A/N: Would have uploaded this last night if my internet didn't go all wacky. Luckily its back up! Also there is Envy in this chapter, though he's still in disguise. Enjoy his wonderfulness and REVIEW!

Chapter 21: Bitter Work

By the time our little visit with the Rockbell's had ended, I was feeling much better. My ribs still ached dully but they were on the mend. It was too bad saying goodbye to Winry and Pinako but I promised I'd be back. It was nice to have at least some place to go home to, even if it wasn't my real home.

Of course, getting back to the daily grind of philosopher's stone hunting had its upsides. For one thing we would finally get to ditch Armstrong. The guy was nice but he was a bit… too much. It would be nice to be on our own again without having any babysitters.

At least that's what I thought, until Armstrong introduced us to two new faces as we stepped off the train platform.

"Second Lieutenant Maria Ross, reporting for duty!"

"And I'm Sergeant Denny Block, humbly at your service!"

I starred between the two saluting officers. One was a woman with pale skin and brown hair cropped like a boy's. She had a single mole just under her left eye. The second was a man with floppy blonde hair and a more relaxed face. Either way, it seems we had just upgraded from one babysitter to two and Ed and I weren't happy about it.

"Ah major!" Ed complained. "I'm all fixed now! Why the heck do we still need body guards?"

"Yeah, my ribs are basically fine," I said. "We're back to normal. We don't need a posse."

"With all due respect, it's a necessary precaution." Maria Ross said. "There have been a lot of sightings of Scar in Central lately and he's targeted you in the past. You're in need of protection."

I smacked a hand to my forehead. "Great, of course there are. And here I was thinking 'gee, at least we're away from the East where Scar is. Guess I was being too hopeful."

"Don't worry though," Ross saluted again. "We will make sure nothing bad happens to you."

Ed sighed. "Fine, I just hope you two don't slow me down."

"Or get killed in Scar's war path," I added. Seriously, if Scar could take down fully trained State alchemists, I didn't hold out much hope for these two officers.

"Sorry about them..." Al sighed. This seemed to be a recurring theme since, as the youngest, Al was ironically the most polite and responsible.

I tried not to let the babysitters get me down though. At least we were on our way to answers. Soon we would be reading up on the philosopher's stone in the 1st branch of the Central library.

That's what I thought, at least, until we arrived at a pile of rubble and ashes where the library used to be.

You have got to be kidding.

After the initial disappointment of finding our destination destroyed, possibly because of Scar, the official agent of 'Make Liz's Life Harder', the brothers and I split up. They checked the main library and I decided to scour the other branches just in case there was any mix up and Marco's book had found its way there.

I didn't have much luck though. The librarians checked but couldn't find any records of the book being moved. I knew it was a slim chance, but maybe, just maybe, things could go my way for once. Was that so much to ask for?

"Dammit." I muttered, sitting down on the steps of my latest failure. "We come this close to a lead that will get me on my own missions and it gets burned down. Someone has it out for me."

"Well, well," a voice to my right said. "It seems every time we meet, you're struggling to find a good book."

My head jerked up and I saw someone standing over me. Dark hair, pale skin, violet eyes. It took me seconds to recognize him. "William?"

"Lightning Alchemist," he replied with a smirk.

"I thought I told you my name is Liz." I stood. "What are you doing here? You're a long way from Lior."

"I decided to get out of there." William said. "As you pointed out, I'm not like most people from Lior. And things are tense there since you unseated their prophet."

"Right." I eyed him. "And you're here… because…?"

"It's a nice city, or so I've been told," William said. "And you? What brings you here?"

"I'm a state alchemist. This is kind of our base of operations." I said.

"Yes, but as I understand it, state alchemy work takes you all over the country." William said.

"Why do you always seem so curious about what I'm doing?" I asked snidely. "Is that just annoying librarian curiosity? If that's what you are anyway."

William raised an eyebrow. "What else would I be, Lightning Alchemist?"

"I don't know." I ran a hand through my bangs. "God, I don't know, I'm just frustrated right now so you're kind of pissing me off." I glanced sideways at him. "And its Liz. Why do people have such a difficult time with that?"

"Ah, that's right, you did." William shrugged. "But maybe I don't want to call you that, Lightning Alchemist."

I gritted my teeth together. Nope, it wasn't just my frustration. This guy would be annoying no matter what emotional state I was in. "We're doing research. Does that satisfy your prying questions?"

"Well enough," he took a step down the steps. "Maybe I'll see you later, Liz."

I huffed. "So what, you call me by my title until I give you answers? That's a weird sort of blackmail."

"It worked, didn't it?" He turned. "Good look with that research."

"Yeah, and good luck with wiping that annoying smirk off your face!" I called after him. He just raised a hand in farewell.

"Geez." I groaned. "I have to pick less annoying hostages next time I make up a fake religion to escape an angry mob." I paused. "Not that there will be a next time."

…Probably.

"Hey, Liz!"

I turned to see Al hurrying toward me.

"What's up? Did Ed magically transmute the ashes back into books?" I asked.

"No, although he tried that," Al admitted. Score one for my inner psychic. "We actually found a girl who worked at the library. She read all of the books there, and she has a photographic memory so she's agreed to recopy the book for us!"

I blinked. "Oh yeah, that was totally my second guess." Minus one for my inner psychic. "Let's go then. I've gotta see this."

Sheska was a nice girl. A bit mousy, a major book worm and a touch over dramatic, but nice. She was dedicated at least to recopying Marco's notes, which couldn't have been at all fun. Though she never complained.

Three days later, she had restored every page in, apparently, exact detail. The only problem was—

"A table spoon of sugar, a pinch of salt, a dash of pepper..." Ross read, her eyebrows raised skeptically.

"Are you sure you got the right book?" Bloch asked Sheska.

"Absolutely!" she said firmly, outraged anyone would question her accuracy. "Every word is exactly as it should be. I never forget."

"You are scarily talented that way," I said, flipping through the pages. "There are some delicious looking cakes in here… just not what we're looking for." I ducked my head. "And just when I thought we had a miracle of good luck."

"It was all for not" Ross sighed. "Sorry Fullmetal."

"I don't know" Ed mused over the notes, a knowing smirk on his face. "Sheska, you're sure this is an exact copy of Marco's notes?"

"Yes I'm positive." She nodded.

"You've been a great help." Ed scribbled on a piece of paper and handed it, along with his pocket watch, to Ross. "Take this down to the state alchemist treasury and have them with draw that amount from my research fund Lieutenant. Its Sheska's payment."

"Um… are we going to cook instead of research?" I asked, standing.

"No, but we are going to decode." Ed held up the book. "You know how most alchemists hide their notes, right?"

My eyes widened. "Oh right. Right. That's genius Ed." I shook my head. "Ah hell, I just complimented you. Don't let it go to your head."

"Don't worry. You insult me enough to keep that from happening."

"Glad to hear I'm doing my job. Now let's get decoding."

"Fullmetal wait!" Ross blocked our path on the way to the main library "Where are you going now?"

"We're going to hole up in the Central library's main building for now" Ed explained shifting the research materials that he held under his arm. "After all, they've got the best resources for this kind of work."

"Yeah, we'll need a lot of books. And it would be annoying to go back and forth from a library to a hotel." I said.

"No way, a library was Scar's last target and he's still at large." Ross protested. "We can't offer you proper security in that type of public venue and he could target you again!"

"From what I've heard, they haven't found him yet," I said. "Its possible he was killed… a little much to ask for, but its possible." I placed my hands on my hips. "And I don't think Scar has switched from state alchemists killings to library destroyings. We'll be fine."

"You can't pretend to know his plan," Ross said. "You'll still be in danger there."

"Figuring out how to do your job is your problem Ross. Finding the philosopher's stone is mine" Ed stormed past her.

"Please try to understand" Al pleaded. "We finally have a lead." He followed quickly after his brother.

"Really though." I glanced at her as I followed. "Scar doesn't seem like the book hating type. He's just a 'me' hating type. And that won't change no matter where we study." I hurried after Ed and Al. "Trust me, we're not just kids. We can handle this."

We holed up in the library and dove into studying, pulling on every resource imaginable to crack the code. Books were stacked ten high all over the desk. It was exciting at first, the prospect of finding the secret message between the lines of the cookbook. But after four hours it went from exciting to exhausting.

"My brain is fried." I mumbled, slamming my forehead against the table. "I think its about to start leaking out of my ears.

"So much for the no sweat thing" Ed groaned. "Do some research, make a few columns, I thought it would be easy."

"Nothing in our life is ever easy." I pointed out. "Why should this be any different."

"We've already jumped through a lot of loopholes to get this far." Al said. "You'd think we'd finally get a break."

"So you'd think, Al." I pat his arm. "So you'd think."

The door suddenly flew open and in strode a familiar man in his usual military garb, grinning ear to ear. Hughes. "Wakey wakey! So how you doing there, boys? Keeping them on the right path, Liz?"

"Oh please, she's the one who started complaining first!" Ed said, sitting up straight. His fatigued seemed to fade the instant the Lieutenant colonel entered. Or maybe it was just because he had an opportunity to insult me. Either way. "Where have you been? Too busy to come say hello?"

"It's these damn Scar sightings lately." Hughes chuckled with a shrug. "He's got us chasing our own tails."

"I know the feeling of being frustrated with Scar." I leaned over the table. Seeing Hughes brightened my attitude as well. "Just so long as you're careful. We don't need you getting in his way."

"Don't worry, I know I'm useless against that alchemy freak. I'm just doing the investigating." Hughes waved his hand dismissively.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes" Ross had entered the room, saluting, an expression that hinting to me that she was about to pull the 'we're not safe here' card again, followed by the 'Scar has a religious belief against books so a library is a danger zone' card. "If there were too be an attack here we could not properly guarantee the safety of these three. They should return to Central Command immediately."

"I told you Ross!" Ed snapped, annoyed. "Don't get in my way!"

"As long as Scar is on the loose, security of state alchemists must be a top priority" Ross continued despite Edward's protests.

"Sorry Ed" Hughes sighed. "But she does have a point."

"Don't say that!" Ed complained.

"Yeah, you're supposed to take our side!" I agreed. "We've never needed body guards before this. This whole thing is totally unnecessary!"

"Well," Hughes rubbed a hand behind his head. "You know that isn't really my area of jurisdiction. Why don't you take it up with Major Armstrong?" he asked, begging a chorus of protests.

"No anything but Armstrong!" Ed pleaded.

"S-sir please we really don't have to do that" Ross protested, her voice raising a few octaves before she cleared her throat, looking slightly embarrassed at her outburst.

"Pink sparkles inspire fear in the hearts of many," I said flatly and Al sighed.

"What I'd like to do is give you extra protection Ed." Hughes sighed. "But between Scar and struggling to replace all the case files that burned down with the first branch, my men are all tied up."

"All your case files?" Ed stared. "They were at the first branch too?"

"Yeah, everything" Hughes nodded, dejectedly. "It really is quite a mess."

"Gee, if only there was a book worm with a photographic memory, book crazy enough to read all the case files," I tapped my chin. "Ah… wait… I think we have something like this."

Ed grinned, obviously thinking the same thing "You're in luck, Hughes. We have just the kind of person you need."

It didn't take Ed anytime to set Sheska up with a job with Hughes. She might regret taking the position after having to copy thousands of boring case files, but in the moment, she looked so happy, it was hard not to smile. She kept bowing her head and thanking Ed and Al profusely. And with Hughes' case file problem figured out, he had extra men freed up to protect us at the library. Leave it Ed to help people but still get something out of it. I wouldn't argue though, since it helped me too.

It re-energized me to see Sheska's happiness, but after so much work, I really needed a walk to clear my head. Fresh air helped quite a bit with that.

I didn't mean to stumble upon Ross and Hughes' conversation, but once I did, well, I decided it wouldn't hurt to listen in.

"Lieutenant Ross... I know full well what you're going to say to me now..." Hughes was saying. "But I know those three. They'll do whatever it takes to get what they want whether we give them permission or not. All we can do is support them in any way we can. I expect your cooperation."

"I can't agree with you just giving them a blank ticket!" Ross protested. "And encouraging them to continue despite all of the danger that is involved. With all due respect sir, they're only children!"

I bristled. Why did she have to look down on us so much? We'd been through a lot. All of us. Maybe we were children but that didn't mean we needed more protection. After all, we'd survived Scar when Brigadier General Gran didn't.

"There's more going on here than you understand" Hughes answered calmly. "Those children may have the ability to find something that no one else can. This state's future is in their hands and as adults it's our job to enable them. When you have kids, you'll understand."

I smiled, my shoulders relaxing. I knew there was a reason I loved Hughes. He got it. He understood. Of course he did, he had a daughter who he loved. And he knew we were tough. Yeah, we were kids and sometimes we were stupid, but no worse than a lot of adults.

I heard footsteps outside. When I was sure Hughes had gone, I opened the door, stepping out onto the porch. "Nice night, huh?"

Ross looked at me. "Where are you going?"

"Little stroll around the block. I need to clear my head." I hopped down the steps.

"I'll accompany you." Ross straightened.

"Thanks but head clearing goes best when I'm alone," I said. "Stay with the brothers. I won't be long."

"You can't. You'll be in danger if you go out alone." Ross took a step down.

I glanced over my shoulder at her. "Why? Does the night bother you? I've seen Scar kill people in the day and at night. He isn't picky."

"You shouldn't be out alone in general." Ross said. "Because you're—"

"Don't say I'm a child." I cut her off. "Say anything else, but not that I'm a child." I took a step forward. "Look, Ross, I know you're just trying to do your job. I know you're supposed to protect us. And if you were concerned because I was a state alchemist, then maybe I wouldn't mind it. But you're more concerned because of our age." I shook my head. "Guess what? I've been on my own a lot of times. And I survived. I was even younger than this, but here I am. I'm stronger than you seem to think. And so are the brothers. You can say a lot of things about me, Lieutenant but don't insult my experience. I can be stupid sometimes. But I'm a survivor and I don't need you to help me with that."

"Everyone needs help sometimes." Ross snapped. "Children and adults. And that includes you."

I stared at her for a long time. Because she was right. But I didn't want to admit it. I was too annoyed at being underestimated to admit it. I always had bad judgement when I was angry.

"No offense, but anything that can kill me can kill you easier," I said. "And I'm not going to ask anyone to die for me. Not now, not ever." I took a few steps back. "Now, if you'll leave me alone, that would be great." Then I spun on my heels and hurried off down the street.

A lot of me knew I was being stupid. Childish even. Part of me was only doing this to get under Ross' skin. Part of me was doing this out of pride.

One way or another, pride always seemed to screw me up. I just didn't know how bad it was about to.

"It seems our efforts have failed." Lust sighed, tracing a sharp fingernail along a dusty table. "Its only a matter of time before they find the truth."

"And if they do, they might very well find the fifth lab." Envy mused, pacing back and forth. "Of course, there's a way we might be able to use that. Turn this in our favor."

Lust raised an eyebrow. "What was your plan?"

"Take a hostage?" Envy shrugged. "A little leverage just in case?"

"Taking Edward's brother will only aggravate the situation. We can't be hasty." Lust said.

Envy shook his head. "Wasn't talking about him.

Lust crossed her arms. "You told me the relationship between the lightning alchemist and the fullmetal alchemist was tense."

"I did. I think its improved slightly since I last spoke with her." Envy said. "I'll be discreet. They won't know where she's gone until they find us. And then it will be too late."

Lust shrugged. "It's your call. If you think it will help. Just be careful."

"Always am," Envy smirked and slipped out the window, landing on the dark streets in a crouch. This was going to be… interesting.

A/N: Next chapter is the big Envy and Liz meeting chapter. Fittingly in a kidnapping of course. Cause that's their thing. Super excited about writing that chapter, so no doubt it will be out in time next week. In the mean time, hope you enjoyed and REVIEW!