When Chased
Disclaimer: Characters and setting are the property of Hiromu Arakawa. I'm just borrowing them for a bit of non-profit angst.
Notes: Sorry this took so long, first Ranma stole my muse then real life stole all my writing time. I'm still pretty busy but hopefully I'll be able to establish some sort of regular schedule again.
Lt. Colonel Frank Archer smiled grimly as he gestured for his new unit to follow him. Ever since he'd arrived at the Eastern Command it had been one thing after another: His bags were transferred to the wrong train. His paperwork had been misfiled. A water pipe broke in his new quarters. His new second sent every member of his staff on extended recognizance missions the day before he was scheduled to arrive. His orders recalling them went astray. The last four leads he'd followed up on had been unsubstantiated rumor and Lt. Hawkeye's dog had it in for him. But things were looking up. According to the local Innkeeper a pair matching Mustang and Eldric's descriptions had roomed there the previous night. The boy's current whereabouts were unknown but the man was in the tavern.
"Just remember this is your one chance. If you let Mustang slip my noose I'll happily put it around your necks," Archer said coldly.
"Understood sir," Lt. Hawkeye replied without expression.
Breda and Fury came to attention sharply.
"What she said," Lt. Havok replied with a nod toward Hawkeye.
Archer gave them a skeptical look. "You've been warned," he said then burst through the doors to the tavern. It was empty except for Roy Mustang, who sat casually with his back to the bar, waiting. "Archer," Mustang greeted his successor calmly, his pristine white gloves practically glowed in the dimly lit bar.
For one critical second Archer froze. 'Mustang was a fugitive, he wasn't supposed to be the one setting traps!' Archer thought.
The sound of Mustang's fingers snapping broke Archer out of his momentary hesitation but it was much too late. The spark leapt from Mustang's glove to zig-zag across the room like a demented firefly. A foot from Archer's nose it rapidly expanded into a ball of flames. The flash blinded all five members of the unit, the shockwave flung Archer back through the doors and into one of the posts supporting the porch.
A hand closed lightly on Riza Hawkeye's shoulder as she squinted and blinked in an effort to clear the spots from her vision. "Best make it look good," an amused voice instructed then she heard Roy run toward the door. Her eyes still watering, Riza drew her gun and ran after him. Outside she knelt beside Archer's limp body and braced her forearms on the low railing to steady her aim then she emptied her clip.
Roy never flinched or glanced back as each of her shots missed him by a matter of inches.
"Our esteemed new commander is out cold," Havoc reported.
"I am certain he would order us to leave him behind to pursue the Colonel," Hawkeye said.
"And even if he didn't the Fuhrer personally ordered us to go after Roy," Havoc said, suppressed laughter under-laid his tone. "Hey you!" he yelled to a passerby on the street. "The Lt. Colonel here took a pretty bad hit. Make sure he sees a doctor before coming after us okay?"
"Let's go," Hawkeye said.
The chase was long and involved much gunfire and many explosions before leading out of town. Suddenly Black Hayate started barking excitedly and raced ahead of the four officers.
Breda cringed at the sudden noise from the dog. "What's with him?"
"I believe-" Hawkeye began only to be cut off as she was snatched from behind.
"Boo," Roy laughed.
"Sir, this is completely improper," Riza protested.
"I'm not your commanding officer at the moment," Roy remarked. "It would be remiss of me not to take advantage of the situation."
"Well, at least it's not my girlfriend he's stalking this time," Havoc said with a slight grin.
"What I want to know is why I had to stay here and miss all the fun," Ed announced as he walked up to the group. His flesh fingers were buried in Black Hayate's ruff and the dog was leaning against him affectionately.
"Because I said so," Roy declared and released Riza. "I couldn't be sure who Archer would take with him until he was there, it was too dangerous."
"Edward's condition seems to be improving," Hawkeye remarked quietly to Roy while the others greeted Ed affectionately.
"He's turning back into his old, mulishly stubborn, independent self," Roy confirmed. "God, he's going to be the death of me. How do I keep him safe when he won't want to be protected for much longer?"
Riza smiled. "He's becoming a teenager again. This time you can let Lt. Colonel Hughes know what he has to look forward to," she said as she went to join the others clustered around Ed.
"Cut it out!" Ed protested as Havoc draped an arm around his shoulders and cheerfully ruffled his hair.
"Good to see you in one piece kiddo," Havoc said.
"Don't call me 'kid'," Ed complained.
Havoc laughed and tightened his grip on Ed as the boy sputtered and struggled against the affectionate teasing.
"Er, um… Where's Al?" Ed asked. "I, um, I don't know, I though he was with you?"
"Al's in Risembool," Breda answered evasively.
"Oh." Ed hesitated. "That makes sense; someone has to look out for Winry and Auntie Pinako."
"Well, let's hear it," Roy said to his staff.
After a moment's hesitation Havoc stepped forward. "Lt. General Gruman is still a friend of yours. He finds our spin on recent events more palatable than the official one. If we can offer proof that the Fuhrer is a homunculus Gruman will take action against him."
"If Bradley were human he'd be dead now," Roy stated. "Hughes will find the proof for us."
"Fuery stepped up next. "Rearranging personnel is going smoothly. Roughly sixty percent of the troops assigned to General Gruman are with us. I'm also building up an excess of guns and armaments."
"Excellent work," Roy said. "Breda?"
"Give me three days advance notice and every rail line connecting Eastern with the other sectors will be demolished. I'm making preparations to fortify our boarders as soon as we declare them."
"Very good."
"Sir," Hawkeye said. "Lior is going to be a problem. The units stationed there report directly to General Hakuro and not Lt. General Gruman. They are loyal to him."
"Have you contacted the rebel forces?"
"I'm working on it sir, however I doubt they have sufficient numbers remaining to be a significant factor," Hawkeye replied.
"Understood, continue your efforts. We need the support of the civilian officials." Roy dug a list out of his pocket. "Ed and I have made contact with these individuals. They're favorable to my proposal but it would help their morale to see that I've got support from a faction in the military. I'll be sending you additional information using a similar cipher to the one I use for my alchemy research, Havoc, your black book will have the key."
Havoc snorted and shook his head. "Yeah, I remember which ones you stole. You better make this look good. Archer's just waiting for an excuse."
"Right. Draw your weapons. Ed, get a hold of Black Hayate, he doesn't need to get caught in the explosion," Roy said. "Everyone remembered to fire a couple of rounds?"
Fuery colored as he aimed his gun off to the side and fired.
Riza felt a faint breeze as the air around her began to move.
"Later," Breda said with a wave.
Roy snapped his fingers several times in a quick succession, tearing up the landscape and scattering his officers like bowling pins. "Time to go, Ed," he said quietly.
