The Assignment
Chapter Six
April 6th, 1912
Ellicot
Undisclosed Location
5:00 am
Vato was worried for Heymans. He was doing his best to hide his concern and it seemed to have worked, or Heymans was pretending not to notice. Either way, they needed to be found and soon. Heymans was in a lot of pain, so much so that the last time he'd used the corner he had to ask Vato for help.
Vato knew he himself wasn't doing much better, the last visit left him with bruised ribs and a broken hand. His stomach hurt where he'd been hit as well. He was so tired but feared allowing himself or Heymans to sleep very long in case of brain injuries.
Outside Ellicot
Mustang's Camp
Roy Mustang was agitated. He had hoped they would find his men right away, but so far; they couldn't find any evidence that they had ever even been in Ellicot. Roy knew differently, of course. They had contacted him as soon as they had checked into the Inn their first night, therefore, they had disappeared sometime between then and their next scheduled check in twenty-four hours later.
Hawkeye and Havoc had found nothing concrete so far but had suggested that a second team check into the area they had been 'warned to avoid'. Mustang had immediately sent two of his men to check into it in plain clothes. They had not yet returned. This just added to his agitation.
Luckily, between his upbringing, his training, and his time in Ishbal, Roy Mustang could hide his true feelings completely. Only those closest to him would have noticed his level of concern, and none of them were here. He ordered the rest of his men to watch on shifts and retired to his tent to plan his next move. If necessary, he would raid this town himself.
Ellicot Inn
Jean Havoc slipped silently back into the room, nodding once to Riza Hawkeye who was stationed at the window watching for the Innkeeper, who had left a short time ago with a basket under his arm presumably to the market.
The Inn's sole maid would not arrive until ten and the only other guest was on a different floor. This was their best chance to check out the room their teammates had been staying before their disappearance. Jean had quickly broken into the room.
Though Breda and Falman's luggage had been removed and the room cleaned, Jean found the emergency log under the bed shoved into the box spring just where it should have been. He then grabbed a bucket of ice in case someone noticed him up at this early hour, the log shoved safely in his pocket,
They read over it quickly, though aside from noting the Innkeeper's hostility, they hadn't logged much yet. They suspected most if not all of the stable hands were involved in the thefts. Hawkeye suspected before reading the log that their disappearance could be traced to the case. Not she was certain. She also suspected, having watch the man, that the Innkeeper was involved as well.
She then put the log next to their own in the box spring and suggested that Havoc sleep for a while before turning back to the window. Mustang had sent in two to help, soon they should hear from them or Mustang. Meanwhile, they decided to use the map they'd created of the town to decide the best place to look next.
Undisclosed Location
8:00am
Vato was growing increasingly concerned with Heymans condition. He was running a fever, though insisted it was simply because of the pain in his ankle, and his complexion was growing paler as time passed. Heymans was falling asleep again, but Vato kept gently shaking him awake, fearful of the other man slipping too deeply asleep or becoming completely unresponsive.
He was running out of ideas to keep the other man alert and it was frightening. Though he was known in the office, and around command, for his list of seemingly useless facts, he was coming up short on ways to help aside from 'get him to a doctor'. Something inside was damaged, that much was evident, what Vato couldn't be certain.
"Heymans. You need to wake up." Vato said once again after letting the man doze for about fifteen minutes. "We should try to take you to the corner again."
"No." Heymans responded. "Don't need to pee and getting up is too much work."
Well, at least he seemed lucid, Vato thought, as he gently extracted himself long enough to use the corner and return. He had just sat back down when their tormentors came in, two of them this time, with a large bucket in each hand.
"You really are disgusting, aren't you? Peeing in the corner like the terrible animals you are." The big man who had already become a thing of nightmares.
"Well, this mess isn't going to clean itself and it won't do for anyone to smell them if they happen by." Said the second man who Vato now recognized as the Innkeeper. Without another word the man dumped a bucket in their corner, spreading the water and soap along with the contents of the corner toward the center of the room.
He then returned his attention to the two men huddled together in the corner. With a scoff, he gestured to the bigger man to pull them up. Vato was grabbed first, with Heymans making a feeble attempt to hold on that was easily shook off by their captor. He was drug to the center of the floor, where the innkeeper dumped a second bucket of ice-cold water over his head. "There we can't have you stinking up the place now, can we?" he said maliciously.
Vato was dropped, dripping wet and shivering back onto the mattress before Heymans was drug upright, his small cry of pain ignored. He was also doused in icy water before being shoved back onto the mattress. The final bucket was left just inside the door as the men left.
Both Vato and Heymans were shivering too much to make their way over to the bucket, though it seemed to be water and they were both very thirsty. Instead, the huddled together once again, shivering terribly and Vato worried once more for his injured teammate. Heymans was paler than before and was shaking hard enough Vato could hear his teeth chattering.
When Heymans fell asleep again, Vato let him, pulling him as close as possible in an attempt to keep him warm enough, and hoped that the team arrived soon. Heymans was in serious trouble, and Vato was frightened about what would happen if they weren't rescued soon. Perhaps he should reconsider attempting to escape.
Stables
Havoc was busy explaining to a large stable hand about how much his "fiancée" loved horses, and how he wished he could simply buy her a horse right here, while Hawkeye pretended to be enthralled with the large animals as she made her way slowly through the building searching for clues.
"Well, I don't know what to tell you Mister, you need to talk to the foreman about getting a horse if you want one." The stable hand said, before noticing Hawkeye who had been about to enter another stall. "Hey, Miss, you wanna stay out of there. No one wants to see you hurt."
Hawkeye nodded silently, before returning to Havoc's side, keeping her eyes on the floor. The man took this as meekness as she intended, however she had managed to notice in the few moments before being spotted that there was a trap door, likely down to the cellar. They would be back to look into it later in the day when no one was really around.