Third Party
"Goodbye passengers, we hope you enjoyed your ride with us and remember travel with Continental Railways, our service is the best!" the happy voice of the woman over the intercom sounded as the doors of the train opened, letting a flood of people out.
"Fullmetal!" a man with a cigarette lodged in his mouth yelled with a grin, he and the man beside him were both clad in military uniforms.
"Breda, Havoc! Why are you two here?" Edward exclaimed with what could almost be considered a smile.
"The colonel has requested to see you," Breda said quickly, almost as if afraid Ed would kill him if he talked any slower, which wasn't that far off from true. The "smile" dropped from Ed's face and was replaced by a scowl.
"What does that nosy prick want?!" Edward's face held nothing but contempt for the man that Breda and Havoc mentioned.
"He wants your report on the last mission. But anyways Ed, aren't you going to introduce us to your lady friends?" Havoc said, as he eyed Ariel and Connie.
"Yeah..." Ed gave an apologetic look to the two girls as he continued, "Havoc, Breda, Ariel, Connie." He pointed to each of them in turn and Havoc held out a hand for them to shake.
" Lieutenant Havoc, at your service," the known "ladies man" said with a wink. In his mind the coming of the two lovely girls meant another chance to best the colonel, even though they looked no older than Ed.
"Just get in the car," Breda rolled his eyes as he dragged the nicotine-addicted blond to the black car that was parked at the bottom of the Grand Central Station steps. The four teenagers got in the back of the spacious car as Havoc and Breda slid into the front.
The drive took all of five minutes as the car came to a stop in front of the largest building in the city; Central Headquarters. Havoc and Breda followed them as Ed lead them up the stairs that were sided at the bottom by two large lions. The two, huge, oak doors as Ed pushed them opened menacingly and the whole place was just enormous. Ed of course was used to it, but Ariel and Connie felt almost overwhelmed by the grand hall. Ed walked down a side hallway and came to a ingeniously crafted maple door with gold lettering on the glass; Colonel Roy Mustang. There was a bench next to the door with a decorative plant on the right side of it.
"Stay here," Ed instructed the two girls as he pointed at the bench. He turned to the door and hesitated before rapping on it with his knuckles.
"Come in!" a frustrated voice yelled from the other side of the entryway. Edward walked in to the messy office, papers coating the floor. Lieutenant Colonel Riza Hawkeye held a stack of papers near the filing cabinet in an attempt at cleaning the office. "Oh, it's you Fullmetal. For a second I was concerned that we were being invaded by pint-sized paperwork gnomes," said the man with charcoal black hair and eyes.
"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT HE SHOULD BE SWIMMING IN THE OCEAN!?!" Ed yelled with a ferocious vigor.
"Why only you, flyspeck," the colonel said in a hurt voice. Al had trouble holding his brother back as he tried to viciously murder his superior.
"Well, anyways, how did the mission go? Did you find out anything about the stone?" the colonel's eyes narrowed as he looked at the adolescent before him.
"No, it was another false lead, but I did find something else," Edward responded as Mustang arched a brow in interest. Ed smirked as he dangled the bait in front of the man. "Two alchemists, both promising, both very young. They want to take the alchemy exam. I figure if they took the exam and actually passed you'd get big brownie points from the higher-ups for discovering them."
Mustang almost coughed on his spit as his eyes widened. "Well, Fullmetal, bring them in, didn't I already tell you?" he regained his composure and Ed smirked.
He walked to the door and stuck his head out into the hallway. "Ouch!" He looked at the floor and the two girls who sat on their butts with glasses in one hand and their left ears in the other.
He rolled his eyes as he completely entered the hall and helped them to their feet. "I got you guys a shot, now it's up to you to convince him," Ed whispered before leading them into the office. When both girls were lined up in front of the colonel he took what seemed like forever looking them over (A/N: Not like that you pervert!).
"So...You're the two promising alchemists Fullmetal just told me about. I expected you to be a little taller," he smirked and propped his head on his folded hands, almost as if he were praying.
"Yeah, we wish we had a few inches but hey, genes, what're you gonna do? The good news is we both had high expectations, I expected your office to not look like a greased pig just ran through here," Ariel said with a shrug. A choking sound that could have been interrupted as a stifled laugh came from where Luitenient Colonel Hawkeye was still filing paperwork.
"Well, I can see you two have spunk, I like spunk. But there is the issue of age, Edward's circumstances were different and he was allowed to take the alchemy exam at 12 even though the proper age is 16," Mustang said closing his eyes. "And even then there have been no alchemists, excluding Fullmetal, below the age of 18 who have actually passed much less even applied." He gazed at the two whose confident expressions were now almost ones of fear. "But I see no reason why you can't try." His smirk grew ever wider at the relieved sigh that they both used. Turning to Edward he gave his orders, "Fullmetal, I'll have dorms assigned for them. I want you to train them and teach them all you can; the exam is in one month. If they are as talented as you say they should have no problem with that kind of time limit." Ed nodded and all four of them walked out.
"Brother, how are you going to train them?" Al asked with what might be called a worried glance.
"Yeah, Ed? How are you going to train us?" Connie asked, raising a brow.
"Well, I thought we'd start off with books from Central Library, then move on to what you're gonna pull off for the practical analysis," he said, thinking back to all the preparation it had taken for his own alchemy exam.
A man dressed in the standard blue military uniform rushed up to them, panting slightly. "I'm here... To escort... Two young ladies...to their rooms," he gasped, holding out two keys.
"Thanks," Ed said, snatching the keys from him, "But I'll take care of it." The man weakly nodded before rushing off again. Al, Connie, and Ariel followed behind Ed as he walked down the richly furnished halls, taking a right turn here and there until he got to the hall full of dorms. He handed over the keys saying, "The room numbers are on the keys." He took out a slightly worn key, much like Ariel's and Connie's and showed it to them. "I'll be in room 110 if you need anything. Oh and before I forget, training starts tomorrow, bright and early. We only have a month to get you ready after all."