Outskirts of Munich, Germany - November 26th, 1923

Johann Strauss crouched behind some bushes near the edge of a small section of forest near the old factory where he was supposed to be doing research. He wasn't alone. Ed, Al and Lily crouched there with him. He was sweating so much, his clothes had become damp. He was utterly convinced that they would be found out and he would be punished by his sponsors for bringing the enemy here.

"The device is kept in the work room at the center of the building. It's under heavy guard. I don't know how you think you're going to get in there," Said Strauss.

"That's not your concern," Said Ed. "Now all we need is a distraction to get the guards out of there."

Lily was crouched behind Strauss, but she was the one to spot the propane tanks jutting out at the back of the building. She felt a warm glow spread over her. "I think I know just the thing. But we can't have Strauss running out there and alerting the guards that we're here," She took the butt of the gun and smacked Strauss in the back of the head, knocking him out.

"Look over there. See those propane tanks? If I can get a little bit closer, I can shoot one of them and it will explode. That will draw the guards out so that you two can sneak in and grab the bomb. I'll have the car running so that we can get away faster. You probably won't have a lot of time if they decided to check on the bomb because of the explosion," Said Lily.

"Alright. Give us a few minutes to get close to the building. We can hide by those trucks over there." Ed pointed to a small group of covered trucks parked just off the front entrance to the laboratory. He and Al didn't waist any time and crept away, trying to keep to the trees as much as they could before they had to make a short sprint to the area where the trucks were parked.

Lily was more nervous than she let on. It was her ability to stay cool under pressure that had made her an excellent spy. She watched the progress that Ed and Al made as best she could and after a few minutes when there was no sign of them and no hue and cry raised at the laboratory, she moved away from the prone form of Johann Strauss so that she could get a better shot at the propane tanks that were lined up and sitting at the back of the building.

When she was in a position that was about as good as it was going to get, she crouched down, steadied herself and fired three times at the closest tank. She felt she was a safe distance away, but the explosion roared up into the sky and knocked her on her back.

The explosion defiantly had the desired effect. People swarmed out of the building like lemmings to the sea. The guards were all armed with rifles and were looking around for any possible danger. Some of them were heading towards the forest and Lily had to move fast to get away from their prying eyes.

She scurried away through the trees, trying to make as little noise as possible, but she was not a rural woman by any stretch of the imagination and was not entirely successful. Thankfully neither were the guards and they didn't penetrate very far into the forest before turning back to help battle the blaze.

When the tank exploded, Ed and Al saw people, both guards and lab workers, rush out of the building to see what had happened. They ran to the side of the building where there were some crates under a window. The crates let them get close enough to the windows to break one when it wouldn't open and crawl through into the laboratory.

Once inside, they followed the directions that Strauss had given them about where the bomb was being stored. They had to duck and weave behind desks and partitions and other barriers to keep out of sight from the few people who hadn't scurried outside to investigate the explosion.

They found the room easily enough but found the door locked. A quick search around the area found that there wasn't anyone very close that they could see and so Ed stood on his flesh leg and kicked the door in with his automail leg. The door crashed open and rebounded to hit the broken door frame with a bang.

"Hurry Brother. I think someone might have heard that," Said Al.

"Right. Come on," Said Ed.

The two of them ran into the room and were surprised by two men who had white coats on over their clothes. They were both standing directly over the bomb with some sort of mechanical instruments in their hands. They didn't even look up from what they were doing.

"Can't you see we're in the middle of something vitally important? I'm sure that whatever it is will sort itself out. Go away," Said the blonde scientist.

"I don't think so pal. We're after that weapon you've got there so hand it over," Said Ed.

The dark haired man was startled enough to drop the thing that was in his hands. It clattered on the cement floor and he backed away from Ed and Al like they had the plague. The look of fear on his face closely mirrored the one that Johann Strauss had worn in the market place before he'd run away from Ed and Al.

"Take what ever you want. Just don't kill me. Please," Said the dark haired scientist.

"Thanks. Hand it over and no one will get hurt," Said Ed.

He and Al advanced on the two scientists and they backed away before them. The blonde one looked slightly less afraid, but he wasn't getting paid enough to deal with psychotic murdering criminals like the ones their sponsors had told them about. This whole thing was making him wish he'd taken that teaching position the previous summer.

Al stepped forward and grabbed the bomb by the handle at the top just like Huskinsen had done when they'd confronted him on his island oh so long ago. He and Ed backed away from the two scientists and out the door. Once outside of the little room, they ran hard for the door that Strauss had told them would be off to the side. It was normally guarded very highly because of it's proximity to the bomb room, but they were hoping that it would be guard free when they got there. They were almost right.

There was one guard left stationed just inside of the door leading outside. Al had the bomb in his hands, so Ed took the lead and punched the guard square in the jaw with his automail hand. The guard went down without any fuss. He looked barely old enough to shave and he hadn't even had time to bring his weapon to bear on Ed before being knocked out.

Ed slammed the door open with his shoulder and Al burst though right behind him. The whole area was a mass of violent activity as guards and lab folks tried to put out the fire. But their efforts were being thwarted because a second tank went the way of the first and the explosion almost knocked Ed and Al to the ground.

They barely kept their feet under them and ran hell bent for leather to the edge of the forest. They were seen though and some of the guards broke off to give chase. They began to fire at Ed and Al, but had been somewhat blinded by the second explosion. By the time their eyesight recovered enough to shoot better, Ed and Al had made it to the relative safety of the trees and were running as fast as they could for the place where they had left their car.

Lily had the motor running and yelped when Ed and Al burst through some bushes to her left. They jumped over the car doors into the back seat of the car and Lily put the gas pedal into the floor. They shot off down the well worn dirt track that led to the paved road. But when they came to the fork in the road, Lily took the one that lead to the villa, and not to Munich.

"Lily, where are you taking us?" Asked Al.

"Back to where this all started," Said Lily.

"Why? What's going on Lily?" Asked Ed.

"I'm doing this for you Ed, and you Al. Trust me. You'll see once we get there," Said Lily.