Hello there all you readers. First of all thanks for clicking and being willing to read. This is my first fic and kinda nervous for how it will turn out. But I guess I should probably let you be the judges. ENJOY!

Disclamier: I do NOT own Fullmetal Alchemist (sniff) all rights go to Hiromu Arakawa

"Welcome Fullmetal"

Roy mustang leaned over and stretched out his hand to the short, golden hair teenage boy standing on the other side of the desk. He looked down at the hand, staring at it like you would at a poisonous snake, and then folded his arms across his chest. Roy withdrew his hand and leaned back in his chair.

"Just as charming as ever I see. Did you grow since the last time that I saw you?" Roy cocked his head and looked the boy up and down, then smirked. "Nope, still just as short."

One of the boy's arms dropped to his side, while he brought the other one up and clenched his hand into a fist. His golden eyes narrowed, his face grew dark and his whole body started to shake. He opened his mouth and Roy braced himself for the onslaught of terribly off based accusations and colourful words that would soon spew out. But before the boy could utter a sound, a big leather hand came up and rested on his shoulder.

"Big brother, it's okay." A soft voice whispered. Roy's eyes flowed from the leather hand to the tall body of armour standing behind the boy.

"Well, hello Alphonse."

Ed grit his teeth and slowly lowered his arm to his side. Al was talking calmly with the Colonel now, but he still kept his hand on Ed's shoulder. Most likely he thought that he was going to have to restrain him again. He might just have to if this kept up, Ed was still shaking.

Stupid dammed Colonel! First he calls me here on a Saturday, and then he starts insulting me. Just who the hell does he thing he is anyway?

Al's hand squeezed his shoulder and Ed realized that he had been clenching his hands and muttering to himself. He clamped his teeth shut and forced his hands open, then he shoved his right hand into his pants pocket and fingered the silver watch inside.

"So Colonel, is there a reason that you called us here today?" Al asked. The Colonel opened a draw in the desk, pulled out a piece of paper and laid it on the desk in front of them. Ed reached over and picked it up. It was a drawing of a middle aged man with dark hair, high cheekbones and glasses. His hair was pulled back behind him and he had a small beard. He also had a scar on the right side of his face running from his hairline to his lip where it pulled the corner of his lip up into a permanent sneer.

"And just who is this supposed to be?" Ed asked slapping the paper. "Is he a friend of yours?" The colonel stiffened and shot a glare at Ed who shrugged.

"His name is Michael Phelps." The colonel said laying his hands on the desk. "He knows Alchemy and is real good at it to. He was actually a State Alchemist and he-"

"Wait" Ed injected raising his hand. "You say 'was', what happened to him?"

The Colonel winced. "You may be short but nothing much gets by you does it Fullmetal?" he sighed. Ed tensed and he started to shake, but Al squeezed his shoulder again. "It's true; Phelps is no longer a State Alchemist. When he was called in for assessment a couple of years ago he asked for a few more days to finish a project. When the days passed and he still had nothing to show, they took away his license and left him a normal Alchemist." The Colonel shook his head. "It's too bad too, he was real good and that project he was working on seemed important."

"Ok so this is all fine and dandy to sit here and cry because some guy failed his assessment, but you still have one question to answer." Ed leaned forward and put his hands on the desk. "Why are we here?" The Colonel stood up and walked over to the window, placing his back to them.

"Phelps was spotted a week ago living outside of Central. A patrol stumbled upon him in the woods and when they tried to talk to him, he attacked them with Alchemy. But it was extremely powerful, more than he could muster up by himself.'

Al leaned over the desk beside Ed. "What exactly are you getting at Colonel?" The Colonel just stood there, staring out the window. "Colonel?" Still no response.

"Dammit Colonel!" Ed shouted slapping the desk. "What is it?" The colonel turned to face them, his face tense and his hands stiff at his side.

"Somehow, Phelps has a Philosopher Stone." The words hit Ed like a punch in the stomach. He and Al looked at each other and then back at the Colonel. "And that's not all. Apparently he used this stone to finish his project" The Colonel walked back to his desk, pulled out another piece of paper and slapped it on the desk in front of them. Another drawing, but this one looked like a bug.

"What the?" Ed said picking up the paper and studying. The whole thing was made of metal. Its 6 tiny legs, and the body, but its small red eyes were glass. Ed handed it off to Al, and then turned back to the colonel. "Just what is that thing?"

"After the first run in, we sent many troops to get Phelps and bring him in for questioning. They were attacked with Alchemy as well, but some surviving soldiers said that they were also attacked by their own men! When the search party went and rescued the survivors, they found a dead man with this on his neck. They brought the man back and drew this picture. We wanted to take it apart, but the second it was removed, it self-destructed.

"So do you know what this is?" Al asked gesturing to the picture he still held. Ed felt a shiver go down his spine. He had a feeling that whatever it was, it wasn't good.

"We had the doctors perform an autopsy on the body and they found something very interesting. Apparently that thing uses its 6 tiny legs to dig into the person's neck and attach itself to the central nervous system. From there it can manipulate the bearer. "

"Now hold on a second. You're telling us that that thing can control a person?" Ed asked pointing to the picture Al was still holding.

The Colonel nodded. "Essentially, yes. That's why those men were attacked by each other, because some of them were being controlled." The colonel reached up and rubbed his temples. "It is quite a problem, and frankly I can't figure out why he's being so stubborn. This brings me to the reason you're here." The Colonel put his hands firmly on the desk and leaned towards them, his expression serious.

"Fullmetal. I want you to go and bring back Phelps and his twisted invention."

Ed walked down a quiet sidewalk, kicking rocks out of his way and watching as they bounced out into the street. "You know, I really dislike that stupid bastard Colonel." Ed said, giving a stone a good hard kick, sending it flying to the other side of the street. "He really makes me mad!"

"Yea, I noticed." Al replied, walking beside Ed. The familiar creaking of leather straps against armour filled the emptiness in the air. "So we're going after this Michael Phelps guy?"

Ed grunted. "It's not like we have a choice. According to the Colonel he can't do it himself because he's too busy with 'other work'." Ed snorted. "He probably sits on the phone and talks to girls all day." Ed pretended to hold up a phone, and then made a face.

Al laughed. "Yea, you're probably right. So how are we gonna tell Winry? We were supposed to show her around Central while she's visiting. She's only here for a few days."

Ed bent down, picked up a rock and turned it over in his hands studying it. "Don't worry about it. I already called the hotel and they wrote down a note and had it delivered to her hotel room. She'll get it." Ed hoped that she would understand and leave the subject alone. If he had told her in person, she would have asked questions and would have wanted an explanation. That's why he had used a note. Then again, the note would really only postpone him having to answer them, because knowing her, she would ask them when they got back.

"So, do we know where we're supposed to go?" Al asked looking up and down the street. "You still have the map that the Colonel gave us right?"

Ed reached into his red coat pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Yep. It's right here." Ed unfolded it to reveal a map of Central and its surrounding grounds. Just outside the south side of Central in a small forest was Michael Phelps's location, which the Colonel had circled with a red marker. "We gotta turn left on this street coming up." Ed said pointing a head with his free hand.

"Okay." Al said. "Let's find Michael Phelps and bring him back in time to take Winry out to dinner." Ed and Al looked at each other and laughed.

Yea. Ed thought. Let's make this short and sweet so I can get back to my Saturday.

Those dummy heads! This happens every time I'm with them. Their always in a rush to go somewhere, or do something. So they just take off and half the time I don't even get a proper god-bye.

Winry laid the note back down on the table where she had found it. Ed and Al were supposed to be giving her a tour of Central, but this morning Ed got a call from Colonel Mustang. It must have been important because Ed said he had to go meet him for a little bit, and Al tagged along. When they hadn't returned by noon, she went to lunch by herself, called Granny and then returned to the room to find this note waiting for her. A short note saying that they wouldn't be back for a while yet, they had to go find someone and talk to them about something.

"Oh, sometimes they make me so mad!" Winry snatched up the note again. "If they think that sending me a note will stop me from asking question then they're so wrong! Why I atta!" Winry crumpled the note in her hand, chucked it as hard as she could at the wall and watched, satisfied as it bounced off and tumbled under the bed.

Winry nodded her head in satisfaction and then placed a finger under her chin.

I suppose I'll just go and explore Central by myself, seeing as my escorts aren't here to show me around. Winry thought as grabbed her coat off of the bed. Let's see, Ed and Al both said that the South side was the least busy during the day. I guess I could start there.

Winry continued to plan out the rest of her day in her head as she closed the door behind herself and locked it tight.

"Big brother, are you sure this is it?" Al asked. They were standing in front of a broken down shack. Gaping holes had been hastily covered up by stripes of cloth or chunks of wood. A single window had a ripped and dirty sheet hanging in it and the door creaked as it swung on a small rusty hinge. Small, twisted metal shapes lay scattered in bushes, trees and scattered across the ground. A string of cans hanging in a tree clanged together in the wind.

"Well this is the exact location on the map." Ed said, glancing back and forth from the piece of paper to the shack. "But it doesn't look like anyone's here. Maybe he left after that last attack." Ed sighed. "I suppose that we should go and check it out, since we came all this way already." He folded the paper, put it back in his coat pocket and started towards the shack.

"I actually kinda hope that no one is there." Al said as he caught up to Ed. "This place gives me the creeps. I mean, it's so quiet and…well…eerie." Al laughed. "You know, if I had hair, it would probably be standing straight up hey big brother?" Ed didn't answer. "Big brother?" Nothing. Al gasped and he quickly whirled around, searching for him.

Ed was standing behind Al, his back to him, facing the trees. His whole body was tense and his head swivelled, scanning the tree line behind them.

"I just got this feeling that someone is watching me. Like someone is hiding in the trees right now." Ed explained peering into the forest. "But I can't see anything."

Al sighed in relief. Good, for a moment he had thought that something bad had happened to Ed. "Big brother, we're in a forest that probably has wild animals in it. It could just be a squirrel or something."

"Maybe." Ed said turning around. "Or maybe I'm just paranoid." Ed shook his head and peered up at the sky. "Whatever it was we can't waste time worrying about it. If we're going in we gotta hurry, because those clouds coming in look full of rain." Ed walked to the shack, opened the door and walked inside. Al took a peak at the forest behind him, shrugged his shoulders and followed Ed through the doorway.

A chuckle escaped from somewhere in the forest, and drifted through the air until the wind grabbed it and carried it off. Then a faint sound of rustling leaves and snapping twigs, as a shadow moved further back into the trees. Golden hair in a braid, red coat and short. The Fullmetal kid. Which meant the big suit of armour was his little brother.

The shadow chuckled again. It'd been hoping that they would send those two, but never thought that they actually would. They were all playing right into its hand without even realizing it.

The shadow moved swiftly through the growth, heading straight to a certain tree. There the shadow stretched a hand into a knot hole and pulled out a shiny metal box. It opened the lid and smiled at what lay inside. The new upgrade made especially for these two guests.

"You don't know what you're getting into Fullmetal." The shadow cackled. "This is just the beginning. Shall we play?"

So that's chapter 1. Please review if you enjoyed and remember all people who review will get 100 Griffin kisses. :D Everybody loves those right?