A/N: Hello, and welcome to my first Storm Hawk fiction.

Summary: The sky is never the limit for the Storm Hawks. But when one of their crew members die, do they finally reach a breaking point? First chapter omniscient, the remaining will be put through first person in the eyes of various Storm Hawks and other squadrons.

Anyway, enjoy!

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Chapter 1: Crash The Party

"This is the way the world ends. This is the way the world ends. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang- but a whimper."

- An excerpt from "The Hollow Men" by T.S. Eliot.

OoOoOo

Omniscient.

The day started with a bang. Specifically, the bang! as Junko opened the automatic doors to Aerrow's quarters and leaped into the room, his thick feet crashing onto the floor. Taking a moment to locate the sky knight, he grabbed Aerrow by the shoulders and shook him in a panic.

"You gotta come! Quickly!" the wallop said, the white of his eyes encompassing almost two-thirds of his face. His dark pupils were dilated, his breath ragged. "Aerrow, hurry!"

Apparently with nothing further to say, he dumped the shaken Sky Knight onto the ground and dashed from the room, somehow managing to leave traces of his fear behind him. It was a tangible thing for Aerrow- fear. Sometimes, contagious. This was one of those times. He scooped up his daggers and followed the trail Junko left behind him, every possible scenario rushing through his mind and each one worst than the last. He tried not to let the fear take control of him, but these days it was just so hard. Every battle shocked him worse and worse, each scrape with death leaving him in a state of Stork-like paranoia.

And now his worst fears were becoming true.

He was only half-dressed, but didn't know if there was enough time to equip the rest of his light, leather armor. So when he crashed into the bridge where his squadron was waiting, he was a half-naked crazy man, armed to the teeth, and ready for just about everything except what actually awaited him.

A cake.

And banners.

Aerrow's mind processed it all just a little too late to avoid the streamers and the confetti as his whole crew jumped out of hiding and yelled:

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

OoOoOo

Thirty minutes later, Aerrow was fully dressed and red in the face as he carved out the first slice of cake. Finn salivated near his elbow, electric blue eyes trained on the cake. Piper was berating Junko in a corner of the room as Stork overlooked the whole scene from his place at the helm, leaning against the steering wheel with a pained smile on his face.

"I can't believe you flubbed up such simple instructions, Junko!"

"I was nervous!" Junko wailed, wringing his huge hands and looking ready to burst into tears.

Piper, taking pity on him, reigned in her temper and patted him on the back, but still couldn't bring herself to console him with words. Instead she marched over to the cake and cut herself a slice, muttering, "Well, sure was a surprise, wasn't it?"

Aerrow smiled humorlessly. "Ya think?" He ruffled the top of Radarr's fuzzy blue head, seeking motion to try and rid himself of the remainders of any nervous jitters. It was hard to get out of "battle mode". Radarr chittered, soft white icing smeared across his smiling face. "Even so... jeez. I thought something really bad had happened, the way Junko was carrying on."

Piper's mood darkened further. "He was supposed to tell you to come to the bridge because of cleaning duty. Must've panicked at the thought of "lying", or something."

Aerrow let out a long breath. "How about next year we don't celebrate my birthday... like... at all. Ever again."

Finn decided to jump in. "What?" he said, shocked. The dramatic exclamation was somewhat lessened by the fact that he had even more frosting on his face than Radarr. He wiped off his frosting mustache with one hand, carelessly cleaning himself on the legs of his pants. "But in two years you'll be, like, eighteen! A legal adult, man!"

"Highly overrated," Stork muttered from his position at the helm, his expression a carefully constructed sneer of disdain. The merb had long ago passed that point of supposed maturity, and his next birthday was already looming up on the calendar.

"You have to celebrate the big One-Eight!" Finn continued loud enough to drown out Stork's pessimism.

"I'm actually agreeing with Finn on this one." Piper grinned. "And that's saying a lot."

"I promise I won't flub it up!" Junko gave his best "puppy dog" impression. "Don't cancel on my account!"

Stork remained silent, though his eyes rolled heavenward.

Shrinking in his seat, the red-headed leader of the Storm Hawks gave in. "Ok, ok, fine. But don't make a big deal out of it. It's just a birthday."

"Yes, the celebration of yet another year in your process of..." Stork tore his eyes off of the controls long enough to stare vacantly at nothing in particular. His left eyelid twitched, a nervous tic that appeared whenever thoughts of doom and gloom crossed his mind. "...decomposition."

Radarr giggled once before diving into Aerrow's plate, seeing that he wasn't eating his cake. Aerrow smiled in spite of himself as his crew cheered at the thought of embarrassing their leader again in two years. Then Piper flipped on the music and the party was in full swing. She tugged at Aerrow's arm, pulling him up to dance, and he laughed and twirled her around. Junko and Finn were moshing erratically off-beat to the music and Stork finally relented. He flipped the Condor into auto-pilot and sat down at the table to watch everyone else endanger themselves while he munched on chips and dip with Radarr. Piper, of course, would have none of that at a party she planned. After a few more rounds with Aerrow she peeled herself off of him and latched onto the merb, surprising him out of his seat and onto the impromptu dance floor.

"C'mon, green boy! Show us your moves!"

Stork stood frigid, flinching at being suddenly thrust into the spotlight. "I don't dance," the merb said, tone just as stiff as his body. "The probability of me falling and rupturing a body part while dancing are specifically-"

"Boooooo!"

Stork's words were drowned out by the collective shout of his crew mates. His long green ears flattened against his skull and he opened his mouth to shoot back a retort, probably sarcastic, but Piper cut him off. She put one hand on his shoulder and snatched his left hand with her right.

"Begin Operation Two of Best Birthday Party Ever. Radarr, if you would be so kind?"

Hearing his cue, Radarr switched off the up-beat, rocking party music that had been playing and replaced the record. Soft, melodic tunes floated out of the speaker, coaxing Stork into a more relaxed posture. Still, he was suspicious as Piper placed his hand on her waist. "I don't remember slow-dancing being included in the plan," he said warily. His left eye twitched, though not as pronounced as it usually was. Piper didn't even notice the warning sign, but even if she had it wouldn't have stopped her.

"I've got five hundred bucks against Finn that say you're going to dance with me tonight," Piper hissed into his ear, glancing at the smugly smirking Finn out of the corner of her eye. Stork followed her gaze to glare at the human in disgust, knowing that he had probably been the one to suggest such a dare in the first place. "I'll make it up to you later, ok?"

With his hatred of any sort of possibly strenuous physical activity being pitted against his strong urges to make Finn miserable, Stork felt himself being guided along by Piper. She was a better dancer than he was, and just by being with her it almost made him look like he knew what he was doing. Nervous, he shifted his hand from her waist to her back. He didn't want to feel as though he was groping the girl, thankyouverymuch. But besides that, he didn't know what he felt, wondering what, in the name of all that is holy, prompted him to engage in such frivolity. The human girl would look away from him every so often to shoot nasty grins at Finn, but otherwise she kept her dark orange eyes locked to his, giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze or a "you're doing great" or "ignore everyone else" and the most common "try not to step on my feet so much, Stork!"

Before he knew it, the song was over and the bridge was alive with the cheers of the Storm Hawks. Stork whipped his hands off of Piper's body and crossed his arms, fighting back a pleased smile. The merb let out a huge breath, thanking his lucky stars that he hadn't spontaneously combusted. Which was, of course, a highly probable way of dying when dancing with a member of another species.

"I knew you could do it," Piper said, throwing her arms around his neck in a fond hug before whirling around to see that Finn ducking out of sight behind the snack table. "Now, I have other business. FINN!" she roared, tracking him down. She grabbed the back of his shirt and hoisted him up where he whimpered in face of the onslaught, blue eyes watery. "Where's the money, bucko?"

"You cheated!" he accused, flailing wildly in her death grip. "Stork never dances."

Piper's voice was deadly sweet. "I've got three security cameras installed that will say otherwise if you feel like going over the data." Maybe that was a little too harsh, but Piper learned that being the only girl in an all-male environment made you harsh.

Aerrow, perhaps put out that his birthday had been used as a battleground between Finn and Piper, drew the two apart. "Listen, you two. As birthday boy I don't want any fighting on my... special..." he made a face. "Day, but as leader I like it even less. You guys know the rules."

Finn kicked the floor, his hands behind his back in a classic pose of dejection. Piper huffed and puffed but ultimately did nothing. When they spoke, it was in unison:

"No gambling on board."

It was a rule designed specifically for them, because Finn was always challenging her and she was always winning. Lips curling up in a smile, Aerrow reached over and pressed a button on the record player. "We're supposed to be having fun," he reminded them.

"I'm having fun," Piper objected.

Finn pulled a face. "I'm not."

"I'm terrified Piper is going to ask me to dance again." Stork felt a shiver roll down his spine that had nothing to do with the temperature.

Rapidly switching into girly-girl mode, Piper bounced over to him and tugged at his long-fingered, green hand. "Pleeeeease, Stork? I get a bonus if you do it twice. I mean..." She glanced at Aerrow, who had his hands on his hips. "I mean, I would have if Finn and I were still gambling."

"Most definitely." Stork wriggled free, holding his hand against his chest to protect it from further grabbing. "...Not." His left eyelid jumped and he slouched to the table where some merb-friendly chips were waiting for him.

OoOoOo

"I warned you."

Finn winced as Piper applied the cast to his broken arm while Stork hovered nearby, unable to prevent that dire statement from slipping past his lips. Finn, trying to show off, had attempted an elaborate dance move somewhat like breakdancing. Something broke, all right.

Aerrow sat nearby, morosely observing the situation for himself. "This is why I don't like birthday parties," he sighed.

"Are you OK, Finn?" Junko asked for the upteenth time, hovering just outside the room, peeking in from behind the door frame. His eyebrows were bunched together in worry, gray eyes shimmering.

"Hey, all the best parties have the most crazy accidents," Finn said, trying to strike his 'cool' pose but wincing when he found that moving around too much hurt. "When things get really wild, you know no one is gonna forget- ow ow ow! Piper! Be gentle!"

"I'll be gentle when you pay the money you owe me," Piper said, but low enough so that only Finn could hear her. She pushed her midnight blue hair out of her eyes as she finished and sat back with a sigh to admire her handiwork. Stork had a supply of the stuff he kept in his closet (just in case) and like most of Stork's work, it ended up being useful.

"Just lie low for a while," she said. "And after that you might need a little physical therapy, and the muscles in that arm will probably have atrophied somewhat-"

Finn's hair always had the appearance of being on end, as if he has been electrocuted recently. It seemed to stand up straighter as he gasped in horror. "So you mean I can't go on missions?"

Aerrow pushed down on his shoulder to keep the blond from getting up too quickly. "Unless you're still a crack-shot with only one hand-"

"-I'm afraid you're going to be a liability in the near future," Piper finished smoothly. When he still seemed down in the dumps, she squished her critical side and sat down next to him, gently nudging him in the ribs. "Hey. Relax. You know as well as I do there's no real danger these days. It's not like when we first started."

Stork slithered into a nearby chair, curled up in Finn's room as he watched the proceedings to make sure the blond human wouldn't keel over and die. "Indubitably," he said, nasal voice sounding darker than usual. "At least now we're not scared the Dark Ace is going to show up and... er...." the merb's ear's flattened against his skull and he clasped his long fingers together. He trailed off into an awkward silence that Aerrow readily broke.

"Stork's got a point," he said in a voice that brooked no argument. "No matter what, we know that threat is crossed off our list for good. So relax, Finn. Take a break. Practice shooting with your other arm, and we can still go on minor missions together. But I don't want you to push yourself, all right?"

"Aye, aye, Captain," Finn said, giving him a weak smile.