Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks or any of its characters. I do, however, own my own characters and plots.

Chapter 40

"The next time you see Beta again, you are to subdue her," Cyclonis said. "No more games. I tire of her and Alpha using up my resources."

The Child Empress called Repton to Cyclonia to decide business and method of payment, items that required discussion beyond the use of radio. At first he thought he would be familiar with her order, as it was deeply implied throughout this entire operation, ever since he was first told of Nakoto's importance. However the order now... seemed finite, foreboding. Cyclonis' patience with Terra Deep had run out. Nakoto mentioned that defences had been stretching the Murk Raiders thin, but they didn't give an inch to the Cyclonians, and as far as Cyclonis could tell the struggle could last for months. That evidently was not something she was willing to do. With that in consideration, the order placed on Repton now pushed the charge right in front of him, whereas it previously existed in the ouskirts of his mind, out of thought.

Would he have a choice, the next he saw Nakoto again? Could he continue seeing her in secret, or was the risk so great he would be found out and condemned for it? And would that do Nakoto any good?

The fact that the Parasites received an upgrade didn't remotely interest him at that moment. He used them flawlessly against the Storm Hawks, he doubted he would need their improvements if he himself were to use them again. No protective research Atmosia was cooking up concerned him. He supposed this new endeavour was either Cyclonis being overzealous in her crystal-crafting or a handicap placed for her miserable Talons. He could care less.

Cyclonis had led him to the study where Athene's Eye and the archives resided. He was astounded to find Maia there, sitting in front of the spying crystal, stationed the same way he previously did. Her eyes bore with such hostility that his confusion doubled in weight. It was not at all that long ago that he had to bear her insufferable cheerfulness, and now she was in the last spot he'd expect with eyes that could cut stone. Cyclonis never noticed Maia and Repton's exchanges.

He thought that it didn't matter. Maia was snooping where she wasn't supposed to, but was he going to address it? Maybe later, since Cyclonis didn't have to know and he had something else in mind. He strode to the desk with purpose to where a few of the Oasium files were already distributed. He was well acquainted with the Project itself, and was rather searching for the remnants of Terra Oasium's culture. The sparked interest in his own Terra's history compelled him to seek the overview. He believed it was in the first phase of the Project, the Extraction file...

And then he saw it, bundled up tightly in the box with its twin. He took hold of one and let the other fall free within the box. The sleeve in his hand trailed like a useless, flaring tongue.

"What is this doing here...?" Repton voiced aloud. A numbness spread in his body and across his skin as he looked at it. Cyclonis, still observing the Eye beside Maia, had turned to his question and took a moment to recognize what he was holding. She let out a short, almost disinterested "ah".

"Beta dropped a pair of sleeves on Terra Saharr, along with some sort of tube top. Apparently she had them in her possession before the Talons identified her. That was before you saw her that day too, if I remember correctly."

Beta.

Nakoto.

She was seen carrying and dropping the sleeves. That was what Cyclonis just said, was it not? The information was tough to absorb. These sleeves belonged to Maia, without question, the same Maia that sat within arm's reach of the Empress herself. Why did Nakoto have Maia's sleeves...?

"Do you know why she had them on her, Repton?"

And it was then that the world rushed around him at lightning speed and halted with clarity, all within a second's time.

He looked at Maia again and found her gaze fixed upon him. She did not look surprised or baffled that her sleeves were there. She did not look guilty. Instead her look was cold and knowing. Within seconds his own sense of heated knowing filled his being, once he acknowledged what all of this meant. He felt rage of all kinds and he could not differentiate them. He felt that his visage reflected his wrath but Maia did not look afraid. She was not afraid, but livid. Extremely livid.

Repton answered Cyclonis negative. This secret was not to spare Maia, but to ensure he had his own chance at demands once he and the mail-carrier were alone. Her expression took on a darker shade, not at all showing him any gratitude. Cyclonis began her departure with some parting words to the both of them, to which they each replied;

"Yes, Master Cyclonis."

They had not broken eye contact with one another. Shortly after the Empress left them be, he finally spoke, his voice rumbling with infuriation.

"You clever, little, liar. All this time? All this time?"

To which Maia replied, her voice distorted to the hiss that reached the surface;

"We all have our fair share of secrets, don't we?"

At the first sign of Repton advancing, Maia seized the chair before the Eye and chucked it in his path. The force behind it was beyond a human's strength, but still too little to hinder him. He didn't have the mind to step aside to avoid it and just struck it aside, his plated forearm taking most of the trauma. Maia retreated backwards, her face contorted with rage, a little uneven with her footing. The fingers of her right hand were spread wide and hooked, empty, but he knew their potential. He reached to draw his boomerang from his back to render this struggle evenly-matched.

It seemed that Maia intended to escape through the door nearest to her, but she changed her mind mid-flight. She pivoted on her heel and tilted her momentum back forward, her invisible Claws engaging from defensive to offensive. Repton managed to ignite his boomerang right when she initiated her swipe at him. There was a rapid rise of a hum before her hand hit his weapon and he twisted to meet his blade with her attack. Her Claws clashed, a bright flash and a resonant clangour resulting from the parry. She withdrew her hand and aimed for another, the crystal singing. It was disorienting to fight the form of Maia when in his mind's eye he could see her true self; she looked like a mere human swinging with a bare hand. He found himself slightly slipping up because of this, and he had to figure out a way to disarm her quickly. Their dance of combat had them close to the study's library of scrolls.

He sought his chance and caught hold of her right hand with his left, right when she was retreating from an attack. The contact was surreal... he could feel the scales on her knuckles, her crystal talons. She let out a shout and dove her face forward, pulling his hand along with hers to meet it. Anticipating a lethal bite from her unseen teeth, he swerved the blade of his weapon below her jaw swiftly. She recoiled her face at the movement and gnashed her jaws, almost unnaturally by human standards. He bucked forward and made her trip back into the shelves. Scrolls rolled out of the compartments and littered the floor in disarray. She uttered a cry of anger with a hint of discomfort. If he was at all aware of her well-being, he would have realized that the contact vexed her healing shoulder. He had no mind for such things right now.

"Blasted traitor!" Maia spat. She couldn't hope to deter his weapon arm with her left, he knew. "I trusted you-"

"You did, did you?" Repton sneered, leaning close to flash his canines menacingly. "When were you going to let me in on your little secret? Or were you sure that I was going to flay you alive for this either way?"

"This has gone on for longer than us, so don't pretend it's something personal."

"Oh, but it is personal!" Repton made Maia's arm buckle and pressed her right hand into her chest, just below his flaming blade. The action made her breath hitch. He absentmindedly felt a solid stone through her shirt, and he realized later that it was her Cloaking crystal. "You've thwarted countless of my plans and missions; do you know how close I've been to death by that witch, because of you? And lest we forget-" he drew his boomerang higher up her throat, making her jaw angle away from the heat. "You've waltzed around my Terra in that skin! And just after you said we were friends-"

"I've done my own share of lying, but I didn't violate your privacy!" she screamed, glaring at Repton down her heavenward face. He was taken aback by her outburst slightly.

"As Maia, my job and my safety came first, my allegiance to the free Atmos. But as Nakoto?" She scoffed, a bitter smile spreading across her face. "I cared for you, you know? I thought about you, I wanted to help you, and I don't even know you after all, do I? I could've sworn you felt the same, but I can see that was wrong of me!"

"You don't know anything at all-"

"No, clearly! And you know everything! What with Luchas and those damn archives!"

He had thought her left arm to be useless at this point of dominance but he was mistaken. He had leaned forward too much in his passion that it allowed Maia a swift punch to the ribs. He underestimated the force she still had and a fracture appeared in his fortification. She managed to slip her Claws from his grip and he jumped back, not at all keen on suffering their desolation. The hum overwhelmed his hearing when they nearly clipped his face.

She made it passed him and retreated behind the Eye. She faced the Raptor King and placed her right hand on the bottom edge of the table, glowering at him. Her intention to flip the table and destroy the Eye as leverage made him laugh harshly and he lunged at her. A flash of disbelief flickered across her eyes but she didn't back down from the bluff- she sent the table flying. It went legs over surface, sending all of the contents to oblivion. The papers from previous scouts scattered and the Eye itself crashed to the floor, shattering with a horrendous sound. Shouts outside the door she intended to access before sounded in turn; there were Talons gathering to intervene.

In the storm of papers Repton swung, some notes seared in pieces and smoldering. Maia retreated yet again, this time to the desk. She grasped the box and sent it soaring in his direction without waiting this time to see whether that was worthy blackmail. He did not slash at it with his boomerang, however, and let it collide with his weapon shoulder. He shrugged it to send it in a more predictable direction, the papers slipping out of their folders and the sleeves joining the collecting disaster of the study.

"Cyclonian scum," Maia seethed under her breath, and Repton bristled at the insult. "I believed you were different. Just how long were you going to play this game before selling me out to her? Just more salt in the wound...!"

I never intended to! The thought existed in his mind, but it was muted among the other, stronger thoughts of accusation and fury. At that moment, the door blasted open and Cyclonians flooded through. Their staves shone brightly and stained the nearby walls with a reddish hue. Maia scowled at the party interrupting their meeting and scoffed aloud. She looked back at Repton, and he felt the sharp edge of the loathing while watching her make a decision.

Without a word she ran for the balcony that overlooked the auditorium Cyclonia used to host national events. The Talons started firing detonations after her, their mark finding anything but her. Without falter she jumped over the railing and sailed out of sight, making Repton start and make for the balcony himself. He looked down and found that Maia landed into a barge full of sacks; whether she aimed for it or even knew they were there, he didn't know. She scrambled out of it and ran for the exit. No Cyclonians had been posted down there and he growled under his breath.

"Get going, she's getting away!" he roared. "Cut her off at the docks!"

They took heed of his order and ran out in pursuit. A few sped through the set of doors he and Cyclonis had passed through earlier, most likely to go and inform her of this. He eyed the study's condition and didn't agree with the idea to wait for her arrival. He left the room, his boomerang still active, and stormed down the hall.

The Talons didn't know where to look at the docks, but he knew.

"I'm truly sorry you had to find out this way," the man in front of me said. "I didn't think you would want to go on with this if you knew."

Word caught like wildfire among the Talons and they swarmed the grounds more than they ever had during my visits, with me as their target. I hid myself in another boiler room, partly to remain unseen and partly to regain my composure. A lot of emotions threatened to consume me, and if I had let them control me in that study I never would have gotten out alive. Throwing away the chance to claim justice for what Repton did was an extremely difficult choice, but it was a necessary one. Everything had fallen apart so quickly I could not have possibly found the time to sort through it all. Time was just not a privilege I had then, and I had to calm myself to figure out my next move. I had to push Repton away from my mind.

Luchas was still a problem I could not overlook, as he was the reason I went to Cyclonia.

"You knew?" I asked the man. He and I stood in the small hallway leading to the door. I had drawn the shabby curtain away by an inch to peek into the activity outside. A few soldiers ran past and I let the cloth slip from my fingers. I heard the man sigh.

"I did."

Once I felt I was stable enough, I had unbuttoned my uniform to access my Cloaking crystal. I adjusted my features by lightening my skin tone to a deathly pale and my hair to a sandy blonde. I also tuned my voice-enhancer with a high frequency, even though I doubted it would help that much. Undoubtedly Repton told the Talons of my lisp by now, which I could not dispel. Once I finished with my facial structure, I left the boiler room and made my careful way to the living sector of the Capital, which I had passed before. I arrived at the address I worked hard to find and the man answered the door, having expecting me. We stood in the hallway just inside.

"He told me he was chosen for a mission in Atmosia," he continued. "It was an offer he didn't have a choice to refuse. He didn't tell me the stakes, but I had a feeling of what they were and didn't press for it."

"And so then he entrusted his daughter to you," I added softly. "I'm surprised Cyclonis allowed this."

"As long as she was kept in Cyclonia within reach, Her Majesty approved. My brother begged for her to stay with family so that she could be raised as a little girl, not a hostage."

"I see."

I was in a highly skeptical mood given the recent events, so I was not entirely on board with forgiving Luchas. He could have told me in some way, a way that was beyond the reach of Cyclonis' crystal. Even if he was forced into it he had done me a grave transgression, and he was as much to be hated right now as Repton was. I was no longer doing this for him, not for the kindness and dedication he'd shown me in the medical facility.

This was for Sylvia.

"Cyclonis would know if you brought Sylvia to her father," Luchas' brother pointed out. "Do you have an alternative?"

I tipped my chin in thought, closing my eyes. "I have a few ideas. I have a friend in Aquinos who might give me a hand. But is it even worth it now, to take her from here?" I shook my head. "Your brother would still return here, would he not?"

"He's gone on about leaving Cyclonia for a long time. He does not care for it..." I turned and regarded the man. He was thinner and more aged, but I could see a resemblance. "Cyclonians are usually Cyclonians for life, forbidden to change citizenship. If you take Sylvia from here, perhaps you'll force his hand and make him finally decide. He is in a position to, after all; he can simply not return."

"He won't know Sylvia's been taken. I have no way to contact him without Cyclonis knowing."

"I understand this, and that's an entirely different issue. When you searched us out however, I believed that this was for the best." He laughed weakly to himself. "Cyclonia has been a tainted Terra for a long time. Sylvia deserves better, and if she stays any longer she is at risk of the time Her Highness finds my brother's work unsatisfactory."

It irked me that he used honorifics when he mentioned Cyclonis, but I could only assume the habit was beaten into him his whole life. "What about you? You are also at risk, and it'll be even worse when they find out you didn't notify them of Sylvia's disappearance..."

He smiled gently at me. "No harm will come to me."

He invited me further into the small home. I was reluctant at first, on the edge with paranoia, but I fought against that feeling. Believing the whole world was against me was not the right mindset. He noticed that I was limping and urged me to the kitchen table when we got to it. The chafing of my boots had covered my feet with blisters, some taunt and others burst and raw. The struggle with Repton and then the scarper did not help at all. I told Luchas' brother of my situation and he disappeared while I removed the boots delicately. The Cloaking crystal was fairly accurate in translating wounds, but I would still have to deactivate it to treat the blisters. I undid my collar and slipped the pendent out, then froze when I saw the little girl in the doorway.

I smiled delicately. "Hi there, sweetheart."

"What's that?" she asked me shyly, pointing to the crystal. If I remembered correctly, she was eight-years-old. Her skin was light, with a warm flush upon her cheeks. Her black hair was cut short, just passing her jawline, very even. Her eyes were just a bit lighter than her hair, a dark-brown rather than black. I hesitated.

"It's a Cloaking crystal. It lets me disguise myself so people don't find me."

"So you're not who you look like you are?"

"No, I'm not..."

"Show me!" Her command took me aback. There was a bright curiosity illuminating her eyes now. "You don't look how you did last time."

I considered her words and then grinned a little. I pinched the Cloaking crystal and altered myself to take the form I'd taken the last time I was here, which happened to be the disguise I always chose for Repton and the Storm Hawks. Sylvia clapped her hands at the display, seeming pleased. I didn't have to reveal the truth to her so soon, but then again, wouldn't it be better to do so now? If something came up later she would be terrified. I doubted she had much exposure to the other tribes of the Atmos, let alone any Raptors. Her uncle appeared in at the door frame with a box.

"Have you packed your things, Sylvia?" he inquired gently. "You'll be leaving today."

"To see Daddy?"

"You'll see Daddy soon, but not today. Be a good girl and check your things, you don't want to forget anything."

She nodded, tucked her hair behind her ears, and left, but not before shooting me a speculative glance.

"You may deactivate your crystal now. I unfortunately don't have footwear that could replace the ones you have already. There's a reason Raptors don't wear shoes, eh?"

I gave a start. "I don't remember ever telling you my species," I said pointedly. I watched him with suspicion, but he laughed.

"Forgive me, but you are the one they call Beta, aren't you?" He knelt down in front of me and opened the first-aid kit. "I assumed you were the one my brother was sent to spy on. Am I wrong?"

I said nothing for a moment, staring at him, thinking. Letting out a defeated sigh, I pinched my crystal and rendered myself visible. "You're not wrong," I answered.

He chortled to himself and took hold of my one heel. I had expected him to be too revolted to help me with this, but he was a man full of surprises. There was silence between us as he coated my skin with healing salve and wound my feet with gauze. I leaned my right forearm on the table and watched him, still alert for any trouble. Today's events had my nerves extremely sensitive. Sylvia joined us again sooner than expected and I was startled, my previous predicament from before brought to my attention again. It was too late to clothe myself again as human. I looked at her and saw that she carried a small duffle bag with her... could that possibly be all that she possessed? She stared at me in wonder, and I didn't know what to say.

She wandered forward, her eyes fixed on my right hand. She dropped the bag on the floor with a soft thump and her little fingers reached up to my Claws. I stayed rather still and watched in astonishment as she touched me without hesitation. She gripped two of my fingers, one in each hand, while my thumb rested on the table. She angled them this way and that, more delicately than I had expected a child her age to. She observed keenly as she bent the joints. She ran her fingers over the keratin to perceive their smoothness, then over my flesh for the roughness.

"Just like her father... a curious little thing," her uncle tutted, having briefly glanced at the scene. Sylvia continued to experience the curve of my Claws without an ounce of fear on her face. She reminded me of the children back on Atmosia and a homesickness swept over me. It was still a pleasant experience, and I smiled as I watched her. For just a few minutes I could forget about Cyclonis, Luchas, and Repton. Instead of cynical pessimism, I felt at peace.

Sylvia looked up at me when she noticed me simpering and she timidly smiled, too.

Repton recovered from the long drop into the tunnels below, having skipped the ladder leading down from the supply house. The shallow water he landed in exploded against the walls at contact, and he straightened up with slight cracks popping from his joints. He hadn't put his boomerang away the entire time in his anger so it occupied his weapon hand. He stepped through the rusted gateway of the short tunnel and stopped in the next, a longer channel going to the left and to the right. The tunnels here weren't that spacious, as he could reach the roof with his fingertips of an extended arm, and every so often along the edge there were narrow holes and pits leading ladders to higher and lower levels respectively. He caught Nakoto's scent, miraculously, as the smell of decay and garbage clouded these underground networks. His lip curled and he turned left, moving in haste.

He almost missed it, but he found a Skimmer hidden in a cavity in the new channel he turned into. He didn't recognize it as Nakoto's, but her scent was all over it. He went in and investigated the vehicle, his blade held aside as he checked the dashboard with his left hand. He had considered the possibility of Nakoto having access to more than one Skimmer, but where could she get another in the company of pirates? There was a small, unconventional hatch, and when he flipped the designated switch it receded open. He wasn't surprised by the Cloaking crystal he found inside, and upon deactivation Nakoto's Cloud Nine reverted in a heartbeat. Looking at Cloud Nine, Repton wanted to devastate her to rubble. He lifted up his boomerang to deal the first blow.

Yet he couldn't. The churning storm of ire burnt out and a wave of repose took hold, accompanied by fatigue. His arm dropped and his boomerang extinguished. He stepped away from Cloud Nine and leaned against the wall beside her hiding place, staring into nothing.

Nakoto meant a lot to him.

Lost in the fury of his discovery he could not fully comprehend the new information. Now that the emotion had passed, he took it upon himself to consult with reason. Cyclonis ordered Nakoto's capture outright, and he had to make a decision that had warred in his heart for a long time. Maia, whom he had to overlook his previous grievances in exchange for her services, turned out to be Nakoto all along. This new information clashed with his current predicament and left him lost. Nakoto was solely responsible for many of his endeavours going wrong, and after she and Repton were well acquainted, she still paraded as the mail-carrier. She claimed keeping the personas separate was done for safety, but from what, him? Later in their relationship, she had plainly abused the perks of Maia's importance to take advantage of him. In a way, this was Maia's finest and most treacherous ruse.

With calmness clearing his mind, he finally acknowledged that he, too, had sinned, and Nakoto was fully aware of it. He was just as guilty for keeping the Eye a secret for so long, regardless if he intended to tell her of it later. His inactiveness was almost cowardly to him... he could pretend that the reason why he waited so long was to gauge Cyclonis' next move, but no. Keeping Nakoto in the dark was unnecessary after Repton found the chance to speak with her privately. "Maia" brought Nakoto benefits. Repton lied.

And now the Raptoress didn't want anything to do with him. He was sort of annoyed with himself for letting the fire of his rage die, for now he wasn't sure exactly how he was to confront her now. If his passion had stayed he'd at least have something to say and justify himself, but it was too late. Resignation embraced him now.

Save for the sound of rushing water, he detected movement up above him. He instinctively slipped into the space with Cloud Nine and pressed his shoulder against the wall to ensure his stillness. He angled his face at the edge to keep himself hidden as he surveyed the channel. He waited agonizingly long, but he knew the movement he heard was more than a sewer rat. He swallowed the saliva collecting in his mouth and waited even more. Soon enough he was rewarded for his patience and he watched as a Nightcrawler dropped down from one of the ladders down the way.

The elite assassin cast his violet eyes down the channel in Repton's direction, but he was too far down to see much of the cavity he sat in. Fortunately for the Rogue, he turned the other way and continued his scouting elsewhere. Well after he disappeared from sight, Repton decided to move at last. Despite this, he wasn't quick to action and rather took some time to think deeply, eyes closed. He eventually did come to a decision, leading him to slip his boomerang back into its sheath and turn to Cloud Nine. He reached for the Cloaking crystal and lulled the light back into it, and although he wasn't accustomed to their use he knew a thing or two. He sifted through the various designs customized into the crystal by twisting it in place like a dial. Eventually the vehicle disappeared entirely, initiating the invisibility mechanism. With airships being equipped with sonar, invisibility was useless nowadays, however a stationary object can take full advantage of it.

He still hadn't figure out what he was going to do when he confronted Nakoto. At present, she was a bit careless and left her vehicle unattended and unprotected. With the Nightcrawlers lurking in the shadows, this was no longer a safe route for her. Whatever she was doing in Cyclonia could not possibly have been worth alerting the entire militia and fortifying security. Leaving this Terra was not going to be easy.

She was going to try and access her ride eventually... but when? She wasn't there, and he could've sworn she was going to leave immediately after their fiasco. Maybe there was some truth in her words when she mentioned a client. In any case, was he to wait by her ride the entire time? In the supply house? There was no telling when she would come out of hiding, and he was expected elsewhere. Cyclonis would doubtlessly want to speak with him for what tore her study apart.

He left Cloud Nine, mentally taking note of which hollow she rested in. He tread slowly and silently, keeping his wits about him. He was not sure how far apart each Nightcrawler was from one another, but it seemed the one he witnessed was just making the rounds, bound to return again. Repton prepared himself in case Nakoto started coming down from the supply house, expecting to see her at any moment. That scenario disappeared from his mind when he reached the corroding gate without confrontation, and he took a deep breath.

He had to cross Nakoto's path, or else she'd fulfill her death wish.

Cyclonis overlooked the restoration of her study. Many of her Talons, unarmed, bent and collected the fallen documents and crystal shards. Those who attended to the Eye placed the pieces on the recovered table, and every so often a light discharged as the shards fused back together. It would inevitably be up to the Empress to organize her papers again, the Talons were good-for-nothing in that regard. Even the Oasium archives were sabotaged, leading her to believe that whoever attacked Repton could not be contained to one section of the room. No, whoever it was gave the Raptor King a lot of trouble.

A majority of the papers were gathered from the floor but still far from repair. She noticed that a few of such papers were destroyed in the struggle, either trodden underfoot or slashed with a weapon, and it displeased her. She ordered those guards to return to their posts and double precaution measures, and they dispersed. The ones that remained with the Eye backed away from the table at last and turned to her, hands up and firm in salute.

"We believe we've found all the pieces, your Majesty," one of the five announced, a shrimp with a snivelling voice. "All but one."

"I don't care for slivers, I'll gather those myself when I have the time."

"The piece we're missing is... much larger than that."

The young subordinate earned a cold glare from the Queen and he shot his gaze to the ground, his hand trembling in the prolonged salute. Cyclonis ventured to where they were and they backed away from the Eye even more.

"What's the meaning of this?" she breathed to herself. She overlooked the current activity on Luchas' side, which appeared to be paperwork in solitude. What the Talon said was true, as the piece missing was about the size of a hand. That was too large a piece to go awry. She turned to them, her pupils shrinking with tense vexation.

"Find that piece. Turn this whole room upside-down if you have to, no one leaves this room until it's found!"

Sylvia seemed content with holding me by the hand as we walked. She work a simple outfit of shirts of capri pants, both of the dark-brown variety. I carried her little duffle bag for her under my other arm and took my time with her. It had been several hours since my presence was noticed, and Cyclonian activity hadn't declined. I took on the disguise I initially changed to, the one after I fled the study. This time I removed the helmet and pushed the goggles from my eyes. The entire head of "hair" was now in the open, more free and leisurely- hopefully the demeanor would imply an off-duty soldier. After all, I had a child at my side, walking through a mass of Talons who were searching for one lone impostor.

I knew that my passage of the Terra was blocked... Repton knew my escape route and was probably there waiting for me. Seeing him again was the last thing I wanted to do that day, and I had to think of a different path. There were other ways into those tunnels, but navigation was going to be very difficult. The easiest way would be to find that rusted gate -a landmark in my mind-, but that would bring me to Repton in wait. I couldn't fight him off with Sylvia in the picture.

Could I possibly steal one of the Switchblades from the harbour? I was worried that the Cyclonians were uptight with what entered and left the docks, or that each vehicle was registered. Even if by chance everything went smoothly and no pursuit, I was leaving Cloud Nine behind. Returning for her another day did not sit well with me, and I wasn't sure I could bring myself to do that... I was in a fairly difficult predicament.

We were well out of the living sector now, nearing the barracks where most of the Talons turned in for the night. The catwalk Sylvia and I strolled by clutched the side of the Terra and met open air, overlooking a wider catwalk below. I assumed the barracks were a good checkpoint to pass by since a lot of those on duty were searching the rest of the Capital. Part of my assumption was correct; activity was minimal, with only a few Talons rushing past, glancing at us but having no time to investigate. I only made sure to steer Sylvia and myself out of their way.

"You there!"

The scales on the back of my neck prickled uncomfortably, and I forced myself to stop. There was no one else nearby for the woman to be addressing. Sylvia stopped as well and turned to the voice well before I did, blinking obliviously. I pivoted on the spot, switching the hands I was sharing with the child, and watched with dread as none other than Ravess strode toward us. Two lackeys followed her slender, gliding figure. I straightened up and withstood her fierce yellow gaze.

"What are you doing? There's an intruder to be caught and you're babysitting?"

I was foolish to think that an out-of-action Talon would be inconspicuous, especially with a strict personage like Ravess patrolling the vicinity. I was tongue-tied at the turn of events and she grew impatient quickly.

"Who do you report to?"

Acting inadvertently as a prompt, her wording untied my tongue and allowed me to speak faster than I could think.

"Commander Snipe, ma'am." I gave a really short and quick salute as an attempt to appease her. "I was given leave."

"Do you think that excuses you? I guess I should expect as much from my brother's underlings." The two Talons behind her smirked at one another. "It still doesn't explain why you have this girl with you."

The spines of my head rippled a little in agitation, but it was clearly unseen. "I just thought I could... pass through the barracks and cut to the plaza-"

"Why do you have this brat with you?" Ravess emphasized. "You need only answer the question, not waste my time."

"I'm not a brat," Sylvia interjected. When the archer commander switched her glare to the child I felt her shuffle a little bit behind my leg. I pulled the strap of the duffle bag back onto my shoulder, as it kept slipping down while I held her hand.

"It's... it was Bring-your-Kids-To-Work Day..." I said slowly, and stupidly. Ravess looked back at me and I felt heated embarrassment. That was perhaps the worst lie I had ever concocted, and I had the brilliant luck to say it here. Had the events of that day exhausted the last drop of cunning I had left? There was no turning back. "Snipe, uh, Commander Snipe let us vote for something to boost morale, and we thought this would be a fun day. Isn't that right, sweetheart?" I squeezed Sylvia's hand and looked down at her expectantly.

She understood the cue, the blessed girl. She nodded her head eagerly and rested her head on my hip. Children could be terrible liars, and even the most horrid improvising performers, so I had mindlessly placed a lot of hope on her understanding. A wave of relief washed over me when my bluff succeeded, and I had no time to wonder why she was able to catch on.

"Bring-your-Kids-to-Work Day, you say."

"Yes, ma'am. Before returning home I thought I'd give her a little tour of where her mother works... ma'am."

The commander didn't seem fazed. "Is that so?" she said, pursing her lips. I smiled, but it faltered when a familiar voice boomed from behind me.

"Ey, Ravess! Got any leads in the hunt?"

I didn't bother turning around. Ravess angled her head to look past me and acknowledge her brother arriving. I guess you could say I wore out the "who-reports-to-who" routine. As harmlessly as I could, I picked Sylvia up with both hands under her arms and brought her close. Her face over my right shoulder, she immediately wound her arms around my neck.

Good girl.

End of Chapter

A/N: Here ya go! I've been suffering a few sleepless nights, but at least I've been fairly productive. School's rapidly approaching and I gotta use the time I have left, even though I'm pretty drained. I guess Nakoto and I share that problem, lol.

Thank you VERY much for those that reviewed! And I'm pleased to see the stats for this story have spiked. For those who made it this far, thank you for reading and I hope to hear from you~ Speak up :)

Until next time!

~Vix