"Guess that's what I get for being sarcastic. Great now someone's trying to kill us," he grumbled and looked over at Ed. "You really do have the worst luck."
"Oh you're blaming this on me?"
"No one's tried to blow us up till now." He stood up, brushing off his uniform.
Ed got up as well and went over to help his younger brother up. Al was holding his shoulder that was already injured. Straightening up all the way, he assured Ed he was okay. Riza pulled something out of her hair, she couldn't tell if it was just dirt or something from the car. "It's not like every day someone tries to blow us up." Ed brushed his coat off.
"So what number would this be then? Attempts I mean?" Edward ignored the question and was figuring out what they were going to do now. Standing out by the accident was probably not a good idea if someone was that serious about getting rid of them.
"That many, huh?" Mustang placed his hands in his pockets and grinned knowing he was getting under Ed's skin. He growled back still trying to ignore him. He tugged on Al's coat and they headed away from the charred vehicle. "Hey were are you going?"
Ed turned and met Roy with a glare, his amber eyes as fiery as ever. Despite his obvious demeanor, Mustang still required a response.
"You want them to see we survived? Besides we still have to get to the bottom of this."
"Yeah but wouldn't it be smarter to lay low for awhile," Hawkeye asked him. Alphonse decided to intervene in the conversation as well.
"There's no point in laying low, the only way to do that would be to leave and we can't do that anyway. We're better off finding out what we need to before it's too late." He also looked just as determined as Ed. Roy dropped his head and let out a tired sigh.
"Listen, cars blowing up wears me out but if you're still up for getting those records then I'll come too."
"Really? Are you sure that's wise, Sir," Riza asked causing him to turn to her.
"No one tries to blow me up and gets away with it."
Now that they had decided to continue with their plans they quickly moved out of sight and avoided the crowd closing in on the scene. Taking one of the side streets, Mustang led the way to the correct building where they could investigate the recent activities of the military.
~~~~ "So did you find anything out?" Winry asked her friend as she placed the receiver down in her kitchen. Sciezka glanced over, unsure if her news was good or bad. "They're not there anymore but the soldier on the phone wouldn't tell me if they were released or if they escaped."
"Well if they escaped I'm sure they would have asked you if you knew anything. But they should have come back here by now. Where else would they have gone?" With that she headed over to the door and grabbed her coat. Sciezka hurried after her.
"Where are you going?"
"Where do you think, I am going to go look for them and give them a piece of my mind."
She pulled out a wrench to demonstrate how she would let them know how she felt. "I came all this way and busted my butt helping out, the least I should get is some kind of gratitude." Opening the door, she placed her hand on the knob and gave Sciezka a devious grin. "Don't wait up." Closing the door she realized she wasn't sure where she was headed so she figured she would start at the prison and go from there.
~~~~ The sun was now setting, bringing an unsettling darkness in on the city. By the time Edward and the others made it to the records department, it was closed for the day. For some reason they had closed early which was unusual. Mustang was really starting to believe that there was something much bigger going on now after the days events. They went back to the dorms to decide their next course of action. Hawkeye headed to her room to sleep as the other three looked over Ed's file that Roy had.
"Wow, they really think I did all this, that's impressive." Edward turned the page.
"Yeah well it's not so impressive when some of what they are claiming you were responsible for, I did. I brought down the Furer and didn't want to brag about it but now I'm starting to change my mind." Alphonse tried to hold back his laughter.
After a couple of hours discussing every angle the Elric brothers decided to call it a night. They thought about just staying in the dorms but realized that Sciezka still didn't know they were okay yet. They headed out onto the street. Although it wasn't too late, just after ten, they found the streets empty.
"I wonder if they've enforced a curfew too." Ed laughed at his own comment as they walked. It must have been snowing earlier as there was a fresh layer of white covering everything. Al pulled his collar up around his neck as Ed placed his hands in his pockets.
"The weather's been so weird lately, don't you think?" Ed gave him a skeptical look.
"We haven't exactly been outside a lot but it's winter. It's usually snowing like this."
"Yeah I guess you're right." Al scratched the back of his head.
As they turned a corner they were coming up on the prison. Ed was trailing behind Alphonse when he bumped into his back.
"Hey, what're you stopping for? I don't want to be out here all night." Alphonse pointed in front of him at why he stopped.
"Isn't that Winry?" Edward looked around his brother to see a blond girl laying on a bench on the side of the street. Taking off running, Al was on his heels as they reached her. Her eyes were closed and she looked flushed. Her one arm draped over the side of the bench still clutching her wrench.
"Is she sleeping," Al inquired as he looked over her. Edward leaned down and placed his hand on her forehead.
"She's really hot." Carefully he shook her shoulder. "Winry, come on get up." She opened her eyes slightly, trying to remember where she was. All she knew was that her head had started to hurt and she sat down for a minute. There was no way to know how long she had been there.
"We should bring her back to Sciezka's," Alphonse suggested as he straightened up. "Yeah, help me get her up." Ed pulled her shoulders and brought her into a sitting position. Her head leaned off to the side as her eye slid closed again. Al got her head up as well and helped lift her onto his brother's back. Ed made an unpleasant face.
"Ugh, she's heavy."
They headed in the direction of the apartment which was thankfully only a couple of blocks away. Alphonse knocked on the door several times before Sciezka answered. Although he still looked uncomfortable from his heavy load on his back, Ed's expression did show his concern. Sciezka immediately knew something was wrong and opened the door all the way.
"What happened?" Ed didn't answer her right away as he moved as quickly as possible over to the couch and placed Winry down. Alphonse turned to Sciezka and asked for some extra blankets and a cold wash cloth. She disappeared into the back room and he went over to the couch were his brother was leaning over catching his breath.
Alphonse kneeled down and pulled Winry's boots off and brought her feet up. She turned her head some, trying to get comfortable. Sciezka returned with two heavy blankets and a damp washcloth for Winry's head.
Alphonse took the blankets and covered her up.
"I hope she feels better in the morning," he mentioned once he was done tucking her in. Ed was stretching his back and let out a huff.
"I don't get what she was doing out in this weather anyway." Sciezka shot him an irritated look.
"We found out you were released and she wanted to see you." He glanced back shocked at her tone. "Where'd you go anyway?" Not enjoying the third degree from her he crossed his arms and got sarcastic as always.
"Before or after our car blowing up?"
"Brother, stop it," Alphonse stood and turned to him. "Winry and Sciezka have been worried about us, you don't have to be like that. You're the one who wanted Winry to help anyway." Ed let out a long sigh as though he was releasing his frustrations out that way instead. Staring off to the side and bitting his bottom lip he mumbled an apology.
"What about this car blowing up?" Sciezka looked over at Alphonse. He wasn't expecting her to ask him about that.
"Well after we met up with Mustang and Hawkeye, their car kinda exploded. We don't know who did it either."
"That sounds serious. What are you going to do about it?"
"Still don't have any leads on this, but we'll get to the bottom," Ed mentioned, stifling a yawn. He suddenly realized he was tired. Sciezka decided she was going to head off to bed so that the Elrics could get some sleep as well.
"I'll see you in the morning." She headed back to her bedroom and closed the door, leaving her house guests alone. Ed took off his coat and went behind the couch to see their sleeping arrangement was still there.
"You coming to bed, Al?" Alphonse was still looking over Winry, readjusting the towel on her forehead.
"Yeah, I'm coming." He turned off the light and carefully made his way over. After all the chaos of the day it didn't take them long to fall asleep.