"Ed, are you okay?" hissed Angel. He flinched at her touch, but only a little blood had soaked into the back of his collar.

"Peachy," he grumbled.

"That's a good sign at least. Your humor survived. So, what now?"

"We find some way to shake our friends here."

"Do you think…I mean, Al got the rest of them to safety, right?"

"They're fine, I know it."

Angel contemplated their grim situation for a minute, couldn't come up with any ideas, and finally turned her attention to her father. She was amazed at how much he had aged in seven years. His hair and beard, both thinner and tangled, showed considerably more salt than pepper now. His hands, always large and work-worn, were more gnarled than she remembered. He had lost a fair amount of weight. Could this really be the man who had held her at arm's length her whole life, and ultimately shunned her completely?

Proctor was still awake, but it appeared that was all he had the strength for. He started at Angel, unblinkingly, with an unreadable expression. As much as she hated this little forced reunion, seeing him—or anyone—in such a condition angered her. She clenched her right hand, which cupped the meager light from the room once more.

The light condensed into a tiny, bright bead, and suddenly shot out.

It hit one of the chimeras in the rear, causing it to yelp.

All three captives stared at each other in surprise. Even Proctor rose up slightly on one arm.

"What—was that?" sputtered Edward. "Did you just shoot light out of your hand?"

"I-I-I think so. I mean, I didn't mean to! I just felt so angry about all this, and it…happened," Angel tried to explain.

The chimeras, failing to identify the source of the disturbance, and not detecting any further threats, had settled back down. They were clearly wary, though. Edward pondered Angel's hands.

"Maybe that's our ticket out. I told you manipulating light had a lot of potential."

"But where do we find enough light to work with? That little bit is gone."

Proctor shifted enough to make a clanking noise. His tattered sleeves hid chains binding his hands. "Use…these. I was…not the quietest…prisoner at first."

Edward grabbed Angel's sleeve. "Block their line of sight as much as possible." With that, he proceeded to reform the chains into a solid lump. "Collect the light as I scrape the stone; hopefully this works. A lot of chimeras are scared of light, especially if they're used to places like this."

He struck the stone floor once. Nothing happened. Two. Three—a tiny spark. As quietly as he could, Edward attacked the floor. Bit by bit, Angel formed a new ball of light within her hands. She experimented for awhile, separating and condensing the light with curiosity. The image of a woman flickered in and out by accident.

"I loved her very much…your mother," wheezed Proctor. "She…she would be very proud of you now."

"I know. She's told me," Angel said, a little coldly.

"Do it for her, Angel," Edward encouraged her.

Angel took a deep breath, looked at each of them, and split the light into four small blobs. "Get ready to do your own thing, Ed. Your best chance will be as soon as I put the light in each of their faces." She swallowed hard. "They may be…monsters, but I don't want to hurt or kill them, not unless I have to. Blinding them temporarily should be enough."

"Okay."

The lights flew silently from her hand.

"AARRRRGG!" the chimeras howled as one. They stumbled off in various directions, confused and frightened as to why they could not block out the strange light.

Edward reopened the gap he had made in the bars, and with some maneuvering, he and Angel supported Proctor through it. They slipped out of the room without interference.

"You shouldn't…worry with me," Proctor argued feebly. "Get…yourselves out. I only slow you…down."

"You may have been a lousy father, but no one deserves to be an experiment, especially in a hellhole like this," Edward grunted back. On the man's other side, Angel was hefting him none too gently, her face set. After going for some time, however, they had to stop for breath and to check for followers. Silence and darkness surrounded them.

"They don't—seem to know which—way we went," gasped Edward. His right shoulder was bothering him again; he should have Winry take a look at it. If only she didn't try to beat him to death every time he mentioned automail maintenance.

"Looks like the hallway Ts up ahead," Angel noted. "Which way should we take?"

"I think the left way leads out."

"You think?"

"Well I wasn't exactly planning on getting my head bashed into cage bars. I'm a little fuzzy on the details."

"Maybe if you tried not to pick a fight with everyone who comes along…" Angel muttered.

"You wanna say that a little louder?"

"Let's try left then. It feels like the right direction, anyway, and my shoulders are getting sore."

"We're supporting someone bigger than both of us, that's got to be having an impact."

"It might not have been so hard if you were taller, at least."

"Hey!"

"Shh!"

"Sorry."

"No, I mean, stop—completely."

They froze in their tracks just beyond the T. Something shuffled in the darkness, but they couldn't tell where from. Ed shifted his grip on Proctor so he could use alchemy if needed.

"Can't you do anything so we can see?" he hissed.

"Not without some light to start with," snipped Angel, her temper rising with adrenaline.

The shuffling abruptly became a scraping noise that made them both jump. It was now distinctly coming from in front of them.

"Run!" said Edward instinctively.

Of course, "run" meant hobbling along, with Proctor being all but dead weight. Sweat beaded on their faces as fear coursed through their bodies, but they couldn't seem to push themselves any faster. Their labored breathing masked the sounds behind them, making it impossible to gauge how far ahead they were from…whatever it was. Probably another chimera.

"I think—I see—" Edward rasped out. They turned through the faint outline of a doorway, sensed some kind of open space—and were suddenly blinded by light.

"I figured you wouldn't stay put for long," said a voice beyond the light. "So I thought, might as well let you do the work for me."

Angel shaded her eyes, trying everything she could to adjust quickly. The light was coming from a system of gas torches lining all four walls. Their acquaintance in the labcoat stood by the wall opposite them. And just barely, she was starting to make out a pattern on the floor…

Behind them, however, nothing emerged from the dark doorway.

"You had another chimera waiting for us, to chase us here, right?" spat Edward. Proctor slumped to the floor.

The researcher grinned, somewhat maniacally. "Ah, that's actually an invention I'm quite proud of. You see the piping near the ceiling?"

Their eyes were accustomed enough now to see the winding structures, which snaked out to several doorways.

"The entire building is laced with them, and inside, delicate wires of different thicknesses." He patted the console to his right. "Using this, I can send vibrations down them, to whatever part of the lab I wish, creating noises with no source." He touched a button; the shuffling sound seemed to come from everywhere at once.

"Damn," Edward muttered. "He played us like puppets."

"Ed, look at the floor…" said Angel. She kept looking between it and her wrist.

"Of course…a human transmutation circle."

"Well, I have caught some bright ones, haven't I?" sneered the researcher. "You know, I was really just hoping to snag any old State Alchemist for this experiment. But I have two—one of them the Fullmetal, no less! Yes, I recognize you now. I would have had three if I had been fast enough to catch your companion—"

ZAP!

The streak of light shot wide, hitting the console instead of the researcher, but it still had the desired effect.

"Get to the point already! What the hell do you need us for so badly?" Angel's voice was shrill. This time it was Edward's turn to hold her back. "Al and I aren't even certified, and neither are all the people you've kidnapped! The number of people we set free must have accumulated over years, judging by the rumors and the fact that you weren't caught before. But why the wait?"

The researchers face took on an almost demonic glee. "I had to wait for you."

Angel's spine turned to ice.