Happy 10 everyone! Thank you for the reviews; they really do keep me going!

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Chapter 10

Of course it was Grumman. What more did she expect from that man?

It was too fishy; she should have realized! Of course he didn't trust her with guarding their most "valuable" asset, as she'd explained to him. And she couldn't take this up with him, because then he would just throw that back in her face.

God damn that man.

Riza took another deep breath. "So many of you?"

The man in front shrugged and allowed a smirk. "Guess the Commander don't trust his little pet hawk to do everything these days, eh?"

The words were completely true and yet the condescending tone with which he spoke made her hands ache as she fisted them tightly on her hips. Nothing in her life was easy these days. "There are no need for weapons," she said stiffly. "He's unconscious."

"No matter. Commander told us to take heavy precaution seeing as he's a colonel with quite a strategy. The military didn't name him the Hero of Ishval for nothin'."

Already frayed from the course of the night, she honestly didn't know how much longer she could keep it together before she snapped completely. "Fine," she relented with as much control as she could manage, "but my team members and I will be the only ones to touch him. Is that understood?"

Though she was younger than all of them gathered before her, even they had to recognize that a superior had given them a reasonable order that they could not refute. Besides, Grumman had said nothing to them about keeping Riza away from it all; just that they would need to keep an eye on their new guest.

Riza felt like ice, even as they complied, her body shivering slightly in the dark of the late April night. She nodded her head at them and proceeded to climb back into the vehicle as the mob of people dispersed and allowed Rebecca to pull the vehicle into the garage. The sniper could feel Havoc's eyes resting on her out of the corner of her eye and she sighed; he saw so much more beyond her mask than she realized.

"I'm fine, Jean," she said in a low voice.

"You need to get some sleep," he murmured. Rebecca shut off the engine and turned around to face the two of them, her own expression looking disgruntled. Behind the car, two of the garage mechanics were pulling the doors shut.

Riza shook her head and got out of the vehicle. "That's not my priority right now." She hurried to the back of the car and popped open the trunk. Roy lay there in as deep a sleep as he had before, hair tousled, the gag tied expertly around his head. She reached in quickly, unbuttoning his uniform and running her hands along his chest and legs, in search of any concealed weapons, trying to ignore where her hands were skimming.

Her fingers met the cool metal of a gun resting in a holster under his shoulder on his right side, and with a moment of quick inspection, she found another on his left. "Hold onto these," she murmured, shoving them into Rebecca's hands as she came around the corner to help.

Her dark-haired friend looked down on her in worry, even though she chose not to say anything. Riza was grateful for that; she hated that her actions were causing her two closest friends to worry about her but they were alive and well with no danger of being hurt. Roy on the other hand. . .there was no saying what these men would do to him if he was left alone with them.

"I don't think we can leave him alone with those guards," she said in a quiet voice, knowing that they were waiting just outside the garage to receive them. The desperation in her voice was raw, unbridled, and completely humiliating. "They will kill him if they get the chance, and I don't think Grumman cares either way."

Havoc reached in, having come up next to her other side, and grabbed Roy by the arm, hoisting the unconscious man into a sitting position. He turned his eyes to Riza, who already had taken her place on the other side. She refused to look at him. She knew that she was acting wildly out of character, going through such lengths to protect a man who was from the military. To be completely honest, she couldn't figure it out herself. So how was she supposed to explain that to Havoc?

"We'll keep him safe," Havoc assured her, even though his voice was rough. "Riza, you don't have to carry this all by yourself."

She simply nodded and began to raise the colonel out of the car, supporting the weight of the man as best as she could. Rebecca lead the way to the door and when it opened, the three of them were unsurprised to see the guards waiting there for them. Insisting that they let Riza and Havoc through first, Rebecca took her place behind the two, separating them between the guards and the body of the colonel.

A large man waited at the end of the corridor with a gun poised in his hands. Though she didn't like seeing the weapons, even as a precaution, it made sense. This was their first hostage of such high ranking among the military leaders, and the Resistance itself was comprised of several jumpy, vengeful creatures. Their hatred for the government of the country was probably what drove their hands to clench so tightly around the weapons they carried.

"Commander Grumman has had a cell prepared for him," the man said, beginning to step toward the dark hallway, the one that was rarely ever used. Riza could feel her blood turning to ice again.

"Cell? I thought we were just going to keep him locked in a room," she said steadily, though her voice cracked just slightly on the last word, earning a quick look from Havoc.

"Precautionary, miss," the man replied in a tone that told her he suspected she'd fight the protocol. "Until we can be sure he poses no outstanding threat to the people who live here, he will be placed under extreme supervision in the dungeon."

She had no choice but to grit her teeth and comply. The man lead the group down a series of dusty stairs to a dim room with a musty couch and a desk in the corner, old pieces of metal that once looked like useful parts of a gun strewn across the top. A lamp lit up one dusty corner, an extension cord for its outlet running up the stairs they'd just come down. On the far side of the room was a heavy duty door that scraped against the concrete as the man leading the group opened it and gestured for Havoc and Riza to continue on inside.

Back in the early days of the Resistance when they'd moved their eastern base into this abandoned warehouse, Grumman had ordered that appropriate measures be taken in order to allow for any type of unforeseen situation that lay ahead.

The basement, more aptly named the dungeon among the Resistance members, was a crude room made of cinderblock and void of any natural light. Since electricity was hard for them to come by, there hadn't been any electrical wiring routed down into these unused rooms, which left them lit merely by candles and larger torches perched haphazardly on the wall alone. In the middle of the room stood a pole that reached from floor to ceiling; an old support. Beneath it was a mattress and a blanket, their lumpy forms flickering in the candlelight.

Riza thought the entire picture was cliche and cruel, but the comfort of a mattress and a blanket was more kindness than she could have hoped they would give him. She and Havoc lowered Mustang onto the mattress and unbound his wrists, only so Havoc could reattach the shackles once the military officer's arms were wrapped around the pole, his back propped up against the support beam. Kneeling, Riza worked to take the cuffs off the colonel's ankles and threw them at one of the guards just standing there in the doorway.

"No one touches a hair on his head," she announced to the room in a cold voice. "If I find him dead, I will find the culprit and you will have the same fate."

One of the guards chuckled at her in a gravelly voice. "Quite the threat there, Miss Hawkeye."

She decided not to dignify that with response, and instead turned to spread the blanket out over Roy's lap so that the chill of the room would be a little more bearable when he came to.

Loud footsteps echoed as another person joined the group in the dark rooms. Riza looked up to make out the outline of a woman standing in the doorway. "He won't be killed. I personally have requested Grumman to retain full detail over his security. Only the men I trust most are here. The information this colonel holds is far too valuable to lose to some pathetic grudge, even if I myself could care less whether he lives or dies."

Riza stood and saluted briefly, feeling a massive wave of relief crash over her as Rebecca and Havoc also paid the woman their respects. The cogs in her mind clicked into place and she sighed ever so slightly. Well if Olivier Armstrong was in charge of this then there was nothing to worry about; these men who had escorted her down here, who held guns with their tight expressions, they were her personal brigade. Loyal to her. Roy wouldn't die at their hands.

"That's good to hear, sir," Riza said, exhaustion leaking into her voice as her facade to be tough dissolved into the darkness.

"You did well, all three of you," Armstrong barked, clearly unimpressed with Riza's gratitude, as she motioned to Riza and her friends. "Go get some rest. That's an order."

The relief she felt at this aide from Olivier was overwhelming, making it hard to move. Still dressed in her heels, she stumbled a bit over the concrete pieces littering the ground and clutched onto Rebecca who easily wrapped an arm around her waist and held on tight. Riza decided not to fuss over the help; she'd only get dirty looks in return and she was much too tired to bother. Despite feeling ill over tricking Roy, she also felt a small bud of warmth in her chest for all this assistance. After watching everything else fall apart tonight, one thing went right. Roy was still alive and unharmed.

Havoc paused next to Olivier and murmured something that Riza couldn't quite make out, but Rebecca didn't stop, so the two women continued up the stairs and didn't pause until they were back at their room. Their bags still sat in the vehicle in the garage, but neither of them cared as Rebecca used a trembling hand to open their door and they stumbled inside.

Riza immediately collapsed on her bed, not even bothering to kick her shoes off. The waves of emotion she'd been dealing with since just before six had left her body drained and heavy and the despair was starting to leak back into her heart.

"What a night," Rebecca said as she kicked off her boots and tugged the elastic of her pony tail out of her hair. Something in her voice was careful.

"Stop treating me like glass," Riza muttered as she stared at the ceiling.

Her friend huffed. "I was trying to be sensitive."

"It doesn't suit you."

"Well then, what do you want me to say?" Rebecca approached her and leaned over into Riza's face, looking upset. "I'm worried about you. That. . .Riza, that man is our enemy. And you. . .you. . ."

Riza pushed her away and sat up. She kicked off her heels and released her leather clip from her hair, but that was all the preparations she made for bed before she slid beneath her covers and pulled the blankets over her head. "If you are going to go there, then I don't want to talk about it."

Rebecca sighed heavily. "I'm just afraid that you are going to get hurt."

"I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself."

"Yes, you can. But you can't take care of yourself and another man who is also a sworn enemy of the Resistance and will probably wish you dead when he wakes up."

Riza winced and shoved her head under her pillow. She knew Roy was going to hate her, but she didn't care. He was alive, he was safe. It was a mantra she couldn't stop repeating. His life had been the only thing to urge her to keep going for the sake of the Resistance, and finding out that he was one of the 'bad guys' didn't change that. Did anyone in the Resistance stop to consider that maybe not every single officer knew of the corruption from their leaders?

With a sigh, she realized how childish she was acting. Of course she was upset that people were wary of her judgment; of course she was full of guilt and self-disgust and of course she hated the situation she found herself in. But this was Rebecca, her best friend, and she was worried about Riza. She didn't deserve the silent treatment, but Riza couldn't bring herself to say a word. Her chest felt hollow and heavy at the same time, her stomach churning with all of her emotions.

Clenching her eyes shut, she decided to turn off her brain; she'd always been good at pushing away, at distancing herself from everyone and everything. Everything could wait until tomorrow.

::::

Havoc let Riza and Rebecca pass him before he stepped up to Olivier, trying to ignore how just looking at her made his heart stutter nervously. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" he muttered under his breath, watching his two friends continue up the stairs and out of sight. Armstrong looked completely unsurprised by the approach but the one sapphire eye not shaded by her hair flashed with apprehension.

"Is it important?" she questioned harshly. He noted how on edge she was; Grumman had the same affect on her that he did on Riza.

"It's important to me," he said.

She stared at him for a moment, his heart stumbling in his chest, before she squeezed her eyes shut in annoyance and sighed loudly. "Fine." Turning sharply on her heel, she marched up the stairs not pausing to be sure that he was following. He smiled wryly to himself; she probably knew by now that he'd follow her anywhere. "You owe me a rematch anyway."

About ten minutes later, Havoc found himself in one of the training rooms, stretching his arms as he waited for Olivier to show up. He knew, of course he knew, what she meant when she'd slyly insisted a rematch and even if he had to wait here all night, she would come eventually. She was a woman of her word, and besides, if he wanted to talk to her this was the ideal place. No one would think a conversation would pass between Armstrong and Havoc of all people, especially not during a sparring match. And what's more, it was late enough that he was the only one currently in the room.

He didn't have to wait long. Olivier returned, her platinum hair pulled away from her face to reveal her remarkably softly curving face and blue eyes as cold and fierce as a blizzard. He blinked at her, clothed minimally in tighter clothes and his mind wandered. She knew it too, didn't give him time to recover. Without warning, she launched herself at him and sent him sprawled out on the mats.

A groan pressed out of his mouth as she straddled his waist, her forearm crossing his throat like a bar. "What was on your mind, Havoc?" she asked.

His eyes bore into hers for a moment before expertly twisting out from under her, sweeping his leg so that she fell onto her back. "It's about Riza," he said, ducking as she leapt back to her feet and swung an arm.

Olivier grunted and blocked his jab to her ribcage. "You better have an explanation as to why you are wasting my time to talk about your girlfriend. I am not a couples counseling service."

"First of all," he bit, catching her foot before it could do any damage to his chest, "she's not my girlfriend. And second-oof!" Her heel caught the inside of his knee and sent him back to the ground.

She smirked down at him with a 'tch' and resumed a pose as he rose to his feet. "Don't let the enemy's taunts cause you to lose your cool," she said. "Secondly?"

He scowled at her and blocked a punch. "Secondly, I want her to be kept away as much as possible from that bastard we locked in the dungeon."

Her harsh expression allowed her to raise one slender eyebrow in question as he charged at her, his breath coming out of his mouth in short bursts. "So she's not your girlfriend, but your pet." She snorted inelegantly as Havoc caught her swinging arm and threw her to the padded wall. Her eyes were crystals from where she glared at him on the floor. "Hawks aren't to be tamed, Havoc."

"I don't want to tame her; I want to protect her," he said harshly, placing his hands on his knees in an attempt to catch his breath. Olivier stayed put on the mats for the moment, her face a total mask of disapproval.

"Do you know how idiotic you sound," she stated bluntly.

He sank to the ground and ran a hand through his hair; God, he could use a smoke right about now. The wall he put up to press back the rising alarm at Riza's actions was crumbling. It wasn't that he was jealous or anything, but in all the years they'd been together, she'd never looked at him that way before. It scared the hell out of him.

"She's in over her head," he muttered.

Olivier sighed. "You foolish man. Worrying about a woman like her."

He glanced up to see her sitting with her back against the wall. "What do you mean 'a woman like her'?"

She shook her head, as if she couldn't believe that she was here, spending her time with a man as dense as he was. Havoc could acknowledge that he wasn't particularly smart, but he knew Riza better than anyone and it was frustrating that Olivier appeared to know something about his best friend that he didn't.

She fixed him with a stare that he couldn't drop, found his heart beating faster in his chest than he thought should be possible. He wondered if she could hear it. "Trying to protect her will only create a rift between you," she told him matter-of-factly. His expression tightened, hardened, even as he considered how true her words were. "However, I will keep her busy with other tasks. I'm sure Grumman will have an abundant myriad of things he will want her to do as a sort of punishment for going against his orders."

He blinked at her, surprised. "You'll help me?"

She scowled. "Isn't that what I just said, dumbass? Show a little competency."

A smile split across his face, so wide that he thought it might be permanent. "You care about me."

Wrong words; she was instantly on the defensive. Her hand shot out and gripped his wrist to the point of pain. "You have deluded yourself into believing that I care more for you than any of my other subordinates. Do not make that mistake again, Havoc."

He was still grinning, feeling lightheaded from being so close to her, her hand electric where it gripped him. She was beautiful with her hair pulled back; he liked to see all of her face. "Sure. Whatever you say, boss."

She growled at him and threw his hand away from her. "I don't have time for this."

Havoc watched her stalk away and smirked as he called out. "So we'll call this one a draw, yeah?"