"Major Armstrong! I've just received news from our remaining forces!" said a soldier standing behind the infamous Ice Queen of the North. She whipped around, and glared at him for a moment, and then nodded for him to proceed. "They say that King Bradley... That he's returned, and stormed in alone through the front gate. And... And our troops that were working to secure the main gate... They were all annihilated... Even the Homunculus, the one known as Greed, couldn't stop the King. Among the men was Buccaneer."
The major's fist clenched as she met her subordinates gaze, but she refused to show any signs of emotion at the news. "Was this the whole report, soldier?" she asked calmly.
"N-n-no sir! They went on to say that King Bradley entered the building, but they lost him after that point. However, I wasn't able to finish the conversation. It sounded like the receiver was dropped, and there was screaming in the background. If I may, sir, I believe we should keep moving at a brisk pace. There's almost no doubt that they will continue searching for you and Colonel Mustang now."
"Soldier, you are under me, don't forget this fact." she said, sending him a murderous glare. He shrunk back immediately, fearing his commanding officer's wraith.
Without another word, she turned on her heel, and started ahead. The other men followed her, as well as her brother, Alex Armstrong, and Izumi Curtis' husband, Sig. That was great. Just great. Izumi had mysteriously vanished only a few seconds ago, and now this? She just couldn't get a break! This was why she liked her northern base. There was never such annoying events up there; only the occasionally Drachman attack, but that was put down quite easily.
Here, however, she wasn't even sure who she could trust, and who she had to make sure to watch out of the corner of her eye. She winced as she bumped her injured arm against the railing, jolting her out of her thoughts. "God-damn it all!" she muttered angrily. She had to focus. This was what they had decided to do, to overthrow those who were hiding behind their proud military's name. And there was no way in hell that she was going to let Mustang show her up.
"Sister, dearest, please allow me to help you down the rest of the way!" Alex Armstrong said sweetly, reaching out toward her. Olivier viciously slapped his hand away, refusing to show any sort of weakness. Still he persisted, and she continued to refuse. After about ten more flights of steps, however, Alex began to become annoyed at his sister's stubbornness, and the next time he reached out, he avoided her hand and quickly scooped her up in his arms.
Olivier shrieked, and tried to punch him, but only managed to hurt her bad arm. "Please, please sister, just give it up and allow me to assist you! I should hate to have to knock you out. It was be horrible to have you unconscious if we were to be attacked." Alex said sternly. She gazed up at him, and then turned her head away quickly, ashamed. Here she was, the new head of the Armstrong family, being cared by her weakhearted younger brother. Not only that, but her own men were watching. She tried to kick him the next time she thought he was looking away, but despite his cowardly and caring attitude, his body was quite the opposite. If he felt even the tiniest force from her solid kick, he didn't show it, and kept on walking.
"Damn weak-hearted bastard... Being carried like some baby by a cowardly man..." she muttered, throwing out different insults as they kept on going. She looked up from beneath her blonde bangs, making sure every now and then that her men were still in line, making sure that they didn't get any odd thoughts from the situation that had begun to unfold. After all, she had made it clear she was the strongest of them all, and they knew this. However, they wouldn't follow her if she became weaker than them; after all, the strongest is the only one fit to lead. The weak must follow, or hope to become strong enough to lead.
They continued down, all of them on guard. Eventually, they reached a point where they could view the floor again, and as they neared, a huge blast shook the corridor. A few of the Briggs men were thrown off balance and flew over the railing. They landed on the bottom solidly, but were not severely injured. The others were also trying to catch their balance, but Alex, having the heaviest build, simply couldn't, and accidentally dropped Olivier. She fell down, hitting the floor on her bad arm with a sickening 'crunch', but stifled a gasp. She tried to get up, but only caused her self to lose balance yet again. She rolled down the rest of the stairs and stopped suddenly as someone put a foot to her back. This provoked a short gasp from the usually stoic major, but the worst had yet to come.