((Finally convinced myself to finish this chapter. It's short and kinda crappy, I know, but I'm no good at writing military stuff. Things will definitely start to pick up speed in the next chapter, though. And for you Vocaloid fans, expect to see a certain badass alchoholic make a cameo quite soon. :3))

If there was one thing Roy Mustang well and truly hated, it was paperwork. It seemed to always be in his way; It wasn't uncommon for him to be doing paperwork at lunch, or at home after work. Of course, he probably wouldn't have to do it so much during his free time if he would do it when he was supposed to, instead of procrastinating and using every excuse he knew to avoid doing it.

Being used to this, his trusted lieutenant Riza Hawkeye was not at all surprised when he let out an exasperated sigh at the sight of the neatly arranged stack of documents she placed on his desk.

"It's not going to go away by glaring at it, colonel," she pointed out, a hint of amusement in her always-professional voice.

"I know, I know," he mumbled, although still glaring at the papers.

Maybe I'll just burn them while she's not looking, he thought to himself. Or drop them down a storm drain... conveniently lose my grip just as a gust of wind comes along...

"It'd be best if you take a look at them soon," Riza continued, interrupting Roy's scheming. He gave an annoyed grunt in reply, which she took to mean he understood. Which, of course, didn't necessarily mean he would do it, but it was progress. Satisfied, she left the room.

Roy continued staring at the stack of papers for a few minutes, willing it to go away. When nothing happened after a little while, he sighed and reluctantly picked up the papers, skimming the top paper.

Colonel Roy Mustang is hereby assigned blah blah blah... Serial homicide?

He was a little surprised at this. Sure, there had been plenty of scattered murders over the years, but a serial homicide case was unusual. Intrigued, he began to read a little more thoroughly.

...Case details have been provided in the included envelope... Your orders are to find and apprehend the perpetrator, using any means necessary, without putting any civilians at risk...Blah blah blah...

He carefully opened the envelope, pulling out the documents inside and spreading them out on his desk. He read the papers inside carefully, and then read them again.

The papers detailed a string of incidents in which people were assaulted by an unknown attacker, their arms chopped off, and then left for dead. The arms were always missing. Most of them had happened at a school, and most of the victims were dead; Even Central's best doctors couldn't do much for someone who had had an arm poorly cut off and was then left lying in a locker for hours. Roy shuddered a little at the thought. He was no stranger to killings, but... These were high school students. Not some enemy soldiers. Just innocent, average children. And here someone was attacking them, chopping off their arms and then leaving. What kind of twisted psychopath would do that? It sickened him.

I'm going to need a lot more coffee for this.

~~~Nothing beats a jelly-filled doughnut~~~

Roy was preparing to tell his subordinates about the case when there came a sharp knock at the door.

"Yeah, come i-" Before he could even finish talking, the door flew open.

"Yo, Roy! Heard you got assigned to the arms case! Guess what… So did I!" exclaimed the cheery voice of Maes Hughes, Roy's oldest and closest friend.

"Yeah, great," Roy mumbled, annoyed.

"In all seriousness, though, I'm glad we're together on this," Hughes continued, lowering his voice to a more serious tone. "It's a tough case. I'm glad to have you and your men working with me instead of someone else."

Roy nodded in agreement. Annoying though he may be, Hughes was his best friend. The two of them worked well together. Things would definitely be easier with him, especially with his connections to the investigations department.

"So what do you think we should do first?" Roy asked, absent-mindedly fingering the folder of case files.

"Probably interview survivors, I'd say," Hughes replied, shrugging.

"Then let's go. We want to get this solved as soon as possible, right?" Roy stood up, pulling on his jacket as he walked. Hughes shook his head and smiled a little as he followed his friend. Even if it didn't seem like it at first glance, Roy was a hard worker. Once he decided he was going to solve a case, then he would, and nothing could stop him. That was one thing he and Ed had in common. Although they were always fighting, they had a lot more in common than they knew.

And so within a few minutes, they were on their way to the Central City Hospital.