The Seventh Member of the Storm Hawks

The Broken Crystal

The Dark Ace entered Nika's room, in his mind he criticised Master Cyclonis for being so reckless with her crystals, knowing that interfering with an Ancestral Crystal could kill the person who holds it. Personally, he didn't care for Nika, his only objective was to keep her alive long enough for the Storm Hawks to be destroyed and news to reach Yaris that the Royal Siblings had fallen to Master Cyclonis' will. Now the plan lay ruined, all thanks to Snipe and his idiocy, he glared at the sleeping brunette. Her chest softly rose and fell with each breath, if she woke up on the Storm Hawks side then he had orders to immediately kill her and he had no issue with it.

"Right guys, you all know the plan?" Aerrow addressed his team, Jor and Starling had already left to spy on the Talons, now and again sending information to the young squadron. "Uh... can you go over it again?" Finn asked, snapping out of watching Piper, a blush on his cheeks. "First stage of Manah Fever – loss of short term memory." Stork whispered to Aerrow, though the Merb did intend for everyone else to hear it, the Sky Knight rolled his eyes up to the celling with a small shake of the head. The idea of being a step closer to getting Nika back seemed to return everyone to normal, well Aerrow was still lost in thought, mainly because of Jor suddenly blessing the relationship with his little sister. As Piper went over the plan again, Aerrow joined Radarr on his Skimmer, the Storm Hawks would almost mirror their first trip to Cyclonia by going through the Wastelands but Aerrow, Junko and Piper would leave the Condor together to sneak into the main building while Finn would provide back up if it were needed, Stork would position the Condor rather close to the Wastelands, so it wouldn't be detected. "You sure? Finn's like that most of the time." Junko smiled, Finn crossed his arms in a huff. "Oh, I didn't say before? I've always thought that." Stork smirked, retreating to the bridge, Finn growled and threw a spanner to the Merb's retreating back, he turned slowly hearing the clatter, with a bored expression. "You missed." He commented before turning to face an annoyed Finn, "This is why Junko throws and you shoot. See you guys later, I hope." With that he left, Junko placing a hand as gently as he could on the redhead's back, noticing he was tense. "We're right behind you." He said in encouragement, Aerrow nodded taking in the Wallop's words – to him this was make or break, if he didn't get Nika back today then she would probably never come back. A thought that he really wanted to never become reality, "Thanks, ready Radarr?" He smiled, the first real one since Nika disappeared with the Dark Ace.

Nika slowly opened her eyes, one blue while the other was red, her mind was in great confliction – questioning who she even was. "Master Cyclonis. She has awakened." A voice called to her right, Nika went to move but found herself pinned to the bed. The figure of the young empress hovered over Nika – she struggled against the belts, unable to speak due to her mind being in confliction. "If only you didn't get those memories, I wouldn't have to do this." Cyclonis mocked with fake sadness, she let out a roar and used another Mind Control Crystal on the brunette, who released a loud cry of pain before her inner battle ended – again her eyes turned red as another piece of Nika's Ancestral Crystal released another one of her predecessors energy to Cyclonis' untreated crystal that rested in her pale hand. "Excellent. Soon I will have the same power as the Aurora Stone and continue my plan for world domination." She smiled before leaving, the Dark Ace untied Nika, allowing her to sit up – watching as she dressed in her armour, almost like a robot. Something stirred in the Dark Ace's stomach, he almost felt guilty for doing this to the brunette. "Take your time." He said gently, Nika tensed and turned to him, even he jumped at how evil she looked –Cyclonis seemed to have erased any memory of who she was before. "Never tell me what to do, I wish to destroy the Storm Hawks and every single Sky Knight in the Atmos." She hissed before leaving the room. The Dark Ace smirked after her before breaking out in a mad chuckle, "Oh Aerrow. What have you done?" He grinned, knowing that the redhead would come looking for Nika sooner or later.