Chapter 10: Secret of the Philosopher's Stone

(A/N: Yay! Another chapter from Iron Prime! Let's read on shall we?)

The heroes were just about finished with their lengthy ride on Appa's back to Amestris, and they could practically see the Central slowly approaching in the distance.

"It looks like we're gonna hit Central in just a few minutes." Aang told the rest of the group from Appa's head.

"Finally!" Toph exclaimed in relief. "This was one of the worst flight I have ever been on! That storm we almost hit didn't help in the least bit!"

"Sorry again about that... Metal attracts electricity and thus I was a big target. But it was a good thing we've got some Waterbenders with us to help with that." Alphonse said as Katara rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

"Oh you know, just doing what I can to help." Katara said with a small blush in embarrassment.

Once they hit the countries borders, a massive storm blew over and the group was almost swept up in it the midst of it. If it wasn't for Aang's Airbending and Katara's Waterbending, they would have been blown away and majorly hurt.

Though during the storm, Zuko thought he saw some kind of balloon swept up in it as well, but he dismissed it as nothing. After all he hadn't had a healing session for a long while and the pain from his still healing nerves sometimes caused him to have slight hallucinations. Along with that the storm was causing his and Ed's phantom pains to act up again.

"Well anyway, when we land at in that warehouse Colonel Bastard set up, we shouldn't be too far from the First Branch library." Ed began as he re-braided his hair. "I mean, sure it's a huge library, but between the seven of us I think we can find it in no time flat."

"As long as there aren't any owls in there, I'll be good." Katara spoke a bit worried.

"Owls?" Al wondered aloud.

"Don't ask." Aang, Katara, Toph, and Sokka said at the same time.

"Well you guys can look for the notes and junk, I'll just wait here with Appa." Toph told the group laying down in the saddle.

"You got something against libraries?" Ed asked with a brow raised considering he loves reading.

"I've held books before, but I gotta say, they don't exactly do it for me."

Ed then remembered Toph was blind and felt like a complete idiot for saying that. "Oh, right. Sorry."

"Once we set down it should be smooth sailing." Sokka said with a smile, waving his hand in a straight line for emphasis.

"Don't jinx us!" Zuko told him in a slight shout. "Whenever someone says 'it's gonna be easy' or something like that; it doesn't end well for the whole group."

"Aw come on." Sokka dismissed. "What's the worst that can happen?"

Ten Minutes Later

"AAHHHH!" Ed screamed. "Doctor Marco's research! IT'S ALL GONE!"

The library itself had been completely burned down along with all of it's contents. Aang, Katara, Zuko, Al, Sokka, and Major Armstrong (whom they rendezvoused with when they set down at the warehouse) were all completely surprised as well.

"'What's the worst that can happen?'" Zuko quoted as he punched Sokka in the arm. "Great choice of words Sokka."

Somewhere Unknown in East City

Lust and Gluttony both stood on the roof of the military building watching over the people passing by.

"In the end, burning the place down was easier." Lust said in a dismissive tone.

"Oh? Is that what you were doing in Central?" Gluttony asked with a finger in his mouth.

"Yes. The Fullmetal boy found out about Marco's research. Something had to be done about it." She gave a smug smile. "I guess I should count myself... It's lucky that they choose to take a detour to the Fire Nation, really gave me more time to work."

Gluttony then began to take some whiffs of the air like a beast sniffing for it's next meal.

"With that issue taken care of, I thought I might come to see how things are progressing East City." Lust stated toying with her nails. "Is he here?"

Gluttony then stood up looking further on into the city.

"Gluttony?"

"I smell him." Gluttony said. "I can smell him. The scared-faced-Ishvalan. He's close. I can taste his stink. Like blood. I still get to eat him right?" He asked innocently.

Lust smiled evilly and replied in her 'oh so' seductive tone of voice, "Oh yes. Down to the last strand of hair."

Sewers

Scar continued his trek though the sewers to avoid any more contact with the MP's. He looked down and was surprised to see several rats running past him, all as if they we're running away from something... He turned around to see a pair of red eyes in the dark; it was Gluttony who was smiling eagerly.

Gluttony rushed toward Scar, jaw un-clenched and his ouroborus tattoo on his tongue completely viable. Scar thrust his hand forward and shoved it to Gluttony's face, he tried to use his deconstruction abilities on it but it had no effect. Scar then slashed down and cut off Gluttony's right arm which then began to spark as it regenerated.

Lust ran to Scar from behind slashing her claws against a pipe unaware that gas was leaking from the pipes.

A large explosion was seen from a brick wall near the river in the result of her actions.

East City Military Headquarters

"Scar hasn't been sited." Hawkeye reported dully. "Not since that incident with the Elric Brothers and their friends."

"Maybe he's not in East City anymore?" Havoc guessed nonchalantly.

"I hope you're wrong about that." Mustang said from his desk. "This case is obviously too much for Central to handle. If I can close it quickly enough I'll be golden." He gave an eager smirk as he looked out the window and turned around. "I've got a rather tall ladder to climb, and this is how it's done. I'm gonna need every mark in my favor that I can get. At least till I assumed to office of Fuhrer that is."

Both Hawkeye and Havoc gave amused smiles after Mustang's declaration.

"You may not want to display your ambitions quite so nakedly sir." Hawkeye advised with a slight smile.

"Yeah, I'll be sure to remember that in the future." Mustang said smirking back.

A solider than busted through the door of Mustang's office and quickly saluted "Reporting in sir! We just received word of a massive explosion occurring on the Morrow River."

"What?"

At the Crime Scene

Within minutes the military police were at the sight of the explosion. Rubble laid everywhere and several bodies were under plain white (if not blood stained) sheets.

A torn, bloodied, and familiar looking yellow jacket was quickly fished out of the river and examined by Hawkeye.

"There's no mistaking it, this was definitely Scar's jacket." She reported to her commanding officer.

"Have you found the body?" Mustang asked Havoc.

"Not yet, but we're still searching." Havoc replied while lighting the cigarette in his mouth.

"Either way, he can't be in too much shape after loosing this much blood." Hawkeye said, taking note of how much blood had stained the jacket.

"Yeah, but we do this by the book, we need to find hard proof that he's dead." Mustang turned to Havoc. "Alright. Lieutenant Havoc."

"Yes sir?"

"You and your men will work day and night to clear out this debris, I want his body found. Don't take so much as a coffee break until that's done, do you understand?"

"Come on Colonel can't you cut us some slack? At this rate, you're gonna work us all to death."

"Shut up! I don't get to relax until I've seen his body and that means you don't get to either."

Havoc sighed. "I guess we'll get to work then."

The scene was being observed by a multitude of civilians standing on the bridge. Two of which we're Lust and Gluttony blending into the crowd with civilian wear. Gluttony was silently sobbing.

"Looks like he got away." Lust observed.

"I didn't get my snack." Gluttony wined with little tears peaking his featureless eyes.

"Yes I know. Maybe next time." Lust consoled the ravenous homonculus. "Though, I think we can safely assume that Scar will be out of the game for a while. I suppose we'll be heading back to Central now, we need to report to Father about everything that's happened here; and to prepare for the Avatar should he find out about our plan."

Gluttony soon took a few whiffs of the air and caught a strange scent. "Lust?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"A strange smell." Lust looked to Gluttony confused. "Like the Fullmetal boy and his older brother. Only it's a girl's scent... A girl that smells like them..."

Lust was confused by that statement. But with so many people around it may have blocked his sense of smell a bit.

"Probably nothing important." Lust dismissed.

From around the corner, just below the streets and behind part of the collapsed tunnel was indeed someone else.

Azula held her bleeding arm as she writhed in pain. It was bad enough that storm blew her balloon off course and she lost track of her brothers and their friends, but that recent explosion did a small number on her since she was walking not to far from where it went off (Luckily her Firebending prevented the flames from hurting her, but the shrapnel still hit her right arm a bit).

She lost a bit of blood and was struggling to get away from the dust filled area. She was tempted to go to the collapsed wall where she would be taken to a hospital, but she dismissed the thought as it may draw some unwanted attention to herself. She knew nothing of this land and didn't want to take any chances since she was a technical prison escapee.

She began to walk away, while her vision became blurry. And the last thing she remembered before passing out was two figures walking towards her.

Back at the Library

Ed picked up a burnt book into his hand only for it to crumble into dust that quickly fell to the ground. "There's nothing here but ashes; everything's gone."

"It's weird." Zuko began. "We find a lead on the Philosopher's Stone, but then the place that has the information we're looking for just so happens to burn down?"

"Must be some coincidence." Aang guessed.

"I don't think so." Zuko contradicted as he kicked some burnt books causing them to puff up in dust. "Seems more like sabotage if anything else."

"Sabotage?" Katara guessed. "You think someone's trying to stop us from finding the stone?"

"Well it's not as if we have a shortage of enemies." Zuko said dusting off his sling and pants.

"True." Alphonse admitted. "But who could have done it?"

"Scar maybe?" Sokka guessed.

"I don't think so." Aang contradicted. "His targets are state-certified Alchemists remember? What could he gain from burning down a library?"

"So maybe it was someone else?" Al guessed. "But the question is, who?"

"Major Armstrong!" A firm female voice spoke up.

The heroes all turned to two military officers. One was a female with short brown-black hair with a small mole on her chin, and the other was a male with shoulder long dirty blonde hair. Both saluted towards Armstrong and Edward.

"Oh Second Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh." Armstrong greeted with his slight eye twinkle. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"

"You have been ordered to report back to the command center sir." Ross reported.

"We will be taking over supervision of Edward Elric, his brothers, and their friends, effective immediately." Brosh added.

"Hmp. Very well, they're all yours." Armstrong replied as he walked away.

"What is this?! Just when I think I'm home free they saddle us with more bodyguards? This is getting old." Ed complained.

"It's called 'getting handled' get used to it Metalbutt."

All of the people there turned to see Toph walk up and she said, "The fluff ball was getting boring so I went to find out why you guys are standing in a broken building..."

"We'll explain later." Al stated. "But right now we should go with the Lieutenant and Sergeant."

Everyone was then stuck in a car (which some how or another fit all 9 people into it) driving away from what was left of the library.

"All might not be lost. There's a woman who was well acquainted with the materials of the first branch." Ross reported, this got the group's attention.

"Unfortunately, she wasn't working there anymore."

"That sounds incredibly helpful." Ed said sarcastically.

"But it is helpful." Aang told them. "Maybe this woman knows something about Doctor Marco's notes."

"Looks like we have another lead." Sokka said with a slight smile.

Brosh found himself staring at Alphonse.

"Something wrong?" Al asked as a question mark appeared next to his head.

"Oh it's nothing. Although if you don't mind me asking; why are you wearing a suit of armor?" Brosh asked.

The group then looked panicked, trying to find an answer to that question without revealing what had happened to them.

"Oh!" Aang said with nervous excitement.

"Well…" Katara continued silently.

"Uh... You see…." Zuko stuttered out.

"Um he's uh…" Toph quickly said.

"You see Al's uh…? Ed tried.

"It's a hobby!" Sokka quickly added. The rest of the group face-palmed at Sokka's lame excuse.

"A hobby? What kind of freaky hobby is that lieutenant?" Brosh whispered to Ross.

"Just who are these kids anyway?" Ross replied.

Said group of kids (excluding Toph) looked out the windows of the car innocently while the two officers looked at them in interest.

Later On

The group then came to the apartment of the woman who was working at the library. However, they we're not quite prepared for what they saw. Upon entering door, the entire apartment was filled with stacks of hundreds of books.

"That's a lot of books!" Aang observed.

"Wow! There's gotta be a million of them!" Ed said surprisingly.

The group then tried to squeeze into the apartment between the many stacks and bookshelves.

"Is there really someone living in this place?" Brosh wondered.

"How can someone live with all these books?" Sokka wondered.

"She must really love to read." Katara guessed.

"If you're the crazy hording type that is." Toph replied.

"Miss Sheska?" Ross called.

"Hello! Miss Sheska?" Zuko called out as well.

"Is anyone there?" A muffled voice called out. Getting Toph's and Al's attention.

Toph felt around with her feet and pinpointed the sound of the voice.

"Please help me!" The muffled voice called out.

"Hey Tin Can." Toph told Alphonse and she pointed to a pile of fallen books.

Al looked to the pile. "Uh guys." He got all their attention and they looked to see someone trapped under the pile. "There's somebody under there!"

Aang quickly blew a massive gust of wind that blew away the pile and most of the books around it as well.

"Thank you! I'm so Sorry! I got myself under a whole mountain of books!" A woman exclaimed as she adjusted her self. She adjusted her glasses. "I thought I was going to suffocate under there. Thank you so much!"

"So are you Sheska?" Ed asked with his arms crossed.

"Yes?"

"So you worked at the library?" Zuko asked as well.

Sheska then got happy and marveled. "Oh the library! The word itself is so beautiful! I loved books my whole life, ever since I first learned to read as a girl! That job was Heaven!" She soon became depressed.

"That's great but…" Sokka began.

"But I forgot that I was supposed to be working and all I ever did was read, so they fired me!"

"I'm sorry to hear that but…" Aang tried.

"If I don't find another job I'll never be able to move my poor elderly mother into a better hospital."

"Look I'm really sorry about that but we need…" Katara tried as well.

"But I'm hopeless, the only thing I can do well is read. I'll never find another job as long as I live!"

"Excuse me…" Ed tried too.

"I'M USELESS! GOOD FOR NOTHING! MORE PATHETIC THAN POND SCUM!"

"Hey! CRY BABY!" Toph called in a loud yell, finally getting her attention.

"Yes?"

"Do you remember seeing any research that belong to someone named 'Tim Marco'?" Zuko asked seriously.

"Let's see. 'Tim Marco', where do I know that name?" Sheska tried to remember. "Oh yes of course, I remember now."

"Really?" Ed excitedly asked.

"Oh yes, I'm absolutely positive. There we're some hand-written notes stuffed into a random bookcase where they didn't belong."

The group then smiled. "So the notes we're there after all." Ed realized.

The harsh reality soon set in for the heroes.

"But that means…" Katara realized with the smiles in the room fading.

"Yeah..." Toph said as well.

"They were burnt up with the rest of the library." Sokka finished.

"Did you want to read them? Is that why you're asking?" Sheska asked.

"Yeah but its too late now." Ed answered.

"There are nothing but ashes now." Zuko said.

"Thanks for the help anyway." Katara thanked.

"Sorry to bother you." Al apologized.

"Back to square one again." Toph commented.

"I remember everything that was in them, would that help at all?" Sheska asked in a 'as a matter of factly' manor.

The group stopped dead in their tracks and looked at her.

"SAY WHAT!?" They all yelled at the same time, coming close to Sheska with wide eyes.

"It's just the way I am. I'm able to remember the content of every book I've ever read." Sheska said. The whole group had their jaws drop. "It may take it awhile but I can write them all out for you."

"Thank you book worm!" Ed thanked as he grabbed both her hands. "You're our hero!" Al, Katara, Aang, and Sokka waved flags in joy with Zuko and Toph holding her up.

"You're… welcome…?"

Five Days Later

Sheska was now presenting a table full of stacks of hand written papers.

"Here you all are, complete copies of all of Tim Marco's notes." The group marveled at the amount of notes that we're in front of them. "Sorry, I know five days is a long time to wait, but there was quite a lot to write down."

"You memorized all of this?" Aang questioned in disbelief.

"Unbelievable." Al marveled. "There are some amazing people in this world."

"I doubt even my sister could do all this." Zuko marveled as well.

"So these are really Doctor Marco's research notes?" Katara asked as the group began to read over them.

"They sure are." Sheska confirmed. "Come and take a look at them. Written by Tim Marco, 1,000 easy recipes."

Aang, Katara, Ross, Sokka, Zuko, Toph, and Brosh all fell down anime-style at that.

They all began to read it.

"Is this… did we really come all this way for a cook book?" Zuko questioned in disbelief.

"Miss, which part of this made you think it was an important document?" Brosh asked.

"Is it not what you wanted? All I did was copied down what I remembered." Sheska told him.

"Great, so was this just some wild goose chase?" Sokka questioned.

"Well, looks like we really are back at square one." Toph said blowing her bangs out of her face.

"Sheska…" Ed began. "Are you absolutely sure this a flawless reproduction of the notes?"

"Oh yes. I am one hundred percent certain." She confirmed.

Oddly enough, Ed smiled. "Then thank you very much! You're incredible!"

Everyone was confused at that. Ed and Al then picked up the notes, and the others did as well; even though Aang, Zuko, Katara, Sokka, and Toph we're confused as to why they were taking recipes.

"Alright. Let's get all this back to the library in the Command Center." Ed said.

"Yep, they should have related materials there." Al agreed.

Everyone soon began to walk out, but Ed soon stopped when he realized he had forgotten something.

"I almost forgot; Sheska's fee." He realized. Ed took out a piece of paper and wrote down on it before handing it and his pocket watch to Ross. "Lieutenant, here, this is my registration number and pocket watch for ID. Withdraw that amount from my annual research grants and make sure Sheska gets it all. Okay?"

"Right." Ross said. "I'll get on that right away sir. I assume I can just take this note to the State Alchemist's office?"

"That should work." Ed confirmed as he and the others walked out. "Well, Sheska you're a life-saver. Bye." He closed the door.

"From his research grants huh?" Ross and Sheska looked at the amount Ed wrote down.

They both looked in complete surprise.

"Did he miss a decimal point somewhere?!" Sheska questioned.

"Wow! How does a boy like that have this kind of money to throw around!?" Ross questioned as well.

While all the while Ed was giving a sly yet hope filled grin.

Library

"I don't get it." Sokka said. "These are cook books; what can they have to do with Alchemy?"

"Alchemy is a powerful art. It can be incredibly dangerous if misused." Ed answered with a pencil in his mouth as he was reading. "In order to prevent that Alchemic research is always encrypted. These are designed to look like recipes to the average person, but they're actually advanced alchemical notes. Only the alchemist who originally wrote them can understand."

"If they're so heavily encrypted, how are you going to be able to decipher them?" Katara asked.

"It's not going to be easy, we'll have to use all our Alchemical knowledge." Ed replied.

"Wow sir. That sounds really complicated." Brosh said.

"Is there anyway we can help?" Aang asked.

"Not unless you know advanced Alchemy." Ed replied.

"Well considering I can't read, I don't see any way I can help." Toph states as she began to walk out. "Let me know if there's something that needs to be smashed."

"WAIT SHE'S BLIND?!" Brosh shouted in surprise.

Toph smirked and said, "Yeah, now get over it."

"I might not know much about Alchemy, but I know my way around encryption and deciphering it; maybe I can help." Zuko told Ed as he took the seat between his brothers.

"Thanks." Ed took a look at the paper. "Al. There's a section here on Green Tea."

"Green Tea? Are you thinking what I am?" Al asked

"Uh huh." Ed confirmed. "It might be a reference to the Green Line of Metallurgic Alchemy." Ed took a closer look at the notes.

With that the three brothers got to work on cracking the code on the notes.

"I think they got this." Aang told Katara with confidence in his friends.

"Looks like it." Katara replied sharing his confidence.

Several Hours Later

Katara, and Aang just walked back to the study Ed, Al, and Zuko we're using, while carrying bags of food. Ross and Brosh we're outside guarding; Sokka was just slaking against the wall polishing his Space Sword, Toph was reclining on an Earth Bench she made (which also had to be explained to Brosh and Ross as well).

"How's it going in there for them?" Aang asked.

"They really haven't left since we first got here." Sokka said sheathing his sword.

"Well they've been moving around a lot in there." Toph added. "So I guess they're making progress."

"Well we brought some food in case they we're hungry. Lets see how they're doing." Katara said.

The two opened the door and we're surprised to see Ed, Al, and Zuko lying on the table covered with books and papers; all three looking mentally exhausted.

"Hey, are you guys alright?" Aang asked with concern.

"This encryption is just so damn hard to figure out." Ed weakly answered.

"Hey Ed, maybe we should just ask Doctor Marco about this directly." Zuko advised.

"No way!" Ed objected, getting tense. "That'd be admitting defeat!"

"So this is a contest now?" Katara and Al asked at the same time.

"Excuse me." A female voice spoke up and the five turned to the door.

"Sheska." Ed greeted.

"Thanks to the money you gave me Edward, I was able to move my mother to a better hospital. I really appreciate it." Sheska thanked as she sat at the other side of the table.

"Aw, it was no big deal really." Ed dismissed with a hand wave.

"Glad to here your mother's doing better." Katara added.

"Have you guys had any luck deciphering it so far?" She asked.

Zuko, Ed, and Al instantly gained depressed looks causing Sheska to sweat a bit.

"That's a no." Aang said.

"Have you found another job yet?" Al asked.

Now Sheska looked depressed, while Zuko, Ed, and Al sweated this time.

"That's a no too." Katara observed.

Despite that, Sheska still smiled. "Anyway, you guys made me feel better. It was nice to know even a pathetic mess like me can help out sometimes. So thanks for that as well."

"You're not a pathetic mess." Zuko told her, surprising Sheska.

"Nii-San is right. The kind of dedication you show to reading is a talent all on it's own." Al agreed.

"Besides that, your memory's incredible." Aang added. "You should have more faith in yourself."

Sheska showed a smile at their encouragement. "Thanks guys."

Sokka yawned a bit as he polished his sword but noticed a certain someone walk buy, whom Ross and Brosh immediately saluted to.

"Yo!"

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes." Ed greeted.

"Major Armstrong told me you kids we're here." Hughes greeted as he walked in. "What gives Ed? I told you to give me a shout the next time you made it to Central."

"Oh, something urgent came up. Sorry." Ed apologized while rubbing the back of his head.

"It's just as well" Hughes replied. "I've been just as busy too…"

While they made small chat Ross and Brosh whispered to each other.

"They talk to Colonel Hughes like he's an old friend." Brosh whispered.

"Just how high up are these boys?" Ross whispered back.

"Oh they're pretty high." Toph told them, making them realize that they weren't alone in the hallway.

"Yeah, we're pretty high up in the world ourselves to." Sokka boasted, causing Toph to roll her eyes.

"We've had a lot of cases to deal with." Hughes informed. "And we're still working on getting the Tucker-Chimera situation settled."

Katara then elbowed Hughes in his arm. "Shush up about 'Chimera'. Try to be a little sensitive." She lightly scolded in a hiss.

"Huh?" Hughes then looked to Aang, Ed, and Al who looked down with a slight sadness. Hughes then remembered how the situation affected the them and realized his mistake. "Sorry, guess that brings up some unpleasant memories, huh?"

Hughes then took a seat and stated, "Anyway, as if things weren't bad enough for us already, the first branch had to burn down in the middle of all this."

"So that's been a problem huh?" Zuko asked.

"A big one." Hughes confirmed. "All our case records we're stored in the stacks at that location, and trying to work without them hasn't been a picnic let me tell ya."

Aang, Katara, Ed, Zuko, and Al each had wide eyes. "Uh, what?" Hughes wondered aloud.

The five youths then slowly turned to the other female present in the room. Sheska gave a light gasp realizing what they we're thinking.

"Hey Colonel Hughes, I think we got just the person you're looking for." Aang told him with a big goofy smile.

"Well I have read the military's criminal case records and I do remember them all…" Sheska began.

"That's all I needed to hear lady, you're hired! My office pays well so don't you worry!" Hughes told her with an eager smile and he launched up.

Sheska was slightly caught off-guard at this. "Oh! Uh… You're saying you want me…" She turned to the five kids with a thankful look. "Thanks so much! I'll have faith just like you told me to! Thank you! Thank You!"

Hughes then began to literally drag her out as she thankfully waved back to them. "Come on now, right to work." He then gave a comical evil laugh.

The kids waved just as the door closed.

"She might not be thanking us for long." Ed joked.

"How'd you put it Al?" Zuko began. "'Dedication is a talent all on it's own'? Smooth move little brother."

"Well, it's something I always think when I see a certain someone I know." Al said turning to that someone.

"In that case, a certain someone should hurry and get back to work or else you're gonna have to come up with a new motivational phrase." Ed replied with a big smirk.

From there, the kids spent the next several days working on the notes. Ed and Al did most of the deciphering; Zuko helped out quite a bit, he was pretty good at cracking some of the codes. Sokka and Aang helped to organize most of the related materials together, despite having little-to-no knowledge in Alchemy,

Katara brought in food and water for all of them. Toph just mostly sat and reclined on an earth bench while picking her toes.

Ten Days Later

The bell tower rung alerting the people around of the time. Sokka was snoring along with Brosh but woke up with the bell rining. Aang and Katara walked back as well to where they were sitting. Toph got up from the bench and stretched.

"Library's closing." Ross informed.

"They've been at it for ten days now." Brosh said. "I'm still impressed they've been going at it for this long."

"They could probably use a break; why don't we all go out and get something to eat and they can rest up." Aang proposed.

"Great idea Aang." Katara agreed.

"And we gotta be even closer to finding the Philosopher Stone by now, so why not?" Sokka mused.

"I didn't really get to do anything; most boring ten days ever." Toph said as Aang reached for the door handle.

"The Hell with it!" Ed exclaimed from behind the door with some loud crashing noises.

They all looked to each other with worry and opened the door. They each gave a light gasp at the scene inside.

The room was in shambles, books and papers spread all over the floor with Ed, Al, and Zuko sitting on the floor looking angry and upset.

"What did you guys do this place?" Brosh asked

"Guys? What's wrong?" Katara asked.

"No need to be winy babies just because you can't crack it." Toph told them.

"Don't tell me you guys are giving up." Sokka said sadly.

"We did crack it." Al told them in a shaky voice. "We cracked the code and decrypted the notes."

Aang gave a smile. "Really? Well that's good isn't it?"

Ed slammed his fist on the ground. "There's NOTHING GOOD ABOUT IT DAMMIT! Doctor Marco was right, this is the Devil's research!"

"The Philosopher's Stone…" Zuko held his face in horror. "It's evil… Pure evil!"

"Aw come on, what can be so evil about it?" Sokka asked in a nonchalant way.

"The main ingredient for a Philosopher's Stone… is human life." Ed got out in a choked whisper.

Everyone in the group gave a large gasp in shock and horror. Katara put both hands to her mouth in shock and terror. Aang and Sokka's eyes both trembled in fear. Even Toph looked terrified at the moment.

"What do you mean… human life?" the frightened avatar asked for clarification.

"In order to make one stone, you need to make dozens of human sacrifices..." Zuko grimly answered looking rather queasy at the moment.

"That… how can… that is evil!" Katara exclaimed in a light shriek.

"How can such a thing even exist!?" Aang exclaimed in a grief fulled rage.

"Who in the right mind came up with something that disgusting!?" Toph questioned in anger.

"How can the military authorize research into something so horrible?!" Brosh questioned.

"I can't believe it, how awful!" Ross exclaimed as well.

"And to think we we're looking for something like that..." Sokka added softly running his fingers through his hair.

"Do us a favor. Don't speak to anyone about this." Ed told them, not even turning to the group.

"But Ed…" Aang began

"Are you…" Katara tried.

"Please." Zuko pleaded. "Just pretend you guys never heard anything.

Later that Night at the Hotel

"What's this now?" Armstrong asked to Ross, Brosh, Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph in the lobby of the hotel the heroes we're staying at. "The Elric brothers are held up in their room again tonight?"

"Yeah, they haven't been eating either." Aang answered quietly.

Armstrong put his hand to his chin thinking. "Hmm. The fatigue must be catching up to them, they seem to have devoted all their energy to these notes."

The group then huddled and whispered.

"They worked so hard only to find out that." Ross whispered with sympathy in her voice.

"I know, those poor guys." Katara added sadly.

"It disturbs me to just thinking about it." Brosh whispered. "I might act the same way."

"I'm still wondering how something like that could even exist." Sokka added looking a little green.

"Whoever came up with that 'idea' deserves a beat down." Toph told them confidently.

"I want to know how who could possibly do something like that to create something so evil..." Aang said sadly.

"What was that?" Armstrong asked, catching a bit of their conversation, startling a bit.

"Oh it was nothing!" Aang, Katara, Brosh, Sokka, and Ross told him at the same time acting innocently.

A shadow loomed over them; they looked in fear at the shirtless Armstrong with red eyes and fire behind him.

"You're behavior is most suspicious!" He said with his pink sparkle appearing, frightening the members of the group.

The Elric's Hotel room

It was dark and silent with in the walls of hotel room; the only sound was the squeaky movement of the fan above them as Ed was laying on the couch; Al sat to the back of it; Zuko sat in a chair with his automail out of his sling and him rubbing his aching shoulder.

"Brothers. You guys should get something to eat." Al told them quietly.

"No thanks." Ed replied without emotion.

"I'm not hungry either." Zuko added softly.

"Pretty awful huh?" Ed stated not taking his eyes off the fan.

"'Awful' doesn't even begin to describe it." Zuko answered in the same manor.

Ed reached up to the ceiling with his Automail arm. "You know guys; we always try so hard to grasp the truth, but it always slips away. And now that we finally caught it, it turns out the truth is too dangerous to hold." Ed put his arm to his face and gave an ironic smile. "I'm starting to think this is God's special way of torturing people who've committed taboos..."

"I know how you feel." Zuko said while looking towards his own automail hand. "For so long, I've tried so hard to try and gain my father's love and acceptance after my banishment; but once I had it I realized I lost myself getting there; I forgot who I really was..."

"I wonder if it will always be like this all our lives?" Ed wondered aloud. More silence followed as they sat in the dark. "You know Al, there's something that I've been wanting to tell you for a while..." This got Al and Zuko's attentions. "But I guess I've been to afraid to say it..."

"What?" Al asked.

"I…"

Before Edward could finish there was pounding on the door. "Elric Brothers! I know you're in there! Open up! This is the Major!"

"What do we do?" Al asked frantically.

"We ignore him, that's what." Ed answered.

"Somehow I doubt that's gonna work." Zuko told them with a sigh.

As soon as he said that the door handle was torn off and Armstrong entered the room turning on the light, with Aang, Ross, Katara, Brosh, and Sokka following behind him with comedic tears coming from their faces.

"I know what it said Edward Elric!" Armstrong told him; the brothers screamed at what was to come.

"HOW TRAGIC!" Armstrong cried as tears came from his eyes like a fountain. "To think the Legend of the Philosopher's Stone would boast such a terrible secret!"

Ed and Zuko glared at the two military officers and their friends.

"We're really sorry." Katara and Ross said at the same time.

"Yeah it's hard to be quiet when someone like him asks you." Sokka whined rather pathetically.

"You guys whined like a bunch of babies." Toph told them, she turned to Armstrong. "I'm starting to like this guy."

"Imagine the military being behind something like that!" Armstrong wondered, still comically crying. "Often the truth is more cruel then we bargained for."

"Agreed." Aang added quietly.

Ed and Zuko then looked to each other in surprise as the apifnainy (s/p?) hit them dead in the heads. "'The Truth'." They said at the same time with the same idea running through the half sibling's head's.

"Brothers?" Al asked.

"Remember what Marco said at the station?" Ed recalled.

"He said me might 'find the truth hidden within the truth'." Zuko recalled as well.

"Yeah." Ed began. "I didn't have a clue of what he was talking about then, but now… It's the same with Alchemical notes. What you can see on the surface is only a portion of the truth."

"There's still more." Zuko finished cracking a light smile.

A few minutes later the group then sat at the table with a map of the city rolled out in view.

"Currently there are four operational Alchemy laboratories in Central that have connections to the Government." Armstrong informed.

"Can we narrow it down even further?" Sokka wondered.

"Of course." Armstrong answered. "Marco worked in the third laboratory, we should start with that one it's the most suspect."

"It seems too obvious." Zuko replied. "If this were it, it would have been closed off or something. That's the most tactical thing to do."

"Yeah, Al and I have been to all the major laboratories in the city, none of them doing remarkable research." Ed added with a eye roll.

Katara soon noticed something on the map. "Hey what about here?" She pointed to a building with an X on it. "What's this building for?"

"It was designed for the fifth laboratory, but it isn't currently in use." Ross answered. "The building is not structurally sound so it's been classified off-limits."

"It's there." Ed said in dead seriousness.

"What makes you so sure it is Ed?" Aang asked.

"There's a prison right next door." Ed then pointed to a prison building next to the fifth laboratory on the map.

Aang and Katara had chills sent up their spines, realizing what Ed was thinking.

"How's a prison any helpful?" Sokka wondered aloud.

"You idiot." Toph told him. "Remember what the main ingredient for a Philosopher's Stone was?"

"Human life…" Sokka answered, he then realized what they meant and a chill went up his spine as well.

"There would be a lot of condemned criminals in there." Ed continued.

"They'd be recorded as executions; but in truth…" Zuko didn't need to finish since everyone got the point they were proving.

"They're using the prisoners to make the stones..." Ross finished looking sick.

"That is all kinds of wrong." Sokka said looking ill once more.

"Hey don't look at me like that, I don't like talking about this anymore than the rest of you." Ed told them with a slight shout.

"Prisons from other jurisdictions could be used to, I wonder if the government is involved." Al pondered.

"It's Ba-Sing-Se all over again! Only back then it wasn't as creepy or messed up on this level." Toph said in a low growl.

Ross and Brosh looked nervous. "Why do I have the feeling that we're getting involved in something really dangerous here?"

"That's why we told you to pretend like you didn't hear anything!" Al told them with a yell.

Armstrong rolled up the map and got up. "This has the potential of becoming a political nightmare before long. I'll look into what we've talked about tonight."

He turned to Ross and Brosh. "In the meantime officers, speak of this to no one."

"Sir!" They both saluted.

"And you kids, behave yourselves." Armstrong told the seven children, startling them a bit. Armstrong's eyes began to glow red as steam came out of his nose like a train. "I know what you kids are like! You we're thinking of sneaking into this building and taking a look around weren't you!? ADMIT IT!"

"We Weren't! We Weren't! We Promise!" Ed, Aang, Al, Zuko, Katara, and Sokka said at the same time, waving their hands.

"I'm liking Major Armstrong more and more." Toph told to herself, taking a liking to the Armstrong Alchemist.

Not even one hour later

Apparently promises don't mean much to this group... Because soon enough Ed, Zuko, Aang, and Al, put decoys into the beds and began to quietly run through the streets heading for the fifth laboratory.

"Why just us?" Aang wondered in whisper. "Why not bring Katara, Toph, and Sokka with us?"

"Too big of a group." Zuko replied softly. "We'll make a lot less noise if it's just the four of us."

The group arrived to the building with a cement wall surrounding it, and a gate with a sign that read 'keep out' with a guard present.

"Looks like you're hunch was right Ed." Zuko said with a smirk.

"A guard posted at an unused building, interesting." Ed noticed.

"That is suspicious." Al agreed.

The group came to a wall on the side and looked up it seeing the barbwire decorating the top.

"How do we get in?" Aang asked

"We could make our own entrance." Ed mused with his hands ready to do alchemy.

"They'd notice the light from the transmutic reaction." Al replied.

"I could Earthbend our way in." Aang suggested.

"Too much noise." Zuko replied.

"If that's the case…" Ed began.

Aang used Airbending to blow himself and Zuko to the other side of the wall. Al gave Ed a jumping boost with his hands. Ed landed on the wall and pulled the barbwire, he lowered it, allowing Al to climb up.

They all made it to the other side of the wall and inside the perimeter. They ran to the main entrance, only to find it closed off.

"Looks like they're not taking any chances." Aang observed.

Ed looked around and noticed a small air vent.

Al gave Ed and Aang a boost and they removed the duct.

"Al, you wait out here with Zuko." Ed told him.

"You two are fine on your own?" Al asked as Ed climbed in.

"Weather or not I'm fine on my own isn't the issue, you guys are too big to fit through here and Zuko can't really crawl with his arm still injured." Ed then crawled through the duct, with Aang crawling in right behind him.

"It's not like I asked to get this big." Al asked as he sat down depressingly, and Zuko gave an amused smile as he put his arm on his brother's armored shoulder.

Inside the factory

In a hidden room sat two men completely unrecognizable due to the suits of armor obstructing their features.

"Sixty-Six." One of them said, getting the other one's attention.

"What is it Forty-Eight?"

"It looks as if we've got guests." Forty-Eight said, the only light coming from his pair of glowing red eyes.

Sixty-Six gave a slight chuckle. "Some daredevil idiots came to visit did they?"

In the Air Vent

Ed and Aang continued to crawl through the air vent with no bad encounter so far.

"Damn it's even tighter in here than I thought." Ed said. "Heh... I couldn't get through here if I we're regular-sized, luckily I've got a small body." It took Ed two seconds for him to realize what he just said about himself when he... "OH NO! I JUST CALLED MYSELF A TINY LITTLE PIPSQUEAK!"

"Hey come on, being small isn't that bad." Aang told him, given he was the same height as Ed. "It makes it easier to sneak in and out of places."

Ed kicked a hatch down and the he and Aang fell down from the ceiling and into the dark hallway, with lights on the floors being active.

"The lights are on." Aang noticed.

"Not currently in use my ass! Who are they trying to fool?" Ed said.

"Lets be careful; whoever these people are, they could have someone defending this place; in my experience it's never this easy." Aang told him.

"Well we're the Fullmetal Alchemist and the Avatar; I think we can handle anything that comes our way."

Back outside

"Ed and Aang are taking a long time." Al said wistfully.

"I wouldn't worry." Zuko assured. "Those two are plenty strong, I think they'll be alright."

From the top of the building, Sixty-Six stood on top with a cleaver. The light from the moon slightly reflected off it, the reflected light shined a bit on the ground in front of Zuko. His eyes widened, realizing what was about to happen.

"AL! MOVE!" Zuko pushed Alphonse out of the way as number Sixty-Six jumped down with a cleaver at the ready and his helmet shining with it's maniac grin.

"Time to play kiddies!"