Inextricable
Chapter Three: Bloody Circle

Ed had stumbled halfway to the front door when his sleep-muffled brain suggested that the furious pounding might not be an urgent summons but an attack. He shook himself awake, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and braced his automail foot against the door to allow it to open only so far.

"Yes?" he asked, his voice cracking a little from sleep.

"Ed- er, Major?"

Ah. It's only Denny. "Hello, Sergeant Major. What's going on?" Ed opened the door so he could see Sgt. Mjr. Brosh more clearly. When did I start thinking of him as young? It had to be two or three in the morning. A ridiculous hour to be bothered unless something serious had happened.

"Lt. Col. Hawkeye sent me to get you. There's been an incident." Denny's face was pale, and he looked a bit sick. Whatever had happened, he'd apparently witnessed at least some of it.

This did have to happen today of all days, Ed thought, but he pushed back the ungracious thought. This was what they paid him to do, after all. But Winry was still going to kill him if he didn't meet her train. "Give me a minute, okay?" Denny nodded and Ed closed the door. Gracia-san appeared as he was pulling on his usual red coat.

"Shouldn't you be in uniform?" Gracia-san asked. She looked even sleepier than he felt, and he hoped Denny's overzealous knocking hadn't awoken Elysia, too.

"Hawkeye doesn't mind. I think it's at the dorm, anyway." His hair hung around his face, half-tangled from sleep. He reached back and finger-combed it into submission, twisting a band around it to make a quick pony-tail. "Do I look official enough?"

A sad smile flickered across her face and was gone too quickly. Ed almost thought he'd imagined it. "You look fine, Ed-kun," she said, reaching out and straightening his collar.

"Hey, if I'm not back in time to—" he began.

"Don't worry," Gracia-san said. "Elysia and I will be at the station to meet Winry, with or without you."

Denny stood beside the car, waiting to open the door for him. It was odd to see him without Maria Ross. Ed wondered where she was, but, instead he asked about the incident. "Anything you can tell me about what I'm going to find?"

"The Lieutenant Colonel didn't want me to say anything, sir," Denny apologized. "I think she wants you to see the scene with no preconceived notions." They fell into silence then, and Edward's thoughts turned to analyzing the changes that had taken place while he'd been away.

Hawkeye was in charge of investigations, running Hughes' old department. Edward had been assigned there because, Mustang had said, "you have a gift for uncovering the hidden." Ed was pretty sure there'd been some kind of insult embedded in that apparent compliment, but he hadn't figured out what it was yet.

Hawkeye had kept Fuery and Falman under her immediate command; the rest of the gang worked out of Mustang's office. Mustang was still Hawkeye's direct superior, but the dynamics had all changed with this necessary separation. Havoc now acted as Mustang's right hand. It all seemed very odd to Edward who had, he supposed, expected everything to have stayed the same. Adjusting to how very different every last thing now was took more effort than he often had the will to exert.

But the changes weren't necessarily unpleasant. With all that had happened at the end of the war, the military had gone through a dramatic upheaval. One of the happier results of this was Hawkeye's spectacular rise in the ranks. But competent officers had been a bit thin on the ground, and she wasn't the only one who'd benefited from that. Havoc and Ross were both captains now; Falman had been promoted up the ranks to 2nd lieutenant. Everyone from Mustang's and Hughes' old commands seemed to have been rewarded somehow.

But I'm still a major... Not that he'd been around to be promoted. He wasn't even certain he wanted to be, even though he had chosen to stay in the military. Better the devil you know. The simple truth was that he'd needed the money and hadn't wanted to lose access to the military's vast and unique research resources. The complicated truth was... much more complicated.

The car slowed and Ed looked out at a scene of bedlam. Military and civilian police vehicles were strewn around chaotically, as if everyone had just pulled up to the edge of the mess, stopped, and dashed off leaving their cars still running. Lights flashed red and blue and gold, and noise and smoke and dust roiled all around. Whatever had happened, it had been big.

Denny pulled the door open for him just as he'd been reaching for the handle, and he gathered his wits, wishing he'd had time for a coffee first. As he climbed from the car, Maria Ross appeared out of the haze and saluted. He returned the salute, trying to make his as crisp and professional as hers. He felt foolish but quashed any sign of this from reaching his face.

"Major Elric. This way, please." He hadn't seen her in ages, but this wasn't the time for a heartfelt reunion. She'd saved his life more than once, and he'd had a bit of a crush on her ever since she'd slapped him in the hospital. There was probably something really twisted about that, but he had no intention of sharing this bit of information with any psychiatrists anytime soon.

He followed in her wake as she marched through the mess without so much as a flicker of hesitation. Edward could see the shining gold of Hawkeye's hair and, beside her, the darker shadow of — Shit. He's here.

"Ah, Fullmetal," Mustang called. "Good of you to join us. This should be right up your alley."

Edward glanced at the darkened alley just behind the general and scowled. If this was some nasty reference to previous incidents involving Scar or Tucker, Ed didn't want to acknowledge he'd understood. Bastard, he thought, saluting as he forced his face into some semblance of professional neutrality. Hawkeye raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"What's happened, sirs?" he asked, shoving his hands into his pockets now that all the saluting and crap was out of the way.

"You tell us," Mustang said, waving a hand at the alley. Hawkeye, still silent, glanced sideways at her superior officer then inclined her head slightly to hide the wink from him. Edward nearly barked a laugh at this tiny mutiny, but instead gave a nod and walked into the alley, taking a lantern proffered by Denny.

At least it wasn't raining as it so often seemed to do on nights like this in Central. He caught the smell of blood and closed his eyes at the rush of memory. Blood and darkness and loss in an alley. Helplessness washed over him as the memory of that first alley filled his mind.

The scene that revealed itself in the lamplight, however, wiped away the memory completely. Location and blood aside, this crime bore no resemblance to what had happened to Nina Tucker.

There was no doubt in his mind that this had been human alchemy, but he couldn't imagine what the insane alchemist had been trying to accomplish. Why here? Why an alley and not a locked room... some controlled environment? The blood-spattered circle had been drawn on the wall, complicated and manic but clearly rendered. It had taken time. This had been deliberate. Not the work of someone acting in the moment.

He looked at the victim more closely now, trying to see the person who'd been ripped apart by the alchemic reaction. A failed chimera.No homunculus will come from this. He almost added "thank God," before remembering he was agnostic. A spectacular failure. Nothing living had come from this, unlike his own spectacular failure that had set his life in motion so many years ago.

From the remnants of fabric and strands of hair strewn around the scene, Ed surmised the victim to have been a woman. One shoe was mostly intact. Pretty and impractical. Probably a younger woman. There were large chunks of fur, too. Blood-soaked but still identifiable. He made a face as he recognized the animal. That in itself was a clue. Not just anyone could get access to a hyena, let alone bring one into an alley in the middle of Central without causing an entirely different sort of scene.

But what the hell was this madman — or madwoman — trying to accomplish? What on earth could be the use of a human/hyena hybrid? He ran through what he know of the breed. Alpha females led packs. They were considered one of the most intelligent and effective predator species. Nothing good, Ed answered himself. Anyone trying to create a human hyena — aside from the simple fact that he or she was trying to do such a thing in the first place — could only be up to more mayhem.

He spent some more time looking for further clues and making notes as well as copying the circle into his notebook to study later. He could hear the mutter of voices from the far end of the alley with the occasional clear few words sounding. Hawkeye was keeping everyone out, allowing him time to examine the scene undisturbed.

The sky was turning light at the edges as he walked back out of the alley, and it amused him to see Mustang's own exhaustion revealed by the dawn, especially as it contrasted so starkly with Hawkeye's crisp, professional, wide-awake façade.

"It isn't good," he said without preamble.

"Could you tell what that thing was supposed to be?" Mustang asked, his exhaustion toning down his attitude to a bearable level.

"Hyena chimera. Nasty. This was a failure, but there was too much premeditation going on to hope that this was a one-off," Ed replied.

"So whoever did this survived?" Mustang asked.

Ed frowned and glanced back down the alley. Had he missed something? Had Mustang even looked at the scene? Or are they testing me, still. Making sure I haven't lost my edge.

"The alchemist is long gone. His victims are the only things down there now. And the circle he used. That's a pretty good clue. I can have Scieszka run with that — see if she can find any connections to known alchemists?"

Hawkeye nodded at this. "You're certain it's a male alchemist?"

Ed's instinct said yes, but he had no proof. "No, I'm not certain, but we have to call 'em something."

"Alchemist X, then," Mustang said lightly. He seemed already to be mentally withdrawing from the scene. He and Hawkeye carried on one of their rather famous silent conversations as Ed waited, ending it with a nod from Mustang and a slight lifting of chin from Hawkeye.

"Fine," Hawkeye said, taking charge. "Fullmetal, this is your case. Lieutenant Falman will assist you with any resources you need to pursue your investigation, and I'm seconding Captain Ross and her staff to you for the duration. Keep me apprised of your progress."

Surprised, Edward saluted. Hawkeye and Mustang returned his salute, both of them wearing faintly ironic expressions, and then they withdrew from the scene.

In charge? ME! I don't run opps. I'm a solo field agent! The thoughts gibbered through his brain, sounding hysterical even to him, but he didn't let any of this show through. Being the Fullmetal Alchemist barely balanced out his age in most people's eyes. He couldn't afford to indulge in any dramatics.

Maria stood nearby, awaiting orders. Ed took a moment to collect his thoughts, pulling out his pocket watch and glaring at the time. It was already almost six o'clock. "Captain," he began, and found a smile tugging at his lips as she snapped him a sharp salute. "At ease, Capt. Ross. It's just me, remember?"

She smiled in return, muttering, "As you wish, sir."

"Let the detectives in here to go over the scene and see if they can find anything we missed. I want some good pictures taken, too, before they clean things up." Maria nodded at each item he listed, taking notes.

"I'll have Scieszka take a look at this circle and see if she recognizes any stylistic matches. Have someone on your team run a check on unsolved cases for any similarities. And..."

Maria looked up as he paused. He met her eyes, and hoped she knew he wasn't scowling at her. "That hyena is a big clue. Look into that. See if you can figure out where it came from and how it got here. And we need to know about the woman. There may be a connection there, or she may have been unlucky and just passed by at the wrong time. It'll make a difference, and she's our primary concern. There's some crazy alchemist out there trying to turn innocent people into bloodthirsty chimeras." He thought of Shou Tucker and his scowl deepened. "and we're going to find him and stop him."