A/N: Hello! Iron Rose here. Some of you may know this (whether you do or not is entirely irrelevant) but I have rewritten this story. My original story was in script format because my original intention for this story was an audio drama, but when I received a review telling me that it was against the rules to publish this in script form I knew I had to do a rewrite. (Thanks again!) I was already debating to change to prose when I received this review, in order to improve flow and style, so this honestly was not much of an inconvenience. Anywho, if you have any questions, comments, concerns or snide remarks leave them in the reviews. Thanks. Enjoy!


Ana Elric stood with her friends Naomi and Savon, listening to the debriefing that Lieutenant Colonel Douglas was giving. She was having trouble paying attention. This was just too exciting. Her first real mission. She noticed Savon and how nervous he was. He had every right to be, she supposed, seeing as his fighting skills were next to none. He had only been working on his alchemy for six months.

"Alright men, I'm sure you have all heard by now what the mission is. But for those of you who are slower than most, I'm going to go over the plan one more time. We are here to crush a slave trafficking ring. It's led by this man," Douglas held up mugshot with a picture of a short, fat, balding man. "He is known only by the name Radian. Your goal is to arrest him. Iron Rose will be leading the raid."

A few minutes later, Ana, aka Iron Rose, and a team of 23 soldiers entered the building. "Naomi, take Savon and 10 soldiers and go to the left. I'll take rest and go right."

"Yes ma'm," Naomi gave a mock salute the younger girl. She took charge and said, "Alright, you heard her. Let's move."


Naomi, Savon and the 10 soldiers crept, well attempted to creep, down the hallway. Naomi was astonished at how noisy men got. It was a stealth mission, for heaven's sake. The group turned a corner and saw a teenager blocking their path.

"Oh, great. Here we go again," she sighed.

The teen facing them was a boy no older than 17. He was extremely skinny and unkempt. He looked as though he had been sleeping in a bush or a box. He had light brown, almost auburn, hair and his eyes were sky blue. His arms and legs were covered in small scratches and bruises. He obviously got into a lot of fights. On his face, he had a small scar, about two inches long. It curved from the bottom tip of his right eyebrow and around his eye, as if someone had once tried to cut his eye away. Naomi could see the boy's muscles tensing as they stopped.

Savon, on the other hand, was over the moon with excitement, "YES! A fight! Let's do this thing!" He charged forward and the teenager flicked open a lighter, sending a ball of fire at Savon. With a loud crash the boy was sent flying through a wall.


On the other side of the building Ana's team heard the crash. "What was that?"

The lieutenant with her was not as worried, "I bet Reed and Mustang just ran into a bit of trouble. I'll send someone to check it out. McClaire?"

Ana shook her head. "Nah. I'll do it."


Savon crashed through another wall and doused the flames with water from his canteen.

Naomi called through the hole in the wall, "Savon how long do you think you can keep this up?" All she got in response was Savon attempting to catch his breath. "You need a break. Ana will have my head if you get hurt."

"Yeah, I know," he waved off her concern. "I'm just buying time 'till Ana gets here."

Blue light appeared on the wall carving out a large rectangle. The piece of the wall fell forward and a girl with cardinal red hair, a black leather jacket and knee-high combat boots, stepped through the newly created hole in the wall. "What the hell is going on over here?!"

Naomi sighed at Ana's obvious theatrics, "This kid's in the way." She pointed at the teen blocking their path.

The teen in question was rather offended at this statement. He had a name, not that he felt any inclination to tell these people that. Jack watched the group in interest. The ginger was obviously the leader. She was talking to the soldier girl with short blonde hair. That one was scary. She wore a lavender high-necked tank top and carried a huge rifle. Not to mention the two handguns in her shoulder holsters as well as one on her ankle. The leader lectured the kid, well he was probably 15 or 16, the one they were calling Savon.

"Savon," said the red head. "When we get back, remind me to get you a new alchemy teacher. Cronwell is not doing his job." She whistled for attention from the rest of the group. Once she had it, she continued, "Okay people. New plan. I'll take care of this kid, you finish the mission. I'll catch up when I'm done here."

Much to Jack's surprise the soldiers listen to the teen and did what she said without question. He guessed she must have proven herself to be pretty powerful, wherever she was from.

"If you think I'm gonna be easy to beat, you're so wrong," he said.

"I disagree." Ana clapped, making a circle a with her arms, placed her hand on the wall. As a result a giant fist came from the other side of the hallway, slamming into the boy blocking their path and sending him flying into the wall. The same wall he had thrown Savon into moments before. Serves him right, she thought.

Turning to the soldiers, who had been standing there in stunned silence, "Rest of you…...GO!" she shouted. She stepped into the hole Jack had made when he broke through the drywall. Her golden eyes pierced the darkness of the room. "Now back to business."

As the ginger moved towards Jack, she said, "Now then I don't think we were properly introduced. My name's Ana. And you are?"

"What's it to you?" he asked. He did not trust this Ana person.

"Nothing really. I just like to know who I'm fighting. Particularly if I'm going to be arresting them later."

"You're not funny."

"I wasn't trying to be. Knowing names means less paperwork."

"The only reason for knowing your opponent's name is so you can brag about beating them." Jack used this time to draw a small transmutation circle on the wall behind him. When he placed his hands on it, part of the wall exploded covering both alchemists in white drywall dust. "But you can only brag if you beat someone important." He shot a stream of flame from his lighter. The heat made Ana stumble back. She hit the wall, hard. She slumped unconscious to the ground. As Jack started to head away, he could not resist one more barb at the unconscious girl. "And as importance goes, you aren't."

The boy only took two more steps before he sunk into the liquified floor. "What the-?"

"What do you mean I'm not important? The most important person in the room is the one you're fighting!"

"Psshh. But I still won."

"Not from where i'm standing."

"You cheated."

"This is war, kid, you can't cheat in war."

"But you were down!"

"Always, ALWAYS, check if the enemy is FULLY incapacitated. Never assume." Great, thought Ana. Now he's pouting. "Though I must say you're pretty good, but obviously not good enough to beat me." The boy just glared at her. "How 'bout we make a deal? I'll free you and you take me to where Radian's hiding out."

Jack could not understand. Why was this girl helping him? Well he supposed it wasn't really helping, more like manipulating, but still they had just met. She knew nothing about him. Jack narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"It's just equivalent exchange," she said. But Jack refused to answer. Ana just sighed and started to walk away.

"Fine! Deal." Jack cried out.

"Great!" Ana immediately clapped her hands, touched the floor and Jack climbed out of the floor. "Lead the way." This guy's pretty good, if only he weren't so stubborn, Ana thought. I could ask him anyway…

As they approached Radian's room, Jack got more nervous with every step. He should not have brought Ana here. He was going to be in so much trouble. But as they got closer he supposed it did not matter anymore. Both alchemists could already hear shots being fired from behind the big wood doors.

"Here you go. The master's inside," he said.

"The what?" she asked, taken aback by Jack's sudden change in attitude.

Jack looked away. What was he thinking! Calling Radian "master"! Embarrassed, Jack corrected himself, "I mean, Radian."

"Oh. Right…." There was an awkward pause. Then Ana was back to her usual cheery self. "Alrighty then let's do this thing." Her hands went together and the doors shattered.


Naomi was in the middle of a small firefight between Radian's goons and the Amestrian military. She, Savon and 4 other soldiers were pinned behind a long oak dining table. She could not get a clear shot off from her vantage point. She was about to ask Savon to wash out the room, when the doors blew in.

"Show-off," she muttered, knowing exactly who it was.

Everyone in the room froze in shock. Ana surveyed the scene. There was Naomi and Savon cowering behind a table. She supposed it was best for Naomi to be there, seeing as she only had her guns, but Savon was an alchemist, he could do better.

"Come on Savon! First this kid," she pointed at the teen who had followed her in. "And now this?!"

"Sorry!" Savon said, voice cracking.

It was at that moment that Radian himself decided to come in. Just like Jack, Radian knew nothing of why these people had invaded his base of operations but they would come to regret it. However Radian had seen what the ginger had done to the door and he knew alchemy when he saw it.

"You, boy," he called to Jack. "Come here and defend your master."

The boy took a tentative step forward, then, much to Radian's surprise, the alchemist girl stopped him. She put out an arm in front of his property and then she turned to address him.

"Sorry, I already fought this kid. I have no intention of doing so again. Anyway, men should fight their own battles." She added in that last bit because the guy obviously had a big ego.

Radian fell straight for her trap. "Who do you think you are?! How dare you tell my property what to do!?"

"WHO AM I?!" Ana pulled out her silver pocket watch. "I'm the Iron Rose Alchemist, Major Ana Edwards. That's who."

Still furious, Ana shouted, "SAVON!"

"Ma'm!"

"Hear that?" she asked. Savon shook his head. He did not know she was talking about. "The pipes. They're full of water. When I give the signal, I want you to flood this room. Got it?"

"On it."

"Naomi. Cover him."

"Fine. But what about this kid?" she asked.

"Who?" she spun around trying to figure out who Naomi was talking about. Then she saw Jack. "Oh, right…..um…..You stand there and look pretty."

Jack blanched at the suggestion. "WHAT?!"

But Ana's attention was back on her target, Radian. "Bring it." She charged him and Radian jumped out of the way. He was surprisingly quick for such a pudgy man. Ana tried to soften the floor around him, but he pulled out a revolver. Radian fired two rounds at her, forcing her to dodge. Ana came up against a wall as the man fired a third round into her left bicep. It went straight through and Ana almost collapsed from the pain.

"Damn," she swore. She touched the wound and her hand came away covered in blood. Radian fired another round but she dodged. Ana pushed through the pain and put her hands together. She placed her good hand to the ground. He fired again, the bullet scraping her left hip. Ana grimaced as stone hands rose up grabbing for the man who shot her.

"SAVON! NOW!" Ana screamed.

That was the signal. Savon did not hesitate. He pulled all the water from the entire building into this room.

"Run!" he shouted. They all did, even Radian's goons. Nobody wanted to be caught in the flood spilling into the room. Savon looked back to see his handy work and saw Radian fire his sixth round. It went into Ana's thigh and she went down.

"ANA!" he screamed. A shape blew past him. It stopped in front of Ana's fallen form. It was the guy Savon had fought earlier. What was he doing?

Jack heard Savon's scream and turned to see Ana fall. He could not let this girl drown, not after what she had done for him. He was free because of Ana. He stood between her and giant flood. Jack pulled out his lighter. He lit it and a huge ring of fire surrounded him and the girl he was trying to save. Then Savon was by his side. Reinforcing Jack's wall of fire by pushing back the water where the wall was weakest. The blonde gunner girl was there too. She picked up Ana and piggy backed her out. Savon and Jack quickly followed.

Out in the hallway, a barely conscious Ana was demanding to be put down. When she saw Savon though, she said, "Savon, forget what I said about a new teacher. You're doing fine." And with that she slumped against Naomi. Completely out of energy.

"But I need a new teacher…." whined Savon.


Back in camp Ana woke up to Naomi's sisterly hovering.

"Ow," Ana touched her shoulder and tried to sit up. "Ow, ow, ow."

"Don't sit up," Naomi commanded. "You need to rest."

"How long was I out?"

"About 2 hours. You heal remarkably fast."

Jack watched this interaction from the edge of the doorway of the medical tent. After making their way out of Radian's bunker, the blonde immediately brought Ana here. The doctors took Ana in and stitched up the wounds. They decided against removing the bullet in her leg, claiming that it was not harming anything and that surgery would take longer to heal from. Both Naomi and Savon knew that Ana would hate that. After the doctors finished with the alchemist they attended to the other soldiers who had gotten various scrapes and bruises from Radian's men. The fact that Ana was the only one with serious injuries did not surprise Jack in the slightest. It was well known fact that most of Radian's henchmen were only good with blunt objects.

While they waited for Ana to wake up, Savon tried to make small talk. The younger teen was annoying Jack to death. The only useful things he had learned was that the gunner girl's name was Naomi Reed and that she was 18. Ana was 16 and was about to turn 17. He nearly cried in joy when Naomi told Savon to shut up. Soon after the smells in the medical tent started going to his head, making him feel nauseous, so he decided to wait outside.

Then Ana broke his train of thought with a question. "You ready to tell me your name?"

By reflex he answered, "It's Jack, Jack Slate."

"Well then Jack, I'd like to make a new deal. If that's okay…?"

"What are the terms?" He still did not fully.

"You can join my personal team," she gestured towards Naomi and Savon. "Or-"

A voice from outside interrupted her, "There he is! Arrest that kid!"

"Or you can go with them. To prison," she finished.

Jack did not know what to say. On one hand he did not really trust these Amestrians, on the other, he really did not want to go to jail.

Savon, being helpful, said, "You better choose quick." The soldiers were almost to the medical tent.

"Yes. I'll join your team."

"Then please step inside."

When the soldiers arrived, one asked, "Where is he? Where's the kid?"

"Doesn't matter anymore. Jack's with me now," Ana replied.

The soldier looked down at the girl standing before him with her arm in a sling. "Sure," he said. "On whose authority?"

"Mine, as a STATE ALCHEMIST!"

Finally realizing who he was talking to, the soldier saluted and stepped back. "Ah. Yes, of course. Good night, Iron Rose."

Ana gave the soldier a curt nod. She turned inside.

"What's for dinner? I'm starving," she said.

"Why does everyone keep calling me a kid? I'm almost 17!" said Jack.