The action is finally starting to kick in, and there's a little bad language in this one. Enjoy : )

"Well?"

"Well what?" the Colonel locked eyes briefly with the irritated blonde alchemist standing beside him. He could almost feel Ed's gaze burn into him angrily. The teens gold eyes were narrowed; his hair hung limply and obscured his vision.

"What do you mean 'What?'! What are we still doing here?" Ed snapped tiredly, looking down at yet another freshly chalked array on the pavement. He ran a gloved hand through his hair, breathing deeply through his nose in a useless attempt to curb his flaring temper. "Why are we looking at some crappy chalk drawing when there could be a maniac in headquarters?!"

Roy knew the teen was right. They were wasting what could be valuable time. But was he going to admit that to the blonde? Of course not. His stubborn pride wouldn't allow him to.

"The reason we are here FullMetal, is because the Fuhrer ordered us to-"

"Fuck orders!" Ed turned on his heel and began to walk from the scene, ducking under the tape cornering off the end of the street as he went. He had no idea where he was going, but anywhere had to be better than being a sitting duck. The teen stopped in his tracks, looking back at his superior with a powerful glare.

"I don't care if you come with me or not, but its better if we stick together. At least you'll have someone to peel you off the floor..." he smirked, ignoring the stare he received from Roy.

"Where are the others?" Ed called back over his shoulder, not bothering to check if the man was following him.

"Beats me" Roy followed in the teens footsteps, scuffing his feet on the rough pavement. "Should have been here an hour ago- Damn security." The raven haired alchemist sighed with irritation as he watched his subordinates quarrel with the guards at the main gate. Jean was on the verge of breakdown. For a moment, he'd considered ignoring duty and crawling into his lovely, inviting military provided bed. Sure it was hard and lumpy, but it had to be better than being dragged through the cold at god knows what time in the evening. He would defiantly prefer a rough night's sleep than arguing with a pair of morons, and Risa looked as if she was going to explode any minute. Havoc sure didn't want to be there when it happened.

"Look!" Hawkeye yelled ruthlessly, "We already told you! We-"

"That's quite enough" a familiar voice interrupted. Roy and Edward emerged from the black shadows. Ed yawned, dragging his boots across the damp turf, leaving tracks in his path. The two heavily armed men stepped aside without uttering a single word, knowing better than to argue with the Flame and FullMetal alchemist. Risa's lips curled into a relived smile.

"Thank you Sir" she said, bumping shoulders with one of the men as she began to approach her superior. Jean shook his head and followed Risa, lazily shoving his hands in his navy pockets. He stifled a yawn, grimacing as his back and shoulder blades clicked in several different places.

"You look how I feel" he muttered to Ed, who was also trying hard to pry open his eyelids.

"We better be having a holiday when this is over..." the teen replied glaring at Roy menacingly. The man remained silent, defiantly in no mood to face the wrath of an angry Edward, who had been gritting through his teeth at Roy's snide comments all evening. The blonde was like a bomb waiting to go off, and the Colonel certainly wasn't going to interfere.

"What now?" Havoc asked tiredly, rubbing the back of his aching neck.

"We wait." The Colonel replied, entering the dark corridor of the office block without flicking the switch. The team squinted as their eye adjusted to the light, or rather lack of it.

"We wait?!" Ed curled his hand into a fist impatiently, "That's the plan?"

"Well FullMetal, if you have a better plan, please do feel free to share them"

"Well" the blonde began, "We simply-"

"No."

"I haven't finished yet!"

"No, because nothing you suggest Edward is ever simple" Roy rubbed his temples in frustration, wishing the teen would co-operate and make his job a lot easier. Was that likely to happen? Of course not. Frustrated teenagers didn't behave like angels, although a few times he swore he'd came close to meeting one. Roy had seen many bizarre things in his lifetime so far, and it just so happened that one of them was a very stroppy alchemist walking beside him. The teen's footsteps came to a stop. Roy craned his neck to speak, but was hushed by a curious looking Edward.

"FullMetal, what do you think you're-"

"Shut up!" Ed hissed, "Do you think it's a good idea to stroll into a military lab in the dark? When you have no idea what or who could be in there?!"

"You know what Edward... I'd say you're scared" the man smirked.

"Well excuse me for being cautious! You know what? Go ahead. If anything happens, I have no sympathy for idiots like you." The blonde folded his arms stubbornly, resorting once again to his deep breathing technique. As usual, it refused to work.

"You think the intruder could be in there?" Risa asked.

"They made the effort to break in without leaving any tracks or damage, somehow, I don't think there after paperwork" the teen rolled his eyes."

"I don't like your attitude FullMetal, you-"

"Guys?" Jean interrupted; "I think we have more important things to worry about now" he trailed off, locking his gaze with a pair of beady red eyes looking through the glass panel of the door. For a moment, all was silent. The red orbs glared lifelessly into Jeans, shifting its head from side to side as it examined him from head to toe.

"Nobody move" Risa muttered quietly under her breath, slowly moving her fingers to the gun tucked into her waist band.

A loud smash came from behind them. Risa pulled the trigger in surprise, shattering the window and revealing a pair of eyes looking through a mop of long tousled hair. At the far end of the corridor, something was getting closer. The glass crunched beneath its feet, sharp breaths of air wheezing through its airways heavily. The second creature began to move, the same ragged breathings piercing the nervous silence.

The door swung on its hinges, revealing a four legged brunette creature, long hair shadowing its facial features. Through the messy mop of hair, the team could see a pair of thin black lips curled back to reveal a large set of teeth. The gun began to quiver in Risa's hand. Nails sank into the palm of Havocs hand. Roy raised his fingers, preparing to snap. The creatures growled menacingly, heavy steps beginning to quicken. Ed couldn't keep up with both pairs of eyes as they inched closer and closer. The familiar feeling of adrenaline flooded through his veins, blood ringing through his ears. It had been a while since Ed had last felt his heart beat so vigorously against his ribs. The feeling in his flesh arm was already beginning to numb, not even the sharp digging of his nails into his palm could unglue him from the spot.

The blonde took a shallow breath through his nose; the cool air burned his airways. A growl emerged from behind, the heavy patter of claws against the floor echoed through the corridor. Risa could already feel the warm puffs of breath against the skin on the bare arms, sending a shiver down her spine. This was nothing, she tried to convince herself. Hawkeye had faced much more terrifying things in her life so far, so why couldn't she control the shaking pistol in her hand? Why did her limbs refuse to co-operate?

The creature stopped. The smaller of the two which had come from the lab cocked its head to one side, scanning Edward from head to toe. Its eyes paused over the metal bolts escaping from the comfort of the blonde's collar. It studied the metal like a foreign object, its pupils suddenly widened in recognition. It looked up at the teen triumphantly.

"The... metal... one..." words passed the thin black lips, each word dragged slowly.

"Chimeras..." Roy whispered, memory's of an unfortunate Nina and Alexander immediately came to mind. He knew the young blonde would be thinking the same. Undoubtedly, Chimeras were dangerous, a threat to society. It was and always would be hard to deal with them, especially when human words passed their lips.

The Chimera looked into the teens eyes, and suddenly, Ed was no longer looking at a monstrous, four legged creature. Instead, he saw a human. An innocent life that had been tampered with.

"You poor thing...." he bit his lip.

"He... said...the...metal....one" the second chimera snarled in response to its companion, looking Ed straight in the eyes.

"Found....you...."

The teen reached out for the quivering pistol in Risa's hand, gold orbs remaining fixed on the two brunettes approaching, close enough to do some damage.

"Risa... give me the gun" he managed to demand calmly, waiting for the cool metal to touch his gloved fingertips. Hawkeye was transfixed. She'd never seen a chimera before, nothing like this.... ever.

"Risa" the chimeras were close, almost inches from the teen. This wasn't like Nina. They looked stronger, bigger builds, bigger teeth, and the remaining human parts of their minds appeared to be absent. Without relying on his team mates, Ed could do nothing. He was unarmed, unprepared, and all he could do was hope both sets of teeth locked on his metal limbs, and not the flesh one. Warm breath skimmed his back.

"Dam it Risa!" Ed quickly snatched the pistol from his grasp, firing twice as he heaved his body aside, a loud thump as his prosthetics hit the floor. The chimeras glanced down at the bullet wounds marking their chests, watching the crimson blood tangle in the thick liquid. Their gazes lifted to the blonde. Edward raised himself with an arm sluggishly, nursing his back that had collided with the hard flooring. Before the creatures could step any closer, a bright burst of orange lit the dark corridor, they cried out as a sheet of flames clung to their coats.

"You took your time!" Ed spat at his superior, who looked rather smug after saving the blonde from loosing another limb. "I thought we were a team!!" He growled, getting to his feet. "This" Ed looked at the gun twirling through his metal fingers, "Is mine now". The blonde raised the pistol.

"Who did this to you?" he asked the limping figures peeling themselves from the floor.

"Who...?" one questioned the other, looking to its companion for an answer.

"Who..." a pair of red eyes locked with Ed's narrowed golden orbs.

"The... other... one..." "Like....you...."

That was longer I hope :)

Thank you for reading, see you next chapter.