Beep-beep, beep-beep, beep-beep!

The sudden sound startled Havoc - he'd known the hour must have been winding down, but he hadn't expected the stopwatches to go off in the middle of their conversation with the pharmacist. Roy visibly flinched at the unexpected sound. He was looking worn down and rough around the edges, and clearly needed his next dose.

But he couldn't exactly pop the Kyrenol in front of the pharmacist. Taking some unknown drug on a timer seemed like an absolutely terrible way to convince her that they would be responsible with the Praxapan.

"Oh no," Havoc wailed, hoping Roy would follow his lead. "Was that the alarm for the...the mice? I'm so sorry, I thought I would be back with the Praxapan by now…."

"That was the timer," Roy said definitively. "You've ruined the experiment, John."

Neither of them had silenced the alarms. The thin, high beeping seemed to fill the air, making everything feel even more chaotic. Havoc was a little surprised the pharmacist hadn't given in by now, just to get them out of there.

"Please don't fire me," Havoc said, forcing himself to cry harder. He'd learned to fake cry on command about ten years ago, with the intention of guilt-tripping his girlfriend at the time. He'd then realized that wasn't very nice, and it had been a long time since he'd used the skill. "My parents, they...they can't afford another semester. If you fire me now, I'm going to have to drop out of school."

"Well," Roy said, "how do you expect to hold down a job when you can't even remember to call about the Praxapan?"
"Sir-"

"Fine!" the pharmacist suddenly yelled. "I'll get you the Praxapan, just don't...tell anybody. And please stop crying."

Sensing victory, Havoc sniffled violently and rubbed his eyes. "I'm trying. Umm, we need four doses," he whimpered, then turned towards Roy. The Colonel had held up remarkably well, in Havoc's opinion, but he was starting to look increasingly exhausted and pale. Havoc really wanted to give the man a break, but the pharmacist was still in earshot, and he didn't think that he could break character just yet. In fact, he'd had to start crying again in an effort to direct attention away from Roy, who'd half-slumped onto the counter.

"Please, Doc, don't fire me," Havoc begged, glancing at the pharmacist out of the corner of his eye. She was starting to walk away now, she was almost out of range…. "Oh god, sir, please-"

The pharmacist rounded the corner, and Havoc abruptly stopped crying and dropped his voice to a whisper, stopping the alarm on his stopwatch at the same time. "Are you doing okay, sir?"

Roy didn't answer immediately. His left hand was gripping onto the counter, and Havoc could see it shaking violently. The Colonel's face had gone even paler, and his eyes were half-lidded. His other hand had gone to his temples, and Havoc guessed that he was fighting a headache.

"Sir?" Havoc asked worriedly. He shot an anxious glance towards the back of the pharmacy, where the woman was now visible. She was scanning the shelves, and seemed to be taking her sweet time. He desperately wanted the Colonel to take the Kyrenol, but they were still in view of both the pharmacist and any of the passers-by who occasionally trickled past them down the hallway, and it would be far too obvious.

Still, if she took much longer, Roy wasn't going to be able to outlast her. Havoc shot him another worried glance, wondering if he should just cut his losses and take the Colonel somewhere to dose up. Maybe they could pretend that he'd had an urgent call, or something like that….

But when Havoc looked up, the pharmacist was holding a small white bag and walking back towards them. The thin beeping of Roy's stopwatch was still filling the air, and he was clearly in no condition to shut it off, which might come across as suspicious. As subtly as he could, Havoc reached into the Colonel's jacket pocket and snagged the stopwatch, shutting off the alarm as the pharmacist rounded the corner.

As she approached, Havoc sniffled again, just for ambience. He turned to face her, prodding Roy lightly in the ribs. Roy's eyes narrowed in concentration, and he carefully straightened until he was no longer leaning quite so heavily on the counter. Havoc guessed that that was probably as good as he was going to get out of the Colonel, and he focused all of his attention back on the pharmacist.

"God, thank you, you're really saving my ass here," Havoc said confidingly, casting an anxious glance back at Roy. He was hoping for some kind of response, or even acknowledgement, out of the Colonel, but all he got was a vague blink. Roy's hands were still shaking. It was very unnerving.

"I don't know what I would do if it wasn't for you," Havoc continued, with every ounce of melodrama he had at his disposal. "Look at him! He's shaking with rage!"

"Oh," the pharmacist said. "Ummm, okay. Just...don't expect this kind of treatment all the time, alright? Next time you want to pick up something for one of your experiments, you're going to have to call it in."

"I know, I know," Havoc said, nodding furiously. "I've learned my lesson, oh for sure-"

"Just sign here." Clearly, she wanted them to be out of her pharmacy as fast as possible.

That, Havoc could do. He scrawled a messy signature - he wasn't sure any part of it would be recognizable as letters, and that would hopefully avoid suspicion - and then hooked an arm around Roy's waist. The pharmacist probably thought it was a little weird that Havoc needed to help his boss walk. But hopefully, she wasn't paying attention to them anymore. And anyways, she would probably think it was weirder if Roy fell flat on his face as he was leaving.

Which honestly, still seemed like a distinct possibility. Roy was getting weaker and weaker with each step, until he was visibly having trouble putting one foot in front of the other. Was this what it looked like when the paralysis set in? Havoc could only pray that they would get Roy somewhere private and get his meds in him before he fully collapsed.

Ed didn't know where Riza was. She had heard the footsteps a split second before he had - his brain didn't seem to be processing very fast anymore. She had shoved him towards a tall cabinet set against one wall - the sort of thing that looked like it would hold employees' personal belongings. Ed hadn't thought he would fit, but he had once again underestimated how small he was. Riza must be under a desk or something, because there was no way she would fit in here.

The soreness had set in so slowly that Ed hadn't really noticed it before. He wasn't sure if it was a side effect of the continued doses of Kyrenol, or a lingering effect of the paralytic. But either way...he hurt. In order to fit in the cabinet, and get the door mostly closed in front of him, he had to squeeze his shoulders tight together, neck bent slightly down so his chin was against his chest. Only one of his feet could fit on the floor, and his other leg was twisted behind him at an awkward angle. His back ached, his neck ached, his hips ached. The position he was in was making his joints stiffen up in a way he was afraid would make it hard to walk when he got out.

He felt like he'd fought an intense battle and then immediately caught the flu. Possibly while being hit by a car somewhere in there.

"Hello?" the woman's voice said. It didn't sound like she was right on top of them, but Ed was pretty sure she had entered the room with the phone records. "Is someone here?"

Ed tried not to breathe. He hoped Riza had found a damn good hiding place, or else their plan to rescue Al and Lieutenant Colonel Hughes was probably going to end right here.

"Huh," the woman muttered. Ed closed his eyes and concentrated on listening, but he didn't hear any papers rustling or doors opening, or any other indication that the woman might be searching for an intruder.

"Somebody must have left their alarm on," the woman grumbled to herself. "Thank god it turned off by itself, all that beeping…." She trailed off into mumbled complaints, and Ed heard the sound of a closing door. He waited with bated breath, hardly daring to believe their luck.

After about five minutes of complete silence, Ed was pretty sure the woman wasn't going to come back. That was also about the maximum amount of time that he thought he could stay in the locker - his flesh foot and elbow were going numb. If the woman did come back, Ed was ready to risk capture just so he could stand upright again.

Carefully, Ed pushed the door open a crack and peered out. Sure enough, the room appeared empty. Emboldened, Ed crept out of the locker, holding back his groans as his cramped limbs protested.

A few seconds later, Riza emerged slowly from under a desk, looking unhappy. She stretched, then returned to the file cabinet, inching it open. Ed kept an eye on the door, watching for any sign of the employee's return.

"I thought this place was closed," he hissed, his voice almost noiseless as he joined Riza at the file cabinet.

"Well, it clearly isn't empty," Riza whispered back, her lips tightening slightly.

"No duh," Ed muttered to himself. Riza either didn't hear or didn't care to respond, instead turning pointedly towards the file cabinet and beginning to pull out large manila folders. Ed just watched the door, since he really knew absolutely nothing about what they were looking for.

After sixteen minutes (Ed was timing), he was starting to get impatient, and he was beginning to suspect that Riza also knew absolutely nothing about what they were looking for.

"Lieutenant?" Ed whispered in her ear, accidentally making her jump slightly. She turned towards him, raising an eyebrow. Ed cleared his throat quietly. "Are you almost done?"

"I am going as fast as I can, Edward," Riza snapped, somehow still in a whisper. Ed found himself taking a small step back. He was used to Roy's outbursts, but Riza was always composed. Even when she was telling the Colonel off, she would do it with such professionalism that Ed thought sometimes Roy failed to even notice that he was being scolded. He'd never actually heard her sound angry before.

Ed retreated to the corner, where he wouldn't bother her anymore. He tried to focus on other things as she pulled out folders and rustled through their contents. Ed was pretty sure this was taking longer because she didn't want anything to look like it had been disturbed. Ed supposed that was fair - who else would be breaking in somewhere to look for information about the capture of Al and Hughes? But still, it was annoying.

"Found it," Riza said after another four minutes. She held up a piece of paper triumphantly.

"Where are they?" Ed asked excitedly. "Can we go get them?"

Riza frowned. "Well...I need a map to figure out exactly where they are. But this paper will tell us."

"Great! Now let's get out of here before someone figures out where we are."

Riza carefully put everything back and closed the drawers, then they headed out towards the hallway that would lead them to the vent. Ed could only hope that Roy and Havoc had been as successful with getting them the drugs.

Roy didn't want to be leaning against Havoc. But it didn't seem that he had much of a choice. Once the alarm had gone off, his legs had started shaking, and he simply didn't think that they had the ability to support his weight on their own anymore. He had been half-sure he was about to faceplant onto the floor of the pharmacy. Havoc had removed him from the pharmacy, and now he was half-sure that he was going to faceplant onto the street. The world was tilting dangerously around him.

"Come on, sir, just a little farther," Havoc said encouragingly in his ear. "I just want to make it to that bench."

Roy's eyes were closed, and he was trusting Havoc to guide him. When he opened his eyes, he got dizzy, and when he got dizzy, he got nauseous. The nausea was too much on top of the weakness - he was pretty sure it would kill him. So he was keeping his eyes shut tight.

"We're here, sir. Alright, just sit down…."

Havoc's hand moved from his waist to his shoulder, and Roy sat down. A pill was pressed into his hand. Roy didn't want to swallow it. He knew he had to. He wondered if he'd waited too long after the alarm had gone off, and it wasn't going to work anyways. He certainly felt like it wasn't going to work.

Roy peeled his eyelids open and stared unhappily at the pill in his hand, gearing himself up to swallow it. He was probably overthinking it, he knew that, just...he hated swallowing pills, and he already felt an inch away from throwing up, and this all felt like too much.

But if he didn't take the pill, that would be tantamount to giving up on Maes, and that was unthinkable. Quickly, before he could work himself up any more, Roy popped the pill into his mouth and swallowed. It stuck a little going down, and Roy coughed, but he'd swallowed it and it didn't seem to immediately be coming back up.

Havoc chose this moment to stick a small bag under his nose, and Roy gagged at the scent of cured meat. "What is that?"

"Jerky, sir," Havoc said brightly. "I think maybe you should have some. You're looking kind of...pale."

Roy bristled, partially at the unwanted jerky, and partially at Havoc's palpable hesitation before selecting the word "pale." He knew that he looked terrible, and that it was becoming ever more noticeable, but that didn't mean his subordinate could just point it out willy-nilly.

Havoc rustled the jerky under his face, and Roy shoved his hand away. Shrugging, Havoc popped a few pieces of jerky into his mouth, chewing happily.

"Suit yourself, sir," he said around the jerky. "Just let me know if you change your mind."

Roy ignored him, concentrating on breathing until the nausea passed. His legs still felt like jelly, and he could still see a fine tremor in his hands, but he no longer felt quite so dizzy and sick. After a few minutes, Roy could tell that the pill was having an effect. He thought he could walk again now, and more importantly, he was beginning to think more clearly.

There was another rustle from beside him, and Havoc gently tapped him on the shoulder. "You're looking a lot better! Umm, if you can stomach it, I really think you should try to eat something. I don't think you even had breakfast this morning, and taking pills on an empty stomach can be pretty rough…."

Roy turned towards his Second Lieutenant, who was holding out the bag of jerky, his red-rimmed eyes wide and earnest. Roy winced slightly, feeling a sudden surge of guilt as he looked at the tear tracks still visible on Havoc's face. He knew his subordinate had been acting, or at least he thought he knew, but part of him couldn't help but worry. Roy relied on his whole squad, and he hoped they knew that, but Hawkeye and Havoc were the two he valued most. Hawkeye, of course, was in a class by herself, but Havoc had proved to be a diligent, loyal worker with surprising insight over the short time he'd been working under Roy. Roy could see a lot of potential in the young Lieutenant, and perhaps he was sometimes a bit hard on Havoc as a result. Roy was suddenly afraid that not everything Havoc had said in the pharmacy was an act, and he would never want to make one of his men feel that way.

"You don't...actually think I would fire you, right?" Roy asked cautiously. "Not for something so small?"

"You mean for not calling in the Praxapan?" Havoc asked worriedly. "Sir, there wasn't actually an experiment, we were just trying to get the drugs to rescue Hughes and Al better…."

"I know that," Roy snapped. "I mean...for something like that."

"Oh," Havoc said. "No. I don't really worry about things like that."

"But the crying…."

"It's called acting, sir," Havoc said, still munching happily on his jerky. He waved Roy off with a small motion of his hand. "Anyways, I'm about due for a cup of coffee. Think I could have some of those drugs instead?"

Roy felt a knot in his chest that he hadn't fully realized was there dissipate. He reached for the small white bag, which Havoc had set next to him on the bench. "Oh. Let me take a look."

Roy read the label carefully, frowning.

"This is the exact same stuff I took in Ishval," he said sadly.

"Great!" Havoc said. Then he seemed to register the look on Roy's face. "Wait...that's not what we wanted?"

"The stuff I took in Ishval...the high would last about twenty minutes. It was...I could have done anything when they gave me this stuff. But I don't think there's a way to make it last longer, and the come down was horrible. I would usually pass out, and it would take me a day or two to start feeling normal again. You can't take it too often, or it'll stop your heart. I was hoping there would be a...better version by now, or something. Something we could take to stay awake while we try to find them."

"But we can each only take this once," Havoc said.

"We can only take it once."