Ch. 4, Trapped.
"What do you mean he's gone?!"
"Now, Al. I didn't say he was gone-gone, only that we don't know where he's at." Hughes said rubbing his temples in frustration. "We've got all of Mustangs crew on the watch for him right now."
"I'll help! I'll come over right now!"
Hughes sighed. "You'd give up a play date with my daughter just to look for your hot headed brother who's most likely alright?" Hughes said, with a slight hint of threat in his voice.
From the other side of the phone he could hear his precious daughter asking Al to come see what she drew, and suppressed a squeal of delight.
"Um, okay Alicia. Good luck finding my brother, sir!"
"Thanks Al, were going to figure this out soon, I promise." With that Hughes hung up the phone and turned to his left, a small grin on his face. "Of course right now I'd like to figure out just what happened to you."
Roy sat next to him nursing a single glass and holding an ice bag on his head. "I already told you I don't know how I ended up in there." Roy said, wincing from the headache he had. "I went to Ed's dorm, and I woke up with a headache, that's all I remember…"
"That doesn't explain how you ended up inside a makeshift cage, Roy." Hughes said taking a sip of his drink. "Are you sure you don't recall anything before hand?"
Roy looked like he was thinking hard for a second. "I remember him saying something about experimenting…" "Do I want to know the rest?" Hughes asked warily.
"It was the red water stone, you dunce," Roy said giving Hughes the evil eye. "I can't recall what he said he'd done, but I do remember an unusual smell, anything after that is foggy."
"Unusual smell…" Hughes mused staring at the drink in his glass. "I don't know what to make of that, but I hope we can find Ed soon and shed some light on this mystery."
:Meanwhile somewhere between a small office threshold and a crowd of horny infantries:
"Get the hell away from me!" Ed yelled hiding behind a desk, one of Hawkeye's guns in his hand aimed at the lunatics crowding his only exit. Of all the rooms in Central headquarters why did he pick the one with no window?!
"Edward Elric come forth!" Yelled Armstrong, over towering two unknown male and female sergeants and one he knew as Vato Falman. "I wish to further examine that wonderful smell you carry on your person!"
Lucky for Ed one of the sergeants had lodged themselves in the doorframe, sandwiching the big man from making it all the way into the room. Pocketing the gun in his coat Ed Took advantage of the situation, running forward and clapping his hands together quickly.
By the time another soldier came around that area they would see four fellow workers whining miserably, all encased like caterpillars cocooned into the wall across Lieutenant Hawkeye's office.
--
After finding no luck digging around the Second Lieutenant's office for the key he borrowed earlier Ed thought to look inside Hawkeye's room, only to find not only no key but an audience…
A little too excited an audience.
With that over Ed decided he needed to do his own thing and open the doors to the storage block eight his own way. Except…
In his early hurry to escape Hawkeye he had wound up on the fourth floor. Scoffing on the way he stopped by a window to see how far a jump down it would be. Outside the window it seemed like an easy forty or forty-two feet from the window down. With any luck he might roll just right and avoid spraining his ankle. As Ed tried pushing the window open, however, a fresh wave of voices filled the hall.
Gasping Ed pulled on the window faster, cursing as it jammed up. Crying out a sound of frustration he kicked the window with his left foot, causing the glass to shatter to pieces. Before anyone could turn the hall Ed was already out the window, arms eagle spread as he descended to the ground, surprising himself with only a slightly harsh landing that winded him for only a few seconds before he felt he could get up and continue running.
Running to where? Ed looked at his surroundings and realized he landed in the fenced off compound, where underground storage units that held artillery weapons was stored.
Running to the nearest spot between two sheds, Ed sat on the ground with his back to the wall. "If I remember correctly this place is about a few miles from the storage blocks." While Ed mulled and went into 'heavy thinking mode' over his calculating he failed to realize there was someone inside the room where he was leaning against.
--
Kimbly sighed as he stacked another box over the last three he moved. Because there was nothing important for him to do he was tasked to reorganize a few of the underground storage units. "Damn what I wouldn't give for some fireworks…" He hummed, bored out of his mind.
Surely there was something he could blow up to pass the time while he worked miserably…
As the Red Locust trudged up the stairs to the outside, pondering over which boxes he could destroy without someone noticing he though he'd heard a voice somewhere. Pausing mid step he listened for the noise again, and caught the faint sound of someone breathing out deeply.
Slowly he crept to the top steps and peeked outside the door. Pulling a small compact mirror from his uniform he angled it toward the right side of the small storage and spotted someone in a worn red coat crouched up with his head in his arms.
Kimbly scoffed. It was the military prodigy what's his name- Fullmetal or whatever. He twitched with detest as he thought of the kid's boss, Mustang. The self righteous kiss ass. Yet from what Kimbly heard the brat hated the Flame Alchemist as much as he himself did, so he figured the kid had some brains attached.
As Kimbly moved to tell the blond boy to shove off someplace else he paused and sniffed at the open air.
'What the hell is that smell?'
T.B.C.