Disclaimer: Don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. It is the property of Hiromu Arakawa and all related companies.
Chapter 4
All around them, the scenery of the panoramic view blurred by. Mesas and canyons broke out of the Earth's skin, all oil painted a hickory smoke-red. The blue sky stretched on into infinity, with no clouds to scar it. And soon, it would be occupied by secret government bases, UFO crash sites, and Las Vegas, but who cares?
Up ahead stood Fort Habablab, a simple, wooden structure, with sentried guards outside and in the watchtower, scanning for trouble. As the group rode up, with Armstrong carrying his horse piggy-backed, the sentries saluted, and the doors thundered opened. As they walked by, one of them looked at Riza's buttocks, and gave the thumbs up.
Hundreds of military enlistees were training in the fine arts of combat, all in neat, square rows. Most were testing out the newest edition of Winchester bolt-action rifles, and missing badly. By feet. A drill sergeant was shot in the nuts. The poor man doubled-over in pain, holding his sweet package.
Murmurs were snaking around the base at the presence of Hawkeye Jane. Her legend had stretched across the country. Parents told their children about her many escapades at bedtime. Young men joined the service just to (or try to) meet her. They dreamed about her at night, a lot of them sexual. And she had her own fan club of young girls who wanted to be her.
In fact, Riza Hawkeye had blazed a path for feminism. She enlisted at age sixteen, two years before the requirement, becoming the first female soldier in U.S. history. And for good reason. She completed her training in half the required time, and broke every record for speed and accuracy. Her marksmanship was matched only be Hughes' knowledge of bladed weapons and close combat. So, because of their incredible skills, and because the military felt that they could be bettered used as special agents, they both teamed up, working with the service (and thankfully outside of its jurisdiction). Together, they both blazed a trail of justice!
The men started to clap and cheer for her. One soldier stuck his head out of the outhouse, releasing the smells. People in the brig ran to the bars just to get a look. A mob was clamoring for autographs.
"She touched me!" screamed one man. He ripped his hair out and ate it.
As they went up the left-hand stairs leading to the top floor, she blew a kiss. The crowd erupted, with men clamoring over each other, punching and biting each other just for those imaginary lips. Hughes jumped in front and pointed to himself. It grew so quiet, so quickly that crickets were chirping.
"Who's that guy?"
"Get outta here, ya bum."
"Nobody wants you."
"She's made for me, not you!"
Hughes walked off dejected. Sucks for him.
They made their way down a small foyer, so cramped that Armstrong had to walk sideways. They entered on a door on the left, and went into the central control room. The placed was covered with maps, wanted posters, and the like. Soldiers were buzzing back and forth, barking and gagging up orders, some working the new-fangled invention called the telegraph. Each made a double-take when they saw Hawkeye.
They walked over to a mousy, bespectacled girl working on….something I dunno. I'm not a receptionist. She looked out of place though, with the big, tough men.
"Lieutenant colonel Mustang, how was your trip. Did the coyotes come back?"
"Hello Sciezka. It was good."
About those coyotes. See, a year ago, Mustang was stranded in the desert when a pack of coyotes almost mauled him to death. As he was recuperating in the medical ward, he hallucinated wildly. He saw, or thought he saw, a talking bear, whispering in his ear a plan for revenge. Months later, he discovered the same pack of coyotes, doused them with gunpowder, lit a match, and watched as they exploded into pieces. He became a pyromaniac ever since.
"Oh yes, there are two boys waiting in the room. They said they knew Riza."
She just rolled her eyes in disgust, since they disobeyed her again. Sure enough, when they walked in, there were the brothers, Russell and Fletcher Wallace, picking up and screwing with the various knickknacks. They couldn't keep their hands to themselves.
"Heh Riza," said big brother Russell, placing back an award on the shelf. It was off balance, and fell and shattered on the floor. Mustang ran over with tears in his eyes, cradling the fragments of the trophy. He had won it in a hot dog eating contest.
"Didn't know you were coming back so soon. Me and Fletcher were…"
"I told you two to wait for us at the train," she tore back.
"C'mon, we're old enough to…"
"I don't care if you're one-hundred, the both of you. Now go outside."
"Yes ma'am."
The brothers knew that this was no time to argue. When she wanted to, Riza could be quite motherly and nagging. So they left like whipped dogs, while Roy placed the remains on his desk.
"Roy," said Armstrong.
Mustang snapped back into reality.
"Oh yes, that."
He pushed everything to the floor, and unleashed a huge map on the desk. He unfurled it, showing the entire state of Texas.
"A few weeks ago, our intelligence sources detected a strange event ten miles from here. Apparently, some people have witnessed weird occurrences at an abandoned mine."
He pointed to the site on the map. Sure enough, it was in close proximity.
"There have been an alarming rate of disappearances near the location."
"So?" asked Hawkeye. "I know that place. A lot of people have been vanishing there for years. Let the local authorities handle it."
Hughes wasn't really listening. He was juggling was knives.
"That's not the only factor," boomed Armstrong.
He did that on purpose, to make Hughes stop. Maes was startled awake, and dropped his toys. One fell on the floor, blade down. He covered his mouth to muffle his yell, and tumbled backwards in his chair.
Armstrong continued.
"People have been witnessing a strange, red aura emanating from the mine. Livestock, wild animals, and even people have died around this vicinity. Now you may ask why no one has noticed this until a few weeks ago. Well, this event only occurred a few weeks ago. You're right Riza in that people have vanished there for years, but there were so few clues left afterwards that the authorities just gave up. They figured that it was just a crew of bandits capturing people for ransom. In any case, it was ignored for years."
"It could be a spaceship."
It was a younger voice. Everyone turned around to see Fletcher standing idly with the door open.
"A spaceship made by scientists to go to the moon. Like in the Jules Verne books."
Riza just shook with rage, and loomed over the boy, growing rapidly into a giant. Figuratively, though.
"DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO STAY OUTSIDE? NOW STOP LISTENING THROUGH THE DOOR!"
Fletcher quickly slammed the door, scared half to death. Russell almost whizzed himself laughing.
"That's funny," said Roy. So, Hawkeye, what d'ya say? Take the case?"
"Don't worry. Maes and I are on it, right?"
Meas smiled weakly through the pain.
Once outside, Mustang continued to brief them.
"Alex and I will be training three combat regiments near the mine. If you need any assistance, send a telegram or something."
He saluted the two. Riza shook her head casually, smiling.
"Don't work for you now, remember?"
"Oh."
He mounted the horse, and then twisted around, just remembering something.
"Oh yeah, almost forgot. The President will be in Dallas three days from now. I don't know if it's correlated, but he might be in some sort of danger with this thing. Its only seventy-six miles from here."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Good luck to the both of you."
"Happy trails," said Maes.
Roy went to full gallop, while Armstrong's horse was still dragging itself. It would die after one mile.