Greetings all! And welcome to yet another chapter of 'Departmental Issues'! I really hope you guys have been waiting patiently since my last update. Disappointing people isn't exactly my forte. Know what I mean? Before we move on, I've only one thing left to say before I let you keep going: I don't own FMA in any shape or form but if anyone can ship me a Mustang plushie, I will love them forever and accept it as a belated birthday present. Enjoy!

"Iii" speech

Iii thought

Chapter 3: First Day & Counting

Having been left on the curb just outside the police station, Edward Elric had no other choice but to let out a nervous sigh and walk up the stone steps with the slight help from his dark brown cane. The lobby area was just as busy as before, and had a few more people in it than when he'd last seen it. Giving Scieszka a kind wave and a smile, the blonde man headed right for the wooden set of stairs. He could only wince at the pain in his leg was causing him, hating the fact that he'd been forced to bring his cane to his first day of work as the NYPD profiler. Jus the thought of it made him feel a little giddy with excitement, having brought a small cardboard box full of some of his books and notebooks from all the research he'd done in the past. A few of them were empty in case he needed to make notes of anything new. Letting memory guide him, Ed confidently headed right for Chief Bradley's office door.

Knocking on the smoked glass, Ed waited once again, the second time that week, for the man to call 'come in' from his side of the glass and wood barrier. This time, Ed didn't hesitate upon entering the large office space.

"Waiting on me there chief?" he inquired, making the much older man look up in surprise before breaking into his kind smile.

"Edward! Just when I thought you'd slept in on us. You're a few minutes early but I guess that's all right. Wait just a moment won't you?"

"Sure."

He watched the much older man quickly write something down, probably his signature when one thought about the length of the sentence. Ed merely shrugged it off when the man suddenly rose from his chair, smiling kindly at him as he quickly walked around his desk and towards him and the door.

"Shall I show you your office?" Bradley asked, the smile still on his lips as he allowed Ed to back up before walking out and heading to his right (or Ed's left).

The blonde in question looked a bit stunned at this sudden prospect of having an office to himself. "I get an office?"

And here I thought I'd just get a desk. He thought, just barely able to hear the older man's words through his astonishment at such an odd thing as getting an office on the first day without working to the bone for it.

"Well since your field of expertise is fairly large and you're pretty much the only one we have right now, you get an office all to yourself. Is that a problem?" Bradley asked, looking back at Ed, who jumped at the man's suddenly curious gaze.

"No! No, not at all! It's just… surprising."

"I bet it is. Here we are!" the police chief said coolly, not even fazed by Ed's hesitation, opening a door somewhere near the end of the hall, the smoked glass window having the word 'profiler' on it with an odd looking divider over it. Bradley didn't have to follow Ed's curious stare to know what he was looking at. "Dr. Carlson, our old profiler's name, used to be there but I'll see if I can't get someone to put yours up there sometime soon. It's still full of some old books and research notes from our last profiler, but I think you'll find them useful sooner or later."

Looking inside, Ed saw that the former profiler Dr. Carlson had indeed been a busy man, the entire room filled with books and notes in a disturbingly organized manner rather than a ominous looking mountain of clutter. The blonde walked inside a little bit to get a better look at some of the books on the shelves that surrounded the main space. His eyes widened at the many titles of books he'd always known existed, but had never managed to get his hands on. There has to be a book on every aspect of human behavior, the occult and then some in here! Just how smart was this guy?

"Yeah… I bet I will." He managed to mumble, his voice filled with awe at the new library of knowledge he now had at his disposal.

Thought he continued to smile in his kind way, Bradley didn't miss a beat to distract Ed from the sea of knowledge. "Well! Now that you know where your new home is, why not come and find out who you'll be working with."

This statement was enough to pull the blonde out of his reverie. "Right."

Setting the box down, Ed managed to keep up with the older man's pace as they walked back out into the open office area and right towards another hallway leading to the right of the large room, trying to keep from flinching at the sudden twinge of pain from his wounded leg. A bit curious of where they were going, Ed soon found they were heading for the break room, where a bunch of people were gathered, seated at the small tables and eating donuts, sipping coffee and discussing whatever was on their minds that they deemed important.

Upon entering the room, they all seemed to freeze up and nearly stand up at the sight of Bradley before he waved them down again. Smiling as kindly as he always seemed to do no matter what was going on, Bradley didn't waste any time in speaking up in the new silence.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet our new profiler, Edward Elric. He'll be taking over Dr. Carlson from now on."

There were sounds of astonishment and relief coming from all sides as all in the room said their hellos or gave their congratulations to his joining them in the everlasting fight for justice. With some it was both, others choosing to do just one and fall silent for their chief to continue. And continue he did.

"Since it's his first day, I'll require one or all of you to show our new coworker around the precinct since I've a few other matters to attend to." He said calmly, allowing the chatter to rise again as he turned back to Ed, his smile widening to almost a grin. "I'll be coming to see you again later Edward. Oh and here's the key to your new office. I'd hate for you to feel it unguarded when you leave."

"Thanks. And you can just call me Ed." The blonde said, a bit unsettled at the oddly polite way his name was being uttered even in his own presence.

Only Bradley would seem to have none of it. "Nonsense! I'm smart enough to call you by your first name without bringing offense but I still think we're far from nicknames my dear boy! Have good day Edward!"

Mere seconds later and the man was gone without so much as a another glance, turning a corner and vanishing completely. Feeling as if he'd just been left hanging out to dry to be torn apart by rapid dogs, Ed could merely stand in the doorway of the break room and wonder just who would be kind enough to show him around. As if on cue, a rather lazy looking blonde man with a cigarette butt in his mouth almost popped out of nowhere, his blue uniform appearing to have a 'slept-in' kind of look. The man himself had an expression that just begged for a good night's sleep. Much more so than his clothes most likely, by the way his cool stare met Ed's sharp gold eyes.

"So your our profiler huh? Name's Jean Havoc." The man grumbled, looking almost bored out of his mind.

Ed gave him a confused look. "Havoc? Were your parents weird?"

"No, just foreigners but that's okay. Your name ain't too normal either." the man said calmly, cool grey eyes not even flinching at his own remark. Much to his surprise, Ed just grinned in amusement.

"Well at least we don't have weird accents. So you volunteering for the tour guide gig or what?" the blonde inquired, the grin turning into a cool smirk.

Havoc was taken off guard by this odd response but shrugged at the question anyway, as though he could truly care less. "I guess, since no one else rushed to their feet to help. Might as well be me. C'mon kid. You got plenty to see."

Letting himself be led out of the room and back into the hall, all the while ignoring the 'kid' part of the man's last sentence, Ed followed the lazy bum of a blonde further down the hall and away from the hustle and bustle of the main area. Further down, the noise dimmed into nothing as the lights turned more and more blue rather than the common yellow, Havoc not really faltering when they passed a long metal cart covered in thick, clear plastic, a pair of feet sticking out from underneath. Ed felt a bead of sweat roll down his face at the sight but dared say nothing about it as the older man led him even further down the eerie hallway. It wasn't very long after that they came across a set of double doors, the smoked glass windows bearing only one self explanatory word: morgue.

Staring almost curiously at these dark letters upon the glass, Ed was brought out of his thoughts at Havoc's calm and lazy voice. "Thought that since you're our profiler now and such, you'll be comin' in here a lot from here on in. Only fair you meet the dudes that slice open the victims like science lab frogs."

Ed had to force himself to smirk again amidst the carts holding the dead and their foul stench of decay. It was things such as these that reminded him too much of what'd happened mere years beforehand. "You always this sarcastic?"

"Not really." Havoc deadpanned.

"Huh. Seems like you are." The blonde chuckled, this time for real.

"Yeah well. I ain't so don't think I'll always be crackin' a wise one." The older man grumbled, not looking too pleased with being there himself. "C'mon and meet the guys before I get creeped out."

"What? You afraid that our guests might wake up as zombies?" a voice suddenly asked from shadowy hallway that went on to their left, Havoc seeming to jump out of his skin while Ed just turned to face the newcomer with a curious look on his face.

A tall man with grey hair and eyes that appeared to be closed came forward in a white lab coat, dressed in fairly casual attire underneath as he smirked at the pissed looking lazy bum who expressed his annoyance and ire. "Dammit Falman! That ain't funny!"

"Zombies?" Ed asked, wondering what the hell was going on.

The man now named Falman merely let his smirk become an amused grin as Havoc's eyebrow twitched in seething rage while he spoke as though the man wasn't even standing there. "Ol' Havoc here nearly pissed his pants when someone brought 'Dawn Of The Dead: Director's Cut' over on Halloween last year. Those of us here in morticians, much less everyone else, hasn't let it go since then."

"Zombies?" Ed asked again, this time at Havoc, trying to keep from laughing at the thought that a grown man was scared of a mythical being.

"Give it a rest already! Jesus Christ!" Havoc snapped, a vein pulsing on his forehead, getting ready burst at any moment. "Anyway, Ed? This is Vato Falman, the head coroner here at NYPD, so you'll probably be talkin' to him a lot."

At the sound of the younger blonde's name, Falman was instantly distracted from his coworker's outbursts to realize why the man's name was so familiar. "Ed huh? You gotta be that new profiler guy Bradley was braggin' about two days ago! It's good to know we've another specialist in the building after Carlson left." It wasn't long before Falman looked down to notice something in the blonde's hand, seeming to hold him up rather than balance alone. "What's up with the cane?"

Ed merely shrugged. "Old injury. Hurts now and again but other than that, I walk like everybody else."

"Say, where's Fuery?" Havoc inquired, thankful that the subject had changed from his embarrassing fear of the undead.

"He's finishing up in the back right now and won't be out til later. I guess you can introduce them later. In the meantime, I suggest you leave before you hurl when you see my next customer." Falman said jokingly, making Ed chuckle softly.

Havoc just looked disgusted at the thought. "Ugh. Don't even try to describe 'em to me. I kinda want to keep my breakfast."

"Nice meetin' ya Ed!" Falman called before passing through the double doors of the morgue, waving at the two as they went further down the hall, walls of plaster turning into large windows of clear glass.

"Thanks. Later!" Ed called in turn before turning back to his guide. "Well that was interesting. You always so queasy around the dead?"

"And you're not?" the older man asked, looking back at the younger blonde as if in disbelief someone so young was unfazed by the site of the deceased.

"Not anymore."

They walked in silence for another minute before Havoc stopped in front of one of the open doorways leading into a large room full of machines.

"Well here we are at forensics. DNA and all that weird blood and trace evidence stuff that totally confuses the hell outta me. Hey Denny. Trying to think of a way to get Maria to date you?" the man suddenly asked another, who turned to reveal that he looked a bit on the pathetic side. His face was that of absolute misery, his dark eyes teary with sadness and confusion, as his dirt blonde hair that came down to his shoulders didn't do much to hide his expression.

"Wouldn't you?" the man asked, giving the lazy cop a beseeching look.

Havoc didn't even appear to be moved by the man's puppy eyed expression. "I would if she didn't turn me down the last 17 times I asked her. At least, unlike most of my girlfriends, she was nice about it."

The man just slumped with a sigh of defeat. "Yeah well, I don't think she even notices me man. Anyway, what can I do for ya?"

"You can say hello to our new guy, Edward Elric."

"Elric huh? So you're the profiler Bradley was talkin' about. You're…"

Ed instantly felt his anger begin to seethe at the man's hesitation. He knew full well what the man was going to say. "What?"

"You're a bit shorter than I thought you'd be." he said calmly, only to be taken off guard by Ed's powerful reaction.

"WHO'S SHORTER THAN A FRICKIN' PYGMY THE SIZE OF A TODDLER?" Ed suddenly snarled, somehow getting his hands on one of the laboratory stools to hold over his head like a sledgehammer that was shaped wrong.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! That's not what I said!" the man squeaked, practically running away to hide behind a rather pale woman with short black hair, dark blue eyes and rather confused look on her face.

"Hey! What's going on in here?" she asked, trying not to appear threatened by Ed and his Stool of Doom.

Havoc peeked out from behind the island counter to point right at Edward and his demonically angry face. "The new guy's havin' a temper tantrum."

"Maria! Save me!" the blonde man behind her pleaded, looking like he was about to cry his eyes out and piss himself at the same time.

"Alright that's enough. You can put the stool down now…" she hesitated, trying to put a name to his face as he held the thing over his head threateningly at the blonde now hiding behind her back, using her white lab coat like a shield.

His anger having waned some, the blonde merely smirked in understanding of the woman's confusion. "Name's Ed. And you'll be seein' more of me when I get on my first case as profiler here."

"Well then, I'm Maria Ross. And they guy you're about to beat to death is Denny Brosh, and I kinda need him to help me get samples tested and such." She said calmly with a smile, pointing at the crying man hiding behind her slim form in the hopes of escaping death.

It wasn't long before Havoc had come back out of his own hiding place to stand a bit more in the open like before. "Say Ed… if you were gonna hit him with a stool…why not hit him with your cane?"

"What? Hell no! If I break it over his stupid ass, I'll need to look around for a new one! Besides, why break a good cane when you can use a stool that can be replaced a gazillion times?" he inquired, grinning almost like a demon on sugar, making Denny flinch from his hiding spot.

"Okay. That's… a weird argument. But I think you should really put that stool down now."

Ed gave her a confused look, the grin vanishing instantly at her statement. "And why's that?"

Maria just smirked knowingly. "I need it if I'm going to test this sample from a case I'm working on."

"Ah. Sorry." he sheepishly set the metal and vinyl object back on its feet as the dark haired woman smiled back at him.

She merely shook her head, waving away the apology. "It's okay. As long as you don't really hit him with it, you're free to swing it at him."

"Maria! Why are you being so cruel? Did I say something to offend you?" Denny said piteously, sounding like a wounded man as he gripped her coat, making Ed snicker at his pleas for attention.

Havoc, on the other hand, had had enough. "Let's skidaddle before things get really hectic in here."

Ed had to keep from laughing himself blue at Denny's actions, Maria ignoring him as she set to work before he moved away with a sulky look on his face. It was then that the blonde realized that working in such a busy place might actually turn out to be very fun.

--About An Hour Later

Ed sat back in his new office chair with a tired sigh, having managed to grab a cup of coffee from the break room after Havoc dragged him almost all the way through the building and back again just to show him where everything was and who was in charge there. After separating from the lazy smoker because he and his partner, Heymans Breda, short, a bit chubby with short dark red hair and beard, had to leave for a patrol around the west side of the city. From what Ed could tell, Breda was constantly in a pretty good mood and was usually laughing about something. Something the blonde saw to be extremely opposite to Havoc's constantly bored or depressed demeanor. For the time being, Bradley had yet to pop up again to show him who he'd be working with on his first case.

In order to pass the time without resorting to wandering around looking around like a moron, he decided to organize what few books he'd brought over as well as some of the notebooks he knew he'd be using later on. Along with taking a look at all the other books and notes that the former profiler had left behind when it was discovered that he had multiple health conditions. Sipping some coffee he'd hoped hadn't gone cold in the near hour he'd been sitting around doing almost nothing, Ed skimmed through some rather old notes on what appeared to be an overly religious man with a fetish for well manicured hands. Apparently the man had an abusive mother who'd always been fussing over her nails and hands to the point where she'd check them now and again while beating him near to death.

Ed forced himself not to shiver. Now that's just one weird turnout. He thought as he closed the notebook to open another one, only to find its contents nearly as bad as the first. Finally he gave up and rubbed his face with his hands. What some people do to their kids these days… it's a wonder I'm not crazy.

Just when he was about to skim through a few more of the notebooks still lying about in disorganized stacks on the edge of the desk, his door opened to reveal another blonde. A blonde woman to be more precise, walking not with a feminine stride, but one of almost masculine purpose. Wearing a white office shirt and dress pants over plain black shoes, the woman didn't hesitate to enter the room and face him as he sat in his chair, looking up at her in curiosity. Her face was stern to where it was almost cold and uncaring. Blonde hair pulled back into a neat bun like style, the ends poking up in the back while evidence of its existence hung neatly underneath. Her brown eyes were sharper than a knife as she spoke.

"You Edward Elric?" her voice was stern, almost demanding.

Edward had to keep his own steady long enough to not seem nervous under her ominous gaze. "Um… yeah. Can I help you?"

"I'm detective Riza Hawkeye." She said coolly, not missing a beat. It was obvious she wasn't much for wasting time. "I was told by Chief Bradley that you could assist my partner and I on a case we're having trouble with."

"That so? And why didn't Bradley come and tell me himself?" Ed had to ask, a bit perplexed that the man he'd met mere days before was already unable to keep a promise to a new employee.

Despite Ed's calm and unruffled questions, Riza still seemed to flinch with some form of regret over her employer's lacking promptness. "Chief Bradley said that he'd be in a meeting for the next hour and asked me to come find you. He sends his apologies on not telling you your first assignment himself."

"I see. Alrighty."

He didn't need to notice how the woman hesitated again when he stood, using his cane as a means to stand since now his leg was really starting to cause him shooting pains all the way up his thigh. When she spoke to him again, it was in a reluctant tone. "I-if I may…."

"Hm?" he grunted, looking at her curiously, his cool stare making her hesitate.

She didn't want to sound rude or intruding upon first meeting him, but her question ate at her until she finally stammered. "Why… why do you have a cane?"

"Always have. I'd rather not talk about it." Ed said coolly, shrugging the question off as though all she did was stare, passing her to stop and turn at the door. "Well c'mon."

"Right." Riza tried to say calmly, moving to walk ahead of the shorter blonde as she regained her stoic demeanor. "This way."

Heading to their right, the woman led them down the hall until they came across a medium sized room with a table and a few chairs in the middle. Near the end of said table and at the farthest wall stood three things: two dry erase boards covered in writing and photos… and a raven-haired man who looked to be in thought.

"Mustang." She got no response from the man standing in front of one of the boards as he seemed to skim the writing and the photos with his back to them. This lack of reaction only made Riza bristle a little. "Mustang!"

"Ugh. What Hawkeye?" he grumbled, turning to her with eyes of midnight black that looked like they needed to be shut for a few hours. It was seconds later that they seemed to vanish, never looking at Ed as they fell on the dry erase boards again. As if he was completely disinterested in their presence. Despite the man's fatigue, Ed couldn't help but notice just how young the man appeared, making him wonder if he was younger than he should be.

Riza's cool reply brought Ed out of his thoughts, not even bothered by the man's distracted behavior towards them. "When you're done staring at the board, you'll see that we've some extra help?"

"Oh really?" the man named Mustang turned around, eyes finally falling onto Edward, ignoring the shock of how young the blonde looked in person. Instead he smirked coolly, a look of mischief overtaking his ink black eyes. "Oh look. A shrimp."

"WHO YOU CALLIN' A SHRIMP SMALLER THAN A BUNCH OF PLANKTON PUT TOGETHER?" Edward roared angrily, catching Riza off guard while the man named Mustang only looked slightly amused.

Mustang forced himself not to crack up laughing at the blonde's reaction. "I said nothing of the sort. Though little did I know that our new profiler was so… short-tempered."

"I ain't short you bastard!" Ed snapped, looking enraged as he brought his cane's long, wooden shaft to be in his palm as if ready to use the end as a club.

"It's 'am not'. And yes, you are." Mustang said calmly, his smirk threatening to spread into a triumphant grin. It was mainly the blonde's sharp eyes that prevented this from occurring. Never had he seen such vibrant color in his life.

Ed looked as if he were about to let out another outburst of rage when Riza decided it was high time she acted as peacemaker before things got violent. "Maybe we should start explaining what we're investigating before Bradley has reason to have us all fired."

Mustang seemed to accept this, his face retaking its grim expression from before as he nodded at the woman. "Fine then. Edward I presume?"

"Get on with it." The blonde growled, just daring him to unleash another insult at his lacking height. Despite being at least four inches shorter than both of the seasoned cops, not daring to think it was more.

Ed was greatly surprised when the grim expression remained as the man near the end of the room merely picked up a pile of papers and started sifting through them, as if to refresh his memory a little. "Alright then. Our case is fairly perplexing. Serial killer who has a habit of turning his victims into splattered piles of blood and guts with barely even a bone left in one piece to help identify the 'body'. Likes to corner them in alleyways or dead ends where they either can't get away or have very little room to move around in. We found almost five that were in abandoned warehouses or apartments but we've reason to believe that those responsible are just copycats."

Half listening to this list of findings, Edward readjusted his grip on his cane as he approached the boards, staring curiously at the writing and the grisly photos as Riza circled to sit in one of the chairs on the opposite side of the table. It wasn't long before Ed spoke as soon as Mustang finished. "How many has this guy managed to get?"

"At least twelve."

The blonde looked appalled. "Twelve? Are you serious?"

Mustang just looked incredibly tired. "Perfectly serious. This guy seems to kill in a two week time period."

"When was the last killing?" he inquired, his horror giving way to a purely serious expression.

It was Riza who answered this time. "Three days ago."

That's when I first moved here! Something tells me that waiting to come in was a bad idea. Better late than never. He thought, almost hating himself for not coming to help sooner. Ignoring his frustration with himself, Ed kept his thoughts focused on what was before him, practically looking Mustang right in the eye. "Okay. Do you have more photos of the scenes than these you have here?"

Taken aback by the blonde's audacity to look at him so fully with eyes of hauntingly sharp color and beauty, Mustang tried to keep himself from blushing. His photo didn't compare to the real deal. "Uh… yeah. In that folder on the table to your right should be the one. Why?"

At first, Ed said nothing as he swiped up the folder, hanging his cane on the back of a chair as he skimmed over the many photos, completely unaffected by the brutal way they appeared, much less the disturbing reality that these people had been torn to shreds without a sound. "This… is really odd." He said after a while, looking up at Mustang with a look of concern. "Were there ever any markings on the walls? Any at all?"

Riza shook her head, looking truly confused at this point at Ed's questions. "Not that we could see. It's possible he hasn't thought about it or hasn't gotten around to it just yet. Why? Is something the matter?"

"It's possible…." He mumbled, trailing off as he rubbed his chin in thought.

"What's possible?" she asked, Mustang looking just as intrigued as his partner.

Ed's lips looked thin, his expression grim and his lightly tanned skin looked almost pale in the artificial lighting of the meeting room. "It's possible that I've seen this kind of thing before."

It was Mustang's turn to look horrified as he exclaimed. "What? How?"

The blonde man merely shook his head. "I'm not sure. But there's something really familiar about this guy's method. Only I can't put my finger on it."

"Well, if you know something we don't, now's a good time to tell us." Riza advised, looking relieved that they finally had something to work with.

"How long has this been going on?" Ed asked suddenly, looking between Mustang and Riza for answers.

"Almost three months." Mustang said with a defeated sigh, looking even more tired than before.

Ed began to rub his chin again in resolute thought. "Hm. Then, if I'm right… your supposed five extra victims aren't from copycats."

"WHAT?" the blonde winced when both of the detectives yelled in unison, into each of his ears, leaving them ringing like bells.

--Meanwhile, Elsewhere

The last few days had been relatively boring since there was really no one to chase around before coming down on them to quickly slay them like a hawk does to a mouse when the need to feed becomes stronger than anything. For him, it was the need to kill another 'innocent' person that was eating away at him like a pent up anger that needed to be vented before it could cause any real damage to others around him. It was like a nagging monstrosity in the back of his mind, demanding to be heard even when he wasn't even trying to ignore it.

Walking the busy streets of New York was sometimes barely enough to sooth the raging creature in his head, sometimes taking on the faces of those he'd known in the distant past and were demanding to be given attention. It was these familiar faces he ignored the most when it came to the thing in his mind. He always ignored the faces that haunted him nearly every hour of the day. There were times where even sleeping didn't get rid of them. Which explained why he hardly ever slept anymore anyway. Then… he spotted his next hit. The new prey, fresh meat to put on the table that was ready to be cooked and served like a rare dish.

'It' was walking as though 'it' had a mind of it's own, a life and a name. For him, none of them had names. They were just people, things he chose to rid the world of as they didn't even matter that much at all. And to him… they never really did. But they did have faces, various features as well as clothing. Never names. He found names distracting from what he really wanted to do. Kill.

So, his new target was still walking down the street like they had nothing better to do with their time, despite heading in a fairly specific direction to show they were indeed going somewhere other than some random building or apartment. 'They' was actually a she, compared to most of his victims who happened to be males rather than females. He then noticed that he referred to 'them' in gender. Not as distracting as names, but not as useful as faces, features and clothing. But it was enough to assist 'features' sometimes, especially since one man had been a bit small, another having been almost as big as he was. Nonetheless, they died the same way.

From what he could observe of his new target, she was slim but not to where she had no meat on her bones. Just enough to make a few of the men that she passed to actually pause and turn to watch her go. He could only smirk in amusement at their awed gawking as she vanished into the crowd, nameless to the men who were even lucky to see her at all. While she was still alive and breathing anyhow. Determined to make this overly confident woman a masterpiece on a wall, he moved to walk after the nameless woman to ensure that she never got too far ahead for him to track.

--In The Meeting Room

Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye could hardly believe what they'd just been told by their newly acquired profiler and forensic expert. Riza had never truly been bias about anything before, but Roy was finding the news of there being no copycats running around to be a bit hard to comprehend. "Mind running that by us again?"

Ed merely shrugged the question off, thankful his ears had stopped ringing in time to hear the man's inquiry. "To be honest, I didn't think I'd ever see a case like this. But since it's so similar to another case I read about, I can only assume that the killer's come out of hiding for another round."

"And where did you read about this 'similar case'?" Mustang asked, still very skeptical that this… this kid would know more about a serial killer than they did.

"The notes that I happen to have aren't here, and are a bit hard to discern since I didn't write them. I'll need time to look through my things to see if I can't track them down for us to review. For now, all we've got is your evidence and my memory." Ed turned to the raven-haired man with a smirk on his almost boyish face, as if to taunt him into getting into something that he'd never get out of. "All right, Detective Bastard?"

"Sure thing, Half Pint." He said in turn, completely unperturbed by Ed's cocky expression that vanished as soon as the last two words left his lips.

"WHO YOU CALLIN' A HALF PINT THAT CAN'T REACH OVER THE EDGE OF A SHOT GLASS?" Ed practically screeched, snatching up his cane again to swing it at the raven who wisely backed out of range.

"You apparently." He said just as coolly, not helping but smirk at his triumph.

This only pissed the blonde off even more. "Bastard!"

"So Edward, what can you tell us?" Riza said suddenly, hoping to distract the blonde man long enough to do the job he'd been hired to do.

Anger completely forgotten for the moment, Ed turned back to the blonde woman with a fairly thoughtful look on his face, letting his cane rest its rubber end on the floor where it belonged. "Just Ed is fine. And I can tell all that I can remember really. Other than that, I'll have to research. A lot."

Riza nodded, smiling a little at the blonde man's compliance with her distractive inquiry as Mustang calmly went back to staring at the boards. "Fine, as long as we actually get somewhere. Now just by looking at the photos by themselves, what can you tell us?"

"Only that this guy hasn't changed all that much. He's probably picking his victims at random. Most likely people who act as if they're masters of the earth or what have you." Ed said calmly, obviously thinking back to the other case he'd said he'd read about, comparing then and now in a very efficient manner in his head.

This statement was enough to bring Roy back into the conversation again, his face brought into a bit of a scowl. "Like… businessmen?"

"Somewhat like that." The blonde said nodding, his face scrunched up in disgust and thought. A perfectly serious face that Mustang couldn't help but find cute for some reason, fighting down the urge to smile and laugh. "Individuals who appear to be overconfident, or even look like they're egomaniacs hell-bent on showing others how superior they are. And when it comes to gender, this guy doesn't really care."

Riza looked just as confused and Mustang did. "Why kill these people? Does he really have a motive at all?"

"I don't think so, but if one were to guess, it would be in the hopes of making everyone else humble." He said, looking down at the folder of photos he'd set back down onto the table, focusing his attention on the bloody red mess that appeared to have been a human torso. And what shocked both detectives was how unaffected he was about it.

Mustang had to distract himself from how strange the blonde's mental endurance was over staring at gory pictures. "Humble? What kind of crap is that?"

Ed looked up at them both, his golden eyes flashing as memories and school taught knowledge came into play. "The overly religious kind. This guy sees himself as a messenger of God. So, by killing others who show their egos off more than others, they become instant targets."

--Meanwhile, Somewhere In The City

Getting closer got easier with each one. The last had an expensive Armani suit on of a nice cool grey color that fitted him well enough for him to pass as a CEO. If only he wasn't so young. Then it would've been convincing. But not to him, no, he didn't really care all that much for age either. Unless they were too old to be worth his time, and too senile or fragile to really know what he could possibly do to turn them into human paper balls. That's the only time he actually bothered to care about age. But now, he could give a rat's ass about age. She was young, appeared to be full of herself and was now leaving the building she'd entered mere minutes before. He only had a few moments before he could take her off guard.

He was starting to love the city. All the passages and alleyways that one could use for whatever purpose you had. It almost made him giddy with delight. Almost. Several million people all around, and none would even see a damn thing. Almost too good to be true, to where it was practically pathetic. Way too good. And it was perfect. Keeping the grin from showing on his face, he walked a little faster, coming up right behind the woman walking oh so confidently down the street, both closing in on an opening between two run down buildings. It was now, or never.

Within seconds he was right behind her, knowing for sure that if he planned it just right and at the right moment, it would all appear to be an accident. Just as she came upon the alleyway's entrance, he did the one thing that would make himself less suspicious as well as having worked perfectly on all the others: he tripped.

Not tripped per se, but he did stumble well enough to look as though he'd lost his footing on a crack in the concrete, or that one of his large legs got in the way of the other enough to cause an imbalance. She let out a startled cry and a curse of surprise and annoyance at being bumped into by another. It'd taken a few tries on some of his first number of targets, but now he had it down pat. In one fluid motion, he'd pretended to trip and, by using his strong arms, wrapped them around the woman and carefully rolled them both into the dark. He knew now to avoid any puddles in said rolling. The last time he'd rolled them through a puddle, the woman he'd chosen nearly screamed his ear off for at least ten minutes. This one wouldn't have such a reason.

"Sorry." He said calmly, trying to sound apologetic over his 'accidental' actions just in time for the woman to glare up at him.

"You'd better be sorry you--!" she didn't have a chance to say more as he suddenly pulled a piece of white cloth from his pocket and practically slapped it over her mouth and forced her to stand up, twisting one of her arms to ensure she couldn't run.

Fear filled her once fiery eyes as he made sure no one was looking before pulling her away from the street and further into the dark, never to be seen alive again.

Woot! It's finished! The most anticipated chapter of the month is finished! And I seriously hope I haven't kept you guys waiting too long. That would suck. So, I'll just get right to it. Here's what's to come:

Next chapter:

Chapter 4: Old Cases & New Notes

Roy and Riza are glad to have something to work with, but hope they're not too late to catch a madman on the lose. Will Ed pull through in time to help save another innocent soul from the devil in man's clothing? And will Roy ever figure out how get on our favorite blonde's good side? Find out in the next 'Departmental Issues':

Chapter 4: Old Cases & New Notes!