Ellie was his best friend, he could count on her.
Henry looked down at Ellie and cleared his throat. When she didn't react, he made the noise again, slightly louder this time. Ellie looked up at him. Henry gestured to the pipe and hatch above his head. Ellie nodded. Then, just as Henry remembered the lady to be, she was able to lift him up enough for him to hop and hook his bound hands above the pipe, effectively leaving himself hanging. He swung his legs up, hooking a foot in on the hatch handle and throwing it open. Henry winced and looked down. Grigori had not turned around. Maybe it was age, maybe it was the hinges being well oiled for some reason, maybe it was Henry being awesome. He liked the believe the latter.
Henry flipped himself up again, grabbing on the hatch with his feet and straining to pull himself up into the shaft he now occupied, and freed his arms from the pipe. He turned around and smashed the metal contraption on his hands upon a rock a few times until the lock cracked open and he was free of the bonds.
Now he could bring Ellie up… or run off. But why would he do that?
…to see what would happen? Well, he didn't know if they would bring him back upon screwing up or upon threat of dying. What if he couldn't go back to help Ellie?
The ladder beside the hatch, Henry found, was attached but also not that long. He pulled it down, wrapped his legs around the bottom stair so his hands were free, and he hung upside down. Ellie accepted his help and within moments the room was empty, and the friends were in the hatch above. Henry pulled the ladder back and shut the door.
Ellie broke her own cuffs off, taking a few less swings than Henry took to do the same job. She always was the stronger one, somehow. "Thanks, Henry," she sighed. He smirked and, with a sharp nod, led her down the hatch. Rather, he walked with her. Ellie was never one for following, even if she had no idea where they were going. Technically neither did Henry, he supposed.
They opened the next hatch at the end of the shaft to see themselves in the floor. A box was before them and another few to the side. Two men in the same gray uniform, one with a fuzzy cap and the other without but holding a staff, stood in the exit.
The one with the hat continued his speech, "…so I was like: 'Look at how much I care. Heh. I don't care.' I ended up buffing up my guys and doing, like, seventy damage."
"Heh. That's funny."
Henry's immediate thought was to cause a distraction, but he wasn't good at those, often getting so caught up in it that he would forget why he was causing the distraction in the first place. They could disguise, but what disguise would work? The tall overcoat next to them could make them look taller, but what would being taller do?
They had a choice.
He looked back at Ellie and nodded to the two guards. She looked up at them and grinned.
The two slipped out of the hatch and snuck around the front wall.
"Oh yeah, last night, I kept fi–"
The man with the staff's words were cut off as Ellie grabbed him. Henry and Ellie, smothering the two men, waited until their struggles ceased before lowering them to the ground. Ellie flashed him a thumbs up and the two moved down the ridiculously long hallway, passing door after door labeled with a small number followed by a "D" with the half-floor above them containing cells whose numbers ended with "C." At the very end, after passing cell "30D" and then a door with a number pad next to it, was a large room with a locked door and huge window. Through the screened window, they found an open elevator shaft with a wet floor sign, a puddle, and a door that led further into the building. No other way than forward, right?
"Hmm," Ellie hummed, setting a hand on the door, and then looking back at Henry. "If we could get you up there, you could get in and open this door."
Henry nodded and looked up. If Henry took a running start, Ellie could use his momentum and catapult him up! …or throw him into the window. Henry also had a funny little device that could alter the direction of gravity! Henry pulled out the little gray box with a thick antenna with blue rings. A dial with a square blue button above was on the right, while a switch lever filled the left side. There was something he knew Ellie had. Just as Henry had once shown her, he could toss a rock around without needing to touch it, she claimed to be able to do the same thing, but with pretty much anything.
Henry had a choice.
Henry handed the device to Ellie. She took it and, after a quick glance over, she stepped back and held it up to Henry. Then, the rings and the bulbous end of the antenna flashed blue and suddenly, a squirming, shifting ball encased Henry. Then, he felt weightless. He was lifted up and then pulled to the side so he was over the roof of the smaller building-within-the-building. The blue bubble fizzled out. He felt the effects of gravity again… sideways.
Henry yelled as he fell straight back toward the end of the room. A fall from this height–distance?–immediately caused damage as his head struck the stone.
Newton's 6th Law. Use the gravity knob to reset gravity to the default setting.
Ffffff… yeah, ow. Never mind, no gravity manipulation required. But! There was something he knew Ellie had.
Henry glanced around and then pointed up. Ellie's whispering probably wouldn't disturb the guard whose shadow he could see cross the wall above him from the catwalk, but Henry wasn't so confident. Ellie followed his gaze. The room had a ceiling far from the top that was level with the catwalk. She stepped back and held out her hand. Quite suddenly, the air around his neck grew tight and something pulled him up and then dropped him–right onto the ceiling of the big window room!
Henry, stifling his own gasping for air, threw a glance at the guard staring listlessly into the distance loosely pointed toward the doors. He gave her the thumbs up and then slipped through a hatch into the room, falling flat on his face as he did so. He grinned up at Ellie, hopped to his feet, and pressed a large button that definitely was to the door it was next to.
The button opened the door alright. It also set off an alarm… and opened every cell door Henry could see or hear. Immediately, prisoners poured out of their cells, spooking the single conscious guard on duty. A Toppat Henry didn't recognize, still having a hat and sunglasses, called, "C'mon, gents!" as he rushed through the door past Henry and Ellie.
"Oh, yeah, let's go!" called another near them and then everyone was running in different directions. Well, good on them, hope none of them run into a dead end or something. At least the lone guard was busy trying not to get thrown off the catwalk by a prisoner with a rather large ginger mustache.
Henry and Ellie ran through the now open door between the glass-wall room and the last cell. "Quick, in here!"
They darted in, only to find a man and then a four-armed humanoid rush past them, yelling, "Eya pandoushta!"
What?
Henry and Ellie dove behind two large boxes as a trio of guards made their way inside, no doubt following the alien and his friend, but stopped upon seeing the two. "Inmates! Hold it right there!" one of them demanded. Well, they were holding it, weren't they?
Henry looked around, spotting a sniper rifle and a grenade in his immediate grasp from the torn open box. Ellie had a crossbow and probably a pistol next to her.
They had a choice.
Henry grabbed the rifle and, after a quick check, gave a nod to Ellie, who took the pistol, and jumped up. Ellie pointed the pistol at him and–wait, that wasn't a gun? That was a–
Henry jolted upon feeling two shards like snake fangs dig into his arm and a current of electricity bolt through him. The gun fired at random a few times before the electricity ceased and Henry got control of the weapon. He sent a look at Ellie, who tossed the Taser with a nonchalant shrug and grin. Henry dropped his weapon and kept moving. As fun as a sniper rifle was, he preferred the smaller ones in situations like these. Out in the open with an absolute need for precision, yeah he'd taken a sniper rifle. But man, he'd love to get his hands on a handgun of any sort, as long as it fired bullets and functioned properly enough to use.
Henry stopped behind another cluster of boxes. He could hear two guards talking.
"So. You say all inmate is out of cell?" asked the first.
"Yeah, some idiot must have opened all the doors," the second huffed.
Ellie held out two hats she'd taken from the guards. "Hey, I just grabbed these. Maybe they'll come in handy?"
The second guard went on, "Are we waiting on someone or…?"
"I thought you press."
Henry glanced around at the elevator and gestured for the hats. He and Ellie tossed them across the hallway. "We will regroup with, uh–" Predictably, the guards perked up like anxious hounds and ran after the slight noise the hats made. "There is convict here!" yelled the first. "Get down on ground!"
Henry and Ellie hopped into the elevator and pressed the "Surface" button.
The doors opened to chaos, pure and simple.
Inmates and guards ran across the snowy ground, into or out of buildings, hopping between vehicles and places and rubble from vehicles or structures that had been scuffed or broken. "I don't like this!" Henry heard the trouble cry in clarity from a man with a blue cap with three Cs within each other, but there was nothing else he could distinguish in the battle zone.
Henry and Ellie ran out in the biting snow.
"Henry!" he heard Ellie yell and he spun around. "Help!"
Grigori had grabbed her, forcing her hands behind her back, and struggling to pull her back to the building. "Back to your cell, inmate."
Henry's eyes darted around. Grigori saw him and narrowed his eyes. If he didn't know Henry was the center of this hurricane, well… he did now. Henry could attack, striking Grigori with his knee in the right place. There was also a needle full of adrenaline he could use. Or a way to distract him…?
Henry had a choice.
Henry made a weird face at him.
Ellie and Grigori both gave him a flat look. "Oh, you think that will upset me?" Grigori scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "Very mature–"
Ellie gasped and stumbled forward, free as an inmate-controlled truck hit Grigori. Ellie rubbed her wrists and walked up to Henry, who was struggling to keep a slightly more professional expression than that of an excited eleven-year-old. "Thanks, I guess…? Now, let's get out of here!"
Henry looked back. Well, part of the barbed wire fence to the left was torn and people flooded through it. Though, as Henry saw cliffs beyond, he wasn't so sure that was a great idea. A truck full of inmates was closer, with more people piling on and someone beating senseless a guard that tried to get in after them. Then there was a motorcycle nearby.
Henry had a ch–
But the two had hardly seen the motorcycle lying abandoned before Ellie darted for it. Henry ran after her. Trucks were for people who stuck together, and who didn't know how to ride like Ellie did.
Henry hopped onto the bike, but was almost immediately tackled, thrown to the snowy ground by the Warden. Dmitri held Henry down, glowering at him with a disarming amount of hatred. "Well if it isn't Henry." Henry glanced behind him, watching as Ellie drove away. "There hasn't been an incident here in fifty years. Then the day you show up this happens. You will learn to regret the–huh?" Dmitri looked up just in time to see a red, octangular sign slap him in the face. Ellie, wielding a stop sign and riding a motorcycle, zipped past them. Dmitri fell back into the snow, unmoving and with new dental problems, if Henry had to guess.
Ellie's bike whipped around, and she stopped by Henry, who had gotten up and adjusted his hat, and held out her hand. Henry, grinning like a kid in a candy store, hopped onto the bike and held on for dear life as Ellie found the least safe ramp and aimed her baby blue motorcycle, branded with the wall's insignia, at it. She let out a whoop as the convict allies gained some air before landing on the road and zipping away. Henry laughed and looked back. The gates weren't even open! Well, why would they be? They still had an entire prison's worth of inmates to pin down. A couple of firecrackers on a motorcycle was probably out of their minds at the moment.
PDWell, it worked once, it might work again.
Henry slipped into a hard stance with his back against the wall and then rammed his shoulder into Grigori, throwing the man hard to the cement floor. Henry turned and bolted, rushing down the hallway as fast as he could make himself go. He zipped by a rather bored Wall guard with a rifle. The man perked up and held up his weapon. "Oh, no, no~!"
Henry glanced back as the man raised his weapon. He whipped his head forward again. Okay, he could outrun the bullets or–oh! Half the doors on these cells were open!
Henry ducked into one of the doors, puffing as he heard bullets whizz past. He sucked in his breath as he heard the door shut firmly behind him with a quiet hiss of electronics. He blinked. Welp.
Oh, you managed to find a cell on your own! What a responsible prisoner.
Okay, yeah, yeah. That was du–he was being shot at again!
Try hitting a moving target, guard!
Henry leaped as high as he could, turned his bounce into a flip forward so the metal clasps that held his hands was pressed into the cement, and set his feet on his wrists, further scraping the metal against the cement. Hey, with his weight and speed, maybe he could break the cuffs!
Ahead of him, standing near the end of the hall and blocking his way to an elevator, were two men beside a few large boxes. The one on the right with a bushy mustache asked something in German, gesturing to the boxes. He spotted Henry and started yelling something Henry didn't understand.
Okay, okay, well now he had two problems. If only there was a way to disappear or hide somewhere that wouldn't turn out to be a prisoner cell. He'd prefer getting onto the elevator. Actually, that was his goal. There was no other place for him to go.
The time for choices ran out.
Henry landed back on his heels as he skidded to a stop and stood up. The guards stared at him.
Yunno, I don't think this guy knows what he's saying.
Okay, so, he couldn't just keep going. …eh, Not-Angel? Voice? Person? Help?
Henry let out a quiet huff as he ran straight through something. The edges of the invisible box shattered, but the unseen fragments simply brushed passed him, doing no harm, before dissolving. He heard something ring above him and all the sudden he was slowing down. When Henry stopped, the metal clasps phased through his hands. He stood up, confused, watching as his body just… faded away?
He slipped past the confused guards and into the open elevator. By the time said weird power faded and he was completely physical and visible again, he'd pressed the ground floor button and leaned on the elevator edge, arms crossed and smirking.
It took a little while, but the elevator eventually stopped and opened. Henry shivered at the cold that swept inside. His shoes crunched the snow as he left the building and looked around.
The intercom's scratchy voice, announcing someone clearing their throat, drew the attention of every living soul and Dmitri's voice rang over the complex. "Attention. We have an escaped convict. He was last seen heading toward the surface. Do not make me do this myself."
Henry only faintly recognized his surroundings, now; just as one would remember briefly visiting a place in a panic as a young child. People scattered in the yard. There was a building across the yard, but he had a bad feeling about it. There was a monster inside of there! At least, what his eleven-year-old mind imagined was a monster. There was a tank nearby that was occupied and ready to kill him, and a boxer farther north that could smack the daylights out of him. So, only one choice left: the man with the sword. There was another sword near him, ready to be wielded.
Henry had a choice.
Henry rushed the guard on the trail, swiping the sword with the blue hilt on the way. The green-hilt-sword man raised his weapon in a defensive stance. Henry rushed under him, knocking the sword wide and throwing him down.
Henry dropped the sword and ran to where a truck was parked, a large blue box with the wall's white insignia stamped on the side. A trio of people stood against the gate. Three people blocked the gate, the leftmost one wielding a spear. "They're up here somewheh. We cannot let him get through his gate. Ey, nice 'at," commented the one in the middle to the rightmost one, whose hat was curled at the front rather than flat like a baseball cap. Henry narrowed his eyes. He needed to get through these three somehow. He could disguise himself in the snow. The van rumbled quietly, though no one was inside of it. And there was a sandwich nearby?
Henry had a choice.
Henry scooped up the snow around him. Shivering and cursing his stupidity, he shuffled his way around the truck. The middle Wall guard asked, "Hey, you wanna trade 'ats? Yours looks so nice!" He gasped upon seeing Henry move. "Frosty's escaping!" In seconds the man's gun was pointed at Henry and he fired off a few shots.
Henry fell back.
Those guys need to CHILL.
Har, har. Henry hopped into the truck. Within seconds, the vehicle was moving. He whipped it around so it pointed toward the gate and stomped on the gas as hard as he could. The vehicle jerked as it scrambled to obey Henry's command. While the two outer guards managed to jump out of the way, the one in the center was unfortunate enough to be hit. The truck barreled through the gate and sped off.
Three armored green vehicles peeled after him, one roofless holding a man in the truck bed with a mounted machine gun and another two with a hatches in the top. The one with the mounted gun sped ahead of him, while one of the complete ones with a hatch drove to his side. Henry glanced to the side quickly enough to see the top half of a man emerge from the truck and pull out a shotgun. Henry winced as the man in the truck shot, cracking the driver side window, and then pumped the shotgun for a second blast.
Henry had a parachute with him, a gun on the seat, and that was it. He winced as the glass shattered. He could–
Henry slumped forward, his bleeding head hitting the steering wheel.
Not even close, baby.
Henry had a choice and he better make it right now!
Henry grabbed the parachute and threw open the door. The truck rushed off, eventually smashing into a tree as it drifted off the snowy, icy path. Henry, caught in the wind and rush from the car, shot up a few yards above the ground… and slowly drifted down.
He looked around at the trio of vehicles that stopped and released the weapon-wielding guards within. All their guns went off at once.
You should've followed up with a tether from your wrist strapped grapple hook.
What do you mean you don't have one of those…
Henry, make a choice!
Henry glared at the truck and jerked his wheel to the side. His much larger vehicle slammed into the one holding the man with a shotgun. The armored vehicle zoomed off the edge of the cliff, its occupants' screams fading rapidly into the swirling snow and long, long drop off the cliff.
Unfortunately, the dented vehicle Henry now commanded slipped on the ice and snow. A wheel and some parts broke off and suddenly the unresponsive machine flipped and skidded. Henry held tight as churned snow and dirt was scraped up from his shattered passenger window and assaulted him. When the vehicle stopped moving, Henry opened his eyes, only to stare straight down the steep cliff and into the rocky shore far below them. He sucked in his breath and shied away from the drop. Yeah, no. There was no way he was going to survive that.
He heard a car door open. The armored vehicles had stopped and now a short black limousine parked on the road. Dmitri strutted out into the snow, his arms folded behind his back. "I have to say, Henry, I'm impressed. Really, I am."
A star glowed, tucked under the seat.
"You are the first person to escape the Wall. But this is the end for you." The man approached. "You've got two options here, Henry." His foot settled on one of the popped tires of the truck.
Without thinking, Henry slammed his hands on the horn. The airbag expanded, pushing Henry out. Henry was thrown clear out the window… and to his doom.
Airbags save lives.
Henry took a deep breath, clutching the inside of the vehicle with everything he had.
"I have to say, Henry, I'm impressed. Really, I am."
Henry glanced at the star glowing in the seat next to him. No… he had a bad feeling about that one.
"You are the first person to escape the Wall. But this is the end for you." The man approached. "You've got two options here, Henry." His foot settled on one of the popped tires of the truck. "Stay in there…"
The truck groaned as it was nudged closer over the edge. Henry winced and looked down, watching as tufts of snow and bits of earth defected and fell out of sight.
"Or you return with us back to the Complex. What is it going to be, Henry?"
Henry gulped and took a deep, steadying breath. Okay, okay! You can do this Hen–
The van shifted.
Fuck.
Henry threw his hands up.
"You made the right choice."
…Henry was guided back to the Complex and thrown into a tight metal room with only a slit of glass in one side to throw in light and more cold. He sat against the wall, arms crossed over his knees.
Maximum security? What an honor!
Okay, fuck you, Voice! What was he supposed to do? You said you wouldn't let him die!
Henry shut his eyes, growling as he heard Dmitri's condescending, sadistic coo outside. Okay, the star's a bust. The airbag would kill him. Since the Not-Angel took him back from the complex, that wasn't a choice. Then… what was? Plummet to his doom?
The van groaned as it was nudged closer to its tipping point.
Henry took a deep breath. He… he needed to do something. His hand touched a backpack. His eyes flicked to the window, and to the cliff.
"Hmm… Well now that's just too bad," Dmitri sighed and pushed the van.
Down, down, down to its doom did the battered van fall.
Henry clung to the cliff, his back pressed up against the freezing snow, hidden only by the backpack he now wore. His gasps puffed into clouds before his nose.
"Oh, no, no, Henry. That trick isn't working on us again."
Henry looked up, barely seeing the warden's shoes on the edge and his dark, soulless eyes boring into his own. Dmitri looked back. "He's under the cliff! One of you, take–"
Henry lashed out, grabbing Dmitri by the ankle, and yanking him down.
The man shouted as he was pulled off the cliff. Although Henry let go, Dmitri's weight and Henry's movement caused him to lose his grip on the cliff. Henry yanked a cord on his backpack. He watched as the man fell to his doom. Henry spat at him, gasping as the tumbling wind yanked him toward the sea.
The far-off booms of shots pierced his ears. Above him, holes tore into the parachute and a few strings snapped. Henry reached up to grab a few of the strings but ended up slipping through the straps of the backpack. Henry watched as the parachute flew away, unable to decide whether it had the weight to keep floating or to fall.
Sometimes, history was not fond of repeating itself.
IROHenry was making a choice.
Henry was waiting.
Henry watched as Grigori stepped aside to allow a few guards visual access to the cell. Big and in a uniform probably made to make them look bigger. The one with a thin grayish beard had a hat that curled in the front, while his slightly younger, cleanshaven friend had a baseball cap. "Ellie Rose!" demanded the curled hat one.
Ellie looked up. For a moment, Henry was afraid she wasn't going to move. Strangely, she did get up, completely unassisted. Although she stood with her shoulders square and back straight, her eyes were dull and expression slack.
Henry watched her go, suddenly wishing he hadn't stayed still and quiet.
The two guards guided her down the hall, the baseball cap one giving her a small shove when she didn't move fast enough, causing her to bump into the curled hat one and start a scene. Grigori shot a glare at them and they quieted.
Henry, back pressed against the wall, slid down until he was sitting. He kept one elbow on his knee, but the other foot slipped until his leg lay on the ground. He let out an involuntary shudder. Why was it always so damn cold?
"Alright, let's go."
Henry looked up upon hearing Grigori. Henry walked past him, poised and dignified. Captured he may be, but Henry was still a proud Toppat. Henry gagged as Grigori took him by the collar of his suit and yanked him back enough to stop him. Then, the brute just walked right past him. Henry muffled a growl and, despite still feeling the material of his collar on his throat, refused to clear his throat or make a sound. He didn't need to look back to see the two guards who'd escorted Ellie, both behind him and both obviously armed.
Grigori stopped long enough to press a red, square button. The door–equipped with a square glass window and a rectangular food slot–opened. Grigori unlocked the cuffs, grabbed him by the back of the jacket, and tossed him inside. Henry, any semblance of balance lost, fell face-first onto the hard, cold floor beside his thin-mattress bed. "Have a good time."
Henry stood back up and readjusted his top hat. He hesitated. Why did he still have his hat? In fact, why was he still in his suit? His… very thin… warm weather suit. God dammit.
Henry stuck his hands in his pants pockets. Nothing. His outer and inner jacket pockets held no luck. His shoes were occupied only by his sock-covered feet. The strap around his ankle was there, but nothing was inside it. Damn, they really cleaned him out, huh? He took off his hat and grinned. Taped to the inside, so small one could easily mistake it for a flaw in its design or a dead flea, was a bit of leather. He plucked the device from his hat and held it out. The Shrink 'n Grow's grip grew lax and the object in his hand turned into a purse of holding with a little green device similar in looks to a motherboard with four little hooks–one on each corner. Henry plucked one of his favorite gadgets off the side and dropped it into his pocket.
So, he had a few options. He'd brought his teleporter with him, a satellite-shaped red megaphone, a blue cookie with "eat me" scrawled upon its face, and a gray half-circle device the size of his fist. There was always the option of acting sick. But knowing how they took care of him when they thought him dead, that might not be the best option.
Henry had a choice.
He took out the red megaphone device and dropped his purse back into his pocket. Henry pointed the device at the giant glass window opposite the door. He pressed down on the trigger to release a sonic pulse. A low hum very, very quickly increased in pitch and volume until he could not as much hear the squeal as feel it in his extremely powerful headache. Within seconds of hearing the noise, his skull and everything inside it could no longer take the strain.
He flopped back, dropping the device in the process.
That hurt my ears! :(
Well sorry Not-Angel, that hurt Henry's entire damn head.
Against his better judgement, Henry took out the teleporter. He didn't know why using the teleporter would be an obviously terrible choice. He remembered feeling… not so great the last few times he'd considered using it. Had he failed and died? Well, only one way to find out, he guessed. Now, he figured he was… a long way down. That's no help. Maybe…
Henry looked out the window. Oh. So, he was… twelve stories from the surface, and his room was twice his height. He was six feet tall. So, twelve times twelve was one-forty-four. He typed in the amount of times necessary for the x-axis. He wanted away from the complex, so another two hundred feet wouldn't hurt on the y-axis. Nothing on the z-axis again. He narrowed his eyes and pressed the big red button. He felt himself get lighter and a few weird squares scanned his body up and down and the environment around him faded.
Henry blinked and he was no longer in the cell. He looked around, confused. He was on an asteroid surrounded by astronaut-creatures–they didn't look to be in regular baggy suits, but rather tighter, weaponized ones with oblong helmets–and a giant monstrous golden tech-like… bug in front of them? It looked more like an overly fancy gold-and-blue mechanical spider but with six long, even legs and tiny wings on the side. One of the astronaut-creatures held up one of two of its glowing blue swords and cried, "Come on now, brothers!" They charged, bringing Henry with them. "For the life of–" Its words were cut off by screams as two lasers erupted from the monster and crossed over them.
gg no re
So, teleporter didn't work. He had a feeling it wouldn't, but he could try. The sonic gun didn't work, either. He was afraid of the cookie–never eat anything that tells you to eat it, you might just wake up in another city in someone else's clothes with a goat and a broken "chaos staff," as what Howie liked to say–and he doubted faking an illness would work. They'd probably throw him out the body chute again.
Well, only one option left.
Henry took out the laser. It fled from his grasp and hovered before him. Then, it jerked to the side, its geometrically perfect trail flashing red like a full panel. It went again and again and again until it reached its starting point.
Henry gasped as the ground fell away and he plummeted into the ground floor. He landed with both feet and one hand securely on the incredibly thick cement floor of his former cell. He winced upon seeing the lower half of a body poking out from under the debris. Henry inspected his surroundings, finding a metal filing cabinet, a clock on the wall, a door, and a desk with a computer and a few papers. On the ground just barely out of reach of the cement block was a cellphone. He glanced at the clock on the wall. 10:01. AM or PM? Henry plucked the phone off the ground. Ah. AM.
God, Henry was terrible at time zones.
Henry sat down on the cement slab and pressed a few buttons until he got to the "CALL" screen. His finger hovered over the screen but didn't press anything. Of course, Dad Reginald was the first person he'd call and ask for help. But to run into a place like this? That's what Terrence did, and it led to a few people being captured or killed. Howie almost died and his father did. They captured Afanasiy because he got on the ship, and he ended up kidnapping Henry and Katie. What if it happened again?
Well, the Wall was a prison. Who better to get him out of a prison than the government?
So, he typed in another number familiar to him.
The phone rang once before being picked up. "Yeah?" asked Charles.
"Hey!"
"Oh, Henry!" Charles' calm voice pitched in excitement. "How's it goin'?"
"Yeah, pretty well," Henry said. "Er, kinda. I got in a bit of trouble."
"Uh huh." His voice smoothed over again, professional but still friendly.
"I was on a business trip and got, uh, in a crash." That he started, but Charles didn't need to know that.
"Yeah."
"Then I got captured."
"Oh…"
"But it wasn't from the government, I was pretty much the adult form of kidnapped."
"Uh huh."
"So, I called, and I was wondering if you could help."
"Oh, I see."
"It's not illegal, I don't think. These guys are being illegal."
"Huh."
"So, do you think you could help me out?"
"Yeah, I'm-uh… flying right now, actually. Where, uh, where are you?"
"I'm at a complex. The Wall. You've heard of it, right?"
"Hmm… the Wall. Yeah, I… think I've heard of that place. Yeah, I'm, uh, I'm on a mission, but, uh, I should have some time to swing by."
"Awesome, thanks!" Henry laid down on the cement. They talked for a short while before Charles was forced to hang up. So, Henry played on the phone until the battery started running low and focused on the clock. It was then he realized his hat was still on his head. Maybe it would be best if he didn't run into Charles wearing a top hat. He squished the top part down until it was flat as a disk and, being very careful not to tarnish the fabric, folded it at a certain spot. It disappeared into his purse just inside of his pocket. By the time his phone rang again, an hour had passed.
Henry sat up, the phone to his ear before he consciously realized it. "Hey! So, uh, I'm getting pretty close…"
Henry quietly opened the door and peeked outside. The gargantuan room was full of long tables, people scattered about with trays of food before them. The wall opposite was made almost entirely of windows overlooking the sea and fluttering snowflakes.
"Yeah, just try to get outside and I'll-I'll, uh, ya'know."
Henry, putting down the fluttering of excitement in his heart, carefully made his way across the room to a door on the wall nearby. Snow fluttered just outside of the small window.
The guard nearest to the edge looked over and perked up. He pointed a finger at the man and yelled, "Hey!"
Henry bristled and turned on them as the guards got up to meet him.
Henry had a portable bubble shield. He had the ability to move earth and metal without touching them. He also had a device almost like the teleporter, if the teleporter only worked for a few feet and he needed to go on foot.
Henry had a choice.
He stomped his foot into the cement ground, pulling a chunk of cement from beneath him and shoving it forward. A blonde woman was instantly thrown back. He pulled up a slab of the floor to defend against the bullets the first got shot at him. A chunk of rock whizzed by his head and sank into the stone of the wall. Henry turned to find more guards, one of them holding a few rocks above his hand, as Henry had done when he was younger, and a large boulder behind him. Not that it was a kid's move, he just really liked watching the rocks float. Ellie could make things float–though most of the time she overshot and lost control–but was oddly shy about it. So, they both kept those abilities as a secret–even from Charles, upon Ellie's request.
Henry managed to punch two of the rocks, but a third hit him square in the forehead.
He fell back, hitting the ground hard below him.
You were doing so well!
Was the Not-Angel being genuine or sarcastic? For once, it was hard to tell.
Henry stared at the guard who now held a pistol pointed at him. He glanced back as the man talked. "Where are you going?"
Then, Henry vanished in a flash of gold and red light and bulbs.
"Wut."
Cold slammed into him as he reappeared outside on a fire escape staircase, having moved so quickly he himself didn't quite catch what happened. He smiled and then shivered as the intense cold bit straight through his clothes. His phone beeped and he held it up. Charles' voice came out the receiver. "Hey, so, uh, I see the Wall."
"I'm outside."
"Oh, you're outside?" Did he not hear him that well? Probably the reception. "Nice! Oh, I think I see you. Yeah… there's a guard in the way." Henry looked up. At the landing a story above him was another guard looking over the ocean. Henry was below him and far enough at his side he was almost behind the man. "I got this." A smug, excited chip entered the man's otherwise cool tone.
God, Charles was great.
Henry took a deep, quiet breath and watched the green helicopter hovering too far away to see the pilot within. Wait, what about if Charles just swung by and threw him a rope? He didn't have to fly too far up or forward that he could be spotted by a SAM turret or whatever. He could shoot a grappling hook into the railing and Henry could be home free! Though, maybe he should get Charles' input first. "Do you have a plan?"
He heard a small gasp from the other end. "Yeah! I got the perfect plan…"
Henry's automatic grin faltered. Was… was that helicopter getting closer? Oh. Oh no.
"This is the Greatest PLANNNN!" Henry bristled and stepped back as did the guard above as the helicopter's shadow fell over them so close Henry could see the man within.
Hey, look! Charles is here!
Okay, so, Charles was amazing and all, but Henry almost forgot about his tendency to… fly headfirst into a situation. "Uh… what about a smaller helicopter?"
"Huh? Okay." Aw, he could hear the disappointment in Charles' voice. Well, better to be disappointed than dead.
A little green helicopter dropped out from under the bigger one and flew forward. The guard on top of the stairs gave it a weird look as it approached. It stopped about a foot away. A little rope burst out and attached itself to the side of his head. The little thing flew back with surprising strength, throwing off the man's balance and sending them both plummeting to their doom.
Henry watched him go, though he couldn't summon any sympathy. Call him a psychopath, but anyone who worked for people who could hold a gun to a kid didn't deserve sympathy. He shrugged and started climbing.
"Annnd there ya go. I'm seein' a helipad up here. Could be a pretty good place. To get picked up." He paused as the helicopter flew up a little. "Uh, once I get close, though, they'll, uh, they'll probably raise the alarm."
Henry made it to the top, ducking low out of sight, puffing at the expended energy. There was indeed a helipad up there as well as two people. The one closer to the edge had a sniper rifle, while the one closer to the opposite edge over the snow had a rocket launcher. Henry bristled as an alarm started to go off.
"Ohp, yeah, they see me. Alright, I'm comin', get ready." The helicopter tipped forward.
Henry could run onto the helipad, hoping that he could jump on quick enough to get out of firing range of both the sniper and the rocket launcher guy. He could attack the sniper guy or the rocket launcher guy, but they were too far apart for him to attack both. Or he could just jump off the edge.
Henry had a choice.
Henry sprang onto the top of the building and charged into the rocket launcher guy, throwing him and his weapon down. "Get 'em!" the man yelled from the ground. The sniper rifle guy gasped and turned on Henry. He raised his rifle but didn't quite get to shoot as Charles' helicopter landed hard on top of the man, bouncing a little at the extremely fast landing.
The door slid open and Charles' head poked out, waving. "Hey!"
Henry turned on the former rocket-launcher-guy, shot him a glare and pointed two fingers from his own eyes to the man, and ran into the helicopter. As soon as his feet touched the metal floor of the machine, it was taking off. Charles turned around and flew back the way he came.