Savior (Part 1 - Evidences)

[Central City]

After the incidence at the warehouse where the IFF had its base, one of the militants who survived the attack, escaped the place and encountered Roy and Riza on the way and he fainted within few seconds of the encounter. Watching his critical condition, Roy and Riza quickly called the Central hospital and admitted him.

Next afternoon, the Ishvalan man woke up and he was having his food when Roy and Riza entered his room. Roy sat near him on a stool, and Riza was standing behind Roy. The man looked Roy for a moment, and then said, "Thank you for saving my life."

"Are you from IFF?" Roy asked anxiously.

"Yes…and I know what are you worried about right now," The man replied.

Now, the man had unintentionally caught Riza's full attention. Riza was looking at the man very curiously, while Roy gulped in fear, knowing that the secret was about to get exposed before he could tell Riza by himself. Meanwhile, the man continued, "To tell you the truth, I don't know where your son is or how he is. Everything was very chaotic after the attack."

Riza was shocked to find out that an unknown Ishvalan man was speaking about her son, that he could be alive. She instantly took a few steps toward the man and before Roy could speak, she asked anxiously, "What do you mean where his son is? General's son is dead."

Due to Riza's reaction, the man was startled for a moment, and before he could explain anything, Roy informed in a single flow, "Oliver is alive," without even looking at her.

The critical revelation hit Riza like a cyclone. She went numb for a moment. Her eyes were widened and she was looking at the floor. Her breathing rate was rising at an alarming rate and she was unable to speak anything because it was hard to believe that her son was alive, when she held her son's corpse only a few days back. She was unable to process what was going on in the surrounding because she was far deep into her thoughts of understanding what Roy just said. And then suddenly, she felt a warm hug and a hand rubbing her back very gently. It was Roy, and after he got Riza's attention, he slowly lifted her head by cupping her face. He then looked into Riza's tormented eyes and said very calmly, "I will tell you everything after this."

Riza calmed down a bit when he heard those assuring words. "But, I saw and held his dead body. I cannot make any mistake while recognizing my own child," Riza stuttered.

"I will explain everything in a moment. Can you please wait outside till then?" Roy asked politely.

Riza understood that their personal problem was always going to be inferior to their duty. Generally, Roy had difficulty in separating his personal and official life, but now she was the one who had difficulty in controlling themselves. She understood that by becoming too emotional, she was acting as an obstacle in the interrogation. So, she adhered to Roy's words and went outside the room after nodding her head with agreement. She sat on a chair outside the room and was trying to calm herself, meanwhile, Roy was getting all the information from the Ishvalan man. The Ishvalan man told Roy everything he saw at the warehouse, but he had no idea about Oliver. The only thing he knew about Oliver was that the boy was kept as a hostage. Roy then recollected the information he got from Colonel Armstrong last night where he told that the monster was chasing a child. He was now suspecting that the child could be Oliver. He then went outside the room where Riza was seating on a chair waiting for him to come outside. And as soon as she saw Roy, she stood up.

Riza didn't speak, but Roy could see that her eyes were screaming for many answers. So, Roy sat beside Riza and asked Riza to sit down. Then he told her everything, from his encounter with Thomas Maxwell (IFF commander) to the imitators (the chimeras which could transform), and everything the Ishvalan told him. After listening to everything, Riza sat on a chair near her with complete disbelief on her face. So, to make her believe and to keep her hopes up, Roy placed his hand on Riza's shoulder. And when Riza looked at him, he said with a faint smile, "Everything will be okay."

But instead of getting a smile of trust in return, Riza looked at him with anger. "Everything would have been okay if you hadn't brought him to Central on the first place," She scolded.

But, before she could scold any more, a very familiar voice interrupted them. "Can I help?" Colonel Alex Armstrong asked.

Roy and Riza looked at the big man standing right in front of them. Roy now had the chance to escape from Riza's anger. So, he stood up and replied, "Yes, you can come with us to a warehouse."

"But, Sir I need to interrogate the Ishvalan man," Alex informed.

Roy walked toward Alex and said, "Don't worry about that. I have already interrogated him and I will fill you in on the way."

"But, Si-," Alex tried to persuade Roy to let him interrogate the Ishvalan man, but before he could complete his sentence, Roy interrupted with authority by saying, "It's an order, Colonel Armstrong."

Roy, Riza, and Alex then went outside the hospital where Roy's car was parked. Alex was very big to sit at the driver's seat, so Riza approached toward the driver's seat, but Roy blocked her by first reaching to the handle. "Let me drive," Roy said.

Riza glared at Roy and replied calmly, "With all due respect, Sir. It won't look good if a General is driving a car while his subordinates sit."

Roy was afraid because Riza's eyes and Riza's voice were showing polar opposite emotions. Still, he managed to gather courage and ordered while opening the door of his car, "I don't care. I will be driving, and that's an order."

Riza didn't retaliate and went to the other side to enter the car. Alex sat on the back seat like a contortionist, and Roy sat on the driver's seat. Roy then drove straight to the warehouse. Because the Ishvalan man had already informed them of the warehouse could be pretty dark inside after the attack of the creature, Roy had ordered some soldiers to bring few floodlights and follow them. So, three other soldiers followed behind Roy's car with the floodlights in a car.

While driving, Alex could feel the tension between Roy and Riza, so he asked, "Are you two having some arguments?"

Roy chuckled and replied hesitantly, "No, everything is fine."

Alex understood that everything was not fine after hearing Roy's awkward laugh. "Of course," He said skeptically.

There was silence for a moment, which Roy broke by asking, "Colonel Armstrong, what other evidences did you find at the goods station?"

"We found an abandoned car, which has been currently taken to the military facility for inspection," Alex answered.

"Then we will be going to that facility after this," Roy informed.

Sometime later they reached the warehouse, where they saw everything there was broken and stuffs were lying here and there. They saw a broken shutter in front of them and went toward it. And accurately informed by the Ishvalan man, the room behind the shutter was dark because all the lights were broken and there was no way for direct sunlight to reach there. So, Roy ordered the soldiers to bring the floodlights to light up the room.

When they switched on the lights, they saw the most gruesome scene they could ever imagine. There were human body parts spread everywhere in the room, and the walls were stained with human blood. They went more inside the room, and on one portion of the wall, they saw something ungodly. "Good god, what could have done this?" Alex's eyes were widened like everyone present there.

It was a huge claw mark and watching that, Roy said, "So, there was a monster here after all."

They went more inside the warehouse, and finally, they reached the end section where there were a few rooms and one of the walls was torn apart. Sunlight was directly entering through the broken wall, lighting up the section. They could see that everything there was messed up, and there were bullet holes on the walls like in all other sections. "I guess the monster would have escaped from here. But then, why would it do that?"

"Let's check the rooms, we may find some clues there," Riza advised.

They looked inside the room where Thomas was living, and they saw some files lying there, and a map of the Central city with some notes and photographs on it. "Looks like we found the plans of IFF," Alex said.

They collected as much evidence as they could. After exploring Thomas' room, they entered the room where Oliver was kept as a hostage. They looked in the room and saw a rope was lying on the bed. They couldn't comprehend that Oliver was kept in the room from watching the single rope on the bed. Besides that there was were unable to find any sufficient clue which could help them to reach to a conclusion that Oliver was there. After exploring every section, Roy looked at Alex and asked, "Is it true that the people at the goods station reported that they saw a boy riding the train?"

"Yes Sir," Alex answered.

"Find out about the train, where all did it stop and whatever information you can acquire about it," Roy ordered

"Yes Sir," Alex responded.