DISCLAIMER: I don't own 2nd Lt. Breda, any of the other characters, let alone any bit of FMA.
Author's Note: BAH, I'm disappointed... I did not see a character selection option for either Heymans B. or Vato F.
2nd Lieutenant Heymans Breda walked down the street headed towards the Eastern Headquarters' train station. He glanced down at his watch and saw he still had plenty of time. The train taking Colonel Mustang and his staff to Central wasn't scheduled to leave for another hour. Heymans slowed his pace so that he could enjoy the beautiful morning. This was going to be his last stroll through Eastern HQ's streets for quite awhile.
Heymans Breda looked the part of a soldier. In fact with his short hair, square face, and muscular, if somewhat overweight, build he looked the part of 'just any other soldier.' Given his generally less then perfect uniform and fairly slack attitude he looked the part of 'just any other lazy soldier.' This is where most observers' thoughts on the Lieutenant tended to stop and move onto other more interesting things. Some more keen observers may note a spark of intellect in the Lieutenants eyes. But even they tended to categorize that spark as something someone would notice about a particularly bright dog. Smart, but not that smart.
That exact train of thought was precisely what the Lieutenant was looking for. For behind that 'meat head' exterior resided a very intelligent brain. Heymans never thought of himself as a pillar of intellect, but he was fully aware he was smarter then most. That didn't mean he particularly like being considered dumb, dense, or any of the other colorful descriptors he tended to receive. However, it was a small price to pay when one thought about it. Indeed he was quite amused at how quickly he was overlooked. Aside from keeping himself amused it had concrete military advantages as well. After all, surprise, more often then not, happens when someone sees something and simply misinterprets it. This leads to a generally unpleasant 'surprise' when their interpretation turns out to have been false.
While confident of his own intelligence, he was not the type to let himself become overconfident. There were plenty of other individuals that were just as intelligent or more so. In fact within Colonel Mustang's immediate staff there were several individuals who were quite intelligent. Warrant Officer Vato Falman had near perfect memory. The Warrant could recall accurate information just as quickly as anyone else could give a random guess. Sergeant Major Kain Fuery had more technical know-how then the rest of the headquarters staff put together. One would have to be a particularly dense individual to think 1st Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye was anything but intelligent.
The two remaining officers were interesting cases though. Colonel Roy Mustang on surface appeared to be a lazy, arrogant, womanizing, waste of officer material. While no one would call the Colonel stupid, he was an alchemist after all, most tended to underestimate his intelligence among other things. Heymans always had to smile when he considered his friend and fellow 2nd Lieutenant Jean Havoc. Jean certainly looked the part of 'just any other lazy soldier.' More so he acted the part even better then Breda did. However unlike Heymans, Jean distinctly considered himself on the slower side of things. Breda thought his fellow Lieutenant was doing himself a thorough disservice, but what could one do.
The fact remained most observers had been highly amused when the then Lieutenant Colonel Mustang appointed 2nd Lieutenant Heymans Breda as his intelligence officer. The General Staff sat back and chuckled at the impetuous young Colonel's choice. This suited everyone just fine. The General Staff got amusement and at some point in the future, perhaps an 'interesting' surprise. The Lt. Colonel increased his notoriety and quietly got a quality intel officer. As for one Heymans Breda, like the others he got two things. The first was further cover so he could actually accomplish his work. The second was connected to the first.
Heymans caught sight of the train station as he rounded the corner. He let out a snort at his final thoughts. From what Breda figured, the General Staff hadn't changed much about their perceptions of Mustang and his subordinates. Breda still looked like 'just any other lazy soldier,' but he certainly wasn't. He was more then 'just any other,' and he certainly was an excellent soldier. That said, if pushed he would admit, reluctantly of course, he was just a tiny bit lazy, and the fact they continued to be underestimated made his job so much easier.
Author's Note: This is going to be a series of short pieces about and surrounding one 2nd Lieutenant Heymans Breda. I've always liked his character and I've noticed that the support staff don't seem to get that many stories. This like the rest of my FMA fics will be based upon the manga. One of my objectives is to try my hand at a little humor, since that is what I suspect i am most... suspect... at writing.
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