Sneaking out of military grounds was surprisingly easy considering there was a madman on the loose. Guards were posted everywhere, but they were looking outward for someone coming in, not leaving.

Excitement rushed through my veins to finally be doing something. Cold air whipped at my hair and adrenaline made my blood sing as we slipped quietly into our usual devil-may-care routine. This–this was what I lived for. This was what I was good at. Not studying and looking for conspiracies, but finding out the truth with my own eyes. It had been much too long.

We made our way across the silent city and finally found ourselves outside of the fifth lab and in front of our first obstacle.

"It's completely boarded off," Ed whispered, noting the strong fortifications to the gate in front of the large, dark facility. The bars were chained shut, covered in barbed wire and topped by a menacing sign that said 'keep out'. He stepped up and tested the bars. "Hey, Alex, do you think you can pull these apart?"

I stared at the inch-thick bars dubiously. "Maybe, but even if I could, do we really want to broadcast that we've been here?"

Ed shook his head, acknowledging my point. "Around the side then."

"Hey, brother, look," Al said, pointing to the ground behind the gate. Barely visible in the darkness, three tripwires gleamed dully.

"Pretty heavily trapped for an abandoned building," Ed remarked, making his way around the corner. The twenty foot concrete wall continued all the way around, but we stopped at the side in between street lamps where it was darkest. Edward looked up, eyeing the barbed wire lining the top of the wall. "Hey, Al, give me a boost." The blonde backed up while Al got into position. With a running start, Edward jumped up into Al's clenched hands the suit of armor launched him up. Ed landed gracefully on the top of the wall with a grunt, landing on his automail limbs, and began disassembling the barbed wire. Once it was clear, Ed motioned for me to jump up as well.

I complied. Using my newfound strength, I jumped lightly, landing on Al's shoulder and launching my way to the top of the twenty foot wall. I was aiming for the ledge where Ed was, but accidentally overshot and ended up landing on the other side and stumbling to one knee. I looked back up at Ed, who was lifting a brow at me. "Superior strength, not superior grace," I said with a sheepish smile by way of explanation. Ed shot me an amused grin and then proceeded to lower the barbed wire for Alphonse to climb up.

Once the three of us were on the other side, we began looking around for a convenient entrance. There were none. The only other door was boarded and wired shut as well.

"Well, damn," Ed said. "We may have to transmute our way in."

"Someone will see us," Al pointed out.

"Let me see what I can do," I said, rubbing my hands together. It wire would hurt, but I would heal soon enough. I walked forward and was about to place my hand on the first board when Edward grabbed me. I jumped from the extra jolt of adrenaline, and my brother let go swiftly, shaking out his hand.

"Look," he said. There were similar trip wires along the door and I had almost set them off. Even if I avoided them, there was no way I could remove the fortifications and get inside.

Edward looked around, and then pointed at a vent above the door. "That way."

I eyed the small ventilation shaft doubtfully while Edward climbed onto Al's shoulders and removed the covering. "It will be a tight fit, but I think we can get through?" Ed made it a question, looking down at me.

I shrugged, doubtful. "I'll try." I was a bit broader shouldered than Ed, and it looked like he would barely be able to squeeze in.

Edward hefted himself up into the shaft, half his body fitted into the dark entrance. He shuffled out a second later and shook his head. "No, you won't fit. You two will just have to wait for me here. I'll come back as soon as I find out what I need to know." With that, he crawled into the tight space and left us to our own devices without even a 'see you later'. We stared after him for a moment in annoyance.

"Well that's just great," Al said, crossing his arms. "He's going in there alone. Now what do we do?"

"What can we do," I said, shrugging. "We can't get in any other way that I can see. We'll jus have to hope he doesn't run into any trouble."

That statement hung in the air for a moment before we both exchanged knowing glances.

"I'm going to check for other entrances," Al said, almost exactly at the same time I said, "I'm going to see if I can't disable this door." We both nodded at the same time and got to work. It wasn't a question of if Ed would run into trouble, but when.

I heard Al walking away but didn't watch as I concentrated fully on the problem in front of me. I looked more closely at the door. The double door itself was made of sturdy wood, and the boards across it appeared to have been hammered in haphazardly. Over that were reams of barbed wire and tripwires.

I leaned in closer, following the lines of one of the traps and found that it attached at a small hole on the left side of the door. Closer inspection showed that the others were similarly rigged. I would have no luck with disabling these…I stepped back and crossed my arms, staring at the overdone fortifications thoughtfully.

Something struck me as odd. If what we were thinking was true, and that the military was running some covert, illegal weapons lab, then there must be an easy entrance for the workers to get through discreetly. But from what we had seen, there wasn't any such entrance. Maybe it was hidden?

Disregarding the impassible door before me, I started to seriously scan the walls to both sides. On a hunch, I walked to the left, running my hand lightly over the rough concrete surface. For several minutes, I discovered nothing.

Just when I began thinking that the entrance might just be underground, I was rewarded by a change in texture beneath my fingers. There was no visual difference, but the wall felt smooth here, as if many hands had passed over it. I pressed down.

With a satisfying click, the wall beneath my hand created a small square indention, and then a section of the wall slid aside, revealing a wide doorway. It opened into a long hallway that was dimly lit by soft yellow lights, proving that the facility was not abandoned.

Even as triumph and adrenaline surged through me at my discovery, the whole spy and subterfuge angle was amusing. I hadn't actually expected that to work. With a broad grin, I turned to find Alphonse, but a flash of movement caught my eye. I paused and peered into the dim hallway.

Someone was there. Startled, I jumped to the side of the door, almost expecting gunfire to rain down on me. But when it stayed silent, I peered warily back around the corner. Who is…is that…!?

My heart stuttered in utter shock at the figure who was slowly approaching me, mind failing to compute what I was seeing before me. For a moment, I couldn't even react. That–that couldn't be right, it didn't make any sense!

But there was no mistaking who it was. There was no mistaking that graceful figure or that malicious presence, something that was burned like a brand in my mind. A presence that sparked some of the most painful, torturous and catastrophic memories of my life, causing adrenaline to spike and all manner of unpleasant sensations to plague me, skewing my judgement. And then came the anger.

Long onyx hair glinted as her red-violet eyes glinted from the darkness. "Lust," I growled, almost inhumanly from deep in my chest. I stepped out into the doorway, my fists clenched by my sides and my teeth bared viciously. A snarl ripped from me as her crimson lips curved into an amused smile.

I took one step forward, no thought to fear and aggression burning in my veins. I was not helpless this time and I would not run. Running wasn't even an option, wasn't even something that occurred to me. This time…this time…!

Her grin grew bigger, exposing her own sharp white teeth.

With one last look, the seductress beckoned with her eyes before sauntering around the corner with a small laugh, disappearing like a ghost.

My vision reddened in rage and without even a thought as to what she was doing in a military base in the first place, or the fact that she had obviously known I was coming, I let out an enraged howl and chased after her, putting all of my rage and pent up frustration into my voice. Our last encounter burned so furiously in the forefront of my mind as I plunged into the darkness after her that I didn't even notice as the door closed behind me with a dull scrape. For all of the terror, pain and frustration she put me through I was going to tear her apart.

o-0-o

Alphonse was jerked abruptly from the gutter he was inspecting by an almost inhuman howl, the kind of sound that would raise gooseflesh in a warmblood. It echoed off the empty streets and shattered the silence, startling him badly. It sounded like a wounded animal; frightened and enraged.

"Alex," he exclaimed in alarm, turning back the way he had come.

Before he could make a single move, however, a shadow fell swiftly upon him, given away by the bright moonlight. Alphonse leapt back just in time as a weapon flashed right where his head had been only seconds before. Sliding to a halt from his hasty retreat, the boy tried to figure out what attacked him as the dust settled around his feet.

A dark figure landed with a loud clank where he had been standing. A cleaver, about as large as its forearm, glinted evilly from where it stuck halfway out of the ground.

Slowly the thing stood, and Alphonse felt a thrill of fear as it's face was revealed. Glowing red eyes glimmered within the depths of a grotesque skull mask with sharpened teeth, the rest of it's body obscured in what looked like a thick white mane.

The creature, which appeared to be a man dressed in a gruesome suit of armor, let out a insane, echoing laugh. "You move pretty well for someone so large," he said, his voice high and nasally but obviously male.

"Who are you," Al asked aggressively. He did not have time for this! Urgency buzzed in his mind. That shout had been close by. It could have been Alex!

"Oooh, so demanding," the strange man said, "I suppose I should answer. My name is Sixty Six, and I am a guardian of this place. You've been straying to places you don't belong and now I get to kill you." He laughed gleefully, spinning on one leg and waving his cleaver through the air.

"Sixty Six," Al asked, alarmed that he claimed to be a guardian. Did that mean there were others?

"Ehe, that's just what they call me at work. You see, I used to be a terrifying criminal that ravaged the streets of Central," He tilted his head and hunched his shoulders, red orifices gleaming, "but then I got caught and they turned me into this and told me to guard this place."

"What do you mean? What did they turn you into?"

"I'll tell you when I'm peeling your skin!" Sixty Six screeched and then charged at a startled Alphonse. The suit of armor went on the defensive, trying to feel his opponent out.

Sixty Six swung wildly with his cleavers, moving almost inhumanly fast, as though his body was stronger than average. He swung right, left, right, laughing maniacally all the while. Alphonse blocked with his forearms, using the spikes to redirect the blows outward. As steel struck steel, sparks flew and flashed their faces momentarily in light, something that would have blinded most men.

Soon enough Al began to realize that although Sixty Six was stronger than most, he didn't really know how to fight at all. He seemed to rely on the fact that he could overpower an average human or his fear factor. Alphonse began to relax. He would win this easily.

Apparently his momentary lapse was all Sixty Six needed as he crowed in triumph and viciously cut on the inside of Al's elbow where the armor was weakest.

"Ahahahah! How bout now I show you how thinly you slice!" He raised his other cleaver over his head and brought it down in a slow, dramatic arch.

If Alphonse had eyes he would have rolled them. As it was, he let out an annoyed sigh and flexed his arm, snapping the cleaver in half. He then interrupted his opponent's surprised exclamation and slammed his fist in the man's face, sending him sprawling several yards away and causing his helmet to roll off.

Al dusted off his hands and looked around for other threats. Finding none and thinking his opponent down, he said to himself, "Why do I always get the weird ones?"

"Aaaah, now you've gone and done it…" Sixty Six moaned, sitting up. Alphonse's head snapped around in surprise as he moved, sure he had knocked his adversary down. But clearly the guardian was stronger than he thought. He lifted his arms defensively in preparation for a fight.

"You just plum," Sixty six turned around slowly, and Alphonse gasped in surprise, all thoughts of ending the fight and finding his brothers quickly blown from his mind, "knocked my head off."

"Your hollow inside," Al said softly in shock. Indeed, between his opponents hunched shoulders there was a void of emptiness where a body should have been. Alphonse could only come to one startling conclusion. The military was making soul seals attached to armor that were just like him.

Haha, there you go. We are finally getting somewhere. Man, Alex is mad! I guess he's still not over that whole 'I'll just shove my hand in your chest and make you ingest human lives' thing. Lust is in for it now. Although it seems she was waiting for him. Hmmm.

Looks like Al has his own problems. I'll try to keep the repeated bits brief. It's kind of important to the plot, so I'll try to keep it short. Don't worry, there will be plenty of twists to keep you all entertained. There's going to be a lot of scene switches as well, so it should be pretty fast paced. Which is great because the last, like, ten chapters were dreadfully slow. Sorry about that. I'll make it up to you.

Next chapter: Al has doubts about his humanity, and Alex goes for vengeance. See you next time chickies! And send me some cookies! I have a sweet tooth and my boyfriend won't bring me chocolate. Or if not…review!