The Seventh Member of the Storm Hawks

King For A Day

It took a whole hour for Piper to admit that she got the Storm Hawks lost, the team could have done without Finn and herself arguing but the pair were overdue a spat – something that happened less frequently but hey who was going to complain. "Squadron log, alright I admit it – we're lost! So, my directions were a little bit off! It's not like it's a big disaster!" She ranted, trying to regain some lost pride. Nika chuckled quietly, after watching Finn prove a good point that Piper was incredibly proud she was rather amused with Piper admitting she was wrong. "This is a big disaster." Stork began, prompting everyone to roll their eyes. Junko put a finger to his lips before he started to sneak up on the Merb. "Flying at night, where things can sneak up on you." As he finished, Junko curled his finger around Stork's ankle making him scream in fright. Nika held her stomach laughing, doubling over when Junko innocently greeted him. "Sup?" Stork glared at his teammates, now cheered up by Junko's prank. "What's gonna sneak up on us in the middle of the night?" He asked, Stork blankly looked at the team as if the teenagers were oblivious to the danger around them. "Cyclonians, acid storms..." He listed, Nika stopped listening and lost interest – she tugged on Aerrow's arm seeing a mountain coming straight for them, he responded by wrapping an arm around her waist and hanging onto the rail. Stork saw the danger, only just managing to avoid the danger but not fully – it smashed into the mountain – Finn and Junko slid with the ship, poor Finn being squashed by the Wallop. The Condor skidded to a halt, Stork heavily breathing as everyone backed away from him. "My Condor..." He wailed, Piper managed to calm the Merb down before he had a mental breakdown and gave Nika a headache.

"Um... you can let go of me now." Nika blushed, Aerrow immediately took his arm away and looked away bashfully – he was hoping she would tell him about who she was but she hadn't – like Piper said, she wasn't being or going to be treated any differently. "Sorry." He replied before grabbing a torch and ordering everyone to outside to check for damage and see where they landed since Piper had no idea where they had landed. The sounds of howling and a weak breeze blowing through a fairly derelict terra greeted the Storm Hawks, "Stork, any damage?" Nika had wandered ahead, wondering why there was nobody around – well she was quickly proven wrong when a red light shone in her face, the brunette backed away shielding her eyes. Junko quickly moved her behind him, there was at least forty soldiers aiming at the young squadron. "Wait stop!" Aerrow shouted, instincts kicking in, "We come in peace!" He yelled, the soldiers didn't listen and began to fire at the group, making everyone either duck or hide behind the Condor. Not wanting to run away, Nika brought out her two swords, attaching paralyser crystals to the hilts and began firing energy beams to the soldiers, hitting some of them. All of a sudden, they charged but stopped at Finn – everyone looked on in confusion. "It's... it's him!" He exclaimed, what was so brilliant about Finn all of a sudden? "Yeah, you better believe it's me! Wait, what have you heard?" He replied, his confidence wearing away with each word, the soldiers chattered to one another then bowed down to Finn. "Are we all dreaming or is this reality?" Nika asked, Stork smirked and pinched her making her yelp. "First, they attack us then they surrender to Finn... Anyone want to explain this to me? Finn?" Aerrow asked, bewildered by what he just witnessed. "Dude, I have no idea." Finn answered, an old man walked up to the sharpshooter inspecting him for a few moments. Nika rubbed her arm, knowing Stork left a small bruise – she retaliated by flicking his ear. "That was so uncalled for." He hissed, Nika only smiled before Piper slapped both of them upside the head. "Quit it, you two!" She scolded, both of them rubbed the back of their heads – just sticking their tongues out at one another like children.

Thanks to her bickering with Stork, Nika had entirely missed why the soldiers surrendered to Finn and where they were. Junko being the nice guy he is, quickly explained it as they all followed this King Agar to the palace. Apparently, Finn was a legendary saviour of this terra and the people began to worship him – feeding the boy's already inflated ego. Nika flinched at the word "earthquake", something Aerrow noticed – he grabbed her wrist and made her slow down. "What is it?" He asked, looking into her eyes intently – why was she flinching at a word? "It's nothing, let go." She sighed, his tone scared her. He proceeded to ignore her request and despair at the fact Finn was getting a major ego inflation. "I swear we are somehow stuck in Finn's imagination." Nika muttered, Piper giggled and waved for her friend to shush.