Disclaimer: I don't own FMA.
Operation: Get Grumman Back
The bustle of the other team-members packing their equipment and leaving could be heard in the background. The team had scouted the location given to them by Renata, planning their entrance and exit strategies, among other things. Becca and Havoc left early to take up their observational positions, along with their sniper rifles, before anyone else arrived. Fuery would again remain at the safe house to monitor their progress while Falman and Breda would be waiting at a predetermined location with a getaway vehicle.
It was nearly time for Roy and Riza to leave the safe house in order to make their scheduled appearance, and she was putting some finishing touches on her 'prisoner.'
"Are you ready?" Riza held up the handcuffs for emphasis and then raised a hand to his right ear to ensure the earpiece there was secured.
"Yeah, I think I'm ready." He looked her in the eye, apparently trying to reassure her via telepathy or osmosis or something.
Again gesturing with the cuffs she said, "Remember, I weakened the center link so you can have full range of motion when needed. Until then, be careful."
"I know." He nodded, watching her preparations. "I do feel a little naked walking into this with no weapons or anything."
"Don't worry, I've got your back. But, I also think I have something that will help that's better than your gloves." She reached into her pocket and removed a small metal object and held it out.
"Is that the lighter?" Roy quietly asked, gazing at and reaching toward the gleaming rectangle on her palm.
"You mean the one you almost burned my house down with the first time you used it?" Riza looked him in the eye and smirked. "Yeah, that's the one. I grabbed it before we left thinking it may be useful." She flipped it over in her hand to show him the array etched on the other side. As he picked it up off her palm, she added, "If they check you for weapons, this will be more difficult to find…and less susceptible to water."
"Hey now, that's one of the few drawbacks of the gloves." He slipped the lighter into his boot.
"I know," she laughed. "But I'm sure they will try to incapacitate you somehow. Hopefully this won't be necessary, but it's there if you need it." Riza then abruptly pulled her arm back and punched him in the face, knocking him backward.
"What the hell?!" Roy shouted, eyes wide with surprise and disbelief, hand flying to where he hit him. "What the fuck did I do?!"
Riza took a few rapid steps toward him and reached her hand up to where she'd contacted his face, checking the area and then resting her hands on his upper arms. "Sorry, Roy…But you're my prisoner, remember? If I walked you in there without a scratch it would be less believable." Her brow was wrinkled with mild anxiety at having hurt him, but she knew it would help sell the ruse, and that Roy would understand. Breda, who had not yet left with Falman, leaned in the doorway to the kitchen, laughing hysterically, and received a glare from Roy.
"Heymans? Don't you have somewhere to be?" Roy said sharply and Breda, knowing what was best for him, walked out. He continued to look at Riza for several seconds, breathing heavily, and then gave a tight-lipped nod. "I get it. You just…caught me off guard."
"That was the point. It looks better that way." Looking around the room, she noticed that they were alone, Fuery having run to his room to grab a few back up items before the operation began. Returning her attention to Roy, she took another step closer to him and could feel the heat radiating off his skin. Looking him in the eye, she removed both of their earpieces and carefully set them on a table nearby. Seeing his minor confusion, she smirked, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him toward her.
His eyes widened in response, a grin creeping onto his face, as Riza angled her own upward. With her left hand behind his neck she brought her lips to meet his, eyes closing. Again caught unprepared, Roy seemed to react more favorably to this surprise, leaning into the kiss. He slipped his arms around her waist and closed the distance between them, bodies pressed together exquisitely. Her other hand relinquished his shirt and ran around his waist to his back, taking in every muscular contour. One of his arms tightened around her while his other hand came to ghost lightly down her side. His fingertips slid beneath her shirt at the hip and grazed her skin, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end.
Riza smiled against his lips and pulled always slightly, raising her eyes. "Better?" She replaced the communication devices in their respective ears.
"Immensely."
They held each other's gaze for a few more seconds, he smiling and she biting her lip, and then Riza tapped him on the arm. "Good, because it's go time." She cuffed his hands behind his back and then reached into her back pocket. She pulled at the black hood hanging from it, moving to place it over Roy's head. It was halfway down his face when she yanked it back up momentarily, saying, "And Roy? Don't do anything stupid."
"I never do." His devilish, mischievous grin made yet another appearance, and it was the last thing Riza saw as she lowered the hood fully. Slipping her pistols into her shoulder and back holsters, she put on her game face and grasped Roy's upper arm to lead him to the car, helping him into the trunk.
"You ok in there?" His response of 'yeah' could be heard both over the earpiece and muffled from the trunk. Riza strode to the driver's side door, slipping in and turning the key in the ignition. As she pulled around the house and down the driveway to the street she said, "Hey, Loverboy, we're on our way."
"Copy that."
Roy's voice came over the comm, "Ok everyone. The party's about to start…you know what to do."
As Riza approached the warehouse, she slowed the vehicle enough to better observe her surroundings while still driving normally. As the building loomed closer, she could see Renata standing in front of a large garage door with several other people. Riza continued to drive toward the building, and the armed individuals split into two groups, providing her with a direct path to the door that was beginning to roll upward.
"Show time, Roy," she muttered, moving her lips as little as possible.
Slowly pulling the car inside, the door shut behind her and Renata entered through a side door and walked up to another group of ARF members, mostly armed. It appeared that the other men had remained outside: Riza did not enjoy being surrounded. Drawing one pistol from a shoulder holster, she opened the car door and stepped outside, slamming it shut.
"Aww, Liz? Pulling guns on us already? That's not very friendly." Renata began their exchange, clearly pleased with herself for having somehow led to their obtainment of the Flame Alchemist.
"You haven't exactly given me much reason to trust you."
Riza surveyed the lackluster warehouse around her, perceiving the differences from the photos taken during their recon efforts. It was relatively well maintained, for an older building, with large windows situated in the upper half of the walls. Likely originally for light, they also provided Havoc and Becca with means to observe the action from their vantage points.
There were no catwalks above them, which Riza considered good fortune. The ARF had chosen a location with a full sprinkler system, probably in an effort to neutralize Roy to some extent. She also took note of places where more armed men could potentially be hiding. There were some large boxes and packing crates stacked in various places throughout the building, though what they contained was unclear. The ARF was at least intelligent enough to not have this meeting in the building filled with dangerous toys.
"If I recall, I'm not the one that's been sneaking up on people and threatening them at gunpoint."
"A bit salty about that, are you?" Riza smirked. "Enough with the pleasantries, Renata, show me my grandfather."
There was a shuffling sound from the far end of the warehouse, and two men pulled Grumman into view. His hands were tied and they had duct taped his mouth shut; he was too far away for her to discern wounds or bruises. The men escorted him toward the ARF group across from her.
"Well, Liz? I showed you mine." Riza again felt the incredibly strong urge to pistol whip the over-confident woman. Go ahead, keep over-estimating your skills, Renata.
"Fair is fair, I suppose." Keeping her eye on the terrorist organization before her, she strode to the trunk of the vehicle, popping it open. Riza roughly pulled Roy from the car, none too gently guiding him forward with one hand gripping his upper arm and the other with her pistol at the ready. Once more positioned across from the other group, she reached above his head and whipped off the hood so they could see his face then stuck the muzzle of her gun in his abdomen. "Here's your Flame Alchemist. Satisfied?"
"Not quite yet, no" A mere moment after Renata spoke, the sprinkler system was activated and water rained down on them. With another smug smirk, Renata said, gesturing toward the sprinklers, "Just in case. I find things don't burn as easily when water is involved. Wouldn't you agree?" This last question was directed toward Roy, who simply glared at the woman.
"Let's get this over with, Renata."
"Sure thing, send him over."
"Oh, I think not. You've got me outnumbered. Send all your goons back to that far wall. You and Grumman, me and pretty-boy. That's how this'll work."
"Why don't we just shoot you now and take what we want?" At her words, the men behind her raised their firearms and aimed them at Riza.
In response, she raised her pistol to Roy's temple. "If anyone fires, I'll shoot him. Trust me, my bullet will reach its target first, and you're only hope for flame alchemy will be dead." She shrugged. "Feel free to see what he tells you then."
"Fine." Renata's voice was sharp and significantly less smug. The guys with guns backed up to the far wall of the building and Renata approached, holding a firearm to Grumman's stomach. She stopped a good distance away.
"Start him walking." When Renata hesitated, Riza lightly pushed Roy's head with her pistol as motivation.
Renata shoved Grumman in front of her, raising her pistol to aim at his back, and Riza did the same with Roy, receiving a glare from him. The two prisoners slowly advanced toward each other, watched carefully by the two women. In her ear, she heard the updates from the rest of the team: that the van was in position, that Havoc and Becca had a great view, etc. She saw her grandfather's eyes, pleading with her not to hand Mustang over. Riza kept her face an impassive mask, slipping her mind into that emotionless place that would allow her to be the sniper, the soldier.
Suddenly, several things happened in an extremely short amount of time. First, there were two explosions at the far end of the building, causing some of the militants to turn to address the distraction. Then Roy feigned a stumble, ripping his hands apart to break the cuffs and reached into his boot for the lighter. At the same time, Riza began walking forward, pistol trained on Renata, who began shouting at her backup.
Roy went into a roll and came up on the other side of Grumman, all the while activating the array to manipulate the oxygen atoms in the water molecules in the sprinkler system. Causing the pipes to burst, he rendered the system useless, effectively putting an end to their indoor rainstorm. At the sound of the pipes rupturing, more of the ARF men started to sprint back in their direction and gunshots began to ring out.
Riza caught Roy's glance and nodded, tossing him one of her firearms. He caught it, grabbed Grumman's arm and ran toward an imposing stack of crates with Riza providing cover as she ran in the same direction. She saw Renata raise her weapon and aim it at Roy and Grumman, who were still in the open. Lifting her own arm, she shot the woman's hand before she could pull the trigger: Renata's scream rent the air. From behind her, she could hear the men from outside entering the building after hearing the commotion.
"A little help, guys!" Riza said to her teammates, whipping around to face the new threats entering the area; she heard the tinkle of breaking glass and the pop of rifles, signaling Becca's and Havoc's efforts. The men were making a beeline for Roy and Grumman, who were blocked from the other militants, but still had some distance between them and full cover. With sharp eyes and a quick exhalation, she pulled the trigger three times and three thugs fell to the floor.
With more shots now aimed at her as well, she picked up her speed, popping off a few more rounds. She reached out a hand to grab the corner of a large shipping container and used her momentum to swing herself around the corner. Riza stood with her back to the shipping container and shared a glance with her grandfather as she quickly reloaded. That wise and wily look was on his face, as if he'd known what they were planning the entire time. After a quick smile to him, she peeked around the corner and squeezed off several shots to keep the militants at bay.
Havoc's voice came over the comm: "Looks like you're gonna have some more company soon."
Sharing a glance with Roy, she said, "Any new ideas for an exit?"
"Yeah. Can you cover this side for a minute?"
She nodded, they switched places, and Riza crouched, quickly throwing her arm around the corner and firing to keep the other men in place. More gunshots came from Roy's side, and then a small explosion followed by the crash of what must have been the vehicle they'd used to arrive in the first place. The destruction of the car was hardly finished when the sound of further explosions could be heard around the building. Apparently, Roy was utilizing the still dry innards of wooden packing crates to cause the blasts. To be safe, she fired around her corner once more and then reloaded as she spun to make sure Roy was covered. At his signal, the three of them stood against the shipping container, and he again ignited the lighter. She watched the trail of flame up until it caused the wall nearest them to shatter outward.
Riza pushed them ahead of her and walked quickly backwards after them, a pistol aimed to each side of the container they'd just abandoned. A figure in black popped up behind a crate and she fired, she again squeezed the trigger when a man ran across her field of vision on her right, two rapid shots and two ARF men who thought they could follow them were on the ground. Repeating this process as needed, she reached the gaping hole in the wall. She followed Roy and Grumman at a run in the direction of the van, cover fire provided by Havoc who was already at the van.
They were ahead of her and when she passed the corner of the building she broke into a sprint on seeing more ARF men headed their way. Next to their vehicle, she saw Roy pause, and then flames leapt from the lighter in his hand to form a temporary wall of fire, shielding them from view.
When she reached the van, she stopped next to Roy, holstering one weapon and catching her breath, while Grumman and the others hopped in. Roy had just dropped the veil when something caught her eye across the expanse of pavement between industrial buildings. Without realizing it, Riza turned slowly and took a step forward as she tried to understand what she was seeing.
Vaguely, she heard the team's voices shouting in her ear, asking her what was going on. She felt a hand grab her arm and raised her other hand to shield her eyes from the sun, focusing on the far edge of the open space. There was a black sedan with blacked-out windows parked at the corner of another warehouse. Outside it stood two men along with a woman with blonde hair, which happened to be rather rare in Aerugo. On top of that, the woman looked strikingly familiar.
"No fucking way," she muttered to herself.
"Liz!" Roy's voice was much closer this time and it yanked her thoughts back from the woman across the way. Her awareness fully returned to the immediate vicinity, she turned and pulled Roy to her, then spun them around while raising the pistol in her right hand in one motion. Riza pulled the trigger, and Renata fell where she stood, her uninjured arm extended, firearm in her hand.
They jumped in the van, slammed the door shut, and Roy shouted to Breda, "Get us the hell out of here!"
When she looked up she caught her grandfather's eye and they immediately embraced. They held onto each other as if for dear life, and Riza's vision wavered as her eyes filled with tears.
"My darling Riza," Grumman affectionately said, hastily looking around after recognizing his slip of the tongue.
She chuckled lightly. "It's ok, grandfather, they know. Liz is still my cover id, but they know." Riza paused as she hugged him. "I'm so glad you're ok." She pulled back to examine him with a critical eye. "Did they hurt you?"
"Not too badly, dear. I'm fine." He had his quintessentially Grumman smile on his face, which meant he was likely lying to make her feel better.
"Liar." She paused and then looked at him again, lowering her voice. "I have to know. It's her, isn't it?"
Grumman looked at her for so long she thought he might not answer. Then, he merely nodded. Riza's jaw dropped open and she moved into a seated position, taking her grandfather's hand and squeezing it, letting a sharp laugh escape. It was a laugh devoid of any amusement but the most derisive, and she followed it up with, "Son of a…Well, go figure."
AN: Hello everyone! I hope you've all had a great week. Thanks for reading, I hope you like it, and have a good one! :)