The Best (Part 4 - The Team)

[Central Command]

After the sudden disappearance of Ling and his group, Roy interrogated the Xingese political advisor, Hu Zemin. But, it turned out that Hu was as clueless as Roy, they had no idea where Ling went along with his bodyguards. Amestris was a big country, so Roy couldn't decide whether he should organize a search party or not, and there was also the case of the nation's integrity. It would have been very bad for the military if the news of Ling had been leaked to the public. Roy only shared the information with the Generals, Fuehrer, and a few more people he trusted. After interrogating Hu Zemin, which was fruitless, Roy went to his office where his team was preparing to leave for the day. Everyone was cleaning their desk, except Riza who was inside Roy's cabin cleaning up Mr. General's desk.

Initially, Roy wondered why everyone was preparing to leave and looked at the clock. The office time was about to over and Roy realized it then as well. He walked toward the sofa and sat to relax for some time. He was closing his eyes with his head on the sofa when he heard Havoc's voice. "Too much work today, huh Chief?"

Roy slowly opened his tired eyes and found Havoc standing in front of him. "Yeah, those Xingese are a pain in the ass," He replied with an exhausted voice.

"Any news about Oliver?" asked Havoc.

"Not yet," He answered. "By the way, where is Major Hawkeye?"

"In your cabin. Maybe putting all the paperwork in places, I guess," said Havoc.

"You may be right." Roy let out an exhausted sigh while standing.

In the meantime, the phone on Riza's desk rang. As Riza was not there to answer the call, Fuery quickly went to Riza's desk and picked up the handset. There was a woman from the Central Command's operator room, she told something to Fuery, which Fuery relayed to Roy. "Sir, Edward is on the phone. He wants to talk to you."

Roy's eyes were widened. All his tiredness disappeared in a moment. "Ed?" He exclaimed.

"Yes," Fuery clarified.

Roy went to Riza's desk and took the handset from Fuery. By the time Roy took the receiver, Ed was already connected to the line. "Hey Ed," said Roy.

"Hey General, hope I didn't disturb you," said Ed calmly.

"From when did you started giving concern whether I am disturbed or not? Now tell me, why did you call me at the office…What's so urgent?" asked Roy.

"I might have some important news for you," replied Ed.

"What news?" Enquired Roy.

"We met an Ishvalan man at Rush Valley, he claims that he is the brother of the IFF operative we caught during the blast at Central-" Ed told everything about Bali (The Ishvalan human chimera with an automail arm, he met at Rush Valley) to Roy. He also told everything from the chimeras of Drachma to Lab C. After listening to everything, Roy sighed and paused for a moment. "Is anyone near you?" Asked Roy.

Ed was talking from a telephone booth in Rush Valley. There was no one in the proximity of the booth, but still, Ed closed the door of that booth and replied, "No."

"We have some information about an attack from Drachma. According to General Armstrong's sources, Drachma is planning to attack Amestris in few weeks, but we don't know how they are going to attack. If whatever Bali is telling is true, then we have to prepare for a chimera attack which won't be easy, and if he is telling a lie then we have to find out why?....Some people were experimented and turned to chimera during the Ishvalan war. In fact, you have met some of them. Bali could also be one of them who joined IFF," explained Roy.

Ed sighed and said, "So what do you want me to do?"

"If he told you all this then he must be expecting the military to get to him, but I guess if he is lying then he will try to misguide us. So it will be good if you can keep an eye on him and try to find out what he is up to…I know I am not your superior now, but your nation needs you once again," said Roy.

Ed smiled. "You asked politely, so I am thinking of helping you one last time," He said.

"Ed, there is one more thing which I wanted to ask you," said Roy very calmly.

"What?" Ed asked.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU RETURN MY BOOK?" Roy shouted by bringing the microphone closer to his mouth.

Everyone in that room looked at Roy with surprise, while at the other end of the phone, Ed was also startled for a moment due to the sudden noise. And he replied in the same manner i.e. by shouting. "Stop shouting you fucking idiot. I will return your book as soon as I get to Central, and by the way, I bought the book from a pawn shop, so it's technically mine."

Ed hanged up the phone with force. After Roy heard the disconnect tone, he hanged up the phone as well and turned around, only to find Riza standing before him, and all the team members were staring at him.

"What happened? Why are you all looking me like that?" asked Roy as if he didn't know the answer.

"Why were you shouting, General? Did something happen?" Enquired Riza.

"It was Ed, he was giving me some infor-" But, before he could complete his sentence, the phone on Riza's desk rang. Riza walked ahead to answer the call, but Roy stopped her. "Let me take it, it must be Ed. He must have forgotten to tell me something," He said.

Roy picked up the handset. He was expecting Ed's call, but it was someone else. This time it was a soldier who was giving him some very important information which brought a smile on Roy's face. After getting the message, Roy hung up and turned around to face his team.

"Team." Roy took a deep breath. "There is a change of plan today."

"What?" Asked Havoc.

"I received a message from the search party in Cameron. They told me that they have found Oliver and Thomas Maxwell. According to the search party, they saw Thomas was interacting with Krid Novak, an ex-military officer who was court-martialed and relieved from his duty at the beginning of the Ishvalan War. We don't have much information about him, but he is considered extremely dangerous. Some even say that even Bradley couldn't fight him head-on," explained Roy.

Falman gulped out of fear by just hearing the description of Krid Novak. Everyone in the team understood what Roy was going to ask them, so before he could ask, Breda spoke with his usual blank face. "So when are we leaving?"

Roy smiled and replied, "Tonight."

"But there is no train tonight," informed Fuery.

"We will be going by road," said Roy.

"Till Cameron?" Falman asked while he looked at Roy with furrowed brows.

"Yes." Roy smiled.

Roy then looked at Riza who hadn't spoken a word. He saw a genuine smile on Riza's face after a long time. When he was about to speak, Riza came close to him and hugged him tightly. Watching that, the team smiled. While Roy was enjoying Riza's embrace after a very long time, Havoc decided to interrupt. He cleared his throat.

Roy and Riza pulled apart from each other and looked at Havoc. "Why don't we make a plan before leaving for Cameron?" said Havoc.

Riza took a deep breath to control her emotions from flowing out anymore. "Right, we need to make a plan," she replied.

Fuery looked at Riza with his a smile and said, "Don't worry Ma'am, we will bring back your son."

Riza felt very fortunate at that moment when she looked at her team very pumped up, even after the office hour was over. She felt lucky to have a team that was ready to go anywhere, anytime, whenever she needed them.