Disclaimer: Storm Hawks and all characters associated with the cartoon show are the property of Nerd Corp. However, Hikaru and Mikomi are my property. You are free to use them, just use a disclaimer. Happy reading.
E.V. North
Crystalline Slave
Master Cyclonis, Empress of Cyclonia, paced the floor of her throne room like a jungle cat. She stared with calculating eyes out the great window behind the throne at the panoramic view of her stormy kingdom.
Behind her dispassionate, violet eyes a sadistic excitement stirred. She had sent for her most capable warrior, Dark Ace, no more than an hour ago and her guard had just informed her that he had pulled up to the docks already. A record time to be sure.
The clank of her guards coming to attention indicated that Dark Ace had entered, but she did not turn from the window.
"Master." A smooth voice said from behind her "You sent for me on the priority one frequency. What would you have of me?" She finally turned from the rolling storm clouds to look at him. Dark Ace knelt on one knee on the floor a respectful distance away.
"Excellent work getting to me so quickly." She said coolly "I understand you were dealing with an uprising all the way on Terra Gale." Dark Ace rose from his position on the floor and nodded.
"Yes, I was just tying up some…loose ends when you called. I left the clean-up to Ravess." As he spoke a little grin crossed his lips at the words 'loose ends'.
"Good. It should be taken care of by morning then. Tell Ravess to contact me as soon as she is done. Now-"She strode past Dark Ace toward the door, motioning for him to follow. "- to the business at hand."
They walked through the corridors of Castle Cyclonia together. The Talons they passed stood at attention along the hallways until they were out of sight.
"Why are the Storm Hawks still underfoot, Dark Ace?" Master Cyclonis asked, seemingly out of the blue.
"Master?" Dark Ace asked, confused. "I don't think I understand what you mean. I thought you had called me back to give me an order."
"I am, but I want you to understand something. Let me rephrase the question. Why are you and my best Talons defeated over and over by children?
Dark Ace paled as his mind raced for a response that would not get him too badly punished. After all, he had no satisfactory excuse.
"I… the Talons are…"
Cyclonis smiled icily at the sight of the grown man sweating. She could hear the gears in his mind grinding from here.
"I have noticed an interesting trend in the intelligence reports gathered from the fights with the Storm Hawks." Master Cyclonis said, cutting across Dark Ace's nervous stammering. Dark Ace sighed deeply and looked at his master, waiting for her to continue. "Yes, very interesting indeed." She went on, "Never once, in all of our dealings with them have they caused a single fatality." She took a left down the hallway and unlocked a heavy steel door and proceeded down a set of stairs. Green crystals flared into life as she passed, lighting their way. "In fact," she said "I heard that they even went out of their way to save a Talon whose shoot had malfunctioned."
"Yes, that's all true, but what does that have to do with us?" Dark Ace asked, wishing she would get to the point.
"Impatient as ever." She hissed, coming to the bottom of the stairs. "Very well, I will spell it out for you. It means that the Storm Hawks have a large weakness that is ready to be exploited."
"How?" Dark Ace asked. He couldn't stop the predatory excitement from showing on his face.
Master Cylonis smiled at his enthusiasm and unlocked the door at the bottom of the stairs. With a wave of her hand the room beyond lit up with blue crystals set into brackets circling the walls. In the center of the surprisingly small room sat an iron cage, and in the cage sat a human boy.
By Dark Ace's guess he couldn't have been any older than Aerrow, 13 or 14 at the most. He had a strange, exotic look to him. His eyes were almond shaped and a little slanted. His hair was long, black and tied into a braid running down his back. It was streaked with white where it had grown through scar tissue. His clothes brought to mind old legends of a mythical place he had read about once called China. They were made of blue silk with long spacious sleeves and long legged pants. A large crystal sparkled at his neck, and a pair of glasses glinted from his nose in the blue light of the crystals. He squatted in the cage, with not enough room to either stand or lay down. He did not even blink when the lights came on. By Dark Ace's standard he was pretty, but not too impressive.
"THIS skinny boy is how we will defeat the Storm Hawks?" He asked with an irritated edge to his voice.
"Yes, actually. He is my new toy. I've had to 'modify' him a bit. I've been working on him for the better part of two months now. Watch." She pulled a red gem the size of a chicken egg out of her pocket and clutched it tightly in her hand. She brought it to her mouth like a radio and spoke into the crystal.
"Hikaru, look at me." The red crystal pulsed with light in time with the sound of her voice. This red pulsing was echoed by two flat, oval-shaped crystals attached to the boy's temples. His half-closed eyes snapped open and he stared up at her from over his glasses. He had eyes the color of a storm cloud.
Master Cyclonis grinned. "His name is Hikaru. He has no will of his own thanks to the slave crown he is wearing. He won't even sleep unless someone tells him to." She went to his cage and unlocked the door. The boy made no move toward it; he only continued to obediently stare. She stepped back, brought the crystal to her mouth again and said "Come to me." At once he crawled out of the cage and walked quickly toward her. Once there he stood, hands hanging at his sides, waiting.
Cyclonis took a heavy steel collar and chain from a hook near the door and attached it to his neck above the fist-sized, dormant crystal on his neck. Hikaru stiffened at her touch and blinked. Seeing this tiny reaction, Cylonis squeezed the red gem tighter in her hand and he instantly relaxed. She handed Dark Ace the end of the chain, and held the red control gem in front of his face.
"I want you to take him for a trial run. He may look weak, but I assure you, he has a few surprises in him. This will be a test of both his power and the slave crown." She tapped one of the flat crystals on his head roughly. "Be warned, if he is captured and taken too far from the control gem, the slave crown will overload his nervous system so he cannot be used against us."
"Thank you for this opportunity Master," Dark Ace said, bowing and taking the control gem from her outstretched hand "but what does all this have to do with the Storm Hawks never killing our soldiers?"
"Because, if they wish to save themselves," she put a hand on Hikaru's shoulder "than they will have no choice, but to kill him, and I don't think they have it in them."