Chapter Two: Enter the Fuhrer

Morning found Ed and Al, along with dozens of other soldiers, searching the streets of Central under the command of Colonel Mustang. The Freezing Alchemist had broken into Central Prison during the night, killing several of the guards, and the fact that he hadn't bothered to hide his tracks had Mustang's metaphorical hackles up. Orders that came directly from the Fuhrer gave soldiers permission to shoot the Freezing Alchemist on sight, and Mustang had looked like he'd been planning on utilizing his own particular brand of firepower to take down McDougal if he got the chance. Ed was probably one of the only people around, excluding his little brother, that wasn't planning on trying to kill the Freezing Alchemist on sight.

Ed pulled the hood of his coat up over his head, the shadow it cast over his face dimming the brilliant red of his eyes, when a couple of the soldiers passing by sneered at him. Most of the time he would have sneered back, but today he had more pressing concerns. The longer the Freezing Alchemist ran free, the more innocent bystanders died. "Get a medic! Hurry!" a voice yelled from down the street and Ed abruptly changed direction, marching towards the commotion. Al clanked along behind him, the two of them parting the river of soldiers rushing the other direction, some of them muttering that there had been five men killed already. The streets were, thankfully, cleared of civilians, so all the casualties so far had been limited to military personnel, like the steaming form slumped against the side of a brownstone. As far as Ed could tell, the man someone had called a medic for was already dead.

"Looks like a steam explosion," he murmured, keeping his distance. "Raise the temperature of water fast enough and it expands with the force of a bomb blast. The human body is seventy percent water." Al was considerate enough not to point out that Ed wasn't telling him anything new. Ed blew out a heavy breath, taking one last glance at the dead soldier before turning away. "Let's hurry. We have to find him before he hurts anyone else."

"Where are we going?" Al asked, waiting until they were a few feet away from the body and the growing crowd of concerned soldiers surrounding it to spring the question.

"I don't know," Ed admitted, stopping in the middle of the street. A couple of soldiers swore at him when they were forced to abruptly change course and speed march around the brothers, but Ed ignored them. All his attention was fixed on trying to figure out what the Freezing Alchemist was attempting to accomplish. If he could figure that out, he would be able to figure out where the rogue alchemist was heading next and there wouldn't be any more bodies lying on the pavement and steaming like they were burning from the inside out. Ed gagged for a moment, practically tasting smoke and burning flesh on his tongue. He sucked in a shuddering breath, the weight of Al's armored hand helping to shake the image free. "Come on, think," he muttered, pressing a clenched fist against his forehead.

He and Al's previous encounter with the Freezing Alchemist had been in one of Central's back alleyways. The man had looked like he'd been hurrying away from something. Ed had thought that it had been because soldiers had been pursuing McDougal, but that couldn't have been right because every soldier who had shown up on the scene had been in front of the other alchemist. That mean that the Freezing Alchemist had been in the alley for a completely different reason. Ed grinned in triumph. "Come on, Al. I know where we need to go."

The alley from the night before was part of the way across town, and the brothers were sprinting in that direction when a massive explosion caught their attention. Water, dust, and chunks of rock pelted down from the sky, causing soldiers to scramble back or cover their heads. Several gasped or let out startled cries, caught off guard by the sudden, explosive violence. Ed skidded to a stop with a gasp of his own and then switched directions, Al clattering along at his heels.

Enough of the dust had settled by the time that they raced down the alley that they could both see Alex Louis Armstrong, who sparkled and cried over ridiculous things and who's alchemy involved punching things as hard as he could, facing off against the Freezing Alchemist. At least Armstrong still had his shirt on. "Major!" Al yelled in concern and McDougal whirled to face them, flinging his open canteen into the air. Water laced with the blue lightning of alchemy turned to an explosive spray of steam and Al yanked Ed close, shielding his older brother with his metal frame. Footsteps thundered past them, the rogue alchemist making a break for it.

"Water from his canteen, huh?" Ed muttered as the steam cleared, lifting a fist to knock it twice on his brother's armor. "Thanks for the quick save, Al."

"Let's go. He's getting away," came the urgently reply from his little brother, who released Ed from his protective hold.

"After me, Elric brothers," Armstrong called, racing by them both in pursuit of the Freezing Alchemist.

"Wait!" Ed yelled after him, half expecting that Armstrong wouldn't listen.

Alex Armstrong stopped mid-step, one foot hanging several inches above the ground. "What is it?" he asked, expression serious.

"Even if we catch up to him, he'll just find a way to slip away again. He's got a bigger goal in mind than causing chaos and killing a handful of soldiers." Ed paused, forcefully relaxing his hands and resting them at his sides. "I don't think McDougal was running from soldiers last night when Al and I bumped into him. We were heading back to check it out before we noticed the explosion."

"Then we should go see what he was up to." Armstrong smiled like he'd been given a gift and led the way out of the alley, leaving someone else to clean up the mess that mostly consisted of stone effigies of only his head. "You there." The soldier Armstrong had grabbed by the arm jumped and turned to stare up at the major with wide eyes.

"Yes, sir?" he questioned, eyes darting between the dust still floating out of the recently abandoned alley and the massive, sparkling man in front of him.

"I need you to deliver a message to Colonel Mustang. Tell him that the Elrics are going to investigate the area where they had their first altercation with the Freezing Alchemist, and that I am coming with them. We'll report back to him at Central Command within the hour."

"Yes, sir!" came the rapid response and the man hurried away in search of someone that could direct him towards the colonel, leaving Ed, Al, and Armstrong free to pursue the only real lead they had.

At first glance, the alley was almost completely empty, some stray rubble still strewn about from the previous night's confrontation. Ed took a few steps into it, frowning as he searched for anything that looked out of place. He and Al hadn't spent much time in Central, mostly because prejudice against Ishvalans still rang strong through the city's population, but alleyways in most cities tended to have the same look to them. "What are we looking for?" Al asked, armor clicking a little as he stepped forward so he was still guarding his older brother's back.

"I'm not sure," Ed admitted, cautiously making his way deeper in. "Major Armstrong, did you notice anything unusual before you and McDougal started fighting?" Ed kicked a chunk of stone across the alley while he waited for a response, then frowned as it made one of the other chunks of rubble shift. White chalk lines were hidden underneath, curving smoothly into the shadows. The young alchemist missed Armstrong's response as he hurried forward to carefully shift away more of the rubble, revealing a transmutation circle.

Al knelt to help Ed clear away the rubble and Armstrong joined them a moment later, all of them being careful not to smudge the chalk as they worked. One smudged alchemy symbol could easily be mistaken for another one, which could change the entire purpose of the circle, and that would make it incredibly difficult to figure out what the Freezing Alchemist was trying to accomplish. Ed rocked back on his heels once the circle was uncovered, frowning at it. Most alchemists had a single specialty, McDougal's being ice, so Ed could automatically dismiss certain possible functions for it. It wasn't likely to make anything explode in a wave of fire or shatter every bit of stone in the surrounding area. In fact, it didn't look like the circle was meant to do anything destructive. Ed strongly suspected that it was meant to create a wall out of ice, though he couldn't tell for sure without activating it.

"Do either of you have any idea why the Freezer would want to block off this alley?" he questioned, glancing at his companions. "Is he planning on keeping soldiers from tracking him down once he's accomplished whatever he came here to do or is he planning on cutting somebody off?"

"Or it could be a part of something bigger," Al suggested. "McDougal has yet to actually finish a fight, so he could have a larger plan in place."

Several streets away a church bell tolled, marking off the hour. Amestris didn't have many churches left, but the few that remained faithfully counted out the hours every day, as if to remind people that they still existed. "We need to return to Central Command soon, or the colonel may send soldiers to find us," Armstrong said and Ed grimaced.

"Ordinarily I'd say forget Colonel Bastard, but I don't think we'll find anything else here," he said. "Right, Al?"

"Yeah," Al agreed. "Maybe the colonel will have an idea about what McDougal's planning on doing with the circle."

"Yeah. Maybe," Ed muttered, stomping out of the alley ahead of his little brother and Major Armstrong. The train to Liore that Ed and Al had originally planned to get on had left hours ago and they were no closer to actually catching the Freezing Alchemist than they had been the night before. The situation was not helped by Mustang's unexpected, and unwanted, arrival in Central. Part of the point of going from their last mission to Central to Liore had been to avoid reporting in to the colonel, so Ed had been less than pleased when he and Al had received orders from the Fuhrer placing them at Mustang's disposal until McDougal was taken care of.

First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye was waiting for them outside of Central Command, as poised and expressionless as usual. "The colonel is waiting for you," she said when they approached, eyes scanning over them all as if searching for injuries.

"We know," Ed grumbled but Hawkeye had already turned away, sparing him from her disapproving frown.

The sea of soldiers parted for the blonde First Lieutenant. None of them were apparently brave enough to block her from her destination, even temporarily. Ed didn't blame them. Hawkeye could be terrifying, even when she wasn't trying to be. With the intimidating blonde leading the way, they made it to the empty office that was Mustang's current home base in a surprisingly short amount of time. The colonel was pacing behind the heavy wooden desk, but he jerked to a stop the instant Hawkeye stepped inside, clearing her throat and immediately catching his attention.

"Have you found anything?" Mustang demanded, resting gloved hands on the desk. Ed could practically see the agitation rolling off the Flame Alchemist. His mouth was suddenly dry and what was left of his survival instinct was making him consider getting out of the room as fast as possible. Hawkeye cleared her throat again and Mustang seemed to wilt a little under her gaze. Ed breathed out and resolved to do something nice for her the next time he and Al were in East City before turning his focus towards giving his report. The sooner he finished filling the colonel in on everything that they found out, the sooner he could get away from someone who could easily burn him alive.

Ed swallowed, taking a moment to flatten out his expression from mild anxiety to irritation as he organized everything he'd learned in the past hour. Alex Armstrong had apparently noticed the awkwardness and beat Ed to the punch, launching into an explanation without hesitation. "The Elrics discovered that the Freezer drew a transmutation circle in the alley where they encountered him last night," he said. "Edward here believes that it's meant to create some sort of ice wall."

"An ice wall," Mustang muttered, expression distant. "What for?"

"If we knew that, we wouldn't be here reporting to you, Colonel Bastard," Ed snapped, finding his voice. "McDougal will probably be back to activate it tonight, which means we have a chance to actually catch him."

"I doubt the Freezer will be going back to his transmutation circle," was Mustang's smug reply. "We've found out that McDougal is planning an assassination attempt on the Fuhrer. Soldiers will be waiting for him in the area surrounding the Fuhrer's home. Fullmetal, you will be stationed with soldiers on the ground, along with Alphonse and Major Armstrong, in case McDougal decides to travel through alleyways. If you encounter him, you may deal with him as you see fit. I will be with the troops on the rooftop. When McDougal arrives, we'll be ready for him."

"I think you're making a big mistake," Ed warned, but didn't protest the orders further. The colonel might not have looked as worked up as he had been earlier, but Ed was unwilling to push matters. Instead he and Al would just hang back near the transmutation circle, so if McDougal did circle back to it they would be ready to act.

By the time nightfall arrived, Ed was fairly certain that they were missing something important. Mustang had claimed that someone had filled the military in on McDougal's plans, and considering that the prison had been broken into the previous night, the informant could only be whoever the rogue alchemist had gone to speak to. While they may have given the military the Freezing Alchemist's main goal, Ed doubted that the informant could have known about the transmutation circle, or any other nasty little surprise that might be around any corner. No one would tell their full plan to someone they weren't sure was going to help them. At least not until they got a definite commitment.

A massive explosion of smoke, sparks, and water from a nearby rooftop drew Ed's attention away from his thoughts. He tilted his head back and watched a bridge of ice form between two buildings, tracing the path with a frown. McDougal was headed towards the alley were he'd fought with Armstrong earlier in the day. If he was heading back there, then it meant the rogue alchemist had left something important to his goals behind before Armstrong had even shown up. "Come on, Al," Ed called, already sprinting in the same direction the Freezing Alchemist had gone.

"What's the plan?" Al asked as soon as he caught up, armor rattling a little with each step.

"We need to split up. You circle around one end of the alley and I'll block off his escape route from the other end. With any luck, we'll be able to stop him before he sets his actual plan in motion."

Al nodded and split away from his older brother down an alley, leaving Ed to finish the sprint alone. He slowed his pace to a rapid walk a few feet away, hoping that his footsteps wouldn't give him away before the Freezer even saw him. Ed preferred to be the one surprising his opponents. Being surprised typically made for a much more difficult fight, and resulted in a lot more property damage. That, in turn, annoyed the colonel and generally made Ed's life a lot more irritating.

"It's still here." The Freezing Alchemist's voice hissed out of the alley in a pleased whisper, making Ed grin. He stepped carefully into the mouth of the alley, eyes skimming over the transmutation circle, which was an exact copy of the one he and Al had found earlier, before settling on McDougal. "Perfect," the man muttered and Ed's eyes narrowed. Were the transmutation circles linked somehow? If so, then Ed really didn't want to find out what it did when it was activated.

"Stop right there," he demanded, drawing the man's attention. "I was wondering why you were headed back towards this alley so I decided to come check it out, and bingo."

McDougal chuckled and stood as Al stepped into view at the other end of the alley, blocking the man's other escape route. "There's nowhere to run this time," Ed's little brother warned, but McDougal didn't seem worried about that.

"Clearly," he replied, casually spreading his arms. "But who's running?"

The transmutation circle glowed red under his feet, lightning crackling around the edges before surging upwards and painted the sky with red light. Other columns quickly joined the first, confirming Ed's suspicions that the circles had been linked. The only real question was how he was managing to activate them all from where he was standing. Was it something in the drawing of the circles, or had McDougal somehow come across a Philosopher's Stone? Ice crackled across the stones, reminding Ed that he could worry about that later. Right now, he had more pressing concerns.

"Edward Elric." The rogue alchemist's voice was disdainful the wall of ice behind him glowing blue and red, illuminating his form like sunlight through a stained glass window. "You've sworn you life to the state as a dog of the military, but do you really know the people you serve? Do you understand what they're capable of?"

"I think I know better than most," Ed replied darkly, hands clenching into fists. The chill surrounding him as McDougal continued to freeze the water in the air kept him focused in the moment, which was probably the only good thing about the current situation.

"Right. Ishval," the man sneered. "Thousands of your people slaughtered over one little misunderstanding. Our leaders would do that again in a heartbeat if the opportunity arose. They'll lead us all to ruin. I'm only doing what needs to be done."

"And I don't care," Ed snapped back, swallowing back bile. His mind shrieked in rebellion against the lie in that statement as Al came flying over the ice barrier, distracting the Freezer. Ed did care about what had happened in Ishval, but the military had given him the resources to help get Al's body back, so he couldn't afford to care. Not now. Al kicked the rogue alchemist hard and Ed darted aside as the man went flying past him to crash into the railing that lined the nearby canal. "Alright. Nice workout." Ed grinned at his brother, who hurried over to join him.

"But we still have to stop his alchemy," Al protested, voice worried.

"I know." Ed turned on McDougal. "Where is it? You have a Philosopher's Stone, don't you?"

"What are you talking about?" the man questioned, a smug smile planting itself on his face.

"I won't ask again. Where is it?"

"And what are you going to do, boy?" the Freezing Alchemist challenged. "You're out of your league."

Water in the canal rose up behind him in a quickly freezing tower, carrying the rogue alchemist away as it continued to grow. Ed and Al took off sprinting, the older brother silently cursing himself for not realizing his mistake and getting McDougal away from the water before this could happen. Armstrong was at the end of the street, staring down the growing glacier as if he could sparkle it into submission. "Stand back and prepare for a display of Armstrong alchemy," he yelled, bracing himself as Ed and Al sprinted by him.

"It's all yours, Major," Ed called back, only turning around when he saw the flashing light of alchemy. He spun around in time to see the glacier slice through a building like it was made of tissue paper, only a massive dent and a sudden change in direction showing that Armstrong had accomplished anything.

"That's unexpected," Armstrong rumbled, sounding a little bemused by the new development.

"What the heck are you doing?" Ed demanded indignantly, voiceless disbelief quickly banished. "You're making it worse!"

"I was merely..." Armstrong began to explain before a crash and a cloud of dust cut him off. Another ice wall had merged with the first and was racing towards Central Command, still growing as it moved.

"The ice walls," Al gasped.

"They're merging," Ed finished for his brother.

"But," Al said, voice wavering anxiously. "That would mean..." Ed swallowed hard, not blaming his little brother for trailing off.

"If they'll all meet in the middle..." Ed trailed off, mind racing ahead of his mouth. "Ah, damn it! It's Central Command. He's going to freeze it over." Al's voice chimed in with him at the end, full of horror, and Ed turned to face Armstrong again. "Major, Al and I will try to slow him down. Can you handle the transmutation circles?"

"Consider them erased," was Armstrong's reply. "I'm on it." Ed nodded once in thanks and then took off sprinting, knowing he and Al had to reach a high point so they could get on top of one of the ice walls and catch up to McDougal.

"Over there!" Al yelled, pointing towards a fire escape creeping up the side of a brownstone, and Ed grinned.

"Good call."

The two of them scrambled up the ladder and jumped onto the ice wall, sprinting down it in the direction McDougal had gone. They could see the man riding at the head of one of the glaciers, gaze fixed on Central Command. "Fuhrer King Bradley," McDougal intoned, as if reading a sentence handed down to him by a jury. "For your cold blooded crimes in Ishval, I condemn you to a frozen hell."

"Not so fast," Ed yelled, pushing himself faster in an effort to keep up with the man. McDougal's hands smacked down on the ice immediately, crumbling it, but Ed wasn't faze as he clapped his own hands and returned the favor, shouting "two can play that game!" McDougal was sent flying backwards as the ice under his feet crumbled, but transmuted one of the chunks into water that doused them before creating his own personal set of stairs so he could race over to attack the two.

"Brother!" Al yelled, grabbing Ed and jerking him back, trying to pull him out of danger.

"Too slow," McDougal taunted, hand connecting with Al's helmet.

A blast of steam had the helmet, and Al, flying backwards as Ed yelled his little brother's name in concern. Logically he knew that the only way to harm Al was to destroy the blood seal that kept his soul in place, but that didn't stop him from worrying every time something like this happened. McDougal stepped forward, trying to get a better look at his accomplishment, and almost got kicked in the face by an unfazed Al as the two brothers regained their feet. "There's no one in there," the Freezing Alchemist said, eyes going wide with shock. "It's empty." Ed ignored the man, crouching to pick up Al's helmet while McDougal muttered, "That...That can only be true if his soul was bonded to the armor." His eyes narrowed suddenly. "So you lost your arm. And your brother, he lost his entire body."

The Freezer grinned, smiled wide and manic, and Ed realized that this conversation was about to get incredibly uncomfortable. "I see. It all makes sense," the man said as Al fixed his helmet back in place. "You fools committed the ultimate taboo. You attempted human transmutation, didn't you? Two lonely little Ishvalan kids got their hands on some Amestrian alchemy books and tried to bring the dead back to life, alchemy's one and only unforgivable sin."

Ed's head dropped for a moment with the weight of memory, stomach churning with guilt. That foolish attempt had cost him a leg, but it had cost Al everything and Ed wasn't going to stop until he'd made that right. "You know," he murmured. "There are some lines you really shouldn't cross." Then he lunged forward and punched McDougal in the gut, following that up with a two handed blow to the man's neck. McDougal crashed to the ground, ice crackling as it lunged forward in spikes that Ed reared back to dodge, flipping out of the way to allow Al to counter attack. His brother chopped the ice in half and then kicked McDougal, sending him toppling down the side of the now stagnant glacier.

The two followed, gliding down the side to stop gracefully in front of the Freezer. "Give it up," Ed demanded, voice cold. "There's no water for you to use here."

"You've forgotten something," came the reply as McDougal pushed himself up on one arm. "I have all the water I need. Seventy percent of my body." Ed reeled back at that, eyes widening just before two frozen spikes of the Freezing Alchemist's blood stabbed him in the arm and shoulder. He hissed in pain as Al chopped them apart, keeping his eyes on McDougal, who was stumbling to his feet. "Why can't you fools understand? I'm trying to save this country, and you should be helping me, if for no other reason than because of what happened in Ishval. " Ice crept up the wall behind McDougal and he cackled, stumbling away towards the center of the city.

"Brother, are you okay?" Al asked as Ed lifted a hand to the frozen blood still lodged in his shoulder.

"Come on," he muttered, yanking out the ice and stumbling to his feet. "We're going after him. I'm not done. Not even close." Al, thanks be to Ishvala, didn't argue. Instead his little brother silently helped him up, the two of them hurrying after McDougal.

They rounded the corner in time to see McDougal rush towards none other than the Fuhrer himself, a spear made of frozen blood in hand. The Fuhrer was completely calm as he stared at his attacker, not shifting an inch. Ed didn't see the man move, but he did see McDougal collapse in a fountain of blood, crashing down to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. The Fuhrer stood, sword in hand and utterly unmoved by what had just happened as blood pooled around his feet. Ed stared at the man with wide eyes, chest heaving a little as he struggled to catch his breath and one hand clutching his injured shoulder to staunch the flow of blood. "Fuhrer Bradley," he breathed out, the words half surprise and half fear as the soldiers that had heard the commotion scrambled into the alley behind them. "You're here?"

"Ah yes," Bradley said, face relaxing into a pleased smile as he sheathed his sword. "Job well done, Fullmetal. I came out to see if I could lend a hand, and to think that I'd actually be the one to catch him. If nothing else, this will make an exciting story for my son." His gaze skimmed to Ed's shoulder and he added, "You should probably get that looked at."

"Yes, sir," Ed agreed, eager to get away the man who had ordered the extermination of his people. The two of them backed out of the alley, hurrying through the throng of soldiers that were trying to get a look at what had happened. "Come on, Al," Ed murmured. "Let's get my arm patched up so we can get on the next train to Liore and find out if there's a Philosopher's Stone there." He didn't add that the sooner they got away from the Fuhrer and out of Central City, the happier he would be, and Al, being the kind brother that he was, didn't call Ed on that. Instead he focused his attention on finding them a ride to the nearest hospital, threatening to carry his older brother if Ed even thought about trying to walk there. Miles away, lounging in the top of a church tower, a woman in a low cut dress, dark hair dripping down her shoulders like water, picked up a phone on the first ring and smiled.