An Alchemist's Ransom

-Chapter 4-

Roy had been sitting in the chair watching Al pace in the room. He was trying to assure him that Edward would be all right and would be back soon. He hadn't seen the dark silhouette appear in the window, and the only thing that both of them heard was the sound of shattering glass. They both jumped to see what was going on, but Scar had the upper hand and the element of surprise.

Al had moved to stand between Scar and Roy, and had managed to get in a few good punches, but Scar was able to grab onto Al's right arm, and used the destructive power of his arm to shatter Al's. with Al being taken back by the shock of losing his arm, Scar moved to the side and managed to knock Al into one of the side walls.

It was then when Scar turned to Roy, from the way the sun shown into the room, and also because of the light breeze that was coming through the window, Scar looked like a menacing creature that was about to descend upon its pray. Roy took a step back and snapped his fingers, causing an invisible spark to ignite the air in the room causing a stream of fire to shoot out towards Scar. The fire seemed to do some damage, but Roy wasn't expecting Scar to hold up his arm with the black glyphs on it. His eyes had widened as the lines seemed to get white hot and the fire around Scar, and even in the whole room dissipated, then a ball of invisible force slammed into Roy, sending him flying into the back wall. He had hit his head on the wall hard and now everything was getting hazy around the edges.

Roy was certain he was going to die, and he could feel nothing but fear as the quickly fading form of Scar came to stand over him. As the glyph-covered right arm reached down towards him, Roy Mustang's world had gone back.

Havok drove the car towards the last place witnesses said they saw Scar. Hawkeye just watched out the passenger side window as they passed through the city. Edward and Al had agreed to check the back streets and any other areas Scar might have gone, even some reasons the military had already checked, just to make sure that nothing had been overlooked. A part of Riza wanted to strangle both Elric bothers, but a much larger part of her was grateful they were so willing to help in this dire situation.

They pulled up to here a large group of officers were waiting and stopped the car. The officers watched attentively as Havok got out of the car and moved over to Hawkeye's side, waiting a moment before opening the door. She was glad Havok had walked around to let her out, it gave her time to collect herself before she stood before the other officers. When she stopped out of the car, she walked towards the troops, who saluted her as she came closer to them. She saluted back, then called them to attention.

"The car situation has become far more dire. Colonel Mustang has gone missing, and there is reason to believe that Scar is the cause of his disappearance. Use extreme caution when you go into suspected areas, and even when simply walking from door to door, he could be anywhere. Treat this as delicately as you would a hostage situation, and if you do find them, contact the higher officers at once, do not attempt to handle the situation alone. Consider Scar to be armed and very dangerous. Dismissed!" and with that, Hawkeye saluted the officers again, who then quickly dispersed and went back to their posts, some started off down the street while others even piled into vehicles and drove off. Hawkeye watched them for a moment, then sighed, she just wanted this day to be over.

Edward and Al stood in the courtyard of the Military Headquarters as they waited for the items Edward had asked for. It seemed like forever before Fury came out carrying what looked like a very heavy sheet, with Hawkeye's dog, Black Hayete following close behind.

Once Fury made it to the brothers, he dropped the sheet and a clanking sound could be head from amongst the folds, and he began to rub his arms to try and alleviate the soreness. Edward then knelt down and began to unfold the sheet.

"I wasn't sure if that would be enough, but it was all I could carry." Fury explained.

"This should be fine." Edward said as he started to sort out the pieces of metal, "Al, ready?" he asked.

"Yup." Al said as he sat next to the sheet. Edward closed his eyes for a moment, then clapped his hands together, placing one hand above the sheet covered with pieces of metal, the other one on Al's body. A circle then formed below and the metal pieces rose up off the sheet and began to dissolve away, whole Al also began to defy the laws of gravity and his arm started to reform.

The whole process took only a few minutes, and when it was done the metal scraps were completely gone, and Al seemed a little shinier than he did before, along with a new arm.

"Thank you Major Fury." Al said giving a slight bow.

"No problem at all, now please...go find Colonel Mustang...for the Lieutenant's sake." Fury said petting Black Hayete.

"You can count on us." Edward said pointed to himself and Al, "Let's go!" and with that, they both turned and ran out of the courtyard.

They moved through the city around the military stations and through the alleyways. They started their actual investigation in the alley Scar had made his escape from. There was yellow tape crossed in the front of the large gaping hole in the wall, but because they had been given military clearance, the yellow tape wasn't about the stop Edward and Alphonse Elric. They stepped through the wall and found a large open tunnel that lead down through the city. Before they went any further though, Edward left the tunnel and went to the investigation team that had been assigned to that scene.

"Hey there." Edward said raising a hand up to the officers. One of them, an older man between the ages of 32 and 36 with slightly tan skin and black hair that was starting to thin turned and looked at him.

"Can I help you?" the man asked.

"I'm going to need one of those flashlights over there.' Edward said pointed toward a row of metal flashlights by the van the officers were using.

"...certainly." the man said, he hesitated for a moment until he saw the chain that belong to the pocket watch All State Alchemists were given upon passing the exams. After that he walked over and grabbed a flashlight along with a couple batteries, then came back and handed them over to Edward, "good luck." them man said saluting him before going back to the map another officer had unfolded.

With that, Edward rejoined Al in the turned and turned on the flashlight. They walked for a while, periodically passing parts that looked like they had been forced, or blown open. 'Follow the path of destruction' was they plan they had decided to follow.

"It was really fast..." Al said after they were for enough down the tunnel no one could hear the echoes from their talking.

"huh?" Edward said looking up at Al.

"I couldn't protect Colonel Mustang, I tried but I couldn't get up...I'm sorry..." Al said.

"Hey, it wasn't your fault, I shouldn't have taken his watch, he probably would have stood a chance then..." Edward said patting Al on the back. They walked in silence for quite some time, the tunnel looking like it might never end.