#colonel Elric | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

schrijverr · 6 months

Text

The Strange Arrival of Colonel Curtis 3

Chapter 3 out of 5

Ed gets send to do an undercover mission where he is pretending to be Colonel Curtis to catch a terrorist ring. In doing so, he has to be suspicious and get involved with some shady people, which is noticed by his unit.

On AO3.

Ships: None

Warnings: None

~~~~

Chapter 3: The Mission

Mike doesn’t know what to do with himself when he leaves Colonel Curtis’s office. The others can clearly see something went down, but Mike can’t just tell them what happened just mere seconds ago. The Colonel said he could tell someone he trusted, but that likely didn’t mean the entire unit.

Besides, Mike feels vaguely disgusted with himself that he agreed to this in the first place. Spying on a Lieutenant General! It’s crazy, you can get court martial-ed for that.

He doesn’t know what to do.

But it’s kind of too late to back out, he guesses. He’s never been put in such a position before, never such a big rock and such a hard place at least. Colonel Curtis is his direct CO, but Lieutenant General Becker is the commander of West City.

“Hey,” Rachel whispers, getting his attention. “You okay?” Her brows are furrowed in concern and Mike is suddenly reminded of all the mean pranks she pulled on people that upset anyone in their unit. How protective she can be.

Mike really appreciates the sentiment and it actually gets him to smile, but he can’t say anything. Not yet. Not until he figures out what he’s going to do with the ‘orders’ from the Colonel. So, the smile he managed gets strained as he says: “I’m fine.”

Rachel obviously doesn’t believe him and by the looks of the others, neither do they. However, Jack, their First Lieutenant, looks back to the door to Colonel Curtis’s office, then shakes his head, which is enough to discourage anyone else from asking. Mike is very grateful to Jack in that moment.

For the rest of the day, Mike keeps his head down and keeps quiet. He isn’t thinking it all through yet, not getting beyond panicked what ifs without conclusions. Fortunately, the others take his subdued attitude as a sign to leave him alone and he slips out of the office before anyone can corner him at the end of the day. He isn’t telling anyone anything until he has ordered his own thoughts and comes up with a plan.

At home he locks the door behind him, relief washing over him at the click, before he sinks to the floor.

Okay, breathe Mike, he tells himself, not wanting despair to overtake him. Just breathe and think through it all rationally. You can do rationally. Just start with the facts.

1.) Colonel Curtis is aware of his gossiping habit, this in itself isn’t that weird, the whole office is aware of his gossiping habit. However, Colonel Curtis has also figured out that it doubles as an intelligence network.

2.) Not only is the Colonel aware of the network, but he has asked Mike to use it to gather intell for Colonel Curtis specifically.

3.) The intell Colonel Curtis wants him to gather is going to be off books, which also isn’t that weird, because there is little point in intelligence if everyone knows you have it. Then you loose it as leverage or as surprise advantage.

4.) Colonel Curtis plans to use the intell Mike has to gather to remove the Lieutenant General from his position so that he can climb the ranks himself.

At first, Mike tries to convince himself it isn’t all that bad. After all, Colonel Freedman sometimes asked him to find out things using his network, this isn’t so different, right? But, a voice that sounds like a conscience will say, Colonel Freedman never wanted to use the information to remove a higher up, but as intell for missions or to ensure people were okay.

However, his self preservation argues, if Colonel Curtis is willing to sell out a higher up with dirt, what other backstabbing is he willing to do? And what will that mean for Mike if he doesn’t follow orders, like he has agreed to?

Fuck, this is really bad. Mike should have run when he still could, should have denied the gossip more, should have done anything but salute and roll over. Alas, Mike is a soldier and that’s all he really knows how to do.

… Well, not entirely. It’s not like someone ever ordered him to stay up to date with everything that happens on base or with the brass, Mike just did that. He can act on his own. He doesn’t have to sit there and take it.

Colonel Curtis said that he can involve someone he trusts, so Mike can just tell someone and get back up. He’ll need it for the vague outline of a plan that is forming, though it’s not so much a plan as a very bad idea.

Because wiggling out from under the agreement with Colonel Curtis seems stupid, however, blindly doing his bidding also seems stupid. So, Mike will take the middle road; he is going to get the information Colonel Curtis wants, but he’s also going to dig up all he can find on Colonel Curtis, play the game right back at him if necessary.

Now he just needs to figure out who to trust with it.

Linda is the smartest person he knows. As a Second Lieutenant she’s higher up the chain than him, so he’ll be free to defer to her a bit, and as their tactician she knows how to make a plan that won’t fail.

But he doesn’t know Linda as well as some others. At least, not in a way that makes him trust her with this. She keeps to herself and seems to have a disdain for gossip. She wouldn’t want to get in on this and is more likely to run to Lieutenant General Becker.

No, not Linda. Rachel or Jack are better candidates.

Rachel loves gossip and speculation like he does and while she is a joker from time to time, he knows he can count on her to have his back when necessary.

Jack doesn’t like gossip. On the surface. And underneath. It’s complicated with the First Lieutenant. He has the sheen of professionalism that always puts the others at a distance, and it’s gotten worse with Colonel Freedman’s abrupt departure.

However, Mike knows Jack doesn’t underestimate the use of gossip, he often asks Mike what he’s heard, like when he asked him to report when their new Colonel would arrive. He likes being in the know. He likes being able to plan. He likes knowing how to hold himself towards others. Yeah, it has to be Jack.

Mike lives in the dormitories and he knows those lines are tapped. So, he goes to a phone booth to call Jack, looking suspiciously over his shoulder. He tries not to say anything incriminating during the call, managing to convince Jack to meet him at the park.

Half an hour later and Jack greets him, looking concerned as he asks Mike what’s up.

Again, Mike casts a suspicious look around, before he answers: “Colonel Curtis asked me to look into Lieutenant General Becker. Off the books. He wants to get him removed, be the one that does him in, so he can get promoted.”

“He’s not even been here for long and he’s already looking for a way up?” Jack asks, brow furrowed as concern creeps in.

Mike nods: “Yeah, seems so. He told me I could get someone I trust involved, so-”

“You’re going to do it?” Jack exclaims, though he is careful not to be too loud. He doesn’t want to be overheard. Smart.

“Of course not,” Mike snaps back, indignant that Jack would think that. Though… “Well, not entirely. I don’t know what he’ll do if I don’t, so I will. But I’m also going to be digging into him. I don’t want him to use my network for his politics, makes me feel vile.”

Jack looks relieved at the statement, but there is a tenseness that doesn’t leave him. Cautiously, he says: “You want to go digging into our commanding officer?”

“Well, he’s obviously up to something,” Mike argues.

“He’s ambitious and eager to prove himself and climb the ranks,” Jack counters. “Everyone knows that Lieutenant General Becker isn’t cut from the best cloth. It’s an easy target to go after when you want to make your mark.”

“Are you defending him?” Mike asks, unable to hide the disbelief.

“No, I’m just trying to find his motive,” Jack answers.

“He told me his motive,” Mike replies shrilly. “He wants to ‘apply’ the information I get him to get promoted. Either he thinks I’ll uncover something more serious than the prostitution speculation to get Lieutenant General Becker out, or he’ll use it to blackmail him into a promotion.”

“That does sound bad,” Jack agrees tentatively.

“It is bad, sir,” Mike says, adding the sir despite not being on the clock, hoping the bid to his position above Mike will make him more open to working with him.

“It is at the very least suspicious. Having intell never hurt. I’ll help you,” Jack decides.

“Thank you, sir,” Mike tells him, feeling for the first time since that morning that he can breathe properly again.

“No, thank you for coming to me with this,” Jack says. “I might not want to believe it, but our Colonel is suspicious, especially with how Colonel Freedman disappeared. I don’t want him to mess any more with my unit.”

Mike’s heart swells a little at the declaration. Colonel Freedman has always been their commanding officer and they followed his orders without question, but First Lieutenant Speltz has always been there for them. He is their leader and they are his unit. It nice to know the feeling is reciprocated.

“It’s good to have you as back up, sir,” Mike smiles, then the two quickly lay out the basis of a plan, before they bid each other goodnight. Tomorrow will be a weird day.

He has to hand it to Colonel Curtis, he’s a great actor, because when he arrives that morning with his coffee there is nothing out of the ordinary with him. He doesn’t send Mike a conspiratorial glance or acknowledges him more than usual. Just nothing.

It’s eerier than their whole interaction yesterday had been. The ability to carry on as normal, like what he has asked Mike to do is an ordinary thing.

However, Jack also doesn’t show any signs of knowing that today isn’t the same as yesterday, instead greeting the Colonel with respect, before carrying on with work in his usual professional manner. So Mike tries to follow their lead.

Over the course of the next three weeks, the two do their best to find out everything they can about Lieutenant General Becker and Colonel Curtis.

And the deeper they go, the stranger it gets.

Not about Lieutenant General Becker. He’s what it says on the tin. He is having affair after affair and is nasty to both his wife and the women he pays to help him cheat. His own subordinates are kind of scared of him, but there’s nothing that proves their fears as valid, except for rumor. He likes his position and he’s unafraid to flaunt it.

If it weren’t for the uncomfortable feeling Colonel Curtis gave him, Mike would be happy to dig until he found something on the guy.

Meanwhile, the true mystery he and Jack uncover is Colonel Curtis, who, for all intents and purposes, doesn’t seem to exist except for the paperwork.

None of his contacts can find people who have ever worked with Colonel Curtis and all rumors about him only come from the worse side of Amestris, the shady side. The only Curtis he finds that soldiers who served during the coup remember is a couple of butchers over in Dublith, who have no relation to any Edmund Curtis and the lady on the phone laughs for five minutes straight when he asks her about him.

It worries him and he knows it worries Jack. He suggests going to a higher up to say what’s happening, but Jack shuts it down. He has obviously given it more thought, because he says: “It is honestly not that weird. From what I hear, Central used to be one snake nest of backstabbing, likely still is. They won’t care and all we get is a pissed of CO. Better not risk it.”

“But we can’t give him this,” Mike protests. “He doesn’t even really exist that should be cause of concern.”

“He does exist on paper,” Jack corrects. “And that’s all they really care about, especially with how effective he has been.”

Mike scowls, but knows he’s right. So, he huffs: “Then what do we do?”

Jack smiles and for the first time Mike realizes why Jack might be their First Lieutenant instead of anyone else. “We’ll launch a sneaky counter attack.”

“How are we going to do that?” Mike asks, enthralled by the idea of sneaky warfare. He hasn’t been doing this for long yet, but he wants to get good at it. Information is a tool and a weapon is also a type of tool.

“We’re going to subtly spread Colonel Curtis’s motive,” Jack tells him. “Just inject it into your network. Not in as many words, we don’t want it to lead back to us, but make sure rumor of it reaches the right ears. I’m sure some of the higher ups would like to know what game the new guy is playing.”

“Oh, oh, you can be evil,” Mike says with delight, especially when Jack returns his smile. He really feels this experience has brought the two of them closer together, that he gets to see a little bit more behind the professional mask. Like he’s getting closer to what Rachel has with Jack.

“I have my moments,” Jack admits modestly, though pride shines through as well.

A/N:

For Mike I really tried to balance inexperience with potential, hopefully it came across right :D

#rr writing #edward elric #OCs #colonel curtis au #fmab #fma brotherhood #fma #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #fullmetal alchemist #fmab fanfic

3 notes · View notes