Storm Hawks Fan 3rd Season - Episode 58 - Part 2

Episode 58 - Clueless

Part 2 - The Investigation

Everyone followed the Grandmaster back to the docks but to a very specific place. They went to a small building that looked like a bunker. There they would figure out what had happened. Once they stepped inside the bunker, a man that was watching several displays suddenly turned his head around in 180 degrees and stared at them intensely.

Finn, Junko, Stork, and Radarr cringed at that. Okay, now that was creepy.

"Who's there?" - he asked, then he noticed Kaya - "Oh, it's the Grandmaster, Kaya! What do I owe you the pleasure?"

He stood up and walked towards them. They could see he was completely covered in brown and gray feathers, with huge green eyes. He was just like an owl, but he was a humanoid, wearing a dark green overcoat, with a white shirt and a red bow tie underneath.

"Hey, Hont, how's the Great Eye that sees everything doing?" - the little girl greeted him.

"Oh, that nickname won't ever leave me." - he chuckled - "I've been doing fine. What can I do for you?"

"I'd like to take a look at your logs from last night, to see if there was anything peculiar." - she explained to him - "I'm sure nothing could slip by your watchful eyes, so you're our best bet."

"Of course." - he said as he led them to a pile of crates, all properly dated - "What is this peculiar thing you're looking for?" - he asked casually as he pushed some crates aside to pick up the crate from the previous night.

"Dr. Sins." - the girl said quietly.

The owl-looking man blinked and stared at her with a concerned expression.

"But, you know he's dead." - he said.

"Maybe not as dead as we thought." - she told him - "He's been sighted in the Union's headquarters, stealing equipment from their labs."

"He infiltrated the Union? And stole from them? But... How? Their security is top notch!" - the man was impressed - "Getting inside that place is nearly impossible, running away after a theft then..."

"Yes. But the thing is..." - she began - "I don't doubt Dr. Sins would be able to do that. He was really smart, you remember, don't you?"

"Oh, I do. He was a genius!" - Hont commented - "He was always ahead of everyone else. Before you could even think of doing something he had already finished it."

"Exactly. So he does have the ability. But... Why? That's what I don't understand." - the little girl shook her head.

"Revenge maybe?" - Stork suggested.

"Revenge for what? No one ever did anything against him. He didn't have enemies." - Kaya said.

"Well, after surviving the lightning that day he could've been enraged you didn't try to look for him." - the carrier pilot shrugged - "Merbs have a tendency of taking the worst out of the situations with them. And the one thing I'm actually curious about: how come he is a merb? I thought we only came from Terra Merbia."

"Just like there are humans everywhere, there are people of your race in more than only one place." - the owl-looking man said - "You're quite different from the ones in the Greatland, though. Normally they're blue or black-skinned. But you're green."

"Well, I've never heard of a blue merb, much less a black one. I guess we must be of different subspecies." - he said.

"That's actually very likely." - Piper commented - "Your species could be ancient and after the Great Storms it was divided. By living in different places, two subspecies were created."

"It definitely is an ancient species, since if Dr. Sins is currently alive, he'd be nearly seven hundred years old." - the Grandmaster confirmed.

"Here are all the logs from last night and the security videos." - Hont said as he brought the crate closer to them, then he picked up one of the tapes so they could watch it - "I'm sure we won't find anything unusual..."

But then he trailed off as everyone observed the screen very closely. The Dr was seen trying to sneak into the province. He appeared out of nowhere, simply popping in the video, and he actually managed to trespass the gate of one of the secluded areas of the province, areas reserved for the more famous and rich researchers.

"I can't believe it. It is him! That's like seeing a ghost!" - the owl-looking man said - "But how come I didn't notice that? I'm sure I was watching over that camera."

The Grandmaster rewound the tape a little, then they watched a certain part again.

"Hont, look!" - Kaya pointed out to him.

He paid attention and they noticed there was something wrong. The camera had been altered. Somebody had done something to the camera that caused the video to loop itself a few times at the very moment the doctor was attempting to invade the province. But the camera wasn't fooled for too long, which explained why the timer began counting normally and how the doctor suddenly popped in the video. And that happened in a split second, so no wonder the owl-looking man missed that.

"He's pretty fast for someone so old." - Finn commented.

"Is there anything that can give immortality in the Greatland?" - Stork asked.

"Yes, but it's pretty much impossible to find it because it's the Infinity Stone." - the little girl said.

"The Infinity Stone? But isn't it still lost in a dormant state?" - Piper asked.

"Yes. And even if he had found it, you need to know a lot about crystals to activate its powers." - Kaya commented - "Dr. Sins wasn't that knowledgeable about crystals, at least, not like a crystal mage. He was more into building machines and studying anatomy."

"Hm... He was into anatomy, huh?" - the carrier pilot said in thought - "I have some suspicions of how he could've survived for so long, but they're really dark and twisted ideas. Only a real madman would go through with that."

"And even guessing what he could've done shouldn't make you a madman too?" - the sharpshooter commented, causing the merb to glare at him.

"Well, now we know where he is. Let's go look for more clues there." - Aerrow changed the subject.

"Right. Hont, please keep an eye on those cameras so we'll know if he leaves the area." - Kaya told him.

"Don't worry. I'll pay twice more attention now." - the man assured her as the group walked away.

~~~

They all headed to the reserved area. There they found a big door that was locked tight. When they got closer to it, a voice came from the gate itself.

"Halt!" - it shouted, then a blue light scanned them and once it was finished, the light turned red - "Access to the elite area denied. Reason: no elite badge or visitant passport."

"Listen here, I am the Grandmaster, I have free pass anywhere!" - the little girl retorted as she showed a special badge to the machine.

The electronic door scanned the badge again, and the light turned red.

"Badge not recognized. Reason: it is not registered in the system." - the gate said.

"What are you talking about? My badge's already been registered! I've come here several times!" - she responded - "Scan it again. Look for it."

The machine scanned Kaya's badge again.

"Badge not recognized. Searching archives." - the door said as it verified all the system - "Badge not found. Reason: record has been deleted."

"Deleted?! How? By who?" - she demanded an answer.

"Searching records. No information found." - the gate said.

The little girl sighed angrily.

"You useless piece of junk!" - she yelled at it - "How could you just allow someone to delete my badge from the records like that?!" - she actually kicked the door - "You're supposed to protect our information, that's your directrix! What kind of security guard are you?!"

"Warning: assault attempt. Warning: assault attempt." - the machine said then some huge taser like guns being held by some pipes appeared out of small gates that had opened on both sides of the door - "Leave the area immediately. Any kind of physical aggression will not be tolerated."

"C'mon, that little kick didn't even tickle you. I didn't hit you that hard." - the Grandmaster said as she crossed her arms.

The machine charged its tasers and attempted to electrocute Kaya with them, but the girl pulled her staff out and transformed it into a huge greatsword. She used the blade to slice the guns in half, turning them into scrap metal.

"Warning: dangerous target has been identified. Recommended actions: terminate the target." - the gate said as some weapons popped out of it.

There was a particle cannon, another taser, some rotating saws, and a laser grid.

"Okay... I guess that's not their welcoming party." - Finn commented nervously.

"Really? I thought that was a lot warmer than I was expecting." - Stork said, which caused everyone else to look at him with creeped out and unimpressed expressions.

"Hey, Stork, why don't you try out your new tech specialist stuff you learned?" - Junko suggested.

"Right... I'm the only one here who can do anything about this." - the merb mumbled as he walked towards a small hatch near the wall.

The machine noticed that and immediately shot a blast from its particle gun at him. The carrier pilot screamed as he jumped to avoid the shot. Once it collided with the ground, a hole was created in the area of the blast. Stork stared at it in fear, his eye twitching frantically.

"Stork, look out!" - Piper warned him.

More shots came towards him and he ran away towards an adjacent wall. He glued to it as the bolts of energy flew at him. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for dear life. But then he realized nothing was happening to him. He opened one eye and looked around. Once he saw what had just happened he jumped away from the wall and observed as it had his exact shape, since the rest of it had been dematerialized by the blasts.

"Well, that was unexpected. This gate's aim needs to be calibrated." - he commented.

"Good thing Finn didn't get to do that this time." - the crystal mage said rolling her eyes, referring to when he had improved the aim of a Cyclonian cannon from Snipe's battleship.

"Hey! At least its aim was perfect!" - the sharpshooter retorted - "And I just couldn't stand such bad calibrating from that guy."

"Our enemy being unable to calibrate should've been a good thing, Finn." - Aerrow reprehended him as Radarr shook his head disapprovingly at the wingman - "Didn't you think we were the ones who were supposed to have an edge? Not them?"

The blonde thought about that for a brief moment.

"Yeah, guess you're right. We should be the best of all anyway." - he shrugged.

Their talk was interrupted when the machine shot a few times at Finn. He ducked to dodge the blasts. Piper quickly intervened by creating a big force field around all of them. The shots collided with it and got absorbed.

"We better work quickly." - she urged them.

"Stork, go to the hatch now!" - Aerrow ordered.

The merb sprinted towards the hatch, then pulled out a screwdriver and proceeded to open it. He found some wires and a control panel locked up tight to prevent the access. But he noticed something: there was a really small dent in the lock. He narrowed his eyes. He knew what was going on now. Without wasting any time he began picking the lock.

"How long will this shield last?" - Junko asked.

"Long enough, I hope." - the navigator replied as she put more energy into the force field - "This gate is quite persistent, I can't hold on forever."

The machine noticed that several small shots wouldn't be enough to break that barrier, so it pulled back all of its guns and then opened a bigger hatch with a very big canon. It shot against the shield. The collision actually shook the ground and everyone's eyes widened in surprise. Piper grunted from the intense energy and the force of the impact since she could feel the damaged force field as it flickered.

"Now I'm starting to get a little worried." - Kaya commented.

The door shot once again, causing the shield to flicker even more. Piper breathed heavily, trying to keep the barrier up, but the blasts were way too strong. They were at least twice stronger than all Cyclonian cannons of the ship with the best firepower shooting combined.

"Guys... I don't think the shield'll resist for too long. A few more shots and it'll be destroyed." - the crystal mage said as another shot made the ground tremble again.

"Uh... Stork? Can you go any faster?" - the blonde boy urged the merb.

But he seemed not to have listened. He was completely focused on the control panel. One more blast collided with the shield. It flickered a lot.

"It's about to be destroyed!" - the girl warned.

"Stork! Faster!" - the wallop urged even more.

At last, another impact against the shield destroyed it. As it disappeared, Piper fell to her knees, tired from using so much of her energy. Kaya rushed to her to check if she was okay. As one more blast came towards them, Aerrow quickly reacted: he absorbed some energy from his swords and dashed in front of them. He used the crystal energy he had stored around his body in the form of an armor to neutralize the blast. Once all the energy dissipated, he landed on his feet right in front of the girls.

"Alright! That's my boy! You're a fast learner." - the Grandmaster complimented him - "We should get to the advanced counter energy attacks training right away. I'll ask Ulok some material for it. You'll be unbeatable when we're done!"

"Really? You think so?" - the leader asked.

The training Kaya was talking about would be to help him fend off against a crystal mage. He still remembered how Cyclonis had easily nullified his Lightning Claw move without even flinching. And also how incredible were the attacks Piper had unleashed against the Cyclonians. He'd have a hard time believing he'd ever get to their level now...

"Of course! Hah, that Master Cyclonis won't stand a chance against you. Trust me." - she said confidently.

"Wow!" - he said in awe, but then he felt embarrassed by his own reaction and quickly tried to act casual - "Uh... I mean... That's really something."

Well, if she was saying one of the most powerful crystal mages ever wouldn't be able to defeat him, then that advanced training was certainly going to be something really good for him. He just couldn't wait! He'd be able to defend himself against the magic of the crystals. And he had seen through Piper and Cyclonis herself how powerful crystal mastery was. The two of them were a lot stronger than any sky knight he had ever met. Knowing that now, as a sky knight himself, he would keep up with them was something actually delightful. He had to admit he was starting to feel uneasy about not being powerful enough to defeat Cyclonis and also about being left behind by the two girls. But the news he just got from Kaya lightened up his spirit.

His joy suddenly disappeared as the cannon aimed at them and charged another shot. The boy wouldn't have enough time to perform his sky knight move again! He braced for impact when something unexpected happened: Mr. Softy jumped from Junko's shoulder and landed in front of them.

"Mr. Softy! What are you doing?" - the wallop shouted.

The caterpillar leaped again and began spitting a lot of silk at the cannon. He managed to completely obstruct the barrel of the huge gun. The gate tried to shoot, but the blast collided with the very resistant silk, which caused the cannon to explode. Everyone, except Stork who was too focused on the control panel, looked at that with wide eyes, then they exchanged glances and smiled. They all cheered. Their new mascot was amazing!

"Haha, you're really something else, Mr. Softy!" - Piper said.

"Yeah. I gotta say there's more to you than meets the eye." - Aerrow commented as he petted the little insect.

He smiled at them and appreciated the recognition. Aww, shucks. He just wanted to help his new friends. Stork finally was able to override the gate's A.I. and opened the door.

"There, that should do it." - he said, but then he noticed everyone giving a lot of attention to Mr. Softy out of nowhere - "Did I miss something?" - he asked as he walked towards them.

Kaya and Radarr stared at each other knowingly, the girl giggling and the animal chirping. Too bad he didn't get to see how cool was their new mascot!

Everyone went through the gate. As they stepped inside the secluded area, all they saw was a wide road and many tall buildings. The doors were all closed and the windows were shut. It was impossible to see whatever was going on inside those facilities.

"Stork? Did you figure out what happened to my records?" - the Grandmaster asked him.

"Someone had invaded the gate's circuitry. I saw a dent on the lock of the control panel." - he told her.

"Do you know who did that?" - she questioned again.

"It looks like it was the Doctor. But there's something strange." - he explained - "I identified his pattern in the codes input here. And it was too easy... As if he wanted to leave a trail behind that would lead to him, but that doesn't make sense."

"Why is that?" - she asked.

"Because his own information had been deleted a week before his hacking attempt... And probably not by him." - the merb showed them - "If I were to guess, he had to use your ID to get in and then, when trying to delete its entry record, he ended up erasing your entire profile because he was too hasty."

"Why would he be in such a hurry and who would want his records gone? What trouble did he cause that he had to hide like this?" - she said - "I hate to say this, but all this only confirms the rumors that Dr. Sins's not who I had thought he was..."

"We shouldn't make conclusions yet." - Piper said - "We still don't know for sure what he's been doing recently.

"Maybe..." - Kaya wasn't certain about what to believe in anymore, but she appreciated the others' concern.

"We should scan the area for clues before anyone else notices we've invaded this place." - the sky knight said.

"You're right." - the little girl agreed - "Hont might cover us for a while, but he can't prevent the people in here from coming after us. And you definitely won't like it if they find us."

Finn, Junko, Radarr, and Stork cringed at that, the latter's eye twitching.

"C'mon, let's move." - Aerrow ordered as everyone ran by the large street.

~~~

After a while walking they all got to a quite shady area. It seemed empty from a first look, but after paying attention, they could see there were some people lurking in the shadows. The place was a little bit way too open for their liking. It made them feel vulnerable. Suddenly, someone approached them.

"Oh, nice specimens you have there." - a man completely covered in a black robe commented as he stared at Radarr and Mr. Softy - "Are you interested in selling them to me for... Research purposes?" - he asked with a sinister voice.

The co-pilot chirped scared as he hid behind Aerrow's leg, then he growled at the man. Mr. Softy cowered behind Junko's shoulder.

"That's out of the question!" - the sky knight said harshly.

But then he saw Kaya placing her arm in front of him so he'd not throw himself at the man.

"I have an offer." - she said as she knelt on the ground - "Radarr, could you please give me one little hair of your fur?" - she asked him, and he nodded unsurely, but pulled one hair out and gave it to her - "This is enough DNA for an interesting test. This little guy here is completely immune to the beasts from the forbidden lands, it's been proven in combat against the Hooded Shadows."

The man's eyes widened.

"This thing? Seriously?" - he reached his hand out to grab the fur.

But Kaya moved her arm away from him.

"I'm not done yet, I said I had an offer, didn't I?" - she proved she'd not be fooled - "If you tell me the whereabouts of Dr. Sins, I'll give you this fur."

"Only one little hair? You think that's enough for scientific research?" - he said to her in disbelief.

"You can clone this. C'mon, that shouldn't be hard for a scientist of your grade." - she nearly taunted him - "But if you won't take it I can always offer it to another scientist."

Everyone noticed how suddenly some glowing eyes appeared everywhere among the shadows. There were lots of people listening to that. The man looked around frantically.

"Looks like you have some competition." - the little girl smirked - "Going once, going twice..."

The man stared at her annoyed.

"Fine. Here..." - he said as he pulled out a small piece of paper - "He keeps coming and going from that place. I don't know what's his business here, but it must be something big if he has to go out of here so often for more material."

"So he's been coming and going freely?" - she asked a bit skeptical.

"Yeah, but there's a rumor his entrance wasn't granted." - the man said as he took the fur from her and gave her the piece of paper - "He managed to find a way in... Under the covers." - he put a hand near his mouth as if he were trying to conceal what he was telling to her - "So, technically, he's not even allowed to be here. But who cares? We have other things to worry about than bothering with why he's here."

"So there's a person about 700 years old walking around and none of you felt even remotely interested in how in the world he lived for that long?" - the girl said in disbelief.

"Honestly, immortality isn't that big an achievement. It's actually a lot easier than you think. There are quite a few ways to achieve it, other than the Infinity Stone." - the man said unimpressed - "You just need guts to do some pretty twisted experiments to get there."

"Guess that only confirms my hunch. But we still have to see the real thing." - Stork commented - "I suggest being prepared for shocking news though."

"Can you get any creepier?" - Finn crossed his arms.

For one moment, Kaya actually liked that the sharpshooter cut off the merb. That talk was starting to make her feel bad. She couldn't help but worry. For some reason, she had a feeling that a dark twist was about to happen in her life. That was an awful sensation. And to make things worse, the more they looked into what was going on, the more everything seemed to be pointing at that direction. Sometimes she felt like giving up on that search just so she'd not have to find out something bad like that.

"Kaya, is something wrong? You went so quiet all of a sudden." - Junko asked.

"Oh, no. I was just thinking. Don't worry." - she assured him - "Well, guess we should keep going then. And... Hm... Check out that place. It seems like some kind of secret place only VIPs can come in." - she commented as she read the paper.

It said: The Lounge.

"And you're right. Good luck getting inside." - the man said - "I can't remember the last time someone was considered important enough to go there. The VIPs are so influential they can even ask to have no information about them spread around. The only reason I know the Doctor is there is because he dropped a card."

"A card?" - the girl asked.

"I found it by the door of that place." - he told her as he handed it to her - "The guards nearly ripped me to pieces when I got closer just to grab it."

The card looked like a normal card from any deck, it had a fancy cover, but where there should be the symbol of which card it was, there was an exceptionally well-drawn scorpion instead. Kaya frowned a little bit angry.

"It's a scorpion." - Piper said.

"That's because of his astral sign, Scorpio." - the Grandmaster told her - "It definitely is him."

"Then let's go. We need to find him before he figures out he's being tracked down." - Aerrow said.

"I'm sure he must be aware by now." - the little girl remarked - "He probably even knows I'm coming since he took his time to remove my records. He doesn't want me to find him. But... We'll go after him. I need to look at him in the eyes and hear him tell me why he's doing this. And then..." - she sighed - "I don't even know what I'll do."

"We'll figure something out." - the navigator put a hand on her shoulder.

"Right. Let's do it!" - the girl nodded and they all ran along the road.

~~~

They managed to get to the entrance of the area. It was a very big facility, the walls were black and there was a small neon sign in red light saying the name of the place. There were two very bulky guards on each side of the gate. They wore some strange helmets that covered their eyes. The gate looked even more reinforced than the one to the secluded area.

"Those guys look like they're having a bad day." - Junko commented at how grumpy they were.

"I'd have a face like that too if I had to stand guard in this depressing place all day long." - Finn said.

"I wouldn't mind that. At least it's quiet in here." - Stork spoke.

"We probably should go talk to them." - Piper suggested.

They all walked towards the door. The two guards stared blankly at them. Well, if you could consider those expressions as blank faces, that is. From the looks on their faces, they seemed like they were holding their urge to rip someone's beating heart out of their chests.

"Do you think we should try your badge again?" - Aerrow asked Kaya.

"It didn't work on the other gate, so I doubt it will in this one. But, well, here goes nothing." - she said as she went closer to the guards - "Excuse me. I'm Kaya, the Grandmaster. I'd like to request an entrance to The Lounge."

A red light flashed on the visors in the guards' eyes.

"Request denied. Reason: no VIP access. Remove yourselves out of the entrance area at this instant." - they said in unison as one of them pushed Finn on the ground, since he was way too close to them.

"Hey! What's the deal?!" - he shouted at them - "Why do you have to push people around and stand there all day with those grouchy faces?"

The two guards exchanged glances.

"These are our normal faces." - they said - "Now, leave the entrance area. You're disturbing our VIP clients."

"And you clearly don't get who I am, do you?" - he challenged them - "I'm the Finnster! Nobody's more VIP than me!"

The guards just stared unimpressed at him. They didn't even blink.

"Leave the entrance area, that will be the last time we'll warn you." - they said as they went back to watching over the place.

"Oh, yeah? Make me!" - he taunted them, causing the group to stare at him with wide eyes.

What was he doing?! Without a second of hesitation, the guards punched him at the same time, sending him flying at Junko. The force of the impact actually dragged the wallop along and they fell a few feet behind the others, as they leaped out of the way so they'd not be pushed too.

"Ugh... Finn, why did you...?" - the flight engineer was about to question his recklessness when the blonde reached a hand up.

"Okay, I'll take that as a minor misunderstanding." - he said - "You probably don't know me because you never leave this place. It's like living under a rock."

The guards became irritated and impatient. Was that boy annoying! He was so obnoxious!

"Uh... Sorry. Don't mind him." - Piper said nervously - "We're leaving right away."

As she turned to leave, the guards scanned her, then they suddenly blinked.

"Wait!" - they said, making her turn back to them - "What's your proficiency?"

"My proficiency? You mean, my job?" - she asked, to which they nodded - "Hm... Well, I'm the first officer, navigator, tactician, and crystal mage."

"Crystal mage?" - they said in thought - "That perk can actually grant you a visitant entrance. Some of the researchers in the VIP area were really interested in crystals and they've been looking for a specialist to discuss some things."

"Really? But, can the others come as well? I'm not going inside without them." - she said.

"We'll generate a visitant pass for all of you." - they told her as they scanned the group - "You'll have limited access, though." - their visors became green, which meant the group was able to go to the VIP area.

Kaya smiled widely.

"Ah, I knew you were awesome, Piper!" - she said - "You've got even more privileges than I do!"

The navigator giggled sheepishly.

"I-I guess so. Hm, maybe that was just luck." - she shrugged shyly.

"Don't be so modest. You're our Lady Luck!" - the Grandmaster complimented her.

"I can actually vouch for that, you know." - Aerrow walked beside the first officer and grinned knowingly.

He hinted at the day she had pretended to leave the team, but then she came back to the rescue and actually saved them all. She blinked. So he remembered that, huh? Radarr gave her a thumbs up, showing he remembered that too. She smiled at them. They did acknowledge she was an important member of the group. They were growing more mature as time passed, and that made her proud of them.

"Okay then. We should get going." - she said.

They all entered the VIP area. They were about to discover all the mysteries secretly hidden in that place.