ACT THREE

The Toppat woman tried to successfully awaken her fellow criminal, but it was becoming increasingly clear she would have no help in the showdown commencing between red and green. What scrappy Toppats were alive and awake shot bullet rounds and rocks and debris against the military rats, but the latter held the upper hand: they rolled together in a large mob, the numbers dodging and shooting with the speed and tenacity of mongooses dancing with cobras.

Dismayed by the advantage the soldiers held, she needed to think of a plan fast. Think, Toppat brain, think! What could she do? Time was running out for her before she was either captured or she perished in the midst of -

Perish. Perish... perish!

He had a lot to think about. Galeforce's mind ran through so many thoughts of strategy and danger that it made overlooking the whole terrible scene of the airship's destruction easier to take in. When he arrived, he could manage a mild look of horror at the crime scene before he immediately took note of the clan and the objectives laid out before him - rescuing the civilian and rounding up the leaders and the rest of what remained of the Toppat Clan.

As soon as Rupert pulled the car to a screeching halt, Galeforce turned to his trio of stealth. "Alright, you three know what to do!"

The trio in unison replied, "Yes, sir!"

Frog took the reins and ordered his team, "Let's get in there and hunt some Toppats!" And off in a flash, the pack of hunters ran off into the fray.

Galeforce ordered Rupert, "Our turn for action now!"

But Rupert didn't reply - he immediately yelled and threw himself at Galeforce, much to the latter's shock. The two of them tumbled out of the car, with Rupert shielding his general.

"PRICE! WHAT IN - !?"

"Look!" The soldier pointed at the windshield after he got off Galeforce's back. The general's eyes popped wide - three small but potent bullet holes appeared in the glass, the cracks widened and touched each other like spider webs woven together. And they were all made and sent off with the intent of killing him.

A split second later, a small bullet blitz flew by the general and revealed itself within the side of the jeep - another bullet hole. Both men in green immediately took cover behind the other side. Once they were protected, they peeked over the seats and saw a Toppat armed with the clan's trademark weapon - the AK-47. Although injured, the Toppat grinned fiercely, brandishing his long and sleek brown and black assault rifle towards the two military men.

But that did not deter the combatants. They brandished their own weapons of war - for Rupert, a M16A1, its sleek black body as long and similar to its AK-47 opponent. For Galeforce, a smaller but equally effective grey pistol. Together the duo fought against the Toppat, temporarily putting their goal to find the missing person on hold.

"They're not here," Frog realized out loud. But he wasn't about to let these other Toppats get in the way of the goal. Only so many places could hide the Big Three for so long and in this spot. As he and his team clawed their way through with pistols, combat skills and cunning ablaze, they searched high and low for Stickmin, Copperbottom and the Right Hand Man. But so far, the team found nothing among the land and wreckage. But if the three men were not present with the Toppats at the site, then where were they?

Eel dodged a fist from an odd cheese hat-wearing Toppat and knocked him out while Turtle kicked the Toppat's accomplice, a Toppat with a smooshed hat, and also rendered him unconscious. Turtle suggested, "Maybe we should go inside the warehouse - there could be a secret bunker in there."

And then Eel pitched in, "Or maybe we should check the train."

"What train?"

Eel pointed to behind the building, and on the shiny track, there sat a motionless locomotive with various carts - passenger carts and cargo carts and vehicle carts (and one golden money cart) linked behind their leader and to each other. The train stretched far and wide like a serpent, past the base's borders and finally ending just barely past the mountain tunnel from which it came.

Frog squinted at the train, the gears in his mind turning. "Huh, good idea. There could be Toppats hiding there, and the rest of the area's about covered by everyone here anyway. Let's do this!" And the team did just that. Well... almost all of them.

Out of the corner of her eye, Turtle suddenly spotted odd on the ground near the edge of the site, surrounded by other ripped pieces of the airship's body and thankfully smaller flames. The rocks, dirt and pieces of metal prevented the flames from congregating with their larger counterparts.

A silhouette... of a person... maybe?... nailed to a piece of the ship's shell like a steel stake driven into a vampire's heart. It was too far away to identify the silhouette's identity. But that was not all.

Prints in the earth. Leading deeper into the jungle and further up the cliff, with a small singular trail dug into the earth by the footsteps: the owner of the steps was dragging something. And judging by the footprints, there was something off about the owner's walk. The tracks wavered and move out of line all over the place as if the walker was either dizzy, drunk or injured. Then that explained the dragged trail... whatever made it was used as a crutch for support for the incapacitated party.

But where did the manmade path end? And who made it? And the greatest question of all to come into her lips that circled back to the great question on everyone's minds:

"What happened?"

Realizing that Turtle wasn't following him, Frog yelled over his shoulder, "Hey Turtle, pick it up!"

Shaking her head out of her thoughts, she caught up to her teammates and made a note to herself to tell them her discovery after they finished investigating the train.

After they hopped on the train, the wind suddenly started to pick up, and in its grasp, fanned and corralled the jungle flames further into the green.

With fire extinguisher in hand, Dave reached the end of the hallway, finding himself thankfully alone but confused. The blue and white room was sparse of people yet filled with items. A computer hummed in slumber on top of a desk, and next to it, a rich red bookcase. Its shelves held almost completely nothing save for five paper-filled binders, a tiny action figure Toppat-lookalike complete with two little top hats, and an adorable red and round astronaut-like stuffed creature from some mobile game. Between Us, or so he heard from one of the more lazier yet friendlier Toppats.

But the relatively minimalistic layout of the room was not what manifested the guard's confusion. Two doors faced him from opposite directions in two walls. Both of them could lead to anywhere. But which one would lead him outside and free from the Toppats' grip?

Biting his lower lip in indecision, he looked between the two doors. The gunfire and alarms and other static outside only served to irritate his headache again and spark his indecision further.

Outside the door, a young female voice shouted, "General! The wind! The jungle's catching on fire fast, and the whole airship's burning to a crisp! There won't be much left at this rate if the fires keep going!"

Dave froze. Not only due to the unforeseen change in nature's ways, but also for another important reason.

'General'. It didn't sound familiar to him. There was no one in the criminal clan called that. But then that would mean that... no, it couldn't be. Someone else was here besides the Toppats?

A much older and deeper voice yelled, "We need to rescue that civilian now and then retreat back to the base! Hurry, soldier!"

Dave dared not move out of fear that this was not real, that the possibility of a rescue might slip from his fingers. But a large slam at the door would stir him out of his deer-in-the-headlights numbness. He yelped at the loud noise, but decided that now was the time to just pick a door and get out of there!

He picked the door on the left and fiercely twisted its doorknob. Upon its opening, the sunlight blinded his features. He fought against its harsh touch and took a step into the outside with the rest of his frame hidden behind the door. When his vision cleared from the sun's rays, he stared and watched, the wary deer slowly scanning for hunters or traps. And his heart leapt - from either joy or shock, he didn't know.

But regardless of the emotion, his eyes did not deceive him. There were, in fact, others here and all engaged in combat with the Toppats.

Dave shielded his eyes from the sunlight - those uniforms. They resembled his old blue police uniform. Just like the ones he and his old partner Rupert wore... The whirring and stirring of helicopter blades grabbed his ear and he glanced up. Helicopters? Painted with the same green color, but with a large and shining silver star painted on their sides. And immediately, for the first time that day, he smiled with hope alit in his eyes.

The military!

But how did they - why did they - did they actually know he - questions batted each other all inquiring answers in his already hurting head. He knelt down ever so gently as the pain was becoming increasingly too much to bear in his mind. Or maybe it was the fire extinguisher; he didn't remember its red and black build weighing him down so.

He pushed all of the chaotic thoughts in mind and immediate exhaustion in body and spirit and replaced with a singular goal: go to the military.

Despite the tiredness threatening to overtake his body again, Dave gathered as much strength as he could muster, stood up and fully stepped into the danger zone with his improvised weapon in hand and flight in his feet.

Rupert may have been small in height, but what he lacked in that department, he made up for with his speed, endurance and inner fire. His ability to load and reload his rifle with the combined speed of a cheetah and lightning bolt was legendary among several military personnel, as was his marksmanship. The Toppat that previously aspired to take Galeforce's life witnessed it firsthand and now laid still on the ground.

But now they faced a far bigger problem to deal with than Toppats. Upon hearing from one of his comrades that the fire was surely transforming and towering into an inferno thanks to the stupid wind deciding to mess up their plans like the tricky force it was, he knew he had to hop to action now and find that missing person before the fire consumed everyone and everything on sight. And it was then he told Galeforce that they should take their chances with the Toppats still shooting at them and just sprint into the building. Was it crazy? Very much so. But if they didn't...

Galeforce picked up where Rupert left off. "I know. And I also know you're right. On the count of three, we'll make a run for it and sweep every room there from top to bottom quickly before we have to leave. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Alright. Get ready on the count of three. One... two..." He momentarily paused to make sure there was a clearing available for he and Rupert to make a break for it. "THREE!"

The two of them were off!

A few of the Toppats took notice of the general out in the open and turned their attention to him, but Rupert covered for him with round after round. As they ran, bullets flew through the air and fell to the earth. Some of them ricocheted and bounced and clashed with each other, but many of them went into the flames and leaves. Unbeknownst to anyone - be they Toppat, soldier, bounty hunter or security guard - the wind in its menacing mood would push one of its flames deeper into the jungle. It joined forces with the natural heat of the area and together they sought their third companion:

A truck filled with fuel.

A/N: And then Smokey Bear came in to save the day. The end.

...Yeah, I'm just joking. We've come to the end of Act Three of this play on the stage, but the story isn't over yet. This is a relatively shorter chapter, but I'm going to post it anyway in commemoration of a special game anniversary: today is the day when Infiltrating the Airship was first released into the online wilds, officially introducing fans and friends to new enemies and friends like Charles Calvin, General Galeforce, the Toppat Clan and so on. Although this chapter doesn't tie directly to the game proper, it does take place during the 'Revenged' ending's timeline in Completing the Mission, in which Henry chose to be the leader of the Toppats back in ITA.

So Happy Anniversary to Infiltrating the Airship!

References:
-"Its shelves held almost completely nothing save for five paper-filled binders, a tiny action figure Toppat-lookalike complete with two little top hats, and an adorable red and round astronaut-like stuffed creature from some mobile game. Between Us, or so he heard from one of the more lazier yet friendlier Toppats." - This is a nod to a different timeline and ending from CTM: the "Master Bounty Hunter" path! When Henry and the stealth squad enter the building to locate the Right Hand Man, there is a character from Innersloth's other game, Among Us (although in the Henry Stickmin universe it's called Between Us), watching all the action like a spectator during a gladiator match.

-"The train stretched far and wide like a serpent, past the base's borders and finally ending just barely past the mountain tunnel from which it came." - No real reference here, but it is the same train from various CTM paths like "Capital Gains", "Cleaned 'Em Out", and "Little Nest Egg" deciding to make a cameo in this path.

Enjoy! :)