Okay, Stark lived in Rush Valley. He lived in the automail center of Amestris. That meant he'd seen more than his share of automail limbs being connected. At first, he couldn't understand why people screamed so loudly and took so long to recover from the process. Really, it was just like putting on a pair of pants. Then he'd learned from Winry. He'd learned what enabled that fluidity of motion. And suddenly, it seemed more like someone getting their joint put back in socket than clothes coming back on. So, after that, the screaming made sense.

When the Elric kid's new limbs were reattached, Tony's respect for the midget grew, at least a little. Winry's customers had all screamed, some cried, others gone unconscious from the pain. This kid flinched.

He flinched, with two of his limbs on fire, when people who had a finger reattached cried in agony.

This kid was like no one he'd ever met.

Then, about half an hour later, he was testing out the new limbs like he hadn't just gone through one of the worst pains a man could experience. He turned to Winry, who was beaming at him. "They're lighter."

She grinned even wider. "I replaced the solid steel with a mixture of carbon fiber and steel, with some chrome to keep it from rusting. It's about the same durability, but it's harder to replace so don't go breaking it again, got that?"

He waved her off. "Yeah, yeah. But what's this circle thing?" He pointed to the palm of the hand.

"It's a new feature Mr. Stark helped me to develop." Ed immediately started glaring at the suave man and received a smirk. Oh great. The last thing Edward needed was another Mustang, especially one who was way too close to his mechanic.

He looked back at Winry. "What's it do?"

Winry bit her bottom lip. If she told Ed now, he'd no doubt start blasting it off right there in the shop and it would take forever to get the damages fixed and paid for. So, she grabbed Ed by the wrist. "Come with me and I'll show you." She looked at her apprentice turned teacher. "Can you bring the suit?"

He smirked a yes, loving how it infuriated the kid. He watched as the blonde girl dragged off the two boys before returning to his own shop. "Jarvis, suit up." And his old friend raced to envelop him. It wasn't the latest model Pepper had made him reprogram for his attention. No. It was the suit he'd brought for Winry.

He felt like a kid again as his first Iron Man suit latched onto him. He remembered the first time he'd caught a glimpse of himself in this thing, this first of many models. It had made him think of the knights and castles of his early childhood, stories read to him by the maids and, very occasionally, his mother. It reminded his of his elementary and middle school years, when his dad would help him build things and had been so proud every time he made it work. He'd seemed like a superhero when he did that. And finally, as the helmet face plate snapped on, he remembered his first flight, ever.

It had been exhilarating. After all that practice, experimentation, time and work, he had finally seen something new. He walked out into the street and powered up the thrusters. Then he was in the sky and in the freedom again.

After about fifteen minutes of random soaring, he found the unlikely trio in a canyon outside of town. Winry had picked a good spot for the first test run of the built-in thrusters. It had plenty of room, wouldn't hurt anyone, and had lots of rocks for target practice. That was, if the kid could resist flying long enough to try it. But there was no guarantee he would even get that far. Stark decided to have a little fun. So, he landed right in front of Edward.

The kid immediately jumped back and into a defensive martial arts stance. He asked Jarvis to move the face plate.

Edward relaxed. It was just that idiot smirker. He turned back to Winry who had been explaining the new thrusters. "So I turn them on?"

"For the foot, you kick the heel twice, and for the hand thruster, you hit the wrist with your thumb twice. That way you can't turn them on by accident. But don't try flying until you get your-"

Her words went unheard. Ed had already started up his engines and was spinning through the air like a drunken acrobat. Tony laughed his head off before going to get him and give him some basic flying lessons.

After about an hour and a half, it was an established fact that Edward had the best balance of any living human being and Tony was earnestly jealous. Edward started blasting nearby rocks, testing the power of the thrusters and adjusting his aim accordingly.

They were walking home when Edward asked that critical question. "So where does the power to do all that come from?"

Winry and Stark shared a look before she responded. "It comes from your nervous system, Edward."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we built an electronic amplifier into the forearm and shin. They take the electricity usually used to power the limb and magnify it so that there's enough for the thrusters."

After that, Edward was deep in thought until they got home. They parted ways in front of Winry's shop, with two engineers returning to their respective storefronts and the brothers heading for the hotel room they'd booked.

The blonde practically pounced on the shower in the small bathroom. He was covered in a ton of rock dust. After all, he had exploded several boulders that day. He looked in the mirror as he passed it, then looked again. What was that on his shoulder?

(Line Break)

The next day, Edward got both Stark and Winry together in the back of her shop. "Winry, you need to stop working with this idea."

She was confused by the seriousness of his voice. "Why? It worked just fine yesterday. You had a great time."

"Yeah, but I didn't know about this." He took off his red coat and shorter black jacket, and finally black tank top. Winry gasped. "Yeah. I think that extra electricity goes both ways. It was shocking my nerves all of yesterday while we were practicing. I didn't notice until I saw yesterday."

Edward's shoulder and chest were covered in a spider web of thick ridges. From their placement, Winry knew what they were. Ed's nerves were swollen, almost to the point where they would have started malfunctioning.

She had been so stupid! The control of the electronic flow was one of the basics! None of it could be allowed to go back into the body! A regular amount of electricity could be contained, but the amount needec for the thrusters wouldn't have been deterred by the barriers in regular automail. And there wasn't anyone she knew who could make barriers strong enough to deal with that kind of power.

Ed reattached his old limbs and left for the day. Stark went back to his side of the street and, although he occasionally came over for advice and a free meal, neither one brought up the subject again. When Winry found out about the promised day, she told Pepper that Stark was causing too much trouble and sent him home, out of harm's way. Thrusters were never tried again.

But still, it had been a nice dream and a lot of fun.

Yes, this is the last chapter. I'm starting school and beginning my Betaing career, so I wanted to give this an ending. I hate leaving things unfinished.

Also, there were concerns about what the military would do if they found out. So I made Winry drop the idea. The whole point of this fic was just to bring these two together, not recreate the series with an Iron Man Ed. If you want to do that, go right ahead.

If you want to put a different ending on this and turn Ed into a second Iron Man, be my guest.

I will always love reviews, even on stories that are finished.