AN: Wow, I got reviews, and good reviews too. I would have never thought it. I knew I was gonna get at least one from my friend Kaiya-Chan, but I never thought I'd get others. YAY! For those who don't know what a sweatdrop is, its when in a cartoon a big tear-shaped bead of sweat appears on the back of a characters head. Read on!

"What's the problem, Havoc?" he asked.

"Well Sir, you remember those files that we got yesterday? Yeah, well they've just been stolen, and about five men where injured by the robber."

A shocked and apprehensive silence filled the room for a moment before Roy asked, "Was it him?"

Chapter 2-

The Search

"I said wounded not killed." Havoc sighed, "No, it wasn't Scar; he wouldn't have left anyone alive."

Everyone in the room visibly relaxed. Scar was a serial killer that targeted state alchemists, and anyone that got in his way was killed as well. He was a tough opponent, using alchemy to literally blow his opponent's brains out. No wonder they where worried.

"What files?" Ed asked, looking at Roy.

"Er…" came Roy's rely. Truth be told he had completely forgot about what the files contained. "Yes, what files Havoc?" he asked in a confident voice.

Everyone turned and looked at Roy, a loss for words. This is the Colonel that they followed? He couldn't even remember files that had came only the day before!

"Er…well Sir, they were files on er…" he paused apparently not entirely sure of what the files contained either. Wow what an efficient military we have.

Hughes finally let go poor Winry, and, while pushing his glasses into a comfortable position, said, "Those files contained information about the states trading routes for important materials,"

"How do you know? Those files were classified." Roy asked.

Oh sure, he remembers they were classified but nothing else, how typical. Riza though, sighing.

Hughes only smiled, hand still on his glasses. "Well, I am part of the investigations department, aren't I?" He said with a smirk.

"Well yes," Roy said with a wave of his hand, "but that's not the point."

"Then what's the point?" Ed asked, smirking at Roy.

"The point is, files on important trading routes of the state have been stolen, meaning whoever stole them now knows what's being shipped and when. Meaning the trading routes are probably gonna be attacked." He said with an annoyed look on his face.

"Why are you here Fullmetal?" Roy asked unexpectedly looking up at him.

"Well that was sudden," Ed said, "I was just coming to tell you that I'm done with the case you gave me, and I'm taking the day off." He waved at Winry and Al to follow him as he walked towards the door.

"Stop there Edward."

Ed stopped and turned around to look at Roy, an annoyed look on his face. "Why?" he asked in an almost bored manner.

Roy turned so only his side could be seen and looked at the ceiling. "Because, you've got a new case now, to catch the criminal responsible for this." He said as he looked down at Ed with a smile.

Ed stiffened and then, without warning, he flipped around and started jumping up and down, waving his hands in the air, raving the entire time. "Why don't you catch him yourself! You're supposed to be the great Flame Alchemist so why so you need me for!" and so on and so on.

"Ed, I am going to catch him, and you're going to help me. The trade routes are important so we don't want to take any chances. I guess I should apologize as this is your day off, but I don't really care." He said in an annoyed voice. "And," he said after a minute, "If you refuse I'll give you a court-martial for violating an order."

Ed stood there fuming for a moment; he knew there was no good way out of this. If he refused, Roy would give him a court-martial, and if he agreed, Winry would have to wait, which could result in brain damage. Those wrenches hurt. Finally, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and said, "I don't care, besides you nee-"

WHACK!

Ed had been cut off mid-sentence by a larger-than-normal wrench coming down on his head. Apparently, Winry disagreed with him.

"You idiot!" she yelled, hitting him again and again, "You can't get court-martialed! Think about your brother! If you get kicked out of the military, how are you supposed to help him? Plus, how else am I supposed to see new places and get more mechanic stuff!"

By this time, Ed was crouching, trying to fend off her blows. What'd I tell you, those wrenches really hurt.

"Winry, stop it!" Ed yelled, "I didn't mean it! I'd never forget Al! And, what do you mean by "how else am I supposed to get more mechanic stuff"! I am not your piggy-bank!"

Everyone in the room sweatdropped, those two acted like a married couple, all the way down to mooching money off each other.

"Eh, Winry," Al said after it was apparent she wasn't' stopping anytime soon. "He won't be able to help me if you keep hitting him either."

"Yeah you're right Al," she said sweetly as she stepped away from a lump on the floor that was Ed. "I should let him do his work so you two can show me around later."

Hughes shook his head smiling, and muttered, "What a couple," before he turned and asked Roy. "How are we supposed to catch him?"

Roy thought about this for a minute before addressing the room "Havoc, go and question the soldiers that where wounded by the robber, see if they caught a glimpse at his face. Hughes, go with him, if anyone has a description, I want you to see if you can't find out if he has a criminal record." Havoc and Hughes both saluted and walked off. "Hawkeye, Fullmetal, we're going to go to the library."

Both Riza and Ed just looked at him. 'Sir, may I ask why we're going to the library?" Riza said after a second.

"Easy, we're going to see if anything's going to be shipped or has already been shipped. That way we may find out what the robber wants before he has the chance to steal it." Roy said.

"May we help?" Al asked, pointing to himself and Winry.

"I don't know, those files are supposed to only be read by military personnel." Roy said in a careless voice, then with a smile, "But, since I really don't want to spend a long time looking for them, sure."

Four hours later…

"My God, who knew it was so hard to find a few simple files." Roy griped while throwing an arm over the back of his chair.

They had gotten to the part of the library that contained the files on military affairs fairly easy, only one threat to let Al and Winry in. It was also easy to find the room with the files on military goods transportation too, but that's where the easy part stopped.

They had spent over four hours trying to find the files that held the current movement of goods. They haven't had any luck.

Hughes and Havoc had come in earlier to report what they had found out. Turns out, the thief was actually in the military, or was in the military. A year ago, he was court-martialed because he had murdered civilians unnecessarily. (wow that sounds so wrong)

Now they were all sitting around in the little room that held the files, trying, oh ever trying to find those elusive pieces of paper. The room wasn't very big; there was hardly enough room for one long table and one little table. Even then, the walls were over-flowing with files; it seemed the only part of the walls that weren't covered was the door.

Riza, Winry, and Al where all sitting around the longer table that was somehow crammed into a corner, while Ed had his head buried in his arms at the little table. Roy was slouching in his chair by the door. They were all sick and tiered of this wild paper hunt and where taking a break.

"Ugh, I could have been court-martialed, why'd I have to agree to this stupid search?" Ed said, his words muffled due to his head being buried in his arms.

"You know, if you don't stop whining about it, you can still be court-martialed." Roy said with an annoyed sigh.

"Why don't you both stop whining?" came both Riza's and Winry's annoyed voices, they were a little louder than necessary.

"Yes ma'm ." Both Roy and Ed said in bored but hurried tones. Oh yeah, girls with authority.

Al turned away from the file he was scanning and said, "You two need to stop bickering all the time, how bout finding a positive way to fight?"

Ed looked up at Al with a surprised face and said, "Al you're perfectly right."

"Er. I am…" Al asked not entirely sure of what the change in his brother meant. Everyone looked at Ed not really believing what they had heard.

"Yeah, we need a positive way to solve our problems so I propose a bet."

AN: Sorry, I have an obsession with cliff-hangers, add that with me not typing fast and you get annoyed people. Sorry but bear with me okay?