The Little Things Make Big Differences

"Hey, so, you cleaned up in here."

Henry, leaning back in his computer chair almost enough to tip it over, looked at Dave through the half-open bathroom door. "Mhm. Decided my room was getting messy. I swear Dad Reginald must give Howie or Katie a raise every time they tell him my room's a mess. Thanks for pointing out the medicine. I'd totally forgotten that existed and gave it back to the doctor."

"Would he be giving it to someone else? It's expired!"

"Of course not," Henry puffed. "For the love of God don't let him hear you say that. Few things get under that man's skin more than bad medical practices or his old college pal. He's grumpy to begin with."

Dave shut the medicine cabinet and walked back into his bedroom. "Heh. They're not pals anymore."

"Not in the least." Henry cleared his throat and went on in an impersonation of the man that would give the doctor clearance to euthanize Henry, "That old hermit may be brilliant, but I swear the only reason she was valedictorian instead of me is because she sucked someone off. Then I get my own job away from Her Grace and they still conspire to toss me out and replace me with her! Good luck with that. That hermit who could barely speak English is a solo practitioner! There's a reason that rule-following brown-noser is 'technically affiliated with' the government and I'm a Toppat."

Dave snickered. "Did she really?"

"I doubt it. I think he's just sour he lost at something, like, a hundred years ago."

"He's not a great sport, then."

Henry shrugged. "Yeah, but mostly when it comes to his job. He can't stand someone referring to her as being better than him. Now, commenting about one of the other medical professionals on board? He's more likely to compliment them, too. But not to their faces because of something about ego or whatever."

"Do you think they were together or something? She broke up with him, and that's why he doesn't like her so much," Dave offered.

Henry snickered. "Man, that would be hilarious. A few people I know started that kind of gossip and got shut down. People who've known him longer know that they were college partners, pals even, but nothing more than that. But I wouldn't put it past him to be that petty." Henry fell forward so that all four feet of his chair hit the ground. "Anyway, Charles, Ellie, and I were talking about some of our biggest exploits. I was wondering, since you used to be a cop. How about your first high-speed chase?"

"Well, I was mostly a prison guard, so I didn't go on many of those," Dave admitted. "But there was one time where they needed back up at a restaurant. Since I was Rupert's partner, I went with him. The suspects got in a car and ran away when they figured out we were coming. Since Rupert was driving, I sat shot gun and helped gun down one of the cars before they could make it too far. I almost got my ear blown off when one of them shot back at me!"

Henry fished out the last necklace he could find in the display case and snuck back behind a corner and watched the cameras. The red light that had been blinking was still off. Tony shut the register and, after a quick look around, joined Henry, where he was waved off and Henry gestured down the hall. Camera lights were still off. Henry checked down the now empty halls and then went back to watching as Floyd and Harry joined them, a quiet snicker passing between the two. The noise died upon seeing Henry's narrowed eyes and they fled. The cameras were still off–

The red light began to blink again.

Henry ducked out.

His heart nearly jumped out of his chest as an alarm screamed above them. Swearing to himself, Henry darted down the hall after Tony, Harry, Floyd, and now Magnus, who had been in the security office. Tony hissed at a very guilty Magnus like an angry goose, stopping only when Henry pushed himself between them and pointed down the hall.

Outside was their goal where Douglas waited in their car not-so-patiently, Henry would assume, especially now that an alarm had gone off in the store. What had caused the alarm to go off, anyway? Magnus was in the security room! Wh–

Henry spun around as he heard a heavy thud and a yell. Magnus struggled fiercely with a security guard, who now hissed into a walkie talkie with his free hand, keeping his shoulder on Magnus' chest to keep him down. Henry dragged him off, ripping away any form of self defense that could have come from a Taser. Magnus got to his feet and bolted. Down the hall, another scuffle took place. Henry let go of the guard after one last kick to the stomach and ran off. The squabble was over by the time Henry made it to them, and Tony was again scolding Magnus. They were moving, so Henry didn't bother to shut him up.

The fire escape let off another alarm that drilled itself into Henry's head. He was going to be deaf by the end of all this, wasn't he? What the hell did Magnus do, he was in security!

The truck engine growled behind them, hidden in the alleyway with its lights off. Henry found himself jumping into the back with Tony, plucking the rifle off the truck bed as he did so. Douglas ripped out of the alley on the fastest route out of there. It would've been nice to just hide under the tarp in the bed of the truck to evade any pesky laws about not being allowed to ride in the back rather than fleeing a crime scene in progress. Oh well, life happens.

Though the alarms from the jewelry store had started to taper off the farther they went, wails from blue and white cars now finding themselves in the scene did nothing of the sort. They weren't close enough, yet, to do any harm. But they couldn't afford to be followed too far. A tire blew out in one of the closer police cruisers, the rubber no match for a good dozen drops of metal traveling faster than the speed of sound.

The car wobbled and moved off as the driver complied to the car's injury. Tony took a more direct method. The car drifted as its driver's head hit the now bloody steering wheel, successfully panicking his partner who dove to take control and raise an alert on his walkie talkie at the same time. Henry didn't look at Tony, rather concentrating on the next car to weave its way forward. The passenger of this one rolled down the window and leaned out, a pistol pointed straight at them. Henry, perhaps?

Henry took aim at the officer.

"The suspects got in a car and ran away when they figured out we were coming. Since Rupert was driving, I sat shot gun and helped gun down one of the cars before they could make it too far. I almost got my ear blown off when one of them shot back at me!"

He winced upon feeling a bullet whizz past his ear. Upon reflex he shot. The glass on the passenger side cracked as the projectile broke through it, tearing in the seat behind him, missing both officers by a longshot. There was another shot, this time from beside Henry, and the passenger released his weapon. Off balance, he fell out and tumbled onto the road. The second police cruiser jerked out of the way. Henry doubted that mattered.

"Henry!" Tony snarled. "Wake up!"

Henry threw a glare at him and went back to the police cruisers wailing behind them. The other passenger in the second police cruiser didn't peak out like the first one did, at least not completely. He ducked back in after firing off a shot. He was gunned down as well, and the blue and white cars were forced to retreat lest they get cut open as well.

The truck bed jerked and bucked under them as they went off-road.

Once the truck slowed to a stop, Tony barked, "What was that, Henry?"

Henry, who'd dropped his weapon on top of the others, snapped a glare back at him. "What?"

"Did you fall asleep or something? That guy was a sitting duck for a solid thirty seconds!"

"And?" Henry pushed himself up and hopped out of the truck. "It worked out, didn't it?"

"Because of me," Tony growled. "Honestly, you and Magnus? If you'd just done your jobs right, we'd have pulled this off without a hitch!"

Magnus, his eyes narrowed in a weak glare, reciprocated, "The fucker woke up. He wasn't supposed to do that!"

"Did you put a bullet in his head?"

"No."

"Well, there's your problem. Living people tend to wake up."

Magnus scoffed, "I didn't need to kill him!"

Henry got between them again, glowering at Tony. "I don't care what it was like back at your old place, but we don't just kill everyone we meet here. We're only here for the jewelry, not half a dozen lives."

"You say that while a cop was trying to blow your head off?"

"Well, he didn't!"

"And you just tossed away that security guard." Tony scoffed. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were soft on them."

Henry raised an eyebrow. "And where would that idea come from?"

"You skipped work to play at a military base," Tony pointed out. "You were supposed to be with me in a museum heist."

"I was captured by the Wall! And then I escaped it."

"Using the government."

"Using my friend."

"Same thing."

Floyd chipped in, "Uh, guys? We should go before they catch up to us."

Henry and Tony turned to him. Henry nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Come on. Let's get out of here. We can argue back on the ship."

Henry lay on his bed, tossing a small ball up and then catching it. Heists were fun. The thrill of sneaking someplace he shouldn't, cleaning out a room, and then escaping into the night was fun. Looking at everything he'd gathered was satisfying, even if only a margin of it was actual profit. Being on a team was nice, too. Magnus took over the security room to make sure they weren't spotted so Henry didn't have to constantly look over his back. Douglas drove the truck while Tony helped Henry in the truck bed so he wouldn't have to worry about getting gunned down at the last second.

So, what was different about this run?

Henry had no feeling of satisfaction, no adrenaline to run off or a high to exploit. He was just… tired, after running and carrying and that short spat with the security guard. Usually, he wouldn't be feeling that until way later. Not to mention the fight with Tony. Their group had been larger than necessary for a jewelry store robbery in the middle of the night, sure, but they'd also been planning on a larger haul, which they did get. Magnus just had a spot of bad luck with the security guard he'd knocked out waking up before he was supposed to, and way more quietly than he had the right to possess. Tony really shouldn't have gone off on him like he did. So, Henry didn't take the shot. Tony did. Henry did more than enough to pull his own weight. He was doing just fine protecting them.

Henry caught the ball and shut his eyes. But that was just part of the problem, wasn't it? He couldn't take the shot. In fact, he might've gotten shot himself before killing that damnable passenger. This hadn't been Henry's first rodeo. He'd had to shoot them down before to save his own skin.

God dammit. Howie was right. He was spending way too much time around Dave. Around Dave and Charles. If he wasn't careful, he'd get soft. He wouldn't shoot when he needed to. He might even get hurt or, worse, get in the way and someone else could get hurt or even killed. Heh. That was already happening, though. He couldn't even find fun in a simple jewelry robbery anymore.

"The General already gave you a pardon. But everyone expects you to go right back to being a criminal, maybe even a notorious one. You don't have to, you can prove them wrong if you want to."

…yeah, that was definitely it. He spent a lot of time around Charles and Dave–especially Dave of late, but his childhood had practically been defined by Charles. Henry was a Toppat, through and through. His fathers were the Chief and his right hand. Henry was a strong member of the Clan, perhaps not yet an Elite, but he was trusted. They depended on him, they trusted him. Henry couldn't trip up like that again. He couldn't go on another heist if there was even the thought of him not taking the shot. It would end in someone's injury or, God forbid, death. But… what if the next cop he hurt had been one of Dave's friends? What if some government agents jumped them and Henry was forced to shoot down one of the Buck twins or June or Liam? There was no way on this planet he'd be able to shoot down Charles and Ellie, not at all. But if he started making exceptions, if he started looking for people, that would slow him down. Just half a second's pause could mean life or death. It's not like any of them would even think about hesitating to end Henry's life if it came down to it. Maybe to see if they could arrest him, but no other mercy would be considered.

He sighed and pulled himself up. Well, now was about the time he went to meet Dave normally. Maybe talk more about his friends. "Oh, hey, by the way, I'll probably need to kill a cop or security guard or something who you might know next time I botch a heist, I hope that's okay with you." Because Dave would take that very well. Or he could ask Charles and Ellie for advice. Like he didn't know the answer to that. Charles would just urge him to go "back" to the straight and narrow. Ellie would suggest the same, if veiled in some sort of "follow your heart" advice because that's just what Ellie does.

Henry tossed his ball onto his desk. It bounced and landed in the pencil holder beside his computer. Trapped, it rustled the pens as loudly as possible and caused the holder itself to wobble dangerously for a few seconds before settling. Heh. That dumb holder was heavy with thick rings held together by bars for structure and netting near the bottom half. It was supposed to be used to hold small devices–anything from explosives to scramblers–but instead he set it on his desk and filled it with pens. After all, that thing was too clunky to take around everywhere. It did just as good holding a handful of pens and a bouncy ball as it did holding a few scramblers and electronic lockpickers.

Henry shook his head and got up. Yeah, no. He couldn't risk anyone's neck because he was indecisive about which side he owed allegiance. He could just… keep himself out. He could still help organize some patrols, some heists. He could still do his job. He just wouldn't be going out into the field!

…they'd see right through that. Anyone who knew him and how active he was–Henry was outside the airship longer than he was inside it–would find a very large problem with it. Well… he had some vacation time saved up? A few more days, test himself out. If he was still having problems, he'd just claim he needed to take a break and sort some stuff out. Yes, perfect plan. Tony probably complained to a few people how Henry and Magnus "screwed up" so if Henry took a break, that should be enough explanation, if any further explanation was required. Right? Yeah. Great plan. Amazing plan.

So, anyway, how was Dave doing?