Canadian Pacific 5-5

“Very well then,” I said.

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Chapter 3: The Robotic

They all nodded in agreement and we watched one more episode of FMA before they left. The moment they were out the door I dived into my basement workshop and dug out all the scrap metal I could find. I put my laptop onto the workbench and put a number of screenshots from various FMA episodes so that I could try and recreate Ed’s artificial arm. I spent the next three days holed up in my workshop constantly tinkering and only “surfacing” to get food and go to the bathroom. At around noon on the fourth day I put the final piece of armour on the limb and sat back. I actually recreated it, I thought to myself, a perfect replica of Ed’s Automail.

“However, I still need to test it and I really don’t want to cut off my own arm to do it.” I said to myself, “There has to be a better way.”

I looked around my workshop and spotted an old, 1995 vintage computer.

"Of course," I said as I slapped my forehead, "I should have thought of it before. The parallel port on that old thing would do perfectly."

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“What in tarnation is a ‘Parallel Port’?” Applejack asked.

“It’s a little something that was used to connect the computer to printers or monitors back then. It could also provide power to specific pins when told to by a program,” I replied, “May I continue?”

“Right. Mighty sorry ‘bout that,” she said sheepishly.

“Quite alright,” I said, “Now, as I was saying.”

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I quickly grabbed the computer and placed it onto my workbench.

“Wait a minute. I should really get some sleep. Plus, I could probably get Brent over here tomorrow to help me hook up the wiring.”

I went upstairs and lay on my bed. I stared at the ceiling for a moment before falling asleep. The next morning I woke at around 10:00, yawned, and walked over to the phone. I dialled Brent’s number and he answered on the third ring.

“Hi, Conner. Did you finish the Automail?” he asked.

“Almost,” I replied, “I have it completed but I need you to help me hook it up to this old computer I have so I can test it.”

“Sure, I’d love to help. I’ll be over in half an hour.”

Thirty-five minutes later Brent and I started hooking up most of the major wires from the arm to the computer. After a few unsuccessful programs I finally managed to create one that would move the arm in such a way that we could see if anything was wrong with it. As I finished, Brent placed the arm into the table-mounted bracket that I had created while waiting for him. Seeing that everything was ready I ran the program and much to my surprise, it worked! The Automail worked just the way it was supposed to even if it was a bit slow.

Figuring Brent would be wondering about the speed I said, “I’ll replace the wires I have in there now with some superconductors. The lag will completely disappear, I guarantee it.”

The next day I managed to perfect the Automail and promptly called my friends. When they arrived they told me everything about what they did while I was working. They had managed to figure out how to fly using their respective elements. I was slightly upset at that knowledge but I didn’t say anything. Instead I showed them the Automail.

“So anytime you’re ready to try the healing thing I’m ready to go.” I said, “Who wants to go first?”

“I will,” John volunteered, “My element is all around us and we can actually see through it too.”

“Ready?” I asked.

John nodded and held his left arm forward. I picked up a small block of steel, transformed it into a knife, and sliced into his arm. John let out a stifled yelp and clutched his arm. A moment later the large 4” gash in his arm stopped bleeding and started to close up. Seconds later the wound was healed and, to our astonishment, there wasn’t even a scar. But that’s where things started looking bad. Immediately after the wound had healed John started to sway and he clutched his head. Brent immediately grabbed John’s arm to steady him.

“Are you OK?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” John replied, “Just a little light-headed is all.”

“That just indicates how much energy is required to regenerate using our elements,” I said, “If we tried to regenerate even a single hand we’d likely be out for a week!”

We sat in silence for a minute before Brody said; “Well at least you can create Automail for that.”

I nodded before replying, “I agree. At least this way we would only have to try and seal the wound.”

We all walked to the rec room in order to watch TV. When I turned the TV on I saw that ‘Steven’ was live at the scene of some crime.

“I am standing in front of a bank with a supposed bomb threat inside,” Steve told the camera, “Apparently the robbers are looking for ransom on the hostages they have taken…”

Not needing to hear any more we all dashed outside and went to confront the bank robbers. As we raced toward the scene I created steel masks for the four of us, each one with a pattern displaying our element. I passed them to John, Brent, and Brody telling them to put them on so as to conceal our identities. We didn’t need anyone coming after our families and friends. We carefully skirted around the crowd and police perimeter and snuck down the alley between the bank and the neighbouring building. Fortunately there was a back door into the bank, however it seemed the cops didn’t know about it. Quietly twisting the steel door off its hinges I pulled it toward us and turned it into a shield that we then used as we carefully snuck into the bank. Once inside we hid behind one of the counters, the door/shield hidden by the tall work surface. John carefully made each of the criminals pass out. I then took the opportunity and carefully brought the door/shield over the counter and out in front of us we then raced over and stood guard over the criminals as Brent ushered the hostages out of the bank. He quickly returned and dragged the unconscious criminals outside with the help of John and Brody. I stooped down and tried to figure out how to defuse the bomb. John, Brent and Brody all rushed back in to see if they could help me.

Suddenly a digital timer flashed on and began counting down, 51:00, h1:00, E1:00, 21:00. Suddenly I realized that the stupid criminals had wired the display on UPSIDE DOWN! Panicking we raced toward the door with 8 seconds on the timer unfortunately we didn’t quite make it. The bomb exploded and we were engulfed in light. To my surprise I woke up. What wasn’t so surprising was that I found myself in ‘The Void’, as I had decided to call it. I sat up and rubbed my aching head. My hand felt surprisingly cold and when I looked at it I found it was made of metal. My entire left arm and right leg had been replaced by Automail. Spotting my friends nearby I found, to my astonishment, that my friends had Automail limbs too. John’s right arm and leg had been replaced with Automail as well as Brody’s left arm and leg, and Brent’s right arm and left leg.

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“And that, is the end of chapter three,” I said, “Well, time for me to be off.”

I walked to the door and turned the handle preparing to open the door when Rainbow Dash spoke up, “Can’t you stay and tell us just one more chapter?”

I turned back to them to see them all grinning hopefully.

I smiled, “Alright, you talked me into it. But only one more chapter tonight, OK?”

They all nodded feverishly and I sat back down.