Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or Legend of Korra

Alphonse

He shouldn't have been so stupid. Someone had thrown him a balled up paper while he was sweeping the street, and he'd been naive enough to follow its instructions, alone. He'd found a group of people at an old pub, who'd overpowered and taken him captive.

As it was, now he sat propped against a wall inside a storage room, tied up, with a snake chimera inside his armor. The man, no, homunculus, named Greed, had just dispatched his salamander chimera to find Ed. Greed was pacing impatiently, and his other chimeras stood around the room watching him.

Suddenly the door blew open and Ayana jumped in, her hands at the ready. "Al! You alright?" She must have followed him here. Or else, seen he was missing and sought him out.

"Yes, but look out, that guy's a homunculus!"

She looked at him in confusion. Of course, she wouldn't know what that meant. Before he could explain, the chimeras were on her. Unable to help, all he could do was watch as she punched her fist out and swept her arm, sending fire in an arc in front of her body. The chimera's cried out as they were burned. Greed had been burned, too, but his body sizzled with red energy as it regenerated the skin.

Ayana's eyes widened. It was enough of a hesitation for the cow chimera, Roa, to take advantage and he swung his fist and clocked her in the stomach. The breath knocked out of her, she stumbled backwards. Roa was swinging for another punch, but she raised her arms straight above her head, earthbending a pillar from the ground and shielding herself from his attack.

"Whoa whoa, time out!" Greed shouted. His chimeras paused and backed off from her. She was still panting from the blow earlier, trying to catch her breath. "What's this? That wasn't alchemy, right, girlie? I don't think it's very fair this kid here ruined my big secret, but since you already know, care to explain yours? It's only fair, you know."

Her eyes flashed angrily. "You're going to wish you never touched Al!" She brought the heels of her hands together and extended her palms out towards Greed, sending a torrent of flame and incinerating him where he stood. Even after his skin had melted, she didn't let up.

Al couldn't feel the heat, but he could tell by the color of the flames that it was scorching hot. He could hear Martel, the chimera inside him, screaming as his armor heated up. It was cooking her alive. The others had all taken refuge behind various objects in the room.

"Ayana! Please, stop!" Her burning eyes flashed slightly in his direction. "Please. You'll kill them all!"

It took a second, but his words seemed to get through to her. She slowly lowered her hands and the fire disappeared. The chimeras peeked cautiously out of their hiding places, ready to duck back down if the flames reignited. Greed had essentially been turned into a burnt husk, but he slowly regenerated himself and once again stood completely unharmed.

"That is definitely not alchemy! What gives you that power? I want it!" He was laughing maniacally.

Ayana eyed him warily and ignored his question. "You can't die."

Greed laughed. "Technically, that's not true. But for the purposes of our conversation, yes, I'm very hard to kill. It's a waste of time for you to try. Now. About that fire. I'm dying to know!"

Again, she ignored him as she demanded, "Let Al go."

"Not a chance, girlie. He holds the key to an immortal body, and I just have to have one."

"You're practically immortal already." She pointed out.

"I told you, technically that's not true. I want true immortality." He rubbed his hands together eagerly. "So, are you going to tell me your fire secret or not?"

"No." She replied defiantly.

"Well, that's too bad." Greed rubbed the back of his neck, disappointment evident in his voice. "Maybe with some motivation, we can change your mind." Al saw him move his hand slightly, signaling his chimeras.

"Look out!" Al yelled, but too late. The dog chimera had thrown a set of bolas, quick as a flash, which wrapped around her and pinned her arms to her sides. She struggled, trying to free her hands. She was unable to bend without them, or so he thought. She jumped and kicked both her legs out, which sent a spear of fire at the closest chimera. But the attack didn't do any lasting damage, and Roa grabbed her by the back of her shirt and threw her down next to him. Roa promptly tied her ankles together.

"I'm sorry, Al." she said apologetically.

"Don't worry, Brother will come free us."

"If he doesn't, I have a backup plan, we just need to…."

She was interrupted by Ed kicking down the door. He threw the salamander chimera to the floor in front of him and stepped over his body into the room. "Sorry Al, it never crossed my mind you could get kidnapped. You either, Ayana."

"Brother, this guy is a homunculus!"

"Ugh, that's the second time you've ruined the surprise. You're such a killjoy." Greed complained. Ed looked taken aback. "Roa, Dolcetto, take those two and get out of here." Greed instructed.

"Wait! Brother!" Al called out as he tried to reach for Ed but was unable to with his hands still tied. Ed sprang forward and attacked Greed, trying to get to him and Ayana, but they were both picked up and carried through a side door. The sounds of Ed and Greed fighting faded away as they were swiftly taken away.

They were carried down into the sewers where the chimeras put them down and nervously waited for their boss to join them. After waiting a while, they talked among themselves and decided to leave Martel with him and Ayana while Roa and Dolcetto returned to help Greed.

"Will your backup plan still work?" He whispered over to Ayana, though he wasn't sure why he bothered. Martel was still inside his armor and could hear him whether he whispered or not.

"Yeah, hang on." She took a deep breath but stopped when Greed suddenly appeared.

"Greed, what's going on? No one else has come back yet." Martel asked as she popped his helmet up to look out at her boss.

"Things got a little out of hand, we need to get out of here." Greed responded.

"I can't let you do that." A voice sounded from down the tunnel; they all turned to look and see who it was.

He gasped. "It's the Fuhrer!"

Greed didn't look very surprised for some reason, and asked in a nonchalant tone, "King Bradley? What's the most powerful man in the country doing down here?"

Bradley wordlessly charged Greed, swinging his dual swords furiously. Greed jumped to evade, and the dance of their combat took them further down the tunnel, away from him and Ayana, and out of sight.

He looked back at Ayana and watched as she took another deep breath. She exhaled a stream of fire down at the ropes binding her, burning them until they fell apart, and then she untied her ankles. Now free, she stood and untied him, then reached a hand down to help him up. He moved to accept it but Martel pulled his hand back. He struggled against her strength. "Martel, please."

Ayana retracted her own hand slightly, confused. "She's controlling you?"

"Yeah, she's fighting every move I try to make."

Ayana looked stumped, unsure of how to help. Greed suddenly stumbled into view again and fell to the ground a little ways down the tunnel. The red energy cracked as he healed himself, but the Fuhrer kept mercilessly attacking him.

"Greed!" Martel yelled in despair. She tried to jump out of his armor, but he put his hands on top of his helmet, holding her inside.

"No! He'll kill you too!" He couldn't allow more senseless bloodshed to happen, not when he had a chance to save her. He watched as the Fuhrer pinned Greed to the ground with his swords.

When the homunculus didn't move, Bradley turned and approached them. "You're the little brother of the Fullmetal Alchemist? And you're his friend, right? They didn't hurt you at all, did they? Can I help either of you?"

Before he could answer, Martel stuck her hand inside his glove and forced him to grab the Fuhrer's neck. She squeezed, trying to choke him. "No, Martel! Stop!" Al tried to pull his hand back; Ayana stood frozen, unsure about what she should do. Bradley raised his sword, and swiftly plunged it into his armor. He heard Martel's gasp, heard the blood gush, and suddenly his world went black.