The doors of the elevator slid open, and Henry darted out quick enough to not be by any more Toppats. He then crouched down, hiding himself with a nearby crate.
The elevator had opened to the ships cargo bay. Why the room was on an upper floor instead of the very belly of the ship was beyond Henry's understanding, but he didn't think about it too much. Instead, he focused more on keeping hidden.
There were some members here. Not a lot, but enough to easily overpower him if he got caught. Most of them were chatting amongst themselves, others just sat on top of crates and did literally nothing. The rest of them were actually productive and were double-checking different crates, making sure they hadn't left anything behind.
He ducked over to the crate next to him. Then to the next. He kept this up until we was closer to the center of the room, where a massive, silver, transport container towered over everything else. Beside the container was a woman in grey and blue, a ribbing hanging gracefully over the brim of her hat. He had a crate open, counting the items inside. She stepped aside a tiny bit, and Henry saw what was in there.
Some of the government's devices. More importantly, that particular device with the glowing green antenna.
Gotcha. He placed his hand on his chin, making a plan for his next move.
His thoughts were interrupted, however, when a deep, gruff, robotic voice with a strong British accent yelled out.
"Oi! Wot the 'ell do ya think you're doin'!? Get back to work!"
Henry looked back behind him where the elevator was, the doors closing as a tall man with long, red hair and mustache emerged. Half of his body was made of metal, and he stomped across the room, every footstep made a clang as his steel feet hit the floor. His digital eye glowed red with rage.
Henry recognized him right away.
Right Hand Man ... Except, he wasn't supposed to be a cyborg. Not in this timeline, anyway. Maybe something had happened to him while he was locked up at The Wall ...
The man made his way past Henry to where the woman was checking the crate, thankfully, not taking any notice of him at all. The woman turned around to greet him.
"Ah! Boss!" she said, stepping back. "You're just in time! I need to ask you some questions regarding these gizmos he-"
"We're not sellin' 'em, Rala," RHM interrupted.
Rala looked at him in shock. "What do you mean we're not selling them? Isn't that why we stole them in the first place?"
RHM repeated himself. "We're not sellin' 'em. The chief changed 'is mind about the 'ole operation. Thinks they could be useful for the Clan."
The boat rocked side to side, waves bashing against it's outside walls by a current so strong, Henry thought the ship would capsize at any moment. Dry land never seemed so appealing to him right now, but he had no choice but to stand his ground and stay hidden.
"You do realise this gadgets could earn us quite the sum of money," Rala persisted." Like, a lot."
Henry heard RHM grunt. "I don't care 'ow much they're worth. We're gonna need it."
Rala started to argue. "It's hot gear to just be carrying around, boss! If we get caught with this, we're looking at a life sentence. Hell, they might just kill us where we stand."
"That doesn't ma'er. We're keeping them.End of discussion."
That was the end of that conversation. Rala shuffled away awkwardly, and the cyborg noticed that the other members were staring at him.
"What are 'ya lookin' at!?" He boomed. "I told 'ya to get back to work!"
Everyone quickly went back to their business, and RHM made his way back to the elevator. As he walked past, Henry heard him mutter under his breath.
"Idiots ..."
Henry waited until he was gone, then noticed that Larahad forgottin to close the crate. The glowing device's light pulsed hypnotically, practically begging to be nabbed.
He took in a deep, shaky breath, then crawled his way over.
"It's a good thing the General let you borrow a helicopter for this trip, Charles," Ellie said, adjusting herself in the co-pilot seat.
Charles gripped onto the wheel nervously. "Yeeeaaaah... borrowed ..."
Ellie eyed him suspiciously. "You... did ask for his permission, right?" She asked.
With a moment of silence, Charles answered. "I ...kiiiiinda... didn't..." he admitted sheepishly."
"You stole the helicopter from under the General's nose!?"
"I panicked, okay!?" He snapped.
Ellie was taken back. Charles had never yelled at her before. Actually, he never really yelled at anyone. He was normally such a chill, happy-go-lucky guy, but to hear him raise his voice like that caught her completely off guard. She was about to say something else, but Charles beat her to it.
"I'm worried, Ells ... I'm worried about Henry. Ever since we did our Toppat Rocket mission, he just seems ...different." Charles turned the steering wheel slightly, then went on. "He used to be so action-driven. Confident. He knew exactly what to do. But lately, he's just ..." he paused to try and think of the right words.
Ellie added on. "More cautious?"
Charles snapped his fingers. "There we go! Cautious! He also seems a lot more anxious. Sure, it was only mkikd to begin with, but it's gotten so much worse. I just wish..." he took in a deep, shaky breath. "...i just wish he would talk to us."
Ellie placed a hand on the pilot's shoulder. "I'm worried about him, too. Its also not like him to just ... take off like that.Especiallywithout telling us first. But I'm sure he had a good reason. Besides, as soon as we find out if he's okay, I'm gonna punch him."
Charles sighed. "I guess you're right... I just hope he's okay ..."