Chapter 7, yay. Sorry it took so long to update, it's just been crazy with school and all... To be honest, I shouldn't even be here right now / I'm supposed to be doing few exercises in math (which I can only blame myself for because I haven't really been paying much attention in class / ), but when I finally got an idea on how to finish the chapter I just had to post it too :D Hope you like it.
And I will try to post the next chapter sooner...
Disclaimer: I do not own the Storm Hawks but I do own Terra Pax and Raven
The Condor:
"Um, Stork? They haven't seen us yet so why are you slowing down?
Junko tries not to yell at the merb but it's hard to speak normally with Aerrow's loud voice coming from the radio; the Sky Knight still tries to give them their order and waits for their reply. For some reason, the radio does not allow them to answer and Junko silently blames himself for that but says nothing to the other two in the room. Radarr whines from Junko's shoulder, wondering why the radio doesn't work like it's supposed to do.
"The border to Cyclonia is right there. My ship is not entering that place again."
Tired of the noise, he lets go off the controls and puts his hands firmly over his sensitive ears.
"And will you please shut this thing off! The two of them are giving me a headache."
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With Aerrow:
Slightly annoyed, the Sky Knight grabs the helmet off his head and throws it away as he takes the goggles off as well. All he gets from the radio is static and sometimes a word or two but nothing that can tell him if his teammates heard him or not. Footsteps, heading his way, makes him turn around and he prepares himself for the worst. A man rounds the corner, his blood red eyes meeting leaf green ones, and a smirk appears on the man's face.
"Now what do we have here? I was beginning to think you wouldn't show up at all."
The teen ignores his comment and glares at his enemy as he drops the radio and draws out his blades. Without thinking twice, Aerrow attacks the Cyclonian commander; hate burning inside the young Sky Knight. The Dark Ace manages to block the attack with his own blade on the last second and a slight surprise strikes his mind at his opponent's anger. He kicks the Storm Hawk in the stomach, sending him flying down another hallway.
The teen immediately jumps back to his feet and attacks his enemy again.
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With Finn and Starling:
"Starling! Finn!"
The girl ignores her aching body's protests as she runs to the door. She throws herself at a very surprised sharpshooter and hugs him tightly; a single tear runs down her bruised cheek in relief.
In disbelief, he slowly moves his own arms to place them around her, but when he finds her back under his hands, he's finally convinced that it's not his imagination and hugs her a bit tighter.
"Damn it, Piper, don't scare us like that."
The wide-eyed Sky Knight beside them shakes her head slightly and then looks back into the room.
"We can't stay here. We have to go now! Come on, follow us!"
Finn grabs Piper's wrist and drags her with him through the door and down the hallway. She looks over her shoulder as they run and smiles at the prisoners' happy faces as they run with them.
Further behind them, Starling suddenly stops and stares at a small thing - a radio - that lies on the floor. A dark-haired girl runs into her, the sudden stop coming as a complete surprise to her and she falls down to the floor.
"Ow!"
Slowly, she stands up and looks concerned at the Sky Knight.
"Hey... Are you okay?"
Starling nods slightly and turns to the girl.
"Go straight to the hangar with the others. Tell Finn and Piper to get out of here immediately. I'll meet you on the ship. I'm gonna go find Aerrow."
With that, Starling runs down a hallway on her right, leaving a very confused and wide-eyed Raven staring after her before running off herself.
Following the metal-hitting-metal sound ahead of her, Starling does not have to run far before she's forced to dodge a blast as she rounds a corner.
"Aerrow!"
Unintentionally, she shouts the redhead's name as he's pushed into a wall. Two pairs of eyes meet hers and the Cyclonian backs away as she runs to them, ready to block her possibly oncoming attack. However, she never gets close to him. Aerrow steps between them and she manages to stop right before she runs him down.
"Go; get the prisoners to the Condor. I'll be fine. I'm not leaving until he gets what he deserves! He's going to pay for what he did!"
Hatred fills his voice and she's taken aback by the look on his face as he meets her gaze for a moment. Her eyes widen as realisation hits her and she tries to talk some sense into him.
"Aerrow, you don't have to do this alone. Please, let me help you. And Piper's n..."
The Dark Ace's voice cuts her off and the two Sky Knights look at him, a small radio in his hands.
"Talons! Secure the hangar. The prisoners cannot escape!"
His voice echoes through the ship as his voice is heard from every speaker. The two Sky Knights share a worried glance and the Cyclonian smirks at them.
"There's no escape now, Sky Knights. You might as well give up."
"That's not an option!"
"Starling, go now. I can take him. They need you!"
He runs to the man and kicks the small device from his hands; a breaking sound echoes in the hallway and the broken pieces fall to the floor. The Cyclonian activates his long blade again and strikes at the teen, finding his weapon being blocked once more.
"Go!"
Knowing he's right, she nods frowning and runs as fast as she can to the hangar, hoping the escapees are still alright.
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In the hangar:
As soon as they enter the hangar, Piper pulls her hand from Finn's hold and turns around.
"Everyone, find a ride and fly to the Condor!"
Without hesitation, the people quickly do as he tells them and find themselves a Switchblade. Unsure of where the ship actually is, they then wait for the two Storm Hawks to do the same. Finn, standing next to one of the red rides, turns towards his teammate and shouts to her:
"Piper, come on. We have to get to the Condor too. We have to lead them there."
Without turning, she shouts back, her eyes locked on the door in front of her.
"One minute, Starling and R... Oh thank Atmos. Raven!"
The girl runs up to her and her blue eyes meet Piper's amber ones as she runs past her and to the Switchblade parked next to Finn's; Piper follows a bit hesitantly.
"Where's Starling?"
"She told me to tell you to leave immediately and that she'll meet us on the ship. Then she said something about someone called Aerrow."
"What? Aerrow's here? Why didn't..."
Every person in the room seems to turn into wide-eyed statues as a man's voice cuts her off:
"Talons! Secure the hangar. The prisoners cannot escape!"
Few seconds pass and then worried voices fill the hangar, one voice louder and more determined than the others.
"Hurry up; we need to get out off here now!"
Every pair of eyes look at Finn as he jumps onto the ride next to him and starts the engine, heading straight to his fellow Storm Hawk. He grabs around her waist, keeping her from running off into the ship's hallways and turns to the hangar's open door just as Talons start to run in through the other. As the two Storm Hawks exit the ship, the people from Pax following them, Finn turns the ride into flying mode and takes off into Cyclonia's red, cloud-covered skies.
Still in her disguise, Starling is able to blend in with the running Talons without being detected. Watching the last Switchblade take off from the runway, she holds back of a smile of success and looks around her, wondering what the Talons are going to do now. She's sure they're too few to be able to do anything, even if they had enough rides left. Surprisingly, smirks spread across their faces, one by one, and one of them grabs a device from his belt. He pushes down a button and moves his hand to his mouth.
"Commander, the prisoners escaped from our carrier and are heading towards the border. "
"Don't worry, I see them."
The sound from the pink-haired Cyclonian's violin reaches the hangar, faintly at first but becomes louder as the space between the ship and her Talons becomes smaller. Five of the seven or eight Talons inside the ship move towards the remaining Switchblades, deciding to help. Desperate to get away and warn the others, Starling runs towards one of the rides, pushes aside a Talon in her way and jumps on it. A loud "Hey" follows her as she starts the engine, rides out and takes off into the sky.
Piper's eyes widen as Ravess' theme music fills the air and she turns her head around, gasping at the sight behind her. Her eyes locked on the large group of Talons, she shouts to her friend:
"Finn, turn left!"
"Huh?"
He looks over her shoulder, wondering what she's looking at and narrowly dodges a crystal-tipped arrow.
"Oh, just great. What now?"
"You still have your crossbow, right?"
"Yeah."
"Try to get behind me. I'll drive, you shoot, got it?"
Finn grins.
"Got it."
They switch places and Piper grabs the steer as Finn takes out his crossbow. She flies to Raven, who is a bit ahead of them, and shouts to her:
"Finn and I are gonna take care of the Cyclonians, can you make sure everyone get to the Condor?"
"Um, sure, it's the ship over there, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, I'll come and help you guys when I'm done. Good luck!"
"You too."
As Piper turns the ride around to face Ravess and her Talons, Raven heads for the Condor, shouting for the people to follow her.
Smiling, Finn aims his crossbow at the Talons and one by one, they float down it their parachutes. A sudden turn makes him miss his current target and annoyed he turns to Piper.
"Can't you keep this thing steady? I can't hit them if you keep turning and diving like that."
"I don't know about you but I don't want to end up in the Wastelands - again."
"Good point. How did you survive anyway?"
The girl is about to tell him to focus on the battle when an arrow hits the engine and the Switchblade starts to slow down.
"Aw man, how come my ride is hit in every battle?"
"If you had been paying attention to the Cyclonians and allowed me to fly the way I want to, then maybe we wouldn't have been hit!"
A smile had appeared on Ravess' face when her arrow hit the two Storm Hawks' ride, and it grows as she takes out another arrow. She aims at them again and as she fires, she orders a few of her remaining Talons to go and get them.
Couple of minutes earlier:
As the last ride lands inside the Condor's hanger, Raven turns hers around and takes off into the sky again, followed by Junko on his skimmer.
"Hey, you can go back inside. We can handle them."
"No, I promised Piper I'd help her and Finn. If I only could find them..."
Seeing a Talon fly to them, Junko flies towards him and hits the Cyclonian ride with his activated knuckle busters before turning back to Raven.
"Do you mean Piper... of the Storm Hawks?"
"Yeah. Hey, there they are!"
She points in their direction but her small smile disappears as she notices a smoke coming from her friend's ride. As Ravess releases the second arrow, Junko and Raven race towards them but few Talons block their way. Wide-eyed, they watch as the arrow hits its target, making the Switchblade explode right after the two Storm Hawks had jumped off. Talons surround the falling Hawks, grab them and fly towards Cyclonis' palace.
With a shout, Junko and Raven attack the Talons and defeat them all, with Starling's help, but when the rest of them retreat, it's already too late to save their friends.
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With Aerrow:
A Talon runs down the ship's hallways in search for the Dark Ace. He rounds a corner and gasps at the sight in front of him. His commander is pinned against the wall by a teenage boy and a blade is held close to his neck. He points his staff at the teen but has no idea what he can do that will not put the Dark Ace's life in more danger.
As the Cyclonian's eyes leave his, the Sky Knight looks over his shoulder, wondering what he could possibly be looking at. Noticing this, the Dark Ace pushes him away and kicks him; the teen falls to the floor, clutching his stomach. Retrieving his sword from the floor, he points it at the teen and asks the newly arrived Talon; red eyes never leave Aerrow for a second.
"What is it?"
"The prisoners from Pax escaped, sir. Ravess didn't catch them either, but she caught two of the Storm Hawks and she's taking them to Cyclonia's prison as we speak."
"Who?"
"The blond kid and the girl."
Aerrow looks up in surprise as he puts the pieces together in his mind.
'Starling is an Interceptor, the Cyclonians know that. They wouldn't say that she's a Storm Hawk which means the girl must be - '
"Piper."
The Dark Ace smirks as he hears the teen whisper the girl's name and turns to the Talon.
"We should be landing any minute now. Take him to the prison once we do and make sure he will not be able to escape."
The Dark Ace puts his sword back to its place on his back as the Talon grabs the defeated Aerrow's arm and pulls him to his feet. Two other Talons come to help the first and together they lead the teen off the ship and towards the prison cells; the teen is still too shocked from the news to try to resist.
Aw, poor Piper, she was free for such a short time...
Review... :D
