Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Business as Usual ❯ Bad Timing for Baby Jokes ( Chapter 9 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Hey! I'm back! Sorry the update tok so long. I'm having a rough time with college and real life came calling cutting into my writing time. Sorry, I'm working really hard on finishing this up so hopefully I'll have another chapter up soon. Anywho, please enjoy. Read, review and feel free to flame if you are willing to tell me what's wrong.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Fullmetal Alchemist...Damn.


Roy stormed into the office, slamming the door behind him as he threw his jacket at the coat rack, knocking it over. He went straight for his desk and picked up the phone, dialing Hughes’s office from memory as he drummed his fingers on the surface angrily. For several minutes all he heard was ringing on the other end, finally a frazzled female voice picked up the phone.

“Lieutenant Colonel Hughes’s office.”

“Yes, let me speak with Hughes. This is Colonel Mustang.”

“Ah, yes. He said he was expecting your call. I’ll put you through.”

“Thank you.” The line went dead for a moment before more ringing could be heard.

“Hey, Roy! So how did it go? Did you find her? I’ll bet she was grateful for the rescue. You two should go have a nice night out together.”

“I didn’t find her.”

“I’ll bet pretty soon, we’ll be expecting another little one in the office family, huh?” Roy held his face in his right hand as he clenched his left fist around the receiver of the phone.

“I didn’t find her, Hughes!”

“Huh? What do you mean you didn’t find her?” Roy slammed his fist into the desk, denting the surface with his knuckles. He was going to regret that later but at the moment he hardly felt it.

“Goddamn it Hughes! I said I didn’t find her! That’s exactly what I mean. I went to the address you gave me and she wasn’t there!”

“Alright, sheesh I get it already. You don’t have to yell. If you didn’t find her, what did you find?”

“Just a damn note from Talsi telling me that he’s one step ahead. He knew we had that address, and we would investigate it as our only lead. So he was ready for that.”

“Look Roy, don’t stress, you have two more days until the deadline. He won’t kill her till then. That would just be stupid.”

“That doesn’t mean he won’t do other things to her. He even said that after today he wouldn’t be able to guarantee her safety. What will he do to her tomorrow or even the next day? What if he tortures her because of me? I never should have involved her, Hughes.”

“Easy, Roy. Just relax. You’re no good to her like this. Why don’t you go home and get some sleep? At least take a shower and relax. I know you need one; I can smell the ash from here.” Roy chuckled softly at his friends poor attempt at humor, given the circumstances, but he was right, he could use a shower, and a good night’s sleep would do wonders for his frayed nerves.

“You’re right. I could use a shower. I’ll call you as soon as I find anything.”

“Don’t worry, man. You’ll find her. I will keep looking for information on my end. Just get some sleep.”

“Goodnight, Maes.”

“Night, Roy.” The Colonel placed the phone lightly on the base, and rose slowly to his feet, stretching as he did. He hasn’t realized it until Hughes had said something but he really was tired. He moved to the fallen coat rack and stood it up, retrieving his jacket from the floor, and pulling it onto his shoulders as he turned the light off in the room and headed home.

Roy stepped into his dark home, throwing his keys on the counter top as he moved to the couch in the living room, flopping down in exhaustion. He breathed deeply, as he rested one arm over his eyes. Taking a deep breath, Roy crinkled his nose in distaste. Hughes was right; he did smell heavily of burnt paper.

Sighing to himself, Roy heaved his body up to a seated position and rested his face in his hands, elbows braced on his knees. He rose slowly to his feet, traversing his house to his room, stepping over the mess that was still as yet untouched in the middle of the hall way. Memories of Riza sprung to mind as he navigated the empty hall for his room. It was going to be a long night, he thought, stepping into his room and heading for the shower.

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Roy trudged into the office early the next morning, his eyes as heavy as they had been when he had laid down the night before. He flopped down in his desk and riffled through the papers that had been placed there earlier that morning. Looking out the door of his private office, he saw Hawkeye’s unoccupied desk. Heaving a sigh, he began working on the days paperwork in an attempt to get his mind off the missing woman.

The remaining men in the office came in within the hour and sat down in their desks without a word. Blackman shot the Colonel a dirty look as he went to starting his work; Roy ignored him. If the Major was mad at him, oh well. He would just get in the way. After almost two hours of silent work, the Colonel called all of his subordinates into his office, telling them to close the door behind them.

“I want to go back over everything we did yesterday. We had to have missed something. I want every thing looked over. I don’t want ANYTHING taken for granted. If it seems to have relevance to this case, then I want to see it here on my desk. If it doesn’t seem to be important, I want to see it anyways. I’m taking anymore chances, people. We only have two more days to find the Lieutenant, and I want her back tonight.

“You are all back where you were yesterday.” Blackman opened his mouth to object with the duty being dealt to him, but Roy cut him off. “Major I know what you’re going to say, so don’t bother. I need you to keep looking at in the library for anything you can find on Talsi. You’re the only alchemist here other than myself and you have access to the papers that the others don’t. I need you to do this. Havoc, go with him. Dismissed.” Roy turned back to the papers he had on his desk and lifted his pen, and signing the top sheet as his men filed out of the room.

“Havoc.” Roy called to the Lieutenant as he was leaving the room. “Keep an eye on the Major,” he said without looking up from the papers in his hand.

“Yes, sir.” Havoc left, closing the door tightly behind him, leaving Roy with only his thoughts.

Later that afternoon, Roy found himself buried in a mound of files from the Eastern branch of the National Library, none of which had any remote baring on Talsi. So up until this point all he had found had been absolutely nothing. Roy buried his head in his arms and closed his eyes as he tried to clear his mind for another try at the pile of insurmountable paperwork. He had called Fuery in sometime ago to help sort through the mess of it all, but so far even with the other man’s help they had turned up nothing.

Heaving a sigh, Roy lifted his head from the desk and looked across to Fuery, who was still diligently digging through the documents before him.

“Fuery, take these back to the library and bring me the Lieutenant and the Major. Then I want you to try and find Falman and Breda. I want everyone back in this office within the hour. This is getting us no where.”

Fuery left the office without a word to the Colonel, taking the pile of papers with him. Roy sat by himself for almost an hour before the first of his subordinates began to return to the office. Falman and Breda returned first, walking slowly into the office wearing civilian clothes before grabbing their uniform out of their desks and departing again to redress. They were just coming back when Fuery returned with Havoc and Blackman. They entered the Colonel’s office hesitantly standing at attention before him. Leaning against his desk, Roy looked at them all silently.

“This isn’t working. All the searching you’ve done has gotten us no where. We need to think of something else and fast. We only have one day left.” Havoc stepped forward.

“Sir, perhaps we should try Talsi’s home again. It might be effective to thoroughly search the grounds this time, sir.” Roy started to point out that they had tried that already the day before and had come out with nothing, but stopped himself. They hadn’t searched the grounds of the house at all yesterday, then blessed Havoc mentally for not mentioning that fact in front of the Major. Remaining silent, he nodded, looking his men over again. He knew all of them to be capable men, but the Major was going to be a problem.

“I think that would be a good idea. It’s the last thing that hasn’t been gone over a second time. Fuery, I need you to say here incase Talsi calls again, get that call tapped and traced as quickly as you can manage it. Havoc, Falman, Breda, you three are with me. Major, I want you…” Blackman cut the Colonel off.

“I am going with you, sir. I will NOT be left behind again. I am GOING to find my sister…SIR!” Roy sighed; this man was going to be trouble.

“No. You are going back to Hawkeye’s apartment and you are going to stay there.” Nathaniel clenched his fists at his sides, closing his eyes to calm himself.

“Colonel, please try to understand, Riza is all the family I have left. I can’t just stand by and watch everyone else risk their lives to try and save her. I want to find her; I don’t want to stay behind.” Roy studied the man’s face for a moment, shaking himself mentally for even thinking about agreeing to what he was asking. It was not a good idea to let him go. If anything had happened to the Lieutenant, Major Blackman would be impossible to control. As he continued to watch the other officer, Havoc’s words from the other day rang back through his mind. If Major Blackman is too close to the situation to be trusted to keep his cool, then why are you here, sir? Sighing to himself, he realized that Havoc was right. If something had happened to Hawkeye he wasn’t going to be able to remain calm either.

“Alright, Major, alright. But…” Roy leveled his gaze at the other man, “you had better do everything I tell you, when I tell you. No exceptions. The second you disobey me, I will have Falman and Breda escort you back to your apartment and keep you there. Is that understood?” Nathaniel straightened and saluted the Colonel, a faint look of relief spreading over his features.

“Yes, sir.”

So what do you think? Like it? I know, I'm evil the whole story has been one cliffhanger after another, but that's why you like it admit it. No I'm just kidding, please review and tell me what you really think. Until next chapter, Later!