Chapter 10

Once everyone was at HQ, the Elrics were settled in a dormitory room to rest and recover somewhat from their ordeal. Armstrong volunteered to guard them, so the Elrics slept that night with the older man standing guard outside their door.

The doctor, the manager, and Shaula were placed in separate holding cells while troops were dispatched to the resort to secure it and to question those who remained behind; keeping in mind the boys' warnings that everyone there was connected to Shaula. While the Elrics slept, Mustang, Hughes, and Hawkeye covered the case, attempting to determine just what had gone on there.

"It's no good," Mustang said after a few hours. "We'll have to talk to the boys again. I can't make head or tail of their statements. Hughes, how did the interrogations go?"

Hughes winced. "I think that all three of them are candidates for a psych ward somewhere. First of all, the two men keep babbling about how Shaula 'saved' them, but they won't say from what or how. Shaula is convinced that she's right about everything and that we should return the boys to her. When I questioned all of them about alchemy to figure out what they knew and how they had used it on the boys, all I got was a bunch of contradictions, and most of them violate alchemical laws. According to what I've learned, their alchemy shouldn't work, let alone influence people like it's been doing, but we've seen that it works!"

"It sounds like they've accomplished the impossible," Hawkeye said, reading the boys' statements again and then reading the transcripts from the criminals' interrogations. "What she says here, 'they belong to me now, and they will never, ever escape me.' That's frightening."

"I'm just glad the Elrics weren't there to hear her say it. She sounded…diabolical," Hughes said. "It would have given the poor kids nightmares. As it is, they're going to need another vacation to recover from their vacation."

"I don't think they'll go for that," Mustang said. "I think it will lead to them both running far and fast away from everybody."

Hawkeye nodded. "Most definitely. I think that right now, they just need to have us watch out for them and to get to the bottom of this."

"Agreed," Mustang said firmly. "Most of all, neither of the boys are to get anywhere close to those three we've got. We have to keep them distracted, because Ed will most definitely try to solve this problem himself. He'll feel that it's his job to do so, and he'll try to search them out to investigate on his own."

"Do you know how difficult it is to distract Edward Elric when he decides to latch onto a problem?" Hughes wanted to know. "I'm pretty sure you know, Mustang. How are we supposed to keep him busy? Hire a nanny?"

Mustang gave a little smile. "If it comes to that, yes! The main thing is to keep these two boys safe. Aside from being our only reliable witnesses, they're still youngsters. They don't need more trouble."

Hughes nodded. "They'll be busy tomorrow, at any rate. Investigations wants to talk to them again, and since they know me, I've been chosen to do it. We need to find out more about their transmutation—how it happened, how it was done, and what it's been like since for them both. Nothing of the kind has ever been done before successfully."

Mustang nodded. "That should take all day. What about the day after?"

Everyone was quiet. Then, Hawkeye spoke up. "There's a retrospective at the Alchemy Museum, and it covers the history of alchemy. Do you think the boys would be interested in going to it?"

Mustang, mentally applauding Hawkeye for suggesting it, felt a headache coming on. Here they were, planning an outing for the boys! They wouldn't need to hire a nanny, they were slowly becoming nannies!

He nodded. "Fine, Hawkeye. Just don't let them run you ragged."

"I can't, sir," she interrupted. "I'm on assignment that day, but your schedule is free. You can take them."

Mustang stared at her while Hughes fought very hard to keep from smiling. He saw everything: Mustang leading them around the museum, trying to keep track of both of them. Priceless! Oh, how he wished he could be there to see it!

That was when they heard the explosion.

Space

Ed woke up in a cold sweat, trying to fight down a feeling of impending doom. In the bottom bunk, he heard his brother wake up as well, gasping.

"Al?" Ed said, swinging down out of bed. "Are you okay?"

"I don't feel okay," Al said, sitting up. "It feels like something's going to happen! Something bad!"

"I know, I know," Ed said, looking around their room. "But what?"

The door opened, causing both boys to jump away from it. Fortunately, it was only Armstrong.

"Are you both all right?" he asked, looking from one brother to the other. "I heard you talking."

"Something's gonna happen!" Al cried, grabbing Armstrong's arm. "We've got to stop it!"

"What's going to happen?" the older man asked. "Are you sure you didn't have a nightmare?"

"I'm sure it wasn't a nightmare," Ed said, looking very serious. "I think that Shaula's planning something."

Armstrong was very quiet for a moment. "She may be planning something, but that doesn't mean she can do anything. Her hands are secured, and there is no way for her or her cohorts to get out of their cells. I don't think there's anything really wrong."

Ed lost it. "You're acting like we're scared little kids who have just had nightmares! Something is wrong, I'm telling you!"

Armstrong nodded. "All right. We'll go see if there's anything going on, and if there isn't, you two will come right back and get some rest, okay?"

"Fine," Ed muttered none too graciously. "We'll do that."

Together, they checked with the sentries and other guards around the base, but none of them had heard of anything the matter. Ed's face began to resemble a stormcloud. He knew that he and Al were right about Shaula, that something was going to happen, but Armstrong wasn't quite willing to believe it. He had too much faith in locks and hand boards. They were heading back towards the dormitories when the night exploded around them. With a deafening roar, the floor bucked, walls began to melt, and the roof tore itself away from the building.

Armstrong didn't hesitate. Grabbing up a boy under each arm, he carried the Elrics to the nearest staircase in an effort to get them away. They were thwarted before they took a step down: the stairs began to writhe like a demented snake, making it impossible to continue. Doggedly, Armstrong turned back the way they had come, heading for a window. With a shatter of glass, Armstrong was outside and falling towards the ground, landing with a thump a few moments later. Gently, he set the brothers down and stood nearby, keeping watch.

Ed turned to his brother. "Look carefully, Al. Has my hair turned white?"

Al shook his head. "No. Has mine?"

"Nope. Still a nice shade of brown."

"Oh. Good."

Next Ed turned to Armstrong. "Did you have to scare us like that?" he demanded. "I nearly had a heart attack!"

Armstrong was about to answer when another explosion made the ground tremble. Parts of HQ crumbled, and dust from the falling wreckage made it impossible to see. Ed and Al felt Armstrong grab hold of them in order not to lose them, but a moment later, but an attacking something made Armstrong let go. He knocked his attacker away easily, too worried about the boys to do anything else. Shouting for Ed and Al, Armstrong tried to find them, but when the dust cleared, he could see no sign of the boys.