Chapter 1
Airwolf: Rebirth
Valley of the Gods
"How does it look?" Dominic asked turning his head back to watch his younger brother working with his camera rigged out of the side of the Bell 427 helicopter.
"Looks good, could you get a little lower?" Tony replied keeping his full attention on the large camera rigged up to the side of the helicopter.
The Bell 427 went into a hover and slowly descended, Dominic kept a close eye on the altimeter and the fuel gauge leaving the photography up to Tony. Shooting the Valley of the Gods from the air had been something Tony had wanted to do for some time now, and it was not until his older brother Dominic had the weekend off from his cushy computer job that they had the chance to fulfill Tony's interest.
"I think I got what I wanted, why don't you just set her down right there I want to take the camera off this rig before we head home." Tony said hoping his brother would land.
Tony had been an Army helicopter pilot and flew missions during Desert Strom, he had to be honest his brother Dominic was a good pilot for a hobbyist, but Tony couldn't let his older brother fly his chopper for very long with out getting nervous.
Dominic landed the Bell 427 with ease, which brought a smile to Tony's face, now at least he would have the chance to take the controls back, "Go ahead and shut her down." Tony said pushing open the portside door and stepping out for a quick stretch. Tony took a second outside the chopper before going back to put the camera gear away as he said he was going to do.
"Damn these are huge." Dominic said looking up at a rock formation towering directly in front of them.
Tony turned around to look at what his brother was looking at and chuckled, he had said the same thing when he first flew over the valley and he had to admit it still send chills down his back whenever he flies in. He continued to watch his older brother as he walked around the formation like a zombie, totally mesmerized by the sheer size of the red clay rock formations.
"Tony, come take a look at this." Dominic said.
"I have probably seen it before." Tony replied with out turning to look over his shoulder.
"I don't think so…"
Tony turning around curious as to what would have caused his brothers voice to fall off like that. Looking around he didn't spot his brother at first so he had to follow his footsteps until he finally managed to locate the stunned man. He was standing looking at a rather large entrance into one of the rock formations.
"Wow, I have never seen that before." Tony said letting the sarcasm fly.
"This is big enough to fit a SUV through." Dominic said still in amazement.
Looking at the entrance to the cave Tony was suddenly drawn to it, he wanted to go in there and take a peak around. He had seen these things from the air but never really had the guts to poke his head in take a look around.
"Lets go check this out." Tony said pulling off his sunglasses and he walked into the entrance of the cave.
"I don't think that is such a good idea…" Dominic said watching Tony continue to walk deeper into the entrance, "Well I will just wait out here."
The cave entrance was almost pitch black but he saw light at the end of a long tunnel, he guessed it to be around 50 years away. Pulling out his small flashlight Tony continued to walk, checking the ceiling for bats and other creatures that might be lurking about. Having walked the 50 years Tony found himself coming up to a large opening, he looked up at the bright blue sky. It was a straight shot from the sky to the ground and wide enough to fly down in a chopper if somebody wanted to. Satisfied with the neat discover Tony took one last look around before his eyes happen to catch the light of a shinny metallic surface.
Tony walked into the middle of the large cave opening and spotted in the back outside the circle of light beaming through the cave opening a large black helicopter. He had never seen any helicopter like it before; it looked almost like a strike aircraft with its dark skin and white bottom. It reminded him of the AH-64 Apache's he had flown in the Army. This is amazing, Tony thought fumbling around for his phone.
Pushing the two-way communication button on his phone Tony called back to his brother, "Dominic, you should come see what I found in this…cave."
There was a slight hesitation but he called back, "Alright I will be right there."
Sometimes Dominic sounded more like a child than a forty-year-old man, his constant pouts and willingness to be self-fish created a lot of tension between the two brothers growing up. Tony always felt funny telling his older brother to grow up, in reality Tony was only three years younger so he had no room to talk.
"I don't see anything." Dominic said causing a great echo through out the cave.
Tony motioned for him to walk closer, past the beams of light and into the darkness of the backside of the cave. As soon as Dominic walked past the light into the darkness his jaw dropped almost to the ground.
"Oh my god," He managed to get out, "I can't believe I am seeing this."
"What?" Tony asked looking at this brother, "What is it?"
"This is Airwolf, I have seen photos of it in the Department of Defense library." Dominic said with out thinking, "Back in the 80's this was the primer attack aircraft, long before the Apache came around. They only made one prototype, but many others attempted to create duplicates of it and they all failed. I never thought I would ever see this in person."
"So wait," Tony said scratching his head with confusion, "This is a piece of military equipment?"
"No, this belongs to the Firm," Dominic said stroking his chin as he always did when he was nervous, "It was stolen by the man who created it, Adrian Moffet, back in the 80's. The Firm then sent in a team to steal it back. As I remember the story the man who stole it back wanted something from the Firm and they didn't make good so he kept the chopper. The Firm then supplied them with fuel and new supplies to keep Airwolf fighting missions for the Firm. Last I was told nobody had any idea where she was located and now we find her on accident."
Tony looked at his brother with confusion, "How do you know all of this?"
Dominic snapped back to reality, he had said too much even to his younger brother, "I am not at liberty to say." He replied coldly.
"I had a feeling you were going to say that." Tony fired back.
Dominic's occupation was something Tony had always wanted to know, the little he did know was probably a cover for this real job and the amount of information he just divulged about Airwolf was more than enough for Tony to know for certain his brother was a spy of some sorts. Dominic slowly walked up to Airwolf, gently running his fingertips over chopper as he walked around the amazing aircraft.
It was obvious nobody had been out to attend to Airwolf in sometime; the build up of dust was proof enough for anybody. Dominic continued to examine the entire chopper while Tony shrugged his shoulders and opened the door on the captain's side of the chopper. The door opened with a sucking sound as the pressure was being released from the main cabin to equalize it to the outside air pressure. Just as the door opened a small red indicator light began to start flashing.
Wasting little time Tony climbed inside the chopper and felt as if he had been transported back in time. Looking over the controls, and instruments this chopper was now clearly behind the times.
"What are you doing?" Dominic asked holding the door open.
"This chopper needs an overhaul of new equipment." Tony said continuing to look over the controls, "This set up is close to that of an Apache, I think I can fly her."
"She was state of the art in her time." Dominic said looking at the controls as well ignoring his brother's comment on being able to fly the chopper.
"I want her," Tony said looking now at his older brother, "I want her bad."
"I don't think that is a good idea, she belongs to the Firm."
"You just said the Firm has no idea where the hell she is. I don't see the harm in moving her closer to the city, say…my airport." Tony said as he started to push on the starter.
"Tony stop."
Tony continued to throw the various starter switches, peaking his head out of cockpit he watched as both the rotors began to spin. The chopper was winding up and soon it would be ready to fly out of this cave.
"I mean it, stop!" Dominic shouted.
"Meet me back at my airfield." Tony said slamming the cockpit door in Dominic's face.
Airwolf was not at peak power and ready to take off, looking down at the fuel gauge Tony noticed she still had almost a full tank of fuel. Lets hope nobody comes looking for you, Tony thought pulling up on the throttle bringing the aircraft off the ground. Looking outside Tony watched as Dominic ran back through cave entrance towards Tony's Bell 427.
"I hope you wont break on me old girl." Tony said out loud looking up at the cave opening.
Tony pulled up slowly on the throttle bringing Airwolf closer to the opening in the cave until finally he had cleared the opening. Airwolf momentarily shuddered as Tony tried to fly the chopper.
"Looks like she doesn't like that very much, how about this?" Tony said adjusting controls that had more to do with jet aircraft than helicopters, "That should do it."
The chopper instantly responded as she began to fly ahead just as Tony wanted her to, being gentle Tony pulled the chopper around to face Dominic as he just lifted off in the Bell 427. Putting the chopper into a hover Tony looked around the cockpit finding a rather interesting looking helmet, putting it on Tony looked for the radio frequency knob.
Dominic had lifted his chopper up into the air to face the mean looking black bird best know as Airwolf. He couldn't help but smile as he watched the sleek chopper hover, it had been a adulthood fantasy to find Airwolf and he never thought he would ever be faced to face with the actual aircraft.
"Tony do you read me, over?"
There was a moment of silence and then static, "Yeah I hear you loud and clear. Lets get this bird back to the airstrip before she decides to break down on me." Tony said sounding a little concerned.
"I'll follow you." Dominic said.
"Roger."
Deep in the mountains of Alaska an old man sits by a fire in his rocking chair with a warm blanket placed over his legs and a brown mutt at his feet. The man looks as if he had seen death face to face and scared him away, the dog looked to be in better shape than his master. The dog perked up running from the fire and began to scratch at the wall. The old man looked over his shoulders, his heart skipped a beat, there's only one thing that set off that alarm. Airwolf.
5
