Digging Up Dirt On The Politician, Tannheuser goes political...sort of

[Styx]

Almost all of the clean-up for West City was complete. It'd taken several months, but the Brigadier General managed to do it with very little resistance. After she made sure the people in the harbor city knew she meant business regarding no amnesty for illegals (she shot a few second-time border-breakers point blank to prove her point), the mob activity came to a near-halt as well. Everything was going toward her clean-up job, and it seemed everything was going to be under control. From behind her cat-eye glasses, Brigadier General Tannheuser couldn't help but get the feeling her next maneuver would be riskier...

...since Fuhrer Bradley was dead, Amestris would need another leader. While she personally didn't want to do that, she did want to have her name on the ballot for the Supreme Court. With a position of power in the Judicial Branch, she'd have her hands on far more material than most. Sure, Congress would probably get more of a say-so in lawmaking with Bradley's death, but the courts were a whole different animal.

Young, female, homosexual, eccentric...whatever it was, Tannheuser wasn't what the mainstream wanted to see. However, she had a very intimidating record out here in the Gun Frontier and there were people ready to follow her command anywhere she wanted to take them. She'd show the world what the future looked like. The world might not like what it'd see through her crystal ball, but that was tough; it couldn't be avoided, denied, or hushed up.

[Cocytus]

How in the hell did he get himself out here, the Gun Frontier? He wasn't one to be sent out here. Just after getting off of the train, he had already decied that he preffered his nice and cushy job in Central to being out his in 'Riot Central', as he called it. Although he had heard that some Brigidier General had come here to take care of odds and ends and end the city's turmoil, he still didn't like it all too much.

First-Lieutenant Lio Tiro, one of the more decorated in his position because of his work in the past Ishabalan War and a little Ops in Drachma. After most of his glory days were done, he got stuck up in Central behind a nice, ornate oak desk signing papers for which ever Colonel he was under that day. He got moved around in command so much, he started to get Virtigo. But when they said he was to take up a position as a secretary for the Brig. General out here, he nearly shit up his back. He could feel his old pops rolling around in his grave.

By the time Lio had reached the administration building, in all of it's towering glory compared to some of the others around it, it was nearly noon. He decided to catch the early train so that he could get settled in at whatever run-down barracks he was stuck at before supper time. But before he settles into anything, he knew he had to meet his CO. He walked all the way up the flights of stairs to the floor that he was told that the General was in. His hand slowly went out, and a few rapps were played on the door.

[Styx]

Gazing out the window of her office to notice for once there were no floaters, the Brigadier General managed to release a very long and much-needed sigh of relief. "At last, things start to seem normal out here," she thought aloud as she took a sip from her coffee mug. Ironically enough, it wasn't holding coffee. When Skye Tannheuser did, God forbid, drink coffee, it was blacker than sin with nothing thrown in other than dry ice. However, the current concoction was nothing more than rum and diet cola.

While it was common knowledge Tannheuser drank, nobody ever dared to call her out on being underage. While her marksmanship was still rather poor, and even poorer without her glasses, people could only imagine the full extent of her authority in this particular quadrant of the country. With Bradley gone, she was the complete and infallible authority for West Amestris, despite her age and gender. Her notes had her listed as the top researcher in microscopic bio-Alchemy, but there was something literally below the surface...

...and that was the top-secret research her maternal grandfather started years earlier.

Whatever, the case, there was a rap-tap-tapping at her door. "Enter," her throaty voice called as she took another sip of the Bacardi. "The lock's busted, anyway."

[Cocytus]

Lio felt like calling out that it was still nice to knock, but decided against as to not ruin first impressions. As he turned the knob of the door, he felt something loose in the hinges, hinting at the lock's brokenness. When the brown-head walked into the room, his eyes were kind of caught off guard from the change of the darker hallway to the bright room of the Brigidier General due to the window being open and the sun being fully seen by now.

After allowing his eyes a half of a minute to ajust themselves, he went ahead and did his part of the introduction. He stood at attention, something that any of his friends down in Central would payt heir life savings to see, and gave his name and rank. "I'm First Lieutenant Lio Tiro. I was commisioned here by Central Command as your new Secretary, Ma'am." Damn, he even used Ma'am, if only the boys back home could have a video of this, or even his wife and son, who were still in Central fending for themselves against the Historical District's oldies and their 'entertaining' stories about the old days. Except, of course, for good old Darius, who usually was invited over regularly so that Lio's and his sons could get together.

[Styx]

"At ease, Lieutenant Tiro," Tannheuser replied, blinking her hazel eyes curiously to see what on earth was going on with this young man. She wasn't quite sure what to make of him, frankly."So, how about you tell me why Central saw fit to transfer you out here to the West? We're not the wild west anymore, you know; my soldiers and I have everything under control." Tannheuser had a young woman's charm to her, whatever that held up for others.

It wasn't a very busy time of the year, either. Summers were hot, muggy, and flat-out lazy times in the west, as Lio Tiro would soon discover. She couldn't help but wonder if Central did intend to control her out here by sending a rat. Internal Affairs was a nasty business, rightfully earning its title of Rat Squad. Whatever the case, Skye Tannheuser already went up against the military IA countless times. In the end, the charges never held much weight...thank God.

[Cocytus]

Immediatly, Lio dropped the whole 'Goody-Two-Shoes' Act, and went into his normal way of getting by in life, care-free. Pretty unfitting of his rank, but it's what always made him identifiable back in Central. "Well, to be honest with you, I don't know. Central Command, in all of their high intellect," He thought it appropriate to add in air quotations with his fingers at that point,"Decided that it was time for a little Central Blood in the West. What exactly they meant by that, I don't know, but if it was an insult, I owe them one. I was just told to report to you. No strings attached or deals made. At least, not in front of me."

Lio wasn't one to keep his eyes on his back unless he thought someone was back there, and dangerous enough. Be that as it may, Central was a pretty dangerous foe to have behind you with a knife, however, he didn't smell anything cooking, and that was also one of those things that marked him. He had that uncanny ability to pick up on things going on around him. Whether people wanted him to or not. He called it 'Paternal Instincts', much to make fun at the almighty and widely known 'Maternal Instict'.

[Styx]

Rolling back her shoulders until the left one made an unpleasant little pop, the Brigadier General continued to gaze quizzically at her fresh meat out here in the boondocks. West Amestris was a whole different animal from the eastern, northern, southern, and center portions; they were out here in the middle of nowhere, right next to the Creta border. This wasn't going to be easy. In fact, it would more than likely be dangerous, even in this current time of organized peace. "Let me get something across to you, Lieutenant," Tannheuser began.

Her right hand still held her coffee mug filled with rum-spiked cola, but her left hand could as well have been formed out of iron in its firmness. She wasn't a big and brawny fellow, like almost all Generals for Amestris were. If anything, she was a bony, wiry, and small young thing. "I'm a hard person to befriend, and even harder to fool. I'm not demanding everyone get along like a family out here in the middle of nowhere. My only request is that all my subordinates cater to the policy of honesty above all else."

It didn't matter much to her at all if some of these people had rotten records, but they had to fess up to it to get her respect. There wasn't much wrong with that, was there? "In other words, I'll need to find a series of ways to show you're on my side, now that you're here. If I can't find any, you'll be pleased to know I'll ship you right back to Central."

[Cocytus]

Lio seemed all non-chalant about the whole situation. He didn't much care, only that he was away from his family. That kind of bugged him, and he couldn't very well ask them to move out here for something that he could easily get sent back to Central from. However, he kew Darius would keep a good eye on the place, so he wasn;t all too worried about their safety. Just his home sickness.

First Luietenant Tiro looked around at the walls, and shrugged his shoulders. "That's fine with me. Look, if I can be honest wit ya' for a second. I don't much care what I have to do. I'm here to be your secretary. So, all I care about is doing whatever the hell you tell me to do so I can get my impatient, drunken ass back home before dinner gets cold. So, just tell me what to do, and everything will go smoothly. If I don't have anything to do, you can find me at the Bar & Grill down the street. If there is a problem with that, just tell me and I'll do somethin 'bout it, but there wasn't a prob with it before, so..." Lio looked the Brig. right in her eyes. "Just put a fire under my ass and give me a 'Honey-Do List'."

[Styx]

Tannheuser was still under every notion that she didn't need a secretary, since she could always ask one of the Privates to handle that for her. However, this wasn't working; someone in Central thought it fit to send Lio Tiro over to her domain out here in the boondocks, whether she liked it or not. Her arms folded, giving off the impression that she was mostly lean and firm, more like a human derivative of beef jerky than anything else; the young woman was mostly gristle, anyway. "Alright," she finally said, slurping down the last gulp of her drink, "this isn't a vacation, Lieutenant. You'll actually be working under me."

With that, she opened up a drawer from her large mahogany desk and fished out a large number of files. "These are classified documents regarding various former State Alchemists with terminated contracts. For every set that doesn't have a death certificate, I want you to stick a little yellow sticky note on the file so I can view it on my way home. The day's young; I think you can peruse at least twenty of these before sunset." If Central sent her a secretary, she'd be sure to put him to use as such, whether or not he liked it.

'You are what you are,' she thought, rubbing the handle on her empty mug, 'and I am what I am. It's as simple as that.' She had contemplated many things as of late, none of which she wanted Central to know. "Say...Lieutenant...I'd like to gather everyone at HQ together to discuss something. If you're my secretary, how about you manage that for me while I finish my monthly report?"

[Omega]

Well there was one person Tiro didn't have to grab. Another Central City native, Wes Johnson walked into the room, his silver pocket watch dangling from his pants. "Hey Brigader General." Wes said with a smile and a wave. The now newly enstated Omega Alchemist gave a smile to his commanding officer. "I got some new news about Central that you wanted." He spotted Tiro and smiled "Nice to meet you. I'm Wes Johnson, the Omega Alchemist."

[Styx]

Good; he managed to get his hands on some of the files. That was a bit less work on Tannheuser's part and a load off her mind, two things to put her further at ease alongside the alcohol. Central had quickly gone downhill since the Fuhrer's death, as the Biological Clock Alchemist could attest; she was quite unpopular in that portion of Amestris--in fact, the only place in Amestris that probably had anything close to respect for her as a high-ranking State Alchemist was out in the West--for some of the "unpleasant stunts" she pulled in the past. Bradley vouched for her, even making her promotion a historical note as the youngest Brigadier General (at the age of eighteen) in the country's history. Tannheuser herself didn't think she'd ever make anything beyond Lieutenant Colonel, and even that was nothing to sneeze at.

There'd been talk of promoting her yet again to Major General, but Bradley was assassinated, and that actually put Tannheuser into a small depressive fog for a few days, since he was her one and only real supporter out there other than Lieutenant General Guildenstern...whom she detested. Now, without the support of the Fuhrer behind her, for the Fuhrer was dead, Amestris didn't like what they saw from the nineteen-year-old petite. No offense, Brigadier General, Frank Archer (a Lieutenant Colonel at the time) had stated during a routine visit to West HQ, but I shudder to think what Amestris will be like in a few decades, having someone like you in the military.

It was ironic that Tannheuser was the person in command of Internal Affairs, considering how many things had to be hushed up on her own record. Naturally, this was something her opponents in Central loved to talk about, how she'd become a State Alchemist by default when the man who scored only a point higher than she did (and therefore originally would be initiated) died from an unidentifiable illness the next day. "Thanks, Johnson," she said to Wes, running her skinny fingers through the pages of the files. "Tringham called in late; can you man his station for an hour while I try to figure something out?"

[Omega]

"Oh...sure." Wes said. "I...I do have some news about Central and a few other things from an old contact of mine." This old contact was a half ishballan man in a 'questionable' line of work. At least, that was what Wes thought it was. Bryan was never one to actually tell anyone his line of work.

"Also...what does Trignhem do again? I'm a bit hazy about it in all honesty." he said with a small, innocent smile.

[Styx]

"Okay, I'm afraid I can't share his record with you, but he's the eldest son of Nash Tringham, conducting research on a temporary philosopher's stone. He hasn't passed the exam yet, but I gave him a job as one of my Regional Alchemists once I obtained a sample of the material," Tannheuser explained, holding up a stone the side of the palm of her hand...which really wasn't all that large. She had skinny hands and feet with very small, long, and spidery digits. In comparison to, say, the Iron Blood Alchemist, his hand would still be larger than both of Tannheuser's combined. There was a playfulness on her face, enough to potentially worry those in the room. Rarely did anything good ever come from that expression.

She showed Wes a photograph and smirked. "As far as the military is concerned, he's a Private working directly under me. The fact that he had the gall to call in sick...well, let's just hope he's really sick today. He should be thankful to even have a job, after all those times he attempted to impersonate Full Metal." If she were a smoker, that'd be the perfect time to light up. Unfortunately, the Biological Clock Alchemist's lungs were pink as a baby's. "He handles my monthly reports by day. I fund his research by night."

[Omega]

Wes sighed rubbing the back of his head. "I'll try and get on that soon. But first I should probably tell you what's going on in Central." He sat down and sighed. Central had been hit pretty hard for a number a things. Not only was learning that the fueher was a homunculous pretty big, but changing the style of goverment also pretty bad as well. There was a lot of uneasiness about the city. Wes didn't mind too much but he was getting nervous none the less about the safety of his loved ones.

"Well Central is starting to get a little uneasy what with everything." Wes said. "But also something else came about. What with the attack on Drachma a little while ago, a friend of mine found out Drachma had tried to make a few weapons in case Amestris ever did come around. One of those weapons concerned the creation of a perfect alchemist." Wes explained as he handed Skye a rather dusty looking file. It contained lists upon lists of information on the many forms of alchemy in nearly every country it was prominent in. "An alchemist that could use each form of alchmey as they pleased. Also my friend's said that this alchemist may be in Central right now. But for what reason...I have no idea."

[Styx]

"Sounds like a big bluff on Drachma's part, considering their feral nature," Skye retorted, not buying this for one minute. Central would let her know if something this big was up by means of someone of a higher rank than Wes. The fact he knew something when she didn't just didn't hold much weight for the territorial Biological Clock Alchemist. "Johnson, don't you think that sounds a little farfetched? I mean, really, a perfect Alchemist? Seriously...even Full Metal had a multitude of flaws. This guy would have to be beyond Elric ability to go that far, unless he's got the world's greatest tutors leaning in on him and--"

Shit; headaches came at the worst times. Reaching for the side of her head with a hand, Skye motioned Wes to grab one of the aspirin packets. "I've got my own issues to deal with here in West. If this guy's real, I want you to prove it by bringing him over here. I plan to steal away everything of value in Central, in retaliation for the--" Okay, she cut off again, pulling Wes closer to her. Finally she whispered in his ear the problem. "Johnson, they cut off our funding. We've been localized."