"Pride. What are you doing here?" he growled.
"Father sent me to apprehend you. You're making quite a mess." the little boy said.
She could see they were all uptight. She couldn't see why—It was just a little boy. Unless he was a Homunculus. That was most likely.
She grinned, her filed teeth sharp. "Get ready…" she ordered.
After all, Shiniganes were cutthroats and thieves. And since when did those play fair?
"Now!"
They heard they yell, but didn't see who it was.
Pride squealed, knocked backwards. Several black-clothed warriors with silver skull masks held a thick black tarp over him, blocking out all the light. Pride cried out again as the tarp was suddenly fused to the ground. He was helpless.
"What…" he started.
Then something unexpected happened. All of the warriors drew out long katana and drove them into the tarp.
"Ayane!" he snarled, turning to the building next to them.
"You seemed to be having some difficulties attacking him, so we did it for you. Some thank you." the cutthroat empress smirked. "You ordered my group to spiral in towards the HQ, and that's exactly what we're doing."
"What ever. Get going." he said, his voice tight.
The Shiniganes were already gone.
"Edward, he is a Homunculus." Hohenheim said softly.
"That looks like a small child. Seeing them do that… I can't help but picture that being a human child…" he said, teeth clenched.
"Just ignore it." Katsumn was already walking away, eyes averted from the black tarp. "At least now he's helpless."
"True…" he kept walking, ignoring the small form.
They made it to the Command Center and sent up another flare to signal that they'd made it.
"Look! There they are!" someone in the building yelled.
The ground was pock-marked with bullets. There was a loud boom inside the building, and the attack stopped.
"Eh… What just happened?" he asked.
"Hey! Spectrum! Up here!"
"Green and Black made it in. Green always had a thing for building tunnels." he sighed.
"Watch out when you come in and seal up whatever entrance-exit point you create! There are white man-eater things in here and they don't die!" Black yelled down.
"What?" they all gasped.
There were screams at the gate. They all looked and saw that it was open and white humanoid… things were emerging. Any soldier in the way fell down with one on top of them.
"That is sick! Stone-powered dummies!" Katsumn spat in distaste. "Take out the legs and upper jaw. That way they're immobilized or can't eat us." she hissed, running straight into the thick of them.
"Well, there's something." Izumi, the Warriors and Chimera-men dove in as well.
He quickly trans-muted his arm into a blade and dove in as well, slicing at any of the dummies he came across. He felt sickened by them. They were crying out in human voices, but they were trying to eat him. They had to stop them. None were allowed to live.
There was a piercing shriek. "Get down!" Katsumn screamed.
There was a hiss, a whine, and thick tails of smoke. All of the dummies collapsed, missing most of their upper torsos.
"Good thing she separated the Shiniganes into several groups." sighed a young voice.
"Ayane?" he asked, looking at the small figure.
"Uweh? No, I'm Ayame. Her daughter." giggled the miniature Ayane. "We were told to split off from the main group and do a sweep of the city. We've been eliminating all obstacles for minimal troop-loss!"
"That's against my orders, but I'm glad. So… Where did you guys get those rocket-launchers?" he asked, moving into the HQ.
"We took 'em from a group of soldiers that we ambushed! They're all locked up in a store room across town right now." Ayame smiled sweetly.
"Hmm. Move in. We have to aid Black's group." he ordered, the rest following him.
There were many dead Central soldiers. The lights were out in some halls, and flickering in others.
"Edward."
They all spun around, battle-ready. Mustang and his group help up their hands. "We managed to rescue your other group and take out most of the man-eaters." Mustang said. "What's the plan now?"
"Regroup with the rest of the army, leave half of them here, take the other half and find this leader of the Homunculi." he said simply.
Long knives, it seemed, stabbed the walls around them. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that."
"Lust." he growled.
"Brother? How do we—" Al started.
"Lights!" Ayame screamed.
Someone flicked the lights off in the hallway. They saw the glint of weapons and Lust's Ultimate Spear, saw faint flecks of red, the bright red light of Lust's regenerative abilities, and then a flash-bomb.
"Lights, please!" Ayame requested.
The lights were turned on. Half of the Shiniganes had fallen, a few Warriors, and Lust was nowhere to be seen. "Where…?"
"Dead. They killed her." Katsumn said.
"But… But…"
"Don't worry, Ed. She's gone." Izumi assured him.
"Okay. Let's go." he said, relaxing.
He felt the feathers on his wings rustle, as if in a breeze. "Wait…"
"You feel it?" Katsumn growled.
"No, but there's wind that's not touching anyone else but me. It feels… alive, angry, almost…" he said.
"Something powerful is angered at our actions." Ayame interpreted.
"Most likely the Homunculi's leader. We better hurry." Hohenheim said.
"Mother went to hijack a radio-station and tell the country what's going on. She's persuasive and has hard evidence. Especially since…" Ayame trailed off and looked guilty.
"What? What happened?" Hawkeye asked.
"W-e-ll…" Ayame looked very upset, shuffling her weight from foot to foot.
"Mother… Has Mrs. Bradley with her… She told her everything… Even showed her Seleim…"