It start off slow, gets better. Finishing what I started a couple chapters ago ;D
Piper stood staring out the window, her back straight, hands clasped behind her. She watched the increasingly angry clouds roiling above and below her as the Condor flew. She heard Stork's breathing hitch and glanced out the corner of her eye, but she didn't turn around; he was looking at the clouds too, somehow managing to look frightened and upset but still strong all at once.
Piper kept her expression neutral as her eyes drifted back to the sky.
Ever since Rex, the weather had been getting steadily worse; the clouds thickening and darkening, then hard cold rain off and on. Now it was dry, but boiling green-black clouds blocked out any ray of sun attempting to shine in the Atmos.
The Darkness was getting stronger; stronger, but not strong enough to resist Fabian's crystal. Not as far as she knew anyway.
She hadn't said much about her plan to stop the Darkness; just enough to give the others hope. Right now, what they needed to do was find it, and she'd fill them in later, when it was too late for them to do anything to stop her.
Piper turned away from the window. She'd been standing still to long, she needed some other company.
The bridge door slid up and she stepped in the empty hallway, absently noting how gloomy it looked with only the occasional, tiny light to break the darkness.
She headed for Finn's room.
The door was open and she hesitated outside. The sharpshooter was hunched over his desk, head propped up on his elbow, fiddling with a radio. Knocking gently on the door frame, she stepped in, "Heard anything?"
Finn jerked upright, and turned swiftly to look at her. As the shock faded and his features returned to their previous weary state she saw how red his eyes were, dark circles thick, bruise-like. He rubbed his eyes.
"Not yet" he answered, heavily.
Piper sighed.
"Don't worry," Finn said, an odd note in his voice, "well find it. And even if we can't save Aerrow…we'll figure something out."
She wasn't used to Finn being this deep; it was kind of nice. Piper smiled at him and he nodded, his own lips curving up slightly.
"Thanks Finn."
"No problem. Just remember-" he froze; his hand flew back to the radio dial, twisting up the volume, "You hear that?"
Piper listened but heard only static, "Finn, do you think you need a break? I could take over-"
"Shh! Listen!"
More static, and then she heard it too. Piper leaned in closer to the radio, her head almost touching Finn's as he cranked the volume to its fullest.
The signal wasn't great, the audio faint and the voices were muffled by a loud rumbling she couldn't place, but the words she could pick out were enough to know.
"Cyclonia" she said, frowning.
"But…oh…"
"Fabian Cyclonis! Urgh, I should have known! Come on," she grabbed Finn's arm and dragged him with her as she headed for the bridge, "they could end up worse than those on Rex!"
0o0o
The usual red sky seemed unchanged, if not a little darker. They didn't question it.
Piper, with Finn and Junko beside her and Radarr leaning on the glass, glared out the window on the bridge. She didn't know what to expect and so didn't think about it, she concentrated solely on her sudden anger and the people around her. This thing controlling Aerrow had taken something important from her, hurt dozens of innocents, and threatened her friends; she had a way to prevent anyone else from hurting and she fully intended to use the chance now given to her.
She looked down at the map in her hands, glanced at the various instruments on the helm, and plotted their position.
"Not far now," she said.
Piper looked back at the clouds in front of them, waiting for the Terra to come into view. The slight fog pulled back and there was a collective gasp from within the Condor; the tall, proud palace with its intimidating spires and chilling design barely stood upright. Multiply holes in the walls, landing platforms broken and fallen away, sections of the roof and support structure broken away; it looked pathetic. Sections of the ruin still smoked, though they couldn't see any fires.
"Guess that explains the rumbling sound," Finn mumbled.
"But…I thought the Darkness only worked with illusions and stuff? Why would it risk…hurting…anyone? It's only looking for energy right?"
"Junko, it had a vendetta against Cyclonia. Fabian and Tylur were the ones that sealed it, and with Aerrow, Tylur's descendant…taken care of, Fabian's was next. Stork," Piper turned to the Merb, "we're going to look for survivors."
"I'll stay on the Condor."
Piper nodded and ran for the hangar. Mounting her heliscooter, the others right behind her, she took off, aiming for where the throne room should have been. Junko and Finn broke off to search different sections of the palace, leaving her with just Radarr.
Flying low, she skimmed just above the broken, jagged sections of wall and pillars. She and Radarr scanned as best they could from the air, watching, hopeful for any sign of life among the rubble. When Piper looked back at Radarr to ask if he'd found anything, he shook his head with a mournful whimper. She wasn't about to give up that easily; mouth set in determination, Piper maneuvered her heliscooter down through the debris, landing on a fallen section of wall that created a small clearing. She dismounted, pulling out her staff but keeping in retracted to its smallest form. Radarr put his nose to the ground, started sniffing out any human scent.
Piper wandered through the forest of dusty bricks and pillar fragments, finding little trails, ducking and climbing when there were none. She looked under collapsed sections of wall, lifting any that were movable, peering into small crevices created by propped up pillars. She found no one.
Suddenly she heard gravel shifting and a desperate but frustrated groan. Moving quickly so as not to lose whoever it was, she ran through a small open space that left open the large Talon insignia painted onto the floor, and around another heap of rubble. The bottom half of her body pinned by a small block of what may once have been the roof, the dusty torso of Master Cyclonis struggled to free herself. Piper walked the slowly up to her, Radarr popping up from no where to join them, and stopped by the girl's head. Cyclonis remained oblivious to their presence for a moment but when she noticed them standing over her, her whole body froze, eyes growing impossibly wide.
"You amped on crazy dark energy too? Come to finish me?" she growled.
Piper raised an eyebrow, "Do you want my help or not?"
"I don't need your help, Storm Hawk," Cyclonis spit, "I'm fine."
She resumed her pushing on the heavy block. Piper looked over to the side; the only thing keeping Cyclonis from being completely crushed was a second section of the roof, holding the first one up, but not by much.
"If you insist" Piper conceded.
She motioned with her head to Radarr and started to walk away. But after a couple of steps Piper simply turned and seated herself on a piece of a pillar, the furry blue copilot scampering up next to her.
Cyclonis watched them anxiously but her expression hardened when Piper sat down and looked at her. Angrily, she angled her head away and resumed trying to free herself.
"What happened here?" Piper asked after a moment.
Cyclonis laughed, high and strangled sounding. "What happened?" she repeated, "Your crazy Sky Knight is what happened. The Atmosian council testing a new crystal or something?" she asked, half sarcastic, "Because he can fly, you know, without anything to help him. And he can do stuff to people, make them disappear. Make them crazy."
She paused, laid her head back and let her arms fall outward with an exasperated sigh.
"Most of them jumped, my Talons, into the Wastelands to escape. Some of them I could justify; they started shouting crazy things and attacking the air, only to fall of the edge of the Terra. Most of them deserted me though. Traitors. And the Dark Ace is the worst."
"He left too?"
"Ha! He was one of the first! Took one look at your flying friend and the infected Talons…well, if I'd blinked, I'd have missed him."
"Once a traitor always a traitor, huh?"
"Don't patronize me! It was your 'perfect' leader who did this in the first place."
The momentary smile vanished from Piper's face as quickly as the Dark Ace had from Cyclonia.
"Cyclonis," Piper started, "we can still be friends, you know."
The young ruler looked shocked, but she quickly recovered. "Are you changing the subject? We already tried that didn't we? I have more important things to do than get friendly with the enemy."
Piper was lost for words, but they came back soon enough, "Like what? Getting unstuck?"
"Very funny. Witty even."
"I'm serious Cyclonis; we don't have to be enemies. We-"
"Yes we do. It's not a matter of simply switching sides, Piper. I have to do this."
"Duty and honour, right? Way back in your family tree you believe the Atmos was controlled by Cyclonia, and that it was stolen from you, and now you have to get it back whether you want to or not? Killing hundreds of innocent people to control a thousand Terras you don't care about, all because someone told you you have to?"
Her words struck home. Cyclonis averted her eyes, staring at the rock that kept her pinned.
"What if I told you that wasn't true? That Cyclonia never controlled the Atmos? That part of the story is missing in your history?"
"What are you talking about?"
Piper pulled the green book from the pack on her back. "This book," she tapped the cover, "explains what's happening to Aerrow. It's a complete history that's been scraped off and rewritten about Cyclonia and the Atmos. We used to be allies. Your ancestor saved the Atmos from total destruction."
"You're saying that everything I know is a lie?" anger was creeping into her voice again, "And I'm supposed to believe you? Just like that, I'll drop everything and join you? Become a Sky Knight? Please!"
Piper let out her breath in a frustrated huff, "Just…suspend disbelief for a moment okay? Suppose what I'm saying is true and we could be allies? Do you really want to keep fighting?"
Cyclonis frowned, "No," she relented, "I don't."
"Then the first step," Piper said, getting to her feet and walking over, "is to let us help you."
With all three of them pushing and pulling together, they managed to lift the roof section long enough for Cyclonis to swing her legs free. Coughing in the dust that swirled up when they dropped the block, Cyclonis got slowly to her feet. Other than some bruising and muscle strain she seemed to be okay. Slowly, awkwardly, they made their way back to Piper's heliscooter.
"So what is happening to your Sky Knight?"
"Its part of the history I mentioned. Not going into details, there's a centuries old being controlling him, making people hurt to make himself stronger. Your ancestor, Fabian Cyclonis, stopped him the last time he was free, which is why this happened." Piper gestured to the palace ruins around them.
"Hmm, well, I don't see how I can be of much help," Cyclonis admitted, glaring at the ground as they clambered over the debris, "with my top generals and a good three quarters of my soldiers gone."
"We'll take what we can get," Piper said wisely, helping the Cyclonian queen climb over a downed pillar.
"How exactly do you plan to stop Aerrow anyway?"
Piper flinched, it did not go unnoticed. "The same way Fabian did."
"Which is?"
Piper breathed deep, "Stab him with a crystal."
"Stab him? With a crystal? Any old crystal or are you talking about one in particular?"
"One in particular," Piper said, fingering the triangular blue around her neck, as they approached the scooter, "You know," she said, cutting off Cyclonis, "you should really be thinking of how to coordinate your Talons, and about what you're going to say to the others."
"The others? Storm Hawks?"
"Duh. They still don't like you. We're going to have a lot of explaining to do."
"We?" Cyclonis hugged the other girl around the waist as they lifted off, steadying herself.
"Of course; friends help friends right?" she smiled, though she knew Cyclonis couldn't see her.
"Friends," the Cyclonian whispered. And she smiled too, the word filling her up with a warmth she'd only briefly ever felt.
As they approached the Condor they saw a dozen or so Talons huddled together on the landing strip, Finn and Junko standing guard. All of them looked worse for wear, clothes torn and goggles broken, hanging loose around their necks and each covered in dust.
As the girls landed, the Talons all looked fearfully at their Master, silently asking for help.
Piper slid off her scooter and waited for Cyclonis before walking over to Junko and Finn. They looked questioningly at both of them, a little suspicion in their eyes.
"Cyclonis has declared a truce," Piper said, "she's going to help us stop the Darkness."
"Master?" one of the braver Talons stepped forward, "is this true Master? Are we allying ourselves to the Storm Hawks?"
Cyclonis glanced sideways at Piper, before nodding to the soldier, "Yes, we are. You are my most loyal Talons, you didn't flee when we were attacked, and I trust that you will not abandon me now."
"Of course not Master Cyclonis," they all chimed, bowing to the girl.
"Piper?" Finn asked his voice skeptical, crossbow clenched tightly in his hands, "Really?"
"Yep. We need all the help we can get, and Cyclonia isn't in the best position to refuse."
Finn turned away, grudgingly lowering his weapon.
Rather than walk all the way to the bridge, Piper walked back to her heliscooter and flipped the intercom switch, "Stork? You there?"
"Where else would I be?" he responded, voice tinny over the radio. "Besides hiding under my bed?" he mumbled.
Piper sighed, "Did you hear? Cyclonia is fighting with us now."
"Right-"
"Have you found the Darkness?" She cut off the suspicious rant she knew would follow.
"Of course. Look up."
Piper turned her head skyward. Cyclonis, standing beside her, did the same.
Arms folded across his chest, black aura stronger than ever, the Aerrow-shaped Darkness hovered over the ruins of the Cyclonian palace. He smirked down at them, expression condescending and amused at the same time.
Guess what happens next chapter all you people who don't review. Nyeh! ;p