Twisted Reality (Henry Stickmin AU)

At My Worst

"I'm just about at the Toppat base." Charles informed the general through his headset.

He must have been flying for almost three hours now- the weather had drastically changed from sunshine to rain during the journey, the droplets relentlessly pelting the windscreen and tracing watery patterns on the glass.

"Okay, and they haven't spotted you?"

"No, sir. I am a good distance away." He answered, peeking down at his surroundings. He was hovering above some kind of forest- definitely not an ideal place for landing.

"Alright, you're going to have to land somewhere remote and sneak into the Toppat's base."

Charles frowned. He hadn't been looking forwards to this part- Henry was the sneaky one, not Charles. He was the bold action man!

"I'll do my best, sir." He reluctantly responded.

"From what we've gathered, there doesn't seem to be many Toppat's there so don't worry too much." The general spoke in an attempt to ease the pilot's obvious nervousness. "Then again, our intel isn't certain- there could be loads in there."

Incredible. That didn't help at all.

Charles released a long sigh, his head beginning to ache.

"Well I'll leave you to it, Charlie." Galeforce stated. "Turn the headset on when you have valuable information or need assistance."

"Roger that." Charles replied, switching his headset off.

The pilot peered through the window down below, examining the area for any clearance. There seemed to be some kind of opening in the forest- a large, mostly flat zone. Charles decided it'd have to do, turning the Helicopter and flying over towards the clearing. Once he was directly above it, he steadily and carefully lowered the aircraft, narrowly avoiding stray branches from the towering trees. He let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding once successfully landing in the clearing, leaning back in the pilot seat with a relieved sigh.

"Nice work, Choppy." Charles chuckled, switching the engine off.

He waited inside for a minute or two, giving the rotor blades time to stop rotating. This was going to be difficult- he didn't understand why Galeforce couldn't have sent someone else who was more cut out for spy missions. Oh well, he'd get this done. He's just got to sneak inside, listen in on their plans and sneak back out. No big deal. The pilot lifted himself out of the seat, cracking his knuckles and neck before striding over towards the helicopter's door and hauling it open.

"Alright, I got this." He mumbled to himself, hopping out of the helicopter and beginning the trek to the Toppat base.

'It'll probably take a while to get there.' he thought to himself, surveying the forest around him.

The trees were twisted in bizarre ways, their branches arched downwards like hands reaching out to grab him. He would've found it eerie if it were dark. The leaves lining the trees were a fiery orange with explosions of yellow and red tinting them; Autumn really was a pretty season. The soothing ambiance of rain drumming on the leaves made Charles smile softly. It wasn't as harsh as it had been when he was in the sky. It was more calm and pleasant, like a peaceful melody. It wasn't too cold, either. The breeze was just nice and tickled the pilot's cheeks a faint pink. He found he wasn't as sad as he had been when he woke up.

It took some time and quite a bit of clambering over fallen trees and rocks but he'd eventually managed to make it to the base. He peered out through a bush, studying the area and checking for anyone nearby. Everyone seemed to be inside the building- probably due to the rain. He warily climbed out from the bush and dusted himself down, peering at the building with furrowed eyebrows. It really wasn't big- a two story structure shaped like a cube. It was a dull grey colour and most of the windows were either cracked or boarded up. Around the base was a tall, chain-link fence that Charles was confident he'd be able to scale with no problem.