The Way to a Man's Heart Isn't by Crushing His Ego Chapter 5: The Start of Something Bad
It was still and silent in the bank as the hostages stared at their rescuer. Their mouths hung open in amazement as their gaze went from the robbers lying unconscious on the ground, back to the blond haired woman. Her face was calm yet stern as her strong amber eyes stayed fixed on the criminals. Her silver pistol still in her hand, ready to fire if one of them were to arise.
"Who is that?" one of the hostages asked as they continued to stare at her. They couldn't believe what had just happened. She just popped out of nowhere and saved them all. She did a really nice job of it, too. She took them all out without creating much of a scene, unlike Roy and Hughes, who just barged in and bickered. Another thing was… she didn't look anything like a sharp-shooter. That's probably the reason most of the people in the bank stared in awe. She looked like any ordinary woman. She had on a nice white blouse, over that she had a tan jacket. Her pants were just a simple pair of nice black dress pants, nothing special or deadly looking.
"Hmmmm…." Hughes began to wonder to himself. Woman… pretty… blond hair… guns…. can't see a wedding ring so she must be single….. Could it be?... …. "Nah!" he thought to himself as his cheerful smile appeared, followed by an outbreak of friendly laughter.
"What's going on here?" a police officer asked as he barged in and to his surprise, saw all of the thieves on the ground and none of the money had been stolen.
The woman's attention was quickly taken to the officer behind her. She stood up straight and looked him in the eyes. "These men were trying to rob the bank. They were attempting to kill these two military officers so I stopped them," she reported to the officer. Then she reloaded her gun and put it away, hidden in its holster under her jacket.
"TRYING TO KILL US??!!??!" Roy roared and walked over to the woman rather ferociously. "THEY WEREN'T GOING TO KILL US! I HAD IT ALL UNDER CONTROL!"
"Now, Roy, settle down. Even I was getting a little nervous in those last few seconds. Besides, she saved us the trouble of taking them out ourselves," Hughes said as he walked over to the woman and Roy. "Thank you very much," he congratulated her on a victory well won.
"You're welcome. It was no trouble really," she replied kindly and turned to walk away.
"… women…" Roy sneered to her back.
"Excuse me?" she asked and turned around back toward the dissatisfied dog, the smile no longer on her face. "Is there something wrong?"
"Yes," Roy bluntly replied. The sharp-shooter could tell by the expression on his face that he wasn't very happy with her at the moment. "WOMEN LIKE YOU, THINKING THEY CAN DO ANYTHING THEY WANT THUS GETTING IN THE MAN'S WAY!"
"Get in your way!?" she snapped back. Her tone of voice become louder and held more authority then it had before, but her face was still emotionless as it always was. She was the type of woman who did not allow her feelings to get out of control, or show enough emotion to let the other person know what she was thinking. If that happened, then her opponent might be able to predict her attacks, and that could be the end of her and those she was trying to protect. "They were about to kill you!"
"I had it all under control. Until you barged in and ruined it all."
"Ruined it? I finished it!" she replied.
"BUT YOU DIDN'T NEED TOO! WOMEN LIKE YOU SHOULD BE IN THE HOME COOKING DINNERS AND DOING DISHES. SOMEWHERE WHERE THE MEN DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT AND PROTECT YOU!"
"Take it easy, Roy," Hughes said. He was trying to calm him down. He wasn't really sure why he got so steamed. He knew how Roy felt about women though. The fact that a woman came in and did a better job then he did, more or less saving his life, and then getting in a fight, granted he started it. Wasn't an acceptable thing in his book. He was a firm believer in the whole 'a woman can't do a man's job' mumbo jumbo.
"YOU'RE THE MOST DISRESPECTFUL MAN I'VE EVER MET! I JUST SAVED YOUR LIFE AND NOW YOU'RE CRITIZING ME??? You know, it's pig-headed men like you that cause so many women to die. The testosterone in the room shoots up so high that they choke and die from the fumes radiating off your 'oh so macho' body!" the woman roared then turned to walk away. She didn't want to make a fool of herself because of some jerk she didn't even know. But before she did she let out one last insult. "I pray for your wife. If she's not dead yet, that is. I have to say I envy her for putting up with you."
"I'M NOT MARRIED!" Roy snapped back.
"And I just told you the reason why! You can't stay with a girl for more then two dates. I bet you go to funerals more then you go shopping!"
"Ouch, that one hurt." Hughes said then calculated this last statement in his mind. Roy… shopping... yeah that funeral thing probably is true.
"WELL WOMEN ARE THE REASON SO MANY MEN END UP IN PRISION! Either the man did something stupid to impress his wife! Or she drove the man insane with her rambling and he did what he did because she drove him nuts!"
"Excuse me…" one of the police men said as he walked over to them. "You'll have to stop that now."
"OR WHAT?" Roy snapped as he glared at the man. His angry gaze was mere inches from the officer. The police man could feel the heat from Roy's nostrils traveling down the front of his throat.
"Or I'll have to arrest you for disturbing the peace," he replied calmly.
Roy didn't have much to say to that. He just grumbled to himself and stomped away.
"Sorry about that. He's really not that bad a guy when you get to know him," Hughes said, rubbing the back of his head.
"I see," she replied as she watched Roy stomp away. Don't get her wrong; she is actually a really nice person. It's just that Roy's attitude was making her rather on edge. She didn't show the least bit of rage to Hughes or the police who were talking to her. "Well, I have to go now. Nice meeting you." she said as she turned to walk away.
"Nice meeting you too, and thanks for helping us out."
"It was no problem. I'm just sorry I caused you so much trouble," she replied and turned back to Hughes.
"It's alright, really, and don't take it personally. Roy doesn't hate you. He just doesn't like it much when you make him look weaker then you, and when you break one of his Golden Rules."
"Oh really?" she questioned, "And what rule is that? Treat others as you want to be treated?"
"Not exactly..."
"Then what?"
"The most important rule," Roy interrupted. He could hear them talking from across the room. "The rule that states very clearly that a woman can't do a man's job. Look it up in the rule book. It's listed right under the rule; 'women who are under the age of 35 have to wear a miniskirt', and right above the rule that states 'what others don't know won't hurt you'."
"That's so beautiful! The best rules I've ever heard! Defiantly rules to live by!" some of the men around replied, tears that looked like milk began streaming down their cheeks. This Roy Mustang was truly a king among men.
The female shooter just gave him a disgusted look and walked away. She was done talking to Roy, not only that, but she was late for a very important meeting with a very important person about a new job she was getting.
"DON'T TURN YOUR BACK ON ME! I WAS TALKING TO YOU!" Roy roared as the woman left the bank and walked down the street.
She simply just closed her eyes and told herself to keep cool. She continued to walk down the street calmly. The sound of Roy's voice yelling out insults filled her ears as the Lieutenant Colonel showed her the full brunt of his rage. Some of those insults really hit close to home, but she didn't let it get to her. She just kept walking at an easy pace. She stopped listening to him and concentrated to the sound of her heels clicking on the pavement.
"I know you're having a bad day, Roy. But you really need to calm down. It's no big deal. Here, take this picture of Gracia. It will make you feel better," Hughes said as Roy took the photo and stomped away. It took him almost two blocks of walking before he was able to regain his calm cool composer.