Chapter 6

Car Crash

"What?" Edward's shocked voice whispered silently over the phone line. Mustang had just informed him of the terrible news. "This can't be!"

"I know how you feel Edward, but there is nothing we can do right now. I guess the guy had a really good lawyer, and the government lawyers just didn't hold up the case." Mustang sighed. "I'm sorry Edward."

"He bribed the jury."

"What?"

"I bet you he bribed the jury. I'm looking at the list of juror's on that day, and one of them is a guy who is an accountant. Has a family, and he's not very brave. I guess he's the one that said not guilty." Edward sounded pissed, and Mustang could understand. Mustang was pissed as well.

"The little weasel." Mustang scoffed. He hated when people did that.

"Yeah. Where's Winry?" Edward quickly spurted. Mustang could condone that; Winry was now in immediate danger. That guy had a look of murder in his eyes, Mustang knew.

"She's on her plane back here. You know Edward, I don't feel safe with her at her small apartment by herself." Mustang had a feeling that she shouldn't be there in case the guy showed up and tried to kill her. Winry was strong, but this guy was buffed.

"What do you want to do with her?" Edward questioned with a cautious tone in his voice.

"Well, can't she sleep at your place?" Mustang said sarcastically.

Edward fell over, and promptly got back up. "WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT IS A GOOD IDEA!?!?!?!?? I CAN'T HAVE HER OVER HERE!!!!!" Mustang held the phone away from his ear as Edward continued yelling.

"Relax shorty, I'll keep her at my place." He smiled at Riza who was doing dishes in the kitchen. She smiled back. He smirked at her suggestively. She threw the dishtowel in his face. Mustang smiled as he set the cloth on the table and he watched his wife work in the kitchen some more.

After another ear bruising from Edward's mouth, Mustang arranged for Edward to pick up Winry, and bring her immediately to Mustang's house and explain to her what happened.

After he hung up the phone, Mustang sighed again and rubbed his temple. All the sudden he felt strong hands on his back, gradually working out the hard knots. Then he felt his wonderful wife lean over and whisper in his ear, "your so tense. Is something bothering you?"

Roy leaned his head back to look at her concerned eyes and he smiled again. She smiled back and kept rubbing his back to help his relax. It had been a stressful day. "I'm just worried about that creep coming back to kill Winry." He smiled at her apologetically. "I'm sorry, I hope you don't mind."

Riza smiled back, recalling the wonderful, sweet girl that she had often talked with over the past year. The girl who was so strong, and yet, so fragile.

"Of course I don't mind Roy, not at all." She said as she leaned down to deliver a sweet kiss to his waiting lips.

There was now not a worry in Roy's mind. Though, if he had known better, maybe there should have been.

------

Winry stepped off the plane and looked around. She wasn't expecting to see anyone; she had planned to catch a taxi. But she noticed a large crowd surrounding something. Winry's curiosity got the best of her and she went to see what it was.

"Oh goodness, look at that!'

"I wonder how he moves it?"

"Oh my god, he's so HOT!!!"

Winry frowned at the two girls who were whispering to each other, taking pictures with their cell phones. Who was so hot?

Winry spoke too soon. There, standing in the middle of the mass of people, was Edward. He was trying to detach himself, but people were asking him too many questions.

"Is it fake?"

"Who built it?"

"How does it work?"

Edward was growing frantic, and Winry smiled. He seemed to be pulling along just fine. "Excuse me! Excuse me-" All the sudden Winry received a hard jab to the ribs. It sparked her fighting spirit as she started shoving through the crowd to get to Edward.

Edward saw her and stopped for a moment to smile lightly. "Winry! I'm glad your safe!" Edward stumbled out of the crowd and watched them disperse. Winry turned around and saw two death glares from the two teenagers. She wanted to laugh, but she didn't.

"I was just going to catch a cab you know Edward." Winry said. She felt bad that Edward had to go to all that trouble for her. As she stood at the luggage roundabout waiting for her bags she noticed that Edward kept looking around suspiciously. It worried her, and she confronted him about it.

"Edward, you keep looking around for someone. What's wrong?" Winry didn't like the feeling she was getting in her gut. It was a coiling feeling that was telling her that something had gone wrong, or something would. The feeling scared her, and she wanted it to go away.

Edward grabbed her bag and started to walk away. "I'll tell you in the car." Winry's gut had been right, something had gone wrong, and he gut was now telling her to run away. But she ignored it and followed Edward. She would be safe with him. She just had to be safe with Edward.

----

Winry realized that her earlier comment on being safe with Edward might have been wrong. His driving on the freeway was awful. He was making cuts and driving recklessly around, almost killing them twice. The small cooper was roaring with power though, and it sent shivers down Winry's spine.

A well-maintained motor never failed to do that to her.

"Winry, your murderer got off. We're pretty sure that he bribed everyone, plus the states lawyers were shitty." He sighed; his life had now become twenty more times stressful. Edward looked at Winry, who sat in the passenger seat with her face as white as the clouds in the sky.

"You know Edward." Winry said all of the sudden, and, strangely, her voice was steady and secure. "I always knew. I always knew that he would get out. IT was inevitable."

Edward didn't really know what she meant, so he tossed it aside. "Anyways, you'll be staying at Mustang's house, cause we don't know if he'll try and get you again."

"Why do you bother helping me Edward?" Winry said, a touch of regret in her voice. "I mean, I'm just an every day person. There is nothing particularly important about me, so why are you, the Mustang's, and the Hughes's all going to so much trouble to help me?"

Edward kept his eyes on the road as he contemplated his answer. As he drove off the exit of the freeway, he pulled into an empty parking ramp. As he parked the car suddenly, Winry looked at him.

"We help you Winry, because you ARE important. Even if you don't think you are. We believe that you are important." He turned to her and brought his hand to her face, softly turning it toward him. "We are your friends Winry. If you think that we would just sit back and calmly watch you die, what kind of friends do you think we are?" Winry cast her eyes down, feeling terrible as Edward brought that simple fact to light.

As a tear slipped down Winry's face, Edward brushed it away with his thumb. When Winry looked up, she saw a fire burning in his eyes, and she realized that his loyalty to her ran deeper than she thought. She saw a powerful emotion lurking beneath Edward's eyes.

Determination.

Then, some lights caught Winry's eye. As she looked up at the rearview mirror, she saw the headlights come speeding towards their car. As the car ran into the back of the vehicle, Winry's face smashed into the dashboard.

"Fuck!" She heard Edward swear.

She faintly saw Edward turn the ignition on and rev up the cooper as the car behind them backed up. As the black car sped towards them again, Edward spun out of the ramp, dangerously turning the corners. Winry held on to the door handle, making sure her seatbelt was fastened tight.

Edward blasted through the gate, coming into traffic. He saw patches where there was no car and quickly sped to other side. Unfortunately, the black car followed. Winry glanced behind them, and saw the car moving up behind them. She saw Edward searching for something under his seat. He pulled out a gun.

"Shoot his tires out." Edward said.

"What?!" Winry said, alarm in her voice. She had never shot a gun before.

"I said to shoot his fucking tires out Winry, unless you really want to get hit again." Edward patted the dash, silently willing the tiny car's motor to hold out a little longer. As Winry pushed the button and waited for the window to go down, she heard Edward muttering, "Come on, just a little longer, don't die on me now." Then Winry saw his dilemma.

No gas.

With new determination, she swung her upper body out of the car to sit on the doorframe. Then, she carefully shot where she saw the tires. As the pulled the trigger, she giddily wondered how many laws they had just broken.

As shots rang out, Edward swerved slightly. This chase was nerve wracking; he was never the one being chased. Then he heard the wonderful sound of a pop and tires squelching. Then he heard a distinct crash into something. It sounded like garbage cans. As Winry sat back in the vehicle, she set the gun on the floor. As Edward pulled into the nearest gas station to fill up, Winry wondered if the driver made it out alive.

-----

When Mustang heard the tires squelch outside his window he looked up from his paper. He had been enjoying breakfast, and now Edward was here to ruin it. He sighed, he knew he should have eaten earlier, but he and Riza had been busy attending to their marriage. As Mustang pulled open the door, he saw two very shaken people and he wondered what happened.

Then he saw Edward's cars rear end, and he almost didn't have to ask.

The rear-end of Edward small cooper was smashed like an accordion. Ouch. Mustang was sure Edward wasn't going to pay that off quickly.

"We were hit." Edward stated blankly.

"Yeah, I can see that." Mustang said sarcastically. He saw Edward's jaw tick and almost smirked. Almost.

"I'm pretty sure the guy was after Winry." Winry looked at Edward with shock. How could he be so sure?

"Yeah, your probably right for once, pipsqueak." Mustang sauntered into his house, leaving a disgruntled Edward on the doorstep. As Edward walked into the house, he noticed that Mustang had been eating breakfast. It was one in the afternoon. He also noticed that Riza was nowhere in sight, though he knew she was at home today.

He decided he would not look into that any further.

------

"I think they were pretty pleased with the renovations for their building." Alphonse stated, giving his boss the wrap up of his green meeting with a big company in California. "I think we have them wrapped around our fingers."

"Thanks Alphonse. I knew I could count on you to convince them." Alphonse modestly smiled and walked out. Then his phone started ringing to the tune "It's getting hot in here." Alphonse smiled wickedly. He had set that tune for Mustang on purpose.

"Hello?"

"Hi Alphonse. Glad your back." Mustang's voice came over the phone.

"So am I. I'm getting a pay raise now." Alphonse said proudly. The case with the green buildings had gone over so well, his boss had decided to increase his annual pay by $10,000. Alphonse was giddy with happiness.

"Well good. You're going to need that money to help pay for repairments to Edward's car."

"Why, what happened?" Alphonse was worried. If Edward's car was demolished, that meant that Edward was probably hurt too.

"Edward received quite a banging today. You'll have to come and get him. He's at my place."

"Yeah, okay. I'll be right over Roy." Alphonse hung up, wondering exactly what Edward's car looked like, and pondering if he'd actually get to enjoy that extra $10,000.

----

Edward was eating with Roy, Riza, and Winry. Riza and Winry had made spaghetti and meatballs, and Edward had already eaten half his plate when he heard Alphonse's car pull in. He looked at Roy, who looked at Riza. Riza stood up to let Alphonse in.

A few seconds later, Alphonse came tearing into the living room. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR CAR!?!?!?!?!" Alphonse yelled. Winry was surprised, usually Edward was the one yelling and screaming all the time, not Alphonse. "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT IS GOING TO COST US EDWARD!?!?!?!" Edward stood up.

"Look, I'M SORRY, BUT ITS NOT LIKE I ASKED TO GET HIT!!!!!!" Alphonse still looked angry. The only way Winry could think of how to describe how he look was like a cat preparing to fight with a dog. Its tail up in the air, and every hair on end. Winry wondered if the brothers fought like this often. Probably not.

"Did you get the guys insurance?" Alphonse asked. Winry was startled. Obviously, Alphonse didn't know anything. She giddily thought how stupid Edward and he would have looked in they went up to the guy and asked for his insurance.

Edward shot a look of pure hate at Mustang. He had said he would tell Alphonse everything. Edward hated telling Alphonse about when he got hurt, because he always received a lecture about his dangerous work.

It was going to be a long night.

---------

The man groaned as he pulled himself out of the car wreckage, kicking over two bags of garbage blocking his way out. As he stood up, he silently cursed the blond haired vixen. He would never be able to explain this to his boss.

As the tall black man walked away, he wondered why his boss cared so much about killing this one girl and whoever got in their way. He couldn't understand it. This girl was just one of a million that had brought the guy to court, and all the other girls were still living happily.

As the man flipped open his cell phone, he looked at his torn suit. Damn, he would have to buy a new one, and these suits didn't come cheap.

Ring, ring, ring, ring….

"Hello?"

"Yo boss, its me."

"Did you get her? I hope you didn't kill her, I wanted to do that myself."

"Well… you see…. She pulled a gun out of no where and shot my tires out."

A pause. "So she got away you imbecile?"

"Um… yes?"

"And what are the damages?"

"Uh… well, I'm pretty sure you could fix it up nice enough."

"Just salvage it then. Report here and tell me everything then."

"You got it." As he hung up, he shivered. That deep voice of his boss never failed to send shivers down his spine. He thought that sounded wussy, but that's what it felt like. His boss had a creepy voice, hands down.

As the big man called the towing company, he wondered why no one knew his boss's real name.

The name he always went by was Scar.

-----

Now, you have his name. I think this is longer than my last chapters, but I'm not really sure. I hope you guys really like this chapter, I did. Anyways, I hope you hear from you!!!!

-TheIntelligentAlchemist