We all stood at the edge of the forest overlooking Central, smoke rising from the surrounding area of Central Command. I stood just behind Edward as Lan Fan was in a tree trying to assess the situation.
"There's smoke rising from within the city, and I can faintly hear a siren as well." Lan Fan spoke,
"I think it's safe to say the Colonel and the Briggs troops have made their move. The city's gotta be in complete chaos by now." Edward spoke he looked to the sun in the sky for a few moments, "I guess we should get going." Edward finished,
"Yeah. I do have a countermeasure for his transmutation circle, but I'd rather prevent him from activating it in the first place. He might have gotten too big for his old one, but he's still inside a flask. And if we destroy his container… We might be able to kill him. And not only that, but we might also be able to free all the souls that he has trapped inside of him." Van explained,
"Well, how do we find the bastard then?" Zampano asked,
"We can use the same tunnel that May and I discovered. It's guarded by a pack of vicious chimeras, but we should be able to handle them." Scar explained, I nodded as Scar looked at the group.
"Can you watch things here, Heinkel?" Darius spoke,
"Of course. I owe you one." Heinkel spoke,
"Don't mention it. And you just steer clear of the military, Doc." Darius added as I moved over to Heinkel and put my hand on his arm gently,
"Take care and join us in Central after the fight is won." I smiled at Heinkel as his face flushed lightly,
"S-sure." Heinkel nodded as I looked at Edward as he was walked away from the group and towards the mound of earth,
"Yoki! I think you should stay behind, as well." Gerso spoke,
"Fine with me." Yoki nodded.
I waited for Edward at the edge of the forest, we slowly started moving towards the city, the closer we got to the city, the quieter and quicker we had to be to move through the alleyways.
We managed to find the street that Scar was previously talking about and saw plenty of guards covering the area, I was crouched with Edward peaking through a gap in the fence,
"Not getting in there. The military's got it completely blocked off… So much for that." Edward spoke as I nudged him to the side so I could see it, frowning I felt Edward glaring at me as I felt him nudge me back away from the gap,
"And we don't have enough men to force our way through." Gerso spoke, Edward thought for a moment as I sat back on the floor,
"Wasn't there another entrance?" I pondered as Edward gasped and looked at me,
"You're right! The Third Laboratory! That's how Al and the Colonel snuck underground when they fought Lust." Edward explained as we looked at Darius and Gerso.
It took us a bit longer than expected, but we managed to sneak into the park just opposite of the laboratory and hid in the bushes, Edward peaked out as I leaned over beside him,
"They've only got three MPs guarding the entrance." Zampano spoke,
"Now that's a number I'm comfortable with." Darius spoke, cracking his knuckles.
I frowned and held my chin, there should be a better way, without alerting security inside, Edward looked at me for a moment and frowned,
"What are you thinking?" Edward asked, I just looked at Scar and Edward looked in his direction and then smirked,
"This is the perfect opportunity to throw my weight around and use my title. Wait here!" Edward smirked and put his hand on my shoulder, "Great idea, Rea." Edward kissed my cheek as he ran off, I flushed red as he ran towards the MPs with his watch out. The chimeras smirked at me as we all knelt on the ground, but Scar stayed standing, confused as to what was about to happen.
"Help me, please!" Edward yelled, he stopped by the MPs, and they all looked at him in surprise, he was quietly talking to the guards for a moment before pointing over to us, "Scar is trying to kill me!" Edward yelled and Scar stood there in shock as the MPs looked in our direction, they quickly moved and aimed their guns, positioning Edward behind them.
I saw Edward's evil glare as he looked around, he started laughing and then knocked them all out cold. We quickly ran out of the bushes and Van looked at the men on the floor,
"That was a mean thing to do…" Van spoke as I ran between the two of them,
"Oh, shut up… come on." Edward waved his arm and the two men followed behind me. Edward moved ahead of me and walked through the corridor.
"Pardon us, coming through." Edward spoke as we walked through, I was glancing at the walls, trying to find any signs of alchemy as Edward has previously described to us, "It was around here somewhere." Edward spoke, he stopped by a dip in the wall, and we saw the marks, "Found it!" Edward clapped his hands and made a door on the wall.
We all walked down and into the dark hallway, it split in two directions. I put my hand to my chest and looked at Van, he put his hand on my shoulder,
"Should we split into two groups?" Edward asked,
"Sounds good. I'll take a team this way." Van pointed down one direction, "And then you and Scar can lead a team the other way." Van added and looked at Edward,
"What?!" Edward screamed in annoyance, "Why do I have to go with him?!" Edward pointed at Scar,
"It's best to divide the groups based on their skill in alchemy. Now remember, you told me that he was somehow able to turn off your alchemy. Scar was still capable of using his, but you were rendered helpless." Van explained as Edward froze and looked infuriated,
"Alright. I guess that means these two are together… So, who are you taking?" Gerso asked,
"My alchemy is a little unique, so I'll be fine on my own… Rea, stick with my son." Van looked at me as I blinked in surprise,
"But-!" I went to speak,
"No… you're just as skilled as me, I think you'd be better off with Edward. With you're fighting and alchemic skill, you're far stronger than any of us." Van spoke as I just looked at him in surprise,
"I… I'm not stronger than you- far from it!" I shook my head as Van put his hands on my shoulder,
"You'll be fine." Van spoke as I frowned, "On second thought…" Van looked at Lan Fan, "It wouldn't be a bad idea to have a bodyguard, so I might as well take the young lady with me." Van spoke as Lan Fan seemed surprised by Van's request.
We all moved into our groups, and I stood between Darius and Edward,
"It any of us discover the enemy, do everything you can to destroy him." Van explained,
"Roger that." Gerso nodded and put his hand up, Van and Lan Fan turned to leave as I watched Van walk away from me, I frowned and clenched my fist. His reasoning made sense but… I worried what would happen if he found the Dwarf first.
"Are you sure that you're gonna be okay with just the two of you?" Zampano asked,
"Of course, I prefer it this way… I'd rather keep the young lady's company for myself than share her with the lot of you." Van waved his hand as I sighed in annoyance,
"Pervy old man. Surprised he didn't ask Rea to go with him." Gerso spoke,
"We're best friends. He has an ulterior motive, but it's not a bad one." I spoke, Edward seemed shocked by my words but sighed seconds later and I smiled at him,
"Let's go." Darius spoke and we all turned and headed in the other direction.
As we walked down the corridor, I kept taking shaky deep breaths as we moved together, Edward was by my side, and I could see him glancing at me from time to time. A hand grabbed mine and we kept walking forward together, I smiled and sighed.
But that moment of inner peace was cut short by a course of blood curdling screams throughout the hallway, I put my free hand to my chest in horror as Edward looked around. My heart pounded as I looked at Edward, he frowned and then looked at me,
"Let's keep moving." Edward spoke quietly as I nodded, and he squeezed my hand gently.
Walking through the hallway we entered a large room, like what Alphonse once described to us, a large gate with a symbol on the door.
"That's quite a doorway." Zampano spoke,
"The air here seems foul. You're sure this is it?" Darius asked,
"Yeah. It's exactly like Al told us." Edward spoke, as I nodded,
"And who is this?" Gerso asked as we recognised the armour on the floor,
"Number 66, Barry the Chopper… One of the guardians of the fifth Laboratory." Edward answered as he looked at the broken armour for a few moments. I looked at the door and Edward followed my gaze moments later.
Edward moved to the door and put his hand flat upon it, he then tried to open the door and started to struggle as I raised an eyebrow, the door was huge, it was going to be difficult to open,
"Oh, please! Come on!" Edward yelled in anger, "Damn this stupid thing! How do you open this?!" Edward groaned as I couldn't help but chuckle,
"Stand back." Scar walked forward, we all stopped as we heard the door rumble and it slowly started to open, Edward moved back,
"Oh, it's open!" Edward smiled for a second until we saw hundreds of hands reaching through it.
We all screamed and moved back as these humanoid dummies piled in the room and surrounded us. They started to attack us, and I used my sheath to knock them back and push them out of the way, Edward and I kept landing back-to-back as we fought these dummies,
"So, they don't die?!" Scar yelled as I saw him try to explode one of the dummies head, but it just carried on attacking him.
"I'm starving!"
"It hurts!"
"The pain!"
"Brother!"
I froze with Edward hearing the dummies cry out,
"There's no way…" Edward mumbled as I took a shaky breath, "They used human souls to make these things?!" Edward yelled in surprise and disgust.
"Damn… they just keep coming." Zampano yelled, "What are these things?" he asked,
"How should I know?!" Darius yelled, "And why won't they die?!" Darius was getting angry,
"This is bad… If these things escape outside…" Scar spoke as I looked back at the door we came in, and slowly some of those dummies were walking to it,
"Sorry about this… but-!" I stomped my foot on the floor and the door started to seal up to block the things inside,
"Good thinking, Rea." Edward nodded,
"Good for the rest of Central… not so great for us…" I frowned and scratched the back of my head,
"Don't worry about it. If you hadn't done it, I would have slammed the damn thing shut myself." Darius spoke as we all turned back at the dummies,
"And now we can really take these guys on." Zampano spoke,
"Yeah, you said it, Zampano…" Gerso punched the palm of his hand, "Now that all these things are trapped here with us, we can really show our stuff! This is gonna be good!" Gerso yelled and transformed, Darius and Zampano followed suit as I looked at Edward and he nodded at me, we needed to try our best here.
"It hurts!"
"So much pain!"
"How could they even think to create these monsters?" Edward growled, "Well, it looks like we'll just have to plough through them so we can get to that bearded bastard!" Edward snapped as I nodded, "Let's take these things down!" Edward yelled and we all charged forward.
I swiped my blade at some of the dummies and knocked them down to the ground, they collapsed and rolled on the floor as Edward also kicked them away. I tapped my foot on the floor and made another sword,
"Edward!" I called and he grabbed it as I threw it in his direction,
"Thanks!" Edward nodded and continued to fight.
Scar used his abilities to try and knock a few of them out for a time, I noticed Edward kick a dummy away from Darius as it bit the back of his neck. I took a deep breath as I was getting slightly tired,
"Good thing I'm so beefy…" Darius rubbed the back of his neck as we all moved together, more dummies started walking forward as I changed my blade into two, "I guess that shows you what a Philosopher's Stone can do for you, huh?" Darius spoke as I frowned and looked down,
"It can be used for evil… but also for good." I spoke as Edward looked at me, Scar ran forward and struck some of the dummy's legs and destroyed them. The dummies fell to the floor and were unable to get back up,
"The legs! Go for the legs!" Scar yelled, everyone split up again and started targeting the legs of the dummies. I made a cannon on the ground and loaded it with a chain shot and started firing, using the earth and stone below as cannon fodder.
Edward stared at the dummies on the floor for a moment and then gripped his sword tighter, he suddenly charged at the dummies again and fought with all his might against them. I ran around and started slicing the legs of the dummies with Edward and using my alchemy to drop some in the ground and trap them near the edges of the room, so they didn't cause any further issue to us. I was suddenly knocked down from behind and screamed in surprise as I put my hand on the ground and used the ground to knock the dummy off,
"Rea! Watch out!" Edward yelled as I tried to get up quickly, but another grabbed my leg and one more grabbed my arm and bite hard; I cried out.
"Damn it! Stop!" Edward yelled.
I felt the pain of my flesh being ripped from my body as tears stung my eyes, I looked at Edward in horror as he was getting grab, we both made eye contact.
This wasn't going to happen… not now!
"Rea!" Edward yelled for me; I could see he was scared about what could happen to me. I screamed in anger and red alchemical sparks flew around me and the dummies exploded that held onto my body, I fell on my knee and took a few deep breathes as I looked up at Edward and he seemed shocked, I'd never used the stones power that much up to this point, but I needed it right now. I slammed my free hand on the floor and the dummies that were closest to my friends exploded in a 5-metre radius around them in bright red alchemical sparks. Edward just looked at me in shock as my body healed, but slower than normal… I fell to the side and wheezed as my muscle and tissue slowly grew back.
The door suddenly exploded as I took a deep breath and saw flames appear,
"Things do always seem to get messy whenever you're around." Roy's voice sounded as I gasped and looked through the smoke, his footsteps were heard and he stopped in sight, "Maybe I could lend you a hand… Fullmetal?" Roy smirked as he stood there, Riza just behind him, I gripped my leg as it started to heal.
"Colonel?!" Edward gasped as he looked at him, another dummy walked towards me as I moved back on my bum,
"You just manage to make new friends everywhere you go… Hm?" Roy smirked and then noticed Scar fighting with us, "Is that Scar?" Roy mumbled, "I can't help but think of the last time we were here Lieutenant. As I recall, you were crying over me. Shame I don't get to see that softer side of you more often." Roy spoke as I used alchemy to push the one dummy back with a set of spikes in its leg, blue alchemical sparks flying around it,
"The last thing I'm gonna do is start crying for you now. Water makes you useless." Riza spoke as Roy glared back at her for a moment.
"Save your banter for later! Kill these things!" Scar yelled,
"Hey, don't you dare give me orders!" Roy pointed at Scar in frustration,
"He's right! Just start shooting at these white guys." Riza spoke,
"No point!" I yelled as I slipped on my damaged arm and my leg finished healing, so I stumbled back on my feet and moved backwards,
"Save your ammo! Bullets won't even slow 'em down!" Edward yelled,
"Not again! How else do we kill them?" Riza asked,
"They're Homunculi?" Roy questioned and looked around as I dodged another one jumping at me. Edward getting tired, we all were, I glared back at Roy and just managed to dodge another one jumping at me,
"Roy!" I snapped and glared at him, "Do something!" I yelled at him as he clicked his finger in that moment and the place was set ablaze.
I fell on my knees and held my arm as it healed, I was straining myself with my alchemy… I sighed and felt the fire swirl around me as I looked up and closed my eyes, the dummies were crying out in pain as I winced and tried to block out the noise. It was horrible…
When the heat disappeared, I looked at Edward and frowned sadly, the dummies had turned into dust on the floor,
"They were the enemy. It had to be done." Roy spoke, Edward looked back at Roy and then saw me on the floor, Edward ran over quickly and knelt by my side,
"Are you okay?" Edward asked me as I looked up at him and smiled,
"Yeah… my new coat is damaged though…" I held up my arm as it had finished healing and Edward gave me a sad smile,
"We can fix it when we finish this." Edward spoke as I nodded, he helped me off the ground as we heard rumbling above.
We looked up as it exploded above us and as all the pipes and smoke fell, we saw May land on the door, and Envy fall to the floor.
"Envy?!" Edward yelled as I glared at him, Envy straightened up and gasped seeing us,
"Eh? Not you guys…" Envy snapped, May slid down the side of the door and ran over to us, Envy looked frustrated and annoyed as she ran to our group,
"You damn fool! Why didn't you go back to Xing?!" Scar yelled, May looked scared and upset as she turned around,
"But I… I thought… I just wanted to…" May started to cry,
"Forget it. Don't cry." Scar changed his tone quickly,
"Please forgive me. I'm sorry." May cried as she whimpered. Envy looked on in disgust.
"Bleh… typical whiny humans. You're making my stomach turn." Envy spoke, putting his hands on his hips and then sighing, "I gotta admit, you guys really made a serious mess down here." Envy smirked and looked around, "So, we've got the Fullmetal Alchemist and the Flame Alchemist… And there's even Scar. And I've got a serious grudge with you filthy chimera. And goodie, Mother is here too." Envy smirked evilly when he said 'mother' which made me wince and Edward glared at Envy, "So, then… Who gets the pleasure of being the first to die?" Envy asked and looked around the room as I took a deep breath.
"You're Envy right?" Roy asked, he put his hands in his pockets,
"Hm?" Envy looked at Roy,
"You're the Homunculus who can change his appearance at will." Roy spoke as Envy looked happy,
"Wow! You've heard of me! I'm flattered! Nice to meet you, Colonel." Envy smirked and waved his arms about, "Hold on. You're teaming up with him, Scar? You do know that he helped reduce Ishval to a hell on earth?" Envy pointed at Roy and looked at Scar,
"I'm aware of that." Scar simply spoke,
"What?! You're friends now? You guys are no fun at all!" Envy complained, "What happened to trying to crush each other's windpipes?" Envy smacked his forehead, "Look at the two of you! You obviously wanna kill each other, so do it!" Envy shrugged as Roy sighed,
"We aren't going to be the pawns in your sick little game anymore." Roy spoke,
"Really? And what about your sick games? Don't kid yourself, Mustang. You know humans love to watch other people suffer while making fools of themselves. I mean, why else would you constantly be at war with each other?" Envy grinned and tilted his head,
"Hm. There really is nothing quite like watching fools dig their own graves." Roy smirked and Envy whistled, "Especially when that fool is an arrogant Homunculus who's too stupid to see what he's doing." Roy smirked at Envy who frowned and glared at Roy, "I've humoured you long enough. So, how about you answer a question of mine?" Roy asked as I looked at Roy, "I want you to tell me who killed Maes Hughes." Roy bluntly spoke as both Edward and I gasped and looked at our friend, "And I want the truth… Homunculus." Roy glared.
There was a sudden tension in the air as Envy glared,
"Maria Ross did. Isn't that why you burned her to death?" Envy asked,
"Shut up. I know that she didn't kill him." Roy spoke,
"Huh? You mean to tell me that you scorched an innocent girl to a pile of ashes? Nicely done, you monster! Wow. Must've been fun telling her family… Did you cry when you told them? Or did you sit back quietly and endure their outrage?" Envy grinned happily,
"Quit running your mouth, you idiot." Roy snapped as Envy's happy spirit suddenly disappeared and he glared once more at Roy. "I'm sick of you Homunculi giving me the run around when I ask you this question. Tell me the truth or I'll burn it out of you! You worthless scum." Roy snapped, "Tell me who's responsible for his murder." Roy glared, we all just watched Envy, waiting for an answer…
An evil grin crossed Envy's lips.
Followed by a slow laugh, getting louder, and louder.
"Congratulations, Colonel Mustang. You've finally hunted down your culprit." Envy smirked.