Hi people! Once again, blame me for the editing. I said I would update today, but I didn't get the edited version so I edited it myself. I typed this chapter on...(Drum roll please!)... MY BRAND NEW LAPTOP! It's so cute and tiny and blue and I love it! Sorry, I got off track there for a moment.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING EXCEPT FOR THE LAPTOP I'M TYPING ON :3

Chapter 5: Wandering Threats

"Iris! You in there? Al and I are going to see Hawkeye. Iris?" Edward opened Iris' door only to find an empty room. Everything from the blue bed sheets to the desk in the corner of the room was clean and neat, as if no one was in the room. Edward and Alphonse were baffled by the disappearance of their companion.

"Maybe she went to find a gift for her sister?" Alphonse suggested.

"I guess so. Iris can handle herself, so there's no need to worry ourselves." Edward shrugged. The pair walked out the door and towards the direction of Hawkeye's room.

Iris looked in the shop window with Bandit on her shoulder and sighed. The necklace Iris was looking at had a golden chain and a silver heart locket attached to it. Iris walked away from the store window. Price didn't really matter to Iris since she was a state alchemist. She kept walking aimlessly on the streets of Eastern city with Bandit not far behind. Her mind was still focused on Nina, the sweet little girl that had been fused with her own dog, Alexander. Iris hadn't slept a wink since the incident. Iris looked at the people in the street who were laughing, smiling, and giggling.

People are oblivious when it comes to the military Iris thought. People smiled and laughed, not knowing what happened to people affected by the military, like her and Nina. Iris suddenly collided with a tall man and fell to the ground, causing a squeal to come from her chimera friend.

"Sorry! Didn't mean to knock you down!" A cheerful and familiar voice said. Iris looked up and saw Hughes looking at her without his glasses. Iris picked up the rimless glasses and handed them to Hughes, which received a goofy grin from the man.

"Thanks. Hey what do you know! It's Iris. How you been?" Hughes asked loudly.

"F-fine." Iris said quietly which received a strange look from Hughes.

"Alright then-"

Hughes tried continuing until a soldier interrupted his conversation.

"Sir-"

Iris sprinted with her chimera friend flying after her. As friendly as Hughes was, he overwhelmed her within the two seconds they talked. Iris walked to a little shop with a red sign that said "Jorge's Eastern Crafting" and walked inside. The store had novelties of all sorts, ranging from miniature horses, to little cars. A little statue resembling Eastern Command caught Iris' eye.

Grace will love this! Iris thought as the chimera on her shoulder squeaked at seeing her master smile for the first time since that morning.

Iris walked down the streets with a huge grin on her face as she clutched the package wrapped in red to her chest as she was walking back to Eastern command for another delivery request. As Iris walked, a man with a large X-shaped scar on his forehead and sunglasses stepped in front of her.

"Are you the Silver alchemist?" The man asked.

"Yes. I'm not proud of it, but I am." Iris told the man. "And why do you ask this, Mr. Sunglasses?"

"I'm asking because you are next to receive judgment" Sunglasses said as he raised his right arm, and red sparks flew from it, aiming for Iris' forehead. Iris jumped back before his arm reached her.

"Bandit, take the package and get help." Iris told the flying chimera. Bandit squealed in denial but Iris nodded. "I'll hold him off until you get help. You'll find me."

Bandit grabbed the crimson package from her master and flew ahead to Eastern Command.

Iris faced her opponent and smiled. Something about this man reminded her of Miles, an officer she met at Fort Briggs.

"What did I ever do to deserve 'judgment'?" Iris questioned.

"Because you are a state alchemist, you state alchemists claim you have a better design than that of our creator" Sunglasses stated.

"I understand your anger but your resolve is just a load of crap, excuse my language."

"That chimera that you seem to have befriended, that poor creature is something you alchemists created"

"I understand that, but last time I checked, Bandit chose to be with me, not you. So quit lecturing me, will you?" Iris snapped.

"Enough talk. It is time to answer for your crimes against god"

I hate rhyming Iris thought as Sunglasses charged at her. Iris clapped her hands and created a dome around Sunglasses, but it was easily broken apart.

"Oh crap!" Iris yelled as she ran towards the main street.

Iris ran towards a ladder as sparks flew from Sunglasses' arm and blocked Iris' path with a wall. Iris ran as her pursuer was closing in. Her mind went blank as she lost her footing and fell into the gravel and stone.

"Why are you killing people? You're no better than the military if you kill and murder!" Iris yelled as she struggled to back away. She had never felt this scared or defenseless in her entire life.

"No. Unlike state alchemists, I am god's emissary who carries out his judgment"

Iris felt fear taking over as the stranger's hand began its path towards her forehead. Iris suddenly remembered something General Armstrong told her as she grabbed her state alchemist pocket watch. A shot was fired in the air as the stranger's hand was no more than 2 inches away from Iris' face. Iris didn't dare to turn her head, but her pursuer turn to look, which gave Iris the upper hand as she quickly clapped her hands and grabbed her watch, creating 4 spikes using her watch as material, and pierced the surface of the man's shoulders. Iris ran towards the source of the gun noise as she saw Edward standing among the crowd of military officers. She ran to Edward, who had an expression of anger and relief plastered on his face.

"You idiot! There was a murderer on the loose killing state alchemists and you went shopping for a gift! What we're thinking?!" Edward lectured Iris angrily as rain began to fall from the sky.

"I-I didn't know… I'm sorry!" Iris yelled as she began crying. "I was so scared. I didn't know what to do! I forgot everything and panicked… I'm sorry… I'm sorry" Iris cried as Edward put his hand on her head to comfort his shaking friend. The Colonel put his jacket over Iris as she cried.

Hawkeye shot bullets at her target but they were dodged once more. She had failed before when Scar attacked the boys and she failed again as ran behind a wall.

"Who is he? What did I do to get on this guy's murder list?" Iris asked trembling.

"You didn't do anything Iris. He's been murdering state alchemists" Edward explained.

"Why?"

"Because he's Ishvalan." The Colonel said.

Scar created a crater and escaped once more from the officers creating another giant ditch for the city clean up and repair.

"Ed… Your arm…" Iris said as she noticed Edward wasn't lifting or using his automail. "And where's Al?"

"Yeah… Scar did a number on us, but Al's okay. Just a little smashed up." Edward said with his signature grin.

"Iris, are you okay?" Mustang asked his subordinate.

"I'm fine, but how did you know I was in trouble?" Iris asked.

Flashback

"Don't just stand there! We've got things to do! Deploy troops! Circulate his description!" Hughes ordered.

"Are there any other state alchemists in the city?" Mustang asked.

"Colonel! Iris was missing from her hotel room this morning." Alphonse yelled "Scar might be after her next"

"What?!" Mustang yelled "Doesn't she know about Scar?"

"We didn't know about him until today." Edward informed.

"I saw Iris earlier but I thought she was headed to Eastern Command, that and she ran past me before I could warn her about Scar." Hughes said.

"We need to find her now!" Mustang commanded. "Search the city! We have to find her before Scar does!"

Suddenly, a squeal was heard over head as a chimera with a red package flied and landed onto Edward's real shoulder.

"Bandit, where's Iris?" Edward asked as he took the package.

"Edward, let the chimera lead us back to Iris. We'll put it somewhere same once we find Iris" The Colonel commanded. "Let's get moving!"

End of Flashback

"Where's Bandit?" Iris asked. Edward pointed towards one of the military cars with his only arm. Inside the car, Iris could see Bandit bashing and squeaking from inside the car. One of the officers opened the car door and Bandit flew onto Iris' shoulder, ruffling her master's drenched hair.

"Thank you Bandit! I owe you one!" Iris giggled as she looked at the Colonel. "Thank you, Colonel. Looks like I'll be doing you a lot of favors from now on."

Back at Eastern Command

"A-Alphonse?!" Iris yelled when she saw the younger brother. "What the hell happened to you?!"

"Scar." Alphonse said as he sat in a box with cloth covering his broken limbs.

"About that, you guys said he was an Ishvalan. What is that?" Iris asked and everyone in the room shot Iris a confused expression as the Colonel began to explain.

"The Ishvalans were a race of people that lived to the East of us. They believed that their god, Ishvala, was the one and absolute creator. Even after they were annexed into the country, there were still conflicts between us and them. Then, 13 years ago, a military officer accidently shot and killed an Ishvalan child and that led to a full blown civil war. One uprising led to another, and before long the rebellion had spread to the whole Eastern sector. After 7 years of this, an order came down from military command, to exterminate Ishval. Many state alchemists were in to act as human weapons. Needless to say, the state alchemists produced striking results. That man is an Ishvalan survivor, in a sense, his revenge is justified." The Colonel finished.

"No way! There's no justification for taking revenge on people that had nothing to do with it! He's just dressing his ugly lust for vengeance in his god and calling himself an angel of justice.

"Edward's partly right. No revenge is justified. History should in the past, you screwed up, but it's not like you could refuse orders" Iris said quietly.

"Still, the fact is that he's coming at us with full force. We can't let ourselves be killed for his cause. Next time, there will be no more talk, got it?" Mustang said.

"Yes sir" All the officers in the room responded.

"Edward, Alphonse. What are you two going to do now? What's the plan?" Hughes asked the boys.

"To keep moving forward of course!" Iris said cheerfully.

"Iris is right. We can't sit around, not while were still alive" Edward stated smiling at Iris and his brother.

"Brother…" Alphonse trailed off.

"Before we make any head way on getting your body back, we have to get my arm back to normal." Edward said. "After all, I'm the only one who knows how to bond your soul to the armor!"

I think he mean get his automail back Iris thought.

"Uh huh!" Al nodded.

"Does this mean-" Iris asked excitedly.

"Yup. We've got no choice. It's been a long time, but we need to pay a visit to our mechanic!"

"And I get to go with you?!"

"Of course Iris! You're our friend!" Alphonse said which caused Iris to start cheering.

"Colonel, Can you do me one last favor before we're off? This one's really important." Iris said as she approached the Colonel.

"Okay. What do you need?" Mustang asked suspicious.

"I need you to care for Bandit until I come back. Please Mustang! I can't bear to put her in danger!" Iris said bowing.

"Iris, why don't you just leave Bandit with our mechanic? It's a nice rural and open place" Alphonse suggested.

"Thank you guys!" Iris said.

"Oh, Iris. A letter came for you this morning. It's from Grace S. Curtis in Dublith." Mustang said as he held out the letter. Iris grabbed the letter and quickly opened it. As Iris read it, her eyes teared up.

"What does it say?" Edward asked.

"Brother!"

"No it's fine." Iris began to read from the letter.

Dear Iris, thank you so much for that little statue from Lior! My teacher said it was made with great detail, which means you must have improved since the last time you visited. Duchess and I miss you a lot, but we both know you'll visit soon enough. I'm glad to hear you made some friends in the military. I hope I'll get to meet them next time you visit! My teacher thought it would be nice if we had sent you a photo so you don't forget what we look like, even though I know you wouldn't forget. I can't wait to show you what I've learned, but since you're so busy I'll try to wait. You'll never believe the friend I made the other day! Her name is Harmony and she has automail on her leg that she built herself! Next time we see each other, we'll have a lot to catch up on. I'll see you soon!

Love, your little sister, Gracie

Iris pulled out the photo in the envelop and it pictured a little girl, in a wheel chair, with short sandy hair and bright teal eyes wearing a delicate pink dress hugging a white dog with pointed ears as it licked the girl. Behind her sister, was a girl with brownish red hair and blue eyes laughing. Iris turned the photo over and read the writing.

Grace, Duchess, and their new friend, Harmony.

Iris smiled as she handed the photo to Edward and Alphonse.

"The blond is my sister. I haven't seen her since I chose to become a state alchemist so she sometimes sends me photos." Iris explained.

"Maybe we can send her a photo when we go to see our mechanic!" Alphonse suggested.

Iris grinned at the photo. Her sister was her reason for living, for being a state alchemist. Iris touched the ribbon on her throat, remembering her sister's laugh and smile.

This chapter wasn't so bad, right? I mean we have a cute little letter! I already have Chapter 6 finished and I just need to edit it, so expect a new chapter soon! I just hope my editor enjoys his day(s) Off! If you haven't already, please check out my editor, Jirachi of Frost! Thanks so much and see you next time! My laptop's running out of power...

Jackie C.A.