Roy's fist came crashing down onto the polished desktop. Riza flinched, but otherwise smartly kept her mouth shut. The handsome Roy Mustang ran a hand absently through his hair, cursing aloud and muttering darkly.
"Are you through with your fit yet, sir?" Riza asked after a respectful interval had elapsed. "We've just received word that the Elric brothers have arrived in East City, and will reach Headquarters in less than an hour."
"Thank you, Lieutenant Hawkeye," he growled, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Sometimes I wonder how you manage to stay calm in these types of situations," he added with genuine bafflement.
"It's called being female, sir."
In an attempt to quell his rising temper, he busied himself by igniting a tiny ball of flame in one hand, tossing it up and down carelessly as he mused over the information he'd just received.
"I knew it all had to be connected somehow," he announced.
"Excuse my ignorance, sir, but what?" Riza studied him from across the room.
"This Coordinator business," he specified. "It stands to reason, doesn't it? Rumors of a stone in Africa, where ZAFT's most prestigious military base just happens to be located. The reason Coordinators are so superior. It makes perfect sense, and the State was completely blinded to it until now."
Riza squinted at him. "Then it's true that Coordinators are a product of the Philosopher's Stone?"
"It's true," Roy stressed as he snapped his fingers and the ball of flame disappeared. "And they may even have a stone of their own at their disposal, which means the Elrics will find out about it eventually. It's a lead for them. That'd pull us into international warfare, and we'd be part of an entirely different type of combat." His face darkened as he alluded to the ongoing fight between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT.
"As if what the stone is actually made of isn't a big enough problem," Riza mumbled dismally, "It had to have been used to create those other abominations," she said.
"Yes, the Coordinators are dangerous, but we can't worry about that just yet." Roy picked up the phone and began to dial. "Our immediate issue is to determine whether or not we can risk still sending the Elrics in pursuit of this lead."
His gloved fingers punched the numbers quickly and efficiently, and he placed the receiver to his ear and waited. There was a click on the opposite end, and a loud voice rang out with happy tidings.
"Have you heard, yet, Roy? Elisia was chosen for the Little Miss Princess finals!"
Roy winced as the energetic Maes Hughes gave him the usual update. "You should have seen her in the preliminaries! Gracia made her a big yellow dress, and she just looked so adorable! I'm telling you, Mustang, when the photos come back, you're going to be sorry that you missed it."
"I'm sure I'll hear every detail eventually," Roy responded sardonically. "Now listen up, Hughes, this is important."
As if by the press of a button, Maes reverted back into business mode, lowering his voice and becoming serious. "It's about the Zodiac Alliance, isn't it?"
Roy tried with little success to keep his countenance passive, but Riza caught the look on his face and made her way closer to him, perking up her ears. Roy pressed a button and put him on speaker so she could hear him.
"You never cease to surprise me, Hughes," he chuckled, but his features immediately hardened. "This is serious. Their connection to the State is more complicated than I thought."
"I know," Hughes answered, speaking in a near whisper. "When I read Dr. Marcoh's report, I nearly keeled over. We're in big trouble. Do you think the Coordinators can actually use Alchemy?"
Riza gasped. When she regained her composure, she threw one of her looks at Roy.
"Who's there with you, Roy?" Hughes fired the question at him in agitation.
"It's just Hawkeye," he reassured, before turning to Riza and saying, "My apologies, Lieutenant, for keeping that suspicion from you. I didn't want to make things more complicated than they already were."
"Roy," Maes summoned him urgently, "Well?"
There was a long pause from Mustang, and he could hear Hughes tapping his fingers absently on the other end. Finally, he sighed.
"I don't think Coordinator's have the ability to use Alchemy," he revealed, and Riza sagged in relief. "However, there must be a reason for them to have a stone with them at Gibraltar."
"I haven't the faintest idea why they'd want one, or even think they'd be able to use one, for that matter," Hughes scoffed. "But either way, it seems to be getting us into a heap of trouble."
Roy could sense something else hidden behind his companion's remark. "What are you not telling me, Hughes?" He heard Hughes try to conceal a surprised curse.
"I didn't want to tell you. You've got enough on your plate over there, with Scar loose."
"Just tell me, damn it." Roy's voice wavered as he held back his fear.
"Look," Hughes tried to reason with the two who were listening, "I don't know why ZAFT would want a stone. I don't know why anyone capable of Alchemy would have wanted to create the Coordinator race. But I know that we have to figure it out soon, or we won't be able to get out of this."
Riza was chewing her lower lip, and Roy's fingers had curled into a fist. Hughes took a deep breath and cleared his throat.
"Roy, ZAFT is already in Central. There's a whole swarm of them here, and their leader calls himself the Desert Tiger."
A/N: sings And the surprises keep coming, la dee dah… I can't wait to hurry up and finish this section so I can get to my gargantuan fight scene. I think I'm enjoying this more than everyone else, which is sad.