Allaine Sparrow let out a sigh and took one last glance at what had been her home for the last 24 years. Melbourne, with all it's shortcomings (including the irregular weather patterns), was the place she had grown up and seldom left. She'd miss her biological parents, but knew she had a family waiting for her in the depths of the jungles in South America...

It was a quiet day. Tiger had spent his morning going through paperwork for Johnston. The Terrahawks may be an elite organisation, but the legalities of their job meant forms had to be filled, and clearance certificates checked. It was closing in on midday, and Tiger needed to brief his team on a very special event.

At that moment, Mary Falconer, his second-in-command walked in.

"Ah Mary!" Tiger exclaimed, "Good timing. I was you to gather everyone for a briefing."

"A briefing? Whatever for, Tiger? There have been no threats from Zelda reported," she replied, confused.

"Nevertheless I was everyone here at the double, Mary."

Mary could see a gleam in his eyes, that he was excited. She noted that this didn't happen often, and so the briefing must have b

een of utmost importance.

"Ten ten, Tiger." She left the room to round up the others.

"You're probably wondering why I called everyone here today, even though there hasn't been any suspicious activity seen by Zelda in weeks."

Kate Kestral, Hawkeye and Mary all looked at him with interest. If Sergeant Major-Zero could find it in his circuits to have the same expression as the others, he would have been showing it at that very moment, sitting up on his perch. What on earth could Tiger have planned for them?

"Well I'm here to inform you that we are welcoming a new member of the Terrahawks Today."

Mary looked elated, "Oh Tiger! Are we really?"

Tiger continued, "Her name is Allaine "Angel" Sparrow. She's a young Australian woman, and my friend. I've been trying to recruit her for years, but she's always wanted to stay away from action and live a normal life. She finally accepted my offer last week. I trust all of you will make her feel welcome."

"Of course Tiger!" Exclaimed Kate. The room was buzzing with elated atmosphere. A new member! Just what the team needed to lift their spirits. The last battle with Zelda meant they had lost a significant amount of zeriods as well as battlehawk needing major repairs.

"I've given her the room next to you, Kate. She's around your age and also has an affinity for the Arts, so I think you'll get along well," Tiger continued.

"Sounds good to me!" Kate replied.

Mary had a sudden thought, "Tiger, what exactly will be her occupation here? Will she be an emergency pilot, perhaps?"

Tiger hesitated, "No, she has no training in anything of that kind, medical or scientific. She's...well...when Allaine goes on her first mission with us, you'll see why I've been trying to get her to join the Terrahawks, I'm not going to discuss it further. She arrives in an hour." Tiger's expression was something Mary had only seen when he was looking at her. She was sceptical. Just what was Tiger hiding! Sergeant Major could see Mary's uneasy look at Ninestein. Zero had always admired the Captain, and to see her wary of another woman coming in to the ranks, made Zero wonder what the Doctor was up to.

"Sir, if I may ask.."

"No you may not Zero, shut up!" Tiger left the room. Was there a spring in his step, perhaps?

Hawkeye said what everyone was thinking, "Well whoever she is, she has Tiger looking like he just won the lottery! Just how important is this little miss anyway?"

Mary hadn't had this feeling for a long, long time and it took her a moment to realise what it was - she was jealous!

Sergeant Major was tasked with meeting Miss Sparrow at the door. Hudson pulled up to the White House and opened his door. Zero wasn't prepared for what he saw, the girl looked as if she was barely out of school, even at that! She had blonde hair that just touched her shoulders and the bluest eyes Zero had ever seen on a human. Although she had a hooked nose, it didn't detract from the softness of her pretty face. She was wearing a short-sleeved navy blouse and a burgundy skirt. Zero's curiosity got the better of him and he used his sensors to determine her height. "Blimey!" He thought, "She's not even five feet tall! Ninestein has employed a child!"

Getting back to his job, Zero rolled towards the girl, who startled backwards. It was clear she was nervous.

"Miss Sparrow, ma'am? My name is Sergeant Major-Zero, commander of the zeriods and I am here to escort you to Doctor Ninestein."

Allaine hesitate for a second, then smiled "Thank you, Sergeant! It's lovely to meet you!"

She was a charming young thing, but Zero wouldn't make assumptions about her until he saw her in action and saw what she was made of in the thick of battle.

Tiger went to the lounge on hearing Hudson pull up. Everyone was present, and Zero was accompanying Allaine down to the lounge for proper introductions. The door of the lounge swung open and Zero rolled in, "Presenting Miss Allaine Sparrow, sir!"

Allaine walked in cautiously. On seeing Tiger, she was so excited to see him, almost as if she wanted to run up to him and give him a great hug. "Tiger!" She exclaimed, then remembered herself. Allaine cleared her throat and stated, "Allaine "Angel" Sparrow at your service, sir."

"No need for formalities, Angel," Tiger stated with a smile.

She beamed, rushed towards him and gave him the biggest hug she could muster.

"I've missed you, Tiger!" She said, lovingly, "How long has it been?"

"Too long!" He exclaimed with a chuckle.

Mary couldn't believe her eyes.

Remembering that there were other people in the room, Tiger cleared his throat and turned to the others, "everyone, this is Allaine Sparrow. She'll be part of our special defence unit with the zeriods," he turned to her and introduced each member in turn, "This is Captain Mary Falconer, my second-in-command," he continued, "and this is Captain Kate Kestral and Lieutenant Hawkeye."

"It's lovely to meet you all! But please, call me Angel for short."

"Why Angel?" Mary said, curtly.

"You'll see the meaning behind the name eventually, Mary." Tiger was oblivious to Mary's attitude. "Kate, could you show Angel to her room, please?"

"Sure thing, Tiger," Kate replied, "Come along Angel, our rooms are a bit further down." The two women left the lounge and started down the hallway.

All three remaining Terrahawks members (and Zero of course) watched them walk out of the room. Hawkeye broke the silence, "She's mighty cute, Tiger! Where'd you pick a girl like her up from? Is she even an adult?"

"I don't even want to know!" Mary exclaimed, dumbfounded that everyone was in awe of a child.

"I spent some time at a lab in Australia before the Terrahawks were formed. That's where I met her, although the experimentation conducted on her was very different to my experience." Tiger explained, "She has abilities that we could only dream of possessing. That's why I want her here. You could say we bonded, like brother and sister so to speak."

Mary couldn't believe her foolishness, that she was so jealous, "Oh, Tiger!"

Kate showed Angel to her room, "Here we are. You're things arrived just ahead of you so all the boxes are sitting in that corner there. There's an ensuite here to the right with a bath and shower so you can take your pick, and your uniform is sitting here on your bed to the left."

"Thank you so much Kate," Angel replied, "It all feels so surreal, and exciting!"

Kate smiled. It was the same feeling she had when she began with the Terrahawks. "Well, I'll leave you to get changed and sort out your things. Tiger would like to see you when you're ready and settled in." Kate left Angel to her own devices and joined the others in the lounge.

Angel was quick to change and set up her things. She never really had much and was still living at home when she left. As a result, she was used to saving space and living within one room. She put her laptop on her desk, booted it up and opened her music player. No matter the time or place, you could rarely find Angel without music playing. She loved it, lived for it. Angel was so excited to have Kate Kestral close by, it meant they could talk about music, perhaps even play together. She'd consider that later, for now she needed to organise herself. She began rearranging her room and changed into her uniform.

"Hiro, any news to report?"

"Negative, Doctor. Everything is quiet."

"It's been too quiet if you ask me. Zelda, what are you up to..."

Tiger was concerned at the lack of attacks over the past few months. Only one attack by Zelda, and the UN considering cutting their funding due to inaction meant he was uneasy.

"Keep a sharp eye out Hiro, she may attack at any given moment."

"Ten ten, Doctor," Hiro replied.

"What do you think she's planning, Tiger?" Mary asked.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, I hope she rears her ugly head soon."

There came a knock at his office door. "Come in," he said.

Angel walked in. Unlike the uniforms for the other members, hers was a completely different design. The black catsuit had no zip at the front, nor buttons and gave full coverage at the front. The back was a different story. A diamond-like cut-out exposed her whole back and the material was almost a lycra and leather blend. It showed off every aspect of her hourglass figure. Mary wondered why her uniform was so vastly different.

Angel walked Toward the desk. "You wanted to see me?"

It took a second for Tiger to compose himself from the shock of seeing her in such a different outfit to her normal wear, "Ah yes, Angel, have you managed to settle in?"

"Yes, I've unpacked and had a wander around the complex to get my bearings," Angel replied.

"I thought, under the guidance of Mary, that you may want to know how rostering works here and the protocols you'll be expected to-"

"Doctor! Doctor Ninestein!"

Hiro interrupted the conversation over the communications system, "We are picking up a signal. It's a ZEAF and it somehow got past our scanners."

"How could something so big be missed by so many zeriods!" Tiger said angrily.

"I don't know doctor."

"We can deal with that later. What are the landing coordinates?"

Hiro gave Tiger the landing coordinates and Tiger made an announcement over the comms, "Terrahawks, this is a ten fifty, battle stations."

Angel said, "Crikey! I haven't even been here two hours and already there's a ten fifty. What did you want me to do Tiger?"

"I want you to accompany Mary, Zero and me in the Battlehawk. We may need you for this mission."

"Ten ten, Tiger," She replied.

They prepared for battle stations.

In the ZEAF, the Master of Infinite Disguise was pleased with himself. He had made the entire craft invisible, and contrary to other times, when the ZEAF's radar echo was still visible, he had made the craft completely untraceable. No visual contact and no radar contact. Unlike Zelda's gurgling son who was seated next to him, he had intelligence, but Yung-Star came in handy in his own way, when he wasn't foiling his mother's plans. Simple minded, but good company. MOID hoped that he wouldn't hinder the plans this time.

"Oooh how exciting!" Yung-Star gurgled, "the Terrahawks will never know we've landed!"

MOID wasn't sure that his powers were still active on the ZEAF. It took all his energy to make sure the ship was undetected, but the effects could have ward off by now. He said, "They could have been alerted to our landing. We must hurry."

The two of them entered the dense forest next to the place they landed, along with Zelda's cubes accompanying them. They were determined to get the upper hand this time.

Battlehawk was nearing the landing site. Initial scans showed Mary and Tiger that the ZEAF had landed on the outskirts of a dense jungle. The battletanks weren't designed for marshy jungle, and the zeroids would have to have severe repairs for water damage if they were sent in.

Mary asked Tiger, "What should our approach be? We can't get close enough with any of our equipment. Should we just wait until they're forced out?"

"I have a better idea," Tiger replied. He turned to Angel, who was sitting in the jump seat behind him and the Captain. "Angel, I want you to scout the area immediately. Let us know if there are any routes the battletanks and zeroids could use."

"Ten ten, Tiger," Angel replied, and began walking to the door.

"Angel, we haven't arrived yet, we still have 10 minutes until reaching the site," Mary said. She was confused as to why Angel got up, perhaps she was nervous on her first mission and got up absent mindedly.

"It will be quicker if i leave now," Angel replied, "I'll keep you posted." With that she left the bridge, and a few seconds later signalled Mary to open the hull of the ship.

"Good luck, Angel," Mary said through the intercoms.

"Thanks Mary, I hope I don't need it," came Angel's reply.

Angel looked at the extremely large drop she had to face, closed her eyes, and jumped.

"Tiger! She doesn't have a parachute!" Mary exclaimed.

"She won't need one, Mary," Tiger assured her.

Mary was confused, and the look of confusion on her face must have shown. Tiger signalled out of the windshield, "Look."

Mary couldn't believe her eyes. Angel had sprouted two large, white wings from her back and was waving from outside. Mary couldn't help but just stare, mouth open. With a beat of her wings, Angel was shooting off ahead of Battlehawk.

"I don't understand, Tiger," Mary said, dumbfounded, "How? How is she able to do that?"

"Well Mary, you know when I said I spent some time at a lab in Australia? Well I was invited to observe genetic splicing experiments. Angel was the test subject."

"Was there any reason she was the test subject?" Mary asked.

"Not entirely." Tiger continued, "She had just started university when she volunteered her body to science. She needed to money to pay tuition. Law degrees don't come cheap."

"She's a lawyer, then?" Mary had so many questions.

"She's qualified to be one. She also completed an Arts degree in archaeology before that. Couldn't make up her mind what she wanted to do," Tiger chuckled.

"So this genetic splicing," Mary wondered, "what exactly is it?"

"It's the melding of genetic material from one organism to the other. In Angel's case, she had the genetics of an eagle melded into her own, as well as a few others. The result is that she can grow and retract her own set of wings. We don't know what else she is capable of either. Any other abilities she may have inherited haven't shown any signs of emerging yet."

"Incredible!" Mary exclaimed.

They both suddenly remembered where they were and what they were supposed to be doing when Angel spoke through the intercom.

"Tiger, Mary! I've found a suitable path through the marsh the Zeroids can use." She proceeded to tell Mary the coordinates and direction, and almost cut herself off, "Hold that thought, I've also now found the ZEAF. It looks empty."

"Angel, I want you to scout wider, and stay out of sight. We don't know what we're up against," Tiger said.

"Expect the unexpected? Ten ten, Tiger." The radio fell silent.

Mary couldn't help herself from giggling. Tiger always looked slightly perturbed when he never got to say his signature phrases, let alone when someone stole them from right under his nose.

Mary turned to the Sergeant Major, who was sitting on his perch, "Sergeant Major, I want you to send a party of your finest men down there, following the direction Angel gave us."

"Yes ma'am!" Zero replied, and immediately fetched number 18 and 55.

Angel kept low to the trees, making sure she blended in with the dark green foliage. It wasn't too long before she spotted two figures, one tall wearing a hooded robe, and another, shorter figure, with wild grey hair and features that would make the most wicked witch cry with jealousy. Angel had been briefed on the enemy, and the shorter figure was definitely Yung-star, the idiot of the bunch. To avoid being seen, Angel landed in a tree and radioed in the Battlehawk. She whispered, "Tiger, I've located two figures. One is definitely Yung-star, and the other is tall and hooded. I can't get any closer or i'll be seen."

"Good work, Angel." Tiger turned, "If my theory is correct..."

Mary finished for him, "Then it sounds like we will be dealing with MOID."

Tiger radioed back to Angel, "Angel wait for the Zeriods. I'll radio Kate and Hawkeye to launch."

But Angel had a plan. If Yung-star was as stupid as he was made out to be...

"Tiger, hold off radioing for the others. I have an idea that just might work."

"And what idea is this, Angel?" Tiger replied.

"Just trust me on this one, but I'll wait for Zeroid backup first...just in case."

"I certainly hope you know what your doing...all right, do what you need to do." Tiger hoped he wouldn't have to lose his new recruit on her first day...

Angel crouched low and waited for the zeroids. Sergeant Major rolled into view with 55 and 18. Angel whispered to them, "Over here, Zero!"

The zeroids approached her.

"At your service ma'am," Zero replied.

"Tiger has given me the go-ahead for an idea and i want you to cover me. There's quite a number of cubes about and i don't want to die just yet. Here's what I'm going to do..."

Angel relayed the plan to Zero, "I hope it works..." Was all he said in reply, and ordered his men to roll to the locations specified by Angel, as Angel moved into position.

MOID was trying to concentrate on his transformation. It was proving difficult as Yung-star kept complaining about their location. He was an annoying child in all senses of the word, from mannerisms to voice, to consistent nagging in his gurgly voice. MOID couldn't complete his transformation as his concentration was interrupted time and again by his foolish whinging.

Suddenly something else broke his concentration. He looked up as a shadow loomed in the sky, blocking the sun.

It was beautiful. A winged creature was descending from the sun, a beautiful golden glow around her.

Yung-star cowered in fear, "Cubes! We are under attack! Fire at the creature in the sky!"

"DO NOT FIRE AT ME, I MEAN YOU NO HARM." The voice was female and boomed over them. He instructed the cubes to hold their fire.

"What do you want with us?" He gurgled.

"I AM ONE OF THE MESSENGERS FROM THE GOD THAT THE HUMANS WORSHIP. I AM AN ANGEL AND I HAVE A MESSAGE FOR ZELDA AND HER FLEET."

Both aliens were in awe of the creature that called themselves an angel.

"THIS WORLD IS A GOOD ONE, ALTHOUGH PRIMITIVE IN ITS TECHNOLOGY. GOD DOES NOT WISH THEM TO BE HARMED."

"Why should we do what this 'God' says? He's not the boss of us!" Yung-star insisted.

"BECAUSE HE IS THE CREATOR OF ALL BEINGS IN THIS UNIVERSE, INCLUDING YOU, YUNG-STAR."

"Ah! How did you know my name?"

"HE IS ALL SEEING...ALL KNOWING," said the Angel.

"THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES FOR THOSE WHO DISOBEY HIM. ZELDA SHOULD NOT TEST HIS STRENGTH. IF SHE DOES, EVERY ONE SHE CALLS AN ALLY WILL PERISH."

MOID and Yung-star were cowering in fear. Yung-star turned to MOID, "What should we do? This God person sounds like an enemy we don't want to make."

MOID considered for a moment, "We should leave for now and report back to Zelda about what we have seen," and almost to himself said, "such terrifying beauty. I only wish we could properly see her."

"YOUR ANSWER, PLEASE." The Angel boomed. Yung-star noticed she had a funny accent he hadn't heard before. He turned back to the glowing figure, "We will leave and tell Mummy she is not to attack."

"VERY GOOD. I WILL LEAVE YOU WITH THE KNOWLEDGE THAT SHE WILL BE DESTROYED IF SHE DISOBEYS THE WILL OF GOD. THE LORD SEES ALL AND HE WILL PAY VERY CLOSE ATTENTION. GO. YOU HAVE SAFE PASSAGE HOME."

They couldn't run quick enough. They hurried with their cubes back to the ZEAF and departed.

They'd bought it. Yung-star really was as stupid as Tiger made out. Angel was scared half to death by the other man, what did Tiger call him? MOID? She was almost frozen solid when she saw his lack of features. There was something about him though, like he didn't want to do what he was told he must. She pitied him, although not knowing why. She was lucky she participated in so many mock trials during her law degree, otherwise she wouldn't have had the voice she was able to pull off. She might be small, but when irritated or defending herself in an argument, her voice could be louder than loud.

Once the ZEAF had safely left earth's atmosphere, Angel heard Tiger over the radio, "Zero, Angel, withdraw from the area and come back to Battlehawk."

"Ten ten," they both said in unison over the radio. Angel would be glad to get the receiver out of her ear. She wondered whether they heard everything over the airwaves. She'd soon know when she arrived back.

When arriving back with the Zeroids, she was greeted with Mary absolutely beaming and Tiger looking bewildered. Clearly they'd heard everything over the transmitter. This was going to take a lot of explaining, she could see Tiger was ready to pick a fight with her, like he used to when she beat him in video games back at the lab.

"That was amazing!" Mary exclaimed. She stood up and gave Angel a big congratulatory hug.

"What the hell did you think you were doing!?" Tiger was furious, "That was the craziest, most idiotic idea I've ever seen."

"But it worked," Angel said cooly.

"What if it hadn't? We would have lost you on your first day."

"All the more reason to try it while i'm still unknown to Zelda and her allies. They don't know I'm part of the Terrahawks. They STILL don't know. You'd briefed me on the main antagonists and from what you'd told me, it was clear that Yung-star was incompetent and would buy the lie."

"Tiger, give credit where credit is due," Mary said, trying to defend Angel.

"He may have bought it, but Zelda won't," Tiger continued.

"It's still bought us some time, even if she doesn't believe it," Angel continued.

Over the radio, Hiro gave an update, "Doctor, the ZEAF has just passed us, on its way back to Mars."

"Thanks, Hiro," Tiger replied into the intercoms.

"Well we better head back to the White House. I'll radio Kate and Hawkeye," Mary said. Angel changed her genetics and made her wings disappear. She sat down in the jump seat, with Zero steadying himself on his perch, ready for lift off.

Angel was exhausted when she arrived back at Hawknest. The excitement had taken everything out of her. A long, hot bath was in order, but not before Kate and Hawkeye wanted to see her wings.

"Come on, please show us!" Kate was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

Angel gave an amused sigh, and changed her genetics once more to sprout her Eagle wings, this time brown, making sure she didn't hit anything as she did so. She turned around so that Kate and Hawkeye could see them in full.

"Wowee! They're enormous!" Hawkeye exclaimed.

"I can make them as small or big as i like, and can change the colour to any natural feather of an eagle I choose. Mainly, white, black and brown of course," Angel stated.

"I also have other powers, but they're not even known to me at this time. All the lab could figure out was that they were there, hiding under the surface," she continued, "I was genetically spliced with other things besides Eagles."

"Genetically spliced?" Hawkeye questioned. "It makes you sound like you're from that video game, you know, the one that everyone raved about?"

"Shockbio?" Angel said.

"Yeah that one! Although you're much prettier than the monstrosities in that creepy game."

Angel laughed, "Well hopefully as my powers mature I won't look like them! It's too early to tell."

She retracted her wings once again. The others were all talking about the next potential attack from Zelda. Angel was trying to listen, but exhaustion was overwhelming her. She tried to yawn discreetly, but Tiger caught her.

"Angel, why don't you clock off for the day. You look like you need a rest," he said.

She smiled at him, "Thanks Tiger."

Angel walked out of the lounge into her bedroom, to fetch one of her miso soup sachets. It was her favourite meal when she didn't particularly feel like eating much. She went to the kitchen, had her dinner and returned to her room, where she ran herself a bath.

She lay there in the warm water, letting the aches and pains of transforming disappear. She didn't want to tell the rest of the team that it was actually painful to change herself, she didn't want them to worry. Angel was sure Tiger knew that it caused her some discomfort, but he was very good at hiding what he knew.

After her bath, she fished her SP Ativ from one of her newly organised shelves and played one of her favourite games before turning in for the night. That was one trait she'd inherited from Tiger when he came to the lab, her love of video games. As she thought about the day, she lulled into a deep sleep.

"Why are you back here, you incompetent buffoon!?"

"Mummy! Oh Mummy!" Yung-star gurgled, "I was so scared!"

"Scared!? You'd be scared of your own shadow if you had any less of a brain in your head!" Zelda was infuriated.

"This creature called an Angel floated down from the sky. It was like a human but with wings!" Yung-star tried to defend himself.

"An Angel?" Zelda inquired.

MOID spoke up, "We abandoned the plan because we weren't sure how uch of a threat she was. She said that someone called God would destroy you and your allies if we didn't leave the humans alone."

"She seemed pretty scary mummy!" Yung-star affirmed.

"What was she wearing?" Zelda inquired further.

"She was directly in the sunlight, Mummy. I think she was wearing something black," Yung-star said.

Not a Terrahawks uniform? Zelda wasn't so sure.

"This God must be a formidable enemy, to threaten us the way he did. Although they have made one mistake, and that's siding with Earth! We will annihilate God along with the accursed Terrahawks!" Zelda reeled into a fit of cackling. Yung-star joined in with his mother's cruel noises wondering what his mother had up his sleeve for her next attack...