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Al glanced over at his alarm clock. 5:17 am. Same as the last time he checked it.
He sighed, leaning back in his desk chair and running a hand down his face. He unlocked his phone to be greeted with his brother’s contact page just like the last… however many times he had opened it.
He pressed the call button. Straight to voicemail. Again.
Al decided it was officially time to start worrying (as if he hadn’t been worrying already) and called a different number.
It rang once. “Hey Al, what’s up?” Ling answered, sounding more coherent than Al had expected given the time.
“Is Ed with you?”
“Nope, I haven’t seen him since yesterday. Why, something wrong?”
Damn. Al hadn’t been optimistic, but that still left him with a dead end. And a question. “Wait then why are you awake?”
“Woke up feeling snacky.” Al could practically see Ling’s shrug over the phone. “You wouldn’t believe what a symbiote does to your metabolism!”
Greed spoke up. “Nuh-uh, don’t blame this on me! From what Lan Fan says you were always like this. Now why’d you ask about Ed?” Greed abruptly addressed Al, shifting the conversation back on topic.
“Right. Sorry, I haven’t really uh- slept.” Al had been slipping in and out of consciousness since about two, unable to properly rest while waiting for his brother to come home. “He left to go patrol around seven, and I haven’t heard from him since. He hasn’t been answering my calls either- after the first one they all started going straight to voicemail.”
“Oh shit.” Ling said. “Don’t worry, we’ll go out and look for him.” His voice sounded distant, and based on the various shuffling sounds Al assumed he was getting suited up.
“That’s not exactly gonna keep me from worrying.” Al halfheartedly chuckled and rubbed at his eyes. “Just… check in every half hour or so? I don’t want to lose track of you too.”
“Of course, but you should really get some rest.” Ling was right next to the phone again. “I can hear the bags under your eyes, and you can’t help your brother if you’re too tired to think straight.”
Al nodded, then realised Ling couldn’t see him and that he may have had a point about needing rest. “I’ll try. Bring him home safe.”
“You got it!”
The call ended. Al looked at the time. 5:23am.
He went back to Ed’s contact page. One more try, then he’d go to sleep.
-
Eight hours later, Ling was in the back corner of a Subway finishing off the last of three footlong sandwiches, Hobgoblin mask pulled up over his nose so he could eat. He’d been searching for Ed- or more accurately, Spiderman- all morning and was taking a much needed lunch break. He did his best to ignore the strange looks he kept getting from other customers.
He was trying to stay positive, but it was hard when he had not just one, but two streams of anxious thoughts running through his head. He and Greed hadn’t found signs of a struggle anywhere- at least not any big enough to have taken down Ed. If that boy went out Ling figured it would be with a bang. No villains had shown up to gloat either, which made kidnapping seem unlikely too. They were running out of ideas for what could have happened- it was almost like he’d just fallen off the face of the earth.
As Ling was gathering up his wrappers, his phone started buzzing. He didn’t need to check the caller ID to know it was Alphonse. “Hey, what’s-”
“I found something!” Al sounded more energetic than he had all day, since despite Ling’s numerous requests he still hadn’t slept. “Somebody just tweeted about Spiderman stopping a jewellery store robbery by the school!”
“Wait, the one across the street? That’s perfect, I’m just around the corner!” Ling tossed his garbage into the can (landing it perfectly) and jumped up from his table, running onto his hoverboard as soon as he was out the door. “Gotta go, I’ll call you when I can.”
“Good luck!”
Rounding the corner, Ling saw that there was in fact a commotion inside the jewellery store. A pack of thugs were stuffing all manner of expensive looking rings and chains into duffel bags, and- yep, there was Spiderman, curiously sporting a brand new black and white suit. Except…
“I’m not so sure that’s the real Spiderman.” Ling muttered.
Greed borrowed his mouth to respond, which Ling still wasn’t used to even after all these months. “Agreed, he would rather die than wear a suit that covers his prostheses.”
It was true- Ed couldn’t stand wearing tight fabrics on his cybernetic limbs and had complained loudly and incessantly the few times he’d been forced to- hence why his usual suit left them exposed. This new suit covered up those limbs.
“I mean yeah, but also our guy doesn’t seem to be stopping the robbery?” Ling pointed out. In fact it almost looked like he was orchestrating it; standing in the centre of the shop and occasionally pointing the men toward a particular display. “We've done enough watching, there’s probably still employees in there.”
Stowing his board away on his back, Ling strolled casually through the front door of the shop. “Hey Spiderman, did you decide to change career paths or something? I thought that was my job!”
Not-Ed jumped at the intrusion, then whirled around to face him. “Ugh, it’s you. Should’ve figured you’d show up sooner or later.” He sounded like Ed, but… it could have been a trick. You never knew with technology these days.
Without any further banter, Not-Ed jumped at Ling with a kick, which he sidestepped to let Not-Ed fly through the open door. “What do you say we take this outside? This place is someone’s livelihood after all!” Ling followed him out with a smile, leaving the lower profile criminals for the police who would hopefully be arriving shortly.
While Not-Ed was still picking himself up off the ground, Ling hopped back on his board and made his way up to the roof. Having taken the bait, Not-Ed appeared moments later, pulling himself up with two strands of web. “Maybe someone got their hands on the suit schematics?” Ling tried, still holding on to the hope that this was just an imposter. Greed raised his eyebrows, but didn’t comment on Ling’s wishful thinking.
The fight continued. The two (Technically more, but who’s counting?) chased each other across the rooftops of New York. Ling received a few solid blows, but couldn’t for the life of him land one. He even tried using smoke grenades, but somehow Not-Ed was always able to tell when he was coming. Almost like he had Ed’s spider sense.
After the smoke from his latest grenade cleared, Not-Ed had vanished.
“Seriously, how do you lose someone wearing all black in broad daylight?” Ling muttered, looking carefully around corners for his opponent.
“As the only one here who’s actually fought Spiderman, I think we may have to face the possibility that-oUGH!” Before Greed could finish his sentence, Not-Ed dropped out of nowhere and knocked him flat on the ground.
Ling dusted himself off, looking up at where Not-Ed had come from: a ten foot sheer wall that no regular human being could have climbed. “I’m starting to see your point, Greed.” Ling groaned, because if Greed was right things would get complicated.
“The evidence just kicked us square in the back- that’s Ed. At least physically, but I don’t know what’s making him do all this shit.” Something had to be wrong, there was no way Ed would have done any of this of his own free will.
Unfortunately, Ling was pretty sure he knew what the problem was. “…I have an idea of how to find out, but you’re not gonna like it.”
“Since when have I liked any of your ideas?”
Ling took that as permission and ran across the rooftop, yanking a chunk of piping off a wall as he went. Checking over his shoulder to make sure Not-Ed was following, he spun around and slammed the pipe against a nearby metal vent as hard as he could.
The tinny sound echoed up and down the vent, reverberating loudly and making Ling wince.
Greed took the sound far worse- Ling felt an unnatural chill run down his spine before his entire body tensed and a pained, inhuman screeching sound came out of his mouth. Fighting through Greed’s iron clamp on his body, Ling squinted an eye open to see his suspicions confirmed.
Not-Ed was similarly afflicted by the sound- he had his hands over his ears and was letting out a distressed noise that Ed definitely couldn’t make on his own.
The effect only lasted a few seconds, and Greed recovered quickly. He rubbed the back of his head and growled. “You were right, I hated that idea.”
-
Winry finished the last drops of her coffee and glared down at her phone, as if she could make Ed feel her annoyance despite not being there.
She double checked their text conversation again, reassuring herself that they were in fact supposed to meet at one o’clock today, and that Ed was in fact thirty minutes late. She understood that sometimes he was busy given his…extracurriculars…but he could at least give her something! He always managed to answer the phone even if he was in the middle of a fight, so Winry didn’t understand why he was ghosting her now.
Maybe Al knew what he was up to.
Al had appointed himself as his brother’s ‘guy in the chair,’ taking on the monumental task of keeping track of Ed’s whereabouts.
Winry selected his name from her contact list. The phone rang a few times before a tired sounding Al picked up. “Winry?”
“Where the hell is your brother? He was supposed to meet me for coffee half an hour ago and I haven’t heard anything from him all day!”
Al hesitated a moment before answering. “…I’m- actually not sure. Where he is.”
Shit, he really sounded tired. Winry’s annoyance was quickly replaced with worry. “What happened, did he run off without telling you or something?” She asked.
“No, he told me he was going out but it’s been- 18 hours now and he hasn’t come home or answered my calls and I’m maybe definitely freaking out over it!” Al got more and more worked up as he spoke.
“Whoa, whoa! Take a breather Al. I’m sure your brother’s okay, he’s way too stubborn to let anything serious happen to him.” Winry was lying through her teeth- Ed being okay was never guaranteed with what he got up to in his spare time, but she figured it would be nice for Al to hear.
A sigh came through the phone. “Sorry. I think the lack of sleep is getting to me. You’re right, Winry.”
“I always am!”
“And I’ve got Ling chasing a lead right now, so I should hear back from him pretty soon-“ Winry pulled the phone away from her ear as she was distracted by the high pitched sound coming from somewhere above her. It was a sound she knew well, having heard it a handful of times from Greed when particular sounds were too much for him to handle.
“I gotta go, I think I just found your boys and it sounds like they’re in trouble. I’ll call you back in a couple minutes!” Without waiting for an answer, Winry hung up the phone and ran out of the coffee shop into a nearby alley, looking for a way up to the roof and fortunately finding a fire escape. She followed the sounds of fighting, hoping to hear Ed’s voice among the noise.
-
Not-Ed recovered from the bang moments after Greed did, grinning up at Ling with long sharp teeth that were definitely not there before. “Interesting.” He drew out the word, stalking in circles around Ling. “You act like one of us, but you’re not quite the same are you?”
“If by ‘not quite the same’ you mean ‘not a body stealing creep,’ then yeah, you could say that.”
“Well.” Ling mumbled under his breath. Greed ignored him in favour of glaring at the other symbiote, knowing that attacking was pointless until they had a plan.
Not-Ed laughed- sharp and cruel and incredibly unnatural coming from Ed. “Then what do you call that?” He gestured at Ling’s body that Greed had kind of sort of stolen a little bit.
“We’re kind of like roommates, except way worse.” Ling quipped, slowly shuffling closer to the edge of the roof in case they needed a quick escape.
That earned an even harder laugh from the symbiote. “Oh wow, you really are weak! Coexisting with your host? This’ll be easier than I thought.” Not-Ed dropped into a fighting stance and lunged. Ling dove at the last second and rolled towards the edge of the roof.
He heard a clatter below him and glanced over the edge. To Greed’s surprise (Not Ling’s- he had learned long ago to never question this girl), Winry had been about to climb onto the roof from the fire escape.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“Oh you know, I heard the ear piercing screams and wanted to join in on the fun!” Winry’s voice dripped with fake enthusiasm. “But seriously, I should be asking you the same thing. What are you two doing up there?”
Greed risked a glance over his shoulder- it seemed like Not-Ed thought they were hurt and was taking a few minutes to gloat about being superior or whatever. “We don’t have much time. Ed’s been taken over by a symbiote- a real one from space, not homegrown like yours truly.” Winry gasped. “Do you have any ideas-“
“I’ve got an idea.” Ling interrupted.
“Where have I heard that before?” Greed grumbled.
“No time for arguing.” He was right, they’d already been down a suspicious amount of time. “Winry, remember when the centrifuge broke and started screaming at us last month?” At her nod he continued. “Sound hurts symbiotes, so I need you to find a portable way to make as much awful noise as you can and bring it back here.”
“Got it, just keep him distracted for five minutes.” Winry dropped down from the edge of the building and started to climb back down.
Greed hated that this was their only option. “And bring some earplugs, would ya?” He called, receiving a thumbs up from Winry who was already on the ground and running.
“Yeah, we wouldn’t want you crawling away to hide in another vent.” Ling pushed himself up, grinning at the indignant feeling he got from Greed.
“Come on, it wasn’t that bad!”
“You separated from me, and we had to coax you out of the vent with a rat. That you then ate.” Ling muttered then turned to face Not-Ed, declaring the argument over.
“Getting worn out already?”
“Nope, just taking a breather before I kick your ass!” Ling hopped around in place, keeping himself on his toes. It seemed like Greed was taking a backseat, probably to piss off the other symbiote even more.
It was working. Not-Ed snarled and flew at Ling, his attacks sloppier than before. “You disgrace! Are you hiding behind your host or simply too weak to overpower some human?”
“It’s called sharing, don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of it?” Ling took the responding growl as a ‘no.’
They continued for a few minutes- Not-Ed attacking and Ling nimbly dodging so as not to hurt Ed. But Ling was starting to get tired and there was still no sign of Winry, so he fell back on his greatest weapon- being annoying. “Say, what’s your name? It feels a little rude to keep calling you ‘Not-Ed.’” There was no point in keeping up the secret identity with this symbiote- Ling knew from experience that the creature would have access to all of Ed’s memories and definitely knew who he was by now.
“I suppose I can grant you that before you die. The name is Pride.” Pride did a little mocking bow to go with the introduction.
“Are all symbiotes named after sins?” Ling muttered.
“Don’t look at me, this is the only other one I’ve met.” Greed replied, dodging a web aimed right at his face.
“How is it you’re able to- whoa!” Ling’s next question was cut off as Pride used both feet to kick him off the rooftop and into the nearby alley. “Anytime now Winry…” he wheezed, winded from the fall. Thanks to Greed he could take more of a beating than most people, but a six story fall after an already taxing fight was getting to be a bit much.
Greed ended up dragging them to their feet, just as Pride landed in front of him. Behind the symbiote, Ling saw Winry skidding around the corner of the building hauling two speakers that he was pretty sure belonged to their school’s computer lab.
“Catch!” She tossed a noise cancelling headset (also probably stolen from the school) to Greed, who hastily put it on as Winry started up her machine.
The high-pitched whine of microphone feedback bounced between the two speakers and off the walls surrounding them, creating a level of noise that even Ling couldn’t stand.
Greed screamed- this was by far the worst sound he’d ever heard, and that was with the noise cancelling headphones. He collapsed to the ground and clenched every muscle in his body, trying to hold on despite every instinct telling him to leave, to go hide, to get away from that godforsaken noise. Ling could feel Greed’s struggle taking its toll on his body; his vision was starting to go black from the physical exertion and his throat felt raw.
Pride, who didn’t have any protection or warning, didn’t stand a chance. Through the near deafening sound of the noise machine plus two symbiotes, and Greed’s nearly animalistic thrashing, Ling caught glimpses of the black suit reluctantly pulling away from Ed like tar. After another agonising minute, the noise stopped and Ling gingerly pulled himself into a sitting position.
“Ohh everything hurts.” He complained as he pulled the headset off and leaned back on his hands and assessed the damage Greed had done.
His whole body was shaking and sore- normal humans had safety features that kept them from overexerting their muscles, but of course Greed had no problem overriding those controls. His head ached from the noise, and something inside him felt off, but that was probably just because Greed had exerted his internal muscles as well. Or maybe it was from falling off a roof. Either way it would sort itself out.
“Ugh. Winry?” A familiar sounding groan from a few feet away reminded Ling of why he’d endured all that in the first place.
Winry was helping a dazed-looking Ed pull his mask off and lean against a wall. On the ground beside her was a military grade shatter-proof specimen jar with a very angry lump of reddish-black sludge inside. The sludge kept butting up against the wall of the container, but to no avail.
“Welcome back Ed, how are you feeling?”
“I’ve got a killer headache, but other than that I’m alright.” Ed winced and rubbed the back of his head.
“Oh come on! He didn’t even have protection and somehow I’m the one in worse shape?”
Ed and Winry startled- it seemed like the two lovebirds had forgotten Ling was there. “Oh shit! Sorry for trying to kill you. And throwing you off a roof.” Ed said with a grimace.
Ling waved him off. “Eh, what’s a little murder attempt between friends? Now we’re even!”
“Speaking of which, how is Greed doing?” Winry glanced at her makeshift sound bomb. “I know it was the only way to get rid of that other symbiote, but I still feel bad for him.”
Based on the intense feeling of ‘leave me alone or die’ wafting from some corner of his brain, Ling decided Greed was probably okay. “He’ll be alright, he’s just gone off to lick his wounds, so to speak. And don’t make a habit of feeling bad for him- he usually deserves it in one way or another.” The sense of irritation Ling got for the dig reassured him that Greed was fine.
“Seriously though, thanks for getting me back, guys.” Ed said in a surprisingly genuine moment. “I tried to fight it but…” Ling nodded, he was well aware of how hard it was to fight back against a symbiote.
“Don’t thank us yet.” Winry grinned. “You still have to go home and explain yourself to Al. I’m pretty sure he’s tried to call you at least 300 times.”
Ed shot up, then winced as that apparently aggravated his headache. “Why didn’t you say that sooner? He’s probably dug a hole in the floor by pacing!”
As they were preparing to leave and reassure Alphonse, detective Roy Mustang rounded the corner with his entourage. Just in time for all the action, Ling thought sarcastically. Fortunately Ed had already pulled his mask back down.
“Stop right there!” His right hand sergeant aimed her pistol, as if that would actually stop any of them.
“Oh good timing, I almost forgot!” Winry half jogged over to the cops and handed one of them the pissed off jar. “Could you guys make sure this gets into the right hands, okay bye!” She rushed the end of her sentence as Ed swung by and swept her up in one arm, winking at a furious Mustang as he disappeared.
“That’s okay, I wanted to go by myself anyways, no need to include me!” Ling shouted uselessly at his friends as he hopped onto his board and followed, leaving the police squad in various states of confusion and rage.