Terra Rium...Testing
The Storm Hawks still found themselves unsure of what to do next. They could only stare at the perpetually smiling boy while the man behind him continued to smolder. Thankfully, Gubbio soon broke the silence.
"There, you met them." He said simply to his son, holding a reserved tone of voice. "And since your up anyway, you can go help Doc in his lab... On the ship...Now!"
Rick gave Gubbio a an annoyed sigh as he rolled his eyes. He quickly ran back up the gangway, stopping at the top to turn around and face the Storm Hawks again. "I'll talk to you guys later!" He yelled excitedly, giving a quick wave good bye before disappearing into the freighter.
Aerrow looked at Gubbio, unsure of what to say but found his mouth was trying to form words.
"If you don't mind, I'd rather focus on finishing up here." Gubbio said quickly, eager to change the subject. "We can talk all we want after we finish working on your ship and are on the terra." Gubbio turned on his heel and moved to pick up a scanner, making himself look as busy as he could.
"Dude." Finn said, his voice reflecting his disbelief. He kept his voice low as he leaned in to talk with Aerrow. "Someone actually had a kid with that tight-ass jerk?"
"Yes, someone did." Quin said, stepping close to Finn and giving him a cold stare. "And if your smart, which I don't think you are, you'll watch what you say about it." Quin turned and moved to get back to work on The Condor.
Harley moved to follow her brother, stopping to turn and face the still bewildered Storm Hawks. "It really is best if you don't pry into Gubbio's personal life." She said with a small smile to Finn, giving the rest of the Storm Hawks a sympathetic gaze. "He's really not that bad of a guy when you get to know him. It's just..."
"Harley!" Quin yelled from where he was working, giving his sister a quick shake of his head.
"Well, back to work then." Harley said simply before moving to work alongside her brother.
This just left Brahm standing next to the Storm Hawks now. He looked at them, but said nothing. He shifted his gaze to Stork, gazing at him with questioning eyes.
"Um..." Stork began to speak, unsure of what to say to his fellow carrier pilot. "Do you want to check out our bridge?"
Brahm gave Stork a simple nod.
"Okay." Stork began to move into the ship, motioning for Brahm to follow. "This way."
The rest of the Storm Hawks watched as Brahm followed Stork into the ship. They repressed a laugh as they watched him have to duck and turn his body to fit through the doorways.
Quin approached Junko. "I need to see your engine room."
Junko gave Quin a friendly smile. "Sure thing." A sudden rumble erupted from Junko's stomach, reminding him that he hadn't had breakfast yet. "Do you mind if I swing into the kitchen first? I haven't really eaten yet."
"You can eat after we're done." Quin said firmly, narrowing his eyes at Junko. "The sooner I'm off your carrier, the better."
Junko's smile faded as he moved to lead Quin toward the engine room.
Harley quickly ran up, moving toward Finn. "I need to check your weapons systems."
"Actually, Junko is..." Aerrow began before Finn quickly cut him off.
"Busy helping her brother." Finn said to Aerrow with a bright smile. He quickly turned his attention to Harley, Sticking out his elbow for Harley to grab onto. "Right this way my dear. No one knows these systems better than me." Harley ignored his elbow, but followed him into The Condor.
Aerrow and Piper now found themselves staring at Gubbio, who was busy scanning the same section of bulkhead that he had been scanning for the last five minutes.
"So, where is Radarr?" Piper said, breaking the silence.
"Hm?" Aerrow gave Piper a confused look. "What do you mean?"
"Well, Rick asked where Radarr was, and I didn't realize till then that he wasn't here." Piper was still staring at Gubbio, still trying to figure him out.
"Oh, he's still sleeping." Aerrow said casually as he shifted his gaze back to Gubbio. "It's pretty early, and I get the feeling that he didn't want to see Gubbio again anyway. So, I let him stay asleep."
"Oh, okay." Piper said, her focus still on Gubbio. She let out a sigh. Screw it. She thought to herself. "We know that your just trying to look busy!" She yelled at Gubbio, a small smirk on her lips. "How about just coming over here and answering some questions about your Repton problem."
Gubbio looked over his shoulder at Piper, then looked back at the bulkhead and sighed. He set the scanner down and moved toward Piper and Aerrow. "Fine."
"So when did you first have problems with Repton?" Aerrow asked, trying to resist the urge to ask about other things.
"He first showed up a few years back. Caused all kinds of problems, some people died." Gubbio said simply.
"How did he even find your terra in the first place?" Piper questioned, looking around at the dense cloud cover. "It seems pretty well hidden."
"We're pretty sure he came across us by accident." Gubbio said, his voice seemed to drift as he began to remember the first encounters with Repton. "Only people who have been there before can really find it. Our sensors are finely tuned because we live here, but normal sensors go berserk inside the clouds."
"So how did you deal with him before?" Aerrow asked with curiosity.
"We were more relaxed back then, Repton quickly changed that." Gubbio said sternly, his voice seemed to take on a more serious tone now. "We barely managed to repel his constant attacks. It was only when Cyclonia asserted their control over him that the attacks stopped. I don't know why, but I only wish they had stopped sooner..." Gubbio's voice trailed off as he paused for a moment. His eyes looked to the deck as he seemed to remember something. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. His voice became hard edged again as he continued. "We took no more chances after that. We worked to fortify our terra in case anyone ever tried doing that again."
"And now that Cyclonia is gone, Repton comes back." Aerrow said thoughtfully. "But why come back so soon after Cyclonia had fallen."
"Our crystal mines are rich in some very powerful weapons grade crystals." Gubbio said firmly. "He would want to have as much firepower as he could before he tried to have a conquest of his own."
"Yeah, we figured that much already." Piper said, her thoughts still trying to put the pieces together. "But why your terra? There are other crystal mines that are closer to his terra, and more accessible. Do you have anything here that makes your terra more of a target?"
"No." Gubbio said quickly. He paused as he looked at Aerrow and Piper with cautious eyes. "At least, nothing that I can think of anyway."
Aerrow and Piper exchanged a look, but didn't say anything.
Behind Gubbio, everyone was emerging from The Condor. Finn was chatting with Harley while Quin was walking behind them giving Finn a strong scowl. Stork and Junko were moving ahead af Brahm who, once again, was struggling to get through The Condor's doorway.
Gubbio turned to face his approaching crew. "How does everything look?"
Harley stepped forward, moving away from a Finn with a small wave. "Their weapons should be fine. Though it wouldn't hurt them to install a few more cannons."
Quin moved to stand next to his sister, giving Finn a hard shoulder bump as he passed by. "Their engine is a little old but surprisingly powerful. I had to do some minor rewiring so that they wouldn't have to worry about the odd power spikes, but overall they should be okay."
Junko and Stork exchanged a smile after hearing the small bit of praise.
Gubbio looked at Brahm, a simple nod was all he got from the large man. "Guess we've done all we can then." He said simply. "Everyone back on the ship." He turned to look at Aerrow, giving him a hard gaze. "As soon as we pull away, keep as close as possible. If you lose sight of us, just cut power and we'll turn around. Don't try and find us, you'll only get your self's lost in the dense clouds." He moved to follow his crew up the gangway, pausing to look over his shoulder at Aerrow before he moved into the ship. "Try not to get lost, I might just leave you in there as a lesson if you do." With that as his final comment, he moved into the ship and closed the door behind him. The gangway began to retract as the various grappling arms did the same.
"Just has to be an ass all the time, huh?" Finn said as he watched the freighter begin to pull away from The Condor.
"Let's not give him a reason to be." Aerrow said as he began to move back into The Condor. "Let's get through this and show them just how good we are." He said with a confident voice.
The Storm Hawks moved to the bridge and began to follow Gubbio's freighter into the dense sea of couds. The cloud's started to roll over the windshield and obstruct their view.
"Hmmm." Stork looked into the dense cloud bank as he piloted The Condor as close as he felt safe enough to the freighter.
Piper moved close to Stork, noticing his nervous twitch that was already starting up in his eye. "It's okay Stork. It's just clouds."
"And behind these clouds is a terra full of people who won't like me just because of my blood-type. People who are under siege by one of the biggest villains in the skies of Atmos. And we're following the jerk who protects them, and said hello by blowing a hole in my windshield and kicking our butts." Stork said simply in a slightly nervous tone of voice.
"When you say it like that.." Piper began but Stork finished for her.
"..it sounds like we're all doomed?" Stork said with a small smirk as he gave Piper a sideways glance.
Piper just gave him a smile and looked out the window and into the dense sea of clouds, keeping an eye on the Gubbio's freighter. The clou'ds were so thick that they could really only make out a rough silhouetteof the ship just in front of it's tail fins. The air seemed to crackle with energy as The Condor moved through the depressing grey ocean.
........
"Are they behind us?" Gubbio asked Brahm from where he stood behind his pilot.
Brahm gave a simple nod, guiding the over-sized controls of the freighter through the clouds.
"So, how long until you tell them?" Harley asked. She was leaning against a bulkhead on the side of the dimly lit bridge.
"I'll tell them if it becomes an issue." Gubbio said simply, keeping his gaze forward and looking out the windshield.
"You know it will." Harely said with a small high pitched laugh.
"Maybe." Gubbio said, gruff voice carried an annoyed tone. "Or, maybe not. I don't want another Stryker." Gubbio spoke Stryker's name with disdain. "We don't need more people than necessary knowing our secrets. Using them as blackmail to do get us to do what they want." He shot Harley a hard look. "So we'll see how long we can keep things as they are. And try not to get to close the idiot."
"Who? Finn?" Harley said with a laugh. "He's a bit funny, sure. But I'm not planning to to follow some people's example." She said in a mocking tone while staring at Gubbio.
Gubbio turned to stare with both eyes at Harley, his gaze had turned serious, his yellow eyes almost seemed to pierce into Harley's. "Got a problem?"
"N-n-no, sir." Harely stuttered as she shrank away from Gubbio's gaze.
"Good." He said as he turned to look back out into the clouds.
A sudden beeping erupted from the nearby sensor console. Harley moved over to look at the screen. "We have company!" She yelled.
Gubbio a big toothy grin cross his face. "Good, now will have a chance to see what the pups are made of." He said as he moved to out of the bridge, making his way for the hanger.
Harley moved to catch up with her leader. "How do you think they'll do in the clouds?"
"They said they have experience dealing with Repton." Gubbio said as he moved quickly through the ship. "Some thick clouds shouldn't be a problem then."
Harley didn't say anything, just gave Gubbio an uncertain look.
"Don't worry." He said casually as they finally entered their hanger. "I'll let them get a good feeling of what their up against, then we'll see how confident they are." He grabed his helmet and jet board, moving to do hanger bay door. "Time to go to work!"
Looks like another fight is coming up. But, their still in the sea of clouds. How wil the Storm Hawks fair in this battle? Well, while you review this, the next chapter will be out soon. The more reviews I get, the faster the next chapter comes out. ;P Does this make me evil? Maybe, but only a little. See you next chapter.
