.:-=*'*=-:..:-=*'*=-:..:-=*'*=-:.

Disclaimer - I do not own Storm Hawks. They are property of Nerd Corps and CEO Asaph Fipke.

Stork's Log:

Good News: They sold comic adaptations of Storm Hawks.

Bad News: In 2009, where it was a limited edition. For those who didn't get a copy, you're doomed. (It also included the origins of the Dark Ace...!)

Stork slumped on the ship's steering system exasperatedly, gradually dropping onto the floor. The others were lying on the floor in the same deadbeat manner as Stork, completely exhausted. Their eyes begged to close and this time, Aerrow wasn't going to complain.

"Can everyone still move?" The young Sky Knight asked with concern. It had been a hard day.

"Just barely." answered Piper, who was wiping her forehead with her clammy hands.

"We finally… did it." huffed Finn, who was lying face-down with his limbs sticking out. "Spring cleaning…"

"… sucks." finished Junko, who attempted to stand up in a valiant effort, yet when his wobbly knees gave way he fell smack down on the floor. After a jaded grunt, he pulled his head up as tiny wooden brooms frolicked around his head in a daze. "I don't care what anybody says, just why did we have to throw out my special spoon collection?!"

"Because, Junko, nobody collects antique spoons anymore." Stork rolled his eyes, sarcasm evident in his dilated pupils. "Besides, we had to clean the Condor sometime. We couldn't just leave junk cluttered in her!"

"Stork's got a point, guys. Sometimes our stuff can end up being just useless things that we might never use at all." Aerrow was standing up despite the painful strain on his leg tendons. Piper soon followed suit along with Finn, but Junko remained on the floor as he tried to heave himself up. Soon, the wallop let out a tired sigh and stared at the ceiling. "Uh, I think I'll just stay here for now."

Stork stood up, observing the rest of his teammates. It was clear that the cleaning had taken a toll on them, so much that they felt dead exhausted like the time they baby-sat Tynki. But the Condor needed a good ol' shine, and Stork didn't want to be the only one who would do the hard work, even if it were for his beloved ship. He already had repairs and rock music to deal with.

"Hey, where's Radarr?" Finn asked, hand to forehead. "Did he hide somewhere or something?"

"Probably to avoid helping." Stork sourly remarked, checking the controls for any dust. Aerrow ignored Stork's statement and surveyed the entire deck for the blue creature. Nothing. As far as he was concerned, the only thing worthy of notice was the polished sparkles and sheens of the entire bridge. And Junko struggling to get up, of course. "Well, he isn't in here."

"Then he must be somewhere in our rooms." Piper dawdled towards one of the sliding doors. "He's just probably hiding. He couldn't have gone far."

Nodding in agreement, Aerrow walked over to his room, Piper to hers and Finn, well, to the floor. After staggering towards his room he had fallen down in defeat. "Man, I can't even get to my room! And even if I did then I'd just sleep." His eyes trailed over to Stork, who was now sitting comfortably at the helm reading a new volume titled 1001 Terrible Afflictions and the Hopeless Means of Fighting Them 2, something only the sadistic Merb would enjoy. "Hey Stork, can you check out my room for me? I can't move right now."

Stork scoffed in disdain. No way was he going to do a favor for him; after all, it was his music that drove him into reading the book in the first place. "Sorry, Finn, but right now I'm on the chapter of the spotted-cannibal-hooter-monkeys aaaaand it's just starting to get good."

"Come on, dude, my legs are practically going to fall off!" Finn whined, flashing his baby blue eyes at the rigid carrier pilot. Stork held onto his turf, now ignoring his pleas. "Did you know that a specific breed of maggot can only eat calcium, meaning that they can literally make your limbs fall off?"

Finn rolled his eyes. Something about Stork's fascination with the terrors of the world seemingly irked him as a cynical person. He knew that somewhere in his gut he felt that the creatures Stork would natter on for hours were almost false, like monsters in bedtime stories.

To be honest, he didn't have to check his room, but he knew Aerrow would want him to. Besides, he figured if Stork knew what his room now looked after all that vacuuming then maybe the Merb wouldn't come knocking on his door complaining about the suspicious smell wafting from the marksman's quarters.

Groveling on his knees would accomplish nothing, and threatening the very person who kept his very own vampire spider would be suicidal in a package, so instead he decided to bargain.

"Alright, you forced it outta me! I promise," Finn humbly proposed, "to not play my music near you."

This caught Stork's attention. Finn's music not playing near him meant total, blissful silence to enjoy his space, with an added bonus too. It meant no rock music on the bridge. Ever.

"Deal."

"Sweet!" Finn grinned as a sighing Stork snapped his book shut and began ambling towards the sharpshooter's room. Seeing his gleeful face made Stork regret not adding any other negotiations to the deal. It would've been fair if he managed to do so, seeing how Finn found a loophole in their agreement. He said he wouldn't play his music near him, but that didn't stop him from playing it with the amps on in his room.

"Can you check my room too, Stork?" asked Junko, who was still flat on the floor. But Stork had already disappeared behind the sliding doors, muttering under his breath.

...

Stork sauntered in his cautious gait as his head ducked low beneath his shoulders. He passed Finn's room, but only because he needed to feed his spider, specifically his new scarlet-maw-vampire-fang arachnoid, another deadly species that Stork had bought. After the incident with Carver, Stork prized himself with his new pet, but soon lost it at that time when the pilot collided with a Cyclonian battle cruiser in a team effort to save Radarr. Disappointed, he purchased another pet, which was another species of the scarlet-maw-fanged arachnids.

Unfortunately, he didn't have a glass cage to contain it since it broke, so he used a crate instead. The squad questioned its stability, but Stork said he had secured it with nails and duct tape, which left Aerrow unconvinced despite Stork's surety.

As he entered his room, he reached for the can of live mountain-hopping crickets which he caught himself. Scarlet-maw-vampire-fang arachnids like their prey alive so they could suck out its blood, hence the name. Stork shook the can with a grin as he walked over to the table where the crate was. "Time for lunch, Delilah!"

But when his gaze left the can and shifted towards the crate, he gasped in horror. The crate was open, its lid on the floor, the duct tape coiled around it severed. It could only mean one thing.

"She's esCAPED!"

His head swiveled right and left, his body frantically searching under his bed. He didn't have much in his room, so he knew the arachnoid couldn't have hidden anywhere in there. He exhaled short breaths of panic, his head popping out of his room. "This means heinous doom for us all if we don't find her, or worse!"

But his thoughts were interrupted by another scream, which surprisingly erupted from Finn's room. Stork wondered if Delilah had taken refuge in the marksman's room mainly because it was so messy.

As it turned out, it wasn't his spider that was freaking Piper out, neither was the aforementioned mess, but it was much worse.

It was Radarr, standing on two legs. He was as lifeless as an action figure, a transparent purple hue encasing his furry body.

Oh, no.

Side-note: Was my opening line good? I'm bad at introducing stories t.T But anyway, thanks for giving up some time to read though =D

Reviews would be nice, they're like the sesame seeds on garlic bread. Each and every one contributes to the bread, even if they are optional!