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If you asked Henry how his weekend would go, he might have told you hanging at the bar or being out on patrol. Not being carried by his boss’ second in command to a ship infested by Toppats.
“Ya know yer mission?” Right Hand Man growled. Henry nodded quickly. The man’s temper had worsened ever since an encounter with the Toppat’s second in command had left him part cyborg to survive. “Infiltrate the airship, get the files, get out. I’ll be waiting on the outside for ya, but can’t help too much more.”
It had felt like centuries since he had been called into the General’s office. If his life was a game, he’d probably be having a dramatic flashback to his meeting right now.
Reginald had leveled him with an uncommonly serious look when he walked in. “We need someone to infiltrate the Toppat airship, someone they won’t recognize on site and is good at sneaking around. Your success in foiling the Tunisian Diamond heist has recommended you for this mission.”
How could Henry say no to that?
It was going to be Henry’s first big mission break. And to think it started from foiling a heist when he was on military loan to the museum as security.
But now, looking at the airship in front of him, exhilaration welled up inside of him. This was the kind of rush he lived for.
“We’re trusting ya big on this.” Right said. “Don’t let the boss down. Ready to drop?”
Henry reached into the bag Right was awkwardly holding out for him. Parachute, grapple gun, gravity reverse, or bubble? They had pulled out all the stops for this mission. He decided to go with a more familiar grapple gun.
Okay, maybe not super familiar. But it looked super cool.
Henry flashed him a thumbs up and felt his stomach jerk out of him as he was suddenly plummeting. It was instincts alone that got his hand to press the release, making his arms nearly jerk out of their sockets when the rope ran out.
Oh hey! He was hanging right by a door! That was convenient. Slowly, Henry swung over to the tiny platform in front of the door. Ugh. Key lock. What should he try?
Henry shrugged and put in 1234. The lock clicked green, cheerily beeping at him. Huh. They must have new recruits and a lot of ego to pull that off.
He slipped inside, finding himself at the end of an empty corridor. According to the rough blueprints they had put together, if he headed towards the auxiliary engines, the records should be around there.
With that in mind, Henry walked down the hallway, wincing every time his footsteps echoed. He was almost painfully exposed here, no vents or doorway alcoves to hide behind.
Henry stiffened when he heard loud voices echoing down the hall. Guards! The voices were coming from a side room with an open door. He’d have to walk right past them to get to the rest of the hallway.
Walk past, try another door, or climb back outside to find a clearer entrance. Henry pauses for a moment to consider his options.
His headset crackled to life: “Did ya make it in?”
If Henry got out of this alive, he was going to punch Right Hand Man in the face and be utterly confident in the fact that he deserved it.
“Who’s that?” He heard someone say. There was a scuffling of chairs.
Now or never. Henry bolted forward, sprinting past the door. There was a cry of surprise behind him and he ducked as bullets came flying over his head.
Out of desperation, he reached into his jacket and came out with a bottle of oil. It slipped out of his hands, splattering over the floor and Henry nearly skidded right into the wall before bolting around the corner. There were several cries of pain when his pursuers were less lucky.
Well now his cover was well and truly blown. Henry tried a random door, breathing a sigh of relief when he found it leading into an empty platform hanging above a pit. There was another platform on the other side of the pit. He closed the door behind him.
Not ideal, but he could make it work. But first, he muted his headset after sending a clear response. Right could just deal with the silence.
“Um, boss? We have a situation.”
Galeforce glanced away from the course plans he was reading. “Go ahead and spit it out then.” He said, tilting back his worn gray top hat.
“There’s an intruder near the hanger.” They said. “He dodged the guard patrols and is currently somewhere near the auxiliary engines. Think he’s government.”
“Blast it.” Galeforce said, slamming his fist into the desk. “Charles! Can you take care of them?”
His second in command pushed away from the airship controls. “You got it boss!” Charles said cheerily. He swept his black and red ribboned top hat off the desk, pulling it down over his red headset.
His smile was wicked. “I’ll take care of this.”
Henry was hanging by the tips of his fingers over his hundred foot plus drop of the day. Did they give out t-shirts for this?
The glue he had slathered his hands with was working, but the last few feet were agony. He had to peel his hands off the ceiling every time, and his shoulders were in agony from the strain. He almost sobbed in relief when he dropped onto the other platform.
Henry didn’t have much time to hang around though. He knew the guards he had left behind were raising the alarm right now.
The door was small, leading into a cramped series of dusty hallways. Engineering hallways, which was a good sign. He couldn’t be too far from the auxiliary engines now.
It was eerily quiet in these hallways. He could hear his footsteps echoing. They were slowly wondering and Henry sighed in relief when the ceiling finally rose and he could stand up straight without risking a nasty bump.
He was so distracted, he almost didn’t notice the second set of footsteps. Henry froze, listening to the new footsteps echo. He couldn’t hear where they were coming from.
The new footsteps stopped.
“Wow, I have to admit, you got pretty far! I’m really impressed!”
The voice was pretty familiar, but Henry couldn’t quite place it. He rolled his shoulders, ready for a fight.
But even his wariness couldn’t stop him from walking straight into the other person when they turned the corner ahead of him. Henry stumbled back, eyes going wide in surprise.
The other person laughed. “Sorry!” They said. Their smile was friendly but Henry froze.
He knew that top hat and headset combo. Charles, second in command of the Toppat clan. The same person who had piloted a helicopter into a military building, nearly killing the Right Hand Man.
He looked far too cute to be an evil gangster. Henry shoved that little mental voice into a trash bin.
They beamed at him. “So, I’m thinking you’re the guy I’ve been looking for. Didn’t expect you to be a cute one.” They said. Their hand went to their jacket. “Real sorry about this but I’m gonna be taking you with me.”
It was stupid. It was the stupidest thing he’d ever done in his life. Henry needed a distraction.
Henry leaned forward and kissed him.
Charles froze, one hand coming up to rest on his shoulder, but didn’t push him away. It was actually a very nice kiss and Henry had to remind himself of what he was actually doing. Especially when Charles started kissing back.
If the general asked, Henry definitely did not pickpocket Charles’ gun. He didn’t know how to do that. Charles pulled away but was too late to prevent Henry from swiping his gun and throwing it down the corridor behind Henry.
Charles’ eyes were wide in surprise and humor. “You’ve got some experience with that, don’t you?” He said. “Pretty good job! Do that again, I want to see how you did it.” His tone was oddly flirtatious.
”Nope.” Henry signed. Charles’ eyes went to his hands and Henry took the chance to lunge forward, flipping Charles up and over his head. The man hit the ground with a grunt and Henry took off running, not looking behind him.
He could hear the breathless laughter all the way up to the exit. “Oh, you’re definitely a lot of fun!”
If he had stayed, he would have seen Charles stand and dust himself off before reaching for his headset. “Might be a bit.” He said breezily. “This might be a fun one. I’m gonna have a good talk with him, maybe see if I can make him reconsider who he wants to work for.”
He didn’t wait for an answer before heading towards where the cute but silent spy had run off to.
Maybe it was good Henry hadn’t stayed behind, because hearing that definitely would have slowed him down.
The parting words sent a shiver up his spine and Henry hurried to check his map. The hallway he emerged into was a bit more familiar and Henry set off at a fast trot. He had not wanted to go down this route.
He kept his eyes away from the vault doors. Henry knew why he had ended up at the military, and didn’t want to risk some of his more unsavory past behaviors coming back to bite him. One wrong move would land him right back into jail, probably for good this time.
He made it to the files room with almost suspicious ease. Henry just decided to take what kind of luck he could get, immediately going for the files he had been sent for.
He just wanted to get off this shift and far away from the Toppat second in command. From here, he should be able to access an outside hatch just a few doors down.
One that was only kept because one wrong move would send him off the side of the metal catwalk and plummeting to his death. Henry winced but opened the door anyways.
The wind immediately set upon him with a vengeance, tearing at his bulky jacket. Henry tapped his headset, sending out one of his pre recorded messages to Right. Almost done.
“Hey, don’t go out there! It really isn’t safe.”
Henry cursed silently, stepping out onto the platform and backing away from the door.
Charles stepped out of the door, one hand on his hat to keep it from flying away. “Where are you going?” He said. “Planning on catching a helicopter?”
”I think that’s more your deal.” Henry signed cautiously. Keep him distracted. Where was Right?
Charles watched his hands before nodding. “It is, I’m glad you noticed!” He said. “I like to think it’s my best skill. Like how yours is sneaking into places you shouldn’t.”
”Glad you noticed?” Henry signed. He pulled his jacket tighter around himself. Charles’ words showed he had definitely noticed Henry had more illegal knowledge than most military, and that made Henry nervous.”Is there any chance I could persuade you to give up your evil ways or go away?”
“Nope! Good try though, extra points for creativity.” Charles said. “Now, why don’t we go inside and discuss this like gentlemen? I’m sure we can work something out.”
His smile was so friendly that Henry nearly took a step towards him. Instead, he shook his head. Charles sighed, looking unhappy. “It’s either I pull the gun on you and force you inside, or we go back in peacefully. And trust me, I’d prefer this to be a nice conversation.”
”We can have a nice conversation out here.” Henry signed. ”What’s your favorite color?”
Charles’ laughter was far too cute for the gangster second in command Henry knew he was. “Red!” He said. “Yours?”
”Blue is better.” Henry signed. He wasn’t surprised by the answer, the man’s headset and hat ribbon were both red. ”See? Friendly conversation.”
“This isn’t really safe though.” Charles said. “We should go back inside! Galeforce wants to meet the guy who managed to steal my gun. That’s never happened before, you know. We’re both very impressed.”
Henry did not want to meet the leader of the Toppats. Henry wanted to get away from this unfairly cute Toppat member. Charles winked at him and Henry’s brain stuttered.
“You!”
Henry jumped backwards, eyes going wide when he looked up. Right had arrived and immediately locked in on Charles.
Oh god, please say he wasn’t pulling out that damn laser.
He was.
Henry waved his hands in the universal sign for stop, but Right didn’t even blink before firing. Charles jumped back and the shot instead hit one of the support bars for the platform.
Henry stumbled to the side, grabbing onto the fence just before he tumbled right over the edge.
And that was how he came to be hanging over yet another deadly drop today. Henry tried to pull himself up onto the listing catwalk, but his shoulders screamed with pain, forcing him to stop.
Gun firing. Charles and Right were yelling, but Right’s voice was getting further away. Probably moving back to escape Charles’ crosshairs.
He had two choices. Hang on for as long as he could, or drop and hope Right could catch him.
A hand appeared right in front of his face. “Looks like you got the bad end of the deal.” Charles said. “Take my hand, I’ll pull you back up.”
“For a price.” Henry said, his voice barely audible over the wind.
“You have a pretty voice.” Charles remarked. He looked completely unconcerned about how the catwalk was creaking. “Anyways, you’re pretty good at this whole breaking and entering thing! That pickpocketing skill was a nice touch. I think we’d work well together. If you take my hand, I can see about sponsoring you to the Toppats! Who won’t treat you as collateral damage.”
“So what’ll it be? The drop, or are you coming with me?”