Ed looked up from his book as his computer alerted him to an incoming message. He was sprawled on the floor of his day room, surrounded by books and scribbled notes. Al was always bugging him that at his age, Ed should have gotten his handwriting at least legible.

He pulled the computer closer and pulled up the chat screen to see a message from Al.

"Your girlfriend is here."

Ed glared down at the screen as he typed back, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Uh huh. Roy and I were going over some data when Maes called him to go over her work. They're all up there talking. You should have come in today."

Ed rolled his eyes. "Why? I can work just as well here."

"Yeah, but Winry isn't in your closet."

Ed shut the laptop and glared down at it for a moment. Technically, he did have a few simulations running in his lab at work. He should probably check on those. He stared at the shut door for a moment, then pulled out his cell. According to the weather app, it was mostly cloudy, and a storm was moving in. If he was quick, he could run to the safety of the hallway and be in the stairwell.

He stood up and dug around to see which books and notes he should take with him. Stuffing them into a bag, he slid it over his head and went to the door. He grabbed the handle with his left hand and shifted his weight in preparation for the mad dash through his apartment. With his right hand, he quickly keyed in the unlock code.

When the door's locking mechanism clicked, he slammed the door open and raced through his apartment. He was lucky the weather app was correct today. It was pretty dark outside with the rolling clouds and lightning flashing in the distance. As he made it to the door of his apartment, and out into the hall, he feel the slight warmth of his skin. Not even a real sunburn by human standards. He was probably a little pink, but that would be faded by the time he made it to the office.

Ed made sure his apartment door locked, and entered the elevator. Hitting the sub-basement level, he leaned against the wall with one foot pulled up. It was a short walk through an underground maintenance hallway that connected to the CRD building, and then he would be in the underground levels where most of the company's labs were.


Glancing around as Winry entered the conference room, she popped the top off of the tube and pulled out the rolls of paper. Aside from the door they'd entered from, there were no windows and one other door that was oddly metal. In fact, it looked like a smaller version of the elevators she'd come up in. Just as she was weighing down the curling corners her work with empty water glasses from the table, the brass door slid open.

Sure enough, it was a small elevator. Probably wouldn't really hold more than two people, she thought. For now, Roy stepped out with a warm smile and crossed over to her. He clasped his hands behind his back and leaned over to start studying her work. She left him to those while pulling out her laptop and clicking it to wake it up.

Setting the laptop on the table, she brought up a few of her files and projections as he started flipping through the sheets.

"I see why Ed was so excited. This is groundbreaking stuff, Miss. Rockbell!"

"Please, call me Winry.

She felt her cheeks pink with pleasure that the head of R&D at such a major company was impressed with her work. Before she knew it, they were discussing wiring issues, voltage, and housing restraints. As she showed him her data from the simulations she'd been running lately, she couldn't help but get her hopes up that this could work out after all.


Ed was slipping his bag over his head as he entered his lab, but he froze, one hand still on the door, when he saw his brother waiting for him. Al was leaning against one of the tables, arms crossed over his chest and a smirk on his face.

"You got here awfully quick, brother."

Ed glared at his younger brother and walked over to the computer in the corner as he answered, "I forgot I'd left some simulations running the other day. They should be finished soon, and the weather was cooperating."

Al's response was a dry, "Uh huh."

Ed tapped the mouse to wake the computer up, and dropped the bag of books to the floor with a thud. Glancing across the various readouts, he frowned.

"Looks like they need a couple more hours. But initial estimates look good."

"Really?" Al pushed away from the table and came to stand next to his brother. He nodded after a moment, "You're right. This is promising."

Soon enough, both brothers were engrossed in the numbers scrolling across the screen.


"Well, I think this is all very exciting, Winry." Roy was smiling, "Would you like a tour of the labs? There's some pretty interesting projects going on right now."

Winry barely suppressed an excited hop as she quickly rolled her papers back up and stuck them in the tube, "Really? I mean, I would love to, but I'm technically the competition-"

Maes laughed, "Only if you plan on turning down my job offer!"

She blinked and glanced between the two men, "Really? I mean, I get the job?"

"Sure! We'd be crazy to pass up the chance to have you on our team! We can go over numbers after Roy gives you the tour. I'll get some paperwork started, just head back up here when you're done downstairs."

"Great! Thank you so much!"

Roy had already stepped over and pressed the button to call the elevator, and the doors silently opened once more. She picked up her laptop and shoved it into her bag. Gathering all her things, she walked over to the elevator.

As she followed him in, Roy explained, "We try to keep it a little difficult for random visitors to make it into the labs. You can't reach them from the lobby elevators directly. And all the high profile work is done in basement level labs."

She glanced at the floor buttons. There were labels for sub-levels 1-5, and a big C that she assumed meant the conference room they'd just left.

"That makes sense. At Lab 5, I have to go through four manned security stations to get to my lab. X-rays, metal detectors: the whole works. They even go through my purse and lunch every day."

Roy raised an eyebrow, but the elevator stopped and the door slid open. He gestured her out, and she stepped into a long white hallway. Several doors and windows were on each side, and he started walking and gesturing.

"My office is at the end here. I don't really do much research of my own anymore, just oversee the others. Feel free to come to me for anything you need at all. I approve equipment purchases, time on the heavy duty computers, that sort of thing. Anything remotely reasonable is of course approved, but there's always the paperwork."

He sighed dramatically at the mention of the paperwork, and she giggled into her hand.

"This floor has all our top researchers on it, of course. This is Al's lab." He poked his head into the open door, and frowned when he saw nobody was inside. He leaned back and looked at the door across the hall. "Must be in Ed's lab."

He walked over to the door and gave a quick knock before pushing it open. "Al? Oh, good morning Ed. I didn't realize you were coming in today."

Winry stopped in the doorway, but looked over to the two blondes leaning over a computer monitor. They both looked up owlishly at Roy, but then Al waved the man over.

"C'mon Roy, Ed's initial data is coming through, and it looks great! Hey Winry! Come see, this is amazing!"

Author's notes:

Alright, now that all the main players are really integrated, more and more vampire/supernatural stuff will start happening. I hope everyone likes where I go with all of that, let me know if not, or if you have any suggestions! I'm not basing the vampire abilities on any specific 'world' or anything, but rather drawing from a bunch of different ones mixed with my own ideas. Thanks everyone!