Al tiptoed over to his brother's bed. It was getting pretty late in the morning and Ed still hadn't woken up. He poked the lump twisted up in the sheets. "Ed? Brother, get up!" He heard a moan emitted from the unmoving body. Al shook him a little harder. "Ed, wake up!" Ed shot upright and yelled, "No wait, those are my waffles!" and looked around, disoriented. "What… Al, why did you wake me up?" he groaned. Al chuckled. "Ed, it's almost 11! Come on, we have to get to work!" Ed pulled the sheets over his head, and Al heard a muffled "Ten more minutes." So Al picked up the bed and tipped it over. Everything on the bed, Ed included, fell into a heap on the floor. Ed leaped up screaming at Al, "What do you think you are doing! This isn't funny Al! I was trying to sleep! How can you be so heartless!" and he started chasing Al around the room. The maid walked in with a confused look on her face. "Is, um, everything okay in here?" she asked timidly. "No it's not okay, my own brother overturned a bed on my head!" yelled Ed. The maid watched the scary scene as she tiptoed out of the room, pillows flying and metal clanking the whole time.

After breakfast, the two headed out to look for more clues about the explosion. They had talked to the people who lived near the lab, but they weren't very close; they were so far away they hadn't heard or seen much during the explosion. No one even knew exactly what had been happening there, which Ed found a little odd. Either the alchemists were really secretive or the townspeople didn't want anyone to know about it. Al didn't think the locals were acting suspicious, but Ed didn't want to rule out the possibility that the whole town was in on some secret. Why would Mustang send him just to clean up an accident at some lab, unless he thought there was something bigger going on?

They stopped by the pharmacist first, hoping he'd know about the local alchemists. The two brothers entered the shop with a few minor glances, especially Al's way, and approached the counter. The pharmacist looked out from a back room. "Can I help you?" he asked. "Yeah, we're wondering what you know about the explosion that happened the other day," inquired Ed. The pharmacist looked up in thought, then replied, "Hm, I remember hearing a loud rushing noise, then the explosion, and we all rushed out to see what was happening. We didn't see much, it was over by then, but we did see the results pretty well. The police asked me to come check on the only survivor, but by the time we got there he'd already died. I'd ask the police about it, but I'm sure you boys already did. Other than that, though, I'm afraid there's not much I can do to help you." He shrugged. Ed thought for a moment. "Thanks, I guess we'll have a talk with the cops again. Come on, Al," he looked towards Al, who was crouched on the ground petting the store cat, and they both grinned.

Ed and Al headed towards the police station again. They had questioned the cops first, but they hadn't mentioned any survivors to them. When the brothers asked them again, one said, "Oh yeah, there was a survivor, but he didn't last very long. An explosion that big, I'm not surprised. We got him out of the wreckage and onto a stretcher, he was in really bad shape, we didn't think he'd last long. He didn't even make it to the hospital. Sorry kid, that's all I know," the policeman finished. "And you don't have any idea what they were researching there?" Ed asked. The cop held out his arms and shook his head. "Nope, they kept to themselves mostly, but I think they were doing something with plants or animals; they went into the woods a lot at night, we caught them but they weren't doing anything suspicious, for alchemists anyway. They were carrying a bunch of plants, so we didn't question the matter further." Now Ed was really puzzled, but he didn't see how learning that helped him any. They could have been doing anything in there, maybe building bombs out of plants, and they'd never know. He sighed. "Thanks for your time, officer," and they walked out.

Ed had pretty much given up by now, but Al suggested they take a look at the site one more time, so back they went. "Al, this is hopeless, we've already searched here, and we didn't find anything," Ed whined. They had no leads, and no one knew anything. Ed was ready to leave and report that it was just a lab accident. "Come on brother, I'm sure there's something we've missed here. I'll check the middle again," Al said. Ed sighed. "Okay Al, I'll check over there, maybe some stuff flew over by those trees." Ed trudged towards the nearby woods, still seeing nothing suspicious in the dirt. He wished he knew if what they were doing here could have caused an explosion like this. It didn't look like they caused it, but he still wasn't sure. He reached the edges of the wrecked lab and started poking around the bushes, looking for any signs of disturbance. Ed reached down into the shrubbery and pulled his hand back when he saw something shiny glinting there. Curious, he peered closer into the shadows of the undergrowth, and put his hand down again into the bush to see what it was. He felt something small, and heard a squeak, and when he pulled his hand up he leaped back in surprise at what he'd found.