Chapter 18: Complications

Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or the characters of FMA.

Sean walked down the hallway with his two Lugar's in their holsters at his side while he remained calm and composed, just like the mercenary that was working for the Philosophers should look. Any guard that met him was none the wiser as he made his way to his destination, the library, a place where Edward and Roy could amuse themselves with the different books on alchemy and theoretical calculations that would transcend both alchemy and science. They were really put there so that they could work for the benefit of the Philosophers, but as time road on they would eventually be put into other offices of high ranking as they were assorted into the Philosophers. Of course that is what Dante and the other leader of the Philosophers hoped, but it would never fly with Ed or Roy and that's what Sean knew. He never told them this because he wanted to give them the best cover, the idea that they had been broken and can now be used as puppets for the Philosophers. Dante would never see it coming, but she would see the bullet that went for her head, that Sean would make sure of for all the shit that he had to put up with.

As soon as he opened the door to the library he saw the guards standing to attention after probably slacking off because he could see that they were both nervous in front of him. Most of the guards were sent on the other side of the complex in search of Vashov and his homunculi but Sean knew they were closer. There would be very few guards around and the only one who could hear anything that went on in that room was incapacitated. When he closed the door behind him with his right hand, Sean dropped his left hand till it was level with his gun handle and then spun around, pulling his gun out of its holster and then shot both of the guards in the head before they realized what was happening. Roy and Ed both just looked at him shocked at how masterful he did that and then he went over with the keys to unlock their shackles and handed Roy his gloves that he had secured when they were captured.

"The attack on this complex is going to happen in ten minutes, you have that long to sneak your way to the vehicle room before it gets heavy," said Sean as he tossed them the guards' guns.

"Not until we get Riza and Winry," said Roy as he started to walk for the door leading to the left wing, but Sean stopped him.

"No I can go through without question and I know my way around this place, leave it to me," said Sean as he walked through the door and then made his way past two guards who were none the wiser of his intentions.

When he finally got down to where Winry and Riza were being held he saw that they were tied up for interrogation as it seemed that they had been discovered with something. The object was a small transmitter for decoding and sending secret messages and was no doubt a gift from the very thoughtful yet careless Vashov. He looked to see who was scheduled to take control of this interrogation and he wasn't surprised to see Guile's name on the roster, it was probably the most favorable opportubity. Sean walked into the room while debating mentally what he should do to help them, but as soon as he was thinking, Guile was coming down the hallway with guards by his side. There were five and with Guile's skills Sean knew he wouldn't be walking away alive from any confrontation so he had to think of something else. He reached into his pocket to see what he had and his hands touched the cool metal of a knife that he kept as a wild card.

"What exactly are you doing here," asked Guile as he narrowed his eyes at the mercenary who only returned the menacing look with a solid cold stare of his own, the two had a bit of a rivalry that was bitter to say the least.

"I was just coming down here to see that my kindness to them has been taken advantage of," said Sean as he made his way to Riza and thank god that the person had put her arms in front of her so that when he punched her he could easily slip the knife into her ropes.

"You bastard," spat Riza trying to sound pained as she felt the knife in her ropes.

"I think I should go check up on anything else that Dante would want of me," said Sean as he walked towards the door and then pretended like he was receiving a transmission from someone. "Report your status! Come in! Damn it! Guile I need to borrow some of your men!"

"Take them all, I like to do this alone," said Guile arrogantly as he took his main officers coat off to reveal his tank top and his horribly scarred arms that made most of the troops go white when they saw it. "This art of mine is something that can only be enjoyed by men such as you and me, but we know that I do not like an audience that doesn't appreciate this art. Really, we both know each other so why do you have to ask, just take the little shytes and go."

"Okay then," said Sean as he motioned for the men to follow and walked off with the men.

Riza waited while Guile went through cleaning his tools with a sick grin on his face from the delight of using his precious tools, the things he cared about most in his life. Sadism is always linked to something in a person's life and Guile's was linked to a dead wife, killed as a casualty of war. He took it hard and all those Ishvalans that he caught were the ones whom he took his anger out on, his tortures becoming the weights in his mind to make him the cold cruel man he was now. Over the time he had collected so many devices of torture and his tactics were being made with cruel hearted efficiency that soon led to his reputation for being somewhat bloody.

"You see this art is one of patience and also one in which the victim becomes closer to the aggressor," said Guile as cleaned one of his knives and placed back on the counter right next to the pair of tweezers that he would most definitely use to cut off her fingers or remove her teeth. "First I'm going to beat you around a little bit, just to, you know, build up the tension in the moment and let it all come to a rise before I get started with the actual work. Then I'm going to use these small needles in my hand with my fist so I can hit key points and send some plie on it to send electricity through your body, a nice way to follow up to a beating if I do say so myself. Then if you're not talking after that then I can see where we are on our feelings to get into the real nasty stuff and to tell you the truth Riza, I want you to be very difficult because I am sure that will be most fun."

As he continued going on about each tool and what it's properties were, Riza was cutting her way out of her bonds, going slowly to make sure that he didn't hear the knife cutting through the material. Winry saw her and started asking questions to lengthen the process of his explanation even though it was risky since he could turn around to address her. When Riza had finally cut through the last of her ropes she went for Wirny's ropes, cutting as fast a she wanted since Guile was too caught up in his own reminiscing. She was almost done when he stopped talking and turned around, causing Riza to reflexively stab him, but he was quick enough to move so that it only stabbed his shoulder. Knowing that he wouldn't die from it, Riza put the knife into his mouth and cut the corner of his mouth open before running off.

"You bitch," cursed Guile as he crawled on the ground and tried to go after Riza, but was held up by attendants who wanted to have his wounds treated.

Sean had just shot the man whom he thought was running the show, but as soon as he saw the lack of security, he came to a realization of sorts. Number one, Dante had never fully trusted him, which being apparent from the guards who he found out had been trailing him throughout the complex. Number two, because Dante had never trusted him she had never shown him the real leader of the Philosophers, but the man he had killed was not the leader. He was merely a figure a head that was put in place, the true leader has always been Colonel Guile Stryker.

The odds were against Sean again as he was immediately surrounded by the guards and Dante was once staring at him with her green eyes. The body she had stolen for herself had green eyes and she was now in control of the matter with the soldiers at her beck and call so that Sean was outnumbered and with Dante he knew he wouldn't live. He threw down his guns and put his hands up as Dante sent her men out to restrain him and as soon he turned his head he was hit on the back of the head knocking him out.

"Roy," shouted Riza as she ran over to hug him, tears of joy streaming from his eye and then she felt his warm arms wrap around him as Havoc and Breda led troops to take over the base, blasting through most of the enemy soldiers who were caught unaware.

"General Roy, we have taken over half of the base, but we've found no sign of Stryker or Sean," said Havoc as he pulled his cigarette out of his mouth when Riza came into his line of vision. "We think that, from one of the reports it seems that Guile got away with Dante and that…."

"What is it, where is Sean," asked Ed as he looked at Havoc seriously, a fire burning behind his brain.

"Sean has been captured by the enmy and is with them," said havoc as he bowed his head a bit. "The only thing we can do is hope that the tracking device Iristeis gave him is implanted somewhere hidden."

"I want you to start tracking it," ordered Roy as he started marching and barking orders. "We are not leaving one of our men behind for the enemy!"