SCARE TACTICS

Part Three

"So what should your punishment be, huh?"

Edward tried very hard not to whimper aloud and give the man the satisfaction of seeing him afraid, but he was truly terrified at this moment. The knife inched closer to his face.

"How about I cut out one your golden eyes to give to your teacher as a down payment?"

Edward uttered something that might have been a "no", but it got strangled halfway out of his throat, though he didn't know if that was because of the hand fastened around his neck or his fear. He wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn't look away from that knife point hovering so perilously close to his left eye. Time seemed to stand excruciatingly still, and the longer the knife lingered, the worse Edward's trembling became. Finally, after an eternity of staring his death in the eye, the switchblade pulled back and the man threw him down onto the ground. Before Edward could respond, his captor started wailing away at him with his fists, slugging him repeatedly in the face and kicking him a few times in the stomach. Edward couldn't even begin to defend himself in the lightning fast assault, and only laid there, trying to cover his head and trying, too, to keep from crying out.

"You little bastard!!" the man screamed as he continued to kick the unprotected boy at his feet. "You could have ruined everything!! Do you understand?? EVERYTHING!!"

Tears began to gather in Edward's eyes, but he clenched his jaw tightly, holding them back. He would not give the man the satisfaction. He just wouldn't.

Finally, the man's fit of rage died down and he ceased with the beating. Edward didn't move, couldn't find the breath to do so, but the man grabbed a handful of his blonde hair and painfully pulled him into a somewhat sitting position. The man pressed his switchblade tight against the boy's throat and glared into his tawny yellow eyes.

"If you want to live to see your little brother again, I suggest you stop trying to play the hero and behave."

Edward closed his eyes as the man pressed the blade further into his exposed flesh, shaking. He felt the keenness of the cold metal edge and knew that in one second, his life could be over. The man leaned close against his ear and whispered his next words harshly.

"Otherwise…I may no longer find you useful. And I have no need for useless objects."

Edward squeezed his eyes tighter.

"Understand?"

He swallowed hard and nodded very, very slowly. The knife moved away from his throat and the man released his hold on Edward's hair.

"Get up," he ordered coldly, and Edward obeyed meekly, though it was tough, considering how disoriented he was from the blows to his head. Already, he could feel one eye beginning to swell. The man didn't hesitate, grabbing him roughly by his right wrist and forcefully twisting his automail arm behind his back. He then forced the boy to march upstairs and directed him down a hallway to the first room on the left—a bedroom, if the heavy wooden frame was any clue. Once there, Edward found himself being spun around like a top and backhanded across the face for the second time in two hours. He dropped to the floor like a sack of bricks and made no movements, lacking both the strength and the courage to try to fight back. The man, however, moved quickly, grabbing both of Edward's wrists and holding them out with one hand, while the other hand scratched a quick transmutation circle into the tile floor with his knife. Once the circle was finished, he laid Edward's wrists across it and touched it, causing it to spark a greenish blue color before crackling to life with alchemic energy. Weakly, Edward lifted his head in enough time to see the glow fade away, revealing his new bindings. The transmuted tile was now tightly covering his arms about 2 and ½ inches above his wrists, and it covered his hands all the way up to the second knuckles on his fingers. A sizeable chunk of the tile connected the two wrists, keeping his hands nearly a foot apart, and with both his thumbs and his wrists so immobilized, there was nothing impressive he could do beyond wriggling his fingers uselessly.

As the horror of his helplessness started to sink in, Edward felt himself being forced into yet another sitting position and the man wrapped a blanket he'd folded lengthwise around the boy's torso, covering him from his elbows up to about an inch under his shoulders. With another show of alchemical prowess, the man transmuted the blankets into an unbreakable wrap, further immobilizing Edward's arms. For a finishing touch, he shoved a cotton handkerchief into the boy's mouth and tied it tightly behind his head, rendering him completely speechless. When he finished, he needlessly shoved Edward down onto the ground. Edward lay there on his side, staring up at the man in sheer terror. Never in his entire life had he ever felt so absolutely powerless. There was nothing he could do to change or to escape the situation, and they both knew it. The man stared down at him from his lofty height, and he seemed almost bigger to Edward than before, so powerful and almost godlike.

"You're lucky that I need you alive, Goldilocks. If this situation were different, I would have spilled your blood back on those stairs long before you would have seen me coming."

Edward wholeheartedly believed that, and the fearful look in his eyes told the man as much. The man leaned towards him, causing the boy to flinch reflexively before continuing to stare up at him.

"Don't push your luck this time, kid. Try to escape again and I will kill you."

As a precaution, the man grabbed another blanket and transmuted it into a length of cotton rope, binding Edward's ankles together with one end and then securing the other end to one of the legs of the bed frame at the boy's back. Without another word to his captive, he turned and stalked out of the room, shutting the door behind him with a definitive slam.

Lying there helpless, beaten, and scared, it was all Edward could do to keep from crying.

Someone…please get me out of here.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Well, this is it."

Alphonse stared up at the unfinished building before him. The top three floors didn't even have outer walls covering their metallic skeletons, and a few of the windows didn't have glass in them.

"This is a living complex?" he asked, and Izumi looked up at him over her shoulder.

"Sure…but no one actually lives here. They ran out of money trying to cover a politician's slip up when he slept with his secretary's brother."

For a moment, Alphonse didn't really register the statement, until he took it all in. If he had normal flesh and blood, he was pretty sure his face would be bright red right about now. A second later, he threw the thought aside and looked at the building determinedly. His brother was in there somewhere, and he was going to get him out no matter what.

"Remember your promise to me, Alphonse," Izumi broke the silence, speaking as if she could read his mind. "Nothing rash, okay? We don't want to risk something happening to Edward."

"Right," he replied, nodding. With a look at Sig, who also nodded, Izumi led the way in through the front door.

"Hellooooooo," she called when the portals swung open. "We're here! Anybody home?"

"Teacher! Look!"

There was a body lying on the ground a few feet from where they stood, motionless and with its back facing them. The three started forward, and Izumi grabbed a shoulder and rolled the body over.

"Another Edward-dummy," she said, breathing a sigh of relief. If the Doppelganger was still making Edward-dummies, then Edward was probably still alive.

"How are we going to be able to tell the difference between the Ed-dummies and the real Ed?" Alphonse asked, somewhat exasperated. Izumi rose to her feet and smirked.

"Easy: one, the dummies don't have faces, and two, the dummies will be wearing clothes."

Alphonse stared at her.

"Huh?"

"The first dummy I found was wearing the real Edward's clothes. All of these dummies are wearing clothes the Doppelganger transmuted. The real Edward will most likely be in his underwear."

Izumi couldn't help the grin on her face, despite the dire situation, and Alphonse shook his head.

"Poor Brother…"

Before he could say anything more, a gaggle of five Edward-shaped mannequins suddenly appeared from the sides, staggering together with jerky motions and turning to face Izumi, Alphonse, and Sig.

Alphonse balked.

"They're moving??"

"He's using alchemy to move them," Izumi grimaced, taking a step back. The three turned in surprise when they heard the doors to the building slam shut and there they found three more Edward-dummies at their backs.

"I'm surprised you decided to come," called a voice from high up. The eyes of the three down below trailed up the staircase before them to alight on a man with mousy brown hair and dark clothes. He stood with his arms crossed, stance easy and relaxed, as if he were holding all the cards. Alphonse could well guess that he was probably the Doppelganger. Izumi balled her hands into fists and took a step forward.

"Where is he?" she demanded angrily. "What did you do with Edward??"

The man grinned crazily.

"I guess you'll just have to find him, won't you?"

He put a finger against his chin and struck a mockingly thoughtful pose.

"Oh…that is, of course, if you can get past my army."

His confident demeanor slipped for a moment as the ground beneath them shuddered and quaked. Suddenly, several spikes shot up from the floor and skewered all eight of the Edward-dummies surrounding them. Everyone stared at the crouching Izumi in shock, and when the woman rose to her feet, there was a dangerous look on her face.

"I'm sorry, I was distracted. What was it you were saying about your army?"

The Doppelganger gawked in dismay before he took a step back and took off running up the stairs.

"Get back here, you sniveling little bastard!!" Izumi commanded, giving chase. Alphonse followed a step behind, and Sig brought up the rear.

Izumi reached the landing first, but when she turned to start up the next flight of stairs, she was met by ten more Edward-dummies. She took down the first one that rushed her and hopped up to meet the next one when Alphonse moved in front of her and grabbed the dummy, flipping it over his back and over her head to Sig, who reached up with one hand to grab the flying doll and smash it against the ground where it broke into several pieces.

"Teacher, go!" Alphonse said, assuming a defensive stance to meet the next eight dummies. "We'll take care of these guys! You go and find Ed!!"

Izumi nodded and moved without hesitation, though she couldn't resist bashing one of the dummies in the back of the head as she moved past. It made her feel better. In a few short minutes, she broke down the door at the top of the stairs and rolled into the hallway, rising from her crouch and turning to face the other end of the hallway. There stood the Doppelganger with a blindfolded Edward held before him, a hand over the boy's mouth and the man's switchblade at his throat. The captive's hands were bound before him, and he was only wearing his boxers. Izumi glared.

"Let him go."

The Doppelganger smirked.

"Let me kill you, and we have a deal."

It was Izumi's turn to smirk.

"As if I would agree to that."

"Then it looks like you're condemning your young apprentice to death."

Izumi shook her head.

"You're still an idiot after all these years, you know that."

The Doppelganger stared hard.

"What are you talking about?"

"Did you really think I would fall for this trick?"

The man didn't reply.

"I know that's just a dummy you're holding."

"Do you?" he asked, pressing the knife further into the boy's flesh. "Are you sure you want to test that theory?"

Izumi shook her head and crossed her arms.

"Of course I am. And let me tell you why. First of all, my apprentice wouldn't be standing there so quietly even if his mouth were covered."

"I think he's got a good reason to be quiet," the man replied, gesturing towards the switchblade.

"Wouldn't matter. There would still be some noise of some sort, but that thing isn't making a sound because it can't. Second of all, you've made a big mistake in the design."

The man rolled his eyes.

"And what, pray tell, is that?"

"Edward's right arm is made of automail."

For a moment, the man didn't react, and then he looked down at the form in his arms in shock.

"You made that doll according to how you were remembering Edward…in other words, you knew it was a right arm, but your subconscious thought it was your right instead of Edward's right. In other words…you made a reflection, not a double."

Izumi leaned forward from her waist a little.

"I believe in chess we call this a 'checkmate'," she said, grinning wickedly. "Your move."

The Doppelganger grimaced, but he didn't hesitate, scratching out some sort of transmutation circle on the dummy's back with lightning speed before shoving it forward with a slap. When the mannequin dropped to the floor, it exploded into a thick smoke cloud. Izumi covered her face, but she started coughing anyway. Before the cough could worsen and cause her to cough up blood, she clapped her hands together and dropped to the floor, using her alchemy to call up a strong whirlwind that blew away all the smoke. With a few more coughs, Izumi looked around, trying to locate her opponent, but he was no longer in the hallway. However, she figured that the slightly ajar door of the room to her right was a good clue as to where he might have gone. Fighting the urge to continue coughing, she stormed into the room, pushing the door aside in one, grand, sweeping motion, and stopping dead in her tracks at the sight waiting on the other side.

On the ground a few feet in front of her, bound, gagged, and bruised, lay the real Edward. His eyes were squeezed shut and he was trembling, no doubt due to the blade of the yari held against his throat by yet another Edward-dummy. Across the room, leaning casually against the wall, stood the Doppelganger. Izumi was about to bring her hands together to transmute something when the man lifted a hand.

"Uh, uh, uh," he said, waggling a finger. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"And why should I listen to you?"

The yari made a clinking noise as the dummy jerked it closer, and Edward let out a muffled squeak. Izumi went cold and froze.

"That's why," the Doppelganger said needlessly. "One wrong move, lady. That's all it takes."

Edward opened his eyes and stared up at her with a pleadingly terrified expression. Izumi inwardly winced as she realized how truly helpless he was, and she realized that she had to be very careful from now on. His life depended on her actions, and she couldn't afford to throw caution to the wind. Wasn't that what she had warned Alphonse against? That thought weighing heavily on her mind, she lowered her hands.

"Alright, now that that's settled…I've got a business proposition for you."

"Oh, really?"

The sarcasm was practically dripping from her tongue. The Doppelganger frowned and came forward a few steps to stand beside his doll. He leaned over his captive, who whimpered and shut his eyes.

"Now that's not a very cooperative attitude. I even gave you the chance to see your protégé one more time."

"You also promised me that you would return him unharmed."

"I told you that he might be returned unharmed. No guarantees."

Izumi glared.

"I don't take kindly to people who brutalize my students."

"I don't take kindly to people who insult me. I guess this makes us even."

The woman crossed her arms.

"What do you want?"

The Doppelganger smiled and straightened.

"Now we're getting somewhere."

He stepped around to the other side of his doll, coming around to stand only about a foot away from Izumi.

"What I want, lady, is to make you pay for the way you treated me all those years ago."

"And how do you propose to do that?"

"Ah, now see, that's the beauty of it."

He quickstepped backwards with a jovial spring in his step, and the dummy jerkily pulled the yari away from Edward's throat so that the man could hoist him to his feet. Edward let out a muffled cry of alarm, but he had no way of resisting the motion, and soon found his back pressed against the man's chest. The man craned his neck over the boy's shoulder so that their cheeks were almost touching and his chin was practically resting on the captive's shoulder. From this position, the man grinned crazily.

"I'll make a trade with you. Your life for his. Tit-for-tat. Sound fair?"

Izumi's eyes narrowed.

"An equivalent exchange," she said, and then she humphed. "How poetic."

"Indeed! And everyone benefits from this! The kid, here, gets to go on his merry way, I get to exact my revenge, and you get to die peacefully with the knowledge that you saved your protégé in the end! Sound good?"

"It does sound ideal…except that there's one thing you left out."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah…you left out the part where I get to pound your face in for involving my apprentice in your hair-brained scheme."

The man's expression hardened dangerously.

"If you've got a problem with me, you come and face me down like a man," the woman continued. "You don't go involving innocent people to use against me in your petty squabble."

"Petty??" the man spat out. "Petty?? You think that this is some petty squabble??"

"So I picked on you years ago. Get over it and grow up. You're a man, now, and if you want to sulk about this, go cry to your mommy."

At that, something in the man snapped. He shoved Edward down to the ground and gestured, and the Edward-dummy shot forward, yari leading. Izumi didn't even flinch, just very calmly clapped her hands and touched the wall to her right. A spike shaped like a screw shot out and stabbed the doll through the middle, effectively defeating it. With a growl, the man pulled a dark, forest green glove out of one of the back pockets of his pants, pulling it on and revealing the complex transmutation circle emblazoned on the palm.

"Let's see how our skills match up against one another," he growled, and then he dropped to one knee, slamming his hand into the ground and sending a transmuted wave of tile towards Izumi. The woman snorted and clapped her hands.

"No contest," she replied, likewise dropping to one knee and sending a similar shockwave out. The two waves collided with one another and cancelled each other out, leaving several cracked fragments of tile as the only evidence that something had happened. The man lifted his hand and slammed it down again, this time raising a wall that sent out a volley of spikes hurtling towards Izumi, who raised a wall of her own only a split second before the spikes hit their mark, destroying them. She shot out a few spikes of her own, following them up with a second volley of spikes, so that when the first round hit and destroyed the Doppelganger's wall, the second spray nearly hit him. One spike grazed his shin as he leaped back, drawing blood, but the man didn't let it bother him, smacking his hand against the wall. A cylinder of concrete shot out, rushing like a speeding pile driver at Izumi, who transmuted another wall to block it. However, as soon as the wall formed, she began hacking wildly, and a gout of blood spewed out from between her fingers. The Doppelganger grinned insanely.

"Looks like you've reached your limit, lady."

He stepped forward and picked up the discarded yari lying on the ground. He stared down at Izumi.

"Before I finish you off, I want to make sure you learn your lesson."

Izumi could only stare in horror as the man stalked straight for the defenseless Edward, who gave a muffled cry of alarm and tried to squirm away. Of course, the bindings lashed around his ankles hobbled him severely, and all he could do was lay there on his back, gaze up at the man petrified, and await his death.

"No!" Izumi protested, but then another gout of blood gushed up, and she couldn't move due to the fiery agony screaming through her abdomen. The Doppelganger lifted the yari up over Edward's unprotected chest, and he looked over at Izumi, smile crazed and almost animal.

"Say goodbye to you precious little protégé!" he enthused happily.

Edward screamed—but, of course the sound was muffled by the gag—and shut his eyes tightly as the man began his downward thrust. His whole body shook in terror, and his heart thumped against his ribs so hard, he thought it might burst from his chest.

This is it.

I'm going to die.

He heard Izumi shout his name, but there was nothing she or he could do. It would take a miracle to save him now.

And a miracle's what he got.

When the death blow didn't fall, Edward continued lay there with his eyes closed, wondering if his death had been so quick, he hadn't noticed. But then he heard the sound of metal scraping against metal, and he realized with surprise that he was still alive. He opened his eyes.

The sight that greeted his eyes was possibly the most welcome one he ever hoped to see. Alphonse stood above him, one arm stretched out and holding the yari at bay a few inches from Edward's chest. The Doppelganger stared in awed horror at the sight of the suit of armor before him, and his gawk only intensified as he found himself being forced back away from Edward.

"Nobody hurts my brother," Alphonse growled, voice low and threatening. In one smooth motion, he launched the man across the room, keeping a hold on the yari, which he threw to the side an instant later. The Doppelganger crashed against the wall, and he stared up in horror as Alphonse steadily stalked towards him.

"Mister, you made a lot of bad choices today. First, you kidnapped my brother. Then, you hurt him, and now you tried to kill him and my teacher."

He towered high above the man, who was now the one trembling.

"I don't think I need to tell you what happens to people who hurt the ones I care about," the fourteen year old finished lowly. Before the man could react, Alphonse smashed one of his huge fists into his jaw. Without even so much as a grunt of protest, the man slumped against the wall, unconscious. Alphonse turned away and headed back for his brother, bending down on one knee and pulling out the gag.

"Alphonse! Thank God!" Edward exclaimed breathlessly.

Alphonse helped him sit up, untying the bindings around his ankles and producing chalk to alchemically free his brother from the wrap and the tile around his hands.

"Are you alright, Brother?" he asked as he touched the circle he'd drawn on his brother's wrist restraints.

"Yeah," Edward replied huskily. Alphonse couldn't see his eyes, but he could see the trembling in his brother's hands. "I'm okay."

Izumi came over to join them, Sig close behind, and she knelt down beside Edward as he sat rubbing his left wrist, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm okay."

She studied him for a second as he ducked his head, trying to hide the thin stream of tears running down his face.

"Sorry," he said, reaching up hastily to wipe them away. "I guess I'm still a little shook up."

No one said anything, only gazed at him sympathetically. He kept rubbing at his eyes, but the tears just kept coming.

"I'm sorry," he said, giving a shaky laugh and smile. "I'll stop in a second. I promise."

Izumi didn't say a word, just put her arm around both of his shoulders and drew him into a hug, and Alphonse placed one of his large hands on his brother's head. They sat like that for a moment, until Izumi released him.

"Come on," she said, getting to her feet and helping him up. Alphonse produced his brother's red jacket from somewhere and handed it to him, and Edward slid into it gratefully. Izumi tousled his hair and looked at him fondly.

"Let's get you home."

They started out, Sig dragging the Doppelganger behind him by the ankles. Ed's pocket-watch fell out of his pocket, and the fifteen year old picked it, glaring down at the man. He would never forget how helpless this man had made him feel, but looking over at Alphonse—faithful, wonderful Alphonse—it didn't matter. Edward took his next step forward with his brother, keeping in mind that as long as he had Alphonse, he was never truly beyond help.

And he aimed to keep it that way.

THE END

I hope you liked this fic!! Please review and tell me what you liked and/or didn't like! I appreciate it!!