A/;N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, faved, and followed! It really gives me the strength and courage to keep on writing, knowing there are people out there who enjoy reading my work.
I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. All rights go to Hiromu Arakawa.
Drachman Safehouse
Abandoned Industrial District
Central City
1745 Hours
"Thank you for your cooperation. Now, kindly die."
The bullet easily pierced the skull of the Drachman soldier, impaled to the wall with several alchemically generated spears. Edward grimaced and turned away. "Did you have to do that?"
Roy replied simply, "I needed to stretch." Edward frowned. Then his eyes hardened, he nodded and gestured to Mustang to wait for a second.
"Hey, lieutenant, you alright? If you need to rest, just tell us." Riza had sunk partway to the floor, breathing heavily. She felt nauseous from internal bleeding and she was finding it hard to focus. From what she remembered of her training, that was a bad sign. Every step was a struggle against the stabbing pain. But she could see that Roy and Edward had enough problems and injuries of their own to deal with without her burdening them with hers.
"I'm fine. Let's keep moving." She lifted her gun and limped on. The two men looked at each other and shrugged. They were used to Riza's stubbornness. At this point, they would be more concerned about her if she didn't insist on going on. "Colonel, where's Alphonse? We need to get him before we leave this place."
"Um, I think he's being kept just down the hall, behind that door. Fullmetal, can you reassemble him?"
Edward shook his head glumly. "I don't have the necessary materials. If I simply use metal from the rest of his armor, it'll thin and weaken the entire structure. As it is he's overdue for a structural overhaul. Any thinner and he might just fall apart." Alphonse would be incapable of doing anything for the time being.
The three walked in silence, eyes searching for any movement that might reveal an only noises were their footsteps and Riza's pained breathing. Soon they came to the door that Alphonse was supposedly behind. "Dammit, locked from the inside. I don't think we we're going to be able to shoot off the lock this time, Riza."
"I can't believe that even worked the first time." She knelt to inspect the lock, secretly grateful for a break. "We have to pick it or blow through it." Edward frowned.
"I don't think we have the right stuff to do it. Those grenades don't have the oomph." He looked at his recently freed hands. "Unfortunately, neither sparks over there or me know Kimblee's explosion formula and - what are you doing, lieutenant?" Grimacing, Riza spread open one of her wounds with a thumb and pointer finger. Blood flowed steadily out of the reopened wound. She dipped a finger into the red liquid, thought for a moment, then drew a circle on the door. A sun and a moon were drawn within the circle, followed by several more symbols. The outside was outlined with ancient alchemical writing and a final triangle was added to the circle.
"Stand back." Roy backed away, smirking at the flabbergasted expression on Fullmetal's face. Riza closed her eyes in concentration, then clapped her hands together and slammed them against the circle in one fluid motion. She then jumped out of the way of the reaction with a gasp of pain as the movement strained her injuries. Within the confines of the circle, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon were greedily pulled out of the atmosphere. They were shaped and bonded by the energies pouring out of the circle, and the resulting chemical detonated with the addition of a bit more alchemical energy. The reaction was shaped and guided by the circle's energies in the microseconds before the circle itself was obliterated. Kimblee's transmutation circle, slightly modified by Riza Hawkeye, blew the door inwards in a highly directional explosion.
Inside, three soldiers were standing around smoking, having been tasked with the thankless job of guarding Alphonse Elric. Each of them had pissed off lieutenant Romanovich in their own way. The first one accidentally dropped a crate which had happened to contain Romanovich's favorite vodka. The second one made a perverted comment about a cute girl in a picture. The girl was the lieutenant's wife. The last one had failed to keep his weapon clean, resulting in a misfire on the range that triggered a series of events that all involved had agreed to never speak of. All three had simply done or said the wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time. All three were good men, just looking to serve their country. All three hadn't wanted this assignment. All that didn't matter to the thick steel door that slammed into them, instantly killing one. One other ended up on the floor unconscious with a cracked skull and several broken bones. Only one managed to pull through in a vaguely okay condition. He stayed alive long enough to pull out his pistol and fire three shots through the doorway, screaming in pain from multiple fractures. His misery ended with a quick bullet to the head.
"That was pretty brutal Riza. Didn't think you actually paid that much attention to Kimblee." Mustang said casually as he walked into the room. He rolled one of the bodies over with his boot. It groaned in pain. "You missed one." A gunshot rang out. Riza staggered into the room, arm around Edward's shoulder. Her breathing rasped and blood was streaked at the edge of her mouth. He said something quietly to her and she shook her head. He helped her sit down against the wall where she held her side and coughed harshly.
Roy knelt beside her. "Riza, are you okay? You need to rest, let's stop for a while." Riza nodded, breathing heavily. "You don't have much strength, you shouldn't be going around doing alchemy."
Edward spoke up. "That reminds me. Bastard, you and I need to talk." He grabbed Mustang and pulled him over to the corner. "Since when could lieutenant Hawkeye use alchemy?!" he quietly hissed into Mustang's ear.
"I'm as confused as you are. It's helping us get out of here though, so just accept it. She did promise us an explanation when we first broke out." Mustang whispered back, glancing over to make sure they didn't disturb Riza. She was still slumped against the wall trying to catch her breath. "I think it's best if we wait until we get out of here. Besides, we need to help Alphonse right now." Edward nodded and began to open the crates, then grinned as another thought hit him.
"Oh, and by the way bastard. Since when were you two on a first name basis?"
Central City
Old Factory
1812 Hours
"Why are we here again?" The door of the official car opened and Mustang's team, minus Hawkeye and Mustang, stepped out. Breda squinted against the sudden sunlight, shielding his eyes with his free hand. Havoc shook his head.
"We're supposed to meet a 'Major McCormick', but I don't see anyone anywhere. Are you sure this is the right place?"
"Yeah, I was looking at the map half the time, this is the right place." Breda looked around, frowning. "The place looks pretty deserted. Are we early?" He glanced over at Fuery next to a portable radio set. "Anything on the airwaves?"
"Nothing. Just the usual communications. They're either maintaining radio silence, using some frequency I haven't heard of, or just not here at all." He turned the tuning dial on the radio, shaking his head once in a while. Falman simply shook his head. Even his observational skills turned up nothing.
"Well then, I guess we did come to the wrong place. Everyone back in the car and le-" Havoc was cut off when a hand materialized out of seemingly nowhere and grabbed his shoulder. "Holy fuck!" He spun around and leveled his shotgun only to be met with the angry face of another Amestrian.
"Shut the fuck up! Do you want us to be seen?! What are you doing, standing around like this? Come with me, quickly! And put out that goddamn cancer stick! Fuckin' newbies…" The soldier beckoned them to follow him, making his way back into the industrial rubble. Havoc stared after him, confused and shaken at the way he snuck up on him.
"I guess we better follow him. Told you we were in the right place." Breda shouldered his rifle, threading his way after the soldier. Falman and Fuery nodded as well and marched after him. Havoc stood there for a moment, then shrugged, dropped his cigarette on the ground, ground it out and walked after them.
After several minutes of walking through an industrial wasteland, Havoc found the rest of his comrades.
"To summarize, you will join up with delta squad and gamma squad and circle around while alpha and beta squads storm the front. Epsilon and Zeta squads will stay back and provide cover and reserve. Stay in cover and watch each other's asses, these blueprints are 15 years old and our recons only gave us a vague idea of what's changed inside. Fight smart, and with luck we'll all be home within a week. All right people, get tactical! Move like you've got a purpose, this briefing is over!"
"Yessir!" Havoc pressed himself against a large block of concrete as a group of soldiers wearing grey camouflage uniforms jogged past him.
"Yo Breda, what's going on?" Havoc walked up to the fold-out table, scattered with papers and coffee stains. Breda looked up from a paper in his hand and raised his other in greeting
"Hey, welcome to the temporary command post of 1st Platoon, 2nd Company, 24th Internal Operations Battalion. This is the major McCormick we were looking for. You just missed his briefing." The major finished giving orders to another one of his subordinates and turned to Havoc.
"Glad you could join us lieutenant. I presume you're the reinforcements I sent for?"
Havoc drew himself up to attention and saluted. "Yessir. So you're major McCormick."
The major's eyes appraised Havoc, piercing him and judging his worth. "Yes. Your friends have already gotten the briefing, so they'll fill you in. Just to give you some basic background, one of our civilian contacts tipped us off to possible criminal activity in this building. We've had it under surveillance for the past few weeks, and we're about ready to move in." Something changed in his eyes, and he nodded. "Find sergeant Corvik. He's somewhere down the line. Pick up some camouflage cloaks from him so a sniper doesn't blow off your head."
Havoc was surprised. "The criminals have sniper rifles?"
"No. We do. Dismissed, lieutenant. Good luck." The major turned back to the blueprints, making marks here and there with a pencil. Havoc knew a dismissal when he saw one, saluted and walked away.
Breda waited for him further down the line. "Yeah, that thing about snipers got me too. I didn't believe it but he pointed one of them out for me. Here, let me show you. Up there, you see? You can just see the top of his head." It was true. On top of a concrete building Havoc could just make out the top of a head. As he watched, the shape moved, turning towards him. He saw the glint of light off of a scope as the figure kept turning.
"Can't those guys point at the enemy?"
Breda chuckled darkly. "Don't you know Havoc? These people are Internal Operations. Everyone's the enemy. Hell, they make them watch each other. You saw the guy the major was talking to? The two of them probably have orders to shoot each other in the back the moment they even smell of turning traitor. I'll give you good odds that we have at least 5 crosshairs centered on our heads right now." He casually flipped off the air. "They remind me of Hawkeye. Not that she'd shoot us or anything but snipers, you know." Havoc looked down at the ground.
"Yeah…. I wonder how she and the colonel are doing right now…"
Drachman Safehouse
Abandoned Industrial District
Central City
1819 Hours
"Hey, thanks for getting me out of there! I was going insane!" Alphonse's voice rang out, cheerful despite his imprisonment. The nails of the crate rattled as the cart rolled down the corridor.
"Don't worry Alphonse. Glad we could help. Just - *cough wheeze* - just keep it down a little while we're moving. We don't want anybody to - *hack cough* - anybody to hear us." Riza hobbled alongside the cart, watching for enemies and shakily holding her gun. Roy and Edward took turns pushing the cart and walking/limping ahead of it, also on guard.
"So, what happened? Sounds like you guys got pretty injured. Are you okay?"
Roy answered this time. "We're alright. Based on that last guy we questioned, the exit's just up ahead. We'll give you a full run-down later, but we're all still able to move." Looking to the side, he whispered to himself "Even if she shouldn't be able to."
Edward carefully maneuvered the cart through the doorway, coming to a thick steel door. "Shit, I'm going to need to get through this. Give me some time." He knelt down, shifted his weight to his non-broken leg and got to work, sketching out a complex circle. Riza and Roy got down behind a few heavy crates and aimed at the doorway they had just come through.
The minutes passed by in tense silence. Something had to happen. Their escape couldn't possibly be this easy! And it wasn't.
Two grenades flew into the room and detonated, catching Roy in the bicep. He went down with a snarl, spun onto the ground by the shrapnel. Riza ducked down in time, the shrapnel bouncing off her cover. She came up firing, spraying rounds towards the doorway. Bullets flew back in response, forcing her back down. Roy threw a grenade back and fired around the corner of his cover. With a yell, Edward went down, shot in the buttocks. "Fuck! Really, in the ass?! Ah, shit, I can't work like this!" He slapped his hands together and sent a fist of earth and concrete down the hall. It clipped a Drachman soldier who had dared to poke his head around the corner, sending him flying and knocking him out.
"Big brother! Are you alright?!"
"Yeah, nothing bad, it just hurts like a bitch!"
Riza clapped her hands and alchemized herself another pistol. Drawing the one still tucked into her pants, she went guns akimbo firing with no concern for accuracy. Roy tossed a pair of grenades and followed it up with a volley of bullets. One exploded, but the other was tossed back. "Grenade!" Riza scooped it up and threw it again, but it exploded before it got far. She shielded Roy and Edward and was thrown into the wall.
"Fuck! Fullmetal, cover me!" Roy dove for her as a hail of earthen bullets smashed into the far wall. "Riza! Talk to me!" She coughed violently, splattering her front with blood. Her body had no strength left.
"I… I… ugh… kah… "
"Don't move, just stay there and breath! We'll get you out of here!" He turned to Edward. "Fullmetal! Riza's out of commission! Help me get her to cover and then get that door open!"
He fired in bursts of two and three, conserving ammo and blowing away two enemies. Return fire peppered the walls with bullet holes and shredded the front of his cover.
"Mustang! I can't work with all these fucking bullets! Can't you get rid of them?!"
"Hell no! I'm barely holding them off as it is! I use fire, not guns!" He ducked as another burst went by him. "Goddammit!" The firing stopped for a moment and he peeked above his cover. He ducked when two canisters bounced into the hallway. They came to rest against his cover with a slight *ting* sound. "Fullmetal! Grenade!" He yanked the teenager down to the ground, bracing himself for the blast and shrapnel.
That there was no blast was his first inkling that something was very wrong. Instead a hiss filled the air. "Shit! Gas, gas, gas!" Mustang stumbled back from the crate, yanking his shirt up over his nose. The smell stung his nostrils despite his hastily improvised gas mask. The fast acting gas quickly overcame Edward as weeks of sleep, water, and food deprivation took its toll. He coughed, choked, and was quickly out cold. Roy held on a little longer, falling to the floor. As he struggled to keep his eyes open, he heard Alphonse yelling Fullmetal's and his name. His vision started to fade as gas mask wearing Drachmans ran down the hall. He reached out as they knelt by Riza and checked her pulse and breathing. One of the soldiers shook his head. He aimed one final vicious kick at her then went over to Fullmetal. The man nodded this time and gestured for his compatriots to take care of the boy. Finally, they came to him. One leaned down to check his pulse and made eye contact with him. Behind the lenses of his mask his brow furrowed and he gestured for someone else. A weight slammed into the back of his head and he knew no more.
Riza struggled to stay present. She viewed events with a detached, clinical interest. She calmly noted the pain from the kick in her side, acknowledged Alphonse's scared and desperate cries, and only barely noticed the Drachmans taking away Roy and Edward.
Wait.
Taking away Roy and Edward.
Welp, fuck.
Riza tried to move, but could only shift her arm a few inches. Her hand was numb; that was bad, wasn't it? Somewhere deep in her brain she desperately formulated ideas, plans, anything! They were so close!
Her head slumped to her chest. She saw her bloody, beaten, half-dead body. She raised one hand partway and looked at it, examining the bloody skin. Riza thought. She needed a distraction, something to get them away from her friends. And Roy. Something big. Something flashy.
That'd work.
Havoc was sitting behind a large slab of concrete with another soldier, smoking and telling stories. "Yeah, and there was this one time, guy's holding the civvie with a knife, telling us all to 'back the fuck down or I'll cut this little bitch's throat!' Then chief is all like 'did you just call me little?!' The guy's all 'huh? what?' Then the chief becomes like some kind of demon, just destroys that guy! MPs actually had to restrain the chief! Last I checked, that guy still had 3 months of recovery to go. And this other time -" Suddenly the ground shook and dust rained on the two of them.
"The fuck?" The soldier and Havoc grabbed their weapons and aimed at the abandoned factory where the explosion occurred.
"Stand down! Corporal, private go check it out!" Two soldiers ran over to the dust cloud and knelt to peer into it.
"Nothing sir! Just a bunch of rubble and dust… Wait, I see something…
"That looks like a gun…"
"Hang on, there's someone down there! Get down here Mathais! Wait a sec, holy fuck, is that Flame?! And that's Fullmetal too!"
"Holy shit! You're right! What the fuck?! They went missing two whole weeks ago! What are they doing here?!"
"Hey, get a medic! They're half dead!"
"Medic! Medic!"
Havoc swore and, ignoring the alarmed shouts of the men beside him, ran over to the scene. Mustang and Edward were in a deep crater, lying against the walls beneath a large amount of concrete debris. Next to them was a pile of crates, splintered and broken. Various pieces of armor spilled out, and Havoc recognized them as Alphonse. He started to grin but then stopped cold. Something was wrong.
Where the fuck was Riza?
A/N: Whoooooo! This chapter is my longest one yet, I think. Thank you to everyone who read this story. Every view matters to me! Special thanks to those who took extra time out of their busy days to write a review and click those fav and follow buttons.
Exhibit A for the prosecution: Witness how the defendant stays up until 1, watching funny videos and neglecting his duties to write! And when he does write, he is so incompetent as to create this… this… travesty! As a jury, it is your duty to find the defendant guilty!
Or at the very least help me improve everything. Mash that review button!