Truth

or

The Sequel to Hang, Which Is the Sequel of Gates

or

In Which Ed Is Missing In Action (Again), and Mustang Does Much Sighing

The talks with the people of Amestris had been going well; they'd gotten to the point of trading technologies and the meeting of world leaders. Sort of. The Amestrians at least trusted them enough to send their Fuhrer through the gate in person, albeit with guards. Coming with the man was some examples of the things the Amestrians had to offer--and the SGC had been assured, what they had to offer was great.

To be fair, most were reserving judgment on what a civilization stuck about a century into their past could have for them.

Whenever the meeting was held at the SGC, the Elric brothers were the ones who were sent, and vice versa for SG-1. It worked. Ed and Al already had a (varying) rapport with members of the SGC.

The first people through the gate were the brothers Elric themselves, who immediately turned to watch two other people come through. The man in the lead had dark hair and a black patch over one eye, dressed in blue military finery. The woman at his right and slightly behind was in the same uniform, though a bit less decorated, and had blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. Ed's face was set into an expression of annoyance, like just being in the presence of this man was harmful to his sanity.

General Landry wondered what kind of man this Fuhrer was, to instill such hostility in the older Elric. Of course, knowing Ed as he did now, it could have been any number of reasons, some even good.

The Fuhrer was led up to the briefing room by Ed and Al, who probably knew the layout of the entire base by then. Up close, Landry could see the man's black eye, narrowed in calculation and thought. The woman with him, presumably a guard, was attractive, but not distractingly so. She was alert, yellow eyes darting around the room. Like they were in enemy territory.... Good to be wary, if not entirely respectful of their alliance.

They sat down at opposite ends of the table. The Earth ambassador hadn't arrived yet, but all of SG-1 was seated at Landry's end. Ed had insisted on their presence, probably because he trusted them to tell the Amestrians when they were being fed bullshit, and the Fuhrer had backed him up.

"Fullmetal." The Fuhrer said, looking meaningfully at Ed.

The young man sighed, rolled his eyes, and said in a tone that clearly stated he was being forced to do so, "Fuhrer Mustang of Amestris," He waved a hand flippantly in the darker man's general direction. "General Landry of the SGC, America, Earth." Motioning to Landry.

Mustang half-glared at Ed, then smirked. He seemed very good at smirking. "Fullmetal may not have told you, but he's a general in our military."

Ed sat up straighter, his accusing glare telling Mustang he had no right to reveal that (ignoring that he actually did) and several eyes widened.

Landry cleared his throat. "Ah, no, actually, he did not." Shooting a glance at Ed, wondering. The blond was back to slumping in his seat, glaring balefully about the room.

Mustang's smirk had not faded, but he turned to the real object of conversation. "Now, you want technology to advance yourselves, and you offer it to us... in a limited amount. If we had something you wanted, you would pay more to get it. I understand this correctly?"

Well, he put it a bit blunter, but that was technically what they'd said. General Landry, mildly embarrassed at his government's tight fist, told him so.

Mustang smirked again, but instead of the earlier 'I'm going to piss you off for my own amusement' smirk, it was more of a 'I know something you don't know' one. It was actually more annoying than the first. "Well then. Fullmetal is here both as a guard... and a demonstration." Then he nodded at Ed.

Edward couldn't resist big and flashy impressions, even when they benefitted the Fuhrer, and so it had been reltively easy to convince him to do they following(1).

He clapped his hands together, and placed them on the table. It glowed and lights shot from it, but not enough to obscure the plain fact that the table was becoming something that was not a table. When the light show faded about three seconds after it started, there was an intricately carved wooden horse, each hair in its mane and coat visible down to the finest detail. It was caught in the motion of rearing up, mouth open in a silent whinny, hooves pawing the air.

"I thought we agreed on a statue of me." Mustang muttered in a tone that was definitely not whiny, not in the slightest.

Ed shrugged and gave a smirk of his own.

After the explanation of alchemy (which was met with awe and suspicion by Sam, and left Daniel slightly speechless) Ed had gone on to show them his automail (though not without much protestation at Mustang using him like a display stand) which prompted more explanations and a promise to bring in Ed's mechanic, Winry, to give a more in-depth view of the prosthetic.

And then Landry had to report to his superiors, and the ambassador arrived, the last two hours were repeated for the man, they moved the horse out and brought in an actual table, and things were arranged. Ed, however, had flatly told the Fuhrer he was not going to do any more than he already had, and Mustang was lucky he'd consented to this much. So he was left out of the plans.

Theirs, at least.

Ed woke up, and subsequently became aware of a throbbing lump of pain on the back of his head. Why did his head feel like he'd gone up against Greed, Envy, and Gluttony all at once? Oh, right. He'd been with Sam and Al in her lab, and there was a military guy calling them back to the briefing room, and then there were more military men waiting outside. He'd barely had time to react before the one had walloped him over the head. And it had taken two more hits in the same spot to knock him fully out, he recalled. He let himself feel a bit of pride that even dazed and taken by surprise he had been able to take one of them out.

Wait--Al and Sam and Al! they must have them, too, and he'd been kidnapped before, he knew the drill. They would use Al against him, they would use Al, hurt him.

It was around this time Ed opened his eyes and found himself in a concrete cell, alone, watched by one of those cameras. His automail arm was gone, but his leg thankfully was still attached. With only one hand and a bare cell, they couldn't handcuff him, but without his arm to make a circle, they had rendered his alchemy useless.

Or so they thought.

First he felt the knot on the back of his head, the blood still wet but not flowing anymore. He used it to draw a faint array on the door, and then transmuted his way out. First things first, to find Al--or his arm.

Mustang sighed. Fullmetal had once again gotten himself kidnapped--or he might have staged the whole thing to get out of the base, but that was pushing even for the volatile little alchemist. Either way, he was gone, and Mustang was left to deal with everything else. He mentally cursed the older Elric, who seemed to do this sort of thing just to irritate the Fuhrer.

"You don't seem very concerned at all for your subordinate, Fuhrer." General Landry said in a faintly accusing tone.

"Of course not, it's Fullmetal. If he hasn't escaped by now, those poor people who took him are wishing he had."

Those assembled to deal with this breach of security were confused, causing Mustang to sigh again.

Dammit, Fullmetal.

Ed had been caught again, shortly after breaking out. He'd turned a corner to find some guys holding up his unconcious brother, a gun to his head, and been forced to give himself up. He wasn't about to risk Al's life.

Times like these made him think somewhat longingly of the days when the only part of Al he had to be concerned about was the little three-inch wide array on his armor.

At least they'd placed him in a cell with Al this time. He was sure they had his little brother drugged up, but without knowing the drug, he couldn't use his knowledge of biological alchemy (and there was a lot of it) to help him.

Sometime later, more goons came in, and behind them the man who was Boss here. Said man regarded him for a while, until Ed gave him the finger. For some reason, this pissed the guy off.

"You will answer my questions, or we'll wake up your brother there and shoot him somewhere nonvital." Bossman said.

Ed snorted. "I'll tell you nothing!" Knowing full well he'd tell them everything, if it meant keeping Al safe.

"What technology do you use to change things?"

"It's called alchemy, idiot, and its pure science. Of course, none of you could use it."

"Why's that? Is the device specified to your physiology? We know it is somewhere inside your body, and we will find it--"

"No, you can't use it because you're not smart enough. You have to know a lot about everything, it takes time. No one over the age of thirty has any hope of becoming an alchemist. They just can't do it."

"I think you're lying to me. I think you don't want to give up your technology. And I think we should show you how serious we are." Bossman motioned to one of his goons, who raised his gun and cocked it back to shoot.

"You're lying, or else how could a child like you use such a thing? Answer me truthfully and this won't have to happen again." Another motion, and the guy's finger tightened around the trigger--

A wall shot up to stop the bullet, but the transmutation didn't stop there. Another part of the floor welled up into a giant fist, which slammed the men against the wall and sunk them into it. Ed was silently thankful their search of his pockets had missed the piece of chalk in the hem of his shirt. A white array was drawn blindly behind him.

Bossman was the only one still conscious. Ed stood up and went over to him, gaze icy cold. "Now, if you tell me the truth, I won't have to remove some limbs." He said. (2)

Ed had since regained his arm, wakened his brother, and remembered that Sam was kidnapped as well(3) just as he was at the door to freedom. Then he'd had to turn around and look for her, which took a bit but she was soon found to be drugged and in a hospital bed, none the worse for wear. The trio walked out of the building just as black vans were driving up, full of military guys ready to do some rescuing.

In the midst of the resulting confusion, Ed found himself before the Fuhrer.

"Fullmetal."

"Bastard."

"You're slipping. It took you nine hours to break out."

"Hey, I was knocked out for the first eight or so."

Mustang smirked. "No excuse." He taunted. "I'm surprised they could find you at all, being so lit--" Ed jumped forward to try and punch his Fuhrer.

Mustang sighed as the Fullmetal Alchemist was once again restrained from killing the leader of their country.(4)

(1) Mustang only had to raise his pay and research grants (a lot)

(2) If this scene was unclear, Bossman was under the impression that alchemy was a cover story for a device implanted in the body. He wanted such tech for himself, and orchestrated the kidnapping. Unfortunately, Ed wasn't so agreeable with the interrogation process.

(3) He'd forgotten in the rush to save Al from death and/or injury.

(4) He does this a lot.

If the quality of this story is degenerating (i.e. details and conversations and scenes skipped or gone over briefly) it's because I'm losing interest. Sorry. This is likely the last chapter, as the amount of plot in my mind is completely gone (and there wasn't that much to begin with).

I would like to thank all of my reviewers, who encouraged a continuation. Sorry it couldn't be a big multi-part, plotful thing.