Vic and the Secret Door Chapter 36

The group was stuck in the harsh elements awaited to see what the hot tempered Alchemist would say to General Armstrong to try and get them inside, preferably before he, Dark, Ed, Fai, Tamaki, and Soldier A all froze to death in the harsh northern climate.  Meanwhile Michele looked on from behind Armstrong and several of her staff. Vic took notice that it appeared some of the rest of the group was with her and he could off hand make out, possibly Spirit, Obito, Yukito, and Greece off hand, but he wondered where Ikkaku, Zero, E-123, Gawl, Broly, Kougaiji, and Forbesii could all be. He was almost hoping they where in one of the Detention cells of Briggs and not lost elsewhere or worse, had gotten dropped into the enemies territory.

Ed glowered at General Armstrong, as he responded back. "How about just letting us in you crazy old hag before we all freeze to death or get blown to bits by the Drachman army..."

Vic facepalmed as he heard Ed's remark to the General. He sighed and was now sort of hoping that the General wouldn't order her soldiers to shoot them all. The General sneered at Ed. "Still a short tempered little maggot with an attitude aren't you...." Ed's eye twitched and he began to tremble as his fists clenched. He was about to go off on a short rant but Vic stepped up and put his hands on Ed's shoulders. "Ed...." He heard mumbling from the alchemist and what sounded like counting. Vic then glanced up at the General who was eying him with a sort of suspicion. "Never seen anyone like you around these parts or in Amestris. Your not Ishvalan either...."

He sighed as he spoke to the general. "Except for Ed, none of us are from around here General Armstrong." He watched as the the general raised a brow at him, for knowing who she was. "Actually more like not from around this world, but I ask of you to for some measure of mercy and grant us entry to your fortress. I am willing to answer your questions as best as I can. The woman and the few other with her that your soldiers are watching over can vouch that we are not here to cause trouble. All we ask for is shelter, and some assistance so we can continue our journey.”

The General glanced over Vic with a sort of calculating look as if to decide whether or not to believe Vic. Finally she replied. “I will grant you entry, but you must defeat me in unarmed combat. All you need to do is land one hit, and I will let you in to the Fortress.” She pointed at Vic as she spoke, and Vic pointed at himself. “Me?” He looked a little nervous about the idea. He was still a little sore from the fight with Orochimaru earlier. He then sighed. “Alright. All I need is one hit and we can come in. At this point I don’t think we have anything more to lose…”

The General grinned as she handed over her sword to one of the soldiers and had several of the others drag Dark, Fai, Tamaki and Soldier A to the alcove of the doorway out of the General’s and Vic’s way, and from the direct force of the elements. She took a defensive stance and Vic circled her a little trying to figure out how to best approach the General and land the one hit he needed to grant them entry before freezing to death. He launched himself towards the General and found himself on his back in the snow. He got up and tried again. The battle lasted for about ten minutes with poor Vic getting his butt sort of kicked by the General. The cold was not helping either. Suddenly something about the way Gawl would fight when not in Generator form came to him, and he closed his eyes for a moment to visualize it in his mind before he opened them and attempted to see if he could somehow execute the move, even it was messy and unpolished. Somehow, he manged to catch the General off guard and tackled her to the ground, much to the surprise of several of the soldiers. They landed together in a heap in the snow. Vic quickly moved and offered to help the fallen general up. She sat up and took Vic’s hand. She stared at him as she stood. “A deal is a deal, you scored a hit on me so I will grant you entry.” She motioned for the soldiers to get everyone inside and motioned for Vic to follow so they could lock down the entry once more.

Once indoors, treated for exposure and given some warmer clothes, the General grilled Vic about him and the odd party of characters. He answered the questions as best he could, even though she looked at him a bit like he probably was better suited for a padded room. When he asked about the missing members she glanced at him oddly, till he described them.

“Ah, the beanpole chrome dome in a bathrobe and the angry white haired pudding boy…there in one of our detention cells along with a few other odd characters. The weird machine is in our maintenance hanger after it got a bit banged up. My crew was trying to figure out how to repair it without damaging it.”

Vic seemed to sigh in relief, knowing the rest where still here, and not in enemy hands. After a bit more talking and somehow managing to not have Ed have his surly mouth get them in trouble, Vic and the others where all reunited, along with those who had been detained. Zero was finally given a chance to use a shower to wash the pudding mess off and seemed a bit happier, even though it meant losing a good uniform to the PMoF’s annoying antics. He was now dressed in a spare military uniform for the time being, which was better then wandering in his boxers.

Now that the team had been reunited, with Vic giving Michele a hug, he turned to face his assembled characters. “Ok so we need to figure out what Soldier A’s clue means so we can complete this task and move forward, so what could the clue mean?” The group began to debate, slightly bicker and ponder over the meaning behind of Soldier A’s clue which consisted of the lyrics to his song “Soldier A” and the words ‘Pay attention to the characters!’

Ed seems lost in though for a moment then speaks. “Let’s see what the paper says again…”

Soldier A pulls out the paper and reads the clue and the odd yet slightly depressing lyrics of the song. Everyone looks around at each other for a moment before Zero speaks. “What sort of depressing song is that? It’s like some morbid battle hymn or something for that gentleman…” Soldier A just stares at Zero. “Yeah, well it seems to be my thing… dying for the cause…Lost track of all the ways I have died in some form or other…”

As the group discusses what sort of thing could relate to both the song and the clue, Soldier A looks at everyone and says one word. “Sacrifice…”

Most of the group turned to look at Soldier A. “Sacrifice?” Kougaiji questioned with a raised brow. It was then Vic thought for a moment. That’s when he seemed to realize it. Soldier A was right. “I think he’s on to something.” Said Vic. “When I think about it, just about every character here had to sacrifice something in some form at some point in the series’ I helped voice you all in. As Vic mentioned this, it seemed as if the word clicked to everyone, and they all realized he was right. Each had given something at some point in there lives as a sacrifice, an act of equivalent exchange.

Suddenly there was the sounds of sirens going off and the group darted out of the room, trying to figure out what was going on. Vic managed to snag one of the soldiers for just long enough to ask what was happening.

“Some sort of intruder has broken into the maintenance hanger…” the soldier huffed before running off. The group looked at each other and many nodded as they ran to the maintenance hanger to see what was happening. When they arrived, Michele stayed back near the door where a soldier stood and watched over her. The rest ran in and tried to see what they could do to help. It appeared that a pair of the Homoculii  had broken through the floor and had become interested in Omega who was off to the side of the hanger. He seemed to currently be in a dormant state, some oil dripping a little from a crack in the torso. Vic tried to help as best as he could as did a few others, to get those who couldn’t fight out of the way while those who could went to try and help. The battle went on for a little while, and everyone was getting worse for wear. Most of the team had gotten cut and banged up pretty well, many bleeding a little from the shallow cuts, even Vic managed to get a few cuts from helping move people out and hitting a few things on the way. Suddenly the tide turned a bit and it seemed that the enemy was being driven back. Then suddenly there was a soft sort of manic giggle in the air as the PMoF appeared once again in her flowing white form, this time with pale blue eyes and a short boyish cut. She tutted softly. “Oh this just won’t do…after all you have a multiverse and reality to save and well if you die now, then we all die….” She then looked over at the enemy and made a motion like she was flicking an invisible spitwad at them. Both the Homoculii seemed to be slammed into a wall before vanishing. She then glanced back at the battle weary lot. Of the group Soldier A seemed the worse for wear. The General marched up behind the group as the rest of the soldiers ran around trying to assess the damage.

“Who the hell are you? And how the hell did you get into my fortress?” she yelled at the PMoF. The PMoF stared at the General. “I am someone who is none of your concern General. I am merely here to make sure this lot doesn’t die till they complete there mission.” After that she seemed to ignore the General, enough to a point, it was almost as she muted the sound of the room except for those in the party. She glanced back to the assembled battle weary group, who had gathered by the offline Omega.

“So, I assume you all came to a conclusion on the meaning of current clue?” the PMoF asked of the group. Ed stepped forward and spoke. “Sacrifice…”

The PMoF smiled as she glanced at Ed. She then spoke. “Yes, sacrifice…and at this point of the journey, two of your party must leave you. One will be that robot over there, as he will be better off back in his own world if he is to be repaired. The other will give there life.”

This was met with a commotion and as the commotion settled, the PMoF brought forth a small box. It was Omega’s box. “So have you decided?” Several moved forward, but it was Soldier A, who motioned for them to stop. “I’ll do it. I will be the sacrifice. After all, I am Soldier A, the unsung hero of anime…” She then turned to look at Vic and Ikkaku. “Do you both still have the jewel and the blue orb?” As both searched there pockets and such, they both pulled out the items in question. She took the items from each of them and placed them into the box. She then walked up to each individual and ran the edge of the box along a cut or scrape, so when she was done, she walked back to Soldier A, with a box that had smears of blood on it and the blue orb and jewel in it.

“Alright lady, so you care to tell us what your doing exactly or shall it be another odd cryptic answer?” muttered Ed with a annoyed look.

“This here will become the key to your freedom and your chance to return home. BUT only if you get to the final box in time. It will also create an anchor hopefully that will help give you just a little more time to complete your mission. Of course my dear alchemist, you already understand that nothing can be gained without something of equal value given.”

She glanced at Soldier A. “Are you ready to be the one to sacrifice yourself freely for the good of all? For one is all, and all is one…”

Soldier A nodded and the PMoF took Soldier A’s hand and placed it on the box. Immediately the box glowed with a bright light. Omega disappeared back to his own world, and Soldier A’s body began to glow as red spider like tendrils covered his body. Eventually his whole body was  a reddish light before he seemed to vanish into thousands of particles of light. Some seemed to attach themselves to the group while the rest absorbed into the box, which now pulsed slightly in the PMoF’s hands. The box began to change and became what looked like a glittery powdered donut ring charm on a chain. She handed it to Vic, who took it with a slightly disturbed look on his face.

“Why does it look like a donut?” asked Ed. The PMoF giggled slightly. “Ask him that…” she pointed to Vic. “Anywho, because of that ‘donut’, which will absorb your experiences from here onward, you now created an anchor that should stabilize the destruction for now, but it will only stop if you complete your mission. So I suggest you get a move on…” The PMoF turned to walk away before she vanished, but only after she said one more thing. “Soldier A may have died here, but do not worry friends, for he has already likely been reborn elsewhere to serve his never-ending role as the unsung hero…”

The group looked around at each other to see who held the next box. Zero stepped forward. He pulled open the box and took out what was inside.

Inside was picture of Kaname and one of Yuki, which made Zero’s brow furrow in disgust at the one of Kaname, and a paper. “Come to terms with yourself and settle your demons…”

Before the group  could be questioned by the now once more heard General, the group vanished in a flash of light and landed in the forest near Cross Academy.

END OF CHAPTER