Chapter Four: Suspicions
Central Command was still in quite the uproar as Ed covered his one ear and pressed the receiver to his other. The phone rang several times before someone on the other end picked up.
"Hello? Mustang residence." Riza's voice came over the line, causing his mind to almost go blank. He didn't want to ask her if she knew were the General was but right now she would be the best person to ask. Everything on his side was complete chaos so asking anyone there if they had seen him would have been pointless.
"Um, hi. It's me. Have you heard anything...outside?"
"Are you talking about all that noise earlier?"
"Yeah. There was an attack at the Command Center."
"How bad is it?" Ed glanced behind him, not quite sure how to explain what he was seeing.
"Well...it's probably still too soon to know. The reason I was calling is that um... well..." The Lieutenant Colonel looked over at the Strong Armed alchemist as though he hoped he would be able to help with this conversation. Armstrong decided this would be the perfect time to get distracted with something else. Edward frowned and turned his attention back to the phone call.
"Are you trying to tell me you don't know where the General is?" Edward visibly flinched, gripping the receiver tighter as though he was preparing for the worse.
"Yeeesss?"
oOoOo
The knock on the front door was firm and loud. Riza was quick to answer it, seeing Major Armstrong on the other side. Opening the door the whole way, she smiled up at him, offering for him to come inside.
"Sorry to intrude like this but he insisted that we come over."
"Where is he?!" Edward pushed past the mass of muscle in his way. Armstrong came in after the tempered blond and Riza closed the door. This was not the first time Ed had been to their house as he knew exactly where to go. Sure enough, he found Mustang in the back office, feet propped on the desk and sound asleep. Adela, Roy and Riza's little girl was also asleep on his chest. If the child hadn't been there, Ed would have kicked the chair out from under the General, sending him to the floor. Instead he found a glass of water sitting on the desk and dumped it over his head.
Mustang let out a cough and sat up, immediatly bringing his arm around to support the baby. He looked up to see who had the nerve to pull something like this and was not very surprised to see Ed standing there.
"Full...Major...Lieutenant Colonel! What the hell are you doing!"
"Waking you up!" Ed returned the same annoyed tone and volume. "Do you even know what has been going on while you were taking your nap?"
"What are you talking about?" Edward walked over to the window and pulled the blinds up, pointing towards Central Command.
"There were several attacks on the city, one of which was at your office. We thought you were injured or something and you're sleeping!?" By now Riza and Armstrong were in the room and Riza took Adela away from her husband before she got caught up in the argument. She went ahead and handed him a towel to dry himself off.
"Have they figured anything out?" Roy stood from his seat and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"No, everything is still pretty crazy. There's a chance you were specifically targeted though so we need to get back as soon as possible."
"Alright, alright. I only came home cause I didn't have that much work left for this afternoon and what I did have, I could finish here."
"Must be nice to just come home whenever you want. Now come on." They headed for the door. Roy gave Riza a shrug before kissing Adela on the head. The one and a half year old giggled in response and smiled up at him. Reluctantly he left the room and followed behind the other two.
Things hadn't really settled down much in the time it took them to go to the General's house and get back. Seeing the mess, the Flame alchemist let out a groan and slouched in his seat more. He could only imagine the paperwork that this whole thing was going to cause.
oOoOo
"There appears to be no casualties at this point from yesterday's attack. Not even any seriously injured. Can anyone explain that to me?" Grumman walked back and forth in the large conference room, waiting for someone to give him an answer.
"It seems the intention was not to harm anyone, otherwise this could have been much worse." Ed glanced down the table but wasn't sure who had thrown out the obvious answer. Slumping back in his seat, he let out a heavy sigh. Due to this incident he was not permitted to go home like he had planned. Dumb answers like the one just given were not going to help them figure this out.
"I guess I don't really care what the intention was, I want whoever is responsible found. If they think it is amusing to randomly bomb Central Command then I'm determine to prove them wrong." The word "randomly" stuck in the former alchemist's head and he looked past the Furer at the map of the city. They had marked where each attack had been the day before and he immediately noticed a pattern.
"Maybe it's a new terrorist group."
"Yeah but they usually make themselves known cause they like the credit."
"Plus they usually have demands attached and don't care about people getting hurt."
"Sir, I think they were sending a message," Ed pointed at the map. Mustang turned quickly back at him as though telling him to be quiet. Grumman seemed interested in what he said though.
"Really and what message is that?" Now all eyes were on him.
"Well if you look at where each attack was, it's in the shape of a circle. Just like before." Grumman nodded his understanding.
"This meeting is over. General Mustang, Lieutenant Colonel, please meet with me in my office immediately." Edward could feel his stomach drop, wondering if he had said something wrong. He glanced back over to Mustang who didn't make eye contact with him. He suddenly wondered how much trouble he was in now.
oOoOo
"Yes, I'm calling in," The older man leaned over the phone in the corner as though he was trying conceal that he was using it. "The meeting ended pretty quickly...no not really. That former alchemist said something about circles and the Furer decided to meet with him and the Flame alchemsit seperately." He ran his free hand over his hair and let out a sigh. "Ma'am? No, the conversation didn't progress any further...Right,...okay if I hear anything else I'll let you know."
He quickly hung up the phone, ending the conversation.
