AN: I know there's going to be people to bring this up later on, so I may as well address it now. Yes, I KNOW that the excuse for why the Dark Ace is still alive is completely and utterly pathetic. The simple fact of the matter is, if there ever was a movie or season three, we all know that they would somehow bring the Dark Ace back. It's not the show without him, and he simply has too large a fan base for them to sacrifice that character. That's the real reason for why he's back, so for now, just take Cyclonis' word for it.
Anywho, thanks to my reviewers as always. It's you guys who keep me going! Oh, and here is where 'Faith' finally comes into play. I was lazy and pretty much copied more than half of the oneshot… so if you've already read it, you're not missing much if you feel like skipping it – just make sure you read the rest of the chapter!
Chapter 4: Searching
The library which branched out from the Atmosian Hall was almost deserted. And why wouldn't it be? People were celebrating the end of the war all across Atmos. Who would want to be cooped up in some musty old building, pursuing volumes of books which held no particular interest to the casual passerby? Who would be determined and stubborn enough to keep working into the dark hours of late evening? Who would still have a mission to fulfill?
Just one person.
As the flickering candlelight continued to illuminate the desk, the sky knight's hand brushed against yet another book. For hours the library's one occupant had been enveloped in work; manuscripts and massive volumes crowded around the small workspace. As the research continued, the only sound was the occasional scratching of a quill on paper as another note was jotted down. Yet this had to be done. The Storm Hawks were counting on her…
"Starling?" The purple haired knight's concentration broke as the voice sounded behind her. She turned in her seat to find it was the leader of the Sky Knight Council. "Still here?" the old man asked, carrying a candle in one hand and a book in another. "The library is closing now." He spoke kindly enough, yet was by no means able to successfully keep the suspicion out of his voice.
Starling's face showed the smallest twinge of surprise. "Is it really that late?"
The man nodded. "Why don't you put away these books and go find a party to attend? I daresay, you'd surely have your pick. Atmos has never known such celebration." The councillor's attempt at happiness fell sugary and false on his lips among the dull and serious atmosphere. He quickly reverted back to his normal calm manner when he noticed that Starling maintained her stony disposition.
"If it's alright with you," Starling replied, as she turned back to her work. "I'd like to stay a little longer."
The old man sighed and pulled up a chair. He placed his things on the desk as he sat down. "What is it you are doing, Starling?"
"I'm on a mission," Starling said with a will of steel. "To help save the Storm Hawks."
The councillor closed his eyes dully and shook his head. "I know you, Starling. After all, your opinion is regarded in the highest esteem with the council, but you feel like you still need to fight. You're not happy unless you're being productive. Well I have news for you. Atmos is finally at peace. There's no need to fight now. Forget this and go home. Your anxiety is dampening the spirits of others."
Starling was silent for a while as she made another note on the parchment laid before her. "You're wrong." The councillor looked up as Starling spoke. "I'm not trying to fight. I'm trying to save the people whom we owe our peace to."
The man sighed again. "They don't need saving…"
"Are you bloody daft?" Starling suddenly burst out. "The door disappeared as the Storm Hawks went through! As far as I know, there's no way for them to get back. Everyone saw it! I don't know why more people aren't doing anything about it. How do you expect them to return to Atmos?" Starling panted in frustration for a moment, then reclaimed her calm. "I'm sorry," Starling said bitterly, and still cross. "I shouldn't have yelled."
The old man said nothing to counter this point, yet nodded his head all the same. "I understand, Starling. We all wish that the Storm Hawks could be here… but they are not. They still have business to finish…" Starling remained quiet and wary, not sure which way the conversation was headed. "They shall forever be honoured here…" He ran his hand across the page of his book, which laid open on the desk. Starling glanced at manuscript and saw it was the squadron registry. It was open to the newest page where the most recent entry lay inked onto the paper. Below it were the printed names of the team… still awaiting their owners' signatures…
Starling turned away from the book and back towards her own research. "They way you talk makes it sound like they're already dead."
"Starling!..." The old man couldn't conceal the falseness of his surprise at such true accusations, and Starling frowned as she realized she had hit an all-too-real fact.
"The first chance of true peace and you people grab it without a second thought about any of the consequences. What point is there to war and heroes if they are tossed aside and forgotten? You say I'm dampening peoples' spirits? Maybe I should. Shame on them for allowing themselves to live in their veiled fantasy of perfection while others are still struggling through the aftermath."
"Starling, you go too far." The councillor's voice rang with authority and anger in the hall yet was spoken softly and evenly. "Now I think it best you leave. Now."
Starling grabbed as many books as she could and rose to her feet. "Fine," she said bitterly. "I'll go." She walked away, books and paper in hand. However, as she reached the door she was stopped by the final words of the councillor.
"You need to have faith in them, Starling."
Starling turned and faced him. "I have faith. You are the one whom has given up. You presume them to be dead in a land which return is impossible? Shame on you and shame on the Atmos for losing faith."
She then turned and walked away, her back to the Atmos.
"Master?" The Night Crawler waited patiently for Cyclonis' next orders. One was not summoned unless they were about to serve a purpose.
"There is no need to wait any longer," Cyclonis stated with a cold smile. "Go get them."
"He took… the Stork-mobile." The sheer fury and impending doom that laced the statement as Stork spoke was enough to intimidate anyone – even a Night Crawler. "My baby!" He suddenly cried out. "My work! My… my!..." But the Merb was too appalled for words. All he could do was march back and forth on the bridge as he fumed.
"We'll worry about that later, Stork!" Piper slightly scolded him. "Right now we just have to find him!"
"With the way those things were following Domiwick, he wouldn't have stayed air-born for long," Aerrow took over. After the beasts and Domiwick had disappeared, the Storm Hawks docked back onto the Condor to re-evaluate the situation. "We should land and do some recon – try to find him if he is still out there." The inflection in Aerrow's voice indicated all too clearly the possibility of the wayward explorer's well-being.
The squad nodded, knowing better than to bring the obvious counter-point to attention. The Condor landed in a clear area close by where they figured Domiwick may have been. The team walked out of the ship, flashlights in hand. The mist had settled into a more permanent and dense fog. It was grey and dark, the moisture silencing the air. The beams coming from the team's lights were only enough to reveal the first few feet in front of them.
"How are we supposed to find anyone in this?" Finn asked to no one in particular, holding out his hand in front of him to test the limited visibility.
Aerrow turned to his squad and handed out radios. "We'll split up," he said. "But don't go too far. Just do a quick sweep and report back. I don't want anyone getting lost in this mess."
As he handed Piper her radio, she looked back into the eyes of her leader, worried. "I have a bad feeling about this, Aerrow."
"Don't worry," Aerrow said. "We'll be in and out. Trust me; I don't want to be out here anymore than you do."
So they split up, winding their way through the streets once again. The fog made everything eerily quiet. The occasional muffled voice over the radio came through fuzzy and faded, yet Piper found as she searched that her footsteps continued to echo on the cobblestone streets. It was loud in the silence and there was something not right about it. As the minutes passed, her feeling of unease grew.
It was this unease that caused her to give a small shout of surprise when she saw a dark figure approaching through the mist. However, a minute later it took on clearer form, and Piper breathed a sigh of relief to discover it was merely Junko whom had crossed paths with her.
"Junko," Piper gasped slightly. "You startled me."
"Oh, sorry," Junko apologized sincerely.
"That's alright," Piper replied with a smile. "I'm glad. This place is starting to give me the creeps."
"Ya, me too." Junko agreed. "We should probably radio in soon. We've been out here for a while, and there hasn't been any sign of – "
"Junko, look!" Piper exclaimed. She was pointing towards a hazy shape in the fog. "Is that what I think it is?"
Both comrades ran over and paused in surprise at what they saw.
It was the Stork-mobile, only it was badly damaged. It appeared to have been in a very bad crash, with a few parts of debris scattered about. Both Piper and Junko turned to each other with disappointment on their faces. There was no sign of Domiwick.
"Aerrow, come in," Piper radioed in. "Junko and I found the Stork-mobile. It appears to have crashed, only there's no sign of Domiwick anywhere!"
"Search the immediate area," Aerrow instructed. "We'll try to make our way over there as fast as possible."
Piper confirmed the location and put the radio away. "Well, Junko, let's see if we can't find the rest of what we're looking for."
"Maybe we should try in there," the Wallop suggested, pointing towards the entrance of a very large building.
"Not a bad idea," Piper agreed, adjusting the position of her flashlight accordingly. Together they made their way inside, and Piper gasped, staring wide-eyed at what the two had stumbled upon.
It was a library. Without a doubt, they had come into the largest collection of books to exist in the Atmos – including the library at Atmos Hall. Books lined the walls and sat on rotting wooden shelves. Many had found their way onto the floor, and piles of damaged and dusty volumes laid strewn about. Despite it being indoors, the fog had found its way in here too, and it concealed the ceiling from view, giving the impression that the staircases stretched on for miles. It was very dark and the feeling of dust was thick in the air. Piper was left speechless at the sight of the abundance of knowledge laid out before her.
"Oh my gosh! Junko, can you imagine what we could learn from this place?"
Junko, not being the most intellectual Storm Hawk, remained focused on the task at hand. "Remember that we still need to search for Domiwick, Piper."
Piper gave her head a shake, clearing her thoughts and realizing that now was not the time. "Yes, of course. We'll think on this later."
They made their way through the library. Indeed, it was vast and contained many levels with spiral staircases leading up to more floors of information. They continued to examine the place in silence for a while, until a particular book caught Junko's interest. It laid open on top of a pile of manuscripts. There were many other identical piles strewn about, however, it was the illustration on the open page which seemed greatly significant.
"Piper?" Junko called over. "I think you should see this..."
"What is it, Junko?" Piper asked. Junko said nothing, but merely pointed to the open book. Piper, greatly curious, turned towards the pages below and yet again gasped.
It was the door. Or, it was a drawing of the door. However, it was definitely supposed to represent the portal through which the Storm Hawks had come. The detail was undeniable proof of that. Without needing any prompting, Piper picked up the book and immediately began to read. Junko waited silently, wondering what could possibly be written.
"This..." Piper stuttered after many minutes of reading. "This is amazing."
"What is it?" Junko asked, patience quickly waning to be replaced with mounting excitement.
"This book, it..." Piper's face continued to stay frozen in the half amazed smile even as she spoke. "It's an instruction manual, at least partly."
"Instructions?" Junko asked. "For what?"
"It's some kind of legend..." Piper said. "Or prophecy. Or both. I can't really tell, but basically, it talks about a person who is supposed to create a door between the Far Side and Atmos."
"Ya..." Junko said, not really making heads or tails of the situation. "That was already done. We passed through it."
"No," Piper corrected. "This seems to have been written after the war with Cyclonis... when the first door was already locked. This must had been one of the last books written..." Piper said more to herself than to Junko. "Anyways, there's this person who is only addressed here as 'The One'. Apparently 'The One' is supposed to be the only person able to successfully create a new passage between Atmos and the Far Side. The connection between the two would usher in a new age for the world, the fate of which would be determined through 'The One'..." Piper broke out into directly quoting from the text half-way through her sentence, and lapsed back into silent reading.
"Oh no..." she half-whispered as realization hit her. "I think... I think this is what Cyclonis is planning!"
"What do you mean?" asked Junko.
"Think about it, Junko!" Piper said. "Cyclonis probably knows all about this place. Chances are she would know about this too! This is how she's going to invade Atmos! She's planning on making another door! Listen, '...this can only be accomplished by someone with great power over...'" Piper broke off in mid-sentence, and her eyes grew wide.
Junko sensing something was amiss, asked, "Piper? What's wrong?"
"...someone with great power over... the Binding..." Piper whispered. "The Binding... the people of the Far Side knew about the Binding?" Piper stared off into space, lost in her own thoughts. "Did the Binding... come from the Far Side?"
"Piper?" Junko asked, a little uneasy at his friend's dreamy disposition. "Are you okay?"
Piper shook her head again. "I'm alright. Time to think about that later. Anyways, what we need to do now is take this book and alert Aerrow. I feel almost certain that this must be Cyclonis' plan."
Piper stood and faced her friend. "We should head out and –"
Out from the shadows behind Piper came a shape which attacked her from the back, knocking her unconscious. Piper fell, dropping her flashlight.
"Piper!" Junko yelled. He caught her before she could fall all the way to the ground, but in doing so he also dropped his own light. Another mysterious shadow crept in from the corner and landed a blow to the Wallop. Junko carefully laid his friend to the ground and activated his knuckle-busters, a fierce scowl lining his face. However, in the darkness his foes were invisible. The sounds of a scuffle carried out in the oppressive dark, but the Wallop would not be successful against the crawlers of the night.
Aerrow was annoyed at himself. Not only had this ill-fated 'rescue' mission carried out much longer than it should've had, but he had come into the exact circumstance which he had so often warned the rest of his team about.
He was lost.
Well, not completely lost. He knew his way back to the Condor, but too many unwise shortcuts led him far off the path which would have led him to the place where Piper had radioed in earlier. What should have taken a few minutes took several, and now he found himself stumbling through the ever-thickening fog, feeling more and more certain that this whole thing had been very unwise to begin with. He didn't even have Radarr to talk with, since the furry creature had stayed behind with Stork. They should have just left Domiwick to his own fate...
Aerrow scolded himself. He was a sky knight and it was his duty to protect those in need. Even if those who needed saving were complete jerks. Aerrow sighed and continued on for a little more. Regardless, he thought, they weren't going to find him in these conditions. He took out his radio and checked in on all channels.
"Guys, let's go back," he said.
"Finally," Finn's voice crackled over the speaker. "My hair's getting wet from all this fog."
"Piper, you didn't find anything else, did you?"
Static. Aerrow figured she must be getting bad reception. No matter, Junko was with her. "Junko? Any sign of Domiwick?"
Static on that end too. Aerrow's unease grew. He tried to calm himself by thinking logically. After all, if they were together, it's only natural that they'd both have bad reception... right?
"Finn, let's go find Piper and Junko before we head out. They're not answering their radios."
"Right-o," Finn said. "Let's just make it fast, this place makes me feel – ah!" Finn gave a shout and there were sounds of a scuffle.
"Finn? What's happened? Finn!" There were two blasts from the crossbow then static. Now Aerrow felt sure something was wrong. He should have paid heed to his intuition sooner... The feeling of being watched fell upon Aerrow, and he spun around, powering up his blades. "Who's there?" he yelled at the fog. Of course, there was nothing but silence. "Show yourself!" But even if the unseen foe were to stand two feet in front of the knight, Aerrow doubted he would have seen anyone. The fog had become a solid wall of white.
Aerrow thought he heard movement behind him, and spun on the spot. His face betrayed his fears and doubt, and he knew he was a sitting target. There was only one thing to do.
He ran.
As fast as he could, Aerrow bolted for the Condor. With any luck, the rest of his team would have the same idea. Even though the fog muted everything, Aerrow knew he heard pursuing footsteps. A shadow flew beside him in the mist, and as Aerrow turned his head to look, two red eyes stared back at him out of the haze. A moment later, they were followed by the rest of the Night Crawler, lunging to the side in order to try and tackle Aerrow to the ground. Aerrow jumped out of the way at the last second and continued to run, knowing that there must be more than one after him.
The fog made everything a mystery and a threat. As countless building loomed out of the street to block his way, Aerrow feared every time that there might be another Night Crawler lying in wait. However, he was lucky, and was able to outrun his pursuers.
Eventually, he came to the place. The Condor sat in the clearing, waiting patiently for its squad to return home. Aerrow gave his muscles one final push, using all his energy to scrambling into the ship. The moment he passed the hanger doors, he threw the immediate lockdown switch. The hanger bay doors closed and locked firmly in place, as would every other door on the ship leading to the outside. It was then that Aerrow, panting and dripping with a mix of sweat and mist, could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Nothing could get in now.
Aerrow then turned his attention to possibly the even more pressing matter at hand – where was the rest of his team?
"Piper?" he called. "Finn? Anyone?"
Aerrow made his way to the bridge, knowing that at least two of his friends were alright. "Stork? Radarr?" He asked, opening the bridge door. But alas, no one was there.
Aerrow began to feel a totally new kind of fear, and he approached the helm, glancing around as he did so. "What happened?" he wondered to the room aloud.
He then realized that there was a note taped to the helm. Aerrow pulled it off, the distinct feeling of unease mounting as he touched the brittle paper. Silently he read:
If you want to see them again, come to the tower. I'll be waiting. Be a good little boy and cooperate. Not like you have a choice. – MC
As Aerrow read the cruel words, he crumbled the note in fury and tossed it to the ground. He knew Cyclonis was evil – but this went too far. He leaned against the center table, palms supporting his shaking body against the cold steel. He tried to stabilize himself, but the fury grew too strong, and with a sunken head, he shouted anger into the empty mist.
