"He is gone, Roy," Hughes called from the other side of the wall a moment later.
Mustang and Hawkeye looked at each other then joined Hughes and Havoc on the other side of the wall.
Havoc eyed the wall. "He didn't...transmute himself did he? Can you alchemists do that?"
"No, we can't," Mustang said. "He has to be somewhere nearby."
"Freeze! Identify yourselves," a voice barked.
Hughes turned around to face the speaker, a stocky soldier in a blue uniform, with his hands on his head.
"Well, which is it? Freeze or identify ourselves," Hughes asked.
The soldier's face flushed red and pointed his guns in Hughes' face, but Mustang stepped forward and put a hand on the soldier's arm.
"My name is Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang. That is the only name that should matter to you," he said.
The soldier lowered his gun, but his eyes narrowed. "We set up a perimeter around this block. How did you get past it, Sir?"
"The fact that half of your perimeter is now scattered in pieces around this courtyard might have something to do with it," Hawkeye said.
The soldier turned his eyes on her and saluted, "Lieutenant Hawkeye, pleasure to see you again, Ma'am."
Mustang shot Hawkeye a look.
"Why does she get more respect even after I pull rank?" he muttered.
"Has anyone other then us been spotted in this block or coming out of it?" Hawkeye asked.
The soldier frowned.
"No. Just you four. I will return to my post now. I know you can keep these three well in hand," he said.
"So Kimblee didn't use the street to get away. Spread out and search among the rubble. Maybe he left some clue behind," Mustang ordered.
"Roy," Hughes said a few seconds later.
Mustang joined Hughes and saw a bronze man-hole cover in the street not far from the wall Kimblee had erected.
"He is in the sewers," Mustang said.
Hughes and Havoc pried up the man-hole cover and peered down into the hole underneath it.
Hughes gagged from the smell, but Mustang had eyes only for the water dripping from the walls and ceiling of the sewer.
"Nothing for it then," Hughes said, climbing down into the sewer.
Havoc sighed then quickly made his way down the ladder set in the side of the sewer wall and jumped the last two feet to the floor. He landed in ankle deep in a puddle of dirty water with a splash.
Hawkeye followed more slowly, avoiding the puddle in which the dripping and unhappy Havoc now stood.
"Come on, Lieutenant Colonel. Down in the ick with the rest of us," Havoc said.
Mustang didn't move.
Havoc grinned. "What? Are you afraid of spoiling your pretty boy looks?"
"It isn't that...it is. Never mind," Mustang said.
Hawkeye, the only other person to understand the reason for Mustang's hesitation, gave him a firm look.
"We might encounter Kimblee down here and have to fight for our lives. They should know," She said.
Mustang grimaced, but he knew she was right.
"My alchemy...doesn't work when I am wet," he admitted.
Havoc blinked for a moment and then his grin widened, spreading from ear to ear. He put a hand to one of his right ear.
"I am sorry, Lieutenant Colonel. What did you say?"
"You know what I said and I am not repeating it," Mustang snapped.
"Keep your hands in your pockets, Sir," Hawkeye advised. "I will watch your back."
Mustang relaxed. He knew he could trust Hawkeye.
Mustang carefully lowered himself down into sewer then quickly shoved his hands in his pockets.
Havoc snorted in amusement and derision, but Hughes gave Mustang a sympathetic look before pulling out a flashlight and shining it into the darkness further in the sewer. He led the little group with Havoc behind him followed by Mustang. Hawkeye was brought up the rear. She held two pistols while Havoc and Hughes each held one.
"Hey, Lieutenant Colonel. I dropped my matches. Would you mind giving me a light?" Havoc asked.
"Shut up, Lieutenant," Mustang snapped.
"But I am just dying to have a cigarette," Havoc said.
"Do as the Lieutenant Colonel says. Do you want Kimblee to hear us coming?" Hawkeye said.
"Roy, I think you should see this," Hughes called from up ahead.
Mustang pushed past Havoc and joined Hughes.
Hughes pointed at the wall which turned sharply to the right.
Mustang examined the wall in the light of his friend's flashlight.
"Transmutation marks," Mustang noted.
Hughes pointed to the far wall which bore the same marks.
"There are no signs of an explosion so," Hawkeye began.
"The question is: what did Kimblee do?" Mustang finished.
Hughes frowned thoughtfully as he looked at the walls. "I am going to radio headquarters for a map. If Kimblee wasn't blowing the walls up then he could have changed their course. But why? The Crimson Alchemist never struck me as the city improvement type."
Havoc pulled out a knife and scratched the wall with it.
"Might as well know where we have been. I will scratch an X at ever corner we come to while Hughes takes the lead, Hawkeye guards the rear, and the Lieutenant Colonel stays in the middle thinking very dry thoughts," Havoc said.
Mustang glared at Havoc, but nodded and the four soldiers got moving. They stopped at every corner and Havoc scratched an X. Mustang examined the walls as they walked, mentally noting spots where they encountered transmutations marks.
