The Condor wafted into the Dark Ace's line of vision, Ravess and Snipe peeking out from behind his skimmer.
Three other Talons were with them, and that was the extent of their force. Six people against six, how fair...
The Master had specified that they were to sneak up on the ship, then launch a full scale attack, aiming for the engines; the goal was to temporarily put the Storm Hawks out of commission, while she worked on a more permanent plan.
Dark Ace raised his sword and fired.
BOOM!
Dust everywhere!
Meanwhile, inside the ship, Aerrow and Eros coughed as a portion of the Sky Knight's room was blasted away. The dust cleared, and the two men saw, quite clearly, six skimmers, all with Cyclonian emblems on them.
"Dark Ace," Aerrow growled. There came a scurrying, and Piper burst into the room, a woman trailing her, shouting something about how the plan mustn't be messed up. Eros looked exasperated when the new arrival came bursting in.
"Mom!" he whined. "I thought you said you wouldn't interfere!"
"Well, we weren't exactly planning-"
"LOOK OUT!"
The Dark Ace was readying to fire once more. Venus didn't looked miffed in the slightest; she merely snapped her fingers. Everyone watched in shock and amazement as his skimmer chocked, spluttered, then gave out entirely. He barely had time to jump off the doomed ride, through the hole in the Condor's wall, and into Aerrow's room.
Venus was about to snap her fingers once more, to banish this pesky nuisance of a man to...well, an alternate dimension, when she noticed that Eros was standing conveniently close to Aerrow. She turned to her son and shouted, "EROS! Go through with the plan! NOW!"
Eros looked about quizzically for a few moments, noticed Aerrow, and grinned, before pulling out one of his heart-tipped weapons and notching it in his bow.
Suddenly...
...and this is the cool part...
...Dark Ace sprang up from the ground, oblivious to the suited little creature that was taking aim for a certain Sky Knight. He only had one thought in his mind: Kill. Aerrow. Pushing the red head aside and to the ground, he paused to leer for a moment.
And that moment was a BIG problem.
Eros let fly, solely based on instinct, the moment Dark Ace jumped to his feet. But his target was shoved aside, to be replaced by someone else...
For the Dark Ace, it was a moment of sharp and stinging pain in his shoulder, followed by a prolonged darkness...
OOO
A/N: I rock at cliffhangers.