Reginald stood in the cockpit of the airship, positively overjoyed as he bellowed the following announcement. "Men, we have finally disposed of the despicable Henry Stickmin!" Everyone cheered at the news.
"Thanks to the Right Hand Man, everything will go back to normal-"
Just as Reg barely finished his sentence, a loud explosion took everyone by surprise. A few Toppats ran to see what was going on.
"Chief! The airship is badly damaged! We're losing altitude!-"
The sound of everyone's screams stopped as soon as the airship hit the ground. There were bodies everywhere, and barely a movement was being made, until Reg woke up from his coma with a groan.
"Ughh...what..happened?"
He only had to open his eyes a little more to see the answer. The massacre.
A member of his clan walked over to him. "Chief, looks like there was an explosion. Took out our airship and cost us many people. What're we gonna do?"
"Where's Right Hand Man?" Reg questioned.
The Toppat slowly shook his head with sadness. "He was among the casualties, sir."
Reg cursed under his breath. "Dammit! This must have something to do with Henry or that girl. We gotta find 'em right now!" But before the Toppat leader can start with his revenge, some unwelcome noises drew near.
"Yes sir! We see the airship on the ground! Moving in!"
Thinking collectively, the Toppat clan had one word in mind: run.
...
Henry was thinking, he really got himself into a pickle with this one. The girl who wanted him dead had him driving his own tank at gunpoint to what he can only assume to be uncertain doom. His doom.
If he was gonna get away from this, he needed a plan. A solid one.
Negotiation seemed out of the question. Ellie really wanted him dead, and nothing can change her mind, and if he tried it, it would probably ensure his death. He had to catch her by surprise, or trick her. If she really wants him dead, he'll make her think he's dead.
Henry's thought process was interrupted when Ellie spoke again. "Stop here." She started firmly. Henry thought her tone sounded eerily similar to a cop. "I'm going to get out first, then you, very slowly." Henry nodded. Keeping her eyes and gun on him, Ellie climbed out of the tank and gave him the green light to follow. Sure enough, Henry noticed that they stopped literally in the middle of nowhere, and there was a chasm.
Perfect spot for Ellie to put her plan in action.
"Okay look, Stickmin. I'm not going to dance around this issue. I have a lot to do after dealing with you, so make this easy on all of us and just jump in, or I'll make you jump in." She aimed her gun threateningly at him.
A bit too straightforward, but Henry thought he can work with this. So he turned around and looked down at how deep the chasm is, back at Ellie, then back down. He gave her a salute as he allowed himself to fall in.
Ellie carefully walked towards the spot Henry was standing in, and looked down just to be sure. Smirking, she snidely remarked, "So long, Stickmin." and turned back to the tank. "Now to put this bad boy to use." The redhead started mentally noting places she can rob using the tank, and the first place that comes to mind is a bank, so she set off to do that.
Unbeknownst to her however, she was followed by a mysterious flying vehicle with the letters "CCC" on it. A voice started talking inside the vehicle. "Yes, we have the target in sight. Pursuing right now. Be ready for the ambush."
...
"Yes sir, the Toppat airship has been taken down. There were many casualties but we captured a lot of members. We'll be back at the base soon."
"Excellent news. See you soon, Charles." General Galeforce said into the walkie talkie, feeling very pleased. Their forces had their eyes on the Toppats ever since they caught wind of their plan to launch an orbital station into place, and they would be unbeatable if they pulled that off. However, there is one thing bugging him.
Henry.
Ever since he betrayed them to be with the Toppats, Galeforce couldn't get it off his mind. He didn't want to admit it but it wasn't just that Henry betrayed the deal and they couldn't get to the Toppats, but it hurts him personally.
"Damn you Henry...You had to choose the hard way." The general let out a sigh. He just realized that he forgot to ask Charlie if they found Henry, though Charlie didn't mention anything so maybe...Then again, Charles is probably better at masking hurt with a smile.
"No use speculating...I'll know when he gets here." Galeforce then resolved to go back to his duties until new developments happened. And it wasn't long before they did.
Charles got on the walkie talkie again. "Hey sir, you'll never guess what happened just now."
Galeforce grew nervous. "What is it, Charlie?"
"I got a call from a friend. You're not gonna believe who it is..."
...
After driving for a while in the desert, Ellie finally spotted what she was looking for: a bank.
Deciding not to question why a bank would randomly be out here in the desert, she got a gleeful grin on her face as she envisioned herself ramming the wall to get to the money. "I hope you're ready for some serious damage." She muttered to herself.
Growing closer and closer, Ellie spotted something...unusual. Around the bank, there seemed to be vehicles she did not recognize, all of them had the letters "CCC" on them. They were all idling around the bank for seemingly no reason...
"STOP RIGHT THERE! WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED!"
The sudden loud yell over a microphone made Ellie jolt and lose control of the tank, falling down and becoming disoriented. The vehicles took opportunity and got very close, aiming all their guns at it. A few guys also got on the tank and aimed down at the hatch. "Stop right there, and get out of the vehicle very slowly.
"What the hell's all this about? How did they know?" Ellie wondered inwardly as she got out as instructed, and to her surprise, she saw a face she really didn't like.
"Ah, hello again, Ellie. You didn't think I was just going to forget about our agreement, did you?"