Well, this is my first attempt at fan fiction of any kind, but the Storm Hawks universe and characters were just too difficult to ignore any further!

This story is mostly a reaction to the Forbidden City episode, and the Oracle's prophecy and promise, something that intrigued me and I've been hoping they'd touch on again. In the meantime I decided to have a little fun with the idea (fun meaning... well, me being cruel for the most part).

This story will mostly center around Aerrow and Stork as the prominent characters and occasional narrators (no slash), and may feature some pairings later on, depending on how this all develops.

And that is that... reviews are welcome! Let's get started, shall we?

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Chapter 1 - Captured

I'll never forgive myself. Never.

I know never is a long time. Never is eternal. But eternity still doesn't feel like long enough when I think of what I've done. What resulted from one incredibly stupid mistake.

There was a time when I thought age didn't matter. We were young, but we also didn't care. I thought myself equal to or better than any foe I came up against. I laughed at them and delighted in all of our seemingly easy wins when everything was fun and games with no real consequences. A child's game of war. Sure, we believed we were fighting the good fight. We believed, and we really were devoted to the cause. We were fighting for a reason and there's no denying that we had talent.

But we were still kids.

And in that mindset I'd been naive enough to believe her. Maybe if I'd been older, more experienced... maybe if I'd earned my status as one of the legendary Storm Hawks instead of pretending my genetics empowered me with something inherently amazing; maybe then I wouldn't have been so reckless.

The Oracle. The Forbidden City. We shouldn't have even been there, but our curiousity and our greed got the better of us. We were lucky to have escaped with our lives, all things considered. But I'd just had to know.

Maybe if I'd been wiser in my years I would have realized that it was too easy. It was all far too simple. Release her and the future would change? She showed me the future, and it was something I just couldn't bear to imagine. I couldn't allow it to happen. And in that moment of horror she'd offered me a resolution.

Free her, and it would all change.

I should have known that a caged creature would have said anything to gain its freedom. I didn't ask why she was confined there. I didn't ask how the future would change. I didn't even ask the questions my squadron had told me to ask. I was so set on banishing that imagery from my mind. I fell for it. I freed that monster.

But the future never changed.

OoOoO

Aerrow roused from his daydreaming at the sudden shuddering of the cruiser's hull. Talons were grouping around them and facing the loading door. His eyes shot to Piper, who was half-standing in anticipation of something he couldn't see from his seated position between Junko and Finn.

"Piper?" He tried to keep his voice low, but the roar of the engines drowned him out as a result. Still, she had turned and seen that he was looking at her.

"I think we've landed," she said in a hiss.

"Already?"

The amber-eyed young woman sat at the end of the bench. Her shackles, which connected Piper by chains to the others, prevented her from getting too close to Aerrow without dragging Stork along with her, and he was firmly planted and lost in his own thoughts at the end of the line. Instead, she whispered something into Junko's ear. The Wallop nodded with understanding and leaned toward the Sky Knight.

"Piper thinks they're baking us doughnuts."

Piper smacked her face and yanked Junko back her way, clarifying what she'd said.

"Oh!" Junko nodded again and then relayed the new message: "Piper doesn't think they're taking us to Cycloni--aww," he turned sad eyes on his female teammate again, "no doughnuts?"

"Sorry, Junko." She smiled sadly. "I don't think we'll be getting any doughnuts on this trip."

Aerrow frowned at this information. He'd expected that Master Cyclonis and the Dark Ace would want to gloat in their capture, keeping the Storm Hawks as close as possible should they try anything; but they'd definitely not been flying long enough to have made it to Cyclonia. Aerrow also considered the possibility that he and his friends would be locked back up on Terra Zartacla, but after the first prison break, how likely would they be to risk another?

Well, they were Cyclonians, after all. They didn't have a long-standing reputation for planning ahead.

"Dude, my wrists are killing me. How much longer do we have to wear these things?"

Aerrow turned to Finn and offered a shrug. The blonde bowed his head and mumbled quietly to himself whilst fidgeting against the manacles. At about the same time, the engines finally powered down and the prisoners were left with only the sound of a few dozen Talons and whatever it was a few dozen Talons chatted about.

Piper was straining against her bonds to see the doors when they opened. With terras being one subject of Piper's limitless knowledge bank, Aerrow suspected she'd need only see the first hint of the environment that awaited them to know exactly where they were.

"What if they're dumping us in the Wastelands?"

Piper swiveled back with a mixed look of annoyance and horror. "Finn, don't say that!" But now that the seed of thought had been planted, Piper couldn't help but shudder at the possibility. Before she could try and comfort a now whimpering Junko, she was forced roughly back down into her seat.

"Wait your turn, girly."

Both Junko and Radarr growled at the manhandling of their friend. Their captors merely responded with mocking laughter.

One of the larger Talons stepped forward, brandishing his stave. "You think you're tough now, but just you wait for what's in store!"

Aerrow's eyes darkened. "My thoughts exactly."

"Don't, Aerrow," Piper gave him a warning with her eyes. Now was not the time.

"Listen to her, Red," the Talon jeered and disappeared back into the midst of anonymous minions.

A double line had formed in the middle of the hold, and marching between came a procession of other shackled prisoners. They were kept perfectly in step for fear of falling victim to the Cyclonian's weapons, which were all sporting recently-enhanced firebolt crystals. But these initial lines were only civilian rebels. Behind them came the first of the captured Sky Knight Squadrons.

Aerrow felt his stomach flip. Harrier of the Rex Guardians was at the front of the line, a now crushed and hopeless person with his head hung low. He was in the company of only one of his teammates; Aerrow recognized him as the pilot that had squared off against Stork. Behind them were the remenants of the Absolute Zeroes: Suzi-Lu and two of her boys. The parade of defeat continued with the Rebel Ducks, the Screaming Queens, the Third Degree Burners, and a number of other participants in that final battle that was supposed to end it all.

To his horror he noted that no team was complete. Each had suffered a loss. It appeared that only the Storm Hawks still remained in one piece, though each of them had a number of minor injuries (or in Stork's case: 'minor injuries that will soon become infected and gangrenous').

"You're up, Thunder Birds."

Aerrow was coerced into standing with a jab to his side. "We're the Storm Hawks, asshole."

Finn cracked a nervous smile when Aerrow's comment went unheard. The sharpshooter was pulled into step behind the previous line and the other Storm Hawks did their best to keep up. With their hands and feet attached to both the person in front and back of them, it required a certain finesse.

"Finn, not so fast--ouch! Careful, Junko."

"Sorry."

There came a yelp and a thump from the end of the line as Stork was pulled clear from his seat and landed on the metal floor. The Merb had been exceptionally still and quiet since their capture, having not spoken a word after they boarded the Cyclonian cruiser. Aerrow couldn't help but glare at their pilot, and Stork was more than aware of it. His part in the final battle had not been the most heroic; in fact, the Merb was sure if it weren't for him they might have evaded all of this.

Piper knelt down and did her best to help him up, despite still being pulled to walk with the procession.

"Are you all right?" she whispered, trying in vain to glance over her shoulder at him and walk with shackled ankles at the same time.

Stork gave her a weary nod, though Piper knew he was blaming himself for what happened. Maybe even moreso than Aerrow, who was already prone to beating himself up over any little failure.

And this was, she was forced to admit, a pretty colossal failure for the Storm Hawks.

The ship groaned and the sharp sound of heavy latches coming loose echoed back through the hold. White light broke through the outline of the massive loading door as it slowly creaked its way open. Piper tried in vain to see through the throng of Talons and fellow prisoners, but they were at the back of the line and she was far from being the tallest person there.

"Does it matter...?"

She turned back to Stork again, a little easier this time as the line had slowed. "Does what matter, Stork?"

"Does it matter where we are? We're doomed regardless." He wasn't bothering to look at her. His eyes were fixed on his feet. "Look around, Piper."

She winced, but that didn't stop her from continuing her efforts to see the outside of the ship. She turned away from him again, putting her hand on Junko's shoulder and trying to jump before quickly thinking better of it.

"We've never let doom get in our way before," she grumbled, "Now, on my count, we're all going to jump."

Stork quirked an eyebrow. "J-jump?"

"Yes. Junko, tell Aerrow and Finn. On the count of three, okay? You'll count with me, all right?"

Junko smiled, relieved to have something to keep his mind and body occupied, if only for a few seconds. "All right, Piper. I'm ready!"

"Okay. Here we go. One, two..."

The Wallop spoke alongside her. With Junko's huge form ahead of her she could barely make out Finn and Aerrow (who had a chained Radarr on his shoulder), but hoped they were paying attention.

"And, three!--ACK!"

Finn, Aerrow, Junko, and Piper had jumped on cue, but Stork had still been debating the idea. The force of the four of them leaping together had given Piper a brief glimpse of the door, but Stork's lack of contribution had put them off balance on the landing and they'd collectively fallen to one side, taking out three Talons in the process. Immediately there was an uproar.

"Stop them!"

"They're trying to escape!"

"They're jumping in unison!"

Junko pulled Aerrow to his feet as a mob of Talons descended on them. Finn shouted in protest as he received an elbow to the gut and Aerrow was smacked over the head with a stave in turn. Junko and Piper were forcefully shoved back into place and Stork, whose ankle had been twisted by the jumping he'd failed to take part in, was zapped painfully onto his feet by a firebolt crystal.

The rear guard gave Stork and Piper an extra shove for emphasis. "Try that again and we'll use you for fuel."

Piper shot Stork an exasperated expression, which he might have been able to shrug off. Aerrow's renewed glaring, however, wasn't so easy to ignore...

"Thanks, Stork. Real helpful there, buddy." The red-head was clearly trying to say this under his breath, but Merbs had excellent hearing. Stork grimaced once again at his own incompetence.

"It's fine," Piper breathed, "It still worked. I know where we are."

"Where?" Junko and Aerrow both turned together and nearly sent them all tumbling again.

Piper flinched. "We're on Terra Thar."

Finn continued his leading of the group, clutching his stomach. "Never heard of it."

"That's because it's been deserted for decades," Piper began, feeling almost as though she was on the bridge of the Condor reading from one of her books, with the exception that she was not generally in shackles on the Condor. "Ages ago Terra Thar was ground zero for some of the most competitive teams of crystal excavators. Some of the rarest crystals in the Atmos were found here. But the terra was picked clean. The climate was hot and harsh, so no one had any reason to return."

Finn blinked. "You guessed where we were from half a second of jumping?"

"Eh, when you're good, you're good." Piper smiled.

Aerrow lifted his head. "Okay, so why would they bring us here?"

"Desolate landscape... punishing climate... lack of natural resources..." Stork groaned and tried to ignore the pain in his ankle. "And no one comes here anymore. Who needs a prison when the terra can do the work for you?"

Piper didn't want to admit that he had a point. Aerrow was even more reluctant to approve of Stork's theory, but only because he didn't feel like approving of Stork right now, period.

They finally managed to reach the doors and shuffle slowly down the ramp onto Terra Thar's hot, sandy ground, so deeply red in colour that it could almost be mistaken for blood. Bordering the ramp were a few scattered trees with sparse purple leaves and mounds of flat rock stacked in natural little towers; the sky was a very light mauve, cloudless and rippling in the heat of the sun. Finn came to an abrupt stop and the others had no choice but to do the same.

"Uh, you may be wrong about this place, Stork."

Piper leaned to the side. "Wrong?"

"Yeah." Finn swallowed nervously. "'Cause there's definitely a prison here."

The lines of other squadrons ahead of them were filed off in different directions, offering a full view of what awaited every prisoner here. Radarr whimpered and Piper gasped audibly at the sight.

"We have to go in... there?" Junko pointed to the rocky, triangular structure ahead of them. It towered a good five-hundred feet, if not higher; each story acting as an individual step in the pyramid design, and every floor lined with bars on all sides. Every level was also circled by Talons brandishing weapons with strange orange crystals.

"At least we'll get a cell with a view... a-am I right?" Finn offered, though whatever humour had been attempted in that comment was overshadowed by dread.

Stork lifted his head to survey the area, and immediately wished he hadn't. Yellow eyes struggled to take in the unreal situation. His voice wavering, he muttered: "Do we really want a view... of that?"

The Storm Hawks followed his gaze. Opposite the pyramid prison was a huge cave with a track leading out of it. Disheveled workers were pushing carts of rock and dirt out of the cave and dumping the contents into a neighbouring pit. The pit itself was just one end of a massive quarry filled with even more working prisoners. Empty carts were making their way back into the cave, the creaking wheels offering a background symphony to the beat of picks and shovels.

Aerrow supressed a shudder. Piper was watching the carts with interest. At first she couldn't be sure; it looked like nothing but dark red dirt for the most part. But, yes, a shimmer of light. In one of every few of the carts that came out, she could see them glittering through.

"They're mining crystals!"

Both Finn and Radarr jerked at the sudden outburst.

"But I thought you said the crystals were gone?" Junko would have scratched his noggin' were he able to reach it.

Piper was only half-aware of Junko's question, her mind occupied with guessing the types of crystals the workers were extracting. Eventually her eyes moved back to him, still waiting patiently for a response. "Oh, well, I can't say for sure. I don't think they ever mined this deep..." she frowned.

"I don't get it," Finn interjected, "They're mining crystals, right? Why don't they just use them to escape? Look, right there, that Wallop's got at least three Strikers in that heap of dirt."

Piper started to answer, but they'd been forced into walking again. The other squadrons had been led into the prison and it was now their turn. She kept her voice as low as she could for Finn to still be able to hear her. "The crystals don't look as bright as they should. They must be blocking them."

Stork didn't care about crystals. He'd noticed something else entirely. The longer he watched, the more he was certain that he was right. Every worker pushing carts, picking at the rock, shoveling dirt, falling over from the heat... they all had one thing in common. His eye twitched.

None of them were human.

"Oh, this isn't going to end well."

"What's that, Stork?"

He looked up at Piper's worried face, and then past her to the first step of the pyramid. The prison was already filled to bursting on these larger, lower levels. As they entered through the base of the structure, the light vanished and their eyes struggled to adjust, but there was no missing the smell. Stork reeled, his heart suddenly accelerating. He could feel something wet beneath his bare toes.

"Dude, what is that?" Finn grabbed his nose, the connecting shackles causing Aerrow to smack himself in the face. The Sky Knight cursed, but kept his hands where they were.

"I don't think you want to know..." Piper turned a little green as her eyes adjusted to the sights around her. The cramped cells were filled with haggard, filthy people, and the stifling heat was working to strengthen the stench. A number of the prisoners had collapsed unconscious onto the moldy floor.

Oh, how she hoped they were just unconscious.

Stork saw it too. The people were sweaty, the people were dirty, the people were... ill. He could almost see the bacteria swarming around in the air in front of him. The walls appeared to visibly ripple and crawl with microscopic infectious creatures. He tried to stifle a whimper, but this was far too much to ignore.

"I can't stay here!"

They all turned back to him. Stork had stopped and was yanking frantically on the shackles.

"Stork, calm down, it'll be okay!"

The Merb was on the verge of hyperventilating. It was so hot in there. So sticky. The walls and their curious dark stains were closing in around him.

"Okay? Okay! This place is a breeding ground for disease and contamination." He'd managed to squeeze one of his wrists free of its bond and was grappling with the other. "Firelice, rotworm nasal infestations, scum-bred nest-building armpit leeches, nailbed putrefaction... rashes!"

Finn looked at the Talon next to him. "Can we really catch all that? It sounds made up."

Aerrow had had enough. "Knock it off, Stork!"

"... should all be wearing masks and protective body suits, but it's probably too late."

"I SAID STOP!"

One of the guards finally noticed that the Merb had freed both of his hands and was close to regaining use of his feet. Had Stork not injured his ankle, he might have already been loose. But before he was even aware anyone was coming up behind him, the panicking Storm Hawks pilot had crumpled to the foul floor from a blow to the back of the head.

Aerrow cursed under his breath. Despite his anger at Stork, he didn't want to see him get hurt. And on top of that, the Merb was now laying in a puddle of something that had attracted a number of red flies. The Talons found this terribly amusing, but not quite as funny as re-attaching the manacles so that Stork hung limply from the chains attached to Piper, who in turn was now off-balance and tugging at Junko.

"Just try to keep him steady until we reach our cell," Aerrow called back.

The Talons continued laughing. One of them hollered: "Put them on the top level!" which received a number of approving cheers.

Aerrow felt his face going red with anger. He'd seen this scene of chains and torture and humiliating defeat once before. The Oracle had promised something different, but here they were. He had started to resolve himself to the fact that this was their fate. This would be the end of them. This was their future...

But the faces of the laughing guards, the sick and hopeless prisoners, and his worried teammates... it all ignited something inside of him. A fuse that he'd feared had gone out had been re-lit.

To hell with the Oracle's prophecy. If she wasn't going to change the future, then he would.

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Introduction chapters are always the hardest, but I'm having a lot of fun with this. Expect more soon!