Hughes looked over the tarp-covered corpses with a deep-set scowl on his face, "He's always one step ahead of us." He said. He was disappointed that not only had this bastard been taken by Scar, but he didn't have the chance to speak to Tucker himself and give him a piece of his mind about what he had done, father to father.

"We better catch up to him quickly, because the way things are going…" Major Armstrong didn't finish his sentence, both him and Hughes known the implications of not catching this alchemist killer.

Roy looked between the two of them with a frown, having no idea what they were talking about, and he didn't like it. He couldn't afford to be out of the loop if he was to fulfill his plans to become Fuhrer. And the fact that the Central investigations department had arrived for this, and knew what was going on, he liked that even less. "You sound as though you were expecting this." His friends looked over at him at his words, almost like they had forgotten he was there, "Fill me in."

Hughes didn't look pleased with his request and he sighed, "Fine, but not here. We might as well put away the paperwork while we talk in private." He didn't want news like this getting out and causing a panic in East City if he could help it.

"Whatever works." Mustang didn't care how he got his information so long as he got it. "We'll grab your student on the way out." Mustang nodded to the Major as he said this, the three of them making their way out just as a car pulled up on the scene.

"She had quite the violent reaction to chimeras, I hope this hasn't damaged any appreciation she had for the alchemic arts." The Major worried over his young student.

"Well, so long as she's calm I think we'll be okay," Hughes said as they made their way out the front door, seeing only one person standing in the yard as she saluted them.

"At ease, Lieutenant," Roy said. The Major looked around, his figure towering over the walls of the property easily, but not seeing any sign of his student anywhere.

"Reporting as ordered, sir." The lieutenant said as she lowered her hand, "How is the investigation going?"

"We've apparently got a suspect," Roy looked back at Hughes who came up to her.

"We'll fill you in on the way to East Headquarters." He said, he looked back over his shoulder to see the Major was making his way to the sides of the house, "Major, what are you doing?"

"Amelia is gone." Armstrong turned around, and Hughes immediately stiffened.

"There was a guard here, she couldn't have just left." Roy went over to the one that stood at his post, "You, soldier." The man stood at attention and saluted him, "There was a girl out here a while ago, what happened?"

"Sir, she left." The guard answered.

"Where did she leave?" Roy asked, and the soldier's face paled a little as he realized he had done something he wasn't supposed to.

"Sir, I didn't ask." Roy frowned at his response.

"Did you know that girl was a convicted felon? And you just let her walk away?" He growled out.

"I-I didn't know she was a felon, sir!" The man's voice wavered out of nervousness as he spoke to his angry superior.

"Well, did she say anything to you before she left?" Roy asked him another question.

"Yes, sir." And the group started to feel a little relief at knowing there was some clue, "She said, 'afternoon' before she left, sir." And that killed the relief they felt.

"Damn it." Hughes cursed under his breath, "If we don't get her back, this means all kinds of trouble."

Armstrong's eyes were wide as he looked down the streets, the rain having washed away any chance of tracking her, especially on pavement. His student had escaped…

Amelia kept running until she was sure she had put a good distance between herself and the Tucker house. She still had trouble believing that she had actually managed to get away, but she had. She felt her adrenaline pounding through her veins as she made her way to the train station. The rain still came down and she still had the trench coat over her head with her textbook still under her arm. She had this chance, she should take it! Even though she wasn't really sure where she was going to go, she just needed to find a map first… and then maybe get a better lay of the land, find a way home somehow.

Though as she walked further in the direction she thought the train station was, the less certain she was that it was the right way. She looked up at buildings she didn't recognize, seeing signs that didn't look familiar at all… she hadn't been paying attention to any of this when she was making the way from the train station to the crime scene, but she couldn't have known it would be this easy to get away from her alchemy teacher and the military. She kept walking, thinking it would be good to ask someone for directions, though not a lot of people were out and about in the rain. Still, there had to be someone around here that she could ask, so she kept walking.

As she came around a block, she noticed a pair of soldiers talking at the end of the sidewalk, and she froze for a second. She had no idea if they knew her as Armstrong's student or not, but she didn't want to risk them recognizing her and dragging her back. She ducked into an alley to hide as she watched them turn and start to make their way up the sidewalk. She ran until she came to a set of boxes and crouched down behind them, looking out to see if the soldiers had noticed her in her hiding place. Her hands gripped at the alchemy textbook tighter as she hid, waiting for them to pass. As they started to round the corner, she ducked back and pressed herself so that she was completely hidden by the boxes.

What she now realized since she was no longer facing the soldiers was that this hiding spot was already occupied. She looked over to see a man beside her in a yellow jacket, with dark skin and white hair. Smoked spectacles hid his eyes, but not the massive scar over his face. She felt her heart racing as she realized she must have found the spot next to him without realizing, but she felt a little relief as he brought a finger up to his lips, the universal symbol of keeping quiet as he pointed to the backs of the two chatting soldiers as they went past the alley. So he was hiding from them, too?

When the soldiers were gone, he stood, and so did she. She looked up at him, seeing that his scar was in the shape of an X… Why did that seem to ring warning bells in her head? "Um, thanks for not giving me away." She said.

"You're hiding from the military as well?" The man asked in a gruff voice that intimidated her a little, but she nodded anyway.

"I'm technically an escaped convict. Well… 'escaped' as in I escaped just now." She didn't know why she was telling this man, he could easily turn her in! She already cursed herself for saying it, but as she looked up at him, she saw no sign he would give her away to someone else. But his eyes weren't focused on her, but on the book she held to her chest.

"You're an alchemist?" He said the word in a way that made her think he wasn't someone who liked that. She looked down at the book in her arms.

"I was supposed to be." She said, "I kind of made a deal to learn to be an alchemist to avoid jail time, but after what I've just seen, I'm never going to learn this stuff." She said, turning to the pile of boxes that were clearly garbage and tossing the book on top of them, watching it soak up the rainwater. "This is a really sick science, you know that? I saw these things called chimeras, they're fucking insane! Why would people just decide to break down an innocent animal and put it back together in a way it was never meant to be?!" The man said nothing in response, and she calmed herself a little, feeling a little foolish for saying that in front of him, "Well, I won't be learning it once I get to the train station and get out of here." She looked at the street behind him nervously, "You, uh, wouldn't happen to know if that street will take me there, would you?"

"The train station is over on the western side of town, most of the main roads head there." He said, and Amelia let out a little sigh of relief at getting some directions.

"Thank you so much." She stepped around him onto the street, and she paused, "Um… which way is west?" She asked, looking back at the man, who patiently pointed the correct direction. "Thank you!" She said, and she took off down the street again, keeping the trench coat over her head to keep some of the rain out of her face as she walked down the sidewalks, following the roads west. She looked back after a moment and saw that the man had gone. She shrugged off the weird feeling she felt in her gut and kept walking.

"Human foolishness never ceases to amaze me." Lust said as she looked out over the crowds of people rioting and killing each other in the streets as they carved out the crest of blood on their own accord, "Wouldn't you agree, Gluttony?"

"Fools, all of 'em!" Gluttony said as he looked out over the balcony of the church tower.

"Fools indeed, sad but true." The two figures looked over as an older man approached them, dressed in all black save for a white scarf, giving them a friendly, yet somehow devious smile as he stood at the top of the steps.

"Well, if it isn't the father." Lust greeted him.

"Yeah, father!" Gluttony greeted him as well.

"Sorry to have to put you to all of this trouble," Lust knew she wouldn't be able to keep up an act like his for too long, being the Father Cornello of the Church of Leto, leading the rioters with their idiotic beliefs in God and religion.

"As soon as we have everything handled here, I have my own responsibilities I need to get back to." The father said as he looked at her.

Lust chuckled a bit, knowing his duties weren't as great as the ones he had here, but he liked to hold himself in high regard. She saw no problem in letting him do that here, "The Fullmetal boy's interference was irritating, but at least we were able to make it work in our favor." She said as she looked back out over the rising towers of smoke from fires, "Looks like we'll finish up ahead of schedule."

"Manipulate a little information, spout some empty rhetoric to the believers, and you have a fine recipe for instant violence." The father said, looking out over the same view. "Humans are such simple creatures."

"Bloodshed gives way to more bloodshed, hatred breeds more hatred, until all of the violence soaks into the land, carving rivers of blood." It was a phrase they had said over and over again for hundreds of years as they created skirmishes and wars and riots such as these, "And no matter how many times it happens, they never learn. The human race is made up of violent, miserable fools."

"Who seem more than willing to play into our hands." The father commented, and Lust smiled.

"Are lots of people gonna die again?" Gluttony asked as he looked over the balcony.

"Yes, they will." Lust answered him.

"Ooh, can I eat all of them after they die?!" Gluttony asked eagerly, looking up at her hopefully.

Lust raised her hand to push down his bald head as she said, "No, you may not." and killed his enthusiasm for the moment. She looked over at the father, "By the way, Envy," The man looked up at the mention of his name, "Could you lose the old man costume? It's rather unattractive."

"Come on, I was just staying in character." He defended himself, but he shrugged, "But if you insist," He was surrounded by the red light of transmutation as his body grew smaller, thinner, more lean and muscular, his voice changing with his face, "This time around, I'll go with a younger, cuter model. What do you say?" By the end, he changed to a young man with long green hair that fanned out around his body in thick strands. He smiled at Lust with his new appearance, having putting a lot of thought into making himself look like this.

"A-A monster!" A shaking voice cried out from behind him. Envy turned to see Father Cornello's right hand behind him, pale-faced and terrified at the sight of Envy's change, "What's going on here? What have you done? What have you done with the real Father Cornello?!" He demanded, despite his shaking knees.

The homunculi ignored his questions as Lust said to Envy, "It's your call."

"He said I was a monster, I think that's quite rude, don't you?" He said with a noncommittal shrug.

"Can I eat him? Can I?" Gluttony asked, jumping at the opportunity to have a meal. The other two looked over at their fat and constantly hungry companion who had the widest grin on his dim face. The man went pale as he looked at the fat man that asked if he could eat him.

"Go ahead." Lust gave her permission, one of her fingers shooting out to go through the man's head. They didn't need him screaming anymore and bringing more attention their way. Gluttony let out a gleeful cheer as he went to the slumped corpse of the freshly dead man, biting into his leg and starting to chew through the bone. Envy, not wanting to get any of the blood on his new look, came over to the balcony as Gluttony ate away at his snack.

"Oh, hey, d'you hear the news?" Lust looked over at her companion as he spoke, "Shou Tucker, that alchemist in East City? He's dead."

"Tucker? Why should we care about a little nothing like him?" She asked, wondering why he was bringing it up.

"Because it was him who was responsible for the murder." Though a name wasn't spoken, they both knew who he meant. The man had been killing potential sacrifices left and right, and none of them were happy about that.

"Speaking of East City," Lust changed the subject with a deep-set frown, "Isn't that where the flame colonel's staying right now?"

"Yeah, and apparently the Fullmetal brat's there, too." Envy said, smirking a bit as he watched her angered reaction.

"Oh, is he?" Lust's brow furrowed as she only grew more angry at the thought of the Fullmetal Alchemist, "As furious as I am that he interfered with our work here, we can't very well let him die. He's an important sacrifice. We'll find some way of handling the situation."

"Yay, that was so yummy!" Gluttony cried out now that he had finished his snack, licking off the remains of blood on his fingers as the other two continued speaking.

"Tell me about the other alchemist that went into Central." Lust said, "I heard there's some promise?"

"The reports said she just appeared out of nowhere on top of a transmutation circle in the middle of the barracks." Envy said to her, "Wrath said the girl claims to be from a separate location entirely, another country."

"Which one?"

"None that we've ever heard of." Envy shrugged, "Probably some tiny nation in the middle of nowhere, it doesn't really matter."

"No, I suppose not." Lust said, "Still, teleportation through alchemy is very unusual."

"Wrath thought putting her with someone sentimental would ready her for it." Envy said, "The Strong Arm Alchemist doesn't show a lot of promise as a sacrifice, but he is a pretty big cry baby."

"Very true." Lust agreed with a small laugh, "I take it that means we wait until the opportune moment to strike that iron while it's hot?" Envy grinned even wider.

"If we give them enough time, we might just have a new sacrifice coming along." Envy said, "But we should wait for her to get properly attached to him, and then she might be tempted to open the portal if someone happens to drop the idea of human transmutation in front of her."

"How very delicious." Lust purred out, liking this plan.

Amelia followed down the streets, greeting a few people on the way as they walked past with a friendly smile and a nod. So far, no one seemed to recognize her, but these were civilians and she wasn't particularly worried about them. Still, she continued on the way she thought was west as the man had pointed out, but she had to take a few twists and turns here and there. The city was old, and it had the old roads that she would see in older towns, ones that traveled old pioneer tracks rather than just easy squares and boxes. She wasn't really used to it, and she soon found herself lost again.

She was just outside a park, looking over to her left she could see some kind of building with a clock tower at the top, and stairs leading up to it. In between the stairs was the same crest she had seen a few times on the walls around the office where the Major worked. She guessed it was the country's symbol or flag or something. She was used to seeing American flags everywhere, so seeing this new green one, with a picture of some kind of weird dragon with ribbon around it, was a little jarring for her. "At least you know this is a military town." She muttered as she looked up at the clock tower, seeing that it was a minute away from four o'clock, only to see it chime out loudly from a bell inside the clock tower.

When the chimes ended, she saw a bright light that she recognized from her first night in Central City, when the Major performed his transmutations. She could even hear the dull echo of the rapid reaction of transmutations, and part of her was curious as to what was going on, exactly. She could hear a voice yell, "Let's go, Al! Run for it!" before she saw two figures rushing for the stairs, one dressed in a massive suit of armor, and the other in a long red coat with blonde hair. She remembered them, too, the weird guys that ran alongside the Major that day! They were brothers, right?

Behind them stalked a figure that was even more familiar yet, dark skin and a yellow coat, it was the man she had seen before who gave her directions. She watched while the pair of brothers ran down the stairs, to have the scarred man destroy the stone balcony at the top of the building and jump down to meet them. Her eyes went wide as she watched him destroy the stairs the brothers stood on, the armored boy grabbing at the edge of the destroyed stairs as he grabbed his brother by the foot. The scarred man destroyed the stairs completely and she watched their bodies fall with a wince. The height wasn't enough to kill or maim, but it definitely looked like it hurt as the armored boy fell on his back, with the blonde landing on his knees. They tried to get away with a transmutation of their own, making the earth shoot up to get them further away, only to have the scarred man destroy the base of it so it clattered and came apart on the road as the brothers tried to land and run down the hill to get away.

Now she remembered why those alarms had gone off in her head when she met him. A man with a large scar on his face in the shape of an "X." He was the alchemist killer she had heard about, and now he was going after the alchemist brothers she had met! She had been that close to an alchemist murderer and never realized it. She could feel her body shaking as she heard the sounds of rocks crumbling while the brothers tried to get away.

She had to do something, she couldn't just leave them like that! This man was a mass murderer aimed specifically at people like them! She started to run down the hill as well, and was a little surprised at how she was not only able to keep pace with the brothers, but also in how she wasn't as out of breath as she thought she would be after a minute. Maybe this was the Major's training regiment kicking in? She didn't really dwell on it too much as she ran down the street, running on the other side that the brothers were on, not wanting to be seen by the killer as she ran past civilians and eventually got down to an alleyway. She ran through it, seeing that she had gone a little faster than the brothers and could still see them running as they got to the base of the hill, hearing the shouted thoughts as the blonde thought out loud, "Dammit, what the hell is this guy's problem? Making enemies isn't something that I… Well… I never really avoided it, but there's no reason someone should be trying to kill me!"

"Hey!" She shouted at them to get their attention, "This way!" She ran back into the alley, hearing their footsteps following her as they turned a corner, taking the way out she offered. She ran down the alley, and she heard that same echoing sound that came with transmutation, looking to her side as she saw light flowing along the wall as they ran and down to the alley, seeing the walls crumble and explode once it reached it. She felt a hand pulling her back before she was caught under the rubble and she fell on her ass, hard. She looked up to see the armored one had grabbed her, "Thanks." She said quickly, glad to be saved by him.

"Who are you, anyway?!" The blonde shouted and she looked back to see the killer standing at the other end of the alley, "Why are you after us?!"

"As long as there are creators like you in the world, there must also be destroyers." The man answered him.

"It looks like we're gonna have to fight." The blonde said. She watched as he clapped his hands and reached for one of the pipes that fell in the building's rubble, seeing it turn into a hand-held blade without a transmutation circle. Her eyes went a little wide at the sight of it, seeing the armored one stand up as well. They both took a fighting stance, while Amelia stayed where she was on the ground. She had no fighting experience, and she could feel her arms and legs shaking out of fear. This guy was going to kill them, and maybe her too. She had never been faced with a situation like this, and her mind had gone blank, she couldn't think of any options to get out as she stared at the man, who smirked at the sight of the brothers' eagerness to fight him.

"Gutsy one, aren't you?" And the two boys charged him with their own war cries, watching as the man quickly moved between them, "Too slow." He said as his hand reached for the side of the armored one, and she watched his armor explode into a crater. Her eyes went even wider when her brain realized there was no body in that armor. It was totally empty. She felt a chill run up her spine as she wondered just what the hell she was dealing with in this place as she stared at the man, who looked down at the fallen armor with as much shock as she did.

"Al!" The blonde turned around with a vicious look in his eyes, his blade held up high as he charged him again, "You bastard!" The man caught his arm before he could attack.

"You're too slow." He said, and she watched as the light came from a transmutation, but nothing happened other than the blonde getting pushed back, his blade dropping and sliding over not too far from her. Still, something should have happened there, right? She saw the blonde had gotten pushed and tumbled back, his coat falling over his eyes.

"Damn it!" He cursed as he threw off the coat, and she saw the completely metal arm that had been hiding underneath it.

"An automail arm," The man said as he stepped closer to the end of the alley, his focus on him rather than the armored boy, or herself, "That explains why my attacks didn't do the damage I expected. Most unusual."

She watched the blonde clap his hands together before putting one over the apparently automail arm, seeing a blade coming forward from it and extending past his hand. "Brother, don't! Just run away!" The armor pleaded as it could barely move from his spot.

"You idiot! I'm not gonna leave you behind, Al!" The blonde shouted back.

"You press your hands together to make a ring and then you perform transmutation," The man noted his observations out loud, "Now I see," the blonde brother made to charge, but he caught his arm again, one hand on the wrist, and the other on his shoulder, "Then I shall start by destroying this abhorrent right arm of yours!" She watched as the metal exploded into pieces, flying out across the street, the boy being thrown back. "Now you will not be able to use your heretic's alchemy." The blonde looked up at the man with wide eyes, and to Amelia he looked so horribly vulnerable, she could see he was as young as she was, and just as scared.

"Brother!" Al shouted at him, wanting him to run away, Amelia saw him trying to crawl back, first with his flesh arm, but his other arm was gone, so he fell on his side when he tried to use it like it was still there. Amelia looked over at the armor as he looked back at her. Even though there was no expression she could read, he was silently pleading with her to save his brother. Her gaze went down to the blade that the other one had transmuted earlier, hearing her heartbeat in her ears as her shaking hands reached for it.

"I will give you a moment to pray to God." The man said as he approached the blonde, who wasn't moving from his spot, he had given up.

"Brother! Run away! Brother!" Al shouted as Amelia picked up the blade, holding it out as she stood up. She could feel her knees shaking as she looked at the man's back as he walked closer to the blonde brother.

"Unfortunately, there isn't any God I'd like to pray to." She could hear him speaking in a dull tone, like he really had given up and he was ready for this moment. "Am I the only one you're trying to kill today? Or are you going after my brother Al, too?"

"If he interferes, I will eliminate him." The man said, "But Fullmetal Alchemist, you are the only one who is receiving judgment today. You alone." Amelia slowly stepped forward, the threat of her elimination in the air if she tried to stop him. She could still feel her hands shaking as she held out the blade, stepping closer to him slowly, still behind Al and his remains.

"Okay…" She watched the Fullmetal Alchemist lift up his head, "In that case, I want your word, promise me you won't hurt my brother!"

Al gasped at the mention of it, and the man replied with, "I will keep that promise."

"No… Brother, what are you trying to do?" Al asked in a pleading voice, "What are you thinking?! Run! Get up and run!" The man reached for his head, "No! Don't touch him! Stop!" Amelia felt if there was any time, she had to act now, she heard Al cry out, "No, you can't! Stop it!" and she ran forward with a scream of her own, only to have the man turn around and grab her by the arm and she was forced to a halt. The man paused when he recognized her from earlier, and she stared back at him, feeling hot tears running down her cheeks as she stared up at him.

Edward looked up when he heard the girl's shout, seeing her being held by her arms as the man had stopped her attack with the sword he'd made. Fear was written all over her face, brown eyes wide and watery, with pale skin, completely soaked from the rain as she stared up at him. He saw her body twitch as she held back sobs, hearing the hitches in her breath as she stared at him with grit teeth as she tried not to cry and failed horribly.

"Y-You can't… just…" Her words were shaky, her entire body trembled as she stared at him, her words broken apart by the gasps from her sobs, her hands dropping the blade as she saw the man glaring at her, he still held her by her hand. Edward and the girl both knew she was going to die now that she had interfered, but their thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a gun going off, and they turned to see a military squad had come, with Roy Mustang leading them.

"That's enough!" Roy announced, still holding his gun in the air, "You won't be killing anyone else today, Scar." He addressed the man with the name he had been given by their investigations department. "I am taking you into custody, where you will answer for the murders of at least ten state alchemists." Amelia was dropped by the man known as Scar as he turned to face the squad of military soldiers. She fell to her knees beside Edward as she looked over the squad, seeing a couple familiar faces of soldiers that had been with her when she was in prison, Breda and Havoc. Her breath had calmed as she looked at them, the shock of the situation making her stay still as she looked out over the group.

"Alchemists alter things from their natural form, perverting them to something else, something grotesque." Scar said as he faced them, "They profane God, the true creator of all things. As an agent of God, I am here to hand down his judgment. If you interfere, I will eliminate you as well."

Roy smirked at the challenge, "Oh, is that right?" He reached back to give his gun to a shocked Lieutenant Hawkeye, "You guys stay out of it."

"Colonel Mustang, sir!" Hawkeye protested, and Scar straightened at his name.

"Colonel Mustang, so this is the Flame Alchemist." He flexed his hand and stepped away from Amelia and Edward, "Volunteering yourself to receive judgment," He made a charge towards Mustang, "This is truly an auspicious day!"

"So you know who I am, and you still want to challenge me?" Roy asked, keeping his leisurely pace while his lieutenant started to run towards him, "Bad decision." He snapped his fingers, only for nothing to come out. The lieutenant swept her feet under the colonel before Scar had a chance to grab him, making the colonel fall on the ground while she shot at Scar, making him jump back and putting some distance between him and everyone else until he ran behind the corner of a building to avoid her gun fire. "Hey, Hawkeye! What the hell'd you do that for?!" The colonel shouted angrily.

"You know as well as I do you're useless on rainy days. Please stand back." She said, and the colonel felt like he had been slapped in the face with his uselessness and his stupidity for forgetting that.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot. It's kind of hard to get a spark going when it's rainy, huh?" Havoc said as he held out his hand to catch a few raindrops as they fell.

"It is fortunate that you can't create your blasphemous flames, state alchemist." Scar's voice came from where he was hiding behind the building, not seeing the hulking man that was coming up from behind him, "For I will destroy all who interfere with my mission right here and now!"

Armstrong raised up his gloved fist as he said, "I'd like to see you try it!" And slammed it down, to have Scar jump out of the way while the Major had left a rather large hole in the ground of the street.

"A newcomer?!" Scar growled at the sight of him.

"You have to be quick to avoid my fist!" Armstrong said, sounding impressed as he straightened himself, "Not bad, not bad at all." He stood and faced Scar, "You said you were going to destroy us all? In that case, why don't you start by defeating me?! We'll see how you fair against the Strong Arm Alchemist, Alex Louis Armstrong!" He challenged him as Hawkeye and Havoc ran over to Edward and Amelia, helping Edward to sit up as they came closer to the two of them, to keep them safe.

"Yet another state alchemist; God is putting them in my path for me." Scar said as he glared at Armstrong.

"Not backing down? In that case, your courage will earn you a demonstration!" Armstrong grabbed a chunk of the rubble he had made, looking at Scar with fiery determination as he held it up, "I'll show you the art of alchemy that has been passed down the Armstrong family for generations!" He threw the rubble up in the air and punched it with his glove, watching it transmute into a massive metal projectile that Scar just barely managed to avoid.

Amelia, leaned into the touch of whatever soldier was holding her as she watched the fight, glancing over to look at the blonde brother as he was in the same state as her, "Who is he?" He asked.

"That's the same man who murdered Mr. Tucker and his daughter." Havoc answered. Ed looked at him in shock, and then back at Scar.

"It's him?!"

The Major punched the ground, and Amelia watched as spikes grew up from the pavement, only to have Scar cut the one that would have pierced him in half with his own transmutations.

"Major, watch what you're doing! We don't want to destroy the city, do we?!" Havoc snapped at the Major.

"What do you mean?" Armstrong asked before he took off his shirt to show off his muscles as he spoke, "Destruction and creation are two sides of the same coin. You must destroy to create! That is the law of the universe!"

"Did he have to strip?" Hawkeye muttered.

"Are you surprised? He's clearly insane." Havoc said under his own breath.

Armstrong only gave a small laugh, "Non-alchemists may fail to see the inherent truth in that statement, but we understand, don't we Scar?" He asked his enemy, who stood before him still uninjured. Amelia's eyes widened as she realized he was an alchemist just like the Major, but he was only destroying things…

"So this killer is an alchemist, too." Roy said.

"That's it." Edward said, struck by his realization, "The stages for the transmutation process is construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction. This guy must just stop at the deconstruction phase."

"But if Scar is an alchemist as well, doesn't that mean he's strayed from whatever his ways of God are, too?" Havoc was confused by the situation, "So why is he killing state alchemists? What's the motive?"

Armstrong punched the ground once more, rubble flying up to push Scar back, which he easily deterred with a swing of his arm so that he wasn't hurt from any of it. He charged at him, trying to get in a few punches with a boxing stance that Scar was able to avoid easily enough. He dodged until his back was against a wall, "I have you cornered, Scar!" Armstrong made to hit him, as Scar reached out, only to hurriedly jump back and Amelia looked up as a rifle was pointed at him, and Lieutenant Hawkeye fired off three rounds, two going in the wall, but one managed to hit him, sort of. His glasses fell to the ground, and so did his blood from where he had been hit.

"Did you get him?" Roy asked.

"He's too fast, I only grazed him with one shot." Hawkeye said, sounding a little disappointed in herself, but as everyone looked, Amelia could see that this man had red eyes as he glared at all of them. She heard her teacher gasp when he saw it and she looked over, and he looked like he had seen a ghost.

"Red eyes and brown skin, that means he's…"

"Of course, he's an Ishvalan!" Roy exclaimed as he realized why this man was attacking them to begin with, though Amelia was completely lost. The fighting had stopped as Scar looked at all the guns aimed at him, and didn't look pleased with the state of things, "You might as well give up, Scar. You're not getting away."

Scar didn't listen as he put his hand to the ground, everyone covering their eyes from the blinding transmutation and stepping back from the ground as it shook and exploded into dust. When they looked back, there was a huge hole in the ground that led to the sewers, filled with rubble.

"Bastard is in the sewers…" Havoc growled out.

"Stay put, don't follow him in." Mustang ordered.

"Don't have to tell me twice." Havoc replied with a dry chuckle as he looked at the remains.

Armstrong made his way over to the colonel, his uniform back on his shoulders, though still open since he hadn't bothered to button it yet, "Sorry, Armstrong. But thank you for buying us enough time to surround him." Mustang said to him as the pair looked into the hole Scar had escaped through.

Armstrong shook his head dismissively, "I was hardly buying time, it was all I could do to keep myself from getting killed."

"Oh? Is it over now?" A voice piped up, and the two men looked back to see Hughes coming forward.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, where have you been this whole time?" Armstrong asked.

"I thought it best to lay low." Hughes replied.

"You didn't think about maybe backing us up?!" Roy snapped at him.

"Of course not!" Hughes' reply only seemed to make Roy angrier, "A person like me shouldn't get dragged into a freak show with you pack of pseudo-humans! It's bad for my health!" He turned to the other soldiers, "Don't just stand there, we've got things to do! Deploy troops, circulate his description!" The others saluted him with a "Yes, sir!" before running to do as he said.

"Oh, no, Alphonse." Edward got up and ran to his brother, who had managed to get put up beside a wall to sit instead of lying on his belly, "Alphonse!" He put his hand on his brother's armor, looking at him with concern, "Al, talk to me, are your alright?"

Amelia felt someone pulling her up and she looked up to see her teacher helping her to stand as Edward tried to figure out if his brother was okay.

"So… is that suit of armor his younger brother?" Amelia asked, looking over at the two of them.

"There's got be a long story behind this one." Havoc muttered as he stepped a little closer to the sight of them talking. When Edward kept asking his brother if he was okay, he was met with a punch in the face that sent him stumbling back.

"Why didn't you run away when I told you to?!" Alphonse demanded, "What kind of idiot are you?!"

"No way! I'm not just gonna run away and leave you behind!" Edward snapped back angrily.

"This is exactly why you're an idiot!" Alphonse yelled before he punched his brother again, watching as Edward was pushed onto his backside as he held the spot Al punched.

"What do you keep punching me like that for?" Edward asked, "If I had run away, you could have been killed, you know that?"

"And maybe I wouldn't have been!" Al snapped, "Making the decision to die is something only an idiot does!"

"Hey, easy on the idiot stuff, I'm still your older brother, got it?!"

"I'll say it all I want to!" Al reached out and grabbed his brother shirt, pulling him closer so he could look at him, "Survival is the only way, Ed. Live on, learn more about alchemy. You could find a way to get our bodies back and help people like Nina. You can't do that by dying!" Edward gaped at his brother as he lectured him, "I won't allow you to abandon the possibility of hope and choose a meaningless death!" There was some clattering and Alphonse's arm fell off, which only seemed to make the situation worse, "Oh, great! And now my arm's come off because my brother's a big, fat idiot!" Edward grimaced at the sight of the fallen arm and hung his head.

He laughed to himself as he said, "We're really falling apart, aren't we, brother?" He smiled wryly to himself, "We look like we belong in a junkyard."

Al was quiet for a moment before he said, "...But we're still alive." Edward nodded.

"We are."

Hughes looked at the show with a small grimace, "Good grief, I've stumbled into an extra-special kind of freak show, huh?" He asked, earning a chuckle from the colonel.

"Yeah, sorry." He apologized to his friend.

Hughes shrugged it off, "Hey, don't worry, I won't tell anyone upstairs. If this got out, things would get complicated."

"Yeah, the older brother aside, I wouldn't even know how to begin to explain the younger brother's body." Roy agreed. They watched as Hawkeye and Havoc came over, with Hawkeye putting her military jacket over Ed's shoulders to warm him as the rain stopped, and the sun started to come out. Amelia stayed beside her teacher, trailing behind him as he came over to check on the boys himself.

Hughes looked over at his friend with a sympathetic grin, "I don't envy you. This is one tough customer you're dealing with."

"And now we know he's Ishvalan…" Mustang knew this explained a lot of things, but it still didn't make his job any easier.

Amelia stayed just behind her teacher as he smiled gently at the younger brother, "You took quite a beating there, Alphonse. We'll make sure to pick up every piece of you that we can find."

"Thank you, Major." Alphonse said, and he looked back behind his shoulder to see Amelia standing there, holding tight to her too-large trench coat that she had been given, "It's Amelia, right?" She looked up when he called her name.

"Um, yeah." She said with a small nod.

"Thank you for trying to help us." Alphonse said, and Amelia frowned, looking down sadly.

"No, don't thank me… I could hardly do anything." She said quietly, frustrated and ashamed of how little she could do in that moment other than be terrified and make a futile attack.

"But you still tried to help, even when you were so scared." Alphonse said encouragingly, making her lift her head, "That means a lot to me, so thank you."

Amelia blushed embarrassedly at the genuine gratitude, not used to having people thank her, "But I… I couldn't do anything, I couldn't even fight, I-"

"Miss Seymour, that is enough." Her teacher cut her off and she looked over at him, "You fought against what was most likely a certain death. That kind of bravery is worthy of gratitude, you should accept his thanks with grace." She flushed as she got lectured on manners by him and she nodded.

"Y-You're welcome." She said quietly to Alphonse, her head ducking down shyly, her hands still holding onto the collar of her trench coat. He stood up and put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her, giving her a squeeze.

"You were remarkably brave today, Miss Seymour, and I am proud of you." He praised her, and she looked away from him. She couldn't really accept his praise in this situation, "But why did you leave the Tucker estate?" She froze at the question, knowing she would be in trouble if they knew she had been attempting to escape.

"I'm actually wondering that, too." Roy said, him and Hughes coming over to get a closer look at her. She could feel that fear starting to creep back into her body, "You were told to wait outside, what made you think it was a good idea to just run off like you did when you're a convicted felon? Were you trying to escape?"

"N-No!" She said quickly, "No, I wasn't escaping, I…" She thought of her excuse in a split second, "I saw Scar walking past the house, and I recognized his description as that alchemist killer guy." She said, speaking clearly so they could understand every word, "I was following him to see if there was anything I could do to stop him or tell you guys where he was going." She looked up at her teacher, "I swear, that's what I was doing, I wasn't escaping, I was trying to help you guys!"

"I find that a little hard to believe." Hughes said as he crossed his arms, and Amelia started to panic when they didn't buy her story.

"No, really! I'm being totally honest! You think I would try to dig myself into a deeper hole by trying to escape after being threatened with jail?!" She said, her voice going up higher as she frantically tried to prove she wasn't lying when she was, "I'm not stupid, you guys run this entire country, there's nowhere I could go where you wouldn't find me. And where would I even go anyway? I have no idea where my home is!"

Hughes and Roy shared a look before looking up at Armstrong, silently asking his opinion on the situation. He looked down at his student, who looked back at him with pleading eyes, needing him to believe her if she was going to get out of this.

"She's telling the truth." The Major said, and she let out a visible sigh of relief, her shoulders slumping over, "She's been a dutiful student, I firmly believe she was trying to help." Hughes sighed and looked over at her.

"Fine, consider this a warning. You leave without any supervision, and we'll charge you with escaping and add that onto everything else." He warned her, and she nodded quickly. So much for her escape plan going through… They were probably going to keep a much closer eye on her now, and her chance for getting out was probably going from next-to-none to none.

She looked over at the brothers as Havoc worked on getting all the pieces of Alphonse's armor while Hawkeye helped Edward to his feet. She met eyes with Edward, and she looked back, unsure of what to say. He smiled at her briefly, his own show of gratitude for what she had done, and she looked away from him with that blush coming back to her cheeks.

Maybe it wasn't so bad her plan fell through. At least she was able to help, if only as a distraction.