The Seventh Member of the Storm Hawks

Tranquility Now

It had been a few quiet days for the Storm Hawks, Nika and Junko had spent most it engrossed in spare metals or "junk" as everyone else called it. The pair sat on the bed, Nika cross legged while the Wallop sat on the edge – he was tinkering with a gun that Nika believed would make crystal rays – if her drawings were correct. "Uh how is this going to work?" Junko inspected the barrel – inside there were crystal cutters which Junko didn't understand the purpose for. "I think from my sketches that those crystal cutters – you see them?" Junko squinted at the barrel but nodded. "They should split the crystal energy when fired and hopefully go in slightly different directions – the cutters might need some angle work and a few Talons to practice on." Junko smiled in understanding with Nika's explanation, he wondered why she didn't write what each part of her plan down like Piper did but her drawings seemed to work – even though nobody else could understand them but he was kind enough to not say anything. "Hey Nika?" Junko asked, Nika looked up waiting for her friend to continue, "Thanks for being my friend, it's nice having someone who likes metals as well."

"Are you two seriously still playing with Junk?" Finn asked walking in the room, Nika smirked making Finn back off a bit. "Sorry, do you want me to braid your hair now?" She sarcastically smiled, Finn rolled his eyes making a disgusted sound before stalking off, not leaving without comment, "Girls are so weird!" Nika sniggered as she leant forward to project her voice, "Takes one to know one!" Junko threw his head back and laughed when he heard Finn stomp off angrily. Both Junko and Nika doubled over laughing as Finn left the pair in attempt to regain some pride. He passed Aerrow in the corridor, ignoring him as he went to his room. "Hey Finn?" Aerrow waved, the sharpshooter ignored him and slammed his door. He decided to go see what Junko and Nika were up to, hearing the pair laughing as he entered her room he saw Nika hiding her face in Junko's shoulder, Aerrow felt a pang of jealousy, seeing Nika with Junko made him worry but there was little time to think about it since the pair had calmed down. "Oh, hey Aerrow." Nika smiled tilting her head, he couldn't help but smile at her losing himself for a moment before he remembered Finn's bad mood. "You two annoying up Finn?" Aerrow crossed his arms, he found it amusing that Finn was getting a taste of his own medicine. Junko nodded, sharing a glance with his brunette friend. "Finn called me weird so I basically said he was a girl." She laughed flashing a white smile to her fellow Sky Knight. "Uh... huh..." He smirked, it sounded rather funny – he wished he had seen it. "I'm hungry so see ya." Junko said patting his stomach, leaving the room – Aerrow soon spotted the peculiar shaped ray gun and carefully inspected it. "What is this?" Nika stood beside him and explained her idea but voiced her worries as well. "So when can you get this gizmo going?" Aerrow asked, looking interested in it, Nika smiled a little at him, "Uh... when I can find a screw that Radarr misplaced. I should be able to tweak it then. Right now, it's more than likely to backfire." Aerrow tensed but carefully sat the weapon on the table and turned to his brunette friend – she was frowning about something and he was very curious as to why. Hoping no one would walk in, Aerrow took her hand surprising her, the teens cheeks both reddened. "What's this about?" Nika asked, feeling conscious about her hand getting sweaty plus she felt weird holding Aerrow's hand albeit loosely. "You know you can tell me what's on your mind." His voice spoke gently, Nika nodded, not sure where this was going – as much as she liked the thought of Aerrow holding her hand – he was making her very nervous. "I don't really have anything on my mind but thanks anyway." Nika gently smiled before leaving the room, she wanted to talk to Piper and hopefully help get rid of the strong feeling of guilt that had been hanging over her.

Nika was sitting in the bridge, she wasn't really focused on anything in particular – she was thinking about Aerrow, her thoughts of home drifted away long ago. She was having other thoughts, her fellow Sky Knight intrigued her but his presence made her very self-conscious – she wanted him to look at her but at the same time, not look at her. It was confusing and then she was frustrated that she was confused, Nika began to wish she was smart and pretty like Piper – Aerrow probably wouldn't look twice at a girl who spent most of her time covered in oil and grease. "What's with the big sigh?" Piper asked sitting beside her, Nika mumbled about Aerrow but Piper frowned and leant forward a little, "What?" Nika just shook her head hoping the movement would get rid of her blushing cheeks, she didn't really want to talk to Piper now - the notion now faded away. Stork yelled, sounding rather panicked, making Piper and Nika look at one another before bolting to the bridge as everyone else gathered behind him. "Don't be alarmed but we've lost the Time Pulse." He said, sounding suspiciously calmer, Nika's eyed widened as Piper explained what this meant -they were flying blind! She turned her attention to outside, screaming in fright when she saw a cargo ship heading straight towards them. Stork tried to avoid the disaster but the side of the Condor was ripped into by the other ship. Nika wobbled on her feet but Finn held her up despite nearly falling over himself, the Condor's alarms were going nuts as both intertwined ships plummeted towards the Wastelands. Nika didn't pay much attention to the following events, it was a blur to her. After the disaster was very narrowly avoided, she joined the others in the race to Terra Glockenchime – if this was anything to do with Cyclonia then it wasn't good.