Hello again my faithful readers! Wow, I can hardly believe I already have two fics and a oneshot under my belt! I'm planning for 'A Matter of Will' to have considerably more AerrowXPiper fluff, but it's not a slash fic. That just doesn't attract me much.
Anywho, i have some rambling to do before we get on with the story. I'd like to dedicate this story to my most faithful reviewers:
Nakedmolerat05: Who reviews every single chapter. Wow, thanks a lot!
Bkipper: Who loves AerrowXPiper fluff as much as I do. Go read her fics, they're good!
Eldonyx: Thanks a lot for your ideas and support
Azaria-Lady-of-Dreams: I'm glad you like my writing. Good luck with your 30-kisses series! AerrowXPiper foreva!
And also to all my other reviewers, where would my fics be without you guys? Not far, I can guarantee that! Thank you so much! Now, On with the story!
Capture
Aerrow was dodging trees in yet another mission to free the prisoners of terra Zartacla. Mr. Moss was hot on his tail, Bessie's engines emitting a deafening roar. Radarr was nowhere to be found; he and Aerrow had had to split up to evade the track beasts.
"Yew won't be gettin' away from me this time, boy!" Mr. Moss howled over the roar of his Heliblade. With a crack of his whip, several thick-trunked trees fell. Aerrow leaped out of the way of one, finding himself suddenly out in the open. Aerrow backed away from the guards that threatened to surround him. Mr. Moss landed his vehicle and dismounted, cracking his whip.
"Yew've got nowhere to run now." Mr. Moss snarled. Aerrow quickly took in his surroundings. There was some well-forested swampland just behind him; if he could run fast enough, he might have a chance to escape.
As Mr. Moss raised his pudgy arm to crack the whip again, Aerrow turned and bolted off into the trees. A crystal-whip generated buzz saw sliced through the trees nearby. Another saw hit more than just the trees. Aerrow gasped, putting a hand to the gash in his side. It was long and deep, but clean. He forced himself to his feet and kept running. Unfortunately, the trail of blood would make tracking him down far too easy.
There was a loud crack, and a white hot tendril wrapped around Aerrow's ankles, pulling him down. He rolled over onto his back to see Mr. Moss approaching fast, his whip whirling above his head. Aerrow tried to get up, but the blood loss was starting to get to him. He fell to one knee in a wave of pain and dizziness. Mr. Moss chuckled evilly.
"I knew yew couldn't git away from me a second time." The Zartaclan prison manager smirked at the fallen sky knight.
'I hope the others are having more luck than I am.' Aerrow thought fervently. The gash in his side gave a painful throb, and Aerrow blacked out.
Piper stared out the Condor's window, waiting for Finn to return. Aerrow hadn't met them at the rendezvous point, and the navigator was starting to get worried. Finn had taken his skimmer out to search for Aerrow and Radarr. Junko was in the hangar bay, tending to the freed prisoners. It hadn't gone as well as the last time, but Piper supposed that she should have expected that. There had been a few guards left in the prison when the Storm Hawks had broken in.
The sound of a skimmer's engines shook Piper out of her reveries. She rushed out onto the runway. Finn had finally returned with Radarr, but Aerrow wasn't with them.
"Where's Aerrow?" Piper asked apprehensively. Finn looked at her sadly.
"We couldn't find him anywhere on the terra," Finn replied softly. Piper almost couldn't hear him, "They must've got him." Piper's heart plummeted into her stomach like a rock, her orange eyes wide with dread. Finn put a hand on her shoulder, way more solemn than he usually was. Radarr whimpered and leaped onto Piper's other shoulder, his furry face creased with worry.
They returned to the bridge of the Condor and relayed the bad news to the rest of the team. Stork shook his head, muttering about how he knew this would happen and that nobody listens to him. Junko looked close to tears, Finn was completely silent, and Radarr kept close to Piper for comfort. Weaverbird stood staring out the window at the sunset, her expression unreadable. Piper flopped down in a chair.
"I can't believe I let him go down there," she muttered, "I should have known this plan wouldn't work a second time. This is all my fault." Piper buried her face in her hands, fighting back tears. She was acting team leader while Aerrow was gone; she couldn't afford to show any weakness.
"You know it's not your fault," Weaverbird admonished softly. There was no emotion in the Dragoness' voice as she spoke, "It could have happened on any mission…" Weaverbird trailed off, not looking away from the window. The light in her crystal pulsed gently in the gathering gloom. Piper thought it almost seemed to waver, as if it showed the Dragon's sorrow despite her attempts to hide it. There was a long silence.
"He's still alive you know." Weaverbird spoke more clearly. Piper looked up, surprised. The other Storm Hawks stared at the Dragoness. She looked around at them, her eyes were like chips of blue ice. Piper knew that look. It was the determined look Aerrow got just before a mission.
"How do you know?" Piper's voice wavered, "The Cyclonians would want to be rid of him quickly." Everyone nodded.
"Yeah," Stork assented, "They'd do away with Aerrow while he's still too weak to fight back." Weaverbird snuffed in a cynical way.
"He's alive all right," the Dragoness replied, "I can feel him. If he were dead, I wouldn't be able to sense his presence. I didn't, however, say he was unhurt." Piper looked into Weaverbird's eyes. Now that she mentioned it, Piper thought the Dragon looked rather downtrodden; her crest drooped, and her scales appeared to have lost their healthy sheen. Piper looked away, her forehead creased with worry. If Weaverbird was any indication, Aerrow couldn't be doing too well himself.
"Then we'll just have to save him," Piper said straightening up, "I'll go with Weaverbird and try to come up with a plan. Finn, Junko, go look after the people we freed. Stork, try to find us somewhere safe to land for the night." Piper and Weaverbird headed off to Piper's quarters, hoping that Aerrow could hold up under whatever the Cyclonians planned for him.
When Aerrow came to, he found himself in a prison cell, his wrists in shackles. He sat up, ignoring the pain in his side. The bleeding had slowed, but not completely stopped. His head was pounding; Aerrow pressed a couple fingers to his temples in an effort to ease his headache.
There were two guards at his cell; one ran out when he saw Aerrow sit up. Within a few minutes he returned, dragging Aerrow out of his cell and into a large room. When his head finally stopped spinning, Aerrow realized that not only Mr. Moss, the assistant animal keeper Hamish, and several guards were in the room but also what prisoners were left in the prison. Aerrow's heart sank when he realized that Piper had not been able to rescue all of them. Mr. Moss stepped forward, holding his hands out for silence, not there was anyone who dared speak.
"Today," he started, his southern drawl reaching every ear in that room with ease, "I'm gonna show y'all what happens to people who try to leave my prison. Zartacla is a dangerous terra anywhere outside the prison proper. However, you'll be lucky if you don't come back from the swamplands. Because I can be extremely dangerous when my patience runs thin." Aerrow's green eyes widened; Mr. Moss intended to make an example of him to discourage escape attempts from other prisoners.
The prison manager raised his whip, bringing it down with a sharp, fearful crack. Aerrow bit back a cry of pain when it bit into his flesh. Mr. Moss was about to raise the weapon again, when an unfortunately familiar voice interrupted.
"I'd suggest you drop the whip." Aerrow's eyes flew wide open with disbelief. There was a collective gasp from prison staff and prisoners alike. The Dark Ace strode into the room. "Master Cyclonis wants him," his red eyes glinted maliciously, "whole."
Ooooh, a cliffie on the first chapter! Wow, I'm evil! XD I just hope you guys like Aerrow torture, there's gonna be quite a bit. I find it helps set off my AerrowXPiper moments quite nicely. X3 Thanks for reading!