Chapter 9: Sloth's Secret

The Iron Sole Alchemist (Chapter 9) Sloth's Secret

by Howlin

(Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to this universe, places, or characters, and only claim the protagonist, Loki, Sloth, The Gunslinger Alchemist, The Swarm Alchemist, and his subordinates as my own creations. This is fan fiction, and I don't profit from it. Please don't sue me.)

. . .

Loki and I disembarked our train at Central and headed for Central Command. Navigating the bureaucracy proved more challenging than I'd hoped, and it was getting dark by the time I reached the office of Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye.

"Is there something I can do for you?" she asked.

I surveyed the room. The workspace was shared with three other men, all of them had glanced up when I arrived and resumed their owkr once I addressed Hawkeye.

"May we speak privately?" I asked. "This is regarding classified information about a former collegue of yours."

She wordlessly led the way to an unoccupied room, then said, "What's this all about?"

"Homonculi," I said. A sharp intake of breath told me I had come to the right place, so I continued. "At least one of them is interfering with the Ishbal reconstruction. I've noted the same homonculus involved with some serial murders closer to Central."

"What makes you think this is a homonculus?" asked Hawkeye.

"The individual in question displayed several superhuman abilities including regeneration. She also had this mark tatooed on her body." I handed over a slip of paper with the Oroboros mark drawn on it.

"That settles it, then," mused Hawkeye as she stared at the page. "What do you need from me?"

"Information," I began, before being silenced by an upraised hand.

Hawkeye pulled the door open, and the tree men outside tumbled in, having obviously been pressed up against the door. As though she hadn't noticed them, Hawkeye said, "I need to take Black Hayate for a walk. Would you and your dog care to join us?" She pointed at a smaller black dog in the outer room that Loki had been getting to know while I talked to its owner.

When the four of us were well away from Central Command, walking casually down an empty street, Hawkeye said, "This isn't the first time these creatures have caused trouble in Ishbal."

I walked along silently at her side, allowing her to direct the conversation, and tell me what she thought I needed to know.

"They've been active for a very long time. Hundreds of years. Manipulating events from behind the scenes or even occasionally in plain sight. The Ishbal massacre was just one small piece.

"They're created humans, the product of failed human transmutations. They don't age unless they were specifically built to, and they can regenerate completely even from the complete destruction of their bodies.

"But for all their powers, they're incomplete. In order to first take on a human form, they need to consume a quantity of lesser Philosopher Stones, which they need to keep eating to fuel their regeneration."

"Human lives," I whispered.

"In the past, they've infiltrated the military at its highest levels, using our resources to advance their agenda. King Bradley was one of them. He ordered the Ishbal massacre in order to drive the Ishbalan people to the depths of despair needed to make a Stone."

"I heard your former commander was involved in Fuhrer Bradley's death. If he was a homonculus, how did he keep him dead?"

"Actually, I think you've already spilled more than enough of our secrets," came Sloth's voice in response as she stepped out of a nearby alley in front of us.

Hawkeye didn't hesitate for an instant. She drew a pair of handguns and fired off five rounds dead on target before I'd processed Sloth's presence. Either Riza Hawkeye was a monster who made a habit out of shooting small children, or she had a good idea what she was dealing with.

Unfortunately, she didn't know enough. The bullets passed right through Sloth, impacting behind her as usual. Black Hayate charged at the homonculus as Loki transformed in a whirlwind of purple alchemic light.

The homonculus went to contemptuously grab the smaller dog when my shot rang out, impacting Sloth's stomach and distracting her.

Hawkeye laid down covering fire as she ordered her dog out of the fray. As Black Hayate retreated, Loki launched himself into it.

Sloth charged straight through Loki, passing through the chimera, then zig-zagging as she approached us. I couldn't keep a bead on the moving target, and Hawkeye's bullets kept passing harmlessly through the homonculus.

That was when Hawkeye swept my legs out from under me. I dropped the gun and she caught it in midair, firing off three shots into the homonculus before I hit the ground. Unfortunately, Hawkeye was no alchemist, and without the transmutation circle active, my gun was as useless as hers had been.

Sloth reached us, and smirked down at me as she passed her open hand into Hawkeye's abdomen.

"Like I said, I think we're done here," said Sloth.

"You're forgetting something," I said to the homonculus. Then I turned a foot down and activated the transmutation circle on my shoe. Purple light accompanied a column of earth beneath Sloth's feet launching itself straight up. I shifted the composition of the column's first player a few times to keep Sloth from just phasing through it. Sloth wasn't expecting that, and so she didn't have time to do Hawkeye any damage before she went flying.

That bought us some time, but the fight wasn't over yet. I regained my footing and drew my backup pistol.

"The gun hurts her because I'm transmuting the bullets. She can pass through any solid matter as long as she knows what it is."

Hawkeye nodded, and as Sloth hit the ground a few yards away, Hawkeye stepped behind me and held my gun forward in both hands with her arms around me. The transmutation circle on the handle was left visible by her grip.

I took hold of her hands and activated the array. Now Hawkeye's perfectly aimed shots were having an impact. Sloth tried to rush forward, but found her progress stunted when her kneecaps were blown out. When she regenerated those, Hawkeye blinded the homonculus with a bullet in each eye. She reloaded while Sloth healed that, then inflicted a dozen more crippling injuries before Sloth could get her feet under her.

I couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the creature as she raged helplessly, only to be shot down over and over again. It was a full minute of the same before Sloth melted into the ground, broken and defeated. But still not dead.

Hawkeye returned my gun and Loki resumed his normal form. Then Hawkeye finished what she'd been going to tell me before.

"There is only one way to kill a homonculus so it can't come back. Every homonculus is based on a person. The physical remains of that person are their weakness. If they touch them, they are paralyzed. If they're killed in view of those remains, they stay dead.

"I think I know who that homonculus was based on. Speak to a woman in Central's records named Scheska. Ask here where the remains of Nina Tucker were found."

I hadn't made the connection before. Aside from her hair color, Sloth was a dead ringer for the little girl I'd met while studying for the State Alchemy exam. They could even both walk through solid walls. I'd thought I dreamed that.

As my mind raced to put the pieces in place, my legs got unsteady. Loki and Hawkeye kept me from toppling over, and helped me into a slightly more dignified position up against a wall. It was in that position that it hit me.

"She followed me here. We're both still in danger. She can bunt us at her leasure, and it took both of us just to drive her off."

"I know people who can help," said Hawkeye.

"Good," I replied, my mind racing. "You get in touch with them. Tell them what's going on. I'll act as a distraction."

. . .

I didn't want to lead Sloth to Scheska's doorstep, so I slipped out of my hotel room early in the morning, leaving Loki behind along with a transmuted dummy that would fool someone observing at a distance.

The mousy, brown-haired woman was staring in despair at a pile of paperwork taller than she was when I entered the room.

"Excuse me, are you Scheska?" I asked.

"Yes, that's right," she replied politely. "I'm sorry, Major, but I don't have the time to reproduce any more case files at the moment. I already have a three month backlog of records to prepare." She gestured at the stack on her desk.

"I don't actually need anything reproduced. Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye indicated you might be able to help me with another matter. It shouldn't take too much time, I promise."

"Oh, Lieutenant Hawkeye sent you." She perked up in recognition. "what exactly did you need, Major?"

"The Sewing Life Alchemist, Shao Tucker performed an illegal alchemic experiment on his four year old daughter a few years ago." Half a dozen heads in the shared office space looped up in surprise at my words. Good. The Sewing Life Alchemist's crimes should shock people. "I need to look over the girl's remains."

"I'm sorry, Major," said Scheska genuinely apologetically, "but Nina Tucker was killed by the serial killer Scar shortly after the incident came to light. There were very few remains left."

"Were any of them saved? Even a hair of blood sample would be of help," I pressed.

Scheska shook her head. "I'm sorry, Major. I don't think they were even collected to begin with. Aside from a large blood stain on one of the alley walls, her body had been completely broken down with alchemy."

A spark of hope. "Can you tell me which alley?"

"Well, yes, but I doubt it will do your investigation much good."

"Please, I have to see for myself if there's anything left there."

"Of course, Major," said Scheska, jotting down an address and handing it to me. "Good luck."

. . .

I retrieved Loki before making my way to the alley Scheska indicated. The large bloodstain had faded somewhat over the years, but it was still plainly visible to anyone looking for it.

"Let's see how cocky she is now that we have this," I said to Loki.

Loki's hair stood on end, and the chimera growled back at me menacingly, as a high pitched whistle pierced the air.

"What's wrong, boy?" I said as soothingly as I could.

Once the violet light of Loki's transformation faded, the chimera attacked. I stomped the ground and a section of pavement leapt up to my hand, glowing with the purple light of my transmutation. Solidifying into a pole, I caught the weapon and drove it into Loki's chest.

I rolled backward, using the pouncing chimera's momentum against it, and managed to throw Loki over me and into a wall. Fortunately not the one with the bloodstain.

"Loki, stop-" I started to call out, but another whistle pierced the air, and the massive chimera charged me. I transmuted a short wall between us, but Loki just darted around it and slammed into me from the side. I was thrown hard into a wall, dropping my staff. Loki turned about, and his heavy, reptilian tail struck me before I'd recovered from the last hit.

Darkness started to close around my vision as another whistle came, and Loki instantly relaxed. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Loki, returned to his dog form, whimpering and nuzzling at me.

. . .

When I came to, somewhat surprised to be alive after that, I was no longer in the alley. I was laid out on a floor with a pillow resting under my head. I felt the absence of my shoes and gun before I cautiously opened my eyes.

The room was brightly lit, and painted in soft pastels. Children's books and toys were strewn about. In one corner, a little girl with brown hair in twin braids laid on her stomach drawing. When I woke, however, she dropped her crayons and rushed over to me.

"Aw you okay?" she asked.

Aside from the hair and eye color, the girl was a perfect twin for Sloth. I crawled backward, terrified and reached for my backup pistol, which had also apparently been removed.

The girl cocked her head curiously at my behavior and said, "Don't you wecognize me? We expwowed my owd house togethew."

There was none of Sloth's menace in her. No mocking smirk, no subtle posture shits daring me to make another futile attack. This wasn't Sloth. This was the girl I thought I'd dreamed when studying for the State Alchemy Exam.

"Of course I recognize you, Nina," I said, calming myself. "Where am I?' I looked around the room and froze. Lurking on the far side of the room was a massive, brown furred creature. It stood upright almost too tall for the room, and had an upside-down human face.

Nina smiled, reached into my pocket, and retrieved my silver pocketwatch. "Does this mean you'we a State Awchemist wike my daddy now?"

"That's right, Nina," whispered the creature.

Nina smiled at it, apparently oblivious to its strangeness. Then she turned back to me, "Conwaduwations!"

I forced myself to calm down and replied as pleasantly as I could, "Thank you. Did you ever find Alexander?"

"Who?" asked Nina.

I was about to reply when the creature whispered, "The two of you can talk more later. Him and daddy have some work to do."

Nina looked crestfallen, but nodded. She bobbed a bow in my direction and said, "Come back soon."

I retrieved my watch and warily followed the creature out of the room. The hallway outside was dimply lit and painted an industrial dark grey. The contrast with Nina's bright pastel room was unnerving.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"An abandoned alchemy lab in Central," he whispered back. "Sloth brought you here unconscious."

"Who are you?" I asked, trying to be tactful.

"My name is Shao Tucker."

"You're supposed to be dead. What happened to you?"

"After Nina was killed, my execution was faked by the homonculi. I was brought here to work for them. My current state was the result of an alchemic backlash I suffered when trying to remake Nina."

"So the Sewing Life Alchemist ended up a poorly put together chimera himself. Poetic justice after what you did to your wife and daughter."

"I've been working to make amends," he whispered sadly.

"What's the deal with Nina and Sloth?" I asked, backing off from my accusatory tone.

"Sloth was the result of an earlier attempt. She turned on me shortly after her creation. Now she's holding me here to work for her and keeping Nina as a hostage."

"And now I've been added to the forced labor pool."

"It isn't all bad. She's promised to let me use the Philosopher Stone when it's finished. We can both restore our bodies."

"In exchange for another Liore? Not worth it."

Shao smiled. "There's more than one way to make the stone."

With that, he led me into another room. The floor and ceiling ere marked with the Grand Arcanum array circumscribed by a seven point transmutation circle. Seven tanks of red liquid were arranged along these points.

"What is this?" I asked.

"This room was set up by the Crystal Alchemist, Tim Marcho, to create these lesser stones." Shao opened the tap on one of the tanks, allowing a small glob of the red liquid to fall to the floor, where it assumed a solid form identical to the red stones I'd previously encountered.

Shao continued, "Condemned criminals from the prison next door would be taken here and used as ingredients to produce these. Edward Elric came up with a way to use this lesser stone material to transmute a complete Philosopher Stone. The seven point array was his design."

"If you have all the pieces here like this, why haven't you made the stone already?"

"I'm not strong enough to perform the transmutation myself. I've reproduced Edward's array, but I'm not strong enough to activate it. You were in Liore. You stood up against the power of a Philosopher Stone's creation. It isn't exactly the same, but I'm hoping you have the strength to activate the array."

"I don't see how this method is any different from the one Scar used. How many people died to make this stone material?"

"The difference is that they're already dead. You can give that sacrifice some meaning by finishing the stone."

I took a long moment, then nodded. "I want to go over both arrays in detail, and inspect the ingredients myself."

"Of course. There is a second storage tank of red water upstairs that will be involved in the transmutation. Edward's theory called for an explosive compression of the red water from both sources into a single point."

Shao watched passively as I went over the arrays in this room, and remained behind when I went upstairs to examine the other tank.

Rather than the massive cylindrical tanks in the room below, this one was rectangular and nearly filled the room. Crimson light shone from the liquid inside. I looked over the dimensions and tapped the glass. When I did, I noticed something was wrong.

I scratched a transmutation circle into the glass using my automail toe, and caused the glass on that spot to bubble inward. In less than an inch, it contacted another pane of glass and merged with it, allowing me a transparent peephole.

Only a thin layer on the tank's outer surface was actually red water. The interior contained a dozen frightened and confused men in prison jumpsuits.

I stormed downstairs, furious at having been lied to. I caught sight of the Sewing Life Alchemist and shouted, "There are people in that tank! If I hadn't gone to check, if I'd just activated the array like you wanted-"

"You wouldn't have known you were killing them, so you wouldn't have that on your conscience after you made the stone," said Sloth, stepping out from behind one of the tanks. Shao backed away at her approach. "Now you'll know full well what you're doing when you finish the stone."

"I'm not going to kill those people."

"But they're already dead," replied Sloth with a smirk. "If you don't finish the transmutation, I'll just kill then anyway. Either way, they die."

"That's not the same thing," I replied weakly.

"Isn't it? Option one, they all die and you get the stone to fix yourselves. Option two, they all die and you get nothing out of it."

"They're no threat to anyone. I can't take a life in cold blood."

Sloth crossed the distance between us in the blink of an eye. I reflexively brought my arms up, which she passed right through. She put her right arm inside my chest.

"Does this solve that problem of yours?" she asked with annoyance.

Calmer than I expected to me, I said, "You won't kill me. Even if I refuse, I'm still your best chance to make the Stone. If I die, you won't get the stone. If you lock me up, I might change my mind, and you won't risk giving up that chance."

"You're right," said Sloth withdrawing her hand. "I do need you alive. I don't need him, though." She turned her head towards Shao and grinned wickedly.

"But i've been helping you!" whispered Shao urgently as he raised his fur covered hands in supplication.

"When I held my tongue, Sloth's eyes opened in epiphany. "Your mutt's still alive."

"Loki? What does he have to do with this?"

"Tucker's daughter was playing with him when I came in. Maybe I'll show her some of his tricks." She pursed her lips, and I heard that high pitched whistle from when Loki turned on me. Sloth melted through the floor.

I ran for the exit, with Shao having dropped to all fours and doing the same.

"You check Nina's room," whispered Shao. "I'll check the chimera pens."

I nodded and we split up. I ran down the hall as fast as I could barefoot, back to the room I'd woken up in. When I arrived, the room was empty. Turning back the way I'd come, I ran to follow Shao. I turned off into the first open door in that direction and saw Loki and Nina wrestling playfully. Shao was standing just inside the doorway, wringing his oversized hands.

When I entered the room, Loki stopped playing, lowered his head in a submissive pose, and started to whine as he approached me. The chimera obviously felt bad about having been made to attack me.

"What's wong?" asked Nina.

"Everything's going to be fine," lied Shao as I approached the chimera.

"I'm not bad, boy. Come here," I said to Loki, who brightened up immediately and nearly tacked me in joy, licking me and nuzzling enthusiastically.

I held the chimera and reassured him and shot a look to Shao who moved over to Nina.

Then that whistle came again.

"Don't listen, boy," I said, covering Loki's ears.

Loki whined in shame and pain before his hackles rose.

I leapt back from him as he began the process of breaking down nearby matter to increase his size and transform into his hybrid form.

"Is someone huwting youw dog?" asked Nina as Loki tried and failed to fight the control whistle.

Now covered in green armored scales and his golden leonine mane, Loki looked menacing to me for the first time in a long time. Three hundred pounds of muscle and reinforced bone that I couldn't stop a few hours ago when I was fully armed, I now had to deal with unarmed and off balance.

I leapt at the chimera anyway when he turned toward Nina. Landing on his broad back, I gripped Loki's golden mane and tried to draw his attention by pulling on it as hard as I could.

Loki didn't even pause to try to shake me off. Instead, he leapt at Nina with his fangs flashing, and a vicious growl escaping his throat. Nina screamed and I held on to the chimera kicking his side with my automail leg in the hope that it might distract him.

Loki caught Nina's collar in his fans and, in response to another whistle, took off down the hall. Shao scrambled to keep up, and Nina cried out in terror the whole way. When we arrived back in the stone room, Loki stopped and bucked, throwing me head over heels across the room. I landed hard, but scrambled to my feet.

"How is she controlling him?" I demanded of the Sewing Life Alchemist.

"I originally designed it to respond with instinctual behaviors to a set of tones. Sloth made me give her the details a long time ago."

"And in your mutated body, you can't reproduce those tones and get control away from her."

"Please, don't let her kill Nina."

"Wait, isn't she a homonculus too? Won't she just regenerate?"

"Nina's a later experiment. She's more human than Sloth."

"If I could see her, one good kick to the throat would stop her from whistling for a bit at least."

Another whistle came, and Loki tossed the terrified girl up in the air, his jaws snapping in preparation to bite the child in half.

"Wait!" I yelled out. At another tone, Loki just caught Nina. I still couldn't figure out where the sound was coming from. "I'll do it," I said, defeated.

I slowly walked over to the prepared transmutation circle. Nina still screaming in panic, Loki's powerful jaws could crush her at any moment. I considered using the red water in the tanks to fight him, but without knowing where Sloth was, odds were that she'd notice and signal Loki to kill Nina before I could touch the tank.

I sank to my knees in front of the array and was inches from activating it when an explosion behind me blew the door off its hinges.

With a confident stride and serious expression, a giant of a man with a thick, well groomed mustache and a nearby bald head, adorned with a single curly blond lock entered. He wore the blue uniform of the State Military, and the silver chain in his pocket identified him as a state alchemist.

"Shao Tucker," boomed the large man, "formerly known as the Sewing Life Alchemist. I knew you were involved in this somehow."

Taking the distraction as the answer to my silent prayers that it was, I jumped for one of the red water holding tanks. My hand made contact, and I stomped my automail foot on the ground, transmitting the alchemic energy through my body. Red arcs of light shot along the ground towards Loki, terminating just beneath the chimera as a column of stone shot up at the chimera's chest hard enough to break one of his reinforced ribs.

Loki dropped Nina, and yelped in pain as the girl ran to Shao.

"Watch out!" I called to my rescuer. "There's a homonculus around somewhere!"

"Fear not, Marcus Oren!" declared the man as he produced a small piece of rust colored brick. "Lieutenant Hawkeye gave me the details."

Shao placed his arm on Nina's shoulder in a comforting gesture, and a red glow erupted from beneath her shirt. Nina's eyes went blank, then her brown hair turned black. As Nina's clothes fell through her body revealing Sloth's black outfit underneath, I could see the source of the red light was the oroboros tattoo on her back.

"It's time to go," whispered Shao to sloth.

The large man punched the ground with his spiked gauntlets bearing transmutation circles. A ring of inward facing spikes surrounded Shao and Sloth accompanied by arcs of yellow light.

"You won't escape Alex Louis Armstrong, the Strongarm Alchemist. Go ahead and try to pass through those spikes. Each one contains a hydrogen activated explosive. You can prevent your body from interacting with what you pass through, but when it leaves contact with you? A drop of sweat evaporating, the moisture in your breath. That's all it'll take."

Sloth smirked, took Shao by the hand, and started to sink through the floor with him. I stomped my foot and put a stop to that, shifting the material composition of the floor every few seconds, causing the entire room to be bathed in the red glow of a continuous transmutation.

Shao whistled, and it was suddenly obvious to me it'd been him doing that all along. Loki hurled himself across the room at me, and would have hit me like a freight train despite his slight limp had the Strongarm Alchemist not intervened.

Rather than try to transmute the constantly shifting floor, Armstrong tossed a piece of the exploded door that marked his entry into the air and punched it towards Loki. The random debris was transmuted into an artillery shell and struck the chimera.

The explosion had shattered the scales on Loki's left side and burned him severely. His left foreleg was broken and useless, and he'd been thrown well clear of me.

A burst of red light came from Shao, as he used a red stone to deconstruct the spikes imprisoning him. Loki charged at the Strongarm Alchemist, his injuries slowing him, but not stopping him.

Shao and Sloth disappeared through a nearby wall and Armstrong hefted another piece of debris to attack Loki with.

"Stop!" I called out desperately. "Please, don't kill him! He isn't in control of his actions!"

Then the Strongarm Alchemist did something unexpected. He dropped his piece of debris. "Such compassion," he cried out with tears streaming down his face. "Such courage! Very well, I shall subdue the creature nonfatally." He threw off his shirt revealing a sculpted physique more at home on a Greek statue than on a living person. "Using the grappling techniques that have been passed down the Armstrong family line for generations!"

Alex Louis Armstrong sidestepped the charging chimera and wrapped an arm around Loki's neck, lifting him off his feet in a single motion. Loki twisted in the grip, his flailing tail shattering one of the red water containers. A claw got dangerously close to Armstrong's stomach, but the Strongarm Alchemist brought a knee up striking the chimera's damaged and unarmored side.

I scooped up a handful of the solidified red stones and went to assist Armstrong, but he shooed me off. "I can handle things here. You need to stop them from escaping."

I nodded and turned to the wall Shao and Sloth had passed through. I charged it, using the red stones to deconstruct the wall as I went. The pair were nowhere to be seen, so I stomped and opened a hole in the floor and dropped down to the next level. I prioritized speed, blowing out any wall I came across as I raced through the facility looking for the route the pair had used to escape.

I unexpectedly burst through an exterior wall a full story above the ground, and with no time to get my bearings, I hit the ground hard. A uniformed soldier that I recognized from Hawkeye's office stood over me.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

I gasped for breath after my fall and managed to choke out, "Where did they go?"

"Where did who go?" he asked, baffled.

"A chimera and a little girl."

"I didn't-" he began before being interrupted by another soldier rushing around the building.

"The targets just exited the north side. We didn't have time to stop them before they went underground."

"We've lost them then," I spat.

At that point, Alex Louis Armstrong emerged from the building, still shirtless, carrying an unconscious Loki over his shoulder. The transmutation circle that allowed Loki to change had been damaged, leaving him locked in his combat form.

"Set him down here," I said. Then to the other soldiers, "There are people still inside. Supposedly condemned prisoners. They need to be removed from the building and taken into custody."

"You heard the Major," emphasized the Strongarm Alchemist when the two men hesitated.

As they scurried off, I went over to Loki and started examining his injuries. While I did so, I filled in my fellow State Alchemist. "They got away."

"At least we managed to get you out before they could complete their work."

Loki's injuries were bad, but I knew this chimera's structure and composition like the back of my hand. I held one of the red stones over his unconscious form and carefully reconstructed the damaged tissue. "Thank you for that. And for sparing Loki."

"We should get somewhere safe and exchange information," suggested Armstrong.

I finished repairing Loki's body, and the restored transmutation circle on his body kicked in, returning him to the form of a brown dog. Using the stone, I severed the neurological connections between the auditory cortex and the instinctive response that Shao had used to control Loki. He would not be turning us against each other again.

Loki woke, and frantically sought comfort and reassurance from me. I petted him affectionately, then addressed Armstrong. "You're right. Let's go."

. . .

In a civilian residence, away from the main military command structure, I informed Armstrong, Hawkeye, and four other soldiers they assured me could be trusted what had transpired in the laboratory.

"I thought all this business was done with when the Roy and Fullmetal went after the homonculi and their maser," said the blonde haired soldier with a cigarette named Lieutenant Havok."

"Looks like they missed one," replied the larger, red haired soldier named Breda.

"What exactly happened before?" I asked.

"Fullmetal put it all together," said Havok. "Fuhrer Bradley was a homonculus under the control of na alchemist we later learned was named Dante. She was using the homonculi to seed chaos and discontent and manipulate alchemists into making a Philosopher Stone that she could take.

"The Fuhrer had Ishbal reduced to a ruin, and that eventually did the trick. An Ishbalan we call Scar used some kind of transmutation circle in Liore to kill a lot of people and make a stone. Scar didn't survive, and Edward and Alphonse got ahold of the stone.

"They went to confront the homonculi, and everything we've managed to piece together since says they won, at a price. The stone was used up, Alphonse lost his memory, and Edward hasn't been seen since.

"Meanwhile, the Flame Alchemist went after the Fuhrer, hoping to put a stop to all this once and for all. We thought it was all over after that."

"So this is what all the fighting in Liore was about?" I said.

"From the beginning," added Havok. "Cornello was put in place and backed by the homonculi."

"I don't think the Sewing Life Alchemist is involved with the homonculi's old master," said Armstrong in an uncharacteristically subdued tone.

"I agree," I said after a moment's thought. "He was calling the shots in the lab, and Sloth was following his orders. If he'd had backing, he would have been able to put up a better defense."

"What about the lab itself?" asked Hawkeye. "It would take more than one man to get Laboratory Five operational again."

"But remember," said the grey haired Warrant Officer Falman, "the old Fuhrer's men took over the cleanup after we rescued Ed and Al from there. We didn't know who he was at the time, and after we found out, we assumed taking him out had settled things."

"I get it," said Breda. "Tucker knew about the old sites and the homonculi's old plans from when he was working for them. Now that their master's out of the picture, he's running his own version of the same plan."

"I presume that piece of brick came from the alley?" I asked Armstrong.

"It did," replied Hawkeye, producing a second. "We have several more. Take this one with you. Sloth's targeted you in the past, so you're the most likely to run into her again."

. . .

Loki and I boarded the train headed back to Ishbal after confirming with the small conspiracy that we'd pass on any new information about the homonculi, Shao Tucker, or their whereabouts we managed to find.

I was starting to withdraw into a quiet contemplation to process all that had happened when I heard the conductor call out the next stop as Xenotime. It had been on my list of places Fullmetal had visited. By this point, I'd realized that to restore my body the way Alphonse had been would require creating a Philosopher Stone, which I was unwilling to do. I figured there would be nothing more to learn there, and almost decided to ignore the town and just move on.

Then I remembered how often I found Sloth interfering with alchemists in the places the Elrics had visited. If she hadn't gotten to whoever the target was here, I had to warn them. If she had, I would have to stop them.

. . .

Author's comments:

Thus the big bad of this story is finally revealed. One little loose end from Ed and Al's adventures in the series now comes back to bite everyone in the ass.