I do not own Storm Hawks, Storm Hawks is the sole property of the creator Asaph Fipke, Nerd Corps., and affiliates. I write this fan fiction without the creator's permission, and make no profit from this work of fiction.
Chapter 2: Mischung
"Whoa, okay, okay, let's not be hasty here," Piper reasoned as she held up her hands in a non-threatening way. Stork was forced to slouch even more so then usual, as the girl was rather short, coming up to just below Piper's nose.
At first glance the girl looked human but a closer look reviled that she was obviously not. Her skin was two toned much in the same way that Stork's was, where he had dark green then lighter green areas, her skin was pale peach and white. Her hair was long in front, nearly reaching her shoulders, short and spiked in the back, and a dark copper color. Her ears were in the same position as humans but were long like a Merb's, but not as wide. They somewhat resembled extra long elf ears. She had a completely human face with the exception of her nose which was like that of a Merb, and her eyes though human in nature, had no white to them. Where a normal human eye would be white hers were the same yellow of a Merbs, and her irises, which Merbs do not have, they simply have pupils, were a bright spring green.
She was dressed in a tight, black, three-quarter sleeve shirt, tight grey-green pants, and knee-high black boots. She also wore grey-green gloves that stopped just before the elbow, and left all five of her human-looking fingers, except for her thumb, fully exposed. Finally, she wore a purple, patchwork, over shirt that looked like a long button up tank top, it came down a little over her hips, and it looked as if the last two buttons had been left undone as you could see where her pants and black shirt met, and she wore a bright pink and green stripped belt.
"Of all the scenarios I never imagined that I would die like this, on some foreign Terra, at the hands of a dangerous criminal," Stork said woefully. He would never admit it, not even to himself, but there was definitely something morbidly sensual about the way the girl was touching him, minus the knife at his throat, of course. When she snuck up behind him she had snaked her left arm around his waste to hold him in place and then brought her right, knife baring hand up to his throat. She had also pressed herself firmly against him, so that regardless of the fact that she was smaller than him, she held him in a vulnerable position.
"Is that what the humans are calling me now, a dangerous criminal, or is it the Merbs that you have been talking with." She spoke with a barely noticeable English accent. "Let me just let you in on a little secret. The only criminals on this Terra are the Humans and the Merbs."
"If that was true that would mean everyone on this Terra is a criminal!" Piper exclaimed, angrily.
"No, not everyone, there are more then just Humans and Merbs on this Terra. Take me for example; I am neither Human nor Merb. I am a Mischung (mish-oong)." She said all of this as she slowly backed away, Stork still in her grasp.
"I've never heard of your species, are there many of you Mischungs?" Piper hoped that if she could keep the girl talking then maybe she could figure out a way to free Stork.
"No, I'm the last one, there were as many as twenty of us at one point, but they killed them all, just as they will kill me when they get the chance." She answered.
"Who are they?" Piper had discreetly reached behind her and grabbed hold of the first thing her hand touched, which just so happened to be a long piece of metal that had broken off of her Heliscooter during the rough landing.
"They are everyone! Both Humans and Merbs, hate half-breeds!" The girl spat venomously.
Piper almost dropped the metal out of shock. Of course, it all made sense now, the girl had a mixture of Human and Merb traits, because she was a little of both.
"Alright, look we're not like that, we're obviously not from this Terra and we don't hold anything against you, so why don't you let my friend go and we can sort this all out." Piper tried to reason. Stork had remained silent during all of this, having a knife pressed to your throat didn't exactly encourage you to speak. The girl looked as if she were debating for a minute before she shoved Stork away from her with more force than you would think possible for someone her size, causing Stork to crash into Piper. And with that, she turned and fled into the surrounding forest, disappearing within a moment.
Jumping up, and taking hold of Stork's wrist in the process Piper took off after the fleeing girl. "Come on, I want to get to the bottom of this," Piper said with determination.
"Uh, Piper, you weren't the one who just had a knife to your throat! I don't think chasing a maniac criminal into a forest, were they would never find our bodies or hear our screams, is a very good idea!" Stork ground out angrily.
"Weren't you listening to anything she just said?" Piper exclaimed, exasperated. "If what she told us was the truth then that would mean, both the Humans and the Merbs on this Terra have killed nearly twenty innocent people, just because they were part Merb and part Human." They both went silent as they caught a glimpse of the girl just ahead of them, she was fast, but she was also short, and when trying to out run someone taller then you, you often fail.
Piper closed the distance between them and lunged at the girl, using her full weight to tackle her to the ground. The piece of metal that Piper held in her hand had remained forgotten, but made it's presents known as it cut through the material of the girl's glove and proceeded to bite deeply into the flesh of her lower right arm leaving behind a cut that was nearly three centimetres deep and 9 centimetres long . A strangled scream, forced its way past the girl's lips as dark purple blood raced to the surface and quickly coated everything it came in contact with, the metal, Piper's hand, and the girl's arm. The sheer impact of the fall had knocked the breath out of the girl and caused her to bite through her lower lip causing more purple blood to dribble down her chin, and coat the lower half of her face. Piper jumped up in shock, she had not meant to cut the girl, and was surprised at the amount of blood covering both the metal and her hand.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to injure you so badly," neither of the Storm Hawks members could believe that Piper was apologizing to a girl who had threatened Storks life just five minutes ago. It seemed as if all of the fight had left the girl when she hit the ground, as if it were forced out along with the air from her lungs. The girl slowly got to her knees then turned to face them, it was the first time Stork had seen her face, and he almost gasped at the sight, blood and all she was beautiful. Gingerly, the girl got to her feet, cradling her right arm to her chest, and favoring her left leg, it seems she had landed on a rock and a large rip above the knee in her pants showed an awful looking bruise beginning to form. The girl wavered for a moment before slumping against the nearest tree and sliding down its rough bark landing in a haphazard sitting position. Tears had welled up in her eyes as she looked at Stork and Piper.
"Alright fine, I give up, I'm done, I can't keep fighting anymore, go ahead and take me to the Humans, the Merbs have already exiled me and won't acknowledge that I exist. I'm sure Yol will be more than happy to give me a 'fair' trial as he likes to call it." The girl said, defeat coating her voice.
"We're not taking you anywhere until you explain what is going on around here, and besides, what are these 'fair' trials anyway, that's the second time I've heard that expression and no one seems to think that they are very fair." Piper announced firmly, while lightly stomping her foot for effect.
"First, let me introduce myself, my name is Gail, and like I said earlier I'm a Mischung, it is a word that means 'mixture'. My dad was also a Mischung, he was half Merb and half human, and my mom was a human, so I'm really only a quarter shy of being human. Both the Humans and the Merbs frowned upon my dad for being a mix-breed or Mishmash as they say; it's the derogatory name that they call us. The Humans and Merbs tolerated the occasional Mischung, but when more and more Humans and Merbs began to get married and have children it began to upset both races, neither wanted their species to be blended or diluted. So the Merbs exiled all Mischungs and Merbs, who had married Humans, and the Humans gave all Mischungs and Human-Merb couples a fair trial, meaning they killed them. My parents died two years ago, and my brother as well." Gail finished sadly.
"Why didn't the Mischungs and Human-Merb couples just leave then, and go live somewhere else?" Piper questioned.
"We don't have Skimmers or any other sort of vehicle, the Humans and Merbs made sure of that." Gail answered. "I don't understand, it makes no sense really, the Humans and Merbs get along fine, there has never been any fighting between them, it is only us Mischungs that they hate, only me now that they hate."
"Well, we're going to get you out of here!" Piper said with resolve. "Stork, could you help Gail take care of her injuries, while I radio Finn and Aerrow, I need to fill them in on this situation."
"Uh, yah, sure," Stork replied uncertainly. Stork kneeled so that he was level with Gail and reached a slightly shaky and uncertain hand towards her right arm. "It looks like you were cut pretty deep," embarrassment evident in his voice. "Your blood is purple," he stated the obvious while reaching out with a piece of cloth that Gail had ripped of the end of her shirt.
"Yah, well Merbs bleed blue and Humans bleed red, so I supposed purple is what you get when you mix the two." She was flattered by Stork's nervousness, whether it was because she had threatened him earlier, or because she was a girl, Gail, didn't know, but she was beginning to like him none the less.
After gently wiping the blood from her arm Stork tightly tied the cloth around her arm to stop the bleeding, Gail had used her left arm to wipe most of the blood from her face. Looking mostly presentable she stood with a little help from Stork and had to admit as she leaned on him for support, his warm side felt nice pressed against hers. It had been a long time since she had last talked with people who accepted her as she was, and who were willing to actually touch her, rather then treat her like she had an awful contagious disease.
Piper joined them as they made their way back to the Heliscooter. "Aerrow, Radarr, Finn, and Junko will all meet up with us soon, and good news, Aerrow has a wrench so you should be able to fix my Heliscooter, Stork." Piper happily proclaimed.
Aerrow and Radarr were the first to show up, and Piper made the introductions, a course of, Aerrow Gail, Gail Aerrow, and Radarr Gail, Gail Radarr followed.
"Oh yah and I'm Piper," Piper added embarrassed as she realized she hadn't introduced herself. Stork got right to work on Piper's Heliscooter and by the time Finn and Junko arrived, which was just minutes later, everyone was introduced, up to speed, and ready to go. Gail and Piper rode double on Piper's Heliscooter, Finn and Stork on Finn's Skimmer, and everyone else on their own vehicle.
As they made their way back towards the Condor Aerrow couldn't help but ask, "Gail, what did you do anyway? I mean for them to label you as a dangerous criminal?" Everyone seemed to hold their breath while waiting for an answer, Gail had been so nice and polite it was hard to think of her as either dangerous or a criminal.
The sadness in Gail's voice was overwhelming, when after a long moment, she answered, "I'm dangerous because I'm a mix-breed, and my crime it that I was borne."
Mishcung is a German word that literally means 'Mixture' I thought that its meaning was very appropriates. Also, the word kind of looks like a cross between Merb and Human. Anyway, I hope this wasn't completely boring.
Doukashira