Maes' hunt for Barry the Chopper and Hawkeye's capture of him
Maes sighed as he and Leo made their way to his office in the Investigations department building. It had been nearly a month since the first of three victims killed with Barry the Chopper's modus operandi had been found in a desolate alley and Maes was still no closer to finding the psychotic soul bonded to a suit of armour than he had been before the murders had even occurred. Though part of that was because he hadn't officially been tasked to search for Barry the Chopper when he escaped Lieutenant Ross' and Sergeant Denny Brosh's custody when the Fifth Laboratory had collapsed while Edward and Chester were still inside. Of course, Maes didn't blame either soldier for losing Barry in the chaos. Their attention had been grabbed by the fact that Edward and Chester were in danger and Maes knew full well that his attention would likely not have been on the serial killer either if he'd been in their position.
"Are we going to go inside or do you plan on standing outside the door for the rest of the day?" Leo's annoyed voice broke Maes out of his thoughts and the lieutenant-colonel realised he had come to a stop outside his office door and had made no move to go inside, not even to raise his hand and open the door.
"Sorry, Leo. Lost in my mind, I guess," Hughes said with a half-hearted chuckle. "It's been over a week since the last victim was found. From the time line Barry the Chopper has established with the last three victims, there should be another one tonight and we are no closer to finding him," Maes said, using their bond since he'd opened the door to their office and was nodding to his team as he made his way through the busy desks and into his own inner office.
"You'll find him, Maes. It may not be today or tomorrow but you will find him and you will make sure his victims get the justice they deserve," Leo told him confidently.
Hughes scratched his fox between the ears in thanks before he pulled the familiar files sitting prominently on his desk forward before he flipped the oldest file open and read through the contents he'd just about memorised at this point. Kristen Dunham had been found murdered almost a month ago to the day, her body parts strewn up and down the alley she's frequently used as a short cut on her way home from work as a guidance counsellor for the hospital. Curiously enough, her glasses had been found folded neatly next to her decapitated skull, the lenses clean of blood or smudges and unbroken. It had looked like she had taken them off and placed them neatly on the ground before she had been murdered.
The second victim, Daniel Jacobs, had been found a week later, with only a few hours difference between the time of day he was found as opposed to the first victim. Like Dunham, Jacobs was found cut into numerous pieces, the killer going so far as to cut off each finger to scatter them along the alley. Maes had been amused and horrified to learn that the victim had been an accomplished author who'd prided himself on writing the first copy of each book by hand before he turned the manuscript over to his publisher to be printed. When his publisher had found out what the killer had done to Jacobs fingers, she had turned green – a shade that had only darkened as she explained that Jacobs used to joke that his fingers were his most prized possession. They were what allowed him to bring his masterpieces to life, after all.
The third and final victim so far was Lisa Broyles, an attorney for a private firm in Central. She had been on her way home after spending a late night on a case when she had been lured into the alleyway. Hughes believed that Barry the Chopper had used a doll that had a tape of a child crying sewn crudely into it to lure the woman into the alley. Just like the first two, her body had been carved into numerous pieces – far more than the others – and it had looked like Barry the Chopper had taken handfuls of flesh and thrown it into the air like confetti, or at least that had been Hughes' theory when he first saw the crime scene. Unlike the other crime scenes, Barry had also gone to the effort of crudely cutting her hair and scattering the strands the entire length of the alley.
From what Maes had uncovered during his investigation so far, the victims had nothing in common. Dunham had been a woman of petite build with short, reddish-blonde hair styled with hair gel so it stuck up like spikes, pale skin scattered with a few freckles and green eyes. Her personality was described by co-workers and family members as playful but strict when the situation called for it. Jacobs was a tall man with green eyes a few shades lighter than Dunham's, dark hair a little longer than the typical military buzzcut, a neatly trimmed beard and moustache. He'd looked and acted younger than he was but everyone Maes had spoken to had told him that Jacobs had done nothing to earn himself any enemies. Broyles was similar in build to Dunham and had pale skin but that was where the similarities ended. Broyles had long, blonde hair down past her shoulders that was always worn down and parted in the middle, hazel eyes, and no distinguishable markings. Like Jacobs, she acted younger than she was when she was out with friends but her co-workers had told Maes she was nothing but professional whilst in the building or court room.
Even their Animals had nothing in common. Dunham had had a Main Coon cat by the name of Astrid and was by all accounts extremely protective of Dunham. The cat's body had been found whole but near her human's head. Hughes was of the opinion she had died after Dunham had since her claws were bloodied and broken, like they had snapped off scratching something hard rather than the stab wounds in the cat's body. Jacobs' Animal had been a bearded dragon called Michelle and to Hughes' horror, the small creature looked as though it had been trodden into the ground. Broyles' Animal had been the largest by far; a mountain lion called Paul. Like his human, Paul had been found in several pieces and this time, Hughes believed he had been killed before his human since even a nearly indestructible suit of armour would have found it difficult to fend off a big cat and a human at the same time.
With nothing linking the victims to one another and no other commonalities found between the crime scenes, their Animals, their social groups, nothing, Hughes had officially all but hit a dead end in the investigation. All he had to work with was the killer's identity – which was next to useless since Barry had had months in between his escape and his first kill to perfect not drawing attention to himself despite being a suit of armour – and the timeline the victims were killed in. One kill a week, each time someone who was completely random and ambushed with different tactics and Hughes was sick of having nothing to go on. The stress of this case was starting to make itself known in his home and he loathed the fact that his sweet wife and darling daughter were noticing the signs.
Seeing Ed and Ayala a week ago – even though it had only been for a couple of hours – had bettered and worsened Hughes' mental state. On the one hand, he had been almost overwhelmingly relieved to see Ed healthy and whole with his own eyes, especially after the catastrophic injury he had suffered up north, but it had been so hard for him to let the two of them leave with their chimera friend instead of dragging the two of them home where they belonged. Not seeing Al and Chester with the pair had also been somewhat jarring but he knew where the two were and, if Hughes was being honest, Ed and Ayala were always the pair most likely to get themselves into trouble more regularly. Seeing the way Elysia and even Gracia had reacted when they'd needed to leave Roy's home had almost made Hughes' desire to never let Ed and Ayala out of his sight overrule his rational mind but in the end, he'd let them leave after making them promise they would be safe.
"Sheska's coming," Leo warned, jolting Hughes out of thoughts just in time for him to hear the timid knock on his door.
"Enter," Maes called, silently thanking his fox, who merely grumbled and went back to sleep as Sheska opened the inner office door. Hughes smiled at both her and Sam, who sat perched on the mousey woman's left shoulder.
"I'm sorry for disturbing you, Sir, but here are some messages for you," Sheska said. Hughes was a little proud to hear that her stammer was almost completely gone now when she was speaking with him. "I noticed you weren't carrying a lunch with you today, Sir. Would you like me or one of your team to grab you something when we leave for our break?" she asked.
Hughes frowned at her question. It wasn't the fact she'd noticed he hadn't brought lunch from home – he couldn't expect Gracia to make him lunch every day, after all – but rather her timing. Just as he was about to query about why she was asking him about his lunch so early in the workday, Leo interrupted him. "There's an hour until lunch, Maes. You spent your morning reading those damned files again."
"Thank you, Sheska," Hughes said as he took the message slips from her, "and I would be very appreciative if someone would grab me some lunch while they were out," he told her. "Let me know if anyone plans on heading somewhere other than the mess hall for lunch so I can give them money to cover mine," Hughes instructed and Sheska bowed, making Sam cling tightly to her shoulder to keep his balance.
"I will, Sir," she said as she straightened. A flick of Hughes' hand paired with a kind smile had her leaving the office, closing the door behind her.
Hughes allowed the sigh he'd been holding in at the sight of the message slips to sound as he leaned back in his chair and stretched as best he could. He would've likely been more surprised with the fact that he'd spent nearly five hours reading over case files without realising how much time he was doing so if he hadn't made a habit out of it within his first year of being in Investigations. Briefly he contemplated calling his best friend to try and get some sort of reaction out of him – it really was for Roy and Nala's sakes that he did this – but he knew he wouldn't get anything. Roy had been playing the role of the perfect colonel for over two months now and nothing he or Nala had done had made him break character.
"I guess I'll go through these before lunch, huh?" Hughes said, sighing once more as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk as he looked at the slips in his hands.
"That would probably be for the best. I'm sure Gracia and Elysia would prefer it if you were home on time for dinner at least once this week," Leo informed him.
"Can't disappoint my beautiful girls, now can I?" Hughes said with a soppy grin that had Leo rolling his eyes before he curled up a little tighter on the chair he'd claimed. He soon managed to slip into a real sleep now that his human's mind wasn't obsessing over the Chopper case for the first time since he'd woken up and the fox found himself rather grateful for Sheska's timely interruption.
"Goodnight, my darling angel," Maes said, hugging Elysia close and kissing her on the cheek before he allowed Gracia to lead her up to her room.
It was his wife's turn to read Elysia her bedtime story and since Elysia hadn't asked for him to take over, Maes was planning on taking this opportunity to get into his office and study the Barry the Chopper case once more. He'd had the idea while in the office to study all of the case files from Barry the Chopper's first killing spree to see if there was anything in there that could help him locate the murderous suit of armour now. He hadn't had any luck so far but there were a lot of files to go through and he refused to let his optimism die out just because he hadn't found anything yet. He could feel Leo's judgemental look as he left his armchair but he didn't acknowledge his fox's attitude in any way. Leo's belief that Maes' work should stay at work didn't stop the grey fox from following his human into his study so he could be close by in case he was needed.
It only took a few minutes for Leo to warn Maes of Gracia's approach and he'd just managed to close the file he was reading so his wife wouldn't see the gruesome crime scene photos when she appeared in the doorway. "Yes, love?" Hughes asked, swinging his chair around so he was facing his wife now.
"Would you like a coffee, dear?" she asked. Hughes could see the displeased purse of her lips but knew she wouldn't say anything about his work coming home. She knew this case was getting to him and that he needed to solve it and she wouldn't begrudge him that, so long as he ensured that Elysia wouldn't be exposed to it and he loved her for that.
"I would love one," Hughes told her, giving her a tired smile.
"I'll be back in a couple of minutes then," Gracia told him, returning his tired smile with a warm one of her own before she headed for the kitchen. Lilith took the opportunity to slip inside the study so she could curl up with Leo, who had untucked himself from his tight curl so she could cuddle up to him.
Hughes proceeded to waste the time it would take Gracia to make them each a hot drink by watching the pair of foxes and going through the less gruesome parts of the file he had been reading. He didn't need Leo's warning this time since he heard Gracia approaching him now his mind wasn't stuck in his work. "You're the best," he said reverently as he took the steaming mug from Gracia's hand.
"I know," she said, giving him a playful smile that slipped when her eyes fell on the manilla folders that covered her husband's desk. "You'll catch him. You always do," she told him, squeezing his shoulder.
Reaching up to place his hand over hers, Hughes leaned back to give her a grateful smile. "Technically, I never caught Scar," he told her, "but I appreciate the sentiment all the same," he added, squeezing her fingers gently.
"You were taken off his case. If Ed hadn't made that deal with Scar, I'm sure it wouldn't have been long before you caught up to him," Gracia told him, her voice leaving no room for doubt, "and I have every faith you will catch this murderer before too long," she continued saying, her conviction never wavering in the slightest.
"Thank you, Gracia," Hughes said, his voice low and a little thicker than normal. "I think I needed to hear that from the most beautiful, amazing, wonderful woman in the world," he told her, grinning up at her. His familiar flattery made his wife roll her eyes fondly even as her cheeks pinked in a flush.
"Glad I could be of some help," she told him before she leaned down to place a kiss on his cheek. "Don't be too long before you come to bed, dear," Gracia told him. Only after he gave a nod of agreement did she leave the office, leaving Lilith with him and Leo since her fox wanted to stay with Leo.
"You've been with that woman for nearly a decade and I still have no idea how you managed to win her heart," Leo said, making Hughes chuckle in agreement.
"You and me both," he told his fox as he reopened the file he had been reading, full prepared to get through it now that he had been given words of confidence and a fresh coffee by the miracle that is his wife. Before he got more then three lines and a mouthful of coffee into the file when Leo's head suddenly shot up, cocked slightly to the side as he listened to something only he could hear. "What is it?" Hughes asked, his heart in his throat as his first thought was that something had happened to Ed, Al, or their Animals while they were on the run.
"Soren just contacted me," Leo told him and Hughes' fear turned into intrigue. Though he and Leo were friendly with his best friend's disbanded team, they very rarely used their Animals as messengers unless the situation was extremely important. Naturally, Hughes was very curious to know what was going on now. "Riza wants us to meet her and Soren in the industrial district. There's a row of old, identical warehouses. She'll be in the sixth one," Leo passed on dutifully.
Hughes blinked at his fox before his words sunk in. "Did he tell you why?" he asked but Leo shook his head. "She wouldn't ask us unless it was extremely important," Hughes said and Leo nodded in agreement. "I guess we better go. Should we tell Roy?" Hughes asked, already certain he knew what his fox would say.
"No, Soren said to leave it to him," Leo said to Maes' complete lack of surprise.
"Alright," Hughes said, getting to his feet and closing the files, just in case his little angel managed to slip past her mother and get into his office. "I need to tell Gracia and grab my jacket," Hughes said, more to himself than anyone else but Lilith stopped him by getting in his way.
"She said she'll tell Gracia and that your jacket is on the table to your right. She said to go now since it seems like this is really important," Leo relayed and Hughes gave Lilith a grateful smile.
"Tell Gracia I'll make it up to her," Hughes instructed, rubbing his thumb between the female fox's ears in thanks before he grabbed his jacket, shrugging it on as he walked towards his office door. "I'll be back as soon as I can," Hughes told Lilith, who gave a small nod as she slipped up the hallway.
Hughes and Leo covered the few steps it took to get them to the front door quickly before they strode out the door and into the cool night. Hughes flicked his wrist so he could check his watch face and noted it was close to 9:30 at night. He was burning to know what had happened to Hawkeye this late at night that was important enough to involve him but he knew he'd get his answers soon enough. He and Leo headed down the street at a brisk pace as they made their way towards the industrial area as quickly as they could.
"Should we try and find a cab?" Leo asked as they turned off the street their house sat on.
"If we see one on our way, we can but it would likely take more time to go looking for one than it would to walk there," Hughes answered and Leo gave a nod of understanding.
Though Soren had said nothing of them being in danger and Leo hadn't sense anything in the owl's tone suggesting they were, there was still the possibility that they were and that was what was driving their desire to be there as quickly as possible. It didn't help that even though Nala would've been contacted by Soren at the same time as Leo, she and Roy would still have to make their way across the city without arousing the suspicion of the soldiers assigned to watch him by Bradley. That would take time and a degree of patience that would Hughes knew would be hard for Roy to manage but that still meant that if Hawkeye and Soren were in danger, Hughes and Leo were the closest and therefore their best chance of surviving. That thought had both Hughes and Leo speeding up a little quicker.
"I'm not going to lie," Hughes said as he took in the sight that had greeted him and Leo when they arrived at the warehouse Hawkeye and Soren were hiding in, "I have a lot of questions," he told the blonde lieutenant who was currently looking thoroughly unimpressed with the complaining suit of armour she had bound with rope and was currently holding a gun on. Soren was sitting on top of a stacked pile of wooden crates while Black Hayate sat obediently at his human's heels. "I'm going to start with two though. Are you alright and how?" he asked, waving his hand at the scene in front of him rather than elaborate further with words.
"I'm perfectly unharmed, Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes but thank you for asking," Hawkeye said, giving him a small smile. "As for your second question, if you don't mind, I'd like to answer it when Colonel Mustang and Nala are here," Hawkeye requested.
"No, I don't mind. Saves you having to explain twice, I suppose," Hughes said and Hawkeye gave a nod. "I don't suppose you know Roy's ETA?" he asked, ignoring the whimpering armour.
"Soren informed me that Colonel Mustang and Nala should be here in fifteen minutes," Hawkeye told him.
"Wonderful," Hughes said, still in a mild shock over the fact that Hawkeye was currently holding Barry the Chopper at gunpoint and that the suit of armour was cowering in fear. "I'd like to talk with him, if you don't mind continuing as you are?" Hughes asked, gesturing to Barry first then Hawkeye's pistol.
"Of course not, Sir," she told him.
Hughes gave her a nod before he approached the trembling suit of armour. Leo was right on his heels, almost annoyingly close and his ears were pinned back as he bared his teeth in warning at Barry. Hughes would've fondly rolled his eyes at his fox's overprotectiveness if it weren't for the fact that affectionate gesture would've detracted from the serious persona he wanted Barry the Chopper to be dealing with. "Did you murder Kristen Dunham, Daniel Jacobs, Lisa Broyles and their Animals, Astrid, Michelle and Paul?" Hughes asked.
"Who?" the armour asked and Hughes narrowed his eyes as he dissected the tone of voice. Finally Hughes realised that the armour didn't actually know who he was talking about.
"The three bonded pairs murdered over the last month in alleyways," Hughes said flatly and the armour perked up slightly, causing Hawkeye to follow the movement with her weapon, which in turn caused the armour to flinch away from her. That reaction made Hughes extremely curious to know about what had happened between the two and he found himself hoping his best friend turned up quickly so he could find out the story.
"Oh yeah! I remember them!" Barry said cheerfully. "That last one was no fun to play with. After I killed her Animal, she just gave up," Barry whined and Hughes fully believed that if he had a body, he would've been pouting as well.
"Why did you kill them?" Hughes asked, forcing himself to not react to Barry's comment.
"Because killing is fun and I wanted to!" Barry told him as though it were obvious.
"But why them?" Hughes asked, seeking clarification but his question only caused Barry to tilt his head, as though he was confused about why Hughes was asking.
"Because they looked like they would be fun to chop into little pieces," Barry told him. "If you're asking me whether there was a specific reason I picked them, whether there's a specific trait or thing they do that makes them appealing to me as a victim than I'm sorry to disappoint you," Barry said, shrugging a metal shoulder. "I just thought their blood would look real pretty on my knives."
Hughes fought to keep the disappointment and frustration off his face. "Okay," Hughes said, glancing over at Hawkeye to gauge her reaction. As always, the blonde lieutenant looked completely unphased by what was happening. "Why did you do what you did with the first victim's glasses?" Hughes asked and again, Barry tilted his helmet in confusion. "They were placed neatly, unbroken and clean next to her head. Why did you do that?" Hughes asked.
"I didn't think they would look good all messed up," Barry told him.
"Right," Hughes said, a touch slowly before he mentally shook his head. "Why did you cut the fingers off of second victim's hands? You didn't do that with the other two and from what I've read regarding your previous crimes, you didn't do that with any of your other victims. So why Jacobs? Was it because he was an author?" Hughes asked.
"I didn't know he was an author," Barry said. "I chose them at random, remember?" Barry laughed and Hughes resisted the urge to snarl at the armour.
"So why?" Hughes asked. He'd originally put it down to the fact that Barry was insane but he hadn't expected a – debatably – sane response to his question about Dunham's glasses.
"I didn't think they suited his hands. I thought they would look better with other parts of him," Barry told him earnestly.
"And cutting off the third victim's hair?" Hughes asked, fairly certain he'd be getting a similar response to this question as he did for the first two.
"I told you," Barry said, sounding annoyed. "She was no fun. Just giving up like she did bored me. She didn't even scream! She barely made any noises even when I stabbed her over and over again," Barry complained. "So once I finished cutting her into tiny pieces, I decided to have a bit more fun. I couldn't cut her into smaller pieces but then I realised I hadn't touched her hair!" Barry explained exuberantly.
"Now you killed their Animals in different ways as well. The first victim's cat was stabbed after she was, the second victim's Animal appeared to squashed and the third victim's – as you said yourself just now – was killed before she was," Hughes recounted and Barry nodded along as he spoke. "Why?"
"Well, the cat wasn't big enough to stop me from having my fun so I could deal with it after I'd had finished with her human, if it survived long enough for me to kill it once its human was dead. I didn't even know the lizard was there though! It was so small that I never saw it and the only reasons I knew I'd killed it was because I nearly slipped over on its guts and my victim screamed in glorious agony at the same time," Barry told him gleefully, laughing as he spoke. "Of course, that last one was too big and it could have stopped me from chopping up its human so I had to kill it first. Of course, its human was no fun to play with anyways. Next time, I'll leave the Animal alive no matter what kind it is," Barry told Hughes.
The way Barry spoke as though he was absolutely certain he would be released almost made Maes gape in shock. Thankfully, he was spared having to come up with a response by a noise sounding from outside. Though her gun didn't move, Hawkeye's attention did as both she and Hughes glanced at the closed doors. Neither Soren nor Leo were reacting as though whatever outside posed a danger to their humans and the only reaction Black Hayate gave was his ears perking up as he watched the door intently. The reactions of the three non-humans told both Hughes and Hawkeye who was outside without them having to ask their Animals.
"Lieutenant Hawkeye, what happened? Are you alright?" Mustang asked as he and Nala strode into the warehouse. Hughes could see the moment when his best friend registered the captured and bound serial killing suit of armour but – in true form – Mustang barely reacted physically.
"Those were pretty much my first two questions too!" Hughes exclaimed, grinning widely only after he'd turned so his back was to the serial killer. He had no fears about Barry breaking out of his bonds if only because he trusted Hawkeye to have bound Barry properly and – failing that – to take care of Barry before he could hurt him.
"You called for Hughes?" Mustang asked. Hawkeye nodded while Hughes pouted at his best friend's lack of enthusiasm.
"I thought it was the wisest decision since Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes is the one in charge of the search for Barry the Chopper," Hawkeye told him, "and I am fine," she added. "As for what happened," she said, getting both Hughes' and mustang's complete attention while Nala joined Hayate, Soren, and Leo in watching Barry while their humans spoke. "I was out walking Black Hayate when he suddenly alerted to a presence. Soren, of course was keeping an eye on us from above and informed me of a suit of armour following me and Hayate along the rooftops," Hawkeye explained.
"Since the only souls bonded to armour that I knew of were Alphonse – who is certainly nowhere near Central and would have no reason to follow me like that – and Barry the Chopper and since I knew that that he would be out tonight looking for a victim, I decided to become that victim in order to arrest him," Hawkeye told them. "I entered an alley Soren assured me was void of any other humans and once I was a good way in, Barry made himself known. I assume," Hawkeye's mouth twitched slightly, the only sign of her amusement, "that he thought his being an empty suit of armour capable of walking and talking would startle me enough that he could get the drop on me," she told them. Both Hughes and Mustang allowed themselves to grin at one another as they imagined how that reveal had gone.
"Obviously, things didn't go his way," Mustang drawled, glancing at the suit of armour.
"No, it didn't, Sir," Hawkeye confirmed, a small smirk now gracing her lips. "I emptied a clip into him the moment he appeared and informed him I was acquainted with Alphonse. While he was cursing Al's existence, I restrained him. After asking Soren to relay my message to Leo and Nala, I led him to this warehouse to await your arrival," Hawkeye said. "He hasn't said or done anything while we've been here. Well," Hawkeye said contemplatively, "except for flinching every time I move," she told them.
"I do not!" Barry argued. Hawkeye gave him a flat look before she twitched her weapon, causing Barry to flinch back violently enough that he almost toppled off the short crate he was tied to.
"Sure you don't," Mustang said before he looked over at Hughes. "What do you want to do with him, Hughes?" Mustang asked, looking a little unimpressed with the surprised look on Hughes' face. "This is your investigation, Hughes. Lieutenant Hawkeye may have captured him but all three of us know she must not be connected to Barry the Chopper's arrest," Mustang said. "Bradley will assume that she is still in contact with us and surveillance on us will triple and your family will be placed under surveillance," Mustang said. "Going behind his back to try and organise our coup is hard enough now with this level of surveillance and the Elrics' disappearance adding to Bradley's paranoia. It will become impossible if we do anything to increase Bradley's suspicions," he told them.
"There is no way for me to leave Riza out of this," Hughes said. "Not if I arrest him. The Investigations department – my team – is fully aware that I was nowhere near locating him, let alone making an arrest. I can't just say I stumbled upon him coincidentally. No one would buy that," Hughes told them, making Mustang curse quietly.
"Did I hear you say a coup was in the making?" Barry suddenly asked and earned himself three suspicious gazes. "There'll be lots of killing, won't there?" Barry asked, sounding positively tickled pink about the idea. "I love a good fight. So much opportunity to have fun with my knives!"
Both Mustang and Hawkeye got a look that Hughes recognised and he felt disbelief crawl up his spine. "You aren't thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?" Hughes asked.
"I believe I have a solution that would be beneficial for all parties, including Barry the Chopper," Mustang said, effectively gaining Barry's complete attention, something that even Hughes hadn't been able to gain while interrogating him since some of it was held by Hawkeye and her weapon. "If you can contain your killing urges for the next few weeks and agree to constant surveillance and helping us when the coup takes place, you'll keep your freedom and," Mustang said, placing emphasis on the word when Barry moved like he was going to interrupt, "you'll get your opportunity to fight," Mustang told him. If Hughes hadn't known his best friend as well as he did, he would've believed that Roy felt absolutely no guilt about offering Barry the chance to take lives.
"I'll get to fight?" Barry asked hopefully.
A grimace flickered across Mustang's face, too quick for Barry to notice but not quick enough that the others and the Animals were oblivious to it. "You'll get to fight for our side," Mustang corrected, a touch harshly but Barry didn't seem to notice. "There will be rules put in place. Rules you have to follow or we'll destroy your seal," Mustang informed him, not bothering to make the threat subtle.
Barry didn't give any physical sign – as limited as he was in expressing his emotions – that he was worried about the threat Mustang had just made. "I'm listening," Barry said, his demeanour for once serious.
Mustang shared a look with Hughes and Hawkeye, their conversation silent and fleeting before both nodded sharply once. Facing the serial killer once more, Mustang started speaking. "This is how this arrangement will work."
A/N - Here's the next drabble for you guys! I will say that although I was planning on writing this scene anyways, I ultimately did so for a friend who was having an issue with three of her teachers at the time. I wound up making her teachers the victims, using their first names and general description my friend gave me and sent this drabble to her for approval before marking it complete. I hope you guys enjoy this one and please let me know what you think to it or any of the others! See you next week!