It was dawn now over the ruined Ishvalan city that served as the Red Kingdom's headquarters. Pillars of smoke rose from parts of the city while the sounds of gunfire and cannon fire still echoed across the desert. At one of the aid stations, Dr. Marcoh and several of the medical staff from his clinic were busily tending to the wounded. Winry was lying on a cot with bandages around her stomach, still wincing in pain from her wound. Paninya, Ross, Bloch, and some of the civilian hostages were helping tend to some of the other wounded, acting as orderlies and at least a couple as nurses. Even Mrs. Bradley was helping by making bandages. Dr. Marcoh had to take a moment to rest, sitting down near Winry.
"How are you feeling, Winry?" Marcoh asked as he caught his breath.
"I'm fine. I'm more worried about Ed." Winry replied, fighting the pain while glancing at a bloody bullet in the sand on the ground next to her. It was the one that had pierced her abdomen.
"I have every confidence that Edward and Alphonse will both succeed. You know what they're capable of." Marcoh said as Winry rested her head on the pillow.
"Yeah but I also know what they're up against. I've heard the stories of what happened in Central two years ago. Ed and Al are strong but just don't think raw strength and a suit of automail armor's going to be enough for Ed to take Dr. Garand down." Winry said.
"Dr. Garand is finished, Miss. Rockbell. He is only a mere alchemist. He can be dealt with." Colonel Miles said as he came to check on the survivors.
"You don't understand though. He is an alchemist but I know what he's planning. He's going to try and turn himself into a homunculus, one that can use alchemy." Winry said, rolling onto her side and sitting up so she could look towards Miles and Marcoh, wincing occasionally from the pain.
"Even if he wanted to, he can't. He would need a Philosopher's Stone to accomplish the task." Marcoh said as Miles looked towards the civilians.
"And we've deprived him of the ingredients for said stone so he lacks the vital ingredient to making one." Miles said but Winry shook her head.
"No! He does have one! He has a Philosopher's Stone!" Winry said, alarming both men. (AC: Fifth Laboratory – FMA:B OST 1)
"What?! How?!" Miles asked.
"It was the one that Emperor Ling Yao took with him to Xing! He gave it to May with secret orders to destroy it somehow but Garand found it and took it from her! He has what he needs to create an Immortal Alchemist!" Winry said as Miles grimaced and turned towards the command tent, quickly running towards it.
"General!" Miles yelled, earning Armstrong's attention.
"Colonel, report!" Armstrong demanded.
"We just received vital intelligence! Dr. Garand is in possession of a Philosopher's Stone!" Miles reported.
"What?! Where did this intelligence come from?!" Armstrong asked angrily as Miles saluted.
"Winry Rockbell, Fullmetal's fiancée!" Miles replied as Armstrong glared towards the city.
"Send word to all troops that if they find Dr. Garand they're to shoot on sight! Don't give the bastard a chance to use that stone!" Armstrong ordered, receiving confirmations from the radio officers behind her. Armstrong stared at the city in thought for a moment before glancing towards Miles.
"Colonel I want you to interrogate Miss Rockbell! Find out everything you can about what Garand's got up his sleeve!" Armstrong ordered as Miles saluted again.
"Right away!" Miles replied, running back towards the aid station. Armstrong watched him run for a moment before turning her gaze back towards the city.
"I knew there was something too suspicious about how this battle has been going. Garand must be using these mannequins as a diversion, to keep us distracted while he works on whatever his ultimate plan is." Armstrong pondered as she watched the city. (End AC)
…
Ed, Al, May, and Lieutenant Colonel Armstrong were running towards the temple. As they approached, they heard a strange metallic clanging sound coming from overhead. They looked up and saw Lan Fan and Fang battling each other across the broken rooftops of the buildings. Ling and Xiao were fighting each other not too far off.
"When did Ling get here?" Ed asked, confused. He and Al had both missed Ling's arrival in the temple earlier.
"He's been here the whole time. Lan Fan and I were ordered not to tell anyone that he'd made the journey across the desert with us. The evidence we found regarding the plot against his life pointed to the attempt being made here in Amestris at the opening of the cross-desert railway. He came with us and holed himself up in an abandoned apartment in Central and had Lan Fan give General Mustang a message informing him of the Emperor's presence in Amestris." May explained.
"Wait so he's been here the whole time?!" Alphonse asked.
"Extraordinary! What has he been doing?" Armstrong asked.
"He's been working with General Mustang to try and identify the plot against his life." May explained.
"I guess that Xiao woman and the other guy that Ling and Lan Fan are fighting right now are them." Ed commented.
"General Xiao Fujin, our eldest half-sibling. She's the head of the Fujin clan and head of the Xingese military second only to the Emperor. If our father had died before Ling returned with the Elixir of Life, Xiao would, by default, be the next Empress." May explained as Al and Ed exchanged glances.
"Oh so this is a sibling rivalry of sorts huh?" Ed asked but May could see the expressions of both Ling and Xiao, seeing something in their faces that made her nervous.
"I think this goes a lot deeper than simple sibling rivalry." May said as Ed and Al both nodded in agreement.
"Good point. I mean Al and I have fought on more than one occasion but we've never tried to kill each other…at least not permanently." Ed said with a smile that went unseen due to his helmet.
"Yeah. It must take something drastic to make your own flesh and blood want to kill you." Al added.
"Or an insatiable lust for power." Armstrong commented as they watched the four Xingese warriors battling it out overhead.
"May…" Ed said as May looked towards Ed.
"Hmm?"
"Go help Ling. You should stand by him right now and watch his back." Ed said, surprising May.
"Huh?" she asked.
"At times like this, sometimes just having your brother at your side can make all the difference in the world." Al said as he and Ed exchanged smiles. May gave a nod with a smile of her own before running off, making her way towards the rooftops to join the fight. Armstrong had tears running down his cheeks.
"How simplistically beautiful! A testament to the bonds of brotherhood!" he blubbered in admiration of the Elric Brothers' words of encouragement whilst inexplicably sparkling.
"We're not out of the woods yet. We need to find Dr. Garand and stop him before he has a chance to become a Homunculi." Edward said as they started running on towards the temple.
"How does he intend to do that?" Armstrong asked.
"Through a highly advanced alchemical technique. I imagine he's built a body for himself. All he needs to do to become a homunculus is to bind his soul to this new body while merging it with a Philosopher's Stone." Ed explained.
"But doing that will cause him to lose his power to use alchemy like we can. Therefore he'll also need to take the alchemical power of another alchemist in the same transmutation, becoming a Homunculus capable of using traditional alchemy, a homunculus like Father!" Al explained as Armstrong scowled.
"I see, so that's the threat Dr. Garand presents to us. He wants to become like Father." Armstrong said.
"Yeah and the worst part about it is, he's got everything he need save for a body to transmute his soul into!" Ed replied as they reached a large area where several buildings had been cleared away long ago and only their foundations and the street remained. Before they could make it across, their path was blocked by an earthen wall that rose from the ground.
"What the-?! Oh not again!" Ed groaned as they slid to a halt. They turned and saw Horatio Sherman standing within the makeshift arena he'd formed. (AC: Next Chapter – FMA:B OST 1)
"The Quake Alchemist." Armstrong said as he narrowed his eyes towards the alchemist in question.
"The Strong Arm Alchemist. How appropriate that we meet here. Last time our paths crossed, you were emotionally scarred by our heinous acts in the war against the Ishvalans." Sherman said as Armstrong scowled at him.
"How can you speak of such a senseless act of violence when you've aligned yourself with those who would willingly sacrifice everyone here in Amestris for their own gain?! Have you no sense of honor?! No sense of dignity?!" Armstrong asked angrily as Sherman narrowed his gaze towards the Strong Arm Alchemist.
"I aligned myself with the Red Kingdom because Amestris deserves everything it gave to the Ishvalans multiplied tenfold! To allow that butcher Fuhrer King Bradley to slaughter and massacre so many countless people, all so that his father could try and ascend to godhood is a crime of apathy that Amestris is soundly guilty of!" Sherman yelled as Armstrong raised his fists in a fighting stance.
"Are you really so blind to not realize the very hypocrisy of your own actions?!" Armstrong asked as Horatio scowled angrily at him.
"My actions are just!" Sherman argued as he and Armstrong started charging towards one another.
"Then let it be an argument decided by alchemical skill and the might of our muscles!" Armstrong yelled as he and Horatio clashed in a powerful brawl of fists and alchemical fury. Ed and Alphonse were watching from the sidelines.
"Come on, Al! Let's go! The Colonel's got this!" Ed said as Al gave a nod. Before either could make a move, a hole was transmuted beneath them, causing them to fall into a steep sloped tunnel.
"Edward! Alphonse!" Armstrong exclaimed as the tunnel sealed up.
"They seek to prevent our victory, and I won't allow it!" Sherman declared before Armstrong reared back and angrily slammed his plated fist into the ground, causing a large rocky spike to burst up towards Sherman but the Quake Alchemist evaded by using his alchemy to shift the earth beneath his feet, moving him backwards but before he could make a move, Armstrong had already started a charge, his arm reared back, smashing through the spike he'd transmuted earlier, the rocky chunks from the spike transmuted on impact into small stone arrowheads that flew towards Sherman, a couple of the arrows piercing him in the right arm, causing Sherman to grunt in pain and slam his foot down onto the ground, causing a shaft or solid rock to transmute up beneath Armstrong's feet, sending the Strong Arm Alchemist high into the air but Armstrong drove a fist into the shaft, causing the shaft to transmute into a decorative column with a bust of his head at the top while stopping its upward momentum. Armstrong quickly leapt down, his right arm reared back.
"I will not back down from this fight! It will be a battle that will be passed down the Armstrong family line for generations!" Armstrong yelled before crashing into the ground and sending up a huge blast of dust and smoke. (End AC)
…
Down in the underground tunnels, it was silent, at least at first as a tunnel opened up in the ceiling depositing a yelling Edward and Alphonse Elric onto the ground, Edward landing atop Alphonse, pinning him underneath.
"Guh! Ed! Can't breathe!" Al grunted in pain, Ed quickly jumping to his feet and helping his brother up.
"Sorry Al! Now I know how bad you felt whenever you landed on me in this thing." Ed apologized as Al dusted himself off.
"Don't worry about it, brother. Where are we anyway?" Al asked as they looked around. (AC: Beneath the City – FMA:B OST 1)
"I'm not sure but it sure feels awfully similar to those tunnels that ran beneath Central. Remember? The ones where Father and the Homunculi were?" Ed asked as Alphonse nodded, a look of apprehension on his face.
"Yeah." Al replied.
"So which way do we go?" Ed asked.
"Well, we were headed towards the temple and these tunnels seem to be going the same direction so if we keep going this way, we'll reach the temple." Al suggested, Ed making sure his helmet was secure on his head.
"Good idea. Let's go." Ed replied as they started down the tunnel. The tunnels were quiet. The only sound they could hear aside from their own footsteps was the occasional soft thud and light vibrations of artillery shells impacting the surface. As they walked, Alphonse noticed something about the tunnels.
"These tunnels were made with alchemy. Look at the impurities." Al said, motioning to the odd rectangular flakes familiar to items or structures made through transmutations.
"Yeah, I saw it too. I bet that bearded guy, Sherman, had something to do with it." Ed commented.
"But what are these tunnels for?" Al asked as Ed scowled in hesitation.
"Maybe to keep those creepy white doll things hidden until needed?" Ed postulated.
"That's one reason but I don't think that's their sole purpose. There's something that's been bugging me ever since we got into the city. If the Red Kingdom is largely made up of alchemists and chimeras, then wouldn't they have some kind of lab facilities?" Al asked.
"Yeah. Now that you mention it, the only thing we've seen so far that's alchemy related was the human transmutation circle in the temple." Ed said as they approached a three way intersection, the tunnel branching off in two directions but the walls of the tunnel on one side had a few doors that were open, some of the doors and doorframes with claw marks on them. Ed and Alphonse immediately sweat dropped.
"Well. Found the chimera pens." Al said with a nervous laugh as Ed looked down the dark tunnel to their left, noticing that there was another three way intersection nearby, one path branching to the right towards the temple.
"Come on, Al. I think this might be the way to the temple." Ed said as he and Al continued through the tunnel towards the temple, passing the empty cells and rooms, some of which had recently been abandoned presumably by the Red Kingdom forces responding to the military attack. As they passed one door, Al paused.
"What is it, Al?" Ed asked as Al stepped towards a door that was closed and locked with the name "V. Garand" on it. Next to it was a variation of the Red Kingdom Insignia only the infinity symbol was inside the small castle turret. Al tried to open the door but the handle didn't budge. Locked.
"Stand back, Al. I've wanted to do this for a while." Ed said with a grin, Al knowing what Ed was thinking and stepping back with a smirk. Ed immediately charged into the door, shoulder first, smashing into it but bouncing off, the armor letting off a loud gonging noise upon impact, the armor rattling as Ed staggered back. Alphonse was equally stunned.
"What the hell is that door made of?!" Ed asked as he placed his hands on the armor to stop its vibrating. Al knocked on the door but could tell it wasn't hollow. It was solid stone made to look wooden.
"Let me try something." Al said as he clapped his hands together and then pressed them against the door, the door crackling with alchemical energy as it shrank into the ground, revealing another tunnel only this one went forward for a little bit before becoming a staircase leading down. The brothers looked at each other before heading inside, descending the stairs down a short distance before finding a large room that was divided into two smaller rooms. One part looked like an office with a desk in one corner near a large corkboard covered in newspaper clippings, letters, maps of Amestris and of Xing. There was also a simple bed up against the wall. The other half of the room was designed to look like something out of a hospital as hospital dividers partitioned the two halves of the room. The hospital side had an operating table, surgical lights, small equipment carts of surgical tools, and one thing that seemed out of place for a sterile environment. A strange pile of empty metal buckets that had been stacked in a corner. There was also a large square length of cloth on the ground near the buckets. The operating table had small smears of blood but not much.
"What was Garand doing in here?" Ed asked as Al examined the buckets, picking one up curiously and sniffing it.
"Ammonia?" he asked as Ed looked at one of the buckets, running a finger along the inside and looking at it, seeing small white grains stuck to his glove.
"Salt." Ed said as he and Al looked at each other worriedly.
"Salt and ammonia. This is starting to sound familiar." Ed said as Al looked in another bucket and saw small flecks of a yellow crystalline substance.
"Sulfur. Ed, I think I know what these are for." Al said, both brothers looking apprehensive.
"Water, thirty five liters." Ed said as Al took a breath.
"Carbon, twenty kilograms." Al replied as they reached for the cloth on the ground.
"Ammonia, four liters." "Lime, one point five kilograms." "Phosphorus, eight hundred grams." "Salt, two hundred fifty grams." "Saltpeter, one hundred grams." "Sulfur, eighty grams." "Fluorine, seven point five grams." "Iron, five grams." "Silicon, three grams." The brothers recited back and forth as they pulled back the cloth to reveal a transmutation circle partially stained with blood.
"And trace amounts of fifteen other elements." The brothers finished as they quickly realized what had been made in Garand's lab, especially as they noticed front and side photographs of a slightly younger Victor Garand on the wall near the operating table. Near the photographs was a diagram of a human body divided into twelve segments: the torso (including the shoulders and thighs), the head, biceps, forearms, hands, calves, and feet.
"He's built his new body." Ed said as they looked towards the corkboard on the wall where Garand's notes were.
"That doesn't look like alchemical formulas though." Al said as they approached the board, looking it over. Ed then noticed something was off about the map of Xing.
"Hey, Al, take a look at this. We've seen this before haven't we?" Ed asked as Al's eyes widened in horror.
"Yeah we have! It's an exact copy of the Nationwide Transmutation Circle that Father used two years ago!" Al exclaimed.
"And look at this! There's another solar eclipse set to occur in twenty years but it will happen over Xing at this exact spot! Garand intends to attempt what Father did here only in Xing!" Ed added.
"Or at least he was going to! That's why he made an alliance with Xiao Fujin! He said that he would help with her ascension! Maybe this is what he meant! He was going to use her to do the same thing there! But now that Xiao's been exposed as a traitor, he can't use Xing!" Al said, smiling but Ed wasn't as quick to relax.
"Yeah but if he gets away, he could go to Creta, Aerugo, or Drachma and entice try to entice them with the same thing! And look, he's mapped out where and when solar eclipses will occur in each country within the next five hundred years." Ed said as Al gave a nod of understanding.
"We have to stop him and fast!" Al said before clapping his hands together and slamming them against the corkboard, causing it to twist and contort into a ball, all of the papers inside of it.
"What are you doing Al?" Ed asked.
"Destroying his research so no one can find it or replicate it!" Al said as Ed grinned and quickly started striking his armor repeatedly, causing sparks to fly from it, eventually igniting the dry corkboard sphere.
"Come on! We better get out of here!" Ed said as they hurried out of the lab, sealing it up behind them as the fire began to rapidly spread from the cork ball to the rest of the lab, consuming it in flames. (End AC).
…
Back at the aid station, Miles had finished getting as much information as he could from Winry and was finishing up his notes as Winry looked around, noticing that someone was missing.
"Hey, where's General Mustang?" Winry asked.
"The General headed off for the front lines with Captain Hawkeye. Although that was about an hour ago. We haven't seen or heard from them since." Miles replied as Lieutenant Ross approached with a salute.
"Colonel Miles sir! We've finished taking count of the rescued hostages, sir!" Maria reported.
"How many made it out, Lieutenant?" Miles asked as Winry looked around curiously, still feeling like someone was missing.
"Accounting for the absence of Edward and Alphonse Elric and for Princess May Chang, approximately seventy eight of the eighty hostages made it out of the city." Maria replied as Miles grunted slightly.
"Seventy eight out of eighty. A good ratio all things considered. Any idea who the two missing hostages are?" Miles asked.
"Not yet sir but I'll find out." Maria replied just before Winry gasped in alarm.
"The Hughes!" she gasped, earning the attention of Miles and Ross.
"Who?" Miles asked as Maria realized what Winry was saying and her eyes widened in horror.
"The wife and daughter of the late Brigadier General Maes Hughes sir! Gracia and Elicia Hughes! They're the two that never made it out of the city!" Maria said in realization.
"And Maes Hughes was General Mustang's best friend…" Miles said in thought as he turned his red Ishvalan eyes towards the city, the sky now taking a shade of blue as the sun started to appear over the dunes behind them.
"None of the squads have reported seeing a woman and daughter. They must still be somewhere in the city." Maria said.
"Then if they're still alive, where are they?" Miles asked.
…
Back in the city, near the large open courtyard outside the temple where the building had collapsed, some of the building had caused the ground to give way into one of the tunnels leading beneath the city. Lying unconscious inside the tunnel was Elicia Hughes, a bump on her head from having landed hard when the ground collapsed. She let out a soft moan as she stirred, sitting up onto her hands and knees.
"Mommy?" she asked wearily. She looked around and saw the tunnel was littered with dead mannequins, their jaws and heads completely and perfectly sliced off. The sight caused her to back away in fear only to trip over something behind her. She looked and saw it was her mother's arm she had tripped over. Gracia Hughes was lying unconscious beneath a pile of rubble. She was alive but trapped. Elicia quickly started shaking her mother on the shoulder, earning weak moans from Gracia.
"Mmm? What?" Gracia asked groggily.
"Mommy! You're okay!" Elicia said with relief but Gracia let out a pained groan.
"No I'm not sweetie! I'm stuck!" she said as Elicia looked at the debris pinning her mother down.
"Can you get unstuck?" Elicia asked but Gracia shook her head, tears of pain running down her cheeks,
"I can't. It hurts to move." She said as they heard footsteps coming from down the tunnel.
"Someone's coming!" Elicia said as Gracia took her hand. (AC: Fire in the Sky – FMA:B OST 1)
"Stay close to me baby. Don't let go no matter what." Gracia said, visibly afraid of what was coming towards them even though they couldn't see it. Soon they had good reason to be afraid as they saw Doctors Garand and Morser along with their Homunculus daughters approaching from down the hall, the twins carrying two occupied body bags, one each, slung over their shoulders.
"What's this?" Morser asked as they saw the mother/daughter pair.
"Two of the hostages. Looks like they didn't get everyone out of the city after all." Garand said as Gracia held onto Elicia, shaking with fear.
"What should we do with them?" Rachel asked.
"Bring them. They may not be sufficient enough to form a proper Philosopher's Stone but they will make useful bargaining chips if the Military decides they want to try and be heroic. And if we get out of the country with them, we could always use them to form a new Philosopher's Stone for the mannequin soldiers." Garand replied as Rachel handed the body bag over her shoulder to Michelle before stepping forward and using her whip-like arms to rip the debris off of Gracia and then force her to her feet.
"Please! We're not important! My husband died two years ago! I don't know anything military! Why are you doing this?!" Gracia pleaded but her pleas fell on deaf ears as Morser produced a pistol and pointed it at her. Garand then drew a transmutation circle in chalk on the wall before transmuting a set of stairs leading up towards the surface.
"Come, the temple courtyard just above us." Garand said as the twins followed after him, carrying the body bags while Morser walked ahead, keeping her gun trained on the limping Gracia and fearful Elicia. Morser's patience with Gracia's limping began wearing thin as they approached the steps leading up to the temple itself.
"Come on! Move it! We haven't got all day!" Morser ordered as Gracia suddenly collapsed on the ground outside the temple, the pain in her leg too much for her to bear.
"Mommy!" Elicia cried out, afraid for her mother.
"Get up." Morser said tersely.
"Elizabeth, don't shoot them. What good are dead hostages?" Garand asked impatiently as Morser looked at Elicia's bruised leg and sighed heavily in frustration.
"She can't walk. Debris must have sprained her leg when she fell." Morser grumbled. Garand sighed in similar frustration.
"Girls, put the bodies down and help those two into the temple." Garand ordered as the twins set the body bags gently on the top steps of the temple before walking down towards them, passing Morser as she put away her gun and stood cross armed next to Garand. Elicia was clinging fearfully to her mother as Gracia held Elicia close, both afraid of what the two Homunculi would do. (End AC)
"It'll be okay Elicia, I promise everything will be okay." Gracia whispered fearfully just as Rachel started to reach for her. Suddenly a gunshot echoed across the temple grounds just as Rachel's hand was thrown back by the force of a sniper's bullet through her hand (AC: The Intrepid – FMA:B OST 3).
"What?!" Garand yelped in alarm.
"Rachel! GAH!" Michelle cried out as she was shot in the head by a second shot. Morser immediately pointed her gun at the two Hughes women.
"Show yourself or these two are dea-AUGH!" Morser yelped as a bullet struck her gun, causing her to toss it in the air as a kneejerk reaction. They then heard a snapping sound a split second before the gun spontaneously exploded in a huge fireball.
"What the-?!" Garand asked as he and Morser shielded themselves from the explosion. From her place on the ground, Gracia's eyes widened, recognizing what the exploding gun meant.
"Roy!" she gasped as she looked over her shoulder. Standing in the middle of the temple courtyard, his gloved right hand stretched forward, ready to snap his fingers in an instant's notice…
Brigadier General Roy Mustang.
End Chapter 18