Today has been a very long, very tiring day for me but this has made me feel a little better, hope you all enjoy it :)

"Ladies and gentlemen, step right up to see the Amazing Elric Brothers," a golden haired young man said to a small crow on the streets of Central.

"There's only one of you," a heckler shouted from the crowd. The golden haired man looked around.

"Oh shit, yeah..." he said. "Al!"

No answer.

"Al!" he yelled again. There was a titter from the audience. Ed groaned. "He always does this at the start of a show. Guess I've got to go find him now."

There was a huge explosion of bright blue smoke and a crackle of electricity and once the smoke had cleared Ed was nowhere to be seen. There was a gasp from the audience as they stared at the empty space where he had been standing.

"Well he's not here," Ed's voice said and the crowd turned as one to see him standing behind them. A small round of applause rippled through them.

"Brother I'm over here!" a voice cried from the roof of the building they were standing in front off and another golden haired man, presumably Al, appeared.

"How the hell did you get up there?" Ed asked.

"I don't know," Al called back. "I think I'm stuck though."

"Hang on, I'll get you down," Ed said with a long suffering sigh.

There was another explosion of smoke and Ed suddenly appeared on the roof next to where Al had been. He was now nowhere to be seen.

"Al!" Ed cried again.

"Over here," Al waved from another roof.

Winry watched the exchange, watching as Ed and Al jumped from roof to roof... or at least seemed to.

It was a very convincing trick if Winry hadn't known that both Ed and Al looked exactly alike. It also helped her case that she could just about see the edge of one of the projectors they were using. Ed seemed to love the theatricality of it all and, from what Hoenheim had told her, he also loved showing off.

Once both brothers were back on the ground (not that Winry thought they had ever really been on the roof) she watched them perform a series of tricks where unsuspecting members of the audience gambled money to guess how a trick was performed. Regardless of whether they seemed to guess correctly or not Ed would reveal the trick to have a much more complicated explanation, losing the audience member their money. It really was a very clever little set up but Winry had had enough of smoke and mirrors illusions to last her a lifetime.

"Well thank you all for coming," Al said once the show was over, "We'll be in town for a few more days so make sure that you catch another show if you can."

There was a small round of applause and the crowd began to disperse. Al gave Ed a clap on the shoulder and began to clean up, counting the money they had 'earned' as he went. Winry waited for the last of the crowd to leave before she thought about making her move to approach them but a tall, gangly man in a white suit with a greasy black ponytail beat her to it. He stormed up to Ed and roughly grabbed him by the collar.

"Give me back my money, punk," he snarled. Ed blinked up at him in confusion before recognition set in.

"Hey man I'm sorry," he said, not sounding it in the slightest, "but you guessed wrong, you lost your money fair and square."

"You're lying, you little shit," the man spat. "I saw how you did it."

"You might have thought you saw," Ed chuckled, "but that's the thing about magic; you don't actually know, I do."

"I'm getting my money back one way or the other," the man said. "You can give it to me or I can take it." He let go of Ed's collar and pulled out a switch-blade knife and Winry took this as her cue to intervene.

"Problem gentlemen?" she asked stepping forward.

"This doesn't concern you, sweetheart," the man said, "so why don't you just keep on walking."

"You do realise that it's illegal to carry a knife with a locking blade in Central City, don't you?" Winry asked nodding at the switch-blade, ignoring the look on Ed's face that screamed 'what are you doing?'

"Listen bitch, you can either shut the fuck up and walk away or you can have the same when I'm done with this thieving mother-fucker," the man said gesturing between her and Ed with the knife.

With a speed that clearly impressed Ed and shocked the man, Winry grabbed the man's wrist, slammed it against her knee, making him drop the switch-blade, and shoving it behind his back, pushing it up into the middle of his shoulder-blades. The man cried out in pain as Winry gave his arm another hard jolt as she pulled out her badge and shoved it into his face.

"And you can either calm the fuck down and walk away or you and I can take a trip down the station and we'll see how a night in a holding cell calms you down," she hissed in his ear as she flashed her badge in front of hiss face.

"Alright, alright, alright!" the man cried out in agony. "I'll go!"

"Good," Winry said and released him. The man straightened his suit and reached for the switch-blade but before he could Winry darted forward and grabbed it. "I'll be having that, thank you very much."

"Fine," the man snarled. He straightened his collar again and turned away. "Pathetic; having a woman fight your battles for you," he threw over his shoulder at Ed.

"Yeah but at least I didn't get beaten by one," Ed replied smirking. The man turned and left, muttering under his breath as he went.

"And good riddance," Winry muttered as she pocketed the switch-blade thinking that it would need to be impounded as evidence.

"That wasn't too bad for a girl," Ed said grinning once they were alone. Winry looked at him coldly and he threw his hands up in defence. "I mean that was very good for a well trained, professional agent."

"Good save," she said frostily.

"Thanks," Ed grinned thinking he was off the hook. "Just so you know I had the situation completely under control."

"I'm sure you did," Winry replied flatly. She did have to admit that Hoenheim and her grandmother were right; Ed was a good looking man but, so far he had proved himself to be a bit of a prat. "Now, just so we're clear, I am speaking to Edward Elric, correct."

"Yeah I'm Ed Elric," he said eyeing Winry suspiciously. "Who wants to know?"

"Agent Winry Rockbell," she said flashing her badge at him. "I'd like to speak to you and your brother. I have a proposition for you."

"And what could a Federal Agent possibly want with us?" Ed asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm going to cut right to the chase Mr Elric," Winry said, "I am getting together the members of 'The Brotherhood of Travelling Alchemists' so that I can infiltrate the organisation of a man named Father and expose him as the criminal he is. I have already enlisted the help of Roy Mustang, Izumi Curtis and Van Hoenheim, all I need now is you and Alphonse and we're good to go."

"And you expect me to just agree to this bullshit?" Ed asked.

"I was hoping both of you would agree to it, yes," Winry replied taken aback.

"Hey Al," Ed called over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off Winry, "get over here a second." Al jogged over to join them.

"What?" he asked before he turned to smile at Winry. "Oh hi, who's this?"

"This," Ed said before Winry could even open her mouth, "Is Agent Rockbell. She wants to get 'The Brotherhood' back together."

"I already have," Winry cut in. "Mustang, Curtis and Hoenheim are on board but Father will only accept all five of you up on the stage."

"So we'll be seeing Dad and the others again?" Al asked, his eyes lighting up in excitement. Ed put his hand out.

"Hold your horses," he said, "we haven't agreed to anything yet."

"Oh come on Brother," Al said, "I bet it will be fun."

"Being watched by both the Feds and Dad again?" Ed asked crossing his arms over his chest, "No thank you."

"But we haven't performed on a stage in years!" Al protested. "Just imagine what we could do with that kind of budget."

"Go finish clearing up," he said. Al opened his mouth to protest but thought better of it.

"Nice to meet you Agent Rockbell," he said smiling at Winry before returning to what he had been doing. Winry turned back to Ed and smiled.

"Well he's certainly excited by the prospect," she said nodding in Al's direction. Ed looked over his shoulder, sighed and turned back to her, shuffling his feet.

"Yeah 'cause he doesn't know any better, does he?"

"I understand you just want to look out for him," Winry said.

"Yeah well no one else is fucking going to," Ed mumbled. "So what's in it for me?" he asked after a pause.

"Excuse me?" Winry asked, furrowing her brow.

"Well the way I see it is you need me and Al for this little venture of yours to work," Ed smirked, "so what's in it for me?"

"I don't arrest you for being a con-artist," Winry said glaring at him and folding her arms in a gesture to match his. Ed seemed to weigh this up in his head.

"You sure drive a hard bargain," he said grinning and shaking his head. "Tell you what Wendy..."

"Winry."

"Tell you what Winry," he corrected himself, "you tell me how we did our little roof hopping trick and I'll do it."

"Doesn't Al get a say in this too?" Winry asked.

"Oh you heard him," Ed said, "he's already excited and planning the reunion with Dad and the others."

"And if I guess correctly you'll do it?"

"Yep."

"Mirrors and projectors," Winry said.

"Pardon?"

"You used mirrors and projectors to get the images of yourselves up onto the different roofs, that coupled with the fact that you and Al are practically identical," Winry stated. Ed stared at her with a raised eyebrow. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"Not even close," Ed laughed shaking his head.

"What?"

"You're completely wrong."

"But I saw the projectors!"

"You thought you saw the projectors," Ed smirked.

"Then how did you do it?" Winry asked. Ed shrugged.

"Magic."

"That's ridiculous. I did see them," Winry said. She turned and pointed to the top of the building behind her. "I saw them up... there." What Winry had originally thought was a projector now seemed to be the edge of a spotlight.

"But..." Winry turned back to face Ed only to find him no longer there. "Mr Elric..." she called.

No answer. She looked around the remains of what had been their show. Neither Ed or Al seemed to be anywhere and, as if by magic, they had completely disappeared. Winry sighed and hung her head. Of course those two would have been the most difficult and most awkward to get hold of. She turned, just about to leave, regroup and try again, when something tied to the street lamp in front of her caught her attention. It seemed to be a small white card tied to the pole with a piece of red ribbon, the tattoo design on the front.

Winry undid the ribbon and turned the card over, looking at the other side. She chuckled and shook her head. In a slightly messy scrawl were the words 'We'll do it, E&A'. Winry put the card in her jacket pocket and pulled her phone out of another. She dialled the number she was looking for and held the phone to her ear.

"Riza," she said when the person on the other end of the line picked up, "I've got all five, we're good to go."