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Chapter 4: Suspicious Minds
Aerrow was beginning to see a pattern happening with their situation; every Terra they came to was immediately set upon by Cyclonians, no matter how peaceful it had seemed before. And it also came to his attention that many of their crystals were disappearing.
It was only until one night when the thought of treachery in his team crossed his mind. He tried to ignore it, but the more he thought about it, the more realistic it seemed to become.
The next morning, as Aerrow stepped onto the bridge and glanced at his team, he realised that, if his assumptions were correct, everyone was a suspect.
Aerrow was becoming suspicious, Stork noticed. He saw it in the way he would look at them if they so much as walked past him, even at Radarr. Dark Ace had instructed Stork to lay low until the time to reveal his betrayal was right. But, day by day, such a feat seemed to grow more impossible. Each time Stork was left alone on the Condor, Dark Ace and some of his Talons would take the opportunity to steal as many crystals as they could carry.
That morning Stork decided that if his team could not have the crystals, then neither could the Cyclonians. He would just have to plan how to get rid of the ones they had left.
Piper walked onto the bridge just that minute, "Finn, you remember that little discussion we had last night?"
"About not using your crystal tools to pick my nose?" Finn asked.
"No. About how hard it is for you to put the seat down after taking a piss." Piper replied angrily.
As Finn and Piper argued, Stork's eyes lit up, "That's it!" he muttered.
Later that day, Aerrow came across Stork in the corridor, clutching a bunch of crystals to his chest.
"What're you doing with those?" Aerrow asked.
"Piper needs them for analysis," Stork replied, having already planned his story, "to find out what's making them disappear."
Aerrow gave him an uncertain look, but continued to walk down the corridor back to the bridge. Stork, on the other hand, carried the crystals into the bathroom and locked himself in.
I can't believe I'm doing this, Stork thought as he dropped the crystals into the toilet. He tried to flush them all down together, but, to Stork's horror, they started to block the drains and the water rose higher. If he flushed them all one by one, Aerrow could get even more suspicious. As a last ditch effort, Stork grabbed the plunger, stood on the seat and heaved at the crystals with all his might.
Someone knocked at the door, "Hello? Anyone in there?" It was Junko.
Stork groaned, "What do you want, Junko?!"
"Well, are you alright in there?" Junko called back.
"I've - never - been - better!" Stork shouted.
"You sure? You sound a little constipated." Junko asked.
Stork narrowed his eyes. Oh, how ironic, he thought.
"Piper always said you should eat more fibre in your diet." Junko added.
Stork decided to play along, if it would make Junko go away, "Yes, thank you for that, Junko, I'll take better care of myself in future."
As soon as Junko had left, Stork pulled the chain again and the crystals soon disappeared, much to his relief.
But hiding the crystals may not have been enough. To prevent Aerrow from suspecting him to be stealing the crystals, Stork took more crystals from Piper's room and hid them in Finn and Junko's rooms. He also took Finn's bow and one of Junko's knuckle-busters, while they were not looking, and hid them in Aerrow's room. To pin some blame on Piper, Stork took the crystals from Aerrow, Finn and Junko's skimmers and hid them in her heli-scooter. He hated himself for pinning the blame on the boys, and it hurt him more to betray Piper, but he had to do it to keep his name clear.
Soon they arrived at Terra Ray, already beset with Cyclonians. It did not take Piper and the boys long to realise the absence of their crystals and weapons, but Aerrow decided they should go down anyway. As soon as they were out of sight, Stork opened the hatch to release the Talons. Dark Ace stepped onto the bridge, holding a wet and dirty crystal.
"Well, well, would you look at what I found in the waste disposal," he said sarcastically, holding up the crystal, "and this isn't the only one."
Stork realised he had been caught. He smiled sheepishly and shrugged. But Dark Ace was not smiling.
He stepped up to Stork menacingly, "This ends tonight," he hissed, "park the Condor somewhere secluded and we'll drop the Storm Hawks there. And you know what'll happen if I find anymore crystals in the pisser!"
Aerrow returned to the Condor furious, "That was a total disaster!" he glared at his team, "Why can't you guys pull yourselves together? We're in the middle of an invasion and you forget your weapons!"
"Well, excuse me, Mr High-and-Mighty," Finn answered back "but if I remember right, you didn't bother bringing your crystals!"
"Only because Piper had them!" Aerrow replied.
"Oh, so you're calling me a thief now?" Piper said outraged.
"As far as I'm concerned, I'm the only one who made a difference down there," Aerrow argued, "you lot were so busy sorting out your own fuck-ups, you hardly noticed the Terra going down."
"Look, just take a chill pill, dude. We're not all as perfect as you!" Finn replied angrily.
"And it's always gotta be about you!" Piper attacked, poking Aerrow's chest, "It's always you, you, you, you, you! Never mind us!"
"Please don't fight!" Junko pleaded, "I hate it when we fight!"
"Oh, for fuck's sake," Aerrow grunted under his breath, "grow up, Junko!"
"Maybe you need to grow up Aerrow!" Piper shouted at him, while Finn put a comforting arm on Junko's shoulder, "and get some sense! You're acting as if this is our entire fault!"
"Well maybe it is your fault!" Aerrow burst, his face as red as his hair, "All this suspicious behaviour started when the invasion began. And I know that one of you is in league with the Cyclonians!"
Stork had been at the Condor's controls throughout the argument and was lucky to have had his back to them all, hiding his guilt ridden face.
"Aerrow, that's crazy!" Piper answered, shocked, "We would never do a thing like that, none of us!"
"You all have your reasons for treachery. I don't know who it is yet, but I'll find out," Aerrow seemed to pause for a moment, "and what have you been doing for the past few days, eh?!"
Stork knew that that was directed at him. He tried to look as innocent as possible when he looked back at Aerrow, but Piper was already standing in front of him in protection, blocking his face from Aerrow's view.
"Aerrow, leave Stork out of this! Leave us all out of this! If anyone is guilty of treachery here, it's you! Blaming us for nothing!"
Aerrow glared at Piper. Then, his face a mixture of anger and embarrassment, he stormed out of from the bridge to his room.
"Screw you," he muttered as he left, "screw you all…"
Piper put her arm around Stork in a hug, "Don't listen to him. You haven't done anything wrong."
Stork laid his head on her shoulder. If only that were the truth, he thought.
Stork slammed his head against the wall of his room that night, "What the fuck am I doing?" he groaned.
He had never seen Aerrow express so much anger as he had done today. And it was his own actions that had inadvertently caused it. He had not expected his betrayal to have affected the team this much. Earlier that evening, Finn and Junko had found their weapons and another argument with Aerrow had ensued.
A tugging pain in his chest reminded Stork that he could no longer go back on his agreement with Dark Ace. The Cyclonian Invasion was already underway and he was steeped to far into the deception of his own team.
He left his room and stepped onto the bridge. Piper had been minding the Condor's controls for him as they prepared to enter Terra Amazonia. He put his arm around her shoulder. She giggled and put her arm around his waist and hugged him back.
"What's all this for?" she grinned.
Stork managed a small smile, "I don't know. I just…felt like it."
Hugging Piper did little to ease his aching heart. But it was his last night with the Storm Hawks. He had to make it count.
Finn, Junko, Piper and Radarr all turned in one by one. Stork sat by the window, watching the darkness creep in around the Terra. He heard someone walk onto the bridge. He looked behind, expecting to see Dark Ace. But it was not him. It was Aerrow.
"Hey. Are you coming to bed?" he asked, pointing back to the living quarters.
"Yeah, soon." Stork replied sadly.
"OK," Aerrow stood in silence for a moment, "Stork, about today… I didn't mean to speak to you like that, and I'm sorry. I just want what's best for you all. You're my friends, and I'd hate for us to fall out over this."
It moved Stork to hear Aerrow talk so sincerely and to think that what would come next would defy all he had said. A tear fell from his eye and rolled down the glass.
"Thank you, Aerrow." Stork managed to reply.
"Goodnight Stork." Aerrow smiled.
"Goodnight," Stork watched Aerrow leave the bridge to his room, and whispered quietly, "doubtless we'll ever be team mates again…"
Please R&R.
