Chapter 11: The Contact

Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist or the characters of said anime/manga.

He had been reading one of his books earlier, but right now General Roy Mustang was sleeping in his chair with his book over his face so that the sun would not get into his eyes. Sean had taken his occupation to writing something down for the train ride, a story that he was thinking up in his mind as a way to pass the time, while he adjusted his red tie every ten minutes. His early years had been haunted by one incident during his thirteenth year when he was on the run from a gang, they eventually found him and tied him up in the back of a truck. The only way he managed to escape from the ordeal was by breaking out of the rope and taking out a piece of piano wire to dispatch the gangsters with. Somehow, the piano wire had snapped, but it had already cut into the gangster's throat and his victim was left to thrash about the floor shouting about how much it hurt. It was after that experience that Sean trained himself to do other things and found a piece of thread that was tougher than steel, but was able to cut into his victims throats without snapping. Over time he had developed a mechanism in his watch to make it possible for him to shoot the wire out at fast enough speeds to cut through the human body.

Right now he was examining said watch with his leather gloves on that he used to hold the wire in his hands. Though it didn't really show on the deceivingly innocent mercenaries face, Sean was very vicious a heart and was prone to violent outbursts of sadism to get whatever information he deemed important. It wasn't that he had no conscience it was just that he was trained to be just like that and after years of being a killer, he had become immune to sights of gore and slaughter that would affect other hired mercenaries. He didn't feel anything from deaths by his hand and that in part was what he hated the most that he no longer felt guilt for every life he took. He took a drink of the scotch that was on the table in front of them, a compliment that came with travelling in the officer's car, and he started to feel a bit dazed by the liquor.

"Well, shit," said Sean as he passed out on the chair from the drug that the assassin had slipped in the scotch.

"It would seem like the secondary target wasn't much of a factor," laughed the assassin as he walked into the car with another officer right behind him. The assassin had light brown hair that was combed into waves and wore a pair of glasses. His most notable features were the various piercings that he had on his face. "Go and contact Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye that her beloved commander is dead and that if she doesn't wish to share his fate she will stop the investigation."

"Yes then, sir," replied the officer as he walked off into the radio booth and gave the transmission only for it to be received by a secretary. "Transmission sent sir."

"Good now then I suppose it's time for me to make good on my words," said the assassin as he removed a knife from his pocket and walked towards the general. "It was too bad, we were hoping that you would agree with us, but I suppose you weren't the visionary we were, even though you helped us by taking out King Bradley. Goodbye, Flame Alchemist."

"Did anyone ever tell you not to talk to those you're going to kill," asked Sean as he sent his wire out and cut off the assassin's arm before he had time to even respond. "Well that is unless you plan to torture them for information."

"Wha-…….ah," cried the assassin as he saw the blood limb where his left arm used to be and then he felt a strong leg take the ground out from under him as he was sweep kicked by Sean.

"Now then, I'm going to ask questions, and you're going to answer those questions or else I'm going to cut something off of you," said Sean slowly as he pulled out a gun to shoot the officer who was reaching for his gun. "First question, who sent you after General Roy?"

"Why the hell would I tell you, bastard," spat the assassin before he felt something wrap itself around one of his piercings.

"I guess you assume that I'm joking so please allow me to break the ice for you, asshole," said Sean as he pulled on the wire and wiped the blood that had squirted onto his face. "Now I'm going to ask you again and if I have to do that again, I'm going to see what other piercings you have on you, understand?"

Riza had managed to get dressed in a white shirt with dark blue coat and blue trousers that had been imported, or at least that's what Riza told her friends when she saw them. After looking for her keys and laying Black Hayate in the bed, Riza went outside to walk to the library that was just down the street from her, checking behind her for anyone that might be trailing her. The library was just the same as when she had last been there two years ago, except that it was very empty and a bit dim for a place where people read, but it wasn't that well known. Her hand stayed at her side, but they were ready to reach behind her and grab the gun that she had concealed on her just in case there was something more to Vashov's intentions than met the eye. While walking down one of the aisles of the library, she felt something sharp press into her back and she turned to see a face she had never expected to see in a long time, the face of Lust.

"Why did you come armed, if you were going to meet Vashov," asked Lust as she titled her head to the side and stared at Riza. "You aren't planning on killing him or putting him under arrest, are you?"

"This is protection just in case he tries to do anything," replied Riza as she moved away from it instantly. "You don't think I would be so trusting of him after what he did to me, do you?"

"Well you do have a point there, but I can assure you that he has no intention of doing anything against you or the man you love," said Lust before she turned and motioned with a finger for Riza to follow. "He's waiting for you."

Riza followed the homunculus that she thought had died some time ago while helping the Elric brothers fight another homunculus, but it would seem that someone had brought her back to life. The room she was led to was more like a private study with a big comfy red chair right near a fire place and in that chair was Vashov, dressed in a red version of the military coat and black pants. His boots were black with steel round tips and on his hands were black gloves. The man or homunculus I should say looked so different when out of his military uniform or maybe it was just the circumstances on which they were meeting, which weren't very favorable for the homunculus in red. Opposite to Vashov was another big comfy chair that was blue.

"Please, sit down, big sister," said Vashov with a pleasant smile that made her flash back to that cheerful young officer who she had fought with. "I have information to exchange and some ideas of what to do."

"How do you plan on getting me on that train to help him, little brother," asked Riza as she sat down in the blue chair and watched as Lust sauntered over to him and sat in his lap.

"The same way I escaped from that sewer, by using some of the portals that are placed at random points," replied Vashov as he held Lust closer to him, a sense of jealousy and outrage for the homunculus in his arms crept into Riza.

"What do you want out of this exactly," asked Riza as she pushed her feelings aside and questioned her own behavior.

"The Philosopher's stone that I made so long ago has been kept in secret even from myself until they dug it up from the ground and started to use it to open up the gate," replied Vashov casually as he held out something in his hand. "This is something that was recovered from what was left of the wreckage of one failed gate, but they didn't have my original Philosopher's stone, just these pale imitations that are good for only opening the gate. From where I stand, those men are screwing with my plan and the theft of one of my homunculi is only a declaration of war as far as I'm concerned. What I want to do is kill them off so that I get them out of my hair and to stop them from opening that gate."

"Just what exactly are they trying to do," asked Riza as she examined the black object in her hand.

"Well there are many theories out there, but I can only think that they wish to use the full power of the stone and become gods," said Vashov. "If one were to consume the stone at the gate then that person could essentially become a god or at least that is the theory."

"So they all wish to become gods?"

"No, one does and the others are just puppets who are supporting the theory of one ambitious individual in the group. In my opinion the higher ups aren't that much of a concern as those on the rise since some of those deaths have been carried out by other members of the Philosophers and as such I believe that there is a power struggle amongst the group between the ambitious radical members that are like the old Philosophers and the more conservative ones that want to pursue ways to better alchemy, not create all these taboos. The leader of the more conservative movement just happens to be the current Fuhrer, who learned about the group's existence and tried to use the others to create a utopia or whatever he plans to do."

"How do you know that Roy isn't dead and why didn't you take out the assassin yourself?"

"First off, Sean is a very skilled fighter from what Edward says and I did take precautions to keeping Roy alive, but what I need you to do is to keep Roy's survival a mystery to all except those in your unit. I have reason to believe that there is an agent of the Philosophers amongst your outfit."

"But the plan was suppose to be perfect, Marco wasn't supposed to be killed," said the man as he sat on the stone ground with a gun pointed at him. "I didn't know the honoculus would kill him."

"It would seem your plan had very little effect," said a cold voice as a trigger was pulled and blood was splattered all over the floor.