So, the team finally finds themselves complete once more, but they are still in the belly of the beast. And, unknown to them, Stryker and his forces are on the horizon, moving towards an expecting Cyclonis. There is still more danger to be revealed in this tale. Enjoy.

Heart of Darkness...So Close and To Close

Cyclonis stood on a balcony that adjoined her throne room. To her right stood Dark Ace, patiently waiting for orders from his master. She was gazing out into the horizon, casually holding her staff in her left hand, a smile on her face as she gazed out. Far into the distance she could make out the approaching could faintly make out just how many there were

"Twelve ships." She said with a small laugh as she turned to look at Dark Ace. "They must think they are in for an easy of victory."

Dark Ace smirked. "Well we are doing our best to look defeated." He waved his arm towards some of the visible turret placements. The were pointed down with no signs of power. In fact, not a single light could be sen on the exterior of the citadel. It looked, for all intents and purposes, dead. "I wish I could see the look on that idiots face when he realizes just how much of a fight he's in for."

Cyclonis turned back to the look at the on coming fleet. "I would imagine that many of those carriers have near empty cargo holds. They were hoping to make off with as many valuable items they can find." She let a small smirk cross her face, a chuckle in her throat. She walked up to the edge of the balcony, stopping just before the railing. "They'll no doubt have only a small supply of armaments on board. More than enough to deal with some unarmed Talons."

Dark Ace walked up beside her, placing his hands on the railing as he leaned in to speak closely with his master. "They will be no match for us." He said with a devilish grin. "Stryker will have no choice but to use..."

Cyclonis quickly cut him off by raising her hand. Her eyes went wide then quickly squinted, as if she were concentrating on something. "Something is wrong."

Dark Ace's face quickly began to show concern. "What do you mean?"

Cyclonis gripped her staff tightly, her knuckles beginning to turn white. "Someone close by has fired a weapon."

Dark Ace showed a look of confusion on his face. "How can you be sure of that master?"

Cyclonis let a look of annoyance cross her face before she explained. "I can always feel crystal energy around me. With this little amount of power flowing through the citadel, a sudden spike of energy can only mean a weapon has been fired. Go find out who and why."She turned to look Dark Ace in the face, A spark of energy crossed her eyes and her voice carried a deeper, odd tone. "NOW!"

Dark Ace snapped off a quick salute before rushing off to investigate. I think I should check on our guests first. Dark Ace thought as he began to make his way out of the throne room.

As soon as Dark Ace had left the room, Cyclonis slammed her fist on the railing in front of her. I will not have my plans ruined this close to completion, not again. Cyclonis thought angrily to herself. She looked up at the oncoming fleet again. So close!

........

The Storm Hawks moved carefully through the dark hallways of the enemy base. Truth be told, they had no idea where they were exactly in the base, and had no clue as to how exactly they would escape. Each hallway looked exactly the same as the last.

"Seriously." Finn spoke up, breaking the silence. "These Cyclonians should invest in an interior decorator or something. It's all black, red and depressing around here."

Aerrow let a small smile cross his face. "I doubt they were worried about having guests over when they designed this place."

"Still, I'm just saying, man..." Finn continued to list off various things he would do to remedy the Cyclonian's design scheme.

Stork was already getting a headache from Finn. He whispered to Piper, who was still supporting him as they walked. "Please make him stop before something terrible happens."

Piper nodded. "Finn, could you keep it down? We don't want to draw any unnecessary attention."

Finn stopped talking and looked at Piper. "Uh, yeah. Sorry." Finn gave an apologetic look. "It's just, I talk when I get nervous."

"You must be nervous all the time." Stork chimed in with a small smirk.

Everyone shared a small laugh. Finn added more, keeping his voice low. "It's just, I can't help but wonder where all the Cyclonians are, you know? I mean, we haven't run into any Talons since we broke out our cell."

"Let's just take that as lucky for now." Aerrow said, a small tone of worry in his voice. The odd lack of any other personnel in the hallways had him on edge too. He knew that something was up, but was reluctant to discuss it. His main focus at the moment was getting his team to safety, somehow.

Stork had worries of his own, but not all were about the lack of Talons. With the shock of the Heron situation now over, Stork had become increasingly aware of his close proximity to Piper. Various thoughts of germ transfer through direct content were running through the back of his mind, while his main focus was trying to keep his heart from bursting through his chest. He could feel it beating like a jackhammer and was trying to think of various infections and disorders to calm himself down. But, every time he came close to calming down he would get a whiff of her scent, or look at her face so close to his, and it would send the blood rushing to his face and start the whole process over again. He knew that if he didn't do something soon, he would pass out from the strain of it all.

"Um, Piper." Stork began with a nervous voice. "Maybe Junko should help carry me now. I don't want to weigh you down the whole time."

Piper gave him a slightly confused look as they continued walking. "Don't worry about it." She said with a slight grin. Then a thought occurred to her, mostly about Stork's proximity to her, and her armpit. Oh god! She thought quickly. All this running around and sweating. I must smell like one of Junko's dirty socks. She instinctively pulled her arms down, releasing Stork in the process. Stork was still feeling a little unsteady on his feet and started to lose his balance. He fell back against a door that was on the left side of the hallway, causing it to pop open. He disappeared into the dark room with a loud thud.

Piper quickly rushed in after him, the others moving to the doorway. "Ah, sorry Stork!" She reached down to help him back to his feet.

Storm raised a hand, signaling her to stop. "I'm fine!" He winced as he picked himself off the floor, his ribs reminding him how fine he realy was. He looked around him to get an idea of what kind of room he stumbled into. It was dark in the room, the only light coming through the dorway. "What is this room anyway?"

Aerrow reached around the opening and flipped the light switch. Lights immediately began to flicker on around them revealing a much larger room than they were expecting. The room twice the size of The Condor's hanger with various size crates and boxes paced about the room.

Aerrow looked around, scanning the room for ay sign of a threat. "Must be a storage room." He moved over to one of the closer crates, lifting the lid to reveal it's contents. "Crystals." He said as he reached in and pulled one out. It's color was the same as the one's generally used by the Cyclonians to power their staff weapons, but the color was dul with no signs of power. "Must have been wiped out by the wave. They're paperweights now."

Aerrow looked around, trying to see if there might still be anything useful. Towards the rear of the room, he could make out a larger set of doors. He quickly moved to them, the rest of the team following behind. The doors went all the way from the top of the room to the floor. Aerrow pressed the controls on the side to open the doors. They began to pull up revealing that behind them was...nothing. They lead out onto an open platform on the side of the citadel.

Finn was the first to speak up. "Yes!" He yelled as he threw his fists in the air. "Dudes, we're outside." He looked around at his team but, instead of celebrating, they were all staring at the horizon. "What is it?" He turned to look at the horizon as well. In the distance he could see a number of ships making their way toward the citadel. "Woh." he said flatly as he stared out at the approaching armada.

Aerrow spoke up, breaking the silence that had fallen over them. "I guess Stryker's come to pick up the pieces." Aerrow counted the ships and immediately knew that Styker had dragged others into Cyclonis's trap. "How many of those squadrons are our friends?"

"Hard to say." Junko said as he squinted to try and make out the ships. "But at the speed their going, we'll find out soon."

Aerrow kept a calm tone. "How long?"

"Half hour, at best." Junko said as he looked back at Aerrow.

"Then we have a half hour to save the day." Aerrow said as he moved to the edge of the platform.

"Um, not that I'm not for saving people, especially after you guys just saved me." Stork spoke up as he leaned against the hanger's door frame for support. "But, you do remember that we have no ship, weapons or, most importantly, a plan."

Aerrow was looking down off the edge of the platform, a plan already forming in his head. "I'm pretty sure that will help." He said as he pointed down past where everyone could see from where they stood.

The squad quickly moved forward to form around their leader, Stork moving with the help of Piper again, causing them both to feel nervous for different reasons. As they approached where Aerrow stood, they looked down to where he pointed. They all saw the platform below them with a small cargo vessel on it.

"I'm pretty sure that's the same ship that Cyclonis had me and Stork on." Piper said as she tried to support Stork with her elbows tucked into her sides.

"And I'm willing to bet that they're may be some more weapons and working crystals on there." Aerrow said with a new confidence.

"So how do we get down there?" Finn said as he scratched his head. "It's a bit to far to just jump down."

"Maybe for us, but I'm pretty sure Junko can handle that distance." Aerrow said as he reached over to pat Junko on the shoulder. "Ain't that right buddy?"

"Hmmm." Junko thought for a second. "Well only one way to find out." He said as he quickly jumped forward off the platform, surprising everyone. He quickly fell down through the air and landed on the lower platform with a loud thud that left a dent in the floor at his feet. He raised his hand to give a thumbs up.

"It's a good thing Wallops are so sturdy." Aerrow said as he motioned Junko to get on the ship and fly it up to them.

Junko quickly disappeared into the cargo ship and they all saw the engines fire on as it lifted on the platform below them. Junko quickly brought it around and landed it on the platform that the rest of the team was on. The rear cargo doors opened to reveal a smiling Junko.

Aerrow moved onto the ship to see if there was still anything left. Most of what he found were a few empty boxes. He came across a tied bundle which he quickly brought and opened on the floor in front of the rest of the team. Inside he found a true treasure.

"Our weapons!" He exclaimed with excitement as he pulled out his twin blades.

Finn was quick to snatch up his crossbow. "Oh, daddy missed you so much." He said as he gave it a light kiss.

Junko picked up his knuckle dusters and gave them a quick slam together. "Not even a speck of energy left in the crystals though." He said in a sad tone.

"Why did they even bother to bring them anyway?" Piper said as she picked up her staff.

"As trophies!" A voice yelled from the door way of the cargo room.

They all turned to see the angry sneer of none other than the Dark Ace. "Not that those powerless pieces of trash will be able to help you now." He said as he pulled his signature sword from his back and engaged the crystal energy, giving it a menacing red glow. "Now, who wants to die first?"

The Storm Hawks were in for another fight. And, without working weapons, they weren't sure if they could win.

This chapter was going to be longer, but then I realized it was getting really long already, lol. So next one will be out tomorrow. Look forward to it. But be sure to still review this one. :)