I do not own Storm Hawks! Thanks to angel on wings, The Alien of Pluto, and Mahou Shoujo Crystalic Katomi for their reviews! I'm probably going to be using them for the next three chapters or so.
UPDATED: Urk….all of this was written before I went back to school….I stopped updating for how long? T.T Well, now it's back! Expect a chapter 13 soon! (the additional writing to stop this from being a filler chapter comes after the stupid conscious)
On with the story!
Finn stared at the wall with the different colored protrusions. The challenge Dark Ace had set was to climb up the wall and ring the bell at the top.
He had emphasized that the actual climbing of the wall was to occur for the challenge to be met.
Junko must have told him about what Finn did to become Domo. Was it his fault he thought outside the box so often?
Finn continued to glare at the wall. Behind him, Aerrow, Piper, and Master Cyclonis had already finished the climb. They were talking about other challenges, such as the fact that the wall was no longer straight up and down, and at another spot, there was a ledge where the climber had to actually work their way over the ledge to continue on.
Stork was waiting impatiently for his turn at the bell, and Junko was waiting for Finn to indicate that he was actually going to do the test. Dark Ace lounged against a pillar and watched the kids.
No one had even asked him why he was up so early, and decided to indulge him in his little challenge.
Too bad Finn was stalling for so long.
Finn sighed, before walking over to the wall once Stork was trying to convince Junko to let him cut the line and go ahead of Finn.
Finn was halfway up the wall before Junko indicated where he had been with a sweep of his arm. It wasn't until Finn was at the top that Stork could see past Junko and ask,
"Where is he?"
Ding.
Heads turned to look at Finn, at the top of the fifteen foot wall, pulling his hand back from the bell.
"Finn! How are you going to get down?" Piper scolded him. Oh great, now one of them had to go up and carry him down.
Finn looked at her. "Like this."
Then he jumped over the backside of the wall and fell down. Well, they assumed he fell down.
Dark Ace grinned at their reactions as they gasped and rushed to the wall.
"Finn? Finn!"
Finn came around the right side as Aerrow indicated for them to go around the left side to check on the wingman.
"Guys, I'm okay. There's a slide in the back." Finn waved a carefree hand at the wall. "I mean, didn't you guys wonder why Dark Ace went to all the trouble to put a bell up there for no apparent reason?"
As one, the group turned around to look at Dark Ace, who was starring at them with amusement written all over his face.
"When I get bored, I raise a little hell." He told them. Aerrow looked at Piper. She nodded.
"Are you aware that this could turn into a prank war, and that Aerrow and Piper do live with Finn?" Stork asked Dark Ace.
"Your point being, he'll talk them out of it." Dark Ace settled against the pillar. Stork sighed.
To everyone's stunned amazement, Finn actually lectured Aerrow and Piper about how a real prank war was started, and the rule was, you can only return fire if you were a victim.
They settled down grudgingly and finally admitted later in the morning that assuming Dark Ace had nothing more than the bell set up was a lax call on their part. Finn beamed at them.
"Besides, the slide is really cool. You guys want a turn?"
Dark Ace left to find something to amuse himself with, as the playground fairly erupted under his feet.
Finn smirked at him from across the room. He mouthed 'Payback' at him.
Dark Ace held up his hands in surrender. Being surrounded by a bunch of teenagers regressing to the toddler stage and kicking up a lot of noise and fun was lonely to watch.
Who knew Finn had an evil streak in him?
The Storm Hawks and Master Cyclonis were exhausted by mid afternoon. Dark Ace arrived with juice boxes, crackers, meat, and cheese.
Everyone laughed, and settled into a good natured picnic at the makeshift playground. Junko had rigged a net around the air mattress, and turned it into some kind of jumping trampoline.
Stork had dismantled the bungee cord and the stairs leading up to it and made a set of monkey bars over the deep end of the pool. Radarr was soaking from when he lost his balance, and so was Finn.
Well, okay, Finn hadn't let go. Instead, he had pulled himself up between the bars, got a leg over, stood up, and then leapt from the bars into the pool.
After that, everyone wanted to try it. Dark Ace had hollered at them so loudly that they stopped before they got started, and slunk off to the rest of the playground while Dark Ace turned back around to the miniature kitchen. He grumbled under his breath about stupid stunts and how there was no emergency ward or healing crystals for sprains and cracked heads.
He was really beginning to feel like the only responsible adult while the teenagers retrograded back into children.
He stopped fixing the snacks. Had the Storm Hawks ever had a chance to be children? He remembered Master Cyclonis had a raggedy doll at one point, and that when the doll disappeared one night, she just carried on.
Disturbed by the feeling of loss that the Storm Hawks went through, Dark Ace continued working in the kitchen and monitoring the teens.
Atmos, he had had a choice as a kid to join the Storm Hawks. What choices did they have?
Dark Ace stopped making sandwiches the way each kid preferred them, grabbed a box of crackers, and started chopping meat and slicing cheese.
Stupid conscious.
He should have known. Dark Ace glared at them from the trampoline as he watched Finn double over howling with laughter. The others were switching their gazes, back and forth. The picnic has stopped when Dark Ace came back with napkins to wipe their faces, and now the napkins were floating down about them.
Stork was gaping at the raised platform. Finally, his mouth shut. "So that's where the table went."
Finn started gasping as he calmed down. "Yeah, haha, sorry to borrow your catapult table, but I just had to get even. Oh, man, the look on your face when you realized you'd been had! WAHAHAHAHAHA! Woohoo, weee, hahaha."
Dark Ace grumbled and made his way off the bouncing bed.
Master Cyclonis smiled at him, a wry look in her face. "Don't feel bad, Dark Ace. I was hit with the same trick when I went to retrieve a Crystal from them myself."
Dark Ace raised an eyebrow. Master Cyclonis stood up and wiped the crumbs from her clothes. The dignified action broke the hours of carefree playing.
The Storm Hawks helped clean up. Piper and Master Cyclonis shook out the clothe and folded it, Aerrow and Radarr swept and disposed of the crumbs, Finn jumped around for the falling napkins, leaving Stork and Junko to set up the table.
Dark Ace cleaned up the kitchen and put the sandwiches in stasis so that they would be good for dinner or a later snack. Well, the cold box had the word Stasis on it and it made ice, so it was stasis.
When he turned around, the Storm Hawks were giving Finn a nudge in his direction. Dark Ace decided that the sink needed a very thorough cleaning.
"Er, hi." Finn coughed above him. Dark Ace didn't look up. "Uhm, about the launch pad, you do remember that I said only the victim could get back about a prank? Well, I couldn't help it. The timing was just so perfect. I had no right to tease you like that. I'm sorry."
Dark Ace paused, and stood up.
"It was tasteless, Finn. But the timing was amazing. It's just, the entire time all of you have been goofing off, I've been thinking about what a depraved childhood all of you have…it's kind of ironic that I'm the one with the most idyllic childhood."
Finn raised an eyebrow. "You're joking, right?" Dark Ace looked at him.
"You had the most average childhood compared to the social norm. Sure, people try to kill us every time we wake up or fall asleep, but so far….we've had fun. We don't doubt why we do what we do, and we question it pretty often. For us, we're happy. Weren't you?"
"Yes." Dark Ace kept his mask stony. Let's not review how he got the entire Squadron killed when he was a kid. Vomiting up over the loss of Lighting Strike after his promotion into the Cyclonian Ranks…that was not a night worth repeating.
Of course, double the irony in that a Lighting Strike Crystal had taken him out in last confrontation with Piper and Aerrow…okay, the overload from the floating Far Side Crystal had destroyed him, but his butt was still whupped.
"So, truce?" Finn stuck his hand out. Dark Ace looked at it. "Truce."
"Oh, come on, I don't do inane things like rig a hand shake. I'd rather rig a milk shake. There was this one time, Aerrow had left his unattended, and I dropped a mentos into it. He came back just as it sank below the milk and into the soda I had added earlier. It went everywhere."
Unfortunately, at the words 'rig a milk shake', Dark Ace's thoughts had gone somewhere very naughty. He snapped out of it and signaled desperately that they had made up, and now it was awkward.
Master Cyclonis looked to the others. What could they do know?
"I found some magazines! Including the old one from when was doing the training for our Stratosphere training. Though how Cyclonians attended a photo shoot for the magazine cover I have no idea." Junko scratched the back of his head.
"Dude, that's because you can send in photo ops or prints for the magazine to select from. There was an article in there about how important the Time Pulse is, and what better way to get people's attention than to put Ravess on the cover of something."
Dark Ace decided not to mention that Ravess would make someone eat their castrated genitals before being on the cover of anything indecent. She had class, and she valued it.
Master Cyclonis rolled her eyes and steered the conversation to something safer. "Yes, because putting the Storm Hawks on the front of the magazine wouldn't have quite the same impact, now would it?"
"Of course it wouldn't. No one looks at us and feels threatened." Aerrow blinked and did a double take. "I mean, they usually feel annoyed-" Now his team mates were glaring at him, while Dark Ace and Master Cyclonis sighed and rolled their eyes. "That is, I mean to say that, we, uhm…."
Finn dropped his glare. "We aren't that popular, and still aren't a registered Sky Knight Squadron. The only 'official' person is Aerrow, and he can't be on a magazine by himself, they'll think there's an interview inside."
With the situation diffused, Dark Ace sat at the table. "Why is it red instead of blue?"
"We ran out of blue paint, and never seem to get around to it. It's one of those permanent chores on the list, right after 'Completely overhauling the Condor'." Piper stated in a voice that treated the subject in a matter of fact tone.
"So, what shall we do today?" Junko asked. He too sat at the table. Piper walked over and started pulling chairs over. The others helped her, and soon everyone was at the table.
"Well, we could play cards, a board game, assign chores to clean up the rest of the place, train, swap life stories, do another home movie, and you guys could help with ideas…"
A/N: No, seriously guys, I have reviews of hiccups, and since my Spring Break is long over, as an apology for the long wait to update, I need ideas for what to have them do next. They've done laser tag, the pool, cooking, bath times, emotional roller coasters, near prank wars (which reminds me of the prank wars fanfic I really should write about Finn and the Cyclonian troops), wondered about in my head (met Starling), and trained…. I'll come up with something if you- CAROUSELSS! Those horse rides that go around and round! Let's have a theme park next! Woohoo! Expect chapter 13 soon! I knew you guys would help me have ideas on how to continue!