Fanfic / Begrudging Assistance Requests

"Henry and Ellie meet and part as quick as a bullet, and they both find themselves asking for help from the last person they want to ask to resolve the issues their meeting caused."

— Synopsis

Begrudging Assistance Requests is a Henry Stickmin Series Fan Fic by IAmHoussem17. It follows the combination of the Rapidly Promoted Executive and Ghost Inmate paths, but follows an Alternate Universe where Ellie asks for some help to get revenge on Henry from The Wall's warden.

It can be read on FanFiction.Net above or Archive of Our Own here.

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This fic provides examples of:

A-F

• Accidental Misnaming: One of the guards that Ellie eavesdrops on in the first chapter incorrectly refers to Henry as Stickman. Ellie does the same thing later when talking to Dmitri, which Grigori corrects her on.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Due to the more serious tone of the story, all the central characters experience this.
  • Henry becomes very regretful of his betrayal of Ellie and resolves to help her after she's brought back to the Wall.
  • Ellie herself ends up regretting betraying her deal with Dmitri after he recaptured her and put her in maximum security, to the point where she ends up sobbing and trying to hide it.
  • Even Dmitri is not immune, though he's more reserved about it. He's deeply hurt by Grigori's murder at Ellie's hands and mourns him.
• Adaptational Context Change: "Hmm...Well, that's just too bad." Said by Dmitri in both here and Complex. In the source material, he says it in the end of the Presumed Dead route when Henry chooses to stay in the truck as the warden pushes it off the cliff. Here, he says it in response to Ellie's snarky retort about his office being more uncomfortable than the Wall's cells.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • Dmitri, while still the Smug Snake Big Bad who runs his complex like a gulag that he was in the games, is actually implied to genuinely care about upholding law here, seeing as how he saw Henry's capture as an opportunity to take out the Toppats. He's also a little more reasonable and actually allows Ellie to go after Henry. He only turns hostile after she betrays him, though it's not 100% confirmed that he would've actually let her go if she did her mission correctly. Additionally, the ending reveals that unlike in canon, all criminals at the Wall are truly guilty of something, meaning Dmitri was genuinely doing his job the way he's supposed to.
  • Henry as well. His tenure as a villain doesn't last very long, so he spends most of the story being closer to a hero.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Not that he was dumb by any means in the series, but Dmitri here demonstrates a level of cunning he lacks in the source material. His precautions to deal with Ellie potentially betraying their alliance proves very effective when she actually goes through with it.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Bit of a downplayed example with Ellie. While she showed herself to be scary if wronged in the game, she's a lot more destructive and selfish in the fic. She still comes to regret her actions when they backfire on her, though.
• Adaptational Karma: While Henry gets karma for his actions in Toppat Civil Warfare, this isn't true for Ellie as she is still an Arc Villain in that route. This was changed though, as Ellie was later captured by the Wall for murdering Grigori.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: While he has nothing but scorn for the inmates, which is understandable, Dmitri is a lot nicer to his employees here, while in the original, he was only on cordial terms with Grigori.
• Adaptational Protagonist: While Henry is still a major player in the story, Ellie ultimately gets more focus as the story revolves around her decisions and dealing with them.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: In the original series, when Henry was dethroned as Toppat leader, only two members remained loyal to him: Geoffrey Plumb (the short guy with a squint and abnormal head size) and Thomas Chestershire (the guy with the two monocles). Though Geoffrey and Thomas aren't referenced directly here, it's fair to assume they were onboard with dethroning Henry like the rest.
• Adaptational Seriousness: All of the characters who would provide humor in the games are now completely serious all the time (save for Dmitri, who is already the Knight of Cerebus of the series).
• Adaptational Sympathy: Dmitri is portrayed in a much more sympathetic light here, with him genuinely grieving Grigori's death and treating his employees decently.
• Adaptational Villainy: Ellie was a Villain Protagonist in the original, but she was never quite vindictive and destructive as she is here. Her villainous actions are also more beneficial for only herself.
• Adaptational Wimp: In the original series, Ellie was perfectly able to escape The Wall on her own, unseen but told in one timeline. This one however; while she's still an Action Girl, she has to ask for Dmitri's help to be able to go after Henry.
• Affably Evil: Dmitri is made into more of a respectful character, at least to his own employees. He understandably has nothing but contempt to criminals.
• Alternate Universe Fic: As described above, the fic takes the Toppat Civil Warfare route and modifies it.
• Ambiguously Evil: While this fic paints him in a better light, Dmitri deliberately dances around the subject of him sticking to his word about pardoning Ellie should she capture Henry as agreed.
• Anti-Hero: Ellie is the protagonist of the story, but she is rather selfish and only concerned with herself. Though she remains sympathetic when she feels regret for her actions later.
• Anti-Villain: Dmitri is the Big Bad of the story, though he had a genuine friendship with Grigori and he treats his employees well.
• Badass in Distress: Ellie, after being recaptured. In Chapter 7, Henry resolves to help her out to make up for leaving her behind before.
• Baddie Flattery: Dmitri admits that Ellie has spunk and it is almost admirable after recapturing her, though he immediately insults her afterwards for not thinking her actions through.
• Batman Gambit: Once Dmitri realizes that the government must've attacked the Wall because Henry is still alive and he's after Ellie, he opens her cell and takes her hostage in an open spot to lure Henry to him and try and coerce him into making the government retreat.
• Betrayal Fic: In this case, the betrayal is carried out by Henry, kickstarting the plot. Later, another betrayal happens, this time with our Villain Protagonist betraying a deal with the Big Bad.
• Betrayal Insurance: Dmitri reveals that he took some precautions once Ellie went on her mission. He had her tracked down by some CCC agents and eventually recaptured her.
• Big Bad: The Wall's warden, Dmitri Johannes Petrov.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Reginald Copperbottom, the Toppat leader, is reduced to this status here. He wants to overthrow Henry, and Ellie's ambush to get Henry allows for an opportunity to do that with some persuasion from RHM to Ellie. However, the airship gets blown up and no more than three seconds after Reginald declares revenge on Henry and/or Ellie for suspecting they caused the explosion, he gets arrested.
• Big Good: General Hubert Galeforce.
• Big "NO!": Dmitri in the final chapter after his gun was kicked away during his scuffle with Henry.
• Big "WHAT?!": Dmitri's reaction to Ellie telling him about Henry's escape.
• Black Comedy: There's a moment in Chapter 2 that pokes fun at Right Hand Man being a cyborg.
  Right Hand Man was probably pissed even more at Henry because he took him out while trying to capture Reginald that fateful day and he had to be brought back as a cyborg, which actually gives him more power that he could easily use to get rid of him, but Henry figured that RHM wouldn't do that to another Toppat out of loyalty to the clan, even if he hated them with every fiber in his being (Well, fibers aren't in his entire body now, but you get the idea).
• Book Ends: The very first sentence in Chapter 1 is "It all started with a whisper.", referring to Henry signaling for Ellie to give him a boost up. The very last sentence in Chapter 8 is "And so, it ended with a whispered thank you." as Ellie is falling asleep in Henry's house, thankful to him for coming back for her.
• Boxed Crook: Ellie manages to convince Dmitri to pardon her crimes if she's allowed to go after Henry. She ends up betraying her end of the bargain by killing Grigori and running away with Henry.
• Break the Haughty: Ellie gets this by Chapter 6. Her betrayal of Dmitri only serves to ensure she's locked up for life in maximum security. After acting tough in front of everyone, she ends up having a mental breakdown in her cell.
• Call-Back:
  • The way Ellie captures Henry the Toppat leader mirrors the way Henry himself captured Reginald in the Executive route.
  • Ellie ends up attempting to rob the same bank in the desert that Henry tried to rob in the first game.
• Cassandra Truth: Ellie tells Dmitri that it was Grigori's failure to notice Henry escaping that caused everything, but he thinks she's just trying to mess with him by lying.
• The Chessmaster: On top of being Crazy-Prepared enough to deal with Ellie's betrayal, Dmitri also uses her to take down the Toppat airship in hopes of dealing a blow to their organization.
• Cliffhanger:
  • Chapter 4 ends with Ellie being confronted by Dmitri, who found her somehow.
  • Chapter 7 ends with Ellie seeing government vehicles barging into the complex from her cell window.
• Crazy-Prepared: As soon as Ellie came into his office with her offer to kill Henry in exchange for her freedom, the warden made some plans in secret in case something happens. Said plans turn out to be enlisting some CCC agents to keep an eye on the redheaded girl, and they do come to fruition when Ellie does betray the Wall.
• Cutting Off the Branches: Henry's suspicion that he encountered the CCC before implies that in this universe, he took the Just Plain Epic route in Diamond because that would've been the only time he encountered them leading up to the Toppat Civil Warfare ending.
• Dark Fic: Downplayed. This fic is relatively light like the source material, but almost has no comedy in it, all of the chapters are somber and/or serious in tone.
• Death by Adaptation: Grigori is still alive during the Toppat Civil Warfare ending in the game, but here, he's killed by Ellie.
• Defiant Captive: Even after getting arrested again, Ellie doesn't back down from insulting the warden or snarking at him. Although she does break down once she arrives to her cell.
• Deus Exit Machina: The Right Hand Man is killed in the airship crash because as a Cyborg, he can easily go after Ellie and Henry and kill them both.
• Didn't See That Coming: As she points out, Ellie never knew about the Wall's association with the Center of Chaos Containment, so she didn't anticipate Dmitri calling them to track her.
• Didn't Think This Through: Ellie betrays her deal with Dmitri, kills Grigori and Henry, then goes off in a tank to commit robberies. It never occurred to her that they would find her fast if she didn't leave the area immediately or change vehicles.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Right Hand Man does die in the Toppat Civil Warfare route in the game, but it is from being crushed under the escape pod Henry and his loyalists were using, not from going down with the airship like it is in here.
• Do Wrong, Right: When Henry shows up at the Wall in the final chapter, Dmitri berates Ellie for failing to kill him, stating that if she wanted to betray him, she should at least do it right.
• The Dragon: Grigori to Dmitri.
• Dramatic Irony: Both Ellie and Dmitri are under the impression that Henry is dead. We find out in later chapters that he somehow survived his encounter with Ellie and went to seek help from the general.
• Due to the Dead: Dmitri holds a meeting to pay respects to Grigori after capturing Ellie again, but it doesn't last long as the Wall is ambushed by the government.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: In the end, Henry and Ellie defeated Dmitri and made up. They're both pardoned by the government and Henry even allows Ellie to stay with him for a while in his house.
• Enemy Mine: With Ellie wanting revenge for being left behind and Dmitri wanting to recapture Henry, the two manage to form a begrudging alliance. Ellie ends up betraying it in the end, though.
• Et Tu, Brute?: The plot is kicked off by Henry betraying Ellie in the complex so he can escape, and leaves her behind.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Dmitri is livid when Ellie kills Grigori. He later tells her that he considered him like a friend.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Though he doesn't outright say whether he's being truthful or not, Dmitri seems genuine when he's berating Ellie for her betrayal, saying that he would've kept his end of the bargain if she did. He also did not take her killing Grigori well.
• Exact Eavesdropping: Ellie happens to overhear two guards talking about the Wall capturing the Toppat leader on her first day. This is what prompts her into looking if Henry is the same person, and later she confirms it.
• Failed a Spot Check: Like in the original, Grigori somehow fails to notice that Henry escaped and left Ellie behind.
• Fire-Forged Friends: This is how Henry and Ellie end up after defeating Dmitri together.
• Foreshadowing: Dmitri's last line in Chapter 2 indicates he might not be as onboard with Ellie's request as he presented himself to be. He ends up making a plan in advance if she betrays him and it pays off.

G-L

• Genre Savvy: Dmitri proves to be one, correctly predicting that Ellie would betray their deal.
• Graceful Loser: Despite his defeat and ultimately losing everything, Dmitri maintains some dignity by congratulating Henry and Ellie as he's taken away by the government.
• Greed: Ellie, planning to rob a bank after disposing of Henry.
• Gun Struggle: This happens between Henry and Dmitri in the finale. The gun ends up being kicked away from them towards Ellie, who picks it up and aims it at them.
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • After being betrayed by the Toppat Clan, Henry turns to the government and plans to amend the mistake he made with Ellie.
  • Ellie also gets the chance to do this after she's pardoned by Galeforce for helping them put an end to the Wall.
• Heel Realization: Ellie has it when she's recaptured, regretting all she's done up to that point after it landed her back to square one.
• Hero Antagonist: Dmitri, serving as the Big Bad, acts as this to Ellie's Villain Protagonist, which his heroism actually being slightly more apparent than the source material.
• Heroic Mime: Henry becomes more heroic later, and while he does seem to communicate with other characters, the narrative doesn't explicitly acknowledge it.
• History Repeats: While capturing Henry, Ellie ends up going through a similar route to Henry's own route capturing Reginald before: both were sent by law enforcement in exchange for freedom/pardoning, and both betrayed it to continue being criminals.
• Hostage Situation: Dmitri takes Ellie hostage and tries to force Henry into calling off the government's attack on his prison.
• How We Got Here: Chapter 2 ends with Ellie crashing into the Toppat airship and confronting Henry. Chapter 3 shows us how her negotiation with Dmitri to do this went.
• Hypocrite: Ellie ends up betraying the deal between her and Dmitri, even though she's getting revenge on Henry for betraying her.
• I Did What I Had to Do: How Ellie justifies killing Grigori to Dmitri.
  Ellie: It's not my fault he was in the way. I do what I have to do to survive.
• Implied Death Threat: When Dmitri recaptures Ellie after she betrayed him and berates her for killing Grigori, she smugly tells him it was the latter's fault that Henry escaped in the first place. Dmitri doesn't believe her and tells her to shut up before he makes her "join our dear friend Henry" whom Dmitri thinks Ellie killed but unbeknownst to both, he actually survived.
• Improperly Paranoid: It's left ambiguous whether Ellie was this or the opposite regarding her betrayal of Dmitri, but the story mostly seems to paint her as unreasonable in her decision.
• In-Joke: When informed of Ellie wanting to meet with him, Dmitri ponders and wonders if it's just "a harebrained ploy or con (which is absolutely forbidden in the complex". This exact phrasing is a reference to the rules list you can see in the first room of Fleeing the Complex, which has the aforementioned sentence in it.
• Internal Reveal: We're made aware that Henry is still alive in Chapter, but neither Dmitri not Ellie find out until the final chapter.
• It's All My Fault: Henry feels this way about Ellie being recaptured because he left her behind at the start.
• Karmic Nod: After initially being angry with her recapture, Ellie breaks down in her cell and concludes she deserves it for what she did.
• Killed Off for Real: Grigori gets killed by Ellie in Chapter 3.
• Lampshade Hanging: Dmitri is delighted to point out the irony of Ellie attempting to betray him in her endeavor to get revenge on the guy who betrayed her.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • Unfortunately for Ellie, her betrayal of the Wall comes to bite her in the ass when Dmitri enlists the help of the Center of Chaos Containment to track her down and imprison her again.
  • Reginald and by extension, all of the Toppats for betraying Henry. They get their airship blown up courtesy of Ellie on instructions from Dmitri, and some of them die in the crash while the rest are arrested.

M-R

• Must Make Amends: Henry sets out to help Ellie out of the Wall after regretting leaving her before.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Ellie comes to regret what she did for her revenge after being recaptured.
  • Henry also regrets leaving Ellie behind in the first place.
• Mythology Gag: Henry distracts Dmitri while he's holding Ellie hostage by making a face, just like he does to Grigori in the Convict Allies route.
• No Honor Among Thieves: Dmitri seems to believe in this, as he points out that Henry betrayed Ellie, a fellow criminal, while he, a prison warden, would've been willing to work with her had she not betrayed him herself.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Ellie is deadset on killing Henry for leaving her behind, and cannot be bargained with at all.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Ellie makes this between herself and Henry to justify her betrayal to Dmitri. She and Henry are not like a warden on the side of the law, though Dmitri shoots back that he betrayed her despite being a fellow criminal.
• Out-Gambitted: Ellie's plan to kill Grigori and Henry then go to rob a bank comes falling apart with Dmitri's Crazy-Prepared measures.
• Out of the Frying Pan: Ellie's purpose of setting up her deal with Dmitri was to get her freedom, but her distrust led her to betraying him, which in turn eventually led to her arrest again and being put in maximum security. The story even drops the trope's name word for word.
• The Pardon: Henry and Ellie earn this by the end from General Galeforce as a reward for helping them stop the Wall.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Ellie seeks vengeance against Henry for abandoning her. Ultimately deconstructed, as her quest leads to nothing but her getting imprisoned again with no hopes of getting out.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Dmitri allows Ellie to go after Henry when informed because it would be hard for him to locate him with conflicting reports on his whereabouts.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Ellie gets her revenge on Henry (or so she thinks) but her betrayal of Dmitri due to mistrust leads her back to the Wall in a maximum security cell.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: General Galeforce is surprised and a bit iffy to see Henry alive but some convincing from Charles is enough to hear him out and help him with his situation. He also pardons both Henry and Ellie for helping them deal with the Wall.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Henry somehow survived jumping into a chasm. Turns out that he used the teleporter.
• The Reveal: Henry used the teleporter in order to survive his encounter with Ellie.
• Revenge: Ellie's primary motivation for going after Henry. Some other characters have this as well: Dmitri after Ellie kills Grigori, and Reginald after the explosion caused by Henry and/or Ellie kills RHM and many other Toppats.
• Revenge Before Reason: Ellie's quest for revenge against Henry ends up with her making a fatal mistake: betraying the alliance she had with Dmitri by killing Grigori and taking Henry to kill him herself. It bites her when Dmitri tracks her down and puts her back in the Wall in maximum security.
• Revenge Is Not Justice: Ellie's vengeance quest ends up with her back at the Wall in maximum security for betraying her alliance with Dmitri.

S-Y

• Secret Test of Character: Dmitri claims him planting a tracker on Ellie to see if she would really stick to the plan to be this.
• She Who Fights Monsters: In her quest to get revenge for being betrayed, Ellie winds up becoming a traitor herself.
• Slasher Smile: Ellie, when she founds a bank due to her Greed. Also, the Right Hand Man.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Grigori doesn't do much and is promptly killed by Ellie, but his death at her hands is what drives Dmitri into recapturing Ellie.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Reginald dies along with RHM in the Toppat Civil Warfare, but here, he survives and gets arrested while RHM dies from the airship crash.
• The Starscream: Reginald for Henry. After Henry comes back, Reg starts planning to overthrow him, presumably by...you know, Walking The Plank.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: Both Dmitri and Ellie utter the same phrase ("What the hell is going on here?!") upon hearing the government approaching the complex in Chapter 7.
• Stroke the Beard: Dmitri and Galeforce do it.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Neither Dmitri nor Ellie like each other clearly, but they do come to an agreement to stop Henry since they both want that. Their partnership doesn't last long when Ellie betrays it.
• Tempting Fate: Not a second after Reginald starts celebrating the dethroning of Henry, the airship blows up and goes down.
• This Cannot Be!: Said by Dmitri when he's told Henry escaped.
• Title Drop: The title of the fifth chapter "Isn't It Ironic?" is uttered by Dmitri in the chapter itself.
• Underestimating Badassery: Ellie didn't think much of Henry when she first met him due to how ordinary he seemed, but realized she gave him little credit when she finds out about his past endeavors.
• Undying Loyalty: The Right Hand Man to Reginald, of course. He took advantage of Ellie's presence to dispose of Henry and allow Reginald to become leader again.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee Chapter 2 ends with Dmitri telling Grigori that he has a plan. Said plan isn't revealed until it achieves its goal of locating and recapturing Ellie.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Right Hand Man allowing Ellie to go after Henry makes Reginald the leader again...But it also causes the loss of the airship and many members died or were arrested by the government.
• Villain Has a Point: Dmitri tearing into Ellie for betraying their deal. While he deliberately left it ambiguous whether he was gonna honor it himself or not, fact is, he was reasonable enough to trust her and send her to do what she wanted, so the betrayal on Ellie's part comes off as unwarranted.
• Villain Protagonist: Ellie Rose.
• Villain Respect: Dmitri says that Ellie's I Did What I Had to Do attitude is almost admirable, but he immediately boasts about winning since he recaptured her. He shows this again after his arrest in the end to both Henry and Ellie for besting him.
• Villainous Friendship: Dmitri and Grigori, so much that the former is enraged when Ellie kills him, and later, he hold a moment of silence for him.
• The Voiceless: This is carried over to Henry from the games. The story mentions several times that he talks normally to the other characters, but his dialogue is never actually written like theirs. This only drops for a moment in the last chapter, where Henry says he knew he could trust Ellie to shoot Dmitri instead of him.
• Walking Spoiler: Henry. He didn't really die and wants to make amends with Ellie.
• Wardens Are Evil: Downplayed with Dmitri. Compared to his original portrayal, he's less brutal when it comes to running the Wall, but still has extreme methods in case someone escapes and is recaptured.
• Was It Really Worth It?: Dmitri indirectly delivers this to Ellie in Chapter 6.
  "Now, it's time for you to go. I really hope you regret your actions, Ellie, I really do. Goodbye."
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Dmitri genuinely wants to enforce the law by any means necessary, as he has Ellie blow up the Toppat airship while she's capturing Henry, and then enlists the help of the Center of Chaos Containment to track down Ellie after her betrayal.
• Well Played: Dmitri shows his Villain Respect towards Henry and Ellie in the end by saying this. Later, when Ellie finds out from Charles that all the Wall prisoners were found to be true criminals, she mentally says this towards Dmitri.
• Wham Episode: Chapter 5 has Dmitri recapture Ellie. Oh, and Henry is alive somehow.
• Wham Line: At the very end of Chapter 4:
  Dmitri: Ah, hello again, Ellie. You didn't think I was just going to forget about our agreement, did you?
  • In Chapter 8:
  Henry: I knew I could trust you.
• Wham Shot: After it looks like Ellie finally got her revenge and killed Henry, she happily rides off in the tank to pull robberies...unaware that she's being watched by an odd vehicle with the letters "CCC" on it.
• What If?: What if Ellie stayed in the Wall and asked Dmitri for help against Henry?
• What the Hell, Hero?: Dmitri tears into Ellie for killing Grigori.
• Worthy Opponent: Even as he's arrested, Dmitri tells Henry and Ellie that he's impressed they overcame their differences to work together against him.
• Xanatos Gambit: Discussed. Ellie wonders why Dmitri ordered her to destroy the Toppat airship while capturing Henry. He answers that he wanted to take them down while he can, which would give them an intimidation advantage since the Wall had undercover Toppats plotting to break out their convicted peers, though Ellie argues it would only make them more determined. Dmitri adds that taking down the airship would also mean that Henry has no powerful faction to ally with, had he been recaptured.
  Dmitri: I guess I get something out of it regardless of my true intentions, huh?
• "You!" Exclamation: Ellie to Henry when she crashes into the airship.

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