Unleashed (Part 3 - Bleeding Man)

[Central Command]

Everybody in Roy's unit was done with their work and was getting ready to leave for home. Riza came to Roy's desk to collect the paper works which Roy had completed without slacking off for a bit. While picking up the papers, she noticed something was bothering Roy, and he was trying to hide the reason. "What happened?" Riza asked.

"Nothing. Everything is fine," Roy replied.

Riza looked at Roy doubtfully with one raised eyebrow. Roy understood that she was not going to leave without knowing the reason. So, he sighed and said, "It's just the IFF issue. It's getting worse."

"I know. What else?" Riza questioned.

"That's all, there is nothing else," Roy answered.

"Alright," Riza said and walked back to her desk with a pile of paperwork.

Even though she left quietly, Roy had understood that she didn't believe him. Normally, she would have forced him to speak the truth, but this time she was still recovering from the loss of her child.

After doing some overtime with Roy, Riza left for home. She always liked to walk home so, she left the HQ and began walking as usual on the footpath. There were fewer streetlights and it was night time but, it was not a problem for her. She couldn't hear any footsteps other than her own that night. Not even a stray dog or stray cat was creating any noise. Because the office hour was over, she had left her hairs loose to wave in the slow breeze.

While she was walking, she suddenly felt like someone was tailing her, however, she knew who it was. "Why are you following me?" She asked and turned around to find Roy walking toward her without any bodyguard.

"I thought of walking with you tonight. Sorry if I ruined your moment with loneliness," Roy replied.

Roy came more close to her, and both started walking beside each other. "Where is your security?" Riza enquired.

"I sent them home. I informed them that you would be accompanying me to home," Roy answered and continued when he didn't find any sign of annoyance on her face, "Why didn't you bring Hayate with you today?"

"I forgot," Riza replied.

"And where are your guns?" Roy asked.

Riza checked her purse and everywhere she usually kept her guns but, there was nothing. Not even the gun covers were hanging on her belt. She realized that she had messed up, but then she heard Roy's voice, saying, "Here."

Riza looked at Roy's hand. He was holding her guns which were covered inside the gun covers which she usually hanged on her waist or inside her uniform. She took the guns from him and put them on either side of her waist. "Thank you General," She said.

"That is not like you…yesterday also, you forgot your guns…and why do you walk? The office has provided you a car you know?" Roy scolded.

Riza resumed walking again. "I will remember the next time," She replied with a lethargic voice.

"You know, it's not safe wandering on streets without any protection," Roy said.

But, Riza simply ignored Roy's concern for her and asked, "Why are you walking? You could have just brought your car. It would have been easier for me to drop you at home and leave."

Roy's eyes were widened, and he felt like a fool because Riza was right. His home was not at a walkable distance. However, he somehow pulled out an answer from his lady-killer arsenal and replied with a grin, "Then it wouldn't have given me enough time to spend with you."

He expected Riza to get mad for that answer, but she didn't even react and kept on walking. Roy's grin disappeared when he didn't receive an answer from Riza. He didn't notice at first but, it was not that hard for him to figure out that she was hiding the tears which were slipping from her eyes, moving through her cheeks and falling on the ground. So he stopped and held Riza's hand because of which Riza stopped. "It's okay…you can throw all your sorrow, pain, anger at me and I promise, I will gladly accept them," He said worriedly.

Upon hearing those assuring words from Roy, she turned around and she hugged him. She started crying on his shoulders, "It's proving very difficult to forget him…I still remember the day he was born… his tiny hands were reaching out to my face even though his eyes were closed. If you had been there you could have also seen, how he was yawning," She chuckled for a very brief moment and continued while her tears were pouring on Roy's uniform, "I think it's our karma which took our son from us…we destroyed so many families at Ishval that it is our penance that we are unable to start a family together."

Roy desperately wanted to tell her that Oliver was alive but, he was afraid if someone was spying on him and, any wrong move could lead to his son's death. He hugged her tightly and stroked his hand on the back of her head to calm her down. But then suddenly, both of them heard footsteps of someone approaching them. The sound of footsteps was getting louder and louder gradually. The sound of the footsteps was sounding so hostile in the silence that Riza stopped crying and looked into the direction of the noise along with Roy. She took out her guns and Roy was ready with his gloves on.

Soon, they saw an Ishvalan man running toward them. He was bleeding very badly and when he saw Roy and Riza in front of him, he started shouting, "HELP, HELP". Watching the man approaching, Roy said to Riza, "I am keeping a watch on him, you look around us. I think it might be a trap."

"Copy," Riza acknowledged.

Roy then looked at the injured Ishvalan man and shouted, "Stop right there."

That man's face and body were covered with blood, his clothes were shredded, his left arm was ripped apart and blood was dripping from there. After listening to Roy, he stopped around 10 meters away from him and cried, "Please help." And soon after saying that, he fainted. Watching his condition, Roy thought it might not be a trap and walked close to the man.

There was no doubt that the man was in dire need of medical attention. So, Roy said, "Let's take him to hospital."

They were lucky that there was a phone booth nearby, so Riza called the hospital and asked them to send some people at their location with an ambulance. The Ishvalan man was still bleeding badly so, Roy decided to stop his bleeding by cauterizing the ripped left arm wound. Because the hospital was near, the ambulance reached there very quickly and they took the man to the hospital. Roy and Riza also went to the hospital with the Ishvalan man. Roy appointed some military guards to look after the Ishvalan and ordered them to inform him as soon as the man gains consciousness.

Meanwhile, Colonel Alex Armstrong, the Strong Arm Alchemist, was having dinner in his house with his family. And suddenly, the phone rang, and a maid attended the call. She then came near Alex, to the dining table with the long wired telephone and informed, "Master Alex, there is a call from the Central Command."

Alex quietly put his knife and fork on the plate and wiped his mouth with the napkin. He then took the receiver from the maid's hand to attend the call. "Hello, Colonel Alex Armstrong speaking," He said.

There was a lady on the other side of the phone who said, "Colonel Armstrong, there has been a report of multiple explosions at the goods station. Also, people are claiming that they saw a monster with glowing red eyes."

"I am reaching there. In the meantime tell the incharge on site to surround the area and interrogate some people," Alex ordered.

"Roger that," the lady responded.

Alex then hung up the phone and went to his room to wear his uniform. When he was leaving, Philip Armstrong asked, "When will you be returning?"

"I can't say, father," he replied and went to the railway station for transporting goods, which was simply called the goods station.

[3 hours earlier]

At an unknown warehouse situated at the outskirt of Central City, which was being used by the IFF (Ishvalan Freedom Front) as a base, was attacked. The militants were trying to kill something with all the weapons at their disposal.