From Afar
By: Mabis
Mustang checked the calendar on his desk. It had been two weeks since Ed left for his latest assignment, and he should've been back by now.
Which meant Ed was out running amok somewhere. Again.
Mustang sighed. Ed ran off more often than he liked, but that's what Ed did, and nothing would really change that. Which meant he would just have to make sure Ed didn't get himself killed from behind his desk.
He pulled out a train route map of the country and began to think. Ed was sent to Lior, in the east. Since he usually took his little side trips after he was done with his initial assignment, Ed was most likely somewhere between Lior and here. According to the map, the cities in the area were Aquroya, Eastburg, and Xenotime off to the west. Now, he'd been reading about a crime spree in Aquroya in Central's papers, which meant there was a good chance Ed would be there to look into things.
Mustang put away his map and leaned back. He could expect a phone call from the Aquroya police any day now. Hopefully Ed wouldn't end up in too much trouble this time.
As expected, Mustang got a phone call from the chief of the Aquroya police the very next day.
"Colonel," the chief began, "I've got a kid here claiming to be a State Alchemist, and says you can vouch for him. He's got a silver watch, but I figure it's just a forgery."
Bingo. "Is his name Edward Elric?"
"Yep. Heard of him before?"
"Where is he now?"
"I questioned him for three hours, but he didn't say anything, so I finally let him go."
Oh for crying out… "You mean to tell me you interrogated my subordinate for three hours without first contacting me! I didn't know police could be that incompetent! Since I'm feeling generous, I'll give you a second chance. The next time you see Edward Elric, you had better be extremely polite to him, otherwise I'll have you and your entire squad fired for gross incompetence. Understand?"
"Yes sir! I am terribly sorry for this misunderstanding! I promise it will never happen again!"
"Make sure that it doesn't." Mustang hung up the phone before the chief could say any more. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes in an effort to stave off a headache. At least this wasn't as bad as that time in West Junction, where Ed somehow managed to destroy the police department. Mustang had to threaten a lot of people in order to clear all that up. Sighing as the headache formed anyway, he went back to ignoring his paperwork. At least now he knew where Ed was, and that he was safe.