Disclaimer -- I don't own a thing!
Note -- Things in caps mean scene change. Just to make that clear.
Solstice Mayhem
Part 1
"Are we there yet?" a blond asked as he yawned. The air outside was crisp with cold, it was that time of year when people got head colds and flue.
"Not yet," Al replied, the taller of the two sighed in boredom as he turned back to watch the dead landscape the train was passing by at a speed that was fast, but felt much slower to the boys. The shorter of the two sat up with a roll of his eyes.
"I cannot believe that we were fluked. Again!" he muttered.
"It wasn't nice at all, to pull our chains like that," Alphonse said. They were referring to their esteemed commander, Roy Mustang. The Commander of Central Command had given the boys a "lead" but it just happened to turn out to be a "holiday". They were given a letter that informed them that if they did not just take it slow for a week that Roy would yank their funding.
For a State Alchemist, getting your funding pulled meant you were fired from the military. It took a lot to get back in and get the funding you had to start off with. That was why Edward and Alphonse decided to treat the holiday as a holiday and then get their revenge on Mustang. However, the crazy Doctor did help them out. By being a rampaging chimera in disguise.
"I still cannot figure that one out," Edward managed around a yawn.
"What are we going to tell the Colonel?"
"Nothing; what would be the point anyway?"
"Well, what if it was important? What if Colonel Mustang saw that bite?" the bite in question was readily visible but covered by a bandage. Edward looked down before rolling his eyes and standing. He took his coat off and in a moment, much light included, the coat was once again mended and cleaned.
"There, now if you don't mention anything he won't know. Besides, it's fine. Maria took care of it," Edward said. Maria Harland was the young waitress at the Inn where they had stayed. She had waited for them to come back, she was also compiling a list for their funeral.
"Fine, right, whatever you say, Nii-san,"
"Right, now then…all we have to do is wait to pull into the station," Edward said as he opened his case. He rummaged around till he found a book to nod off too.
"Nii-san, won't you at least have a doctor look at it when we get to Central?"
"Maybe, we'll see," was all Edward would promise.
PART 2
"What is this?" the station was in chaos. It was weird to see people running around, but no one was talking and no one looked their way. Edward looked around as the confusion about them got the better of the two.
"Let's try and find someone from the military, maybe they will know what is going on," Alphonse said.
"Good idea, Al. Let's go,"
The two set off, Al in front, the crowd parted for him and Edward followed. This happened to be one of those times that Edward didn't mind being short. He would deny it to his dying breath though. Soon, they found themselves in a less populated area. They also found Second Lieutenant Havoc.
"Havoc! What's going on around here?" Edward asked as they came up behind the man. Havoc got rid of his cigarette in a hurry.
"I was just getting in a smoke. Anyway, we are looking for a murderer. He's had Central in the locks of fear since the beginning of the weak and people are getting out fast," Havoc explained.
"Wow, gone for two weeks and look what happens," Edward sighed.
"Colonel Mustang would like to see you. He told me that if you two showed up he actually had something for you, but that its not about you know what," Havoc informed them.
"Right, see you," Edward said. He and Alphonse made their way to the nearest exit. Outside, the shops were closed, the homes were boarded up and practically no one roamed the streets.
"How can a common thug do this to people?" Edward asked as they made their way through the empty streets. Their foot steps echoed in the creepy silence. Not even the built in stereos for the public announcements emitted any sound. It was even more confusing than the chaos of the train station.
"It seems to me that sometimes its just safer to leave till the danger goes away," Alphonse said.
"Sure. There were murders before we left, what's so special about this one?" Edward asked.
"Let's get to Command and ask the Colonel. He'll know what's going on," Al said.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON?" EDWARD YELLED. THE MAN BEHIND THE DESK GAVE HIM A LOOK. Roy Mustang was the Head Officer at Central Command; Top dog besides the General who rarely ever showed up at work any more these days. It was amazing the man was able to keep his title. Roy was expecting a title change any time now.
"That wasn't what I said and you know it. What I said was that I don't know who is setting off the Alchemical bombs,"
"See, Nii-san, he knows about Alchemical bombs," Alphonse pointed out.
"How come you always come to his defense?" Edward turned on his brother. Al shrunk (if that was at all possible) into his suit.
"But…but..but…"
"Okay, that's enough of you two. Do you know what an Alchemical bomb is?" Roy asked.
"Sure we do. It was in one of our Dad's books. It's a balloon of sorts, filled with gasses to explode at the slightest touch," Al said.
"Right, depending on which gas or what's mixed together it could just blow up or it could blow up and kill people. So, that was all the damage we had seen from afar," Edward said as a last thought, he had figured that the second wing of the Command Building had been demolished for one reason or another but…it was an Alchemical Bomb.
"Thankfully whoever made it didn't make it that big and we were able to save some people,"
"How many died?" Al asked.
"Twenty of our best men and women,"
Edward shook his head; "That was why people were getting out,"
"Unless we find who is doing this and stop them. Central will be abandoned," Roy said.
"Why would the military let the city go to waist? Wouldn't they send a legion to take the city back?"
"They could, but the risk to the lives would be enormous,"
"Right, so then, its up to us then?"
"My staff, minus Hawkeye, are leaving this evening. It'll be the four of us," Roy said. He stood and turned his back to the boys.
"I must stress, if we don't get this situation under control soon…well…I want you to know that I am proud of the service you have given the military,"
"Wow, and you said that without hesitating! Amazing!"
"Ed, that wasn't very nice," Al admonished his older brother.
"Anyway, let's just get on with it, I want to make sure that I have plenty more time to give to the military," Edward said, he picked up his case and they bother gave Roy a salute.
"Here is a key. We're going to stay in the same area so that if anything happens we'll know where the others are, Hawkeye is all ready there and I will follow. I am waiting on a phone call from the Commanders at Eastern Central," Roy said.
"Right," Edward took the key from Roy.
"GOOD THING THAT HE WROTE DOWN THE ADRESS, RIGHT NII-SAN?" Al said as they stood outside the house. It wasn't far from the Central Office Building (COB for short).
It was two stories tall with a front yard with lilies and roses running up the path to the front yard. Edward mused about how it would have been a great yard to play in. He doubted that much playing would actually take place.
Edward and Alphonse walked up the cobble stoned path way; the door was painted green while the rest of the house was white. Edward fitted the key into the slot, but before he could open the door it was yanked open. Edward stared down the barrel of a gun and a woman with long blond hair who wore pajamas.
"Don't shoot!" Edward yelled as he raised his hands above his head to show that he didn't hold anything. Alphonse didn't say anything and he didn't move.
"Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric hadn't you two heard of a phone call? When I heard the key jingling in the lock and since Mustang hadn't called I figured the rouge Alchemist had found us," Riza Hawkeye glared at them.
"And I bet Colonel Idiot is getting a riot from this, not telling us to call or giving us the number to call," Edward muttered as he picked his case up. All of his clothing had fallen out and so he had to pick it up and stuff it back in. Along with his books.
Riza let them in before she locked the door again. Edward threw his case onto the landing of the stairs before making his way to the living room. The room was big, the couch sat before the huge fire place with a coffee table in front of it. There was a book case with some alchemical books in it. However, Edward hardly cared and he flopped down onto the couch. He stretched his legs out and closed his eyes.
Even though they had a long train trip, Edward was tired and all he wanted to do was sleep. Riza went to the kitchen with Al following after her.
"How was the trip?" Riza asked.
"It was fine, Nii-san wasn't happy to find out that it was a holiday but I am glad that we had it before this. It'll give Nii-san a new head," Al said.
"That's important," Riza said as she uncovered a pot. Apparently, she had been cooking something. This brought Edward to the kitchen; "What is that smell?"
"Beef chili; I figured that we would all need something hot and comforting after the day we've had," Riza replied.
"Wow, Captain Hawkeye, I hope you cook better then I can," Edward said.
"It's my mothers recipe, once Colonel Mustang arrives we can eat," she said as she stirred the chili. Meanwhile she pointed to the table, "But you can have some tea now."
"Thank you," Edward smiled. Somehow the cold had gotten to him. Especially the port where his arm and leg connected to his body. Cold always seemed to mess him up. Winter Solstice wasn't far off and Edward had wanted to spend it with a lighted tree and Al. With presents of course, he had the perfect thing for Al too.
He poured his tea and Al sat down at the table. "If there is anything we can do…"
"No Alphonse, I have it. Besides, with my Mom's recipe's I don't put much faith into others to do it like she does,"
"If I wasn't exhausted I would take offense to that," Edward yawned.
Just then the phone rang, since Riza was busy with the biscuits Edward got up to answer it; "Hello," he said.
"Fullmetal, I didn't expect you to arrive till next month,"
"Who is this?" Edward asked.
"That doesn't matter right now. What matters it that we have a lot in common,"
"Er – right," Edward said.
"I will also get back to that, have a nice night," and with that the line went dead.
"Who was that?" Riza asked.
"I don't know, he said we had a lot in common but he wouldn't say what," Edward sat down to enjoy his tea again.
"Next time I'll get the phone," Riza said with a look their way.
"Not a problem," Edward waved his hand as the phone rang again.
"Hello," Riza curtly answered.
"Hawkeye, how is everything?" it was Roy Mustang.
"Everything is fine, a full report once you arrive," she replied.
"I'll be there in half an hour,"
"Affirmative," Riza replied and hung up the phone.
"He'll be here in thirty minutes,"
"Was that what he said?"
"We have a code, he say's an hour and a half, and I say half an hour," Riza shrugged.
"Oh, that's good," Edward nodded his head.
BY THE TIME THAT ROY ARRIVED THE TABLE WAS SET AND THE FOOD WAS HOT AND THE MILK HAD BEEN SERVED. WELL, EDWARD INSISTED ON WATER. HE HATED MILK!
"I'm home," Roy called out as he entered the house.
"How come he didn't get a gun pointed at his head?" Edward commented as Roy took his coat off and hung it up. Roy shook his head, "That was why I called," he said.
"If you had informed us of that little typo, we wouldn't have a crazy woman with a gun threatening us," Edward replied. Riza gave him a raised eyebrow but he just gave her a dazzling smile in return.
"How come that never works for me?" Roy asked.
"Because he's thirteen and he's adorable," Riza replied deadpanned. Alphonse snickered at the joke. Edward rolled his eyes as Riza put the chili onto the table.
"So, how was the phone call?" Riza asked.
"Not good, they're actually thinking about sending a whole legion of men. My thinking is if they did send in more military than the Bombs will get bigger and will just blow up the entire city with everyone in it," Roy said.
"That makes sense; we have to stop it now," Edward said. They dug into the chili and biscuits with fervor. Riza was a good cook, Edward didn't know how her mother cooked but he loved Riza's.
"So, do we have a plan?" Edward asked.
"Not really, I want to search for any other bomb that may be hidden,"
"Right,"
"We'll start looking first thing in the morning," Riza said.
"Al, you'll go with Captain Hawkeye," Edward said.
"What about you, Nii-san?"
"I can do alchemy without any circles. Riza has a gun and if you two come across the Alchemist Bomber then Riza will need someone," Edward said.
"I think that's a good idea," Roy said.
"Your just trying to get us out of the way so you don't have to worry about us," Alphonse called his brother out on his bluff.
"So what if I was? If Colonel Idiot and I came upon the Alchemical Bomber we have more of a chance to beat him into the pavement then the two of you. No offense, Captain Hawkeye," Edward added.
"Its fine, but I do have better aim than Colonel Mustang,"
"Hey! I'm not that bad!"
"Sure you aren't, you still need practice," Riza smirked at him.
"Say what you want, but when I come to the rescue you will be eating those words," Roy muttered.
PART 3
"Come on!" Edward glared at the older man. Mustang just gave him a bored look. Roy wasn't at all sure why Edward had to drag him away from the house so early in the morning. But there they were, walking down the empty sidewalk.
The city was now devoid of life. The last train had left at midnight not even the dredges of society had stayed to clean out the honorable people of their belongings. Edward and Roy looked into each alley way as they passed, the Alchemist Bomber could be anywhere. He could be watching them at this exact moment.
Roy highly doubted it though. Security might be gone, but there was no way that the Alchemist could use the cameras and monitors. First of all, the contingency plan called for the codes to be changed and only one person knew them.
Technically, Roy did too, but no one needed to know that he had scoped the General's place and copied the codes. Really, it was unlikely that anyone would bother about it after everything was done anyway.
"What are you planning to do?" Roy asked as he and Edward came upon the Central Library.
"I think that the bomb might be hidden underground. I don't know what this city is built on, but if we get the plans maybe we can find a few likely places," Edward explained.
"Is this what you do when you go looking for the Stone?"
"Maybe, what's it to you anyway?"
"As your Commanding Officer, everything is by business,"
"I still want to know how you know everything anyway," Edward muttered under his breath as they entered. The front desk was cleaned of anything important, and hard metal gates covered the entrance. Roy smirked at Edward as he brought out a card. It looked like any other public library card, but Roy slid it along a locking device and the gates opened to them.
"Nice," Edward muttered.
"We thought that I might need the help. Just in case, though I never was one for books,"
"We don't need the books," Edward said as Roy slid the card again and the gates locked the entrance back up; "All we need is the plans to the city,"
Apparently, Roy knew exactly where the plans where. They were in a back office that he had to use the library card to get into. They looked through all of the filing cabinets till they found the most recent plans. Well, recent was twenty years back when the Central Library was relocated from its original position.
"They must have researched ever inch of the city," Edward mused as he looked at it. The old plans of the city were in red while the new plans where in dark blue. There was a church where the Library had been.
"How do we tell if it's underground?" Edward asked.
"I don't know," Roy shrugged.
"Some help you are, if Al where here he'd have better suggestions," Edward sniffed.
"Forget it, I say we take a look at this church," Roy said. Edward agreed and rolled the map up: "We may need this," he said.
TO BE CONTINUED
A/N – I happen to be trying out a new thing. That of putting many parts into one chapter here at ff. net. First of all, yes, it is supposed to be a Christmas fic. Don't ask me how that will happen. It just will. Second I am taking after the FMA Novels. If you don't know what these are you can find them at your local book store. Somewhere near the manga probably.
Sorry about Part three, but I'll probably continue that part on before going to part four. And yes, I am planning some sinister crap to happen in the next few parts. Anyway, please review!
Ta,
Dizzy