The end was certainly near, and Stork knew it.
Of course, according to Stork, every battle meant the end was near, so this was no different.
As he piloted the Condor through the clouds, avoiding crystal bursts as best he could, the rest of the Storm Hawks were on their skimmers taking down as many Cyclonians as they could. Only Finn remained behind, manning the large ship's main turrets.
"Stork!" Aerrow yelled over the comm. "What's our status?"
Stork lurched the ship left, just barely missing another red burst. "We're doomed!" he shrieked.
"Actually, you're not too far off," said Aerrow, "but I don't think we're ready to give up just yet. See if you can get the Condor to safety, and we'll cover you. When we've finished cleaning up here, we'll join you."
Stork twitched. "Doomed," he whispered, but he checked his equipment and found a suitable landing site that would likely put them down in safety.
Finn continued to pick the enemy skimmers out of the sky whenever they got within range. "You worry too much, dude," yelled Finn over the din of explosions. "I don't plan on dying until I've done everything on my life's to do list!" He turned to Stork, winked, patted his breast pocket, and turned back to his gunsights.
Stork rolled his eyes and was about to reply when the entire forward window suddenly exploded in a burst of white crystal energy. Glass flew everywhere.
"Stork!" yelled Finn. "We're hit!"
"See?" Stork yelled back. "Doomed!" He struggled to gain control of the giant ship, but without the forward window the aerodynamics were all off, and it responded very sluggishly. They started to angle downwards towards the Terra below, and the ship lurched as it picked up speed.
"Finn!" Stork yelled. "Remember when I said we were doomed?"
Finn was hanging onto a piece of fallen girder, making his way towards Stork. "Yeah?" he yelled back.
"I hate it when I'm right!" Stork yelled.
Finn grabbed onto the panel and hitched himself up to Stork's level.
"Oh well," said Stork through the wind. "At least we'll die in a huge fireball. The end might be quicker that way." He twitched.
Finn turned and looked at Stork. "Dude, I told you, we're not gonna die. See?" He pulled the list out of his pocket, and it unfurled in the chaos of the bridge. Stork could just barely make out a few crossed off items, but saw far more lines that were untouched. "Too many to go!"
Stork was still struggling to control the ship's descent. "I think you better try to get some of those crossed off in the next thirty seconds!" he yelled.
Finn looked at Stork with a raised eyebrow, brought the flapping list up to his face and looked at one item in particular, then looked back at Stork as the pilot concentrated on the fast-approaching Terra right in front of them.
"OK!" Finn suddenly said, and bracing himself with his feet, he took one hand and grabbed Stork's pointed chin, slipped his other hand around the pilot's waist, turned the confused face of the Merb towards him... and kissed him full on the mouth, pulling their bodies together.
For a moment Stork froze, but before he could gather his wits, the blond gunner had released him, pulled a pen out of the same pocket, and crossed a line off the list with a flourish.
Stork blinked at him, and Finn waggled his eyebrows at him.
"Now you better save this ship," said Finn, "because I think you'll like what's next on the list."
Stork's eyes widened, and he slowly turned his head back towards the front of the ship.
And he pulled back harder on the ship's wheel than he had ever before in his life.
