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Trackers

Chapter 4

"Colonel Mustang said the military hospitals will treat us without asking for information about us while we do work for the military." Al explained to his now conscious brother. He was sitting in a chair next to his brother's bed in the military hospital. They were alone. As soon as his brother woke up, Al kicked the doctors, nurses, and soldiers out of his room and slammed the door shut. It was time for a meeting for the Trackers.

"We can't pay for this, Al. We only have enough money to last us a few months." Edward pointed out from his position on his bed. He was lying on his stomach on top of his blankets with his head at the end of the bed. He rested his head on his arms.

Al nodded his head. He kicked his chair back on its back two legs and rested his legs on the bed. "I know, but that won't be a problem this time. Colonel Mustang said he would pay for you this time since he feels responsible for you being in the hospital."

Scoffing, Ed brought his hand up to his neck. His eyes widened in fear. "Al! Al, where are my dog tags? You did take them off of me before you let the doctors take me, right?"

Laughing, Al nodded his head. "Yeah, I took them and your metal bracelets. There are in my rucksack along with your clothes." He jerked his head towards the corner of the room where his tan rucksack was. "Though your pants are pretty ruined from that Flame Alchemy. You're going to have to buy a new pair."

Ed groaned. "When can I get out of here?"

"I don't know." Al replied.

"Stupid hospitals." Ed grumbled.

Al chuckled. "Anyway, while you were sleeping I called the MP in New Optain to check up on that man, Ray Jackson; you know the one we caught a few months before you had your accident." At Ed's nod, he continued. "Well, he's still locked up. He either doesn't want to risk meeting us again by escaping or he doesn't have a plan to escape yet. You really shouldn't have shot him. He didn't attack us."

"He was reaching for a weapon. You know that." Edward replied, pushing his bangs out of his face. "It's better to attack first. Are my gun and knife in your bag too?"

"Yeah." Al dropped his chair back to the ground and got up. He went and got his bag from the corner of the room. As he was walking back to his chair, he was ruffling through it. When he pulled his hand out, he had red ponytail holder and a brush.

Al bit the ponytail holder between his lips after he jumped onto the bed and sat behind his brother, who was now sitting Indian style on the bed. He then started to brush his brother's hair out.

Al split his brother's hair into three sections. "The military is going to pay us a grand amount for this mission according to Mustang. He said we are to go to Central Command tomorrow." He said around the hair tie between his lips.

"I wonder what our mission will be." Ed murmured thoughtfully.

*Trackers*

"Do you think you could have beaten that kid if his leg didn't give out on him?" Hughes asked curiously. He was leaning against Mustang's desk in the Colonel's office with his arms crossed in front of him.

Mustang looked at Hughes lazily. The fight between him and Fullmetal was yesterday. After Fullmetal's legs gave out they took the kids to the military hospital. The younger boy called Soul stayed at the hospital with his brother over night. He practically forced the doctors to let him stay. Fullmetal's leg wasn't that burned and neither were his hands so he didn't have to stay in the hospital long.

The Colonel looked up at the ceiling as he let his mind wander to his fight that took place yesterday. During that fight he had watched the kid do alchemy without a transmutation circle. How could he have done that? It was amazing. Not only that, but the kid had great skill with a gun and knife. He was excellent at dodging and taking the offensive. He wasn't afraid to attack his enemy either which was always a good thing.

"I don't know. The kid wasn't even at full strength and he was a powerful opponent, but I was also holding back because I wasn't sure of how good the kid was. We would have to fight in a battle where we are both at full strength to determine who the best is." Mustang decided after a few minutes of thought.

Hughes chuckled. "It's so rare to hear you admit something like that."

"Have you never been around him when his gloves are wet?" Havoc asked while laughing.

"Good point. He can be pretty useless at times. At least that kid, Fullmetal, doesn't need gloves and can use knives and guns. He's more useful in a fight than the Colonel." Hughes said seriously. He was looking at Mustang out of the corner of his eyes with a mischievous glint in them.

Mustang's eye twitched. "Don't you have work to do, Major Hughes?"

"Sure, I do, but I don't feel like doing it." Hughes replied idly. "And I know you definitely don't want to do yours. I mean, just look at all that paperwork."

Eyes traveling to the corner of his desk, Mustang groaned. A big stack of papers sat there.

"It's your own fault, Colonel. You decided to challenge those boys about who they were and went to fight Fullmetal instead of doing your work." Hawkeye scolded.

"Everyone went to watch anyway." Mustang muttered. He glared at the soldiers in his room. "When they should have stayed in here and worked."

Breda snorted. "Like we were going to miss a fight between the Flame Alchemist and a Tracker. I heard the Trackers were these really amazing fighters. I wonder how they can be such good fighters at such a young age."

"I doubt any of you could handle them in a hand-to-hand fight." Hawkeye said with a frown. "Even you, Colonel. You rely too much on your alchemy. That boy relied less on his alchemy and more on fighting with his hands. That was probably how he was trained. To not rely on his alchemy."

"Brilliant deduction, Lieutenant!"

Everyone turned to the door to see Fullmetal leaning against the doorframe with crossed arms and a smirk. His brother stood a couple steps behind him with a rucksack on his shoulder and a smile on his baby face.

"Teacher didn't want us to rely too much on alchemy. She thinks that the common people rely on alchemists too much. She thinks we should all rely more on what we can do with our hands without alchemy." Edward explained as he pushed off the doorframe and walked over to Mustang's desk with Al. "But we didn't come here to talk about that."

"Yes." Mustang said, reaching into his desk drawer. "You want the case that we hired you for. But," Mustang held the file in his hand in the air and looked at Ed with a raised brow. "I wonder, can you handle this, even though you haven't finished your automail rehabilitation? I don't think the military would want to waste its time on the Trackers when one of them is pretty much useless."

The younger boy groaned and covered his face. Useless! Why did he have to say that? His brother hated being thought of useless. It wasn't as bad as calling him short, but he still got angry when being called it.

Edward slammed his hands on the desk, ignoring his brother's groan. "Listen here, bastard, I am not useless. If I train a little with Soul, I can get my leg in working order that I won't vomit blood anymore. So my last month of rehabilitation will be finished in a week."

"What?" Al shouted. "I know you're reckless, but you can't be that reckless. And if Win finds out about this, she'll not only kill you, but she'll kill me also. I don't know if you care or not, but I kind of like living."

Edward glared at him. "In case you've forgotten, little bro, Win may be our friend but she is charging me a lot for all the help she's given me with my automail. I'm still paying for my leg. We need this job so I can get her the rest of her money while still being able to afford living costs."

"It's still reckless. Your recklessness is what caused you to lose your leg in the first place." Al muttered while Ed turned back to Mustang, who along with Hughes looked curious about what that meant.

"I need a week." Edward said.

Mustang raised a brow. "And why should I give you that?"

"Because I'm a kid." Ed said with a smirk. "Technically, I shouldn't be doing any type of work. I am, after all, only twelve. There are something called child labor laws. They don't have to apply to me since I am my own guardian but I can bring it into play and sue you if you don't give me this week and still give me the job. And trust me, I would win."

Mustang looked Al, who was sighing. "Better listen. Brother's read a lot of law books and stuff like that before we formed the Trackers. He wanted to know everything to make sure we weren't doing anything wrong when we were making the Trackers."

Grumbling about stupid prodigy kids, Mustang picked up a file. "This is your mission. I'll give you a week off, but along with your training to finish your rehabilitation, I also want you to review your mission." He tossed the file to the younger Elric brother since the Elder one was glaring menacingly at him.

Al gave his brother a scolding look that said to keep his mouth shut before looking at Mustang. "Is there anything else?"

"Just one thing." Mustang said, reaching into his desk. "You both dislike the military so neither of you will like what I have to give to you, but it will help you." He pulled out a small box, which his tossed to the elder Elric, figuring it was best if the older one had this.

Not really sure what to expect when opening the box, Edward saw red when he was the silver watch in the box. The symbol of a dog of the state. How dare he! How dare that bastard give him this watch? He held it up by the ring on the end of the chain which he slipped onto his finger with a glare at Mustang. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Al raise a brow in confusion. "And why would we need this?" Edward hissed.

"The watch will enable you to get into any military facilities like any command center, any lab owned by the military, and this watch enables you to get into Central Library where only state alchemists can go to. While you help the military with this case, the Fuhrer has decided to allow you the privilege of using our library. He trusts you won't abuse this privilege or use any of the knowledge you get from your studies against the military." Mustang explained, watching the boys closely for any evil intentions, but all he saw was annoyance and curiosity from both of them.

"No promises." Edward said, swinging the watch around his finger. He looked at his brother with a slight frown, then turned to Mustang. Before he could say anything though, the phone in the office rang.

"Hello." Mustang said into the phone, prepared to wave Ed and Al out so he could take it. Before he could though, he raised a brow at Edward. "Yeah, he's right here." He held the phone out to Edward. "Why am I getting calls for you in my own office?"

Edward shrugged and took the phone. "Lo…knew I could trust you when I had all our calls redirected to you…..Of course I am fine! I'm me, aren't I? When have I ever…..Oh, one mistake and you can never let me live it down!...What is it you want anyway?...I can give you the hotel number so you can call me there instead. Colonel Mustang is not happy about getting a call for me in his own office….450-257-8045….Okay, but how am I suppose to fix this? I'm stuck in Central at the moment on a mission…..Right, you're not a Tracker, just the secretary…..I'm just kidding…..Could you be the secretary at the moment though? You're the only one I trust to take any calls we get at the moment…I know we've been ignoring them, but with this mission from the military, people will know the Trackers are back and taking jobs again and I need someone I trust to take all the calls we get….Yes! I am fine. I told you before I left that I do not have a problem with being out of rehabilitation early…..Damn it, Win! I am not that reckless. Can you help or not?...Man, you are greedy! I'm already paying for the damn automail. You could at least do this as a favor to me, and because I'm your best friend…..Thanks! You're the best! Bye Win." Edward snapped the phone down and looked at Mustang. "I do need one thing from you before we finish up."

From the shocked and confused look that Al was giving his brother, Mustang knew that he wasn't the only one who had no idea of what was going on. In fact, everyone was looking at the elder Elric, though more inconspicuous, but since Mustang knew them, he knew they were all listening. Really, he had to get his own private office where he could have these meetings without all these officers around to eavesdrop. "And what do you want my help with? I was under the impression that you hated me and had such a huge pride that the only person you would consider asking for help from is your brother, Soul."

Edward glared at him. "I'm asking you because I can't very well do it at the moment since I have to do this mission and finish my rehabilitation. I can't add traveling to West City to that list, especially since I only have a week."

Al groaned. "Brother, are you talking about what I think you are talking about?"

Ed glanced at him. "Depends on what you are thinking about."

"Galan Lax?" Al demanded.

"Ah, good deduction skills, little bro. This is what Win called about." Edward replied.

"If that's so, it's Trackers business. Why are you asking the military?" Al asked confused.

"Because the situation has changed." Edward said through clenched teeth. "Lax has taken over the damn prison we sent him too and the cops asked for us to take care of it because their guards have all been killed or are being held as hostages. All the other prisoners have rallied behind Lax. And with this new mission and the problem with my leg, I can't handle a full assault on the prison at the moment."

"Humph, figures you would say full assault. You rarely do anything subtly." Al grumbled.

Ed sighed in exasperation. "A…Soul," He amended. "We both know that I hate subtly. It takes too long and everything always goes well my way. Never failed a job, have I?"

"Not the point." Al said frustrated. "And be more careful. You're getting too comfortable around here, which I might add is not like you, and making mistakes with our names."

Ed rolled his eyes. "Not perfect, Soul. Mustang, can you just get someone up to Burk Prison in West City? Just tell whoever you send there that they have to meet with Chief Kayaks and tell him that they were sent there by Tracker Fullmetal. He's paranoid so he is going to ask for verification that it was I who sent them. They're going to have to tell him Quis te Captabunt."

"What?" Hughes asked confused.

"Not important. Just tell him that." Edward said with a wave of his hand. "Tell us the results of what happens after the assault. And send someone good. Lax is a strong enemy. It took us a while to catch him."

Mustang scowled at the kid's blatant insult towards the military. Just because they needed his help with one case did not mean they were completely incompetent. There were some very powerful alchemists in the military and really skilled regular soldiers. This case was just taking up too much time as they couldn't solve it. The Fuhrer thought that some outside help would help speed the case along.

"This is unbelievable." Edward said as he flipped through the papers of the case file that Mustang gave him. Mustang looked up from his train of thought about who to send to Burk Prison at the kid's voice.

"What is?" Al asked, leaning over his brother's shoulder so he could look at the case file to see what had his brother so surprised. The case couldn't be that bad, could it?

The elder brother sighed. "Soldiers are disappearing. Slowly the soldiers are disappearing. Major Hughes, as this is his report, believes they are being captured by someone. None of them have been seen since they disappeared. According to this, they disappeared one-by-one at random times from their homes or dorms. There has been no evidence at the scene of these crimes. For all the officers know, their comrades might not have even been kidnapped. At first they thought the missing officers just went AWOL. But when more and more started disappearing without a trace, they became suspicious. They started investigating into the disappearances of their comrades, but haven't found any leads. All of them have disappeared without a trace. How the hell are we supposed to find them if the military can't?"

Al snickered. "Probably because of our name and reputation, brother. We are the Trackers! It is our duty to track down those who disappear." He looked down at the picture of a young, pretty lieutenant who was the first one to disappear. "Are you sure there is nothing for us to go on?"

"I don't know." Edward grunted. "I would have to see one of the scenes where a soldier went missing from. The last soldier to disappear was a week ago. I don't know if they would have cleaned the scene up already or not."

A frown crossed over Al's face as a thought struck him. "But how do they know that each time a soldier goes missing it is for this case?"

"That is the only evidence." Edward replied as he pulled a picture out and handed it to Al. It was a picture of red circle with an eight pointed star in it. Each point on the star touched the circle. "After the first few attacks, this mark began to appear at the attacks. Whoever is doing this, drew that symbol in blood on the wall, floor, window or door to show that it was him. I guess the sadist wanted the credit."

Pale as a ghost, Al handed the picture back to his brother. Ever since he found his brother missing a leg in their basement and saw all that blood that he was losing, he was never comfortable with the idea of blood, mostly in large quantities. Don't get him wrong. He can stand the sight of it, but he doesn't like the idea of how villains used it or thinking about what bad people did to innocents. "This is the soldier's blood?" He asked hesitantly.

Edward shot his brother a sad smile, knowing what he was feeling as they discussed it a few months ago. "I don't know. It could be, or it could be the blood of the soldier from his previous attack. It's most likely that as if he attacked the soldier to get that person's blood they would be more of a struggle, destroying the room and making noise, and more blood around the room. Seeing as there is neither in any of the attacks, I assume it's the blood of the soldier from the last time."

"And there is no sign of a struggle because he probably drugged his victim beforehand." Al added with a dark frown. "What I want to know is how did he get in the room in the first place?"

"Alchemy? Or maybe he knows how to pick locks." Edward said, looking over at Hughes for some information.

"We already cleaned the last scene up." Hughes said with an apologetic shrug. "Tell you what, though. The next attack that happens, I will call you right away so you can look at the scene right away to get more information. But to be honest, you two are doing very well with putting the pieces together with just a skim through of that file."

Al flashed the Major a smile, while his brother didn't bother to glance up from the file again. A gloved hand rested on his chin as his eyes scanned over the information in the file. He bit his bottom lip which was one of his many signs that said he was thinking about something worryingly.

This case made absolutely no sense to him. The only similarity that all the victims shared was that they were all part of the military. It didn't matter to culprit about anything else. They didn't share eye or hair color. Their ages were all different too. All of them had different ranks. He even took a General and a soldier ranking as low as a private was taken as well. He took whoever he wanted, including some state alchemists. Whoever this guy was, he was good as he was not killed yet. It was likely that he was trying to give the military a horrible blow by taking all these soldiers.

Edward couldn't give a damn about the military, but as he looked at the picture of a young female soldier with the rank of sergeant, he felt his heart clench. In her profile it said she was married and had two sons. He may not care for the military, but he would get the soldiers back.

This man was tearing all these families apart!

His wide gold eyes watched the tail of his father's brown trench coat whipped out the door into the bright sun that blinded him. The door was slammed shut behind him, leaving the thump of the door being closed ringing loudly in his small ears. What was going on? Where was his father going? Why didn't he stop to talk to him? What was–

A small whimper and a tight grip on his hand brought the small golden haired boy out of his thoughts. He looked down at his younger brother, whose own gold eyes were staring at him with curiosity.

"Where dada go?" Al asked innocently.

Edward looked up at his mother for an answer. She was kneeling in front of them, head bowed, but Edward could just make out the shining wet tracks falling down her face. He watched as a drip from the tracks dropped to the ground. The drop glistened like a star from the sun pouring into the room from the window.

It hit the ground with a splash, a splash that told Edward all he needed to know. The splash was followed by another and another. It was forming a pool of change for the boys. A change that neither of them wanted.

"Brother?" Al's voice asked.

Edward, surprised by his brother's voice, broke from his thoughts. He slammed the case file in Al's chest, causing the boy to yelp in shock and a little pain and to take the file before it fell to the ground.

"You didn't have to do that." Al whined, rubbing his chest. When his brother didn't reply, Al frowned at him. "What's on your mind?"

"The damn case." Edward grunted. He saw his brother looking at him confused, so he gave a tired sigh. "I was just thinking about how I hate this case already. I may hate the military." Mustang glowered at the kid. "But I do realize that the soldiers are still people and have lives outside the military. This bastard is hurting all the families and friends of the soldiers he is taking."

Realization shined in Al's eyes. Family was always a rough topic for the boys. They hated talking about it, but Al knew that his brother cherished family and friends greatly after everything that happened.

Mustang looked at the young boys in front of him, particularly Fullmetal, with a thoughtful frown. It sounded like the young boy cared deeply for the families of the soldiers, even though he did not know them. His words were those of one who wanted to protect all those who needed it. And he would know, as he once told Maes that he would work his way to the top of the military to be Fuhrer so he could protect everyone. These boys sounded ready to throw their lives into the service of those that did not know them. And if they were going to throw their lives on the line for strangers, then he would protect them from all that wanted to harm them, even if he did not know much about them. It seems that all three of them would protect strangers.

A/N: Please Review!