Chapter 5-
The stifling silence was quickly becoming unbearable. Breda, Havoc, Falman and Fuery were all staring unashamedly at Ed; even Hawkeye was watching him out of the corner of her eye. Mustang was driving, to everyone's horror, speeding through lights and going up on sidewalks in order to reach their destination as soon as humanly possible. Other cars saw his reckless driving almost before they heard the screeching sirens that the military car was producing, and never ceased to move out of his way.
"Why don't other cars ever move like that for me?" Havoc mumbled under his breath, but no-one noticed.
Breda was giving Ed a look that was even stranger than the stares coming from everyone else, but Ed was determinedly ignoring them all. He was already irritated by the sun, and was just waiting for someone to speak so that he could snap at them. Unfortunately, when someone finally did speak, it was the only person in the entire world Ed couldn't snap at.
"Brother, you're all injured again," Al murmured, moving to inspect the severe wounds, but Ed pulled away. He didn't want anyone to touch him again.
"Ed?" Hawkeye asked firmly. He stared at her coldly until she backed off, and he heard Fuery gulp nervously.
"Here's the plan, soldiers!" Mustang interrupted, tires squealing indignantly at he sped up, causing the officers to pale slightly. "The shop will already be taped off and out of range for civilians when we arrive. Falman, you'll be giving the bomb squad advice on what type of bomb it is and how to disarm it from the outside. Fuery, Breda and Havoc, you guard that shop and make sure no civilians get in. Hawkeye and I will enter the shop and help the team handle the device. Alphonse, since you're not an officer you can't come in; so I want you to find Winry and get her to safety. And take Fullmetal with you!"
"Yes sir!" they replied in unison, except for Ed, who just rolled his eyes in annoyance.
Mustang skidded to a stop at the entrance to Dain Square, and the officers leaped into action. They worked flawlessly as one unit, completely trusting the others to do their jobs and do them well. They'd rehearsed as many possible situations as they could think of, and consequently everyone knew exactly what to do.
Meanwhile, Al managed to grab Ed's sleeve and lead him out into the excited crowd, all of whom were crowed as close to Automail 1# as they could get. The crowd went on for miles, as far as the eye could see. Ed pulled his hood up, over his eyes and hair, to avoid being recognised; but mostly the two boys were overlooked in favour of watching the military officers in action.
"Winry!" Al shouted, desperately attempting to be heard over the chatter of the immense crowd, but to no avail- his voice was completely drowned out. So Al raced along, dragging a reluctant Ed behind him, searching for the one he cared about who was currently in danger.
Mustang and Hawkeye were standing in front of a code red bomb. Hawkeye was describing the deadly device to Falman, who used the knowledge to identify the bomb's inner workings, so that he could tell the bomb squad exactly what type it was when they arrived. Mustang's presence wasn't really needed; however, he always overlooked the missions of his subordinates physically. If any of them were to be in danger, he couldn't help them over the phone, could he? So he always came along. This practise was the exception rather than the rule in the military- generally the leader of a unit gave orders from over the phone, from either Headquarters or a safe distance away from the danger.
Mustang lifted his gaze from the device when he heard loud arguing coming from the back room of the shop. Curious, he entered the room to find the very girl Al was searching for.
"This is my shop, and my property! I'm not just going to leave and let you imbeciles ransack it!" Winry shouted furiously, brandishing her wrench. Some poor, rookie soldier was attempting to appease her wrath, but instead had to keep ducking under the weapon. Mustang felt amused, despite the dire situation.
"Winry Rockbell, leave that poor man alone," Mustang intervened, to the young man's relief. He quickly saluted the Colonel and fled the room.
"Those idiots were going through my things! What the hell is going on here anyway?" Winry demanded, turning to Mustang.
"Someone placed a bomb in your shop, Winy," he replied seriously, watching the blonde's reaction. Winry blinked and opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out.
Mustang smirked and continued, "The bomber was hoping that, by placing it among your mechanical environment, it would go unnoticed. Your shop is directly in the middle of Dain Square, so the bomb would… get more people when it went off."
Winry hesitated, "Oh…" Mustang quickly gestured for her to follow and they exited the room, to find that the bomb squad had arrived. Hawkeye joined them and the three went outside.
"Winry!" someone to their left called out ecstatically, and they looked over to see Al slipping expertly through the crowd, dragging a hooded stranger behind him. "You're okay!"
"Yeah, Colonel Mustang found me," Winry shrugged. She gazed interestedly at the stranger behind Al and curiously inquired, "Who's that?"
Al reached over a pulled Ed's hood back a bit, just enough for Winry to see his face. Edward slapped his hand away- his mood was decreasing with every second that passed. He just wanted to go sleep in his cool, dark room, where he was alone. Instead, he was frying under the burning sun, surrounded from every angle by people he didn't know, and this kid he'd just met a week ago kept touching him. And now, here was another stranger he'd have to put up with. Ed scowled menacingly at the girl.
Winry gasped when she saw Ed. Mostly from surprise, but one slight part came from fear. She stumbled back a step, eyes never leaving his pale face. Mustang began to wonder if he'd regret making Fullmetal come.
"Ed? Is… is that really you?" she whispered, barely audible above the crowd's incessant chatter. It was a valid question- Ed didn't look the same as before. His skin was pure white; his fangs were visible in his mouth and just for an instant, Winry thought she saw his golden eyes melt away to a crimson colour. Her eyes widened involuntarily.
"Finally," came a low voice behind the group. They turned to face the intruder, only to discover it was Breda.
"Breda? What are you doing, you need to keep the crowd back!" Hawkeye ordered.
Breda's eyes burned unnaturally, an evil glint to them. "You took your time getting here, pipsqueak!"
Ed's eyes flashed red again. He pinned Breda to a nearby wall with one hand around his neck, inhumanly fast and strong. Breda's feet dangled off the ground. The overwhelming crowd never even noticed- all their attention was locked onto the shop containing the bomb squad.
"Do you have a death wish?" Ed hissed, but Breda grinned insanely.
"Not really. You know, I planned to fight you once you reached this place, but I figured since I hate fighting I should just make you follow me," Breda answered, his voice sounding different. Ed threw him to the ground a couple of metres away, resisting the urge to kill him. Breda sprang to his feet, jumped into the air and agilely flipped a couple of times to land behind to Al, getting the teenager into a stranglehold. Al fought back, but he couldn't move enough to hit the man.
Breda then began to change- a line of white-ish light swiftly travelled from his feet up to his head. The person who now stood in Breda's place had long, dark green hair and deep amethyst eyes, a tall, thin figure with well-defined muscles. He wore a strange outfit and a cocky, arrogant grin.
"Envy!" Mustang, Hawkeye and Winry all yelled at once. Al re-doubled his efforts to get free, but still had no room to manoeuvre enough to attack. Ed watched on interestedly from the side.
"Now," the shape-shifter began, grinning menacingly, "little Al here is coming with me. If you ever want to see him again, Pipsqueak, you'll find me and we'll have a little chat." As Envy spoke, he stabbed a long syringe into Al's neck, knocking the teen out immediately. Then Envy slung an unconscious Al over his shoulder, gave one last insane grin, and vanished into the crowd.