Anger welled up like a flood inside Dark Ace. He hadn't thought that he could fail this time. He had thought it impossible. He was so sure that he would win. With the Enhancement Stones, they were unstoppable. The other squadrons had crumbled to the winds. And yet somehow, someway, the Storm Hawks had beaten him. Aerrow, specifically. So here he was, standing outside Master Cyclonis' throne room, contemplating what in the WORLD he was supposed to say to her.

He went through the events in his head, checking them off mentally.

The kid had jumped onto his skimmer.

Check.

The skimmer had been moving at a hundred miles an hour.

Check.

He had NO idea how Aerrow had done it.

Check.

Then, Aerrow had snaked back to do his Lightning Claw maneuver. And as the blue ball of swirling energy had buzzed towards Dark Ace, a little voice in the back of his head had nagged him. You lost again, you lost again, it sang. He raised his arm to keep the charge from colliding with his head and shearing it off, and when he fell, another thought struck him.

This is getting REALLY old.

The door slid open. He walked in, feeling, for the first time in his life, unsure of himself. Cyclonis did not have her back to him. Unfortunately, their conversation today involved eye contact.

"Master." He bowed, hand over his heart. He felt her sneer from across the room.

"Dark Ace, I won't bother with normal fluff." He heard the bitterness in her voice and winced. "You lost, AGAIN, to that pesky little child who calls himself a Sky Knight. Tell me why I shouldn't blast you to pieces right now!"

The first time she'd ever used those words on him. It hurt beyond comprehension. Her trust was sliding away. And it was all their fault. He looked up and stared into her seething violet eyes. What do you say in moments like this? She was calming down, however.

"At least you fared better than Snipe," she conceded. "Beaten by that girl, Piper." Her voice was moments away from becoming a snarl. "I can't afford to give you many more chances, Dark Ace. You will win, and you will win SOON. I can't have this from you. Not from my best fighter."

The praise didn't help. Considering the context it was in. He nodded tersely.

"I understand," he said grimly. Her face crumpled into another frown.

"No, Dark Ace, I don't think you do." Her fingers were twisted around each other, wringing. She too, had been nervous about this encounter. He wasn't sure if that fact was supposed to make him feel better.

He wasn't scared of her. He could beat her in a fair fight. She knew that, he knew that. But the fact that he COULD kill her, if he wanted to, was rather frightening. And Cyclonis NEVER played fair. Her punishments were constructed to degrade you. To punish Ravess, degradation. Snipe? Anything that scared him. Dark Ace?

Cyclonis wasn't entirely sure what kind of punishment was effective against him. Wounding his pride? No. It grew back too easily. Hurting him physically? Impossible. The Dark Ace could take on an army with a broken arm and call it a lark. Tease him? How in the world does one go about teasing the stiffest human being ever born? She wasn't sure what to do. Embarrass him, she supposed. He hates being embarrassed in front of subordinates.

"Dark Ace, I don't want to have this discussion ever again. And I mean EVER. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Master."

"Unless you want the entire palace to hear of your defeat, I want you to get out there and find them. Kill them. It's time for us to stop playing games. Go. NOW."

Dark Ace bowed again and disappeared out the door. Cyclonis sneered at the space of floor occupied by a human being only moments ago. Strangely enough, she rarely ever thought of the Dark Ace as a human being.

Her thoughts turned back to her latest plan. Things wouldn't fail this time.

They couldn't.

She retired rather early that night, her head throbbing with the events of this day. After months of preparation, planning, working her fingers to the bone creating those crystals...And Dark Ace and the others screwed this up anyways. She made strangling motions in midair, imagining Snipe's gluttonous face in front of her, or Ravess' prim little neck in her hands. But somehow, when she tried to slide Dark Ace into that slot...

It didn't fit.

It bounced against the borders of her imagination, unable to click into place. She glanced outside. His skimmer had departed a while ago. Maybe this time...he'd learned his lesson. Maybe it would be the final mistake. She hoped so. He was far to important to her plans to fail. At this point, there was no going back. If they won, they got everything. And if they lost? Well, that was a thought Cyclonis didn't want to dwell on. Her brain was tired. Really, really, really tired. She sat down on the edge of her tiny bed and rubbed her temples.

"What am I supposed to do?" she muttered. "I'm fourteen, for goodness sakes. I'm not supposed to be ordering around thirty year olds. I'm supposed to be in high school, with a boyfriend, and teachers, and homework. I am NOT supposed to be here!"

Her voice cracked.

God. She felt like an old lady. Felt older then she actually was. A few years ago, if someone had told her that the Dark Ace would lose, she would have laughed. If they had added the fact that he'd lose to a Storm Hawk, she would have thrown that someone into a mental institution. Dark Ace had been unbeatable.

In many ways, he still was.

And today, they'd all learned...a little lesson.

Sweet little thing, isn't she? XP Fun writing this though. Nice to get inside the character's head, screw with 'em a little. Yes, I'm evil.