sry it's been so long! i thought i had uploaded this, and i came to load (most of) chapter 7, and it was gone...i'm sorry! don't kill me!

ok...i think i forgot to load something else, or loaded the wrong thing, so if some things don't make sense, messege me or sumthin so i know!

"Lucky for me…you came to fight me, but you can't make flames," Scar observed. "STATE ALCHEMISTS, SYMPATHIZERS, AND EVERYONE WHO TRIES TO STOP ME! I WILL DESTROY EVERYONE HERE!"

A large shadowy figure came up behind him. "Go ahead and try," it said, punching him. He dodged just in time, musing, "Hnh…another one…!"

"Mm-hmm…you dodged that…not half bad…You brazen insurrectionary! I've had enough of you." Everyone sweatdropped. "You want to destroy everyone here? Don't make me laugh! Why don't you try to beat me first?" He crashed through the debris. "I'm the "Strong Arm Alchemist"…Alex Louis Armstrong!"

What an idiot…Rei thought, as she stood up and walked over to where Ed knelt.

"…So many of you today…one after another…" Scar thought aloud. "But it saves me the trouble of having to search you out. This must be a gift from god!"

Bella, looking fairly annoyed with the newest obsessed alchemist, slapped her hands together and sent a wave of spikes at Scar.

"Ah! Miss Wings, don't tear up the street!" Havoc shouted.

Bella got an anime vein. "DON'T EFFING CALL ME MISS WINGS!" she screamed, unconsciously sending another wave.

"What's that you say!" Armstrong said, glancing at Havoc. "What destroys, can also create! And what creates, can also destroy! Destruction and creation are two sides of the same coin!" He punched the air above him. "WE MUST TEAR DOWN IN ORDER TO BUILD!" he shouted, tearing off his shirt. "THAT IS THE GREAT LAW OF THE COSMOS!"

"…" Scar sweatdropped.

"Why did he take off his shirt?" Ed asked quietly.

"That's some really crazy alchemy…" Bella said.

" "Crazy", eh? A fellow alchemist knows the truth in what I say," Armstrong said. "Isn't that right, Scar?"

"A fellow…!" Bella gasped. "Are you saying he's an alchemist, too?"

"I knew it…" Rei muttered. "There're three main steps to alchemical transmutation: analysis, deconstruction, and reconstruction."

"I see!" Bella announced. "He's stopping at the second stage, deconstruction!"

"But if he's an alchemist, then he's going against his own preaching!" Mustang said. (hehe…I love making him look stupid :evil grin:)

"Yeah…" Ed looked thoughtful.

"And why does he only go after ones with government licenses?..." Rei mused (sry, I like that word!).

Armstrong cornered Scar, and looked as if he were going to punch. At the last moment, he pulled back, and Hawkeye fired at Scar. A bullet scratched his face, breaking his sunglasses.

"Did you get him?" Mustang asked.

"One shot grazed him, that's all," Hawkeye replied. "He's fast."

Scar regained his balance, glaring at them with red eyes.

"Red eyes! And his dark skin…" Bella said thoughtfully, an odd look on her face.

"…" Mustang stood there, shocked. "He's an Ishbalan…!"

There was a brief staring match, until Scar broke the silence, saying, "Maybe there are too many of you…"

"Whoa there! Don't try to run for it. You're surrounded," Mustang said, holding up a hand.

Scar ignored him, slamming his hand on the ground under him and blowing a giant hole leading to the sewers.

"AAGGGH!" everyone quickly backed up.

"Th…that maniac went into the sewers!" Bella shouted.

"Don't go after him, Havoc," Mustang said.

"You think I'm chasing him down there!" Havoc replied, looking at Mustang as if he were crazy (which he is…).

Mustang ignored him, instead turning to Armstrong. "I'm sorry. You gave us enough time to surround him and – "

"No, no, no," Armstrong said, shaking his head. "It was all I could do to keep from being killed, much less give you more time…"

A man in military uniform looked out from behind a nearby building. "Hey, is it over?"

"Lt. Colonel Hughes…where have you been all this time?" Armstrong asked, looking annoyed.

"Hiding!" Hughes replied, giving him a thumbs-up. "If things went bad, someone had to life to tell the tale!"

"You know, next time, could you consider possibly helping us?" Mustang said, looking mad.

"Forget it! Don't drag normal humans like me under the big top with the rest of you freaks!" Hughes turned around. "Hey! Fight's over, we've got work to do!" he gave orders to all the MP's.

"Edward!" Bella shouted, running over to Ed and Rei. "Angel-chan! Are you guys alright? Hey!"

"Bella…" Ed whispered, wiping some blood away from his mouth. "You idiot!" he shouted, moving as if to punch her before he remembered that his arm was broken. He sat back, shouting "Why didn't you and Angel run away when I told you to?"

Bella knelt down next to him, looking worried and mad. "We're not gonna run off without you! We couldn't just leave you here!"

"That's what I mean by stupid!"

"Why! If we ran away, you and Al might have been killed!"

"We might not have been killed, too!" Ed was relieved that they were alright.

"When there's a way to survive," Rei interrupted, "and you choose death, that's what idiots do," she said calmly.

"D…don't talk that way to me!" Bella stuttered. "And why are you on his side!"

Rei ignored her, staring at Ed with emotionless eyes. "But abandoning a friend…that's even worse," she looked away, slightly embarrassed.

Ed looked down, and Bella had an idiotic smile on her face. "Yay!" she screamed, dancing around kinda randomly. Rei started helping Ed up, and her automail arm broke a bit at the elbow. "Ah!" Bella shouted. "Angel-chan's arm broke! It's your fault, Ed! You idiot!" she fell on the wet ground laughing, her relief at being alive making her hyper (me: not that she isn't usually hyper…and mental...Bella: hey! I heard that!)

"Heh…" Rei said, sitting next to Ed. "We're a real mess, aren't we? How uncool…"

"But we're alive," Ed said, relaxing slightly now the battle was over.

"Yeah…" Rei looked at the clouds, letting the rain wash the blood away from her cuts. Some of the MP's came up, putting jackets over her and Ed and helping Bella up. "We're alive."

The Ishbalans are a people from the east, who believe in one god, Ishbala. Due to religious differences, they'd always been in conflict with the central government…but thirteen years ago (when Ed, Bella, and Rei were 2), when an army officer accidentally shot an Ishbalan child, the incident exploded into civil war. Riot led to riot, and soon the fires of civil war spread throughout the entire east area. After seven frustrating years (Ed, Bella, and Rei were 9), the military commanders took a new tactic…they used state alchemists in an all-out genocide campaign. They were recruited as human weapons. It was an opportunity to test their suitability for war.

"I was one of those alchemists," Mustang said, sitting at his desk. They were back at East HQ, trying to decide what to do next. "That's why there's a certain justice that one of the last surviving Ishbalans would seek revenge."

"It's still not justice," Rei said, her eyes shut. She leaned against the wall, her forehead on the window. At first glance, she appeared asleep. "Whatever happened, he's still involving innocent people for the sake of his revenge."

"He's just candy-coating it by acting self-righteous and calling himself "an instrument of god"," Ed continued.

"We're talking about someone who hates alchemy but uses that very same power to get revenge," Hughes said. "Someone like that, who's either totally insane or doesn't care what other people think about them, is one of the most dangerous people there is. Frankly, he scares me."

"We can't care what people think about us, either," Mustang said, "because we can't afford to die yet. The next time we meet, there won't be any explanations. Because we'll kill him."

It was silent for a while, until Hughes spoke. "Okay!" he put his hands on his knees and stood up. "On that cheerful note…that's enough of this pointless conversation. So," he turned to Ed, Bella, Rei, and Al. "What are you guys going to do now?"

"Well…I want to fix Al's body, but I can't perform alchemy with just one arm…" Ed said.

"Shall I fix him for you?" Armstrong asked, flexing his muscles.

"NO THANK YOU," Al said quickly.

"I'm the only one who knows how to keep Al's soul in the armor…so anyway, first I need a new arm," he turned to Bella and Rei. "Don't you need your automail fixed, too?"

Bella nodded, but Rei shook her head. She clapped her hands together, and placed her real one on her automail arm. The metal stretched, fixing the broken joint.

Ed blinked, and Bella said, "Wow, you can fix your automail! Why didn't you say anything?"

Rei shrugged, kinda embarrassed. "It's just alchemy. The mechanic where I grew up taught me how to build it, and I learned a bit about automail from a girl I met before returning to Central. Where I had the bad luck to meet you," she muttered the last part.

"Awesome!" Bella shouted, ignoring her final comment; she knew Rei didn't mean it.

"Right…" Hawkeye looked at Ed. "But if Edward can't use alchemy, then he's just…"

"…A little brat who swears a lot," Havoc said, as Hawkeye nodded.

"An arrogant pipsqueak…" Hughes continued.

"Useless, just useless!" Mustang finished.

"Sorry, Ed…I don't know how to follow that…" Bella glanced at Ed.

"You're all picking on me!" Ed cried.

Bella grinned. "Nope," she pointed at Rei, who was staring out the window. "Angel-chan's not even paying attention!"

"Fine," Ed sighed. "I have no choice…I have to go see my mechanic."

ok! sry for such a late update...don't kill me! hides behind a pole ...shit...people keep hitting me with poles, and what do i do? turn around and hide behind my newest worst enemy!

...enough with the pointless chatter, ya see that liiiittle button down there? plz click it...the authors are sodisheartened that no one's been reviewing!

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