Chapter 18: Preparing for the Worst

Havoc sighed in exhaustion as he stepped off the train in Central. "I was hoping for a nice peaceful vacation…" He muttered as he cracked his neck.

He was surprised as he noticed Roy and Riza within the throngs of the crowd, looking as though they were waiting for someone.

Havoc grinned as he approached them. "Wow General, I didn't know you would come and meet me."

"I'm not here for you, Captain." Roy snapped in irritation as he walked towards the trains.

Havoc stared at his back in confusion for a few moments as Riza stood beside him. "What was that all about?"

"Fullmetal came to Central today. He was supposed to have met with General Mustang immediately after his automail was replaced, but apparently he took a side trip to Rush Valley with Winry."

Havoc shook his head. "So Ed shirked on his orders, eh? No wonder the General's in a bad mood."

Riza nodded. "Fullmetal isn't seeing General Mustang immediately upon arrival either. He stated on the phone before taking the train that he would be seeing Winry off, checking into his hotel, and then doing some sight seeing before coming to headquarters."

Havoc couldn't help but chuckle as he placed a cigarette in his mouth. "So basically, General Mustang decided to trap him at the train station so he could avoid the headache of waiting for Ed to arrive?"

Riza nodded in irritation. "You summarized the situation well, Captain. Anyways, how was your vacation?"

Havoc blinked at her in surprise. "It was good. Dad had me slaving away at the family store though, so it wasn't much of a vacation."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Captain. Unfortunately, there is a stack of papers that General Mustang delegated to you sitting on your desk awaiting your return. Let's head back to headquarters so you can get started on them."

The cigarette in Havoc's mouth fell as it hung open in shock.

"Come on, Captain." Riza said sternly.

Havoc sighed as he chalked the cigarette on the ground as a loss and followed Riza reluctantly. "He always does this when one of us goes on vacation…" He grumbled.

Riza kept silent, knowing what he said was true.

Roy waited patiently for Ed and Al as they saw Winry off on a train that was heading to Risembool.

Once the train was out of sight, Roy approached them. "Nice try Fullmetal, but I decided I didn't want to play the waiting game with you today."

Ed sighed in defeat and shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly? I wasn't in the mood to play it with you either. I knew you'd get irritated and would come to get me if I told you I wasn't going to be there right away." Ed said smirking slyly at Roy, who could only chuckle in amusement.

"We know each other too well. The games I used to play with your head aren't fun anymore."

"Why? Is it because I've caught on to them? Heh, you're a sore loser, General."

Roy closed his eyes as a bemused expression appeared on his face. "I just know when to call it quits, Fullmetal. Come on. I've got some important matters that I need to discuss with you."

Al looked uncertainly between the two men.

"You can come too, Alphonse. I don't like keeping you out of the loop unless it's absolutely necessary."

Al stared at Roy in surprise as Roy began walking away.

"Don't look so surprised, Al. I always kept you in the loop because Mustang basically allowed it. He never told me to keep anything I was told to myself. He knew you'd always come with me on whatever mission he sent me on, but for appearances sake he only allowed me to come to his office. Now that we aren't going behind the higher ups' backs like we used to, it's all right to bring you with me now." Ed explained before following Roy.

Al smiled, shaking his head. "Those two are alike in so many ways…" He muttered beneath his breath before following.

Breda, Falman and Fuery stared in surprise as Ed and Al entered the office behind Roy. "So what does the General want with you now?" Breda whispered to Ed, who could only shrug his shoulders.

"Breda, Falman, Fuery! I want you to head to these locations and scout them out. Some rumours have been flying around and I don't like them." Roy snapped, handing each of them a slip of paper and a book.

"Yes sir!" They said, saluting and leaving the office quickly.

A large pile of papers rested on the desk that Havoc usually sat at.

Riza stood beside Roy's desk silently as he sat, motioning for them to do the same. Once they did, Riza moved swiftly towards the door. After a quick check of the empty hallway, she shut the door and locked it.

Al stared at her in confusion as Ed frowned at Roy. "What's going on, General? It must be something serious if you're kicking your subordinates out and locking the door to prevent intrusion…"

Roy gave Ed the same frown he was receiving from the younger man. "You're right."

Riza remained by the door, just in case somebody tried to enter.

Al stared at Roy in surprise before it quickly turned to worry. "What's wrong, General?"

"I'm not going to dance around it: I know what happened to you in Liore and Rush Valley."

Ed's frown turned into a scowl. "You had us followed, didn't you?"

Roy nodded sternly. "Ever since reports of a strange shadow roaming around Central reached me, I knew that for some reason, it would go after you. You two never seem to be able to avoid attracting trouble."

Ed sighed in defeat, knowing he was right. "So who'd you have following us?" He asked flatly.

"Marian." Roy said simply.

Ed and Al looked at him in confusion before a noise from Havoc's desk drew their attention.

"Hey you two! It looks as though my skills have improved if neither of you noticed me." Havoc said as he stood, waving casually to the brothers.

Roy chuckled. "I believe it's only because they've gotten rusty."

"Ouch. Way to crush my hopes, General." Havoc said, grinning, as he put a cigarette in his mouth.

Ed stared at Roy flatly. "You sent Havoc to follow us? Somebody we'd instantly recognise if we did notice him? You're the one who's gotten rusty, General."

Roy and Havoc laughed. "Never in a million years would you have noticed him." Roy said with a sly grin.

"I was dressed up in various disguises. You passed me several times in Liore, Dublith and Rush Valley and never noticed me."

Ed and Al's expression caused Roy to laugh at them. The laughter was quickly cut off as he returned to the topic at hand. "Do either of you know what that shadow is or why it's specifically targeting you?"

Ed threw his hands up. "I wish we did, General. We'd have taken care of the source by now if we did."

"Tell me everything you do know about it."

Al glanced at Ed worriedly. Since Al had never actually had any physical contact with the shadow, Ed had to be the one to do all the talking.

"Whatever is the source of it obviously has a long reach. The first time we ran into it in Liore, my automail cut through it and it vanished as soon as it came into contact with my blade, but I didn't feel any resistance. It was like it was just a ghost or a real shadow." He paused to let the information sink in.

After a few moments, Roy motioned for him to continue.

"The second time in Rush Valley, though… it felt more solid and it didn't vanish immediately. Not only that, but the second time, I saw something over its right eye. It also reformed and attacked Winry. I thought the culprit was in the alley and as I approached the alley, that's when it went after Winry. It was almost as though it knew that attacking Winry would cause me to back off on going into that alley."

Roy nodded in understanding. "I have a feeling I know where it makes its home."

Ed and Al looked at him in surprise as he brought a file out of his desk.

"Against my warnings, the assembly sent a crew into the underground city. They went to secure the cavern to keep it from collapsing and to study what remained of the ruins. Shortly after the assembly lost contact with them, that shadow began to appear."

"So you think that they disturbed something that was lurking in the ruins?" Al questioned gravely.

Roy nodded. "That's exactly what I think. Tomorrow, I want you to go down there and find out what the hell is going on."

"So it'll just be Al and me checking it out?" Ed questioned in irritation. He never liked being sent into something potentially dangerous that even Roy wouldn't go into.

"No." Everyone looked at Roy in surprise. "I'm coming with you."

"General!" Riza's shocked voice yelled at him.

"Calm down, Captain Hawkeye, you're coming too."

That simple sentence seemed to belay any fears she had as she nodded.

"Captain Havoc, you're coming as well."

Havoc seemed taken aback by that sudden order. "Why me?"

"Because, you're the only other person here who knows about this. Besides, you're the second best officer with a gun. We can't be too careful."

Havoc sighed as he shifted the cigarette in his mouth. "Well this will be interesting…" He muttered. "By the way, General Mustang, when you were handing out promotions to us, why did you stop at Captain? It makes me sound like one of those villains you read about in children's books."

Roy smirked at him. "That's precisely why I stopped the promotions at Captain. It's also very amusing to say 'Captain Havoc' all the time."

Havoc, Ed and Al rolled their eyes as Riza remained in an irritated silence.

"Anyways, they'll be back soon. So it's agreed that we'll meet here tomorrow morning to go into the underground city?" He asked seriously.

Ed and Al nodded in unison with Riza while Havoc sighed in hesitation before nodding.

"Good. Don't let anyone know what we're going to do. Breda, Falman and Fuery aren't in on it because we need them to have plausible deniability. They will say what we tell them we're doing, and nobody can try and worm anything different out of them because they believe that to be the truth."

"Is there somebody higher up that you don't trust?" Al asked worriedly.

Roy nodded. "And below me. Director Giles doesn't trust me, so he's been sticking Brigadier General Adran on my tail quite often. I wouldn't put it past them if I were to suddenly vanish from Central to try and worm something out of somebody who knows me."

Ed and Al nodded in understanding.

Riza unlocked the door and opened it just as Breda, Falman and Fuery returned.

"We're done here. Go back to your hotel and get ready. We're going to be leaving for the Southern regions to check out those reports I received. We'll meet here first just to make sure we've got everything we need."

"Yeah, yeah." Ed grumbled as he grabbed his jacket and walked out.

Al nodded to Roy. "Don't worry, sir. We'll be ready tomorrow, even if I have to drag Ed out of bed and down here."

Roy chuckled. "That's fine, Alphonse. I'm counting on you."

Al waved to everyone before leaving.