October 5th, 1996 (Two Weeks Later)

Clarina tried not to feel trepidation as she handed the results of her experiments over to the other alchemist in the lab in Vera's secret location, several hours outside Central. She still didn't know exactly where she was in relation to the entrance, or where the entrance was in relation to Central. Still, she had been able to come out anytime she wanted just by talking to Strobe, who did know but also wasn't talking without Vera's permission.

She only knew the other alchemist as Irena, a middle-aged woman who had clearly been in an alchemical accident at some point in the past, given the permanent—if faded—burn marks that looked like something had splashed on her at some point. Irena didn't like to talk about anything either.

Irena nodded. "This will do."

"Oh, you're finished?" Vera's voice came from the doorway as she entered, crossing immediately to where Clarina stood and looking at the liquid in the vial Clarina had just finished decocting. "That does look promising. But I'm afraid we'll have to test it later. I've got something I need to show you."

"All right," Clarina agreed, wondering what had Vera so eager. The other woman almost seemed to be vibrating with excitement. "What is it?"

"Come with me." Vera motioned for her to follow, and then strode away, leaving Clarina with little choice but to do as instructed or be left behind.

"I know I've kept you in the dark about a lot of things, Clare," Vera said as they walked down one of the many underground hallways in the maze that was the base out of which Vera worked that, somehow, the military had not yet been able to find and raid. Or at least, so Vera thought. Clarina wasn't about to tell her how much information Headquarters was just sitting silently on right now, waiting for the moment the plan came to fruition.

"You have your reasons, I'm sure," Clarina replied calmly. "If you just welcomed anyone who walked up and asked to join you, it wouldn't be a very secure operation. I take it I've earned your trust?"

"More importantly, the trust of some of my co-conspirators," Vera nodded. "I might have waited a little longer, but the timeline has moved up for our next big operation, and I'm going to need your help with this one."

"My help?" Clarina tried to sound eager, but inside her stomach flipped. "What do you need me to do?"

"A little of what you've been doing, and a little of what we used to do together."

"Combat?" Clarina didn't like the sound of that. Vera wanted her to fight?

"It's time to exact the vengeance I've been working towards for years." Vera's eyes took on that light they sometimes did, that reminded Clarina that her old friend was not quite sane any longer. "Soon, we're going to be making a concentrated attack on Central itself, and take out everyone who's been standing in our way that my up-lines have failed to deal with by more subtle means."

"What kind of attack?" Clarina couldn't imagine what they had in mind for Central, but clearly, they thought they could take on Headquarters despite the incredibly tight security President Closson had ordered in place. Security that Clarina was, thankfully, not privy to the planning or execution of, so she had been of very little use to Vera in that regard. Fortunately, her former friend had not minded.

"We're coming out of the darkness at last," Vera chuckled. "While they've been scattered throughout the country for security purposes, we've been gathering here for some time, so most of my army is ready."

Vera had an army? "Impressive," Clarina replied simply. "I assume you have more than just plain soldiers if you're going to take on the alchemists they've got posted everywhere."

"That's what all of those lovely new weapons we've been concocting are for." Vera nodded. "I have a few surprises they won't be anticipating." She did not elaborate, however, as they reached a door that Clarina had never seen. "The big one, however, is how we'll make our grand entrance."

The door opened and Vera stepped through. With some trepidation, Clarina followed, only to find herself standing in a plain walled tunnel. Looking left or right, it simply slowly curved away into the distance. "This is huge! And it looks old."

"Very old." Vera smirked. "Older that everyone actively serving in the military. And it leads right into Central."

Clarina felt cold leech into her veins. A giant tunnel that runs under Central. She had heard that there used to be tunnels under Central. It had been covered in State Alchemist training, but the implication was that the tunnels had all been collapsed or rendered inaccessible.

Apparently, that was not the case from outside the city. How long had they been using this tunnel? Were the old entrances cleared out?

"No one would be expecting you to come from underground," Clarina agreed.

Vera clapped one hand around Clarina's shoulders, grinning broadly. "Us, Clare! No one will be expecting us."

Clarina's sense of dread only grew as Vera explained to her, in surprising amounts of detail, precisely how they planned to attack Central. She wouldn't say how many fighters she had, but she discussed four entrances up into the city that she could send weapons and people through simultaneously with no warning that would allow them to overrun Headquarters, by distracting the military with attacks also aimed at civilians throughout the city. The chaos would split their forces, and their noble determination to save civilians would cost them the country.

It was a daring plan, an insane plan… but it was also a very good plan. Clarina had figured out over the past weeks that all of that attacks that had been carried out that involved violence had been Vera's, even if there were orders from above. She had decided what would be carried out, and how. All those deaths lay neatly in her hands, yet she still walked free, and her new plan would no doubt lead to deaths…many deaths.

"It's a sound plan," she agreed with a nod when Vera was done showing her their munitions. "With a high chance of success."

Vera beamed. "I'm glad you think so. You've always had a good mind for seeing holes in a plan. Though, I hope you understand, now that we're this close, I need you here full time."

Which means you trust me as long as I don't leave. Smart…but concerning.

"Naturally," Clarina replied as if it made perfect sense and wasn't a problem. "But I'm going to have to call in to Headquarters with some kind of plausible reason for me not to show up. If I'm gone for several days without reason and approval, they'll investigate."

"Well, we can't have that," Vera agreed. "I've got an untraceable line you can use. I'll be listening in, of course. You understand."

"Naturally." Not a problem… Clarina had a contingency plan for this eventuality. It had been inevitable that at some point she would get pulled into something she wasn't allowed an out from. She and Tringham had worked out a way to communicate information about any upcoming attacks.

Vera led her to a line that apparently tapped into phone lines from a town several miles away. "Use this one."

"Thanks." Clarina dialed into the Headquarters switchboard, gave her identification code, and was put through to Felix Tringham's office within a minute. "Good afternoon, Sir," Clarina spoke calmly into the phone. "It's Alabaster."

"Good afternoon, Alabaster. Is this about your report?"

"No, Sir. Actually, it's personal. I'm going to have to go out of town for a bit. My grandfather is ill. He's got pneumonia, so I'll be staying at his house, probably for at least a couple of weeks. I'll need someone to take care of my fish, and make sure the experiment in my lab finishes. It should be finished in about nine hours. Oh, and please tell Mithril I'm sorry but I'll have to reschedule our lab review."

"Understood, Alabaster," Tringham replied as if there were nothing odd at all about her message. There was a very convincing note of concern. "I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather. I'll make sure your assignment is covered and fill out the leave approval. Keep me informed when you'll be back."

"Yes, Sir. Thank you." Clarina hung up the phone, and tried not to look too concerned. She hoped he was able to decode the message properly.

Vera looked pleased. "You know, you're a more convincing liar than I thought you were."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Clarina turned and managed to smile back. "That spotless military record comes in handy."

"That it does. Well, now that that's taken care of, let's get back to the lab. I've got something else I think you'll like."

"This is it!"

Tore looked at the message the Genesis Alchemist had set in front of him with a feeling of dread that, for some reason, also included a thrill of excitement. Finally, this whole killing game was about to come to a head, and they had an advantage on the enemy. Or at least, they had the advantage of knowing the enemy's plan.

The message was short, but it followed the code that they had laid out weeks ago just in case something like this happened. It had been inevitable that at some point Alabaster would not have been able to leave without it being too suspicious. The idea that Arsenic wasn't going to let her go now only made sense if there was another offensive coming. Based on what was in front of him, it was a big one.

A multi-pronged attack on Central itself, and the locations that Clarina had identified in her message meant only one thing… Arsenic was coming in underground. For only a moment, Tore wondered how the hell the enemy had managed to get enough men into the city for such a thing, or how they would have dug tunnels unnoticed, when it came to him. Edward and Alphonse had told them exactly how an enemy might come in under the city. There's already tunnels under the city. And not the sewer systems, though they crossed them. The remains, often blocked off and collapsed, of tunnels that had been dug for a singular, sinister purpose, would be the perfect way to get into Central. And who would even remember them now? Almost everyone who had been alive then was dead. Certainly, anyone who knew the locations of those entrances. Except for two men.

Two men that the enemy thought dead.

Tore read over the message, already decoded by Tringham. Four locations Alabaster had identified where they should expect attacks: the Third Laboratory, the Presidential Mansion right on the Central Headquarters grounds, the large park a few blocks away in the business center of town, and… the Armstrong estate? You'd have to be insane. Tore wasn't sure he wanted to know why there was an entrance to those tunnels under the Armstrong estate, but if Alabaster was reporting those locations, he would trust her. "We need to find out exactly where in these locations the old entrances are, and fast."

"We have a week, tops." Tringham nodded. "Though it could be as little as three days. But we'll have to get our own people into place very carefully, without giving away anyone who might leak the plan, or playing our cards too soon."

Tore nodded. It shouldn't be all that hard, given the locations. There were logical reasons to have certain alchemists, or groups of security, in those places without it being suspicious. They already had plans for strike forces of State Alchemists that would head up those locations. Now, they had locations. "Spread the word quietly. I'll get the locations for these entrances." He did not say how, but Tringham nodded. He was one of the very small number of people who knew that Edward and Alphonse were hidden away right here in Central.

Tore felt mildly guilty that he wasn't more concerned about Alabaster herself. Of course, the risk to her own safety was no worse than it would have been otherwise, as long as her double-cross wasn't discovered. It was possible that she would be asked to do something to prove herself on this mission; take part in the attack. If so, the lead of each of his teams would know that she was theirs, and to knock her out but do their best not to kill her. Still, they didn't want her cover blown.

"Funny, I never thought we'd need to remember this," Edward quipped as he and Alphonse bent over the maps that Tore had spread on a small table that had been hauled into the room and set next to Alphonse's bed. Edward and Tore sat on chairs, while his brother sat up on the edge of the bed.

"It's been a long time," Alphonse agreed. "I'm surprised we remember this much."

"Our minds are about the only thing that still works." Edward might have chuckled, but the moment was too serious. It had been easy to identify the spot in the wall in the Third Laboratory where they had alchemically blocked one entrance down into the tunnels below Central. He also knew the location of the one in the old mansion that Bradley had lived in. The ones into the main part of Headquarters were thoroughly destroyed, and no one would have managed to unblock those unnoticed. Still, he noted them on Tore's maps anyway.

"The one nearest the park is here," Alphonse tapped a street map of Central. "That's how I got down there the first time."

Tore nodded, and noted that one as well. "If we put a few Alchemists out there in plain clothes, it shouldn't be too hard to have them in place unnoticed. What about the Armstrong estate?"

Edward had to shake his head. "Unfortunately, I don't know the building that well. I've only been there a handful of times. Other than you can probably assume it's in the basement. Your best bet would be to ask an Armstrong. Don't you have two of them under your command right now?" There were always a few of them in the military, but he knew two of the newest were State Alchemists.

"Flex and Mithril." Tore nodded. "Good point. Even if they don't know for certain, no one will think twice about them being at the house. If we need to sneak in a few more men, we can have them pose as construction workers or interior designers or something. There's always some renovation going on over there."

Alphonse chuckled. "If you asked, they'd probably renovate something just to help you out."

They probably would, Edward thought. They could certainly afford it, and they were generally all-in on this kind of thing. "I hate to ask this, but can they be trusted?"

Tore's grin was reassuring. "Tringham assures me that they are, and from what I know of them, they're true Armstrong blood straight through. They'd rather die than betray their country, and that includes their family tradition of military service. I've heard it said that they both take a lot after their great-grandfather in that regard."

"So, they're not as cold as his older sister." Edward grinned. The Northern Wall of Briggs had also been loyal to her country, but she'd definitely had widely different ideas of what that meant than her brother, and little of his compassionate nature. "Just tell me they aren't as… over the top."

"Definitely not." Tore shook his head. "On both counts. Flex is a little less exuberant, and not quite as much of a human mountain. Mithril looks more like pictures of his sisters Olivier or Catherine really. At least the portraits I've seen. She's very cool and collected, but she's not icy. Though she does have a thing for transmuting weapons."

"Then I'd say use them," Edward agreed, grinning. "I like her already."

"When this is over, I'll arrange a proper introduction if you like," Tore replied, eyes still riveted to the maps. "I just wish I knew how they found the tunnels."

"It could have been anything. They've had plenty of time," Edward pointed out. There was no use beating themselves up about it now. No one had touched those in most of a century now, at least to their knowledge. While Edward hadn't forgotten about them, he hardly ever considered them anymore. At least, not until today. "What you need, is a way to use this information to your advantage."

"Besides knowing their plan?" Tore looked up. "Trust me, I've been thinking about it. If they have access to these tunnels, that means that however many fighters they have prepared, they've got to be somewhere along the curve of that access tunnel, and within a few days of Central through it, by vehicles at most, but possibly on foot. Even vehicles underground would be noticeable by someone."

"I can draw you the circle," Edward offered at once. Even after this long, he could have drawn the map in his sleep. He knew the circle well enough. The rest was simple geometry.

Tore's expression lit up. "That's what I was hoping you'd say. If I can, I want a team ready to take this base while they're here, trying to take ours."

"Sneak around the back? It's almost like a game of capture the flag." Alphonse nodded approvingly. "It could work. Though where will you get people from that they won't notice the troop movements?"

Tore grinned. "If we can find the location, I can get people in. And if it's remote, we can bring a strike team in from the air if need be."

Of course, troop movements at that speed would be incredibly effective. Edward nodded. As much as he had fought with Franz and Sara over the way the planes he had helped create were being used, he had to admit this would be a very effective counter-strike opportunity. "Let me know if you find them."

"I will," Tore promised. "At least, if I have time. Things are about to heat up, and I might not be able to make it over here. It wouldn't do to have you found out now, when we're this close to drawing them out into the open."

Making a hospital full of sick and injured people into a target was definitely not on Edward's list of things to do. "Focus on what you need to," he replied understandingly. "Get this little mess taken care of. I'm starting to go more than a little stir-crazy in here."

"Starting?" Alphonse quipped.

Tore gave a short laugh and replied with a sarcastic quip. "Of course. That's the main reason for doing this after all."

This was bad. Very bad. Horrifically bad, and Clarina had no way to tell them what was coming. Vera's surprise had proven to be more horrible, and far more advanced alchemy, than Clarina had expected, even given the surprising advancements and secrets to which she had already been exposed in the laboratory.

Clarina's temporary room was surprisingly well appointed, considering it was a windowless underground space little bigger than a cell, with only a bed and a nightstand. There was a communal bathroom in the hallway. The door locked from the inside, and she wasn't guarded, but she still knew that, if she tried to leave, she'd be treated like a prisoner.

Especially now, when Vera had assured her that Clarina was the only one who now new her darkest, deepest secret.