Chapter 37: The Body of a Criminal

With Lan Fan looking on, Ling Yao presses Barry about how his soul ended up bound to a suit of armor, but Barry knows nothing since every researcher involved is dead. Recalling that Ling is also acquainted with Alphonse, Barry suggests the younger Elric might explain the soul-transfer method, so Ling sets off to find him and leaves Barry and Lan Fan with an increasingly ignored Falman. In an office across town, a seemingly smitten Roy Mustang chats on the phone with a woman named Elizabeth and arranges a fishing trip, to the disbelief of his coworkers.

At the hotel, Alphonse and Winry oil his armor while weighing the brothers' next steps, and Winry admits her fear that they may not always come home. A knock brings Armstrong, who cuffs Edward, seizes him by the collar, and hauls him off toward Resembool to repair his automail just as Ling turns up. Back at the safe house, Barry senses an approaching presence that proves to be his own decaying body, drawn to its original soul. A masked fighter storms in but joins the defenders rather than attacking, and Falman recognizes him as Havoc. The reeking body gains ground until a sniper's shot tears through its hand.

The shot comes from Hawkeye, perched in a nearby tower and radioing Mustang, revealing that the day's Elizabeth calls were hers all along, patched from phone to radio by Fuery. Barry concludes that the researchers placed an animal's soul into his abandoned body, and the mismatch is why it is rotting; he wants to chop it apart, but Havoc refuses. Watching from a distance, Hawkeye relays the argument to Mustang before Gluttony ambushes her, and her shot does nothing. Lan Fan surprises the lurking Envy and braces for combat as Mustang loses contact with Hawkeye and races to reach her. The unit had been working undercover to set this trap.