The Oracle [Chapter 1]
Nov. 28th, 2007 05:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonFandom: Storm Hawks
Summary: What if the Oracle wasn't who she said she was? If not, how did she know the future to come? What if she came from the future?
Rating: K+
Notes: Okay, soooo this was meant to be a one-shot. *looks at word count* Yeah. Not happening. So, if I've now currently worked it out right (never gonna happen) this could be a two-shot or a three-shot. I really really hope. I've actually got all of this planned out. :O But let's see if my fingers agree with my brain later on, huh?
The scene changes can mean anything from days/weeks/months have gone past, apart from the first three scene changes. And knowing me, if I get this finished, I'll want to eleaborate even more during then. Ugh.
And the scenes feel a little on the short side, which would be why I'd want to elaborate.
Some of the characters feel IC to me, others, not so much.
And what genre should be this? *facepalm*
D: Somebody save me from the Storm Hawks plotbunnies. They're threatening to kill me if I don't write them! And they're breeding like crazy!
Genre: General
Word count: 2,735
Status: Work in Progress
Stork steered the Stork Mobile down the ramp with no little trepidation. He had wanted to install an ejector seat (because, of course, you always needed one) but he hadn’t had the time to. What with the Cyclonians digging their way to the Forbidden City and getting closer and closer to the Oracle Crystal with every wasted second – well, that was a bigger doom than that of no ejector seat.
He hoped.
:-:-:
He watched Snipe immobilise his friends in mere seconds and screamed out loud as the larger man ripped off the steel frame with ease and saw the mace arcing towards his head. His reflexes kicked in and he found himself somehow holding the bigger man off.
Snipe actually looked surprised for a fraction of a second before hauling him up and flinging him towards the ground. “When I’m finished with you, Cyclonis will give me a medal!” Between each word was punctuated with Snipe bringing his mace down to try and crush his skull. Stork really didn’t want to know what else it had been in contact with. “A promotion! A reward!” Snipe said the last with relish, throwing his head back.
Stork’s neck muscles were screaming at him, but all he could do was dodge. All his adjustments to the Stork Mobile wouldn’t help him in this situation.
That was his last thought before red Crystals on a shiny surface filled his vision.
:-:-:
Aerrow ran up the stairs, panting slightly. The room was a haze of purple light, its source the Oracle Crystal in the very centre. He reached up to grab it but hesitated just as he was about to touch it. ‘Wait. Too easy. This has gotta be a trick.’ Scanning the area around him, he couldn’t see anything that could change. But that was the point, wasn’t it? He walked around the pedestal, checking it out, and then shrugged. He put some pressure on the surface that the Crystal was on like Radarr had done before but nothing happened.
He heard a yell bouncing off the walls. “Piper!” He stood indecisive for a second before running back out without the Crystal. He would help Piper and then they’d both work out how to get the Crystal.
He had just gotten a glimpse of Piper lying on the ground before Snipe raced into the room. Two against one, where one was on a Heli-blade and he was without a vehicle was not good odds.
Aerrow fell in over a minute.
:-:-:
Piper regained consciousness slowly. She heard and felt the thick steel chains above her head at the same time, along with the cut on her shoulder than Domiwick had so kindly given her. The floor under her was freezing.
“Hello, Piper.”
She snapped her eyes open and saw the owner of the voice. “Master Cyclonis,” she spat.
The red lighting in the room wasn’t great and it made Master Cyclonis seem even darker than before. “Now, now,” she admonished softly. “Is that how you meet a friend?” There was mocking in the tone, but not as much as Piper had thought there would be.
The chains clanked as Piper shifted position. They allowed her to move a little but not much. “I guess not. How’ve you been, Lark?”
Master Cyclonis smirked. “That’s better. Oh, I’ve been good. Cyclonia’s reach is getting further and now that I have the Storm Hawks, things will be even easier.” She paused. “And also, because I have the Oracle Crystal.” Her smirk grew wider at Piper’s horrified face.
“No,” she whispered.
“Yes.” She paused again, studying Piper’s face. “The offer’s still there – join Cyclonia and help me rule all of Atmos. With my new assets there will be little that the rest of Atmos and its Sky Knights can do against me.” Master Cyclonis tilted her head to the side. “There is no hope left for you.”
Piper glared at her. “I would never become a Cyclonian.” She didn’t care if she died then, if she was forced to become a slave, or if she would spend the rest of her life in the dingy cell – she was not going to become someone like the Dark Ace and betray Atmos.
The light in the room flickered for a few seconds. When it stopped, Master Cyclonis was turning towards the door. There wasn’t another word spoken as she left the room; the sound of the door hissing shut rang in Piper’s ears as she slumped to the wall. There had to be a way out of this. There had to be.
:-:-:
Dark Ace watched from the bridge as the Condor flew closer and closer to Terra Nord. This would be an easy Terra to conquer since the Blizzarians had lost their most powerful Crystal and the Sky Knight that lived there were no match for his Talons either.
They were quickly gaining land week by week. The Sky Knights didn’t know what was going on. They either found a Terra that was completely decimated or one that was 'suddenly' under Cyclonian rule.
And they had no idea how it was happening.
Maybe they would figure it out in a few months or so but by then, most of Atmos would be part of Cyclonia and Cyclonia would have enough in numbers to completely overwhelm what was left.
Dark Ace left the bridge and strode towards the hanger. In a few months, Master Cyclonis would rule the entire planet. If things went quickly here, he could be able to go to Terra Rex and see how the Storm Hawks were, rebuilding the Terra to be fit for Cyclonian rule.
:-:-:
This was not good. Finn lifted the stone slab and started walking unsteadily. Behind him, Junko lifted another slab with a grunt. He really didn’t know how those special shackles sapped Wallop strength but they were powerful enough to make Junko only have the strength of a regular human and no more. There were green Crystals studded around it and he was sure that Piper knew exactly what it was, what it did and how it did it but ‘prisoners’ weren’t meant to talk to each other.
He rolled his eyes. Whatever. Even though the shackles were joined together one-by-one in a straight line, they were normally carrying one piece of junk from one place to another. When they weren’t, they were digging, pushing a square slab three times their height up a hill, cleaning and other boring things like that. That meant that the Storm Hawks had to be side-by-side for such chores and the guards couldn’t keep their attention on them all the time.
Not when there were new prisoners being flown in, sometimes daily.
Again, not good. And they were using the Condor to do it! She was their ship, not some ship that the Cyclonians could use for whatever they wanted. Stork really wasn’t taking it too well.
He heard the crack of a whip and nearly dropped the slab on his foot. A split second later, there was a whip snapped at his feet.
“Quit daydreaming, prisoner!” Mr. Moss yelled. “Unless you want to continue working past dinner,” he said, trying to make his voice sound silky.
Ugh. Dinner. Some days he could do without but today, he really needed something in his stomach. He picked up the pace a little.
But did it have to be so hot?
:-:-:
Junko picked up a spoon and poked the mysterious food. He could eat a huge variety of food, most of which not a lot of people could even look at without feeling faint. He knew that he couldn’t eat Merb cabbage and now he knew something else that he couldn’t eat.
When you swallowed this stuff, it was like it was trying to crawl back out your throat at the same time.
Junko raised his head to see if he could find any of his friends but it was almost impossible to in the sea of faces. There were far too many people here now. He recognised a few though: Suzy Lu, Dove and one of the Rex Guardians. Seeing a flash of green, he focused on it but was disappointed; it was a Merb but it wasn’t Stork.
“Eat your food unless you want to starve, prisoner,” the Cyclonian beside him hissed. His mouth and nose were going insane at the sight and smell of the food on the Cyclonian’s plate. Just as the number of prisoners was increasing, so were the Cyclonians. And they weren’t stupid – they knew if the prisoners stayed chained together during eating time, that was the best time to make plans.
So their way of countering that was to randomly assign a Cyclonian a prisoner every day during eating time and the table that the pair sat at was also different, with different people, every day. And even then, no-one was allowed to speak so the only sound was of scraping spoons. Junko had yet to be knowingly seated with a Sky Knight or a Sky Knight’s squadron.
The tales that were whispered within shadows and under the clank and whirr of machines told of Master Cyclonis’ arm becoming longer and longer and untold lives being destroyed one way or another.
And there was nothing they could do. They were trapped here. Once they were finished here, they would be moved to another newly turned Terra. Each ‘trip’ was becoming shorter and shorter as the months went by with new prisoners making the work go faster.
Junko moodily stared at the shackles around his wrists as he took another spoonful of the so-called food. Even if he had all his strength and Knuckle Busters, if he tried to break out now, he’d get as far as two steps before being shot down at least five times. He had seen that happen too many times already.
He didn’t know what they did with the ones that tried to get away, but their unconscious bodies were dragged out the room.
There were just too many people to know if they came back.
:-:-:
Aerrow would have hit the wall in frustration if he wasn’t so tired. His stomach growled at the mere thought of moving; he bent over, straining the chains as the hunger pain came and went.
The situation was becoming more and more hopeless. When they were outside, there was about one guard for every two prisoners and maybe actually more than that when you counted the Cyclonians in the towers.
He had checked the blank walls around him but there didn’t seem to be any weakness – not that he could try and dig through like in Terra Zartacla, or even check since his hands were chained to the wall.
There was a flash underneath the door. Aerrow started for a second but then dismissed it. It was probably just one of the Cyclonians showing off or something.
The door slid open to reveal a familiar face.
“S-Starling?” His next question wasn’t asked because it was obvious what she was doing. “But how - ?”
She shook her head. “No time.” Quickly, she unlocked the chains and after he rubbed his wrists and shaking his arms, Aerrow unsteadily got to his feet. “Do you think you can make it?” Starling whispered from the doorframe.
Aerrow nodded. “Yeah, I think so.” He had to. This could be the only chance they had at this. Peeking around the doorframe, he saw the rest of his friends there waiting. He grinned at them tiredly with relief and they replied in kind. “Are we breaking anyone else out?” he asked as they snuck around corners and stayed to the shadows. Starling may have taken out most of the guards on the way to their cells but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t another thousand or so soldiers about the place.
“There’s no time to,” Starling whispered again. They ducked behind a crate of raw Crystals as a soldier scanned the area. “I took enough time getting to each of you and seven as it is is going to be hard to hide.” They tip-toed past the soldier’s back and made a silent dash down the corridor.
So far, they had miraculously missed being seen. It took them another two hours to ‘acquire’ a few weapons, uniforms, proper identification and to get to the hanger.
The seven of them nodded to each other just before Starling slid the card down to open the door and hoped that there wouldn’t be too many guards stationed there. As soon as the door hissed open Aerrow’s heart plummeted past the floor.
Master Cyclonis. With about a hundred soldiers behind her. “Tsk tsk, Sky Knight. Did you really think you could escape?” she asked hypothetically. “My soldiers would have noticed missing people in their teams and not being there at the end of their shift.” There was a smile on her lips. “Did you forget that I have the Oracle Crystal?” As she said that, Master Cyclonis pulled something out from one of her pockets. It was a Crystal, a darker shade of purple than her regular ones but that was all Aerrow could tell from it. “Maybe - ”
“No!” Suddenly Piper was standing in front of them, her arms outstretched. “I won’t let you - ” She was flung to the side from a swipe of red energy from a red Crystal in Master Cyclonis’ other hand. There was another gout of energy - from the purple one this time. Aerrow tumbled to the ground as someone pushed him and he saw it flash over him.
There was a shocked silence around him. “No. Way,” he heard Finn whisper. Aerrow rolled over slowly onto his back to see what had happened to Starling.
She was gone. There was absolutely no trace of her left.
He swallowed the lump in his throat and got up to his feet. There really wasn’t anything to do: six blasts from that purple Crystal and the Storm Hawks would be no more; if they tried to run to the Switchblades and fly through the human wall, they would either be yanked off, again hit by the purple Crystal or by firebolt blasts; they couldn’t find another way around because this was the only place to exit. And all of them were just too exhausted from everything that had happened.
Master Cyclonis nodded at their unresponsiveness. “It was fun keeping you around Storm Hawks, but if you still have some hope left, who knows what you could do with it.” She lifted up her right hand.
“Wait!” It was Piper again. “You know that it won’t work on me.” Okay, that was a little weird. Why wouldn’t it work on Piper? It couldn’t be because she was shielded by a Crystal because they would have been taken off her months ago.
Master Cyclonis scoffed. “And how is that going to help you, Piper?" She was focusing on Piper and ignoring the rest of the Storm Hawks. “Do you think you can survive taking me on and my Talons by yourself?” She waved a hand to indicate the mob behind her.
“No.” Piper shook her head. She then bowed it, and took a deep breath. When she lifted it, Aerrow could see that there was a determined glint in her eye. “I won’t – I won’t join with you if you use it on them.”
’What?!’ “Piper, you can’t-”
“I am, Aerrow,” she snapped, interrupting him. “It’s the only way we can get out of this alive.”
“But they’re-”
“I know, Aerrow. I know,” she said softly, her shoulders slumped.
Master Cyclonis was studying them, a speculative look on her face. “You’re doing this because… you’re friends?”
Piper nodded and she was showing an emotion that Aerrow wasn’t quite sure what it was. “Yeah.”
There was another heavy silence as Master Cyclonis considered the deal. But why? How could Piper even think of doing this, let alone actually going through with it? And why would Master Cyclonis let –
“Okay. I’ll let them live.” She turned her head to face some of the soldiers. “Escort them back to their cells. None of them will be harmed, understood?”
“Yes, Sir!” They all snapped off salutes and started marching towards them.
“Hey-! Wait-! Piper-!” Aerrow tried to turn back around to see what would happen but there were too many people and then he heard the door hiss shut.
Next Chapter
Summary: What if the Oracle wasn't who she said she was? If not, how did she know the future to come? What if she came from the future?
Rating: K+
Notes: Okay, soooo this was meant to be a one-shot. *looks at word count* Yeah. Not happening. So, if I've now currently worked it out right (never gonna happen) this could be a two-shot or a three-shot. I really really hope. I've actually got all of this planned out. :O But let's see if my fingers agree with my brain later on, huh?
The scene changes can mean anything from days/weeks/months have gone past, apart from the first three scene changes. And knowing me, if I get this finished, I'll want to eleaborate even more during then. Ugh.
And the scenes feel a little on the short side, which would be why I'd want to elaborate.
Some of the characters feel IC to me, others, not so much.
And what genre should be this? *facepalm*
D: Somebody save me from the Storm Hawks plotbunnies. They're threatening to kill me if I don't write them! And they're breeding like crazy!
Genre: General
Word count: 2,735
Status: Work in Progress
Stork steered the Stork Mobile down the ramp with no little trepidation. He had wanted to install an ejector seat (because, of course, you always needed one) but he hadn’t had the time to. What with the Cyclonians digging their way to the Forbidden City and getting closer and closer to the Oracle Crystal with every wasted second – well, that was a bigger doom than that of no ejector seat.
He hoped.
He watched Snipe immobilise his friends in mere seconds and screamed out loud as the larger man ripped off the steel frame with ease and saw the mace arcing towards his head. His reflexes kicked in and he found himself somehow holding the bigger man off.
Snipe actually looked surprised for a fraction of a second before hauling him up and flinging him towards the ground. “When I’m finished with you, Cyclonis will give me a medal!” Between each word was punctuated with Snipe bringing his mace down to try and crush his skull. Stork really didn’t want to know what else it had been in contact with. “A promotion! A reward!” Snipe said the last with relish, throwing his head back.
Stork’s neck muscles were screaming at him, but all he could do was dodge. All his adjustments to the Stork Mobile wouldn’t help him in this situation.
That was his last thought before red Crystals on a shiny surface filled his vision.
Aerrow ran up the stairs, panting slightly. The room was a haze of purple light, its source the Oracle Crystal in the very centre. He reached up to grab it but hesitated just as he was about to touch it. ‘Wait. Too easy. This has gotta be a trick.’ Scanning the area around him, he couldn’t see anything that could change. But that was the point, wasn’t it? He walked around the pedestal, checking it out, and then shrugged. He put some pressure on the surface that the Crystal was on like Radarr had done before but nothing happened.
He heard a yell bouncing off the walls. “Piper!” He stood indecisive for a second before running back out without the Crystal. He would help Piper and then they’d both work out how to get the Crystal.
He had just gotten a glimpse of Piper lying on the ground before Snipe raced into the room. Two against one, where one was on a Heli-blade and he was without a vehicle was not good odds.
Aerrow fell in over a minute.
Piper regained consciousness slowly. She heard and felt the thick steel chains above her head at the same time, along with the cut on her shoulder than Domiwick had so kindly given her. The floor under her was freezing.
“Hello, Piper.”
She snapped her eyes open and saw the owner of the voice. “Master Cyclonis,” she spat.
The red lighting in the room wasn’t great and it made Master Cyclonis seem even darker than before. “Now, now,” she admonished softly. “Is that how you meet a friend?” There was mocking in the tone, but not as much as Piper had thought there would be.
The chains clanked as Piper shifted position. They allowed her to move a little but not much. “I guess not. How’ve you been, Lark?”
Master Cyclonis smirked. “That’s better. Oh, I’ve been good. Cyclonia’s reach is getting further and now that I have the Storm Hawks, things will be even easier.” She paused. “And also, because I have the Oracle Crystal.” Her smirk grew wider at Piper’s horrified face.
“No,” she whispered.
“Yes.” She paused again, studying Piper’s face. “The offer’s still there – join Cyclonia and help me rule all of Atmos. With my new assets there will be little that the rest of Atmos and its Sky Knights can do against me.” Master Cyclonis tilted her head to the side. “There is no hope left for you.”
Piper glared at her. “I would never become a Cyclonian.” She didn’t care if she died then, if she was forced to become a slave, or if she would spend the rest of her life in the dingy cell – she was not going to become someone like the Dark Ace and betray Atmos.
The light in the room flickered for a few seconds. When it stopped, Master Cyclonis was turning towards the door. There wasn’t another word spoken as she left the room; the sound of the door hissing shut rang in Piper’s ears as she slumped to the wall. There had to be a way out of this. There had to be.
Dark Ace watched from the bridge as the Condor flew closer and closer to Terra Nord. This would be an easy Terra to conquer since the Blizzarians had lost their most powerful Crystal and the Sky Knight that lived there were no match for his Talons either.
They were quickly gaining land week by week. The Sky Knights didn’t know what was going on. They either found a Terra that was completely decimated or one that was 'suddenly' under Cyclonian rule.
And they had no idea how it was happening.
Maybe they would figure it out in a few months or so but by then, most of Atmos would be part of Cyclonia and Cyclonia would have enough in numbers to completely overwhelm what was left.
Dark Ace left the bridge and strode towards the hanger. In a few months, Master Cyclonis would rule the entire planet. If things went quickly here, he could be able to go to Terra Rex and see how the Storm Hawks were, rebuilding the Terra to be fit for Cyclonian rule.
This was not good. Finn lifted the stone slab and started walking unsteadily. Behind him, Junko lifted another slab with a grunt. He really didn’t know how those special shackles sapped Wallop strength but they were powerful enough to make Junko only have the strength of a regular human and no more. There were green Crystals studded around it and he was sure that Piper knew exactly what it was, what it did and how it did it but ‘prisoners’ weren’t meant to talk to each other.
He rolled his eyes. Whatever. Even though the shackles were joined together one-by-one in a straight line, they were normally carrying one piece of junk from one place to another. When they weren’t, they were digging, pushing a square slab three times their height up a hill, cleaning and other boring things like that. That meant that the Storm Hawks had to be side-by-side for such chores and the guards couldn’t keep their attention on them all the time.
Not when there were new prisoners being flown in, sometimes daily.
Again, not good. And they were using the Condor to do it! She was their ship, not some ship that the Cyclonians could use for whatever they wanted. Stork really wasn’t taking it too well.
He heard the crack of a whip and nearly dropped the slab on his foot. A split second later, there was a whip snapped at his feet.
“Quit daydreaming, prisoner!” Mr. Moss yelled. “Unless you want to continue working past dinner,” he said, trying to make his voice sound silky.
Ugh. Dinner. Some days he could do without but today, he really needed something in his stomach. He picked up the pace a little.
But did it have to be so hot?
Junko picked up a spoon and poked the mysterious food. He could eat a huge variety of food, most of which not a lot of people could even look at without feeling faint. He knew that he couldn’t eat Merb cabbage and now he knew something else that he couldn’t eat.
When you swallowed this stuff, it was like it was trying to crawl back out your throat at the same time.
Junko raised his head to see if he could find any of his friends but it was almost impossible to in the sea of faces. There were far too many people here now. He recognised a few though: Suzy Lu, Dove and one of the Rex Guardians. Seeing a flash of green, he focused on it but was disappointed; it was a Merb but it wasn’t Stork.
“Eat your food unless you want to starve, prisoner,” the Cyclonian beside him hissed. His mouth and nose were going insane at the sight and smell of the food on the Cyclonian’s plate. Just as the number of prisoners was increasing, so were the Cyclonians. And they weren’t stupid – they knew if the prisoners stayed chained together during eating time, that was the best time to make plans.
So their way of countering that was to randomly assign a Cyclonian a prisoner every day during eating time and the table that the pair sat at was also different, with different people, every day. And even then, no-one was allowed to speak so the only sound was of scraping spoons. Junko had yet to be knowingly seated with a Sky Knight or a Sky Knight’s squadron.
The tales that were whispered within shadows and under the clank and whirr of machines told of Master Cyclonis’ arm becoming longer and longer and untold lives being destroyed one way or another.
And there was nothing they could do. They were trapped here. Once they were finished here, they would be moved to another newly turned Terra. Each ‘trip’ was becoming shorter and shorter as the months went by with new prisoners making the work go faster.
Junko moodily stared at the shackles around his wrists as he took another spoonful of the so-called food. Even if he had all his strength and Knuckle Busters, if he tried to break out now, he’d get as far as two steps before being shot down at least five times. He had seen that happen too many times already.
He didn’t know what they did with the ones that tried to get away, but their unconscious bodies were dragged out the room.
There were just too many people to know if they came back.
Aerrow would have hit the wall in frustration if he wasn’t so tired. His stomach growled at the mere thought of moving; he bent over, straining the chains as the hunger pain came and went.
The situation was becoming more and more hopeless. When they were outside, there was about one guard for every two prisoners and maybe actually more than that when you counted the Cyclonians in the towers.
He had checked the blank walls around him but there didn’t seem to be any weakness – not that he could try and dig through like in Terra Zartacla, or even check since his hands were chained to the wall.
There was a flash underneath the door. Aerrow started for a second but then dismissed it. It was probably just one of the Cyclonians showing off or something.
The door slid open to reveal a familiar face.
“S-Starling?” His next question wasn’t asked because it was obvious what she was doing. “But how - ?”
She shook her head. “No time.” Quickly, she unlocked the chains and after he rubbed his wrists and shaking his arms, Aerrow unsteadily got to his feet. “Do you think you can make it?” Starling whispered from the doorframe.
Aerrow nodded. “Yeah, I think so.” He had to. This could be the only chance they had at this. Peeking around the doorframe, he saw the rest of his friends there waiting. He grinned at them tiredly with relief and they replied in kind. “Are we breaking anyone else out?” he asked as they snuck around corners and stayed to the shadows. Starling may have taken out most of the guards on the way to their cells but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t another thousand or so soldiers about the place.
“There’s no time to,” Starling whispered again. They ducked behind a crate of raw Crystals as a soldier scanned the area. “I took enough time getting to each of you and seven as it is is going to be hard to hide.” They tip-toed past the soldier’s back and made a silent dash down the corridor.
So far, they had miraculously missed being seen. It took them another two hours to ‘acquire’ a few weapons, uniforms, proper identification and to get to the hanger.
The seven of them nodded to each other just before Starling slid the card down to open the door and hoped that there wouldn’t be too many guards stationed there. As soon as the door hissed open Aerrow’s heart plummeted past the floor.
Master Cyclonis. With about a hundred soldiers behind her. “Tsk tsk, Sky Knight. Did you really think you could escape?” she asked hypothetically. “My soldiers would have noticed missing people in their teams and not being there at the end of their shift.” There was a smile on her lips. “Did you forget that I have the Oracle Crystal?” As she said that, Master Cyclonis pulled something out from one of her pockets. It was a Crystal, a darker shade of purple than her regular ones but that was all Aerrow could tell from it. “Maybe - ”
“No!” Suddenly Piper was standing in front of them, her arms outstretched. “I won’t let you - ” She was flung to the side from a swipe of red energy from a red Crystal in Master Cyclonis’ other hand. There was another gout of energy - from the purple one this time. Aerrow tumbled to the ground as someone pushed him and he saw it flash over him.
There was a shocked silence around him. “No. Way,” he heard Finn whisper. Aerrow rolled over slowly onto his back to see what had happened to Starling.
She was gone. There was absolutely no trace of her left.
He swallowed the lump in his throat and got up to his feet. There really wasn’t anything to do: six blasts from that purple Crystal and the Storm Hawks would be no more; if they tried to run to the Switchblades and fly through the human wall, they would either be yanked off, again hit by the purple Crystal or by firebolt blasts; they couldn’t find another way around because this was the only place to exit. And all of them were just too exhausted from everything that had happened.
Master Cyclonis nodded at their unresponsiveness. “It was fun keeping you around Storm Hawks, but if you still have some hope left, who knows what you could do with it.” She lifted up her right hand.
“Wait!” It was Piper again. “You know that it won’t work on me.” Okay, that was a little weird. Why wouldn’t it work on Piper? It couldn’t be because she was shielded by a Crystal because they would have been taken off her months ago.
Master Cyclonis scoffed. “And how is that going to help you, Piper?" She was focusing on Piper and ignoring the rest of the Storm Hawks. “Do you think you can survive taking me on and my Talons by yourself?” She waved a hand to indicate the mob behind her.
“No.” Piper shook her head. She then bowed it, and took a deep breath. When she lifted it, Aerrow could see that there was a determined glint in her eye. “I won’t – I won’t join with you if you use it on them.”
’What?!’ “Piper, you can’t-”
“I am, Aerrow,” she snapped, interrupting him. “It’s the only way we can get out of this alive.”
“But they’re-”
“I know, Aerrow. I know,” she said softly, her shoulders slumped.
Master Cyclonis was studying them, a speculative look on her face. “You’re doing this because… you’re friends?”
Piper nodded and she was showing an emotion that Aerrow wasn’t quite sure what it was. “Yeah.”
There was another heavy silence as Master Cyclonis considered the deal. But why? How could Piper even think of doing this, let alone actually going through with it? And why would Master Cyclonis let –
“Okay. I’ll let them live.” She turned her head to face some of the soldiers. “Escort them back to their cells. None of them will be harmed, understood?”
“Yes, Sir!” They all snapped off salutes and started marching towards them.
“Hey-! Wait-! Piper-!” Aerrow tried to turn back around to see what would happen but there were too many people and then he heard the door hiss shut.