The morning came swiftly with it's pesky light filtering in through the smudged windows, glaring at Roy still laying in bed ignoring the world.
He knew he had to get up and get ready for work, even if he'd rather lay like a dog in bed.
He groaned and rolled over, ripping his blanket off and tossing it to the side like discarded garbage.
What he was going to do with Ed was beyond him. He couldn't exactly bring the boy to work with him, although that would've been easier.
Maybe if he called in sick or claim he was still reeling from Mae's condition, it's not like he called in sick very often, more like once a year.
He cringed when he remembered the mess of blood in the kitchen. Sighing, he sat on the edge of his bed and stood up, slipping his flame slippers on that Mae's had got him as a joke which he kept. He hated them at first but they'd grown on him, now recalling the memory fondly.
As annoying as Mae's could be he sure missed the man's cheerful greetings and stupid gifts. He also missed the wonderful food his wife would make.
He heard a scuffling noise from downstairs but decided to ignore it for the moment, considering he was housing the murderer that was running around Central, it couldn't be anything too bad, he decided.
He had been having issues with the stray alley cats slipping into his house lately and shrugged it off as being one of them, not knowing what else it could possibly be.
He stood and stretched his arms above his head, yawning widely in silent protest at being awake.
He slowly meandered over to the hallway and wandered down to the room where Ed was staying, eyeing the dirty white door that had black singe marks on it from when he chased the alley cat down the hallway throwing flame balls at it trying to get the damn thing out of his house.
He shrugged at the thought. Eventually he'd repaint it and fix his mistakes that showed plainly on his walls and door, Hawkeye always did nag him about not using his flame alchemy inside but he often ignored her.
Shaking himself out of his thoughts he gently knocked and pushed the door open, looking at the form in the middle of the bed who didn't even stir as he walked further into the room, carefully pushing the door half closed to keep the potential alley cat from wandering in.
Ed was sprawled out in the middle of the bed with one of his arms over his eyes and the other cast out like a stray dog along the bed.
His hair was a bundled mess as it covered half of his face and the rest splashed across the pillow in golden waves.
The boy was snoring and occasionally twitching in his sleep, unaware of Roy even being in the room with him.
Roy rolled his eyes with crossed arms as he watched Ed roll onto his side, flopping as he went like a dead fish.
How was this boy a feared murderer? He wasn't even aware of anything going on in the waking world. He could kill the kid in his sleep very easily if he so desired. He almost laughed at the thought.
The door that was partly closed was loudly kicked open and banged against the wall with a twang, leaving a hole where the door handle had punched through, making Roy flinch hard and he started to face towards the door, getting ready to fight.
Ed jerked awake from his sleep with wide golden eyes, frantically splaying around the bed, fighting a silent fight against the sheets that were currently winning the battle for freedom.
Breathing hard he tore his hands free from the tight grip the sheets had on him and he clapped his hands, transforming his automail into a sliver sword, preparing for whatever had burst into the room.
Roy whipped around and faced the intruder, feeling foolish in his pajamas and flame slippers. He imagined he must look like a lost grandpa but shoved the image away and took a fighting stance since he didn't have his gloves with him, something he needed to work on carrying.
"Sir get down! The murderer is right behind you!" Hawkeye yelled, aiming her glinting pistol squarely at Ed's forehead, sending fear straight into Ed's heart.
Ed looked at her with wide confused eyes and slowly raised his hands in the air, trying to make himself look harmless. He felt the tight grip of fear cinch his chest, making each breath harder to draw in.
Ed looked at Roy with a silent plea for him to do something and stop what was about to happen. He could feel his hands trembling against his will as he looked down the dark barrel of the gun, waiting to see his death come rocketing towards him.
"Woah, woah!" Roy said frantically as he held his hand up and stepped in front of her raised gun, blocking it from Ed's small body.
Panic flowed through him, knowing it was going to be hard to stop her from acting on orders. He felt his breathing speed up as Hawkeye locked eyes with him.
"What's going on here?" She asked, peering around Roy at Ed, who still had his hands raised above his head and was starting to tremble like a leaf in the wind, wide eyes staring at her in shock.
Roy glanced at Ed, trying to decide if he should tell the boy to run or not. Although He knew Ed had no chance of outrunning a bullet should she decide to pull the trigger.
"Sir, what is that...Boy," She spat, "Doing in your house and in your spare bed none the less?" She asked, dipping her gun slightly towards the floor to ease the pressure. Although she kept it trained right at Ed's head in a silent threat not to move, which he clearly understood and stayed frozen in place.
"He's now under my care and I'm not going to let anything happen to him until we find his brother." Roy said, laying his hand on Hawkeyes gun and forcefully lowered it at the floor, knowing it might be a mistake to touch her gun.
She met his eyes with wide concern as if he had lost his mind. "Under your care? Are you hurt? Did he do something you?" She asked, searching his face for an answer as to why he was harbouring a wanted man.
Roy shook his head, "No I'm not hurt, why?" He asked, confusion written plainly across his face as if that was the strangest question she could've asked.
"There's blood all over the kitchen floor, it honestly looks like a murder scene! That's why I came looking for you." She explained slowly, as if speaking to a child. "Now what happened?" She asked point blankly.
This time she was determined to get an answer out of him. None of this was making sense.
"Ed dropped a plate last night and got cut up when he tried to clean it up," He turned towards Ed, "Show her the bandages." He demanded a little harsher then he intended.
Ed nodded his head as he locked fearful eyes with Roy. He slowly lowered his hand down to eye level and turned towards Hawkeye who was glaring at him, watching his every move carefully, waiting for an excuse to shoot him dead.
He held his hand out and turned it over, showing the dried blood that had seeped out during the night and settled into the once clean white bandage.
Hawkeye slowly holstered her gun and stepped towards him carefully as if he were a wild animal just waiting to pounce onto prey.
She walked closer to him and grabbed his hand roughly, pulling the bandage up and exposing the cuts that were painted across his hands.
She frowned but said nothing as she yanked the coverings back down, earning a flinch from Ed.
The cuts still throbbed, feeling like hot coals were slowly coursing across his hand in slow waves like someone was torturing him.
"Okay. But that still doesn't explain why you're helping the boy?" Hawkeye said, ignoring Ed standing off to her side cradling his hand gently against his chest as if his life depended on it.
"I..." Roy looked at Ed then ducked his head, "Grewattachedtohim..." He sped through his words, hoping she wouldn't press the matter but knew better.
Hawkeye crossed her arms and raised a brow. "Want to repeat that sir?" She asked, not feeling like dealing with his bullshit today.
Roy looked up and met her steely eyes. "I grew attached to the boy. I couldn't just throw him to the dogs to be put down!" He said, clenching his fists at the thought of placing the boy in front of a firing squad.
She just stared at him. Her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.
"Sir, he's not a damn lost puppy! He's a cold blooded murderer." She said, trying desperately to reason with him.
"I know he's not but he still is a young boy that has no where to go!" He said, trying to get her to see his side of things.
"Oh he's got a place to go alright! Prison!" She said, looking back at Ed who just stared at her with wide pleading eyes as if mentally begging her to think differently.
"Hawkeye, please just listen to why he did what he did. Let him explain then you can make a choice, okay?" Roy asked, feeling panic bubbling up at the thought of her not even considering listening.
"Sir, I think you've finally lost it..." She said with a sigh and shook her head. "You know I'm supposed to turn him in, correct?" She asked, glancing at the boy as if just remembering he was still in the room while they argued over his life.
Roy nodded. "I was hoping you'd instead agree to keep this quiet until we find his brother?" He asked with a small pleading smile, hoping to appeal to her motherly side he'd seen many times before.
She stared at him as if he'd grown two heads.
"So let me get this straight. You want me to protect a dangerous murderer who not only killed at least thirty people but also almost killed Mae's on top of it? She asked blankly, considering maybe he had been drugged.
Silence filled the room for a moment before Roy nodded. "Yeah, that about sums it up." He said with a small shrug.
"Why would I do that? I'd be risking everyone's lives and both of our jobs on top of it!" She said in disbelief, staring wide eyed at him.
Did he really expect her to give up everything she'd ever worked for in her life, not even thinking about the people she'd put at risk with such a decision.
"Just look at him! How can I let him be killed? He's just a small boy!" Roy said, turning to point at Ed, hoping to play on her motherly instincts.
Roy froze as he saw the glinting automail sword that was raised above the boys head, slightly trembling at the effort it took to keep it raised.
The boy looked at Roy with frightened eyes, glancing at Hawkeye with apprehension.
"Can I put my hands down please?" Ed squeaked like a cornered mouse.
Roy answered for her and nodded, allowing Ed to finally lower his tired hands back at his side.
Ed clapped and transformed his automail back into a harmless hand and gave Hawkeye a small smile as if to relive pressure and show he meant her no harm.
Hawkeye looked from Ed and back to Roy in obvious disbelief this was even happening, yet alone being discussed.
"Please let him live with me for the time being, if he steps out of line I'll personally haul his ass in, no questions asked." Roy said, hoping this was enough to get her to cave.
Hawkeye looked at Ed who ducked his head and stared at the floor, shuffling his feet like a child.
Her heartstrings tugged like someone was playing a tune with them. She wished she didn't like kids, it would make things easier.
Ed looked up and sheepishly smiled at her, still obviously reluctant to do anything that would cause her to end his life here and now.
After a moment she sighed and nodded reluctantly. "Fine, but he'd better be on his best behavior and be watched at all times otherwise I'm putting him down like a dog." She hissed, turning away from the small boy.
Roy have her a warm smile, "Thank you." He said, feeling the hopelessness slowly float away like a ship on calm seas.
Ed let out the breath he was holding and felt the weight that was crushing his shoulders fall away, leaving him feeling weightless for the first time in a while.
He smiled at her, feeling tears prickle at his eyes in relief. "Thank you." He breathed.
She frowned at Ed. "I'm not doing this for you." Turning from him and instead looking directly at Roy.
"This morning we got a package delivered straight to the office. No one saw who it was that left it but it was addressed to our department." She said formally.
"Package? What did it look like and what was in it?" Roy asked, deep curiosity running through him as to why someone would leave their department a package.
"Plain brown paper with a little string around it. Nothing fancy. Inside was a handwritten note addressing all of us regarding the case." She said, glancing at Ed uneasily as if wondering if they should even be discussing the case with him in the room.
"Can we maybe discus this elsewhere?" She asked, eyeing the murderer they had been chasing all this time only to be housing him under Roy's roof.
Roy caught the look she sent towards Ed and understood. "I don't know, maybe he should be included?" He suggested.
Hawkeye looked at him dubiously. "Why?" She asked. What reason could there possibly be including him in police matters?
"Because he's My brother! I have every right to know what's going on!" Ed interrupted, stepping up to her and swallowing down his unease he was feeling and looked up at her, daring her to challenge him.
She glared down at him. "Last time I took pity on you it completely backfired on me and got a team member put in the hospital." She said heatedly, gritting her teeth at the thought of Mae's unmoving in the hospital bed.
Ed flinched at that, "I didn't mean to hurt him or anyone else. I never wanted to! I had to in order to keep Al alive." He explained, feeling the sickness creeping back and settling in his stomach like a bad meal.
She stared down at him and sighed. "Forced?" She asked, clearly willing to give him just a bit of an opportunity to explain.
"Let's talk about this over coffee, okay?" Roy suggested hopefully. He didn't get to have his morning cup yet and it was starting to effect him.
Mae's always told him he drank too much coffee but he always thought coffee was better then being addicted to alcohol, which often times earned him a laugh from Mae's.
Hawkeye nodded in agreement after a moment. "Maybe you should also put some actual clothes on while you're at it too,Sir." She suggested, taking in his ugly blue pajamas and slippers.
Roy smiled sheepishly, looking down at his outfit. "I see your point. Meet me in the kitchen and I'll be down in a minute." He said before leaving the room, leaving the two alone.
Hawkeye sent a cold look at Ed before turning and heading to the kitchen.
She walked down the scuffed stairs and through the doorway that led to the kitchen area, frowning at all the dried blood covering the floor.
Ed followed after her like a stray puppy and stopped in front of his mess. "I'll clean it." He said with a sigh, accepting the fact he was going to have to scrub at it since it was dried.
He grabbed a towel and wetted it in the sink under the running water, wringing the excess water out.
He got on his hands and knees as he laid the towel down, roughly scrubbing at the blood.
He watched as the once light colored towel turned a rusty shade of red. He kept scrubbing away at it while Hawkeye ignored him and turned the coffee pot on.
Once he was finally finished he stood and placed the dirty towel in the corner of the room, not knowing what else to do with it, earning him a distasteful sideways look from Hawkeye as she took a seat at the table with her coffee.
Roy entered the room shortly after in fresh clothes. His usual outfit with his gloves stuffed in his pocket, you'd think he'd learn, Ed thought.
Roy poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down, sinking deeply into the chair before taking a long sip from his cup.
"That's better..." He said with content before focusing on Hawkeye who was watching him with slight amusement on her face.
"Can I have some coffee too?" Ed asked shyly, hovering around the coffee pot waiting for an answer.
"No, you're twelve. You can't have coffee." Hawkeye said instantaneously, feeling her motherly side coming out at the thought of a child drinking coffee.
"What does that matter?" Ed asked incredulously, glancing from Roy and Hawkeye with a frown settling on his face.
"Because children can't drink coffee, too much caffeine." She said, once more answering instead of Roy, knowing Roy probably would've said yes knowing his bad judgement.
"Thought you didn't give a shit what I do?" Ed asked, feeling a simmer of hope inside of him at the slight chance of her caring more then she let on.
"I don't. I just don't want to deal with a hyped up child running around." She said blankly trying to hide the concern she held and instead sipped from her cup.
Roy grinned with a shrug. "Can't argue with that logic." He said, agreeing with her at the thought of him all hyped up on caffeine.
Ed scowled but didn't protest, instead taking his seat at the table and resting his head on the cool wood surface, looking at the wood grain in boredom.
"So tell me more about this package." Roy said, meeting her eyes with seriousness.
"It said that a gang was holding a boy named Alphonse hostage in exchange for The Shadow's cooperation in what they call human hunting. It was quite a sick letter, detailing only what someone involved in the murders would know." She said with a slight shudder going through her body.
"What did they want?" Ed spoke up, lifting his head off the table in interest and looking at Hawkeye, waiting anxiously for a reply.
Hawkeye looked at him. "They aren't happy about the fact you tried to rescue your brother." She said gently, feeling bad about this whole situation.
Ed's eyes widened, "They didn't hurt him, did they?" He asked, fear evident in his voice as he started fumbling his hands together in anxiousness.
Hawkeye paused in thought, "They sent a picture along with instructions." She answered then looked back at Roy.
"This is the part I'm reluctant to tell with him still in the room." She explained softly. "If he chooses to listen to their orders then we are going to have some trouble on our hands."
"We'll deal with it. Tell me what they asked." Roy said, clenching his hands around his warm cup to distract himself from thinking about all the bloody murders he'd seen so far.
"They want The Shadow to kill a woman named Jessica Duff. She's a twenty five year old who turned one of their members in for rape. I guess the gang member is now doing ten years in prison." She said, pausing to drink to get her mind away from the poor victims that had to die because of this gang.
"They said this is a test of loyalty for The Shadow and they specifically sent it to us because they suspect he's working with us and this would prove it." She said, glaring down at the wood grain of the table.
How they figured he was now working with them she didn't know. Maybe when they saw him with Roy in the warehouse?
"So how am I going to prove I'm not working with you guys?" Ed asked, confusion written across his face.
"My guess is they're going to be watching you from afar and see if you really go through with it. If you kill her then you couldn't possibly be with us as we wouldn't allow you to hurt someone knowingly." She explained.
"So how am I going to kill this woman?" Ed asked, scrunching up his nose at the thought of killing another innocent woman.
"That's simple. You're not." She said, fixing her hard eyes on him as she stirred her coffee, daring him to say otherwise.
"Then how am I going to prove my loyalty? I can't let them hurt Al!" Ed said, feeling fear surging through his veins at the thought.
"We will have to step up a false killing. Make it look like you did what was asked and lure the gang into a trap." Roy said after listening intently, thinking of ways to fake this whole thing.
"Won't they expect that?" Ed asked with a small frown, not willing to risk his brother on a badly thought out plan.
"We'll stage the whole thing, make it look good." Roy explained, "We aren't going to allow you to actually hurt someone, especially after you promised me you wouldn't." He said.
"The deadline is Thursday at 3:00 pm sharp. They said Jessica is supposed to be in south Central on Ricket Street around that time. We're going to have to secretly intercept her and replace her with an actress before allowing you to proceed." She mused, slowly stirring her coffee in thought.
"So I am going to kill someone, just not for real?" Ed said after a moment. The picture was starting to become clear and making sense.
Roy nodded. "It's going to be a show no one will want to miss."
"We've got 36 hours to set this thing up. We'd better get started." Hawkeye said, standing and putting her cup in the sink with a small clang.
"I'll head back to the office and discuss the plan with everyone there and get back to you." She said, her eyes softening at them.
Roy stood, "And what am I supposed to do in the meantime?" He asked, clearly frustrated at not being in the middle of the planning.
"Babysitting our little murderer here," She gestured towards Ed with her chin, "Is what you'll be doing." She said with a joking smile on her face.
She gently patted Roy's shoulder. "I'm sure you two will have lots of fun while I'm gone."
She leaned in close to Roy's ear, "And don't you dare let him out of your sight or I will put every bullet I own into your body and while you lay there bleeding I will crush you with my boot." She said coldly before leaning away from him, causing a shiver to run down Roy's spine.
"I'll call you later Sir." She said then turned and walked out the door, leaving the two in silence.
"She's kinda scary." Ed said after a moment.
Roy nodded and swallowed, "Yeah she is." He agreed.
