Title: Pitched Battle of the Air Force (Part I)
Category: Cartoons » Hero: 108
Author: Cahaya Sidur
Language: English, Rating: K+
Genre: Romance
Published: 6-14-17
Words: 1803

Disclaimer: I do not own Hero: 108.

AN SO I'm temporarily enamoured with fem!Lin/Mano, so I'm going to do some chapters about them...not much. Hopefully. Maybe another two chapter, including part 2. Hehe.

Pinki: Thanks again for your review! I'm glad you liked that chapter...Sisters was also one of my favourite to write ;)

Part I:

Mano was wondering what the heck he was doing at this lecture when Rosefinch elbowed him sharply, bringing his attention to Woo, who was entering centre stage. "This crystal is my latest invention. Its beam can break a human being into tiny cells, then I can reverse the product and put them back together." He smiled proudly, and Mano wanted to feel proud as well of this tiny inventor, but he was worried about what Woo would try to get them to do. And as he had feared, Woo immediately followed up with a question. "Now, who wants to volunteer to get blasted into tiniest pieces and get sucked into this crystal?"

Master Chou cleared his throat, looking around at the nervous faces. "Oh, I heard Lina Chung was having an interesting art exhibit."

Rosefinch nodded hastily, backing up her leader. "Oh, let's go right now." Following Rosefinch's lead, Mano was one of the first to escape the room to join the quiet exhibition hall. He smiled when he caught sight of Lina smiling gently at anyone who praised her, watching the artwork with the same pride Woo had done with his invention.

He admired a nearby picture of Hen Queen, an exact replica, as he absent-mindedly listened in on Commander Apetrully's conversation with the female artist. "Kudos to you, Lin Chung. Your artwork is a spectacular success!"

Lina smiled bashfully at that, only for the smile to drop immediately as Woo entered, tone nonchalant yet slightly bitter. "I suppose it's nice, but not as interesting as science."

Mano narrowed his eyes at the advisor, but an arm stopped him from going in. Rosefinch was staring hard at him. "Don't do anything you regret." She murmured under her breath.

"It's true." Lina lamented, her mood instantly changing, and she rushed around the room, ripping the paintings apart. Mano's eyes widened in horror, nodding in agreement as Commander Apetrully wailed in despair.

"Oh, horrid tragedy!"

Only when she was kneeling on the ground did Lina's mood change suddenly again. "Amazing." She murmured under her breath.

"What's wrong with Lin Chung?" Mighty Ray whispered, no one replying right away. Lin Chung began reassembling the pictures using different animal parts, a small smile growing on her face as she found her new inspiration.

Mano smiled as he heard Woo agree. "Lina, what a brilliant idea to tear things apart and put them together in new ways. You have inspired me!" The scientist rushed off without uttering another word.

"Woo is correct, these artworks are an inspiration for the mind and soul. We should print a picture book for everyone to enjoy!" Commander Apetrully declared, causing cheering to emerge from the crowd around him. Mano noticed Lina staring intently at him, and returned the look, allowing himself a small smile at her. Lina smiled back and glanced down.

At dinner, the Air Force was joking around. Mainly, about Mano and Lina once more. Mano wondered why on earth he had even told these idiots about his crush, or how they found out for that matter, but he didn't think much of it, accepting their good-nature ribbing with grace.

He munched on some vegetables, only for Commander Apetrully to appear suddenly without warning. "No time for tea and crumpets! The Bald Eagle army has been sighted. I assume they're up to no good!"

Abandoning their meal, the Air Force rushed to gather their rockets, quickly running the usual routine checks before getting on and launching from the Hangar. Apetrully led them in a wobbly-looking helicopter, one that Mano doubted he should be taking. He paused in front of the Bald Eagles, who looked stranger than usual.

"Misguided Bald Eagles," Apetrully announced, and Mano withheld a wince, knowing that was not how to he should've started his introductions, "I wish to make another attempt to our friendship to-"

He was abruptly cut off as Bald Eagle King squawked something back, and then the Hens on their heads began firing eggs at the helicopter. Master Chou's eyes widened, but before he or anyone else could act, Apetrully's helicopter fell to the pieces. The Commander himself floated down harmlessly, the parachute billowing out behind him.

"Air Force, return fire!" Master Chou ordered. Swallowing a bunch of grapes, Mano prepared to fire it at the Hens. However, as they shot it out, the Eagles easily avoided them, swooping gracefully around the seeds, which bounced harmlessly on the ground. Master Chou face palmed at their obvious miss, even as eggs were fired at Rosefinch's location.

Mano called out a warning as he himself avoided the eggs firing at him. However, he wasn't able to dodge the overwhelming number of eggs before he was hit. He winced, holding up a hand against the eggs, trying to clear his sight so that he could see where to shoot next. Beside him, he suddenly heard a sharp explosion and Rosefinch's yelling. Turning in the direction, he breathed a sigh of relief in seeing Master Chou swoop down to rescue her.

"I couldn't dodge them!" Rosefinch growled. "I think they can read minds!"

"I think you're right, I have heard that bats can read brain waves!" Master Chou agreed, panic starting to colour his tone.

"But there's no way to fight them if they don't know what moves we're going to make!" Rosefinch protested.

Mano tried to reach for another bunch of grapes, only for the grapes to be fired out of his hand and to splatter against the ground. Mano hissed at the pain in his hand, shaking it while waiting for the pain to dissipate.

'Retreat! Head back to Big Green." Master Chou ordered reluctantly. Mano recognised the defeated look in his eyes and quickly swooped down to pick up Commander Apetrully. Heading full speed towards the Hangar, Mano whipped out his parachute, knowing full-well that if he tried landing at that speed he would only kill himself and the Commander. The others quickly followed, eggs following their trail too.

The Hangar doors were rolled shut hurriedly, the eggs still leading marks on the strong metal Hangar door.

"Maybe First Squad can help us defeat those Eagles." Commander Apetrully mused. Less than a minute later, the five members of Big Green's renowned squad landed in the Air Force, ready and alert for battle.

"First Squad, we need a plan to fight the eagles who can predict our every move!" Apetrully announced.

"I got a plan: let's kick their butts!" Mighty Ray cheered, racing for the rockets. Mano's eyes widened as he realised they had left their rockets ready for launch, and held a hand up in warning as Master Chou called out.

"Wait!"

Shooting lightning from his eyes, Mighty Ray kicked away one of the smaller members handling the planes, and leapt onto one. Jumpy followed the loud-mouthed idiot, while Mystique Sonia hurried to a third plane. Yaksha rushed to the Hanger door lever, swinging it open to reveal the bright blue sky ahead.

"You don't know how to fly those planes!" Master Chou roared, going red in the face.

"Even if they could fly the planes, the Eagles will read their minds and shoot them down." Rosefinch stated, her expression serious. Lina's expression was now worried, hand wrapped around her weapon as if it could protect her friends from getting hurt.

"Oh dear." Commander Apetrully commented.

Mano quietly walked over to Lina, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. She turned, her pinched expression loosening slightly.

"They'll be fine." He murmured.

Lina shot him a reassuring smile as she gripped the hand on her shoulder, taking it off but not letting go. Mano could feel his cheeks burning up as Lina turned back to her team-mates, screaming at one another. By not, Jumpy and Mighty Ray were thankfully tied to the plane, diminishing the risk of any of them falling off. Likewise, Mystique Sonia was also held onto her plane by Yaksha. However, should the plane explode, they might be taken with them.

They started to spin the plane, still screaming all the while. Mano eyed the bats, curious as to why the Hens hadn't started firing again, or why the Eagles weren't dodging out of the war.

With another holler, both planes crashed into the Eagles, miraculously taking out the Eagles one by one. Lina let go of Mano's hand, using her Panther Vision to examine the field. "How odd." She murmured.

Mano buried his hand in his pocket, hoping that the red in his face had receded somewhat.

Meanwhile, the rockets crashed into the ground. Mano winced, hoping that the planes weren't damaged beyond repair.

Rushing onto planes of their own, Lina hurried after Mano, getting onto his plane. He fought to keep down his blush, taking off and following Rosefinch's plane. They landed beside the dazed members of Big Green.

Rosefinch's expression was amused. "I guess the bats couldn't read their minds and anticipate their plans…because they didn't have a plan!"

The Eagles, who were nearby, quickly grabbed the dazed bats, straightened their wings and edges, and then flung them at the three lying on ground. Mighty Ray was shaking his head, trying to regain his vision.

"Mighty Ray!" Lina called out, an authoritative sound in her voice.

Snapping out of his daze, Mighty Ray grabbed the metal piece that had fallen off the rocket and quickly held it up, where the bats were caught into it. Rosefinch ducked the next bat that came flying at her, hiding behind one of the crowd of debris.

Lina continued, holding up a banana. "Mighty Ray, Mystique Sonia and Jumpy are in no state to fight. You'll have to eat a banana." Tossing it up, she flicked it in his direction. Even though Mighty Ray looked disgusted, he opened his mouth anyways and swallowed the fruit.

"I am Mighty Ray, fear my eyeballs!" He electrocuted the Eagles and Chickens. Shaking their frazzled heads, the Eagles quickly gained consciousness and flew away.

At the same time, Mystique Sonia and Jumpy Ghostface also regained consciousness.

"Poor hens." Mystique Sonia sighed.

"Poor bats." Jumpy cooed.

Almost as if on cue, Commander Apetrully appeared, landing his helicopter nearby. "Clunky Hens, creepy Bats, Highroller and the Eagles have deserted you. They don't care about you at all."

Lina smiled at them. "Join us at Big Green. We'll welcome you as friends."

Looking at each other, Hen Queen and Bat King nodded eagerly, friendly smiles on their faces too.

"Wonderful! But what job can I give them at Big Green?" Commander Apetrully wondered out loud.

"I think I have an idea." Lina grinned, painting something in her ever-present sketchbook.

As soon as Mano saw the new additions to their rockets, he grinned too. Master Chou, especially, puffed up with pride. "Those Bald Eagles will never dare mess with us again!"