CHAPTER 3: RESCUE OPERATION

German Army Base – July, 1943

Alphonse Elric sat alone in the small cell. Above him dangled a single light-bulb that barely provided enough illumination to see the rest of the room. Not that there was much to see, the room was perhaps no more then ten by ten feet and walled in by grey concrete bricks. Besides the heavy steel door which had a grating to allow ventilation, there was nothing else.

Al just sat there, with his head tucked in between his knees. His clothes were worn, ragged, and soiled black and brown. Fresh bruises, cuts and scrapes where evident all over his face and body but he refused to acknowledge the pain. He felt utterly exhausted and fought hard to keep his eyes from closing and letting his mind slip into unconsciousness. But no matter how much he strained himself, he felt his eye-lids getting heavier.

"Huh?" He was startled awake by the squealing of the rusty hinges announcing the opening of the cell door. Before he could stand up, Edward Elric came flying into the room, landing hard on his front side. The bright light in the corridor beyond the room blinded Al and he could only make out a silhouette of the person standing in the door frame.

"We'll continue this tomorrow." The voice was deep and brooding and the figure moved off as the door was shut.

"Brother!" Al turned towards Ed who was coughing in agony. Ed's clothes weren't any better than Al's, which where either covered in dirt or soaked in blood. Al hurried to his brother's side and helped him sit up on the hard, cold floor. "Are you alright?" Al asked with worry.

"I'm alive." Ed coughed out as he wiped some blood from the edges of his mouth. "They really worked me hard that time." Al let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness you're okay brother." Al sat down besides Ed. "You were gone for an awful long time."

"Yea." Ed started to inspect the wounds on his battered body and Al noticed that his brother had obtained some fresh ones. "How long do you think it's been Al?" Ed asked weakly, referring to how long it has been since they were captured.

"I don't know, days? Weeks?" Al muttered in reply. "I haven't seen a window in awhile. I've completely lost track of the time." Then the younger Elric looked up towards the older one. "Brother?" Ed turned to face him. "Do you think we'll ever get out of here?" Ed looked back at the door and grinned defiantly.

"Yea Al, we will."

"What do you have for me Lieutenant?" A group of sixteen men were huddled in the bushes whose shadows hid them in the darkness of the night. The men were all dressed in dark green camouflaged fatigues, matching berets except for one who wore red and all were clad in black boots. Most of them had knap-sacks strapped onto their backs and they were all carrying a variety of firearms.

"Doesn't look so good Colonel." One of them replied in a whisper to the one sporting the red beret. He used a stick he found in the bushes and drew a rough square in the dirt ground and marked a pair of X's on two adjoining sides. "I counted at least twenty Jerries on the north and west sides, and less on the other. They also got guard towers and patrols along the parameter."

"What about the fence?" The Colonel asked.

"Single layer chain-link with barbed wire on top. We can cut through them if we need to. Problem is; we got bout two hundred, maybe two-fifty yards of clearance to the fences from all sides." A few seconds ticked by as the Colonel considered his options.

"Stealth entry?" The one answering the questions shook his head.

"Don't see how we bloody can. They got search lights doing sweeps, that and the patrols are too tight to get in between them." The Colonel let out a grunt.

"Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way." A few of the men grinned at the prospect. "Major?" A man in the group moved forward. "I'll take Stanley, Lloyd and Bannerman. You'll be knocking on the door from the west." He said, pointing to one side of the square drawn in the dirt.

"Diversion?" The major asked.

"Yes. Take the rest of the squad, get and hold the Jerry's attention. We'll be sneaking in from the east to secure the objective. See if you can find us some transportation too." He turned to look at two of the soldiers. "George and Heath, you'll be covering our entry. Soon as we're in, reposition to support the Major and his assault." They nodded. "I just hope the floor plans those Yanks gave us are accurate." He looked at his wrist-watch. "We commence the operation in 10 minutes. Major, don't forget the signal."

"Don't you worry about that Colonel, I'll be lighting some real pretty fireworks tonight." The Major said smiling as the Colonel waved at the rest of his troops.

"Let's move out!"

"How many times did they take your automail off?" Al asked softly. The Elrics were laying flat-out on the floor. The cold ground was almost therapeutic in that it numbed their senses and dulled some of the pain they were in.

"I lost count after ten." Ed said, grimacing at the thought. The Nazi researchers had been disconnecting and reconnecting his automail limbs numerous times in an effort to try to understand how it works. "If I didn't know better, I'll say they were enjoying it."

"They keep asking me where we hid the bomb." Al chuckled. "I can't believe I haven't spilled the beans yet."

"They stopped asking me awhile ago." Ed said. "They're probably more interested in my automail now."

"What did you tell them?" Al queried.

"Nothing. What could I tell them?" Ed sounded irritated because he thought it was a stupid question. "I don't even know the how the damned thing works. Stupid idiots won't believe me though; they think I'm the one who made it."

"You didn't tell them about Winry did you?" That seemed to have struck a nerve with Ed but he was too tired to be annoyed.

"I'm not dumb Al." Ed paused to yawn sheepishly. "It doesn't matter anyway, it's not like they can do anything to her."

"Do you miss her brother?" Al asked but Ed didn't answer. After a minute of silence Al continued, "You were dreaming about her again the night we got caught." Ed frowned.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ed said plainly.

"Her spaghetti was always terrible. I wonder if she's learned to cook it properly by now." Al poked a little further but Ed would have none of it.

"Al…"

"I know brother." Al stopped, and shut his eyes. "This is our world now." Both brothers remained silent and Ed continued staring at the faintly-lit light, almost mesmerized by it until he heard his brother snoozing. Ed looked at the light once more before closing his own eyes so he could get some rest.

"I never said goodbye to her."

"That's our signal!" The Colonel said to himself. Off in the distance on the other side of the base was a bright fireball rising into the cool night sky. Sirens and alarms immediately cried out and further shattered the quiet. The Colonel and his team had managed to painstakingly crawl on their bellies to just within a hundred yards of the fence but they dared venture no further till now.

"Move move move!" He yelled, as he stood up and charged the fence with his three team-mates behind him. He saw that the guards in the watch tower were pointing at them but they quickly fell to the two snipers covering their approach. The team reached the fence, and the Colonel, Bannerman and Stanley raised their silenced Sten sub-machineguns to cover Lloyd who produced a pair of wire-cutters from his pocket and begin creating a new entrance in the fence.

"The Major wasn't kidding about those fireworks!" Stanley said as another explosion rocked the ground.

"I probably shouldn't have given him so many grenades." The Colonel bemused.

"Done!" Lloyd backed off as the Colonel kicked in the piece of fence that was cut to open the hole. He crawled through first as the others covered him and they entered the base one by one. They scanned the area and saw that all the guards had gone to repel the Major's attack.

"Over there! Go!" The Colonel waved to one of the grey concrete and windowless buildings marked by a number 13 and the group moved hurriedly but carefully to it. They reached the door which was lit by an overhead lamp, and checked that it wasn't locked. They took positions besides the door with their backs to the wall and opened it and were promptly greeted by a hail of bullets. The Colonel retrieved his head in time to save it, and waved at Stanley who nodded and pulled out a fragmentation grenade from his belt.

"Fire in the hole!" Stanley yelled and chucked the bulbous object in the door, two seconds later an explosion shook everything around them. The Colonel carefully peered inside and saw the corpses of the guards messily sewn about the hallway. The group moved in, jogged down the corridor, all the while keeping their silenced Stens up and ready. They weaved through the building, disposing the few guards that had remained and finally entered a long hallway that had a string of cells on both sides marked by heavy steel doors.

"Lloyd, Bannerman, secure the other end. Stanley, help me check the cells." The Colonel ordered and the two begin opening each door. Halfway down the Colonel found a cell occupied by two young males sitting on the floor; they had blonde hair and very wide-opened golden eyes and both look like they've been put through some serious abuse.

"Edward and Alphonse Elric?" The two looked startled to hear their names.

"Yes… that's us, who're you?" One of them stammered. The Colonel motioned for Stanley to help them up.

"British Special Air Service, we're here to get…" He started but was cut off.

"Colonel!" Stanley waved his Sten towards the unguarded end of the hall and at two German troops aiming their MP40 sub-machineguns at them. But because Stanley was carrying Edward and had only one free arm he couldn't fire his gun.

"Damn!" The Colonel gritted his teeth, and instinctively shoved Al, Ed and Stanley by accident down to the floor. He dropped to his knees and ducked in time to avoid the first wave of bullets fired at him. As he did so he swung his right arm out, unleashing two small silver knives that darted across the air and struck the two Germans between their eyes. The threats both slumped to the floor dead. The Colonel turned towards the other direction and noticed Bannerman and Lloyd running towards him.

"Bannerman! Radio the Major; we're getting out of here." He barked. The soldier nodded, pulled a very large radio out of his bag and spoke into it.

"Silent Fox to Noisy Bear, precious cargo secured, fall back to mother den." Lloyd helped Al to his feet, and Stanley slung his arm under Ed's shoulder to help him walk and they started retracing their steps with the Colonel and Bannerman covering them. The group emerged from the building where they had entered and headed towards the courtyard of the base, there the other team was tangled in an intense fire-fight fiercely defending a truck from a number of German soldiers. Fire and burning vehicles could be seen scattered throughout the grounds of the base. The Colonel's group ran to join their compatriots.

"Major, report!" The Colonel yelled as he ran up to the officer busily exchanging gunfire. Behind them, some of the soldiers were helping the Elrics get into the vehicle.

"Hurry, get in the lorry." One of them said as he boosted Al up into the back.

"Bloody short pipsqueak." The one helping Edward complained. Ed turned and looked at him in pure rage.

"WHO YOU CALL…" Ed started but a hard slap to the back of his head by Al caused him to snap his mouth shut.

"Brother! Not now!"

"We lost Robinson and Gladstone." The Major responded and the Colonel grimaced at the news but they had no time to mourn.

"Alright, I think it's time we left." The rest of the troops jumped onto the truck and the driver floored it, turning the bulky vehicle around and roared out of the base. Al and Ed tucked themselves into a corner in the back as the British troops poured gunfire out the back to discourage any pursuers. After a few minutes, the base disappeared out of the sight and the peacefulness of the night returned save for the rumbling of the truck's engine.

"I think we're alright sir, we blew up everything that could move besides this thing." The Major said, pointing to the floor.

"Good work, keep your eyes open though." The Colonel padded the officer on the shoulder.

"We should reach the landing field well before sunrise." The Colonel nodded and moved to the Elrics who looked like they were still in shock.

"Are you hurt?" He asked them. Both shook their heads and the Colonel relaxed a little, relieved and all. "Which one of you is the older one?" Al pointed at Ed. Edward looked at the Colonel closely; this is the first time he's had a good look at his rescuer and noticed something that definitely caught his attention. Red eyes?

"Who are you?" Ed demanded, sounding a little hostile.

"Brother!" Al was surprised at his rudeness. The Colonel smirked back at them.

"My apologies, we haven't had a chance for proper introductions." He said, and offered his hand to the Elrics to shake. "I'm Colonel Gabriel Mackenzie."

To Be Continued…