Then, from behind, the tentacle reached out to them, destroying the staircase as it came. Hugging the boy tight in one arm, Luon spread his other hand on the ground. A shaft of rock with a jagged, sawlike edge shot up from the floor, slicing the tentacle in half.
The old scientist looked nothing like a human now. He roared, growing larger by the moment. His mind was entirely gone. Lost to an insatiable hunger, the creature that had been Dell flailed around with its tentacles, searching for anything to consume.
Then the tentacle lurched with amazing speed, catching Luon around the neck. Luon quickly pushed Kip behind his back. Luon worried less about getting free of the tentacle than about finding a way to keep Kip safe. His mind was racing when, right before his eyes, Dell’s horrible maw opened wide.
“No!” Kip screamed by Luon’s ear. The creature that had been Dell roared.
Then the tentacle around Luon’s neck loosened its grip and fell to the floor, fluid streaming from its cleanly severed end.
“Show some respect! Can’t you see they’re having a moment here?”
It was Edward, his right arm-blade dripping with slime. He lifted his arm and cut into the mass of flesh that once was Dell’s torso on the backstroke.
“Wrrrrrrorgh!”
The large cut healed with incredible speed, but apparently, the creature could still feel pain. Dell withdrew, sliding away across the rubble-strewn floor.
“You okay?” Alphonse asked, running to help Luon, who was coughing and rubbing at his throat.
“Edward! Alphonse!”
“Kip, what are you doing here?” Edward asked, shaking his head in disbelief.
“I know,” Alphonse said, turning around to face Kip. “You wanted to find Luon yourself, didn’t you?”
Kip nodded, smiling through his tears.
Edward scratched his head and grinned. He turned to looked down at Luon, who was just catching his breath. “I was going to keep hitting you until you started listening to me, but I see Kip here’s saved me the trouble.”
Luon looked up, a hint of suspicion in his eyes.
Edward reached out his hand. “I saw you save Kip’s life back there. You make a great dad, you know?” Luon accepted Edward’s hand and rose to his feet. Kip came and took hold of Luon’s other hand.
Luon felt Kip’s tiny hand in his own and realized Edward had been right all along. He was the only one Kip had to hold on to. He had been wasting time, hurting others for the sake of his research, when what he should have been doing was holding Kip and not letting go. Instead of wasting his efforts on a dream, he should have put them to good use, giving Kip the happiest life he could.
Luon gave Kip’s hand a squeeze.
He could spend the rest of his life apologizing for what he’d done, but he knew there could be no forgiveness. Maybe the day would come when Kip’s anger boiled over. But he would hold on to Kip’s hand and do whatever he could. Like his friend who died protecting Kip on that battlefield, he would protect the tiny life he had found there with all his power. It was his duty as Kip’s father.
Edward and Alphonse stood, watching the two of them holding hands for a moment before they snapped back to reality. There was a mad, monstrous scientist-thing on the loose that needed catching.
“Where did he go?” Edward scanned the room, when the entire building shook with the force of an explosion.
“Yikes!”
“What was that?”
Edward ran over to the window. Dell was on the move, slithering out of the factory toward the soldiers on the hill. The soldiers were still too busy fighting the chimeras. They’d had no time to react to this latest threat.
Dell moved quickly, reaching out his tentacles to pick up fallen chimeras and absorb them into his body like a giant amoeba. From above, his watery, amorphous form made him look like a pond that walked.
Then the big guns near the top of the hill fired, and a shell impacted near him, blowing away part of Dell along with a chunk of the factory. Knowing Edward and Alphonse were inside, Roy’s men held back from a full bombardment, but the size of their adversary made collateral damage to the buildings unavoidable. The cannons fired again, and the sound filled the sky over the deserted town.
“We have to get out there and help them,” Edward said, but it was Luon who moved first.
“You watch Kip,” he shouted, breaking into a run.
“H-hey! Where are you going?” Edward called after him. “It’s just like Shelley said, this guy doesn’t tell you anything!” Edward ran down the stairs, calling back to his brother.
“Al, stay there with Kip!”
“Got it. Be careful!”
Edward waved and ran down the torn and tangled metal stairs to the floor below. When he looked over the railing, he saw Luon had almost reached the bottom. Edward grabbed the railing, leapt over, and landed by Luon’s side.
Luon stopped, surprised for a moment. The two exchanged a brief glance and then began to run together, side by side.
“You’ve got moves, kid!”
“I know.”
They cut across the first floor and into the garage, now empty of chimeras. Edward glanced over at Luon.
“Hey.”
“What?”
“It looks like you made your peace with Kip … but don’t forget about Shelley.” Edward spoke in a quiet tone. “She was all smiles when she invited us to stay at the house, but I caught her looking at your picture once, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone look so sad.”
If his own father had ever come home while his mother was still alive, Edward probably would have socked him one in the jaw. Still, he knew all would have been forgiven the moment his mother smiled. Of course, this was all conjecture. His mother was long dead, and his father, still missing, had never come home.
But Egger’s family was different. Luon would be in for some jail time, but he would eventually come home, and the three of them could live as a family again. Edward wanted to make sure he understood how important that was.
“Don’t make her cry again, okay?” Edward said with a glare at him.
Luon smiled faintly. “I won’t. I promise.”
Edward grinned. “Then let’s get this mess cleaned up!” The two ran out of the garage.
Outside, Roy’s men prepared to face Dell. Roy must have used his alchemy. Flames flickered and flared across much of Dell’s massive body. But it looked like the augmented blood was already doing its work, repairing and regenerating what had been lost. The flames smoldered, spluttered, and died.
“Gyyyyyyyooooooowrr!”
Dell advanced on the hill, his body rippling and consuming everything in his path.
“That thing just keeps on repairing itself! What’s happening to him? You think we’ll ever get Dell out of there?” Edward asked Luon as they stood watching the creature’s advance. Luon picked up a stick and quickly drew a diagram on the ground. “Dell’s true body is at the center of that thing—its nucleus—and the augmented blood surrounds him, protecting his exterior. If we can get rid of the blood, we might be able to extract him from it.”
“But with the blood protecting him, none of our attacks will do anything, will they?”
“No,” Luon shook his head. “But the volume of augmented blood isn’t all that great. If we can hold him down in one place and damage his surface somehow, then the augmented blood cells will move out from the center and attempt to repair it. Then all we’d have to do is cut them away from the rest of Dell … quickly.”
Luon scratched a line across the outside edge of his diagram and looked up at Edward. “This is my mess, and I intend to clean it up … but I could sure use your help.”
“Good, because I’m coming along whether you want me to or not.”