Cast Iron Alchemist

by Inkwellblue

Anthony Elric's grandfather died. In his will he left Anthony a trunk, containing Ed's Amestrian artifacts. Anthony unwittingly transports himself through the truth to Amestris, and finds it's a very different place than his grandpa wanted it to become.

6. Chapter 6

Cast Iron Alchemist

Chapter 6: Fire and Ice

The mountains and valleys of northern Amestris were shrouded deep in the snow of a blizzard. It was a wonder anything was around in this frigid area, but a lone supply truck was making it's way to North City, carrying four unannounced passengers. Jennifer sat in the corner reading a medical book. The book flew out of her hand as the truck skidded on a patch of ice. She got up and retrieved her book, sighing. "Jeez, I wish we could have just taken the train."

Alicia yawned and sat up from where she was trying to sleep. "I wish we could too, but they've really upped border patrol, if they searched our packs and found the brigade equipment it's over for us."

Trevor nodded, eating an apple he pilfered from a nearby crate. He stood up and walked to get another one, tossing the core into the corner. "We got lucky, if Anthony hadn't created that fake riot they would have gotten us back in Central."

Anthony was by the other end of the truck, listening in on the conversations of the soldiers in the front of the truck. After a few minutes he nodded and picked up his pack. "They're almost to town, we're going to have to jump out here."

the other three nodded and got their things together, taking some supplies with them. Anthony opened the doors and held them open so the others could jump out. Alicia went first, landing softly in the snow. Trevor and Jennifer followed after her. Anthony swung out and closed the doors again before jumping out into a snow bank. The four joined up and began walking toward North. As they had guessed, the fruit truck was being searched. They went around and climbed over the wall using a vine. It didn't take long for it to be covered with snow after they climbed over. As the four walked into the inn, Alicia let out a shiver. "Why did we have to come here first? We could have gone down to the warm south."

Anthony payed the inn keeper and the four went up to their room. "If we had gone south you would have complained that it was too hot and we should have gone here first."

Trevor and Jennifer let out a snicker, but Alicia scowled at Anthony's back. "Whatever, so what's the plan?"

Anthony took out his brigade coat and put it on, taking out his mask. "Reconnaissance for starters, we need to know exactly what we're dealing with here."

the rest of the team nodded, ready to leave. "Alright, Alicia, you're with me, we're going to do above ground recon. Trevor and Jennifer, you'll do sewer recon. We'll hit them high and low if we can. We'll meet back here on the roof to discuss what we've found."

the other three nodded and they left through the window.

Alicia shivered in the cold as she and Anthony walked along the wall of North HQ. "Did we have to do this immediately?"

Anthony nodded, surveying the courtyard. "the blizzard offers great cover, we don't have to worry about getting caught by guards as much."

Alicia sighed and surveyed the landscape. "If we attack in a blizzard like this we'll be nearly unstoppable. Who's in charge here anyway?"

Anthony took out some binoculars and looked around. "I think her name is Francine, but she refers to herself as Frostbite, I guess that's why she chose to lead the Northern HQ."

Alicia nodded brushed her hair out of her face. Anthony took some notes and quick sketches of the landscape in the journal, then put away the binoculars. "Alright, let's get back and meet up with the others."

Before Alicia had time to reply, they heard the yelling of a guard nearby. "You there, Stay where you are. Don't move or you'll be shot."

Alicia was quick in creating a thick wooden shield, and the two began to run for it. The officers began shooting at the pair. In the commotion and the blinding blizzard, they didn't notice the pit trap that they landed in. They collected their bearings and Anthony prepared to transmute a ladder to escape, but the guards were too quick and surrounded the hole, guns pointed at the two. They raised their arms in surrender. Suddenly, a pair of guards were pulled away from the group, and then two more, the sounds of fighting and gunfire could be heard above. After the noise subsided, a rope ladder was tossed down. The two were sceptical at first to trust it, but eventually climbed up. When the climbed out they were met with a group of ten people in metal masks and jackets similar to their own attire. They were each helped out by one of these members. Most of the masks were very similar and generic, but there was one in a silver jacket and unique mask who stepped forward and shook Anthony's hand. "Mr. Cast Iron Alchemist," he said, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you sir. I'm the Flash Freeze Alchemist, second in command of the Fullmetal Brigade North City division. We've been waiting for your arrival."

Anthony shook his hand and nodded. "It's good to see we aren't the only ones out to save this country. We're lucky you came when you did, any longer and we might have been killed."

A strong breeze blew by, and the group braced themselves against it. The Flash Freeze Alchemist chuckled softly and pulled his jacket tightly around him. "Come on, Let's get your stuff and bring you to the base."

Anthony nodded and the group dispersed.

Trevor yawned as he and Jennifer walked down the sewer walkways, examining the walls. Jennifer was plugging her nose, whimpering in disgust. "Ugh, can we please just spend a minute or two on the surface? I feel like I'm going to throw up."

Trevor shook his head and kept walking, examining anything that looked suspicious. "The sooner we finish searching the sooner we can get back to the hotel room. Besides, it's so warm down here, you'd rather be up above in that freezing blizzard?"

Jennifer sighed and followed along, examining the walls. She stopped for a second and looked across at the opposing wall. Transmuting a bridge, she walked over and examined it. "Trevor look at this." she said, running her hands across the wall.

He followed after her and started looking at the wall. "Look, the path splits here, but there's no pathway here. If this were a natural wall of the sewer then the path would continue."

Trevor nodded and started searching the wall with her. "You're right, there has to be something here."

as they searched the wall it suddenly opened. They turned and saw an alchemist in a mask. "Welcome, Mr. Blue Flame Alchemist, Miss Prison Medic Alchemist. I've been sent to retrieve you. Your friends are on the way, please come with me." he said as he began walking into the tunnel.

Trevor and Jennifer looked at each other for a second and followed behind him. The alchemist sealed the door behind them.

The North City alchemist base was large, the main room by itself was three hundred cubic feet. There was no way to tell how deep underground they were, the mine cart had dipped too many times to keep track. The four friends met up at the end of the cart ride and walked in together, led by the Flash Freeze Alchemist. As soon as they entered the four were met by nearly a hundred alchemists who circled them, excited to see the heroes in person. Flash Freeze stepped in front of them, smiling. "As you can see, we have all been awaiting your arrival Mr. Cast Iron Alchemist."

Anthony smiled and removed his mask. "That's quite a mouthful, You can just call me Anthony, Anthony Elric."

when they saw Anthony remove his mask, the other three removed their masks too. "These are my companions. Alicia Rivers, the Botanic Alchemist, Trevor Mustang, the Blue Flame Alchemist, and Jennifer Meadows, the Prison Medic Alchemist."

everyone else removed their masks as they saw the heroes do so. Flash Freeze was the last to remove his mask as he put it in his pocket. "In that case, you can call me Adam, Adam Blacklily. I find it hard to believe that you bear the name Elric, but I'd believe most anything these days. Come with me, our leader would like a word with you."

the four followed Adam across the room as all the other alchemists returned to their business. Alicia looked around the room in amazement. "This is amazing, Adam. It's a lot better than jumping from hotel to hotel like we usually do."

Adam nodded as he continued to lead the group. "We got word about the Fullmetal Brigade when a citizen that was imprisoned suddenly returned. He told the townsfolk stories about how he had travelled from the east all the way north, saved from a work camp by a group claiming they were going to free this country. He disappeared a few days after he returned, word is the military executed him for spreading vicious lies. We would have been inclined to believe the military, but me and a few others who started the northern division heard from a guard that you guys were real, even gave us descriptions. Since then our numbers have grown, we've sent out people all over the northern region recruiting alchemists. Now we have more than a hundred members living here. Six floors of living spaces, and we're working on adding a seventh. Not just alchemists either, we've also got automail and weapon specialists working with alchemists to create alchemy weapons."

he stopped and turned as they approached a door, showing a proud smile at the group. "Thank you, you've given us all a reason to hope for bigger and better things."

without waiting for a reply, Adam opened the door and let them into the room. There was a desk in there, the chair behind it turned with the back facing the doorway. "They're here."

that was all Adam said as he stood next to the group. The chair spun around. "Welcome, Fullmetal Brigade."

Anthony and Jennifer looked in surprise at the person sitting in the chair. Anthony gritted his teeth as he transmuted his wrist sword. "Fang!" he screamed, running at the man in the chair.

He jumped quickly, brushing his black hair aside, placing his hand on the hilt of the sheathed sword at his side, running at Anthony. As he prepared to block his opponent's sword, Anthony was hit with a powerful punch, knocking him backward. He looked to see what had happened, and saw that what he thought was a sword was actually just a sword hilt. The group were quickly seized by the other alchemists, and the man Anthony saw as fang sheathed the sword hilt. "So, he still goes by 'Fang'? How is he doing?"

Anthony looked up at him as he was held by two alchemists, feeling foolish. "Oh, sorry, he was killed."

the man nodded and had the alchemists release the group. "I'm not surprised. Sorry for the confusion by the way but I'm not Thomas, I'm his brother. My name is Zeke Williams, back when my brother was around we used to be known as Claw and Fang, but now I'm the Spirit Blade Alchemist."

Anthony nodded and sheathed his wrist sword. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Anthony Elric. If you don't mind me asking, why do the call you spirit blade?"

Zeke smiled and put his hand back on the hilt. The guard on the end of the hilt began to glow blue as the transmutation circle on it revealed itself. The sheath, a black steel, began to transmute into the blade of the sword. Anthony watched as he swung the blade back and forth. "Amazing."

Zeke nodded, and sheathed his blade again. "Indeed. So, I take it you have a plan prepared for storming North headquarters?"

Anthony shook his head. "No, not yet. But if you have some information, we could start forming a plan right now."

Zeke smiled, leaning against his desk. "Well, perhaps you and I can get the information together. As for the rest of you, feel free to familiarize yourself with the demographics. Miss Prison Medic Alchemist, you can probably find some information on medical alchemy in our infirmary, And Blue Flame, our weapons alchemists have terrific explosives recipes you can test. Miss Botanic, perhaps you can take your group's things to a free room in our residency section, then you can explore on your own."

the group nodded and dispersed as Zeke and Anthony talked about their plan of attack.

Trevor explored the weapons rooms and came to a group working on smoke bomb combinations. He smirked as he pulled out a small bag of table sugar and set it on the table. The group looked over at him questioningly. "if you combine one parts sugar with two parts potassium nitrate, it'll create a slow burning formula of black smoke that isn't harmful to the lungs." he told them.

The head explosives expert smiled and adjusted his glasses. "That's an ignition smoke bomb, not an oxygen smoke bomb, how do you suggest we quick light it?"

He chuckled, taking out a smoke canister and carefully opening it up. Inside the cap was a match head underneath the pull tab, above the pull tab was a fuse. "when you pull the tab quickly it ignites the fuse by lighting the match head, then you have three seconds before the smoke starts."

They all examined the canister with great interest, studying it's mechanics. They all nodded and smiled. "This is perfect, we've been working for weeks on finding an ignition system that's friendly to our flame impaired alchemists. Five minutes in here and you've already perfected an amazing smoke bomb."

Trevor nodded and sat down, sliding his glove on. "You can pay me back by showing me some flame friendly explosives for me to use."

the group look at each other and nodded, then the head explosives expert walked over to a large cabinet and opened it, revealing more than fifty types of successful explosives. "I think we can hook you up."

a smirk went across Trevor's face as he saw the explosives in the cabinet. His mouth nearly watered staring at the mix of pyrotechnics.

Jennifer looked around in awe at the sophisticated infirmary. It was hard to believe that they had so much medical equipment. IV drips hung from the walls, the floor and walls were expertly tiled, creating a soft patting sound as she walked. Near the end of the room there were a few doors, one labelled "LIBRARY". She stepped in and looked around. All around her were medical books on every type of subject one could imagine, all sorted by their subject. She walked past some other alchemists reading and pulled a book from the anatomy shelf. She looked up briefly from her book and saw a young alchemist across the room reading. He looked back and gave her a friendly wink before going back to his book. She blushed shyly and adjusted her glasses, returning to her own book.

After Alicia had the room set up for the group, she made her way down to the mechanics area of the base. Looking around at all the automail workers, a metallic smell in the air, she felt like she was back in Risembool. She walked around the room, looking at all of the different projects people were working on. Near the back she saw a blacksmith alchemist working on weapons. He was constantly redrawing his circle as he did each weapon. Alicia reached into her pocket, taking out one of her alchemy gloves and giving it to him. "Here, there's a circle sewn into the palm."

The man smiled and examined the glove, sliding it on his hand. On the back of the hand she had sewn the brigade symbol, a snake wrapped around a cross. "Thanks, That's a very clever idea."

she smiled and sat down. "Well, I wasn't the one who thought of it, I just varied from Mustang's original idea."

Adam walked up, smiling. "I see you've met Axel, the Metalworks Alchemist. Axel, I need you to make a wooden wrist sword for our friend Anthony so he can train."

Axel nodded, adjusting the glove on his hand as he took a piece of wood and transmuted a wrist sword gauntlet, handing it to Adam. "I'm running out of materials, someone will have to go pick up some more wood and metal."

Adam nodded, taking it and leaving. Alicia smiled and sat down across from him. "You must be very talented."

he nodded and kept working as he talked. "I make about a hundred weapons every day, so yeah I keep busy. This is a brilliant idea thought, the gloves. If you aren't looking for it, you can't see the transmutation circle in the palm, though you should probably remove the brigade symbol on the back."

Alicia nodded and leaned back in her chair. "Well Anthony figured that if we were carrying all our brigade gear anyway we may as well sew it on the gloves too, you know?"

he nodded back and smiled. The two spent the next hour talking about metals and alchemy.

Taking a break from planning, Zeke took Anthony to their training room, which was separated between alchemy practice and weapons training. They walked over to a combat stage, a large, soft mat, and put on some protective armor. Zeke replaced his sword with a wooden duplicate, and Anthony took the wrist sword gauntlet that was so kindly made for him. "I have to warn you," Zeke told him, "I've been practising for ten years in swordsmanship."

Anthony nodded and took a battle stance. "Don't underestimate an Elric with a wrist sword."

he smirked and drew his sword. The two ran at each other and clashed blades. Anthony tried to sweep his opponent's legs, but Zeke was quick and jumped away. The two fought for a good hour and a half before tiring out and sitting down to take a break. They heard clapping coming from the side of the stage, and when they turned they saw Alicia, Trevor, Jennifer, and Adam watching. Alicia walked up and helped Anthony to his feet. "If you guys are done fooling around, we're ready to hear the plan of attack."

the two nodded and put the wooden weapons away and walked back to the office, where the desk was strewn with blueprints and information. Zeke stepped forward with Anthony as the rest listened intently. Zeke pointed to the front entrance. "This plan consists of multiple teams. We, you four and myself, will be team Alpha. Our explosives team, team Beta, will begin the plan by blowing open the front doors of the headquarters. Team Beta will also consist of a group of medical alchemists, led by Jennifer. In the meantime we and team Delta, led by Adam and a group of alchemists of his choosing, will enter through the basement via sewer access. Team Alpha's duty is to defeat Frostbite, while Team Delta will take care of your other objective, the philosopher's stone. Information from our ears on the inside report a room on the bottom third floor, two floors below our entryway, that is always locked. The only groups that come out of there are groups of alchemists with high clearance given to them by Frostbite herself. Thanks to our group on the inside we have gotten a pick pocketed key card that can be used to get into the room. We don't know that the philosopher's stone is in there, but it's our best bet and, according to Anthony here, makes sense architecturally. The mission is to fill a small satchel with philosopher's stones and destroy the room. Getting back to Team Alpha, we'll be making our way up the opposite route, to the top floor. It won't be easy to get to Frostbite. She's got a team of elite guards, both alchemists and swordsmen. We need to be on our toes. As for Frostbite herself, she's ruthless. We've seen her in town before, anyone who gets in her way she freezes solid with her ice alchemy. It was her herself that executed Former President Fuhrer King Roy Mustang."

as Zeke said this, Trevor couldn't help but tense up in anger. Anthony nodded and walked forward. He put a reassuring arm on Trevor's shoulder, continuing where Zeke left off. "Once Frostbite has been taken out of commission and the explosives team finishes setting up detonators, we'll blow the base sky high and return here. Zeke is going to relay this information to the rest of the building while we get ourselves ready."

the team nodded and stood up to leave. Anthony walked with Trevor. "Are you going to be alright?" he asked.

Trevor looked over at him, still a bit angry about the mission at hand, and nodded slowly, putting his gloves on. "I'll be fine."

Jennifer packed a bag full of medical supplies and slung it over her shoulder, getting mentally ready for the upcoming mission. When she turned around she saw the boy she had seen earlier in the library area. "Hi" he said a bit shyly. "I'm Kyle"

she smiled, blushing a bit, and stepped back a moment. "I'm Jennifer."

he nodded and held out a mask with a medical cross etched into it. "Here, you'll need it if you're out in the field won't you?"

Jennifer nodded slowly and took it, smiling. "Thank you."

Kyle smiled back and blushed. "It's nothing, I think it's a wonderful thing you're all doing here. My mother was imprisoned by the military for stealing a coat. They told me she was sent to the east, I haven't seen her since."

Jennifer nodded. "I was also imprisoned in the east...What was your mother's name?"

the smile left his face as he felt a bit sorrowful. "her name was Adiane."

Jennifer looked a bit surprised as she heard the name. "Miss Adiane! I didn't know you were her son. She was so nice to me when I was taken there, she helped me survive."

Kyle looked hopeful as she spoke about it. "Really? That's great. Do you know what happened to her after you were freed?"

Jennifer looked away sadly. "I'm sorry but...she didn't make it that long."

Kyle sighed and shook his head. "it isn't your fault. At least she was able to help someone else survive."

Jennifer nodded and smiled. "Come on, we need to meet up with the others."

Kyle nodded back, and the two walked out of the infirmary.

North HQ was silent in the blizzard. The guards kept their posts, but were startled by the loud explosion near the front gate. All available guards rushed to see the door blown open with a group of alchemists running in with weapons. Blades clashed with each other as the alchemists shaped the land with their alchemy.

The sounds were loud enough to be heard in the sewers underneath as a group of ten alchemists, teams Alpha and Delta, made their way to the basement. After some quick calculation, they were able to successfully break into the basement floor. The two groups nodded at each other and parted ways at the staircase. Adam led his team down the stairs. They were met on the bottom third floor by a group of alchemists attempting to flee, though they ran right past the intruders trying to save their own lives. The group continued on to the door and opened it with the key card. Inside they saw something that made them sick to their stomachs. The walls were covered in blood as dead bodies lay on the floor. In the center of the room was a giant transmutation circle, a group of people on top of it. Adam walked over, barely able to keep from throwing up, and checked the group. It was too late, they were all dead. They bowed their heads for a moment in honor and began searching the room. It wasn't long before they found what they were looking for. Breaking into a safe, they found it was full of philosopher's stones of all types. There were liquid, semi liquid, and solid ones. They did their job and filled a satchel, leaving the rest to be buried in the rubble at the end of the mission. They also took it upon themselves to sketch the transmutation circle, figuring it would be of some help. They set the detonators and left with their capture.

Anthony led the group up the stairwell to the general's quarters. Walking along the wall of the headquarters, they could see the battle below in the courtyard. A pair of guards ran at Anthony, part of Frostbite's personal guard squad. He transmuted his wrist sword and dug it deep into the abdomen of the first, the second took a shot in the same place by Zeke's sword. They reached the wall of the general's quarters and busted in. They were met inside with ten guards, half holding swords, half holding chalk. The group prepared themselves and began to battle. Metal clashed with metal, alchemy with alchemy, as the group fought their way through the room. By the time the battle was done, the group stood tall as the victors. A flash of blue light shone from the other side of the room as the floor was covered in ice. The group had their feet encased in ice as cackling came from the origin point. A woman walked out from the shadows, wearing a full fleece military ensemble. "Well well, I take it you are the infamous Fullmetal Brigade. What lovely masks, I don't recognize a couple of them though. There's a Fullmetal mask, the one with the sword looks like that alchemist I executed a few years ago."

she stopped in front of Trevor, an evil smile across her face. "Well, don't we look familiar. Roy Mustang, such a lovely eulogy. I remember pulling the lever and letting him hang, I really enjoyed it."

Trevor gritted his teeth and snapped his fingers. Frostbite got out of the way just in time to avoid injury. He had melted the ice around the group, they were all free. "You shut up about Roy Mustang! You guys go, help the group in the courtyard."

Alicia wanted to protest, but Anthony stopped her before she spoke up. "Alright, good luck."

As they fled for the exit, Frostbite tried to stop them by sealing the room with ice, but she was stopped by Trevor's mighty blue flame. "Frostbite, I will be your opponent today."

Jennifer was busy at work on the battlefield. Most of the medics had died while working on soldiers, only her, Kyle, and one other medic remained on the battlefield. The third medic was going to the emergency crates to restock on bandaging. Jennifer had just used her last one on an alchemist with a chest wound, and she began to run toward the crates. She didn't get far before she was shot in the leg by an enemy soldier with a rifle. He stepped forward to finish her off, but Kyle pushed the man out of the way and took the shot in the chest. "No!" Jennifer screamed as he fell into the bloody snow next to her.

He rolled over and pulled a roll of bandages out of his satchel, wrapping up her wound and healing it with his glove. He passed out as she got up and rolled him on his back. She checked his satchel and began to cry. There weren't any bandages left in his satchel. She shivered and cried, knowing that the crates were too far away to help. She tried to seal up the wound without it but to no avail. His breathing opened the wound back up as he expanded and compressed his chest. Eventually he stopped breathing, and it was too late. Jennifer began to cry, laying there in the snow she looked at his face, reaching out slowly and rubbing his cold cheek. She stared at his mask, running her fingers along the carving of his mother's hair. She took the mask off him and quickly replaced her own mask with his. She didn't waste any time in getting more bandages and continued healing the wounded. Anthony's group came on the scene quickly, which turned the battle in their favor, as the unexpected reinforcements took them out from behind. The battle continued in the freezing blizzard.

Trevor and Frostbite both panted, tired from the harsh combat. Ice and burn marks covered the walls. Frostbite glared and ran at him for a kick. Trevor tried to dodge but was slammed against the wall by her second whirling foot. With her opponent on the ground, she quickly drew a circle and trapped him there with ice. She smirked and stood up, staring across the room at her opponent. "Well, looks like you're just as bad as the man you cherish so greatly. And now you will die a foolish hero, just like your idol before you."

she transmuted an icicle axe, extremely sharp and frigid, and began walking toward him. Trevor was able to break his arm free, he quickly snapped his fingers. Frostbite tried to evade, but Trevor successfully used the icicles to make it arc behind her and ignite it in a bright blue flame. She screamed with pain as her arm was caught in the explosion. Trevor quickly melted the ice as Frostbite now lay against the wall of the room. She gasped with pain and looked in fear as Trevor weakly approached her. "No!" she screamed, "Stay back!"

she sent spikes of ice at him, but Trevor was quick in his flames and they quickly became a cloud of steam. Trevor stood in front of her, fearful on the ground. "Who...are you?"

Trevor slid his mask off, showing his face to her. "I am Trevor Mustang, the Blue Flame Alchemist. For your crimes against my family, I sentence you to death." he said as he snapped his fingers.

She ignited in a bright blue spark, the last thing he heard was her scream. Trevor left to join the others, his mask back on his face.

The courtyard had been terraformed into a pit of massive structures, spikes, and bloody bodies. Trevor joined the rest of the group, mourning their fallen comrades. They looked at each other and nodded, then left the courtyard. Trevor snapped his fingers and lit the first charges, igniting the rest in the process. The buildings came tumbling down in a mass of explosive debris. Anthony and Alicia pressed their palms to the ground, and transmuted a snake wrapped around a cross into the rubble. With their mission completed, they returned to the base, an emotional mix of loss and victory amongst the group.

There was a great celebration in the victory back at the base, though for some spirits were low. Jennifer stared at her reflection in her new mask, full of sorrow at her lost comrade. Trevor was no better, leaning against a wall. He had finally killed the woman who had killed his father, but his spirits were no better, his father was still dead. Alicia and Anthony, seeing their friends upset, couldn't have much fun either. Finally, near the end of the night, Zeke stood up in front of everyone. "We have done a great thing tonight, we have liberated the north. But our job is not yet done. Anthony, the Cast Iron Alchemist, will explain."

Zeke moved away for Anthony to approach the podium. "Starting tomorrow, you will all start moving to Central. I'm sure you are all familiar with Laboratory 5. In groups of four, I want you to go there, the first few groups will create a way in through the sewers, and then they will reinforce the laboratory in quiet, hiding the windows so that we avoid the blue light of our alchemy being seen. Once the laboratory can house our army, wait there for more groups to come from the west and the south. This is the start of a revolution. We will realize what my grandfather, the Fullmetal Alchemist, tried to realize. We will break down this government rule, and build this country from the ground up. Zeke will travel with us, and a group of mechanics I want to go to Risembool in the East to a place called Rockbell Automail. Tell her the Cast Iron Alchemist sent you, and start building weaponry. We'll need it to face the enemy army. You are all honorable alchemists, and I'll be happy to fight alongside you."

Anthony ended with a chorus of "Alchemists for the people" and let them get back to partying.

Simon sat in his office reading the latest report from his investigator. He was able to ascertain the identity of the Botanic Alchemist. Alicia Rivers of Risembool. It was still unclear to him who the Cast Iron Alchemist was, but he was getting closer. He looked over the report a hundred times, he knew everything about her, and was planning his next move. He was interrupted as a soldier walked in. "Sir, we just got word, North HQ has been destroyed!"

he looked up at the soldier and gritted his teeth. "Cast Iron and his pals are still at it then. Well we'll have to put a stop to that."

he took one more good look at Alicia's file and smirked. "Thank you for you're helpful information soldier. Tell me, how is the pride project coming?"

the soldier checked his own papers. "So far successful sir, I think we're ready for the final product sir."

Simon nodded and leaned back in his chair. "Good, tell the alchemists to carry on."

the soldier saluted and left. Simon got up and stared out his window, his eyes full of contempt. "I hope you've had fun Cast Iron Alchemist, it's time to find out what happens when you mess with me."