"Lieutenant Colonel Mathew Abrams, reporting as ordered, sir," said Matt as he came to attention in a stiff salute to Fuhrer Mustang.
"At ease, colonel. Was your trip comfortable?" inquired the Fuhrer, who didn't give Abrams a chance to reply as he went on: "As you are well aware, you're State Alchemist Certification is about to expire, and your assignment to the Southern Command Center is under review as well. I think it fitting that the decision of where you'll be transferred to should be determined by your performance when renewing your State Certification."
Matt was worried: if such an important aspect of his career was to be decided based solely on his performance test, he would probably have an unusually difficult test. His fears were realized, beyond anything he could have anticipated, by what the Fuhrer said next. "You will prove your worth as a State Alchemist by combating one of the best alchemists alive: me."
Matt was stunned. He had never heard of the Fuhrer actually fighting another Alchemist since he had been ordered to duel Full-Metal, and that was when Fuhrer Bradley was still in power. It was widely believed that Mustang's flame alchemy was one of the most difficult kinds of attacks to defend against, given that all he needed to cause tremendous explosions and raging infernos was to snap his fingers. While still impressive in its own right, Matt's ice wind attack took a little time to execute, time he might not get when fighting Flame.
"Sir," croaked Matt. "When will this, this test take place?" Smirking malevolently, the Fuhrer answered "Two days from now, at noon. You would be well advised to prepare yourself. Oh, and Colonel, I hope this will teach you to stay away from my wife. That is, if you survive. Dismissed."
Matt saluted, did an about face and left the room. As soon as the door was closed he staggered to a bench and collapsed, utterly shocked. Rizza Hawkeye was the Fuhrer's wife! It seemed so obvious that Matt was amazed he hadn't realized it when he had seen them together, three months ago after briefing the Fuhrer on the unstable situation in the southern provinces.
Matt remembered it like it was five minutes ago: "Ah, Colonel Abrams. I believe that you have the report on the southern provinces?" "Yes sir, here it is," said Matt while handing the report to the Fuhrer. "Sir, permission to speak freely?" The Fuhrer raised an eyebrow at Matt's request. "Granted. What's on your mind?" "Thank you, sir. As you are no doubt aware, the forces of Drachma are boring passages through the northern mountains. We believe them to be using partial transmutation techniques rather than explosives. This would sidestep the problem of cave-ins and speed up the process considerably..." "Yes, colonel; I am fully aware of the problem. What, may I ask, is your point?" Matt heard an impatient tone in the Fuhrer's voice, and decided to finish as succinctly as he could.
"The reason I mention this situation, sir, is because the southern provinces are much more unstable than was first believed. Organized militias are gathering support, to the point that a full scale rebellion should be expected, possibly within the year." Matt let the Fuhrer have a moment to digest this piece of news before continuing on. "The resistance leaders are very much aware of how superior the military is to their forces. Right now they're biding their time until they can strike when we're at our weakest, and least able to fight effectively. Should the Drachma army manage to break through the mountains, we would have a full scale invasion on our hands, giving the rebels the perfect time to strike. With the army tied up on the northern front, Central and the rest of the country would be completely open to attack. Needless to say, this must not be allowed to happen."
Seeing that he had the Fuhrer's undivided attention, Matt pressed his advantage and continued. "I have an idea which would leave us with the best opportunity for crushing the rebellion before it even starts, while at the same time keeping our guard up for a Drachma invasion. My proposal is detailed out fully in my report." "I'm sure it is, colonel, but since you seem to be on a role, you might as well lay the basic plan out for me. Proceed." Matt was thrilled. The Fuhrer wanted to hear his idea! "Well, sir, my battle plan would entail setting a trap for the rebels by leaking false reports that an invasion has already begun, then sending the bulk of our forces to a position roughly halfway between Central and the northern mountain chain..." "Hold on a minute, colonel, and let me see if I understand you correctly: You mean you actually want me to leave the country's capital undefended? I thought you said your plan involved keeping our guard up, not dropping it altogether."
Matt could see that he would have to talk fast to get the Fuhrer to see his strategy for what it was. "Sir, if you'll let me continue, all will be made clear shortly." The Fuhrer's eyes narrowed in that familiar look of impatience as he said "Very well, continue." "You may recall sir, that I said the bulk of our forces, not all of them. To deal with the rebel army that would be drawn to Central, I propose that the State Alchemists, all State Alchemists, should be secretly stationed in two groups to the east and west of Central to ambush the southern revolutionaries when they least suspect it. That way, the massed army in the north could still be recalled to clear out any surviving rebels if needed, and the Alchemists could be rapidly deployed to reinforce the front lines of a counter attack to an invasion. Either way, we have the entire army available to deal with each threat individually, with no chance of fighting on two fronts at the same time."
From the smug smile that slowly crept over the Fuhrer's face, Matt knew that his idea had been well received. "Colonel, that was perhaps the most flexible, well conceived plan I have been briefed on in some time. If the specific plans for moving the State Alchemists unnoticed and taking the rebels by surprise are as good as the theory behind them, I might just put your plan into effect. Dismissed." After a swift salute, Matt marched out of the room and shut the door carefully. Once outside he let out a deep breath and started walking briskly down the hall towards the exit. Matt was thrilled: the Fuhrer had liked his proposal!
This praise went to his head, however, leaving Matt feeling cocky and high on himself. It was in this state of mind that Matt had tried to catch the eye of Riza Hawkeye, a superior officer who looked remarkably like Matt's high school crush. His attempts to win her were short lived, however, as Matt received orders to return to the Southern Command immediately. He had long suspected that Riza had pulled some strings to get someone high in the chain of command to issue those orders, but he had never suspected how high.
"Hey, Ice! Why so glum?" chirped an all too familiar voice coming up the hall, jolting Matt from his reverie. "Oh, no," groaned Matt under his breath. It was Trevor. Trevor, who had followed Matt continually like an adoring puppy since Matt had first told him he was a State Alchemist. Matt didn't need him, not now. Trevor, though, was oblivious to the full extent of matt's woes and started to guess the answer to his question. "Must be the weather, huh? Hard to be cheerful with all this rain and grey sky...say, could you dry up the rain clouds? Or maybe make a wind strong enough to blow them away?"
Matt just stared at him in disbelief, shook his head and lectured: "For being so interested in alchemy, you seem to have little idea of its limits. As you should know, all alchemy needs energy to work, whether you're forming a wall out of stone, or just bread from grass, you still need to have the right amount of energy to do it. The amount of energy needed to do either of the things you suggested would be phenomenal, since there are thousands of tons of water in a cloud, and cubic miles of air to heat before you even think of moving one. Therefore, you would need the energy of a hundred tons or so of high explosives, which I don't have."
Trevor looked more than a little confused as he said "What do a lot of high explosives have to do with anything? I thought we were talking about rain clouds." At this Matt had to laugh. He was never quite sure whether Trevor was actually not following what he said, or was just pretending to be dumber than he really was. Oh, well. "What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you were still in high school, or working in the Military Records Department or something like that?" At the mention of his job, Trevor swelled up self-importantly. Who would have thought anyone could get so excited over filing stacks of reports, orders and inventory records? "Well, I'm working, but I haven't found anyone to teach me more than the basic alchemy I learned in that book you gave me. I'm still on the lookout for the real powerful stuff like you use," It never failed to amaze Matt that Trevor could be so fascinated with alchemy, yet intimidated by it enough to avoid the dozen or more capable teachers within a mile of his workplace.
"Look, Trevor, I'm in a bit of a fix right now, and I need some time to think over my problem, alright?" At this, Trevor looked suddenly concerned. "So it's something other than the whether, then?" "Yes. I just found out what I've been assigned to do for my State Alchemist recertification test." Trevor suddenly looked excited, almost happy as he tried to cheer matt up. "Well, how bad could it really be, anyway? They'll probably have you make a really big cannon, or turn some old building into a spotless new one, or something like that. It should be pretty easy for someone as talented and powerful as you." Matt just shook his head and started to tell his over-optimistic little friend the real state of affairs.
"Even though those ideas would take a lot of tedious preparation and forethought to pull off, either would be easy compared to what's in store for me. You see, I have to duel another State Alchemist in a couple of days." After one brief moment of shock, Trevor's eyes lit up and he was almost bouncing off the walls as he boasted "This is GREAT! You can really show off your Ice Wind attack and humiliate some poor sap at the same time! This should really impress the Fuhrer: who knows! You might even get promoted! Just tell me, so I can start making a sign with some big taunt on it: who are you going to fight?" Putting his head in his hands as he said it, Matt answered. "Fuhrer Mustang himself: the Flame Alchemist."