Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist
A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed!
Your Last Day
Chapter 14
Coffee, Ed decided, had to be an adult thing. He always saw his comrades drinking it at HQ. They claimed it was what got them through the day. He was pretty sure it was what Mustang lived on. Well, coffee and alcohol. On the rare occasion when Ed saw Mustang in the mess hall at HQ, he always drank coffee with his meals. His comrades just seemed obsessed with the stuff. They told him it was a matter of preference. Some drank it black. Others added a certain amount of sugar and/or creamer to drink it.
Ed just didn't understand it. He has tried it so many different ways and he just could not stand the taste of it. It was just too bitter for his liking. The only reason he even drank it was for the caffeine. If he didn't need that kick to jumpstart him when he was starting to drift off into dream land when he was working, he wouldn't even bother with the stuff. Of course when he did drink it, Mustang and Al would get on his case about how much sugar he was adding to it. They kept insisting he was going to get cavities because of how sweet he made it, but that was the only way he could actually stomach the stuff.
Anyway, his whole point in all of this was that he did not like coffee. Mustang insisted it was an acquired taste and Ed insisted he still did not acquire it despite the many different ways he has tried coffee. Of course every time he said that, Mustang would just call him a child and Ed would go off on his boss before taking his coffee and downing it in one gulp. Ed would like to point out though that he was getting better at resisting the urge to gag after drinking Mustang's shitty coffee.
He drank it black!
Coffee was so bitter in the first place and Mustang drank it black!
There had to be something wrong with his brain or his stomach or maybe just his gag reflex if he actually enjoyed black coffee.
Once again though, Mustang's insane choice of how to drink his coffee was not his point. His point was currently being held in his hand. The streaming cup of coffee that he got from a stand just outside the train station. This cup was the problem. Well, not the cup but the stand he got it from because they were out of sugar! He had no sugar for his coffee that he currently needed to warm himself up in this cold weather so he was being forced to drink it black.
Stupid, understocked coffee stand.
Taking a sip of his coffee and grimacing at the bitterness, Edward looked around the town he was in. Renez was a small town just before North City. Since it was a small town right before North City, the military presence here wasn't high. That wasn't to say that there weren't soldiers here. There just weren't as many as there would be in North City. It would make things easier for Ed and Hawkeye at least. Of course that meant it would be easier for the Drachman soldiers as well. That was most likely part of their reasoning for making the meeting place in Renez.
"Blake."
Hearing his incognito name, Ed turned on his heel to see his partner, Elizabeth Stone crossing the street towards him. Seeing her had Ed smiling. She was okay. The last time he had seen her was in East City right before he left for his vacation. She had been a big part of what happened in Central, but not once had he seen her. Seeing her now, he was relieved, but at the same time, she looked so different than from what he used to. She wore tight black pants that were tucked into knee high white boots. A pure white trench coat that reached her knees rested over her upper body while black gloves rested on her hands. Her blond hair that was usually tied up tightly was let loose to frame her face which had a pair of black sunglasses resting over her eyes. He had no doubt that she had at least two guns on her person. She never went anywhere without two guns at the very least.
When she had reached him, she pushed her sunglasses up to take a closer look at him. "It's about time you got here."
"Were you waiting?" Ed asked.
"Of course." Hawkeye replied as she motioned down the sidewalk. "You don't know where I am staying. We have a lot to do so let's get to the hotel."
Drowning the rest of his coffee in two large gulps, Ed tossed his cup in the nearest trash can before following after his partner. There was so much he wanted to talk to her about now that he finally saw her, but he knew he couldn't say anything. Being out in public meant they couldn't drop their roles and discuss the case. Then again, even when they were in their hotel room, it didn't necessarily mean they would be safe to drop their disguises.
Readjusting his messenger bag on his shoulder, Ed casually glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was following them. Even though he did this, he wasn't actually sure of who to look for since he didn't know what the Drachman soldiers look like. Still, even if he didn't know what they looked like, he would be able to detect a tail. People have followed him before.
For being a small town, the hotel that Hawkeye led him to actually looked to be quite impressive. It wasn't just a small inn. It was like a three star hotel he would expect to find in East City. Not Central because he has stayed in hotels in Central and the hotels there are definitely five star. While the hotel Hawkeye was staying in was nice, it didn't compare to Central's hotels.
Not that Ed would complain. It was still nicer than some of the places he has stayed at on his travels the past couple of years. Still, even if the hotel was a bit rundown, he wouldn't complain as long as he had a bed to sleep in. Despite all the complaints he gave Mustang about his sleeping accommodations on his journeys, he honestly didn't care that much. It was just because he had days where he wanted to complain to Mustang about something just to annoy him. It was a good revenge for all the short jokes.
Making their way to the third floor of the hotel, Hawkeye led Ed to the fourth door down the hall on the right and ushered him inside. The numbers on the door were 325. Eyes drifting downwards, Ed spotted the tag on the door that said 'do not disturb.' Clearly Hawkeye didn't want a maid coming in and seeing anything she shouldn't. Seeing all of this only truly mattered as Ed was currently taking in every single detail about their stay here for future reference.
Once Ed was in the room and Hawkeye was busy securing the door tightly behind them, the teenager walked around, taking stock of the room. It was a simple room with two beds with a door on the opposite wall of the beds that led to the bathroom. Looking back at the beds had Ed seeing that both were made with the covers pulled back as tightly and as neatly as possible. It seemed that even when she was on a mission, Hawkeye didn't forget the protocols she learned at the military academy.
Having never been to the academy, Ed didn't understand the soldiers' need to look as neat and as professional as possible at every moment of the day, but Havoc did mention to him that it was very important. Everything had to be strictly orderly while at the academy and as soldiers, they continued on with what they learned when working. When they were talking about it, Mustang happened to be nearby and mentioned that Ed would fail completely in the academy because of how messy he was. If it wasn't for Hawkeye being in the office at the time, Mustang's face would have met his metal fist. Ed could totally be neat and orderly when it mattered to him.
Hawkeye walked passed Ed, who was just standing around and taking stock of the room, and made her way over to the windows. She pulled the curtains back and looked around the streets to make sure there were no tails. Satisfied with what she found, Hawkeye once again pulled the curtains back so no one could see them in here.
"My bed is by the window." Hawkeye said as she turned back to Ed.
Nodding his head, Ed deposited his bag on the bed nearest to him. Throwing himself on the bed next to it, Ed leaned back on his hands and looked over at Hawkeye. She was dressing differently and had her hair down, but that was all. A part of him wanted to say it was unfair that he had to cut and his dye his hair, but at the same time, he realized it wasn't. Hawkeye wasn't out in the field as much as him and she also wasn't currently classified as dead.
Making her way across the room, Hawkeye kneeled in front of Ed. It put her lower than Ed so she looked up into his face, frowning since she couldn't see his eyes behind the sunglasses. Since they were safe in the privacy of their room, she reached up and removed the sunglasses, happy when Ed didn't try to fight her on it. As soon as those glasses were off, she was able to see the familiar bright gold eyes of her young boss that always told her so much. Ever since she first met Ed in Resembool after his failed transmutation, it was his eyes that told her how he was feeling.
When his eyes were dull and constantly moving to look at the ground, it meant he was depressed. If he was in a good mood, his eyes were bright and full of mischief. When he was angry, his eyes were a darker shade and typically narrowed. When he was serious or concentrating on his work, his eyes held a sort of fire in them to match his determination to succeed at what he was doing. His eyes held so many emotions and told her so much, and over the years, she has managed to read to his body language as well.
If she couldn't see his eyes, she would look at how he held himself and how he walked. It not only told her how he was feeling, but it also let her know if he was injured. He was so young to be in the military so whenever he returned to HQ, she made sure to examine his body language to see if there were hidden injuries that the Colonel needed to be made aware of so he wouldn't send the kid on another mission so soon. At this point though, the Colonel was also getting better at reading the young major as well so she didn't need to inform him as much about what she saw.
Right now though, his eyes were full of fire. They were bright with the life he didn't lose at her hand. Although they were bright, his eyes were shifting to the side every once in a while before moving back to stare at her eyes. He was nervous. That was good. It would keep him on alert. He wasn't nervous enough to be jumping around like a scared child, but nervous enough to not be over confident.
"Blake, how do you feel?"
A small smile drifted over Ed's lips. "I am alright, Elizabeth. No harm done."
Brown eyes moved from Ed's gold eyes to look at his chest. Three bullets hit his chest. Even if he was wearing a bullet proof vest, those bullets still slammed into him at a very fast speed. It had to have left a mark.
"The bruises are healing. They don't hurt like they did the first day." Ed assured her, as if reading her mind. "I am good to be here to help you. Besides," A tight smile replaced her gentle smile. "There is no backing out now."
"You're right." Hawkeye agreed as she stood up and moved over to her bed. "There isn't and there also isn't any time. You arrived at the perfect time."
Kneeling down once more, Hawkeye reached under her bed and pulled out her metal case. Placing it on the bed, she opened it up so it was facing the young major.
Turning his head to look at the case, Ed grimaced when he saw the sniper rifle sitting inside the case.
"Do you remember how to reassemble it?" Hawkeye asked.
Shifting his eyes from the gun to Hawkeye, Ed bit his lip. "More or less."
Hawkeye frowned. "This is not the time for 'more or less,' Blake. I need you on overwatch."
Overwatch. The position of a small unit to observe the terrain ahead, or in this case, a protection tactic to watch over Hawkeye and provide covering fire if she needed it. It was a position in which the soldier on the ground had to absolutely trust her overwatch to watch her back. And worse, it was something Ed had never done before. It was something that required sniping skills, and sadly, this was the first time he has ever been in the field with a gun as his main weapon.
"I can't." Ed whispered, shaking his head. "I can't, Elizabeth. I don't have the same skills you do with sniping. What if I hit you?"
"I trust you." Hawkeye replied, drawing the teen's eyes back to her. She made her way over to Ed, pulling her gun out of her holster as she did. When she kneeled in front of him, she took his hand and placed the gun in it. Unlike what happened the first time she did this when he was thirteen, Ed's hand instinctively curled shut to hold the gun in the proper manner that Hawkeye taught him. "See? Shortly after you turned thirteen, I started teaching you how to shoot. That was about a year and a half ago. Guns scare you because they can be used to kill, but you spent so much time practicing with them. Not just with me, but on your own when you were traveling. You want to be as good as you can with a gun so nothing goes wrong if you ever have to fire."
Looking down at his hand, Ed took note of the fact that the moment he readjusted his hand to hold the gun properly, Hawkeye had lowered her hands to rest on his leg. She trusted him. His first time in the armory the two had spent an hour just learning how to strip and reassemble a gun. After that, Hawkeye taught him how to aim and fire, but she kept her hands on him the whole, whether to readjust his stance or his aim or to even help him fire the first couple times. It wasn't until their second lesson that she let him handle the guns alone and even then, he had been terrified of doing it, but at the very least, she was always right behind him, providing him with the comfort and confidence he needed to learn about guns.
She trusted him with guns enough to watch her back.
*FMA*
Shuffling out of his meeting with Mustang, Ed glanced at Hawkeye working studiously at her desk than over his shoulder at his little brother following him. "Hey Al, why don't you go on ahead without me? I have something to take care of here."
"I can wait." Al replied.
Ed shook his head. "Naw, it's actually going to take a while and you'd just be bored. You can start that research if you want."
"Okay, if you're sure." Al said, though he sounded unsure even as Ed ushered him out the door.
With the door slamming shut behind Al, Ed pressed his hands against it and sighed in relief. He had to make sure Al never found out. It was six months ago that Hawkeye started teaching him how to use a gun and somehow in that time, he has managed to keep it a secret from Al. Like Ed, Al hated guns and he highly doubted his brother would be happy to know Ed was willingly working on the lessons.
"What was that about, Chief?" Havoc asked, raising a brow as he shared a look of confusion with Breda. "Are you two fighting?"
Ed shot him a scowl. "What part of that made it seem like we are fighting?" Without waiting for a reply from his very own peanut gallery, Ed made his way back over to Hawkeye's desk. "Uh, Lieutenant?"
At being addressed, Hawkeye finally looked up from her work to focus on Ed. "What can I do for you that you needed to send your brother away, Ed?"
"Um," Ed's eyes moved to the gun sitting on her hip then back to her eyes. "Could we…"
Not needing anymore then the couple hints that Ed already gave her, Hawkeye smiled and rose to her feet. "Of course."
"Where are you guys going?" Breda asked.
"None of your business!" Ed snapped back as he ran out of the office with Hawkeye following at a proper pace behind him.
When they were far enough down the hallway that Ed decided the team wouldn't hear them, he turned to look at Hawkeye. "You haven't told them, have you?"
"About our private lessons? No, I haven't." Hawkeye assured him. "But there is nothing to be ashamed about. We are all soldiers, Ed. They would understand."
"I know. I know. It's not that." Ed mumbled, turning his eyes to the ground. "Doesn't really matter though. We always get my gun from the soldier in the armory so I'm sure the news will travel that I am learning."
"Why don't you want them to know?" Hawkeye asked curiously.
Ed tilted his head back to look at the ceiling as they walked. "I guess, I just don't want it known that I can use a gun cause I don't want ordered to carry one."
At his soft confession, Hawkeye stopped and in the process stopped Ed from moving as well. She gently turned his head to face hers so he could see her soft smile. "That won't happen, Ed. I am teaching you all this for your protection. If you're on a job and a gun is near you and you have no other choice, you use it and you use it properly. If you need to strip an enemy's gun, you know how. You're thirteen. It's too young to be carrying a gun. You won't be ordered a gun until you're much older and even then, you only need to draw it if there is no other choice. Until that moment happens, your alchemy can protect you."
"I won't ever use a gun."
"And I hope you don't ever have to, but having the knowledge of how to use it is good in case something does happen to require you to handle one. Now, let's get to the range."
*FMA*
"You've been practicing."
At the praise, Ed allowed a small smile to grace his face as he lowered his gun to the stand and turned to face Hawkeye.
Hawkeye looked at Ed's target sheet with a thoughtful frown. "You haven't been back at HQ for a couple months now, Ed. I expected the lack of practice and experience to make your aim rusty."
Ed looked downwards as he scuffed the ground up. "While Al and I travel, if I can't concentrate on my work or just need some alone time, I would sneak off to a shooting range if the town I was in had one. I've been applying everything you taught me to improve my aim. Al doesn't know and he sometimes gets annoyed that I manage to hide from him so easily at times. I think it's just cause he doesn't know I am learning this so he avoids the shooting ranges."
"Underage kids shouldn't be able to get in a shooting range alone." Hawkeye replied with a frown.
"It's actually not that hard." Ed said as he pulled out his state alchemist watch. "Seriously, flash this and I can get into anywhere I want."
At that, Hawkeye's frown melted into a stern expression as she planted her hands on her hips. That was something no one was expecting when a kid became a State Alchemist, but it was apparently something they would have to watch out for. "And you haven't been abusing that privilege, have you?"
"Abuse it? How?" Ed asked, looking generally confused.
"Going to places that a thirteen year old boy has no business being in." Hawkeye explained. She wouldn't give him ideas of what those places were, but she had plenty. Brothels. Bars. Prisons. Or maybe, not even places but using his watch to get alcohol. She would like to believe Ed was smart enough and responsible enough not to do that though. It was just now that she realized how much authority that watch gave him. Of course, not as much authority as Mustang had. If Ed ever wanted alcohol, which she hoped he never did until he was legal age, and used that watch to get it and Mustang found out, she could just see everything going to hell. Ed would be in a lot of trouble with Mustang and Hawkeye would like to believe she knew Mustang well enough to know what his next course of action would be. She could see him making a nationwide decree to not allow the Fullmetal Alchemist any alcohol under the threat of arrest, which would just be humiliating for the kid.
"Don't think so. Just the shooting range." Ed replied.
Hawkeye nodded. "Good, keep it that way. Now," She picked up a case that she got earlier from her locker. "Do you want to learn how to shoot a rifle?"
"A rifle?" Ed echoed. "As in, sniping? I don't really think I would ever need to know that." At seeing the determined, not taking no for an answer, look on Hawkeye's face, Ed scoffed and looked off to the side. "What is this really about, Lieutenant?"
"You're a soldier, Ed. You're young so you didn't have to go through the military academy, but eventually the higher ups will want you to know how to do this. In the academy we learn hand-to-hand combat, how to use a gun which includes a rifle, battle tactics, proper etiquette for soldiers, and military protocols. Since you joined at twelve, the Colonel was able to get you out of having to go through all that on the condition you go through it when you reach sixteen at the earliest or we teach you slowly over the years." Hawkeye explained, eyes softening at the surprise that grew on Ed's face with each word she spoke. It wasn't a surprise to see that. Mustang didn't want Ed to know that they were subtly teaching him the things he needed to know as a soldier.
"I….but you guys aren't teaching me those things." Ed argued, but without much heat in his voice.
Hawkeye motioned for Ed to follow her to the shooting range outside. Training with a rifle was meant to be done outside on the fields after all. "We have, Ed, but the Colonel didn't want you to know about this so we were doing it in a way without you realizing what it was. When Havoc taught you how to do a proper salute."
"No, Chief. When saluting a higher up, you have to snap your feet together, straighten your back, and snap the salute in one fluid motion. And remember, you can't release it until they salute you back or they walk away."
"When Breda taught you the ranks."
"Actually, State Alchemists technically start with the rank of Major when they join. Guess that makes you our higher up, Chief. The only person who outranks you in our unit is Colonel Mustang."
"When Falman taught you how to write a report."
"After every mission, you are to report back to HQ and submit a report to your commanding officer. The report consists of all the important details of your mission. At the top of the report on the first page you are to have the date, the mission's official name which is on the file your CO gives you, and your CO's rank, name, and title if he is a State Alchemist. Your rank, name, and title go on the last page with an official signature."
"When Fuery taught you how to use our communication equipment in the field."
"When we're in the field, it is imperative that we stay in contact as much as possible. We use these ear pieces so we can talk to each other. I usually have a communication base set up nearby when we are in the field since the range on these aren't the best."
"When the Colonel taught you battle tactics."
"Are you listening, Fullmetal? It's going to be a pincer attack. I'll distract Havoc from the front while you come up from behind and snatch his cigarettes. Can you do that without getting caught?"
"Damn it, Fullmetal! I said to perform reconnaissance. Gather intel on the enemy's position and then return! I did not say to attack by yourself!"
"Fullmetal, you like attacking directly without thinking, right? For once, your style of attacking is just what I need. Go for a frontal assault, make as much destruction as possible to bring all of the enemy's attention to you. My team and I will take that time to move to the rear and attack from behind!"
"And now, with me teaching your all about firearms." Hawkeye led Ed over to an open station and set her case down. She sat down and motioned for Ed to do the same.
"You were all in on it?" Ed asked, not sitting down as he preferred to stand. He looked around to see the soldiers that were out here giving him strange looks. Scowling, he looked back down at Hawkeye, wanting to avoid the looks of the soldiers. No doubt word was about to get around real fast now that the Fullmetal Alchemist was learning to shoot.
"You don't want to go through the academy training, do you?" Hawkeye asked.
Ed shook his head. "No." It would just get in the way of searching for Al's body. Well, that was if he was still in the military by then. He hoped it didn't take that many years to get Al his body back.
"Then let us teach you." Hawkeye replied as she opened the case to her rifle. "Everyone wants to help you learn so you can handle this job better. We want you to trust us."
Ed blinked. Trust them? "But I do trust you guys, Lieutenant."
"Do you?" Hawkeye retorted.
Did he?
In the beginning when he first joined as a State Alchemist, he was more inclined to run out of HQ as soon as he was allowed. He would run out and not look back as he had other things to do and he didn't want people to ask him questions about his limbs or his brother's armor. But somewhere along the long, he stopped running. When was that? Each member of Mustang's main unit taught him something like Hawkeye pointed out. When they taught him those things, he got to spend time with them and he started to get comfortable with their presence. Soon enough, he started bringing Al to HQ and Al got along with everyone so easily. Sure, there were questions about his body, but after seeing Mustang and Hawkeye not let it bother them, the questions just stopped. No one was ever mean about it to Al. Was that it? Was that the final piece that helped everything fall into place?
They all spoke to him and taught him something. They teased him about things that set him off, but they were never unnecessarily cruel to him. And they accepted Al so easily despite the armor. They may not know he is just a soul attached to the armor, but they still accepted that he always wore the armor. And with that, Ed spent more and more time around his comrades. He would write his reports in the office. He helped them with their paperwork when he could. He helped the receptionists with carrying paperwork around HQ. Somewhere along the line, he started to trust them. Even Mustang had his trust despite his arrogant, smug face and manipulative tactics.
"Yeah, I trust all of you." Ed declared, voice sounding stronger as he locked eyes Hawkeye.
"Then let's get started." Hawkeye said, motioning to the empty spot to her. "Before we even get started on shooting, we are going to learn all about the rifle."
*FMA*
"Besides, even if you miss your target, it will be enough to be cover fire." Hawkeye said as she took her gun back and put it back in her holster. "You'll only need to do that though if something goes wrong."
After a moment of hesitation, Ed nodded his head.
Snapping the case shut, Hawkeye held it out to Ed. "Just remember to stay calm and aim. And keep your breathing steady, even and relaxed, Blake." As Ed took the case with some trepidation, Hawkeye let a tight smile cross her lips. "In any case, I only see this as a precaution. Nothing should go wrong. I am just meeting up with them tonight to receive my pay for killing Fullmetal. It will at least give us a chance to see what they look like."
"What they look like…" Ed repeated with a frown before his eyes widened and he whipped around to look at Hawkeye. "I have to tell you. Reverend Fawkes spoke to some of his informants and they heard that the Drachmans got into the country with the help of a Briggs soldier. We have a traitor. Would they be able to recognize you?"
"A Briggs soldier?" Hawkeye put a hand to her chin as she thought it over. "That would certainly explain things. Fort Briggs and its soldiers are called 'the perfect defense.' It was strange when we got word that Drachmans were in the country. They shouldn't have been able to get in, or at least not get in without it being known. General Armstrong and her men wouldn't have let them slip by without even a slight idea that they were there. But, if it's a traitor."
Putting down the case, Ed leaned back on his hands again. "Then it makes sense." He looked over at Hawkeye out of the corner of his eye. "Problem is, we don't know who the traitor is and we can't very well contact General Armstrong with this since phones can be tapped and then there is the issue that we're undercover so we can't just go waltzing up there."
"For now, we need to deal with the Drachmans." Hawkeye said with a frown.
"But this won't be over until we smoke out the traitor." Ed pointed out.
"It does complicate matters."
"But Elizabeth, you didn't answer my question. Will the traitor recognize you?" Ed asked again, turning his head to lock eyes with Hawkeye. If there was the slightest chance, she would get recognized, they couldn't do this. It would be too risky for her to go meet the Drachmans. But the military was big so hopefully the two would have never spoken.
Hawkeye sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Without knowing who the traitor is, I can't say. You probably don't know this since you're always traveling, but the East and the North soldiers get together every winter at Briggs for regular military exercises for training in case we go to war with our enemies. While Fort Briggs is known as the 'the perfect defense,' the East is known as 'the perfect attack.'"
"Ohh, another history lesson." Ed muttered before sighing. "Let me take a guess here, Briggs wins every time?" When Hawkeye just looked at him in surprise, he sighed again as he averted his eyes to the ceiling. "It's obvious. 'Perfect defense' and 'perfect attack.' It doesn't matter how perfect your attacks are if you can't break through an impenetrable defense. It's like when I was training under my master. She is an expert martial artists. My brother and I may have only been children when training with her, but we fought with her every day. I've been in a lot of fights since then and have learned more about hand-to-hand combat since then that I can see it now. Her defense was perfect. I try to think of ways to break through nowadays with the hope of seeing her one day to fight her again, but I can't see any way to do it. My attacks can be fast and one hundred percent precise, but if her defense is perfect, it isn't getting past."
When he looked back at Hawkeye, he was surprised to see her staring at him with something akin to shock in her eyes. "What's wrong?"
Hawkeye shook her head, causing her blond hair to fall over her shoulder. "It's nothing. It's just, I think that was the first time you've ever mentioned anything about your past to anyone."
Eyes widening, Ed turned his eyes downward to look at his lap. Was it? He and Al didn't like to talk about their past. The only thing he ever told his comrades was that his mother died when he was young and their father abandoned them. His past wasn't something he actually like to revisit.
Seeing that Ed was uncomfortable with her revelation, Hawkeye gave a fake cough and redirected back to the main topic. "Anyway, I go to Briggs every year for this training exercise so it is possible I have seen the Briggs soldier that turned traitor, but without knowing who it is, I can't say for sure. I should be safe though. He shouldn't be down here to oust me."
While Ed didn't look convinced, he didn't argue with her. She had more experience in this type of thing so he would just have to trust her judgment. "Alright, then, if you're in trouble, what is your sign?"
"This," Hawkeye said as she brushed her hair behind her right ear. "If I think something is wrong, I'll do this. If I want you to fire." She lowered her hand to her hip and with two fingers, tapped it twice. "I'll do that. You understand?"
"Push your hair behind your ear means something might be wrong so I should watch for your signal to fire." Ed replied, nodding his head. "Got it."
"Then get ready. We have three hours until I have to meet them but you should get into position beforehand." Hawkeye said. "And watch out. The Drachmans might have someone in overwatch as well."
Ed nodded his head while his hand trailed behind him on the bed to brush over the silver case with the rifle in it. Not only did he have to watch Hawkeye's back, but he also had to make sure no one spotted him. It would not do to have him get shot in the back by a Drachman.
Jumping off the bed, Ed got his suitcase and went over to the bathroom to change his outfit. During his travel up here he only kept one of his guns hidden on him while the rest of his weapons were stuffed in his messenger bag. The reason for this was because he didn't want to draw any attention to him. He was a kid so he wanted to travel with the appearance of a child so he wouldn't get that unwanted attention.
Now though, he no longer had to pretend to be an innocent, defenseless child. Instead he was now the partner of the assassin, Elizabeth Stone.
Stripping of his clothes, Ed replaced his pants with a pair of faded black cargo pants. Sitting on the toilet, Ed pulled a pair of boots towards him. They were black that reached mid-calf with laces and two belt straps, one by his ankle and the other halfway to the top of the boots. The boots were quite sturdy which is just what he needed for his operation up north in all this snow. He would have to thank Vanessa when he got back to Central. She picked out a good pair of boots. Along with the boots, he had a thick dark blue long sleeved shirt with a light blue jacket to go over it.
With being dressed out of the way, Ed turned to his weapons. He had two glocks and a knife. He took a weapon holster that he had and wrapped one strap around his belt before snapping the other straps around his right leg. He store one of his gun and one magazine of extra ammo there before looking at his other gun. He was sure Havoc got him two guns just in case something happened to one of them, but it was probably still a good idea to carry both on him. Without another gun holster, the best he could do was slide the gun in the back of his pants and slip the extra magazine of ammo into the pocket on the side of his pants. Lastly was the knife that Havoc gave him which he fastened inside the boot of his left foot.
With it being secured there, Ed stomped his foot a couple of times to make sure it wouldn't fall out of place. When he was satisfied, he grabbed his black gloves and made his way back to the bedroom as he slipped them on. "Let's do this."
Hawkeye tossed him his sunglasses from the bed. "You don't want to contact Mr. Ashen first to let him know you arrived safely?"
"No time." Ed replied as he grabbed a white cloak off his bed that Hawkeye probably laid out for him. No doubt that this cloak was to help him blend into the snow on the roof so he wouldn't get spotted as her backup. He really didn't like the color white, but if it was to keep them safe, he would keep his mouth shut and put it on once they were away from the hotel. "What's the meeting point? I am guessing we will be heading there separately."
Hawkeye unrolled a map of the city on her bed. "You got it, Blake."
As Hawkeye laid out the meeting point and her plan to him, Ed found himself collapsing on the bed next to her, eyes never trailing from the map or Hawkeye's hands as she pointed out buildings to him that could be the best vantage points for him. This was really happening. Their two men team was about to start the hardest part of this operation without any backup. If this went wrong, they would be utterly screwed.
And the thing that probably really made him nervous was the fact that their roles were reversed. Hawkeye was usually the one on overwatch and Ed was usually in the field, confronting the enemy. This was the first time for him where it was the other way around. One mistake on his part could cost Hawkeye her life and if that happened, he would never forgive himself.
In just a few hours, the operation's next phase would start.
A/N: Please Review!