Chapter 3: Yor

"Did you hear, the Colonel apprehended the Bald himself."

Yor Brian only vaguely paid attention to the conversation as Camilla and Millie were gossiping about the events at the train station the previous afternoon. The Blue Group had managed to take General Halcrow, a Brigadier under the command of Lieutenant General Grumman, hostage while traveling on a train from his headquarters in New Optain to East City. They had sent out a demand for the release of the Eastern Liberation Front's leader from his imprisonment in Central in a prisoner exchange.

However, the Elric Brothers, including the Full Metal Alchemist Edward, had been aboard, and had defeated the terrorist cell with no civilian casualties. Just as the separatists had been taken into custody, however, Bald, the cell's leader, had broken free using his weaponized automail. It had been quite lucky that Colonel Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist, had been on the platform. Using a burst of his alchemy, he had subdued the terrorist with relative ease.

"Well of course he was able to stop a guy that basically only had a big knife," Sharon, the oldest of the four secretaries for the East City Operations Base, stated. She adjusted her glasses, looking back down at some of acquisition forms currently on her desk, "I remember when I saw the Colonel and Full Metal fought during last year's assessment," her face grimaced, pulling up one piece of paper in particular, "We had to request an extra year's worth of concrete to fix the damage to the grounds. It took me a month of calls with Annie down in Tobha to get it all up here. "I can't just give you that much," God I hater her."

"Oh, get over it," Camilla waved back, her pretty hair swishing with the movement of her arm, "I like working for the Colonel," she placed her chin in her hand, "When I originally signed up for this job, I thought I would have to deal with creepy old men who would undress me every time I come into the office."

"But Colonel does that too," Millie, the youngest of the four, with a short cropped hair style around her neck, pointed out, "I mean, he talks about how pretty all of us are whenever we walk by."

"Yeah, but he's handsome."

"Don't you have a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, but I didn't until like two months ago, so it wasn't like I had any kind of issue for most of my time here. It's not like when old man Grumman came by," Camilla shivered, "He spent way too much time much time looking at my butt."

"I told you you didn't have to wear the miniskirt," Sharon piped up.

"But Dominic likes it," Camilla stopped for a second.

"What do you think Yor?"

Yor stopped, finally paying attention to the world around her. She had long black hair, and like her fellow secretaries, a short skirted version of the standard Amestran uniform. She raised her hand above her head, and adjusted the headband keeping her hair in place. For a second she stopped, before finally asking.

"Think about what?"

"Ugh," Millie groaned, placing her head in her hands. Sharon just shook her head as Camilla gained a very large frown, "Of course she wasn't paying attention. She never pays attention."

"I'm sorry," Yor finished pulled up the tray with the cups of coffee on it. She managed to keep the tray perfectly balanced, keeping the nearly full mugs from dripping any liquid out of it, "I was really trying to make sure the coffee was the way the colonel likes it."

"See," Camilla suddenly threw up her hand, "Yor agrees with me."

"About what?" Yor, still not quite having followed the conversation, offered bluntly.

"Oh come off it," Camila waved her hand, ""I just want the coffee to be the way the colonel likes it"" her copying actually sounded nothing like Yor, and in fact sounded far younger and more feminine, which was only reinforced by Camila leaning back and placing her hand on her forehead, as though she was fainting. Yor blinked a few times, staring dumbly at her coworker.

"Are you okay?"

"Yor, you know she isn't," Sharon observed, and didn't move a muscle when Camilla left her pose and glared at the older woman. The blonde then stopped, and then pointed her free finger directly into Yor's face, a smirk upon her face.

"You clearly are trying to get on the Colonel's good side," she smirked, "I mean, all things considered, he'd certainly be a good catch," she almost seemed to be giggling to herself, "But unfortunately, a man like him would never be tied down. Especially to one woman."

"..." Yor just stared at Camilla for a second.

"...I thought Colonel Mustang is gay?"

"WHHAAAT!" All three of her coworkers shouted so loudly that Yor almost lost control of the tray. But she quickly adjusted herself to catch it, and then keep herself stable. The three women marched over to her, even the usually detached Sharon seemed to be in utter shock as they marched on her. Yor made sure to hold the tray tightly to avoid the hard work she had just put in getting spilled. Camilla in particular was red in the face for some reason, which Yor noticed as she pushed her face right into Yor's.

"How could you think that the Colonel is gay?" She shouted more than asked, "Haven't you heard how many dates he has."

"Every week I have to deal with calls out of the office," Sharon stated, seeming far more annoyed at Mustang than at Yor, which Yor did appreciate, "Let me tell you, there is no way a man could go on that many dates, and be gay."

"But," Yor offered, "I don't think I've ever seen him with any woman on a date."

"Oh come on," Camilla laughed, "That isn't proof."

"Well have you?"

"Of course I ha-" Camilla stopped, her mind clearly pushing through the files inside her brain, "I thin-oh wait," she seemed to have found something, before remembering, "No, that was with Lieutenant Hawkeye," she brightened again, "Wait, yes, there was...no, that was Lieutenant Hawkeye again," she stopped, though the way she was tapping her chin, it looked like some worry was building in her, "There has to be a time."

"Oh come on," Millie said, "The Colonel wouldn't just have his dates come by here to pick up, that wouldn't be professional."

The room became silent, as Millie's three coworkers suddenly looked at her in deadpan. She stopped, thought for a moment, and then nodded back.

"Yeah, that was stupid."

"No, you may have a point Yor," Sharon rubbed the bottom of her chin again, leaning against her desk. But now, there was a lightness to her voice and eyes, as though she was having a bit of fun, "I remember a few times he would arrange a date, and then still be here while the date was supposed to be happening."

"Honestly, why wouldn't that make sense," Millie piped up, "The Colonel only really seems to talk with other military officers, and the only woman around him is Hawkeye. I guess he might just use all these dates as a cover."

"Darn it," Camilla rubbed her temples, a disappointed grimace spread across her face, "Why do all the good ones have to be gay?"

"What about Havoc?"

"What about Havoc."

"I need to get the coffee to the colonel," Yor interjected, looking down at the steam continuing to escape the coffee mugs. She pushed past her coworkers, and then opened up the door to the hallway to the Colonel's office. And just as she did so, she saw on the other side two people in officer uniforms standing at the door way.

Colonel Mustang seemed stressed, as though he had just heard something very upsetting. Which was unusual, since he usually seemed so happy and friendly when Yor saw him. His jaw seemed to be sliding horizontally, grinding his teeth as they went. His eyes were deeply focused on Yor, though it might have just been eye contacts because Yor was so unusually tall for a woman. He almost seemed to be playing around with his right hand, the one with the Alchemist glove on it, but that didn't make sense whatsoever. If anything, Yor thought that he almost looked angry.

Next to him was Lieutenant Hawkeye. She...looked even weirder. Usually, she was very stoic, always taking everything as it came to her and keeping the world in line. But right now, it was quite clear she was having a coughing fit. Her shoulders were shaking up and down, though the Lieutenant was making an admirable show of not actually coughing herself. But it was clear that it was straining her, as her cheeks were puffed out, the cough barely contained by her closed mouth.

"It is good to see you Colonel," Yor said aloud, and then heard the sound of her coworkers disappear in the background. Were she to look backwards, she would have seen her coworkers suddenly hard at work at their desks, not at all busy discussing gossip. But she was focused on the officers in front of her, "I brought you your coffee. Light cream."

"Thankyou," his lips opened, but his teeth never did, as he calmly picked up the coffee, "Iamreallyforwardtothis," he grabbed the mug, and gulped some of it down, "whatdoyouthinkhawkeye?"

"COU-COUGH" the lieutenant gagged, Yor making sure to move her face away so she would not catch this cough, "Th-couth-that sou-cough-sounds great," she finally wheezed, grabbing her own cup, pure black, and then sipped it down, only for her to cough it back up, spilling the coffee all over. Yor looked down at her hard work, and then at the stained uniforms that hit all three of them, "Tastes great," Hawkeye said firmly, and then gave Yor what the taller woman thought was the first smile she had ever seen from the sniper.

"Yor," Mustang added, "I think you might need to go home and change," he then added quickly, looking down at his own uniform, "I think I will need to as well. I'm going to be going on a date tonight. Great girl name Elizabeth," he said a little louder than before, "In fact, why don't you all go home early, full pay of course," he then put on his usual smile, "Can't keep our girls locked up you know?"

"I don't kno-"

"Of course Colonel Mustang," Yor suddenly felt herself pulled back as Sharon suddenly stood between Yor and her superior, "Thank you so much, you have fun with Elizabeth!" A second later, all four women were out the door, Yor's three coworkers dragging the strange woman behind them as they charged away from their superior and the possibility of unemployment.

If they had stayed a bit longer though, they may have heard the Lieutenant finally speak up.

"We're going to that little café on 7th okay. I'll wear a red wig."

"So everything is going well in Central?"

Yor looked down at her brother's picture. Decked out in Amestran Blue, the young Sergeant was standing at attention, while receiving his officer cuffs from an older man with a large moustache and an eyepatch. She had been so proud when her brother had passed his courses at the academy, since it meant he had finally grown beyond her protection.

"Yeah, I'm doing well. What about you, that Mustang isn't any problem is he."

"Not really," Yor thought back to earlier. He had seemed so tense when she had saw him, and tried to think why that had been the case, "He seems a bit stressed from the Blue Group incident," that seemed like the most likely cause, considering how close he had come to being stabbed, "but other than that, he's trying to keep up morale here in East City. He even let us off early today."

"Well that's good," Yuri laughed. He had never liked Mustang, apparently like the girls she happened to think the Colonel was a womanizer. She thought for a moment about telling him her theory, but thought better of it. Yuri had more important things to worry about then idle gossip, "Just let me know if he tries anything, and I'll drag him here to Central myself for a Court Martial."

"Oh, there's no need," she waved her hands back and forth, even though she knew Yuri couldn't actually see it. He had always been so protective of her from other boys.

"Well, I have to be off," Yuri said, "Let me know if you need anything."

"I will."

Yor put the telephone down. She was about to turn around to the kitchen, when the phone rang again. She picked it up quickly realizing that Yuri might have forgotten something important from Central.

"Hello Thorn Princess."

That was not Yuri.

Karl Fritz was a man known for selling pigs.

Lots of pigs.

So many pigs.

He owned hundreds of acres of pig farms across the central valley of the Eastern sector of Amestris. The man was said to sell so many pigs that he could feed the entire military in pork for a year on only his current stock. It had made him well connected, and had allowed him to integrate himself within the government and military of Amestris itself.

But that integration did not mean that he was loyal. Far from it, he was a secret separationist, and had been the primary financier for the Blue group for the last decade. He had helped start the organization back when it was only some mild discontents, and kept it operational throughout it's entire existence. He had been related to several nobles who had lost land in the last century of expansion, even if he had landed on his feet in the current system. But he was so respectable and so well connected, that no one would really suspect him of such illicit activities. Especially as if he were to be publicly hauled away, it would disrupt pork supplies and might cause an issue in the ranks.

Of course, he had a son, who was not at all up in the rebellious activities, and was in fact studying artillery in the South. A loyal man like him would be perfect for running these farms.

So, Karl Fritz thought to himself, watching as both of his guards fell to the ground, large holes sticking from their skulls where needles had only just been impaled into them, he supposed he should have seen this coming when the most recent attempt to save the nominal leader of the Blue Group had failed. The government had likely gotten his name, and sought to deal with him as cleanly as possible. And that meant hiring an assasian to deal with him.

'Well,' he thought, somewhat accepting his fate, and just glad that his son would not suffer for this, 'At least she's nice to look at.'

"Karl Fritz," a husky voice came out of the statuesque raven haired woman. She had a long elegant dress, a finely made up face, and a slight blush along her cheeks,.

"May I have the honor of taking your life tonight?"