Zilo: You're back!
Chizi: And we've been threatened! Awesome!
Zilo: Now, here's the next chapter!

3: On The Loose

Day 30

After sealing the deal, the Homunculi allowed Edward out of his prison on occasion, for training. Envy knew Edward's muscles would be stiff, and he would need to train a bit before he could be let loose. But they had to keep him under a tight leash still. They had to ensure he felt nothing but hatred for his brother and friends, so he wouldn't hesitate to eliminate them. So Envy put the mind-altering drugs into Edward's food and water, and he continually talked about the others while he was retraining Edward's fighting muscles.

This went on, day after day, until Envy was satisfied that any good thoughts about the others were completely wiped from Edward's mind. He had almost managed to convince Edward to kill them, instead of just making them suffer, but Edward seemed intent on that. But that was fine with Envy.

Just fine, indeed.

"You think he's ready yet?" Lust asked at the end of yet another day, when Envy had locked Edward back in his prison.

"Almost," Envy replied, sitting down crosslegged on the floor. "Just a little more time, to ensure the pipsqueak has no more happy thoughts about his friends and brother."

Lust nodded slowly. "And then?"

"We let him loose and wreak destruction on the city, that's what," Envy replied.

And finally, on the one-month mark of Edward's disappearance, they decided he was ready.

"So they haven't made any headway at all?" Winry said in surprise.

"Well, they have, but not very much," Al replied. "We have an idea of who took him, but we don't know where they could possibly be. But they've got officers looking for him around the clock, so something's got to turn up soon."

Winry nodded. "Whoever took Edward doesn't know what they're in for," she said optimistically. "I bet you anything he'll show up on his own, with some great story of how he escaped his captor's clutches."

"That would be nice," Alphonse sighed.

Winry looked up at him with a worried frown. They were on their way back to the Elrics' apartment, and she wished she could cheer Alphonse up.

"Colonel Mustang promised to keep me apprised if they have any progress," Alphonse began again. "But I just have this feeling that he knows something he won't tell me. I don't know if it's because he thinks I won't be able to handle it, or..."

"Alphonse, you don't think the colonel's hiding evidence that Edward is dead?" Winry said in alarm.

Alphonse waved his hands. "No! No! Well..." He sighed and dropped them. "Not really. I mean, it's been so long, and there hasn't been a word. No ransom demands, no threatening notes, no trades for prisoners. Why would someone kidnap him just to kind of, keep him from us?"

Silence passed between them as they both considered the answer. Why, indeed? Winry thought. If it were someone against State Alchemists, wouldn't they have named their terms or said their self-righteous speech by now? Why the month-long silence?

"Winry," Al began, "I know we've been over this before, but...do you have any doubts that Brother is alive?"

Winry felt her breath catch. "No," she said immediately and firmly. "Edward's too tough. He's alive, Alphonse, and we'll see him again, you'll see."

She was right.

Colonel Roy Mustang sighed for probably the forty-seventh time that day. He had been looking at the same paper for about an hour. A day's worth of untouched paperwork stood in a neat stack next to his elbow, and for once, First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye hadn't bugged him about it. She seemed to understand the pressure he was under.

In the two weeks since Envy's appearance, Roy had only spoken of the encounter to one person: Riza herself. Since then, he couldn't get it out of his head. Had he single-handedly condemned Edward to death? Was there really no hope anymore?

The thoughts plagued Roy as he stared at the words which blurred together into an unintelligible mess.

"Don't blame yourself, sir." Once again, Riza seemed to reading Roy's mind. "There was no guarantee that Homunculus would have held up his end of the bargain. You did the right thing."

Roy sighed and gave her a tired smile, resting his cheek on his knuckles. "Then why doesn't it feel like it?"

"You're just upset, sir. You'll feel better."

"I'll tell you when I'll feel better," Roy said irritably. "When Full Metal is back here safe and sound, and we've brought his kidnappers to justice!"

Riza blinked once, the only sign that his raised voice had affected her. She had always been more levelheaded than he, Roy reflected as he sank back with a sigh.

"Maybe if you get back into your regular routine, you'll feel better," Riza said, indicating that he had procrastinated on the paperwork long enough.

Roy looked down at his papers. "Maybe," he partially conceded.

Second Lieutenant Maria Ross and Sergeant Denny Bloch weren't used to guarding a bunch of books. But for the past two weeks, they had been assigned by Colonel Mustang to keep watch over the room in which Edward had left most of his research. Alphonse hadn't been there recently, seeing as how he saw no reason to, so they were more often than not by themselves. The occasional aide or officer walked by, but they were always busy and didn't have time to talk.

"I'm bored," Denny sighed.

"I know that Sergeant," Maria replied. The two of them were sitting in chairs on either side of the door.

Denny scratched his head and then re-crossed his arms. "So, do you know why Colonel Mustang asked us to guard Major Elric's study?"

Maria shook her head. "He didn't tell me, he just said to guard it."

Denny nodded and shrugged. "Well, I'm thirsty. Want some coffee?"

Maria glanced over at him. "Well, I guess so. Don't take too long."

"I won't, I won't." Denny braced his hands on his knees as he stood, and wandered down the hallway in search of the elusive coffee. Maria watched him go, then crossed her arms and sighed deeply.

Two weeks of sitting here for hours on end, doing nothing. She wished the colonel had just told her what was going on, so she didn't feel so useless. She wanted to be out in the field, helping to look for Edward. But the tens of officers assigned to do so hadn't turned up anything yet; why did she think she should?

Still, at least she would feel as though she were helping. Just sitting here, for hours and hours each day, waiting for whatever it was that wasn't coming, it just seemed so...pathetic. She almost wished whomever or whatever would show up already, so she could do something.

"I suppose I'm being selfish," Maria said out loud after a few moments of deliberation. "If this is where Colonel Mustang feels I'm most useful, I should accept that." She nodded slowly to herself.

A faint noise caught her ears, and Maria looked up, realizing it was coming from the direction Denny had gone in. Her instincts kicked in, and she reached for her gun as she stood. "Sergeant Bloch?" she called out cautiously.

No response. The sound of a door closing caused her to move forward. "Sergeant?" she tried again, rounding the corner.

She stopped short, her breath frozen. Sergeant Denny Bloch lay face down on the floor, arms extended forward. Two cups lay spilled in front of him, their contents soaking into the carpet. His uniform was ripped on the back, and blood was soaking it. For the briefest of moments Maria stared, then she sprung into action, rushing forward. "Sergeant!" she cried as she hurriedly knelt next to him. "Can you hear me? Wake up, Sergeant!"

There was another sound. Maria's head whipped around, just in time to catch the dimming sunlight, shining through a nearby window, gleam off of something metal. The last thing she remembered was watching it move towards her silently at an incredible speed.

Roy Mustang wanted to hit someone. Preferably a bad guy. As it was, he forced himself to retain a calm exterior as the doctor rattled off Second Lieutenant Ross' and Sergeant Bloch's injuries.

This was no coincidence, and he knew it. The two officers he had assigned to guard Edward's research put out of commission, and all the research suddenly gone? He knew that this must have something to do with his refusing Envy's deal. In reflection, he decided that he should have looked at the list before tossing it back, so he could at least have known who was on it, who needed to be protected.

Riza, seeing that Roy wasn't paying too much attention, spoke to the doctor for him. "Will they recover?"

"Yes," the doctor confirmed. "The injuries were far from fatal, and in my professional opinion, only inflicted to cause pain."

"So they were being tortured?" Riza asked.

The doctor nodded. "It appears that way."

"Let us know the minute anything changes," Roy said suddenly, jumping back into his role.

"Yes sir," the doctor said.

Roy waited until the doctor had gone back into his patients' room to turn to Riza. "This had become much more serious," he said.

"Yes, sir," Riza agreed. "What should we do?"

"Warn the other military officers that there's yet another threat to their lives," he replied. "And of course, find out if anyone saw who attacked my officers and stole Full Metal's research."

Riza nodded solemnly.

"Perfect!" Envy crowed. "This is all of the pipsqueak's stuff, all right." He fanned the pages of a book absently. "While our little messmaker gets rid of the rest of our targets, we can dump this crap on some other idiot alchemist."

Lust nodded slowly. "It seems like the plan's going well, so far," she said.

"And it'll stay that way," Envy said emphatically. He glanced over his shoulder at Edward, who was lying down on the floor, either asleep or unconscious. "Tonight we'll let the pipsqueak loose again. Who do you think he should go after this time?"

"I don't care, as long as it's done," Lust said noncommittally.

Envy raised an eyebrow at her. "What's with you? You're really lethargic all of a sudden. You been taking some of the pipsqueak's drugs?"

Lust glared at him. "Shut up."

A wide grin split Envy's face. "I'm just making an observation," he said as he got up and moved over to Edward's form. He looked down at him, smirking. "I think your next target's going to be Second Lieutenant Chain-Smoker. Won't that be fun?"

Day 31

The next day it rained. All day. Soaked military officers reported to Headquarters, all having been caught in the storm. Alphonse wisely stayed inside, and Winry kept him company. The two of them spent their time trying and failing to make small talk. Their thoughts always went back to Edward.

Finally, Winry stated that it was no use for them to avoid the subject, and while they were so stuck on it, they might as well do something useful and see if they could turn up any leads. Though they doubted they would succeed where the military had failed, it did help to pass the time.

The rain slacked up by mid afternoon, and as it tended to evening Alphonse got a call from Colonel Mustang, informing him of last evening's attack and his brother's missing research. He wanted Alphonse to come into the office as soon as possible; they had something to discuss.

So, after the rain had completely stopped, Alphonse and Winry made their way to Headquarters for what would turn out to be a very eventful meeting.

Alphonse Elric was silent. Roy Mustang expected nothing less after hearing what he had just heard.

Winry finally broke the tense silence. "I don't understand why you would keep that from Alphonse," she said, her hands gripping her knees. "And why tell us now?"

"One, I haven't told anyone else besides Lieutenant Hawkeye in the first place," Roy replied. "And two, I believe it directly connects to the assault on Second Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Bloch."

"We believe that one of the Homunculi were responsible, and did so because of the colonel's refusal to accept their ransom offer," Riza explained more fully.

"You don't think that Brother is...?" Alphonse finally said.

Roy looked directly at him. "To be honest, Alphonse, I can't be sure. I won't raise false hopes."

Alphonse seemed to shrink in his seat next to Winry. She wished she could hug him, but he wouldn't feel it. It wouldn't help.

As a matter of fact...I wish I could hug Edward, Winry thought sadly. He's still alive, and I'll keep believing that until they show me his body, but he must be so scared. I know he puts up a tough front for Al, but who knows what kind of hell he's been through this past month?

"What's the next step?" Alphonse asked, trying to sound brave.

"Learning precisely who the culprit is," Roy replied, "and if there's any hope left for Edward."

"He's not dead!" Winry burst out fiercely, her nails digging into her bare knees. "He's tougher than that! You can't just count him out!"

The others in the room looked startled by her outburst. Roy was the first to recover. "We're not, Miss Rockbell," he said in a stern tone, "but we have to keep all possibilities open."

Winry looked down at her lap. I know you're alive, Edward. Please hold on until we can find you.

Roy seemed to take Winry's silence as agreement and went on. "Now that the Homunculi have Edward's research, their next move will most likely be to get rid of whomever was on that damn list. You could be one of their targets, Alphonse. You know more about them than a lot of us do. So you'll need to be careful from now--"

The door burst open, and everyone's attention flew to the low-ranking officer who had just come barging in, looking flustered. "I'm very sorry to interrupt you, Colonel," she said, breathing hard, "but there's been another attack! And this time it was Second Lieutenant Havoc!"

Roy stood. "What?!"

Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc turned at the sound of the door flying open. "They took away my cigarette," he mumbled weakly.

Roy hurried over, followed closely by Riza. "You're dismissed," he said to the doctor, who wasted no time in getting out. "Havoc, what happened? Did you see who did this?"

Havoc had a dopey look on his face. His forehead and wrists were bandaged. "Something shiny?" he offered.

Roy and Riza exchanged glances. "They must have given him something for the pain," she pointed out.

There was no doubt about that. Roy had been told that Havoc had been hit with some blunt object to stun him, and then his wrists were sliced open. The one responsible seemed to be trying to kill this time. No one had been around to see who did it, and Havoc might have bled to death had an officer not stumbled across him in the hallway a short time after the attack.

Roy summoned the doctor back. "We need him lucid as soon as possible," he ordered.

"Yes sir, but it would be in his best interest to keep him sedated for a while," the doctor reminded the colonel.

Roy sighed heavily, his patience wearing thin. "I know that, doctor, but--"

Riza caught his eye and shook her head.

"...fine. Let me know when we can take him off sedatives," Roy snapped. He spun on his heel and left the room, Riza following.

"Sir?" she said as a prompt.

"We need to get to the bottom of this quickly," Roy stated. "Before anyone else gets hurt."

Riza nodded.

"I'm confused," Alphonse said as a way to break the silence.

"About what?" Winry asked.

Alphonse sighed. "I've never known the Homunculi to be so...well, ineffective, for lack of a better term. When they want to kill someone, they kill them. They don't just leave them bleeding like they hope they'll die."

Winry shrugged slightly. "Well, I don't know what to say. Do you think it's someone else?"

"I don't know." For a moment, Alphonse didn't say anything, and Winry sat next to him silently.

Then, another sigh. "Well, we better get back to the apartment," Alphonse said, standing up. "We don't want to get caught in the dark."

"Yeah," Winry agreed.

Day 33

For the next two days, it seemed as if Headquarters was holding its breath. Would one of them turn the corner and suddenly find themselves face-to-face with their doom? It was almost as bad as Scar, except they didn't even feel safe in pairs, since Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Bloch had been attacked together.

Roy Mustang contemplated the sudden sense of chaos that had permeated Headquarters as he stepped out for a "breather" late in the day. Things were getting a little crazy now, he thought as he went for a stroll in the fading light of the sun. His top priority right now was still to find Edward's whereabouts--or, as he reflected grimly, the whereabouts of Edward's remains--but he also needed to find out who this mystery attacker was. If only I had looked at that list, he chastised himself for the millionth time. At least I would know who might be next!

A slight breeze drifted by, pulling Roy from his dismal thoughts. He sighed and looked up at the sky, which was a mix of yellows and oranges. How could things look so normal when they weren't? Shouldn't it be raining, or something?

His thoughts went back to his little conversation with Riza about going out for some air.

"Sir, you're not going to pretend to step out and make a break for your home again, are you?" she asked sternly.

Roy sighed. How does she remember these things? I try so hard to put enough time between each attempt, he thought. Still, it wouldn't kill him to actually go back. Maybe he'd walk for a few more moments, and then go back.

A sudden thought made him stop in his tracks moments later. He was alone, and it was getting darker by the second. Was there a possibility he was on the list as well?

No, that's ridiculous, Roy thought, starting off again. Why would he have given it to me if my name had been on it? And even if it were, I can handle our little serial attacker. It would be no sweat. Sufficiently assured, Roy's walk regained some of the swagger it had been missing the past few weeks.

Wait...something's not right. Instinct caused Roy to reached for the pocket containing his precious spark gloves as he continued. He had them in his fist when his eyes spotted a figure standing several yards away, facing him silently. It was too dark to make out who it might be, but Roy's alarms went off all the same. He kept walking as if he didn't care, stopping only when there was about ten feet of space between them.

A stronger breeze came by, fluttering loose hair and clothes. Roy's eyes narrowed, and a self-assured smirk found its way up to his face. "Let me guess. You're the one who's been attacking my subordinates? And you're here for me this time?"

There was no response. The figure's right arm moved ever-so-slightly, and fading sunlight bounced off of a blade in his hand. "I see," Roy said, trying to keep the stranger's eyes--hopefully--on his face, as he pulled his spark gloves out. "Then I suppose I'm going to have to fight for my life? But before you try to slice me into pieces, answer a question, will you?"

Still nothing. Roy inched his right hand into its glove. "What are you after us for? Surely you've got a motive. Care to tell me before we begin?"

No verbal response, but suddenly the figure was rushing towards him. Acting quickly, Roy jammed his hand the rest of the way into the glove, lifted his arm, and snapped. Threads of fire danced towards their intended target, but he dodged them. The fire reflected brightly on the metal of the blade as it swung dangerously close to Roy's head.

Roy ducked the attack, realizing he needed to move away if he would be more effective in incinerating his attacker. He snapped again, and managed to use the flames to back the stranger away. He quickly took several steps back, and frowned when he felt a sudden prick on his nose. Rain? It couldn't be. Oh, please, don't...

But it was. Another hit his cheek. If it started coming down, he might actually have a hard time winning. Roy cursed his bad luck as he dodged yet another swipe from the blade. Quickly, he did a sweeping kick and knocked his assailant down. He snapped twice, and flames leaped out to the left and the right, blocking his attacker's escape routes.

Roy saw that his attacker was on the way up, so quickly he snapped, and the flames jumped out. His attacker leaped, flipping over them, but not before Roy caught a flash of gold on the stranger's long, loose hair. It seemed familiar to Roy, but he pushed the thought aside as he sent more fire dancing towards the figure.

Now that I think about it, his style is familiar too, Roy realized. He was in close quarters now, and was just barely managing to duck and weave around every thrust and swipe of the blade. Who could this be? His mind was starting to form a sense of dread he didn't understand, but as he snapped again, he realized he was putting a list together.

Gold hair...short in stature...with an unusual blade...

He flinched as the blade caught his cheek, and sent more flames out. The figure dodged them, and Roy realized the rain was starting to come down more steadily. Already his glove was getting damp. He needed to end this, now.

Roy saw the figure rushing towards him and aimed carefully. He snapped again, and more flames jumped out. This time when the figure jumped, he just barely avoided, and the light caught on his face.

Roy felt his breath catch, and there was a weird heaving feeling in his stomach, like he was on a roller coaster. He saw the face but didn't believe it until it was inches away from his again, trying to hit him with the blade.

"Edward!" he heard himself saying in an aghast tone.

First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye frowned as she glanced up at the clock. It had been thirty minutes since her superior had left for his supposed "breather" and she was beginning to believe that he had shirked work, once again. She glared at the innocent, yet incredibly large, stack of paperwork on his desk. "Colonel."

After a few more minutes, Riza stood and left the office briskly. She was tired of his lethargic ways, and this time she was going to plant her gun's barrel on his temple and fake PMS if need be. He was going to get that paperwork done, and she would see to it.

Riza kept up her brisk pace all the way outside. The sun was almost down, and Riza looked from side to side, trying to decide if he was just playing hooky or had actually gone home. A light rain was coming down, but she didn't mind. "When I find you..."

She trailed off when a flash very briefly lit the lower sky to her left. Riza turned, feeling a sense of familiarity. She saw it again, and her instincts kicked into high gear when she realized what it was. The attacker. "What have you gotten yourself into," she said under her breath as she broke into a run.

Winry frowned at the dim flashes she saw from her window. I wonder what those are? she thought as she sipped her hot chocolate absently. "Hey, Al."

"Yes?" Alphonse looked up from his book.

"Come check this out." Alphonse obediently got up and joined Winry at the window. "I keep seeing these flashes of light from over there. It looks like it's something coming from the ground--there! Did you see that one?"

Alphonse nodded. "It looks familiar," he said.

"Really? I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before," Winry said. "You think it's fireworks?"

"Maybe," Alphonse replied. "I don't know why anyone would be using those right now, but it's possible." He and Winry watched for the next one, each guessing what it might be.

Chizi: Cliffhanger! My hands hurt!
Zilo: Well, so do mine! So there!
Chizi: Ice, please, somebody!
Zilo: (blows on hands) Well, everyone, join us next time if you will!
Chizi: And please, give us feedback on the fight scene!