Sorry it's been a while…
Colonel Roy Mustang lowered his arm and let out the breath he'd been holding. Quickly surveying the room and taking in the mess left behind as the smoke cleared, he began to call out orders.
"Major, get Full Metal out of here. Take Alphonse when you meet him, and send the others this way." Mustang looked around the room again and found Hawkeye emerging from the shadows on the outskirts of the room. They locked eyes. "Lieutenant, get Investigations in here. We need to know what's going on."
Hawkeye nodded sharply. "Yes, sir."
As Hawkeye walked off, speaking with headquarters, Armstrong scooped Edward into his arms. Still bent over, he glanced up and found himself staring into the deep violet eyes of a terrified face. Startled, he almost dropped Ed, and held the boy tighter to him. "Colonel, there's…"
"Yes, Major, I know." Mustang walked slowly up to the table, letting his boots click on the stone floor. "I'll deal with that." His stern gaze traveled from the pale face of the Full Metal Alchemist to the alert eyes of Armstrong. "Dismissed."
The Colonel watched Armstrong's retreating back for a moment before placing a gloved hand on the surface of the table in front of him and squatting. A gasp involuntarily escaped his lips.
A thin, trembling girl was tied, spread eagled and stark naked, to the legs of the table, her face six inches from the underside of the surface. As her large, purple eyes met Mustang's intense gaze, a tear welled and fell, tracing its way down a pale cheek. Mustang's mind vaguely tried to make a connection between those eyes and something he'd seen before, but faltered. Instinctively, the man reached out and cupped her face, wiping the tear away with his thumb.
The girl's trembling increased and she twisted, pulling on the ties that bound her, making them slice deeper into her wrists and ankles.
Mustang frowned and sat back on his heels. His touch left her and she calmed, staring at him, wide-eyed.
The Colonel cautiously moved toward the nearest bound appendage, cringing slightly at the oozing wounds. The girl flinched every time his gloves so much as brushed her skin as he untied her. In minutes, she was sitting under the table, her knees drawn to her chest. Mustang stayed crouched beside her, but kept his distance.
"You are going to come with me and I am going to take you to the hospital." He left no room for argument, stood, and turned to walk away. Taking two steps, he looked back over his shoulder to see the girl slowly pulling herself off the ground. She shivered, wobbled, and fell. Mustang covered the two steps in one and caught her elbow before she hit the ground. Gently pulling her back to her feet, he watched her wobble again and had her lean on him as he took off his blue coat and wrapped it around her delicate shoulders. She watched him like a hawk and flinched against his chest, but allowed it.
Havoc strolled into the room, but stopped short when he saw the Colonel with a naked girl in his arms. Mustang turned, a hand firmly grasping the girl's upper arm, his coat wrapped tightly around her thin frame. He raised an eyebrow at Havoc's puzzled expression.
"Something wrong?"
"Uh…no, sir. Just came to tell you that Investigations has arrived. Fuery and Breda are looking for a way to light up this hellhole, and Hughes is looking for you."
"All right." Mustang guided the girl through the dark to the outermost door and Havoc trailed idly behind. They soon ran into Hawkeye, who was coming back to look for the Colonel.
Hawkeye walked right up to Mustang, strictly business. "Colonel, Hughes needs…"
"I know." Mustang's tone was clipped. He pulled the girl up to stand in from of him. The girl tried to shrink away from all of the people hurrying around. "Take care of her."
The girl looked over her shoulder at Mustang and glared harshly at him. She pulled her arm out of his grasp and turned back to stare straight ahead.
Hawkeye looked at Mustang and he knew her questions, but his face became a stone wall. She turned her attention to her new charge. "Come with me." The girl obediently followed.
Mustang watched as the frail figure and his First Lieutenant made their way through the dark alley. In a spot of moonlight the girl once again looked back over her shoulder at him. This time, her soulful eyes were not filled with spite, but with an unreadable mix of emotions that sank deep behind his wall.
Hawkeye and the girl disappeared around a corner and Mustang sighed. A hand clapped his shoulder. He turned to face his friend, Maes Hughes.
"You made quite a mess here, Roy."
Mustang's eyebrows danced among his bangs. "Me?"
Hughes's hands panned the landscape. "I can just see it now. Snap, snap…boom, boom…snap…sizzle."
Mustang cringed. "It was nothing like that."
"Really, Roy, sometimes you leave your head behind when it comes to that boy." Hughes grasped Roy's sleeve with one hand and waved the other in the air. "Five bodies, man!"
"Five?" The Colonel's forehead wrinkled. "I can only account for two. And one of them was Hawkeye's."
"Are you sure?"
Mustang shot a "don't-test-me" look. "Positive."
Hughes eyed his friend suspiciously, but backed off, shoving his hands in his coat pockets. "We've got six different samples of blood…" Mustang's eyes hardened "…none of which belong to Ed." The Colonel relaxed.
"I know where that extra sample came from."
Hughes's eyes brightened with interest. "Where?"
"She's on her way to the hospital with Hawkeye."
"So we have a survivor. Good."
Roy smirked. "You really should have accompanied that with an evil laugh."
Grinning, Hughes tried his best. "Mwa ha ha ha…mwa ha ha ha ha!"
Mustang couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh, give it up."
Hughes quieted as Fuery approached. "Sir?"
"Yes?" The Investigations officer turned a serious face to the smaller man.
"Sir, we've scattered lamps throughout the premises, but I don't believe it's enough to see, as you put it, the big picture."
Hughes opened his mouth to answer, but Mustang spoke up. "I'm almost positive there's an overhead lighting system."
"Yes, sir, there is. But we can't get any of the fixtures to work."
Mustang frowned and walked over to the doorway leading to the outside. He ran his gloved hands over walls on either side. Finding exactly what he was looking for, he flipped it. The room flooded with light.
"And…let there be light!" Hughes smiled.
"The Colonel smirked. "You just think too…" His voice trailed off as his eyes roamed the newly exposed room.
