Love Through Flame and Gunfire

Chapter 4: Jailbreak

One more month, one more damn month. Roy was pacing in his cell, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Damn, would they never come to get him out?

There was a scuffling outside, a rather loud 'UGH!' and a thud on the floor, and he looked up quickly, a smile quirking the corners of his mouth. Speak of the devil. Which devil, though, he was soon tofind out, as the wooden door swung open with much bravado and a long-haired young man jumped in.

"Ta-da! Now who said lock picking and head bashing would get me nowhere?"

Roy groaned, inwardly and externally. "Loki..."

"Yup, Loki Mustang, at your service!" He pulled a ring of picks, hairpins, even a fountain pen or two, from his pocket, and selected a hairpin, comparing it to the size of the lock on Roy's cell. He inserted the pin and twiddled it around, tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth. "You owe me big time for this one, Brother," he sang, grinning up at Roy. Roy crossed his arms over his chest. "Sure, whatever. What do you want this time, another ring for your picks?"

"Actually I was thinking something along the lines of a new pair of boots, these are getting really worn..." He lifted up a foot for examination and grinned again.

"The sole's nearly fallen off on it."

"You couldn't just say you did it out of brotherly love, could you?"

"No way. Well, I could, but I really need a new pair of boots."

Roy gave him a murderous look.

"Aw, don't look at me like that, Big Brother, you know I hate it when you do. I was just kidding anyways..."

"You're lucky you're younger than me, Loki, very lucky."

"Yeah yeah, sure sure. I'm only like three seconds younger anyways," Loki said, still twiddling the lock, "Y'know, you've finally got a hot girlfriend, I think she's a keeper."

Roy put his hands on the bars. "What!" he practically screamed at his younger brother and Loki winced. "Owwww... you don't have to yell so loud, you know... I was just stating the truth."

"You'd better be..." Roy grumbled.

"Why would I be interested anyway? I don't want to get married to a woman who'll kill me soon as look at me!"

"I don't think you want to get married at all."

"I could say the same for you, you old womanizer!"

"I'm not old!"

"Sure you aren't. A beard definitely makes you look older, but I think the moustache is worth keeping." Loki pointed out. Roy stroked at his hair irritibly. He had managed to figure out how to burn off unwanted hairs on his face every day, but he didn't want to risk a mishap on his lip, as he sometimes did, and he had forgotten to... burn that morning.

He really hated his little brother. Well, brotherly hate, anyway.

"So who put you up to it? Dad?"

"Nah, it was Mom actually, and I had half a mind to do it anyways, once I heard what happened. Your girlfriend bawls her eyes out almost every day."

Roy felt a sting of jealousy. "How would you know that?"

"How? They've all been underground in the mansion, of course. It's like they're preparing for a war down there, not to mention that Dad and old man Hawkeye won't even look eye to eye, let alone be in the same room together. It's actually really scary... what with Dad being the hothead that he is, things are bound to get out of hand soon. Your buddy Jean is right outside, stalling the guards with some friendly, relevant conversation. He's pretty good too, I mean, it'll look like he just happened to be there when I bust you out."

The lock finally sprang open and Loki stepped back, opening the door with a flourish. "Now you're free, Roy, now hurry up!" Loki made sure any loose articles of his clothing were tied up and secure, and zipped up his coat. He pulled out a strong leather cord with a piece of metal on the end of it, transmutation circles inscribed all over the handle. He pressed his fingers to one of the circles and held it upwards, and the cord shot forward as the metal bit changed into a hook, latching onto the ceiling. There was a latticed iron grate in the ceiling, which Roy judged to be just big enough for the two of them to fit in together simultaneously.

At first, it didn't look like they would, what with the two of them being of the exact same height and stature, even if Locke was a bit more lean than he was. Loki grabbed his brother's belt with one hand and Roy put his arm around Loki's shoulders. "What now?" he asked, and Loki's brow furrowed. "Wait for it, Roy. There was a shot from the direction of the shooting range, then two more in quick succession, and Loki thumbed the circle again, causing the cord to retract quickly until they were faced with the iron grate.

"See if you can't melt those grate edges, Roy."

Loki fished a bit of chalk out of his pockets and two stones, and he held them patiently while Roy scribbled circles onto the grate edges. He placed his fingers against the top two circles on either side of the grate. "Strike them together, Loki." Loki did as he was told and the metal melted under Roy's fingers. He moved on to the next two and did the same, and Locke lowered the grate to the ground.

"Okay, this is the tough part."

"Tough part?" Roy asked.

"Well, we have to get out of here without being shot, which happens to be a good trait of mine, but I'm not so good at cover jobs."

"So I run and you cover from behind?"

"Yep, and Jean will... 'accidentally' fire on other officers. It's a risky business, altogether."

"And Father?"

"I don't know, but I think they'll have a distraction or have the basement open to us."

"Alright... I'll go on two, you come on three... 1... 2..." his brother threw him up and out of the prison and Roy dashed along the top of the building. It was pretty dark out, almost sunset, which was good enough cover if he made it out of the first stretch. "3!" he called, and Loki vaulted out after him, a dark color shifting cloak behind him. He caught up with Roy and covered them both with the cloak as guards opened fire, and Roy heard a cry as Jean fired at an officer dangerously close to them. It would be an 'accidental shot' later.

A bullet broke the roof in front of them and Loki kept one hand on his back, pushing him forward, and it occured to Roy that he must be a burden on his brother. "Meet me back at the mansion," he hissed, and tripped Loki. Loki's eyes widened in surprise and his mouth opened as he fell onto his face. Roy stopped briefly and looked around, then opted to bolt towards the shooting grounds. He threw himself off of the building and into the bushes, landing with a thud and a backache, before struggling up on all fours and crawling through the undergrowth.

"Brother!" Loki called, and Roy gritted his teeth. "Take care of yourself!" Roy shouted. "Get away from here, I'll be fine!" It was a risk to shout, and it almost proved fatal as a bullet buried itself in a tree trunk next to his head. He cursed softly and stayed in that position just long enough to see Loki look out of the corner of his eye at him, dodge a flurry of bullets, and jump down and out of sight, leading the military on a merry goose chase after him.

Survival was of the essence now; now he would see how sixteen years of military training had benefited him. He felt horrible though, Gracia would definitely fix it in her mind that he had killed Maes. He had to make it up to her, somehow. Another bullet whizzed in his general direction and Roy hurtled forward on all fours, aiming for the storage rooms. If his possessions were kept anywhere, it would be in storage. He had to get ahold of his gloves and the rest of his personal items, especially, though stupid as it seemed, the pocketwatch that Maes had given him for his last birthday, his twenty-ninth.

God but it was a stupid reason to risk his life, but he had to do it. He wouldn't blame Riza if she decided to kill him for putting himself in such danger over a watch, but there was something else there too... Something that was just as important to him as Maes's watch. He pressed his back against the cold stone wall of the storage compound, dismayed to find a lock there. He wished he hadn't told Loki to ditch him now, and the only things that were in his pockets were... He fumbled around in his pockets, then at his belt, and his fingers touched cold steel.

A dagger?

He pulled it out and an urge to laugh rose in his throat. What he had pulled out of his belt, what Loki had stuck in his belt, was a fork.Just perfect, absolutely ingenious. And it wasn't sarcasm that he felt, either. He used the other end of it to scratch a circle into the ground and stuck the pronged end into the ground in the middle of it, pressed his hands against it, and transmuted. Now he had a fairly good imitation of Loki's all-purpose lock-pick, and he shoved it into the lock, jiggling it around in the lock just as Loki had taught him when they had been young boys.

The padlock clicked off and fell to the ground with a dusty thud and he picked it up, heading inside. He really hoped nobody got the idea to shoot in here. That was his thought as he stared at all the ammunition stored inside. Dammit, he would be Mustang Flambe so fast... He had to hurry. He rummaged around in a large box, it was large enough to hold the possesions he had had on him when he was arrested, and the others were either too small or too big. He was rewarded as his fingers brushed his gloves, and he sighed with relief. There was his uniform, the clothes he had been wearing that day, which he opted to change into, and best of all, Maes's prized watch. He pocketed it and a small velvet box, putting his State Alchemist watch into another pocket, Jean's lighter into a front pocket (he had borrowed it on one of Jean's many visits), and turned to leave.

He cursed again and quickly flattened himself against another wall; they were all outside the door, dammit. His mind was working at a crazy pace; what could he do now without furthering his criminal record? He looked at the window, and then at some ammunition in a box next to him, and an idea worked into his mind.

Jean Havoc bit his nails, he had given Roy as much time as possible, but he could not delay them searching the ammunitions storage any longer, and he cringed. He hoped that Roy had had the sense to look out the back window.

Roy finished his transmutation, set the box on top of it, and rolled it into the doorway. He burned the string on it and his wooden catapult threw the box into the middle of the group and he snapped, exploding it right over them. Black smoke descended on them and the scene turned to utter chaos, with soldiers milling about, unable to see. Then Roy heard a puttering sound and he glanced out the back window and smacked himself on the head. Why had he not just looked out there? Jean's motorcycle was sitting in the back, the keys conveniantly still in the ignition. Clever Jean, what clever planning indeed. He threw himself out of the back window and clambered onto the motorcycle, roaring away towards the dirt roads to the outskirts of East City.

He hoped he could get to the mansion without further delay, and hoped his brother had gotten away safely as well.

Wheeee... fourth chapter already, and even I'm starting to feel the tension in the air. I swear, when I write these things it feels as if the character's are talking back and forth to each other, like I have no part in the making of the story at all. It's so cooooool... And if anybody noticed, these two characters are the origin of my e-mail address, Roy and Loki, royloki, heheheehe...

-T A