A/N: So, after over a long year, I decided to update this story. Why? Because someone left me a review recently and when I looked at it, I looked at this story and realized how long it has been. I've been so absorbed in my other story (which is almost over) that I practically lost all momentum for this one. I was about to start a new story (probably Naruto or Fruits Basket or Bleach, something along those lines) but then I decided I should try to see this one through to the end. I feel refreshed, especially seeing Ed and Al on TV again. Yeah, I must sound like I'm high on sugar or some other substance. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and that it's not boring.

CHAPTER 3 ---- The Warehouse Assignment:

Naminé looked at the old warehouse and frowned. She, Kimblee, and Romberg were hiding behind a bush late at night. The crickets chirped noisily in the background and the mosquitoes were buzzing around as the lights flickered inside of the warehouse. A mosquito landed on Naminé's arm and she smacked it. "So, did Gran give you more information on the thugs?" She asked Romberg.

Romberg nodded as he stood, seeing that there was no reason to hide anymore. "He said that they're part of a weapon ring. Actually, they're the leaders of it. So take them out, the whole ring falls."

Kimblee clapped his hands together and walked over to the warehouse. He placed his hands on the wall and grinned.

"Without casualties," Romberg added.

Kimblee turned around and frowned. "What the hell? Then what's the point of me coming?"

Romberg walked over to the wall. "There are other things you can use your alchemy for."

Kimblee turned around. "Yeah. Making a hole through this wall."

"Don't even try it," Naminé said. "You're going to attract attention."

"Wow, the great alchemist is scared of some common thugs."

"No," Naminé muttered. "It's just better to surprise the enemy."

"It's better to let them know they have something to fear, babe."

"Why would I believe that a psychotic bomber is right on this?"

"Do you want to start something with me?"

"Is that a threat?"

Romberg sighed. "For once, I want to focus on the mission. If I screw this up, Gran will kill me. So let's try to do this without mistakes and use a window or something."

Naminé raised her eyebrows. She was surprised by his leadership and by his logical thinking. It was a huge contrast to his usual perverse nature. The Crimson Alchemist, on the other hand, had kept true to his. He had proven that he loved bombs and explosions. Seriously, blow the whole building up? There had to be precious evidence inside. Gran would not only have killed Romberg but the two of them as well, her for even letting Kimblee do it.

Romberg stopped walking and pointed up. "Here's a window." He looked back at the Lightning Alchemist. "Ladies first."

She gave him a look and walked up to the wall. The bottom of the open window was up to her neck. She awkwardly placed her hands on the sill and tried to push herself up. At that moment, she realized her lack of upper body strength. She sighed. Suddenly, she felt hands on her hips and jumped away. She swirled around and saw Romberg. "What are you doing?!"

"I was just offering some help!"

"I'm fine, thank you very much!"

Kimblee rolled his eyes. "Keep yelling. I'm certain nobody would hear you two."

Naminé glared at him before glancing at Romberg. "You try to get in."

"Move over," Romberg muttered. He moved back a few steps and took a running leap. She was surprised at how agile he was. He had placed his hands on the windowsill and swung himself over. He peered out at them. "Hurry up."

Kimblee did the same thing without a problem, surprising Naminé at how agile he was too. Now they were both waiting for her to get inside. Kimblee smirked. "Can't do it?"

Naminé held her hands up. "Can you pull me up?" She reluctantly asked, her blue eyes cast down on the ground.

Kimblee and Romberg looked at each other before extending a hand. Naminé took them and the two men pulled her up.

"Damn," Kimblee muttered. "You're freakin' heavy."

"Or maybe you're just weak," Naminé muttered darkly, not liking the jab at her weight. Sure she wasn't model skinny but she wasn't fat. She reassured herself with that thought.

When half her body was hanging out the window, Romberg and Kimblee grabbed her jacket and pulled her completely inside. They dropped her on the floor and smirked.

The Lightning Alchemist shot them a glare, stood up, and brushed herself off. "Now what?" She asked, deciding that she wouldn't let them annoy her anymore.

"We find them," Romberg said.

"Won't they be armed?" She asked.

"So will we," Romberg replied, taking out his pistol and loading it. "You're welcome to stop worrying any time now."

"As I said," Kimblee muttered to Romberg. "This is exactly why women can't be soldiers. They worry about every single thing."

Naminé frowned. "Then why am I a soldier?"

"As I've told you, I never seen a female alchemist before until you came along."

Naminé tried to keep her composure. "Meaning?"

"You must have offered them one of your many 'services'."

The Lightning Alchemist gasped.

"Go---!" A bullet zoomed passed Naminé's head, cutting her off. The bullet continued to travel until it hit Romberg's pistol. He immediately dropped it and shook his hand to minimize the pain. She turned around and saw a rugged man standing there, holding his own gun.

"Well, well, well," he grinned. "The military is here. How . . . fortunate." He aimed the gun at them again.

Naminé quickly snapped her fingers and a lightning bolt struck the man's gun, causing him to drop the weapon. Less than five seconds later, a bullet ripped through her shoulder. The arm that she always used her alchemy for felt numb as blood trickled down. She saw where the shot had come from.

There was a group of thugs behind them and another group to the left. The man who had shot Naminé aimed his gun and shot her again, this time in the arm. The bullet spiraled its way through her skin, muscles, tissues, and bone.

Naminé gripped her arm, feeling how arm had been rendered useless.

Kimblee smirked and clapped his hands together. "I guess I have no choice."

He charged at one guy who was loading a pistol and grabbed his arm. "Too slow."

The man panicked when he saw his arm glowing. Then it exploded, blood splattering on the walls. The surrounding men raised their arms as shields, a stupid mistake on their part. It only made picking the next victim easier for the Crimson Alchemist. Naminé stared in horror, remembering the last time she had seen so much blood. She felt herself go weak in the knees as she watched Kimblee avoid another bullet and explode another arm.

Romberg stared at her. "Naminé?" He saw how her bottom lip quivered and her dilated pupils. "Naminé?"

Suddenly, in the middle of Kimblee's mad rampage, a man attacked from behind and knocked out the Crimson Alchemist. Naminé was about to run in but someone else grabbed her in a bear hug and started to crush her. Air wasn't reaching her lungs and soon her vision became hazy. From the corner of her eye, she saw Romberg being restrained. That was the last thing she saw before passing out.

"Naminé," someone called in a hushed whisper. "Naminé!"

The young woman flinched before her blue eyes opened up.

Naminé tried to move and discovered that she was tied up. She was propped against some crates. In addition to her arms, her legs and hands were also bound together. Across from her were Kimblee and Romberg tied back-to-back. Their eyes were on her.

Kimblee smirked. "How was your nap, babe? Any sweet dreams?"

Naminé shook her head. "I take it that us being attacked wasn't a dream?"

"It was pretty much real," Romberg muttered. "We're wondering if you can move."

"Does it look like it? I don't think I can get out of my ropes either."

The Crimson Alchemist tilted his head to the side, listening intently. "Someone's coming. Try to seduce them into removing your ropes."

"What?" Naminé asked. "Do I look that kind of woman?"

"Well you better start acting like it," Romberg muttered, trying to see behind him. He wanted to know where the approaching guy was. "I'm not in the mood of dying right now."

"Selfish jackasses," Naminé muttered.

Kimblee sadistically grinned. "I swear that tongue gets sharper by the second."

A guy came around the corner. He was wearing tight jeans and a black muscle shirt. His black hair was in a mess though and he already had a beard growing. All this made him unattractive. He came and stooped next to Naminé. She smelled the liquor on his breath and grimaced.

"What brings you here, little girl?"

The Lightning Alchemist turned her head away. The man frowned. He cupped her chin and snapped her head toward him.

"I'm talking to you."

Naminé's blue eyes wandered away from the man's face. Then she saw Kimblee and Romberg pushing themselves onto their bound feet. She quickly looked back at the man when she felt his hot breath on her neck.

"You are pretty cute, maybe even sexy." The man pulled out a knife and held it up to her neck. "What do you think of me?"

"Um . . . I . . ."

Kimblee and Romberg hopped as quietly as possible. When they were close enough, they knocked the guy into some crates. Kimblee rolled over, revealing the knife in his mouth. He motioned Naminé over with a jerk of his head.

Naminé scouted closer, hearing the thug groan in pain. She turned around and Kimblee started to cut the ropes. It was taking a while, considering the awkward position he was in and the weird way he was cutting it.

The ropes hit the floor and her arms were loose. It was just her hands and feet. Kimblee started to work on the ropes on her hands. The guy started to get up and Crimson Alchemist started to speed up. Naminé rolled away from Kimblee and started to pull her hands apart, hoping it would work. Finally, her hands broke out of the ropes.

The guy slowly got up and took the knife from Kimblee. "Think you're so slick, huh? Might as well start slitting all your throats now. First, the girl . . ."

Naminé had reached into her pocket and pulled out her lipstick. By the time the guy had focused on her, she was done drawing her transmutation circle. And by the time he had started to move toward her, she had activated it. Metal bars rose around the man. Soon, they met at the top, becoming a cage.

"You little bitch!" The thug said.

Naminé sighed and started to cut the ropes on her legs. When the Lightning Alchemist was done, she started to help the boys.

Kimblee smirked as the last rope on him was cut. "Well, well, the little female alchemist was helpful after all."

Naminé stood and ignored the Crimson Alchemist, deciding there were more important issues than Kimblee's sarcastic remarks. She walked over to the cage. "Where are the others?"

The thug narrowed his eyes. "Why do you care?"

"I'm surprised that you're not calling for help."

Romberg frowned and his eyebrows furrowed. "That's a good point. Where are they?"

"The others that aren't losing blood already left with the weapons twenty minutes ago. You won't catch them. Not at the rate they left."

Naminé heard when Romberg kicked a crate and when Kimblee sucked his teeth. She sighed and looked back at the guys. "I guess we failed."

Romberg kicked the crate again for the reminder of the mission failure. "No shit."

"So," Mel asked the next day, eying the bandages on Naminé's arm. "How was your mission?"

Vi's tilted her sunglasses to get a better look at the bandages as well. "Tell me that's not a serious injury."

At lunchtime, Naminé had found herself inside a café with Mel and Vi, a large pizza pie in front of her. She supposed it was because she couldn't face Kimblee and Romberg. Not after the way Gran had yelled at them, claiming that the assignment had been important and if he had known that they would have screwed it up, he would have asked someone else to do the job. Of course, Romberg had muttered that he and Kimblee had never screwed up an assignment until the day before. The suggestion behind the statement made her angry.

Naminé realized that she hadn't answer and took a quick sip from her soda through a straw. "The thugs escaped."

Vi raised her eyebrows and fixed her dark sunglasses to hide her red irises. "That must have been great."

"Not only that, Romberg had the nerve to blame me for it."

"And the other guy?" Mel asked. "What does he think?"

"How the hell would I know," Naminé snapped. "I mean Kimblee called me fat before we even began. Imagine what he thinks now. And Vi," she added, "It's not as bad as it looks."

Vi reached into the pizza pie and took a slice. "That's good."

Mel took a slice as well. "Did it hurt?" She saw Vi looked up at the sky and sighed loudly. The redhead pouted. "I'm serious."

Naminé shook her head. "What do you th---!"

"Excuse us ladies."

Naminé looked up and saw Romberg and Kimblee on either side of her. She twitched and looked back at her drink. She heard the sound of chairs dragging and realized that the guys were sitting next to her. She felt her friends' curious looks and fiddled with her fingers. "What do you want?"

Romberg rested his chin on top of his folded hands. "I realized that I was a little harsh on you this morning. It wasn't entirely your fault."

Kimblee averted his gaze, not even wanting to admit much. "Yeah. What he said."

Naminé scratched her head. "I guess I---!"

Suddenly Mel pounded the table as something occurred to her. "You guys must be the assholes Naminé mentioned just the other day!"

Kimblee raised an eyebrow. "Assholes?"

"Yeah," Mel said, nodding excitedly. "The pervert with no shame and the bomb-happy lunatic."

Naminé sipped her soda loudly, her blue eyes glaring at the redhead. Mel giggled nervously but then muttered 'ow' when Vi elbowed her. The Lightning Alchemist glanced at both young men and saw their expressions. She was about to explain herself but Vi intervened.

"From everything she had told me," Vi stated, "she is well justified to call you that. Not only do you insult her, but you also sexually harass the woman constantly at her job and blame her for your mistakes as well. In addition, you constantly mentioned the fact she's a female. I'm pretty sure Naminé is well aware of that fact. And if you still going to say she's a woman, at least treat her the way one is suppose to be treated. Her name is Naminé not 'babe' or 'whore' or whatever else you call her. Understand?"

There was a silence. She can't expect us to listen to her, Romberg thought. Kimvblee must agree with me. However, he was surprised by the Crimson Alchemist's nonchalant response.

"Yeah, you're right," Kimblee said. "I understand perfectly now. Treat her like a human being. Got it."

Naminé stared at the Crimson Alchemist. Is he serious?

Suddenly, Kimblee reached for Naminé's soda and stole a sip. He grinned at Naminé's and her friends' expressions as he put the glass down on the table. He stood and so did Romberg. "See you later, babe."

"The nerve of that guy," Vi muttered as she watched the two men walk away. "If he comes near me again, I'll give him a piece of mind."

Naminé stretched her arms. And you'll be in pieces, she thought.

Mel looked at the glass. "Are you going to use the straw?"

The Lightning Alchemist pushed the glass away. "Why would I?"

"Well, if you did, it would be like an indirect kiss, you know," Mel chirped. "I mean, he did indirectly kissed you. He did use the straw incase you didn't notice."

Naminé blushed at the idea. "That's more of a reason not---!"

Just then the glass exploded, splashing the girls with soda.

"What just happened?" Mel asked, staring at the stain on her shirt. She let out a groan. "I was just about to go on a date."

Naminé clenched her fists. "That bastard."

A/N: Finally. I don't know how many chapters this story will have. I want to cover before Ishbal, the immediate aftermath, and then Kimblee's return. So, that's makes a three-part story, right? I have to say expect drama from me because this under the drama category and I'm always have dramatic ideas. Anyway, thanks to Kimimaro's-Angel, XCrimsonXFlameXAlchemistX and ritsuka-hanya for reviewing Chapter 2. If anyone read this chapter, leave a review please. Much appreciated. Well that's it. Maybe the next update won't take a year. :) Later.