Master of Puppets
By Lady Ava

Author's Notes: So, I have gotten into the show Storm Hawks and let me tell you, I love it to death. So, this is just a little idea I came up with out of boredom and the urge to write something different. So, here we go.

Chapter One
Unwelcome Nightmares

"Aerrow, you listen and you listen good. Stay here and protect yourself and Radarr. Do you understand me? This is very important." A woman's rushed tone told him. Although the words were harsh, they seemed to bring a sense of belonging and importance to him.

Nodding, the boy straightened up. He was short for being nine. Bright red hair that always seemed a mess as if he had just rolled out of bed was still a bit on the short side then. Behind his growing bangs, a rare set of emerald eyes gazed up at the woman. He kept his knees drawn up to his chest, tiny fingers linked together as he sat curled up in a ball. He sniffled as he watched his mother take hold of his shoulder, making sure he understood what she said. "I will mommy. You can count on me." He exclaimed, holding a small trembling Radarr closer to him.

The woman, her red hair glowing in the light of the fiery lights outside, let a smile cross her face. Tears slowly started to fill her crystal blue eyes as they watched Aerrow carefully and fondly. She knelt and brought him into her arms. She clung tightly to him, trying to hide her tear-stained face from her son. Her lips, trembling softly, laid upon his brow, a small kiss.

"I love you Aerrow. No matter what happens, know that."

"I love you too, mom…"

Suddenly, the image turned a burning red, as if dripping in blood. He couldn't feel the hold of his mother any more as he felt himself falling deeper into the unknown. Blackness began to rise up around his senses, making it hard to breathe. There were faint cries in the distance. Screams of terror that became muffled and overpowered by the dark as he began to struggle to find his breath. The liquid rose up and over Aerrow's head, suffocating him slowly. Grabbing at his throat, he tried to let sound escape him. To call out to his mother and let her know that he was sorry; that he was going to die. He opened his mouth to scream…

Aerrow cracked his eyes opened quickly, letting the veil of darkness leave him. The image of the house and his mother seemed to fade back into the depths of the sleep-filled mind as he let a small gasp escape him. He was stretched out in his small bed in a familiar cabin that he had come to know as home. His sheets were contorted about him as he lay there, trembling ever so slightly while taking in gulps of air. Blinking a few more times, he rolled onto his side, letting his vision focus on his surroundings.

It was a decent sized room, just a little larger than the others on the Condor. A small desk was bolted down to the floor near the far side of the room, covered with papers and books. On the back of the chair, sat his normal clothes and armor, awaiting for him to rise out of bed and head up to the bridge. His weapons sat upon the end table next to his bed, while a few smaller pictures were propped beside them. Above his bed, three small windows were perched, letting some of the sunlight enter the steel room.

Rolling over onto his back, the young man let his eyes look up to the ceiling. In all the months of passing the trails and flying of to defend the Atmos from Cyclonia, any and all memories seemed to slip away from him of his past. It was the first time in months that he had dreamt of his home. Not aboard the ship, but the Terra that he knew all too well when he was still young. Despite being only fifteen, it seemed almost like centuries since the thought of his family came to him; since that night came to him. Every detail of his nightmare seemed so fresh in his thoughts, yet so far behind him all at once. They gnawed at his mind, trying to force the images back to him.

Bringing up his arm, he rested it over his eyes in an attempt to shield some of the sunlight seeping through the small windows. There was a thin layer of cold sweat upon his face as he took in a deep breath to calm and relax his mind from the dream. After all, it was only a memory and a dream. Nothing more and nothing less. Letting his other arm move a bit to his side, he realized that there was something missing. Normally, Radarr would curl himself up into a ball next to Aerrow while he slept. If anything, it was a force of habit for the little creature. But now, his normal spot was empty.

'Huh. That's weird.' He thought, his mind still in a fog. 'Normally, I'm the only up first.'

"Aerrow!" a familiar paranoid voice called over the loud speaker, causing him to draw back his arm so that only a small portion of his eye could be seen. "We need you on the bridge. There is a small…situation that needs attending too."

Taking in one more deep breath, the young sky knight threw back the covers of his bed. Rising to his feet, he quickly proceeded to dress, though left his armor off for the time being. Glancing in the mirror for a brief moment, he looked at his normal messy hair and green eyes. He wasn't one for taking the time out to style and gel his hair like a certain blond on the ship. Last time he checked, hair products weren't a key aspect to bringing down the Cyclonians or the Dark Ace.

Nodding at his appearance, he hurried out of the sliding doors and into the hall. Moving into another small hallway off to the side of the main one, Aerrow took off, turning and twisting past different doors. Some lead to the other's living quarters, while another went to the galley, washrooms, and medical bay. And yet, he continued to walk down the same hallway until he reached a set of old stairs. Skipping two at a time, he made his way towards a door that sat at the end of the hall. As he approached, it jumped opened, just in time to have his normal start of day conversation.

"This is a terrible disaster," Stork's voice echoed throughout the room, causing the red head to smirk.

All five of his teammates stood posed about the briefing table. Each set of eyes were cast down upon what Piper had laid out before them. There were books and scrolls stacked up near the middle, while a few flight models where sitting beside them. While there were chairs there for them to sit, all were standing, looking closely at what was before them.

Finn glanced up from the Merb, raising an eyebrow slightly, "You think everything is a disaster." He told flatly, pointing at the green pilot as if trying to reinforce his words. "Why can't you think positively just once?"

But Stork sulked back a bit in his normal cowering state. His eyes darted about slightly as he placed his fingers together, drumming them slightly. "Shall we remember the Black Gorge?" he reminded, finally settling his eyes upon the sharpshooter once more. There was a hint of amusement in his stare as he watched Finn suddenly stiffen.

"I was over that Gorge Madness in a week," the blond retorted, withdrawing his questioning glance. Aerrow could only shake his head a bit as he saw the blond pout and look as if he were about to throw a hissy fit. For one of the best sharpshooters in all of Atmos, he knew his friend to be just a bit more of a kid than most. Never the less, it didn't matter when it came to when the Talons attacked. Finn was always there to cover his back, no matter what.

Glancing behind her, Piper was the first to notice the sky knight's presence. She gave him a small smirk, her hair falling slightly into her eyes as always. Turning to face him more head on, she crossed her arms over her chest, looking down as the red head approached the table. "Well, look who finally rolled out of bed." She spoke up, silencing the rest of the team.

Her voice was filled with a sarcasm that made Aerrow pause for a moment. "What are you talking about?" he asked, looking at his team curiously.

"Dude, it's like almost three in the afternoon," Finn told, his child-like stature gone. He crossed his arms as well, looking over at him with a smirk. "I wish I had the luxury of sleeping in. How come you get to and the rest of us are up at the crack of dawn?" he questioned, jokingly but almost as if he had pondered the answer to it for a while.

Aerrow felt his guilt rise up within him. It wasn't fair to this crew and friends that he did sleep in, but it was always a rare case when he did so. Looking at the marksman, the young knight sighed slightly, "I was up reading up on some new Terras that are located around this area. When I finally got to sleep, the sun was coming up." He admitted, trying to ignore the fact that Radarr had climbed up onto his shoulder where he would normally perch himself.

Junko looked up from the books laid out on the table before him. "You should try to take it easy, ya know? Night is for sleep, not for work." He told happily to his leader, his normal goofy grin upon his face. The Wallop was always one to grin and try to make a small bit of sense out of what seemed like overly complex situations with simple solutions.

"Its also when the dark crawling blood leeches tend to come out to feed on the tired mind," Stock added on quickly, popping up beside Piper with a small twitch of his eye, "No way to pry them off once they attach to your neck. It's a slow and painful demise." He added, leaning in closer to wear Aerrow stood, causing the red head to withdraw slightly, eyes widened slightly at the Merb.

"Either way, I'm sorry that it happened," Aerrow spoke quickly, letting himself regain some kind of composer from Stork's strange comments. "But can we go back to the important matter of the Terras and the Cyclonian trade lines?"

Piper smiled at the words, happy to see that despite his late start, Aerrow was willing to work with her instead of wasting time. Ever since she had pretended to leave the Storm Hawks, Aerrow had become somewhat more focused on helping her with plans and making sure that the team was able to follow them. She did agree to tone down the complexity of them if it would make Finn and the others follow them, but they still did have that aspect that made them brilliant.

Leaning over the large meeting table, the young woman started to pull maps closer to where Aerrow had joined the discussion. "According to the scouting that Finn and I did this morning, the Cyclonians have been moving a lot of crystals through an old abandoned trade root through the eastern part of Atmos." She began, making sure that everyone was focused in around her. Receiving a nod from the red head, Piper continued on. "Apparently, they are shipping crystals of some kind into Cyclonia, though we can't determine what they are. For all we know, they could be more Leechers, so taking a crate might prove to be a bad move like last time." She said, eyeing Finn a bit at the comment.

"Which Terras are they moving through?" Aerrow questioned, not even bothering to remove his eyes from the maps before him. He recognized the area that Piper had laid out before him, but there were so many smaller Terras in that area, there was no way that they were using all of them for the route.

"Can't say for certain right now," she explained, crossing her arms. "If we had hung around any longer, we might have been spotted."

Nodding, Aerrow continued to look over the maps in silence. Now that there was valuable information in their possession, a course of action would be needed. Cyclonia had seemed to be pushing themselves farther out towards the east of Atmos, since most of the central Terras had already fallen to their power or at least were hanging on by a thread to freedom. The Storm Hawks had been able to cause a lot of headaches with their interfering in the plans of the Dark Ace and his Talons. Along with the other remaining sky knight squadrons, the resistance was gaining power and strength. Any leg up against Cyclonia was something that they were all willing to jump at.

Straightening himself up, Aerrow let his classic grin cross his lips at he looked to his team. "Okay. Let's go in for a better look. We won't go in with the Condor. Stay near the outer rim of the main line and then take the skimmers in for some more close-up recon." He looked to his friends, who all returned the smiles and nods of approval. Radarr squeaked in his ear, giving his okay as well. "Alright then. Stork, set a course for these coordinates."

The Merb quickly moved across the bridge in his normal panic-style fashion. Glancing out of the large windows before him, he looked out at the sea of blue and clouds before him. Letting his yellow eyes narrow a bit, he pulled a few leavers, kicking the engines into a higher gear than before. "I think there might be some kind of storm coming in," he told, looking back over his shoulder at the team.

But Aerrow and Piper were already deep in conversation about an idea of how to go in for a better look. The two were glancing over the maps, talking quietly between themselves about the ideas that might help them get on the Terras. Junko had vanished to the engine room to make sure that the equipment was ready for the mission when they arrived. Finn moved towards where Stork stood, looking out at the clear skies that were out before the Condor.

"If that's the case," Finn told with a smile, "then we just fly around it. Duh."

Pouting a bit, Stork looked back to his controls. "Not exactly what I meant." He muttered. He placed his hands to the steering, letting the Condor's extra kick of the energy sending them flying out towards their destination.

Author's Note: Just starting to get the gears turning. Hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to read and review.