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themadauthorshatter · 4 years

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SOOOOOOO, I have seen a lot of Henry Stickmin AU'S, and while this one already exists, I feel like it doesn't get enough love, damn it!

While I'm a fan of Toppat!Henry, I propose to you all MY take on TOPPAT!CHARLES! (Even though I made headcanons for Insane!Charles a while back😅) I will also be following the headcanon that Henry is a selective mute and signs more than he talks, though I will add that he makes sounds when he needs to communicate with someone who can't sign, sounds like "Tss! Tss!" or similar hisses, shushing, clicking, coughing, and other sounds of the nature.

I'll be adding some dialogue here and there to add more to the scenes and to put more context into the story.

With that out of the way,

THE STORY:

For context, this would take place if Triple Threat became a thing before the Toppat clan went into orbit. Reginald Copperbottom would be arrested, the airship taken down, and Right Hand Man fixed up with his cybernetics with either Sven or Burt as his second in command.

With guidance from Charles outside, Henry and Ellie try to kill two birds with one stone: stop the launch and arrest the clan.

It goes well in the beginning, until Henry and Ellie run past a window and give a signal that they're okay right as two toppats sneak up behind them.

"Guys, watch out! There's-"

Before he can warn them, he's either shot down or pulled down by Right, Henry and Ellie being apprehended and fighting the two toppats as they watch the helicopter falls to the ground. Ellie is surprised and terrified, but Henry has a stronger reaction, falling to shocked silence before being more desperate to fight off the toppats.

"Henry! HENRY! SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Though they knock out both toppats, cracking one of the windows in the the process, Henry continues to punch the one that jumped him, only stopping when Ellie pulls him off and tells him that Charles might still be alive, due to the static and talking through the ear pieces, and that they might be able to still at least arrest the Right Hand Man.

Henry gestures for her to stop the rocket before taking one of the toppat's weapons to break the window and runs off to find Charles, which is easy to do since there's a smoke column from the crash.

Jump to Charles, a few minutes back in time to around the same time Ellie and Henry are fighting off the toppats.

Despite being a little disoriented from crashing, Charles gets out of the helicopter and tries to call for Henry and Ellie on his head set, only to feel the barrel of a gun against the back of his head.

"I wouldn't do that, if I was you, kid."

Charles holds up his hands before curb stomping his foot- or trying to- and whhels around to punch him.

Right catches his hand mid swing and throws him on his back to the ground, similar to how Right threw Henry in the Free Man ending of CtM, and makes Charles even more disoriented.

Right gets cocky and gloats, which, honestly, I don't blame him for because he just plucked a helicopter from the sky.

"You're a brave one, kid. C'mon. Let's see whatcher' made of."

Charles rolls to his stomach and tries to get up, but this is a diversion to try to hide that he's trying to call for backup, more specifically Henry because he heard the "conversation" between Ellie and Henry, though he'll take any help he can get. (Note here, I do not know how military personnel ask for help, so bear with me)

"R-Requesting back... backup. Man... Man down. I'm injured. Send. HELP."

Right notices him staying on his hands and knees and taking a little too long, and realizes what he's doing.

"You sneaky little RAT!"

Right kicks Charles in the face and throws his headphones away before stomping on his back.

Jump back to Henry, who has been running before he finds a jeep or motorcycle and drives that to fund Charles, having heard his call for backup before Right destroyed his headphones.

He also hears from Galeforce, who informs him that Ellie has been critically injured trying to stop the launch, having taken a bullet to the rib (as in the bullet itself is lodged IN her rib, a very lucky shot that could have killed her), and, due to the increase in casualties and people getting injured, he is calling for a retreat as the mission has failed.

With a hoarse, frustrated cry, Henry flings out the ear piece and speeds up whatever vehicle he's driving. At this point, he's about to break because the mission was going well, but it's crashed and burned, so his thought process here is, 'I failed the mission, but I won't fail Charles.'

Back to Charles, who is trying to fight off Right, but is severely outmatched due to having no augmentations, having been crashed in a helicopter, and having several injuries. Whatever hit he throws, Right blocks it and pushes him back. He then gets a call from Burt, or anyone on the intercom system, and Charles overhears.

"Hey, chief? We're about to launch soon. What's taking you so long?"

"Don't worry about it," Right replies as he watches Charles barely cling to consciousness and try to get back up. "Just leave a hatch open for me as long as you can."

Tired, injured and determined to stop Right, at the very least, Charles screams as he rushes toward Right and throws his hardest punch into the human half of Right's face, actually throwing the cyborg off guard. Right catches him as he starts to fall again, Charles proud at the punch he threw, and picks him up by his hair.

"You've got some guts, I'll give you that, but not enough brains to go with it."

Charles only gives a grimace as he reaches behind him and pulls out the gun Right threatened to shoot him with.

"How's this for brains?" He asks with a smirk.

Before he can pull the trigger, Right slaps the gun away with his cybernetic hand and breaks Charles's wrist before smashing him into the ground and stomping on his head. He then stands and turns Charles onto his back with his foot, noting that he's a hair's length away from unconsciousness and, more importantly, that he's a part of the government, WITH HENRY.

Speak of the devil, Henry somewhat crashes the vehicle he's in and rushes over to Charles, only to see Right standing over him.

"DON'T YOU DARE!"

Henry pulls out a gun, but Right gives him a look that says, 'bitch, really?' before turning to look at the sky, the announcement from the rocket blaring, "Launch in t-minus 10 minutes."

"You remember Reg?" Right inquires. "The clan's last leader? The guy you arrested?"

Henry looks down at Charles, who smiles at him with bloody teeth and tears in his eyes.

Right puts his foot down on Charles's neck, pressing down only enough to cause irritation.

"I really liked Reg. Yeah, he was loud and annoying sometimes, but the guy knew what he was doing."

He looks over to see Henry turn his head in suspicion, noting his eyes darting between him and Charles as Right presses his foot down more.

"Better than the last leader, I mean. I cared about him. He knew how to take care of the clan. Got it back on its feet. And you took 'im away, even when he offered you the entire clan."

"Sh-shoot him, Henry!"

Right and Henry both look down to see Charles trying to push Right's shoe off his neck with his good hand, which causes the latter the run forward.

"Don't." Right's cybernetic hand transforms into a sword and he points it directly at Charles's forehead, snipping off a little bit of his hair.

Henry stops dead in his tracks and points the gun again, Right pressing his foot down harder and causing Charles to cough.

Henry shots, but misses because of that shield Right used in the bounty hunter ending, and, because he's stressed and his voice his heavily strained, lets out a, "TSS!"

Right eyes Charles and kneels down, putting mire weight on Charles and also increasing the chance that Henry misses him, with how close he is to his friend (we all know how bad of a shot Henry is). "Yeah. Reg wasn't exactly the smartest guy, either." He transforms the sword back into his hand and tousles Charles's hair as he kicks against the ground. "But at least he knew what mattered more."

Right then removes his shoe and grabs Charles's neck with his non-cybernetic hand and stands up, lifting Charles off the ground, the pilot hardly reacting as he dangles.

Henry lowers his gun slightly, which makes Right smiek at him, cybernetic arm turning back into a sword.

"Launch in t-minus 6 minutes."

"What means more to you, Henry?" Right asks as he tightens his grip on Charles ever so slightly. "The rocket's launching soon, I'm still a free man, and I've got your friend. What're you gonna do?"

Henry points his gun again, shaking, trying to keep a brave face, but with how downhill everything's gone the 'tough, quiet guy' mask drops as he looks from Right, to Charles, and then to the rocket before turning back to Right.

Charles tilts his head to his friend, extremely out of it from the crash, getting the snot kicked out of him, and the amount of pain he's in and adrenaline wearing off in his body. "Henry..."

Right tightens his grip more. "What'll it be, Henry?" He asks.

"Launch in t-minus 3 minutes."

"What'll it be?" Right asks once more. "It's me, the rocket, or your friend!"

Charles makes a very weak gesture to Henry, a finger gun pointing to Right. 'Do it. Shoot him.'

Henry's eyes reach Right, who glares at him as he raises his sword arm.

Again, Henry is a TERRIBLE shot and is hopeless as he sees his friend drift into unconsciousness, knows Ellie is injured because he left her alone, and essentially ruined the mission. With a that running through his mind, Henry's arms lower until he drops the gun, taking very shaky steps toward Right as he raises his trembling hands and does simple gestures for Right to speak to him: he points to Right, then to Charles, the cradles and hands and he crouches and points to the ground.

'Let Charles safely down.'

"Launch in 10... 9..."

"So that's how much he means to you."

"8... 7... 6..."

Henry repeats the gesture and claps his hands together, palms and fingers touching.

"5..."

Right's glare deepens. "You took Reg from me."

"4..."

Henry shakes his head and laces his fingers together as he throws himself forward.

"3..."

Right's feet because the mini rocket we see in different endings. "Hope you don't mind, Henry..."

"2..."

"I'll give him back when I'm done borrowing him for a bit!"

"1..."

Right shoots into the air as Henry runs to grab him, barely holding on for a few seconds begore slipping and falling back down.

Charles is thrown onto Right's shoulder anddimly watches as he's flown away from Henry, reaching out for him before finally losing consciousness.

Henry has been reaching back, but drops him arm when he see the two board the rocket.

"Charles..."

The rocket raises higher into the sky, even further from Henry's reach.

He staggers forward for a second before falling to his knees.

"CHAAAAAAAARRRRRRRLLLEESS!"

Henry breaks down as a squad comes his way, having taken so long because they were being attacked by toppats and most of the soldiers were either injured or killed in the crossfire.

They can't get an answer out of him, as all he can do is scream and cry, but are able to get two things out of his unintelligible wailing: "It was me." and "Charles."

It doesn't take long for Henry to pass out and be carried back to the base, the soldiers putting him in a bed next to Ellie.

YEP! This took me forever, but I feel like it's a pretty strong beginning.

What do you guys think? Is this too much or should I keep going with this?

Either way, I hope you enjoyed and

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 🎃💀👻

#henry stickmin #toppat!charles #angst tw #violence tw #completing the mission spoilers #implied Copperright #stickvin

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askthetoppatleader · 3 years

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Oh I got two:

1.)hey Rhm and reg do you know about people shipping you together?

2.)What do you two think of Henry?

"1, my right hand man and i are already dating, so we don't mind, i suppose!"

"and 2, ..i'm not answering that."

#[ask]#[reg speaks]#implied copperright #ooc: yeah copperright is canon here and only here /j

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inedibleperiwinkle · 3 years

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The aftermath of this picture.

Yes I know my resolution got fucked up. <3

#stickvin #copperright #curtisson #though more implied than the other two #Why were all these assholes invited who knows #Second part of my gift to the lovely Media #Look Right has waited too fucking long Reginald needs to stop humming around and give a straight answer #Marry the man you idiot #Sven is offended #God this is pixelated but I don't have time to fix it here ya go kids

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mintyfrosty · 4 years

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The Recovery

BEEP

[RESTART: ENGAGE]

[HEART RATE: 61 BPM]

[BLOOD PRESSURE: NORMAL]

[BRAIN ACTIVITY: LOW]

[LEVEL OF STRESS: 12%]

Warning signs echoing in his ears with a blurry vision was one of the last things the Toppat's Right Hand expected to see when he woke up. Well, that was to say if he woke up. Quite frankly, that wasn't something he was expecting. With the grinning face of Henry Stickmin opposite of him, he fell unconscious, believing that was his end. And yet, here he was, shaking the sleepiness out of his system, left hand moving to his face to try and remove the aching headache that was torturing his head. The soft texture he was lying on seemed to imply he was on a bed. How the hell did that happen?

And what the hell were the messages floating in front of him? It was almost like a digital screen.

"да, welcome back." Came a feminine voice from in front of him, causing him immediately jump with surprise. Well. 'Jump with surprise' resulting in his sitting up straight, back colliding hard with the wall behind the bed. A woman. Blonde hair. Glasses. Doctor's coat. Russian accent. Unfamiliar.

[LEVEL OF STRESS: 34%]

"Hey, easy, easy! Hey!" Commented the lady, quickly rushing over to him and patting down his right hand. The Right Hand Man couldn't register that he was panicking. Confusion swarmed his systems, the warning signs that floated in front of him. Who was this woman? What on earth was she doing in the Toppat's base? And, from what he gathered, the hell was she doing in his room? Unsure of himself, the right-hand man tried to focus on something more solid; something that had an answer to. The first thing his mind jumped to was the feeling of the woman's arm on his arm. Oddly, he didn't feel it. Well, of course, he felt it but in the sense that his arm felt numb. As if he were flying but standing firmly on the ground. However, he soon found the reason as to why his eyes falling down the arm this 'doctor' had patted.

Metal.

Pure metallic plates covered the surface area of his right arm. His eyes were captured in the sight, cursed with the confusion of his lack of knowledge on the situation. Was he dreaming? The fingers of his left hand, which was still planted to his head, tightened, nails digging into, what he thought to be skin. But it wasn't. The sound of nails against metal met his ears.

[LEVEL OF STRESS: 54%]

"Hey Hey! Can you hear me?" Echoed the woman's voice, her fingers clicking in front of his face in an attempt to get his attention. His mind was caught in a spiralling curse of thoughts. He couldn't possibly fathom the idea that was being suggested to him. Gradually, to try and answer her question, he nodded his head, blinking with genuine confusion on his facial features. Or at least the human ones he had left. Somewhat satisfied, the doctor adjusted her glasses, letting the right-hand man's arm go. Immediately, he began to inspect it, twirling it in many ways to try and grasp the knowledge he failed to understand.

"You were quite lucky, see. Head not always easy to recover. However, I was able to bring you back to life. Your chief said you wounded in battle, да?"

So it was a result of Henry then.

However, for whatever reason deemed fit, nothing stuck out more in her statements than the word 'chief'. Reginald. Shit. A deep pit of panic sunk his stomach, a lump of uncertainty developing in his throat. The stress meter curiously bounced into the 60 percentages as the echoing sound of his heartbeat raced with speed. Uncertain of what to do, the doctor gestured her right hand over to the left of where her patient was sitting before taking a small step back. And as quickly as his heart was pumping, his eyes snapped to the left.

And there he was. Face hidden underneath one top hat (his chief one was missing), and cooing softly with the rhythmic breath of his sleep. He was, awkwardly, hanging off half of the bed; torso and arms on the mattress with his legs dangling off the side that connected to the floor. He was simply dressed in a white dress shirt with tux pants with all gloves and most accessories missing. From his positioning, his expression was unreadable since his fine top hat was hiding any facial features Reginald had to offer. Most surprising, however, was the large, slightly reddish, top hat that belonged to the one and only right-hand man, that was clutched tightly in his, ironically, right hand. An immense amount of pity came over the second in command. He was waiting. Waiting for him. With a flash flick of his head, and expression desperate, the right-hand man's eyes met the doctor's.

"'ow long--" A cough erupted from his throat. Hoarseness had invaded his throat.

"'ow long 'as 'e been...?" Pitifully, she turned her head to the sleeping chief, then back at the right-hand man.

"You were unconscious for 2 weeks. I've only allowed visitors for 3 days before now since I finished operations." That was one of the last things he wanted to hear. In hindsight, 2 weeks and 3 days were much better than 2 months or 2 years. However, it still wasn't a good amount of time. Reginald got worried when the right-hand man slept in as if he was poisoned in his sleep, as ridiculous as that sounded. Yet, when he considered this, he had to wonder how Reginald hadn't gone insane yet. Shakily, he planted his right hand onto Reginald's back. He couldn't imagine what was going through his head in that whole period. Thankfully, since the right-hand man was miserably horrid with words, the doctor seemed to get the idea the two wanting to be alone and quietly took her leave.

[LEVEL OF STRESS: 67%]

"Reg? Io." Trying to be as gentle as humanly possible, the second in command tugged the chief's shirt. Shortly after, a small 'meh' came from the Toppat leader, delicately moving out of the realm of sleep. With no haste, Reginald pulled himself onto the bed, sitting upright on his knees. With a final yawn leaving his lips, the first in command open his eyes, blinking slowly before locking eyes with the person who had awoken him. And his expression immediately transformed into despair. If the right-hand man thought that Reginald looked horrid without seeing his face, then he looked beyond dishevelled.

Right Hand Man had only seen Reginald's moustache messy twice in his life, and this was the second. Twists and knots made the chief's moustache curly, loose hairs sticking in almost every direction. Heavy bags sat under the chief's eyes accompanied by the slight, blotchy redness that covered his face. Whether instinctively or intentionally, the first in command moved the reddish hat close to his chest, a sudden way of indescribable emotion covering his features. The Right Hand Man could only hopeless wonder what thoughts were going through the chief's head. Awkwardly, the right-hand man offered a wave.

"'ey Reg."

That did it.

Because the next thing he knew, Reginald dived into him, curling at his side and wrapping his arms around the cyborg's torso. This was one of those times where the right-hand man wished he knew how to handle the unpredictability of Reginald's emotions, or his own for that matter. Uneasy, the right-hand man placed a concerned left hand onto Reginald's back, rubbing it gently. He felt a harsh tug at his shirt.

"Don't you sca-re me like that again!"

His voice was about as hoarse as his was, filled with such a tone, anyone could take pity on. He figured as such; he probably wouldn't've gotten much sleep either if the roles were reversed. With a hesitated sigh, the right-hand man, sunk against the pillows of the bed, his robotic arm tightly holding the chief. Out of the corner of his eye, however, the right-hand man was able to see the diamond-covered gold band on the fourth finger of Reginald's hand. He smirked, suddenly feeling grateful that he hadn't lost his left hand. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to feel the same gold band on his own fourth finger.

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Small fanfic idea i’ve been wanting to do for a long while. As you can probably guess, when Right Hand Man wakes up for the first time being a cyborg. Also Copperright >;3

Small shout out to @twilightdaisi and @the-shark-well for fuelling the fire that is this ship >;3

Goddamn I love this ship too much.

#henry stickmin #the henry stickmin collection #henry stickmin collection #henry #right hand man #rhm #copperright #copperight #Reginald Copperbottom #reginald #Reginald/Right Hand Man #Fanfiction

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the-starlit-blade · 3 years

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Ok can we talk about Reginald? Like I really wanna talk about this. (caution: infodump under cut)

Alright, let’s start. First, a hot take: Reginald Copperbottom is the best character in The Henry Stickmin Collection. There, I said it. He’s not my favorite, though (that honor belongs to Sven). But he’s definitely the best.

First: he’s definitely the character who is the most developed. For a character that appears in two (arguably 3 and i’ll get to that later) games, he’s got a lot of personality. So, what is that personality?

He’s a coward. This guy is super cowardly and it’s obvious. He relies on Right to protect him (at the cost of Right’s life in some runs) and uses deception tactics to get his way.

He’s power-hungry. What do the following endings have in common: TB, TK, TCW, R? He actively seeks to usurp power from Henry and reclaim his position. It’s implied (and widely accepted) that Reginald assassinated the previous leader (probably Terrence Suave) to gain the title. The only other character who is said to have done that is Sir Wilford IV.

He’s an incredibly intelligent dumbass. This is kind of a running theme in the game, where characters are incredibly smart, which they have to in order to do what they do. So in TCW, Reginald manages to singlehandedly convince the entire clan that Henry is unfit to lead.

The point is, he has the most character of any character in the game. He has the clearest motivations. One thing I’d specifically like to talk about is the contrast between Reginald’s potential to betray Henry - specifically during TB and TK. So, in both of these, Reginald literally holds Henry’s life in his hands. In TB, he drops him. He has a small monologue during that too. But in TK, he helps him. It’s weird, right? His explanation is that Henry earned his respect. And he considers it too!! He says it out loud! And he’s not jokingly considering it either! Like, maybe he says it to jokingly scare him, but we know he would. This is interesting to me because these are completely contradictory but both 100% in character.

God it’s been hard to talk about him without talking about copperright. You know how hard it is to resist that urge? In conclusion, Reginald is the best character, but he doesn’t have to be your favorite.

#thsc #thsc reginald copperbottom #henry stickmin reginald #henry stickmin reginald copperbottom #stari mumbles

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frazzledazzlin · 1 year

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UHHHMMG CONTEXT UNDER CUT SORRY FELT SAD FJSDFSDF

#THSC #THE henry stickmin collection #scriboozles #right hand man reborn #reginald copperbottom #death #mr. macbeth #burt curtis #carol cross #sven svensson #AM SORRY #COPPERRIGHT #the song made me do it #i was like oh haha lol robot sex song wtf and boom suddenly heartbreak like OK!!!!!!!!!! I WAS HERE FOR A GOOD TIME #SUDDENLY I'M ATTACKED BY ANGST IN A DAM SONG #i know the song implies like break up but i made it worse wit h death erm

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knightmareaceblue · 3 years

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“Now HE’s afraid of me...

He’s afraid of ME...!”

-Maria Mena, It Took Me By Surprise

So I’ve had this idea bouncing around in my head for a little while. Not super proud of my Terrence design, but whatever. This was a good chance to practice writing in a different way, and the dramatic lighting on page 2 turned out really well, I think. Personally, I’ve always been a fan of the ‘#complicated’ interpretation of Reginald and Terrence’s relationship. Open to constructive criticism as always!

#The Henry Stickmin Collection #Henry Stickmin #THSC #Terrence Suave #Reginald Copperbottom #Right Hand Man #Implied Copperright #Because I have no control over my life #Knightmare Art #RHM #Blood #TW: Blood #gun violence #gun #violence #tw: gun violence #Let me know if I need to tag anything else please #Also let me know if anything's hard to read

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knightmareaceblue · 3 years

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Reg and Red (RHM) being Henry's babysitters.

Sorry if this looks a little funky. I used this as an opportunity to try something different.

#The Knightmare Responds #THSC #The Henry Stickmin Collection #Copperright #Copperight #Or well it's implied #Right Hand Man #RHM #Henry Stickmin #Reginald Copperbottom #Knightmare Art #I know the prompt says babysitting but there are a few fics on AO3 with kid Henry being raised by RHM and Reg and I ADORE them #Family fluff is my WEAKNESS #This also applies to General Galeforce as well #Anonymous

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knightmareaceblue · 3 years

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Chellry, he’s married, you dolt.

More of my Triple Threat fanfusion, Mullet Bastard. As you can tell, I had no clue what colour to make their speech bubble, so I just made it white with red, green, and purple highlights. Gonna be honest, not a fan of how it looks. Next time I’m going to try something else. Maybe I’ll just make a colour blur, I don’t know.

The Triple Threat really enjoy fighting together, so Chellry can be a little... overexcited, to say the least. And they’re pretty freakin’ good at it, so long as they don’t get seriously hurt.

Speaking of married, bonus(?) Copperright below the cut.

Ouch.

(To be fair to RHM, he’s not really against fusing, and if he’d been paying attention he’d definitely have agreed. He’s just a really sore loser, and it caused a critical bit of miscommunication. I’ll resolve it later. After I come up with a decent Copperright fusion design. -_-)

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themadauthorshatter · 3 years

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Henry Stickmin Headcanons Part 2, to "celebrate" the finale of the Toppat!Charles AU(Press F to pay respects). I'll be going in and oit of the AU as well, but that will be seperate from the other headcanons

In Triple Threat, and in order, the tallest is Ellie, standing at 5'9" and Henry is the shortest at 5'4". Charles sits comfortably between them at 5'7". Neither use their powers for evil, even though it's tempting to literally something over his head sometimes.

Each member of Triple Threat has their reactions toward horror in general.

Charles is pretty unfazed by games like FNAF or anything with heavy jumpscares. He will not watch a movie with bad jumpscares(jumpscares used poorly.) He was a baby watching Sinister, The VVitch, and Lighthouse.

Ellie gets scared by just about anything, but breaks whenever she sees evil clowns specifically.

Nothing really scares Henry. Or at least he tells himself that. He's less open by getting scared, but don't tell Ellie or Charles.

Ellie and Heney, because they were in a mischief mood, tried scaring Charles. He punched Henry in the face on accident.

Charles sings really well, but only when he thinks there's no one around.

Ellie is the smartest of the trio. That doesn't mean Charles and Henry are idiots, even though they've done things that have warranted them a spot in the dumbass hall of fame.

When Rupert first joined, he'd literally never been more annoyed than when he met Charles, who, in his opinion, talked too much and didn't take anything seriously. It didn't really help that Galeforce always partnered the two, as to keep Charles safe on the ground when he couldn't directly see him. Rupert was mad at the fact he'd gone through a lot of training and was promoted to government babysitter, and it boiled out of him when Charles asked if he was okay. Rupert snapped at him, shouting at the pilot to just shut up for five minutes and actually do his part in missions, which was have Rupert's back or keep him informed of anything around them. He also yelled that Charles is incompetent and shouldn't even be in the military, as all he does is talk. He had brought this up with Galeforce, when the two got back and Charles excused himself to allow Rupert to give the report on their mission, but got a very proper scolding. He apologized to Charles when the YOUNGEST PILOT EVER got them both out of a sticky situation using some incredibly evasive maneuvers that Rupert was sure would get them killed.

After the deaths and funeral of Mr. And Mrs. Calvin, Galeforce adopted Charles, something that was in the couple's will. Charles did not talk to him for a long time, not until a rainy day that prevented any work that needed to be done. Galeforce noticed Charles sitting near either a patio door or by a window staring up at the clouds. He carefully sat next to him and admitted that he missed Charles's parents, too, saying they were very good friends of his and were always good to turn to for a smile or just to take a breather. He couldn't imagine how Charles felt, but he still missed them and was sorry all the same. That's when Galeforce noticed a card Charles was holding to his chest; a birthday card, one that read, "Charlie, if you're reading this, know that your father and I love you very much. No matter what, always remember that. We couldn't have asked for a better son, one as silly, smart, and ambitious as you. We will always love you. I'm sorry. Love, Mom," from Charles's mother and, "Hey, hawk. If you're reading this, it means something really bad happened to us both. Sorry we won't make it back for your birthday, more specifically that I broke my promise to you. You deserve to be happy, and I hope you can do that again someday. Charles, you can miss us, you can be sad, you can cry, it's more than okay to. I just hope one day you can smile and be happy again for us. I'm sorry. Your mother loves you, Charlie. I love you so much, son. Love, Dad," from Charles's father. There smugdes on some parts of the card, some old and some new, and it especially struck Galeforce that the two extremely sad messages shouldn't have been on a nine year old's birthday card. Galeforce apologized for not being Charles's parents, though told him that he'd try to be what they were, maybe more. He didn't talk, but Charles did huddle closer to his side and Galeforce put an arm around him as they continued watching the rain.

Do not challenge Charles to a foot race. He will outrun you.

Do not challenge Ellie to an arm wrestling match. She will always win.

Do not challenge Henry to an underwater how-long-can-I-hold-my-breathe challenge. You will most likely drown.

Triple Threat beat each other in their respective challenges/contests by cheating/sabotaging each other; Henry will try tackling Charles while Ellie will try to trip him, Charles will try kicking Ellie's chair to push it away while Henry teams up with him to try and push her arm down, and Ellie will throw little pool torpedoes at Henry, which is more passive than Charles shouting, "This is the greatest PLAAAAAAN!" and cannonballing in before wrestling Henry back above water.

Charles wakes up Ellie and Henry in various methods, since he's usually up first: He'll usually use an alarm, but sometimes, when he's really energetic, he bangs pots and pans together, gets a teakettle singing, uses and airhorn, and, the most extreme he's ever gone, taped a brown lunch bag to a leaf blower and brought a really bright light into both their rooms, rigging the devices to a light switch. With a snicker, he began to play that army/military wake up song on a trumpet with a megaphone taped to it and flipped the switch.

Both of them were ready to kill him.

Henry was initially left at an orphanage, but he was adopted at the age of seven. He was brought up well enough, until one of his parents started noticing that he was acting "weird," as in his 'ability' to see his choices and fails. This parent started ignoring him and told him to start acting normal or he'd be sent back to the orphanage. The other parent, the one that also noticed but didn't want to talk about it, still loved him, though started to get a little irritated when their partner left out of spite; "Either I go or the crazy brat goes." The other parent re-married and this new step-parent was nicer, but happened to wirk as a janitor for the CCC, and warned Henry to be careful with his 'powers' because the people the step-parent worked for weren't nice and would do bad things to him. The step-parent meant well, but Henry, having the memories of the parent that left fresh in his mind, took it as a threat to behave, which made him a very anxious kid. Anxious enough to become a kleptomaniac and pickpocket to relieve stress.

Ellie had the most normal life, having two parents and a brother, but turned to a life of thieving because the pressure of being a good person and her family's view of a black and white world drove her crazy.

You would have to be crazy to try and take on all three members of Triple Threat at once.

The trio sometimes share a room and bed, because of nightmares and they don't want to be alone.

Yeah. Triple Threat is basically a found family.

Ellie is the father and Henry and Charles are her two, wonderful, dumbass children, even though there are times the two take turns being the mother.

Now, ONTO SOME POST TOPPAT!CHARLES AU STUFF! This is kind of like an Epilogue, so buckle in.

Triple Threat gets two weeks off to fully recover. (Thank goodness)

They return to their apartment and go straight to bed, though they actually just camp out in the living room.

They still sleep like the dead; they wake up LATE the next day, at 4 in the afternoon.

Breakfast for dinner.

Even when they know they should go back to sleep around 10 pm, they stay up and watch movies. They let Charles pick, and he chooses a collection of Looney Tunes, Merry Melodies, and even the Looney Tunes Show.

Henry and Ellie notice him giggling whenever Daffy's on screen, and can't help but wonder why, though they don't ask when he also gets tears in his eyes. He explains later that he used to watch the old version of Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies with his parents and even Galeforce, sometimes, even though it was something that happened less frequently as Charles grew and became a more solid part of the military.

They stay up all night, taking turns watching movies, making small talk, and just enjoying each other's company.

Charles does have an episode when they're making lunch the next day when he accidentally drops a glass and has a flashback of Right killing the pilot of a destroyer sent to rescue him. It is a nerve wracking memory and it leads him to breaking down on the floor. Henry and Ellie do help him out of it, but he refuses to share what he saw with them. They don't push it and tell him to feel free to share whenever he's ready.

They keep an eye on him when he takes his ADD medicine, just to be safe.

They often go outside to do workouts, because they don't want to break anything in the apartment. Charles keeps up with them, and they simply enjoy the breeze and the outside when they're done.

Henry and Ellie do talk about what she told Henry back in Part 6, and she apologizes for not telling Henry sooner, also admitting that she was scared he would abandon her, if she told him. Needless to say, Henry's just glad the three of them are together.

Charles is welcomed back much more warmly when they return from their break.

First daybback and it's out of the frying pan and into the flame, because they have another group of thieves to deal with, smaller than the Toppat Clan, but still noticable: a biker gang that's here to steal stuff by any means necessary and be an insane headache for police and people on the road.

They don't know much now, but they will when the gang is followed in the air.

Galeforce offers Charles to fly and get some possible intell, though says that if he isn't comfortable with it he can back out.

Charles agrees, and says with an excited, nervous smile that he's missed being in the air.

Galeforce makes sure Henry and Ellie keep an eye on him, which they promise to do, before everyone sets out, Charles taking a seat in his fixed up helicopter with Henry and Ellie behind him.

With a deep breath, they head out, ready to do some government recon, which they're successful in.

At The Wall, Dmitri is grumbly and still a little pissed at how Henry got away AGAIN, but has to admit it's good to not have to worry about the Toppat Clan anymore, most of whom being in maximum security cells.

Right is bored as hell, but is glad that his cellmate is Reginald; Right's missing his cybernetic arm from the elbow down, his legs have been downgraded to be normal legs, and he is no longer OP.

Reg apologizes for letting this happen to the clan, but Right assures him it's not his fault, self deprecatingly admitting that he may have been stupid for MAYBE crossing the line. Reg can't help but softly chide him for it.

Right promises that they'll get out, though Reginald only snuggles into him more, saying it can happen in good time, but right now he just wants to be close to Right a little longer.

The CCC hasn't gotten a single major chaos reading since the orbital station was destroyed and the clan was arrested. Bill Bullet chuckles a simple, "Not bad, kid," as he leaves his readers to their work.

Terrence is kicking back in his new room, lying in a bed as he reads a book. He's enjoyed having regular, warm showers, access to a razor to shave, and, mostly, a sky that didn't have the orbital station in it; it leaves a bad taste in his mouth that Reginald actually outdid him, sending the clan in space for a short time.

He chuckles at the fact that Henry would've been a damned good leader, mostly because he could see overthrowing HIM to be easy. "Too bad he joined the government instead," Terrence sighs with a shrug before he burts into laughter, mad, hysterical laughter. It really would've been fun to see Henry as the leader of the Toppat Clan.😉

Back with Triple Threat, after their mission as they sit on a hill that would've held Charles grave, if this was Valiant Hero. They're quiet, enjoying the sunset and the sound of the waves below, not ready to go home yet.

Even though they're all quiet, Charles tips his head back and takes a deep breath, taking in the sun, the air, everything, before returning his gaze to the sunset.

"Man," he breathes, "I've... really missed this."

Ellie replies that she has as well, Henry nodding in agreement.

They all watch the remainder of the sunset, though, quite nicely, all three are holding each other's hands and smiling to themselves

#henry stickmin #completing the mission au #completing the mission #charles calvin #headcanons #ellie rose #stickvin #copperright #sad stuff #death of a parent tw #not nice parent tw #implied poor self medication tw #ptsd tw #fluff #angst

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knightmareaceblue · 3 years

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What was now the meeting room may have been a storage hold at some point, or perhaps a vault of some sort. The door was heavy, and one of the few in the compound that possessed a lock. The inside was large, which had been their primary reason for converting it into their boardroom, and just as sturdy and plain as the rest of the concrete bunker they’d been squatting in. A large wooden table, much cheaper than what many of the Toppat elites were used to, had been moved inside, and decorated with a single cloth covering. Instead of the cushioned office chairs they’d each grown accustomed to, the board members sat on cheap metal folding chairs picked up by an incognito member during a trip to town. There was a steady murmur of conversation as the heads of the Toppat clan whispered among themselves, everything from polite conversation to haggard complaints. All that noise, however, was interrupted by the chime of a bell, prompting everyone to fall to silence.

The meeting had officially begun.

For a short while, nobody spoke. The silence was thick and awkward. Carol Cross, sitting to the left of the head of the table, turned to address the man in the leader’s chair, “Sir, as the Chief, you’re the one who-”

“I ain’t the Chief.” Was the curt reply of the Right Hand Man, leaned back with his arms crossed. He looked annoyed to even be there, which was fair, considering his ill husband was confined to a bed on the other end of the compound. Everyone in the room exchanged awkward looks at the comment; Sven, sitting near the door on the opposite end, twiddled his thumbs and kept his gaze down, guilt tempered only by the comforting hand of Burt on his shoulder.

“Err, right,” Miss Cross replied evenly, keeping her tone calculatingly neutral, “But seeing as the current Chief is... indisposed, the board has elected to make you the acting Chief. So you’re the one who has to call the meeting to order.”

“Fine.” The Right Hand leaned forward, grabbing the gavel his husband must have used hundreds of times during these meetings, and, with a bored expression that could rival even Burt Curtis’, let his hand fall so that the gavel hit the table with the weakest smack any of them had ever heard. He then set the gavel down again and resumed his relaxed posture. “There. You’re called to order.”

Carol Cross looked frustrated, but went along with it. “Fine. I’ll begin with a summary of our current situation: Our finances are in utter disarray. All of our assets were on that orbital station, and what little we were able to secure before its destruction amounts to a pittance. A large portion of our numbers are either dead or scattered; we’ve deduced that if they haven’t shown up here by now, they’re not going to. Morale is incredibly low, and with the Chief’s current state, I don’t see it raising anytime soon. We don’t know how long we can stay here before the government finds us out. Our situation is dire, perhaps the most dire it has ever been.”

“I’ve... dug around into some of the old paperwork left lying around here,” Sven volunteered, shrinking in on himself as his words attracted the stares of his superiors, “We aren’t as trapped as we initially suspected – Terrance Suave had used his portion of the Toppat’s wealth to purchase numerous safehouses. I have the official deeds here.” Sven laid the papers out for everyone to peruse, “They’re fairly scattered, so direct communication would be a challenge, but from what I can tell they are all low-key, so-”

“Ridiculous!” Poshley objected, slamming his ornate cane down on the concrete floor, “We’re already in an incredibly weakened position – no thanks to you – and you’d have us all scatter?!”

“You’re right.” Burt remarked, drumming on the table rhythmically with his fingers. “Let’s go with your plan instead- oh, wait, you don’t have one, do you?”

“Why are you even here?!” The white-hatted elite pushed himself out of his chair, into a standing position, “Now that you aren’t the right hand, you have no business being present while we discuss such sensitive matters.”

“The boy was an integral part of our organization during the Chief’s absence.” Objected Macbeth, scowling sourly at his fellow elite. “You may not like him, but he deserves your respect!”

“Deserves respect after the mess that was Sven’s reign? Hardly.”

“That was on me.” In his current state, not much could’ve gotten Sven to speak up – but blaming Burt for his mistakes was going too far. “Burt’s done nothing wrong.”

The six elites plus Burt squabbled and bickered, many standing from their chairs to more effectively shout at each other. Blame was tossed around like a ball, and it kept hitting Sven repeatedly in the face. Nobody could agree on anything, and the chaos bled out into the hallways, where passing Toppats tiptoed around their arguing superiors with silent, cat-like steps.

Eventually, the fighting was broken into silence by the loud thud of a fist crashing hard into the table. The Right Hand Man was now also standing, and his annoyed boredom had transformed into cold fury.

“Enough.” He said, his quiet voice holding extreme weight. Instantly everyone was sat back down, staring at him with wide doe eyes. He huffed, and the fury evaporated, leaving only the exhaustion plain on his face. “Way I see it, we’ve got two priorities: Savin’ Reg, and gettin’ all the Toppats to safe shelter. Sven’s idea is a good one. Gene, I want you to work out the logistics. Figure out ‘ow to split everyone up and keep in communication.”

“Er, yes sir.” Having only recently become a more active member of the clan, Fredrickson seemed quite nervous, but his years of experience as the mayor of a fairly large city gave him all the experience he needed to handle the job.

The Right Hand nodded in acknowledgment. “Good. That just leaves Reginald.”

“We...” She seemed reluctant, but Carol Cross had always been the realist of the Toppats, so she pressed onward, “We may have to consider what will happen if the Chief’s state turns out to be permanent-”

“You don’t know Reginald like I do.” Her attempts at reason were met with one of the dirtiest looks any of them had ever seen the Right Hand give. “’E’ll bounce back. ‘E always does. So does anyone have any GOOD ideas?”

A moment of hush fell over the elites.

Burt raised his hand from his position behind Sven. “Well, we may have something, sir.” When he got the leader’s approval, Burt took out his cell phone and pulled up his favourite social media account. “Last night, these videos and pictures were uploaded to some rando account while we were out jail-breaking. They seem to suggest that the ancient monsters of myth have not only returned from whatever exile we put them through, but that the Government is actively hiding them from us.”

“And that helps us... how?” Mister Schwarz asked with crossed arms.

“According to ancient legend,” Sven hopped in, his nights struggling to grasp the Witch’s excited explanations coming back to him, “All magic was taught to humans by monsters. They’re the originators, and the experts.” A light of understanding came to the Right Hand’s eyes, and for the first time he looked engaged in the conversation. “If there’s anyone who knows how to help the Chief, it’s them.”

“I already see several major problems with this plan.” Miss Cross leaned forward, using her fingers to count the problems as she listed them. “One: we have no clue where they are. Two: Even if we did know, we don’t have the numbers or any weapons to go up against the military. Three: What if the monsters wouldn’t help us? Do YOU know how to fight magical monsters? Because I sure as hell don’t-”

“Easy, easy.” Burt murmured. He pulled back his phone and scrolled a little, searching for something. When he found it, he turned the phone around so that everyone could see it. “We DO know where the monsters are. They’re on Mount Ebott.” When his answer was echoed back with vague murmurs of confusion, Burt swallowed his annoyance and elaborated, “You know, that haunted mountain? The one nobody ever comes back from alive? Yeah, that’s the place.”

“And you know this how?” Asked Poshley with a skeptical quirk of his brow.

“I’m surprised you don’t already know, seeing as you apparently know everything about me.” Burt quipped with a roll of his eyes, and Sven sunk into his chair a little as the other elites stared at Burt and, by proxy, Sven himself. “Ebott City is my hometown. I grew up staring at that mountain every day from my bedroom window. If the backgrounds from those videos aren’t Mount Ebott, I’ll eat my hat.”

“Even supposing you’re right,” Gene Fredrickson said, wearing his worry clearly on his face. There was a reason he wasn’t involved in most of the more dangerous stuff, “What about the Government? There’s no way they’ll let you anywhere near the monsters.”

Burt raised a finger and took in a breath to answer.

And held it.

And held it longer.

And then... “Uh, I guess we’d sneak in?”

This plan was greeted by a chorus of groans; Miss Cross facepalmed, Fredrickson sighed deeply, Poshley scoffed and scowled, Macbeth rolled his head back to stare at the ceiling, and Schwarz huffed and crossed his arms. Even the Right Hand Man, who at first glance didn’t seem to move a muscle, was staring dead-eyed at Burt, very much projecting his desire to be elsewhere to the stoic man.

Sven, the only one not to join in on the groaning, sat back in seat and stroked his chin, staring intently at the edge of the table.

“Hey, it could work.” Burt objected. “We just sneak in, grab a useful looking monster, and sneak back out. What could go wrong?”

“Aside from everything?” Macbeth asked flatly.

“You four barely got out of that prison alive.” Pointed out Fredrickson, shifting a little in his seat. “Arguably, one of you didn’t.” That earned him a dirty look from the Right Hand Man, though Fredrickson thankfully didn’t take notice. “And this camp is going to be even more secure. There’s no way you can get in there and steal a whole monster without getting caught.”

“Well,” Burt sat back down, wind taken out of his sails, “I don’t hear any better ideas-”

“The caves.”

Every single person in the room turned to look at Sven. His eyes saw none of them, focused squarely on the edge of the table, and his hands were clasped together so tightly they were starting to turn red.

“Burt told me about Ebott while we were waiting for the meeting to start.” He explained, not looking up at the group even once. “The legends say that nobody who climbed the mountain ever returned. I think we’ve all been assuming that’s just where they’re keeping the monsters – because nobody goes there anyways, because of the legends – but what if the monsters and the legend were connected? What if the monsters were in the mountain?” Finally Sven looked up, “Burt, you said that the mountain was hollow, right?”

“I said it was probably hollow, on account of it being a volcano in the past,” Answered his previous Right Hand.

“Them being inside the mountain makes so much sense, when you put all the pieces together.” Every other elite was looking at Sven with various levels of confusion, but the Right Hand Man slowly sat up straight, listening more intently than he had so far. Seeing that raised Sven’s confidence. “We may not be able to approach the monsters directly, but its more than likely that they left quite a bit behind when they fled Mount Ebott. I believe searching for clues there is our best bet.”

“That sounds like a lot of guesswork, Sven-” Poshley began, but was instantly shut down by the Right Hand Man.

“But it’s good guesswork.” The acting Chief paused for a moment to think, then nodded. “Al’ight, so it’s settled, then. Gene, Carol, you two prepare everyone to ‘ead out. We’re on borrowed time, and the longer we stay in this bunker, the easier it’ll be for the government to find us. In the meanwhile, I’ll take Reg and check out the caves underneath Mount Ebott. We’ll leave immediately.”

Sven instantly leapt out of his seat. “I’ll come with you!” He blurted out. After a moment he realized his outburst had attracted everyone’s attention to him, and sheepishly pulled himself into a more composed posture. “I mean, we can’t have anything happening to you or the Chief, yeah? I’ll come along as a bodyguard.”

The Right Hand Man made a sour expression, but acquiesced. “Al’ight. I suppose you can come.”

“Then I guess I’ll come along, too.” Burt volunteered, sounding just as relaxed as ever.

“Oi! This ain’t a field trip!”

“We need you here, Curtis.” Cross countered sharply. “You’re our foremost expert in communications. You need to help us coordinate the split.”

“Yes, go back to doing something you’re actually good at.” Scoffed Poshley, looking way too pleased at this turn of events. His chipper expression was only tarnished by Macbeth pointedly jabbing him in the side with an elbow.

Sven placed a hand on Burt’s shoulder, like Burt had done for him at the beginning of the meeting, and this seemed to prevent him from doing anything rash. Burt took a deep breath and said, “I’ve trained my unit well. Jackson can do my job just fine, has been since I became the Right Hand Man.” Burt’s eyes, steady and unyielding, stared straight into Carol Cross’.

“Even so-”

“Be straight with me, ma’am: Are you saying I’m not allowed to go?”

For a moment Miss Cross bristled, not used to be questioned like that by her subordinates, but inhaled before responding, “It’s in the better interest of the clan that you-”

“Okay.” Burt took off his hat, headphones and all. “I quit.”

“Burt!” Sven gaped at the other man, aghast. Every other elite, even Poshley, looked shock by the nonchalant announcement. “You- you can’t be serious.”

Burt shrugged, looking quite calm for a man who just casually quite a well-known criminal organization. “Sure I am. If they change their minds, then I rejoin and get to come with you. If they don’t, then I’m no longer under their control and still get to come with you. Either way, I get what I want.”

“You’ll get yourself killed!” Scwartz scolded with a scowl. “Do you really think the Government’s gonna overlook you just ‘cause you ‘quit’?”

“You overestimate my capacity for forethought, sir.” Burt smiled sweetly at all his bosses. “Now, how would you like to proceed?”

Miss Cross looked very much like she just sucked an extremely sour lemon, but managed to get out through her gritted teeth, “Fine. Go. We’re all splitting up anyways. But the next time we have a meeting, Mister Curtis, we will discuss the consequences of your actions.” She turned her stare to the Right Hand Man. “I think we’re done here today-”

That was all he needed to bang the gavel down, officially adjourning the meeting, before zipping out of the room so quickly Sven only saw a blur of red. The rest of the elites filed after, grumbling among themselves as they left. Macbeth patted Sven’s shoulder as he left, which Sven supposed was a show of support, but other than that none of the elites acknowledged him. This left Sven alone in the boardroom with Burt, who leaned back in his chair with the type of smug arrogance Sven normally associated with the Chief.

“Hey,” Burt greeted way too casually for what just happened.

“What the actual fuck, Burt?” Sven responded, all but collapsing into the seat next to his.

“Hmm?”

“You- you could’ve gotten in serious trouble for that bluff!” As he spoke, Sven gestured wildly with his hands, not sure how else to get his vast frustrations across to his friend, “What if they’d actually fired you?”

In response, Burt winked, still keeping up that dumb smirk. “Bold of you to assume I was bluffing.”

“I- You- But- GAH!” There were no words to describe how utterly idiotic Sven’s best friend was.

“Well, I couldn’t very well let you idiots go alone.” Burt looked away. “The Right Hand Man would die for the Chief, we know that. And the Chief isn’t exactly in any condition to look out for himself. That leaves you, and with your guilt complex? No doubt, you’d get yourself killed protecting them. Somebody has to be the responsible adult here.”

“And that’s supposed to be you?!”

“Yup.” Burt bounced out of his seat, looking entirely too pleased with himself. “C’mon, let’s go pack up. If we’re not ready to go before the Right Hand, you know he’ll leave us behind.”

--------------------

Indeed, after both men quickly packed their bags with the bare essentials (clothing, weapons, hiking gear Burt insisted on ‘just in case’, etc.) and managed to get out to the front of the bunker to see the Right Hand Man tossing some bags into the back end of a vehicle. White and small – not exactly the luxury they were used to, but it was better to be subtle in these trying times.

The Right Hand caught sight of them as they approached, and grumbled out, “Oh, it’s you lot. Well, go on and put yer bags in the trunk.”

The duo complied, and Sven walked up to grab one of the bags piled off to the side.

“Oi!”

Sven turned to see the Right Hand Man staring daggers at them both, shrill and cold as always.

“It’s disrespectful not ta greet the Chief.”

At first Sven didn’t understand quite what the Right Hand was saying, but then spotted him, out of the corner of his eye. The Chief was there, sitting in the passenger's seat of the car. He was dressed in clean clothes and sitting upright, which Sven supposed was an improvement from when he’d last seen the fallen man. For once, luck was on Sven’s side; the Chief’s gaze was directed out at the empty space that surrounded the bunker, so Sven wasn’t forced to stare into the dull, empty orbs which had once been lively and passionate.

Burt, too, found the Chief, and muttered under his breath, “Can he even hear us like this?”

Ignoring his friend for the moment, Sven approached and bowed his head awkwardly. “Ah, good afternoon, sir. I’m, uh, sorry I didn’t see you before.”

“Hey Chief.” Burt mumbled awkwardly, kicking at the ground and purposefully not looking at Reginald.

Their separate greetings were scrutinized for a moment by the Right Hand Man. After a moment of hesitation, he must have decided that was good enough. “Al’ight, Sven, ‘elp me get these into the trunk. Burt, replace the license plates with these fakes. One of our young’uns stole this yesterday, so we need to make sure it can’t be tracked.”

They set to work, with Sven grimacing as he picked up one of the bags. “What’s in these, anyways?”

“Necessities.” The Right Hand grumbled as he picked one up. “’at one ‘as toiltries in it. Shampoo, conditioners, soaps.”

Ah. To be honest, Sven hadn’t thought about those.

The trunk was loaded, the license plates were changed, and they were off. Sven and Burt huddled into the backseat of the car, with Burt watching the scenery fly by outside their window and Sven sitting upright, twiddling his thumbs and trying desperately not to stare at Reginald sitting directly in front of him. What didn’t help matters was that the Right Hand was constantly talking to Reginald, pointing out things they passed on the road or reminiscing about the most random of things. In the depths of his heart, Sven knew this was just the Right Hand’s way of coping with what was happening, but knowing that didn’t make Sven’s rolling stomach any stiller.

God, this was awful.

“So, um, sir?” Sven cautiously questioned, and the Right Hand looked at him through the rear-view mirror, his eyes darkening as they met Sven’s through the reflection. It made Sven shiver. “Have there been any changes in Chief Reginald?”

“No.” That was all Sven got. One single, curt word, spat out with an obviously forced neutrality.

“Did the doctor find anything?” He tried again.

“No.”

This wasn’t going well. “Uh, do you think he’s aware of what’s going on?”

One could see the snarl that formed on the Right Hand’s face growing larger and larger. “He’s hurt, not brain dead. Of course ‘e knows what’s bloody goin’ on.”

Sensing that he’d successfully worn down the Right Hand’s last nerve, Sven instead turned to Burt to relieve his growing anxiety. “Ah, Burt, you said you grew up in Ebott, yeah? Do you know anything about the monsters?”

“Monsters, no.” Burt dragged his attention from the scrolling landscape over to Sven. “Mount Ebott, on the other hand...”

Burt tossed Sven a coy smirk. The former Chief had to roll his eyes and wave for him to keep going before Burt continued.

“Everyone knows to never go up to the mountain. We’re told the legends when we’re still too young to really understand them: ‘No one who goes to climb the mountain has ever returned’. My Granddad told me it was because the mountain was haunted by the ghosts of soliders who had died from some war a long, long time ago, and that they mistook people who climbed up the mountain for enemy soldiers. My dad told me it was just populated with mountain lions, but I don’t think either of them really knew anything. Every family had their own horror story about someone they knew trying to climb the mountain, or a dog dying in the middle of the night and being buried close to the mountain, only to return just fine and dandy a few weeks later, with body parts missing or decayed. I think most of those were exaggerated, but I do have one personal story about it.

“Back in elementary school, there was this kid in my class a long, long time ago. Their name was really long and really feminine, but they preferred we all called them Max. They weren’t popular really, exactly. Didn’t hang out with a bunch of people, but everyone liked them. Not a single soul in the school thought one bad thing about them. Their cousin, sure, he was a little brat, but not them. They were a studious, reliable kid. Had big glasses and was always writing in this ratty old notebook they carried around. I think they had some family problems or something, ‘cause everyone in the school knew that if you asked and gave them your lunch money, Max would do your homework for you. We weren’t close or anything, but I talked to them a few times. They were a nice kid.

“Then, one day, their cousin came to school really upset. Told everyone that Max had gotten in an argument with their parents and ran away. He’d tried to follow them, he said, but Max stopped him and made him go home. He... said they headed towards Mount Ebott.

“We never saw Max again.

“It was all anyone talked about for the rest of the year. Everyone was talking about how they were eaten by wolves or carried off by the wind spirits or had fallen into a pit and turned into a cyborg. A whole lotta rumour, damned few facts. Only one who wasn’t running their mouth off was their cousin. Met the kid only once or twice, but they were pretty quiet for the rest of the year, and I didn’t see them at all after that. Heh, one thing I did hear was that one of our asshole classmates told the kid Max ran off because he was such a horrible little twerp. Kid punched him so hard, he actually lost two of his teeth! Ha!”

Burt chuckled for a short moment, and then sighed, suddenly turning melancholy. “Guess we know what happened now.”

“You think the monsters killed them?” Sven asked. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the Right Hand Man’s gaze on them in the rear view mirror.

“Honestly? We only saw one human kid in the video from the monster camp. Unless they were out of sight somewhere, I think the monsters must have killed them.”

The ride continued in melancholic silence.

--------------------

Sven fell asleep, at some point, but woke up when he felt the car gently slow to a stop. Burt had just opened his door, and the Right Hand Man was making his way around the car to help Reginald out of his seat.

“There it is.” Murmured Burt, leaning on the hood of the vehicle as he gazed into the horizon. “Mount Ebott.”

It stood tall and proud above them. While listening to Burt’s descriptions, Sven had expected a gray tower of sharp, jagged spirals, complete with swirling dark clouds and the crackle of thunder. The actual of Mount Ebott was peaceful and inviting, with rolling green slopes, cushioned on all sides by a pleasant forest and sound-tracked with chirping birds and chattering chipmunks. It was lovely. Peaceful.

Nothing else would have made Sven more suspicious.

The car door opening to his side jarred Sven out of his thoughts, and he jumped up to offer his aid. “Here, sir, let me-”

“I’ve got it.” The Right Hand scoffed, sending Sven a glare that stopped him in his tracks. He first reached across to unbuckle his husband, then slowly, cautiously, pulled Reginald to his feet. Almost immediately Reginald’s legs failed him, and he would have fallen down onto the dirt, were it not for the Right Hand and Sven’s interference. His body was heavy and limp, and Sven tried not to think of it as dead weight. Once Reginald was up, the Right Hand pushed Sven off, perhaps a touch harder than necessary. “I said, I’ve got this. Ya wanna be useful so bad, go grab our bags.” His attention turned completely to Reginald as he muttered under his breath, “Can’t screw that up.”

The cold words made Sven reel back, and the cold glare that accompanied them made his throat run dry. He stood helplessly to the side as the Right Hand arranged Reginald so that the man was hanging off his shoulder. At first the Chief could only be dragged along, but, to his credit, after a few steps Reginald seemed to get the idea and sluggishly began putting one foot in front of the other.

The Right Hand Man did blame Sven. Not that he hadn’t suspected it, but...

“Hey,” Burt, as always, took the initiative to drag Sven back to reality, “He’s not actually mad at you. He’s just scared.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” Sven mumbled, walking to the back of their tiny white car to pull out his, Reginald, and the Right Hand’s personal bags. He tossed Burt his, and decided not to wrestle it back when Burt took Sven’s own as well.

“I know it feels hopeless now.” Burt exaggerated needing to jump up to grab and close the trunk. They both knew he didn’t need to, but it made Sven smile all the same. “But we’re all still breathing. As long as we’re still breathing, we can fix this. It’ll all be okay, you’ll see.”

“Kind of hard right now.” Sven adjusted his top hat so that his eyes were better shielded from the sun. Reginald and the Right hand were already ahead of them, but between how slowly they were waddling along and the vegetation they’d have to cut through, Sven wasn’t particularly worried about losing them.

Burt suddenly wasn’t looking Sven in the eyes. He was looking down at the ground, arms crossed. “Look, I know it’s rough right now. But hey, just keep in mind... the Chief wanted you to live. He wouldn’t have saved you if he didn’t. He’d be upset if he saw you giving up after he sacrificed himself for you.”

“Maybe he shouldn’t have-” Sven let tumble out of his mouth before his brain could stop it. Burt, for what it was worth, managed not to look completely horrified, but he did become decently panicked.

“NO.” Burt suddenly took both of Sven’s hands in his own. “No, don’t ever say that ever again. The Chief cares about you. I care about you. I-” Burt paused only for a brief second to glance over at the Right Hand before speaking to Sven in hushed tones. “I should’ve saved you. I was closer, I could’ve gotten you out of there before that crystal exploded. But I just... froze. It was my job as your Right Hand to keep you safe. I’m the one who failed.”

Sven swallowed past a sudden lump in his throat. The intimate emotion present in Burt’s eyes, past the mask of his face, was a new experience for both of them.

“It’s not going to happen again, Sven. This time, I’m going to keep you safe.”

This was the first time Sven had ever seen Burt this determined. He found himself returning the sentiment with a genuine smile. From personal experience, Sven knew an affirmation of innocence wouldn’t alleviate the guilt, so he squeezed Burt’s hands reassuringly and told him, “We’ll do what we can to save the clan and fix the Chief together. We’ll fix our mistakes.”

I’ll fix my mistake. No matter what it takes.

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Okay, so a) I did not expect this chapter to be ready this soon, because b) I did not expect this chapter to be this short. Oh well, it is what it is.

I like how Max's design turned out. Also, yes, that is Burt next to them. Burt's smiling like that because his older brother needed braces and he did not. As you can see, Burt has not changed all that much. :)

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