Warnings: Some implied violence

Spoilers: None, but there is a small hint of one that wouldn't be obvious unless you've watched till the end of the series.

Notes: I'm not particularly happy with this chapter, but it will have to do for now...I may develop it further later on. Following chapters will hopefully be posted about once a week or sooner depending on how quickly I can write and beta them. Sorry!

Feedback: Constructive feedback is very welcome...if you would like detailed explanations of why some of my theories are the way they are, feel free to email me personally and I will reply. Be forewarned that I am very lengthy of discourse, as I really want people to understand WHY something is a particular way and I try not to leave theoretical loopholes if I can help it...) A/N to follow regarding a question posed.

Felis Catus: Circle Five

"And then this whole mob of angry neighbors comes banging on the door as this ungodly hour, all screaming for cat blood…" Ed gesticulated wildly, warming up to his story. Roy sat patiently in his lap, having his ears scratched intermittently.

Hawkeye, Havoc, Farman, Fury and Hughes all sat in Mustang's office (since it had the nicest seating by far), listening intently to Edward's narrative. Breda was conspicuously absent, but Hayate occupied Breda's usual seat happily.

"So let me get this straight, Ed – " Hughes said with a grin. "Your cat completely devastated the neighborhood, was wholly at fault, and when the neighbors came to threaten to make mincemeat out of him, you not only protected the CAT, you threatened the neighbors."

"Er…yeah."

"Who were, technically, the ones wronged," Hughes further prompted, eyes sparkling evilly.

"Ah…that sounds about right."

"Ahahahahahahahaaaaa!" Hughes almost fell over laughing. The rest of the members of Mustang's team were already wiping tears of laughter from their eyes.

"Oh ED," Hughes gasped weakly. "That's great!"

"Perfect," Havoc agreed.

"Colonel Mustang will want to give you a medal for that," Hawkeye said solemnly, her amusement betrayed only by a slight twitching of her lips.

Roy was considering it, actually.

"A medal? What for?" Ed exclaimed, looking bewildered. He'd thought Mustang would bake him alive for the fiasco!

"Roy absolutely loathes his neighbors…" Hughes finally managed to get his laughter under control. "I don't know how many times a week I get calls from him complaining about what neighbor did what or who he wants to fry next but can't because the landlord warned him off for being a fire hazard…"

"So I did the Colonel a FAVOR!" Ed looked incredulous, then pleased. "Hot damn! Now he owes me!"

Though true, Roy would deny it in a court of law assiduously.

"He'll be very thankful," Hawkeye informed him. "Maybe he'll even let you have one of the truffles he hoards in his desk instead of a medal."

Hey…did everyone know about those truffles? Roy was going to have to find a new hiding place at this rate… Those delectable chocolate morsels were HIS. Maybe he'd better start counting them…

Ed laughed. "He can give it to Spitfire; this crazy cat ate a ton of one of the neighbors' truffles."

"Maybe the cat is related to the Colonel somehow…" Fury laughed. Hayate barked.

Roy looked hopeful, while everyone else exchanged glances.

"Nah…" they chorused collectively. Roy's ears drooped. Darn.

Just then, the door banged open, and the Fuhrer, King Bradley, strolled in, flanked by General Hakuro, Brigadier General Basque Gran and Major Armstrong.

Everyone shot to his feet, saluting. Edward carefully set Roy on the floor before following suit.

Roy sat up a bit straighter, then remembered that he was a cat and that no cat acknowledges the superiority of anyone. Delighted, he jumped onto his desk to insolently meow at them.

The Fuhrer smiled at the cat. Roy felt, rather uncomfortably, that the Fuhrer knew exactly what had happened to him. He broke the gaze first, tilting his chin arrogantly.

The Fuhrer chuckled. "I see you have another mascot," he rumbled. "A rather fitting one too, might I add. Who is in charge of this little firebrand?"

Roy winced. Yep. The Fuhrer knew. Somehow. That man saw everything. It was more than a little disconcerting.

"I am, sir!" Fullmetal saluted. "Sorry, he wouldn't stay in the apartment, sir."

"I would certainly think not…" the Fuhrer murmured, gazing at the cat once more. Roy shuddered. "What is his name?"

"Spitfire, sir."

"Hahahaha…" The Fuhrer laughed merrily, reaching over to pat Roy on the head. "How appropriate!"

Hakuro and Gran both looked impatient. Roy was tempted to hiss, but held his tongue.

"Sir! We have important business at hand!" General Hakuro stated pompously, looking puffed up with self-importance as usual.

"Ah, true true," the Fuhrer said sadly, giving Roy one last pat on the head, "If you'll give Colonel Mustang's team a summary, Gran…?"

Gran looked disdainfully at the cat (who laid his ears back) before addressing Mustang's group. "There has been a pack of chimeras loose in Central since about a week ago. You may have heard of this case before…?"

Hughes chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully. "Is that the pack that was rumored to have escaped from the 8th Laboratory?"

"Yes," Armstrong affirmed. "Their creator was careless and the chimeras managed to escape…the foolish alchemist was not so lucky. They devoured him down to the bones before they left…it was savage. A quick death, but…very savage." Armstrong bowed his head.

Everyone grimaced at the imagery.

"So these chimeras have been running around loose ever since? Why hasn't anyone caught them yet?" Ed asked, looking rather surprised.

Gran looked coldly down his nose at Fullmetal. "Because they have been too intelligent to fall for our traps," he said grimly. "From the creator's notes, we could only conclude that they were the mixings of several…highly intelligent animal species. We underestimated their…levels of cunning, when we assumed that they were just animals."

Edward looked sick. "Wait…are you saying that these are human chimeras? Is that what you're saying?" his voice rose almost to a shout.

"Quiet, Fullmetal," General Hakuro snapped. "It doesn't matter if they were humans or not; they are now chimeras and a threat to the public. They must be stopped at once. They have already killed and eaten five people, one of which was a child."

"FIVE!" everyone chorused in shock and revulsion. Edward went completely white.

"Why doesn't the public know about this?" Hughes demanded angrily. "Everyone out there is at risk and needs to be warned immediately!"

"Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes! Stand down and remember your place!" General Hakuro snapped. "Think what would happen to the public view of the military if it were to get out that man-eating chimeras are on the loose!"

Hughes clenched his fists in impotent rage, eyes flashing daggers at the General before calming himself and nodding sharply, to indicate acknowledgement of the statement but not conceding the point.

"We do not wish to cause a widespread panic," Gran rumbled. "It would never do for the public to see the escape of these chimeras as a lapse in military security."

Roy was absolutely disgusted at what he heard. Human lives were at stake, and all the military could think about was their reputation? Abominable! The military was supposed to serve the people, not themselves! He was barely able to restrain an infuriated hiss, but the fur on his back stood almost straight up on end, and his dark eyes flashed his displeasure and outrage.

Edward, who hadn't said a word since the revelation that the escaped chimeras were devouring humans, now looked up, a haunted expression on his pale face. "They ate humans…?" Ed whispered. "But if they were human before…" he continued, in a strangled voice. "How…how could they possibly do that…?" he asked, almost pleadingly.

Waves of Edward's emotional pain assaulted Roy's heightened animal senses, penetrating through the small fog of fury he was currently embroiled in. As those emotions filtered through to Roy's protective instincts, Roy made a small, anxious sound, and before he could think, he jumped down off of the desk to rub his head against Edward's leg as if he could somehow impart comfort through the contact. Ed bent down unconsciously and scooped him up, cuddling him almost automatically. Roy nuzzled at his chin comfortingly, feeling inexplicably distressed. Ed gave him a quick, strained smile, before turning his attention back to the matter at hand.

"We don't know that they were human," the Fuhrer said calmly. "There is no indication that these chimeras were ever the result of human experimentation. However, what we do know is the destruction and threat they are having on Central. The military must step in to ensure the safety of the people. We are posting sentries and watches along the streets. Your team will be covering the First District. Major Armstrong will be in charge during Colonel Mustang's…absence."

"Yes sir!" They all saluted, Ed shifting Roy over to his left arm before saluting as well.

"Hmm." The Fuhrer nodded, and turned smartly to walk out the door. General Hakuro and Brigadier General Basque Gran both nodded sharply then followed suit, shutting the door behind them.

Hughes grimaced. "I guess I'd better get back to Intelligence and see what I can dig up to help you guys out," he said grimly. "I'll meet up with you later with the information."

"Thank you," Armstrong said. "We will meet upstairs of the central clock tower of First District. 1700 hours."

"Roger. I'll be there," Hughes saluted sharply and marched out of the door.

A somber-looking Armstrong looked at the now dour-faced group. "I will now give you your area assignments. Havoc, you and Fury take the north and west ends of First District. Farman and Breda, if someone will let Breda know, will take the south and east ends. Fullmetal and I will be patrolling the entire area at intervals. Hawkeye will be our sniper backup in the central clock tower, with Hayate." Everyone smiled briefly at that. "We will leave the tower around 1800 hours. That should give us enough time to set up."

"Yes, sir," they all murmured.

"I wish the Colonel were here," Ed murmured quietly against the cat's fur as the cat snuggled comfortably in his arms. Edward felt childish for wishing it, and had every confidence in Major Armstrong who, in Edward's opinion, could quite likely hug a chimera to death, but – for some strange reason, not having the smirking Colonel there to lead them felt completely wrong. "It doesn't seem right without him."

Roy was also cursing his inability to lead his team as he currently was. However, just because he couldn't lead didn't mean he wasn't too proud to follow.

Don't worry, Edward – Roy smiled grimly to himself. If Hayate was going to be keeping Hawkeye company, there was no way in hell he would be leaving Edward's side this night.

Just try to leave him behind.

To be con't...
A/N: In response to a reviewer that posed some very good questions:

Yes, Roy is now technically a cat, with cat urges and such...but he is NOT a chimera. A chimera is an alchemically created creature that is a mixture of one or several other creatures who carries characteristics of the species mixed - yes,like Nina, and as the series progresses there are some better examples. Tucker, in particular, specializes in chimeras.

Zayna on the other hand, does NOT work with chimeras...I chose her label as "Blending" (and believe me, if I could find a better word I would...) because I wanted to show that her particular specialty is to create an illusionary form, per se - perhaps transfiguation is more in the realms of "magic", but transfiguration would also involve a certain level of scientific knowledge on how to compress a form (where would the mass go? etc.) and how to maintain the form. Alchemy is a form of "science" maybe, but there's also something very magical about it - I'm not going to split hairs over one or the other, because in my mind, it's all theoretical anyways, and all good fun. )

The transmutation circle in the prologue was pre-drawn under the table as Zayna was planning this all very meticulously from the beginning. Zayna cannot clap (she has not seen the Gate) and suddenly poof! there's a change - if so, she would have had to physically touch Roy, as in order to transmute the "easy" way, even Ed has to touch the object he's transmuting. I've noticed that other alchemists have to draw (unless, like Psiren and Kimbly, they have tatoos), then touch the drawn array to activate it - so that's what Zayna did. She bent down and activated her hidden array. For some odd reason I felt like a clap! sound would make it seem a bit more ominous and uh-oh-ish to Roy. Lord knows, I'm sure he jumps when he hears Ed clap! Sorry if it was confusing there...

Hope that clears up a few issues! )

DuALity