Day Five: Conspiracy
(Note: Some dialogue taken from the manga, some from the anime. Rated T for language.)
The universe, Roy decides, must be conspiring against him.
(Heh. Conspiring against the conspiracy. Fitting.)
"Elizabeth?" he asks, ignoring the concerned looks of the officers in the room. "Hey! Elizabeth!"
His only answer comes in gunshots, a staccato drumbeat that paints a clear picture of events and reminds him too much of a similar phone call. No. Not again. Never again. He slams the receiver down and is gone before the other officers can blink. No. No, this isn't supposed to happen. Hawkeye's their eye in the sky, she's not in the field, not on the ground. She's not supposed to have any fucking customers!
Even now he thinks in their code, and if the situation weren't so completely and utterly fucked up, he would laugh. He had laughed, when Riza had suggested the codenames. She was—is, his mind screams—funnier than most give her credit for.
Jacqueline. Kate. Elizabeth. His "girls," his team. They're in danger, they're at risk, and it is entirely his fault. Why in God's name had he agreed to stay in his office while they went out in the field? His only line to them is telephone, and that is a sorry excuse for a lifeline.
A good leader doesn't hide behind his men. He leads them, even into danger. But how can he lead them across town, with only a mind and a voice?
He spots a car idling outside of Central Command. The universe, while conspiring, is not so cruel as to leave him without one. Roy feels no guilt in sliding behind the wheel and pulling away, and while that should bother him, it doesn't. He'd read somewhere that excess of loyalty can be a fault. Roy doesn't hold to the same philosophy.
Horns screech and people yell as he races by, but their complaints are the furthest things from his mind. His foot presses the accelerator into the floor, his hands yank at the wheel, and his mind tries fruitlessly to stop playing every gruesome variation of what those gunshots meant.
A bright flash of light finally breaks his focus, and he looks up to see a flare light the sky in front of him.
"Dammit!" he yells, striking the wheel with an open hand. This wasn't supposed to happen like this, everything was supposed to be under control, he can't lose them like he has lost before, he will not let that happen…
His jaw aches from grinding his teeth together.
He almost misses the tower they're in, only screeching to a stop after he's passed the door. The car rumbles unhappily as he leaves it behind. Dimly he thinks that it would be easy to steal like that, and then where would they be, but of course he doesn't turn back to take the keys.
Gunshots bounce off the stone walls of the tower. It sounds like an entire battalion is doing battle at the top, but he knows that it can only be the echo. But that doesn't help his nerves.
He takes the steps two at a time, somehow managing to shove his gloves on without tripping. As he reaches the last landing, the gunshots are replaced with the infinitely more horrifying click of firing pins striking empty chambers.
"No more?" comes a high-pitched rasp. "Out of bullets?"
Roy forces himself to slow and climbs the last stretch of stairs silently. He can see the profiles of Riza to his right, Fuery to his left. A man larger than Roy has ever seen (with the possible exception of Armstrong) stands in front of them, back to the tower window. "Bon appetite," the man growls, reaching forward.
Roy flings his hand out and snaps.
A spark skips through the air, leading a trail of flame that engulfs the man entirely, throwing him out the tower in a fiery explosion. He crashes to the ground below, and there is silence. Roy's heart gallops against his ribs, both from relief and adrenaline.
He'd made it.
"Co-Colonel!" This is the first time Roy has ever heard Riza stutter, and he doesn't like it.
'What was that thing?" Fuery says shakily, lowering his gun and cautiously approaching the blown-out wall. He peers down at the wreckage. "First Lieutenant, are you hurt…?"
His question goes unanswered as Riza rounds on Roy, eyes blazing with fury. "Why the hell did you leave your post?!"
Roy winces. He really should have anticipated this, but he'd been so caught up in getting here that he hadn't considered the after.
"No matter what happened to us, you could still have kept your involvement a secret!" Riza yells, face shoved in his. "That was the whole idea, right? But you just come waltzing in here, plain as day! Are you a complete idiot?!"
"Yeah, fine, that's it; I'm an idiot. Happy?" Roy grumbles, rubbing his ear. He won't apologize for what he did, though, and he wouldn't have changed his actions for anything.
Roy sets Fuery to work, and the two climb down the stairs to join the others. Despite the close call they've just avoided, there is still work to be done here. Time (and the ever-conspiring universe) doesn't stop, even for narrow escapes. They'll just have to take their breaths when they can.
"First Lieutenant." He has to say something, but doesn't know what even as he hails her.
"Yes?"
The words spill from his mouth in a rush. "I'm glad you're alive." They sound silly, now that he's said them. But as much as he wants to see her reaction he keeps his head forward and his feet moving. There is something else in between the words, he thinks, something he's not quite sure he should admit.
"I'm sorry I worried you," she answers, and maybe there is something in between her words, something that mirrors Roy's own subtext.
When Roy leaves the tower to find the car exactly where he left it, engine purring and ready for pursuit, he thinks that the universe he's been so quick to accuse of conspiring is a little kinder than he gave it credit for.