Wayward Son chapter 4

"Watch your step," Stork said flatly without even looking.

"Thank you," Edward said with just as much enthusiasm.

He watched as the rest of the team flew out on their individual rides, screwing his eyebrows in confusion when he saw that they apparently called armour.

'How the hell is that supposed to protect anything?!' he wondered.

"So, um…" he said slowly, deciding to let that point slide as he would probably be considered weird for bringing it up, "…exactly how often do you guys do this sort of thing?"

"You mean plunging headfirst at terminal velocity into certain doom?" asked Stork. "Definitely more often than I would prefer, usually about once a week. Two weeks if we're lucky; most of the time we're… not. To say the least. I try not to question why it's almost always on Saturday mornings."

Edward whistled appreciatively.

"Sounds like you've had plenty of practice," he said.

"Unfortunately, yeah," said Stork. "We'll just shake them up a bit and send them home. The folks on Atmosia will never even know they were here if we're lucky-"

He was cut off when one of the pipes ruptured and started spewing steam at an alarming rate.

"Is that bad?" asked Edward.

"No, we use it to cook noodles," Stork said sarcastically. "Of course it's bad! Turn that valve there and release the pressure before the whole thing blows us to smithereens!"

The short blonde hurried over the wheel and heaved it around, and the steam quickly died down, allowing him to set the pipe back into position.

"Wow, that's rusty," he commented. "Wait, all these pipes are rusty! Just how old is this ship anyhow?"

"I honestly have no idea," Stork replied. "She set the airspeed record over a hundred years ago, but I think most of her has been replaced or rebuilt since then. I've improved everything I can. Even added extra-large cup holders."

"Yeah," said Edward, "'coz in a combat situation the one thing you have to focus on is not spilling your drinks, right?"

Stork just rolled his eyes at this. Kids. Never understood what was important did they?

"But seriously," Edward continued, "this thing's that old?! How do you know it's not going to fall out of the sky the moment it takes a single shot? What's it held together with, bootlaces? There's only so long a vehicle can hold up before it rusts out from under your feet!"

"Hey!" Stork whipped around. "I will not have you speaking that way about my Condor!"

"Your…?"

"If you don't like the way she operates, then you can step off right this moment because she has been running beautifully for as long as she's needed to and I'm not planning to give up on her any time soon! So either suck it up or get out of my ship! Door's right there if you need it!"

Edward glanced over at the door.

"Thanks," he said, "I-I'm good. Sorry."

Stork turned back to the windscreen.

"You should be," he grumbled moodily.

The blonde did his best not to stare.

'Is he seriously the eldest person in this group?' he wondered. 'He's almost as petty and obsessive as Mustang! No, scratch that: nobody is as petty and obsessive as Mustang. Nobody.'

"Hold on!"

He barely had time to tighten his grip on the railing before the ship suddenly curved upwards and his feet left the ground, and he tried and failed to avoid screaming.

"Can you STOP BEING CRAZY?!" he demanded. "For two minutes?!"

"At this point I'm questioning whether or not I had any sanity to begin with," Stork said calmly.

He levelled out, more suddenly and quickly than he usually did, and Edward was flung forward face-first onto the glass before him.

Stork sighed and rolled his eyes in irritation. He hated it when he got bugs splattered on the windscreen; it always took ages to clean off properly and the stain never completely disappeared. Plus they always left a smear as they slipped off.

"Why did you do that?" Edward asked faintly.

"Because I installed this just last week and have been dying to try it out ever since," Stork said with a sinister smile, and he pulled a lever to his left.

On the base of a ship, a hatch opened up and emptied a barrage of deep green slime onto the red battle cruiser below, coating it in sludge that was probably as stinking and noxious as it was ugly. The blonde had to press his face right up against the windscreen to see it properly.

"Uh," Edward said inelegantly, "what the hell was that?"

"Three-month-old Merbian cabbages," Stork declared proudly. "No better method of disposal than onto a different form of garbage."

A sudden explosion rocked the ship.

"I think they heard that," Edward shouted. "Hit 'em again!"

"Um, no," said Stork.

"Why not?!"

"Do you have any three-month-old Merbian cabbages?"

"Hell no!"

"Then I CAN'T!"

He wrenched the controls to the side and Edward was tipped into a wall, and then to the other side, causing the hapless teenager to slide, screaming, across the floor to the far side of the room, and he could have sworn a chicken fell past him at one point. Thankfully he landed on his feet, but the noise he made would have woken a sleeping god.

"Will you be QUIET?" Stork yelled. "I'm trying to concentrate on evasive manoeuvres here!"

"Well, be CAREFUL!" Edward yelled back, and was once again tossed about by a second, much louder and definitely closer explosion. He climbed to his hands and knees and started looking around, apparently trying to think.

"I swear," Stork muttered, "if any of you dare to put so much as a scratch on my Condor…"

He trailed off as a crack blossomed across the windscreen, covering multiple panes of glass and spreading like a plague, which was appropriate, because it was just as welcome as a plague.

Stork growled in rage.

Edward, however, scrambled over to his original position.

"I-is that just glass?" he asked frantically. "Nothing special to it or-"

"YES, it's just glass!" Stork snapped. "Why do you care?!"

He sent the ship into a spiral, whirling in a downwards direction, and poor Edward nearly lost his grip again. By the time they levelled out, the windscreen was on the verge of shattering completely.

"To hell with it!" Edward cried, and he slipped under the railing.

"And what do you think y-" Stork began.

Edward ignored him and clapped, pressing his hands together in front of his chest as if he was praying, with an expression on his face of pure concentration. He then placed his palms upon the broken glass, and the pilot would have grabbed him by the collar and dragged him away had the surface not crackled with what looked like blue lightning and then, in a wash of light...

…it was fixed.

Just like that.

There wasn't even any sign that it had ever been broken.

"Wha… wh… how…" Stork stammered in stunned disbelief.

Behind him, a pipe ruptured and started spewing steam, as pipes on the Condor were wont to do. Quick as a whip, Edward darted over to it and, with another clap, sealed it up like nothing had happened.

"I told you this thing would start falling apart!" he said.

"No," Stork said weakly, "this sort of thing happens all the time…"

Edward returned to the railing.

"Wow, is it over already?" he asked, looking out at the almost empty sky. "Did we win?"

He looked over at the pilot.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" he asked.

Stork calmly stepped away from the helm.

"I've just figured out exactly what I'm going to do with you," he said quietly, prodding the boy in the chest for added effect.

Edward gulped in terror.

Aerrow touched his cheek and sighed when he saw the crimson liquid on his fingertips.

"Why does this keep happening?" he asked.

"Why does what keep happening?" asked Junko as he rubbed his freed knuckles.

"This cut," said Aerrow, wiping the blood away with a face of disdain. "I don't get it; it keeps popping open all the time. It happened earlier when Edward punched me. Is it ever gonna heal?"

"I'm still a bit fuzzy on how that happened," said Finn. "You said the guy had a knife?"

"Yeah," said Aerrow, "but the way he fought with it, it was like it was part of his arm, it was really weird."

"And you're lucky it was such a clean cut," Piper commented. "It's 'coz you keep getting into fights, so of course it'll tear from the strain. You just have to be more careful."

They all stopped and looked at each other.

And then burst out laughing. Really, it was inevitable given what had just been suggested. Even Radarr, perched as always on Aerrow's shoulder, let out a little giggle.

"You're kidding," Aerrow eventually managed, "right?"

"Yeah," said Piper, "I guess that was a little dumb, wasn't it?"

Finn, meanwhile, walked over to the door to the bridge.

"If we open this door and Stork has completely slaughtered that dwarf," he said, "I honestly will not be surprised in the slightest."

Aerrow took a deep breath.

"Let's get this over with," he said.

The door opened, and they all stared in shock.

"Is that it?" asked Stork from his usual position at the helm. "Have you done all of them?"

"Yep! I think that's the last one," Edward said cheerfully – for some reason, he was standing with his hands on one of the pipes. "Looks like your precious hunk-a-junk is gonna stay airborne for a few decades longer."

"If you say one more negative thing about this ship, I swear-"

"What in the wide world of Atmosia is going on?" asked Piper, effectively voicing the thoughts of all five of the newcomers.

"Oh," Edward said nervously as he caught sight of the audience, "um… nothing."

"It is far from nothing," Stork said proudly. "And I… I don't even know what it is!"

"What the heck are you guys talking about?" Finn demanded.

Edward slowly lowered his hands and looked over at the pilot with an expression that could only be described as pleading.

"Sorry," said Stork, "you're on your own, little guy."

"LITTLE?!"

"How about you just explain what you guys are talking about?" said Aerrow, and he put a hand on Edward's shoulder to discourage him from taking this latest outburst any further.

Edward's fists clenched and unclenched. Eventually, he sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Fine," he growled. "Has anybody got a spare piece of metal I could use?"

"Metal?" said Piper. "Why metal?"

"I can do it with anything, but for me it works best with metal," said Edward. "Just an old lump of iron or steel? No alloys or anything, it's just for a demonstration. Heck, I'll even settle for copper or lead."

An air of confusion settled over the group.

"Well… uh… Junko's always got a load of scrap in his room," Piper suggested.

"What?" cried Junko. "But-but that's my stuff! I've barely rebuilt my collection since that whole thing in the Black Gorge! You can't-"

"I only need one piece," Edward said flatly.

Junko's face fell.

"Okay," he said dejectedly. "I'll be right back."

He left, looking like the weight of the world had just been thrust upon his shoulders.

."What exactly is this thing you're talking about?" asked Aerrow.

"It'd take too long to explain," said Edward, who right now looked almost like a cornered animal and seemed just as aggressively defensive. "I'll just say for the moment that it's not anything that special and back where I come from… Just understand that there are other people back home that can do this, okay? I'm not special, I'm really not!"

"Gee, I wonder if it's special or not," Finn said sarcastically.

"Will you just shut up?" Edward snapped.

"Hey, whoa, slow down!" said Aerrow. "What's wrong with you? You're getting really jumpy!"

"Which wouldn't really make sense if this thing wasn't special," Piper pointed out.

Edward took a deep breath and exhaled like he was blowing out birthday candles.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I just… not that comfortable showing this off, especially since I arrived here. When I do this, promise you won't freak out, okay? Swear you're not gonna freak out."

"Okay, okay, we swear!" said Finn. "Just calm down, alright? You're starting to freak me out!"

"Oh, trust me," Stork said. "You'll probably freak out even more when you see this."

"You're not helping," Edward snarled through gritted teeth.

At that moment, and to his relief, Junko returned carrying a small hunk of metal.

"This is just a bit of iron, alright?" he said. "No chrome, no paint, no nothing. I actually kinda just picked the plainest thing I could find, okay? So don't yell at me for it or-"

"Are you kidding me?" said Edward, and he walked over and took the chunk from the Wallop's fingers. "This is perfect. Thanks."

He knelt down and rested the metal on the ground, then pressed his hands together as if he was praying. Then he clasped them around the hunk of iron.

Which crackled with blue lightning and briefly flashed white.

When Edward took his hands away, it was in the shape of a perfect pyramid.

The Storm Hawks, save their helmsman, gasped and stared in shock and awe.

"Told ya!" Stork said smugly.

"Wh- what is- how- what-" Finn stammered.

"H-He just clapped and-" Junko added.

"How did you do that?!" Piper finally managed to say.

"What was that?" asked Aerrow. "How were you able to do that? You didn't-"

"You want it to be a bit clearer?" asked Edward. "Okay, give me a second."

He produced a piece of chalk from his pants pocket and used it to draw a circle around the pyramid, a triangle within that circle, and various other shapes which appeared to only make it more intricate and complex. But when he placed his hands on either side of the outer circle with his fingers touching the edges, the drawing glowed blue-white and crackled with more lightning, and the metal reshaped itself into an alarmingly intricate miniature sculpture of Radarr.

Radarr approached and examined it cautiously while Edward sat back with crossed legs.

"It's been ages since I've used a transmutation circle," he said. "Glad I haven't gotten rusty."

"And you expected us not to freak out?!" Finn practically yelled. "Dude, that's incredible, you-you're like a god!"

"I don't get what the big deal is!" Edward said. "Like I said, it's nothing special; it's just alchemy!"

"Wait," said Piper as the boy got to his feet again. "That thing where people try to turn metals into gold? But that's impossible, even with crystals!"

"Actually, there's more to it than that," said Edward. "Plus making your own gold is illegal. If every alchemist did that our economy would collapse in on itself due to hyperinflation."

Even Stork turned around to stare at him after this.

"Look, it'd take way too long to explain it all, alright?" Edward insisted. "And I already said Amestris has got alchemists pouring out of its ears, so it's not like this is anything major! And no, I'm not a god because if I was, I wouldn't have needed anything to work with. I'd have just pulled it outta my ass or something."

"Gross," Finn muttered.

"Guys, let's not get ahead of ourselves here," said Aerrow, and he stepped up next to Edward to make himself seen. "Yeah, it's pretty amazing that we've got someone on the Condor who can actually do magic-"

"'S'not magic, it's science," Edward mumbled.

"Okay-"

"Got nothin' to do with magic."

"Well-"

"Nothin' wrong with science, science is awesome."

"Okay, fine! So we've got a guy on the Condor now who can do awesome things with science," Aerrow said before he could be interrupted again, and casually leaned an elbow on Edward's shoulder as if to drive the point home, "but guys, let's face it: we have faced some weird stuff in our run as a squad, right?"

There was a pause as the rest of his squadron became pensive.

"I can think of thirty-nine off the top of my head," said Stork.

"I think I can name more," said Junko. "Um… there was that time we went to Terra Neon and there was that great big tentacle monster thing!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Finn said enthusiastically. "And it had these two guys on it who were, like, talent scouts or something and they didn't like my mad air guitar skills! Dude, that was messed up!"

"The giant monster or your air guitar?" asked Junko.

"Pick one," Stork muttered.

"What about when Finn became a giant monster and Stork went nuts trying to catch him?" asked Piper. "And I mean in the literal sense, otherwise I'd be talking about every other week. You gotta admit that was pretty bizarre."

"Need we mention the Black Gorge and all the screwy-ness it entailed?" said Finn, whose eye twitched slightly at the mention of the eldritch location.

"Don't remind me," said Junko, "I still have nightmares about the vulcabats and those giant sloths!"

"And Vapos," Stork added. "Just… just Vapos. My dreams still remain haunted by the screams of giant bats and lute music."

"You see?" said Aerrow, who was still leaning on a now-rather-annoyed Edward. "So in comparison, Edward's abilities aren't all that shocking. If anything, I'd say it's one of the least surprising things we've encountered in our time as a squadron, don't you think?"

"I am still in the room, you know," Edward said quietly as everyone else voiced their agreement.

"But does that mean we have to keep him around?" Finn asked indignantly. "We already have one supernerd geeking up the Condor, why do we need another who's even more annoying?"

"HEY!" Piper and Edward shouted together.

"Finn, I think you'll find that most of the 'annoying' I do is just me trying to get you off your lazy butt," Piper pointed out.

"Have you just got something against smart people?" Edward asked. "I mean, I know dumbasses usually do, but-"

"What did you just say about me?" Finn demanded, prepping his fist for a good hard punch. "'Coz you should know I can hit any target I shoot at, no matter how small!"

"DON'T CALL ME SMALL! I'LL BREAK YOUR FEET OFF AND STICK THEM ON YOUR HEAD!" Edward screamed, and Aerrow struggled to hold him back with a headlock while Junko and Piper pulled Finn to a safe distance.

"Will you all just stop fighting for five minutes?" cried Stork. "I will turn this ship around, people!"

Thankfully, this prompted the two blondes to stop lunging for each other's throats, although neither looked very happy about it.

"He started it," said Finn.

"Actually, I think it was you that time," said Junko.

Finn looked at him with a face of disappointment.

"Et tu, Junko?" he asked sadly.

"Look, I swear," said Edward. "All I want is to just go home and then I'll be out of your lives forever. You won't even have to think about me ever again."

"Dude, that's the best news I've heard all day," Finn said bluntly.

"Finn, I think you'd better hold your tongue," said Piper.

Maintaining complete and solid eye contact with her, Finn stuck out his tongue and grasped it between his thumb and forefinger. Piper rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Are you guys finished?" asked Aerrow.

Finn nodded. Edward just went 'hmph'.

"Okay then," Aerrow said. "So, uh, Edward; if we're gonna be escorting you to this Armistice place-"

"Amestris," Edward growled.

"Whatever. If we're gonna be taking you anywhere, someone's gonna have to show you round the Condor. Can't have you getting lost, can we?"

Finn didn't say anything, but he did give Aerrow a look that said 'Are you sure?'

"I guess," said Edward. "Can you let me outta this headlock first?"

"Are you gonna start fighting again?"

"Well, uh…"

"Then no. Radarr, could you gimme a hand?"

As if reading his thoughts, Radarr leapt up onto Aerrow's arm and slapped a paw over Edward's mouth, and the short blonde was protesting the entire time he was being dragged towards the door.

By the time it shut in their wake, he was just hanging, defeated, in the Sky Knight's arm.

"Setting a course for the east," said Stork as he pulled the appropriate levers, "putting her in autopilot."

"Waith," said Finn, who was still holding his tongue, "we're noh theriouthly goin through wih dith, are we?"

"Finn, you can let go of your tongue now," said Piper.

The marksman happily obliged.

"We're not seriously going through with this, are we?" he asked. "We've barely even known this guy for a day. And he's a total jackass!"

"But we've known people for much shorter amounts of time and we've still helped them out," Junko pointed out.

"Yeah, and besides," said Piper, "you didn't even wait an entire night before deciding to pretty much start ruling Vapos."

"But that was different!" said Finn, and he sat down at the strategy table with his legs crossed on the top. "I'm their big prophesised hot-shot hero, remember? You're just jealous because I'm the Gomo!"

"Domo," the others corrected.

"And Piper," Finn continued, "you're only defending him because you have a thing for obnoxious blondes."

"What?! I do not!" cried Piper indignantly.

Stork coughed. It sounded suspiciously like "Domiwick!"

"Alright," Piper admitted, "but that was only one time-"

Now Junko coughed, and it sounded rather like "Harrier!" and he and Finn shared a satisfied high-five.

This time Piper didn't even speak. Judging by her facial expressions alone, it's possible she was trying to figure out a way to commit the perfect murder.

"That does explain why you seem to clash with him, Finn," said Stork as he too sat on the couch, "as the role on the Condor of irritating blonde has already been filled."

"You know what?" said Finn. "I'm not even gonna say anything to that. Just gonna keep my mouth shut!"

"Oh, for real?" asked Piper, and now she and Stork high-fived.

Finn groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Whatever," he said. "You guys do and say whatever you want and I'll join you just as soon as that lady-haired lowlife is off this ship, okay?"

"Sounds good," said Piper.

"And considering how tall he is," said Junko, "I think 'lowlife' is a pretty appropriate name, don't you?"

Finn considered this for a few moments.

Then he completely cracked up.

"You just did, but sure, go ahead."

Edward shot the Sky Knight an annoyed scowl and Aerrow and Radarr smirked back at him.

"You said Stork – your helmsman – is 'round about twenty, right?" he said.

"Uh, yeah?" Aerrow wasn't sure he liked where this was going.

"And the rest of you are all fourteen?"

"All except Radarr. We're not too sure how old he is. Do you even know, buddy?"

Radarr shrugged.

"My question is; what do your parents think about all this?" Edward asked.

"Why do you care?" Aerrow asked, staring down at the alchemist in puzzlement.

"I'm just curious," said Edward. "Do they know you do all this dangerous stuff, getting into fights and flying around on those weird bicycle things-"

"You mean our rides?"

"Whatever they're called. Do they know you're doing that? Are they okay with it?"

Aerrow paused, uncertain how to answer.

"Probably not," he concluded.

"But you're still doing it anyway?!" Edward exclaimed in shock.

Then it slowly began to dawn on him.

"You… do have parents, don't you?" he asked.

Aerrow shook his head, and then shrugged.

"I probably did once, but I don't anymore," he said. "I don't even remember the last time I saw a relative. I might've been about four at the time, but I can't be sure."

For some reason, Edward looked rocked to the core.

"A-and you seriously don't mind?" he asked in apparent disbelief. "You don't even care that you don't have any parents or-or actual family?!"

"No," said Aerrow, "why?"

Edward didn't reply. He seemed so shocked that Aerrow had to pull him to one side to keep him from walking into a pipe.

He closed his eyes and shook his head.

"It's nothing," he said. "Just a bit surprising, that's all."

The door opened ahead of them, mystifying the short blonde.

"Okay, how are they doing that?" he asked. "How does a door know to open when you approach it?"

"Do you really need to question it?" said Aerrow.

Edward looked at him, then at the door, and back again several times.

"I guess not," he said, and leapt through the doorway as if something had stung him. "Just so long as it doesn't close on me, that's all."

"There are doors like this all over Atmos," Aerrow pointed out. "I think we'd know if one had closed on somebody."

The blonde still glared evilly at the door.

"I got my eye on you," he muttered as it closed. "Hey, what-"

He looked down to find Radarr tugging on his sleeve.

"Are you almost finished?" asked Aerrow. "'Coz this is probably our last stop."

"Is it?" said Edward, and rolled his eyes. "Fine."

Aerrow raised his eyebrow. This boy's attitude was really getting weird. Was he angry, confused, what? He didn't seem able to make up his mind.

"Anyway," he said, "this is the hangar bay. We keep most of our stuff in here. And out there's the runway." He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb.

Edward whistled in amazement. It echoed around the large room.

"Impressive," he said as Radarr ran back over to Aerrow. "Hey, are those the things you fly around on?"

"You bet," said Aerrow, and he leaned on the one that had a red shield on the side. "This one's mine. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Wow," Edward breathed, and he knelt down next to the vehicle. "You're right, this thing is really cool. Is that steel? It looks almost like it could be titanium!"

He reached out and gently felt the smooth, shining metal.

"You really know your metals, huh?" said Aerrow.

"It comes with being an alchemist," Edward explained. "You have to know what's what, but I really prefer this sort of thing. Hell, it's even my nickname."

"Nickname?"

"Yeah. Back home, they call me the Fullmetal Alchemist."

"Wow, that's… unnecessarily cool."

Edward glared at him.

"Not that your abilities aren't impressive," Aerrow added quickly.

The alchemist gave him another annoyed glare, but then turned back to the skimmer, running his fingers along the wings of the hawk insignia. Radarr quickly ran down and slapped his hand away, and he sat back with his legs crossed.

"Fine," he huffed. "You know, I've got a friend back home who would absolutely love this place."

"Oh," said Aerrow, genuinely surprised that this boy was telling him something new. "Really? Does he like carriers and skimmers?"

"She is obsessed with anything mechanical," Edward said. "And I know for a fact that if she saw this place, she. Would. Freak."

Despite his better nature, Aerrow was genuinely surprised. This guy actually had a friend? Not just that, but a female one? Given how arrogantly he behaved, it would have been far more understandable if he was a total loner.

"I gotta say, Flyboy," he said as he stood up, "this place you've got here is pretty frickin' sweet. Is it okay if I take a look around by myself?"

Aerrow shared a glance with Radarr, who shrugged.

"So long as you don't touch anything," he said.

Edward held up his hands, either defensively or just to show where they were, and departed (but not until he'd given the door a cursory glance and jumped through it like it would sting him).

Radarr pointed after him with his thumb and looked at Aerrow questioningly.

"Don't ask me," said Aerrow, "I don't get him either."