CHAPTER 6: THE END OF THE PEACE

Hotel, Central – June, 1927

"Thanks for the dinner Miss Rockbell." 1st Lieutenant Jean Havoc said as he and Winry left the hotel cafeteria. The two had just finished eating, and she had decided to treat Havoc to the free meal since he had to sacrifice his date to be her escort.

"Hey! How many times do I have to tell you to call me Winry?" She pulled out a wrench from out of nowhere and gave Havoc a menacing look. "Miss Rockbell makes me sound old!" Den, standing beside her barked in agreement.

"Ah!" Havoc retreated and cowered at the sight of the large tool in her hand. "Sorry Miss Rock… I mean Winry!" Her evil look dissolved into a smile as she giggled lightly. Havoc looked a bit ruffled. Who's the one here that needs protection?

The three walked back towards her room with Winry and Den leading the way followed by Havoc. Hrm… she really is cute. He used one eye to look her up and down. I wonder if she's still single. Then he suddenly stopped himself. No, if I make a move on her, that bastard of a Brigadier General will definitely steal her from me! Havoc's face quickly turned red. I just know he stole my date tonight! How does he keep doing that? Why does he keep screwing me, his loyal subordinate, over and over?

"Um… are you okay Lieutenant?" Havoc snapped out of it and realized that he was kneeling on the floor pounding on it with his fists, with Winry and Den looking down at him in confusion. Havoc quickly stood back up, embarrassed.

"Haha, nothing… I was just thinking off… something funny the Brigadier General said the other day… haha, yea that's it." She looked at him questioningly but accepted his answer and turned to resume her walk.

"Here we are, let me check the room for you first." Havoc said when they reached the door to her room. He opened it slowly after unlocking it and looked inside, and immediately noticed someone standing by the large window in the room. His reflexes were good because in an instant his gun was removed from its holster and trained on the figure.

"Wait!" Winry yelled from behind, startling the Lieutenant who had to restrain himself from accidentally pulling the trigger. She came up from behind and pushed the gun down with her hand.

"Huh? Do you know this guy?" Havoc referred to the man, who finally turned around to face the two people standing by the door way but stayed in the shadows.

"Yes, I do." Winry pushed through Havoc and into the room with Den. "Can I talk to him alone Lieutenant?" Havoc was flabbergasted.

"But I'm supposed to watch…" She turned and smiled at him reassuringly.

"It's okay, I'll be fine. I have Den here to protect me." Den barked again. Havoc sighed in resignation and walked out to the hall to close the door. Winry turned back to face the man and switched on the room's light. "Hello Gabriel." Havoc froze as he was shutting the door when he heard the name. Gabriel took off his fedora and smiled slightly at her.

"Nice to see you again Winry."

Headquarters, Central – June, 1927

"Boy he sure is in a good mood all of a sudden." Breda whispered to Fuery. Behind them Roy was putting on his coat, and his happy expression showed through even his large eye patch.

"Why wouldn't he be? He's going to snatch Havoc's date after all." Fuery replied. "Have you seen her? He wasn't kidding when he said she's hot."

"Well work hard people, I'll see you tomorrow." Roy waved at his very irritated subordinates who were still trying to finish the Brigadier General's paperwork as he headed towards the office door. He opened it only to see Major Riza Hawkeye standing there. "Oh? Back already Major?"

"Going somewhere Brigadier General?" She asked sternly. Roy's cool façade cracked a little.

"Just going to inspect one of the police stations before I head home for the night." He smiled nervously. Riza moved past Roy, grabbing his right ear in the process and dragged him back in.

"We have some work to do sir, I'm afraid you'll have to cancel your date tonight." She sounded irritated and Roy was in too much pain to reply. A couple of minutes later, everyone was back at their desks and Riza had briefed them on what Winry had told her.

"A red-eyed man?" Roy muttered. "Didn't you say you saw someone like that before at the other crime scenes?" Roy turned to look at Breda.

"Ah yea, I remember someone with that description present at most of the crime scenes involving the missing State Alchemists. He was watching us during the investigations."

"That could be our link sir." Riza suggested.

"As unlikely as it is, it could be just a coincidence." Roy frowned. "We're going to need more concrete evidence then that Major, even if he's our only lead."

"We just might Brigadier General." Roy looked up to see Falman standing in the door to the office holding a file. "We just got a report from the police, seems one of the city's top automail mechanics, a Ricky Burnett has disappeared."

"For how long?" Roy asked.

"Two days. His wife just filed a missing-person's report." Roy considered this new information quickly.

"I think we have enough to work with now." Roy concluded.

"I've already sent Lieutenants Ross and Brosh to the hotel to support Havoc." Roy smiled inside at Riza's initiative. The phone on Roy's desk started to ring and he swiftly picked it up.

"Brigadier General Roy Mustang speaking." He loves flaunting that title around. Riza frowned. "Yes Lieutenant. We're on our way." Roy hung up the phone and stood up from his desk.

"Sir?" Riza inquired.

"That was Lieutenant Havoc. It seems that our suspect has shown up at the hotel to pay our guest a visit." Before Roy could move, Riza had already gone to retrieve his jacket for him. "I told the Lieutenant to keep an eye on him for now."

"Are we going to the hotel?" Fuery asked.

"Yes, I think it's time I met this Gabriel in person."

"Why are you here?" Winry asked softly, she was sitting on the bed with Den at her feet who was keeping an eye on Gabriel. He had placed his hat on the small desk in the room but remained standing by the window only half facing her.

"There has been a rash of abductions in Central in the last month, mostly State Alchemists but automail mechanics are being targeted now too." He turned to look straight at her. "Did Major Hawkeye not tell you this?" She looked at him in surprise.

"How do you know about Miss Riza?" He turned back to peer out the window.

"It's my job to know these things."

"I didn't know investors are supposed to spy on people." There was a tinge of hostility in her voice but Gabriel only chuckled.

"It was a bad cover I know." He visibly shrugged. "Best I could come up with on such short notice."

"Who are you then Gabriel?" She asked firmly. "Is that even your real name?" He turned and walked to sit down at the chair by the desk while scratching his head.

"No, that's my name. But I can't tell you more then that." He looked at her apologetically.

"Fine." She huffed. "But you know who's behind those abductions don't you?" This caught him off guard, and it showed.

"Yes." She stared at him with an unwavering expression. "I can't tell you who they are either, but let's just say they're the bad guys where I come from." Winry frowned in frustration.

"And of course, you're not going to tell me where you're from either." He nodded at her. No one tells me anything, not the Major, not him, not even Ed and Al. "Well, what can you tell me?" She was almost at the limit of her patience.

"You're in danger." He sounded very serious all of a sudden. "They've only taken State Alchemists before, six of them so far. But they took an automail mechanic the other day." He looked her straight in the eye. "And you may be next." Her jaw dropped.

"Why… why me?"

"It's probably because you're one of the best in the trade." They really want that technology.

"So, that's why I feel like somebody's been watching me." She lowered her eyes to the floor. "And you've been watching me too haven't you?"

"Yes." He turned his eyes away also.

"Is that why you're here? To spy on me?" He paused for a bit to try to think of a response, but could not come up with anything other then the truth.

"I want to protect you Winry." He had to choke the words out; she looked up and noticed that he was blushing.

"Is that your also your job?" She asked more gently this time. He still avoided eye contact.

"No."

"Then why…"

"I knew someone like you once." He paused to take a deep breath while keeping his eyes cast downwards. "I promised her I would protect her, and I didn't." He voice was gradually getting lower. "She waited and waited for me to get her but I let her down." He finally looked at her, and his face was one of that in pain. "I failed her."

"Gabriel." She said with sympathy.

"No, I'm sorry." He cleared his face then stood up and started for the desk. "I shouldn't have tried to burden you with my past." He grabbed his hat and started towards the door.

"Wait." She stood up to stop him; he did when he reached the doorknob.

"Winry." He turned to look at her once more after putting his fedora back on. "Some big things are going to happen very soon. It's already started, and I can't stop it." He warned.

"What do you mean?" She pleaded, and again he looked at her apologetically.

"You'll know when you see it." He opened the door to leave. "Take care of yourself, and be careful." He stepped out and started closing the door. "Goodbye Winry."

Gabriel's words had caused a sudden flood of memories to come rushing back. Winry retreated several steps before sitting down on the bed again. She felt a torrent of conflicting emotions, her fear at Gabriel's warnings, the worry she had felt waiting for Edward, and the pain of being shut out by the Elric brothers so they could shoulder their burden alone. Her eyes begin to well up and tears started to flow down her cheeks, Den licked her hand to try and comfort her but she couldn't hold it in anymore.

Outside in the hallway Gabriel looked down and sighed deeply to himself. He turned to walk but was suddenly stopped by someone in a blue military uniform.

"Gabriel Mackenzie." Havoc started, Gabriel kept his head down. "We're going to have to detain you for questioning." Suddenly in a flash, Gabriel's left hand was at Havoc's neck, tucked in between his fingers was the shiny glint of a knife at his throat. Havoc swallowed hard.

"I think you're going to want to let me go." Gabriel said calmly without looking up. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Havoc's face.

"Yea… yea I think I will." Havoc choked. The knife vanished as fast as it had appeared and Gabriel strode past Havoc and down the hallway until he was out of sight. Havoc felt his neck with his hands to make sure nothing was cut or missing, than opened the door slightly to peek inside so he can make sure Winry was okay. He saw her still sitting on the bed with Den on her lap quietly sobbing. Havoc closed the door again. I'm not good with women, how am I supposed to handle one that's crying? As if almost on cue, 1st Lieutenant Maria Ross and 2nd Lieutenant Danny Brosh tapped on his shoulder from behind.

"Wha?" Havoc jumped back, nearing crashing into the door. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry sir, Major Hawkeye sent us to assist you." Brosh said as he and Ross saluted him.

"Something wrong?" Ross was able to read Havoc's face. He pointed at the room.

"Yea you guys are late, and she's crying; someone should go and comfort her." Both Havoc and Brosh looked at Ross who just sighed and walked into the room.

Gabriel made it to the lobby before pausing briefly to collect himself. What was I thinking? He slapped his head again. Oh right, I wasn't. He thought sarcastically to himself. Am I trying to replace her with Winry? He already knew the answer to that though. I better report back, and maybe if I asked real nice they'll send someone else to take over. He sighed and started walking again. Why did I get this assignment anyway? They train me to kill people, not to talk to them.

"Going somewhere?" Gabriel stopped at the heavily accented voice and felt something jabbing into his back. Ah damn! He cursed silently and frowned.

"I must be getting rusty to let you Jerries get the drop on me." Gabriel's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Yes, you should be careful not drop your guard like that Colonel." Gabriel felt the gun being jammed into his back relax a little.

"Neither should you." He pivoted with his right foot, his body moved so fast it caught the German by surprise, the man fired his gun but Gabriel was quick enough that the bullet only grazed the back of his trench-coat leaving behind a large cut. As he turned his body, Gabriel extended to swing his right arm and a knife appeared in between his fingers, cleanly slitting the German in the throat.

He had to strafe sideways to avoid the blood squirting from the dying man as he collapsed to the ground. Damn, I didn't think they would move this fast. He looked around and people were screaming or running away from the scene of violence in panic when suddenly the rattle of gunfire further up in the building caught his attention. His reflexes kicked in, and without thinking he launched into a sprint for the stairs. I can't fail again! I won't! He gritted his teeth as the adrenaline started to kick in.

"Hang on Winry!"

To Be Continued…