You Called For Help...
Henry led the patrol. Howie stayed by the transporter button, ready to beam them down and then back up once the time came. Ahnoldt, Sherman, Wilhelm, Earrings, and The Ruffian stayed by Henry in the teleporter room. The other teleporter had gone off already, a patrol targeting a prison further south. Henry no longer wore his left glove. He flexed his fingers and looked over his palm. The blue bulb inlay in his palm gave off a glow only strong enough to make itself known.
"Ready," Howie stated. "Now?"
Henry looked up at him. "Send us down."
The door shut. A green light glowed in the chamber and Henry felt weightless. The floor vanished from underneath of them. Then he felt… cold…? Well, maybe it was cold, but the feeling was gone, and he felt his stomach drop and he lurched, his boots landed on cold metal. Sherman grabbed his shoulder to keep Henry from falling. The man before them jolted upon seeing their sudden entrance but took out a few papers. "These are maps of the complex. Henry, if you remember where you were kept, the floor directly above has the second row of prisoners, and one next to it has the first. On the other side of the complex is Maximum Security, where Right Hand Man is located."
Henry stated, "The Ruffian, come with me. The rest of you: take the first and then the second cell blocks. Pemberton, Max Security first."
"Yes, sir." Wallace rushed down the hallway first, gesturing to a stairway part of the way through where Ahnoldt, Sherman, Wilhelm, and Earrings split off.
They took a very round-about route, taking corners and cutting through small rooms where no other guards were located. Wallace Pemberton stopped at the end of one hallway and turned back. "This is Maximum Security. Guards don't bother patrolling often, so we'll have a fifteen-minute window where no guards will be there." He looked down at his watch and lowered his voice into a whisper. "One more minute until the next guard passes by."
Henry nodded. God, the waiting. He hated the waiting.
He heard a pair of footsteps approach, stop, and then continue. They stopped again and then continued. Wallace opened the door for them. Henry was at least thankful it wasn't his leg that was replaced by metal. Otherwise, he doubted his footsteps would be as quiet as they were, now.
Wallace held up his hand and stopped. He stood up straight, glanced down either end of the hallway, and pressed a few buttons in the panel next to the rectangular slab in the wall interrupted by a single glass window. The door slid up to open. Immediately, they heard feet slam into the floor and metal clank against concrete. Standing far into the corner away from the door was… Dad Right. His shaggy ginger hair fell in ruffled locks over his shoulder and back. Clothes a size or so too big hung over his body. His hat was nowhere to be found. Something metal clamped to his ankle and gloves–individual ones and not the combined gloves Henry had worn–clasped his hands tight. "I told you I'm not afraid to fight back!" he snapped.
"Dad Right!" Henry sucked in his breath and took a tentative step forward.
Dad Right's dark, sunken eyes narrowed. Then, his eyes widened, and tense muscles began to relax. "'Enry? That you?"
"Yes!" Henry hissed in glee. As much as he wanted to rush inside to meet him, Henry knew for a fact that wouldn't end well for any of them. He still had the nasty instinct to attack someone attempting to wake him through physical touch. He could only imagine what months in solitary confinement here did to the man. "Come on, we're getting out of here!"
"Sir," said Wallace, stepping into the cell. He took out a key. "If you leave the cell, that ankle bracelet will cause an alarm to go off. So, I need to unlock it."
Dad Right turned his gaze on Wallace but did nothing. The Wall guard spy knelt and clicked open the lock on the bracelet. He immediately stood up and unlocked the cuffs on his hands. Dad Right shook his hands and turned to Henry. "Where's Reg?"
"California," Henry stated and turned to Wallace.
Wallace found one of the lockers and switched out a few things–clicking together the locks that were on Dad Right and bringing out his hat as he did so. When Dad Right left the cell empty, an alarm screamed.
"Get out! Pemberton, lead!" Wallace rushed out of the cell and, throwing another look down both ways, waved to them and went back the way they came. The Ruffian shut the cell door behind him. Henry asked, "Wallace, is there any quicker way?"
"No. Not unless you're ready to trip an alarm," Wallace stated as they moved.
Henry glanced back at Dad Right. "Can you keep up?"
"Course," Dad Right puffed.
Henry stayed in the back, throwing hard looks behind himself. God it was too quiet here. Wallace couldn't have tipped them off to it happening at some different time.
Sherman's part of the patrol met up with them, four new Toppats in tow. As they took the last turn, the found the exit blocked. Two Wall guards with guns now stood between them and the door. Behind them, more footsteps pattered through the hall. Earrings stepped forward. Henry had barely shut his eyes before a bright flash engulfed the hallway, eliciting screams of shock and pain from before and behind them. As soon as the light died, Sherman and Wilhelm shot, gunning down the two by the door.
Wallace led them back through to their entrance. When he attempted to open the door, the handle clicked and jerked. Locked? Weird. Red puffed at Wallace, giving him exactly two seconds to move before kicking the door with all his might.
The guards down the hall scrambled to retrieve their weapons and recover from the flash.
After three hard kicks, the bent door shrieked open, slamming into the railing. As soon as Wallace stepped outside, gunshots fired. A few Wall guards shot from the stairway up higher. Sherman and Wilhelm shot. Ahnoldt and Henry stayed watching down the corridor, Henry's hand raised and Ahnodlt ready to fire.
"Got them!"
Henry shooed them back with one hand and activated the laser on his other. The stench of scorched metal and flesh swelled into the air as Henry's laser swept across them, targeting the weapons in their hands.
"Henry!" Ahnoldt called from on the landing.
Henry rushed outside, kicking the door closed. It creaked and refused to close. He pressed a green button on his watch. A bright green beam shone on the people in the landing. Within a second, they were gone, beamed up onto the ship. The weightless feeling took Henry. A moment hadn't passed before the chill left and their feet were on metal floor. He stumbled and ran into Ahnoldt, who steadied him.
With an embarrassed cough, Henry followed them out into the cabin.
Howie exclaimed, "Yer back! And–oh!" He picked up a walkie talkie. "Medical team ta Beam Pad 5!"
Henry slipped his glove back on and walked around to get a better look at his barely conscious father. "Ahnoldt, Sherman, guide them to the Med Bay. Earrings, Wilhelm, take Pemberton to the Records and finish this mission."
A few different Toppats with a stretcher and a pack of medical equipment passed the group leaving. Dad Right didn't want to go, not until whoever left to find Dad Reginald came back. One of the Toppats pointed out the red bleeding through the sleeve of his shirt and blusih tinge the man's fingers had taken on. Eventually, Henry gave up and Henry, Howie staying loyal by the teleporter room, followed the medical professionals and Dad Right. They weren't allowed farther than the small waiting room, especially when Dad Reginald was all but carried in, pale and bruised but on his feet with his head held high.
Henry did not like waiting.
Dad Right recovered quickly, most of his ailments stemming from malnutrition and inadequate conditions as well as minor frostbite. Dad Right was bruised and burned in a few places–electricity burns, he confirmed. Dad Reginald had not been properly fed and the prison guards at "The Rock" were just as ruthless as their Canadian counterparts. But that's where the similarities ended. Dad Reginald showed the beginning of illness, either brought upon by close quarters with inmates who had been exposed to illness and fought it off sufficiently enough to show no symptoms, or from an infection in his leg, above an improperly set sprained ankle.
This was only the beginning. With Dad Reginald and Dad Right back along with the small few still stuck in the Wall, it was time to expand their horizons. Some heists would also be good, bring in some easy money so they weren't staying stagnant in the Vault. Henry had, as soon as he'd been allowed back in, offered his position back to Dad Reginald, once the man woke and healed. Dad Reginald, being mostly asleep under some painkillers, couldn't respond.
"Kid, you've been doing a good job," Dad Right admitted. "Wait until Reg rests a little."
"Okay, Dad. …you know, it's really nice having you back. In one piece." Henry snorted. "Could you imagine if Dmitri was alive? He'd be huffing steam. He's probably rolling in his grave right about now! But… I'm glad that didn't happen to you. Either of you."
Dad Right nodded.
Henry lost his smile. "…I know… I know it took a little while. We've been up here a couple of weeks. I'm sorry I couldn't find you sooner." Stupid Afanasiy, shut up! "But! You're here now and there's nothing that can get in our way! Not the Wall or the government. No double agents."
Mission Complete.
For the first time in months, he heard their voices. The Angel and Not-Angel.
The Toppat Life