Chapter 36: Discoveries at Fort Briggs

Arriving at the Northern train station was simple enough. The brothers were amazed by all the snow and busy atmosphere they had arrived in. They even had a pleasant enough cart ride toward the path they would have to take to get up to Fort Briggs. Trudging through the snow was a whole different story. Ed continued swearing angrily under his breath about Mustang not waiting for him and Al to arrive before going ahead. Al was silent the entire walk, completely huddled inside of his coat. Swearing things couldn't have gotten worst was the biggest understatement of the journey now that the pair stood with several guns pointed at them.

"State your business!" barked a soldier. Ed glared back at him. Whatever was happening at the moment was not looking good.

"We have business here!" he yelled back. The guns did not lower. Al inched closer to his brother.

"Who sent you?"

"Listen, I'm a state alchemist," He began reaching for his pocket but someone shot.

"Don't move Dramcha scum!"

"Who?"

"State your business, brat!" Ed's eye twitched.

"At ease, men! He's with me." The circle of armed men split and none other than Roy Mustang stepped forward. "About time you showed up, Fullmetal." He said cooly. Interestingly enough he didn't have his usual entourage with him Ed was quick to notice. The guns were lowered as he made his way forward.

"The hell, General!" Ed growled. Roy smirked slightly and nodded over his shoulder. "We couldn't wait for you forever. Lieutenant General Armstrong isn't the most patient individual." Ed looked confused and looked up. Through the snow he saw a large fortress coming into view and as his focus went up he began making out soldiers standing along the wall. The person that stood out the most was glaring down at them with long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes.

"Who is that?" asked Al lowly, his gaze following his brother's. Roy turned as well, a serious look crossing his face.

"Olivier Armstrong… She's not too fond me, but I'm all that's keeping you from being shot down as we speak." He began walking forward and Ed quickly regained himself and began following. He cringed slightly at the pain he felt in his shoulder but apparently it went unnoticed by those around him.

"Where are the others at?" he asked, rubbing his right shoulder.

"Breda and Fuery are in the infirmary. Riza, Havoc, and Hughes are helping take care of an interesting little discovery." Roy answered casually.

"What happened to Breda and Fuery?" asked Al, concern evident in his voice. Ed noticed the serious expression that crossed Mustang's face which brought back that sick feeling he had gotten when he was told he would have to come North.

"You'll see soon enough." He answered. Leading the pair through the fortress, they were lead through a freezing cold corridor when a few soldiers had stopped their working to salute. Mustang simply nodded, clearly showing focus on his destination. They were lead onto a freight elevator soon enough which lead down to a much warmer sector of the fortress. Despite the fact he was more than relieved to get out of the cold, the sight before him was not at all settling.

"What the hell…" There was a large group of men, being directed by Riza, dragging what appeared to be a drenched, unconscious giant out of a large door and out into the snow storm that was building up.

"Believe it or not, but that right there, is a homunculus." Ed stiffened, his heart speeding as he turned to Mustang who was watching calmly. "He was quite the handful and a few men got injured, but General Armstrong isn't someone to be reckoned with."

"But… how…"

"What is this, Mustang? You brought a pair of brats to my fortress!" Ed and Al both turned swiftly while Roy forced a bright grin as he turned to face the blonde looking down at him from over head, a dark skinned soldier and large grizzly like man accompanying her.

"Believe it or not, these two are my top men!" he said and clapped Ed, painfully enough, on his shoulder. "This one here is Edward Elric," Armstrong stared at him silently and her eyes narrowed.

"The Fullmetal Alchemist?"

"One in the same." There was another silence that made Ed nervous. This woman was intimidating and apparently she knew it.

"Well if he's going to be here, put him to work." She barked and stormed off. Ed scowled.

"Wow, so that's Mr. Armstrong's sister…" Al asked thoughtfully and turned to Mustang. "They're nothing alike." Roy sighed and nodded as he turned back to the task at hand. Havoc could be seen arguing with another man as they went about keeping their captured homunculus frozen.

"She's a terrifying woman. We had Riza with us and considering Armstrong favors her we had an easy enough time… Though she didn't hesitate to rip me a new one." Ed glanced over at Al who looked nervous at those words but didn't say anything.

"General!" called one of the soldiers, catching Mustang's attention. "We're just about done here!" Roy nodded and walked over, the brother's close behind.

"What're the chances that bastard can get outta there?"

"There's no way. Even if nothing can kill him, the temperatures are enough out here to keep him frozen for years to come."

"What about destroying the body?" asked Ed.

"Armstrong wants the body frozen to the core and then smashed to bits." Riza answered. A shocked look crossed Al's face, but no one else seemed to be phased. The fact that the woman's insanely dominate and threatening behavior was a norm to them was scary. A strong gust went through the area and Ed felt the familiar pain in his shoulder again. Apparently Riza noticed his reaction. "Maybe you should head to the infirmary too. I was going to head there to check on Breda and Fuery anyway."

"Would be good. I hear that the travel is rough on your average automail out here." Roy informed absently.

"It would have been far more beneficial if you would have mentioned that before sending me out here." Ed grumbled. Roy shrugged.

"Didn't know til I got here." He retorted and walked away. Ed glared and Riza shook her head in a knowing manner before turning to Ed.

"Come on, you might as well come with me." She said. She led Ed casually toward where the injured soldiers were, Al deciding to stay behind and help the others as well as get some answers about how exactly the came across an actually homunculus.

"So, was that really what Mustang said it was?" Ed finally asked, breaking the silence. Riza nodded, not saying much. He stared at her silently. Usually she was willing to offer him some form of information but at the moment she looked completely distracted. "Are you alright?" Finally snapping out of her thoughts, the blonde sniper looked over at the young alchemist.

"Oh, the monster. Yeah, he's exactly what we said… There's a huge tunnel under ground that leads to who knows where that Lieutenant General Armstrong plans to seal to the best of her ability and the homunculus is going to be destroyed as soon as possible."

"No one questioned it? You know, to find out if there were any more?" Ed was slightly panicked. He couldn't figure out how exactly there could be any more of those monsters still around. He had been convinced they were all destroyed but there was evidence being frozen right outside.

"It wouldn't speak. Just kept saying how something was troublesome… Even as he was being taken down." Riza looked at Ed as if thinking about something but shook her head. "I know that it's wrong, but I believe what we're doing right now is all that can be done. Maybe those disappearances happened to be people that came across that creature and they were just rumors that made this whole situation out to be more than it really was." Ed shook his head.

"There's no way it can be that simple." He muttered and went silent as they entered the infirmary. A clearly disgruntled Breda and shaken Fuery were sitting off to the side getting bandaged and cleaned up.

"Hey there, chief." Breda greeted with a nod as Ed followed Riza in. "Looks like Briggs likes you just fine."

"What?"

"Well that automail of yours," Fuery stated. "There were concerns you weren't going to make it far." The fact that everyone seemed to have something to say about him surviving with his regular automail wasn't settling and put the blonde alchemist in a bitter mood as he was checked.

"Survival of the fittest is the motto up here at Briggs, so it's no surprise the lieutenant said Briggs must like you." Riza informed after the doctor has scolded Ed on not getting his automail adjusted before coming to the north. "They believe that if you make is this far that you are a born survivor, but you proved that years ago."

"Bit of an intimidating way to run a place, wouldn't you say?"

"It's the only way to run things." One of the Briggs men stated. He then turned to Riza with a wide grin. "Colonel, you should come and live up this way! We need more women up here and nothings better than a strong woman!"

"Sorry, but I have a son that needs me back in Central. I don't think he's old enough for the rough and toughness of Briggs." She informed.

"Then when he's old enough be sure to ask for a transfer," Now that he had a better view, Ed realized when no one crossed Olivier Armstrong. She had a very intense look on her face and her stare seemed to be able to burn right through someone. Although Riza could be terrifying at times, she was FAR more approachable than the woman that had just walked in. "So, this brat works under you, Colonel?" Riza nodded.

"He was certified at 12 years old." She informed. Armstrong stared at Ed, causing him to feel unsettled but not back down from the look.

"He's got an automail arm… He's the boy who attempted the human transmutation, am I right?"

"How do you-"

"Don't interrupt when your superiors are speaking!" A few people flinched. Riza didn't seem phased at all.

"He is. But he's been working loyally for us for the past three years and has practically become family to me and the Major General." Armstrong nodded slowly.

"I don't see how you married that man, but all the same, I respect dedicated women like you." She glanced around the room and the men that had been injured. "As expected you men were where you were needed and didn't die. You'll be returning as soon as possible to help seal that tunnel and dispose of that monster." She instructed.

"Yes sir!" echoed through the room and Armstrong nodded.

"Riza, would you join me." Nodding, she glanced over at Ed and instructed him take care of himself and stay with someone at all times as to stay out of trouble. Ed nodded as she left with the scary General woman. A relieved sigh was heard coming out of Fuery.

"I don't know why, but that woman terrifies me even when he stare isn't directed my way." A few other men couldn't help but to agree. Survival of the fittest indeed.

*~*~*~*~*

Hughes presented Armstrong with the files he had brought along with him as he and Roy stood in front of the powerful woman's desk. He knew he was going to be of some use to them after some interesting information he had come across during the absence. Roy glanced at his best friend in a questioning manner but only got a knowing smile in return as the blonde general flipped through the files. "This is what caused that war five years ago," she said looking up at them. "If I remember correctly, everything was settled with the death of King Bradley."

She had posed a good point, but Hughes had to make it known there were certain points that were being missed. "That is true. There were seven homunculi, and as far as we were concerned, they were each taken care of, however, if that were the case, then how did we come across this one." He stated.

"Go on."

"We learned that Furher King Bradley was in fact a regular human born and developed into a homunculus. There were others that were noted to have been results from failed human transmutations and lately there have been records of missing people, more specifically children, going on throughout this country. In fact, we even had a few alchemic deaths that were reported."

"You aren't telling me you think someone is trying to revive the homunculi in some other form?" Glancing at Roy, who was looking at him equally concerned, the camera happy soldier nodded.

"I hate to say it, but I believe that might be what it is. That's just based off of our previous records and the current happenings that have been reported."

"So are we thinking that the government is playing a role in this as well?"

"I would like to think not," Roy finally spoke up. "But at the same time, Hakuro wasn't our first choice to take charge."

"And that's why you came to me?" Armstrong leaned forward, resting her chin on the back of her hand and looking at the raven haired alchemist in front of her. "What do you need me for? There must be some reason you are sharing such valuable information with me."

"You're a well respected individual in the Amestris military…"

"Don't play games with me, Mustang. What do you want from me?"

"When the time comes, we need you to take over as Furher."

Author's Note: Thank You! Thank You! Thank You, for all of the reviews. i hope the people who have been reviewing, reading, and even faving continue to read and enjoying this fic that i honestly didnt expect to get this far :) its truely inspiring