Winry stands at the doorway, just above the stairs. Everyone stops to stare at her. It must be below freezing out, but she's sweating. Her nerves are shot.

"Winry!" Iris races up to shield her, then quickly escorts her back into the stairwell. "What are you doing! I thought you were with-!"

"It's quite alright," Major Miles said, walking up the steps. He walks into the room. "The Elrics have apprehended him now."

Iris can breathe easier. Scar is bound by the same material as the pillar he crushed and is against the wall. Miles is quick to pull out his gun.

"While we may have the same blood, I cannot simply let you go, Scar."

The kids watch the scene unfold, but Winry pushes past her friend and goes up to the immobilized man.

Ed pulls at her sleeve. "Winry," he says seriously.

"Please, just let me talk to him." She gently tears his hand away. Her eyes are already bleary, but her determined expression means business. Iris gives the brothers a panicked look, but they gesture for her to calm down. She goes to stand by them, watching carefully.

"You murdered my parents. I want to know why."

"Scar gave her an annoyed grimace. "That does not matter. What matters is it happened and is irreversible. I take responsibility for those deaths, but can do nothing about them now."

"I understand how much this means to you, Winry, I really do, and I'm sorry but we're gonna need to wrap this up! There's no way Kimblee and his men didn't notice all the ruckus we made in such a quiet town. They'll be here any minute! They can't have Scar, we need him!" Iris pleaded to Winry, grabbing onto her elbow. "Trust me," she whispered, "I want to see justice served to him just as bad as you. But these research notes are just too damn important!"

The blonde didn't look very happy, but she understood. "Fine. But I have a plan." She turned to Scar. "And you're going to help us, whether you want to or not. We're your only option."

"What's the plan?" Alphonse asked.

"I'm going to be Scar's hostage." She negated everyone's voice of reason. "You'll have to get us both out of there once the military spots us."

"Okay, great," the other girl said sarcastically. "How will the rest of us even get out?"

"The underground tunnels should suffice as a getaway route," Yoki mused.

"We could move throughout the tunnels to get back to the fort," the Major added.

"I do not approve of this!" Ed shouts. "Why should Winry have to risk her life?!"

"I'm a hostage either way!"

"There's no other choice!"

"This is the best plan we have, Ed" Iris reasoned, putting a hand on his shoulder, right where his flesh met metal. Her hand was warm. He tried to think straight. He couldn't tell whether she cleared all of his thoughts or jumbled them all up into a hot mess. "Ye of little faith," she whispered mockingly into his ear.

'Yep,' he thought. 'Definitely a hot mess.'

No one noticed the moment, all of them scaling the details of the plan.

"This is really dangerous," Al warned.

"I know. But I need to decide my own fate. This is my idea and I plan to see it through. It'll work. I know it will. Just please, put a little trust in me."

"We trust you, Winry." Iris gave her a nod then pulled out her spare pocket knife and squatted down to Scar. She pointed it at the man. No one tried to stop her. She put their faces inches apart.

"Listen close," she spoke low. "You hurt my friend, I'll end you. I'm not like those brothers; I'll kill if I have to. I was a fool not to kill you before, especially after what you did to me. But now that we need you, you're going to cooperate with us." She smiled. "I hope you understand." She throws up her blade and catches it by the hilt, then eases it back into her pocket. She transmutes him out of Alphonse's trap.

"So, does everyone know what to do?"

•••

Iris and Edward can see the odd pair on the rooftop from the city streets. Ed's worry is etched deep into his face.

"Hey," she snapped him out of it. "C'mon. There's not much time."

The two ran over to Kimblee. Ed didn't have to pretend to be angry.

"Look what you've done, Kimblee! You let Scar get away, and now he has my friend hostage!"

"Winry is in danger, and all your men have just been lazing about!"

The Crimson Alchemist just scoffs.

"Let's go, Ed. Obviously, he doesn't care. Can't even assemble a team to hunt down a mass murderer." She pulled him away and they went to go find Major Miles.

"Be careful with your words, Iris. They could get you in a lot of trouble." Ed said quietly as they were walking away.

"Funny coming from such a hothead. C'mon, we did our job. Let's just find Major Miles and see how the rest plays out."

Just as a small snowstorm hit the abandoned town of Baschool, the pair of alchemists took refuge in a tiny wooden house, just where Miles said he would be. When they found him, he was speaking with his men. A grim subject was on their mind, it seemed. When Miles noticed them, he smiled. Even with his sunglasses on, they could tell the smile didn't meet his eyes.

"I think this is a conversation you should be a part of."

"What is it Major?"

"We've already made the decision, but I wanted to know your insight. Particularly yours, Elric. I already know what See-All thinks."

"About what?"

"We have to kill Scar."

Ed immediately retaliated. "You can't kill him!"

"Yeah!" Iris butted in. "We still need him to do a job for us!" Ed turned to her.

"What?! Even then, we can't kill him! You mean you were serious about what you said to Scar on the roof?"

Iris' eyes hardened. "Of course I was. It's what's just."

"Killing is never just."

"He's killed. An eye for an eye."

"And the world goes blind," the Fullmetal Alchemist finishes, turning away. The opposing electricity between them is almost too much to bear.

The snow rages on.

•••

An hour passes, and the blizzard dies down to a light snowfall.

"Kimblee is planning to have his men check the tunnels. We can't let them do that; they'll find our team." Miles informs the duo, then tells them to prevent the situation by going out to talk to him. The both could agree on that one.

The walk to the center of town was tense and quiet. Even the city seemed on edge.

Kimblee blended into the snow. His coal hair was the only sign from far away that signaled he was there. Ed wasted no time.

"You should let the Briggs men check the tunnels instead of yours. They might get lost. Then we'd all be out of luck."

"Is this just a half-assed ploy to try and stop me? With this you're proving my suspicions - Scar must be down there."

Iris couldn't let him win. "Why would we hide this Kimblee? We want Scar just as much as you do!"

He ignores her. Slowly, he transmutes so that the snow is kicked up into the air, making clouds like dust, but snow instead. As he walks towards the mine shaft, they can barely see his figure. They do, however, see the two ominous shadows coming towards them.

"More chimeras," Iris guessed by their height and shape. They were only feet in front of them before they realized how close they actually were. Major Miles' shouts of concern could be heard from the lookout building.

"What's going on?! King, Elric?!"

"We're here! We're fighting Kimblee's men! They're chimeras!"

She can't see a damn thing. Her reflexes were the only thing keeping her up. But she couldn't dodge forever. She wondered briefly how Ed was faring until she was back to back from him. He goes to attack, but she grabs his automail before he can strike.

"It's me! It's me, it's me, it's me!" Iris shouts.

He steps back and lets his guard down, but he loses his footing and steps on a piece of snow. Suddenly the two of them are sailing down the mine shaft.

They land on more snow, so it's not as tough as a fall. Still, Iris's body falling on top of his takes all the breath out of him. She rolls off of him and rubs her back in pain.

"Fuck," she breathes. "We're further down into the mines."

It's much colder, and the winter wind seeps through their coats.

Iris offers a hand to Edward. He gets up with her help.

"Falls like that are going to stunt both of our heights."

"It wasn't on my agenda to fall down a shaft!" He griped.

"I know! Let's just keep moving."

They soon come to heavy wooden boxes. They were full of dynamite sticks. Iris took one and spun it in her hand. Ed cut one open out of curiosity. The smell immediately made its way to their noses. Even with traces of her cold, she could smell it clearly.

"Ammonia, huh?" Ed's mischievous grin was like no other.

Two loud thumps echo through the shaft.

"Chimeras," Iris mouthed. Ed nodded, grabbed a few sticks of wet explosives, then motioned to follow him. He led them to a curve, and eventually, the two were behind the chimeras in a big circle. They didn't even need to say anything to get their attention; their keen animal-like characteristics backfired on them.

"What's that smell?" they said in unison, covering their snouts.

"Ever heard of ammonia?" The Fullmetal Alchemist grinned.

Iris grabs two chunks of fluff off of Ed's jacket to plug her nose. He cuts more dynamite and transmutes the pure ammonia out of it, strengthening the wretched smell. Kimblee seemed to be down here as well; Iris could hear his footsteps and feel his ugly presence looming.

"We've incapacitated your boys, Kimblee," she shouted. It echoed. There was no way he couldn't hear her. He appeared behind them quickly, throwing See-All for a loop. Nonetheless, she stared him down, face to face.

"Looks like they'll be no use to you now." She walks towards him slowly, and Edward follows. "Listen, you're a total slimeball, we need information from you."

"How unfortunate for you, because I've no incentive to share any. Really, I pity you. Dead parents..." he lingered, "... being adopted, just to have that parent stripped away from you and replaced by the Fuhrer and his wife."

She commanded through gritted teeth, "Stop that."

"What a darling family!" he laughed. "Two homunculi, one naive woman, and you! Not to mention you've got another sibling, who just so happens to be a homunculus as well!"

"You are treading on some thin fucking ice, buddy."

"What was her name again? Oh, yes!" Another small fit of laughter. "Iridian!"

A familiar shadow lurked in the doorway.