Hi guys! How long has it been? Yeah I know it's my fault Y-Y. I'm sorry for making you guys wait for ages. But I think I've made it up to you because this is a hell of a long chapter!

Well I guess you guys can let me know if it was worth by leaving me a review ^^

I don't own Storm Hawks

OoO.

The Dark Ace woke up in the middle of the night with sweat pouring down his face. His eyes were wide with shock for a moment as he forgot where he was. His heavy breathing began to calm once he recalled the situation. As he saw the zombiefied Ravess pulling at her chain.

And that's when he noticed it.

It was Ravess, she was looking at him. Not looking in his direction, not looking past him. She was looking directly at him. But they can't see, how is this possible? He asked himself.

He wasn't in the mood to try sleeping again, and there wasn't much else to do at four in the morning, so the tired commandor sat up and observed his ex team mate with curiosity. Something really odd was going on and it worried Dark Ace. Not only did it look like she was staring at him now, but she was pulling harder on the chain. She wasn't simply tugging at the chain as she tried to walk, she was now actually pulling on it with effort and loosening the rod from the ground.

By six o clock the chain was almost uprooted and Dark Ace was now at the ready to strike her if need be.

Then something extraudinary happened that added a whole new twist.

The sun began to rise and beam on Ravess' pale cold skin. As it did, Ravess seemed to be cringing with discomfort. It looked kind of like she was ill. Right before his eyes the zombie went back to looking as vacant as ever. Infact now she wasn't even looking at him. He waved his hands to get her attention but nothing. The night gives them power? He pondered, his mind filled with confusion.

These new enemies somehow gaining more power at night was the only explaination he could think of.

His goal today was to set off for Terra Bogaton. But not for a team to fight this war with. Dark Ace stood by his previous statement, he didn't need or see the point in having people to fight with. They'd just get in his way.

This trip was more like recon for weapons and supplies. He was secretly hoping for a place to stay for a while too because his camping with Ravess idea wouldn't exactly last long, especially now that he knew at night there was an easy possibilty of her breaking from her restraints.

The Dark Ace had no troubles during his flight to Bogaton. Infact it was quite peaceful, and a relief to be away from all the troubles on the surface.

Keeping in mind the raptor's famous energy canons, the commandor flew low through the trees to avoid any trouble.

He parked at the door and announced himself, the raptors were inside but they weren't acting very hospitiple.

"So sorry to disappoint you." Repton told him "But there's no room here." He taunted and chuckled to himself inside his base.

Dark Ace refused to leave this early. He never really like Repton and his clan, but this was his only available option for help and accomadation as far as he knew.

"I think you'll find you're making a big mistake casting me out. But I'll let you reconsider." The man gloated as if he was in control of the situation. But all he heard from inside was more laughter.

"Sorry human! But now that Cyclonis is gone, you have no hold over us!" Dark Ace grimaced as he realised that was kind of true. Without the status of 'Master Cyclonis' right hand man', and with Cyclonia crumbling, ranks and such weren't going to be as valuable.

But no matter what, he was still strong willed man who wouldn't take any shit.

Dark Ace began with a chuckle to himself and then told the lead Raptor "Oh please, I wasn't even talking about that. I just thought you'd like to know about some useful information about the zombies that I've gathered.

"...Is that so?"

Dark Ace smiled to himself, he had the leader right where he wanted him. "And I'm to assume you won't tell us unless we let you in?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you, I want shelter and supplies for this information." He demanded. It felt good to still feel in power. He heard a faint growl from inside, then the gates lifted.

As he entered the murky room a few Raptors were gathered in the entrance room. They all stared at him with hostility. He simply glared back with that famous killer look.

"So. What's this valuable information that we need to know?" Repton asked as he lurked behind Dark Ace.

Dark Ace told him with a calm dismissive look on his face. "Ah yes that. I thought you'd like to know that at night the zombies gain more of their senses and become more powerful."

Faint growls became snarls from the crowd of raptors as Dark Ace stood there smugly.

Repton appeared infront of him and growled "What?! That was your big news? We already knew that!"

Dark Ace laughed in his face and said "Not my problem, a deal is a deal. Dear me, you're terrible at the trading game."

Suddenly from a shadowy corridor a voice echoed that was very familiar to the talon, and it made his heart sink for a recent loss.

"Well well I never thought I'd see you again." The bumbling oaf Snipe appeared with a handful of meat which he proceeded to take a bite out of.

"Hm like wise." Was all Dark Ace said.

"So why are you here?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing."

"So Repton, why exactly did you let them in? I can understand my sister's aim, but what does he have to offer?" Dark Ace's eyes widened when he realised that Snipe wasn't even aware of his sister's death.

Repton snapped back "Sister? You're lousy sister isn't with him." And after that he walked off, the rest of the raptors followed and got back to work.

Dark Ace planned to walk off too, do some exploring, and maybe some thieving. But Snipe blocked his path. Dark Ace would normally be prepared for a fight with this idiot, but he hadn't eaten for so long now, he probably wouldn't stand much chance.

"So, where is she? Because I know she left with you." He questioned angrily, and began to force the commandor into the wall. Of course when Dark Ace felt himself being backed up he stood his ground and refused to move.

"Sorry to break the news to you, but she was bitten." He was blunt and there was no pity in his tone.

"What?! So you just let her die?!" He roared and grabbed Dark Ace's shoulder lifting him up a little.

"Yeah well I was a little preoccupied at the time!" He spat back feeling violent despite his lack of energy.

"Busy with what? Doing your hair?!" Snipe yelled, then punched Dark Ace to the floor with a hard fist.

Dark Ace looked up and realised his lower lip felt damp. He prodded it with his finger and found that the big bastard and made him bleed. But before he could get up to respond, Snipe was already walking away and threatning Dark Ace to watch his back.

The Raptors refused to give Dark Ace authority to look at and 'select' some weapons for himself. So instead when he knew there were no eyes watching him from shadows, he decided to go exploring through the base to hopefully stumble upon the weapon holding.

He was as much on edge as he would be with the zombies. Because if a raptor caught him straying from Repton's orders they would show him no mercy. He found himself with his back to the walls shuffling along, also because the sun was going down and if there were any zombiefied raptors around outside. God knows how powerful they must be at night, and there could be numerous ways of them getting in.

Luckily he came across a different kind of raptor. The Terradon scientists who had escaped Bogaton a long time ago. It seems they had returned in a sort if truce of survival. The Raptors would off protection in numbers in exchange for new technology and weapons.

"Let me look at your weapons." Dark Ace ordered. Before approaching them he had planned to sound as kind and innocent as he could to win their trust. But he was too sinister for that, so he scrapped it and chose to approach with his regular assirtiveness. It's what he knew best after all.

The terradons seem to have a soft spot for humans, since a couple of them had saved them from Repton before. And because of this they happily let the red eyed man take a look at what they had to offer, blissfully unaware that Repton may gut them if he found out that the unwanted talon was now cherry picking some weapons for his survival.

The first weapon that Dark Ace's eyes lured him to was hanging on the wall. He had a smile on his face as he liked what he saw, it was similar to a mischeaveus little boy getting what he wants.

He reached out to the weapon with his sore hand and grabbed the well rounded handle. Unhooking it, he raised it up pointing it to the ceiling, with a swift turn on his feet he brought his arm down, slicing the air with the newly polished blade that glistened in the light.

He felt extremely satisfied with everything about this sword, the weight, the length, the blade. And his grin presented his emotions highly. Although there was one small thing that baffled him, which he was beginning to draw attention to.

There didn't seem to be anywhere on the blade that could hold a crystal of any kind. He looked at the scientists with a confused look on his face, he was about to ask but Oppinsaur the lead scientist already knew his question.

"It doesn't use or need any crystals." The talon's look of misunderstanding didn't leave his face, infact he was even more confused. A sword without crystal energy flickering around the blade? It sounded close to useless. Sure the blade appeared sharp enough to slice a variety of targets. But how would he hit people from a far? Crystals gave him and his sword an upper hand just like everyone else's crystal powered weapons. With this he'd be a laughing stock and probably as good as dead if a crowd of zombies approached him.

As if the considerate lizard could read the disappointed man's mind. He told him "It may seem pointless now, but in the long run if this infection lasts, weapons like these will be the future."

"But how?"

"Well for starters without the right kind of crystal, firing energy at those creatures will do nothing more than set them back a few steps. Also, unfortunately crystals don't last forever. Surely you're aware of this?"

"Of course I'm aware of that I'm not stupid!" He retorted with anger feeling insulted.

"Well now that the mining has stopped, all terras will probably run out faster than expected. And if you're relying on a weapon that is only harmful when it's powered by a crystal. You won't last long. That is why Mr Dark Ace, since we arrived here we have been constructing a new range of weapons, all of which need no crystals."

With that reasonable explaination, Dark Ace went back to admiring his newly picked sword. Stroking the cool blade with the tip of his finger and smiling, he imagined himself in the heat of battle with it.

"So it has the same strength and power as my old sword?"

"Precisely." Oppinsaur said with a friendly nod.

"But what if I need to fire some from a far?" He asked, praying that his answer for that would be just as impressive as his new sword.

He was not disappointed. Oppinsaur brought him two small identica weapons, and explained that the ammunition will be perfect for firing the zombies from a far if he wants to keep his distance.

"Excellent!" That mischeveus smile was back and he began to feel the word unstobbaple would be best to describe himself with these weapons.

"I'm glad you think so! We call the small firing weapons 'pistols', and your sword is a katana."

"Fine by me." The man chuckled.

Before leaving the room of wonders, Dark Ace told them he needed to keep all of this a secret. Because of their admiration for humans, the terradons agreed not to say a word to their furious leader. So Dark Ace replaced his old sword with the katana on his back, and hoped Repton or the raptors wouldn't notice the change in handles. He then slipped the pistols in his pouches attached to his belt. A perfect fit luckily.

As he proceeded to step back into the hall, a scientist stopped him. "Just...watch your back." He then slipped him two small knives in his belt. Dark Ace simply nodded his thanks and headed back out to find a place to sleep for the night.

Repton had assigned him a sturdy quick made bed next to a barricated window near the entrance. He peered out of it before sleeping, and found that some of these idiotic lizards had recieved the infection through a bite too, as there was now a few wandering around outside the base.

Once again now that all was calm, his mind began to remind him of the harsh words his queen had left him with. And the love Ravess had offered him. He still wasn't sure what to do with it all. Should he forget about it and live his life as a new man? He practically was now anyway, since he didn't have Cyclonis back home to impress. So why despite trying to forget about it, did he feel as useless as she had called him when he had time to think about it?

Meanwhile in a room that didn't concern him, a meeting was being held. Between Repton, Spitz, Horde, Lugey and Snipe.

Snipe had pretty much been accepted as part of the Raptor team. He had a lot to offer them when he arrived, he had his strength and one more thing: goodies from Cyclonia.

Before the muscles of Cyclonia fled the terra along with the rest of the survivors, Snipe ran to the vault where all the precious crystals were kept. He didn't know what he grabbed but Repton found use for them. He also made a quick de tour to the weapon chamber grabbing daggers, a spear and an extra mace. He had told Ravess to follow him but she insisted that she had to find Dark Ace. God knows why, the bastard seemed pretty useless in his eyes.

It was only a matter of time before one of them killed him for a quick snack. And he didn't mean the zombies.

"Since prey is becoming difficult to come by" Repton said with a snarl as he stood before his brothers "I see no harm in making some real use out of that skinny talon!" They all laughed with a cackle of agreement in their throat.

Snipe would have laughed too, but he didn't find the taste of human satisfying. He didn't care about Dark Ace, and Ravess wasn't here to convince him otherwise. In a world like this it was time to see who is really at the top of the food chain. And finally the dominant one would be Snipe. Not that pretty boy with skinny ankles who spends hours in the morning styling his hair.

Dark Ace was woken to the sound of Repton's voice telling him to get up. And he heard something about hunting.

Dark Ace would happily go hunting, it would keep him busy plus the idea of food sounded magnificent.

The plan to kill the unaware commandor in his sleep had been suggested. But the lead raptor dismissed it immediately and announced that he loved the thrill of a chase too much to just slit his throat while he slept.

As the two of them left the base. Dark Ace was told that he wouldn't actually be catching anything, he was just there to watch Repton's back. That suited Dark Ace fine, he felt too weak to concentrate on hunting something anyway, it was just nice to get out in the open again.

As they trudged through the forest, Dark Ace made sure to walk behind Repton at all times. The same words repeated themselves over and over in his mind, just watch your back. Ever since he was told that he had kept his mind on high alert, and at the moment the zombies were the least of his worries.

They passed a fruit tree that Dark Ace refused to pass up on it's riches. So he flung a roch at a branch and caught the fallen fruit. His starved stomach forced him to down it as quickly as possible, but he savoured every bite. He barely heard Repton growl with annoyance infront of him.

The sun was high in the sky and by now the duo had caught a nice collection of unsuspecting pray. And Dark Ace had managed to sneak some more fruit into his mouth.

"This should be enough." Repton declared "I can head back now." He stopped in his tracks but kept his back to Dark Ace.

"Don't you mean we?" The man asked sarcastically with his eyes glaring up at the raptor, as he knew that right now they were enemies.

Repton didn't even bother answering. He pulled out his famous boomerang and turned to Dark Ace in an attempt to slash him. But Dark Ace was more than ready, and he jumped out of the way with more than enough time to spare. Still crouched from his jump he quickly pulled out one of the small knives from his belt and flung it in Repton's direction. Stabbing him in the hand he held his boomerang with.

The Raptor yelped with pain and turned his gaze back at Dark Ace, who was already up with one of his pistols out pointed at the Raptor's face.

He had a devilish smirk on. Repton merely seemed baffled by the shiny new toy Dark Ace held, but it didn't last long as he began to sprint up to Dark Ace with his claws ready to strike.

He roared "Prepare to meet your demise filthy human!"

"Fuck you!" And with that he fired. Hitting Repton square in the forehead. The raptor dropped to the floor like a ragdoll.

Although instead of enjoying his easy victory, Dark Ace was now panicking like mad and staring in horror at his pistol. "Why didn't anyone tell me it would make a huge bang when I fired?!"

He felt royally screwed. He couldn't go back to the base without being torn apart for killing Repton. And now because he had been denied need to know information he would probably been torn apart out here too.

So much for slipping away without detection. The bastard scientists back at the base probably heard that gun shot too.

The sun wouldn't stay shining forever, he had to get out of here fast. He prayed to God that these zombie raptors had the same capabilities as the human ones during the day.

Forget carefully choosing a path to the edge of the Terra. Dark ace was sprinting through the forest ignoring any vines or branches that whipped his face as he passed.

His fearful eyes were taking in everything he passed properly to ensure he didn't run into anything he'd regret.

Suddenly his legs brought him to a hault, causing him to fall on his hands and knees. Just a few meters infront of him was a zombiefied raptor. It's left eye was scratched out, and it's face and body were caked with dry blood, and it had big chunks bitten out of it's chest.

It was the fear of the unknown that enabled Dark Ace to hear his heart pounding. His wide eyes watched with terror as the zombie raptor turned it's eyes on him.

His fear grew as he realised that the it wasn't walking, it was actually picking up it's pace to catch him.

He was in too much of a vunerable spot to try out his katana, and there was no way he'd fire the gun again. Especially if fear caused his trembling hands to miss. So he scrambled to his feet while there was still distance between them and climbed the nearest tree.

He got comfortably high then looked down, much to his dismay it was following his example and clambering up after him. But thankfully a little slower.

At least he had a little time to gather his thoughts. The zombie wasn't exactly looking directly at him, at least they were blind.

He was in too tight a spot to pull the katana out, and he still didn't want to use the gun. For all he knew zombie Raptors travelled in packs.

So he decided to pull out one of his knives and stab it's head until it's skull was split in two.

He checked to see how long he had, not long at all, the dead lizard was only a couple branches away from reaching his ankle. He clumsily pulled out the knife, nearly dropping it in the process. Just as he got a firm grip on the handle, the zombie did the same with his ankle.

Dark Ace yelled in shock and tried to shake free, it didn't work, but it was stopping the zombie from biting him at least.

Trying his best to position himself right without falling, Dark Ace lifted his other leg and kicked it's wrist hard with his muddy black boot. The grip loosened a little, but not enough to get free.

Dark Ace's mind switched to the over kill state, which gave him the crazed violent feel when he was fighting. He started repeatedly bashing the wrist with his boot as hard as could to make it let go.

Just before the zombie started trying to grab and bite any other place it could while it still had a hold, Dark Ace finally forced it to lose it's grip. Thankfully his leather boots had prevented it's claws from penatrating his skin.

He adjusted his footing and readied himself with the knife, the zombie edged closer. As soon as it's head was within an easy reach, Dark Ace stabbed it hard making sure the blade went deep. Although it strained his arm a little trying to penatrate the new tough skin.

He pulled out the knife with a lot of effort. It was still groaning, so he stabbed it again, and again, and again, over and over.

He couldn't stop, he didn't really want to stop. He knew by now it was dead, but he ignored the time he was wasting and ignored the blood that splashed over him with every strike.

It was like the hatred for these walking corpses had been boiling up inside of him. And he'd never truley been able to enjoy the moment when killed one. That's what he was doing now, but oddly enough it didn't feel like it was all for him. He felt a sense of justice as he stopped another one from wreaking havoc. As if he was doing this for what they had turned the world into, and how much death it was now causing...and for Ravess.

When the body finally fell to the floor with a wet thud, Dark Ace panted heavily and stared at it. He wasn't even sure what just happened, he'd never had such a strong feeling of purpose and revenge when killing something as meaningless as that. And he didn't understand the feelings that came with it. Getting moody over the zombies for causing him all this trouble was one thing, but why had Ravess came to mind? Why couldn't he forget her words? It was almost like he missed her company...or at least needed someone by his side through this...no that was ridiculous.

I'm just tired he simply decided, and he believed it. Why would his heart want the burden of a partner anyway?

He managed to make it to the edge of the Terra without anymore trouble. After taking a short rest and breath of relief, the next stage of his crazy plan was put into motion.

With no where else to run, and with killers at every turn waiting for him in the depths of Bogaton. Dark Ace did the only thing he could do to survive, he climbed over the edge and made his way down to the wastelands.

OoO.

So was it worth it? I hope so

I'll try to have the next chapter up soon!