Chapter 17: The Great Escape.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or the characters.

The man felt a cool splash of water on his face that caused him to become so enraged that he immediately jumped up and grabbed the throat of the person who had splashed his burnt scarred face. It was then that he realized how badly a beating his body had taken as he felt the aching in his joints and even the simple gestures of him moving his hand was a painful ordeal. He ignored the pain as he squeezed his hand, a feeling of jagged needles being stabbed in his flesh shot through his arm and it helped him to realize that he was being surrounded by men with guns. Realizing that his bones would be unable to handle his usual tricks, he found it more appropriate to let go of the persons neck and put his hands up.

He was escorted into another part of the cave where two people sat at a table drinking wine while one of the persons sitting at the table ate on fine China. The guards sat him down in an unfriendly manner because of the guard who would have some trouble breathing for a while, much to the displeasure of the members of the table. One of the members of the table was someone he knew, his employer Dante, a woman with auburn hair and bright blue eyes. The other was man with brown chestnut hair that went with his smile to give him this friendly air to him, but it seemed phony to the scarred man. The chestnut haired man had this big smile to him that was fitting of a man who used charisma to fool people into following for him and he wore a uniform that showed him to be a high power in the Philosophers as he had the rank of a general. Along his jaw was a neatly trimmed bear that was a stark contrast to the scarred man's slightly disheveled goatee.

"So I see that my friends were right about your allegiance, Dante," said the scarred man as he glared at the woman in the chair and felt his arms becoming a bit numb as he drank the wine in front of him. He knew they had most likely put some drug in there to numb the sensation in his body, if they wanted to kill him they would have blown his head off a long time ago. They obviously needed him for his talents and Dante still felt that he could be useful. "I just hate that I myself have been lied to for this whole mission and now feel like they have a tangible warrant for future persecutions."

"What you did was save Roy's men just like I promised and you saved them since they are not dead," replied Dante as she leaned her head on her hand and looked at the mercenary. "Anyway, I believed that I could make it up to you by sweetening the deal that we have and give you a chance to decide on how well they should live in captivity."

"Right now, half of Roy's men are in our camps with decent living conditions," announced the chestnut haired man as he cut into his steak. "There is another group that is causing guerilla warfare on my men so hopefully you could get in touch with them and plan some way for you to mislead them into a trap. If you decline I will let you go, but we will treat our prisoners as harshly as spies and the other men who are hiding somewhere will be killed. Anyway, our reward for you will be more because of the initial problems and falsehoods on our parts."

"I want my wife as soon as you get that stone, just make that much clear or those men will be the least of your worries," said Sean as he sat back in his chair and looked at the two with a mask of faint interest for their offer. I find it better to go along with their plans and find a way to salvage the whole operation, maybe even use those men to my advantage. This much I must do, get my revenge, because no one fucks with me and has a happy time of it. The flesh from my face is going to be paid for, I just have to act the part of an angry person to get what I want, and not that it will be a problem. "Go on."

Roy was woken up by the same bright light being shined in his face like any day, being woken up before dawn so that he could go for his walk around the tunnel complex that had been amazingly formed by the Philosophers. It was then that he could meet with Ed who would then tell him the agenda for the day and then they would spend the day in the library that they took afternoon visits with. The women were given their own rooms with each other, but the two groups rarely met because of the dangers it could cause. The one update he got were the letters that were delivered to him at night and in the afternoon, but he never saw the sender and could only confirm that the letters were in her own hands during their meetings every week.

Days passed with the only regret on his mind was that he had never told Ed about what really happened to Sean, only saying that he had fallen off a cliff in the firefight before they were captured by the infamous Guile. Vashov, Lust, Omerta, and luckily Alphonse had eluded the captors and were somewhere in the complex, causing trouble for the enemy. Every day he would hear the guards grumbling about something that happened and he marveled at how Vashov was keeping the enemy on their toes, but at the same time searching for the Philosopher's stone. Ed seemed a bit distant with the loss of his friend and the fact that the only thing he had ever said to Sean the last time they met was "when this is over, I'll be looking for a way to send you back to where you came from, you bastard." It made him so depressed that he had stopped his usual demeanor and began to become less argumentative. It was the worst place to have Edward as, but Roy knew that if he told Ed how Sean had really died it would only cause problems inside the group and makes their escape difficult.

"So what is on the agenda today," asked Roy as he walked nest to Ed, his ungloved hand running against his scalp as he walked down to the library.

"Tell me, General, how did Sean fall," asked Ed, a bit of anger in his voice as he talked to Roy and Roy could only wonder how he found out about Sean's fate. "You used alchemy on him and set half of his face on fire, sending him over the cliff in pain. You killed him."

"He grabbed the gun out of Riza's holster, I thought he was going to kill her," replied Roy, his eyes looking down at his feet in shame as he thought about the innocent whom he had killed with his alchemy. Another ghost in his left eye to haunt him. "I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to fess up to killing another innocent person, it was my way to escape the guilt of it all, but I guess I never could get rid of it. Guilt of the murder became the guilt of not telling you, but how did you find out?"

"He didn't die," said Ed as he rubbed his gloved hands together, the gloves having strange markings on them to make any alchemy he used dangerous to him by doing taboos. "I met him yesterday when he came into my room last night to give me a letter sent by Winry. He's badly burnt on one side of his face and he has a scar right between the eyes from the decent, but other than that he's fine."

"I'm glad he's alive and I think he's the one we have to thank for all of this," said Roy as he motioned for everything around them. "So where does he stand then?"

"He's planning to get us out of here," whispered Ed as he leaned towards Roy and handed him a paper clip that Sean had sneaked him. "He's got your men ready to attack this installation at noon when the guards are changing so that they catch them by surprise."

"Okay but we should try finding where the women are," said Roy and then he looked behind him and saw that Alphonse wasn't behind them. "Where is your brother?"

"He's with Sean to get some things done."

Sean had met her while getting coffee in Roy's divisional HQ, she was racing him to get coffee first because there was only a cup left and the person who didn't get coffee was left with brewing another part, a thing made difficult by the fact that the coffee machine was made two decades ago. She looked so much like his dead wife, Iris, down to the very last detail even the way she would try to use her very sexy cat like purr and meow to try and get the coffee. If it was Iris he would have not given up the coffee, but he would have shared it with her through mouth to mouth. It wasn't Iris, however, and he was taken aback by her voice and soon found he could not resist Iristeis.

"So they sent their top spy to this party I see," said Sean, smirking as he held his hand out and then gave handed her the key to the rooms. "These are for the armories and the prison rooms on the B level of the west wing. After that you can lead them to the armory for ammunition and to plant the charges."

"Thank you, and be careful not to die," said Iristeis as she handed him the frequency at which to call in the other team.

"Only if you allow me to take you to dinner, and keep it, the radio room is on your way," said Sean as he started to walk casually down the hall, passed the unconscious guards and he made his way to the library with the Lugar in his holster. Now is the time to show off and make good with some friends.