"Roy Mustang here." he'd stayed late at the office today, pretending to do paperwork. But really, he'd been expecting this call.
"Roy. It's your favorite Aunt."
"You are my only Aunt, Auntie." Roy couldn't keep himself from smiling.
"Well an old friend of yours has stopped by my bar-"
In the background, Roy heard girls shrill voices, and a command barked in a strange tongue, followed by the sounds of flesh striking flesh.
"He simply couldn't wait to see you, so I figured I'd give you a call."
"Of course." Roy slid his gloves into his pocket, smirking. "I'll be there soon.".
The bar was deserted, and Roy strode in, looking around. Vanessa came down the stairs- the side of her face was starting to swell, and she was going to have one heck of a black eye.
"Ness?" he asked, looking her over critically.
"It's fine." she brushed him off happily, giving him a wining smile.. "He got one good shot in, but then the other girls all stormed the room. He's upstairs with your Aunt and them all right now."
"Is anybody else hurt?"
"Andrea had a bloody nose, but it's not bad. Who is this guy, anyways?"
"Foreign intelligence. He's a Drachman agent- and he may have tried to take Edward."
"Edward? That's the little alchemist, right? The one who's just a kid?"
Roy couldn't help the smile that tugged the corner of his lips. "Yeah. That's him. But don't call him small."
"Right. Come get this bastard, then." Vanessa grabbed his hand, pulling him up the stairs. Her purple skirt fluttered behind her, but Roy focused straight ahead, swallowing. Now wasn't a time to remember old memories- now was a time to focus on the task at hand.
Vanessa led him down the hallway, opening the heavy oak door to her room.
The folding bed had been folded back up into the bureau, giving them much more room. Andrea held a bloody handkerchief to her nose, brown eyes staring daggers at the center of the room, though the blonde smiled at Roy. Tracy stood in the corner, arms crossed, surveying the scene with the calm coal dark eyes of the Xinganese woman she was.
And Rachel, the green eyes brunette, stood shouting at the man, who was currently hogtied to a wooden chair in the middle of the room, struggling furiously against his bonds.
Madame Christmas sat in a chair of her own- she was in her black bodice and skirt as usual, not a purple feather out of place on her black hat. The only thing that gave her away as the 'master' of the room was the revolver she held in her white gloved hand. She smiled when Roy entered the room.
"So nice of you to drop by, Roy. Is this the man?"
Roy looked over. The man had long, greasy brown hair that fell to his shoulders. His eyes were silver. He wore a rough brown coat and black slacks, and he stared at Roy with a look of hatred on his face.
"Not exactly the one, but I'm sure he knows what I'm looking for."
"Ya tebe nichego ne skazhu!" the man spat furiously, struggling further against his bonds.
Roy cocked an eyebrow- he was definitely speaking Drachman.
"Do you speak any Amestrian at all?"
"Filthy amestrian dog!" the man cried, trying to kick out at Roy but failing.
Roy stepped forward and slammed his fist into the man's eye. The man's head snapped to the side, before he was glaring at Roy again, panting from his frantic struggles and looking at him with animosity.
"Now we're getting somewhere." Roy smirked, tilting the man's head back.
"Who sent you?"
"I tell you nothing, dog!" the man was back to snarling and struggling against his bonds.
Roy backhanded the man.
"What do you want with the Fullmetal Alchemist!?"
The man was still when he mentioned Edward, and his eyes widened a fraction.
"Ah, so you do know something then. Your mission- what does it have to do with the Fullmetal Alchemist?"
"I... I tell nothing!" the man said simply.
"Alright. So you don't want to talk about the mission. Do you know who I am?"
"Amestrian Dog." the man spat.
Roy pulled his gloves from his pocket and slid one on. He watched as the man saw the array on the back of his gloves- how the man's eyes widened slightly, his nostrils flaring as his pulse quickened, and Roy knew the man recognized it now. He smirked.
"I'll ask once again- do you know who I am?"
The man hesitated for a split second. "Flame."
Roy nodded cheerily, pulling on his other glove. "Yes. I am the Flame Alchemist. Commanding officer of the Fullmetal Alchemist. Who are you?"
The man shook his head. "I tell nothing."
"His name is Alessi, Roy." Vanessa spoke up.
Roy looked up from his interrogation, realizing he wasn't alone in the room with the man.
"Right. Alessi. Well, ladies, I'm going to have to ask that you give me some time alone to converse with my dear friend Alessi."
"Of course, Roy." Vanessa batted her eyes at him and headed for the door, the other three girls and his aunt filing out behind them.
The Drachman looked up from his chair, pupils dilating in fear as he realized he was going to be alone with Roy. He swallowed. The heavy oak door fell closed behind them.
"How many other agents are there, Alessi?"
"We are many. You won't stop us!"
"Won't stop you from what? What is your mission here, Alessi?"
Alessi fell silent, glaring at Roy in defiance.
Roy smirked. "Have it your way, then."
He snapped his fingers.
BREAK
It was three hours later Roy delivered a very singed Drachman Operative to the Investigations branch. He knew Hughes would be staying late anyways, but still, his best friend looked slightly pissed at him.
"You didn't think to let me come with while you interrogated this guy?" he asked, looking miffed.
"He wouldn't talk much anyways, Hughes. Doesn't speak much Amestrian. He only reacted to the basics- his mission has something to do with Fullmetal and Banks. There's more than one operative. That's all we had before."
"We have linguistics in investigations. I could've gotten a translator in, tried to cut a deal." Hughes said, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
"Who's to say you can't do that tomorrow?"
Hughes sighed, looking up at him tiredly. "You're impossible sometimes, you know that?"
Roy shrugged, grabbing a chair and pulling it up to the other side of Hughe's desk, looking at the evidence bags carefully. "So- what do you have?"
He was caught off guard when His friend reached over and plucked a hair from his head with tweezers.
"Ouch!"
"Sorry. I need a sample. Ah, it's what I thought." Hughes smirked, inspecting the hair under a magnifying glass beneath his desk lamp. "Your hair is the same color, but far too straight. And too short"
"Too straight for what?"
"I found a black hair in Ed's room, on the floor. It was curly- yours is too straight. I managed to interview Ed earlier- he said the man who grabbed him had long curly black hair and silver eyes. And his blood type is B-. We're building quite the profile here. I'm hoping with a translator present we can get Alessi to at least rat on one of his buddies."
"Good luck with that." Roy said simply, flexing his hand. He'd jammed one of his fingers punching the man in the face.
Hughes frowned. "Ed mentioned something about not wanting to sleep at the hospital."
"I know that. He fought me tooth and nail too."
"I heard him talking to Alphonse when I stepped out to get coffee. He said he has a hard time sleeping with you're not there."
"He has Armstrong on protection detail tonight. He'll be safe."
"You and I both know that's not what he meant. He thinks of you as a father. He feels safe when you're nearby. You're really going to brush that off for an investigation?"
"You think I'm neglecting him!?" Roy snapped. "You think I'm neglecting the boy I put my career on the line for to bring into the military? You think I'm neglecting the kid I went to bat for in court? You think I'm neglecting him because I haven't had any proper sleep in days because I'm trying to keep him safe from all the people who want him dead!?" Roy slammed both hands on the table and stood, eyes smouldering.
"Whoah. Let's take a step back for a minute." Hughes held both hands up, trying to placate him. "I just... that's not what I meant." Hughes frowned. "I just... I just meant that it's really special that Ed feels safe around you. And that he thinks of you as a father. That's all I meant. I'm sorry if it came out any other way. Sometimes I forget- Ed isn't like Elicia. He's military."
"Yeah, he is." Roy ran a hand through his hair, sighing heavily as he sat down. "So he's gonna have to sleep alone in the hospital tonight. I know he'd rather have me stay there, but he's safe with Armstrong, and the sooner I solve the Drachman problem, the sooner he's safe. Once he's out of the line of fire I can spend more time with him. I can probably get a few hours of shut eye in my office on the couch..."
"You're not going home?" Hughes asked, looking surprised.
"What's the point? It's pretty empty without the boys there."
"Whoa." Hughes looked blown away.
"What?" Roy cocked an eyebrow at his friend.
Hughes took off his glasses and started to clean them with his handkerchief, breaking ino a grin. "Nothing- I just... never heard you sound so much like a dad before. It's.. different. But it's good. I'm glad for you." Hughe's glasses reflected the light for a moment as he slid them back onto his face, giving him a wane smile.
"But this case isn't going to blow wide open over night. Go home and get some sleep- I'll call you as soon as I get a translator in to speak to Alessi."
"What if I missed something?" Roy eyed the investigation files.
"If you missed it then I'll find it. I've gotten more sleep than you have over these past few days- goodnight, Roy."
Roy sighed, standing and heading for the door. "Goodnight."