This is a companion piece to Perfidies: The Fall. It was supposed to be a oneshot, but because of its length I diveded it into three chapters. In this you'll find out why certain things happened. I'll be using the current Storm Hawks in this.
Keep in mind: All is not what it seems.
The Last Night
Chapter One
The shrill sound of his alarm was enough to make the calmest, most docile creature go absolutely mad. It wasn't the normal buzzing of most alarm clocks; it was that high-pitched beeping that grates on every nerve in your body. He reached out to turn it off, inadvertently knocking it to the floor, still beeping.
"Why do I even have that stupid thing?" the blond said groggily. Oh, right. Piper got it for me.
He pushed the covers off of himself and leaned over the side of his bed, picking up his alarm clock.
"Man, why'd we have to anchor someplace we can't pick up any radio stations?" he grumbled, resetting the alarm and placing the clock back on his nightstand.
"Finn," Aerrow called, knocking on the door. "Are you up, yet?"
"Yes, I'm up," Finn replied, yawning. "I'm just not dressed yet."
"Well, hurry up. We've got a lot to do today."
"Dude, you're starting to sound like Piper."
Aerrow snickered. "That's because Piper's too busy to yell at you for not setting your alarm for the right time." The Sky Knight grinned to himself. "You know, I did stop her from bursting into your room and throttling you."
"You're too kind," Finn replied sarcastically.
The redhead grinned at his furry companion on his shoulder. "Just hurry up, Finn. There's something I wanna check out on this terra and I need you to come with me."
"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying."
"Exactly why are we walking?" asked Finn.
"You'll see," Aerrow replied nonchalantly, though he was grinning like mad.
Finn trudged on behind him grumbling. Aerrow couldn't stop grinning. He was waiting for Finn to say something along the lines of "are we there yet" or "how much further," but before the blond could say anything...
"Here it is," Aerrow said; his grin bigger than ever.
Finn stared wide-eyed. "Whoa..." Standing before him was a sky-ride, but not just any sky-ride. "Dude, you don't think..."
Aerrow shrugged. "It's possible. I mean, there's never been another ride like it."
The sky-ride in question was a Skimmer III similar to Aerrow's but without the upgrades and Radarr-esque cockpit. Attached to the back of this particular skimmer was a large sheet of metal that obviously acted as a secondary cockpit. So, this is where he stood, Finn thought as he ran his hand along the metal plate.
"So this is where..."
"Yeah." Aerrow's expression dropped.
It wasn't so much that the whole thing was a sore spot with the young Sky Knight, he was only four at the time, but whenever it was brought up (which was rarely) there was a light hint of sadness that would appear on his face. It may have been small but Finn could see it, though he wasn't entirely sure what Aerrow was sad over. Was it over the destruction of their predecessors? Or was it...?
"Does it still work?" Finn said, not wanting Aerrow to dwell on the matter any longer.
Aerrow grinned. "Only one way to find out."
"Ah-ha-yeah! This is awesome!" Finn yelled, excitement rushing through his veins as he held on to the back of the skimmer, his feet firmly planted on the metal plate.
Aerrow looked back at him, a broad smile on his face. Finn, returned his gaze, grinning. He watched his Sky Knight's smile fade into a mischievous grin. The blond's expression dropped.
"Dude, what are you—Wah!"
The redhead suddenly pulled the skimmer into a barrel-roll. Finn held a death grip on the back of the ride as Aerrow spun the skimmer wildly mere feet above the forest canopy. When he finally came out of the high-speed spin his wingman gave him a nasty look. Aerrow began laughing.
"Not funny, Aerrow," Finn growled.
"Come on, Finn," the Sky Knight snickered. "It was a total blast."
"Yeah. Next time, I drive."
"Yeah, right," Aerrow laughed. "We'd better get back to the Condor. But we'll probably have to sneak in. Stork might want to put us through extreme-de-con for playing with this dirty old skimmer." The two boys snickered.
Finn looked down at the forest canopy. I wonder how often Dark Ace and Rowan did this? He glanced at the metal plate he was standing on. "I can't believe I'm standing in the same place as Dark Ace did." He looked at Aerrow's twin daggers. "So that's how he did it." Aerrow looked back at him. "Oh, sorry."
"No, it's okay," Aerrow replied. "I was actually thinking the same thing."
Silence fell upon them for a brief moment. "Hey, Aerrow?" Finn said as they neared the Condor. "Can I ask you something, um...personal?"
"Sure, Finn. You know you can ask me anything."
The blond hesitated, wondering if he should ask. "Do you ever wonder why Dark Ace did what he did?"
Aerrow sighed, his happy expression falling. "All the time."
Stork stared out the window, frowning, as Aerrow and Finn landed on the deck. Great. More junk. He eyed the skimmer suspiciously, watching it move into the hangar. That thing's probably crawling with germs.
Finn knelt down next to the skimmer, running his hand along the front fender and grinning like an idiot.
"Can we please take it out on patrol?" Finn pleaded as Junko and Piper entered the hangar with Radarr following behind.
"Uh..." Aerrow grimaced.
"I don't think you should, Finn," Junko said, jiggling the joints that held the secondary cockpit to the ride. "This is pretty loose."
"Oh, come on...it's in perfect condition," Finn returned as the rear fender fell off. "So it needs a little work."
Piper stared at it. "It needs a lot of work."
Finn glared at her.
"Look, we can work on it after the morning patrol and maybe take it for another spin in the afternoon," Aerrow suggested.
"Okay, fine," the blond grumbled.
Aerrow stared at him. "The sooner we get going the sooner we'll get back."
"And the sooner we get back the more time we'll have to work on the ride."
"Uh, thanks for finishing my thought, Junko."
The Wallop grinned. "Heh, sorry."
Aerrow shook his head. "Come on, guys. Let's go." Finn stared at their new-found skimmer, whimpering. Come on, Finn."
Finn yawned loudly as they made a pass over the edge of the terra. "There's nothing out here," he said with a loud and heavy sigh.
Junko raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that a good thing?"
"Sure," the blond replied, "if you don't mind being bored out of your skull."
Piper rolled her eyes. She had decided a long time ago that most of Finn's remarks didn't warrant a retort. Not from her, anyway. Aerrow on the other hand was more than happy to supply a reply for his wingman.
"We're almost finished, Finn," the Sky Knight said in his usual happy-go-lucky way. "Besides, do you really wanna run into the Talons after what happened last week?"
"Dude, I don't wanna run into Talons, rogues, sky sharks, phoenixes, scorpion flies..."
"Then why are you complaining?"
"Because I'm bored. It's boring out here," the blond replied, looking off to his left. "And just because I want something to happen doesn't mean I want it to involve any of the aforementioned."
A flash of light from the ground drew Aerrow's attention away from Finn. "Hey, what's that?"
"What's what?" Piper replied. She had stopped listening to Finn as soon as he said "because I'm bored."
"That," Aerrow said, pointing to the now rapid succession of flashing light. He looked back at Junko and a still babbling Finn. "Come on. Let's check it out."
"Finn," Junko said, trying to get his friend's attention. "Finn." Even if he yelled he wouldn't get the blond's attention. Finn was off in his own world. The Wallop rolled his eyes. The sharpshooter got like this when he was bored, so Junko decided to go ahead and follow the others. Finn will figure it out.
"...and not to mention Stork hid my guitar!" There was silence. Not even the sound of sky-rides. "Guys?" Finn sighed. "Great. I did it again." He looked towards the ground. "Now, where'd they go?"
Aerrow stopped a few feet from a small, silver, pyramid-shaped box sitting by itself in the middle of a large clearing. The Sky Knight sat on his ride, staring at the small box; Piper and Junko pulled up on either side of him. His two companions followed his gaze.
"What is that?" Piper queried.
"I don't know," Aerrow said, getting off his ride. As he walked towards the box Radarr began squawking and chattering wildly. The redhead turned to his furry companion. "What's with you?"
The animal continued chattering, urging Aerrow not to go any closer to the object. Something wasn't right. There was a strange smell in the air. Why couldn't Aerrow smell it? It was pretty potent. He should be able to smell it. So why...?
"Look," Aerrow said, holding the object in his hand. The object was made of a shiny, metallic material, yet it didn't reflect the sunlight, even though they were in an open area. "It's harmless."
"I don't know, Aerrow," Junko said warily. "It seems kinda—"
"Hey, where's Finn?" the Sky Knight queried, cutting off the Wallop.
"Um, I couldn't get his attention," Junko responded.
As Aerrow opened his mouth to speak, Piper noticed the object beginning to open.
"Um, Aerrow..."
"What?" Piper pointed at the box, wide-eyed. Aerrow looked down. "This can't be good."
Radarr sank down into his cockpit and covered his eyes.
The sides of the pyramid-shaped box flattened out. A mechanism inside began to spin, emitting a low hum.
"Aerrow, I really think you should get rid of that thing," Junko said, but his words went unheard by the Sky Knight.
As the mechanism continued to spin, gaining more speed by the second, it began to glow. Aerrow's eyes were fixated on it. His team mates began yelling at him, trying to get his attention, but nothing was reaching him. The redhead's eyes narrowed as the glow began to fade. Piper and Junko started to relax, thinking it was over. However, the blue creature hiding in the secondary cockpit of the Sky Knight's skimmer knew better. The spinning stopped and the object grew silent. A few quiet moments passed.
"Aerrow?" Piper said softly.
The redhead didn't respond. He stood deathly still, staring at the object. A low even hum began to emanate from the object again, but the mechanism remained still. The base of the mechanism began to glow as the hum grew louder. Piper and Junko covered their ears but they were unable to shut out the drone. It was annoying them, yet it didn't seem to faze their Sky Knight at all. The glow suddenly ceased and a bright light flashing rapidly. The two other Storm Hawks quickly closed their eyes, turning their heads away. Aerrow dropped the box, falling backward. He quickly averted his eyes but found himself turning back just as quickly. As he stared at the pulsating light a vision began to unfold before him.
Finn. Him. On that skimmer. Finn standing on the back. Piper and Junko on either side of them, the Condor behind them. A strange look on Finn's face. He grabs the redhead's twin blades, connecting them. He turns to see his friend holding the blade above him, pointing it at him. A sneer on his face.
The flashing light suddenly ceased and the vision with it. The box closed and sat on the ground, seemingly harmless. Radarr popped his head up and looked at his human companion. He was still staring at the box, unmoving. Piper turned her head, along with Junko, back to Aerrow to see the teenager seated on the ground with his legs out in front of him and his arms behind him.
"Aerrow?"
He looked up at Piper. "Huh?"
"I think we should go find Finn."
"Yeah, you're right," he replied, standing up. "Let's go find Finn." He stopped in front of his ride, looking at his squad mates. There was a strange look in his eyes.
"What's wrong?" Piper asked concern in her voice.
"When I was staring into that light," he began, "I had a vision."
"Of what?"
"Us. We were on our rides flying," he continued. "We were out in front of the Condor. Finn and I were on that skimmer that I found. He was on the back." He paused. "We were heading somewhere...I don't know where. There was a strange look on his face. He reached down and grabbed my blades. I turned my head. Finn had my blades connected, pointing them at me, ready to strike. He had this look..." Aerrow trailed off. "That's where the vision ended."
He stared at the three in front of him. All of them stared back in disbelief.
"No..." Piper said sotto voce. "Finn would never do that."
Aerrow mounted his ride. "Not a word of this to him or Stork. Not until I figure out what happened."
"You don't think Finn would...?"
"I don't know, Junko. I hope not." He looked at his squad mates. "Come on. Let's get outta here."
They turned their sky-rides around, quickly taking to the sky, leaving the pyramid-shaped box behind. As soon as they were in the air a figure in a heavy, brown, hooded-cloak stepped out into the open and picked up the box. It held the object in its palm. The silver sides glimmered in the sunlight. It stared at the box.
"Step one, complete."
Not finding the blond anywhere, Aerrow radioed the Condor. "Hey, Stork. Is Finn there?"
"Yes! I am!" Finn's voice came back, sounding a little irritated. "And before you say anything, I did look for you."
Aerrow opened his mouth to speak, but before he could utter a sound Finn spoke again. "And no I don't know what happened. I have no idea why you took off on me."
"Are you finished?" Stork said.
"Yes," the blond answered flatly.
"I tried to get your attention," he heard Junko say.
"Whatever. Just hurry and get back. I'm hungry."
"Finn, you just had breakfast an hour ago," Piper said. "And besides, you can make yourself something."
"Your point?" he replied flippantly. "And besides...Stork won't let me in the kitchen."
After lunch, and a little griping from his wingman, he dragged Finn into the hangar to work on the skimmer he had found. Normally they ate their meals in the hangar when they were anchored on a terra; however Stork insisted they eat on the bridge. Finn had tried to figure the Merb out but after so many years he became used to Stork's antics and gave up on trying to understand.
"So," the blond began, tightening the bolts on the secondary cockpit, "what happened out there?"
Aerrow looked up at him. "Thought I saw something. Turned out to be nothing."
"Oh," he replied, handing the wrench to Radarr.
The redhead finished cleaning the lower right wing and tossed the rag into the bucket. "Wings are done."
"Secondary cockpit secure."
Aerrow climbed up onto the platform and onto the skimmer, pulling the lever to fold the wings. Finn moved to the side to allow Aerrow to back the skimmer down the ramp.
"Hey. Should we take it for a quick spin?" Finn said, grinning.
His Sky Knight didn't answer right away. The comment pulled his mind back to the vision. He knew Finn would never do anything like that, but then, his predecessor probably thought the same thing about... No! He couldn't think that way. That was completely different. Wasn't it?
"Aerrow." Finn's voice pulled him back to reality. "You okay, dude?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Aerrow replied. "Let's go take her for a spin."
The blond grinned, then frowned saying, "No barrel-rolls."
Aerrow gave him a mischievous grin.
"Aerrow..."
"Okay, no barrel-rolls."
"Promise."
Aerrow stared at him grinning. Finn glared back.
"I promise."
Finn knew Aerrow better than that, but he really wanted to go for a ride. Barrel-rolls or no barrel-rolls, the sharpshooter threw caution to the wind, like he usually did. (Something that always annoyed Piper.)
"Okay," the blond replied, eyeing his friend suspiciously. "Let's go!"
By the time they returned to the Condor they had little over an hour before the afternoon patrol. Radarr was very happy to be back on the ship. The poor animal was ready to vomit. One barrel-roll was one too many for him. For Aerrow, however, one was nowhere near enough. Finn, on the other hand, wasn't happy with the barrel-rolls at first; but after four in a row he seemed to be enjoying them. Teenagers. Next time, he was riding with Piper.
On the bridge Stork was attached to the helm, as per usual. Piper was looking over a map and Junko was putting the finishing touches on a repair job to the Condor's right wall. Finn walked onto the bridge. He stopped and turned around when he didn't hear Aerrow following.
"Something wrong?" he asked, seeing Aerrow still standing in the doorway.
"No, everything's cool," the Sky Knight replied in a bit of a daze. "I'll be back in a minute. I need to do something."
"Whatever," Finn said with a shrug.
Aerrow headed down the corridor to his room, though he did make a pit stop at the bathroom. He sat down on his bed and stared out the window. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake the feeling that something horrible was about to happen. And then there was that vision. Why did he have it? What caused him to have it? Was it that pyramid-box? That light? Something was messing with his head. There had to be an explanation for it. Was it a new scheme from Cyclonis? A trick of some kind? Was she trying to drive a wedge between him and Finn? That had to be it. Finn would never betray them. Would he?
The teenager shook his head. He had to find out. He had to go back to the spot where he found the pyramid-box; the answer had to be there. He would go back on the afternoon patrol—alone. He didn't want Piper or Junko to worry and Radarr wasn't about to go anywhere with him after all those barrel-rolls. As for Stork, he would be kept out of the loop for now; the last thing he needed was Stork freaking out. And Finn...
Aerrow stood up. "No, I won't tell him until I figure this out. And the same goes for Stork."
He still had half an hour before he needed to leave, so he decided to record the incident in his journal, then he would head out on patrol, alone.
"Come on, dude. I wanna go with you."
"No, Finn. Not this time."
"What's your deal? You've been acting weird ever since you got back from the morning patrol." Finn sighed. "What'd I do?"
"You didn't do anything. I just wanna go it alone this time."
"Fine. Whatever."
Aerrow sighed as he flew back to the spot where they found the strange box. His decision to go it alone didn't go over well with, well...Finn. Stork couldn't have cared less, though he did mention something about poisonous flying chipmunks or something, he really wasn't listening. Radarr wasn't going anywhere near a skimmer for awhile; Piper and Junko had been with him the first time so there was no argument from them. They knew what he was doing and the fact that they had been sworn to secrecy made it all the more difficult to just brush it off as Aerrow wanting to do something by himself. Finn didn't buy it. Aerrow never went out on patrol alone. He had someone with him every time, even if it was only Radarr. As much as Finn wanted to argue it he let it go. Aerrow was their Sky Knight. If he wanted to go alone, he could. He was a big boy.
Piper elbowed the blond when he made the "big boy" remark as Aerrow walked off the bridge. The redhead merely rolled his eyes.
He sighed again. Looking down as he flew over the clearing, he saw the same flashing light he had seen that morning.
Well, here goes nothing.
There it was. The same pyramid-shaped box he had held in his hand earlier, sitting on the ground, lifeless. He brought his ride to a full stop a few feet away and got off. He stood in front of the box, staring at it, debating whether or not it would be wise to pick it up. Deciding to pull a Finn he picked it up. Much to his relief the object did nothing.
"I see you have found my toy."
Aerrow whipped around to see someone standing behind him. It was covered head-to-toe in a heavy, brown hooded-cloak.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Who I am matters not, young one," it replied. "May I have it back?" It held out a gloved hand.
"Yeah, sure." Aerrow placed the object into its hand.
"You were here this morning," it said, holding out the object.
"How'd you know I was here?" the Sky Knight said, now airing on the side of caution.
The cloaked-figure chuckled. "Let's just say, this is a very special toy and I like to keep a close eye on it."
Aerrow eyed the cloaked-figure suspiciously. The pitch of its voice changed with nearly every word it spoke as did its range. The sound of the voice would constantly flip-flop between normal and hissy. Aerrow couldn't tell if the cloaked-figure was male or female and with the way the cloak was, he couldn't tell what species it was, either.
"Forgive me, Sky Knight, for being vague," it hissed, almost snake-like, "you're probably wondering what this is."
"I want to know what it did to me," Aerrow said flatly.
Though Aerrow couldn't see it the figure grinned and then chuckled. "You mean the vision?" it said, now in a raspy voice as if it were inhaling as it spoke. Aerrow's body tensed. "So you did have one. May I ask what you saw?"
Aerrow didn't want to answer but he soon heard himself replaying the vision to the cloaked-figure.
"Is it the future?" the teenager asked. "Is Finn going to betray us?"
"I do not know," it replied. "I cannot tell the future." It held the object in front of Aerrow's face. "However, it would be wise to take it as a warning. It has happened before."
"Finn's nothing like the Dark Ace," Aerrow seethed.
"Are you positive? There are many things we do not learn about each other until it's too late."
The box opened up and the mechanism inside began to spin. It began to glow as it spun faster. No, not again. Aerrow tried to turn away but he couldn't move his eyes away from the object, nor could he close them. The spinning suddenly stopped and the glow slowly faded away. The world around him became deathly still. Then a low, even hum began to fill his ears as the base of the mechanism began to glow. Aerrow's eyes widened as the glow ceased and an intensely bright light began flashing. He saw himself and Finn again, the same as last time. No. Not the same. He was on the skimmer. Finn was behind him. He felt his blades being removed from their sheath. He turned.
"Finn? No! Finn! Don't!"
"Yes, Aerrow," it said to him as images of Finn's betrayal filled the Sky Knight's mind. "The betrayal is coming. It is inevitable."
"No!" Aerrow yelled. As the flashes slowed he saw something he never would have expected. "Wait!"
Aerrow fell to his knees. The flashes stopped; the box folded back into its pyramid shape. The Sky Knight's head began to swim and he collapsed to the ground.
When Aerrow awoke the pyramid-box and the cloaked-figure were nowhere to be seen. He stood up. His head was pounding and his eyes hurt. Everything that had happened was a blur. He leaned against his skimmer, waiting for his foggy head to clear.
"Who was that?" he said to himself. "What happened to me?" The trees rustled as if to answer him.
He suddenly remembered. A look of malice crossed his face. "Finn..."
Aerrow quickly got onto his ride and took-off without looking back. When he was out of sight the cloaked-figure stepped out into the open. He removed his hood and said in his normal voice,
"And so it begins...and so it shall end."
And so ends chapter one. The following chapters should be up soon. It depends on how much time I have to type everything up. I bet no one will figure out who the cloaked-figure is. You must remember: All is not what it seems.