ustang stood in the middle of a square in the craftsmen district of Ishval. With Kimblee due to show up any moment bent on murder, Mustang felt exposed, but the plan required Mustang to stand exactly where he was.

This was, after all, a duel between him and Kimblee. Havoc and Hughes would help and Hawkeye could be counted on to watch his back, but the plan depended mostly on alchemy and therefore on Mustang. If Kimblee succeeded, Mustang would have the blood of an entire city on his hands.

The bronze man-hole cover on the other side of the street from Mustang suddenly exploded out of the ground and flew at him.

Mustang sidestepped just in time for it to bury itself in the wall of the building behind him.

Kimblee leaped out of the hole after it and landed in the street in a crouch. He didn't even turn to look at Mustang.

"I would have been disappointed if you hadn't figured it out. After all, I did lead you right to the evidence," Kimblee said.

Mustang started in surprise.

"This area has long been deserted by the military and the Ishvalans. I need blood and you and your subordinates have just saved me the trouble of finding some_"Kimblee began.

Mustang decided that Kimblee had been allowed to monologue long enough.

He snapped his fingers and a wall of fire swept towards Kimblee.

Kimblee clapped his hands together and the ground beneath him exploded, sending him flying into the air above Mustang's wall of fire.

Kimblee reached into his uniform pockets as he fell and threw a handful of pebbles at Mustang.

The pebbles glowed red and enlarged in midair until they were the size of Mustang's head.

Mustang snapped his fingers again and a ribbon of flame zig-zagged from one stone to the next, but instead of blasting the rocks out of the ways like Mustang intended, the rocks exploded the moment the fire toughed them, showering Mustang with sharp rock fragments.

He dodged most of them, but one cut him on the cheek and another slashed through his uniform fabric to draw a line of red across his right arm.

Mustang sent a bolt of alchemic power at Kimblee.

Kimblee easily dodged it and the bolt went down the man-hole behind him.

"I thought you had better aim then that," Kimblee scoffed, hurling a rock at Mustang.

The rock transformed into a boulder in mid-air and Mustang dove to one side to avoid getting crushed by it.

He got to his feet just in time to avoid a fist sized rock. The rock exploded like a land-mine when it hit the building behind him, tearing a chunk out of the building.

Mustang snapped and a bolt of white hot fire surged towards Kimblee.

Again, Kimblee avoided it with ease and contempt.

"My blasts go where I aim them," Mustang replied.

The man-hole behind Kimblee had begun glowing slightly since it had received Mustang's bolt of power. At night it would have been hard to miss, but in full daylight it was barely visible.

Mustang's bolt of fire streaked down into the man-hole and a tremendous boom followed a moment later.

The ground shook beneath Kimblee and he staggered.

Mustang's blast of alchemic power had transmuted all the water in the sewers into hydrogen gas. Now the fire bolt had ignited it, causing the entire sewer to explode outwards.

Mustang, standing outside of the sewer system, stood on solid ground, but the ground Kimblee stood on was directly beneath the sewer and without the sewer walls to support it, began collapsing in on itself.

The Crimson Alchemist leaped for the solid ground fifty feet to Mustang's left, using the explosion to propel himself towards it.

Two cracks sounded and Kimblee twisted in the air, narrowly avoiding two tiny tranquilizer darts. He landed on the street in a crouch.

Mustang tensed.

All of that and Kimblee hadn't suffered so much of a scratch. He hadn't been clipped by any of the rubble from the explosion and had even dodged darts.

Kimblee's hand flew to his neck and Mustang saw a third tranquilizer dart embedded in his neck.

It had been fired at the moment the street exploded, using the tremendous boom to disguise the sound its gun made when firing. The shooter had not only counted on Kimblee using the blast, but had precisely calculated the Crimson Alchemist's trajectory before he even rose into the air.

It was the most amazing shot Mustang had ever seen in his life.

Kimblee started to rise, but Mustang snapped his fingers and a cage of fire materialized around Kimblee for a moment then winked out of existence.

"You will stay down until the tranquilizer takes effect or you will spend the first few months of your prison sentence in a hospital burn unit," Mustang warned him.

Kimblee cast a cold, calculating eye over Mustang.

If Kimblee hadn't been hit with that tranquilizer dart, he could have afforded to wait for Mustang to make the first move. The drug now coursing through the Crimson Alchemist's veins, however, made time his enemy.

Kimblee stayed crouched on the street until the drug took effect and he slumped to the street.

Mustang approached cautiously and nudged Kimblee's limp form with a booted foot, in case the Crimson Alchemist was pretending in order to get Mustang to come closer in a last ditch effort for revenge.

Hughes, Havoc, and Hawkeye appeared behind Mustang.

They had each been in a different building with sniper rifles loaded with tranquilizers to shoot at the Crimson Alchemist.

Hughes and Havoc had their sniper rifles slung over their shoulders while Hawkeye was still holding hers and pointing it at Kimblee's limp form.

She poked Kimblee with the barrel of the gun then slung it over her shoulder and rolled Kimblee onto his back.

After peeling back one of Kimblee's eyelids and seeing only white, Hawkeye looked up at Mustang.

"He is out, Sir," She reported.

"Search and secure," Mustang ordered, "and, Lieutenant..."

"Sir?"

"Nice shot," he said.

"Thank you, Sir," She said without a trace of pride.

Hughes and Mustang watched as Hawkeye pulled out a pair of handcuffs and Havoc searched Kimblee.

"She is an amazing woman," Hughes said.

"Yes. Not one sniper in a thousand could have pulled off that shot," Mustang replied.

"You know what I mean. She is smart, loyal, and a great shot. You couldn't find a better match for your life if you tried," Hughes said.

"We are both in the military. Neither of us will leave it and the military doesn't allow relationships like that between soldiers."

Hughes shook his head, "Roy, I understand, but let me give you a piece of advice: don't let her get away."

"I don't intend to. Now that I am a Lieutenant Colonel, I can pick my own staff. I will have her watching my back as long as I am able. When Amestris is whole again, she will be by my side. After that, it will be up to her whether she stays there or not," Mustang said.

Havoc looked up at Mustang and grinned. "Mission success, Lieutenant Colonel. Do you want to be the one to tell headquarters or shall I?"

Mustang took the radio Havoc handed him and held down the transmit button.

"This is Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang. We have the Crimson Alchemist in custody."