See disclaimer in Chapter One

Colonel Mustang greeted Hawkeye as she stepped out of the car. When we followed her, his face went blank. He stared at me, daring me to speak. "Well?" His eyebrow raised. "Are you ready to cooperate with a failure like me?" A note of anger crept into his voice.

I sighed. "Look, as long as we catch Envy, I don't care who I'm stuck with." No way in hell am I going to out and apologize for anything, but I did need to let him know that I'm willing to start on a better footing this time.

He grunts, turning away and looking to Al. A small smile quirks into Mustang's face, and Al waves sheepishly. "Hello, Alphonse. Ready to kick an ass that isn't related to you?"

I could feel my eye twitch as I held back a snarky retort, trying to maintain what little remained of my calm exterior.

Al giggled. "Sure, Colonel. I can always use some exercise against an opponent I can't predict."

"I am not that predictable, Al!" I groaned, gritting my teeth.

"It's okay, brother. You do only have two limbs that won't break if they hit me. Your options are limited."

I raised my fist in an attempt to threaten my little brother into courtesy, but before I could say anything, Mustang waved a hand between us sharply. "Hold it, Fullmetal. You too, Al. We've got a transmission coming in from the scene."

He picked up a receiver that Sergeant Fury offered him, raising an eyebrow as the soldier on the other end began speaking immediately. "Huh?" Mustang's eyes narrow. "What do you mean, you're under attack?...Only one assailant?...What do palm trees have to do with this?!" The Colonel winced as the phone issued an explosive blast of sound that I could hear from over five feet away.

"What was that?!" Al looked at me, then back at Mustang, who was trying not to crush the receiver he was holding.

"That was the sound of that damn homunculus attacking my men!" Mustang slammed the phone onto its hook, causing Fury to stumble back as he whirled around to face Hawkeye. "Lieutenant! Take the Elric brothers to the car. I'll follow as soon as I nail down their location." Turning back to Fury, he barked an order that was barely intelligible through the anger in his voice.

Sergeant Fury saluted and gave the Colonel a street name. He stormed towards the car, gesturing to me and Al. "Why aren't you in the car already?!"

"Er, s-sorry sir!" Al stuttered. I just shook my head and climbed into the large automobile. Al squeezed in next to me, hunching his metal body in order to fit into the back seat. Hawkeye took the wheel, and the Colonel jumped into the passenger seat, pulling on two of his ignition gloves.

"Do you have the briefcase? They might try dumping water on me, knowing these inhuman assholes." Hawkeye nodded, and the Colonel grinned smugly.

"Yeah, Mustang, because having extra sets of gloves is going to stop Envy in his tracks." I sighed, shaking my head. "He's too smart to let himself get caught anywhere near you. The only reason he'd even think of it is if he wanted to torment you about something before he killed you."

Hawkeye glowered at both Mustang and I before turning to face the road ahead once again. Once we were clear of civilian traffic, she put the pedal to the metal, driving all three of us back into our seats as we shot past the remnants of the barricade the military police had set up. Al stared at the destruction. "That looks like them, alright," he commented glumly. Huge gaping trenches had been taken out of the ground and surrounding buildings, and hands, feet, and guns were lying haphazardly near them.

"I swear we're gonna give Envy exactly what's coming to him." I said grimly. I'm glad we were able to convince Winry to stay behind. I don't think she'd be able to handle this for long. Even I was barely able to keep myself from growing sick at the grisly reminder of our enemies' power.

"I'm with you on that, Fullmetal," Mustang grunted. "I don't care how superior they think they are, nobody messes around with my troops without dealing with me."

Hawkeye brought the car to a skidding halt, and we filed out into the town square to see the homunculus Envy waiting for us, sitting on a pile of dead soldiers. "Sorry for the mess, Sparky, but they got in my way." Colonel Mustang bristled.

"You're playing a dangerous game, homunculus. Surrender now and I won't kill you as painfully as I did your busty sibling." He held out his hands, fingers at the ready. The transmutation circles sewn into the backs of his gloves glowed slightly.

"Be careful, Mustang. Gluttony is still itching to know what you taste like."

"Enough with the chitchat!" I shout. "You know why we're here, Envy!"

Envy's narrow face lit up as his imperious gaze fell on me. "Oh, hey there, pipsqueak! Almost didn't see you there." His malicious grin widened. "I knew I needed a better magnifying glass!"

"Shut your damned mouth, palm tree!" I snarled. "You had better tell us what your game is before we pummel you into the ground and roast the stain you leave! Were you the one who attacked Winry?" The grind of metal scraped across my ears as my right fist clenched.

The homunculus tapped his chin, a mocking grin flicking across his face as he leaned back in his grisly throne. "Can't say I remember one way or the other, pipsqueak. Maybe you could jog my memory?" He suddenly snapped forward, staring me right in the eyes. "She was the one I beat with a bat, right? Over and over and over? You know, I was honestly surprised at how loud she screamed. Even with three broken ribs, she could really howl!" His eyes flashed red as the manic smile grew wider. "If I remember correctly, your name popped up around five or six times! Ahahahahaha! Oh, and don't get me started on her stamina! It took about ten minutes for her to stop struggling! I always liked my girls to have a bit of fight in them, but damn!"

"I knew you were sick, Envy," Alphonse shouted, "but this is low even for you!" His voice trembled, and I could see his fists shaking with strain.

"Low?" Envy's face fell into a grim frown. "I'll show you low, tin man. Just look at your failure of a military, who couldn't catch me even when I was right in front of them! To think that it took two kids playing hero to figure out that I was even involved at all! What a joke!" He stood, red light flashing across his features as he changed shape. The man standing on the pile of corpses was now a tan-skinned hulk, burly and cruel as the scar on his lip. "I always did like this face. Intimidating and easy to recognize, which of course means that even a small change would keep me from any recognition at all!" More red light crackled as his body narrowed, becoming leaner and shorter as the face smoothed out. "No police detail could have possibly cornered me. Really, you're just lucky I felt generous that day."

"Like hell! Was it generosity that made you leave her in that alley?"

"No, but it was generosity that made me get her out of it!" He changed again, the rough-and-tough look warping into a tailored suit, his face becoming soft and kindly before his sick grin returned. "What do you think would have happened if I hadn't called the ambulance, after all?"

I reeled backward in shock as Al struggled to express his anger. "You...You attacked her...and then called for help? A half an hour later?!"

"I never said anything about the generosity being immediate."

"You bastard!" I screamed. "What gives you the right to play around with her life like she's some kind of toy?!"

"Well, simple! I'm just better. After all, she was unconscious. It's not like she could have done anything to stop me. She was nothing more than a broken doll to me."

I clapped my hands together, slamming them into the ground in front of me. A huge pillar of stone was drawn out of the street beneath me, making another crater as I used up mass. The column launched itself at Envy, but flew past him as he leapt over it. He danced along the rock, laughing as he slammed his foot down through it, sending the column toppling and himself flying into the air. His body stretched out, sprouting extra limbs and a mane of screaming faces until he landed in front of us in his true form, the giant lizard-like creature that crushed the street in front of me and Al. We were sent flying, barely able to avoid slamming into Hawkeye and Mustang, who had managed to stay standing. Envy jumped over us, shrinking back into his humanoid shape and giggling. "Catch me if your little legs can catch up with me, Fullmetal pipsqueak!" he howled as he took off into an alleyway with Hawkeye and Mustang tailing him.

Wasting no time, Al and I scrambled to our feet and joined the chase. We followed the sound of Envy's hysterical laughter, rushing around corners and spotting quick glimpses of Lieutenant Hawkeye's back as she followed Mustang, looking for other homunculi. There were weird dents in the street, most likely made by Gluttony's weird mouth powers. She must be looking for him!

"NOW!" I heard Envy shriek, and we turned to our left to see Colonel Mustang aiming directly at Envy's back. Hawkeye's attention was focused entirely on the wooden bucket of oil that had just been dropped from a rooftop, falling directly over Mustang's head. I looked up to the right, and saw Gluttony retreating from view.

"Colonel, look out!" I shouted, but before I could finish, his fingers snapped. The oil fell, ignited by the explosive alchemy, and Envy leapt through a nearby window as Colonel Mustang was set ablaze.

We rushed to Mustang's aid, but Hawkeye was there, throwing her coat over the Flame Alchemist, extinguishing the fire as fast as she could. Mustang coughed. "What took you so long, Fullmetal?" he grunted, gritting his teeth against the pain.

"Sir, don't speak. You might inhale more smoke!" Hawkeye hastily instructed.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, you weren't the one knocked down by a green scaly bastard, Mustang."

"Lieutenant Hawkeye, did you see which way Envy went?" I heard Al ask.

I redirected my gaze to Hawkeye, who silently pointed left, at the faded red brick wall. Without hesitation, I used alchemy to tear it down. "Come on Al," I stalked angrily over the shattered boundary of the wall. "We have a score to settle."

**FMAB**

"Envy! Where are you, you freakish coward? Stop hiding like a wuss and fight!" I yelled.

"Over here, you vertically challenged moron," Envy drawled lazily, stepping out of the shadows. "Honestly, I don't know what that Winry bitch could have seen in you. You're scrawny, stupid, and you shout like a small dog who hasn't gotten enough attention!"

Al rushed forward, leaping into the air and lashing out with a steel foot. "Don't talk about her! You don't deserve to say her name!"

Envy lifted his arm, throwing it out at a ninety degree angle. His forearm pushed against Al's kick, stopping most of the blow. Al followed through as best he could, knocking Envy to the side through the aggressive block. The homunculus retaliated with a brute swing at Al's leg, moving faster than either me or Al had anticipated. The sucker punch took off the leg at Al's kneecap, the chunk of steel armor bouncing off one of the old building's crumbling walls. It clanged, and the wall started to crack. "Try kicking me now, can-head! Hahaha!"

"Alphonse!" I shouted, but I was too late. My brother toppled backwards, crashing into the already damaged wall. The whole area collapsed, walls and ceiling falling onto him as Envy cartwheeled out of the way, still giggling in that annoying voice of his.

A single metal hand burst from the rubble. "I'm still okay, brother!" I smiled grimly, turning to face Envy.

"It'll take more than a bunch of bricks to bring us down!" I shouted. "Now get ready for a broken jaw! I'm gonna knock you into the sky!" I clapped my hands together, placing them at my feet. The floor buckled, hurling itself forward like a wave on water. I jumped off of the moving pile of stone and mortar, spinning my body on a tilted axis as I tensed my right arm. I caught sight of Envy's startled face and brought my fist out towards it, slamming my automail knuckles into Envy's chin with punishing force. I heard a crackling noise, and watched in horror as red light streaked away from my fist and left Winry's bruised face in its wake. She fell to the ground, stunned.

"Why, Ed?!" she wailed, her eyes welling up as she tried to scramble away from me on all fours. "I thought you would protect me!"

I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach, and my mouth went completely dry. I stumbled backward, sweat beading on my forehead. "N-no! You're not her! You can't be Winry!"

Her frightened blue eyes hardened, and a huge green claw lashed out from the end of her slender arm, swiping directly at my throat. I closed my eyes, certain I was going to die. I can't bear to look at this...perversion of her…

KRAKOOM! A thunderous crash and grind assailed my ears, accompanied by what felt like an earthquake. I fell backward, thrown to the ground by the shockwave, and looked in amazement at the chaos in front of me.

"Behold!" shouted a familiar voice, "this is the great Statuary Technique that has been passed down the Armstrong family for generations!"

"Major Armstrong?!" Al exclaimed, his helmet poking through the rubble that had suddenly shifted and sunk around his body.

"Indeed, young Alphonse! It is I, Alex Louis Armstrong, the Strongarm Alchemist in the flesh!" The shining scalp of the Major was adorned with a large bandage, still left over from his conversation with Teacher.

"What the hell are you even doing here?" I yelled, only to be struck dumb by what I saw.

He had made a gigantic statue of himself, arms raised and curled in front of him as if he was lifting weights. Between the statue's clenched fists dangled Envy, wriggling in pain and frustration. His Winry disguise had vanished, and he struggled to regenerate the arms that Armstrong's statue had crushed and dislocated.

I saw a small crack forming on one of the statue's fingers, and I quickly reacted, slamming my hands together before striking out at the statue restraining the homunculus. It sparked with transmutive energy, and the rough brick and stone became solid iron.

"Well done, Edward Elric!" the Major shouted gleefully. "Quickly, mend your brother! The other homunculus was following me here, I'm afraid!"

I rushed to Al's side, hastily digging him out of the pile of rubble. He clapped his armored hands together, turning the stone and brick surrounding him to sand. I reached into the dune and pulled his broken leg to the surface. Grabbing the other half of his leg from a few feet away, I carefully placed the two sections of armor together before transmuting Al's body and reuniting the broken parts.

"Thanks for that, brother," Al muttered, and stood up. He glanced towards the statue, his eye lights widening. "Hey!" he shouted angrily.

I turned around to see Envy squirming through the iron grip of the false Armstrong. "Bastard!" I spat. I immediately transmuted the ground, the sparking blue energy traveling like a current towards the statue. The homunculus cried out in extreme pain as the spikes I had launched from the floor penetrated his pale hands, which stopped him cold in his tracks.

"You can't get away that easily, Envy!" I snarled.

The green-haired homunculus smiled an evil twisted grin. "It was worth a try, pipsqueak. I certainly didn't count on that oversized kewpie doll crashing the party and saving your pitiful ass."

"Why you-!"

"Envy, can I eat them now?" a familiar, childish voice asked.

Envy huffed a sigh of annoyance. "For the last time, Gluttony, no you can't."

"I can still attack them, right?" Gluttony questioned.

"Yes, you moron! But first get me out of this statue!" Envy shouted.

"Okay!" Gluttony rushed towards the statue with incredible speed, despite his size.

Just as Gluttony was about a foot away from the false iron Armstrong, Al intercepted him, knocking the fat homunculus off balance. "I'll deal with Gluttony, brother! Finish off Envy!" he called, driving Gluttony away from the statue.

"I shall assist you, young Alphonse!" The Major exclaimed, and joined my brother in the fight against the enormous opponent.

I turned my attention back to Envy, and smirked at the homunculus' helpless state. "Let's test your stamina, bastard."

Envy squirmed, his face finally starting to show signs of fear.

"You think…" My voice escaped my throat as a guttural snarl. "You think that you can manipulate me, manipulate my actions, by torturing my family? You've got something else coming, you snivelling freak." My automail hand clanged into a fist, and I stared directly into the homunculus' eyes as I transmuted a huge spike out of the statue's chest. Envy's eyes widened, his mouth hanging open as the spine grew slowly into the small of his back. It pushed him forward, stretching out his arms before finally tearing through his nigh-immortal body. He screamed, and I maintained my stone-faced glare.

"You think that hurts, don't you? You think you're hurting? You don't know hurting." I created another, smaller spike, this one driving quickly through his left side.

"You calculated every move you made, didn't you? You made sure that everything you did had the greatest possible impact when you attacked her that day." Another iron spike punched a hole through his right shoulder.

"You beat her into submission, nearly killed her, and then you thought, 'That isn't enough. I haven't caused enough pain yet.' So you violated her! You caused more pain than you could have possibly put into your sick little plan. This twisted game you love so much to play ends. Now." I slowly put my hands together, thick streams of lightning tearing through the air as I began another transmutation.

"This is for her. The one you beat, and bullied, and assaulted, and left to bleed and cry. We made a promise to her, Envy. We promised we would make you pay for everything you did, make you pay a hundred times over. And I will keep that promise!" I slammed my hands into the statue's base, metal ringing on metal as my right hand collided with the iron of the structure I intended to use as fuel.

Energy surged, and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. A flash of harsh blue-white light nearly blinded me, but I kept my eyes focused on my automail arm, knowing that until I acted, Winry would never feel safe again. A chilling scream echoed around the ruined room as I put all my will into one decisive strike.

When the dust cleared, I blinked back the spots in front of my eyes. The statue of Armstrong was gone, replaced by a warped wall of iron, littered with spines, quills and spears of metal all converging on a central figure, gurgling horribly and dripping inhuman blood. Envy was skewered through in every place I could have imagined, his body still managing to twitch. I shuddered, and turned away. The sight of Envy's mangled form almost made me sick to my stomach.

I did that.

I did that.

I stared at my hands, watching the shifting light strike my automail. I felt a sense of dread rise in my throat, constricting my breath. This was hers. She made this for me, and I just used it for...this. This nightmare. I closed my eyes. I fought the terror threatening to overwhelm me. I tried to break through the knot of guilt that seemed to shoot like a chill through my metal arm, and I noticed that I was shaking uncontrollably.

I pictured her face in my mind, watched it contort with utter terror at what I had done. This went too far. I did this for her, to kill the monster under her bed. But now...I might've become just as terrifying.

A thunderous crash came from the wall to my right, alerting me to the huge suit of armor that had come flying through the bricks. "Al?!" I shouted, watching him sail past me and into the partially decimated left wall.

"Damn it! Not again!" he fumed, struggling to escape the fresh collapse of wall and ceiling caused by his catastrophic collision. I gaped at the huge chunks missing from his arms and sides, looking like Gluttony had literally bitten through them without using his more dangerous ability.

I heard a large thud against the wall Al had come through, and suddenly the Major was forced through the remainder of the wall. He dove backwards, allowing what was left of the ceiling to crash down on top of the pursuing homunculus. Gluttony erupted from the stone and dust, regenerating his mangled head and shoulders as his bleeding eyes stared in despair at what I had done to his brother.

He must be feeling about the same as I am right now.

We are in so much trouble.

Red light crackled, and Gluttony charged headlong at me, his monstrous teeth from the gaping hole that had opened in his stomach launching him forward like a pudgy cannonball. His other set of jaws opened up, spreading impossibly wide underneath beady eyes that burned with hatred. I pushed off to the side with my automail left leg, darting to the right just in time to avoid the freak's jaws clamping around my face. I had barely gotten two feet before I felt a sharp tug on my coat, and before I knew it I was being dragged ever closer to the homunculus' disgusting gut-mouth.

A sharp jerk of Gluttony's head sent me tumbling painfully to the side, only to be halted by an even stronger tug in the opposite direction. I was thrown once again through the air, landing with a distinct thudding clank as metal and flesh collided at once with the fractured ground. The next vicious toss of Gluttony's head sent me flying, and my coat ripped off of my shoulders, turning my horizontal flight into a disastrous tailspin.

I collided with a wall of muscle instead of brick, and I looked up dazedly to see Major Armstrong clamping his huge arms around my torso, suspending me in the air. His eyes widened, and he grunted as he was forced to stumble backwards from the force of my impact. "Now, young Alphonse!" he yelled dramatically, and the rapid clank and grind of metal preceded a heavy, crunching smack. Gluttony staggered next to us as the Major put me down on the ground, and I saw a huge bloody dent in the homunculus' skull in the rough shape of Al's heel.

"Thanks for your help, Major, but we can take this creep on by ourselves from here on out!" I grinned evilly, and Armstrong's eyebrows rose halfway up his forehead. "All we need you to do is keep him busy while we get into position. After we figured out he was involved, we started figuring out ways to bring him down faster."

Armstrong nodded, hefting handfuls of rubble into the air and pounding them repeatedly with his fists, transmuting the lumps of rock into fat iron spikes that drove themselves mercilessly at Gluttony's face.

I glanced up to Al, whose eye lights were shining intently at me. "Let's go, Al! Delta plan!"

He nodded, and we leapt into action, beginning the sequence of maneuvers we had figured out over the last few weeks. We clapped our hands together in unison, pounding them against the ground and raising two huge clamps up from the floor to squash Gluttony's arms and legs into place like Armstrong had done for Envy. Al jumped to the side as Gluttony opened his gut-mouth, dodging the fatal blast of strange energy.

I ran behind him, bringing my arm-sword into being as I crawled onto the back of the fat homunculus. Bringing my automail arm back in a wide arc, I hacked quickly and decisively into Gluttony's head, shoving the sword through his skull. The point emerged on the other side of his head, right in between his eyes. Yanking the blade out forcefully, I tumbled off his back, flipping almost gracefully through the air before landing in a crouch, my left hand on the ground in front of me to steady myself as I slid backwards, my shoes kicking up small puffs of dust.

Al and I locked eyes again and nodded to each other. Simultaneously, we clapped, beginning our transmutations. Al leapt into a forward roll, planting his hands on the ground and somersaulting out of the way as a huge fist erupted violently from the ground where he had been. I plant my own hands at my feet, creating another giant stone arm underneath me. The two massive fists rocketed toward each other, and I jumped off of mine at the last second, soaring over both of them as they collided with a thunderous impact, mashing Gluttony's upper body between them like a hammer and anvil. Al held up his hands in the air in front of him, and I pushed off of them with my feet, stopping myself from falling into the huge piles of rubble that had accumulated just behind him. Turning to look at our handiwork, we saw Gluttony's body twitching spastically as it desperately attempted to reassemble inside the small space.

We walked confidently up to Major Armstrong, victory swelling our spirits. He blinked, seemingly unable to form commentary for the first time in his life. "We had it under control. See?" Al pointed his thumb back at the struggling homunculus, his eye lights twinkling. I went to give him a high five.

KERRZAKK!

All three of us gaped in shock as my automail arm went almost totally limp, hanging at an awkward angle as my shoulder strained to keep the rest of the dangling prosthetic aloft. A sudden buzz ricocheted off every bone in my body, and I felt my tightly braided hair rise into the air from the static. Small bolts of electricity jumped from my arm to Al, who simply shook his head despondently.

"Winry's gonna kill you," he moaned.

"Not before I kick your hollow tin ass!" I shouted. "What the hell did you do to get so busted up? You're faster than that fat freak any day!"

"I think you should be glad the both of you didn't get buried alive in all of this wreckage," interjected a rather grouchy voice. I whirled to see Colonel Mustang, almost covered in bandages, advancing slowly over the shifting masses of rubble, Lieutenant Hawkeye hovering protectively behind him. Falman, Breda and Fury followed their leader up the slope, shaking their heads and smiling.

"What a show, eh?" Breda said, nudging Falman in the ribs. "These two kids sure know how to kick ass." He took a bite of a submarine sandwich, still smiling and nodding as Falman and Fury put their hands to their foreheads.

The Colonel spoke again, pain worming its way into his voice against his will. "Major. Good to see you here on time. I was worried your car wouldn't be able to fit in some of the narrower back alleys."

Armstrong's moustache curved upward, denoting his hidden smile. "They hardly needed me, sir."

"That's not entirely true…" Al piped up, but the Colonel waved a hand before he could explain further.

"To be honest, I don't care what the Major did at the moment. I'm much more grateful that you contained the fight to this abandoned apartment building."

I looked around. "This is an apartment building?"

Al chimed in, asking jokingly, "It was abandoned?"

Lieutenant Hawkeye rolled her eyes, sighing in exasperation. "Just give us a rundown, Ed."

I looked to Lieutenant Hawkeye, then to Colonel Mustang and between the two once more. I sighed. "I kicked Envy's ass, then Al and I defeated Gluttony together. And my automail arm is fried."

Lieutenant Hawkeye looked at me with an amused glint in her eye, before it quickly disappeared. Colonel Mustang, on the other hand, was disappointed. He stiffly sighed. "I expected a better report from you, Fullmetal. Well, at least I will once you return from visiting Miss Rockbell."

I resisted the urge to glare at Lieutenant Hawkeye and barely caught the end of what Mustang had said. "Yeah, yeah, I'll get you the full report as soon as I can."

"Let's head back to Dublith quickly, brother!" Al said.

I turned to look at Al, and smiled. "Yeah, Al. I bet Winry is getting tired of only having a cat to talk to." I walked forward, heading towards the car. "Come on Mustang, we have a train to catch."

"Thanks for your help, Major Armstrong!" Al yelled as he squished himself in the backseat next to me.

I looked out the window to see Major Armstrong happily waving at us, yet I swore I saw something within the remaining statue rubble move. It's been a long day, I must be imagining things… besides, I annihilated that green haired bastard. I glanced to the side of it, and saw a huge hunk of Al's stone fist missing. "Hey! Gluttony's gone!"

Al squirmed in the car until he could look outside to see the half-eaten stone fist. "At least he didn't swallow us this time, brother."

I was annoyed at Al's optimism, but also grateful that Gluttony chose to make a tactical retreat. If taking down homunculi is this exhausting, we had better buckle down for the long haul, because I'm sure the rest of them will be just as difficult to defeat as their former siblings.

Please leave a review and visit my friend and co-author, DarksteelRebelhawk, out on Wattpad! His stories are so amazing!

-warehouseluver13