"So you're a state alchemist?" Ed asked. He looked at me skeptically. "You're awful young."

"So were you when you first became a state alchemist," I said, looking him straight in the eye. I was the same height as him, a fact that both irked and satisfied him; I couldn't call him short but he was older than me and should be taller.

Al, Ed and I were in Mustang's office, alone. Armstrong had been called on another assignment a few minutes ago and had left us here (after nearly crushing Ed in a goodbye hug). Mustang had disappeared somewhere and had yet to show up. Ed sat in Mustang's chair, his feet propped up in the same fashion as the colonel when he's putting off paperwork. Al sat on the small couch against the wall. I stood awkwardly by the window; it was amazingly clean.

Ed began opening the drawers of Mustang's desk.

"Edward!" I exclaimed as Ed began flipping through some files.

"What?" he asked, not looking up from the papers. "That lazy ass colonel hasn't done any paperwork for a month. It's a wonder why the idiot's as high ranked as he is."

"You probably shouldn't be going through Mustang's files, Brother," Al said. "It's invasion of privacy—"

"NO FRIGGIN' WAY!" Ed slammed a stack of papers on the desk. "That idiot can't be serious!"

"What is it?" I asked, looking over Ed's shoulder.

"The colonel… has assigned us to be your babysitter." Ed growled through clenched teeth.

"And that's a problem?" I asked, offended.

"Not all of it," Ed grumbled, "They're sending us off to Rush Valley. Apparently, they need the help of some alchemists… Dammit, bet the colonel did that on purpose."

"What's wrong with Rush Valley?" I asked.

"Two things, really," Al explained to me.

"Three!" Ed corrected. His head was down on Mustang's desk.

"Three? Oh, yeah," Al continued. "Our friend, Winry, lives there."

"Wouldn't that be a good thing?" I asked.

"Wait until you meet Winry," Ed said, his voice muffled by the desk. "She's gonna kill me. My arm got busted a little in East City a while ago…" He shuddered.

"Your arm?" I looked at him quizzically. His gold eyes looked at me and then he shrugged. He removed the glove on his right hand. His metal hand glittered in the sunlight coming through the window. "Wha- what happened to your hand?" I stammered.

"It's not just my hand," Ed explained. "It's my whole right arm. And my left leg, too. There was a skirmish near our hometown during the East Area Civil War."

"Oh. So… Winry's your mechanic?" My eyes lingered on Ed's hand until he pulled his glove back on.

"Yep." Ed returned his head to the desk.

"So what are the other two reasons Rush Valley's bad?" I looked to Al.

"It's crawling with Automail mechanics," Al told me. "They'll mob you if you have even an Automail finger."

"It's a total nightmare," Ed grumbled.

"And the third problem…" Al paused before he went on. "It's really close to Dublith."

"And the problem with Dublith is…?"

"Our master lives there."

"You've lost me again."

"Master has a tendency to kick our butts every time we visit her," Ed said. "So going to Rush Valley is—"

"A better idea than staying in my chair much longer, Fullmetal." We all jumped as Mustang's voice came from the office doorway. Ed slowly got out of the chair and went to the other side of the desk. I followed behind him. Mustang walked past us and frowned as he saw the files on his desk.

"Well, your prying has probably told you what your new assignment is." Mustang sat down and crossed his fingers together, leaning his elbows on his desk. "You'll meet up with another alchemist there. Fullmetal." Mustang's dark eyes bored down on Ed. "Merryn has no field training. This is her first assignment. I'm counting on you—for some reason—not to do anything stupid. So at the very least, don't get her killed."

A chill ran up my spine; the colonel wasn't joking.