Chapter 10!!!!!
Maiwyn: Well, while SOLUNA kept delaying chapter 10, I've been here slaving away, editing like crazy. ((sigh)) Oh well…
Soluna: Okay, first of all, I've had to do the last three chapter even though I was only supposed to do 1 1/2 so don't complain about editing. Also, since this is still technically my chapter, I should have the disclaimer. I'm being nice and letting you have it. So no more complaining! Also, everyone who has read this story before, please go back and reread the end of chapter 6. Some of the dialogue has been changed to make the story make more sense later. Nothing huge but it will be important later.
Disclaimer: I do not own FullMetal Alchemist. If I did, Ed wouldn't just be on the posters/sticker sheets/game manuals/DVD covers on my wall. He'd be real. But he isn't. So there. XD But Soluna can still dream about her Riku (KH, which we don't own)…. XD XD (I am so dead). And dude, Roxas is da bomb. Go Roxas!!! (I do not own KH either.)
Jaede walked into the military offices and looked for some sign pointing to Colonel Mustang's office. As soon as she took a step into the area, a man with dangling cigarette in his mouth approached her.
"Hey, gorgeous, you lost?" He asked, practically leaning over her. Jaede fixed him with a menacing, golden glare. Her hands instinctively moved to the multiple kunai strapped to her belt.
"Unless you want to be skewered by no less then 30 kunai knives, I suggest you back away now."
"Now, now… don't be like that." The annoying man said, but he backed away all the same.
"Where is Colonel Roy Mustang's office?" Jaede asked (commanded).
"Right. Take a left, then head there till you hear a woman shouting at someone about paperwork, then turn right. Hold on just one sec'." He said, and ran ahead of her. Without blinking, Jaede followed him, shaking her head and wondering what the hell was happening to the world.
--
"Colonel!!" Havoc yelled, bursting into the room. Roy, who was carefully (and quietly) opening a drawer, looked up.
"What, Havoc?"
"There-there-there's this girl looking for you!"
Roy coughed. "Well, I am Roy Mustang after all."
"No, you idi-I mean, she's got friggin knives strapped to her belt!!!"
Roy's eyes widened slightly. He finished opening his drawer and pulled out what he'd been seeking. "Right." He put his flame gloves on, snapped his fingers, and set the pile of papers alight.
"Colonel…"
Uh-oh.
--
Jaede could hear gunshots and yelling even before she was within 50 feet of the door. Something bad was going on. This could jeopardize her chance at the job. She really needed the money.
Jaede stormed into the office, her kunai drawn. The sight that greeted her was one of the oddest she had ever seen. A dark haired man was hiding (seriously, hiding.) behind his desk chair while a woman with blond hair clipped behind her head held a gun pointed towards him. A girl about her age whose features were remarkably similar to the man's was standing on her desk with a long piece of silk in one hand and a rock in the other. A few men were sitting at their desks watching the scene with rapt attention.
"Sir, I can not believe you did it again! How could you be so stupid?!" asked the woman and fired a round into the wood of the desk. The hiding man cowered lower. Pathetic.
"And you burned my coffee beans! Uncle, how could you do that?! How am I supposed to stay up long enough to work on the investigation with Duo now?" yelled the girl as she transmuted the rock in her hand into another piece of silk. Jaede wondered how a piece of silk would be more deadly than the rock. Another fascinating thought to occupy her time. Something to consider when she actually was allowed to have some leisure time.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to snap with your gloves on? That's the third stack of paperwork you've burned this week!" yelled the woman.
The man looked up to see Jaede standing the doorway with knives drawn and ready for battle.
"I'm sorry Riza, but I can't exactly work on the paperwork right now. See, Jaede Snowe had arrived. We shouldn't let her wait," he explained.
"Fine, I'll go and get new copies of that paperwork. You'll do it before you leave tonight. Even if it takes all night," The woman, Riza, threatened.
"But we have a date tonight. You want me to do paperwork instead of that?" he asked, incredulous.
Riza nodded and walked out to the office. The man stood up, clearly thinking the danger had passed. He turned out to be wrong.
"Uncle, you still need to replace my coffee! I need my caffeine! COFFEE!!!!! You'll get me that coffee even if it takes you all night plus one!" shouted the young woman. She raised her hand, about to strike with her silk. Jaede was quite certain that the girl did not need any more coffee, but she wasn't going to intervene.
"Why don't you go and find your boyfriend, Duo?" he teased.
"He is not my boyfriend!" she shouted and stormed out of the office. Was it just Jaede, or did the girl seem like a normal teenager having an infatuation with a guy and not an alchemist at all?
The man finally relaxed and sat down in his chair. Gesturing to the other chair in front of the desk, he said, "My name is Colonel Roy Mustang. The woman that just left screaming about coffee is my niece Lt. Colonel Rhina Mustang. She's a little hyper but also one of the best in the military. The other woman was Lt. Riza Hawkeye, my assistant. If you ever need any help, those two women are your best resources."
"So what exactly am I supposed to do?" Jaede questioned. The caller summoning her here hadn't been very clear. She needed details.
"You may have heard about the deaths of high ranking military personal. You shouldn't have but you probably did," Roy started, grimacing as he thought of the latest murder.
"I heard something. I thought it was just rebels again. Nothing serious," the girl responded, knowing where this was going.
"Well, it is something much worse than rebels. We have reason to believe that these killings are carefully planned and organized by a group called J.A.S.P.E.R," he explained.
"Let me guess. You have set countless numbers of men to try and stop them and all have failed. Since you can't spare any more men, you hire me to go and do the dangerous stuff for you." Jaede sighed. Another hum-drum mission. No challenge.
"No."
That surprised her. She thought it would be a simple assassination mission. Go in and get the leader, get out. Group is left unorganized and leaderless. She collected the money and went home.
"Well, what do I need to do then?"
"A member of the military was recently captured and forced against his will to murder a man named Captain Thomas. You are to go and get him out of there. Do not harm him. Anyone else is fair game. Do whatever you feel is necessary. Anything. This is very important. Any information you learn is valuable as well and will be rewarded with a bonus. Will you do it?"
Jaede smiled. Of course she would. It was a nice challenge, an opportunity to kick someone, and maybe some extra cash. She was very low at the moment.
"I'm in."
"Are you free this Saturday?"
"What?"
"I asked 'Are you-'"
"I heard what you said. No."
"Aww…"
"Don't you have a date with that Riza woman anyway?"
"You have a point…"
"Right."
"Do you have any relationship to Edward Elric?" The Colonel asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Who now?"
"Never mind."
"Getting back on task, where is this guy?"
"We have a lead. You'll have to hurry though. He never stays in one place for too long."
--
It was morning by the time Edward had reached a safe spot for refuge. He collapsed, exhausted, underneath the shade of the willow tree. He didn't sleep though. Every time he closed his eyes he saw the unseeing eyes of Captain Thomas, the blood sprayed on his face.
Hurriedly, Edward sat up and started to rub the dried blood off his face when he realized that he didn't have a sleeve to wipe it off. Damn! He settled with scratching it off with his hands. Ugh.
He was a mess. His hair was a tangle, he didn't have a shirt save for the undershirt he usually wore anyway, and on top of that he was now 100 percent a wanted man. He stayed under the tree for a day.
Things couldn't get any worse.
Then he felt a knife at his throat. His eyes flew open. Immediately, he slapped his hands together and transmuted his automail into a blade and aimed it at his attacker's throat. He stopped.
"Ah-You!" He and the girl exclaimed at the same time.
"This is going to be fun." The girl who looked like him said, grinning as she drew more of her knives.
Edward groaned and poised for a fight.
TBC!!
MH: Fun, fun, fun, fun!!! XD
Soluna: Just so everyone knows, I did not write the part where Roy asks Jaede out. It nearly made me throw up. I sent it to Maiwyn for editing and it comes back like this! Maiwyn, you are doomed.