Chapter 1: Chapter 1
"So…" Jean Havoc nudged Roy Mustang with his elbow and whispered in his ear. "…about those mini skirts…remember what you said? Maybe they'll give it some thought."
"I haven't forgotten." Roy murmured, cutting Havoc off. As if he could forget. He wasn't going to let anyone forget. He had a little more leverage than before and he had no intention of letting up on the uniform change. He nearly leered at the thought. As if the other men here were saints and didn't want to see a little bit more of the female anatomy. Fuhrer Grumman might be up to the idea if he mentioned a certain Lieutenant. He was always pushing him with the conversation of marrying his Granddaughter. Roy leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin. "I do plan to bring up the suggestion at the next—"
"Good morning, Lieutenant!" Havoc said, cutting Roy off mid-speech. Havoc grinned and held up a small piece of navy material. "Would you like to try—"
Riza passed by him and then the next second, the navy-blue skirt was missing from his hands. Havoc watched as the tiny skirt landed in the trash bin beside Roy's desk.
"We have work to do, Havoc." Riza scolded them softly.
She was always calm with that ice-cold composure. They wouldn't dare. They were smarter than that. But given that Roy had brought the mini skirt into the office made her question that thought. She looked at Havoc. For once in his life, he didn't have a cigarette in his mouth. At least now they knew his cigarette syndrome wasn't permanent. Or he'd known she was coming to the office, and he wouldn't be caught dead smoking in the office. Her nose twitched—she didn't smell cigarette smoke. Smart man. Both he and Roy looked nervous. Roy had the sense of keeping his mouth shut.
She took a small sip of her coffee—if she could enjoy it in the peace of silence and the scribble of pen on paper, then her day would start out perfectly.
"I'll ask them later." Roy said into the silence.
Riza closed her eyes. So much for that. They were scheming, Roy and Havoc. About what, she was certain was in the trash bin. She took a seat beside Fuery. He seemed to be the only one that was on her good side. Perhaps the smartest man in the room. Or he was just happy to have Black Hayate laying beneath the table at his feet. Breda was late and Falman stopped when he saw the black tail poking out from beneath the table.
Her falsified peace was interrupted when Falman paused, staring at Black Hayate as if he were the devil himself. "What's that thing doing here?"
"How can you be so scared of him? He's so cute." Fuery gushed over Black Hayate, though he didn't lean beneath the table to pet a suddenly over excited Black Hayate who knew he was the center of attention. He was smart—he knew to keep his attention on the papers in front of him.
"It's storming outside." Riza didn't look up from her paperwork as she spoke, as if those words alone were explanation enough.
"You could have left him at home." Falman sulked around the table.
"Black Hayate is as destructive on rainy days as the Colonel is useless." It was a repetitive issue that she was reminding both of far too much for her peace of mind.
Roy made a small noise across the office.
Havoc stood, his chair screeching along the floor loudly. Riza counted to give five silently. Havoc leaned down and picked Black Hayate up, letting him dangle in his hands an inch from his nose. "How can you be so scared of him?" Havoc echoed Fuery's statement. "He'd be good in Chinese food." He turned towards Falman and Riza swore the soldier's face turned green. With a sigh she snapped her fingers and Hayate wiggled around before jumping from Havoc's arms and ran to sit at Riza's side.
Good boy. If only the men were so obedient.
After a few moments Riza stood. She picked up her paperwork and softly tapped it on the tabletop, straightening them all into one fine line. She picked up her coffee and then started towards the door, Hayate on her heels. Today wasn't one of the days where she could ignore the ramblings of five men against one woman. "Please get to work, Colonel." Riza said before she disappeared around the corner.
The clock on the far wall ticked loudly in the sudden silence of the room. No one moved from their reclined positions in the chairs as the seconds ticked by. Leather creaked as Roy leaned back in the chair behind his desk. He let out a loud whoosh of breath. "I thought she'd never leave." He said as he laced his hands together behind his head.
"I can't take it anymore." Havoc said shortly after. "It's been so boring around here." He blurted out. "Come on, Mustang, why are you holding out on us? I know you have something for us."
Roy hummed softly, the back of his chair rocking back and forth with his movements. "As a matter of fact, I do."
"About time." Havoc muttered. "What do we got, Colonel?"
"I HAVE A DATE." Roy said indifferently. "I don't know what you have planned, but I'm booked."
Havoc groaned and dropped his head onto his forearms. "Didn't you have a date last night? No wonder I can't get a date."
Fuery shook his head.
Roy waited another five minutes before finally deciding to tell them that they did indeed have an assignment. "You'd know, if you'd actually read through your paperwork." He murmured offhandedly.
"Oh, you mean like you do?" Havoc retorted sarcastically.
Roy flicked his pen across the room, catching Havoc against the back of the head.
"Owww, Colonel." Havoc muttered begrudgingly, rubbing the back of his head.
"Carmine Lake City." Roy continued, ignoring Havoc's over-exaggeration. He ruffled through his paperwork and then pulled out a file. "There's been a string of on-going murders drawing attention."
"Murders?" Heymans questioned lamely. "Murder isn't our jurisdiction, Colonel."
"It is if they're alchemically related." If they weren't, they could give the investigation back over to the local authorities. "He's looking for attention, given the state of his murders. He wants people to notice him. He wants people to notice his work." He'd already gone over the file and the pictures of grotesque mutilation. Some were worse than others. Some were mutilated to the point of being unrecognizable as human while others were missing slices of skin of select body parts. But they all held one thing in common.
The smiley face that was drawn in the victim's blood.
It could be just another Barry the Chopper, but if Alchemy was involved, that upped the game. His Lieutenant was going to have his ass if he didn't have the others up to date on the case by the time she was back. He stood and picked up the few pictures and then strode towards the other men and dropped the pictures in the center. Time to get to work.
"He has a pattern. He goes after women only. He'll butcher one but leave his mark on the other."
"Just women?" Falman questioned.
Roy nodded. Apparently, murderers had their gender preference as well. Or they thought that the female population was an easier target. Roy knew from experience that that wasn't so. He didn't necessarily like leaving Central for something like this—but he was also being paid to take the case.
"You don't have to go, Colonel. It's not like you're being made to take the case." Havoc said, as if knowing exactly what he was thinking. Smoke spiraled from the cigarette in Havoc's hand.
"Put the cigarette out, Havoc." Roy said, closing the file. He was right. He could turn the case down and they'd pass it on to someone else. It was too late for that, though.
"Geez, you sound like the Lieutenant." Havoc muttered but he put the cigarette out regardless.
"We'll be gone for a while. Pack accordingly. We leave in the morning—"
"In the morning...?!" Havoc muttered.