A/N: Well, this came sooner than I anticipated because I broke two of my toes yesterday and am now sitting with my foot taped up in front of the computer. My toes hurt real bad, so I hope you enjoy this chapter! If anyone notices the Star Wars quotes, I'll give you a cookie!

"The newbie seems to be doing alright." Fedora-man stood at attention in full uniform, his ever-present hat in one hand. "We had a slight complication, however."

Maes leaned across the desk. "Tell me," he ordered.

"The Fullmetal Alchemist recognized Riza this afternoon. He almost blew the entire operation."

"Shit. Perceptive kid."

"Do you think he'll interfere?"

Maes shook his head thoughtfully. "You never know with Ed. You'll think he's doing one thing, and POOF! turns out he was doing something different all together." He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I'll talk to him."

"With all due respect sir, do you think that's wise? Bringing Fullmetal into the fold, I mean."

Hughes shook his head again, slowly. "I don't think we can risk him not being in the know."

"Shall I continue to shadow Miss Hawkeye?"

He nodded. "We need a break in this case. I think-"

They could hear Sheska arguing loudly with someone. "The Lieutenant Colonel is not to be-"

A woman with short dark brown hair and wearing a Military uniform burst through and began searching Hughes' office without regard for the two men already in it.

"Disturbed," Sheska finished, hanging her head.

"Dammit, not here," a clearly frustrated Maria Ross muttered furiously. She ran out, slamming the door behind her with such force that the smoked glass shattered.

Maes and his agent gaped as a blond man edged cautiously into view. A sheepish-looking Denny Bloch saluted warily. "We're sorry, sirs, but Fullmetal's gone missing and-"

"BLOCH!" Maria shouted from some distance away. "Get moving!"

Denny jumped guiltily and dashed after her. "Coming!" In his haste he tripped on the stairs. "Waaah-!"

Crash.

Maes looked up from the broken glass on the floor. "Remind you of Hawkeye?"

Fedora-man just blinked.

-xXx-

"Brother, are you sure we should be doing this?" Alphonse whispered as if he were afraid of being overheard. "You know how Lieutenant Ross gets when she can't find us." The two stood in an alley; Al was hunched over as if that would make him inconspicuous.

Edward nodded once. "Of course I'm sure, Al. I'm going to get to the bottom of this."

"But why? This isn't really our problem."

"I want to know what's going on."

"Why don't we just ask the Lieutenant Colonel? He always seems to know a little about everything."

"Hughes? That's the first place those two will look for us. Besides, he's been busy since Elysia was threatened."

"But why are we hiding from the Sergeant and the Lieutenant in the first place? Brother, I'm confused," Alphonse added pathetically.

"You know how they get," Edward put his hands on his hips and imitated Maria. "'Children should not get involved in State affairs. Especially ones that are too big for them to understand.' And then, she'll hit me! She's almost as bad as Winry!"

"She's not as bad as Teacher, though."

Ed shuddered. "True. And at least Ross doesn't hit me."

"I heard that Lieutenant Hawkeye uses her gun to 'motivate' Colonel Mustang."

"Where'd you hear that?"

Alphonse shuffled his feet. "Lieutenant Havoc."

"He's not a reliable source, Al."

"But Fuery said it too! And so did Breda and Falman! And Falman doesn't lie," he finished solemnly.

"You're right, Al. I don't think that guy knows how to lie. He's too literal."

"Anyway," Alphonse said, getting back on topic. "About Lieutenant Hawkeye... I have an idea."

"Let's hear it."

"Why don't we call Colonel Mustang and ask him what he knows? It might not have been Hawkeye you saw?"

Edward sighed. "Fine, we'll call Mustang. Happy?"

-xXx-

Roy was presently amusing himself by seeing how many different animals he could fashion out of flames when the phone rang. He contemplated ignoring it, but in the end picked it up. "Colonel Mustang, go ahead."

"Colonel Shit, just the man I wanted to talk to!"

Roy smirked. "Is Al letting you sit on his shoulders so you can reach the payphone, Fullmetal?"

The barb had the desired effect. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING-"

Another voice took the line. "Umm, Colonel?" Edward could still be heard screaming incoherently in the background.

"What is it, Alphonse?" Roy leaned across his desk as if it could bring him closer to the boy.

"Could we speak to Lieutenant Hawkeye, please?" Edward had stopped yelling and was pressed up against the phone.

Roy blinked and leaned back as far as the phone's cord would let him. "She resigned a few days ago..."

"Oh." Alphonse sounded subdued. "You don't say."

"What's going on, Al?" He could faintly hear Ed demanding to be given the phone.

"We were rather hoping you knew, sir."

"Give me the phone!" There was a loud thunk Roy assumed was the sound of a phone being whacked against Al's armor, then Ed's voice came on the line. "Did Hawkeye say why she resigned? It doesn't sound like her."

"No, she didn't. Why?"

Edward paused, then told the Colonel all he knew- which wasn't much, granted, but Roy listened anyway. "...And so we're going to dig around and see what we can find out," he finished. "See, I told you this was worth investigating!" he whispered triumphantly to Al.

"Investiga-" Roy suddenly made a connection and snapped his fingers, producing a spark. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Fullmetal. I would assume you are not with your assigned bodyguards, so be careful. I have a bad feeling about this."

"What is it?"

"I'm not sure, but this whole situation is making me uneasy. I'm going to talk to Hughes, I think he probably knows something about this. Where should I contact you two?"

Edward looked at his brother. "I don't know where we'll be, so just leave a message at Central HQ."

"Alright. Let me say this again- be careful. IF this really is what I think it is..." he trailed off.

"You got it- there's no way I'm dying before you do."

"Bye, Colonel," Alphonse said quickly before Ed hung up the phone.

Roy dropped the handset onto the receiver, then almost immediately picked it up and dialed Hughes.

-xXx-

Sheska was sweeping the floor to remove the shattered glass when the phone rang. She wiped her forehead and leaned over to grab it. Unfortunately, she lost her balance and went skidding across the floor- straight into a very surprised Vato Falman, who was forced to step back to absorb Sheska's momentum without falling over, the papers he was carrying flying through the air.

"I'm so sorry!" Sheska gushed, blinking her large brown eyes rapidly. "I didn't mean to, oh, I'm so clumsy, what am I going to do, am I going to get fired? Ahh! I can't get fired, I just got here! Ahh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please don't let me get fired!"

Vato stood there with his mouth open, looking down at the small woman that had been thrust into him. He didn't know so many words could spill out of one person's mouth at that speed. "Umm, the phone?" he said lamely after a second.

"Oh! Right!" Sheska went skidding across the floor and grabbed the phone. "Lieutenant Colonel Hughes' office... yes sir, he's right here... yes, I'll patch you through right away, sir."

Inside the office, Vato heard Hughes answer the phone, and then he bent down and started gathering the papers that had scattered.

"Oh! I'll help you with that!" Sheska said quickly, brushing glass out of the way so she could kneel and grab some papers. "It's my fault you dropped them, anyway."

"Thank you, Miss..." he paused.

"Sheska," she answered. "And you're Warrant Officer Falman, right? You work under the Lieutenant Colonel."

"Vato."

"Huh?"

"My name. You can call me Vato."

"Vato. That's a nice name," Sheska grinned at the tall man.

Vato shrugged noncommittally.

"I'm sorry for making you drop all your papers," Sheska said sadly.

He laughed quietly. "I told you, it's alright." Vato looked over to her desk and paused, seeing a book. "You're reading Crimson Angel?"

"Not during work!" she protested.

"It's my favorite book!" Falman said happily. "I didn't think anyone else read spy novels."

"Really?" Sheska's eyes got big.

"Maybe we could... talk about it over lunch sometime," Vato asked hesitantly, then mentally kicked himself. What a dumb line, stupid Vato, who do you think you are, Havoc?

Sheska broke into a large smile. "I'd love to! How 'bout I meet you in the mess hall during lunch break?"

-xXx-

Meanwhile, Hughes sat alone in his office. Fedora-man had left to do whatever it is he does (Maes found it best not to ask what he did when not in uniform), and Maes now found himself about to play 20 Questions with his best friend.

"So, Maes... how's my Lieutenant?"

"What, Havoc?"

"No, not Havoc!"

"Hawkeye, then?" Maes decided to play dumb and feigned a gasp. "Don't tell me... you two are finally together-"

"Hughes!"

"-am I going to be the best man? Honestly, what color should Elysia wear for flower girl? I was thinking some kind of light blue, or maybe-"

"Hughes!"

"-a pale turquoise to set off her eyes! She has eyes like mine, did you notice? Everyone says so-" he held the phone at arm's length in anticipation of what was next.

"HUGHES!" Roy shouted. "I'm being serious, here, where is my Lieutenant?"

Maes sighed and dropped the act. "You remember the conversation we had over the phone during the Hakuro incident?" he asked, referring to when he had been manning the switchboard before a group of terrorists called Eastern Liberation Front Blue Squad had taken over. Hughes had babbled on about how beautiful his wife was until they got confirmation from Intelligence that they weren't being tapped.

There was a short pause. "I remember. The conversation we had about Gracia, right?"

"Exactly," Maes said, relieved.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Do you think Eastern Command can survive without you for a few days?"

"Lieutenant Havoc can take my place for a couple of days, yes."

"Good. I'll see you in Central then. Bye Roy."

Click.

-xXx-

Roy glared at the poor phone, which had raised more questions than answers. It wasn't the telephone's fault, of course, but he briefly considered blowing it up anyway. He restrained himself and called Havoc into his office.

"Yessir?" Jean asked, throwing a rather half-hearted salute as he entered the room.

"I'm going to be in Central for a few days, I need you to hold down the fort while I'm gone."

"Oh?" Jean's eyebrow rose. "Do I get your paycheck for those days, sir?"

"If the Military doesn't compensate you, I'll pay you myself," Roy promised. "Hell, I'll even find you a girlfriend if you want. This is important, Havoc," he said seriously.

Jean considered it and grinned. "Sure, chief." He paused. "Is this trip going to be off-the-record?" he asked, meaning 'Do the higher-ups get to know about your little escapade?'

"Let's play it safe," Roy said. "If any of the higher-ups ask, tell them I took the week off, but do not tell them where I'm going."

"Sure thing." Havoc saluted, then stared down at Mustang.

"What?" Roy looked around, frowning.

"You are in my chair," Jean said haughtily.

Roy laughed and got up, grabbing his coat. "I'll call you when I get back, so no wild parties while I'm gone."

"Dammit, ruins my fun," Jean sat in the chair and started to spin.

Roy grinned as he walked out the door. "Careful with the chair."

"Wha-aaaah!" Jean cried as he toppled backward.

Crash.

-xXx-

The sun was setting as Roy carried his suitcase toward the train station. Time to head out.

End Part Three

A/N: Wow... I didn't realize how long this was until just now. Oops. I also didn't notice until all the crashing going on in the chapter. Another oops. Denny, Falman, Havoc... I love the Military!

But aren't Falman and Sheska CUTE! :shows pictures: "And this is Falman walking toward Sheska in the mess hall, and this is Falman walking into a sliding glass door, and this is Sheska dropping her bowl of soup on the floor, and this- :is killed by Hughes for taking his job:

Hughes: "And now it's my turn!" :whips out pictures as everyone runs screaming: