NON Sam and max stories (mostly THSC)

Best served cold (Stickvin)

(art by skullval-2000 on DeviantArt)

Charles was on a mission.

The government had recently been informed that the Toppat's orbital space station that had prepared to launch today had mysteriously been destroyed when the toppats airship suddenly crashed into it.

Upon learning about this, General Galeforce had instructed Charles and some other soldiers to go to the crash site and look for any surviving members.

So Charles had landed his helicopter not far from the site and hopped out, looking for anything of interest.

So far, he hadn't seen anything of note in his area, other than the pillars of smoke.

Suddenly, he spots something, or rather someone, sitting down against a large rock.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" he yells, walking towards them.

But then, he recognizes that person...

His eyes widened at seeing the person he used to know...

"H-HENRY!?"

Charles rushes over to him. "Oh my gosh, are you ok...?" he kneels down beside him. "What was that giant explosion? And..." he noticed something. "why are you... partly metal...?"

When Henry didn't answer, Charles waved his hands in front of his face. "Henry? Are you there?"

He picks up Henry's non-metal wrist, checking for a pulse.

But... there was... nothing.

The horrid realization struck Charles.

His eyes widened, and his entire body went cold.

"N-no..."

He starts to cry. "H-henry..."

Tears spill from his eyes. "H-henry... p-please wake up..." Charles says, putting his hands on Henry's chest and gently shaking him.

Henry of course remained still and silent.

Charles pulls back, covering his mouth. "No no no no no no!" he says, weeping.

He then gently take's Henry's body in his arms, cradling his head.

"Y-you might have been a criminal... but you didn't deserve to die..." he says, crying into his hair.

"Henry... I wish I could say I'm sorry..." he whispers.

Once Charles gets up, he picks up Henry's body, carrying him bridal style back to his helicopter.

Later, he arrives back at base, General Galeforce waiting for him.

"Ah, Charlie, you're back." He says with a smile. "Was your mission successful?

Charlie looks a bit nervous. "Well, I was scouting out the crash site to see if there were any surviving toppats, like you asked me to... and you'll never believe who I found the body of." he says.

"Who?" the general asks.

Charles nervously smiles, getting back in the chopper and picking up Henry's body, getting out again and showing him to the general, who's eyes widen.

He backs up in disbelief. "I-is that...?"

Charles nods. "I think so..."

Galeforce looks disgusted. "W-why would you bring his dead body back here...?"

Charles looks nervouser. "W-well, you might think i-i'm crazy... but..." he goes silent for a few seconds.

"I... I want to try to save him..." he finishes.