The Hunt

Henry didn't like all this waiting. Still, he did it. He said goodbye to Howie and Katie and now stood on the roof of the government facility. Another helicopter sat in waiting on the roof with a few other helipads left open. Henry leaned on the wall to one of the small, elevated rooms that would lead down into the building. As much as he would have loved to stand around with the general and a few others who seemed to like Charles–Rupert and Victoria had shown some concern, which was a little funny because he recognized Captain Grit's name but not her face–he would also prefer the solitude and open air of the chilly desert night.

Helicopter blades whistled through the ether some distance away.

Henry looked up as the newest vehicle joined them. Wind whipped past him and the steady roar of the helicopter rotors filled his ears. The door slid open. Henry half expected to see Charles popping his head out. But instead, it was Ellie, hopping out of the helicopter and running to meet Henry. Henry ducked inside the building, shutting out the wind and noise behind them as Ellie joined him.

"So, what happened?" Ellie asked.

"I don't really know," Henry explained as they walked. "I think he was waiting for you to get here."

"What, I couldn't talk over the phone?"

"Apparently not."

"What do you know?" Ellie held open the door for him. Despite not knowing where they were going, she stayed by his side rather than behind him.

"That he went missing almost six hours ago," Henry informed her.

"Any ideas on where to start?"

"A few, but we should get whatever we can from Galeforce first."

General Galeforce waited for them in his office. When the door was closed, the general immediately launched into his speech. "Charlie was last seen flying to an active site where we know a small Toppat base is located. We had communication with his team until everything went silent at once. Three hours later, we found his Black Hawk grounded, close to the empty base in relatively good condition. The two who were with him reported being overrun and escaping, but they did not see Charles in the end of it. He allowed them to escape but did not manage to follow them."

Ellie asked, "Where was this?"

"We found the base close to the shore, a few miles off the Gulf of Alaska, southeast of Valdez."

Huh. That was a small base, usually used by the Sea Division for restocking supplies.

Ellie looked at Henry and then nodded. "Okay. So, base close to Valdez, Alaska. On it, General!"

General Galeforce smiled. "Good. Bring him home safely, and you'll be well rewarded. If you need any help with transport or tools…?"

Henry shrugged. "I wouldn't turn down a ride."

"Good. Speak with Rodgers, he should bring you back to the site. Be careful."

Henry and Ellie gave him a salute as they left. "So, Alaska."

"Yep. Alaska," said Henry.

"Got anything warm?"

"Nope. Bring anything useful on you?"

"A few things. Let's go see about that offer for some gadgets, huh?"

"Hen, got anything?"

Henry looked up from his phone at Ellie, who sat with her arms crossed on her lap. He glanced back down at his phone. No replies. Figures. "Not yet. Everyone I know is asleep. Heh."

"Damn. So, you really know people who know Toppats?"

"I know people who know stuff they won't tell me about," Henry offered. "Hell, maybe they don't. The Toppat Clan isn't exactly open with stuff like this, after all. What I know is when they visit town, no one else is supposed to get underfoot. But no one's in town. Anymore, at least. Anyone who bothers to track them, well, I don't know."

Ellie sighed and looked at her lap. After a few minutes, she said, "Did I tell you I almost got killed in a fight with a few Toppats?"

Henry looked up. "What?"

"Yeah. So, I was hired to get this guy. Turns out he was a Toppat, and he had friends. I managed to chase them down and grab him, but he called a couple of his friends over. Barely made it out of there myself."

Was she responsible for Wallace? He'd claimed it was the military! "Really?"

"Yeah. This was actually before I went to the Wall. Those guys I was chasing when I got captured? Toppats. I must have just ruffled some wrong feathers and the Wall got me instead of them. Ugh. If Dmitri's dogs hadn't targeted me, I'd have had that guy! Maybe even his friends! I'd also still have my motorcycle."

Henry wrinkled his nose. "Damn."

"Yeah. And now they got Charles. We'll get him back, though! No one gets to kidnap our Charles and gets away with it." Ellie grinned a fierce grin. Henry couldn't help but copy it. Though… fighting them… wasn't on his agenda. Besides, fighting them wouldn't do a damn thing if Charles was on a ship or even the airship.

A few hours later, after some light talk and a short doze, Henry's phone went off.

[Hey, yeah, about that.] 7:32 AM

[Lil buddy, we should talk when you get the chance.] 7:32 AM

7:32 AM [Well, I'm not doing anything right now.]

[When you get back to the ship?] 7:33 AM

7:33 AM [Howie, I'm not going to be back for a while.]

[This is something I should explain, though… You know, in person or something. I know you're probably still at that government facility.] 7:33 AM

7:33 AM [No, I left. I'm out with Ellie looking for Charles. He went missing.]

[Oh. Can you sneak out to the airship?] 7:33 AM

7:34 AM [Is Ellie allowed to come with?]

7:35 AM [That's what I thought. Howie, just tell me what's going on. Do you know where Charles is?]

[Yeah.] 7:35 AM

Henry perked up. Finally!

7:35 AM [Where?]

[He's in the Brig.] 7:35 AM

Henry's eyebrows furrowed. Well, he'd expected Charles to be in trouble, to be captured, but at the Brig? Dad Reginald and Dad Right must know Charles is there, the chief has to be aware of all prisoners or non-Toppats on the ship.

7:36 AM [Are you serious?]

[Why the hell would I joke about this?] 7:36 AM

7:36 AM [Do my parents know?]

[They were probably still asleep when he was brought back.] 7:36 AM

[But I can check.] 7:36 AM

7:37 AM [Please. Yes.]

[Alright. Sit tight, okay? And don't do anything rash.] 7:37 AM

7:37 AM [I won't.]

Ellie craned her neck as if trying to look at his phone from across the helicopter. "What happened?"

"I think I know where Charles is," Henry said. "Someone… someone saw him."

Ellie grimaced. "I don't like that look, Henry."

Henry shook his head. "It should be fine. I've heard of prisoners, you know? It'll be simple. We just find where he's being hidden then get in and get out. Shouldn't take an hour, probably." He sent a meaningful glance in Liam's direction.

Ellie nodded. "Okay. So, your friend's awake?"

"Yeah. He's trying to see if there's anything else he can dig up. It's fairly new, after all. I don't think the Toppats themselves know everything yet. That can work for us."

Henry shot another look at Liam. Dad Reginald wouldn't stand for Charles of all people to be a prisoner, right? Dad Right wouldn't either. They'd agree that it was ridiculous, that there was no reason for it. Sure, Charles flew a few people over to take down a small Toppat base in Alaska, but Charles was a good guy. Wouldn't hurt a fly. Henry had yet to ever see Charles say anything in true anger, much less pull out a weapon. He was a good guy, smart and competent and kind and Henry's best friend. Yeah, they'd captured people who'd done things against the Clan less than what Charles did–take Dave for example–but still, they knew Charles. His dads had met Charles himself over a few birthday parties and graduation and that one time Henry hijacked a news helicopter because he was a stupid teen who didn't know what he was doing.

But… what if? What if it was "for the good of the Clan?"

No. Hurting Charles wasn't for the good of anyone. Someone like Afanasiy, who was ready to hurt, manipulate, and kidnap a child, was worthy of being hurt, of being captured and killed. But Charles? Hell, Dave? Dave wasn't the best at his job, sure, but he was a nice and timid soul. Charles was the embodiment of a good and noble person.

Liam landed the helicopter a few minutes later. Out into the wind and snow did Ellie and Henry go. They bundled up deeper in the thick coats and gloves, ready for anything Alaska might throw at them. Henry was still annoyingly cold, though.

"So, Henry," said Ellie as they walked. "Your 'friend'?"

"He saw Charles," Henry explained. "He's okay, he has to be."

"Is your friend a Toppat?"

Henry looked away. "…yes."

Ellie didn't bat an eye. "Are you a Toppat?"

"…yeah."

…

"But you didn't know this would happen. I know you didn't, that's not you. You would've helped Charles bust out of there, right?"

"Definitely!" Henry turned back to her. "I wouldn't just leave Charles there!"

"So, you can get into the base where they're holding him and release him, right?"

Henry nodded. "Oh, yeah, definitely. I just need my friend to tell me more about it. I can get us onboard. Then we can sneak in, sneak out, and be home free in less than an hour. But! We might be followed. I could also go to the airship and talk to the Chief. The Chief has ultimate authority over the prisoners, after all. He knows me. So, he should know Charles, too."

Ellie took a deep breath. A cloud misted before her nose. "Okay. I trust you, Henry."

…

"Henry, after this…" Ellie turned to him, fixing him with those intense chocolate brown eyes of hers. "I think you should decide."

"Decide?"

"Where you're going. Henry, you're our best friend, and I won't make you make a decision right now," Ellie explained. "However, your clan just captured Charles. They could have hurt him. I can't forgive them for that. I'm an enemy of the Toppats, I've hunted down a few of them. What if, one day, you're my next target? What if you were in that raid on that base and you were forced between keeping Charles safe or protecting your Clan?"

"Ellie, it's not like that," Henry denied.

"Look, all I'm saying is that the Toppat Clan has done some pretty messed up shit. Charles and I work against them, but not against you. But one day, you might not have that choice. You'll have to decide between loyalty to your Clan or loyalty to us. I trust you, Henry, you know that. But I don't trust your friends."

Henry… didn't immediately answer. God the amount of times Howie and Katie have told him that exact same line. The amount of times Dad Reginald and Dad right individually warned him about that very thing. "I know, but it won't come to that. The Toppats raised me since I was a little kid, when my parents saved me from that orphanage and Mrs. Bloodworth. I can't turn my back on them. But I will get Charles out of there, even if I need to do a little sabotage myself."

"I know. You're a good friend, Henry." Ellie smiled a little. "We both trust you. I won't tell Charles, okay? I'll let you decide if you want to do that."

"Thanks, Ellie bean."

Howie's only reply had been "They know, but its complicated, and it'll take a little while Just don't do anything rash, okay?" an hour and a half after his last text. Welp, time to do things the hard way.

At the base in Alaska, the Toppats were gone. There were still people in green picking over the sight like crows. They accepted Ellie and Henry into their ranks without hesitation. So, the first place they went was in their communications lab. From the relatively neat state of the compact office sans missing data and folders that had been unceremoniously pulled from their spots, Henry could deduce that the government hadn't gotten a chance to look over this place quite yet. Henry and Ellie did the honors of cleaning the place out. Outside of some abandoned valuables and a rather sensitive loose sheet of paper from a communication log, the place wasn't nearly as much of a trap as Henry had first anticipated. Though the technology inside had been irreparably damaged–the partially scorched and scratched sledgehammer nearby being a guilty culprit–there was still one mic that, though it gave off static noise and shocked Henry when he touched the awkwardly bent piece, he could still hear through it.

"This should be our ticket onto the airship," Henry explained, fiddling with the technology in such a way to where he might use it. The signal was frayed and most of it busted, so he had to manually dial into a Toppat channel. "Stay quiet, let me do the talking. I'll claim we left our hats at the ship. They should recognize me, so they'll probably assume you're a new recruit. If they ask, you're my friend. Henry Stickmin, one of the top planners in the Airship Division."

"If they ask my name?"

"They shouldn't. But if they do, I'll handle it. Some of the new recruits are uncomfortable giving their names, anyway. We're allowed to choose our own names when we enter the Toppat Clan. It's a sort of 'new beginning' sort of thing. The Toppat Clan was our choice, and we now control where our lives are going to go and who we are. Make sure no one comes in here, alright? Don't want anyone getting the wrong idea."

"Gotcha, Pap Hen."

Henry cleared his throat and pressed a button on a mic. "Hello? Does anyone read? Stranded Airship Division employee, looking for help. Over."

…

Henry repeated the line. After the third time with a good minute or so between each call, he received an answer. "…s this? W… an b… stand. …ision. Copy?"

"I can barely hear you," Henry announced. "This station just got raided, need a ride out. Is anyone available? Over."

"W… able… ous. Do y… there? Ov…?"

"Enemies nearby, but I have an escape route. I just need transport out of the area," Henry said. "Over."

A few seconds of silence stretched long after his words. "…o help. May… secure? W… risk… er."

"The area is not secure, but I can meet someone at a nearby rendezvous point. I have a partner with me, we can escape, but we need a ride back to the airship. Over."

"A…ship? Wh… Over."

"Yes, the airship. I'm from the Airship Division. Is there a rendezvous point we can meet? I will make sure we aren't followed. Over."

"Coordin… corrupt… eed clarification on lo… Over."

"Location? I'm in the Alaskan base southeast of Valdez, Alaska. My coordinates are…" Henry pulled out his phone. "60.925931 by -146.096231. I repeat, my coordinates are 60.925931 by -146.096231. Over."

"…60.9 by -146.1 rough es… Over."

"Repeat? Over."

"Coordin… sixty-point-nine by neg… one-fourty-six po… one. Over."

"Can confirm, over."

"Meet at… ore at sixty-point-eight, neg… one-forty-six-point-two. Re… ..ty-point-eight, …ive one-forty-six-p…t-two. Over."

"Okay. Meet at sixty-point-eight, negative one-forty-six-point-two. Roger that. Over."

"Ma… re you a…owed. Over."

"I will. Thank you so much. Over."

Then, the line went dead. Henry stepped back and kicked the mic for good measure. Ellie sent him a puzzled look. He nodded to the door and typed into his phone. "Okay, so, it might take a little while, but they'll get here. We'll meet at the shore."

Ellie nodded, once again at his side. She waved a greeting at a few soldiers as they made their way outside and into the wilderness. "So, our rescue mission begins?"

"Oh, yes. Remember: let me talk first. Stay out of sight, I'll show you a good place to hide. If I can get them to let Charles go peacefully, I'll do it."

"If you can't?"

"Well, we fall to Plan B. Break out. I know that place like the back of my hand, Ellie. We can do this."

"Oh, of course. I didn't doubt us for a minute."

They let the implications of that statement hang in the air between them for another few moments. "I know. I don't, either."