Hawkeye walked briskly through the corridors, heading for the training ground. The Colonel had been ordered to help train a small squad of recruits and while she was impressed he wasn't completely avoiding it, he did tend to get a little carried away.
"Sir. You have a meeting with General Grumman in half an hour." She said, standing over him as he lay on the ground, panting. "May I suggest a shower and a fresh shirt might be in order?"
"Indeed you may, Lieutenant" Mustang said breathlessly, holding out a hand to her.
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes in front of the recruits, she pulled him upright.
"Remind me why I'm meeting the General, Hawkeye?"
"Chess, sir. I believe he also wants your weekly report." She raised an eyebrow ever so slightly, knowing he would see it even if no one else did. "I'm afraid you're getting too old for this sort of thing sir if a few knocks to the ground causes you to forget your schedule."
"Me? Too old?" Mustang acted outraged as some of his recruits snickered. "It isn't the age Hawkeye, it's the paperwork!" he declared with a wink to the recruits to more sniggers.
Hawkeye decided that if he was going to be casual with the recruits, she was going to join in.
"I'd be more inclined to believe that excuse sir, if you ever did any paperwork." She riposted, holding out his uniform jacket.
"That Lieutenant's got him completely whipped!" one recruit whispered to another as Mustang shrugged on the short blue jacket hung with its bars and brocade. Sadly for the said recruit, his superiors heard him. Mustang had uncanny hearing.
"Cadet Jackson! Seeing as I'm apparently too old for this, you will spar with the Lieutenant!"
"Sir?" Hawkeye said uncertainly.
"But Colonel, she's so small!" the Cadet called back "What if I break her?" there was a chorus of laughter, which stopped abruptly when Hawkeye sent them a glare.
"In that case, sir, will you hold my jacket?" She asked primly, shrugging off the stiff blue fabric.
The Cadets fell silent at the sight of Hawkeye in her form-fitting black polo neck, with her three guns. She unbuckled her shoulder holsters with quick efficient movements and pulled her reserve from the small of her back. Mustang chuckled at the shock on his trainees faces when she pulled a pair of combat knives from her boots.
"Still worried about breaking her, Jackson? I'd be more concerned about still having your manhood when she's through with you." Havoc called from where he was leaning against the scuffed wall. "How about raising the stakes a little Colonel?"
"How so, Havoc? I'm not stupid enough to bet against the Lieutenant."
"A prize for the winner sir. If the Lieutenant wins, you have to buy her that new rifle scope she's been eyeing."
"Me? Why me?!" Mustang objected.
"With respect sir, this was your idea" Hawkeye reminded him with a gleam in her eye.
"Alright fine. I'll buy you the scope if you win." He grumbled.
"What do you want Jackson?" Havoc asked.
"I think I'll take a kiss from the Lieutenant, Sir." The cocky recruit replied with a broad smirk.
Hawkeye raised an eyebrow. It had been several years since someone had seen her as a woman first and an officer second.
"Very well. If you really think you have a chance." She said calmly, before Mustang did something stupid – the idiot got so overprotective sometimes. There was a chorus of "Ooohh!"s from the assembled recruits.
Hawkeye and Jackson stepped into the large circle marked out in white paint on the floor. When Havoc blew the whistle, Jackson tried to rush Hawkeye, sure that without her admittedly impressive collection of weaponry, the much smaller woman wouldn't have a chance.
Hawkeye held her ground until he was only a foot away. Timing her move with effortless perfection, she bounced upwards, using his knee as a springboard to jump around him, restraining him in a headlock that drove him to his knees.
"Enough pressure applied with a twist through a forty five degree angle and your neck breaks recruit." She said calmly, loud enough for all the recruits to hear. Stepping back, she released him.
Wasting no time and determined not to be beaten by a girl, Jackson turned and chopped viciously at Hawkeye's ankles, knocking her to the ground. She rolled away and upright before he could crush her and rejoined the combat with a stinging kick to his side. Jackson aimed a heavy punch at her head, only for Hawkeye to block and send her rigid fingers into his throat. He reeled back gasping and she took the opportunity to knock him to the ground, dropping onto his back and holding his head up by his hair.
"A quick easy slice across your throat and you bleed out in less than five minutes." She ran a finger across his throat for emphasis.
Unfortunately for Hawkeye, her weight wasn't enough to hold him down and he rolled, trapping her beneath him. Jackson twisted so that he was facing her while she was face-down on the ground. The brawny young man twisted her arm behind her painfully.
"Better pucker up, princess" he hissed in her ear.
"How old are you, ten?" she replied irritably.
Deciding that this charming banter was a waste of time, Hawkeye drove her free arm into his solar plexus and shoved her bodyweight backwards, knocking him off balance. Jackson fell over again and Hawkeye pinned his shoulders down with her knees, wrapped her hand around his thick throat.
"Twenty seconds sustained pressure on your carotid and you're unconscious. A full minute and you're most likely dead."
With a quick glance at the clock, she stood and turned to Mustang who was looking on proudly.
"If that's all you-" she stopped as a warning flashed in his eyes. Hawkeye ducked, anticipating the recruit would be aiming for her head.
His fist whistled over her head, missing her by a fraction of an inch. What she hadn't expected however, was for his left hand to grab her about the waist, dropping her to the floor. He straddled her and dug his fingers beneath her ribs, pulling upwards. Hawkeye restrained herself from gasping in pain. Blocking off the pain in her ribs, she drove both her knees into his back, overbalancing him again so that with a little shove he fell over her onto the padded floor of the training room.
They both stood, circling one another. An idea came to Hawkeye and she hid a smile. The man in front of her was just inexperienced enough to fall for it while being just skilled enough that he would do all the preparation for her.
She threw a weak punch that the recruit easily caught. He spun her so her back was flush with his chest, holding her against him with an arm across her shoulders.
"I think this means I win" he said smugly when she let out an airy sigh instead of attempting to break out of his hold. The poor boy never saw it coming.
Riza stomped on his foot, grinding her heel into his toes, slammed an elbow into his solar plexus, spun and kneed him hard in the groin.
"A useful manoeuvre. If you're having a particularly bad day, follow the knee to the groin with a knee to the face. You are almost guaranteed to break your opponent's nose."
Again she began to turn away, but Jackson, in pain though he was, grabbed her ankle and she fell. The recruit was in no shape to move quickly and it cost him dear. With a growl, she pinned him down, both hands around his neck and her knee pressing into his already sore groin.
"Are you quite finished Recruit?" she snapped. "While I'm sure I could demonstrate several other more painful techniques for knocking you on your ass, I'm afraid I've gotten bored."
Havoc and Mustang shared a grin. This was totally worth all the extra paperwork she was sure to shove over to them later.
"That's five times she's pinned you, Jackson." Mustang said quietly. "I think the Lieutenant has you whipped." He said with a smirk.
Hawkeye stood, and left the circle, while Jackson lay there groaning slightly. Hawkeye quickly buckled her holsters back on and replaced her knives in her boots.
"We should get going Sir. You only have twenty minutes before your meeting."
"Very well Lieutenant." He turned back to his recruits briefly, all of whom were now looking at Hawkeye with a healthy mixture of awe and respect. "Let that be a lesson to the rest of you – never disregard an opponent's skill based on their size. Havoc, take over."
"Yes sir."
Hawkeye was waiting for Mustang when he emerged from the locker room in a fresh shirt.
"I have the reports for the General, Sir."
"Thank you Lieutenant. How are your ribs?"
"It's nothing a hot bath won't fix sir." She assured him as they headed to General Grumman's' office.
"Mmmm, a hot bath." Mustang sighed, still sore after his shower. "Any chance I can join you?" he sent her his trademark lady killer smile. It looked even more enticing when he was still slightly damp from the shower.
"That would be against the fraternisation regulations sir." Hawkeye said with a soft smile.
"We wouldn't want that now, would we?" He said wryly. "And if it wasn't against regulations?"
"Still no, Sir. You aren't exactly too picky with your dates and I wouldn't want to catch anything." She replied, looking as innocent as the child she'd been when they'd first met. "The reports, Sir." She continued, stuffing the folders into his shocked hands.
Hawkeye turned and walked back down the corridor, leaving her Colonel stood outside the Generals' office with his mouth hanging open.