Edward panted, feeling himself tire out. The man they were chasing had just performed a chain of highly classified crimes, using Alchemy. He'd also just killed twelve soldiers. It was just Ed, Al, and Mustang now. Mustang couldn't snap because his gloves had been soaked and ripped. Ed couldn't do Alchemy because the hall was rough, uneven, dark, and collapsed in some parts. It took all his concentration to run.

"This way!" someone shouted, speeding past him. Ed heard the rustle of feathers as whoever it was ran past him.

The criminal screamed. "Orange got 'im!" someone else yelled. This one was a girl, much younger.

As the three skidded around the corner, they saw eight people and a large cat. A girl in red a red dress holding a light in her hands that lit up the entire hallway. A woman in an orange out-fit with a topaz tiara held the struggling criminal up by the front of his shirt. The man who'd shouted looked vaguely familiar to Ed—was that the new soldier who'd been hanging out with Hawkeye and Havoc?

Mustang stepped boldly forth. "We'll take that man from here." he said strongly.

The cat stepped forth as well, and sniffed the air. "You're brave, Colonel Flame, but I don't see your infamous ignition cloth gloves. Did you get wet? You smell like you went through a river!" it rasped.

A young woman in snow-white with long dark hair stood next to the cat. "And, no, you won't be taking this guy anywhere. Can you not see we have the situation under control? Hint, hint?" she said bluntly.

"That's a military officer, White. Watch what you say, he'll use it to find our identities." warned the man.

"No, really?" sneered the one called Orange. "Thank you for telling us, Bluesy. We never would've guessed! Okay, c'mon, let's go!"

As the group made to walk away, Ed finally performed some Alchemy, making a wall to block their path. "You aren't going anywhere! Not until you tell us who you are!" he snarled.

"We're the Rainbow Alchemists, defenders of Amestris." purred the girl in red.

"Strawberry? Are you… Strawberry?" Mustang gasped, staring at the girl in shock.

She looked dully at him for a moment. "Who's Strawberry? Must be one lucky girl, knowing a cutie like you." she giggled, extinguishing the light.

There was a small flash of green light, and Ed heard his wall crumble. Then there was a loud whoop. "Seeya, suckers!" someone yelled.

"That… was not cool…" Ed growled. "What's more, one of them's an Alchemist!"

"Who said anything about one?" asked Al.

"True. They never did it while we were here, but who knows? All of them may be accomplished Alchemists." Mustang agreed, and Ed could hear him walking away. "Come on. We need to get back to head-quarters and report this. For all we know, those people and their pet Chimera are criminals as well."

When the trio got back to HQ, they were greeted by "Dark" Angel Jones, a new soldier. He'd joined the military only a few moths ago, but was already close to becoming a colonel himself. Dark had dyed his hair dark blue, and had Ishvalan ancestry. He had the pale skin and gold hair of an Amestrian, but his eyes were a shocking red. He was always eager to please, and was learning basic Alchemy. He was working on a bomb, everyone said, that used Alchemy, and he only affirmed the rumors.

"Colonel Mustang! Fullmetal Alchemist! How was your night, sirs?" he asked, jumping up and saluting.

"Not so good. Dark, did you go after the criminal tonight?" Mustang asked.

"Do you mean the one that pulled roughly forty-two crimes and was never caught, sir? No, sir. I've been here all night! Ask Major Armstrong, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, and Lieutenant Hawkeye, and even the Fuhrer, sir! I've been running errands for all of them!" Dark cried, sounding and looking very much hurt.

"If you say so… Fullmetal, go check with those names! I want to know if Dark's alibi is credible!" ordered Mustang.

"Pfft. Whatever." Ed walked out the door, Al in tow.

"Mustang thinks Dark is one of those guys that caught the criminal?" asked Al.

"I think so too, Al. He looks a lot like that Blue guy. For all we know, he is one of them." Ed told his brother softly. "Whatever, we'll check with Armstrong first. Then Hughes. Then Hawkeye. We'll do the Fuhrer last."

They met Armstrong in the hallway. He confirmed that Dark had indeed run an errand, fetching some records and helping the major to sort through them for a court-case he was working on. That alibi was credible.

Hughes said that Dark had not run an errand for him, but sat and chatted while helping to sort files and stack them. He'd also looked at all of his pictures without whining, and actually like seeing pictures of Elisya. "Dark is a good boy. He's eager to please, and likes to make friends. He has at least half of the head-quarters fawning on him and meeting him. He's easy to get along with." Hughes had nodded.

Hawkeye also confirmed that Dark had been with her. "He was helping me to clean up Colonel Mustang's office. Afterwards, he said that he had to go see Armstrong, because he'd found an important file that the major had wanted." she said, her voice confused. "Is Dark in trouble?"

"We suspect he may be one of a group that captured the man we were after tonight. He said he'd been running errands for people, so we need to check with all of them. So far he's clean." Al told her.

"We only have one person left to check, and that's the Fuhrer." Ed nodded.

"Check me for what?"

Ed and Al spun around, and Hawkeye stood to. Fuhrer King Bradley stood in the doorway. "A soldier called Dark is under suspicion of helping someone capture that criminal we've been after. We've needed to check with all the people he ran errands for, and you're one of them. Sir." Edward said respectfully.

"Angel Jones? Yes, he ran a few errands for me. Mostly fetching and delivering files and memos. On the last delivery, he returned to me a minute late and acted like it was the end of his career as a soldier. That boy is a firm believer of punctuality!" the Fuhrer smiled. "I severely doubt that such a fine man could be the one you're after. Someone who looks like him, possibly, but not Mr. Jones. He ran errands for me for a long time."

"Then it looks like Dark is okay…" Al said quietly.

"Well, if that's all, I believe I should be going. Good night."

Ed and Al walked back to Mustang's office. When Ed told him the news, Mustang nodded to Dark. The young soldier jumped up and ran out of the room. "Dark is fetching me all said information on Strawberry Fawnson. She's a girl I… know, and I think it is entirely possible that she may be the woman in red. I told Dark that if he was clear, he could go get me the information."

Only a few minutes later, Dark returned with three files. "These are what they had." he panted, handing Mustang the files.

"Okay… Dark, is this a joke?" Mustang asked irritably, holding up the empty folders.

"What? I could've sworn… When Sheska gave them to me, I flipped through the papers myself!" Dark looked really upset, almost as if he would cry. Dark was only eighteen, and many of the senior staff picked on him because of his rank as a major. Dark was a kind soul, and tried to avoid fighting the best he could. "I know there were papers in there, sir! I saw them myself!"

"Could you have dropped them?" asked Al gently.

"Well, I bumped into Falman on the way back, but he helped me to pick up all of them. I would've seen if he'd taken any of them, even when he took them to look at them! But Falman said that the girl was his cousin, and she doesn't like to interact with others too much." Dark offered.

"Well, that's something." Mustang grumbled. "Fullmetal, take Dark and go find Falman."

"Yes, sir?"

"Falman, sir!" Dark cried joyfully.

"Falman, did Dark bump into you while carrying these files?" Edward asked before Mustang could.

"Yes, he did. They seemed to be about my cousin, Strawberry. Is something wrong, Colonel?" Falman asked.

"When Dark gave me these files, I found that they were empty." To support his statement, Mustang held up one of them.

"That's odd. I mean, three papers a file isn't much, but I would've seen them if they were on the floor in the halls." Falman said, taking one of the folders.

"Well, we'll go check again. Falman, you stay here. Dark, you too. Keep an eye on each other." Mustang ordered.

It was working according to plan. He grinned behind their backs. They couldn't tell that he'd trans-muted the papers into the folders. Not even Falman, who'd held the folders, could tell that they were now part of the folder. Not even the Fullmetal Alchemist knew.. It was working better than Terios had said it would. He had told them that he'd run errands, but he hadn't told them about the large time-gap between running Hawkeye's and the Fuhrer's! He just had to keep the act up for a little while longer…