CHAPTER 12

"Where is she?" Roy's voice growled. Envy started to laugh again.

"Wow! You really are dense, you know that? I was skeptical if this plan would even work, but it seems you military dogs are worse than you look!" Envy snided. Roy's brow furrowed, his fists clenching.

"I said, where is the girl?" Roy said, emphasizing each word in a husky tone.

"Oh, her? She's here. In the basement, safe and sound." Envy said cooly. Roy felt confusion waft over him and tried to not make that evident on his face.

"So, what trap did we fall into exactly?" Roy asked. Envy laughed out again.

"You really can't figure it out? Where would Lust be if she wasn't here? Hm? You really think we want a little girl? By golly no! We only want two people. That's you, the armored kid, and the pipsqueak." He howled. Roy felt his heart sink. He had left Ed and Al all alone. Ed is in no condition to fight. Roy knows Al will protect him, but if Lust is behind an entire brigade of rogue soldiers, then who knows how many enemies they'll have to face.

"So! While Lust takes care of that, I'll take care of you!" Envy then sprung into action, getting close to Roy, knowing he can't use his fire in such close quarters. Roy had to rely on his hand to hand combat.

"Damn it, Riza… Where are you?!" Roy thought to himself as he batted another punch away. As if on cue, shots rang out. Envy was forced to dodge and flip backwards, making space between him and Roy. Riza was standing in the doorway, her gun still smoking.

"Hawkeye, get to the hospital. Lust is after Ed." Roy said.

"But sir-" Riza began,

"Go!" Roy yelled, keeping his eye on Envy. Riza nodded and began running out the door. Now that the distance between Envy and Roy was comfortable, Roy began to snap. Flames shot out of his hands with ferocity. Envy now moving onto the defensive, ducking and dodging to try and not be burned to a crisp. Roy missed a shot and blew a hole in the side of the building, bricks flying in every direction. The building rumbled in response.

"Uh oh! Looks like you alchemists have a knack for knocking things down right on top of you!" Envy laughed.

Roy didn't hesitate, he quickly shot more fire towards Envy, flames now starting to lick their way onto Envy's skin. He howled out in pain.

"You bastard! That hurt!" Envy said, growing angry. The building gave another rumble. Roy had to finish this quickly if he was going to get Winry and get the hell out of there. Envy was fast, too fast. Roy's mind began to race with possible options for attack. Roy knew he didn't have time to defeat this jerk. Suddenly, he remembered what Envy had said. Roy acted swiftly, burning a circle around his feet. Envy was growing closer, running fast towards him. Just before Envy could get hold of Roy, the floor melted away and Roy fell with it. He had landed on his feet in the middle of a stairwell. He winced as his ankle twinged slightly from the harsh landing. Small cuts began to ooze blood on his face and dust forced him to cough. The landing was hard and definitely would leave a few bruises later on. Roy had no time to think about that, the building continued to rumble. He quickly jumped over the debris and ran down the steps, he expected to hear Envy trailing behind him, but all was silent. He probably decided to make his escape. Roy reached the bottom floor and began looking frantically for the girl. Running down a long hallway, looking in every room.

"Winry?!" He yelled out.

"Mmmmph!" a faint but audible response came from the final door at the end of the hall. Roy didn't hesitate and quickly ran to the sound. He found Winry, tied up and gagged. Her eyes were wide and full of tears. Roy didn't bother to untie her and instead just scooped her up in his arms and began running. The building was beginning to lose all structure, more dust continued to fall. The lights had long stopped working and the darkness was unsettling. Roy clambered over the stairs, avoiding small fixtures falling above them. Winry had closed her eyes and burrowed her head in Roy's chest, hiding herself in fright. It was much harder to move with Winry in his arms but he kept going. Once they reached the main level the building finally began to give way. It swayed on unsteady foundations and it all began to tumble downward. Winry let out a muffled scream from her gagged mouth. Huge beams were beginning to make their descent towards them from the ceiling. Roy quickly sat Winry down on the floor and let out a snap. A wall of fire shot above them, letting the beams melt away and fall on either side of them. Winry was sobbing, Roy was drenched in sweat. He saw the opening at which he blew open just moments before and scooped up Winry, making one last stretch to the outside world. More beams and bricks clattered to the ground just barely missing the duo. In one last leap, Roy plunged outside, throwing Winry from his arms and sprawling on the dirt, just as the building collapsed in on itself, barely missing the two. Roy got up and dusted himself off, running over to Winry. He ungagged her and untied her in an instant. She began coughing through sobs and clung to his jacket tightly.

"I thought I was going to die!" She screamed. Roy patted her head awkwardly.

"We're safe." He said.

"What about that one guy…?" Winry asked, trying to control her sobs. Roy shrugged.

"Probably high-tailed it out of here." Roy said. He helped Winry get to her feet and they began walking to the other side of the building. "Riza took the car, we need to get to a payphone and call for a cab, can you walk that far?" Roy noticed her scraped up knees and busted lip, not to mention a dried cut on her forehead. Winry nodded.

"I'll be fine." She said, and the two began to walk down the empty sidewalk.

Riza pulled into the hospital drive, not even letting her car stop all the way before putting it in park. She slammed open the car door and ran inside, her gun at the ready. Some nurses and patients were confused and yelled out to her, but she ignored them, making a b-line for Ed's room. She swung open the door and pointed her gun.

Ed was sitting on the bed, chatting with a nurse. Al was also engaged in their conversation. The three turned their gaze towards Riza.

"You okay?" Ed asked her, almost comically.

"I… I thought you were in danger…" Riza said, lowering her gun. "S-sorry." The nurse smiled at her.

"I was just giving Ed some more painkillers." She said, her voice much too peppy. Riza eyed her curiously.

"I haven't seen you around here before." Riza said.

"She's new, she actually studied medical alchemy for a while in Xing." Al replied. "She's been telling us all about it."

"I see…" Riza was skeptical. The woman had on a thick layer of makeup, her hair completely hidden in her hat. Her hands were covered in surgical gloves.

"Why did you think we were in danger? Did you find Winry?" Ed asked.

"The Colonel is working on that part. He said ``Lust was coming after you." She said,

"Been no Lust here." Ed said. The nurse kept her thick smile.

"I'll just be administering the painkiller now, you may feel a bit sleepy!" She cooed. Riza saw the liquid in a small bag she was hanging on his IV. It was a sickly yellow liquid that Riza had never seen before.

"Wait, what is that?" She asked suspiciously.

The nurse turned her smile towards her. "This is something I had imported from Xing! It has wonderful natural healing properties." She said. Riza stood, her senses tingling.

"The doctor approved this?" She asked. The nurse nodded.

"Oh yes! I would never give a patient something the doctor didn't approve of." The nurse replied.

"I want him to confirm that." Riza eyed the nurse. The woman's smile changed in an instant to a dark grin.

"You are really annoying." The happy, high pitched peppy voice quickly shifted as well into a familiar deep tone. Ed stiffened in an instant, finally recognizing who it was. Panic filled his face as he tried to squirm away from her. Al stood as well as Riza, she pointed her gun at the disguised Lust and quickly began to fire. Screams were heard outside of the hospital room. Lust dodged the bullets, one of them shattering the glass of the window. Lust took this chance to leap out, Al was quickly after her, jumping out alongside her. Being in a metal body did have its perks. Ed was beginning to panic.

"Al!" He yelled, trying to get up. Riza put a hand on him.

"I'll go after him, he'll be fine. Tell the doctors what happened." Riza quickly rushed out of the room, just as the doctor and many other staff members poured in. The nurses quickly try to soothe Ed, while also getting his story. One nurse called for security to man the perimeters. The doctor looked at the yellow liquid in the bag, examining it.

"Wh-what did she almost give me..?" Ed managed to spurt out. The doctor continued looking at the liquid.

"Some sort of concoction of sedatives and hypnotic medicines, often used for psychiatric patients…" He said. "Would have made you totally unaware and lethargic, maybe even permanently." The doctor informed. Ed swallowed hard. Letting the panic bubble in his throat. The doctor quickly grabbed the bag and threw it out, letting it crash in the trash can.

Riza was not far behind Al in their pursuit. Lust was quick, however and her trail was becoming harder to follow. Riza kept her gun held close to her chest, her heart pounding as sweat dripped from her brow. "Alphonse!" Riza called out. Al stopped his pursuit and turned towards Riza. "We won't catch her on foot." She explained. Al nodded, Riza didn't need expressions to know the anger that wafted off of him. Riza looked around for the nearest telephone booth to ring in a car. By this time of night the streets were dead, even Central had quiet hours. They saw a small cab rush around the corner, stopping abruptly with a "skrrt!" as they came to Riza and Alphonse. The window rolled down to see a disheveled, dusty Roy and Winry sitting in the backseat. He gave Riza a stern look, which was all telling. She quickly rounded to the driver's side. "Get out. Military business." She said. The driver began to grovel. "We will pay for a new one and pay you triple in cab fees." She said. The driver quickly shut his mouth and got out of the car. Riza didn't hesitate taking his spot, Al cramming into the passenger seat beside her. She began to speed off in the direction of Lust before she had even closed her door all the way.

"Winry! Colonel! Are you guys okay?!" Al asked, trying to turn his large body behind him to view them.

"I'm okay, Al. Thanks to the Colonel." Winry sniffled, still obviously shaken up. Roy nodded.

"I'm alright as well, a few bruises but nothing I can't handle… The factory on the other hand isn't doing too good." Roy almost wanted to laugh if they weren't in such dire circumstances. "Envy got away." Roy then explained.

"Envy?! He's in on this whole thing too?" Al said, fury beginning to rise in his voice.

"I see her sir." Riza stated, looking at a small woman running down an alleyway, Riza had a sharp eye. No normal person would have been able to spot that. She screeched the car to a halt. "Stay in here and protect Winry, Al." Riza explained. Before Al could protest, Riza and Roy had exited the vehicle and were now in hot pursuit of Lust.

Lust became cornered in the alleyway. She turned around slowly to see two very angry looking soldiers, one with a gun pointed to her and the other putting on his gloves.

"Alright you bitch, don't move another inch." Roy said. Lust smiled.

"I don't need to." She began to laugh as She reached her arm up, her nails shooting above her, wrapping tightly around a ledge above her. "Toodaloo!" She giggled as she thrusted herself upwards, flying into the air.

"Damn it!" Roy said. Riza began to fire shots at her, but Lust was moving too fast for even Riza to keep up with. Roy knew this apartment building held residents and to send flames onto it would cause more damage than just to the building.

"We should get Winry back to the hospital and figure out what to do from there." Riza explained. Roy nodded, feeling somewhat defeated. Riza and Roy quickly got back in the car and sped off to the hospital.

Ed was jostled by the sound of his door opening, but relief soon washed over him as Al was the first to enter, followed by Hawkeye, Mustang and lastly,

"Winry…!" Ed called. He scooted himself slightly, wincing as he did so, Winry ran up to him and practically jumped onto him, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly, letting herself sob all over again. Ed wrapped his one arm around her gently.

"Ed!" She called in glee.

"Are you hurt?' Ed said, pulling her back slightly and examining her face. The small cut on her head wasn't anything serious, but her knees looked like they could be cleaned up and bandaged.

"I'm fine, Ed…" She said, wiping her tears with a smile.

"And Lust?" Ed said, drawing his attention to Roy. He shook his head.

"Got away." Mustang said, his pride obviously taking a blow. Ed frowned but nodded. Roy could tell he was trying to keep his panic levels at a minimum.

A knock at the door made everyone jump. The door slid open to reveal none other than King Bradely himself.

"S-sir!" Roy and Riza quickly saluted him.

"Now, now. No need for that." He chuckled. "Edward, how are you feeling?" He asked kindly.

"Uh… G-good sir…" Ed replied.

"Oh and you must be Miss. Rockbell. I must apologize for all the trouble." He said, extending his hand out to her. Winry shook it gently. "Well, i'll get right down to business, in our investigation on the said 'Lust and Envy' we had uncovered some of the secret spies affiliated with the rogue alchemist group. Some were taken to questioning, while others dealt with me personally." Bradley noted. Ed gulped and the stillness in the room continued.

"I know this whole situation has been stressful on you all, but please know that the special forces team will take it from here and you will not have to worry about this case any longer." He stated.

"You're removing us from the case, sir?" Roy asked professionally.

"Precisely. I feel my special ops team will be able to discreetly handle the situation. I see you all have suffered enough at the hands of these fools." Bradley began. "You, Edward, and all of you for that matter need to focus on recovering. I am giving you two weeks of paid leave for the time being, during that time I want you all to remain in Central for your own protection until we can alleviate the threat of something happening to any of you." He finished.

"That's very kind of you, sir." Roy said.

"I wanted to come in person to formally tell you, as you all have worked so hard!" Bradley's voice oozed a sort of forced kindness. "Get well soon Fullmetal Alchemist!" With that, King Bradely turned and left the room in an instant. Roy and Riza quickly saluted him as he exited.

"That was weird." Ed said.

"Very, but he's right. This issue needs to be handled under the table quietly, and you Edward, need to only focus on getting better." Roy said. Ed rolled his eyes.

"I could say the same for you, you look like shit." Ed teased. Everyone giggled slightly, as Roy truly looked awful. He was covered head to toe in dust, bruises and small cuts littered his body and his uniform was now torn and hung in tatters around him.

"Shut it pipsqueak." Roy eyed.

"I have been working on your new automail. Before my interruption I hoped to have it done by tomorrow, but it may take me a bit longer… Sorry Ed." Winry said. Ed could tell she looked exhausted. Not only did she get kidnapped but she's been working day in and day out on new automail in the discomfort of a makeshift studio.

"Take all the time you need, but first go get some sleep." Ed smiled at her, rubbing her head slightly with his one arm. Winry smiled at him. "Can't have you half asleep working on my masterpiece!" Ed joked.

"What's that supposed to mean you jerk?!" Winry yelled. Everyone began laughing once again, Ed wincing slightly.

"It's settled, we all need some rest." Al finished, looking around the room. Everyone nodded in agreement. For once they felt like all the weight of the world had been lifted off of his shoulders. They felt like one big happy family, a dirty, broken, injured family, but a family nonetheless.