Right. The first thing to do is to try to put out the fire. Fire Alchemy, how hard can it be? He'd seen Mustang do it once or twice…

Ed winced at the thought of all the things that could go horribly wrong when messing with something as precise and delicate as fire alchemy. How does one control fire anyway? He wished he could spend a few hours with those ignition gloves and really puzzle them out but the bastard never let them out of his sight. Alchemists like him were like that; grudgingly protective of their work.

So how would he put out a fire? The obvious answer was with water if the fire was normal. Ed turned his face away from the heat as he thought. He could access the plumbing in the walls for water but if the fire was anything but normal, water could just make it worse.

What did he know about fire? He broke it down the way he broke down elements for alchemy. Fuel, heat and oxygen.

I don't know what started the fire, so fuel's out and I can't control the heat. But the oxygen…

That's it. That's how Mustang did it. He didn't control fire, he controlled the oxygen. A grin spread on his face even as he squinted against the smoke. The fire was contained to one room, so that made it easier.

Ed focused on the equation he needed, plucking the elements from his memory and inserting them in the right place on the array he was forming in his mind. People were always amazed by his ability to do this but for Ed, it was perfectly normal.

He had to admit though, performing alchemy on something as intangible as air was a bit unnerving and very different from what he was used to. Sweat ran down his face, partly from the heat but also from his concentration. He forced himself to relax, he really didn't want to mess this up.

"Right," he said, bringing his hands together.

Feeling a little awkward, Ed thrust his hands forward, towards the room in a sort of cupping motion and closed his eyes. He needed to concentrate on the air itself and only the air within the room. He pushed the oxygen out and the flames diminished instantly in response. They were suffocating.

In the brief moment when the flames diminished and the smoke almost cleared from the room completely, Ed looked quickly and surveyed the damage. The walls, floor and ceiling were charred black. What was left of the furniture was pushed away from the center of the blast which, he saw, was directly under the window.

And he recognised the signs of alchemy. The explosion had been caused by an alchemist. A small smile appeared on his face at this small victory but quickly vanished. Doing alchemy on air was literally like grasping at nothing and he quickly lost his grip on the transmutation. Rather than trying to hold onto a quickly deteriorating array, he let it drop quickly before the alchemy could rebound.

But the oxygen rebounded in its own way. It rushed into the vacuum of the room, fanning the flames in a rush of heat and fire that made the alchemist duck down to the floor covering his face.

"Holy shit!" He felt his forehead to make sure his eyebrows were where he left them.

Alright, maybe Havoc was right, let's leave the firefighting to the firefighters.

His automail was becoming unbearably hot. Now that he knew the fire wasn't the result of a burning chemical or electrical, he reached to the wall, and went with his first plan. He brought out the plumbing. At least dousing the unburnt portion of the hallway might stop the fire from spreading too quickly. The water steamed where it hit his arm but he made sure to soak himself thoroughly, just in case and decided to get out.

Having searched the rest of the place already, he decided not to risk trying to cross to the last few rooms beyond his.

He made his way back along the hallway, hugging the wall. The smoke was starting to make his eyes water and it occurred to him that he didn't need to use doors and stairwells. Ed tried the nearest door and, finding it unlocked, ducked inside. The room was dark and he made his way across it to the outside wall quickly.

He was about to press his hands against the wall but stopped. He heard something. He listened.

In the silence, he heard a sob. A quiet cry somewhere in the room. Spinning around quickly, Ed squinted in the dark towards the attached bathroom and followed the sound. He pushed the door open gently and called out but his voice caught in his dry throat. "Hello?" he coughed out.

Another cry answered him. He extended his good hand to the dark bathroom. "Hey, take my hand, I can get you out!" He held his breath as he waited. Something shuffled from what he guessed was the bathtub. Bare feet slapped against the tile floor and a small hand reached out and took his. A small girl, maybe three or four years old, in a dirty nightgown came out of the deep shadows of the bathroom, her sooty face marked with two cleaner streaks down each cheek.

"Come on," he said, gripping her small hand and pulling her towards the back wall. She came without a word and stared at him with wide eyes the entire time.

"Are you a fireman?" she asked in a timid voice.

Ed snorted. "No I'm not." He let go of her hand and had to pry a little when she clung on. He nudged her back from the wall a little. "I'll get us out, just hang tight, alright?"

She just stared back at him. Pressing his hands together, he then placed them to the wall. The array lit into a beautiful display of electric blue light and he willed the plaster and brick to reshape into a slide that reached all the way to the alley below.

The cooler air that rushed in was refreshing. "Alright, I'll go down first and then you come down right after and I'll catch you okay?"

The girl stared at him and took a step back.

"Are you a wizard?" she asked with wide eyes.

"What?" Ed looked at the slide then back at the girl. "Of course not! That's not magic, it's alchemy, I'm an alchemist!" he defended.

She didn't look convinced. "There's no such thing as magic. Alchemy is science. You could learn to do it too, you know, but first we've got to get out here. You're gonna come down right after me, right?"

She curled her toes in timidly but nodded anyway.

"Alright, I'll catch you, I promise."

When he was sure she was actually going to follow, Ed slid down to the alley and waited for her. She poked her head out and he nodded encouragingly, beckoning her down.

After a hesitating pause, the girl slid down and he caught her, careful to keep his hot automail covered.

Remembering that she was barefoot, her knelt down, turning his back to her as an invitation to get on. "I'll give you a piggy-back," he said.

She wrapped her skinny arms around his neck and he hoisted her up, locking his arms together under her. Once she was comfortably seated, Ed looked up and down the narrow alley that ran behind the hotel. It was blocked at the nearest end by a wall of brick but this did not discourage him in the least. He could see the flashing red lights of the firetrucks above the wall.

Pressing his palms against the brick, he quickly and easily made a doorway.

"Wow," whispered the little girl in his ear, "like magic!"

"Not like magic!" grumbled the teen, "weren't you listening?"

Apparently not, since she started playing with the band that held his braid in place. "Hey," he protested, trying to turn so he could see what she was doing. Too late, he realized that she was tugging at the band and his hair unwound from its messy braid and fell around his shoulders.

He growled at her.

She giggled and slipped the band around her wrist like it was a bracelet with a soft "Pretty."

Ed clenched his teeth and took a deep breath in order not explode on a little girl. He decided to find somewhere to dump her as quickly as possible.

They came out onto the street from the side alley and Ed was glad to see that the fire crews were already hard at work. The paramedics had arrived too, along with some MP Officers so he went to them. He realized how grubby he looked, with his clothes wet, his face smeared with soot and dirtied by smoke.

A young MP turned as they approached with a gentle smile.

"Everything alright Miss?"

It took half a second for that to sink in.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?"

"Er-" The poor man, realizing his mistake held his hand out in a placating manner. "Sorry, I-"

Ed tried to reach for his silver watch but couldn't, with the girl still perched on his back. He knelt quickly, dropped her unceremoniously on the sidewalk and rose up to his full height, which only came up the man's chest. "Edward Elric," he said fiercely, practically shoving the watch in the man's face.

The embarrassment turned to horror when the young man got a good look at that watch. There were a lot of mumbles of "my mistake, Sir" and "so sorry, Sir" which ended with a "didn't realize you were a State Alchemist."

The girl appeared around Ed's elbow and looked up at the horrified man with a big smile. "And he's a wizard too!" she said conspiratorially.

"I'M NOT A WIZARD, DAMMIT!"

The girl did not look convinced. The man looked even more alarmed. Several people were staring.

Ed shoved the little girl into the man's arms. "Here, I found it inside, deal with it," he growled, giving up on the idea of getting his hair band back. He had more in his… oh yeah. Ed turned to look at the broken window that had been his room and frowned.

"Yo Chief!"

Havoc came striding towards him, covering much distance with his long legs. "I thought I heard you yelling," he said once he'd reached the teen. "Glad to see you made it out in one piece." The man noticed his loose hair and the wet dirty clothes but did not comment on them.

Ed's annoyed expression sobered. He lowered his voice and turned away from the nearest group of uniformed men, subtly indicating that Havoc should walk with him. "Yeah, well if I'd been in my bed a little earlier, I might not be still in one piece."

Havoc frowned but let the teen continue.

Ed looked around him surreptitiously as if the person responsible might decide to try again at any moment. "Only one room was damaged, this was a targeted attack." Edward looked hunted, looking left and right, sizing up everyone they passed on the sidewalk as if they might suddenly turn on them.

Havoc surveyed the firemen at work as they passed. It seemed as if they had it under control despite the smoke still hanging thick in the air. "Geez, Ed, I'm beginning to think you have some enemies," he said airily, trying to lighten the mood.

Ed spun around. "Really?! What gave it away?" he snapped, brushing his loose hair away from his face, agitated. "That?" he pointed in the general direction of the smoking building, "Or," he lowered his voice, "the fact that someone just tried to kill me?"

"Hey," Havoc gripped the younger man's shoulder and turned him so that they were face to face. "What is going on?" He remembered Mustang's warning. He decided they should call the Colonel. He was probably in bed sleeping at this hour but Havoc didn't care. If this really was a targeted attack on an Alchemist of the State, it was very serious indeed.

Ed took a deep breath and shook his head subtly. "Not here." Anyone could be watching. Listening. "Hey, while you were out here, did you see anything odd? Suspicious?" Hughes had told him once that criminals often came to the scene of their crimes, disguised as bystanders.

"Well, there was this one guy," started Havoc.

"Guy? What guy?"

"A police officer. He came before anyone else got here." Havoc indicated the emergency crews. "Said he was off duty, having a pint, you know?"

"How is that weird?"

"What's weird is the way he reacted when I told him you were here. He was shocked. And considering you should be dead right now, the fact he was shocked you were still around is pretty fucking weird."

Ed raised an eyebrow at Havoc, surprised by his use of language. In the office, they all (except Ed, of course) kept it more or less professional but Ed was under no illusions that soldiers cursed among themselves when not in polite company.

"What did he look like?"

Havoc looked around as if he could spot the man to help him give a more accurate description but he was no doubt long gone by now.

"Big guy, a little older, my height with short sandy hair. Looked like he lost his razor-"

"Blue eyes? Kinda mean looking?"

The man had not spoken to Havoc in a mean way, but he could see, remembering the set of the man's face, how someone would get the impression that he was mean. Some people just had that kind of face.

"Yeah…"

"Son of a-"

Havoc raised his eyebrows. "Do you know him?" This was getting more interesting by the minute.

"If it's who I think it is, yeah, unfortunately. He's on the investigation team I'm working with down at the station." Ed raised his automail to rake his hand through his hair but thought better of it and completed the action with his good hand. Havoc guessed this was an old habit. "It was him, I know it was."

Havoc raised his hands in a gently placating manner. "Hey, this is a pretty serious accusation. What makes you think it was him?"

Ed gave him a look as if it should be obvious, but realized Havoc did not know all of the details. "Well he did outright threaten me today…"

It was all starting to make sense. An alchemist on the inside. Ed was suddenly sure he'd hit the nail on the head with the abandoned mine. Why else was he suddenly a target? Hartley was there when Ed and Sean talked about the mine. He got scared and decided to target Ed directly. Only he failed. And now he knows he failed so he ran.

"Havoc, which way did he go?"

Havoc frowned unsure of what the teen was planning on doing with the information he was about to give. He sighed, giving in. "He said he was going to the Police Station."

Edward didn't reply to that. He just turned and started to walk away leaving Havoc confused for a second before he rushed to catch up. "Hey hey hey! Hold on!" The older man kept up easily with the shorter teen. "You don't even know if he's telling the truth about where he went-,"

"Only one way to find out."

"And even if he is behind the attack, you don't actually have proof-,"

The teen ignored him.

"Ed," Havoc dropped his carefree tone, something he rarely did and Edward stopped to listen, though impatience showed in his expression and his stance. "There is a reckless way to deal with this and a proper way. We need to regroup. We need to call the Colonel and make the right decisions."

Ed's expression hardened a little. "If you want to call Mustang," he said slowly, dangerously, "go ahead. I'm done dealing with red tape, I'm going after Hartley."

He didn't wait for an answer, instead turning and striding away in the direction he had been headed. Havoc hesitated a moment, trying the weigh the pros and cons of following along. Ed outranked him, so short of physically holding the teen down, there was nothing Havoc could do to stop him.

He knew Roy would want to know what was happening and call the shots. Heck, that's how their team worked. There was a reason Roy was Colonel; he was the mastermind behind all of their operations. Then again, he'd given this assignment to Fullmetal. Havoc knew how Fullmetal dealt with his assignments. His methods were unconventional, sure, but he always got the job done. Especially jobs others were too intimidated by rules and in some cases, laws, to accomplish.

Mustang would be angry with him for not calling. But he knew he would disapprove of his Second Lieutenant letting a team mate go alone without backup even more, State Alchemist or not. Making up his mind, he followed Fullmetal.

The station was a good six blocks from the hotel. Ed briefed Havoc quickly of the events that had led up to tonight's attack on the hotel and then fell silent.

"So you're sure this was an alchemist's work?"

Ed gave the older man a look that asked what do you take me for? "Positive."

The building was dark when they got there and the main entrance was locked. After trying once, Ed quickly walked to a side alley and motioned for Havoc to follow. "He'd go to the evidence warehouse, if he's here," whispered the teen at Havoc's questioning look. The alley was blocked by a locked gate and a chain link fence topped with razor wire.

Without comment, and with a malicious grin, Ed took a running leap at the fence. Locking his metal fingers through the holes he scaled the remaining two feet easily. Perched on top, with the wire bent uselessly under his automail shin, he smirked cockily down at Havoc.

Havoc raised an eyebrow. "You know, for someone who works for the government, you sure seem to have a lot of experience in breaking and entering," he remarked dryly.

Ed chuckled. "Makes you wonder what I'd be up to if I wasn't working for the government," he added with a raised eyebrow.

Havoc sized up the fence. He could scale it, maybe not as gracefully as the kid had, but the wire posed a problem. His arms and legs were no so impervious to razor wire. "Why can't you just use alchemy to make a hole in the fence?" It seemed logical enough.

But Ed shook his head and started to take off his red coat. "Alchemy leaves traces," he answered in a manner of professional opinion.

The older man watched as Ed bunched the coat up into a ball and, clapping his hands together, transmuted it somehow, using his body to shield the light. When it was done, he spread the coat out, which didn't look any different if a little stiff, over the top of the fence and offered Havoc another grin. "I made the material harder so the wire won't cut you," he added at the older man's blank stare, as if this should have been obvious.

Honestly, what would a kid of his talent, genius and delinquency be up to if Mustang hadn't scooped him up?

Accepting the help, Havoc climbed up and over the fence, hopping down on the other side. Then Ed threw down his coat so that Havoc could catch it and joined him. The teen changed the material back as they walked and slipped back into it. Other than slightly bent wire at the top, the fence gave no other sign of having been breached. The alley, which was used for truck deliveries, opened up into a yard that was lined with large warehouse buildings.

They were all dark except the one that had a large number five on it.

"Is that Evidence?" whispered Havoc.

Ed frowned, looking between warehouses five and six. "No," he said, a little surprised, "that's the garage." It was well past midnight by now so the idea that someone was simply working late was very unlikely.

"Let's check it out," he said, moving swiftly along the buildings. When they got closer, Havoc tapped the young man on the shoulder, pointing silently to the narrow alley between the buildings and they moved quietly into it.

"What, exactly, is your plan?" he whispered, crouching down to make himself smaller and hopefully, less noticeable.

Ed just shrugged, a clear sign that he had no plan. Right.

At Havoc's incredulous stare, Ed fidgeted a little. "What?" he added defensively. "I just go in there, see what's going on and then figure out a plan."

Havoc shook his head still staring in disbelief. He was suddenly more impressed that the kid had survived his first year of missions. There were so many things wrong with that plan he didn't even know where to start.

He focused on the obvious. "We're not even armed," he pointed out.

Ed's answer was to touch his hands together and press them into the side of the warehouse. In a flash of electric blue and a static buzz that made the hairs on Havoc's arms stand on end, the metal morphed into a nasty looking short sword with a gaudy hilt. After dumping the weapon carelessly into Havoc's hands, Ed transmuted himself a blade out of the plating of his automail and grinned wickedly at him. "Now we're armed."

Havoc didn't point out to the alchemist that he was trained in marksmanship, not fencing. It was better than nothing.

Havoc was trained in these sorts of operations and made his feet light, traveling without a sound. Ed moved swiftly and silently too, with only the soft clinking of the metal joints giving him away. The bay door was open letting light spill out into the dark yard in a sharply defined square. They stood in the shadows in perfect stillness, listening. All they heard from the yard and the garage was the chirping of frogs and beetles.

Havoc made a signal to Ed to let him go first, which the teen obliged. A first look into the garage revealed no one. He advanced cautiously and, staying low, made his way into the light, staying close to the wall.

There really didn't seem to be anybody there.

"Looks like no one's home," declared Ed out loud, walking around the corner and standing in the light. Wide open.

Havoc flinched and closed his eyes, shaking his head in disbelief. Well if that hadn't drawn any attention, the place really must be empty. "Damn, Chief, does reconnaissance mean anything to you?" he said, standing up but keeping his back against the wall, just in case.

Ed gave him a purposely blank stare.

Havoc shook his head. "Never mind." He was going to have a chat with the Colonel about giving this kid some basic training if he expected him to live to see his fourteenth birthday.

"The car's gone," observed the teen, pointing to the middle of the cluttered garage. Oil stains on the cement showed where a vehicle is normally kept.

"Only one?" remarked Havoc. He meant it as a joke but Ed wasn't listening. His head snapped to the far corner and he stood staring intently at it.

"I heard something," he said at Havoc's questioning look. They both stood perfectly still and listened.

In the silence they heard a thump. And another one. The two exchanged a wary glance and Ed raised his sword arm expectantly. And then they heard a muffled cry.

"There's someone here," whispered the younger man. He moved towards the rear of the building. Cautiously this time, Havoc was happy to note. His entire stance changed. He looked like a predator on the prowl, his head cocked listening. Like a cat, mused the older man.

Their hunt led them down a narrow hall made narrower by a buildup of clutter, past the office at the back to a door labelled "Storeroom A."

Havoc kept a look out in the office as Ed approached the door and stood in front of it, listening. Something was moving around in there. Another muffled cry made Ed reach for the handle but the door was locked.

Locks were never an issue for Ed. He transmuted the lock, handle and all into dust and pulled the door open. Again, Havoc was reminded of how easy it would be for someone like Ed to break into, say, a bank? He was glad the kid had high moral standards, somewhere in there.

Ed flicked the light on in the storage room and raised an eyebrow. "Who're you?"

A muffled voice answered him and Havoc pulled the door open the rest of the way to see inside.

A man lay on the floor hog tied and gagged and both of them stared at him. He stared right back and lifted his bound wrists towards them. It looked like he was praying. He was a mechanic, judging by the stained overalls.

"Shit man," mumbled Havoc, stepping around Ed. He crouched down and cut the ropes around the man's wrists with his insanely sharp sword. While he worked on the ankle bindings, the man pulled the dirty, oil stained rag from his mouth, gulping in large breaths of clean air.

"What happened to you?" asked Havoc, helping the man sit up.

"It was Ben, he just, he,-"

Havoc turned to Ed with a raised eyebrow. "Ben?"

"Hartley," growled Ed.

"It was like he just snapped! He came in here demanding the keys. He was crazy!"

"Well there's nothing new," mumbled the teen.

"Woah, slow down. The keys to what?" asked Havoc, shooting Ed a look bordering on impatience.

The man took a deep breath. "I was working late, just about to close up when Ben comes running in. He said he needed to use the car, which was odd because it's almost one o'clock. I told him he needed to requisition the use of the car, like always but he got so mad. He demanded I give him the keys. He threatened me and when I refused, he clocked me and tied me up." The man emphasized this statement by rubbing the back of his head, feeling for a bump.

"Do you know where he might have gone?" The question was for both Ed and the mechanic. The man shook his head, bewildered by the whole thing but Ed frowned.

"Well if I were him, knowing the Fullmetal Alchemist was still alive and out for my blood," he said fiercely, "I'd be halfway to Creta by now." The mechanic watched in mild horror as the blond lifted his sword arm and looked at it with murderous intent as if he were imagining the horrible things he would do to Ben Hartley when they caught up to him. "But I don't think he's running," he continued finally.

"Why steal a car, right?" added Havoc, thinking out loud. "He could have more easily disappeared, caught a train out of the city."

"Exactly." Ed noticed the way the mechanic was looking at him and transmuted his arm back to normal with a smirk. No need to give the poor man a heart attack, he's already had a bad night.

Ed and Havoc helped the man to the office and offered to call him an ambulance, which he refused. "No, no, I'm alright, honestly." Havoc suspected he was embarrassed by the situation.

They left him in the office and walked out through the garage to stand in the yard. Ed stood with his hands in his pockets, frowning into the darkness. Havoc came up beside him and lit a cigarette. "We should call this in. We can have more eyes out looking for him and-"

"I know exactly where he's going," interrupted the teen.

Havoc said nothing, just watching him.

"The mine. He went to the mine. I figured it out and he tried to kill me. I wouldn't be surprised if he went after Sean too. Now that he knows I'm still alive, he'll try to cover it up, whatever he's hiding there. Move it or destroy it, so that's where he's gone," he said with certainty.

"Alright, so…"

"I'm going after him," said the teen simply.

"Alone?"

Ed shrugged, offering the older man a smile. "Not if you come with me."

"Uh huh. And we're walking there?" he asked wryly.

Ed's gaze drifted to a warehouse along the row with a big number 3 painted on the front and grinned. It was an Elric grin; the kind that heralded craziness.

"I've got a better idea," he said and somehow made it sound more like I hope you're ready to die tonight, Jean Havoc.

A/N:

1. You have to give Mustang some credit for his mastery of Fire Alchemy. I know Ed's a prodigy and all that but it took Mustang years to master the art. And so I don't doubt that Ed could learn it, probably on his own, I just don't think even he could get it on the first shot.

2. The magic is a bit of a nod to my fav. crossover pairings, FMA HP. Though magic does not exist in this world, I love the idea of crossing alchemy and magic.

3. If you'd like to know what I think Ed would be doing with his life if things had gone differently at the beginning, I'd like to introduce you to a fic over on Archive of Our Own titled The Demon Alchemist by metisket. No, I did not write this fic but it is one of my favorites so I highly recommend it.

4. I'll try to keep up to date with posting new chapters but please don't despair if you don't see an update for a while.

5. Thanks! I never thought this story would be so popular! We're nearing the end, so hold tight and enjoy the ride!