There's a Catch…

Kai

"Come with you?" I asked, not entirely sure what he meant.

"Yeah. Come with me."

Still confused, I cocked my head to the side and made the confusion obvious.

"Come with us! When we leave…" He smiled.

I smiled as well, finally understanding. "Aerrow, I can't… My dad would kill me. Plus, he's not even here for me to ask."

"Exactly! He's never there! What's the point of making someone stay somewhere they don't feel at home? Have you ever not been home when your father came home?"

I nodded slowly. "He came home and I was out running errands. Though I didn't come back until later, he didn't seem all that surprised that I wasn't home."

"Then why ask him if you can come with us? He's just as much of a father as I am a Talon. That trip to the Talon Academy didn't count… But you shouldn't be here unsupervised!" Taking an authoritative stance, he stared me down. "I will not let you be here unsupervised," he told me. "I order you to leave with us immediately."

I turned around, pressing my wrists together. "You'll have to handcuff me."

He laughed quietly. "Come on. You're under orders to pack up and leave. Don't want to upset the authorities, now do you?"

"Depends… what will they do to me if I defy?" I closed my eyes, turning my head away from him. This conversation sounded terrible. "Okay, okay, I'll go pack."

"You have two minutes before we really have to get going. You don't need much, just get what's necessary."

I nodded. "Be back in a few!"

It wasn't but a moment before I was back at the house, and another before I gathered everything I needed. A week's supply of clothes, a tooth brush, shoes, hair ties were a must…. Everything I would need as if I were leaving on a week-long trip. I stuffed it all into a bag and hid it under my Switchblade's seat. Already longer than Aerrow had said, I rushed outside and flew between the buildings. Upon reaching land's end, I realized there was no chance in hell I was going to be able to stop. Smiling at Aerrow before my wheels left the ground, I released the wings and threw the bike into a tailspin.

Idling in the air, I shouted toward Aerrow, "Are you coming or what?!"

He smiled, rushing to his bike. With the last of the load taken care of, and the others appearing to have left, we were free to go to the ship. Speeding off of the edge with as much acceleration as he could gather, Aerrow was in the sky in no time.

With a smile, I followed after the Sky Knight and prepared to board the Condor to stay. Once we landed, I retrieved my pack from under the seat and stepped a little further into the Condor, examining my new home.

"Looks a bit different than last time," I explained.

He nodded. "Except for the new supplies, it looks like Piper cleaned up around here."

Suddenly, an alarm went blaring through the halls and the ship went on lockdown.

"What the hell?" Aerrow rushed off and I was quick to follow.

Finn came out of nowhere, stopping in front of us. "Where is it?!" With his cross-bow in hand, Finn aimed at just about anything that could move.

Stepping out from behind Aerrow, I became worried. "What's going on?!"

Piper, rushing up to Finn, sighed, seeing me. "Stork! False alarm! It's Kai." She didn't seem too thrilled.

Aerrow sighed as well. "Is it possible that we could all talk in the bridge?" he shouted over the alarm, which soon came to a stop.

Finn and Piper turned to walk in the opposite direction.

"I should probably introduce you to the team. Formally, I mean."

I shrugged. "Haven't I met everyone?"

"Finn and Piper, yes. Junko, maybe. Radarr and Stork? No."

I nodded. "Okay."

Once it seemed like we had everyone in the same room, Aerrow gathered everyone together. "For everyone who hasn't had the pleasure of meeting her, this is Kai. She's a friend of mine."

Fearing for his life, a Merbian creature continually stepped backward, holding his arms in a defensive position. "Is that the Talon I saw?!"

I knew they were skittish, but wouldn't he be able to tell the difference between someone who's a Cyclonian Talon and a simple civilian?"

"No, she lives on Atmosia. She's far from being a Talon. Just for future reference, she does own a Switchblade, so please be careful. Now… If no one has any objections, she's going to be staying with us for a while. Her father had other priorities and had… well, pretty much abandoned her. So for the time being, she shall call the Condor her home."

I smiled, trying to keep my gaze off of the group. Without much practice with people, shyness was a trait that sat heavily on my personality. However, I was surprised to hear a lack of objection from Piper, someone who seemed to have a problem with me in general.

"Sweet! One more chick on board!" Finn cheered.

"As long as she's not a Talon," the Merb muttered, turning to adjust some controls before returning to the conversation.

"So if it's not too much trouble, Junko, we'll be setting one more plate at the table every night."

He smiled and nodded, welcoming me to the ship.

I returned the smile and continued to listen until a strange creature launched himself onto my head, trying to keep me immobile.

Piper laughed.

"Radarr! Radarr, this is Kai, she's a friend."

This was Radarr? When Aerrow talked about Radarr before, I assumed he was a young boy, not a creature! "Is he your pet?" I asked, scratching at his head.

Everyone in the room cringed, the tension rising.

Something bad was about to happen.

In Radarr's furry language, he began cursing, scratching at an exposed skin he could get his paws on.

Struggling to remove the creature from my head, Aerrow soon advised me of a slight problem, "Whatever you do… avoid calling him that. He's our mission specialist, not some pet." An apologetic look crawled over Aerrow's face as he set Radarr down on the ground.

Radarr stood up and crossed his arms across his chest, muttering something that could be inferred as, "Damn right."

I sighed, seeing the hair fall in front of my eyes. Loops and tufts had been pulled from the hair tie, causing me to fix the up-do entirely. I removed the tie and continued to listen as I remedied the issue.

"Kai, I have to talk to you about the rules of this place."

"Sure. As long as they're not too unreasonable, I'm sure I'll follow them to a 'T.'"

"Well…," he paused, unsure of how to word everything. "They're less like rules and more like guidelines. Everyone on the ship has to do their part—that includes chores, helping with dinner if Junko can't cook that night…"

Junko nodded. "Or if it turns out entirely inedible," he sighed.

"Oh, I completely understand! It's only right of you to ask me to help out around here."

"There's… one more thing," he laughed nervously. "In exchange for room and board, you have to help out with mission points…"

"Meaning…"

"If you live here, you're part of the team."

I gave a half-smile, raising a brow. "You're serious…?" I was sure not to seem repulsed by the idea when in fact I was almost over-joyed.

He nodded, rubbing his neck. "I can understand if you refuse—"

"I love the idea," I cut him off. "I'd rather be helping out friends than sitting at home alone."

Aerrow smiled. "Good. Everyone else okay with this?"

Before Piper had the chance to object, the majority had their say, and I could finally call this place home.

Ecstatic, I turned and hugged Aerrow, thanking him for taking me away from a horrid lifestyle into a much more exciting one."

Returning the hug, Aerrow laughed. "Now…," he whispered to me. "We have to do something about your Switchblade before you get hurt…"