I don't own the Storm Hawks :) :)
Bright and early the next morning, Aerrow was shaken awake. He groaned and attempted to roll over. His sore shoulder reminded him that it wasn't possible to do that at the moment.
"Aerrow get up! Now!" and again, the incessant shaking continued to wake him from his slumber
"What?" Aerrow mumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
Starling grabbed him under his armpits and tugged him too his feet. "Come on Aerrow, we've gotta get out of here!"
It was then that Aerrow heard the unease in her voice. Becoming slightly more alert instantly, he glanced around, looking for danger. "What?" he asked her
Starling grabbed his good arm and dragged him towards the bushes on the side of the clearing where their skimmers sat.
Completely ignoring his questions she said "I put more fuel in your skimmer from mine. It should last until we reach a more occupied Terra. From there we can get you cleaned up and start looking for your friends" she said in a rush.
Aerrow dislodged her vice like grip on his arm and stepped back from her. "What. Is. The. Matter?" he asked her slowly.
Starling pointed to the sky just as a dark shadow fell over them.
Above them flew the Condor with about 15 Talons on skimmers surrounding it.
"I don't think they have seen us..." Starling muttered, once again dragging a stunned Aerrow into the bushes
Aerrow looked around and saw scuff marks on the ground "what were you doing while I was asleep?" he asked looking at the dirt smeared grass
"That was here when we arrived last night" Starling said distractedly still looking at the skies as they crouched down in the shrubs
They waited for about half an hour, hardly daring to talk. Finally, Starling deemed it safe to come out. Aerrow stood up on stiff legs. His muscles ached from lying on the ground. His fever, however, had gone down considerably.
"What way to the next Terra?" he asked lightly, stretching his arms and back
"Just follow me ok?" Starling said, agitated.
"Yeah, ok." Aerrow climbed aboard his skimmer, while Radarr jumped in the seat next to him.
"We better be careful of the Cyclonian's" Aerrow said to her as she climbed onto her skimmer
"You don't need to tell me twice" she replied.
They fired up their skimmers and were away
Aerrow could now hold the handle bars with both hands. It was difficult to steer, but he found he had more balance this way.
They flew for about 2 hours until they came to a largely populated Terra.
We could lose ourselves in that crowd easily thought Aerrow as they headed down.
They stopped at a bar in the main district.
"We'll only be here for the day until we get your shoulder looked at" Starling said as she eyed his swollen shoulder.
Just then Radarr's stomach grumbled rather loudly.
"And until we get some food" Starling added. Aerrow was pretty hungry too, he realised. He patted Radarr on the head and followed Starling to the medic centre.
They sat side by side in the waiting room, waiting to be called in.
"Aerrow" called a nurse "the doctor will see you now" she spoke
"Did you want me to come in with you?" Starling asked
"What, am I 4?" said Aerrow, embarrassed.
Starling laughed. "Very well" she said
"Actually," said the nurse, "were you the one who popped his shoulder back in?"
"Yeah..." Starling replied
"Well, the doctor wants to talk to you"
Sighing, Aerrow and Starling both got up. Radarr stood to follow but the nurse told him he wasn't allowed in. Radarr scowled and sat back down.
The door swung shut behind Aerrow and Starling with a resounding thud.
"Aerrow and Starling?" asked a voice belonging to an old man.
"Yeah" said Aerrow
"You" the doctor said pointing at Aerrow, "you sit up there on that bench, and you miss, can take a seat" Aerrow and Starling complied.
The doctor sat behind his desk and surveyed the two. "I hear young Aerrow had his shoulder dislocated and you popped it back in?" he asked Starling
"This is true" Starling answered, "I've had some first aid training"
"Well done then." The doctor said, standing up and walking towards Aerrow
"Now if you'll take off your shirt, let me take a look at that shoulder" he said to Aerrow.
Aerrow took off his shirt with great difficulty and a lot of pain. The doctor tutted as he examined the bruising and swelling of his arm. The bruise began from his left shoulder blade, over his shoulder and down almost to Aerrow's elbow.
"How long did you leave it before it was re-placed?" the doctor asked
"Uh, it was about 5 hours before Starling came... I think." It was all a bit blurry to Aerrow now.
The doctor sighed. "You must have been in a great deal of pain..." he trailed off and poked the fat swollen shoulder with a pointy finger
"OW!" Said Aerrow, leaning away from the offending hand
"Yes, this will definitely need to be bandaged" the doctor concluded as he reached up to a cabinet and retrieved a bandage and tape and a jar of ointment.
"This will help ease the swelling" the doctor said, handing it to Aerrow, "put it on once a week. You're lucky it isn't worse" he finished as he started taping and bandaging Aerrow up. By the time he was finished, Aerrow felt a lot better. The constant throb had lessened to an occasional painful twinge.
"Thanks" said Aerrow, getting up from the bench and pulling his shirt back on.
"Glad I could help" said the kind doctor.
Once they had collected Radarr, they grabbed some food and by midday, Aerrow was once again rearing to find his missing crew.
They walked together back to their skimmers, discussing plans for the search and rescue mission.
"We'll need to head back to where I last started searching which is about 3 hours east" Aerrow concluded as they jumped on the bikes.
"Lead the way"
Aerrow took off with Starling following behind.
About an hour into the trip, Aerrow could hear Starling muttering something.
"What did you say?" he called back
"What? Nothing, just talking to myself" she yelled back
Strange... Aerrow thought.
The terrain started to look familiar as they neared their destination.
Finally, Aerrow spotted the wall which had had his fake team chained against it. He skidded to a stop next to it. Starling landed a moment later.
Aerrow looked around and saw the cliff edge. That was where he fought Ravess. He cringed, remembering the fight.
"Bad memories?"She asked as Starling, noticed the look on his face.
"Yeah, this is where me and Ravess fought" he voiced
"it must have been pretty annoying, having to search everywhere for your squadron, only to find out you had been tricked?" she asked
"I guess... can we not talk about it?" he said, feeling quite down. He just wanted to find his friends. "Let's just keep looking"
"Yes of course" answered Starling and she moved off "tell me, where we're they chained?" she called over her shoulder
Aerrow stiffened. No way, he thought to himself. He glanced at Starling, looking at her carefully.
"Aerrow?" she repeated
"Oh, uh, over there" he said distractedly. He watched Starling walk over in the direction he had pointed, to examine the wall.
While she was crouching down, Aerrow reached up for his lightning blades. Slowly, he walked over to the wall as well, igniting the blades behind his back as he went. He knew he only had limited use of his shoulder, but two blades were better than one.
He waited until he was right behind Starling. She hadn't noticed him yet.
"Look Aerrow, I can't see anything. Maybe we should search somewhere else" she stood up and turned around to find Aerrow only inches away from her.
Aerrow brought out his blades and swung the hilt of one towards her head.
Starlings eyes went wide as she saw what Aerrow was about to do. She ducked down and swept his legs from underneath him with a swift kick.
Aerrow fell down with a thud, jarring his arm. Recovering quickly, he rolled before Starling's nunchaku could hit him in the face.
As he rolled, he jammed Starling's legs together with his own, overbalancing her. She fell back and hit her head on the wall behind her.
Aerrow got up and walked closer to the still figure lying away from him.
He leaned over, reaching for her shoulder when suddenly Starling sprung to life again, and swung her nunchaku around to hit Aerrow directly in the cheek.
Aerrow heard his cheek bone crack from the blow. He stumbled back, gripping his face in a haze of pain.
Aerrow found himself, once again that week, fighting off the darkness trying to pull him into unconsciousness. Along with a sore shoulder, he now had a pounding headache which was doing its best to make him want to throw up. He pushed down the nausea and dizziness. Fun.
He gathered himself and faced Starling who was getting up off the ground, holding the back of her head. She didn't look much better.
Aerrow had an advantage. He still had hold of his weapons. 'Starling' had dropped hers
"What the hell Aerrow?" Starling puffed as they squared off with each other
"Who are you?" Aerrow hissed
"What are you talking about? Are you feeling all right?" she looked worried and angry at the same time.
"You're not Starling. I didn't tell her about the chains holding the guys" he finished, pointing an electric blue directly at Starlings face.
Immediately, Starlings features changed. Gone was the worried and concern. In its place was hate and annoyance.
"Get that thing out of my face, before you get hurt" she spat.
Aerrow couldn't take it anymore. Who could he trust? No one was who they said they were. At least he had discovered this imposter before it was too late. This way, he was at an advantage, holding would be Starling at knife point.
"Tell me who you are, or I slit your throat" Aerrow said, beyond pissed off.
'Starling' remained silent. Without a word, Aerrow flipped the blade and brought the hilt crashing down onto her temple, knocking her unconscious.
She dropped like a sack of potatoes at Aerrow's feet.
Groaning, Aerrow once again held his face. The right side of his entire face had gone red and puffy. It hurt to talk, to blink, to breathe. Aerrow was certain he wouldn't be able to smile in a while, although, there was nothing really to smile about. He thought grimly.
He crouched down in front of 'Starling' and patted her down. He eventually found the Chroma Crystal, and put it in his pocket.
Bright shining light blinded him slightly as it surrounded 'Starling', transforming her into her true form.
Lying before him was Ravess. Aerrow sighed.
Aerrow didn't know how long Ravess was pretending to be Starling for. Had it been Ravess the entire time? Was it Ravess who popped his shoulder back in place? Taken care of him when he was so close to passing out from exhaustion?
Aerrow numbly tied her hands and ankles together with some rope from his skimmer, and dragged her over to an area where he set up a fire. He then checked her pulse and injuries to make sure she wasn't going to die on him.
He sat down to wait. When she woke up, he had some questions for her. Now all he had to do was wait.
He settled on the grass. Radarr came and sat next to him. They shared a worried glance. It had been nearly 3 weeks since he had last seen his squadron. That's nearly a month.
He needed to find them. And as soon as possible. No more of this stuffing around, he thought. When Ravess woke up; he would get answers out of her, if it was the last thing he did.