I find that I usually bring Al in eating something…maybe it's because he never eats anything in the manga. Anyway, here we go with Chapter 21!

Chapter 21

"Are you sure about this, Edward?" Hohenheim's brow was creased as he asked the question. Roy stood near the back of the room, surveying the scene between father and son with some interest. Ed, on the other hand, was standing across from his father with his arms folded.

"Would I be asking you if I wasn't?" Ed snapped back irritably. Hohenheim sighed faintly, shuffling papers on his desk.

"What you're asking is quite dangerous," he said quietly. Ed scoffed loudly.

"You just need to say a few things; it's not a big d-"

"I meant that it's dangerous for you." Ed snapped his mouth shut. "Edward, you're asking me to lie to the commissioner of the police force by telling him that you have an interview planned that will expose him as a criminal. Not only that, but you are fully intending to use yourself as bait. I know I haven't been much of a father, but I would never want to deliberately put you in harm's way."

"There's nothing to worry about. This plan will be fine," Ed protested loudly. "Look, I'll be at a motel in South City where I'll be hiding out, and teacher has already promised she'll be on watch at the university. When we're together, there's no ass we can't kick."

"Don't worry, sir. Myself and my four closest men will be there the whole time, keeping an eye out. We'll be armed and if there is the first sign of danger we will jump on it," consoled Mustang. Hohenheim sat back a moment and proceeded to clean his glasses. There was a definite tension in the sir that still hadn't resolved itself when Ed's father put his glasses back on.

"All right then, I'll do it tonight," he agreed and Roy breathed in relief. "I have my monthly poker game with him and a few others. I'll be sure to let it slip."

"Just don't let on that you know the truth," Ed grumbled out begrudgingly.

"I'm the president of the University of Amestris, I think I know how to keep a façade up." Roy strode forward at this moment and handed Hohenheim a pin.

"Wear this on you tonight. There's a small wire in it that will transmit back to our receiver," Mustang told him. We want to make sure that everything goes smoothly."

"I understand," he replied, taking the pin and affixing it to his tie. "Edward, I know you'll be fine, but just be careful, okay?"

Ed frowned at him before yelling out, "Stop worrying so much! I'm not a little kid, dad!" Roy's eyebrow instantly sprang up, but the other two seemed to act like nothing had changed. Perhaps, in their minds, nothing had. Hohenheim merely gave a dismissive smile and went back to his paperwork. Ed's face tightened slightly, but it didn't stop him from exiting the room. Roy quickly caught up with him.

"Well…that was…er, emotional."

"It's a start," Ed mumbled, and the head detective chose not to push the issue further. Instead, the two pushed open the double doors on their way to Roy's car.

"Yeah, well, right now I'm just hoping that Bradley doesn't look too closely into our cover story." Ed tried to throw him a scathing look, but Roy cut him off. "I know, we've forced him into a situation where he can't look into it without incriminating himself, but it still worries me." They had finally reached the car.

"Of course it's dangerous," Ed said. "It's been dangerous since the beginning. The only difference between now and then is that now we know who the enemy is, whereas we didn't before."

"That's true," Roy sighed out in response. "Still, I'm hoping this goes fine, and that it doesn't blow back on your dad."

"He'll be fine," Ed said dismissively. "Right now, the ones we need to focus on are ourselves. When we get back to East City, you need to go back to the station."

"Keep up appearances, right?" Roy confirmed and Ed nodded. "We don't want them to think anything is off. Once your father sets the bait tonight, you'll head to the site."

"Yep. I'll be staying at the Southern Dreams Motel," Ed explained with a scowl. Roy restrained himself from laughing as it became readily obvious that the young forensics specialist was likely imagining all the dirty scenes he would possibly have to endure while he waited there. Regardless, the head detective knew he had to continue explaining the plan so that Ed would feel confident that he knew it.

"I'll send Armstrong along to help you set everything up, and for you to have a negotiator in case South PD shows up. Archer's not exactly the most amiable guy when it comes to jurisdiction, and there's only so much Grumman can do."

"The rest of you will leave when your shift is up, one by one, and go to the motel," Ed continued. "I should be fine either way because Bradley's man inside East wouldn't risk his concealment to take the day off and kill me. He'll have to wait until his shift is up as well."

"He'll come hunt you down at the motel, where we'll be waiting to capture him. We'll make him talk and tell us what Bradley's up to." Ed shrugged at Mustang's concluding words. He seemed to think the plan was going to be incredibly easy. Mustang, on the other hand, knew quite differently. This entire case had been roadblock after roadblock until Ed came along. Even when he did, it was still slow going. Were this any other case, Mustang would have already caught the perpetrator. Here they had to tread carefully, partially because they could only trust a select few people, but also because the suspect was the one man who had their lives in his hands. He was connected, and he was vicious. They had to go slowly and deliberately, and overconfidence would only make them easy targets to be duped. Envy proved that.

Regardless, Roy didn't caution Ed at all on the way back to East City. It was his job to protect the young man, so warning him about the dangers would be pointless. Finally, their trip back ended. Ed immediately jumped cars and headed home; he was still on suspension after all. Roy, meanwhile, went back into the station in order to do whatever case work and paperwork needed to be done. He didn't anticipate the deluge of it. The loss of his partner, whether he had been an enemy or not, made itself very apparent that day. All of the paperwork fell on him and he cursed the fact that he couldn't even push it on his subordinates, all of whom were out running cases that day.

The point was that by five o'clock that day, Mustang felt his mind was partially fried and that he was most certainly nursing a carpal tunnel. Nevertheless, he still kept his wits about him as he began the drive to Resembool. As he drove, he became more cautious and took winding curves and side streets all for the intention of making sure he wasn't followed. Shortly after six, he had finally arrived in the town limits of Resembool. Then his phone rang, with the single name "Riza" flashing.

"Hey, what's up?" Mustang asked, answering the call.

"Breda called me," Riza responded. "He told me all about your plan tomorrow night."

"Yeah, sorry we couldn't really think of a way to get you involved in it," Roy apologized. Riza chuckled a little bit over the phone.

"It's fine. It would be more than suspicious if all of us head to the same place anyway," she said and Roy felt himself nodding, even though she wasn't there. "Do you think it will work, sir?"

"Hard to say…Ed's plans generally work, but I'm starting to worry if we're getting a little ambitious."

"Well, I couldn't tell you if Bradley suspects you're doing anything. He hardly even visits the station since you confronted him, granted that it has just been two work days."

"Hard to believe it was just last Friday that we confronted him. So much has happened." Riza seemed to hum in assent on the other line. "By the way, was that all you were calling me for?"

"No, Fokker asked me to call you."

"He's found something?" Roy asked, his insides clenching in anticipation, longing for answers.

"Not really, but he did say that he managed to get a judge to sign off on a warrant to look into Homunculus Corp's financials." Mustang's brow furrowed.

"I never told him about Bradley's connection to Homunculus Corp…" There was silence on the other end, and Mustang grew skeptical. "Hawkeye…"

"I may have let slip a word or two…but nothing damaging. I'm not so careless, sir."

"I know, thank you," he said. "Well, that's good. He may be able to connect Homunculus Corp to Bradley. That combined with Lust's testimony is a lock. Now all we need is for Fullmetal's plan to work."

"Well, I'll be here in Central. If you need me at any time, sir…" She didn't even need to finish for Roy to get the message.

"I know. Anyway," he said as he pulled into the Elric's driveway. "I'm at the Elric's, so I've got to go."

"Roy, be careful." Taking that as a goodbye, both ended the call. Roy parked his car and proceeded up the steps to knock on the door, a bag swinging from his hand. Alphonse opened it, half a biscuit in his hand.

"Good to see you, Detective Mustang," he greeted tremulously. Roy gave him a confused look as he stepped in. "Um…might want to avoid the living room for now. Ed and Winry are going at it."

It took only one step to prove Al's point.

"I'm saying that you're being stupid again, Ed!" screeched Winry from the living room.

"Again? ! What the hell does that mean, Winry?" Roy saw Al motion to follow him into the kitchen. Doing so did nothing to muffle the yelling.

"You know exactly what I mean!"

"I don't understand half of what you're saying since your damn mood swings started kicking in."

"Then let me spell it out for you, Edward," Winry's voice had turned colder and both Roy and Alphonse visibly shuddered at the iciness. "You are on suspension, and in all the time that you've been off work, you have not spent a single day at home."

"Yes, you made that quite plain yesterday morning," Ed said dully. "Your arguments are just going in a circle now."

"I'm starting to think you should have stayed working at Central! At least then, you were home for two days a week."

"How is this my fault? I'm only doing this to help Mustang out!" Winry screamed loudly as a crash resonated from the living room.

"Mustang! Mustang! Mustang! That's all you talk about lately! I'm your fucking wife, Ed, and I'm going to be the mother of your child, but if you'd rather play police with Roy Mustang then be a family with me, go ahead! I was fine without you in Rush Valley and I could cope now." Stunned silence followed as Ed seemed to be trying to pull himself together. Roy looked at Al, whose biscuit was forgotten, his mouth wide and gaping; it was pretty obvious that Winry didn't swear often.

"Should I intervene?" he asked tentatively. Al recovered, only to shake his head.

"No, I tried to intervene when they first started, but Winry looked ready to rip my head off," he told the head detective. Roy gulped as Ed appeared to regain his bearings in the other room.

"Winry, what's this really about?" Ed asked her softly and slowly. Winry took a moment to respond.

"You…and me," she said almost as softly as Ed. "What do you think this is about?"

"Look, if you're still on about the gala-"

"I could care less about the gala," Winry muttered. "I've know our whole lives that you couldn't stand things like that. Heh, I was surprised you even got through our wedding."

"Then what is it?" A deep intake of breath was heard before the answer.

"I don't like this," she answered. "I don't like you running around trying to catch a killer. Every time you walk out that door, every morning, I worry whether or not I'll see you come home in your car or in a coffin. I know it probably makes me sound needy and emotional but…I love you, Ed. It would kill me if you died because you were helping someone in danger when it doesn't concern you."

"Winry, I-"

"Just…don't make me worry so much, Ed," she concluded, and her footsteps were heard receding from the room. The lack of Ed's footsteps told Roy that his younger partner was staying still a moment longer. Al seemed to recover from the yelling first.

"So, how've you been, Detective Mustang?" he asked, sitting down at the table.

"Uh…fine, just fine. Yourself?"

"Can't complain. Ed told me you guys visited our father this morning?" Roy nodded. "It's a miracle those two didn't get into a fight over something stupid."

"Yeah," he chuckled out in response. "Winry mentioned a gala?"

"Oh, right, tomorrow night. We were all supposed to go together to support Ling, but then Ed's plan changed that. So, now it's just me, Mei and Winry."

"I'm surprised their even having another one, considering what happened last time."

"Ling told me that Princess Elena insisted on it to show she wasn't afraid or something like that," Al explained to the detective. "Apparently they outsourced to a security company for more support."

"Sounds…secure," Roy commented and the two started laughing. Of course, they immediately stopped as Winry walked in the room, her eyes red and blotchy. She gave a sharp nod to Roy as she walked to the stove. Al sat there uncomfortably for a moment before slowly edging out of the room.

"Can-can I get you anything, Detective?" Winry choked out. Roy couldn't quite formulate a response and opted for shaking his head. After a few more seconds of unbearable silence, Roy finally decided to speak up.

"Mrs. Elric-" he began.

"Winry…just call me Winry," she said, smiling at him a little. "You're practically family now, anyway."

"All right…Winry, I'm sorry." She turned around completely, looking at him with shock. "I didn't mean to pull Ed away from the two of you, and it pains me to see such a pretty girl crying because of me."

"You're a terrible flirt, Mr. Mustang; don't you realize I'm married?" she giggled out.

"Of course, and Fullmetal's lucky to have you," he said sincerely. Maybe it had been her comment about family that made him be surprisingly kind. He wasn't quite sure. Either way, it had been far too long since someone had called him part of their family. "Winry, I promise that I will do everything in my power to keep Ed safe. I'll protect him."

Winry continued to stare at him a moment before meekly muttering, "Thank you." Roy took the silence that followed as a cue to meet up with Ed in the living room. Ed, himself, was sitting on his couch, his head in his hands, as if in contemplation. Only the sound of Roy clearing his throat caused him to realize the head detective's presence.

"Oh…Mustang, when did you get here?" he asked absentmindedly and Roy took sympathy on the man.

"A while ago. I was chatting with your brother," Roy answered. Ed looked mortified but Roy decided to act as though he hadn't heard the entire blow-up. Ed took a deep breath to recompose himself before turning back to Mustang.

"You remembered the receiver?" he asked as Roy joined him on the couch. The older man placed the bag he had been holding the entire time on the coffee table, and Ed immediately dove into it. From its portents he pulled a radio and went straight to tuning. "Dad says their poker game starts at seven, so we still have a bit to wait."

"Who knows how long it will be before your father can say anything to Bradley, anyway," Mustang commented as Al came back in the room, his coat on his shoulders.

"Are you going out, Al?" Ed asked as his younger brother fitted his arms into the coat sleeves.

"Mei just called," he answered. "She wants to go over wedding stuff and my doctorate presentation. Besides, I don't want to get involved with your work. That way, you won't have to worry about me."

"Geez, Al, sometimes I feel like you could have been born a girl," Ed laughed out. "You're way too kind and sensitive for a guy sometimes."

"Yeah, well, you could learn a thing or two."

It took Ed a moment to recover, finally yelling a "Sh-shut up, Al!" just as the younger brother was leaving. Only the closing of the door was heard in response. Mustang scratched his head as Ed turned back to him. "Want to play some poker?"

So, that was how they passed the time. It would have almost been incredibly dull had the two men not been compulsive winners. Their own poker game, likely not even close to mirroring the one they were listening in on, was intense and inflamed. Said fires only got worse when Winry joined them with a delicious pizza. Still, the two men remained vigilant as soon as the sounds of Hohenheim's poker game came through the receiver. For quite a while, the three continued to play their own impassioned version of poker while the dull sounds of the other high stakes game flitted over them.

It was about half past eight that anything of interest started to happen. Bradley was the first to speak.

"So, how have your boys been doing, Van?" questioned the commissioner. "I've been seeing a lot of Edward lately, but how's your other son been?"

"Hard at work," chortled Hohenheim. "He's busy preparing for his doctoral presentation, so that's probably rather time consuming. On top of that, he's busy planning for his wedding next spring."

"Quite young for marriage, isn't it?" Bradley asked. "Well, I guess it's lucky that both of your boys found love at such a young age."

"Oh, yes…although, I haven't been involved in much of Edward's life. I hardly even knew he had gotten married!" Both of the older men seemed to find this incredibly amusing.

"So, are you going to the gala tomorrow?"

"Of course!" Hohenheim affirmed. "Prestigious men like us are practically required to go."

"That's true. What about your sons? I ran into Edward at the last one," Bradley said and both Mustang and Ed leaned in toward the receiver.

"I know Alphonse is coming, but when I asked Edward he told me the strangest thing." Roy was breathing in short bursts now. "He said that he didn't want to go because he had an interview with a television reporter first thing the next morning."

"What about?" A clinking was heard over the receiver as it seemed Hohenheim was getting a drink.

"Something about corruption in the police department that went high up in the command chain, or some other nonsense. I told him he was being ridiculous, but he insisted on hiding out in the Southern Dreams Motel tomorrow night, anyway."

"Hmm…this is the first I've heard about it," Bradley commented, and much to their relief, his voice was full of tension.

"I'm surprised he even told me. Supposedly, it was meant to be some big secret," Hohenheim laughed out. "Now are we going to play poker or what?" After that, no more conversation of note was heard. Ed smirked widely.

"The bait is set."

"Whatever, Ed, can we play now?" Winry huffed across the table.

"In a rush to lose, Winry? We all know you have a horrible poker face."

"Just try me, short stuff." Roy cracked a laugh.

"That's it! I'm gonna kick your ass!"

X X X

The next morning, Roy entered the police station to witness a near unprecedented flurry of activity. He had hardly sat at his desk when Havoc came up to him and leaned casually.

"Whole station's in an uproar about it," he commented casually. Mustang calmly placed his things on his desk.

"What are you talking about, Havoc?" he asked and Havoc gave him a coy smirk.

"I guess some people found out that Ed's going on a television interview."

"News travels fast. Armstrong!" The larger man seemed to hear Mustang's call, because moments later he was at the head detective's desk. "I need you to run a lead on a case."

"Of course, sir," Armstrong said softly and he promptly walked away. Mustang propped his head against his fist, a wide smirk stretching his face. Now everything's in place.

"How's your leg, Havoc?"

"It's good. I went to the doctor yesterday and he said the wound should be fully healed in a day or two," Havoc responded.

"Will you be ready for tonight?" Havoc looked to his boss, whose eyes flashed towards him. Havoc scoffed.

"Why wouldn't I be? Are you, boss?" Then Havoc left the head detective to himself.

The rest of the day passed much like the day before had: Mustang sat at his desk practically all day doing paperwork. There was only one call the entire day which had been for a jewelry store heist. It hadn't been hard to figure out that the store's assistant manager had been behind it. Then he had to file the paperwork for that. He hated paperwork.

As the clock inched toward the end of their shifts, Mustang saw Feury leave for the day. Then Breda and Havoc left, with Havoc going on about something, likely pontificating about Rebecca. Soon after, Roy packed up his stuff and set out. Just to be safe, he made it look as though he were heading home before diverting and heading for the highway. He arrived in South City in a little under an hour, parking two blocks away from the motel. His men were already there when he arrived.

"Is everything set?" he asked Armstrong.

"Edward's in the room watching television, but he's on alert. I've also arranged it with the motel's owner to monitor the security cameras," Armstrong informed him.

"All right, then. Feury, you're on camera detail. The rest of us should take up positions near enough to watch the door, but far enough away that we won't be seen. Have your weapons ready; we have no idea how dangerous this guy is."

"What should I look for on the cameras?" questioned Feury.

"The hotel staff at the East Grand mentioned a man in a white hoodie. I'd presume he'll use that disguise again. Now let's go."

Feury departed immediately, heading in the direction that Armstrong had indicated. Meanwhile, the other four split up. Armstrong decided to keep post on the second floor on the reason that he would be less visible that way. Mustang couldn't agree more. Mustang himself took to crouching behind a bunch of bushes outside Room 503, the room Ed was staying in. Havoc took a position around the corner while Breda watched the parking lot from a distance. Then, they began to wait. He knew that each of his men was waiting on tenterhooks, himself included. Ed's plan was good; there was no doubt about that. However, there was still no guarantee the guy would show. Mustang checked his watch. It was a quarter to seven now.

A funny thought entered his head about how at this very moment, Winry would be heading towards the gala, likely looking awkward without her husband. Suddenly, Mustang's phone vibrated and he took it out to see a text from Feury: Left side, man in white hoodie. The head detective's neck snapped up and he saw his team checking their phones. All at once, and without saying a word, they dashed away from their posts, barreling towards the opposite side of the hotel. Breda got there first, spotting the target and tackling him viciously to the ground.

"Hey, what the hell, man? !" cried the man as Breda ripped his hoodie back. To their surprise, the man was unrecognizable. Not a single one of the detectives had seen him before. Mustang took a step forward.

"Why are you here?" he asked frigidly. The man gulped.

"Some dude came up to me and offered me this hoodie and some money if I wore it and bought from that vending machine."

"Who? Why?"

"Like I know, man!" The man was exasperated by now, but Mustang's yearning for answers would not be denied. "Some crazy dude. Wore a white suit and a top hat, crazy eyes. Oh, and the dude had a gun so I wasn't about to mess with him."

"A decoy!" Mustang yelled and all four immediately backtracked. They had been duped by the previous disguise, and now Ed's life hung in the balance. A crash resounded from where they had left and Roy picked up speed. In seconds, he came in view of the door. Not wasting a moment, he dove in and saw the man assailing Ed, the broken television set having fallen near his feet. Mustang quickly aimed his gun and fired, nailing the man in the shoulder. Almost instantly, Armstrong came charging in, slamming into the man's stomach. The punch sent him against the wall and Ed moved out of the way as Havoc and Breda came in to cuff him and throw him on a chair.

The man's black hair was draped over his face, his hat slipping to cover his eyes, but still Mustang felt that there was something familiar about him. The detective quickly took the hat off and brusquely brushed the hair aside, finally getting him a look at the killer's face. "Solf J. Kimblee."

"Well, if it isn't Roy Mustang. What an unexpected surprise!" Kimble laughed out. Mustang scowled at the deranged detective.

"You're the dirty cop from Ishval. You're Bradley's best man?" Mustang questioned but Kimblee only smiled as a response. "Why? You killed Scar's brother. I want to know why!"

"He found out too much," Kimblee answered with a shrug. "You see…I was always working for Homunculus Corp. Bradley could see my potential. I didn't do too many jobs back in the day but I still had a few. They were fun, really…that was back when they were simple."

"You're psychotic," Ed blurted out. This made Kimblee laugh.

"Oh, believe me, I know…but those psych evals are way too easy to pass as long as you know that you're crazy. That Ishvalan psychologist though, he wasn't convinced and wanted to see me for extra sessions." Kimblee sighed here, his eyes lighting up theatrically. "I obliged him, but I let slip a little too much one day and knew he had to be eliminated."

"You knew…the day of that bombing," Mustang spat, his face drawn in anger. "You knew why it was happening."

"It was only too easy to figure out. Plus, it showed that my work was sloppy, so I killed McDougal to cover it up. It's a rush, doing things like that. When your life, your very soul, is on the line, killing can feel so liberating! Bradley knew it too, so he had me transferred to avoid showing favoritism."

"What about Raven?"

Kimblee chuckled. "Had to do it, the blabbering old man. We knew you were up to something, and we knew Raven would talk, so Envy went to stall you while I killed Raven. We were obviously very sloppy…especially if I fell for a trap like this." Mustang continued looking into Kimblee's crazed eyes as a question came to his mind.

"If you're working for Homunculus Corp, why are you telling me this?" Kimblee cocked an eyebrow.

"Because I'm not in it for the cash. I could care less if Homunculus wins as long as I make full use of my talents," Kimblee answered offhandedly. "Not to mention, I am interested in which side wins if they're both on equal footing."

"Then tell me: what is Bradley up to and why?" Mustang demanded. Kimblee grinned widely.

"Oh, I can't tell you why, simply because I don't know. I will tell you what he's up to, though." Kimblee then cleared his throat before announcing, "Bradley's going to assassinate the president of Xing tonight."

Author's Note: Cliffhanger! And, a I kept my promise this time, you can expect the resolution to said cliffhanger in two weeks. I'm already halfway done with the chapter so…yeah. On a different note, thanks to those who voted in my poll thus far, I'll leave it up a little longer. Funnily enough, most of you said you wanted to wait for the story to end before you made a decision so I look forward to hearing your decision in a review when I post the final chapter. In the meantime, please review and Dare to Be Silly.