Chapter Text
Could Mustang have picked somewhere closer to the station if he knew he was going to be putting Ed on a train? No, of course not. Because why would he want to make her life any easier?
Shaking off the bitterness, Becca reasoned that, in fairness, she knew Keller Plaza to be as secluded as Central City could offer and thus imperative to the safety of the general populace if things went south, which, despite Mustang’s confidence from the night before, they probably would. After a brief pause to tie her boots properly, she set off once more, not in a dead sprint, but at least a jog, hopping down the stairs of the station and dodging civilians at every step. Heart pounding, stomach churning, and only focused on the pounding of her feet on the pavement, she wove through the crowd of main street, then veered off into the backstreets and alleyways she’d come to know intimately since her certification.
The turns blurred together as she ran, stopping once or twice to get her bearings and readjust direction slightly, but when she popped out of the alleys only a few block from the meet-up point, she allowed herself to lessen her pace to more of a speedy walk, trying to control her breaths before she could be overheard by anyone who might question her.
Alright, she thought, pressing her hand into her chest. Calm down. Breathe.
She leaned back against the wall, hunching over, hands on her knees, and opted to attempt to organize her thoughts.
Item one: She’d located Keller Plaza on a map last night and it was fairly far away, so first things first, she had to get there.
Item two: Seek out someone (she hoped for a familiar face) to guide her to her assigned spot for the ambush.
Item three: Hope everything went according to plan.
Item four: If things didn’t go to plan, hope she’d make it out mostly unscathed.
Item five: Grovel to the boys and pray they’d take her back.
Somehow, that list didn’t help as much as she’d wanted it to. Becca groaned, pressing the heels of her hands into her eye sockets.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding,” Becca said, hardly daring to turn her head upwards. But she had to, and she did, and she edited her mental to-do list accordingly.
Item one: Deal with her murderous older brother. Adjust other items accordingly.
For staring down at her, eyebrows raised, was Will. His nose was still crooked from their last encounter and if the circumstances were different, she might have expressed some concern. Instead...
“Can we do this another day?” she asked tiredly.
Will paused, then, indignant, demanded, “Are you serious?”
“Dead serious,” she defended. “I do not have time for this today.” She turned away, only to get jerked back as Will grabbed her wrist, tugging her off of her path. Becca snarled and pulled it back, though she couldn’t break through his iron grip. “Get off of me!”
Scowling, her brother only squeezed harder, brought his other hand up to cover her mouth, then hoisted her up off the ground, a position that, after Roa kidnapping her and Al a few days ago, she was getting quite sick of. However, she wasn’t going to let something like that happen again, not when she had a mission and was under threat. This time, when she flailed and kicked (and screamed, though it was muffled by his hand), her heel connected with his gut and Will gagged, grip loosening enough that Becca slipped out and landed in a crouched position in the gutter. Within the second of her escape, she took off, headed deeper into the back alleys.
“You are not getting away from me that easily, you brat !”
“I don’t understand why you’re doing this!” she said over her shoulder, maybe some small attempt at a joke. “I thought we were on better terms after last time!”
“That was a mistake-- a moment of weakness, and it won’t happen again!”
“Are you sure about that?”
Hearing an animalistic howl of rage only made her run faster, although she could hear pounding footsteps leap into motion after her. Becca tried to catch her breath, looking skyward as if someone up there might actually be looking out for her for once, then, of course, her toes caught on a stray stone and she stumbled, splaying out on her front. Behind her, she heard a loud thud in the same moment that a blossom of pain bloomed over her leg.
Instinctively, she flipped onto her back and kicked her foot out, missing a solid hit on the hand Will had thrown out when he’d tripped over her fallen form, but knocking his shoulder and nearly nicking his face.
“Trying to break my nose again?” he taunted, scrabbling himself closer.
Wordlessly, Becca scrambled to her feet, stomping as she pitched forward, then heard a series of cracks and a grunt of discomfort. Her stomach dropped and she gingerly picked her foot up to see Will’s fingers, twisted and mangled, under her boot.
Her heart filled with unwitting guilt, Becca whispered, “Will, I- I’m sorry-”
“Bitch!” he shouted, rolling over and pushing himself up with his other hand. She swore there were pained tears in his eyes that he blinked away until rage took their place. He staggered towards her, uninjured fist clenched, and lunged toward her. Becca lurched away and dodged his wild thrashing. She grabbed his wrist, twisting him away from her, and trying to shove him away.
“Please, just go! Get out of here!”
“Hell no!”
He wiggled free, whirled around, and finally got a punch on Becca, sending her reeling and bringing a hand up to her cheek. When she drew it away, a steady drip of blood followed, some already marking her skin, with a matching stain joining the older ones on Will’s rings.
“Always the damn rings with you, huh?” she grumbled, scrubbing the sleeve on her palm across her face to dissuade some of the pricks of pain from spreading further around her cheek. Glancing around, she knew no one was coming to help her-- there were no civilians this far away from the main roads, no one knew where she was and, unless Mustang got pissed enough at her to put the rest of his plan at risk to come hunt her down, he wasn’t going to appear and save her from Will again like he had all those months ago. Becca turned back to him, gray eyes clashing with blue as she stared him down.
Something in her demeanor must have shifted because Will grinned wolfishly, straightening up fully and shaking out his shoulders.
“I’m done running from you,” Becca shouted, sounding much braver than she felt, “and- and I’m ending this, today!”
“Are you now?” he said, smirking, as he raised his fists.
Although she thought about it, she didn’t respond verbally, instead opting to let the ensuing combat do the talking.
Or perhaps… she thought, her lips curving into a considerate pout. In the back of her mind, she mapped out the few streets they’d already travelled, comparing them to her planned route. If she could get Will to follow her around these next couple lefts, then… yes, one way or another, that would be the end of all of it. He’d gotten lucky twice, but this third time had to be her charm.
She turned tail and ran.
Will cackled. “Ending it today?” he demanded mockingly.
“Mm-hmm,” she affirmed under breath, wheeling around corner after corner.
Admittedly, Becca did not take into account how she’d already run a mile from the train station and her brother was coming into their confrontation assumedly fresh. She panted for breath and caught the sounds of him catching up to her. She whirled around, reaching for an abandoned piece of trash to throw, and heard the tell-tale shink! of a blade being drawn before a burst of sudden pain slid across her arm.
A gasp tore through her throat and she managed to fling a stray can into Will’s head before clutching at her bicep. Her immediate evaluation was only slightly reassuring; the wound seemed shallow and in a non-fatal place, but now that she knew he was armed, she couldn’t let him get another strike.
“The rings aren’t my only weapon,” he said, breathless but with pride evident in his expression, “and I’ve found out that I’m good with blades.”
“Good for you,” she hissed through her teeth, picking up the pace again. Just a few more streets and then-
She burst out of the shadows and into the street, feet striking the stones as she wove around this person and that. A few were knocked over or shouted after her, but she didn’t have time to go back and help. A few times, she felt fingers, Will’s or someone else trying to get her to stop, that she shook off. As she rounded that final corner, the only thought permeating her mind was that Mustang’s gonna kill me if I’m late.
Speak (or think, she supposed) of the devil, the colonel himself was chatting chipperly in the same place they’d met him yesterday, albeit without his faithful lieutenant by his side. That scene in and of itself felt uncomfortably wrong, so, Becca consoled herself, when Mustang looked in her direction and frowned, at least that was normal.
“Illusion, you’re supposed to be in Keller-”
“Would you rather I bring him with me?” she demanded, waving backwards just as Will burst through the crowd of pedestrians.
Glancing around turned out to be a mistake. Her brother was clearly blinded with rage and laser-focused on her. Becca froze under his feral gaze, muscles locking no matter how much she tried to move them.
Someone grabbed Becca and she found herself facing Mustang’s back. He snapped and, before she could stop herself, she jumped forward, pulling his arm down so the bolt of flame shot down onto the pavement instead of striking Will, sending smoke billowing over him instead.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Mustang shouted.
“You can’t kill him!” she retorted desperately. “Just- just arrest him!”
He rolled his eyes. “Oh, for the love of-”
Regardless, Mustang only sighed heavily rather than aiming to snap again, then signalled over his shoulder for the other soldiers, who’d been standing, too stunned at the interruption to their time off to really react until prompted, behind him to advance.
“Coward!” Will screamed from within the black cloud. “Don’t you dare hide behind anyone!”
At Mustang’s instruction, the men spread out, surrounding the soot cloud without complaint, though their apprehensive faces betrayed their wariness to approach the spiraling Harper.
“William Harper, you are under arrest,” Mustang called stoically, raising his voice only enough to be heard by the man he was addressing as the ash finally drifted to the ground. “Come quietly and you won’t be harmed. Continue to resist and we will use the necessary force to apprehend you.”
Will looked around, forced to decide whether or not she was worth fighting an entire squad of army men for. Slowly, he raised his hands over his head, glowering as the soldiers surged forward to grab him and pull his arms behind him.
“Careful with him,” the colonel barked. “We lost him last time, do not let it happen again. I want eyes on him at all times. Take him down to the holding cells and-” He glanced down at Becca and promised, “-and I’ll deal with him later.”
Swallowing thickly, Becca nodded, averting her eyes from Will being herded away. For once, he was silent, apparently cowed by Mustang, or simply done fighting a losing battle. If either was the case, she couldn’t blame him. Still, her gut clenched when she thought of her brother spending the rest of his life in a prison cell because of his (arguably justifiable, in her eyes) wish for revenge on the child who’d destroyed his family. But she’d beg for mercy on his behalf later. At that moment, she mumbled, “I’m sorry for the trouble sir.”
“Are you alright?” he asked tiredly, hardly sparing her a stray look.
“I- huh?”
Mustang turned fully, for some reason seeming like he was about one more hesitant answer away from bending down to her level like he was speaking to a toddler. “You’re looking significantly less worse for wear than you have after the last few confrontations with your brother, but still, are you hurt?”
“Calm down, I’m fine,” she said, resolute, and determinedly shifted her arm away from his view. “I’ve got a job to do.”
However, she didn’t do a good enough job of concealing the injury, since the colonel objected, “Illusion, your arm-”, wide eyes sweeping over her bicep.
Her head snapped to the cut where blood was steadily soaking through her jacket sleeve. Looking at it brought the pain straight to the front of her mind, pushing past the adrenaline that had kept her going, and she forced herself to look away while putting pressure on the wound with her opposite hand.
“I’ll wrap it in something when I get there,” she dismissed, keeping her tone as even as possible.
“Harper-!” Mustang interjected.
“I’m only doing what’s necessary! And you’re- you're not my dad! You're not supposed to worry about me! I don't need you to worry about me! I can take care of myself!” Becca snapped, whirling around and speed walking away. “I’ll see you after this is all over, Colonel. Good luck.”
If he called out again, Becca blocked it out, too busy recalculating the fastest route to the plaza. The further she got from Central HQ, the quicker her steps got until she was running again, ducking back into the alleys as she went.
---
“Becca!”
Fuery’s bespectacled, babyish face popped out of a window high above Keller Plaza, waving furiously as if she hadn’t heard his shout. She raised a hand in acknowledgement, and he instructed, “Wait right there! I’ll come to you!” Becca flashed a thumbs up right before he disappeared back into the building.
Pressing a hand to her racing heart, Becca took the moment to deliberately slow her breathing. A door on the side of the tower banged open and Fuery scurried out, all bright eyes and frantic energy as he chattered, “We were starting to get worried that something had happened and you weren’t coming, but the colonel just radioed us a few minutes before you got here and said you were impeded and now on your way, but he also said you might need help with your arm.” He gestured her forward with a, “Here, everything’s set up for you this way.”
Becca followed him obediently, quietly. Fuery gave her an odd look, then filled the silence himself. “Colonel Mustang sounded kind of funny on the phone. Like, stilted, you know?”
At that, she swallowed thickly and asked, “Like he was angry?”
“No, more like… worried,” Fuery replied casually, pulling out a key whilst they approached a tower on the opposite side of the plaza. She didn’t immediately see the corresponding door, though, and it was only when the sergeant nudged a stack of wooden crates aside that the wood was revealed and Fuery inserted the key into the old lock. “I’m sure he was just concerned about this all going according to plan.”
Becca blanched. “Um… yeah. Probably. Especially since I was running late.”
“But you’re here now!” Fuery chirped as he guided her inside and shut the door firmly behind her. “I’ll give you a crash course on how to work everything, but then I have to get back to my spot. I’ll make sure your arm’s alright before I go.”
She nodded quickly as they started a long climb up an old, rickety spiral staircase. “Understood.”
The staircase creaked beneath their feet and Becca flinched. In the back of her mind, she tried to suppress the knowledge that that particular feature would make for a nearly impossible escape route, should it become necessary, especially if an attacker used it as an entrance. At least, she tried to comfort herself, she’d definitely hear someone coming and have a few moments to prepare a counterattack, even if she’d really become more of a sitting duck at that point.
Surprisingly, that didn’t ease her nerves very much.
Fuery seemed to sense her discomfort despite her trying desperately to swallow it down and, when they reached the top landing, he soothed, “On my way out, I’m gonna replace everything that was blocking the door so as long as you stay out of sight, no one’ll know you’re up here and you’ll be perfectly safe.”
After leading her over to a broken-down desk against the front wall, all the technology already set up on top of it, he pointed to the window directly in front of her and added, “Plus, you’ve got backup right there-” He pointed across the square at the tower next to the one he’d come out of, “-so go ahead and signal if you need help. Now sit, sit.”
Fuery explained her job in much clearer detail than Mustang had, gesturing to each piece of equipment she’d need as he did. First, he showed her the radio, already tuned to their specific channel, and the matching headset. He showed off his matching earpiece- wireless, but with a small antennae protruding from it and stretching barely above the shell of Fuery’s ear. He pointed out each team member’s current location. Becca committed them to memory-- Fuery himself would be in the same tower he came from with similar tools to Becca and Hawkeye’s dog, Black Hayate, Hawkeye was in the tower parallel to hers, the one Fuery had referred to as her backup, should it be needed, Havoc was lurking around, lying in wait until he was needed, and Falman was within one of the single-floor buildings, which, Fuery identified as abandoned military offices, with Barry the Chopper and, Becca was surprised to learn, Lan Fan. He hadn’t been told where Ling was, just that he was hovering around.
“In terms of your actual responsibility, Colonel Mustang said he gave you a run-down last night?”
“Mmhmm. ‘Keep each party updated on what’s going on’,” she quoted.
“Exactly. We’re using a code, since Lieutenant Hawkeye is in direct communication with the colonel via his phone line. You know military lines are bugged and we can’t exactly block off a channel on the radio,” he explained, “so as far as anyone listening will know, military or citizen, we’re in a restaurant. You’re ‘Bella’. You might not hear it, but that’s what we’ll be calling you if we need to refer to you on our side, like if we need to send someone to help you. Hawkeye is ‘Elizabeth’. Falman, ‘Vanessa’; Havoc, ‘Jacqueline’; and I’m ‘Kate’. Try to stay within that theme as best as you can as you speak. Use ‘customer’ instead of ‘opponent’, ‘table’ rather than actual locations, you get it. I’ll be relaying and responding to any messages that need my attention, so it’s imperative that even if you want to get down from here and go help, you sit tight. You just report who needs help and where and I’ll take care of it.”
Twisting a stray strand of hair around her finger, Becca let go of the curl and watched out of the corner of her eye as it sprang back up to avoid Fuery’s painfully earnest gaze. “Of course.”
Nevertheless, Fuery shot her a sweet smile and patted her on the arm. “I was nervous during my first mission too,” he said. “But we look out for each other on this team. We’ve all got your back.”
“Right. I- I know.”
“Good,” he said, pulling out a small first aid kit from his pocket and drawing Becca’s arm towards him. “Let’s take care of this quickly then.”
Becca shrugged her jacket off, setting it aside, then finagled her arm out of her long sleeve and through the collar, wincing the entire time. Fuery cringed in sympathy when he had to tug out the bloody threads that had become stuck in the wound and she hissed through her teeth, then again when he wiped it with a strip of gauze soaked in antiseptic. However, he made quick work of wrapping a length of bandages around her bicep, then stood up fully and clapped her on the shoulder reassuringly after she’d put her clothes back on correctly.
“There you go! Are you ready for this?”
She gave him a shaky smile. “I think I have to be. Thanks for patching me up.”
“I’ll see you on the other side,” he said, starting his way back down the stairs.
“See you,” she replied with a wave.
Once his footsteps had faded from the building and she heard the scraping of the boxes outside being moved back into place stopped, she placed her headset and microphone over her ears.
“Good morning, team,” she said as a means of testing her setup, eyes tracking Fuery as he hustled back across the plaza. She waited until he grinned up at her to relax a little and settle down in her seat. Sighing quietly, she murmured, “Let’s do this.”
---
It was lonely, Becca decided. She’d known going into this operation that she wouldn’t be getting updates like those she’d be giving, but half an hour or so went by with only her own breathing and heartbeat as company and she was ready to give up twirling her hair and start ripping it out when she caught some movement out of the corner of her eye. She sat up straighter, leaning towards the window.
“Kate, Elizabeth,” she said, watching the hunched man with a shock of blonde hair creeping near the wall of the other two towers where the Lieutenant and the Sergeant almost certainly wouldn’t notice him, “you’ve got a stray customer wandering between your tables. He seems…” She considered her words carefully, then settled on, “...inebriated. I’d recommend keeping an eye on him.”
The area stayed silent, but the figure continued to shuffle towards the old military offices. Reporting once more, Becca added, “He’s on his way to Vanessa’s section.”
Within a minute, a second, dark clothed figure joined the first, slinking into the office building almost before Becca had noticed him. If Fuery hadn’t warned her that she wouldn’t recognize Havoc, she might have gotten spooked.
Oddly, the man left in the square paused and sniffed the air like a dog, head swivelling back and forth. He ultimately stuck to his path towards Falman, Havoc, Lan Fan, and Barry, so Becca kept her eyes stuck to him as he went down to all fours and made his way into the building.
She still nearly jumped out of her skin when shots fired moments later. “Vanessa and Jacqueline, if you need a hand with that horrible, rowdy man,” she said, hoping to even out her quivering voice, “Elizabeth is available whenever you get her attention.”
As she watched, the glass doors slammed open, shattering in the process. The foursome poured outside, but Lan Fan bounded off immediately, apparently searching for someone else. Falman came across as distinctly nervous even from her distance. He looked around like he was expecting to face an army, then looked confused when the plaza was nearly empty. The other man burst through a window, though he seemed unphased by what had to be an immense shock of pain. Becca heard him snarl, as well as Havoc shouting something as he threw one empty handgun aside and pulled a second out of a side holster.
The second gun fired a few times.
“Elizabeth!” she alerted, just in case. “Whenever you have a second-”
Then it jammed.
“Elizabeth!”
More popping rang through the air and bullets flew. The man shrieked. Havoc visibly relaxed, turning to Hawkeyes tower and grinning, then quickly focused on fixing his gun before the man got back up.
Barry tilted his head, studying the feral man intently. He flailed excitedly and waved his meat cleaver (who had let him hold onto that thing?) in excitement. She could hear his echoey voice, although she couldn’t make out the actual words, before he burst out into loud cackles and lunged at the other and had to be restrained by Falman while Havoc kept holding off the wild blonde.
“Kate or Elizabeth, Jacqueline and Vanessa might be able to use your help-” Becca began as they wrestled below and she clenched her fist to resist the itch to escape the tower and help out. She was so focused on the conflict below that she failed to hold back a shriek of surprise when another round of shots fired from Hawkeye’s location, these, she heard, going further into the building rather than out the window towards the concrete.
“Kate, Elizabeth-”
Static filled Becca’s ears and she tried again, “Kate-”
The buzzing only got louder. Frustration swelled in her chest. She threw the headset away with an angry huff and pressed herself against the window for any hint as to what to do next only to see Fuery making a run for it across the pathway between his and the lieutenant’s towers. That ultimately made her decision for her.
Becca abandoned her radio and flew down the stairs, gripping the handrail so she was able to sprint down without tripping herself up. She vaulted over the railing, dropped down the last few meters, rolled to her feet, and slammed against the door, only for it to stick and groan in protest.
“Come on,” she complained, shouldering it harder.
It took a few more hits, but finally it burst open, sending the assorted rubbish Fuery had restacked tumbling out of its way. Across the way, the feral looking man, who Becca could see was masked and not just deathly pale as she’d originally thought, made a break (thankfully taking the opposite way around her tower) and, while Havoc initially gave chase, he backed off when more shots went off from Hawkeye’s perch and Barry shouted, “Leave him! Now that my body senses my soul, it won’t go far!”
“Your what?” she couldn’t stop herself from asking.
Havoc and Falman’s heads snapped towards her.
“What the hell are you-?”
Another round of gunfire interrupted the second lieutenant, some of the bullets flying out the window and forcing them to take cover to avoid the shrapnel, along with the distinct bark of a dog. Somewhere out of view, a car door slammed and Becca might have seen a flash of military uniform navy blue swish by one of the windows. She was a little too preoccupied to double check though, since Havoc and Falman turned right back to her.
“What are you doing down here, kid?” Havoc demanded. “Fuery was supposed to tell you to stay put!”
“I couldn’t just sit there with all that going on-”
“Now they know you’re here-”
Falman interjected, “Lieutenant-”
“And what if you all had to leave, was I just supposed to shelter in place?”
“We would have sent someone for you-”
“Um… Major-?”
“It was for your own safety-”
“All of you pick very random times to be interested in my safety, did you know that?”
Havoc blanched at that comment, mouth opening, but no sound coming out. Becca, on her end, wanted to clap her hand over her mouth, take back what she’d said, anything along those lines.
“Havoc, I-”
“Quit arguing and get out of the way!” Falman said sharply. “The building’s about to come down!”
All too suddenly, Becca discerned the cracking of stone replacing that of bullets. Fright taking over, she glanced up, up, up to a pillar of smoke floating out of the top room of the shaking tower. A wall on the opposite side of the building audibly cracked open and bricks crashed to the street. Lucky for them, their side didn’t meet the same fate, but still, a shower of debris rained down as the building continued to quiver. Falman grabbed both of them and yanked them back before the looser pieces could hit them as dust spilled down the side of the tower.
“Barry,” he ordered, “go after your body. Leave a visible trail and we’ll follow, alright?”
The armour cackled, which Becca supposed was his way of agreeing, and ran off in pursuit of the blonde man- body?- that had disappeared.
“We gotta make sure Hawkeye and Fuery are alright,” Havoc coughed, wiping some dust off his face. “Then we’ll regroup.”
“Right!”
Becca nodded, coughing out a cloud of dust herself.
Havoc helped her to her feet, then patted her hesitantly on the back. “Kid, did something-”
She bowed at the waist in apology at once, fixing her gaze on her boots. “I’m sorry, Second Lieutenant, I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”
For a second, she felt the two adults sharing looks, but she didn’t look up until the warm hand on her shoulder squeezed and Havoc insisted, “Kid, I’m not angry. This mission was…” He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, “...a lot of responsibility for you to handle by yourself.”
“I must admit, when the colonel spoke about including you, I worried that it might prompt some unnecessary strain on your mental well-being,” Falman added. “You’ve done everything you were instructed to. Perhaps you should head back to your hotel now and we’ll pass it along to the colonel.”
What?
Becca raised her eyebrows, swallowing anxiously. The team had been… worried about her?
“I can finish this,” Becca protested weakly, “I have to do it, or Mustang’s going to-” She took a shuddering breath, rubbing at her eyes, “-to court martial me, and I can’t -”
The men did that thing again, the thing where they gave each other weird, knowing looks that came with a silent conversation. Becca could do it with Ed and Al and with them, it was a fun secret, a happy (and sometimes convenient) consequence of their friendship and bond, but she didn’t like being on the other end so much.
“Alright,” Havoc said allowingly. Never mind that Becca technically had a higher rank than him and could have overridden any command he gave her. He had to know she wouldn’t push back to his face if he or Falman gave her a flat out no.
“But Second Lieutenant!” Falman said.
“Little Lady, I know you and Chief way better than you think I do,” Havoc silenced the other officer’s concerns, “and he’s rubbed off far too much on you. You’d just go anyway and I’m sure everyone would rather we know where you are so we can watch your back. Now let’s go find the others.”
---
“The others”, they discovered as they rounded the unsteady, but luckily still standing, foundations, had grown a member; specifically one Roy Mustang, currently being chewed out by one Riza Hawkeye.
“-And ignoring the fact that you could have been killed,” she was in the middle of saying, “now you’ve put the mission and yourself in danger-”
“I’m sorry I worried you, Lieutenant, but we’re not done yet,” Mustang said as they approached. “Havoc, Falman, Harper. Fuery pointed us in the direction the target went.”
“And Falman told Barry to make a mess for us to follow,” Havoc added, slapping the gray haired man on the back proudly as he slid into the back seat. Falman, still on the sidewalk, made a little “oof” sound with the force. “He really kept his head back there when Becca and I were having a bit of a moment!”
“Good man,” Mustang congratulated with a small, pleased smile. “Fuery and Hayate are clearing our traces from the traces, you head back and help them. I trust you two to get back to the office and return everything to its proper place without detection.”
“Sir!”
“Illusion, with us,” he ordered after he and Hawkeye had climbed into the driver’s and passenger seat, respectively.
Becca nodded and slipped into the back with Havoc, the engine purring beneath them.
“Wait! Colonel Mustang!”
Metallic footsteps sprinted up from behind them and Becca felt all the blood drain out of her face as Al appeared in the rearview. Mustang swore.
“You’re supposed to be in your hotel,” he grumbled, rolling down the window to talk to him.
“I could have told you he wouldn’t be,” Becca said resentfully, scrunched up in the back seat as if that would conceal her presence, “if you’d asked what I thought.”
“Is this about Mr. Hughes?” Al asked. When no one responded, he prodded, “It is, isn’t it?”
Mustang made eye contact with her in the mirror, then gave a long suffering sigh. “Are you coming?”
“Of course!”
The colonel waved him in. Al threw the door open and clambered into the car, forcing Becca and Havoc to squeeze together and, apparently for the first time, draw his attention to them. He froze.
“Oh,” he said in a small voice. “Hello, Becca.”
“Hi, Al,” Becca replied, somehow even quieter.
“Ling said- but I didn’t think-”
“Hustle, you two. We’ll fill you in on the way, Alphonse.”
However, with Becca twirling her hair once more and Al pointedly staring out the window, the air easily thickened with awkwardness, silence broken only by Hawkeye and Havoc refilling their guns with some spare ammo from the glove compartment.
“What- um- what did Ling say?” she tried to open.
“He dropped by the hotel room and said he was surprised Ed and I weren’t out here too,” Al said shortly. “When I asked what he meant, he said that he and Lan Fan had been told where you were going to be so they could try and avoid any big fighting in that area in case you got caught in it.”
She bit her lip, feeling a pang in her heart. She couldn’t be sure if it was the guilt or… something else that came with the knowledge that someone had specifically tried to keep her out of the most dangerous parts of the day. The only thing she could say wound up being, “Oh.”
“Where’d the prince go?” Mustang asked suddenly.
“Well, he disappeared with Lan Fan after we ran into this person from the Fifth Lab. They had an ouroboros tattoo and I think Brother and Becca said their name was-”
“Envy? I had almost forgotten about them, what with-” Becca said, furrowing her brow.
“Greed, in Dublith,” Al finished. “That’s who I thought of too.” When he caught sight of the other three occupants of the car’s baffled faces, he explained, “We got kidnapped while visiting mine and Brother’s teacher by a guy named Greed. He also had an ouroboros tattoo and we thought he was in league with the ones from the laboratory. He seemed to know them, but said he wasn’t working with them.”
“Okay, we are definitely having a long talk about all the shit you three have neglected to tell me after this is all over.” Mustang kept his eyes firmly on the road as he brought one hand to rub his forehead. “You got kidnapped?”
“More importantly, he was a homunculus, so it might be a safe assumption that these ones are as well,” Becca said bluntly--
--Which was a mistake since Mustang was so surprised that he swerved, sending all of the passengers sprawling over each other’s laps and triggering a round of indignant shouting, both from those inside the car and those outside of it on the sidewalk until he’d righted the vehicle.
“Homunculi? Those things are purely theoretical-”
“‘There’s no such thing as no such thing’,” Becca quoted, picking at her nails. “Greed drilled that into us when he had us captive.”
Al nodded and recounted, “Ling, Lan Fan, and I just watched Envy turn from their normal form into a military officer, into a dog after taking one of Lan Fan’s kunais right to the back and walking it off. I wouldn’t have thought it was possible if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, but I swear it’s true.”
“The other one, with the mark one his tongue,” Hawkeye recalled thoughtfully, “both Fuery and I unloaded several rounds into him before you arrived, sir, but they hardly phased him.”
“And Greed came right back after getting his head whacked off,” Becca pointed out. The others raised an eyebrow and she shrugged, “It was a weird day. The point is that they have some sort of regeneration capability, although Greed did say that they’re not immortal.”
“Damn,” Mustang growled. “This whole crew is a real freak show, huh?”
---
They caught up to Barry outside the Third Laboratory after a relatively quiet end of their chase. The armor didn’t give them any time for more uncomfortable stretches between Becca and Al. Havoc spilled out of the car before Mustang had even brought it to a complete stop, closely followed by Becca. The others climbed out and grouped around Barry, who was waving his arms frantically like they wouldn’t be able to see him.
“Why did I know this was going to lead back to the military?” Mustang said rhetorically. “And right to the departments directly under the Fuhrer too?”
“Good blackmail material for the big guys, though,” Havoc pointed out.
“That’s for sure. You’re sure he went in there?” he asked Barry.
“‘Course I am!”
“Then we’ve done enough for today, locating their base of operations,” the colonel decided. “Let’s turn back while we’re ahead- where the hell do you think you’re going?”
For Barry had broken away, crowing victoriously, and bolting straight towards the government building, brandishing his meat cleaver.
Havoc slapped a hand to his forehead. “Dammit! Sorry, Boss, his soul being in such close proximity to its body is making him lose control!” He took a few steps to chase and hopefully subdue Barry, only to be stopped by Mustang laying a hand across his chest. “Huh?”
“Well, since we’re here, we might as well use this…”
---
“Everyone out!” Mustang barked, kicking the front door of the lab open. The employees, already wide-eyed and spooked from Barry barrelling through just moments before, swivelled to what must have been a very odd sight to behold; Mustang and Hawkeye leading the charge in full uniform, Havoc following up, still in his black “stealth” clothes, and Becca and Al bringing up the rear, each cutting a strange figure on their own.
A security officer bounded over, asking, “Colonel Mustang! What’s going on?”
“The man who just ran through here is highly dangerous,” Mustang explained shortly. “My team and I will go after him, but it’s imperative that you clear all these people out and block all entrances and exits, ASAP!”
“Yes, sir! And call for reinforcements?”
“I’ve already done so! You just watch the doors!”
“Sir!”
“Why did Colonel Mustang call backup? And when?” Al whispered to her, momentarily forgetting that he was upset with her in the hustle through the crowd of scientists, lab assistants, and secretaries being herded away by uniformed officers.
“He didn’t,” she replied. “He wants to keep this as under wraps as possible. We’re on our own.”
Finally, Barry’s incessant shouting and tendency to make a mess wherever he went led them to a chained up gate deep inside the facility. Becca couldn’t help but draw conclusions between the inner catacombs at the Fifth Lab and the locked up dark side of this one and subsequently shuffled a little closer to Al. The chainlink to the side had been busted, but it wasn’t safe to crawl through unless one was a suit of armor and therefore immune to tetanus, so, before anyone could attempt to break or pick the lock the old-fashioned way, Al clapped his hands and disintegrated the chain easily.
Havoc booted the gate open, jumping through with gun ready. Al moved ahead, patting Becca’s shoulder delicately, then putting deliberate space between them. With the workers cleared out, the building was quiet except for Barry’s laughter and screams of anticipation reverberating through the hollow hallways. She shivered, resisting the urge to follow Al for some degree of comfort.
“Which way did he go?” Havoc whispered.
“I can’t tell with the echo,” Hawkeye responded. “It might be best to split up to find him.”
She looked to Mustang for approval and recieved a nod of assent. “I’ll take Havoc, you take Alphonse and Illusion. Don’t go too far and come right back if you find him or something equally interesting. We’ll meet back here and retreat.”
She never thought she’d see the day, but Becca actually scowled at Mustang for not taking him with her.
“Right.”
“You’re really okay with taking both of us?” Al asked curiously as they headed off in one direction of the hall and Mustang and Havoc took the other. “You don’t think we’ll get in your way?”
“Of course not, I’ll be counting on you guys if something beyond my control happens,” the lieutenant said, tapping fondly on his chest. “You and Becca are both incredibly reliable, as alchemists and as people, so I’m not worried.”
Becca inhaled sharply and questioned, “Reliable?”
Hawkeye glanced to her, sternly confirming, “Yes, Rebecca. I think you’re very reliable.”
“Hm,” she said doubtfully.
Their trio proceeded in silence for a few moments until Becca decided she couldn’t push down the contrition at herself anymore. She suddenly stopped in her tracks, took a deep breath, and blurted out, “I’m sorry, Al.”
“Wha-?”
“I- I’m sorry,” she repeated, turning to look him in the face, “for lying to you and Ed about today. I understand that I p- probably broke your trust, but I hope- I hope you guys will stick with me and allow me to rebuild some of that confidence you had in me.”
“Becca… you- you lied to us,” Al said sadly. “I had to find out what was happening and that you already knew from Ling , and Brother still doesn’t know. I don’t even know where-” He jolted in realization and turned accusingly down to Becca. “Do you know where Armstrong took him?! Why did they take him away?”
Becca raised her hands in deference. “No, I- I swear on Louisa’s grave, I don’t know. My best guess would be Resembool but Mustang wouldn’t tell me-he says it’s on a ‘need to know basis’- ”
Scoffing, Hawkeye added, “Can you blame him? You would run right to him.”
Becca shrugged defensively.
Al, however, was not eased by the sarcasm. “And you care about what he says?”
“Alphonse, if I may,” Hawkeye interjected. Al tilted his head, confused, but gestured for her to continue. “Colonel Mustang was rather… insistent on Rebecca’s secrecy when it came to this mission. He made some choices that I personally wish I’d been there to stop in order to ensure her silence, specifically the threat of a court martial, which, as I’m sure you know, would be especially detrimental to her position and security here.”
“He… what? And he was serious?”
“I don’t know,” Becca admitted. “Maybe? He looked pretty serious because this whole thing is about Hughes and- and I didn’t want to take that chance. I would have told you two everything otherwise, but I was just… scared.”
And that, she realized then, really was the root of most of her problems. She couldn’t bring herself to keep in constant contact with Victor because she was scared he’d get sick of her constant lack of progress. She couldn’t confront Will, not really, because she was scared to face him after all he’d been through, all he believed. She couldn’t defy Mustang for two of the people who mattered most to her in the world because she was too scared to go against authority.
Too scared that some string in her carefully constructed web would snap and expose her to everyone; as a liar, as a sinner, and as a coward.
“But that’s not an excuse,” she forced herself to continue even though the words felt like they had to push through a chunk of lead in her throat to come all the way out. “So I’m sorry-”
“Oh, Becca,” Al sighed, lumbering closer and wrapping his arms around her.
She tried to simultaneously bump him off of her and lean her head onto his arm with a weak laugh. “No, stop it, I’m trying to-” she giggled, “-to apologize-”
His metal arms only squeezed more determinedly. “Stop pushing me!” he whined.
“You didn’t let me finish apologizing!”
“You already apologized!”
“But-!”
Hands clasped around her shoulders and Becca looked up into those glowing red eyes as Al firmly declared, “Becca. I understand. I don’t blame you.” He pinched her side, making her laugh again, then lapse into silence, a tiny smile still alighting her face. “I forgive you.”
A few seconds passed before those words sunk in and a bit of the weight vanished from her heart. The tiny smile bloomed into a full grin and she leapt at Al, jumping high enough that she could hug fully around his neck, although it did leave her feet dangling in not the most professional position for a State Alchemist to be seen in. Hawkeye kindly ignored the indecorous behavior.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I won’t ever let Mustang come between us again, no matter what stupid orders he gives me.”
“And we’d help you in a heartbeat anytime, just tell us what you need,” Al said warmly, “okay?”
“I promise, I will.” She hesitated for a moment, then added, “I love you, Al.”
“Love you too, Becca.”
---
After that much needed conversation, the journey was much more productive with the air cleared-- they remained quiet for the sake of the mission rather than because they had nothing to say. Hawkeye held her gun at the ready at all times and Becca could feel the energy crackling through the earth and into her and Al as they prepared for a quick transmutation every time they saw a suspicious shadow. She was starting to believe they might have gone the wrong way since they couldn’t hear Barry anymore, but a speck of blood on the floor Hawkeye pointed out a few minutes after that thought had occurred indicated perhaps he’d just quieted down, so they pressed on. As they passed one dark hallway, far, far down, Becca heard a familiar shink! sound she couldn’t quite place but that put her on edge nonetheless, so much so that she could have sworn she heard someone’s labored breathing even quieter. No one else reacted to it, so, with an uneasy glance down the hall, she moved on.
A few minutes later, they finally found Barry in the oddest room Becca had ever seen. He’d indeed quieted, now standing almost pensively over what had been his body at the foot of a huge, uncomfortably familiar white set of doors. The walls were white and plain, and the one at their backs was covered with silent pipes and still machinery, aside from the gaping chasm in the middle where they’d come in.
Becca and Hawkeye both retched at the smell of rotting flesh, although Becca
herself couldn’t draw her eyes away from the doors.
“Don’t love that,” she said, repressing another gag. “I know it’s not identical, but it’s close enough to that Gate of Truth to set me on edge.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Al murmured, though seemingly transfixed with Barry and his body instead.
To be fair, Barry also seemed rather focused on it, only looking up when they’d gotten much closer, and even then, he only chuckled dryly when they approached.
“Sorry you have to see this,” he said, even-tempered, bending down to pat his body’s back indulgently. “Look at this old thing-- almost completely decayed. The soul those lab guys shoved into didn’t take as well as they must have hoped it would have. It had to have been unstable for years.”
“Didn’t take?” Al said, agitation evident in his voice. “What do you mean?”
“It’s really only natural that a mismatched soul and body would repel each other, kid,” Barry answered evenly. “Like an equation that doesn’t quite balance.”
It did make sense, Becca supposed, but…
She didn’t want to ponder what that could mean for Al in the long run. Instead, she reached over, grabbing Al’s hand, assuring herself that he was still there. He’d gone stock-still, now staring up at the set of doors, and Becca was sure she’d see dawning terror if she could see his face.
Even Barry had sunk into a reflective quietude at the revelation, but it was swiftly broken by the distinct sound of high heels on concrete. Becca frowned. There shouldn’t be any civilians left in the building and most scientists she knew of who might be working in some secluded lab down here wouldn’t have been wearing high heels. Their group whirled around, except for Barry, who just hummed a sly, “I was just wondering when you’d show up, Lust.”
Becca’s breath caught as she recognized the newcomer and took a miniscule step forward.
The woman from the Fifth Lab strode through the doorway from the hall. The sound she’d heard in the hall earlier-- she’d recognized it as that woman’s nails! What if the breathing she’d heard had been real too? And where was-
“Number 66,” the woman purred, “care to explain why you were working with Colonel Mustang?”
“I thought it’d be fun to switch things up around here. And besides,” Barry sighed happily and turned all the way around, raising his cleaver in front of him, “I’ve wanted to chop you up more than anything since the day we met, Missy.”
Lust stuck her lip out, the exaggerated pouty expression much too at home on her face. “You’ve always been a pain, 66, but I don’t see why you have to drag not one, not two, but three of our sacrifices into trouble with you. I had to dispose of one a few minutes ago, two more will make Father so frustrated with me.”
Sacrifices, that’s what they called Ed and I at the Fifth Lab, Becca remembered.
“Dispose of? Sacrifices?” Al said questioningly.
“Yes, thanks to this bonehead, I’ll have to get rid of you two after I already took care of that other one-”
“I’ve heard enough from you!” Barry roared, all the boundless energy from outside returning in a flash.
He sprinted forward, blade waving haphazardly, and was centimeters away from the dark haired woman when she extended her arm and Becca barely had the time to open her mouth to begin to shout a warning when her nails extended, slicing through the suit of armour with ease.
Becca started as pieces of metal clattered to the floor. Al jumped.
Hawkeye, level-headed as she was, merely frowned.
“I do hate annoying men,” Lust said casually. “Now who wants to be next? The Magician? The little armour boy?” Eyes narrowing, she turned her violet eyes on Hawkeye. “Or perhaps the lieutenant? You do seem like a loyal officer, so perhaps you’d like to be the first to follow your superior.”
Follow… her superior.
Superior.
But that meant-
“No…” Becca breathed. “No, that’s not true. You’re lying.”
“You said… you said you’d have to kill three sacrifices. These two and the other one.” Horror was spreading over Hawkeye’s expression as she put all the pieces together. “You didn’t. You couldn’t have.”
Lust didn’t even dignify her with a response. Just smiled knowingly.
“You BITCH!”
Becca heard the gun click and dropped to the ground, rolling out of the way just as Hawkeye opened fire with a howl of rage. Covering her ears against the gunfire and the ongoing screams, she dared to sneak a peak over her shoulder to see every shot land on Lust’s body, but also to see her appear largely unphased, jolting with every strike but advancing just the same. She ducked back down to avoid the fire, but kept her eyes on the woman- no, the homunculus’ boots as they stalked closer.
When Hawkeye ran out of bullets in one gun, she tossed it aside and grabbed another. And another. With every shot, her furious shrieks dampened to angry, shrill breaths, to, eventually, whimpers of pain with the last few rounds.
And yet Lust stood back up straight, red electricity flickering around her as wounds healed, as holes disappeared, as she condescendingly asked, “Are you done yet?”
Tentatively lifting her head, Becca wished she’d kept it down after seeing Hawkeye. The blonde’s chest heaved and she exchanged looks with both Becca and Alphonse, silently begging for them to disagree with her conclusion. Neither of them could. She took a shuddering breath, and then, to Becca’s alarm, let a few tears drip down her face.
If Hawkeye cried, they were fucked.
And she was crying.
And they were fucked.
“Humans are such foolish creatures,” Lust noted disappointedly as the lieutenant collapsed to her knees. Becca scurried to her feet, only to trip herself up, fall, and have to hit her own knees and slide to her side. “Foolish and weak.”
Becca bowed her head.
This might be it. I’m sorry, Ed, for everything. And I’m sorry I never got to say it to your face.
She wished she could have seen him smile one last time, rather than the last imprint of him being the imagined distressed visage she’d seen in the back of her mind when she’d jumped off that train. She hoped he knew, somehow, that Al had forgiven her, and that he could find it in his heart to do the same.
She wished she could have told him everything.
A shadow fell over her and the shaking, sobbing Hawkeye. She craned her neck up at Al, stepping firmly between them and Lust. Becca grabbed his ankle, about to remind him of what had just happened to Barry, how he wasn’t invincible against this enemy, but Lust beat her to it.
“So you want to go first?”
“No,” Al said surely. “None of us are dying today.” He clapped his hands, drawing an intricate spear from the stone floor to his hand, then levelled it at Lust.
A flicker of surprise brushed over her expression before she schooled on a scowl in its stead. “So you have opened the Gate of Truth, but you still want to fight. For a genuine sacrifice candidate, you’re pretty stupid as well.” She threw her arm out, extending and sharpening her nails again. “Last chance, boy, get out of the way and maybe I’ll let you live.”
“Al,” Hawkeye croaked. “Go. You too, Becca. Run.”
“Listen to her,” Lust urged. “This woman doesn’t want to live.”
“We’re not running! No one is running!”
She didn’t verbally agree, but Becca figured tightening her arms around Hawkeye’s torso made her stance on the issue pretty clear. She wasn’t leaving until her body was dragged away.
“Go! You two, at least, should live!” Hawkeye ordered, her tone slightly firmer.
“No!” Al shot back. “All throughout our travels, people have died because of me! Because I couldn’t save them! I won’t watch someone I care about die right in front of me when I have the chance to do something! This body may not be good for much, but with it, I can protect the ones I love when no one else can, and I’m not going to lose that chance again!”
Lust snarled, swiping her hand up. Whatever her nails were made of cut right through the iron of Al’s body, but he was quick and dodged, careful to step over Becca and Hawkeye as well. The homunculus narrowed her eyes and stepped forward.
“Well said, Alphonse,” came a scratchy, albeit familiar voice from behind Lust. Becca gasped.
She had just enough time to touch her hands to the ground and erect a messy wave of stone in front of Al to shield their trio before Roy Mustang’s flames engulfed the room.