The Assignment

Chapter Four

April 5th, 1912

Ellicot

Undisclosed Location

6:00am

They woke again to clanging of a bucket, as the man from yesterday stood over them glaring. He huffed as they both sat up. "I ain't a damn nanny or maid. If you want more food and clean buckets, set the empties next to the door next time, got it?"

Silently the two men glared at him which he seemed to take as a yes, so with a final huff he picked up the buckets from yesterday and knocked on the door, a different pattern than the day before. Vato immediately assumed the real reason for waking them was to enforce the idea that attempting to escape by overpowering the guard was pointless. They had already ruled out that plan simply because they had no idea how many waited on the other side of the door.

Wordlessly Heymans stood and moved the buckets to where the old ones had been set the day before, before returning to the matt and laying back down. "I'm going to sleep more. We have hours before we need to start planning."

"Of course." Vato said and closed his eyes again as well.

8:00 am

Heymans watched Vato carefully for a couple of minutes before he was satisfied that the other man was still asleep. He nodded to himself before slipping back out of the makeshift bed to use the waste bucket.

When he came back over, he lifted today's towel to see what they had been left. This time it was two loaves of bread with nothing else. He wasn't surprised. Vato sat up and silently pulled off a small chunk to eat as Heymans sat back down.

"Do you think they will find us?" Vato asked quietly.

"Yes." Heymans said in response. "How long it takes is the question."

"One more day and they'll know there's a problem." Vato said.

"Most likely." Heymans said with a shrug.

Both men were more concerned than they let on, not wanting to worry their companion or give anything away to their captors. The truth of the matter was, they had been expected to check in every night, not two days away, so Mustang would already be on alert. It was a matter of waiting it out.

Eastern Command

Mustang's Office

9:00 am

Roy lost track of the amount of coffee he had consumed around the fifth pot. That had been five hours ago. Jean Havoc and Kain Fuery had drank nearly as much as he had, though Kain had fallen into a light sleep at his desk an hour ago. Riza Hawkeye had allowed it.

Two of their people were missing, had missed check in, and had failed to make contact after that. Roy had called their Inn to check on them and had been informed that they had no guests under those names. He slammed the phone down loud enough to wake Fuery, before stomping back out into the main room. "Something went wrong, and we can have no idea who or how many are involved. I am reluctant to send in another small group but sending in a larger team could send them scattering. So, we will go and leave the majority outside of town hidden. Two will go in posing as civilians and dig around. You have thirty minutes to pack and meet me at the train station. Dismissed."

Ellicot

Undisclosed Location

10:00am

"Animal, plant, or mineral?" Vato said.

"Animal."

"Mammal, reptile, amphibian, fish, or bird?"

"Mammal."

"Big or small?"

"Big."

"Domestic or wild?"

"Who knows?"

"Human."

"Right." Heymans said with a sigh. They had grown board enough to play children's guessing games, and they were no closer to escaping or figuring out what was really going on around here. "Ready?"

"…Yes."

"Animal, Vegetable or mina- "Heymans was interrupted by the door slamming open. The large man who had been their only visitor rushed into the room livid looking, followed by the equally angry looking innkeeper.

"Why the hell is the damn Flame Alchemist looking for you?!" the big man demanded.

"He's our commanding officer?" Heymans said. He didn't mean for it to come out a question, but it did.

"Of course, he is! Why wouldn't he be? That damn butcher is going to invade our town!" the innkeeper said angrily, before kicking the water bucket, spilling the contents all over the matt and the men sitting on it. He then yanked it up and stormed out of the room. "We've been to hospitable to these monsters. Take care of it."

The big man growled after the innkeeper, clearly annoyed at being left to punish the soldiers. He then turns back to the men and ripped the towel away from them, as well as the thin sheet he had generously brought them that morning.

Before either man could move, he punched Vato straight in the temple knocking him over before upending the remaining bucket on Heymans, smacking him over the head with it for good measure. "I'll be back. I suggest you sit still and don't speak." The man growled before storming out of the room and slamming the door shut behind him.

Heymans was a bit dizzy from the hit, and he didn't want to know if it was blood or something else dripping down his collar. He looked over at Vato, who was quickly stirring before he sat up with a groan. Heymans was quick to gesture to Vato not to speak. He was worried that man was standing right outside the door to listen in, and he had no desire to encourage further attacks. He was sure worse was on the way regardless.

Heymans and Vato examined each other's heads and were thankful to find neither injury had drawn blood before Heymans shed his jacket again to use it to wipe up the mess left on his head. He then tossed it to the end of the bed. Regardless of how dirty it was, Vato would need it to sleep tonight. Not that either of them should be sleeping with threats hanging over them.

Vato flopped over and curled into a tight ball as he squeezed his eyes shut in a vain attempt to block out the headache forming. He covered his face the best he could with his arms as Heymans watched. He then laid down himself, the dizziness still present and he hoped to heal it with sleep.

East City train station

Mustang watched as fifty soldiers arrived together, all carrying a backpack and a bedroll as instructed. Once he was sure everyone, including his office staff, had arrived, he led them all onto the train they took up two cars, and no one had been fully briefed with the situation. Mustang firmly hoped that they would find his missing men safe and unharmed. He did not believe that would be the case, which is why they needed to move quickly.