An Alchemist's Ransom

-Chapter 3-

They sat in silence for almost an hour, simply waiting for the next time Al would have to go out and pick up the next ransom. Eventually they needed to crack the window and let some fresh air in. it was around 2:00 when Al noticed the sudden rise in commotion outside. He motioned for Edward to come over and check it out, just to see if it was something they should be bothered by.

"What the...?" Edward mumbled under his breath watching the military vehicles speeding down the street while others stayed at the corners of intersections. Groups of personnel moved into the mail streets, checking out alleyway entrances along with several other individuals that went up to houses and knocked on the doors.

"Colonel Mustang!" Al exclaimed turning to him. Roy opened his eyes as he was leaned back in the chair again, then stood up and started over towards the window while Al turned back to watch more.

"...that can't be good." Roy said as he peered between Edward and Al.

"Isn't it just them looking for you?" Edward asked looking over his shoulder to Roy.

"Some of it probably, but there's way too much force to simply be a search for me, they wouldn't have it be that open to the public either. They also wouldn't have told that many officers what's going on, keep a low profile on things. Something else must be very wrong." Roy explained never looking away from the window. They all watched for a few moments, then quickly ducked down as one of the lower ranked officers started coming towards the house.

They could hear muffled voices coming from below them, the man's seemed very harsh and urgent as he talked to Gracia. The man stayed for only a few minutes, then left, moving towards the next house. The three of them moved away from the window entirely as they heard quick steps coming up the starts a couple minutes after Gracia closed the door.

"Guys!" she said as she burst into the room, drawing their full attention, "The officer just told me that Scar has been seen in the area and that they're putting a lock down on every building in the city." Gracia explained.

"What?!" Both Edward and Al shouted.

"Scar!" Roy said straightening his stance to attention, "I have to get back to the officers."

"Are you nuts!" Edward shouted, "Hawkeye has your watch, how do you expect to do anything against him. I'll go and figure out what's going on and where the others are."

"Edward!" Al said, "If you go Scar will kill you! He'll kill you both, you're both State Alchemists!" he said bringing both his hands in front of him.

"Maybe you should all just stay here...the officer said that they're going to be sending a task force out to take care of him and get him out of the city." Gracia explained.

"Did the officer happen to mention who's heading up that force?" Roy asked turning back to Gracia.

"...no he didn't...I'm sorry." he said noticing the sudden rise in Roy's concern.

"But...if Hawkeye's heading that investigation, she'll be in more danger than before." Roy mumbled, clenching his fists tightly at his sides.

"I'll be quick, it shouldn't take me too long to find that party." Edward said moving towards the door, "besides, any opportunity to see Scar get kicked out of a city by people who don't even know how to use Alchemy is something I won't pass up, especially in a time of martial law." he went on flashing an evil grin.

"Edward..." Gracia said watching him. Al was obviously going to protest, but before he could even say anything to object, Edward was down the stairs and out the door. Roy moved over to the window and watched as Edward moved out of the house and ducked into the shadows of an alley.

Riza paced back and forth in the mail office area. She hated staying behind, and a large part of her was becoming increasingly angry at the whole 'Roy Situation'; if he hadn't been taken she wouldn't be where she was right now, she wouldn't be worried, she wouldn't be scared, and most of all, she'd know exactly where he was.

She almost jumped when she heard the phone ring and she had to calm herself down for a moment before she actually picked up the receiver. "Hawkeye here." she said, she kept a hand over her chest as she tried to slow her now racing heart, "Edward? Where are you?" she asked, there was a moment of pausing before she continued, "Risenbool? Oh, all right...no sorry, he's not here.....out on business......not sure when he'll be back.....sorry I have to go." she started to ball up one of her hands into a fist as Edward began to ask about Roy, "We're in an emergency state......Good bye Edward." with that she slammed the phone down. She stood there for a moment, then went back to pacing, with the Elric brothers in Risenbool, the Scar situation became all the more worse.

Edward hung up the restaurant's phone and turned back to the owner, "Thanks, you just helped out a lot more than you think." he said, then quickly slipped out of the door. He walked down the street for a bit, then ducked back into an alley as he saw a small collection of military officers turn a corner and start down the block. As they past, he recognized one of them to be Warrant Officer Farman, and quickly came to the conclusion this was part of the task force sent after Scar.

He watched them walk by, then started to sneak his way back to Hughes' house. As he kept to the side streets, he was careful to make sure that he wasn't seen by anyone, and that he was well aware of who was around him. Edward wasn't sure what time it was when he finally saw Hughes' house again, and he was very quick to sneak around the back and into Gracia's back yard. He tapped on the glass door and she was very quick to let him in.

"Oh good." she said as she shut the door and latched it.

"Told you I'd be all right." Edward said giving her a thumbs up. She smiled at him as she moved past her towards the stairs. He hesitated for a moment, then started to ascend the stairway slowly, as something inside his chest tightened up and he found himself on the defensive. Watching the door, he noticed a bright flash of light from the crack at the bottom and used a burst of speed to run up and knock the door down.

Inside he saw Al against a wall, an arm completely shattered, a few pieces of metal were scattered throughout the room. By the window he saw Scar with a navy blue bundle over one shoulder. As the tall man turned and looked at the golden haired Elric brother, all he did was glare.

"I expected more from a State Alchemist" was all Scar said before he leapt from the second story window and down to the street. Edward ran after him and followed out the window to the ground and gave chase. As he ran after Scar he noticed that the bundle the man was carrying was being held by his right arm; the same one that was covered by the glyphs of the Human Transmutation Circle. As Edward rounded a corner, into an alley, he saw that Scar was presumably trapped and the man turned to face Edward.

Edward stopped in his tracked as he was finally able to see the front of the bundle Scar it. The pale, unconscious form of Roy Mustang almost sent Edward into a panic. Scar practically had a hostage, and Edward knew that if he made one move in anyway, Roy would be more than dead. "Scar..." he said through his teeth. Scar then took a couple steps back towards the wall and shifted Roy over to the other shoulder so that he could place his right hand against the cement. All Edward could do was watch as the black glyphs changed color and glowed a bright blue and suddenly there was an explosion of rock, dust, and debris that filled the air.

The sound of boots against the ground could be heard coming down the street quickly and Edward tried to watch where Scar went, but whenever he opened his eyes they stung because of all the dust. He coughed and fell back a couple steps.

"Edward!" a voice said behind him, and he tried to look up to see who it was, but every time he tried to open his eyes, the dust only stung more and he had to close them again.

"Havok." Edward groaned as he rubbed his eyes frantically.

"What happened?" Havok asked quickly handling Edward a canteen. He watched as Edward splashed from water up into his eyes, then tilted his head back and poured the whole thing over his face.

"Scar..." Edward said looking back at Havok, "He took Colonel Mustang..." he explained, and at that, Havok went white.

"Go! Follow him! Colonel Mustang's in great danger! Move! Move! MOVE!" Havok shouted, "Inform the others as well! GO!"

"I'll help too...it's the least I can do...all I ask is for some scrap metal." Edward said straightening his stance. Havok looked at him curiously, but had learned long ago not to ask questions in regards to the Elric brother's requests.

"All right...come back to headquarters first, something will be arranged there...there's also someone else that needs to be informed." Havok said looking down at Edward.

"Right. I'll go get Al and we'll meet you there." Edward said, and with that he turned and ran back towards Gracia's.

"Go! Seal off the east exits of the city. I don't care how long it will take just do it!" Hawkeye shouted into the phone, then slammed it down, but almost as soon as she hung up one, the other rang. "The north entrance is sealed? Good, don't let anyone in or out, understand!" she hung up the other phone and grabbed onto her head. Scar was on the move and they needed to make sure they found him so they could get him out of the city, at least until the first crisis was resolved. She glanced up at the clock and saw that it was 3:30, almost time for the next drop. She hadn't even thought about it since the last sighting if Scar had come over the line. Riza looked up hearing a knock on the door and she sat up fully at the desk, "Come in." she said trying to sound as civil as she could.

Havok walked in and slowly took off his blue cap as he walked forward, keeping his eyes lowered slightly as he moved. As he came closer, a feeling of dread quickly came over Hawkeye and she moved her hands off the desk to hide the fact they were now shaking, 'God no..' she thought as she continued to watch Havok. She didn't even notice Edward and Alphonse Elric step into the room and stay back by the wall. Al was still missing an arm, and a couple chips of metal would still fall periodically.

"Lieutenant..." she managed to say as Havok stopped in front of her desk. She bit her bottom lip slightly as Havok seemed to be trying to build up the courage to simply take.

"We have a situation..." he started, "Scar..." he took a deep breath, "Scar as taken Colonel Mustang." Havok closed his eyes after he spoke, as did Edward, and all could only turn away. They wanted to give Hawkeye her dignity as she desperately tried to keep herself under control, but they all knew that she was failing, and failing miserably.

"Why..." she mumbled starring downward, and the suddenness of her words caught everyone's attention, "Why couldn't I have been there..." she clenched both her fists tightly and lowered her head, her eyes once again closed tightly to hold anything back that might come out.

"Lieutenant..." Havok said looking at Hawkeye with sad eyes. Edward looked towards the floor and clenched his jaw, he couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for what happened and now, the one person Roy Mustang wasn't to see happy more than anything else in the world was suddenly the most miserable person he knew.