Chapter Text
‘5 minutes left until school’s out…’
Rupert let out a long sigh before putting his phone back into his pocket as he leaned against a nearby streetlight alongside tired parents who are also waiting to pick up their kids.
Honestly, he doesn’t even know how he got stuck picking up Galeforce’s gremlins, well besides hearing something about an internal investigation on some of the troops. At least that’s all Rupert could pick up from the man before he was dragged off by the collar of his shirt by Petrov.
‘So now I’ll be stuck with two kids for the next few hours…shouldn’t be too bad so long as I can distract them with Lovebug’ Rupert thought,
Ever since he recently picked up the hairless cat from Dave’s abandoned apartment, Charles and Henry adored her. There have been multiple occasions where the two would ask to come over to see her, and ever since Henry figured out how to lockpick doors (Where did he even learn that?) there have been a few times where he’d stumble upon the youngest giving one too many cat treats.
Now that he thought about it, he honestly didn’t mind the company. Sure the two were a bit much at times, and there have been multiple occasions where he’s questioned why the two enjoyed being around him. But at this point, he’s grown used to the two’s presence, ever since Dave’s disappearance and Johnny’s passing he didn’t really have many people to talk to. Ever since he agreed to this babysitting side job from his boss he’s ending up talking with more people, like Victoria, granted they first met through having to find Charlie after he stowed away on a helicopter but-
“Uhm Excuse me si-”
“RUPERT? YOU THERE??”
Rupert looked down to find a familiar figure tugging on his arm trying to get him to move, along with two other figures standing to the side watching him trying to move him. How long had he been standing here again?
“What Charlie?”
Rupert asked, moving his arm out of the kid's reach only to ruffle his hair in turn, looking up at the unfamiliar woman who was standing there with Henry and a girl, Someone from their class maybe?
“Can Ellie come with us also?”
“Ellie?”
“My Daughter Eliza, Galeforce mentioned you’d be watching her along with the boys this afternoon?” The woman said, Now that Rupert takes a look at the two Rupert noticed the similarly bright red hair on both the woman and her kid. The woman seemed a little off, like she would rather be somewhere else at the moment.
“Uh…”
“Good, Galeforce will fetch her with the boys and I’ll pick Eliza up from him when I’m done with some business I need to take care of… Any problems with her just call the General” She said slightly nudging the redhead, who looked ready to strangle something, towards Rupert and the boys before heading off with a small offhanded goodbye.
Three kids…So now he’s watching three of them…great.
“Alright, so about Eliz-”
“Ellie.”
Rupert looked down at Charlie as if he herded the other two as they started walking a bit further ahead toward the direction of the base’s Apartment complex.
“What?”
“Ellie doesn’t like that name, she said it’s too formal”
Rupert looked towards the two ahead of them, Henry excitedly signing something, probably about the cat, while Ellie seems more apprehensive, Silently watching and observing. Though Rupert only now noticed she was looking behind at them like she was waiting for something...
“Oh okay, So about Ellie, does the boss ACTUALLY know she’s here? ‘Cause he didn’t mention anything about you three hanging out today…”
“Well… Not really, but he’s used to Ellie showing up randomly all the time!”
Charlie said, messing with his shirt sleeves, Since it’s starting to be a bit too warm out for him to wear his favorite jacket.
“Hey! I don’t show up that often!”
Eliz- Ellie Shouted indignantly, turning around and bonking Charles on the head as though he revealed some secret. Henry simply observes as he now joins walking right next to Rupert. Charles holds his head where he was hit, the smile on his face as he started laughing at his embarrassed friend being the indication he wasn’t actually in any pain.
If Rupert noticed the slight nod from Ellie as though he passed some test, he didn’t comment on it as they made it to their destination.
.
.
.
“Alright that concludes our meeting for today, you are all dismissed…”
Galeforce let out a sigh of relief after leaving the base, they’ve been given a pretty good lead to follow through on for the Toppat’s spy, and while it’s been confirmed no one in the Generals section is under no suspicion he’d figure he’d lend a hand to help with the interrogations at least.
Thankfully all he has to worry about now is picking up the boys and just spending the rest of the evening writing up his remaining reports. It’ll probably be just a quiet evening since the two spent most of the afternoon with Rupert so they’re probably tired by this point.
Right?
“-THEN ELLIE HIT HIM WITH THE HOCKEY STICK AND-”
“HEY, I DIDN’T DO THAT, MR. G HE’S MAKING SHIT UP!”
‘Language!’
“Henry you also swear, I don’t want to hear it from you-”
Nevermind.
As of late Ellie has been the newest constant in the Galeforce household, He’s actually known of Ellie before he met Charles and Henry, Mostly due to the fact her father serves on the force. He and Hubert used to be in the same division before Galeforce was promoted to General. While not particularly close, he’s heard of him having a daughter from other Soldiers in passing conversation.
The only time he’s ever gotten to truly know Ellie was when Charlie and Henry brought her over one day from school, since then he’s learned quite a bit about the spirited redhead. Which includes her…rocky relationship with her folks.
While he still feels like he’s not as experienced when it comes to parenting. It’s just there was always something about how Ellie’s Mom would talk about her always seemed… distant. The times when she’d pick up her daughter either in the late hours of the night or until the very next day from what was supposed to be only one-hour-long study sessions, to the way she’d constantly talk about the kid like Ellie wasn’t next to her. Alongside his colleague, her father, let it all happen, evening brushing off concerns from both him and the soldiers they knew saying “She just takes what her Ma says too personally. She’ll get over it one of these days”
Galeforce isn’t normally one to pry into personal matters but… the very least he could do is make sure the kid has a safe place to go to.
“Hey Mr. G?”
“Hm?”
“You’re making that weird frown again, Ma said you can get wrinkles from that you know.”
Even if the kid is too blunt for her own good.
After making it back to the house with no incident, The troublesome trio made their way to Henry and Charlie’s room to study. Meanwhile, Galeforce sat on the couch in their small living room and pulled out his laptop. But not before sending a short text to Ellie’s mother. He’s used to not getting a response from her most of the time, but he still likes to send on to be polite at least.
[ H. Galeforce ] sent 16:00
‘Ellie is at my house, Call if you need me to drop her off.’
“Y’know she’s not going to answer right?”
“Christ! You can’t keep sneaking up on people like that.”
“Watch me, old man.”
Ellie states, holding no actual malice behind her words, leaning against the couch trying to get a look at the laptop screen.
“What’cha looking at?”
“Toppat clan article”
“What’s the scoop?”
“Romanian Ruby, stolen during Museum transport”
“Cool. where’s my DS Charger?”
“Homework?”
“Finished at Rupert’s”
“Good. it’s in the drawer behind you.”
“Thanks, Mr. G!”
After fishing through the drawer and finding her prize, Galeforce watched as Ellie ran back up the stairs before returning to his research.
Turning back towards the article, Galeforce's eyes narrowed in contemplation. In this most recent heist, there were government soldiers secretly placed to protect the Ruby. It was a secret very few knew of only recently becoming public knowledge after the devastating carnage that Terrence and his crew left behind.
This led to a whole investigation about there possibly being a mole within the ranks.
The more Galeforce thought about it, the more tired he felt, he’s helped with this investigation for days and it seems to have not gotten anywhere until today. Even then he’s still in the dark about much of it due to it but the thought of it still concerns him greatly.
With the lead, they said they finally narrowed it down to someone, but they couldn’t be sure until they confront them tonight.
The hours passed by relatively peacefully much to Galefore’s surprise. After the kids finished up their game upstairs they ended up joining the general in the living room to watch a movie and currently, he spots all three of them have fallen asleep peacefully. Hubert smiled at the sight before he looked over at his phone and sighed noticing how late it was, another Impromptu sleepover it is then.
The temptation to try to call Ellie’s mother pops into his mind again, but remembers the angry lecturing about being “a nosy bastard” and how it moves back to her targeting her yelling towards Ellie for “causing trouble that they don’t want her to stay any longer” after that same lecture happened not once, but multiple separate attempts was enough to where he just put his phone back on the armrest next to him. He considers himself lucky that Charles and Henry weren’t in earshot of those lectures as far as he knew.
The older brunette and the younger redhead never brought it up, but Ellie seemed a bit more relaxed around him when he gave up trying to call her mother.
The buzz of the phone next to him made the general jump slightly before quickly grabbing the phone and after making sure the vibration didn’t wake up any of the kids, made his way outside before looking down at his phone. The caller ID was one he recognized as one of the people in charge of the investigation so he picked it up.
“Captain Canterbury?”
“Hey General, Sorry to bother you this late but…we got our confirmation on the culprit.”
“That’s good news. I take it they’re in custody now?”
“No.”
That made the General pause, his eyes narrowed down as he sat down on the door front steps. After collecting some of the questions in his mind, he returns back to focusing on the call.
“What do you
mean
‘no’?”
“They…. escaped a few hours ago”
“...WHAT-”
“we’ve only noticed it after one of the guards came back to find the previous guard was knocked out cold. We checked the security footage and…we didn’t account for his wife be a toppat spy as well”
“We didn’t think to tell you cause, the kid is under mild suspicion to…”
“Kid? What do you-”
“The culprits were Lieutenant Rose and his wife.”
. . .
Galeforce froze, sure there have been times when he questioned the kind of people Ellie’s parents were…but there was no way. They wouldn’t stoop down to that level, right? Even if they did what about Ellie? Are they coming back for her? What the hell is he going to do if they actually DO come to pick her up? Regardless of how Ellie feels about her family, it’d still be traumatizing for him to arrest them both in front of the kids…
The fact that because of this Ellie is now put under suspicion too, while he understands the caution, he can’t believe even for a second that Ellie knew about any of this. Even if she did Hubert doesn’t think he’d be able to blame her for anything her parents have done. The kid may be tough but even he recognizes the look of someone who’s afraid of going against their parents.
After taking a second Galeforce put the phone back up to his ear, trying his best to control his volume but only managing a harsh whisper.
“Canterbury, if this is some fucking joke I’ll-”
“I can assure you sir it is not.”
“We had some people observing your house in hopes of catching one of them at least when they came to pick up Eliza but-”
“Ellie.”
“- to pick up Ellie but it seems they just… left the area completely.”
Galeforce sighed bringing his hand up to his face, pinching the edge of his nose as he hears out the rest of the report. Apparently, they found nothing at the residence, and after some investigating they found out through Rupert about Ellie’s mom and what happened earlier that afternoon when picking up the kids. How they thought with Ellie still being on base that they’d come back for her at least but…
It’s kind of disappointing how he isn’t shocked about this news, there’s only a quiet anger rising in his system.
“Captain. Thank you for the report. If that is all I need to make another call.”
“Of course sir.”
The call ended with a soft click, and immediately Galeforce was quickly dialing another number and in the moment put the phone on speaker with low enough volume. He didn’t want their voice anywhere near him right now but…
. . .
. . .
We’re sorry the number you’re trying to reach is no longer in service…
‘Son of a bitch-’
“Mr. G?”
Galeforce paled as he turned slightly to face Ellie, from the way she was rubbing her eye it was most likely she only just woke up.
“Were you trying to call my mom? Is she coming to pick me up?”
Galeforce turns back down to the unanswered call on his phone, how is he supposed to tell her this… Silently Galeforce patted the empty spot next to him on the steps, thankfully Ellie didn’t question it like she normally would and took a seat next to him.
“It’s fine if she didn’t answer, she’s probably out with her friends again”
“Ellie…have you… have you ever seen what your mother’s friends look like?”
The ten-year-old thinks on it for a second before shrugging her shoulders, guess that could work out by ruling out the kid’s involvement, not that she needed to prove her innocence in the first place…
“Kid I don’t know how to put this but it’s probably better you hear it from me first before anything else.”
“Your folks…they aren't coming back.”
Galeforce intertwined his hands together while looking down at the ground as he explained the situation the best he could. Ellie listened intently to every word, her expression unreadable.
“I-...there’s nothing I can say to rectify this but…I’m sorry kid.”
“I want to go home.”
Galeforce looked over at the kid with a grim expression, Ellie was also looking down at her own shaking hands. He couldn’t see her face but from the way she spoke, she was trying to keep it together.
“Kid-”
“Take me home. I want to see it myself.”
The older didn’t say anything else, he grabbed his keys from his pocket and started walking towards his car. The redhead followed behind him subtly rubbing her eyes as she climbed into the front passenger seat.
The car drive was quiet except for the occasional GPS instructions being given from his phone. When they arrived the first thing they noticed out of the ordinary was the remnants of an investigation scene. Yellow tape lying around the property, the door seemingly busted open, and the carnage of an investigation left inside of the house.
The ten-year-old ignored it as she walked over the shattered remains of the door and into the house the general following behind from a distance. As Ellie walked up to her room Galeforce stayed behind as he looked around the house itself. Other than the few knocked-over furniture pieces it looked like any regular military house. While looking around he started noticing the photos on the wall. There were plenty of different landscapes some with a young-looking couple that looked to be Ellie’s parents, some including them with other people… there didn’t seem to be anything really linking Ellie to this house.
“ DAMMIT!! ”
From hearing the shout and the loud crash following suit, the older quickly made his way upstairs. Looking around he noticed a light emerging from a room at the end of the hall. As he made his way to the door he noticed the room had a small sign made from a piece of paper ‘Ellie’s Room STAY OUT!!’ written in what looked to be differently colored highlighters. He gave himself a second before knocking on the door softly. After a minute of not getting a response, he opens the door quietly.
The room was nice… though it seemed a little off to the older since it didn’t look anything like a kid's room. Just a simple bed frame and pictures in old frames hung up on the wall, with white walls and a wooden floor emphasizing how empty the room was. If anything it looked more like a guest room than the room of someone who lives here.
It seemed the only sign that a kid was living here is the sign, and the kid herself sitting against the wall on the other side of the room. with her head down and her knees pulled up to her chest. Clutching a piece of paper in a tight grip that her knuckles were white. Galeforce didn’t say anything as he made his way over to her. He sat next to her minding his distance.
Neither of them mentioned the broken desk or the desk-shaped indent on the wall. At the moment the two will just consider it was from the investigation despite the fact nothing else could have made the crash sound, and that it looked more like it was some kind of force that threw that desk.
But that’s not important right now.
“What did I do wrong?”
The tone that Ellie held as she brokenly whispered in the silent room made the general wince in sympathy. She held out the paper to him, hesitantly he took the paper and looked at it. It was a postcard, he saw on the photo it was Ellie’s Mother and her father looking glamorously smug at the camera in their toppat attire, looking at the date it seems like it was around the same time He and Liutentient were stationed in the same group. If that didn't make him angry what was written on the card made the general’s blood boil .
‘Dear Hubert,
Guess this is goodbye old friend, Can’t say it’s been fun.
I guess the one thing I’m sorry for is having you take care of Eliza.
Or you could just leave her somewhere-
Galeforce didn’t even bother looking at the rest, he knew who it was from. What the hell were they thinking?! And the fact that the postcard was addressed to him and not their own
daughter just seemed to rub salt in the wound. Even in the end they still find some way to have the last word in.
Letting out a sigh, Hubert silently let out a quiet curse as Ellie carefully watched his expression as he looked at the postcard one more time before laying it down on the ground. He then reached into his jacket pocket and took out a small pack of gum.
He took out a piece and after unwrapping ate the gum. He’d given up smoking a while after adopting Charlie but needing something to take the edge off ended up always having a pack of gum in his pocket. Hearing the crinkling of the wrapper Ellie looked up slightly to see a piece of gum also being handed to her. Still not saying anything she took it gratefully and chewed on it quietly.
“This… None of it is your fault.”
“Then why?”
“I’ll be honest… I’m not sure.”
“. . .”
“Do they know about…”
He silently gestures towards the mangled desk, Ellie shook her head no as she continued to chew on the gum.
“Am I in trouble?”
“No. not really.”
“Hmph! Bet you all think I’m in on it too huh?”
While Galeforce never told Ellie about the government's suspicion of her, he knew that the girl was pretty smart. So it’s not that surprising to him that she pieced together that bit of information so quickly based on what he told her. He leaned his head against the wall and stuffed his hands into the pockets of the old leather jacket.
“Even so. They were the ones who committed the crime. Not you”
“But they’re my parents! Or- were I guess?”
“You. are not responsible for their actions”
“And when they don’t believe me?”
“Then I’ll be there to back you up.”
Galeforce watched patiently as Ellie started to rub her eyes more aggressively as tears finally started to show running down her face. He watched as the kid retreated into a little shell. Normally the kid was loud and very vocal when it came to anger. Right now though, she made herself painfully small as she asked.
“You…okay with letting me stay?”
“So long as you’re okay with it. You’ve been friends with the boys for a long while now… I wouldn’t be surprised if Charlie and Henry already consider you family at this point”
The General responded with a slight laugh, Ellie hearing that let out a faint smile at the thought of Charles and Henry considering her as family. As quickly as the smile appeared it disappeared instantly when she glanced over at the general before saying.
“I’m not calling you dad I hope you know.”
“I don’t expect you to.”
The General simply says as he begins to stand up, Ellie following suit, She walks towards a small bag as she packs a few things to bring back. They’ll come back for the rest tomorrow.
The last thing she grabs is a black hockey stick with red tape wrapped around the end. Holding it over her shoulder she walks back towards Galeforce who’s waiting outside of the room.
He holds his hand out to her, While she doesn’t grab it she holds onto his sleeve instead.
A fragile show of trust, Galeforce just gives a small smile before leading them out of the house and to the car. The car ride back was as silent as it was on the way there but with a different feeling hanging over them. When they make it back to the house they open the door to find that the two boys are still soundly asleep on the couch.
Ellie sat on the couch as Galeforce carried the two to their room, when coming back down the stairs he gestured for Ellie to follow. Not having a bed for her yet, The older set up a sleeping cot in the same room. Before leaving Ellie tugged on his sleeve gently and whispered.
“Are you going to tell them?”
“It’s up to you, but if you want I could explain it to them if you’d like?”
“...”
“You don’t have to tell them right now, just get some sleep alright”
“Okay… night Mr. G”
Ellie whispered as she got under the covers of the cot and turned away from the door. Before closing the door fully Hubert could have sworn he heard a quiet whisper of ‘thank you..’ just as the door clicked close.
After quietly making his way back downstairs Galeforce thought over the events of today as he cleaned up the small mess the kids left in the living room. There’s a lot he’s going to need to do for tomorrow from figuring out room arrangements, filling out the paperwork, for both the report of the spy’s escape and Ellie’s legal papers for guardianship. There’s also the matter of Ellie not trusting him that much, but that’s something that comes with time, so he’s not going to push it, they’ve got time.
Surprisingly Galeforce isn’t as worried as he would’ve been 2 years ago… hell If his younger self from the starting years on the force saw him now? He’d probably get an earful about how soft he’s gotten, but now? He could really care less. Galeforce laid back on the couch too tired to make it to his own room.
He’s not sure what’s going to happen tomorrow, but the anxious weight feels a little more lighter knowing that this time he’s prepared for what may be coming next.