second chance? What second chance? All he could remember was the jail cell. His nice, small, cozy jail cell. Brandon wanted to sleep, to ignore the noise drilling into his mind and fade away into blissful darkness again.

"...Powers... show you." Something in those words caught Brandon's attention again, and the boy looked up and saw. Two pedestrian soldiers, looking so normal before, was changing. One grew a long mane and claws, while the other started burning.

The soldier -- fire-beast -- spat out a burst of glowing balls that bounced on the ground and sizzled quietly. Fire.

Fire? Fire.

The doctor was talking again, but Brandon did not listen. He was enchanted by the glowing pellets, at the power they radiated. Power... He had never thought about it and never wanted it, but a foreign feeling crawled up his spine. Power. Brandon had a strange urge to rip something apart. It was almost like the time...

Brandon's attention was once again drawn away when a Xingnese girl spontaneously burst into flames.

Fire is good. Fire is clean. Fire burns all.

"...I'm in." Something seemed to come over him, and Brandon stood up, ignoring the burning girl and the boy who was cautiously hanging by the open door, and walked through. The voice inside him roared, and Brandon suddenly realized how hungry he was. "... Can I have some food?"
 
(uggh, this is going to be so confusing, with two Brandons)

One of the final men to arise, the second Brandon sat up on the ground. He clutched his head, groaning softly, feeling a bit strange. The last thing he remembered, he was in the execution chamber, injected with several drugs, and passed out. That was supposed to be it, the end, his end. Then what happened? Why was he still alive.

All wrong! Feel wrong, strange... weird creatures... humans? Look wrong, smell wrong... where am I? Hungryy... humans food?

Yes..Those were the right questions, err, mostly. Thoughts began to rain through his head, but they didn't feel like they were *his* thoughts. They seemed less organized, more instinctual... But it all seemed obvious that both sets of thoughts stemmed from the same question. What was going on here? Brandon tried to just watch and listen, but uggh, he just couldn't concentrate on what was going on in front of him.

But then Brandon found something to focus his mind upon. There, well in front of him, he watched several of the humans suddenly change shape. His eyes in particular shifted to one in particular that began to spurt flames from body.

Ooooh, fire... pretty... warm... I like fire... Brandon felt compelled to reach his hand up toward the flaming creature. Power... each one of them showed a power, one that he yearned for, that he could feel deep down that he had

"Yes..." He spoke in a relatively deep voice. "Show me... who I am, and what I can become." Brandon closed his eyes, and tried to focus on the other voice within him. In his mind, he saw a vision of how his other self remembered itself. And that's when he felt it. A burst of pain shot through his body, as his form began to mutate. Brandon roared for a moment, but the pain only increased his focus. He knew something was happening... he could feel himself changing as well.
 
Thalia sat quietly in the spot she been crouching in, her mind barely registering the voices of anyone but the strange doctor man. She stared at him through her long white hair, her body coiled up into itself, and hand clenching the bar so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

"We...we're different, like them...?" She muttered, mostly to herself, as she eyed the soldiers. "Can I do that...?"

She looked back at the doctor, who was talking about this change. The voice...focus, training, obey. This scared her, but another part of her seemed willing to follow this man. She let go of the bar, and got shakily to her feet. What would she become...? Would she have fire too, or something else? Ice, water, leaves, or electricity maybe? Something in her head hissed wordlessly about the soothing darkness, shadows, the calm and welcoming night. Was...that her power? The voice hissed that yes, this was, she was a mistress of the dark. Would this man be able to help her...?

She felt another fear-pang in her chest when she eyed him. How could she know that he wouldn't hurt her, rape her, beat her? She shook her head a bit. No, no...this voice, something felt right about it, she should trust it....

"I...I guess I can come too..." She muttered. Her stomach rumbled. "Oh, uh... I'm hungry...."

((fail attempt to get back in the game go!))
 
The doctor's expression was cold. "You always have a choice. The consequences of your choices can influence you. But we are not cruel. You would eventually be fed, because we don't want you to die, but your life would be very different if you refuse to fight for the good of the people." He turned on his heel and walked to the wooden door. It opened easily; it seemed the bars were the only thing that kept the prisoners locked inside. "Bodily damage is usually healed," the doctor said. "You should be fine."

The female and flaming soldiers turned to follow, but then there was a shriek; the doctor and soldiers snapped their heads to the source, and
Morgan did as well, to see a woman spontaneously combusting. Morgan felt herself hiss and recoil, but she only did so a second later, stepping back and almost kicking the girl she'd been trying to comfort. Firedeath, the other hissed. Kill? Flee runrun firedeath burn killfirst die.

The doctor looked honestly startled, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. The man with flaming shoulders turned on him.

"You fused a creature completely covered in flames with someone?" he snarled. "You know the chances of survival - you can't just throw lives away, you said you wanted to avoid that!"

"She's not one of mine," the doctor said, frowning. "I don't work with invertebrates." Then, louder: "But she survived. She won't die from this."

But the flaming soldier didn't wait to listen - he shoved through the cell and stood over the girl, careless about his own flames but moving too fast to light anyone on fire. He crouched by her, dropping his military jacket behind him. "Hey," he said. "Now's a bad time. Resist the voice, listen to mine. Concentrate on your human form, how it feels to--to have legs, to walk. If you're like this, you'll need to practise everything with supervision." He turned his head. "Doctor Blackburn--"

It was the doctor's turn to do the ignoring. "Second Lieutenants Avro and Valiant, lead the rest of the chimeras to the cafeteria. Warrant Officers Fairey and Dornier will follow them."

"Yes, sir."

The female cast a last look at the two flaming chimeras and headed out the door, with the clawed one taking his place beside her. The three human soldiers stood still, waiting, though the shortest one's eyes focused on the fire, occasionally flickering to the other prisoners.

Morgan slipped out of the cell and followed them, eager to get food as well as to get away from the flaming, melted person. Outside, there was a short hall, dimly lit, that led to a much larger and brighter one running perpendicular to the hall leading to the cell. Two soldiers stood at the end of the prison cell hall. From the large hall, a few other hall-branches could be seen, each guarded by two soldiers. These were not evenly spaced out, though, and the walls were mostly completely smooth. One end of the hall led to a large set of double-doors, this one guarded by more soldiers. The soldier-chimeras glanced back to make sure they were being followed, then headed in the opposite direction of the doors.

Meanwhile, the fire-beast tentatively held a paw-hand over Jin's shoulder, almost close enough to touch. He looked up at Dr. Blackburn, who was now standing right outside the bars. "Are you sure she'll be alright?"

The doctor didn't answer, which prompted the soldier to curse and look back down with a slightly softer expression.

"You probably can't move well, right? You should turn back now, so we can teach you to make that form useful."

"What the hell is that?"

The soldier turned his head to see the tenth prisoner plastering himself against the back wall.

"She just--she's on fire, and she's melting, and you're all just--that's not supposed to--that's not normal! And that guy, just..." Unable to find words, he just pointed at the transforming Brandon, whose neck and head were grotesquely changing shape. The back of Brandon's pants was pushed down by a growing, thickening tail, and two flat things sprouted from his back. It was all gradual, all happening at once, giving observers time to focus on every horrifying detail. "What did you do to us?"
 
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((Blaaargh, had a whole post typed up and then it died. D: Forgive the replacement's shortness and general fail-aspects.))

Nephtys flinched back as one of the prisoners burst into flames. Her suspicion was gone - there was only the overwhelming need to get away from the fire before it could hurt her. She was barely aware of moving, and yet somehow managed to find herself following the soldiers, breathing quickly and tensed up as if expecting to burst into flames herself. Firedeath fly away... Flyflyflyfly... She slowed down, trying to move at a pace that allowed her to look around, but not fall too far behind. She didn't want to get lost here...

Scratching at one arm - it itched, and the skin felt oddly rough when she touched it, though it didn't look any different - she managed to relax once there was enough distance between her and the fire. She wouldn't want to get burned... especially just after being cured. It felt so odd to be able to walk around, move freely without any pain. Almost a miracle, if the price hadn't been so high... Spotting the rather grimy boy who had subtly sided with her earlier - and he hadn't trusted the doctor, which raised him in her estimation - she slowed down even more, looking over at him. "I'd be all for running off, but I'd just get lost, it'd be stupid, and I don't want to see just how many people there are that can... change like that. Do you think they're lying? About any of this?" She didn't think so - unless rebellion resulted in a slow death, rather than an extended period of hunger and who knew what else.
 
Ezio flinched at the sudden burst of flames. There some need, an animal-istic need, to get the hell away from the fire. He vaguely heard the doctor about food and was suddenly found himself following the soldiers and the rest of his fellow prisoners, behind a girl roughly 14-16. He saw a boy, roughly his age still sound asleep. He wondered for some time on how he is still asleep before he noticed the troupe in front of him, and followed suit.

He wished he had not joined the military and was still on the rooftops, free running from one end of the city to the other,making sure he was not seen. He longed for those days and sighed. No matter how much he tried to suppress the thoughts in his heaad, they keep re-surfacing. Are we like that? Can we all burst into flames at will? Or do we all have different powers? And if so... what are they? These thoughts keeped being surpressed and re-surfacing as his stomach, as well as his throat and mouth keeped on growling.
 
Feratu had been skeptically analyzing the doctor, trying and failing to ignore the acidic hunger urging him to follow his offering of food, when another member of the 'group' burst into flames and started to melt. Any semblance of calm the boy had been able to inflect upon his bearing evaporated as the wave of sudden heat rolled over him.

This was much more dramatic than the change in the soldier, whose facial structure had changed along with his shoulders flaming; this person had immediately ignited and seemed to be losing her structural integrity.

Fer had pressed himself against the bars of the cell, and the flame-shouldered soldier had rushed in, apparently sympathetic for the melting girl. The doctor, whose name seemed to be Dr. Blackburn, had said something 'envertabrates' and then a bunch of the inmates had followed him out of the door.

The girl from before asked him about their situation.

Fer answered her in a low voice. "I dunno, I don't see how they could fake these voices in our heads, or do you have one? I do." Feratu paused for a breath. "And I am very hungry."
 
'Fire consume all what's going on burn to the ground Oh gods, I- I can hear it fire within in my own thoughts-' Jin's mind raced, the previously subdued voice in the back of her head was now in the forefront. It was like it was trying to.. command her. She started to feel panicked, primal urges gushing forth like an erupting volcano.
The soldier who had burst into flames himself was there... she could tell, her body focused on the flames leaping from his back.
'Help me burn up I'm melting away losing it...'

"Resist the voice, listen to mine. Concentrate on your human form, how it feels to--to have legs, to walk."

It was about all she could make out.. but it was enough. She closed her eyes, not hearing what was said, but to the presence of humanity.. another was speaking.. Him too.. and another...
Fire rises again
Jin felt her upper body rolling and realigning itself. She kept listening, remembering the moments before... the floor started to feel cold again, the air brushing against her causing her to shiver. But it was comforting, in a way, after that..
She twitched her arm...
Fire.....
And it stopped... she didn't try to move any more, though, laying there, breathing hard, face pressed against the cold concrete.
 
Trailing quietly behind the soldier-chimeras, Thalia was absorbed mostly in her own thoughts than her surroundings. She was curious as to what she would become, but also didn't want to try if she was going to burst into flame or something. And that sinking feeling in the back of her mind wouldn't go away. She frowned, and pulled at her - white white white - hair, pulling a clump in front of her eyes. Her frown deepened.

Looking up, she counted each military officer that she recognized from the cell - one, two, three, four - and wondered if any others were hiding odd powers. But she dared not ask; they were men, and men would do hurtybadthings to her and she didn't want that now did she? Then her eyes locked on the woman. She scooted a bit closer to her.

"Uhm. Umm. Why...why is my hair white...?" She mumbled, hopefully loud enough to be heard, but she wasn't sure. She played with her hair again.

The voice in her head spoke up a bit then, whispering softly. Hunt prey kill quick, feed the pup. She shook her head violently, and slapped her hands over her ears, as if that would stop the voice, but she knew it would not, deep down. What was going on...? She made a low whine.
 
Brandon looked around, noting the long corridors and the twisting hallways. Everything looked the same here; smooth walls, guard, smooth walls, guard, smooth walls... Brandon fell into a rhythm, and soon he stopped looking up whenever they passed a pair of guards. There were a few others walking with him -- kai-me-rahs, the doctor in the white robe had said they were called -- and the guards, too -- what's a kai-me-rah?

The group stopped briefly in front of a set of important-looking double doors, and Brandon almost stumbled into a white haired girl. He apologized under his breath and was about to continue on when some inner instinct made him look back. He could feel something down at the halls, some one like him, some sort of power --

Intruder. Go back. Kill enemy. The voice whispered fiercely, and Brandon paused, staring down the hallway. He did not know how he knew, but he knew that something -- someone -- was where it was not supposed to be and he need to die die die diedie --

"No. Food first," Brandon said out loud and kept on walking, feeling the voice in his head rise to an absolute fiery. Go back kill kill kill kill kill intruder kill destroy rip apart kill --

Brandon kept on walking, leaving behind the important-looking double doors.

Kill kill kill

He decided to try to strike up some friendly conversation just so he could ignore the voice. He walked up to a dark-haired girl with the strange hair-spike. "So, what do you think's behind those weird double doors?" He asked, not noticing that the girl was trying to talk to someone else.
 
The two rifle-wielding soldiers followed the group of chimeras. Though their rifles were pointed straight at the ceiling, Morgan thought she felt their intent stares on the back of her head. It wasn't just her, as she noticed when she dared turn her head; they were watching all of the chimeras closely, perhaps looking for a sign of something.

Morgan quickened her pace (she suspected the change in movement had attracted attention, but she wanted a bit of distance between herself and them) and found herself nearing the white-haired girl. "Why is my hair white?" the girl muttered.

The clawed man looked down at her. "No idea. Happens sometimes. Probably means your other half had white hair, but sometimes it's just a side-effect. It's easy to dye, though, don't worry." He offered a grin. "If you're concerned about dating, don't be. You're still very pretty."

Morgan gave him a sharp look, though his expression was innocent enough, being just a smile. He looked much older than the white-haired girl, so she hoped she was reading him right.

They turned down into another hall, and this time there were normal closed doors in the walls. They weren't guarded, though a few soldiers wandered the halls. A door opened, and a couple of chuckling women in lab coats walked out. They turned into a different hallway, though the soldiers led the chimeras straight through the intersection.

Killmeat, the other suggested. Morgan considered, trying to figure out how much meat were on those humans' arms and legs, but shook herself out of it. Admittedly, the other helped with its background commentary: Dangerlight runrun maybedie don'tknow runhide shadowsafe. Wherehere? Enemywhere allplace. Unsafe, runhide...

"Avro!"

The female paused as she made another turn, and looked in the opposite direction of where she'd been heading. She moved to the side, making a vague hand-gesture that seemed to tell the clawed soldier (2nd Lt. Valiant, then, Morgan thought) to keep going, since that's what he did.

Morgan dawdled behind to hear what they were saying, but a second female soldier walked alongside the jeweled one, and they both walked quickly to get to the front again, talking the whole time. Morgan noticed a red jewel hanging on a string around the woman's neck, an Amestrian sabre on her hip, and a slight slouch.

"Hello, Major Lockheed," 2nd Lt. Avro said. "I didn't expect you here."

"Had to see if you had my replacement yet," the newcomer replied. "Heard there's been a lot of success with making Flame obsolete, right?" She glanced at the group of chimeras as she passed a few. "Huh, new ones?"

"The doctors successfully created chimeras that have exhibited control over fire," 2nd Lt. Avro said. "Second Lieutenant Mitchell is learning to control it, but it costs a signifiant amount of energy even though the source should be alchemical."

"Right. Make them your last, for now. Higher-ups want them ready in two weeks."

2nd Lt. Valiant whipped his head around in surprise. "What?"

Morgan was very obviously paying attention to their conversation now, looking between the backs of their heads. She narrowed her eyes. What were they planning? She didn't particularly want to go through academy training again, but she was also not ready to plunge into combat that required special powers.

"Just get directly to giving them their powers, yeah?" Maj. Lockheed shrugged. "State Alchemists don't need that Academy crap, and neither do they. These sickos--sorry, scientists--aren't being paid to make soldiers. They're just another breed of Dogs of the Military." A pause. "Well, they'll be called demons."

-

The flaming soldier picked up the military jacket behind him and covered Jin's torso with it. "Hey," he said. "You alright? Still thinking okay?"

"She'd need your skirt too, if you're trying to preserve her modesty," the doctor said, "but there's no need." He removed his lab coat; underneath he wore a simple T-shirt and pants, plus a belt with a pistol and a pouch on it. These would have been covered by his lab coat from any angle, but they were plainly visible now. He opened his pouch and felt inside, then took out a slip of paper. When he threw his lab coat on the floor of the cell and put the paper on top, the transmutation circle was plainly visible. He touched the circle with two fingers.

With a few sparks of alchemy, the lab coat reformed itself into a white dress. Dr. Blackburn picked it up and walked over to Jin. "Change into this," he said.

"Hey, wait," the one glued to the wall said, "isn't she getting some privacy?"

It was probably a good question, given that the doctor and soldier were looking right at her, although the boy's faint blush suggested that wasn't what he was thinking. The last soldier, 2nd Lt. Master, looked mildly interested although he was mostly watching Brandon transform.

"You'll have to get used to it," the doctor said. He looked at Brandon. "Ah, you got that one. Interesting. Can you walk?"
 
Even though in real time everything was happening very fast, to Brandon, his transformation felt painfully slow. He could feel every bone, muscle, organ in his body twist and writhe, some bones melding together and others splitting, still others forming anew, particularly back from his bottom. The changes forced him to kneel down on the ground, grasping at the floor with his developing claws, and he couldn't help but try to scream out from just the intense, agonizing pain, but no sounds came out of his mouth. And throughout the process, he felt as if his mind was becoming more distant from his body, while the strange voice inside him only became stronger, as it began to feel and recognize features of its own, long-forsaken body, but those features it didn't seem to be able to transfer instinctively to him.

As the pain finally began to subside, Brandon reopened his eyes... and almost instantly he began to feel dizzy and nauseous. Everything looked totally different... everything. It was kind of like going from perfect human vision, to suddenly putting on a strong pair of prescription sunglasses. His whole field of vision looked totally distorted... suddenly things that were completely behind him were visible, but the direct center of his eyes was where they could really focus. "What the... hell...?" He thought out loud, and looked down toward his clawed hands. They looked a bright orangey-yellow... but then again, all the other colors around him looked different too.

Feel better, still wrong, better... look better, not like human
The voice in his head spoke up to him, echoing louder in his head. Brandon thought back, <What, who are you, tell me! What am I? Or we...> The self image of a Flygon returned to the forefront of his mind.
Show already! You human, I Flygon. We... both? Now, food! Hunt... hungry!
That last word stuck in him like a bullet... yes, he could feel hunger pains throughout his body. The transformation process felt like it took a lot out of him... Which it did literally, but it attached on to other parts. But more than that, it took a lot of energy, and he had already been hungry beforehand.
"Hungry..." Brandon repeated the word, groaning. He turned his head to look around, sniffing at the air. Almost all the others were already gone, but a couple remained. So many new smells... new... delicious... His mouth laid open, panting, and he lifted a trembling paw into the air, toward the nearest human, the 2nd Lt. Master. A grunt and a growl flowed from his lips.
<What am I doing?> He wondered, yet he felt compelled. Eat human, hunger go away... He could suddenly hear a different human speak to him, but the sounds were a blur. It was enough though to get his attention, and Brandon turned his head toward the doctor. Growling softly, he lowered his shoulders and lifted his knees, instinctively taking a crouching position, then, he tried to lunge forward, leaping up toward the doctor. It would have been a perfect leap, if he was a complete Flygon... but in this form, his legs were just too long. They stayed on the ground far too long for a leap, and he began to stumble forward instead, landing sprawled out on his stomach, just in front of the doctor. Groaning, he began to push himself up to his feet, but it wasn't long before he stumbled again. Brandon whimpered. That was one prey that wasn't going to be caught, not like this. He held out a hand up to the doctor, whimpering again. "Food..."
 
Nephtys grimaced. "So I guess everyone has one... great. Mine keeps muttering about how fire is bad, and that I need to fly..." Maybe she wouldn't suddenly burst into flames - but she really didn't want to find out how she would change. "I'm hungry too, really. I wonder how long we were asleep..."

Hunt, get food, fly... She rubbed her forehead as if that would quiet the voice. "I suppose we'd better go along for now. Watch out for an opportunity to get out of here or put them into a situation where they hadve to give us more answers... Though I don't know what'll happen if we do escape - it's not like we can just walk around and pretend everything's normal." It was like the doctor had said... their pasts were gone now. She would never see her family again. That thought left a lump in her throat and she hastily turned her attention to the boy approaching them.

"The doors? I don't know... Something weird probably. Maybe the things we were... fused with." She was tired and hungry and felt like crying - not that she could, not in front of enemies... For the moment, heri nterest in the situation had dissipated, replaced by bitter sadness.
 
Kill kill kill kill humans kill the intruders kill the humans kill kill kill

Brandon blinked. He didn't really feel like killing anyone right now. It was too much effort. Besides, he was hungry. And who would he kill anyway? Nobody was bothering him, and the most annoying thing at the moment was the noise in his head. He tried to ignore the voice and focused on spiky-hair instead -- although Brandon did not like company, it was better than listening to the voice.

Brandon was a bit surprised that spiky-hair had actually responded to him; he was used to people -- the prison guards, mostly, but his classmates, too -- just ignoring him. "Hm, I suppose," he replied, "but what are the things we were... fused with?" A pause there sounded about right. 'Fused' wasn't really a word Brandon had to use in daily life, and he figured that a mimicking the pause the girl placed in her sentence would make him stand out less. His stomach growled, louder this time.

Kill the girl. Kill them all. Kill them all and fly away. The voice seemed to have calmed down a little, not rambling anymore. "No, food first," Brandon said again, raising his voice a little, as if talking louder would make the voice shut up.
 
Demons...me?

Aslen keeps following the rest of the group to wherever the promised food may be. She lowers her eyes and starts to counted the floor panels as she walks, her mind wandering here and there.

~Run...flee...~

No no, Food. That was the deal.

~ Danger...distrust...badbadbadbadbad~

Alsen turns her head a bit, glancing over to the others in the group, wondering if they could also hear their second voices yet. Her gaze then rested on the small girl that seemed focused on her hair colour. She noted that one of the other soldiers tried to calm her, in the best way as one could.

He talks like a Father...he kinda acted like Daddy when he was...

The images of her past flooded her mind suddenly, casuing her to stop walking and stare at the floor.

BloodbloodbloodDaddyisdeadDaddydeadMommydeadBrotherdeadBloodBloodBlood!

Images of her father laying on the floor, his intestines pulled out of his body and in her hands. His blood was still warm and running down her arms, dripping her her elbows to the floor. Her Mother was sprawled next to her Father, eyes staring dully up at where she stood. Her Brother was on the stairs, a hold in his back where he was stabbed repeatedly.

DeaddeaddeaddeaddeadAllofthemaredeadNomorefamilyNomoreDaddyorMommyorBrotherDeaddeadead!

She closes her eyes, lifting her hands to her ears and blocks them, trying to push back the imagines of their death and the images of her old life. She was past it now, she was older.

She didn't need to remember that to make herself feel warm inside no more. She had the memories of the ones she killed to warm her chilled skin.

There will be more warm blood to warm her.

"Calm...peace...steady steady...need food and I'll be fine"

She opened her eyes and started to walk after the group once more, glancing over her shoulder every so often at the white haired girl and the woman that acted like a soldier. She was curious of her manner, and of her story.

Who were they before. Why are they here. Why did they use a soldier for their new monster army.

Monster...Demon...

She folds her hands before her, eyes steady and showing nothing ahead of her.

I want to go home to my partner. He'll know what to do.
 
Thalia stared at the man who spoke to her for a moment, then scooted a few inches away from him, closer to the girl from earlier. She made a tiny mental note to ask her name later, but was more occupied with making her goose bumps go away. She followed in silence, head lowered, until another woman joined them. Thalia examined her for a few seconds, then lowered her gaze and listened. Her hearing seemed to be better than before...

Then she heard a name - or rather, a title - that she had heard many times since she was very small. The Flame. If they meant the same man her father had always talked about...she had to see him, see the person who had caused such a change in her sweet, loving father. It was this man's fault that these hurtybadthings had happened to her. She felt her eyes narrow, almost involuntarily, and she stared at the new woman. She must know him.

She felt something new well up in her chest - something she hadn't felt in a long time. Courage. Was...her mind-voice doing this? Either way, she made a break for the front of the group and the strange new woman.

"The Flame?" She yelped, the loudest she had spoken. "You...You mean...Roy Mustang? Right...?"

((why is this so short aaaah))
 
"Their life expectancies just plummeted," 2nd Lt. Valiant said, suppressed frustration evident in his voice. "I thought they'd be considered more valuable than human soldiers, but if they're being rushed into this--everyone? Not just the ones we've been training for a while?"

"Yeah, they're planning on using all of them, as far as I know. Blackburn will probably get the explicit orders soon."

2nd Lt. Valiant groaned. "Dammit! That makes most of this a huge waste."

Sudden movement caught Morgan's attention, and the white-haired girl darted in front of the leading soldiers and wheeled around. "The Flame? You... you mean... Roy Mustang? Right?" Her voice became less sure as it went on, but it was more controlled than the first time she'd spoken. Still, there was some emotion Morgan couldn't identify involved; she thought it probably wasn't a good one, judging by the girl's facial expression.

Behind them, the two human soldiers shifted their weapons, but the major didn't act scared or even alert. She did stop, though.

"Yeah," Maj. Lockheed said. She snapped her fingers. "Psshhhhh... boom! Flame Alchemist. He's the best psych weapon in the military, nice and flashy, but there's a few fire chimeras already. Almost like they're focusing on the cool ones... actually, even Mitchell can't incinerate people with one blast, so his alchemy might stick around yet."

2nd Lt. Avro frowned and looked back. Her eyes seemed to linger on Nephtys for a full second, and one large ear twitched, but she turned her head back to face Thalia. "Do you know him?" 2nd Lt. Avro asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he was given the same mission you have," 2nd Lt. Valiant said, watching Thalia's face closely. "Did you want to meet him?"

-

Dr. Blackburn wore a supremely unsympathetic expression. He stared down at Brandon, and took a moment to speak. It was during that moment when Brandon was most likely to notice the situation: Dr. Blackburn had his pistols already pointed at the younger man, though it hadn't been seen during the first leap, while the fire chimera's shoulders were blazing brighter and hotter than before. He and 2nd Lt. Master were both in a half-crouch, as if ready to pounce.

"Were you trying to kill me?" The doctor's voice was soft. "You can't do that. I'm not dying today. But perhaps you shouldn't be given the freedom of our chimeric weapons, if you're already thinking of treason." His expression shifted, lips pulling back like a snarl, and he kicked Brandon in the head. It was hard enough to hurt, but probably not to cause damage. "You'll get food when the rest of us do. Consider it a mercy that we don't lock you in here to starve." The doctor turned back to Jin and dropped the dress by her head. The two chimeric soldiers, though, were warily watching Brandon.

"Did you think you'd get away with it?" The fire-chimera snorted, and blew out a small puff of flame for emphasis. "You'd be dead before you got in a decent blow, and he'd be in the hospital too quick for him to die. Half the people here are doctors."

"I would hope you'd keep him alive, Second Lieutenant Mitchell," the doctor said. "The necropsy would be useful, but not as much as a live study."
 
Thalia kept her gaze locked on the woman, a bit of her white hair managing to fall loose from behind her ear and fall over her face, putting her left eye in shadows. She did know the Flame, then. She needed to see him, right away. A light snarl played on her face, and she balled her hands into fists; she was feeling true anger for the first time she could remember.

"Yes...I...want to meet him." She hissed, trying her best to keep her voice level, and failing. She sounded rather angry instead of calm. "Take me to him. Please."

Kill him? The Voice asked. Prey. Feed the kit. Perhaps she would kill him...but...that didn't seem right to her. Something nagged at her in the back of her mind to calm down, why are you angry? But the Voice hissed back, urging her on, kill him, kill him, kill kill killkill killkillkill.

She trembled a bit, her eyes darting back and forth, trying to sort out her thoughts. Her head ached, and she was so scared and confused and mad at the same time and it made her dizzy and ill. Her stomach growled loudly at her again, and he placed her hands on it without thinking. Flat belly, under the plain cotton dress. It was so odd, she felt wrong still, without the baby inside her, safe.

Kill him. The Voice growled again, and she looked back at Lockheed, attempting a smile. It came out as a crooked smirk.

"Please..?"
 
Morgan didn't know who the white-haired girl thought she was trying to fool. The anger was displayed all over her face, and her voice didn't do much to help her either. Fists, a snarl, a hiss, then a smirk... yeah, the soldiers would definitely catch on. So she was surprised by the major's response.

"What, you wanted the Hero of Ishval's autograph? He's not around here." Anyone could see the tilt of Maj. Lockheed's head, but only Thalia would notice the slight smirk.

2nd Lt. Valiant's eyes flickered to Maj. Lockheed and back to Thalia. "We don't have the authority to schedule a meeting between any of us and a colonel. If you train hard and become one of the better chimeras, you're more likely to be put on the same team as him for whatever the military is planning, though."

"He's supposed to be pretty strong," Maj. Lockheed added. "Exploded a bunch of buildings in one go in the war, and apparently the last murderer he caught had her insides turned black from one blast. He wouldn't be too impressed if he saw you now - have you even transformed yet? You should wait until you've learned how to fight and use your powers." She shoved her hands into her pockets. "You know, so he wants you on his team," she added, when 2nd Lt. Avro opened her mouth. "Without the Hawk's Eye and the rest of them on his side, he'll want someone just as good."

Morgan bristled slightly. Hawk's Eye, that prodigy sniper person that some people just didn't shut up about. Just because she racked up a ton of kills in the Ishval war. Any experienced sniper worth her title could do that, but the Hawk's Eye got special attention because she did it as a cadet. Killing unimportant targets just to increase the kill count wasn't that impressive... even if Morgan sometimes did that too. (Killing a few people when she missed a shot brought her ratio of shots fired to confirmed kills back to how it was supposed to be.)

"So just train like a good chimera, and you'll get to see him in just a few weeks, alright? But first," Maj. Lockheed said, glancing back at the rest of the chimeras, "you're going for food, right? Always the first stop."

"Yes," 2nd Lt. Avro said. "I'm sure the others would like to eat as soon as possible."
 
Jin probably could have moved by then, but she didn't want to. Sitting still listening on, she hoped to hear something of use.. but nothing came. The others seems just as blown away by her transformation as she was. Although the voice had subsided, she began to lose track of anything that was being said - it just wasn't enough to hold her attention.
There was the faint sound of an alchemical spark, and shortly after.. a thud, as if someone else had fallen to the cold stone floor. Hmph, at least she wasn't alone now.. but the voices took a terribly serious tone. This one tried something stupid... well, stupider, Jin was the one laying naked on the floor half unconscious, and...
'Oh, dammit' she thought, lifting her head as she felt a light breeze against her face of something landing next to her. Jin wasn't the type to be particularly modest, but this wasn't about to work. Slowly, she lifted her arms to her sides and pushed herself up - even with her skeleton in its apparent proper place again, it felt so awkward to move after what had happened, and she only managed to get to a kneeling position.

"Is... Is that going to happen every time?" She asked awkwardly, to noone in particular. Picking up the light, white dress, she examined it for a moment before slipping it over her head, and after a few moments struggling to her feet.. Her stomach rumbled incessantly, the whole incident seemed to have sapped much of her strength, or what little was available at the time. "Maybe.. I'll just get going..."
Jin smiled softly at the fire-shouldered soldier, he wasn't like the others.. especially that doctor, whom she had only just noticed was now carrying a pistol, which left her feeling rather flushed.


((....by gods failpost, sorry but I wanted to put something down and all.. ))
 
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