Chapter 22 – Collaboration

"What?! How is that possible?" Roy Mustang sat with the phone pressed to his ear, a look of utter disbelief painted across his features. Wrath watched the Brigadier General from his place leaning against the wall. Whatever news the man had just received, it clearly wasn't good. Between the sudden invasion by Drachma and the loss of the country's leaders all in one night, it was hard to imagine what else could have possibly gone wrong. "The majority of our forces are tied up with the Drachman invasion from the North. It would take me at least two days, possibly longer, to get a suitable force of men assembled to bail you out," Mustang's tone was strained with frustration. There was a pause as the person on the other end of the line responded. Finally the Flame Alchemist released a heavy sigh. "Alright. Thank you for your report. Get your ass out of there and head to East City. I can't afford to lose any more people than I already have," he ordered tiredly before returning the phone to the receiver with a little more force than necessary. He leaned back in his office chair, a hand covering his eyes.

"What happened?" Riza demanded, setting aside the papers she'd been sorting through to watch her husband with a concerned expression. Edward glanced up from the report he'd been reading.

Before Roy could answer his wife's question the door opened and Elycia stepped in carrying a full pot of coffee and a stack of paper cups. She crossed the room and set them down on Mustang's desk. Wrath's gaze followed her, a feeling of tension settling over him. Since he'd arrived at Central Headquarters she'd barely even glanced at him. Any words she had exchanged with him had been crisp and to the point. She clearly had no intent of engaging him in conversation about the night before, which was practical given the enormity of the other problems they had to deal with at the moment. But the cold, distant wall she had erected was not something he was used to. He'd come to take for granted the warm friendliness she usually showed him, regardless of how he treated her. She had never behaved this coldly with him before and the shock of it stung slightly. Realistically, he deserved it. It served him right to get a taste of his own medicine. But he wanted a chance to speak with her about it. He owed her an apology at the very least. He didn't like the feeling of being kept at arms distance.

"What did I miss?" Elycia asked, sensing the renewed tension radiating from Mustang. The Brigadier General shook his head, lowering his hand to reveal a rather defeated expression had settled across his features.

"One of my agents just got in touch with me. We've lost South City," he stated simply, his tone hollow. A shocked silence reigned throughout the room for a moment.

"But, how is that possible? You're saying Aerugo has already invaded?" Riza demanded, clearly alarmed. A deep frown settled over Wrath's features.

"I thought they weren't going to launch their invasion for several more weeks at least," he spoke up.

"We were wrong," Mustang replied flatly, "They must have discovered our knowledge of their plans. It appears they have moved forward ahead of schedule to minimize our ability to prepare for it in advance."

"But how could they have taken South City so quickly? The place has solid defenses. That shouldn't be possible," Edward pointed out.

"It seems they've come up with some new inventions themselves. They possess flying machines which our men have never seen before. They drop extremely destructive explosives. There was nothing the soldiers could do. Large portions of the city have been entirely destroyed by the bombs and the inevitable fires which they started." Mustang explained. Edward's eyes widened.

"Airplanes," he breathed.

"You've heard of these things before?" Mustang frowned.

"I saw them in the brief period of time I spent on the other side of the gate. If Aerugo has somehow invented those then we're in trouble. We lack the means to fight or defend against an aerial assault," the blonde alchemist replied, clearly alarmed.

Before anyone could respond, the door burst open, causing everyone to glance over in surprise. Envy stormed into the room, marching right up to the Brigadier General's desk. Wrath's eyes widened slightly. He hadn't seen a look that dark on his brother's face in years. The green haired man slammed his hands down on the desk in front of Mustang, leaning forward and getting in his face.

"You screwed up," he hissed, eyes blazing with fury. The dark haired alchemist regarded him impassively, lacking the energy to be phased by the outright hostility radiating off of the former homunculus.

"I am aware of that," he replied flatly.

"Are you also aware that there is a force of Aerugan soldiers on their way to take Resembool as we speak?" Envy demanded harshly. At this Mustang's eyes widened, clearly taken off guard. "They weren't supposed to invade for several more weeks. We trusted your information. And now the people there have almost no time to evacuate. They'll be lucky if they don't get overtaken by the planes before they can get to East City," the green haired man snapped, eyes glittering with anger.

"What?" Edward shot to his feet, a look of horror washing over his features. Wrath's eyes widened in alarm.

"I hope for your sake you can come up with a way to fix this, because if anything happens to our families I will hold you personally accountable," there was a threatening edge to Envy's voice as he continued to glare at the man sitting before him. A tense silence reigned throughout the room. Finally Mustang let out a heavy sigh.

"So you know about the flying machines?" he asked tiredly.

"Yes, Elsie called them airplanes," the green haired man replied crisply.

"How is it possible that they were able to keep this a secret until now? I never once heard anything about machines like that while I was in Aerugo," Wrath spoke up, consternation evident in his tone.

"Perhaps they were constructed in Donbachi? You said they had joined the alliance. The southwestern side of that country is largely unpopulated. It would have been relatively easy to design and test new inventions there without drawing any notice," Riza replied grimly.

"Regardless, the important thing now is determining how to deal with them," Envy said.

"Well, you should know that these 'airplanes' as you call them have already taken care of South City. I have no reason to believe that East City will fare any better against them. Having the people evacuate there might not be wise," Mustang informed him grimly. Envy frowned.

"They could hide out in the underground tunnel system to wait out the attack," he pointed out.

"Perhaps, but there's a good chance they'd be ferreted out eventually by the Aerugan ground forces. Unless we can find a way to take down those machines, none of the major cities are safe places to be," the dark haired alchemist said.

"What about the state alchemists? Surely some of them should be able to battle the planes using alchemy," Edward said, walking forward to stand next to Envy at the desk.

"And what about the weapons AJ has invented? Could any of them work against the planes?" Elycia spoke up. The flame alchemist frowned, deep in thought.

"Both of those are possibilities. But they also both involve sending my men into battle at a grave disadvantage. They aren't trained to defend against an aerial attack. Even if we could take them down from the air using alchemy and enhanced weaponry, we will still suffer heavy losses and that will put us at a disadvantage against the Aerugan ground troops," Mustang explained. Then his gaze moved back to Envy, "How did you hear about this force headed towards Resembool?" he asked, a frown settling across his brow.

"Elsie called me back at the house," the green haired man replied.

"You said she called the flying machines 'airplanes.' How does she know about them?" Mustang demanded.

"Well, she's familiar with them from her time spent on the other side of the gate," Envy replied. The Brigadier General frowned thoughtfully, obviously pondering something. Finally he nodded.

"I need you to call your wife. I have some questions for her," he said, gaze filled with a new determination.

Sara raced down the steps two at a time, still pulling on her vest distractedly. Her hair had been briskly swept back into a ponytail and she was decidedly awake, adrenalin fizzing in her veins as she rushed to find her sister. This was not how she'd expected things to play out when she'd woken up this morning. Something told her it was going to be a long day. She reached the bottom floor and blew past a group of soldiers returning from their posts.

"Hey Elric, where's the fire?" one of them called after her. She rolled her eyes and continued down the hall briskly. Her senses were on high alert for anyone else she might run into. The only closet that could reasonably fit several people was the one used by the janitors. Thankfully they didn't usually come on duty until evening, so there was little risk of one of them finding the two girls. Though how on earth the girls had gotten into the building in the first place she hadn't the slightest idea. The creature Mania had to have something to do with it.

When she rounded the corner she was brought up short to find the red haired creature standing in the hall waiting for her. Sara's eyes widened.

"What are you doing? What if someone sees you?" She hissed. He regarded her skeptically.

"There are no humans other than yourself headed in this direction," he informed her.

"How do you know that?" she demanded suspiciously.

"How do you think I found you?" Mania raised an eyebrow. Sara opened her mouth to ask a question but was cut off when the door to the storage room opened and Adele peeked out.

"Sara?" The younger girl piped up. Sara blinked in surprise, and then stepped swiftly around the red haired creature and met her sister at the door.

"Adele, what on earth are you doing here?" she demanded, stepping inside the room and pulling the girl into a swift embrace.

"I need you and Elior's help with a transmutation," Adele replied. Sara frowned in puzzlement.

"You came all the way here for that?" she asked. Before her sister could respond, the older girl caught sight of Elmina's unconscious form and her eyes widened in surprise. "What happened to Elmina?" She demanded, alarmed.

"It's complicated," Mania spoke up behind her, "It would be better to relocate to a more private area before we get into any lengthy explanations."

"Why didn't you just bring them straight to my room?" Sara asked, turning to give him an exasperated look. Mania's expression grew flat.

"Give me a break. I'd like to see you teleport across the country with perfect accuracy," he grumbled, "This is just where we ended up. And if I touch your friend again before she has a chance to recover she will likely die. So I suggest you find someone else to carry her," his tone was blunt. Sara frowned, clearly unsure of what to make of this piece of information.

"Why…?" she began, but then she shook her head, "You know what, never mind. Can you at least let us know when we're all clear to move out?" she demanded.

"Now would be a good time," Mania replied, appearing faintly amused by her practical briskness.

"Alright. Adele, help me lift her," Sara said, turning back towards Elmina. The younger girl hastened to obey. Together they pulled the dark haired girl's arms over their shoulders and raised her to a standing position, hanging limply between them. Then they made for the door.

Elsie stood in the living room of the Rockbell residence, phone pressed to her ear. There was a thoughtful frown on her face as she listened to the man on the other end of the line.

"So you're saying we should head to Central instead of staying in East City when we get there?" she asked.

"Yes. It's safe to assume East City will be their next target, since it's the closest of the major cities to South City and they've already sent part of their force in that direction to take Resembool. It makes sense for them to head there before moving on to Central," Mustang replied.

"What's the point in going to Central if the planes are going to head there anyway after they take East City?" Elsie demanded.

"I'm hoping to destroy them before they get that far," the flame alchemist replied. Elsie blinked.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" She asked skeptically.

"If they run on fuel of some kind, as you say, then they must be bringing it along with the main ground force so the planes can land and refuel," Mustang surmised.

"I would imagine so," Elsie replied, and then a thoughtful expression crept onto her face, "I think I see what you're getting at… If you destroyed that fuel source then the planes would be rendered useless."

"Exactly… If we can keep those planes out of the air then I can launch a counterattack without our men being at such a disadvantage," Mustang's tone was speculative, "The only problem is, I don't see how we can possibly infiltrate the Aerugan forces to gain access to the fuel. I'm sure they have it carefully guarded. Even if we were to manage it, there's a good chance it would be a suicide mission for whoever was sent in. They would have to pull off an impressive disappearing act to get away without being caught," he pointed out. Elsie frowned for a moment, pondering his words. He had a point. Popping in and popping out again without being noticed would be quite the challenge. Then her eyes widened slightly, a thought occurring to her.

"Actually," her tone was a little hesitant, "I think I know someone who could pull that off."

"Who?" Mustang's tone was puzzled. Elsie grimaced slightly.

"Well…It's a little bit complicated…" she replied reluctantly.

Sara was pacing slowly up and down the small living room, a frown on her face as she processed the information her little sister had just imparted to her. Adele was perched on the arm of the couch where a still unconscious Elmina was lying. Mania stood leaning against the wall, his arms crossed as he observed the two blondes. Sara was taking the information better than he had expected, though her alarm was readily obvious to him.

"Aerugo is seriously invading us?" she demanded, clearly having trouble wrapping her mind around the idea. "I thought they were supposed to be our ally," her tone was exasperated as she came to a stop, raising a hand to massage her temples. Adele watched her anxiously. Finally the older girl sighed. "Our country has gone to hell in a hand-basket literally overnight," she muttered.

"What else has happened?" Adele asked, startled.

"Well Drachma has launched a full scale assault on Fort Briggs. More problematic than that though is the fact that the entire Council, as well as our Furor, were taken out last night in a terrorist attack," Sara replied tiredly. The younger girl's eyes widened in alarm. "It's a damn good thing Briggs has such a top notch commander. With Olivier running things I'm sure Drachma will be repelled just like all of the other times they've attacked us. Mustang has managed to keep things from completely falling apart in Central so far, but if Aerugo is invading us too then that complicates things. A force is going to need to be organized to fend them off," her tone was resigned. "You said they have flying machines?" she demanded, faintly incredulous. Adele nodded. Sara chewed her lip thoughtfully for a moment. Finally she turned her gaze on Mania. "And you say you're willing to help us if my sister gives you access to more people?" She raised an eyebrow. Mania smirked faintly. He could feel the skepticism and suspicion radiating off of her in waves.

"I am. Though I must say I'm curious how she plans to manage that," he replied. Sara frowned, glancing back at her sister.

"Honestly, I don't think what you're suggesting is possible. Even if you were able to perform that large of a transmutation without killing yourself, you would need to somehow get the Aerugan troops inside of a transmutation circle in order to attempt it. And even of those weren't issues, this is a very complex transmutation. It's not suited for being used on such a mass scale. The more people involved the more likely you'll get something wrong and kill them all," Sara said. Adele frowned a little helplessly.

"Well… Then what do we do?" She asked uncertainly. The older girl stared into space for a moment, clearly mulling over the different possibilities. There was a tense silence. Then Sara blinked as something occurred to her.

"What if…you did the transmutation on Mania?" She suggested. Adele's eyes widened in surprise and the red haired creature raised his eyebrows. That was certainly an interesting thought.

"But…he isn't even human! How would that work?" the younger girl demanded, clearly puzzled. Sara glanced at Mania.

"How does your power work? Would she be able to put a temporary modification on it?" She asked. He frowned thoughtfully for a moment. As odd as what she was suggesting sounded, it had the potential to work. It would only take a slight change in his chemical make-up to give him access to a regular human. He was a little surprised the thought hadn't occurred to him before.

"Well, so long as I went along with it and allowed the change to happen then it should be possible. Does she have the skill to pull it off?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Well, if anyone can do it, it's her," Sara replied. She clearly had confidence in her sister's ability, though judging by the emotions swirling inside Adele, the younger girl wasn't entirely convinced.

"I'm not so sure," she spoke up, eyeing Mania uneasily. The red haired creature smirked faintly. He strongly suspected the anxiety which the idea had triggered within her wasn't so much related to her ability to pull off the transmutation as it was to which individual she would be performing it on. Her sister clearly hadn't picked up on this detail however.

"Will it hurt you if she doesn't get it right on the first try?" Sara asked him. Mania snorted.

"Alchemy can't hurt me. I can counteract it if necessary. The only one possibly at risk is her. If she messes up too badly she might sustain damage from my energy," he replied. At this he felt a prick of alarm within the older girl and she frowned.

"Can't you control it?" Sara demanded. Mania regarded her with a flat expression. She had no idea how absurd that question was.

"Can you stop your heartbeat at will?" He asked skeptically, "There are some movements of my power which are reflexive. I only have so much control over them," he explained. Sara stared at him guardedly, clearly unwilling to volunteer her sister for something that posed a risk to her wellbeing. Mania let out a sigh.

"Look, the odds of her sustaining any serious damage are small. She'd have to botch the transmutation pretty badly. And seeing as she is trying to help me, I will do all that I can to prevent any harm coming to her," he assured her.

"You know…I can't say that I particularly trust you," Sara informed him frankly. Mania smirked resignedly.

"Neither does anyone else," his tone was dry.

"If I do this, will Mina be safe from your power while the transmutation is in effect?" Adele asked, staring at the red haired creature with a hard expression. Mania's smirk broadened ever so slightly. Ah, the joys of humans and their protectiveness of their loved ones.

"I would imagine so. Which of course would mean we could make as many jumps as necessary without any negative effects to her," he pointed out innocently. Adele seemed to ponder this for a moment. Finally she nodded.

"Alright, I'll do it," she said firmly, "I'll need to examine you first, though, to determine the chemical make-up of what I'll be working with," she rose to her feet.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sara asked, clearly still concerned. Adele nodded.

"Examine me?" Mania raised an eyebrow suggestively, "Are you sure you're up to that?" He asked. The insinuation dripping from his words was more intended to provoke her older sister than anything else. It worked. The glare Sara turned on him bordered on murderous.

"The examination won't take much effort. It's the transmutation afterwards that will be tricky. I'll have to do some preparing for that," Adele replied, tone quite serious as his insinuation flew right over her head. Mania's eyes lit with amusement and he grinned, turning to meet her older sister's hostile gaze.

"She's adorable. Far too innocent for the likes of Lover Boy," he informed her. At this Sara's scowl wavered slightly in surprise.

"Are you talking about…?" she trailed off uncertainly. Clearly she already knew who he was referring to but was having trouble matching the nickname up with him. Interesting. Apparently this human was more observant than his host human. Granted, since Sara spent so much time with the boy, maybe it wasn't all that surprising.

"I am," he replied. Sara stared at him blankly for a moment before the amused disbelief bubbled to the surface and a snicker escaped her lips. She raised a hand to smother her laughter.

"Oh man. Don't let him hear you call him that. He'd hit the roof," she chuckled.

"Who are you talking about?" Adele asked, thoroughly puzzled. Mania smirked at her knowingly.

"No one you need to concern yourself with," he replied evasively, "You had best get that examination out of the way." Adele blinked, but then nodded.

"Do you happen to have a pen on you by any chance?" she glanced at her sister. Sara nodded, slipping her hand into her pocket and pulling one out for her. It didn't take long for the younger girl to get to work drawing a transmutation circle on her palm. When she finished Adele passed the pen back to Sara and turned to approach the red haired creature. He straightened up from his slouch against the wall as she came to a stop in front of him. She hesitated, slightly nervous.

"I have to touch your forehead," she stated warily.

"I promise not to bite," his tone was vaguely condescending, amused by her unease. At the sarcasm in his words her expression grew flat and her wariness dissipated. She stepped up to him and reached up to rest her palm against his forehead, eyes slipping shut as she concentrated. He gazed down at her curiously as a faint, blue glow surrounded them. He could feel an ever so slight brush against the source of his power in his core, but it was barely noticeable. There was silence for several moments, and then the light faded. Adele's eyes snapped open and she jerked back with a gasp.

"What is it?" Sara asked in alarm. Adele stared up at Mania for a moment with wide eyes. He raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"What are you?" she asked finally, her tone perplexed. He felt a wash of bemusement at her words.

"I'm a 'who', not a 'what,'" he informed her dryly.

"I know but…how do you keep from burning yourself up?" she asked, puzzled. He shrugged unconcernedly.

"I suppose that's one of life's great mysteries," he replied loftily. The truth was he hadn't the slightest idea and he didn't particularly care. Adele raised her eyebrows skeptically.

"So will you be able to make the transmutation work?" Sara demanded. Adele blinked, and then glanced back at her.

"I think so," she replied, "I need to think on it a bit. I don't think Elior will be able to help me in this case. He's a pro on human anatomy, but Mania isn't human." As she was speaking Mania noticed a presence approaching the room. A smirk crept onto his face as he recognized who it was. He wasn't at all surprised when a moment later the door opened. Adele and Sara glanced over, slightly startled.

"Titus," Sara exclaimed in surprise at the sight of the young man standing there, "What are you doing? Aren't you supposed to be on duty right now?" she demanded. Titus stood for a moment taking in the scene before him. Despite the presence of Adele, Elmina and Mania, he didn't appear as taken off guard as one would expect.

"My dad called," he stated finally, "He wants to speak with Mania." The two blondes blinked in surprise and Mania's eyebrows shot up.

"Does he really?" he inquired, "Well then. This should be interesting," his tone was bland.

"He's waiting on the line right now. I'll take you to the phone," Titus replied, turning to leave. The corner of Mania's mouth pulled up slightly. This was far too perfect an opportunity to simply let it slide.

"Lead the way Lover Boy," the red haired creature smirked knowingly. At his words the dark haired alchemist froze. A shocked silence reigned throughout the room. Finally Titus turned his head slowly to stare at Mania.

"What did you just call me?" he demanded darkly. Mania's smirk broadened to an outright grin and a slow chuckle escaped his lips. Ah yes, this would be entertaining. Humans were so much fun.

-Author's Note-

Isn't Mania just a lovely little troublemaker? Well...I guess he isn't really little per say...He's taller than I am...*nervous laugh*

Anyway, lots of switching view points in this chapter! I hope that doesn't annoy anyone, because from here on out there's going to be a lot of that. When you have...uh...*counts on fingers*...7 different groups of people actively on the go, it gets a little hectic. XD We aren't quite there yet, but we will be soon.

What else...oh yah! So, Olivier Armstrong is from Brotherhood, not the 2003 FMA. But because she's just so epic I'm sticking her in here anyway. Not that she gets any screen time. x'D I've got enough characters on the go already. Although, another canon character that we all know and love does make an appearance in chapter 24. Anyone care to guess who that might be? :P

Penelope Jadewing: Yeah, I think Sara might have bruised herself a bit. XD It was satisfying to write though. Ooooh...you think they're scrambled now? Just wait. It get's worse... *evil authoress chuckle*

MissiB: Wrath definitely takes his time to get his act together and man up. But there will be a little taste of WrathxElycia next chapter. :P Plus Envy will keep getting screen time for the next few chapters as well. ^^

nettlesnitch92: I'm glad you like the POV switching, because yeah, there's going to be a lot of it lol. *sweat drop* And I'm glad you like Mania! XD He's somehow turned into a rather loveable jerk. Honestly I'm not entirely sure how that happened. It wasn't my original intent. But some characters just decide to develop in ways I hadn't planned lol.