"Mustang." The man standing at the door glanced over the rim of his glasses, acknowledging Roy. The Colonel smiled coyly back, opening the door even more.
"Knox." The older doctor entered the room, black bag in hand. "Glad you could make it here so quickly." The doctor waved his hand back and forth as he walked past Roy.
"Yeah yeah, so where's he at?" He shuffled over to the couch. Riza and Alphonse watched him as he stared down at Ed.
"He collapsed earlier." Roy closed the door and walked over, hands stuffed in his pockets. Dr. Knox let out a sigh before bringing his eyes back up to the other two people standing nearby.
"I need you two out of the room." There was the sound of a gasp from Al's helmet as Hawkeye nodded back in agreement.
"Come along Alphonse. It'll be fine." She walked behind him and would have been pushing him if he didn't move. Once they were out of the room, Knox pulled his coat off and tossed it aside.
"So other then he collapsed, you don't have any idea what's wrong with him?" He rolled up his sleeves as he spoke. Roy took his same seat on the other couch.
"To be honest I guess he didn't look well to begin with but we were having a conversation and he stopped in the middle of it."
"Just out of curiosity, do you think this has anything to do with alchemy? Not that I know anything about it, just wondering." The question reminded the Colonel about Ferguson and what Al had said happened. He sat there, mulling over his thoughts while Knox looked through his bag.
"But how could something not take affect till now?" Roy's voice came out slightly above a whisper. His friend turned and raised an eyebrow as he pulled out his stethoscope.
"Talking to yourself again, huh Roy?"
"Just thinking out loud." Knox turned back, untucking Ed's tank top and checking his heart beat. Mustang became lost in his thoughts as he wondered if this really did have anything to do with Ferguson. This didn't seem like just normal fatigue from a stressful trip. The Elrics were notorious for landing themselves into all sorts of trouble in the past. The Colonel had more reports filed away to prove the point.
This had never happened in the past. He contemplated speaking with the crazed Alchemist but he wasn't sure if he'd get any information out of him or if he'd just cut his loses and beat the man senseless. Both idea's seemed appealing right now. Watching Knox checking every vital he could think of brought an unsettling feeling to Roy's stomach. Edward looked beyond life and if the prognosis was bad, there wouldn't be any other option left but to seek out the maniac they'd just taken into custody. Several more minutes passed before Knox cleared his throat, pulling Mustang back to reality.
"He's not doing soo great. Pulse is weak, shallow breathing, an erratic heart beat. Where as I can't find any source of what's causing it, if these symptoms continue you'll have to bring him to the hospital." The bad news was what he needed to make his decision. Standing up, the Colonel nodded and headed for the door.
"Can you stay till I get back?" Dr. Knox nodded as he pulled his glasses off his face and let out a sigh.
"Like anyone's waiting for me. Just don't be too long." With that, he left the office, moving past Al and Riza without stopping. The look in his eyes kept them or anyone else for that matter from asking what was going on.
oOoOo
"I'll ask one more time, what the hell did you do to my subordinate." Ferguson's manner revealed that he was enjoying this too much. Just the thought of him getting some kind of entertainment from this caused the Colonel to grit his teeth.
"Such a shame I wasn't around to see it. To be honest I wasn't sure if it would even work but from how desperate you're coming across, obviously my theory was correct."
"I already know what you did back at the lab. Does this have to do with that?"
"But I did a great deal back there, before you all blew up my research that is. I'd say this is a fair exchange don't you? A lifetime's worth of work for what? Some smart mouthed kid?" Roy had to catch himself before he let his anger boil over. Ferguson knew what buttons to push and he wouldn't let him get the better of him.
"Well you tell me, you were the one soo interested in him. You know just as much as I do, he's more then that." Ferguson's appearance remained unchanged although he agreed.
"It's not like it's enough to kill him, promise."
"Then just tell me what you did so I can fix it."
"But that would be too easy." The Colonel sucked in a quick breath, trying to think straight. There had to be a way to get Ferguson to tell him.
"Alright, we can do this one of two ways. You can either live the rest of your life in confinement or be sentence for death for killing all those soldiers we sent after you. It's your call. And considering what you know, I don't have a problem letting you hang." Mustang's gaze had become dark with a flicker of madness matching that of the man behind the solid door. As much as Ferguson wanted to call his bluff, he had a feeling that he was sincere. Even so, he grinned none the less, almost to the point of laughing at the offer.
"You're in on it too. All I have to do is tell the military that you know all about those two brothers. Then I get all of you in trouble. What, you thought I would go down alone?" His cackling laugh echoed off the walls however the Colonel was not intimidated.
"Really? Is that the best you've got?" The man inside the cell paused, anger now replacing his laid back demeanor.
"Is this how you always act when being threatened?" Roy brought his face even closer to the window, causing Ferguson to take a step back.
"How about this, if you tell me what I need to know, I'll let you live in confinement and in one piece."
"What? So you're threatening me now?" His anger grew even more.
"Sorry I didn't make myself clear. You can tell me or I can burn your mouth so bad, you won't be able to say anything to anyone else ever again."
"W..what?" Ferguson backed up even more.
"Don't you know who you're dealing with? I didn't make it this far up the ranks without having to get my hands dirty." In order to make his point he brought his hand up, fingers poised to strike at any second. "This is your last chance." His words came out in a low threatening tone.
A/N-gotta love a slightly crazy Mustang, hehe. And now the reviews! It'd be great to get up the thirty but I'm not picky, really.