4
The Storm Hawks Seven
Disclaimer: I realize that this is the title of one of the upcoming actual Storm Hawks episodes, but I had a momentary lapse in creative genius and stole it. It seemed to fit the theme of the chappie.
The next morning everything seemed back to normal on the Condor. Well, as normal as things could be. Aerrow had heard Piper pad past his room on the way to the kitchen earlier that morning and now Stork was sitting at the table across from her easily, next to a huge stack of Sand Cakes. Aerrow smiled. It was easy to fix things with someone whose soul could be sold for Sand Cakes.
" 'Morning." Aerrow said, giving his red hair a good tousle.
Piper jumped to her feet the moment she saw him, making Stork start at her abruptness. "Aerrow, finally you're up! Let's go get Wing!" she exclaimed, grabbing his arm excitedly.
"Whoa, whoa, down girl!" Aerrow said with a grin. "Let's wait for the others to get up first, so we can all ask her together."
Piper let out an anguished cry. "But Aer-rooow!" she whined, knowing how long Finn and Junko could sleep for, especially if they'd been up half the night roasting marshmallows and singing loud, rowdy campfire songs.
"You could always speed up the waking process." Stork suggested around a mouthful of Sand Cake, eager to be off the strange Terra and back in the air.
"You evil genius, you! Too bad I'd already thought of that." Piper said with a wicked little grin and vanished into the kitchen. A moment later she was marching down the halls, clashing two pan lids together, singing loudly and stomping on the floor explosively. Stork put his hands over his sensitive ears and grimaced.
Finn came staggering from his room after Piper's second pass, hair even more messy then usual. "Piper!" he shouted at her and she stopped her racket innocently.
"Yes?" she asked, giving him a "who, me?" look.
"What the Hell is wrong with you?" he demanded peevishly.
"Oh, quit whining. It's time to get up and go get Wing! Remember, black haired girl, kinda short…"
"Don't forget psychotic!" Stork called and Piper scowled at him.
"Anyways, Aerrow says we can only go when we're all up, so, you know, GET UP!" Piper said with another resounding clash.
"Oh, yeah, you're not totally obsessed." Finn said, dragging himself down the hall to the bathroom.
Junko tripped out of his room groggily then, rubbing his head. "What's going on?"
"Wake up call! Come on, get ready, we're going to go get Wing!" Piper said, taking the pot lids back to the kitchen.
"Oh, right! On it!" Junko said, turning and nearly plowing over Finn, who was slouching back to his room.
"Whoops, sorry buddy. Why the long face?" Junko asked upon seeing Finn's scowling visage. Junko didn't seem to understand that he was the only one who could be so cheerful after such a rude awakening and about five hours worth of sleep.
About ten minutes later they were all in the air, gliding across the cool morning sky towards the lonely hill where Wing's house perched.
Seated behind Piper edgily, Stork glanced in snatches out over the jungle. He supposed it wasn't so sinister when you weren't wading through it. It wasn't as bad as the Black Gorge, anyways. Maybe it was even sort of-
A yowl erupted from the trees below them and a black missile shot up past Piper's scooter. Stork let out an alarmed shout and nearly tumbled over the side. She grabbed hold of his thin arm to steady him and smiled after the panthera.
"Falshade!" she called and the winged cat growled in greeting. He glided over and hovered next to Piper's scooter, his hindquarters rising and falling with every stroke of his finely honed wings. He sniffed curiously at Stork, who was panting and clutching to the side of the heliscooter's seat in a death-grip.
"Oh, go away!" he said exasperatedly, shoving the large cat's face away. Piper giggled.
"Aw, he likes you, Stork." she said teasingly and he huffed, annoyed.
"He's got a funny way of showing it." he grumbled. Piper just smiled to herself and brought her scooter in for a landing on Wing's plateau.
Wing was already awake and in the act of rolling her skimmer out of the garage when they came down. She smiled widely when she saw them.
"I was getting worried that you guys were just going to go without saying goodbye! I was gonna stop by." she said when they were close enough to hear her.
"We wouldn't do that. We just had some trouble getting everybody up." Piper said, nodding in Finn's direction.
"No problem. You want some breakfast? I was thinking of making pancakes…" Wing said, turning to roll her skimmer back into the garage.
Finn opened his mouth but Aerrow held up a hand to silence him. "Actually, Wing, we wanted to ask you something."
Wing stopped and turned back to look at him. "Oh, yeah? What's that?"
"Well, um…" Aerrow fiddled with his belt awkwardly. "I wanted to know…we all wanted to know if that when we leave today…well, when we leave today if you want to come with us." Wow, so much for sentimentally.
Wing's eyes widened slightly. "Come with you?" she asked as if she wanted to make sure she understood what he meant before she gave an answer.
"Yes, come with us and stay with us. Join our squadron. Become a Storm Hawk." Piper said her vice squeaky with anticipation.
Wing looked at all of them carefully, as if waiting for them to burst out laughing and say "Got you!". But you could see in her eyes that she wanted to believe them. Brittle hope was brimming in her eyes.
"You… you mean it?" she asked, sounding guarded.
"Of course we do!" Piper said.
"But I'm not official or anything." Wing said, trying to find a flaw in their plan it seemed.
"To be honest, neither are we." Finn said.
"Where would I stay?"
"With me, in my room." Piper declared.
"We'll work everything out later." Aerrow added. "Right now we just want to know if you want to join us or not. We'd understand if you'd rather stay here."
Wing's eyes stretched so wide they were in danger of popping out of her head. "Are you kidding? Stay here?" she looked at her empty house for a moment and then shook her head. "I've stayed here too long."
"So… so does that mean you'll come with us?" Piper asked, trying to contain her glee.
Wing looked at her with a smile that nearly took to her ears. "I'd love to! I mean… wow, be a real Storm Hawk with you guys, no joke?"
"No joke" Aerrow assured her and she looked like she was restraining herself not to run over and hug him. She didn't have to, because Piper went over and hugged her instead.
"This is going to be so great!" she said. "Wing, you'll love living with us, you'll fit right in! We can train together and I can teach you some stuff about crystals and I just know you're going to be a great Storm Hawk!"
Wing looked a little overwhelmed and completely overjoyed. "Oh, I will, I'll be the best damn Storm Hawk you ever found in the jungle!" she promised eagerly. "I can fight, I can fly, I'll help out on the ship, I'll do whatever you say!"
Aerrow held up his hands to slow her down. "That won't be necessary. We Storm Hawks are a family, not a crew."
Wing nodded. "Right, right, but when you need a hand doing anything, I'll be there… oh, wow, this is so awesome! I've wanted to be a part of a squadron my whole life, but when I lost the Strykers, I never thought I'd ever be in one! You can't imagine how badly I wanted to come with you, but I never thought you'd ask!" she was rambling, she realized, so she shut her mouth and then glanced over at Falshade, who was reclining lazily in a sunbeam. "Oh. What about Falshade?"
"He'll just have to come along too." Aerrow declared and Stork made a strange noise somewhere in between a gag and a whine.
Wing did hug him this time and it nearly knocked him over. She was solid, all hundred odd pounds of her.
"Thank you all, so much!" she said, and she hugged the others too, nearly getting crushed by Junko. She even hugged Stork, who choked and tried to pull away from her. She just smiled and hugged Piper again.
"You're sure you want me along?" she asked, suddenly wary. "I'm not going to make things awkward or anything, am I? You guys seem to have a pretty tight team, I don't want to get in the way."
"You won't. We want you to come with us, all of us." Aerrow assured her.
"Even Stork." Finn added and Wing laughed as Stork scowled at him.
"This is just so… I've got nothing to say, actually, but I'm so happy you asked me! You won't regret it I promise!" Wing assured them, putting a fist over her heart to seal the promise.
"Come on, I'll help you get your stuff ready, if you want." Piper offered. Wing bobbed her head in agreement and looped an arm through Piper's as they turned for the house. They didn't skip or anything, but they did start singing some song about being off to see a wizard.
Finn shook his head. "Girls. It's ok if they touch each other, but when you try anything…hey, Aerrow, do you think it's a good idea to let them share a room? They're getting pretty…close." He was smirking by the end, not looking at all concerned.
"Finn, I advise you not to let them hear you say that." Aerrow suggested.
"All I'm saying is don't let them be alone together too much… unless you've got a camera." Finn said and earned a smack across the back of the head from both Aerrow and, surprisingly, Stork.
"Come on, let's see if she needs our help." Aerrow said sternly
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Wing's room was like a secret room in a forgotten tower. To get to it you had to first navigate you way to the door on the second floor that led up a narrow flight of rickety steps. At the top of those stairs sat the attic, and located in a remote corner was a set of twisted metal stairs that brought you to the bottom of a trap door. It was there that Wing resided.
The room itself was rounded with a domed ceiling, ringed with skylights. A large patch of the outside wall was a giant window, which let the inhabitant of the room have a gorgeous view of the sprawling jungle. A narrow mattress was tucked cosily against the opposite wall from the window, but aside from that there wasn't much furniture. A shelf with a few books, a soft looking window seat beneath the expanse of glass and an old wardrobe. There was also a stack of boxes off to the side, but Piper didn't feel like asking about them. They probably contained some of the same things as the trunk in the garage. She was mostly enchanted by the window.
"Wow, this is you room?" she asked, moving toward the window to look out over the jungle.
"Yep. This used to be my Mom's favourite room in the house. It's kinda sparse, but I'm not in here too often anyways." Wing said.
Piper sat down on the window seat, imaging Wing's sick mother looking out from this same spot at the world she was away from too often. If Wing was anything like her mother then she must have loved the outdoors and the beauty of the world. What a terrible choice to have to make: Risk going out into the sun and catching some sort of sickness that could mean your death or staying inside and slowly let your spirit die. It was heartbreaking to comprehend, let alone live with.
Wing was tugging a large, thin trunk out from under her bed. "I feel like I'm in a daze." she was saying. "I really can't believe this. When I knew you guys were going to be leaving today… oh, god I didn't now what I was going to do. It wasn't just that you were the first people I've spoken to in years either. Just, something about all of you…the way you seemed like a family, the way you were all so nice to me, despite that fact that I'd attacked you. And they way you seemed to care about me, about what had happened to me before. It struck me. You guys are special, you know. I feel like I've known you all my life, I feel like I can trust you. When you all were around, I felt… like I was safe, like I was home." Wing ended with a soft laugh. "I probably sound crazy. You barely know me."
Piper was watching her carefully. "You don't sound crazy to me."
Wing looked at her intensely. "It means so much to me that you want to take me along. I'll never be able to thank you enough."
"You don't have to. We're squadron now."
Wing smiled. She liked the sound of it. She turned back to her trunk and opened the lid. "I don't have too many belongings. Is your room going to be big enough for both of us?"
Piper laughed. "I don't know. We'll work something out. I think we've got a spare bunk that we can get Junko to attach to the wall. We can take turns having top bunk."
Wing nodded eagerly. "This is gonna be so great! We can stay up late, telling ghost stories!" she paused and looked at Piper honestly. "I've never had a friend who was a girl before. It was always just me and my brothers."
"Same here. I love my boys, I wouldn't leave them for anything, but I get a little lonely sometimes, you know?" Piper said, sitting on Wing's bed.
"Exactly! You gotta have someone who's the same…species as you." Wing said, choosing not to use gender and finding it sounded better that way. She and Piper laughed.
"It'll be like a permanent sleep over!" Piper said. She grimaced. "We can do each other's hair!"
Wing pulled a face. "Yeah, right after we give each other a manicure."
"Don't forget make-overs!" Piper added, and they both gagged at that one.
"Oooooooh, and we've just got to tell each other about our true loves!" Wing said and they cackled like lunatics.
"And we can have pillow fights!" Piper cried just as Stork poked his head up over the edge of the trapdoor.
Wing waved at him. "Hey, Stork, want to share diet tips with us?"
"If by diet you mean this," Piper said and mimed sticking a finger down her throat. Wing fell off her bed, she was laughing so hard.
"Um, ok, I think I'll be leaving." Stork said turning to go.
"Was there something you wanted?" Wing asked, wheezing and still lying on the floor.
"I just wanted to see where you two had gotten to. I'd like to leave as soon as possible, this place is definitely not doing wonders for my rash. Must be the air…"
"We were packing. Come on up, if you want." Wing said and Stork uneasily climbed the rest of the way into her room.
"Like the décor?" Wing asked, motioning to the walls, which were completely blank.
"Impeccable taste. Finn's tearing apart your kitchen, by the way."
"Ah well, not like I'll be needing that food anymore, right?" Wing rolled over and got up. She picked up her trunk a second time and went over to the wardrobe while Stork looked around nervously.
"Did you see the view from the window, Stork? I wish my room could have a window like that." Piper said enviously.
"Well, if you want your whole room to be made of glass… and it's not like that isn't a safety hazard. I mean, just on good sized hailstone and you're sliced into ribbons. Nothing wrong with that."
"Thanks for looking out for my well being." Piper said cheerfully. "Um, Wing, what about those boxes there? Was there anything you wanted out of there?"
Wing glanced towards them. 'To be honest, I haven't looked through those in ages. You want to help me sort through 'em?"
"Er, sure, if you don't mind." Piper said, shuffling over next to the boxes and taking the top most one down to start looking. "What kind of things are you looking for?"
Wing ungraciously dropped her trunk and sat on her knees next to Piper. "A lot of this is just old stuff I couldn't get rid of. If it looks worthless just put it off to the side. Anything like, I dunno, photos maybe, could you make a pile just there? This was all stuff I was going to sort and put in that chest you saw outside, but to be honest I couldn't finish. I think I got depressed for a while and then I just never got around to finishing it."
Piper nodded and began carefully extracting things from one box while Wing got to work on another. Piper was worried she might put something in the "worthless" pile and find out it was actually quite important, so she ended up putting almost everything into one pile. There was a lot of old photographs and she tried not to let her eye linger on them too long for fear of seeming nosey. There were also some more books, a couple certificates of achievement, a small wooden box filled with different, brightly coloured beads and a worn old sketch book. Piper couldn't help but flip through it. She was amazed by the skill and effort that were put into each drawing. They were flawless and beautiful.
"Who drew all of these?" Piper asked.
"Vallen. He had my Mom's hair and her artistic ability. Those were some of his out in the chest." Wing pulled out another sketch book from her box. "This is hers."
Piper compared two drawings and could pick out similarity and differences in the style. They were both gorgeous, though. Piper flipped quickly through Wing's mother's book and found an absolutely stunning picture of a handsome man in profile, who had an expression of both deep thought and exuberance on his fair face.
Wing glanced over. "That's my Mom's favourite sketch. She said it was the best she'd ever done."
"Who is it in the drawing?"
"My Dad." Wing said proudly.
Piper nodded and put both sketch books in the keeper pile. She jumped as something sharp floated past her face and realized Stork had come crouched next to her. He was holding a necklace with a wicked looking fang dangling between two dark blue beads.
"What's this?" he asked, looking hypnotized.
"Oh, that was Farren's. He used to say that the fang was from a baby dragon and when I was younger I believed him. It's from a python, really. That necklace was his lucky charm, but that kid was just all around lucky. I think he had more scars then any of the rest of us. His luck ran out eventually, though." Wing looked at the way Stork was watching the fang swing back and forth. "You can have it, if you want."
"Huh? Oh, no way, I couldn't." Stork thrust the necklace at her. "It's not my…colour."
Wing laughed and accepted the necklace, slipping it over her own neck instead.
It took the three of them little under and hour to sort through all the boxes. Wing bundled up everything she wanted to take with her into one box and set it on top of her trunk. Then she scanned her room one last time as if saying goodbye.
"I guess this is it." She said, looking thrilled and nervous at the same time. "You wanna know something weird? I've never been off this Terra in my life. It's going to be strange saying goodbye to it."
"Never?" Piper gawked.
"Nope."
"Great, we've saddled up with an amateur." Stork said.
"Hey, Twitchy, I might not have been off this rock, but I'm not an amateur." Wing assured him offensively.
"We'll let the Cyclonians decide that." Stork said without thinking. Piper inhaled sharply and Stork wanted to hit himself. Wing's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Oh yeah, they'll decide alright." she growled. "When I lop their heads from their shoulders…" she snapped her neck irritably and stepped past Stork. She jammed the box under her arm and grasped the handle of the trunk with the opposite hand. "Come on, let's see what damage's been done to my kitchen."
Stork winced at Piper and she gave him a "good going, genius" look and followed Wing down the stairs. Stork sighed and hurried after them, nearly tripping over his own mutated feet on the curling staircase.
Finn had indeed torn apart the kitchen, with Junko and Radarr's help. Piper slapped a hand over her face when she saw the mess. Finn just waved.
"Thought you might need some help emptying the fridge." he said casually, waving a drumstick in demonstration.
"Hey, if you can't smell it, eat it, that's what I always say." Wing said, heading for the outside door. "Help yourselves." she called upon exiting the house.
"You better clean all this up before we go, Finn." Piper said sternly, hands on her hips. "Your lucky Wing's so generous. If it were my house…"
"Yeah, but we aren't." Finn pointed out.
"Where's Aerrow?" Piper asked exasperatedly.
"I think he went outside." Junko said.
Aerrow was outside as they spoke, looking out over the jungle from the highest point on the plateau. Wing came up behind him so quietly he didn't know she was there until she brushed his side.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she said, gazing out in the direction he was looking over the jungle, which was bathed in the orange/ violet glow of the rising sun. A few brave stars still shone boldly over the canopy and then there was pure empty sky as far as the eye could see.
Aerrow nodded. "It sure is. I can see why your father picked this Terra to start a family on." He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "You're sure you want to leave it?"
Wing took a deep breath as if taking in as much of the jungle air as she could and let it out. "I'll come back, one day. I've stayed here too long, alone, I think. There's still a war going on out there, and I've got a role to play in it yet."
Aerrow clasped her shoulder in a comradely way. "Spoken from a true warrior." he said and Wing smiled.
"Brotherhood of the Wing." she said in agreement, even though Aerrow still wasn't exactly sure what that meant.
"Hey you two!" Piper called from the house. "Are you ready to get going?"
"You all packed?" Aerrow asked Wing.
"Yep, yep, yep, I'm all set. Do you guys need any crystals? I've got tons back in the garage, we might as well take them with us." Wing said, heading down the hill towards the house, calling the last part out to Piper.
"Let's have a quick look then!" she answered and the three of them ducked into the barn.
Wing did have a large assortment of crystals just collecting dust: green and blue Strikers, Blazers, Swarm crystals, a handful of Icers, some Mist crystals, a ton of Fuel crystals and a dusty old Solaris crystal.
"You can have 'em." Wing said, taking an old satchel off a shelf and shoving in a few Strikers and Blazers. "I only use these ones anyways."
"Great! Thanks, Wing!" Piper said, placing the crystals carefully in the box that until recently had held Wing's family's old belongings.
Stork came over to them then, looking truly in pain. "Are you planning on leaving sometime this week? I think I just got stung by some weird looking wasp… probably allergic to the venom…"
"Black or purple stripes?" Wing asked, heading over to her skimmer.
"Uh…" Stork faltered. He hadn't been counting on anyone actually taking an interest. He felt like Wing was trying to call his bluff. "Why?"
"Oh, well, I was just wondering… I suppose you'll be alright if it was just the black kind…those purple ones though…" Wing shook her head and loaded her small trunk and the chest with the Stryker insignia onto the back of her skimmer.
"What about them?" Stork breathed, eye twitching like mad.
"Maybe it's better if I don't tell you." Wing said dramatically, throwing a wink at Piper and Aerrow as she rolled her ride out past them.
Stork was now looking at his arm as if he expected it to fall off at any given moment. Piper and Aerrow shared a smile as they followed Wing out of the garage. Finn, Junko and Radarr were waiting for them, already straddling their skimmers.
Aerrow climbed onto his converter next to Radarr. Wing was giving her house one last look, and then she turned to look briefly at the row of headstones.
"I'll make you all proud." Aerrow heard her whisper as she kicked her engine into life. "Goodbye." She glanced around and whistled to Falshade, who was eating something.
"Moving out, Big Guy." she told him. "Lead the way, Aerrow."
Aerrow nodded and took off into the air again, heading back the way they'd come. He glanced back to make sure the others were following and as he looked over the plateau he could have sworn he saw nine shadowy figures waving from the side of the barn. He blinked and they were gone and he supposed it must have been a trick of the light. But deep inside he couldn't help but wish, for Wing's sake that it wasn't.
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Stork started up the Condor and let out a huge, relaxed sigh. Oh yeah, this was good. This was what he was meant to do. He never felt more at home anywhere then he did behind the helm of the ship. With a rumbling as familiar as his own breathing the Condor lifted from the ground and into the air where she belonged.
"We're heading due East." Piper said from her place at the table and Stork nodded and pulled the controls slightly in that direction. Whenthe Condor wasn't acting up or plummeting from the sky she handled pretty easily, contrary to most of her crew's belief.
As the jungle dropped out of sight beneath them Stork let his eyes slide over to where Wing was standing by the window, looking down at her homeland as it disappeared from view. Falshade was standing beside her and growled softly, maybe even comfortingly and Wing rubbed his head briefly before wiping the back of her hand across her eyes. She sniffled quietly and then must have felt Stork's eyes on her because she glanced in his direction. She smiled bravely and gave him the thumbs up and he quirked the side of his mouth in acknowledgement before breaking eye contact and starring at his arm where he wasn't sure if he'd been stung by some deadly jungle wasp or not.
I tried to make it shorter, but it's hard for me! The story picks up in a couple chapters, don't worry! I had to get some stuff out of the way first. Thanks for all the reviews!