The group sits in silence, wondering what they should do. The room is a small place, unheated and lit only by a small candle. On a table sits what Gracia can only describe as a type writer attached to a screen and a host of other strange objects.

Mrs. Hughes stands up and silently walks over to another table where refreshments sit as her husband whips out a picture of their daughter. Maes was determined to break the silence. "Have you guys seen our little Elysia lately? She's growing so fast. Look," He extends the picture to Winry. "Here she is having a tea party."

Riza stands and looks over Winry's shoulder. She furrows her brow thoughtfully. At length she asks, "Who is that with the earrings and floppy hat?"

"Oh," Al speaks up with a small sweat drop, "Brother and I were babysitting her one night and Elysia wanted to play tea party. Her favorite doll broke so brother dressed up as Mrs. Cumbergail." At this Roy muffles a laugh but fails and falls to the ground repeating "Mrs. Cumbergail".

"Al," Ed begins in a voice that says he's keeping his anger in check. "I thought we destroyed the pictures."

"Coffee anyone?" Gracia cuts in.

"Don't mind if I do, Mrs. Hughes." Tucker's voice says over the radio. The startled group jumps and Tucker can be heard laughing. "Ooh, I gots you good."

"Damn it Tucker," Mustang curses, "You better have a reason for this."

"The time has come. Time has come for Major Armstrong, Black Hayate and…little Mrs. Cumbergail to investigate the first site. I'm sure you-"

"Who are you calling tinier than a crumb not big enough for a mouse to eat?!" Ed yells, waving his arms and angry veins the size of his head pumping furiously. As he rants the thought occurs to him what Tucker referred to him as and automatically he picks up his rant crying, "Who are you calling Mrs. Cumbergail you bastard?"

Tucker continues to speak despite Ed's string of profanity. "On the table there are… various forms of coffee and goodies. Enjoy them as I explain the contents on the table next to it."

The group turned to look at another table, the one with all of the equipment on it. The silence was broken by Armstrong taking a bearclaw from the refreshment table. "These pastries have been the favorite of the Armstrong family for generations!" He declares.

"The contents on the other table will be your lifelines to HQ. I will explain how to use the equipment only once, so pay attention. As for you, the readers, I will not bore you in telling this to you as well. So I implore you to turn on your radios and/or music. Listen to a song or two and when you return, we will begin."

XXXXXXXX

"All done then, dear readers?" Tucker asks over the radio.

"Who is he talking about?" Winry wonders as she helps put cameras and harnesses on Ed and Armstrong. Hawkeye is busy trying to get a leash on her romping dog. It seems during the brief break, Roy slipped the pup part of his doughnut, resulting in a hyper Black Hayate.

"In moments we will send these three out into the asylum." Tucker explains. "You three will go to the third floor and create several paranormal tests. Maes, you will be at the laptop, guiding them. Now go. Hahahahahahahahahaha-heheheheheh-lol and all of that good stuff…" Before the team can answer, the radio goes dead.

XXXXXXX

Armstrong, Ed and Black Hayate climb up the second floor stairs. The house itself is a massive dilapidated building with ages of dust. Over their walkie-talkies Maes Hughes guides them.

"Pause right here, guys." Hughes instructed as he reads off of the papers he has with detailed instructions. "This is the staircase where the spirit of the little boy Randy is reported to be seen. Some times, when an item connected to the time when a spirit lived, it may compel the spirit to interact with it. In this case, we want to entice Randy. Armstrong, I want you to put the toy in your bag on the stairs. On the landing there is a chair facing the stairs. Put the ball on the landing in front of you and start talking.

Ed, you will proceed to the first room on your right with the dog. Give me a holler when you find it."

The two comply and climb the stairs to the third floor landing where Armstrong sits in the aforementioned chair, placing the ball in front of him.

As Ed walks down the hall he hears Armstrong talking. "Randy, it is I, Alex Louis Armstrong…" Ed turns the corner into the room and Armstrong's voice fades away.

"Alright, I'm here." Ed informs Maes.

"Ok. You're standing in the master bedroom. According to legend, this room is where Caroline gave birth to her stillborn children and supposedly the room where Caroline killed her husband with an axe.

There is a phenomenon called EVP. Electronic Voice Phenomenon. In this exercise, you're going to record yourself talking and when we play it back at HQ, hopefully we will pick up some sounds you did not hear when you were recording it." Over the walkie-talkie, Roy's voice is heard. "Tell him his prompt."

"What is he talking about?" Ed wondered with a cocked eyebrow.

It is Hawkeye that answers. "Tucker believes you'll get a response if you talk using the emotions that were running through Caroline and Hans during these two events. So you need to talk like you just caught the love of your life cheating on you."

"What? I'm an alchemist, not an actor!" Ed protests as Black Hayate barks wildly at the barred window.

"Ed," Maes begins, "Why is the dog barking?"

Ed shrugs, though he knows nobody could see it. "He must hear something by the window. It must be open, its getting really cold in here." He stands up as the dog continues to bark. As he walks over to the window, he feels somebody blow in his ear. Even though he is a trained alchemist and child prodigy, Ed can't help but jump and give a yelp.

"Ed? What happened?" Hughes demands from the other line.

"Nothing." Full Metal lies, dismissing it as only his imagination or the wind and pulls back the curtain. "It's sealed."

"What?" Maes asks.

"The window is painted shut."

"Turn on your recorder, Ed." Maes instructs.

Ed turns to encompass the entire room. He guesses it was lavishly decorated at some point in time, but now it was simply a room with a wooden chair and wire framed bed. He has no doubts that the room was converted to a cell for a patient. Black Hayate is looking curiously at the bed now as Ed sits on the old mattress.

"Come on, boy." ED coaxes but the dog goes as far as a few feet from the bed and sits, as if saying he will go no closer.

"Ok." Ed sighs as he sets his recorder next to him, "Lets get this over with."

XXXXXXX

Armstrong looks into the camera. Though he has a calm look, given the situation, he is sweating. "I've been coaxing the spirit of Randy to come out for about twenty minutes, now. So far, there is no movement of the toy or ball. But I am sweating like I'm in an oven."

He pauses as he hears a clatter down below and turns to the camera. "I just heard some thing fall a few floors below. Almost like somebody dropping a glass vase. I don't like this house. Not one bit." He shifts in his chair and falls silent for quite some time, scanning the camera across the landing. With in moments, a small sound, like a giggle is heard and the ball visibly rolls from one end to the other. Armstrong waits a moment and goes to where the ball was, checking to find any curves in the wood that would make the ball roll. However, there is none to be found.

Armstrong returns to his seat and turns to face the camera. "Looks like he's come out to play after all."

XXXXXXX

Ed, Armstrong and Black Hayate have been sitting at their posts for forty-five minutes by now. And in the master bedroom, Ed is really getting into his assignment, forgetting the fact that the recordings are to be played back. Riza's dog had stopped his barking but still will not go near the bed despite all of Ed's coaxings.

"I can't believe how many years I've wasted on you." Ed whispers and pauses for a response. "But all I want to know is why?"

"Ed!" Maes's voice calls over the walkie-talkie, causing Ed to jump five feet into the air. "Time's up. Back to HQ, let's see what you and the major have found."

XXXXXXX

Several minutes later, the three have returned and are relating their experiences, or in Ed's mind, lack there of.

"I distinctly heard glass breaking in the lower levels." Armstrong explained, "And as you can see on the screen the ball moved by itself." He points to the video replaying of the ball moving.

"Perhaps there was a dent in the floor?" Winry suggested.

"No, I checked. The floor is as straight as sure as I come from a long and powerful line of Armstrongs. And there was a giggle before the ball moved."

Gracia replays the footage and Scar nods. "I hear it."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ed pipes in, "This is irrational."

"So you found nothing, brother?" Al questioned.

"Well, the dog barked when we entered the room and wouldn't go near the bed."

"Dogs are said to have a keener sense when it comes to this stuff." Hawkeye says quietly, as she gives Black Hayate a bone for a job well done. "Whether or not I believe it is another matter."

Maes, who is listening to Ed's EVPs turns around in his seat. " I think you all should hear this. Tell me what you hear." He plays back a bit of where Ed was began reciting the elements on the periodic table. Full Metal explains as the recording plays that he was running out of ideas. Within moments a piercing cry of a new born baby is heard on the recording.

Maes assures then that is not the last of it as he plays the part at the end where Ed expresses his unbelief of the years wasted. "I can't believe how many years I've wasted on you." is followed by an angry female whispering.

"It sounds like she's saying 'look whose talking, ass'." Scar interprets as Maes plays it again.

"I can't believe how many years I've wasted on you."

"Lookwhosetalking, ass."

All color drains from Gracia's cheeks. "I hear it."

The group falls into an unsettling silence, as they begin to comprehend what it is they are tampering with…

XXXXXXX

All attention is on the stairs where Ed and Armstrong just investigated. Tucker stands on them now, with a grin that could be described as nothing else but creepy.

"Come back next chapter as the second assignment of the night goes to Hawkeye and the Flame Alchemist. This composed right hand woman and the man with the miniskirt plan will brave the ground floor and the basement in search of the abominations of the night and their "aching" master." He laughs a malevolent laugh, "Bullets and flames won't protect these two from the succubuses and the incubus of the Asher Reed Asylum…"