Rebound

[avaricious]

Who: Greed (and sorta Alphonse)
Broadcast: Yes
Action: A park on the Starlight
When: February 28th, after this post

[The transmission starts abruptly with a flash of red light. When the image clears, there's a few blades of grass in the way and a grotesque image of a man's back, only it's embedded with pieces of metal armor as well as what looks like an armored hand sticking out from the side. It's all the result of some hideous rebound. The man sways unbalanced and seemingly oblivious to the mess made upon his back. He stands there for a few seconds before stumbling forward and kneeling to something beyond the angle of the camera.]

Alphonse!? [There is the sound of banging on metal.] Alphonse! Dammit, answer me!

[There is nothing. No answer. Just silence.]

Say something you shitty brat! We were getting out of this shit hole together! Don't say you--

[And then, just like that, the feed cuts out without explanation.]

Comments

[passingthrough]

[Kitty's eyes aren't wide with shock, horror, revulsion, or confusion though there are bits of each somewhere inside. No, her eyes are narrowed and intense, jaw tight.]

What. Did. You. Do?

[She'd only talked to the kid once here. He was one of the very first people to greet her—friendly and sweet just like she remembered. He was also in a suit of armor which was nothing like she remembered from the prison. She'd known the blond-haired little brother of Edward. They weren't close. She wasn't close to anyone back then, but they were younger and had abilities and even if they didn't call themselves mutants she'd taken to thinking of them as such. Maybe to make her feel less alone in the prison. There was a protective instinct. Seems like it didn't burn out.

She might recognize Greed if she had a better view. Not that she knew much of anything about him in Marina except he was friends with Tyki Mikk which would not earn him any points (even if she was friends with the man once herself.)

But for the moment it doesn't matter who he is, he's the only one here to blame.]

[avaricious]

[God, but he doesn't even know what to think. Greed was ignorant to his own troubles as he stared at the ruined shell of Alphonse Elric. The seal was still in tact, which as far as he knew from his limited memories of the old Greed, that meant Alphonse should still be alive. But how could he be alive in this pitiful state?

The voice shattered his trance. He turned back to see the communicator in the grass. Shit. The last thing this shit show needed was an audience.

He answered scowling, his voice out of breath and sounding more a snarl.]

Shut up. Just shut up.

[passingthrough]

[She will decline your offer of shutting up.]

What happened to him?!

[It doesn't matter now. She doesn't even know why she's asking. She sees his arm wedged in places it shouldn't be. But there are feelings with no where else to go but out so she demands it just the same.]

action

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka doesn't waste any time after she sees the broadcast. She drops what she's doing and jumps in the Starstruck's shuttle, driving it around the Starlight to find the park. She isn't sure which park they're in, but Greed's presence in the Force is distinct as it is horrifying. She closes her eyes for a second in the cockpit, trying to find Greed's location in the Force. ... There. Maybe? She isn't certain, but it's the best she's got. Opening her eyes again, she boosts the engine and thrusts the shuttle forward, flying towards her best guess.

She lands and parks in a hurry when she gets to the nearest shuttle dock, throwing the door open and jumping out without preamble. Then she runs.

When she finally gets there, her eyes widen in shock. For the first time in a long time, Ahsoka's whole body freezes.]

... Greed?

action

[avaricious]

[His presence is lessened. Not by a lot, but he burned through more than just that one soul meant to be used as the payment for the gateway. He wasn't aware of this, no was he aware of the horror that had been made of his body. Not yet anyway. He was still dazed and he still didn't know what to do with Alphonse, save for the fact he'd given the shattered armor a fair distance.

His body shudders when he hears his own name and he tilts his head to look back at her. Damn. He didn't need her here of all people.]

Get away. This doesn't concern you!

[resnipstance]

I'm trying to help!

Video

[alwayscomeback]

[Precisely none of that looks even the least bit okay. Sokka feels a terrible sense of dread drop into him. He only has a vague idea of what Al can do, but one thing he does know is how dangerous it can be.

Whathappenedwhathappenedwhathappened. ]

Greed? [Oh come on you ASS. ] Greed what the heck happened? Is he okay?

Video

[avaricious]

[More voices. Damn. Why did that stupid thing have to kick in!? He's tempted to just throw the communicator into the nearest garbage bin. Or he would, had he the presence of mind to think that far ahead.]

Shut up, dammit!

[He needs to think, not explain shit to the entire fleet.]

Video

[alwayscomeback]

Yeah, how about I don't and you tell me what happened to Al.

video => voice;

[geonomy]

[Okay, the mention of Al's name (and everything that follows) makes Clay frown in concern and hurry to look over, only to -

... squint, at first, because he can't tell just what's -

Oh. Oh.

He is immediately switching it to voice after that, taking a few seconds to just breathe and focus entirely on that rather than that nightmarish image of someone with metal sticking out of his back. But that's his crewmate over there, one who isn't responding, and the protectiveness winning out over the nausea makes him keep his head down while he asks:]

What. Happened?

voice;

[avaricious]

Quiet!

[He's not thinking - his mind is racing too fast to do that just yet. All he has in front of him is what amounts to a corpse, but a corpse that should still be alive - even if in pieces. But Al isn't moving. He isn't doing anything. And something else is missing as well.

Voices. Voices. The fleet was the last goddamn thing he needed right now.]

voice;

[geonomy]

[He lets out a noise of frustration before he speaks up again, louder this time:]

You tell me - No, breathe and tell me what happened to my crewmate!

[scrubscrub]

Mr... Mr. Greed!!

[She feels an overwhelming panic too suddenly, looking around the outside of the ship. Where is everyone else? Someone needs to...! Did Mr. Greed get impaled? By -- by metal? Who's Alphonse?? Why -- ]

Mr. Greed, where are you? I can -- I'll bring something to help you. I can get a... doctor...!

You should sit down; you're hurt!

[avaricious]

[He might regret it later, but a child's voice does nothing for his mental state. He doesn't even realize that it's Koala. It's the communicator. That idiotic device that wouldn't shut up now.]

Shut up! Why won't you all shut up!?

[scrubscrub]

[She shrinks, of course. Of course she does.]

I--I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, you're right! I... I'm speaking out of line...

Couldn't you just... tell me where you are, so I can get help?

[She'll take the punishment, she just... she should help protect her crew, right???]

Action

[save_the_souls]

[When Allen catches sight of this feed, it grabs his attention immediately. The metal arm was familiar, and so was the man in the video- the man that Sokka had argued with. The one he'd been avoiding. Which normally he wouldn't dare go near, but when he hears that name]

[Alphonse.]

[He doesn't bother to reply to the feed, it seems like Greed isn't taking questions right now anyway. He can tell that it looks like one of the parks on the station, so that's where he heads. It's not hard for him to find Greed for Allen- but getting near is not quite as easy, what with all those souls coming from Greed. But Allen was a man on a mission, and so he'll brave it and slowly approach the scene, looking like he has a killer headache- all while a lens hovers over his left eye.]

Dammit... [He'll call out to Greed who is clearly moving on adrenaline what with that arm sticking out of his back] Hey! Stop moving, you're hurt!

Action

[avaricious]

[Greed is like an injured animal, but only in that it makes him all the more dangerous. His breathing is heavy and his eyes are wild. When he hears Allen, he whirls on him with desperation in his eyes. He doesn't even seem to focus on Allen at first, until he starts to advance on him.]

Get out of here! Dammit, go!

[Wasn't he supposed to have men guarding the perimeter?! What happened to them? Ran, probably. Goddamn cowards.]

Action

[save_the_souls]

[Oh, this guy would rather not listen and just instead try to scare him off? Great.]

[Normally, Allen would try to be more patient. Try to be more understanding. But considering his head was killing him and this abomination of a man was the source of that? His patience is more than a bit strained. So as Greed starts approaching him like a mad man, he activates the razor sharp claws on his left hand and holds them out before Greed gets too close. ]

It's a public park, I can be here if I wish.

[So there.]

Now if you'll calm down, you'll prevent further injury and I'll have a chance to check on Alphonse.

action;

[nerdeology]

[Mikleo's spent enough time in the local parks since their arrival on the station that it's sort of like a secondary home by now, a place to get all zen with nature and soak up the peacefulness of it, the absence of malevolence. Which is why, when a heap of malevolence coupled with a whole lot of shouting invades his sanctuary, he knows that something's up.

He's been around Greed enough to recognize the feel of him, so he follows it like a trail until he comes upon the scene. And-- well, i's all kinds of horrifying. If he hadn't already assumed that Greed wasn't human, he'd wonder at how he even survived it. Is that an arm?

Steeling himself, he approaches cautiously, calling out.]

Captain? Greed, can you hear me?

[He's kind of assuming not,but maybe Ling will sense his presence again and get his attention...?]

action;

[avaricious]

[The words are not distinct. Almost clouded. But Greed can hear them. When he whirls around to look, he sees no one.]

Huh? Ling?

[Was that Ling? It didn't sound like him, but he could hardly tell with all this chaos swimming inside him.]

[ action ]

[beardstrokes]

[ Obi-Wan didn't waste any time once the transmission came through. After that, it was a small matter of using the Force to locate Greed's signature, the pervasive touch of countless souls merged together.

What he saw defied explanation. Where would he start? This was beyond any healing arts Obi-Wan was capable of.

First things first, he told himself, coming closer, careful. He didn't want Greed to lash out at him. And Greed needed to calm down, if they were to fix -- fix this ]

Greed.

[ action ]

[avaricious]

[He was on the ground, knees buried in the grass, holding a twisted piece of one of Al's arm trying to find the right place to put it back into place. He was looking for the other half, unaware that it was lodged into his back. Obi-Wan's voice only made him tense, though he did not turn.]

Get back!

[video] 1/2

[flameandpassion]

[ there's a long, lengthy silence as she observes this. her expression is only briefly horrified -- adstringendum has sort of ripped the shock value from her -- but her expression slowly morphs into actual horror once greed actually starts talking.

banging on metal. no response. metal -- and the pieces of armor...

suddenly, there's a rush of understanding (not in the finer details, but of what happened -- alphonse doesn't know her here, he has no idea who she is, or what he means to her, but -- ]

[video] 2/3

[flameandpassion]

[ -- calm down.) she has to remain calm, and fight down the fury, and the anger, but it's hard. and her voice is shaking when she speaks, but she's doing her utmost best to remain calm -- act like an adult, there is a time and a place. you're a soldier, not a little girl, you need to act like it, and figure out what happened. ]

I can help.

[ that's a good place to start. excellent. good. keep going -- but then her voice breaks. ]

I can help get control over -- [ god, greed, you and your... whatever you are. ] I can help you, and try to fix what happened to Al, but I need to know where you are.

[ calm, perfect. good. focus on the professional. al is fine. maybe people come from the dead here. maybe. ]

[video] 3/3

[flameandpassion]

[ -- but then -- alphonse might be dead, he might actually be dead. ]

But in the interest of fairness, if he is dead, and you are the one who did this, I am going to kill you.

[ her tone is suddenly sharp and clear, in focus ]

So if you don't want my help, then you're going to tell me what happened.