Chapter 2

The return of an old enemy

A/N: Hi folks! Here is the second chap, enjoy

After answering Piper's questions about why he was home so early, why Tyler were sad and why he was worried, Aerrow sat down at the Skimmer again and drove down to the council's building downtown. It was a huge and majestic building and old as well. Dark clouds was starting to appear on the sky and Aerrow started to remember how things was during the war... dark, cold and it was always raining when the Talons was near. And this was no exception.

When he got inside he met Finn in the hall together with one of the young squadrons.

"Are they coming with us?" Aerrow asked.

"Yes, they are the strongest of the young ones and I think they're ready"

"Ok, did you inform the council about the whole situation?"

"Of course"

"Good then I won't need to. Ready to go everyone?" He asked with a serious look on his face. The young squadron just nodded, they were no more than 16 to 19 years old so he understood that they were nervous. "Let's go"

Aerrow got up on his skimmer and started the engine. It still felt a little strange going out on a mission like this without the other Storm Hawks, but he had realized that they were adults now and that he was needed somewhere else. Aerrow and Finn took the lead and flew in front of the others as they were approaching to the wasteland where the Talons had been spotted.

"How close to their base are we?" Finn asked Aerrow. All of sudden a shot from a crystal barely missed Finn's head.

"Too close!" Aerrow shouted back and flew in another direction.

"Open fire and search for a base!" Finn commanded the squadron. Even Aerrow was under Finn's command this time and did as he was told; he flew down in the wasteland, planning to surprise them. The eldest of the boys in the squadron called Thomas fallowed Aerrow down in the wastelands. Aerrow didn't know if it was to prove his skills with the skimmer or to cover Aerrow's back – he could only hope that is was the last. It was really hot down there and it made Aerrow's eyes hurt and it was hard to see all the cliffs and stones.

"Aerrow, watch out!" Thomas shouted desperately. Aerrow turned around and felt his heart being filled with fear. "Dark Ace…" He whispered.

"Nice to see you Aerrow!" Dark Ace said and smiled evilly as he drove up next to Aerrow. "Glad to see me?"

"Sorry, I have to disappoint you" Aerrow said as anger welled up in his eyes.

"I heard you and Piper had kids, Tyler and Ayla, right? Would be nice to meet them sometime, been a while since I've seen Piper as well…"

"Dream on!" Aerrow shouted in anger and made a manoeuvre to get away from Dark Ace, but he was prepared and fallowed Aerrow straight away. "You won't get rid of me that easy Sky Knight!"

"You're getting old Dark Ace! Getting close to 50 eh?"

"All I've got is more experience Aerrow, and you're going to get a taste of it"

Aerrow didn't answer this time; he lifted his guard and prepared for any new weapon or manoeuvre that Dark Ace had come up with. His only thought at this moment was to get Dark Ace as far away from Atmosia as possible, his enemy had really found his weak spot when he mentioned his children.

"Nothing can protect you this time Aerrow!" Dark Ace shouted and threw something against the Sky Knights skimmer. Sparkles flew and Aerrow could feel the engine shut down and suddenly the wings were pulled in! "God I wish Radarr was here!" Aerrow thought desperately as he tried to control the skimmer. But everything happened so fast and Aerrow was unable to control it. The skimmer was shaking violently and there was absolutely no power in the engines. "No! I can't go down now! Dark Ace will.." but it was too late.

.:o0o:.

There was nothing more Thomas could do then to warn his leader, he had nothing to stand up against the Dark Ace with. Thomas fallowed the two of them in case Aerrow would need some help and when he saw the Sky Knight's skimmer going down he was glad he did. "Come on Aerrow! Get the skimmer up!" He mumbled to himself. He could see the Dark Ace fallow Aerrow down towards a little terra, but he was too far away to see the landing. Thomas was quite frightened at this moment, but he knew his duty. He gave the engines more power and flew down towards the terra.

.:o0o:.

Aerrow opened his eyes slowly and tried to figure out where he was. "Their base… I'm on their terra" he whispered.

"That's correct" A voice suddenly said.

"Dark Ace!" Aerrow tried to get up, but his legs were caught under his skimmer. The pain shot threw him when he tried to move the skimmer and he fell back on the ground.

"You can't get away Sky Knight"

"Why don't you just kill me... and get it over with?"

"And take away the father of two little children? Oh, I can't do that" he said and smiled.

"Why not? You killed my father"

"But you were only one, and he didn't care about you anyway, at least he never told me anything about you"

"Liar!" Aerrow screamed in anger.

"Ha!" Dark Ace laughed and suddenly he grabbed Aerrow's hair and pulled him up. "Don't like the pain eh? Well, I promise you that you will feel a lot more!"

Aerrow felt a needle being pushed into his neck and he twisted and screamed in pain. It felt like a boiling liquid was running down his back and into his chest. The 5 seconds felt like an eternity, when the needle disappeared he fell to the ground. He could barely see threw all the fog that appeared in front of his eyes, all he could see was a black contour.

"You won't remember much of this Sky Knight, but the pain will still be there. Sweet dreams, Aerrow! Sweet dreams…"

Then… he remembered no more.

.:o0o:.

Many hours had passed by since Finn and Aerrow had left, it was 17:13 and someone was starting to get inpatient:

"Mom! Is daddy home soon?" Ayla asked.

"I'm sure he'll be home in an hour or so sweety. Have you seen Tyler?"

"He's in his room" Ayla replied. "As usual" She then added. Tyler had locked himself into his room after Aerrow dropped him off. It had been a long day and Piper was constantly worried about Aerrow and this time Tyler wasn't there to comfort her. Tyler was always sitting by his mother's side when Aerrow was out on missions and Piper truly loved her son for that. After taking her role as mother she was more worried than ever, and Tyler was the only one who was able to comfort her. Piper suddenly got an idea…

"Ayla, want to take a little trip to the city?"

"Yes!" The girl shouted and smiled from ear to ear.

"Great! Can you get Tyler to come down here?"

"Sure" She said and walked towards the stairs.

"But be nice to him Ayla! He's quite upset because of dad"

"Okey!"

Two minutes later Tyler came downstairs with the same angry look on his face. "What is it mom?" He asked.

"Well… you have been sitting in your room all day and Ayla wants to take a trip to the city, what do you say?"

"You're worried about dad again aren't you?"

Piper knew she couldn't lie to her son and nodded quietly. "I just want to ask the council if they have heard anything. And don't you want to meet him as soon as he's home?"

"I guess so" He said and looked out of the window. "Look at that cloud mom, cumulus nimbus… it's going to rain soon"

"Then we better take our jackets with us, let's go!" She said smiling and pushed her son out of the kitchen and towards the door. "Maybe daddy is waiting for us already?"

.:o0o:.

Thomas could hear his leader scream in pain, but he still couldn't see him. He had just landed and as he jumped of the skimmer he could see Dark Ace take off not far from him. Thomas ran as fast as he could towards Aerrow and when he reached him.. it was not a pretty sight. He was unconscious and barely breathing, the panic started to grow in Thomas, but he managed to stay calm.

"Aerrow, can you hear me?" he asked with a clear voice and held his leader's head up. He wasn't given an answer and he pulled the radio up from his pocket.

"Finn, this is Thomas. Over"

"Finn here, what's happening? Over"

"We were attacked by the Dark Ace, Aerrow is injured and unconscious. What's your status?"

"Shit… We'll be there in 2 minutes, Thomas. The Talons are all gone and we've captured two of them. Over and out"

Thomas managed to breathe a little when he heard Finn's command, but he was still worried about Aerrow. His face was quite pale and his body was unnaturally limp.

"They are coming Aerrow, Finn is coming for you" He said trying to wake up Aerrow, but the man didn't give any signs of waking up. "What a great first mission" Thomas thought for himself and looked for Finn and the others. He could see clouds gather all around and small drops of water started to fall from the dark sky. The two minutes before Finn arrived felt like an eternity, but finally Finn landed next to them. The rest of the squadron was guardians for the two Talons, but they quickly forgot about them when they saw Aerrow lying on the ground.

"Aerrow!" Finn shouted and sat down next to his friend. "How is he?" He asked Thomas.

"I'm not sure, but his breathing is better. But we really need to get this skimmer off his legs. It's crashed and twisted so I didn't wanted to lift it on my own"

"Well done, Thomas. And just relax; none of this is your fault"

Thomas still felt a little guilty, but Finn's words helped a lot.

"Thomas you watch Aerrow, Kelly help me lift the skimmer off his legs" Finn commanded and took a solid grip on the skimmer. "Great, on three… one…two…three!" he used all of his energy and lifted the skimmer.

"Finn, he's waking up!" Thomas said. Finn ran over to his friend's side and lifted him up.

"Aerrow, buddy! Can you hear me?"

"Finn?" Aerrow mumbled.

"I'm here bro, just lay still we'll be home in a few minutes"

"No! Piper, and the kids… I can't... come home like this!" He said and sat up.

"But you're injured, just look at your legs!"

"It's ok Finn! My head and legs hurts, but I can't come home on a stretcher!"

"Can you even stand?"

"Yeah! Sure" He mumbled and tried to stand up, his legs were shaking and it hurt like hell, but Aerrow just smiled.

Finn wasn't as sure as Aerrow, but he understood that he didn't want to upset Piper. He would have done the same if it was about Jessica. "Aerrow, I'm not sure about this..."

"I'm ok Finn! But what do we do about Dark Ace?!" Aerrow said in anger.

"Calm down bro" Finn said surprised over Aerrow sudden anger.

"Calm down?! He threatened my children! And even Piper!"

Finn and Aerrow were the only fathers in the group, but even the young ones understood his fear.

"How did he now about Tyler and Ayla?" Finn asked scared. "Then he probably knows about Jack and Lily as well…"

"I don't know" Aerrow said and laid a comforting hand on Finn's shoulder. Then he looked at the young squadron behind them. "Someday you'll understand this" Aerrow said and gave them a little smile. "Aah…!" Aerrow suddenly moaned and fell to his knees while coughing.

"Aerrow! What's wrong?" Finn said and grabbed his friend before he fell to the ground.

"My chest…" he whispered. "I can't breathe"

"Relax, we'll get you some help"

"No! Just wait…" He mumbled. Finn hated to see Aerrow like this, but he didn't say anything; he just held Aerrow's hand till it all stopped.

"It's over…" He whispered.

"Good, but you need to check it out"

"I will" He eventually said. "But without Piper knowing"

"Is that such a good idea?" Finn asked, but was given an angry look as a reply. "Ok then, ready to go home?"

"Yes"

"Great. Thomas, you'll take Aerrow's skimmer and attach it to yours with some rope, and then Aerrow will take a ride with me home. The rest of you guard the Talons"

"Yes sir!" Thomas and the others replied. Thomas took a short look at the Talons and noticed that they were both looking at Aerrow and smiling evilly. "What did they do to him?" He thought suspicious. But then they were all ready to go and he didn't think more about it… until it was too late.

.:o0o:.

Piper, Tyler and Ayla walked into the Sky Knight council building in the main street on Atmosia. There were more people there than Piper had expected. Some she knew and some strangers. She had Ayla in her right hand and Tyler walking on her other side. She remembered how she used to take Tyler down to the city when he was at Ayla's age, he would hold her hand and drag her around to take a look in every shop. Piper walked in a small door on the left side in the big entrance hall, it was easier to get information on the inside instead of waiting in the hall with the others. At least she had some favours as a Sky Knight...

"Piper!" Someone suddenly called out.

"Jessica!" Piper said happy and hugged her friend tight. "Even you are starting to get worried I see?"

"I hate to admit it, but I do" She said, but suddenly she realized that Ayla and Tyler were there as well and she didn't want to upset them. "Jack and Lily are in my office and making some drawings, want to join them?"

Ayla didn't even answer her; she just ran to the office, even though she only was 7 years old she had been here a hundred times and knew exactly where Jessica's office was. Tyler stood still by his mother's side "Can I be with you?"

"Sure Tyler" Jessica said and smiled.

"So" Piper started. "Do they know anything? They have been gone for 8 hours!"

"They haven't heard anything, but they haven't even sent a message to the squadron so they have done nothing!"

"I could have killed those guys!" Piper said in anger and totally forgot that her son was there. "If daddy asks you if I got worried or angry… don't tell him I said that"

"I won't!" Tyler promised and thought it was really funny that Piper said something like that.

"So what do we do?" Jessica asked.

"I guess all we can do is to wait" Piper said and took a deep breath. Suddenly a voice spoke:

"New message, listen all Knights and council members! The Sky Knight Finn has returned, together with the Wild Eagles squadron"

"Or maybe not!" Jessica said and ran to get the children. "I'll bring Ayla with me so just go out and meet him!"

"Thank you Jessica!" Piper replied happily and then she and Tyler went out to meet Aerrow. "They didn't mention Aerrow" She suddenly realized, but thought they just counted him in, in the squadron.

Piper couldn't wait to see her husband again; she missed him even though he only had been gone for 8 hours. When she got out the door she could see the skimmer coming towards the terra.

"1…2…3" She counted. "4…5…6…?" She felt her heart made a jump, one of the Skimmers was missing and she couldn't tell if it was Aerrow's from this distance.

"Mom, there is one missing!" Tyler said, he had noticed it as well.

"I know, but just relax. I'm sure it's not Dad or Uncle Finn"

A minute later they were close enough for Piper and Tyler to see that Aerrow's skimmer was the one missing.

"Mom! Dad's skimmer is attached till Thomas! And I can't see Dad!" Fear started to grow in Tyler's chest and he stumbled a step back.

End of chapter 2!

A/N: Reviews? New chapter next week! =)