Fan Fiction / Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ It's a Weird World After All ❯ The Shrimp and the Shiny Knight of Armor ( Chapter 4 )

From now on, I'm going to stop doing all of that POV stuff, (except when it's like a complete change of scene) so the POVs will be sort of mixed together. You'll see.

 

Okay, I actually updated in…dammit!

 

Attention people of Earth: If you're the kind of person who likes long, detailed, but not too detailed to the point where your eyes fall out, stories, then Merry Christmas! This story is for you :)

 

SG-1 gets a wake up call.

 

The Shrimp and the Shiny Knight of Armor

 

Jack, Daniel, Sam, Teal'c, and Hammond were all in the infirmary, staring down at the small, unusual boy, who was currently unconscious and strapped to a bed. Let me tell ya, Jack and the gang were very relieved right now. Catching this kid was like trying to capture a hundred escaped lab rats with a sponge as your only weapon. And that's not easy. But, they did it, or more specifically, Daniel did it. And now, here he was, strapped to a bed with SG-1 surrounding him, praying he wouldn't tear off the straps like tissue paper and kill them when he wakes up.

“So, what exactly is this kid Daniel?” Jack was staring at the sleeping kid like he was a rabid monkey with a machine gun.

“I don't know.”

“He appears to be a normal human.” said Teal in his usual manner.

“Yea, except for his not so human limbs.” stated an exasperated Jack. He was still a bit twitchy after the whole chase.

Sam was inspecting the boy's limbs very closely. “Daniel, you said the blade came out of his arm, right?”

“Yea, why?”

“Well, the replicators could do the same thing.”

“Wait a minute Major, are you saying the boy's a replicator?” asked Hammond with an obvious amount of concern.

“I hate to say it, but, it's a possibility.”

“Then why are his arm and leg metallic. Don't human form replicators design themselves to look human?” asked Teal'c, sounding more curious than he normally does.

“Well, he could be incomplete.”

“Incomplete?” asked Daniel.

“Yea, the replicators might have not had time to finish him.”

“So, why would the replicators send an unfinished model, or a suit of armor for that matter?”

“I don't know General. Speaking of the armor, how's the search going?”

“Not good, army personnel swept the base fifteen times with no sign of whatever came out of that armor.”

“It would appear this creature is very intelligent.” stated Teal'c

“Unfortunately, I'd have to agree.”

“Hey Daniel, did you take a look at the armor yet?”

“No, I'll take a look at it later. Dr. Lee's examining it now. I figured there were more importan- Jack, what are you doing?”

Daniel finally noticed that Jack was by the bed, poking the kid's leg like a stupid kid would poke an atomic bomb.

“What? Uh…nothing!” Jack pulled his hand away and gave the most innocent face he could give. “Yea…hey, what's this stuff made of anyway?”

Sam paused. “Well sir, as far as I can tell, the material is like nothing I've ever seen.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“Well it's only been a few hours or so since the kid's got here, so I haven't really had much time to examine it, but…”

“But…?”

“Sir, this mental is one of the strongest and hardest I've seen since naquadah. There's a possibility that it's even stronger!” (Hey, she's the smartest person in the world, she's gotta recognize this stuff.)

“If it is as strong as you say, then why did the bullet penetrate it?” Teal'c asked and sort of stated.

Sam bent over to get a better look at his arm. Even though it was tucked close to his body, she could still see the “wound” fairly well. “It looks like the bullet hit a weak spot.” At least this answered the `why was there no blood' question.

“Weak spot?” Jack asked in his usual sarcastic manner.

“Yea, under the arm there's just a bunch of wires and barely any metal. Not exactly an easy target but if he was in the right position, it could happen.”

“Which it did.”

“Yea.”

“So it's another flaw in his design?” asked Daniel.

“I guess so.”

“If this boy is indeed a replicator, then it's safe to assume they have developed new technology to penetrate the iris.” Inquired Teal'c.

“Are you talking about that really big, red light show that made it disappear like magic?”

“Indeed O'Neill.”

“…You know, that'd be great at carnivals.”

“Anyway, if the kid is a replicator, we should put him in a more secure facility.”

“There's no need for that General.”

Everyone turn around toward the door, a bit surprised to say the least. “Dr. Fraiser.”

“Hello Major.” She said walking up to the group and the small, unconscious boy. “I couldn't help overhearing part of your conversation, and you'll be relieved to know that this kid is not a replicator.”

Everyone get out an invisible sigh of relief, as Fraiser predicted, and all of them also noticed a folder in her hand which probably had all kinds of tests in them.

“So, the blood test said he wasn't a replicator.”

“Well, the fact that he had blood was proof enough, but yes, I did run a blood test.” Fraiser said answering Jack's ultimately stupid question.

“What were the results?” Sam asked very, very curiously.

“I've only been able to perform a few tests so far, but from those, he seems to be an ordinary human.”

It's like the world stopped spinning.

“…That's it?”

“Yes Colonel, that's it.”

“…Nothing that would qualify as weird, out of the ordinary, Twilight Zone, that stuff?”

“He did have a few minor mutations, but that's to be expected since he came from another planet. And there's also the fact that he knocked out two guards and only looks to be eleven or twelve years old, but that strength could be a mutation. Other than that, he's normal.”

Everyone was indefinably shocked that she considered actually using the word `normal'.

“So, if he's human, than, what the hell are those?” Jack was clearly hinting to the kid's freakish metal limbs.

“I think they're prosthetics.”

“Prosthetics…?” Daniel somewhat doubted that.

“Yes.”
”Whoa whoa whoa whoa what a minute. If this kid is human, and those are prosthetics,” Jack undoubtedly stated. “then how the hell did he make a blade come out of his arm?!”

“That is a superb question.”

“I agree with Teal'c.” said Sam.

“Me to.” Then Daniel.

“Dr. Fraiser, do you have any idea how this boy might have done such a thing?” Although he didn't show it, Hammond was confused out of his mind, as were the rest of SG-1. What he couldn't comprehend, was how a little kid could evade SG-1 while making complete fools out of them, then almost escaping. He was just glad they caught him in time. If he got outside…oh god he didn't want to think about it.

Dr. Fraiser was having similar thoughts. Genetically, this boy was normal, at least by her standards. True, he was a bit young and had freakish strength and mechanical limbs, but as she said before, those might be mutations and prosthetics. But she couldn't explain how he might have done what Daniel said he did, or why he was still unconscious for that matter. Maybe Daniel wasn't in his right mind then, but right now he's acting perfectly normal, for him anyway. (She hadn't had time to check anyone else yet with all the commotion going on.) Whatever the truth is, she had a feeling that something was indeed up with this boy, and that she can not prove it medically.

She paused for a second. “No.”

Jack was confused again. “…Nothing?”

“There is no evidence that this boy could do such a thing, at least not genetically. It is possible that something may show up while the boy's doing it, but since he's unconscious, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.”

“Speaking of which, why is he still unconscious?” Teal'c nodded in agreement, seeing that Daniel did in fact propose a very good question.

“Yea, wouldn't he have woken up by now?” propped Jack. “I mean, he was only hit with a Zat.”

Fraiser could honestly not answer that question. She knew what a Zat gun did to the body, yes, but nothing she did could answer that question, and also her own questions had already begun towering over the not even completely answered ones. She was hoping she wouldn't have to open her mouth and say `I don't know' again, which was really embarra-.

“I think I can explain that.”

Thank you Sam.

Teal'c urged her on. “Explain.”

“Daniel, you said when you got to the outside door, you saw him clap his hands together, right?”

“Yea…”

“Well, what if whatever he did had to produce some kind of energy.”

“Okay…”

“And if he didn't expel that energy, it would have just remained inside him.”

“Wait, are you saying the energy from the Zat and whatever energy he was producing, mixed together and caused him to become unconscious for a longer period of time?”

“Exactly.”

Though no one noticed, Fraiser's eyes widened a little.

“So, all we got to do is just wait for him to wake up?” Jack tried to confirm.

Sam nodded.

“Great. If you need me, I'll be in the lunchroom eating a turkey sandwich.” And then attempted to leave.

“Umm, actually, I'm not sure if that's possible.” Fraiser sounded very unsure for some reason.

Jack turned around very slowly, as though a bear had crept up to him and asked, `Hey, wanna sandwich?' Everyone else was looking just a little too confused.

“Dr. Fraiser, why isn't it possible to go eat my sandwich?”

Fraiser mentally smacked herself in the head. “No sir, I mean that…that the boy may never wake up.”

The infirmary went dead silent just then. If Fraiser didn't have their attention then, she definitely had it now. Every single person in the infirmary had their eyes glued to her.

Even Teal'c, who doesn't do this much, had a very surprised look on his face. “What do you mean Dr. Fraiser.”

She sighed. “The test results show that part of his brain has shut down. If Sam is right, it's probably due to the energies mixing.”

She paused for a second, expecting someone to say something. No one did.

She gave a pitiful sigh. “The boy's in a coma…and probably will be for the rest of his life.”

 

WWAA

Meanwhile, in Dr. Lee's lab…

 

Dr. Bill Lee was not having a fun time. Oh no, not a fun time at all. Here he was, assigned to examine an empty suit of armor, while everyone else got to go examine the weird and wacky Wonderboy. It wasn't fair. Yes, he did get to go on some pretty amazing missions, hell he's even been kidnapped for ransom and almost killed. But this…this… To be deprived of that kind of opportunity was like being spat in the face. And no one spits in Dr. Lee's face and gets away with it.

NOBODY!

Ah! Okay, calm down, hyperventilating, calm down…Back to the assignment.

Okay…now that we've gotten past Dr. Lee's moment of insanity, let's see how Al's doing.

Al, like Dr. Lee, was not having a fun time either. He was currently lying on a large table, with many different kinds of tools he'd had never seen before around him. It looked kind of like an alchemic lab, only the architecture was different and it was a lot smaller.

When the guards had put him in here he didn't know what to expect, but he had a feeling they didn't really care about him, though they did reattach his head to his body. Then this really strange man came in. At first, Al was afraid of this guy, but he didn't dare move and inch, in fear of him shooting at him. But after a while, he discovered that this guy wasn't a soldier, but some kind of scientist. He wondered what the man was like.

After what seemed like an hour, Al concluded that this man was insecure, annoying, and somewhat depressed. All the while he kept muttering and complaining about some assignment, and seemed to be in a really bad mood. Luckily for Al, his incessant rambling has kept his concentration from him, and now, he seems to have gotten over another one of the rambling sessions. But this time, something changed. He seemed more…well, relaxed was the only way Al could describe it. And he was walking…towards him! Suddenly, Al had a feeling that things were going to turn out bad.

Dr. Lee had finally figured out that complaining wasn't going to make his life any better, so he decided to start the examination that he tried to put off for an hour. Looking over the suit of armor, he cursed one more time, saying that this was an archeologist's job, not his. But then he got over it and thought about the better things in life, like coffee.

He started the examination by professionally poking the armor. Yep, it was empty. Next, he decided to get a sample of the metal. He grabbed his little scrapper thingy and scrapped a piece off the end of one of the various spikes and put it in a bag. He'd examine it later. Now, he might as well find out what's in the armor. He walked around, pulled the head off the body, and peered inside.

Huh, empty. No surprise there.

He grabbed a small flashlight for more inspecting. It was a little dark in there. He looked for any kind of machinery or controls, but all he found was nothing. Dr. Lee was relieved, and yet unnerved by this little discovery. On the plus side, no freaky weapons were going to jump out and kill him, but the minus side was a little different. Though the armor was completely empty, there was no indication that anything had been in here recently. Not a scratch or anything. Also, it kind of felt like it hadn't been cleaned either, at least not in the past few weeks. (Al doesn't really seem to practice personal hygiene =D) Dr. Lee just hoped this wasn't a bad thing.

Other than that, everything was “normal”, and therefore, a total waste of time.

Then something caught his eye. Something red, that was right below him. He shined his flashlight on the spot and found a red, circular pattern. He couldn't believe he missed this before. What a stupid idiot he was. Anyway, like I said, the symbol was small, red, and had an interesting pattern to it. He wasn't an archeologist, and never would be in a hundred, million years, but the symbol could be a representation of an alien culture. Wait, then why was it on the inside instead of the out? …Like I said, he wasn't an archeologist. Dr. Lee was about to give up on the thing when by random chance, he decided to have a closer look. And what he found almost bewildered him.

The symbol, it was painted on with…blood?

Maybe this wasn't a total waste of time after all.

Dr. Lee decided it was wise (at the time) to get a blood sample for Fraiser and all the other buggy scientists. He took his little scrapper thing and attempted to scrap some off. Suddenly, he jumped back, on the way hitting his head on the roof of the armor, which made a soft clang. Rubbing the back of his head he stared down at the armor in disbelief. He…he could have sworn the armor just grunted! Was he hearing things? Slowly, bearing the scrapper as a potential deadly, yet useless weapon, he walked around the armor, gently poking it with the scrapper.

Nothing happened.

He did this a few more times.

Nothing happened.

He did this just a few more times.

Nothing happened.

He still did this just a few more times.

Nothing happened.

He finally relaxed.

Maybe it was all his imagination. Or it could have been the people outside. Yea, it was probably that.

Shaking off any remaining fears, he looked inside the armor again, specifically the symbol. Since he couldn't get a sample with the scrapper, the blood was so dry it was practically permanent, so he decided to put a little water on it to loosen it up. Of course, it only seemed like a good idea at the time.

To put it in lightest terms, Al was a little over insecure now. In fact, he was down right terrified. In Al's mind, this guy just went from a geek, to mad scientist of the year. It first, he just started poking him, which was quite annoying actually. Then, he scrapped away some of the armor. It was barely any, but it unnerved Al a little. Then, the man did something that just plain scared him. He looked inside the armor…and he found the blood seal! (And the fact that the man's eyes looked like they were about to pop out due to the close proximity, but that wasn't exactly on the top of Al's mind right now.) He even tried to scratch part of it. Of course when that happened, Al sort of leaked out a grunt of alarm and pain, which, enviably, caused the man to jump back and hit his head, and then for some reason start poking him again.

After the man stopped, he looked inside his armor again, and then turned away; much to the relief of Al. Al had a feeling that this is what lab mice felt like most of the time. He just hoped the man wouldn't come back again.

Of course, today was not his lucky day, as Al found the man's eyes staring at him (the blood seal). Also, he had in his hand something Al swore he saw before, but couldn't recognize. Strange, he's seen it in an alchemic lab, but it looked different. Almost like a…dropper…an advanced dropper. And there was a clear fluid in it that looked horribly familiar. It kind of looked like…

WATER!

Little alarm bells exploded in Al's head. If that water touches his blood seal, then he could say goodbye to his perilous, abnormal life. There was only one thing he could do, and he knew there was a ten percent chance that he'd live. But if he didn't, he would die anyway.

The personnel at Stargate Command were trained to handle abnormal, bizarre, and just plain weird things. Things like alien invaders, black holes, switching bodies, etc. Even the scientists who don't work on the field were trained to expect even the strangest things. But Dr. Lee was about to experience a phenomena that qualifies for a whole new level.

Dr. Lee had his dropper in hand, ready to get a sample of the blood. He wanted to get this over with; the O.C. was on in ten minutes. He brought the dropper closer and closer to the blood until it was only about an inch away. That's when it happened.

Before Dr. Lee knew what the hell was happening, he was suspended in the air before he found himself on the ground a second later with a really, really bad headache. Feeling very dizzy, he looked around through his broken glasses, and saw something that was either a figment of his imagination when he was drunk, or something very bizarre that he had no other explanation for it. There, about five feet away from him, stood a very tall suit of armor with no head.

`Tall…suit of armor…with no head.' He thought. He still thought it was his imagination. `Why does that seem familiar?'

Then, much to his disappointment, reality caught up with him.

“OH MY GOD!”

At these words, the armor grabbed its head, and bolted out the door, as Dr. Lee watched the whole thing with a very peculiar and terrified look.

Dr. Lee just sat there, to stunned to do anything at the moment. Right now, all that went though his mind was the fact that an empty suit of armor ran out the door.

 

WWAA

 

“You are saying he will never regain consciousness again?” asked Teal'c. SG-1, Fraiser, and Hammond were all still in the infirmary standing around the kid's bed.

Fraiser sighed an unpleasant sigh. “Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.”

Jack was doubtful. “Can't you just fix his brain or something?”

“It's not that simple Colonel. The human brain is a very complex organ. If we were to attempt to fix the neuron pathways, it could further damage his mind, and even-.”

“Okay, okay, I get the point.”

“So what are we going to do with him?” asked Sam.

Fraiser paused. “Well, I'm not sure. If he's going to be like this, than it'd probably be best we just…”

“You know what, let's not go there just yet.”

“Agreed.” Agreed Hammond. Fraiser nodded, happy to concur.

“So what do we do with him now?” Jack asked the same question.

The phone rang.

“I'll get that.” Hammond walked over to the phone while the others were still conversing.

“Hammond.” He answered.

“General…Hammond…”

“Dr. Lee?”

“Help. I need help.”

“Dr. Lee what's wrong?” Everyone else turned their attention to Hammond at those words.

“It…it ran away.” He sounded like a wounded dog who just got hit by a car.

“What ran away?”

“The…the armor.”

“…The armor?”

“Yes…it…jumped up…and ran out the door.”

“What? Dr. Lee what happened?”

“The armor…that was brought to my lab…I was studying it…and it…came alive and ran away.”

“Are you saying the armor's alive?!”

“Y-yes.”

“Where is it?”

“Somewhere on the base.”

“Why didn't you sound the alarm?”

“…I…uh…uh…”< /i>