Chapter Text
Chapter 41: A Housewife
'Damnit,' Izumi cursed to herself, only barely slipping her head to the side as a fist rocketed past her ear, 'What is she?'
It had only been a moment since she had left the Lieutenant in the hallway. Almost the second she had come back, the assassin had proven to not have been knocked by her last attack, and had recovered quickly. Izumi had barely been able to survey the scene before the assassin had tried to cave in her skull with a flying kick from her left. Izumi had swung her head back, and almost brought her hands up to use an alchemic attack, when the assassin had turned in mid air, and tried to wing her other leg down like an axe. That had forced Izumi to roll away, leaving the exit to the main hallway unguarded.
'Lucky she's focused on me,' Izumi thought, dodging another kick from the young woman, her eye flicking toward the hallway, 'The lieutenant is still out,' she raised up her palms and guided another punch away from her head, 'And this one really did mean it when she said "No Survivors".'
The assassin let loose two more quick strikes, each Izumi was able to guide away from her body, but both times the younger woman's arms retracted almost instantly, resuming a guard along her torso. Izumi continued to eye the assassin, trying to find breaks in her guard, and cursed herself at the futility of her efforts.
'Not that there aren't flaws in her defense, there are,' The woman had a habit of extending herself a bit more than a trained fighter should with each strike, as shown by one punch that seemed to stretch inches beyond where it should, 'Likely putting all her strength into each blow,' she looked up to see where one of those punches had left a fist sized hole in a wall, 'But it might overly expose her body and stretch her into less defensible stances,' which was what happened with a great swing of her opponent's shoulders, as Izumi just barely pulled her head far enough back to avoid a haymaker taking off her nose, 'but that doesn't matter when she can so quickly move herself back into a defensive stance,' which the assassin did very quickly, placing her fists up like a boxer.
So, Izumi had spent the last two minutes or so dodging these attacks, unable to get a real hit in otherwise. She hadn't even been able to use any alchemy; every time she tried to bring her hands together, the assassin would attack more ferociously than before.
'She knows that is my advantage,' Izumi thought. That had been how she had been able to knock the younger woman away long enough to get Ross out of the fight. Her opponent jumped into the air, raising her leg high above her head, 'shit,' and she jumped backward, barely dodging a great stomp.
CRACKKKK!
The floor splintered into a spiral pattern, to a lesser extent than the strike that had sent that metal creature falling through the building. However, the strike had been too much, and the assassin did not immediately try and push another attack. Izumi slapped her hands together, and as the alchemic lighting sprung from her palms, he slammed her hands into the floor she had just landed on, and sent another column flying towards the assassin.
That proved to be a mistake, as said assassin flew into the air, and landed on the column as it reached her.
'She wanted me to attack like this,' Izumi realized as she watched the younger woman cross the whole of the column with one stride, and throw her fist forward directly toward Izumi's face. She threw her palms up toward the punch, but saw within an instant she would not be able to block the strike. Instead, she brought both her hands, and with all the force she could muster, pushed the assassin's arm upward.
Thwack.
Izumi fell backwards, and sudden shot of pain through her forehead. She rolled backwards, her back snapping in pain as she fell through debris from the earlier fights, before she stopped in a kneel, and then stared at her opponent, who had paused, and stared at her.
'That could have gone mu,' and then, she felt a liquid begin to slide down her nose, 'Shit, that hit was bad, she thought, as the felt a splitting headache from the punch. She didn't have time to stop the bleeding though, as the assassin was one her again quickly, this time with two quick jabs that Izumi quickly swung herself away from each time, 'Damn it,' she watched as she felt more and more blood begin to congeal around her left eye, 'this is only going to make this hard-'
And then the assassin almost slid to Izumi's left side, again throwing several strikes. And Izumi-
"Grrrghh!"
Could only partially dodge them, guiding them to only making passing contact along her torso, rather than full on body blows. Her reaction time was only miliseconds slower with blood in her eye, but that was enough.
'And she's so good at fighting that she naturally takes advantage of my handicap,' she cursed in the back of her mind, 'With no active thought, she just knows to slide into my blind spot!'
Izumi swung her right leg in a great kick to try and get some distance, and the assassin did slide back slightly, while Izumi then planted that foot, and then jumped backward. Even if her last attack hadn't worked, she had an advantage at range. Certainly while being quarter blind.
But the other woman wouldn't let her, as the assassin was on her instantly. Izumi growled to herself as the other woman got close, and threw her own punch towards her attacker's head.
CRUNCH
"GYAH!"
It was the second worst pain she had ever experienced. She staggered backwards, her arm immediately falling to her side. The assassin had used Izumi's attack as an opportunity to set up a real, full strike directly into her side. That one single punch had likely fractured two of her lower left ribs, as she fell backward from the strike, she felt the bone fragments move beneath her skin. As she began to fall to her knee after the hit, she felt a wave of blood pour out of her throat and cover chin. Vaguely, as she staggered to her foot as quickly as she could, she wondered if it was from the punch or her missing organ.
THWACK-THWACK-THWACTHWACK-TWHACK
The next thing she knew, she was flying backward, her feet hanging in the air, pain around her chest and her face. She blinked as she stared at the old tiles that were crumbling above her, vaguely wondering how long it had been since there had been any maintenance on the building, before she felt everything stop as she felt her shoulder and then head crash into the floor behind her. She then vaguely recognized herself rolling backward in a tumble. She rolled backward, feeling herself crash through old debris and the remains of the room until
"Gyah!"
She felt the room fall out from under her. As she fell, she vaguely realized that she had fallen through the hole that had been opened up by the falling metal man. As she fell, she wondered to herself if she'd land on top of him. However, this quickly turned out to not be the case, as she had come at such an angle and found herself rolling along the floor, until finally, mercifully, she came to a stop.
'What is she?' she vaguely wondered in her head, not even bothering to let her voice out as she kept her one good eye forced upward, to see if the assassin was going to continue to attack her. As the seconds passed, nothing happened, and she took in a deep breath, 'If I lay here, she might think she killed me, and then-'
Slowly, she heard the sound of high heeled shoes clicking along the floor above her. She took in a deep breath of relief that she had a moment where she was not in direct danger, only to notice that the steps of the assassin were approaching the hallway above her.
The hallway where she had left Ross.
'Goddamn it,' she growled to herself, before slamming her hands together. She groaned aloud, as the mental force to control the alchemic operations strained against her mental capacity, but she couldn't afford to let Ross be in the same room with this woman while she was out cold. She slammed her hands into the floor, and sent a spike upward toward where she could guess the assassin was moving. She saw the attack slice through the ceiling, and then almost instantly heard the sound of feet hitting the ground further away from the hallway.
And then she heard those same feet turn, and begin a sprint towards the hole she'd been knocked down through.
"Shit," she said to herself. She swung her head around, and blinked. Along the walls were shelves full of dozens of bottles. Izumi considered the bottles, remembered that a bar was only a single floor down from here. She pushed herself up to her feet, and then rushed over to one of the shelves that looked to have dust cleaned off recently. She grabbed up one of the bottles, and nodded to herself when she felt it was full. She placed the fingers of her other hand on the palm holding the bottle, and activated an alchemic reaction.
A second after that, she heard the sound of feet landing on the floor a few feet behind her. She planted her own feet, and then threw the bottle with all her might directly toward the assassin behind her. The woman saw it, and moved her head to the side, allowing the bottle to pass her.
Izumi smirked.
CREAIISAAASSHHHH
The oxidization of enough of the ethanol inside the bottle had taken a few seconds, which mixed with the remaining booze inside the bottle, and been easy enough to spark a minor explosion after a few seconds. Now, it would have been good had her opponent caught it, as the reaction would have gone off in her hand.
But as a storm of shattered glass sprayed into the assassin's back, at least she could take solace in the woman not smashing the bottle and causing the reaction to break apart in the air without any fragments to attack her with. The assassin stumbled forward, and Izumi could see a light mist of red aerosol shifting above the younger woman's back, shock covering her face. The woman then looked at her with her red eyes, still taking a moment to realize what had just happened.
Izumi didn't dare take a chance. She slammed her hands together again, and then reached back, grabbing two more bottles of booze from the shelf behind her, before chucking them forward. The woman's eyes grew as large as dinner plates, and she umped backward with a great kick. The two bottles were right where she had been standing, when they exploded, leaving a mist of booze and shattered glass floating between the two of them, with the assassin now again across the hole from Izumi.
'Good,' Izumi thought, 'at least now I've got some space,' she gave only a second to glance back at the shelves, 'I have probably have two hundred more bottles or so,' she stared, 'I will need to be careful, but unless she finds some kind of projec-'
The assassin reached down, and picked up a rock that seemed to have come from the remains of the floor.
'SHIT!' Izumi cursed, as she saw that rock hurtle towards her. She rolled to the side, and then felt her stomach drop when she heard the sound of glass breaking, 'Even if she can't hit me, she'll destroy my weapons,' she saw the assassin pick up another piece of debris, 'well then,' she clapped her hands back together, 'Then I just will have to go ahead and use them!'
She grabbed two of the bottles, and then hitched back when the next of the assassin's projectiles shot past her, breaking several more bottles. She didn't stop from swinging her hips, and then tossing both of the bottles in her hands toward her opponent. As they hurtled towards the younger woman, she watched as recognition reached came that these projectiles were traveling further.
'It took a little less hydrogen,' Izumi considered, as suddenly the assassin fell to the floor, as the two bottles burst in the air right where she had been, 'Does mean the explosions are less powerful, but they still hurt.'
That was clear when the woman stood up, and Izumi could see a large piece of glass imbedded in her shoulder. However, it took only a second for the assassin to reach up, pull the glass shard out, and then sling it towards Izumi. Izumi cursed as she felt a knew cut along her face, and more blood begin to flow, and more glass behind her break.
'Can't afford to let up,' Izumi performed another one of the reactions, 'I need to tear her down before she lands someth-'
CREEEEAAAAAk
'What,' Izumi looked behind her, and then saw the shelves behind her begin to shake. She vaguely saw a beam along the back of the shelves, with the glass share cutting straight through it, 'She cut the support to the who-'
RROOSAAAUNNSSSHHHHH
Then the whole set of shelves fell forward. Izumi slapped her hands as the top wooden shelf gave way, and slammed it into the floor. It took a few seconds, with more and more bottles falling around her, but a thin concrete wall just managed to congeal around her as the bottles, booze and glass finally began to pour out from the shelves to where she was standing. For the next ten seconds, she hid under the barrier, the sound of shattering bottles filling her ears. Finally, the sound of crashing stopped, and Izumi sighed seeing her barrier had not given way to the collapse.
"You missed one-" she heard from behind her.
She turned aro-
THWWOONNNKK
And immediately found herself sailing through the air again. As she was sitting in the air, she saw the assassin a thick bottle in her hand, standing where she had been. She tried to control her trajectory through the air, but could do nothing as she watched the woman rear up her leg, and wait as Izumi fell right before it.
POW-CRREEIISHSSHHH
Izumi didn't know what happened. Perhaps she had blacked out for a moment, but the next thing she knew, other than the extreme amount of pain she felt all over her body, was that she was laying in the middle of a small closet. She lazily moved her eyes, and looked down that she was laying on top of the door, that appeared to be in the process of breaking apart. She tried to roll onto her side, but as she did so, everything began to hurt worse, in particular her right shoulder where the woman's kick had landed.
'Is...is it broken,' she wondered, 'God, what is she,' she, through half closed eyelids, stared at the assassin. The woman seemed distracted, looking down into the hole to the lower levels, 'maybe...maybe I can just lay here,' she thought, 'she seems to be focused on something else, and since it's down stairs, she probably isn't going after Ross. As lo-'
"No! Wait!"
It wasn't her voice. It was Ross's voice. It wasn't that of the metal man or the assassin or anyone else she'd seen since coming in this trash heap. But it was a familiar voice. It was the voice of a young boy, with the vaguest echo in the back of it.
"Alphonse?" she asked beneath her breath. She looked over, and saw that the assassin was getting ready to jump down through the hole. And...and that hole was where Al's voice had come from. This woman, who'd killed dozens of people, and shown monstrous strength beyond what any human should, who'd beaten her like a drum. She was about to go toward Alphonse.
...
'Like hell,' She couldn't move her right arm, so she brought her left hand across her body, and placed her palms together, 'I don't care how strong you are,' she repeated to herself. She looked around the room, and saw that she'd been sent into a supply closet. Cleaning supplies, from mops, to dust bins, boxes of baking soda, to a whole cabinet of soap and other cleaners that had been knocked open when she crashed through, 'I'm not going to let you, or anyone ever hurt my students again,' she placed her hand on the floor, and sent a small column out toward where she was pretty sure the assassin was standing, 'so come on, let me show you what I can do!'
________________________________________________________________________________________
Alphonse really hated the sewers. They were dark and damp, and even if he didn't have a nose, he could swear he could smell the sewage. So he was very cross that he had been hogtied and was being carried on the big bull guy's shoulder as they marched through the sewer under the building he'd been held at. Alphonse would have tried to wriggle free, but he just couldn't get his body moving. Martel being inside him was just too entwined with his body for him to actually get any freedom of movement, alongside those ropes around his wrists and ankles. So all he could do was stay still, and hope that teacher or Ed would manage to find him.
"Think Greed will be here soon?" the dog Chimera, Dolcetto, wondered aloud.
"Doesn't matter," Alphonse heard the echoing of Martel's voice from inside his body. The snake woman's voice seemed to reverberate around him before coming out, giving it a sound like a bell, "You know that if Greed told us all to get out of here, then that is what we are going to have to do," Alphonse could imagine a homunculus being very scary, so he was not at all surprised that even these chimeras listened to him so loyally, "He'll catch up when he's do-"
CRASSSHHHH
Alphonse suddenly saw a massive cloud of dust cover his face. Being forced to look down at the ground, along the back of Roa the Bull Man, he didn't see what caused the crash. Time ticked forward a few seconds, when he heard something stand up.
"That bit-"
"Greed?" he heard Dolcetto speak up. Alphonse vaguely felt the large man carrying adjust his weight, a tenseness seeming to decrease in the bull man's body.
"Yeah, it's me," Alphonse was swung slightly to the side, and he was able to see Greed. The homunculus was covered head to do in a black sheen, almost metal like. Greed waved his hand, before looking up, "Well, hopefully that bitch gets distracted for just a bit, and we can make our way out of here."
"Greed?"
"I met the one who tore apart the Nest," he growled, "She was tough, so I get how she was able to do it," Alphonse watched as the black armor retreated, revealing Greed's more human appearance, "If I couldn't regenerate or I didn't have my Ultimate Armor, I'd be dead as everyone else," he looked up the hole, and then blinked, "Okay, she's not coming now, so...we got leave."
"Really?" Martel asked from within Alphonse, "You are suggesting pulling back?"
"I'm not happy about it," Greed sneered, and Alphonse saw him flick his eyes upward again, "But with the military outside the building, I don't think there is a way to get back at that bitch without any more losses," there was a hint of fear in Greed's voice, "So, I say we run while they are distracted, get out of town with our meal ticket here," Greed came over and slapped Alphonse on the side, "Then, we make a new plan on how to get in contact with this kid's brother and get our immortality," he then stopped, and Alphonse could feel the rage emanating off of him, "And of course, plan the next time I can get my hands around that bitch's neck."
"Whatever you say boss," Dolcetto honestly seemed a bit relieved, "I was- well I didn't want you to lose more lives than you needed to," he then placed his sword on his shoulder, "You always were the brains of this whole operation," he then also smacked Alphonse, who would have found it more annoying if he could actually have felt any of it, "I'm not sure what we could even do with the kid if you weren't around to tell us."
"You're damn right," Greed laughed, "Now then, we need to-"
"Die."
SHLINK
The world seemed to stop. Alphonse had heard the sound of metal cutting through flesh, and the stunned silence that hung around it. A second after that, he heard someone, probably Roa, shout, "GREED!" as metal was pulled from meat. He then heard the sound of alchemic lightning that he'd heard when he'd seen Greed regenerate his head from the earlier demonstration. Then, he felt weight give way, as he fell from high up, onto the floor.
"OW!" he heard Martel shout from inside him, "What the hell's going on out there!"
"I must admit," and then Alphonse could place the voice, as he rolled to his side and hit the wall. It was a voice only a minute ago he would have been ecstatic to hear, but now, with the growl underneath it, he wasn't so sure anymore. He pushed his torso up, to where he was sitting, and allowed himself to see Fuhrer King Bradley standing along the pathway, "You're entrance was very helpful there," he paused, and said, "Greed was it," Alphonse looked down, and saw Greed kneeling down, glaring up at the head of Amestris's military, "I might not have been able to sneak up on you had you come down the stairs," he flicked his sword to the side, and droplets of blood covered the wall to his side, "That might have made this far more difficult."
"It's the Fuhrer," Martel stammered from inside Alphonse. Roa and Dolcetto also seemed to be taken aback by the arrival of Bradley, with Dolcetto reaching down to his sword, and Roa gripping tightly on his hammer, "What the hell is Fuhrer King Bradley doing here."
"Well it's good to see you again, Young Elric," Alphonse looked over at the Fuhrer, but he couldn't see any of the warmth of his voice was gone, "Your brother was very worried about you and your mentor," he aimed his sword at them, while two massive men in uniforms walked out from the shadows on either side of the Fuhrer, "Though I do not see her here, have you seen her?"
"Maybe she was one of those women who met the bitch upstairs," Greed coughed, standing up fully, holding his hand behind his back, "the one with dreadlocks seemed tough," Alphonse couldn't help but let out a small gasp, "Oh, good, that was her," he twisted his neck to the side, giving an audible crack, while behind him Alphonse watched as Greed's hand became covered in his armor, "Well, she might last long enough, but if she doesn't get any help, she might as well be good as dead."
"What, teacher no," Alphonse tried his best to get the Fuhrer's attention, "Please Fuhrer Bradley, you have to go help her."
"Unfortunately young Elric," Bradley said, "At the moment, my primary mission is to retrieve you and put down those that would threaten the family of one of my officers."
"Put us down huh?" Greed growled, "Let's see you try," suddenly a clawed hand was swinging up from behind his back towards the Fuhrer.
SHLINK
Only for that arm to fling through the sky, with the Fuhrer's blade cutting right beyond the elbow. It seemed that the swipe had completely missed the homunculus. Except, of course, for a little black piece of fabric caught up in the pinky claw of the flung out fore arm. Alphonse realized almost instantly that Greed had caught the Fuhrer's eyepatch with that swing, and he looked with concern over at the man, hoping that he hadn't actually been hurt.
"Oh dear."
If Alphonse could have widened his eyes, he would have. Because he got to see what was underneath that eyepatch. There wasn't a hole, or a stitched up eyelid as he might have expected. No, instead, there was an eye currently in the Fuhrer's left socket. That alone would have been enough to be shocking, but what was more so, was that there was not pupil on that eye. Rather, it was a strange, but familiar symbol of a serpent about to swallow it's own tail while circling a five pointed star.
'No way-'
SHINKSHINK
"GYAH!" Greed fell backward, falling off the walkway into the water, his torso cut off from his waist, and his left leg sliced below the knee. The chimera all took a step back, staring at the movement.
"I wish you hadn't done that," Bradley said, "I had hoped that my little secret might remain so for at least a while longer young Elric," he brought his blades together, and grinded the top against the bottom, causing a great tearing sound, "Now, I'm afraid we are going to have to hold you and your brother apart for a bit."
"Fuhre-"
"Kid," Dolcetto snapped, holding his sword up warily toward the Fuhrer, "I don't think he's asking," he gave a quick glance back, "Martel, cut him loose, we're gonna need everything we can to-"
Bradley was right next to him in a blink. Both his blades were held at his side, and his head was well below Dolcetto's guard. The dog chimera didn't even widen his eyes, as the ruler of Amestris said, "I'm tired of hearing you tal-AH!" only to suddenly be pulled back, and tossed into the air. A second later, one of the two big soldiers, the lighter skinned one with spiky hair and glasses, caught him out of the air, while Bradley glared at the ground, "You!"
"So you aren't so good when you get attacked from behind," Alphonse watched as Greed pulled his head out of the water, "I'm guessing if your eye has the Ouroboros, then that's your Ultimate Power," he laughed, as black armor began to crawl up his body, "Well, that won't help you cut through my ultimate armor. Roa, Dolcetto!" both of the male chimera perked slightly, "Take out those two bozos behind my brother over there," they both gave quick nods as , "I'll hold the Fuhrer until you can get to us, and we can hit him from behind."
"Right Greed!"
The Fuhrer was put down onto the causeway, "I'm afraid you all might be getting ahead of yourselves," he looked back, "Zampano," the light-skinned man with the glasses looked over, "Jerso," the dark skinned man with dreadlocks slammed his fists together, "Why not show these rabid dogs what you can do?"
"Sure," Jerso said. Suddenly, both he and Zampano pulled their coats off, and tossed them to the side. Before anyone could question that, both of them suddenly convulsed. Jerso began to bloat, and his brownish skin began to take on a greenish tint. Zampano grew even paler, his longer nose began to extend out alongside the rest of his body into a snout, and the shirt on his back was ripped apart by little spikes sticking through it. Jerso, his jowls shaking as he croaked, "Think you can take us now? Punks?"
"Wow," Greed pointed at them, "They're Chimera's too," he then looked back, "Small world, huh guys," he then brought his hand to his face, "Hey, you guys wanna dump the old geezer and come be my minions?"
The answer was Jerso's belly suddenly bloating even further as he hucked up his mouth. A second after that, he threw his head forward, and a glob of salaiva shot out. Greed dodged to his left, avoiding the projectile. So too did Dolcetto and Roa.
Alphonse on the other hand.
"Ah!" he shouted, as he felt the saliva cover his legs. He tried to roll away from it to fall in the water and wash it off, but he felt shock as he couldn't get his legs to move. He looked down, and saw that the spit was already congealing to the floor, keeping him stuck, "I can't move."
"Good," Roa said, "Will keep you in one place and out of the fighting," Alphonse watched the giant man's body convulse too, with his muscles pumping up, his shirt nearly ripping, and hors seemingly emerge at the top of his head, "Kid, keep an eye on Martel, we'll be back once we deal with these guys."
"Wha-," Alphonse could only watch as both groups charged at one another. Homunculus against Homunculus, Chimera against Chimera. He waited as he could do was shout, everything happening around him being too confusing, "No! Wait!"
________________________________________________________________________________________
This had been far harder than Yor had anticipated. She hadn't expected it to be easy when Solaris had told her that a human trafficking ring had sprung up and taken Edward Elric's brother to sell him to Aerugo. They had been operating for quite a while, so this hive of scum and villainy clearly needed to be cleared out. And she'd she'd met what she initially expected, plenty of guns and big tough guys. Even the one who sort of looked reptilian wasn't too out of what she would normally run into.
What was much harder was when she had met the boss. He had suddenly turned into a metal man, and it had taken quite a while for Yor to actually do damage, though she'd managed to stab through his armor eventually. That hadn't been enough to kill it however, but she'd been able to knock it down by caving in the floor, and sending it hurtling downward. She would have pursued, had she not been forced to deal with the other two intruders. Two people who she really didn't want to have to kill.
It was easy enough to see why not. One was Maria Ross, a military officer she'd seen once, though she was thankful to not be recognized by the lieutenant. She was along a civilian woman. But...well, she'd been told no survivors. And the chance that Ross would know who she was might jeopardize her family back in central, so it probably would have been better to kill the lieutenant anyway. She didn't want to lose Lloyd and Anya after all. So killing the two should have been easy, and it had very nearly been.
Except it turned out that the civilian was an alchemist. One, like Edward Elric, that could perform whatever alchemy she wanted by simply slapping her palms together. The fight had been long and hard, and the dreadlocked woman had managed to put some real damage into Yor. Before that, she'd taken one or two hits, and about a half dozen pellets of buckshot into her back, as well as some cuts from knives and a few bruises. Worse than usual, but nothing too out of line. This woman had managed to land several clean hits on Yor, which would add more bruising, but also had caught her twice in the back with exploding bottles of wine, that had left glass embedded in her. That would be even more work to get out...and it was a waste of perfectly good booze too.
'At least it's over,' Yor was fairly sure that the flurry of hits she delivered had been enough to kill the alchemist. She'd managed to land more then enough hits to likely kill her already, and if not, to cause enough internal bleeding that she'd be dead soon enough. She gazed down at the hole in the middle of the room, 'Should I go down and put down this place's leader, or maybe go finish of the lieutenant,' she paused, and thought through, 'I am supposed to kill everyone besides Alphonse, and Alphonse knows the lieutenant, so if she were to ever tell him that I attacked here,' she nodded, 'Okay, just have to hop up, kill the lieutenant and-'
BRZZZTT
She immediately jumped and cursed to herself, 'Damnit!' she looked at the closet, where she'd knocked the assassin into not a moment earlier, 'Why won't she just die already?' she marched over, 'If I'm going to end this, I'm going to have to break her neck.'
As she marched forward, she heard more lightning. She slightly edged down in her stance, ready to dodge once more...but nothing came.
'Did she run out of power?' she asked. For a second longer, she stood there, before edging forward once more, only to stop, as for some reason, something felt different. She couldn't quite place it as she looked around, but she felt the edges of her eyes begin to water, and a strange...eggy smell join a burning along her nostrils, 'Ammonia!' She must have knocked the woman into a cleaning supplies closet, a simple bottle of glass cleaner would probably be enough for an alchemist skilled as this woman to make a cloud of Ammonia.
She rubbed her eyes, only to stop, when she heard the sound of lighting again, and had to roll along the next column sent her way. She let out several coughs, and cursed as she felt some scratches along her arms from rubbing her skin against concrete.
She glared as she saw the woman on her knees, head below where the ammonia was resting in the air, it was a lighter gas after all. Despite everything, the woman's last gambit had clearly failed. She'd used the Ammonia to try and disorient Yor, and then land a solid blow, but Yor had dealt with plenty of dangerous substances before. If she couldn't handle Ammonia, what kind of assassin would she be.
She marched over to the older woman, looking down to the ground. There was a small part of Yor that almost felt bad about doing this. This wasn't a human trafficker. Technically, this woman had just wandered in. Not to mention she'd given Yor one of the toughest fights she'd ever gotten, at least as strong as Scar had been. But this dreadlocked woman had gotten in the way of the job, and so, she was going to have to die. No witnesses, no chance of discovery. She reached her hands down, at least knowing it would be quick with one strong turn of the neck.
When the older woman lifted her head, and on her face was the biggest grin Yor had ever seen.
"Thank you for coming closer," she shouted, before tossing a jug up into the air. Yor watched it raise up to her face, and watched as she saw the obvious sign of alchemic lighting covering the seems of the jug. Just before the jug exploded, she saw the label reading "BLEACH".
"Oh Fu-"
BOOOMMM
Yor fell backward, her mouth and eyes and nose all burning far worse than they had with the Ammonia. She landed square on the ground, and laid there as every part of her body began to rebel against her control, with hacking cough immediately erupting up her throat. She tried to push herself up onto her feet, but stumbled, and nearly fell flat on her face. She continued to cough and hack, all the while her whole chest burned horribly from the gasses currently in her lungs.
"There is a reason you never mix bleach and other normal cleaners," she heard the other woman speak up, while the sound of alchemic lighting buzzed in the background, "Doing so naturally results in the base of ammonia interacting with the bleach to create chlorine gas," the burning in Yor's lungs were enough to confirm that. She looked back, and despite the burning all over her, she could, through teary eyes, see that the alchemist was now standing, "I'd stand up if I were you," next to a fan that she had mystically created with her alchemy, "Chlorine gas is heavier than air, so if you don't want to die in it, you need to get your head over what's coming."
She then flicked something on the top of the fan, and Yor watched as the blades began to cut through the air. Yor tried her best to push herself to her feet, but as she got to a squat, she could feel more of the chlorine get inside her system. Her coughing got worse, and it took everything in her power to push her head up as high as she could.
"Now," more lighting, "Let's see you dodge this."
BZZZRRTTT-CRUNCH
Yor felt it. A great column of concrete, like all the others, had shot out of the ground. Unlike those though, this one had landed a direct hit to her solar plexus. That was obvious enough by how she was sent flying into the air from the strike.
CRAASSHHH
Right through the ceiling, and back into the floor above. She hung in the air, debris hanging around her, before she looked down. Despite everything, she knew she couldn't afford to fall back, so she used all her strength to roll in the air, and then twist until she managed to land on this third floor. Which she, thankfully did.
She laid there for a moment, her entire body, both inside and out, hurting. She continued to cough and spit, trying to get the Chlorine out of her system, while at the same time trying to force herself to stand. She at least avoided more of the deadly gas, but she needed to get up quickly, or else that alchem-
BZZRRT
Another column came up through the floor, and like last time it slammed directly into her, knocking her back into the wall, which she bounced off of, and fell back to the floor. She let out a low moan, before she tried to stand up once more, while more lighting was dancing in the background. Only this time, instead of a column coming right at her, a new hole developed where the closet would be, and on top of a new column was the alchemist, broken arm held at her side, face and body covered in cuts and bruises, and a look of contempt on her face.
"You remind me of a bear," the alchemist said, before bringing her good hand to her broken one, and slapping the ground. Yor could only vaguely follow the zigging pattern as it danced around her, coming to a stop to the wall on her left, "You're naturally stronger and sturdier than anything you've ever met in nature," Yor watched as the vaguest form of a column began to form, but as she tried to push herself up to move, she almost immediately fell back down, her mind racing at her inability to get her body to move, "So when that natural strength and fortitude are taken away" the column shot forward, directly toward Yor's face, "You crumble in your sudden weakness."
CRUUNNNCCHHH
This time, Yor took the column directly to the face. She was sent tumbling backwards, rolling over herself at the sudden hit, until she came crashing against a wall.
"I've fought bears," Yor could only cough as she managed to stagger to her feet. She could only barely move, her limbs and lungs burning, her eyes filled with tears and stinging. But she could hear, "But...I prefer bears," Yor felt another hit, though she couldn't even see where it came from anymore, and felt herself roll and tumble along the floor once more, "We are all part of the one, but you," there was an anger in the woman's voice, "You are one that thinks you are beyond the all. You think nothing of those you kill, those you would mean to kill," Yor coughed, before doing her best to look up at the alchemist, "We are all just playthings in your little game."
Yor, despite everything grit her teeth, "What," she coughed out, staggering forward, into the room. She would show this alchemist to mock her, "What gives you the right to judge?"
The woman continued to give her a stern look, before the edges of her face turned upward in a cocky smirk. Yor's eyes, burning and in pain as they were, widened when she saw the woman bring her hands together once more. She tried to force her body to move, but each step was wild and out of
her control. And alongside the sound of the great alchemic reaction, she could hear the alchemist shout in victory.
"I'M A HOUSEWIFE!!!!!!!"
BZZZZRRRRRTTTTTT
This time, there was a fist on the end of the column that shot towards Yor. But like the last few times, there was nothing she could do as it hurtled towards her, and sent her flying. But unlike last time instead of being sent into a wall, she felt her back hit another material after being flung with more force than ever before. Glass. She felt the glass shatter from her momentum, as she was sent flying out of the room, and the building, and hurtling over the street below.
As she felt herself slam into, and then through, the wall of the next building, she began to see darkness creep over her. Vaguely, she saw a shadowy shape begin to creep into view, but she couldn't move a single muscle, as her mind went blank.