Colonel Roy Mustang wasn't scared often. Nor was he often petrified to death over the health of one his subordinates. But there's always a first time for everything.
'You should've gone to work!' he silently screamed at himself for the umpteenth time.
Here he was, stuck in the hospital's waiting room. It was quiet, peaceful even, save for the faint murmur between friends and families. Today though, Roy was alone. Hawkeye wasn't standing behind him, as was her usual place. Havoc wasn't sitting and joking beside him. Breda wasn't eating out of nervousness. And Falman and Fuery weren't with him either, providing silent support. Even Edward, the little brat, wasn't here to argue with Mustang.
Why?
Because they were the ones Mustang was waiting on.
They were the ones in those hospital rooms.
They were the ones being treated right now.
Getting surgery, being bandaged, unconscious, hurt, injured, in pain.
Because he took the day off.
"Hey, Lieutenant. I think I'm going to take the day off today. I'm not feeling too well," Roy managed to rasp out. He heard the woman on the other line murmuring something about procrastination, but he decide to just ignore it. After all, him not feeling well was only half of the truth. The man also wanted to just get out of doing paperwork. Though he knew that he would be buried in stacks of files and reports the next day.
"Sir, I think you should come to-" the Lieutenant was cut off by the guttural cough forcing itself out of Mustang's throat. Roy could almost hear Hawkeye pursing her lips in resignation. "On second thought, sir," she amended, "perhaps you should take the day off. But I do expect to see you in the office tomorrow."
"Thanks, Hawkeye," the Colonel said.
"Get better, Colonel," the blonde woman replied and hung up.
Mustang stumbled back over to his bed and collapse into the warm mattress. He was so tired. Maybe it was something he ate, or maybe drank. But he had been having a hard time full, comprehendible thoughts. The humid summer air began to lull him to sleep. Something he was currently craving for. The unmistakable sound of cars driving by rang in his ears occasionally.
'Sleep,' Roy thought wistfully, his eyelids becoming heavier by the second.
Hours went by.
Hours that would change Roy's day in an instant.
All because he took the day off work.
And his phone was bugged.
It was a normal day at work. Save for the fact that Mustang was at home and the Colonel's crew were some of the only soldiers on shift because it was a holiday for almost all of Amestris. Hawkeye was delivering paperwork to the rest of the crew and carefully stacking reports and files on the Colonel's desk. Havoc was playing with his lighter, flicking it on and off in boredom. Breda had left to get lunch for the rest of the crew. Fuery was tinkering with one of the broken radios and Falman was going through files. Edward and Alphonse had yet to come into the office yet.
The process was familiar to everyone.
"Hey, Hawkeye. Where's Chief been the past few months?" Havoc asked.
The blonde woman stopped what she was doing for a moment and faced the smoker. "I think the Colonel sent him on a mission to Winston; it's a small town in the south that has reports of a shimmery, red stone that's being used by the only alchemist there. Edward should be back today, actually." The Lieutenant turned to the large door that lead out to the hallways of Central Command. "If he does come today, tell him to just put his report on the Colonel's desk if I'm not in the office."
"Hey! Quiet!" Breda called.
The room fell silent.
An uneven rumbling shook the room before the door flew open to reveal a panting Edward and a frantic Alphonse Elric.
"W-w-we need to g-go!" Shouted the State Alchemist.
The suit of armor looked behind them into the hallway beyond. "It's too late, Brother!"
The patter of multiple feet drew closer.
"We've got them!" A man's voice cried in triumph.
"Dang it!" Ed cursed. "Come on! Let's go!" He beckoned. "They're after you guys and the Colonel! You need to get out of here!" The alchemist turned and began to race down the halls of Central HQ, his younger brother and Mustang's crew following hot on his heels.
Hawkeye drew one of her guns and began to shoot down some of the men, putting bullets in their feet and legs. Havoc followed suit.
The group continued sprinting through the halls but it seems as if the terrorists chasing them grew larger in size as they went on. The alchemist was too focused on his task of getting the crew to safety to challenge their pursuers yet.
Suddenly, their pursuit stopped and began to bunch together.
"What are they doing?" Fuery murmured.
"Dunno," the blond teen shrugged.
BEEP!
The soldiers' heads began whipping around for the source of the sound.
BEEP!
Ed clapped his hands together and pressed them to the floor, a snake of destruction slithered under the floor tiles towards the terrorists.
"We fell right into their trap...," Hawkeye gasped.
"I'm so sorry," Edward whispered, hating himself for not noticing sooner.
BEEEEEEEP! BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Darkness.
That's all Edward saw. But he was alive, at least. "Alphonse?" He called. "Fuery? Breda? Hawkeye? Falman? Havoc?"
The explosion had forced the alchemist onto his back, and it had probably ruined most of the military headquarters too. "This is ridiculous," he groaned. The MPs were sure to come investigating at some point if they weren't already. 'I hope they've found Alphonse and the rest of them...,' the blond hoped quietly.
The fourteen year old attempted to bring his right arm up to push away the debris, but something was blocking his automail arm from moving anywhere. Taking his free arm, Ed tried to lift up the chunk of a brick pressing down on his automail.
It wouldn't budge.
Craning his neck forward, the teen tried to make out his surroundings, but no light filtered through, making it almost impossible. Edward's left hand scrabbled about for a sharp object. Softly crying ecstatically when he found a sharp rock, albeit small, the prodigy began to scrape a transmutation circle from memory into the rock that was preventing his right arm from moving. But just before he activated the circle, Ed started to consider the consequences of shattering the large stone.
What if it was holding up the rocks above him?
Would breaking the this rock cause a collapse?
"This is no time to start second-guessing yourself, Fullmetal." The teen could almost hear Roy Mustang admonishing him.
Despite the situation, the State Alchemist allowed a ghost of a smile to grace his lips. "I suppose you're right, Bastard." He slammed his gloved hand down on the circle. The blue electricity lit the small area, burning the boy's eyes. A cloud of dust billowed through the opening Ed had created. But the two support beams the large rock had been holding up fell down on Edward, one of them crashing across his chest and the other glancing off the teen's head.
"Whoops...," Ed chuckled sardonically before passing out from pain.
Riza sat up, nursing her head with her hands. Taking in her surroundings, the blonde sniper stood up and brushed the debris off her uniform. Hawkeye heaved out a sigh. She was lucky to only get away with a couple bruises and cuts.
"Ms. Hawkeye!" A young voice resounded.
Turning around, the woman saw the approaching figure of the youngest Elric. The spring sun was gleaming off his armor as he made his way through the rubble of Central Command Center.
"Hello, Alphonse. Are you okay?"
"Yes, thank you. I haven't seen the others." he said, worry lacing his voice.
Though the Lieutenant knew that Al was more worried about Edward.
"He's okay," the blonde soldier told the young boy softly.
"I hope so."
Placing a hand on Alphonse's shoulder, she said, "Let's go find the others, okay?"
Havoc groaned as he stared up at the blue sky staring right back down at him. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out one of his cigarettes and attempted to use his other arm to pull out his lighter, but pain flared up in his left arm when he shifted it slightly. It was broken, the blond man realized. 'I need to make a splint' Havoc groaned silently.
A little while later, the soldier had managed to make a splint with some scrap wood and some white string he had found lying around. Now, he was stumbling around, looking for survivors. The man surveyed the damage. Over half of the Command Center was in shambles. The walls, he noticed, were untouched.
"No wonder no one has noticed the damage... The bombs must have been quiet enough that the city could cover up the explosion... But they still destroyed almost a whole military base," Havoc muttered. "And the terrorists left the walls alone so no one would notice the damage. Darn, they really thought this through. Shame we didn't realize it was a trap sooner..."
"You can't die like this, Falman! What about the Colonel? What about the rest of the crew?!" Cried a familiar voice from the smoker's left.
"Fuery?! Is that you?!" Havoc ran towards the black-haired, young man as best he could with a broken arm.
"Lieutenant Havoc? Oh, thank goodness, you're alive," the Sergeant Major sighed in relief before turning frantic again. "You've got to help me! Falman's leg has been impaled."
Fuery himself only had some small scratches and a couple large bruises, but, otherwise, he seemed to have gotten away with nothing major.
"Calm down, first of all. And two, help me break this stupid wooden pole in half. That way," Havoc told the youngest member of their team, "it'll be easier to move Falman to safety and get medical help."
Immediately, Fuery managed to bottle up his panic and proceeded to pick up a sharp rock and start sawing the wooden pole. "Hang in there, Warrant Officer."
Naturally, the gray-haired man said nothing, save for the quiet grunts and whines of pain he emitted every now and then.
About ten minutes later, Havoc and Fuery had managed to shorten the pole impaling the unconscious soldier's left leg a considerable amount. Surveying their work, the blond soldier gave the other soldier a wary grin then lifted and wrapped Falman's arm around his shoulder and gestured for Fuery to do the same.
"Now, let's get out of here, and hope we run into the others and that they're okay," Havoc said in a lame attempt of optimism.
Fuery gave a small grin. "I hope so too."
Not only did the citizens of Central not hear the explosion, they weren't in the city at all. They had been evacuated. And all the soldiers except for Mustang's unit had been informed and escorted out of the capital. Even Roy had been transferred to West City because of news of the terrorists.
The terrorists were after Roy Mustang. And they chose that day- that holiday- to strike because they knew the Colonel had taken the day off. They wanted to get Mustang, but in a different way than one would normally assume.
The terrorists went after Roy's most trusted subordinates.
And attempted to murder them.
Central City wouldn't be back until the end of next week. But until then, small groups of soldiers would be sent in to check the damage.
And just between me and you, I'll give you a little spoiler: even Alphonse wouldn't make it out of this ordeal without a scratch.
A/N: That's it for now! Let me know what you think! Spring Break is here, so I'm going to get to work more on stories and chapters and stuff. So that makes me happy.
Constructive criticism is always welcomed. ^-^