A/N: Be sure to visit my profile and copy the fanfiction soundtrack playlist link into your address bar so you can quickly find the song/s included in this chapter. I would display it here but for some reason the link info gets skewed when written into a chapter.

"The Devil Went Down to Ertghol" includes three music plugins to enjoy as you read the story:
1) "Fog Bound" by Hans Zimmer from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl soundtrack
2) "Up Is Down" by Hans Zimmer from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
3) "Snape to Malfoy Manor" by Alexandre Desplat from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

By the time the Storm Hawks had regained consciousness it was late at night. They were no longer on the Lammergeyer, which meant they'd reached the ruins of Cyclonia. Now they were confined within a holding cell which was dark, wet, and mouldy. The distinct sound of water droplets splattering on concrete echoed down the darkness of the hall. It only had one working light that barely lit up their cell, but it was just enough that they could still see each other's faces.

Stork was the first to speak, although of course his comment wasn't helpful or uplifting. "May I just point out that we wouldn't be here if we'd never met that…girl…it's quite obvious that she set us up to get caught."

"Okay Stork, what is with you dude?" Finn asked him. "You're like obsessed about that!"

"Well Finn considering our past experiences I have every right to be suspicious. And anyway, I thought you thought the same thing!"

"They're past experiences though," Finn pointed out. "And, well, I WAS suspicious but Junko said she was stuck as a mouse, so if he trusts her I do too. You need to chillax and stop being so paranoid-y."

Stork gave him a look. "Chillax? Paranoid-y? How about you learn the Atmosian language and THEN I might consider what you have to say."

"Come on you guys," Piper said to the both of them, rolling her eyes at their juvenile bickering. "We need to focus on a plan! Junko, can you try bending the bars?"

Junko made his way over to the door of their cell and yanked at the bars, pulling as hard as possible. They wouldn't bend.

"You can do it Junko!" Finn encouraged.

Junko became exhausted very quickly. After a moment he exhaled and said, "I can't do it Finn, not without my Knuckle Busters."

Piper looked around at the cell. There was potentially a weak spot, but they had nothing to throw against it to break it down. There were no beds or sinks, not even a toilet. There were only a couple of buckets poked near the corner for doing their business into, and a round bowl to wash their hands in.

Walking back to the door Piper started measuring the gaps with her hands, then she gazed over to Radarr, pursing her lips in a contemplative manner. "I was almost going to suggest Radarr to squeeze through the bars but this design is so tightly constructed with horizontal bars as well as vertical, they're way too close together." She sighed deeply. "We really don't have any options to try in here, Cyclonis has definitely made sure there's nothing for us to work with. So I guess for the moment our only hope of escape is to wait until they let us out."

"To kill us," Stork added. "When they let us out to KILL US."

Aerrow shook his head at Stork's pessimistic comment. "Yes Stork, we're aware of that."

"Maybe, like, as soon as they open the door Junko could wallop them and then we can run like crazy!" Finn suggested.

Piper quickly dismissed the idea. "They'll be expecting it and they're armed with weapons – we're not. We have no idea where we are, how many more guards there could be, or the layout of the place. You don't make an escape without SOME kind of plan."

Finn grumbled. "Fine, fine."

"So we'll have to wait." Aerrow said. "That's okay, it'll give us time to think about a few strategies. I do hope we will have some help from Ensayne though. She may be our only hope."

At these words Stork mumbled, "Oh yes of course, put all our hopes on some girl we've only just met to come rescue us. Brilliant idea."

Cyclonis came back from Ertghol a short while after the Total Losers had arrived in Cyclonia and placed the Storm Hawks in one of the still operating cells. Since that nearly all of the towers in Cyclonia had been destroyed during the war, there was only a handful of smaller ones left that were partially intact. The top floors had collapsed on most, and one had a huge chunk of wall taken out of the side, leaving several floors exposed to the elements. Cyclonis had set up in the least damaged tower, whilst the Storm Hawks were being held in the tower next to it, since it was the only one with prison cells.

Danger met up with Cyclonis in the main room, his companions standing by his side. He felt a bit on edge at the prospect of the girl they never found potentially getting the Storm Hawks loose and then ruining Cyclonis' plans. They needed to look for her again, this time with more vigilance, and deal with her immediately.

The Curasol crystal that was used on Polly's tail had already helped with the healing process so she was able to attend the meeting with her fellow squadron members. However, still rather weak from the incident, Polly was being assisted by Todd to stay upright. Cyclonis noticed the lizard girl's half tail but didn't care to ask about it.

Cyclonis addressed the group. "Has there been any progress on that device?"

Danger turned to Leecher, who stepped forward slowly before commenting. "The device has proven difficult to work with. I have been unsuccessful in altering its internal systems to be inclusive of other crystal variants, but assuredly it should be fine to continue using its Cloaking ability on your Talons for Operation Prison Break."

Cyclonis tapped her fingers against her cheek, looking contemplative. "I suppose that will do for now. If you'd like to go meet up with my Talons down on the ground floor, I want them prepped and ready for tomorrow."

Leecher bowed and left the room. Cyclonis turned her gaze to Danger.

"Did you have any problems with the Storm Hawks?"

"No, all went quite smoothly," Danger replied with a smile. "They are in a cell as we speak. When do you wish to…sort them out? If I may make a suggestion, the sooner the better. The Storm Hawks are well known for their surprises."

Cyclonis returned the smile. "I have a few ideas of what I may want to do with them…but my main focus for the time being is to get our operation underway. The Storm Hawks can't possibly escape the cell they're in unless they have outside help, and as far as I've been told no one is even aware of where they are or what they're doing. Correct?"

Danger held his gaze steady with Cyclonis, not showing any signs of emotion. "Yes, that is correct."

No, that's a total lie. I've already dealt with Hauv, Delos and Zarlakov so no one else knows about the girl.

Cyclonis narrowed her gaze, walking over to Danger with such an intent stare it was making him sweat.

"You're…absolutely sure about that? There's nothing I need to know? You've been very loyal to me so far Danger, and much more truthful to me than the Dark Ace ever was. He lied to me often. I would prefer that you speak with honesty rather than keep me in the dark about any potential shortcomings, otherwise this relationship could turn ugly very quickly. So, without any doubt at all, are you one hundred per cent certain that no one at all is going to come in, save the Storm Hawks, and screw this whole thing up?"

At this point the squadron was waiting nervously for their leader's answer because they all knew there was definitely one person that was unaccounted for, one person they hadn't even seen, however, and only by the mouths of two Talons who swore that the girl overheard their conversation and had gone directly to the Storm Hawks, with the only evidence being a sky ride sitting in the hangar…and a few alarms, sprinklers and some music suddenly going off with no explainable reason why.

Danger breathed deeply.

"I am certain that there is no one else to be concerned about."

For some reason Cyclonis began to chuckle. Danger was confused and alarmed at the same time.

Cyclonis cleared her throat. "I already know about the girl. Zarlakov radioed me while I was still on Ertghol, yet when I arrived back here he is nowhere to be found and neither are the other two who originally spotted her. So not only have you taken it upon yourself to eliminate my Talons to keep this information from me, but you have also lied to my face when you had a chance to tell me the truth."

The air was thick with tension now. Danger didn't want to further ruin the situation by saying anything so he bowed his head to avoid eye contact. Within seconds, however, Cyclonis started screaming furiously! The Total Losers watched on in fear during which she chucked objects around the room, kicked over furniture, and then shot several purple blasts from her staff in random directions. One almost hit the team, but they ducked just in time to avoid the collision. Danger dropped down when she spun around and pointed it directly at him. At this point he expected to be killed instantaneously for his betrayal of trust, but to his amazement she retracted the staff away from him, seemingly finished with her scary tantrum.

With a fiery look in her eyes Cyclonis roared, "FIND HER NOOOOOOW!"

All through the night the Total Losers searched to find the mysterious girl that was somehow causing more problems than necessary. By two in the morning they'd re-examined the entire Condor and then checked the towers, making sure to take a look at the Storm Hawks' cell in case she'd already been in and broken them out. To their relief they were all still inside.

But what they didn't think to check was their own ship, the Lammergeyer. Unbeknownst to them the girl they were looking for was fast asleep in the depths of the ship, lying on pipework above where the ropes that had hooked into the Condor retracted inside. Since they'd used up all their energy looking for her through to the early hours of the morning, Ensayne was the first one awake at eight o'clock as they were all catching up on Z's.

It was time for her to get moving though. She'd been practicing a bit of control over changing form last night since she'd be needing it a lot if she wanted to pull off a breakout for the Storm Hawks without attracting much attention, the less the better.

[Start playing "Fog Bound"]

Ensayne left the room, looked around the corridor, and stepped out warily. No one was around. She followed down to the end and made her way through several more corridors, creeping quietly on the tips of her toes until she reached what seemed to be the main hallway.

Okay, let's give this a go. Ensayne squeezed her eyes shut and focused on the visual of her entire body shrinking and reshaping into her mouse form: the fur growing, the tail flicking, whiskers twitching. Within seconds, it worked – she felt that distinctive tingle right before it happens, and then all of a sudden she was descending downwards to the floor. Ensayne clapped her mouse paws together in triumph.

Not wasting a moment, she made a run for the hangar and took off down the extended flight of stairs to reach the ground. Once she was out, she changed back into her human self since no one was around. Ensayne took a moment to look at the ruins of Cyclonia, or at least what was visible through the cloud layer that covered the ground and billowed high in the air. Visibility was difficult, but not so difficult that she was able to catch a glimpse of several dark, crumbled towers in the surrounding area. The sight made her feel very nervous.

Ensayne hesitantly moved forward through the cloud, heading for the closest tower that she hoped the Storm Hawks were being kept in, but as she stepped closer her heart stopped in horror when more of the background came into view.

There were crashed airships everywhere! Some of them were ripped in half right down the middle, others were beyond recognition – just a monstrous pile of metal. As she made her way past the heaps of metal something else loomed ahead…but there was no way she could have prepared herself for what she was about to see.

Hundreds of human corpses covered the ground, bare of flesh, only covered in the remains of their clothes and armour. A year of sitting out in the open to fester away made it all the more horrific to look at. She clasped a hand to her mouth to stop herself from screaming, while tears rolled down her cheeks.

Just then she noticed two corpses sitting on the ground hugging each other. Their armour was made up of pots, pans and other strange objects, but most of it had fallen off or broken. Although she would never know who they were, Dove and her grandfather Wren fought bravely during the war, but had sustained life-threatening injuries after relentless efforts against the Cyclonians. Wren sang to his granddaughter to sooth her from the pain, and when her heart beat its last beat, he only had to wait a few minutes before he too slipped away from the conscious world.

She stared at the two feeling heartbroken and sorrowful. The reality of war was harsh, unforgiving, most times a relentless fight over the course of lifetimes. Cyclonia had always been a threat to Atmos, but since she'd lost so much of her past memories it was only now that Ensayne could really understand the seriousness of it all.

Before leaving, she reached down to the hugging corpses, having spotted a photo scrunched in the hand of the male. She gently plucked it from his bony fingers then stashed it away in a pocket on her tunic. She could give it to the Storm Hawks once she finds them.

[Song ends here]

Marching footsteps could be heard from the tower, growing louder with each second that past. In an instant Ensayne was a mouse again. She scurried past the Cyclonians undetected, but then she was almost crushed beneath someone's foot as a mass of twenty more came rushing in a hurry. If they were already starting the operation to break out the other Cyclonians, then she needed to find the Storm Hawks soon.

It took her quite some time to get through the tower because she needed to stay in her mouse form, but she was having some problems with it again – every now and then she'd transform unexpectedly, leaving her vulnerable to being spotted by someone. Needless to say things were not looking good.

Nine flights of stairs later…

Oh for goodness sake! I've been through SO many levels now. Will I have to climb every flight of stairs in this tower to find something or am I wasting my time?!

It was not long after this thought that Ensayne came across a new room. The door was open, and a light was turned on. She decided to take a look inside.

A girl some years younger than Ensayne stood bent over a large mahogany desk positioned in the middle of the room, and was completely fixated with a large piece of paper stretched out on the desk. She was dressed in prominent attire, far fancier than anything the Cyclonians were wearing. Her pallid complexion was a stark contrast to her raven black hair, which seemed to glint with purple in the light, and the thick dark makeup around her stern eyes brought attention to her violet irises. With a dreaded realisation that Ensayne was in fact looking at Master Cyclonis, what were the chances of her transforming back as a human now that she was within view of the most frightening person in Atmos? It took a lot of restraint to not pee herself out of nervousness.

Thankfully Cyclonis was rather enthralled with her papers so Ensayne took the opportunity to sneak around the outskirts of the room. She moved slowly so Cyclonis wouldn't notice her movement from the corner of her eye. This did work quite well until someone walked into the room.

It was the green haired guy named Danger. Judging by his tired eyes he mustn't have had much sleep. Cyclonis turned her attention to him, but she was sneering as if she despised the sight of him. "Did you find the girl?"

"I'm afraid not," Danger replied truthfully, lowering his head from her angry stare. "The entire Condor has been scoured completely and we have checked the towers. We couldn't find anything. The Storm Hawks are still in their cell so who knows where she is. It's possible she isn't even here though. As far as I'm concerned –"

"I don't care what concerns you," Cyclonis snapped impatiently. "This has been your first failure to me. Wouldn't you rather correct it than leave it as is? You still have some certainty of the possibility, do you not?"

Danger nodded.

"Then continue looking! In the meantime my Cyclonians are leaving to start the operation. I too will be leaving, but I have a few final details to look over. Your team can do the search while we're gone."

Ensayne began fretting again. Oh no, they ARE starting the operation!

"What of the Storm Hawks? When will you kill them?" Danger queried Master Cyclonis. Ensayne silently nodded. Good, talk about them and mention their location, even just a teeny tiny hint would do!

Cyclonis folded the paper and tucked it away under her cloak. "When I return."

"Is it wise to leave that until afterwards? If this girl gets to them before you do then they have a chance to stop you from getting your fellow Cyclonians out of the prison."

Cyclonis dismissed him. "If we were to take them out of the cell now before I start Operation Prison Break it gives them an opportunity to escape, while they are inside they have nothing to work with. Besides, I highly doubt this girl would be capable of much if she hasn't already broken them out."

Ensayne gaped. EXCUUUSE ME?!

"Even if she does get into the tower – although I don't see that happening – the guards will deal with her, and she wouldn't have a chance against them. However I'd much prefer if she never got the chance so make it your team's priority to capture her and kill her IMMEDIATELY."

She doesn't even know me and she's already assuming I'm incapable! And all she wants to do is kill me on the spot, won't even offer me an alcoholic beverage and final speech of evilness before my demise? What a rude little bitch!

Cyclonis grabbed a few items from the drawers, reached for her staff, and started for the door. Danger quickly followed her out. When the door was shut behind them Ensayne scurried out of the shadows across the room and changed back to her human form so she could take a look through her desk.

So the Storm Hawks are in another tower, well that explains why I haven't come across them yet. I'll still need maps so I can pinpoint their location.

Much to her dismay there were no maps of any kind. After closing the drawers, she rushed over to a large built-in at the back of the room and opened the doors, revealing mountainous piles of paperwork stuffed inside. Five minutes was spent going through it all and STILL nothing! Ensayne ran her fingers through her hair, huffing in frustration. Maybe she needed to look somewhere more obvious rather than tucked away in Master Cyclonis' room? Perhaps it was down on the ground floor at the entrance? She didn't get a look due to all the Cyclonians that came through.

If that's the case, I have wasted SO MUCH TIME! Maybe I'm not cut out for this. Dammit Cyclonis why do you have to be right?!

Ensayne hurried to put everything back so no one would become suspicious. Once that was done, she became a mouse again and made her way out. When she was passing Cyclonians undetected, they were talking about Cyclonis and Danger leaving together for the operation – this was great news for Ensayne – then it got even better.

The first Talon asked, "So the Storm Hawks are still locked up? I would've thought they'd killed them by now."

The second replied, "You do realise they're being held at the very top of Xule Tower, right? Cyclonis has two of the strongest guards standing at the entrance and nine more patrolling the whole tower. They'll be killed after she gets the rest of the Talons back, they're her first priority. From what I heard there's a girl on the loose trying to help the Storm Hawks but she won't have any luck, even with outside help the Storm Hawks won't get out of there."

"Which one's Xule Tower? I can't remember."

The second Talon pointed west and growled, "The one right next to us you idiot. Like Cyclonis would keep them any further away than she needed to."

Ensayne laughed at her luck. They'd just answered all her questions in one hit! But if the Storm Hawks were at the top of the tower, what point was there for her to go all the way back down from the one she's already in to then sneak in through the entrance to the other tower? She wasn't very confident in taking out a bunch of brawny guards on her own if she suddenly changed back, and for that matter, travelling through a tower as a mouse takes FOREVER. Unless of course she did some kind of Tarzan move and swung over to the tower on a vine – that would save a lot of time and she wouldn't be running into all the guards either, only a couple at most…but the idea was just plain ridiculous.

Or is it? Ensayne thought to herself.

[Start playing "Up Is Down"]

Ensayne waited apprehensively as the Cyclonians went around the corner at the end of the corridor. Once out of sight, she transformed back into her normal self. There was no need in wasting more time than she already had.

I remember seeing a weapons room a few flights down from here, it should only take me five minutes to get there.

She checked over her shoulder every ten seconds while sneaking through the tower corridor in a quick paced tippy-toeing kinda way. She suddenly heard voices so she flattened herself against the wall, but thankfully the Cyclonians were at the other end and walked right past the corridor down a different passage without even noticing her. Ensayne continued on. She had to turn into the same passage as the Cyclonians, though thankfully in the opposite direction, but just to be sure she checked if they were still there. From there she went right and followed it down to take the stairs. At the landing, she continued going west along the passage to get to the corridor she needed.

Ensayne came across the corridor, recognising it by the orange sign above the entrance. Just as she was about to go in, two people came around the same corner she passed only minutes ago. She turned to look at them, and they realised it was her.

"The girl!" yelled Todd. Polly pointed at her and hissed fiercely.

"Shit shit SHIT!" Ensayne bolted for her life. Blasts of light exploded against the walls, ceiling and floor, with some whizzing past her ears. She zig-zagged as she ran, trying to anticipate which way the blasts were coming, but then it occurred to her that she'd miscalculated the location of the armoury, realising that the sign for that floor had been red, NOT orange. She'd have to go down another flight of stairs.

They reached the end of the corridor. In mid run Ensayne leapt forward over the railing, grabbing onto it to swing herself inwards away from the staircase, and landed on the floor below with surprising steadiness.

She smiled broadly. "Yes, this is it!" The red sign was there above the entrance, and the door was not that far down the corridor. When she got to the door she wrenched it open but was faced with Cyclonians, who pulled out their staffs instantly. Ensayne ducked then rolled as several blasts zoomed in her direction. She jumped back to her feet with haste, kicked the closest Cyclonian, slammed one in the side with her staff, fired a blast at the one she previously kicked, then a few more shots took care of them both. A third Cyclonian began firing at her, but her striker crystal stopped glowing – it was out of energy! With no time to change it over to another crystal she opted to run straight at him with her staff swinging. A gruelling CRUNCH left him out cold on the floor with blood trickling from his head.

Just before lizard chick (Polly) and awkward bad guy (Todd) arrived, Ensayne dashed back to the door to lock it, which was in the nick of time: within seconds they were banging on it. She knew she was running out of time so she started rummaging through the Cyclonians' armoury for some rope. What she came across was even better than plain old rope.

"A grappling gun!" she beamed.

With the hopes that the tower would be in view, Ensayne walked over to one of the windows with the gun. Having never done this in her life she was pretty damn scared of stuffing up, what with a 100 foot drop to the ground below. She directed her aim for a spot that would give the hook enough purchase to hold it tightly in place, squeezed the trigger, and the grappling hook fired off successfully, spinning high through the air. It went straight into an open window on the tower. Ensayne tugged on it warily. The hook felt secure, but to be on the safe side she double and triple checked it. There was a loud bang – the door had burst open. She turned around to face the two, then poked her tongue out in defiance before swinging out the window in a spectacular fashion. Their look of astonishment said everything – they were NOT expecting that!

[At 1:37 in the music]

Ensayne screamed as she felt her stomach try to launch itself out her mouth from the sensation. It was about as terrifying as falling off the cargo ship. On approach of the tower wall she braced for the impact. Her body thumped against the brick several times and was spun around because the wire was twisting. To make matters more challenging, Todd the awkward bad guy was trying to shoot at her with his weapon. His attacks struck the bricks around her, causing them to crumble.

"Hey! Stop it!" she yelled. "GIVE ME A BLOODY BREAK OKAY?!" Ensayne fumbled around for the button that would retract the wire and with one click she went soaring upwards! The wire made that distinctive whew-whew-whew noise as it spun. Once she'd hauled herself inside she quickly swapped over her crystals and checked around the room before dashing out to the corridor. Unfortunately there was a guard hanging around right outside the door. They both pulled out their staffs and started shooting at each other. Ensayne hit him with three consecutive blasts and he was down in seconds. She ran onwards, but the two from the other tower had obviously alerted the guards to her presence when they initially spotted her because three came charging up the corridor towards her. Red light hurtled all over the place like fireworks causing confusion for everyone. Ensayne took this as an opportunity to escape – she shrunk into mouse form and darted out of the commotion, then before anyone noticed, changed back and continued onward. A couple corridors up she came across another guard, this time sitting inside a small office window just before a large metal door which lead to – you got it – the holding cells! When the guard saw her he grabbed his weapon and ran at her, but this one was even bigger than the others – though slower too – so the best way to deal with this situation was for Ensayne to avoid his initial attack then set her staff into overdrive mode, which she conveniently only just discovered for this situation. The green striker crystal flared up in brightness, and when the guard spun around – causing his mountainous belly to sway and flop grotesquely – Ensayne squeezed down on the release button.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAM! He collapsed to the floor with the most thunderous tremble she'd ever heard (but let's not forget that she's missing most of her memories so perhaps it's not the best comparison). She checked the little office for keys then went over to the door, and after four attempts the key clicked in the keyhole successfully. The Storm Hawks jumped to their feet and watched as the huge door swung open with an almighty clang, revealing their rescuer amidst some dramatic smoke and lighting effects. [as a parody to Hollywood hero revealing moments in movies.]

[Song ends here]

The Storm Hawks cheered and Radarr squawked happily while she jogged down the corridor to unlock their cell door. Stork was the only one not cheering.

"I knew we could count on you!" Aerrow said with a smile.

Ensayne laughed. "Oh, I hope you didn't, I certainly wasn't expecting to make it! It's definitely taken the breath out of me though, all the running and jumping and fighting…can I have a quick rest before we go running off again?"

Piper giggled. "You rescued us so I think you did pretty well. We'll go look for our weapons while you take a breather."

The Storm Hawks headed to the office. Ensayne leaned against the wall and clutched the stitch in her side as she changed over the crystal for her staff, but she noticed that Stork was still standing inside the cell with his arms folded while he glared at her.

"What're you doing?" she asked him. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm not going with you." Stork responded.

Ensayne furrowed her brow. "Why?"

He walked over to her, still glaring intensely, until he was standing a few feet away. "I know what you're up to. Make us believe that we're saved and then you'll turn around and betray us all."

Ensayne rubbed her temples, squinting at him with a questioning look. "What in the heck are you talking about? I'm NOT a bad guy. Do you really think I'd go through all of this as some kind of extravagant form of deception?"

"Yes as a matter of fact I do," Stork retorted. "It's a spy's job to manipulate people into thinking they're trustworthy –"

"Buuuut Cyclonis had you in a secure cell, why would she get me to release you if I was a spy?"

Stork had to think for a moment. "Well maybe that was the plan to begin with, make us think she wants us dead, send out a spy to get into our group, rescue us so you gain our trust, then learn everything you can learn so she can somehow utilise the information for her own benefit."

Ensayne tapped her foot impatiently. "Okay, look, I don't rightly understand why you're so paranoid about me but it's getting really aggravating considering I have been close to death multiple times trying to get here to help! I'd do it again, but YOU, you're just…WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

Stork pointed at her. "Ahhh-HA!"

"Ah-ha WHAT?!" Ensayne yelled back.

Stork nodded. "Exactly."

Ensayne pulled at her hair. "Oh for crying out loud!"

Stork had a smug look of triumph like he'd just proven her disloyalty, even though she said nothing to warrant it. Ensayne stroked her chin, thinking of a way to get through to him. "If you don't leave then who's going to fly the Condor? Do you really want ME at the helm if I'm a spy like you say I am? Because I assure you I'll be flying it."

Stork gave her another filthy look, but it seemed as though even this wasn't enough to get him out of the cell.

Ensayne raised her eyebrow at him. "You know I'm right, you have nothing to accuse me of. Tell me, what kind of spy stuff would I do to gain your trust?"

"Seduce me most likely," Stork replied. "That's what girl spies do."

Ensayne smiled devilishly when he said this. He was about to be shocked out of his pants for his scepticism.

She began stroking his arm, letting her hand slide over his shoulder. He froze on the spot, staring forward like he didn't want to watch what she was doing. She leaned in to whisper in his ear, "If that's what you want I can take you here and now while your friends are gone…"

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

He ran faster than the speed of light! Ensayne burst out laughing as she watched him disappear down the corridor. However it wasn't just the physical contact that made him freak out – it was the fact that his pants had begun to tighten. Needless to say Stork rarely experienced these, and the fact that the one person he distrusted most right now caused such a thing to happen made him very frustrated and confused. Although at least from this point onwards the experience had completely silenced him on the whole "she's a spy!" thing.

After the Storm Hawks gathered up their weapons the group began their descent through the tower. Taking out the guards was a piece of cake, and although Junko was still having issues with combat, he did manage to muster enough confidence to knock out one guard. Piper was glad to see him in a better state. Perhaps the time they spent in the cell allowed him to think more about what happened to Thragg and maybe he realised that there was no need for him to feel guilty. After all, it was Thragg's decision to become an ally to the Cyclonians, which meant he was an enemy to the Storm Hawks, and he intended to kill Junko if Junko didn't kill him first.

Ensayne made sure to grab the grappling gun on their way. Why leave something like that behind if it could come in handy later on? Once outside they were just able to make out the Condor in the thickness of the low-lying clouds, stationed not far from the Lammergeyer. Aerrow turned to Ensayne. "So what's the update, has Cyclonis started her operation?"

"Yes, she's already on her way to Ertghol." Ensayne replied. "But what happens now? I didn't hear any details of what the operation is. If we go there she may already have the rest of her Talons out."

"We have to try," Piper replied. "Atmos cannot afford to have Cyclonia up and running again. If she's learned from her mistakes, she'll know the first thing to do is get rid of us and all other Sky Knight squadrons."

Aerrow put out his hand suddenly, gesturing for the Storm Hawks to hide. A Cyclonian was descending from a ladder positioned against the engine pontoon that had been damaged yesterday. A second Cyclonian emerged from the hangar. The one on the ladder called out, "She's all patched up now Rick! When do you want to launch it?"

"Why are the Cyclonians patching up the Condor?" Finn whispered to the group.

"Look around Finn," Piper uttered in reply. "We're surrounded by the remains of airships from the war. They probably have none left of their own."

"Kill two birds with one stone," Aerrow said. "Take us out and take our ship."

The two Cyclonians came down from the Condor and began to walk towards the tower. The Storm Hawks had to shuffle around the scrap metal as the Cyclonians came past. When they went inside, the group took off for the ramp. Then someone started shouting at them.

"STOP RIGHT THERE STORM HAWKS!"

It was the girl with magenta hair, Rave, standing on the Lammergeyer's runway. She looked awfully pissed off. Polly and Todd had finally caught up too. They emerged from the tower, both red in the face from exhaustion.

"RAVE, GET THEM!" Todd yelled out. "YOU CAN'T LET THEM GET AWAY!"

Rave pulled out a scoped bolt action energy rifle. The Storm Hawks didn't know how accurate she was with a gun but they certainly didn't want to find out. They continued running up the ramp when the first shot was fired. The bullet whizzed past within inches of Ensayne's head, causing her to scream, and unfortunately now was going to be the time that she would lose control over her transforming ability and shrink into a little brown mouse. Stork had been behind her on the ramp when it happened so he quickly scooped her up into his hands and legged it.

When Rave saw this, she stood there gaping like a fish out of water. Todd and Polly witnessed what happened as well, which caused Polly to jump and point excessively as she remembered the moment when they'd been in the Condor and saw a mouse dart into the wall.

"I can't believe it," Todd said to Polly. "You were right! But…how is it possible?"

Polly cleared her throat, coughed a bit, then spoke in a hissing but rather feminine voice, "We have to catch her Todd. She may be the key to animal metamorphosis."

The Storm Hawks were mostly on the bridge and Stork was still passing through the hangar when Ensayne the little brown mouse suddenly changed into Ensayne the HUMAN while still in Storks hands. There was some desperate shrieking, clanging against vehicles, and a few loud thumps. Ensayne quickly looked this way and that for Stork until she realised that he was squashed underneath her.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" she lifted herself off and put out a hand to help him up. Stork was about to give her a filthy look, but something made him decide not to.

"As long as you don't crush my ribcage again, that would be great."

Once on the bridge Stork was immediately at the controls to retract the ramp and start up the engines. Aerrow told him to set the quickest route to Ertghol, hoping to stop Cyclonis before it was too late. The Condor burst into life with the sound of the engines roaring. Rave had gone back onto the bridge of the Lammergeyer so she could go after them, but the Condor was ready for take-off. It heaved off the ground and with one last bang it sped away into the sky.

[Start playing "Snape to Malfoy Manor"]

Operation Prison Break was well underway by the time the Storm Hawks escaped Cyclonia. Cyclonis' Talons followed prison staff off the terra and to their destinations before they made a move, knowing that Ertghol was too wired up with security to try anything on the terra. Once they'd stolen the identities, they proceeded to 'deal with' the real staff, then returned to the prison looking just like them. The same could not be done for higher ranking staff as they lived on the premises in their own living quarters, so Cyclonis had to go in as a guard and work her way around until she found the warden. She also needed Danger to get the identity of the deputy warden. It was tedious, but the only way to complete the operation was to slowly infiltrate the prison. Once they managed to do this, and by using a signal to let each other know they were Talons, they started killing off staff as quickly as possible and made sure none of them had a chance to radio someone of the incident.

Cyclonis and Danger shut off all security systems, cameras etc and then started opening cell doors. At the time this was all happening, Ravess was being beaten by the nasty prison guard who'd been suspicious of Cyclonis (as Lark), but as she struggled against him the cell door opened. He threw her into the wall and stormed over to the door. The other cells were opening up as well, and Talons were tenderly stepping out, confused as to what was going on. Moments later a figure strolled down the hall, her cloak billowing behind her. It was Cyclonis. Her Talons cheered and shouted with joy. She made her way to Ravess' cell to face the prison guard.

"Do you remember that little blondie who came to visit Ravess? Well, that was me. And now that I've taken over the prison, do you know what I'm going to do with you?"

The last thing he ever got to see was a pit of lava. Cyclonis watched him fall down the gaping hole to the lava below, disappearing under the surface with an agonising scream. She did the same for the rest of the guards, the captain, lieutenant, and anyone else who hadn't already been killed.

Cyclonis gathered her Talons and other allies outside the prison entrance. Four airships rose up from the Wastelands into view, humming over to the edge of the terra to land. The airships were nothing in comparison to the Cyclonian Destroyers but they were enough to carry all the prisoners, and now that they'd figured out the easiest and least dangerous way to get through the Wastelands no one would ever know what happened until it was too late. Cyclonis was not going to take them back to Cyclonia, however – for them to gain power again they needed to hide somewhere no one would look to find them, that way they could build new Destroyers, new Switchblades, retrain the Cyclonians to be better fighters and get upgraded weapons. A lot of time would need to go into regaining everything they lost.

Ten minutes went by while Talons, Wallops, Raptors and the like were being loaded onto the airships. When Ravess stepped up to the first ship, she saw Repton and was shocked out of her mind. He'd lost a lot of muscle mass, his eyes were bloodshot, his scales were all grey and horrible, and he kept twisting his head around as he spoke incoherently, yelling one minute then whispering the next. His brothers were just as bad. None of them even seemed to be aware of their surroundings.

"They've gone mental!" Snipe laughed. He nudged his sister. "I wonder if Repton would notice me pulling down his pants, that'd be HILARIOUS! He'd be walking around with no pants on and have no clue it happened! Aaaaaaaaaahahahaha!"

Ravess clasped a hand to her face. "UGH. Why did I think this would be a good thing? At least I rarely saw Snipe when I was in prison!"

Just then Danger's radio went off. He held up his index finger signalling to Cyclonis that he would be back momentarily. Once out of earshot he clicked it on.

"Hello?"

"Danger! It's Todd. We have a REALLY big problem."

Danger sighed. "What the hell's happened?"

There was a long pause. "Umm…well…"

Another voice came over the radio, it was Rave. "The Storm Hawks have escaped! That girl got passed Todd and Polly, she can turn into a mouse!"

Danger's eyes widened. "WHAT?! Are you sure?"

Todd spoke next. "We saw it with our own eyes! I think that's how she was sneaking around without being detected."

Danger started swearing with a colourful array of words and phrases for the next minute. Cyclonis was too far away to really hear what was going on but she could see how livid he looked, and he was stomping and knocking things over quite angrily. She decided to investigate his frustration.

"Are you going after them?" Danger asked them in a hurry.

"I've tried but they're too far ahead of us now," Rave replied. "I even used our high-speed impeller a couple of times."

Danger swore again, this time much louder.

"What's the matter?" Cyclonis was feet away. Danger choked and coughed.

"Oh, oh, it's –"

Cyclonis' eyes widened. "What did they just tell you?"

Danger groaned. "The Storm Hawks have escaped."

The Condor only had to fly over Ertghol for the Storm Hawks to realise Cyclonis had already been and gone, only by an hour. They decided to risk a trip back to Cyclonia to see if Cyclonis had returned, but no one was there, not even the Total Losers' ship.

There was nothing they could do now except alert all Sky Knight squadrons of the situation. But after this day, they wouldn't see or hear anything of Cyclonians for a long time.

It was 7pm. The Condor was parked on a small terra a few hours from Cyclonia, gathering supplies for their ship. Ensayne knew it was time for her to head out, and as she hopped on the Swiftflight Speedster Aerrow walked in from the runway.

"Thanks again for helping us out today," he said as he shook her hand.

Ensayne smiled. "That's alright Aerrow, I was happy to help."

"You know you could always stay," he propositioned. When he said this, Ensayne waved a hand of dismissal.

"I certainly appreciate the offer, but I still need to find my home terra."

"We could help you look for it," Aerrow suggested. "Wouldn't it be easier to stay on the one ship than to hitch hike all the time? We're always going different places so there's a good chance we might come across it."

Piper walked into the hangar and saw Ensayne sitting on the bike. "Are you going?"

Ensayne nodded. "Yeah, I have to get back to my home terra."

"Why don't you stay with us and we'll help you look for it?"

Aerrow put his hands out triumphantly. "It's two against one."

"Make it three," Finn grinned, his arms full of food.

"Make it FOUR!" Junko popped up. "I mean after all, you saved us from death."

"But I didn't know what I was doing really," Ensayne admitted. "I'm not the Sky Knight I should be."

Aerrow clasped a hand on her shoulder. "Don't be so hard on yourself. You have amnesia, of course you would lose some of your abilities. But with us we could train you. Piper's an expert in Sky Fu."

Radarr ran over to her and jumped onto her lap. He put his face right up close to hers, inspecting it seemed, and then he made a happy squawking sound like he approved as well.

Piper giggled. "And that makes it five."

Stork was walking into the room when this was all happening. After Piper spoke, the group turned to him for the last vote.

"Six. Make it six." Stork caved in.

The Storm Hawks cheered.

"Well there you have it," Aerrow clapped his hands together. "Looks like you're staying with us."

That night was a good night. Piper was cooking so the food was delicious, they played board games and chatted for hours on end. Aerrow showed Ensayne to her new bedroom, which was the same room she'd ended up in when she crashed on the Condor. Only this time Junko, Finn and Piper redecorated it so it was more homely.

The crew retired for the night once it hit 10pm. Although physically exhausted, Ensayne's mind was still very active. She knew she wouldn't be going to sleep straight away so she decided to go back to the bridge. Stork was standing at the controls looking out the window.

Ensayne cleared her throat. "Hey Stork."

He jumped a little, not expecting anyone to be awake. Once he turned around he said, "Oh, hi."

She walked over to him. "Look, I'm sorry for today. I was only stirring you up so you'd leave the cell."

Stork shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, I suppose I was being a little…difficult…you'd understand if you were in my position. We've dealt with strangers before on the Condor and most times they were bad guys."

Ensayne nodded in understanding. "And I seemed like a great candidate as the next bad guy infiltrating the Condor, huh?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

There was a moment's pause. The two stood there equally as awkward as the other, wondering what to say next.

"We should hang out some time," Ensayne suggested. "Get to know each other."

Stork shook his head. "I'm not really one for 'hanging out'."

"Oh."

There was more silence.

"Umm, well…you could show me around the Condor maybe? And umm, tell me a little bit about you? What you're interested in?"

Stork was contemplative at this point. "I could tell you the history of the Condor, how I came across her, how she works..."

"Yeah. That sounds good." Ensayne smiled at him. Stork's eye twitched when she did this, making her think there was something wrong, but it seemed to be because he was trying to make a smile back at her, which ended up looking very strange. She chuckled.

"I'll see ya." Ensayne waved goodbye and headed for her bedroom. Stork watched her leave, examining her closely like she was a new species of insect that he'd just discovered. As he stood there in the dim light, the glow of the moon dancing through the window, Stork's strange smile changed into a genuine smile.