Ha HA! I return from the world of writer's block!

(wipes forehead) This chapter wore me OUT! Hope you like it! I worked extra hard on it!

BTW, I turned 19 on the 26th of last month! Yay for me!!

Enjoy! And please review!

Chapter 14

Edward sputtered speechlessly for a moment, looking back and forth between the newspaper article and Maria. Finally, he stared at her for a long moment, feeling somewhat betrayed.

"You lied to me," he said in disbelief, hardly able to conceive the idea. Maria sighed.

"Yes, I did."

"Why?" he asked. "Why would you lie to me?"

The young woman locked eyes with him, brown to gold, ignoring everyone else's dumbfounded expressions and focusing in on making her point to him alone.

"Because I didn't know you," she said firmly, confident in her choice. "When you first arrived, I thought that you were a friend of Martigue's. However, the longer you stayed, the more it became clear to me that this was not the case."

She put up a hand before Edward could protest.

"I would have told you eventually," she confessed. "I was just waiting for the right opportunity."

Edward digested the information for a long, dumb-stricken moment.

"If you were a prisoner like I was, why were you working there?" he finally inquired, almost as if he were seeking holes in her theory.

"The best way to plan an escape route is to get to know your prison extremely well. All I had to do was play the 'eager prisoner' card, and Martigue allowed me to start working as a maid. The position allowed me free reign over the grounds, and also allowed me to study the villa's strengths and weaknesses from top to bottom. In a few short weeks, I knew that place better than the back of my hand."

There was something like admiration in Edward's eyes after hearing this, and he awarded Maria a stupefied grin.

"I still can't believe that you lied to me."

Maria smirked at him.

"It was a bad lie, too, but you fell for it."

"…so you really are the Ambassador's daughter?"

"Former Ambassador and yes."

Edward nodded for a moment, stepping away to pace.

"Well, then…I guess the most important thing is to get you back to your dad as soon as we can," he said.

At that, Maria's eyes went wide in something akin to alarm.

"No!" she protested, rising from her seat. Everyone stared at her in surprise.

"No?" Hohenheim repeated. "Why not?"

"Don't you want to see your dad again?" Alphonse put in. Maria shook her head.

"It's not that I don't want to see him, and I really hate having to worry him anymore, but…I'm more useful here!"

"No way."

She looked at Edward in surprise.

"What do you mean?" she asked him.

"I mean that we're getting you back to your dad as soon as possible. This is our responsibility, and you have nothing to do with this. I'm not going to put you in any unnecessary danger."

Maria glared at him defiantly.

"I'm not a helpless woman, Edward Elric. I can take care of myself."

"It doesn't matter. You're still going back to your father."

Before he could leave the room, Maria darted forward and blocked his path.

"Take me back all you like," she said, body rigid with her determination. "I'll only run away and follow you."

Edward stared hard at her.

"You'd better not!"

"Don't think that I won't!"

"Miss Sarangetti—"

"Oh! Oh, I see! You find out my real identity and decide that I'm suddenly a fragile doll made of glass!"

Edward stared at her in bewilderment, shocked by the vehemence in her tone. She crossed her arms and glowered.

"You know what you are, Mr. Elric? You're nothing but a pompous ass who has gotten the idea in his thick head that he has to look out for every 'helpless woman' who comes along his path!!"

At that, Edward lost his temper.

"That is not true, and you know it as well as I do! Look, sweetheart, this isn't fun and games! We're going up against the Nazis, and they play for keeps!! So, you're not coming with us and that is final!!"

"Hold on a second," Alphonse spoke up, stepping between the two combatants. "Look, obviously, you're both a little worked up right now, but let's stop this before somebody says something they'll regret later, okay?"

The two huffed and crossed their arms, looking in different directions, and Alphonse looked over at the older Elric.

"Brother, Maria knows Venice better than any of us. She's been living here her whole life. She can help us get out of the country undetected, and might even be able to get us the help we need from authorities."

Edward glanced at him from the corners of his eyes, giving him an indication that he had heard. Alphonse turned to Maria.

"Maria, Brother isn't trying to treat you as a fragile, frail woman. He's just trying to make sure that you're safe. The Nazis are some bad people, and he just doesn't want you to get hurt. He's the same way with me all the time, except that I've had a lot of chances to prove that he can depend on me. It's not that he's trying to be mean, it's just that…well…Brother's a bit of a worrier."

"I am not," Edward grumbled, to which Alphonse only smirked and rolled his eyes.

"Okay?" he continued, looking back and forth between the two for a sign of confirmation. The two looked at one another and shrugged noncommittally. Alphonse rolled his eyes again.

"Okay," he said, walking away.

"There's another reason why Maria needs to come with us, even beyond Venice," Hohenheim spoke up, casually shifting through the other sections of the newspaper lying on the table. At that, both eighteen year olds looked over at him, shock on Edward's face, dawning hope on Maria's.

"Why's that?" Edward snapped. His father looked up at him over the rim of his glasses and smiled, shifting his glance to bestow the smile on Maria.

"Because, this young lady now knows who currently has the uranium bomb. We shouldn't put her at risk of getting caught by the Nazis again and forced to reveal that information, now should we?"

For a moment, Edward struggled extremely hard to find someway to counter that logic, but after awhile, he finally gave up. He looked sulkily at Maria who had adopted a rather superior stance as she looked back at him.

"Fine!" he huffed, throwing up his hands and walking away. "You can come with us! Just don't whine later and expect me to come rescue you when you get into a tight spot!"

"Oh, I won't," she answered, and he just muttered something inaudibly before disappearing into the bedroom to get dressed.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When he stepped back out into the main room a few minutes later, everyone had to take a double take, for the young man who stepped out of the room was not the same young man who had gone into the room.

"Edward?" Maria inquired, studying him up and down. "What…what are you doing?"

Edward grinned.

"I'm getting ready to do some information gathering," he answered. For a moment, the girl just blinked, taking in the whole scene.

Edward's clothing possessed dark, somber choices in color, ranging from the dark brown of his pants and coat to the light blue of the shirt he wore under his vest. He wore a pair of workman's gloves on his hands, two dingy brown leather items that appeared to be too big. In fact, all his clothing looked a little too big for him, giving him the appearance of a poor, young man who was barely making enough to get by. Somehow or another, he'd smudged his face to make himself look dirty, but even then, all of these things didn't fully cause the shock everyone felt. What was really throwing them all off was the fact that Edward no longer had long golden blonde hair, but instead had messy, short cropped red hair. It took them all a moment to realize that he was wearing a wig, and another to realize that the cap on his head was the only thing holding the wig down. Edward grinned lopsidedly at them for a long moment, giving them the full effect of a young man struggling to make it in his blue-collared world.

"Where in the world did you get all of this stuff?" Maria asked, coming over and studying everything closer.

"I never took it out of the suitcase Al brought. Lucky, huh?" he asked, throwing Alphonse a wink. The youngest Elric smirked and shook his head.

"Never thought I'd see that again," he said.

"What is this from?" Maria continued, fully intrigued.

"A little while back, I did a small job for a good friend," Edward answered.

"What kind of job would you have to wear a costume for?"

"A movie job," Alphonse answered. Edward shot him a look, and Maria looked up at the older Elric in surprise.

"You were in a movie?"

"It was a very unimportant role," he tried to explain, trying to turn the conversation away from this suddenly very interesting part of his life.

"It was a speaking part," Alphonse continued, and since he was more forthcoming with the information she wanted to know, Maria turned to him. However, the two brothers began to bicker about the facts instead of talking to her.

"I had three lines!" Edward protested.

"They were good ones," Alphonse replied calmly.

"It was just a stupid role!"

"You were a cab driver."

"A very unimportant cab driver you never see again!!"

"You were the only cab driver with a speaking part."

"I didn't do anything! I asked them where they wanted to go and drove the cab!"

"You warned them not to go where they were going. Said it was too dangerous. You helped move the plot along."

Maria couldn't help but giggle a little at the thought of Edward doing any form of acting, and there was quite a bit of mirth dancing in Alphonse's honey brown eyes.

"The only reason Brother got a speaking part was because he'd helped Fritz out a few times with another issue."

Edward rolled his eyes.

"It's not that big of a deal, okay? It was a stupid cab driver part, and that was it!!"

"Fritz wants him to come do more films," Alphonse told Maria behind his hand, as if to hide the information from Edward. "He says that Brother's a natural born star with a face that deserves to be onscreen."

Edward stomped his boot into the ground, face turning a slight red color.

"Shut up!! He did not!!"

"Okay, Brother, if you say so," Alphonse replied, though his expression clearly said differently. Edward didn't respond, only stormed off, the sound of Maria and Alphonse's laughter at his back.

"Wait, Fritz?" Maria said suddenly, pieces connecting. "As in Fritz Lang, the famous movie director?"

"Yup!" Alphonse replied.

"You're on first name basis with Fritz Lang??"

"Yeah. He's a really nice guy, despite all the rumors."

That made Maria's head spin.

"Wow…you two lead very interesting lives, don't you?"

Alphonse smiled cryptically.

"You don't know the half of it," he told her, and he walked away to go to his brother's side.

"Okay, Al, here's the plan," Edward said, smoothing out the map on the table before him.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

CIA Agent Riza Hawkeye sat nursing her martini for a while, frustrated by the lack of leads on the Elric case and by the Italian policing force in general. She and her group had agreed to team up with them to find Elric, considering that the Italian police knew their city better than anyone, but so far Hawkeye had seen them do anything other than act like bumbling fools. They hadn't made any progress, and Hawkeye was hoping that something would break soon. That's why she'd ended up in this seedy bar to begin with, in the hopes that someone around knew something and she'd be able to pick up on it. Thusly, even though to all appearances she seemed lost in her own thoughts, she was actually keeping her ears trained on the conversations around her.

It was in this fashion that she became aware of the young man walking into the bar. His newsboy cap was pulled low over his slightly smudged face, barely able to control his unruly red hair. He was wearing working attire, and looked as if he had just come from his job. There was an easy smile on his face, and two fiercely golden eyes boldly studied his environment from under the brim of his cap. He sauntered easily over to the bar and sat down on the stool beside Hawkeye, giving her a coy grin before turning to the bartender. The man paused in his glass cleaning long enough to put his hands on his hips and stare down at the young man suspiciously.

"I think you're a bit young for any alcohol, signore," he said, to which the young man grinned boyishly.

"Alright, mate," he said, voice heavily laced with a thick Cockney accent. He put his hands up in a placating gesture. "Y'caught me."

The bartender smirked and nodded.

"How about some water?" he asked.

"Sounds good, mate. I'll take it."

The bartender moved away, never noticing the covert smile spreading across Hawkeye's face.

The young man seemed to notice it, because he grinned at her impishly.

"Nice weather we're 'aving, don't y'think?"

"Sure," she answered, sipping at her drink quietly. She didn't look over at him, only continued to smirk casually.

"So, what's a pretty lady like you doin' in a place like this?"

"I'm looking for someone."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes."

"Who is 'e? A boyfriend or somethin'?"

Hawkeye smirked.

"No."

"A relative, then?"

"No, he's not a relative."

"A friend?"

"Not exactly."

"Does 'e 'ave any relation t'you?"

"No."

"…Then why are y'searchin' for 'im?"

"It's my job. My boss told me I had to find him."

Something like comprehension flitted through the young man's golden eyes—eyes far too intelligent for someone his age or for the class he was trying to portray. Hawkeye knew something was up, and knew, too, that, besides the hair color and clothing, this young man sitting beside her fit Elric's description too neatly to be a coincidence. She decided to test him.

"So, tell me something," she said, turning on her stool to face him while she idly stirred her martini with the olive stick. "What's a British kid doing in Italy?"

"Oh, well, it's a terribly borin' story, but basically I thought I wanted t'be a priest. Then I found out that you 'ave t'take a vow of celibacy."

He leaned towards her conspiratorially, putting a hand against the side of his face, as if to let her in on the secret no one else should know.

"B'tween you an' me…I jus' couldn't give up the ladies," he continued, winking at her.

Oh, this kid is good, Hawkeye thought to herself, smiling at him.

"Really...but, if you were going to be a priest at the Vatican in Rome, why are you in Venice?"

"I put in port 'ere, and that's when I ran out of money. So, I've been stuck workin' 'ere ever since, tryin' to save up some money to get myself 'ome."

"Why can't you just wire your parents for the money?"

"'Cause my old man didn't approve of me becomin' a priest. Said 'e'd disown me before 'e'd watch me kill off 'is bloodline. They'd never send me the money, and so…'ere I am!"

Oh, yeah. He was good. Too good. Hawkeye knew she could catch him.

"What did you say your name was again?" she asked him nonchalantly.

"Charles Merriman. Everyone just calls me Charlie."

"Really," she said, and it was evident from her tone that she didn't believe him. "That's interesting."

"Why do y'say that?"

"Oh…no reason…it's just…"

Hawkeye stared him dead in the eyes.

"It's just that I could have pegged you for an Edward."

The words were spelled out on her face: I know who you really are.

For a moment, Edward just sat frozen on his stool, weighing his options. He could try to stay in character and laugh it off, but he'd paused for too long and it would be obvious he was trying to cover something up. He could make a break for it, but then he would look extremely guilty, like he knew something that he shouldn't and he didn't want the CIA agent to find out. Thusly, did he sit staring her in the eyes, quashed firmly between the proverbial rock and hard place. For a long, long moment, neither he nor the woman moved but sat staring at one another, daring the other to be the first to twitch and present the other with a desired opening. Suddenly, they moved as one, Edward jumping up from his stool and backing away at the same time Hawkeye made a grab for his wrist. She came away with nothing but glove as his hand slid free of the leather item. For a moment, Hawkeye stared, because she was almost positive that she caught a flash of metal covering his now bare hand. A metal hand? She had to be imagining it. Meanwhile, the commotion they'd suddenly stirred up put the other three CIA agents in the bar on alert. Falman approached from directly behind the young man, making a grab for him, but Edward would not be so easily caught. The only thing Falman had to show for his effort as the youth ducked low and rolled away was the red haired wig and newsboy cap. Hawkeye wheeled about to face the young man as he jumped to his feet, golden blonde hair tumbling freely about his shoulders. They stared at each other for yet another moment, Hawkeye confirming with her own two eyes that, yes, the young man standing before her in the slightly oversized clothing, with loose blonde hair and golden eyes was in fact Edward Elric, the kid she had been searching for these past few weeks. Now, she had him within reach, and she aimed to keep it that way. She gestured to the other two CIA agents, and they began to close in on the youth, but he would not be deterred, turning and bolting headlong out the front door of the bar.

"After him!" Hawkeye shouted, hand on her pistol as she gave chase, her companions falling in a step behind her.

Out on the sidewalk, Edward paused only long enough to sound the shrill bird-whistle, putting Alphonse, who sat at a small table in the outdoor café across the way, on high alert. The younger Elric jumped to his feet and stared, and Edward gestured wildly, right arm cycling in an exaggerated, circular motion, signaling to his brother that he should start running. Hoping that the message had gotten through, and throwing one slightly panicked look over his shoulder at the CIA agents flooding into the sunlight, Edward darted across the Venetian road, narrowly avoiding being hit by cab after cab. At one point, he had to roll across the hood of a taxi that couldn't stop fast enough in order to avoid getting his leg broken. The driver honked his horn and shouted angrily, but Edward just ignored him, dropping into a dead run the minute his feet touched ground again. He raced down the sidewalk and managed to catch up to Alphonse at the corner.

"Brother? What's going on? What happened?" the younger Elric inquired as he fell into step beside his brother.

"CIA! They found me!"

"CIA? Aren't they the good guys? Why are we running from them?"

"Because as soon as they catch me, their going to put me on the first flight straight back to Washington! I've gotta find that bomb before then!"

"But, couldn't they help you?"

"Help me? They don't want to help me! Their idea of helping me is putting me in custody and expecting me to sit pretty while they screw everything up! But, we'll argue about this later!! For now, just run!!"

Alphonse didn't quite understand his brother's reluctance to join with the authorities, but he equated it up to Edward's general stubbornness.

The two wound their way through the alleyways, lengthening the distance between them and the pursuit. Edward grinned, thinking they were home free, until he happened to round the next corner and found himself facing a group of twenty Nazis. The men were idly milling about, taking a break from their search, when one happened to look up and spot the two young men standing in the opening of their alleyway.

"There he is!!" he shouted in his native tongue, putting all of the others on alert as he pointed.

"Aw, crap!" Edward said, turning around and high-tailing it out of there. The Nazis gave chase immediately, and now they had two groups of pursuers to contend with.

"Great, just great!" Edward griped. "Could this day get any worse?"

"According to Murphy, yes, yes it can!" Alphonse answered. "Come on!"

Edward let his brother lead, trusting that Alphonse had some idea as to where he was going. The Nazis, meanwhile, began to close the distance between them.

The CIA had stopped pursuit when the Nazis had appeared, pulling back under Hawkeye's orders.

"Circle around the other way! They're probably going to head for the river! We'll cut them off when they come back to the docks!"

Shouting their confirmation of her orders, the Americans turned and back-tracked the other direction.

Al led the way through a few more alley turns and side streets until he made his way to the riverside docks. There, his honey brown eyes alighted on a small motorboat being tied to the dock by an old man. The boy headed for it, his brother following, and the two startled the old man as they darted past. Alphonse jumped behind the wheel of the ship, while Edward—saying a quick, "Sorry!" as he dashed past—grabbed the rope from the man's hands and jumped aboard, yanking the pull cord on the motor and bringing the small, rickety vessel to life. Alphonse began to guide the vessel away from the dock as fast as he dared, but not fast enough, for one of the pursuing Nazis managed to jump on to the tail end of the boat. Edward, who had just made his way up to the front beside Alphonse, turned and stared back at the man in irritated disbelief.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!!" he said. A second later, he swung his legs over the top of his seat and lifted his body so that he could slide down the wooden top of the boat with a loud, nails-on-chalkboard squeak in order to deal with the tagalong.

Back at the docks, the old man only stood scratching his head, watching with mild curiosity as the remaining Nazis piled into two other unmanned boats, firing up their engines and taking off after the boys. The old man was rather perturbed by the loss of his boat, but the more he thought about it, the more this became a boon. That boat was too old anyway. It wouldn't last much longer as it was, and therefore, it was about time for him to get a new one. That thought brightened his day considerably. With a little hum and a slight spring in his step, the man walked down the docks to head for home. At least now he could give the wife a good reason for why they had to buy a new boat.

Back on the water, the three boats zoomed along the bay, the Elrics in the lead and the Nazis trying their best to shoot them out of the water. Alphonse expertly turned the wheel, dodging most, if not all, of the hits. However, such erratic steering was making Edward's life a little difficult as he traded blows with his opponent, causing him to wobble and almost lose his footing several times. He only comfort was that it was the same for the Nazi he was facing. Edward threw a left hook, but the man blocked it, so he jabbed with his right. That was blocked, too. Edward gritted his teeth, getting ready to launch a second swing with his left hand, when Alphonse jerked the wheel again, causing him to almost fall headlong into the water. Edward flailed his arms wildly in circles, desperately trying to keep his balance, and only succeeded in causing himself to tumble onto his rear against the boat. The Nazi, having found his sea legs quicker than the young chemist, pressed the advantage, drawing a six inch stiletto knife from its concealed sheath in his sleeve and plunging it point first at Edward's unprotected chest. Desperately, Edward's hands flew up and caught the man's wrists, somehow managing to hold the knife at bay mere millimeters from his throat. The muscles in his left arm bulged and rippled under the strain, and he could hear some of the gears in his right arms grinding and whining as he slowly started pushing the knife back a few more inches. However, the Nazi had not only the advantage of size, but also that of position, using his body weight as a force to inch the knife closer. Edward was a lot stronger than he looked, though, and that fact the man was beginning to appreciate as they found their struggle coming to a stalemate.

Up in the front seat, Alphonse kept an eye on the two flanking boats, waiting for any sign of an approaching attack. In the boat to his left, one of the Nazis had replaced the clip in his MP40 submachine gun, and he watched as the man began to take aim. Before the man could get a clear shot, Alphonse yanked the wheel hard left, causing the little rickety craft to teeter dangerously in that direction as it zoomed out of range. The little boat was almost swamped by its own spray, but the sudden movement surprised the Nazi fighting Edward, allowing the older Elric to shift the balance a few more inches in his favor and push the knife further away. So busy was he in keeping that weapon away from his throat that he didn't heard the sudden, loud crack, nor did he see Alphonse's eyes grow wide in horror as the steering wheel of the boat and its entire steering column came free from the wood of the helm. Alphonse lifted the item up and stared with wide-eyed shock at the twisted, rusted end of the column.

"Brother, we have a problem!!" he called, thoroughly distressed.

"Not now, Alphonse!!" Edward replied, gritting his teeth and struggling with his assailant.

"But Brother, it's really important!!"

"Kinda in the middle of something right now!!"

"But, Brother—!!"

"Hang on a second!!"

Edward ground his teeth and glared up at the Nazi above him.

"You're really starting to annoy me!!" he said, and in one swift motion he pushed the man's hands to his right and let go, causing the stiletto to become wedged deeply into the boat's thick wood. In the next motion, the eighteen year old curled up his left leg, put his foot against the man's chest, and shoved. The man went flying off the back of the boat into the water beyond. That threat neutralized, Edward turned around and looked at Alphonse.

"What??" he demanded. Any anger he might have felt was quickly diffused at the sight of a nervously laughing Alphonse holding the steering wheel and column in one hand as he sat facing completely backwards from the helm.

"What did you do??" Edward crowed, dismayed.

"I didn't do anything!! It just broke off by itself!!"

"Oh man!! This is just great!! We can't even steer the boat now!! Terrific!!"

"Brother, it gets worse…"

"What?? What could possibly be worse than being stranded on a river with no steering??"

Alphonse moved to the side a little and pointed over his shoulder with his thumb.

"The fact that we're stranded on a river with no steering and we're careening straight for that propeller?"

Edward stared over the boy's shoulder in fascinated horror at the spinning propeller of the large ship looming dead ahead.

"ABANDON SHIP!!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, and both Elrics dove straight over the sides of the craft into the churning waters beyond, making it out only seconds before their little boat smashed into the propeller and exploded into a million wooden fragments. They both surfaced—Edward never more thankful for his new, lightweight automail—and stared at the smoke for a long moment, lightly treading water.

Edward cast a sidelong look at his brother.

"Next time, I drive," he said, and then he started swimming for a nearby dock.

"Awww…" Alphonse protested as he followed.

The dock they reached a few moments later turned out to be a riverside café, and its tables were crowded with diamond-and-pearl studded women with their silk-tie-wearing husbands. The natives stirred with startled shouts and screams as the two sopping young men pulled themselves up onto the wooden planking. Edward, the first to get to his feet, shook his head, water droplets flying from the tips of his long bangs, and he pushed back his soaked hair, looking around. He studied the shocked, disgusted, and distraught expressions surrounding him and smiled.

"Ah, Venice," he said with a sigh. He then turned to help his brother get up onto the dock. As soon as the younger Elric was on his feet, the two motorboats bearing their Nazi pursuers pulled up alongside the dock and several of the men jumped out, brandishing their MP40s and yelling orders at each other in their native tongue. One shouted at the young men, commanding them to stay where they were and not move. Edward and Alphonse said nothing, only turned and ran, weaving lightly through the tables and around the people. Angered, the Germans were not so polite, shoving people aside and overturning chairs and tables.

"This way!" Alphonse called when they approached the alleys, and he led the way to the left, making his way back to the main streets.

It was around the last bend that the brothers ran into trouble, for there waited more Nazis, surrounding the opening in a semicircle formation. As soon as the two targets came into sight, several of the men started forward towards them. Without a word to one another, the two boys dropped low, ducking the initial swings of their opponents and launching twin knockout punches. Edward lost track of Alphonse in the ensuing melee, but he trusted his brother's skills and turned his mind fully to his own battles. He found himself facing off against four men who surrounded him in a circle. One tried to kick his legs out from under him, but Edward jumped over the sweeping limb, clearing it and using the momentum to flip onto his hands. As he brought his legs up over his head, he smashed the heel of his left foot into the chin of the man directly behind him, and then he slammed both heels into the forehead of the man directly before him. He quickly found his feet again, and he spun on his right foot, sweeping his left across towards the chest of the man now on his left. His attack was blocked, but Edward was not deterred, bringing his right leg up into a forward snap kick that caught the man right in the stomach, doubling him over. Edward chopped down on the man's neck with the flat of his metal hand, and the German dropped like a ton of bricks to the pavement, making no movements whatsoever to rise and retaliate. As Edward turned to face off against the last man, he suddenly heard Alphonse cry out in distress, and he whipped around, locating his brother in the sudden influx of Germans. The thirteen year old was firmly caught in the arms of two Nazis, who were dragging him backwards.

"Brother!! Help!!" he cried, struggling valiantly but failing to break free from his captors.

"Al!!" Edward shouted, but before he could start that way, the man at his back launched a kick at the back of his right knee. Edward cried out in pain as that leg buckled, and he growled angrily as he turned and rose back up, swinging his right fist in an ferocious uppercut to the man's chin, knocking him out. He then started back towards his brother, who was now fighting to stay out of the black limousine his abductors were trying to shove him into, putting his feet against the sides of the door and holding steady while he wriggling and squirmed wildly to get free.

"Brother!!" he kept shouting.

"Alphonse!! Hang on!!"

Edward slugged his way through several more Nazis until he suddenly found himself face to face with Envy. The older man grinned wickedly at him, and Edward knew who had masterminded this plan. Before he could start forward towards the man, Alphonse was successfully forced into the black limo, and the vehicle drove away as fast as it could go with a screech of the tires.

"Alphonse!!" Edward screamed, and then he glared at Envy.

"You bastard!!" he shouted, and he started to leap for the man, but suddenly, an thickly muscled arm snaked around his slender waist and yanked him back, holding him in an iron grip as he squawked in protest and struggled. He found himself being lifted clear off the ground and carried in the opposite direction from his desired goal.

"No!!" he protested vehemently, writhing wildly and kicking his legs futilely. "Put me down, dammit!!"

"Go!" he heard someone shout, and suddenly there were CIA agents flooding into the street from all directions, firing rapidly and with deadly accuracy at the Nazis, who retreated. Despite his best efforts to make everything otherwise, Edward was carried to an Italian police cruiser, into which he was promptly thrown and shut inside. As soon as he got his bearings, he flew back to door of the vehicle, throwing himself against the window and banging on it.

"No!!" he shouted. "Bastard!! Let me out of here!!"

"Get him to the Embassy!!" the CIA agent who had put him in the car said to the driver and his partner. "Now!"

With a sharp affirmation, the driver threw the vehicle into drive and put the pedal practically to the floor. Edward flew to the back window of the cruiser as the car lurched forward and pounded futilely on the glass.

"Damn you!!" he shouted. "Damn you!!"

His behavior grew rapidly more rabid and frenzied the further he was taken away from his brother. They had Alphonse! He had to get back there and track down that limousine!! Edward started flailing around in the backseat, going absolutely wild in the small confined space. He dove back to the door, only to remember that police cruisers didn't have door handles on the inside of the back door.

"Goddammit, you bastards!! Let me the hell out of here!!" he demanded furiously, smacking the heel of his left hand against the glass repeatedly.

"Signore, please," the driver began in heavily accented English. He glanced up pleadingly in the rearview mirror. "You must calm down."

"I will not calm down until you turn this damn car around and go back!!"

"Signore, the safest place for you right now is in protective custody at the Embassy."

"Screw you!! Those Nazi bastards have my brother!! Let me out!!"

He pounded uselessly on the door, screaming "Let me out!" over and over a few more times before leaning back in the seat and kicking at it, eking out a small scream of frustration and desperation from between tightly clenched teeth. In the back of his mind, he dimly overheard the two police officers frantically exchanging words in their native tongue, but the bigger part of his mind wasn't listening. The Nazis had Alphonse!! They were going to use him against Edward!! That thought heated Edward's anger to new levels of incensed rage, and he began to go wild again, kicking and pounding against the door.

"Let me out!! They have my brother!! They have my brother!!"

"Signore, please," the driver urged again, but Edward only threw himself at the metal cage separating him from the two officers.

"Let me out of here now!!"

"I'm sorry, signore, but that is not going to happen. Please calm down."

Edward rattled the cage, half mad with fury.

"NOW, goddammit!!"

Before the driver could speak up again, his partner said something sharply in Italian, and he whipped around to face Edward, bringing a strange looking pistol up level with Edward's chest and firing just as the driver shouted his protest.

Edward let out a small squeak of pain, eyes going wide before they rolled back in his head and he tumbled down to lie motionless in the back of the cruiser.