What no one seemed to understand about Ed was that he needed a lot of sleep. All these old people...they seemed to be able to go hours and hours without hardly resting at all. Normally, Ed had way more energy than Roy and Riza. He could run circles around them. But he was still growing, or whatever, and for him, an all-nighter was simply not in the cards. Ed had been awake for over twenty hours at this point, not counting when the tychine had made him pass out, and he was completely miserable.
When the Colonel mentioned resting, that was just about the best thing he'd heard all day. Riza had seemed almost as relieved as Ed was, and when Roy had offered her the bed, she hadn't argued at all. She'd disappeared into the bedroom about ten minutes ago, and as far as Ed could tell, had fallen asleep at once.
Ed thought it was high time that he followed her example. With a small resurgence in his usual energy, Ed bounced shakily upright and flopped onto Roy's couch. It remained hideously uncomfortable, refusing to give at all, but at least there were pillows on it.
Ed did his best to rearrange the pillow into the most comfortable position possible. He didn't really think it mattered, though - sleep was already dragging at his limbs, and he could feel his eyelids drooping.
"Night," Ed mumbled through a yawn, gratefully nestling down into the table-couch.
"Have a good nap," Havoc said from somewhere behind him. "We'll wake you up in...twenty-three minutes for your next dose."
Ed froze, sleep retreating suddenly to an unattainable impossibility. He'd forgotten all about the dosing schedule in his eagerness to sleep. He'd even kind of forgotten that that was why he was so tired in the first place. Of course he was exhausted, and would continue to be, if he had to wake up every goddamn hour and take pills that made him feel like shit.
Ed sat up, rubbing a miserable hand across his face. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me," he muttered, pushing his pillow onto the floor. "This is ridiculous."
He was aware that he was probably acting like a child, but he couldn't help it. He was upset. He wasn't functioning properly. Ed looked up, half-expecting to be reprimanded, but he just looked sympathetic.
From the looks of Roy, he hadn't realized that he would have to stay awake either. He was staring straight ahead, his lips twisted into an expression that sort of resembled pain.
Somehow, that actually made Ed feel worse. If Roy was that upset, that meant that he didn't have some kind of solution to get around the dosing schedule. There wasn't something that Ed and Havoc had overlooked, and Ed was right to be miserable.
"This is the worst," Ed said sadly, looking at his fallen pillow. He didn't even know if he would be able to sleep - he was worried that he would be too exhausted for his stopwatch to wake him up. "Don't think I can sleep now."
Ed glanced up in surprise as Havoc appeared suddenly in his field of vision, kneeling down and picking up the pillow Ed had dropped. Still kneeling, and therefore staying at Ed's eye level, he handed it over with a smile. "I'll stay up, Chief. I can make sure you get your meds on time."
Ed took the pillow, cautiously. "Really?"
"Yeah. Of course."
Havoc's hands still bore the telltale shake of too much caffeine and nicotine, and honestly, Ed wasn't even sure if the Second Lieutenant would be able to sleep if he tried. But still, the gesture was nice. Ed thought that if he knew there was someone to make sure he did wake up with the beep of the stopwatch, he actually might be able to doze off a little.
"Thanks," Ed said softly. He was already calming down. He vaguely remembered Riza saying something about the Kyrenol causing mood swings, but he was too tired to remember exactly what she'd said.
Havoc handed Ed the pillow he'd thrown to the ground, and he reluctantly put it back on the sofa and laid his head down. He didn't actually know if he would sleep. He didn't even know if he wanted to sleep - maybe a series of quick naps between doses would actually make him feel worse. But he was just going to...just rest his eyes for a second….
Roy was woken by the incessant beeping of his stopwatch, the worst alarm clock he'd ever known. He sat up blearily, looking around. Weak morning sunlight was streaming in through the window.
Roy was on the floor, and his back ached. This was the...third time the stopwatch had gone off since they'd decided to rest, he was pretty sure. The first two times, it hadn't really woken him - he supposed he'd been too anxious and uncomfortable to actually fall asleep. But somewhere between the second and third hour, he'd crashed, apparently, and now he was still trying to remember what was happening.
Pills. Right. He fished the bottle of pills out of his pocket, and unscrewed the cap. It was a little bit difficult. He noticed that his hands always got a little bit weaker right before his next dose. Eventually, that would probably happen to his whole body. Eventually, taking the next dose wouldn't help.
Roy thought he should consider eating something, at some point. The nausea that had crept in the day before seemed like it was here to stay, but he figured taking pills on an empty stomach couldn't be helping. But then again, that was kind of a vicious cycle, wasn't it? He was nauseous, so he didn't want to eat anything, so he had no choice but to take the pills without food and risk making the nausea worse.
"Um, here Ed."
Roy looked up to see Havoc shaking Ed's shoulder, Ed's bottle of pills in one hand. Ed was fast asleep, mouth hanging open and one arm draped over the side of the couch. He looked completely worn out, and come to think of it, Havoc wasn't looking so great either. Yesterday, he'd been all jacked up on coffee and cigarettes, but apparently that could only get him so far.
Ed blinked awake and snatched the pills from Havoc. Even when he was still half-asleep, his instincts tended towards anger.
Havoc stared vaguely at Ed as the young alchemist clawed the pills open and dry-swallowed them, glaring viciously at everyone in sight. Havoc yawned, sitting heavily down on the floor and scrubbing at his eyes with both hands.
There was a noise from the direction of Roy's bedroom, and Riza emerged, clearly trying to swallow a yawn. Roy had half-expected her to appear fully rested and rejuvenated, ready with a plan of action that would lead them to Maes and Alphonse. His Lieutenant was just that sort of person - always perfectly composed, quick-thinking, organized, and kind. She surely only needed the three hours of sleep that she'd gotten, and then she would be able to drag him, Ed, and Havoc into some kind of wakefulness.
But much to Roy's shock and concern, Riza looked just as tired as Jean. She had, unlike his Second Lieutenant, clearly made an effort to appear presentable, but Roy could see the dark circles around her eyes and the slight hitch in her step.
Any hope that Roy had managed to garner suddenly fled, and he let himself slump onto the ground beside Havoc. If even Riza was exhausted, then how were they ever going to pull themselves together enough to find Hughes?
"We're never going to be able to do this," Roy mumbled. "This is impossible."
Beside him, he felt Havoc shift, and he realized to his horror that he'd voiced his thoughts aloud. He looked over to find him pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. Roy found that he was too exhausted to protest - Havoc smoking in his apartment didn't really seem to matter anymore.
Havoc took a long drag on his cigarette, visibly relaxing as the nicotine hit his system. He opened his eyes, focusing on Roy with a bit more attention. "Caffeine and nicotine, sir. You guys should really consider taking up smoking."
Roy opened his mouth to tell Havoc to shut up and stop talking about his horrific ideas, but he was cut off as Riza sighed and shook her head.
"Ed is too young," she said simply, as though that were the only flaw she saw in Jean's plan.
Havoc took another drag, apparently thinking very deeply about something. "What if...we got legal drugs? From a doctor? You could probably do that, right Colonel? High-ranking State Alchemist, and all?"
Roy couldn't believe that one of his subordinates was actually suggesting drug use as a realistic option. He also couldn't believe that he was actually considering it.
"I did take something in Ishval, occasionally," Roy said slowly. "Some kind of stimulant.
They handed it out to the State Alchemists when we were in combat over long stretches of time."
"Great!" Havoc said. "That sounds perfect!"
Roy looked up at Riza, expecting her to argue. "We can't keep going like this," she whispered, as if trying to convince herself. She met Roy's eyes. "Praxapan. The drug you took was called Praxapan."
"I assume it's not just something you can buy at a pharmacy?" Havoc said sadly.
"It's still legal, as far as I know," Riza said. "Which helps us. But it's not something they'll sell to just anyone. It was typically reserved for State Alchemists in combat zones. We're not technically in a combat zone, and unfortunately Edward and the Colonel are both undercover."
Now that it was on the table, Roy really wanted Praxapan. There had been times where he'd been actively in active combat situations for twelve hours or more. Adrenaline could keep a person going for a while, but there was a limit to even that. Roy had only taken Praxapan two or three times, but each time he remembered the exhaustion lifting from him as easily as if it had never been, and a jittery hyperfocus taking its place.
His memories of what he'd actually done on Praxapan were blurry and fractured - probably a side effect of the drugs. But he knew it had been...god, it had been better than a full night's sleep and a cup of coffee, that was for sure.
If he remembered correctly, a single dose of Praxapan had lasted him about twenty minutes. Not that he had really needed more, at least at the time - there was nothing he couldn't get done in those twenty minutes. The crash afterwards had been nasty, however. He thought he had ended up passing out every time he'd taken it, and he'd felt a bit under the weather for another day or two. That's why it had been saved for only the most dire of circumstances.
Roy was pretty sure there must be a way around that though. They would just...take less, or something. He didn't need to be a machine for twenty minutes, he needed to be at least somewhat functional for the next twenty hours.
"We'll just have to...figure something out," Roy announced. He wasn't trying to imply that they should steal the Praxapan , but...it was certainly on the table. Hughes was gone, and if Roy didn't figure out a very good plan, very soon, they weren't going to get him back. What more did he have to lose?
Ed yawned and stretched, and Roy looked over at him. Ed looked exhausted, but his eyes were surprisingly keen - he had clearly been paying attention. "The building where they keep the phone records is downtown, right? There's a pharmacy down there too. Two of us can try and get the phone records, and two of us can try to get the drugs."
"But-" Roy had been about to say that they shouldn't split up, but the argument died on his lips. Acquiring either the phone records or the drugs might prove to be impossible, but he didn't think two people vs. four was what was going to make the difference. And Ed was right, they didn't really have time to waste. Al and Hughes had been taken twenty-four hours ago, and who knew what might have been done to them since then.
"Actually, that's a good idea, Fullmetal. We'll split up." Roy paused, trying to think of the best way to divide the groups. He and Riza knew the most about Praxapan, but Riza also seemed to be the only one who knew what she was looking for in terms of the phone records. "I'll take Havoc and get the Praxapan. Fullmetal, you go with Lieutenant Hawkeye and get the phone records."
He half-expected Ed to argue, mostly because Ed usually did, but the young alchemist simply nodded. Roy wasn't sure if he was too exhausted to be annoying, or if he was just worried about Al and Hughes, but either way, he wasn't going to look too hard into it.
"So, we'll all drive downtown together," Riza said. "The records office should have just opened. It'll likely be understaffed, but I'm sure we can find someone to talk to. The pharmacy is twenty-four hours, so that shouldn't be an issue."
Roy nodded. Now that Riza had been presented with a plan, some of her usual focus had come back, which was very much a good sign. Roy still felt exhausted, and even managing to come up with the Praxapan had been a tax on his mental energy.
"Okay," Havoc said, putting out his cigarette in a dish that was most definitely not intended to be an ashtray. "Let's go get some drugs."
"Let's go over the plan one more time," Roy said, looking as though he expected Havoc to have forgotten. That was fair, Havoc supposed, but he thought he was actually a little more awake than Roy at this point, even though he'd stayed up all night. Either way, he could definitely keep track of a scam to steal drugs.
"You're a scientist researching the effects of stimulants on memory patterns," Havoc rattled off obediently. "I'm your intern. I was supposed to call ahead and get Praxapan, but we're going to pretend like I forgot and then we're going to hope like hell that the pharmacist is gullible."
Roy made a face - the plan sounded a lot thinner said out loud. Still, it was the best they'd managed to come up with. Roy sighed, holding his arms out to the side and cocking his head slightly.
"How do I look? Scholarly?"
The Colonel had changed before they left, since it wouldn't exactly be "undercover" if he was wandering around in full military uniform. He'd put on a button-down shirt with a few pens stuffed haphazardly into a pocket. It was wrinkled, too, but Havoc wasn't sure if that was supposed to be part of the costume.
"Stressed," Havoc said honestly. Roy grimaced, and Havoc cleared his throat awkwardly. "I mean, stressed like you have a big project due and your intern forgot to order drugs. It'll work."
Roy scowled. "Maybe if you hadn't taken forever shopping, I would have had time to freshen up."
After Roy had changed, they'd realized that Havoc should also ditch the uniform. There was no way he would have fit in any of Roy's clothes, so that meant walking to the nearest shop and buying some sort of disguise - in this case, jeans and a t-shirt.
"Hey, I don't have the kind of money where I can just buy jeans I'm not gonna wear again," Havoc said, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
Roy sighed, but didn't engage. They made their way into the pharmacy, which was thankfully pretty much completely empty. Havoc realized he wasn't really sure what time it was anymore. The light marked it as early morning still, and it had been one - probably nearly two - doses for Roy since they had woken up. That meant it was seven now? Eight?
They walked over to the Pharmacist, a rather attractive girl that Havoc very well might have hit on if the situation had been different.
"Good morning," Roy said. "My name is...Roy Hughes. I'm here to pick up my Praxapan."
Havoc swallowed a grimace. Normally, Roy was a better actor than Havoc would have expected - Havoc had seen him lie through his teeth to his superiors on more than one occasion. But now, he was clearly worn down, exhausted, and sick, and he didn't sound particularly convincing.
Still, the pharmacist didn't look suspicious - maybe it was too early in the morning for that. Instead, she pulled a huge file of names out from behind the counter, and began flipping through it.
"Roy Hughes, you said?"
"Um, yes," Roy said. Havoc noticed that he had gone a little pale and clammy. He didn't look like a man who was in control of his current situation.
"I'm sorry," she said politely. "We don't have a prescription for anyone by that name here."
They had expected that. Obviously, they didn't have an actual prescription for Praxapan. But somewhere along the way, Roy seemed to have lost the thread of the plan. "Um, are you sure?" he stammered. "It should be-"
Havoc knew that if this were going to work, he would need to take matters into his own hands.
Havoc put a hand on Roy's shoulder and pushed him lightly aside. Roy was completely fine with this development. Somewhere in the past minute or so, his body had seemingly decided that it didn't want to cooperate anymore. Now, it was all that he could do to avoid either throwing up or passing out.
"Hi," Havoc said, putting his hands flat on the counter. "I'm so sorry about this. My name is John Hayes - it might be under that? Could you check? I'm...I'm sure I called it in?"
Havoc shot an uncertain look back at Roy. Roy was pretty sure he was acting, and he nodded encouragingly. Havoc just widened his eyes in what appeared to be panic, and turned back to the pharmacist.
"Please," he said, dropping his voice a little. "I really can't screw this one up, we're running a very important experiment and we've got a paper due soon, and we really need the Praxapan to get results-"
Roy was actually impressed that Havoc had enough vague knowledge of the scientific community to sound convincing. He knew that it was a fairly low bar, but he really hadn't expected all that much from his young subordinate in the scheming department.
"I'm sorry," the pharmacist said, shaking her head. "We don't have anything under a 'John Hayes' either."
Havoc's breath caught in the back of his throat, a horrified sound that was realistic enough to pull Roy partway out of his haze of agony. He turned back towards Roy, his blue eyes large and terrified. Roy had seen the look before - Havoc had informed him that it was his "please don't break up with me" expression.
"Didn't you call it in?" Roy managed. He tried to glare at Havoc, imagining that his subordinate had just destroyed important paperwork, or missed his shift, or taken Roy's girlfriend out on a date. Havoc winced, looking terrified, and Roy started to think that this actually might work out. For one thing, Havoc really did look like an overworked intern, with the dark circles under his eyes, unkempt hair, and general air of exhausted tension. After a few seconds of thought, it occurred to Roy that outside of this very specific set of circumstances, that probably wasn't something that he should be proud of.
"I can't just give you the Praxapan without any kind of notice or authorization," the pharmacist said apologetically, closing the file. Roy realized with an uncomfortable lurch that this wouldn't be quite as easy as he thought, and it might require a good deal of convincing that he wasn't sure he was currently capable of.
Doing his best to rise to the occasion, Roy whirled on his subordinate, eyes flashing with his best "you're about to lose a month's wages" expression. He caught Havoc's eye, hoping his subordinate would be able to keep a straight face. Roy was barely keeping it together as it was, and if Havoc couldn't stay in character, there was no way Roy would be able to cover for it.
To Roy's shock and horror, Havoc took one look at his face and instantly burst into tears. Roy wondered for one frantic second if he was caught in some kind of nightmare, and he half-reached for Havoc's shoulder, possibly intending to comfort him.
"I'm so sorry, Doctor Hughes," Havoc managed, his voice wobbly and thick. "Please, doc, don't fire me, it was just...there was so much to do, and after I stayed 'til ten on Friday I still had to draw up the draft and then we had the catastrophic mouse incident and I guess it just slipped my mind, oh god…."
Havoc went off into a fresh storm of crying, and Roy blinked at him a few times. Behind him, he saw the pharmacist bring up both hands to cover her face in horror.
"Je-John," Roy said, trying to sound both gentle and firm. Surely the pharmacist would be more likely to give into crying Havoc, even if she didn't completely buy their story, but Roy also didn't want to come across as a monster. What sort of person would give Praxapan to a monster? "You know how important this experiment is. We've been prepping the mice for weeks, and if we don't start them on the Praxapan in the next twelve hours, we're going to have to start the whole thing over."
"I know, I know," Havoc wailed. "Just please don't fire me. I'll make up for it somehow, I swear, no matter how much overtime it takes…."
Havoc was a remarkably good actor. His eyes were swollen and red, and he seemed to be shedding actual real tears. Roy was starting to find this whole situation was getting a little off-putting. He didn't like bullying Havoc when he was crying like this, even when he knew it was fake. And anyways, the whole thing with the overtime was getting uncomfortably close to conversations he and Havoc had actually had several times before. He just wanted to be done with this. Did it really even matter if they got the Praxapan?
"I'm not going to fire you," Roy said, shooting a pleading look at the pharmacist. "It's just...John, we're in an awfully big bind now…."
"So...this place is closed, right?" Ed said, gesturing unhappily at the padlocked gate. Behind the gate lay the building where the military stored their records, including phone records, but it was clearly deserted.
Riza sighed. "I...yes, Edward. It's closed."
"I thought we waited all night basically so we would be able to talk to someone about the phone records."
Riza wasn't sure what to say. She had assumed they would keep regular business hours, similar to Eastern HQ, but it had to be at least seven in the morning, and still, no one was there. Maybe it would open in ten minutes, or maybe it would take hours. Maybe it was always closed on weekends. Maybe there was no one who worked there regularly, and it was the sort of place that only a few people had access to and were only there if they needed something.
Whatever the case, there was clearly no one to talk to now.
"Edward, I-"
"So...we're breaking in, right? It's not exactly like we have a lot of other options."
If Roy had been there, Riza would have said no. If she had been less exhausted, she at least would have put up a fight. But as it was...Ed was right. They were simply out of options.
Riza tried to agree, but the words stuck in her throat. She simply nodded.
A bit of a smile crept over Ed's pale face, and he looked up at her a little more alertly. "Wait...really? You're cool with us breaking into a military building?"
"It's not like we have much of a choice." Riza looked through the gate at the squat brown building, frowning. She knew the layout of the building, more or less - it was a design often used by military architects for a simple satellite building to a command center. She'd seen them used as storage facilities, weapons lockers, and once even a makeshift cell block. But more importantly, she'd seen the blueprint for each of the identical buildings.
"There should be a vent set into the foundation near the far left corner, the one in the back. That will get you inside, and you can open a window for me. No one will even know we were there."
Ed blinked at her, now openly shocked. "Wow. Just...wow."
Riza raised an eyebrow at him, a little affronted by his apparent reluctance to participate in what she considered to be a pretty solid plan. "Do you have a better idea, Edward?"
Ed raised his hands, waving them slightly in protest. "No, no. Actually, I was probably just gonna use alchemy and open up a hole in the side of the building. The vent thing, though…have you ever considered a career as a burglar?"
Riza was about to reprimand Ed for his comment when she registered the genuine admiration in his growing smile. She didn't think that it was proper for a member of the Amestrian military to get so excited about illegal activity, but perhaps she could let it go, just this once.
As quietly as they could, they climbed over the fence and dropped down the other side. The top wasn't barbed wire, thankfully, and the gate was just chain-link and was easy enough to climb. They crept across the small, ill-kept lawn to the little brown building, wrapping around to the back. The vent was just where Riza had thought it would be, and Ed leaned down, popping it out and grimacing at the small size of the hole. He shot her an angry, embarrassed glare, but Riza didn't say anything as Ed folded himself into the opening and disappeared inside the building.
Only a few minutes passed before the window next to her creaked open and Ed stuck his head out, beckoning her. Riza climbed through the window, landing lightly inside the building. Inside, the layout was much the same as the others of its kind - a long, central hallway, with a few doors leading off of it. Riza knew that typically, the second door from the back would lead to a bank of offices and some kind of storage space, and it was her guess that this was where the phone records would be kept.
"Come on," she whispered, waving to Ed and carefully making her way to the second door. Sure enough, it opened onto another hallway, which in turn led her into a cramped storage room filled with neatly labeled file cabinets.
"They must be in here," Riza hissed to Ed, and she began rifling through the drawers. It would take her a few minutes to familiarize herself with the organization system, but then she should be able to locate yesterday's call logs with ease.
She had just started to understand the system when her train of thought was derailed by a beep-beep, beep-beep, beep-beep! The hour was up, and both her and Ed's stopwatches were ringing loudly.
"Shit!" Ed said, then he looked at Riza as if he expected to be yelled at. Riza didn't say anything, and since Ed was under a lot of pressure, she even resisted the urge to frown as he popped the white pill into his mouth and reset his watch.
"Alright," he said. "Sorry, uh, just...you know, keep looking around, don't mind me-"
And then, Riza heard a sound that chilled her to the bone. Footsteps. Footsteps, followed by an upset-sounding female voice. "Hello? Hello? What was that sound? There's no one supposed to be in here right now…."
The footsteps were getting louder. She was heading towards Riza and Ed.