Enemy Territory

Summery: The Storm Hawks are all set to enjoy a festival when they receive word that Starling's gone missing during a mission, investigating rumours of rebellion in Cyclonia. So they set out to Cyclonia and into trouble

Disclaimer: All Publicly Recognizable Characters, Settings, Ideas, etc. are the Property of Nerd Corp. The Original Characters and Plot are the Property of the Author. The Author is in no way Associated with the Owners, Creators, or Producers of Nerd Corp. No Copyright Infringement is intended.

Chapter Fifteen: Epilogue

Friday, 12:30 am, Terra Cyclonia,

Shrike punched the air in front of him trying to focus his breath to increase the power behind the attack. He couldn't sleep, so he trained, the repetitive movement helped calm his mind. Lady Moon had told him and Kestrel to take Friday and Saturday off they... hadn't been doing well, he had fallen from his ride three times during flight class. So here he was at his parent's place training in the middle of the night.

'Damn you Aerrow, this is all your fault.'

His brow furrowed when he heard the door bang shut. He could sense his little sister's presence in the doorway of the room.

"They escaped," she announced.

"Come again?" he asked, not bothering to turn he just continued to punch the air.

"The Storm Hawks rescued Cardinal and escaped."

It took a great deal of self control for Shrike not to shout at his sister, "His name is Aerrow, there was never a Cardinal, Cardinal was just some lie," hissed Shrike. "How did they escape?"

"Hid in a cave on Howl point."

"You went for a ride around there tonight right? How do you know where they hid?"

"I saw them."

"You didn't tell the Talons?"

"I told the Dark Ace they went in another direction."

Shrike left out a breath and slowly turned to his sister, he walked up to her grabbed her shirt and puller her towards him embracing her, "You, never repeat this story to anyone, we never speak of it again. If the Dark Ace finds out, he may already suspect you put him on a false scent if he even finds out you were close to them at school..."

"But you'll be okay now, the nightmares will stop."

"Is that why you did it?" he whispered tightening his hold on her.

"No, they were my friends too, we'll both be okay."

Shrike placed his hands on her shoulders and stared at her eyes, "Next time they're on their own, got that Kes?"

Kestrel nodded "Yes. That favour was for old time's sake, now, the friendship is over."

***

Tuesday, 12:00 am, Terra Cyclonia, Military School,

Lady Moon smiled and thanked Celeste, her secretary, for the tea and cakes. Celeste wondered at the Headmistress having two cups and enough cakes for two people when there was no one in the room, but she let it slide. Her boss did many things that made sense only to her.

"Allow no one entrance for the next two hours. If they insist, be sure to give me some warning," ordered Lady Moon as her secretary opened the door to leave.

"Yes, ma'am."

Lady Moon rose from her chair and opened the windows. She turned to the strange purple and green bird perched in a nearby tree. It had been staring at her for the past hour.

"I have enough here for two," when the bird made no move, aside from cocking its head at her, she continued, "Arygyn, you've known me for what? Thirty five years now? You know my word means something and you have my word. No harm will come to you."

The bird flew through the window and landed on the floor next to the table. It glowed, a bright magenta light as it grew in size and became a man.

"Love the décor, very intellectual," he commented as he took a seat.

"So glad you approve," chuckled Lady Moon as she hobbled over and took her own seat, "As I recall, you like a hint of lemon, a little bit of milk and two lumps of sugar?"

"You remember, after all these years," he said, wiping away an imaginary tear drop, "I'm so touched."

"How many years has it been? I know it was before my injuries, about a month or two beforehand?"

"About that. You gave me quite a run for my money, I'll tell you that."

"Hmmm, it was fun. Not the nearly killing you part, but the fighting. I miss the fighting."

"But not the killing?"

"You know I never enjoyed that. I got very good at it over the years, killing and interrogating," she spoke, pouring him his tea, "but I think to actually enjoy the acts shows very poor taste. Enough small talk, the business at hand: you came for the Sky Knight's blades."

She waved her hand to where Aerrow's weapons stood mounted on her wall.

"Why else would I come here? Besides your wonderful company and the delicious tea, do not let that girl go."

"Hmm, I won't, unless she desires it, or betrays Cyclonia. And nice recovery. You never call, you never write. A woman could begin to think you don't like her."

"Well, you did give me a rather large cut across my chest last time. I almost bled to death, you know."

"But I'm crippled now."

"From what I hear, you're still very dangerous," replied Arygyn, bringing his cup to his lips.

"My dear man, I'm down right deadly."

"As modest as ever!" laughed the skeeler with a feminine wave of his hand.

"We've gotten side tracked again," she said, placing her cup on its saucer, "The blades – what will you give me in return?"

"Don't suppose you'd like some gold?"

"I have no interest in gold; I have no shortage of funds. No Skeeler, I don't think you have anything I desire. I'll give you the blades under three conditions. One, you don't leave until we've finished our tea. Two, you come by once a month for more, stay at least an hour. Three, you owe me an I.O.U. Agree and I part with the blades without a fight. Of course, your safety is guaranteed during your visits and the I.O.U will be nothing that goes against your conscience, which probably means I won't be calling it in. Agreed?"

"Hmm," the skeeler muttered, bringing the index finger of his left hand to his chin in an exaggerated position of thought, "Guess I don't have much of a choice. It'll take those kids forever to find another striker crystal, much less two."

"Don't forget forging the new blades," chuckled the Lady.

***

Tuesday, 2:30 am, Rex, Field outside the stadium, Condor.

"How are you feeling Aerrow?" asked Piper, as she entered her leader's room with a tray of food.

"I'd feel better if you'd let me off the ship."

"It's not so bad. We're lucky the Rex Guardians had a spare Os and Pulmo crystal we could use. You've been through a lot. Your body needs the rest, at least until your stitches come out."

"I'm fine."

"Umm, guys, we have a guest," announced Stork over the speakers.

"Who is it?" asked Aerrow.

"Arygyn."

"I'll meet him on the bridge," said Aerrow, then he noticed Piper was giving him the look, "I can walk to the bridge, Piper."

***

"Hey kid, looking good, all things considered. Still need to do something about that hair though," greeted Arygyn as Aerrow and Piper entered the bridge.

Aerrow shook his head, "Nice to see you to Arygyn and I don't mean to sound rude, but what are you doing here?"

"Ta-da!" Arygyn said extravagantly as he reached behind his back and pulled out Aerrow's weapons.

"My blades!" Aerrow exclaimed as he walked up and took one of the weapons, his left arm still cast in plaster.

"How did you get these back?"

"Oh, Lady Moon and I go way back. All I had to do was promise to visit her once in a while," answered the skeeler as he handed the remaining blade to Piper.

"You two friends?" she asked in disbelief.

"No, just two old soldiers with a lot in common. We get along so much better now that she isn't under orders to kill me."

The next thing Aerrow knew, the famous warrior trainer was at his left side, holding up a hand and whispering in his ear, "She's lonely, most of her friends are dead so she likes to have someone around to talk about the 'good old days' even if that someone is — was an enemy.

"Well, I did what I came here to do. I'll see you kids around." He mocked curtsied to the pair, before morphing into his bird form and flew away.

***

Sixteen days later, 12:30 pm, Somewhere in the skies of Atmos, Condor's Landing pad.

"Ha!" shouted Finn as he tried to strike his Sky Knight's shoulder. Aerrow easily blocked the attacked and jabbed Finn in the stomach with his wooden practise blade.

"Ommff," moaned Finn as he fell on his posterior.

"Glad to see you're feeling better!" called Stork from the balcony in front of the bridge, "We just got a call from Terra Aquinos! They say Triton and the Neck Deeps disappeared in the lake while answering a distress call! I take it I should tell them we're on our way?"

Aerrow smiled. 'Finally, another mission.' "Good idea Stork. Set a course for Terra Aquinos!"

The End

I want to say thanks to all who reviewed, even if it wasn't complementary I love hearing from you.

I also want to thank my betas and dedicate this fic to them (By the way the reason there are so many is because some had to quit halfway through I like to have three people go over each chap.) Madame Lady, PixieGirl13, 4everlostinthought, Twiggy Boredom, Ishala8, and last but certainly not least. The only beta who stuck with me from beginning to end even through that writers block that lasted a year in which nothing was writ (See that's why I don't post till I have the rough draft written) Dark Ice Dragon.