I still don't own Storm Hawks.

She awoke to crashes. Listening, she tried to figure out the situation. Judging by Finn's girlish screams, it had a lot to do with him. She decided it wasn't something too major.

Right as she closed her eyes again though, she heard clanking of shoes, which sounded like they were running towards her door. She started to sit up, now more concerned.

Her concern was justified when Aerrow ran through the door, his face set in battle mode. He didn't waste any time in telling her what was going on.

"Cyclonians!" It was all he needed to say.

Piper jumped up, grabbed her staff, and followed Aerrow back to the deck where Finn and Junko were already making their way to the turrets.

Stork's grunts could be heard as he turned the wheel left and right violently, avoiding blasts that would severely damage the condor. Radarr made his way to Aerrow's shoulder, ready in case he decided to take these talons head on.

"Alright, we have five cyclonians out here. Finn, Junko, I want you two to see if you can take them out from here. I'm going to go out there. Piper, I want you ready to do some binding in case things get bad. For now, keep a lookout for more cyclonians. Stork-" He looked at Stork, who was currently too busy dodging things to be listening. "-Just keep doing what you're doing. " Aerrow sprinted towards the hanger bay, Radarr clinging to his shoulders.

Piper did as he ordered, and pulled down a scope to see if more cyclonians decided to show up.

"Got two! Alright!" She heard Finn yell in excitement. Junko's laughs could be heard as he also hit some.

This is what she liked. The thought of battle seemed to push all other thoughts out, and it was clear to her. She found it ironic how she felt organized in the chaos. But as long as her head wasn't full of unnecessary pondering, she was fine. It was at this time, however, when she spotted a talon weilding a familiar crystal. Realizing it, she gasped, and felt herself sprinting towards the hanger bay. She held her finger up to her ear, and radioed in to Aerrow.

"Aerrow, one of those talons has a piercer! Watch out!"

"What do tho-" His sentence was cut short as he was hit. And judging by how it felt, it was the piercer. Everything around him began to shake, making him dizzy. He realized that it wasn't things around him that were shaking, it was his vision that was making things shake. He began to feel disoriented, things around him starting to blur together. He could feel his skin tingle painfully, as if he was on fire. It was at this time that he noticed his hands were no longer holding onto anything. He looked up, faintly recognizing the blue shape as Radarr. Black slowly started to creep in, making him blind.

Piper had just taken off in time to see all of this happen. Her heart stopped, and she gunned it towards him. Seeing Radarr leap into the seat and turn the skimmer to catch Aerrow, she figured that it was a better idea to go after the Talon with the piercer.

As she turned her objective to the talon, she could feel an unrecognizable anger in her, where all she wanted to do was to get revenge. It scared her, but she cast the fear away and focused on the smiling talon. She wanted to kick that smirk right off his face. As she closed in on him, she felt the power of the binding surround her, and she closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, all the power that she felt was forced at the talon. The Talon seemed to realize this at the last moment, and was barely able to get out a scream before it hit, sending his skyride hurtling toward the wastelands. He was able to deploy his parachute before the pain sent him into unconsciousness.

Piper felt herself calm, and before giving the talon any other thought, she sped back to the condor.

She had barely stopped her heliscooter before she jumped off, running over to Aerrow, who was sprawled out on the floor. Radarr was looking him over, trying to find some sort of wound. It didn't look as if Aerrow had been hurt, but Piper knew better. Quickly, she kneeled beside him and removed his shirt. She was relieved that she didn't blush at the sight of his chest. Now was not the time to ogle at him.

When she didn't see anything, she pushed him over, and found what she was looking for. She heard Finn and Junko enter the hanger bay, unaware of what had happened. That is, until they caught sight of Aerrow's back.

"Oh my god...what happened to him?" Finn demanded, his eyes still staring at the wound. Junko looked absolutely horrified.

"He was hit...by a piercer." She looked up into their faces, seeing they were confused, so she went on. "A piercer is extremely dangerous. It can damage organs...and seeing how Aerrow reacted, I'd say his vision was affected. He's going to be okay...but he may be unconscious for a while. " She let out a sigh of relief. His wounds weren't as bad as they could have been. But she couldn't help but cringe at the red mark on his back, it's outer ring charred. She would need to bandage it so it wouldn't be infected. "Junko, can you bring Aerrow to his room? I need to get the medkit." Junko nodded. He walked closer to Aerrow's limp body and picked the Sky Knight up.

Piper watched them go. She couldn't help but feel guilty for this. If she hadn't distracted Aerrow, maybe he wouldn't have gotten hurt. She shook her head. She had no time for this. She had to focus on getting Aerrow bandaged up, and she wasn't going to get it done by sitting here and playing the blame game.

She hoisted herself up, and went to get the necessary tools.