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Eastern command had, of course, seen a cane-user before, but that didn’t stop every officer from sparing a glance at the 14-year-old boy walking through the halls.
Ed knew that it wasn’t just because of his cane, logically, it wasn’t like there were a lot of teenagers in the military. But it never stopped him from feeling like that was why they all looked at him. On a good day, he could convince himself that it was out of respect for his rank as a Major, the same reason people looked at the Colonel, or Armstrong. He knew it wasn’t true though, most officers didn’t even know he was part of the military, mistaking him for some brat belonging to one of the higher-ups.
This didn’t stop him from kicking down Mustang’s office door every time he came to report, much to his irritation at the permanent bootprint on the door.
“What’d the door ever do to you Chief?” Havoc asked, resituating himself at his desk after being scared shitless by the sudden bang of metal leg to door, “It’s just going to break entirely one of these days, I’m telling you.”
“What’d you care? It’s just a door, anyways, is Colonel Bastard in? I wanna give him my report and get the hell outta here.” He waved the papers around a bit to add to his point.
“Sorry Edward, Colonel Mustang is in a meeting right now. He’s expected back soon if you want to wait.” Ed nearly jumped out of his skin as Hawkeye appeared out of seemingly nowhere. Realistically, she’d probably stepped out from the giant stack of paperwork that Mustang hadn’t filled out yet.
“It’s alright Lieutenant, I’m just gonna borrow a chair then.” He dragged out Fury’s usual chair, he wasn’t in right now so Ed was sure he wouldn’t mind.
Ed didn’t have to wait long for Mustang, 15 minutes later a very tired-looking Colonel walked through the door, his expression only worsening when he laid his eyes on Ed. “Fullmetal what are you doing here? I’m a little busy for entertaining children.”
“Who are you calling a child, bastard?” Ed shot up from his chair, gaining a concerned look from Havoc like he was going to just fall over. “I’m here to give you the report you asked for. Y’know the one about the mission you sent me on.” Ed jabbed his cane at the man for emphasis.
Mustang dragged a hand down his face before collecting himself, “Right, sorry Fullmetal but I don’t have time for that right now. There’s a crime scene downtown that I’ve been asked to take a look at.” He nodded at Hawkeye and she started collecting a few things from around the office, readying to head out with him.
“Hang on! What about my report? I go to all this effort to get it ready on time AND actually come in and now you don’t want it?” Ed waved his hand around, trying to get the Colonel's attention again after he’d also begun getting ready to leave without actually answering his question.
Seconds passed and Ed went ignored, he was just about to reach a breaking point when Mustang and Hawkeye stopped at the office door and the Colonel turned to him, “You’re welcome to come with if you’re that upset Fullmetal, it might actually make this all go faster with 2 alchemists on it. We’ll talk reports afterwards, maybe I’ll even give you a day off for your troubles.”
He sat on the idea for a second, seething at the way he was being treated. He could practically hear Al’s voice in his head, Now now brother, the Colonel’s just trying to be nice. Don’t bite his head off over nothing.
Damn it. Mind Al was right.
“Fine. But make it 2 days off.” Ed strode forward, pushing past the Colonel on his way out the door, turning to flash a grin, “And you better have some real good leads for me after I solve this whole thing for you.”
The Colonel laughed, “Alright, brat.”
The ensuing argument echoed down the halls, though everyone was well used to it by now and most knew they never meant anything they said.
- - -
Sure Roy knew Fullmetal could fight. He didn’t doubt the kid’s abilities, he was a State Alchemist after all. They didn’t exactly go handing the title out to just any alchemist.
It was just - Roy had never actually seen him fight. In his mind, he’d imagined that Edward fought long-range with his alchemy, with Al stepping in to help out with close range and cover his brother’s blind spots. The Elrics were good at that. Formidable opponents alone but deadly when working in tandem with each other.
This didn’t stop Roy from feeling cold dread as he looked at the criminal now holding a gun to the kid’s temple. “Don’t move Flame Colonel,” the man looked Roy dead in the eyes as he spoke. “Weapons on the ground, hand above your head and no one has to get hurt. Not that I wouldn’t mind blowing this poor brat’s brains out right here, but this coat is new so I’d rather keep it pristine.”
Roy really had no choice but to obey, placing his pistol on the cobbled ground of the alleyway and raising his hands. He kept his gloves on and the man didn’t seem to mind. It seemed he didn’t know about them, that was something at least. Not that he could use his flame alchemy in this situation without torching Fullmetal along with him. His only hope was to stall long enough for Hawkeye to come back from talking with the MPs back on the street, she would be able to catch him off guard long enough to make an opening.
That being said, he hadn’t factored in that Fullmetal really doesn’t know how to act when being threatened with a gun to the head. He hoped that he’d at least be smart enough to just stay still and not provoke him in any way.
Edward was not smart. Instead of having any kind of self-preservation, he twisted his body to the hand on his shoulder and bit down hard. Roy could have sworn he heard bones crack. The man yelled and the gun fired with a loud BANG , luckily Fullmetal had moved and the bullet glanced off his metal shoulder.
Roy was about to take advantage of the opening Edward had given him to activate his Flame Alchemy, when instead he was left dumbstruck as he witnessed Ed throw his cane in the air, catch it and swing it like a goddamn baseball bat, hitting a homerun and knocking the man out cold.
The kid nonchalantly kicked the gun far from the unconscious man before turning to Roy with a confused expression. “Hey bastard? What’s with that look on your face? You look stupid, gaping like a damn fish.”
This snapped him out of his own thoughts, “What the hell was that?”
“Uh- I knocked him out? You’re welcome, I did your job for you, bastard.”
“No I mean- With your cane you- Since when could you do that?”
Edward fixed him with a bored expression and rolled his eyes, “I’m disabled, not useless Mustang. If your nosy ass must know, I can walk relatively fine without a cane, I use it mostly for the pain.”
“Wait- hold on. You’re in pain? Fullmetal, why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because, bastard, it’s really none of your business. Plus there’s not much point, you couldn’t do anything about it. I’ve got 50 pounds of steel hanging off my leg, of course, it fucking hurts.”
He opened his mouth to reply when he was stopped by papers being shoved into his hands, “Read it on your own time, I’ve done enough work for today. See ya around Mustang.”
Before Roy could get another word out, Edward turned and walked off. He tried to follow, getting caught by Hawkeye and several MPs demanding to know what happened. Evidently, they’d heard the gunshot.
His brain flipped back into business mode, going through the motions of delegating tasks to clean up the scene, making a mental note to read up on automail on his next day off.