Chapter 20: Counterstrike

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or the characters of said franchise.

Waking up in the morning meant that he would have to wake up when they rang the bell or else they would come in and beat him around a bit before dragging him to morning exercise. After that he would have the small breakfast that they supplied and was then taken for his daily session of being offered some position in Dante and Guile's army, but he would decline as always, forcing them to put him into labor so as to break him. Most of the guards were wary of him because of how the skill he displayed in the escape of Edward Elric and Roy Mustang, a thing that had put him in the hatred of most troops since it was helping their greatest enemies escape. He'd manage to fuck up their army so worse that they had to avoid battle with the main military or else be destroyed so when it came time for his daily breaking they got sadistic. The worse person was of course, Guile, who had long since been declared leader and worked his troops around the clock to plan for a surprise attack on Roy's troops. Guile was still pissed at Sean for what happened to him, which Sean was glad had even if Guile was still alive to cause torment to other people, mainly him.

This morning was a bit different though, as Sean was not woken up at his usual time of 4:30 A. M. Sean had become so accustomed to this that he slept early to rise early and found a way to get the necessary sleep out of the work day by being rendered unconscious from the beating. He was damn glad that Dante still wanted him alive for some reason, even though she had long since passed on that offer. This is probably the day when they finally take me outside and put me in front of a firing squad, sighed Sean as he went back to sleep and decided on trying to fight, despite being kept in chains. The weight of the chains had been adjusted to limit his maneuverability to a degree that he could do some tasks, but slowed him down enough to prevent him from trying to assault one of the guards. What I wouldn't give to have been an alchemist. His prayers seemed to be answered as the door was blown open from the outside and in stepped the only friend he had left, Edward Elric.

"Hey, aren't you a sight for sore eyes," said Sean weakly as he moved to get up but was stopped by Al while Ed worked with his chains to get him out.

"I'm sorry for taking so long," said Ed as he handed Sean a canteen filled with something that soldiers were given to help regain their strength, but it was only half of what Sean needed after his days in prison. "We have to get a move on so we can get in the fight against Dante, you in?"

"Doesn't matter I'll need a ride out," said Sean as he started moving for the door and was helped out by Ed and Al who placed him into the military vehicle Riza had secured. "Just drive to wherever and I'll tell you if I'm in or not."

"Well right now Dante has launched an all out assault on the city with Roy's troops out looking for their base we were caught unaware," said Riza as she drove through the rubble and crowds of evacuees, who were being moved in case the fight spread. "Right now Roy is running things from the command center while our soldiers are successfully fighting the Philosopher forces in the streets. Thanks to Vashov, who is helping us out by giving us heads up on any attacks and is doing his part in the fighting, we have been able to tell the location of Dante's base, which is where you were. Unfortunately, neither Dante nor Guile was there."

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask you, but why did you let Guile live," asked Sean as he looked out the window a bit tiredly before taking another swig of the canteen he had found in the truck, only it just had water in it. "I gave you the knife so that you could kill Guile, not just mess him up and piss him off more."

"I thought I had managed to do enough cutting so that he would bleed to death and give him enough suffering," said Riza as she drove on towards the front where they were planning on giving the enemy one last push to clear up the evacuation roads. "I'm sorry I let him live I didn't know it could come back to bite me in the ass like this."

"I didn't know giving you a knife would bite me in the ass like it did when I was being tortured by the bastard," said Sean as he placed his hand on an old wound and then looked at the clothes Edward was holding out.

"Thought you could use these, whether you help us or not," said Ed as he handed Sean his usual outfit of a white dress shirt, black vest, and black slacks. "We have your leather gloves procured from the box which they placed them in, along with the lugers."

"Yeah, thanks," said Sean as he started to place his outfit on in the truck, closing the flap so he could give himself at least some privacy. "Anyway, you are looking for her at the wrong place, I anything she would be planning on attacking Roy at this moment."

"The Philosopher's stone is as well guarded as the base was," said Riza as she took a turn down one street and wondered why she did so since that street would only lead them towards the command center. "I doubt Dante would try making such a bold move when her army has taken such a crippling blow and is in the biggest fight of this whole war."

"Right now Roy is relaxing himself too much and is focusing on helping everybody but himself and his chain of command," said Sean as he loaded the two guns. "Guile and Dante are after the stone and will use all means to do such a thing such as send their troops on a run towards the civilians causing Roy to order protection."

"Such a move would be very risky, but I doubt Dante wouldn't do it because she still has some of her own power," said Ed as he leaned back in his chair and thought on it.

The radio then flickered on with the sound of Havoc shouting, "Attack on the command center, we need troops down here right now to provide assistance in repelling an attack on the command center!"

Riza slammed her foot on the gas pedal as she sped towards the command center, praying that it wasn't as bad as she thought it was. Please don't be dead, Roy, I don't think I can bare losing you again, cried Riza inside herself as she tried hard to fight her face from mimicking the thoughts of her heart. She looked back at Ed who gave a nod and then looked at his brother who gave him a nod in return. That was two others to help in the attack and then she looked towards the unknown person fo the group, the lone wolf who could either join with the pack or go off. For the first time, Riza actually felt like she needed to have Sean on her side, despite the fact that he was a soldier who went to the highest bidder.

"Please Sean, we need someone with your talents to help us in this," pleaded Riza as she looked at him, putting a little bit of emotion into it to show how serious she was.

"You never had to ask about it, I'm in this to get revenge on that bastard," said Sean as he started prepping the guns that they had handy on them inside the truck. "Plus I'm sure that Vashov will also be there to give us a hand with Dante, but I believe that she's Ed's opponent."

"So just who is your opponent," asked Ed as he looked at his friend.

"We are both good friends, Ed, my opponent is your opponent, just tell me who you hate and I will help you kill them," replied Sean.

"PROVIDE SURPRESSING FIRE," ordered Havoc at the top of his lungs towards the troops that were still there so that Breda could have the cover he needed to get close and throw a hand grenade into the enemy formation. Some realized that the grenade had been thrown and scattered, but others didn't realize it till it was too late and were blown up as a result. "Alright, fire team one get into position while fire team 2 covers you and then prepare to provide fire teams 2 march forward. We'll trade off till we corner the enemy and provide a clear path to the Fuhrer."

"Havoc, we're on the third floor and Roy is all the way on the seventh floor," said Breda as he looked at his friend and Havoc only nodded that he knew.

"This isn't a matter of try or don't try, we either fight back to help our Fuhrer or we surrender right here and now," declared Havoc as he shot at the troops that moved a bit. "They seem to be breaking formation and could be on a possible charge at us, get ready for defensive fire!"

To his surprise however most of the men were running for a hand that being created out of the material of the floor and realized that this was one of the trademark tricks used by Edward Elric. He let out a sigh of relief as he saw Riza come from the door leading to the stairs and fired at the man who seemed to be a major of the group, hitting him square in the jaw. This was followed by Sean, who jumped in between the returning fire of the enemy and when the firing ended jumped up to gun down a few enemies before jumping away from the rifle discharge of a group of troops. He set a bit of wire into his hand which he threw out and twisted it so that it wrapped around the troops. With a pull of his hand he was able to cut down the troops and give enough incentive for the remaining troops to give up.

"Finally we get some relief in here, I was worried that we might be getting no relief," said Havoc as he got up and walked over to salute Riza and then shake Sean's hand. "We had heard that you had been captured and feared that they might have killed you, but I guess you have a few lives left."

"I think I only have two lives left if I remember correctly," laughed Sean before pointing towards the door leading to the upstairs. "How many enemy troops went up?"

"Let's see, I'd say about thirty, but they split up between Dante and Guile," replied Havoc, still standing at attention. "Guile is going after Roy while Dante is going for the Philosopher's stone. From all reports we believe that everyone, even Vashov, is going to have a tough time getting here so all we have right now is twenty men."

"That's plenty," said Riza as she cocked her gun and then looked at Ed. "You can take Dante while I go after Roy."

"Okay, but Sean go back her up, Alphonse and I can take care of Dante," said Ed before he ran off.

"I still don't see how he figured out which direction Dante went," said Havoc as he looked at the young alchemist and then turned to see Sean and Riza running off in the other direction.

"I think they must have better sense than us," said Breda before he questioned his last words. "Or maybe it's a lack of sense that gives them the traits we are lacking in."

"Either way we got to back up both of them so you can go after Ed while I go after Riza," said Havoc as he took ten men and had them follow him into the fight.