Soldier Keep On Marching On

No Rest For The Wicked

"Accept that your life will be painful, bite back your grief and find the power to stand again."

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As much as Aiden was connected to her feelings and acted in the best logical manner, the team thought she would take a few days to recuperate. Instead, she dove into her work with a ferocity that almost frightened them. When she wasn't in the office she was tracking down any leads to the whereabouts of the Elric brothers, more specifically Ed, as she knew Alphonse was in an Ishvalan refugee camp in the North and there were few to pick from that she knew about. Though, according to one of her men, there was a report of a suit of armor in the one closest to the Briggs mountains, Asbec was the name.

From his distanced place, Roy could only watch as she began to isolate herself from both her team and him. They were already under watch and getting close would put them under more scrutiny, endangering her more than she already was. So he kept to himself and watched her suffer as he slowly broke seeing her in such a state.

Other times she was getting reports from her informants keeping track of Roy's unit. Breda, who had been on the front lines against Creta in the West, had broken his arm from a stray piece of metal hitting him. He was on temporary leave to heal his injuries. Falman was doing just fine in the North, though he complained about the cold once a week. Kain was thankfully still alive in his fight against the soldiers of Aerugo. She knew the men to the South fought just as hard as the Ishvalan people when they heard the State Alchemists were coming in and he was too close to the front lines for her comfort. But she knew he was too stubborn to die, almost like her in that regard. From what she had been told Kain had kept to her empty threat.

Her current whereabouts were unknown to her subordinates, but that was only due to a request from an informant. She was to meet her at a bar in one of the less busy districts of Central. As usual, she pulled on a top and jeans that fitted her curves well followed by a pair of flats.

When she arrived she took up residence at the counter, shifting her gaze to the barmaid. The women around her served the men already there but she paid them little mind and they did the same. The room lighting was warm and the women were welcoming at the door, tables and booths were clean and relatively worn but not at all old or tattered and gross. The place was charming in its own right.

"What'll it be?" the woman asked gruffly.

Aiden smiled politely, "The usual." She slid a thick envelope across the counter.

The woman grunted and took the envelope, hiding it below where one couldn't see or reach. Then she grabbed a shot glass and filled it, leaning over the bar slightly. "The only thing I got for ya are whispers that the men in the bank had planned their attack."

Aiden tilted her head slightly and her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. That was a given. People don't rob a bank on a whim. She gestured for the woman to continue and downed the shot, the glass being refilled almost immediately.

"I heard that they were hired to do so."

"Someone hired them to rob a bank? Why? If they could hire them for such a job then they should have money aplenty." Unless they didn't have money. Whoever hired them could've promised a share of the money for their services.

"I know you don't want to hear this, but they're saying those men were hired to rob the bank and kill an officer." Aiden's heart stalled and her eyes snapped up to meet the woman's. "They weren't after anyone specific, but they were told not to shoot the woman. At the very least they weren't targeting you."

Aiden's mind left the earthly plane in an effort to piece together her thoughts. She wasn't the target, her men were. But who could've orchestrated such an event? MPs weren't normally called 'officer' unless they were being spoken to by a civilian. There were no civilians who had a vendetta against her, at least, none that she knew of.