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Shivering as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, Henry Stickmin leaned over to rest his head on the shoulder of Charles Calvin, one of his two best friends in the world. The two stood in front of the apartment they shared not too far from the government base.
Charles gave a warm smile as he met eyes with the former thief. "You cold?"
Henry nodded, rubbing his gloveless hands together.
"Okay, don't worry dude, I gotcha." Charles took off his pilot's bomber jacket and draped it over his friend's shoulders. "Hope that helps!"
He was met with a returning grin as Henry gave him a thumbs-up and pulled the jacket tighter around himself. Charles was only in a t-shirt now, but he'd dealt with much lower temperatures than this up in the air. Plus, helping his friends out always made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
"So," Charles' breath was visible in the late autumn air, "you, uhhh, nervous about the mission?" He rocked back and forth on his feet.
Henry kept his voice low, being in public and all, despite the fact that the two were alone. "Not particularly," he said. "You?"
"Uhhhhh…" The pilot continued to tic, hands rhythmically tapping against his legs. "I-- yeah."
Worry furrowed the eyebrows of the former thief. Charles had the most experience out of their group with standard missions, so seeing him like this was unusual to say the least. "What's wrong?"
Charles looked down. "I know it's silly, I'm part of the government, but this is my first mission not in the air, and, with where we're going… yeah."
Henry's shoulder gently nudged his. "'S not silly. You're out of your comfort zone; been there, done that." A slight smile played across his face as he reached over to grab the pilot's hand. "Plus, you've got us, that's got to count for something, right?"
"Yeah, you're right! Thanks, Hen." A tiny laugh escaped from Charles' lips, though he still had his self-doubts. "Speaking of, Ell does know she's supposed to pick us up around now, right?"
It was the first time someone that wasn't Charles in their group was the designated driver, leaving the pilot more than a little curious. The redhead had given the boys barely any indication as to what she was driving and where she was getting it. He secretly hoped it would be a motorcycle. Motorcycles are cool.
"Hope so," the former thief said simply. He was unconsciously rubbing circles into the other's hand.
Henry was cool, too.
"Not that I want to like, uhhh, stop spending time with you, y'know, I guess I'm just, uh, antsy?" Charles paused. "About the mission. Yeah. Um."
"You look cold, are you sure you're okay without your sweater?"
"Oh, yeah." Charles swallowed. "I'm fine, you're, uhh, nice and warm, and stuff. Yeah."
"Mmm," Henry hummed thoughtfully.
Only a few minutes had passed, but the pilot would have been okay with staying the way they were for another hour. That is, had it not been for the loud screeching of wheels from a nearby street that made him jump in what was otherwise a quiet night. Henry's head left his shoulder. "Whoa, sorry, Hen, were you falling asleep?"
The former thief shook his head, but Charles still wasn't sure. "What was that?" he mumbled; almost incomprehensible.
"Dunno, do you think it might be--"
He was cut off again by another screech that made Henry jump this time, and the both of them got their answer as a red and grey shape began moving down the side of the road, approaching quickly.
Charles gasped with excitement.
Before the two was Ellie Rose, their third teammate, crouched upon a huge red motorcycle decked out with rose patterns that even matched her helmet and embroidered leather jacket. She gave them a grin and pulled over, boot planted against the ground as she reached down and grabbed a couple of helmets stored in the sidecar. "You guys need a ride?"
"Ohhhh my gosh, Ell," Charles was practically bouncing at this point. "You have a motorcycle? Since when? That's so cool… why didn't you tell us? I've always wanted to ride one…"
Ellie laughed. Henry was just dumbfounded and a little jealous, standing with his mouth open. This was way cooler than his old scooter. "Got this baby custom-made a few weeks back and I just got to pick it up, I figured right before the mission would be a good time. I wanted to surprise y'all with it and take it out for a test run."
"This is awesome, not as cool as my heli, but still." Charles was glancing from side to side, taking in as much of the bike as he could. He took the helmets from Ellie and passed one over to Henry. "Safety first," he reminded him.
Henry glared at him before putting on his helmet, though he was smiling. "Need I remind you who keeps wanting to crash his helicopter into buildings?"
"Hey, there's air bags!" the pilot defended. His voice was muffled as he put the helmet on, lowering his headphones around his neck instead. Ellie scoffed.
"Right, air bags," she said, clicking her tongue. "You guys getting on or no?"
"Oh, who's going in the sidecar?" Charles asked as he looked to Henry, who shrugged.
"I'm not making one of you go in the sidecar." Ellie muttered. "That's for our stuff."
The former thief tossed his backpack into it rather unceremoniously, hardly batting an eye.
"Wait, so you mean…" Charles put two and two together. "We're all going up there? You sure we're all gonna fit? Or if that's even legal?"
"What, you nervous, Charlie?" The redhead snorted with a grin.
"I trust you!" Ellie feigned praise, putting her hand to her heart and mouthing 'Aww'. "I just…" Charles locked eyes with Henry. "Well, I am nervous, won't it be kind of dangerous with three people?"
"Not if you guys hold on tight."
"O-oh yeah," Charles said rather breathlessly as he scratched at the back of his head. "Well, I-- uhh-- Hen, why don't you go in the middle? If that feels safer. I'll take the back since I have more experience with dangerous vehicles and stuff!"
"Oh! S-sure… thanks," Henry said quickly, climbing on and holding on to Ellie.
"Smooth, you two."
"Huh?" Charles took a moment to put his things in the sidecar before swinging a leg around the motorcycle.
"Never mind." Ellie smiled to herself. "Just get on, ya dork. And make sure to hold on reaaaally tight so you don't fall off."
Charles tucked his head against Henry's shoulder and wrapped his arms around him. "G-got it," he said.
"All good back there?" Ellie nearly shouted as she kicked in the ignition and the motorcycle roared back to life.
Charles barely had time to muster a "yeah" that she probably couldn't even hear before they were zooming off into the night. The sudden rush of adrenaline, just that, had the pilot's heart racing.
---
"We're here!"
The dizzying spiral of lights and colours came to an abrupt end as Ellie pulled her motorcycle to a halt so sudden that if Charles hadn't been hanging on so tightly, he probably would have gone flying. And not in the way he's used to.
Ellie paused as she took in the massive lot. "...I think?" she said, eyes narrowed. Getting down and motioning for the others to do the same, she took off her helmet and ran a hand through her hair.
"Looks the part," Henry practically whispered.
Surrounded by a massive chain-link fence was an overgrown field about half a mile long and twice as wide. What was presumably the building they were looking for stood a decent ways away beyond the field. Ellie took one good look at it, and then to her bike, before deciding she didn't want it anywhere near the crumbling old thing. She made sure to lock it up, giving it a tiny pat before turning back away.
Charles swung his bag around his shoulder and gave Henry and Ellie theirs. When he finally turned to see the lot, he felt his breath catch for just a moment. From the air, almost nothing intimidated him, but something about this place, not to mention being on foot, made his stomach hurt. "Y-yeah." He had to agree. It certainly looked the part.
"So what'd you guys bring?" The redhead rolled her shoulders and began digging through her backpack, which also stuck to the black and red roses theme. Henry gave his kleptomaniac self the mental reminder not to touch her things; literally everyone would know. Plus, he'd rather not deal with Ellie noogies. Zipping up the jacket he borrowed from the pilot, on the other hand, made him consider keeping it even more. "I've got my phone for pictures, comms, and light, a knife-- ow! Damn it! Actually, two knives, some extra pistol rounds, a thing of water, a grappling hook, lighters and some lockpicks."
Charles winced. "You good from that? I've got a first aid kit." Ellie nodded, showing that the knife only nicked her. "Okay, but, uhh, only if you're sure. I have my phone, too, and water, and I have some rope, goggles and a bulletproof vest. Hen?"
The former thief gave a bit of a nervous smile. "Well, I…" he muttered, pulling out a shovel, followed by a pair of plungers, a spoon, a magnet, something that looked like a watch, and some cheese? There was also a green rectangular thing that he threw aside with great disgust. "...yeah."
Ellie raised an eyebrow, but she smirked anyway, nudging Henry with her elbow. "Listen dude, you always manage to know what to do even with all that weird s**t, so I trust you."
"Y-yeah," Charles said. "These things are kinda weird but, I trust you too, Hen. You're super smart. And stuff. Heh…"
Henry waved his arm, flustered at that, and grinned despite himself. Ellie could only roll her eyes.
“Too cute,” the redhead scoffed. “But seriously, how are we gonna scale this thing? It’s two me’s tall!" (Which makes it really tall) She nodded towards the chain-link fence. It didn’t seem to have any gaps. Henry reached for the plungers, but she held out her arm to stop him. “Nah, not gonna stick, Stickmin.” He blew a tiny raspberry that only Charles noticed. “You said you had some rope, right Charles?” she asked. The pilot nodded.
“I do.”
“‘K, pass it to me.”
Ellie took hold of the rope, made a giant knot and then threw it over the fence like it was nothing, tying the knot around one of the chains. Then she began to climb, using the rope as support and grabbing onto the chains when she had to. That got a simple “oh!” from Charles. She did the same on the other side, making sure to keep the rope tight.
“Nice thinking, Ell!” The pilot, who had seen similar demonstrations of the same thing before countless times, began to pull himself up as well. When he reached the bottom on the other side, he looked across the fence to Henry. “You all good?”
The former thief signed a ‘Yes’ as he ascended, certainly having much more of an upper-body struggle than his less lanky teammates, but he managed.
“All right, Hen!” Ellie slapped his shoulder when he made his landing. Charles went to get the rope. “Remind me to get you some weights,” she whispered half-jokingly. Henry groaned. “Welp!” She turned to the pilot next. “Y’all ready to go kick a** after we trudge through this grass?”
The grass in question almost reached up to the redhead’s knees, and she was the tallest of the trio.
“Guess so.” Charles was still shoving the rope back into his bag, it somehow seemed to take up more room the second time. “How about you?” He exchanged glances with Henry, who, besides his slightly bruised pride, was raring to go, face matching Ellie’s in determination. It made sense, then, that the two former convicts were already heading off. “Oh… okay.” He went after them, though the knot of dread in his stomach only seemed to worsen.
Upon catching up to the two, he took the middle spot. “Hey, before we actually, y’know, get there, shouldn’t we have a plan to get in just in case it’s all locked up?” Ellie asked.
“Oh, oh yeah. Umm…” Charles bit his lip. “You’ve got some lockpicks, right? Oh, and that grappling hook? Those could work, uhhh…”
“Yeah, but I meant more like, a plan plan. Like one of your greatest plans! But no helicopter. Like, where are we all gonna go, what should we look for, that kinda thing.”
“Right. Uhhhh--” He was looking at the ground at this point, arms crossed. “--we could probably just…” He paused.
Now both Henry and Ellie were attentive, slowing their walking speed down so that they were hardly moving. They both wore equally concerned expressions.
“You good, dude?”
“Y-yeah.” Shaky and quiet, it didn’t sound very much like a ‘yeah’ to either of them, though.
“Hey, Charles, when I asked if you were nervous earlier I was just teasing, but if you really are nervous you know you can tell us, right?” Ellie caught his gaze, her voice softer than usual.
It caught him off guard. “O-oh, yeah, yeah, I know. To tell the truth, yeah, I’m really nervous. I’m, uhhh, I’m usually only called in for special missions, and even then, I’m always in the air, so that’s where I’m the most comfortable. I’ve never had a team or anything like you guys before, so I’ve literally never done anything other than flying, besides during training. I know it’s dumb that I’m so worried, since I have the most experience, technically. But since this is, like, you guys’ thing, and we work so well together, uhh, I’m kinda stuck with you guys in this case.”
The redhead gasped dramatically. “What do you mean, stuck with us? Charles--” She threw her head back and placed her hand on her forehead, choking out a fake sob. “--I-- I thought you liked us!"
“No, no, sorry, I worded that weird,” the pilot said, smiling. “Kinda rambled on there. But you guys are really cool. You’re really great, the greatest, even! And if it means anything, I’d be a lot more nervous if I wasn’t with the Triple Threat. It sounds cheesy, but both of you are the world to me.”
That got Henry to reach his arm around Charles’ shoulder, a fond grin forming on his face and a red forming on the pilot's. ‘And you’re the world to us,’ he signed slowly, making sure the others could see it.
“Okay, I wouldn’t go that far,” Ellie chaffed, but she was smiling, too. “I’ve considered giving you dorks up to the Toppats for one corn chip.”
Henry punched her in the bicep.
“Maybe just the crumbs if that’s all they had.”
The second punch was harder.
Rubbing her arm and wincing, she finally caved. “Okay, okay. A few months ago, I was kind of a lone wolf; didn't trust many people. But now? If anyone even thought about hurting either of you, I would make them regret messing with the Triple Threat for the rest of their sorry lives.” Her voice said brute force, but her eyes said arson.
“Thanks, Ell,” Charles sighed. A weight seemed to leave his shoulders. “And same here, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if someone hurt you guys, especially if they got away with it.”
Henry didn’t have to say anything for the others to know exactly what he was thinking, face firm as one arm refused to leave Charles’ shoulder, the other placed much more gently on Ellie’s this time around.
“Alright, that’s it. Get in.” Ellie threw her arms around her slightly shorter teammates, who squeezed her back. “I love you idiots. So much.” Then she looked down. “But, hey, how about we get in there and show that warehouse what Triple Threat can do, plan or not?”
“Love you guys, too,” Charles said, watching as Henry signed the same. He wiped at his eyes. “And y-yeah! We’ve got this.”
Henry nodded. If he was with anyone else, or even on his own, he wouldn't be so sure just winging it, especially after his knack for random fails. But there was something about the other two that made him feel like he could do anything, even more than he normally did.