Author's Notes: Well, this got away out of hand. And it's going to be a two-parter. I was going to write two small parts and put them both here, but then this one got decidedly long as hell, so I figured I'd just split them up since the second one will probably be just as long. This one will be about Wojciech while the second one will be about Shula.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

the beast howls in my veins
part one: howl

As intimidating as Wojciech was, he never howled. Hiroko howled here and there and barked a good amount, but Wojciech only ever growled. Of course everyone on the team was curious, but not nearly as much as Hiroko and Sumati were. After all, they were the only other canines on the team. Sumati rarely howled, if only because she claimed to not like it, but Hiroko always teased that it was because she was embarrassed by her howl. That little bit of teasing had gotten Havoc and Breda into an argument, which ended abruptly when Riza and Wojciech stepped into the room.

Still, Havoc couldn't help but be curious about what it'd sound like if Wojciech howled. The wolf daemon was appropriately terrifying when he wanted to be. Oh sure, he could grin like a dog and loll his tongue, wag his tail and innocently raise his eyebrows, but there was no dog in those large paws and gleaming teeth. Whereas Hiroko's eyes were a gentle brown color, Wojciech's golden gaze was sharp and piercing. Hiroko's howl was so low and mournful, starkly contrasting with her bright and chipper personality. Wolves were known for howling though, weren't they?

For the most part, Havoc didn't think about it until they're on a mission. It was part of his and his daemon's job to alert the team if something came up. He and Riza were either stationed on opposite ends, parked with their sniper rifles, or he was in the thick of it. Hiroko howled if something changed in the situation.

Havoc was currently perched on top of a roof, looking through the scope of his rifle. Hiroko laid at his side, her head on her paws, as she looked down at the street. Most daemons would've been terrified to be so close to the edge, but it had never bothered her. It was what made him a good sniper. He and Riza were unique in the fact that they were snipers without an avian daemon.

Didn't mean she had brilliant eyesight though. "What's going on down there? Is everything okay?"

"So far, so good," Havoc reassured her.

Hiroko harrumphed. While they were used to being placed in a sniper position, they were not used to Riza placed right in the line of fire. Unfortunately, the buyer for the guns that they had managed to swipe expected a female arms dealer and that left only Riza as the option to go undercover. Havoc spotted Wojciech curled under the table at her feet, trying to look as small as possible. It was possible, if one didn't look carefully, to mistake him for a husky dog. A wolf daemon would make anyone uneasy.

Despite the fact that she was typically hidden away in a sniper nest, Riza was a natural at field work as well. After given a script and other information, she easily slipped into the role of arms dealer. After all, if anyone knew guns, it was Riza. She didn't need Falman's encyclopedia knowledge on weapons. He watched through the scope and listened over the headset as she spoke about the specs and details to the buyer, some wannabe militant anarchist from West City named Forrester. She looked so casual sitting at a small table at the outside seating of a bistro. Wojciech looked downright lazy and uninterested.

Sweeping his scope about, Havoc found Breda and Mustang playing a game of chess in the park across the street from the bistro. Sumati sat at Breda's side while Shula hung off to the left at a bench, looking for all the world like she was someone else's daemon. Sitting on the inside of the bistro near a window was Falman, pretending to read a book while he drank a cup of coffee and ate lunch, his tabby cat daemon Ayn looking as bored as Wojciech. Fuery was sitting behind him, making sure the comms worked properly, his Ada humming under her breath.

"Target's on the move," came Falman's low voice over the comm. Havoc swung his scope back to watch as Riza and Forrester stood up from their seats.

The man had a Weimaraner daemon, which Hiroko took personal offense to, as she loathed it when canine daemons belonged to bad guys. Most people assumed that people with dog daemons were trustworthy, but they had learned a long time ago that a person's daemon didn't always tell the truth about who that person was. His daemon stood up and stretched, eyeing Wojciech as he slowly slinked out from underneath the table. It was impossible to hide his immense size now, but he seemed to fold in on himself in an attempt to not look so threatening. After a few more brief words, Forrester and his daemon followed Riza and Wojciech around to the alley where they were holding the guns in an unmarked van.

Mustang hadn't liked that. He'd wanted at least one person in the van when she went to do the exchange, if only because there was little to no vision into the alley, but the gun runner they'd captured explained that she never brought anyone with her to a buy. It was part of her spiel. Little to no loose ends. How she hadn't managed to get herself killed was beyond Havoc, but then she had nearly blown them to bits with a rocket launcher when they had been trying to apprehend her.

"Lost visual," Breda announced.

"Do you have an eye on her, Havoc?" Mustang asked. His voice was cool, but Havoc thought there was a sharp edge to it. He was clearly uncomfortable with not being able to see Riza himself. Havoc didn't have to look to know that Shula was swishing her tail irritably. "Havoc?"

After a moment of moving around, Havoc answered, "I got her, I got her."

But before Mustang could even finish sighing in relief, Havoc started and swore when the buy suddenly went south. Judging from his words, Forrester decided that he didn't want to pay for the weapons and decided to take discount. Before anyone could react, two other men came up from around the van and Riza was thrown headfirst into the side of the van and then tossed inside. She hadn't even managed to get a shot off, the gun knocked out of her hands. At the sight, Hiroko jumped up and let out a loud howl, giving a warning to the team that something had gone wrong. Down in the alley, Wojciech immediately moved to attack, no longer trying to hide, but was forced to a sudden halt when a semi-automatic was pointed at him. If he died, then Riza died.

"What's going on?" Mustang demanded. "Lieutenant, what's happening? Hawkeye, do you read me? Shit, Havoc, do you see her?"

He didn't answer. Instead, Havoc squeezed off a shot, hitting one of the new men right in the kneecap. The man went down, howling in pain and horror, as he watched his comrades jump into the van and drive off without him. Havoc shot at the van, trying to hit one of the tires, but it ricocheted off the bumper.

"Havoc-?"

"She's been taken hostage in the van!" Havoc shouted as he jerked himself to his feet. "They made a left on Kent, going south and fast!"

"We're in pursuit now!" Breda called. They must have leapt into Mustang's car the second that they heard a struggle over the comms. Havoc could only wonder what Breda had said to convince Mustang to get in the car and not go chasing after them on foot like a bat out of hell.

Havoc ran to the other side of the building, leaping over Fuery and his equipment. Hiroko reached the other end of the roof before he did, letting out another howl as he crouched into a quick position and let off another shot at the van as it sped away. "Shit! Right on Wilton, heading east! They're out of my line of sight."

He almost missed it through the scope, but then he spotted a gray blur out of the corners of his eyes and realized that Wojciech was chasing after them. The van could only go so fast, considering the traffic and the size of the vehicle. Cars were forced to come to a skidding halt as Wojciech weaved his way through traffic, dodging trucks and running at a speed he couldn't possibly manage for long.

And then, without stopping, Wojciech let out the most soul-wrenching howl that Havoc had ever heard in his life. It started low, like a rumble of thunder, going higher and higher until it was almost more of a whine. Hiroko could be loud when she howled, but it was nothing on Wojciech. Havoc was almost certain that his heart stuttered as Wojciech howled. He had never heard something so painful in his life. And then he gasped, understanding hitting him full force. Forrester and his accomplice had only taken Riza; they hadn't bothered to fight her wolf daemon.

They were literally dragging Riza away from her soul; the amount of pain the two of them must have been incredible. Every bit of distance put between him and Riza was dragging that howl out of Wojciech.

"Visual on the van," Breda said, his voice shaky over the line, probably due to having heard Wojciech's howl himself. "Driving north on Hill. Where the hell are they going?"

"I don't give a damn," Havoc growled as he searched through his scope again. They were probably trying to escape the vehicle behind them, but they hadn't a clue who had been shooting at them earlier or where. They were doing him a solid, heading right back into his sight, and he grinned when he spotted them again. Hiroko pressed the top of her head into his back, her belief in him resonating so strongly throughout their bond. "Gotcha."

This time, his shot hit right on the money, blowing the passenger front tire. After swerving around for a moment, the van came to a halt upon hitting a fire hydrant, creating an impromptu water fountain. The driver wasn't even out of the van for longer than two seconds before Havoc shot him in the knee. The back of the van was kicked open, but Forrester must have thought better to try to escape as Wojciech reared up, snapping and snarling like a wild animal. Havoc almost cringed as he watched the van shake about once Wojciech jumped inside. It probably wasn't a pleasant scene.

By the time Breda and Mustang pulled up to the scene, Mustang barely waiting for Breda to stop the car before leaping out of it, Riza was staggering out from the back of the van. There was blood on her head from where she'd been shoved into the metal paneling, but other than that, she looked more pissed than anything else. Wojciech rubbed at her and she clung to him with one hand as Mustang and Shula worried over them. It looked like Shula was struggling herself to not leap right onto Riza out in broad daylight. Havoc noted the blood on Wojciech's snout. Hopefully Forrester's daemon was still alive.

"We've got her," Breda said, seeing as how Mustang was in no shape to talk to anyone but Riza. "Forrester and his accomplice are in custody. Falman?"

"I apprehended the one in the alley."

Breda chuckled, though there was still tension in his voice. "Aw, Falman made his first arrest on his own."

Havoc sighed and pulled the scope away from his eye. He all but stumbled backwards and fell on his ass, relief washing over him. Riza was safe. She was with Wojciech again. The criminals were in custody. Fire hydrant and a civilian car crash aside, the mission had been a success. They could pat each other on the back and go home knowing that the job had been done.

Hiroko pressed into him, slipping her head under his arm so that she was almost in his lap. "Wojciech's howl… It sounded so…"

"Furious?"

"Tragic," Hiroko finished, shivering against him. "I never want to hear it again."

Havoc wrapped his arms around his daemon and closed his eyes. If Wojciech only howled like that, then neither did he. Honestly, he didn't want to imagine what else could cause the stoic wolf to howl so painfully.