World Tree MUSH

    Theoretically, Edward Elric being recalled to Central would not be much cause for concern. He's a State Alchemist, after all, and despite acting as something of an ambassador to Amestris to the rest of the worlds, he still has a duty to serve. No, that's not what has the young alchemist agitated tonight. That honor belongs to the two pieces of information that came with his recall order. The first is worrying to be sure: someone is crossing off State Alchemists, and not in subtle fashion. The remains of three have been found in as many nights. Nothing can be gleaned from the findings themselves, but the mess... it's creating a panic in the ranks. 

    Sure, Edward is concerned about this, but even that is a hazard of the military. You don't sign up if you're not ready to be a target for the people if they find your methods oppressive. The second piece of information made the boy's blood run cold. 

    Alphonse is out of contact. 

    He had immediately returned to Amestris and grabbed the fastest path back to Central, fury and worry written in equal measure across his features. "Damnit, Al," he says, muttering under his breath as he paces back and forth, "Part of this whole arrangement was that you weren't supposed to take any risks without me. You better be okay or I'll kill you myself..." 

    He opens the folder in his hands, his face going pale. They had included pictures in order to prepare those on the hunt for the risks... "Who the hell can cause a person to explode like this...?" 

    Portals from other worlds seem to lead to the Central train station, a large nexus point for Amestris and the last stop for the Fullmetal Alchemist this rainy, hazy evening. The soft sounds of the heavier drops hitting puddles fills the air, but the air has an odd misty quality. The street lights illuminate the haze well enough, showing the brick and stone edifices that make up most of the structures in Central. The city itself seems to spiral out from the train station, allowing travel in all directions. Even with night falling heavy, people are out and about. 

    However, there is a heaviness to the atmosphere. People move quickly, coats pulled up and eyes straight ahead. Soldiers in blue uniforms trimmed with silver patrol the streets, rifles at the ready and seeming worn to the bone. 

    Ever so often, they snap to attention at the passing of another soldier, these carrying themselves with an air of higher purpose. Vengeance. These are the State Alchemists, and they know by the pattern that they are the ones marked for death but they will find and avenge themselves upon the murderer with cold fury. So long as Fullmetal doesn't get to them first. His golden eyes burn with a fire far beyond even the most rigorous of soldiers. He crumples the letter that brought him back in his fist, squeezing the paper until it begins to tear in his grasp. "This bastard better hope I don't find him..."

    Claire's got a cart. The cart contains one pumpkin large enough to carve a carriage out of, and several smaller pumpkins and produce. She's currently stuck in traffic, and her gaze falls upon the apparently stressed out members of what appears to be the local constabulary. She hops off her cart to approach the nearest person, "Hey kid." She asks Elric, "I'm not from around here, any clue as to what's got the cops on edge?"

    One of the Vines at the station ejects a tall woman in hazard gear. Yellow eyes flick around with a furrowing brow as she realizes she just got shifted somewhere else. White hair turns a faintly darker grey in the rain, and the angular ears atop her head twitch along with the whip-like tail peeking out of her bodysuit. "..." She pulls her rebreather from her face, looking Intensely Miffed at the current situation... until she spots Edward and his mumbling. "Oi." she calls out, moving over. "Where the heck did the Tree just send me?"

    She is Not Happy right now, but keeps most of her grumbling to subvocalisms.

    A call from offworld? Marceline squeezes the wriggling device that serves her as a phone as she sits up from her reclined position at home. "Yeah? Alright. You know, you're allowed to send the boys out on these gigs too. Ehhhgh, fine. I'll be in touch. Deuces, Peebs." She matches the posture of one who's trudging as she sets about getting ready for a bit of a trek offworld again. Though this time, she's bringing some proper steel.

    Some hours later, astride a motorcycle and garbed in leathers with a full-face helmet, the Vampire Queen arrives at her destination. Her bike shuts off with a grumble and the kickstand pops down with a metallic 'whack'. The bike leans, she hops up and shrugs one shoulder where her axe bass' strap has been riding for who knows how many miles.

    She scans around and frowns at the military presence, already not fond of what she's seeing. It's a down vibe, tense and waiting for an excuse to boil over. She shoots a glance upward and shrugs again, pulling off her helmet to let that mane of wild black hair loose.

    Edward is certainly eye catching; if not for height than certainly that red coat annnnd, maybe she recognizes the others gathering around him. "Hm."

    She approaches, taking just a few steps before lifting off of the ground and simply flying above the crowd. If the bike didn't do it...! "Yo, whadup peeps? Here about the cops that keep getting croaked!"

    Investigation! ... Is not Rebecca's strong suit. It is not her strong suit by a MILE. The plucky Solo is here though after picking up the job from a Night City fixer that caught wind of the situation and ingratiated themselves with the State enough to find them some bodies for the job, well...
    A job is a job. And quite frankly, Rebecca WANTS to see the world beyond the neon lights and grunge of Night City and its seedy underbelly and filth.
    So the young-looking cyborg hops a vine, hits up a train, and wints up in Central, hands stuffed in the pockets of her jacket.
    "Maaaaaaaaannnnn these guys sure are uptight." She observes. Then again something is going on that she's unaware of. And now that she's here?
    "Ah shit."
    Rebecca realizes she has no idea where to START looking.
    Chance would so have it that she crosses paths with Edward and Claire and Scavenger.
    "Sup, chooms. I'm looking for this 'Fullmetal' guy. Might be a shortie chromer." She says before glancing over her shoulder at a squad of passing soldiers.
    "What's up with the lawmen around here? I was told the station would be the RV and it's swarming with more omawari than I've ever seen, I was told this was supposed to be a bag job, too."
    Oh no she's speaking a different language.

    The farmer takes a bite out of her apple as she notices others converging, and blinks at Rebecca's question. "Don't think any of these gonks gonna get ya. May wanna talk like you're dealing with a corpo who's never even set foot in the Edge." She puts her apple aside, "My fixer didn't say squat about a job, but if you need another Sam I'm always looking for more eddies." She's on a cart, carrying a sword. "So, what I'm getting is someone is zeroing folks and I guess we oughta flatline 'em? I may look Dirty but I ain't no Weefle."

    Luke also got the call and decided he'd offer his help!. Even if he is not the most likely to assist on an investigation (perhaps his pokemon can track someone?) he simply decided to offer his help, and thus, a perhaps oddly dressed young teen on a backpack, checking a curious smart phone like device is seen walking around, clumsily saluting to the soldiers as he sees some people do it, and pretty much asking for meeting with the person that sent the message.

    Edward steps into the rain, his hands in his pockets and his fingers tracing the pattern on his pocketwatch. As he glances up at the cold black sky, he glances to one side, noticing a... pumpkin cart? pulling into the area. He narrows his eyes, then returns his focus straight ahead. When he hears the occupant speak, he can immediately feel the muscle in his forehead jump in anger. However, he merely offers a small growl. "You just fall off the turnip truck?" he asks, "There's a murderer out here in the streets. Luckily, he doesn't seem interested in most of the citizens. You should be safe, though it looks like you could just hide in that pumpkin of yours." He seems on edge himself, pulling out and brandishing his dossier. 

    Which freezes in mid-gesture as he spots Scavenger emerging from a nearby portal. His eyes go wide, and he takes a reflexive step away from the woman, seeming even more on guard than he had been before. Was she some sort of chimera? When she mentions the Tree, however, he nods and relaxes a fraction. "Offworlder," he says, offering a small nod, "Welcome to Amestris. Central, to be exact, the capital city. Looks like something wanted you here for..." 

    He finds himself cut off by the roar of an engine, far louder than most vehicles are capable of in Amestris. It's enough of a sound to send guards and civilians scattering into nearby buildings until it cuts off. If they relaxed at all from the sudden silence, it was quickly undone by the woman getting off the bike and flying into the air. There's the telltale clicking of firearms being readied, rifles being trained, but Edward holds up a hand and glares up at Marceline. "Well, I was hoping to explain with a bit more tact, but exactly what she said. And I can already tell subtlety is out the window. I suppose that only works in my favor. Whoever we're looking for is looking for people like me." He pulls out his pocketwatch and holds it up. "I'm a State Alchemist. So far, this person or group has only been looking for us. Rank and file soldiers have been caught in the crossfire, but it's clear they're targets are us. We need to find out why and stop it if possible." 

    As another member of their entourage arrives, this one mentioning 'Fullmetal', he turns on his heel, vein jumping in his head. "WHO'RE YOU CALLING SHORT?!" he explodes, immediately looking as though he's going to burst into flame. He growls under his breath, then takes a breath. "Whatever. There's a more important goal here. My brother's missing. He's the one I'm really worried about. Sure, stopping this bastard from killing my fellow Alchemists is good, but if they've laid a hand on my brother... well, there might be more than a search." 

    The next arrival does not inspire a great deal of confidence in Ed, but given how others view him, he decides to give him a chance. Given how out place he looks, he holds up a hand and gestures him to the group, cringing slightly as Claire speaks up in some manner of slang that seems to be responding to Marceline and Rebecca. He shakes his head, water flying off his ponytail. 

    He tosses Rebecca the file as he turns, making his way down the street. If she were to open the file, she would find a small report about how these soldiers were dying, with an image on the opposite page. 'Coroner determines the victim was detonated from the inside out.' And... well, that certainly does look like human fireworks in an alleyway. 

    He holds up his right hand and gestures forward, which the astute may notice shows a flash of steel between his glove and sleeve. "This city is huge, but with a group like ours we're sure to be right up this guy's alley." As he moves out, a single shot rings out. There's the ping of a bullet bouncing off metal, then a small explosion that merely causes another vein to jump in the Elric's jaw this time. However, the rest of the group might see a sheepish looking soldier staring at the smoldering wreckage of an offworld motorcycle.

    Scavenger frowns at the response from Edward, shifting her Buster Blade on her back to be more easily drawn, but not doing so yet. She also muses to herself over the alchemist's reaction to the others comments regarding his height.

    Marceline and Claire get a nod from the Zalak as she joins them on the trek away from the station. She grimaces as the motorcycle explodes behind her, but doesn't look back. Cool Ancients don't look at explosions, after all. "Murderer, either solo or group. Targetting Operators specifically." she then glances down at Edward. "Your brother?" she doesn't quite 'soften' at that, but huffs a bit less grumpily. "If he's got even a fifth of your spirit. He'll be fine." she remarks before pulling her rebreather up over her face again. <S.W.E.E.P. Actual to Rhodes Island. Not sure if you can receive but mission postponed. Vine interrupted transit to mission zone. Currently investigating different world, will advise. Out.>

    she does look at Rebecca with a quirked brow. "Never trust a job labeled as a Bag Job. They never are." she replies. Some slang is universal, especially amongst mercenaries.

    The Operator finally introduces herself. "Scavenger. Vanguard Operator. Speciality: Solo operations, salvage/recovery, forward observation. Weapon speciality: Buster Blade." yellow eyes look to the others. "I know her," pointing to Marceline, "And her." This to Claire. "They may not look like much, but can hold their own in a fight well enough."

It is not hard to find the person in charge, when he spots a few offworlders (hard not to consider Marceline one, plus a few familiar faces!. His appearance likely doesn't inspire much confidence to the Fullmetal Alchemist, being a kid in shorts, a backpack and a baseball cap of some kind just walks, waving to the group, reaching for his belt of pokeballs as the bike is accidentally destroyed, looking around for the source of the explosion and relaxing when it is clear it was an accident. 
    The boy approaches Scavenger, being the one he remembers the most, despite being sure he talked or at least was near most of the others in the past, lamenting not having any cool gear or uniform like most of the others, and decides to introduce himself!. He waves, "Hi!" he tries, "I'm Luke Gray, I am responding to the call.". Just as he does, one of his pokeballs opens up and a small black and white creature that looks like a weird panda in a chinese vampire pops out in a flash of red, hovering over next to Luke. "Pangshi!, stay next to me." he mumbles, the ghost pokemon glancing towards Marceline, who knows, perhaps it senses something odd about the half-demon/vampire queen, trying to slip out of Luke's grasp for a closer look.

    Everything's going fine! She's drawn a lot of looks, cleared a path for herself by showing up on a loud bike and even riled up the martial presence just by existing. If she looked any more smug she'd probably get arrested on the spot. "Dang, these military cats always so banaynays? It's fine, boys! You ain't got the hams I'm after." She sticks out her forked tongue at some of the nearer troops, though she also doesn't hide her mouth full of crazy pointy teeth.

    Finally, though, despite the dirty look she gets from Edward, she simply shrugs. "Sorry dude, seen plenty of banaynays beeswax." Rebecca gets an inclined head, along with Scavenger, then she rolls around to get a look at the files and whistles softly. "Dang, way griz. So-"

    Then there's a shot. An explosion and it's just from the right-

    "Who's the momo with the Jeffry'd up dome piece that just scronked my flippin bike!?" As she shouts, her voice distorts and her form enlarges by half a meter or so. "I'm gonna-"

    Momentarily distracted by being talked about, Marcy turns to regard Scavenger. She smiles, kind of a horrifying look considering the bestial, elongated shape of her face before she reverts to normal. "Rrrgh, don't look like much? You right. Shoulda grabbed an umbrella. I look way better when I'm not all rained on." She pushes hair out of her face, steals one more glance backward at her poor fallen bike- then she's got a thing in her face. "Dwuh?!" She leans back out of reach of the Pangshi creature, doing her level best to not plant her feet and hiss at the thing.

    "Yo, what the dip is that thing?!" She moves to place anyone or anything between herself and anything even remotely ghostlike.

    "Let's just go find this whack and his way cray bad juju and put him on a shirt."

    Annnnd Ed nearly blows a gasket.
    "Whoah chillax, bro, it's literally the only description I was given." She says, catching the file as it's tossed her way. She's about to open it when her ears BURN, and pink-green cyber-eyes snap to focus right on Claire.
    "Oh, holy shit, someone who actually speaks my language. Nova." That said though eugh, she has to speak the common tongue doesn't she.
    Nevertheless, she opens the file.
    "Well that's disgusting." She says WAY too brightly at the pictures included while following after Ed and the others.
    "Oh yeah, the name's Rebecca. My world just did the whole 'Blossom' thing and now here I am, fresh outta Night City lookin for work, bag jobs or not." Said as she examines the file, not even flinching at the sound of gunfire. Or the explosion.
    Some things just kind of happen a lot in Night City.
    "WHOAH, check this out, these guys were blown apart from the inside! I wonder what kind of iron does THAT."
    "Lawmen, am I right?" She does aside to Marcy. Cops be cray cray no matter what universe you're from. She's too nose deep in the file to stop for Pangshi.

    Claire takes another bite out of her apple and observes Edward, "So you got a murderer and you're hiring." She pulls out a badge marking her as a member of the Ferngill Republic Adventurer's Guild. "Consider me hired." She pockets the badge once more. She watches the cops pulls their stunt and shrugs, turning to Rebecca, "Lawmen and corpos, I would say I'm not sure which is worse but let's be honest, if there's a difference it's purely academic." She grabs a copy of the file, "So anyone taken a good look at those headbursters? I know my way around explosives." She pulls out a crate of what are clearly handmade bombs, "These artisanal beauties are my handiwork, if you doubt my credentials."

    Edward listens as he walks, hands returning to his coat pockets. "My name is Edward Elric," he says after Scavenger provides an introduction, turning to look at the group with an appraising gaze, his golden eyes shining in the street lights. "Designation, Fullmetal." He doesn't offer much explanation on the designation, but those who saw his wrist earlier might be able to guess. He glances around, noticing that the street seems to clear up as they move forward, the rain steadily coming to a stop and leaving behind a heavy air. "I suppose my speciality is alchemy. Understand a composition, deconstruct into its parts, reconstruct into a new form. It is possible the one or ones we are looking for are versed in it, though I can't be sure what process causes... that." He gestures back toward the folder, shaking his head. 

    As Luke produces some manner of creature from his Pokeball, Edward stops for a brief moment to look at it. Then back at Luke, pointing between Pangshi and the kid. "What the hell?" he asks, "What is that, and why does it seem to listen to you?" He stares for a long moment, before giving an approving nod. "More than you appear, huh? I can respect that. Just make sure the wrong people don't see it. Most soldiers aren't going to fire at you because you're with me, but if they see too much weird crap there's no telling what the added stress might do to them." 

    Marceline's little display causes Edward to bring his hands from his pocket. "Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" he calls, gesturing for the soldiers to stand down and move on. They seem reluctant for a moment, then lower their guns again, and Edward returns his hands to his pockets as though he were holstering guns. He begins to wonder if a mass message was really the best course of action, but at the time he didn't know what else to do. He needs to find Al, after all, and these people are here to help. He thinks. 

    Edward grimaces, continuing his walk forward now. "I'm hoping we don't have to find out personally. A fast capture would be ideal, but they've gotten some powerful Alchemists. One of them was able to manipulate moisture into destructive forms. Now his family is cursing the military for offering him a position. And let's not talk about Ironblast." He shakes his head, then glances down a nearby alley. He gestures, then turns down the alley and feeling immediately ill at ease. 

    As Claire produces her bombs, Edward stops again. What sort of group has he assembled? "You... brought a crate of explosives with you..." he says, his face going pale and putting his hands out in a T pose, palms out. He looks incredibly angry for a long moment, then blinks and shakes his head. "No... Can't be normal bombs. There's no excess iron or gunpowder left behind. In fact... It doesn't seem like the killer or killers leave any sort of trace. Other than the obvious, of course." 

    He looks like he's ready to continue, but then further up the alley there are the sounds of a scuffle. "Yo... you! You're an Is--" The scuffling suddenly comes to a stop, replaced immediately a muffled scream which lasts all of one moment before being replaced by a dull, wet explosion. Edward kicks a dumpster that was turned to block the alley, revealing a gruesome sight: the remains of a man dressed in a State uniform, the only lingering identifier being the silver pocketwatch in the middle of what was once his chest. A man stands, his hand covered in blood and clearly very tall as he draws to his full height. His dark skin contrasts his light jacket and pants, and as he shoots a glance toward Ed, who looks sickened by the sight unfolding, shows his red eyes and large X-shaped scar across his face. He slides his sleeve down his right arm, then sets off in a dead sprint, seeming almost inhumanly fast as he bolts out of the alley and into the light. Shots are fired in his wake as he moves, and before long there are soldiers moving in, one poor young man actually passing out against the wall.

    Scavenger is silent as the group progress. And then the shout and dull wet popping sound.

    Edward kicks a dumpster aside, and a man is hunched over a freshly exploded corpse. She doesn't hesitate and dashes forwards, bringing her Buster Blade up and around in one motion... just as the man dashes off.

    The Blade strikes concrete, and shatters it on impact, leaving a minor crater as she kicks off and tugs it free to give chase.

    She is not fast enough to keep up with someone with preternatural speed, however and is soon left behind, her alto voice bellowing out. "COWARD!" at the fleeing shadow.

    The pokemon seems rather curious about Marceline, showing no fear at all even at the previous and rather disturbing change from earlier. In fact, the only thing that seems to even concern the ghost panda is how she reacted!, he was a friend!, he was going to prove it!. The critter taps its chin, starting to think of something as it floats around in a circle, phasing through a distracted soldier, before Luke finally catches up with the darn thing, and manages to grab and snatch it from midair. "Sorry for that, Pangshi tends to be curious, especially about supernatural things and offworlders." he begins, "Sorry if he startled you." he offers to Marceline. He mumbles. Finally, he addresses poor Edward, after managing to return the ghost to the pokeball. "I'm sorry, I was going to explain, I'm a pokemon trainer, that little guy is Pangshi, no worries, my pokemon are mostly harmless, unless someone attacks them first, or me." he explains, "They listen to me, I trained them for a long while, I have a few of them with me, but most are pretty much just good in a fight.". He mumbles at the ghost's pokeball about 'getting shot' and places it back on his belt. "I promise to try to be careful, he just gets curious sometimes." 
    Once he manages to get his pokemon under control, and hears the other introductions, he nods. When the screaming at the Alley happen, the boy actually moves rather quickly, trying to keep up with Ed, wanting to be helpful and... the scene proves to be a bit... much for him, almost following the lead of that poor young soldier that passed out. He looks aside for a moment, doing his best not to look too disturbed.

    Still very ruffled about her bike getting smoked within a song's length of being parked, Marceline jams her hands into the pockets of her riding jacket and tries to tune into the conversation that's more related to the reason she even came here. At least she's not complaining about a replacement?

    The ghost-pokemon and Luke get another side eye and she grudgingly sighs, "Never seen anything like it's all. No big, right?" She pulls a hand free to ruffle Luke's head if allowed, then it's back to business. Hopefully the kid's got a thick head like other kids she knows.

    A turn down the alley and it takes naught point dang seconds for things to go sideways. It's hard to mistake the sound of a body bursting like that and she kicks off of the ground to get a look even as Edward busts a kick into that dumpster to reveal- "What the blood!?" Then Scavenger's on it, attacking- Missing. She's after it next, whipping her axe free of it's strap and taking a bit of a from the hip swing as she lunges. Probably too slow but she's got mobility and speed to spare, so she gives chase!

    As she moves, her nose flattens, her eyes squint and darken and her pointed ears elongate. She's got plenty of practice hunting! Though this is not her usual environment so she's not at any particular advantage.

    "You busted open some poor dude in front of a kid you tranch!"

    Rebecca peers over at Claire's 'artisinal arsenal'. "Huh not bad."
    
    "You know, that family doesn't have shit to stand on. If their boy picked a job with the military he obvs knew what he was getting into before he got his ass blown up from the inside." She says to Ed on the topic of the already dead alchemists.
    But then things happen!
    And it looks like the crew ARE going to find out personally who killed those alchemists when Ed turns down an alley and the party comes across the scene of a murder in progress.
    "HOLY SHIT."
    That guy just got blown up.
    And the killer starts to book it as fast as he can.
    Rebecca drops the one thing she brought with her- a heavy looking duffel bag and kneels down to unzip it open.
    The gigantic Militech MK.31 HMG assault cannon that was inside it absolutely dwarfs the girl herself and uh. It's painted garishly bright pink and green.
    And Rebecca hoists the massive gun in her mismatched red-blue mechanical hands like it weighs nothing.
    "HE'S RABBITING, DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY!" She snaps right at Ed and Luke. No sitting down on the job because of little things like 'nauseating ultraviolence' or 'being a kid' as she squeezes the trigger, the massive assault cannon starting to unload after the scarred killer with a riotous *BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM*!

    Following up on Rebecca taking out the massive gun, the farmer takes out... a slingshot. The purpose of which becomes clear when she grabs one of the bombs, pushes a button to arm it, and then fires, arcing the explosive to land past the fleeing target, with little concern for whether or not any buildings might get damaged by the explosion, and already preparing to follow up with another explosive.

    Edward is stopped dead in his tracks at the sight, as though his brain is struggling to comprehend it. However, he snaps out of it, pale though he is, and noting the man's appearance before he takes off. He straightens up, offering a grimace as the soldiers pour into the alley. Scavenger jumps into action and Edward is quick to follow, dashing off after the murderer despite having nowhere near the speed to keep up. However, his eyes are narrowed as he calls back to the group, "After him! The investigative team will take over the grunt work. We need to catch that guy before he gets away! 

    He skids to a stop, looking at Luke with a passing glimmer of concern. "I know," he says, "It's... terrible. But we can't just linger here. I know you're processing, but I'm gonna need all of you if we're going to keep him pinned down." Marceline is on the mark, but the man is just out of reach of her axe as well. Edward claps his hands together, sparks of lightning arcing around them as he slams them into the ground. The tall man is forced to spin out of the way as spires of concrete shoot from the ground and try to cut him off. His right arm seems to shine with a red spark, before the spires are shattered to gravel and his path is once more clear. 

    Edward looks behind him, eyes going wide as he immediately throws himself around a corner and out of Rebecca's MASSIVE LINE OF FIRE. The tall man seems to notice this as well, his red eyes going wide as he blasts a hole in the nearest wall and throws himself through it. Her rounds shred the alley, devestating a dumpster several blocks away and making absolutely sure the the streets are rapidly clearing of civilians. 

    Claire's bomb seems to surprise the murderer, and there's another blast and the sound of a wall breaking. There's a concrete cloud kicked up by the blast, before the shadow of a man can be seen as the smoke clears. He is facing the group, his right arm gripped by his left and revealing what appears to be an alchemical circle tattooed all the way to a scar around his bicep. Edward snarls, but before he can collect himself further, the man speaks up. "Fullmetal! Do not think that your young age will save you. I will destroy all of you Alchemists, for what you did to my people, what you did to the land of Ishval!" His right arm sparks with red lightning once more, before the entire block feels like it's rumbling. He's clearly bleeding from the assault laid on him, bits of bomb and bullet shrapnel drawing blood across his chest and arms. He slams his palm into the ground, and with a giant blast and a cloud of concrete, the man is gone, a hole at the center of a rippling crater that shatters windows for several blocks. The hole seems to lead into pure darkness, the sound of water trickling the only sound left in his wake. Edward straightens up, placing a hand to his face and turning back toward the group. "Anyone not completely unable to stand the sight of... that?" he says, gesturing toward the remains of the alchemist, "Mind seeing if there's anything that might help us figure out more about that guy? I... He's perverting alchemy, that much I know, but..." He settles against the wall, looking as though the life's been sucked out of him, sliding down the wall with his head in his hands. 

    Should anyone investigate the body, they would find that there is very little in terms of identifying the man. However, oddly enough there is something inside the man's pocketwatch. After unfolding the small piece of stiff paper within, they would find it's a photo of what has to be a very large man in a suit of bluish armor, red glowing eyes, and a spike on the forehead. Spikes line the armor's shoulders, and it appears to be quite heavy given the apparent depth of the footprints in the dirt around him. On the back of the photo, in sprawling, cursive-like script, is a three word message. "Fullmetal. Laboratory Five."

    "Send the bill for urban repairs to the employer." Claire has her opinion. "If he's not ok with that he shouldn't have hired professionals." She doesn't bother examining what's left of the assailant, instead heading back to he cart. "Anyone know somewhere I might be able to sell my crop? That's what I came here for, really. The job was just a bonus."

    Scavenger is about to leap and strike again, when the man slams his hand down and does something. She instead pivots, stabs her blade into the ground and hunkers behind it to hide from the concussion blast.

    As it passes, she shakes her head out and peeks around her impromptu cover, standing to yank the blade free of the ground with a shower of fragmented concrete. "He reminds me of..." she begins, before shaking her head. Sheathing her blade again she walks to the edge of the void and peers into it, kicking a chunk of debris in to check the depth. "At least he bleeds. And if he bleeds, he can be stopped." she muses, waiting for a good few seconds before turning from the hole and approaching the corpse in the alleyway. "Fullmetal... Laboratory Five?" she says aloud, after finding the piece of paper in the watch.

     Luke certainly appreciates Marceline being friendly, he is quite a thick head as well, might be a requirement for a high level trainer at this point. He snaps out of his daze when Edward stops to talk to him, "Right, before he does that again." he manages, pale and trying very hard not to stare at the remains, reaching for his belt and throwing a pokeball. "Dynamo, stop that man!". If Pangshi was cute and harmless this next pokemon... only seems to reinforce that idea, a large, surprisingly round creature similar to a tiger in coloration (if tigers had a lighting bolt 'painted' on their chest fur) appears, looking around in confusion for a moment before starting to dash towards the man, ignoring the barrage of bullets and the explosion, energy building around it as electricity sparks around its fur, growling and sending several thin bolts of electricity towards the wounded figure.. 
    Before they make contact, the second explosion happens, and the 'attack' dissipates in the cloud of debris and dust, the killer vanishes, leaving a surprised pokemon to sniff around the ground where the killer left, while Luke moves towards the pokemon, "That was really cool, how you built that wall." he offers, trying to get his mind out of... that, "Seems that guy is very good at making his own escape routes."

    "Rrrrgh!"
    Rebecca doesn't stop firing until her HMG runs out of ammo, running dry with a series of dull clicks.
    But it looks like the killer... Gets away.
    "God damnit, we coulda had this case open and shut easy! Now we have to actually Scooby Doo this shit." She huffs, dropping her gun with a heavy CLANK.
    But what's done is done and she's soon investigating the corpse with Scavenger.
    "Who's the guy in the armor?"

    It's all so sudden! Her attack whiffs and she hisses, she flows wide, looping up and around as Rebecca opens fire with something fit for properly chewing scenery. Claire's explosive gives her yet more incentive to pause before she whips through a window. She's not even crazy enough to cross into the line of fire of something like Rebecca's long range jackhammer.

    By the time she makes it to within sight of the scarred up man with the beef against alchemists, he's already disappearing into that massive crater. Hopefully she's not about to be buried under all that building. So, she skedadles back out and hopefully not into more shooting or further explosions.

    "Sorry, dude's peaced out." She looks a mess, her clothes all nicked and scuffed, face marred by cuts and scratches and one of her eyes is almost swollen from the blast. Though she appears to already be healing. Her eyes go back to the grim remains and at Edward's request. She's seen worse. Stepped over plenty of those as a little girl. Still puts a hitch in her step that gives Scavenger all the time needed to proceed with the search.

    She inhales just to let out a sigh of relief. "So... Hey, rat friend found somethin." She turns her back to the remains, reclines as she floats to position herself between Luke and what's left of the corpse. Her hands shift her weapon-instrument into her lap so she can re-attach the strap and out of habit she plucks out a few moody notes in amped bass. "Could maybe still go after the dingus. I don't mind the dark, but..." If nobody else's chasing him, what's she gonna do? Get wrapped up in some fight that flattens half the city? Right. That'd be great optics considering her entrance. "Rrrgh."

    Edward nods, keeping his eyes on the ground. "The Fuhrer will handle the bill," he says, waving a hand idly. "He was expecting collateral already with State Alchemists involved. We..." he gestures toward the remains of the spires he had thrown up to try and pin in the murderer, "don't exactly do subtle." He glances toward the wall where the Alchemist had been killed, seeing what appeared to be their silhouette filled in with blood. "That man... he's stopping at the second step. And he's from Ishval... So now I know why he's targetting us. The Ishvalan War..." He shakes his head. "Al wasn't part of that war. Neither was I. But... it doesn't seem scarface is gonna distinguish that. But alchemy... I thought it was forbidden for Ishvalans..." 

    He seems lost in thought for a long moment, though he nods at Scavenger's assessment. "He's a man, regardless of his skills. But you are pretty impressive with that blade of yours. If we find him again, I hope you'll come along to help," he offers with a small smile. He moves to look back at the ground, smirking lightly at Luke and his creatures. "That one that shoots lightning. What do you call it? Him? Her?" he asks, offering the boy a smile as he pushes back to his feet. Clearly he was more than he appeared, and those beasts of his were certainly potent. However, he snaps to attention as Scavenger speaks up again, reading the photo. "What did you just say?" he asks, moving and looking at the photo. 

    And immediately he looks even greener, staggering back. Rebecca moves in to look at the photo, and Ed shakes his head, almost looking like he wants to cry. "That... that's Al! That's my little brother!" he screams, processing what Scavenger had read. "Laboratory five? What the hell does that mean?!" he cries, looking back at the hole before clapping his hands together. There is a moment where he seems surrounded by lightning, circulating the alchemical energy through his body as he processes his feelings. 

    His hair seems to stand on end, nodding idly toward Marceline before he separates his hands, taking a deep breath. "Someone's trying to lure me to this Laboratory Five. I need to find out where that is." He looks around at the group assembled, his eyes wide and actually reflecting his young age for a moment. "Listen, I know we can pay whatever your fees are, but... When I find this place, tell me you'd be willing to go bring it down with me. I don't know if it's that Ishvalan or someone else, but someone's calling me out directly, and I intend to find out why, then flatten them for taking my brother. So please. I can count on you, right?"

    Scavenger hands the watch and photo to someone who'll take it. She then stands, shifting yellow eyes from Marceline, to Claire, to Luke, Rebecca then finally settle on Edward.

    She doesn't respond to him immediately, instead lifting her rebreather apparatus up over her face once more. <S.W.E.E.P. Actual to Rhodes Island. Change of plans, extended mission in other world. Will report back on return to Terra. Out.> she then removes the mask, and nods. "You have my blade." she offers simply.

    Claire nods, "You have my blade, and my bombs." She offers. 'Provided you don't catch me in the middle of the harvest or a local emergency. My farm and my home have to come first."

    Luke is quite glad Marceline is covering the view of the... body, and that Ed is talking to him, "Oh, that guy is Dynamo." he offers, the large, round 'feline' pads back to Luke's side, purring and casually brushing against the trainer's side, it is certainly tall, and there is the slightest hint of static electricity near it. "Him, he is friendly." he offers, pausing at the mention of the photo and Ed's family being involved. The pokemon moves to stand next to Luke, as if ready to protect the young trainer. "Me and my pokemon will do what we can to help.". He pets the pokemon again, who lets out a loud growl.

    "You know, I'm not sure I'm super about mercenary kinda biz. Your little bro, though? That's bad biscuits. I'm down to see you get him outta all that." Hopefully safe but who knows? She's not used to seeing lots of happy endings to that kinda thing. So many of the people she trucks with are very, very dead afterall. No sense injecting that kinda gloomy attitude, though, so she joins in, Claire and Scavenger's offerings conjuring memories of her distant past. Watching epic movies about adventure and grand stakes.

    "And my axe!"