The Interview

Henry waited, dull and uncomfortable as it was. He didn't know where Howie or Katie went. His room was small and white with a large table in the center. His hands were cuffed to the table before him, in plain view of the large glass window on the wall he could not see through.

"Henry Stickmin."

Henry glanced up at the ceiling, where the voice originated. He knew he was being watched behind one-sided glass, and the speaker was one of them. He looked at the glass, searching fruitlessly for any indication of someone being there.

"I was hoping you wouldn't be there."

Henry said and did nothing.

"Henry, what were you doing there?"

…

Henry asked, "Can I talk now?"

"Yes, go ahead."

"Stargazing with my roomies. Katie wanted to teach us some stuff about the November constellations."

"What were you doing in that house?"

Henry shrugged. "We got curious, I was suspicious of the tire tracks, and Howie's scared of ghost stories, so Katie and I thought we'd check it out." Dumbass. Shouldn't've gone in there in the first place.

"Did you know what you would find in there?"

"Nope. The place looks like it was taken straight out of the fifties or something."

"Were you looking to take something?"

Henry shrugged. "Ehhh, no. Katie and I figured out pretty quickly it was just some crazy old dead guy's shack in the middle of nowhere. We don't actually have a use for old mugs and tin foil."

"Katie, your partner. What did she say about the house?"

"My friend?" Henry echoed coolly. "Yeah, she's the junior stargazer. She invited us to go out into the desert to look at some constellations, so I let her do the research. She said that there wasn't anything about the house."

"Why did she wish to go stargazing there? Did she tell you?"

"It was convenient, the best place to go," Henry explained. "Far enough away from the city to not have light pollution, but close enough in case our bikes die we don't get stranded." Well, the upside about being arrested when not in a heist is they'd have no problem having matching stories.

"And what did you know about the house?"

"Only what we could see from the outside," Henry replied. "Small, old, sturdy. But I knew there wasn't any treasure in it or whatever you would want to call it."

"How do you know that?"

"Plain roof, plain ground–well, there was a trail leading to it, but no giant 'X' that we could see." Henry couldn't help a muffled smile.

"…Henry, have you had any contact with anyone from the US military recently?"

"Yes." Henry's childish smile fell.

"Were you told about any plans?"

"No."

"Were you told when anything confidential may be taking place?"

"No…? Look, I'm not friends with the general or some type of captain or president or something."

"Were you told when someone may or may not be available?"

"…yes. Him, yeah. He tells me when he's going to be gone for days at a time so I don't panic if he doesn't respond."

"Did this person, through conscious decision or not, give you the means to know or expect something important was going to be at that shack?"

Henry narrowed his eyes. "No. What are you talking about? I just told you that it was my roommate's plan to do a totally legitimate, legal, fun activity out in the middle of nowhere. No one else, not someone from the government or police force or the Wall or whatever, told me there was some magical treasure ship hidden in a box in a creepy old shack. …was there a magical treasure ship hidden in that box and I just ran off without it?" Henry couldn't help the sudden spike of curiosity. A magical treasure ship sounded nice, after all.

"You said that you drove to that specific location to go stargazing?"

"Yes."

"You said you knew about the house."

"No."

"You said you knew the house was there."

"Yes."

"You said you have contact with a person currently working for the US military."

"Yes."

"You said that this person does not give out classified information."

"Yes."

"You said your friend discovered the place searching for places to stargaze."

"Yes."

"You said you have worked with the Toppat Clan or those affiliated."

"No." Henry kept a neutral, borderline irritated look. What was this guy smoking?

…

Henry asked, "Hey, yeah, before you cut the line or whatever, is my friend there? The one whose name I know you aren't slandering. I mean, if he's not then just ya'know, give him a message for me, would you?"

"The pilot Charles Calvin is not with us," the voice stated.

Henry deflated. "What? What do you mean?"

"He's not here to answer you. Thank you for your time, Mr. Stickmin."

"What do you mean he's not here?" Henry asked, the chill confusion of the sudden statement leaking into heated irritation.

…

"What the hell do you mean by that? He's one of your best pilots and my best friend! Don't tell me you lost him!" he puffed. Dumbasses; Charles was smarter than the lot of them. If he wasn't around, it was because they didn't read the memo that he was needed somewhere else. Since Henry's hands were tied–literally–it wasn't like he was going to have any luck.

…

Henry growled and rolled his eyes. And of course they left him alone. They just wanted to watch him flip out. Well, suck it, cops. That wasn't going to be happening any time soon. He'd just have to wait here. In this bright white room. Handcuffed to the table. Without reason, of course. They were doing nothing illegal or suspicious. He should probably text Ellie, since Charles was still out.

…

Henry decided to fall back on thinking about his plans for the next few days. He really should have at least greeted Dave that evening and tell him he'd be gone. Poor guy. He'd need to find Howie and Katie and make their way back to the airship, unfollowed. On the way they could debate on how the cops really caught them. A high-speed chase into the desert sounded fun. One helicopter? Mmm… no, there was definitely two. Or three? He'd need to ask Katie. She was the best at remembering details. And a whole fleet of armored vehicles, of course. It was doomed from the start because they were out like hikers; no equipment, no hats, no weapons, nothing. But they didn't give up that easily!

By the time the door opened again, revealing a few people in green, Henry rolled his eyes. "Fina…" His voice trailed off upon catching General Galeforce's gaze.

"Henry," the general stated. "Are you sure you and your friends didn't know anything about what was in that house?"

"Positive," Henry answered. "Why? Is Charles okay? That asshole cop said that they couldn't let me leave him a message." Henry's eyes flicked to one of the soldiers on his other side who walked around the table at the general's gesture. He seemed vaguely familiar, the one with sideburns and a harsh look that was just a spark shy of permitting him the ability to light people on fire with his glare.

"He isn't dead," General Galeforce said, bringing Henry's attention back to him. "And you're only partially right about being locked up in here. Henry, you don't owe us anything, but we would really like to use your help."

The soldier unlocked Henry from his binds. He immediately hopped to his feet, up and out of the soldier's reach barely after the last lock clicked into place. "What do you mean my help? You have a literal army. I'm here stargazing with my two roommates. What do you mean by 'he isn't dead'? Of course he isn't dead, he's Charles."

General Galeforce waved for them to leave. The two soldiers–one was… something and the other was the sideburns guy Henry knew he knew from somewhere–walked to the door, pausing only when the general didn't follow them. Henry was still in place. He sighed. "Henry, this is a very serious issue."

"I don't care what's happening, I refuse to leave without Howie and Katie, and I need to know what's going on," Henry demanded.

There was a short silence. "Alright. Come on, Henry. Your roommates are out here waiting for you. I knew I wouldn't get a word out of you otherwise."

Henry couldn't help a small smile as he followed him out of the room. Charles was onto something, huh? That old man was smart, for a military guy. But that was obvious, favoring freeing Henry's friends–who still didn't do anything wrong–was an obvious.

"Henry!" Katie's call took his attention. Howie and Katie, neither handcuffed but both under scrutiny by a few government goons, stood in the hallway. Howie smiled to one and hummed a greeting. Katie rocked on her heels, hands clasped behind her back and her smile crooked. "Hey, there you are!"

Henry waved back and sped up to meet them. "Hey, Kate, Cowboy! They didn't get you too good, did they?"

Katie shook her head with a laugh that went on a little too loud and long. "Yeah, no, we're fine."

"Completely," Howie chimed in. "They ain't so bad once you get ta know 'em, huh?"

"So, I need to talk to the General about Charles," Henry said.

Howie blinked. "Oh. Well, okay. Yeah. We can wait, eh…"

"Outside?" Katie offered. "There's probably too much light pollution to see any stars, though."

General Galeforce nodded. "Escort them out. Stay out of trouble, you two." He sent a firm look at the two before looking back at Henry and moving on. Henry moved with him. He sent them a wave and a short goodbye. They were gone soon enough. Henry turned on the soldier next to him. "What's your name?"

"What?"

"I recognize you from somewhere," Henry elaborated. "I remember your face. What's your name?"

"Rupert."

Henry jolted. "Rupert? …Price? You're in the–oooooh! You're in the military! Charles talked about you!" Dave was going to murder Henry. "Sorry I didn't recognize you at first."

"Right."

Henry's train of thought did not go much further as they were now outside of the interrogation room and those sprawls of hallways and away from all the drones. Now it was just them–General Galeforce and Henry, as Rupert was allowed to stay outside the warm and decorated office. Henry was not asked to sit. Neither of them left their feet.

General Galeforce, behind his desk, stated, "We last saw Charlie about five hours ago. We lost sight of his helicopter and then radio silence. Two hours ago, we recovered his aircraft, but he was not inside."

"What?"

The general let out a short, testy sigh. "I understand this isn't typical protocol, but Henry, you and your friend, Ellie Rose. You two have a knack for finding the boy. No one else on any base I've walked on has been able to find that kid so quickly and effortlessly as you two put together. I need you and Ms. Rose to track him down and bring him back."

Henry managed to say, "Do you have any ideas?"

"We don't have very much to go on, but we will give you the information you need. I'd prefer it if both you and Ellie worked together on this. I already called her, and she agreed to meet with me. Henry, you had a shady past, and I'm not going to pretend that I believe you and those kids were completely innocent just now. But I know that you're Charlie's best friend and I also know that you're an incredibly intelligent and cunning man. I'm willing to trust you, Henry Stickmin, to find our best pilot and bring him home."

"Of course. Ellie and I are–we won't let him down," Henry agreed. "Definitely. Uh, say, when we found him last time–"

General Galeforce held up a hand. "I would not thank you if you told me how you two managed to track all of us across an ocean and two continents."

"Gotcha. And about the fiasco just now? What was that? Katie, Howie, and I were just literally going to see the stars. I mean, to be frank, you're right, if there was something worth it in there, we might have–er, but what was that?"

Henry could swear he saw a smile in all that exasperation. "Henry, you somehow walked straight into a trap we'd planted for the Toppat Clan two hours after planting it. Our men were still getting into position when you stumbled across it. That's why I was able to clear you three so easily. We hadn't alerted those thieves to anything, yet."

Henry could barely keep his composure. They fell into a trap that wasn't even finished yet. "Where's Ellie? Are we going to be given free range or…?"

"My team picked up Ellie two hours ago. They should be back shortly. Yes, you will have as much or as little government aid as you need. Though there is a limit, understand?"

"Right, sir!" What? "Sir?" Are you serious?