A Pen or a Sword?
By: Bar-Ohki
Disclaimer: My name, I assure you, is not on the copyright.
Recap: Roy is out for blood, and not just anyone's blood- Major General Wood's blood.
Other Stuff: I don't have much to say.
Previously:
"Tasha, hey its me, Roy Anderw. I need you to bring Cindy and mummy with you, hell bring Mary Sue and Atticus too. … I found the man that touched Cindy." Roy was mad, and he would have his justice, no matter what the price.
Chapter 24: Stepping up to the Plate
It didn't take long for Havoc to finish circulating the gossip-rings around Headquarters. There were about five women of importance in the gossip-rings, all of them secretaries except for the cute brunette that monitored the phone area. Havoc returned to Mustang's office, up one hard slap to the cheek and a ton of somewhat useless rumors.
"Well?" Roy asked him. The Colonel had sat down at his desk, looking like he was about to stage a war.
"The Major General is here to be a part of the committee that's been formed to promote you, sir." Havoc answered him.
"Anything else?" Roy asked as Falman handed him a folder.
"His son is going to be sent here for schooling. Most think he'll be attending Flamel Academy." Havoc reported.
"Thank you Havoc. Now I want you to take Falman and get Sheska." Roy commanded quickly.
"Sir!" Hawkeye saluted as she ran in. "The Elric brothers will be arriving tomorrow evening. They brought Miss Rockbell with them." Jaxith looked up from his drawing at the mention of his friends.
"Thank you." Roy looked grim. It was obvious he wanted the brothers to be here to comfort Jaxith, but being stuck on a train made that physically impossible.
Havoc and Falman left in search of the private. It didn't take long to find her since she still worked in Hughes' old office. When they entered they were greeted by Lieutenant Colonel Frank Archer. He was a tall man, with a gaunt face and freakishly pale skin. His hair was cut and slicked back in some foreboding sense of protection. Currently he wore a disapproving frown along with his crisp uniform.
"What is the reason you are here?" He asked them curtly.
"We are under orders to borrow Private Sheska for an hour, sir." Havoc explained, saluting the man.
"Whose orders?" Archer asked, looking annoyed.
"Colonel Mustang's, sir." Havoc supplied the man.
"And under what authority does he have to borrow my Private?" Archer smirked, thinking he had won. Unfortunately for him he severely underestimated Falman.
"Under the authority that he has found a particularly large lead in an old, unsolved case and wishes to cross check some information." Falman explained. "He can't hand it over to investigations without alerting his suspect, sir."
"Are you implying the suspect is in investigations?" Archer asked.
"No sir. Only that they are in the military, sir." Falman explained himself.
"Very well then, she will be back in an hour." Archer told them with a glare that told them all they ever wanted to know about the military's policies on demotions and pay-cuts. Sheska got up and followed them back to Mustang's office without a word. She seemed skittish, probably due to being around Frank Archer too long.
They arrived in Mustang's office to hear the Colonel hiss loudly.
"Sir?" Fuery asked from his wiring.
"Falman, is this seriously all the records on the case?" Roy asked, looking somewhere between desperate and pissed.
"All the ones we have available at Central. I would presume there would be more in Clayston." Falman reminded his superior of his other connections.
"There aren't any there." Roy sighed. "They had been asked to send their copies to Western Headquarters and they never got them back."
"Did you inquire at Western?" Falman asked.
"Yes." Roy groaned. "None there either, Eli ripped the place apart." (1)
"Umm, what do you want me for?" Sheska asked, sounding a little sheepish.
"Are these all we have on the case of the rape of Cindy Lynn Mustang?" Roy asked showing her the folder.
Sheska checked it, and then nodded. "I don't recall us having anything else."
"Thank you." Roy sighed again.
"What is going on?" Sheska asked, trying to fathom why the entire office was on edge.
"My father is a bastard child." Jaxith began, startling everyone. "He was conceived out of a horrible, horrible rape. Whoever it was that raped my grandmother managed to run away from Clayston before we could lynch 'im. The family's been wanting justice and closure for years."
"It happened before I was born, I grew up hearing the stories." Roy admitted. "But my sister has always had this pain in her eyes from that experience…."
"Who did the initial investigation?" Sheska inquired. "Perhaps they can reproduce the documents."
"Two of my great-uncles, they're both dead." Roy thumped his head on his desk, depressed.
Sheska looked around, out of ideas. Eventually her eyes landed on Jaxith and his current drawing.
"You're pretty good." Sheska commented.
"Thank you." Jaxith was half-hearted, depressed like his great-uncle.
"That's it!" Breda exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "Why don't we rewrite the file ourselves?"
"What do you mean?" Roy pulled his head off his desk.
"Who were the witnesses to the rape?" Breda asked.
"My sister and pa." Roy answered.
"They're still alive right?" Breda got a nod. "Well Falman can re-interrogate them and get all the data your great-uncles would have gotten."
"There's a problem though!" Sheska gasped. "If the handwriting doesn't match the suspect will have a case against us! Not to mention if it doesn't match up with the original documentation, the suspect can pull that out and-"
"That won't be a problem." Roy smirked. "If our suspect does produce the original documentation he will not only be admitting he had been messing with the military files."
"But the handwriting!" Sheska protested.
"Leave that to the artist." Roy smiled kindly at Jaxith.
"Me?" Jaxith squeaked.
"That's perfect." Breda smiled. "Jaxith, you're the only one that can do this."
"Do what?" Jaxith asked, standing up carefully.
"It's officially called 'forgery', but what I'm calling it is a reproduction exercise." Breda explained.
"So you want me to write in the scripts of my ancestors and reproduce the lost material?" Jaxith smirked, looking just like Roy. "Damn, I like it."
"You do?" Fuery was shocked.
"I owe his family a 'favor' for what they did to me." Jaxith chuckled. "Equivalent exchange."
"Exactly." Roy smiled, proud.
-break-
When Edward got off the train at Central station he bumped into the last person he expected to see: Cindy Lynn Mustang.
"Edward!" She gasped, catching the boy before he toppled over.
"H-hello." Edward was startled by her sudden appearance. "Why are you here?"
"Roy sad 'e found tha man who raped my garl." A large, old man answered from behind her. He had a bald head, serious brown eyes, a wiry mustache, and lots of wrinkles. This man also sported a red flannel shirt, beet up jeans, a thick Western accent, and a shot gun.
"Hello sir." Edward bowed to the man. "I'm Edward Elric."
"Gerodi Robert Mustang." The old man shook Edward's hand.
"He's my father." Cindy whispered to Edward.
"Edward! Oh! Cindy Lynn!" Alphonse gasped as he stepped off the train.
"Hello Alphonse." Mary Sue greeted him, coming up from behind Gerodi with Mrs. Mustang in tow.
"You know these people?" Winry asked Alphonse as she stepped off the train.
"Yeah, they're the Colonel's family." Alphonse explained quickly.
"Hello there." Atticus and another woman approached. The woman had a sturdy build, with definite curves. Her curly hair was shoulder length and dark brown. She light skin with a few handsome freckles across her nose that accented her onyx eyes. She had similar sharp features that Mrs. Mustang had. She was wearing a trench coat with a blue sundress under it.
"I think some introductions are in order." Atticus said quickly, noticing that there were some confused stares from most of the people present. It did not take long for the new woman to be introduced as Tasha Hali Paddington (which was apparently Mrs. Mustang's maiden name), Roy's first cousin on his mother's side. Winry was introduced as well.
"So why don't we all rent a cab then?" Edward suggested. "I have to go to Headquarters myself."
"That will be unnecessary, Fullmetal." Roy stepped in, looking serious.
"Colonel!" "Roy!" "Son!"
-break-
Jaxith greeted the group upon their arrival at Headquarters, and Gerodi and Atticus handed him four journals that belonged to the great-uncles that once worked on Cindy's case.
"What are y'all doing?" Mary Sue demanded.
"I'm helping." Jaxith told his mother, a determined expression on his face.
"Mary Sue," Roy caught her attention quickly, "Jaxith is the only one here that can make what we are doing possible."
"What do you mean?" She looked at Roy, confused by the fact her son and his 'useless' set of skills could be of any help.
"The files for Cindy's case were destroyed." Roy told her. "So we're going to recreate them. Jaxith is the only one here who is good enough with a pen to write with the same scripts as the originals." Mary's eyes went wide.
"Mr. Mustang, Miss Cindy, I need you two to come with me." Falman bowed slightly. Gerodi and Cindy nodded. "Jaxith, could you come to?"
"Why?" Jaxith asked.
"Because you'll do a better job if you try and put yourself in the shoes of the man you're trying to understand." Edward explained. "That's a basic training principal."
"Now would the rest of y'all join me for some tea up in my office?" Roy asked his family kindly.
-break-
Atticus and Breda were talking in Roy's back office while everyone else was in the front room enjoying themselves.
"I presume you are going to be the lawyer Cindy hires to press the charges." Breda began.
"Yessir." Atticus confirmed. "I serve my family first, I can't deny my ma when she needs help."
"Say, by any chance are you A. M. Skibbereen, the renowned attorney?" Breda inquired, already knowing the answer.
"Yes, I am." Atticus smirked. "I got a call yesterday from Major General Wood asking for my services."
"Oh?"
"I told him I was already on a case and didn't have the space to take him up. Is he the man in question?" Atticus asked knowingly.
"Yes he is."
"Good, I'll tear him apart." Atticus' eyes glittered with joy.
"I trust you to do that; is there any help we can give you?" Breda asked.
"Well I need to have the actual case information before I can tell you what I do and don't need." Atticus explained.
"Well I do know something we will probably need eventually…." Breda paused. "Blood samples."
"Ah, yes we will need those." Atticus nodded.
"Are you okay with this?" Breda asked suddenly. "This is your father after all."
"By circumstance and by only that is he a 'father' to me." Atticus spat the word father. "My pa is the man my ma married."
"Just checking." Breda chuckled.
-with Falman in investigations-
"Lieutenant Colonel Archer, I need your supervision of this case, sir." Falman requested.
"What case?" Archer asked, looking annoyed.
"The case of the rape of Cindy Lynn Mustang, sir. Colonel Mustang believes he has found the offender, sir." Falman explained.
"I could care less about Colonel Mustang and his family issues." Archer scoffed. "You are dismissed."
"Sir, I am going to strongly recommend you start caring." Falman warned him.
"I don't see why I would." Archer glared at Falman. "I thought I dismissed you."
Clack! There was a shot gun, loaded and disarmed, against Archer's temple.
"This would be why." Falman had a small sweatdrop.
"Now, son, you's gonna 'elp me and ma daughter git some justice, that's your job, right?" Gerodi had a kind smile and a ferocious voice.
"Certainly," Archer squeaked, his eyes wide with fear when he realized that he was dealing with Westerners. "umm…?"
"Gerodi, son, Gerodi." Gerodi pulled his shot gun back. "Iz great ta see you understands, son."
"The pleasure is all mine." Archer was calm on the exterior, while panicking on the interior. "What am I needed for?"
"Right now, your official approval and vouching that you are supervising this case, sir." Falman explained.
"I'll have it to you in an hour." Archer assured him. "Mustang's office, correct?"
"Yes sir."
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Amazing how organized they get when it gets personal.
1- Eli is a relative of Roy's that works in the filing rooms at Western Headquarters.
Don't be fooled, Major General Wood has a few trump cards to play; you just haven't seen them yet. Review please!