It was after the midnight hour. East city was blanketed in the deep darkness of night. That was, save for a dimly lit lamppost that illuminated a daunting figure. Hateful red eyes gleamed, framed by an x-shaped scar. The imminent threat took a stance.
Pulling on his pyrotex gloves, Roy Mustang met the venomous glare head on. He'd have to make quick work of this one. After all, his opponent was well known as the 'alchemist killer.'
Without warning, the serial killer charged him.
"Too slow." Roy thought confidently to himself, snapping his fingers with gusto.
The spark ignited and flames enclosed upon their target, burning mercilessly. The flame alchemist smirked, "That was far too easy."
However, as the fire died down, his eyes widened. For it was not a corpse before him. In fact, the Ishvalan was completely unscathed. Roy rapidly felt his heart sinking into the pit of his stomach. Scar lunged for him once more; hurriedly he snapped his fingers.
KEEEEeeew!
Thunder clapped overhead as lightning lit up the sky, all at once rain began to pour down in a torrent.
Roy blanched, "Hawkeye, I could use some back-up about now…" A strong hand clasped over his face and his pupils dilated further.
The murderer spoke calmly, "Now you shall receive judgment." His tattooed arm began to glow as he used his infamous deconstructive alchemy.
The colonel grit his teeth as pain washed through his entire being- it was almost as if he were on fire. What an incredibly ironic way to feel before death, he decided. "Lieutenant… why didn't you have my back?" he thought painfully.
"I'm sorry, colonel… but you're useless in the rain." Riza's voice echoed from somewhere outside his vision.
"That's what you get for trying to take on the 'alchemist killer' alone, Colonel hard-head!" Edward Elric's all too cheery voice chipped in.
"Why… Why are both of you mocking me?" Roy thought helplessly, "GAAAAAaaaah!" he gasped as the waves of pain intensified. This really was the end.
"Colonel?"
He blinked rapidly in confusion. That sounded like his lieutenant's voice, but she wasn't nearly as taunting this time... Suddenly his surroundings grew fuzzy, fading to black, "I think I'm done for, lieutenant." He confessed.
"Colonel Mustang, sir."
Onyx eyes flew open, darting around helplessly as Roy took a few, sudden gasps of air.
Hawkeye regarded her commanding officer. His messy black hair was matted to his forehead with sweat and his face flushed. Tired bags lurked beneath his half-crazed eyes and she felt just a little bit sorry for him. He really didn't look well. If it weren't for the fact that there were pressing matters at hand, she might have been tempted just to let him sleep.
The colonel managed to compose himself, clearing his throat in what he hoped was a dignified manner, "Ah, yes, lieutenant. I must have dozed off…" he murmured vaguely, a part of him quite frankly surprised she wasn't pointing a gun at his head, "Is something the matter?"
The blond woman promptly snapped into a salute, "Yes sir. We've received word that the Elric brothers are fighting in the street…"
"Is it Scar?" Roy inquired, cutting her off.
"No sir." Riza replied calmly, "It seems to be a wayward alchemist…"
He stood and began pulling on his dark overcoat as she spoke, "Any other details?" he pressed. He stole a glance out the window. The sky was cloudy. Lovely. He'd have to hope this didn't take too long to tie up. As things were, he had a pulsing headache and he didn't relish combining that with one of nature's 'showers'.
"They sighted her breaking into the estate that formerly belonged to Shou Tucker, sir. She seemingly escaped with some of his abandoned research materials." Lieutenant Hawkeye relayed.
"That can't be good." Roy murmured and turned to face his adjutant, "Come along, lieutenant."
Riza nodded, "I'll get the car, sir."
When her back was to him, Roy heaved a silent sigh, "Here we go again. Well, I suppose I'll just have to show that little thief why they call me the Flame Alchemist." The colonel followed his lieutenant out to the vehicle, slipping on a pair of his pyrotex gloves as he did so.
Hawkeye drove the vehicle with ease. It wasn't difficult to tell where the fight was going on, what with the commotion and destruction it caused.
Roy rested his head against the cool windowpane, knowing it wouldn't be long before they reached the battleground. An annoying feeling of lethargy had been hanging over him the entire morning; he promised himself he wouldn't let it interfere with his performance. He felt the car screech to a halt, "Time to get to work."
The first sight that greeted Mustang as he stepped out of the car was none other than that of one Edward Elric- slamming down onto the street. He looked a little worse for wear, a tell tale sign that the golden- haired kid had been taking a bit of a beating.
"Couldn't handle a little thief, Fullmetal?" Roy quipped, smirking slightly at the fallen boy.
"Who're you calling small?!" Edward snapped, pulling himself to his feet. "Took ya long enough to get here, Colonel. What were you doing? Sleeping?"
Before he could reply, there was a deep, rumbling sound as the ground shook and Alphonse was nearly hurled into the parked car.
"Oh, you silly boys!" A feminine voice giggled. The click of boots on the road said she was drawing closer.
"Al! You okay?" Ed asked the armored soul.
"I'm fine, brother." Alphonse reassured as he righted himself.
Roy studied the offender as she drew closer.
Short dark hair framed her face. She bore tattoos not only on both arms, Roy noted, but there seemed to be one on her left cheek as well. She appeared to be wearing earmuffs and gloves despite her otherwise relatively light attire… And she looked… young. Perhaps not as young as Edward, but she couldn't have been older than eighteen if he had to guess. Roy shook his head to clear it.
He snapped his fingers, letting the flames form just feet in front of her, "Give back the documents you stole or next time I won't miss."
This amused the girl, as she threw back her head and laughed, "Surely you don't mean that. Theft doesn't warrant the death penalty." She challenged. "And I'm sure you don't want to burn your precious papers."
"On the contrary, those papers are expendable." Roy said evenly. He glanced back at Edward, "I'll take over from here."
"Is that so? Well I don't believe you." The girl taunted, she flashed a grin and then stomped one of her boots. The ground rumbled loudly again and shook violently beneath them.
As his footing gave out to the unsteady ground, Roy caught a glimpse of the girl tearing down an alleyway. "Get back here!" he roared. Righting himself, he gave chase… He'd have to watch out for her earth alchemy.
"Colonel!" Edward growled in frustration as the flame alchemist pursued the thief.
Sadly, any words of warning were lost on the colonel in his pursuit of the troublesome girl. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner he could get back to HQ. Maybe he'd even get back before it could start raining. He doubted that, however, due to the churning of darkened clouds overhead.
He tailed the girl on her zigzagged path, following her out into another open street. She stopped abruptly and the colonel allowed himself to catch his breath from the chase, "Why… Why steal those papers in the first place?" he inquired, panting slightly.
The thief regarded him, cocking her head up in a slightly boastful manner, "It's nothing personal, colonel… I simply carry out the task I'm hired to."
Roy studied her, "Is that so? I don't suppose you'll tell me who you're working for." He glanced to her feet, "She isn't drawing transmutation circles, so she must have them patterned on her boots." He thought to himself.
"Sorry, but that's confidential." She smirked, "Surely you understand." She stomped her foot for emphasis, causing the ground beneath him to rumble and quake once more.
The colonel, however, squatted to maintain a sturdier balance. He snapped his fingers, bringing to life a wall of flames.
"Ha! You missed me by a mile! You really think you're going to frighten me with shots like those?" the thief called smugly. Though widespread, the fire didn't even come close to touching her. If anything, it obscured her view of the flame alchemist. Too late her eyes widened in realization.
"I'd say they hit their mark." Roy said calmly from behind her, restraining her as he hefted her just slightly off the ground.
"Let me go!" the thief grit her teeth, squirming against his grip.
"Not a chance. If you don't touch the ground, I'd say your earth alchemy is fairly useless. You do have transmutation circles on your boots, do you not?" Roy couldn't help but smirk. This girl really was a novice…
Suddenly the girl stopped squirming and broke into a fit of giggles.
The colonel blinked in confusion, grip loosening slightly. Why would this girl be laughing? "What's so funny?" he asked guardedly.
The girl managed to suppress another wave of giggles, "Earth alchemy? Is that what you thought I was using?" she wriggled her arms free, flashing her gloves in his face. For the first time, he noticed a design stitched into them… much like the design of his own gloves, but this transmutation circle was different.
She smirked, taking advantage of her opponent's brief confusion, "Perhaps this will clear things up; I go by the codename 'Echo'."
Before Mustang could react, she clapped her hands loudly mere inches from his face.
A sharp, echoing pain pierced through his skull, forcing him to let go of his captive as he crumpled to the ground. Eyes clamped shut, he buried his fingers deeply into his black hair, clutching his head, "Gaaaah….It feels like my brain is splitting in two!" he cried out mentally, temporarily losing the strength to speak.
Echo stood a few feet away, looking rather pleased with herself.
Roy squinted his eyes open, willing himself to let go of his head. Until Lieutenant Hawkeye caught up to him, he had to try and stop the thief on his own accord. He didn't have time to stay on the ground. Still, the pain ringing through his skull was so intense he found himself seeing double.
"You're lucky; I went easy on you." Echo was saying, "Sound- based alchemy used at that range can be lethal."
"Sound… alchemy?" Roy murmured dumbly, staggering to his feet.
"Stomping. Clapping." The girl shrugged, "Where there is life, there is sound. As long as there are sound waves travelling through the air, I can alter them to a variety of frequencies… Some quite painful, I'm sure you noticed."
Roy had heard enough, he snapped his fingers, sending flames leaping a mere foot to the right of her. He was angry with himself for letting his guard down and furthermore, angry that he'd allowed himself to jump to conclusions in the first place. He was more calculated than this! The mistake, it was so incredibly juvenile… He bared his teeth. And now because of his careless assumption, he could hardly think or see straight.
"Hey!" Echo exclaimed, feeling the heat of the flames, "Are you forgetting I have the research papers?!" she pulled the folded documents from her pants pocket, waving them about like some sort of trophy.
He snapped again, fire consuming the papers in her hand greedily.
With a yelp the thief dropped the burning papers, looking to the colonel in astonishment.
"…I told you." He managed a slight smirk, "Those papers are expendable."
"Why you-!" Echo raged. She stomped, sending the already unsteady colonel to the ground as her sound transmutation shook the road he stood on.
Dragging himself up, Mustang suddenly took note of the increasing wind. A droplet of cold water met his cheek and he frowned. Just when he was having such a wonderful day…. The storm had arrived.
The rain picked up quickly, pouring down with a vengeance and dousing the burnt remains of Shou Tucker's notes.
"Why?" the thief asked glaring, "Why go to all this trouble to follow me just to destroy the notes?!"
Roy did his best to keep a strong front. This girl didn't need to know his alchemy was effectively useless now that his gloves, and he for that matter, were becoming completely soaked. "I think that reason is fairly obvious. Some things are better off destroyed than brought into the hands of the wrong person." He said coolly.
He could see movement out of the corner of his eye. If the blond locks and blue colors were any indication, it seemed like Riza had finally showed up.
"Good to see you could make it, Lieutenant." Mustang called over the driving rain, grimacing as his own voice felt entirely too loud for his head.
Echo eyed the woman with distaste, but didn't move.
"Sorry it took so long, sir." Riza apologized, gun trained on the thief, "The Elric brothers filled me in on something you might find useful. They think this girl is somehow manipulating sound waves through alchemy."
"Tell me something I don't know, Lieutenant." Roy replied, a certain sourness to his tone.
Before Hawkeye could contemplate his words, lightning lit up the sky and thunder crashed simultaneously.
The thief saw her escape. Clapping her hands and harnessing the thunder's sound waves, she managed to transmute a horrible, deafening frequency.
The colonel and his lieutenant both temporarily handicapped by the assault, Echo fled empty- handed. She silently cursed the colonel for outclassing her and ruining the heist.
Author's Note:
Hello Everyone! I guess this proves I didn't fall off the face of the planet, huh? Sorry for the slow updates with 'Face It, We're Family,' I've hit a bit of writer's block with that story. Not to worry, however, I haven't given up on it and will have chapter 4 up… eventually. Thank you all for your patience with me. In the mean time, I've been inspired to torture everyone's favorite flame alchemist, Roy Mustang! I'd like to dedicate these first few chapters to my awesome readers who've stuck with me despite my lack of updates! You guys are awesome.
In reference to this fic- Yes, Echo is my Oc. As far as I've planned, she won't appear further in this fic, save for in passing mention (Due to the above incident). Also: Sound based alchemy, as far as I know, is my own idea. The idea of transmuting soundwaves into other frequencies sounded like a feasible type of alchemy. *shrugs* Probably not as 'solid' as I think. At any rate, the idea is that sound alchemy is practiced by a select few and is often mistaken for earth alchemy, explaining why Roy had never heard of it.
This fanfiction is set in the Brotherhood/ manga universe to take place prior to Hughes's death, but after Scar's reveal. At least, that was what I had in mind whilst typing. I hope all of you enjoy this fic and rest assured, Mustang's condition will worsen during the next chapter. *cackles* Gosh, I'm so evil.
Reviews make me happy! See you all in Chapter 2!