Alas, tis true, the last chapter...
Chapter 10
Aerrow grinned at his four friends. Once more they were gathered around him on the bridge of the Condor. Well, all except Stork. The first thing the Merb had done on getting back was hug the controls and refused to step away.
"Come on Aerrow, tell us how you did it? How did you give four of the crystals away when there was only one?" Piper inquired.
"Yeah, who got the real one?" Finn asked.
"And how we gonna get it back?" put in Junko.
"Without being put into peril. Again." Muttered Stork.
"I didn't, nobody, and we aren't." Replied their leader, smiling maddeningly.
"Aerrowww!?" They all frustratingly responded.
He stepped up to the table and reached underneath. "Ta da!!" he exclaimed triumphantly as he pulled out a box, flipped the lid and revealed the real crystal. "Safe and sound the whole time."
Piper shrieked and jumped forward, snatching the box away and holding it close to her. She was never going to let go of it ever again. Then she turned toward the Sky Knight and gave him an expectant look, shared by the rest of the teammates.
"Okay, okay, quit looking at me like that, I'll give!" Aerrow laughingly said. "I just used four white engine crystals and made them look like the real crystal. Took a bit to find the right way to disguise them, paint was too thick, dye was too dark and tissue paper just was all wrong. Finally I ended up using food coloring. Radarr here made the boxes," he patted his copilot's back, receiving a pleased chirp in return. "Then it was a matter of getting to the exchange points, hand over the box, drop whoever was rescued off at the Condor, and on to the next one."
He leaned back with his arms crossed, pleased with himself as his friends expressed their appreciation and gratitude at his creativity.
"But Aerrow, all it would have taken was for one of them to have a crystal scope and they would have known it was a fake." Piper rationally pointed out.
He shrugged. "I know, but I was trusting to hope that they wouldn't. I didn't have much time to come up with a plan that would take everything into consideration. Besides, if things had gone sour, it's not like I couldn't have taken them out, I am a Sky Knight, after all. And each one of you would have backed me up. Simple."
Piper frowned a little, but nodded.
"Sa-weeet! Here they thought they were getting the goods and ended up holding the bag, er, box." Finn cried out, pointing his fingers at Aerrow, followed by giving him the ultimate sign of approval – two thumbs up.
Junko laughed. "Yeah, each one thinks they got away with it. Wait, what happens when they find out? Aren't they going to be mad?"
"Probably," Aerrow stated, "But too bad. We've got it now and nobody is going to take it away from us. Not without one heck of a fight anyway."
"Not exactly." A voice said softly from behind them.
Whirling around they found Starling to be standing there, but she wasn't alone. Behind her stood three members of the Sky Council.
Looking first at Aerrow, her dark green eyes turned toward Piper as she stepped up to them. "I'm sorry, but I will have to take the crystal."
"What?!" Five voices yelled. Actually six, but Radarr's came out as a yip.
"Allow me to explain." The head Council member stated as he accompanied Starling. "That crystal is just too powerful. If it fell into the wrong hands again, it would spell disaster for all of Atmos. We must destroy it."
Piper stepped back, her hands tightening around the box, her fellow teammates standing in front of her. Even though no one had reached for a weapon, bodies were tense. Radarr even growled a little.
"My friends, please listen to me." Starling calmly said. "As wonderful as this crystal is, and it really is amazing, we'd have civil war, every terra would want it."
"But Starling, if we made more, then every terra could have it." Aerrow stated.
"Yes, and then what?"
Six heads tilted at her, their faces puzzled.
"Uhh, everlasting power?" Junko pointed out.
Starling smiled. "Yes, that is true. However, so would our enemies, understand?" Seeing them nod, she continued. "And there is no telling what would happen if Cyclonia were to get a hold of it. We'd have a bigger problem on our hands."
She watched as six faces contemplated the explanation. She could tell not all of them were convinced, but she didn't need to sway all of them.
Piper stepped forward and handed over the box. "I understand now. I guess I just didn't think all the consequences through."
The older female bowed to her, and then turned to follow after the Council members as they headed toward the hanger bay.
"Starling, wait!" Piper yelled. Running up to the purple haired Sky Knight, Piper grabbed her arm. "My plans – the scientist took them."
Starling smiled and nodded. "Yes, I found them on him when I took him into custody" Then she frowned. "You don't have any copies, do you?" Piper shook her head sadly.
"Good." Once again she swung around and then was gone, as quickly as she had arrived.
Six eyes exchanged glances.
"Well, all's well that ends well, I suppose." Aerrow pointed out.
Finn shrugged. "Guess so. Still, everlasting power…." His face grew contemplative as he fantasized about his favorite subject - himself.
Junko wasn't quite sure he understood what had just happened, but Aerrow was right, everything had ended well.
Stork gripped the controls and steered his ship. Things had not ended well. He had checked himself in the mirror and he was sure those spots that the Colonel had poked him were beginning to show spots. Probably fatal.
Piper gave a small sigh. Her greatest invention gone. She had thought that she would have contributed greatly to society, given the world a small miracle. Then she perked up, there was that other invention she was working on. She began to head back to her lab, already going over how she was going to combine the attributes of this crystal with the properties of that one.
…
Some time later, a very large, very tall, bearded being handed over payment toward the shadowy figure in front of him. After the little person was gone, the giant looked over the paper work in front of him, the glowing reddish-golden crystal just a mere shard in his huge hand. Whoever had made this up was a genius. Turning he made for his vault and locked both plans and crystal away. They were his now and they'd stay his. That was his promise to the little human female.
...
The tail is done. Er, the tale is dun. I mean - oh never mind.
---
A/N - Thank you to all that read my story, a very special thank you for those who reviewed (such glowing testimonials - Wow!), and great thanks to those that placed this in their Faves (Blown away!!). I sincerely apologize for any and all spelling and punctuation errors, try to make sure they don't get in, but they're sneaky.
The Movie was 'The Sting', starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman (told ya it was an oldie, but it's not a moldy.)
Ok: clues to the movie -
Chapter 2 -
RockWell Mining Company - Norman Rockwell, an illustrator who did the drawings for the movies chapters
Mr. Ford (call me Red) - Robert Redford, one of the leading stars
W.M. Snyder - one of the characters in the movie
Chapter 4
D. Lonnegan - another character in the movie
Terra Shaw - Robert Shaw, actor who played Doyle Lonnegan (this actor also played in Jaws)
Chapter 7
Gondorff - character played by Paul Newman, the other lead actor
Chapter 9 - The Colonel speaks about how the proper preparation of Merbian flesh takes 'the sting' out of it
Yep - I admit, kinda lame. But, I had the first paragraph of this story rattling around in my head and couldn't seem to take it anywhere. And you do not want Aerrow pacing back and forth in your head! Happened to catch the movie and my 'What if?' meter went off. Originally was going to have the SH's get scammed and devise an elaborate scam to catch the bad guys. Not quite how I envisioned the way this story ended up, but stories go their own way... And I do have to admit I like the way it turned out.
But I thought it might be kinda fun to throw little shout outs to the movie in appreciation.
Until my next story -
Yours, Liestra