The Seventh Member of the Storm Hawks

Nika's Room

The Storm Hawks, minus Nika, woke up extra early, much to Finn's disgust, to finish decorating Nika's room, hoping she would say yes to being formally asked to be a Storm Hawk – a paintbrush and a tin of red paint in her hands Piper ordered the boys to move the furniture around, Finn kept complaining until Aerrow promised a sparring session later which brightened his spirits, they were pressed for time – it was already half 7 and Nika would be more than likely be up and looking for everyone. "Hurry up!" Piper whispered loudly, Junko lifted the cabinet with ease and with that the room was finished. It was a light red with a yellow Striker insignia on the walls, a bed in the corner, a small desk and chest with Nika's tools and equipment stored in them along with her drawings. A cabinet to hold Nika's belongings and as a gift, a Storm Hawks shield, officially welcoming her onto the squadron. Everyone smiled at their work, even Stork but he claimed it was gas. "Well done everyone!" Piper smiled, blushing at Finn who was grinning as he admired the team's work, well his own work. "Maybe we should get her up, it will be a nice surprise." Junko suggested, happy that Nika would finally get her own room though it wasn't easy to move Nika's stuff and keep her away from the room – they were out of excuses. She was also very suspicious and had nearly caught the boys a few times as they cleared the room and wondered why Stork was suddenly deep cleaning his biology room, his excuse was that something was leaking and it would kill them all. "I'll do it, last day she will be my roommate." Piper said, sadness in her voice – she was rather upset Nika was going to have her own room but she understood – both girls worked on very different things and unselfishly Nika always took her work to the hangar, she was going to miss her. Even though she was two doors away – it wasn't going to be the same, talking and giggling until they fell asleep.

With a sigh, Piper opened the doors to her room expecting Nika to be sleeping but she was sitting cross-legged on the floor meditating. "Nika?" Piper called softly, feeling bad for interrupting her friend – with a soft sigh Nika opened her eyes, not looking upset with Piper, in fact she smiled rather brightly. "Morning Piper, you're up early." She greeted, looking up at Piper. "Yeah, Stork thinks we should follow your example so we don't get mutant bed bugs or something." She giggled making up something on the spot, Nika joined in and stood up. "What's up anyway? Why have you got red paint on your cheek?" Nika asked, spotting specks of paint on her friend, Piper shrugged nervously running out of excuses. "Uh Finn... Finn was uh messing around with some paint and it must've got me. You want to get him back?" She smiled, Nika raised an eyebrow at Piper but grinned. "Sure! We can get him right now!" Piper smirked, she wasn't complaining that Nika hadn't seen through the lie, the brunette grabbed her hand and ran down the corridor – an idea! "Nika! We can hide in here! Then scare him when he goes past!" Piper whispered, dragging Nika into her new room and closing the door.

"SURPRISE!" Everyone shouted, Nika turned around and screamed falling backwards her arms waving as she clawed at the air, Piper caught her and gently pushed her back onto her feet, the brunette heavily breathing. "Ok, I admit I deserve that for the times I got you guys". She laughed before standing straight, "Oh wow!" She gasped, seeing the room she was in. "This is amazing!" She awed, looking around – wondering what it was for until she spotted very familiar crest, her eyes watered and she bowed her head with a small sniff, "Uh oh, are you sure it's the right crest?" Junko asked worriedly to Piper, mistaking Nika's tears as ones of sadness. "No-no! It's perfect!" Nika exclaimed before anyone could get upset, she could hear Piper sigh in relief but a frown came to Nika, "But why would you guys paint the Striker crest anyway?" She asked, everyone looked at Aerrow with knowing smiles. He nervously laughed under his breath as he scratched the back of his neck as he moved closer to Nika, "Well, we thought it would be nice to have a reminder of home." He began to explain gently, trying to stop a grin forming when he saw Nika getting more confused – looking between the Storm Hawks and himself. "That's nice, but... why?" She slowly spoke before frowning more. "Because we want you to stay forever." Piper spoke up, an arm going around Nika's shoulders as she grinned softly.