Chapter 1: Changing Times
He was looking at the stars, something that he once hardly ever did, but now found himself often coming out in the calm of the night and glancing up at the night sky. Chip Maplewood wondered why he had never really took the time to enjoy the beauty of the dark blue sky and the shinning jewels that shined in various fashion upon it, maybe it was because he had been to busy with casework and thwarting the diabolical plans of bad guys like Fat Cat or Norton Nimnul or maybe he just been too young and driven to appreciate the simple things in life. That however had changed over the years as had many things over the course of his life.
'Funny how perspectives change once you're older.' The tree in Central Park that served as headquarters for the Rescue Rangers for more than 30 years was situated perfectly for viewing the stars and had more than once been the setting of moods and situations that seemed to fall out of the movies.
The door to headquarters opened and out stepped a blonde white mouse. Chip already knew it was her from the way the door had opened and the soft patter of feet that he'd come to know so well as the footfalls of his wife.
The years had been kind to the both of them, but they had been particularly easy on the 52 year old mouse who had been born Gabriella Hackwrench better known to the world as Gadget Hackwrench. She was still as beautiful as the day they first met and while the aloofness that had been a signature of her trademark persona faded some through out the years, her cleverness and overall optimism remained strong as ever. The only real blemish she possessed was a slight limp that resulted from a case years ago. She crept up beside him and placed her arm on his shoulder and leaned into him.
Beautiful aren't they? The chipmunk found himself saying. The mouse now known as Gadget Maplewood merely smiled and slid her arm into the crook of his. They are I suppose, but I really wasn't expecting you to be in such a reflective mood tonight. She was right; he probably would have been analyzing the clues of the last case, figuring out what went wrong. Granted Chip had over the years mellowed and was a little less the obsessive detective he was years back, fatherhood and marriage had played a huge part in that transformation. He was no longer so demanding on himself or on the other Rangers, but it's hard to completely eradicate old habits and usually after a case he would be analyzing every clue, every decision, trying to find out what they did wrong and how to avoid repeating it. The burden of command he guessed.
You know you could get a better a view of the stars from top of the Chrysler Building. She paused. Chip hid a laugh, Yep her wit hadn't slowed in the years, but he knew his steps had and that was what had caused him to become so reflective lately. I've just been thinking about everything the Rangers have accomplished over the years, how much things have changed since we initially formed them.
Golly Chip I mean everything changes. And you can't be having regrets are you?
"Heck no, I wouldn't change the past for anything, but that's just it. Rat Capone and his gang have been locked up for good; Professor Nimnul has been in the asylum back in New Jersey for the last three years. Fat Cat is gone." Dead was really the word to be used, but Chip tried not to think on that, Fat Cat had been a bane for the Rangers, threatened the city and his family time and time again, but no creature deserved the fate that had beheld the crime lord tomcat, not even Fat Cat. He didn't even mention Lawaini, not wanting to open old wounds. Lawaini, Gadget's twin sister who had attempted to torture and destroy not just Gadget, but the entire Rangers and whose strategy and tenacity matched his own and whose intelligence and resourceful was the closest to Gadget. You could say she was Gadget minus the faith and innocence. Of all their foes, the one Chip really believed could have actually done them in was her. However Lawaini Hackwrench was currently held in NYU asylum, a victim of her scheme that had left her with no memory of who she had been in her previous life.
The foes of the original five Rangers are all gone for the most part.
But Chip love there will always be a need for the Rescue Rangers, his wife reminded
I'm aware of that dearest; it's just that … it's time to change things up. Marah and Basil are grown now; Belle and Rose are already accompanying us on cases. Circuit is getting along nicely and Tammy and Sam are the same ages we were when we formed the Rangers. It's time to hand the mantle over.
Retire? What would we do if we weren't Rescue Rangers?
The same as we always done. We wouldn't be completely out of the picture, just out of the forefront.
Gadget gave her husband a look. Though he would hardly ever confess to it, the truth was he was the heart of the Rangers, the core that held it together. His organization and determination was what had given the Rangers direction time and time again. She wondered on how the Rangers would function if that guiding force was suddenly gone, more importantly how would he function with it being gone. "Well it would be nice to just focus on inventing instead of balancing it out with field work. But are you sure about this Chip?"
"Dearest I'm absolutely sure. Lately I've been thinking about stars and simple moments than casework. Tell me when have I ever been like that?"
"Golly almost never", she paused a moment, her mind in deep thought, "how do you want to go about this."
"First the other original Rangers should hear the idea, make that ideas first. Then we'll go from there. But enough about that. The stars are shinning, everything is at ease. I just want to sit here with my wife and enjoy it all while I can."
His eyes sparkled; that same sparkled that had been in his eyes time and time again. That sparkle that she never took for granted. The sparkle that he reserved solely for her and her alone. With that Gadget Hackwrench Maplewood, wife of Rescue Ranger leader Chip Maplewood, snuggled into her husband as he put his arms around her and enjoyed the view.