Chapter Text
Sometimes, Henry still wonders how he ended up here.
Henry has always thought he would live life on his lonesome, never truly making any bonds with anyone because sooner or later that bond is just going to fall apart either from betrayal or from the passage of time. He's never been able to make real friends, dating all the way back to his time in the orphanage to adulthood when he had to turn to a life of crime to make ends meet.
But now, he's currently watching TV on a soft couch in a nice little house far away from the big city and eating popcorn. With someone sitting beside him, dozing off from the background noise.
Henry still thinks that everything that happened a few months ago had been a dream. Stealing the Romanian Ruby from the Toppat Clan was one thing, but saving and bringing a hostage with him back home? It felt absurd when he thought back to it.
Now however, when he turned to look at the spiky black hair poking out from underneath a new hat he stole bought a while back, he can't help but smile at how peaceful the other looks in his sleep.
Maybe, just maybe, the idea of having a genuine connection with someone wasn't fully off the table with him after all.
-
Henry Stickmin has never felt more alive.
It was so unlike his heist for the Tunisian Diamond, but it was still exciting and exhilarating all the same. For one, this heist was made on the fly, never planned unlike with the Tunisian Diamond. He also never planned to only take the ruby and get out; it was supposed to be grabbing some evidence of the Toppat Clan's crimes while also grabbing a slice of the pie they stole, it was supposed to be a win-win.
Oh well, not like it matters now. The government let him go and the Toppats have been brought down, and he got a sweet deal comprised of the Romanian Ruby out of it.
As he flies away on the prototype suit he stole for himself (he's definitely keeping this, it's super cool with lots of cool things he can do on it), Henry decided to look down at the desert ground below him, everything looking like a blur with how fast he was going. He was never one to fear heights, in fact he often found heights to be rather beautiful and breathtaking when everyone else around him was afraid of being anywhere ten feet above the ground.
There was never a time when he feared falling to his death when he's high above the ground. And even if he was falling to his death, he'd have a way to prevent his imminent death, he always does.
Though, sometimes he does have that fear of falling. Everyone does, but only in certain situations.
Henry wasn't sure how he managed to catch sight of the person he saw below with how fast he was going, but all he knows is that spotting a black dot below him that, for whatever reason, he remembers as the security guard cap he had seen moments before he entered the vault inside the Toppat airship, made him stop right in his tracks.
He squints as he lowers himself down to the ground, getting a better look at the person he saw above ground.
Sure enough, that was the same security guard cap he saw in the brig, accompanied by spiky black hair and a black, worn out security uniform. The man was slowly walking through the desert, visibly limping as he held onto his side with one hand.
They were quite a ways away from the crash site of the airship, and the fight between the government and the Toppats didn't last long before the CCC got involved. How this guy got all the way out here was beyond Henry's understanding, though, he supposed he shouldn't judge considering he got out of sticky situations in much stranger ways than this.
The man appears to hear and sense Henry's presence as he turns his head to look up at the sky, stopping in his tracks just as Henry landed.
Now that Henry was no longer focused on his goal on obtaining the Romanian Ruby, he now has a better look and view of the man he freed earlier, and came to the realization that this man was the same one who made that joke about him being freed to go back in the prison he was being held after his failed heist of the bank.
Henry blinks at the other man. He really missed the opportunity to get a bit of payback for that joke there, if only he had realized it earlier.
...how did he even end up with the Toppats? And how did he end up as a security guard? He doesn't really keep up with the lives of the people who he encountered before, especially if they make jokes at his expense at him, but there has to be a considerable time gap between when he escaped prison and stole the diamond.
The man looks at him, confused and obviously suffering from the heat of the desert. The uniform he was wearing was made with the cold night in mind, not under the sweltering heat of the sun.
"It's- it's you." The man says, eyes glazed and half-lidded and exhausted. If Henry had to take a guess, he would think that this guy had ran out into the desert when the airship crashed and was running on pure adrenaline alone.
Adrenaline is one hell of a drug, Henry can attest to that. But there's only so much it can do to keep someone going before they succumb to exhaustion.
Henry, now that he has a bit of time to analyze the guy's face and appearance, now is able to see what looks to be bruises and cuts on his face and neck. There were also tears in his uniform that showed some signs dried blood and scars underneath the fabric. They looked too old to have been from the crash, leaving only two explanations in Henry's mind that make sense.
for whatever reason one of the less savoury options creates a pit in his stomach at the mere thought of it
"What- what do you..." The man mumbles, eyes glazing even further to the point where Henry isn't sure if he can even see his face properly anymore.
Before Henry can answer, the man collapses to the ground, exhaustion finally claiming him, making Henry flinch slightly at the suddenness of the unintended action.
Okayyyyyyy...this guy isn't doing so hot. That's...bad.
Henry could just leave him here. That's the logical thing to do. He was never here, nope, no sir. It's not like this guy is his responsibility anyway, especially since he made that really stupid joke back then.
But...
...Henry did not like the idea of it. At all.
Maybe it's just the part of him that is still...human? But he can't just leave some guy here to die alone in the desert.
Greedy bastard he might be, but he's not a heartless one.
There's a city somewhere. It wouldn't take him too long to get there with his sweet new ride in the sky, there should be a hospital there.
As Henry goes to gently use the metal arm of the suit to pick the man up, he suddenly gets second thoughts.
No, the government may have let him go this time, but there's no telling that they won't be after him again in the future. The Toppats, if they recognize him, also would have a new enemy in their sights for what he did. And a prototype suit trying to sneakily fly into a hospital to drop off an injured man on its doorstep would be far too obvious and vulnerable for his liking, especially since he still has the ruby in hand.
...Henry does know a thing or two about first aid. He kind of had to learn whenever some of his heists went wrong.
Would it be a hassle? Yes, but better that then to have the slow death of a man he doesn't know out in the hot desert all by himself.
Even if it's the same one who made that joke at him.