[Fullmetal Alchemists and it's attendant characters and settings are created by Hiromu Arakawa, and distributed by Square-Enix, Viz and Funimation. No profit is made from this story. The villains in this piece and Mrs. Finch are my own original characters.]

What Makes a Man - Chapter IV: A Hard Decision

by Anne Packrat

-ooo-

Both prisoners were forcibly propelled through two sets of doors into the building, and pushed down into a chair. The blindfold was removed, and Roy blinked owlishly at the sudden return of light. Once his eyes adjusted, he looked around and saw that he appeared to be in yet another abandoned warehouse. For some reason, an expensive looking rug had been rolled out on the floor, and a table and chairs had been set up. On the table was an elegant looking tea set. In the corner were several statues, he noted with some alarm. Statues very similar to the ones found at the crime scene earlier.

He was relieved to see that in the chair next to him was Hawkeye. Across the table sat Evelyn, and in the other sat an impeccably groomed black-haired man in his late twenties. Roy glanced over at Riza's chair, behind which One-Eye stood with a gun pointed at her. The sound of a gun being cocked behind his own chair confirmed that he was in a similar position, but his menacer was likely Tiny.

The man spoke and smiled warmly. "Hello. It is such a pleasure to meet you. I have heard many tales of the Flame Alchemist's exploits." He turned toward Riza. "And the same welcome extends, of course, to the famed Hawk's Eye sniper."

Roy adjusted his position; the gun held on him creaked as it also changed position. Roy fixed a neutral expression onto his face and looked at the man before him. "And what do you we call you? 'His Holiness' seems a bit too formal for my tastes."

The man laughed. It had a rich, but somehow cold sound to it. "I am Dominic Sterling. Perhaps you have heard of me?"

The name didn't ring a bell with Roy, but apparently it did with Hawkeye. "Dominic Sterling is one of the most prominent railroad tycoons in Amestris. He's the second son of the noble family. Several years ago he decided to enter the business world, and now he controls or outright owns forty percent of all shipping that occurs in this country. There are rumors that he is involved in more shady ventures, but nothing was ever proven. He is also one of the main people we were focusing on in the investigations of the murders."

Sterling gave a mock bow when she finished. "I am impressed, the lady has done her homework." He paused. "Oh, right, that's no longer the case is it? I suppose I should say the gentleman has done his homework." He smiled.

Roy looked over at Hawkeye, but her only reaction to the barb was a slight downturn to her mouth. He looked back at Sterling. "So why did you bring us here?"

Sterling shrugged. "I got impatient waiting for you all to figure it out. Really I expected more from your team, Mustang."

A brief flash of anger rose at his words, but Roy tamped it down before it could show. "So you wanted to be caught?"

Looking thoughtful, Sterling said, "Well, not particularly. But I was growing bored of this game. Plus, I wanted to see the one great alchemical masterpiece of Adam Hill in person."

"What do you mean?" Roy asked with a puzzled look on his face.

Sterling took three cups off the tray and poured tea into each. "Evelyn, be a dear and take these over to the Colonel and his aide." With a bow and a look of adoration Evelyn did so. Neither Roy nor Riza touched the cups.

"Oh do try it," Sterling said, "It's quite good. It's Xingese Green Tea." When again, neither moved to take it, Sterling shrugged. "Suit yourself." He took a sip of his own.

"What are you playing at, Sterling?" Roy said, his patience wearing thin.

Carefully putting his teacup down, Sterling wove his fingers together and rested them on his lap. "I suppose if this was a dime-store pulp story, this would be the part where the villain reveals his grand plan to the intrepid hero?" He smiled and stared at Roy. "It's also traditional to have some sort of deadly trap that the hero is caught up in, right? I'm afraid I didn't have time to prepare one. My apologies."

Roy crossed his arms. "Is it too much for you to give me a straight answer?"

Sterling shook his head. "Not at all!" He reached down for his tea, wrapping his hand around the cup, pinky sticking out. He took a deliberate sip. "Go ahead and ask whatever you wish."

Roy leaned forward and pointed toward the boxes. "What the hell is it with you and all these goddamn abandoned warehouses?"

Riza's eyes widened. "Sir! That's not an issue here!"

Holding out a hand to forestall any more protests, Roy said, "Hawkeye, forgive me, but I have to know!"

Looking decidedly nonplussed, Sterling blinked several times, then let out a bark of laughter. "You are funny, Roy Mustang! You should be in vaudeville." He took another sip of tea. "If you must know, I own many empty warehouses throughout Central. I keep them empty and use them as a tax write-off." He chuckled to himself. "You have amused me, Mustang. I think you've earned some sort of explanation, at least."

"Good," Roy said, a slight smirk forming on his lips. His little ploy had worked. "What were you saying earlier about Adam Hill? What is your connection to him?"

Sterling leaned back. "Ah, poor Adam. Such a shame. He was once a brilliant man you know, but then he went mad and became obsessed with angels. His sanity was pretty much all gone when he died."

"Angels?" Hawkeye asked.

Nodding, Sterling said, "The classical image of an angel, that of a sexless, winged, divine being, was what fascinated him most. He became completely consumed with creating one. He did work mostly on the wings, and ultimately he hit on the idea of making bird-human chimeras. Almost all of them were ugly and misshapen things though. Only one survived for more than a day." He gestured to One Eye who glared at him impassively. "That's the only successful chimera the man made, and even still, he's a disfigured hunchback. The only real success Adam had in all of his research was you two."

Roy frowned. "What does this have to do with us?"

"Another avenue of research he was exploring was how to make a gender neutral being. He didn't succeed in that, of course, but I'd say the first successful complete gender swap of two humans is impressive yes?" He grinned. "I must say I was quite tickled to hear that old Adam had transmuted the Flame Alchemist into a girl."

Said alchemist scowled. "So what the hell is up with this 'God' business?"

Sterling put down his cup and turned to the woman beside him. "Evelyn, can you please go make more tea?"

Bobbing her head, she replied "Yes, my Lord!" She strode out a door in the back.

"You should probably drink your tea now, because Evelyn can't make a good cup to save her life," Sterling replied. Once she was out of earshot he continued, "I didn't wish Evelyn to hear this, but I'll let you in on a secret." He leaned forward and his voice dropped to a dramatic whisper, "I'm not really a God."

"You don't say?" Roy said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

Sterling leaned back and took another sip of tea. "Actually, the alchemists came up with that themselves. It's all a bit embarrassing, really." He shrugged. "I gave them everything they needed to make their dreams come true, and by the time I gave them philosopher's stones, they had already come to think I was some sort of messiah. Alchemists generally aren't stable people to begin with, and they just took it a step further." He blinked in confusion and gave Roy an apologetic look. "Present company excluded, of course."

"Of course," Roy echoed, "So, what do you personally get out of this?"

"Simply put, it amuses me," Sterling said, a smile on his face, "Plus there is always the slight chance that they could produce something useful."

Roy's hands tightened into fists, and his teeth clenched. Beside him, Riza was struggling to keep herself under control "Amusing?" he said, getting louder as she went on, "You find the torture and killing of innocent people amusing?"

Finally finishing his tea, Sterling deposited his cup on the saucer. He grinned and leaned forward, a determined glint in his eyes. "Why yes, I do. If the government can slaughter an entire race of innocent people under the pretext of a 'war,' then what's wrong with me finding the killing of a few petty thieves, prostitutes, and street trash amusing?"

Her body tense, Riza could no longer keep silent. "You let that woman murder children!"

"And you didn't?" Sterling returned. His gentlemanly mask was torn away, and he now regarded both soldiers with an icy glare. "I know what you two did in the war. You of all people have no right to judge me. I've had enough of this." He gestured to the two goons. "Kill them."

"Wait!" Roy cried out, "I have one request before you kill us." Sterling glared at him suspiciously, but eventually he nodded for Roy to continue. "My lieutenant loves tea, but she's never been able to afford Xingese green tea. Can she have a cup before she dies?"

"Sir?" Riza asked staring at him with confusion. Roy briefly flicked his eyes toward the covered man behind her. Her eyes widened in understanding, then she nodded ever so slightly. "Er, yes," Riza said, her attention on Sterling, "Please let me have a cup."

Sterling shrugged. "Who am I to refuse the request of a former-lady?" He took a new cup and poured out a measure of tea. He slid it over to Hawkeye. She picked it up and brought it to her mouth to take a sip… Then proceeded to fling the hot liquid with all her might into the yellow orb of One Eye. The bandaged covered man let out an inhumane screech and clutched his eye with both hands, dropping his rifle, which Hawkeye promptly picked up.

At the same time, Roy elbowed Tiny in the gut, then turned and kicked him in the groin. Tiny fell to the floor howling and clutching his privates. Roy grabbed Tiny's rifle and whirled on Sterling. "You really need to get better goons," he said to the businessman.

Frozen in shock, Sterling slowly put his hands up. "Okay, we can talk about this, right?" he said carefully. "I have something you want." He reached toward his coat pocket.

There was a loud click as Hawkeye turned off the rifle's safety.

Sterling gulped in fear, but continued reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small object and briefly showed it to the two soldiers. It was a red-hued stone. "I think you know what this is," he said, "It's my last one, and it's almost used up, but it should be enough to change you back."

Suddenly, Evelyn entered carrying a teapot. She stopped in shock when she saw what was happening. "Why are you pointing guns at his Holiness?"

"Just a disagreement, Evelyn," Sterling said his voice level, "Come and put the teapot down." Trembling, the woman did as she was told. "Now Evelyn, those statues in the corner, you just made them a little over a day ago right?" The woman slowly nodded. "So, they are still alive then?" Another nod.

Raising the stone above his head, Sterling threw it onto the table and turned to Roy. "It's your choice, Mustang. Let me go and you can have the stone, saving those poor petrified people in the process. Or, you could let them die and fix yourself and your lieutenant. It's up to you."

"Not my art!" Evelyn cried, "You can't destroy my art!" She flung herself at Mustang knocking him over and sending the rifle clattering to the ground. All Roy could do was use his arms to protect his face from the woman's furious assault.

Sterling took advantage of Roy's distraction and ran toward the back of the warehouse. Two shots from Hawkeye narrowly missed him, the slugs imbedding themselves deep into the wall near the door. She cursed and ran to help the colonel. The two were struggling on the ground, Evelyn screaming incoherently and beating at Roy with her fists.

Riza seized one of the mad woman's arms, and between the two of them, they managed to pin her to the ground. "Blasphemers! Heathens!" Evelyn said, spittle flecking her chin, "Don't you dare touch my offerings to God!"

Seeing that Hawkeye had Evelyn pinned, Roy went over and picked up the Stone. He went back and crouched down next to the pinned woman. "Is the circle to change those people back the same as the one drawn on the floor of your workshop?"

She spat in his face.

Riza grabbed a hunk of the woman's hair and pulled her neck back at a painful angle. Evelyn grunted in pain. "You will answer the colonel."

"Yes! Yes, it's the same! Let go!" The sniper relaxed her grip. letting Evelyn's head bang against the floor. "Ow, that hurt, you bastard!"

"Sir?" Hawkeye asked, "Do you need this woman for anything else?"

Roy blinked in surprise. "No, not really. If the circle is the same as one at the crime scene, I can reverse the transmutation myself."

"Good." She swiftly whacked Evelyn upside her head with the butt of her rifle, knocking the woman unconscious. "I've been wanting to do that ever since the car ride. All that clapping was really annoying."

A grin formed on Roy's face, but it quickly faded when the reality of the situation came back to him. He put his hand on her arm. "Riza, I don't really have a choice here. I have to free those people…"

She stood and brushed off her pants. "I know. You have to do the right thing."

"I'm really sorry about this." He squeezed her arm in apology.

Riza put her hand over his and smiled down at him. "I'm not."

-ooo-

Dominic Sterling rushed around his darkened house with a lantern, stuffing clothes, money and papers into a suitcase. "Where the hell is that passport?" he said angrily as he rifled through clothing and a stack documents.

"And just where do you think you're going?" said a sultry voice out of the gloom.

Sterling swung the flashlight around. "Who's there?"

A very attractive black-haired woman with curves in all the right places stepped out into the narrow beam of light. She was wearing a slinky black dress with red piping that hugged her body tightly. Behind her, Sterling could dimly make out the shape of a similarly dressed rotund man.

"We've come to get a return on our investment," Lust said.

Eyes wide, Sterling waved his hands in front of his chest. "I need more time. I had a temporary setback you see, and-"

Lust strode forward, fixing him to the ground with a predatory glare. "You've had a year, and nothing to show for it." She paused just in front of him, "And no, giving the Flame Alchemist a nice rack doesn't count."

"Please!" Sterling pleaded, "Just another few days-"

Black nails shot forward and pierced his chest. "I'm afraid we need to terminate our contract." Sterling, gurgled, spat up blood and dropped heavily to the ground as soon as Lust retracted her claws.

"Can I eat him, please?" said Gluttony. His eyes glittered as he stared at the bleeding corpse.

Lust waved him on. "Go ahead. He's no use to us now."

Gluttony grinned and went to his meal with gusto.

After a few minutes, Lust's curiosity got the better of her. "So what does a god taste like?"

Putting a bloody finger in his mouth, Gluttony took some moments to ponder this. Finally he pulled his finger out of his mouth with a pop. "Tastes like chicken!"

-ooo-

Epilogue

The doorbell to Roy's apartment rang. He groaned and stood, loathe to move from where he had been sacked out on the couch. The door opened to reveal Riza Hawkeye.

"Lieutenant?" he asked in surprise, "Is something wrong?"

Riza shook her head. "No, I just wanted to check on you. Can I come in?"

Roy took a step back. "Of course."

She stooped to collect some bags and hurried in. Roy closed the door behind her.

"So how are you enjoying your first menstrual cycle, sir?" she asked, with a hint of mischief in her voice.

Roy put his hand on his head and collapsed back onto the couch. "It's awful!" he exclaimed, "I am so incredibly sorry I ever made fun of any woman's period. And I swear on the graves of my ancestors, that I will never ever do it again."

Riza grinned. "I'm sure the women of the world are very grateful, sir." Her grin faded. "I have some news about the case."

That got his attention. He sat up and turned toward her. "Did they find Sterling?"

She shook her head. "Not yet, I'm afraid. The investigators have found no trace of him at all. They feel he's either fled the country or met an untimely end elsewhere."

"If only that were the case," Roy sighed. "Anything else?"

Nodding, Riza continued. "There is some good news. Sterling's two henchmen have both been sentenced to lengthy prison terms. Evelyn Hirsh has been found guilty of multiple counts of murder, but she has been remanded to the prison mental institution."

"I suppose that is the best place for her," he said, running his hand through his hair, "Any news on the survivors?"

"They are still recovering from the strain of their ordeal and the two transmutations. Four of them are awake in various degrees of recovery, but the fifth, an ex-con named Issac Stone, is still in a coma."

Sighing, Roy leaned back on the couch. "I guess they can't all be winners, huh?" His eyes fell on the packages in Riza's hands. "Is that more clothes?"

"Yes," Riza said sadly, "I've taken out what I can wear, but most of them don't fit me anymore. They'll do more good in your closet than in mine. At least you can wear them."

Roy's smirk appeared, "Is there any underwear in there?"

She frowned and looked down at the bag and back up Roy. "I think so, why? I washed them if that's what your worried about."

"No, it's not that," Roy said shaking his head. His smirk grew, "I just find the idea of you giving me your old underwear kinda sexy."

Hawkeye rolled her eyes. "And yet, I don't find the thought of you giving me your old boxers to be appealing at all."

She lightly tossed the bag of clothes at him in hopes of getting him to be quiet. It didn't work.

"Com'n, Riza," Roy said, giving her his best pout, "You gotta find it at least a little arousing."

Sighing, Riza replied, "It's just a piece of clothing, Roy. It doesn't mean anything else."

Roy humphed and picked through the bag's contents. He came across a small box "What's this?" He looked up at Riza, and was surprised to see she was blushing.

Riza looked at the floor, her cheeks pink. "That's from General Gruuman. Apparently it was my grandmother's."

He opened the box and was shocked to find a modest but well-made gold ring inside with a row of three small diamonds on top. "Riza, I-I don't understand."

Riza's cheeks were even redder than before. She examined the floor in minute detail. "Grandfather said it was only proper for my fiancee to have a ring."

Roy frowned, his brows furrowed in puzzlement. "But, that was only-" he was cut off mid-sentence.

"I know, but we've known each other for a long time, and apparently there has been talk between you two about this topic before." She gave him a quick glare. "A talk I was never told about, by the way."

He laughed nervously. "Oh, well, I didn't know he was your grandfather did I?" He looked down at the ring. "I can't accept this, Riza." He held out the ring box to her.

She closed her hand over his. This time she looked at him, but her cheeks were tomato-red. "Roy," she began, "It may have been grandfather's suggestion, but I'm not adverse to the idea." She smiled weakly. "Later, I mean, after you become Fuhrer."

Roy flushed and looked down at their joined hands. "Are you sure? I mean, I'm not exactly the man I once was."

Riza moved to sit next to him. She gave him a shy smile. "It doesn't matter if you're a man or woman, you're still Roy Mustang."

Her words set off something inside his body, and a gentle warmth spread all the way down to his toes. He smiled back at her and slipped the ring onto his finger. "I guess I'm not adverse to the idea either, as long as it's after we've achieved our goals."

"Thank you," she said, her smile widening, "I have to warn you though, that the general is very intent on having great-grandchildren."

He shrugged. "I like kids. I wouldn't mind having a few."

"Roy," she said, exasperated, "You do realize you'd be the one giving birth to them, don't you?"

As she watched the color drain from his face in horror, Riza sighed. It was a good thing she loved this man, because otherwise she'd never marry such an idiot.

-ooo-

OMAKE - EXTRA - OMAKE - EXTRA

Both prisoners were forcibly propelled through two sets of doors into the building, and pushed down into a chair. The blindfold was removed, and Roy blinked owlishly at the sudden return of light. Once his eyes adjusted, he looked around and saw that he appeared to be in yet another abandoned warehouse.

A clink of a chain caused his attention to shift to the catwalk overhead. He squinted his eyes and could just make out the black and white-clad figure of a youth with pointy blue hair. He was carrying some sort of weapon which consisted of two blades connected by a chain. Behind him, Evelyn giggled and clapped.

"Kneel down before your god, mortals!" came the booming high pitched voice of a boy on the first stages of puberty, "You're in the presence of the Big Man!"

The "Big Man" made a move to jump off the catwalk, but tripped on the edge of it and fell ending up in a face plant onto the ground in front of them. Suddenly a young woman with a black ponytail materialized out of the chained weapon. "Blackstar?" the woman cried, "Are you okay?"

The boy sat up and gave the woman a victory symbol. "I'm fine, Tsubaki!" he said grinning idiotically. "You know it takes more than a little fall like this to hurt an invincible God like me!" His words were in direct contradiction to the blood dripping down his face and pooling onto the floor below.

Having had enough, Roy turned to his aide. He rubbed the bridge of his nose in a futile attempt to hold off the migraine he could feel coming on.

"Hawkeye, I need you to do something for me," he said.

She saluted. "Of course, sir! What do you need?"

Roy sighed and desperately wished for some aspirin. "Contact the publishers over at GanGan and tell them the editors have been mixing up the pages again."

-ooo-

Author's Indulgence

Well, hello there! Long time no see! I wanted to reenter the FMA fanfic world with a big bang, so I signed up for the LJ community FMA_big_bang. It's a community dedicated to promoting the creation of new long (over 10000) words FMA fanfiction.

It also pairs up artists and writers to create a more complete story experience. In that vein, I have one fabulous artist named Angela, who has created some nice preliminary sketches for this piece depicting the "Morning Wood" scene. Unfortunately she has not sent in a finished piece yet. I hope I see one soon.

Another very important part of my team is a very patient Beta I had by the name of alchemyotaku75. She is an avid writer herself, and you can find her works on Livejournal.

Writing this was quite difficult for me, since I am not used to doing long pieces or suspense stories. I decided to do both this time to challenge myself. When I decided to enter FMA Big Bang, I pulled out an old story I'd written the first scene of and never finished. As with most of my stories the final product is quite different than what I originally intended. But I am satisfied with this version.

Out of curiosity did anyone get the Rumiko Takahashi reference in the story? How about the relationships between the antagonist's first names? Anyone get it at all? Anyone? Bueller? Hello?

Oh in case you're wondering, GanGan is the manga magazine that FMA appeared in, along with the Soul Eater series that Blackstar and Tsubaki are from.

I am going to try to be more active as a writer now, both writing new pieces and continuing old ones. There is also the possibility of me entering the Soul Eater arena, since I've become a huge Soul / Maka fangirl. Although with the tepid response this has received I'm beginning to rethink doing more writing. I guess people just don't like my stuff anymore.

Anyway, onto the usual credits:

-A huge great thanks to everyone who has worked with any FMA series, in particular Hiromu Arakawa, who created the whole damn thing in the first place. I dearly hope that all of you and your loved ones are all right over there, and will continue to be in the coming months.

-Special thanks to my husband, who gave me time to write, but refuses to read my stories since he hates the state of modern fanfiction. You started this, love, so you only have yourself to blame for this. ^_-

-Mucho thanks and a huge debt of gratitude go out to Angela, my artist, and alchemyotaku75, my beta.

-Thanks as well to enemytosleep for creating and running the Big Bang community.

-And thanks to you for reading!

Anne Packrat (March 14, 2011, Omake added April 20, 2011, Posted May 4, 2011)