#solow building

[fixfoto]

Luxury hotel and condominium apartment building, Midtown Manhattan, New York. located on the western side of Grand Army Plaza, after which it is named, just west of Fifth Avenue, and between 58th Street and Central Park South (a.k.a. 59th Street), at the southeastern corner of Central Park. Its primary address is 768 Fifth Avenue, though the residential entrance is One Central Park South.

Opened October 1, 1907.

Archetictural type : French Renaissance.

[argumate]

China dedicated everything it had to building massive amounts of physical capital, leaving relatively little of its economic output left over for its people’s consumption. As a result, it grew very very quickly.

But the Solow model says that this type of growth has a limit. Just as the model would predict, China started hitting diminishing returns. We started seeing “ghost cities” and massive overcapacity in all sorts of industrial sectors. China’s incremental capital-output ratio — the dollars of capital needed in order to generate an additional dollar of GDP — rose relentlessly from around 2007.

This is exactly the kind of diminishing returns the Solow model talks about.

[schraubd]

Passing Solidarity's Acid Test

I am honored to have co-authored a piece in the Forward with Alan Solow, former chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, on how the Biden administration's national strategy for combatting antisemitism -- in particular, its focus on building solidarity among diverse groups in the fight against antisemitism -- is facing an early acid test in the aftermath of Hamas' horrific terrorist attack on southern Israel. And my honest assessment is that the focus on solidarity is bearing fruit. Yes, there have been some high-profile incidents from certain segments of the left that have excused or even valorized antisemitism. We've all seen them, and I (along with many others) haven't hesitated to call them out. But these cases -- as large as they loom -- have objectively been drowned out by a much larger and unified chorus of condemnation. The grotesque behavior of a few is important to identify, but it should not obscure the larger pattern:  Though vocal, the cadre of extremists who publicly cheer antisemitic terror finds itself increasingly isolated. Though shaken, the community of Jews and non-Jews who have committed to standing together in solidarity against terror have risen to the moment, forging a stronger and more vibrant bond with each passing day. This doesn't mean that maintaining these bonds will be easy or can be left to autopilot. The events of the last week tested us in terrible ways, and the events of the coming weeks will no doubt continue to do so. But that is exactly why plans must be put in place before the moment of reckoning, and why a politics of isolation, ostracism, exclusion, and division constitutes a luxury we cannot afford.  We're facing an acid test for solidarity, in circumstances more horrible than almost anyone could imagine. But we can, and we will, pass it. via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/1tcsRZN

[truthblockchain]

A Blockchain Valley In Buenos Aires

Argentina’s grassroots crypto community is working to establish a “Blockchain Valley” in the nation’s capital.

The movement, called “Crecimiento,” which means growth in Spanish, has amassed a so far small following of 500, but the group includes the most prominent names in Argentina’s crypto ecosystem: Diego Guitérrez, Co-founder of Bitcoin Layer 2 Rootstock, Elian Alvarez, General Partner of Ripio Ventures, and Marcelo Cavazzoli, CEO and Co-founder of one of Latin America’s top crypto buying apps, Lemon Cash, among many others.

Most importantly, they have backing from advisors to the nation’s new libertarian president, Javier Milei, according to Crecimiento’s core team.

“What’s happening in Argentina is a unique opportunity,” says Santi Cristóbal, Co-founder of Solow, an Argentinean crypto education platform and Crecimiento member.

https://thedefiant.io/news/people/argentina-s-crypto-founders-are-banding-together-to-build-a-blockchain-valley-in-buenos-aires

[midtownbaby]

Among this announcement of a fiberoptic light art installation in the giant pit on 1st avenue south of the UN is an interesting new brand identity:

Scheduled to open this winter for a yearlong residence, English-Australian artist Bruce Munro is bringing his “Field of Light” public art installation to Manhattan’s East Side. The immersive piece will transform more than 6 acres, from 38th Street to 41st Street on First Avenue, at the mixed-use Freedom Plaza space near the United Nations Headquarters.

What is the mixed-use Freedom Plaza space? It is of course the giant pit where a Con Edison plant once stood, which Con Ed sold to Sheldon Solow in 2000. The plant was demolished in 2008 and the rezoned six-acre site has sat vacant ever since. This light installation is part of the Soloviev Group’s (now run by Solow’s son Stefan Soloviev among other duties parenting his 20+ children and being the 26th largest landowner in the US) bid to site a casino and a lot of other buildings there.

Sheldon Solow stands atop his empty pit, 2007

[xtruss]

‘Bastion Of The Super-Rich’: Inside A New York Billionaire’s Private Museum

A collection of art, featuring pieces by Picasso, Lichtenstein and Cézanne, has been kept secret for years but for select members of the public, the door is slowly being opened

— Francesca Carington in New York | Tuesday 11 July 2023

Paul Cézanne: L’Oncle Dominique coiffé d’un turban (ca 1866); Still Life: Lilacs (ca 1886); Vue prise de l’atelier des Lauves (1902-1906); Route tournante (1890-95); Route en sous-bois (1890). Jean Dubuffet: Les Deux Brigands (1944) © 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris. Wang Ziwei: Hopeless Miss Revolution (2003) © Wang Ziwei. Roy Lichtenstein: Girl in a Mirror (1964) © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein. Henri Matisse: Le Jeune Marin I (1906) © 2023 Succession H Matisse / ARS, New York. Photograph: Bonnie H Morrison

It was Fleet Week in New York City, and something unusual was taking place on Billionaires’ Row. At 9 West 57th Street, an elegant black sloping skyscraper towering over the Plaza hotel and the half-dozen sailors congregated outside, 20 people were ushered into a small, glass-fronted gallery on the ground floor. A ferocious crimson Basquiat greeted them, along with a monochrome Kline and a serene Henry Moore – works collected by the building’s late owner, the real estate mogul Sheldon Solow.

The exhibition’s curator, Joseph Henry, silenced the excitable group. “You are the absolute first members of the public to come on a public tour,” he said, standing beneath an Alexander Calder mobile.

Under the watchful gaze of three sentinel security guards, Henry led the group on a swift, authoritative tour of the works he had brought together: a quartet of Cézannes, smudged in delicate blue and green; an angular mask carved by the Dan people of Ivory Coast, hanging next to a complementarily geometric Picasso; two Giacometti portraits with cockroach-coloured faces; three Miró dream paintings; a somewhat dingy Van Gogh. The tour ended after 35 minutes precisely, and a distinguished-looking gentleman with a Strand Bookstore bag asked: “So why were you closed for so long?”

“Closed for so long” implies the gallery was once open. It wasn’t. For years, the art could be glimpsed only from outside, beyond the glare of the windows. The collection, amassed by Solow, who died in 2020 aged 92 and worth $4.4bn, is conservatively valued at $500m. And while the majority of works were privately owned by Solow – and now by his son, Stefan Soloviev (who uses the pre-Ellis Island version of the family name) – a dozen or so of them are held by a tax-exempt non-profit called the Soloviev Foundation.

Set up by Solow in 1991 as the Solow Art and Architecture Foundation (and since renamed by his son), the non-profit describes its charitable activities in its tax filings: “The foundation maintains and displays artwork for exhibition to the public at the 9 West 57th Street, New York building.” While the gift of artworks like Matisse’s Acrobats (which is worth $30m) and Van Gogh’s Coal Barges ($50m) to the foundation entitled Solow to certain tax write-offs, they were not readily accessible to the public.

The Solow building in Manhattan. Photograph: lm_photography/Alamo

This completely legal set-up caught the eye of Ethan Arnheim, a Washington-based international development consultant, who created a parody website drawing attention to the foundation’s tax status and inaccessibility in 2017. He was outraged, but also, he said, hoped to “alert people to the fact that … you can do this questionable practice under current code”. A few of the artworks were technically on “public” display in the office building’s lobby (hardly an art-world destination) and some were lent to museums, such as the Botticelli sold in 2021 for $92m (which spent many years at the Met) or a Miró triptych, which went to the Tate Modern in 2011. Although, as Arnheim pointed out, lending to museums is a common practice among collectors, since it increases the value of the works.

There are plenty of examples of art foundations that work well as private museums, such as Glenstone in Washington DC, the Broad in LA and the Rubell museums in Miami and DC. And there are plenty of generous patrons of the arts, like the Lauders or the Rockefellers, in New York City, said Robert Storr, former senior curator of painting and sculpture at MoMA and one-time holder of a professorship at NYU endowed by Sheldon Solow. (The foundation has made a number of large donations over the years, including gifts to NYU, $3m to the University of Rhode Island and, recently, $400,000 to another family-run non-profit, the Soloviev American Russian Cultural Foundation.)

But according to Storr, “the idea of a private museum is kind of an oxymoron, because a museum is a public space.” A museum does not exist in isolation, but rather in dialogue with its visitors, with its own collection and with the society it serves. Most of all, Storr emphasised, a museum is accessible: “A museum is its collection. If you can’t get to that collection, there is no museum.”

Private museums have come under scrutiny in the past, most notably in 2015, when the Republican senator Orrin Hatch led an inquiry into 11 tax-exempt private museums (the Solow Foundation was not one of them). Hatch concluded in a letter to the IRS: “Despite the good work that is being done by many private museums, I remain concerned that this area of our tax code is ripe for exploitation.” A Republican tax bill proposed a rule compelling private museums to be open a minimum of 1,000 hours a year, but it was not enacted.

The curdling of art into an asset class began some time ago, but such behaviour by the wealthy only crystallises the social stratification of the art world: “A lot of art is seen as esoteric and highbrow and inaccessible, and this behaviour only serves to reinforce that view,” said Arnheim. “Less people are going to want to go to museums when they can’t even get into museums and it’s perceived as just the bastion of the super-rich.”

Could some kind of democratisation be under way at 9 West 57th Street with the changing of the guard? Michael Hershman, CEO of the Soloviev Group, wrote in an email: “The reason for opening the collection to the public is social responsibility. It is a wonderful collection, and we want to share it with the public.” The opening was not, he added, “in any way driven by past criticism”, and the decision was taken by Stefan Soloviev.

Soloviev is no typical billionaire. The tattooed 47-year-old with a boyish undercut has 22 children. His fractious relationship with his father led him to move out west, where he built an agricultural empire that now places him among the top 30 largest landowners in the US.

Soloviev was not present at the opening, though Hershman was, smiling beatifically as he spoke to curious visitors. He was animated, but vague, as he spoke of the gallery’s future. “We’re in the process of sticking our toe in the water, if you like. Before we decide what to do next.” The gallery is undertaking something of a soft opening to the public, beginning with four tours a month, and the website gestures towards nebulous plans for an “expansion” in due course. (The Soloviev Group is one of several developers bidding for one of New York City’s three soon-to-be-granted casino licences. Its proposal, called “Freedom Plaza”, would develop a 6.7-acre plot of land by the United Nations, and includes a hotel, four acres of green space and a museum.)

Alexej von Jawlensky: Still-Life with Flowers and Oranges (c 1909) © 2023 ARS, New York. Cy Twombly: Untitled (1961) © Cy Twombly Foundation. Joan Miró: Composition (1926) © Successió Miró / ARS, New York / ADAGP, Paris 2023; Peinture (1927) © Successió Miró / ARS, New York / ADAGP, Paris 2023; Paysage animé (1935) © Successió Miró / ARS, New York / ADAGP, Paris 2023. Jean Dubuffet: Henri Calet Costume Rouge 1947 © 2023 ARS, New York / ADAGP, Paris; Le Jongleur 1944 © 2023 ARS, New York / ADAGP, Paris. Alberto Giacometti: Caroline in a Red Dress (1965) © Succession Alberto Giacometti / ARS, NY 2023; Portrait of Yanaihara (1960-62), © Succession Alberto Giacometti / ARS, NY 2023. Photograph: Bonnie H Morrison

For now, however, the gallery is open to whichever 20 lucky punters manage to score a spot on a tour. Vagueness aside, Arnheim is optimistic about the opening. “I don’t understand what their strategy is. But in the end, they’re doing the right thing, and that’s what’s important.”

For Storr, however, a few days a month is not good enough. “It’s grudging – you need to make a place where people feel comfortable coming in, and I know that many people feel uncomfortable even going to the galleries, which are free.” Indeed, the intrigue surrounding the collection as the result of its previous exclusivity may serve to further entrench a perception of art by well-loved artists as trophy collectibles for tycoons, rather than magnificent works for the city to revel in. Or, as Storr puts it, “just expensive things that somebody else owns and you get a chance to see”.

The reaction to the gallery’s opening on New York’s gallery circuit has been more ambivalent. Some stuck up their noses at its office-building location; some hadn’t even heard about it. For others, a lack of enthusiasm had more to do with the competition than the quality of the collection itself. As Ray Waterhouse, co-owner of the Upper East Side gallery Waterhouse & Dodd, pointed out, the city’s museums are stuffed with fabulous paintings. “So it’s somewhat irrelevant to the New York art landscape,” he said. “I’m not saying it’s not worthy.”

The art world has moved on from Solow’s mid-century taste. But there’s a value to the (intermittent) opening of a small, manageable collection of crowd-pleasers around the corner from MoMA and its long queues. With dynamic curation and a dramatic increase in the number of hours it’s open, the Soloviev gallery could come to be known for the quality of the art it houses rather than for its inaccessibility. As for the social barriers carefully built up by the collection habits of the international super-rich – that damage might take longer to unpick.

Not least in New York City, the art world’s financial capital. The tour ended with a glass of champagne in the building’s swanky subterranean restaurant, Cucina 8½. Afterward, I made my way past Bergdorf Goodman to the 59th Street subway station, where a man sat on the steps with a box of pastels and a cardboard sign which read: “Artist in need.”

[mitchbeck]

HARTFORD WOLF PACK CHALLENGE TORONTO MARLIES

By: Alex Thomas, Hartford Wolf Pack HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack return home to kickstart another brief two-game homestand tonight as they welcome the Toronto Marlies to town for their only season visit. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m., and coverage is available on both AHLTV and Mixlr. Tale of The Tape: This is the second and final meeting of the season between the Wolf Pack and the Marlies. The sides met on March 11th in Toronto, a game the Marlies won 3-2 in overtime. Will Lockwood opened the scoring 15:04 into the second period, firing a shot from the right-wing wall that clipped Joseph Woll and trickled into the net. Radim Zohorna tied the game at 18:46, batting a rebound out of midair for his eleventh goal of the season. The Marlies took their first lead of the night at 11:11 of the third period, as Kyle Clifford scored his sixth goal of the season. However, Hartford responded in the final minute after the Marlies missed two chances at the empty net. Adam Clendening rushed down the ice and sent a backhand pass toward the front of the goal. The puck clipped Jake Leschyshyn and found the back of the net at 19:23 to secure a point for the Wolf Pack. In overtime, however, Logan Shaw would snap home his 18th goal of the season at 2:39 to give the Marlies the extra point. The Marlies have now won two in a row in the head-to-head series. They won 4-1 at home on April 15th, 2022. Hartford’s last win head-to-head came on January 19th, 2022, by a final score of 5-2. That was also Toronto’s previous visit to Hartford. Wolf Pack Outlook: The Wolf Pack won their fourth straight game on Saturday night, defeating the Lehigh Valley Phantoms by a final score of 5-1 at the PPL Center. Lauri Pajuniemi opened the scoring with a breakaway goal at 2:18, giving Hartford a lead they never lost. Lockwood deflected home the eventual game-winner at 5:38, giving the Pack a 2-0 lead after one. Emil Andrae got the Phantoms within a goal at 7:33 of the second, but that’s as close as they would get in this contest. Then, in the third period, Tanner Fritz, Jonny Brodzinski, and Ryan Carpenter lit the lamp to allow Hartford to pull away for two key points. Dylan Garand made 34 saves for the victory. Brodzinski leads the Wolf Pack in points with 46 (21 g, 25 a) in 43 games. He was named the AHL’s ‘Player of the Month for March after scoring 20 points (11 g, 9 a) in eleven games. Will Cuylle, meanwhile, leads the team in goals with 24. Marlies Outlook: The Marlies snapped a seven-game losing streak on Sunday with a 6-2 triumph on home ice against the Belleville Senators. Trailing 2-1 late in the second period, Zach O’Brien scored his second goal of the season at 19:48 to tie the game and send it to the final stanza with a score of 2-2. In the third period, the Marlies struck four times to pull away for a victory that clinched them the North Division crown. First, Semyon Der-Arguchintsev gave the Marlies the lead for good at 3:17, then Shaw, Zach Solow, and Pontus Holmberg tacked on the insurance markers at 8:53, 13:51 and 17:33, respectively. Shaw leads the Marlies in scoring with 65 points (20 g, 45 a) in 64 games. Bobby McMann, currently with the parent Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL), leads the club in goals with 21. Shaw is tops among active skaters in goals with 20. Game Information: WATCH: AHLTV LISTEN: Mixlr Play-by-play voice of the Wolf Pack, Alex Thomas, will have ‘Wolf Pack Pregame’ starting live at 6:45 p.m. on both AHLTV and Mixlr. The Pack is back at the XL Center on Friday night when the Wolf Pack host the Bridgeport Islanders in a crucial Atlantic Division battle. Join us for $2 beers and $1 hot dogs until the end of the first intermission! Also, the first 1,500 fans into the building on ‘Wolf Pack Alumni Night’ will receive an Igor Shesterkin bobblehead via Xfinity! The puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m.; tickets are available - at hartfordwolfpack.com. HARTFORD WOLF PACK HOME Read the full article

[victorkjung]

Soloviev selling Solow Building in what could be record NYC office deal: sources

Soloviev prefers New Mexico cattle over New York City pigeons

#building #newyorkrealestate #newyorkcity

[vintagemanhattanskyline]

Night view of Midtown Manhattan skyline. View looking southeast from Fort Lee, New Jersey, Autumn, 1973. 

The new Solow Buidling (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 1974) and Pan Am building (Walter Gropius-Emery Roth & Sons-Pietro Belluschi, 1963) are at left. Rockefeller Center’s R.C.A. Building (Associated Architects, 1933) and skyscrapers surrounding it are at center. At right can be seen the Uris Plaza (Emery Roth & Sons, 1972) and One Astor Plaza (Kahn & Jacobs, 1972), and above them, the top of the Empire State Building (Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, 1931) fully illuminated, dominates the skyline.

Photo: Unknown.

[jm-photos]

Smooth.

09.01.2017

Central Park

New York, NY

[andreagew]

Abandoned Classroom (Drawing from Dream), Illustration, Pen drawing, 2019

[fixfoto]

Left : Solow Building: West 58th Street / Midle: Steinway Tower: 11 West 57th Street - One 57: 157 West 57th - Central Park Tower: 217 West 57th (Shot 2019)

[skyline-porn]

Solow

[elvis1970s]

The musical documentary, Elvis That's The Way It Is, was shot and released within a few short months from the summer of 1970. Produced at MGM, which was in the process of being dismantled under the harsh regime of James T Aubrey, aka the Smiling Cobra, it had some interesting and highly accomplished people behind it.

It was directed by two-time Academy Award Winner (short subject and documentary), Denis Sanders. The Director of Photography was legendary cinematographer Lucien Ballard who had credits dating back to the 1930s. It was edited by Henry Berman, who also had been working in Hollywood since the '30s and was the brother of producer Pandro S Berman.

The (uncredited) producer was Herbert F Solow, an MGM vice-president in charge of the studio’s US and UK motion picture and television production. Prior to his tenure at MGM, he had worked for Lucille Ball at Desilu and had successfully pitched Star Trek to NBC, along with launching other iconic television franchises.

The movie documented Elvis' summer engagement at the International Hotel, Las Vegas, which was owned by Kirk Kerkorian, who also owned MGM. At that time he was building up his hotel and leisure investments and winding down MGM's film production schedule. In his 2015 obituary, the BBC said that he was well known for buying and selling MGM three times and making a profit each time.

[thisharmingman]

@buckitup @dontbuckwithme @meancleanboutmachine @uncledonsinvisiblehand : Also. We’d like AEW figures with multiple points of articulation for Dr Britt Baker DMD (👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻) , Kip Sabin, Penelope Ford, Ricky Starks, the Acclaimed, QT Marshall, a talking Aaron Solow that recites awful poetry, and Cap’n Shawn Dean as the series build a figure.

I’d also like a higher percentage on media due to English distribution on ITV4 since I know you’re featuring me more there. I’ll await your direct deposit.

[aquietwritingcorner]

Moms Made Fullmetal 2020 Day 3

Word Count: 3928 Author: Katie/Ally; RealityBreakGirl Rating: T Characters: Riza Hawkeye, Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric, Roy Mustang Prompt:  Disappointment or Apologies or Grounded Summary: The boys are grounded. A mission is underway. The boys un-ground themselves. And Riza will do whatever it takes to protect her two boys.

Disappointment/Apologies/Grounded

“I can’t believe he-he—He grounded us!”

Edward’s complaint sounded loudly in the car, and if Riza Hawkeye was a more expressive woman, she would have sighed at it.

“He grounded us! Like we were—Like we were kids or something!”

“Um, but you know, we are kids, Brother.”

“Th—That’s not the point! He shouldn’t be able to ground us!”

This was shaping up to an epic rant, and it honestly wasn’t one that Riza was in the mood for. “The Colonel has his reasons,” she said, hoping to cut off the rant. “Please accept that, Edward.”

“Reasons to treat us like kids?!” Edward shot back.

“Um, it does seem a bit of an overreaction, to be truthful, Lieutenant,” Alphonse said. “We fixed all the damage we caused.”

“I understand that,” she replied evenly, “but remember that the Colonel has more information then you do, and a better read on the situation beyond you two and your mission. You need to trust him sometimes.”

“But pulling our traveling privileges!” Edward clearly wasn’t finished protesting. “He just wants to keep me around here to show off when the generals come through.”

Riza huffed, a little bit exasperated. “Edward, would you please just accept that he’s trying to help you? Your last mission caused far too much property damage. Eyes are on you. You have enemies. It’s not a bad thing to lay low for a bit.”

“Tch. Whatever.” Edward was clearly not having any of this, too angry at the colonel to want to consider any other perspective.

“It’s just hard, ma’am,” Alphonse tried to take up for his brother. “We’re not used to staying in one place for long, especially when its our research on the line. And it does seem like the Colonel’s decision was a bit of an overreaction.”

She pulled the car to a stop in front of the hotel the boys were staying at, and put it in park, turning to where she could look at both of them easier. “Boys, listen. I understand your frustration. I really do. But please believe me when I say it’s for the best. Go inside, go to your room, and relax a little. And please trust us.”

“Its not you I’ve got a problem with,” Edward said, but he got of the car anyway, Alphonse not far behind him. “Fine. We’ll go to our room tonight. We’ll do some research tomorrow. Happy?”

“I’m satisfied for now,” Riza replied. “As long as you keep to that.”

There was a little something that went through Edward’s eyes then, something that, she could tell, he was fighting in himself with. She didn’t let her gaze waver from him. Finally, he looked away.

“Yeah. See you in the morning, I guess.” He was still not happy, but Riza would take it.

“Yeah, bye Lieutenant Hawkeye,” Alphonse said, a bit more at ease then his brother. “Have a good evening.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, boys,” She replied. “Have a good evening yourselves.”

For a moment they stood there, as if expecting her to drive off. When they realized that she wasn’t, they turned, making their way inside the hotel. Riza waited for a few moments, just to make sure that they stayed inside, and then put the car in drive and left. Now that the Elrics were safe, she needed to focus on the mission at hand.

The brothers had come back at possibly the worst time ever, and with far too much attention on them. The brothers had inadvertently and unknowingly disrupted the supply chain for the black-market suppliers three times in the past two months. This last debacle had taken down one of the major underground warehouses for goods and had gained the brothers some powerful enemies. On top of that, the boys had returned to Central, where many of the main players in the black market had come together to meet. The team had been on this for months and was looking to make a big move to capture these leaders. But with the Elrics back in town and they having unwittingly made enemies of these powerful men, the attention was starting to shift to them. Normally getting them out of town would be a viable option, but with the current influx, Mustang had been worried that it would bring more attention to Ed and Al and make them more of a target.

No, the best thing to do was for them to lay low, and the best way to make that happen was to restrict their privileges. The option of telling them had come up, but the whole team agreed that it wouldn’t keep them out of trouble, it would just involve them more and that the opposite of what they wanted. This was a very precise operation, and they boys weren’t know for being very precise in their dealings with people.

Riza parked the car a few blocks away from the rendezvous point, quickly removing her uniform jacket, and bottoms, and slipping a skirt on instead, and taking her hair down, and put them and her service holsters and weapons the bag she had brought with her. In the dark her boots would do as far as footwear went, and she tucked some food on top of the clothing and weapons in her bag, making it look a little less suspicious. She headed out then, making her way towards the apartment they had all agreed to meet at.

Everyone else was already there, and the plan, which had been weeks in the making, was gone over while they all ate. Riza was, as expected, stationed in a nearby tower where she could see the whole area. She would be their eyes and ears, as well as their protection. The minute people started to leave the building, her job was to find their main targets and take them down—preferably without killing them, of course, but if it was necessary, she had been given the clearance to do so. It was all set up, it was all ready, and all they had to do was get in position.

A few more details, the suiting up and gathering of items, and the team was leaving in staggered exits. There were others on standby, of course, as this was far too large of a group and too big of a job for their six members to handle alone. But of course, they weren’t all of the men under Mustang’s command, just his most trusted ones, and more stood ready to move on command. There were lots of moving parts to this plan, and they needed to be able to stay within a certain margin of error.

It didn’t take Riza long to get to her sniper’s nest once she left, and she settled in quickly and nicely, able to see most of the building. She watched the patterns of the guards, saw people arriving, and, along with the other spotters, called in what they saw. Quietly, the teams moved in, ready to make the bust. It was almost time. There was no turning back now, no matter what happened.

Riza waited, quiet and still in the silence, only turning to look at movement here and there through her scope. Mostly it was guards, the occasional dog, or one of their own men. But her heart dropped to her stomach when she caught sight of something completely different.

Edward and Alphonse.

Mentally she cursed. What were they doing here? Clearly, they were sneaking around, but she doubted they had any idea of what they were about to stumble into. Not good, not good at all. Both boys had a large target on their backs, and they way that Edward tended to react to situation, while often useful, would also upset the entire operation. There was no way to warn the colonel. He didn’t have a radio with him, nor did most of the teams going in. She would have to take care of this herself. She didn’t see another choice.

“Ed and Al are here. Solow, Neason, come take over my position. I’m going after them.”

She heard the surprise and the responses from the other end, and then she slipped off her headset, only taking the time to make sure she was as armed as possible before she slipped down the stairs.

Although it wouldn’t have surprised many people, most didn’t realize just how good at being stealthy Riza was. Borne from years of sneaking around her own home to avoid her father, as well as years of hunting, stealth had come easily to her in her military training. It wasn’t a skill she always utilized, but she had it, nonetheless. Now it was put into use as she slipped down and away, going towards the building and her last sighting of the Elric brothers. Maybe she could catch them before everything went sideways—because she was convinced that it would go sideways now.

And it did.

She heard the shouts of surprise first, and then of civilians giving orders. She heard the telltale clap and ring of alchemy, and she emerged into the room just in time to see everything go wrong.

At least twenty men were in the room, several already firing at Ed and Al. She could hear the bullets ding off of Al’s armor even as Edward raised a wall to protect them both. Unfortunately, it happened at the same time that the explosions were set to block off the men’s path out one side of the building—and Ed’s wall was blocking off the entrance that the teams were planning on using to enter. There was no back up, and Ed and Al were between these dangerous men and their only exit.

She would have to do something about that.

She pulled her rifle amidst all the chaos. These were her boys. Ed and Al were her boys, and she was going to everything she could to protect them. One, two, three shots. One, two, three men down. It garnered her attention, though, and she had to move and move quickly. She dodged heading low zigzagging her way across and shooting as she went. These men were heavily armed, and they were one woman and two alchemists. She took out a few of them, but there were more of them coming at her, firing at her.

“Lieutenant!?” she could hear Ed’s surprised from across the room.

“Hunker down!” she called back, hoping that he’d listen.

She winced and stumbled as she felt a bullet graze her arm, and it stung like it was on fire, but she had more important things to worry about. While she was sure that the colonel and the teams were already working to find an alternate way around, she wasn’t sure that there was that much time. Some of the men in the room had decided to physically take on Edward and Alphonse and, while she knew they could hold their own in a fight, these men were big and played dirty.

And that was when she caught it.

This room was large and had an odd sort of decoration that went around the top. It was big enough for someone to stand on—or to snipe from. And there was a sniper up there.

No. No. Not her boys. She wouldn’t allow it!

There was a ping as the bullet struck Alphonse’s head, and she was certain that he would have a dent in it when they took time to look. She heard him protest, but she had to fight off the man in front of her. He had gotten too close for her to use her guns, was trying to keep her from moving forward physically, and made it so she wasn’t able to take down the sniper. Fortunately, Riza was no slouch in hand to hand, and Alphonse was no fool. He had moved to protect his brother better.

But these boys were her boys, were her responsibility, and she wasn’t going to let this thug or any other stand in her way. She wasn’t just the Hawk’s Eyes anymore, she was a vengeful Mother Hawk who was going to protect her young no matter who got in her way. It meant that she took some good blows here and there, but she worked to drop or otherwise incapacitate the men between her and her boys.

Suddenly a man was being kicked out of her face by a black and red figure, and the sound of clanking wasn’t far behind him

“Lieutenant! What are you doing here?”

“You were supposed to stay at the hotel!” She snapped back at him. Where had the sniper moved to?

“We’re not kids! We had a lead and we followed it!” Edward snapped back.

“You followed it into a military operation!” she said. “We need to l—”

She paused, spotting the sniper and realizing that Ed had put himself right into his sights when he came to assist her. Riza cursed out loud this time, and she moved, only hoping that whatever gun that sniper had, it wasn’t a proper sniper rifle, with proper sniper ammo. Her attention was fully on protecting Edward, not even paying the least bit of attention to whatever he might have been saying.

“Not my boy!” she snarled out.

In one fluid motion she stepped in front of Edward, using her momentum to shove him behind the wall he had erected earlier. Her had was reaching for one of her guns, but there was no time. The bullet pierced her side, and she went down with a cry. Simultaneously there was a blast from one of the blocked entrances and fire spilled out into the room, close enough that the flames licked at her arms. She cried out again, and for a moment, the world was a dizzying blur of pain, flame, shouts and smoke.

Then suddenly, something was blocking her from all of that, and a distressed young face appeared over her.

“Lieutenant! Lieutenant, hang on!”

“Is she--?”

“We—we gotta get her out of here, Al! She needs help!”

Riza reached up to grab at Ed’s sleeve, grasping it hard. She ignored the burns on her arm. “Hunker…. Down…” she said again.

“But you need—” he tried to protest.

Riza could still hear the fighting going on. It wouldn’t be safe to leave now. But through the pain, the only words she managed to get out again were “Hunker down!”

He hesitated for a moment, and then his coat was off of him, and pressing into her side. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he was saying. “I can’t help the burns, but I can try this! I’m sorry!”

Riza swallowed, and closed her eyes for a second, trying to hear how the battle was going. It sounded like it was winding down, and it should have, with all of the soldier that they had brought with them. Footsteps sounded, coming around the wall, and Riza forced her eyes open again, grabbing Ed’s head and pushing it down protectively, even as she pulled out a gun to aim at the intruder. Edward gave a startled sort of squawk at this, but she didn’t care. A startled Alphonse tried to reach for her, but she wasn’t having it.

She fired off a warning shot as whoever it was approaching. “Stay away from my boys!” she snarled out again.

The footsteps stopped. “Lieutenant?”

“Colonel.”

And just like that, all of the fight was gone out of her. The gun clattered to the ground and she allowed Edward up even as she sank back down. The voices around her grew frantic again, but she was having trouble concentrating on them through the pain she was in. She reached for Roy’s arm, holding onto his sleeve. “Keep them safe. Keep my boys safe…”

The next thing that Riza was aware of was waking up in a haze of drug-induced fuzziness. She blinked a little, trying to make sense of things. It took her a second to realize that she was in a hospital bed, and that she had dulled pain in her side and on her arms.

“Riza?”

That voice was familiar, and it took her a moment to place it in the drug-addled brain. She turned her head slowly to see Roy looking at her with concern.

“Roy?” she asked and then, after a moment, “sir.”

He shook his head. “It’s alright its just the two of. Are you finally with me?”

She blinked at him. “What?”

“Well, you’ve woken up a little before, but always slipped right back into sleep.” He smiled at her. “It’s kinda cute.” Riza scowled at him, and he laughed. “Alright, alright, you’re back with me.”

She took a moment to look down at herself, noting the bandages on her arms and the pain in her side. “What happened?” she asked. “How am I?”

“You took a bullet to the side, Riza, from a rifle. But you stopped it from getting Edward. That’s why your side hurts. As for you arms, one small part is from a bullet that grazed you. But the rest is my fault, I’m afraid. I didn’t know you were there, and you ended up in the way of some of my flames when I used them to burst in the door. They had to do surgery on your side. You’ve been out for about and day and you’re going to be in here for a least a week.”

“Oh.” She said, scowling a bit at the thought of a week in the hospital. But then another thought occurred to her. “The boys?”

“Safe. Both of them are safe. Turns out that some information had been planted to draw them to those black-market dealers. That’s why they ended up there. Speaking of,” he looked up and towards the door. “They’ve been worried sick. Do you feel up to having visitors?”

Riza answered with little hesitation. “Yes,” she said. She wanted to see that they were alright with her own two eyes.

Roy nodded and stood, heading towards the door. Riza didn’t pay much mind to what was going on until she heard a voice.

“Lieutenant Hawkeye?”

She blinked for a second, and then look up to see the uncertain faces of Edward and Alphonse (well, Alphonse’s body language) greet her.

“Boys,” the word fell from her lips, a little more relieved then she meant for it to sound. Oh well.

They seemed to perk a little at her response, looking encouraged by it, and came further into the room.

“Lieutenant! We’re so glad you’re awake!” Alphonse’s voice was enthusiastic, although quiet. “How do you feel?”

She was quiet for a moment. “Numb,” she finally said. “But I think that’s the pain medicine. Pretty sure when that’s out of my system my side and arms are gonna feel awful.” The boys exchanged guilty looks, and, even medicated, it didn’t escape her sharp eyes.  “How are you two?”

“Oh, um brother is going to have to figure out how to get this dent out of my head,” Alphonse said, bending to show her an area of his helmet that had a good dent in it. “But other than that, I’m fine!”

“I’m alright too. Just the usually bumps and scrapes.” Edward frowned. “It would have been a lot worse if it wasn’t for you.” He looked at her, his eyes full of guilt. “I—Lieutenant, I just—I—”

Riza shook her head. “If you’re going to apologize for me getting hurt, protecting you, don’t. I made that choice and I’d make it again. You do not need to feel guilt or feel bad about that.”

“But if it wasn’t for us being there, you wouldn’t be hurt like this!” Edward said, emotions and thoughts he’d clearly been dwelling on coming out. “You wouldn’t have taken that bullet for me, and you wouldn’t have nearly bleed out or gotten your hands burned! Mustang explained what the plan was! You would have been safe up in that tower! And just—we really—” he wasn’t looking at her anymore, his shoulders tight and his gaze downcast. Alphonse, like was, was looking incredibly guilty for a suit of armor. “…we’re sorry.”

“We know we shouldn’t have gone,” Alphonse added on. “We really didn’t think it would be that much trouble! But we did anyway. Are you angry at us?”

Riza was quiet for a moment, gathering her thoughts as best she could.

“I’m not angry,” she finally said, and they both looked at her with surprise and a bit of relief. “But I am disappointed in you.” If possible, they looked more stricken then before. “I asked you to trust the colonel. I asked you to stay in your room that night. And you told me you would. And what I’m disappointed in, was that you broke your word.”

“But we didn’t—”

“You didn’t say that in so many words, no.” Riza said. “But I trusted that when you said that the both of you would stay in your room, that you would. You were complaining about being treated like a child, but a man is someone who means what they say, even if they don’t give their explicit word. And I’m disappointed that you didn’t do that.”

Both boys were looking down now, stricken. “Lieutenant,” Edward said, “we’re—we’re sorry. We’re sorry that we broke our word.”

“We’re sorry that we messed up the plan,” Alphonse added.

“We’re sorry that you got hurt.”

“We’re sorry that things got out of control.”

“We’re sorry that we didn’t listen.”

“We’re sorry that we didn’t trust the colonel more.”

“We’re sorry for disappointing you.”

The last one was spoken in unison. Riza was silent during their apologies and, when it seemed that they had finished. She gestured for the both of them to come closer. “Edward. Alphonse. Do you know why I’m so disappointed in you?”

“Because you got hurt?”

“Because we put the team in danger?”

She shook her head. “No. I’m disappointed because I care about the two of you very, very much. When Edward joined, I promised that I would always look after the two of you as best I could. That feeling has just grown deeper over the years.” She reached out with one bandaged hand, putting all of their hands together on the edge of her bed. “I care for everyone on my team—but you boys, I care for you in a special way. I would do anything I could to protect you.”

Both of them were staring at her with a mix of emotions clear in them, and she gave their hands a squeeze.

“…you mean a lot to us too,” Alphonse finally said. “Sometimes… sometimes its hard to tell just how much the adults around us care but…”

“But you’ve always cared,” Edward picked up. “And—and we care about you too. That’s why we’re so sorry. Our actions got you hurt this badly and we’re so sorry.”

She gave their hands a squeeze again. “It’s all forgiven, at least from me. Just promise me that next time you’ll listen when we tell you to stay put.”

There was rapid agreement from the boys, and then Riza asked them to fill her in on what had been going on with the case and in the office. Her boys launched into an explanation, and Riza settled back, content. Perhaps they weren’t her boys in blood. But they were definitely her boys in her heart.