Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.
February, x785.
After his discussion with Ur, Alfonzo returned to the first floor of the guild hall with a pretty devious smile on his face. Naturally, this drew the attention of the people sitting at his table. And although he did not go into great detail, he did tell them about the two letters Ur received.
Like Alfonzo, Elicia was also looking forward to Mermaid Heel's visit in a couple of weeks. Because as Alfonzo mentioned previously, the Mermaid Heel's guild master was never mentioned in the canon. And considering Yoruichi Shihouin was a member of the guild, that means the guild master could be any powerful woman from across anime, manga, and light novels.
Then, after Alfonzo finished his explanation, Ultear and Meredy told the story about their most recent quest again. And it went a lot like the Dublith Arc in Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. While investigating the Devil's Nest, Alphonse Elric, a young teenage boy wearing a massive suit of armor, was kidnapped. Then, the girls found out that the seemingly normal people were anything but normal.
A group of chimera led by an immortal homunculus, that's what they were.
After that, Alphonse's older brother, Edward Elric showed up and fought with the homunculus, Greed. And Meredy, seemingly having fallen in love at first sight, insisted on helping him.
Naturally, when Ultear mentioned that part, Meredy reddened like a tomato while everyone else laughed at her adorable reaction.
Back to the story… While Greed was fighting Edward and Meredy, the chimera's took Alphonse away, escaping into the sewer system. And though she was not thrilled about it, Ultear chased after them.
Eventually, Commander Bradly, leading a detachment of the Cherry Blossom Holy Knights as well as an Alchemist from the kingdom, a towering, muscular man, Alex Luis Armstrong, code named the Strong Arm Alchemist, arrived at the pub and dispatched all the chimera following Greed. They even captured Greed and took him to God knows where.
Then, at the end of it all, after thanking them for their assistance, Bradley offered Ultear and Meredy a place in the military. An offer that both wizards naturally declined.
After hearing the story, most of the group had a lot of questions. Alfonzo and Elicia, on the other hand, shared a glance before Elicia decided it was time to open a branch store of the Taylor shop in Crocus.
And that brings us to the present. A few days after Ultear and Meredy returned to the guild, Alfonzo and Elicia took a trip to Crocus to buy a plot of land for Elicia to build the new Branch of the Taylor Shop. And Alfonzo came along to help build it with the best materials, as well as to design the security systems.
"Since the Dublith incident happened a few days ago, do you think we're too late to save Lt. Colonel Hughes?" Elicia asked with a little fear in her voice. "I mean, he was definitely one of the best characters in FMA. And his funeral made me cry every time I saw it."
"I'm not sure." Alfonzo replied. "But we'll have to keep an ear open for news of a high-ranking knight passing away. If we don't hear anything, there's a good chance we could save him. But if we do, then it's probably too late."
"*Sigh* I guess you're right." Elicia replied, sounding a bit downcast. "By the way, do you think 'The Truth' exists in this world?"
"Probably not." Alfonzo replied. "If I had to guess, because Human Transmutation defies the laws of life and death, Ankhseram is probably responsible for what happens to the alchemists in this world. It's probably a form of a curse, like the one Zeref and Mavis were afflicted by. But because the magic system is different, the curse probably affects them differently, as well. But that's just my guess."
"Well, considering we're talking about a god, it's as good an explanation as any." Elicia replied with a shrug. "Anyway, we're almost at the real estate office. We can continue the conversation later."
"Yeah, besides, it will be dark soon, too." Alfonzo added. "So, while you negotiate for your plot of land, I'll go find us a hotel for the night."
"Sounds good." Elicia replied with a nod and a smile.
Like that, the two lovers split up. While Elicia entered the real estate office, Alfonzo drove to the hotel where he and Elicia usually stay when they take a trip to Crocus. At the same time, Alfonzo kept his [Magic Power Detection] active, not wanting to run into a certain perverted female knight.
In all honesty, Alfonzo didn't have an issue with Darkness, as long as her switch was not flipped. The issue with that is that he never knew what would trigger her. So, at least until their little personal mission was completed, it would be better if Alfonzo and Elicia did not get tangled up with her.
Eventually, Alfonzo managed to book a luxurious room in their usual hotel. Then, a few hours later, he went to pick up Elicia from the realtor. And before they returned to the hotel, they decided to have dinner at a restaurant.
While dinner was a pleasant enough affair, Alfonzo and Elicia were more concerned with monitoring everything that was going on in the city than just enjoying their meal. And that attention to their surroundings eventually paid off.
Just as they were paying their bill, they noticed a scuffle happening in one of the military buildings. Then, one of the magic power signatures involved in the altercation left the area slowly. Though the one left behind was in much better shape.
"That's probably Hughes." Alfonzo muttered as he and Elicia left the restaurant.
"Yeah, and it's really amazing that he could even put up a fight with a monster like that." Elicia said in a tone filled with admiration. "I mean, he's just a regular human. Definitely not a wizard of any kind. And judging from the way his opponent's magic power appeared for a moment while stretching, only to disappear completely again, that was probably Lust, right?"
"Probably, and it looks like Envy is already on his trail, too." Alfonzo added. "Lici, you take the car back to the hotel. With your [Camouflage Magic], no one should find anything suspicious if I go. Well, unless Bradley is nearby. But I can't even feel his presence in the city. So, we should be fine."
"Okay, got it." Elicia replied with a nod of her head. "But what are you gonna do so that they don't recognize you?"
"Haha… Did you forget?" Alfonzo said as his body was covered in black, liquid metal with white spots over his eyes and a strange white spider pattern on his chest. "I can do this."
"I want a super hero identity, too." Elicia said with a pout while watching Alfonzo climb out of her Z3. "I'm gonna make a Spider-Gwen or Silk suit for myself."
Chuckling at Elicia's cute reaction, Alfonzo leaned back into the car and stole a quick kiss before shooting a line of liquid metal at the top of a nearby building.
"I think you should go with Spider-Gwen." Alfonzo suggested. "You're pretty well-known in Fiore, after all. And Silk's mask only covers the bottom half of her face."
With that said, Alfonzo catapulted himself towards the magic power signatures he had been tracking. Meanwhile, after a quick smile, Elicia drove back to the hotel, where she would wait for Alfonzo to return. Though, she would be ready to head out at a moment's notice, as well.
"Damn it… I need to find a way to contact Roy." Lt. Colonel Maes Hughes, a tall, yet lean man with spiky black hair with a lock that falls over his forehead and hazel eyes wearing a blue military uniform, said while putting pressure on a large wound on his arm. "Unfortunately, all the secure communications lacrima at HQ are definitely being monitored by the military."
"You're quite good for a human." A female voice said seductively from behind the Lt. Colonel.
Looking back, Maes saw the woman he had been fighting with in the headquarters building. While he was surprised that she caught up so quickly, he was even more surprised that she was even alive. Especially since before he left the HQ, he had thrown a knife that buried itself up to the hilt in her forehead.
This woman was fairly tall with pale skin, a curvaceous body, mauve colored eyes, and mid-back length, wavy, black hair parted in the center with short bangs curling to the left that partially cover her left eye. Also, she wore a form-fitting, strapless, black gown that showed off the ouroboros tattoo just above her cleavage, black heels, and long black gloves.
"It's not every day you see someone walk off a knife to the head, you know." Maes said with a wry smile while letting a throwing knife fall into his palm from the inside of his sleeve.
"And it's not every day I have to kill such a brilliant man." The woman, Lust, replied while lengthening her finger nails into sharp spears.
*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*
Before Lust could lunge forward to finish the job she started in the military HQ, three gunshots sounded out from nearby. A moment later, three holes opened up on Lust's head, neck, and chest. Then, another black haired woman ran by and pulled Maes away with her.
"Let's go, Lt. Colonel." The black-hared woman, wearing a similar military uniform, shouted as she pulled Maes along.
Meanwhile, what appeared to be red electricity began sparking on Lust's wounds as they quickly closed up without leaving a scar.
"Did you really have to shoot me in the face?" Lust asked while running her fingers over the place where the bullet wound on her face just disappeared from. "I know you're envious of my good looks, but this is ridiculous."
A few minutes later, after running a few blocks, the black-haired woman finally stopped when she no longer felt like they were being followed.
"Sir, what was going on back there?" The black-haired woman asked as she turned around.
*Shunk!*
Instead of an answer to her question, however, the only thing the woman received was a throwing knife buried in her wind pipe.
"It was a pretty good disguise, you know." Maes said as he turned away from the woman with a knife in her throat. "But you missed the mole under Lt. Ross' left eye."
"Oh, how careless of me." The black-haired woman, who should be incapable of speech, said before Maes could take more than a few steps.
Surprised, Maes quickly turned around only to see the woman, Lt. Ross, or rather her imposter, pulling the knife out of her throat like nothing was wrong. On top of that, her wound was healing at a visible rate with red electricity crackling around it.
Then, once the wound was healed, the woman tapped her index finger just below her left eye, and in another burst of red electricity, a mole appeared in that spot.
"There, this should be better." The woman said with a smile.
"That's a pretty impressive trick." Maes said while readying another knife.
"Oh, if you think that's good, you ain't seen nothin' yet." The woman replied with a smile as her whole body started sparking with red electricity.
Then, Maes watched as the short black hair on the woman's head turned flaxen in color while her eyes turned a bright blue. On top of that, her clothes turned from a military uniform to a lavender dress with a light, white jacket.
"Gracia…" Maes muttered the name of his wife after seeing the woman's new form.
"Hehehehehe!" The woman chuckled as she raised the pistol in her hand. "OH, the look in your eyes, the shock on your face… It's delicious. Taking the form of your wife was definitely worth it. Now, it's time to say goodbye, Lt. Colonel Maes Hughes."
Unable to react due to the shock, Maes could only watch as the woman in front of him slowly squeezed the pistol's trigger.
*Bang!*
*Ting!*
Out of reflex, Maes raised his hand to cover his chest. However, when he touched the front of his uniform, there was no wet sensation. Then, after looking down, he was even more surprised to see that he had not even been shot.
"Who's there?" The woman in the form of Gracia Hughes shouted angrily after glancing at the bullet that had been delfected away from Maes.
"You know, that was pretty fucked up." A male voice, Alfonzo, replied from the roof of a nearby building. "I mean, seriously. Taking on the appearance of the guy's wife before trying to kill him? There's got to be a limit to having bad taste, right?"
"OH yeah, why don't you get down here an let me show you what bad taste looks like?" The woman growled.
"Why not?" Alfonzo replied with a shrug before hopping off the top of the building, landing between Maes and his attacker.
Naturally, both Maes and the woman were surprised to see Alfonzo in his Venom appearance.
"Before you teach me about bad taste, though." Alfonzo said as he turned towards Maes. Then, he placed his hand on the Lt. Colonel's shoulder as he continued. "We should get this guy some medical attention."
While he was speaking, a thin thread, nearly invisible due to the darkness of the night, unraveled from around Alfonzo's wrist. Then it extended to wrap around Maes' torso, neck, and mouth, before Maes disappeared from where he stood.
"No! What did you do?" the woman shouted angrily as she pointed her pistol at Alfonzo.
"We just sent him somewhere safe." Alfonzo said as he turned around. Then, the spot where his mouth should have been on his mask split open, revealing a set of sharp teeth and a long, wriggling tongue. "And now, we're going to show you that we don't like having guns pointed at us."
"Just who the hell are you?" The woman asked in a shocked tone.
"We. Are. Venom." Alfonzo replied dramatically as he raised his right arm in the woman's direction.