A/N: You know what happens when you're really insecure about your writing and thus leave all your chapters and fanfiction content onto a single 4 inch long flash drive? You lose it. Yes, I lost my flash drive which is why I haven't updated in several months now. Yeah, crappy excuse- it's true, but it's still an excuse. It's my fault for losing it. How gay. Anyways, I'm on holiday break writing this so yay. So now I'm improvising on what the initial chapter 45 was… and… yeah.

Oh and Camp David and Tahiti are both the same place, just to clear it up. So I'll be switching the usage between them depending on who's speaking and the issue being discussed. Tahiti is the code for Camp David, even though Camp David is a code in itself, yet because it's so "widely known" if carefully studied upon, I decided to give it a second term.

Hardcore thanks to Oceana again. XD

DISCLAIMER: Does anybody like… own the "disclaimer"? Cuz seriously, if no one owns this thingy, I might as well claim the disclaimer for myself, and having had claimed it, I will eat it and it's children so that the disclaimer were no longer to exist. Unfortunately, owning the disclaimer is like owning the internet- impossible.

Ch. 45

You Know A Prison Is Bad When All The Jailers Leave The Prison Unguarded For An Hour

Graham and Jacoby Whitcomb stood in the Investigations Department early this summer morning waiting intently for Warrant Officer Falman to present them with a mission. As Falman was digging through a file cabinet looking for an appropriate and rather recent mission to bestow upon the MPs, a runner was running around the floor, trying to locate the officer.

"How do you think Mustang and them are doing over in 'Tahiti'?" Graham asked, attempting to make some small talk. He had been dismissed from the hospital literally half an hour after Mustang's entourage reportedly departed to Camp David/Tahiti.

Whitcomb shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno. Hope they're having fun. And I hope it's much cooler over there for their sake, too." The MP emphasized the heat by tugging at his undershirt collar. His and Graham's jackets were both unbuttoned and Falman's had his draped over his office chair.

"Actually," Falman said as he removed two folders from the cabinet, debating upon which to assign to the two-man team. "Out in the east, especially where they're located, has had much more activity regarding heat waves during this time of year for the past few years or so."

Whitcomb made a sour face. "Well, that… sucks."

Just then the runner turned into Falman's office cubicle and handed him a new folder. "From the detention facility, sir. New case- just reported about an hour ago." Falman dismissed the runner and took a peek inside the folder. His brows furrowed and he gasped. "No way…" he said. Quickly, he turned to his phone and frantically began dialing a series of numbers.

While the line rang, Falman opened the folder full spread on his desk and motioned for the two MPs to come closer and study the contents of the folder. They understood this was their new task- and by no means an easy one.

"Get me Mustang right now!" Falman yelled into the phone.

0900; One Block From Camp David

Lansen stood on the receiving end of Falman's call. He recognized the familiar voice as the officer's but under strict orders from the general, was unable to take the call and without first giving his call sign and having Falman return the call sign and thus ordered to play dumb. Heck, Lansen even did it with an accent.

"Uh, I thinks you gots da wrong numbuh, suh."

"Just get me Mustang."

"Mmm, I dun know who dis Mustang-character you talkin' 'bout is, suh. So's I'ma hang up on ya now."

"Lansen! Get me Mustang right this instant."

Lansen pulled the phone from his ear and sighed loudly. He cut his lie and accent short. "Constantine. Now return the call sign, sir," he spoke calmly.

Falman was going crazy right about now. "Divide et impera!" he shouted.

"Thank you, sir, I'll patch you through to his bunker."

Falman twitched. "You mean he's not with you?!"

Lansen jerked and dropped the phone, his walkie-talkie, and managed to knock off all the folders containing some kind of paperwork off the desk. He cursed. "Officer Falman, can you please calm down for a second. I'm trying to patch you through to him."

As if some higher being ordered it, Havoc burst into the small residence housing Lansen, Zunis, and Selim, and looked around frenzied. Lansen, startled again, dropped the phone and walkie-talkie. Havoc spotted Lansen seated at the desk in the back corner of the living room and quickly marched toward him.

"Where's Mustang and Hawkeye? Have you seen them? Do you know where they are?" Havoc questioned.

Lansen's face revealed confusion. "Um… uh, what do you mean, Lieutenant? What's going on? Aren't they supposed to be at Camp David with you?"

Havoc nodded. "I can't find them. We've searched the entire property. I don't know where they are. Even Hayate's gone missing." He sat down in a spare chair as Zunis came from around the corner, fresh from a shower and wearing civvies. Apparently he overheard the entire conversation as his eyes were wide and mouth agape. Young Selim emerged from behind his adoptive father, looking fully rested and optimistic as a child should.

"Good morning, everyone," the child said cheerfully. His contrasting mood with the adults and the tense air surrounding the area caused the boy to quickly determine what was wrong.

"Did I just hear that right?" Falman spoke from the phone. Everyone turned to look at the object laying on the floor. "Please tell me you guys did not lose Mustang and Hawkeye." He was surprisingly calm, given his previous hysterical state.

Havoc picked up the phone. "Yeah… I think we-"

A loud noise began to erupt from Havoc's belt. "Hey, hey! They're back! Havoc they're back!" Edward yelled, the transmissions coming from the walkie-talkies. Everyone in the Point House began to look out the window that faced Mustang's property. Surely, a dark-haired man, a blonde woman, and a dog were coolly walking toward the side door of the estate.

"I'm going to blow a steady stream of cigarette smoke in their pretty little faces," Havoc threatened. "Falman, give us a second. You need to talk to Mustang, right?"

"Yeah. Better hurry up, Lieutenant. It's quite urgent."

"Mmhm, I'll patch you through to him after I kill 'em." He added a playful chuckle and told him to stay on the line as he madly dashed toward the estate.

0908; Camp David

"Oh looky there," Roy said, smiling like an idiot. "They're all awake." He began counting heads from the window. The pair of them stood their outside the estate, not yet entering it. Roy blinked. "Hey, I think I missed Havoc."

Riza rolled her eyes and Roy smirked again. "All right, let's go inside."

Upon arrival, everyone stopped and stared at the couple as if expecting something. "Well, good to see you guys are all actually awake." He said this with as much enthusiasm as possible to insult their ability as guards. "I don't know why I didn't just hire my ASO staff."

Edward stomped up to him. "I can't believe you!" he yelled. "Can you guys believe the nerve of this guy?" he yelled to everyone else. "We were worried sick about where you guys went! We actually thought you were kidnapped because both you and Hawkeye disappeared! So either you guys went out and got drunk or someone obtained some kinda intel and took you guys hostage."

Roy, who sat now at the breakfast nook with a bottle of water alongside Riza, looked shocked. Edward's rant seemed genuine and real. But Roy being Roy, he only sighed, another smirk visible on his face revealing Roy was not angry at Ed or his rant, but rather satisfied and content. Feeling as though he needed to explain himself, Roy stood up and began speaking. "All right, Hawkeye and I decided to go for a jog around the park. That's all. We realized no one was on guard, so by going out for a while, I thought you guys would learn your lesson."

Ed quickly retorted, "That's not fair though! Shifts are three-hour shifts from eleven to two and two to five. You can't extend that either, since military records both say we are on leave and playing castle for you, you can't make us work into overtime."

"It doesn't matter either way, Edward," Breda started. "We all get three hour night shifts no matter what and three people must be assisting the general at all times. One of them will always be Hawkeye. So given that there are only 6 of us- excluding Lansen and Zunis cuz they're in their own little world- we don't have to work every day besides sitting up for three hours. And Lansen and Zunis cover a graveyard shift also. So basically, whoever isn't working that day, gets the graveyard shift."

"That doesn't solve the problem where no one is awake between five and seven."

"Why don't we all just go to bed later?" Bloch suggested.

"Two hours later? That will not work."

It was then that Havoc crashed through the front door and stumbled through to the back of the estate. At the same time, the phone in the house began to ring. Kain Fuery dashed upstairs where he had installed a device that recorded everything and traced and identified the location of the caller.

"Answer the phone, Mustang," Havoc panted. From the walkie-talkies most of the soldiers carried, Fuery's voice crackled an "okay, you're good to go".

Mustang answered the phone. "It's Falman," Havoc breathed. Mustang nodded. "What's going on?"

"A guy named Maven Ainsley escaped from the detention center. It is believed that he's after you."

As soon as those words escaped from Falman's mouth, Roy knew this was going to be bad. He put his free hand to his head and exhaled loudly. He was then given details that Maven escaped most likely during his disquisition for the leave, when everyone abandoned their posts. The jailers assumed they were free to leave as well, having believed that their East City replacements were already on the grounds and making way to the detention center. Exact details of how he escaped were unsure of at the moment. Also in his jail cell were a calendar that encircled the 3-week leave, a newspaper with an interview from Mustang, a crudely shaped knife, several papers regarding the leave which were believed to be genuine, and a yearbook from some military academy a couple of years back.

"I got Whitcomb, Graham, a few other MPs, and 3 bloodhounds hot on the guys' trail. So far he's heading east. And it's staying constant by the looks of it. General," Falman said. "We did a little digging on this guy and there's some stuff you wouldn't believe that's in here. His criminal record in massive and get this- he even has a military record. Went to, uh, this military academy here in East City six years back." Roy's eyes widened at that.

A military academy in East City… six years back… Roy shook his head. No way. That can't be. It has to be another academy or something.

Falman continued, "Also, he, uh, appears to be totally immersed in you and Hawkeye. It's believed that you are his primary target and Hawkeye as his secondary only due to the fact that she's your bodyguard. We have some strong evidence to prove it."

"I think you have it reversed," Roy muttered in all seriousness.

"What, sir?"

"I'm not the primary target." Roy turned to look at Riza who was already staring back at him. Everything that happened with Maven started first with Riza. Roy first encountered Maven at his state alchemy exam- the same day he met Riza Hawkeye. Then the time when Maven blew their cars up, Riza was there. But what about the train incident? Roy asked himself.

"Falman, do you have any other important information for me?"

"There's plenty of evidence that I believe you need to go over- specifically on him targeting you and Hawkeye. I'm wiring it through to Fuery right now. Other than that, everything is riding on the MPs."

"Call back here in an hour. Thank you very much, Officer Falman."

"No problem, sir. It's my job."

Mustang hung up the phone and everyone eyed him curiously as Fuery began descending the stairs, knowing an announcement was coming. Mustang sighed. "Officer Falman has informed me that we are likely to be held under attack. A fugitive going by Maven is after myself and another person in this group. I know from experience that this guy is good. But not great. He's intelligent and a pretty cocky character. The fact that he is believed to be solo does not make it easier. In fact, we don't even know if he is solo. It is likely that he's working with an organization, given that he knows as much as he does and there's no way he could be doing this on his own. I want everyone to be alert and on their best guard until this storm has passed.

"FullMetal and Alphonse- I want you two create a large perimeter that has this house as it's center point and also contains Captain Zunis's property. Mark the perimeter- make it subtle, but still obvious to us that it is the perimeter. The perimeter may include other houses that have been positively identified as either empty or registered as a citizen of this city. Go to Lansen for a copy of a list of those. Fuery, Falman, Bloch, and Ross- I want the cars and both houses checked for bugs and anything suspicious. Breda, you and Lansen will go and investigate all the people who live inside the perimeter the Elrics are creating. Go disguised as federal agents who are investigating an identity theft crisis that has been occurring frequently in the area- but don't tell anyone that unless they absolutely insist. Just say you're on a confidential mission and you have government permission- show them your IDs, don't let them stare at it."

By now, the estate had many people scrambling around. Roy blinked at the mess he created. "I think… I think that's everyone. Captain Zunis will hold down the fort over there. Havoc, you'll stay here and man the radios… a simple task. You can do that, right?" Havoc nodded and ran upstairs to the attic.

"Sir," Hawkeye said, a little dazed from the sudden ordeal. "What do you want me to do?"

Roy closed his eyes as he turned towards Riza. He sighed. "I want you to tell me everything you know… everything… about Maven."

Riza closed her eyes. She knew this was going to happen. As unfortunate and concurrent as it was, she couldn't keep holding back who this insane man was. Roy saw her uneasiness as well as the chaos that had virtually materialized throughout the estate and said, "All right. Follow me. We'll go somewhere else to talk."

Roy led her through back toward the master bedroom and shut the door. "Okay. I know you know him and I know you're not going to lie. So go on. Start from wherever you feel like it."

Riza looked up, then down. Both sat cross-legged on the bed facing each other. "Alright so, the first time you met him was several years ago. I want to say along the year of 1904 when you and I first met. I was getting ready to enlist but Fuhrer Bradley as well as my grandfather strongly urged that I enroll into the ROTC even though I lacked prior military knowledge such as that of going to military academies throughout high school, et cetera et cetera. I did enroll into the ROTC as you know and that's where I encountered Maven. And not as an enemy.

"He didn't enroll into the ROTC as a "Maven" by first, last, or middle name. His full name was Sylvaughn Marcus Alucard. But I still knew him for who he was. Believe it or not, he was the son of the man who murdered my father." Roy blinked. It was the first time she ever spoke about family other than Grumman. Riza, not wanting to linger on that topic continued speaking about Maven. "But he, as I knew him from my childhood, was never a violent person. He was a nice kid. Lived a few blocks from where I lived. He ran away from home one day and I never heard from him again.

"That is until the day he stole your gloves the day of your exam. I didn't really think anything of it except that he changed. He looked like he needed help, but what could I do? So then when I went into the ROTC and met up with him again… he was like a totally different person. Like the old Sylvaughn that I used to play with before he ran away. He was in the same company as me and everyone liked him. He was a great leader, broke record times and shots. One of our drill sergeants called him the ideal officer."

Roy smirked. "I spy a hint of jealousy," he said.

Riza faintly smiled back. "We were competitors. He'd break my swimming record; I'd break his shooting distance record. He'd beat my relay run; I'd beat his score in hiding in the ghillie. But everyone knew it was just a friendly rivalry. Nothing was serious- no harm ever done. We'd both be praised by our sergeants and envied by our peers. That's that."

Roy nodded. "But…?"

"But one day," Riza sighed, "something… terrible happened." Roy nodded again. "It was raining and Sylvaughn and I just so happened to be out in the field playing Hidden. Just for fun. We started at opposite ends of the field. First one to find the other wins. That simple. No one was around except Havoc and a few of his buddies having a smoke around the gate of the field."

Roy nodded aware that she and Havoc were both in the same ROTC company.

"Havoc didn't really know Maven... er, Sylvaughn. But he heard about our so called 'legendary rivalry'. So he decided to check out our little contest. Anyways," Riza continued. "It wasn't before long the drizzle turned into a downpour. It was raining so hard everything under the poncho beneath my ghillie was starting to get soaked. I had to frequently wipe my goggles- I could barely make out the blur of my paintball gun. I was ready to call it quits. So I pulled out the white flag and over the clamor of the rain, yelled, 'I surrender'." I was about ready to get up when…" Riza began doing an awkward chuckle. Quite honestly, it worried Roy. "Hah… hahaha. My leg was caught under the root of this tree that I just crawled from. It was stuck. I couldn't get out. While I focused on getting my leg free from the root, I heard footsteps running toward me and I said, 'Okay Alucard, you won this time. Now help me get out from'…" Riza went silent. Then continued, "Here. And then I felt something sharp and painful hit me."

Roy's eyes widened and a scowl gradually began to form.

Riza kept her eyes downcast and continued speaking, not knowing of the anger Roy felt at the moment. "It just stung really badly. And then I, uh, I thought I heard Havoc and a few others yelling. I felt another sharp pain in a different area this time. And then… I couldn't really feel anything at all. Like I was paralyzed even though I knew I wasn't. I heard more footsteps and I saw Havoc tackle him. Havoc's friends came and went for Sylvaughn just as Havoc went for me. He looked really shocked and confused. Everything happened so fast. At first, I really didn't understand what was going on. What was that pain, why couldn't I feel anything at all, why did my perception move so slow, why did everything look so blurry?

"And then Havoc lifted my head up and…" Riza stopped short and began recalling exactly what happened…

Year 1906; 1539; East City Military ROTC Academy; An Untouched Field

"Riza? Riza? Can you hear me? Look at me. Look me at." Riza glanced up and saw Havoc. He looked scared, his eyes wide, harboring fear and surprise. "You'll…. You'll be fine, don't worry. You'll be fine." Havoc wildly began to look at Riza and her wounds. Riza groggily started to look around. There was a bloodied GI knife to her right and as she strained to move some more, she realized her foot was still caught under the tree root and lying prone trying to untangle herself wasn't the easiest challenge.

"Riza! Stop it! Stop. Don't move. Stop moving!" Havoc took both his hands and pinned her down with her back on the floor and her facing up at the raining sky. However in doing so, he had unintentionally caused for Riza's ankle to twist and snap. Riza heard the sound but did not react to it. She couldn't feel anything. It was then that her leg began convulsing, only restraining itself because of the tree root. Another pain shot up from her leg, which both held the sprained ankle and a stab, and Riza bit her tongue to prevent herself from screaming.

Havoc removed one of his hands from Riza, as he had been putting pressure on her wounds, and lifted it to wipe the rain from his face. He had smeared Riza's blood onto his hand and over his face. Havoc then realized a wide-eyed, shocked Riza Hawkeye was looking up at him and the blood all over his face. Slowly, Riza craned her neck to look down at herself. She was bleeding. Two stabs were gushing blood from her abdomen and another wound engraved itself into her leg. She did not even comprehend the fact that she had been stabbed thrice.

"Riza. Riza! Don't look at it. It'll only make things worse," Havoc yelled, accidentally slamming her head down to moist, soggy dirt. He and another were trying their best to apply pressure to her wounds to stop the blood loss. "Did somebody run to get an officer?!" Havoc yelled. "We need someone and a medic down here right now, dammit!" Havoc began tearing at Riza's ghillie suit, conveniently using the bloodied knife until the burlap and leaves were no longer a hindrance. Havoc and his friend, Zunis, both removed their jackets- Zunis wrapped his jacket around Riza's leg and Havoc used his to wield as much pressure possible on Riza's other two wounds. Suddenly Riza's eyelids grew heavy and she couldn't help in keeping them open. "Riza… Riza! Stay with me now!" Havoc yelled. "Keep your eyes open, Riza." Riza stared back at Havoc blankly as he continued yelling over the downpour. "Don't worry we got some medics coming. You're good. Don't worry."

A team of medics quickly arrived on seen along with two officers and Riza's sergeant. The medics pushed Havoc and Zunis aside and began tending to her wounds as best as possible before shipping her out to the infirmary- which ironically, was on the other side of the campus.

Present Day and Time; Camp David

Riza sighed. "I woke up in the infirmary, stitched up and my ankle wrapped in bandages. Havoc and a couple officers cleared up what had happened to me and I was sent a subpoena to a court martial as the victim. After that I never heard from Sylvaughn Marcus Alucard again… Just a guy named Maven. That's it."

There was a brief silence for a moment as Roy clenched his teeth and Riza began to feel guilty for not exactly telling Roy everything he needed to know. "Roy… I'm sorry."

Roy looked up surprised. "Riza, there's nothing to be sorry about."

"I should've let you know earlier."

Roy sighed. "Come here." He embraced Riza and said, "I had no idea this happened." Riza's head rested on Roy's chest. He gripped her tighter. I'll kill that bastard, he thought. I'll kill him.

1137; Camp David

"All right, Mustang," Edward said. "I finished your perimeter and I did a scale drawing of it." He handed the paper to Mustang. "The star's this place and the red dot is the captain's. All the other small black dots are the houses in the area I made the perimeter rectangular because circles are a bitch and even though they look pretty, no one wants to deal with a circle as a perimeter. The dimensions of the perimeter are one and a half miles and three-quarters of mile. The drawing is in quarter-inch, by the way." Edward motioned with his fingers which stuff represented the images he was describing.

"I waited for Breda and Lansen to finish their part of the job before going ahead and creating the perimeter with Al. I didn't want to create anything irregularly shaped to screw everyone up, so I made it constant. I know it killed some time, but I think it's worth it." Roy nodded as Ed put his hands casually into his pockets. "Oh, and I marked the perimeter with little green flags every 10 feet or so, so it should be easy to spot."

Roy smiled. "Thank you, Edward. I appreciate it. You too, Alphonse. You guys really outdid yourselves this time- and believe it or not,I'm not being sarcastic." Edward stood with his eyes wide and somewhat surprised Mustang complimented him. "Really, you two, I'm impressed." Al smiled. Roy removed his reading glasses, having previous been engulfed in work before the Elrics disrupted him, and said, "If you boys will excuse me, I will hand these to Fuery so he can make copies and distribute them to everyone." Roy was about ready to get up when Ed suddenly interrupted him.

"Hey, uh, I can see you're kinda busy at the moment, so," Ed rocked his heels back and forth. "Do you want me to run these down to Fuery for you?" Ed proposed, pointing at the scale drawing Roy was holding.

Roy, confused, raised his eyebrows and said, "Well, uh… sure Edward. Thank you."

"No problem, Five Star." Ed exited, bewildered and somewhat lost.

"Brother," Al started. "What… is going on?"

Ed shook his head. "I thought Mustang would appreciate it with all the work he's got, not to mention the whole Maven ordeal, and I just thought I should, you know, ease him out a bit."

"…Ease him out of… what?"

"You know all that stress that's piled on him. Cuz not to mention work and junk, but he's still got that ring on him, right?"

It was then that Al's jaw defied all physical laws and hit the floor. "Brother!!!" he loudly whispered. "You can't just talk about that out loud… and in the open."

"Oh puh-leez, Al. Everyone knows they're still dating. Though they try hard to hide it, we all know they're as close as peas and carrots in a bowl of mash potatoes covered in gravy." Al made another face at the analogy and looked around as they walked up the stairs and merged into one of the hallways. They dropped off the drawing to Fuery, and went back downstairs and out the back door toward the lake.

"Brother," Al started. "You think Mustang's going to propose to Lieutenant Hawkeye… here?"

Ed's eyes went up to the sky. "Maybe not here-here by this lake and all- it's kinda cheesy if you ask me, but sometime during the leave."

" What makes you think that?"

"What makes you not?" Ed asked. "I mean, don't you remember that conversation we had with Mustang that one time about a year back when-" Ed blinked. Al wasn't there. Al wasn't there when Roy revealed he intended- strongly intended- to marry Riza Hawkeye. Al knew of the ring- that was certain, but not Mustang's aims. Al looked at him curiously. "Uh, nevermind. You weren't there." Ed began a sort of awkward chuckle. "Hey, I'll race you to that side of the lake."

1142; Nimitz' Residence

Lansen made a face as they crossed the street. "Aww," he said, pouting as if he were still a little kid. "They all finished their tasks and are playing in the lake." Breda turned to look back at Mustang's estate and was immediately greeted with the sun reflecting off the lake's water. Even before Lansen had pointed it out, the cheerful noises of adults yelling and swimming were ever present as he and the specialist did their best to end the task Mustang assigned them.

"Don't worry, Lansen," Breda said. "One last house to go and you can show off your diving marks all you want."

Disguised as typical civilians who were disguised as federal agents, the two soldiers approached the house and Breda knocked. It took several more knocks before a man answered the door. A camera strapped to his neck and hair unkempt. He blinked.

"Good afternoon, sir," Breda said. "We're with the government and before we say anything more we'd like to see some I.D. and the title deed to this lot." Both he and Lansen flipped their wallets and presented military badges. After they saw the man take a glance at either one, they flipped the wallets closed.

Nimitz made a face. He saw the badges were not government badges, in spite of the short time he peaked at them, he knew very well they were military. "All right, one moment please, gentlemen." Nimitz closed the door and made his way to retrieve his deed and his drivers' license was with him in his wallet, but before opening the door, Nimitz stopped and debated on whether or not to use his fake idea as a member of the press, or his real I.D. just to make things easier. These are Mustang's people after all. One of them may know me from when I interviewed him a while back. Nimitz peered through the peek-hole and neither of the men seemed to have any idea that he was the man who met with Mustang.

Nimitz opened the door and showed the men the deed to the house and his fake I.D. The larger of the two men snatched the papers and the I.D. card and began writing something down on his clipboard.

"How long have you been living here, Mr. Lyons?" Lansen asked.

"Actually, I've been travelling a lot recently, but I leased the house about a year ago."

"You travel?"

"It's my job. I explore nature- go on hikes, climb mountains, swim through dangerous rivers. You know- stuff like that."

"Interesting. Do you live alone here?"

"Here, at this moment, yes. My wife and child are back in the city. I'm preparing to head off to the desert in about two weeks to observe the wildlife there."

"Two weeks is an awfully long time. Why so long the wait?"

"Well, we were actually supposed to be in the desert by this coming Saturday, but my team got caught up as witnesses to a hit and run on their way here from the west. So they're being held up by the police until the trial is done and the sentence is carried out, which they say should take about a week and a half, followed by a couple days to get here from where they currently are."

"Sounds like a real commotion."

"Yes, sir it is."

"You mind if we search the place?"

Nimitz raised his eyebrows. "For what? Do you have a warrant?"

"We work for the government, Mr. Lyons," said Breda. "We don't need a warrant. Unless there's something you're hiding, you'd have no problem with us walking through your house."

"I'd have a problem with the sudden invasion of privacy. And even still, the government always issues a warrant when a search is needed."

Breda smirked. "You know your rights. Are you a lawyer or something?"

"No," said Nimitz. "Just as citizen who knows what the law should or shouldn't do."

"Nicolas 'Navy' Nimitz, you can cut the crap," Breda said, still writing on his clipboard. "We know it's you," Breda crossed his arms. "Very convincing lie and tale you had, but not everyone gets the luxury of interviewing the CINC of this country's army."

Navy sighed. "All right, you win." He revealed his real ID. "Feel free to search the place, now that you know who I really am."

1215; Camp David

By now, the majority of the team was out in the backyard, enjoying the killer humidity by means of Mustang's 'blue' lake. Sandwiches and drinks were served, and the disguise of the place being a beach party covered the fact that a very important person was spending his time at this estate. In fact, it was as if everyone had forgotten the order Mustang had given regarding their behavior has guards no less than two hours ago. And unfortunately, of the people who were outside, running, playing, and swimming, Roy Mustang was not among them.

In spite of his efforts to finish all his work before the leave, it was impossible. He played well in acting as if he did, but honestly, it was a no-go. He had several folders in his briefcase and went to work on them immediately, knowing he was who he was and he had to get things done- no matter what. A knock on the door startled Roy, as he was sure everyone was outside enjoying the leave as they should've been. Roy muttered a "come in" while twirling the pen in his hand.

Riza stepped in with Hayate in tow and Roy grinned and said, "Don't tell me- everyone drowned in the lake, so now it's just me and you right?" He removed his reading glasses and stood up to greet his dearly loved Riza with a kiss on the forehead.

She chuckled at that. "I don't know where you got that idea from- other than wishful thinking- but no, I was looking for you." Riza's eyes glanced at the work on his desk. "Roy… what's that?"

Roy tried his best to come up with decent answer. Great. "That's, uh, that's… that's a desk."

"I know," she said smiling in such as way, it terrified Roy. "What's on the desk?"

"Those… those are, uh, dead trees. They're... they're, uh, really amazing things. You could write on them with this thing called a pen and you could read what other people wrote on them… They're this totally amazing thing."

"Roy, that's work, isn't it?" Hayate stood between the couple and wagged his tail pleasantly. He enjoyed his master being happy.

Roy sighed. "Yes. You win. It's work. I know I shouldn't be working on it," he said grabbing Riza's hands, "but… I have to."

"I'm proud of you, Roy," Riza said, smiling.

"You… are?"

"Yes, the fact that you're working when everyone else is savoring the fun outside is something I'm very pleased to see you doing."

"Oh," Roy said, surprised. Riza smiled at him and Roy returned the gesture with a small gentle kiss, which gradually began to turn into a more zealous display of affection. His arms wrapped around her waist and hers around his neck as they deepened their kiss through the event known only as the 'unleashing of the tongues'. Completely losing his bearings, Roy unknowingly began pushing Riza toward the desk and having had Hayate watching and following the couple, Roy tripped on the dog, thus causing Riza to fall back onto Roy's chair… which then tipped over. The end result: the couple on the floor, a toppled-over chair, and a dog happily panting in the background. Out of nowhere, the pair began laughing. Just… laughing.

The phone started to ring as they laughed and Roy, still chuckling, got up to answer the phone. He helped Riza up from the floor and kissed her again. Oddly, at that time, Riza's walkie-talkie which clung to her belt went off.

"Channel's secure. Hawkeye, you there?" what sounded like Zunis voice said.

Riza picked it up, still smiling at Roy. "Yes, sir. I'm here."

"Is no one monitoring the phone and all that electricity junk? Where's Fuery at?"

"He's… busy," Riza said, remembering how the team had actually begun to unwind out in the backyard. "You know who the call's from?"

"Yeah, it's Falman. We can't record the call and we don't know if the line's secure, but it's from HQ. Did Mustang answer the phone yet?"

"No, he's waiting for the go ahead."

"Okay… well, 'go ahead', General, if you can hear me. But I'm warning you, we are unsure of the line being secured or not."

"I'll take the chances, Captain," Mustang replied from the other side of the study.

"I'm out," said the captain and the walkie-talkie went silent. Mustang sighed and picked up the phone.

"Constantine," he said and was quickly greeted by the latin call sign from Falman. "Okay," Mustang said. "Now we know who we are. What took so long? You said you'd call back in an hour?"

"Yeah… well," stammered Falman. "I found out some pretty disturbing stuff about this guy and I guess I lost track of time between his record and keeping up with the MPs. Do you know about the incident involving the lieutenant in ROTC?"

"Yes…" Roy said. "I am aware of that."

"That's good. Haha, sir, I didn't want to be the one to break the news to you."

"How's the search going?"

"The bloodhounds are going crazy according to Mr. Graham Kelly. The trail's still leading to Tahiti, sir. It might be a coincidence, but I wouldn't think so. Quite honestly, it's disturbing. The hounds have also picked up four more scents following Maven's, so we now are certain he's working with an organization. A cavalry has been sent heading straight to your location, just for safety cautions, sir. We sent them through backcountry territory to get to you faster."

"Alright. A bit on the OD'd side of things, but better safe than sorry."

"Sir, did you know that every time he committed a crime, he pled 'insanity' to the judge and won all but one case? And by the way, this guy's been arrested well over 12 times. I tried figuring out what hell was up with the 'insanity' thing, but for some reason, everything came out blank. He's been scheduled appointments with shrinks, doctors- the whole medicine cabinet, but he never really went to any of them.

"And another thing, this guy has two names. Two. Maven Ainsley and Sylvaughn Marcus Alucard. I kind of just figured stumbled upon that, so I sent a couple men to work on it, but he's never been convicted of identity theft or possession of false identity. There's a lot of info of him as Sylvaughn Marcus Alucard before he turned 19 and everything after that age pretty much went to the Maven Ainsley- the criminal file. So either this guy was thrown into the Witness Protection Program or he's a pretty clever villain who forgot to create his childhood. This guy's a fun character to play with."

"Have you found a motive, yet?"

"A motive?" Falman said, caught completely off guard. "Oh, sorry, sir. I have yet to discover his motive yet. But I think you're right. He's not really after you, but Lieutenant Hawkeye. I'll try to find some more info on how or why, so… I'll keep you posted, Chief."

"Thank you very much, Falman. I am grateful for all the effort you've put into this case."

"Yes, sir, no problem."

Roy hung up and slumped in his chair. "I really don't like this sonuvabitch." He took Riza, who was standing their leaning against the desk and placed her on his lap. He rested his head on her chest as she rubbed his back. "What is this guy's problem anyways?" he muttered calmly. Roy sighed as Riza relaxed her head atop his.

"I have no real idea, Roy."

1315; Maven's Hideout

"Really? Really?" Maven said, putting his binoculars down. "Please tell me they're really not having a party over there." He exhaled loudly to emphasize himself. "Wow Mustang's chaperones are pretty lax. I thought they'd be uptight muscle-heads but they're like… like children. Either they're luring me in as bait, or they really are that stupid."

One of Maven's goonies, a teenager, came up to him with Polaroids. "Hey, I figured out what those alchemist kids were up to earlier today." Maven stepped down from the ledge of the window and stared at the piece of paper. "Looks like they made themselves a little perimeter. Like a rectangle or something. But," he said and began pointing to a section on the paper. "Right here they did a pretty crappy job. A real blind spot right here. There are two houses blocking that road along with a bunch of trees. Not to mention there is a cellar door over there we could sneak through to get inside."

Maven smiled. "Interesting. And the fact that we're not in the perimeter makes it a whole lot easier. I caught two of Mustang's men going door-to-door to all the houses inside the perimeter. Probably looking for us or something." Maven smiled. "Hah. About time they figured out I escaped from that piss bucket they called a 'detention center'."

A/N: Yay, I've returned! Was that a good long hearty chapter for you guys? I hope so. So I typed this little thing up in like 3 days. Just for you guys and the New Year. Resolution for this year- finish this fanfic. Yup. XD

MADLY IMPORTANT NOTE: I will be rewriting this fic starting directly after I post this chapter. I'll do my best to keep the humor in, but I like my current style of writing, so I'm going to rewrite it… at least the first couple chapters that are pre-alchemy exam. So yah.

Also my New Years' Resolution is to finish this fic this year. It'll happen no prob.