Disclaimer: somewhere, in this chapter, is a typo, where ever it is, i believe it should be 'Large' then again...i can't find it so please, use your best judgment.

An Alchemist's Ransom

-Chapter 6-

Edward hung up the phone and took another quick glance around the area. They had to move outside of the warehouse to make the call out to Hawkeye and Havok, and if what they had seen in the window was either Roy or Scar, they didn't want to be caught talking on the phone on the warehouse's floor.

"What do we do now?" Al asked after Edward hung up.

"We're going back into that warehouse and try to find a way into that room." Edward explained moving back towards the door which they had kept open slightly to make it easier to get back inside.

"What are we going to do if Colonel Mustang is up there with Scar? He'll try to kill you." Al said starting after his brother.

"I don't think we have much of a choice." Edward said hesitating before slipping through the door. Al stood there for a moment, simply thinking about what his brother had said and same to the same conclusion; What choice did they have?

Walking around the floor of the warehouse, the brothers looked around for a door, or a set of stairs that might lead up to the upper office, but for some reason, where ever a door should have been there was only smooth wall, and when they did find a flight of stairs, they lead to nothing. They were also careful to stay out of the view of the upper office window. Edward could barely see what vaguely looked like someone's head, he just didn't want to risk it being Scar's. when they had walked the perimeter a second time, Edward dropped to his knees and scratched his head.

"Where is the stupid door!!" he shouted upward.

"Edward!" Al snapped at him and moved to cup his large metal hand over his brother's mouth. They sat in silence and waited, Edward realizing his mistake, only held his breath.

Scar spun around quickly and moved to look out Roy's window, he knew that voice all too well, and he didn't want to hear it right now that was for sure. Roy quickly moved to the side so that he was as far away from Scar as he possibly could be, the tall man's red eyes now seemed to burn with a newly heated fire. Roy had heard the yell too, he didn't know if it was all part of an elaborate plan of Scar's or not that Edward couldn't find a door, but also not knowing how long he had been out wasn't helping.

Scar moved away from Roy's window and back to the one that faced outside. He moved quickly to the corner as something caught his attention. Roy tensed up as Scar looked back at him with hateful eyes, and it was that look that told Roy what Scar had seen.

Roy moved back now and peered out his window, quickly glancing around to spy even the slightest hints of movement. When he didn't see anything he moved so that his back was against the wall and started at the wrist bindings more vigorously than ever, most of whatever pain was being caused had numbed itself, which was probably for the best because Roy was sure he was more than a little cut up, 'Glad this isn't piano wire..' he thought to himself. He wanted to jump for joy when he felt part of the restraints slack slightly. It was only a matter of time now because he could use alchemy again, even if he was going to be slower than usual, it was still better than nothing.

After about 5 minutes, Edward moved slowly with his back against the wall to a position underneath the office. Once Al had caught up with him, he turned around and tapped the wall in a few places, and eventually found an area that sounded duller than the rest of the wall. He then clapped his hands together and placed them against the way, streaks of blue energy moved along the wall to form the outline of an entryway, then that part of the wall itself turned into dust. As soon as it cleared they moved in and discovered a hallway that was dark, dusty, and covered by cobwebs.

Moving along the old floor, Edward took the flashlight back out and pointed it in front of him, "This whole place must have been abandoned a while ago." Edward said looking around, Al simply nodded. They walked until they found a door with a dust-covered signed, and Edward moved his sleeve over his hand and rubbed away most of the dust off of it to reveal the words 'Employees only'

"Guess we go in." Al said looking over his brother's shoulder. Edward nodded and tested to see if the door was locked. He held his breath as it started to creak open loudly and Al quickly grabbed the door knob in order to get the noise to stop. They both stood there and waited a few minutes, just to make sure they hadn't been heard before continuing through the door.

When they started in they were faced with a flight of stairs and as soon as Edward saw them he began to run up them as quickly as he could, with Al following as close as he could. The stairs turned and opened into a long hallway and Edward stopped and started to creep below the windows of the many doors that lined the hall. Seeing that each one was covered by a thick layer of dust, Al stayed against the back wall and moved as slowly and quietly as he could. As they continued on, Al pointed out a set of foot prints in the layer of dust that covered the hallway. Edward's eyes followed the newly discovered trail and noticed that it turned into a room at the end of the hallway.

Edward motioned for Al to stay back to be ready, then he took off down the hall, dropping to his legs and sliding in order to stop under the window of that door. As he was still moving he clapped his hands together and placed them against the door.

Roy wanted to jump back, but he realized there really wasn't anywhere for him to go when the door blew open. Scar spun around and clenched his right arm into a tight fist as the form of Edward Elric could be seen in the slowly settling dust.

"That's my prisoner, and it would be wise of you to return him." Edward said getting to his feet. Scar glared back towards Roy, who only nodded at Edward.

"Not likely." Scar said and with that, he put his right arm against the wall, causing the glyphs to glow as a bolt of red went up through the wall to a fuse box. Edward's eyes widened and he quickly dove to get out of the way as the sparks caused the fuse box to ignite. Before the explosion consumed everyone in the building, Al managed to pull out his chalk and draw his circle on the floor, then placed his hands on it to build a wall upwards to redirect to force of the blast to above the building.

Havok slammed on the brakes and Hawkeye had to brace herself as the car came to a hard stop. The roof of one of the warehouses had just blown off and now smoke was billowing towards the sky.

"Holy s--!" Havok said, but caught himself as his cigarette almost fell out of his mouth.

"Colonel Mustang!" Hawkeye shouted, she seemed about ready to jump out of the vehicle and run, so Havok stopped on the gas and started in the direction of the warehouse. As they got closer, Hawkeye pulled out her pistols and made sure they were full and cleaned.

"Do we have a plan?" Havok asked as they got even closer. "Aside from getting the Colonel out safely"

"Not really." Hawkeye said holding out of her guns to make sure the arm was straight, "The Elric brothers are there now, we at least have a good chance….we'll get him out while Scar is distracted then get him man out of town." She explained as she put her guns back in their holsters. It was only a matter of time now, soon Roy Mustang would be all right and right where he needed to be; where ever Hawkeye could see him. She also needed to talk to the Elric brothers, something just wasn't sitting right with her.

Edward dove towards Scar with the new sharpened point of the automail arm and began to try and slice at him while also working to avoid Scar's right arm. Roy was working on getting the last of his restraints off when he had to duck out of the way as a jagged piece of the wall shot outward from above his head. He was going to shout at Edward, but bit his tongue when he saw that it had been used to block Scar. He then managed to roll out of the way just as the material broke under the man's weight.

Roy hurriedly went back to trying to undo the restraints, at least then he could move decently well. It was hard to do while he was also keeping an eye on Edward and Scar's fight. He never saw Al come up behind him, nor did he even notice the other brother until he felt every restraint slack. He moved his hands in front of him and rubbed his wrists.

"Thank you." he said pushing himself to his feet. He was able to move right before another arch of red sparks ran along the wall next to him,

"Are you ok Colonel Mustang?" Al asked moving with him.

"I've been better. Alphonse, those two pieces of fabric, can you get them and repair my gloves?" Roy asked before once again needing to move to the side. "Sure!" Al said, he looked around quickly and spotted the two pieces of fabric in the middle of the room, he was going to run over and grab them when he noticed that Edward was a few inches from them. He thought for a moment and drew his circle on the floor with his chalk, then looked over at his brother, "Edward! Jump!" he shouted and hoped with all his might that Edward head him, as he placed his hands down onto the circle, the floor cracked a little and a line started to move in a circle around the fabric.

Edward saw Al use Alchemist out of the corner of his eye and dove to the side, clipping Scar's shoulder with his blade. Scar, not fully expected the sudden move tripped slightly from the hit, but the rising crack in the floor caused him to stumble back a few feet. As the combatants regained their footing, the cracks formed a raised circle and Al began to make it move, drawing the pieces of fabric closer. Roy stood ready to grab them incase Scar realized what they were doing. When the pieces were a couple feet away, Roy grabbed them anyway as a precaution and had to jump back as Scar and Edward went back to fighting.

Al reached for the pieces, but right before Roy was able to give them to him, he was knocked down from behind. "Colonel Mustang!" Al shouted and when he looked up to saw Scar standing over Roy, who was now struggling to get back to his feet.

Hawkeye was out of the car before it had even stopped and was well on her way to the warehouse by the time Havok and a few other officers caught up to her. When they made it to the harge doors, they didn't even bother to check to see if they were unlocked, simply busted it down. Both Hawkeye and Havok had their guns drawn as soon as they made it inside and looked around the open area. Looking up their saw red and blue flashes and the forms of two people moving quickly inside the upper office.

"Lieutenant!" Havok shouted as Hawkeye ran forward and lined up a shot. When she fired he could tell that she'd never intended to hit anyone, but the way the bullet hit caused the glass to shatter and fall from the frame.

Everything froze in the office as the window suddenly shattered and a bullet hole appeared in the ceiling, the sound of gunfire continued to echo throughout the warehouse. Scar looked around at his possible targets, then smirked towards Roy. Everyone in the room went on the sudden defensive, ready to all out attack Scar if he made any move towards Roy. They watched him carefully as he took a few steps backwards toward the now broken window and looked over his shoulder. Move his arm back, Scar knocked out the rest of the glass, but continued to smirk towards Roy Mustang. The tall man glanced over his shoulder once again, then looked back at Roy, the smirk never leaving his face. Without a word, Scar then turned around, placed his hand against the wall to blow it open, then jumped. It only took a moment for Roy's fears to be realized and he quickly moved towards the newly formed opening.

"Riza!"