Fringe
Prologue: Imaginary

Disclaimer: I do not own the cartoon Storm Hawks. It and all its respectable characters are © to Asaph "Ace" Fipke and Nerd Corps. What I do own, however, is this plot, most of the settings and I belong to myself; they are my brainchildren, so please do not steal, because stealing is wrong. Plus…I don't think I'd like being stolen very much, 'kay, thanks. All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don't own them.

For my readers, old (who reread this by chance) and new readers (who stumbled upon my story), welcome and enjoy Fringe. There will be crazed things to ensue, so be prepared, I again invite you to enjoy, and please, review at the end of the chapter. I thrive upon them, and I won't lie about it. They help inspire me, little by little, to write for new chapters. :3

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This is a work of fiction. All characters in it, human or otherwise, are imaginary, excepting only certain of the fairy folk, whom it may be unwise to offend by casting doubts on their existence. Or lack thereof.
- Neil Gaiman

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To be quite honest, the Storm Hawks were at a loss. Their first initial suspicion was that they had stumbled upon some new plot concocted by the Cyclonians, whether it was being run by Ravess, Snipe, or the Dark Ace himself. Their first suspicions began when the Condor's navigational systems began to slowly die and fail on them, although the ship itself was running just fine. Stork slowed their pace down, and the Condor soon was chugging along at a sluggish tempo, the thick clouds surrounding them for a long while. Silence held for a long time, and when the clouds parted, Piper moved forward, prepared to view the stars and perhaps gather a location for them. But, as soon as she began swiftly looking over the positions of the stars and the constellations, she stepped back with a startled gasp.

"They moved!" She said, and a small explosion of comments ensued afterwards. Worry rippled through the Storm Hawks, but Aerrow calmed them, eyeing Stork when the Merb continued his mutters of doom prophecies and painful death predictions. The clouds took over again and they once more fell into the pattern of silence, waiting it out. Radarr chattered every once in a while, looking worriedly out the 'bay windows. Stork finally began to guide the Condor lower, to escape the constant cloud cover.

Below was a sight to behold: there was nothing but lights and vibrant color below. Moving lights stretched beyond the dark mountain landscape, riding alongside the glowing, lit town below. It was too large a land to be a regular, or even larger-sized, terra. Junko and Finn quickly went to the turrets on either side of the Condor's main 'bay, and the wind whipped at them as they surveyed the surrounding land behind them. Piper viewed the ground below for closer inspection with the telescope. She swallowed thickly, and slowly pushed it away, looking at Aerrow's expectant face and glanced at Radarr's worried one.

"That isn't a terra below us…it's solid ground." She announced with a worried face, a creased frown on her lips. Junko and Finn returned and confirmed with Piper.

"What does this mean? Do you think…we're on the other side of Atmos?" Junko asked, almost with a hint of fear in his voice, just barely there.

Aerrow thought for a moment, looking over the different faces staring back at him in such expectant ways, he was almost for a loss of words. Almost.

"No…it can't be. The other half of Atmos is guarded by mountains that no ship can climb over them, not even the Condor. Something else is going on…but I don't think it's the Cyclonians. Not even they can change the stars, merge terras, or get rid of the Wastelands. Nobody can."

"So, what do we do now, oh fearless leader? Not that it's going to matter much…we're all going to die, anyways."

Piper was looking through the telescope once again, squinting through the lens.

"Piper? What do you think?" Aerrow asked. The young woman pushed aside the telescope once more and motioned to the right side.

"We should land, somewhere in the mountains. It's dark, so just be careful. We don't know the lay of the land that well. Maybe there's something in my geography books, something that references this…"

She left with a countenance of deep thought and muttered to herself the rest of the way to her room, while Aerrow turned to Stork.

"Let's set the Condor down then, and see if we can't get some reconnaissance going, then. We should see where we are and more importantly, what we're dealing with here." With that said, Stork wordlessly obeyed, banking the Condor down and over the glowing little town, past the freeway and into the mountains.

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There was somehow a simple joy in just driving. Cruising, speeding, shifting from one gear right to the next and perhaps even showing off juuuuust a little bit, it all felt good. Especially to a young woman who had nothing more to do than go to work, go to class, do homework, and perhaps have a street race every once in a while. Which was rare, even in and of itself.

Lupin was currently enjoying herself as she raced down the freeway, weaving in through traffic, leaning back in her plush seats, renewed and refurbished recently, and her radio was on blast, also having been replaced with new speakers and new radio system to play her iPod. The vehicle in which she was currently driving was a beauty from a hallmarked past, a 1976 Chevrolet Camaro, having had new additions and repairs done to its chassis, interior and engine.

It was her project car, and it was coming along beautifully, and it was also her baby. She, at the moment, would not trade it in for anything, except perhaps, one of a newer 2010 Camaro. However, Lupin knew that she, living off of a measly wage, could never afford the payments for the newer vehicle. Especially the insurance for a new sports vehicle; it would be financial suicide.

She was happy, though, and had won many a street race with her older modeled vehicle, and was proud enough of its progress in its restoration. She hoped, one day, it would be just as nice looking as her stepfather's 1968 Camaro.

At the moment, as Lupin was moving steadily through traffic, she was testing the new suspension system and the recent alignment of her Camaro. It was a smoother drive than when she had picked it up as an old rust bucket, and quite literally, it was. She remembered the day she bought it, almost a year ago, with a loan from the bank and money from her savings. She had to be taught stick shift for it, and it had been a quick learning. She already knew the basics, having been driving a dirt bike most of her teen youth, so the principalities of switching her shifting and clutch limbs were an easy conversion.

She focused and toiled most of her money—and small loans from her parents here and there—into restoring the older vehicle, and struggled to get it past the admissions smog test. Now she could creep along the roads without worrying for flashing lights in her rearview mirror any longer.

Her exit was coming up and Lupin eyed it for a moment, and then glanced at her digital clock readout. As much as she appreciated the older style of the vehicle, some sacrifices had to be made. She had to change out dash readouts from its old manual readouts to digital ones and the bobbing gas tank measure had to be replaced as well. That had cost a pretty penny, but as she gazed at the gas tank gauge, she was secretly glad she did so. There were times when the bobbing device would get stuck and she'd have to guess on how much gas she had left until it got unstuck.

Lupin smoothly moved over to the exit lane and ascended to the stoplight at the end of the exit ramp, blinker clicked on. Let's give the mall a quick stop, shall we? She thought with a quick, gleeful grin. It was almost closing time, but she still had time to browse through real quick. Plus, she was craving a coffee and there was a coffee shop up the hill. No harm in stopping there on her way home, was there.

Above in the skies, however, Lupin failed to notice the low-flying ship that was passing by, nor did she see the blazing blue trails it left in its wake. Her music was simply too loud, her thoughts elsewhere, like the road for one.

Others noticed. A child playing in her backyard in her home just behind the mall stopped playing jump rope to watch. A thought of aliens crossed her mind, briefly, and then she went back to jump roping. Several dogs whined and barked and one even bayed at the metal behemoth flying overhead. A young couple parked in the mall parking lot was startled at the sight from the rearview mirror, and upturned their faces at the window to squint at its dark hide as it passed into the dark sky. They immediately dismissed it; almost sure it was a hallucination from their previous use of drugs earlier that evening.

By the time Lupin climbed the rest of the hill up to the mall, where Lupin would have had a perfect view of the thing, it disappeared completely and she missed the view. If she had seen it, she probably would've stopped dead in the road and stared at it in a slack-jawed fashion, both amazed and curious at the sight. But, she didn't see it, which was her own loss, and she slowed her vehicle down, not wanting to risk catching attention on street roads. Besides…she could smell the bacon and it was somewhere close by.

"Po-po…where are you?" She whispered in a singsong voice, eyes scanning the road ahead. As she would say to a friend, her "Spidey-senses were tingling," and within several seconds, lo and behold, a cruiser came into view. She grinned, feeling self-accomplished and drove past, turned into the mall parking lot and began creeping along, looking for a space.

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It hadn't taken long to find a spot, most of the parking lot was eerily empty and devoid of life. It was just fine by Lupin. Aside from a few exceptions, Lupin was sadly one of those individuals who didn't care much for humanity and even hated it as a whole on some occasions. There were times she wished it were better, but then reminded herself who was she kidding? Humans were self-aware of their self-destructive behaviors, and perhaps that would be their downfall one day. Or maybe that Mayan prediction for 2012 will come true and the world will end, she thought sardonically as she slipped on her headphones.

Music began to pour into her ears, drowning out the dullness of the world around her and she began traipsing towards the mall. It was not an inside mall, like most structures, but rather its accommodations and stores were situated outside, like businesses situated near a grocery store, and the only buildings that contained completely interior business were the two Macy's on either ends of the mall. It was a bit of a disadvantage, Lupin often reflected. She certainly didn't like it when the wind kicked up and made everything that much colder, or when it rained. There was no roofing structure to protect from rain, no walls to protect from biting wind.

Who designed this place again? Oh, that's right, morons. Probably went to night school and skated on their finals. Pricks. Sure, it was nice on a hot, summer's day, but during the winter when the days were chilly and nights even colder… Brr. No thanks, I'll stay home.

She was reaching the end of her parking lane, when a rumble in the air sent vibrations through her and she looked down the road to see a troupe of motorcycles heading down the strip of road towards her. She backed off onto the planter's curb and waited as the vehicles passed by, uninterested and instead, was looking down, fiddling with her iPod.

If Lupin had been looking, like with the ship earlier that evening, she would have noticed something rather peculiar about the bikes, and how much larger and bulkier they were compared to the motorcycles she was used to seeing. She would also have noticed how peculiarly familiar the riders were, and perhaps would have even noticed that one vehicle was not a bike at all, but more resembled a miniature sandrail, like the ones she's ridden in the Mojave with camping buddies she and her family often went out with.

By the time she lifted her head, the bikes were gone, and after turning a corner down a lane, she couldn't see them and proceeded across the strip of road and onto the curb that led into the mall. Like the parking lot, the mall was not very alive, and although there were scores of shoppers, it was rather bleak and tired-looking. She stopped at the Game Stop, and browsed through the selection. She eyed a DS with greedy eyes, and an indeterminate grimace, bouncing on the balls of her feet the longer she stared at the displayed boxes.

They're mocking me! She mentally whined, looking back between the DS and the only available Pokemon game, the Platinum Version. Finally, after a few minutes' consideration, she yanked both off the wall and strolled to the register. I deserve a treat, goddammit. I've been working hard; I've got the money to dish out right now!

Purchases in hand a few minutes later, Lupin waltzed out, feeling high as a kite at the prospect of a new gaming system and a new game to boot. Rarely, Lupin divulged in buying games; they were always expensive, and could range anywhere between as low as thirty bucks, to as high as sixty. She hated waiting, but hated dishing the money out even more. Unless it was a really worth it game, was coming out around the Christmas holidays or her birthday, and she could coerce minds into getting it for her during those special times of the year.

She inwardly cackled at her clever purchase, however, still experiencing that good, fluffy feeling inside. Oh, I'm so gonna have fun with this game, yes I am! And when SoulSilver and HeartGold come out next year, that's just gonna make my day even more! Yes!

What a nerd, right? And to think, the games came out sometime last year and it was October of 2009 now. What a late nerd. But, she was walking on sunshine, in a figurative sense of course, because walking on real sunshine, well…that would probably hurt. A lot. And possibly end up in death.

Lupin was jazzed at her purchase, sure enough, and while she was a hard-working college student, currently working two jobs (unfortunately, both of them part-time, but jobs nonetheless), she felt energetic at the moment, despite her constant fatigue. She rarely slept, and often survived off of coffee and other sources of caffeine to maintain her working jobs, and going to school in-between.

So, despite her usual tiredness, Lupin was feeling happy, safe to say, as she moved closer towards a certain shop that most likely everyone in the country had heard of: Hot Topic. The store of the bizarre and strange, and at most times, nerdy old-school gamers and show-lovers. One of the few reasons Lupin visited the shop was usually for her Transformers love, whether it was Bay's remake or the old-school G1 Transformers.

…Okay, and sometimes they had decent Halloween props. And, as soon as the store's dark red, neon glowing sign came into view, she instantly remembered she needed a few from the store, and they were cheap to get.

So, she stopped inside and immediately began browsing, nodding to the young woman at the register, eyeing her from behind a curtain of pink-dyed bangs before she returned to her magazine. Lupin prowled around the displays, and slowly began picking through them. There were other props for her costume she'd need, she suddenly realized, as she carefully began assessing items.

Twenty minutes later, she finished lurking around the tiny store, items in hand and she laid them before the register. The woman put away her magazine and beamed at Lupin, a little too brightly.

"So, did you find everything you wanted?"

"Yeah, just gotta finish up my costume with all these things," Lupin answered, flipping a pair of vampire fangs right side up while she spoke.

"Yeah, I need to finish putting mine together too. Ooh, these are a really good brand, by the way. Good choice. The other ones we got on the rack. Pfffft. You can't talk worth shit with them on. At least you can kind of eat and drink with these, and you can talk decently."

Lupin grinned a little as the woman scanned the fangs, deposited them in a Hot Topic bag and finished ringing up the rest of the purchases.

"I used them last year, but I lost them."

"I wouldn't recommend using them again a year later, though. The putty isn't for forever, you know."

Lupin, who was taller than the counter only by a measly foot, leaned on it and bobbed her head in a sort-of agreeing manner before handing her card over for payment.

"I'll keep it in mind," the young woman agreed before she was walking out of another store with another set of purchases. It was at this moment, the right moment, she walked out just in time to run into a certain set of teenagers, not that much younger than her, really, when she stepped out of the store. And, quite literally, she bumped right into them.

It wasn't really anyone's fault; she rushed out, head down and attention primarily on disentangling her fingers from the twisted mess of her bags. The young Storm Hawks hadn't expected to be intercepted mid-way through their search for answers by a young woman who was shorter than all of them, except for Radarr, obviously. To say the least, Lupin was rather jumpy, and could either have one of two reactions. One reaction could be she got pissed off, spitting and cursing out profanity and snapping unceremoniously while letting her anger get the best of her. That case was rare, since she rarely lashed out in public like that. The second was she became apologetic on the spot, depending on the mixed moods she was in.

Lupin tended to, upon default, lean towards the latter rather than the former, and upon her current mood, was indeed leaning towards the latter. One does not simply bump off from happy-go-lucky to suddenly pissed off and angry in a split second. Unless you had a pituitary gland disorder or had a bipolar disorder. Than that's a medical problem and Lupin had neither of those, so it was safe to say, she went apologetic in an instant.

She looked up practically on impact, and pushed off backwards in a fright, eyes slightly wide but not too much as she realized what she'd done.

"Oh, sweet Jesus, I'm sorry, dude, I didn't mean…mean to…to…" She trailed off all of a sudden, at a loss for words at the taller—but not by much—figure before her and she blinked back her first initial shock. She stared at the Storm Hawks, her eyes now wider than a few seconds ago as she took in their initial appearance before the first thought finally came to mind.

What great fuckin' costumes.

The one dressed as Aerrow grinned at her, and she had to admit, he really did look like the kid from the cartoon series; it was like he was simply plucked from the show itself. The same could be said for the others; even Junko and Stork's costume seemed all too realistic; it was like a Hollywood makeover. They must be going to a Halloween party later on or something.

"Don't worry about it; we didn't really see you coming, either. I'm fine, anyways," the young man dressed as Aerrow replied breezily. Lupin had another thought occur to her, as they began to trek on past the store, and she hesitated for a few split seconds, fiddling with the phone in her pocket.

"Hey, um, wait!" She called after them, feeling ultimately like an idiot, a nerd, and a rude thing all at once, but hell, any fan would've done the same…right?

They paused, and all of them turned to look, and she noticed that the Finn-look alike was eyeing her with a bit of a grin to his face. She almost rolled her eyes. Almost. He's just a kid, don't get slaggin' upset, just…keep calm. As long as he doesn't touch your ass, you're fine.

She approached them, still feeling somewhat foolish, but at the same time, determined.

"Hey, can I take a picture of y'all? I mean, your costumes, they're fuckin' amazing, I'm serious."

"Costumes?" The young woman, the Piper-look alike, looked at her in a puzzled manner. "These aren't costumes. They're uniforms."

This time Lupin looked back at them, expressing the same confusion. "Um…uniforms can be costumes, too. You guys are cosplaying for Halloween, aren't you? For a party later on, right?"

"No, we aren't, actually." The Aerrow kid answered, looking somewhat uncomfortable and confused as well.

"And what's Halloween?" This came from the Junko in the back. Lupin paused at this, blinked and took a step back, looking back and forth between each face, and then she finally noticed the little creature beside Aerrow. Blue-furred, opposable-thumbed, clothes-wearing…

Lupin suddenly felt her mouth go dry and her throat felt parched. Then it passed and she narrowed her eyes. "Oh, very funny. Like you don't know what Halloween is. Everyone knows what Halloween is, dude. Don't try to pull that one on me." Out of good measure, Lupin added, "And don't try to sell me on the whole "we're not from around here or this world" spiel, 'cuz I won't buy that cheap movie knock-off crap."

There were collective stares around the group of six, mixtures of confusion, suspicion, fear, pessimism, and realization passed about. She was especially getting nasty little glints from the Stork-look alike. The Radarr creature looked real enough and while they were quietly discussing amongst themselves, Lupin squatted down, tilting her head she peered at him.

"Cool robot you got there…he looks really real," she mumbled more to herself than the other five. Radarr growled and bared his teeth at her. She snorted, not realizing he really was a living breathing thing and stared, unimpressed. "Nice reactions. I bet the Japanese made him. They're making freakin' Transformers down there, for God's sakes. They'll probably make Godzilla next."

She reached out a hand towards Radarr and out of response; Radarr took a snap at her, and landed a good bite before retreating back. She backed away and landed on her butt before scrambling to her feet, holding her offended hand close to her, eyes wider now at the growling Radarr.

"Hey! What the hell is that thing!" She yelped, landing a glare on them all now. Now she was getting pissed off. Now she was ready to throw punches. Screw suing someone, violence was the answer, dammit.

Aerrow quickly eased the furry blue creature and held him off before looking at Lupin apologetically and perhaps even a little warily. She didn't return the sympathetic gesture.

"What. Is. That. Thing."

"This…is Radarr. My co-pilot. And just to clarify…I don't think we are from around here. If you don't believe us, that's fine, but we can prove it."

Lupin narrowed her eyes further, jaw clenched, hand throbbing and her heart pounding in her chest. She was feeling that it would be a good idea to walk away now, to simply walk off, and forget about these weird kids who believed they were the real Storm Hawks, who believed they were really heroes from another world. Delusional, and by the handful. Who'd have thunk? Maybe they belong in a loony bin. Oh, sorry, mental hospital. Tch.

That was what her head was saying. Her gut was telling her a completely different story, though. Trust them, and see where it goes. Something's going on and it isn't good. Help them.

She was torn between cussing them out and walking off, and trusting these kids—who couldn't be that much younger than her—and perhaps even seeing where this was going. She eyed the kid that was dressed as Junko and hesitated at his height, and of course, the bulging muscles his forearms boasted. He could crush me without much effort. Then again, I look like a freakin' toothpick enough…

She was nineteen, lean and lithe with enough leg muscle to get her running fast and far enough if she needed a quick getaway. And while she wasn't wrestle-mania strong, she was one of the better heavy-lifters in her family and was often called to carry the heavier groceries or burdens at her parents' house.

Once more, she weighed her options. If things got wacky, she could just hike it back to her car and say fuck them and go home. And if things went the other way…

She didn't know what the "other way" was, but she figured she needed some entertainment, first and foremost, and well…she was curious. She would admit, hands down, and if she believed in God, she would swear to him, that she was infinitely curious. And, it was often the curious nature of human beings to get themselves either into a lucky situation or a horrible one. And, figuring that she'd been having a stroke of bad luck lately, perhaps this was her breaking point to finally have some good luck instead.

Lupin, standing a little more straight so that she looked her full height of five-foot-even, tilted her head slightly and surveyed the group before her with curious, but suspicious blue-gray eyes.

"Okay, then…show me proof."

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She met them on the backside of the mall, down by the bus stop. Lupin knew for a fact, after having taken the bus for several years, and hoarding a pile of bus schedules so she could get to school at decent roundabout times; that the buses stopped around eight o'clock. She pulled up in her recently repainted vehicle, the golden yellow paint gleaming under street lights, and the black racing stripes only adding to its tuff visage. The throaty engine rumbled as she came closer to the group of bike-laden youths and she had to raise a questioning brow at that as she approached.

They're definitely not old enough to even have permits, let alone licenses. What in the name of fuckery is going on?

Deep down, a voice whispered back to her about how they were telling the truth and that she should stop denying it. She shook the trailing thoughts away, holding fast to her principle of, "If I can see or touch it, then I believe in it". It was one of those reasons she didn't believe in God, or in any religion, for that matter. They might make the argument of, "Well you can't see the air", she'll simply counter with, "You sure as fuckin' hell can feel it, though!"

She idled for a few moments after stopping in front of the group and she eyed their rides for a while, frowning. They certainly…look like Skimmers.

But can they fly?

Lupin finally cut the engine short and parked the vehicle, getting out and putting her curled fists onto her hips. "Well?" She said, feeling somewhat impatient to get it over with. "Show me proof that you're not from this world, then. Impress me."

She doubted they could. Then, through some unspoken command, they seemed to change a little. Even as they settled more heavily onto their bikes, no longer slouching like kids, suddenly looking older, more experienced, and suddenly intent on their goal, she felt an inkling of doubt. But somehow, she was feeling it fade and she couldn't hold onto it, it was disappearing like wisps of smoke.

The engines started up; a crescendo of building harmony from the vibrating machines. It made Lupin suddenly nostalgic for the desert, for the desert wind and the pure, empty silence, to feel the bumps of the dirt trails…

She watched as Aerrow squealed out of his parked spot and nearly swerved into her car, then moved out of the way with liquid ease. The others followed quickly and raced for the end of the road, right before its inevitable bend to the left. She waited…

And saw, with amazement, as the side panels suddenly leaped out and deployed into wings on either side of the bikes. In Piper's case, a helicopter blade-set slid out from the back end of her scooter vehicle, rotating above her head. Stork's little sandrail buggy took off into the air with a set of booster rockets from its undercarriage and Lupin watched this all happen within a span of several seconds. It felt like hours, gazing upon the group do a lazy bank in the air, blue trails of fire piling out from the boosters in the back of each vehicle, and on the bottom for Stork's case.

These ain't no government vehicles, ain't no way, no how, Lupin thought with a slack-jawed expression. No way they'd let a bunch of kids handle them, ain't no way in a million fuckin' years.

They did a long circle around the sky, within easy sight of her of course, and she heard them whoop and holler as they came closing back down to the ground, and several feet before they touched down, three hundred feet down the back road from her, the wings and rockets ceased their function. All of them slammed to the ground, suspension bearing the brunt of the force of each vehicle's fall and they raced towards her. Aerrow at the lead, he stopped a few feet away from the grill of her Camaro, and she would have to admit, she somewhat didn't like the smug expression on his face. It was like he'd just flipped her onto her ass somehow and she thought, she just really got mentally fucked over and it was probably, metaphorically speaking, quite true.

The purring engines of the Skimmers and the Heliscooter and the little safety buggy abruptly cut off and then there was silence between them all. Lupin stared at the grinning, smug faces of all the Storm Hawks. Even Stork was giving her a sly and superior smile behind dark eyes and she felt herself suddenly floundering, out of her league.

"Impressed yet? Or do we have to show you just a little bit more?" Aerrow finally asked her and Lupin felt her mouth go cotton-dry, apprehensive of response.

However, she would not be one-upped on a verbal debate and she was able to at last crack a smile and she nodded. "I am…impressed." She said, before glancing over each face, and lastly, back to Aerrow. The real Aerrow. Her smile turned a little slyer and yet, a little more relaxed at the same time.

"Wanna talk over coffee?"

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So, there you have it, my precious little readers: A very new rewritten version of chapter one, or rather, a new prologue for Insomnia. Most likely I'll do this for every chapter, to get myself back into the groove and possibly change things and make them less…childish. Sort of. I'll get back on track for Insomnia, slowly but surely, I will!

Now, go, go and review, new young readers! As I've said before, I thrive off of them and require their delicious substance. Similar to how I survive solely off of coffee and three hours of sleep every day, but that's not important, now is it? Hehehe…