'Terrorists, I am Major Phantomhive of the Amesterian Military. I have come to negotiate with you. As a gesture of good will my bodyguard and myself will put down our weapons.' At a nod from his master, Sebastian unbuckles the holsters and drops them, pulling two slim knives from his boots. Ciel dropped the small pistol tucked into the back of his belt and the knife hidden up one sleeve. There is silence from the terrorists, but there is no more shooting either.

'Before we commence negotiations, we need proof of life that the hostage is alright.' There was a pregnant pause, followed by movement from the warehouse. The door swung open, revealing a surprisingly well dressed man, fingering a hefty gun.

'Don't even think about shooting me.' He growled at the young military officer 'There's a sniper aimed at you, and my men have guns aimed and cocked at the boy's head.'

'We wouldn't dream of it.' Ciel replied with an amiable smile. 'Would I be correct in assuming you are the leader of this group?' The man stares for a while at Ciel, evaluating him before slowly nodding.

'Good. As I mentioned earlier, we need proof of life before we continue. The last proof of life ended with the sound of a fight. Not long after gunshots were heard. I am sure you can understand why we are concerned for the hostage's safety.'

Without looking away from the military personnel, the leader called back into the warehouse; 'Bring him to the doorway.' There was the sound of shuffling and the boy was suddenly in the doorway, tied and hobbled by ropes. Ciel frowned slightly. He was not the Major General's son. How was he going to get them to release the real hostage, without letting them know he knew this boy was a terrorist? His frown deepened, his eyes roaming over the boy, before locking on to the meek gaze of the terrorist boy. A sudden though occurred to him and he dived into the barely protected mind of the boy, pleased with what he found there. The boy was already on the hyper alert, his system flooded with adrenalin. It would only take the smallest of nudges to make him look emotionally unstable; he was as taut as a violin's E string. It was a gamble that might not pay off, but at worst he would be back at square one, trying to work out how to get them to bring the real hostage out.

'What's wrong?' The leader snapped, tensing up at Ciel's frown. 'You've seen he is fine'

Ciel allowed his eyes to narrow thoughtfully, never breaking eye contact with the "hostage". 'I am a little concerned about his state of mind. The negotiator said that his mental condition seemed to be deteriorating as time passed.' Ciel gave a little push to the over anxious mind. On cue the boy began to hyperventilate and panic as he found he couldn't breathe properly, causing the terrorist who was holding him to step back in fear. The leader stared at the boy in alarm, not sure as to what was going on.

'He appears to be hyperventilating.' Ciel stated, with a careful touch of concern as he directed his words to the terrorist who was supposed to be holding the boy hostage. 'You'll need one of your men hold a paper bag over his mouth to limit his breathing until he calms down.'

The terrorist looked uncertainly from his leader to the military officer, afraid of the consequences should he do something wrong.

'Do as he says!' Snapped the leader, before turning his attention back to the military representative, unsettled by the condition of his underling. He wasn't sure how, but he was sure it was all the military dog's fault; the timing was all too convenient. The military dog now wore a pensive look of worried concern. Clearing his throat the military representative looked towards the leader.

'With your permission, I would like for one of our negotiators to speak to the Major General's son to ascertain his mental health, before we continue. The negotiator will be unarmed and won't come any closer than where I stand.' The terrorist paused uncertainly, weighing up his options. If he didn't allow the alchemist's pet to talk to the "hostage" it would look bad on him, plus it might arouse the suspicions of the authorities. On the other hand, it was possible that having the "hostage" and this negotiator talk was what the military dog was angling for, however he couldn't quite figure out the purpose of this.

'I'm sure this will be to your benefit, after all, a hysterical hostage can hardly be easy to deal with.' Ciel said smoothly.

The leader of the terrorists smirked inwardly. The dog had revealed more than he realized; they didn't realize the "hostage" was really a terrorist, the carnage he would wreak once the "hostage" had been saved. It really would be setting the cat among the pigeons. But one could never be certain what ran though the head of a military dog.

The leader gave his permission grudgingly, watching with suspicious eyes as the negotiator approached and began to converse with the "hostage". No one noticed the look of intense concentration on the military representative's face as he stared at the boy. As the conversation between the negotiator and the "hostage" ended, Ciel moved to stand behind the negotiator, forcing him to turn his back on the terrorists. There was no way Ciel was going to let his little trick, fail because one of the terrorists could lip read.

'The hostage seems fine now. He seems a lot calmer than when I first heard him on the phone. I think he's adjusting quite well to the situation, so he's calming down now. He also seems to be rather worn out.' The negotiator reported in low tones.

'You're sure about that?' Ciel asked allowing a frown to cross his face. The negotiator looked at him a little puzzled.

'Well, yes.'

'We'll have to get them both out then.' Ciel replied, to the further confusion of the negotiator. As the negotiator was about to leave, he felt a hand land on his shoulder. Turning to look, his gaze was met by that of the manservant. With a shake of his head, the manservant leaned over to whisper in the negotiator's ear.

'You need to stay for a while, your part in this charade is not over yet. Just play along.' He instructed, unobtrusively guiding the negotiator to turn around as Ciel began to speak once more.

'My negotiator informs me that the voice of that boy,' Here Ciel gestured to the tied up terrorist 'is not the same voice he heard in the background during the phone calls. It is a foolish and dangerous game you are playing.' At this his eyes narrowed taking on a steely glint, as his voice became acidic with displeasure. 'I demand that you bring the General Major's son out immediately and stop playing these silly games."

Uh oh, the negotiator thought, now he's done it. The boy may have been from the military, but that didn't mean he could that to intimidate the terrorists. The negotiator had been taught early on, to never antagonize hostage takers. He winced inwardly as the leader's face began to redden. But the Phantom alchemist wasn't finished.

'I expected better of you gentlemen. So far you have appeared intelligent, civil and honest. I would hate for those estimations to be wrong. I want to see the condition of both hostages, before I commit myself to any negotiations.' To the negotiators surprise, the leader seemed to calm down with those words, even smirking a little.

'Bring the General Major's son out now!' He called into the darkness. Another terrorist half dragged a rather battered looking boy, out of the gloom of the warehouse. Ciel nodded in satisfaction, before letting a frown cross his face.

'What now?' Growled the terrorist in exasperation.

'How can I know that this is the real other hostage and not just another throwaway fake?' Ciel asked. The leader spluttered in indignation.

'Do you honestly think we have a troop of boys we can just keep substituting?' He spat.

'Yes.' Ciel replied bluntly, looking the leader square in the face. 'Consider it from my perspective; you cut off negotiations, then shot unarmed negotiators when they approached, then shot at me when I approached. At this moment you have a sniper trained on me, although we have dropped all our weapons. You tried to trick us into believing you only had one hostage, and that that hostage was the General Major's son. Tell me why I should trust you.'

The leader remained silent. The silence reigned like a queen over the two parties, the leader and the military representative, locked in a staring match. Finally the terrorist broke eye contact.

'What can we do to show you we are serious about these negations?' He growled out reluctantly. Ciel remained silent for a moment, enjoying the checkmate of his opponent.

'How about an exchange of hostages?' Ciel said slowly. The eyes of the terrorist narrowed before Ciel continued. 'Me for the two hostages. The two boys are obviously mentally worn out, it won't be long before they start crying, and your men could do without the distraction as can our negotiation. One of them has already had a breakdown, and I won't be surprised if the other one has one too. Plus I'm an actual military officer, I hold more direct power than either of these two boys, thus I make a more valuable hostage. It would also be easier to guard one rational, valuable hostage, rather than two impulsive, irrational and less valuable hostages correct? I would also imagine negotiations would be easier if we could actually talk face to face, rather than having to shout across an open space like this.'

The leader's eyes narrowed further. 'It sounds all well and good, but you have only highlighted the benefits to us. What do you get out of it?' He asked.

'I've been ordered to get the Major General's son free, nothing about the way I go about it. If he is free, I have no more military orders to follow. What happens afterwards will be another matter entirely.' Ciel said a mild smile on his face. 'As further incentive, I'll allow myself to be tied up and hobbled before we do the exchange.' There was silence from the leader.

'Fine. We'll do the exchange.'

Much to the horror of the negotiator, the alchemist's servant produced the earlier requested coil of rope and proceeded to tie up his master, under the critical eye of the leader. Ciel made sure to wrinkle up his face in discomfort and grunt a couple of times, as if in pain; the terrorists would be more at ease if they thought him tied tightly, not that the ropes were tight at all. Brushing aside the concerned protests of the negotiator, the Phantom alchemist stood still as the remainder of the rope was used to hobble him.

Satisfied with what he saw, the terrorist leader brought the two boys forward, giving them a little push. The boys stumbled forwards. Upon seeing this, the military representative began to take small but confident steps forwards. As soon as the boys reached the alchemist's manservant, the tall man grabbed the alchemic terrorist and injected him with a sedative. The concealed flare of alarm by the terrorist's leader was not missed by the Phantom alchemist. Surprised by the action the General Major's son cried out in alarm. The tall servant merely smiled at him.

'It's just a sedative. We would rather not take any chances since his breakdown earlier. It would be better for him just to rest.' Soothed Sebastian.

Ciel bit his tongue to stop even the hint of a smile from showing. That should throw a wrench in their plans; the reasoning was perfectly sound given the earlier hysteria, so the terrorist leader wouldn't be able to tell how much he actually knew of their plan.

Without so much as a backwards glance, the manservant picked up the terrorist before walking back to the temporary base followed by the General Major's son and the two police officers. The negotiator followed more slowly, absolutely bewildered by the Alchemist's actions; what on earth had he been thinking?! He was worried for the boy, the terrorists had dragged him rather roughly into the warehouse, before slamming the door shut. The negotiator shuddered to think about what they might do to the boy if negotiations broke down.