Chapter 8

The tension in the air was so thick that Riza would swear that she could taste it. Roy's team were spread out over the area, but she was able to see them all from her vantage point on the tallest roof. They were all on the same radio network, so she was also able to hear them all. From the nervous clicking of Havoc's lighter to the faint, soft sound of rasping gloves as Roy fidgeted. It had been a full month now that Edward had been missing, had been just over a week since Al had woken up. The younger blonde was now safely at home, unaware of their current mission. Roy had refused to inform him, knowing that if he did then there was no way that Alphonse would stay at him. Winry knew, but for the most part she had accepted that she couldn't help, and had kept it quiet from the younger of the Elrics. She knew him well enough to know better than to tell him. It had been a full month, but it had felt like decades and she silently prayed that this gamble would pay off.

According to the information that Roy had gotten from the Elric's flat, their targets should be bringing people here tonight. They were collecting more innocents tonight, and Riza knew that the team she watched over had every intention of making every one of them pay for their crimes. She was to watch them, whereas Roy and Havoc had taken two separate groups. Fuery and Falman with Havoc, they were to lead civilians to safety as Havoc covered them. Breda was with their commander, watching his back. It was so easy to detach herself from the situation as she checked over her sniper one final time. At this, she was the best, and she damn well knew it. It was easy to fall into the role, the heavy weight of the gun a strange comfort to her, the haunting memories of those that she had killed lingered on the sidelines, and she knew that she would need to deal with the horror of her mistakes after they were finished here, but it was easy to push all that back, to focus on protecting her oldest friend and their team.

The sound of tyres crunching on the gravel snapped her focus to the truck that was slowly making its way through the area. It stopped next to the same warehouse where they had found Al. Sloppy work. It offended her that these people had avoided capture for so long, when it was so clear that they had gotten over confident in their ability. They were so sure of themselves that they didn't believe that the military would be watching that same warehouse where one of their own had been taken, where they had found the dying brother of one of their most famous alchemists. "It appears to be the same truck, sir." Hawkeye told Roy over the comms. "Two men and a woman. One of the men has a scar over his left eye, just as Alphonse described."

"Its them. These bastards took Boss." Havoc's snarl answered her, but Roy didn't. He didn't need to. They waited for a moment longer, waited until the warehouse doors were opened. Over the comms Hawkeye could now hearing a soft crying. There was people already in there. Damnit! If they had known that they could have gotten them out before any of the shooting.

"Both men are armed, the woman doesn't seem to be." She informed them, watching the trio through the scope of her rifle. They moved with ease, sure of their success. Why would they be, after all, they had a spotless track record. Even when faced with a state alchemist they had succeeded, taking extra as they bundled Edward off into the back of that truck. Roy's team didn't move, and the fear crept up on her that they would fail again today. They needed to get this right. There was no room for failure.

"Falman, break off and let the air out of the tires of the truck. We can't have them getting spooked and fleeing." Roy's command was silently obeyed and Hawkeye moved her gaze to follow Vato, silently watching his back as he left his small group. It still amazed her sometimes how Roy seemed to be able to hear her concerns, her own fears and answer them with solutions before she was ever able to express them. Falman moved to the truck, ducking around it and out of sight of the open warehouse door, before he silently let the air out of the tires. A gunshot would be too loud, even silenced, the bang from a burst tyre was too likely to spook their targets. Nobody thought to stay by the truck and because of such Falman was successful in flattening all four tyres before was safely by Havoc's side again.

"Don't shoot first. We want them to surrender, if they attack shoot to wound where possible. We don't want any deaths tonight if we can help it. The scarred one is their leader. I want him alive. I will make him talk." Roy told them all, his voice rough and angry, and Riza wanted to stop him. She didn't want him to turn his alchemy on another human, but she knew that he would, and that their was nothing that she could do to stop him. He would torture the man until he gave up his secrets, and Riza knew that he would do it for any of them, but this was about Edward and she knew that his feelings were different for the younger man. If she was honest with herself, Hawkeye didn't know if he would kill the man regardless of if he got his information or not. She didn't know if she would even blame him for it.

The silence stretched as Mustang's team waited for his order to move it, and when it came, they responded without hesitation. A well oiled machine, each part doing its job to help the complete task to be completed. Hawkeye moved from her tower, useless now that all targets were in the building. She moved to the warehouse quickly, her sniper left safely by the truck, shouting echoing in her ears from the comms. Kicking a door open, her pistol at the ready, Hawkeye moved in, silently moving aside to let Fuery and Falman usher terrified by seemingly unharmed civilians out to safety. Roy stood in the middle of the room, his gloved hands by his sides as Breda and Havoc trapped in the targets, their guns aimed at them. Their three targets were in the middle, surrounded and cut off from escape; the leader staring down Mustang with a cold smirk on his face. The other two had their guns on Havoc and Breda, but neither had accounted for her. How could they have?

"Lower your weapons!" She demanded, clicking the safety of her pistol off to drive her point home. The trio hesitated, clearly reluctant to give in, but they knew that they stood no chance, and they did as she demanded, placing their guns on the concrete floor and sliding them into the middle of the no man's land between them. Roy's team moved in then, restraining the two of them while the leader still didn't seem to believe that this was over. Or didn't care that it was.

"You took a Major Elric from this building a month ago, shooting a civilian in doing so. Where is he?" Roy demanded, stepping closer to the leader as Havoc and Breda escorted their targets out of the building, leaving only Roy, the slavers' leader and herself. Turning her gun on the other man, Hawkeye moved a little closer to Roy, picking up on the dangerous look in his eyes.

"General, all this effort for just some Major. How quaint. He was a beauty, I understand that. Got me a lot of money that one." His laugh was cruel and it made her anger snap, wanting to punish this man for the crimes he had committed, for all of the pain that he had caused to all his victims and their families, to their team. She had Roy, her commander, her friend, suffer from his guilt and worry. Watched as he got more and more exhausted and desperate, watched as he would sneak glances to the picture on his desk, witnessed his panic when a nightmare woke him from the nap that he had slipped into at his desk. A nightmare that never ended, even as he opened his eyes. Her finger tightened around the trigger of her gun, but she didn't fire; didn't react to his mocking. She was here as a threat, a silent darkness and protection for Roy to get what he needed.

"If I had known that you were interested in obtaining him I would have contacted you first."

"So you've sold him." Mustang's reply was a growl, his fingers pressed tightly together with the need to snap. "Who has him? Where is Edward Elric?"

"Oh I can't tell you that. Client confidentiality and all. Isn't this beneath you? He's just some Major."

"You have kidnapped and taken a state alchemist of the Amestrian military. As a General of that military it is my job to ensure his safe return. Other than that, Elric is under my direct command. Now, where is he? You do no want to make me ask again."

"So you are General Roy Mustang, Hero of Ishval." The scarred man smirked more, shrugging a little as if everything made sense now. Hawkeye itched with the need to shot him and wipe the smug look off of his face. One look at Roy told her that he was having the same thought, and she did not envy the man who seemed eager to keep his secrets to himself. Roy was a man of his word, and this slaver would soon learn that if he didn't volunteer his information willingly then Roy was more than happy to pull it from his agonised screaming. "Well, now I see why you want him so badly. I've heard that he's been your lap dog since the beginning. Kept the headstrong little shit around as a way to work out your frustrations, didn't you? I mean, children aren't my thing, but each to their own. I still can't tell you where he is. Someone else gets to have him now, alchemist.

The snap of Roy's fingers was loud in her ears, the flames shooting out and circling around the slaver, far enough away to not burn him, but close enough that sweat soon began to bead across his brow. Roy looked at him, coldly and indifferent, before his eyes met hers. She hated that look, the look that told her that he would kill this man and his conscience be damned. It wasn't a crazed look of how he would enjoy this kill, not like the look she had seen in too many alchemist's eyes. No, this one was worse somehow, as though this kill was meaningless. An ends to a mean. As if human life, regardless of how cruelly lived, was meaningless, worthless to him. It was a look that she imagined a god giving because striking with death and disaster and she hated seeing it on her friend's face.

"Captain, leave us. Secure the perimeter." Roy told her, turning back to his target without another look at her. Expecting her to silently agree. He should know better.

"Sir?" Hawkeye asked. She was rewarded by his gaze again, and she sent him a questioning look, knowing that he would know what she meant in that one word. Understanding flickered through his eyes, and then was gone and it was replaced by that same cold, hardness from before.

"That is an order Captain." He told her, turning away again, ignoring her quiet sigh as he pushed the flames closer to the other man. Hawkeye clicked the safety on her gun and left the warehouse, pulling the doors shut behind her. Havoc was smoking by the truck, Breda at his side with their two captives sitting in the back of the truck.

"Fuery and Falman are arranging transport for the civilians, getting to the hospital to be checked or to be taken home." Havoc informed her around his cigarette. She nodded, glancing at the two in the truck. They were defeated, and while they weren't happy about it, they didn't struggle or even seem too angry. Perhaps they knew how badly this could have went. Havoc took a long draw of his cigarette, letting it out in a puff of smoke a moment after before he spoke again. "Has the leader given anything up?"

"Other than that he has already sold Edward, no. He has kept quiet on to whom, and has instead just mocked the General." She said, glancing back at the doors as the roar of fire increased.

"Mocked him? Damn. Man must have a death wish."

A scream tore through the night and Hawkeye shut her eyes. She wanted to stop him, she knew that he would regret this after, but she also knew that nothing would stop him now. Not until he found out where Edward was. The woman in the truck cowered from the scream. "The hell is he doing to him?" She asked, her question to nobody in particular.

"That's General Roy Mustang in there. The Flame Alchemist. You took Edward Elric last month. Ed's under Mustang's command. He's one of us." Havoc told the woman, and Hawkeye noticed the fear and recollection in her eyes. She knew the name. Most people had heard of the Flame Alchemist and what he was capable of doing. Her fear was not misplaced, and that was something that perhaps Riza could work with to stop her friend from killing another human. She might know where Ed was, or at least who he had been sold to.

Breda seemed to share her idea as he spoke up, directing his question at Hawkeye "He's going to kill him, isn't he?"

"I believe he might. That depends on him though. If he tells the General where Edward is, I believe that he could survive. Otherwise..." She let herself trail off as another pained scream seeped out from the building to her back. "I hate that look that he gets." She muttered, knowing that her team would understand.

"Wait!" The woman pleaded, looking between the three soldiers before settling on Hawkeye, assuming correctly that she was the highest ranking. "Wait, don't let him die! I know who has Elric. The blonde alchemist, right? I know who bought him. Please, he's my uncle. Please stop this."

Her begging was enough for Hawkeye to turn her attention fully to the woman. The man at her side was silent, uncaring. He knew that regardless, he was getting locked up. The woman seemed to be accepting of this fact too, but she was desperate to save the life of a family member. Hawkeye didn't answer her, waited silently for her to give them the information that she needed. She couldn't promise her that her uncle would survive. She didn't know herself if Roy would just kill him outright or not, but she hoped for her friend's already damaged conscience that he would stop when he got the information that he needed.

"Hal Jones. That was his name. He was the one that bought Elric. Wanted him the moment he laid eyes on him, took a girl too. Please don't let my uncle die."

"Hal Jones, isn't that the name of that spoiled rich guy out West?" Breda asked, frowning. "I'm sure I read somewhere that he was left a fortune when his parents died. Has some big house just outside of Central City. Could be that Boss is there?"

Hawkeye nodded, thanking the woman for her help before telling Havoc to get in touch with Fuery and Falman, getting Breda to take their prisoners away for questioning. She turned on her heel when both men obeyed with salutes. Inside the warehouse was hot, the flames still burning happily, greedily licking at the legs of the man they surrounded. A nasty burn ran down his left side, but Hawkeye ignored him as she moved to her commander. "Sir. We think we may know where Edward is." She told him, offering him a small smile as he let the flames die. Behind her she heard the pained whimpering of the slaver as he slumped to the ground. "The woman is his niece, she heard his screams and volunteered the information in the hopes of saving his life. She said that a Hal Jones... took an interest in him." She couldn't say bought. It was what he had done, but she just couldn't make herself say the words, to lower Edward to nothing but a possession.

Roy nodded, looking back at the wounded, bleeding man with that same awful cold look. His eyes were calculating, the want to end this man was clear in his face, but he resisted and turned to look back at her. "Good. We shall see about lessening her sentence. Where is this Hal Jones?"

"Breda recognised the name, he has a house just outside of the city apparently. We believe that Edward might be there. Breda is getting the other two away, Fuery and Falman are seeing to it that the civilians are taken care of and then will be returning here with Havoc." She said, gesturing to the man. "What do you wish to do about him?" Riza wasn't sure that she wanted to know the answer, but she needed to ask.

"Fuery and Falman can take him in." Roy said after a long moment, and she let out a silent relieved breath. The small mercy was more than the man deserved, and she had a feeling that the military would shoot him regardless. He had taken one of their own after all. While the military was more than happy to throw their own at a war, it didn't take kindly on an outsider attacking their own, and that was what had happened. By taking Edward, the slavers had attacked the military. "You and Havoc are with me. We're going to this house."